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IIIKIIIY

LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OP

CALIFORNIA

CYPRIAN
HIS LIFE

HIS TIMES

HIS

WORK

CYPRIAN
HIS LIFE

HIS TIMES

HIS

WORK

D.D.,

D.C.L.,

BY

EDWARD WHITE BENSON,

SOMETIME ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

Uontion

MACMILLAN AND

CO., Limited

NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY


:

1897
[All rights reserved^

LOAN STACK

CambriUge:

PRINTED BY

J.

AND

C. F.

CLAY,

AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

PREFATORY NOTE.
A

few days

the September

of

mid handed me
book that

struck

last

year

(1

Addington for Ireland, in

lie

called nie into his library,

896),

proof of

the

left

in

of his Cyprian

the preface

here presentedasking me

is

me

my fatlier

before

tJie

anything that

to criticise

it.

The following day I brought him a paper of minnte sugges-

He went

tions.

some,

through them with the rttmost patience, accepting

and carefdly justifyitig


said, "

had finished, he

You seem

{smiling) "you are not

say that

to

"

tJie

thoiight he

No," he said,

" ifs

the rejection
to

not that

my

find

only person

was

who does"

I only wish

ing
to

tlie

When

others.

lie

style very obscure!''

too careful to

thing without the customary periphrases

and hours

of

I ventured

avoid the obvious


to

say the obvious

it all

comes of Jiours

spent with intense enjoyment over Thucydides, weigh-

force of every adjective

and every

ask whether the Cyprian was

particle!'

I went on

really finished, atid reminded

him of how more than fifteen years before, when he was at


Truro, he had come out of his study one evening, and announced
that his Cyprian
is

all done

only a

I asked whether

he
table

said,
:

was

Jie

^^

practically finished!'

"

Yes" he

said, " it

few corrections and verifications to tnake!'


"
was not glad it was done " I ought to be ;
:

and began

turtiijig

over some of the proofs on the

then he looked up with a smile : " but

am

not really

less

capable of

glad my only amusement zvill be gone!'

And
"

this

amusing

was

literally true:

himself','

of

my father was

resting, than

641

any one I have ever knozvn

PREFATORY NOTE.

IV

a change from one intense kind of

his holidays were merely

work

to

was

another: if he

xvorked at pictures

interest, lie

the business

of his life

an

and

At

artist.

Addington, he had a

^^

mind with

zvith the

Jiour

of

tlie

at all

never

lie

Cyprian"

table,

sleep

for

studied

when

all his official

his beloved book

but

and

where his books and


late at night,

work had

been done

minute precision so characteristic of him, he

from

and

precise

home, whefi at work, at Lambeth

papers lay often untouched for weeks together:


early in the morning,

were

cluirches, as tJiougJi it

he stored his

In scenes of natural beauty,

grapJiic impressiojis.
detail like

in a place of artistic or antiquarian

I have

stole

an

the authority

Bishop of Winchester, who was with him constantly


times
let

constitute

and

for saying that not only did he

places,

his literary

work

interfere with his official work, or

a reason for avoiding a piece of business, or deferring

an engagement
a recreation

but that he regarded

in the strictest sense as

only.

Thirty years ago, when he


College, he

it

found

was Headmaster of Wellington


work was so absorbing

that his professional

that he felt himself in danger of losing sight of study, of erudition,

of antiquity, and

resolved, on the suggestion

friend Bishop Lightfoot,

to

undertake some definite work, which

migJit provide both a contrast to


tendencies

and

of his dear

and an

illustration

of modern

recent problems.

Year after year, at Lincoln, at Truro, at Canterbury,


patient pages have

grown

in the elucidation of some


took,

mimite technical point : he even under-

a few years ago, a journey

topography:

of

late

these

sometimes weeks would be consumed

to

North Africa

to

study his

he has often sighed for "six weeks of

tmbroken leisure I / could finish my book!'


The first hundred
and fifty pages were put into print so long ago that when he
had reached the end, they required to be entirely revised and

PREFATORY NOTE.
rewritten.

book

But

at last

finished,

Ireland, most of

xvitJi Jiini to

MS.,

was

it

in

it

and

he took the

zvJiole

proof and part of

in

it

in order to endeavonr to see the end.

Two significant entries in his Diary in the last year of his


life may here, I think., with advantage be quoted, to shoiv how
his hopes were bound up in the book, with how definite a purpose
of self-education

had

it

ardently he desired that


Friday,

March

planned and carried

and how

out,

should serve true and high ends.

1896.

6,

Finishing what

been
it

really think

is

the

end of

the

my Cyprian

examination of the Lists of Bishops who attetided Councils under


Cyprian.
The test of genuineness which they offer zvas one of the first

I then

things that struck me.

them.

and I have
7iotes made

I pray God bless this


I have spent

the fire fnust co?isume

Cyprian
half

my

the

odd

Have now

is zv hat

If it ever

I began

To emphasize
of place here

and

notes,

my

1865,

with fresh

'copy'' is at

good of His Church. If He


hay and stubble, and

in building

it last.

^~.-

sees the light,

many

Folk are edified in such different zvays.

book.

book,

to the
life

practically finished a big book, unless

Greek comments.

\ne, 7i)hich

and

So that

But please God, may

it.

Sunday, March 22, 1896.


/

so late) tha?i

in its work.

bless it not,

list

University Press.

to-day to the

and criticized

the Lists

(sic)

to-day sent that originally written

30 years apart

least

wrote out at

This can certainly not have been later {if

think

But

it

a few of
it

has

a very
edified] *\^
'

it for.

the event, or " to

I have

I add

ivill

\^

tale "

would

be out

tnerely tried to indicate the history

of the

adorn a

the significant fact that the completion

literary enterprise coincided so strangely

and so

of his only

majestically with

the termination of his earthly energies.

ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER BENSON.


Jan.

I,

1897.

'

.1^

^ ^
-^

EDITORIAL NOTE.
Among
found a
the Rev.

the

Language of
siastica,'

last proofs

memorandum to
E. W. Watson's
Cyprian

S.

vol. IV,

my

which

write an

father corrected

was

Appendix deaHng with

valuable Essay on the Style and


in

the

(Oxford, 1896).

'

Studia Biblica et EccleIn

all

other respects the

book had been completed.

Mr Watson

has since most kindly verified some compli-

cated references from two important codices in the Bodleian.


I

must here

gratitude to

Larpent,

my

also

be allowed to record

father's dear

who gave him

and honoured

my

friend,

sincerest

M. Alexis

invaluable assistance in verifying

references and suggesting corrections, compiled the index,

and

in

conjunction

with

my

brother,

Mr

E.

F.

Benson,

corrected the final proofs.

A.

Feb. 12, 1897.

C.

B.

DUOBUS MARTINIS
ANIM.S PATERN.'E
SPEI MATURESCENTI

IN PACE

B.

PREFACE.
It

a long time since

is

Cyprian

for

and Work of

fixed on the Life

The

a special study.

reason,

think,

was

first

this.

times which, like ours, were

In

picturesque

extraordinarily

both

and extraordinarily crowded with business, a

powerful and fascinating personality appeared to me to have

done most to turn the Pagan to the Christian temper, to


have dealt masterfully with lasting problems
to have left

behind him a living 'Theory'

the ecclesia principalis has never ceased

retouch

it.

He was
Church

In short he appeared to be

Visible Church in

gravely dissent without one

wound

watch-word of comprehension which,

it

too fruitful

of the

attributes

He

to peace.

spoke a

for lack of the charity

which possessed him, we do not receive

among

in

the churches,

must needs precede the Unity we dream

hope that

and

it

us.

But he said and shewed how men might

Invisible.

although

living that

to fret over

tempted into the noble and alas

error of arraying the

the Church,

in

so

in

study

this

of.

have not ever been un-

mindful of the present, and yet have not committed what


I

hold to be a grievous fault in a historian, the reading of

the present into the past.

have

tried to sketch

what

saw.

It is

only thus that the past can be read into the present

the

Lesson of History

'

'

learnt.

b2

PREFACE.

That we have some need of the Lesson of the Cyprian ic


times

Sure that

feel sure.

it

might have saved us some

of our losses.
Still

where
or

lie,

was not overcareful to point the morals

in places

escape no thoughtful reader wherein they

could

it

what they

Such simpler morals are of

are.

infinite

who draws them out for himself. Not of


one who should read them over and think

value to a student

much

value to

that he had always thought them.

As

have dared to take the reader into confidence by

placing two names, sacred to me, on a leaf of this book,

may perhaps be

allowed to explain

why work

so long ago

commenced is so late committed to the reader's indulgence.


At school under Prince Lee the very name of Cyprian had
attraction for me.
At Trinity Lightfoot and I read the
De Unitate together on Sunday evenings in my Freshman's
At Wellington,

term.

at

even at this Addington

Lincoln, at Truro, at Lambeth,

cara ubi tot cava

the day, often of the week, have been

ashamed
that

feel

to

to call a
if

know

my

him,

life

of labour has

love for the

may humbly

man

all

minutes

that

left

what

me.

only of

am

not

Therefore

has surpassed

my

ask that some excuse

ability

may

be

allowed me.
If the earlier part of this Life is

because
to the

thought

same

when the

level

real

it

somewhat

not worth while to bring up

thin, that is
its priviitice

and same fulness as those days of Cyprian

problems of Church and World were upon

him and he wrestling with them.

The Texts

of the Latin Versions witnessed to in

writings are too special and too large a

work

to

his

be included

here.

The

smaller type

is

for student-studies not essential to

PREFACE.

XI

the main course of story or comment, although they often

shew the source of the


to the general reader

have interest

To

Prof.

owe

who

Some

will

nevertheless

commend

soon see whether or no they

Lanciani

owe the map which

The two

their accuracy to

illustrates the

others are compiled.

They

M. Charles Tissot and

grand Archaeological Atlas of Tunisie which


lished

for him.

chapter on Xystus.
course

text.

is

of

to the

being pub-

by the Minister of Public Instruction and Beaux-Arts.


must express

for his

my

gratitude to

my

friend

minute and learned assistance to

me

M. Larpent
while seeing

the work through the Press, and to the University Press


itself

and the Publishers

for their patience.

EdW: CaNTUAR:
Addington.
September, 1896.

CONTENTS.
Page

Chronology of the Times and Writings of Cyprian

xxi

xxiii

INTRODUCTION.
Carthage and her Society

xxv

CHAPTER

I.

The Last of the Long


I.

Cyprian's Preparation under the Church


'

III.

Heathendom

Cyprian's Preparation in

Peace.

......

Section

II.

That Idols are not Gods

10

'

Lay-work

V.
VI.

VII.

Cjqjrian

Deacon

..........

IX.

X.

XL

13
13
17

19

22

Laymen's Scripture Studies


'To QuiRiNus' ['Testimonies']
to

22

'.......

Cyprian made Pope of Carthage


^

Papa

Cyprian's view of the Authority and the Design of the Episcopate

25

29
31

Divergence of Cyprian's from Modern Views

35

41

Bishop's

Discipline

Work

uphill

Clerical and Lay


'

XIII.

Helps

Of Clerics not to be Tutores


Of Christians not to train for the
XII.

Presbyterate

Cyprian's Title of

VIII.

'To DoNATUs' ['The Grace OF God']


IV.

xxxvii

The Eighteen Months

'

continued.

Literary Character of the

Book

'

......
Stage

Virginal Life in Carthage

Of the Dress of Virgins

'

44
47

51

51

57

CONTENTS.

xiv

CHAPTER

II.

The Decian Persecution.


Page

Section
I.

II.

The Roman Theory

of Persecution

The Outbreak of the Decian Persecution


Of Genuinatess m Nomenclature
On Etccusa and Nu?neria
The

Persecution at Carthage.

The
The

i.

1.

On
IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

the Fortn

The Retirement

the

72

74

'

75

79
82

84
87

..........
...
..........
Roman

IX.

Diocesan Disquietudes

X.

Declaration of Parties

89

....

for Restorative Discipline

Confession which

is

95

derived from

The adopted policy was Carthaginian, not Roman


On the Thirteen Epistles of which Cyprian sent

98

99

copies to the

102

106

Novatus and Felicissimus

Budinai-ius and Sarcinatrix

Growth

Church of Rome

Proof of

Romans

XI.

Stantes

Lapsi'

the Martyrs

these events

VIII.

....
.....

'

'

Contents of the Libelli

The Cyprianic Scheme

On

of Cyprian

Interference of the

The Lapsed and

and

64

.......
...
.

III.

60

...

Rome

of the Opposition at

Rome The

CHAPTER

.108
.117

Confessors and Novatian

118

III.

Sequel of the Persecution.


I.

Cyprian's

'

First Council of Carthage

Question

I.

The

Question

2.

Decision on Felicissimus

Question

3.

Novatianism

Four

Title of Cornelius

'

.129
.131
134

different Pictures from the year ^i,o

Of Cyprian before his own Presbyters


Of Cyprian before the Roman Presbyters
Of Felicissimus as a more faithful representative of
.

Of the Evanescence of Novatus tmder RitschVs


Question 4. The Decision on the Lapsed

48

150

the

Analysis

III.

148

.........

Church

II.

153
154

.156

Return of the Confessors


-159
Continued Action against Novatianism Roman Council of A.D. 251,
Advance of Novatianism

Antiochene of A.D. 252


Difficulties

in

163
identifying

Dionysius wrote

Why

is

Hippolyttis,

to the Romans,

Dionysius' Epistle

to the

through

whom

with Hippolytus of Portus

Romans

\ii

called diaKoviKr) ?

69

XV

CONTENTS.

Page

Section

IV.

V.

Constitutional Results of the First Council


Corollaries

The

'

Puritanism

De

Mai 's

Lapsis

Saint-Merit

17^

from

Flight

Suffering.

'

174

supposed Fragvient of Cyprian

CHAPTER

79

IV.

Cyprian 'of the Unity of the Catholic Church.'


I.

II.

Time and Substance

Two

i8o

of the Treatise

Was it a theory of Convicinvolve Roman Unity?

186

.........

197

Questions on Cyprianic Unity,

tion or of Policy?

Does

2.

it

i.

Catena of Cyprianic passages on the Unity signified in the


Charge to Peter
III.

The Appeal

of the

modern Church

Unity of the Catholic Church

How to make the best of the


A^ote

'

of

Rome

by way of

Forgeries

on the Citation from Petagius

CHAPTER

now

II.

I.

The

softening of the Penances

The

Effect

III.

'

Spanish Appeal against

'

The
.

200

.219

....
.

120

.....

225

Legislation.

his Party

of Clerical Appeals under the

The Third and Fourth

Intei-polation

'The Second Council'

on Felicissimus and

The Legacy

on

V.

The Harvest of the New

II.

to Cyprian

Councils.'

Law

222

of the Lapsed

The

Episcopal Cases.

Rome

230

CHAPTER VL
Expansion of Human Feeling and Energy.
I.

The Church
I.

in relation to Physical Suffering

Within

itself.

The Berber Raid

Of Genuineness
1.

3.

II.

236
i^g
240

Resentment.

The

.....

The Church in relation to Heathen Suffering. The Plague


The Theory. Unconditional Altruism. 'Of Work AND
Almsdeeds'

Of the
III.

Geographical

'

To Demetrian

'

Style of the 'DQia^ina.n

Interpretation of Sorrows

246
249

.256

.......

'On THE Mortality'


*To Fortunatus' ['Exhortation to Martyrdom']

256
260
264

CONTENTS.

XVI
Section

IV.

Intelligent Devotion.

Page
'

Table shaving the

Oratione

V,

Oratione

to
.

elucidatins; the

III.

the

of

.27s

Aiitipelagianism

its

Stephanus.

2.

289
295
297

Chair.
298

Lucius

304

The Church

not identified with or represented by

Rome
1.

280
287

VII.

Cornelius

Sitting of

267

De Dominica

Dates

The Roman

The

and Genuineness of

CHAPTER

The End

Tertullian in Cyprian^

Objection to Council III. on account of

I.

The Mixed Cup


The Age of Baptism

Ritual I.
2.

II.

'

..........
......
.......

the Characteristics

Comparison

Lord's Prayer

Verbal Debts

De Dominica

Treatise

On

On the

307

The Spanish Appeal


The Gaulish Appeal

.311
.314

Intercalary.
Presbyters as

Members

of Administration

CHAPTER

VIII.

The Baptismal Question


I.

II.

2.

The Tradition
The Tradition

I.

Position of the Leaders

2.

Acts and Documents

I.

331

of Africa
of Asia

Minor East

......

Cyprian and Stephen

Dates (Council of Iconium and other)

....
.

no reason

to

351
.

suppose letters are missing

to

Ponipey (Ep. 74)

and

354

from

.360

Stepheti's Epistle

quoted therein are earlier than the Third Council

That Ep. 72

347

354

the Correspondejice with Stephen

That the Epistle

339

342

349

Dionysius the Great


is

335

349

Fifth Council, First on Baptism


Sixth Council, Second on Baptism
Did Stephen excommunicate the Bishops of the East?
That there

323

.......

to Stephe/i is rightly

put down

to the

361

Second

Council, not the Third


That Quietus of Buruc who spoke in the Sevetith Council
is Quinttis the Mauretanian, Recipient of Y.^. "ii
.

362

^6^

CONTENTS.

XVI 1

....
....
.....

Section

Page

Seventh Council, Third on Baptism


Firmilian and his Letter

On

the Genuineness of the Epistle of Firmilian

Quotations of Scripture in Firmilian


Basil and the Letter of Firmilian
The Nameless Author 'on Rebaptism'

.....

III.

The Arguments
Cyprian's,

i.

Objective

1.

Subjective

Baptism in the

.......
....

Name of Christ alone

3.

Historical

4.

Biblical

IV.

the Force

373

377
386

388
390
399
401
405

406
408

XYisi

.411

Stephen's Arguments

On

364

413

of Stephen^ sWihilmnoveiwx

.421

Ecclesiastical Results.
1.

2.
3.

The Unbroken Unity


.423
The Baptismal Councils failed doctrinally and why
424
The Catholic and the Ultramontane Estimate of
.

Cyprian

432

CHAPTER

IX.

Expansion of Christian Feeling and Energy (resumed).


The

Secret of Conduct
1.

2.

'

'

437

Of THE Good OF Patience'


Of Jealousy and Envy

437

'

CHAPTER
The Persecution

448

X.

of Valerian.

The Edict and its occasions


Macrian. The 'Uprising of Nations
On Kephron and the Lands of Kolluthion

456

'

Treatment of Cyprian

........
.

Numidian Bishop-Confessors
'To Fortunatus' ['Of Encouragement to Confessorship']

Rome.
II.

I.

Accession of Xystus and his immunity

The Rescript
Rome. The Exclusion from
Memorials of Xystus and

his

457
463

464
471

474
475
477

the Cemeteries

Martyrdom

.481
487

CONTENTS.

xviii

CHAPTER

XI.
Page

.......

The Birthday

was Cyprian Martyr buried ?


Where ivas Cyprian tried and executed 1
The Dress of Cyprian
The Soldiers and Officers named hi the Trial
Of the Massa Candida
IVliere

Acta Proconstdaria

493
509

.512

513
516
517
.

.518

CHAPTER XH.
Aftermath.

APPENDICES.
A.

'Principalis

Ecclesia,' Note

on the jueaning of Principalis

(P- 192)

537

B.

Additional note on Libelli and two extant specimens of them (pp.

C.

The Intrigue

D.

The Intrigue about


Mabaret (p. 213)

E.

Text of the

8184)

541

collations

F.

On points

G.

On

Fisconti's Letter {p. 212)

...........
De

Unitate

c.

IV.

new

with

Ad Novatianum and the

attribution of

552

557

........

the lists of the Bishops atte7idittg the Councils.

Seniority)

K.

The Cities fro7n which the Bishops came


on the First of September, A. D. 256

L.

On

S. Cyprian's

547

it to

476)

Examination of

544

546
in

in the Chronology ^Valerian's Reign (pp. 456 sqq.)

(p.

Additional note on du

the Benedictine Text.

Interpolation

{Genuineness.
I,

Manntins' Text.

the nameless Epistle

Xystus

H.

abo2it

Day

in Kalendars.

to

the Seventh Council

573

And how

England on the 26th instead of the 14th

565

of

it

came

September

be in

to
.

610

CONTENTS.

XIX

MAPS.
Page

The Cemeteries on

the

Appian

Carthage (Environs of )

Way

near

Rome

481
.

Proconsular Africa and Numidia to illustrate the writings of Cyprian

509

573

WOODCUTS.
Loculus of Fabian

Loculus of Cornelius
Loculus of Maximus

66

.124

...........
.........
.

Coins of Cornelia Salonina

Ninth Century

figures of

Cyprian and Cornelius from the Cemetery of

Callistus

'

Loculus of Lucius

List of

302

306

Well of the Legend of Stephen's baptizing

Index

162

300

in

Cemetery of Domitilla

.............

Books quoted

332

62

626

ERRATA.
p.

48.

p.

120.

/jtsiead 0/ Cxcilius, read Cxcilianus.


n. 4,

read Privatus of Lambsese had Five adherents,... Five Bishops

attended Cornelius at the reconciliation of Maximus.


p. 160.

jRead,

the Bishop Evaristus,

consecrators.

who had been probably one

of Novatian's

CHRONOLOGY
OF THE

TIMES AND WRITINGS OF CYPRIAN.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE

XXll

Qrs

cS

a
o

--^

'^

x!

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INTRODUCTION.
CARTHAGE AND HER SOCIETY.
A SAILING vessel running before a fair wind from Ostia, could reach
Carthage on the second day. Yet to the Roman Africa never lost the
sense of distance and weirdness. His business transactions with it were
enormous. It is all strewn with relics of his factories, yet his scientific
were as weird as the tales of its wild men. Its lion underIts python checked his legion.
New species
His armies trod floors of
of creatures were continually produced there.

notes on

it

stood what was said to him.

pits.
He quarried Atlas, his precious tables were
wood, yet it was the mountain of fable,' the inexhaustible,
inexplorable mountain. Even in the sixth century his description of Mt

over bottomless

salt

made

of

its

Aures is merely fantastic. He never shook off his feeling about the city
which had wrestled with him for the empire of the earth, and had been so
He still heard with awe that, where other nations called
foully thrown.
on their gods, the African breathed only the name of Africa before a
'

'

new

enterprise.

Into this region opened two glorious gates, the valley of Egypt and this
other.

Through these two must pass and repass

all

that the Mediter-

ranean fetched and carried to or from the infinite Soudan. Through this
alone went all that they lent or borrowed from the antient and resourceful
civilizations which lay between Sahara and the sea, and all the human
hosts which served and violated the multitudinous interests there involved.

For

its

coast from the Nile to the Atlantic lay thus.

First a low-

land of dunes, whose sands invaded the sea in two vast Syrtes, swept by
the hurricanes from the Sahara over the rocky rim, and swirling in shoals

and quicksands and shifting banks, along ever-shifting currents. Then


down upon these, slope after slope, fell the buttress ends of two Alpine
chains which, barring breaks and rents, rolled out their snowy ridges side
by side to the Atlantic the northern chain, a vast rampart cresting
along over the iron-bound coast which it made the southern falling by
:

C2

INTRODUCTION.

XXVI
plateau after plateau

plunged

its roots in Sahara, and flung its


Between the twin giant ridges, sometimes linked together by cross fells and yokes of lower height, were high
plains and hollows full of mountain basins and small streams, so that
there were endless rich sheets of land and fertile slopes, and sometimes a
it

till

torrents into leagues of salt lakes.

succession of fat plains, as on the Medjerda, as well as oases of bewilder-

Horses and cattle, cereals, the heaviest


fertility out in the deserts.
wheat and largest yield then known, minerals, unique marbles, palm
groves southward and olive woods northward, and mountains of cedars
stocked and stored the land. The yield of oil was prodigious, and a third
of all the corn consumed in Rome and Italy was grown here.
These three lines, the northern slopes, the southern terraces, and the
vast central lap, were thick from immemorial time with native villages,
most of which grew into towns of which scarcely one was insignificant in
ing

some source of well-being.


was on the brow of the seaward head, between highlands and lowlands, where the ends of the two chains brought the westering shore to a
sudden stop and turned it north, it was in that gate, commanding the
mouth of the Medjerda valley, that Carthage had long since sat herself down,
Italiain contra^ and looked straight north to Rome.
So dangerously near
it was, that Cato shewed the senators a fresh fig pulled two days before
its

possession of
It

in Carthage, as a token that both could not exist.

The end

had been the beginning for her of unequalled


wealth. When her warships had been towed out to sea and fired she
became a neutral, free of the seas, while war kept out of commerce all the
maritime peoples of the East for half a century.
But that prosperous interval stifled the spirit of a state for which
Hannibal had not been ambitious enough, when he sketched an honourable peace and Africa for a safe dominion. The pursuit of gain thinned
their troops and filled them up with mercenaries.
The fifty years over,
they had nothing but the wish for peace and a readiness to give and keep
any required guarantees, to oppose to the stolid animosity of Cato and
the craft of Masinissa.
It would have been a sore exchange for mankind
if semi-orientals scrambling into democracy through constitutional decay
had prevailed. But the Roman policy, inspired by both fear and greed,
its

of her power

secret instigation of the barbarian,

simulation of impartiality, has

its

been called by the calmest of historians diabolic' It flared out in the


atrocities of the siege and the capture.
Through seventeen days the city,
which lately contained 700,000 people, burnt as one funeral pyre.' Then
the plough was foolishly dragged about her vitrified walls.
*
*
*
A quarter of a century, and her history began again through Caius
*

'

Gracchus, but
to Phoenician

in a dreary fashion.
She loomed too large still to be left
boatmen and Libyan mapalia. The capital was suddenly

CARTHAGE AND HER SOCIETY.


and the lands

repeopled

allotted

to

Roman

XXVll

colonists,

speculating farmers, and hosts of slave labourers.

But

old soldiers,
still

jealousy

would permit no real development. They had to protect themselves.


There was no military station. The walls were never restored, and
something forbade the inhabiting of the precinct, so that 'the ruins of
Carthage,' in which Marius was seen sitting, were half a mile perhaps
from bazaars and basilicas.
But all was changed once more when great men and statesmen, a
Then began a real policy,
Julius and an Octavius, undertook the thing.
selfish enough, but a policy which enriched vast classes, created a
Caryeomanry, found a subsistence for every peasant, and fed Italy.
thage first, and then the old towns began to receive privileges as municipia
and colonies, sometimes titulary, but often with many settlers capable of
Romanizing the thick and thickening population. They slid quietly
from the administration of Sufetes, 'Judges,' to that of Dimmvirs and
Decurions. After Trajan's time nearly all towns had received honours
and privileges, and took occasion to glorify themselves with little municipal buildings and large market-places, above all with amphitheatres.
Many temples and basilicas and arches, though not perfectly pure in
taste, were great and stately, as they consecrated themselves in marble to
their own Severus, to his Julia, Geta and Caracalla.
Wealthy villas, surrounded themselves with dependents and with
industries, had to be taken into account in the communal system like
small towns, and were less easily dealt with.
The Roman farmer of Africa has left his mark. His Moorish successors, though for civil and religious purposes using the Arabic Kalendar,
name the months of their agricultural operations from his Latin. He was
His daughters worked as well as his sons, and
proverbial for two points.
He worked and made
his own implement was the Oailns Domini.
everyone work. Pliny saw him or his native tenant in Byzacium yoking
an old woman with an ass, a practice not dropped until of late. He
held his land usually upon a military tenure.

The

Third Legion executed works of immense magnitude and


while from its soldier towns it fenced civilization off
from the Berber hordes. A few of their clans were more or less ticketed
and enrolled, but all were subjects in the eye of the law, generally rebels
brilliant

of admirable

utility,

but subjects.

The whole

civil and military organization, from the Proconsul's Staff


downwards, was without a break, absolutely continuous, intelligible, minute and instant.
We know it from their innumerable
monuments as precisely as we know that of counties, parishes and

and

Office

boroughs.

shadow dogged

all this

national genius and individual

vigour, the inherent vice of the

Roman

spirit,

Yet a

fearful

the scornful inhumanity

with which uncivilized populations were unhelped and repelled.

It

was

INTRODUCTION.

XXviii
with

this,

ever-growing train of consequences, this and


last wreck.

its

not the

Vandals, which wrought the

material Carthage we have less solid knowledge than of any great


Carthage has been learnedly rebuilt in the air, its temples and
streets mapped and named by departments, but all are as visionary as
mirage. Archaeology has spoiled Carthage for museums as Arabs did

Of

city.

harems, and Itahan Republics for cathedrals. Until science and


system explore what lies interred under cloisters we can know httle of
a city whose two effacements were not more wonderful than itself in
When Cyprian was there in the height of his repute, Carits majesty.
thage is reported by Herodian to have been in population and wealth

for

the equal of Alexandria and second only to


its

Rome.

Its

beauty matched

rank.

The

first

few steps in

it

to-day are enough to shew us that these Arab

quarters were laid out by no

through

its

Arab hand.

Two

streets of great length

and pass out of


For the outer city

largest dimensions, intersect at right angles,

the city northward

and westward

as imperial roads.

and environs they form base lines each way for many other streets set
out at right angles, and frequently interlaced again with convenient
In the inner city, with its winding edge and cliff, its heights
diagonals.
and steeps, the streets still made a singular symmetry of squares and
triangles, so that space was rapidly traversed and every awkward plot
made serviceable. Most of this literal geometry was Roman, but in the
older citadel-region and religious quarters there are traces perhaps of
those streets with which, earliest of all world-cities (it was believed),
Carthage was laid out in regular plan. In another feature this Inner
The
City resembled modern sea-ports and was unlike ancient ones.
harbour was excavated in regular basins, outer and inner. The outer
oblong, for vessels of commerce, the inner, called Cothon, fitted for 220
This ran round, or nearly round, a circular island,
from which the Punic admiral's quarters had commanded the lake of
Tunis and the sea. All was constructed at the one corner which gave a
straight shore, south and north, for quays and a short end southward
and sheltered for the harbour mouth. Everywhere there was a genius
At the intersection of the two great streets are
for adaptation visible.
the extraordinary reservoirs, Roman too, but on Punic lines. The subfull-sized triremes.

of the citadel a unique contrivance (except so far as it


resembles the sub-structure of the Temple) is a nest of chambers
where water was purified and stood in vast volume. Of the triple wall
structure

the

of

inner

believing

all

city,

that

is

itself

in

At the heart of the


city

shaped

containing

Appian, we

stabling

may

and barracks, without

believe wonders.

isosceles triangle which, as

out, rose three

hundred

feet high, the

we can

perceive, the

famous Bozrah

climbed

CARTHAGE AND HER SOCIETY.

XXIX

by three streets of rapid gradient the Byrsa of the legend, and of the
most 'truthful and moving' of all siege narratives save one.
On the crown of it had been in all Punic time the tutelary temple
of Eschmoun, heavily pillared and yellow stuccoed, replaced perhaps
in the times we are busy with, by the Corinthian or Ionic temple,
of whose columns a few fragments remain.
Now it is the chapel
of the saint and king who died on the shore below in the arms of
Joinville.
Here were the Basilicas, where Cyprian pleaded, the great
Library he used, the Senate House, the Prastorium facing the sea
and all the home of a State.
Close by the inner side of the harbour rises a miniature Byrsa, on
which perhaps Caelestis had her shrine -Ashtaroth, the 'abomination of
the Sidonians,' and the despair of Virgil, after whom Gracchus tried to
re-name the town Junonia.
The fragments which thickly strew the ground are all Roman. The
Punic city lies below them under a deep layer of calcined earth and wood
ash.
Nothing of it presses on our eyes but the enormous tufa blocks
marked with fire, the bases of the ramparts. Within their northernmost
reach but seemingly beyond all old dwellings is the city of the dead,
little hills and dells of limestone, Djebel Khaoui, where lie hundreds of
thousands. Their places have been sunken, burrowed, and scooped,
tenanted, re-tenanted and desecrated again. Thousands of dull monuments teach us nothing but names. These date onward from the second
Phoenician epoch. Their forefathers had buried in the Inner Town. The
ponderous sepulchres of the oldest Phoenician lords are in the sides of
Bozrah. Tertullian had shuddered at what he saw disclosed when the
Odeon was excavated. Here are Christian emblems, and here are beheaded skeletons with their heads laid carefully upon their laps. And

who

are these

Within the ramparts partly, but for miles outside them, stretched the
woods and gardens of the Roman peers, an extent of Horti' unmatched
at Rome, and across them from the western hills strode the colossal
'

aqueduct.
If

we did not know

that the marble

wealth of

its

structures, so

conveniently stratified for a second quarrying, had tempted not only


anti-Christian Tunis, but supremely Christian Pisa,

we should gaze with

blank eyes upon the blank spaces where such marvels have been. Of
Amphitheatre and Circus no trace but immense shallow troughs in the
soil.

Of

Theatre, Odeon,

Forum

itself,

scarce a sign.

The

Christian

Fathers did not prophesy in vain, when they declared that these, the
most prominent, most imposing institutions of that age, were dissolving
the primary institutes of society and nature

respect for

Life, for Virtue,

About the Amphitheatre Tertullian


refuses to reason with Christians.
He can consider it an open question
only for men still heathen. In the Circus mere madness is king, no

for

Government, and

for Justice itself.

XXX

INTRODUCTION.

authority acknowledged.
theosis of sin, this

Forum

Cyprian

tells

them

Theatre

this

the living spirit of Falseness.

is

It is

the apoa strano-e

these have been not ruined but annihilated.


picture to ourselves a material something not
wholly unlike what Carthage was. Scarcely any city yields so many

note of our city that


Faintly then

scenes.

The

all

we may

streets gathering themselves in

unique symmetry to the

of sudden steeps and many-tinted marble heights, or opening

full

feet

on the

quays and the breathless harbour: graceful hills about it


crowned with shrines and villas, great levels spreading in chase or
garden; low 'difficult hills' with 'artificial passages,' which yoked the
neck of its foreland; the vast lake where navies of commerce and of
pleasure rode close to the streets, severed by a thread from the open
sea mountain crests in snow watching from the distances ; through all
and over all the keen light and intense blue of Africa.
glistening

More
habits

to us than the splendours of the place

is

the population,

its

and temper.

One of its unlikenesses to other capitals was


made and kept a city of Peace, luxurious but not

way

in

which

idle Peace.

The

the

it

was

policy

of its re-peopling did not suffer it to be a military centre. A third of the


Third Legion was always quartered, not at Carthage, but wherever the
Proconsul was, and the brilliance of his court was unsurpassed.

When Carthage called the Gordians to the Empire, ten years before
Cyprian became a Christian, the military ceremonial of Rome was
Maximin taunted the city which
would make Emperors, with being kept in order by a handful of lictors,
having no weapons but hunting-spears, and no drill but the dance. The
punctiliously represented there, but

population of the rich territory outside was not more martial.

They

poured in armed only with hatchets and country sticks. It was the more
striking because their neighbour Numidia was a land of forts and camps,
and, thanks to its marvellous old Masinissa, famous for its native javelin
men, who rode without bit or bridle and 'steered' their barbs, the costliest

and switch.
Three of the finest of earth's races lived together in its circuit. The
Roman, as he is best known, so is he also least patient of a rapid touch.
We need say here no more than that of all the vast institutions and
organizations of power, rule, pleasure, corruption which we may touch on,
he was the creator. The Romans of Carthage did not see themselves, as
at home, sending out, as from a source, all the legislative, administrative
and executive powers, and receiving the appeals and prayers of all nations,
in the world, with cord

nor yet, as in other capitals, few in number but sovereign through miHtary
peace and unswerving law. At Carthage the commerce, wealth and social
influence of their preponderating numbers were shared by Punic families
Latinized since the last colonizations.

If the native race largely supplied

CARTHAGE AND HER SOCIETY.


them with

slaves,

it

had

XXXI

also an independent population within the city

naturally recruiting itself from the clans.

The Berber

by

this, its

northern name, we

versal stock of the continent

the Berber

He

is

may

whom

may

the antients

call the earliest uni-

knew by many names

be studied now as well as at any of his unrecorded eras.

unchanged.

He

is

nearly half the population.

In large districts

he talks 'Libyan' still, which his masters never allowed on coin or document, and seldom indeed could speak. He is no child of Shem like the

Arab he lives with. His notions are of equality among men, honour for
women, village communities (in the hill-tops if possible), neighbourly
federation.

He

is

tall,

strong, supple, healthful, often 'like a bronze' for

and blue eyed. We do not know whether he


came in by Gibraltar. Before our times he had learnt enough of Roman
manners along the seaboard. How the Roman used him and what he
made of him in the interior we shall tell by and bye. Of his third
century relations to Christianity we know nothing at all. In his time he
has learnt the Phoenician, Roman, and Christian religions, and he retains
little spots of each.
All that was important in them he dropped before
Islam.
He saw all other races in and will see them out.
The administration of law was perforce rigorous. The complicated
agrarian and military conditions under which land was incessantly being
form and colour, often

fair

acquired, leased, sub-let, and transferred by

Roman

farmers

antient

and tenants being generally maintained in their rights, and


an elaborate corvee system worked with an eye indeed to the benefit of
Italian proprietors, yet with a tendency to keep peasant-life tolerable,
and not to aggravate traditional service all this developed highly in
Inscriptions
'Africa, nurse of pleaders,' some branches of legal skill.
witness to the care with which peasant farmers had their cases heard,
and the awards recorded monumentally for future information and

freeholders

security.

The moving part of the population consisted, not, as with us, of people
their way up to the metropolis to be lost in it, but of families and
masters, often veteran soldiers, halting on their way up the country, and

making

often increasing their little capital by the ingenious use of opportunities


which a seaport offered in the way of new arrivals, commodities accessible,
and industries in requisition. But finally they were in quest of rich
rewarding plots of soil, as near as might be to the countless little towns
which were growing out of villages and Punic stations in the plateaux
and slopes of Atlas. After a while they and their factors again crowded
the quays with their produce, and employed a conflux of foreign sailors,
porters, dock-labourers, to which the 'Rhuppapai' of the Piraeus was a

small orderly company.

Meantime the ultimately ruinous transfers of land were proceeding, by


which the superior ownership was concentrating itself under fewer and
fewer titles. Farms were therefore ranging themselves more and more

XXXU

INTRODUCTION.

round the bright towns, rich in every natural advantage of water and
wood and quarry, while enormous tracts of land were being afforested.
All this implied an immense class of lawyers and agents, of architects
and engineers, builders of aqueducts and road makers, with Colleges of
Surveyors who had never found it convenient to drop the augural system
which gave a Divine sanction to their mensuration. Their verdicts must
be no more disputed than those of the magistrates, who similarly supported their excellent character for justice by conjuring tricks, by retaining
priestly functions, by a grave acting of religious sentiments which few of

them

If there

entertained.

punish opinions which at

was one thing they disliked, it was having to


seemed to them only eccentric. Yet the

first

Christians turned even this into a grave necessity.

How

many

could there be

races without

Christians w^ould have but one God,


so

many

and

Him

many
a

gods.^

new

one.

Yet these

How

could

races have unity or coherence without the cultus of the one

Emperor ?
Before his bust in the standard of the legion, before his image in the

He might be
His iiunien was an earthly Providencepractically more useful than a heavenly one so useful that after
a temporary interruption by Christian Emperors the same cultus revived
shrine of the domestic cloister, incense went up continually.

but he was the Unity of Man.

vile,

and

on the same earthly


and Africans schools

flourishes

still

Among

centre.

They
became schools of Rhetoric. Spain, Gaul and Africa were each
famous, and Augustine admits no rival to Carthage except Rome, for
Professors of Oratory and of all the knowledge which oratory demands.
Fronto, with his 'gravity,' glorified as 'the Orator' and canonized by
AureUus' lavish friendship, was of Cirta. But as of old it was remarked
that Africa had produced no astronomer,' so to the last she reared no
Celts

of Latin were a necessity.

naturally

'

philosopher.

Augustine,

who owed

so

of Carthage with affection.

more

much
Its

'

to its schools,

cannot be said to speak


which swept away

riot of flagitious loves

'

dancing and scenic shame, and scarcely


less the falsity of its rhetorical training and the objects to be effected by
that training, made Carthage a blot on his memory.
He speaks with yet
even

'

the

sedate,' its stage

further horror of street scenes in which he never took part, the abominable
eversiones,
riots in

which seem

to

have perpetuated the tradition of those Punic

which, as at Alexandria, Polybius says the youths took as

much

part as the men.

But in general her citizens were as 'enamoured of Carthage as Pericles


wished his countrymen to be of Athens. The feeling is not ill represented
by Apuleius, himself 'a half Gaetulian, half Numidian' from Madaura.
'

He

speaks of her schools, her commerce and her religion as the never

CARTHAGE AND HER

XXXlll

SOCIETY.

worn out boast of her alumnus. Devotion to her as the one lasting
rivalry between two distinguished friends of his own.
Cyprian himself, confessing to the full the stains upon his own grave
professional life, yet exclaims as to Carthage itself, Where better, where
gladlier might I be than in the place where God willed me to believe and
'

grow ?

{credere et crescere).

'

Of

the Phoenician population of Carthage there has been

imagine,

little

to

know.

Scant record but an enduring type.

much

to

More than

had stepped hither, point by point


along the Mediterranean coasts on their way to Spain and outward.
Here an island, there a foreland or a peninsula had served their turn and

sixteen centuries before Christ they

But
or controllers of the moving currents of wealth.
was far their noblest settlement. About the eighth century it may
have been reorganized, receiving the name which appears on coin and
monument, Kart Hadasat, the New City which Cato tried to pronounce
They checked the advance of Cyrene, planting
in his 'Carthada.'
along the edge of the Lesser Syrtis, as far on as the Greater, a chain
of advanced posts, whose collective name of Emporia stamps the spirit
Where there were
of their foundation and indicates their wealth.
lagoons they rejoiced, and made them serviceable with quay and aqueduct
and causey. These towns they lost and won again and again in conflict

made them masters


this

They cared nothing

with native princes.

for the peoples

among whom

They paid

tribute readily

they fared, and nothing for their broad lands.

day came when it could be repudiated. A


hard unsympathetic spirit marked their rule. They amalgamated no
Their nearest
tribes, aUied no governments, conciHated no loyalty.
neighbour, Utica, whose interests seemed identical with those of Carthage,
was first to turn on her when her stress came.
They had brought a rich material dowry to their new country: purple
murex which on the seabanks of the Isle of Meninx became a source of
untold wealth olive, vine, artichoke, pomegranate, the date-palm which
soon possessed the land. The first of all treatises of gardening was
Mago's. They imbedded the city in gardens. That they did not introduce deer or boar is just a token of how little to them was the inland.
But they almost adored the native horse, and stamped him on their coins
to the inland tribes, until the

with perfect appreciation of his points.

They
tion.

them worships which had the

also brought with

orgy, cruelty

and

fascinations of

secrecy, worships ever deadliest to the religion of revela-

The Romans favoured

or adopted the service of the 'Daemon' or

'Genius of the Carthaginians,' Baal or Heracles or Eschmoun


'

'

of Astarte, Tanit, the

'

Juno or Virgo
'

are not wanting traces in the


there

is

Caelestis,

as well as

of whose observances there

Moslem villages of to-day. But everywhere


Amongst the most important of our Punic

the commercial touch.

inscriptions are

two

tariffs

which tabulate

for

Carthage and Marseilles

INTRODUCTION.

XXXIV
and

the fees

Punic words

perquisites of sacrifices
in

Augustine, one

and the price of

Of two

victims.

'Mammon,' which he renders

is

'Lucre,'

and he quotes one proverb, 'The Plague asks a coin: give two to be rid
of him.' Commerce was their aristocratic life, seacraft and ship-building
their ancestral pride.
'Thy benches of ivory fine linen with broidered
work of Egypt thy sail;. ..wise men thy calkers'; so Ezekiel touches in
;

the Tyrian galley, such a ship as sailed with

from the daughter Carthage.

its

annual freight of

'

First-

and low,
intriguing and bribing for office, says Polybius, with a bribery which
at Rome in his time would have been penal and capital
ambitious
with a passion which Hannibal himself failed to gratify.
The character of the race was permanent like its physiognomy in
both they were Che7iani, as they called themselves to the last, genuine
fruits'

gainful people, high

Canaanites.

When

the last Colonia settled 'within the vestiges of great Carthage,'

some thousands of Chenani lingering there, safer than among


Libyan nomads. They were not ejected. There was nothing to hinder
the redevelopment of their antient tastes, but everything to promote them.
there were

The Romans who had been so scared when the jackals pulled up the
boundary rods were only too glad to adore and to endow the gods in
possession.

how under

Empire the rich and


and sailors
found more employment than ever on the quays, harbour and lake, where
rode fleets of all nations. The memory of their past was written in colossal
characters all round them, and would have tended to keep a less supple
people separate in the pride both of achievement and of suffering, and
probably in a distinct quarter of the city. But of this we hear nothing.
And although some great Punic families probably withdrew gradually to
their remoter estates, as the Mahomedan gentry now sHp away from
It is

not hard, then, to understand

able Chenani prospered,

and how

the

their craftsmen, labourers

Algiers even against the wish of the French, yet at any rate in Carthage

strong interests promoted fusion.


It

is

more hard

copious Augustine,

to say

who

what hold Christianity took on them.

flashes into every corner, finds

it

The

needful to call

The second was


language had receded
Cyprian and TertuUian mention none.

attention to only two Punic words, even incidentally.

Messiah.
in the

We

must not assume from

two previous centuries,

for

this that the

The two Sacraments were known among them by

beautiful names,
which Augustine supposes must have come to
original Apostolic channel of their own.
Yet in the
Cyprianic documents, flowing over with sacramental language, there is but
one doubtful allusion, 'Laver of Health,' and that is in the retranslation
from Firmilian.
For official use Punic had been soon disallowed, and in Carthage the
Phoenicians soon became bilingual, but the Romans never.
In the more

meaning Salus and


them through some

Vita,

CARTHAGE AND HER SOCIETY.

XXXV

was talked by the lower orders, and was


up by higher circles, together with a little shocking
Greek, and no Latin to speak of. That was the case in Tripolis. Forty
miles from Hippo it was necessary in the fourth century to place a Punicspeaking Bishop in the town of Fussala, and the saintly Valerius took
Augustine for his coadjutor because it was impossible for him as a Greek
Phoenician then was a living tongue, and it had, we
to teach effectively.
know, an eloquence of its own. Severus was very prompt with it.' Its
old literature was read, and 'the learned found much wisdom in it.'
There was a free use by the population of an incorrect Latin, of which
primitive towns alone Punic
patriotically kept

'

we have examples in the Letters of Celerinus and Lucian, and relics in


many forms. The anti-Donatist 'Psalm' or Ballad, made to be sung about
was

was

scofifingly said that if Donatism were


claimed to be, only two of the Pentecostal tongues were worth anything, for it talked only Punic and Latin.
There is no trace of a Phoanician Christian Literature. Of a hundred
and forty or fifty names of Bishops in the Cyprianic papers, not more
than a dozen may be non-Latin, but apparently not more than one may be

by the

idiotce,

in Latin.

It

the only genuine Christianity, as

All the facts look one way,

Punic.
are

it

and they scarcely could be what they

we speak of had taken hold of the Phoenician


lower or its cultivated strata. The Latin Christian

Christianity at the time

if

nationality in either

its

speech which there developed was due to the fact that while the Church
in Rome was still a Greek Church, a Church of foreigners, the most
advanced classes in Carthage, of Roman origin and Latin tongue, were
the most Christian.

And when the jurists and the


men qualified to form with

touched, they were the very

rhetoricians were

accuracy the new

vocabulary of the new subject, and not to be deterred by the necessity for
fresh combinations of words when they set out to express truth with

The languid

strength.

literature, for

*
Their 'Africa'

such

it

had been, was regenerated.


*

for the Roman of Carthage was as proud of that name,

which had somehow come in with him and was unknown to the Greeks,
as the Londoner is of 'England' had begun to glory in having saturated

itself

with

meant

for

so

little

It

is

all

morals moralists

purified

enough

more the

the religions,

all

the pleasures, 'of the Greeks.'

tell.

by Christianity

for us

discipline, of

What

Salvian groans that the city


till

the strong, pure Vandals

to say that, for the masses, the

that

itself

came

standard,

was
in.

much

morals went down before the flood, unstemmed by

the pious propitiation of 'daemons,' ever multiplying, swarming on every

branch of life, while all life was pervaded by a sense of the unreality of
God.
Exceptions were eminent, possibly numerous. The monuments shew
that the old chaste, grave, diligent virtues were in honour.
Of the many
lecturers

in

philosophy few, perhaps, were not in some small degree

effective in raising the

moral tone of their best

disciples.

Some worked

INTRODUCTION.

XXXVl
a stern,

and

But when the best was done, the indiand the individual grew daily of less

self-satisfied, code.

if

moved

vidual only was

or raised,

less account.

The one

thing desirable, the one thing unattainable by any known


method, was a re-casting of Society, such that selfishness should be
discounted as an evil, the source of evil, and yet the individual be made

of full account.

Society faithful to the

Individual, the

Individual

devoted to the Society.

Meantime there had been growing up for more than a century and
a half in every grade of society a kind of Union, or rather a kind of
'People,' for this was what they meant to be, although not in any sense
a nation. They were uniformly loyal to the Government, save only as
But averse, even adto the one article of bearing arms in its service.
and sacred

verse, to almost every other influence, rule, tone, opinion, habit

observance of every locality in which they were found.


It

and

was understood that they were bound together in a federal network,


known, and that by the same

their leading officials generally well

They sought the individual whom they


official titles in all countries.
thought likely to join them. They cared for the stranger. If he became
one of them, they made him, wherever he travelled or settled, one of

God and Life and


Death were not the same things to them as to any others. There were
daily, and sometimes more frequent gatherings of their local groups.
In
a circle of pledged friends with vowed teachers.

public

life

they were irreproachable except for their strange conventions,

betraying their

new

Yet the

character.

by nothing sometimes but a deranged


moral of their neighbours had more than doubts

associations

least

of their secret licentiousness.


theories.

Historically

and

Few knew

the affiliations of their tenets or

'scholastically' they

were bound up with the

Jews, but Judaic hostility to them was unsleeping.


of philosophy considered that, with

more

Admired

professors

or less clearness, their ethical

notions were unaccountably sound, but so disfigured by being adapted to


fit

such hopeless people, and their evidently philosophic Founder so

guised behind a wild story and a sacrilegious theory, that

no

practical effect

on them

this could not

be wondered

if

the ethics

at.

Their unpopularity must rest on some deep contradiction to


principle, or

it

dis-

had

could not be so instructive and universal.

human

Social harass,

popular outbreak, magisterial severity, imperial thunder were perpetually

breaking on them, and were less than unavaihng; in fact stimulated


Until lately they had been
interest in them and adherence to them.
a non-descript between ethnics and Jews, a Tertium Genus
recognized tolerance

'

could scarcely be expected to tolerate.

whom

'our

Yet people

began slowly to be aware that the singular persons whom they knew
belonged to an invisible 'majority.'
We are men of yesterday,' says
'

Tertullian, yet they were 'filling cities, islands, castles, boroughs, council

rooms,

even

camps,

the

tribes, the decuries

palace,

senate, forum

CARTHAGE AND HER SOCIETY.

XXXVll

They had come in so insensibly that some


them still plied former callings inconsistent with their principles.
Now and then some were seen in the ctinei at the habitual spectacles.
Here in Africa at the Gate which all passed through there was no
doubt such another hospice on the quay as there was at Portus. There
were no doubt in the town Basilicas and 'Fabrics,' such as Fabian had,
and built at the same time in Rome. The private estate of their wellknown chief was large and beautiful. Then all along both ridges of
Atlas, and on to where he dipped to his own ocean, there was not a town
where they had not a footing and a constitution, officers and an inner
circle
not a farm where they did not claim a slave, if not a son. Their
officials, 'servants,' 'sub-servants' and 'followers,' flitted to and fro with
missives and carried monies on ships, through prison doors, among barracks and mines. When they were recognized they were gone. Their
'Overseers' convened themselves for deliberation when and where they

every place but the temples.'


of

Their public death-scenes from time to time were to their sect

pleased.

a kind of grave festival.

was and is vain to try to ascertain where and by what avenues the
had poured in. Cyprian only knew that the 'sacerdotal unity,' the
one order of bishops, traced to the 'primal church' of Rome. Augustine
only thought that the Punic Sacraments, called by names not borrowed or
rendered from the Latin, traced to some other Apostolic source. That is
all.
They were there and they were one. The Christians had in fact
come into possession as the Phoenicians themselves had come into possession of harbours and marts, not like the noisy Roman colonies, but
It

flood

without violence or observation.


It is

with a few years of this People that

ourselves.

we

are

now

to

concern

CHAPTER

I.

THE LAST OF THE LONG PEACE.


I.

Cyprians Preparation in Heathendom.

Such was

the city and the society in which, possibly after

long practice as an advocate, Thascius Cyprianus became the

most eminent master of

member

the leading

Of

forensic eloquence^

his birthplace or family

names* are almost unique


^

tantam

...in

quentise

ut

gloriam

venit

Hiei'on. coTiim.

extremum

ad

yon.

his

...et

torise

11.

sibi

V.

quae forensium

Lactant.

tuba

reads

name

mendacium.

On

from and

after the

(1888

90,

vol.

The only
which

advocates and rhetores

I.

iii.

pp. 322

c.

330)

Thascius Cyprianus he

presbyter's

where Pontius
and Pontius adds

(c.

4),

The

pleasant

recurrence of the prsenomen

I find is in

the African Kalendar,

called

Labbe v. c. 388.
The name Cyprianus occurs later,
among African Christians possibly called

by the proconsul (Acta Proc. 3, 4, cf.


Pontii Vit. Cypr.), and in the singular
heading of Ep. 66 he styles himself
B.

the

Cyprianus in the Decree of Cone. Rom.


I.

is

as

and

note in supplement.
^

'

which commemorates a 'Tascius Martyr'


on Sept. I. Its rarity no doubt leads to
the misnomer Tatius ( Tassius, Tarsus)

second century, see

Roms, B.

Caeciliani

fancy was likely to occur to biographers.

L. Friedlander, Darstellungen aus d.


Sittengeschichte

'

nothing on the subject.

Aug. Serm. 312, c. 4 (4).


the high rank and fortunes at-

many

cognomentum

in the only place

mentions him

In alia

schola, &c.

tained by

'

converted him, he

Ep. 66) is called Caecilius


But the adoption must be
doubtful, since every MS. and ed. Man.

mendaciorum certamina

loqui

who

After

Jerome

Cyprianus.

artis ora-

solebat acuere...suam et alioruna linguas

docuerat

of the

III.),

to

became Thascius Csecilius Cyprianus,


and in his proscription (which he him-

Euseb.

vocis

...tantas

r.

Thascius.'

self quotes

gloriam ex

professione quresierat.

Div. Inst.

to say

both his

according

of the presbyter

Olynip. 258.

magnam

adoption,

{De Viris

c. 3.

Carthaginiensis

episcopus martyrio coronatur.


Chrotiicon

is

nomenclature of antiquity,

'Cyprianus qui et

elo-

Cyprianus primum rhetor, deinde presbyter,

that

we know nothing

in the

oratoriam quoque doceret

Carthagini.

of the highest of the professions I

sb Gelas.,

after

him

e.g.

one of the Fathers in the

Carthaginian council of A.D. 416 (Aug.

CYPRIAN

and when he speaks affectionately of Carthage as the happiest


place on earth to him,

and grow up

believe

where God had willed that he should

'

the

(in

faith),'

omitted to claim a native interest

he possessed

he would scarcely have


beloved home, had

in the

it\

All that to us

represented by the influence of the press

is

power of eloquence.

lay in an ancient capital within the

Far

from any shade of unreality resting on them the teachers of

The

oratory were courted leaders in society.

publicity of

life,

the majesty of national audiences, the familiarity of the culti-

vated classes with the teaching of the schools, required the


orator to be not only perfect in the graces of

versed in ethical science


as well

as

to

than attractive

and an

tician

At

be
;

armed with

to be

of invention

facile

in short to

be a wit and a student, a poli-

eclectic philosopher.
still

under the tuition of the Rhodian Molonl


named, as is also
the Deacon who carried the remarkable
is

so

Jerome and

correspondence between

Augustine (Aug. Epp. 71


Presbyter, to

but to be

arguments

not less convincing

the age of nearly thirty Cicero was

Epp. 175, 181)

life,

solid

et

whom Jerome

Q.

TASGivs fortvnatvs.

From

the connection of Cyprus with

Carthage

writes as

to derive

Augustine's fourth

also Co7p. Inscrr. Latt.voi.yM.n. ^I'ji

sqq.)

placing himself

it

might have seemed possible

Cyprianus thence

if

Cyprius

iii.

had been an ascertained proper name,


but scarcely otherwise. Pape connects
it
with 'Copper.'
If derived from

34 (40)) in C. Insc. Gr. iv. 8954


from Bethlehem, 9203, 9412 'Kr\TTpy\(a)-

divine names, Apollonius, Herculanus,

vov; '\XiC.Inscrr.Latt.v\\\.\. \^t,^ 2291

&c., be

Presbyterorum studiosissime,' Ep. 140


('39) (13)

01^

Psalm 89

(90);

Donatist Bishop (Aug. c /zVA


c.

(a

and a

/V^//.

Bishop of Bagai), viii.

in Procopius as the

ii.

10539; ^"^^

name of a Dux foede'

Cypris

would, as other derivatives of

it

more common. Names given


goddess come generally from

after this

Aphrodite.

ratorum' in the Vandal and Gothic wars.

Thus Pape properly calls it a late name.


The origin of both names is unknown.
The Mozarabic Vesper Hymn for his

cated

day begins 'Urbis magister Tascioe,'


Lit. Moz. ed. Migne il. c. 1201 (ed.

Y^o.px')^^'*'---^^

Card.

Ximenes,

'Tusciae'),

but

this

The

birthplace

by the

is

not really indi-

passages

quoted

from

Pnidentius Peristeph.

xiii.

prius patriae martyr,'

and Suidas,

ing

their

'h'^

upfidro,

authority

to

'

est pros.v.

even supposbe

sufficient.

Jerome's 'Cyprianus Afer' cannot be

cannot be identified with the African

taken, as by Fechtrup, to

town Thacia [Tab. Pent.), Qaala. {PioL),


or regarded as more than a guess.
See

sarily a native of Africa.


^

Yot the third time

mean

neces-

Cic. Brut. 91.

AT THE AFRICAN BAR.

I. I.

book on Christian Doctrine shews us that five centuries and


a changed religion did not abate the value placed on technical

No statesman's name had for generations commanded such reverence as was paid in Cyprian's times to the
life and memory of Timesitheus the Rhetorician, whose daughter
the young African Emperor had espoused', and whose honour
perfection.

and universal cultivation and experience had

for a brief interval

restored purity to the court, dignity to the senate, and discipline to the

To

camps of Rome.

the well-moulded strength of

Roman

eloquence Africa,

nurse of pleadersV had added a fervour not unlike that with

'

which Ireland has enriched the English

memory', and a methodic,

pursued the highest literary culture.

'

With a powerful

bar.

mind, Cyprian had

classificatory

What

gold,

what raiment he brought with him out of Egypt

And

Augustine.

what
!

silver,

exclaims

'

Jerome, treating the conquest of the literary

world by Christianity as grander than any triumph over mere

power or luxury, and seeking an instance of the true


of the

World,' who

are last of

'

'at length, like the Ninevite,

all

'

Kings

to hear the word, yet

descend from their thrones to

'

plebeian levels, lay aside the radiance of their eloquence, put

'

away the

'

content themselves with the majesty of Christian thoughts

intoxicating draught of words, and

thenceforth

selects the great Carthaginian master*.


Jul. Capitol.

Gordia7ii Tres

c.

23

dignum parentela sua


[The incredible name ^//^zV/^ewj

Nero

Julius Africanus in the time of

whom

'causa eloquentiffi

were orators

putavit.'

118)

compares

latter

he describes as 'concitatior sed in

givenhimbyjulius,andthat of

by Zosimus (i.
His name was

17, 18) are

Zi'w^^/V/fj

both mistakes.

in full C. Ftirius

Sabmius

AquilaTimesitheiis. See two interesting


In.scriptions in Orelli, Inscrr. Latt. v.
3,

pp. 103, 4, nn. 5530,

with facsimile

and

I.

full

The former
comment in

L. Renier's and J. B. Monfalcon's ed. of


J.

Spon (Lyon
^

Juv. Sai.

dicorum

1857), pp. 162, 3.]


vii.

Africa.'

to

Quintilian

(x.

the ancients;

t,

the

cura verborum nimius.'

Memoriosa mens, Pont. Vit. 5. Cf.


'quantum mediocris
memoria suggerebat.'
Comm. injon.c. i- So Greg. Naz.
^

preface to Testitn.

'*

(9/-.

xxiv. 6 ...t6tw;'X67wi' /cpdros, twj' re

/cara (piKoaocpiav Kal oVoi ttjs aXXr?s irai-

Se^aews, Kal ro^ruv 8

148 'nutricula causi-

/xdWov

Domitius Afer and

eKa.(TTip

fi^v

)3oi)\et /nipos'

rb TroUiXou ^ rb

davfid^eadai.'

jxaWov Sk rb
I

us

&Kpov ev

eiSb-

Ob. a.d.

CYPRIAN.

No

more

accessions, indeed, to the Christian ranks were

Versed

important than the conversions of the great lawyers.

and

in letters

modern thought, practised

in

in

circle of refined habit of

the sifting of

moving

evidence, cold to the voice of enthusiasm,

in

that

which Minucius gives so delicate a

picture in his barrister's holiday at Ostia, accustomed more-

over to see Christians at the worst worldly advantage, they

became witnesses and disciples at once. Nor are any phenomena more significant of the hold which was being gained
upon the Roman world than first the conversion, and next
the superiority to contemporary ethnic writers, in genius alike

Cyprian.

in cultivation, of a Tertullian, a Felix, a

and

The

the time when he

middle

had attained might alone imply that

position he

gardens

landed property

affluent, his

home of which he speaks to Donatus as no longer


purged eye

sketched apparently from his own

is

The

Carthage spacious and beautiful^

in

at

Cyprian had passed

attracts our notice

His wealth was

life\

large, his

first

fair to
it is

the

a villa

of more than Pompeian richness, with frescoed walls, gilded

and marble-lined saloons^

ceilings,
KifJLOtf

him ( Or.

TTepl

ir6.vTa iroKv-

calling

It is evident that

Gregory had

avdos, confuses

iv eKd<TT({) TTJs

iw-dlat.

read some at least of his treatises (and


see also c.

There

7).

no ground

is

for

according to the story,

ad Donat., i, 15.
Compare Vitru v. vi.
Forensibus autem et disertis

supposing his other Cyprian to have

'

Pont. Vit.

written anything.

'

Ad Don.

Pearson rightly

inference from the

sets aside Baronius'

Ad Donatum

(atria)

c.

xxiv. 6) rb Trjs veor-qTos

him with the Oriental


Cyprian who was somewhat over 30

(8)

'

2,

15.

elegantiora et spatiosiora ad con-

ventus excipiundos.' I do not introduce

that Pontius gives

age, and observes


no hint of it. This
would be strange in a biographer, and

to the text Gregoiy's 6 TrXoi^ry Trepicpayrjs

although supergressus vetustatis atatem

yvdipi/xos ...crvyKK-qTov

'senio,'

to his

as

Pont. Vit. 1
antiquity,'

may mean

it is

'

surpassing

all

just possible that in his

superfine style he

may

parallel veteribus

hy vetustatis and senibus hy crtatem, thus


implying old age. Antiquity
of the antithesis, and he

is

is

not part

contrasting

Cyprian with those

who had heard

truth all their lives.

Gregory Nazianzen,

the

Kcd 5vva<TTelq. irepl^XeirTos Kai

^ovXijs

koX Trpoedpia because there

is

yiva

fierovala.

no knowing

whether he has the right Cyprian before


him.
c.

Or. xxiv. 6.

3 has

no

The end of Ad Don.


own position,

relation to his

'Fascibus ilk oblectatus..../yzV stipatus


clientium cuneis' are picturesque
trations simply,

illus-

HIS PERSON

I. I,

AND

PLACE.

His personal address was conciliatory yet dignified,

manner

affectionate, his expression

His

grave joyousness.

by a

attractive

his

certain

yet appropriate to his

dress, quiet

was remarked on as answering to his calm tone of


mind \ He never thought it necessary to assume the philosopher's pall, which Tertullian had maintained to be the
true dress of a Christian, for to him the bared arm and
exposed chest seemed rather pretentious than plaint Augustine, when acknowledging the benefits he had derived through
rank,

Cyprian's intercessions, dwells especially on the never-hard-

ened tenderness of

his character.

'

Gentle he was when he

'had yet to endure amid various temptations


*

perils

Even

^'

to the last

this world's

was claimed by

his friendship

senator and knight, by the oldest heathen houses, and the


highest ranks of the province^

Yet wealth and elegance, cultivation and good sense, might


left him the mere ornament of his circle or perhaps of

have
^

Gravis vultus et

Isetus

nee severitas

nee eomitas nimia...nec eultus

tristis

dispar a vultu, temperatus et ipse de

when he

Pont.

Vii.

6.

Serm. 312,

Pont.

Gregory Nazianz. surely had read the

says rb
vov

irepl

tAs

evreij^eii vxj/rjKov

ofiov Kal <pL\dvdpuirov,

eureXetas
^

/cat

pectoris,' &c.

demns the mode

iffov

dirix^iv

Or. xxiv. 13.

avdaSeLas.

De Bono Paiientia

minudi

us

re

'

exserti ae se-

That

is,

he eon-

of wearing the Pallium

which Justin kept and which Tertullian


recommended as ascetic and Christian.
It is

represented in the

Callistus

on two

figures

Cemetery of
of

teachers

11. p. 349, Tav.


These belong to the middle
of the second century, and the fashion
does not reappear. If Gregory Nazianzen means that Cyprian wore the

-repl

rrjv

iuavrlav

Dr

17.

Greg. Naz.
KvTrpia-

aXXd

ijfjuv

works

from Lactantius, that a nick-

Coprianus

Kal

Teray/M^pois... Or. xxiv.

Peters, p. 38, solemnly

out, as if

name

heathen

this

fi^v 6vo/u,a ttoKv irapa. iraai

'

was

effectually used

Carthage to laugh away Cyprian's

at

influence.

All that Lactantius says

Divin. Instt. v.

accomplished
say

fifty

it

that he

man break

was

that

'

this sorry jest,

had devoted

old wives' fables.'

point

Cf. inter

itself to

copreas,

Scurra qui incopriatur,

Suet. Tib. 61.


Isidor.

The

so elegant a wit, meant

for better things,

Gloss.

is

had heard an

years at least later.

(de Rossi, R. S., vol.

palliuvi (as he seems to do, Or. xxiv. 13,

And

him remained.

XV.

7, 9).

t6

one of his eount-

Kal ov Xpiffriavois jj.6vov

ttjp

of

him

i.

c.

ViL 14.

respect for

passage whieh he thus beautifully condenses, t6

in

it is

mistakes about him.

less

medio; non ilium superbia ssecularis


inflaverat, nee tamen prorsus adfeetata penuria sordidarat.

praises

^o-^^ra 0tX6(ro0oj')

ap.

Philol. (1698) v.

II.

M.

Martini Lexic.

CYPRIAN CALLED FROM THE BAR.

the church, but for his instinctive delight in concerting action

men about

with others and in gathering influential


finely

suitable

moment, and a

of weight informed of
habits
\ the

him, a

developed tact in approaching the right person at the

may

belong to

real laboriousness in

keeping people

Such

they could desire to know.

all

men

of small conceptions

if

they are

accompaniments of genius, such a genius moves the

world.

The

peculiar expressions of two authorities, one of

whom

from local opportunities, the other from the character of his

may have

seen good reasons for their words,


somewhat more than the common function
of an advocate, he had concerned himself with maintaining
Whether in processes touching temple endowpolytheism.

investigations,

imply

that,

in

ments, or in procedures against Christians, in panegyrics, or in

some more speculative way, cannot now be determined, but


Jerome distinctly speaks of his having been a vindicator^ of
the garniture of that
idolatry,' and Augustine dwells on
'noble eloquence whereby the crumbling doctrines of daemons
'

'

were once undeservedly decorated,'

'

'as from
'

deadly

some precious

'

that eloquence wherein,

drank pledges to

goblet, he once

errors".'

The purport

of the Christian rites had nevertheless not

Like

escaped his earlier observation as a moralist.


noble heathen he had

known what

The power

sensual habit.

it

many

menYet the

of Baptismal Grace had been

tioned in his hearing and not excited his derision.

suppression of passion and surrender of indulgence was


^

Comin. in yon. 3

trise,' cf.

Optat.

i.

clesise CatholicLis.'

c.

'

adsertor idolola'

adsertoribus ec-

So Aug. Conf.

viii.

says that Victorinus the rhetorician

up

had

to an advanced age defended with

fanatic eloquence

(ore

monstrous foreign gods.

terricrepo)

the

In an inscrip-

on Donatus Bishop of
Tanaramusa (C. Insert. Latt. vin. ii.
tion of A.D. 495

was to rebel against

n.

9286) he

is

still

styled (mu)LTis EXILIIS

probatvs et fidei catholicae adsertor dignvs inventvs.


As to Cyprian we scarcely dare quote
(saepe)

Gregory Nazianzen
his daifiovuiv

TriKporaros
dition.
^

rjv

may

But

represent the same tra-

0?: xxiv.

Sertn. 312,

for such a fact.

depairevTT]s...Kat didoKTrji

c.

8.
2 (2).

CYPRIAN THE CATECHUMEN.

I. 11.

an incredible dream to the observer of human nature\


last,

with closer observation,

Presence

came the

world, adequate even to those effects.

in the

to

crown a long

At^^j.

life

city, Caecilian

Cyprian by imparting to him the Nova Vita of the world".

Cyprian became a Catechumen of the Church of Carthage,

famous already

The head

for her

faith,

'

organization, and quietude^'

of the society was Donatus*.

II.

Cypriaiis Preparation under the Church.

The
getic a

period of Catechesis would naturally engage so ener-

convert in that closeness of study which

indicates,

and which

enormous

his

Pontius

classified copiousness of

illustration evinces to

have been at some time bestowed by

Cyprian on Scripture.

But, qualified as his mature reason

have been

for reflection, the habits of the

lated thought into

life.

man

may

instantly trans-

His work never became speculative,

was purely

scarcely ever

He

doctrinal.

read to practised

His friend dwells on the vividness with which

in the conver-

and the subsequent months he analysed

sations of these

for

himself and for the group which surrounded him lessons of


'

God-pleasing' lives to which his

^ Cum
in
me^ nescius,

possibilis,'

tenebris...jacerem... vitje
veritatis...alienus...'

Qui

aiebam, 'tanta conversio?'...

desperatione meliorum malis meis...et

Ad Don.

favebam.
^

...viri

Caeciliani

et

presbyteri, qui

3, 4.

et laudabilis

justi

honore

tunc

eum ad

agnitionem veras

divinitatis...wo yisw ut

et

amicum animee

cosequalem sed tanquam novse


rentem.

memoriae

tetate

Pont. wV.

jectures without

4.

vitas

pa-

DomMarancon-

any ground that he

is

a.d. 246.

c.

by name, P'^""*"^
and devoted friendship forP Alb...

presbyter of high character in the

was permitted

At

recognition of a Divine

new readings introduced


who

the Csecilius Natalis

the

converted

is

by Octavius in Minucius Felix,


^ Novimus Carthaginiensis Ecclesite
fidem, novimus institutionem, novimus
humilitatem. Ep. 36. 3, from Roman
clergy

(Novatian).

fratrum'.^//. 10.

5,

Cf.

'in

operibus

'antecessoribus' 15.

i, 16. i.
^

Ep.

Prudentius well touches this charac-

teristic,

trare

59. 10.

'

/^zV^r^ /wj/iV/aw Christi

dogma

nostrum.'

Per.

xiii.

pene32.

CYPRIAN THE CATECHUMEN.

He

man

of the world.

relic

of Cyprian's talk.

wording

gives us the very words^ of one vivid


It

is

about Job, and though the

throughout, the thoughts are almost identical

differs

with his later reflections on the character which appear in the

book Of Patience.

How

deep-dyed a stain rested on society

was attached to the

singularity which

moment

from the

fact that

of his entrance into the ranks of the Catechumens,

and before the insight of the second

birth,'

the

devoted himself to perfect chastity ^

What

he

'

moral obligation of his position


of the headings of his

seen in the

is

'

no more.'

to sin

This

singularly deduced from a false reading of St Paul

good

evil while

Thus

comijtg

is

whose damnation

and

one

in

is
'

however

Let us do

is just^.'

examples of

early* also he reverted to the primitive

liberality,

to be the

felt

no doubt expressed

is

Testimonies,' soon afterwards compiled

Catechumen ought

'that a

new convert

in seeking to palliate the incurable

pauperism

of his time parted with his property, whole farms apparently

once^ and distributed

at
^

Observe the direct

tenses,

how

Pat. 18.

the proceeds.

and the

Pont. Vit.

introduction of dicebat.

Compare De B.

all

'"

Observe also

a forger of either of these pieces

would

have

genuine one

words from

copied

while

the

two independent

forgers could never have so coincided in

thought and tone.

The one word of

coincidence

calling

is

the

commendation a 'blessing'

of

God's

(benedictio

vla.1

This alone shews

and

how

the

x'^i^^^-

dypvirviai. attributed to

him by

Greg. Naz. are in a false key, and do not

belong to

The

tractis

ix. 26.

text here

is

interesting.

rum pacem sustinendam,


pretia dispensans, &c.'

ing in Pont.

Vit.

c.

is

The reading

Bodl. Laud. Misc.

t/iis

Cyprian.

Or. xxiv. 13.

good

cem

'

fol.

'

Rudis

fidei et cui

nondum

Vit. 2, i.e.

forsitan

whilst his

conversion was probably distrusted, like

intoler-

(ms.

i.

192) 'indigen'

is

not only
'

pa-

through an intermediate abbre-

viation pin.

Fox pretia most editions have

corrupt proelia preda

crederetur,' Pont.

meaning

is

sense, but also accounts for

ap. Test.

98.

')

of Bodl. MS.

but pro proelia preda

'

iii.

But 'pacem

1.

Faciamus mala dum veniunt bona


quorum damnatio justa est,' Rom. iii. 8
^

prope

tota

freedom from persecution

able.

Dis-

Hartel's read-

in this material sense (and not


'

'

rebus suis ad indigentium multo-

tiam multorum pauperum

benediceret)
^

St Paul's, Acts

3.

is

pretio,

the reading of

The

Cod. T, the favourite of Hartel.


indicates

more

than the word pretia only, and Fell's


'tota pncdia pretio dispensans'

is

too

Dr Hort once suggested

to

me

harsh.

I.

HIS FIRST EXERCISE.

II.

Two

works of Carthaginian authorship had probably been,

hands of

in the

version,

the

his friend Caecilian, instrumental to his con-

of Minucius Felix, and

Octavitis

geticwn of Tertullian.

Roman

speech of the

the Apolo-

was the
of making the

Tertullian's passionate genius

to grapple with the

first

amazing

difficulty

That

a vehicle for Theology.

his style

was hard, dark, granitic is no wonder. Cyprian henceforth


was his devoted yet discriminating disciple. He daily called
for some manuscript of his in the famous phrase
Give me
'

The MasterV
His

first

labour probably was, with the condensation and

the lucid arrangement of a pleader, retaining as far as possible

the words of his originals, yet avoiding whatever was dis-

produce for those who

pleasingly rugged or ambiguous, to

had witnessed
little

his

activity in the opposite

camp, a

telling

resum6 of Minucius' anti-polytheistic arguments^ and


magnificent presentment of the Person of

of Tertullian's
Christ.
It

^
'

came

out,

we know not when,

and Dr Westcott

pretia pradiorum,''
tota prope prcBdia.^

Bodl. MS.

plurima

I.

pretia,' but

into propria,

ix.

originally read 'tota/ro

has been corrected

by changing the

tall /

of

the original abbreviation //z into a tall

r in shape like others.

was
out

This MS. which

full of errors was corrected throughby a contemporary hand, and we

have here perhaps the right reading,


Quite a Pontian

'tota propria pretia.'

And

venalium.'

quotes

36,

nemo

headed

a Thesis

as

Augustine, Ep. 185,

Acts

32

iv.

as

'et

dicebat aliquid proprium.'

See

P. Sabatier, Bibll. SS. Latt. Verss. Antt.

Cyprian

I.e.

de

unit.

26 has

'

fiin-

dos...in usus indigentium pretia.''


op. et

25

el.

De

prcedia...dispensandam...

distracto.'
^

'

Da

Magistrum.'

Hieron. de Virr.

///. 53.
2

simple juxtaposition of passages

way

shews the Octaviiis to be the

own.'

and Jerome in his de Virr. III. to be


right in naming Minucius earlier than

of expressing that as in Acts v. 4


the prices 'after it was sold were his

The

passage

is

evidently a

remi-

34 which in the
Versio Latina Aniiqua ran 'Nee enim

niscence of Acts

iv.

Quotquot
indigens aliquis erat in eis.
enim possessores prcedioriim aut domo-

rum

erant vendentes adferebant pretia

Cyprian.

Divisions

and

of the tract

are compiled from Minucius 20


32.

The

23.

9) the

original,

27,

iS,

3rd from Tertullian Apol. 21

Cyprian had also read {Quod Id.

De

Testimonio Animce.

CYPRIAN THE CATECHUMEN.

lO
'

That Idols are not Gods\'

the work of a learner,

It is

not of a teachers

little later

he challenges the world's Life:

this

was

his

review of the world's Creeds.

The popular

I.

Divinities can, he argues, be identified with

Their variety, the survival of local

benefactors.

historical

tradition about them, the inferiority of one national

another, the occasional suppression of one group

demonstrate

sufficiently

was one of the

The indigenous Roman group

this.

prominent or

least

group to

by another,

Who

least respectable.

could credit Picus or Tiberinus, Pavor or Cloacina with the

Rome

rise of

To

.''

native deities the greatness of the

Empire

owed nothing. After lodging this shaft, he accepts the theory,


supported by a consensus, as he says, of the master minds of
antiquity,
of the operation of wandering and impure spirits.

Their presence

is

of vaticination and possession

stitious

fabric

false,

deceiving

Their

and being

phe-

upon which the super-

of worship has been raised

rational service of God.

many

to account for the

sufficient

nomena

office is to

'

confound true with

He

deceived.'

the

to obstruct

then confidently

challenges their votaries to be present at a Christian Exor-

He

cism.

speaks of extraordinary scenes

the confessions,
as familiar

the lamentations, the departure of these spirits

events ^
^

For the

sint,'

title

kept in

'quod Idola

dii

non

the manuscripts, and

all

confirmed by Jerome Ej>. 70

(84). 5

ad

ing {historiarum 0Tnniu7ii

not
it

know how

was.

scietitia)

did

simple a compilation

For instance,

it

betrays no fur-

Magnum, and by Cyp. Ep. ad Fortiinat.

ther acquaintance than comes through

opening with the same words, nearly all

21) with Euhemerus the


whose Tepoi 'Ai'a7pa0i7,
translated by Ennius, was exactly to

editions have substituted

Vanitate,'

so

destroying

'De Idolorum
the

character of a simple thesis.

no shadow of ground

ment of

for Peters' treat-

and the Letter


together forming
an

as

this

modest
There is

to

Donatus
Apologia

proper.
'^

Jerome

it

from the

(/.<:.)

praising

(c.

Rationalist,

Cyprian's purpose,
^

am

not sure that Cyprian means

to say that

although,
still

Pontius omits

works.

Minucius

he had been an eyewitness,


not, he should have written

if

more guardedly. He however only


Quod Id. c. 7 and again

list

of his

says 'videas

its

learn-

ad Demetrian.

'

15

'videbis.'

'Sub

'THAT IDOLS ARE NOT

I. II.

In contrast with

2.

only illustrates
traces of

He

attempts no proof of this

felicitously,

from analogy and from

in the universal consciousness.

it

Now

3.

and not

it,

II

confusion rises the majestic

all this

truth of the Unity of God.

GODS.*

comes

the impressive history of Judaism and

in

the exact correspondence of

its

and

greatness,

with predictions which had linked

dispersion,

its

destiny to obedience.

its

Those same predictions had anticipated a universal nation


union with

God

incarnate.

of

the

Race of Man,

He

concludes,

themselves.

the

in

manu

Christian

to

illumi-

Him, and the coming


beginning

are

perhaps

for

argument, by

The

the world.

facts before

nation of the individual by Faith in


elevation

in

of Christ, the

work and Person, the testimony

misinterpretation of His

His Resurrection, are

The appearance

putting

the

to

fulfil

first

time

evidence

in

the

nostra,'

'a nobis' are not con-

both the reality of exorcism and the vain

They

are taken from Minucius

attempts at

clusive.

Besides, the very strong langvxage

c. 27.

[Cf. Recognit. Clement.

it.

A large collection

iv. 20.]

of passages

H. Hurler's SS.

of Cyprian 'videas illos nostra voce et

is

oratione majestatis occult^e flagris ccedi,

Patr. Opusaila,

igne torreri, increniento pcense propagantis extendi, ejulare, gemere, depre-

Ep. 22. 9, has 'cognovistis 'uaovidisiis,^


which he ought not to have written, as

looks like a mere amplification of

TertuUian ought not to have written

cari

'

in Dissert.

in

I.,

vol.

Apol.

verboruvi, oratioiiis incendiis Aq corpori-

tators themselves also.

who is more special also


he speaks of Saturn, Serapis,
Jupiter being thus expelled. Cyprian
repeats his own words in ad Don. 5.
bus exiguntur,'

Naz. Carni.

in that

himself,

In a strange passage Ep. 69.


exorcism

15,

though

tism 'must be held' to overpower the

to

the

phenomena

is

hard

to

find,

though appeals to the knowledge of


readers, even pagans, are numerous.

Ep.

i.

ad

t.

II.,

Fathers, pt.

c.

/jLOvvov

p. 407,

Xdxos

ovvofia,

5'

uix^to TrfKodc

/lidovTos.

adjures a daemon,

that

it

'

setting before

it

the

and the God of the Hebrews.'

The daemon was

I.

says of

Damascius' Life ofIsidore, Phot. Bibl.


Theosebius
242; 551 H (ed. Bekker).

Nov.

(Clement), vol.

83,

Tpv^cjv, ao'xaXo'wj' re, jSowi' crO^vos 'T\pi.-

12 [Wetstein,

(1890)] recognises in the second century

80

ieiirov 6

sun's rays

Ap.

7,

Salfxii}!/

of S.

see Bp. Lightfoot,

ii.

eyio 'Kpiarov

name

Virgines, under the

Clement of Rome,
T. Gr.

TToWaKi

Personal testimony

Devil (diabolus).

II.

However Greg.

aeTTTov

not always successful, bap-

is

yap

.../cat

had been spec-

23, except they

Minucius' 'quoties a nobis et tormentis

c.

St Ambrose,

I.

driven

off,

exclaiming

'reverenced the gods, and was

ashamed before him

too.'

CYPRIAN THE CATECHUMEN.

12

continuous sufferings of

believers

in

attestation

of their

credibility\
brilliant little pamphlet* cannot but have had an
none the weaker because the reasonings were not new.
was even more remarkable that language which had been

The

effect,
It

century before the world should have been taken

half a

by the famous Thascius. The


argument
had indeed long ferof the
Polytheism had halted, unable either to remove

up, pointed, edged, polished

destructive details

mented.

them or

The very attempts made

repair them.

to tinge the

legends with Christian morality pointed the fatal contrasts

From

before Cicero's day until

now

the thoughtful

Roman

same sad eye. Like Cicero,


Cyprian must have long contemned Acca and Flora and the
Bald Venus, yet underneath all had recognised a supernatural
basis.
Like him he had from time to time distrusted the
most refined pleasures like him had despaired of society.
had looked on

religion with the

And
him

even now, though the Person of Christ had risen before


as the Regenerator,

tion that the Faith

could not yet grasp the concep-

lie

would

effect the reconstruction of society

or the amelioration of governments.


society,

and eternal salvation

that he yet hopes

from history.

He

for.

Nations

rise

for

its

pure society within

holy members,

is

all

deliberately excludes providence

and

fall

by some external inde-

cipherable law of change, without conscience and without


reward'*.

Ac

ne esset probatio minus solida...

dolor qui veritatis


&c.

Quod

Id.

testis est,

15.

admovetur,

This remark and

the homethrust at the inadequacy of the

Roman gods originate

(so far as I

know)

with our author.


^

The

qualities

justly notes in

are brevitas

it

See

Mohler

(ap.

Kirckengesch., pp. 583

(/.

c.)

splen-

Quod Id.

'

Peters,

p.

61),

ff.

regna non merito acci-

dunt sed sorte variantur.'

which Jerome

and

dor.

I.

PAGAN

III.

LIFE.

III.

Lay- Work.

We may

perhaps assume that Cyprian received baptism

a.d. 246.

most usual in Africa, the season of Easter


u^y,
autumn holidays next ensuing, and in his own -^P"^
gardens, he places the time and scene of a monologue a brief
Christian Tusculan
addressed to a fellow-neophyte^ and
brother rhetorician, Donatus. The subject was one in which
Cicero would have gloried, THE GRACE OF GOD^
at the time

In the

'9-

He

paints the scene with a fulness of colour which will ask

who

further criticism, but with the tenderness of one

that a higher call

robbing

is

it

of

From

charm.

its

feels

the busy

thoughtless sounds of the slave-household they retire to a

and here Cyprian pours forth the freshest


intensest expressions of relief from the old passionate thraldom,
'

viny

cloister,'

and of joyous
be

will

doctrine

now
new

is

no

There
examined

I see.'

life

spiritual analysis

but there

We discern what Cyprian

restfulness in Christ.

there

the deep avowal

is

is
;

there

'

is

no subtlety of

whereas

was blind

the modest claim to have the evidence of

the confident assertion of a power above

the powers of darkness.

Behind the two friends

lies

the awful background of a fast

corrupting society, surrendering itself to unblushing


private

and

the scale

They

public.

pass

the Criminal classes

lie

law, threateningly aggressive

The arena

aimless war.
^

Tert. de Baptisino

Ad

jam

Don.

c.

15

c.

is

Life

visibly

spiritalibus castris militia caelestis

no

to the eleventh cen-

title.

In that century

War

is

incessant,

The

the prologue to his translation

of Origen's Homilies on Numbers, with


'

Ut

verbis

loquar

The MSS. up

in

sections defiant of

deadening humanity.
is

evils,

Lowest

in review.

society.

which

19.

'Tu tantum, quem

'

whole

upon

signavit.'

tury give

'

sime.'

tibi,

beati martyris

frater,

Bene admones, Donate carisThe title De gratia Dei is Bp.

Fell's invention

from Pontius' allusion

'pistolaadDo?tat7im'hegaritoheused.

'Quis emolumentum gratiae per fidem

Rufinus begins his

proficientis ostenderet ?

letter to

Ursacius,

'

Pont.

Vif. 7.

^^__^

CYPRIAN BAPTIZED.

14
theatre with

unnatural subjects and impure spectacles

its

the divinisation of

is

lust.

In fixing upon the arena as a degradation in comparison


of which slavery, that

Cyprian

silence,

is

'

abyss of misery,'

The

true to nature.

may be

passed in

delight in blood has

become a systematized passion. He marks the simplicity,


the manly health and grace, of the youths trained to mutual
murder under the eyes of their own fathers; the brother waits
'

'

'

above which

the expectant sister

'

his turn in the den,

'

the mother pays a higher price for the ticket to witness her

sits

deathwound on a gala day, and there is not the faintest


In thus regarding the
'sense of guilt on any conscience^'
unknown individual man and the affections which ought to
child's

'

him

centre on

as a precious thing, the Christian idea restores

something to the world which

The appalling proportions

of the crime to which every city dedicated

may

its

grandest building,

be judged from the fact that when Cyprian became

bishop, within two years from this time, the

had

had taught an

civilisation

Antonine, an Aurelius to ignore.

Rome's

first

his

Emperors

Philip

on the completion of

whom

the gentle Gordian had provided to

own triumph.

Meantime the horrors


the veil

Age-,'

thousand years, by the combats of that thousand

pair of gladiators,

adorn

New

'The

just celebrated

is

of private licentiousness, from which

from time to time rent by some cause

which the very evidence

is

celebre in

the corruption and

criminal,

inhuman procedures of the judicature, the degrading competition for official rank, and the trembling insecurity of
military dominion, stamp the decline of public and domestic
morality^

Were
1

Ad

those

the

dreams of despondency and world-

Don. 7. The indignation of


had already boiled over in

'the Master'

\h&
2

De

The

liarium sseculum' or

Euseb. {Chronic.
A.D. 247.

Spectaculis.

A.D. 248.

to the 3rd consulship of the elder Philip,

coins

fix

the 'mil-

'novum sseculum'

264
^

II.)

dates

Clinton, Fast.

5, Jul.

Ad Don.

it

wrongly

Rom.

Capitol. Gord. Tres

13.

i.

pp,

c.

33.

THE GRACE OF BAPTISM.

I. III.

weariness

The answer

scandalous anecdotes.

not to be gained by collecting

is

But, apart from the end to which

was tending, we
be just from his treatment of the courts of

all

might conclude Cyprian's generalisations to

man

experienced

law.

successful

here speaks in terms to provoke reply,

if

reply were possible, on a subject on which declamation would


defeat

and

itself,

is

it

dark as elsewhere\

his shades are as

we can compare the language

other points

On

of the satirists, but

since the age of Juvenal that the tide of corruption has

engulfed the judgment seat.

False

glitter, intrigues, assassi-

swarmed about the persons of numerous petty

nations which

fill the outline which is traced


upon the world's throne, within the last
of eight Emperors, unshielded by either the highest

kings and kingly magistrates,

by the

violent deaths

ten years,

philosophic virtue or the lowest animal ferocity^

Yet wider

still

the sketch of Cyprian ranges as with

statesmanlike instinct he marks the no less fatal

symptoms

of

by vast accumulations of lockedby the abnormal growth of grazing land^ and

political dissolution, presented

up

capital,

the gradual elimination of the independent labouring class^

and

Lastly,

Carthage

at

it

Rome there was

than at

was probably more complete

the disruption of the client-bond

and the disowning of obligation between

What
but one

do

is

then

is

rich

the moral, or what the

one calm, one freedom.

and poor.

remedy

.-'

There

is

All that the individual can

to seek deliverance from this world's

'

whirlpools,' to

and be greater than the world


to become 'a home of God'^ and entertain the indwelling
approach the

Spirit,

not

'

Gift of God,'

Ad Don.

A.D. 235, Alex. Severus.

a.d. 238

Maximinus, Maximus,

Pupienus, Balbinus.

a.d. 244 Gordia-

nus III.
'^

Continuantes saltibus

Don.

12.

lo.

I., II.,

'

indeed in ascetic retirement, for the hermit-life

Gordianus

'

De

confinio

Ad Don. 12.
* Ad Don.

15,

pauperibus exclusis.

mark

the expression

'd?i3w;...quamDominus insedit

to/;///

vice.'

saltus.

Ad

Rettberg's ignorance of

scripture

language betrays his penetration into

CYPRIAN BAPTIZED.

has not yet presented


prayer and study\

sweet domestic

in

Such

memory

but

round of

in a

life,

the moral of the scene with

is

which the holiday evening


sweet chant, the

the sole remaining refuge,

itself as

through inner purity,

closes,

the

sober banquet, the

stored with Psalms,

yet it
All this needed expansion into fuller richer life
was something when the fortunate man of the world began
even thus to live. The conditions of the new problem are
:

though their connection

stated,

modern

side the needs of

is

on the other

life,

experience thus far as a pagan.


setting vices

'

'

and home-born

faults

'

But so soon as the

'

away by help of the

'

from above flooded

'

the spirit from heaven and was restored to

of

my

own

spiritual

my own

be-

looked on

my

even favoured them.

'

stain

his

seconded

despaired of improvement

as natural

On one

not yet perceived.

former

life

was wiped

birth-giving wave, and a calm pure light

my purged

breast

so soon as

drank of

new manhood by

'

a second nativity; then, marvellously, doubts began to clear

'

secrets revealed themselves

'

difficulties

'

was able to recognise that what was born after the flesh and

'

lived

which was animated by the Holy Spirit began to belong to

'

GodV

gave way

under the rule of

the dark grew light

supposed impossibilities vanished

sin,

seeming
;

was of the earth earthy, while that

These mighty experiences of

Baptism support

his

rather than invalidate his biographer's account of the Charity

and Purity of his devoted preparation for it. Pontius had


known no parallel, he tells us, of such early fruits of Faith,
but to Faith he expressly attributes them, and so to the Grace
of God,

'

although the second birth had not yet illuminated

the novice with the whole splendour of the light divined'


tone of mystical union

'^

with God' to 'be grounded on a pan-

perceiving this

theistic view,''

'

and

to

be found only

'in

these excited early writings.'


1

Sit tibi vel oratio assidua vel lectio.

Ad Donat.

15.

Ad Don.

4.

'Pro fidei

dore

nondum
novum hominemsplen-

festinatione,'

secundanativitas

'

toto divinse lucis oculaverat,'

Vit. 2.

There

is

Pont.

no need therefore

to

attribute to Pontius a semipelagianism

I.

CYPRIAN BAPTIZED.

IV.

When
'

Cyprian speaks of

darkness, ignorance of

self,

his

unbaptized

estrangement,' he

life
is

as one of

not dwelling

on the short interval between conversion and baptism but on

As

his life as a whole.

yet the subtleties were not which

would assign the stage of attraction and approach rather to


the heathen than to the Christian side of

Very

life.

feeble

do

dawn on which Cyprian's gaze was fixed.

they shew beneath the

Divine Grace has fallen as a psychological fact within his


personal experience while he contemplates society as barren

and corrupting through lack of an


be long

in

He

inspiration.

will not

claiming the regeneration of society from the same

source which he already recognises as the renewal of the man.

We

need not look to him

for

Theology proper,

for doctrinal

We

refinement, for the metaphysic of Christian definition.


shall find

him busy with moral

bonds of union

the

conditions, the

the sanctification of

sacraments, the remodelling of

work of

life

through the

through discipline

life

grace,

the

constitution of the church in permanence, the transforming


social influences

and wealth,

which are to control the application of power

to charge science again with the love of truth, art

with the love of beauty, and to create a

The Charismata
'

these are his

of Administrations,'

'

new benevolence.

helps, governments^'

field.

IV.

Cyprian Deacon.

The indigence

of the Carthaginian poor was, owing to

the causes which Cyprian himself had indicated, a constantly

deepening

gulf.

Fifty years later treasures were

Tillemont Tom. iv.

none

to find (with

note

4 on S. Cypr.) a contradiction

between him and Cyprian, as


the two

Baptism.

'

vows

'

Pontius

resolutions formed

B.

to

whether

were before or

clearly speaks

of
it:

thrown

Cyprian of the struggle and the fears of


self which preceded it, and of the intense
relief
^

after

and kept before

still

and peace which followed

diaKoviai,

Cor.

xii. 5,

dpTiki^\j/is,

it.

Kv^epvYicreu.

28.

CYPRIAN AND C^CILIAN.

l8
into

The

vain.

in

it

outbreak of the anger of the

first

Donatus against the CathoHcs, his famous exclama'What hath Emperor to do with Church ?,' was occasioned

separatist
tion

by the mission of Paul and Macarius to Carthage from


Constans 'with relief for the poor'; 'that poverty might be

They came

able to breathe, be clothed fed and comforted.'


'

bringing

what we may

almost

expend

Treasuries to

call

'upon the poor\'

To
f

the sacrifice of his farms in their cause Cyprian did

not hesitate to add that of his delightful Gardens.

bought them in^ and insisted on

Later

his residing there.

on he was only too anxious to


\

Friends

sell

them

Every-

again.

thing shews him to have been free from family

ties'l

reasonable interpretation suggests that he entered the order

And

of Deacons.

as

we

remark the intimate

to

shall

have more than one occasion

relations subsisting

between a Deacon

and some Presbyter to whose labours he was specially


attached, so

we

find him, possibly in this capacity, taking

his quarters in the

house of

his

aged father

up

in the faith, the

Presbyter Csecilian^, and by his attention soothing his last

Optat.

iii.

Pont.

Vit.

celibacy.

3.

Perhaps

15.

Pontius

was concerned in this transaction, for


he says they were 'de Dei indulgentia

so

restituti.'

snadela

O. Ritschl, pp.

6,

7,

conceives that

the Horti must have been confiscated


later

and that Pontius mistakes this for


now, Pontius' personal

charitable sale

knowledge seems
difficulty,

to present to

nor yet the question

him no

how

the

was taken off.


There is no token of his ever having

confiscation
^

married.

Pontius as a fine writer

obscure.

Yet

it

is

inexcusable

Baronius {Ann. Eccles. A.D. 250,

is

for

x.) to

have misunderstood what he says of


Csecilian's

wife and children to

mean

Cyprian's family renounced in favour of

Bp.

Fell

worse in mis-

is

reading what Pontius says of yob's wife


as

to

Pont. Vit.

prove
c.

Cyprian's marriage,

3 'Ilium (Job)

Let us hope

tus ergo erat Cyprianus.'

that prepossession

own day.

In

is less

blinding in our

all his letters

tirement there

non uxoris

Fell ad loc. 'conjuga-

At?^exi\..^

is

from his

re-

no reference to a home

of his own.
*

can give no meaning to the words

of Pontius the

Deacon

'

Erat sane

illi

etiam de nobis contubernium...Casciliani,'

except that assigned to them by

Pearson {An. Cypr. a.d.


still

of

oiii-

body

247),

'while

(the diaconate)

he had

quarters with Caecilian.'

Pont.

Vit. 4.

Pontius himself resided with Cyprian

from before

his first retirement

till

his

CYPRIAN THE PRESBYTER.

V.

I.

I9

days\

For Caecilian shortly afterwards died, commending

his wife

and children

to the grateful affection of his convert^

V.
Presbyterate.

What we now

naturally enquire

the exact character up

is

to this time impressed, in the eyes of the Carthaginian church,

upon a layman by

his

becoming a

Was

cleric.

official

it

administrative, or mystical, or didactic, or benevolent

Tertullian

we may

unusual clearness

and

From

answers to these questions with

collect

answers consistent with each other though

not always rendered from the same points of view.

The

position of the clergy

borrowed from the

had been expressed

constitution

civil

terms

in

terms which there

is

no

reason to think were disputed at Carthage as either arrogant

The

or inadequate.

laity

in the

Commons

were the

Clergy were the Ordo, that

or Plebes^, the

they were the Senatorial Order

is

Church; Ordo being the regular name of the Senate,

the Decurions, in the provincial and Italian towns.

when

a layman

is

called a

himself addresses letters

Commons,' and

'

to the

'

'

to

Plebeian
those

Commons

of

Cyprian

by Pontius, and he

'

who

stand fast in the

Leon and Astorga.' As


common-bench

the senators in court and in basilica had the


(consessus),

so had the clergy in

'The

congregation.

the

between the Order and the Plebes

'difference

is

constituted

'by the authority of the Church, and by the consecration


death.

See also the relation of

Felicis-

simustoNovatuspp. 102 sqq. Cyprian's


diaconate seems also implied in Pont.
^'^' 3> 'Quis enim non omnes honoris
gradus crederet
1
^

tali

mente credenti?'

Demulsus

obsequiis.

Pontius,

Vit.

4,

Pont. Vit.

says

he

4.

made

Cyprian 'pietatis heredem,' not that

he appointed him curator or tutor to


the family.

This would have been con-

trary both to the Christian rules

which

withheld ordained persons from taking


those offices, and to the

Roman

usage of

appointing the nearest relations.

See
below pp. 44 sqq. Fechtrup p. 10, n. 2
needlessly hence infers that he was a
layman still.
'

Plebs

hominum

ecclesiarum.

dicas

Ebrard

sed Plebes
Graecismo.'

in

Ducange.

WHAT PRESBYTERS WERE.

20
'

of the Office indicated

'

Orders'

by the

together

sitting

the

of

Tertullian does not attribute to the clergy spiritual

descent from the Apostles, nor regard them as having been

by the

typified

relative position

Office

Levitical Priesthood, or as occupying

none

as

the

less

'

sacerdotal

and not immediately

ecclesiastical,

their

But he regards the

towards the people.

although

'

divine.

'

origin

in

woman

is

'

not permitted to speak in the church, nor yet to teach, nor

'

baptize, nor offer, nor claim to herself the rights of

'

masculine function,

much

any

The

less of the sacerdotal office^.'

right of giving baptism belongs to the chief priest,

'

that

is

the bishop/ and heretics offend in the moveable character of

and

their orders

in

that they

'

enjoin sacerdotal offices

to

Nevertheless the functions of the Order were not

laymen^'

significant of

any alienation or absorption of the priesthood

of believers

they involved during their exercise only

Where

suspension or dormancy.

there

its

a destitution

is

of

clergy the sacerdotal powers of the laity revive, to the extent

of performing sacramental acts.


*

Where

'

there

is

no Bench

of the ecclesiastical order you (a layman) offer (the sacrifice)

'and you baptize and are your own sole priests'

The priesthood had been

actually imparted

all

Christians, for 'Jesus the

High

Differentiam inter Ordinem et Pie-

bem

constituit Ecclesise

auctoritas,

et

Honor per Ordinis consessum sanctiDe Exhort. Cast. 7. Honor is


like Ordo a constitutional word, significatus.

self

and

course

is

to

and Lamb^ of the

his opponents.

And

this

of

equally true as to the doctrine

of the exercise of the functions of the


priesthood by the Order only.
18,

fying the Office of any magistrate or

Bp. Lightfoot in his Disserta-

dignity.

Priest

by Christ

tion on the Christian Ministry {Ep. to

note the fonn

'

Ep.

59.

congestus.'

De Veland. Virgin. 9.
De Prcescript. haretic. 41.
De Exh. Cast. 7. Adeo
non

ubi ec-

est consessus et

Philippians p.

clesiastici ordinis

thus

offers et tinguis et sacerdos es tibi solus,

'

...the

254 (1868)] translates


consecration of their rank

by the assignment of special benches


to

the

observes

clergy.'

that

The

these

Bishop

passages coming

from a Montanist bear witness


fact that the

priesthood was

well

to the

doctrine of an universal

common ground

to

him-

^
'

Adopting

Nos

lesus

Scaliger's

summus

emendation

sacerdos et

Agnus

Patris de suo vestiens,' Z>^ 7J/<7o^a;. 7,


for the

common

reading magnus; com-

pare Cypr.

Ad

which

passage was

this

Fortunat. prcef.

perhaps

3,

of
the

I.

CYPRIAN THE PRESBYTER.

V.

21

'

Father clothing us from His own [clothing], because they

'

that are baptized in Christ have put on Christ, hath

'

priests to

made

us

So complete

is

the sacerdotal character of the Christian layman that he

is

His Father, according

subject to rules laid

down

to John.'

for the

Jewish Priesthood

thus,

young man who was not suffered to bury his Jewish


was prohibited because, being a Christian, he was a
Priest and could not (according to the law of the Priest)

the

father

attend the funeral, although Christians

because these
'

Priests

called

by

may bury

Christians

Again, 'Assuredly we are

live still in Christ.

and therefore bound

Christ,

to single

marriages only, according to God's ancient law which then

'

in its

own priests prophesied of us\'


The fancifulness of the conclusions does not

He

theory from which he derives them.

the

affect

argues from what

was generally accepted to what he himself advanced.

In his

time the substantive priesthood of the laity was an understood


reality.

This

it

was which was perceived to be fore-shewn

the Levitic priesthood, not that

official

in

priesthood of the clergy

which was rightly constituted by the authority of the Church.

Then

there were the beliefs and associations which invested

the order of the Presbyterate at the time


received

by Donatus

own

to their

when Cyprian was

We

bench'^

shall see

how

they
presently
^ varied.
J were ^
We shall see too how grave was the business which came
_

before the

'

consessus,'

should have seats on

and how necessary that men of

it.

All that his Biographer records of Cyprian as a


of the Bench of Presbyters

is

that he

was no

member

seed

'...de Agno...\a.ViZXD.

ipsam

et pur-

puram misi, quam cum acceperis tunicam tibi pro voluntate conficies et plus
ut in domestica tua

veste Isetaberis,' &c.

adque

in propria

^
'^

life

^.

De Monogam. 7, cf. De Exh. Cast. 7.


Non post multum temporis allectus

in presbyterium.
^

hue plebeius,

Hier. de Viris

III.

67.

"multa sunt quae admulta qu?e jam presbyter

Pont. Vit. 3

^'^-

Jul-

Philippus
Pius Fel.

IM. Jul.

less active in phiiippus

'

modern

P'

^^g'

affairs parlh.
^^^- "
Imp. Cses.

to
that office than he had been as a Plebeian, no less eager

translate the ancient saints into

a.d. 247.
A.U.C.
1000.

^",''/"

Fel.

^^'

Aug.

CYPRIAN 'TO QUIRINUS

22

VI.
Helps

Of

Layviciis Scripture Studies.

to

that activity in one of

its

we have

applications

still

noble instance in at least two of the books of classified texts

grouped under pithy headings,

skilfully

the

To OuiRINUS,

entitled

layman, at whose request they were

'dear son,' or

compiled.

Since in Augustine's mention of the books the name of


Testimonies is used, and Pelagius compiled his 'Testimonies
to the Romans' in imitation and indeed in completion of it,
and since this name appears in the
as he himself stated,

earliest manuscript, if not in slightly later

bable enough that a

title,

ones^

it

is

pro-

which so neatly describes the work,

was of Cyprian's own giving.


It was also vulgarly called 'Against the Jews'; but was

much intended

perhaps not so

manual
fecerit,

multa quae ad veterum exempla

justorum

imitatione

c\xt\xs...'hiEc

Deo

consimili

et sic

'

bonorum omnium exempla

(per)

decurrens,

meliores semper imitatur, etiam

ipse se fecit imitandum."

Chronicon, 01. 258,


^

prose-

debentfacere^ dicebat, 'qui

placere desiderant.

dum

Cf.

Euseb.

it

'Ad

thus:

ii.

epp. Pelag.

1.

Cyprianum etiam
torum Pelagius

memorat,
scribens,
se

ubi

eum

iv. c.

21 (p. 480 d)

ipse hseresiarches

cum

is-

debito honore com-

testimonioriun

librum

se asserit imitari,

'

hoc

facere ad Romanos quod ille


ad Quirinum^ et ejiisdem libri
27 merito et ad Quirinum de hac re

'

dicens

'

fecerit
c.

c. Pelag. c. 32 quumque se imitatorem imo expletorem operis beati

Dial.

Cypriani scribentis ad Quirinum esse

The

fateatur."

Mai, or

Sessorian MS.

(ssec. VII.

Reifferscheid) has

viii.-ix.

incipit ad Quirinum
word explicit before Testimoniorum refers of course to the preceding
'

Testimoniorum

the

'

'

'

'

'

2.

Hartel, p. 35, entitles

Quirinum (Testimoniorum Libri Tres),'


which can represent nothing ancient,
and his own note is as follows " Aiig.
c.

found to be a serviceable

for as

contemporary controversies".

in the

absolutissimam sententiam proponit cui


testimonia divina subjungeret.

Hieron.

Surely from these facts one

treatise.

would 7iot conjecture that the genuine


title was
Ad Quirinum merely. Does
'

'

'

the note at the end of Bk, in. in MS.

imply that

NuMERi

was sometimes called


'Ad Quirinum numer. lib.

in. ex.'?

Hartel p. 184.

it

Cipriani ad Quirinum liber

Cf. Caecili
il.

exp incip

ad eundem excerpta capitulorum numero


Lxx. (Cod. M), Hartel p. 10 1. Here

Lxx.
^

is

See

books

in error for

on

cxx.

Novatian's

controversial

and notes. Since out of


nearly a hundred passages collected in
p. 123

I.

TESTIMONIES.'

VI.

The

book assembles the chief scriptures which

first

and

told disobedience

all

the Church's privileges by the

the substitution of a

Testament

for the ancient

fore-

on the part of the

forfeiture of grace

Jews, and the inheritance of


Gentiles

23

new

Circumcision,

Law and

new Baptism,

ones, of a

new

'Yoke': how the old Pastors, the old House of God, the

Temple, and the Sacrifice were to come back

how

form

the cessation of the Priesthood and the succession of

High

Christ as true

how

were predicted and accomplished;

Priest^

remained now nothing but

to the Jewish nation there

by baptism the blood of

to purge

come over

Messiah and to

their slain

His Church.

to

In the second book Cyprian


'

in nobler

Sacrament of Chrisf^'

the

treats

Mystery or

of the

adequate fulfilment of prophecy

Him, and the grandest notes of His Person. The clearand force of these most brief summaries or articles

in

ness

of Christology are very impressive, nor less so the spirit of


personal devotion which they breathe.

The
only

third

book^ separately

arrangement.

in

It is

issued, resembles the others

a commonplace-book, meant for

rapid and frequent reading, of texts for Quirinus' use on the


Christian

duty and doctrine*: the tone very pure and

life,

spiritual.
the
the

book, only twenty come from

first

New Testament, and these almost all

bearing on the fulfilment of the Old, and


as each heading notes a contrast of

New,

with

me

than

it

was

that Cyprian

somewhat

is

it

to Rettberg pp. 231 sqq.

had no eye

to the

sects in this compilation.


last

Old

less clear to

heading, Test.

i.

Jewish

Again, the

24, gives the point

of the whole.

1.

Test.

i.

See

Test.

3)

and notes

of Test.
*

17.

Bk

Test.

Proem.
in MSS.

(Hartel

p.

36,

at

end

and B

H. (Hartel p. loi).

iii.

tit.

Sw^iXv^t. Retr.n.

is
\
',

thrice quoted

iii.

; c. II. epp. Pelagg. iv.


9 (25).
Salubre et grande compendium. .in

(7)

breviarium pauca digesta et velociter


perleguntur et frequenter iterantur. Test.
iii.

Proem.

No. 6

divine probation and

dePradest. sanctt.

perhaps the

first

is

the keynote of

on The Mortality.

No. 28
marks the slight tendency which Cyprian
had to Novatianism before Novatian.
No. 46 on silence of women seems

his treatise

oddly placed.
this

Rettberg

book belongs

his Christianity

by

is

explanation in Latin of misfortunes as a

heretics

'

argues that

to the early years of

from the 'texts against

being other than those which

he used afterwards.

Unless he refers

TESTIMONIES.'
His touches upon Faith are well worth reflexion That the
CYPRIAN 'TO QUIRINUS

24

very difficulty of the subjects demands that dogma should be


simple; that belief is not independent of will; that cause and
elsewhere so in faith

effect are proportionate, as

that faith

requires patience as an essential character of itself ^

Cyprian's copious memory, to which Pontius bore witness,

That such

receives remarkable illustration from these books.

a work could be compiled out of Scripture at

by concordance or index

unassisted

is

by a memory

all

Add

surprising.

to

made, and that the memory

this that the selection is so well

had been so recently introduced to the Bible. He mentions


that he had avoided diffuse selection, and confined himself to
what a moderately good memory had suggested ^ But all
this would be truly unimaginable if he had been debarred
'

'

from the study of Scripture

he entered on the duties of

until

a presbyter, and had been taught only orally whilst he was a


Quirinus himself must have been such a layman,

layman'.
for

Cyprian seeks to provide him only with profitable 'reading

towards forming the

first

assumes that Quirinus


'

Scriptures old and


doubt) to what

lineaments of his

new more

is

here said as

to Novatianism, I do not

know what

(which

means.

he

texts

But the

does

fact

fully,

c.

and reading through the


memoriosa mens.'

5 'tarn
^

ed,

Yet he

faith.'

'be searching into the

will presently

This ultramontane thesis

is

dehver-

and Cyprian's study of Scripture

appear, I think, from the 28ih heading

limited to 'about the inside of a year,'

mentioned standing without the


qualification which he would have added

by Peters,

just

later.
1

No.

52,

Credendi vel non credendi

libertatem in arbitrio positam.

pare Coleridge Aids


53,

Dei arcana

idcirco fidem

(Com-

No.
non posse, et

to Reflection.)

perspici

nostram simplicem esse

account

p. 80, in the face of Pontius'


Vit. 2, 3)

how Cyprian

as a

layman was teaching others how to use


Scripture, and of these very prefaces to
Quirinus.
So Novatian to the Plebes
at Rome, 'Nam qui sincerum Evangelium...non tantum tenetis verum etiam
animose

docetis,'

De

Cib.

Jud.

c.

i.

No. 42, Fidem totum prodesse,


et tantum nos posse quantum credimus.
No. 45, Spem futurorum esse, et ideo

Peters alleges the bare fact that the

fidem circa ea quse promissa sunt pati-

as

entem

is

debere.

esse debere.

Test.

Proem, compare Pont.

Vit.

'

Quod

Idola

'

and the

it is

true) the

an answer in

'

ad Donatum

which (so far


aim of those pamphlets

contain no quotations

full.

to

I.

CYPRIAN POPE OF CARTHAGE.

Vir.

25

'whole of the volumes of the spiritual books' and 'equally


'

with ourselves be drinking of the same springs of divine

fulness.'

To

our knowledge of the wording of the actual versions

which the African Christian thus studied these books are


necessarily a very important contribution.

hope

to return to

them

In this light

we

again.

VII.

Cyprian made Pope of Carthage.

So rapid had been the progress of Cyprian through the


in the offices of the Presbyterate^ that he was
according to usual account, when the public
Novice**,
still a
opinion of the laity^ immediately upon the voidance of the
see of Carthage by the demise of Donatus*, unanimously called
Diaconate and

him

to that post.

The

apostolic warning against the elation

of a neophyte was afterwards quoted against him.

Some

defended the step by the instance of the Vizir of Meroe,

a.d. 248.
^"^
Coss.

Imp.

Cses.

M.

Jul. Phi-

p^f'.^Auo^.

baptized
after an hour's instruction.
by an evangelist
But P^^^th.
^

max. Ger.
others rested on the exceptional character of the man, his max. Carp.
"^

mature and gentle wisdom,

his vast knowledge, sagacity and


and that rapid energy, so needed by the stagnant
church, which swiftly carried him through the circle of in-

diligence,

vestigation and acquirement, and

administrations, reforms, and

Cyprian declined the


exercised

it

by one of

new

office.

then unrestingly through


creations.

His own desire was to see

his elders in years

small portion of the church, but

Pont. F?V. 2

...et

prsepropera veloci-

tate pietatis psene ante ccepit perfectus

esse

quam

omnes

disceret.

honoris

3...quis

gradus

enim non

crederet

tali

Adhucneophytus...novellus.

in the faiths
five

of the

Vit. 5.
'

gia,
*

Suffragium vestrum.

Ep.

43.

Ep.

59.

r,

6,

vestra

suffra-

5.

10.

On

the

date see

p. 41, note 1.

raente credenti?
-

and

among them

Pont.

Antiquioribuscedens. Pont. Vit.

imp. cis.

phiUppus
P- F- Aug.
Germ.
max. Carp.
^^^'

HIS CONSECRATION.

26

members of the bench, held

same

the

view.

most

influential^

Some

of the firmest friends of his after-life had belonged at

first

to that minority, but the five presbyters maintained for

many

The mass would now


They surrounded his

years an organized opposition.

brook neither opposition nor


house and

refusal.

by which

the avenues

filled

it

was approached.

He

concealed himself; he would fain have escaped by a lattice^;


but the tumultuous demonstration (a sufficient indication of
the present security of the Christian population) lasted until

he reappeared and signified

when

consent,

his

it

was suc-

ceeded by rapturous joy.

Whether

as in

some untrustworthy statements concerning

Alypius and Ambrose he was carried away and consecrated


on the spot, or what further steps were allowed to be necesconsecration,

sary before his

we do

not know.

It

must

remain matter of doubt whether the bishops of his province

were summoned to

elect him.

He

himself enumerates more

than once the requisites of a regular episcopate as three,

and says that they were regarded in Africa as essentials; first,


the choice of the neighbouring bishops of the province assembled at the see*; secondly, the 'suffrage,' that

and support of the Plebes at that choice

To these he adds,

ment of God.

of the election of Cornelius at


^

Ep. 43. 4

...setas.-.auctoritas.

their identification see

On

below, p.

10,

Pont.

Vit. 5.

tunc

illi

hope

Pontius means by

'

what

this is

potuisset

fortasse

apostolicum illud evenire, quod

voluit, ut per fenestram deponeretur,

jam

turn

honore

apostolo etiam

similaretur.'

si

ordinationis

Freppel

'

il

thirdly, the judg-

in vindicating the perfectness

Rome, the testimony


S. Paul could

apostle
is

n. 4.

when

Damascus (Acts

Ep. 67.

'...apud nos quoque et

ad ordinationes

plebem

rite

lattice.'

Whether

celebrandas ad earn

cui prsepositus ordinatur epis-

copi ejusdem provincise proximi quique

conveniant, et episcopus deligatur plebe

He

ei...imponeretur.'

escaping through the

25)

fere per provincias universas tenetur, ut

he was being made


like him in one way, by ordination, he
might (if he had had his own will) have
been made like him in another, by
'if

ix.

another matter.

prresente...'

Rather

of a large

be considered an ordained
at

songea un moment, mais son humilite


redouta ce trait de ressemblance avec
Paul.'

the presence

is,

also distinguishes the

'episcopatus deferretur' from

In Ep. 59

it

may be

'manus

observed that he

says of himself (6) '...populi universi


suffragio...(/<;/2]i07Vr,'

and

episcoporum consensum.

(5) 'post co-

CYPRIAN BISHOP.

VII.

I.

27

But since we observe

majority of the clergy.

he has more than once to maintain his own

that,

he omits, as

title\

mention of any such choice by

his biographer does, the

provincial bishops, claiming nevertheless to have

consensus of his

although

fellow-bishops"'','

his
'

the

probable that such a

is

it

had

by acclamation superseded further election ^ and that


their consensus was simply their imposition of hands.
The picture drawn in earlier canons and constitutions
shews us the people electing their bishop, and declaring their
call

'

'

choice on the Lord's day in the presence of the presbytery

and neighbouring bishops,

in

answer

questions of the principal bishop,

Ruler

desire for a

Nothing is more
thus in a

likely than that

way more

own Province

1
^

the bishops

mitive Coptic

and

the

consenting' to

Canon

31 (Bunsen, Hip-

his age, vol.

Ii.

p. 308, vol.

Tillemont compares the election of

Alexander
period.

of

There

Comana

same

the

at

would

it

.''

seem

that

Gregory Thaumat., having satisfied him-

its

those

dignity, not

shew us the bishop elected by his


and accepted by the neighbouring
bishops Cyprian's rule as elected by the
neighbouring bishops, accepted by the
flock. The process of change may have
flock

gone on through the other custom prescribed

HI. p. 42, 1852).


^

he worthy*

Cyprian was himself ordained

of Africa, according to

choice of the people occurs in the pri-

polytus

man whom ye

The ordaining bishops were

Ep. 43. Ep. 66.


Ep. 59. 5... The very expression

'all

is

primitive than that which he afterwards

describes as customary^

of his

to the thrice-repeated

Is this the

he blameless, and

is

'

by those canons

in appointing a

bishop to any congregation, not having


before

own,

in

had or elected a bishop of its


which twelve men at least were

ready to guarantee a sustentation fund.

self of the fitness of the person, pro-

In such case the neighbouring churches

posed him to the people, and on their

proposed a bishop

consenting, consecrated him.

gation

vol. IV. Art. viii.


p. 331,

on

S.

Tillem.

Greg. Thaum.

quoting Greg. Nyss. Life of S.

Thaum.
The 65th canon of

'

literally

Bunsen,

the

Coptic

agreeing with the

Apostolical Constitutions, B.

(if

satisfied

cepted him.

to the

new

congre-

three deputies examined

with their report) ac-

The

proposers must in

practice or officially have been the bi-

Greg.

collection,

and

who by

viii.

c.

4.'

op. cit. vol. II. p. 336, vol. in.

pp. 49, 50 (1852).


^ The primitive 'Apostolic Canons'

shops
sees

subsequent

would

elections

in

such

easily follow the precedent

election, and as sees multiwould become the usual mode.


Coptic collection, canon 16. Bunsen,

of the

first

plied this

op.

cit.

vol. II. p. 305, vol. III. pp. 35

36.

MANNER OF ELECTION.

28

the primates of the neighbouring provinces of

Numidia and

Mauritania\

The

'

suffrage

their presence

There

tion.

is

testimony to good

their

no indication that the

recording of votes

by

of the laity was adequately signified

'

and

life

suffrage

'

and conversa'

implied any

under the tutelary empire the word had

long ceased to bear any such meaning"

in political affairs,

and there is no ground for fancying that


revived by the Church of Carthage.

was

this sense

the
way distinct from these the third requisite
was looked for is somewhat more diffiJudgment of God
cult to perceive.
Some have supposed, as in the choice of

In what

'

'

Evidence of

Matthias, a casting of lots with prayer.

this there

none'.
But by those who relied upon the special providence
and guidance of the Father, His Judgment was recognised in
the fact of the election and ordination proceeding in due order
is

Cyprian claims to enjoy 'the Judgment

without interruption*.

God and

of

Christ' as a token of the genuineness of his apostle-

ship upon the ground that he


'

God who made him

'

the sparrow

in

to be this

Ts/l\\\\iex,Friniordiaccl. Afr.'p. ^l.

In Ep. 57. 5 the ordination


X^cit

bishop elect

is

fraternitatis

sceleris

is

'

and conversation of the

said to be

suffragio.''

'

de universse

"

Suffragium

the siipp07-t which the stern

crime of Brutus gave to his


rity.

made

presence of a plebes fully converlife

Quod

Idol.

5.

'

Pont.

Vit. 7.

in a gloss

common
justum

own

autho-

Suffragia

repetita' are tlie cries with

mob demanded

is

Ep.

lions,

our Suffragator

on Advocatiim which
text oi

ssepe

which the

Cyprian for the

Christ

55.

in the

18 displaced

in i Joh. ii. i
a word which
seems to imply the utter disappearance
of any idea of united opinions.
The
* Votes''

is

that

'

God without whose

the

the
will

not^'

falls

sant with the

de facto bishop

is

in Copt. Can. 65

seem

to

mean

the previously expressed assent.


sen, op.

cit.

Bun-

vol. iii. p. 50.

H. Dodwell,/?^. Cyp. i, considers


word KKr\po% to be evidence,
* The Coptic Canon 65 seems to describe a distinct appeal to Heaven as
following upon the enquiry whether the
'

the

elected person
'

is

of pure character

And if they all together have

that he
truth,

is

witnessed

such an one according to the

God

the Father and His only-

begotten Son Jesus Christ our Lord and


the

Holy Ghost being judge

that these

things are so...'

Ep. 66.

i, 9,

to Pupienus; to

whom

he would take the strongest ground he


could.
So also to Cornelius 59. 6.

Somewhat

similarly an opportunity of

I.

CYPRIAN THE POPE.

VII.

Cyprians

title

of

29

Papa!

'

The Roman clergy in addressing Cyprian and in writing about him


him Papa,' Papas,' or Pope of Carthage, as do also the Confessors
This title has been attempted to be explained by the
of his own city^.
statement that it was a common synonym for Bishop,' or that the
Romans at least felt no difficulty in extending the title used by their own
style

'

'

bishop.

Pearson-, Bingham^, Routh- have added their weight to the belief

This however was apparently not the


the end of the 5th century no doubt
Sidonius ApoUinaris
Papa was a common title in distinguished sees.
(Bp. 472) speaks of the Popes of Rheims, Lyons, Aries, Vienne, Marseilles
Even in the 4th century the name was not uncomand others, usually.

that all bishops were so called.

case in the time of Cyprian.

By

Pope by his correspondents",


and Jerome himself so calls Epiphanius, John of
Jerusalem, Athanasius, Chromatius of Aquileia, as well as Anastasius
and Damasus Bishops of Rome, and Theophilus of Alexandria^.
The Bishops of Alexandria however had the appellation earlier
than the rest. Both Athanasius and Arius call Alexander {d. A.D. 326)
the Pope of that see, and the first distinct use of the title there is in
the instance of Heraclas who probably died in A.D. 246 and is so styled
mon.

Augustine

is

frequently addressed as

especially by Jerome,

'

'

formally by his successor Dionysius the Great

'^.

It now
seem remarkable that within two or three years of the
death of Heraclas Cyprian is called Papa frequently by the Roman
clergy and confessors, as well as by the native confessors especially

will

martyrdom, even when it is rightly (as


coming in the order of providence)
avoided by flight, is called an occasion
\s\vtxi.

.'

Ep.

30.

De

in

s.

opta-

Domino bene

valere...(e

Ep.

31.

Maximus
Rufinus

et

Cypriano Papse Moyses

et

Presbyteri et Nicostratus et
ceteri

qui

cum

eis confes-

Cyprianum.

Vind. Epistt. S. Ig>iat. p.


J-

Bingham,

(Cleri

Routh, R. S.

c. xi. 2.

i.

pp. 65 sqq. (1855).

I.

iii.

pp. 235, 268.

Aug. Ep. 68, 81, 119, 216.


Hieron. Epp. 81 (66), 86 (70), 88
{li),2Ss,o Contra Johann. Hierosolymit.
^

36.

Cypriano Papati Presbyteri

Diacones Romse consistentes

Ep.

''

Euseb. Hist. Eccles.

gory of Neocaesarea

23.

Universi

priano Papati

s.

s.

Confessores Cy-

vii.

Gre-

7.

(Thaumat.)

ad-

dresses his Caw^/nVa/ZeWt'r to (iepcjTare)


IldTra in A.D.

s.

Ep.
et

Didicimus secessisse bene-

Papatem

4.

fijie).

sores

Cypriano Papse Presbyteri

muste, beatissimeacgloriosissimepapa,

semper

'

Laps. 10.

Diaconi Romee consistentes

8. i.

Rom.)

zoxQX\z.de dipiatione DeiA^%ct.n-

dat, nee possit accipi...,'

et

Ep.
dictum

to say

whether

258

(?),

but

it is

difficult

this is a circular letter to

bishops, or to priests, as

Greek

and hieromonachi are so

called, or to a

particular bishop.

priests

CYPRIAN THE POPE.

30

remarkable when we further observe that the Bishops of Rome with


whom so many letters pass to and fro are never once so designated.
This corresponds however with the
have from the Roman Catacombs a

Rome

Bishops of

over the

laid

first

evidence of inscriptions.

We

monumental

slabs

We

have

series of the

the 3rd

in

century.

who was bishop from A.D. 222 to 230 we have the monument of Anteros who sat in 235 and 236, Fabian's from 236 to 250,
Eutychian's from 275 to 283.
Again we have that which Damasus
placed over Eusebius who died in 309, and that which Damasus made
Urban's,

Yet the

for himself.

first appearances of the title Papa at Rome are


honour of Marcellinus A.D. 296 304 and Damasus

in inscriptions to the

366-384.

De

Rossi attempts to account for the fact that the third century

monuments

Roman

the

call

bishop in each case Episcopus and not

Papa, by the theory that this name


reverence in which

still

bore only the sense of affectionate

was not yet a recognised title, and therefore


He observes that the earliest inscripnot appropriate to a monument.
tional use of the word is with the adjectives mens, suus, noster, and
accordingly in the two earliest instances of the Roman bishops, the
admirer who erects the inscription calls him his papa' in each instance.
By order of his papa Marcellinus this Severus, deacon, made a double
chamber^...'
Furius Dionisius Filocalus inscribed this, adorer and lover
arose,

it

'

'

Damasus

of

his papa^.'

And

of this usage in application even to priests

'various early examples are given.

But the point

Rome

to

be observed

address to

We

is

have then

title

any bishop of
used as a.forinal mode of

that so very long before

any sense
Cyprian by the clergy of Rome.

appears with the

in

this curious result that

it is

when Gregory

the Seventh, in

have but one Pope^, he


which had belonged to the

1073, published the edict that the world should

appropriated a
great

title

not original to his see,

African sees far earlier, and in the meantime had been

very

widely adopted.
I

believe however that the earliest instance of the use of the

name

is

seems so improbable that


TertuUian should attack a Roman regulation that I must think his De
Pudicitia was addressed to the then bishop of Carthage (a.D. 211
220).
in connection with the see of

Carthage.

It

Cubiculum duplex cum

arcisoliis et

Jussu p(a)p(3e) sui Marcellini Diaco-

nus
Severus

fecit...

G. B. de Rossi,

p. 55.

Furius Dionisius Filocalus scribsit

Romce,

i.

Inscrr.
p.

Ch'.

cxv.,

11.

(amator).
121,

iste

Urb.

Damasi

luminare

11.

pappae cultor atque amatot

De

Rossi,

Roma

Sott.

[Ennodius

xliii.,

Ixxx.

p.

refutes

Simond's assertion ((/.'..//.


that his use of the

the

i.

200, 201.

Roman

see.]

word

is

iv. i)

limited to

I.

VIII.

It

is

the

CYPRIAN BISHOP.
much condemned assumption

of the authority of Episcopus

Episcoporum by a predecessor which makes Cyprian


anxious to disclaim the appearance of
distinct in repudiating

Now

it.

it,

in

council

so

as well as the African canons so

chapter 13 Tertullian, with ironical

in

emphasis, calls the bishop in question Bonus pastor et benedictus papa,

and Benedictus Papa is the very word used of Cyprian in Ep. 8. i.


Because Callistus issued an edict^ like the one which Tertullian condemns, it would not follow that he was the only bishop who did so, rather
perhaps the reverse. If Papa was originally then of Carthaginian usage,
this is but one of many instances in which the African Church led the
Latin forms.
Lastly,

we may observe

that

if

not genuine, but belonged to the

Roman

the

were written in the interests of the papal


the

name Papa

entirely withheld

letters to

Cyprian were

century, or even the fourth,

fifth

and

we should not have had


Romans to Cyprian and

see,

carefully attributed

by the

by them and by

the letter- writers from the bishop

all

Rome.

of

VIII.
Cypriat^s

View of

Authority and the Design of the

the

Episcopate.

And what

then was, in Cyprian's thought, the Office to

which he had been called


It is

evident that

we must

ascertain this before

we can

enter into the spirit of his administration.

For that

was undertaken by him with

its

clear ideas

upon

office

import, and

was not gradually invested with them by mere administrative


convenience.

There are two main outlines

was before him


Did he

possible.

Which of

the two

.-

find himself called to

be chief arbiter and judge of

the Christian congregations, the president of their committees,


the guardian of their doctrine and customs, of the Scriptures

and

who

their interpretation, the principal of those functionaries


for

certain
^

the sake of order, regularly and


district

exercised that priesthood

Hippol. Refut. omn.

Tert. de Pudicit. 13.

hceres. ix.

12 (ed. L.

alone, within

which

in

theory

Dunker and F. G. Schneidewin);

cf.

WHAT A

32

belonged equally to

all

BISHOP WAS TO HIM.


believers

Had

his office thus risen

naturally out of the presbyterate, as the presbyterate had

grown out of the whole community

enquiry sur-

or, if this

passed the curiosity of the age, did he regard himself as


delegated to be their head-priest by a nation of priests

Or
from
Plan

did he regard his office as something different in kind

such conceptions of

all

it ?

as a line traced in the Divine

indicated and assumed,

Testament

deducible from

it

not defined, in the

if

by reasoning, such

New

as evolves

from the same writings the doctrine of the Holy Trinity

as

a power not there reduced to terms, but constant in exercise

endowed with a grace

specific, exclusive, efficient

These questions receive a

As matter
was

answer

full

in Cyprian's writings.

of order, the eminence of the rank of the bishop

visible to the

Roman

He was

world.

the Chief of the

Christian Society; the confiscation of his property was the


for a

time the only, edict of persecuting magistrates.

first,

In the

assembly from the midst of the separate semicircle of the


presbyters^ rose his chair or Throne, already the universal

name and symbol

of his authority.

He was

specially the

Again he was
the principal arbitrator in disputes. As to morals and
discipline, whether clerical or lay, he was 'Judge in Christ's
Preacher^ in his church, the chief instructor.

stead

'

restoration, suitableness for

Cyprian

felt at all

one of his

in

communion, propriety of

of disqualifications^ from

any

office.

But

in this capacity

times bound to act on the principle which

earliest letters

he lays down

to
'

do nothing

'

without the information and advice of presbyters, deacons,

'

and laymen*.'
^
-

Epp.
Ep.

trcutante

'^

39. 4. 40, &c.


55.

i4...1egeram et episcopo

cognoveram.

bishops... quorum
virus infundit.

De

And

tractatus

Unit. 10.

sadnesses of the exile

is.

tractantes episcopos audiat.

of false
.

.mox\.2XQ

One

of the

..quod. ..nee

Ep.

58. 4.

...nee episcopo

honorem sacerdotii
Ep. 17. 1.

sui et cathedriK reservantes,

(i.e.

...prsesentibus et judicantibus vobis

plebe).

14. 4; 19. 1.

Ep.

17. i, cf. 3.

Cf. Ep.

Cf. as regards ordination

Ep. 38. i...solemus vos ante eonsulere


mores ac merita singulorum communi

et

I.

WHAT A

VIII.

BISHOP WAS TO CYPRIAN.

That which has been


episcopal greatness, the

supreme

for centuries the

title

of

of Pontiff, he would have rejected

title

On

with disdain and horror.

33

gibe\ In Cyprian's language

Tertullian's lips

had been a

it

was reserved for Caiaphas after


the priesthood had passed from him by his condemnation of

own High

his

it

but that the Bishop was simply the

Priest^:

delegate or representative of the people in their sacerdotal


aspect

a thought which never took shape from his pen.

is

For him the Bishop

is the sacrificing priests


Christ was
Himself the Ordainer of the Jewish Priesthood''. The Priests
of that line were 'our predecessors^' The Jewish Priesthood

became

at last

crucified

bishop

name and

'

Christ.

Law

accordance with the

consilio ponderare.

Ep. 43.

Cf.

7,

Ep.

Rome).

30. 5 (at

De

Tert.

Ep.

1;

Pudicit.

See below,

i.

Ep.

So

59. 4.

fast

the feeling change that Pontius Vit.


calls

Cyprian 'Christi

in contrast with

et

did
c.

Dei pontifex'

the 'pontifices hujus

mundi' and again

11 'Dei pontifex'

c.

simply.
*

Throughout the

the bishop
sacerdos

'sacerdos'

is

called

never, I believe, distinctly

twice the whole

In Ep. 63 (14,

might

Cyprian

The word

episcopus.

a presbyter,

spoken of as

it

letters of

more frequently

than

applied to
or

is

seem

though once

clerical

sacerdotes
18,

that

et

body

19) at first

the

is

ministri.
sight

arguments

there addressed to 'Sacerdotes' as to

whom

of

says,

are

own

Again, his

and

presbyters were not in


would be contrary to his

it

principles to address the presbyters of

Even

another.

in this

there-

'

riosis sacerdotibus ornaret.'

This

is

the

general use of the term, as in 'sacerdotes et ministri,'

and he indeed adds 'et


ampliorem

promovebitur quidem ... ad


locum,'

sc.

episcopatum, so that 'sacer-

dos' does not lose here


ence.

In

De

its

proper

Zel. et Liv.

it

refer-

might

equally be maintained that the words


were distinguished or that they were
rhetorically paralleled,

sacerdotibus,

open-

ing of the letter shews that he confines

remarks to the bishops (episcopi),

''

least included presbyters, but the

epistle

means bishop. In Ep.


40 he says Numidicus had been rescued
from death at his martyrdom by God, ut
...et desolatam per lapsum quorundam
presbyterorum nostrorum copiam glofore 'sacerdos'

the Eucharist were addressed to or at

B.

he

the majority,

the mixture of wine with the water in

his

made

is

of Moses^; the lapsed or sinful

fault,
3.

the congregation of

'

correct in practice, but others not so.

p. 197.
2

is

it

Christian

bishop in their presence

Israel'; the election of the

in

passed on to the

each congregation (diocese)

when

a shade,' on the day

reality

Its

dum

Ep. 69.
Ep. 66.

8.

Ep. 67.

4.

'dum obtrectatur

episcopis invidetur.'

3; 59. 4.

Ep.

8.

I.

THE ANTIENT BISHOP AND THE MODERN.

34
bishop

by the Mosaic

prohibited from sacrificing

is

statute

against uncleanness; his communicants are tainted by his sin^

The

presbyterate

is

the Levitic tribe^

exempt from worldly

debarred from worldly callings, living on the offerings

office,

of the people, as their predecessors on the tithes, devoted day

and night to

sacrifice

So

and prayer.

precise

is

the appli-

coming

in

pursuance

cation, that the people are to rise at their

of the Levitic direction*.

Again there

is

another aspect of the same

Apostles were bishops.

Matthias was ordained a

And

the Apostle

the bishop

still

is

of his

the Twelve through successive ordinations

His order

character^

is

The

office.
'

bishop.'

flocks

From

he derives that

The diaconate

of divine creation.

the institution of his predecessors.

is

He

not only a Judge.

is

He

is

Judge

steads

in Christ's

Contempt of his government is the parent of heresy; it is


expressly condemned in the Law, in the books of Samuel, by
the example of St Paul and of our Lord. To maintain the
same faith and worship and yet invade the office of the
For the
rightful bishop is identically the sin of Korah^
Laws about the High Priest are not merely applicable to the
Bishops; they were ultimately intended for them, and now
they apply to them alone.
^

tim.
*

Ep. 65. 2
Ep. I. I.

cedunt, Ep. 66. 4.

67. 1,9.

Levit. xix. 32, so interpreted Tesiii.

Ep. 45. 3. The


reading 'de ordinando in locum ludas

Ep.

3. 3.

Cf.

not

episcopo^ Ep. 67. 4 (Hart. p. 738),

is

only supported apparently by

Mss.,

against edd., but

coporum
*

et

is

all

required by the 'epis-

sacerdotum' which follows.

...apostolis vicaria ordinatione sue-

''

The
12,

Ep.

Ep.

66,

important

is

legal exactness.
3,

Ep.

59,

Ep. 43.

Scriptures quoted are Deut. xvii.

which

is

cited five times,

viii. 7.

Sir. vii. 29, 31.

Matth.

viii.

4.

x. 16.

Cyprian's

59. 5 'vice Christi.'

on account of his

85.

...apostolos id est episcopos et prse-

positos,

Ep.

use of Index not Arbiter

Ep.

69. 8.

Jo.

Acts

Sam.

xxiii. 4, 5.

xviii. 22, 23.

Luc.

THE BISHOP OF THE THIRD CENTURY.

IX.

I.

35

IX.

Divergence of Cypriaiis from Modern views.


In these opinions of Cyprian the
attention

is

now

ministry

held.

three Levitic orders

is

parallel

between that ministry and the

indeed familiar to

is

the sin of disobedience to the

Bishop

is

not pourtrayed as

The Order

and secondly by the Deacon-Levites.


the Tribe of Levi.

'

The New High

all

For instance, the

uses.

Priest

is

Christ eternally

any school now

Mosaic precepts with anything


of

of Bishops

Priests of God,' the Presbyters are

Secondly, neither would

always

to the

High Priest, yet his


surrounded first by the Priests,

Bishop

with him answers to the

but net the same

us,

Although disobedience

which Cyprian draws.

parallel

point which invites

first

any scheme of the Christian

their dissimilarity to

interpret

endowed ministry

territorially

Christendom gives up what was

the

which he

like the literalness

in his

eyes an essential

resemblance to the house of Levi, their right to maintenance

by

offerings without land.

method of

Third, the

bishoprics

election to

meet and, requiring the testimony of the


will preside, elect or

is

extinct

Nowhere do neighbouring bishops

through the whole world.

nominate

for

them a

laity

whom

over

bishop-.

he

Various as

have been the phases through which that election has passed,

none can be more alien from the


tions than the

spirit

of Cyprian's prescrip-

two which divide the Western Church between

In one the lay, in the other the ecclesiastical element

them.

has reduced

its

copartner to a shadow

element has merged

in

each the surviving

in a single individual, a single

nominator

Here it is the monarch, there


Measured by ancient standards

to all sees within his supremacy.

the one bishop of Rome*.

neither section could criticise the other, yet to the purposes


^

Ep.

Ep. 67.

Where concordats

I.

I,

Testim.'\. 17.

/.

63. 14.

The bishop

of

Rome

in the prseconisa-

tion of bishops or in appointments

4, 5.

exist

the

laity

brief elects

and

constitutes,

nominate in the person of the sovereign.

32

by

THE BISHOP OF THE THIRD CENTURY.

36

of each no machinery could

be better adapted than the

and ancient standards were not uniform. No mean


analogy is that of England, where a minister of the Crown,
present,

selected from popular representatives, nominates, the chapters

of the diocesan

as representatives
reject,

presbyterate accept or

and the comprovincial bishops consecrated

Fourth, the presbyters had no voice or vote in the election


of the bishop distinct from that of the laity

was

The very name

orders

of priesthood

sacerdotes, sacerdotiuin) did not

upon them

by

represented

(as

descend from the episcopate

Cyprian wrote.

until after

as the Levitic

their influence

government they scarcely appear as an

great, but in

body of the church,

Their then designation,

upon

similarly descended

the deacons^
Fifth, while the virtue of

of Apostleship

Aaron's Priesthood and the grace

flowed, as

still

through the world, those

who

were, from a divine source

it

received

it

were not a college

with power to invite or coopt or to increase their numbers

was the Christian


individual bishop was the fountain of

at their pleasure.

who by

they

It

71.

was

is

Cone. Carth. sub

in //.

Can.

(Labbe,

Ii.

Ge11. c.

1244), where to a question put with the


words episcopus, presbyter et diaconus

Conpresbyteris qui aderant,' p.

Genethlius himself replies, using 'sa-

'plurimi

i,

'

crosanctos antistites, et Dei sacerdotes,

I.

Perhaps the

It

Coepiscopi

Presbyters in Cone. v. de Bap.

are said 'adesse'

cum

trace

nethlio, a.d. 390,

Chtirch, p. loff.
^

honour^

his

the 'aspiration of God' addressed to him the call

See Dr Pusey, The Councils of the

plebes which to every

Deacons

is

first

use of Levitce for

nearly contemporaiy with

nee non

In

et Levitas.'

relius repeats

it

this

form Au-

Cod. Can. Ecc. Afric.

Cyprian's application of Levitica tribus

Can. in. (Labbe, n.

{Ep.

of //. Cone. Carth. and in Can. iv. of

I. i)

to presbyters (a.d. circ. 245)

Origen, Horn.
V.

xii. 3, in

which shews

his use of

unfamiliar.

W.

iepevai
^/LiSs)

Jerem. (Delarue

196 [1740]), and

iii.

17

(dfUvv/Mi

ris ovv

de

it

is

in a

way

both words to be
Kal to'utols

roi/s

roh

first

///. Cone. Carth. A.D. 397

form

appears

Canons.
*

And

in

so

titles
it

In Can. x.

(al.

only,

398) the

not

in

spreads,

bishop could ordain a lector, a

subdeacon, a deacon, even a presbyter,

\abv

without more than a nominal reference

iv TotJTois rois irepi<rTTiK6(n

The

1261).

irpea^vripovs

\evirai$ {\4yo} 8^ tovs diaKdpovs) a/jLaprdvet...

c.

formal use of them

to the plebes.

But the whole eollegium

saeerdotale conld not elect

a.

hishop.

THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE

IX.

I.

LAITY.

37

to enter on the inheritance of that priesthood and the dispen-

On them

sation of that grace.

rested also the responsibility

and duty of withdrawing from him and


he were a sinner.
'

'

people obedient to the precepts of the

Lord and fearing God


sinful prelate, and not

is

of a sacrilegious Priest

'

power

'

refusing the unworthy^'

to separate itself from a

forasmuch as they have mainly the

either of electing

when

bound

to associate itself with the sacrifices

'

Sixth, hence

his administrations if

worthy Priests

{i.e.

Bishops) or of

a bishop had been appointed to a see,

and charity, the


embodiment
visible pillar, foundation, and indeed the
of his
church.
The bishop is in the church, and the church in the
bishop, and if anyone is not with the bishop he is not in
he was, so long as he remained

in faith

'

'

'

the church-.'

Seventh, in the councils there was no elective, no mutable

Each diocese

representation.
to be,

among

elected

its

bishop once for

all

other functions, the representative of his church

and constituency

They needed no

other.

life

member

of

the conciliar

body.

Eighth, the temptations incident to this copious authority

were not without an antidote

in the

commission and the popular duties

it

popular character of the

To

involved.

the bitter

attack of Pupien Cyprian replies 'all the brethren and the

know and love my humble character: you


knew it and you loved it when you were in the church and in
communion with me... I am daily the servant of the brethren.
I receive those who come to the church, one after another,

'heathen also well


*

'

'

'with goodwill, with prayers, and with joyfulness^.'


Lastly,

it

has been accurately shewn that there

development of these opinions on Priesthood

is

no clear

in the writings

of

the Apostolic Fathers, in Justin, or in Clement of Alexandria^


Ep.

On

the refusal of the

Ep. 66.

Spanish churches to communicate with

Dissertation on the Christian

67. 3.

their bishops Basilides

and Martial.

8.

^^. 55.

j.

Mi-

nistry in Bp. Lightfoot's edition of the

THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE

38
I

am

We

not so sure that there

have seen that

is

LAITY.

no trace of them

Tertullian they exist side

in

in Irenaeus^

by

side with

clear enunciations of the doctrine of an essential priesthood

inherent in

all

Christians, but exercised in fully developed

churches by the organic ministry alone.

This

Lay-priesthood

universal

Cyprian, but there


belief in

Nor

it.

no

is

is

sufficient

coaeval with the religious instinct of mankind.

many
the

shrines had special

in

Rome

ministers,

and to

endowments and

both retained traces of functions appropriate to

last

priest-kings.

But

Roman

the pontiffs and the augurs, were

state,

the

principal

sacrificing

of the

priests

The

not separated from the rest of the people.

'

lay men,'

celebrants in

The

the sacrifices were generals, senators, and magistrates-.

Jewish nation had been founded as a priesthood,


functions proper to the whole

deputed

first

resumed

the Philippians,

1868,

pp.

Irenaeus
'as

for sufficient cause

handles

episcopate

the

the depository

of apostolic

prophets, doctors' of
Hce3-es.iv.26.

meat of the same


iv.

cit.

because his whole object


not governmental.

him

pp.
is

237,

8),

doctrinal,

The whole Church

a 'depositorium dives,' into

which the apostles stored 'omnia quje


veritatis,'

sint

c.

Hares,

iii.

4.

The

26,

iii.

3,

Cor.

xii.

28,

v.

section

and compare

20 '...episcopi quibus

apostoli tradiderunt ecclesias.'

In Justin
116,

are

that

it

the

is

true,

Dial.

Tryph.

c.

whole Christian people

the high-priestly

family,

but

the Trpoeo-rws alone, Apolog.

charismata and so) capable of witness-

irpoe<TT(j}S...\a^ihv...evxipt<^Tlav...iTrl

ing to apostolic truth he makes to be

Xi) Trotetrat.

est

'apud quos

ab apostolis

et id

quod

est

est (i) ea qure

ecclesise successio,

sanum

et

(2)

irreprobabile

conversationis, (3) et inadulteratum et

we

must mark also the church-function of

notes however of a church (possessing

three, viz.

c.

See also the commence-

(Bp. Lightfoot, op.

to

by

These

inconuptibile seimonis constat.'

tradition' than as 'the centre of unity'

is

which the

three he parallels with the 'apostles,

247 sqq.
^

in

of the race were

This royal priesthood became, when

kings and prophets.

more

manhood

theory to the eldest sons and then to the

in

single tribe, yet frequently

Epistle to

is

it

had no

It

pagan Greece, and even

in

in

reason to question his

a specially Christian doctrine

it

doubt been obscured

upon

dwelt

not

is

koI
*

ttji'

OS ffwriXiaavros

eiixapi<TTlav

...flaminicae

i.

rds

6^

-6

wo-

ei^x^ts

et

Tert. dc Idolatr. 10.

cediles

sacrificant,

I.

THE ORIGIN OF CYPRIAN'S VIEW.

IX.

39

Judaism broadened into Christianity, the inheritance of be-

The

Heving humanity\

right to approach the Father with

prayers and intercessions, the duty of purity, the unworldHness, which

all

exercise of the right implied, were sacerdotal

We

characters which none failed to recognise.

have seen,

however, that strongly as Tertullian represents this view, he

no

strongly recognises the 'priestly discipline^' and the

less

separateness of the
'

office.

And

'

it

seems plain from

his

mode

of speaking that such language was not peculiar to himself,

'but passed current in the churches

among which he moved ^'

What

Cyprian's theory simply

distinctive

is

therefore

regards the origin of that

in

According to him,

office.

an inheritance from the apostles,

(i)

to the Levitic Priesthood, only

it

is

and a succession

(2)

more glorious

in

being the

fulfilment of that priesthood as of a type.

And

now, we must observe that from whatever source the

was not an emanation from the policy of


And although it would be equally inaccurate to

theory sprang
Cyprian.

it

say that the policy sprang from the theory, yet the influence
of the view in moulding both then and ever since
church-life

which has had any continuity,

zation which has

vigorous

Christian organi-

enjoyed any extension, can scarcely be

From

over-estimated.

all

all

the very

first

Cyprian believed that he

read that doctrine in Scripture, and in Scripture as a whole.

Whencesoever derived, it came to him in his


find it in strongest and completest terms in
and

novitiate.'

his episcopate

ness with which he realised


'

visions

'

reflected

added nothing

it,

although his discussions and

and impressed

Novatianists, towards

Tert.

Ibid. 11.

lie

Monog.

7.

his

The

to the distinct-

There

it^

is

for the hypothesis that the exigencies of his position

the

We

his first epistle

in his first application of texts in the Testimonies.

whole period of

his

'

own

presbyters, or

Bp. Lightfoot,

Ep. 66.

10.

no room
towards
towards

op. cit. pp. 253, 254.

THE REMNANT OF PEACE.

40
the see of

Rome, determined

or in the least developed his

belief^

And whence
originate?

then did this form of Christian

see no proof, and to

me

it

thought

incredible, that

is

he or other Africans should have derived any such scheme,


consciously or unconsciously, from

appeared to them

in

all

Pagan

constitutions,

which

the light of a purely demoniacal

and Satanic system. Nor yet is it possible that they inherited


them from any Jiidaizing forms of Christianity. For not
only is sacerdotalism not one of the characteristics for which
Judaizers are ever reprehended ^ but in fact the very essence
of Judaism lay in looking back to the literal circumcision,

the

literal

Jerusalem.

passover, the literal centralising of the church

Towards Gentile

heathenism nor to
fruitful

legalistic

powerful theory

Was

it

Priests,

towards Levites from

they had no propension.

the uncircumcision,

sects can

now accepted

upon

we

Neither to

back the

trace

in Africa.

then but an unconscious straining

first

of language,

then of feeling, lastly of thought, which gradually warped


with a hieratic distortion offices originally politic and didactic?

Did the contemplative study of numerously fulfilled types


draw men by a seemingly irresistible attraction to imagine an
actual continuity, totally unreal, between a sacrificial priest-

hood and what was designed only

for a hortatory college

Or, was the belief a legitimate development of the prin-

and analogous

ciples of the apostolic church, parallel with


to the

growing

light

on cardinal doctrines which similarly

nothing but use could illustrate

O.

Ritschl

(pp.

50,

222,

rightly states that the theory

developed
practical

without

the

223)

was not

events.

No

theory of a polity could be.

But when he says that

it

broke out

new

perception in Ep. 43, he not


only overlooks the early Ep. 33, but

as a

fails to

discern what

is

more important,

And

are

the forms in

all

that the conception of the

Cyprian applies to
ings requires for

life
its

Church which

in his first writ-

potential nucleus

which the formula so soon


consolidates.
[The text was written
some years before Ritschl appeared.]

that theory

Bp. Lightfoot, op.

cit.

pp. 257 sqq.

THE REMNANT OF PEACE.

X.

I.

which

same

may

it

truth

The

be said to

live

alternative

an important one.

is

It will

be answered

and cannot be deter-

their schools,

We

shall find further illustrations of

the progress of the history, but

in

us broken lights of the

by thinkers according to
mined by history alone.
it

among

4I

becomes

it

at this point

a debate of metaphysical theology.

X.

Bishop's

few months only were

work

7iphill.

to the unsuspecting Chris-

left

which had assisted the

tians of a 'Thirty-eight years Peace^'

extension of the church without promoting either


or

devotion

its

some time between the July of

organization, when,

its

248 and the following ApriP, the figure of the well-

A.D.

known

now

advocate,

for

some time missed from

court and

a.d. 249.
'ioo^.Coss.

familiar to Christians in the semicircle of ;;^V,l^^"^


forum, and grown

^miliapresbyters, took the white linen-covered chair of the illicit nus 11.
'

11-m some

assembly
^

Sulpicius Severus Chronicor.

'inteijectis

Pax

merchant prmces basilica ^ and the voice


ii.

32

xxx

deinde annis viii et

Day, April

15, A.D.

249; for in Ep. 29,


he mentions that

after Easter a.d. 250,

from the end

he had made Saturus read a Lesson,

4 Feb. 211), about


which time the ferocities of the pro-

with the consent of the clergy, on the

Christianis

of Sept. Severus

{d.

Scapula

consul
fierce

fiiit,' i.e.

elicited

'Ad Scapulam.'

quotes Origan,

Tertullian's

Freppel, p. 168,

Cels. vii. 26,

c.

speaking

two

last

Easter Days,

The Decian

persecution began in the

end of A.D. 249, or the very beginning


of a.d. 250. For all that happened Til-

of the rapid multiplication of the Chris-

lemont allows two years

tians.

Cypr. Art.

"

The

after

the

59th
15th

of

A.D. 252 (Ep. 59. 10).

been bishop

for

was written
May, the Ides,
Cyprian had then

epistle

'

quadriennium

'

(ib.

two or three months


beyond three years, at most for four
years.
This makes the earliest date
6), i.e. at least for

possible for his accession to be June

A.D. 248, the latest possible April A.D.


249.

He was certainly bishop

on Easter

vi.).

(vol.

iv.

S.

Eighteen months

is

the utmost possible, and probably the

episcopate

began not long

a.d. 248.

More than

June
would
be called a quinquennium in Ep. 56. i
a 'triennium' is two years and three
months ; in Ep. 43. 4 little more than
a twelvemonth is a 'biennium.'
after

four years
;

**

The

Basilicse

common

in

great

houses, and not those of the law-courtSj

were probably the models of the

first

L. Neevius
Aquilinus.

THE DISCIPLINE OF PEACE.

42

had defended the

that

which,

still

standing

before an

rose

state-religion

altar

place sixty years later^ seemed

in its old

reproach the departing schismatic with the shadows of

to

Cyprian and of Unity.

Of

on Patience

his sermons, unless the tract

remodelled, not a record has reached us


to the vast

monuments

have caught the

first

able teaching.

But there

we can

In the

'

Name

of the Lord,' and

man

the whole

in

is

scarcely question that, as

social science.
his

should

exhortation which,

first

note of those thirteen years of inefface-

pamphlets, so from his

is

sermon

usage of the African bishops, he opened and closed

with the double^ salutation

that

We

of Augustine's preaching.

have gladly learnt the tenor of that


after the

is

a singular contrast

'

Christian

letters

was taught

life

In the quiet time he had served

own epigrammatic

was nothing wavering

He

ing for a clue.

bema

such oneness

his

in

in

tale of his first few

him, or tentative

as a
'

discipline'^

months.

There

was no

there

and

feel-

entered on restoration and organization

with a theory clearly ascertained, and a practical devotion to


consequences.

its

'

The church

She holds and owns

one.

is

And

the power of her Spouse and Lord.

'

all

'

side.

'

and her glory we alike maintain with

'

We

'

keep the bounds

For her honour and her unity we do

in

we preHer grace

her

battle.

faithful self-devotion.

have God's leave to water God's thirsting people.


of the springs

of

life^'

estimate of his duty and his responsibility.

Such was

To

revive

We
his
in

a worldly laity, with a staff of caballing clergy, the reality

of their professions and of their


life

with half-forgotten

was

forces,

See R. Bum's ^(7ot^ aw^

2"/;^

That used
by Cyprian's congregation was mainCampagiia, Introd.

p.

1.

tained afterwards as a church.


1

Optat.i. 19'erat altare loco suo,'&c.

his

first

task,

and

in

Not only had he from the

that primitive age no light one.

churches.

reanimate church

offices, to

...salutatione scilicet geminata.

tat. vii.

naei.
'

6,

Paris, 1631.

Ep.
Ep.

Op-

note p. 162, ed. All)aspi-

59. 6.

73. 11.

THE TRIALS OF

X.

I.

whom
;

rule-,'

not only did


turbulent

men

render his administration

diffi-

presbyters and

five

he could scarcely

others,

'

the glaring abuses of the episcopal office were yet harder

cope with.

to

43

to bear 'contumely toward his office";

first

opponents, the

cult

PEACE.

Socially

known

as leading men, but unprovided

with material independence, or with position equal to that


of a provincial magistracy, some bishops were engrossed in

some absent
There was the

agriculture,

usury^.

by the opportunities of

commerce, some even engaged

in

in

free-living bishop actually enriched

ready to abjure the

his post,

faith

when

the prospect of danger, ready to resume his office

on

peril

was past*. There was the immoral bishop on the verge of


excommunication^ Some were secure in their position though
notorious for their frauds in the bazaar, or their complicity in
the slave-trade of the Sahara^
to prepare their

catechumens

Some

again were too ignorant

for baptism, or to avoid heretical

phrases in their public prayers, too indifferent even to abstain

from using

in their liturgies'" the

compositions of well-known

Cold and dark are the shades which are flung athwart

heretics.

the bright tracts and around the glowing lights of the scenes
of this early church

tolerated the

or

If

life.

it

was possible

we can understand how among

bishops

among

makers of

idols

for such

men

to

be

their presbyters they

and the compounders of incense,

their laity astrologers^

and

theatrical trainers.

In that fierce surge of mingling races, tyrannous classes,

inhuman

superstitions, the struggle of

interests was,

more

^
''

Ep.
Ep.

violent

upon a comparatively narrow space, tenfold


in the most intense

above

bat

I. vii.

De

Ep. 65.

Auct. de Rebaptism. 10.

Aug. dc Bapt.

diosis,

mensam sed Dei altare habecommune Cyprianus.' Ibid. iv. 9


Cf.
(12); c Ep. Parmen. iii. 1 (8).
privatam

6. I, 1.

27. 3: see

Laps. 5,6.

'Cum

and the shock of

and more unscrupulous than

(89)

life

Can.

3.

18, 19,

Can. 13

/.

20 Conc.Elib. (305

306?),

Cone. Carth. {348).

45

S.wg.dcBapt.c.Donatt.Vx.ii^^^'i).

collegis fseneratoribus, insi-

Tert. de Idolatr. cc.

non

Ep.

c.

fraudatoribus,

Donatt.

vii.

raptoribus

2.

7, 9.

CYPRIAN BISHOP.

44

"

The new

centres of our energies.

part of a century not only

sect

had been

for the third

unharmed but prosperous

hollowness and insincerity should have grown up

We

inevitable.

in

it

that

was

can but recognise as they did themselves that

We

the persecution of the church was mercy to the world.

And

end was answered.

shall find reason to believe that its


for the present,

the troublous years which

followed

far

we shall see that


were more favourable by

than profoundest peace

could have been to the grand combinations of one master

spirit.

XI.

Clerical and Lay.

Discipline

We

must now pass

review the measures of Cyprian's

in

eighteen months^ of peace, remembering that, illustrative as

they

are,

One

they are but a prelude.

passing glimpse of what seem active methods shews

him to us with
examining into the

band

of

Easter,

a!d! 2-0

Teaching

'

Presbyters,'

qualifications of Readers, testing all

were preparing for the clerical


in a

the

kind of rank as

'

Next the

who

and placing the approved

office,

On

Clergy.'

one such occa-

sion these agree to appoint Optatus one of the Readers to be


'

Teacher of Catechumens,'

had done
1

See

for Cyprian, but

Counting from June

248

to
still

a.d.

Ep. 29 '...quos jam pridem communi consilio clero proximos feceramus,


^

die Paschse

semel

atque iterum lectionem dedimus,

modo cum
tores

presbyteris

aut

doctoribus lee-

probaremus, Optatum
doctorem audientium con-

diligenter

inter lectores

stituimus, examinantes, &c.'


teresting passage there
fault, iox presbyteris

Dr Hort

In this

in-

must be some

cannot be dative:

conjectures that coram

may

have disappeared after cum. Hartel


reads doctorum, which is not a Cyprianic

for

many what

as a Reader'.
construction.
like

p. 41, note 2.

quando aut Saturo

do

Again on two

Presbyteri doctores

'

are

Aspasius in Passio SS. PerpetucB

Felicit. xiii.

I.

et

the Doctores no longer a

Order as

distinct

XJ

'

Caecilian

in

Teaching of the

Apostles xi.xv., or Shepherd of Her-

mas, Vis. in.


Cyp.

vi.

5.

See Dodwell, Diss.

cannot think 'die Paschse

semel atque iterum lectionem dedimus'

means 'we gave him two passages to


read aloud in examination.' Compare
Ep. 38. 2 '...dominico legit.' In Ep.
38.

he speaks of his 'practice' of

consulting presbyters, deacons and laity

on the

fitness of candidates,

I.

MONTHS OF

HIS

XI.

Days they

consecutive Easter

PEACE.

45

assign to Saturus, though not

yet a Reader, the Reading of the Lesson.


possible to say whether
in

life

But

it.

this gathering of the

about their bishop

not quite

It is

was new, or old with a new

all this

presbyters

best-read

in the training of the

young clergy was

sure sign of progressive improvement.

The monuments

of this time are one Treatise and three

Letters which the sagacity of Pearson restored to their place

About

as the earliest in the collection.


third),

another, however (the

he was mistaken \

His

first

epistle deals with the case of

one who had, con-

trary to an existing rule, left a clergyman 'Tutor

property.

It forbids

the

sacrifices'* to

'

by

Geminius Victor of Furni^ near Carthage had


nominated as

'

Tutor

'

will to his

be offered for his repose.


in his will

Geminius Faustinus a presbyter.

had ruled thus

statute* of a former council

'
:

No

God

one

to

is

'

appoint by his will a cleric and minister of

'

or curator, since every one

'

priesthood and appointed to the clerical ministry ought only

'

to serve the altar

'prayers...' 'if
'

made

him nor

for

and

any

who

sacrifices

shall

is

to be a tutor

honoured with the divine

and be

free for devotions

Cyprian

sacrifice celebrated for his repose.'

accordingly enjoins that at Furni there shall be no

Geminius Victor, or any

for

and

have so done, no offering shall be

'

'

oblation

deprecation frequented

'

in the

'

church in his name.

The next

transaction in which

siderate ruler,

is

we mark

the strong, con-

the answer to Eucratius, the bishop probably

of the distant seacoast colony of Thense or Tain^


^

On Ep.

Rogatiano see pp. 234,

235 and note.

Compare

t.

'

...statutum

concilio asacerdotibusdatam,'

sit'

'formani nuper in

^/.

Bunsen, Hippolytus and his

2.

Tert. Monog. 10.


About 28 miles west of Carthage
which latter had a Porta Furnitana; see
Appendix on Cities.
* I avoid the word canon in speaking
of Councils which had not yet employed
^

It furnishes

vol.

il.

i.

i,

age,

(1852) p. 223.

celebraretur,

i.e.

no gathering of a

congregation of friends for the purpose.


2& frequentetur z\.%o \m^\&%.

Ep.

Eucratius

Ep. 1.2.

spoke

in

the

council of ten years later in support of

the second baptism of heretics.

{Sentt.

THE DISCIPLINE OF THE CLERGY.

46

an instance of that careful weighing of individual cases which


lays the basis of

An

permanent enactments.

Actor,

who had

left

the profligate and corrupting stage^ as a matter of course

in

obedience

to

Christian

principles,

no scruple

felt

in

of voice and gesture to heathen youths


had no power to enfranchise, or withdraw
them from their profession, why hesitate to improve and
elevate, perhaps chasten their performance ? Similar casuistries

imparting his

skill

He

or slaves.

every day impede practical morality, and the Africa of the

was

third century

With the touch of

with them.

rife

man who was

Cyprian exposes the

truth

ready to form others to

take the place from which he had escaped conscience-stricken

he really has no other means

suggests his maintenance,

if

of living, by the church

and

offers him, if

Thenae

is

too

poor, food and clothing at Carthage.

The

had

difficulty Eucratius

dealing with the case

felt in

lay in the absence of

any

elocutionists or others

who only

from the church

rule excluding

trained actors.

fragment belonging to the second half of the third


supplied the omission.

shows, or

if

'

him cease

or let

one has the mania of theatrical

If

him be

shows)

'(in theatrical

'he does not

'

he has been a declaimer

'

make

cast out.

If

the theatres,

in

a trade of

it,

let

let

he teach the young

good that he should

is

it

genuine
century'"*

him be

cease.

forgiven^'

If

In

306 the Synod of Elvira enacts the rule requiring


a converted performer'' to renounce his profession before

A.D. 305 or

Epp.

His successors appear

29.)

Councils up to A.D. 641.

on

p.
if

Se.t

in

Appendix

Bingham

(1855), vol. IV. p. 85.

Cf.

Bunsen, Hippolytus (1852), vol.


it is

later

not based upon


3

From

than Cyprian's

in

II.

letter,

the Alexandrian form of the

the

Abyssinian

is

text

still

and

Arabic translation therefrom, as well as


in the Coptic

{op. cit.).
iirl aKrjVTJs

which now appears

and Syriac; and which

Apost. Constt.

7)

as

the

Bunsen

text.
viii. c.

idi> ris irpoairi dvrjp

^ iravadaducrav
*

it.

Apostolic Constitutions which


extant

collection

Eighth Book of our Greek

Cities.

314;

forms the groundwork of that separate

rj

32 rdv
yvvq...

airo^aKKiiTdiiXTav.

Cone. Eliberitan. can. 62.

mimus synonymous under


perors with histrio.

Panto-

the

Em-

L. C. Purser ap.

Smith, Diet, of Greek


quities, s.v. (ed. 1891).

and Rom. Anti-

THE EARLY LETTERS

XI.

I.

TUTELA

reception into the church, and

attempt to resume

to

OF CLERICS.

47

be excluded upon any

it.

In the 'fourth' letter he appears with Caecilius, the senior

bishop of the province, and other bishops and presbyters,


taking strong measures for the suppression of a shocking
fanaticism which allowed a supposed purely spiritual union

between certain junior

immediate connection with


'

Of THE DRESS OF

and professed virgins \

clerics

this subject

In

appeared his treatise

VIRGINS.'

In these letters the authority of the Bishop of Carthage

invoked or exercised beyond his own diocese, and wears

is

already something of a metropolitic aspect.

One more

exemplification of the system and appliances of

may be mentioned

discipline

as belonging to this interval, in

the investigation before the bishop and assessors of certain

charges of cruelty to a father and a

wife'^

which impended

over an eminent presbyter, Novatus, the future schismatarch.

To

this

we

When

shall return hereafter.

the persecution was past, Cyprian's calm judgment

of his previous experiences was that


'

rupted a divinely delivered discipline

'

taking her ease and half asleep*.'

Of

We

are

bound

'

long Peace had corthat Faith

had been

Clerics fiot to be Tutores.

to take

some

of these subjects in detail, not only

because of their intrinsic interest and importance, but because


they afford us the first opportunity of weighing the objections

which have been advanced by a clever writer against the genuineness


of the Cyprianic letters*.
Mr Shepherd repudiates the authenticity
of the First Letter and of the canon on which it is based.
Against these documents Mr Shepherd argues, that since the
Carthaginian councils of A.D. 348 and A.D. 419, in forbidding the
exercise of secular offices by the clergy, did not reenact this canon
it must have been unknown to them^.
He states also that 'the office
^

The

p. 52.

De

'Letters on the genuineness of the

ffvvela-aKToi, v. p. 54.

p.

4.

2.

Laps.

5.

writings ascribed to Cyprian,' by the

Rev. E.
*

J.

Shepherd.

Second

letter, p. 25.

OF CLERICS NOT TO BE TUTORES.

48

was one which a clerk, if he had no legal exemption, was


serve.'
That again the ministers of Cyprian's and
still later times did engage in business (a practice allowed by the
fourth council of a.d. 398), and 'were therefore very far from being
'always engaged in serving the altar and sacrifices, and employed in
'prayers and supplications.' That, although the evils which flowed
'

of Tutor

'compelled to

from

clerics taking the office of

prohibited

it,

yet they were

'

'Tutor' were so

at first

Mr

(in

'

many

that Justinian

opinion) proper

S.'s

persons to undertake such a charge, and actually did so (since the


17th canon

of the 4th council of Carthage orders that, not the

bishop himself but, his archpresbyter or archdeacon should take


charge of widows and orphans). It is besides 'exceedingly preposterous' to imagine that the bishops of Cyprian's age,

whom

he

censures for secularity, should have passed ' any law against secular
pursuits,' when meantime even Cyprian himself was 'the victim of

such an appointment from his own spiritual father


'nothing,' he adds in a note, 'of the wife

Csecilius,'

who was

'

to say

also entrusted

and I suspect that a young African widow, probably not


to him
'much out of her teens, would have been quite as serious a charge

'

'as the children.'


It is

necessary to quote this passage, not because

but because

it

evinces

that

the critic

it

is flippant,

has not possessed himself

of the most accessible information 1.

In the whole argument I


do not detect one correct statement. It is well known that the
power of a Tutor or Curator had respect to the property and
'

pecuniary interests, not the persons of the pupilli

was a

'

or wards.

He

His business was the preservation of property^


during minority'; to guard against the minor's being defrauded:
debts could not be recovered, nor were engagements valid, if
incurred by a minor without his sanction. He was also bound to
improve the property. The office of Tutor subsisted up to the
ward's fourteenth year; that of Curator between the fourteenth and
the twenty-fifth, at which he came of age.
There is no reason to suppose that Cyprian was Tutor or Curator
trustee.

'

of the property of his friend's family.

Pontius describes a deathbed

scene (accersitione jam proxima) in which

Caecilius

commended

them (commendavit) personally to his convert's affection (pietatis).


It was improbable that Cyprian should have been named Tutor
in the will, for by blood he was not related to Csecilius, and the
usage was so invariable by which the nearest relations and next
heirs were appointed Tutors, that it was a special slur if any of
1

E.g.

Mr

G. Long's

and Rom. Ant.


* The res and

article Z)?V/. Gk.

called

upon 'negotia gerere' and 'aucto-

ritatem interponere.'
the pecunia.

He was

I.

THE GENUINENESS OF THE FIRST LETTER.

XI.

them were passed over^


Thus much
secular-minded

the

for

men

we observe

Incidentally,

Geminius Victor nominates a

letter

legal

relative

that in this very

Geminius Faustinus.
Into

criticism.

49

the

passing an anti-secular statute

of

possibility

need not enter


because the letter speaks of the rule having been made before the age
of Cyprian, and being now enforced by him against a secularity which
had grown up, as he says elsewhere"^, during the long security.
We must now look into the argument from the canons. Granted
I

that at this time the clergy could not live on their allowances,

and

long afterwards eked their living out by handicraft, by farming, or


by literary occupation^. But the point of canon after canon is this
:

That they were not

The

administer the property of

to

distinction escaped

Mr

They are not

Shepherd.

otJier

to

people.

be agents

or stewards*, nor farm- bailiffs, nor accountants^, nor contractors,


or

factors,

managers^,

negotiis' at

not

short,

in

The reason

all.

obnoxii

'implicati

alienis

not only obvious, but indicated.

is

The opening

for peculation, or at least for suspicion, caused the


church to be ill spoken of, if they accepted such offices.
The
grounds for the prohibition of these agencies applied tenfold more

minors with property.

to Tutorship of

for the decease of the ward.

And

The Tutor

in Persius'^ sighs

while the church as a corporation

undertook from the

first not only the tictela, but the maintenance of


orphans and widows, and appointed her proper officers,
Deacons (and after a time Archdeacons), to care for them, it
became only the more important that her clergy should not enter

destitute

into private relations of the kind.

Now
earliest

the Council of a.d. 348, which Mr Shepherd alleges as the


forbidding secular employment to the clergy, supplies

evidence worth attention that there did exist an earlier rule forbid-

ding clergy to exercise tutela piipillorum.


the

In that Council

bishops settle that the clergy are not to

They do not exclude them from

factors.

(c.

6)

become agents

or

the office of tutors.

One

bishop then enquires whether persons already engaged as agents,


factors, or tutors,
it

8) 'if

(c.

ought

they have

to

be admitted to orders. The Council allows

first

and had them approved.'

wound up and

^ Te sororis filius...notavit, quum in


magno numero tutorem liberis non

instituit.
^

Z?f

C\c.

/a/>j. 5

pro

Sest. 52.

'...disciplinam pax longa

/^. Cof.

Car/,^. A.D. 398, cann. 51,

/.

Ibid. can. 9.

///. Cone. Carth. A.D.

Pers. Sat.

expungam':

ii.

12

'

the

8.

397? can.

...pupillumve

next

hasres

of

15.
uti-

Impello

kin being

by the xil. Tables, unless the


had nominated someone else.

52, 53 'artificiura, artificiolum, agricul-

tutor

tura, literae.'

will

B.

intelligible

Cone. Carth. a.d. 348, can.

nam quem proximus

coiruperat.'
*

exhibited their accounts

These two canons are only

THE GENUINENESS OF THE FIRST LETTER.

50
if

we assume

the reality of that earlier canon mentioned

by Cyprian.

Unless it existed previously, the Council would have left matters in


this incomplete position, that tutors could only become clerics by
resigning office, but that clerics might freely become tutors.

Assume however that clerics were already forbidden


tutors, and we see why they are not forbidden in canon
clerics

now

become

6.

Again,

being already incapable of becoming tutors, and others being

also excluded, the question naturally arises,

canon

to

8,

posts, to

'

Is

it

become

which

settled in

is

impossible for a tutor, and persons holding such


clerics

.''

'

The omission

in the Sixth

and the inclusion

Eighth canon are both simply explained.


Lastly, there is a mistake even in the assertion that a Tutor
was obliged to serve unless he had a legal exemption. Those
in the

tutors

(called

legitimi)

who were appointed by

magistrates

when

But a tutor appointed


by a will could 'abdicate,' or renounce. Certain offices were however considered by the law as exemptions, and the African bishops
of the third century desired to make the clerical office such an
exemption by internal regulations, since the government could not
sanction it, until in the reign of Justinian, the canon was adopted
people died intestate

into

the

'we7'e

so compelled.

imperial legislation.

The

sole penalty then lay at

this

time against the testator, and none was possible except the omission
of his

name from

the intercessions for the departed.

could be taken against the cleric tutor,


his

appointment

until the will

was

read,

No

steps

who might know nothing of


and who certainly could not

assign to his heathen neighbours, as a ground for renunciation, that

he was a Christian presbyter.


Perhaps none of Mr Shepherd's

'

criticisms

'

had more force


on this

in shaking confidence in Cyprian's letters than his attack

one.

Yet the objections are merely legal and historical miscon-

ceptions.

The circumstances

of the letter are, as

we have shewn,

perfectly consistent with the rather intricate conditions of the time

the early existence of the disputed canon

is

demonstrated by the

wording of the later ones, and the authenticity of the story illustrated
by the very names.
And here, lastly, we must add the consistency with which we
find a member of the same family of Geminii speaking as bishop
of the same town of Furni {Sejitt. Epp. 59) several years later in the
It is not impossible that it may have been
Geminius Faustinus himself, and that he too may be the Bishop
Geminius {Ep. 67) who signed the synodic letter in A.D. 254.

Council of A.D. 256.

CHRISTIANS AND THE STAGE.

XII.

I.

Of

Christiatis not to train

Such passages

for the

stage.

as are already quoted preclude

any doubt as

to the

and
shew that a law of Valentinian in A.D. 371 {Cod. Theodos. XV. tit. vii.
i), which (although it could not place it at the option of any clergyman to emancipate any master's slaves by communicating them)
legality of quitting the theatrical profession in the third century,

made

the reception of the last sacraments necessitate an actor's


manumission in case of recovery, was not (as asserted) the first step
which was taken towards emancipation of actors.
A more sweeping measure submitted to Arcadius and Honorius by
the African episcopate in a.d. 401 1, namely that the adoption of
Christianity should at once release actors who wished to relinquish
the calling, operated towards the reformation of the stage as well
as to the redemption of individuals from

and

the stage,
actors

its

was possible

corruption.

an actor to retire from


though a Christian, to set up as a trainer of
a profession forbidden immediately after; so that the Second

In Cyprian's time then

Epistle

is

Yet

Mr

it

for

yet,

definitely fixed to Cyprian's time.

Shepherd, ignoring the Ale.xandrine fragment and the

Elvira canon, and supposing the law of Valentinian and the Synod

an absurd
and then assuming to be a

of 401 to prove that no actor could ever leave the stage ^


position, as

if all

actors were slaves

'

it

moral impossibility' that any Christian could wish to exercise that


profession^, or any bishop doubt how to proceed in such a case,
has in this superficial mode made his telling attack upon a letter
which is as demonstrably authentic as any of Cicero's.

XII.

The Eighteen MontJis

The

Virginal Life as

brilliant light

appeared

he speaks of

its

was

This

the

extremest

kind

capitis to

which

actors could be subject:

How

argument

was merely

to

we may

some

this

technical.

idle this line of


is

think

Carthage was one of

"^

and by actual

legisla-

devotees as the Flower of the Church.

Cod. Cann. Eccles. Afric. can. 63.

disability

in

While Cyprian recognises

and darkest shade.

(maxima) of minutio

'^

it

both by sorrowful confession

its evils

tion ^

Virginal Life in Carthage.

continued.

presumptive

occupations exercised by Christians just


before,

we

find

incense-making, idol-

carving (by clerics), idol-painting, tempie-building.


*

De

'

Ep.

TtxX..

de Idolatr.

7, S.

Habit. Virgin. 19, 20.


4.

when among

42

THE VIRGINAL

52

He

treats

LIFE.

as a practical and precious institution, without

it

breaking like Tertullian into wild reproaches against mere


corrigible vanities

with the

which occurred, nor yet glorifying the order

of Brides of Christ.

title

Self-dedication to the

unmarried state was considered a Christian

same

were at present no associations

no peculiar

head,

Work

viously

common

no

life,

right conception of the

says Tertullian, (and that


it

for

it

'

in the

But there

no special regulation

dress^,

The

charity or liturgy.

that

'

sense in which Almsgiving was 'Work\'

common
either

for
'

work was,
'

usually prevailed, he implies,)

Obwhen Cyprian

should be as secret as almsdeeds and prayer.

we

are in the rudiments of organization

women

suggests to the elder

to assume some position, and to


some deference^ No specific alle-

the younger to pay them

giance seems to be expected from the order even to the


bishop, for while his assurance that he addresses
tionately rather than officially

'

was recognised, he adds that he

own

inferiority to claim the right to criticize^.


all

Christian

widely as the

women were

fuller leisure

'

affec-

indicates that his official posi-

tion

duties of

them

allowed

is

too conscious of his

theirs,

to

visit

only so

The active
much more

the sick, to frequent

the offering of the sacrifice and the preaching of the word^

The

visiting of

orphans and widows, whether poor or rich

the visiting of daemoniacs, with continuous prayer and fasting

be enabled to use on their behalf the

to

gift

intercession for the church, for the holiness of


for its deliverance

from

in the early letters

To
1

I.

of healing,

they had reason to believe that they had received

if

speak

false clergy, are

in church, teach, baptize or

Tert. de Vel. Virg. 13;

cf.

de Orat.

Cf.

3 'Arbitrio permissa

res erat.'
^

Hab.

Virg. 24

'

employments suggested

Provectae annis ju-

do any

clerical act

was

nioribus facite magisterium.'


*

Ibid. 9.

it

clergy and

which pass under the name of Clement^

17.
-

its

'...nee quo...aliquid

licentise vindicemus,' .^a^.

ad censuram
Virg. 3.

Tert. de Cult. Fern. 2. 11.

See below, note

3, p. 56.

THE VIRGINAL

XII.

I.

They

forbidden as of coursed

LIFE.

53

by

entered on the Hfe

private

by public vow; marriage might be looked on

resolution ^ not

as a departure from holy purpose, but not as violating rule,

and

some cases it was right


The order* of sexagenarian
in

'

Widows,' (who must have

married but once and brought up children,) had a seat of


the Churchy but in Tertullian's time

was first seen


by permission of the then bishop the monstrous marvel of a
maiden seated among them^ and unlike them sitting unveiled.
The meaning of this was that, as girls under the betrothal age
of twelve years wore no veils^ a claim had been made by
honour

in

'

'

certain dedicated virgins to continue the symbolic freedom of

the age of innocence, and at least in church^ to lay aside the

They

covering which elsewhere public opinion enforced.

argued too that St Paul had enjoined


'wives**'

not for the whole sex.

They now

to themselves the assumption of a veil

and

veils for

more

the distress of the

retired^".

'

or

treated as injurious

by any of

obtained a general rule in their

finally

women

'

their sisters,

own

The avowed
make the

sense, to

object

was

order more

to confer a distinction which should


attractive".

The work was


'

'

'

secret

'

However by general

no more.

and Scriptural arguments, appeals to the use of other churches,


and unhappily to wrecks which had increasingly marked the
history of the order, Tertullian seems to have effected the
^

Tert.

Decreverint, Ep. 4.

p.

The Viduatus, Tert.


...ad quam sedem

^/^

V.

V. 9.
i.

aliquando

matres, et

de V. V.
prseter

eliguntur,

quidem educatrices

Tert. de V. V.

Cone.

Tert. de Oral. 21, 21.

Traa-a 5e

ywri, k.t.\.

Cor. xi.

5.

Tertull. disposes of this in Z>^ Cra/. c. ai.

4. 2.

Jerome dwells

9.

annos

sexaginta non tantum univirse, id est


nuptDe,

Carth.

9.
c.

12)

Tert. de V. V. 9.

'

Ibid. II.

6.

et

filiorum,

Their functions {IV.

and catechize women.

sed

were to baptize

in

an unadvised sense on

the distinction between


'virgo,'

Maries,
^^

De

be observed that

meant

B.

'to take

originally to adopt the

usual dress of young

own
"

'mulier' and
Virginit.

20.

It will

the veil'

perpetiia

age.

Tert. de V. V. 14.

women

of their

PERILS.

54

Cyprian has no complaint

restoration of the usual dress\

departures from

against

may

the

And

rule.

remark here one of the instances

in

this

if

be so we

which Tertullian's

Montanism was no bar to his catholic influence.


Christian women had now refrained as a rule

for half a

century from public festivals and arena spectacles as well as

But an incipient tendency to reform society

from temples.

appears when the Virgins are desired to stay away from

weddings on account of the coarseness of the customs, and


from the baths

The

in

which both sexes appeared

attended the order led to vast


his

in undress^.

popularity and sentimental admiration which

moderation ranks the Virgin next to the Martyr.

many, the

exaltation, sense of security, led

now

Even Cyprian with

evils.

all

Vanity,

solitary converts

of heathen hearths, or of circles in which Christian doctrines

had not yet dissipated heathen indifferentism on such subwhich shared

jects, or

their blind confidence in the

magic of

a vow, to seek homes in the houses, and even share the cham-

men and

bers of Christian

who had bound themselves


The power of ecstatic feeling

clerics

under the same obligation ^

may confessedly sometimes overpower even continuous temptation,

and Cyprian wishes

in dealing

with this dreadful scandal

not to assume that every such case was one of actual guilts

It

is,

as

Bingham,

vol.

p.

ii.

404

(ed. 1855), writes, true that Tertullian's

object

was

'^

Ep.

but he

...dum adhuc separari innocentes

has also in view a body of virgins,

though they did not

'

live in

distinctly dedicated.

Nupsisti enim Christo.'


2

De

who

a society
V. V. 16

Cf. 14.

Bunsen must have forgotten this


De Hab. Virg. 19, when in

passage,

Hippolytiis

and

(ed. 1852),

he

to

the East

miscuous

then took the bath,

to induce all virgins to use

the grave habit of matrons;

were

lous belief that only Christian maidens

his age, vol.

refers

II. p. 273
an apostolic canon

on account of

bathing.

this pro-

Rettberg's

anti-

monasticism leads him into the ridicu-

possint,
eos

4.

Ep.

4. 2.

does

assume

plea

of

'

Chrysostom {Contra

qui ap. se habent virg. stibintrod.)

Piety,' or

Nyssa de

it,

and

'Perfection,'
'

Brotherhood.'

Virginitate, 23,

scouts

every

'Philosophy,'

Gregory of
and Jerome,

Ep.i2,ad Eustochiiim, and Epiphanius,


Hieres. 78, 11, agree with him.
setting aside

the

mere

any such question,

fact as

Basil,
treats

a scandal, deserving

excommunication, Ep. 55 (198).

See

I.

'THE DRESS OF VIRGINS.'

XII.

He

however

adds

the

to

55

separation

instant

dreadful

ordeaP.

The
in

and a half

repetition of similar griefs for a century

the councils of Carthage, their prevalence in Spain and

reappearance

Constantinople-,

in

the

establish

inevitable

dangers of a position which the coenobitic or conventual

system arose to

The

fortify.

formation

earliest

such

of

was intended perhaps to meet the case of homeless

societies

But

virgins^

at present lacking the finality of a recognised

vow, lacking fixity of discipline or prescribed occupation, the


Virginal Life was

more than the expression of a

little

fresh

intense sentiment^ a revolt against the universal degradation

which enveloped

city

life.

Its

own

corruption

a warning as to

is

the danger of revivals attempted under incomplete conditions.

'THE DRESS OF THE ViRGlNS

In his treatise upon

Cyprian
in

concerned with what seems

is

reality lay nearer to

important yet

less

He

the fountain of the mischief.

applies himself not only to the correction of vanity, but to

women on

purify and exalt the influence of

The

privacy and

subjection

Many

go might be almost boundless.

belonged to the wealthiest

natural,
Suicer

tion

In

'EvveiffaKTos.

v.

s.

Carth. cc.

3,

/.

Cone.

4 A.D. 348 excommunica-

pronounced against

is

married limited their

of the

That of an order professed yet

influence.

laics guilty

of rules

'

preparatory to an expansion of

as

Antiq.

s.

v. sub-

Ep.

4. 4.

Ep.

A treatment which
{Syagrio)^

Am-

condemns

in

the strongest manner.


-

When

eit.

life

in better times,

and

supports the illusion by construing the

with the scandals into a

interference
'

men and
'

to live

under the same roof

a recommendation

sex

'

by more modest

he does require

is

like other staid

Chrysostom speaks of them

as 'fresh, paradoxical

Op.

the 'religious'

'

to dis-

tinguish themselves from the rest of their

introductre.

brose,

is

sents the advice of Cyprian as 'a series

Venables

in Diet. Chr.

come and

and, without re-

class,

prohibition

It

free to

of the Virgins, as

Freppel, p. 159, incorrectly repre-

'^

was forbidden by
Cone. NiccEn. 3, by civil law under
Honorius, and again and again by canon
for several centuries.
See Canon E.
of the practice.

the community.

and

inexplicable.'

I.

III. Cone. Carth. can. 33.

own age and

live

dresses.

All that

that they should dress

Roman
iir

Augustine, Ep. iii

ladies of their

proper homes.
(al.

So

122), speaks of

a Sanctimonialis taken captive by barbarians and restored to her parents.

'THE DRESS OF VIRGINS.'

56

home (which

signing rank or

indeed no existing organization

enabled them to do), sought


against

among

To them no

the Christians.

obviously requiring a change


In fashions half

Roman,

and

independence

with

corruption

social

their resolution protection

in

dress

their

in

respect

occasion presented itself

half Tyrian they

neck^' in masses of gold chain and pearl,

still

still

ornaments.

or

buried the

'

piled the hair

loaded arms and feet with bracelets,

in grape-like clusters,

outlined the almond-like eye with antimony, dyed the cheeks

'with crimson falsehood,' tipped toes and fingers with henna.

strange sketch of a sister

alleges Scripture, sense

and

Modes

against which Cyprian

Yet

feeling.

this

but a small portion of the picture.

We may

was much

to

reverence and

to

excited in the great

much

organizer, in

love

can have been


be sure there
that which

in

the world-worn lawyer,

such intense enthusiasm.

Grave matter

and

for reflection in this essay are the

'

reverence

which he scarce reproves, the self-abasement

fear' with

The motives

with which he asks their prayers ^

are at once

too low and too lofty upon which he lauds their choice of a
virgin-life,

the

escapes namely from marriage-trouble, their

union with Christ, their anticipated superiority

There

rection-life.

is

ness and pride, such as

shunned without waiting


approached power

it

seems true foresight might have

for experience.

in alleviating

human

the revival of aspirations after purity

examples of
the

self-sacrifice

effective

operation

and

substantial

and they are


effective as

less

in the resur-

latent in these motives a subtle selfish-

But woman's un-

wretchedness, and in
the influence of great

upon a sordid and luxurious age;


of frequent

intercession,

obtruded motives.

real for ever

they are sound

are

more

real then,

destined to be at last

still

in

They were

as

shaping the nobler monasti-

cisms of the futurel


1

De Hal).
De Hab.

Virg. 14, 15, 21.


Virg.

3, cf.

24.

The two

Epistles to Virgins, extant

in Syriac, ascribed to

Clement of Rome,

I.

ITS

XIII.

LITERARY CHARACTER.

57

XIII.
Literary character of the Book

This book

Dress of Virgins!

analogous to Tertullian's very

less

is

Of the

'

Mon-

'Of the Veiling of the Virgins' than to that


Those
author's two books on the Apparelling of Women.'
obligations to eschew frivolity and purify their own society,
which Tertullian had drawn out for the sex, are here specialised
tanistic tract

'

for a single class.

We

have found already that the amplest plagiarism was

permissible; and, this assumed, there

how

in observing

more

own

Master.'

'

delicate taste abjures the

equality with angels

are

because

is literally

begun

'

no purple or

sheep

scarlet

we cannot make one

is

for those

Thus
who 'are

unnatural because
hair-dye

storming of the Truth of the


Tertullian's passionate

were first printed

The

'

both from

'

is

the siege and

worked up with

they lay hands upon God.'

in J. J. Wetstein's

first is

face

'

its

unlawful

His own

hair white or black.'

sufficiently bold phrase that cosmetic arts are

vol. II.

appeals and

coarser

not given in marriage^'; wool-dyeing


there

literary interest

though unable to abandon, the materialism.

modifies,
still,

much

a master of style like Cyprian deals with

the rocky genius of his

is

Like

his

shew what the dangers of the prowere

N. T.

as to

read-

fession of Virginity unprotected

before the time of Cyprian.

The second

ings of Scripture (Bp. Westcott,

Canon of

Scripture, p. i86 n. (ed. 1881)),

and also

epistle is not to Virgins, but prescribing

Wetst.

caution and decorum to travelling clerics

of the

(somewhat too minutely) exhibits the


same dangers from another point of

from

its

Proleg.

topics

and omissions

pp. iv

vii),

and probably of the

second century,
first

half of

The

it.

pretences to purity

under similar though


conditions {Ep.

and are

so

(see

work

i.

outrageous

10) are not accepted,

coupled

against idleness,

less

with

warnings

roaming, pretexts of

visiting, Scripture reading

and exorcizing

view.

Freppel {Ph'es ApostoL, pp. 214

sqq.) holds these to be genuine, as

do

other Roman divines. See Bp. Lightfoot,


Apostolic Fathers,

i.,

Cletnent, vol.

I.

pp. 407 sqq. (1890).


^

De

Hah. Virg.

22.

Cf. 14, 15, 17.

CYPRIAN'S MANIPULATION

58

predecessor he ascribes the invention of the


world,' to apostate angels

who

toilet,

woman's

'

lived before the flood

but he

spares us Tertullian's Byronic picture of spirits sighing for a

heaven yet scheming an eternal hell

lost

He

cannot part with

able

'

flame-colour

of wearing

'

'

'

the evil presage

for their beloved.

of the then fashion-

'

of hair, but avoids suggesting the horror

the despoilment of the strange

woman,

of the

head devoted to gehenna.'

The warning
'

beholder hath

though over-drest

to the innocent

in heart gratified his lust

'sword to him^'

'

thy

thou art become a

softened into 'though thou

is

girl

not thyself

fall

'

thou destroyest others, and makest thyself as

it

'

sword and a poison draught to the beholders-.'

'

Modesty

'

in

sacristan

is

and

and

shrines the worshippers

So he preserves the
'

glory even in the

'

for Christ's sake

'

that

preserves
'

flesh,
;

may draw

it

it

more

the shrine

priestess of

those

priests are wel'

fine turn

becomes

'

were a

'

Plainly the Christian will

but only when

that the spirit

may

it

has endured,

be crowned

in

the eyes and sighs of youth after

gracefully,

'

If

we

torn
it,

it,'

not

but

are to glory in the flesh

it

must plainly be then, when it is tormented in the confession


Name, when woman proves stronger than torturing
man, when she suffers fires or crosses or sword or wild beasts

'of the
'

'that she

The
evident

may be

crowned'^.'

gain and loss of the Master in the disciple's hand are


;

the chief gain was that he

became more readable

but Cyprian's merit was not limited to the turn of a phrase or


the smoothing of a

'

Postremissimus

'

into

an

'

Extremi

et

minimi^' or the inweaving of expressions as beautiful as


his

'

Law

of Innocence*'.'

To

Augustine,

who

in

Ambrose

finds the leaders of Christian eloquence,

criticizes

severely the

Tert. de Cult. Fein. 2. 2,

richness

of his

him and
though he

earlier writing, this

OF tertullian's style.

XIII.

I.

treatise

nishes
style,

must have appeared very

him with

both of the

Viz.

augescit,

de Hab.
to

Virg.

15

Si

quis

It

fur-

grand or moving^'
'

'

Hab. Virg. 3 Nunc to


and 23 Quomodo to end.

de

volui.'

The

classification (iv.

II.

xxix.

128,

129,

is

(i)

ut

doceat,

poterit parva submisse; (2) ut delectet,

16 auspicaris.

Aug. de Doctr. Christiana iv. 21 (47,


48, 49), 'Quos duos ex omnibus pro(34)),

style.

in

'

Viz.

ponere

'

and of the temperate-.'

pingendi artifex,
2

illustrations

perfect

59

adopted perhaps from Cic. de Oral.

modica temperate
granditer dicere.

quence

all

(3) ut flectat,

In

magna

ecclesiastical elo-

the topics are 'magna,' but

the 'submiss' style

is

for instruction,

the 'temperate' for praise or blame, the

'grand' for arousing energy.

CHAPTER

11.

THE DECIAN PERSECUTION.


I.

The Roma7i Theory of Persecution.

The

disorder and worldliness which have been described

were such as

in

from within.

Possessed

Cyprian's convictions were past correction

coming

intimations

of

character^

And

it

with this

came.

he was visited

idea

which wore

trial

The Decian

by-

supernatural

was

persecution

co-

extensive with the Empire, and aimed at the suppression of

by the removal of

Christianity

ceived that

it

leaders.

its

had passed the stage

which

in

was not perdepended on

It
it

individuals.

But before we enter on


well to lay

down

this scene of

our history,

it

may be

the principles upon which harmless people

were so cruelly handled on account of


law-loving and tolerant state of Rome.

their opinions

The

by the

question admits

of a less simple answer from the fact that the Christian legists

of the Theodosian and Justinian codes have expunged the


obsolete statutes.
consul's

If the

chapter of Ulpian

'

Of

the pro-

which recited^ the provisions applicable to

office,'

Christians in the middle of the 3rd century, were extant

should have the answer to our hand.

We

we

can however frame

one correctly though circuitously.


(i).

among
1

On

In the

first

place the Julian

state offences
the

visions

others see infra.

of

and

in

Cyprian and

Law

of Treason included

very general terms the holding


^

Lactant. Div. lnstit.\. 11.

II.

THE DECIAN PERSECUTION.

I.

6l

of any assembly with evil intent^; then too

promoted by

it

every means the laying of informations under this head, admitting evidence inadmissible in other cases, that of infamous
persons, soldiers,

women ^ and

own

of a man's

These

slaves^

enactments seem prior to the time of Alexander Severus, or


even contemporary with the Antonines, while from Marcus
Aurelius dates the post mortem

for

trial

treason

and the

confiscation of the estate of heirs.

Now provincials could

secure the freedom of their religious

meetings by registration of their cultus as a

But there was no province


registered.

for

was a tertmvi genus, not

It

and any other associations

licita.

ethnic, nor Judaic*;

for religious rites, save

for securing funeral celebrations for their

only unions

members, were

illicit.

strange to think that the Church must have subsisted

It is

for

religio

which Christianity could be

some time

Society

at

Rome

occupied

entombed

its

martyrs

its

under the external aspect of a Burial

catacombs, had

its staff

No

in this light.

very poor persons were allowed to have

of fossors, and

clubs except those of

common

might not assemble oftener than once a month

funds

they

and no per-

manent 'Master of sacred rites ^' was allowed. The State was
the one society which should engross every religious and
Monotheism even
social interest beyond those of the family.

when

licensed

imperial.

was looked on as anti-national and

adherents from

all

classes of society, branches everywhere,

daily meetings, permanent religious chiefs,

'

Quo

(crimine

cujus opera dolo

Ulp. ap. Dig.

xlviii.

'^

Dig.

xlviii.

Cod.

ix.

Tertull.

Scorpiace
^

i.

7.

conventusve
4

fiat...

(7, 8).

See E. Renan's excellent account

tres,

c.

12,

Quod

ad Nationes

i.

8.

20.

xviii.

De

De

The

Teit.

ad

following are the

his citations: Digesta

officio Praefecti

urbi

cujusc. universitatis...

collegiis et

Mommsen, De
cf.

sides

all

of the restrictions on collegia, Les Ap6-

i.

(4, 6, 7).

sacrorum,

was on

most important of

(i).

10.

Magister

Nat.

viajestatis) tenetur is,

malo consilium initum

coetus

erit...quove

anti-

monotheistic society then, understood to have

Romanoruni

corporibus.

iii.

4,

xlvii. 22,

See also

Collegiis et Sodalitatibus

(1843).

THE DECIAN PERSECUTION.

62

amenable

Delation was easy and en-

to laws of Treason.

riched.

The

(2).

magistracy.

Roman

application of tests was familiar to the

While a slave or provincial could be

tortured,

a freeman, suspect of religious engagements hostile to


State, could be

summoned

to take

the

part in a sacrificial feast,

or at least to offer incense before an imperial statue, to which

the least

mark of

divinity of the

Whatever other

disrespect was treason.

scruples were allowed

none might doubt the present

for,

emperor

no

could interfere with a

beliefs

mechanical act of obedient veneration.

Lex Regia^

Imperial edicts possessed by the

Law.

the force of

Such were issued from time to time to require the


test.
It was further competent for

general application of this

any magistrate who feared the growth of a dangerous class in


his district, or was pressed by popular feeling, to summon a
neighbourhood or any residents

mode

This

former

edicts.

larger

number of

martyrdom.

it,

it

to take the test


is

under

exhibited in far the

which led to confessorship and

arrests

Persecution

very naturally called

in

of action

of this

'

kind, as the Christians

was incessantly simmering

in

some

province or other, intensified by the policy of one emperor,

moderated by the broader policy of another,

at times ceasing

for years in particular districts.


(3).

The

difficulties of soldiers.

To

quit the

maturely without approved cause was treason.


to remain unsuspected or

was scarcely

possible.

The

sacrifices to the

wreaths distributed not simply

honour of

martyrologies
^

Quod

his

divinity,

name many

principi placuit

legis

Ulp. ap. Dig.

i.

festivities,

et

(i)

And

if

I. tit. 2.

B. Moyle's note (ed.

p. 95-

Thus the

the victims of

Gaume, Rivolution,

Justinian, Instt.
J.

the

honour of the emperor but

soldiers.

habet

eum omne suum imperium

potestatem conferat.

in

standards, the

were endless snares.

vigorem utpote cum Lege Regia.. populus ei et in

pre-

suspected to avoid disobedience

if

military oaths, the religious decorations, the

in

army

For a Christian

torn. vi. c.

On

i.

which see

1883), vol.

I.

II.

THE THEORY OF PERSECUTION.

I.

a town persecution were easily multiplied

63

by

report, the

regiment would

deaths of disloyal privates in a

seldom

transpire.

The

(4).

was

application to Christians of repeated torture

represented from such different points of view and involved

dilemma that we must pause to consider the


was no new thing. It was constantly applied
to slaves and provincials to induce them to confess suspected
crime.
It was applied to Christians because to be a Christian
was equivalent to having gross crimes to confess. A secret
so singular a

theory of

It

it.

society which could not ask for a license, which at

Rome

pretended to be a burial society, and was evidently

much

more, lay under charges of hideous unnatural orgies.

Then again
by the

the usage did not allow confessions

torture to be acted on

first

perhaps the

first

it

wrung out

must be repeated

lest

avowal should have been only obtained by

pain\

The

confessor confessed his

sistently.

Then he was
it

amounted

exclusion from his

Thus then

sect.

He

a punishment at

all,

appeared a lenient

could not understand their

declining to be let off so cheaply.

The

for

it,

to a promise to be guilty

to the magistrate torture

discipline for such criminals.

sufificiently

and con-

make him deny

no
was well understood that denial would involve

denial in this case

more, since

religion at once

tortured to

He

did not consider

it

but a condonation of the past while

it

secured the State from a repetition of the offences.

secret crimes whatever they

The

pass in the account.

benevolence

is

might be were allowed to

magistrate's

sense of his

own

quite characteristic of genuine Acts of mar-

tyrdom.

But
^

to the Christian

who knew

Interrogavi ipsos, an essent Chris-

tiani:

confitentes

terrogavi,

iterum ac

tertio in-

supplicium minatus: pe^se-

there were no crimes to be

verantes
96.

duci

jussi.

Plin.

ad

Traj.

THE OUTBREAK OF THE PERSECUTION.

64

divulged the tortures seemed iniquitous indeed. Tertullian'


and Cyprian -justly exclaimed against a ferocity which actually
reversed the law, by applying to those who without hesitation
confessed the crime of Christianity tortures which in

all

other

cases were reserved for such as denied the legal charge.

numbers grew the

Finally, as their

attempt at

fruitless

re-

pression was aggravated almost to desperation lest the whole

system of public worship and of that domestic


which

morals

rulers relied for sobriety of

of the population, should go

down

among

on

religion,

a large class

before the undisguised

contempt of men who acknowledged none of the authorised


sanctions and were believed to live

private shamelessness.

in

II.

T/w Outbreak of

Rome.

had been so tolerant of these Christians that he

Philip

appeared

approved legends as a penitent on Easter

in their

Eve^ Decius was


was, we are told,

as antichristian as he
in life

'

Romans

with the

Christianity,
in society,

and

of old

in

He

was virtuous^

death worthy to be ranked

The luxury

t^me^'

of his

pre-

mustering of the Goths, the prevalence of

the

decessors,

were

all

him

alike to

government and

them

to repress

arrest,

the Decian Persecution.

hateful forms of dissolution

He was

religion.

all.

His

to correct, to

knowledge and universal

'

forethought' failed him in the one great sign of the times.

But he knew how


even a

Roman

Tert. Apol.

ii.

have been able

'hoc imperium, cujus

non tyrannica dop. 31 5 (conff. ad

magistri

estis, civilis

minatio

est.'

Cf.

Cyp.) 'nefarias contra veritatem leges.'


^

Ad Demetr.

Euseb. H. E.

vnivi(TTpa.

T]iuv

12.
vi.

It

is

amazing that one man,

emperor, should after thirty-eight years of

religious liberty

to strike.

34.

rcsts

His ^acnXeia

on

the sound

in a

moment

to deal blows

authority of Dionysius ap. Eus.


*

Zosimus

i.

21

...^hei.

vi.

41.

irpoix^" xal

d^iJi/xaTi irpocr^TL d^ Kal Trdcrais dLaTrp^wwif

rats dperaU.
^

Fl. Vo^\%i:.\x%

Zosimus

res

iin(TTri/j.ri

i.

Aurelianus

22 ...t^

Aedov

c.

42.

weTroLdS-

Kal irepl iravra Trpovoiq..

THE PERSECUTION

II. II.

SO rapid and accurate.

ROME.

65

In October A.D. 249 he reluctantly but

successfully headed his confiding master's legions against him,

and by the following January his edict^ was doing deadly


execution.
This edict seems to have fixed capital penalties
the

in

first

The

instance on the bishops only I

great Origen

indeed was held no less important, and was subjected to

extreme tortures with care to avoid releasing him by death.

The new bishop

of Alexandria, Dionysius, after awaiting the

roamed the neighbourupon some divine intima-

soldiers four days in his house, as they

hood

in

search of him, fled at last

Gregory Thaumaturgus took many of

tion.

The two

wilderness.

his flock into the

patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem

died speedily in prison, namely Babylas and 'the bright age

and hoary head of Alexander^'

At Rome

who

Fabian,

four-

teen years before had been chosen upon the descent of a

Dove on

his

head

in

the elective assembly^ was executed

a.d. 350.

on the 20th January A.D. 250'.

tZt'coss,

The dismay caused by this blow was very great. His people
elected no successor to Fabian when they laid him behind

Qu. Traj.

the stone which,

still

bearing the contemporary record, pre-

serves a slight but certain memorial both of their dejection

and of the order-loving


'

Fabian Bishop

much

later,

irpdcrrayfia

passim.

et

'

is

it.

Dionys. ap. Eus.

Greg.

Nyss.

vi.

bishops are spoken

Passus xii kl. Feb... Cat. Fe-

summary

lician.:

Fabianus...Sedit

On
ii.,

In Ep. 66.

the
i'wr

7 the

of in connection

with this persecution as suffering pro-

imprisonment,

and death.

banishment

mense

KL

annus Xllll

passus est Xllll

dies xi...et

feb...qui sepultus est in cimiterio

calesti

xilil

uia appia xiii

and the Xll

kl.

KL

febr.

The

are

both

feb.

mistakes for Xiil, and the real length


of

the see-tenancy

days.

14

years and

10

See R. A. Lipsius, Chronolog.

der Romisch. Bischofe (1869), pp. 199,

Eus. H. E.

vi. 39.

Eus. H. E.

vi. 29.

B.

Cat.Liberian.: Fabiusann. Xllll m.

id. X...

la Persecution de Dice, vol. iii. p. 699.

Rettberg, p. 54.

41

Greg.

Vit.

(See Fechtrup, p. 44.)

scription,

Not

but after the stone had been placed against the

forged edict see Tillemont, note

The name

of that Church.

cut deep with rude firm strokes.

77ia?<w. gives an exaggerated

of

spirit

263, 266, 267, 275.

J,"^?;^^^^'

p. f.

Aug.

^^"vettius

Gratus.

THE CONFESSORS AT ROME.

66

hollow cell,the addition of' Martyr' has been deeply scratched\

Without proper authentication- or

vacancy of the see

in the

the appellation could not be attached even to so sacred a

The age

grave in the catacomb chapel.

which martyrs

in

were lightly multiplied was not come.

The

Neither was the fanatic zeal for martyrdom at flood.

Roman Church would


for

not

immediate death, and

The

now

select

one of her leading men

months elected no bishop^

for sixteen

clergy of the metropolis was a regularly organized body,

well able to act in concert, and requiring

more than a passing

notice to enable us to understand their

remarkable relations

with Carthage and her bishop.

The wisdom

of the Church was everywhere not to traverse

or break up, but to adopt administrative lines and


^

The

scription

of Fabian's

letter-cutter

was not a good one

predecessor's.

The

letters are

in-

The

i.

16

'...et

like his

martyris,

sed necdtan vindicati,^

unequal,

Cyp. Ep.

12. 1.

the apices not elegant or exact, the

punctuation ugly.

Compare Optat.

real.

areas

civil

inscription

is

The

this

fact

ultramontane
that

is

'it

si

and

statement

of

appeared to the

blow

not a later honorary one, like Anteros's.

pagans that the

most

The

they could

on the Church was

abbreviation

honorary inscription
full

unusual,

is

MAPTTP,) and

it

(in

an

would have been

is

weakly cut or

rather scratched after the slab

was

in

its place.
^ I

Rossi

believe this
(Ji.

explanation of de

S. vol. n. pp. 58 sqq.) to be

inflict

terrible

to hinder the election of a successor to

Saint

Freppel,

Peter.'
It is

S.

Cyprien,

needless to say that there

p.

173.

is

no evidence

for

assertions involved.

any of the three

THE CONFESSORS AT ROME.

II. II.

6^

which had already impressed characters and unities on groups

The

of population.
its

'

City of

God

'

thus grew so firmly with

organization in accord with the ideas of the people, that

in after-time

the ecclesiastical division was often thought to

be original.

In fact

succeeded one another on

delimitations

fresh

One

remained as a sort of original while

it

surface.

its

of the earliest examples seems to belong to this time.

Augustus had divided the City


with

Curator, and for

its

Alexander Severus

(a.d.

into fourteen Regions, each

some purposes grouped

232

in

pairs^

235) amplified the powers and

rank of these curators and attached them as a bench for


certain causes to the Prefect of the City.

Very soon

after their reconstitution

(236 250) 'divided

by Alexander, Fabian

That

the Regions to the Deacons^'

is,

apparently, he assigned two Regions to each of the Seven

But he

Deacons.

He

deacons.

also said to have created the seven sub-

is

thus took the municipal divisions, to which

attention had recently been drawn, either singly or in pairs,


into the church organization,

number of deacons.
The Presbyters
^

few months

Did. Gk. atid Roman Antt,

11.

'Hie regiones

divisit

Lib.

635.

Pontif.

septem subdiaconos.
tors

had

certain

diaconibus.'

Mommsen,

Liberian Catal. ed.


p.

adds

op.

'et

cit.

adopted

it.

were forty-six

See Harnack

Ow

//^t?

in

Ori^zw

functions,

religious

<:onsulares

(Lamprid. Alex. Sev.

the

appointment

33).

various

of

Owen, with supplementary

J.

note.

London, 1895.

When

fecit

Augustus' cura-

'

and were chosen annually by lot (see


Sueton. Augustus 30 ; Dio Cass. Iv.
Alexander required them to be
8).
Before

later^

of the Readership, &=., and Essay by

p. 541 b.
^

and also retained the apostolic

the

Bern. Lipsius

Felician Catalogue (cod.


op. cit. p.

275) has 'Hie

(Fabianus) regiones dividit diaconibus


fecit

et

septem subdiaconibus. viiq notariis

inminirent ut gesta martyrum fideliter


coUegerent...'

may we

not remove the

stop after 'subdiaconibus' and render


'

and caused them

(the deacons) to super-

kinds of governors he put their names

intend

up

notaries in order to collect the Acts of

for

objections

Christians and

to

Jews

be made,

did,'

he

said, '/

soon

passed

subdeacons

and seven

the martyrs'?

\i,.

His

away,

but

43.

prcedicatuiis sacerdotibus.' Ibid.

organization

'as

seven

Letter of Cornelius, Eus.

H. E.

not so the Christian, which apparently

52

vi.

iTHE DECIAN PERSECUTION.

68

number

century

later) there

and since

in the persecution of Diocletian (half a

were 'upwards of forty basilicas*'

has

it

been concluded too hastily^ that each presbyter had charge


This

of one basilica.
organization.

Only

is

contrary to

in the smallest

To

anything but collegiate.

we know

all

each of the deacons there was a

subdeacon and six acolytes.

and door-

Exorcists, readers

watchers amounted to fifty-two.


Such was the administrative body required

thousand* Christians of

of early

country places were churches

Rome

for the fifty

the middle of the third

in

century, and such as remained at liberty of the seven'* great

Treasurers or Visitors, called Deacons, together with the forty

more Presbyters, now took in commission the Episcopal


affairs and of the relations with other

or

conduct of internal

^ Optatus, ii. 4. Neander thinks this


number must be exaggerated but these
;

basilicas

were not public buildings, but

those which were frequently attached


to great houses.

R.

Burn,

Rome and

Campagna, p. 1. The need for dispersion and small congregations entirely


Many of these
explains the number.

the

like private chapels, while in

would be

and virgins receiving alms (3000) to the


whole number of Christians (100,000).
Chrysostom, ed. Bened. Vli. pp. 658,

The

810.

200,000,

population of Antioch was

id. II.

tend to

make

capital.

From

the

Lightfoot thinks

always a consessus.

Christians

By Routh,

This estimate

Burnet

Rel. S. vol. ni. p. 60.

at

formed by Bishop

Travels in Switzerland, Italy

this

officers (p.

and accepted by Gibbon

c.

xv. to

il-

lustrate the insignificance of the Christians,

who

thus amounted to less than

notice

the

we might conclude
Address

on Missions,

that

fixed

importance of these high

114).

At

present

we may

seven remained at

deacons

seven

century the Elect to the See of

gins

500 widows,

and thlibomeni or
'

'

afflicted

vir-

people

who received relief. (Cornel, ap. Eus.


H. E. vi. 43.) His reckoning is roughly
verified

by the ascertained proportion,

three per cent, at Antioch, of the

widows

The

college of cardinals retains the form of

me too large rather than too small.


net estimates from the

Rome

number of deacons.

one twentieth of the population, seems to


Bur-

the

later opportunity will occur for

proved by W. Moyle IVorks,

p. 152)

the

in

also Bp.

(Macmillan, 1873.)

illustrating the

li.

monuments

be fewer in proportion

time.

S.P.G.
*

to

{1685-86), ed. 1724, pp. 217-220), ap(

widows

the proportion of

and dependent children larger

the regularly used ones there would be

But we must

p. 597.

consider that the incessant wars would

still.

Until

the

9th

Rome

was always a priest or deacon, the latter


by preference. See Duchesne, Orig. du
Culte Chretien, p. 349 n.

On

the other

hand Constantinople in Justinian's time


had a hundred deacons. Routh, vol. iii.
p. 61.

II.

THE CONFESSORS AT ROME.

II.

69

Their tone was at

Churches, particularly that of Carthage.

by the powerful character of one whose


him at last from a Church which he
seemed born to govern, and by others whose rigid counsels
sounded more impressively from their dungeon depth, and
first

chiefly influenced

stern uncharity severed

who were saved

to the cause of unity only through the affec-

wisdom of Cyprian. Of the first great Puritan, Novatian,


we shall have occasion to speak more fully. Two of the
tionate

Presbyters, the aged Moyses, probably of Jewish birth, and


Maximus, whose gravestone possibly still confronts us in
the Vatican^; two of the Deacons, Rufinus and Nicostratus,

the latter afterwards an active propagator of Novatianism in

own

Cyprian's

were thrown into prison at the

diocese,

time*^

of

Fabian's execution, along with the laymen' Urbanus, Sidonius,

Macarius^ and with one Celerinus, who deserves more than


This man's story not only

passing mention.

illustration of the time,

to be, out of

many

is

a remarkable

but tessellated together, as

it

requires

distant allusions in scattered letters,

it

is

one of the most interesting proofs of the genuineness of the


whole correspondence.

It is

morally impossible that such a

complete tale could be recomposed out of such slight touches,

were those touches not truthful

most ingenious forger


then to have dotted
his

it

to

morally impossible for the

have constructed a character and

about so fragmentarily as not to support

aim by one cross-reference.

It is

only by writing out

name

occurs,

comparing these with

every passage in which his


the African

commemorations of

of Eusebius^, that

we

confessors,

and with a passage

extract the following narrative.

Rome.
His grandmother Celerina had died by martyrdom in some
Celerinus was a native of Carthage, established in

The

loculus

xix. 5.
'^

p.

MA3EIM0T

de Rossi,

Pvripov),

See below
28.

S. vol.

J?.

p. 162,

note

nP(ecrI.

tav.

4.

'...primores et duces. ..sur-

gentis belli impetus primos...fregistis.'


^

Note

in

Ep. 49.

'...Maximum

presbyterum... ceteris...'
*

Pi-obably a Carthaginian.

jEp. 21.

Tillemont, vol. in. p. 441,


4; 51. i.
confuses him with Celerinus.
^

//.

E.

vi. 43.

THE DECIAN PERSECUTION.

70

earlier persecution: so

had her son and son-in-law, Laurentinus

and Egnatius, both of them soldiers

They were commemorated

the

in

Roman

army.

African Church as Cyprian

in the

records^ and the African kalendar yet retains their names

on the 3rd of February.


dedicated

Augustine preached^

and

to Celerina,

it

was given up

in a

church

to the Arians

under Genseric'.

At

when

the time

the Bishop of

Celerinus was tortured in the presence

it

Rome was

executed,

would seem of Decius

A Carthaginian friend of his, Lucian, a man of humble

himself

birth and small reading*, congratulates him

grammatical

letter^

'

Snake, the Quarter-master of Antichrist".'

Rome, mentions

this

in a misspelt, un-

upon having prevailed against the chief

same Celerinus

in a

Cornelius, bishop of

Greek

letter to

Fabius^

of Antioch as having 'borne every sort of torture and mightily

overcome the adversary/ and he mentions him


former allusion
tortures were

we

Cyprian also connects him.

in

company

in

with Sidonius (a Punic name) and others with

whom
What

learn from a quite different source**.

the

these

He was
and

liberated from prison in the course of the year A.D. 250,


A.D. 250,

about December conveyed

who by

this time, as

we

mentions having seen the

from Moyses to Cyprian^",

letters

shall see,

was

in retirement.

Cyprian

and

terrible scars of his torture,

witnessed the broken health which had resulted from nineteen

days

He

in

the stocks under irons almost without food or water.

speaks of him as the earliest of the


persecution,

this

'

the

first

Roman

sufferers in

at the conflict of our time,'

standard-bearer in front of Christ's

'

the

His history and

soldiers.'

that of his family, as well as his personal character, which

Ep.

Aug. Scrm.

'^

Morcelli,

Vit.

I.

Ep.

It

p. xlviii.,

39. 3.

48.

vol.

il.

p.

65.

Victor

Ep.

Eus.

I.

should

be

read

in

Hartel's

edition with the remarks in his preface

on the vulgar tongue.

11.

'Metatorem.'

I.e.

Ep. 49. I,
Ep. 39. 2.
^^ Ep. 37. i.
8

(3).

27.

2.

II.

CELERINUS CONFESSOR.

II.

/I

Cyprian describes as that of an honest and sturdy confessor,


'

'

self-restrained,

'

and awe that

guarded and shamefast, with

befit

our

made

religion,'

all

the lowliness

the Bishop desirous to

him among the clergy of his native place, and he proposed


make him a Reader^ But as he had been in a manner
naturalised at Rome, Cyprian explains the step somewhat
laboriously to the clergy there.
The 'glorious looks and
modest bearing of one who now lived only through a kind
enrol

to

'

'

of resurrection' would, at his daily reading of the GospeP,

some imitation

the brethren to

man had overcame some

the young

A vision

of his faith.

stir

which

scruples of his, and he

was ordained along with the young Aurelius, who had himself
been a

'

Victor

proconsuP.

before both the native magistracy and the

'

To

each were assigned at once the daily com-

mons and monthly dividends

of a presbyter, and they were

designate for seats on Cyprian's Bench,

when they should be

of age to take that rank.

The martyr
of the family.
sister

however had not nerved every member

spirit

His

sister

Candida had offered

The Three Fates some


money to be excused.

the Capitol, found at the Chapel of


officer to

whom

Both were cut

she paid^ a

and compare

Ep.

...cottidie...evangelica lectio...

39,

sum

of

from communion, and then

off

46

38.

Ep.

Ep.

'Numeria... this

38.

to

is

what

have ever

li

[sc.

(numeravit) bribes for herself to avoid

xi.

I fear

Celerinus cannot be

acquitted of this bitter

jest.

Ep.

21.

This passage does not seem to have

been taken into account in


the topography of

the

Temple

of

but higher up, for the Papal

Monday

the

in

illustrating

the slope

of the

See Burn's Rome and the


Campagna, p. 131. The temple of the
Tria Fata was not, as Goldhorn (p.

Sept. Severi] inter templum Fa-

templum Concordia,^ Ordo Rom.


ap. Mabillon and
Germain Miis. Ital. il. p. 143; and with

tale et

sacrificing.'

of remorse

middle ages 'intrat sub arcu triumpha-

I.

called Etecusa, because she counted out

Capitol.

says, close

n.)

Janus,

full

procession on Easter

39. 4.

3.

His

sacrifice.

Etecusa or Numeria, while actually on the ascent of

Auct. Benedict,

this agrees

25,

t^

who

Procopius de Bella Gotth.

says the temple of Janus

ayopq. trp6 toD ^ovXevrripiov

cord) oXlyov virep^avri

When

ra,

(i.e.

rpia.

is

i.

kv

Con(para.

Anastasius in the passages

al-

luded to by Pearson (^mm. Cypr. a.d.


250,

s.

xiv,

which

will

be found in

Vit.

THE DECIAN PERSECUTION.

72

whom now

devoted themselves to the sufferers

and especially to the

relief

they envied,

of their compatriots, the refugees,

who, driven from Carthage by the

found

edict,

among

foreigners their obscurest hiding-place

like other

the crowds of

Rome, These they met upon their landing at Portus* and


had no less than sixty-five of them under their care at one
Celerinus pleaded for their restoration and their case
time.
was heard by the Roman presbytery^ But their readmission
was postponed until the election of a new bishop.
The
Celerinus
and
his
friends to Novatian
temporary adhesion of
;

at that election will be noticed in


Ap.

It

7,

was

A.D. 250.

that the

its

close on Easter A.D. 250

'Day of Joy' and

Candida's

'

Death

At

last in utter

agony

to Christ,' he wrote an affecting but

judged appeal to Lucian


confessors

suffering

his sisters yielded, so

whole season were spent by him

its

sackcloth and ashes and tears.

in

place.

when

He

at Carthage*.

there

interpose

to

for
ill-

prevailed on the

their

unmeasured

popularity in subversion of the judgment of the constituted


authorities of the Church.

fatal

system thus simply originated, which presently

began to threaten the whole organization of the Church.

Of

We

Genuineness in Nomenclature.

must pause upon certain exceptions

to the

the correspondence in which the above account


first,

however, ask whether

it

is

is

genuineness of

possible that a tale such as this

could be sown in such minute fragments over such a


epistles as

i. Labbe, vol.
vi. c. 1419 and
Hadriani i. Labbe, vol. viil. cc.
505 and 512), speaks of S. Adrian and
of SS. Cosmas and Damian as being
'in Tribus Fatis,' this can only mean,
as Bunsen saw, that the lower end
(or ? north side) of the Forum came to
be so called.

Vit.

See

Rossi,

number of

a glance at the footnotes exhibits unless that

Honor,

We may

extant.

Bollettino

di Archeol.

Crist.,

anno

illustrations

iv.

50, for

were

interesting

of the necessity for such

provision at
erection

p.

tale

Portus

particularly the

by the senator Pammachius,

Jerome's friend, of a hostelry there

S.

for Peregrini.
"^

Prsepositi,

Ep.

21, 2.

Ep. 21.

3.

II.

(the letters genuine.)

II.

73

and then again that Eusebius should have preserved such a


it, and that even a title of a sermon of Augustine
should incidentally illustrate it ? or what object could possibly have
been served by inventing such a character and then taking such
true;

corroboration of

extraordinary pains to avoid presenting

The

critic^

it

as a whole

ingeniously argues against the genuineness of the

letter of Celerinus

from

Rome and

the reply of Lucian from Car-

thage^, on the ground that they would evince an incredibly 'close

and intimate connexion' between the two Churches. 'The Roman


confessor,' he says, 'supports his prayer (to the African Confessor) by
' stating
that Statius and Severianus, and the Sixty-five African Con'fessors who had been cared for by his lapsed sisters, joined in it.'
He then quotes the greetings sent from Rome by Macarius and his
sisters Cornelia and Emerita, by Satuminus [a confessor], your
brethren Calpurnius and Maria,' &c., and Lucian's counter-greetings
to the same persons, and to
CoUecta, Sabina, Spesina, Januaria,
'Dativa, Donata, Saturus with his...^, Bassianus and all the clergy,
Uranius, .Alexius, Quintianus, Colonica, &c., Alexius, Getulicus and
from his own sisters Januaria and Sophia.' From these extracts he
argues that, if they ever formed portions of real letters, the Churches
must have been tieither more nor less than one family: that these
common names without further description would have conveyed no
distinctive information between Rome and Carthage that, as it was
impossible that there could be such intimacy between such places,
the letters cannot be authentic.
'

'

'

'

'

'

'

'

The

ingenious

England

critic

some persecution in
and writes out a parallel list

conceives a letter in

to a Christian in

New York

names and surnames.


This was no doubt more diverting than to trace laboriously the
history of Celerinus, and to arrive at the fact that he was not 'a Roman
Confessor' writing to a Carthaginian, but a Carthaginian resident in
Rome, whose family were eminent suiiferers among the Christians

of vulgar

who must have been well and widely known among


names mentioned on both sides are but twenty-two,
and of these several are brothers and sisters, surely not a very
large circle. Then, it must be observed as natural, that the more
numerous remembrances are those sent from Carthage which the
refugees had been quitting for Rome, and they are sent through the
persons who were receiving and caring for them. One of those
saluted is Bassianus a cleric.
Now mark that in Ep. 8. 3 the
of Carthage and

them.

All the

Roman
^

Mr

clergy advise the clergy of Carthage of the arrival at

Shepherd's First Letter,

&c.
^

p. 12,

Ep.

friends

Epp. 21 and

22.

'

22. 3.
is

Cum

Rome

suis 'with their

sufficiently familiar.

THE DECIAN PERSECUTION.

74

of Bassianus seemingly as bringing letters and, according to usage^,

Cleric.

Mr S. thinks it suspicious that the 'most common names in


Carthage are used. The argument tells the other way. They are
Carthaginian names, much more common in Carthage (as inscriptions testify) than elsewhere.
This is true of those he quotes
Victor, Donatus, Donata, Januaria.
He should have added Dativa.
Names expressive of God's Gift are as Phoenician as they are
But also Getulicus, Saturninus, Uranius point to the
Hebrew.
How
country and to the Punic worship which they represent.
should 'a Gaulish Bishop in the 5th century, a stranger to Africa,
in the days of Caesarian, Bishop of Aries,' forge with such nicety
as to evolve so appropriate a list of names ? But again the names are
not all common. Is Spesina a familiar name to Mr S.? He will
not find it in all the thousands of inscriptions in Muratori and
'

'

'

Gruter.

Yet

[And since

does occur just where

it

are genuine.

name

the

It is

was written

this

it

should

if

these letters

of a martyr in the African Kalendar^.


it

has appeared in several African

inscriptions^.]

On

Etecicsa

and Numeria.

Etecusa the Carthaginian obtained exemption from sacrificing at


payment. Her brother Celerinus entreats that the first
martyrs selected for death among the prisoners at Carthage may
istis sororibus nostris Nunieri(2 et Candidse tale peccatum remit-

Rome by
'

Nam hanc ipsam Etecusatn semper appellavi...^Zi!2a pro se


'dona nunieravit ne sacrificaret' {Ep. 21. 3). As translated by
Dr Wallis 'our sisters Numeria and Candida, for this latter I
have always called Etecusa... because she gave gifts,' the passage is,
'tant.

Hence the conjectures


ad Ep. 21), and
No various reading except Ettecusani and et

as he observes, 'altogether unintelligible.'


et

a'ecusam (deKova-av), drvxovaav (Dodwell, Diss,

Hartel's exaisatam.
recusant.

Let us observe however that

Numeria

is

not a real prasnomen

and in
hanc ipsam may perfectly well be predicative and
that hanc need not refer to the last named, who in this Latin
would more commonly be istam. Hence we may understand that
Numeria is the sobriquet which Celerinus says he has affixed to
(Varro, Ling. Lat.

grammar

See Epp.

7,

ix.

55)

that the whole letter fails in taste

that

8,

9,

35,

36,

44,

45, &c.
2

Jun.

ap.

C./.Z.

viii.

4687, 4935. 5804.


Morcelli, vol.

vii. Id....Spisin3e.'

11.

p.

369

'

M.

pesina 150,

all

i.

Spesina ^\^i. \i,\2.


Spessinia 5190.

Numidian.

Is-

THE PERSECUTION AT CARTHAGE.

II. III.

his sister
'

'

because she paid {nunieravit)

75

immunity.

for

Ask

'

re-

mission for these sisters of mine Nzimeria and Candida, for so


indeed {Jianc ipsam by this particular name Numeria) have I

always called Etecusa, because she paid


*from sacrificing.'

'

We

Tecusa

find

in

down

de Rossi, R. S.

vol.

bribes to be excused

tav.

il.

Ivii.

(6),

same persecution, Ep.

of a martyred uncle of Celerinus in the


(Laurentius, Ofnn. edd. exc.

'

Laurentinus

in

name

conjunction with Laurentius, which (or Laurentinus) was the

39. 3

').

[In the indexed volumes of C. Inscrr. Latt.

Tecusa (Taecusa once)

occurs in 6 inscriptions, of which 3 are African, vol. vill. i. 3306 at


Lambaese, 8261 Aziz ben Tellis, vill. ii. 10505 Hadrumetum 2 Sardinian (vol. X. ii.) 7590, 7943; and i at Ostia (vol. XIV.) 1657. There
;

a martyr Tecusa at Ancyra

is

Menolog., Migne Pair. Gr.


{s.

v.

(.?

under Diocletian), 18 May, Basil

117,

Acta

464.

c.

Sanctt. Bolland.

die).]

There

may be

is

no instance of Etectisa and

best.

The

v.l.

to

read

Et Tecusam from T0
it.
And it suits

ei recusant strongly supports

Celerinus' emphatic style.

We

Rome

should then have an interesting trace of the family at

and of Tecusa's

restoration.

III.

The Persecution at Carthage.

The
the two

cities.

Stantes.'

Great had been the dismay caused by the

arrival of the edict at Carthage.

'

probably he alone.
be legally

Christians

The numbers who

required from everyone

'

day^

was expressly named, and

But anyone who

summoned and

their sufferings

It

unchristianity before a specified

before the magistrates and

failed to 'profess'

might

Some were dragged

interrogated.

some maltreated by the populace.

suffered

were intense.

were possibly not great, but

The

edict prescribed confisca-

banishment, mine-labour, imprisonment with starvation

as penalties,
^

'

episode of Celerinus links together the sufferers of

some simple test of


The Bishop of the

tion,

The

i.

De

and torture as the means of

inquisition.

= quisquis)

diem non

Lapsis 3 '...quisque

se esse confessus est.'

professus intra

est

In each
Christianum

THE DECIAN PERSECUTION.

7^

town
April,
A.D. 250.

The

commissioners' were associated with the magistrates.

five

tortures were not used until the arrival of the Proconsul

He

ApriP.

in

tribunal

some

that

but after presiding over this

returned,

made

capital^ he

the

in

much abated

found the severities so

of the exiles had

a tour of the province,

with his twelve dreaded fasces^, exercising such rigour that

some conspicuous confessors

yielded, while others died under

his engines^

While the persecution of Diocletian was based on the


determination that, cost what it might, Christianity should
be extirpated, that of Decius at

assumed that

first

might

it

be dissipated by a mingling of ferocity with forbearance,


Primores, p. 43.

est hasc alia,

quinque

isti

'

3.

et alia est

Persecutio

temptatio, et

presbyteri nihil aliud sunt

quam quinque primores

illi

qui edicto

P. F.

Zinus'

{Acta

Galesinius

seu

fectus

sius,

fratrum corda ad letales laqueos prse-

and 482) has

nunc

ratio,

eadem

rursus

eadem

eversio per

quinque presbyteros Felicissimo copula-

ad ruinam

tos

That

is,

'

The

inducitur,

salutis

&c.'

presbyters are

five

as

ruinous to the Church as ever the five

To

magnates were.'
visions,

or of the

torturing martyrs,
is

interpret

presbyters

it

It

only just as obscure as a Cyprian,

bound

We may

to

make

tione...alia

'

c/ui in

quaedam

52. 2

where he

ipsa persecu-

persecutio nostri

See note on

Epistles, JSp. 11

xiii

infr.

pp. 102 sqq. Morcelli, vol.

and

p. 102, calls

11. p.

12

him Fortunatianus.

The Greek Mena^a

(April. Venet. 1614)

Ap.

an African martyr

10

describe

Terentius as suffering under Fortunati-

anus as

7]ye/jL(i}v,

i.e.

861)

'prse-

Rom.

Sirlet (ap. Cani-

Monumm.

vol. in. pp.

422

Ap. 10 and
The Menologium of Emp.

28.

'

iyyeixiiiv

prseses

'

(Migne, Patr. Gr. V.

The

extant Latin Acta


comes from Greek versions of the oric.

117)

ginal

596).

Latin,

Terentius'

been preserved

relics

having

at Constantinople.

These references

to

the sources of

knowledge I owe to the


research and kindness of the Rev. Chas.
Morcelli's

Hole.

But

must conclude from them that

Mauretanias under the jurisdiction of


z.

presses or prcefecitis

to Africa

avdinraros

fuit.'
^

'prasfectus';

Martyrol.

p.

Terentius belonged to Numidia or the

it.

compare p.

says of Novatus

'

prsefectus.'

Basil has

wanting to say so strong a thing, would


feel

'

Thes.

Oct.

of

actually

absurd indeed.

is

Baronii

SS.

praeses

nuper magistratibus fuerant copulati, ut


fidem nostram subruerent, ut gracilia
varicatione veritatis averterent.

Latin version of Greek

MS. at Venice calls him

'

Praeses

';

rightly

so rendered in BoU. Acta SS. p. 860.

(rj-yefiuov)

Proper under
;

its

and not

Proconsul or

and that hence the grounds

are not sufficient for placing Fortunatianus on the Roll of the Proconsuls.

p. 10. 4.
The proconsuls of
p. 37. 2.
Africa and Asia bore these insignia
3
^

others but six.

-/. 37-

1 ;

-S/- 56- 1.

STEDFASTNESS AT CARTHAGE.

II. III.

the leaders with

visiting

^^

uncompromising

sternness, while

many

of the inoffensive

allowing implicit understandings with


followers.

There were, however, many who instantly


perty and citizenship by voluntary exile

The

Rome.

sacrificed pro-

many who

hiding in

the crowds of

prison

Carthage were a presbyter Rogatian,

old

at

man who had been

left

'

name

'

'

a glorious

his absence,

man by

quiet soberminded

'

These were dragged thither by the

Felicissimus^

Regular committals soon swelled the number.

multitude.

Women

inmates of the

by Cyprian, during

and a

trustee of his charities,

first

sought

and even lads were imprisoned^ who had met with

equal defiance the threats and the kindly persuasions of the

They

magistrates ^

declined to taste the sacrificial victim,

or sprinkle the incense, or to put on the liturgic

thirst

After a short time

intense heat soon did their work'*.

persons had perished there, of

Two

veil.

were assigned to them where hunger,

terrible cells

whom

fifteen

women,

four were

and
be-

sides one in the quarry,

and two under

was one of the

His limbs and sides streaming from

latter.

Mappalicus

torture.

repeated blows of the torture-claw, he said to the proconsul

'To-morrow you shall see a


Next day he was tortured again and died.
contest indeed.'
Some scenes were yet more dreadful. Maidens were not
was remanded

as he

to the cell,

Subordinates were allowed to invent

spared the Lupanaria.

new

tortures^.

prepared

many

Numidicus, a presbyter of the neighbourhood,


for death,

and then with

^ Ep. 6.
4 Epp. 7, 41, 42, 43. See
Pearson Ann. Cypr. A.D. 250 s. vi. as
;

to the

Roman

Martyrologies and Ba-

making

ronius following Bede's error in

Rogatian and Felicissimus Martyrs and


assigning- a

whereas

day

their

for

living

their

martyrdom,

example

is

the

point of Cyprian's address.


2

Ep.

BIanditias...voce libera.

6. 3.

Ep.

10.

his wife

was tortured

i, 2.
*

Ep. 22.

'

Ep.

10.

memorates
African.

2.
2.

xv Kal.

Mappalicus

Morcelli, op.

and the date

cit.

suits this letter,

De

Ad Demetrian.

Ep.

Mortalitate 15.

40.

in

12.

Mai comMartyrol.
11.

p. 365,

April 17,
A.D. 250.

THE DECIAN PERSECUTION.

78

by

The

fire.

wife was actually burnt alive, and he was left

for dead, a

shower of stones having been hurled upon him at

the stake.

His daughter found him breathing

and afterwards enrolled

revived,

still

he was

presbyterate of the

in the

capital.

Many

were

after

banishment \ some to bear the brand


'

seal in their foreheads^'

beggared of

all

some

for

Some

they possessed.

and undergo

husband to the
abroad

altar, there to justify

the incense

fell

'

The

as a second

life,

quailed and

fell,

who

faith, forfeit their

Bona* was dragged by her

their tortured

but exclaiming

into

resume former occupations,

to

on second thoughts returned to avow their


all,

some

double torture dismissed,

act

is

her reappearance from

not mine but yours

'

as

No

from her hand, she was exiled again.

martyrs were more honoured than Castus and .^milius, who


May

22,

A.D. 250.

such recantation were burnt to death.

for

The devouring

martyrdom was still in the


The Crowned.' The
fervid temperament of Africa was aflame.
Rhetoric apostrophised
Gloom more brilliant than
The Happy Prison
the Sun himself
yet even such rhetoric seems colder to
passion

for

envied

already survivors

future, yet

'

'

'

us than the everyday terms of their


called every such death a

'

common

speech which

Confession in blossom,' a

Purple

'

Confession^.'
Still at

the very

summit of

their

enthusiasm their leader

never suffered them to forget that enthusiasm was not the

which bathed

solid height itself but only a glory

'speaketh the things that

j>J>.

14. 21.

Pont. ViL 7

tium

make

'...tot

notatarum

signatos et ad

confessoresfron-

secunda

exemplum

p.

:j>.

De

mon
May

that

This was

cclxxxv. on their day.

"

j>- 6.

...in tarn florida

i.

floridiores

(i.e.

24.

orum ministerium,

24.

/>. 42.

Lapsis 13, see Augustine's ser-

'He

22, Morcelli, vol. Ii. p. 368.

inscriptione

i;

it.

peace and are good and

martyrii super-

stites reservatos...'
^

for

confessione p. 21.
niartyres)
21.

3.

floridi-

Rutilorum,

FAILURE AT CARTHAGE.

II. III.

'just,
'

79

according to the bidding of Christ, he

is

it

who

is

the

daily Confessor of Christ*.'

But how great a step had been gained

human thought

in

and feeHng when numbers of deHcate and educated persons

made

beautiful or even tolerable

and

surrendered

all

accepted

that was hideous and unendurable, simply because

all

that

life

immortality had become a certainty, and the revelation of

God's character and Christ's presence a reality amid a world


of scepticism and vice.

The Persecution at Carthage.

The

2.

'

Lapsi.'

Nevertheless, where these sober truths rose into passionate

sentiment there also the sensibilities to suffering and to


ridicule

Nor had

were equally high-strung.

the recent

of the Church been so rigorous or disciplined as to

constancy

under

trial

characteristic

of

its

life

make

masses.

Yet

Cyprian, in spite of long forebodings of what under such

circumstances would be the result of the worldly habits of


the bishops and the gentile associations and extravagance of
the laity, was not prepared for the

jeers of the populace

till

to drop incense

^.

De

from their small

Laps.

8,

cf.

'

recognised term.
vira,

canon

Concil.

ed.

59,

be

and newly-baptized infants

fingers.

160)

13. 5.

p. 59. 13. The


Byrsa or Bozrah.
So elsewhere in
municipia the Idolum Capitolii is a
2

sacrifice

their unwillingness to

morning, when darkness closed upon their throng,

their piteous production of children

upon the

at the rush of

CapitoP or to the Forum to

faithless Christians to the

deferred

spectacle

Even he was appalled

arrival of the edict.

amid the

first

'

See Council of Eland Hefele {JI. d.

Delarc, vol.

I.

pp.

159,

upon

Capitol

Most of the clergy


it.

is still

At Cologne the

old

so called.

Compare with the scenes just touched


by Cyprian the painfully graphic narrative of

Alexandrian events by Dionysius.

Eus. H. E.

vi.

41.

INCENSERS AND SACRIFICERS.

80
fledS

some

remained

lapsed''; there

Many

to carry on the daily duty^.

Rome'*,

One

at least,

part of his flock

Even

in

in the city scarce

Repostus of Tuburnuc, carried the main

back to paganism.

Rome

moment

there were fears at one

'

brotherhood should be completely rooted out by

'

long return to

literal

enough

provincial bishops fled to

Although

idolatry**.'

it

may

or

lest 'the

head-

this

may

not be a

statement that the lapsed at Carthage were 'the majority

of the flock ^' yet their Bishop

may

well have felt 'like one

amid the ruins of his house.'


Thus were being formed the vast classes of 'the Incensers'
and 'the SacrificersV whose self-excision from the body of

sitting

The

Christ was palpable.

was held the

act of the latter class

more odious whether from the

ceremonial, or from the

fuller

material pollution ascribed to the victim's

Yet greater

flesh.

perplexity resulted from the conduct of others who, although

not stronger to confess their

The

were

faith,

constitution of the courts which

and the number of inferior

employed

officials

attempted to deal with individual

any evasions which

As

in the

still

less

bold to abjure

it.

had to enforce uniformity,


beliefs,

in a service

which

opened a door to

friendship, favour, or cupidity could devise.

days of Trajan, the approved form of profession was

to take part in sacrifice, but

it

was possible

also to tender

who

'professed' in this

Vlll. I, p. 121).

G. Wilmanns assigns

The name

allegiance in writing.

of one

Ep.

Ep. 40.
Ep. 29.

the bishops 'Tuburnicenses' of A. D. 411

Ep.
Ep.

p. 333, gives

*
^

34. 4.

and 646

30. 8.
59. 10.

Tuburnuc was a small

municipium and Hot-Wells, about

12

miles south of the Gulf of Tunis, or 22

from Carthage.
advertence?)

Tissot

makes

11.

this

780 (by

in-

one

of

see

'emplacement inconnu,' but in pi. viii.


marks the place, which is no doubt the
see.
In Numidia was a Qov^oipviKo.
KoXuvla (Ptol.), an oppidum civiiim Ronianorum (Plin.), {Co7-p. Inscrr. Latt.

Morcelli, vol.

to the latter.

them

to the former.

I.

One

would naturally place Cyprian's Repostus nearer to him.

No

trace remains

of any place answering to Hartel's Sutunurcensis,


censis,

the readings

or

Suturnu-

Quoturnicensis, Sutun-urcensis,

Utunurcensis.
^

Ep.

Epp.

Thurificati, Sacrificati.

See below the note on the Libelli.

8. 2.

11.

14.

i.

'libels' OF CONFORMITY.

II. UI.

8l

form was subscribed either to a renunciation of Christianity,


or to a denial of that crime, or else to a statement of having
recently or habitually attended sacrifice, and sometimes (unless

Augustine^ has fallen into an unlikely error) to a mere declaraThis document was delivered to

tion of readiness to comply.

a magistrate, entered on the Acta, and finally published in the

Forum.
In the persecution of Diocletian timid Christians were

sometimes represented
heathen friend

the altar

at

slipping past the altars without


lation ^

It

by a

sometimes attendants

would seem that

slave-

connived

or

by

at

their

making the ob-

actually

Decian persecution too a

in the

proxy* sometimes performed the act which the accused

wards claimed as

came

his

own

later to light, the

after-

while in heartrending cases, which

heads of families often dechristianized

themselves to deliver wife, children and dependants from

beggary and torture^

Venal or kindly fraud provided further a


from molestation.

Certificates

at

different security

high rates of payment

were offered and almost thrust on persons who believed


themselves,

private

after

avowal of their

to

faith,

be

simply purchasing exemption from the obligation to conform.

This

and has seldom

a species of confiscation

is

given offence; but

is

it

evident,

from the endeavours of

Cyprian to awaken penitence on account of them, that the


contents of these certificates or 'libels' were not unobjection-

Indeed

able.

it

is

impossible that they can have sanctioned

exemption without some grounds being

alleged.

Nor can

those grounds have been any other than that the certifying
^

Aug. de Bapi.

Petr. Alex. cc. 6,

c.

Donatt.

iv.

The

(6).

Routh,

op. cit. p. 28.

slave,

See note on

Libelli, p. 82.

a Christian, received in such a case

Ep. 55.

Tert. defug.

one year's penance and his master three.

On

if

Routh, Rel. S. vol.


^

iv. pp. 29, 30.

Petr. Alex. Can.

fence the penance

B.

7.

5.

was of

For

this of-

six

months,

13.

5,

12, 13.

the Montanist view, however,

see Tillemont, Notes sur la Persecut.

de Dice, n.

iii.,

vol. ill. p. 702.

THE LIBELLATICS.

82

magistrate had satisfied himself of the sound paganism of


the recipient.

The

unvvorthiness of these transactions must not mislead

had

us into conceiving that Christian truth

who were concerned

those
ficates

in

them\

'

hold upon

little

Parliamentary

certi-

of conformity were in our strictest age given and

'

received by the strictest Puritans and churchmen without any

pretext of

Intense devotion to formal truth has to the

fact.

southern and eastern temperament seemed often not inconsistent with insensibility to

much

lurking source of so

fine

To

veracity.

and

false doctrine

detect

that

false practice

was a part of Cyprian's moral office, and he speaks of the


tears of sorrow and surprise with which many first recognised

Even Peter

the gravity of the fault.

of Alexandria, in the

midst of similar displeasure with the Lapsed under Diocletian,


in its

cannot forbear, before he passes on to place the sin

true light, to glance

heathen power

When we

enquiries began

Libellatics

self

had

'

clever, designing children

are treating of Africans

amounted

have

the

or

was

conviction was
naturally, that

whom

Cyprian him-

some thousands^

to

Form and

in the text

that there

was found that the numbers of these

or certificated persons with

to deal

On
I

it

mockery of

aspect, as a

we cannot infer
conviction because we find that
To them the system came so

no truth of

'

'

century

in the third

dissembled.

when

its

calling his flock

befooling dull ones.'

Romans

at

Contents of the Libelli.

presented a correct account,

believe, of the

The

various ways in which the vast class of Libellatici arose.

diffi-

by various authors have arisen from their assuming


that the Libelli were all of one kind, or that there could be any
systematic and regular procedure for the evasion of procedure^.
culties raised

De Laps.

Ep.

Tillemont

I'autre.'

27.

tinction

20. 2.
(vol.

perceived there
'Peut-estre

ni. p.

702) alone

might be two ways.

que Ton

faisait et

I'un et

Dom

Maran thought

been present or not


their

the dis-

was only whether persons had

names.

Vit.

at the registering of

Cypr.

vi.

Fell, /. 30) that the libelli

Rigalt (ap.

were declara-

(on the libels.)

II. III.

On

83

every conceivable means would of course be


are not irreconcilable
they only describe
Cyprian's language is accurate to technicality in

the contrary,

Accounts

adopted.

different things.

the use of professional terms.

(i)

The

characterized in

libellus

De

tatio est christiani

libellorum'
Profiteri

is

which the suspected men tendered

Laps. 27,

quod

'

et ilia professio est

clearly

is

denegantis, conies-

In Ep. 30. 3 ''Professio

fuerat^ abnuentis.'

again the exhibition or putting in of such statements.


elsewhere the technical term, Christi negationem scrip-

is

'

SS. Agapes, Chionae, Irenes, &c., Ruinart, Acta


Mart., Ratisb. 1859, pp. 42452. Again, contestatio means the plea
tain projiteri,' Act.

own

made by either party to a suit it


Athenian Courts the Roman clergy
correctly argue in Ep. 30. 3, that although a man may not have
approached the altar, he must take the consequences {tenetur) if he
has put in a legal affirmation {contestatus sit) that he had done so.
In the above passages a Libellus is plainly a document emanating
from the recanting Christian. Such persons are in Peter of Alexor statement of his

answers

case

to the Stw/iocria of the

afidria (Can. v.) described as giving a libellus,

The nature

of the contents of

Lapsis

'He has

27,

it is

;^6tpoypa(j!)?7o-avrer.

indicated in the passage of the

declared himself to have done whatever

De
evil

another actually did' {faciendo commisit), which implies a representative in the sacrificial act.

The

offence of the Bishop Martial {Ep. 67. 6)

with the libellus of idolatry,'

is

who was

'

stained

explained by the use of the word con-

In the public proceedings before the Ducenary Procurator

testatus.

apud D. P.) he had appeared, and put in a


had denied Christ and adopted a heathen cultus.
not accused of having ever actually sacrificed, and the libelli

(actis publice habitis

declaration that he

He

is

of others, as Augustine says, contained only a declaration of readiness


to

do

so.

second class {sed etiani) are spoken of by Novatian and


clergy in Ep. 30. 3 as having virtually 'given acknowledgments, quittances or discharges^' (accepta fecissent), though not
(2)

the

Roman

tions either of heathenism or of Christianity,

but tendered

bribes)

only by the people, and

given by magistrates

(the

latter \vdth

not

(6) '...se thurificaturos professi erant.''


^

Fechtrup that

cere

they were magisterial certificates only.

ale,

Fechtrup's special pleading

by

term, pp. 66
^

is

matched

his inscience of every technical

law

This peculiar phrase occurs again

ad Detnetr. 13, 'id quod


- So Aug. de Bapt.

prius fueram.'
c.

is

apparently the

is

common term

s.v.

Accepta fa-

Manu-

(Dirksen,

accepto acceptum).

But the

other reading, rt(rtoy^ci:r^, which Neander


adopts,
ing.

76.

Accepta fecissent

best authenticated reading.

is

equally possible here in

It is 'to

process.'

'

facta sunt.'

mean-

put in a plea in a legal

Inter quern et creditorem acta

Scsevola ap. Forcellini.

Donatt.

62

THE RETIREMENT OF CYPRIAN.

84

present in person (cum

They had put in a legal appearance


by commissioning a proxy to register

fierent).

{...prasentiani S7(a/n.../ecissent)
their

names on

the magistrates'

of conformity {at sic scriberentur

list

Novatian argues that as one who orders a crime is


responsible for it, so one who sanctions (consensu) the reading in
public (publice legitur) of an untrue statement about himself is
liable to be proceeded against as if it were true.
II.
The other kind of llbellus which emanated not from the
ma?tdando).

renegade but from the magistrate is described with equal precision.


In the letter to Antonian i^Ep. 55. 14) Cyprian says some of the

had received (acceptus) such a libellus. An opportunity


one had presented itself unsought {occasio libelli
oblata...ostensa), and they had in person or by deputy {mandavi)
gone to a magistrate, informed him that they were Christians and paid
a sum to be exempted from sacrificing. But as no magistrate could
Libellatici

obtaining

for

issue an order simply staying the execution of an edict, his certificate

must have contained a statement of the


This

holder.

is

why Cyprian

satisfactory

to

tries

awaken

paganism of the

their

consciences,

while they themselves were disposed to plead that they had avowed
their religion and that the form of the document was the magistrate's
affair.

Again, in the
libellus is offered

Ad

Fortunatiim

them

malum

the gift {decipientium

who

c.

Christians are urged

11

{libelli... oblata sibi

tnumts),

refused the facilities offered

occasione) not to

if

embrace

by the example of Eleazar

him by

the officers {a ministris

regis facultas offerretiir) for eating lawful flesh as a make-believe


for swine's flesh.

The

official

connivance

in

each case would have

The

enabled them to seem to do what they did not.

libellus is here

something offered and is a mu)tus.


Nothing is more clear than that the libel included two kinds of
documents. Whether any document was issued in cases of registration

not clear, but

is

name

Libellatici.

all

three sorts of persons are included in the

[See Appendix,

p. 541.]

IV.

The Retirement of Cyprian.

While these scenes were passing Cyprian was away from


He had left it before the end of the month of
January^ so suddenly that Caldonius writes to him as if
the city.

unaware of
^

his departure^.
Lipsius, op.

cit.

p. 200.

The

place of his retreat


^

Ep. 24.

is

un-

THE REASONS FOR

II. IV.

known \

He made

over part of his

one of the presbyters Rogatian,

8$

IT.

still

for the

large property to

jan'^^'

The

^^' ^5o-

forwarding further instalments to him as need arose^.

populace sought for him with

cries of

'

Dec.

use of the sufferers,

Cyprian to the Lions,'

and the government published a Proscription of him and of


his trustees I

more remarkable than the calm


many would
seem questionable, and which his 'Master' had beforehand
Nothing

in his career is

decision with which he took a step which to

His own rational view that a

branded* with disapproval.


course sanctioned

men

by

Christ was legitimate,

was

for

some

a duty, the neglect of which aggravated the guilt of any

subsequent wavering^,

was not the only consideration which

determined his action.


spiritual

Clerics

engaged daily

and corporeal, were not

had forsaken

their special

in ministrations,

free to depart,

such absentees

The absent bishop

calling.

re-

served their restoration, upon their returning, for the decision

of the whole plebes, and suspended during the interval their

So wide was the

'monthly dividend^'

line which, like a true

statesman, he inevitably and unshrinkingly drew between

and

their functions

any one spot was


government.

was

when

13,

seemed

him

p.

^PP-

Tertull. de

rely

by Baluze, and on Ep.

5,

where

name is spurious, omitted by Hartel.


The scientific construction of history

the

without evidence

is

illustrated

by O.
must

be at

66. 4

59- 6

Pont. Vit.

nus in persecutione secedere et fugere

mandavit' referring to

shew

that

^/>. 16.

it is

Matth.

23

4 '...Dominus, qui ut secederem

Scripture,
"^

x.

not necessary to interpret

have been known to the magistrates, or


corre-

7.

Fuga in Persecutione.
De Laps. 10. The words 'Domi-

jussit' of 'visions, (Sec' rather

his

more

7.

Ritschl's statement that the place

easily discoverable because

years

last

spondence was large,


^

for a

Some

rule.

likely to

on the spurious close of p.


which is given only in Rigalt's

Deacon

'codex remensis,' yet taken into the


text

to

companion

the

of the bishop on

important than uninterrupted

but the maintenance of

his death

Pearson and Tillemont in giving

him Victor
must

The presence

was not the martyrdom of a saint which

It

in question

later,

own.

his

infinitely less

Ep.

34. 4.

than of

WORK OF RETIREMENT.

86

useful than his energies, he remained, against all solicitations,


to die

among

And

his people.

braved danger

in

presbyterate

activity of the

the

now would he have

gladly

conditions of his place and degree had permitted\'

presence
others"

the

But

his

Carthage would have attracted danger upon

in

would have provoked

'if

heathen feeling^

riots in the

aroused state of

TertuUus*, the devotee of prisoners and

martyrs, was himself the prime mover-' and most strenuous

Yet such a charm

advocate of the concealment of Cyprian.


invests even the
will

most rash exposure of

life,

that there possibly

never be wanting suggestions that the

Cyprian's

however

was

life

to

particular,

its

we

to

throw

it

doubts, and scepticism to

pass to the use he

eminent work sprang into

made

duty of

first

Leaving fanaticism

away.

its

of that

sneers on this

His pre-

life.

light before him.

Instantly

we

him blending a life of devotion and eucharist" with


and widest activity. We find him not only swaying
and sustaining the Church of Carthage he forms and guides
find

intensest

the policy of the West.


the

Roman

Church.

Repelling a singular aggression of

Rome

clergy, he suggests to

The

faith

the measures of the

and polity of the Church are menaced

simultaneously by the two worst dangers

by

Indififerentism

bidding for popular support with newly invented indulgences

and saintly
ideals.

To

of Cyprian

merits,

and by Puritanism armed with specious

the victorious'' firmness and sweet persuasiveness


it

was due that

in his

age Christianity did not

melt into an ethnic religion or freeze into a


^

^
^
*
^
*

Ep. 12. I ; cf. Epp. 5. I 6. I.


Epp. 7; 14. I.
Ep. 43. 4.
Ep. 12. 2.
Ep. 14. I.
Ep. 12. 2 '...et celebrentur hie a
;

sect.

nobis oblationes et sacrificia ob com-

memorationes eorum.'

painful inci-

dent of one of his communions

De Laps.
'

'

is

related

25, see p. ro8 infr.

Victoriosissimus Cyprianus,' Aug.

ROMAN INTERFERENCE.

II. V.

87

V.
Interference of the CJiurch of

We

must pursue these

his retirement the

Rome.
Immediately upon

lines in detail.

Roman presbyters and deacons, then holding

the administration

of their see^ in commission during

its

vacancy, despatched two letters to Carthage, one detailing to

Cyprian himself very

martyrdom of

fully the glorious

their Jan.

own

bishop, and evidently pointing hints from his example^

the

other exhorting Cyprian's clergy to supply

devotion the void created by the fugitive^

'

The

by

'

their

unfaithful

'

shepherds of Ezekiel and the hireling shepherd of the Gospel,

'

the

Good Shepherd Himself and

the faithful pastorate of

They them-

'

Peter must be their warning and their pattern.

'

selves at

'

brotherhood, in the general fidelity of their Church in spite

'

of the lapse of

after the

Rome

have reaped the reward of not deserting the

some eminent and timorous

remark that Cyprian's clergy

as being an

'

absence

eminent person,' persecution impending^

sarcasm might perhaps have seemed

This,

persons.'

justified his

followed the return of their

own envoy,

Such
had it

intelligible

sent with the news

martyrdom to Cyprian, and bringing back the


startling news of his disappearance. Ultramontane ingenuity
But it was Carthage
has indeed so narrated the facts^
which had communicated both fact and justification, and
unfortunately the two Roman letters were sent together by
the same hand, nor can the former, which has not survived,
of Fabian's

Cf.

Ep-

14. 2

'

...gerenda ea quae

administratio religiosa deposcit.'


2
'
^

Ep. 9. I.
Thisis^/. 8. That on Fabian is lost.
N. Marshall (London, 1717) cor-

the

more exposed.'

spoils the sense

his

comma

Freppel, p. 174.

tion of his Church's

'

Full of admiratraditions of vigil-

ance and universal solicitude

acted well and rightly, as being a dis-

sensitiveness to

tinguished person, and standing as such

'an indirect censure.'

'

before

'carta ex causa.'

hath retired for a certain reason,


wherein you seem to think he hath

rectly

Hartel

JSp. 8. i.

by

'

he mag-

nanimously sympathises with Cyprian's

what might have seemed

'

10,

'^

'

ROMAN INTERFERENCE.

88

have been

wounding than the

less

however with fervour


to
Feb.,
A.D. 250.

them

Cyprian responds

latter.

on Fabian, but returns

to the eulogy

their other letter with a dignified

hope that

it

may

it lacks both authentication and


him equally by its matter, its style
was written on\ It is indeed a singular

prove to be a forgery, since


jij(jj.j.gs^

a,nd

surprises

and even the paper

it

document.

We

picion, did

not a later letter of his shew that his delicate

might have wished to share Cyprian's sus-

doubt was but a criticism of the missive^.

It

when

is,

printed

according to the genuine text, a remarkable illustration of

what has been often pointed


of

Rome

of

and the incorrectness of

style

its

out, the deficiency of the

at that period in literary cultivation.

by the

its

it

which emanate from

less cultivated persons,

all

side of the four other epistles'

was provoked.

He

No

Their answer gave

assurance of support, and with a vigorous letter

full

Roman

from the

came op-

to the Carthaginian Confessors*,

portunely and helpfully.

Their third Epistle was from the

strong, clear, pedantically clear, pen of Novatian*

sent after a consultation with


called

neighbouring bishops

Ep.

"^

In Ep. 20. 3 he

9. 1.

calls

it

plainly

and quotes a passage


with a slight improvement in

'vestra scripta
it

the wording.

'

Fechtrup

ously thinks he had

(p.

47) ponder-

made and now

detected the mistake.


^

due

Epp. 21

exhibits
tel's

24.

The

errors are not

to the inaccuracy but to the cor-

rectness

of the text, which elsewhere

no such phenomena.

Preface,

'

Bishops Present

'

and bishops then

and was

as they were

Rome

in

on

gladly learn what honour was covertly

from

further

had awakened them to

the sense of his position and their own.

him

and distinguish

the rest of the correspondence.

caustic criticism

Church

inelegance

constructions and

forms of words place


these from

The

p.

ipsa in Ep. 9. 2

poverty of the

xlviii.

See Har-

Does charta

further indicate the

scribe?

One would

intended for the Church of


this composition,

the

whole

Rome by

upon the theory

Cyprianic

that

correspondence

was forged in her interest,


* These two crossed his Ep. 20, see
Ep. 27. 4, and are lost like that on

The

Fabian.

principal contents of the

former are given in Ep. 30.

was widely
Cyprian's.
30. 5)

is

circulated

Their

with

3,

and
two

letter to Sicily

it

of

{Ep.

also lost (see p. 95).

Ep. 30; compare Ep.

Novatian's style see

p.

55. 5.

122 and note.

On

THE LAPSED.

II. VI.

89

account of the persecution or other causes, for before


written they had learnt

how much they and

to Cyprian's preservation.

had something

felt

Rome

the suppression of opinion from

soon as Novatian became their


Their

last letter also

his

in

own

on

we

case, as

do with the change or

to

owed

too that the need

It is possible

which Novatian^

for seclusion
shall see,

was

it

the Church

at least

this subject, so

scribe.

penned by Novatian

in

is

accord with the vigorous steps which, as

we

took and proposed to take as

developed ^

difficulties

thorough

shall see,

Cyprian

VI.

TJu Lapsed and


For

in the

the Martyrs.

meantime mightier

issues

had blazed

The

out.

merit of confessorship and the remorse of the lapsed had

come

face to face,

and the conception had been entertained

that the faithful might mediate for the fallen.


tullian's

Even

in

Ter-

time certain penitents had by their intercession pro-

He

cured restoration to communion for others.

doubt of the validity^ of

system

this

while apparently implying that

it

in

intimates a

his earliest

work,

was of no long standing;

but as a Montanist, however exaggerated his language, he

shews that

it

had become more common under the patronage

of the contemporary bishop

Now, however,

whom

he attacks^

the question

was no longer one of the

No

contrast could be stronger

dispensation of private

sin.

than that between the Confessors and the Lapsed, and

was exhibited on a great


^

2
^

scale.

See pp. 121, 122.


Ep. 36; see p. 122, n. 3.
Ad Mart. i. Note the words qui-

The

sufferers

dam and
* Jam

it

were not only

si forte.
et

in

martyras tuos effundis

hanc potestatem.

De

Pudic.

c. 22.

THE MARTYRS.

90
faithful to the

Church, they were saving

same time demonstrating that the

the

existence ^ and at

and the

attractions

heathenism were not powerful enough to hold the

terrors of

Gratitude to them

world.

its

knew no bounds.

Ministers to

wants flocked to the prisons^ Men prayed all night


upon the earth that they might themselves be captured so
The Offering'
as to attend on those^ who had been tortured.
their

'

was made regularly in


has to recommend

From his retirement Cyprian

their cells.

demonstrative sympathy^ and to

less

enjoin that only one presbyter with one deacon should per-

form that

and that these should so succeed one

service,

another as not to cause the constant attendance of any to

Every death among them was communicated


to him that he might 'celebrate the oblations and sacrifices'
of commemoration, and was calendared for future observance
At Rome the martyred Fabian himself had made the
be remarked.

compilation of such registers a duty of the subdeacons with


their

clerks".

few

Thaumaturgus the

years

later

substitution

for

began

under

pagan

feasts of

Gregory

wakes

over the martyred remains which he conveyed to various


localities^

Thus everywhere the veneration


proportion to the magnitude of the

Ep.

4 '...nutantem multorum

37.

fidem martyrii vestri veritate


^

Ep.

The only

give to
*

solidastis.'

Opt.

The delay

16.

i.

such enrolment

sense

intelligible

can

the

not

at. 3.

Hefele suggests that some of the

title

Martyr being added, though

much

later,

can be no question
notes.

Conciles (ed. Delarc) vol.

their

12. 2.

names

the term

From

i.

If. des

p. 172.

the recitation of

in the list or

'canonize.'

canon arose

Csecilian,

A.D.

312, rebukes Lucilla's veneration for a


relic

of a martyr, '...et

necdum

si

martyris, sed

vindicati^ not yet acknowledged.

epigraph

the

to

of

Fabian, about whose martyrdom there

his requiring similar prudence.

Ep.

necessary for

a probable explana-

is

calumnies against Csecilian arose from

in

Cyprian

tion (as has been already observed) of

5. 2.

^.

martyrs rose

for the

interests at stake.

sius,

see pp.

()^,

66 and

'Notarii,' Felician Catalogue (Lipop.

Minor

cit.

p.

275).

Cf.

Theolog. Works, vol.

11.

Pearson,
pp. 314,

315.
''

Greg. Nyss. 0pp.

Morell.

t.

in. p. 574, ed.

GROWING VENERATION FOR CONFESSORS.

II. VI.

9I

himself, who was not without some apprehension of the


coming mischief; who had written so wisely, He who
'

'speaketh things peaceful and kind and righteous after the


'

precept of Christ,

is

every day a Confessor of Christ

'

who

elsewhere so invariably softens Tertullian's rhetoric, himself

now exaggerates

it

even to bad taste'

addressing the

in

confessors.

change had taken place even

significant

in the

common

Only seventy years before this the sufferers of


Lyons and Vienne had, in their last prison, after their last
use of terms.

contests with the wild beasts, sharply reproved the application

name

to themselves of the

alone

who had

of Martyr, ascribing

followed to the death

At

Martyr' of the Apocalypse".

we have indeed

century

the end

whom,

'

derstand him, the

men

TertuUian

addressed

'

early

second

if

we

rightly un-

Lyons would have disowned.


imprisoned

much

martyrs designate*' and seems

growing fashion by

ridicule the
'

of

of the

from one who styles

a fragment

himself Aurelius Cyrenius Martyr^';

to those

it

the Faithful and True

'

But

only as

Christians

later to repudiate

his question,

'

and

What martyr

is

a dweller in this world, a petitioner for pence, a victim to

'doctor and money-lender^.-*'


of

all

who

But now Cyprian uses

reserved for those awaiting death,

and even

it

freely

are in prisons or in mines'^, while 'Confessor,' once

flight

is

applied to any sufferer,

honoured as a private confession ^'


'

is

The captives were in Cyprian's eyes the friends of the


Lord, who would sit with Him in judgment,' whose inter*

But the faction

cessions already avail ^ in the unseen world.

common

Although allowance must be made

adopt the

for

the then freshness of metaphors

savage passage.

now

cannot

share

Freppel's

E,pp. 15.

Ep. 10, '...ce langage


tout fremissant de poesie lyrique.

De

...praerogativa

trite,

transport

at

Euseb. H. E.

Routh, Rell. Sac.

Ad Martt.

De

v. 2.
i.

p. 451.

22.

am

unable to

i ;

76. 6.

},.

eorum adjuvari aptid

Deum possunt {Ep. 18. i)


apiid Dominum in delictis
{Ep. ig.

i.

Pndicit.

Laps.

explanation of this

2).

Rettberg,

that class of historians

...adjuvari

suis possunt

who

belongs to

which thinks

in-

RECOURSE TO THEIR MEDIATION.

92
which had

at all times

them such

spiritual

been unfriendly to him attributed to

supremacy on earth as threatened to

disorganize the whole fabric of the Church,

Among

the Lapsed there had at once set in a violent

revulsion, a passionate desire to recover or to reassert their

Some

place in the forsaken Church.

reappeared at the

bunals, and received sentence of exile^; some,

and ^Emilius, of torture and death


Celerinus, dedicated
fessors^
finite

some, like the

tri-

Castus

like

sisters of

themselves to the service of the con-

others entered unmurmuringly on penance of inde-

duration^

Unhappily most preferred to rely on a


At first a letter from a martyr'

vicarious and imputed merit.

'

to a bishop prayed only that the case of a fallen friend

be examined into

after the restoration of peace

might

a due period

of penitence and the imposition of hands being understood

open

to be at least as necessary as after other

falls.

Some,

like the torn and tortured Saturninus, forebore even this petition.

Mappalicus

in

dying requested

it

only for his sister and

mother*.

But the

factious

devotion of these

presbyters,

who

in the simplicity

and

men saw so promising a weapon against


now to anticipate not such enquiry

the absent bishop, ventured


only, but

even the death of the martyr which alone could

have given validity to


papers signed by

still

his

appeals

living

Upon

the strength of

confessors they

'

offered

the

names' of lapsed persons at the Eucharist as of duly restored


penitents and gave

Then

them communion^

these Libels

began to be carelessly drawn: they sometimes specified only

low

Ep.

motives to great minds, sees in this Ian-

On Nomen

sight consists in the ascription of

guage the bidding


the factious clergy.
^

2
*

Ep.
Ep.
Ep.
Ep.

24.

for support against

rect

i6. 3.
offerre

see

the

cor-

though not very lucid remarks of

L'Aubespine,

Obsei-vatt.

Eccles. L.

I.

vii. (1623), reprinted in his edition of

21. 3, 4.

Optatus, 1679. (Prieur's Optatus, 1676,

56. 2.

p. 21.)

27. I.

Ep.

34.

I.

Cf.

Ep.

15. I.

THE MISUSE OF

II. VI.

whom

one of a group to

IT SYSTEMATIZED.

they were granted,

name

write ^;

Allow such an

They were

one and his family to communicate \'


the

'

93

issued in

of a dead confessor, of a confessor too illiterate to

issued

copiously^,

so

some thousands were

that

believed to be circulating in Africa, and the very sale of

them was not beyond suspicion*. The


issue was Lucian, the old friend of

chief author of this

but very

Celerinus,

unlike him, says Cyprian, in delicacy of feeling though an

honest man, and

'

scantily versed in the

literature of the

Lucian had been charged, as he announced, by a

Lord.'

revered confessor Paul before his death in prison to bestow


'

Peace

'

name on whoever asked

in his

and he did so with

it,

only the proviso, that the recipient should, when the persecuhimself to his bishop and confess his

tion ended, present

He

lapse.

name

used similarly the

When

of Aurelius.

remonstrated with by Cyprian, he seems to have replied

almost at once by promulgating


fessors^'

name

in the

of

'

All Con-

an indulgence to All Lapsed,' and desiring Cyprian


'

himself to communicate this to the provincial bishops.

condition was annexed, seemingly meant for a concession,


that they should satisfy their bishop as to their conduct since
their

This extraordinary document

fall.

Cyprian regarded

Roman
excused

'

presbyters
it

as an outrage
its

ille

cum

suis,'

Ep.

15- 4^

Ep.

27. I.

On

this

justified his use of the

ground Lucian

name

of Aurelius,

non nossef; yet it can


been true in his case,
since Aurelius was immediately after
ordained Lector by Cyprian. Ep. 7,%, i.
^ ...gregatim... passim... Ep. 27. i.
* Ep. 20. 2.
Ep. 15. 3.
Ep. 27.
...circa intellegentiam
3
'quod

extantl

literas

dominicge lectionis.'

Ep.

Compare

but partly
their false

22. 2.
(wrTraferai

fiapHpuv

Lucian,

ap.

at

vjms xopij

end

Routh,

R.

of
S.

ctTras

cent,

iii.

vol.

iv.

p. 5.

scarcely have

'

^
''

o/xoiJ

The

on disciplined

inconsistencies,

shewing a desire to escape from

as

Communicet

it

exposed

is

Ep.

...quasi

23.

moderatius aliquid

et

tem-

perantius fieret...epistolam scripsit qua

psene

omne vinculum

fidei...et evangelii

sanctitas et firmitas solveretur.


2.

Ep.

27.

THE MISUSE OF MEDIATION SYSTEMATIZED.

94
position

by throwing the

which

not an unfair view\

is

may

It

for a

final responsibility

moment be worth our

on

their bishop

while to glance at

Their
modern ultramontane explanation of this step.
imprudent charity says Freppel had forgotten that /-

the
'

'

'

'

'

'

diligences

have for their

object to

supplement the insufficiency

of zuorks of satisfaction, but not to replace them.'

How

was

then that not only Cyprian, but his supposed directors, the

it

Roman

presbyters, left after

gence so incomplete
tanism exists than

its

The Lapsed and

No

the definition of an Indul-

all

stronger refutation of ultramon-

attempts to write history.

the Presbyters

who encouraged them

soon despised the condition that they should satisfy the


but

bishops-;

beyond the

direct

action lay the unpopularity^ which

they did their duty.

if

They must

of the confessors'

evils
it

ensured for the bishops,

presently be seen rejecting

wholesale both penitents and martyrs.

Discipline

was

have no place under the random domination of merits.

was something

It

some

of the provincial towns there

like actual riot^

and that the Lapsed extorted

not surprising that

is

vio-

but harmony too and reverence and affection would

lated,

in

communion from the weaker presbyters by force.


From the Cyprianic correspondence it would seem that
This was no doubt
these disorders did not exist at Rome.
due

at least in part to the powerful influence of

Novatian

in the exactly contrary direction over the confessors

whom

he commends for maintaining 'Evangelical discipline^' and

...quia

a multis urguebantur,

ad episcopum

dum
Ep.

remittunt, &c.

te

cum

Sanctis martyribus

Ep.

Invidia,

The

...impetus per

confessors were too literal so to write.

So

also

it

is

impossible to credit them


in the

'prsesente

de clero

et exorcista et lectore.'

habere,' Ep. 23, as a threatening.

with parodying the usual forms

attestation clause

pacem

Fechtrup and Ritschl take 'op-

36. 2.

tamus

illos

35.

Epp.

27. 3.
^

Ep.

30. 4.

15- 4; 27. 2.

multitudinem, Ep.

CYPRIAN'S SCHEME.

II. VII.

who

at

95

adhered to him rather than to the milder


These clergy sympathize with Africa and evi-

first

Cornelius.

dently with Sicily^ and deplore the revolt not only there but
in

'

nearly

seem so

the world,' but of themselves they state

all

of their See was an adequate reason both for

postponement and

for patience.

It

Cyprian's correspondents

was prudently employed,

Celerinus was the excep-

and, as a rule, sensibly accepted.


tion^

we

have escaped the disorders of the times^'

far to

The vacancy

'

among

the

Roman

confessors

take Cyprian's view, urge humility on the Carthaginian martyrs,

and

at last

go beyond him

in strictness*.

VII.

The Cyprianic Scheme for Restorative


For Cyprian had

become

dangers which

lost

no time.

The temper

essential.

Discipline.

had

distinct policy

of the Lapsed, the increasing

threatened, the fitness of conciliating the

it

martyrs^ and the approach of the feverous malarious autumn


of the old world city or the stagnant offensive water of the

Lake

of Tunis^

would brook no delay on the part of the

This seems to be the

mention

gus...'

of a Christian Church in that island.

ceeds.

first

Seede

30' 5-

^P'

Ep.

30.

6.

5,

Under

Roman

persecution the

exempt.

Even blood was

Diocletian's

church was not

page of unwritten history

102

3,

Rossi,

/;wf;';-.

Christ,

138; also R.

S.

Migne, Pair. Lot. xni.


Peter Alex. Can.

5,

shed, he pro-

ii.

11.

p. 66,

p.

201.

cc. 384, 385.

speaks of confessors

Damasus

giving remission to the Lapsed under

upon the popes Marcellus and Eusebius.


He borrows the sentiments and

the persecution of Diocletian, but in a

words of Cyprian to express the similar

ance notwithstanding,

is

indicated in the epitaphs of

Dam.

Mar-

^
4

Carvi. xi.

quia crimina Jlcre

omnibus

hostis

hinc odium...'
bio

De

Martyre, 'Veridicus Rector lapsos

rebellion.
cello

mild form, and he appoints them a pen-

S.

Ep. 21.3.
Epp. 27, 31, 32.
Notes 3 and 4 on p. 94.
j7p_ 18. i 'jam aestatem

coepisse,

tempus infirmitatibus assiduis

et gravi-

PrcEclixit miseris fuit

amarus

Hmc

furor,

Carnt. xii.

De

Euse-

S.

Papa, 'Heraclius vetuit lapsos pec-

bus infestatum...'

Kwis

...itrl

crimina Jlere.

Appian, de Rebus Punic,

Scinditur in partes vul-

5' y\v

iwi.ro\7]

Xlf^vg aradepov koL ^apios iidaros,

cata dolere: Eusebius miseros docvW. sua

viii.

99.

AND

CYPRIAN'S RULES

96
church
her

PRINCIPLES.

who

dealing with the anxious multitudes

in

So

gates.

despatches

soon
the

to

appeared

Libels

the

as

confessors

and to the

confessors,

his laity S to

a remarkable group of

in all directions^ to

Roman

wrote

Carthage, to his clergy,

at

and with peculiar warmth and confidence to


Bishops

besieged

he

who were

clergy^*

Roman

still

under

the leadership of the able, high-minded and austere Novatian.

This man, had he lived

some

in

might have been a scholastic

and

in the

most practical of

saint.

memory

his

appeared

in

unenviable.

At

him but the

clear

in the ascendant,

That, in times of conflict

all cities,

shot across his higher qualities,

day when

brief halcyon

orthodox speculation and asceticism were

made

some

tinge of ambition

his position false

and

present however nothing had

and somewhat hard decisive-

made

ness which, giving point to his nobler characteristics,

him regarded as the possible head of the Roman church,


when Fabian's successor should be elected. Moyses, Maximus
and

their fellow prisoners

were as yet earnestly attached to

him.

To

all

whom

simple method

he now addressed Cyprian proposed one

To

reserve the cases of the

Lapsed

intact,

whether the martyrs had given them Letters of Peace or


not*, until councils of bishops,

and

at

Rome^ on

down some

assembling both at Carthage

the abatement of persecution, should lay

general principles of restoration for those

Then

deserved compassion:

who

the cases to be heard individually

by the bishops with the assistance of their presbyterate,


diaconate and 'commons': Full confession without reserve
Epp. 15, 16, and 17.
Ep. 26.
^ Epp. 11 and 28.
* Ep. 20. 3.
^ Epp. 20.
3 55. 4.
Ep. 17.
4 Fratribiis in plebe consistentibiis.
Ep. 31. 6 puts in the

which the Plebes were to

as to the part

have on account of the magnitude of

strongest

light

the opinions

Cyprian and of the

Roman

both of

Confessors

the

affair, 'consultis

omnibus Episcopis,

Presbyteris, Diaconibus, confessoribus,

sed

et ipsis

stantibus Laicis, ut in tuis

Ep.

teris et ipse testaris.'

aminabuntur

singula

judicantibus vobis.'

17.

prsesentibus

Cf.

Ep.

li-

'...ex-

30. 5.

et

THE CYPRIANIC

II. VII.

POLICY.

to be required in the presence of those

the circumstances

97

most conversant with

Readmission to Communion to be given

by the imposed hands of the bishop and clerus Meantime to


concede to mercy and to the martyrs thus much that any
:

lapsed person in danger of death or in serious trouble, wJio

had been provided with a Libel, might be readmitted to communion with imposition of hands by any presbyter, or in
desperate cases, even by a deacon^: until general resolutions
shall have been come to, all others, who had not obtained
Confessors' Letters, must even in the hour of death be
commended to the forgiveness of God without earthly communion and be assisted in their repentance. It was not
for the ordinary officers to restore them to communion
without directions from the bishop, or recommendation from
martyrs. To all it was still open publicly to recant their
denial of Christ, and to abide the issue from the heathen
authorities.

Thus they would be not merely

restored but

crowned.

The grounds

of the course he advised were these

1.
That so general a question should be dealt with upon
some general principle not by individual discretion ^

2.

That the Lapsed

if

restored

fared better than the Constant


all

once would have

at

who had borne

the loss of

things.

That some regard should be had

3.

to the

'

prerogative

of confessorship.

These principles he
pamphlet

Epp.

Of the

insists

Lapsed^.

I and 19. 2.
paucorum nee ecclesise unius

18.

...non

nee unius provineiae sed totius orbis


hsec causa est,

B.

Ep.

19. 2, cf.

Ep.

30. 5.

upon

The
3

in his letters

and

in his

concession to confessors

Preppel

calls

resume of the
of their

gradually

latest

the

letters:

De

Lapsis

fairly,

but

it

is

a
is

views, for these views

alter, as

we

shall see.

ROMAN DEDUCTIONS FROM

98

His assurance of the divine acceptance of

not unnatural*.

the unaneled penitent


*

FACTS.

'They that

nobly expressed ^

is

in

gentleness and lowliness and very penitence shall have per-

'

severed in good works will not be

'

and aid of the Lord.

'

healine.'

On

the

'^

They

destitute of the help

Proof of Roma fi Confession which


'

from

Some

left

too will be cared for

is

by a divine

derived

these events.

theory of 'development' applied to the principles both of

and doctrine

discipline

no

is

less essential to the progress

fortune of

Rome

is

(and even

The

to the construction) of ecclesiastical than of civil estates.

mis-

not only that her constructiveness has been in-

consequent and has incorporated usages subversive of the original


theory, but that she does practically repudiate

schemes of 'develop-

ment erected in her behalf. Her scholars are required to prove her
most modern inventions to be primitive. For instance The word
'

Confession {exomologesis)
sense in Cyprian, that

it

is

still

so far from bearing a technical

applied in the same page (i) to the

is

Song

of the Three Children, (2) to the Monody of Daniel, and (3) to the
public acknowledgment of apostasy {de Laps. 28, 31), as well as (4) in
Testim.
in

iii.

The word Sacerdos


But a judicious limitation

14 to Confession of sin to God.

Cyprian invariably

signifies

a Bishop.

'

of these two terms to the sense of 'sacramental confession' and


'

presbyter or priest

yields to the ultramontane

'

of auricular confession as

now used

Exomologesis before a Sacerdos

A
'

similar concatenation

is

in the

mind the product

church of Rome.

Is

it

not

made

of (i) Cyprian's argument that

since even ordinary penitents could be restored only through the

imposition of hands by bishop and clergy, after less offences than


apostasy, the Lapsed cannot be admitted more easily' with (2) his

requirement oi exomologesis from the latter class, and

(3)

with examples

drawn from some tender consciences which had revealed a merely


contemplated desertion. From these passages is drawn the inference
that Cyprian demanded sacrajnetttal confession of all the less serious
faults as obligatory and as extending even to bad thoughts.'
'

'

...

'

'

'

cum videreturet honor martyribus

habendus, Ep. 10.

3.

Cf. Ej>. 18.

i.

Ep.

18. 2.

THE POLICY NOT ROMAN BUT CARTHAGINIAN.

II. VIII.

99

Again, in extreme cases a presbyter 'without waiting for our preor even a deacon might on approach of death lay his hand
on a penitent who has confessed his lapse, and give him that Peace'
which the martyrs had requested for him. This simple natural permission is by the ultramontane expanded into the following difficulties
(i) that confession to a deacon who was 'not the minister of
the sacrament of penance was an act of humility which could not
fail to be very meritorious
as indulgences are conferred
(2) that
apart from the sacrament so 'at that date apparently deacons had
the power to apply to the sick such spiritual favour
(3) this particular 'spiritual favour' is defined to be 'a remission to the moribund of all the tetnporal pains due to their sins,' it was what we call
a plenary indulgence accorded in the hour of death.
This then is the way to demonstrate the primitive character of

sence

'

'

'

'

'

'

'

'

'

'

'

confession private, sacramental, obligatory, extending to the thoughts,

and favoured with plenary indulgence.


gling

is

1863,

4.

This almost incredible jugCyprian at the Sorbonne,

from Freppel's tenth Lecture on

S.

Fechtrup notes, p. 83, that Exomologesis in Tertullian signifies the


whole course and process of public penance which is no nearer to
;

the

Roman Use

(see de PcBtiitentia^

c. 9).

VIII.

The adopted

policy

was

CartJiaginian not Rofnan.

The modern Ultramontane


'

distinguishing

wisdom

ascribes this policy to

'

the

of that church, mother and mistress

'of all others, which indicates to Carthage the only courseV

and assigns to Cyprian the merit of

'

fully

adopting

this line

of conduct'

The honest Tillemont


'

in a council

'

by

truthfully wrote

'

Cyprian regulates

the business of the Lapsed, and

Rome and by

the whole church^.'

There

is

followed in

is

no possibility

of doubt as to the origination of the whole policy.

Freppel's S.

Cyprien,

pp.

195

Vol. IV. S. Cyprieti, Art. 23.

215; PP- 235241.

72

it

THE POLICY NOT ROMAN

100

Roman clergymen have

All that the

their first coarse letter^

and penitent

sick

is

in

mere restoration of the Lapsed if


no prospect but that

to the rest they offer

Conception of the world-wide importance of

of exhortation.
the

recommend

to

There is no
by the Bishops, of councils or

conception of policy they have none.

crisis,

of investigation

suggestion

committees, of the assistance of the

laity,

of modification

of discipline in accordance with circumstances, of reservation

Yet these are the important

until quieter times.

out them the plan

And

With-

lines.

featureless.

Cyprian who step by step develops them

is

it

is

all in

the three letters seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth to

Clergy and People of Carthage.

the

communicates

letter^,

and

'

He

clergy.

with

agreed

This

to develop his

is

'

it,

own

restoration

of sick penitents,'

considering united

action

very im-

commonplace with which he proceeds

the

far greater

introducing itl

in

observes that he has seen their

recommending the

portant'

say

and the action he had already taken,

his views

Roman

to the

In his twentieth he

As

Less he could not

scheme.

the plainest exposition of

it

he

them a budget of Thirteen Letters* which he had

encloses to

from his retirement despatched to Carthage, containing his


successive

comments and

instructions

upon the progress of

and he adds a connected outline of

affairs,

repeats

his

own

their purport.

three observations which had led

direct that, while others should be deferred

could be held, those


1

Ep.

8. 3, see

who

above, sect. v.

tentia,

cazisas,

not yet reached him.

accepto differri

tary sentence
fications,

made

all

in

the same complimen-

how he mentions the quaU-

introduced by himself, which


the difference:

'...standum putavi et

cum

Ep.

the councils

till

ne actus noster, qui adunatus

Ep. 2o. 3. Meaning Ep. 8, identified by the mention of Crementius, &c.


The lost one, named in Ep. 11. 4, had
Observe

to

possessed martyrs' Libels should,

He

him

20.

vestra sen-

esse et consentire circa

aliquo

quamvis

libello

mandavi,

prasentiam resa-vari,

Domino

unum
*

omnia debet,

plane

discreparet.

iit

in

cceterorum

a niartyribus
et

in nostrain

cum, pace a

nobis data, plures cotivetiire in

ccepe7-imus,'' Qx'c.

Ep.

10. 2.

On

the Thirteen Letters

see note at close of this section.

BUT CARTHAGINIAN.

II. VIII.

if in

He

be restored by the imposition of hands^

peril of death,

Romans
details^.
They

promises the
of

lation

lOI

full

in

share in the future regu-

their

answer,

composed by

Novatian and read aloud to the rest for their signatures,

acknowledge the whole scheme to be entirely Cyprian's, and


with a patronising deference.

adopt

it

'they,

by

'

at

" coheirs " in his counsels

'Too hasty
scheme

ginian

restated

is

point

'

lucidly

The

Lapsed.

'

had themselves
by point the Cartha-

and adopted.

solicitous to point out that in their

themselves

because they reaffirm

remedies,' such as they

advised, are deprecated

first

allows them, say

virtue of their approval to share his credit, to be

thought of as

'them^'

He

'

former

They

are

letter

they had

three classes

differenced

only

among

the

Rome

ac-

more plain-spoken Confessors of

knowledged the debt more candidly and less obsequiously^


Lastly, in a note to them which relates a new presumption
of the

'

martyrs

'

Cyprian adds

their letters' bring

them

that, if

'

neither his

to their senses,

'we

own nor

shall act as,

according to the gospel, the Lord charged us to act^'

Roman

The

by Novatian's hand,
'vigour' and enforce with

clergy in their last letter, also

admiringly

acknowledge

his

arguments, as he wishes, the action that has so far been


taken^.
^
-

Epp. 11 19.
Ut...communicato etiam vobiscum

consilio disponere singula et reformare

possimus, Ep. 20.


^

Ep.

30.

I ;

Ep.

and

Ep.
Ep.

35.

Ep.

36, see p. 122.

31.

I, 6,

topics of Cyprian's in

3.

see

*
^

55. 5.

cf.

Ep.
It

Ep.

27. 4.

touches also
20.

(OF DOCUMENTS.)

I02

On

which Cyprian sent


Romans.

the Thirteen Epistles of

copies to the

In Epistle 20. 2 Cyprian gives precis of the contents of these his


Thirteen Letters, with some chronological notes, in somewhat of the same
way in which Pontius ( Vit. c. 7) gives in a few sentences a consecutive
By writing out this sketch in clauses and
outline of Cyprian's Treatises.

and placing opposite to these our own abstract of certain epistles,


form an opinion (i) as to whether any of the thirteen are lost,
as to the order in which Cyprian himself had them arranged, and

lines,

we
(2)

shall

wished them to be read.


Cyp. Ep.

Et quid egerim locuntur vobis


numero Tredecim

20. 2.

emissae

Epistulae pro temporibus

nee 'clero' consilium,

in quibus

nee

Thus

'

confessoribus

'

exhortatio,

nee 'extorribus' quando oportuit objurgatio,

nee universse

fraternitati

ad deprecandam Dei misericordiam,

allo-

cutio et persuasio nostra defuit.

Posteaquam vero

et

'tormenta venerunt,'

sive

jam

sive

adhue ut torquerentur

tortis fratribus nostris,

ad corroborandos eos

et

'inelusis,'

eonfortandos noster sermo penetravit.

(of documents.)

II. VIII.

103

Three letters to Presbyters and Deacons, on their


5? 7> 14keep the prisons quiet Ep. 7 regrets own
duty
use his funds
care of widows, sick, poor,
absence, which is for general good
Ep. 5. 2 speaks of the present as
additional supplies
foreigners

Epp-

the initia of persecution as in Ep. 6. 4 and Ep. 13. 2 Ep. 14 is the


pauperes {atid so precedes Ep. 1 2 q. v.
fullest and strongest about
quotes Ep. 5.
inf. ; its order otherwise unfixed)
:

'

'

Ep.

6.

To Confessors,

'...gratulor pariter et

exhortor....'

Exube-

they the first prisoners note too inrant joy in their confession
gressi, initiis, and expressions coincident with those oi Ep. 5.
:

To Confessors.

Speaks of his former 'exsultantia verba'


Exhorts to perseverance. Severe objurgation of faulty
Theirs is a prima conconfessors, returned extorres and others.

Ep.

13.

Ep.

{i.e.

gressio

6).

(2).

To Presbyters and Deacons, with


One continuous
to the Brethren.

directions (7) that it be


Exhortation to Prayer.
He uses the phrase 'tormenta venerunt^' and describes these as
devised not to be fatal but to convert. (Fechtrup pp. 39, 40 well
argues that this Epistle precedes the severest stage under the proconsul, but is an advance from the imprisonment and confiscation
stage.) From the allusion in Ep. 13. 6 to the vision described in Ep.

Ep.

II.

read

1 1. 6, Ep. 13 probably followed


logical order.

Ep.

1 1

in

time though not in Cyprian's

12.
To Presbyters and Deacons. Some have died in prison, not
are no less martyrs (Tortures therefore have not
from tortures
been extreme, but might have been which exactly corresponds with
the rest.
It belongs to same moment as Ep. 11): refers verbally to
Ep. 5. This speaks of having ^/^ written about the Poor, '...ut
Scepe jam scripsi,' which leads to placing not Ep. 5 and Ep. 7 only,
but also Ep. 14, somewhere in the group above Ep. 12.
Ep. 10. To Martyrs and Confessors. This and remaining Epistles
only imprisonment or exile
all dwell on Torture as in full use
having been used hitherto. These then belong to the Visitation of
the Proconsul. This is later than Api'il 17, from its mention of
Mappalicus' death under torture, whose commemoration is that day
This Epistle could not be summarised more
in the African Kalendar.
exactly than by Cyprian opposite. Various expressions coincide also.

Ep.

'

'

Ep.

II. I.

Compare De Laps.

13

'

Sed tormenta postmodum venerant.'

(of documents.)

104

Item cum comperissem &c. the distribution of libelli,


litteras feci quibus martyres et confessores ad dominica prjecepta
revocarem
'

Item presbyteris et diaconibus non defuit sacerdotii vigor ut quidam


discipline minus 'memores,' receiving Lapsed to Comtnunioti without
authonty, comprimerentur.
'

Plebi quoque ipsi...animum


servaretur instruximus.

composuimus

et ut

ecclesiastica

disciplina

{the Lapsed having violently extorted cojit7mcnion)..A&


hoc etiam BIS ad Clerum litteras feci. ..si qui 'libello a martyribus
accepto de steculo excederent exomologesi facta et manu eis in
pasnitentia imposita cum pace' sibi 'a martyribus' promissa 'ad

Postmodum vero

'

'

'

'

Dominum'
Sed cum
3.

remitterentur.

videretur

i.

necessary to respect Confessors,

recoiicile sick petiitents,

with in this last


be reservedfor

case,

he

had ordered the

2.

quiet the Lapsed,

libelli to be

complied

as effecting the three points: all other cases to

a Council when Peace returns.

(OF DOCUMENTS.)

II. VIII.

Ep.

I05

To Martyrs and Confessors. Observe Christ's 'precepts,'


discipline as well as faith, even though presbyters and deacons
be rash. This (4) mentions Ep. 16 to the clergy, and Ep. ly to the
laity, as sent same time on same subject.
(? June ; severities abating.)
15.

i.e.

Ep.

16.

To Presbyters and Deacons.

Accompanies Ep.

15:

is

precisely described opposite.

Ep.

17.

To Laity.

Accompanies Ep.

15.

precise account of

it

opposite.

Ep.

To Presbyters and Deacons.

Dated to late July or August


cestatem coepisse (i) and malaria. Postmodu?n, opposite,
places the above earlier ; also accurately excerpted, and expressions
18.

by the

^jajii

'

correspond.

Ep.

19.

To Presbyters and Deacons.

Accurate prdcis

in

Ep.

20, as

opposite.

It is

Cyprian

above comparison that no letter described by


He wished the Romans to read
and Ep. 7, and Ep. 13 before Ep. 11, out of their

clear from the


is

missing from the budget.

Ep. 14 with Ep. 5


chronology, on account of their subjects.

The
Epp.

chronological order stands thus, so far as

5, 6, 7,

Tillemont

it

determines

itself,

II, 13, 14, 12, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19.

IV. pp.

66

69, 604, 605

and

Dom

have doubts, but Pearson saw that we had

all.

Maran

Vit. S,

Cypr. ix.

Fechtrup (pp.

agrees with Pearson, and verifies with care and clearness.

40, 41)

DIOCESAN DISQUIETUDES.

I06

IX.
Diocesan Disquietudes.

Throughout the

earlier part of Cyprian's

upon

perceptible a reliance

is

his

clergy.

These omit

deference to the

his letters \

Some compromise

independently of his aims.


entire

answer

to

correspondence

his laity, a dissatisfaction with

injunctions of the

Some

act

themselves by
Confessors^ or

adopt them as the strongest barrier against superior authority.


In one letter^ he throws himself on the Plebes with an almost

impassioned appeal.

My

have warned them.

'

ness of

'

had not certain presbyters

'

them
one by
!

'

my

people.

Do you
one.

How

and deacons should

presbyters

know

'

the quietude, the shrinking-

watchful would they have been


quest of popularity deceived

in

then yourselves take the guidance of them,

By your own

counsel and moderation refrain

the spirits of the lapsed.'

When he has at
of the Roman clergy,

length obtained the entire concurrence

Novatian included*, of their confessors^,

and of the whole episcopate African and


a stronger tone with his
circulate

them

the whole

copies.

for the present.

own

Italian ^

he assumes

clergy^ and requires them to

correspondence of which he forwards

The

This was done^

affair

seemed

settled

All the Lapsed except death-stricken persons,

however armed with Martyrs' papers, even Clergy penitently


ready to return to their charge, were reserved for the decision of the organic authority

the united Episcopate.

Lastly, in accordance with the severer tone already


1

2
^

Ep. i8. I.
Ep. 27. I.
Ep. 17. 2, 3.
Ep. 30.
Ep. 31.
Epp. 25; 26; 43. 3;

assumed

Ep. 32.
Ep. 55. 5.
^ Ep.
They were to cease to
34. 4.
draw their monthly dividends, though
without prejudice,' until they could be
7

'

55. 5; 30. 8.

heard.

DIOCESAN DISQUIETUDES.

II. IX.

10/

some bishops who


had been visiting Carthage and were in Cyprian's confidence^
notice was duly given of excommunication to be enforced
against any who, until that authority should have spoken,

by

certain clergy acting in concert with

communion

should give

to

any of the lapsed except

in

the

cases already provided for^

By

the

November

The Goths had

Rome

Decius was leaving

however

for his

for

He

was

It

therefore

important func-

districts.

These

were three bishops, Caldonius, Herculanus and Victor, with two


presbyters,

Numidicus whom,

among

already mentioned

after his

from a horrible martyrdom, Cyprian placed

resuscitation

the clergy of the capital, and lastly Rogatian, the

aged confessor, long since charged with the dispersion of

The
by its

Cyprian's fortune.
firmness, indicates
education'*.

who

letter of Caldonius,

acted with

incorrectness a scanty and provincial

This commission had enough to do, under social

conditions which seemed to allow penury no upward road,

whose
them to resume
persons capable of being employed in

in distributing alms, in helpfully subsidising confessors

capital

had been confiscated so as

their trades, in selecting

to enable

functions of the church^ in maintaining communications with


^

e.g.

as to the excommunication of

Gaius of Dida.
^

p.

jEJ>.

34.

34. 3.

where they are his


medium of communication with other
^

/>/!.

25

26,

bishops, *ad coUegas nostros' [Ep. 25).

Ep.

41.

This epistle

'...vos
is

pro

me

written to

away from Carthage,

vicarios.'

them when

either

visiting

the neighbouring bishops or at

gathering of them

'has litteras

fratribus nostris legite et

some
meas

Carthaginem

ad clerum

transmittite....'

There

sign of their removal being

is

no

due

to

The

resources were

the

istis.

41.

still

2.

Cyprian's own,

Ep. 41.

i.

-^xxorem delictum,

...abluisse

and

Punic Latin extorrentes twice for


with great clumsiness of

extorres, &c.

expression.

Ep.

face, p. xlviii.

24.

See Hartel's Pre-

He should

in consistency

have kept those readings of


^

p.

the influence of Felicissimus.

sumptibus
*

Nov.,
^'^' ^^'

which he supplied the

Carthage and the neighbouring

in

Don.

the

campaign.

last

five representatives' for certain

which he sketched out and

means,

crossed

unsafe for Cyprian to return.

still

commissioned
tions,

250 the persecution was

of the year

relaxing at Carthage.

Ep. 41.

i.

and Tj.

?Jan.,
^^''
'

DECLARATION OF PARTIES.

I08

the provincial bishops,

persuade

and above

was

Superstition

in

some

all

in

endeavouring to

masses of the Lapsed^

to patience the restless

quarters beginning to add terror

Stricken consciences had in

to the anxiety for restoration.

many instances induced physical and mental prostration even


deathl One person had become dumb in the moment of
Another had died in the public
so remained.
gnawing the tongue which had tasted the idol sacrifice.
On the other hand still more terrible signs indicated the
profanity of presumptuous return. An infant girl had rejected

denial and
baths,

the chalice with wailing and convulsions.

Cyprian's

own

This occurred

presence, while celebrating during

in

his retire-

was found that the nurse had taken the child


before the magistrates and made it taste the idolatrous wine.
ment.

It

A woman who clandestinely presented


died in the act of communicating.

herself at the liturgy,

One who had

served the sacred Bread at home, was, on opening


after her lapse, scared
it

changed

by an outburst of flame.

as usual re-

its

receptacle

A man

found

to ashes in his very hands.

X.
Declaration of Parties.

The

Novatus and Felicissimns.

latter class of stories

indicates,

what was the

fact,

that the opinion destined to create and to perpetuate real

was already active. Evidently the question which to


some was presenting itself was not when, or upon what terms,
the Lapsed should be readmitted, but whether it was possible
for the church to remit such guilt. Although Cyprian employs
division

these incidents in favour of delay, they are plainly no ema-

nation

from the party of moderation.

apprehended
^

at this
Ep.

26.

moment

little peril

De Lapsis,

Yet he probably
from the sentiment
24, 25, 26.

11. X.

DECLARATION OF PARTIES.

of Puritanism.

It

was the party of Laxity which

appeared to be absorbing into


It

IO9

itself

threatened him indeed from

the crowds of Libellatics

eager

many

There were

sides.

There were

return.

for

wounded because

meritorious confessors,

at present

every dangerous element.

was

their fortitude

not allowed to cover a brother's weakness.

But the conscientiously troublesome

both ranks were

in

who foamed

outvoiced by the worldly and unscrupulous

at

For them the Universal Indulgence franked with


the name of the Confessor Paul was title enough to cancel
mere episcopal, restrictions^ Some refugees who had never

restraint.

'

left

the port, and others

who had

'

quickly broken their sentence

and come back, skulked awhile as outlaws


places*;

and emerged, as the

Some

voice in church-affairs.

turned

b}'

vanity,

courted

into scandalous immoralityl

spent one day in

low hiding-

in

abated, to claim a

severities

of the confessors, their heads

by female devotees, had sunk


Of the lapsed many had not

penance, but had

braved their shame

amid the habits of fashionable and dissipated

while

life*;

we have seen) influential persons in the provinces had


extorted communion by actual tumult from unwilling clergy.

(as

Many

of the clergy however were not unwilling^ and they

although perhaps not at

found ready

chiefs,

ones^

Five Presbyters

in the

to Cyprian's election

first

avowed

who had been all along hostile


and authority. Under their headship

the party grew numerous and bold enough to designate

a manifesto

in

Church.'

To

addressed to the
this

bishop himself, as

itself,
'

The

he answered characteristically that since

the day of the Charge to Peter the Church had been found
Ep. 35, compare Ep. 22. 2.
Such must be, I think, the meaning

who

fled

and those who were legally

banished,

temulentus et lasciviens

De

Unitate 10.

demoratur, alius in earn patriam unde

De

Laps. 30.

extorris factus est regreditur, ut depre-

hensus non jam quasi Christianus sed

Ep. 17.
Ep. 43.

of

'

...aliquis

quasi nocens pereat.'


torris is

Ep.

13. 4.

Ex-

certainly used both of those

cissimi

2, 3.
i,

factio

'Nunc apparuit

unde

above, pp. 25, 43.

venisset....'

Feli-

See

'

no

DECLARATION OF PARTIES.
with the Bishop

in unity

that their 'roll of the

GOD was

since

and

still

more

characteristically

Lapsed could scarcely be "The Church,"

not the

GOD

of the dead but of the living.'

More welcome letters^ reached him at the same moment.


There were many of the Lapsed who had ever since given
themselves devotedly to good works in silence. These now
assured him that they would never plead their Libels

that

they were living in thankful penance; biding their time for

They added with

restoration to Peace on his return.

marked
Peace would be more sweet

gentle fervour which


'

How

to

them

presence.'

'

my

'

these deserve from His goodness.'

witness

Then

He

restored in his

if

hail them,' says Cyprian,

'

'

own

the Lord

is

has vouchsafed to show what servants like

methodic way which gave point to

in that

that

true African Christianity that

enthusiasm he requests from each side a

list

all his

of their signatures,

sends to the clergy of Carthage explicit instructions, and to


the clergy of

Rome, by a subdeacon

Fortunatus'^, copies of all

the papers ^

Foremost of the presbyters stood the famous and


^

Both

letters are

described in Ep. 33.

Ep.

Epp.

36.

34,

33,

35.

The Roman

some

must be

there

arment...Q\. in

'

qui

illis

3,

illos

perversum instruentes

exitiosa deposcant

dared

'

quorundatfi

'

tam petulanter

vindicare.'

It

properatas com-

would all have


sibi jam pacem

should be unnecessary to

remark that arment with instruentes


means provide and furnish, and has no
relation to pacem which is simply communio7i, and contains no indication of
'weitere

aufstandische

Quorundam

whom

refers

to

Bewegungen.'
the

persons of

Cyprian had told them, not to his

clergy at large.

To

conceive
illis is

Again ^deposcant

'

illis

'

it

claim yi?r themselves liberty to give

them communion prematurely,' equally


so.

So, however, O. Ritschl's laboured

pages, 52, 53.

municationisvenena,' and that not 'sine


instinctu

for them.'

dropped out before

monstrous in Latinity, and to translate

I.

clergy acknowledging these Ep. 36.

say

means 'demand
that sibi has

1,2.

restless^

Rerum novarum semper


Ep. 52. 2. That the leader
Novatus was one of the Five appears
from the whole tenor of the history of
the faction more than from particular
passages. Compare however ^/. 14. 4;
Ep. 59. 9, and what is said of the Five
presbyters acting with Felicissimus, Ep.
43. 3, and of Novatus acting with him,
Ep.ii.i. That the Five are the original
opponents of Cyprian is shewn by the
expression olim secundum vestra suffragia in Ep. 43. 5, and these passages
^

See

p. 47.

cupidus,'

'

'

'

DECLARATION OF PARTIES.

II. X.

To

Novatus.

Ill

these opponents Cyprian allows on the whole

both age and weight of character, yet Novatus had been

in

poor repute^ and had escaped an investigation^ into his

conduct only through the breaking out of the persecution.

He had
own

been charged with inhuman cruelty towards his

wife and father^

Novatus*

guilt,

It

is

true

the assumption of

that

and the attributing

his

withdrawal

to

stricken conscience, as well as general accusations of depravity

may

and unworthy motive,


representations.
assessors
tion

or

may

not be due to factious

But that an enquiry before Cyprian and

was impending over Novatus just before the persecu-

broke out

surely undeniable.

is

It

is

a question of

upon which, if Cyprian's direct statement be not


worthy, what evidence is credible*.-'

fact

viewed together leave no doubt as to


dis-

mediate restoration of some Lapsed


for Cyprian answers as he always
answers that request. But that it al-

Ep.

ready covered a

the application of the words 'idem est

Novatus qui apud nos


cordiae

52. 2.

primum

incendium seminavit, &c.'

Among

trust-

the rest Pearson {Ait.

'feine List'

for uniting the strict confessors

(p.

80)

with the

Cyp. CCLI. ii.) counts Jovinus and


Maximus; but these had lapsed {Ep.
59. 10), which we have no ground for
imputing to any of the Five. Pamele

sension in the

(6)

includes Repostus and Felix

not seem to

party,

but of

these one was a lapsed bishop and the

some schismatic
body. Dom Maran (xvii.) and Rettberg
112) fix upon Donatus, Fortu(pp. 97
natus and Gordius, and rightly {Ep.
second a bishop of

14. 4) I think.

As

to Fortunatus (after-

wards the pseudo-bishop of the party)


there is no doubt {Ep. 59. 9).
But that
the fifth was either Gaius of Dida {Ep.
34. i) or Augendus {Ep. 42) is a mere
guess, and the latter was a deacon {Ep.
Fell, without any colour, fan44. i).
cies that

only three presbyters, those

named

Ep. 43.

in

i,

remained

faithful.

Fechtrup conjectures with reason that


the petition of Donatus,

Novatus and Gordius was

Fortunatus,
for

an im-

lax party against Cyprian, through his

expected refusal,

The

is

little

too subtle.

phrases as to the authors of dis-

De Zelo et Livore
me to apply to this

and they were written six years


See on that treatise below.
^

tus.
^

do

later.

Semper istic episcopis male cogniEp. 52. 2.


Imminebat cognitionis dies. Ep.

52. 3.

cogttitio,

the technical term of

the law.
^

Ep.

52. 2.

On

Neander's opinion, Hist, of the


Christ. Religion atid Church, vol. i.
*

p. 312 (Bohn), see p. 130, note 2, infra.

If Cyprian

had not spoken out as to the


Novatus it

unsatisfactory character of

could never have eluded such ingenuity

Mosheim, Neander, and Rettberg


have devoted to clearing him.
as

DECLARATION OF PARTIES.

112

This man, as a Presbyter, had some charge

an important

in

The

region or ward in the city, called Mons, or the Hill.

some two hundred feet above the


of the town, with the main streets leading up it, and the

Bozra or Byrsa itself rising


rest

principal

on

buildings

and

distinctions, local

may

plateau,

its

social, like

the

still

well have

caused

remembered Above
as Lincoln; and at
'

Hiir and 'Below Hill' of such cities


no other district can well have occupied that distinctive
name\ In managing its church affairs he associated with
himself as Deacon an energetic and determined person named
least

and

Rome

the Donatists were

1 This I venture to think must be the


simple meaning of '/ Monte,^ Ep. 41.
In each place Hartel reads in
I and 2.

trine),

But in the
morte and so Ritschl, &c.
latter clause there is no doubt as to the

E. Dupin (Paris, 1702, p. 35).

Z monion ;
w, mortem Z

at

Chron. 356; adv. Lucif. ad

Ep-

in the former 7norte T,

Hctresibus 69.

are natural corrections of what seemed

but not so monte for morte,

obscure;

the sense of which would be obvious


whilst ittimo ut

i&mm,

immo

r,

vitse,

fi,

(165)

held at

p. 113,

note

Numidia

Reference to

4.

absurd.

Mos-

Monte
heim and others thought that this in
Monte' travelled with Novatus to
Rome, and gave the Novatianists the
in

is

'

name Montenses
tianisches

Hefele {Nova-

there.

Schisma

in

Kirchenlexikon, and

Wetzer

H.

u.

Welte's

d. Conciles, ed.

408).

There

no

is

trace

Rome,

at

their

Rome A.D. 386

the two sects are

thus conjoined and distinguished

per

manus impositionem

ex eo quod rebaptizant
papas, Labbe,

Perhaps
this

t. 11. c.

'

suscipiantur

[Ep. 4

Siricii

1225).

may attempt

here to

emend

canon, since the italicised words

mean

(as has

been seen) the opposite of


are thus paraphrased

They

were so called (and also Montanista,


which is an invention) from confusion
with the Montanists. But all this arises

by Innocent I. in his letter


of Rouen (Innoc. i, Ep.

from a misinterpretation of Epiphanius.


His words are (after he has already

nobis ad

enumerated the Montanists in his list)


{Ancoratus 13) 'Kadapol, 01 koI Naua-

canon ^excepto qiws rebaptizant.'

ol

Kol

MovTTicrioi,

These

'

ws

Puritans

if
'

'FwfX.71

might be

of course either Novatianist or Donatist


(differenced by origin only, not doc-

Ut

'

venientes a Novatianis vel Montensibus

the

KaXovfTai.

first

In the 8th canon of the council

Delarc, L. Vlil. 105) says that they

Toloi,

De

3,

Cod. Theod. L. 16, Tit.

in a grotto of

had monte before them.

that they

Aug.

Eccl.

and they from a Mons


which they had

called,

church.

See also

Unit.

Jerome,

fin.;

sect but the Donatists being so

any

indicate both the puzzle of the scribes

and

De

53,

5, xliii. (a.d.

of

\\.

and the passages there quoted by

c. iv.,

reading, /"having tnotite and


(p,

See Optatus, B.

called Montenses.

fact.

to Victricius
2. 8,

Labbe

V. III. c. 9), ^prccter eos, si

qui forte a

transeuntes

rebaptizati

sunt.''

illos

propose to read in the

the construction

cf.

'

Ducange.

For

'...excepto divina

natura ut humanitas integra


Isidor.,

Roman

fiat,'

S.

Excepto comitibus, &c.' ap.

DECLARATION OF PARTIES.

II. X.

II

Cyprian was naturally not consulted as to

Felicissimus\

this

appointment, which gave to the party the control of considerable funds

by them

were systematically disregarded

his missives

Lapsed

the

and invited to com-

freely admitted

munion"; the agreement of the bishops

Rome and

between

arrangement

in the

Carthage unheeded, and when Cyprian

sent out his commission of relief and enquiry^, Felicissimus

treated

announced publicly that whoever had accepted


answered

its

queries, should be* excluded

communions and all other

the

declaration appeared in his

his satellites,'

its

benefits of the Hill

own name, and

even 'his presbyterate.'

'

benefits, or

from participation

'

Communion,

'

was

his partners,'

His Five Presbyters

were as ruinous to the Church,' says Cyprian, with their


of

in

This

district.

his leadership

so energetic that the Five are designated as


'

He

as a deliberate invasion of his diaconal office.

it

offers

Magnates on the Committees of

as the Five

Persecution*.'

own vigour

In vigorous reply to his

Felicissimus with

another deacon Augendus was for the time being^ excom-

by Caldonius

municated

and

Commission.

the

Cyprian

speaks of the moral charges against Felicissimus as

advanced upon evidence so grave as alone


grounds
enquiry

for

'

suspension

postponed

is

'

of

to

now

constitute

communion with him.

This

proper court can be assembled.

until a

Cyprian's instructions to this effect are contained in the same

despatch which directed their benevolent labours, and he


desires that in forwarding
in

Carthage Caldonius
Ep.

52.

2; cLEp.-)<).

I,

16.

it

will

for the information of the clergy

append

Com-

pare 'Gaio Didensi presbytero et dia-

cono

ejus,'

Ep.

'

Ep.

43. 1.

See

p. 107.

34. i.

Ep. 41.2' ...non communicaturos


in Monte secutn,' to which the rejoinder
runs sciat se in ecclesia nobiscum com*

to

it

the

municaturam non

names of the
esse,

qui se sponte

maluit ab ecclesia separare,' Ep. 41.

2.

Note how

in

mo ate ;

it

in

ecclesia

answers

to

could not answer to in morte.

'

Ep-

43- 3- 5.

See

p. 76,

Ep. 41.

7-

note

I.

Ep.

43. 3, 7.

2 'interim.'

'

B.

October,

DECLARATION OF PARTIES.

114

This

fautors of the conspiracy.


to us followed

by Caldonius'

letter

accordingly comes

down

gives a glimpse of the

It

list.

lower social classes which entered with living interest into

classes

and its debates,


Church's work is not half done.

Christianity

named

without which

the

With the two Deacons

The Five Presbyters

been tortured, and two refugees.

are

woman who had

a small manufacturer, a seamstress, a

are not

mentioned^

The prominence
surprise.

Rome

Deacon

at this period need cause

no

Although the time had not yet come when

at

of a

those officers so far surpassed the presbyters in emolu-

ment and

upon promotion

dignity, that they looked

when

injury, or

Carthage they were described

at

third Priesthood'V

as an

as in

'

the

and needed new canons to remind them

of their subordination to the presbyterate as well as to the


episcopate, and even of their duty of rendering assistance in the
Eucharist^, yet already their control of funds, their knowledge

In Ep. 41.

Ep. 42.

Cyprian

formity with

instructions.

his

debiiisti is epistolary

ad clerum transmittite

a former communication

eorum quicunque
rint.'

additis nonilnibus

se Felicissimo junxe-

Accordingly Ep. 42
'Caldonius

as follows.

et Victore Collegis

Numidico

item

Presbyteris.

is

simply

cum Herculano
Rogatiano cum
Abstinuimus a

et Augendum, item Repostum de extorribus


et Irenem Rutilorum et Paulam sarcinatricem quod ex adnotatione mea scire
debuisti. item abstinuimus Sophronium

communicatione Felicissimum

et

ipsum de extorribus Soliassum budiIn this strange

narium.'

should seem

superfluous

adnotatio cannot

mean

little

to

note

it

say that

the kind of

list

by which a magistrate published the

names of

absentees

for

(see

trial

This

is

itself

offenders and

appended

summoned

to appear

Dirksen, Manuale,
a sentence on
is itself

s.v.).

notorious

the adnotatio, as

to Cyprian's despatch in con-

'

53

compare Ep.

...hoc factum Yds litieris n.osXris cer-

Translate

lissime scire deSuisti.'

bound
by

!Sci)e

and does not imply

writes 'has litteras meas...Carthaginem

to inform

This Ep. 42

myself.'

'

am

you by a note appended


not ad-

is

dressed to Cyprian himself therefore, as


usually understood, but

document

of the

bears no address

Cypriano S.

On

18,

173, Baron.

on the
note
-

2,

naturally

not original,

cf.

Baluze ad Cypr. Epp.

Ad Ann.

Roman

Guyet,

25,

and

1.

2, p.

his Notes

Martyrology, Jan.

see

p. 109 above,

Optat.

i.

13 (vid. Casaub. in loc).


c.

18.

IV. Concil. Carth. A.D. 398,

41.

named

this section, p. 117.

quoting

Hieron. in Ezech.
^

It

the vulgate heading

end of

extorres

and

14

a transcript

the obscure occupations

see note at

On

is

is

issued.

cc.

37

DECLARATION OF PARTIES.

II. X.

II

of business, their intimacy with the secular cares of the


the very

that

fact

laity,

which had many presbyters

district

had but one deacon, gave them the command of many


threads of influence.

Hence from Spain

the church of Merida

who

Deacon of

the

is

it

name

writes in the

of the church

to the bishops of Africa in protest against the return of

and receives

lapsed bishops
calls
'

the office

Rome

at

Cornelius' words)

in

Holy Administration,' and

the Diaconate of the

Cyprian

their conciliar reply.

(apparently

its

refers to

it

The
the charge of guiding and piloting the Church'^'
Deacon indeed not only had charge of the corporate funds
but also acted as the official trustee of Christian widows and
as

'

Hence

orphans^

opportunity of enriching with both

his

adherents and property any section which he pronounced to

And

be the true church.

is

it

from such transferences pro-

bably that the accusations of fraud and rapine


'

are

so

which

arise

Deacons, when

showered upon unorthodox

freely

'

darker stains on character rest evidently on hearsay*.

There

no ground for assuming that Novatus exaggerated

is

his irregularities

There

simus^
such a

is

by actually conferring orders upon Felicisno previous or contemporary instance of

symptom of any presbyterian or


members of unepiscopal churches

nor the slightest

fact,

anti-episcopalian theory (as

have freely averred")

and

et plebi

Ep.

Emeritse consistentibus.'

52.

iii.

Ecclesiasticoe

pupilloriim

ac

See

I.

below, ch. VII.


^

of Cyprian, they

Ep.6'] 'Cyprianus...itemyElioDia-

cono

further

311

Ep.

50.

...

viduarum

Ep.
See

52.

i.

p. 68,

presently elected

7inies of S.

Ep.

'

G. A. Poole's suggestion {Life and

41.

I.

new

Cypr. p. 134) that some

was called

in lacks all

foundation,

E.

de

Pressense,

H.

Trots

des

Premiers Stacks de VAglise Chret. 2me


Ser.
vol.

i.

i.

bigne,

n. 4.

communion, they

Carthage and opposed

heretical bishop

i.

pecuniae

deposita,

Ecclesise deposita,

p.

conduct of Novatus

in episcopal

in the episcopal election at

the nomination
^

They were

his following.

took part

in the principles or

pp. 484 sqq.

Neander,

op. cit.

D'Auhowever

p. 313, besides Rettberg,

Fechtrup

Keyser.

rightly says 'nicht eine Spur, nicht ein

Wort,' p. 81, n.

i.

82

DECLARATION OF PARTIES.

Il6

When

bishop for themselves and procured his consecration.

Rome, he threw himself

Novatus

visited

election

then proceeding, opposed the candidate

into the Episcopal

who was

chosen, and then procured an episcopal consecration for his

own nominee^

If in

the presbyteral

parentage of episcopacy was forgotten or

any century of the Church's history

undiscovered, and any revival of latent presbyteral claim to

assume an episcopal function impossible,


But, again,

is

it

was

in the third ^.

evident from the nature of the frauds

was already a Deacon when

attributed to Felicissimus that he

he joined Novatus, and

Novatus became

it

it

liable to

was by complicity with him that


the same accusation^ of wronging

the fatherless and widows^

Thus

we have before

at last

formation

of an

Opposition

us a complete picture of the


the

in

third

The

century.

original clerical element of dissatisfaction with the popular

choice of the bishop had allied

itself

with discontent at the

bishop's delegating even administrative functions to others,

and with a wide-spread conviction that meritorious suffering


in the

Church's cause established some claim to a voice in her

Lenity to the Lapsed, open admission to

discipline.

munion was the

rallying cry,

and the rank and

Comof the

file

party consisted of the multitudinous claimants for restoration


with their families.
^

..illic

episcopum

fecit,

Ep-

52. 2.

See Bp. Lightfoot's Dissertation on

^
is

Epp.

41.

I ;

Felicissimum satellitem

mum

52. 2.

In Epp. 52. 2 this action of Novatus


paralleled

'

diaconem

the Christian Ministry.


^

the reading of Hartel, but the Mss. F,

with his creation of a

constituit,'

constituit' are right,

M, Felicissisuum suum diaconum

satellitem

the intervention of legitimate bishops.

suum

constituit.'

his

making Felicissimus

deacon, *nec permittente

sciente,'/.^. inconsulto

me

Cypriano.

nee

Com-

pare Ep. 34. i ' Gaio Didensi presbyFelicissimum


tero et diacono ejus.^
'

satellitem

suum diaconum... constituit' is

and supported by

the further repetition in

mum

in

Fechtrup, pp.
p.

no,

could

says

not

'Felicissi-

suum suum diaconum

satellitem

Bishop, which was certainly not without

His offence lay

suum siium

and Q,

'

no, in, and


rightly

that

n. 4,

Novatus

have ventured upon, nor

Cyprian have failed explicitly to censure,


so discrediting a novelty as Orders given

by a presbyter.

DECLARATION OF PARTIES.

II. X.

From

the counter extreme

we have

II7

faintly

caught

dark

in

legendary form sterner voices demanding even in easy-going

Carthage their perpetual exclusion.


see

In the haughtier Capital

We

tendency alone had a chance of development.

this

how

singularly this

Novatus linked

Our next

movement

Carthaginian

opposite

the

to

interest will be to trace the gentle yet

policy of Cyprian

in

shall

was in the very person of

movement.

commanding

subduing the violence of both the

separations.

Budinarius and Sarcinatrix. {Ep.

For the reason given

[Additional Note on

42.)

in the text the

p. 114.]

obscure occupations of two of

those partisans of Felicissimus are worth considering.

name which

have not found in inscriptions) is


we have no clue. Fell conjectures burdonarius mule-keeper,' but Baluze finds no trace of this word.
However Sophocles Greek Lexicon of Roman and Byzantine Periods has
BovpScDi'aptoy Schol. Arist. Th. 49 1.
Written also j3ovp8ovvaf}ios Cyrill.
Scyth. V. S. 230 A, Leont. Cypr. ij^j c.
Also ^opdavapios loann. Mosch.
2988 B.' These forms, considering the Latin termination of the word,
Soliassus (itself a

1.

called Budinarius {budianarius T.), to which


'

'

seem to make its existence probable.


Saumaise {Script. Hist. Aug. p. 408)

(ll.

jectures butinarium from

Du Cange

butina which

without examples, as a diminutive of butta,


'

bottle,'

S.V.),

'

1671) con-

though

indicates,

a small wine-butt or
relatives ^ovrriov, ^ovttis k.t.X. (v. Soph. Lex.

which has many

buttis, butica, biiticula

means

578, Lugd.

p.

(v.

Du

'

And he

Cange).

a maker of small vessels or measures

chius has ^vrivr) as a Tarentine

word

'

{e.g.

'

for Xdyvvos

fj

suggests that

it

Hesy-

acetabula).

ap.is.

Paula was a Sarcinatrix. The employment is often mentioned in


inscriptions and was one of the offices of the Domus Augusta. See Orelli,
Inscrr. 645, (5372), 7275
a fine monument ap. Gruter, p. MCXVII. 9
Fausta Saturnia Sarcinatrix Proculeio Vernae suo puero ingeniosissimo...' and five inscriptions on p. DLXXX, where two have Greek names
2.

'

and three are

mundo

one is of Julia lucunda Aug. 1. sarcinatr(ix) a


Abp. Lavigerie communicated to de Rossi one
Mauretania Rogata Sarcinatr. Saturno, v. 1. a. s.' {Corp.

libertae

'

mulie(bri),' &c.

from C^sarea

in

Inscrr. L. vill.

What

the

Forcellini are

ii.

'

no. 10938).

office

was seems

compared.

scarcely doubtful

Fronto, de Differ.,

quse sarcit, sarcinatrix quae sarcinas servat'

p.

if

the quotations in

2192 (Putsch)

Nonius,

'

Sartrix

276 Sarcinatrices non ut quidam volunt sarcitrices quasi a sarciendo, sed magis a
;

c.

i.

'

GROWTH OF THE OPPOSITION AT ROME.

Il8

quod plurinmm vestium

sarcinis

But as Paulus, Dig.

sitmant.^

1.

47,

83 (82), says Fullo et sarcinator, qui polienda aut sarcienda vestimenta accipit,' the grammarians' account (though they are anxious as
'

tit. 2,

word)

to the formation of the

that of a 'seamstress,' or

'

is

employment being

consistent with the

mender,' the

sarcinee

'

being packs of clothes.

'

So from an old Latin-Greek Glossary in the Library of S. Germain des


Pr^s, Du Cange s.v., cf. vol. vil. p. 442 a 1. 9, quotes sarcinatrix i^ntfTpia,
aKecTTpla {stc lege),

So

KaWwrnarpla.

r]

Plaut. Aulul.

in

'fullones,' as also in

Non.

What

It is

employment of a

(Gaius) with the

III.

5,

41

the

coupled in Dig.

'textrix' as
'

sarcinatores

Gaius Com?nent.

I,

5, tit.

named with

are

'

143, 162, 205.

iii.

1.

1.

27

an 'artificium vulgare.'
the

In Lucil. ap.

818 the 'sarcinator' makes a patchwork quilt 'suere centonem.'

ii.

the 'machinae' are in Varro, ap. Non.

vindemia incondita cantare, sarcinatrices

Anyhow

in

i.

276,

'

Homines

machinis

the exhibition of the social class

most

is

is

'

rusticos in

not so clear.

interesting.

XI.

Gi'oivth

The Confessors and

of the Opposition at Rome.


Novatian.

We

have already had occasion to mention a noble group

of Confessors

who had been committed

to the

at the time of the execution of

Fabian \

and the

tortures

of each

sight

other's

Roman

prisons

Their sufferings

were

harrowing.

Cyprian sent them constant encouragement, and pecuniary


help from his

own

resources^

Among them were two of


whom we have

the seven Deacons of the city, Rufinus, of

no further personal

detail,

and Nicostratus, who soon passed,

Of

never to return, into the ranks of schism.

the laymen con-

Urbanus twice underwent the torture the


three Punic friends Sidonius, Macarius and the indomitable
The Presbyter MaxiCelerinus^ are familiar names already.
fined with them,

mus^ was

in after

the bishops in
^

Ep.
Ep.

i2>.

31.

f,

5, 6.

years thought worthy to be laid

the subterranean chapel


^

Euseb.

pp. 69, 162.

vi.

among

of Cornelius
43, et sup. p. 69.

we

II.

THE CONFESSORS AND NOVATIAN.

XL

him inspiring

find

shall

his

fellow sufferers

II9

an act of

to

But the

courage morally higher than their confessorship.


ruling spirit
byter,

who

among them during

church of Rome, Moyses.


to

the year 250 was a Pres-

doubtless belonged to the Jewish section of the

the letter in

which

His signature had been attached

Novatian and the clergy signified

and we may not

their adhesion to the proposals of Cyprian,

unreasonably conjecture him to be the author of the manly


thirty-first epistle^

prised in

its

even while

Had some

philosophic magistrate sur-

passage such a document, rating his

in process, as substantial

severities,

happiness to the sufferer,

and from a dungeon claiming the

to

right

legislate

for

evidently numerous classes of mankind, he must have ques-

tioned with himself not only as to where the chief Good, but

where the

reality of

Moyses and

power

resided.

his fellow-sufferers

from the

countenance to the theory that the merits

first

should cross the path of discipline

confessors

gave no

of martyrs
;

or

and they

earned the gratitude of Cyprian by their remonstrance with

whom

those

they were connected with at Carthage, against

the line there pursued".


past

when Cyprian

writing

comfort, in answer to theirs,

hand of

year of confinement was nearly


them a letter of confidence and
by the now liberated and welcome

Celerinus, traced out the progress of the four seasons

of their spiritual experience, with no small remnants of his


older rhetoric^.

It

of eloquence were

must not be forgotten that such flowers


in their freshness then, and that the

new theme. Some unknown members of the group had already died^ when Moyses
after eleven months and eleven days of bondage (such is the

brightness of a prison-house was a

accurate

record of the Liberian Chronicle, and one which

That one wrote for the rest appears


'non dicam,' Ep. 31.

the phrase

in

"

JSp. 37.

Ep.

37.

venerunt.'

2.
''

p.

-28.

2.

'per tales
3

talia.'

'ad osculum

Domini

Dec. (?)3i,
^'^' '^'

GROWTH OF THE OPPOSITION AT ROME.

I20

even here marks the importance attached to his position)


followed them^ to a confessor's grave.

With an

Moyses had marked

insight lacking to the rest

an exclusive rigorism, not un-

Novatian's progress toward


discoverable even in his

first

and hardening

epistle,

So unchristian-

Cyprian softened, after that meeting-point^.

had seemed

like

to

him the insane

arrogance''

'

just as

of Novatian's

'

tone that at last he had refused to act with him, or possibly


to

communicate with him and


time

this

presbyters),

five

in

his uncharitable disciples (at

the

Post passionem ejus (Fabii) Moyses

Maximus

et

Nicostratus

presbyteri et

diaconus comprehensi sunt et in car-

cerem sunt

Eo tempore

missi.

super-

aiiTi^

which, like other

visits

Moyses may

clergy, they paid to the prisoners^

must

Novatus, and not

refer to

Novatian, because 'The


viust be

five presbyters'

The Five Carthaginian PresIt is to

byters.

well have

be observed that through

venit Novatus ex Africa et separavit de

the whole Epistle Novatian

Novatianum et quosdam confessores, postquam Moyses in carcere


defunctus est, qui fuit ibi m. xi. d. xi.

possibly

ecclesia

(Liderian
cii. p.

Catalogue,

267).

ap.

Lipsius,

op.

Considering that Fabian

was martyred on 20 Jan. this looks as


if it meant that Moyses died on the last
day of the year; the precision of the
record

is

due to the necessity

memory

saving the

felt

for

of Moyses from the

imputation of Novatianism.
^

pp. 108 sqq.

'

Karihwv axiTOv

vi. 43.

* cLKoivdivrirov eTrolrtaev

called,

is

Eusebius'

editing,

Having however not only

'Novatus.'

a numerical but a presbyterian bias,


Lipsius

makes Moyses excommunicate


'

Novatus and

should have a

Roman

communicating

Five

never stirred from

whom

presbyter ex-

Presbyters

who

Carthage, and of

difficult to

it is

we

In that case

his five.

conceive that he

had heard.

Ritschl,

also that this

would make Six Opposi-

p.

68,

tion Presbyters there, whereas


ttjv dpacnjTrjra Kai ttjv

Eus. //. E.

dirdvoiav.

through

hear of Five.

observes

we

But then further,

only

if this

so, Moyses is not said to have renounced Novatian himself at all (but
only Novatus and his Carthaginians),
is

Cornelius,

Ep.

H. E., I.e., where see Valois.


Although the word is classical in the

whereas his disowning of Novatian

sense of 'having no dealings with,' yet

the very point which Cornelius wished

ap. Eus.

the

bond and usages of communion can

hardly

fail

to

have affected already a

to impress

is

on Fabius.

The number Five reappears

singu-

term which soon was becoming the fixed

larly

word

for

since

the sentence

recusants are Five Presbyters, Ep. 43.


The heretic Privatus of Lambsese
1, 3.

irivT

TTpeff^vripois tois

'excommunicated,' especially
proceeds
a/JLO.

fftiv

toIs

airt^ diro-

oxlffUffiv eavToiis rijs eKKXricrias.

In this same clause Lipsius {op.


p. 202)

untowardly conceived that

cit.

the

History.

Cyprian's

had Five presbyter adherents, Ep.


10.

this

in

59.

Five presbyters attended Cornelius

at the reconciliation of

49.

first

2.

Maximus, Ep.

Five bishops consecrated the

NOVATIAN.

II. XI.

121

been one of the presbyters whose advice Fabian had over-

when he ordained

ruled

who had been

the Stoic philosopher, the epileptic,

exorcised as a daemoniac, and baptized in the

who

apparently fatal malady which ensued, yet

his

after

by obtaining
These were harsh traits in Nova-

recovery had not cared to complete the right


the imposition of hands.
history,

tian's

cruelly bitter^,

against

and although the language of Cornelius is


they were traits likely to be remembered

him by the

gentlest,

when the man slowly moved

prominence as the withholder of forgiveness and rejecter

into

Harsher yet was the story that the Deacons

of the penitent.

could not persuade him to emerge, in order to


confessors, from

some small

during the persecution,

'

now

to another philosophy.'

him we may

half of the speech thus imputed to

first

retired

because he had resolved to be no

longer presbyter and belonged

The

visit suffering

which he had

to

cell-

unhesitatingly reject as a mistaken

comment on

the

rest.

His meaning doubtless was that he embraced the contemconstantly spoken of as proud

pseudo-bishop Fortunatus, Ep. 59. ii.

but he

Any

of being a philosopher, and

of these Fives might as reasonably

be identified with the Five Novatianist


Presbyters,

as

Five

the

We

Presbyters

is

had been any but the

that

'alia est

Cyprian sarcastically identified his

own

ratio,

Five with the

He

'

'

wolf-hke

&c.

philosophorum

The

'

friendli-

which he loads

of Satan, and treats the natural rule,

graves mores

a person baptized under fear of

death should not be admitted to Orders,


as

if it

admitted of no equally natural

He was

is

his idea of manliness

asperi et hispidi

exceptions.

6,

Stoicorum

sternness of his tone

ness,' ascribes his conversion to the act

that

et

well seen in the strange epithets with

Five Magnates.'

talks of his

school

Cyprian

could scarcely have written Ep. 55.

remember too

of Carthage.

if his

Stoic,

a narrow-minded

man. Cyprian, with his larger heart,


and humour rallies the prejudice (which
at Neocjesarea A.D.
314 became a
Canon) against Clinical Baptism by
hinting that other baptism might just as
well be called Peripatetic, Ep. 69. 16.
It is true that we have no distinct information that Novatian was a Stoic,

Cib. Jtid. c. 3.

et

hirti

et

hominum

No

firmi

probantur,

et

De

credit can be at-

tached to the statement of Philostorgius,

H. E.

Phrygian.

viii.

that

he was a

who wrote {H. E.

a strong regard for the

28) with

iv.

15,

Socrates,

Novatianist discipline and had investi-

gated the history of the sect in Phrygia,


attributes

its

spread there to the austere

character of the people and not at

any personal

H. E.
-

ii.

influences.

32.

oiKla-KOi,

Euseb.

loc. cit.

Cf.

all to

Sozom.

GROWTH OF THE OPPOSITION AT ROME.

122
plative

life in

preference to the active, and for this his health

and habits furnished an excuse which would not have been


disallowed from others.

To

forsake the presbyterate would

have been a step

to

his

alien

same time there

while at the

is

rigidly ecclesiastical spirit,

no reason to question either

the fact or the sincerity of his abjuration of episcopal ambi-

The unsparing author

tion \
'

'

'

of the contemporary pamphlet

To Novatian bears witness to his faithfulness as a presbyter,


how he had wept for the faults of others as his own, how he
'

had borne

and dwells on

their burdens,'

heavenly addresses

We may judge
At

vulgar order.

the strength of his

to the faint-hearted^.

'

for ourselves that his

a time

no Latin writer of

'

when

ability, his

eloquence was of no

Roman

the

style

is

church possessed

pure, clear, incisive,

not disdainful of verbal repetitions for distinctness' sake, or


in his

syllogisms afraid of prolonged pronominal

When

he passes from explanations to reflections he has a

clauses".

peculiar tone of melancholy sarcasm and latent censure which

seems to dwell even

He
^

We

in the

had been engaged

sound of
in

need not believe with Cornelius

(Euseb.

di.) that his oaths

loc.

subject were

(po^epoi

(.../cai

on

5i'

this

opKuv

(po^epwv Tivwv...), but Neander's ques-

tioning {op.

cii.

vol.

i.

pp. 335, 6) that

Novatian protested against the imputation

not creditable to his criticism.

is

Novatian was a student, and a pietist and


a severe man, and in delicate health.

He

his sentences.

controversy with the Jews, and


as Ep.

Compare Ep.

30.

36. 2

protulisse,'

30.

36. 3

'

'

Nam

custodit

in

eo

'

ex quo illud possidet,

dum

id ex quo possidet violat, amittit

illud

quod possidebat,' and with NovaTrin.

...Verbum autem

tian's de

ment

hoc illud est quod...'Et nihilominus

forced
^

it

Ad

development of his views

mundus

on him.

Novatianum,

ch.

appendices to Cyprian.
ship

of

this

Treatise

13,

in

the

On

the Author-

see

Appendix,

From

insinuation

this

of

tone (see especially the


36.

3)

pronominal peculiarities
tate to ascril^e to

and
I

from the

cannot hesi-

him Ep. 36

as certainly

c.

ipse post

13

'

ilium' &c.

dum

Compare

again the string of short clauses corn-

menced with Quod


sage
'qui

p. 557.

hoc

quando mewith Ep.


qui id quod habet non

and Ep.

?^iWMw...impetretur

liores

did not wish to be dragged from retireuntil the

'

ipsum quod pro se ipsis facere putaverunt animadvertimus contra se ipsos

inf.

of
si

De

si in the

habent,' &c., and

[A more

authorship

Harnack

is

above pas-

Trin. with Ep. 36.


cf.

i,

p. 147, n.

2
i

elaborate proof of the

worked out by Dr A.

in op. cit., inf. p. 150.]

NOVATIAN.

II. XI.

123

who formed so strong


Nothing indeed could be more important

perhaps with the Judaizing Christians,


a party in

Rome.

than that the vast Jewish population should be directly confronted

by

and that inquirers should learn the

Christianity,

shadow and substance. His two epistles


'Of Circumcision' and Of the Sabbath were thus aimed'.
Whether that On the Priest bore on the same controversy
or on his own conflict with Cornelius is more than I can
decide.
But his extant epistle Of the Jewish Meats was
composed probably in this very year, and possibly during the
retirement^ which by some was so violently reprehended, as
a manual repeatedly asked for by a laity who 'not only held
but vehemently taught a sincere Gospel.' It is a singular and
difference between

'

'

'

'

'

partly beautiful essay

'

'

The Jews

are strange to the under-

'

standing of their law. ..No animals, created and blessed of

'

God, are really unclean.

Some have

'or form a figurative repulsiveness,


'

in their habits, character

and

vantage of as a means of instruction

illustrations are fanciful, as

this

was taken ad-

in morals.'

Here the

might be imagined, the pride of

So it was in some olden


days when such like shadows or emblems had to be used.'
But Christ had opened out all things which antiquity had
'shrouded in mists of symbol V had 'restored them all to
the swan's neck being one of them.

'

'

own primal benedictions by closing


The true meat, holy and clean, is a

the law.'

'

spotted conscience, and an innocent soul.

Whoso

sups with Christ.

'

their
'

Such a banqueter

^ So he says himself.
See De Cibis
yud. c. I. His de Attalo may have
been a paper on the Abuse of Wealth.

The De hutantia sounds


teristic title

like a charac-

of a pendant to Tertullian's

De Patientia, or a corrective to Cyprian's


De Bono Patientia;.
-

Commonly headed

gelio perstanti.'

He

'

Plebi in Evan-

speaks of writing

it

is

an un-

right faith,

thus feeds

These

God's guest.

during an absence which he trusts


not prove injurious to them.

will
this

were during persecution

for that

it

If

accounts

change of tone as to Cj'prian's

retirement which

we saw

that Novatian

imported into the

Roman

judgment.

...sacramentorum nebulis,

yud.

c. 5.

De

Cib.

GROWTH OF THE OPPOSITION AT ROME.

124
*

be the banquets which sustain angels

which make martyrs.'


*

Christian temperance

condemns both

These vices are severely chastised, and

much

these be the tables

avarice and luxury^'

language

lastly, in

sterner than S. Paul's^ the partaking of things offered

condemned as still in use, and apparently as being


the one way now possible in which defiled meats could be
to idols

is

eaten.

Thus then Novatian had

well deserved the reputation, at

which the practical Cornelius


master

in

Cornelius was indeed cast

Roman

levels

an unthinking sneer, of

'a

doctrine and a maintainer of ecclesiastical science I'

of the Romans.

in

He was

another mould.

Apart even from the other popes

with their Greek epigraphs, he was buried under a Latin


inscription

c.

here
^

On

the noble Cornelii^

one singular revelation

Novatian's admirable work


must, from

bellian Heresy'

its

70) calls

it

eKKXricnacmap. Eus.

/.c.

Of the Trin-

mention of 'the Sa-

(c.

years later in date.


III.

risen quiet

\i

sqq.),

Jerome

be some
{de Virr,

a 'quasi-epitome' from

and

TertulHan, usually ascribed to Cyprian.


it

was

in after

times sold at Constantinople at a low


price, with the object of helping

doyixaTiffTTjs, 6 rrjs

KTJs iirKTrr/jfi-i^s virepaffTnffTris,

ity,

non

c. 7.

...6

He had

Under Cyprian's name

see p. 290, n. 4.

...sumentem dsemonio nutrit

Deo...
^

6.

made

among

on the

Macedonian views of the Holy Spirit.


However it is orthodox, and inexact
only as prior to definition.
*

See

inf.

Ch. vii.

Catalogue (Lipsius, op.

i.

The

cit. p.

Felician

275) does

not mention his father's name, and the

surname Castinus

sfiven

in

the

Liber

II.

PACE REDUCI.

XL

12$

respected through every order and office in the church ^

somewhat

and with a high sense of

irritable,

Per-

humble-minded man, yet

sonally he was not other than a

official dignity.

Cyprian at once honoured and humoured him, and was as

him

far superior to

was

the instincts of a ruler, as Novatian

in

He had

in doctrinal acuteness.

some who, he

satisfied himself

received to

Communion

by enquiry, had been unjustly

accused of lapse by the severer faction, and was retaliated

upon by charges of communicating with lapsed bishops and


others, or even of being himself a Libellaticl

The

however

disqualifications of Novatian

copate were patent


retirement, the

for the epis-

his irregular ordination, his

judgment of Moyses on

his

unpopular

opinions.

For

he had now advanced to the position of the Puritan. He


held it impossible that the Church on earth should reconcile

He
He

apostates.
salvation.

did not indeed exclude them from hope of

maintained

it

to be

one of the most solemn

communion
communion was to become

ministries to bring them to repentance

To communicate

never.

in their

but to

excommunicate.

No

Christian thinker as

yet had struck on the

familiar distinction between the

Invisible

now

so

Church and the

Visible, as the reconcilement of her essential attributes with

their practicable evincement.

But a true sense had guided

both Cornelius and Cyprian himself, (who


so egregiously to

fail

for lack of the

in later years was


same simple formula,)

more leniency than the late resolutions


With them moved almost the whole Church.
say, the immediate comrades of Moyses had,

to a standpoint of

had occupied.
But singular to
possibly in
Pontificcdis

of

Labbe,

683,

i.

p.

some
the
is

Pseudo-Damasus,

less likely to

ditional than invented.

S.

I.

Tav.

reaction

be

tra-

See Rossi, R.

iv. 2.

Ep.

55. 8.

Ep.

55. 10, II, 12.

With

singular

against his influence, but also


unfairness

Ritschl

says

we have no

means of knowing whether Cornelius


was a Libellatic. The whole tenor of
and the debate about

his

history

title

must have been quite

had been.

different if

his

he

GROWTH OF THE OPPOSITION AT ROME.

126

urged by a new and strange partisan, placed themselves on


the side of Novatian\

Early

A.D. 25[,

U.C^'^"^

1004.

Imp.

^^.

Messius Q.
Traianus
Decius
III

in

^^^ election of a bishop was contemplated.

commencement
Macedonia the

title

assumed

in

Decius

Rome

left

when

for the scene of

Julius Valens

was pro-

claimed Emperorf behind him, and followed him as far as

r~(j,,^

There was a sudden absence from the

Illyria'^

Valens soon

the principal military officers.

^r'%'-[

*?Nov.

t Feb.

Before the

Priscus * had

of Augustus, and allied his legions with

his Goths.

Scarcely was he gone

action.

Messius

^f^''

new year

of the

Etrusc.

Cjgs

Decius was threatened.

Pqj. ^Yie security of

o"^ Cniva and

Herenn.

the year 251 they were liberated from prison

or

'

or

A.D. 251.

'

city of all

But the

fell.

And though
and expectations of resumed persecution

war of commanders was the Rest of the Church.


threats abounded,

prevailed^ the interval was seized^ for an election.

compelled

to accept the result,

bishops'* ordained to the

was by no

less

Cornelius,

than sixteen

See of Rome.

In that Imperial world horror followed horror and

touched blood

so fast that the sense of

'

uneasily from time to time and was

people was silently rising over

dence and the Innocent Blood were


of God's

still

blood

stirred

But a great

again.

vast area, for

its

'

awe only

whom

Provi-

and whose sense

realities,

Love was deepened by suffering for Him. The


some months distant of a treason against

tidings were yet

'

Tov
^

Eus. //. E.

46

vi.

...<hi

Ty Nooi'd-

Aur. Victor, de

CcEsaribiis, 29.

The

rise of

Valens took place in Febr. or

March

25i,Lipsius, op.cit. p. 206; that

of Priscus in end of 250

see Tillemont,

...qui [Cornelius]

tantum temporis

sedit exspectans corporis sui carnifices.

^P*

events are connected by the

phrase in Ep. 55. 9


tientius

et

saco-dotem.''

(i)

infringement of the

at

Rome.

(2)

The cemulus princeps was


(3) The events were

none but Valens.

contemporaneous.

nearly

risen

in

If

March and

Valens

Cornelius

(according to the usual chronology) in


June,

Cyprian

could

not

have thus

connected them.

55- 9-

The

this

edict against bishops, not being himself

had

vol. III. pp. 324, 5.


3

Romae Dei

constitui

Decius heard of

<rvfji.(l>poiJ.voi% yviifirj.

'

...cum multo pa-

tolerabilius

atidirtt

adversus se cBinulum principem

levari

quam

...vim

passus est ut episcopatum

coactus exciperet.
^

Ep.

55. 24.

Ep.

55. 8,

PACE REDUCI.

II. XI.

Decius

27

own, of the plunging squadrons at dead of

like his

night in the all-devouring morass, of the strenuous emperor's

When

disappearance with his loved son.

the news

came

at

and the engulfed princes had been added to the gods of


Rome*, it would have been too strange if there had not survived enough of human nature to make the Christians trace
an Avenger in such tragedies but what was new was the
acceptance by the mass of them undoubtingly of their own
persecution as a Divine and wholesome chastisement. And,
last,

enemy had

says Cyprian, their

not, 'in the darkest

hour of

the lovers of God,' succeeded for an instant in any place in


silencing their constant 'boast of His praise* until once

shone out

'the world

in lights'

then security was not assured, but from the day

Till

more

when

Decius marched out of the gates the persecution virtually


dropped, and

'

Peace,'

seemed an impossible

which but a few months before had


blessing, settled tranquilly

down upon

the Church.

We

wrong

shall not be far

Cornelius to about the 5th of


^

...uterque

sunt, inter
^
'

barbarico

in

Divos

'Mundus

eluxit,'

Ultione divina

'

inteifecti

Eutrop.

relati.

De

ix. 4.

Lapsis,

i.

can only refer to the

death of Decius in November.


preface must

This

if we fix the ordination of


March^ Easter Day in the

months and ten days previously

three

(Liberian Catal.), in March.

The
the

date of the 5th of

death

of Lucius

is

March

prettily

for

sup-

ported by a depraved text of Liber Pon-

which

belong to a later

tijicalis,

edition, for the treatise

suffered

end of March, as

was out by the


we shall see. See

the church treasure to the archdeacon

little

Stephanus.'

below, pp. 156, 175.


'

^/.

The date

55. 8.

of Cornelius

is

sius, op. cit. p.

of the election

thus arrived at by Lip18,

pp. 206, 207.

successor Lucius died on the 5th


after

His

March

having sat eight months and ten

says

that

'

Cornelius

on 5th Mai'ch, and committed

The

introduction of Ste-

phanus shews that Cornelius

is

an error for Lucius from whose


the

here

life in

same Pseudo-Damasus comes the


(Labbe i. c. 739).

story

The common

date, 4th June, assigned

days {Liberiati Catalogue) in which the

to the election of Cornelius,

three added years are an interpolation.

turbed the chronology of the reign of

This brings his ordination to June 25,


(if we allow an average time for the

could not have revolted before April,

vacancy) places the death of Cornelius

and has led even Pearson

and

in June,

and

his ordination,

two years

Decius by making

it

has dis-

appear that Priscus


to construct

hypotheses of long recesses in the

ses-

March

5,

GROWTH OF THE OPPOSITION AT ROME.

128

year 251 was on the 23rd of March, and Cyprian, though


unable to keep the Paschal solemnity
as

own

his

in

church,

was the wont of the African bishops', returned very shortly

afterwards to Carthage, after fourteen months of

absence""*.

was some expected move' on the part of 'the faction'


which postponed his return, or the fear of a demonstration
which might rekindle persecution. Nothing unusual seems
It

to

have occurred.

It

was recognised that the execution

was suspended*, work was instantly resumed


with utmost vigour, and the bishops of the province, about
of the edict

April,
A.D. 251.

the

first

week of

April,

began joyfully to muster

in

the

the

odd

metropolis.
sion of the First Council,

and of several

journeys for Novatus to and from

That date

rests

Rome.

however on the mere

wretchedly by copying out

number of months
Cornelius sate

episcopate (two years three months and

Stephanus

14th of September,

ten days) to the

date of his execution at

Rome.

at

Rome

seems to

me

XI.

11.

m.

d.

11.

VI.'

m.

d.

III.

d. xxi.,

x.,

Xystus

he derives his

Corne-

three years, two years, and eleven years.

on account

of their friendship and union.


It

m.

'a.

a. III.

statements that they sate respectively

was however not put to death, and


that day is the real anniversary of the
martyrdom of Cyprian, together with
whose festival the memorial of Cornewas celebrated

II.

they were the

historical

lius

lius

a.

if

Thus, from the statements that

years.

application of the duration of Cornelius'

which Jerome gives as the

as

possible also that the

coincidence of Cornelius' election and


Lucius' death on 5th

March may have

been a cause of error

in early calendars.

Eusebius, in assigning three years to


the pontificate of Cornelius, blunders

He

has Lucius more correct.

Ep.

Biennium

56. 3.

in

the

loose,

wrapping time-reckoning of a

Ep. 43.
^

'

4.

See note

41.

He

Malignitas et perfidia.'

tinctly

planned his

Easter,

Ep. 43.

2, p.

return

for

dis-

after

i.

Persecutione sopita,

facultas in

over-

Roman

unum

cum

data esset

conveniendi, copiosus

episcoporum numerus, Ep. 55.

6.

CHAPTER

III.

SEQUEL OF THE PERSECUTION.


I.

Cypriaiis First Cou7icil of Carthage.


Question

Events had

The

i.

of Cornelius.

Title

so concurred that the

would demand the attention of

this,

first

the

subject which

Council of

first

Carthage which had met for perhaps half a century', was


quite other than

had been contemplated

moment^
from Cornelius announcing his own
Cyprian had at the

had been delivered a


the

against

last

in

the agenda.

received the despatch

But with

election.

of another tenor

letter

choice that had

been

made^

It

it

protest

was from

Novatian.

The

president

felt

himself called upon to decide whether

he should lay both documents before the Council, or

plicity

One had
'

the tone of religious sim-

the other rang with the noisy baying of execrations

Concil. Agrippinense.

sense of Baluze (n. p. 43 2)

Ep.

edits,

45. 2 '...jam tunc, fratribus et

plebi,' &c.
^

Ep. 45.
XIX.)

Cypr.

2.

Dom Maran

takes

this

letter

{^Vita S.

not to

have been a protest, but one from Cornelius:

B.

not,

He was guided, he says, simply by the tone

which of the two.

of the communications.
'

if

mistakenly,

and

against

whom

he

'cum ad me talia adversum te


(Comelium) et compresbyteri tecum

considentis (Novatiani) scripta venissent,


clero et plebi legi praecepi quae religio-

sam simplicitatem

sonabant...'

the

CYPRIAN'S FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

I30

and

'

He

invectives.'

resolved not to communicate the mass of

and offensive charges

bitter

in

Cornelius

against

writing^

to an audience of partially informed, provincially-educated

persons, far from the scene of action,

beration

in

now gathered

for deli-

about the Altar^ and surrounded by the

files

Whether even on these forcible


conmotives he should have withheld them is a question
excitable laity of the city.

sidering that these councils were the very types of returning

We

freedom, both individually and corporately.

combined with the

his act the benevolent despot singularly

He

scrupulous debater.
^

took however the politic step of

ex diverse in librum mis-

...ea quae

sum congesta fuerant, Ep. 45. 2, nothing


wonderful. Not as Rettberg (p. 125),
'ein ganzes Buch angefiillt.'
2

Ep.

Fratribus

mare

constitutes, 45. 2.

Hartel confuses

interesting passage

by a

intimavimus.

'

'

pariter

stop after

full

him

to

for

produce

'considerantes

accusation

railing

this

Cyprian says respect

the assembly forbade

the

ponderantes quod in tanto

et

fratrum religiosoque conventu considentibus

nee

Dei sacerdotibus

et altari posito

That

debeat nee audiri.'

legi

'he well weighed what was not

be read or listened

is,

136 and

(p.

However

n.)

may have found

quod and

in

Hartel's

in si

first

quando.
has

reading

scarcely any support, his second none.

O. Ritschl
part

(p. 75)

Cornelius'

makes Cyprian iman die

'...nur

letter

und zwar

in der geheimsten

Weise (singulorum

auribus intimavi-

Bischofe

But

mus).'

this

phrase merely means

that he took care that

ignorant of

it

secrecy about

no one should be

intimare has no
it

{e.g.

tint

intimaverunt

of
is

used of the declaration of the Jews that


they had no

Jud.

king but Caesar, Adv.

App.

Hartel,

p.

The

15).

139,

to

thought of secrecy not only takes away

to in such a place.'

the contrast with Cyprian's treatment of

fit

Further on he says, 'porro hsec


debere

Fechtrup

difficulties

sacerdotibus) et plebi,

(i.e.

45. 1 ...longe positos et trans

recognise in

ostendimus,

si

fieri

quando

talia

Novatian's
clero

et

letter,

but he says expressly

plebi legi prcccepi,

Ep.

45. 2.

quorundam calumniosa temeritate conscripta sunt legi apud nos non patimur
that is, 'We recognise this duty if, when

librum missum congesta fuerant acerba-

people have given vent to such libellous

tionibus criminosis respuimus' (45.

'

spite,

we

suffer

us.'

(Cf.

Ephes.

it

not to be read before


In each pas-

4. 29.)

sage Hartel has expunged the negatives,


reading
'

''et

legi

debeat

et

audiri'

and

apud nos patimur.' Fechtrup thinks the

changes destroy the meaning

but they

really only present the converse (not the

reverse)

'\i

fieri debere ostendimus

terpreted 'we sanction

these

is

in-

doings.'

Ritschl has fallen into another strange

mistake on

'...ea

quae ex di verso

in

2),

'den Brief der Gegenpartei will er mit


Erbitterung von sich gewiesen haben.'
Acerbationibus

depends

on

cotigesta.

Yet Ritschl's whole allegation against


Cyprian of unfairness

in the

treatment

of Novatian's despatch and of untruth


rests

on these two errors and on the

meaningless reading retenta in Ep. 48.


3-

III.

I.

QUESTION

THE TITLE OF CORNELIUS.

I.

own number

proposing to despatch two of their


as

a delegacy to

and

investigate

131

to

Rome

His old friends

report.

Caldonius and Fortunatus were selected and took their departure\

Their instructions were to communicate

who had attended

instance with the bishops


of Cornelius^ and,
attestations of

its

if satisfied,

first

them written

to procure from

regularity.

This unprecedented request

for credentials,

Rome

exposed Cyprian at

plied with,

the

in

the ordination

He

innovating turn.

although com-

upon

to reflections

reasonably replied

that

the

his

circum-

stances were novel, and his procedure a security to the titled

The commissioners were

further charged to use their best

endeavours to recompose the broken harmony of Rome*.

One more
neutrality.

suspended

step was taken to complete the fairness of the

Communications with Cornelius as bishop were


letters of church business to the city were

ordered to be addressed for the present to

and deacons^

presbyters

Rome-ward bound

All Christian travellers

were cautioned to be circumspect

its

recognising claims for

in

adherence ^

va

r
Question

2.

Decision

oti

/;

Felictssimus.

Pending intelligence from Italy the Council approached

There was

their original work.

delegacy to

Rome

that

if

this further necessity for the

Cornelius really favoured, as was

reported, the party of laxity at

Rome,

the position of Felicis-

simus might be strengthened indefinitely^


Ep. 44.

Ej>. 48. 2

...qui ordinationi tuse affuerant,

44.

Ep.

Ep. 45. I.
This does not seem

any

^/.

Hadrumetum.

Lipsius infers

{op. cit. p.

do not see

how

204) from Ep.

45 that letters to CorneUus had been


already M^ritten which were now re-

I.

see) at

I.

Before conditions

45. 3.

addressed to his Clergy.


to

practical effect except (as

have had

we

shall

Ep. 48.

Ritschl, pp. 77, 78.

i,

2.

92

CYPRIAN'S FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

132
of

communion could be determined

Lapsed, the

for the

it

affair

For, should

of Felicissimus stood as a preliminary question.

r-

be decided that his reception of repentant renegades with-

out terms of penance had been warranted by circumstances,

no further discussion on the Lapsed would be required.


if

the broad issue should be

to his,

might then be too

it

But

decided in the opposite sense

first

late to introduce his

conduct as a

Condemnation would wear the appearance of being based on ex post facto regulation. Whereas his
schism really consisted not in the views he had maintained
about the Lapsed, (for the question was yet open,) but in the
disciplinary question.

he had re-admitted offenders when the bishops had

fact that

given notice that their cases were to be reserved to a council.

There

is

large indication that Cyprian

debate and

this

An

decision.

its

was not present

at

honourable and experienced

lawyer would naturally avoid the position of a judge in a


case in which he was virtually plaintiff and Felicissimus defendant.

In writing of

not employ the


practice
'

To

subsequently to Cornelius he does

person, which

first

when he

it

is

think his unvarying

records decisions at which he

acquaint you

'

(he says)

'

'relation to the cause of certain presbyters


'

in

and Felicissimus,

our colleagues have sent you a letter subscribed with their

by

'hand, and
'

had presided.

with what has passed here

their letter

you

will

learn the opinion

and

decision they arrived at after giving audience to the parties \'


Lastly, there

is

intimation of the absence of Cyprian from

Carthage at the very conjuncture when, as

conclude, the

case of Felicissimus was before them.

In

company with

from Carthage, on

one of the senior bishops of

Liberalis,

the province, he visited

Hadrumetum*^, about eighty miles

know not what

errand.

They found

the

clergy there in official correspondence with Cornelius, and in

accordance with the resolution of the Council (which their


absent bishop Polycarp had not yet transmitted to them),
^

Ep.

45. 4.

See Appendix on

Cities.

III.

QUESTION

I.

DECISION ON FELICISSIMUS.

2.

33

communicate with the Roman Church, not at


present through Cornelius, but through its presbyters and
deacons.
Cornelius took umbrage at this course^; and cer-

them

desired

to

moment

tainly the sole

adopted

at

which Cyprian could properly have

was precisely

it

this

elapsing

interval

after

the

departure of Caldonius, before the Council had satisfied themselves of the validity of Cornelius' position.

we

(as

that

is

shall see)

This they did

sometime before the return of Caldonius,

when they were debating

to say, just

the case of Feli-

Caldonius and Fortunatus had been also provided

cissimus.

with a transcript of the previous letters addressed upon this

by Cyprian

subject of Felicissimus

They were

missioners.

his

com-

Rome, who

thus,

to his laity

read to the laity of

and

without direct appeal to them, were put in possession of the


case and on their guard against clandestine negotiation

That the

demned

it

and Felicissimus were immediately con-

faction

almost unnecessary to

is

does not record

it

relate.

Cyprian himself

except by implication.

But though these, their would-be patrons, were silenced,


was not yet possible to decide upon the future of the

it

tragically situated Deniers' of Christ.

Ep. 48.

1.

The above

hypothesis of

the absence of Cyprian from the Council

during the

trial

of his opponent Feli-

cissimus solves difficulties to

my mind

absolutely insoluble in any other way.

second

difficulty {op. cit. pp.

203

206)

by supposing the Council, before disparsing, to have empowered Cyprian, if


satisfied, to

recognise Cornelius in their

name. But we shall see that Pompeius


and Stephanus, before Caldonius re-

The text exhibits grounds sufficient to


recommend it. Pearson and Tillemont

turned, abundantly satisfied the Council

hold that the Council was prolonged by

of the validity of the election, and that

hypo-

was framed (i) to dispose of the


long period which the false date of Cor-

on their evidence Cornelius was acknowledged (literas nostras ad te direximus, Ep. 45. i), and publication of

nelius' election involved, (2) to allow for

the fact ordered.

various adjournments.

But

their

thesis

this

Hadrumetum

visit.

'

Consilio fre-

quenter acto' (^/. 59. 13), which Pearson understands assembled again and
'

again,'

means

Lipsius,

'largely attended.'

though

he

has

corrected

the election-date, proposes to meet the

Hence

it is

incredible

end of the Council,


Cyprian should have suspended the
Hadrumetines' correspondence with
that

after

the

Cornelius.
^

Ep.

45. 4.

{Epp. 41, 43.)

CYPRIAN'S FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

134

Question

Novatianism.

3.

For the Council at once became almost a council of war


on the more imperial question. Messengers came and went
from the field. Seldom has a council sat amid the outbreak
and clash of the questions they had to decide. Seldom has
a council been more wisely guided: seldom indeed swayed by

and large-hearted a

so tranquil

consider the whole range of

chief:

first

seldom recalled to

principles rather than to

pursue or recoil from the passion of the hour.

What we now
treatises

was

study as

one of the most famous of

form an Essay or Oration

in its first

Unity of the Catholic Church^

must have been rapidly composed, for the


had not arisen when the prelates first assembled.
was in itself an education. In masterly lines and

juncture^

It

occasion of

it

For them
with a

it

On THE

delivered at this con-

colouring sometimes not inferior to Tertullian's he

sketched that view of the constitution of the Church which

has permanently shaped

its

history.

The

great theory and

its

must be reserved for fuller consideration preHere must be indicated simply the two or three
leading principles by which the crisis was skilfully faced,

illustrations

sently.

and an intense feeling of personal responsibility


integrity of the Church evoked in her bishops.

for the

Only by distinctness (it is represented) as to the Scripture


ideal of Unity may be formed a compact resistance to the
insinuating errors of an age whose temptation is the presentment of novel error under Christian forms. The sole
practical bond of union is to be found in a united episcopate.

To
1

every

member

So the best mss.

patently

of that order

call

it,

and ap-

Cyprian himself, Ep.

54.

4.

it

had

re-

ceived already the alternative

title

De

In the time of Fulgentius

is

committed, not only the

Simplicitate Pr^latorum.
^

The

section

date will be discussed in the

on the

De

Utiitate.

III.

QUESTION

I.

regulation of his
interest in
all

its

own

for the totality

Separatism abnegates

parts.

first

I35

of the church but a joint

portion

and responsibility

essence and

NOVATIANISM.

3.

in

and oneness of

the individual

broad principle of the religion which

the
is

Love expanding into, or rather necessarily expressing itself


in Unity.
Such were the principles of which the eloquent
expression was elicited from Cyprian by the arrival of intelligence which we shall now relate.
Although Caldonius and his colleague had not returned
(remaining

in

ducing some

accordance with their instructions

in

hope of pro-

two other African bishops, Stephen and

effect^),

Pompey by name, had appeared in the midst of the session


fresh from the scene at Rome. They had been present at the
consecration of Cornelius ^
Aware of the importance of the
chiefly clerical agitation against

it,

and assured of

its

regu-

larity, they had armed themselves with documents drawn up


by the consecrating bishops, testimonies from the laity to the
life, character and
discipline^' of the new bishop, and attes'

tations to the depositions they were prepared to

universal satisfaction.
in the third

concurred
laity,

make

at

In their places they gave their evidence amid

Carthage.

century (as

All the characters of a true election

we have

already specified them) had

the majority of the clerics, the suffrage of the

the consent of the neighbouring bishops*.

now be gained by

nothing could

the return of the Commission.

Practically

the formality of awaiting

Letters of recognition were

The

were disseminated

addressed

to

through

the sees of Africa with the request that they too

all

Cornelius^

tidings

would acknowledge the new bishop.

when

Scarcely can the ink have dried


^

Ep. 45. 1,4.


Epp. 44. i; 45.

to doctrina.
i; cf.

Ep.

55. 8.

Impossible that they could, as Ritschl,


82,

p.

imagines,

have voted on

his

Disciplina

this

is

the moral correlative

new

delegates

His pure celibacy comes

head.

Ep.

...litteras

Ep. 45.

election.
'

under

four

55. 8.

i.

nostras ad te direximus,

CYPRIAN'S FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

136

Rome

from

requested audience, a certain Machaeus and Lon-

Augendus a deacon

ginus,

of Novatian's, probably the

excom-

municated follower of Felicissimus, (not the only member

who had taken a new colour at Rome,) and, as


Maximus a Presbyter, not the confessor, but one

of that party
their senior,

who soon

after

pretended to the chair of Cyprian.

Their

mission was personally to press the charges against Cornelius,

and solemnly to announce that Novatian had been consecrated Bishop of Rome.

We

must narrate the circumstances of

which had

occurred

the

after

this startling event,

Rome

from

departure

Stephen and Pompey', and now surprised the Council

of

in the

midst of their satisfaction.

seems then that the party of severity, disappointed and

It

perplexed by the election, had been stimulated to action

by Evaristus, a bishop whom Cornelius regarded as a


prime mover in the enterpr^se^ But a more important actor
^^^ appeared at Rome in the person of Novatus. He had

partly
Circ.

a^d'^^o

It

becomes

certain that this

was the

order of events from the following observations.

Stephanus and Pompeius

embassy.'

tian's

For the Council could

not have at once suspended the embassy

from communion as they

did, if

up

till

are not said to have brought any news

then they had received only Cornelius'

except that of Cornelius' consecration.

own

And

ratification.

the sensation in the Council at the

announcement by the Novatianist embassy shews that

it

brought

\}i\&

first

news of that of Novatian. Then the


Council (it is stated Ep. 44. 2) were
able to refute and repel its charges,
although they had not received {exspcctavitfius Ep. 44. i) the report of their
own commission (Dom Maran, Vita S.
Cypr. XXI. erroneously states the contrary),

because Stephanus and Pom-

peius had produced evidence of the propriety

and regularity of the consecra-

letters for

which they had sought

Ep.^o. The common reading ^war-

istitin

auctore?nschis7natiswovi[dinotgiv&

him, as Ritschl,

p. 71,

supposes

it

would,

a position ascribable to Novatian alone,

Auctor

properly a promoter, not an

is

originator.

iheraseb/ts
49.

i,

So the confessors accuse


oih^mg hceresis auctores, Ep.

for allowing (ut paterentur) the

consecration of Novatian.

Novatus
///.

70).

'

Jerome calls
Auctor of Novatian (a^^ FmV
'

Nevertheless

probably the

right

cum

reading,

auctore
for

tion.

reading of the two better MSS.

Supervenerunt, Ep. 44. i, it may be


observed means 'came on the top of

auctoretn

our expectancy,' not 'came after Nova-

is

construction,

is

the

cum

nothing but an African

III.

QUESTION

I,

NOVATIANISM.

3.

137

own in Carthage an enquiry which had long


hung over him was now near, and he wished to avoid it, but
he crossed the Mediterranean^ with at least some vague
troubles of his

purpose of baffling that

spirit

of the rising time which by-

means of the episcopal order was introducing organization


amid confusion, and constituting its free representative assemblies (the only free assemblies be it remembered in the
Empire) into a

To
Rome

legislative

and judicatory power.

prosecute this aim he would have to ally himself at

with a body which took the diametrically opposite

view upon the readmission of the Lapsed to that which he

had supported

Policy no

Carthage.

in

doubt shaped his

ends as well as his means, yet his joining the exclusive


confessors

Rome when

at

fresh

from the comprehension-

party of Carthage does not perhaps after

Rather

a mere adventurer.

The

his view.

it

stamp him

all

as

reveals the true character of

Lapsed

restoration or non-restoration of the

was probably to him indifferent. The question with him


was, What should be the working power?
In whose hands
should the settlement of the terms of church communion be
vested

.-'

The

real object of his activity

was to

resist

what he

considered the encroachments of episcopal influence, and to


retain the regulation of such cases

He

of individual clerics.

it had been during


namely in the hands

where

the loose chaotic time before Cyprian,

had no doctrinal view

to maintain

Accompanied perhaps by some of

readers, assumes that these statements

the excommunicated Felicissimites, since

are the growth of polemic rancour, and

Augendus, one of them

{.Ep. 42), re-

goes so far as to say that Cyprian would

em-

himself have been to blame for allowing

appears from
bassy, />. 44.
"

Home with

(previous to trial

have omitted the statement

to lose;

that,

he had that

.52. 2,

character
uncritical.

it

among

would seem) such a

his

This

clergy.

It is true that the

is

assump-

no character

tion of Novatus's guilt, the attributing

because at any rate this had

of his withdrawal from Carthage to a

Roman

bad conscience, and the general accusa-

security of the adventurer

not come before the

Neander, indeed,

to

first

i.

according to Cyp. p.

312

the

op.

confessors.

vol.

pp.
sqq., with characteristic anxiety
cit.,

i.,

place thinkers unprejudiced before

tions of depravity,

the

usual

violent

may be
moral

classed with

prejudices

against religious opponents, but that an

Cyprian's first council of carthage.

138

Hence though a

passage

single

implies

enquiiy into his conduct was impending

dread of the

just before the persecution,

is

is

as a fact can be, see p. 11

sup.

as certain

trial

that

his

the fountain of this mistake [yid Sytn-

pronian. Ep.

3,

6; Galland. Bibl. SS.

Date of Novatus^ journey to Home.


Nothing but some singular coincidence
could have given us this date minutely.

Fair. vol. VII. p. 263 (1765)].

But the determination of the true date


of the ordination of Cornelius removes

discessione prtecederet

a difficulty which beset Pearson and

really

earlier chronologers

In other points they have misled

fix it.

themselves,
to

(i)

Cornelius was supposed

have been consecrated

(2) It

all

attempting to

in

June 251.
was inferred from the words of the
in

Liberian Catalogue that Novatus had

Roman

practised with the

Confessors

as early as January 251.

inferred from
fled to

Rome

Ep.

52.

3 that

2,

was
he had
It

(3)

to avoid the cognitio as

to his conduct,

which was

come

to

off

virtual

to party spite. Pacian

He quotes

part of Cyprian's words, but paraphrases


his

'

ut judicium

sacerdotum voluntaria
'

by

'

Romam

ve-

But what Cyprian

nit...et hie latitavit.'

says is that Novatus avoided


excommunication for personal misdemeanours by discession fi-om the church

during the persecution, that is to say


by getting up, or joining, the party of
Felicissimus
that

from Ep. 41.

took

Felicissimus

we

and excommunicated the Cyprianic

quam

(sententiam
111.

prior

see

the initiative
side

In Ep.

dixit).

Cyprian mentions the voyage in

connection with the

commencement of

the party of Felicissimus, but this

is

at the

only a rhetorical juxtaposition because

He
Car-

he wishes to parallel Novatus's appointment of a Bishop in Rome with his

thage with Felicissimus towards the end

former appointment of a Deacon in

before the persecution began,

i.e.

the end of a.d. 249.

latest, in

was organizing the opposition


of the persecution

towards March

Easter A.D. 250, Ep. 43.


at

Rome

1.

(5)

23,

He was

after Cornelius' consecration.

To reconcile these
to suppose that

voyages to
party.

(4)

at

Rome

But

exertions in

dates

while organizing his

surely

the

was necessary

it

he had made several

among

cause

his

would have received some

other

error

of

this

notice, while

the inconsistency of his shifting policy

two centres of his activity would


have attracted more observation. However, I hope to be excused for a longer
at the

examination of the story,

if it

were only

because Lipsius himself,

who

the date of Cornelius,

imagines from

(2)

and

(3)

still

one voyage immediately on

the death of Moyses, one or

and one

detected

after the Council.

more earlier,
Lipsius, op.

pp. 202, 3, takes Cyprian in 52. 3


to speak of such a voyage, although he
cit.,

sets

down

the motive assigned for

it

Carthage.

(2)

Again

as to the Liberian

The words

Catalogue.

under Fa-

are,

Bius, '...Post passionem ejus Moyses et

Maximus

presbyteri et Nicostratus dia-

conus comprehensi sunt


sunt

Novatus ex Africa

carcerem

et in

Eo tempore

missi.

supervenit

et separavit

de ec-

Novatianum et quosdam confessores, postquam Moyses in carcere


clesia

defunctus est qui

fuit ibi m. xi d. xi
and under Cornelius, '...Sub Episcopatu ejus Novatus extra ecclesiam
ordinavit Novatianum in urbe Roma et

Nicostratum in Africa.

'

Hoc

facto con-

fessores qui se separaverunt a Cornelio

cum Maximo
fuit,

presbytero, qui

ad ecclesiam sunt

Lipsius, op.

cit.,

p. 267.

cum Moyse

reversi...,' ap.

Now

the ob-

which occupy the


main part of the short memoirs, is to
record the action of Moyses and Maxi-

ject of these entries,

mus who were commemorated

at

Rome

III.

QUESTION

I.

3.

NOVATIANISM.

change of party was not unnoticed

139

Carthage \ yet

at

it is

not,

might have been expected, urged against him as a palpable

as

refutation.

If this election of Cornelius could be overruled at once

before being generally accepted or even announced

he

if

could establish himself at the right hand of another bishop,

whom

one to

the eyes of

been directed

Carthage
his

own

many men

of highest character had

he could then secure for him recognition at

if

he would not only have nothing more to fear on

account, he would be in the very best position for

moderating between the episcopal power, and

upon lax or upon puritan

who whether

all

principles desired almost all indi-

vidual discipline to be in the hands of the second order.


It

was thus that Novatus and Felicissimus

as Confessors.

was important they

It

lastly

tried to restrict

we must remark

that until after

should not be claimed as Novatianists,

the election of Cornelius had taken place

and Cornelius

no act of Novatus could be described


as 'separating the confessors from the
church,' for at the worst he could only
have been endeavouring to procure the

in his letter in Eusebius is

anxious to vindicate them. It was needful to distinguish

them from Nicostratus

companion, who though not made

their

a bishop (as here represented) did re-

election of another.

main a Novatianist.

fore that

press the

first

It is impossible to

entry into a chronological

statement that Novatus


to

Rome

Moyses.

made a voyage

immediately after the death of


Its object is to

record that

Moyses died as a confessor before Novatianism began.

We

therefore conclude that

we have

no statements whatever implying that


Novatus made more than one journey
If he did not
to Rome at this period.
reach

Rome

Cornelius on
find

after the election


5,

growing disunion

pejus
45.

till

March

i)

recrudescente
already,

he

abundance of time

of

where he would
(...gliscente et in

discordia...

would

still

to organize

Ep.
have

measures

conclude there-

Novatus came to

Rome imme-

diately after the ordination of Cornelius

on March
It is

5,

a.d. 251.

annoying

to find Fechtrup,

has ideas of accuracy,

who

suggesting by

way that Cornelius' consecration


maybe put 'etwa vierzehn Tage spater'

the

in order to allow

more

Novatus a

mischief at

for

Rome.

calculation, precise in
all difficulties, is to

itself,

fortnight

If Lipsius'

and solving

be put a fortnight

out on such subjective 'Griinde,' chro-

nology

and
^

is

indeed vain (Fechtrup p. 107

note).

Ep.

52. ^

'...damnare nunc audet

sacrificantium manus,'
lier '...nunc se et

compare the

before Caldonius arrived in the 2nd or

venenata sua deceptione verterant,'

3rd week of April only to find Novatian

by indulgence, Ep.

on the point of being consecrated.

And

ear-

ad lapsonim pemiciem

43. 2.

i.e.

CYPRIAN'S FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

I40

the terms of

communion

own

in their

and the view

district,

though unscriptural and unconstitutional

intelligible.

is

The spirit of Novatus illustrates itself in those presbyters


own who, if they could, would repel from communion,

of our

celebrate or withhold marriage or funeral rites, or fix the age of

own judgment who

confirmation, on their

without respect to either Bishop or


to vows, direct the persons

who

'

revolutionise ritual

Plebes

who admit

;
'

take them, and pretend to

dispense from them.

Maximus and

the other newly liberated confessors ^ al-

ready biassed against Cornelius by the austerity of their own

now worked upon

views,

sacrifice

was ready to
a spurious charity, and

to believe that he

Church's purity for

the

stimulated by the temper of Novatus, determined to elect

Novatian^

Their high character rendered

not impossible

it

to procure three country bishops to lay their hands, in the

supposed capacity of saviours of the Church, upon

and

to invest the

Ep.

'

See

dismiss the

We may

43.

and simple-hearted
that the rite was per-

irate

belief

prelate's

formed by them

in a state of inebriety,

though the assertion

illustrates the pos-

of the time.

Eulogius, Bp. of

sibilities

Alexandria, A.D. 579, had (Phot. Bibl.


a preposterous story about

cod. 182)

Novatian being made pope by


irepl

we

'A^e^avdpeLav eTncTKoirovs'

should,

'AX^^avdpov,

think,

read

'

to!>s

where

toi>s

Trepl

one of the bishops just

named, though even that will not make


Novatian was,' he
sense of the story.
'

relates,

'

the

Archdeacon

of

Rome

(no such office existed before the end


of the 4th century, see Lipsius, op.
p.

20 and note).

had an established

cii.,

'The Archdeacon
right

the episcopate, but Cornelius on dis-

covering that he was plotting his death

p. 138 n.
vi.

first

to succeed to

Ti^TTOs KpaTGiv...evev6iJ.iaTo)

54. 1.

Corn. ap. Eus.

'^

first

...separavit deecclesia...' Z/(5r/a

Catalogue.

his head^,

Puritan* with the attributes of the

(6

TrjviKaSe

put an end to his ambitious designs by


ordaining

him a

We

presbyter.'

must

receive with qualification the statement

of Pacian that he

became bishop with-

out consecration {Ep.

The

2. 3).

con-

temporary language of the confessors

and of Cornelius {Ep. 49 and Eus.


incontrovertible.

is

Still

c.)

/.

we put

if

Pacian's circumstantial expressions

'

ab-

sentem...consecrante nullo...per episto-

lam (confessorum)
Cyp. de imitate

'

side

ecdesitB

by
10,

side

with

'...nemine

Episcopatum dante,...' we may suppose


some little interval occurred be-

that

tween

his election

and consecration,

in

which he would be called Episcopus


Romanus, whereas ordinarily the consecration immediately followed,
*

...6

'Navdros

ttjs

tCjv

XeyofA^vuv

III.

QUESTION

I.

He

Anti-pope.

3.

NOVATIANISM.

then, in strange anticipation of the policy of

connected the Eucharistic feast with a

his rival's successors,

pledge of personal fealty to himself

me'

the form), 'swear to

between

'

taking

Swear

'

'

abandon me and
will no more go back

to

which deepened

its

planted bishops

in all

or Purist schism,

unforgivingness at last to heresy

its

own

which,

allowed and then proscribed by Constantine, supported

first

by Theodosius, and forbidden by

Julian, supported

on at

sons, lasted

least until the

This then was announced

assert the gospel^'

his

end of the sixth century^

regular form at Carthage

in

Rome, one who would

as the election of a true bishop for


'

which

the leading sees from Spain to Pontus,

and made the mountaineers of Phrygia almost

two

Amen^

took the place of the Eucharistic

Thus was commenced the Novatianist

by

to me,' he said

both hands of each com-

own
never
The response I

his

return to Cornelius.'
to Cornelius

'

he had obtained the very syllables of

(for Cornelius believed

municant

I4I

and preserve church-purity. Confirmatory

Epistles (partly forged, as they afterwards declared*) were

issued in the

name

of

Maximus and

the Confessors, together

with despatches from Novatian himself to the other principal


sees^

In these Novatian dwelt on the unwillingness with which

he had accepted a position

literally forced

upon him^

And

which the large-hearted Dionysius of Alexandria,

in a reply

wiser perhaps than severer censors, addressed to him,

we

trace

may have followed rather than led


and that he might yet disentangle himself

a real belief that he


supporters,

'KadapGiv alpiaeus ^p^e...<Txi-o'/J.aTiKbs wp

Kvplus dXX' oix (dpeTLKbs.


ddyfia

ri

to7s

Zonar. in Can.

6pdbcj>po(n
I.

Migne, Patr. Gr.

ov

yci,p

irpbs

8ie<p4peTO...,

Cone. Carthag., ap.


vol. 137, c. 1097.

Euseb. H. E.

See Tillemont, vol. in. Les Nova-

Hens, pp. 471

vi.

493

43.

and pp. 746

753.

his

If

Hefele in Wetzer u. Welte's Kirchenlexikoii {Novat. Schism.).


^

p. 44.

See note on Evan-

i, 3.

geliuin, mix. p. 147.


"*

Ep.

Epp:

eK^e^iaarfx^vos,

49.

i.

^g. i; 55. 2.

Hieron. de Viris

Eus. JI.

III.

69.

E.

vi.

45.

CYPRIAN'S FIRST COUNCIL

142

OP^

CARTHAGE.

again the inference from words be as just as

he was
at

Rome,

prepared to acquiesce

fact

in

it

obvious,

is

a secondary place

in

only accepted as bishop of a church within a

if

church^

was thus that Dionysius argued,

It

If

'

was against

it

'

thy

'

prove

'

everything so to escape dividing the Church of God.

by

this

'

martyrdom

'

dom

'

one case a

'

'

'

thou sayest, that thou wast promoted, thou wilt

will, as

retiring.

It

were good to

to avoid schism

man

no

is

Nay,

to avoid idolatry^

anything and

less glorious
is

it

suffer

than martyr-

my mind

to

thy true deed were greater than thy

This

fall.

shouldest be powerless to sway disobedient

'thine
'

In

greater.

own single soul's sake.


But this is for the whole Church. Even now wert thou to
persuade or constrain the brethren to come to one mind,
a martyr for his

is

own

soul.

will

And

'reckoned to thee, the other will be lauded.


*

And

not be

thou

if

spirits, save,

save

pray for thy health and thy stedfast

cleaving to peace in the Lord.'

Now

Dionysius' actual view of the mischief which

was doing was conveyed

tian

Nova-

own

these terms to his

in

namesake, then a presbyter, afterwards Bishop, at

Rome

'wheeling on to the stage most unholy teaching about

God

Lord Jesus Christ as void of


nought the holy Laver overturning the

'falsely accusing our kindest


*

pity

'

Faith and Confession that go before

setting at

it

and while there was

some hope of their continuance or return, chasing the Holy


'Spirit away from them^'
Read side by side with this opinion of the man's work,

'

Dionysius' letter to the

man

himself

iveKev

tinere

martyrium ne scindatur ecclesia

(quam

est ilia

is

surely a pattern of

controversial sweetness.
^
^

rod
Kev

Ep.
Kal
fiT]

55. 8 in fine.
y]v

Ann.

t^s

eldcSKoKaTpTJffai yivoixiv-qs

rod

H. E.

finus

ddo^oripa

ovK

vi.

o-x^cat

/jlt]

45.

Cypr.

The

251,

x.,

/xaprvpia,

text

in

7]

'ive-

Eus.

Pearson,

defective.

Ru-

non

'et erat

Euseb.

Baptismal

ne

//.

inferior gloria

sus-

idolis immoletur).'

E.

letter to

vii.

8.

Dionys.

The fourth
Rom.

III.

QUESTION

I.

NOVATIANISM.

3.

I43

That Cyprian was deeply convinced that ambition had a


real hold on the spirit of Novatian and contributed to his
action appears in a grave incidental condemnation of him
penned six years

unanimous

his

opponents of

At

later.

councils, the

own

his

when he
*

could not be to the

allusion

election, nor does

that form of opposition.

'

that distance of time, and after

It

who complained

writes of one
'

it

in fact characterize

must be of Novatian that he thinks


of being passed over,

and would not brook another's preferment, and rebelled out


of enmity not to the man but to his office,' and again of one
'

'in sheep's clothing

who through

the

coming

in of

jealousy

'could neither be a peacemaker nor be in charity^'

When Maximus

and the other delegates of Novatian

presented themselves to the Council at Carthage

have been

any case

in

prior to the report of their

time as

we have

and were able

own commissioners.

seen they had received very

many

once to rebut

at

it

would

admit them to hearing

irregular to

But by
full

this

evidence,

of their strenuous

Until the return of the deputies they refused to

assertions.

hear more or to admit them to communicated

We

must confess however that the delegates and Novatian

himself were not wholly without justification

they had

if

anticipated that personally Cyprian might take a different


view.

It

far

is

may have

from improbable that Novatian

had before him Cyprian's new book of Testimonies, and seen


the heading
against

is

rate

when

De

^ j>.

'

that

GOD
last

to

it

is

impossible for him whose offence

be absolved in the Church^.'

they corresponded they had agreed upon

Zelo

et

Liv. 6. 12.

44-

'...a

communicatione eos

It implies

Absiinere, sometimes with reji-

the invariable term for excom-

cere, is

etrefutatism/mw,

munication

(Sr'f.'

Cokibere ste.va%

to be never used, as Ritschl (pp. 80, 8i),

making Cyprian con-

tradict himself in consecutive sentences,

here understands

it

'sofort

excommuni-

a kind of 'suspension'

cirt.'

only.

nostra statim cohibendos esse censuimus

for the purpose of

At any

3-

3
^

see de Dom.

41- 2

Testim.

59.
iii.

remitti ei qui in

i, 9,

10

Or. 18, Epp.


68. 2

74. 8.

28 'non posse in ecclesia

Deum

deliquerit.'

CYPRIAN'S FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

144

two important

Both had held that the exclusion of

points.

the Lapsed should be for a protracted period, to be measured

Both had agreed that the Martyrs

apparently by years.

should have a voice as to the course to be pursued.


tian

could not restore their status as churchmen


to

upon the

act

opinion was to be respected

when

favoured exclusion than

it

prehension.

If

he was prepared

of the theory which regarded^ the

letter

separation as more properly life-long.


tyrs'

Nova-

had now advanced to the conclusion that mere time

Again,

was no

it

if it

he was not aware that

the Mar-

if

less valuable

recommended comhis own change of

how

views was an abandonment of catholicity,

could he have

expected to find Cyprian now inclining to shorten indefinitely


the term of exclusion, or foreseen that the influence of the Carthaginian Martyrs would be exerted in precisely the opposite
direction to that of the
ingly, after

Roman

His ambassadors accord-

.-'

being removed- from the assembly, appealed with

much vehemence

to the primate in his

Station-Day^ as well as to the


their previous

church upon the next

laity.

removal from the Council,

Novatian had placed himself

Either then, or on
it

was

replied that

a position external to the

in

church, and could not return except as a penitent*.

were however bitterly

One or two
members of

in earnest.

many leading
made the tour of some

ferred privately with

the capital, others

push the caused

It

was

however few and

sect that,

They

of them conthe church in

provincial towns to

essential to the principles of such a


far

between,

all

the

'

Pure

'

believers

should be united in one body.

had

describe a session of the Council on ac-

as well as in

count of the presence of an altar {Ep.

Ritschl holds that though there

gone on

in

North Africa

Italy a softening of the system of ex-

was Still
the instance of Lapse until

45- 2)

and of the consessus.

It is

used

elusion, yet exclusion for life

similarly, if Hartel's reading de statione

the theory in

for destinantem is correct,

the Decian persecution, pp. 15, 16.


-

Expulsi, Ep. 50.

Ep. 44.

2.

Unless statione could

Ep.

68. 2.

Ep.

44. 3.

Ep. 49.

3.

III.

QUESTION

I.

now worth

It is

NOVATIANISM.

3.

while, even

if

I45

somewhat tiresome^

one intricate example of the minute

follow out

to

of

finish

Cyprian's diplomacy, of his laborious care in conciliation, in


the avoidance or removal of misunderstandings.

Primitivus was

Presbyter

first

despatched

as

the

bearer of a private communication to Cornelius, briefly giving


the heads of the transactions, with instructions to afford per-

Such explanations he was

sonally the fullest explanations^.

actually sent back to obtain, where his information failed,

Hadrumetum

with regard to the suspension at


nition of Cornelius'

Cyprian's reply on

title.

of the recogthis,

a model

of considerateness towards unduly aggrieved feelings, points


to the complete success of the

method adopted^ and

to the

final corroboration secured through Caldonius and Fortunatus.

However meantime

the provisional sending off of Primitivus,

which proved to be thus

by

politic,

had been

Nicephorus

in

charge of a

explanatory despatch^ to

fuller

meet each point of possible misconstruction


copies of Cyprian's

might be
1

The

laid before the brethren

may consider

reader

as

he pro-

matic steps,

so

far

^
*

a word or two at a time,


in a large forgery,

worked out only

up and down,
are an incident

an elaborate story
to

be sprinkled

in

^/. 44.

2.

Lipsius

(p.

204

n.) says

that

'

2.

In

c.

4 the MS. reading

de eodem Felicissimo et de presby-

teris

ejusdem ad clerum

Carthage) non
is

et

istic (i.e.

here in

ad plebem scripseram

the opposite of the fact, for Ep. 43

weighty appeal to the

exact subject.

laity

on

is

this

Hartel perversely ignores

the printed reading of nee before non,

Cyprian expressly says, however,

which is essential to the sense, but


dropped by the commonest kind of slip
In the same line he
after the -ic.

et

quia quibus refutatis et con-

pressi sunt... in epistula congerere Ion-

gum

Ep. 48.
Ep. 45.

is

that part of the correspondence here


lost.

announce that

qua

his

ineffective, indiscernible fragments.

further, to

dical letter about Fehcissimus.

when

patiently traced, so dotted

trace in our collection except the syno-

from obvious in the

perusal of the letters, so consistent

to enclose fresh

with a request that these

earlier letters

ceeds the hypothesis that these diplo-

once followed up

at

the sending of the Subdeacon Mettius with the acolyte

be 'plenissime singula'

chooses the meaningless isdem in pre-

no
allusion to any point as having been
mentioned in letters which we do not

ference to the equally well supported

fuit' will

detailed

B.

by Primitivus, and there

is

ejusdem.

10

CYPRIAN'S FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

146

the whole Province of Proconsular Africa had by this time

been informed of the conciliar reaffirmation of the Title of


Cornelius

communicate the

to

Felicissimus and

his adherents

and

to enclose for the

fessors,

under cover to their true Bishop, a

Finally

when the explanation asked

was

for

on

Resolutions

conciliar

'

Con-

Brief Letter\'

through Primitivus

Cyprian was able to add that the Recognition of

sent,

Cornelius had been forwarded on from the Province through-

out Numidia and Mauretanial

And now to

take up the

'

The

Brief Letter.'

of energy, pathos and doctrine in so few lines

He

vellous^

of the

concentration
surely mar-

is

touches on the depression with which the news

Confessors' desertion

had crushed him

'

Against

'

God's ordinance, against the Gospel-law, against the unity

of the Catholic foundation, to have consented to the creation

'of another bishop

that

is,

to a thing divinely

and humanly

impossible, the founding of a second church, the severing of

Epp. 46 and 47.


Ep. 45. I 'Sed et per Provinciam
Then later, Ep. 48. 3,
nostram,'' &=.
^

'

Sed quoniam

latius fusa est nostra

vincia, habet etiam

ritaniam

Ntimidiam

sibi cohserentes,

et

Pro-

Mau-

ne in Urbe,'

was read to the assembly, and to conceal it would not have increased the
Cyprian's object was to
authority.
place beyond doubt the facts of the
So Ep.
election whatever they were.
44.

'ut eis adventantibus et rei gestcE

Inasmuch as our Province is very


widespread, and has also Numidia and

veritatem reportantibus

Mauritania in close connection with

retur,'

&c.

'

(Peters, to

therefore, &c.'

it,

support a

scheme of 'Metropolit, Ober-metropoKirchenprovinze

lit,

make

habet

mean

&c.

'

'

The

to
sibi

text pro-

placuit ut per episcopos, retenta

a nobis

dam

and

'includes'

'united to each other.')

ceeds

wishes

rei veritate, et

ad comproban-

ordinationem tuam facta auctori-

tate majore, tunc

demum

scrupulo omni

to/.?... partis

viajore aiutori-

adversEe inprobitas frange-

which

is

exactly parallel

tis^

48. 4 '...nunc episcopatus tui et

Veritas

pariter et dignitas apertissinia


I therefore

to propose

'discovered, ascer-

retecta

tained,' instead of retenta.

culated

among

all in all

were

rent.'
tel

cannot translate retenta (Har-

from Mss. except

fi.

recente).

'Kept

secret' (as O. Ritschl, see p. 130, n. 2)

cannot be the meaning, for the despatch

sense

directions here,

omnes omnino

fie-

The

would thus be 'we resolved that the


bishops should cause letters to be cirnowthat we had /farw/ the

positos litterse

venture

luce .. .fundata est.'

de singulorum pectoribus excusso, per


istic

Ep.

48. 2 'rebus illic.../r^ veritate conper-

in

real facts,

and

a better position to confirm your

ordination, not a scmple at last remain-

ing in any bosom.'


^

Ep. 46.

III.

QUESTION

I.

Christ's

flock

NOVATIANISM.

3.

147

members, the rending of soul and body

by the sundered

rivalries

And

'the Gospel" of Christ\

Church

come out

'

quit the

to your brotherhood.'

to

to

this

is

way

to " assert

he exclaims, 'we cannot

we,'

you

not the

the Lord's

in

Return to your

mother

Dionysius the Great also wrote to them from Alexandria

The

in their alienation".

what was meant by

members
^

It is

suffer

with

this

'

at this

attach to the

time especially to

word evangelhim
Thus
in

calls the stricter

De

is

that

Ep.
Laps. 15 Cyprian

of strictness ox precision.

and again

in

discipline 'Evangeli-

cus vigor,' 'Evangelii vigor,' Ep. 55.

6 'Evangelica censura.'

So Epp.

67.

8; 30. 4; 27. 4. This must be borne


in mind in rendering such passages as
'^z/aw^i'/eVw traditionibus roboratos,'

Laps. 2

The

one bishop

same idea of
Ep. 46

De

catholic rule to have but

in a city

is

(still

with the

strictness) 'evangelica lex'

'nee

ecclesise jungitur qui

ab

De

16.

Laps.

evangelio

separatur,'

Hence

not without a characteristic

it is

force that in

Ep. 30 Novatian uses the

terms'Evangelicadisciplina(three times),
evangelicus vigor,

men
tive

evangelicum certa-

(confessorship),'

If

one member suffer

all

the

it.'

remarkable that the character

which seems

55. 3

Catholic Church could realise then

and the substan-

and adjective twelve times

in the

two chapters of Ep. 36, and adthe book Dc Cibis Judaicis,


you who 'sine cessatione in Evan-

first

dresses
to

After his

gelio vos perstare monstratis.'

secession 'evangelium Christi asserere'

{Ep. 46.
44. 3)

2),

'assertores evangelii' {Ep.

seems to have been the watchword

So even in his Greek letter


H. E. vi. 43, Cornelius

of his sect.

to Fabius, Eus.

sarcastically calls

Novatian

ToO BvayyeXLov.

The

still

6 iKdiKrjT-rjs

extant type

was next succeeded to and exaggerated


by the Donatists. They were in the
habit of accosting Catholics with

adhuc paganus
11), or

traditor

es,

aut pagana

Bonus homo

'

consule

Christianus.'

esses, si

animai

Es-

'

Caia Seia,

tote Christiani,' or 'Cai Sei,

(Opt.

'

non

tuse

Aug. de Bapt.

c.

iii.

esses

esto

Donatt.

7 (10).

ii.

Euseb. H. E.

l^ovdrov

vi.

46

...irL

(rvfupepofiiivoLS yviifirj.

10

ry tov

FOUR OTHER PICTURES FROM

A.D. 250.

It is only fair to the Reader that I should now at this point


remind him that eminent critics have drawn very different sketches
from those above of chief actors in the church affairs of A.D. 250.
I present outlines from two portraits of Cyprian by Otto Ritschl
and by Adolf Harnack, and, by the former, one of Felicissimus in
the character of the True Churchman, and one of a vanishing
Novatus. I ought to say that mine were earlier in print, but a
short contemplation of these

It is

may

further clear

some

points.

natural that divines in Non-episcopal Confessions should

we see) for a non-episcopal ordination, but should


wisdom and success of episcopal administration itself

not only search (as


trace the early

either to ignored action on the part of the presbyterate or to masterful

ambitions of great prelates on behalf of their order or again that


if possible exhibit instances in which, as one of them
;

they should

naively expresses
well, if only the

If

'

it,

things really do

Clergy step

go without a Bishop, and go

full in.'

my own judgement
think theirs

(as

my

sincere desire to

these tests

The

of what took place in those times be warped


by prepossessions unperceived by myself, it is
have them corrected by fact and document. To

is)

commit the

first

portrait

difference without reserve.

be that of

shall

Cyprian before his own

My

Presbyters in the time before the Council, by O. Ritschl 1.


abstract will be as just as

I.

it.

left

responsible in the vacancy of their

own

regarded the Carthaginian see as practically vacant through


clergy as responsible like themselves, and

'

Cyprian's retirement,

'

themselves as responsible for suggesting to them a course like their

'

own.
'

can make

Cyprian before his own Presbyters.

'The Roman clergy


'see,

They wrote them

Next, the

i.

therefore the Eighth Epistle.'

So far

well.

Carthaginian clergy out of their perfect loyalty to

Otto Ritschl, Cyprian

Theil, Cap.

its

v.

Karthago und

(Gottingen 1885).

die Verfassung der Kirche,

Erster

III.

CHURCH AFFAIRS

I.

I49

A.D. 25O.

No

'Cyprian communicated the Epistle to him.


Cyprian may say) existed among them.

faction (whatever

'

The Roman Letter and its probable effect were greatly dreaded
Even the loyal conduct of his clergy about it placed
them in a position to make dangerous capital of their magnanimity.
'

'by Cyprian.
'

was also very great.


Four Presbyters {Ep. 14) to mild views of
the course to be taken with the Lapsed, and the final result of
But
their action was to make Cyprian adopt the milder view.
it is probable that the whole body of the Presbyters took this view
'from the first and that they selected Four of themselves to bear
'the brunt of Cyprian's anger.
Cyprian was hard on the clergy,
'excusing all others and laying all blame on them. The "radical"
presbyters who early communicated the Lapsed simply anticipated
the necessary policy which Cyprian after a time adopted.
'The "Visions of the Martyrs" or Confessors contributed to
soften his procedure. The offence he took at the Confessors was no
But

'

'

its

It

actual effect

moved

at least the

'

'

'

'

'

'

matter of principle, but only a personal sense of their disrespect.

Cyprian's attitude however was that of a strong man.


He might
have been expected to employ his money to conciliate those who
differed from him. But he did not. He treated the Four Presbyters,
For example whilst in
and indeed all, with growing decision.
Ep. 5 he uses the language of request ^^peto" &c., afterwards, when
'the great Eighth Epistle might have wrecked their allegiance, he
'boldly in Ep. 14 uses the imperative mood and strain throughout.'
'

'

'

'

'

To examine
\\se.s

peio, in

aboVe

the

This

suggestion.

scheme

and

not literally true.

is

to

For,

begin with the


if

in

Ep.

5.

last

he only

Ep.

14. 3 he uses oro vos, and in Ep. 5. 2 occur the only


which appear in either consulite et providete. But
no tangible difference. It is absurd to treat hortor et

real imperatives
in tone there is

niajido in

Ep.

14. 2

as imperious

when

the object of

them

is

'act as

plenipotentiaries for me,' vice inea fiuigainini.

But the whole scheme may be characterized as a string of assumed


which have been already negatived by ascertainable

probabilities
facts.

The importance assigned


to the

theory but

is

to the illiterate Epistle

wholly unwarrantable.

Eight
defect

is

necessary

of

humour

has kept the Critic from seeing the sarcastic force of Cyprian's treat-

ment of

it

in

Ep.

9.

2 (see pp. 87, 88 above).

But

in fact there is

no

reason to suppose that the Eighth Epistle ever came to the hands
of the Carthaginian clergy at all.
They never replied to it. They

For good reason. It bore no address. It was


same time by the same hand Crementius's
which brought him the letter of the same Roman Presbyters about

never allude to

it.

delivered to Cyprian at the

CHURCH AFFAIRS

I50

Fabian's martyrdom, and

it

was

A.D. 250.

once returned by him to

at

we have

its

no substantial plan.
Its promoters felt ashamed of it and changed their
note.
Yet this is the formidable document to the guidance
and terror of which we are asked to trace all the leniency of the
clergy and nearly the whole policy of Cyprian.
As to the effect upon him of the Martyrs' Visions it is enough
to obsei^ve that the Visions are not said to have been seen by the
Martyrs but by other persons, and that the one moral of all the
Visions is sevei'ely disciplinary and not relaxatory.
Again the Radical clergy can in no sense be said to have
authors for reconsideration.

It

proposed, as

'

'

seen,

'

'

a7tticipated the

action of Cyprian.

They did indeed readmit

to

But Cyprian's point was not that the Lapsed should

communion.

be either admitted or repelled, but that they should not be admitted


(i) without open repentance, (2) without the formal assent of the
Church. These conditions, in which lies the gist of his whole policy,
Ritschl (p. 17) quotes from Ep. 15. i ante
actam pcenitentiavi^ ante exomologesin...factam, ante manum...impositam to prove that Cyprian was not angry at their action but only
But he omits Cyprian's contra evangelii
at their precipitancy.
legem from the same clause, and words cannot express greater
indignation than Cyprian's at the absence of enquiry and authority
from their procedure.
The impossibility of other combinations and conclusions of this
scheme these are the main ones will I hope be detected from the
text and references above.

they violated.

Cyprian before the

2.

Roman

Presbyters.

is our second Portrait-Sketch.


have acknowledged that it is tempting to certain scholars to
explore instances in which things really do go without a Bishop, and go

This

We

'

well, if only the

Clergy step

full in^.'

tempting even though the vacancy be one of a few months only,


and even if the Clergy themselves so little acquiesce in the idea that
things go well,' that all the time they are lamenting their limitations and
It is

'

longing to get the see

filled.

Yet we should scarcely have expected that the vacancy of the Roman
See, in which its Presbyters so changed their bearing towards Cyprian,
and adopted his Policy entire a vacancy in which his KvfiepvTjcris, his
wisdom, gentleness and dignity as a bishop come so strongly out, would
;

1
'

A. Harnack,

Dass

es wirklich

op.

cit.

itifr.

p, 25.

auch ohne Bischof

geht und gut geht,


vol! eintritt,

wenn nur der Klerus

kann das

Beispiel,'

&c.

III.

CHURCH AFFAIRS

I.

I5I

A.D. 250.

be selected as an exatnple of the adequacy of headless, unepiscopal

management.
In an ingenious and learned essay (which appeared many years after
Dr A. Harnack, along with much that is of

the above text was in print)


linguistic importance,
36,

To him

'

'Statesman
'

and a minute

Epistle
25)

(p.

viii. is

the masterly

though

own

at

once a Pastor and a


Immediately on

act lost her Bishop, the

city.

style of a Bishop,

Roman

and issued

an " Archiepiscopal In-

It is quite

They pursued indeed with

To Cyprian

'double policy.

work of

and adopted the

'orders to the Clergy of that


struction " (p. 26).

Ep.

efifect^

not a well-educated one.

hearing that Carthage had by his

'clergy undertook the duty

'

verification of the authorship of

has maintained an interesting thesis to that

great pohtical sagacity a

they wrote respectfully as Bishop, to the

Clergy they wrote with the view of getting them to ignore him as

in hand themselves.'
(p. 24.)
There is in Ep. 8 nothing to justify the
imputation of machination so mean and cruel, however prudent it may
seem to some. The Roman Clergy began mistakenly. But they were in
a most difficult position. Without a head themselves and not daring to
elect one, they now heard that the Second City of the Empire was
headless too, and that by the Bishop's own act. Persecution was afoot
and he was gone. It was very natural that they should write to the
authorities there without a thought that they were composing a pendant
{Seitenstuck) to the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians (p. 1 5). Cyprian
nowhere complains of their doing so only, in his dignified way, of their
and in Ep. 20 says he writes to them not as bound to do so,
tone, Ep. 9
but because they are under a mistake and misinformed. They could not
know that the counsel they sent had been anticipated by Cyprian in
*

Bishop and take the reins of government

Here we must

really pause.

'

'

that for the liberality they recommended towards


and poor, Cyprian had provided the means; that a scheme was
begun by Cyprian for dealing with the Lapsed, the Martyrs,' and the
Premature Restorers, of which they would be glad to. borrow all that
that from his retirement Cyprian was governing
their own case required
all.
When they knew, they changed their note but from the first there
was no duplicity in their conduct, rather too rough a straightforwardness.
The Clergy to whom they wrote had had solemnly committed to them
beforehand by Cyprian himself all the powers which the Romans wished
them to take.
Discharge upon the spot both your own parts and mine'
[Ep. 5. i). 'I exhort and charge you, who can be upon the spot without
'invidiousness and with less peril, to discharge in my stead whatever
'duties the religious administration demands' {Ep. 14. 2).

much more minuteness

sufferers

'

'

Adolf

romischoi
Sedisvacanz

Harnack, Die
Klerus
int

aus

Jahre

Briefe des

der

Zeit

der

250, ap. Theolo-

gische

Abhandlimgen

(published

in

honour of Carl von Weizsacker's 70th


birthday).

Freiburg

I.

B. 1892.

CHURCH AFFAIRS

152

A.D. 250.

The Clergy who wrote were performing those very duties, just as the
Romans were in the vacancy, but they were only too painfully aware
that there were episcopal functions which they themselves were incapable

They took the best and widest counsel they could, calling
neighbour bishops and such exiled bishops as were then at Rome,
We have thought,' say they, that before the appointment of a

of discharging.
in their

but

'

'

bishop we must take no

new

middle line in attending


meantime, while we are waiting for a
* bishop to be given us by God,'
the different classes should be treated
thus and thus {Ep. 30. 8). Again, We are the more obliged to postpone
this affair, because since the decease of Fabian of noblest memory we
have had, owing to the difficulties of circumstances and times, no bishop
'yet appointed to direct all these affairs, and to examine into the cases
'of the lapsed with authority and wisdom.' {Ep. 30. 5.)
This is surely not oberbischofliche Unterweisung.' (p. 26.) This is
not the tone of those who felt that even they themselves possessed the
authority which they urge (as we are assured) their brethren to assume.
Nevertheless Dr Harnack finds that the great writer of Ep. 8 at once
'
identifies the clergy in whose name he writes with the Bishop,' for they
antecesspeak of Our Predecessors,' meaning the Bishops of Rome
'

step, but take a

'to the lapsed, so that in the

'

'

'

'

'

'

sores nostri^.'

The passage

referred to

is,

'

If

we

are found neglectful,

it

will

be said

was also said to our predecessors, who were such neglectful


prelates {prcEposiii), That we have not sought that which was lost, and
have not set right the wandering, and not bound up the lame, and were
eating the milk of them, and clothing ourselves with the wool of them.'
{Ep. 8. I.) This would have been strange language to address to primitive
bishops of Rome, but of course it was not. It was really addressed by
Ezekiel to the Shepherds of Israel, the predecessors of all shepherds^.
Dr Harnack admits or admires the sarcastic or cutting' {anziiglich) use
made of Scripture texts by the author (p. 25). This text may perhaps
serve him to illustrate that criticism, but not to shew that Presbyters of
'

to us as

it

'

'

'

'

'

'

Rome

regai-ded themselves as Successors of the Popes.

The

representation of the rest of the correspondence takes its colouring


from these Prindpia^. While the letters of Novatian 30 and 36 speak an
episcopal language, those of Cyprian exhibit his humiliation.

als

Das Collegium
ware

redet
^

es

von

spricht in

selber der

ihm

so,

Bischof, ja es

'nostri antecessores.' (p. 22.)

Ezek.

c.

xxxiv. vv. 3, 4.

Hartel

Yes, even to the distortion of minor

facts like these.

learnt

own

delegate

has perhaps here deceived Harnack by

sent to enquire.

omitting the reference from both text

Bassianus here

and margin, ad Novat.

Ep.

Append,

p. 65.

14;

Hartel,

Elsewhere he has

it.

8.

It

Cyprian's

3,

while

is

flight

said that they

through

Bassianus

Yet
is

their

solicitously

all that is

said of

that he 'has arrived,'

it is

distinctly said that

the (Carthaginian) sub-deacon Clemen-

Ill

CHURCH AFFAIRS

I.

I53

A.D. 250.

Months afterwards Cyprian writes one letter, 20, to secure allies,


'humbled even to speaking of himself as "mea mediocritas" {cc. i, 2)
writes a second, 27, without waiting for an answer to the first is silently
ignored in two Roman letters (see Ep. 27. 4), but takes on him to answer
"
'both, with much flattery of the Confessors. At last "the ice is broken
clergy
but
to
write
no
more
to
the
condescends
and
Novatian
to
(p. 30),
Even then a painful impression is produced by the solicitude
'himself.
'with which he circulates the Roman missives.' 'What a triumph for the
'

'

'

'

'

Roman

Clergy

'

(p. 29).

have thought it only right to place before


by so distinguished a scholar.
It is the meeting-point of the extremes, Presbyterian Teutonism and
Ultramontanism. For I need not add that the supposed position is
laid down as a truly historical and logical step from episcopacy toward
In the last paragraph

readers

such a

web

the supremacy of

of ingenuity spun

Rome.

The only answer which can be


the whole contents of the Letters.

and

to the Letters themselves

3.

Of

of value

To

this,

is

as

an ingenuous statement of

have tried

to give

it

above,

confidently refer for that answer.

Felicisshnus as a more faithful representative of


the Church.

O. Ritschl's Thesis is that the consolidation of the Episcopate was


a mere policy framed by an unscrupulous energetic man from

moment

to

moment

to

meet the exigencies of

his position,

and

Doctrine of Unity a theory evolved to justify his practice.

his

In de-

veloping this thesis he reconstructs the history of the Faction of


Felicissimus.

It is

impossible to give more than an outline of his

tedious labour, but the facts must, he maintains, have been these^.

'Cyprian's Commission and Relief Fund,


'

'

i.e.

his

own means, were

devoted to the creation of a party by bribery and place-giving and to


the overthrow of the Presbyters' influence at Carthage. Felicissimus

'was probably put forward by the Presbyters to defeat the plan.


Being only a Deacon his supposed threats cannot have been really
formidable, and therefore the adherence to him, which was very ex-

'

'

'

'

'

'

betokens only the amount of suspicion felt about Cyprian.


His success actually drove the Commission away from Carthage, and
therefore Cyprian's statement that the plurimi were on his side is
tensive,

untrue.

He would fain exEp. 41 exhibits Cyprian's embarrassment.


communicate Felicissimus for his treatment of the Commission, but
'

'

tius

brought the information.

Bassianus appears from the

he

is

mentioned

in,

Ep.

Ep.

8. i

company

22. 3, to

be a

Cai'thaginian cleric
^

pp. 57

65.

and refugee.

CHURCH AFFAIRS

154

A.D. 250.

back on previous offences, and after all


coming council. The true reason for
Felicissimus' excommunication is his simple resistance to Cyprian.
If Augendus adheres to him he is to be excommunicated for this
Between the others excommunicated the only tie is their
'alone.
'opposition to Cyprian.
The Commission had first applied to the
Clergy of Carthage to issue an excommunication. As they declined
hopeless

he

'

that

reserves the decision for his

is

falls

'

'

'

'

to

do

this,

they issued

it

themselves.

In their

own

'they must have been always competent to do

opinion therefore

and having three


bishops on their board the number competent to ordain competent
They returned to Carthage, and there added to the
'they were.
'proscribed two names more {^Ep. 42).

'

'

The

five hostile

it,

presbyters acquired their influence after the ex-

communication by the clergy of Gains of Dida. It is seen in the


refusal oS. the same clergy to excommunicate Felicissimus. It comes
out strongly when the Commission did it in spite of the clergy
they then had with them the majority of the Christians. The five
'were the elite of the clergy, and enjoyed that popular confidence
which Cyprian forfeited by his absence.
To them Cyprian now attributes the original opposition to his
episcopate.
He kindles good Christians against the Lapsed (such
sees that he can never win back the followers
is the view of Ep. 43)
of Felicissimus, and must rid the Church and himself of them.
'Accordingly the Episcopal Council of A.D. 251 excommunicates
Felicissimus and his followers.
Thus the Episcopal power is organized in order to fight Cyprian's
'battles, and, in order to afford it a basis, the doctrine of the Unity
of the Church is developed out of his consciousness.'

""

'

'

'

'

'

'

'

'

'

'

'

Of course no

practical theory of polity

is

developed without events,

but having already drawn out the real events as accurately as I can
(and the evidence is abundant), I can only suggest further that
Ritschl's heavy pages be read with the original letters side by side,
and with an honest intent to reconcile some and to recognise other

of the incidents

4.

'

Of the

if it

be possible.

Evanescence of Novatus under RitschVs Analysis.

desire fairly to give the gist of several laborious pages ^

'AH our information about Novatus rests upon the statements of


If we reflect on what is credible or historically imaginable
we cannot admit that Novatus was in Rome supporting Novatian's
Cyprian.

pp.

6875.

III.

CHURCH AFFAIRS

I.

The

belief

'

election.

'

tioned

'

which suggested

him

in

is

due

A.D. 25O.

155

weak

parallel

him, stated that Novatus advanced

to

itself

having men-

to the fact that Cornelius

general terms, Cyprian, delighted with a

Deacon

arithmetical progression from ordaining a

in

Carthage to
It is unlikely too that Novatus
'consecrating a Bishop at Rome.
should have left Carthage for fear of proceedings, since he would
'have known that he should be condemned in his absence. UnHkely
that Cyprian should have warned Cornelius against him, just as he

'

at

'

'

was about leaving Rome. Novatus' connection with past turmoil


Carthage rests on no proof it is built up out of the combinations
It is later on when Novatus is named in con'of Cyprian's fancy.
'

'

in

'nection with them.'

And
sen^e

will

categorically touch on these

The
Rome.
him.

He comments and moralises freely on what Cornelius


An inventor of statements would never have cast them

proof

is

We

allusive form.

making

is

do not look

The

notoriety.

from Carthage to

Rome and

such a case

for proof in

rule of three

so from

tells

in
;

the

on Novatus' progress
to Bishop-

Deacon-making

The

a mere play of rhetoric on something told to him.

escapes the snares of humour.

The

fear of

judgment going by

Why

rent from absconding.

default

should

it

is

are alluded to from the very

many

first.

It is

not a

common

deter-

As

to his

deter Novatus?

earlier influence against Cyprian, 'agitators'

of

as they de-

Cyprian makes no statements about Novatus in

fact is that

mere

critic

^criticistiis'

the

and

'certain persons'

manner

of Cyprian

and

early Christian writers not to nai?te adversaries so long as

reticence

is

And why

possible^.

should Cyprian describe the career

of Novatus to Cornelius until he heard that Novatus was busy near


to

him

Again, Ritschl finds

from

all

it

of course necessaiy to expunge ^ ac Novati

And

manuscripts and editions oi Ep. 47.

so Novatus

vanishes.

But yet again Ritschl himself describes Cyprian as penning Ep.


a state of 'passionate excitement' at the thought of Novatus'
If that were so, Why had Novatus
return from Rome to Carthage.
been to Rome ? What had he there been doing ? And what was he
Nothing ?
expected to do in Carthage ?
52. 2 in

See note

May

"et

4, p. 160.

point out to students that

Novatiani ac Novati'

is

Cyprian's

own use when both


mean aw^/ (not both
j5/.

conjunctions are to
.

.atid)!

46 V/ actui ar laudibus.'

Compare

Cyprian's first council of carthage.

156

Question

The Decision on

4.

The primary question

the Lapsed.

before the Council had been what

should be the position of the Lapsed

had been postponed

to

the election to the

in

determination

Its

to the examination of the case of

and secondly

Felicissimus,
division

first

the unexpected outbreak of

Roman

Both of

bishopric.

these nevertheless depended on the solution of the original

Though

issue.

yet

much

wider,

origin was in the identical question before the Council;

its

and

the latter involved questions so

present aspect illustrated the policy of free and early

its

had been concerted

conciliar action such as

decision on

we have

Felicissimus was as

preliminary to that action.

seen a necessary

These two decisions indeed had

cleared off the extreme views on either side.

lets

us

know

Neither the

now be

lax nor the purist view of Discipline could

Cyprian

The

in Africa.

reopened.

that the discussion was nevertheless a

prolonged and earnest one^ that the basis assumed alike by


the advocates of lenity and of severity was an examination
of Scripture, and that they conceived as a distinct ideal for
their guidance the mercifulness of the character of

God I

Cyprian had bestowed deepest attention on the subject.

He had

developed his conclusions

THE Lapsed which


been

less

moved by

the tragedies

its

before

still

^ Ep. 55. 6
Scripturis [diu] ex utraque parte prolatis,' Ep. 54. 3 diu mul'

'

tractatu inter nos habito.'

The

their

wisdom and

leaning was to a course

tumque

paper

the simple pathos with which

passing

strengthened by

in his elaborate

than

eyes,

charity ^

Nevertheless their

the
to

Roman

Council mentioned Ep. 55. 6

June or July,
^ Ep. 54.
4, Ep.

55. 5, 6.

the letter to Antonian was very soon

the former,

after the events,

and therefore brings

fixed

milder than he suggested, and

read to the Council were the

verbal resemblance

it

they were

of 54. 3
and 55. II, 25 shews that the date of

On

he read to an audience who cannot have

and

/) Unitate.

The

libelli

De

Lapsis

See pp. 174, sqq. on

III.

QUESTION

I.

they were

much

THE DECISION ON THE LAPSED.

4.

less

57

disposed than he to give the martyrs

The primate was

a voice in their decisions.

loyal to the

power he had evoked.


The encyclical which contained the resolutions is lost^
But its gist, and even its minutiae, are extricable from an
admirable letter of Cyprian. The Epistle to Antonian is in

deliberative

fact a

pamphlet

in length

not far short of that

On

the Lapsed.

Antonian was an African bishop who, while forwarding

letters

of adherence to Cornelius, privately acquainted Cyprian with


certain difficulties

from him,

which he had

felt in

doing

so,

and received

after the Council closed, a restatement of the

whole

case.
It

would seem then that Cyprian

in council

abandoned

more than one of his own suggestions. He admitted that


the postponement until death of the reconciliation of the
Libellatics was a severity only applicable to the very hour of
persecution, when retrieval through a new confession was
Certainly if penance was
yet an open though terrible way.
ever so worked in times of 'Peace' this could only be because
Lapse was infrequent and Return more infrequent still.
After peace had been once restored to a Church which
had suffered from Lapse upon a great scale, the sentence of
life-long exclusion was felt to be a cruel and an impolitic^
measure. For the utilitarian aspect of the question was a
In the later struggle with the Donatists

really noble one.

Optatus^ warns them that the

'

Passion for

Innocence

in

'

the Church while practically unattainable could not, even


attained, be higher than the

'

Utility of Unity.'

natural tendency towards strictness

Such a document

Ep. ad Anton.

55,

placitorum capita
the form,

nor

the contents of
to

Antonian

'

'ut

De

is

is

indicated in

For

6.

'singula

has no relation to

examinarentur
Lapsis.

This

prior to the

Council, A.D. 252, since

it

'

to

letter

Second

treats of the

felt

by the

Upon

if

the

unfallen he

restoration of the Libellatici only, not

of the Lapsed.
^

Necessiiati

multorum
Ep.
^

temporum stucubuisse et
providendum putasse,

saluti

55. 7.

Opt.

vii. 3.

Cyprian's first council of carthage.

158
adds,
'

who

The keys

'

Heaven were committed

of

many who

not to so

fell,

stood firm

Apostle

to the

was ordained

it

*that a Sinner should open the gate to Innocence, for an


'

Innocent one might have closed

it

against Sinners.'

Considering therefore that penance without hope of mitigation could have no practical value, but that a return to

pagan

life

or at best an adherence to

schism would be

some more

tolerant

natural result, while on the other hand

its

who might

every spiritual help was requisite for persons


shortly be exposed

again

to

persecution \

was by

it

this

Council ruled:

That an individual examination should be held not

I.

only of the

but further into the motives or induce-

facts,

ments which had been presented

the weakness of the

to

Libellatici.

That the Lapsed who had not

II.

sacrificed should

be

restored after a considerable term of penance, and after public

application to their bishop for restoration '^

That those who had

III.

the hour of death^

if

That such

IV.

be restored at

sacrificed should

they had continued penitent.

had refused penance and public con-

as

they were in fear of death should not then be

fession until

received ^

The Council

did not rule, but Cyprian assumes, that one

reconciled as a dying

man would

Ep.

Traheretur diu paenitentia

55. 6, 7, 14, 15.


et roga-

retur dolenter paterna dementia,

Ep.

Fechtrup, p. 129, alleges

Ep. 55. 6 to establish against Dupin


and Hefele that Rule I, when applied to
'sacrificati,' implies that

might be restored

earlier.

Cyprian says that their


various shades,
distinction
.bellatici.

tur, libellaticos

oportere.'

he

some of

these

But although
fault

was of

he draws the widest

between them and the Li'Nee tu existimes, Ep. 55. 13,

The

cum

sacrificatis asquari

statement in the

te.xt

I think, accurate.

is,

55. 6.
55. 17.

if

carissime frater, sicut quibusdam vide-

'^

not be again excluded

Ep.

55. 23.

The teaching
the

same

of Dionysius

is

exactly

in the beautiful fragment of

his epistle to

Conon

Spicilegium Solesmn.

printed in Pitra's
I.

p.

15 from the

Bodleian cod. Baroccian. cxcvi.

fo. 75,

an excerpt of which afterwards passed


for a

Canon by a confusion

Cono7i.

Pitra, op.

cit.,

I.

at first

with

p. xiv. art. v.

III.

QUESTION

II.

With a humour which he sometimes

recovered.

upon

THE DECISION ON THE LAPSED.

4.

159

exercises

man cannot be

over-rigidity he observes that the

re-

quired to die, or his spiritual guide to insist on his decease, in

order to complete the conditions of his restoration.

own

strain

he adds

that, if

GOD

In his

Himself respites him

one more mark of the Divine pity and

this is

Added

fatherliness.

takes up the pledge of holy life^

life

The Resolutions were communicated

to

Cornelius,

to

Fabius- patriarch of Antioch, and doubtless to the other


great sees, and the Council then broke up.

It

was the June^

of A.D. 251.

II.

Advance of Novatianism

Return

Meantime intimation had been

of The Confessors,

by Cornelius
that his rivals shewed no disposition to sit tamely down
under the rejection of their embassy. A confessor Augendus
who conveyed this news was speedily followed by Nicephorus,
sent to Africa

the acolyte, bearing a private note with fuller particulars of the


energetic

movement with which Cyprian was

to be pressed

home^

A
in

it

second Novatianist delegacy had already started, and


the principal 'authors' of the movement.

Dionysius we

man, probably

know but by name


rich

Deacons of Rome;

Nicostratus was a freed-

he had been one of the powerful Seven


after sharing the prison of

Maximus he was now permanently


^

Compare Cyprian's handling above.

Fechtrup, p. 127, mistakenly attributes


the

provision

to

the

Council

points out that other Councils were

severe;

e.g.

Nicaen. can. 13.

and
more

Arausic.

Epaon. can. 36. Perhaps


frauds compelled them to be so.
I.

can.

3.

Eus.

vi.

43.

Primus and

Cyp. Epp. 55.

6, 45. 4.

Or

which

from

alienated

July,

scarcely

Moyses and

so,

this

Lips. pp.

205,

considering

would give

the

6.

the

Yet

length

to the Cartha-

ginian Council which met in April, and


the unhealthy season to which

throw the
*

Ep.

Roman

50.

Council,

it

would

Cyprian's first council of carthage.

i6o

He

Church.

accused by Cornelius not only of embezzling

is

church funds (which might mean that he had carried sums


over to what he held to be the true succession), but also of

having defrauded the patroness to

whom

he owed his

free-

dom ^

Such reports however easily passed into circulation,


and perhaps shew little but that he had funds at disposal,
just as the accusations of avarice against Novatus have
doubtless to do

with

the

pecuniary organization

of the

sect^

more notable delegates were the Bishop Evaristus^,


of Novatian's consecrators, and to whom
his 'Commons' had instantly elected a successor; and lastly
Novatus himself; once more on his own ground, fortified by
Still

who had been one

Rome*.
The ground was however

his success at

trusted.

the

less

secure behind him than he

Cyprian does not hesitate to ascribe the next act of

drama

in

some measure to the withdrawal from Rome of


The very day after he reached Carthage

his great influenced

with his colleagues, the acolyte of Cornelius sailed into the

and with the warning we have mentioned he delivered a


second letter. He had in fact hurried on board the very
port,

'

'

hour, the very moment,' says Cornelius,

'

of a Station in which Maximus, with his fellow confessors

Ep.

50.

The Liberian Catalogue

he was made bishop in Africa,


possible, but may be due to a

of the conclusion

'

observes that the

name

of Novatian

is

states that

never tnentioned by

which

letter.

He

and

one place, to avoid speaking of

is

confusion with Maximus.


2

Ep.

50, avaritia

Tea.dmg pravi(aie;
^

See

"

The omission

tian,

Hartel for

cf.

Ep.

common

name

of

Nova-

designated only 'hujus scelerati

letter of

some

to regard this (50)

Cornelius as a fragment.

Cou-

however (Routh, ^. A^ar. III. pp.


shewed that to drop the name
of objectionable persons was a common
practice with popes and others. Routh
stant
31

33)

his baptism, has wepix^dels ^Xa^ev with-

ni.

of the

employs various periphrases,

out t6 ^aTTTicrna (Eus.

52. 2.

p. 136.

hominis,' led

in

Cornelius in any

hand,

Cyprian,

67).

p.

who had

vi.

43, Routh,

on the

other

not the bitterness of

Cornelius, evidently plays on the con-

currence of names and acts,


tiani

Novati

et

'Novatus... rerum
cupidus.'
^

Ep.

Ep. 52.

2.

'

Nova-

novas... machinas'

novarum

52. i, 2.

semper

III.

RESTORATION OF ROMAN CONFESSORS.

II.

l6l

'Urban, Sidonius, Macarius and most of their adherents had

main body of the Church*.'


rumour had been rife of this return from the Novatianist camp*. Cornelius was characteristically the last person
to credit it.
At some gathering of presbyters, attended by
'rejoined the

but not by Cornelius,

bishops

five

Urban and Sidonius

appeared to express on the part of Maximus and his party

Some

a desire for reunion.

feeling of distrust decided the

clergy to decline to treat with representatives, and a large

body of Novatianists agreed to attend. The main ground of


against them was the calumnious nature of the circular
They
letters issued so widely and effectively in their name.
disclaimed the responsibility and even the knowledge of
Nothing had been further from their thoughts than
these.
of the Church.
They had been led to
abandonment
an

ill-will

'

'

'

question simply the

Their accusation

of Cornelius.'

title

was the sanction which they had given


ordination.
It was not in human nature that they
to the new
should escape without some invective. They however pressed
against themselves

for

pardon without needless humiliation.

Nothing further could be determined without the bishop.

Upon

a second day he convened a

five bishops.

The

date of this must have been

the

before

full

presbytery with the

Individual opinions were pronounced and re-

Roman

Council

163), since otherwise they

(see

p.

would have

been excommunicated, which

it

does

says they returned to the Church


his departure

upon

from Rome.

This date disposes of Ritschl's belief


that

Novatus himself appeared before


The auditis eis which he

not appear that they were, and pos-

the Council.

teriorto the Carthaginian Council, since

quotes from Ep. 45. 4 refers to

Cyprian makes no

embassy of which Novatus was not a


member.
2 Rettberg, who is always assuming

allusion

to

it

as

in

his letters to or about the

confessors,

and he read the account of

sitting,

their return i,Ep. 51. i) to the

not the bishops.

been directly

after

It

must

Church,

also

have

Novatian's second

embassy, described in the same bundle


of letters from Cornelius; for Novatus

was

on
B.

that

embassy,

intrigues,

relates

Xhe. first

how Cyprian

took

advantage of Novatus' coming to Carthage to press them to leave Novatian,

and succeeded. The notion is simply


negatived by possibilities of time,

and Cyprian

II

CYPRIAN

62

FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

who

corded \

The

dignified

ground as before.

both

sides.

confessors,

They

again appeared, took the same

Allowances must be made on

listened to an exhortation to sincerity.

But*

they simply asked to be received back again without penance

They had been imposed upon. Facts had


They had never intended to
set up a second bishop. The essential unity of the episcopate
was clear to them as to others. They had wished for one

or disgrace*.
'

'

'

'

'

been misrepresented to them.

true bishop,

'such an one

and they had

not, until undeceived, recognised

Charity and policy alike forbade

in Cornelius.'

harshness towards such sufferers and such penitents

embraced them, they wept

laity impulsively

The

broke out into loud thanksgivings.


their circle

and took Maximus* back to

the

they

for joy,

presbyters opened

his old place near the

LocuLus OF Maximus.
^

2,

verbatim,

I believe, like

those

of the viith Council, a.d. 256.


2

'

Omnibus invicem

remissis.'

'

De-

struction unless hortabanitir, or

some

such word, has slipped out, Ep. 49.


I

vol.

2.

can assign no other force to their

yet

Roma

See de Rossi,
pp. 295,

I.

is

it

6,

Though

p. 184.

siderantes...ut exhiberent,' singular con-

Sententias...quas etsubjectas leges

Ep. 49.

scarcely

Tav.
the

Sotterranea,

xix. 5,

name

is

likely that

unknown Maximus,

also

vol. Ii.

common,
another

a presbyter,

should have found a place, with his

name

in

Greek and in lettering of that


catacomb chapel of, and so

age, in the

requests 'ut ea quae ante fuerant gesta

close to the side of, the bishop

in oblivionem cederent nullaque eoruni

nelius,

mentio haberetur proinde atque

mus so largely contributed to establish.


The statement that he was martyred
under Valerian, Baron, ad Nov. 19,

esset vel

commissum

taken in conjunction

si

nihil

vel dictum,' &c.


vs'ith

Ep. 49.

2,

whom

Cor-

the influence oi this Maxi-

Cornelius' statement, 'omnia ante gesta

Baluze ap. Routh, R. S. in. p. 39,

remisimus Deo,' and the point which

answered by Tillemont,

the confessors

made

of

it

'omnibus rebus prsetermissis

Dei

servatis.'

in

Ep. 53

et judicio

632) has this entry,

Id.

'Et in

III.

is

The

(Mommsen, op. cii.


Mense Julio vi.
Maximi [sc. ccemeterio]

Depositio Martirum
p.

t.

III.

RESTORATION OF ROMAN CONFESSORS.

III.

bishop, from

whom

death

The laymen

ever.

resume

full

itself

was no more

163

him

to part

for

schism were desired at once to

of the

communion*.
justified the expecta-

This generous treatment probably


tions of Cornelius

and made recantation

The temperate

easier to others.

firmness and the serene joy of Cyprian's

remonstrance and congratulation to the confessors on their


secession and their return place the 46th and 54th letters

among

the

most

alone enough to give Cyprian a foremost rank

and loving

more than a glad reunion


Gospel of Peace.

'

is

shed in

Church

is

'

all

It

more

than an incident of the

was a conclusive evidence of the truth

This error being gone,' he exclaims,

hearts

wise

in greet-

But to Cyprian the return was

ing their returning steps.

'

among

Nor was Dionysius^ behindhand

saints.

of his theory.

and are

delicate specimens of the collection,

it

is

'

light

demonstrated that the Catholic

One, and admits neither schism nor

division.

'Separation has no note of permanence'.'

III.

Continued action against Novatianisni


A.D. 251,

(as

Roman

The winding up of the Carthaginian Council brought us


we saw) to the June (scarcely the July) of A.D. 251*, nor

can any long interval have elapsed before the


Silani.

Hunc Silanum martirem No-

vati furati sunt.'

Maximus.

of

There

Did

attempt to claim him


-

Council of

Antiochene of A.D. 252.

is

the

no cemetery
Novatianists

still?

The Nicene Council

similarly re-

ceived Novatianist presbyters back to


their

full

rank and the Collation of

Carthage (411) the Donatists.


^ Euseb.
vi. 46 mentions his

letters,

rots

Roman

avroh rouroty

bishop

/xerade/n^voii

iirl ttjv iKKKriffiav.


^

Ep. 51 ad

See

The

(Annal.

fin.

p. 159.

date October given by Pearson

Cypr.

a.d.

adopted by Fechtrup

251,
(p.

xiii.)

and

139) again

depends on the radical mistake as to

two

the time of Cornelius' election.

II

Out

a.d. 251.

CYPRIAN'S FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

164

with a Council of sixty others from Italy and with

many

presbyters and deacons, accepted and promulgated the

same

decisions,

and excommunicated Novatian on account of

inhumane

doctrines.

his

Roman and

Italian opinion was (as


sympathy
of Dionysius.
we have seen) aided by the powerful
He had followed up his bracing advice to Novatian^ and his
reply to Cornelius by a letter, singularly called 'diaconalV

The

right direction of

Romans

addressed to the

'

that

on the Restoration of the Lapsed

is,

Confessors, while

likewise on repent-

them 'on peace and

a second direct to

ance

themselves 'through Hippolytus^'

one to the

adherents of Novatian*, and two more

still

after their return.

seems to require more knowledge than we possess to


enable us to decide whether the Hippolytus, through whom
It

the

to the

first letter

Romans was

transmitted, was the great

'Elder^' and philosopher, whose episcopal work though not

of this synod, called by Jerome (who


treats

as almost one with the Car-

it

Africana'
66),

by

de

[Lib.

Labbe,

i.

xii.

868,

made

c.

misled

three.

Dindorf,

20, ed.

Italica

Illustr.

Vir.

865

pp.

has

Baronius,

Zonaras

Romana

'Synodus

thaginian)

ill.

^
*

Jerome, de

dogma

d^

aiiToIs

consentiens

hoereticis

'Fibfxy

aXXriv,

k.t.X.

rebaptizandis

plurimas misit

urbis

poenitentia, et

toO

'Itttto-

(v. p.

Epistulas,

356
ad

'Dionysynodi

infr.)

de

diversos

quae

usque

Fabium, Antio-

episcopum,

scripsit

de

ad Romanos per Hip-

polytum alteram, &c.'

Jerome

'found'

{op. cit.

{reppej'i)

of those which Eusebius

were

22) said

of Hippolytus'

list

to

be found

(vi.

{eSpois dv).

Both name the wpos MapKiajva and the

pp.

Sio.

et Africanas

hodie exstant, et ad
chense

ev

Smkovlkt)

Viris Illustr. 69

Cypriani

sius. ..in

rots

iirLffroKif)

Tols

\vTO\).

many more

(piperai.

had

hsereses.'

H. E. vi. 45.
See Note at end of this Section.
Eus. H. E. vi. 46 el?}? Taiirri Kal

Aiovvcriov

Eusebius'

and

irpds (XTracras ras aipiaeLi

Eus.

eripa rts

knew

Cf.

134. 135^

61)

writings

Eus. H. E.

^ovarov

vi.

'

ad versus omnes

46 ..Atl 6e r^ rod

(TviJ,<ppoixivoLS yvuifjiri.

Mai, Classicorum Auctt.


editoriivi

X.

t.

1838,

p.

e Vat.

484,

Codd.

has a

fragment of Dionysius which, from

its

peculiar touches on 'Peace,' indicating

a context on that topic,


to this letter

rather ascribe

named by Eusebius than

to one of the three treatises 'on Peni-

tence'

named by Jerome,

refers

it

to which Mai
ad Fabiinn Antioch., ad
ad Armenios). Jerome, ^/^

(viz.

Laodicenses,
Vir. III. 69.

pt.

See
I.,

'&'p.\J\^\.ioo\., Apostolic Fathers,

S. Clement of

p. 435, ed. 1890.

Rome,

vol.

il.,

COUNCIL AT ROME.

III. III.

165

by JeromeS
lay among 'the
in the
Rome. If
this were possible the idea is historically attractive.
For
though there is no colour for attributing to him actual
Novatianism, yet his former attitude towards two predecessors of Cornelius,
with whom he 'was at daggers drawn V
and whom he so relentlessly depicts, gave ground enough
by Eusebius,

ascertained

more

or,

strangely,

Port

nationalities'

of

thought not unlikely to take the Puritan

for his being

afterwards he was believed to have done^

been a right but very

and morals.

low tone of doctrine

fierce resistance to a

Neither side

in

Rome

side, as

That position had

would now be prompt to

appeal to him, charged as they stood the one with laxity, the
other with irregularity

while he, at his great age, with his

profound study of the working of

whom

through

was the very man

sects,

the great Alexandrine would naturally ap-

Nor would any

proach the Romans*.

policy be so

likely

to secure his cooperation, which was of serious consequence,

with the Council.

bears the singular

It

Epistle through Hippolytus to

them

in

of

title

'A Diaconic

Rome.'

Cyprian approved the mingled severity and moderation of

Roman

the language of the

came

rather a
^

pa.%

subject of the

its

H.E.

Kal aiiTos irpoecTTws eKKK-qcrLas.

potui.'

vi.

III.

20

...'iTTTToXyTos,

eW-

61 'cujusdam ecclesiae

nomen quippe

See Lightfoot,

urbis scire

non

op. cit., p. 434.

'At daggers drawn with the heads

of the

Roman

Church.'

Id. p. 412.

Prudentius, Peristeph.

venio Hippolytum, qui

Novati Presbyter

quenda negans.'
Lightfoot, op.

shewn

xi.

Cf.
cit.,

19 'In-

quondam schisma

attigerat,

w.

28

who had

of assent

not attended

resolutions, (if

it

it.

had not been

programme ^) a bishop Trofimus,

TTov

episcopus,

Italian bishops

pursuance of

in

Eus.

^ex. de Virr.

many

from

in

Next,

Council, and letters

nostra seff.

pp. 328, 424, has

that Prudentius' account of the

Novatianism of Hippolytus comes from

Damasus, while Damasus cautiously states that he proceeds


only on popular belief. 'Hippolytus

the Inscription by

fertur

cum

premerent

tyranni

jussa

Presbyter in scisma semper mansisse


Novati....Ha;c audita refert

omnia

probat

Inscrr. Chrr.
*

On
It

Rom.

il.

Note

at

Rossi,

p. 82.

the

Diffi-

end of Section,

seems to me, though

know that
that

Urb.

Damasus

De

Chronological and other

culties see
^

Christus.'

do not

the allusion has been noticed,

words 'tractatu cum

plurimis habito susceptus

est

collegis

Trofimus'

i66

CYPRIAN'S FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

who had

offered incense in the troubles

and been imitated by


was together with them restored to communion

his flock,

by Cornelius. It is not denied that his people's attachment to him and the assurance that they would follow his
But Cyprian, who

return, eased the reception of Trofimus.

defends the fact against

own knowledge

Novatianists to Africa, denies on his

was suffered to resume

forwarded by

misrepresentations

his

Orders \

It is

that he

improbable that

a lapsed bishop would be obliged or allowed to do public

The statement

penance.

itself

that Trofimus 'with penance

of entreaty confessed his old fault is against


said that he made
satisfaction,' although it
'

'

it,

and

is

presently

added that 'the return of the brethren made

satisfaction

himV

for

must

11)

{,Ep. 55.

Roman

refer to this

'

Sacerdotii,'

Ep.

55. 11,

shews that

Trofimus was a bishop not a priest

(as

leaves

55.
it

'

Trofimo

et

tiirificatis'

short of certain whether Tro-

fimus himself had gone so far in his

And

lapse.

Epistle

In Ep.

diocese.

6 Cornelius

67.

mentioned

particularly

as

is

concurring

with the whole episcopate in the im-

Fechtrup).

Ep.

in accordance with precedents, for the

sake of recovering with him the whole

Council of June or July.


^

is

it

while in the order of this

the case of the sacrificati

is

treated separately from his in another

and the

possibility of reinstating lapsed bishops

[He

holy orders.

in

restored one

of

Novatian's consecrators only to Lay-

Communion, Cornel,

argument

false

ap. Eus.

vi.

43.]

usually rested on

is

mistakes rather more subtle than these.

restoration of his Orders

Fechtrup sees in his restitution the

expressly disproved, Ritschl (p. 79)


describes him as Sacrificains, as restored

'special occasion' of Novatian's secession.

corruptly to his Episcopal place, and

must have been known

section,
is

asks

'

What

defence

is it

to allege, like

Rather too acute; since

though

example of former bishops sacrificed


himself for his flock, and lapsed in

he was; and

order to keep them together?


question

rendering of
tris

'

exhibits

'

This

Ritschl's

conligendis fratribus nos-

carissimus frater noster necessitate

succubuit' {Ep. 55. 11).

Frater

course not Trofimus at

all

is

of

but Cor-

and the necessitas is the


which he felt to receive
Trofimus back (though only as a layman)

(i)

Rome

it

that

Trofimus was not restored to Orders,

Cyprian, that Trofimus had after the

ridiculous

in

it

was reported

the secession, so far as


^

in Africa that

{^) his restitution

we can

Can. Ap. 25 degrades

was

after

tell.

clerics with-

out excommunication since one act


not twice

punished.

[Basil,

(214), applies this to a

incapable
Concil.

of

deacon as being

restoration

Eliber. can.

is

Ep. 188

76

to

orders.]

fixes

penance

nelius himself,

for deacons, NeoccBS. can.

obligation

without restoration, Niccen. can. 16 involves

it

for both.

Leo

I,

for priests,

Ep. 167

(2),

III.

COUNCIL AT ANTIOCH.

III.

As
them

for other great centres,

Novatian had announced to

and not always

election as he did to Carthage S

his

without

167

His high tone was impressive

effect.

Even Alex-

'^.

andria had needed a strong remonstrance from

and gentle

chief,

To

Dionysius the Great^

its

prudent

the Egyptian

church also at large, and to Conon, bishop of Hermopolis,

Dionysius addressed papers on the Lapsed

in particular^

and

their Repentance, carefully distinguishing for

different classes of offending^;

nor can

them the

his letter to

Origen

on Martyrdom have been unconnected with the discussion.

To

the Armenians he wrote on the

same

precision as to the Egyptians

same question with the


again to the Laodicenes

under Thelymidres.

But about no See was such anxiety imminent as about

There the Patriarch Fabius had a certain leaning

Antioch.

towards the Schism ^


'

Dionysius wrote 'much' to him on

Repentance,' and so free was the East from some of the

Western dangers, that he


view taken by the martyrs.
'united with

'them^ so

them

let

able to lay great stress on the

is

'As they accepted these penitents,

renewed

in prayers,

social intercourse with

us; not constituting ourselves critics and re-

'visers of their judgment^.'

'of Serapion*", a lapsed

'Christ

as

Himself

man who was endowed

'insight before being restored to

'acceptance of their contrition.'

in the case

with miraculous

communion has declared His


The arguments of Dionysius

were followed up by Cyprian's announcement to Fabius of

says custom excludes penance for


storation

Ep.

it

re-

tSta ypa<f>Tj.

for private dis-

rd^eis TrapavTcj/MTwv Zicfypa\}/a$.

(483-492), Ep.

to bishops, priests

it

who had
paene

he allows
Felix III

cipline.

allows

7,

and deacons

consented to rebaptization.
49.

omnes

Ep.

'

Eus.

55.
vi.

'litterse... frequenter

missse

ecclesias perturbassent...'
I,

= 'objurgatoria.'

iwiffToXr] eiriffTpeirriKri

Reading,

'causing

conversion,' Sophocles, Lexicon.

Eus.

Hieron. de Viris

I.e.

ad Armenios de
69
de ordine delictorum.'
'

irwy
^

2, 3.

46

"

Eus.

t^

vi.

44

III. c.

poenltentia

et

#a/3t({j viroKa.raK\i.voniv(f

<TX'i(^P-o.ri.

Eus.

vi.

42

irpoiyevx'^v

aOrots

kolI

effridffeuv fKoivwvrjffav.
^

^^

I.e. SoKi/jLaffrai rrji

Eus.

vi.

eKeivuv yvwfirjs.

44.

II4

Cyprian's first council of carthage.

i68

by Cornelius' account

the synodical decision of Africa, then

Roman and

both of the

by a

the African Councils, and yet again

from Cyprian urging the general excommuni-

letter

cation of Novatian

and

all

Lastly Cornelius

his followers'.

addressed to him that memoir to which

we owe our

knowledge of the great Puritan's antecedents.


had indeed been so menacing^ from the

first

fullest

His attitude

that (as Dionysius

himself wrote to Cornelius on receiving his announcement of


his election along with the rival missive of Novatian) the three

great prelates of Cilicia, Cappadocia and Palestine, Helenus

with his bishops, and Firmilian and Theoctistus, had resolved


to confer with

him

Synod

in

own

his

in

city

and invited

Dionysius to join them there.

His successor Demetrian

Fabius died ere they met.

held the Council in March of the next year, 252 A.D., and,

though

not without

Novatus

In that

Sin^'
^

Eus.

were

Of

meaning

in

vi.

effort,

Greek, those of Cyprian

in Latin.

Cyprian's there were two at least

which are not extant

if,

we gather

as

from the context, they were addressed


Eusebius, just as he

direct to Fabius.

the condemnation

of

as

of

'

same sense Jerome and others

The letters of Cornelius

43.

secured

thereby Novatian

Friend

the

call his

opinion

confessors, the consecrating bishops, his

baptism and ordination


and condemnation, with
of the condemning bishops and

earlier opinions,

as a presbyter,

list

their

This fourth seems to cor-

sees.

respond

Jerome's

exactly to

fourth

'

cannot distinguish between Novatus and

very prolix' one on the 'causes of Nova-

Novatian,

tianism and the anathema.'

fails also to

perceive that the

principles of the legislation originated


in

The

Africa.

letters

were certainly four

in

of Cornelius

number.

Euseb.

first

and

Africana,'

the

Jerome's

two 'De Synodo, Romana,


'on

Italica,

Novatian

and

Lapsed' correspond well enough

vi.
43 speaks of epistles which gave
information about the 'Roman synod,

to Eusebius'

and the opinions of them of Italy,


Africa, and the countries there (these
of
must have been at any rate two)

only three, and Rufinus of two.

gular that Jerome calls the Antiochene

a third, about the determinations of the

patriarch Flavian,

synod

sistently calls Fabius.

'

(7re/3t

aavTh)v),

riZv

which

of Cornelius
de Virr.
yor^>^

III.

Kara

ttjv

avvobov ape-

is

Jerome's third epistle

'De

Gestis Synodi' (Hier.

66,

Cornelius)

and of a

from which he gives long extracts

on Novatian 's former proceedings, the

lemont recognises the four.

"

ivOa

Valois

(two) 'Epistles.'

argues in vain that Eusebius

whom

KpoLTvvuv rtces

knew

of

Til-

It is sin-

Eusebius con-

eirexdpovv to

(TX'c^a, Eus. vi. 46.


^

(piKanaprT^fiuiv,

Labbe,

cf.

Euseb.

Libellus Synod, ap.


vi.

43;

and the Synodicon, Labbe,

vii.

5,

8,

vol. I.e. 738;

III.

COUNCIL AT ANTIOCH.

III.

the Cainite heresy

so

169

deadly to the brethren, so desperate

in itself.

Difficulties in identifying
to the

The

whom

Hippolytus through

Romans with Hippolytus

Dionysius wrote

of Portus.

is whether
Hippolytus of Portus was living in
were admitted it would not have been doubted that
he was the Hippolytus meant. But it is generally denied, and if one
doubts Bp. Lightfoot's conclusions one does it with uneasiness*. The
denial is because he would have been very old in a.d. 250, that he had

point really

A.D. 250

I.

If this

been deported to Sardinia in a.d. 235, and that he is not heard of afterwards unless it is here.
Dates do not forbid us to think of Hippolytus as interested in Nova-

tianism in the year 250.


it is not possible, because his literary
Unhappily we have not the promised proof
of this date, for the learned and interesting essay was alas
never
finished, but even so, 60 years is no unexampled period for such
interests to be sustained.
A tradition of old age appears again and again in Prudentius^ for
what it is worth. If he were 25 in 190 a.d. he would in 250 be 85.
Bp. Lightfoot thinks that, having been deported in 235 to Sar(2)
dinia, which is expressly called insula nociva, along with Pontianus, who
died there on Sep. 27, Hippolytus was not likely to have survived.

(i)

activity

Bp. Lightfoot holds that

began

in a.d. 190.

The statement
"^J- 354) P-

in the Liberian

635, Lipsius, op.

is this (Mommsen, Chronogr.


Eo tempore Pontianus episcopus

Catalogue

cit. p.

266),

'

et Yppolitus presbyter^ exoles sunt deportati in Sardinia in insula nociva

Severo et Quintino cons,

in

eadem

insula discinctus est*

loco ejus ordinatus est Antheros xi Kl. Dec. cons,

we must
was

collect that Fabius' intention

to aid

Novatianism by

his

pro-

and that Helenus of


Tarsus, Firnailian of Cappadocia, and
Theoctistus of Palestine, hoped by the

posed Council,

help of Dionysius of Alexandria to avert


this result

and that Demetrian,

sue-

Cf.

ss.'

iiii

Kl. Octobr. et

Liber Pontificalis

accepts in the essay quoted a juvenile

lucubration

On

the

Martyrdom and

Commemoration of S. Hippolytus in
the Journal of Classical and Sacred
Philology, vol.
'

i.

Prudent., ut

pp. 188 sqq.

1854.

senex vv. 23, 109,


senior 78, caput niveum, canities 137,

cessor in the see, but not in the views

stipr.,

138.

of Fabius, decided sensibly to hold the

'Presbyter,' see p. 165, note 3.

Council and promulgate

May

its

conclusions

against the schism.


'

'

acknowledge the tenderness with

which he partly excuses and

partly

not

the

discinctus est

of the

High

'

Priest

tion for death ?

curious

expression

allude to the divestiture

Aaron

in prepara-

CYPRIAN^S FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

I^^O

Duchesne, vol. l. pp. 62, 145, and note), which reads deputati ab
Alexandro and insula Bticina. [a.D. 235 was really sub Maximmo.]
But Sardinia was not universally fatal. And Pontian's death is
mentioned, and that of Hippolytus is not. If it be said that Pontian's
alone is mentioned because he was the bishop, this would have also
checked the mention of their joint exile. The passage has no bearing
on the date of Hippolytus' death. Its one suggestion is that Hippolytus
(ed.

did nol die

when Pontian

died.

Neither has the Depositio niai'tiruin any bearing on that date (as
G. Salmon in Did. Christian Biog. ill. p. 88 s.v. suggests).
It has 'idus

Aug. Ypoliti

Tiburtina

in

Pontiani in

et

They may have been

Calisti.'

put together, as Cornelius and Cyprian soon were, on account of their

connection in

But

life.

is also true that no activity of Hippolytus is mentioned


between a.d. 235 and 250, which at first seems strange considering the
man he was.
But yet again what documents are there in which we should have
expected him to be mentioned as alive? And old age and infirmities after
an exile to Sardinia at the age of 60 might have kept him quiet, and
nevertheless he might be the right person to transmit a letter of recon-

(3)

it

ciliation.

The

an underground tunnel
that vivid light which
Hippolytus himself throws on the times of CaUistus and Zephyrinus
first

sixty years of this century are like

with two breaks of broad daylight.


A.D. 202

222

259.

From
position

222

and

the other

is

One

is

that of the Cyprianic correspondence

247 we have really no documents likely to


fife

We

as his.

have remarked

illustrate

in the text that

247
such a

he was not

likely to be prominently in request with either Novatianists or Cornelians,

and the Cyprianic correspondence only deals with actors if in fact Dionysius wrote to the Romans through him, we find him at once in a
worthy and significant position. Valeat quantum. There is no statement
that he was alive, none that he was dead. At the same time St' '\itiioKvtqv
;

cannot be explained except in a forced way.


(4)

Bp. Lightfoot

(p.

372) would take

hih. 'IttttoKiitov

to

mean

only

But surely it would be


strange to cite and identify an Epistle to the Romans by the name of
the excellent deacon or subdeacon who carried it, as such officers were
Both Eusebius and Jerome mention the 'through
incessantly doing.

'the delegate charged to deliver the

Hippolytus,'

and only eight paragraphs before Jerome has given a list


Hippolytus.' Eusebius characterizes or quotes more

of the writings of

than thirty

letter.'

'

letters of

9, 10, II, 21, 2?, 26),

Dionysius {H. E.

and

to

vi.

40, 41, 44, 45, 46, vii. 2, 4, 5, 7,

none other of them does he

refer

by the name

of the bearer.
(5)

It is said also (p. 373) that

'

Hippolytus

is

fairly

common

name.'

III.

But

COUNCIL AT ANTIOCH.

III.

this

do not

find.

I7I

In 13 of the indexed volumes of the Corpus Insert'.

Latt. containing over 63,000 inscriptions there are only fourteen instances

of the

name Hippolytus and

three of Hippolyte.

It is

a most rare name.

In default of proof that he was dead, a more venerable Hippolytus

may

still

seem

to

have been concerned

man's

in introducing the great

letter to the ereat church.

Why

is

Romans

Dionysius' Epistle to the

H. E.

(Eus.

called biaKoviKrf

'^

vi. 46.)

The bidding

prayers and litanies recited by Deacons in the Greek


which begin with eV elpjqvr) SerjOafifv and pray first for the Peace of
the World and the Church, are called indifferently BiaKovcKct and elprjvmd.
This has led Bp. Chr. Wordsworth {Hippolytus, p. I79,ed. 1880) to interpret
hmKoviK-T] as equivalent to elprjviK^.
See Goar's Euchologion (Paris,
1.

Liturgies,

1647), p. 65, Liturg. Chrys. o StoKoi/o? \iyii...Ta dprjucKa; p. 195, Liturg.

of Presanctijiedy Xiyovrai [ra] ravra ra SiaKoviKa, and Goar's note, p. 123.


Sophocles (GA Lex. of Rom. and Byz. periods) s.v. to. dpTjviKa 'said by
Deacon,' 'called also ra

the

in

serious

Cp.

SiaKoviKa.'

Deacon, Apost. Constt. viii. 13.


two different names for such wholly
language, or except in

other entirely different applications.

the

of the

7rpo(rcf)wvrj(Tis

But when one thing


different reasons, the

by
names do not
is

called

become interchangeable in
cannot think this interpretation

slang,
I

possible.
2.

Bp. Lightfoot thinks

had some reference


sup. pp. 67, 68).

to the

it

'

a reasonable conjecture

'

that the letter

arrangements of Fabian about deacons (see

But Eusebius' notice of

notices of the letters on Novatian,

and

this letter is

it

is

embedded

in his

not written to Fabian, or

even Cornelius, but 'to those of Rome' to the people. How Fabian's
Deacons can have been to such an extent the subject of the letter as to
give it the name of a Diaconic letter, I do not see. Again a Diaconic
'

letter

no more seems

copal' or

'

to

Pastoral' letter

mean
is

'

'

'

a letter about Deacons than an

'

Epis-

a letter about Bishops or Pastors.

Both guesses are those of learned and ingenious men. But StaKoletter, and perhaps Dionysius
may have himself used it in his own letter as a lively expression, in
setting forth that he was not writing to them as bishop, in any authoritative way, but that he simply meant to minister to their deliberation as a
deacon rather than a bishop might do that the fVioroXr/ is not enia-TpfwTiKi] like that to his own flock (Eus. vi. 46), nor fniaKoiriK^, nor even
The
TTpea^vrepiK^, but merely such as a deacon might submit to them.
word might be taken from some such phraseology, as it has seemed
3.

viKTi is

not a technical word for any kind of

to

me.

and

[Cf. a7ro8i(crncjj...7rporpe7rrtKdf, ap.

397.]

Bp. Lightfoot, op.

cit.

pp. 395

CYPRIAN'S FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

172

Nevertheless

4.

M. Larpent
Gorg. LXXII.
<x\\a

fioi

nopi^eiu

517 B) ovK

(p.

doKoixTi
TToXet

Tji

eni(TTrip.ova

rather incline to a suggestion

that the word,

me by

to

ye diaKovovs fivai

Xenophon, CEconotn.

SiaKOPias

TToXftoy,

may be

VII.

Aristoph. Plout.

1 1

e'fc-

onorav av-

41

TrapaXajSoixra enian^fjiova Koi ttktttjv

biaKoviKTjv TTOirjcranevTi iravros a^lav fXTl^'y

BiGKoviKos flvai 8oK^s,

<ot

made

serviceable,' in Plato

'

SiaKoviKcorepoi ytyovevai Koi fiaXXov oloi t

tTTfOvfiei

Koi

rafj,iiat

rovTOvs

fy<a (//eyco

Tav ye vvv
mv

which means simply

70

koi

evdecos

Iv

applied in the same sense to a Letter of

practical advice.

IV.
Constitutional Results of the First Council.

All these evidences of activity and wide-spread communication are

made

of certain

constitutional

more

still

interesting

by the observation

points which the decision

We

Carthaginian Council involved.

of the

note four such.

First, the submission of the views of the primate himself

to

his

They were

Council.

substantially

course which he proposed to them in the


less lenient

modified.

De

The

Lapsis was

than theirs^ (although even this was to be

still

more softened in the course of the next year), and he was

Charged with the


Again the Novatianist
deputation appealed from the Council to him as a sympathizer
with their rigorism. But in fact purism in him was sub-

aware of the change produced


inconsistency, he does not

in

deny

himself ^
it.

He evoked

ordinate to his broader views on Unity.

power as
any

wiser,

more

liberal,

solitary utterance,

Secondly, Cyprian

and he remained loyal to

had

a spiritual

stronger and more divine than

in his epistolary

it.

proposals assigned

weight to the verdict and recommendations of the martyrs


in

procuring

reconciliation.

these intercessions.

The Council wholly

ignores

Fifty and sixty years later the Letters

of Confessors might, by canons of Elvira and Aries, be


1

Ep.

54. 4.

Ep.

55. 3.

CONSTITUTIONAL RESULTS OF

III. IV.

exchanged

Episcopal letters*

for

IT.

73

value being thus attached

them while the proper regimen of the Church was formally

to

But the Council of Carthage

supported.

is

in

reaction

its

strong enough to pass over in silence the 'merits' which had


lately threatened all organization.

For now comes out the unity of

their decisions as against

both of the schismatical leaders since


;

it is

definitively settled,

Novatian, that there are no remissible offences


beyond the power of the regular organization of

thirdly, against

which

is

it

the Church to remit,

And fourthly,

against Felicissimus, that no sanctity ^ con-

communion or remit sin,


body of the Church

ferring authority to assign terms of


resides in

with

its

any

class or person save in the

authentic administrators I

The principles then which had now been solidified

into legis-

lation specifically invested the primaeval Christian institution

of episcopacy with

all

the functions of government, and accord-

ingly the private sentiments of the metropolitan were, with


his cheerful consent*, overruled, while his past acts as bishop

of Carthage were

bishop once seated


tions
1
'

went forth

No

ratified.

name

om-

nes sub hac nominis gloria passim concutiant simplices,

daesunt
9

'

De

communicatorias

litterse.'

ei

dan-

Cottc. Arel. (314), can.

his qui confessorum literas

runt, placuit ut, sublatis

of the Bishops only.

attulerit literas confessorias,

sublato nomine confessoris, eo quod

against

The Resolu-

were to be admissible^

in the

Cone. Eliber. A. d. 305-6, can. 25

omnis qui

representations

Uteris, alias

accipiant communicatorias.'

Hefelehas

The

not say the administrators


function

of the laity

is

repeatedly, though not very explicitly,

urged.

In Ep. 64.

i it is

one readmission that

it

an objection to

was made

'sine

petitu et conscientia plebis.'


"

afife-

iis

We must

alone.

...scias

me

nihil leviter egisse sed...

omnia ad commune

concilii nostri con-

silium distuhsse...et nunc ab

his

non

not understood the application of these

recedere quae semel in concilio nostro de

canons.

communi

in

Perhaps the miraculous argument


Z>e Lapsis from

the

instances of

divine anger against the irregularly ad-

mitted
feeling

meant to meet the particular


which rested on the exceptional

is

sanctity of the martyrs.

conlationeplacuerunt....

Ep,

55. 7.

Gravitati nostras negavimus conve-

'

nire
et

ut

collegae

nostri

jam

delecti

ordinati...ventilari ultra honorem...

pateremur.

Ep. 44.

2.

CYPRIAN

174

FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

And now if we remember that each bishop was the


tative of a free election,

equals,

the only

tative assembly

in the

virtually taken

its

with

Roman

and

place

It

only

among Roman

Roman

strength and
to

its

executive, reserving to itself


lation.

assembly a
free,

free

the

assembly of

first

represen-

we shall see that Episcopacy had

world

and disparting

in itself,

their

free elections, the

represen-

Institutions,

informed

respect for Law,

summing

members powers

and

judicial

appeals, and originating legis-

all

was an Institution not only fraught with the

ruin

of polytheism but rich with the freedom and the order of the

coming

society.

V.
Corollaries

Puritanism

Saint-Merit : Flight from

The

Suffering.

De

Lapsis.

Cyprian's Letter to the Confessors on their return contains

a passage of about twenty lines which Augustine cites in

no

less

than three times

in separate

absolute Scriptural answer to Puritan separations.


earliest exposition of the parable of the Tares,

image of the Palace with

its

right exists to eradicate tares,

poorest earthen vessels in pieces.


corn, or

The

make

forfeiture

the

It is

and of

S. Paul's

Vessels precious or vile as accu-

rate presentments of the lasting conditions of

No human

full

works \ as containing the

Freedom

Church Society.
or to break the
to

become good

a golden urn of itself belongs to every soul.

of light will ever

mark assumptions of the

divine judgeship.

Against Novatianism,

Donatism, and how

many

long

perpetuated species of Puritanism and Calvinism, rudimentary inorganic forms of the


^

To

Macrobius, Ep. io8,

Gaudentius,

ii.

3.

c.

lo.

first

reaction of converted spirits

Against the Donatist Cresconius,

ii.

43,

and

COROLLARIES FROM FIRST COUNCIL.

III. V.

kingdom of

the

against

sin,

do

words bear

few

these

175

witness.

The

Letter was accompanied by an interesting gift

Copies of his treatises

On the Lapsed

OF THE Catholic Church.


Of the latter we shall speak

To postpone
November

is

and

Of the Unity

presently.

with Bp. Pearson^ the date of the former to

to attribute to Cyprian a publication out of date

and counsels upon which he had already


'The Avenging' of which he speaks in the open-

at its appearance,

improved.
ing

is

no doubt the destruction of Decius

in that

But while large parts of the book, as we have

marks of an
delivered,

oration^, other

it,

we have

months

later

as

in

all

the

parts never can have been so

and are plainly to be reasoned out

In fact

November*.

wear

in the study.

our hands the edition published some

we have

in several of Cicero's orations

and

to this edition belongs the actual exordium.

On

the other hand the strong and immediate

for Fugitives

own

Apology
marks the moment when prejudice against his

retirement has not yet died out*.

It is

a work of a high order.

but far beyond that praise

is

Its literary

form

is

the power with which

excellent,
it lifts

contentions of parties and the vexing questions of the

the

moment

into a region in which they can be seen as deductions from

leading principles, and


to

rise,

as in

so to uplift

mundane

is

determined on high grounds.

controversies.

And

and the tone sustained without one


Its outline

may

So

to the full as difficult in church politics

the high aim

is

effected,

failure.

be sketched as follows

After the close of a persecution

an ideal position of De Laps


ii.,

Ann. Cypr.

There

is

a. D. -251, c. xv.

nothing in the overthrow

of Julius Valens or Priscus which would

wear
time.

this aspect

to Christians of the

See

for

example

c.

2,

when he

speaks of confessors as present, and


then addresses them.
^

c. 3.

iii.

CYPRIAN'S FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

176

spiritual influence

occupied by faithful

is

sufferers,

even

and by those who had

voluntary exiles for conscience' sake

been

in actual suffering.

faithful in danger,

To

the Lapsed

although not

sympathy

is

due

and

his

sympathy

rings

as true as his sense of discipline; especially with those

had broken down under intensity of


and others he draws a broad line.
After shewing that Persecution

and useful service he proceeds

by-

is

who

Between these

torture.

not without

its

to analyse the causes of

good
Lapse

which have been so wide-spread and so operative through


the whole Church,
and that in spite of forewarnings, of the

unnatural horrors of the very


for avoiding
in the

He

XIV.

XXXV i.

He

it.

act,

of

all

the given opportunities

concludes that the secret

world-leavened

spirit of

(i) with the party

with the Confessors

(2)

to be found

the Church.

next enters upon a close argument

of lax readmission,

is

who promote

it,

and (3) with those of the Lapsed who seek it setting before
them deterrent experiences and the dishonesty of the position.
He concludes by an exhortation to honesty of confession,
to seriousness of repentance and to activity in good works.
High hope is yet in store for them.
;

The book on
narrative.

Its

the Lapsed has largely contributed to our

teachings concerning the Eucharist, and

its

evidence upon contemporary Supernaturalism will be discussed each in


its

its

own

Upon

place.

Penitential Discipline,

views, equally remote from Protestant

and

Roman

stan-

dards, have been exemplified sufficiently.

Yet we may now

the relation in which

further

remark on the singularity of

Romanism

stands to the Cyprianic view

of the influence of interceding saints.


holds,)

to

may

come\

aid sinners in the

Their merit, (Cyprian

day of judgment,

in the

world

But they cannot on earth reverse or disturb

the organization and working order of the visible Church.


^

De Lapsis,

c.

17.

CYPRIAN 'OF THE LAPSED.'

III. V.

Departed martyrs are heard


to be

How

avenged.

I77

Apocalypse

in the

still

praying

can they in that situation be the

defenders of others'.?

How

ingenious then

is

Romish combination

the

supposed accumulation of meritorious treasure with

of a

its official

dispensation by visible authorities!

His opinion^ that there might be occasions when a

n.

man would

not be justified in accepting the offered crown of

martyrdom, and that


stances was

'

flight

from persecution

in

a private confession of Christ as

such circum-

martyrdom

a public one,' must have saved to the Church valuable

although the problem of decision

is

lives,

any given case was not

in

the least of the difficulties which arose between Christianity

and heathenism.

The eloquence of
The style has gained
the touches are a

De Lapsis seems almost

the

in lucidity

little

though

too ornamental.

perfect.

here and there

still

There are few

finer

passages than the triumphal ode in prose with which he celebrates

'

The White Cohort

women and

A touching instance

fare.

of Christ,'

of two passages from

it

of

Now

on an African

How joyful thou

stedfast

now

Confessors, men,
after their waris

an adaptation

inscription^,

Child.

among

thou beginnest existence

How

power

its felt

Magus Innocent

the

Church

children, restored to the

the Innocent.

Life to thee.

is

art to be welcomed by thy Mother the Church

on thy return from this world.

"
'^

De

Lapsis,

c. 3, cf. c.

Let

the

sighmg of our

Let

the

weeping of our eyes be stayed.

hearts be stilled.

turn excipet mater ecclesia de oc

c. 18.

do revertentem.

10.

Pitra, Spicilegiuni Solesm. vol.

IV.

rum

gemitus.

mun-

conprematur pectostruatur

fletus

oculo-

P-

jam

536,

MAGVS puer innocens

inter

innocentis

coepisti.
|

staviles tivi haec vita est


|

B.

quam

esse

rum.

The name Magus and

a peculiar

quam

arrangement of cross and palm branch

te le-

indicate a Carthaginian origin for the

12

CYPRIAN'S FIRST COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

178

Another beautiful passage^ and one which


the oratory of Cyprian sometimes piles
of Barrow,

is

how

illustrates

up

itself

like that

worthy of quotation upon the obliteration of

repentance by over hasty communion.


'

This

He

no peace but war.

is

who

'

blessing

'

do they pretend

Why

parts from the Gospel.

Why

does not join the Church

do men

an injury a

call

give to impiety the style of "

How

Pity".''

'

communion, when they interrupt the


repentant lamentation of those who have need to weep inSuch teachers are to the lapsed as hail on corn are
deed.-*

'

as a star of tempest to trees

to give

and herds; the wildness of the storm

'flocks
'

The

'

tree

solace of everlasting
;

the ravage of pestilence to

life

wreck the ship ere

'

no peace, but annuls

'salvation.

It

is

it

gives no

'

again with unperceived devastations

communion but hinders


Our

it

advances to

in his

assail the fallen yet

stilling their

tion, silencing their sorrows, wiping out the

their sin,

'

eyes,

'

toward a deeply offended Lord,

drowning the entreaties of long and

written,

'

pent.

monument
are

"

and

Remember from whence

itself.

De

excipit

lamenta-

remembrance of

hushing the groaning heart, quenching the weeping

'

'

yields

a fresh persecution, a fresh temptation.

subtle foe employs

Icetos

uproot the

Such easiness

enter the harbour.

it

'

sages

creep on with sickly suggestion to deadly infection

'

'

to ships at sea.

they steal away

The Cyprianic

Lapsis

(2)

Quam

monument.

vos

Cyprianic;

mater ecclesia de prcelio


comprimatur peclorum

ad Demetr.
quoted,

has been suggested to correct statuatur

[Hartel

by the

repentance
it

However
'

stands

and

statuahtr

is

but
:

c. 16.

re-

quite

Si fontem siccitas j/a/z/a^'


c.

7.

The second and

third lines also of the inscription

It

as in itself absurd to struatur

full

the while

thou art fallen

pas-

revertentes, fi6)

gemiLus, statiiaiiir fletus oculorum.

all

know

Iseto sinu

not

pectoris.]

seem

whence,

CYPRIAN 'OF THE LAPSED.'

III. V.

I79

Mai's supposed Fragment of Cyprian.


can find no place among the Cyprianic arguings which could be
by the fragment KYIIPIANOY Trept fifravoias (Mai, C/ass. Auctt. e Vat.

filled

codd. editorutn

Tomus

X. pp. xxix., 485

7),

nor,

suppose, could Mai,

who

For that however there is no


colour.
The point of the extract is that equal sufferings have no
power to equalise the bad and good. Besides, if we except slight touches
on S. Paul (which compare with Cyprian [Hartel], p. 304, 26; 511, 16 18)
says

'

videtur hie Cyprianus Antiochenus.'

not one of the Scripture illustrations

ment adduces Pharaoh, the

The FragPenitent Thief, Naboth, Ananias, who are never

named by Cyprian

not taken from Cyprian's very distinct point of

view

Job

is

Zedekiah, also, not in Cyprian,

the spurious

The

is

De Pascha Computus

contrast between Daniel

Cyprianic in handling.

is

curiously dealt with,

(Hartel, App.,

and Nebuchadnezzar

is

much

as in

22; 260,

19).

that the former

was

p.

258,

consigned to feed beasts and the latter to feed with beasts. The realistic
and the Thief lacks Cyprian's delicacy. Thus

contrast between our Lord

the Fragment's

first air

of resemblance to Cyprian melts away.

12

CHAPTER

IV.

CYPRIAN 'OF THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'


I.

Time and Substance of

the Treatise.

The

two or three leading motives of this victorious essaywere sketched at the point where we had to outline the
The flesh and
principles on which the Council acted.
warmth,
claim nearer
and
the
colour
the
speak,
so
to
blood,
attention.

The conjuncture
discernible.

is

which

at

Allusions to

was read

it

to the Council^

Novatian and to his having

On the
assumed the episcopate are plain and numerous^
other hand there is no reference to Felicissimus and his faction, a subject which in a paper on unity could not have been
avoided unless

it

had been already disposed

of.

Allusions

there are' to laxity and dissoluteness on the part of former

without

but

confessors,

any reference

to

methods

to

be

adopted towards them, and only in illustration of the position that confessors (and so Novatian) were not secure from
falling
^

Ep.

Thus

away.

In de Unitate

54. 4.

have a trace of
as a Lecture

the publication of the treatise

or

its

c.

we

original character

Essay addressed to

interitum pro salute, &c.


loco...multos pastores...
feritas.

Quam

unitatem tenere

c.

firmiter et vindicare

debemus maxime

c.

episcopi qui m. &cc\ts\3.

pmsidemits

colleagues:

"^

c. 3,

'

.^

ministros justitia asserentes

13,
15,

c.

c.

episcopi

marked

c. 8,

21.

iino in

c. 9,

luporum

sibi

nomen.

sacerdotum

(bishops),

sacramentum profanat.

aliud altare.
.

10,

semuli

is

c.

17,

IV.

'THE PROBLEM OF THE UNITY.'

I.

l8l

as after the settlement of the question of Felicissimus

and

before that of Novatian was determined.

The

was the problem of the hour.


But
Heresy had hitherto been manifold and fantastic.
Schism,

position of Novatian

meaning secession
had been almost

upon questions not originally


unknown. Now, however, be-

doctrinal,

ginning from the central

Church reeled with the new

see, the

twain upon an enquiry as to

possibility of being cleft in

whether she possessed disciplinary power

own

tion of her

The

penitents.

rationale of such a separation,

divinely preconceived

How God

economy

could suffer

it

.'*

'

It is

'

attracted the speculative

relation to the

its

'What such a portent meant

was

many

the question on

not (they said) as though a

'

'identical,

for the reconcilia-

new dogma

.^

lips.

or mysticism

and devout. But with teaching


amid undoubted holiness of life, we see Altar

'

against Altar, Chair against Chair, in the metropolis of the

'

world and Church.'

out to solve.

'

This

The

is

the problem which Cyprian sets

danger of the age when

characteristic

the

time widely accepted

'

Christianity

presentment of old error under Christian forms.

'

tions as to the

is

for

first

Such danger can be detected only by


abode of truth, clearness as
idea of unity.
These are not far to seek.
gave Peter his commission, " Whatsoever

'

bound," and then

be

'

shall

'

all the

Apostles,

remitted,"

same

it

is

level \ yet,

"

by

first

to the Scriptural

When

Hoc

placed

diti et

Petrus,

pari consortio prre-

honoris et potestatis, sed exor-

dium ab unitate proficiscitur, c. 4.


Then follows the famous interpolation,

of which below.

alike

all

"

Pacian, Ep.

illustration

indicated

itself.

So ever

3,

c.

prsecipiens.

Ad

Petrum
unum, ideo ut

unitatem fundaret ex uno,

commune

repeats the

11,

with clearness

locutus est Dominus, ad

in

on the

He

addressing Peter alone.

erant utique et ceteri apostoli

fuit

bind

ye remit they are

sins

He

'the Oneness or Unity of the commission^

quod

the Lord

shalt

tJioic

renewed the commission to

Whosesoever

obvious that

the

distinct concep-

'

'

is

mox idipsum

'THE UNITY.'

l82

AND HISTORY.

ITS BASIS

bond of the Church's unity

her one

'

since, this tangible

'

united episcopate, an Apostleship universal yet only one

is

and inde-

'the authority of every bishop perfect in itself

the others a mere agglo-

'

pendent, yet not forming with

'

meration of powers, but being a tenure upon a

'that of a shareholder in

Such

totality, like

joint property \'

statement of the historic and existent con-

his

is

some

all

He

the threatening schism.

ditions as against

continues,

'

The man who

'

that he holds the Faith

'

Church,

'

Old Testament and the Pauline teaching harmonize with

'

the Gospel as to this unity.

'

is

He who

.''

he assured that he

is

bound

holds not this church unity, does he believe

to

exert

itself

is

And

The

the episcopate above

maintenance of

the

in

contends against the

within the Church

all

own

its

'indivisible oneness.'

Then
*

follows the

famous and beautiful passage on the

analogies of this spiritual

natural

Church which outspreads

unity.

'

There

'wider and wider in ever increasing fruitfulness


'sun has

many

branches yet one only heart, based

'

and, while

'

although a multiplicity of waters

many

one

just as the

rays but one only light, and a tree

'

in

many

clinging root

the

flow off from a single fountain-head,

rills

is

seen streaming

away

in

its

abundant overflow,

preserved in the head-spring.

Pluck a ray away

'diverse directions from the bounty of


'

yet unity

'

from the sun's body

is

is

a multitude (of churches),

itself into

unity admits no division

of light.

'

Break a bough

'

Cut a

'

too the Church flooded with the light of the Lord flings rays

rill

off

off"

a tree

from the spring

'

over the whole world.

'

itself

'

She reaches

'

richness

bounteous flowing
^

once broken

everywhere

rill

will

bud no more.

cut ofT dries up.

one light which

is

body knows no

rivers,
est cujus

So

dififuses

partition.

boughs over the universal earth

fertility,

Episcopatus unus

it

the unity of the

forth her

of her

Yet

the

it

in the

broadens ever more widely her

and

still

there

is

one head, one

a singulis in solidtim pars tenetur.

c. 5.

IV.

ANALOGY.

ITS

I.

ITS VIOLATION.

'

source, one mother, rich in ever succeeding births.

'

we

are born

her milk our nurture, her breath our

Scripture, he proceeds to shew, teems with


illustrations of this unity.
'

'

'

who has

The Sons

He

of his undefiled spouse.

in the fall of Jericho, the


'

in the

form and nature^ of the

of Christ are the sons

The Ark

House

of the

House

one House of the Paschal


of Israel, the Dove-like

'

Spirit, all are

parables illustrating

we might draw from

the inferences which

examples and

Flock, the one

Flood, the Seamless Coat, the one

Lamb, the one mind

her

life.'

cannot have God for his father

not the Church for his mother.'

untouched

Of

83

the

Kingdom

of

as well as from

Nature, and from the Unity of the Godhead,

the direct injunctions of Christ, S. Paul and S. John^.

The application is immediately pointed.


'those who withdraw from the Church, and

There are now

build

them

alien

This must be recognised as the departure of alien

'homes.
*

'

spirits.'

conception of Separatism

is

now

distinctly obtained.

economy

'

Heresy

'

of God.

'

tion.

'

unthinking, then holy orders, and then the episcopal pre-

rogative, of

'

Its

'that
'

it

has

It is

promoters

is

place in relation to unity in the

its

a testing power.

first

"

Two

Bapt.

8.

It receives interesting ilkis-

In the cemetery of Callistus (de Rossi,

Rom.

Sott.y vol. II. p.

xxxviii. n.

or Three

and threes^ as

from contemporary inscriptions.

19) a

i85,Tav.xxxvii.

lady

is

PALVMBA SENE PEL, and

described as
in the crypt

that

is

They take
"

if

it is

I.

a given,

it

to their

the Lord meant to

corrupt the Font

of S. Prassede {Inscrr.
vol.

the

Christ's special

and apply

They

not unity but paucity.

1 The gall-Iessness attributed to the


Dove is brought in from Tertullian, De

tration

among

assume preeminence

which the essential character

separatist twos

commend

a prae-judicial separa-

It is

a transmitted power.

Blessing on the United

'own
'

itself

p. 421, no.

937)

Christ.

U. R.

we have PALVM-

Bvs sine pel. Compare ^aw/^/, Act II.


'But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack

sc. 2,

gall
-

To make oppression bitter.'


De Unit. cc. 6 9.
De Unit. cc. 10 12.

'

84 'THE UNITY.'
of Baptism'

OBLIGATION

the earliest appearance of Cyprian's


(mark here
'so that

great characteristic error)


'

than cleanses

sacrifice,

'

'

OF ESSENCE OF BELIEF.

IS

but

they erect a

it is

rival

water stains rather

its

they offer a

altar,

rival

the sacrifice of jealousy, and so their very

martyrdoms are wretchedly not crowns but judgments. For


while a Lapse from the faith is purged by the Baptism of

'

Blood the religion of the Schismatic

'

not for any narrower cause but that

'

principle of Christianity, a

'

Schism

schismatic's

is

spurious in essence,

it fails

in the first

broad

Loving Union with the brethren.

accordingly more fatal than lapsing, and the

is

death under the persecutor

is

no martyrdom,

'only a penalty and a despair.'

He comes

and

to passing events

living

established a separate
'

Be

'

to

that confessor

communion, can be none but Novatian.

who he may, he

is

God than Solomon once was.

not greater, better, dearer

Yet he retained God's grace

'only so long as he trode God's path... He


'

after confession the peril

'

voked.

He

is

'

the Gospel, for of the


fessor

'He

is

a confessor

but

not

and worthiness of Christ be


There

let

him be modest with

Christ whose confessor he


so, if

evil

is.

afterwards the greatness

spoken of through him\'

here an undertone of anxiety for the fidelity

is

of confessors
position of

more pro-

The more should he stand by


Gospel came his renown.... He is a con-

'discipline in action, like the

a confessor!
is

Let him be lowly and calm,

is

more, for the foe

is

a confessor

'

The
who has

persons.

eminent, unnamed, intemperate-tongued, confessor

at

large,

Roman

which exactly

affairs,

suits

the immediate

mingling with his thankfulness for

the general loyalty^, and echoing the personal appeals already

He

cited I

proceeds 'I would indeed, dearest brothers,

perish that

'counsel, I urge

'should

that, if

'bosom one united


^

De

c.

be possible, not one of the brothers

the joyful mother should lock to her

people.'

Unit. cc. 17, 20, 21.

22.

it

If the return of wilful leaders


^

Ep.

46.

be

IV.

ITS VIOLATION IS UNBELIEF.

I.

hopeless,

is still

it

85

conceivable to him that the mass of the

misled should see with their

own

eyes,

and extricate them-

selves from personal complications.

Lastly, he restates the nature

and obligation of unity and

the causes which underlie disunion.

The

unity of the Godhead, of the person of Christ, of the

must be reproduced in the unity of


the earthly congregation. Agreement is the medium of that
Sections from the living organism must lose vitality.
unity.

ideal church, of the faith,

The

unity of humanity within

itself

and with God

is

that in

which alone salvation consists \


'

'

'

'

As

for the real causes of disunion, its origin

theory of this or that teacher.

is

not in the

the natural

outcome of an age of recognised, sanctioned, recommended


selfishness which saps belief and moral force
selfishness

which

'together,

of

'principles
'

Loss of unity

is

undermines that

God-fearing,

faith

whereon

righteousness,

the

rest

and

love

hard

work, and diminishes the awe of things to come^'

This was penetrating doctrine

went to the heart of things.

Which of the churches will master it earliest


The suitability of the whole argument to the
need no illustration. The beauty
effectiveness,
its
.'*

tion

is

spirit.

the

dicits

searches alike the deeps of the divine word and of

human

heart.

Again and again

warnings have availed with


^

and

its

vehicle for the loving holiness and might of

fit

It

crisis,

of

Stripped of

its

figures this climax

its

persuasions and

its

nobler than the noblest

spirits

a matrice discesserit seorsum vivere et

non

poterit, substantiam salutis

23) contains the ground of Cyprian's


zeal and the essence of his doctrine.

spirare

The passage almost defies translation


unus Deus est, et Christus unus, et

Pkbs una, Hartel, misled perhaps


by false collation, on the authority of
IV, a mistake for
(Monacensis) and

(c.

'

una

ecclesia ejus,

et fides una, et plebs

[una] in solidam corporis unitatem concordise glutino copulata.

non

potest, nee corpus

Scindi unitas

unum

discidio

conpaginis separari, divulsis laceratione


visceribus in frusta discerpi.

Quicquid

amittit.'

V (Veronensis);

of

value on such a point.


zS.X.^x
-

plebs.

c. 26.

neither MS. of any

WGR omit una

THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

l86 CYPRIAN 'OF

which have agonized themselves into separations


in

hours of greater temptation than

yes,

and

theirs.

II.

Two

Questions on Cyprianic Unity,

Conviction or of Policy ?

Of

2.

Does

i.

it

Was it a theory of
Roman Ufiity ?

involve

the Unity of the Cathohc Church Cyprian has been

reverently,

suffered

purpose

is

hope, and dutifully, so far as a faithful

able to represent

Yet the merest

him

to speak for himself.

outline reveals the defects as well as the

merits of his marvellous book.

The impossibility of harmonizing his


with some phenomena of church histoiy
developement of one essential

The

theory, as
is

owing

it

to

stands,
its

non-

principle.

between a Visible and an Invisible Com-

distinction

munion upon earth did not present

itself to

him

still less

mem-

the true incorporation with the Visible Church itself of

We

bers not entirely sound.

are not called

upon

to dilate

on a topic which has engaged Hooker', but we must notice


that

it

is

this

same deficiency which

in his

next great

crisis

placed Cyprian himself in some danger of separatism.

But there

arise

two further questions

which

demand

candid answers.
1.

Was

Cyprian's view of the Church as one whole with

one proper and characteristic government a sincere doctrine

Had

he received

Christian thought

it

'

"i

Had

Or, was

it

been a reality to

.''

earlier

it

only the justification of his

practical policy, a tissue of the

ingenious suggestions point

by

.''

point of a difficult position


2.

Did

this

.''

theory of Unity rest on, contain, or logically


1

Eccl. Polity, B. III.

IV.

QU.

II.

WAS THE THEORY A

I.

POLICY.?

187

lead up to a recognition of a central church authority in the

Roman
The

or Petrine see

.-'

moment

questions are of

their bearing

The

apart from their interest, or

on Cyprian's honesty and on

his foresight.

Expounder

enquires whether Cyprian was an

first

or an Inventor of the Oneness of the Church.

The second
outcome of

Roman Supremacy was an

enquires whether

on that Oneness.

his teaching

Before the former question can be well answered

know whether
ference.

now

the word Ecclesia had until

the individual congregation

were

If that

or, if

we must

described only

more, more only by trans-

the Cyprianic theory was novel

so,

not more than an engine against Novatian.

If

it

were not

would probably reveal the


principle on which Oneness was attributed to an Ideal more
so,

the enquiry

the course of

complex or more abstract than that of

Now

'

parishes.'

a review of Cyprian's few Avritings before the Decian

persecution

is

enough to shew

idea then conveyed in the

in the first instance that the

word

'

Church was not limited to


'

the individual congregation, either with or without


pastor.

That name

is

from the

of the Faithful.

former senses are earlier


latter sense also

tion, as familiar to

Thus

New

Cyprian than the


effort

and of the

not the case that the

The

latter.

and without explana-

Book of Testimonies,

in contrast

It

is

the Church

with the Jewish.

Mother of Old Testament


the fruitful wife.

all.

in the First

People

in

It is

appears without

chief

used equally and without

first

distinction of the Congregation, of the Diocese,

Whole Body

its

figures,

It is the

proving more

is

the

Barren

fruitful

Test.

i.

^g"
p]

than

the Sara, the Rachel, the Hannah,

whose sons are types of the Christ. It is She who hath


borne the Seven Sons,' for it was to Seven Churches that
St Paul wrote as well as St John. In this one passage two
*

of the senses stand clearly out.

In the Second

Book

the 'Church

'

is

the

'

Spouse of Christ'

ii.

19.

CYPRIAN 'OF THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

l88
H.

V. 3.

H.

V. 10.

In the

'

Dress of Virgins,' the virgins themselves are

The Church had been planted and founded upon

In these three passages the larger sense alone

In the loth

Ep. 10.5.

cally the
Ep.

I.

I,

"

word

is

'Happy

letter,

Church of Carthage

used

in

both the

but in the very

mentioned

is

laid

the

in

'

that

is

in

down in a Council of earlier


same passage with the direction
'

in

the Church,'

In the same epistle, Clerks are to

the congregation.

their

time free from private business to serve

'

the Altar

and the Church,' just as in the 3rd (so numbered)


Ep.

3. 3.

the

first letter

the Church of the

in

that certain offenders are not to be prayed for

have

specifi-

and second of the three senses.

first

had been

Lord,' which

Peter.'

possible.

is

our Church' means

is

certain rule of clerical discipline

bishops,

the

Mother the Church.'

glorious fruitbearing of the


'

'

it

is

said

that the disobedience of Deacons to their Presbyter leads to

the

'

forsaking of

the

Church and the substitution of a

profane Altar.'
Ep.

2.

In the 2nd letter the Christian

2.

profession as a Dramatic Tutor

is

who

has to give up his

maintained by

'

the pro-

vision' and 'at the charges of the Churchl seemingly the

church to which he belongs, but

local
'

'

urged to 'learn

is

saving things within the Church instead of teaching deathful


things outside the Church.'
It

cannot be said then that the use of this word

the sense of

'

Congregation

aggregate sense, and

it is

'

or

'

Diocese

'

is

earlier

than

needless to point out how, in

of these instances, the eye sees in the Diocese the true

and

life

impossible to say that the earliest idea was

that of the plebes apart from


13.

'definition'

when Cyprian

'plebes established
'

severing in what

word

some
image

of the whole.

It is similarly

^/. 63.

in
its

it

171

tJie

its

writes

governing body.

Chicrch, faithfully

has believed.'

It

'The Church, that


It is

no

to be defined actually recurs within

is

is

no
the

and firmly per-

definition, for the

it,

and forms part

IV.

11.

'THE church' NOT THE ISOLATED CONGREGATION. 1 89

The

of the definition so-called \

'What

question remains,

the Church within which the plebes

thus established.'''

is

viduals

On

.''

Deacons

the

says

it

that

the

This imagined

'

letter is significant Ep.

own

Definition

Episcopate and of

has in

'

nothing

it

inconsistent with other words which really belong to

is

same period

to a Bishop

they are the Church

'

a Flock clinging to

In the 4th

one of

letter,

its

Commons

again exceeded.

his very

earliest,

If they refuse to be pure in

'

'

they cannot be readmitted to

tJie

'

on

and salvation

will

'

the old

'

with the

'is

Law

if

Church

we

find

and no

same

live,

and

habit,

they cannot count

In

For outside the

inasmuch as the House of God

Book of Testimonies we
if

is

read,

'

Schism not to

he who departs remain

in the

one Faith and

Tradition*.'

thought of the aggregate Church rose later on Cyprian's


mind, or grew up gradually out of the idea of the individual

From

the

first it

each in the other.


^

Ep.

Yet Ritschl

63.

It

is

was impossible not


also equally

(p. 91, pp. 241,

later

the supposed simplicity and absence of

p. 23.

organization

implied

in

what he

is

pleased to treat as a 'definition,' to


transpose

among

the

this

epistle

and

earliest letters

place

it

before the

Decian persecution.
2

This passage

is

than

But

think

to

anyone would give a date

do
it

to this 3rd
is

Book.

See

clear that this is a

general precept on schism, and has no


reference to Novatianism,
fore earlier

'

and

than Novatian.

would not have allowed


remained

not necessary to

to see literally

uncritical

this Catena, if

242) actually proposes, on account of

Test.

then uncritical and unhistorical to suppose that the

Church.

4. 4.

one can be safe but in the CJiurcJi!

be made, even

It is

never

who would not obey the Priest was slain


temporal sword. To be cast out of the Church now

In the 3rd

'the

life

an Ep.

is

not obey the Bishops.

to be slain with the spiritual sword.

One,

66.

he

Church they cannot

'

they

united Ep.

Shepherd.'

exposition of which the hardness and definiteness

life

3. 3.

Apostles constituted the

to be the ministers of their

'

the Church.'

which

numbered)

this the 3rd (so

enough when

'

Is

an unorganized, undisciplined, unruled aggregate of indi-

it

'

is

in the

is

there-

Cyprian

that Novatian

one Tradition.'

86

iii.

THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

190 CYPRIAN 'OF


that there ever

was a time when the Church was contem-

plated apart from

Each again was

itself

Church appeared

us,

impossible to conceive

is

it

it.

With the passage

to the other.

from the 4th epistle before


that the

Rulers or they from

Ministering

its

essential

to Cyprian to have ever carried

on or subsisted without

episcopal order

its

or ever to

have been anything but a Unity.

We

have seen before' what the Bishop was to

Congregation and

Was

Diocese.'

'

his

own

there anything which for

whole Church Catholic corresponded to the Bishop's

the

position

respect

in

answer

absolutely

is

own Diocese

own Diocese

of his
clear

What

that the whole united

The Cyprianic

.''

the Bishop was to his

Body

of Bishops was to

the whole Church.

When,
it is

Cyprian

'which

one sarcastic

in his

is

Bishops

ness

'

indeed

The Church,

not split nor divided but

is

each to each other^,' this grotesque-

fast cleaving

may

sarcastic

and compacted by a cement of

certainly knit together

'

and

writes to Florentius Puppianus,

"CATHOLIC, ONE,"

is

letter

put more forcibly, but does not express more

substantively, the ground which

assiuned in the earliest

is

epistles.

In the

engage
'

enacted &c.

'

'

Roman

presbyters

c. II. viii.

Ep. 66. 8

catholica

una

'

rentium

sibi

copulata.

the Bishops, our prede-

and soundly providing

may

be observed by

assume,

8th

the

in

letter,

est scissa

ecclesia

non

conexa

sit

authority for

'

quae

neque

et cohre-

that

^'//V/o

catholica

{qua

est)

take

it

it,

in

the
the

ct is conclusive; and for


and because it is assumed
as the ground for deduction,
to be meant as a quotation

this reason,

for
reli-

us.'

than single phrases can state

still

invicem sacerdotum

The

'
'

una' without

quando

divisa, sad sit utique

forbidding clerics to

'that so the decree of the Bishops,

sup.

Law

had been long ago determined

giously and needfully passed,

More palpably

'

Church

religiously considering

'cessors,

'

The

business

Council of the Bishops

in the

"this,

1st epistle

in secular

from the Baptismal Creed,

IV.

'AS BISHOP TO DIOCESE SO BISHOPS TO CHURCH.' I9I

II.

absence of both Bishops the two churches have to maintain


the brotherhood of mutual counsel.

numbered) An

In the 3rd (so


laid before the

individual Bishop having

body of Bishops a complaint against

of his own, Cyprian's reply speaks of


the Bishops and Prelates
surely,

if

'

'

Deacon

the Apostles, that

is

description of a united college

words can describe one.

Lastly

to go no further the great decision

is

until all the

Bishops of Africa can assemble and

of acting in

harmony with

The College

postponed

make

sure

the Bishops of Italy.

of Bishops, then,

the very form and sub-

is

stance of the inherited free government, advising by resolu-

commanding by mutual

tion,

consent, yet

when

not even

unanimous constraining a single dissentient bishop \ As the


Nicene Fathers did not make but formulated the Nicene

some

Faith, so the characteristic of Cyprian, his merit as

venture to think,

is

the clear outlining and distinct expression

which he gave to the principles which he found

and

in use,

the stedfastness with which he worked the code and submitted

himself to
those

who

it.

His characteristic reward was the loyalty of

felt his

loyalty to them,

felt it

rendered because

they were Bishops in council, though evidently not his peers


in learning or in policy.
If then the

First Question

theory of government

problems

.-

the answer

Did Cyprian create

be.

the Church in order to solve his

in
is

that

was

it

far older

his

own

than Cyprian,

although in him

it

and

Unity which seemed to Augustine the most

feeling after

was

lit

special characteristic of the

and

See Cyprian's speech on opening


Ritschl's

incredible

that sense of

Love

of these criticisms that they force

him

to place the 63rd epistle very early (see

remarks

on

having been put on, and

189

language on the Church appears to

him

and instrument, may be read

views

in the ori-

It is

worthy

because the simplicity of

p.
its

assumed by Cyprian as a mere weapon


ginal (pp. 89, 106, 109).

by

man^

the seventh Council.

this character

fired

n.),

inconsistent with

Cyprian's later

only, he ought then also to have

placed

the earliest

Epistles

and the

CYPRIAN 'OF THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

192

Our Second Question was, Did the theory of Cyprian


demand or lead up to or suggest a single Centre of Church
Government

Rome

at Rome or elsewhere

could not but be a centre of thought and feeling.

was not merely the largest, richest or strongest


was the head of the civilised world, with a practical
It

power and

fitness unattributable to

Was

other head before or since.

the Christian Church in

was

It

it

but was

such even to Carthage

had a

lofty undeniable

believed

have

.-*

need not stay to enquire whether Cappadocia, Antioch,

Jerusalem could so regard


it

it

the head

it

of the world-Church which was already in existence

was

reality of

and unimaginable of any

similarly not only the foremost church, but

We

It

city.

in

to be the

it

S.

it

it

primacy among

all

by

Certainly not less veneration could attach to

Alexandria of
even more

it

was.

of a different kind or

Did the theory of Cyprian

than to the

it

John

S.

say

order.-'

embodying
was, towards Rome, sug-

either in

the Western feeling, whatever this

successors.

his

Mark, or the Ephesus of

S.

but was

it

churches which

Foundation of Saint Peter, and to


Cathedra, ascended

Peter's

such to the West.''

Principalis^ Ecclesia

itself,

or as

gest that this see was a centre of aiitJiority or jurisdiction to

the Church at large

We

.-

have seen how each Bishop was

held to be a centre of authority and fountain of jurisdiction

Did the theory of the Oneness of the Church


One See whose influence em-

to his diocese.

involve that there should be

braced

all

analogously? that there should be a

other sees

Bishop of Bishops

The only

.-'

possible answer

is

that this conception, so far

from being verified or supported by Cyprian's theory, contradicts that theory, has

obliterate

it.

Testimonies

(which

simple'

is

are

overthrown

not

at

in his sense) very late.

compelled further to assert

(p.

all

He
94)

without a vestige of authority that in

it

in practice,

and tends to

de Unit. 5 the words from

nemo

to cor-

rz/w/ai" are a later interpolation,


^ Cyp.
Ep.
on Principalis

59.

14.

See Appendix

Ecclesia, p. 537.

IV.

TI.

1.

DOES IT LEAD UP TO THE ROMAN THEORY? 193

QU.

2.

We

shall presently see in detail that in order to

even the very language of Cyprian

adapt

the passage which they

in

thought the most favourable to their pretensions, the papal


apologists have framed, and at

dence

full

This does not look as

Cyprian here had ever been

if

shall see

how

Roman

with the

always

it,

sometimes wrongly

exhorting

buking him or making excuses

the

Roman

for him, or assuring

it

him that
of excom-

obeying him never\

municating others

But

but in

bishop, re-

he had excommunicated himself by his vain threats

3.

theory.-'

him sometimes, as we should

see exhibits

almost

Roman

practice exemplify the

the subsequent history of his intercourse

say, rightly in conflict with


conflict

be

felt to

side.

Does Cyprian's

2.

their

passage means something palpably different.

phrases the

We

hazards, and against evi-

Without the insertion of

grossest forgery in literature.

on their

all

and understood, have stedfastly maintained the

may

perhaps be

said, that great

are not always consistent, that his practice


inferior to his theory, or

men and

saints

may have been

even contradictory.

The answer to this is that the very mention of the supremacy of one Pontiff, or the universality of one jurisdiction, is
the precise contrary of the Cyprianic statements. The form
of government for the whole Church which these enunciate
that of a
tive

Body

Body.

its

whole episcopate.

members, appointed

Its

This
for life

is

is

a Representa-

by

free election,

They give their judgment by


They have no power of delegation, for Christ

represent each one diocesel


suffrages.

constituted them to govern,


1

Cyp. Epp. 68.

2,

72.

not to appoint governors.


75.

This

is

no

less the case

wherever

they are appointed by the Representatives

of Representatives.

ment by Presbyters
first

is

less

Appointafter

the

model. Presbyters not being proB.

perly representative of their congregations.

(Firmil.) 2, 3, 6, 17, 24, 25.

Purity

still

Cooption by other Bishops

less

satisfactory,

intolerable

plan

pointment by

own

order

is

while

that

the

is

only

of their

ap-

one superior of their

appointed

by a few

themselves.

13

of

194 CYPRIAN 'OF

THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

of conduct was essential to the continuance of any one of them

No

authority\

in his

borne by a majority,

though
all

it

home

'we hold

'

'

matter of administration, even

in a

were so grave a question as that of Rebaptism.

brother,' writes

'bring

'

could be over-

If

but one voted one way, that one could not be overruled in

the direction of
'

among them

minority

We

his

diocese.

Cyprian

in the

These considerations, dear

name

of his sixth Council,

'

we

your conscience out of regard to the Office

to

common and

in

'

to the simple love

we bear

you.

believe that you too, from the reality of your religious

feeling

and

approve what

faith,

we know

Nevertheless

religious as well as true.

is

who cannot

there are those

readily

'part with principles once imbibed, or easily alter a view

'of their own, but who, without hurting the bond of peace
'

and concord between colleagues, hold to special practices

'

once adopted

to

'

the Church each several prelate has the free discretion of his

and

among them

anyone and impose no

own will having to account to


The prelate who is thus allowed
'

No

right to direct all or

Tt remains

violence

administration of

in the

the Lord for his action^'

same freedom

the

governing his own diocese

rest of his order in

Bishop of Rome.

we do no

herein

For

law.

is

as the

Stephanus,

protest of his in answer claimed the

any of the

rest.

for us to deliver

each our judgment on the

'particular question,' so said Cyprian, opening the seventh

of his

Councils,

'

without

judging any, without removing

'

any from our communion, whose judgment may

'

our own.

'

bishops, or

'

None

of us

differ

from

constitutes himself a bishop over

makes it imperative for his colleagues to obey


him, through any despotic awe, inasmuch as every bishop

'by leave of his freedom and


^

Ep. 67.

'

Propter

quod plebs

obsequens prseceptis dominicis et

metuens a peccatore praposito

Deum

(sc. epis-

cope) separare se debet, nee se ad sacrilegi sacerdotis sacrificia misceve,

quando

office,

ipsa

has a free scope of

maxime

liabeat

potestatem

vel

eligendi dignos sacerdotes vel indignos


recusandi.'
-

Ep.

Cf.

72. 3.

Ep.

68. 3.

IV.II.

THECYPRIANIC AND ROMAN THEORIES CONTRARIES. 1 95

'

his

own, and can no more be judged of another than he

'

can himself judge another.

We

'judgment of our Lord Jesus

must

Christ,

alike await the

all

who

alone by Himself

of promoting us in the govern-

'

hath the

'

ment of His Church, and of judging our course of

office

{potestas)

action\'

In what then consisted in effect the unity of a body

4.

so constituted

It

.''

own

was a

together by

its

concord^.'

As problems

each by

The

itself.

practical unity, a moral unity, held

sense of unity, by

first

'

the cement of mutual

them

arose they were to consider

thing was that they should, with as

deliberate consultation as could be had, state their several

opinions without favour or


If

we

fear.

consider what great effects were produced, what far-

reaching and enduring results were secured, through the mere


exercise and utterance of this moral, or spiritual, judgment,

by men whose divine commission was simply


express

to

this,

we may perhaps

to use this,

and

think that an incessant

complaining of the unwillingness of imperial assemblies to


decide and give effect to church

discuss,
least not

the Church has worked

times

not

The

primitively church-like.

of

its will

impressive

measures,

periods

upon us through

in

is

at

which

civil rule

are

The immeasurably

spirituality.

higher enthusiasm and stronger effectiveness which has at-

tended

its

moral judgments under governments as

as surly, or

as indifferent

as

mere

politicians

hostile, or

could wish

governments to be towards really Christian matters, might


encourage the faith of modern churchmen
their

could not then resist their united voice without

hardihood, but

if

he did, he was unassailable unless vicious-

ness or false doctrine were patent in his

the value of

one undisputed prerogative.

A bishop

in

VII. Cone. Carth. Prcefat. Cypriani.

Ep.

68. 3.

and often quoted

An

important passage

to evince the consti-

life

or teaching.

In

so often to shew the simply moral force

of

its

action

which

is

what

it

shews.

tutional character of the body, but not

132

really

THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

196 CYPRIAN 'OF

was

that case the allegiance of his flock

He was to be regarded

to be withdrawn.

(says the African primate, with a strong

who had

local colouring) as a brigand chief

got possession

of a caravanserai \

The

divine reality of such their unity had been taught

Lord

typically in the respective charges of the

The

to the

Twelve ^

same

to each several apostle.

(such

is

But

for the sake of

many

Cyprian's interpretation) that

make many

language addressed to one only

Church

all.

to

all

As

nothing limited

it

in space,

the

shewing

first
is

decla-

couched

For that one

S. Peter.

occasion the words are to one, but the meaning


to

and

is

apostles did not

churches, but one only, therefore the

ration of the foundation of a universal


in

to Peter

authority and power committed

is

for ever

but the authority belonged

the apostles, wherever they went, so in time also, after

they were departed, nothing limited that authority to Peter's


successors

among

them

the successors of

charge to Peter appears

among

Though

all.

the

the earliest of Cyprian's

Christian ideas^, as does also the obedience due to bishops*,

yet Peter's successors are nowhere mentioned or hinted at by

But the suc-

Cyprian as necessary to the Church's Unity.

And

cessors of the other Apostles are.

of

them

it is

said that

the power given by Christ to them, in equal measure with


S. Peter,

passed on to the churches which they established,

and to the bishops who everywhere succeeded them.


headship attributed to the successors of one among

them would simply

Ep. 68. 3.
See Catena of passages on the
Unity from Peter, infra p. 197.
^ De Habitu Virgg. 10.
Ep. 4. 4, where the spiritual sword
1

priest.

"*

described to be as deadly to the spirit

as the material sword

was

to the life of

any who disobeyed the ancient high

This Ritschl himself confesses.

"^

is

the whole theory of the

ruin at once

It

be understood that he plays the


dangerous game of maintaining presby-

will

terianism against episcopacy, by trying

saddle

to

Cyprian's

the papacy as

Ep.

its

episcopacy

with

necessary deduction,

75. 16, see

Catena below.

IV.II.

THE CYPRIANIC AND ROMAN THEORIES CONTRARIES. 97


1

unity and of the authority which subsisted in the copiosum


corpus sacerdotum

the episcopates nmis, episcoporuvt nmltorum


And

concordi mimerositate diffusus \

this is Cyprian's theory.

Yet again, as that Body might not rule any one


Bishop, it follows a fortiori that any one Bishop could not
5.

Body.

rule that

such pretension could never

It is plain that

be set up without violating the principle and essence of


Cyprian's theory.

This theory could not even coexist with

The two views

the theory of a dominant centre.

are mutually

exclusive.

A singular fate overtook two strong sentences


Latin fathers.

It

is

comprehensible

how

of the early

the sentence of

Cyprian could be vivisected and injected with corruption


as

we

find

seemed to yield a sense contrary to its


to the context, and to the whole scheme
and to the leading idea of its author. But,

and

original force,

of the treatise,

that Tertullian's scornful

assumption
episcoporian,

parody of some Bishop of Rome's

Po7ttifex scilicet

edicit^,'

coming the actual


feat

till,

it

it,

should
and

title

maxiimis, qtiod est episcopus

have worked round into

be-

style of his successor, exhibits a

of that brilliant imagination which even

itself

could

never have realised.

Catena of Cypriamc passages on the Unity signified in the Charge


[a.D. 248.

to Peter.

Dominus pascendas tuendasque

Petrus etiam cui oves suas

commendat, super quern posuit et fundavit ecclesiam, aurum


quidem et argentum sibi esse negat,...

in Matt.

rhetorical contrast of the facts

xvi.

and Acts

iii.

not by

itself

touching the question of Unity.]


A.D. 251.

Probatio est ad fidem

Dominus ad Petrum
'et
*

facilis

veritatis.

super istam petram sedificabo ecclesiam

Dabo

inferorum non vincent earn.

In Cyprian this thought and these

words are

compendio

in perennial flow.

55. 24 is a strong

Loquitur

'ego tibi dico' inquit 'quia tu es Petrus

But Ep.

condensed chapter.

Cf.
^

tibi

Ep. 68.

meam,

et portse

claves regni ctelorum

3.

Text, de Piidicit.

i.

198

CATENA FROM CYPRIAN ON THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH


et quae

'

ligaveris

super terrain erunt ligata et in

caelis, et

'quaecumque solveris super terram erunt soluta et in caelis.'


Super uniim aedificat ecclesiam, et quamvis apostolis omnibus

suam paretn potestatem

post resurrectionem

me

Sicut misit

'

Sanctum

'

cujus tenueritis tenebuntur,'

unitatis

cujus remiseritis peccata, remittentur

si

tamen
ejusdem originem ab uno

Hoc

tate disposuit.

illi

si

ut unitatem inanifestarety
incipientein

sua auctori-

erant utiqtie et ceteri apostoli quod fuit

Petrus, pari consortio praediti

dium ab

tribuat et dicat

Accipite Spiritum

pater et ego mitto vos.

'

&\.

ho7ioris et potestatis^ sed exor-

unitate proficiscitur, ut ecclesia Christi

una monstretur.

Whatever may be the value of the argument or illustration, there can in this
The Apostles
its genuine shape be no doubt as to the meaning of the passage.
Simply to
are all made equal in honour and pov/er by our Lord's commission.
declare the unity of His Church, He, the first time that He gives that commission,
Afterwards he repeats the same commission (as Cyprian undergives it to one.
stood

it)

to

The

all.

origo, cxordiutJi, of unity starts {pj'oficiscihir)

from one as a

manifestation or demonstration (manifestaret, monstretur) of unity.

The same

teaching identically appears, with greater or less compression, but

with no variation of idea, in

Ep- 43-

5-

A.D. 250.

unity

forth in the

Ep.

\^. I-

A.D. 251.

other references to whomsoever addressed

{Plebi universce).
et cathedra

The

all

una super

est, et

Peirictn

Christus unus et

Domini

as follows

tma ecclesia

voce fundata.

here inferred from the Lord's voice speaking to Peter alone, as set

is

De

Deus unus

Unitate published the year after at the same place.

{Cornelio Fratri).

laborare

debemus

Hoc enim vel maxime, frater, et laboramus et


ut unitatem a. Domino etper apostolos nobis

successoribus traditam, [not vobis nor per Petrum successoribus^

but to the bishops as succeeding to that equal authority of


the apostles] quantum possumus obtinere curemus, et quod in
nobis est palabundas et errantes oves... in ecclesia colligamus.

Ep.

48. 3.

5,

Communicationem tuam

{Cornelio Fratri).
ecclesicB

unitatem pariter

et

id est catholicce

caritatefn [n. b.

not honorem or

potestate7n.\

Ep.

55. 8.

A.D. 252.

{Antoniano Fratri).

The

see of

Rome

is

Fabiani

locus, ..locus

Petri et gradus cathedrae sacerdotalis.

Ep.

59. 7.

iCor?telio

Fratri).

eodem Domino
ecclesice
r4.

...et

Petrus tamen super

voce respondens

ait,

ab
et

est.

{Florentio cui et Puppiano Fratri).

'ad

aedificata

ad Petri cathedram atque ad ecclesiam principalem unde

unitas sacerdotalis exorta

Ep.66.S. A.D. 254.

quem

unus pro omnibus loqjietis,


'Domine, ad quem imus ?'

fuerat ecclesia,

quem ibimus

&c.' loquitur

On same

illic

passage as -^/. 59. 7

Petrus super

cata fuerat ecclesia, ecclesice notnitte docens.

quem

aedifi-

AS TYPIFIED IN THE CHARGE TO


Ep.

71. 3.

{Qiiinto

A.D. 255.

Fratn, referred

here shews what deduction

Nam

is

to in

PETER.

199

Ep. 72 Stephana fratri).

Cyprian

S.

not to be drawn from the commission of our Lord.

nee Petrus, quern primum Dominus elegit


ecclesiam suam,

aedificavit

cum secum Paulus

et

super quern

disceptaret, vin-

dicavitsibialiquidinsolenter aut adroganter adsumpsitutdiceret

a novellis

se pri7natiim tenere et obtetnperari

et posteris sibi

potius oportere....
Peter did not draw the inference of his primacy from the fact of his selec-

I.e.

tion to be the

Ep. 73.

7.

'

origo

'

or

'

exordium of unity.
'

Manifestum

{Jtibaiano Fratri).

A.D. 256.

autem ubi

est

et per

quos

remissa peccatorum dari possit, quae in baptismo scilicet


Nam Petro primum Dominus, super quem aedificavit
datur.
ecclesiam, et tmde unitatis originem

instituit

potestatem istam dedit ut id solveretur


et post

solvisset.

resurrectionem quoque

dicens 'sicut misit

me

pater et ego mitto vos.'

cujus remiseritis peccata....' unde intellegimus


ecclesiae prcepositis et evangelica lege ac

to

one in token of unity was afterwards said

and

to

quod

ad apostolos

dixisset, inspiravit et ait illis 'accipite spiritum

fundatis licere baptizare....


In manner precisely parallel to the De Unitate he

ostendit,

et

[in terris]

ille

loquitur

hoc cum

sanctum,

non

si

nisi in

dominica ordinatione

infers that

what was

first

said

to all as their charter of authority

none but them.

{Firmilianus Cypriano Fratri).

Ep. 75. 16. A.D. 256.

Qualis vero error

sit et

quanta

remissionem peccatorum dicit apud synagogas


haereticorum dari posse, nee permanet in fundatnento unius
ecclesiae, quae semel a Christo super petram solidata est, hinc
intellegi potest quod soli Petro Christus dixerit 'quaecumque
cascitas ejus qui

ligaveris,

...'

insufflavit

et iterum in evangelic

Christus dicens

'

[quando] in solos apostolos


si
spiritum sanctum,

accipite

peccatorum remittendorum apostolts


quas illi a Christo missi constituerunt et

cujus...' potestas ergo

data est et

ecclesiis

episcopis qui eis ordinatione vicaria successerunt.

Here

similarly Firmilian

(who

as

is

well

known

echoes Cyprian to the

letter)

holds the voice to Peter to be the token of unity, and the powers to be shared by

the apostles, the churches and the successive bishops


17.

A.D. 256.

all alike.

manifestam Stephani stultitiam quod


qui sic de episcopatus sui loco gloriatur et se successionem
Petri tenere contendit, super quem fundamenta ecclesiae collo-

...banc

tam apertam

et

cata sunt, multas alias petras inducat et ecclesiarum multarum


nova aedificia constituat, dum esse illic baptisma sua auctoritate defendit.
I.e.

The

present bishop of

Rome, Stephanus, who

succession, sacrifices the prerogative of himself

and

recognising baptism external to the church and them.

so prides himself

all

on

his

other true bishops by

200 CYPRIAN 'OF

THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

III.

The Appeal of the modern Church of Rome to Cyprian on The


by way of Interpolation.
Unity of the Catholic Chnrch
'

'

Notwithstanding

its

somewhat

technical character,

can-

not but present this strange matter as part of the continuous


narrative of Cyprian's
his formative influence

'

The conception

Life and Work.'

of

on the Church of Christ would be at

once exaggerated and incomplete without some account taken


of an

immense power claimed

in

his

through the shadow of his name, by

have no act or

word of

real

name, and exercised

men and

shew on

his to

societies

who

their side.

In the year 1682 the Gallican Church held that celebrated

assembly which affirmed their ancient Liberties, and described


in

The Four

Bossuet

Articles the limits of papal authority.

in the

most eloquent perhaps of

discoursed to them,

Peace

'

The

his

Yet, as

harangues had

object of that assembly was Peace'

with Innocent the Eleventh.

'

Conserver I'Unit^

was the guiding thought of Bossuet's life\ Their Synodical


Letter^ therefore, addressed to the whole French hierarchy,
prefaced

its

protest against that

pontiff^s usurpations

with

That duty was established and acknowledged by words borrowed from Cyprian's
fourth chapter on Unity the printed text.
a confession of their duty to his See.

exaggerate the

It is difficult to

effect of those

words even

amid the universal indignation which then possessed court,


Church and people. The authority of that primaeval voice
was once more as conclusive as it had now been for some
centuries. It was alleged as conclusive, and was alleged alone.
And yet the great orator of Meaux, amid his own array
^

Sermon preche

(9

Nov. 1681) a
du

I'ouverture de I'assemblee generale

Clerge de
rglise.

France,

'

Sur

I'Unite

de

Lettre de I'assemblee du Clerge de

France, tenue en 1682, a tousles Prelats

de rglise Gallicane.

Dupin, Liberies

de r^glise Gallicane (i860).

IV.

THE ROMAN APPEAL TO THE BOOK.

III.

201

of inconclusive authorities, forbore to marshal this capital and


decisive text.

That very year there appeared the new English edition


from which that text was omitted.

The words

may

tion

The

are spurious.

history of their interpola-

be distinctly traced even now, and

is

it

as singular

as their controversial importance has been unmeasured.

a history which well

may make

it

the most interesting of

But the Ultramontane

literary forgeries.

and as he may long remain

we

so,

It is

is still

unconvinced,

lay the evidence before

others.

The

eloquent Mgr. Freppel, Bishop of Angers, late Pro-

fessor at the Sorbonne,

in

which capacity he delivered his

course of lectures on Saint Cyprian, repeats the contention


that the giving of the keys to Peter and the charge to feed

the flock

'

is

support of

the charter of investiture of the papacy,' and in

it

asks leave

able

passage' of

*may

raise

'

to place

Cyprian.

remark-

this

difficulty

criticism

on the authenticity of such or such a word

'particular' does not affect the


'to

under our eyes

'Whatever

'We have

argument.

in

a right

maintain a reading which has such numerous and such

'antient testimonies for itself V

quote this merely as a clear statement of the position

which Romish argument has taken and


passage and as to

its

value as

still

stands I

it

takes as to the

It is

easy to allege

that 'Cyprian only repeats here

what he says so many times

elsewhere,' but the tenacity with

which

this place

is

reprinted

and repeated betokens well enough the misgiving

as to the

other passages being capable of enduring the required mean-

ing without the


^

comment

of this fabrication

Par M. I'Abbe Frep-

S. Cyprien.

Most old copies of Cyprian bear

pel, Prof, a la Faculte

de Theologie de

witness to the agitations of spirit over

Paris 1865 (Cours

a la Sorbonne),

these clauses.

pp. 277
^

fait

291.

Maran

See also Prof. Hurter, S.

Patrum

Opusc.

1.

p. 72.

J.,

^6".

erased and
sides.

Beside

(Venet. 1758);

references

Pamele,

me

casually

some

placed at

clean

is

lines are

the

throughout

202 CYPRIAN 'OF

THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

The 'numerous and

ancient

testimonies' consist of (i)

the editions which contain the passages, and the mamcscripts on

which they are supposed to

Our simplest method

is

as this author reproduces

of Manutius (1563) (who

Rigault (1648),
"

Dom

The Lord

art Peter,

of the passage.

(2) Citations

rest.

to give the passage in


(as

it

Maran

exactly

he says) from 'the editions

printed

first

full,

it),

De Pamele

(1568),

(1726)'.'

saith unto Peter, 'I say unto thee that thou

and upon

this rock will I build

the gates of hell shall not prevail against

my

Church, and
give

I will

it.

unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven

and what-

soever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,

and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed


And to the same [apostle) He says after His rein heaven.'

my sheep! He builds/Z/j Church upon that


His sheep to be fed. And although
after His resurrection He assigns equal power to all His
apostles, and says 'As the Father sent me even so send

surrection 'Feed

one,

and to him

entrusts

you, receive ye the Ploly Ghost

whosesoever sins ye

remit they shall be remitted unto him, and whosesoever


sins

ye retain they

shall

be retained,' nevertheless

in

make the unity manifest. He established one


and by His own authority appointed the origin of

order to
Chair,

that

same unity beginning from

one.

Certainly the rest

of the apostles were that which Peter also was, endued

equal

with

partnership

both

of

honour and

office,

but the beginning sets out from unity, attd Primacy


given

may

to Peter,

that one Chttrch of Christ

be pointed out;

and

except for two very soiled pages here

with ruffled corners.

Baluze (Paris

1726) has racy passages written out into


the margins,
so appears.

and the whole of this


So of the two Pembroke

MSS., one has the passage scored with a

is

and one Chair

all are pastors ajid one flock is

pencil, the other with a knife,


^

tins

We

must however

state that

Manu-

does not give the clause 'he

who

on which the
Church was founded,' nor Maran the
deserts the chair of Peter

words

'established

one

chair

and,'

IV.

THE ROMAN INTERPOLATIONS.

III.

shown,

203

by all the apostles with one-hearted accord,

to be fed

Church of Christ may be pointed out. It is this


one Church which the Holy Spirit in the Person of the
Lord speaks of in the Song of Songs, saying My dove
that one

'

one,

is

my

perfect one, one

who brought

her

her

is

she to her mother, elect to

He

forth.'

that holds not this unity

of the Church, does he believe that he holds the

He who

faith.?

and rebels against the Church, he who

strives

Chair of Peter on which the Church was founded,


does he trust that he is in the Church.? Since the blessed

deserts the

Apostle Paul also...'"

The words

admittedly must be from the pen of

in italics

one who taught the cardinal doctrine of the


Cyprian wrote them he held that doctrine.
guising the

fact.

There

see.

If

no

dis-

is

Onofrio Panvinio" for instance in his great

on the Primacy of Peter places

treatise

Roman

this

whole passage

from Cyprian 'foremost of the holy Fathers' next


citations of Scripture,

after his

and the words we have printed

he has anticipated us by printing

in italics

in capitals as the crucial

and

decisive ones.

But the reader


italicised

a different one.

is

will

observe that, separated

from the

words, the passage runs smooth and the doctrine


It

is

the doctrine of a catholicity perfect

without hint of Petrine or of any primacy.

in unity

have already seen,

it

As we

exhibits a unity indicated (such

is

the

argument of the passage) by Christ's committing one


and the same charge, first to one and then to all of the

special

apostles as peers or equals of that one.

Now

the indictment

we

prefer

is

that every italicised

word

a forgery; and a forgery deliberately for three centuries

is

past forced
editors
^

by papal authority

and printers who were

See Latin Text in^/5/^M^/;i;(p. 549)

O.

Panvinio,

at
et

its

mercy.

De

prhitaUi

Petri

The

upon
recent

Apostolica sedis potesiate, pp.

Veronse, 1589.

with collations.
^

in the teeth of evidence

3,

4.

THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

204 CYPRIAN 'OF

labour of Hartel reveals a similar process at work long be-

The

upon the manuscripts.

fore

patent, but

now we can

corruptions were always

actually watch the agents.

If proven, the interest of our tale

is

beyond that of

Dukes and

curiosity or even literary morality.

literary

Cardinals,

and Masters of the Palace prevailed over broken-

Prelates

hearted scholars.

was a Battle of the Standard, fought

It

that a forgery might not be (as one of the defenders expressed


it)

'ravi

the

I'Eglise.'

All that energy,

very tone of this

moment

that diplomacy,

all

are

the best

witnesses

to the value of the Protestant conviction that, although all

Cyprian would have to be read by the light of those phrases


could they be saved, Cyprian without them
witness against those assumptions.

with the literary evidence.

We

will take the

The

The

is

an irrefragable

But our business

reader

may

is

now

point the moral.

manuscript history of the passage

first.

codices of Cyprian^ de Unitate which are older than

the tenth century are as follows

The Seguier manuscript at Paris so styled from its first


known possessor the great Chancellor, from whom it passed to
the Prince Bishop Coislin of Metz, thence to the Abbey of
;

S.

to

Germain des Pres by


the

his gift, thence after the fire of 1793

Library of Paris, where

it

is

now.

It

is

a most

precious volume of the Sixth or the Seventh century preserving the most genuine readings and oldest forms of words,

and

it is

distinguished in collations as S,

The Verona Codex

of the Sixth or Seventh century (V),

an uncial MS. which was given to Charles Borromeo by the


canons of Verona, used by Latinius in preparing his notes for
the edition of Manutius, and further known to us by his
collations, copies of

Rigault,

and another copy

what inaccurate
Bp. Fell.
1

which were

collation

is

in the

extant at Gottingen.

was

also

Latinius was certain that

Hartel, Prsef.

ii.,

iii.,

hands of Baluze and

it

made by

A some-

R. Rigby for

was of the Sixth century.

v., ix., xii., xiv., xix., xxii., xxiii., Ixxx., Ixxxiv.

IV.

THE INTERPOLATIONS AND THE MANUSCRIPTS.

III.

The Codex Beneventanus

(called also

We

one of the best manuscripts \

205

NeapoHtanus) was

are acquainted with

it

made by Ant. Agostino Bishop of Alifi and


from
used by Rigault, and those made by Rigby for Bishop Fell.
The MS. of Wurzburg (W) of the Eighth or Ninth century,
the collations

ascribed

The

by some

to the Seventh.

codices Reginensis ii6 (R) and

San Gallensis 89

(G),

both of the Ninth.


In not one of these manuscripts have the italicised words

appeared

Of

any shape.

in

Trecensis (Q) of the Eighth or Ninth Century, and of

Monacensis (M) of the Ninth, we

The

speak presently.

will

Canon of

great scholar Latino Latini,

died at the age of 80 in 1593,

tells

manuscripts (integros) of Cyprian

in

Viterbo,

who

us he had seen seven

the Vatican in which

all

these words were wanting^.

Baluze^ says

that

he had himself seen

twenty-seven

manuscripts without them.

Bishop Fell used four English codices of which none

have a trace of our

italics

and besides these four English

manuscripts (to which we add a Pembroke codex missed


by him^) all have only the additional Post-Resurrection
Charge to St Peter, (a mere parallel text,) without any word at
all about the Chair, the Primacy of Peter, the Unity of Peter,
or the desertion of the Church founded on Peter.
These
manuscripts are

all

of the tenth century or

Baluze says that the


Hartel, pp.

Latino Latini, Bibliotheca Sacra

citatis.

(Afagri),

et

Romae

Cypriani

Opera.

Comm.

1726, p. 545.
^

Viz. Bod.

Sarum,

I,

Ebor,

Baluze.

Paris,

end of this volume.


Viz. Bod. 2, Lambeth, Lincoln,
N. C. i, and Pem. 2. [Fell's readings

at

New

College

Voss'

of

in loc.
2,

In spite of these Fell kept the

interpolated post-resurrection charge to


Peter.

collations

ofthe English manuscripts see Appendix

1677, p. 179.
^

of the time of

For a description and new

Profana a D. Macro

later.

German manuscripts

MSS.

have

not

been

re-

vised.]

545.

Cypriani Opera.

Paris,

1726,

p.

THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

206 CYPRIAN 'OF

Venericus bishop of Vercelli^ seem not to have had these

words

nor are they found

any of the earher editions

in

that of Manutius in 1563

(or

which appeared before

reprints) of Cyprian

numerous

their

and which represent to us many

manuscripts which have long disappeared ^

We

must now see what authority there

is

favour of

in

the itahcs against this mass of negative evidence.

In 1568 Jacques

Pamele, canon of Bruges, brought out

Ignorant of the facts and of Latini's griefs (of

his Cyprian.

which we

De

he

presently speak),

shall

Manutius'

accepted

edition as representing the famous Verona manuscript.

as Latini hinted

he had no nose

spurious

the

think

to

'

tract

'

Cyprian's style, and careless

manuscript*

belonging

Hainault, which was

any known copy.

to

more

He

on

Dice-players

He

in

Latin

its

surrendered himself to

abbey of Cambron*

the

in

throughout than

interpolated

thought

was

'

enough to say that

texts were in Cyprianic form.

he was absurd enough

'

But

confirmed the Verona

it

reading.

corruption according to Baluze was found also in

The

an ancient manuscript of Marcello Cervini, afterwards Pope


Marcellus II., and this one was used by Onofrio Panvinio^
It

was found

Fell

in a certain

Bavarian manuscript which Bishop

knew only through Gretser^ who

A.D.

1078

1082.

Gams,

Series

Very inaccurate accounts of these

editions are prefixed to the editions of

Baluzius by

him {Epp.

of Fell, and re-

Maran and

authors

'

Not that manuscripts caused Jacques

De Pamele unreasonable trouble.


nius, in

one of

Lati-

his polished letters to

was

p. 309), admires the con-

see ancient

aliam formam a nativa deif

they were edited as his

to

'

'interpola Hartel.

Codex Cambronensis

tior interpolatissimis'

Baluze, Cypr. Opera, p. 545; Pan-

vinio,

Prsefatio.'

it

friend edits 'contra fidem codicum.'

Hartel has examined and given a careful

account of them in his

in

generasse'

peated in the Oxford translation of Cyprian, p. 151 (Library of the Fathers).

'

i.

us

which we should

dition in

Episcoporiitn, p. 825.

assures

De Prim.

Petr. p. 4, only alludes

scripta exemplaria.'
J. Gretser, de

bendi,

jure

expurgandi,

et

et

more prohi-

abolendi

libros

IV.

of

THE MANUSCRIPT EVIDENCE OF THE FORGERIES. 20/

III.

'

We

the highest stamp.'

more about

mind

the reader will only bear in

if

it

however presently know

shall

that this

was evidently the Munich manuscript, Monacensis or M.


The manuscripts which have this passage have it with
the varieties, omissions, and

all

transpositions which uni-

The

versally indicate corruption of text.

additions like those in Manutius

one of the tenth century.

is

belonged to Isaac Voss and

It

oldest which has

called

is

is

it

copied

T, and partly from interpolated manuscripts\

partly from

But we may pass

we

over as

it

higher up the stream.

meet the corruption

shall

we need not

Similarly

here concern

ourselves about a manuscript of the fifteenth century in the

Bodleian^ which has a like tale to

But there

one^

is

in

tell.

the Bodleian

of

the eleventh, or

perhaps the tenth century, which exhibits well the most

and interesting phenomenon connected with the

peculiar

There once existed a manuscript of Cyprian

manuscripts.

of which three others

now extant belonging

and

are

centuries

earlier

Troyes Codex,

Trecensis,

century

Munich codex,

ninth

the

may

which we

II., c. 7,

all

call

the

eighth or ninth

of the

Q,

tenth

are

Monacensis,

M, of the

or

'

the Archetype*.

He

p. 303.)

upon this codex

copied from copies of one lost manuscript

(Ingoldstadt, 1603,

hareticos et noxios.

says he

Appendix, p. 549, as to
Hartel, p.

additions,'

fell

in Bavarica bibliotheca

membranaceum...optimce
^

or

the

to

three

and the Bodleian just named, of the tenth or eleventh.

These three are

Lib.

These

copies.

He

xl.

pp.

xi.

its

notse.'

See

readings.

says ^the same

and

xii.

n.,

but

Monacensis, M, are independent copies

ofonecopyofthelost Archetype(Hartel,

Our Bodleian, which

p. xxxv).

described by Hartel,

is

that

same copy of the

for

though

it

lost

has the

almost the same,

still

is

not

not copied from


manuscript,

interpolations

its

readings de-

viate

from

'this unity of Peter's' instead of 'this

and Q, and these deviations are better and more genuine read-

unity of the Church.

ings.

It

it

worse than Manutius in reading

is

Fell's 'Bod. 3.'

Fell's

'Bod.

4,'

loth

or

nth

cent.
*

The Codex

was copied then from a

lost

manuscript other and better than the

immediate original of
%vith

Trecensis,

Q,

and

Hartel

original

we

<X>

call

M and Q. If
M and Q's lost

we may

call

the lost

THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

308 CYPRTAN 'OF

Now

seems

it

almost incredible

these manuscripts should

but

the manipulation practised on their forefather.

and

come

give the

end of

to the

passage

interpolated

with

it

that

true

is

it

minutely as they do

so

reveal

in

full,

Codices

and having

four inserted clauses they

its

proceed without stop or stay to give the genuine passage


without any interpolations at

comes the doctored

First

all.

was intended,

recension which the scribe of the Archetype

by the person who


an

emphatic

began He
'

built

cue

the

of

repetition

substitute

in

keyword

the

with

the

for

the

it

thrice-

repeated keyword

final

from

original

which

But the

His Church upon One\'

copier supposed this

fortunate

be

him, to

directed

This remodelled paragraph was finished up with

original.

which

he was

to

to

go

Accordingly having copied out his interpolated pattern

on.

schedule he went

on

those words

from

manuscript before him, and wrote out

in

genuine passage which began with them^.

Codex

gives

interpolated

three

first

the genuine

in his simplicity the

clauses

The Bodleian
only but

in

repetition of the whole passage inserts the fourth inter-

its

polation.
If

any one

How

asks.

copyists could so flagrantly go on

giving a genuine and an interpolated text on the same page,

we can only be

thankful to the fatuous or cynical fidelity

which wrote out what was before

Many and

it.

inferior

But the double


a long time.
For example,

manuscripts give only the corrupt form.

form went on being copied

for

the third Bodleian MS. of Fell, as


still

and what

is

still

original of the Bodleian


is

more remarkable the

<X

coordinate with Hartel's

2>

It

<X>and

<Y>.
1

'

just

sized

we have mentioned, has

the duplicate form^ as late as the fifteenth century,

Super

ffidifif7'zV

ecclesiam,

others have similarly emphaby redoubling them the similar

as

theologian

words 'That the Church of Christ may


be shewn as one.'
^

unum

Jesuit

See Appendix,

p.

549.

Hartel,

Prsef. pp. x., xi., xliii., notes pp. 212,

213.
-^

Bod.

3,

Laud Misc.

217.

IV.

INTERPOLATIONS FORCED ON MANUTIUS' TEXT. 209

III.

Gretser copies

it

fury to demolish

out double word for word in triumphant

Thomas James

prove as he says that

papistse

the

'

English Calvinian,' to

have seen manuscripts

\'

Thus if there never was a viler fraud than the inventor's,


was never a worse nemesis than the honest obtuseness

there

of his instrument.

We

must now enquire how interpolations against which

the manuscripts

embodied
in

bore such conclusive evidence

for the first

1563 after

all

came

to be

time in the edition of Paulus Manutius

and reprints had escaped

earlier editions

them^

The son of the great Aldus had been two years settled in
Rome, loaded with every kindness, honour, and privilege his
failing health spared by a staff of able correctors who were
assigned to him for the great undertaking of the new Papal
;

Cyprian was the

press in Greek, Latin and the Vernacular.

been truly anxious


to

Charles Borromeo had

author issued from that press.

first

its

for the restoration of the text of

Cyprian

The Verona manuscript had been

primitive integrity.

procured by him for the purpose.

The
Besides

editing of the text was committed to Latino Latini.


'

many

collecting with

illustrative

commentary on

watchings and labours

obscure

passages,

'

an

made

he

accurate collations and prepared a brief critical commentary

on the readings^ In one of his private letters'* he complains


that after the most conscientious labour upon the text he
found

that, while passing

through the press, not only were

Biblical quotations altered to conformity with the Vulgate,

but besides,
^

Gretser,

/. c.

'

whether
p.

303

it

was

(Ingoldstadt

Hartel names 10 edd., and there


at least 20, including reprints of

ascertains that he

Besides the Verona and Benevento

(or Naples)

B.

censis
*

(<p)

n.

codex,

Hartel, p. Ixxx.,

certain

had of our extant

199 and prob. Mona-

(/m).

Ad

Andr. Masium (Maes)

109 [Hartel, p.

Erasmus.
^

mere pleasure of

ones Vat.

1603).

were

at the

x., cf. p.

11.

Ixxx.],

p.

and

Life of Latini prefixed to the Bibliotheca.

14

THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

2IO CYPRIAN 'OF


'

'

knew

persons or of set design, he

not, sovie

passages were

Under

some additions made.'

name

not allow his


it

'

letter/

these circumstances he would

to be connected with the edition,

and withdrew

Profana,

et

even

'

deeming

no light crime to conceal the truth or to alter the smallest

'

then

MS.

Saint

at

In the Bibliotheca Sacra

his annotations.

same

or collected notes of the

three epistles of Cyprian

critic \

he mentions

discovered by himself in the

first

Salvadore's

at

Roman

the

two
from

Clergy which Cyprian treats contemptuously was

These he says the superior authorities* would not allow

one.

be

to

in

letter

Bologna, and

Vatican MSS., of which epistles the arrogant 8th

published

'

all in

anti-Roman

to allow the

also

un-emended,' and

appear at

epistle does not

'

and

retained contrary to the evidence of the manuscripts,

brought forth out of darkness

have acquiesced,

'

accordingly the

They

that edition.

of Firmilian

epistle

but

in this

be

to

Latini seems to

Upon a

detesting the man's petulance^'

'

8th

refused

remark of Pamelius* censuring a certain reading of Manutius


a few
'

is

forward

lines

in

the

De

Unitate, he

observes

'

this

one of the alterations which were made neither by me, nor

'by Manutius. but by one who had permission to pervert,


'

to add, to cut out, or to corrupt whatever he would, against

'

my

will.'

That our present interpolations were among


sonage's

manipulations

the same page, that he


script except
'

'

in a

a small book

is

clear

had never

seen these in

belonging to Vianesius de Albergatis,


plete

'

copied) which

There

is

Bibl. Sacr.

Qui

B.

et

any manu-

fragment very recently written at Bologna,

'

at

per-

containing only a few treatises of Cyprian,

'

copy

this

from Latini's statement on

and

also in a

com-

Bologna (from which the said fragment was

was

itself also

written in a recent hand.'

the Library at Gottingen^ a copy (brought

in

Prof.,^. \1jfb.

S. et P., p. iTT

262

prseerant, I.e.
b.

Rarael.,
a,

note

Cypr.

4.

Hartel, p.

B.
xi.

(Antv.

1568),

S. et P., p. 179 a.

and

p. 213 n.

p.

IV.

INTERPOLATIONS FORCED ON MANUTIUS' TEXT. 211

III.

from Venice) of the edition of Manutius, with notes written on


margin.

its

One

Latini.

Those notes are copies of manuscript notes by


These
of these notes says upon this place.
'

'

words were added out of a single manuscript belonging to

'

Virosius (a clerical error for Vianesius) of Bologna,

'

the Vatican,

'

of the Master of the Sacred Palace.'

by

P.

now

in

Gabriel the Pcenitentiary with the consent

So

close a chain of

evidence leaves no doubt as to the time, manner and per-

formers of the interpolation.

The most competent

editor of his age

and country

felt

compelled to resign his work because he was powerless to


prevent the Theologues of the Vatican from remodelling his

But we are not quite at the end of

text.

this strange story.

In the Council of Trent in the year 1563 the debate was at


its

height

or of

'

whether Bishops have their powers of Divine right

Papal

Rome,

The ambiguous canon proposed from

right^.'

that bishops hold the principal place dependent on

the pope, was under discussion with a view to substituting


for

it,

chief under the

from Cyprian were

pope but not dependent.

rife.

Quotations

About the 20th of June, Carlo

Visconti, Bp. of Ventimiglia, the pope's secret

minister at

Trent, and his spy upon his legates, an experienced diplomatist and

Rome

'

telling

man
him

of exact judgment,' received letters from


that the

new Cyprian had appeared, with

the passages which the correctors had expunged from the


Unitate'^.

The

De

possible effect on the Council itself was serious.

now bishop of Lerida, a


great lawyer, diplomatist and antiquarian, who had received
the same intelligence and with it a copy of the new book. He
could tell Visconti that Latini himself had many days back
Visconti went straight to Agostino,

communicated the

facts to Cardinal

he thoroughly understood, for


^

De jure

divino, de jure p(ttificio.

See Sarpi, Books

vi., vii., asp. vii. 52.

it

Hosio (Osius)

facts

which

was he who had years before


^

An

Visconti
apt

wrote

'

de

Authoritate.'

slip.

14

212 CYPRIAN 'OF

made

THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'


The Agent

the collation of the Benevento manuscript.

told the one Legate

whom

the pope

trusted there, Cardinal

Simoneta, and on June 22nd advised the Vatican that 'before


such an opinioii got established

been overruled,

'

as that the correctors

'

they should find means to remove

it

had

which

'

could be done by giving authority to those words which had

'

been published, authenticating them with the testimony and

'

approbation of persons

'

antient codices

So

who had

writes one

who had

the persons

who had seen and confronted

the

\'

'

just recorded the 'testimony' of

confronted

'

the antient codices,

the

such measures.

But

verdict of the correctors.

Even

in

the note

meaning
'

1563

it

was a

little late

actually attached
It

'^

ends thus, 'It

catholic interpretations

the

to
is

for

volume

now

is

not improper

if

full

of

pious and

and true senses be applied to the

'writings of the old fathers in order to preserve always the


'

unity of the Church which Cyprian in his writings had most

'

at heart.

Otherwise no end to heresies and schisms.'

This

must have sounded mysterious to the unsuspecting student


of Cyprian

meant

at

and they were few who knew that they were

once to gloze the gloss and to defend the scholar-

ship of the perpetrators.

Such

is

the history of the interpolations in the edition

of Manutius where they

Their appearance

first

appeared.

in the

Benedictine edition

is

no

less

remarkable.

Baluze had rejected them on the weighty evidence which

he states with utmost clearness^ and had printed off the


^

Epp. Car. Vicecomitis, L.

xlv. al

Card. Borromeo [Baluze, Miscell.

ill.,

1764]. See
472 (Mansi), Lucas 1761
Appendix, Visconti's Letter, p. 544.

p.

See same Appendix,

His witnesses being

indicated) the Seguierian

p. 545.

(as

we have

and Veronese

manuscripts, Latini's account, the

27

codices, the condition of the text temp,

Venerici Vercell., and the citations (see

below) by Calixtus

II.,

the cardinals in

1408, and the

Roman

Correctors (see

p. 218, n. 5) p.

545 (Paris ed. 1726).

INTERPOLATIONS FORCED ON BENEDICTINE TEXT. 213

IV.III.

His death

sheets without them.

1718 interrupted the work

in

which had been committed by order of the Regent Duke


of Orleans to the Royal Press.

In 1724

completion by the Benedictines of


of

Typographiae Regiae

'

it

was resumed

Maur

S.

and entrusted to

Praefectus,'

Dom

Prudent Maran.

Baluze had formerly been banished

Louis XIV. and

his

property

his History of the

in

and

cartulary

an

for

at the request

confiscated,

by

publishing

for

House of Auvergne fragments of a

obituary which shewed the descent of

the Cardinal de Bouillon from a sovereign house in France*.

He

had been placed

in the

Index by the court of

account of his Lives of the Popes at Avignon.

genuine text of

his

by

J.

passage

this

du Mabaret, Professor

Rome on
And now

Cyprian was assailed

in

the seminary at Angers, in

in

now

a dissertation^ which he submitted to Cardinal Fleury,


Minister, to the

dominant

The

of the holy see.

decide the

Jesuits,

in the interest

named a commission

minister

critical question.

culty with the court of

and others

to

was understood that a diffiwould follow the omission of

It

Rome

the passages from an edition issued under the authority of the


ministry.

It

courtiers, the
flatteries
office.

Due

d'Antin, of

whom

it

prince of

was said that he acted

which others spoke, was charged with the delicate

He

Targnyl

The

was decided to restore them.

requested

The

Dom

Maran

result of the

The accuracy and honesty

of Ba-

'

to

'

confer

conference

'

'

with the abbe

was what
Le

the admirable Camille

whom

printers

Tellier,

abbe

luze in that most curious of historical

de Louvois, to

disputes are demonstrated

by M. Ch.
'Le cardinal de Bouillon,
Baluze, Mabillon et Th. Ruinart, &c.'
Rheims, 1870.
Lettred'uns9avantd'A.auxAuteurs
des Memoires de Trevoux pour reclamer
un Passage important de S. Cyprien
pret a etre enleve par de celebres Edi-

logian,'

Loriquet,

death, the confidence of the' Cardinal

'^

Memoires de Trevoux for Oct.


See /^//fWiJ*-, p. 546.
1726.
* Targny enjoyed the confidence of

teurs.

and

after

he was 'Theo-

Le

Tellier's

early

de Rohan, and died in 1737.


See
Sainte Beuve, Index de /lir^ v?(ya/. The
Latin rendering of Chiniac (see p. 216,
n.

1)

confuses the history by a mis-

translation

Targny
dicti

worth noting.

(theologo

'Cum abbate

Domini

ie

Tellier

Abbatis de Louvois) tunc in rebus

ecclesiasticis

partes

Abbe de Louvois had

agentis.'

The

died in 17 18 and

214 CYPRIAN 'OF


call

The

a cancel'

'

THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

tions inserted, at the

symmetry,

moral

expense of typographical as well as

'necessary to

alter

much

would have been altered

'

effected.'

Rigault'

that of

in

all

text in

had been

and that more

notes,

the words can scarcely be

French editions
being

truth

them and

that

is

for 150 years,

Rigault

that

prints the uncorrupt

full.

perceive

'it

for the reintroduction

the

in his foot-notes repudiates

and

reduced,

could have been conveniently

if it

The double sense of


The sole ground alleged

the 'words had appeared in

greatly

stating that

it

Baluze's

in

'

even

note

Baluze's

incorporated with

parenthesis

missed \

was reprinted with the interpola-

leaf

and anyone who


may

published at Paris in 1726

volume the

traces of this sad story.

been introduced.

lation has

will

look in the

perceive

On page

In order to

first

edition

in that magnificent

195 the interpo-

make room

for

it

this

and the next page have been reprinted with forty-seven lines
of type, there being through the rest of the volume only forty-

On

six lines to a page.

these or on the adjoining pages he

will find also the traces of the binder's

'guards' by which

the separately printed pages have been inserted.

The Index seems

same evidence.

to yield the

register 'cathedra, primatus, pastores, grex'

It fails to

from page

195,

apparently because the clauses containing them were foisted


into

the

it after the Index had been printed off, although it gives


same words abundantly from other passages, and though

other words from the genuine part of that page are given

copiously

e.g.

'

apostoli

'

is

quoted from

it

twice, but not

from

the forged part.

was delivered

his eloge

des

Sciences

French

is

at

at the

Easter

Academic

1719.

'conferer avec I'abbe

The

Targny

(Theologien de le Tellier, dit I'Abbe


de Louvois) qui jouoit alors un role

dans

les

affaires

de

I'Eglise.'

The

parentheses are as I give them,


^

'Quin etiam

necesse fiiit in Baluzii

Notis non paucamutare, ac pluraessent


mutata, id

si

cowvW^

fieri

Maran's parenthetic note


Paris 1726) on p. 195.

potuisset'
p.

545 (ed.

IV.

ORIGIN OF THE FORGERIES.

III.

Dom

Maran's preface betrays the very

For

change.

He

print.

it

was made

there

and proceeds

suam...^'
'just as

it

is

'I

contained

moment

of the

was actually
only the

in

early

iterum eidem post resurrectionem

et

'

passage with

the

cites

and honest addition

after that preface

215

quote this testimony [of Cyprian's]


this edition

in

of Baluze's, but the

words of Cyprian are read differently

'

Manutius and PameliusV

in

the editions of

In the notes which are placed in this Paris edition at the

end of the volume,

must have been

A whole sheet,

it

has been found necessary to cancel what

far the largest part of Baluze's original note.

a pair of leaves, printed off before his death,

pages 545 and 546. In order


to preserve the continuity of the paging two leaves which

had to be entirely removed,

viz.

precede and follow the abstracted ones, and which also had
to be reprinted, have

two page-numbers on each of

Thus, page 543

pages.

is

now numbered

their

also 544;

two

what

would have been 544 is now 545 and 546, and so on until
page 551, when the single numbering of the pages is resumed.
Similarly, at the foot of the same
G&gg& and Gggggij which designated

been affixed

additionally

to

their

the

leaves,

notations

the filched sheet have

neighbours

Fffffij

and

Hhhhh.
Professor Mabaret
Baluze's original note,

now had

ficat...&c.
2 Prsef.

Super ilium unum

sedi-

Prsef. p. x.

p. X.

'Hoc testimonium

ita

protuliuthabeturinhacBaluziieditione.

Sed Cypriani verba

aliter

leguntur in

editionibus Manutii ac Pamelii.' In the

mutilated

has
'

left

note the Benedictine editor

one sentence without a verb

sed tamen scriptura,

quam

first

time of

upon which he penned some elaborate^

necessary to observe also that

It is

Baluze wrote

a sight for the

in contextu

sequimur non solum editionibus Manutiana antiquioribus sed etiam codicum

manuscriptorum auctoritate' (Paris ed.


1726, p. 545). The Venice ed. 1758
(p.
^

461) adds
'

'

confirmatur.'

...I'apostilla

Chiniac, as note

de point en
3.

point,'

Mabaret's paper

had the grand title Baluzii in Cypriani


locum Pri7natus Peiro, dfc. primigenia
'

Observatio censoria virgula castigata.'

CYPRIAN AND PELAGIUS PAPA SECUNDUS.

2l6

which

annotations

the

not

did

editors

worth

consider

printing'.

III.

What,

I.

To

the

first,

the Origin of the interpolated

lastly, is

passages themselves.''

be observed that they are

It will

namely 'And

same

to the

four.

apostle, &c.' applies

the remark of Latinius that the corrections have crept in from

marginal summaries, not


This

is

the oldest of

all

at

no other trace of addition.

duced and affirmed

had quoted.

once but from time to time.

occurring in manuscripts which have

all,

simply a second text ad-

It is

to be illustrative of that

The word

ilium,

'upon

which Cyprian
one'

tJiat

apostle, is

alone later and polemic.

The second

2.

interpolation

apparently exists only

in

the most corrupted manuscripts'^

makes nonsense of the argument

may
3

as regards

its

order, but

also have been a marginal note.

and

The opening words

4.

'and the Primacy

to Peter' of the third interpolation


in that state, in the

had a similar

given

is

For

origin.

form namely, 'Here the primacy

to Peter,' Cardinal Hosius^


in a

chair'

omitted even by Maran when replacing the forgeries.

It is

It

one

'established

is

given

mentioned that they existed

still

manuscript of his own, where they found place immedi-

ately before the

But the

rest

first

interpolation.

has a very different origin.

The Bishops

of Istria had

from the time of Vigilius

onward contended against the authority of the second Council


1

The

history of the Paris edition

given in the Catalogus

Operum

is

Steph.

On

Cambronensis.

the source of atque

rationem B2 Pern., atque rationem sua

Baluzii by P. de Chiniac prefixed to

B3B4, atque

Baluze's Capittilana regutn Francortim

originem, see Appendix on the Inter-

Paris 1780,

Hisioire

I.

pp. 73, 74, and in his

pp. 226
"

228.

MQ. B3B4
,

and Pamelius's

after

Ap. Pamelii adnot. (Cypr. 1568,


and Lat. Latinius Bibl. S. et P.,

p. 261)
p.

Pern,

suse

polation, p. 550.

Capitulaires

1779 (the
same essay and Appendix in French),
des

orationis

178.

Latinius here writes Hosius,

but in his Letters he writes Osius.

IV.

EXTRA

III.

PLEAS.

217

of Constantinople as having virtually censured that of ChalIn A.D. 585 Pelagius the Second invoked the effective

cedon.

Smaragdus of Ravenna and

authority of the Exarch

an

in

Epistle to the Bishops appealed to the 'terrible testimonies

of the fathers

Among them

'

as

he

Pelagius

may

well call

his

a passage

alleges

own

quotations.

from Augustine

which has never been identified and bears small resemblance


Then, four centuries before

to the views of that father.

appearance

in

its

any known or any evidenced manuscript of

Cyprian, Pelagius produces the passage from the

with the interpolations which

we

now

are

De

Unitate,

considering, and

Thus,

without the citation from the Canticles.

Aye and Blessed Cyprian too, that noble martyr, in the book
which he called after the name of Unity, among other things says
The beginning sets out from unity and Primacy is given to
thus
Peter, that one Church of Christ and one Chair may be pointed
out and all are pastors, but one flock is shewn, to be fed by the
'apostles with one-hearted accord,' and a few words later, 'He that
'holds not this Unity of the Church does he believe that he holds
He who deserts and retells'^ the Chair of Peter, on
'the faith.?
which the Church was founded, does he trust that he is in the
Church r
:

'

'

'

'

These interpolations can never have been meant as honest


The manipulation is too much. However here
paraphrases.
they appear for the

first

time,

and the inspection of the

down even

passages side by side will shew how,

to their

omission of the verse of Canticles, the later recensions of the

manuscripts have been formed upon this Epistle of Pelagius.

The omissions

are as evidence of design no less instructive

than the insertions,


1

i.

The

Observe the retention with an imconstruction of the genuine

possible
resistit

which better scholars dropped

out of their remodelled Cyprianic text.

This one

fact also prevents

our accept-

text which assigns to all the


itselfhave been interpolated from
scripts

Ep. 6

of Cyprian.

(2

ad Epp.

Istr.)

Pelagii

Labbe

See with

'

manuscript of the loth century which

the Interpolation, p. 551.

of

Pelagius

may

ii.

Ven.

Note on the Citation from


p. 220, Appendix on

Pelagius

letter

(ed.

1729), vol. vi. c. d^i.

ance of the possibility that the solitary


contains the

manu-

Papae

II.,'

THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

2l8 CYPRIAN 'OF

apostles the remission of sins

left out,

is

the Feeding of the Flock to Peter

expressions are

left

is

and that which gives

substituted for

Those

2.

it.

out which indicate that unity begins from

one apostle, as being

to the corrector's

mind inadequate.

So

3.

also, as irrelevant to his purpose, is the text of Canticles.

After this
unity

we have

Rome

because at

'

and Paul'

the

awkward
et

Pmdi

Paul's

'

became

the later watchword

and the reading hanc

introduction of

Peter

'

^mitatem

the

is

attempt to invoke Paul also after Petri had been already


adopted.

We

must also note the

force of the earlier interpolation

ilium before tmum.

The contention

Church was

one.

be

built

on

of Cyprian was that the

For the corrector's purpose

it

must

that one.'

'

Mgr. Freppel's
that they

are

argument

last

cited

in

the

for the

interpolations

is

Acts of Alexander III.\

in

the Decretum of Gratian^, and in the Decretum of Ivo of


Chartres'.

any

If such quotations in the twelfth century possessed

importance,

it

would be more worth while to observe on the

other hand (with Baluze) that Pope Calixtus

Humbald

of Lyons*,

assembled at Leghorn
1
'

that

the

in A.D.

Baron. yiM. Eccl. a.d. 1164, xxix.

Hanc

igitur

unitatem non tenens Fri-

dericus Imperator tenere se fidem eredidit.

Qui Cathedram Petri

quam

fundata est ecclesia

in Ecclesia esse confidit.'

(p.

A.D.

'

A.D. 1090-1

361, where

But he does

16,

Ivo

/?-. pars v.c.

thus quoted, '/if^r? uni-

Qmcatkedram Petri %\iY>^r quam

fundata est Ecclesia deserit, in Ecclesia


se esse confidit

but the text

is

published in

first

Bullaire du Pape Calixte II. by U.

(l.

p.

307; B. 212,

Ep. Cardinalium Greg.

xii.

ad Epis-

copos A.D. 1409 (1408), Labbe, vol. xv.


Nearly all of c. 4 and 5 of
p. 1159.

Cyprian are quoted without one trace of


1

tatem qui non tenet, tenere se fidem


credit?

Baluze, p. 545, and others mention

5 Jan. 1121).

151.

it is

this,

Robert, Paris, 1891

se

a Bulla to

and that the Roman

quomodo

n.) states.

279

'^

1408^,

deserit super

not give the 'phrase entiere' as Mgr.

Freppel

II. in

Cardinals of Gregory XII.

corruption, although the interpolations

would have so

precisely suited

their

purpose that in default of them they in


fact introduce a

inserting

'

new one of

their

own

Episcopatus, ergo summtis,

unus esse debet.'

[In Bibliotheca

Max.

IV.

THE PAPAL

III.

Correctors, with the

PROFIT.

219

of Manutius before them,

edition

all

gave the passage pure of corruption.

And

as to the appeal to Gratian who, in the 93rd Distinc-

quotes as from Cyprian the 4th interpolation thus,

tion*,

'He who deserts the chair of Peter whereon the Church


was founded, let him not trust that he is in the Church,' it

'

actually yields us a

fifth

instance of the singular fatality which

has haunted the dealers in this forgery, for in another passage


Gratian* cites the 4th and 5th chapters entire from 'the Lord
saith to Peter,' not only omitting the phrase he elsewhere
cites

but absolutely without any trace whatever of any even

the earliest corruptions.


Singular, hateful, and in

time

its

effective,

has been this

forgery as a Papal aggression upon history and literature.


first

threads

deliberate

its
it

in

marginal summaries

in

Its

exaggerated

Then came an unwarrantable paraphrase and a


mutilation for a political purpose. Then it ap-

language.

peared

may have been

manuscripts of the author with

its

indictment round

by side on the same page with the original which


caricatured.
Then it was forced into two grand editions
neck, side

with an interval of a century and a half between them,

by the court of Rome


the fear of

Rome

itself,

before

its

first

then by the court of France with


eyes.

Tantce molis erat Roina7iam condej^e Sedem.

This

is

the true 'Charter of the Investiture of the Papacy'

and as authentic

How

as other

to

make

documents

in that cartulary.

now.

the best of the forgeries

The surrender by some of so important a help suggested to others the


endeavour to do without it by weaving together different texts from
Pontificia,

the

Rom.

1697, torn. vi. p. 905,

interpolations

are

not

only

omitted but specially insisted on.]

however, Baluze, pp. 545, 546.

not

See

Decreti Pars

Decreti

Qusestio

I.

I.

Pars
c.

18.

Dist. xciii.
II.

Causa

c. iii.

XXIV.

THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.'

220 CYPRIAN 'OF


Cyprian to shew that

was

all

this

one

thought of

if

(in its

corrupt state) represented what after

an

attempt which would never have been


this spurious passage had not first caused him to be thought

his real teaching

done with the utmost special pleading by


Roinm. Pontiff. XIII. iii.
But a Catena of the passages is given sup. pp. 197
This

so powerful a support.

is

P. Ballerini A.D. 1766 de vi ac ratione pri7natus

ed.

Westhoff 1845.
To any fair mind,

sqq.

It is

Roman

or other,

commend

them.

nothing to say that they also have scholars as alive to the forgeries

as we are. These forgeries have been important steps in their ascent to


power and maintenance of claim. Unreproved and honoured scholars
of theirs still uphold their genuineness and reprint them in text-books.

Others with superior art

Rev. L. Rivington avoid quoting the

like the

intruded words, but force the whole gist of them, and

infallibility besides,

he had been so understood antiently, into the genuine words. If such


had been the meaning of Cyprian, the forger would have had no occasion
if

for his craft.

Note on
The

'Citation' from Pelagius

Roman

from Pelagins
II. is

II. (p.

217).

of course the deais et colu7nen of

But there are three


which have to be faced. I will call the text (as
stands) of Pelagius II. /', as seeming less to insist upon his personal

the

alternatives
it

the 'Citation'

proof of the genuineness of the forgery.


(i), (ii), (iii),

responsibility for

it.

We

have no external evidence to the authenticity of the first two


epistles of Pelagius II. to the Bishops of Istria, beyond the fact that
the third alludes to some earlier 'epistles' and 'words of admonition.'
Paulus Diaconus (Warnefridus), de gestis Langobardorum
tions 'an Epistle' of his (written for

him

in fact

deacon) on the Tria Capitida^ and Gregory Epp.

Book

'

{liber) of Pelagius,

long third

'

on the subject.

The

'

III. 20, menby Gregory when a


ll.

Book

'

36 mentions 'a
is no doubt our

Hence

Epistle.'

second Epistle were not authentic of course


testimony to the interpolation would be valueless.
Alternative

(i).

If the

its

But assume it to be authentic. There being only one MS. of the Three
of Cyprian being
and that of the xth century; and codex
of the ixth century; we ought to consider whether P can have been
Hence
interpolated from
or its relations.
Alternative (ii). In that case again Pelagius would yield no evidence.

Epistles^

Given to Baronius by Nicolas Fabre,

Baron. A7ut. Eccl. a.d. 586, Pelag. ix.,


xxviii. Labbe [Mansi ix. Florent. 1763,

cc. 434, 891, 895],

See Catalogus codd.


P. 3,

t.

3,

and now

MSS.

in Paris.

Bibl. Reg.

Paris 1744, p. 170.

IV.

THE 'citation' FROM PELAGIUS

III.

However

II.

221

think that the reading of the Cyprianic

interpolation

which stands in P is not derived from the interpolation which appears


Reference to the Texts in Appendix will make the facts
in codex M.
clear.

was of course not sufficient for the argument, as it stands in P, to


on Ecclesice without express mention of Cathedra Petri. Therefore
for Ecclesice renititur the manipulator has put Cathedram Petri deserit;
but he has left et resistit coupled to deserit, thinking this connection of
But the
resistit with the accusative over the body of deserit might pass.
It

rely

M knew

be inadmissible in a good style, and


any good grammarian would, by leaving out
the genuine qui Ecclesice renititur et resistit and replacing it by qui
cathedravi Petri super quam fundata ecclesia est deserit. This seems to
be the genesis of the wording in the interpolated part of M. And so P
scribe of

smoothed the

this coupling to

difficulty, as

remains the fount of the phrase.


Alternative

convicts

it

of

(iii).
Whether the text is Pelagius' own
awkward but intentional manipulation.

him and corrected

The

'

Citation

suffices to

'

its

wording

M had P before

it.

is

shew that

been corrupted since

indeed a valuable one.


either
it

was

i,

the Epistle

is

written, or that

a 'Citation'
but to whom

the 'Citation'

Cyprian

or not,

of

much

3,

Its

presence

in this Epistle

not genuine, or that

2, it

has

Pelagius himself adulterated

value in estabHshing the text of

CHAPTER

V.

THE HARVEST OF THE NEW LEGISLATION.


I.

The softening of

on

the Penajices.

SECOND

COUNCIL.

and circumstance which had waited

In

spite of all the care

it,

the Rule of restoration for the Lapsed was the work

of a class, the most austere and in reality the least tempted.

For we must

recollect that, although the clergy

exposed to persecution, yet the sorest of


tation, position,

and even

were most

tempters, repu-

all

they ever expected a cessation

(if

them

of persecution) worldly advantage, called on

to stand

same motives invited many of the


yield.
The
Rule
was too rigid to be a real aid to
laity to
human nature and it was therefore injurious to the Church.
firm as strongly as

The

A.D. 252.
A.U.C.
1005.

venience)

Imp

against those

Cffis.

C. Vibius

II.

c"^Vibiut
Afinius
Gallus

Veldum-

Persecution of Gallus (as

was

i^y edict for

who

it

may

movement

general

be called for con-

of

popular

feeling

refused to perform the sacrifices ordered

the averting of the spreading Pestilence of the

demanded 'Cyprian for the lions \' Manifestations and visions to him and to others gave warning
"^ wholly justified by the event^ of sufferings at hand more
severe than ever^
Of the libellatics condemned to indefinite

nianus
time.
GallusP.F. .

Aug.

the

Street cries

...

suspcnsion

many were

living in penitence,

'

never quitting

nianus L.
1

P^^a"^^^
In

^/.

59. 6.

Cf. edicta feralia, 58. 9.

ad Novatiaftmn

pendix
diiifi

p. 57, it is

prceliurn, in

been

6,

Hartel,

Ap-

this

Ostensioiies,

Ep.

non-fulfilment

57.
is

i,

2,

a fair

5;

and

chrono-

spoken of as a secun-

logical note that such anticipations are

which they who had

not a forgery later than the persecutions,

'wounded' prima

acie

id

est

...non talem qualis fuit sed multo

Deciana perseaitione recovered them-

graviorem

selves,

58.

I.

et

acriorem, Ep. 57. 5;

cf.

V.

THE EXAMINATIONS OF THE LAPSED.

I.

the threshold of the Church'

';

some, where the clergy had a

Novatianist bias, died unaneled^

had quietly resumed

name

the

some clerical delinquents


whence no material power

many

persons had resumed with

of Christians their old unchristian

families of

who

those

had been

The examination

to gentilism.

revealed unexpected palliations

and

friends

lives^,

and many

despaired of practical restoration to

the blessings of the Church

families

their posts,

was able to dislodge them

223

individual cases

men had

heresy and even

lost to

into

had

sacrificed to save

from the 'question'; or had without

reflection allowed themselves to

be registered as

while simply intending to purchase exemption.

'

sacrificers,'

Cases where

there was less excuse deserved no less compassion.

At

men named Ninus, Clementian


much violence from their own

or near to Capsa* three

and Florus,

enduring

after

magistrates and the angered populace, were thrown victorious

Dragged out on the arrival of the Proconsul


and submitted to repeated tortures in
which life was carefully guarded, they could not endure till
the crown came.' They fell. Then they crept back as miserable penitents to the Church. More than two years after' their
into prison.

upon

his progress^

'

^
-

^
^

Ep. 57. 3.
Ep. 68. I.
Ep. 65. 3.
Ep. 56. I.

little

to the city.
^

Capsa of an

earlier

Capsa (Gafsa) lay a

of the

unhappy wife of Commodus,

consul in 153 and 180 a.d., seems to be

a rich and very

marked by the epitaph of his wife,


C. I. L., Vlil. i. no. no.
^ Ep. 56. 2 coronam non potuisse perferre.' Note use of /^;y^r^ with an object

town

antient

in a beautiful oasis;

had

been strongly national, suffered horrors


iinder Marius for loyalty to Jugurtha,

the Capsitani were

much a

clan

still

as a

in Pliny's time

Roman town'

(non civitas tantum sed etia?n

Then

was

it

jia'io).

raised to the rank of a

'Colony'; and was one of the


capitals

two
of the Byzacene province under

Justinian.

vni.

halt at

north of the Tritonian Lake in the

proconsular province

'as

The

proconsul, C. Bruttius Praesens, father

i.

See

p. 22.

Cofp.

Inscrr.

Latt.

Pliny's Capsitani refers

rather to the natio, Cyprian's Capsensis

'

of the thing to be attained. Corp.Inscrr.

Za/A

viii.

i.

2803a,

at

Lambsesis, 'con-

jugis absentis reditum perferre nequisti'

of a lady dying before his return.


^

Triennium {Ep.

stance

of the

vogue.
11) a.d.

56.

inclusive

i),

a good in-

reckoning in

This was before Easter (Apr.


252, so that even if the pro-

consul had visited Capsa (which

is

not

SECOND COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.

224

bishop Superius presented them to the new bishop of Capsa,


Donatulus*, and the
his consecration,

colleagues

five

and asked whether

might not now be

who had assembled

for

their pitiable exclusion

was agreed to refer the question


to the Council which Cyprian had convened for after Easter.
And Cyprian on receiving their application did not hesitate
closed.

warmest terms

to express in

many

In very

assembled at
15,

his conviction in their favour.

sympathy and policy united

cases

May

two-and-forty bishops in the

least

their

and the SECOND COUNCIL, which

claims for mitigation,

May

It

this year*, ruled 'that all

who had

of

so far continued stedfast in

A.D. 252.

Cyprian penned the

penance should be at once readmitted.'

Synodical Letter which announced the decision to Cornelius^


as

likely)

time possible.
^

See

The meeting

at

is

the longest

is

p. 41, n. 2.

Capsa was

purpose of ordaining a

Donatulus

two

as January 250,

early

years and three months

among the

new

for the

bishop.

Fratres saluted.

In A. D. 256 he appears as Bp. of Capsa


Cone. Carth., and was therefore

at vii.

no doubt the person now ordained.


^ Easter fell in A.D. 252 on Ap.

11.

Mr

May i^.Ep.

Shepherd [Letter it. p. 10,


wake of Lombert ap.

following the

Ann. Cypr.

Pearson,

A.D.

253,

ix.)

should seem to drop his


favour.

its

We

must briefly observe { i ) with Pearson that


the Conciliar Epistle 57 makes reference
to one previous Council, and emanated
therefore

more probably from a second


but Pearson's (second)

than a third,

observation that

many

it

is

improbable that

66 bishops should have

as

met

again

before

Easter

252

after

their session of A.D. 251, has nothing

in

it.

tion

59. 10.

S.

universal scepticism in

so

The Second Council UNDER Cyprian


De pace lapsis maturius danda is dated
Id. Maij,

moment Mr

is

(3)

In

Ep. 57.

the relaxa-

granted in anticipation of the

persecution under Gallus

Ep. 64

cogente,' but

calm, such as set in

is

'necessitate

written in a

when

^Emilian's

argues that the censure passed upon

seizure of empire in April 253

Therapius [Ep. 64) for readmitting the

attention from Christian progress, and

communion

was continued by Valerian from June


onward upon principle.
(4) Ep. 64. i

lapsed presbyter Victor to

could not have been consistently passed

withdrew

speaks of the conditions of

the relaxation granted by the


Second Council, and that accordingly
the Council which censured him which

relaxation granted by the Second Council

we count

Therapius.

after

Third, placing

it

about the

distinctly

as having been neglected in the act of

He

had received Victor

September of 253 a.d. {Ep. 64), must


have preceded our Second Council of

not only 'nulla infirmitate tirgente,' the

May

also 'ac {nulla) necessitate cogente,^

This

252
is

A.D. which issued Ep.

57.

so poor an attempt at harmoniz-

ing that

we can

only wonder

why

for a

plea allowed by the First Council, but

very words are

i.e.

the

by the Second. The


borrowed from Ep. 57,

relaxation granted

'DE PACE MATURIUS DANDA.'

V.

II.

It

may

be described as an able answer to his own once

To

sterner language.
'

'

his former

argument that

men ready

superfluous in the case of

Ecclesiastical Peace,' he replies that

duty to arm such combatants

'

was

restitution

to seal their sincerity

by martyrdom, since the Baptism of Blood was higher than

'

'

22$

'

was the Church's

it

for that last

encounter with the

Body and Blood of Christ.' Men might


well faint (he says) who were not animated by the Eucharist.'
He remained the guiding spirit of the movement although
protection of the

his policy

so altered

pope

in

exhibits

'

had so

and

altered,

rather

even when

its

perhaps because

had

it

working had evoked one anti-

Rome, and two in Carthage. The letter of Antonian


commonplace bewilderment at the change. At

the results of the change Cornelius gazed in horror, Cyprian

with an unaffected though not careless contempt \

II.

The Effect on
It

happened

The

thus.

same time

the

his Party.

amnesty upon

effect of the late

the Puritans would be to confirm

At

mid

Felicis'simus

them

their

in

down

and are again expanded in the words


nunc non mfirmis sed fortibus pax

laid

Some time then after


Easter 253, and before Autumn 254
when the 4th Council was held, we must

not by the same Council.

place the 3rd Council which replied to

autem

'

necessariaest.^

which

(5)

Autumn

Fidus.
is

or September of 253,

Pearson's conjecture, seems a

reasonable

time.

The

4th

and

7th

Councils were certainly held at that

time of year.

Maran's

( xxiv.)

notion

(adopted by Hefele) that Fidus was an-

swered by 66 bishops on

Id.

Mai 252

in

the second Council seems unreasonable,


for

why

should only 42 of them have

concurred in the Synodic Epistle?

was

this

B.

austerity.

numbers were increased by new

their

It

Synodic Epistle which actually

the conditions for neglect of

which Therapius was censured


^

esse

Satis miratus

commotum.

episcopo

sum te...aliquantum
{Ep. 59. 2.)

de Fortunate

tibi

non

surely

statim

Quod
pseud-

isto

scripsi,

frater

nonea reserat quse, &c....nec


tamen de hoc [Maximo pseudepiscopo]
carissime,

tibi

scripseram quando hsec omnia con-

temnantur a nobis... (^/. 59.

9).

To

conceive (Rettberg 13, p. 152) that


Cornelius

repaid

the

services

which

Cyprian had rendered him, and


in turn

now

upheld the tottering throne of

Carthage,

is

indeed

to

misunderstand

the circumstances and mistake the

15

men.

SECOND COUNCIL.

226

ITS

EFFECT ON

converts from heathenism, and what would be the relation


of these to the Church whenever the enlargement of their

dogmatic views should incline them to the Catholic body^

become a

They now

was sure presently

to

cast off their last

hope of Cyprian and elected and conse-

serious question.

crated the head of their

first legation, Maximus, to be their


more accurately 'anti-pope') at Carthage

anti-bishop (or

Meantime the laxer party perceived that the ground was


cut from under their feet, and their leading adherents, never
having done penance, found themselves as far as ever from
readmission to the Church
their numbers also had been
swelled by disciples who wished for communion on easy terms ^
and all these clamoured for some action on the part of their
heads which would give them a tenable position^. They had
;

been taunted as the 'only unepiscopal body' among proAccordingly,

fessed Christians.

new

of the
^

Ep. 69.

I,

Ep.

71.

Privatus, once bishop

some years

scripts of Cyprian,

I, 2.

think this cannot have been done

In Ep. 52. 2 Novatus has not


yet made a Bishop in Carthage. In Ep.
59. 9 Maximus is spoken of as sent nuper
earlier.

(viz.

when

great colony of Lambesis*, but

A.D. 251) and consecrated <:,

i.e.

in A.D. 252 (that letter having been writ-

ten this year after the Ides of May, Ep.

since

Lambese (Sentt. Epp.

The history
much spoiled

6; Ep.^6.4; Ep. ^8. 10).


of this striking though
place,

now Lambessa,

is

beautifully

worked out by Wilmanns from its inscriptions, above 1700 in number [Corp.
Inscr. Latt. viii. i. p. 283).
It was a
wholly modern military town, sprung

59.10,13). But in ^/. 55. ID ad Anton,


we find they had appointed bishops in

from the great camp of the Third Legion,

many

the north slope of Aurasius or Middle

places before the second Council.

was delayed in
may have been because

which, after A.D. 123, Hadrian fixed on

If therefore this step

Atlas, to

Carthage,

A.D. 166

it

hopes were
claration

Nor can

still

entertained of

some de-

in their favour

by Cyprian.

I think that the

hope, though

misplaced, was unnatural.

'

Ep.
EpEp.

LambcEsis

3
*

tions,

was but a

quiet.

In

vicus, but the leave

given to the legionaries to have families


it immensely, and by A.D. 208
was a municipium and capital of Numidia.
Its streets and great structures

increased
it

began shortly before that. Even its


temples remained under military authority, exempt from civic magistrates.

59. 15.
59- 15. 16.

43- 5-

more

keep the continent


it

often in

inscrip-

and (Hartel) 'in the codices of

Augustine' (Sentt. Epp.), but in some


inscriptions, as uniformly in the

manu-

Analogy leads Wilmanns to believe it


was made a Colonia when Gordian removed the Legion. That would be between A.D. 238 and 244. I should infer

V.

THE INDEFINITE IN DOCTRINE AND

II.

condemned of heresy

in a

Council of ninety bishops holden at

that places and severely censured

by

letters

Carthage and Fabian of Rome, applied


the

Council of 252 A.D. and was

repaired

own

its

defect

DISCIPLINE. 22/

refused,

by procuring

heat of his mortification.

new

from Donatus of
hearing by

for a fresh

his

party too

this

adhesion in the

coalition of Five^ created

one of Cyprian's oldest opponents, Fortunatus', into a second


anti-bishop of Carthage.

The fault was fatal* and it was followed by instant collapse.


Whatever presbyteral standing they had was gone. Whatever
hopes they had cherished of a grand general reconciliation
with the Church were gone. Their followers were not in the
main prepared to accept a new Church and a new bishop.
They had thrown away the advantage which numbers gave
them although those numbers were up to that moment
;

scarcely a minority as

compared with the Cyprianic church.

The announcement

Carthage that twenty-five bishops were

in

expected from Numidia to consecrate Fortunatus


from Cyprian's wording that

was a

it

Colonia not only when he wrote in A.D.


252, but

many

when

years before

Pri-

Carthage,

in

Thus con-

Uteris severissime notatum.'

expressed

scientiously

montane, 'Privat

by

an

Ultra-

vatus its bishop was condemned, 'Privatum veterem haereticum in Lambesi-

vu condamner
...par une assemblee de 90 eveques,
dont le pape saint Fabien avait confirme

tana colonia ante multos fere annos con-

la setitence.^

demnatum

'

in Fabian's time,
this casual

As

(^Ep. 58. 10).

that

between 236 and 250,

Cyprianic date exactly

fits

Wilmanns' observation. Next


year 253 the Legion was restored, and
in with

the greatness

of the

place,

60,000 people, continued


tine

his

made Cirta
own name.

lapsed.
I

may

with

its

Constan-

till

the capital and gave

Then Lambesis

In a.d. 364

it

it

col-

its

as he

bishop

Freppel, p. 295.

They were Privatus

himself; Felix,

a pseudo-bishop of Privatus' appoint-

ment; Repostus, a lapsed bishop probably of Tuburnuc (see

Maximus and

Jovinus,

lapse and sacrifice,

ingbeenfirst
there

by the

p.

80, n.

convicted

who (from

5)

of

their hav-

condemned by nine bishops

first

Council) were doubtless

bishops.

had no bishop.

observe that in 252

was probably Januarius,

"

was

s'etait

^
z.

Dean Milman took Fortunatus

Novatianist

a.nt.\-b\%hoY>.

It

for

apparently

a very

escaped his observation that there were

Epp.
^ Ep.
59. lo'nonaginta episcoporum
sententia condemnatum, antecessorum

two anti-popes in Carthage. Lat. Chris-

senior bishop (6th) in 256.

etiam

nostrorum...Fabiani

is

Senit.

et

Donati

iianiiy,

i.

i.

Ep,

If I rightly understand j?/. 59. 15.

59. 15.

152

THEY FORM A SHORT-LIVED FREE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

228

the announcement in

Rome

him^

failed to accredit

that they had actually done so,

Rome

Felicissimus sailed for

new

capacity of legate to his

chiefs or instrument

in the

Cornelius

and the milder party might yet be willing by a recognition of


Fortunatus to drive Novatianism off the

They

represented Cyprian's cause as

pared to bring him to

'

field

with numbers.

'They were pre-

lost.

before the church of Carthage.

trial

'

His flock were ready to expel him tumultuously from the

'

city.

'

they submitted, they should

to the

If Cornelius

Roman

violence

refused

laity

bound

communicate them

to

Cornelius was disconcerted

Felicissimus

of

hear the documents which

to
feel

not imposed

though

by the

upon.

He

him with spirit, but wrote tartly of Cyprian's neglect


not informing him of the movements of the party. Cyprian

repelled
in

in his long-practised
in the

memory

tone of business indicates a certain defect

of Cornelius, and apologizes for unavoidable

delay on the part of his messenger, the acolyte Felician.


advice

is

His

keen and stimulating, and though he opens half saris

profoundly affected by the prevalent disorders.

If Sacrificers

and deniers of Christ are to be proposed,

'

admitted, and then to terrorize, the Church

render to the Capitol at once; Bishops

the Lord's altar with them

themselves and their altars into the assemblage of the clergy,'

castically

'No

he

priest of

God

is

idols

weak enough,

may as well surmay be gone and take


and images may transfer

abject or prostrate enough,

'

nor so enfeebled by the imbecility of mortal incompetency, as

'

not to rouse himself against the enemies and assailants of

'

in godlike wise, and

'

by the valour and vigour of the

feel his

God

lowness and feebleness inspirited


Lord.'

The

best refutation

however was that Cyprian himself was almost worn out by the
1

Ep.

59. II.

the allusions to

Clear

it is

that

among

schism and pseudo-

bishops in the de Unitate none bear on

tinctly before the eye of

divider of the flock.


fix

the incidents of the two Carthaginian

Novatian himself who

pretenders.

It is

(in all the

chapters

viii.

to end) is dis-

Cyprian as the

This alone might

the date of the treatise,

Ep. 59.
Ep. 59.

i,

16.

2, 3,

18.

V.II.

PURITAN FIBRE MORE LASTING, BUT NOT IMMORTAL. 229

labour of examining and readmitting the fast-recanting adherents of FeHcissimus and by the anxieties of rejecting those

whom

the flock (for every case was formally put to them^ and

considered in their presence) absolutely refused to receive.

The

Christian public witnessed singular pictures of the brutal

insistence of some, the tearful thankfulness of other candidates

Mistakes were made.

restoration^

for

that he had disastrously in

Cyprian confesses

more than one instance overruled

protests against false penitents.

worth remarking

It is well

that in this age the claim for stricter penitential discipline

was not sacerdotal or


suffering

will

it

official,

be always

but popular.

In epochs of

so.

These causes then, the decision of the Council, the


no moral

policy of a rival episcopacy with

popular

demand

party.

Cyprian estimated that at

for discipline, acted rapidly to

the

emissary was intimidating Cornelius at

shrunk

break up the

moment when

Rome

it

its

had suddenly

in number to
members of the first Council ^ Presently all trace
lost.
They vanished before more earnest ques-

Carthage to a congregation inferior

in

the clerical

of them

suicidal

and the

basis,

is

But Novatianism contained no such seeds of speedy


Although Cornelius represents to Antioch, to

tioners.

dissolution.

Alexandria* and to Carthage


^

p.

^g. iS, rogari,

d.rogare legem,

j>.

moment

15.

59.
(v.

19)

The statement of
that

this

was the

which Penitentiary Pres-

at

byters were instituted to hear private


confessions

terms stronger than Cyprian


in the East

as

known

magistratum.

Socrates

in

counter

is

to

the

Sozomen

whole

shews how

little

was

of the date or origin of such

officers.

^^/. 59.

15,2. ^.

than the bishops, pres-

byters and deacons

who had been

their

Eighty-eight bishops from

'judges.'

parts of Africa are scarcely likely to

all

gives

have been attended on the average by


more than two clerics each at the out-

Roman method

side.

view of the time.

(vii.

16)

an interesting picture of the


of penance at a much
later date in which the bishop is himself the fellow penitent and the ab-

And

solver.

of his

own

were an

this direct contradiction

statement that Penitentiaries

institution in the

West

as well

If

number

we add

forty as a possible

for the presbyters

of Carthage

it

than 300 as the

relics

of the Congrega-

tion of Felicissimus.
"^

Eus.

H. E.

and deacons

may give us rather more

vi.

43, 46.

CLERICAL AND EPLSCOPAL SENTENCES.

230

uses of Felicissimus, that Novatian

his sect with its episcopal successions

still

far into the sixth century,

Christendom

of the Decian persecution.


'

unsuccessful opposition

all

'

was almost abandoned,

has been well said that

It
it

endured throughout

a stern Puritan

added strength

to

its

relic
'

like

triumphant

adversary, and only evoked more commandingly the growing

theory of Christian Unity.'

III.

T/ie

Law

Legacy of Clerical Appeals under the

The Third and Fourth

of the Lapsed.

Councils.

The Spanish appeal against Rome.

From

this point

we may with advantage

carry our view

forward to certain illustrative cases which arose in the course

main work of

of the next two years, after the


for

cases.

made

new position in some


wisdom of the Church

We

or vacillating.

yet

were

clergy, as they

harder to return.

it

we

find

it

Bishops

Orders \

They

It

less

was easy

aggressive sect
to confer

its

are clerical

tempted to

fall,

them to achieve
it was not the

for

and

functions on the timid

cannot with confidence assert that terms

them were separately considered

lapsed

have notices of three

the See of Carthage.

to

For the

so found

for

We

such as returned was over.

appeals

reconciliation

at the

Second Council,

immediately and generally accepted that

and

Cyprian

Clerks

rests

his

could

be restored

never

argument

for this"^

to

not on in-

junctions of the Council but on Scripture, drawing the rule


institutions, and from visions vouchsafed
Yet elsewhere^ he says that, in common with
himself and all the bishops of the world, Cornelius had
concluded this. Not for four years more, until the second
Council on Baptism, was the principle of degradation

from the Levitical


to

himself.

Ep.

55. II.

Ep. 65.

Ep. 67.

6.

V.

THIRD COUNCIL.

HARVEST OF NEW LEGISLATION

III.

23

extended to any presbyters and deacons who had taken


part in a heresy or a schism*; and

it

presents a singular and

contradictory appearance of laxity that only Novatianists and

mark of orders to be so indelible that


bishops returning to them after lapse resumed their functions''.
Late in the summer of the next year one of the African
bishops, the same Fidus, who, as we shall learn, counted
Donatists held the

impure

infants under eight days old too

a.d. 253.
A.U.C.
re- ioo6.

for christening',

ported to the primate that a lapsed presbyter, Victor by name,

had

an

after

Therapius of Bulla*.

their colleague

this worthy,

sixty-first

communion by
words of

penance been admitted to

of
insufficient period
'

who spoke

few

c^^g^r c!''

Vibius
Afinius
Gallus

in his place of seniority as ^nus L.

bishop in Cyprian's last Council^ give an idea of p^^^'^"^

one whose fancy might outrun

'He who concedes

n.

the Church's (right of)

us

discretion.

. . .

and betrays to

heretics,'

baptism, what

is

he then

said,

'

he but the Judas of Christ's Spouse


But
Therapius thought an unsound opinion within the Church

if

[ Valeri-

?]

Maxi-

"^"

.-'

'

a worse betrayal of the Church than apostasy from her, the

uncharity of Fidus

in contrast to the

is

of Cyprian.

spirit

Fidus evidently desired that a new excommunication should


overtake Victor.

At

good fortune the Third Council of


who met Cyprian probably in September

his

bishops,

were

p.

Cod.

Eccl.

Justellus, Paris 1614,

I.

p.

Afr.

98

27
II.

(C.

p. 41).

L'Aubespine, Observat. V. in Optat.


^
*

R.

V. infra
Ep. 64.
S. vol.

{s.v.),

Baluze (copied by Routh,


III.

p. 144),

Bulla

and Morcelli

without

sufficient

different place from


was in Numidia Proconsularis, near where the boundary
crosses the Bagradas, and over 50 miles
from Hippo Regius on the road to

reason

to

be a

Bulla Regia.

Carthage
C.

I.

It

now

L. VIII.

Hammam
i.

p.

(Plin.)

Bagradas (Procop. de Bell. Vand. i.


It cannot have been, as Monim25).

seems

sen

ch. viii. v. 2.

take

was a small old (Oros.) Free-Town


above the vast rich plain of the

It

72. 2.

Cann.

A.D. 253,

than at the autocratic manner in which

less offended

sixty-six

157,

Darridji.
ii.

p. 934.

BuUeria,

to

since

attended the

suggest,

A. Graham's Tunisia,

We

from

each

summons of Huneric

Carthage in A.D. 484.


^

same as

the

bishop

to

sketch in

p. 188.

cannot attach weight to the

statement of the later MSS. of the Sententt.

Epp. that he was a confessor,

On

notes

the date of this Council see

2, 3, p.

224.

a.d. 253,

FOURTH COUNCIL.

EPISCOPAL CASES.

232

even the now lenient conditions of restoration had been

They would not withdraw

ignored.

the boon which a 'Priest

of God' had granted, but a vote

of censure was passed


upon Therapius (who may be supposed to have been present
in his place in CounciP) for giving a gratuitous indulgence
which the Laity had neither requested nor sanctioned
The second case came from Assuras^ a populous inland

town, whose ruins

The Temple and

widespread over height and ravine.

lie

the Christian Church, which are

gates of the Antonines, the most

its

may

marked

still,

after

objects there,

well have witnessed the incidents which brought on the

The

appeal.

diocese had already elected Epictetus to the

Chair vacated by the idolatrous sacrifice of Fortunatian*, when


this traitor bishop,

supported by a party of fellow-lapsed,

claimed the function and emoluments^ as his

whose

was

characteristic mistake

a church vitiated to nullity


minister, urges that
order, in

Cyprian,

right.

to consider every office of

by an unworthy

discharged

view more than the broad ground of

answer to an appeal to him from the disquieted

and counsels a

flock,

if

re-

resort

to

individual

canvassing,

if

necessary, in order to knit the church firmly together under


their authentic bishop.

Par the most important to us however of

A.D. 254.
A.U.C.
1007.

appeal

Cses. P.

about September A.D. 254.

Licmius

ciples

one which did not

is

which

The form

'

satis fuit

may seem
objurgare

Therapium collegam nostrum. ..at


Ep. 64. i.

in-

Ep. 64.
j5/>.

Numidia

See N. Davis,

Rumed

within Nutnid. and Carth. Ter-

ritories,\>. 69,

cursions, vol.

and Sir G. Temple's

II.

lies in

Assuras: Sentt. Epp. 68

cases of

the prin-

p. 266.

'

ab

Assicras'';

Corp. Inscrr. Latt. n. 63 1 inhabitants


hs,%\i.x\izsi\

of the

65. Also, like Bulla, in

Proconsularis.
Cities

importance

all

Cyprian until

passiin ;

now Za/?/r,

plain B^hairt Essers. Bruce's

struxisse^

before

reveals as already regulating the intercourse

of expression

warrant this

to

it

Its

come

iS'jr-

Colonia Julia

Temple and arch

is

but

its

drawing

in Col. R. L.

Playfair's Travels, p. 208.


*

man
^

Pamelius

erroneously treats

as a Novatianist.

Ep. 65.

lucra.'

this

Fell follows.

3 'stipes et oblationes et

V.

SPANISH APPEAL TO CYPRIAN AGAINST ROME.

III.

of churches or dioceses.

development of these

But, reserving for the present the Valerianus


P F AuT
we will here relate only the

principles,

striking circumstances of the

taken upon

It is

it.

233

Lapse and the immediate action

a wild

Border Life between Christianity and Paganism.


The Bishops of Leon and Merida in Spain had accepted

The
to their orthodoxy as pagans \
by name, repented and formally abdicated

testimonials

former,

Basilides

his see

when the persecution

lulled.

crime of Lapse, but

how

He

Gallienus
P. f. Aug.

then confessed not only his

in the superstitious terror of

he had blasphemed the God of

illness

p^^-^^^^ug

so to speak, of the old Egnatius

tale,

some

After this

his faith.

confession he thankfully accepted the position of a

Layman.

Martial of Merida had long ago enrolled himself in one of


those religious colleges which, besides their other celebrations,

performed the funeral


solemnities in

such

rites

The
elected

ritual of their

members with all pagan


them by law^ With

cemeteries secured to

he interred children of

his

own.

men had been filled by other two


own churches and approved by the neigh-

Chairs of these two

by

their

bouring prelates.

afterwards recovering from his

Basilides

Rome, and there he and, we must


by some fraudulent means procured a
from the new pope Stephen that he would hold

dejection paid a visit to


infer,

Martial also^

declaration

them

still

two

to be the lawful occupants of the

Against

this

sees.

sudden and monstrous utterance the Spanish

churches appeal to Cyprian.

FOURTH COUNCIL

of seven

and thirty bishops, assembling under him at Carthage accept


the appeal, reverse the Roman sentence ^ and instruct the
,

There

churches to keep to their righteous course.


further reference to the

Roman

is

no

see in the matter.

See more

the affair of Martian of Aries in the

Ep. 67. See above, p. 82.


Renan, Les Apdtres, ch. xviii. p.
354, gives some interesting details of
^ Ep. 67. 5.
these colleges.

IV. Concil. Carth. sub Cypr. (Sep-

tember?) a.d. 254.

Ep. 67, S)niodica.

fully

on

this

chapter on Stephen,
*

Simply,

'

was a long way


facts and of the

appeal and on

p. 311.

Stephen
and ignorant of the
truth.'
Ep. 67. 5.

our

off

a.d. 254,

?Sep.

colleague

FOURTH COUNCIL.

234

EPISCOPAL CASES.

and importance to
observe principles not created but unquestioningly acted upon
It is obviously of

in this cause.

The

Rome

thought of

extreme

interest

action taken

is

quite compatible with the

as Principalis Ecclesia^ as a centre of

'

unity/

but irreconcilable with any view of that see as a centre of


legislation or jurisdiction, or
I

even as a centre of reference.

Meantime we may remember that while the legislation


provided for the Lapsed was temporary, the principles which
brought into strong

first

it

may

And we

relief are for all time.

regard our possession of them as our inheritance

still

from the Decian persecution.


\

A less

happy forecast attends the case of a 'contumelious'


Deacon and a Layman abetting him, which is referred to
Carthage by the Bishop Rogatian^ in all likelihood the
same who figures in the Councils, Bishop of Nova, deep in
Mauretanial

The tone
Cyprian
writes

'

of the letter indicates that he was

Let no

however not

man

for himself only but in the

leagues,' so that his systematic consultations

The

idea of authority

is

known

developed and

name

to

He

despise thy old age,' he says.

of col'

were at work.

fortified,

but

it is

the

same idea as in the fourth epistle, resting on the same precept


in Deuteronomy* of reverence and obedience to the High
Priest.
That means simply, that details had taken time to
work out, but that from the first Cyprian held that view which
he held

last of the identity of internal relations in the

polities of Israel

two

and the Church.

The case, says Cyprian, might have been properly dealt


by excommunications on the part of Rogatian himself

with

alone.

This

^
^

is

the course which, with his 'colleagues

Seep. 192, and Appendix, p. 537.


Ep. 3.
See Appendix on Cities, p. 575.

Deut.

xvii.

12,

13.

who were
It

was pro-

bably this quotation which determined


Pearson.

V.

EPISCOPAL CASES.

III.

present,'

rely

he recommends

235

in the last resort,

on an appeal to good sense and

but he would rather

feeling*.

It is well

and

But here we see excommunication, instead


of being kept as the discipline of sin, already looming as an
engine for managing the Church.
sincerely urged.

that

O. Ritschl pointed out (p. 239)


argument and allusion in Ep. 3,

as Pearson counted
early

stamp

observe

and

on

the

4; 66.

close

blance between Ep.


59.

it,

3.

are

not of an

would

further

verbal

resem-

i,

and Epp.

and de Unit.

17,

18,

which connects

it

with the time

we

are discussing.
If the

'colleagues present'

are

Council, and not rather the Occasional

Board,
cil,

for

it

was probably the Third Coun-

Rogatian attended the Second

and Fourth.

CHAPTER

VI.

EXPANSION OF HUMAN FEELING AND ENERGY.


I.

The Church

Within

I.

Even

in relation to Physical Suffering.

Berber Raid.

Council sate news arrived that many-

the

whilst

The

itself

Christian maidens, wives and children \ had been kidnapped

The frontier tribes, quieted


movement this year and were carry-

from Numidia by the Berbers.


last

by Severus, were

in

ing terror into the provinces.

and

Faultily^

back by

by

settlers

fatally these

indigenes ^ ages ago rolled

from Asia and Europe, were being now ruled

fortresses, military colonies,

farmers holding by service-

tenure, absolute magistrates, without

any attempt

to interest

Their raids were really waves

or incorporate them.

in their

steady return.
A.D. 252.
Coss

In the year 252 there was a concerted general advance.

Mauretania

them.

felt

They broke out

of Aures* through

the grand chain of fortress settlements, harrying the domains


to

The Rheims

MS.

and husbands as necessarily


sympathizing.
It was a raid on persons.
In c. 3, p. 699, 1. 21, I demur

Hartel has to

set

Ep.

62.

5.

Cyprian

appeals

fathers

to

Hartel's reading

'

vinculi maritalis

is
it

not a good text,

aside constantly,

F. Lacroix in the Revue Africaine,

vol. vii. p. 363.


^

There are and were traces of their


all North Africa.
Tissot,

amore' from the Rheims MS., which

name over

Baluze here sets aside for the better

G^ogr. de la Prov. (TAfriqiie,

expression pudore vinculi maritalis' of


^

the editions which represent lost MSS.

See Appendix on

i.

p.

394.

Cities, p. 575,

VI. 1.

THE CHURCH AS TO SUFFERINGS OF HER MEMBERS. 237

1.

of the Strongest towns, Thubunse on the Salt Marsh, and the

From

vast soldier-colony of Lambaesis.

came
woods of
Assuras, little more

the Sahara they

right through the Province itself into the terebinth

Tucca and to the great centre of traffic


than a hundred miles from Carthage.

The

Christian population of at least eight sees was thus

lacerated \

As memorials

of transactions so fatal ultimately to the

church of Africa and to

on

clearing

it,

epistle of

the civilization which depended

the ground as they did for Vandal and for

Saracen, there remain


scattered

all

in

explanation of each other only

few inscriptions, and the sixty-second

notices,

Cyprian which went with a ransom ^

This must have been a serious time for the dominion


of Africa, though

we know nothing

direct

about

Cyprian but two or three unburied marbles^


In the fourth century children were

constantly redeemed from the Berbers

and baptized
Carth.

c.

V. Cone.

unidentified,

if

6, a.d. 398,

Labbe

(Brev. Cone. Hipp. A.D. 393,

1455
39, but

11.

c.

relate

the

to

REBELLIS

ii.

are said to be called, of the

Afr. iiy Justell. p. 198 (ed. 1614),


Labbe, 11. 1308. (?/r^ hinc /^^. huic.)

p. 434),

still

further north at Sitifis

Ep.

cxi. (cxxii.) 7.

An

affecting

itself,

Aug.

Rev. Afr. vil. p. 359 belongs to the


year a.d. 247 (Anno Provincise Mauretanise 208) A p ccviii D M have se-

SVIS,

QUINQUE-

at Bougie, Salda,

C. I. L. VIII.

Ccesarea.

ii. 8924
{Rev. Afr. iv.
and of Babari at Cherchel,
erasis fvnditvs babaris

TRANSTAGNENSIBVS
9324 {Rev. Afr.

No.
inscription given in

how

faraxen

of

9047, the chieftain from

GENTANEI REBELLES

we mark them kidnapping

Not

the Fraxinettses hod. Fraoucen

see also nn. on cc. 38, 39, Hefele, H.


d. C. B. VIII. 109), Cod. Catin. Reel.

In A.D. 409

us

tell

defeats

CVM SATELLITIBVS

C. I. L. VIII.

whom

it.

C. I. L. VIII.

IV. p. 222.

ii.

Mus. Alg.

74).

The Quinquegentanei disappear soon


after their overthrow by Maximian
(Eutrop. ix. 23). The Berbers between

CVNDE PARENTIBVS TVIS DVLCISSIME


FLOS IVVENTVTIS AN V A BARBARIS

Sitifis and Cirta are by Pliny v. 30 (4)


and Ptolemy iv. 3 (p. 11 1 b) called
Sabarbares, Ha^ovp^ovpes, which is said

INTEREMPTVS MVCIA

to

four

who
L

letters

has s after

(?),

C.

I.

AMAfe. [the last

Wilmanns' cast,
D M, and for v a small

from

L. VIII.

ii.

9158].

forgery claiming to be of year 254 with

a curious story
p. xxxvii., 30.

is

given C.

I.

L.

Vlli.

i.

Other inscriptions, be-

longing to the next 30 or 40 years,

contain the Numidian prefix Zal>

{Revue Africaine,

vol. vii. p. 27, &c.),

but in either case with v.


2a/3oi//3oi/pes,

as in one

1.

Sababares,

of the above

In Ep. 62. 3 Barbarorum,


would correctly have a capital letter.

inscriptions.
<S:c.

Index,

Corp. Inscrr. LcUt.

II.

p.

108 1 (published since the previous para-

EXPANSION OF HUMAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

238

a year or two

later the

Bavares under four united native

princes wasted

Numidia

as far

There, and

up as Milev.

again on the Mauretanian frontier, they were violently checked

by C. Macrinius Decianus, propraetor. He defeated at the


same time other great leagues or clans* of them, as the Quin-

who

quegentanei,

fell

on Mauretania

and while he

itself;

claimed the credit of the capture and execution of Faraxen"'',

almost a chieftain of romance,

'who look as
emperors V

and

his

officer

like the present

Berber

thawed out of marble statues of

if

chiefs,

Roman

would seem that the actual seizure of him


whole staff was the exploit of Gargilius Martialis, an
it

who had

loyal Moorish cavalry.

must have been

now commanded the


west Auzia, now Atimale,

served in Britain and


Still

in peril, for

further

when,

in A.D. 260, Gargilius

him-

was destroyed by a Berber ambush, Auzia commemorated


by a statue his former act of valour and vigilance.'
self

'

The redemption of captives, like the portioning of orphans,


had long been among the Romans a favourite work of
liberality

most worthy of the


'

gravity and greatness of the

senatorial order*.'

There was nothing


in the collection

graph and

its

note

were written), conDecian belong

siders that the victories of

He was
the years 253 and 254.
Legatus duorum Augustorum Numi-

to
'

of Valerian and Gallien, in

dise,' i.e.

A.D. 260, to which year the


itself

L.

movement

belongs. See the inscriptions, C.

VIII.

(Auzia),

i.

2615

(at

Lambesis),

the expressions

'

ii.

/.

9047

Mark
provinciam Numidiam

and compare

ii.

9045.

vastabant,^ ''m.%\dM.%^2.v2.x\ixa. decepto.^


1

Gen. Creuly shews that Babares

included Quinquegentanei and Fraxinenses, Rev. Archeol. i86i,p. 51.


also Tissot

i.

458,

11.

790.

nothing novel

specifically Christian,

which was promptly made

See

Dux

''The

Carthage for

famosissimus

of

(full

of the Fraxinenses must be

legends)

Faraxen himself.
Travels
(p.

at

in

the

Col. R. L. Playfair,

of Bruce
Aures moun-

Footsteps

72), says that in the

tains over Lambesis is a high wooded


and secluded valley called Ti Farasain.
Its name, perhaps, may be a record of
this raid.
^
*

Col. R. L. Playfair, op.

Redimi e

solitum

fieri

(consuetudo)

servitute

cf. 16.

p. 70.

ab ordine nostro...Hasc
gravium hominum
est

atque magnorum.
63;

cit.

captos...vulgo

55.

Cic. de Off.

ii.

18.

VI. 1.

1.

THE CHURCH AS TO SUFFERINGS OF HER MEMBERS. 239


number and poverty

the victims, except the

But

tributors.

The motives

novelty was Christian.

this

which they had found

irresistible

were Hving shrines of deity

were 'that the captives

that Christ

con-

of the

was

in

them and

'they in Christ; that such an event was a probation not only


'of sufferers but also of sympathizers; that

'Judgment
'

all

looked for a

which sympathy would be the main subject of


If He will then say 'I was sick and ye visited me,'

in

enquiry.'

much more

Redeemer say 'I was captive and ye


redeemed me.' How full Cyprian's mind was at this moment
of these topics we shall recognize as we proceed.
Nearly eight hundred^ pounds was subscribed by the
by these partly
community, and by the sitting bishops
The list of donors, sent
on behalf of their poor churches.
will the

Numidia, was accompanied by the request that they

into

might be commemorated
prayers,

need, as

at

the

and

sacrifices

in

private

and with an assurance of further help should the

was too

likely, recur.

Of Gemcmeness

Geographical.

A beautiful incidental proof of

the genuineness of our documents

from Carthage to eight Numidian


Maximus, Proculus, Victor, Modianus, Nemesianus, Nampulus, Honoratus, but there is no mention of their

comes out
bishops,

The

here.

relief is sent

Januarius,

Now in the list of the Council of 256 four of these reappear as


bishops of two Numidian sees which are named and two Provincial
sees.

Januarius of Lambaesis and Nemesianus of Thubunse, Victor of


Assuras and Honoratus of Tucca. These towns with Auzia give
the geographical line I have indicated, which is itself a sign of
What forger of another age and country could have
accuracy.
viz.

marked

for himself

upon

his

map

then have forborne to indicate

it,

a line of barbarian advance and

but in a wholly unconnected docu-

ment have attached to the sees which marked that line the names
of some of his fictitious bishops ? Behind this line toward Mt. Aures
^

./.

62.4 'sestertium centum millia

nummum.
Hartel.

Gronov.

lib.

The two xvth

MSS. of this

epistle

de

sest. n. 18'

century extant

scarcely

justify

Hartel in
milia

reading

nummorum,'

quotations prove

it

'sestertia

nor

do

centum
Baluze's

to be possible.

EXPANSION OF HUMAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

240

Thamugadi, Mascula, Theveste,


some of these no doubt
In another place I shall shew how the

several Cyprianic sees, such as

lie

and beyond

it

Gemellas, Badias, and others

were the other four

sufferers.

names

order of the

in Councils (a

matter of seniority) corresponds

with other indications.

TJie CJuirch in relation to

2.

And now

Heathen Suffering.

The Plague.

the formation and compacting of the Christian

community have

for

some time engrossed

us.

Meanwhile

changes have passed over the aspect which that community-

That community owed and owned

presented to the world.

a duty to

absorb

it

unconverted humanity

all

with

not

possible rapidity into itself

all

only a duty to

but a duty also

towards the part not within any given time likely to be

That enquiry

absorbed.

into social morals

which most taxed

the philosophical power of paganism had been overtaken

a code, or the principle of a code, which exempted no

from active benevolence.

The

by

man

doctrine of Grace operating

upon and cooperating with the human will to reconstruct


character, the embracement of eternal life and reward, the
earthly pattern of Christ and the
all

spirit

with

Him

it,

during the present existence, placed the Chris-

soon as he began to realize

tian, so

in

passion of reproducing

the experienced and attested union of the individual

above

this

new range

of Ideas,

an attitude of fresh and unexpected energy towards every

person and every contingency with which he came

in contact.

This realization had been to the practical comprehension


of the convert Cyprian an affair of perhaps a few weeks \

This realization was what he excelled

men.

Even the East appreciated

community.

'

He

in

impressing on other

this action of his

on the

educated the whole moral tone, dissipated

'

undisciplined ignorance of doctrine, brought order to the lives

'

of

men ^^

says Gregory of Nazianzus.

Pont. Vit.

Greg. Naz.

dwav

have watched him

Sevcriav eKddTjpe, /cot

3.

eiraldevae

We

Or.
Kal

xxiv.

13.

doyfidTWv

...rfOos
ciTrai-

fx-qae.

dvSpuf ^iovs

eK6<r-

VI.

I.

2.

THE CHURCH AND HEATHEN SUFFERING.

We

awhile as the Organizer.

return to follow

24I

him through

the same period as the Master of Doctrine reduced to Life.


If

we can

went on

vividly place this

work before our eyes

one great city of the old world, we

in

movement.

close to the fountain-head of the


cities that

burst out, as

it

that Christ Himself

each of the great

it

was

had

cities

It

was

own

its

attractively.

part,

more profound and speculative and Rome the more

interest in theories
its

own

political,

blended

their birth elsewhere, attained

eminence through Christianity, and

truest historical

on which

field

its

home, world-wide intercourse, and ready


which had

that eminence the most instructive of

The

towns
While

Alexandria the

Carthage, in some respects so like England, with


races, its contracted

first

all for us.

opened out the Christian strength

heathen helplessness was a terrible one.

in contrast to

it

in the

in the busiest Galilean

had preached most

as

shall stand

The

the year 252 A.D. the Great Plague reached Carthage.

a.d. 252.

In
__^

epoch was one of those periods of physical disturbance which,


rightly or not, have been noted in connection with plagues.

Famine, protracted drought, tornadoes and unexampled


storms^ prevailed.

The

pestilence had descended two years

before from ^thiopia^ upon Egypt;


specifically

from the third visitation

which was

strictly

character with
Christ.

analogous to the modern

its

predecessor of the

Whether these were

distinguish.

Both were of the

The absence

a pestilence differing

in the reign of Justinian^,

plague,

same route and exhibiting a somewhat

travelling the

at

hail-

fifth

similar

century before

different disorders,

class of

but

we cannot

malignant typhoid

fever.

Carthage of those pulmonary complications,

which Thucydides describes as one of the most distressing

symptoms, may be attributable


^

Ad Detnetr.

2, 7,

Zonaras,

21. Cedrenus, p.

xii.

Compare Thuc.

ii.

48

258A.

...e$ AidLoirias...

Procopius appears to
B.

dry atmosphere of

embellished his long account of this

10.

ivciTo. 8k Kai is AiyvTTTov, k.t.\.


^

to the

me

by many particulars from other


lences.
vol.

to

I.

De

Bell.

Pers.

ii.

pesti-

22 (Dind.

p. 249).

have

16

EXPANSION OF HUMAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

242

Tunisia, but neither does Cyprian mention the red and livid
blistering eruption, nor yet the brain affection,

the Athenian
tinction of

memory.

If Eutropius

from that pestilence


disorders, but

identical

accurate,

is

it

not extinguishing like

in

the ex-

in

also differed
it

other

all

was on the contrary attended by a multiplicity

Other symptoms, perhaps the most general, are

them^

of

which among

had frequently resulted

sufferers

the

mouth and

diarrhoea, the ulcerated

throat, the

congested eyes, the internal fever and incessant sickness

the

loss to survivors of the feet or other extremities, the lame-

ness,

Both were preceded by

blindness, or total deafness.

the intense nervous depression which induced the premoni-

tory

symptom

of threatening spectres I

This plague went on for a term of twenty years ranging the


civilised world, returning

had desolated and

it

which

to cities in

stricken every housed

was worse than

once and again to countries which

its first

In A.D. 261
assault,

and

seemed

it

on Alexandria

its recoil

years more

in four

reduced the population by above one

have

to

half*.

It fell

had

it

on the

armies of Valerian and delivered the East up to Sapor.

262

five

thousand persons died

Achaia, on a single day^

in

died of

it

while

it

in

In 270 the emperor Claudius

was serving as

his

most

against the Gothic hordes in Thrace.


its

course

that of

Sola pestilentia et morbis atque

Eutr.

12.

Procop.
.

eorum principatus

vit.
I.e.

S. Greg.
p.

251

.iraiecrdai (powro irpbs

Thaum.
(pafffxaTa

rov ev-

Dionys. ap. Euseb.

vii.

22.

Conti-

nuatas per ordinem domos...Pont. Vit.


c. 9.
^

remark

claimantsfor corn bet ween the ages of 14

and 80 was

after the reign of Gallienus

between 40 and
deduces the above
^

That

is

if

70.

number of those
Gibbon hence

fact, ch. x.

ad

fin.

comprehend

the

odious obscurity of Trebellius Pollio

rvx&vTOi dvdpos.
^

affirms the

equal only to the former

ix. 5.

Greg. Nyss.

dai/xdvuv

had run but half

the wars and miseries which oppressed the race

aegritudinibus notus
fuit.

effective auxiliary

It

when Dionysius quotes and

all

In

Rome, and the same number

So Orosius, vii. 21.


At Alexandria the whole sum

{Gallieni
that

Rome
of

Duo

5).

Gibbon takes

it

during some time 5000 died in


daily.

VI.

man

of

THE CHURCH AND HEATHEN SUFFERING.

2.

I.

243

the plague alone had outrun the darkest anticipa-

tions.

This was the horror and the misery which

an

like

fell

unnatural night on the Christians' dawning hopes of peace

and order.
our present year

In

it

young emperor

carried off the

and the emperor Gallus and

Hostilian^,

winning golden opinions by their care

his son Volusian

were

interment of the

for the

To confess to any sanitary motive, such


as we hope we may suspect, would have been impiety.
Avowed measures of relief were limited to edicts for universal
meanest victims ^

sacrifices

which exposed Christianity to fresh persecution from

populaces which furiously marked

and also to an unprecedented


of coins dedicated to

marked the
1

'

c.

All MSS.

30.

Etruscan

name

originally

which occurs on no coin of him. Hints


seem latent under both names of his
brother, made emperor with him, and
lost

with Decius,

cus, son of

simus,

i.

Herennius Etrus-

viz.

Herennia

I-),

lays

Aur. Victor de

this

in pestilentia

Medallions in Brit. Mus., pp. 57, 60)


a brass medallion of Gallus and one of

Apollo

bear

with

refer to the

'

campos,

we

of

serpent,

it,

even

116 'tan-

tation of

quibus

Colossus

in

cadavera qucC lace-

is

tragic.

mind and body

after

Geta's

murder

his

denarius

bearing

Apollo Salutauis

with other

struck

which

Volusian,

30 tenuissimi

story of the invocation

Caracalla sick in

In the

are two 'Antoniani,'

in his right a laurel branch, in his left

rantur aut corvi qui lacerant.'

The

(Stevenson, p. 67).

Museum

an aureus and a half-aureus of the type.


Also (Grueber and Poole, Roman

a
Ciss. c.

nihil aliud est nisi

British

death to the

in Petronius Satyric. c.

quam

Salutari

radiate head standing on rocks holding

cujusque exsequias curarent.' Earlier

have

These remedies

Zo-

Etniscilla.

jealousy of Gallus.
-

from the imperial mints

issue

limits of antique self-devotion to populations sick

Aur. Victor, Epit.

an

non-compliant attitude,

Healthful Apollo'.'

here read Hostilianus Perpejtna or Perpertta,

its

p. 82).

legend arn azi.


These
same tutelage and the need
if

Pellerin's clever interpre-

Arna and
is

not

Asisittm erecting a

certain

(Stevenson,

See H. Cohen (not quite accu-

rate), Monnaies /rappees sons C Empire


Romain, 1885, vol. v., pp. 238, 239,

268.

Similar types are continued through

Di

the next reign with revivals of the

coins of similar allusion (see Steven-

Majores and

son, Diet.

Rom. Coins, 1889, p. 67).


Then Gallus in this plague about A.D.

pearance of Diana (also a healer) on

254 (so Eckhel) struck large brass and

Leicestersh. Archit. Soc.

other

metals

and

forms,

Apollini

coins.

Many

(it

is

are

said) the first

ap-

found in England.
Trans. XI.

P- 193-

16

i.

EXPANSION OF HUMAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

244

unto death.

number
his

That the greatest happiness of the greatest

best secured

is

by the devotion

of the individual to

own, was not then a floating theory.

as a Hving principle.

nant chord

in

life

When

It

physical terror

'egoism' perfected

its

pervaded society

became the domimelody.

Instant

the desertion, the exposure of the dying, the barred

flights,

gates of the house-courts, the hasty flinging out of the dead,


street assassinations

and drugged

possets, the spoliation of

unprotected fortunes, the last corruption of the judicature,


^

marked the opportunity and the successes of Self let loose


upon society. Every natural, every acquired scruple broke
down''.

But the entrance of

self-sacrifice

upon the scene does

indeed difference the plague in Carthage, in Neo-Csesarea,


or Alexandria from the plague of Athens.
cities

In each of these

The

the Bishop of the Christians was a leading citizen.

earliest-dated though but passing mention of

this

plague

is

Egyptian Deacons.

in connection with the deaths of several^

The behaviour of Gregory in Pontus secured the faith of that


Nor had the wearing persistence of the misery any
power to abate zeal. In Alexandria ten years later, when

region.

town had perished*, there was

half the

the last offices almost


scarcely could
intrepidity

an

still

in

rendering

such as

excess of tenderness,

be justified except by the moral effect of

upon a population.

For

it

so subjected the

Church

to contagion, and swept away such crowds of faithful lives,


that the Christians owned that now at length was verified
the soubriquet with which by an ungenerous perversion that
they were
Parisian-like populace had long stigmatized them
become 'the Offscouring' of all.
At Carthage, so soon as the usual street-scenes and house-

scenes began, Cyprian


^

Pont.

Prsedandi

Demetr.
^

I.e.

Vit.

summoned

9 ; ad Demetr. lo, ii.


dissimulatio nulla, ad

11.

assuming that there were only

his

community, and

in a

seven according to Cone. Neocses. A.D.


314, can. 15.
"*

Euseb.

Page 242,

n. 4.

vii.

11.

Cf. 22.

VI.

THE CHURCH AND HEATHEN SUFFERING.

2.

I.

245

speech which his deacon wished the whole city could have

heard from the rostra, developed the duty and divineness of


prayer and labour on behalf of persecutors.

appealed to their Christian belief

God\

His epigrammatic

version

He

of Noblesse

'

In this light he

in their veritable

Respondere Natalibiis'

and

oblige

no

then, with the facility which

Sonship to
is

marked

a nobler

rendering.

defies

less

his arrangements,

forthwith proposed and carried a scheme for the systematic

With a few marked exceptions^ the whole

care of the city.


society, rich

and poor

alike, partly

from motives

like his

own,

partly under the spell of his personal influence^ responded to

the appeal, undertook the parts he assigned them, raised an

abundant fund, and formed an adequate

and

burial of sufferers

and

staff for the nursing

victims, without

any discrimination

of religious profession*.

Of

much more

tions,

probably

this organization

We

before the heathen.

or nothing transpired

little

how

see to-day

the wide organiza-

the self-sacrifice, of the Church's work in

obscure London can escape the philanthropic novelist and

even the religious sects of more prosperous quarters.

The

slow, vast effect of those unsuspected forces

may

on Carthage

cheer the sacrificers and organizers of to-day.


likely to

be recognised

that the

new enthusiasm

Or

disgust with

natural
Pont.

Vit.

'

still

which

Respondere

nos

I infer that

from

De

there were exceptions

Op. 6^ El.

'

qtiosdam in

videmus..A& quibus mirari non


oportet quod cotitemnant in tradatibus

ecclesia

serviim

'

which evidently

refers to un-

by

citizens
^

...exuberantium operum largitate,


est

ad omnes, non ad

solos domesticos fidei. Pontius, Vit. 10,


desires the

Saint

quently,'

ble

forgiveness of the Jewish

Tobias 'once,
for

piety,'

rating

this subject.

lower than that of

Deo

tanto

doctore

...

placeret

et

patri, et judici Christo, et interim

sacerdoti.

Pont. Vii. lo.

twice
his

and

fre-

'incompara-

which collected only the

remains of his

Sub

Christianity.

regarded such stolid

answered appeals made by himself upon


^

city

nothing could overcome the

quod bonum

decet natalibus nostris.'


^

and torturing

of humanity was fired

emerged,

this partly

if

in that old tortured

was not

It

own

fellow-believers,

Cyprian.

'

Ful-

ness (he adds) belongs to the times of


Christ.'

EXPANSION OF HUMAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

246

How

enemies of the emperor and the empire.


for the erect coldness with

which

else

their sect looked

account

on

at the

propitiations and tears presented to Health, to Apollo,

Queen

to Cselestis

noxious as the

knew

Heaven

of

None however was

Overseer of the Christians

'

'

well that

The

title.

for the

and

so ob-

populace

publication of the sacrificial edict

had been once more a signal

demand

for the Circus to

that

Cyprian should be fetched and matched with one of their


lions,

and he was

His

terrible

he was banished.

A.D. 257,

name and

proscribed by
over,

and grave

had gathered round him, when

plications

five

years

comlater,

This, says his biographer, 'was

'that of heir and for 'saving his country from


'

office \

political

reward for withdrawing from living sight a horror

his

'

officially

work was not

empty

shell of

been as energetic as

mode

Cyprian's

was novel.

it

Unconditional A

He

filled

fait

il

who were

to be organized into

them with the ideas which had

carried himself to the point of action.

beaucoup,

Itrinsni

of organizing had this merit and this

ruling spell, that he took those


his full confidence.

for

grapple with a Plague-city must have

TJie Theory.

Allow the utmost

an exiled population.'

partiality, that effort to

like

becoming the

tout ce qu'il a dit'

'II

parle,

il

parle

was the witty description

of a novel diplomacy which converted a province into an

empire.

was

It

in the highest sense of that description that

Cyprian educated

his

followers

schemes of duty

into the

which rose before him.

We may
tine calls

it,

look on his
'

OF

little treatise,

Work and

his

'

Letter,' as

Alms-Deeds,'

Augus-

as the expansion

of his noble motto Respondere Natalibns, as a lengthened


^

de

Ep.

()6.

bonis

4 'Siquis tenet possidet


Cypriani Episcopi

Csecili

Christianorum'

ment

quoted from the docu-

referred to in

Ep.

59. 6

'

adplicito

et

adjuncto episcopatus

totiens ad

leonem

amphitheatro, &c.
'

sui

nomine,

petitus, in circo, in

VI.

I.

THE THEORY.

3.

echo perhaps of that


plague.

It is

ALTRUISM.

247

speech of his on the approach of the

last

an unreserved statement of the Theory which

The

he carried through without reserve.

strokes which were

on the .Christians turned the affluence of many into


poverty.
Yet such strokes were partial in their effect, and
falling

many

left

So too the horrors of Pestilence do


Famine; and

untouched.

same

not bring the

universal impoverishment as

even Captivities and Confiscations had only their selected

There were patrimonies

victims.

of bullion, which

misery

it

any

to build

thronging

to the

the extrava-

all

the barrenness, the dulness, the darkness

of wealthy luxurious

own

there were old hoards

there were matronly jewelleries and

gances of fashion

his

still;

was time to unlock

life

oppressed the mind\

It

was a time

freshly gained ideas into the social code,

and

splendid use of wealth gave him a right to utter

them.
Christ then had treated the sacrifice of wealth as a note of

enrolment

His supernatural society, as a grade

in

in perfection,

which would accompany the soul into immortality^.

as a reality

Christ had not merely overlooked

He had

personally pledged

incurred

into

gain,

and

mundane

considerations.

Himself to convert losses so

faithless gains into loss.

charged Himself with the anxieties of the liberal

He

had

in short for

He had identified Himself with Providence^.


Socially He had declared Himself to be the new power in
the world for the elevation of the masses He had minutely
described how in the close of the world's history He will
His followers

look back

on

efforts

made

the amelioration of their

for

conditions^

Domestic claims cannot really compete with the needs of


the poor; both the interests and the characters of Christian
families are best provided for

14,
-

De

Opere

et

Eleemosynis 11

15; 23.

De

0. et

13

by

practical demonstrations of

*
;
*

E.

7,

8, 14.

De
De

0. et E. 9, 10.
0.

et

E.

16, 23.

EXPANSION OF HUMAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

248
real

faith

in

God ^

the fatherhood of

Once more the whole theory


ing as

does on the Eucharist,

it

Without personal

selfish.

in daily providence, in

immortal recompense,

the Divine sacrifice.

of Christian worship, center-

can be no union with

sacrifice there

What

and

nullified for the rich

is

an irony to see a gorgeous lady

before an altar receiving her

communion out

of the offerings

of the poor-.

In a nearly contemporaneous letter^ Cyprian represented

endurance by metaphors almost overbold, as

Christian

combat fought

gladiatorial

He now

Caesar.
will

bestow

his

crowns before Emperor and

carries his figure farther.

means

the Munerarius*

for

the

in

of rank or ambition

a fortune to provide a worthy spectacle.


audacity Satan himself

He

Christ.

is

The wealthy who

supporting such combatants

man

who

is

like

lavishes

With a Goethesque

introduced to confront the throned

points out the glorious shows which his servants

ruin themselves to exhibit with unfruitful unselfish splendour


his

in

honour,

'Where,

Where your

he sneers, 'are your

Christ,'

who

do even

'

Munerarii

'

remunerating works on such a scale upon your principles,

either through gratitude for

'

of your bright reward

.''

capitalists,

will

your loving Passion, or

in

self-

hope

.'*'

But our account of the motives for generosity which Cyprian

expands before the Church, would not be complete without


his peculiar and less satisfactory development of the relation

Not only do prayer and

of Almsgiving to Sin.

fasting lack

substance and reality apart from such alms and work^ but

when past

sinfulness has been obliterated

by the blood of

Christ in Baptism, the effectiveness of that Baptism

longed and

'^

De
De

0. et

E.

16, 20.

O.

E.

i^.

et

Augustus, Quintil.
<

Ep. 58 plebi Thibari consistenti.'


Note the popular word invented by
'

is

pro-

subsequent frailties continually abolished, through

viii. 3,

and note the

near resemblances of language between

De
^

0.

et

De

E. i\ and Ep.
E. 5.

0. et

58. 8.

VI.

RESENTMENT.

II.

the maintenance in

all

249

freshness of the state of

its

mind

in

which we leave the font by a constant flow of working and

There can be no better

almsgiving\
teaching

(in

own

our

which a

illustration

distinct propitiatory value

action) of the

combined

assigned to

is

results, in the

than this

development

of doctrine, of resorting to the Jewish Apocrypha, relying on

When

a Version, and constructing a theory from a word^


thread

this

of

was presently

or at

erroneous,

woven

after

in

ambiguous, theory

least

language on satisfaction being made to


a

commencement

On
of

mediaeval trouble was made.

the other hand for this very treatise the

Ephesus was

other

much

of

new forensic
God by penance

with Tertullian's

'

chapters

of Nestorius*
to be the

And

Council

with

quote,

from the Fathers, against the confusions

'

clear-toned opening

its

Son

first

when they could

grateful,

'

The Sent Son

willed

of Man.'

Augustine with quite a burst of love brings up

eloquent truths as against the Pelagian thought that some

its

men

So didst thou teach, so didst thou


teacher
and glorious witness^.'
admonish, incomparable
in this life are sinless.

'

II.

Resentment.

Such was the preparation which the Christians of Carthage


were receiving
^

De

Such are most

0.

et

of the idea

E.

for their conflict

distinctly the sources

{i.e.

Baptism)

{i.e.

gehenna)

mosyna extinguet peccatum


30),

and again Prov.

xvi.

sic elee-

(Sirach

'

iii.

misericordiam

et

'

fidem pur-

Lirin.
s

in

gantur peccata'), which in the African

27,

purgantur.'
2

De

Comtnon.

De

2.

Pelagg.

E.

treatise

Augustine

part of ch.

B.

IV.

i.

c.

viz.

iv. c. x.

and Contra yulian. Pelag. B.

viii.

et

30.

Contra ditas cpp. Pelagg. B.

et fide delicta

0.

11.

Out of this short

Eleemosynis

Pcenitentia 6.

67 (202), A.D.

quotes part of its third chapter twice,

version was

vol. iv., p.

was read again at the second


Council A.D. 449, and again at Chalcedon A.D. 451. Ibid. p. 1134. Vincent,
It

431.

Mise-

ricordia et veritate redimitur iniquitas


(xv. 27 'per

Labbe,

2.

Sicut aqua

extinguet ignem

with the misery of a heathen

II.

c.

in Contra diias epp.


viii.

and part of

chap. xxii. in the same passage.

EXPANSION OF HUMAN FEELING AND ENERGY,

250

Meantime the rancour of its population which had laid


wars and drought and pestilence at the door of the tolerated
Christians found a more emphatic voice than usual in the
city.

utterances of an aged magistrate, Demetrian.

been freely admitted


prian's house, he

in the character of

was now, with one

After having

an enquirer to Cy-

foot in the grave, acting

on the tribunal the part not merely of a harsh enforcer of


the penal statutes, but of an ingenious inventor of tortures.

He was

open to the further suspicion of having himself put

the most exciting imputations against the accused into

cir-

culation \

'The indignation
'

desire of having

'

and

'

is

in a higher

malice.

instricvients

'provided

who were concerned

It is

one of the

held together... a

is

injustice

and the

punished, which persons unconcerned

it

'by nature... which


'

by cruelty and

degree those

by no means

'which society

raised

may

would

feel,

common bonds by

weapon put

into our

hands

be innocently employed. ...one of the

of death which the author of our nature hath


not only an innocent but a generous movement

'of the mind. ...a settled and deliberate passion implanted in


'

man
It

and remedy of wrong^'

for the prevention


is

thus that Butler characterizes Resentmejit.

that Cyprian exemplifies

it,

as precisely as

if

his

It is

thus

words had

been weighed to comply with the philosopher's subtle and


original distinction.

'We may
could

hate no man.'

know no

partaker of his
^

Sub

ipso

exitu,

cum frequenter ad me

own

Confiscation,

the circus and

fire

4 'cremamur') were

ad

Denietr.

venires,

chains,
(cf.

25

novas

12.

execution,

Tert.

all in

Christians at this time.

ment

ad Scap,

vogue against

Ad

Demetr.

Pearson exposes the older statethat

Odisse non

blessing, but

poenas, 12; quos tu forsitan concitasti,


2.

'

licet nobis^.'

He

greater joy than that Demetrian should be

Demetrian was proconsul.

'

he makes a way for his


power

His

Cyprian

may

and

his

intimacy

with

suggest that he was one

of the Five native pj-imores associated

with

Roman

officers for Christian

in-

vestigations.
^

Bishop Butler, Sermon viii.

Resentment.
*

Ad Demetrian.

25.

On

VI.

RESENTMENT.

II.

So long

indignation.'

God'

as

Demetrian had bayed and raved at


'

would have been 'an

it

25

easier,

lighter effort to beat

waves back with shouts than to curb such fury by


it is time to speak when a double and triple

'rising

'accost,' but

injustice

is

perpetrated with every accompaniment of cruelty.

Tertullian had in his day confronted a persecutor \


to

say, in this

one instance

'

The

Master's

'

spirit

Strange
is

more

There are points of contact

gentle than the gentle prelate's.

shewing the appeal to Scapula to have been studied by the


author of the appeal

'

TO Demetrian.'

we have the
One Natural

In both

remonstrance against the suppression of the

Worship

both point to the quietude of the prevailing Sect^;

the power of their prayers

to

example

suffering

exordium

is

exorcisms and of their

But here the resemblance

in conversions.

Tertullian's

ends.

in

almost affectionate he has no


;

Doom

denunciations; no word of the Eternal

of persecutors

He

nor of the new philosophy of Divine Probation.

is

mainly

occupied with relating warnings that have befallen severe


governors, and blessings that have attended lenient judges

The aim of Cyprian is quite


and much wider. Demetrian and he represented
face to face the popular and the new or advanced answers to
the question, 'Whence all this political and all this physical

and

ratified Christian Prayers.

different

misery

.-'

The Heathen
'is

cry was, 'The progress of Christian opinion

refusing to the immortal gods the institutions which ac-

knowledge and represent them, temple, pageant, art, drama,


'circus, arena, private homage, oath, vow, even incense and
'

'blood;

all

that

we know

'same opinion denies to


'

'

factions,

own

its

of sacred

our human

necessities.'

is

them execrable; the

to

constitution

'Nature

is

its

own

satis-

chastising our

tolerance of the unnatural.'

The new
^
"^

reply

is

very grave.

Ad Scapiilam.
Pars pzene major cujusque

For Cyprian too nature and


ad Scap.

civitatis,

populus,

nimius et copiosus noster

ad Demetr.

17.

EXPANSION OF HUMAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

252

humanity were

phenomena

tion of the

But

at present dark of aspect.

his explana-

of suffering was threefold.

he

First,

believed that on general grounds a decrepitude of universal


life,

corresponding to that of individual objects, must be

expected and

The opinion

begun.

is

of the old age of the

world, which Columella so long since had rejected S gained

ground with the decline of


fancied that

This was

it

scheme of prophecy.

accorded with their then

more obvious,

hypothesis

Christians in particular

virtue.

the silence of

in

economics, than to trace the decay of enterprise, of production, of art-skill^ to the universal expulsion of free labour

by

and the

slave labour, the artificial appreciation of corn,

consolidation of real property in hands incredibly few.

The second answer regarded

his antagonist in regarding as divine

Cyprian concurred with

judgments

and upon impiety.

impiety where

But

These

political convulsions.

system of slavery

to

In

.''

he points to the

illustration

the absolute conviction which that

institution implied of the accuracy with

be rendered by one set of mortal

which duty ought to


other^ and of

lives to the

'Was

chastisement due to disobedience.

the unlimited

it

'

reasonable to suppose that the universal profligacy of disobe-

'

dience to acknowledged moral laws should receive no check

'

from the Master of

Man

.-"

or was

De

Agricola...nauta...inartibusperitia,

re rustica, Prsef.,

ad Demetr.
'

Ad

1. ii.

shews that the idea that slavery was


unchristian had not penetratefl even

humane

nature.

At

the

conditio ujia

porum materia
ratio

argument

This

8.

wonderful that

nasceitdi,

i.

3.

Demetr.

Cyprian's

it

same

communis,

moriendi,

aequali jure et pari lege

mundo postmodum

mundum,
recedatur,

pro arbitrio tuo serviatur,

voluntatis

cor-

animarum

consimilis,

vel veniatur in istum

nisi tibi

civic strifes

vel

de

tamen
nisi

ad

obsequium pareatur, impe-

time his indignation about the atrocities

riosus et nimius servitutis exactor, fla-

shews what was coming, and he plainly


does not treat slavery as a natural law.

gellas, verberas, fame,

The passage

crucias.

'

is

worth quoting.

well

Ipse de servo tuo exigis servitutem, et

homo hominem parere


compellis, et

cum

sit

tibi

et oboedire

vobis eadefn sors

ferro frequenter

et

siti,

nuditate, et

carcere adfligis et

Et non agnoscis [miser] Domi-

num Deum

tuum, cum

dominatum.'

sic

ad Demetr.

exerceas ipse
8.

VI.

RESENTMENT.

II.

253

'and aristocratic savagery should beckon the Goth to the

That deaths should avenge an

aristocratic

and com-

'

frontier

'

mercial rapacity which inflicted worse famines than nature

.-*

.'*

That pestilence should linger in cities where its warnings had


only evoked fresh rebellions against morality^
Here he introduces with force a fact of which Demetrian
had already heard something that such scourges had been
*

.-'

'

unerringly foretold by Prophets as visitations upon sicch sins,

and foretold with

this

remarkable supplement to their predic-

reformation would be adopted only by the few and

tions, that

scorned by the mass.

'

And

yet,'

are indignant at the indignation of

He

Thirdly.
in a

he finely exclaims,

ye

God I'

retorts the causes of that divine indignation

more sounding

strain

'You and your courts are labour-

'ing for the eradication of the only rational

and

spiritual

'worship extant; labouring to conserve the adoration of inept


'figments and animal monsters.

Full of this zeal

'invert the usages of law^ against us.

'vince us

'demon
'Then

by reason

or only

come and

listen to

deities confessing, screaming, flying*

set the

you actually

But argue with

us,

con-

your own

from our prayers.

unmeaning meanness of your cringing

prostra-

open-browed, manly, sensible devotions of our

'tions against the

Do you think it conceivable that brute force should


from our position to yours.'' Do you doubt our

'assemblies.

'move us

The

'sincerity.''

'and the unseen


'in

your

certainty of our conviction as to this world

is

best evidenced

inflictions.

by our

perfect acquiescence

Vast as our numbers are

'we have never turned on an oppressor.

The

in

the empire,

last

persecution

'has indeed for our sake collapsed in the 'crash of empire'

'when treasure, forces and camp were

Ad Defuetr.
Ad Demetr.

is

10.

regitm (17), but the touches leave

no

9.

doubt of the event.

See above,

See p. 10, n. 3.
We must read minis rerum not

with Decius",

Once more our conviction

'but without our act or wish.


^

lost

11. i,

p. 61.

Decii
cution.

immediately

The death
suspended

of the
perse-

EXPANSION OF HUMAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

254

'evidenced in our acquiescence in the heavenly chastisements

'which

we

For think you that we claim,

fully share with you.

exemption? Surely no,

'as spiritual worshippers,

'our eternal trust, chastisements

on

us,

us they

'men
'you

we

you do; we bear

fare as

He must

'records said long since

'Our prosperous days are not


'you we grieve and with you,

willingly

inflict for

There

ings also.

what God

They

are forewarn-

day

when we

world are Re-born, and signed with a certain

in this

from you, and never rejoin

'sign in a certain blood, shall part

The pleased tormentor of to-day must then become

'you.

By

'the spectacle of the tormented \

that fear, by the abun-

'dant time and occasion offered for your change, by


'dear hopes which, as

we know,

Such

in brief

is

what

is

be contested on more equal terms ^

of

Dem.
the

nitely differenced

of TertuUian

Gentle as the up-

24.

peroration

is,

and

of,

{De Spectac), the

'Qui hie nos

oculorum brevis

much

here.

So

fructtis,^

also

at

which the

Antiochus

fifth

long

turn fuit martyri,

quam magnum, quam

grande solacium, in cruciatibus

suis

non

tormenta propria cogitare, sed tortoris


Eternal punishment and the eternal pre-

rankles too

candour cannot
the

Maccabee hurls

a comment which in this


illud

will ere

suisuppliciapraedicare,'rt^i^?r/?^a/'. 11.

comment on

Church 'Quale

Roman

Already the former are

knew

century would not be possible in the


catholic

behalf.'

bitter-

spectavit...Q,xviAA\\xa\.

pass over Cyprian's


threat

infi-

from the wild threat

ness of the sights which Cyprian

own

a transparent consciousness

that the struggle between Christian and

Ad

the

have called the 'Resentment' of

Throughout there

Cyprian.

all

centre on that change, the

'persecuted appeal to the persecutor in his

shot

our

They are to come. For


and we intercede unfalteringly

in the distance a divine

is

in

the wicked's sake.

here.

'that happiness are not only fulfilments.

'who

are but

dwell in one house with

But the present interruptions of

your worldly happiness.

'for

We

human.

liable to all things

we

In the flesh

'probation, as a discipline of strength.

with

come

an aspect new-born with us into the world's thought, as a

'in

'

To

fall light.

levamen-

servation necessary to

make

are stated in awful terms

cum

corporibus suis

cruciatibus
24.

Romans under
on

it

'

possible

Servabuntur,

animse

ad dolorem.

reckoned

be

'

infinitis

ad Demetr.

persecution might
to

discover

this

doctrine,
^

We may

compare

this

with the

VI.

RESENTMENT.

II.

255

proud of their numbers^; already there


out: already there

is

is

hope

speaking

in

a conviction that the masses are ready

to hear reason'^: a perception that persecution

the grandest

is

opportunity for the missionerl

Jerome* has echoed a criticism of Lactantius that Cyprian


might have met the heathen magistrate more convincingly

upon general grounds than by Scripture

texts".

sary to differ from the prince of critics because

where used as arguments, are alleged,

neces-

It is

the texts,

(i)

after description of the

tokens of Divine anger, only to shew that the visitations had

The argument is this. They who could


them might be presumed to have a key to the right
explanation of them. They did predict them as punishments
been predicted ^

predict

upon idolatry and oppression.


prophecies

This kind of exhibition of

surely a legitimate allegation to produce before

is

an unbeliever.

(2) It is visibly the sequel of

arguments which

had been touched upon and but half developed


are not producible for every purpose.
just such unfamiliar

observe, does not once

him any author of Scripture by name,


'another prophet

saith,'

'God

The man's acquaintance


argument

justifies

et copiosus noster

populus

ulciscitur (a^ Z>^wi?^r. 17).

Quos tamen sermonis nostri ad-

meet

to

quote to
prophet,'

'a.

Scriptures,'

with the elements of Christian

"

in the

ground he takes,

Rettberg, p. 266

f.,

taking occasion

by Jerome and conceiving

Corona.

Nimius

always

Holy

in the

Cyprian precisely

more passionate conviction of Tertullian

De

Having

(3)

knowledge as would have adhered to

a Demetrian, Cyprian,

in the

conver-

in

Cyprian shews himself^ aware that Scripture texts

sations.

further an

impolicy in addressing a magistrate in

language so strong,
trian to

be a

fictitious

concludes

Deme-

personage.

But

mittere credo rationetn {ad Denietr. 2).

the trait of his visiting Cyprian profess-

Disceptatione vince, vince /-a/K)^ (13).

edly to enquire,

'

...dum

et poptilo
et

me

christianum celebri loco

circumstante pronuntio et vos

deos vestros clara

tio7te

confundo...

Ep. 83 (70)
Divin. Institutt.
*

et

publica prcedita-

ad Demetr. 13.
ad Mapt.; Lactant.
v. 4.

actually to declaim,

advanced age, the peculiar mode


of citation and other slight fitnesses are

his

against this.

Hoc

sc\&scs?,e

pra:dictum{adD. 5):

Ipsum audi loquentem (a^Z>.


''Ad Demetr. 3.

6).

EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

256
while

it

further

verifies

to

us the

of the circum-

reality

stances.

Of
The

the Style of the

style of this

brochure

Deus nee

moulds a
siccitate
'in

line

'

of

judicaturi.'

of a relapse into the early floridity

morientibus aestuans campus'


et fertiles

Some

strong.

Veneunt

Twice Cyprian

and seventh chapters.

of Virgil into his prose

agro inter cultas

and

'Quasi, etsi hostis desit, esse pax

Somewhat

perceptible in the third

is

elevated, pure

quseritur nee timetur.'

inter ipsas togas possit.'

Demetrian^

and epigrammatic.

the expressions finely terse


'

is

'

{Georg.
(20),

i.

'herbis

107)

and {Georg.

i.

154)

segetes lolium et avena dominetur'

(23)-

III.

The Interpretation of Sorrows.


Exercitia sunt nobis ista

Difficulties

non

De

funera.

Mortalitate

which arose from within the community were

scarcely less perplexing.

It

work a new lapse of its own.

seemed as

if

the Pestilence might

Numbers were dismayed that the

scourge of Christ's persecutors should light no

Others shewed the

His friends\
spirit,

first

less

heavily on

symptoms of the fanatic


when death

so fatal afterward to Africa, and chafed

threatened to forestall their martyr-crown^.


to be

16.

summoned

to the tribunal shrank

Others

from the

still

liable

cross.

To

preserve their faith by deluding the tyrant was not an extinct

temptation.

What was

the church of Carthage.''

It

was an

unpopular yet important section of a great city population,


overmastered by powerful ideas, unfamiliar as yet with their
manifold applications; dragged daily into contact with bitter
social hardships, then suddenly

made

sharers in the world-

wide terror of the Plague, then accounted responsible


mysterious origin
1

De

for its

flung back thus on the old enigmas of

Mortalitate 8.

j^^ j^jgyt. 17.

VI.

THE INTERPRETATION OF SORROWS.

III.

257

exempted from new enigmas in their faith,


body needed indeed that some broad and Christian

existence and not

such

view of

this physical

The work

calamity should be opened before them.

of mercy had been organized, but to control

these cross currents of feeling required yet greater

To

delicacy.

and

skill

beard a slanderous tormentor was perhaps a

duty, but a harder one was to maintain in a people so tried

the gentleness and tranquillity of

the intelligence of

spirit,

God which marked

devotion, the sense of unity with

the line

between the Church and polytheism. In quick succession came

The

out three more of Cyprian's finest Essays.

topics of the

pungent pamphlet 'on Demetrian' are reviewed from the positive side in the

encouraging address 'on the Mortality.'

we have the noble joyous treatise 'on


The later 'Exhortation to Confession,' a

the

Then

Lord's Prayer.'

Scripture manual for

Martyrs, must be treated with these as his last teaching in


this region.
It was in answer to actual calls that the pen of Cyprian
was thus busy amid such distractions. Few of the bishops

make adequate answers

could

The

laity of the distant

among them.

sence

them.
^

Longe, Ep. 58.

geographers,

1885

BARIS

his pre-

There and elsewhere

recommenced.

Unnamed by

i.

and not

to the questionings of the times.

town of Thibaris entreated

Edicts of Gallus for sacrifice had reached

had

Torture

identified

until

inscription Genio ThiAuGUSTO Sacrum R P Thib

when an

places

Byzacene because

in the

it

among

bishop votes

its

these provincials in

the Council of Carthage (Sentt. Epp.

may mention

37).

that there

is

no

He

Tid {Respublica Thibaritanoriim Decreio


[decuriommi]) was found near where a

geographical order of voting there.

small tributary of the Medjerda leaves

twice in the Collation of Carthage A. D.

on the south ofthe plain of Bulla


and of the road to Cirta, at Henchir

411;

the hills

The

Hamdmet.

standout. (Tissot,
It is just in

ruins

its

basilica

Zeugitana where Fell, p.

by some accident places


it with Tabora

identifies

Caesariensis.

B.

of

pi. 18; vol. il. p. 367.)

it; p.

in

20,

237, he

Mauretania

Morcelli says Hardouin

adds that their bishop Victorian appears


C^Tg-mV.

vol. ill.,

pp.

I.

'ZO'Z

133 and 187.

and

Cyprianic codices
tanos
'

zxid.

once Tabaria

i.e.

in

is

Dhibari.
'

(?),

222.)

(Labbe,

The name in

also read Thebari-

At Mohammedia,
9 miles from Tunis,

Zeugitana, the

name Thibbure

has been read on a slab {Rev. Afric.


I.

p. 378).

17

v.

EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

258

congregations ceased to assemble, and the bishops to preach ^

Their own bishop Vincent four years later was the most
fanatical of all the speakers

holding heretics to be so

the

in

Council of that date,

much worse than heathens as to need

not only Baptism, but a previous Exorcism,

At

Church,

present the bishop

if

they joined the

only alluded to as silenced.

is

The Lapsed were still unrestored, and no restoration but that


Harassed and unsupof martyrdom was yet recognised I
ported

many

Christians buried themselves in the solitudes

of the adjacent Tell,

many escaped by

And

sea.

then

many

were haunted by the apprehension that a lonely death in


exile

was no true confessorship of

The 'urgency
A.D. 252,

March ?

Christ.

of affairs' in Carthage rendered a visit from

But he wrote to Thibaris an affectionate

Cyprian hopeless.

and reassuring LETTER^ which contains

germ the scheme of


some few thoughts
'Mortality' and his

in

the essays which he next undertook, and

which he does not repeat.

Had

'Lord's Prayer' been already

composed he would have sent


and the 'Lapsed' to the

them these

Roman

as he sent the 'Unity'

Confessors.

his counsel

his

The

multiplication of practical needs for

was ever the motive of Cyprian's

literary work.

In words almost identical with those of his Second Synodical


Letter, which followed immediately, having told the Thibari-

tans of the warnings which

made him

at the beginning of sorrows, he

feel that

they were but

reminded them that stages

of history which have been predicted in Scripture ought

He sketched

reached to create no difficulty to Christians.


for

perhaps the

first

time the

full

an attempt at
^

retaliation

is

insists that

it

afforded.

^ Ep. 58. 8.
Ep. 58. 4.
Appropinquantejam, imoimminen-

endurance without

ever recommenced (^/. 58. 4), and as yet


the lapsed had not been relieved by the

second council {Ep. 58. 8).

for the epistle (Annal. Cypr. a.d. 252,

the letter

The

tortures

and

flight

And

characteristic of the Christian life

te Galli persecutione, is Pearson's date

ix.).

out

doctrine of probation, and

the preparation for a final judgment which

then while, as to Demetrian, he

when

had how-

March a.d.

252.

should date

By

April the

council would have been planned.

VI.

THE INTERPRETATION OF SORROWS.

III.

on earth\

the hope of eternal triumph

still

by the meditation of

sistency heightened

is

259

with real incon-

eternal vengeance.

We have no right to slur this trait of the thought of the time,


but

if

we think

a truer lesson might have been early learnt, yet

the succession of ages which have not learnt

on us what

it

should impress

the hardest lesson which Christ set to man.

is

The Lapsed are


The loneliest Death

and regain

invited to rearm,
for Christ

their loss.

witnessed by Him, and

is

glorious as any public martyrdom.

We

is

as

have spoken before

of the fine image which in this letter he borrows from the

Emperor and the


'A combat high and great guerdoned gloriously
That God should be our spectator
with a heavenly crown

gladiators fighting and dying before the


Caesar.
'

men whom He

'should open His eyes on


'

make His

and enjoy the spectacle of our contending

sons,

'

We

'

spectator, His

give battle

has deigned to

we

fight in

wager of the

faith

more eloquent than this


closing application of the Christian armoury from
Nothing however

'

Take we

God

is

as a covering for our head the

also

practical
S.

deadly Edicts, our eyes

'

salvation, to fence our ears against the

from the sight of the abhorred Images

'

the Seal of

'

victorious

'

our right hand too with the spiritual Sword

'

the deathly sacrifices, that, unforgetful of the Eucharist,

'

as

Cyprian says
licet,

it is

occidi

Ep. 58. 4.
8.
Did Cyprian know the

est.

Ep. 58.
Carmina Sibyllina? See C. Alexandre,
Oractila Sibyllina (1869, pp. 52
^

Ep.

The

54).

58. 9.

'Epistle'

{Contra

and

brow that

sternly to repel
it

needs then grew the address* 'ON

such

Quibus occidere non

it

to fence our

may,

has received the Lord's Body, so also clasp Himself ^'

From

God may be safely kept on it, our lips that the


tongue may acknowledge its Lord Christ. Arm we

Mortality.'

necesse

Paul.

Helmet of

it

our

Angels spectators, Christ a spectator too^'

ii.

X. 27).

as

Augustine

Epp. Pelagg.

He

cites

it

calls

iv. viii.

22

THE

intended to fortify the more

Contra

luliaii. Ii. viii. 25, Op. impf. c.

Ep. 17. 22, and in de


Sand. xiv. 26 as librum
...multis ac psene omnibus qui ecclesiasticas literas amant laudabiliter notum.

Iiilian. vi. xiv.,

-2

Fr(sdestinatione

See Pearson {Annal. Cypr. A.D. 252,


on the references to it in Chron.

xvii.)

Euseb. and in Possidius.

in six places,

17

EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

26o

timid minority of his flock; and he makes tender excuse for

But

their misconceptions.

served a far wider purpose.

it

It taught the teachers.

The new

leading thoughts in the Demetrian were

(i)

the

evidence which Prediction might afford to heathens that the


Christian interpretation

by trouble,

was

and

true,

(2)

the idea of Probation

To

as characteristic of Christianity.

he presents the converse of these thoughts.


chastisement

fulfilled are

his

own people

Predictions of

a pledge that promises of joy will

be accomplished. The idea of Probation, unrevealed to Plato,

unpreached by Cicero,

brought

is

home now

of suffering, the interpretation of sorrow.

ham^

Abra-

Job, Tobias,

new masters of the ruined, the oppressed, the


One stroke of Providence effects both the Discipline

are the

bereaved.
of

as the philosophy

Love and the Censure of

In the present calamity, the

Sin.

noisome repulsiveness of the plague deepens the

trial,

and

yet what pure woman, what innocent boy would not shrink

from

this

less

than from the torturer's polluting

fingers^.''

Cruelty and hardness have been denounced already as the


main provocations of paganism. And now 'the service of the

(3)

'sick, the
'

kindness of

\i\n^io\k.,

pitifniness to sick slaves, the

self-devotedness of physicians,* these, says he, are

first

subjects 'which the dread

comes

among

the

and deadly-seeming pestilence

to look into.'

The

speedy dissolution of the


drew from prevailing famines

ecclesiastical belief in a

world, the illustrations which

it

or pestilences, and the class of motives to virtue which

it

suggested are sometimes treated as retrogressions in philosophy, hindrances to the political efficiency of citizens, and
interferences with the
fact this belief

was

(as

Hellenic sense of

we have

from the thought of the day.


tributed
pretation

'

Beauty.'

seen) carried into the

What

belief.

which Cyprian and others proposed

De Mart.

10, ir.

in

Church

the Church really con-

was a new way of regarding that

physical disasters excluded probably

But

all
*

The

inter-

for universal

the conceptions with

De Mort.

15.

VI.

THE INTERPRETATION OF SORROWS.

III.

26

which contemporary

intellects,

invested these

and to us that interpretation


of whether the Church was advancing

offers

terrific

crucial

tests

whether popular or cultivated,

crises,

thought and sentiment, and elevating courage, or was parting


with a glorious view of nature.

Such

frightful

were traced to one or other of about

ills

five

general causes; to a dualism of conflicting deities, good and

malevolent; to a dualism of the beneficent

and matter
in

matter

and of matter

spirit

mechanic laws; to a necessity controlling deity

instinct with

alike

to fortuitous conditions

own

and fixed sequences

the personal displeasure of deity which

itself; to

by traditional rites and under


popular titles, although such names might not be strictly
This last was the more
identified with divine personalities.
willed

its

recognition

which

refined version of the popular creed

felt

the action of

beings vindicating a right to material offerings and to the

extermination of atheists.

The

despair and apathy which these beliefs engendered in

the presence of universal suffering are commonplaces with the

Greek historian and

who

Roman

touches the subject

is

led

But the

poet.

first

by the Mortality

Christian

into a region

of sublimity and tenderness.

On him
care,

enforces (i) absolute confidence in a Paternal

it

which through

probation ^

visible correction \

through acknowledged

yet uncomprehended
and purifies and calms.
enjoins on him utmost activity, organization, self-

through

resignation

to

purposes', elevates
It

(2)

devotion in the alleviation of suffering and of bereavement

These

effects

on Christian thought and practice are deduced

from distinctly Christian grounds.

These same grounds create


moral causes
1
2
^

De
De
De

in

Mart. 15.

Mort.

i,

in

him

society^ have an

9, 15.

Mort. 11, 18.

(3) the conviction that

effect

on the conditions

*^

De

Mort.

16.

De

Mort.

15.

262 EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING

AND ENERGY.

accorded to humanity, not only immediately by the recom-

pense earned by the individual's vice or virtue, but mediately

by

laws, exterior and physical, through


judgment of God. Not only is a world
human excellence to expand on and an

general

affecting

exercise of the moral


in order a field for

external instrument for


disorder

is

to utilise, but a world in physical

it

an instrument of correction, converting

abject thoughts to interior

selfish

and to wider considerations^,

and
vivi-

fying the hypothesis of an existence independent of physical


decrepitudes^, and exciting in those

who

believe the divine

Fatherhood an almost emulous beneficence^ There are germs


Could

of further social advance in Cyprian's teaching.

have been demonstrated to him that pestilence

is

it

(irrespec-

tively of interposition) a direct result of the uncivilised squalor

which dogs the


replied

of luxury, he must have emphatically

feet

by an application

(not perhaps yet visible to him) of

the doctrine which underlies

all

his teaching.

He would

have said that luxury and squalor are both expressions of


hideous moral errors.

'Enterprise, administration,

humane

him the signs of an advancing, progressive, youthful world. Waste of the world's
intercourse, skill in

are to

arts^'

resources, content in

sordidness, disregard

of natural

ties,

indifference to the meanest, the crushing of small industries,

the abolition of small holdings for the sake of grazing farms

and deer
world's

are to

forests^,

And

life.

it is

him

so

many

crimes against the

a familiar thought to him that there

is

so exact an appropriateness in the observed consequences of

accumulating

evils,

that believers in Providence do not err in

calling these consequences

^
^

De Mort.
De Mort.
De Mort.

'

decisions' Judicia

ciorum (paraphrase of

4.

2,

11

26.

Dominica Orat.

Ad Detn.

3.

Egentem

et

Cf. de Mori. 4, 24.

pauperem non vident

oculi superfiisi nigrore.

Suffocationes

33.

Isai. Iviii. i).

de

Continuantes

sal-

tibus saltus et de confinio pauperibus

26.

^judgments^.

de Op.

et

El. 15.

impotentium commer-

exclusis infinita ac sine terminis rura


latius porrigentes.
^

Cf. dt Laps,

i,

ad Donat.
ad Dcm. 5,

12.
7, 17,

VI.

THE INTERPRETATION OF SORROWS.

III.

Not

the respect only but the adherence of

many a heathen

was ere long compelled by the attitude of the


and yet

failures of faith there

were

'in

263

Christians^,

Home

the

of Faith,'

marked many incredulities against our


Master in believing^.' Minds fresh from paganism took
unexpected turns. He meets them with brightness. 'You,
who because you are Christians expected immunity from this
and

their bishop

'

'

visitation, will you, as Christians,

'

scirocco,

think that plague

'

fret to

'

know

'

faith that

To
to

fill

claim exemption from the

from ophthalmia, from stranding

that

it

God

is

may

cut

you

ships*.'

off

You who
'

from martyrdom,

not the martyr's blood but the martyr's

asks^'

was dreadful

others death

still.

their imagination with realities

These then have yet

which they have coldly

col-

'

league of mine, a fellow bishop, lay at the point of death.

He

'

prayed

'

noble, majestic, of lofty stature

'

eye of

'

which were closing to

accepted.

for a respite.

flesh

'his spirit,

Ye

'Nor are we now without

At once

special helps.

young man stood

at his side,

and bright countenance,

no

could have endured to look on him, save eyes

and

There was indignation

this world.

he said "Ye

his voice shook, as

in

fear to suffer.

What

shall I do unto you.^*" It


was the voice of one who heeds not our momentary desires
Not for himself, but for us, the
'but our lasting interest.
'

are unwilling to depart.

'

man heard that.'


To this tale Cyprian adds what we may well believe, how
many times he had himself, 'little and last' though he was,
'

dying

heard the prompting to preach publicly the glorious verities

comes by the will of God.


'Let us realize what we mean by the presence of

of deaths as

'

it

and the eternal


1

Gentiles coguntur ut

Mort. 15.
2
3

De Mort. 6.
De Mort. 8.

Christ,

society, the increasing hosts of our friends, the

credant.

de

Nee enim sanguinem Deus nostrum

sed fidem quaerit.


^

De

Mort.

de Mart. 11

19, 20.

AND ENERGY.

264 EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING


'

who

loved, the revered, the sainted

His voice

are there'.'

preludes the most majestic of

swells to lyric fervour, and

For him the cheering certainties of exalted life are


dashed by no pagan reminiscence, no anticipated mediaeHe cannot mourn the departed though much he
valism.
odes'''.

He

misses them like distant voyagers I

cannot brook even

the assumption of black garments as a memorial of those

who wear immortal


'

Put

the

white.

terror of death out of doors

dwell on the

Undyingness beyond itV

may

It

be

difficult to revive

feelings and thoughts,


in the older talk

the early freshness with which

now long grown

usual,

began to mingle
But

along street and quay in Carthage.

it

not hard to say whether the city and the world gained by

is

the change.

The 'Exhortation to Martyrdom,'


ConfessorshipV is a Manual of Scripture

or

rather 'to

passages, con-

nected by brief remarks, and arranged under thirteen heads


for reflexion.
rian's

It

was compiled

course, but material for

years

later, after

De Mort.
De Mort.

it

says the author,

Not a
discoursing^'

It is difficult to resist

here

the triple parallelism of the

illic

populus'

is

But the resemblance

v.).

s,

and the use of such words as


numerus, which are not

chorus and

martyruni innumerabilis

points of the liturgy.


^

Non

amitti sed pr3emitti...ut navi-

something more than a coincidence with

gantes

Ambrosian 'Te gloriosus apostoloruni chorus, te prophetarum laudabilis

non

nu7nerus, te candidatus martyruni lau-

The original
natum simply.

the

These are among those


clauses of the Te Deum which Dr
Swainson counts as 'closely connected
dat exercitus.'

the

Eucharistic

liturgy of Jerusalem

'

hymn

of

the

{Diet, of Christian

dis-

lies in

clauses,

pheiarum exsultantium numerus,

No

garment, but

apostoloruni gloriosus chorus,

illic pi'o-

'

'

Antiqq.,

26.
26.

is,

the impression that the Cyprianic 'Illic

with

Vale-

Edict for persecution, at the request of a layman,

Fortunatus by name, and

five

solent,

De Mort.

tibi

...non

eos debere,

desiderari

de Mort. 10.

plangi.

24.
title

was

tam tractatum

misisse

Ad

meum

quam materiam

bus prsebuisse.

Fortu-

videar

ttactanti-

ad Fortunatum,

i.

VI.

THE INTERPRETATION OF SORROWS.

III.

Wool and Purple

Lamb Himself

the

of

26$

ready for the

weaving \
purpose

Its

to assist himself

is

persons for their Second Baptism


'

grace, loftier of effect,

'

more precious

and others in preparing


the Baptism stronger in
in

honour

'

wherein angels are the baptizers, at which

'

are joyful

the Baptism

God and His Christ


The very

the Baptism, after which no man sins^'

existence of a practical

little

book

like

answers the

this

question whether martyrdoms were very few and scattered.

The

cheerfulness of Cyprian's

own

spirit

appears in his infer-

ence that the very number of the sufferers shews that such

endurance cannot be

The
thought

over-difficult or too severe*.

place which the book has in the progress of Cyprian's

may

be recognised.

In his 'Unity of the Church' he

had accumulated every Scriptural

apt or otherwise,

illustration,

of that doctrine. In this book he developes rather laboriously

new

The Seven Maccabees whose

one.

history he details

(as

Origen does on the same subject)* are not only patterns

to

individuals, but also

(Septenary) of

all

and the One,'

'

present an image of the Totality

the Churches, their Mother being the First


'

the Beginning and the Root,' that

the Catholic Unity, which was founded

Lord, and gave

all

Churches

is

to say

word of the

birth.

Again, experience has now carried


flattery of Confessors

by

the

him beyond

which marked former years.

that

Among

other applications to the circumstances of the time are these

when a question arose whether the


youngest Maccabean brother should save his life by an act
of conformity, no suggestion was made that the merits of the
Six Martyrs could plead for him. Again (2) in warning his
he observes

(i)

that

people against a resort to


^

Ad

makes
of
'

Libelli,

he shews that Eleazar

This metaphor

certain, I think, the conjecture

Ad Fortnnat.
Ad Fortmtat.

Orig.

Ad Forltinat.

Forlunat.

Scaliger

Summus

on

3.

Tert.

de Monog.

7,

sacerdos patris et agtius de

sue vestiens.'

Codd. magmis.

4.
1 1

fin.

Exh. ad Mart.
1 1

23.

AND ENERGY.

266 EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING


declined to do what

the Libellatics had done

martyrdom is in the spirit ready


be consummated or no and the

the true

whether

all

it

(3)

he says

martyrdom,

for

tract closes with

the observation that the crown which under persecution

assigned to Martyr-warfare

is

in

'

is

time of Peace bestowed on


'

Conscientiousness.

But not even on

moderation

sensible

this

the merit of this pamphlet or the indication

it

the everyday Cyprian really was like

less

assumed grounds

the

still

(as

conflict with

man\

conceived theses
of

all

secondary

what

on

own

its

Arch-enemy accu-

grotesquely put) in his six-thousand-years

is

it

gives of

nearness of the End, the Advent of

Antichrist, the accomplished skill of the

mulated

rests either

More broad and strong

are the well

and marvellous, considering the blankness

aids,

is

the

command

of Scripture.

That some degree of conformity to the worship of the


vulgar may be allowed to mingle with the higher light is a
notion admitted only in churches in which a genuine struggle
with the essence of polytheism is not maintained. Cyprian

makes the very substance of the

martyr-spirit to be a perfect

sense of the heinousness of Idolatry under every species,

of the aggravated

own

its

The

difficulty

in all relations

quaint idea

is

caught from Ter-

ente cottidie ad iniquitatis ingenia.'


totaling of dates in

Hebrew

The

Scriptures

gives, according to Clinton,

as a date for

5478

which

it

the

raises in

way

of

with Deity.

tullian,a'^ F^/. F?>^^. I, 'diabolo...adjici-

makes

'

forgiveness as sin, and of the necessity for absolute

genuineness
^

'

Adam.

4138 B.C.
But the LXX.

according to Cunninghame,

it,

B.C.

lulius

Africanus

shortly

century Anianus also computed 5500,

and Panodorus 5493.


rus,

who

down to A.D.
Domino conest abhinc armos jam pczne sex
Chron. i. 2. The significance
'Mundus

400, also has


stitutus
77tillia.'

Sulpicius Seve-

brings his history


a

of the 'six thousand years' lay in the

Rabbinic

belief,

which, until the time

before Cyprian's time had brought this

had long gone by, coloured and usually

which would make the date

distressed the Christian mind, as to the

to 5500,

of the edict of Valerian to

be

the

Sex millia
5757 th year of the world;
annorumjam psene complentur,' a^i^(3r'

tunat. 2.

In the beginning of the

fifth

week of millennia and the consummation


of

See Lactantius Z>?^.

all things.

vii.

14

And

and the

/wj-/.

citations in notes there.

see Clinton F.

R.

v. II. p. 220,

VI.

IV.

'

ON THE lord's

PRAYER.'

The next most important themes of

26/

this

text-book are

that probationary aspect of suffering, which his

long realized

measure of the support

faith as the

mind had

the certainty of a supporting Providence, and


yields.

it

IV.
Intelligent Devotion.
'

On the

Lord's Prayer.'

It

was not enough to arm

the confessor, to nerve the timid, to silence the calumniator.

Common

Cyprian saw no nearer or

needed building up.

life

better road to edification than to

The

universal Devotion.

fill

with intelligence the

recitation of the Prayer of Christ

might become mechanical even when times of

empty

great naves

may

rosary

trial

call

it

They who have seen abroad

not unfrequently to the tongue.

for noble vespers

and crowded

for the

thence draw the nearest notion of what antient

was with its lullaby of spiritual contentment\


The Essay ON THE Lord's Prayer is written with precision

'

Battology

'

and with a

The

visible delight.

freshness of his thoughts,

the sweetness of his words, the fulness and fitness of his use
of Scripture are a delicate fruit indeed to have been pro-

duced under the flaming heat of controversy, amid the whirl


of organization, in the atmosphere of a plague-stricken city^

There are points where the commentary very closely touches


both the historic facts and the spirit of which the facts were

We

a product.

see too

how

the

and Dr Salmon's articles Africanus


and Panodorus, in Diet. Christ. Biogr.
Matt.

Mgr. Freppel

On

the

vi. 7.

this

(p. 341) says well in


with Tertullian's treatise

Prayer,... 'una

et penetrante,

treatise

de preference ^

both enshrined

I'esprit

'

although some

of the Master's most famous and

stir-

ring words are found in that treatise,

comparing

little

onction

douce

une nature plus ouverte

and few passages of spiritual poetry can


exceed his last two sections.
But

it

is

curious to note

how he

not

only omits the word 'noster' but, I


forbears to dwell anywhere on

la piete

donnaient

think,

au disciple un avantage sur

le maitre,

the plural character of the prayer which

aux impressions de
dans un sujet ou

la cceur

doit parler

means so much

to Cyprian.

AND ENERGY.

268 EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING

and foreshadowed some of the most beautiful phrases of


familiar liturgy.

The

development from the words

special

'

Our Father'

of

the essential character of Unity and of the inexpiableness by

Essay

in

me

stain of schism incline

martyrdom of the

to place this

date close to that 'On Unity,' which in almost the

same words

which only four years

states conclusions

Cyprian expresses

later

quite other language^

in

In applying the petition for Bread to the Daily Eucharist

whom

the author dwells on the danger of those from


withheld'*; 'martyrdom' or confessorship
is

it

a familiar thing;

is
it

assumption^ These thoughts

also a temptation to arrogant

mark the very crisis of the


The recommendation

is

time.
to 'every

single

himself to surrender worldly wealth

man

prepare

to

comes with a

'

who was parting with his all*.


time too when the idea seems ever

special

force from one


It is

the

present to his

by which he nerved himself and the rest to meet the


the inborn power of Christian sons to resemble
Mortality'
the Divine Father a sonship and a resemblance wrought
'

spirit

through Baptism.
"

We

ought to know that when we

Father" we ought to

'

God

'

ought to be

'

Birth such

like

live as if

Sons of God'

call

We that
'

What He made us by Second


as reborn, to continue born
have

our Father'

He would
and

water

'of

'

'

us,

These belong to

Spirits*

the period

of

Respondere Natalities.
Compare

de

etiamjz occisi

in

/uerini, macnla.

iur ;
cordicB

Unitaie

14

confessione

ista.

'

nee sanguine ad/ui-

inexpiahilis et gravis

The same

Tales

nottiinis

culpa dis-

nee passione purgatur,' with de

Dominica Oratione 24 nee si pro nomine occisus fuerit crimen dissensionis


'

21

but

...ut

quod

martyrio non potest expiari!'

est

quis

73.

coram hominibus Christum

extra ecclesiam fuerit occisus, &c.

crimen

Ep.

Et tamen nee hoc baptisma hseretico


quamvis Christum confessus
^

ablui! quale

stated in

prodest,

lictum est quod nee baptismo sanguinis


potest

is

confiteatur, ut sanguine suo baptizetur ?

evadere,&c.... Quale de-

_/>-a/^-<?/^/fr/^

doctrine

in very different phraseology.

De Dotnin.
De Domin.
De Dotniti.

Oral. 18.

De Domin.

Orat. 11, 12, 17, 23.

Oral. 26.
Orat. 20.

VI.

*0N THE lord's PRAYER.'

IV.

The Essay of

Tertullian on Prayer has been the model

which Cyprian worked, although

after

he

Saint Hilary, while

Prayer

omits

the course of the

in

269

in the freest

comment on

to

chapter of

fifth

manner.

the Lord's

Matthew,

S.

preferring to send his readers to Cyprian's Essay, does justice


Tertullian's

position of

'

most apt volume,' regretting that the unhappy


author

its

should have prejudiced


Its

method and

the later aberration of the

'

its

man

'

acceptanceV

interpretations

have been followed by

And

Cyprian into a mysticism unusual to him.

indeed,

where Tertullian had only taught that we should, besides the

Morning and Evening Prayers, pray thrice daily as debtors


to The Three, Cyprian has a mystical expansion upon the
Hours' with their three-hour
perfect trinity of the Three
intervals
a sacrament of the Trinity which was to be revealed in the last days,' and this is the earliest passage in
which the Latin word Trinity occurs in this sense^
'

'

'

'

What

effect Tertullian's

between

traceable

is

employed.

It is still

tuous loquacity

in

book had taken

the difference of

indeed necessary to check the

of persons praying aloud

'

the interval

in

the correctives

'

'

tumul-

when we assemble

with the brethren and celebrate the Divine Sacrifices with the
Priest of God,' but

several

superstitions

which Cyprian could not have

Such was the

prevailed.

failed to

have disappeared,

rebuke had they

still

practice of washing the hands before

prayer* in strange commemoration of Pilate's surrender of the

Lord

the putting off of the woollen cloak* at the

Hilar,

By

iti

Matt. v.

Tertull. adv.

applied as a

name

sense approaches
(a.d.
it

in

256)

is

i.

Prax.

1, 3, it is

of Deity though the

it.

In the 7th council

Eucratius of Thense uses

the distinctest

manner

phrase ^blasphemia Trinitatis'

Epp.

29.

not

where Theophilus of Antioch A.D.

180 {ad Autolych.

ii.

c.

23) calls the

gence of the sun and

moon an emblem

of the Trinity,

his

See Tert. ^ Ora/. 11.

The

The earliest Greek use of Tptds

first

three days of creation before the emer-

Sentt.

in
;

same time;

psenula, ^aii'oXijy or ^eX6i'77j.

AND ENERGY.

270 EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING

down

the sitting

when

The

a question whether

it

was

ritualistic

questions

scarcely despair of our

of

also pro-

correct to kneel on the

Sabbath, although Cyprian does not notice


these

was

It

by

of veils

disuse

maidens had continued, as we have seen.


still

the

fasting, and the abstaining

from the Liturgy on Fast days.


bably

Hermas*

after prayer in imitation of

disuse of the Kiss of Peace

If

it.

we

consider

Early Church, we need

the

own working

their

own

solution.

the tempers of the two authors that

It is characteristic of

Tertullian hailed the Confusion of the Nations as a phase

Kingdom

of the
his note

Cyprian omits

to come.

on the second word of the Prayer


phrase

beautiful

common

to

all,'

'

To

prayer

us,

Tertullian

this,

is

his

and, while

well-known

and

of the people,

is

who comments on

is

Matthew's

S.

S. Luke, drops the word 'Our'


and does not even allude to it.
Although in reading Cyprian's treatise after his 'Master's'
a softened echo of strong words is audible, and the writing

form of the prayer, here, with

out of his riddling epigrams in limpid sense


deliberate, there

The

sentence or phrase.

markedly the
which

it

frequent and

is

transcription, as in earlier days, of

little

is

Scriptural illustrations alone

originality of Cyprian's

must have been actually

work

difficult to

in

shew

point in

avoid repetition,

Tertullian quotes about sixty places, and Cyprian seventy,

and of these

only about seven seem to be suggested

latter

by TertuUian's use

of

them^

Even

these are differently

rendered into the vernacular^


1

Tertull. de Orat. i6.

KdXvxj/is

e' Upocrev^aix^vov

Herm.

'Atto-

ixov...Kal Kadi-

They

de Orat.

are these

2, filios

Isai.i. 2, ap. Tert.

genui

et

illi

me non

oa.vTO'i.

noverunt; ap. de Dca. Orat. 10,

judging by the marginal referand doing the best one may with
Ohler's indices, which for inaccuracy

generavi et exaltavi, ipsi autem

I.e.

-ences

almost

rival

Dr

Routh's.

Das Neue Testament

However

Tertullian

Roensch appears to bear out the


ment.

of

state-

verunt.

Mt.

ne quern

in terris

me

ag-

filios

spre-

23, 9, ap. Tert. de Orat. 2

patrem wocemus nisi

quern

habemus

Orat.

ne vocemus nobis patrem in


quod scilicet nobis unus pater qui

terra,

in caelis;

ap. de

Dca.

9,

est in caslis.

Mt.

26. 41 i^Luc. 22. 46),

VI.

'ON THE lord's PRAYER.'

IV.

271

Both give and comment upon the third petition as


be done

will

form

also,

heaven (the heavens) and

in

Augustine says, was more

a majority of manuscripts\

in

finds in this clause

They

cal order.

as

symbols

for

in

to be found

Accordingly neither annotator

any reference

to either angelical or physi-

and earth

are obliged to understand heaven

and

spirit

which

earth,'

and

in use,

Thy

'

within

flesh

or again

us,

for

heavenly and earthly-minded men.

Cyprian
splendid

'

somewhat

and

We

are

Tertullian's

dilutes

heaven and

He

earth.'

closes

At Christ's bidding we pray and we ask that we


may make our prayer be to the salvation of all, that as

thus,
'

expands

phrase,

'

was done in heaven that is in us through our


so God's will may
faith, that we might belong to heaven
'be done also in earth that is in them, on their believing^;
that so they who are by their first birth earthy may begin

'

God's

will

'

by being born of water and of

*to be heavenly

the, Spirit.'

non descendi de

ap. Tert. de Orat. 8, orate ne tempte-

de Dca. Orat. 14,

mini; de Dca. Orat. 26, ne veniatis in

ut faciam voluntatem

Mt. 18. 32, ap. Tert.


dominus debitum remisit; ap.
dc Dca. Orat. 23, dimissum sibi...omne
debitum. Mt. 6- 34, ap. Tert. de Orat. 6,
nolite de crastino cogitare ; ap. de Dca.

tatem ejus qui misit me.

temptationem.

de Orat.

To

7,

6.

Dca. Orat. 18

51.

Tertullian's

Orat. 19, nolite in crastinum cogitare.

Orat. 8
26.

14.

36

(ref.

om. by Hartel) verum tamen

non quod ego volo sed quod tu vis ('AXX'


o\jri,Mt.Tt\r\voijxCi%].

y^.

Job

is

Bibl.

Sacr.

is

et veritate; ap. de Dca. Orat. 2 (ref.


om. by Hartel), hovam venire quando

hoc

Jo.

sed patris facere se voluntatem; ap.

iii.

Lat.
v.

6.

P. Saba-

Antiq.

Vers.

iii.,

Mss. have

'sicut' like all other

'fiat

But

illis

this

all

the

All the!

voluntas tua in

de Dca. Orat, 14,

See de Dca. Orat.


est in

says

p. 33,

printed Cyprians in his time.

is

probation,' de

a mistake due to the text of

cselo et in terra.'

non suam

'

and de

Abraham

authorities except Tertullian.

great

veri adoratores adorarent, &c.

33, 35,

Cyprian's, de Dca. Orat.

cum

veri

6.

example of

Reims, 174349,
that Cyprian has

adoratores adorabunt patrem in spiritu

38, ap. Tert. de Orat. 4,

Jo.

4. 23, ap.

Tert. de Orat. 28, veniet hora

6.

Aug. de dono persev.

tier,

cselo

sed volun-

illustrate panis cottidianus Tert.

de Orat. 6 quotes yo.

FotLc. 22. 42, ap.Tert. de Orat. 4, Pater,


transfer (irapeviyKai, om. ei jSoi/Xet) poculum istud {om. dir' i/xoO), nisi quod mea
non sed tua fiat voluntas, de Dca. Orat.
14 puts together Mt. 26. 39 Pater, si fieri
potest, transeat a me calix iste, with Mc.

meam

c.

17 'In

credentibus.'

Hartel,

under a misconception explained more


fully below {Note on Characteristics,
Sffc.),

into

'

changes the unvarying reading


credere nolentibus.

it

terra,'

2/2 EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING

The

AND ENERGY.

clause 'Lead us not into temptation'

explained by

is

Tertullian as 'Suffer us not to be led\' and without a hint

of the genuine form Cyprian uses the Master's gloss as his

own

Apparently he was the

text of the prayer'^

not the last to do so

and

Augustine notices

lucidity.

thus do some pray'

though

first,

illustrates his excessive love

it

among

them probably his revered S.


nowhere found this in a

Ambrose; and he adds

that he 'had

Greek Gospel,' but that

it

was

of

and observes 'and

his reading,

many

in

Latin manuscripts of

Africa'.

From

words on 'Deliver

his

frotn Evil*'

tis

whether he gives Evil a personal sense


'

Malo

we comprise

adversities

all

'We

'against us in this world';

'Evil; that gained, we


'

if

we take

'hath no power against


our

devises

ask God's protection against


all

looks rather the other way.

It

into account his previous

the clause about Temptation.

so

Enemy

which the

stand quiet and guarded against

works of Devil and World.'

But scarcely so

not clear

it is

The Evil One.

us,

'

Here

except

is

first

words on
shewn that the Foe

God

him

give

leave,

may

devotion and observance

turn

'

that

'

toward God, seeing that the Evil One {Malo) hath no licence
^

Id

est

all

ne nos patiaris induci ab eo

utique qui temptat.

Elsewhere only

8.

Fug. in Persec.
^

N.

fear,

De Dca.

Tert. de Oral. c.

Ne

nos inducas.

de

See Roensch,

Test. Tertulliati's, p. 600.

His

re-

ferences are taken from Sabatier.


^

A\xg.dedonopersev.yi.i2. Sabatier

{op. cit.) gives

it

and H.

thus as his text of the

Versio Antiqua of S. Matt.

vi.

13 from

the Colbert MS. (c.cent.xii., Paris, /^pWj

J.

White, Nov.

Sabatier

60.]

cites

Wordsworth

T.

this

from Arnobius, de

also

1.

Oral. 25.

Irish), centt. viii., ix., J.

i.

xi., xiii.

Deo Trino,

233 d, S. Ambrose, de Sacrani.,

206

1.

212

a,

11.

v.

377 a, 385 c, and S. Augusii. de Serm. Dom. in m. col.

vi. col.

tine,

form

latter

a,

who

treats

it

as an

em-

bodied explanation (videlicet exponentes)

and who himself constantly uses


J.Wordsworth, Old Lat. Bibl.

in/eras.

Za/.2 54)in the form 'ne passus nosfueris

Texts,

and from the second S. Germain (cent. ix. or x., g. 2, Fonds Lat.
1 3169) and the S. Gatien MS. (cent.

not really an Old Latin MS. but a vul-

as

ne patiaris nos induci.'


['Ne patiaris nos induci,' Book of Ar-

the older Africans?]

induci,'

ix.,

Paris) as

magh and

'

the Rushworth Gospels (also

i.

p. xxx., xxxi.,

describes^. 2 as

gate text interpolated or mixed, and c

more distinctly an Old Latin MS.


[They here represent both Ambrose and
*

De

Dca. Orat.

i-j.

Cf. 25.

VI.

'ON THE lord's PRAYER.'

IV.

'in the

matter of temptations, except power be given him

'from God... and power

'"the Lord stirred up Satan"


"

One (Malo)
25), and again
"an adversary,

given to the Evil

is

'against us according to our sins

'

2/3

(Is.

(i

xlii.

xi. 23,)

Rezon," against Solomon himself'.'

The

fulness

and the value of

practical account to

Essay to Church thought

by Hilary's estimate of
it was soon turned.

are well illustrated not only

by the

this

monks

century and three-quarters later^ the

metum were

but

spent

of Adru-

Three of them

affected with Pelagian leanings.

Saint Augustine and

visited

it,

which

As

Easter with him.

evidence of what catholic doctrine really was, he read them


this book,

and recommended the study of

which possessed a copy of

it.

By

it,

'

invincible dart were transpierced heretics

'

come.'

Of

to the Monastery,

who were

yet for to

the three points which catholic truth held fast against

Pelagius he found two distinctly laid


holiness

all

it

he says, 'as by some

actual sin

is

is

down

it,

(i)

That

a free gift of the grace of God, and (2) That

committed by the

holiest of

exposition, Augustine shews, sets forth

persevere for those

men.

how

For Cyprian's
gifts

of grace

them that have none, and power

are to be sought for

The

in

who have

third point (3)

to

received them.

That

all

men

are originally sinful

he shews to have been catholic from Cyprian's Epistle to


Fidus.

The freedom

of that Epistle and of this Treatise from

technical language (even the expression original sin not oc-

curring in them) vouches for their early date.

No

could have extricated himself from terms in which

him clothed
and

their thoughts.

ease, could never

Augustine, with

fabricator

all

around

all his

fluency

have so expressed himself, and as his

conceptions hardened and narrowed in his years of contro1

De
B.

Dca. Orat. 25.

A.D. 427.

Aug. Ep. ccxv.

18

274 EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING


versy^ his

own language and

came too

rigid to allow their ideas to

AND ENERGY.

that of his contemporaries be-

be expressed as once

they had been.

Yet whilst the phraseology

that controversy

is

familiar since

wholly wanting, nothing can exceed the

strength and depth and definiteness with which (as brought

out by Augustine's analysis) one truth breathes from every


line

that

error

'

truth tacitly so forgotten in ever

That

new forms

heaven, and

'

we

'

that to presume on (the strength of our) free-will

'

from

be asked of our Father

live rightly, are to

This

grace.'

importance of

in

No

and accurate exposition.

literal

spirits,

he

calls

The

Lastly.

than

less

Augus-

is

work of him whom,

tine able to cite this one small


'

to fall

is

but a solitary instance however of the

is

thirteen times ^ in his treatises against Pelagians

high

of

things which relate to character, by which

all

in his

victoriosissimus Cyprianus.'

simplicity of

its

thought as well as of

its

diction seems fraught with hints for the preacher as to the

true

we

method of

we

than to Augustine?
tual conflict

As

doctrinal teaching.

not hope that

are ourselves

At

least

may

to its substance

somewhat nearer

to Cyprian

we recognise how much of

spiri-

and misery might have been spared if only the


all good is of God the

early recognition had lasted on that

Father of
'

lights,'

that

'

holy

all

proceed from Him,' that

all

'

desires,'

works

'

even in their
pleasant

'

to

first stir,

Him

are

wrought by the grace of Christ and the infusion of His Spirit,


that His presence and action are essential to every existence

even which

we can

.only that subsists


^

to

See
Select

Dr W.

Bright's Introduction

Anti- Pelagian

St Augustine.

believe to be real and substantive

that

which subsists by Him.

Treatises

of

In the Benedictine Index (Venet.

1735) add these references: 486 d, 815,


826.

TABLE
SHOWING THE VERBAL DEBTS
TO

TERTULLIAN
IN

CYPRIAN'S TREATISE

DE DOMINICA ORATIONE.

182

2/6

TABLE SHEWING THE VERBAL DEBTS TO TERTULLIAN

TABLE

shewing the

TertidUan

iierbal debts to

Tertullianus de Oratione.

XVIL

Deus autem non

vocis sed cordis auditor est.

The
ally,
,,

ne

rest of the

chapter of Cyprian strongly, but hardly verb-

resembles Tertullian.

quidem manibus sublimius elatis sed temperate ac probe


ne vultu quidem in audaciam erecto.

ipsis

elatis

\sed qu. levatis],

justificatior pharisseo

n.

'

Dominus'

procacissimo discessit.

praecepit ne

quem

in terris

patrem vocemus

nisi

quem habemus

in cselis.

hoc

III.

est

quod

exprobratur

Israeli

(Es.

2)

i.

et oblitos patris

denotamus.

Ceterum
nisi optemus
non quod deceat quasi si sit et alius de quo
quando non sanctum et sanctificatum est per semet ipsum nomen dei cum
. .

ceteros sanctificet ex semet ipso?... Id petimus ut sanctificetur in nobis

qui in

V.

regnat ?

IV.

sumus

illo

Veniat quoque Regnum TUUM...in


.

non quod
petimus

regni

aliquis
fieri

nobis

scilicet.

Nam deus

quando non

dominici representatio..,optamus...non diutius servire.


obsistat

quominus voluntas

voluntatem ejus.

dei

fiat

sed in omnibus

Quae ut implere possimus, opus

est

Dei

voluntate.

Dominus quoque cum substantia passionis infirmitatem carnis demonstrare


jam in sua carne voluisset, Pater, inquit, transfer poculum istud et recordatus, Nisi quod mea non sed tua fiat voluntas (Lc. xxii. 42).
est et ilia Dei voluntas quam Dominus administravit prsedicando, operando,
;

,,

sustinendo.

ex interpretatione figurata carnis et spiritus nos sumus caelum et terra


sensus petitionis ut in nobis
et in cselis.

VI.

Panem

fiat

Quid autem Deus

voluntas Dei in terris ut possit scilicet


vult

spiritaliter potius intellegamus.

quia vita Christus et vita panis.

quod

et

petendo

quam

Christus enim panis noster est,

Hoc

inquit, panis
est

corpus

panem quotidianum perpetuitatem postulamus

individuitatem a corpore ejus.

incedere nos &c.

Ego sum,

corpus ejus in pane censetur

fieri

vitse

meum.
in

.Turn

Itaque

Christo et

IN CYPRIANS TREATISE DE DOMINICA ORATIONE.

in

Cyprian's

De Dominica

Treatise

2/7

Oraiione.

Cyprianus de Domi7iica Oratione.


4.

quia Deus non vocis sed cordis auditor

6.

non

adlevatis in caelum inpudenter oculis nee

,,

cum

sibi pharisasus placeret sanctificari hie

9.

Dominus

pater qui est in

manibus insolenter

magis meruit.
ne vocemus nobis patrem in terra quod

prsecepit

est.

quse vox Judseos etiam perstringit et percutit

12.

quorum exprobrationem
non quod optemus Deo ut

Deo

nomen

ut

quia

eum

sumus
regnum etiam dei

in eo

14.

'

nam Deo

quse ut

,,

Esai.

i.

2)

in

quod petamus
Ceterum a quo Deus sanctifirogamus ut qui in baptismo

petimus ..'

nobis

nam Deus quando non

postmodum

. .

regnemus.

sed quia nobis a diabolo

velit faciat?

nobis 'opus est Dei voluntate,' id est ope ejus et protectione,

suis viribus fortis est, sed &c.

quem

infirmitatem hominis

me

potest transeat a
xxvi. 39 with
15.

44

esse ccepimus perseveremus.

quominus quod
quominus per omnia &c.

fiat in

Dominus

quod

repraesentari

ut qui in saeculo ante servivimus

nemo

quia

(Jo. viii.

sanctificetur orationibus nostris, sed

quis obsistit

obsistitur
,,

catur qui ipse sanctificat ? ... Id petimus et

regnat

nobis unus

dereliquerunt.

ejus sanctificetur in nobis.

sanctificati

13.

scilicet

caelis.

10.

erectis.

Mc.

calix iste, et

portabat ostendens
.

addidit dicens

ait,

Pater,

fieri

si

Veruntamen &c. (Mt.

xiv. 36).

voluntas autem Dei est

quam

Christus et

fecit

et docuit,

then

follows

an

extremely beautiful passage, Cyprian's own.


16.

cum corpus
sumus'

oramus
fieri

17.

18.

e terra et spiritum possideamus

et in utroque,
.

hoc precamur

facta est ut

fiat

voluntas Dei.

quod potest

essemus e

omnium non

lamus ne qui

in

sed noster

et

caelum

Dei voluntas

fiat'

voluntatem circa nos Dei

per fidem nostram voluntas

hoc

nam

est... quia

Hunc autem panem

est in

illis

credentibus,

panis vitae Christus

Christus

est,

eorum qui corpus

dari nobis cottidie postu-

Christo sumus et eucharistiam ejus cottidie ad cibum

accipimus .... abstenti

separemur.

'terra

ipsi

'ut

caelo, ita et in terra,

est

ejus eontingimus panis est.

salutis

caelo, id est in nobis,

et spiritaliter et simpliciter intellegi,

et panis hie

cselo

et in caelo et in terra

quia hsec est voluntas Dei ut

petimus... ut quomodo in

Dei

id est et corpore et spiritu,

et

non communicantes

... a Christi corpore

278

VL

TABLE SHEWING THE VERBAL DEBTS TO TERTULLIAN


hominis, qui provenientibus fructibus ampliationem horreorum et longre

illius

securitatis spatia cogitavit,

Vn.

consequens
caremur.

erat,

donetur exactio

VIII.

ipsa nocte moritur.

Quid enim alimenta proderunt,

taurus ad victimam
nisi

is

ut observata dei liberalitate etiam clementiam ejus

pre-

reputamur revera quasi

si illis

sicut

illi

servo dominus debitum remisit

Idem

servus

tortori delegatur.

adjecit

ad plenitudinem tarn expeditae orationis

Ergo respondet

clau-

Quid mirum?

Deus

sula ...

IX.

compendiis pauculorum verborum quot attinguntur


solus docere potuit

quomodo

se vellet orari.

Ab

ipso igitur ordinata religio

orationis &c.
I.

XXV.

Dei sermo
Jesus Christus dominus noster nobis discipulis Novi Testamenti novam orationis formam determinavit. [Cyprian drops the ambiguous phraseology about Christ being Dei Spiritus.]
.

observatio etiam horarum


sexta

quarumdam

nona quas sollemniores

sanctus congregatis

discipulis

hora

visionem communitatis omnis in

observatum

quae diei interspatia signant tertia

tertia

infusus est.

vasculo

illo

orandi gratia ascenderat in superiora

exceptis

in scripturis invenire est.

ut

expertus

Primus

spiritus

Petrus qua die


est,

sexta hora

quod Danieli quoque legimus

utique legitimis orationibus

ingressu lucis ac noctis.

qui'e

sine ulla admonitione

debentur

IN CYPRIAN'S TREATISE DE DOMINICA ORATIONE.


20.

sseculares copias cogitantem et se

279

exuberantium fructuum largitate jactantem

vivat

nocte moriturus.
22.

,,

post subsidium cibi petitur et venia delicti ut qui a

si

Deo

pascitur in

Deo

peccata donentur quae debita Dominus appellat.

23.

qui servus ... in carcerem religatur

27.

post ista

28.

quid mirum ...

omnia

[sic

H.

sed qu. relegatur?].

consummatione orationis venit clausula universas petitiones

in

et preces nostras collecta brevitate

oratio talis est

si

precem nostram

salutari

concludens

quam Deus

docuit qui magisterio suo

sermone breviavit ?

Nam cum

omnem

Dei sermo Dominus

noster Jesus Christus omnibus venerit et colligens doctos pariter et indoctos

omni sexu atque astati prsecepta salutis ediderit, prseceptorum suorum


grande compendium ut in disciplina caelesti discentium &c.

34.

in orationibus vero celebrandis

nonam

invenimus observasse cum Daniele

fecit

horam

horarum spatia jam pridem spiritaliter determinantes adoratores Dei statutis et legitimis ad precem temporibus sertertiam sextam

viebant

. .

hora

quae

tertia descendit Spiritus sanctus

tectum superius ascendens signo pariter


ut
35.

omnes ad gratiam

salutis admitteret

et

item Petrus hora sexta in

voce Dei monentis instructus

recedente item sole ac die cessante necessario rursus orandum

est.

est,

NOTE ON THE CHARACTERISTICS AND

280

On

and Genuineness of

the Characteristics

the

De

Dominica Oratione.
It has been contended that the treatise 'Of the Lord's Prayer' is later
than Cyprian, on grounds which I hope to extricate fairly from the discursive handling the question has received. The reply might be scarcely

worth making but

for the interesting characteristics

which come out by

the way.
It

has been alleged

That the treatise betrays an acquaintance with the commentary of


Chromatius of Aquileia who died about 406 a.d.
II.
That its language on 'Daily Bread' is more 'Sacramental' (i) than
that of Chromatius, (ii) than that of Gregory Nyssene or Chrysostom, who
probably represent the prevailing view of the fourth century, (iii) and
than is consistent with Augustine's doubt as to the sacramental force of
I.

the petition

That Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop of

III.

century,

who

Poitiers in the sixth

uses Tertullian's treatise on the Lord's Prayer, does not

use that of Cyprian, which his predecessor Hilary had commended^.


I.
On the first head, I will accept for comparison the passages, printed

from TertuUian {de Orat. c. 4), Chromatius {Tractat.


4 in S. Matt. Ev.), and Cyprian {de Dca. Orat. 14 17), on the
words 'Fiat Voluntas Tua,' &c. The selection (however undesignedly)
Resemblances are likely to be fewer on
is an unfavourable test-passage.
after this note,

xiv.

this petition than elsewhere, since

Chromatius

is

expounding the

common
own

reading 'As in heaven so in earth' while the Africans explain their

be done in heaven and in earth.' The comparison however yields abundant evidence that Chromatius had studied Cyprian, not

form 'Thy

will

Cyprian Chromatius. A question is put which, if accurately worked out,


How could Chromatius, if he were making use of
would lead us right.
Cyprian, have escaped introducing ideas that Cyprian had taken from
'

'

E.

J.

Shepherd's Fow-th Letta'

Dr Maitland, 1853.
He further observes

to

that if his 'argu-

Hone

et

De dono persevei-anticB

Gratia;

which accompanied

Ep.

215,

De

Gratia

et

Libera Arbitrio;

his

ments are cogent and conclusive,' Cy-

destinatione Sanctorum.,

prian becomes 'an important witness

in

against 7nany Augustinian writings.'

our treatise are quoted, woven

For example the following works of Augustine would be


Contra
forgeries in whole or in part
duas Epistolas Pelagianorum ; Contra

commented on

That

is true.

yulianum Pelagianum ;

De

Correp-

which books

book

De Prce-

and Ep. 217,

at least 14 passages of

in a

way

in,

and

often essential

to the structure.
^

Hilar.

Comment, in Matth.

Venant. Fortunat. Miscell.,


Exposit. Orationis Domini.

lib.

c.

x.

v.

c. i,

GENUINENESS OF THE DE DOMINICA ORATIONE.

How

'Tertullian?

account

The answer

'tulhanistic?'

for the elimination of so


is

that,

much

that

28
is

Ter-

condensed and prosaic as Chromatius

he does not 'escape.' Of the rich profusion of TertuUian's ideas


Chromatius reproduces few. But some few he has; and each one of these
has adhering to it something which Cyprian had added. Again not one
'Tertullianistic idea' is reproduced in Chromatius which is not in Cyprian,
or without Cyprian's stamp on it.
It follows that Chromatius has been
acquainted with TertuUian's treatise through Cyprian!
at least, through
some treatise which has handled Tertullian on the same subject in the
is,

same manner

To

De Dominica

exactly as our

Oratio7ie does.

confine ourselves for proof to this one short

and unfavourable

passage
Tertullian

1.

irresistible will to

is shewing how it is we can sensibly pray for God's


be done: 'Fiat Voluntas Tua...non quod aliquis obsistat

quominus Voluntas Dei

fiat...sed iti omnibus petimus fieri Voluntatem


Cyprian generally tries to make Tertullian more elegant and more
clear.
There was an inartificial imperfectness in merely repeating,
instead of incidentally explaining, the words Voluntas Dei fiat, while
the rough z ofnnibus left the difficulty where it was.
For the diffi-

Ejus.'

culty lies exactly in apprehending

operative in

quod

all.

how

Cyprian therefore has

velit faciat.''...sed

the Divine Will can

'Nam Deo

fail to

be

quis obsistit qtiominus

quia nobis a diabolo obsistitur qtiominus per omnia

noster animus adque actus

Deo

obsequatur, oramus et petimus ut

fiat

in

nobis Voluntas Dei.'

Now Chromatius comes in; takes Cyprian's q^cod velit facial ; and
whereas Cyprian, with in omnibus before him, had written per omnia in
nobis, Chromatius finds the per omnia unnecessary, drops it; retains
(TertuUian's and) Cyprian's obsistere and Cyprian's oramus, but gives
of all TertuUian's context not a syllable which is not in Cyprian.
Says
Chromatius Non enitn quisquam est qui obsistere et contradicere Deo
possit, ne qtiod velit facial... %&d. ut / nobis voluntas Ejus fiat oramus.^
Anyone of the slightest skill in composition sees that Cyprian is the
middle tertn between Tertullian and Chromatius.
Tertullian says God's Will is 'that we should walk after His
2.
He says nothing about Faith or Believing. Cyprian introdiscipline.'
stabilitas in fide,'
per fidem,'
duces it among many other points,
credentibus,'
of which last more presently.
Chromatius makes it the
first point in his definition
Voluntas Dei est, ut toto corde ei credentes
haec quae fieri prsecipit impleamus,' and more. Any master of style would,
think, pronounce that a writer working from Chromatius must have
I
'

'

'

'

made more

distinct use of his credere

ascribe to

Cyprian has done.

Cyprian, express in Chromatius.


it

must have been


3.

It

is

And

and credulitas than the book we


absent in Tertullian, oblique in
it is

so important that once stated

re-stated.

Tertullian has here the truly TertuUianesque expression

'

ex inter-

NOTE ON THE CHARACTERISTICS AND

282

sumus Ccelum et terra.' There


he leaves it, downflung for readers to think about. What did he mean by
nos? Each individual, compounded of flesh and spirit.? or the world of
Cyprian explains the
carnally minded and spiritually minded men ?
petition on the first hypothesis, to mean 'That God's w^ill may be done in

pretatione jfigurata carnis et spiiitus nos

our body and in our


et sic intelligi),

viz.

spirit.'

that

He

then gives the other alternative (potest

'quomodo

in caslo, id est in nobis, per

fidem

nostram Voluntas Dei facta est,..,ita et in terra, hoc est in iUis credentibus, fiat Voluntas Dei,' gliding thus into an explanation of the other
meaning. 'That they whom just before he describes as qui adhuc terra
sunt et necdum ccelcstes, &c. may begin esse ccelestes ex aqua et spiritu nati.'
Now both these mystical interpretations have arisen from the Africans'
form. To pray that God's Will might be done in heaven implied to
them that Heaven was a region where it was not yet done to perfection.
Hence it could not to them (as we saw) mean the Heavenly Hosts, but
'

'

spirit, or else the converted


This interpretation could not have arisen where the
reading 'sicut in caelo' prevailed 'caelum' being then the region where

rather the highest part of man, his regenerate


part of the world.

done exemplarily
does Chromatius proceed.'' He has the true reading and he has
Cyprian's comment. To him Cyprian's first alternative is out of the question.
in contrast to earth.

it is

How

No man could apply it to the true reading. No man could pray 'that God's
may be done in his flesh as it is in his spirit.' He is obliged to omit

will

this.

But the second alternative of Cyprian

own

fore to his
'

will

fit

well enough.

There-

sensible explanation as to the Angels he adds 'Vel certe...

ut sicut in caelo, id est in Sanctis et ccelestibus hominibus, Dei Voluntas

ita quoque in terra^ id est in his qui necdum crediderunt^ &c.


Here again it is impossible to doubt that Cyprian is the middle term,
and that it is owing to no one but him that Chromatius has dropped the
first and true idea of what Tertullian meant by making 'heaven and
earth'' a figurative equivalent for 'us^ and taken a less harsh suggestion of
what it could mean.

'impletur

Tertullian gives his mystic rendering of 'caelum et terra' second of

Cyprian moves it to last. There Chroand expunges the poetry which Cyprian had left in.
The reader has no doubt noticed a singular variant in the last

his five points

matius has
4.

clause.

reading

it

on

this petition.

also,

Where Cyprian has

iti

illis

our three manuscripts of

credefitibus (undoubtedly the true

this treatise

which are of the

first

order

have no negative), Chromatius has in his qui necdum crediderunt. It is


something singular that just this passage should have been lighted on,
for did a shadow of doubt linger as to which was the original writer, the
evidence that Chromatius has here marked an obscurity in what was
before him and avoided it by a turn of expression, would suffice to dispel
Clearly the two passages are not independent. Whichever is original,
it.
the other is a copy.

GENUINENESS OF THE DE DOMINICA ORATIONE.

283

Now, no one could have misapprehended the Chromatian prayer


may be done / his qui necdum credideruni.' No one

that 'God's will

would have reproduced it in the Cyprianic form '/ illis credentibus.'


But the Cyprianic form might cause hesitation 'Ut quomodo in caelo,
id est in nobis per fidem nostram, Voluntas Dei facta est, ut essemus e
'caslo, ita et in terra, hoc est in illis credentibus, fiat Voluntas Dei.' It was
natural to see how Cyprian's participle might be misunderstood; how it
might not be perceived that by in illis credentibus Cyprian meant in
'them (as opposed to in nobis), upon their believing, being converted or
beginning to believe,' and since at present they are 7iot believers, simply
Chromatius accordingly puts it into
to express that one point first.
unmistakeable form qui necdum crediderunt.' Augustine similarly has
explained by paraphrase the expression of Cyprian, which would have
been needless if a negative had been there. Of course before believing,
when men become heavenly,' they are non-believers accordingly he has
^ita et in eis qui non credunt et ob hoc adhuc terra sunt.
Quid ergo
'oramus pro nolentibus credere nisi ut Deus in illis operetur et velle^.'
H. Grave was actually misled as to the participial use and inserted fiondum,
f. Morel 7ion, as if 'in illis credentibus' did or could mean 'in those
in illis
believing,' and Hartel has given us the startling conjecture
cred^r^ i7/entibus' which comes indeed from Augustine, but not from
the sentence which paraphrases Cyprian.
Cyprian uses participles familiarly in this appositional condensed
way, and in the same phrase has cajlestes ex aqua et spiritu nati.'
There is no indication that Augustine or Chromatius missed the Latin,
like the editors but since no one would have altered the clear Chromatian

'

'

'

'

'

into the difficult Cyprianic,

it is

certain that

Chromatius either applied

to

same remedy which other creditable men hit upon, or


(if anyone thinks necdum or (?/entibus genuine) that he had before him
an older text than we have a trace of, in which case Augustine, his contemporary, had it too. In either case our De Dominica Oratione is older
than Chromatius and was before his eyes as he wrote ^.
II.
We now come to the second objection to the genuineness of
Cyprian on the Lord's Prayer The strength of the Eucharistic lan-

the Cyprianic the

guage.
(i)

This

is

admitted to be quite

De Pradest. Sand. viii. 15.


I must not drag my readers through
a refutation of Mr Shepherd's secondary

in

consonance with the 'other

has transferred from their context to

new heads

{de Orat. 3

and

5,

which are

difficulties.

be found in de Dca. Orat. 17 and 19).


There are scores of TertuUian's ideas in

matius not having reproduced two par-

no room.

ticular passages of Tertullian ?

knows no

Can he be himself serious


when he asks us to account for Chro-

However

they are two which Cyprian

to

Cyprian

for

which Chromatius

The

point

is,

finds

Chromatius

Tertullian except what has

been restamped by Cyprian.

NOTE ON THE CHARACTERISTICS AND

284

and with 'that of the suspicious Firmilian.'


Chromatius were less strong (which is not so evident) this would not
at that stage of thought be conclusive as to mere earliness of date.
'Christ is our Bread of Life.'
'Our daily Communion is a daily
Reception of Him.'
We pray that we may not through the coming in
{ititercedente) of any grievous sin be separated from the Body of Christ'
a corpore Christi separemtir. Such is the Cyprianic gloss on Tertullian's
forceful word in asking daily bread we claim continuance in Christ and
undividedness from His Body' mdividuitatem a corpore ejus.
Now
writings' attributed to Cyprian
If

'

'

Chromatius repeats Cyprian almost word

for word, substituting inter-

vetnenie for intercedente, a word of double meaning, and peccato, as

more

Augustine surely echoes the same gloss


when he has 'Sic vivaimis ne ab illo altari separemur.^ Here as before
Cyprian's place in the chain is distinct^.
(ii) To pass to the 'conjecture from the commentaries of Gregory of
general, for graviore delicto.

Nyssa and Chrysostom, that

church the petition was

in the Oriental

considered as originally intended by our Lord to express only

what

it

and that such was the prevailing interpretation in the


which probably was the case in the West also.'
that the fathers of the Antioch school had nothing but the

pri7narily means,
fourth century,'

The
realistic

truth

is

'

explanation to

derivation of

7rioi;o- tor

offer,

because they accepted Origen's erroneous

as meaning 'Bread for our Substance,' but rejected,

as their wont was, his spiritualised mystic view of

Substance as the
Essence of Our Being. The Bread prayed for necessarily was to them
only the Nurture of our Material Substance^.
The Western current of interpretation steadily kept to the rightly
derived rendering Daily.' It also never from TertuUian (our earliest
witness) onward failed to see an Eucharistic reference here. Jerome's
rendering supersubstantial' was long before it partially displaced 'daily,'
but it was Eucharistic still.
Thus then while the Eastern view was realistic in the fourth century
only under a reaction from a mysticism far exceeding that of the West,
the view in this treatise occupies the very position which Cyprian should
occupy in the universally Eucharistic interpretation of the West.
(iii) Augustine's view would be stated accurately thus.
In his treatise
Of the Sermon on the Mount he will not limit the petition to either
'

'

'

'

'

'

earthly subsistence or to the Eucharistic gift

his reasons for not con-

do not receive It daily,' and


that Occidentals use the prayer many times a day after reception.
Nevertheless he allows this as one of the three senses which we may
combine; that which he prefers being God's Spiritual Word. Yet in
fining

it

to the latter being that Orientals

Chromatius' words are

ne aliquo

interveniente peccato a corpore

separemur.

Tract, xiv.

5.

Domini

'

Dr

Fresh

Lightfoot on

Revision

of
p. 209 &c. (2nd Ed.

eirioi/trios,

New
i87'2).

App. to

Tesia?nent,

GENUINENESS OF THE DE DOMINICA ORATIONE.


three different sermons^ he gives the prominence to the

'The Faithful know what

sense.

'so
tine,

then the Eucharist

more

analytical

and

is

yet

Eucharistic

that they receive in the Eucharist'

it is

The handling

our Daily Bread.'

more

285

mystical,

distinctly in

is

of Auguslater

mood

than the simply moral tone of Cyprian.

On
'

'

this

head

it

is

added^ that

'It is natural to

suppose that the

Sacramental Interpretation [of Daily Bread], when first introduced,


would follow, not precede, the Primary Meaning and when it is found to
precede it, that the stream of time had rolled further down
i.e. as the

'

Primary Meaning precedes the Sacramental Interpretation in Chromatius and follows after it in the Cyprianic treatise, therefore the latter is
a later work. This assumption would make Chromatius early indeed, for
Tertullian's authorship of his De Oratione is not disputed, and Tertullian
gives first the Spiritual and the Sacramental sense and then what he
'

'

'

'

sense which

calls the 'Carnal'

is

Mr

Shepherd's 'Primary Meaning.'

Why so late an author as Venantius

III.

would prove nothing as

Fortunatus (whose references

to date) does not, in his unfinished treatise

Lord's Prayer, refer to Cyprian's expressly,


enquire.

And

if

He was

not bound to use the

same

Hilary's reference to the treatise

ness, surely the silence of Venantius

think Venantius

is

is

on the
cannot say, nor need we

materials as his predecessor.

no argument for its genuineno argument against it. But I

is

not untinged with Cyprian.

On

such a subject co-

some resemblances here seem to be more than


It must be remembered that Venantius' object is different.
coincidences.
He writes very compressedly, but more theologically. For instance, he
says in speaking of the word Father, 'we be not sons in the mode of the

incidences are natural, but

'

'

Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He was born of His Own
Substance,... yet through grace of the Only Begotten we have attained to

be made Adoptive.' So again when Cyprian says the Jews are not Sons^,
Venantius says 'the Arian, the Jew, the Photinian, the Manichee, the
Sabellian, and other plagues'; and when speaking of the Will of God,
goes at length into the question of the erroneousness of the Human
'

'

Will.'

Compare however what both say

Thy name being


'

as to the petition 'Hallowed be

a prayer for Perseverance.

Or compare

the words of

de Dca. Orat. 13 on 'Thy Kingdom come,' Potest. ..ipse Christus esse


regjium Dei quern venire cottidie cupiinus., cujus adventus &c. quia in illo

regnaturi stimtis., with Ven. Fortunatus (col. 317 A, Migne, Patr. Lat. v. 88)
Adveniat regnum tuum, hoc est Christus Dominus nobis adveniat quem
quotidie sanctorum chorus veneranter expectat, in cujus promissione se
confidunt justi regnare. Or on fiat Voluntas Tua,' de Dca. Orat. 14 Nam
'

Deo

quominus quod velit faciat? sed quia nobis a diabolo


o^us est Dei voluntate, id est ope ejus et protectione, quia

quis obsistit

obsistitur..

Aug. Serm.

"

56, 57, 58.


*

De

Shepherd's Fourth Letter,

Dca. Orat.

13.

p. 37.

NOTE ON DE DOMINICA ORATIONE.

286
nemo

suis viribus fortis est sed

Dei indulgentia

et misericordia tutus est,

317 a and col. 318) Non id fit quia aliquis potuit resistere
ejus voluntati ut nonfaceret aliquando quod vobiit omnipotens...sed ut in
nobis impleatur ejus voluntas ut operetur, quotiiarn, adversaria resistente,

wiih Fortun.

(col.

nos voluntatem ejus implere non possumus nisi patrocinio ejus muniamur.
Or again, observe how in commenting on c<2lum et terra we have, besides the usual interpretation, the further one that the flesh may do the

works of the Spirit, and the expression 'nos videmur facti esse ccelestes
purely Cyprianic and introduced with a softening
per baptismum'
phrase.
In these passages the order of the thoughts is Cyprian's, the
pecuharities are Cyprian's, and the Tertullianesque handling of the third
petition is recast after Cyprian. There can be little doubt that Fortunatus
was in some shape acquainted with Cyprian, though his aim and his touch

are different.
I

may

observe further that Ambrose^ in his commentary on

passes in silence the

first

four verses of chapter

xi.,

S.

Luke

omitting the Lord's

This would seem to be inexplicable except for the


some standard treatise. Whether there was such a treatise
appears from Hilary's Commentary on Matt. v. i, De orationis sacramento necessitate nos commentandi Cyprianus vir sanctse memoriae
Prayer altogether.

existence of

'

'

'

liberarit.'

It is

easy with a careless sponge to stain a Numidian Marble.

take a month's work to extract that stain.

And when

it is

done a

It

may

fanciful

may see the blur still. In the history of scholarship I know nothing
(more honest and nothing) more wanton, than the sharp guesses and
insinuations which, without real devotedness in research, without delicacy
of perception, only with an imitative ring of criticism, have been syringed

retina

over some of the noblest essays of a great author.


^

Ambros. Exposit. Evang.

sec.

Luc,

lib. vii. 87.

COMPARISON ELUCIDATING THE DATES.


Comparison elucidating
{The

asterisks, obeli, &'c. call attention to the

more detached similarities 0/ phrase.

Oratione, cc. 14

c. 4.

Secundum banc

I.]

for-

subjungimus: Fiat vo-

dates.

Cyprianus, de Dominica

TertuUianus, de Oratione,

mam

tJie

xiv. 4.
et

Fiat voluntas tua in

'\

Chromatius, Tractat.,

17.

Addimus quoque

I.]

dicimus

287

Dehinc

I.]

ait

Fiat vo-

luntas tua sicut in cselo et in

tua in cselis et in cselo et in terra, non ut Deus terra, par quoque et hie innon quod aliquis obsis- faciat quod vult, sed ut nos telligent ise ratio est.
non
quominus voluntas Dei facere possimus quod Deus enim quisquam est qui obsis-

luntas
terra,
tat,

fiat, et ei

petimus

nam Deo

successum voluntatis vult.

suae orenius, sed

in

omnibus quominus quod

quis obsistit
faciat?

velit

voluntatem ejus; sed quia nobis a diabolo ob-

fieri

tere et contradicere

ne quod

Deo possit,
cum vo-

velit faciat;

luntate ejus et in caelo et in

quominus per omnia terra cuncta consistant ; sed, ut


noster animus adque actus Deo in nobis voluntas ejus fiat,
obsequatur, oramus et petimus oramus.
ut fiat in nobis voluntas Dei
sistitur

quse ut

in nobis* 'opus est

fiat

Dei voluntate,'

id est

ope ejus

et protectione, quia

nemo

viribus fortis est sed

Dei indul-

suis

gentia et misericordia tutus est.

= C.

tione

Ex

5.]

enim

interpreta-

figurata carnis et

Cyp.
2 = T. 5.] Denique et Dominus t infirmitatem hominis Chrom.]

= Tert.

Not

5.

in

nos sumus caelum et quem portabat ostendens ait


quanquam, etsi simplici- pater, si fieri potest, transeat
ter intellegendum est, idem a me calix iste, et exemplum
tamen est sensus petitionis, ut discipulis suis distribuens, ut
in nobis fiat voluntas Dei in non voluntatem suam sed Dei
terris, ut possit scilicet fieri et in faciant, addidit dicens verumcaelis.
quid autem Deus vult tamen non quod ego volo sed
quam incedere nos secundum quod tu vis. et alio loco dicit %:
suam disciplinam**? petimus non descendi de cfelo ut faciam
spiritus
terra,

ergo substantiam
voluntatis

et

facultatem

subministret

suae

voluntatem

tem

meam

sed volunta-

ejus qui misit me...

nobis, uttt salvi simus et in


cselis et in terris,

quia

summa
eorum

est voluntatis ejus salus

quos adoptavit.
3.]

tas

Est et

ilia

Dei volun-

quam Dominus

travit prsedicando,

sustinendo.

Si

adminis-

operando,

enim

ipse

pronuntiavitj non suam, sed

3.]

est

Voluntas autem Dei

quam

docuit.
tione,

Christus et fecit et

humilitas in conversastabilitas

factis justitia, in

in

fide,

in

operibus mi-

moribus

3.]

hsec

quae

pleamus.

sericordia, in

sine dubio, quse

faciebat, ea

na **, injuriam facere non nosse vestra


et

discipli-

factam posse tolerare...

de

Voluntas Dei

voluntatem,

facere

corde
fieri

ei

credentes

praecipit

im-

qua voluntate

Dei Apostolus testatur dicens

se

patris

Voluntas autem Dei

est, ut toto

ut

est

sanctificatio

abstineatis

vos

COMPARISON ELUCIDATING THE DATES.

288
Tertullianus,

ile

Cyprianus, de Dca. Orat.,

Oral.,

cc. 14

c. 4.

nos

xiv. 4.

exem-

ad

velut

Chromatius, Tractat.,

17.

ad quae

erat voluntas patris,

nunc

plaria provocamur, ut et prre-

dicemus

operemur

et

tineamus ad mortem usque,


quje ut implere possimus* opus

de quo

iv. 3).

...

quaestione

in

(i

Domi-

et

Aictns: H(sc est voluntas patris

fiduciam qua congredimur, in

mei qtd misit


morte patientiam qua corona- videt Filiuni

mur:

Dei voluntate.

est

conciipiscentiis

Th.

nus in Evangelio locutus est


exhibere

sus-

et

carnalibtis

...hoc est

hoc

facere,

7ne ut oinnis

praeceptumDei habeat vitam ceternam


voluntatem 40).

qui

in eo

credit

et

(Jo. vi.

est

patris implere.

Item dicentes,

4.]

fiat

vo-

optamus, quod nihil mali

Dei voluntate, etiam

in

si

jam hoc

rogatur.

terra...

sit

quid

pro meritis cujusque secus


dicto

Fieri

4.]

autem petimus

voluntatem Dei in

luntas tua, vel eo nobis bene

nam cum corpus

Celo

in-

'terra

ipsi

ad sumus,'

sufferentiam nosmetipsos prae-

corpore

monemus.

luntas

et in

caelum

et

oramus.

camem

inter

utroque, id est et

Dei vo-

et spiritu, ut

fiat

e terra

possideamus

spiritum

et

cselo et in

est

= C.

2.]

et spiritum con-

= T.

Potest

2.]

et

monstrare jam in sua carne

micos diligere

poculum istud, et recordatus, nisi quod mea non, sed tua


tas et potestas patris, et

ad demonstrationem
tise

tamen

ini-

pro his quo-

et

petamus

Tert. 3.)

illis

qui adhuc terra sunt et neecaelestes

et

coeperunt

esse

ut et circa illos voluntas

salute faciamus ut

debitae voluntati se patris

quomodo

nostram voluntas Dei facta

{Reifferscheid.)

im-

5.]

auxilium pos-

est.

Vel certe Fiat voluntas

sicut in caelo et in terra;

ut sicut in caelo, id est in sancet

tis

caelestibus

voluntas

hominibus,

impletur;

qui

necdum

ita

est in his

crediderunt, per

credulitatem fidei et veritatis


ut

Dei

fiat

volun-

tas oramus.

in

per fidem

caelo, id est in nobis,

tradidit.

semper

tas ut in nobis rite possit

Dei cognitionem,

precem pro omnium "H"

quae volun-

pro quoque in terra, id

(cf.

fiat... ut

sufferen-

in terra,

pleri, sine intermissione^ divi-

sic

monet Dominus etiam

dum

ipse erat volun-

devotione

ac fideli

que qui nos persecuntur orare. Dei

fer

voluntas,

itaquoque a nobis religiosa

lis

quoniam mandat tua

sionis infirmitatem carnis de-

fiat

et

id est

gelis fideliter custoditur in cse-

nae dignationis

Pater, inquit, trans-

hoc oramus,

tulandum

Dominust quo-

dicimus

Dei voluntas ab an-

ut sicuti

precamur...

intellegi...ut

ergo

immo continuis orationibus hoc

que cum sub instantiam pas-

voluisset

et in terra:

enim servetur

luctatio...et idcirco cottidianis

Cum

4.]

Fiat voluntas tua sicut in caelo

est

ut essemus e caelo, ita et in


terra,

hoc

est in

illis

credenti-

bus, fiat voluntas Dei, ut qui

adhuc sunt prima

nativitate

terreni incipiant esse caelestes

ex aqua

et spiritu nati.

{Hartel'.)
1-^

Three

lines

omitted

II.

p.

Monum.

2 14,

1569;

sensu,
first

in

P. Orthodoxographa,

v.

apparently by a printer's
Grynaeus,

absque

La

slip

at

B'lgne, Jllax. Bibl. Vet.

Pair. V. V. p. 987, Lugd. 1677; and Galland.

B.

V. P. vol. VIII. p. 348,Venet. 1772; but

given in

first

Basle Edition 1528, in Braida,

Utini, 18 16, q.v.


^

and Migne.

Hartel's text, except in his infelicitous

conjecture credere nolentibus for credentibus,


see p. 271, n. 2.

VI.

RITUAL.

V.

THE
V.

last question

CUP.

289

Ritual.

The Mixed

I.

The

MIXED

Ctip.

which comes within the present cycle

of Cyprian's activity was that of Ritual.

He

has worked out the application of the

principles to the treatment of Suffering

of the passions of Resentment and Sorrow

Communion

with the Father.

necessities

for

principles

had

and

it

the

rest,

clearness

in

Ritual

also

intelligent

round some

which the new

in

embodied themselves. A
to dwarf

tacitly

Christian

little

later,

for a

time

and to leave the one blot on Cyprian's glory,

Probably

cally,

and to

assumed such proportions as

A material change had


^

Time brought
the

new

to the purification

not

though Rettberg

been introduced some time before

chronologi-

'last'

145, n.

(p.

i)

wishes to transfer Ep. 63 to a date as


late as the last persecution,

since the

'cum mediocritatem nostram

expression

(here including of course the Ministry,)


in

contradistinction

to

the

The

truth

is

that the letter bears

teneamus implies some time,

teneamus' Ep. 63.

berg,)

postulates time for

the exhibition of such qualities.

Ritschl,

as

no

note of date except that the sanper...

setnper humili et verecunda moderatione


i

wine,

representing the Divinity of the Lord.

and that

ch.

17

(as Rett-

'ad

collegas

nostros litteras dirigamus ut ubique lex

ab

eo

quod

pp. 241, 242, thinks the claim to modesty

evangelica...servetur

and humility more characteristic of the


beginnings of an episcopate.
There

Christus et docuit et fecit non receda-

is

nothing

in

mittedly late

And

this.

letter,

Ep.

in

an ad-

66. 3,

Cyprian

makes the same claim, 'humilitatem


meam et fratres omnes et gentiles quoque norunt et diligunt'; which also
the confessors in almost the last letter

of

all

declare to be

hominibus.
77.

'omnibus

true;

obsequio humilior.

.in

.'
.

^.

of

'

ecclesiam,' as

in ecclesia constitutam,'

have seen that this


Cyprian is merely

is

c.

no

13

'ecclesia'

definition.

B.

or

doctrine of the sacra-

very fully thought out.

Si Christus

Dominus et Deus noster


summus sacerdos Deipatris&c

Jesus

ille

ipse est

utique

sacerdos vice Christi vere fungitur

qui id quod Christus fecit imitatur &c.

speaks in obedience to distinct vision

'

interpreting

'plebs'

The

ments and of the priesthood has been

plebem

to

the

water in the mixed chalice to signify


the

Persecution seems to be in a simmering state.

but we

him

put Ep. 63 early, because of its supposed


definition

tur' implies a well-established position.

(14) si sacerdotes Dei et Christi sumus


non invenio quern magis sequi quam
Deum et Christum debeamus (18). He

Ritschl's theories drive

I.

et

and command.

On

the

whole Pear-

son's opinion of the place of the Epistle


is

not ill-founded.

'populus,'

19

AND ENERGY.

290 EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING

by

number of

and among them perhaps a bishop

bishops,

of Carthage', into the Eucharistic offering

There

water instead of wine.

is

the

no trace

in this

adoption of
"^

of religious

antipathy to wine, such as had been taught ninety years

Not

before by Tatian.

to say that there

no other

is

indi-

cation of such teaching hitherto in Africa, the present was,

we

clearly learn, the

mere

social timidity of a simple people ^

many

Christian wives of heathen husbands,

dependents, and

incurred unworthy suspicions from having the scent

others

of wine about them

at

an early hour^

compassionate

evasion had suffered them to communicate in water.

When
same

scarcity of wine

was found

to have occasioned the

Saint Wolfgang wept so

irregularity at Regensburg,

The

profusely that his recovery was despaired of^

ment that the Norwegians

in the fifteenth

state-

century received

permission from Irmocent the Eighth to celebrate in water,

Ep.G'J,. i'...quidam...nonhocfaciunt.

14 inpr3eteritum...antenos...' 17'siquis

de antecessoribus nostris

. .

non hoc obsermust

vavit et tenuit.' This word {quidatn)

Gnostic Heresies,

mont,

of Carthage,'

But

if

of the

we

Ann. Cypr.

'

A.D. 253,

consider the very

letter,

and

its

some bishop
official

address to the senior

bishop of the province, the inference


is

not, I think, so certain.

indicates
^

some

particular person.

As supposed by

F. Miinter, P^-hnord.

Eccles. AfricancE, p. 127;

Leydecker de Statu
Miinter quotes,

as if

lian's Prascriptio

can.

The

is

compare M.

Eccles. v. de cul(7i.

point, the 'appendix'

appendix

The mood

it

c.

illustrated the

52 of Tertul-

Hcereticorum

which

a separate work, not Afri-

Hydro-parastatas, Aquarii, or

'Water-offerers

'

were in the 4th century


; an

Apocrypha-collecting, ascetic, Judaic,


;

see

H. L. Mansel,

Tille-

7.

of those

Ep. 63.

17, 18 simplicitati, simpli-

citer.
*

Suspicions not unjustified,

were many of those who


says) held

eating,

'

sibly at

(as

if

there

Novatian

un-Christian to drink after

it

Videas ergo

adhuc jejunos

et

tales ?iovo genere

jam

ebrios,'

and pos-

the Eucharist, as he

speaks

This curious pasuncertain whether (i) they

of their 'osculum.'

sage leaves

it

drank overmuch wine at fasting communions, or took stimulants before them,


or

(2)

whether Novatian himself

clined to the use of water in


nion, or (3)

whether

this

in-

commu-

was simply a
Nova-

foolish defence of actual vice.


tian, de Cibis

a branch of Tatianists, or Encratites


Docetic School

136,

Not one

rian's account.

iii.

form

pp.

p. 410.

II.

unmistakeable marks occurs in Cyp-

be the ground of Pearson's statement that


the custom originated with

v.

c.

Acta S.
24,

ap.

Eccles. Pit.

Jud.

c. vi.

Wolfgangi Ratisponensis

Edm.
I. iii.

Martene,

Art.

vii.

32.

de

Ant.

VI.

RITUAL.

V.

on account of the

THE

liability

MIXED CUP.

29I

of their wine to sourness,

is

not

only denied but quite improbable \

Cyprian

felt

impelled to issue an

official letter to Caecilius

of Biltha, not as an offender, but as senior bishop of the

Proconsular Province.
attendants in

was one of the most regular


He had formerly been

Caecilius

Cyprian's

Councils.

employed in the suppression of grosser irregularities ^


and his speech, crossed perhaps with aged virulence, is the
;

first

of the unhappy verdicts of the great Council on Baptism.

now addressed

In the letter
ness,

the

must be admitted, of the

it

looseness

of the

insinuating beauty of

and

clusions

its

to this effect

is

tradition

Biblical interpretations

style

the soundness of

^,

in the

Chalice

fulfilment of antient types

essential to the evangelical

is

own

and

have mingled

its

place essential for the fulfilment

'Drink ye the

Baluze

(p.

477)

appears

to

ac-

on authority of Raphael Volaterranus, 1. 7, p. 159, though even Bp.


Jewel states it hesitatingly on the same.
cept

it

Controv. w. Harding, vol.

I.

pp. 137, 222

Park. Soc. See Baronius, Annul. Eccles.

A.D. 1490,

c. xxii.

p. 47.

A\ig. de Doclrina Christiana,


xxi.

quotes

it

as a

Ti.

IV.

model of the

Ep.

63.
it

Pearson's

reasons

to a.d. 253 are that

for

to be mingled;

expressions indicate a time of persecution,

and that Cyprian had been long

in office.

DomMaran(

FiV.

Cv/r. xxxiii.)

them not cogent. But


I cannot agree with him that it is to be
placed after the controversy on Baptism
had broken out. Cyprian's whole soul
was then so charged with that subject
that he could not have gone so near
rightly thinks

without allusion to

Maran

'submissum dicendi genus.'


assigning

Wine which

you' he quotes from the Book of Proverbs^,

for

and then proceeds 'Wisdom declares her Wine

to the

contemporaries would have regarded the admixture

his

presence of Wine, yet in

c.

apparent that Cyprian

It is further

act.

Supper

to the faithful representation

of those four necessary conditions.

con-

water as being not indeed equally essential with the

of

its

The substance however

value in evidence*.

to the symbolic sense of the Last

of the Lord's

and

equalled only by the quiet

logic, is
its

him by Cyprian the wild-

That Wine

and

to

it

far plainer

extricates.

Prov.

ix. 5.

some

19

than

EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

292

with prophetic voice the Lord's

'

foreannounces, that

mingled of Water and Wine, that

the Lord's Passion that which had been foretold

is,

may appear

it

Cup

that in

was done \'

Lord taught us by the pattern of His instrucwas mingled by conjunction of Wine


^';
and again 'we find that what He ordered is
'and Water
not observed by us, unless we too do the same things which

Again

'the

tions that the chalice

'

'

Lord

the

'

and similarly mingling the cup, depart not

did,

'from His Divine instructions


fairly

^'

Still

such passages cannot

be cited as exhibiting a direct decision of Cyprian's

Water absolutely must be used as well as Wine, because


the immixture of Water was not the exact question before
him and incidental judgments ought not to be alleged in
that

controversy as

if

they were

This

direct.

incidents of S. Matt. xxvi. 28, 29)

He

'which
'

which the Lord

chalice

is

called blood.

not offered
It

offered,

Hence

it

we

find

was a

it

and that

it

'

mixed

was the wine

appears that Christ's blood

there be no zvine in the chalice.'

true that he plainly says

is

offered,'

if

clear from another

'In respect of which' (the

clause of the last cited section.

'

is

and again

'

'

wine alone camiot be

the cup of the Lord

is

not water alone

nor wine alone,' but he gives his reason for this assertion,
so that the assertion will not be valued (except as distinct

evidence of practice) by those to

whom

commend

that the water signifies the

itself

This reason

is

the reason does not

People (according to the interpretation of the Apocalyptic


Seer that the waters are peoples

blood of Christ Himself with


in inseparable

Ep.

63.

while the wine signifies the

Whom

His People are blended

union and conjunction.

5.

Ep. 9.
Ep. 63. 10.
* Apoc. xvii. 15.
^ Ep.
This account is a63. 13.
dopted by the Council of Tribur a.d.
895, can. xix. and that of Florence
''

^)

A.D. 1439, Decret.

Mansi,

vol.

ad Armenos (Labbe,

xviii., Venet.

1773,

^ol.

142, vol. XXXI. 1798, col. 1056), but

it

combined by them with the reason


attributed to Alexander Bp. of Rome
is

A.D. 109 {Ep.

Labbe, Mansi,

i. 4,

vol.

spurious of course,
I.

Florent.

1759,

VI.

RITUAL.

V.

The same union

THE

MIXED

CUP.

293
itself to

which

no consistency could be given but by the use of water.

The

many

is

expressed in the Bread

grains represent the multitudinous partakers

receive their unity in the one Loaf, the Bread of


coll.

638,

namely the miraculous

9),

from the side of Christ.

flow

sented

mens

Saint Alexander.
'

In most

meaning the people,

drops the

but judiciously

appeal to

{Session 22, ch. 7.)

liturgies,

when

the water

is

mixed with the wine some reference is


made to the blood and water which
flowed from the Lord's side.'... 'The
same reason is given generally by the
liturgies' Cheetham, who specifies Roman, Mozarabic and Ambrosian as in:

stances.

This statement

may

cause important mistakes that

so easily
it is

well

'

He

bolism.

does not however,

innumerable passages

the

bends that way, apply

own

our

either, as

Gelasian Sacramentary.

Rom.

Vet.

t.

thrice applies

Water and Blood, de Bapt.

of

The prayer

from

by dressing up the

humanity

itself,

and

(perhaps

Gelasian Sacramentary.

Lyons) may be added

two which have

it.

antient

to

other

the

The Liturgy

Constantinople pointedly avoids


it

recites

the text

(Jo.

xix.

it,

34,

Vespers

collect

of

stantize
disti et

35)

mus

but does this

of the Nativity in the

Muratori

'

mirabilius reformasti

particeps

ture of the chalice follows after this.

into 'per hujus aquae et vini

The

ejus divinitatis esse.'

it;

its

Cana, and though 'the


Blood shed on Golgotha' is named the
Water is not. The Gregorian and Gela-

illustration is

and the Nestorian (Ad^us and


Maris) do not actually name Water,
though the mixture was made, nor do
five minor ones given in Renaudot's
sian

second volume,
others do, pp.

pp.

126

163

170, 177; but in

of them, I think,

is

two
none

there any allusion to

the Eff'usion.

The

parallel

must surely have pre-

da qusesu-

ut ejus efficiamur in dim'na consortes

where the Priest, in the little play


which goes on at the Prothesis, stabs
the Host 'with the Lance'; the mix.^thiopic pointedly avoids

[pp.

497 Deus qui humansesubdignitatem et mirabiliter condi-

cit.) I. col.

for

the congrega-

beautiful Mattins

antient one of Lyons, the Carthusian


of

de

the mingling in the

at

The

survival

9, 16,

Missal carries the symbolism to

tion to

baptisms

Pudic. 22.

a higher region

as

Tertullian

to the distinct

it

the mixture, have no allusion to this text.

Syriac Liturgy of S. James, the

Muratori, Lit.

cc. 569, 570.

I.

among them

direct

Rite does, following

Sarum Benedictio Fontis (Maskell,


Mon. Hit. I. p. 19) which comes from the

Roman

Roman, which

it

among

which he
to Baptism

the

to observe that ten principal liturgies,

the

itself to Cyprian's ^memoriosa


and so can scarcely have approved itself to him as being true sym-

out-

The

Council of Trent adopts the interpretation of the water

who only

Heaven

qui nostrse humanitatis

Christus

fieri

Filius

dignatus est
tuus.'

The

Missal alters the great words italicised

mysterium

Whichever symbolism be accepted


the act itself of mingling seems not to be

any time after the presentabegun by placing the elements


on the irpodeffis or credence, or at any
rate after their removal from it for the

suitable to
tion

is

oblation.

Ep. 63. 1 3

.ut quemadmodum grana


unum coUecta et conmolita et
conmixta panem unum faciunt, sic in
Christo qui est panis caelestis unum
^

multa

'

in

sciamus esse corpus cui conjunctus

sit

EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

294

Nevertheless, though Cyprian has not given even in these

words a declaration on the


'the Lord's sacrifice

subject, yet since

not celebrated with legitimate conse-

is

and

cration except our oblation

'

sacrifice

and as legitimate consecration'

Passion,'

'

he lays down^ that

'

correspond with His


is

assumed

to consist

in doing what our Lord did, preserving the tradition, representing

the Passion, or following

its

we

points in symbol,

are compelled

to conclude that, although he allowed that the blood of Christ

was received through communion

he would

in the wine, yet

not have held that the consecration of wine without water was
'

legitimate,' but

would have included that

however

practice,

long-standing in any church, under the category of


Tradition followed in place of Divine

Other corollaries
immediately

The ComThe absence of the


Commemorative Mixed Chalice

from

this Letter-Treatise.

munion of the Congregation

is

Congregation prevents the

may

which

be offered

Example ^

a not unimportant character are

of

inferrible

Human

in the

essential.

Family

Evening Meal

after the

from being anything of a true Dominicuni.


Again, the Morning

Hour

is

duly be

Christ

noster

celebrated

numerus

et

This

adunatus.'

image, which was as his lovers

is

the only hour at which the

the power

Resurrection' (which

know

so

Eucharist) can

of the

Himself had

offered

use of S. Martin's at Tours.

in

the

'If

by

mistake the priest has consecrated un-

favourite

mixed wine, or water without wine,

Dean

the wine

and constant an image with


is the most antient symSee the beautiful
holism we have.
Stanley,

Teachmg of

Eucharistic prayer in the


the xii. Apostles, c. 9,

dp^wv Kal avvaxO^v iyivero


axO'^ru) aov
TTJs

yrjs

i]

els

ttjv

<T7]v

eTTWo) Twj' 6p^w>'

Ep. 63.
Ep. 63.

crvv-

Cf.

aproj for

^f.

Armenia

passage of Chrysostom //om. 82 (83) in


Mt. 26, c. a. For this usage they were

reproved (with a proper explanation of


their

Chrysostom)

Baluze, p. 477, cites

an instructive rubric from an antient

in the

the Quini-Sextine

but keep

10.

14.

of

but their antiently alleged reason was a

oUtw

which omits

els

seems natural that

ewdvu Twv

paaiXeiav.

and has

It

the Monophysite church

(Martene) should consecrate wine only,

-qv

eKKXijcria dirb rCov ireparuv

Constt. Apost. vii. c. 26

^v,

held to be sacrament, but

roOro

"Qaw^p

[? to] KXdfffw. BieffKopTTLff/M^vov

is

not the water.'

Ep.

it still.

63. 16.

32nd canon of

Council A.D. 692,

VI.

RITUAL.

V.

Evening

THE

solely in order to

AGE OF BAPTISM.

mark

295

the close of the old order

and to merge the Passover Ritual into

ours.

Thus in the Celebration of the Eucharist no less than


in the Theory of Orders points arise in which no modern
community can be strictly said to be at one with the
Cyprianic Church.

The Age of Baptism.

2.

The

-.

into the field,

though not yet

A.D. 215^
^ or late in the
^

...

In September

in all its import.

summer

safe to hold the Bishops'


.

now coming

Ritual of another Sacrament was also

of that year^

was considered

it

'

The

meeting omitted at Easter.

a. d. 253.

A.U C
1006.

^^^' ^^P*
Caesar C.

Vibius
Afinius

tumult of military faction and perhaps the succession ofoallus


Valerian, whose household

was

so leavened

it

with

record

described as a

met

Sixty-six bishops

space.

is

in

'

Church of God V

anus^lT'^^'

breathing-

p^"^'^^^

gave

Christianity,

Carthage.

11.

of two of their deliberations

their letter to Fidus a Bishop.

to petition that an

this

He had

is

found

preserved
it

in his heart

excommunication prematurely removed

He

from a repentant presbyter might be renewed ^


found

it

in his heart to request that a

of the Bishops, Cyprian replies,

'not a

man

also

canon might be passed

prohibiting the baptism of infants under eight days old.

mind

in

was

far other

'

The

than his

agreed with him'; they 'judged that God's pity

and grace could be denied

to

no child of man.'

Fidus shrank

from bestowing the Kiss of Peace on so young a babe, as if it


were yet unclean. Cyprian replies that the fresh handiwork
of

God

kiss

claims only deeper reverence

His own creative hands.

birth

begins existence.

It is

To God

in

it

we

discern,

we

only to our sight that

the soul has lived before.

Judaic forms of uncleanness were but types, and are for ever
1

The

p. -224.

date of Ef. 64

is

discussed

Dion. Al. ap. Eus.

Sup. p. 2^1.

vii.

10.

u'g?]

^"^'

Maxi-

AND ENERGY.

296 EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN PEELING


Perhaps

at an end.

Day

Eighth

this

had been assigned

itself

to circumcision in order to give to a carnal rite

some touch of

spiritual association with the Resurrection Day, the First of

New Week.

the

The

weeping of the helpless new-born


'

first

babe sounded to the heathen


'

These

beautiful

reasoning to shatter

it

was a prayer and an appeal.


helped

thoughts

Christian

in

foreboding of the misery

like a

of living, to the Christian ear

spirits

straightforward

the

the petty pleas of

Fidus, with whatever of Judaizing lay behind them.

With

this

letter

his

in

hand\

at

Carthage upon S.

Gaudentius' day, a hundred and sixty years

later,

the

in

where lay Perpetua and Felicitas^ Augustine defen-

Basilica

ded against Pelagius the principles of Infant Baptism.

And we may remember

in a yet earlier

how

essay

there

can be nothing broader and freer than Cyprian's recognition


that Christian Baptism

truly a re-assertion of our

is

"

Childhood and Sonship to God.


" force

of baptism

come

and patrimony of God,

to the gift

" there,

" are

human

All who by the hallowing

by the healthful laver's grace, put off the old man,'


remade by the Holy Spirit, and in a second nativity are
'

"cleansed from the old infectious plague spotsl"


^

Aug. de

Gestis Pelagii xi.

See also contra

ii.

25.

Epistolas Pelagg.

lib.

IV. c. viii. 23.


2

Basilica

jor.

The

Perseact.

i.

(Vindobon.
xii.),

Majorum

Majorini

?Ma-

Mss. of Victor Vitensis Hist.


3

have Majorum, except


) and L (Berolin. sec.

sec. xi.

but Petschenig has thought

fit

to

prefer in this place the reading of these

The

^ De Habitu Virgg. 23 ^Omnes quidem qui ad divinum munus et patrimonium baptismi sanctificatione per-

hominem

veniunt

illic

gratia

veterern

exponunt

innovati

lavacri

salutaris

Spiritu

Sancto a sordibtts contagionis

antiqjitE

iterata

nativitate

et

purgantur.

Compare also Z)^ i%i5/to F/;-^. 2 scientes quod templa Dei sint membra nostra
'

Aug.

ab otnni fsece contagionis antiques

Sermtn. 34 Ad Majores and 165 and 294


support Majorum, but 2 58 has Majorem.

vacri vitalis sanctificatione purgata.'

two,

Majorem.

It is impossible not to

titles

of

i-emember the

recently explored great Basilica of Car-

thage close outside the walls, with


nine

aisles, its large

its

bapti-tery and vast

semicircular narthex and trilobate 'martyrium.'

la-

must with most editions and seven of

Baluze's codices, in spite of S,

W,

and Hartel, maintain patrimonium,


which Goldhom restores and Baluze
(p. 533) allows. 'Divinum munus et patrium'

is

not Cyprianic order or sense.

VI.

RITUAL.

V.

THE

AGE OF BAPTISM.

29/

Objection to Cottncil III on account of its Antipelagianism.


It has been ironically observed that the question of Fidus 'gives
Cyprian the opportunity of making a thoroughly antipelagian dis'course'
a wild statement and misleading to those incapable of
*

following

it

The

up.

alleged grounds,

first

letter

that

has been treated as spurious on the


resembles the later Canon CX of the
its language shews it to be later than

it

African Code, and secondly that


the Pelagian controversy 1.

cxth canon is against those who object to Infant


it to be a sort of dramatic fiction, on the ground
that there is no original sin^.
But Fidus has not a word either for or against the doctrine of
Original Sin. He approved of Infant Baptism only, for certain small
And the answer
reasons, not till the infant was eight days old.
observes that besides the irrelevance and unkindness of his ideas, the
innocent child was at least as worthy of acceptance as a sin-laden

Now,

that

Baptism, or hold

man

a not very antipelagian doctrine.

Then, as

penned

to the

language

it is

impossible that

after the Pelagian controversy.

There

is

it

can have been

not one technical

term in it^. So far as verbal likeness goes the Cyprianic fathers


might have almost seemed rather against the Augustinian thought.
This defines original sin to be 'both another's and our own.' They
say 'The sins remitted to the infant are the sins of others, not his
own.' Thus nothing can be more different than the purview of the
canon and the epistle except the language itself; and while no forger
after the controversy could have helped using recognised terms, we
have in the language of Cyprian just the clear but untechnical style
which marks the catholic doctrine in an age prior to a controversy*,
but which cannot perhaps for ages afterward be recurred to as
adequate and used accordingly.
^

Shepherd, pp. 31,

32,

and

p.

11,

birth,

'Contagium Peccati.
Contagium mortis antiqucE is the true

* Precisely the same treatment of the


same doctrines with the same freedom
from technicality exists in the de Op. et
Eleem. z.nd de Mortalii. ap. Aug. Contra
ii. Epp. Pelagg. 1. iv. c. viii. 21, and
seethelist of ancient authors to the same
effect quoted by Routh, R. S. vol. III.

but untechnical consequence of our

pp. 148,

letter 1.
^ irpoyoviKi]

iK

rrjs

6irep

ijXKva-av

apxMoyovlas. Justel. Cod. Cann.

Eccles. Afric.
^

a/iaprta

No

no.

'Originale Peccatum,' 'Pecca-

turn originis' or

first

9.

CHAPTER

VII.

THE ROMAN CHAIR.


I.

End

The

We have anticipated

of CORNELIUS.

by three months at Carthage a great


Cornelius had been
at Rome.

change which had occurred


suddenly^

banished to Centumcellae

which has been so


been to

But

isolate him.

his

that
The

fateful for his line.

Civita

first

Vecchia

intention

had

apprehension was the signal for

a crowd of the Lapsed^ to revoke and expiate their Denial.

They

thus justified Cyprian's policy of penance with hope of

They were hurried away with him as were


Confessors who had lately escaped to him from

restitution ^

the

also

the

Their numbers were such as to im-

influence of Novatian.

and perhaps the government, with


the idea that, if they had been so minded, they might
have made something at least of a stand.
It was a con-

press at least themselves,

'

Such an

fessorship of the whole church of Rome*.'

exile

then was a happy reunion of extreme factions, and breathing


^

Repentinapersecutio...sascularis po-

testas subito proruperit,

^. 60.

2 'quasi

Ep. 6i.

3.

Cf.

minus paratoset minus

QuotillicLapsigloriosaconfessione
restituti... nee

domiicionem

There

accepit.'

teration

to pulsus,

p.

On

123.

jam

stare

ad criminis

is

Ipso dolore psenitentige

facti

proelium fortiores, Ep. 60.

Compare the Li6erianCa^a/o'ue/... con-

milites...nec repugnare contra

fessores qui se separaverunt a Cornelio

nantes,

cum Maximo presbytero, qui cum Moyse

nocentem

ad ecclesiam sunt

hoc Centumcellis

the

intended, such as Cyprian describes,


^

veniam sed ad passionis coronam, Ep.


Confessorem populum, ibid. i.
60. 2.

fuit,

is

al-

contrary a banishment on a large scale

cautos.

sunt

gloria

no ground for accepting Lipsius'

reversi.

expulsi,

Ibi

Post

cum

Adversarius

cum

...

ad

2.

intellexit

...

Christi

impug-

occidere innocentibus nee

liceat,

Ep. 60.

omnis Romana confessa,

2.

^ff/.

Ecclesia

60.

i.

THE END OF CORNELIUS.

VII.

I.

this

consolation

Cornelius died

'

299

glory

with

June

in

'

A.D.

253'-

The Antipope was

too inconspicuous to the Magistracy

In Cyprian's eyes his immunity otherwise

to be in danger.

unexplained ought to have been to him evidence of his

Quid ad

Divine rejection.

was the open

The

Novatiafius ?

hcBc

and

seal of heaven's favour

and people, and was clearly designed

true priest

outburst
the

hell's hostility to

for this very

endl
Cornelius has been ranked as a martyr by the church of

Rome

and

since the middle of the fourth century,

his festival

The

kept with Cyprian's on the 14th of September.

ment is first found in Jerome^


same day though not in the same

state-

that 'they suffered on the


year.'

In the contemporary sense of the word a Martyr he was,


as dying in

Cyprian who

exile'*.

him speaks of
him and Lucius

in writing to

his 'glorious witness,' afterward speaks of

either in our sense of the word) as

(who was not a martyr

That the month of his decease must


is shewn above (chap.
Pearson (who is howII. p. 127 note).
ever misled by the traditional September
of his legendary martyrdom) argues
justly that the events and changes which
^

have been Jiaie

occurred after

May

his death could not

15, 252,

have been crowded

the June of 252

into

and before

viz.

the

ordi-

Abraham, a.d. 253

letters

and fresh attempt, with all the


which passed between Cyprian

and Cornelius, the

Rome,

latter in security at

the former in daily expectation

Again Dionysius of Alex-

of death.

seat 2 years

'

vi.

46.)

Deme-

According

to the Chronicle of Eusebius this


in

the

consulship

Gallienus

I.,

of

Valeiian

was
and

or in the year 2272 after

giving to

his

months and 10 days,

Rexit ecclesiam sub Gallo

duobus

annis.''

Pearson

Viris

Roman
reads

Volusiano
66.

III.

Cypr.

it^i,

xiii.)

Bre\'iary of placing

At present

under Decius.

his death

however

De

(Annal.

accuses the

Gallo

et

Volusiano

constdibus

though

incorrect

is

He

it

which
Pearson's own.

sular

H. E.

bring the year of his death to 253 a.d.

the death of Fabius of Antioch, and

(Eus.

cit.

Jerome makes the strange statement

faulty

trian.

(Lipsius, op.

catalogues which,

rate

andria mentions in a letter to Cornelius

the consecration of his successor

a strictly independent

is

testimony in support of the most accu-

nation of Fortunatus, his voyage, rejection

This

p. 210).

(Lipsius,
list

op. cit.

relied

p.

on the

209)

con-

of the Liberian Catalogue,

Ep. 60.

3.

Ep.

61. 3 'tota cordis

luce perspicimus, &c.'


*

De

Sup. p. 91.

Viris III. cc.

(>6,

67.

THE ROMAN CHAIR.

300
*

planted together in glorious martyrdom,' and again styles

him

a Blessed Martyr\

However, these terms are familiar enough to us as used of


and by no early authority

living prisoners or exiles,


to

His name

have been put to death.


nor

martyr-roll,

yet

the

in

Deposition of

amid the ashes

and with

house*,

among them^

near to the older bishops but not

laid

rested

so

name

his

There with

'

His remains were carried to Rome,

glory he took sleep I'

He

All

Bishops.

accords with the more modest antient record

and were

he said

is

not on the Liberian

is

it

must seem

of

his patrician

cut in Latin, and

not like his

predecessors in Greek".

whom

Salonina, the wife of Gallienus,

immediately associated with himself,

We

both a Cornelia and a Christian ^


60

.)>/.

Mommsen, op. cit. p. 636.


The old Salzburg traveller

S.

Sotterranea

I.

Sup. p. 124.

ranea., torn.

before

All

374

Roma

ff.,

him and those

This In Pace

is

for

coins of hers bear

common

types.

Other
But

observable that though her husband

Gallienus was
'

2.

fifty

elsewhere absolutely

limited to Christian memorials.

it is

Sotter-

tav. iv.,

Consecrations

and of
there
nina.

is

much
'

of

given to coinage
his

predecessors

his family except of Valerian,

no pagan apotheosis of Salo-

De

Witte,

who

first

commented

might without overdown

Eutychian are

later

Greek

like their liturgy.

to

Corp. hiscrr. Latt. Vin.

Of

''

363.

October was

years

notices

Brownlow,

and
pp. 352

Rossi,

p.

I.

3.

p. 180.

i.

Northcote

See

Roma
'

R.

Rossi,

this.

68. 5; 61.3; 67. 6; 69.

init.;

his father Valerian


this^

in

many

the

i.

2482.

Cornelia

of

coins

Salonina some remarkable types have


on the obverse her throned, sceptred
figaire, holding in her right hand an olive
branch, and

vi^ith

avgvsta

the legend

IN PACE.

on

this

type and assumed

it

to

than Salonina's death, doubted


finding

it

Diet.

Christ.

later than a.d.

Antiq.

'Money';

Stevenson, Diet. Rofn. Coins,

The doubt

later

two large hoards of coins

in

issued apparently not

265,

be

this after

is,

p.

711.

suppose, because of the

incident of the Empress's danger in a.d


'

266

'

at the Siege of Milan.

C.

W. King

VII.

THE END OF CORNELIUS.

I.

3OI

boldness perhaps conjecture that such a princess was not

unconcerned

adornment of

in the locality or the

This chamber

own

prepared for him in a crypt on her

Way, hard by
to

who was

have aided Cornelius himself


Vatican and of

delicately done,

Presbyter

and

'

by the lady Lucina

Confessor

is

body of

Way.

Paul on the Ostian

S.

whoever brought

on the Appian

also incorrectly said

in laying the

Peter

S.

But

it

was

to his side in death the

Maximus whom

brought back to the Catholic Church


of Cornelius

estate,

the cemetery of Callistus,

called afterwards the Blessed,

in the

his repose.

said in a later story to have been first

is

with us to this day,'

Cornelius

The

in life\

had

sepulchre

rich in architectural

still

appointments and shewing trace of some grand sarcophagus


to which his bones

had been transferred from a simpler but

not unnotable grave.

We may
last illness

add that

opened the old chapel more to the

why she

should be supposed

them

'

light

Lombard

Injured by

a staircase for pilgrims ^

does not see

century Damasus

in the fourth

in his

and began
invaders

it

trientes Saloninianos trecentos

to have been then alive {Early Christ-

perhaps of his Empress, perhaps of his

ian Numismatics, p. 47) but I think he


cannot have noticed that incident; for

son (Treb. Poll. Claud. 17).

Zonaras would be worse than he

terr. torn. i. p. 291, tav. xix. 5.

mean

did not

me

to

to connect

it

he

with that

But on the other hand

siege.

is if

seems

it

not impossible that Pipara, his

German princess,

a Christian legend, without pressing

the

MS.

on some of the exergues

mean MemoricB Sancta.

Other

to

indi-

cations of a Christian influence on this

incomprehensible emperor occur in the

Gallienus once sent a mass of valuto

propitiate

Claudius,

among

is

Rossi,

Roma

Sot-

Lucina,

found in the Cornelian

Rossi, R. S.

t.

i.

p. 314.

Aspice descensu exstructo tenebris-

que fugatis
Cornell

monumenta

vides

tumulumque

sacratum.

Hoc

opus

eegroti

Damasi

prsestantia

melior,

populisque

fecit,

Esset

ut

accessus

paratum
Auxilium Sancti,

et valeas

si

fundere

puro

Corde

preces,

Damasus melior

consur-

gere posset

Quem non

text.

ables

a rare surname,
gens.

'quamperditedilexit,'

and in honour of whom he and his court


wore their hair yellow (Treb. PoUio, Gallieni duo c. 21), may have been the
'BacLXiaaa of this camp-story.
At any
rate, whether in life or death, Salonina's
is

Sup. page 161.

lucis

amor

tenuit

mage cura

laboris.

This recovery, from several fragments

THE ROMAN CHAIR.

302

^,^

im0mi^^:^:yM

VII.

THE END OF CORNELIUS.

I.

was restored by Leo

commanding

tall

III. in the

Cyprian were painted on


It is

of

figures
its

ninth century, and then the

walls \

impossible not to be led a

to

the facts of

Cornelius'

aside

little

many

by what has
But to

generations.

death and burial.

Dying

from them are clear enough.

inferences

Cornelius and

brotherly

the

been of undying interest to so


return

3O3

The

quietly at

marked
him as a

Civita Vecchia his death-day had for a time no very

When

commemoration.

a festival was sought for

Martyr he was conjoined with

any mention of
'

at

Rome.

For

without

A.D. 354.

Fourteenth of September, commemoration of Cyprian,

Africa.

It is

kept at

Rome

and from Damasus' familiar

tags,

in the

of

cemetery of

To

tomb

even now^ proceed.

Damasus' restoration is one of


De Rossi's most ingenious and perfect
triumphs.
R. S. I. p. 289 291.
at

Rossi, R. S.

t.

I.

Calistus^.'

be a corruption of Corneli.

bratiir to

the original inscription placed over the

so,

Cornelius, Cyprian's actual death-day appears

Kalendar of

in the

and brother Cyprian

his friend

whose day had been long observed

such lengths will determined

suggestion

is

The

critics

unfortunate

borrowed apparently from

Muratori, Lit.

Rom.

Vet.

i.

col. 39, n. c.

(See Appendix on S. Cyprian's Day,

tav. vi.

2 A.D.
354 XVIII. Kl. Octob. CyPRiANi Africa Rom.e celebratur

p. 610.)

IN Calisti.'

With extraordinary violence Rossi

was beheaded at the Temple of Mars,


and gives the story of Lucina, of which

wishes to insert Corfieli in Calisti be-

the untruth will appear in the history of

'

fore the

name

of Cyprian, and

sen (Abhand. d.
II.

p. 633,

graph

vom

k. S. Ges. d.

note

I,

Momm-

Wissensch.

Uber den Chrono-

Jah. 354) would take

cele-

T}\q Felician Catalogue

Xystus.

This catalogue

?.2.-<j%<Loxvl&\\v,%

is

accordingly

obliged to omit the older words

cum

gloria

dormicionem

sius, op. cit.

accepit.'

pp. 125, 275.

'

Ibi

Lip-

THE ROMAN CHAIR.

304

II.

The Sitting of LuciUS.

The whole chronology with


by

its

perplexities

unravelled

is

disengagement of the decease of Cornelius from

this

its

connection with the fourteenth of September, and

liturgical

June A.D. 253. A few days may


perhaps be assumed to have elapsed before the twenty-fifth of
that same month, on or near to which his successor Lucius
certain replacement, in

its

months and ten days\


He was immediately banished^ though without deprivation of property or rights^ and directly afterwards recalled or
allowed to return with him came home apparently the great

came

to the Chair for a brief eight

mass of

Whether

exiles.

this

was some experiment

working of terror and leniency, or whether

was a

it

in the

result of

we cannot
we have
son Gallienus, who at

the divided sentiments of the imperial households

Valerian became

tell.

severely anti-Christian, but

just seen that Salonina, the wife of his

succeeded with him to the honours of Consul,

this juncture,

Imperator, Caesar and Augustus, was probably a Christian

and of the same great house as the


in his rescript of toleration

last

published

alone in A.D. 261*, speaks of

Bishop; and Gallienus

when he began

to reign

having already long ago made

concessions to the Christians.


Cyprian's solitary letter to Lucius

^Nogroundforstatingthathehadbeen

[Ep. 61) indicating only one other, and

also previously banished with Cornelius,

and anticipating marbesides, would mark


But
the pontificate as probably short.
Lipsius has shewn independently that
the 'iii years' which the Liberian
chronologist prefixes to his 'viii months

was

and X days'

kept out of their places of worship

this lately written

tyrdom

for

him

that Eusebius

is

a mere blunder, and

H. E.

oXoLs ovTos oKTu...

at

p. 210.

annos

iii

The

menses

Is

vii.

2 ix-qal 5' oi)5'

right.

Lipsius, op.

Felician Cat. has 'sedit


iii

dies

iii.'

Relegationem...relegatus

1),

{.Ep.

61.

used unquestionably with precision

by the Old Legist.


*

Clinton, Fasti

to

Romani,

Euseb. ZT.^.

286,7.

vii.

vol.

i.

'The

pp.

relief

be universal: they are not to be

Tbirwv tQ)v

Op-rjcrKevcrlfjLwv)

hibit as their warrant this

no one

13

is

to molest

them

Kara t6 i^hv d^varai

they

(d7r6

may

ex-

form of rescript:
:

koX tovto birep

v(p' v/jlQv

avairXri-

VII.

THE SITTING OF

11.

LUCIUS.

Certainly the persecution was

with Lucius'

him

tells

not supposed to be over

Cyprian had visions of coming

recall.

that he

305

may and ought

before the eyes of the brethren

to expect to be

unaware of the reason of the change; and long

itself

wards referred
at the

it

moment,

episcopate

after-

simply to the 'will of God\' just as Cyprian,

referred

it

to the favour of

God

Confessorship.

He

once with

at

and

evil

immolated

The Church was

Rome.

in

'

'

investing his
pictures

his

was a foretaste of Christ's


near return^ and Lucius the likeness of His forerunner.
return as a scene of such joy that

More than

this

is

it

known of

not to be

character.

his

Cyprian seems to write to him as to a manly kind of person,


but

it

would be pressing

phrases too far to be sure

his

that they describe the person rather than the protective

An

early ritual tradition ascribes to

that the

Rome

bishop of

him the

should be accompanied

office.

precept
in

every

place by two presbyters and three deacons^; a tradition which

perhaps echoes some facts of his

But what

exile.

most important

is

right treatment

is

that, in his

view as to the

of the Lapsed and their restoration

after

penance to peace and communion, he was at one with


predecessor Cornelius,

with Cyprian

and

that

that he

is

his

firmly against Novatian and

had issued documents upon that

subject*.

On
Fabian
povtrdai

the

in the

^drj

cemetery of

irpb

C.

crir/Kexi^fyiTai.''

March he was laid beside


Callistus.
The day is given us in

th of the following

iroWoD

W.

i/xov

inr'

Early

King,

Chr. Niimis. p. 47, interprets Kara, to


i^bv 'according to what was right'

but I do not see the point of that,

and would suggest

that

clause

the

may mean 'what you may perform


in accordance with this leave, I

conceded practically long


^

Catal. Liber.

Hie exul

have

postea

Hie

in exilio

toss.

postea natudi incolomis.


^

Cyprian seems to be rhetorically

betrayed into this unfit image simply


from having used the word adventus

Ep. 61. 4.
Hie precepit ut duo prisbi et III
diaconi in omni loco cum epo non
twice.
^

desererent.

since.'
fuit et

Catal. Fclic:

est.

Catal. Felic.

Litteris suis signaverunt,

Ep.

nutu dei incolumis ad ecelesiam reversus


B.

Mar.

20

5,

A.D. 254.
A.U.C.
fuit 1007.

68. 5.

Imp.

THE ROMAN CHAIR.

3o6
Cses. P.
Licinius

the entombment-list not of martyrs but of bishops^

His

sepulchral slab with Greek characters, and no mention

Valerianus Original

Aug. 11.'^ o^ martyrdom, adds simply the


Imp. Cxs. examples of the vulgar termination,

most

of the

interesting

common

in

Greek, Jewish,

Egnatius

or Graecizing-Latin Inscriptions during the third century, but

Pius Felix

almost extinct before the end of the fourth^

Aug.

The

incidents of the last few pages, difficult, and almost

fretful,

much

criticism

for

to

elicit

seem

certainty, will not

and

combine with so

to

those

trivial to

how firm and subtle were


which were now being drawn through all
through them,

the

allegiance of imperial

centre

of

antient houses,

men who had

influence

^ III NoN. Mar. Luci in Calisto.


Mommsen, o/>. cit. p. 631. Ill NoN.
Mar. cons. ss. Catal. Liber. Lipsius,
The Liberian list is
op. cit. p. 267.

not only wrong in carrying this date


into the 3rd consulship of Valerian

2nd of Gallienus
it

puts

down also

over four years

(a.d. 255)

under

and

whom

the death of Stephanus

later,

but irreconcilable

own

date of 3 years 8 months


10 days which it counts from Gallus II.

with

its

Volusian
2

We

I.

(a.d. 252).

have

AITOPIC

a.d.

not

AYPHAIC

who perceive
new threads

society, securing

drawing to the
even

family

temp. Anton. P.

the Jewish cemetery at

From

Rome fA

C,

KACTPIKIC, ACTEPIC, NOY-

MENIZ.

Ritschl by such examples


it

not to have

modem

corruption,

as Ccecilis, Clodis shews

been

wholly

and thinks
stances

461,

it

archaic.

and

The

latest in-

TAPACIC A.D.
OY PANIC vith or viith.

we have

R.

are

cent.

Rossi,

From

Felician Catalogue, Lipsius, p.

275, quotes

263,

the

S. vol.

CORNILIS.

II.

pp. 66,

8.

VII.

STEPHANUS.

III.

307

name, knitting together classes that had been apart since

Roman
with the
out

fall

give

all

how

new moral magistracy grappled


sins which underlay crimes
how possible it was to
of such an association, and then how men would

law began

things

restored to

health,

wealth, connection, honours

to

be

it.

III.

Stephanus.
Tlie

Church not

identified

Cyprian's relations with

a great change.

It

Rome

soon afterwards underwent

takes effort to view with candid and clear

them

vision, so as to see

with or represented by Rome.

in their first

meaning, such facts and

expressions as controversies have since coloured and shaded.

Yet the truth

that what

is

was confused and beclouded while

nothing but amity existed was

The

dignity of the

made

Roman See was

by

distinct

variances.

in Cyprian's eyes that of

an inherited precedency and presidency, and not due merely


to the fact that,

Rome was
But

its

that

if

Carthage was the second city of the world,

mistress^

even

its

more moderate claims

supremacy are a doctrine unknown to Cyprian


as

we have

divines

seen,

have

by the

definite alterations

to
is

spiritual

evidenced,

which

Roman

introduced into his language and maintain

therel

Exemplifications of his real theory are


corrections of the successor of Lucius.

Long

'

writ large

'

in his

before the bitter-

ness of theological difference arose between them, in dealing

with moral cases of Lapse, we had to look onward, and

we

saw how the church of Africa received appeals against two


^

Milman and

much weight

others assign rather too

to this.

See pp. 195, 196 above.

Cf.

Ep. 59.

14.

See a very profligate blazon of that

theory as a historic fact in Freppel, pp.


128
130 and 218 20.

20

THE ROMAN CHAIR.

308
ecclesiastical

them\

Roman

judgments of the

Presently

we

Bishop and reversed

him admonished of

shall find

his

duty

toward a Novatianist and desired to transmit an account of


his discharge of

temned

The

Carthage ^

arrogance,

his

while

Christian world con-

confirmed his practice in

it

Modern Rome outdoes

Baptism.

his pretensions

and

freely

Rebaptism he rightly condemned.

uses the
It

to

it

might

at first sight

seem

as

if

common

only one

link

could hold together alliances so inconsistent with each other,

who

alliances with Lapsed, with Novatianists,

stood equally

aloof from Lapsed and from Heretics, and with the Heretics
themselves,

seem as

if

policy in

its

consistent opposition to Cyprian.

might

three branches could evolve such variety.

phen might wish


which

It

nothing but uniform contravention of Cyprian's

to abolish out of

his predecessor

had yielded

Rome

Ste-

the influence to

Cyprian's Petrine unity,

he might say, was but theoretical, his practical Episcopal


unity threatened the

Roman

unity.

But

Cyprian into opposition to his See and

he could force

if

its

Traditions, that

Petrine theory of his would serve to put Cyprian

in

the

wrong, and leave him on his own shewing no better than a


Novatianist^

But mortal opponency surely never ran so wild a length.

At any

rate,

of this low subtlety there

Indeed

the part of Stephen.

much more

so

of a

at

is

no appearance on

Rome, where Cornelius was

presence than Cyprian, the effect to

the eye of the Church would be that of an onslaught upon

Cornelius and his councils rather than on Cyprian.


it

Besides

had virtually been Cornelius who modified Cyprian's puri-

tanism.

When

Stephen restored peccant bishops he was

following Callistus

when he condemned Rebaptism he was

appealing to tradition older than Callistus^


234 above.

Pp.

Ep. 68.
So Ritschl.

-233,

Ep. 67.

Hippolytus,

ix. 12, cf. 7.

In

adv.

all

the letters

omnes Hareses,

VII.

STEPHANUS.

III.

309

and about him Cyprian never writes as

to

making

capital out of his

theory^

He

pal unity

is

He

disputed or

strongly

own

is

he repeats the

his

view of episco-

Petrine unity

shews no consciousness that

Stephen were

if

be disputed by Stephen.

likely to

conviction of the truth and antiquity

states'^ his

of the African discipline, but acknowledges in

Stephen as

other bishops the right and the responsibility of differing.

in

Thus

there

no trace of that diplomacy with which Stephen

is

ingeniously credited by moderns

is

obstinacy of which he

The

is

nor yet of the mere

accused by his contemporary^

business of history

not to be reviving blots which

is

have faded from the world's mind, but to mark and trace
life

which was ever true and

Our

material

is

truth which ever lives.

all

sufficient to indicate that

Stephen had no leaning towards rules which

and Cyprian had

laid

down

(which so often corresponds


a policy) was that of a

only with those

who wished

even

if it

from the

first

his predecessors

for themselves.

to,

man

all

His temper

does not interpret,

averse to strictness, and severe


to see

him

so.

may

His policy

be characterized as roughly anti-Novatianist or anti-puritan,


in

Cyprian himself there was, as we have seen, an under-

tint of

Puritanism not invisible to Stephen, whose ruling that

and

or a perjured bishop

a lapsed

resume

conditions,

his see, or

might, without over severe

even a Novatianist retain

were strong anti-Novatianist examples of tolerance.


he

fact

to

may

Roman

of submission

penitents

tism to

ready

ready

in

in

in

least

policy of

comprehension on easy terms saving as to the one


Episcopate

But

be rather said to have inaugurated, or at

have been an early type of the regular

his,

article

Spain to restore semi-pagans to the

Gaul

to

uphold the harshest repeller of

ready anywhere to receive Marcionites without Bap-

Communion. And although the

issue of his long severe

Baptismal controversy with Cyprian has been determined by


the Church catholic in Stephen's sense
1

Ep.

73. 7.

Ep.

72.

I.

although the practice

Ep.

75. 2, 6, 17.

THE ROMAN CHAIR.

3IO

he maintained has been accepted as true wisdom and true


charity

theory has been

although Cyprian's

rejected

as

well-nigh unchristian, yet few moral triumphs have equalled

the ascendency of the vanquished Carthaginian.


solely

upon the

nobility of tone, the

magnanimous

It

arose

gentleness,

the postponement of self to the Church, in which he con-

The never broken

ducted his unhappy cause.

him

entertained for

veneration

an answer to the calumny that theolo-

is

victorious Stephen

memory of
who did not

While

Cyprian and

gians cannot forgive an opponent, or spare the


the defeated.
recover

It

was the

shock

the

of

that

conflict.

Cornelius are companion saints in Kalendar and Collect^


beside the altar of the Catacomb^ and in the mosaic heaven
of the Basilica^ Stephen rested for centuries in the unpraised

which Pontius* dismisses him.

silence into

Not

until in the

ninth century a catacomb yielded a marble chair with an


inscription over an unnamed martyr pope, did the church of

Rome

assign saintship to Stephanus' disengaged name.

he has

both chair and legend again

lost

How

be narrated

will

hereafter.

Jeremy Taylor

sets

an uncharitable seal to the popular

Stephen was accounted

church view of his 'uncharitableness.


a zealous and furious person
that his portrait

is

made up

^'

Still

we need

not forget

by

of traits etched in scraps

the pen of an adversary, and that he was not solitary (as


Florentius

evinces)

aversion

his

in

Cyprian was now wielding^


Leonian Sacramentary, Muratori,

Liturg. Rom.

Vet.

torn.

I.

col.

404

Gelasian Sacramentary, c. 668; Gelasian

Kalendar,
mentary,
t.

II.

t.

p.

office for
still

c.

Gregorian

49;

Ii.

629,

Sacra-

119; Gothic Missal,

c.

an

entirely

different

Cornelius and Cyprian, but

together.

On

the

variations

of

the day here and in other rituals, see

Appendix,

p. 6io.

to

power which

the

Dionysius the Great makes


^
'

See Rossi as above, pp. 302, 3.


As at Ravenna in S. Martinus in

Casio

Aureo (afterwards

S.

Apollinare

Nuovo).
^

Without mentioning

markedly proceeds

'

et pacifico sacerdote.'
*

Of Heresy

he

Pont. Vit.

c.

14.

11, Liberty of Prophe-

sying, vol. v. p. 396 (ed.


*

Stephen

lam de Xysto bono

Eden, 1853).

Ep. 66 Florentio Puppiano.

VII.

STEPHANUS.

III.

311

thankful mention of his liberality to the churches of Syria

and Arabia^

and to Vincent of

two centuries a

Lerins*^ there floated across

modesty

tradition of

as well as zeal, of faith

as well as dignity^
It

was about the twelfth of May,

A.D. 254*,

succeeded to the Chair of Lucius.


letter to

him was not so much

of direction,

spirit

as

extant

He

anticipates

no

be on the same terms with

differences, but plainly expects to

him

first

tone of equality as in the

in a

not of dictation.

if

when Stephen May

Cyprian's

had existed with Cornelius.

His language

peremptory, but with a peremptoriness which

rather

is

feels

may

it

reckon on compliance.
In the next letter Cyprian has already given Stephen up.

He makes
'

a faint apology for him on the ground of his

unacquaintedness with the facts and truth

makes allowance for


down principles and

his

'

inattention

^'

'

of the

case,

and proceeds to lay

give directions in absolute reversal of

Stephen's.

we have

Elsewhere

Lapse of two Bishops

We

them.
that

reserved

given the outline of the heathenish

Spain and of the action taken about

in

till

now

reveal themselves

We

dioceses.

little

into detail.

The Spanish Appeal.

men

of Basilides gave judgment that such

Eus. H. E.

Vine. Lirin. Commonit.

Tillemont, vol. iv., p. 32, quotes

bishop, a true

vii. 5.

Augustine de unico Bapt.

I.

6.

Petil. 14 as

c.

averring that the Donatists confessed

Stephen's 'administration' to have been


'

more

be recollected that Stephen on the personal ap-

It will

sans reproche

illibatum.'

of churches or

that intercourse

in

must enter a

I.

plication

a consideration of the principles

'

'gessisse

This

they admitted

may

him

episcopatum

only

to

mean

that

be a genuine

member

Lipsius, op.

Ritschl's

cit. p.

as

of a true

he

line.

214.

view that /. 68

is

just.

There

is

earlier

no mistaking
the change of tone towards Stephen
from an affectionate confidence to a

than 67

self-restrained coldness.

was exasperated,
^

P. 233 above.

is

Afterwards

it

^^'**

12,

THE ROMAN CHAIR.

312

and Martial should on recantation be restored to their sees\


The church of Leon with Astorga thereupon appointed its
presbyter Felix, and the church of Merida

its

deacon ^lius,
"*

compose an instant appeal to the great church of Carthage.


Merida sent by the same bearer an epistle from Felix of
Whether this Felix was the bishop of that place,
Saragossa.

to

some representative layman, does not appear, but the historians of Arragon have debated the question with interest^
or

who had been unanimously elected to succeed Basiand confirmed by the neighbouring bishops, and Felix,

Sabinus,
lides

who had replaced Martial,


The reply of Carthage
of Cyprian.

It closes

name

written in the

sembled

in

Carthage

carried the three Letters.


to the churches

with his

is

own nominal

the composition
salutation.

of seven and thirty prelates


in the

autumn

of A.D.

254'*.

It is

who

as-

punc-

It

exempts Stephen from further blame than that of


negligence in accepting Basilides' mere assurance of repentance, and ratifying his episcopal tenure, when even to absolve
tiliously

him would have been a strong measure. It assumes that if he


had investigated he would have decided as they Cyprian's
Fourth Council
^

It is

namely that the two men had

not expressed that Martial ap-

proached Stephen,

hvii

fallacia {Ep.6'j.

attributed to him, and these re-

is

5)

decided,

gouvernement

spirituel

eloignee de la Mere-figlise.'
true reading

is

the letter

is

on one platform.
- The Spanish deacons bore an im-

and even

in this

portant part

in the

administration of

See Concil. Elib. Can. 77


Si quis diacenus plebem sine episcopo vel

churches.

presbytero,
I.

^c.

Neander,

324, et sup. p.

op.

cit.,

vol.

Diaconal pre-

114.

sumptions are restrained A.D. 314


Aries,

Cann.

The Abbe Duchesne,


t.

Pastes Episc.

p. 40, cites

I.

from

Letter of Vienna and Lyons A.D.

177, Eus.

H. E.

here giving a

list

k.t.\.

of names

age the phrase in that

sense would have been tov

d-rrb

BUwrjs

dLaKovov.
^

See Baluze's

not. in loc.

The Council

of 254 A.D. must have


been held towards autumn. Easter day
was on the ^srd April, Stephanus was
^

May

ordained about

12.

Before the

Council was held Basilides had already

15, 18.

de fAnc. Gaule,
the

at

But the

^dyKTov diuKovov

spectable Spaniards are treated as both

for

d'une chretiente

V.

de Vienne, rhv diaKovov

'/^

(sic)

diacre

dirb Bi^vvtjs' as

an early sample 'd'un diacre charge du

Rome, seen Stephen, and been


him of the propriety of his
resuming his see the Churches of Leon
and Astorga had received the decision

been

at

assured by

and appealed

to

Cyprian against

it.

VII.

III.

THE SPANISH APPEAL.

I.

313

ever surceased from the episcopate.

To Stephen

Council submits no representation of

its

himself the

They make

opinion.

not the most distant allusion to any inherent prerogative of

Bishop of

his office as

would reconsider

Rome^

There

no request that he

is

judgment, or recognise

his

They

theirs.

simply reverse his verdict and regard their reversal as

Their long

epistle,

estimating the

the decision of the Bishop of

many

Rome

mistaken, and therefore to be set

no

of A.D. 254 on

as simply

this

and gravely

There are then

aside.

than four accounts upon which

less

final.

points at issue, treats

Synodical Epistle

the affair of Basilides and Martial

is

im-

portant as a witness to the relations subsisting within the

congregations and between the congregations of the Church.


It creates none.

And

does not imply, but distinctly states

it

these relations.

main purport

Its

I.

the distinct accepting and absolute

is

deciding of an appeal from

another

in reversal

The

judgment
There can be no acceptance of person,
no dispensation can be granted by any human indulgence,

of Rome'"*.

sole rule to

that of Scripture.

is
'

church of one nation to

the

of an ecclesiastical decision by the Bishop

be recognised

in the

'

'

in matters

where divine prescription interposes a veto and

'

appoints a

lawV

It assigns to the

II.

Laity the

right,

and

sinful

'

'

bishop.

The Donatist Congregations


in

313,

of the

fear

factions

Italian Church, appeal to

the

Bishops

finally

of

Gaul.

A.D.

of

the

be heard by

They were

only allowed three, fifteen others

being Italians.
^

'

Optat.

i.

23.

Ep. 67. I and 6.


Ep. 67. 2 intercedit...prcEscriptio.

Mark
terms.

the hand of the Civilian in

We

Perscriptio

have

to

and the

on their

communion of a sacrilegious
The Laity mainly have the power in

duty, of withdrawing from the


or

insists

all

the

choose between
original L,

and

'

/'r(?j'f/-?)>//^

C,

R and the corrector of L

these are of cent, ix

(Q cent, viii
had prascriptio until
Hartel, and his choice seems perverse,
Prcescriptio is used elsewhere by Cyprian, and /^jf;7/>/?o beyond its common
use for a fair copy or for a cheque reall

ix?); all editions

lates rather to the

than to

its

^^// of a document

authority, which

required by tribuit legem.

is

what

is

THE ROMAN CHAIR.

314

choosing worthy Bishops or

'

either

'

ones.'

'

of being untouched

'

communicate with a Bishop that

'

The Laity must not

flatter

themselves with the idea

by the contagion of
is

It

his offence

a sinner.'

'sever themselves from a sinful prelate


III.

unworthy

in rejecting

if

they

They must

'

\'

marks (beside other things) the presence and

testimony of Laity as required,

or, as it is

here expressed, as

a thing of divine tradition and apostolic observance,' in the

'

appointment of a Bishop,

'as

'

Commons under the

sence of the

'

that he may be chosen


eyes of

all,

in the pre-

and be approved

worthy and meet by public judgment and testimony.'

Commons which

knows the

'

In the presence of the

'

of each, and has discerned everyone's line of action through

'

intercourse with him^.'

IV.
a

in

It

fully

life

marks the sense that there resided no power


congregation which could assign episcopal

Christian

commit the celebration of sacraany nominee lacking the note of regular

authority over

mental acts to
apostolic

or

itself,

The custom

Orders.

is

kept for

'

the

nearest

Bishops of the province to meet and the Bishop to be chosen'


not by, but

'

in the

presence of the Commons.'

'

Upon

the

'judgment of the Bishops the Episcopate was conferred on


'

him, and the hand laid upon him^'

The Gaulish Appeal.

2.

The

majestic

Romanesque

portal of the Cathedral of Aries

ranks the noble image of her Founder and Patron Trophimus


the Ephesian with the protomartyr and the apostles.
at
1

pp.

least

the ninth century onwards

Ep. 67.

3.

151,

2,

Routh, R. S.

correctly, after

treats the passage as referring

which were Ecclesiastical


tions.

to sins

disqualifica-

nation in order to the virtue of the


ministration, and herein we see the

growth of Cyprian's one characteristic


confusion,

freedom

defect is essential at ordi-

It also lays

from moral

down

vol. in.

Erasmus,

ih.2ii

From

was unquestioned

it

Ep. 67.
Ep. 67.

4, 5.
5.

VII.

THE GAULISH APPEAL.

2.

III.

by

history that he had been installed there

way

315

Paul on his

S.

by

to Spain, after consecration to the Bishopric

S.

Peter

Rome\

at

In the middle of the

century fewer particulars had

fifth

The position of Constantinople made it conWest to begin to rank Metropolitans not by

been extant.
venient in the

by the sup-

the political importance of their province, but

posed antiquity of

its

conversion.

when Zosimus

Still

in

417 declared the scandalous Patroclus to be the Metropolitan of the Provinces of Vienne, Narbonensis Prima

A.D.

and Narbonensis Secunda, he only affirmed without naming


a date that

Rome had

and that from


the

rills

'

of the

by

at

Gaul received

of this Province in an appeal to Leo, A.D. 450,

framed on Zosimus' words,


sent

as Chief Bishop,

faith'.'

The Bishops
was known

Trophimus

sent out

his fountain all Provinces of

Rome, and

claim no more than that

still

generally, that

Trophimus had been

'the Blessed Peter the apostle'; but that

usual phrase for the See of

Rome^

before us from the fifth century

is

it

So

far, all

the then

is

that stands

a local tradition of a

Roman

But again there were old

Missionary Bishop as Founder.

diptychs of the church of Aries in which Trophimus was

name on

only the second

the

^ Stephano V. Papse tributa Epistola


ad Selvam, &c. Labbe, xi. 550. Ado,

^t. VI. 59.


'Summus antistes

ad Epp.

Zosimus,

it

GallicE.

may be

Zosimi /.

&c.'

The

successors of

observed, Boniface,

and Leo the Great, did not


the necessity, and admitted the

Celestine,
feel

old rank of Vienne.

more

of Bishops

ties

and

Symmachus once

rehabilitated Aries.

of the 3rd century between Aries and

Rome were decayed

and that
was
Zosimus' act was in
in the 4th,

Gregory the

drawn

to Milan.

counteraction to this.
of Aries in cent.
transient,

and not

vi.

The
was

1894,
^

I.

p. 86.]

lxv. 'Preces missae, &c.'

Magn. Epp.
{p.

ii.

c.

v. 53,

note c; ed. Bened.

781, Ven. 1744).

[The Abbe Duchesne shews

mont. Note

i,

But has 'ab


same sense? See Tillestir S. Denys de Paris,

vol. iv. p. 707.

that the

and

Duchesne,

Quesnel, note on Leon. Magn. Ep.

apostolis' the

See Greg.

'Vicariate'

Pastes J^piscopaux de FAncienne Gaule,

Great speaks of Aries as the channel


Gallic Christianity.

aifairs

isolated

effective.

of

all

thus, even

Transalpine Gaul in practical

Chron.

V.

list

THE ROMAN CHAIR.

3l6

if those diptychs were not accurate, it appears that there


had been a time when the name of Trophimus was not im-

pressed on the mind of the church of Aries as

In Gregory of Tours^ A.D.

intermediate view

of

ordained Bishops at

the

Rome

594,

573

we come on an

Seven

story.
in the

Founder \

its

were

Presbyters

consulship of Decius and

Gratus, and sent to the great sees of Gaul, to Tours, Nar-

Toulouse,

bonne,

into

Paris,

among them Trophimus

Auvergne, to Limoges,, and

The

to Aries.

and Gratus corresponds to the year

consulship of Decius

which year

A.D. 250, in

Fabian was martyred on the 20th of January, and the see

was vacant

Gregory might have

the rest of the year.

all

been sure that Fabian had as

little

and Aries as

Paul had^

But

who

in fact a letter

S.

to

do with Trophimus

from Cyprian to Stephen*

us

lets

the real Bishop of Aries was at that time and for

years after. It

began

is

earlier

for action,

know
some

than the Baptismal Controversy which

But

255, Stephen's second year^

in A.D.

the passage of earlier

and

and

S. Peter

letters,

such that

a period of waiting for answers

cannot have been written until

it

well on in his second year.

implies

it

Again Cyprian remarks

in

that

it

many brethren had died at Aries without being restored to


'communion (by their puritan bishop), i7i these past years^.*
Such a phrase can scarcely mean much less than three years.
'

Novatianism began only

in

June

Mabillon ap. Tillemont,

Hist. Franc.

Pearson shewed that Sulpicius Se-

I.

iv. p. 703.

the Valentinians,

Xystus.

28.

Accordingly

A.D. 251.

of Aries,

this

and the martyrdom of

However there was no bishop


we may be sm-e, before the

verus and the Passion of Satuminus lend

death of Irenseus about 203 a.d., and

no countenance to

the see

these

Annul. Cypr. A.D. 254,

mont endeavours

statements.

viii., ix.

Tille-

to save the credit of

Gregory as a historian of the reign of


Decius by suggesting that Trophimus
might have come on a mission to Provence then, and been consecrated years
after.

But he has also placed under

Decius the

rise of

Novatian, the

rise of

was otherwise occupied

treats as against his

coming from

would rather
^ Ep. 68.

favour of

tell in

Lipsius, op.

cit.

p.

213

An^ial. Cypr. A.D. 254,


^

in a.d.

The Greek name which Pearson

250.

Ep.

ibus.'

68. 3 '...annis

ff.

Rome

it.

Pearson,

vi.
istis

superior-

VII.

III.

2.

THE GAULISH APPEAL.

317

name was Marcian, must have

Novatianist bishop, whose

governed the church of Aries from 251 at

latest to 254.

Marcian not only exercised the harshest puritan discipline


the perpetual exclusion of the most sorrowing penitents

in

even

in their last hours,

but he openly renounced communion

with the other bishops and took the extremest Novatianist


tone that the whole Church, by readmitting the Lapsed, un-

churched

The general condemnation of Novatian,


and adherents^ did not affect the position or the

itself \

his doctrine

conduct of Marcian, until Faustinus, bishop of Lyons, laid


the facts before Cyprian, and together with his fellow bishops

Stephen took

represented the case to Stephen.

it

in silence.

His broad anti-Novatianist tone would not allow him to be


hard even on a Novatianist, and Cyprian attributed this
laisser passer policy to carelessness.

Faustinus complained of Stephen in a second letter to


Cyprian.

And

Cyprian took upon himself to address Stephen

strong terms as to his duty.

in

So much has been and

still

is

made

to turn on the very

phrases of this letter that in fairness the debated sentences

must be reproduced.

We
who
'

to

It

what Cyprian recommends

be the doer or doers

Roman

the

'

are to observe

to

is,'

is

it

to be

especially to note

done

what part

urged to take, and on what grounds.

says Cyprian,

remedy

'

our duty to consider this

affair

we

thinking on God's clemency as

do,

and
and

'holding the balance of the Church's government, and so

toward

'

exercising

'

Divine healing to the Lapsed.'


^

severity

...coUegio nostro insultarc.a

com-

municatione nostra se segregaverit...de


majestate ac dignitate ecclesiae judicare.

Ep. 68.
^

2.

...c^od necdumvideaturz. nobis sh-

stentus, &c.,

p.

68. 2, finding himself

not even yet excommunicated by us,

Marcian

says,

'

Stephen and Cyprian

sinners

as

not to refuse the

do not and cannot excommunicate me.


I withdraw from them.'
His master
Novatian on the other hand was excommunicated at once, prayed to be
admitted, and was told that the only
terms were submission.
This is the
connection of p. 68.

2.

THE ROMAN CHAIR.

3l8

He

therefore urges Stephen to write 'a very

'

that

the bishops,

t/te^,'

full letter'

to

to advise

is

What he recommends him

the Gallic bishops.

'

should no longer allow Marcian to

trample upon our (Episcopal) College.'

As an example

of what they might do, and

in

consistency

ought to do, he quotes the refusal of the assembled African


bishops to hold

communion with Novatian

after his spurious

celebration of Divine worship and assumption, of office in

The

separation from Cornelius.

parallel

is

distinct

African bishops excommunicated Novatian, so

let

as the

the Gallic

bishops excommunicate Marcian.

By
So

far

excommunication the see would be

his
is

Cyprian proceeds,

clear.

'

Let

at

letters

once vacant.

be dispatched

'

from you into the Province and to the Laity who stand

'

ful at Aries,

'

another

'

which

'

esteemed,

faith-

whereby \ Marcian having been excommunicated,

may be appointed

for to-day,

may

in his

room, and the flock of Christ,

broken up by him and wounded,

is

lightly

Does Cyprian mean


Marcian would be excom-

be gathered together.'

that dy virtue of the letter itself

municated, and his successor appointed

.'

or were the receivers

of the letter intended to perform those acts

.-*

The wording

alone might admit the former alternative as easily as the

second (though not more easily) hi respect of the substitution

of the new
Latinity

is

bishop.

In respect of the excommunication the

against the idea that the letter would effect

But we observe that


the Laity.

to

The

this

second

first letter

letter

is

to

which Cyprian recommended

Stephen to write was to the Bishops^, urging them


This
the

by
^

is

to be to the Laity

filling

to action.

because to the Laity^ belonged

of the see, voided upon Marcian's excommunication,

Nomination by Laity was,

their election of a successor.


...litterse

it.

be addressed

quibus abstento Marciano

Ep. 68. 3.
The abstention would have been already
effected by the bishops, according to the
tenor of the first letters: and with this
alius in loco ejus substituatur.

the construction of this phrase agrees,


-

.plenissimas litteras ad coepiscopos

nostros in Gallia constitutos.


^

...ad

litterfe.

Ep. 68.

2.

plebem Arelate consistentem


Ep. 68. 3.

VII.

THE GAULISH APPEAL.

III.

we have

319

already seen, the rule of the Cyprianic age, and

needful for a true appointment'.

Stephen is not requested by Cyprian to take any part


beyond the writing of letters in the same sense in which he
had himself presumably answered Faustinus, namely by
counselling the Bishops of the Province and the Laity of

the City to perform their several duties in respect of the

Novatianist prelate

He
'

proceeds,

Body

It is for this

'

of the Bishops

is

end, dearest brother, that the

great and large, knit fast with glue

'

of mutual concord and bond of unity, that

'

our college attempt the forming of a heresy, the rending and

'

wasting of Christ's

'

like serviceable
Supra pp. 35

Dr J.

ff.,

flock,

the rest

Regensburg, 1877), writes, p. 478, this


comment on this same pas-

According to

'

each bishop,

this,

a successor of the apostles,

as

sponsible for the whole

multitude
of the

is

is

re-

yet since their

bound together

One Chief Head,


to

to

and after arguing that


end to be answered,

?'

was no

there

real

is

thority

The One.

If the
is

not

answerableness for the whole

The very

doing so

for

adds unless perchance that handful of


'

point of Cyprian's remarks

that the united Episcopate

is

'strong

of

bishops in Africa es-

the

tablished to be

Can

lessJ"

perversion

do more? And if amazed one asks


'Where is all that about The One to
be found?' Dr Peters replies 'that

was not necessary

own

Pontiff his

was

throughout.'

is

desperate ruined things counts the au-

bond of unity which is to encircle


then comes The One, according

his

sail.'

of

strong enough for the maintenance of

all,

set

would suppose.
In point of fact it was a group
of 'heretics who dared' so to do
And
Cyprian marvelling at their audacity,
asks 'what purpose could they have
authority, one

mode

"cement of mutual concord"


that

Some good

in the unity

the

aifording help in extraordinary cases


clearly ascribed

understand by him 'who

to

135.

Peters, Theological Professor at

shameless
:

and

to the rescue,

compassionate shepherds gather the Lord's

Luxemburg {Cyprian von Karthago,

sage

may come

should any of

so,

still less

enough.'

Surely,

authority.'

was

tell

him

in the Bishops, if

In

the

teeth

of

letter

and

Pamelius,

Du

Head- Church from which

Baronius collect from this passage

undertake to say
of person

Dr

whom

or

dare not

what manner

Peters intended his readers

it

which

municate

took its beginning,^ p. 479.

it

that

in himself.

But Dr Peters continues, 'So that,


elsewhere, as Cyprian told us, he sets
sail to the Chair of Peter, and the
priestly unity

it

explain to the

necessary to

the authority

was

to

recognises that the bishops will excomthe

Perron

laity

re-appoint,

(ap. Baluze),
'

and
that

Roman bishop had power even thus


excommunicate, nay to deprive (any)

the
to

bishops, and to substitute fresh ones.'

THE ROMAN CHAIR.

320
'sheep into the

flock'.'

hensible language,

if

Would

not this be strange, incompre-

Cyprian had held that the remedy, and

the application of the remedy, throughout the world lay in an

Rome

over-arching supreme pontificate of

Unity

.''

oneness

is

of a number, and so Cyprian invariably writes.

Cyprian next, after picturing the state of Marcian's people


with two
scenery,

images sketched from

fine

his

own

familiar African

from the half-ruined coasting-harbour, and from the


occupied by brigands proceeds thus.
We,

caravanserai

'

'dearest brother,

must take

own

our

to ourselves

brethren,

escaped from the rocks of Marcian, and making for the

'

Church's harbour of safety.

'

hostelry as the gospel speaks

care of them.'

before him, and

remedy
office,

We

must provide them such an

of,

With the person

not

thine.'

'

For,'

him,

'

we have but one flock


language of one who held that on

shepherd, as well as one flock

We

'

in 'our'

albeit
to

we

are

many

Is

feed.'

earth there

is

this

one

have to maintain the honour of our predecessors

memory, much

ought to be much dearer to

it,

he describes the

.-'

'Cornelius and Lucius, ...whose


'

view

in

full

take

he continues, after citing Ezekiel's

shepherds, yet

'

may

many, not of one,

denunciation of the heedless shepherds,

the

Pope

of the

directly addressing

as being in the hands of


'

where the Host

and successor.

Full of God's

'martyrdom, they decided

for

you,,

spirit,

as

we

revere

their representative

'^

planted in the glory of

Restoration (of penitents)...

'And this is what all of us altogether everywhere decided,.,.


for among us in whom was one spirit there could be no

'

'

diversity of sentiment.

'

we

of the
'

so, it is plain

that one

Holy

whom

Spirit as the rest do.

who is put into Marcian's place


we may know to whom we must commend
and to whom we must write.'

Intimate to us distinctly

'

at Aries, that

'

our brethren,
^

And

see entertain different sentiments does not hold the truth

Ep.

68.

sacerdotum.

3
.

.ut

...copiosum corpus est

'

.subveniant

cseteri.'

Vicarius,

Ep.

68. 5.

VII.

THE GAULISH APPEAL.

2.

III.

32

So ends the letter a letter as independent as it is deferenNot such as an Archbishop of the Roman obedience
could by any possibility address to his Pope. That there
was such a thing as a patriarchal Primacy that the Bishop
of Carthage acknowledged the one chair in the West which
apostles had planted that he counted it a duty of that see
to be to other sees a remembrancer of duty and purity that
the Roman see had naturally close relations with the sees of
:

tial.

'

The

Province,' all this

say with Pearson,

he

is

'

is true.

It is

not perfectly exact to

Cyprian asks nothing of Stephen which

not ready to discharge himself/ without the addition

that he held

it

Stephen's duty to

in his ill-repressed indignation at

move

Cyprian, even

first.

Stephen's indifference, gives

him a place and name before his brethren. But without


entering now into the infinitely graver questions of uncorrupt
truth, pure worship, and paramount Scripture as essential to
the validity of rights and tenure of any see such primacy
was not historically a dominion either secular or spiritual.
Of control in things of faith, of jurisdiction to be exercised

administratively, executively, or legislatively in another see,

of sole or immediate supremacy without appeal, this letter


presents no least trace.

And

now,

lest

it

should be imagined that Romish claims

any countenance

are such as find

in the

concessions of im-

partiality or in the analysis of truth-seeking,

contemplate Professor
'

Dr

Peters's

summary

we may

finally

of this Letter.

Cyprian here concedes and ascribes to the Successor

'of Peter "the ordinary and immediate Jurisdiction" over


'foreign Dioceses;

Mgr. Freppel

and consequently over the whole Church\'


and he does.
alone could outdo this

Cyprian...' sees in the


'

Roman

pontiff the guardian

defender of the canons for the universal Church

'whose

jurisdiction, far
^

B.

Dr

J. Peters,

and the

the bishop

from expiring on the confines of a


Cyprian von ICarthago,

p. 479.

21

THE ROMAN CHAIR.

322

"

province or a country, extends to the entire universe.'


the plenitude of your authority

"

he writes to him,

'

'to the bishops of Gaul

and

plenissimas

virtue

'

in

litteras,

honest man,' cries Mgr. Freppel,

proceeded

his

in

place."

be

ask any

how should Cyprian have

'

order to affirm more highly the primacy of

in

For the deposition of a bishop

'the pope."*
'

elected

may

Marcian

of which

deposed and

'

address

to the people of Aries letters,

'

another

Use,"

the gravest act

is

of jurisdiction one could point to^'

Not only
jurisdiction,'

are such
*

terms as

'

ordinary and immediate

defender of canons for the universal Church,'

ridiculous in their anachronism

not only

the phrase

is

'

use

the plenitude of your authority' an invention of Freppel's

own, which he prints as a


original

and comments on as

citation,

but the whole language of both authors

The

teeth of the text.

in the

is

text assigns the function of

excom-

munication, involving deposition, to one authority, the duty


of substitution

Stephen,

who

another, and

simply urged to press their duty, as became

is

Freppel, p. 367.

inspectionis vel directionis,

These writers cannot be regarded


as other than faithful exponents of the

Roman

neither of these offices to

upon the Bishops and Laity of Provence.

his place,

to

The

doctrine.

Unain
words
omni hu-

Bull

sanctam

concludes

with

'Subesse

Romano

Pontifici

the

dicimus

plenam

et

dictionis in

solum

P.],

disciplinam

juris-

universam Ecclesiam, non

in rebus quas

[morem

non autem

supremam potestatem
ad fidem

sed etiam
et

in iis

et

mores

quae ad

regimen Ecclesise per

definimus [dififinimus] et pronunciamus

totum orbem diffusse pertinent; auteum


habere tantum potiores partes, non vero

omnino

totam

manse

declaramus

creaturse

esse

de

necessitate

Baronius Annal. Eccles. torn.


Bonifac. Pap. viii.Ann.

Corp. Juris Canon.


berg,

pars

2,

col.

Exlravag. Cotnin.

1.

salutis.'

xiv. p. 34,

8, iv.,A.D.

1302;

Richter et Fried-

1246

1881).

(ed.

i. tit. viii.

c. i

'de

majoritate et obedientia.'

The Vatican decree Z>^ wz a^ ra^/'w?^


Romani Pontijicis'' rwnsthMs:
'

primattcs

Si quis itaque dixerit

ficem

habere

Romanum

tantummodo

Ponti-

officium

plenitudinem

potestatis; aut

hujus

supremse

banc ejus potestatem non

immediatam sive in
omnes ac singulas ecclesias, sive in
omnes et singulos pastores et fideles
anathema sit.' Constitutio Dogmatica
prima De Ecclesia Christi, cap. iii.
esse ordinariam et

(V. Pelletier, Decrets et Cano7is, Paris


1871, p.

150; Collectio Lacensis, 189O;

vol. vii., p. 485).

INTERCALARY.
PRESBYTERS AS MEMBERS OF THE ADMINISTRATION.

Some

enquiry was promised

the Clerus of antient

into the

by
Bench

part borne

the Ordo, the Consessus or

cities,

of Presbyters, in the administration of church business.

would have been almost meaningless

to

map

It

this out before

becoming familiar with the kind of transactions amongst


which their office was to be used. But some principles
The later
of its exercise can now be readily drawn out.
correspondence of Cyprian passes into other
the indications

we seek

lines,

so that

cease before the great controversy

with Stephen begins.

The

first

'taking notice

epistle presents

of

Body

a certain

a Christian's will at Furni

at

Carthage

will,

which,

forma or rule passed, with a prescribed


by a previous Council of bishops, appointed a cleric
a legal function. This Body is not a Council, and does not
violation of a

in

penalty,
to

either

make

a rule or affix a sanction, but acts as a Court in

deciding that ipso facto the penalty has been incurred and

must take

effect^.

This Body then exerts

which had a bishop of


1

p. 21.

...ctmi

its

in

another town of the province,

own, authority over the clergy, and


The

cognovissemus,

Ep.

i.

i,

the law term for magisterial enquiry.

ruling

is

&c.

Ep.

quod pro

'ideo...non est

dormitione eius apud vos

fiat

oblatio,'

i. i.

21

INTERCALARY

324

PRESBYTERS

AS

SO virtually over the laity, through the carrying out of the

sentence by the clergy.

members

Its

who were

Carthage, some bishops

are the Bishop of

Carthage at the time

in

and attended the meeting, and 'our compresbyters who were


There is an ambiguity as to whether 'our
assessors to us\'
compresbyters' were the Consessus of the

who came with

others
It

not then a corporate body

is

nucleus and main part of

it is

not limited to

is

it

its

head

includes other

it

Carthage, and possibly (but this

in

The

the Consessus, the Presbytery

of Carthage, with the Bishop for

bishops then

or included

but to a certain class or classes.

persons,

certain

city,

their bishops.

is

not clear)

other presbyters.

which amounts to

Its authority,

jurisdiction,

evident.

is

In the epistle to Lucius he says that persecution has been the

not only of the true bishop but also of the true consessus.

test

has shewn which

It

sacerdotal

his

in

presbyters were united with their bishop

'

Had

office ^'

authority, or something like

presidency of the bishop

it,

the

or, if not,

.''

presbytery then

could

it

the bishop be invested with such authority

The occurrence
vacancy of the

by delegation of

.''

of Cyprian's long retirement brings

unexpected

significant facts into

Roman

this

inherently and apart from the

salience,

some

and the concurrent

see remarkably illustrates the case.

In three several letters from his retreat^ addressed to


the presbyters and deacons of Carthage, Cyprian requests
to supply his place

them

own

parts

office

'

'

and mine

Discharge

'

my

'

'

There discharge ye both your

Your

diligence

which the religious administration

He
^

had arranged

for

^PP-

qui

Reprsesentare,

et

compresbyteii

nobis adsidebant, Ep.

nostri

honore.'

to

be

5 12, 14.

Bed officium

i. i.

Ep. 6t. 3 'sacerdotali


Both words technical.

my

requires.'

some amount of money

...ego et collegse w^e qui praesentes

aderant

must supply*

function about the conduct of things

reprsesentet,

'

make

meum
Ep.

to

be present.'

vestra

12. i.

diligentia

MEMBERS OF THE ADMINISTRATION.


and distributed

realised

means

325

might be

to the clerics that there

He had

in several hands.

the hands of Roga-

left in

commissioner, 'a little sum realised' apparently bysome recent sale, and sent him a further portion afterwards \
Out of these funds he requests the presbyters and deacons

tian, his

and strangers,

to care for the poor, the sick

and

prison,

for the bodies of those

He

confinement".

begs them to

for visiting prisons as will

for Christians in

who die under torture or


make such arrangements

provoke suspicion, and to

least

calendar the dates of martyrdoms and confessors' deaths

and communicate them to him

for

remembrance

in his daily

Eucharists.

common

In

with the Plebes, this clerical body was usually

consulted by Cyprian on the merits of persons proposed for

They were

Ordination.

common,' but exceptions,

He

were frequent.

Carthage,

men whom

several

upon

thus fixed

by counsel

'

at least during his

in

absence from

sends to them the names of

without such consultation he had ad-

mitted to Orders, some of them to a seat in the Consessus,

and the monthly dividend

to daily allowances

He

urges them to promote

and prayer

fasting

and

Suminula...redacta, Ep.

mea

nem, Ep.

7.

lump sum,

Ibid,

Epp.

is

r.

De

quafitiias, technically a

C. I. L.

in

(n. 3 inf.) it

39

ances, but

5.

propria... aliam portio-

opposed to

capital as

viii.

i.

262

In Ep.

usurcB.

has no sense of allow-

20,

38,

byter had his standing allowance out


of

the

church-treasury;

Ep.

40.

39.

honorem designasse nos


jam sciatis, ut et sportulis idem cum

besides

the

same allowance called sportula [cf.


Ep. i. i 'sportulantiumfratrum'], some
also had their portion in that dividend which was the remainder of the
presbyters

12.

39,

to instruct the ignorant,

month's expense

simply even sums.

and Ep.

the people habits of

for the internal reformation of the Church,

outward deliverance

for its

quantitate

among

^.

then

had

thirdly,

under him
a certain

who

out

of the

the bishop as

number

of

and commoned

the

'...presbyterii

gravest

illis

ways with him,' Hooker vil. xxiii. 9.


Sessuri nobiscum, &c. means not this

presbyteris

honorentur,

et

divisiones

lived

may be

al-

mensurnas sequatis quantitatibus par-

(though the fact

nobiscum provectis et
corroboratis annis suis....'
Every pres-

future place in the consessus, as 'no-

tiantur,

sessuri

'

biscum sedeat

in clero,'

so) but their

Ep.

40.

INTERCALARY

326

PRESBYTERS

but especially those confessors,

in

AS

or out of prison,

whose

made them not very amenable \


enjoined on the Body except a faithful

spiritual self-satisfaction

So

far,

nothing

is

performance of their individual

clerical

with regard to religious instruction,


recognised, he says, as their proper

duties

And

regrets

always hitherto

work I

Strenuous admonition on their part, he


quired.

He

duties.

performance of their prison-duties, especially

their imperfect

in

virtue

insists,

was

re-

of the episcopal energy {sacerdotii

now to exercise from a distance, he


endeavoured through them especially to prevent the breaking
vigor ^) which he had

down

of discipline.

Do we here find duties of a more governmental character


He declines in the fourteenth epistle to take a step which

.''

had been
first

by four of the presbyters, without

suggested

receiving counsel from the

Body

of the presbyters and

deacons and being also informed of the judgment of the

laity.

This step was the restoration of some of the Lapsed to

When

communion.

in spite of his

message the four admitted

them, he considered that the Body had failed

in its

duty of

repressing them, and he appeals to the laity to keep the

Lapsed quiets

Later on, writing to the

he commends

laity,

the special activity of three of the presbyters, and of the

deacons as a body,

There

is still

in

encouraging or

in deterring the lapsed.

no exclusive authority recognised as inherent

The

in the consessus.

disciplinary duties here particularised

are of the moral order, and can scarcely

They

persuasion.
laity, failing

we have

more than

by the

clerics.

authority which, in Cyprian's opinion, could, as

seen, decide

was a gathering of
1

to

are capable of being discharged

trustworthy

The only

amount

Ep, 14. I, 2,
Epp. 15, 16.
Ep. 20. 1.

3.

on the whole wide policy to be pursued

co-episcopi,

and further they too must have


^

Ep.
Ep.

14.

43.

I.

Ep.

17. 2, 3.

MEMBERS OF THE ADMINISTRATION.

common

The only

327

understanding with the bishops of other countries.


authority which could under that policy decide on

the reinstatement of individuals was an assemblage in which

both the clergy and the laity of their own Church should
with the bishop at their head examine and conclude each
case\

In this function the weight of the laity was such that

they vetoed some


restored

some

whom

Cyprian and others would have

while elsewhere he expresses regret at having in

'^,

cases overruled them.

Their right as laymen to abstain

from communion with a Lapsed or a Novatianist Bishop


is

affirmed again and again''.

We

found no particular authority assigned to the Clerus


of a Bishop. Their part was to bear testimony

in the election

to the life of the person proposed for election.

elected;

Cyprian's letters to
the

coming

Cornelius, in which the

legislation

aloud' by Cornelius to

'

laity

were discussed, were

principles
'

of

always read

and the laity together


to the most flourishing clergy which sits with thee in
the foremost rank, and to the most holy and most honourable commons^'

'

The

the neighbouring bishops assented and ordained*.

the clerus

'

Whilst therefore

and import

in

its

counsel was of the greatest weight

the deliberation with the bishop on

greater affairs of the Church,

we

find

all

the

no trace of authority

or jurisdiction belonging to the Consessus as such.

The

level of

moral influence which belongs to

markedly apart from the way


munication was

in

it

stands

which, for instance, excom-

inflicted.

In Cyprian's absence excommunication was imposed di-

by a commission appointed by himself, consisting of


It is true that he comthree bishops and two presbyters ^
mended the presbyters and deacons of Carthage for resolving

rectly

Ep.

17,

^c.

Ep. 59.
Epp. 65,

'

67.

Ep. 55. 8; Ep. 67.


Ep. 59. 19.
Ep. 42.

5.

INTERCALARY

328

PRESBYTERS

AS

not to communicate with Gaius of Dida, a presbyter, and his

deacon, after these had anticipated the Church's making of


rules for re-admission, but
this resolution

must be especially observed that

it

was taken upon the counsel of

who had frequently warned Gaius


who were now prcEsentes in Carthage, and
body

like that

bishops, whether of the Province or from

own
who

in the first

{clerici urbici)

manner

in like

They

cated at once.

home

may

that

what he

always be communi-

evidently clothe the presbyters and

deacons, in the absence of their


episcopal authority.

He

anticipate the Church's

own ruling are to be similarly withdrawn from.


To these bishops prcesentes he desires
writes on the course to be followed

and

beyond seas\

episcopal direction that any, whether

or foreign clergy,

of

thus completed a

which Cyprian had presided over

Furni case, namely, the clerics of the city

then adds his

colleagues

against the step,

mine,

own

bishop, with a sufficient

We may just mark (though without stress)

the distinctness with which they are mentioned as contributors


to the subscription raised for the Confessor Bishops in the

mines^

but an apt instance occurs

Hadrumetum.

province,

in the

Its presbyters

second city of the

and deacons had,

in

the absence of their bishop, placed themselves in communication with

the

sentes.

We

new Bishop

of Rome^, before his

Cyprian and another bishop

cleared.

Upon their
are now in

authority communication

is

prce-

suspended.

a position to gain a clearer view of the

on which the presbyters and deacons of

principles

was

title

and are

arrive,

Rome

had acted in the vacancy of the see, after Fabian's martyrdom.

Even
selves as

in
'

the eighth

letter, in

we who seem

which they describe them-

to be set over them, to lead the


Carthage, 'sedetcollegarumquoqueet

Ep. 34. I. Dida, otherwise unknown. Morcelli's conjecture 'Idensis'


not likely. It was too far off in Maure-

at

tania.

nomine, quaedam

'^

Ep.

62.

5.

Cyprian with his

(^zmw/f/^j sends them a

list

own

of subscribers

et ipsi,

cum

ex suo plebis

suse

sacerdotum nostrorum, qui


praesentes

lerunt,
^

essent,

nomina

Ep.

48.

i,

pro

addidi.'
2.

viribus

contu-

MEMBERS OF THE ADMINISTRATION.


flock in place of shepherds,' the extent of

to

have done

only to have been active

is

from lapsing, and

due

in

329

what they claim

in

keeping people

recovering the Lapsed to repentance

spiritual ministration in

in the thirtieth letter that all

time of danger.

their

Their statement

they had done was done with the

help of the Confessors shews that they had no idea of a

power devolving

constitutional

But when they have

to themselves in the vacancy.

officially to resolve that

the adoption of

a permanent system must wait for the determination of a

bishop

in

new

consultation with themselves, with the Confessors,

and with the

conclusion

laity, this constitutional

is

formed

in

a meeting at which are present neighbouring bishops, bishops

then visiting the city and bishops exiled from their dioceses.

Again, afterwards, when the Novatianist Confessors wished


to return to the unity of the Church, the course taken
this.

The presbytery

bytery.

desire the attendance of the whole

number, examine them, and report to Cornelius


ticulars \

them

was

Delegates of theirs seek an interview with the Pres-

summons

Cornelius next

five bishops,

full

par-

the presbytery, and with

They determine on their


Then the Confessors
The people
petition orally.

then prcesentes^.

course, each opinion being recorded.

are introduced,

and make

their

'

are admitted in large numbers, to hear the confession,


resolve

The

upon

The scene has been

it.

result

is

this.

When

and

described above.

the see was vacant, or the

bishop absent, the episcopal functions of hearing, judging,


ruling (quite apart from the sacred offices of ordination, &c.)

did not pass into commission in the hands of the clerus, but

were reserved whenever

it

was

possible.

And by

the atten-

dance of other bishops, any steps of discipline which had to


be immediately taken received an episcopal sanction.

metum, Rome, and Carthage,


Assuras^ and Furni yield one
1

Omni

Adfuerunt etiam presbyteri quinque

actu,

Ep. 49.

2.

as well as the

Hadru-

minor cases of

result.
qui et eo die prresentes fuerunt. Ep.A^<j.i.
^

Ep.

65.

INTERCALARY.

330

The

is manifest between what could constitutiondone by the largest clerus in the most influential

contrast

ally be
position,

and the power and responsibility attaching to the

prominent bishop.

least

It

no account of the

is

facts to

say that the scheme carefully examined yields no trace of


presbyterian government.

presbyterian idea.

papal idea.

It is

It is

an absolute negation of the

an equally complete negation of the

Scarcely less does

it

contrast with that

modern

sharpness which would fence off each diocese as a preserve in

which neighbour bishops have no concern or


true capitular idea

of which

The
as

we

is

there, but with a flexibility

fit

some seemed to speak


and presbyters
common, '...apud nos

the general Councils of the East bishops

sitting together regulated


'

The

and width

are not yet capable again.

Epistle of Firmilian i^Ep. 75. 4) has to

if in

interest.

ut per

church

singulos annos

affairs in

seniores et

prsepositi

in

unum

con-

'veniamus ad disponenda ea quae nostrse curse commissa sunt.'


Ritschl, however, points out (p. 157) that the Greek original must
have been ol Trpea-^vrepoi. oi npoia-rapevoi, and the et due to a misunderstanding of the translator. Similarly {Ep. 75. 7) '...quando
omnis potestas et gratia in ecclesia constituta sit ubi praesident
majores natu qtd et baptizandi et manum imponendi et ordinandi
possident potestatem^ He compares Hermas {Vis. ii. 4) where ot
'

'

TTpecT^vTepoi

oi

Trpoiarapevoi Trjs

29.

I,

from which

Councils.

it

is

clear

eKKXtja-ias

is

in the

Latin version

and Eusebius H. E. vii. 5. i: 5. 5:


that bishops alone formed the Eastern

'seniores qui prsesunt ecclesias,'

CHAPTER

VIII.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

Veri similitudine aberrantes a veritate.

Aug. de Catechizandis Rudihis,

There

is

c. 8.

an early and rather graceful martyr-tale which

Baronius welcomes as history, and which Tillemont smiles at


himself for admitting to some consideration on
its

honest mien\

It

recluse

who

lives in a

sandburrow

The

difficulties

Hippolytus
in

is

Roman

the Crypts, or Cata-

some time

combs^, and there conceals for


relations.

'Acts of Hippolytus,

the

called

is

Eusebius, and their Fellow-Martyrs,'

account of

his

converted

of maintenance in such a place,

the unhistorical details, and

later features

shew the story

to be pure romance.

The

principal personage

is

duced to baptize the multitudes


izes.

The

well appropriated

Pope Stephen, who

whom

is

intro-

Hippolytus Christian-

by the story to

his use

is

yet

near the old entrance from the sandpit-road to the Cemetery


of Domitilla on the Via Ardeatina^
^

xii.

Baronius, Annales, a.d. 259,

Tillemont, Noteii.

siir S.

V. IV. p. 593.
^

In

cr3rptis...in arenario.

vii

Estienne,

J.

p. xii.

On

This character

in

which

H. Parker, Archmology of Rome,


The Catacombs, sect. vi. p. 89.
one

side

trance and like

of

the

it

built

original

en-

of beautiful

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

332

Stephen appears, as the Great Baptizer, is the rude form


which the main episode of his life assumed among the simple.
It is

with that episode that our next group of letters and

documents

brickwork
the

is

is

concerned.

the arched recess

deep well.

The

white stone, two feet high

which the pitcher hung;

on our

right, the

in

with

receive the water.

On

the other side

of

of the entrance a vestibule with seats

on either
beam on

throughout deserve more notice than,

well-top

side above, the holes for the

This group includes Epistles 69 to

is

the wall

conduit and basin to

of stone.

The baptismal arrangements

believe, they

have received.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

VIII.

333

75 and the 'Judgments of the Eighty-seven Bishops.' They


belong to the years 255 and 256 A.D. Their exclusive subject
is

Rebaptism.'

'

For although Cyprian protests* against the

application of that term to his view, catholic teaching insists

on the assertion which

The simplest

lines

it

involves.

on which our investigation can advance

what we perceive of the


II. next
forming Cyprian's tradition
be

will

to give

I.

positions of the

of the contest

earlier opinions

to describe the

two leaders and the action and documents


III. then to group together the reasonings

urged on either side of this great argument.

A
The

great argument

means

It

at least this

Christ.

'

'How

spite

in

is,

of

its

narrow form.

can profane waters bless.?'

Soul longs to be baptized into

'

mistaken, erring, even an immoral believer does

intention baptize

'in

it

questioning was

first

it

into Christ.

Is

that

Soul

in

fact

'baptized into another than Christ, or into a society other

Church

His

the baptized

proselyte of

'

than

'

heretical sect a baptized Catholic in spite of circumstance

The

Or,

is

decision which the wise and loving Cyprian formed

laboriously propagated

This

baptism.

is

was

to

deny the

.-*

and

reality of all such

that grave anti-catholic error of his which

not only struck unperceived at the root of the spiritual constitution of the Church,

her

own

and threatened to number her among

sects, but in principle withdrew the virtue of the

Sacrament from the immediate ministering of Christ present,


and attached

The

it

to the

difference

human

was

agent.

great.

Yet not

for a

moment

did

Cyprian dream of severing the connection between his own


and the churches which he conceived to be in

church
error.

revere

Ep.

Council,

Not for a moment has the Catholic Church ceased to


him as one of her most authoritative fathers. O si sic
73.

I.

canon

feff^ai as a

However, the Nicene


19,

adopts dva^airrl-

word without

a sting, for the

church

baptism which

returning Paulianists.

it

orders for

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

334

The bounds which

omnia.
part
of

many

sects at present

men now

of necessity, as

from the Church are

believe,

low lines

like

comparison with that mountain-range of difference

hill in

on fundamentals which lay between Cyprian and those from

whom

he dissented.

The

distance between their possibilities and ours

is

the

distance between a great age of construction and an age of

minute

But have we

criticism.

the power of

for ever lost

acting as they acted? of seeing with the 'larger, other

To Cyprian

himself in his ingenuous moderation

but an obvious course to desire


'

thought

'

communion,

liberality in

one

imagined

to

opinions

if

The

own judgment\'
it

man

judge no

to

'right to

whom

man

every

'

it

speak his

to

remove no man from the

to

he dissents,..': 'to wait for Christ's

free expression of

elicit

on which Augustine's comment

simple the course seemed to Augustine

whom

one of those
genius

Cyprian

'
:

in

marvel at his charity, and

'

this,

his strange

doctrine,

I
I

is

the

Equally

me down as
Never may

me

delight

venerate his martyrdom,

do not accept^'

lesson in fact which Augustine

Cyprian's example

Put

authorship with him; for

love him, in his eloquence

his

'

would

that this

is

failed to persuade.

nor compare

'

this

they chose to look on as their patron,

have been a morality far worse than any heresy^

'

by

Donatists, perplexed like us

have been a ruse to

'I attain his glory;

eyes'.'*

seemed

but

The

great

perpetually enforcing by

is

our

of

lesson

'

liberty

without

losing our communion-rights to think diversely\'

Hooker's famous apophthegm,


'

people's

trial,

The

'

teacher's error

harder and heavier to bear, as he

is

in

is

the

worth

and regard greater that mispersuadeth them,' no way qualiwhom the world did in his lifefies his appreciation of him

'

'

'

time admire as the greatest


Senit.

Contra

^ c.

Epp. Proem.

Cj-escon.

Crescon.

11.

iii.

among

2.

xxxii. 40.

prelates

Salvo

sentire.

jure

De

and now honours


communionis

Bapt.

c.

Donatt. vi.

diversa
vii. 10.

VIII.

THE TRADITION OF AFRICA.

I.

I.

kingdom of HeavenV' Taylor


sums the moral, Saint Cyprian did right in a
wrong cause and Stephen did ill in a good cause. As far
then as piety and charity is to be preferred before a true

'as not

the lowest in the

vigorously
'

'

opinion, so far

'

us,

'

and indiscretion of Stephen.

Cyprian's practice a better precedent for

is

and as an example of primitive

'to forbid to
'

335

tation

if

any one a

prophesying or interpre-

liberty of

he transgressed not the foundation of the faith and

'the creed of the Apostles

I.

We

sanctity, than the zeal

Cyprian had not learned

S.

^'

The Tradition of Africa.

I.

now proceed

to consider, as one source of Cyprian's

teaching, the tradition which he inherited

The

religious sympathies of the Africans flowed ever in

deep impetuous narrow courses

To make

Atlas.

like the

streams of their

separations sharp and unkind was not the

aim of a Tertullian only or a Donatus.

Cyprian himself

not unaware of the tendency of his church to narrow


limits.
'

in

'

Certain predecessors of ours

own

our

province,'

he writes,

'place

of repentance' to

'were

forgiven

churchman

after

he

as

own

'

is

own

the bishops here

have utterly refused any

offenders

who

Nay

penance.'

was,

among

its

in

other churches

Augustine,

had rather a shivering

even the Divine charity towards those

whom

broader
trust

in

his particular

breadths did not comprehend.

The

'

first

rule that they

baptized

of

anew

as Vincent of Lerins puts

all mortals,'

who had been

ere they could

pinus of Carthage ^

it,

to

baptized by schismatics must be

become

catholics

was Agrip-

Augustine points out often that Cyprian

Ecclesiastical Polity, B. v.

Ixii. 9.

Liberty of Prophesying,

Sect.

Of Heresy,
z.

23.

Vine. Lir.

Common,

i.

6.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION,

336

unable to adduce any earlier authority than his against

is

As

custom\'

sturdy

'universal,

churches the reader

may

regards

Western

the

Agrippinus

accept the statement.

was the bishop next but one before Cyprian in his see.
Under him a Council of seventy*^ African and Numidian^
prelates decided in his sense.

Roman Church

In the

on the contrary the tradition was

Some

clear and continuous against Rebaptism of schismatics.

have understood a passage of Hippolytus, which covers the


ground up to that time, to accuse Callistus* of rebaptizing

them^

But not only

the

is

passage

not

susceptible

of

that meaning, but the distinct unchallenged declaration of

Stephen that his church had never allowed such a practice

17

consuetudo.

Universalis... robusta

Aug. de Bapt.
II. vii.

Donatt.

c.

12

ill.

unic. Bapt.

Aug. de
Ep. 71.

Sedit A.D. 217

Hippolytus, Ref. Har.

Toirox) [toO

c.

Petil. xiii. 22.

14 Oct. A.D.

KaXX((TToi;]

222.

not said

ToijTov

The

avrols pdirTLff/xa.

but

TT6\/j.t]Tai awrcj;,

iirl

avToh by that party during his


'

not

aiiToh

irpihrov

bishopric'

It

is

TeToXfiriTaL

as

though tkey were the

inventors ; but

iirl toijtov

rily in his time.'

indicates that

irpwrus 'prima-

The perfect TeroXfirirai

i/ieir

Rome when

at

and

evil

Nor

it.

aiiroii

faction

who

will

practice existed

still

Hippolytus wrote, and

he have

means a corrupt
time were

for a

fell

(some

at least) into the Elchasaite delusions.

To

12 'Etti

ix.

irpuTu^ reroX-

words should have accurate attention


it is

with which Hippolytus

skill

avoids asserting

too near the papal chair, but

4.

deurepov

fi-qrai

admire the

any doubt that

IV. vi. 8.

3; xii.

i.

so

much

entitled, but

mark

the

it

exculpation Callistus
is

is

positively scaring to

modes and motives of Roman


Even Hefele, B. i.

Catholic scholars.
c.

II.

4,

Callistus

(which

is

not seeing

to deliver

not really imputed to him in

the words) or

from

how

from the scandal of a practice

how

to disentangle

his party (which is

more

him

difficult)

represents Hippolytus as saying, 'Re-

baptism
listus

was

introduced

in some churches in

under

Cal-

communion

so probably in Stephen's time, without

with him'; adding, 'one can scarcely

church tradition.

doubt that he has in view Agrippi-

in the least affecting

The

passage proceeds, TaCra

davfiacriiOTaTOS

aaro.

TaOra

KdWiaroi

fi^v

odv

cvveaT-f]-

refers to all the

list

of

doctrines and practices which Callistus

was supposed
ful

conceive
is

to patronise.

The

care-

reader of the whole story will not


that

the

word

ffweffr-qcraTO

intended to state that Callistus him-

self taught

Rebaptism, but

will rather

nus and his Synod of Carthage.'

On

the other hand, for want of atten-

tion to these

same points Fechtrup

(p.

194 and n. i) renders 'unter Kallistus


sei das Wagniss der Wiedertaufe in der

Kirche a?//^,fkommen,' and

fixes

the

Council of Agrippinus in the middle of


the Episcopate of Callistus a.d. 220, a

date which suits none of the conditions.

VIII.

THE TRADITION OF

I.

I.

from the apostles down


however, though
the

ascribing
first

hath

that

is,

practice

second

him

baptism

personally.

All doctrines and practices found their

Rome.

to

whom

party

versatile

prelate.

or later

Callistus' time,

in

his administration

by the party with

he had been connected before he became pope, and

who were
whereas

called Callistians

in its native

by

enemies and theirs^

his

Only,

province that practice bore a Puritan

character, drawing the sharpest line between church

and

received in the Capital the quite opposite stamp

it

them',

way sooner

Rome

This practice came to

and was adopted during

time

his

by

on

licentious

and

after that liberal

In

'

been ventured

by the worldly, lax and perhaps

which was named

Hippolytus

enemy, certainly avoids

bitter

to

337

incontrovertible \

is

Callistus'

AFRICA.

intended by the Callistians to open an easier


of penance to the restoration of gross sinners.

sect,

being

way than that


The reception

of schismatics followed easily, but the Church never accepted

nor

this,

If we

is

there evidence that Callistus himself did.

allow four or

five

years for the practice to have been

came

Rome, we might infer


that the unknown date of Agrippinus' Council was about 2I3^
In the Council of September A.D. 256 was present one
use elsewhere before

in

it

in at

Novatus who had been bishop of the


of

Thamugadi

so long that he was

by

prelates there, fourth

now one

Ap. Ep.

75.

5,

6,

19; ap. Epp.

What Bunsen means

by saying 'Dollinger has demonstrated


Zephyrinus (a.D.

that

217)

ad-

who had
and as such had com-

rebaptism of those

mitted

been

199

heretics,

mitted carnal
divine.

mortal

sins'

be correct we can under-

v.

i.

Trjc

ToO 6v6fiaTos fieTdcrxov

iirlKXT)-

ffw KoKeiffdai 5ta rbv irpUToaTaT'^cravTa

B.

They

ipywv KdWtffTov KaXXt-

Hippolytus,

<7Tiavoi.

especially

KatioXiKrjv

povai, as
^

style

of

diroKoXeiv

iirixei-

natural,

This date best

stances of the text.

'

the

dirripvdpiafffjUvoi

oi

eKKX-q^iav

was

J^ef. J7csr. ix. 12.

affected

'Catholics,' eavroi/s

p. 271 (ed. 1854).


2

rOiv toio^tuv

cannot

Hippolytus and his age,

of the very oldest

seniority out of the eighty-seven.

If our date for Agrippinus' Council

71. 2, 3; 73. 13.

and beautiful city

rich

fits

all

am

the circumsorry that

once wrote differently: Article on


Agrippinus,' Dictionary of Christian

Biography.

22

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

338

how

Stand

this old

man

could just speak of the

that Council, forty-four years before, as

he also

calls

them

men

'

how Cyprian, talking of a


many years have passed and

says

'

members

colleagues

of

while

'

We

memory\'

of holiest

understand

'

can

long-standing custom,
a

long period since

Agrippinus' Council,' while Augustine, thinking of the whole


tenor of church practice, says 'the

novelty had prevailed

but a few years before Cyprian^.'

An

interesting question has arisen as to whether

Council had

felt

this

the influence of Tertullian, since in a treatise

commonly accepted

as catholic,

and

if

so probably prior to

the year 200, he not only declares the rebaptism of heretics


to be necessary, but says he

had written a Greek

treatise to

that purposed

can

feel

only surprise that his pamphlet on Baptism

should ever have been looked on as catholic work*.

Its

its

power

and grasp and goodness, and they have the Montanist

tinge.

When

a Catholic he did not write in the character of a

Mon-

tanist,

but as a Montanist he often wrote like a noble Catholic.

singularities, not to

Neander thinks

say

are as striking as

frivolities,

that,

when under

Mon-

the influence of

tanism, he could scarcely have spoken as he does here of the

But

his

Montanist mind

This dogma,

we

should remember, was quite in the

Church.

visible

study.

Montanist

and

vein^,

a strange stormy

is

his belief in continuous revelation did

not obliterate respect for a solemn church utterance, though

made him

it

He
1

'it

would be improper

Morcelli's date A.D. 197, sixty years

before,

garum
^

hold churchmen cheap.

observes that

Cf.

would make

'

decretum

colle-

nostronim'' meaningless.
Firmilian, Ep. 75. 4, speaking

to rehandle the

Bp. Kaye doubts

if

he

is

right in

following the majority of commentators


in so classifying

it.

In a pamphlet which he hurled at

of Valentinus and Basilides as having

the Church as a Montanist, the Heathen

X\v&i,post apostolos etpost longam cetatem.

baptized by a Heretic has to be cleansed

Ep.

71. 4-

Aug. de Bapt.

c.

Donatt. iv.

Tert.

of 'both the men,' his ethnic self and


his heretic self:

vi. 8.

De

Baptismo,

c. 15.

De

Pudicitia

c.

19.

VIII.

THE TRADITION OF ASIA MINOR

2.

I.

EAST.

339

'question of what should be observed as concerning heretics,


'for

it

has been published to

not 'handed down' to

us*.

His word

us.'

only refer to the Council of Agrippinus.

some

^published''

is

This expression can,


It

believe,

cannot

refer, as

wish, to the voice of Scripture, for TertuUian

most patient and pertinacious arguer upon

texts,

He

passes Scriptural warrant with so vague an allusion.

only have

in

and

sentence,

is

the

and never
can

view some well-known, recent, authoritative


the

great

Bishop of Carthage

fitly

is

Council

of

Seventy

under

the

alluded to by the Carthaginian

presbyter in those terms.

Later on in the controversy we become suddenly aware


from the lengthy Epistle of Firmilian, Bishop of Caesarea in
Cappadocia, that there had for long past been some inter-

change of influences on

this subject

between Africa and the

Eastern regions of Asia Minor.

We

we know of the judgment of these

last.

2.

I.

therefore look to

what

The Tradition of Asia Minor East.

In his furiously Montanist treatise

'

On

Fasting' TertuUian

speaks with reverence of the 'councils' habitually held 'throughout the Graecias' as an impressive image of the whole Church.

He

would

fain see

them, with their preliminary fastings, intro-

We may

duced into the West^

when

readily assure ourselves that,

so speaking, he had not in view councils which specially

subjected

Montanists to Rebaptism as an apostolic

The
-

Editumnottraditum, DeBapt.i^.
difference

is

this helps

pamphlet

an accurate one.

If this suggestion of Tertullian's de

insti-

This would have been

tution for the restoration of heretics^.

us to

fix

as towards

the date of that

210 A.D.

the previous reasoning

is

And

accurate

if

we

13 reasonably indicates that

should further determine the date of

the First Council of Carthage under

the de Baptismo to about A.D. 214 or

Agrippinus had not yet been held (He-

iifj.

Jejun.

fele,

c.

H.

des Conciles, B.

i.

c.

11.

'^

4),

Ep.

75. 5, 7.

22

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

340

more than

and blood, particularly TertulHan's, could

flesh

endure to eulogize.

The Council

of Iconium there held for Phrygia, Galatia

one which thus ranked Mon-

and the neighbouring

districts

tanists with heretics

needing baptism.

for fixing its date earlier

is

There

no reason

is

than A.D. 230*. Firmilian, writing

in

had been one of the 'very many' who there so


Synnada^ which dealt with the same subject in
the same sense was probably near the same time. One of these
two is probably that 'Council of Fifty' which Donatists al256, says he

ruled it^ and

The

leged against Augustine*.

large

gathered in that small locality

number

of Fifty Bishops

For

a note of truth.

is

in

Phrygia Towns and Bishoprics were identical. A system


of Rector-Bishops, which commends itself to some imagina-

Power vested

tions now, prevailed there.

of necessarily second-rate

men proved

those elements of faction, passion

in

an aggregation

to be powerless against

and superstition which

Paul foresaw might rend and end those churches.

S.

The
to

'

some
The

Baptism.

difficulty as to

date of Tillemont, iv. p. 140,

and Valois on Euseb.


^

was peculiarly

religious tone of Phrygia

Everything

Plurimi simul convenientes in Ico-

initiatory, that is

be some mistake
olives

as

vii. 7.

will

likely to lead

(conj.

not

afxTr\6(pvTov),

grow

3400

at

ft.

(W. M. Ramsay, Joiirnal of Hellenic

nio diligentissime tractavimus et con-

Studies, vol. viii. pp. 481, 1).

As

to

firmavimus, Ep. 75.

points connected with the Council,

it

The

site

until 1876,

19.

of Synnada was

when M.

unknown

Perrot found

the highlands of Phrygia.

It

it

in

was an

assize-town {conventus) and the central


office of the

imperial procurator marof the quarries and

morum, manager

monolith

vast transport of bath-slabs,

columns and
flecked

mites or Synnadic.
office

of

capitals

the

purple-

Phrygian marble called Doci-

was merged

After A.D. 160 the

in the

new one

ol pro-

curator PhrygicE

who

and lands

Strabo speaks of

also.

great i\ai6<(>vTov

took the woods

irfSlov,

its

but there must

suits

Dr

Peters'

Synnada the

arguments

to

call

capital of Phrygia, but

it

never was so until after 300 a.d., and


then capital only of the Division 'Salutaris.'
'

Why

does Firmilian

<?/ w<?m/'2c

Council of Synnada?'
able

question.

takes one out of

is

Dollinger

many

the

an unanswerarbitrarily

possible replies

and thereupon dates the same Council,


Hefele does not even quote his reasons.
* Aug. c. Crescon. iii.
2, 3.
^

W. M. Ramsay, The

Bishoprics of Phrygia,

"jf.

Cities

of H. S.

and
I.e.

VIII.

THE TRADITION OF ASIA MINOR

2.

I.

EAST.

But while

everything exclusive, was dear to the native mind.

Augustine remarks that

341

bishops were no evi-

fifty oriental

dence, though backed by seventy Africans, against the unity

Synnada must both

of the tradition elsewhere, Iconium and

be numbered among

the series 'held long ago'

of which Dionysius the Great

districts,'

Rome

(as yet a presbyter) of

tells

and

many

namesake

his

that he had heard, and which

took the same view as to the reception of Heretics

The

'in

in general.

firm belief which these Councils entertained that they

were continuing apostolic usage, while the very need for them
the best evidence that the usage was far from being clear

is

or accepted,

may

connect

itself

with the fact that two canons,

based, to say the least, on their decisions, appear in

Apostolic Canons.

would not be strange

It

if

the

one of these

two were the actual utterance of Iconium


^

Before A.D. 258 ; ap. Eus. vii.

given in

is

Note on

full in

which

7,

'Dates,' p.

Apost.

Can.

(Tis

Trpecr^vTepov aiperi-

y)

Be^d/xevov /SaTrrtcr/ia

peiaOai

[7)

lis

irpocrrdcra'Ofj.ev.

Ovaiav] Kadat.-

yap

avfj.(p{bvr]-

Tou XptoToO Trpos Tov BeX^aX

fxepls iri<TToG /xerd

Exig.

(Dionys.

xlv.

xlvi.), ^YiirlcKOTTOv
kiIjv

dirlaTov

The

rj

tIs

manifest

interpolation ^ dvaiav has no place in

the Latin rendering of Dionysius.

(D.

xlvi.

xlvii.) 'ETrfc/coTTOS

Can.

^ wpe<T^iiTepos

oLKrideiav ^x*"''''* ^aTTTCcpia iav

Tbv Kar

avudev

^aiTTia'Q,

ij

rQv dae^Qv edv

rhv fMe/ioXvcr/x^vov irapa


^awTiari, Kadaipel-

firi

us yeXuv tov aravpbv Kcd tov tov

(xdw,

Kvpiov ddvaTOV, Kai

diaKplvuv lepras

p-r)

let

him be deposed,

as one

mocketh the Cross and the Lord's


Death, and discerneth not priests from

45.

'

Bishop or Presbyter admitting

baptism of heretics we appoint to be


deposed.

For what

to Behal,

or

is

Christ's consent

what the

faithful

man's

part with the faithless?


46.

'Bishop or Presbyter,

anew him

the false priests.'

These canons are plainly the work of


different legislators.

that hath a

cording to truth, or

if

if

he bap-

Baptism

ac-

he baptize not

One

clause of the

second covers the whole ground of the

They

first.

allege different specimens

of the then popular arguments.

Only

of the two appears in

the

Coptic Code (Bunsen, Hippolytus

and

the

first

his age, vol.

11.

p. 228, ed. 1854).

We

might have fancied that, were they


actual canons of Iconium or Synnada,
they would not have escaped some allusion to Cataphrygians.

But Firmilian

Iconium Rewas made general on purpose


'repudiandum esse omne omnino baptisma quod sit extra ecclesiam constitutum,' and thus it is possible that
the very words of Iconium may be conshews {Ep.

Ti2v ypevdiepiuv.

tize

been polluted of the

hath

that

that

347-

him

impious,

75. 19) that the

solution

siders

Pearson conin Canon xlv.


them earlier than Iconium, but

if so,

why

tained

should they not have been

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

342

Evidence there

none

is

to enable us to

answer the

influenced the decision of the Greek Councils ^


his

in-

Greek Treatise had

teresting question whether TertuUian's

If

it

were so

weapon was strangely turned against him.

One
demned

far-fetched

theory

actually con-

that Tertullian

is

Heretical Baptism with

the aim

of procuring an

oblique sanction for Montanism from the Catholic Church,

which he expected not to condemn


he was so

far successful

consequence untouched.

advocate

its

Synnada

that

left

nay, that

Montanism

contrary to the facts of the documents,

is

worth noticing only

modern Roman determination

as an instance of the

in

This view, not baseless only, but

to trace

every anti-Roman fact to condemned or suspected sources


outside the Church.

Tertullian

is

to be

the great

'

First

'

cause of the Innovation introduced as well into Africa as

'

into the East.'

II.

I.

Position of the Leaders.

Tertullian then, whether he contributed or no, through


his treatise

on Fasting, to popularise

Councils, cannot, at least

by

his treatise

affected the Agrippine decision.


allies

and Agrippinus with

on by a rising wave of

rigour,

in Africa the idea of

on Baptism, have

Tertullian with his spiritual

his

Bishops were alike carried

which swept across Asia Minor

and Africa, was observed from Egypt as

it

passed, and just

reached Rome, there to affect only a miserable

more tenacious Asia the

sect.

In the

practice of Rebaptism, once ratified,

more important?

(p.

498) rejoices to think the notion

Firmilian appeals to that Council's de-

his

own.

cision as final,

We

will

it

should have anticipated him (see Doll.

appealed to as

still

and Dionysius to both


and Synnada as most weighty.
^ Fechtrup,
p. 195, alleges no evi-

dence except the writing of that


in Greek.

treatise

Unhappily such things well

expressed pass for evidence.

Dr

Peters

Hipp,
linger

the

'Diese Behauptung

lament

und

for

him

ist

is

neu!'

that Dollinger

Kallist. p. 191), only Dol-

observes

its

fearful

effect

on

longevity of Firmilian and dates

Iconium about A.D. 231.

VIII.

II.

POSITION OF THE LEADERS

I.

quietly held

much

In busier Africa

ground.

its

CYPRIAN.

343

quietly went

it

out of use, so that Cyprian, while he declares that

'

thousands of heretics have thus become churchmen through

'

the Laver of Life/ has nevertheless to meet the argument

numbers of them had been received without it, and had


fallen asleep in the bosom of the Church\
It had continued
that

Numidia

in

change of feeling

since the old Council, but a

And Augus-

forces her bishops to consult Carthage afresh^

he scarcely knows what Cyprian means


by saying that the practice had prevailed from Agrippinus'
day to his own for,' he rationally asks, what occasion was
there for Cyprian's three Councils if all Africa had but one

tine confesses that


'

'

'

'

'

or why should Cyprian have argued to Jubaian


custom
that he was making no change, since Agrippinus had deter-

'

.''

'

'

mined

it

before

'have advised

or

.-

why

should so

many

of the Bishops

the Third Council on Baptism] that reason

[in

^
if the fact were
and truth must be preferred to custom
not, as Firmilian allows, that, while Asia had maintained the

'

'

doctrine and the practice, the practice of Africa had diverged

from the theory^

We

have seen

along that Cyprian's most brilliant

all

was that he quickened anew every languishing

characteristic

organ of church

life

and inspired with fresh forces each doctrine

which worldly peace was holding lightly. In the most vigorous


time of life he first received both doctrines and ordinances
into a vivid intellect logically trained.

They must

them merely.
such

'

late-learning

'

They must be lived. To


movements it has not
some one point bursts out of

live.

desuetude upon their imagination with disproportioned

power.
^

could not accept

leaders of great

unfrequently happened that


its

He

Ep.

In his case the exceeding delight of his


73.

points out, p.

and

Dr

23.

497, note

5,

Peters

that Ter-

Catholics

whom

he

Rebaptism was among the Montanists

'

Epp. 70, 71.


Aug. deBapt.

Ep.

apud ww'),

as in contrast to the

75. 19.

c.

reali-

disparaging.

the bearing of the words

tuUian, de Ptidic. 19, seems to say that

{^ et

is

own
is

But

arguable.

Doiiatt. in.

xii. 17.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

344

sation of the blessing

intense

meaning

and illumination of Baptism^ gave

to the old ruling,

when he

read

first

it,

that

even believers in Christ, unless once baptized into the catholic


fulness of the one Church, need

De

still

Every

to be baptized.

is

startled at the

vehemence^ with

which he so early recorded

this conviction.

Then although

reader of the

Unitate

Novatianist exclusion

the

of the whole Church from

Church provoked no mere


think that

did not

it

retaliation,

stimulate the

sense that the

matics were themselves excluded by an earlier flaw

much

the observation that they had suffered so

persecution

schis;

point

less in

the

and awaken a confidence that the neglected


revived and insisted on, exhibit to

all

the fact that Novatianists were not church people at

all.

church duty would,

men

the

impossible to

is

it

if

half-worldly temptation strangely reinforced the spiritual

enthusiasm.

When
'

Are we

therefore

of

the question

Numidia

Carthage right

right in

in ignoring the

arrived

rebaptizing,

on

or are

standing order

a crotchet which Cyprian took up.

simple form

in

.-

'

it

you of
was not

The whole man was

fire.

It is

only through these facts that

what we have now

to study

we can account

and lament

for

the precipitation

and the passion which possessed him and the many men
whom he had by this time moulded to be like him. It
was inevitable that sooner or later the broad and the purist
theories should collide, because they

were theories embodied

in daily usages.

Some

on the part of Stephen

in

favour of

heretical baptism was the occasion of the conflict.

Whether

indication

the incident was to his honour or

no,

it

is

thankless

to

aggravate the failings of an unpopular personage, from whose


ad Donatum.

See sup.

Peters, p. 510 n., speaks of a dif-

p. 15,

proposed by himand not approved.

ferent interpretation
self

VIII.

II.

POSITION OF THE LEADERS

I.

STEPHEN.

His tolerance of

conduct nothing but good has resulted.


Novatianism, and his

make

it

it is

may-

lapsed bishops,

of

probable that personally he was biassed, though

by

the right direction,

But

patronage

345

else than

little

at least possible that his

trary of this

vague

his

in

liberality.

motive was the exact con-

that he interposed with a necessary correction

of the Callistian Liberals,

who

doubtless were prepared to

purge errors of belief as they purged errors of

life,

by second

baptism.

must move our wonder,' says Cyprian

It

'

letter

in

his

on the subjects 'nay rather our indignation and

first

grief,

that there are Christians found to take the side of antichrists

'

'

that shufflers in the faith, and traitors to the Church, take a

'

stand within the Church herself against the Church.

Now,

'

since these allow (notwithstanding their usual pertinacity

'

indocility) that heretics

'

the

'

baptize, they cannot impart the

Holy

them
'the Holy
vict

'

his

Spirit,

earliest

the

and that accordingly, though they can

namely,

Holy Spirit, here we conby pointing out that such as have not

Spirit cannot baptize at

adversary was,

itself sufficient

particular

and

and schismatics alike do not possess

index, that
virtues

it
'

pertinacity and

which

who

In enquiring

all.'

noteworthy, though not in

is

Cyprian

indocility

'

assigns

steadily

are
to

Stephen.

Next, an Italian localisation


of the obnoxious doctrine
letter^

'

is

given to these asserters

by another passage

in the

Since the Church alone has the water of

same

life,

and

'power to baptize and to wash man, he that says one can


Novatian's hands, must

'

be baptized and sanctified

'

prove and convince us that Novatian

'

prelate of the Church.

'

be both inside and outside.

'

not with Cornelius.

Ep. 69.

10.

in

The Church
But

If she
if

is

in the

first

Church, or a

As one

she cannot

is

one.

is

with Novatian, she was

she was with

Ep^

Cornelius,

65,. 3.

who

34^

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

'succeeded to

Bishop Fabian by legitimate ordination,...

'

Novatian

is

not in

Church, and cannot be counted

the

'

a bishop, seeing that he, in contempt of evangelical and

apostolic tradition, being in succession to no one,

'

produced.

For

in

is

self-

no wise can he hold or keep the Church,

who has not been ordained in the Church.'


The personality of the gainsayer next becomes clear
(though as yet no name has been mentioned) when in the
seventy-first letter' we read, 'We must not go by prescription
of custom we must prevail by reasoning for neither did
'

'

'

Peter,

'built

whom

the Lord chose

of

first

all,

and on

whom He

His Church, when afterward Paul disputed with him on

'

Circumcision, insolently claim or arrogantly assume anything

'

to himself, declaring " that

'

ought the rather to be obeyed by novices, and men (called)

he himself held the primacy and

'later than himself"; neither did

he look down on Paul, as

'

the Church's former persecutor, but he adopted the counsel

'

of truth, and readily assented to the legitimate system that

'

Paul maintained

'

patience, not to

giving us thereby a lesson in unity and

hug our own

fancies with pej'tmacity, but,

if

'our brothers and colleagues offer upon occasion useful and


'

'

wholesome suggestions, rather


they are true and regular.'
Although he may

nearer neighbours

in

make

to

those our own,

these passages include other and

whether bishops who

in the first

dissented from his views, or that remarkable


(he
fine

may have been one

if

Unknown Author

of these) from whose pen

contemporary tract 'Of Rebaptism^';

one prominent figure before him,


other opposition was merged,

is

in

Council

we have

the

yet plainly the

whose opposition

all

none other than the Bishop

Rome. And in Stephen's tone there had evidently been


some personal disparagement, as well as some uncalled for
measuring of the popedom of Rome against that of Carthage.
of

Ep.

71. 3.

Vid. infra p. 352.

VIII.

II.

POSITION OF THE LEADERS

I.

Then flowed

upon Cyprian

in

STEPHEN.

347

one would infer\

(not,

without something of concert with himself) a series of formal


letters,

known

by

to us only

upon the

deliver his opinion

his replies, requesting

The

subject.

him

to

original enquiry

was whether a baptism among the adherents of Novatian, the


accuracy of whose creed was unimpeached, might be accepted
as valid,

when such persons turned to seek admission among


The question then ran through degrees of

the Catholics.

misbelief until the case of Marcionites, and perhaps even of

Stephen made no

Ophites, was debated^


including,

the ordinary African bishop

of his

towards

people

over them yet more


saw Rebaptism used

the

in

was no

question,

slight

Was

almost isolated tradition of Africa

all

as

its

pre-

adherence to

this

the

itself

who now

heresies

dilemma which

a dangerous, a puri-

.''

Dates {Council of Iconhim and


Eus. H. E.

which

departure from the breadth

tanic, a practically Novatianistic

of catholic use

tendency

Donatism,) and

alone of

this

it

for

Montanism, and was to break

in

in

about

But

all.

the puritanic tendency

felt

terribly in

characteristic initiation,
itself

who

Novatianism, (a

had already surged up

sented

difficulty

Cyprian about excluding, one and

vii. 7.

(i)

Lipsius {Chron.

d.

other).

Rojiiischen Bischofe, pp. 219,

Synod of Iconium was later than the Synod of Antioch


A.D. 253, because it appears from comparing Euseb. vi. 46 with vii. 4, 5
that after the unexpected harmony at Antioch they feh anxious lest the
question of baptism should divide them.
But surely this is no argument
for dating any one particular Synod.
For we might equally well apply
it to others, one by one, and conclude that all Baptismal decisions were
20) argues that the

than the Council of Antioch.

later

was

Trpcoros

rav tot^ (Eus.

vii. 3)

therefore Cyprian's rupture with


^

The

series

suggest this.
represent,

midia,
tania,

3.

1.

is

As

so complete

the

three

as

to

Councils

and NuNumidia and Maure-

so the letters

are,

i.

Lipsius argues that since Cyprian

?i'i^^\\.t.r\.

Africa, 2. Africa

Africa,

(2)

who held

from an

this particular opinion {riyiiro),

preceded the Council of Iconium.

African Layman,
of Numidia,

3.

Mauretania.
-

Ep.

73. 4.

2. From the Bishops


From two Bishops of

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

348

But certainly Eusebius does not

which he accordingly dates 255 A.D.

mean to contradict the statement which he quotes (vii. 7) from Dionysius


who in A.D. 256 writes that Rebaptism had been held 'long ago,' npo
npo i]fxai> eTnaKorrovs, iv rais TToXvavdpaTTOTaTais eKKk-qaiais
tSv d8e\(f)a>v (v iKovia, Koi SwaSois Koi irapa iroWois tovto
i8o^ev, nor yet can he mean to deny that the Council of Agrippinus
had so ruled in Carthage itself. But if Trpdros rciu rore affects the date

rroXXoC, Kara rovs


Tois avv68ois

<a.\

of Iconium

must

it

and that of

affect the date of Dionysius' Councils,

Mark

Agrippinus too.

too that the tSv tots

to his distinct expression

ov

(vii. 2) ^i^r^fiaros

is

in the very next sentence

<Tfx.iKpov TrjviKcidf

dvaKivr^devros.

Asia Minor
had quietly continued, Africa had in many parts quietly dropped the
practice, and Cyprian was the first rav rore, i.e. of his contemporaries^
to moot its reaffirmation.
Lipsius is driven by his own special pleading to say that there were
two synods at Iconium 'which must not be confounded,' one of A.D. 255
mentioned by Firmilian, and the other much earlier named by Dionysius;
both about the baptism of heretics both making only the same declara-

The

fact

is,

Eusebius means exactly what he says.

tion,

at

Sufficiently improbable.

considerable interval.

Besides, Fir-

milian attended the one he mentions, and he, writing in 256 A.D., speaks
of

it

having been held ja7/i pridefn.

{^Ep. 75. 7) as

Of Roman

writers,

synod was held

Dr

to the East.

but very early

in

Baronius and Labbe^ were anxious to believe this

Stephen's time, and thereby to justify his behaviour

Peters on the

same

side^ places

in the third century' in

'not in the second,

it

order to enable

to

it

have been

misled by the pamphlets of Tertullian, and this induces him to put


Synnada earlier still, and at the same time as Agrippinus' Council.

The

order in which Dionysius names the two synods

is

rather against

the general assumption that Synnada preceded Iconium.

The following then are the approximate dates which appear probable

we

in respect of the conditions with which

Zephyrinus Bp. of
Tertullian

are acquainted.

Rome

A.D. 199

becomes Montanist
writes

De Jejunio

Council of Agrippinus
'Y&x\.\iS\\2iTiS

Callistus Bp. of

De Baptismo
Rome

200.

circ.

209, 10.

circ.

213.

circ.

214,15
217 222.

circ.

230.

Council of Iconium
Council of Synnada

Baron. Ann. a.d. zsS, xiv.

Labbe

A.D. 258, in spite of Pagi and Harduin

217,

circ.

whom
^

he quotes

P. 498.

231.

Cone.

t.

i.

p. 769.

VIII.

ACTS AND DOCUMENTS.

II. 2.

II.

Our

clearest

349

Acis and Documents.

2.

method

now be

will

first

to describe the

Documents, and then to draw out by themselves the Arguments, which are so often repeated that chronological analysis
of the letters would be wasted here\

Magnus, a layman,
affection, writes

the

whom

first

Cyprian treats with respect and

an

enquiry whether Nova-

letter

tianists should be accounted as other heretics in the need of

In Magnus' circle the old

church-baptism on recantation.

canon was plainly not forgotten, and the plausibility of an


exception

is

obvious.

Then followed an

application from eighteen bishops of

These had continued the practice which they and


predecessors had helped Agrippinus to establish'^ but

Numidia.
their

the

movement

laity,

required

of the times, especially perhaps


fresh

came from Cyprian^;

The

consideration.

among the
Magnus

reply to

Numidians from a Council

that to the

which he soon convoked, of thirty-three bishops of Africa


with the presbyters of Carthage*.

This

is

Cyprian's Fifth Council of Carthage and

First on Baptism,

The

a.d. 255.

seventieth epistle

is

their conciliar declaration, con- ^^g' p^^'

firming that of the old Council of Agrippinus, That neither the

That
converts from a heresy can only through baptism enter mto
the faith and unity of the Church.
This decision seems to have been not unanimously arrived
baptism nor the confirmation of heretics has any value

We

may

repeat that the group in-

75

and the Sententio'


Episcoporum of the Third Council, and
belongs to the years A.D. 255 and 256.
Ep. 70. I.
^ Ep. 69.
Rettberg (pp. 190 192)
assigns to this letter the same date as
to that which answers Pompeius, Ep.
74, on account of the same 'Ideen"^

kreis' apparent in

to

Magnus

is

councils.

it

if

Ep.

reference

certainly precedes all

That

to

{Ep. 74. 12) to the


70.

But as his reply


upon his own view

it.

rested

arguments without

and

councils,

i.

to

the

Pompeius alludes
first

Council {Ep.

not to the second,


71.

eludes Epp. 69

a.d. 255.
A.U.C.
1008.

y^^j^"j^j^^j^^g

Pius Felix

Aug. III.
imp. Cses.

Egnldus"'
^.^^^i^^?
Pius Felix

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

350

Cyprian describes

at.

fellow-bishops

judgment of

as the

it

very

'

but he laments the fact that

;
'

'

many

certain of

our colleagues are guided by some strange confidence' to


the other opinion

Next comes a Mauretanian


through a

bishop, one Quintus*^, enquiring

Lucian

coinpresbyter

he

answered by the

is

seventy-first letter, with the seventieth, already in

The tone

enclosed^

lation,

of Cyprian

is

as of one

tone of the

It is clear that the

suffered slights.

wide circu-

who has

Roman

bishop

was already becoming injurious; clear also that unanimity


had not yet prevailed

At

this time,

in

Carthage.

without one allusion

in

to the embittering

it

controversy, Cyprian published his tract, Of the Excellency


of Patience,' to be a calming note in the awaking storm.
'

Very

date,

in

later

little

and similar

in

purpose,

is

his

equally reticent on passing circumJealousy and Envy


These
stance, except for one slight touch upon Novatian.
'

'

shall

be examined

Now we

later.

need only name them as

further illustrations of Cyprian's vision of a

moral
to

the

feeling, adjusted to the

standard.

its

new

And we may

man who, when

new philosophy

of

doctrine and proportioned

think of the angelic spirit of

passions were rising on every side, read to

himself and his combatants lessons so sweet and so stern.


^

Ep.

71.

plurimi xaisnerinius
.

of Buruc

who spoke

whom extant

in

the

Seventh

here seems to be not equivalent to 'a


numerous body and all of them,' because

Council,

the phrase describing the objectors, qui-

Bishops, p. 565).

dam

but merely through misreading, for there

in

de collegis nostris (which

Ep.

71. i),

is

is

repeated

not apparently a mere

plural equivalent for qui hoc

illis

patro-

cinium de sua auctoritate prastat, who


must be Stephanus, and who is again

meant
note
^

in

Ep.

71. ^

primatum, &c.

(see

copi are

71. 4.

Quintus and his

spoken of as

illic,

coepis-

and informed

of the state of things in Africa and

Numi-

dia which followed Agrippinus' Council.


I

is

Epp. 27

no var.

(p.

was
*

led.

(see

Appendix on Lists of
Morcelli thought so

Fechtrup confounds him

202) with Quintus of

Aggya which

in the Proconsular Province,

Epp.

Peters

'ji.

mean

in

i,

71.

4.

view of the

What

does

last reference

p. 513 that we might have


Cyprian to appeal to the

by saying on

5, p. 351).

Ep.

Sentt.

MSS. call Quietus,

doubt not that Quintus

is

the Bishop

expected

Council of Agrippinus and rely on that


as proof of custom,

and that Cyprian's

not doing so shews that he was aware


the canon was not acted on?

VIII.

Next
in their

and

ACTS AND DOCUMENTS.

II. 2.

35

year, A.D. 256, the question occupies the Bishops

Council before Easter

SiXTH UNDER Cyprian


They were seventy-one in

the

Second on Baptism.

a.d. 256.
^'^^'^'

^f{^-

Valerius

number ^
able to

They formulate into


clergy who had joined

kind of Canon, applic- Maximus

heretical

schismatical

or

same practice which they


adopted
as
to
lapsed
Clerics,
namely to restore them
had
simply to Lay-Communion. They decide that baptism is
bodies and then

necessary for

all

the

recanted,

They adopt

converts from the sects.

the

phrase of 'the stain of profane water bespotting'

terrible

those baptized with

it

We

must note that now the prelates of Africa and


Numidia^ are sitting together, and are unanimous under
Cyprian
cessors

was forwarded to Stephanus

Numidians and the

letter

to

prede-

synodical letter from them

Rome.

at

The

letter

to

the

Ouintus were enclosed with

an unconciliatory document, and hints conscious-

It is

it.

own

in re-affirming the old decision of their

under Agrippinus.

ness of the offence which

it

will give*.

Stephen had however among Cyprian's bishops those who


sympathized with him^: one of these,

or,

as

it

has been

surmised, Stephen himself through them, circulated an authoritative paper, recognising the baptism of even

by name.
p,

copy of

73. I.

Ejip. 72. i; 73.

the expression in

De

Unitate,

c.

I.

it,

to

Bk

v.

c.

in

In A.D. 312 the relations of Numidia


Hefele, B.

nitively settled.

i.

c.

defiiii.

Epp.
Ep. 73.

Sentt.

wrt//".

Augustine does not seem to have


this

letter,

Jerome mentions

it

which

is

38,
4.

and see note i, p. 350.


Aug. de Bapt. c. Do-

Cf.

vii.xvi. (30). Rettberg,p. 178, cites

that this

strange.

adv. Luciferian, 25.

document was a copy of

phen's letter to the East.


Peters thinks that
tract

14.

seen

I.

Coustant, Epp. pont. p. 226, and agrees

1.

Carthage were not held to be

to

it

Quidamdecollegisnostris,^.7i.

Quidam de collegis, Sen^L Epp. 59.


Quidam nostri prsevaricatores veritatis,
Cf.

69. 16).

solely with reference

to the Patripassians,
^

strength in

and adhered

Magnus {Ep.

his first letter, to

Optatus endorses

Cyprian had used

its fullest

12,

Marcion^

with some other arguments, was

it,

it

De

it

Rebaptistnate,

No

Ste-

evidence,

was the extant


which renders

doubtful whether he can have read

that tract through.

Acilius

^'^"-

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

352

forwarded to Cyprian by Jubaian, a prelate of Mauretania,

who

felt

himself

much

by

exercised

Mauretanians had not been represented

now

Agrippinus, and the opening

upon a new one.

their
in

occurred for securing them

Cyprian answered these, and

rate a form, that at

The

strength.

the old Council of

in so elabo-

the final Council he read his answer

as the complete exposition of his views, supplementing

with Jubaian's grateful and convinced reply.

accompanied to

its first

This

it

was

letter

by copies of the docu-

destination

ments that had been sent to Stephen, and a codex of

The

'

Excellency of Patience.'

deputation

Rome

of

Cyprian now went to

bishops from

and waited upon Stephen, as bearers either of the

named

some separate

or of

epistle.

Some

little

might have made much of so conciliatory an


least Firmilian relates the incident

amid

last-

graciousness

But (so

act.

his condolences*)

at

no

audience was allowed them either public or private; and the

Roman

congregation was desired to shew them no hospitality

or attention ^

Nevertheless, the letter was answered*, and that in terms


appreciative of the importance of the situation and of the
of the baptismal gift*, large

greatness

Separatists,

asserted in
for the

and not deigning to argue


it

towards

charity

Stephen

the apostolic authority of a distinct tradition

Roman

vituperated

in

at length.

usage, magnified

Cyprian as

the chair of Peter^ and


Christ, a

false

'a

false

apostle, a

treacherous worker^.'

Lamentable language

yet Cyprian's qualification of dis-

sentient colleagues as 'Fautors of Antichrist' and


to the Church' laid
^

Ep. 75. 25.


Labbe, Cone.

him open

bishops.
quibics

is

Africans

Traitors

it.

and the Africans together, a theory not

makes this
an embassy of excommunicated Oriental
^

to

'

t. i.

p. 771,

yet ventured on.


*

Ep.

74.

But the reference of the a

Ep.

75. 5, 6

to vobiscum {Ep. 75. 25), the

75. 17.

or else to both the Orientals

Ep.
Ep.

i.

75. 25.

Ep.

75. 17.

(compare Ep.

Ep.

69.

73. 13).

ro.

VIII.

ACTS AND DOCUMENTS.

II. 2.

Stephen however had by

this

353

time issued a paper ^ which

awakened a universal storm of indignation and dispute^


among the Bishops of the East^ or, according to the more
guarded statement of Dionysius the Great, among the Bishops

He

of Asia Minora

threatened to withdraw from their com-

munion.

To assume

Stephen

that

had already rebuked

Bishops of the East when Cyprian


the question of rebaptism'

is

mooted

first

these

Africa

in

Roman modes

one of the

of

once exhibiting his vast jurisdiction and of softening the

at

blameworthiness of his asperity towards so great a

But

this

was not

ments upon
Cyprian

contradicts

our docu-

all

Stephen quarrelled with

examination,

and then turned on those who were sure

first,

No

with him.

The thought

so.

critical

saint.

Roman

doubt the relations of the

to side

bishop with

somewhat complicated by the pro-

the East must have been

pension which the late patriarch of Antioch had exhibited


^ 'EirecTTciX/cei fJLev otiv

E. vii. 5.
' Ep. 75. 24

irpdrepov,

Euseb.

totius

'Lites

quantas

siones

parasti

enim

et dissen-

per

ecclesias

mundi ?

TTjv

airrrjv

Ep.

Euseb.

So Maran and Hefele,

vii.

is

5.

B.

i.

c.

ii.

Rettberg agrees.

letters

who
the

nunciation of the Orientals in order to

dence.

earlier

than his controversy

with Cyprian (since

we now know

that

Stephen's accession was not earlier than

about

May

12,

254), the conclusion

is

against the whole tenor of our docu-

ments.

1.

How

Eusebius writes

have seen (Note on Dates,

The opening
in Cyprian's

indignation.

ment of
B.

his

p.

we

347).

strife is seen by him


movement and Stephen's
2.

Dionysius in the frag-

Sia

shew
the same
with some

alrlav clearly

and none but the African


3.

Dionysius' series

of

has one to Stephen in his three

years' seat

Apart from the erroneous date 253


which Maran {Vit. Cypr. xxix.) and
others have assigned to Stephen's deit

possible.

the

this

Koivcav^ffuv

Stephen to be already for


other church

75. 25.

bring

Ta^Trjv

In

First.

iKcLvois

o\)hk

d)S

Baptismal cause in collision

6.

fragment of his

words

If.

and three

sate one.

It

to his successor

may fairly be

inferred

that the close of Stephen's time

commencement of

These points are brought out by

On the other

both Peters and Fechtrup.

hand Maran urged a

rhetorical phrase

of Firmilian's {Ep. 75.


quarrels

saw

the correspon-

now

with you' as

25) 'Stephen

with the Easterns,


if it

now

were a chronological

note of the order of events.

And Peters
mth the

instead of dealing rationally

words suggests that probably the vanity


of Firmilian caused

him

the subjective

sensation of having been assailed

Second Letter preserves a

23

first.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

354

toward Novatian, nor was

it

a meaningless anxiety which

lurked under Stephen's complaint of

'

a weakness and an error to urge upon such

reasoned conformity

to threaten that he

it

was

men an

un-

But

treachery.'

would hold no

communion with bishops who used second baptism.

They

had what they thought immemorial usage^ and their recent


Councils behind them and he but smote a rock. The most
;

conspicuous Churchman of the day, Firmilian, metropolitan


of Cappadocia,

own

replied

'

Thou

hast excommunicated thine

self.'

Did Stephen excommunicate


Our only

the Bishops of the

East?

whether Stephen carried his


vii. 5.
There
is, I think, just critical light enough to arrive at the fact.
Supposing
Dionysius had written that Stephen fTrearaXKei on ov Koii/av^aoi (as
Thucyd. 8. 99 writes e7rfcrraXKet...ori ovre al vfjes TrapecroiVTo k.t.X.) even
But he writes
this would not have said more than that he threatened.
original materials for settling

threat further

eVetrraXKet

6)y

a.Y&

Epp.

74. 8;

ov Koivcovrja-av,

75.

and

24;

Dionys. ap. Eus.

this subjective cos

marks a

traction from the actuality of the verb [being used as

distinct sub-

Henri Estienne

quo quis aliquid facit vel


Thesaurus G. L. ed. Hase, and Dindorf
VIII. col. 2085. L.]
(Winer, G): Gr. Part ill. 65. 9.) Also Cyprian says
Stephen sa.c&rdot&s...absiine}tdos putat' {Ep. 74. 8) and Firmilian 'putas
omnes a te abstineri posse' (75. 24). Both imply that the note had been
sounded, but not that the deed was done. If these passages proved
the excommunication they would prove it to be earlier than the Third
Council, but Cyprian's speech {Sentt. Epp. Proem.) shews that 'compliance' had not then 'been enforced by terror.'
'...quisquam nostrum''
there cannot of course mean Africans as against Romans.
says

''

cogitationis vel consilii indicandi causa

facere se simulat vel aliis videtur.'

'

Dionysius the Great.

Two

of Stephen's leading presbyters, Philemon and Diony-

own,

sius a learned^ successor of his

in

the

shared his views and supported his action.


^

'A

75- 19-

Christo et ab Apostolis,' Ep.

Xo7t6s re koX

first

instance

Later on they
davfji,aai.os,

Eus.

vii. 7.

VI 1 1.

ACTS, ETC.

II. 2.

DIONYSIUS THE GREAT.

355

He

replied, as

consulted the great Dionysius at Alexandria\

he himself observes, at

first

and then

briefly

some

at

length.

In the fragment of his letter to Philemon, which Eusebius has


preserved, he mentions that from his predecessor Heraclas he

had received
but he

as a rule, not to rebaptize returning heretics

it

here speaking only of such as had been baptized

is

before their error: an exception which even Cyprian allowed

Clement of Alexandria had however more than doubted the


reality of heretical baptism, for he glosses one of the strange
phrases interpolated by the Seventy in the ninth chapter of

Proverbs 'so wilt thou cross over the water of strangers' by


the words

'Wisdom here accounteth

be no native, genuine water^'

the heretic baptism to

But no Egyptian synod had

then taken up the question, and determined


this,

of

Rome*

moving story of

relates a

the entreaties, tears and

who

So

it.

He

Xystus

resistance to

of the

Body and Blood

vailed every incompleteness.

Catholic

to have been utterly hereti-

encouraged him to have no scruples

Communion

in the

own

prostrations of an aged

own Baptism

discovered his

cal.

his

from

far

that Dionysius of Alexandria in his letter to

He

his long

of Christ counter-

failed to

persuade the old

man, who dared not communicate and scrupled, as


baptized, even to attend the prayers.

life

if

un-

Yet, although ready

by Xystus, Dionysius could not upon his own


convictions give way so important did he deem it that the
relations of communions to each other should not be at the
mercy of the weak and scrupulous. Again we must remember
to be advised

am

not clear that they did not

letter

to Xystus that he mentions the


and the fuller letters (which re-

write to Dionysius even in Stephen's

fact,

lifetime.

main) are written in Xystus' time.

. .

.avfi\}/'^<pois

irporepov 'Zrecpapcp

yevofjiivoi^, Kal wepl rui> aiiTWv fioi

<^oucrt...Euseb. I/.

E.

participle in the absence of


particle

(and

if

Euseb.

latter

On

any limiting

they had just written

he would have said


imperfect

The

vii. 5.

ypd-

ypaxj/affi)

than present

spondents of mine.'

is

'were

But

it

is

rather
corre-

vii. 7.

Prov.

ix.

p.
18

74. 12.

hi(i^y)(T-r^

v8c^p dX-

Xorpiov

t6

o'lKeiov

Kal yvrtaiov vdujp Xoyil^o/i^vT] (So-

(f>la).

Strom.

/3a7rTt(r/io

I.

to

alperiKbv

ovk

xix.

His 5th on Baptism, Euseb.

in his

232

vii. 9.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

356

that his severe language about Novatian

of his Baptismal Letters,

Rome

at

that

extracted from one

is

namely the fourth

to his

of the sectarian, and that one trait of this


that

by Rebaptism

namesake

severe on account of the hard separatism

it is

separatism

he sets at nought the Holy Font\'

is

It

seems clear then that he agreed, as did the two Roman


But he was shocked with
presbyters, with Stephen's theory.

want of

his

delicacy,

addressed to him an earnest

and

entreaty not to be severe upon a practice resting on such

We

authority of old bishops and councils".

know

also that

he admitted the Baptism of Montanists, at which Basil'


expresses surprise, considering this to be a distinct Heresy

But here Dionysius was better informed.


then to reconcile with these fragmentary

about the Godhead.


It

difficult

is

facts which we know, Jerome's statement that Dionysius


'consented to the dogma' of Cyprian*. Still it may be

argued that Basil would not have been so surprised as he was


at Dionysius,

if

his

view of Montanism had not seemed an

exception to his view of other heresies, and that he would

have been more surprised


of

all.

For Basil

is

if

he had admitted the baptism

mistakenly persuaded that a difference

had been already at that early date defined between heretical


and schismatical baptism and that the latter was admissible.
Perhaps we

may

infer

from

all

that

is

before

us

that

Dionysius held a policy not unlike Basil's own about the

tradition.

and would have had every country observe its own


While he himself would have accepted Stephen's

clientele,

he was not willing that Africa and Asia should be

Kathari

interfered with.

Such a policy suits the broad and tolerant


mind and the hypothesis harmonizes

character of Dionysius'

the various statements.

Euseb. H. E.

his fifth letter

enses rebaptizare,
that

By

vii. 8.

and Cyprian's

Rebaptism

is

'

Ef.

the light of
'

73. 2,

meant.

Novatianit is

plain

(XKoirei

Euseb.

to ni'yedos rod

vii. 5.

Canon

j>ist. 188,

-De Vir. Illustr. c. 69.

i.

irpdyfji.aTOi,

VIII.

DIONYSIUS

ACTS, ETC.

II. 2.

His middle position


or whose mind

is

who

not that of one

made

not

is

THE GREAT.

35/
not

is

strict

His information increased

up'.

with his enquiries, but his views and his conduct were con-

may be validly

His view was that heretics

sistent throughout.

admitted without second baptism, but that churches which


ruled otherwise must not be overruled from without.

Thanks

duct was very decisive.


outlines

and fragments of

Baptism' to
called

letter,

address
'

Cilicia

'of

Rome I

we

His con-

possess the

Letters which he wrote

five

His First was to Stephen; a

by one

forth

to Eusebius

On

full'

Stephen, of which the

from

not given, but the subject was 'about Helenus of

is

and Firmilian of Cappadocia and


provinces

their

and of

all

all

(the bishops)

neighbouring

the

tribes.'

'About them' he repeated the censure and the threatening


with which he had already approached
'that he

Cyprian, declaring

would not communicate with them

the self-same cause.'

Dionysius addressed him

He

terests of peace.

delineated

of the Eastern church.


Patriarch

who had

either,'

the

and

'for

the in-

in

restored tranquillity

Persecution past

the Antiochene

leaned to Novatian succeeded by one of

comprehensive sympathies; Jerusalem, Caesarea and Tyre, the


Syrias and Arabia grateful for

potamia, Pontus, Bithynia

The chord which


heart

is

all

Roman

beneficence

Meso-

exulting in brotherly concord.

plainly he hopes

to

touch in Stephen's

the near fulfilment of the Pentecostal foreshadowing.

Of Saint Luke's list are wanting only Parthia and Persia,


Egypt and Rome are the correspondents and Africa is
How grievous,' is Dionysius' evident
the unnamed subject.
inference, that such unity should be vexed by threatenings.*
Of the three next letters we have spoken already.
The candid and enquiring mind of him who was not afraid
for

'

'

As

Euseb. H. E.

Cf.

must be the same which he himself


describes in his 'Second on Baptism'

Rettberg.
vii.

K\.<jT(>....b\i.CKy\aa.%,

2, 5.

9.

Euseb.

vii.

4.

This 'The First on Baptism'

addressed
cessor.

to

Xystus,

Euseb.

vii.

5.

Stephen's suc-

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

358

of studying the attractive literature of heretics, because (as

he

the

tells

Roman

presbyter) the Divine voice reminded

him that he was capable of criticizing and that such fearless


study had brought him to the faith at first,' comes out in
'

His

delicate touches.

Of

ence to authority.

Church, without refer-

Rebaptizing Councils he then

the

seems to know nothing.

But to Xystus he writes,

made

^enquiry that decrees have been


'

on Stephen the

earliest letter urges

general ground of the peace of the

too,'

find by
the

in this sense in

greatest episcopal synods,' and to Dionysius

this

'

'

have learnt

meaning the copious precedents, and


Synnada\

particularly

the Councils of Iconium and

Greatly

then to be

written

regretted

name

in

and containing

whole question.

the

We may

conclusions were the

he pointed

all

same

through.

loss

of the church

Letter

by

their bishop

the

is

a sixth

of

of Alexandria

his final discussion^ of the

nevertheless be assured that his


pacific

Had

and truthful ones to which

he really decided either for

Jerome heard) or against Cyprian, this would


have been the most important factor in the controversy; and
Rebaptism

(as

Eusebius could not have failed to record


implies that he
laid

had already indicated

down by Dionysius

To

it.

His silence

sufficiently the lines

the Great.

One

return to Carthage.

last enquirer

now

appears,

Pompey, the bishop of Sabrata upon the Syrtis, in the later


province of Tripoli. He had received the circulated documents and was anxious to learn how Stephen had replied to
them.

Cyprian sends him Stephen's

an antidote of his own^


1

TTw^dvoyiiatEuseb.^. ^.

fine letter

vii. 5, /ieyaa-

must here justify Peters (p.


502) against Fechtrup (p. 232) in laying
stress on the expressions of Dionysius.
6-r\Ka. vii. 7.

epistle to himself, with

though not moderate*.

of his First Letter; which

not as from the

account of

is true,

letter itself,

but

only in his

it.

5ia fiaKpois diroSel^ews.

Fechtrup says that Dionysius mentions

Pompeio

the Councils in his account to Xystus

Dial.

c.

Fratri,

p.

Euseb.
74.

Luciferian 27.

vii. 9.

VIII.

One
of

ACTS, ETC.

2.

II.

of those which Jerome calls

" the error^'

lays

DIONYSIUS

down

THE GREAT.

359

a rending of Stephen and

'

In the course of

of inveterate tradition.'

it

he

the principles of a true Reformation (and such he

own measures to be) in lines which the historian


own Reformation might adopt for his proem.
Reli-

conceived his
of our

'

'gious and single-hearted minds have a short


'

burden themselves of

'

truth.

For

we

if

method

to dis-

and to discover and develop

error,

turn back to the fountain-head and source

human

'of the Divine tradition, the

error disappears; the plan

perceived, and

'

of the heavenly mysteries

darkling under the gloom and mists of darkness opens out

into the light of truth.

'

ever large and copious before,

'

ceed to

its

'whether
'

If

is

all

that lay

some aqueduct, whose stream was


fails suddenly, do we not pro-

fount, there to learn the nature of that failure

flow has dwindled at the source through the

its

drying up of the veins, or whether indeed

unshrunken volume, but has

gushes thence

it

mid course

failed in

in full

'

that so,

the water does not run in uninterrupted flow, unceasingly

and perpetually, the channel may be repaired and strength

'

ened, and the collected waters be delivered for the use and

'

'

if it is

the fault of a broken or porous channel that

drinking of the city in

all

the self-same richness and purity

Even

with which they issue from the spring.

so God's priests

must deal now, and keep the Divine charge

'

aught truth totters and wavers, we turn back both to

'source in the Lord, and also to


'

and

apostles,

74.

10

delivery

and our beginning\'

these words Cyprian

et

its

and our plan of action takes

'alike our order

^ Ep.
minicam

'et

is

so that,

if in
its

by evangelists

its rise

where rose

Considering that

in

laying the plan of a campaign against

ad originem do-

ad evangelicam adque apo-

The length and


may seem to point

Djougar (Mons Zeugitanus and Mons


through channels sixty

Zuccharus)

stolicam traditionem.'

miles long,

detail of the simile

surface

of the

arches,

it

some recent incident of management


on the wonderful Aqueduct of Carthage.
From the 'heads' in Zaghouan and

to

.^

part buried, part


slopes,

poured

in

part

on the
on vast

Cyprian's

days

seven millions of gallons daily into the


city

and neighbourhood, the 'm^Vaj.'

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

360

Rome,

Rome was

clear that

is

it

not to him the 'fountain'

or the 'beginning' of either doctrine or order.

He

closes his letter with a

ment on

canon framed as an amend-

that of Stephen with which he opens.

he had wavered was convinced, and his proxy


his neighbour,

That there

is

The above

is

documents,
2.

i.

Pompeius

if

presented by

Bishop Natalis, of CEa, at the next Council

*.

no reason to suppose Letters are missing frorn the


Correspondence with Stephen.
a simple and sufficient account of the circumstances of

the correspondence.
covery' of other

is

Rettberg (pp. 181 sqq.) admires Mosheim's 'disand thus arranges the extant and supposed

letters,

The Synodal

Cyprian to Stephen, Epistle 72.


it in Ep. 74 to Pompeius,

Letter,

Stephen's reply, lost: Cyprian mentions

moderate terms as a moderate paper'; and 'would have written more


if he had been characterized in that letter as he was in the one
'seen by Firmilian' to Pompeius he also uses metaphors and arguments
not used in the Synodal Letter, but quoted by Firmilian as occurring in
Cyprian's letter to Stephen whence is inferred 3. A reply from Cyprian
to Stephen lost, moderate of tone, and resembling that to Pompeius in
argument and illustration. 4. Stephen's second reply to Cyprian, lostj
inhuman in character the one described by Firmilian. 5. The Legation-letter from Cyprian to Stephen, &c., lost.
The detection of lost documents is a diversion for critics. But I see
no evidence of any of these having existed except of course the Letter
Evidently that which Pompeius saw was the same which
of Stephen.
Firmilian saw, even if not the same that was sent to the Oriental
bishops and the Legation probably presented the Synodal Letter only.
For (i) Firmilian nowhere alludes to a letter from Cyprian to Stephen
as enriched with those metaphors, &c. The Garden, the Fountain,
the Ark, the Apostolic tradition of Rebaptism, are plainly taken from
Cyprian's letter to Firmilian himself.
(2) The Synodal Letter was
It left the question thenceforward in the hands
Cyprian's ultimatum.

*in

'harshly

of the bishops.

the bishops

'

Accordingly the next declaration

one by one.

As

The

force

is

'The sentences of

of that declaration

thus ac-

is

argument that Cyprian would in writing to


Pompeius have been stung to sharper retaliation on Stephen if he had
seen what Stephen, according to Firmilian, said of him, we may consider
that Augustine was impressed by the moderation of Cyprian and that
there is surely strength enough in such phrases as 'everything else,
counted

for.

(3)

to the

'

Se7itt.

Epp. 84.

'

VIII.

ACTS AND DOCUMENTS.

II. 2.

361

'whether haughty, irrelevant, or self-contradictory, which Stephanus


'ignorantly and unadvisedly wrote' (-^/. 74. i). Then, seeing that Stephen's

supposed moderate^ letter is described as evincing 'eagerness for presumption and contumacy,' and made Cyprian in his 'moderate' reply exclaim that, if such principles prevail, 'we must give up to the Devil the
^

'ordinance of the Gospel, the dispensation of Christ, the majesty of God...


'

The Church must

give place to heretics, light to dark.

'reason to error..., immortal

life

.,

hope

to despair.

.,

to death..., truth to fiction..., Christ to

'Antichrist' {Ep. 74. 8); seeing also that the

same

letter of

Stephen's

went the length of saying that dissentient bishops should be excommunicated {sacerdotes abstinendi), we may allow that it was probably in its
personal parts strong enough to have been the one which Firmilian saw.

That the Epistle


aj-e

to

Pompey

{Ep. 74)

earlier than the

and Stephen^ s

Epistle quoted therein

Third Council on Baptism.

It has been maintained (O. Ritschl, pp. 113 f.) that Cyprian's opening
address to the Third Council on Baptism, leaving liberty of action to all

bishops,

is

a kind of offered compromise or conciliation to Stephen; and

Pompey (^j>. 74), shewing relations with Stephen


an end, must be dated after that Council and therefore also the
letter of Stephen, which is criticized in it, must be a rescript of Stephen's
after his receiving the Report of that Council from Cyprian.
But the speech of Cyprian is no olive-leaf It states the position of
tolerance which he takes as against one who wants to make himself a
bishop of bishops, and who by tyrannous terror seeks to force obedience
on colleagues. {Sentt. Epp. Proem.)
Again the extracts from Stephen's Letter, contained in Ep. 74, are
mainly argujuettts, from practice of heretics, from traditions, backed by a
threat of excommunication
the very point touched in Cyprian's speech
arguments embodied to be refuted in a long argumentative letter from
Cyprian to a neighbouring suffragan who enquires 'what reply Stephen
has sent him to our document
quid mihi ad litteras nostras. ..rescripserit'^.
They belong to the progress of the discussion and wear no semblance of
a Roman ultimatum answering the ultimatum of a Council of three provinces and the letter which contains them makes no allusion whatever
to a Council so important, as settling the whole question for all Africa,
that, if it had sate and reported before that letter was written, it could not
but have been mentioned.
If the contents of one letter ever established its place in a series, the
74th letter to Pompey and the letter of Stephen which it quotes preceded
the Third Council.
that therefore the letter to

to be at

'

'

'

Ep.

74.

I.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

362
That Ep. 72

to

Stephen

is rightly put

down

to the

Second Council on

Baptisjn not the Third.


It

72

is

has been ingeniously maintained (O. Ritschl, pp.

14

ff.)

that Epistle

the Synodal Letter not of the Second but of the great Third Council:

Because it takes that standpoint as to the liberty of bishops which


Cyprian takes in his address to the Third Council.
Answer. It is the
same view which Cyprian uniformly takes. Cf Ep. 55. 21 69. 17 73. 26.
(2) Because, if the Spring (or Easter) Council had already sent so decisive
(i)

a letter to Stephen as this 72nd no third Council need have been specially
convened, as this was for September the same year. Answer. Stephen's

Second Council-letter was so truculent, as its relics in Ep. 74


was essential to present to him the strongest African front
possible.
It was therefore necessary to convene the Mauretanians, as
well as the Africans and Numidians who formed the Second Council.
And Ritschl himself thinks this was so important that he actually believes
(p. 117) that the determining to convene the Mauretanians was a solid part
of the business of the Second Council. [He believes also that he has
shewn that Ep. 74 and its quotations from Stephen's letter, are later than
this Council
but there he fails.
See last note.]
(3) Because the
mention of the Second Council in Ep. J2>- i does not imply that a letter
was sent to Stephen. Answer. It was not absolutely necessary to say
so in telling Jubaian what the resolution was, even if a letter went to
Stephen.
But the position of the Third Council is rather that of a
tremendous demonstration, by an utterance obtained from every single
bishop, upon Stephen's threat of excommunication. Their mere opinion
had been sent to Stephen before, more than once, and it does not appear
that any letter was sent by the Third Council.
The Setitentiae were
enough. (4) Because (p. 116) letter 72 itself states that the Council from
which it emanated was a specially convened one 'Ad qucedam disponenda
necesse habuimus...cogere et celebrare conciliu7n^ whereas the Second
Council was the ordinary Easter (or Spring) Meeting of Bishops at
Answer. Ritschl's quotation is unconsciously not quite
Carthage.
If the words which he represents (and does not represent) by
candid.
reply to the

shew, that

it

dots are inserted the sentence

is

'communis examinatione limanda


'venientibus in
'in

unum

''Ad qucedajti disponenda et consilii


tiecesse habjtijnus, frater carissime,

con-

pluribus sacerdotibus cogere et celebrare concilium


sunt.
Sed de eo vel maxime
baptismal question).
Now

quo multa quidem prolata adque exacta

'tibi

scribendum, &c.' {Ep.

72. i) (viz. the

here Cyprian plainly seems to say that he felt obliged to take the opportunity of 'many bishops meeting' to hold 'a Council' in order to arrange,

and formulate certain things, and that besides the one subject
on which he wrote to Stephen, there were 'many' others 'brought forward and disposed of.' It seems as if a more accurate account could
scarcely be given of the annual episcopal meeting of the year a.d. 256
exa?nifie,

VIII.

ACTS AND DOCUMENTS.

II. 2.

363

being turned into the Second Council of Carthage under Cyprian on


Baptism. The letter says it came from such a body^.

To

must add that the description of Council II. in Ep. 73.


in Ep. 72 of the Council from

this I

answers almost in words to the description


which itself emanated. Thus

Ep.

unum
vel

72.

maxime

magis

convenientibus

tibi

scribendum...quod

pertineat...et

ad

Ep.

in

pluribus sacerdotibus..de eo

ecclesias

catholicse unitatem..eos qui sunt..

73.

cum

unum baptisma

quod

in

sit

constitutum...non
baptizari

plene

profana

esse

catholica

ecclesia

do ad nos...venerint, baptizari opor-

enim demum

con-

tuaginta et unus..hoc..firmavimus
statuentes

profanje aquas labe maculati, quantere....Tunc

unum

in

venissemus...episcopi numero sep-

rebaptizari

sed

a nobis quicunque ab..

aqua venientes abluendi

sanctificari...salutaris fidei veritate

sint et sanctificandi salutaris aqute

servatum.

veritate.

(5)

Because Ep.

y^-

says were handled in

its

Jubaian's question as to
(6)

add that

it

is

says nothing about the multa which Ep. 72.

Answer. No. For Ep. T^


what had been done on otie point.
Council.

is

answering

a very strong point indeed that Ep. 72 mentions

its own Council only Epp. 70 and


Numidians and Quintus), and does not name 73 (to Jubaian)
which Cyprian, after it was written, used quite as a manual (as it is) of
arguments on his side, and read as such to the Third Council, li Ep. 72
had emanated from the Third Council it must have mentioned this Ep. T^.
Ritschl tries to meet this by saying that Ep. 73 was too rude to Stephen
which is feeble, considering the language which was
to be sent to him
undoubtedly sent. Besides, how could that hold when the Epistle had
been already read to the whole Council
I know how troublesome all this detail of restoring the documents to
their right order is, but what else can be done when such a scholar as
Ritschl takes such infinite pains to dislocate them ?

as documents issued by Cyprian prior to


71 (to the

.?

That Quietus of Buruc who spoke I'jth in the Seventh Council is Quintus
the Mauretanian, recipient of Ep. ji.
Hartel gives the name of the bishop of Buruc who spoke in the
Seventh Council {Sentt. Epp. 27) without various reading as Qidetits.^
So do most editions. But Pamele in his text, Morcelli, and Labbe, I.
Here is perhaps an indication
810, xxvii., and Index, have ^QuintusJ
'

For younger readers may

ihdX prmare consilium AoQS not

observe

denuo which gives that sense

hy

Ep.

iistli

imply an affirmation of a previous decision?

In Ep. 73.

it

is

the

word

71. \ firrnavit

is

the

but in

word used

with statuit of Agrippinus himself,

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

364

'Quintus.'
But however that may
and material correspondences between this short
speech and Cyprian's letter to Quintus the Mauretanian Bishop {Ep. 71),
There are these
I cannot doubt that the speaker was Quintus himself.
(a) The passage Qui baptizatus a mortuo in Sirach 34. 30, and the strange
argument about baptism by the dead (p. 41 1 inf.), are nowhere used by
Cyprian except in his letter to Quintus and in the Council no speaker
{b) Sent. 27 qui ab haereexcept this (Quietus or) Quintus employs it.
ticis intinguuntur.
Ep. 71. i qui apud haereticos tincti sunt. (<:) Sent. 27
uno vitali baptismate quod in ecclesia catholica est, et sanctificari debere....^^. 71. i unum baptisma esse: quod unum scilicet in ecclesia

some MSS. which read

that there were

be, observing the verbal

catholica est...et

sanctificandi

hominis potestatem.

[ci)

Sent. 27 cur

ad ecclesiam veniunt?...cognito errore pristino ad veritatem cum pceniEp. 71. 2 ad ecclesiam revertentes et poenitentiam
tentia revertuntur.
agentes...peccato suo cognito et errore digesto.
{e) Sent. 27 si enim
qui aput illos baptizantur per remissionem peccatorum vitam asternam
consequuntur, cur ad ecclesiam veniunt. Ep. 71. 3 sciamus remissara
peccatorum non nisi in ecclesia dari posse.
Labbe noticed a resemblance. I have shewn elsewhere [Appendix
on Cities, p. 607] that Buruc was more likely than not in Mauretania. I
should venture to read Se7itt. Epp. 27 QuiNTUS A BuRUC.

The Seventh Council under Cyprian and Third


ON Baptism was held on the First^ of September, a.d.
^

Mr

ments

Shepherd, Letter
'

ii.

He

has a date.'
also that the

Second

(his

'it

own Third)

He

would have been

further

far

natural to have said a.d. 180 or

such date,' for another event.


tainly

com-

might have wondered

has a date {Ep. 59. 10).


thinks

p. 14,

This Council wonderful to say

would have been an

This cer-

interestingly

early use of the Christian era.

was introduced by
nysius Exiguus,

'

more
some

This

Yet doubtless the paucity of

allusions?

dates of any kind

connected with
hostility to

been

even

solemnly

which comes out

is

remarkable.

that

intense

It is

African

forms that had


by heathenism,
Montanism, Nova-

civil

used
in

tianism,Donatism, and so fiercely in Tertullian.

It is

hard to impugn a council's

genuineness for wanting a date,

when

the Council of Cirta

ques-

(a. d.

305)

is

tioned by the Donatists (in 411 A.D.)

his

favourite Dio-

whom

he would rather

who must have known something

He may

African

have called Magnus.'

be ex-

Christianity,

cused for not knowing that Baronius had

ground that

used up that minute

lies

7not,

but has he

how far it was usual for letters


and events to be carefully dated in those
times and countries? For instance, Au-

noticed

gustine's letters or Tertullian's historical

had

it

solely

has a date.

to reply that,

on

of
the

The Catho-

though Donatist

councils and documents were undated,

Catholics did not eschew dates.

Yet
Donatism preserved a
Puritan tradition and that the Catholics

it

may be

that

VIII.
256^
'

ACTS, ETC.

II. 2.

an

COUNCIL

assemblage of no

VII. (III.),

THE

BISHOPS.

365

than eighty-seven bishops

less

from the provinces of Africa^ Numidia and Mauretania'

proportionate representation of course they could not be


with* presbyters and deacons, in presence of a vast

great vision was

see in actual presence

that

'

laity.

was given to Cyprian


copious body of bishops

to

It

fulfilled.

in

'

which he had long ago declared that the safety and purity
of the Church lay.

The

bishops,

it

be borne

will

in

mind, were the elected

judges, overseers and teachers of the Christian section of as

many

No

African towns.

than Africa of

Empire was more full


and financial life. The

part of the

intellectual,

civic

was the army of advance in things social,


moral and religious. It was the section which at present

Christian section

found

hardest to assert

it

its

whether individual or

rights,

was developing new institutions theoretically and practically.


It was already creating
a new literature, and it had in its bosom the constitution and
corporate, in the Empire.

Yet

legislation of the future.

Brought up themselves

and of

sight of justice

had come

them more

to use

On

it

rule the bishops

by

freely

(p.

in

daily

had been elected

117) view that

Cyprian found

it

we might be

necessary to secure the help of Maure-

content to admit for an undated Council

tania before venturing his step against

degrees.

the whole

the excuse which the Catholics allowed

one that the Donatists

for
is

relied on.

not dated, either year or day.

we do
It is

not

more

mean

to dispute

likely to

it

But

have sent

for that.

be due to unbusiness
See Augustine,

cum

Donatistis, tertii

diei,

cc.

Neander
^

xiv,

xv.

Firmilian's letter

until the Council


^

26

SententicE

Fifty-five

and

{op. cit.), vol. iii. p.

was

Cf.

263 note.

Numidia
Mauretania can
only two suffrages, those
;

namely of Nova and Buruc, and half


an interest in the see of Tucca. See
Appendix on Cities, '^. 575, and Note on
p. 363, 'Quietus or Quintus.' Ep. 71
and Senit. Epp. 11.
^

Dr

Pusey, Councils of ike Church,


on those presbyters and

was not received

p. 73, lays stress

over.

deacons being stated in the Acts to be

Episcoporum,

suffrages

27.

twenty-eight from the larger

region of

habits than to fraud.'

Brev. Collationis

Stephen;

It

'

Proem.

were from

Pro-

the presbyters and deacons of the respective bishops,

consular Africa (twelve of them from

deacons.'

within a circle of 45 Roman miles of


Carthage) this disposes of O. Ritschl's

text.

The

pars

plebis.

their presbyters

But the word

is

and

not in the

laity are described as

maxima

Sep.

i,

A, D, 2 '6 '
'

'

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

366

to their presidencies because in

them was recognised the

The

which might have pro-

special saintliness of asceticism,

come

cured election later on, had not yet

new

spiritual

power had

come

'

true

men.

spirit of rule, of instruction, of sensible converse with

into vogue.

into the world

and

'

it

A
was

committed to them to exercise it in a world of realities.


The towns from which they came, and through which
they travelled, presented the social life of the age in almost
every aspect
or

cities

'

as

simple

municipia,' as

'

republics,' or as

privileges,

and

'

colonies

with

splendid

'

free

and exempt

loaded with

'

titles

and

like

the

which,

buildings

amphitheatre of Thysdrus, rivalled or outdid the similar


structures of

and

Rome.

Their elaborate

their administrations, fiscal

known

modern

to scholars as

Treasury.

The

list

official

organizations

and agrarian, are as well

finance

of towns^ shews

is

to the officials of our

how immediately

the early

by laying hold of the centres of


and activity. The policy of the Christian Church was in
respects unlike that of the modern Missionary Society.

Christians faced their problems


life

all

It
It

handled christianisation as the state handled

began with strong

centres as fast as

it

centres.

focal

could

make them

no new focus unsupported.

It

civilisation.

threw out

It

strong and

safe.

fresh
It left

gave each bishop the utmost

independence consistent with unity.

Nothing can exceed the variety of the

Some
ites,

social situations.

of these cities were primaeval settlements of Canaan-

which

still

used and occupied their rock-cisterns and

Bozrahs of gigantic stones

half-solid citadels or

which with

by Sufetes, the 'Judges


all
of Palestine, stamped their Phcenician names on their coinage
until late in the Empire, and served Baal and Ashtoreth in
their accretions were yet governed

Imperial Temples.
^

See Appendix

on

the

Bishops attending the Councils

and Appendix on the

Cities

Lists

of

(p. 565),

from which

the

Bishops

Council on the

256

(p.

575).

came
first

to

the

Seventh

of September A.D.

VIII.

ACTS, ETC.

II. 2.

The Homeric

COUNCIL

THE

VII. (ill.),

BISHOPS.

367

Lotus-land, the large low Isle of Meninx,


to call itself Girba, maintained, as

just then beginning

it

does to-day, a pure Berber stock which had learnt of these

Canaanites to grow the best dates and dye the brightest and
costliest purples\
all

They have been

impartially receptive of

the successive faiths of the masters of the mainland.

The

whose peak rose some three

island rock of Thabraca,

or four hundred feet above

of the mainland, was

its

busy

own daughter

little

port and the forests

and mother of

to Tyre,

And

the coral fisheries of the Western Mediterranean.


the peculiar Punic fish-craft was then the wealth, as
subsistence, of

all

while

it is still

the

Hippo Diarrhytus and other towns, the bishop

of Carpos was bishop of a bright and fashionable seaside spa.

Of many
little

seaports represented

some were

still

the insecure

roadsteads which had for centuries shipped off the precious

yield of

farms.

Numidian mines, and the homely produce of Kabylian


Other immense elaborate harbours had grown up as

factories of

Carthage

others enclosed a vast precinct for the

chief corn-markets of the world, and depots for the grain which

Of

some had once saved


their commerce by offering themselves to the Romans, as their
cousins the Gibeonites offered themselves to Joshua, or had
fed the proletariat of

risen again

despised

Rome.

these

on such a flood of exports and imports that they

even the cruel impost which

still

avenged their

resistance to Julius Caesar himself

Tripolis

and the Emporia were

rich

and luxurious amid

unceasing wars with the invading tribes and the advancing

sands of the Sahara.

Other

cities

were seated among illimitable slopes of corn,

or overlooking the

High Plateaux, or among the

through which ran chains of villages and

Their bishop Monnulus

ing, not only for his sad

is

interest-

grammar, but

as using, to express 'the stain of error,'

a very technical term of Dyeing, and

lines of

that in a form
{Sentt.

Epp.

Cities, p. 575.

nowhere

10.)

forests

road

still

else existing,

See Appendix on

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

368

marked by broken

oil-mills,

dry fountains and post-stations.

Crystal rivers, which after short courses

now plunge

were then banked and quayed and at


thousand channels of

last

in sands,

led off into a

irrigation.

Numidia, on earth's most perfect


was with consummate wisdom long allowed to

Cirta, the old capital of

City-throne,

maintain with four antient surrounding burghs a sort of unity


or republic of their own.

The

vast region of

Mount Aures with

inaccessible lairs of restive tribes

its

rich

uplands and

was girdled with a ring of

strong and brilliant towns and was held chained, as

and

to Carthage

were,

it

by Hadrian's great work,


road of near two hundred miles to Theveste.
its

orderly powers

the

new

To

that ring belonged the military centre of Lambaesis, the

straight

Thamugadi, the most antient mart of commerce,


and Theveste, the centre of communication. And these were
beautiful

model

cities

also,

each a miniature

pliance of domestic, civic

with every ap-

Not only

keep legions and tribes engaged.


amphitheatre

Rome

and luxurious existence that could

for their dissipated

theatre and

and ferocious amusement,

temples to the gods and genii of Health and

Commerce

and Fatherland, whether Tyre or Rome, baths, with


amusements, triumphal arches which

all

their

set forth the conquests

of the Emperors and the motherliness of Empresses, ample

become churches, forums

mimic

and

basilicas

ready to

curiae

which business was discussed by orators with

in

the semblance of freedom.


leges of marriage,

honourable

and

Here

soldiers

their children

had unusual

were enrolled

all

priviin

an

tribe.

Along the Theveste Road


Legio Augusta, was a

itself,

constructed by the Third

line of fresh thriving stations,

with

here and there an antient town renewed, so populous that


before long there was a Christian See every thirteen miles or

Farther off huge frontier fortresses, like Capsa

'

so.

fenced

with sands and serpents,' held the key of Sahara for the whole

ACTS, ETC.

COUNCIL

THE

VIII.

II. 2.

Tell,

and controlled the caravans which laboured up and


across the enormous basins of the salt lakes, or

VII. (ill.),

BISHOPS. 369

down and

like Gemellae* created their

own

oasis

and there held the utmost

bastion of civilisation against the Spirit of the Desert


after all

is

who

master.

In safer districts lay what were simply the adorned and


of Peace

noble

cities

tharis,

and many

Thuburbo,
above

others,

Assuras, Thelepte,

all,

Sufetula, which

Mac-

was not

even walled.
In short, the material spectacle of these African cities

was

And what more

can

not unworthy of their setting in Nature.

be said ? There is no measuring them by our small and


sombre ideas of market towns and appropriate public works.

Yet many heathen knew that all the brilliance was darkened by a reckless using up of life and hopelessness in death.
The Christian Bishop in each knew that he and his were
armed with a message of reality. To the delivery of it it was
vital that they should be of one mind about this
entering
Therefore they met at Carthage about Baptism.
into life.'
For the present we regard the record of the Council simply
The arguments which prevailed in it will
as 'a Document.'
'

come later under


by the reading of
letter to

review.

Stephen ^ with a very few words from the President,

which Augustine justly eulogizes

and indomitable
had no

is

for their large pacific spirit^

Diversity in diocesan practices

tolerance.

terrors for him, although the responsibility of creating

diversity

he was

proceedings were opened

Its

the Jubaian correspondence, and of the

seemed

him

to

unconscious.

all

appalling.
'

Our

Of

creating

it

present business,'

himself

he

said,

to state individually our views of the particular subject

Its desert

of

Mokran

is all

inter-

Epp.

82).

Epp.

sected with channels, cross dykes and

Sentt.

proves his

A\xg. de Bapt.

ditches.

Its bislaop, Litleus,

case by a metaphor from

'

the blind

8.
c.

Donatt.\i.v\.

perseverantissima tolerantia,

ii.

5.

leading the blind into the ditch' {Sentt.


B.

24

{i^);

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

370

'

before us, judging no

of

removing from

one, nor

communion any who may hold


For there

his rights

from our-

different views

none of us who constitutes himself

'

selves.

'

Bishop of Bishops, or pushes his colleagues with a tyrannous

is

'

terror to the necessity of compliance

according to the scope of the liberty and

'

to

him has

his decision in his

own

since every Bishop

office

which belongs

hands, and can no more

by another than he can himself judge his


we await one and all the judgment of
our Lord Jesu Christ, who One and Alone has the power

'

'

'

be judged

neighbour*, but

'

both to

'

to

prefer us

governing of His Church, and

in the

judge our conduct

Then every

therein*^.'

We

seniority' delivered his opinion.

Mark

and

Cyprian's studied use of alio

alterutn.

In the next clause

the punctuation of

The

wrong.
quando.

The

the editions

all

is

on

Epp. Proem.

papal

these thorny phrases

way
was

to account like Baronius

Cyprian

think

expectetmis depends

Sentt,

old

'though

not

of

handling

them
by saying that
to turn

over-respectful'

'alluded of course to the Decree published

by Stephen's Supreme

Pontific

authority and headed as usual more

jonim with

the said

title

ma-

of Bishop of

{Ann. A.D. 258, xlii.) The


middle mode was that of the Franciscans
R. Missori (1733) and M. Molkenbuhr
(1790) and hapless Archbishop Tizzani
(1862), rent by those who fawn on him

Bishops.'

as

'

savant prelat

'

and

According
is

to this

'

docte critique

Peters, p. 504).

(Freppel, p. 429 sqq.

mode

the controversy

a romance and the records forgeries.

The third or modern ultramontane


mode is Mgr. Freppel's. He declares
with truth, It is impossible for me to

cannot doubt that

our attention' and


nante'

prelate in his

evidently

hommage'

(p.

is

we

a 'chose eton-

a token of 'dernier

425) to the 'Sovereign

So too Dr Peters (pp. 515,516)


can see no allusion at all to Stephen. He
however happily elucidates for us what
Mgr. Freppel left dark viz. 'who then
Pontiff.'

is

the object of Cyprian's allusion

?'

It

He, as 'the born


President of the Assembly and " Ober-

is

Cyprian himself.

metropolit " of

all Africa,'

merely

claims any purpose of using his


position,

dis-

own

which actually was that of a

'Bishop of Bishops,' to check freedom


of expression.

He further remarks that the Synod


was not at all designed to reply to
Rome, but was summoned solely to stem
the growing opposition of the African

to Cyprian
an opposition
which exhibited itself in the univer-

bishops

sally

and individually expressed

coin-

cidence of their views with his.

that Cyprian's 'absolute silence' about

See Routh, R. S. vol. ni. p. 191.


Erasmus and Manutius. Corrupt MSS.
Cambron. ap. Pamele. In the editions
of Erasmus (the first of this Council)
and Manutius, and in the much inter-

Stephen at

polated eod. Cambrone7isis (Pamele), the

'

see

any allusion

words.'

He

to

then

this

Stephen in these
artlessly

remarks

Council 'deserves

all

VIII.

ACTSjETC COUNCIL

II. 2.

THE

VII. (III.),

BISHOPS. 371

have the very words of each of those eighty-seven men*: from


some a telling argument from some a Scripture from some
;

an

rhetorical

a soloecism, or an unfinished clause ^ a re-

there

flourish,

Here a

an analogy, or a fancy I

antithesis,

statement of the opinion in terms of an argument*, or a


personal virulence or fanaticism far outshrieking the usual

Two

tone^

the

of

juniors

pleading their

majority,

own

inexperience.

nesses (except perhaps the last)

of 'Confessor'

title

prefixed to the

is

names of twelve of

the bishops,

viz.,

42, 47, 48, 49, 52, 54, 58, 61, 62, 68,

82

79,

that of 'Martyr' to 72, 76, 80;

and 'martyr de schismaticis'


Verulus; that of 'confessor

et

to

70,

martyr'

45 and 87. These titles are not in


our manuscripts. Baluze omitted them
to

(^Baluze, p.

329 and

p. 601), so

Morcelli

pp. 151, 226), as not belonging to the

(l.

'gesta,' as of course

they could not,

But

and as not given by Augustine.

though not authentic, they perhaps preserve

For

an independent tradition.

example, only four appear of the confessor-bishops

named

Ep.

in

the designation of Verulus

is

76,

and

the judgment of

adopt

still

the

Such weak-

appear occasionally in

Hartel thinks this a corruption, but

it is

African use, and even with passive in-

Ep.

finitive.

et excludi

52. 3 '...ejici

et adorari haberet.'
...et

&c.

de ecclesia

habebat'; Ep. 63. 6 'laudari


Testim.

i.

'quod

11

Novum Testamentum dari haberet,'


Mark

again the entirely broken


of the

construction

and the viva

end

of Sent.

voce doubling of

'

7,

illos

Sent. 4 'Debemus ergo


fidem nostram exprimere tit haereti^^j et

in Sent. 25.

ad ecclesiam venientes, qui

schismatirijj'

pseudo-baptizati videntur, deb^;v eos in


fonte perenni baptizari.'

'addimus

'et (?w...dare
*

interesting.

Ep. 72. 2
Ep. 70 fin.

[Cf.

ut...eos suscipi.'
iUis.'''\

So Pomponius of Dionysiana

'It is

But Cornelius
the sentences of an

evident that heretics are not able to

episcopal conference to Cyprian, 'quas

have no power either to loose or to bind


anything on earth,' Sent. 48. The pom-

Shepherd doubts.

sent in

Ep. 49

subjectas leges.'

(2)

In Eus.

vii.

29

we have
Samo-

the discussion between Paul of


sata

and Malchion taken down

hand,
2

iiriffri/jLeiovfievtav

See

Senii.

Polycarp

Epp.

3.

in short-

baptize and give remission of sins,

posity of Felix of Uthina again

'

Hadrumetum,

Nemesian, the martyr-

bishop of Thubunae, says,

'

This

is

the

is

un-

mistakeably genuine, Sent. 26.

Taxvypd<pwv.

of

who

Sent. 37.

know Heretics
thens.'

Vincent of Thibaris ; 'we


to be worse than Hea-

Wherefore he recommends that

they should be exorcised before being

Spirit which from the beginning moved


upon the face of the waters, for neither

baptized

the Spirit can operate apart from water,

quod habebant et damnationis


et iram...sanctificetur'; on this remarkable speech see Appendix on Cities, p.

nor water apart from the

Epp.

Spirit. '

Sentt.

5.

'unum habet

esse et bap-

tisma,' ' there has to be also

one baptism.'

'

Sent. Tz

a view accepted also by Cres-

cens of Cirta.
'

Sent. 8.

Cf. Sent.

ut cancer

"

Sentt. 71

and

78.

24-

10

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION,

372

On

debate.

we can but admire

the whole

and terseness of epigram, the

the

to

Cyprian's

own words, but

so far as in us

we must

'

'

own

opinion

all

our powers of peacemaking

is

quite expressed in the letter to

that heretics being by formal declara-

and evangelists styled adversaries of Christ

antichrists, must,

when they

join the Church, be bap-

one baptism,

'tized with the Church's


'

such expressions of the rest as

in

with

sentence of six simple lines closed the dis-

in a

My

our colleague Jubaian

and

'

lies,'

'tion^ of apostles
'

a conclusion

strive.'

Cyprian
cussion.

to

Augustine points out the quiet

adhere to unity which appears not only in

intention

'

pith

and even more the

ability

temper of so great a number of speakers


which we dissent from.

Roman

in

order to become

That

of adversaries friends. Christians of antichrists.'

was the unanimous sense of

his Council.

Firniilia7i a7td his letter.

Our next Document is one of singular interest,


Letter of Saint Firmilian to Cyprian.'
'

'

'

It

would be

we supposed

if

in

The

contradiction to the whole of his policy

that Cyprian condescended to bring to bear

upon the Council the pressure of any external influence whatIf he had desired to do so, it was within reach.
soever.
After the Council had decided, immense weight must have

by the confirmation which they


Directly after the meeting, and
received from Asia Minor.
so not early enough to announce an answer, Cyprian had
been added to

its

resolutions

written to the bishop of Caesarea, metropolitan (so to speak)

of Cappadocia, a very copious


copies of two others ^

Contestatio.

Senti.

Epp.

letter,

and accompanied

it

with

These he had sent by Rogatian, one


87.

Note

The

copious

the old jurisconsult's natural use of the

Firmilian's

law-term.

ments are

letter
all

to

references
to

made

Cyprian's

in

argu-

be found in the two

VIII.

ACTS AND DOCUMENTS

II. 2.

of his

FIRMILIAN.

who brought back

deacons,

reply

the

373
the

before

winter\
Caesarea was a memorable place.

hundred thou-

Its four

sand upland people*^ were even now in some unconscious way


preparing for a heroic stand within three years from this
time* against foes at present undreaded and undreamed
and

epistles 73
will

Careful examination

74.

convince the reader that nothing

is

quoted from 69 (as Ritschl p. 129 supposes), which does not appear in 73 or

Of

these Ep.

reckoning,

written to

And Ep.
the

of

74 was

Council,

after

and

contained the latest view of the whole


question,

and also of Stephen's present

for

position.

These two

mode

of

near.

Peters (p. 516) thinks that the

was that which took similarly to him the


news of this same Third Council. Anyhow Firmilian has had the account of
that rejection from Cyprian. Supposing
the delegates to have left Carthage about
the end of the first week of September,
there were eight weeks for them to go
to Rome, to return to Carthage, then

Pompey immediately

judgment

their inclusive

is sufficiently

seen, used as

arguments rearranged,

earlier

all

the

and considering

delegation rudely repelled by Stephen

a full manual of the question, contain-

with others added.

But

to Ju-

73, addressed

we have

baian, was, as

beginning of A.D. 257.

the end of 256 A.D., especially withy^r^,

Dr

in 74.

ing

letter at the

of.

letters therefore

gave the

Rogatian to make his way to Caesarea

and be back

in Carthage

'

before winter'

gist of all questions

which, for navigation purposes, began

which

at this era

were

his

and arguments on
judgment was required and

for this reason sent to the great

Asian authority.

berg,

This answei^s Ritschl's question. Why,


if

not

rate the simpler

Ep. 74

to Firmilian in-

enclosed.

stead of the later most elaborate ones,


in order to obtain his

judgment which

was required with speed.


1

the winter of a.d. 256, for be-

i.e.

fore the next Stephen died

was

in

from

this

exile

and

the

and Cyprian
report

sent

Council would not have been

kept back a year.

Here

Lipsius think the letter to Fir-

any

yet at

This

3.

Pearson, Rett-

milian went off before the Council, but

were not sent

all,

epistles

about November

would be time enough.

is after

Zonaras,

the Council and

it

was

Caesarea

is

be-

23.

xii.

tween 3000 and 4000 feet above the sea.


^ There can be no doubt that 260
A.D.

is

the real date of the capture

of Valerian [s&g Appendix on Chronology,

Caesarea

Valerian, p. 552).

bon's editors. It

is

fell

very

See the notes of Gib-

near to that time.

totally impossible that

this difficulty is raised, viz. that

Firmilian's letter can have been written

Firmilian, speaking of the persecution

soon after so fearful an event without

Maximin which followed the earthquakes in Pontus ''post Alexandrum


impiratorem,^ who was killed in February, A.D. 235, says it was 'ante
of

viginti et dttos fere annus' (Ep. 75. 10),

which

if literally

exact would date the

an allusion

and

if it

immediately

may

to

were

it,

considering his style

after,

after.

it

must have been

Consequently

we

be sure that the sack of Caesarea

was between 257 and 261.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

374

Their walls, like those of most inland towns remote from

by thousands, choking up

fell

They

had long since decayed or been removed \

frontiers,

own

their

ravines before the

By thousands they were driven like cattle to


They lost all things and then they recovered
as Paris only in our own days has done.

Persian Sapor.
watering^.

themselves

Their present native bishop, predecessor of their native

was a memorable man. Firmilian, conspicuous by his


had already, five-and-twenty years before this, become

Basil,

family,

more conspicuous

ennobled a race so noble that


tian,
its

years later under Diocle-

fifty

the judge entreated a Christian martyr not to tarnish

by

record

Capitolina
house.'

He had
deepen

will
is

'

is

death.

'

But

best

its

nobility,'

was a scion of the


him I fearlessly confess

that Firmilian

follow:

King of

after

kings*.'

paid Origen prolonged

visits in Palestine, so

no

intimacy with 'things Divine'

his

of no

student

criminal

replied,

'Him

that Jesus Christ

to

His eminent character

in that position I

common

To one

master.

best

common

of these

times

belongs perhaps his introduction of the awakened pagan

lawyer Gregory, afterwards the Thaumaturge, to Origen for


his

many

years of study in

prevailed on

church

all

that

He

was knowable.

had

Origen to come and lecture from church to

among

hung about the vigorous

the towns which

plateaus of Cappadocia^

And

there later on,

still

in Fir-

milian's time, sheltering from persecution, Origen apparently

found
^

fresh

Niebuhr,

material

Lectt.

Rom.

for

Hist.

his

tr.

Zonaras

xii.

23.

In A.D. 231 'the loth year of AlexAi^TpeTrev 8^ ev Toi/ry, Euseb.


ander.'
*

ff.

E.

vi.

Tillemont, vol. IV., p. 309.

Ta>a,%

avT(^ avvdiaTpi^eiv xp^''ovs

Virr.

III.

Euseb.

Firmilian

54, says all

Cappa-

But we must take


17.
make Eusebius say more

vi.

than he meant, for he too seems to


little

exceeded his authority.

After speaking of
ttjs

clsTa6eia^e\riiJ)(re(iJs'dveKa,'Euseh.vi.2'.
'se/cK\;(rtwi'

De

care not to

have a

26.

"

Jerome,

study''.

docia concurred in the invitation.

Schmitz, vol. in. p. 295.


2

lifelong

ci^Aetoi', Euseb. vi. 27.

Symmachus

bating (avoTeivo/jLevos

irpds)

as

com-

the narrative

of S. Matthew, he proceeds 'Origen indicates ((nj/na^cet) that

he received from

VIII.

ACTS AND DOCUMENTS

II. 2.

was admired
faculties in

'for the trained

FIRMILIAN.

375

exactitude of his intellectual

'an

philosophy and theology alike^';

illustrious

man/ says Nicephorus. But so Dionysius the Great'' had ranked


him long before with the more illustrious bishops whom
alone I name.' The great historian of Armenia speaks of
his many works, among them a History of the Vexations of
the Church under Maximin and Decius^
He was among
*

'

'

who touched

the earliest thinkers

with precision the facts of

Original Sin*, and S. Basil appeals to the treatises^ of 'our

Firmilian

'

in

evidence of the exactness of his

concerning the Holy


one Juliana these notes
with
of

other

(inro/xvrjfiara)

interpretations

Symmachus on

own

teaching

Spirit.

{eptir\vdai)

the Scriptures, and

there

no ground

is

to question the truth

of Palladius' quotation, but the contrary.

Origen then was probably in shelter

two years

he says also that she received the books

there during the

by succession from Symmachus him-

of Maximin's persecution of Christian

The

self.'

and the

expressions are so similar,

(nnxalvei

is

so

cautious

that

Eusebius must be building on a Note

which Palladius also saw {Hist. Lausiaca

c.

Patr.

Paris

Origen's

ed.

147,

1624,

Ducseus, Bibl.
t.

il.

own handwriting

book which was written


(7ra\aioTdr<^

/SijSXtCfj

Vet.

Origenem, says Orosius, Hist.

rather boldly)

proconsul.
Xoyiurdrr)

in sense-lines

and had

crrixrjpv),

may have been

Palladius
Kai

and the

translator

Juliana,
I

was

virgin

in

possession
Csesarea,

used to say she had received

Symmachus

when

And

in hiding at her house.

it

of

she

from

himself, the interpreter of

There is mention here


only of one book, and that not named.
Origen's word was eiXrjcp^vai, not dtaSi^aadai on which any idea of relationship rests. As to modern observations
the

Jews.'

"Oirep iy^y paiTTo iaca.ns 'which

book had

been inscribed' with the words given,


not that the book was a manuscript by
Origen.

Srtx'jp^s

does not mean 'a

poetical book,' but a


sense-lines.

book written

Book

instead of

TrepKpavrjs avrip /cat eKarepa^ yvucreuii

r)Kpi^o}/jL^i>as

^xwj* Ttts e|ets.

Nicephorus

Callist. /fist. Eccl. vi. 27 {valeat qttan-

tum, but his word


2

Toi)s

tQv

y^p

eirt(rK6iro}i/

Euseb.

is

from Dionysius).

Trepi(pave<TTipovs,
covdfiaffa,

fibvovi

Dion.

ap.

vii. 5.

Moses of Khoren (+c. 390 c. 487)


him doctri7tarum mirifice studiosus,
but desiderates more precise detail
of persons and places in his accounts
of Armenian and other martyrdoms.
Hist. Armen. 1. ii. c. 72.
*

calls

in

Routh, R. S. ni. p. 149.

Although Eusebius says no-

ol \(yyoi.

thing of a second sojourn in Cappadocia,

text

Hervetus confuses

Origen.

the

The

followed by Meursius, Lugd. Bat. 1616,

book

in

forced

Juliana

calls

iriaTOT&TT).

the story by hiding the

found

19
al-

by the measures of Serenian,

thus been inscribed by Origen: 'This


I

vii.

or else, being there

ready at work, he
into hiding

'^

1049)

7)

Teachers (Doctores, vel prsecipue propter

in a very old

p.

(a.d. 235

oOj /caraXAotTre.

Spii-itu Sancto, c. xxix. 74,

Basil, dc

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

376

His name stands

Eusebius's roll of the great con-

first in

temporary Church-rulers

before Gregory and Athenodorus

of Pontus, before Helenus of Tarsus, and Nicomas of Iconium,

Hymenaeus of Jerusalem, Theotecnus

of

of

power, whilst Cyprian had

Baptismal

in his

But

possess.
his

thesis,

'

speculative

in

for originality

need of action was the wider

spirit,

so to speak.

Dionysius wrote against Novatian.

He

wrote against Paul

Nay, he wrote to the diocese of Antioch

of Samosata.

in

itself

had already been deposed.

in a tone as if their wild prelate

But Firmilian was

we

only document of his that

his sense of the

was the more choragic'

death

after the

him no room

left

the

Palestinian

the

Maximus of Bostra\ This was


Dionysius, who may have been greater

Caesarea, and

both instances a foremost influence

assembling the churches for

fair

in

He

hearings of the questions^

was President of the Third Council of Antioch (Second against


Paul of Samosata) and there determinedly accepted, against
the sentiments of the Council, the apologies and promises of
Paul,

'

ance.

trusting

When

and hoping,' and leaving him room

for repent-

proved as useless as

this charity of his

it

was

in those days remarkable, the Fourth Council of Antioch

assembled, and whilst they tarried for him as necessary to


their deliberations Firmilian died at

This was the


as

man

to

whom

Tarsus on the journey.

Cyprian wrote

Romanists have hoped, the cause

not because,

hand was pre-

in his

judged, but because he was the foremost church-ruler of the


East.

His Letter, extant


Greek,

is

in a

Of

points of strong interest.

the

West

contemporary Latin version of

the most enthusiastic of the series.

Eus.

H. E.

He

was

Councils of Antioch, the

Church he does not write


he had never heard of

Paul of Samosata

Four

with
first

in

his

many

It is plain

vii. 28.

connected

has

the claims of the great See of

to guide the Catholic

with either awe or scorn.

It

a.d.

252, against Novatianism, and three

on

(i) in

264, (2) at an

uncertain date between 264 and 269,

and
vii.

(3)

30.

in 269.

Euseb. H. E.

vi.

46,

VIII.

them\

DOCUMENTS FIRMILIAN.

ACTS AND

II. 2.

It affirms

37/

the apostolic antiquity of the custom of

it touches on the annual synods of that


on the fixed and extempore portions of the Eucha-

rebaptism in Asia;
region,
ristic

on the

liturgy,

with regard to 'peni-

clerical function

awaken

tence' being not to bestow remission of sin, but to

conscience and promote reparation the quasi-supremacy of


Jerusalem, the unity subsisting under wide division. The
;

conduct of the

Roman

towards the Carthaginian Pope he

For

compares without a misgiving to the act of Judas.


arguments on the Baptismal question he

two of whose
digest with

letters this is to a great


It

illustrations.

on Cyprian, of

an 'open

fact

in

is

relies

extent an approving
letter,'

restatement of the case from the beginning, a contribution


to

the

controversy on

Cyprian's

the very force

side,

of

which consisted not only in affirming the concurrence of East


Asia Minor with Africa, but

arguments were adopted

on

He

Italy.

On

in

showing how completely the


which were urged

there,

says himself he had

those letters

by

vain

in

heart.

the Genuineness of the Epistle of Firmilian.

Questionings of the genuineness of Firmilian's

letter are

so mere an

Cyprian that it would


be waste of space to discuss any but the most recent. Others shall be
just enumerated first.
As if early doubts had existed, Rettberg (p. 189, note) under some
episode in the criticism of

It is

it

and

almost worth while to direct

in the history of

at-

on Firmilian (Annal.
ace/. A. D. 258, xliii.
1.) as an example of
his powers in statement and in criticism.

tention to Baronius

milian

made

'insurrection against' the

Church of Rome in judaizing with Mentanists and Quartodecimans, but was


'restored to Catholic communion' and

Cyprian (he says) tried to procure the

'died in the peace of the Church';

adherence of the Oriental bishops; For

he

is

in the

Let no

since he wrote to so remote a region as

'

Cappadocia he cannot have omitted

in his

write to the nearer bishops

to

Firmilian

man

think Firmilian persevered

excommunicate condition

Antioch:

cium' when he says that Stephen styled


Cyprian a pseudo-christ and pseudo-

bishops

prophet'; For neither Cyprian nor Au-

their adhesion to Stephen,

gustine mention those epithets

Fir-

'

For

with others he sate in the Council of

stands convicted of a 'patens menda-

'

For

28th Oct.

Greek Kalendar

Finally,

who were

all

the

Oriental

of his opinion about

baptism recanted next year and gave in

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

378

strange misconception, writes 'Augustine was inclined to recognise the

'genuineness of the letter as


'truly a fine

critical canon.'

it could be used against the Donatists


Augustine seems nowhere to make any
!

explicit reference to the letter.

The
or

Epistle did
repetitions

its

appear in the Editio

not

(a.d.

15

1471

because

12)

it

Princeps of Cyprian

was not

in

the

poor

manuscripts employed, although before 1726 twenty-six MSS. were


known containing it. Again, it was not in the editions of Erasmus

(a.d. 1520
1550) because not in the Corbey MS. of the Epistles
which alone he employed in correcting the old text. But Manutius
had the epistle in two of his manuscripts, yet did not print it at

Rome

1563: 'the authorities/ says Latino Latini, his editor {Bibl.


'
not approving of that hitherto unpublished
1 74 b),

in

Sacr. et Prof. p.

being brought out of its darkness.' Not that he entertained the


doubt of its genuineness. For Pamele having observed that

epistle

slightest

prudence would have dictated

its

continued suppression,

'

on account

oj

and bitterness which had led Manutius to omit


It was I, and not
'it,' Latini comes forward (p. 177 b) to correct him
'Manutius, who left it out, following my predecessors^ and because I
'detested the petulance of the man [Firmilian]^.' He did not know that
'

its

unepiscopal vehemence

'

previous editors had never had his opportunities.

Morel first printed it


imprudence, but
too important to be omitted, and administering an

and then Pamfele

in 1564;

thinking the letter

in 1568, criticizing Morel's

antidote.

The

first

Christian

person supposed to have questioned

Lupus

in

his

Scholia

on

authenticity

its

was

TertuUian's de Prcescriptionibus

on the ground that it could not be true, as stated in the


Stephen had called Cyprian 'a False Christ': 'An inane sort
of conjecture,' says Baluze, p. 513, 'against which no monument of
Poor Lupus however never doubted its authenticity.
antiquity is safe.'
Baluze misunderstands his rather clumsy expression De cujus tamen
veritate hcesito\- which meant only that he questioned whether Stephen
Lupus elsewhere also uses Fircould really have so miscalled Cyprian.
milian's epistle as genuine. (Chr. Lupus, 0pp. t. ix. Venet. 1727. Tertull.
(Bruxell. 1675),

letter, that

de Prcescriptionibus, Scholia, capp.

Raimond

4, 5, pp. 67, 93.)


Missori, a Franciscan, published at Venice

two
which he assigns the whole of the Baptismal Documents
to a race of Donatist forgers; and in 1734 R. J. Tournemine, a Jesuit,
printed some Conjectures sur la supposition de quelques ouvrages de
S. Cyprien et de la lettre de Firmilien,' in the Mhnoires de Trevoux for
Rettberg characterizes both by saying the latter is 'etwas
1734, p. 2246.
In 1733

dissertations in

'

^
"^

J/(2;brMw^jr^w//a[?antient codices].

Hartel

thinks

the

same

caused the scribe of codex O,

feeling

saec. xii.,

to

break off his transcript

c. 3).

(at positis

VIII.

ACTS AND DOCUMENTS

II. 2.

FIRMILIAN.

379

besonnener obgleich eben so absprechend as the other. Missori was


answered by G. G. Preu in an academical disputation, Jena, 1738 as
Routh, H. S. ill.
well as by Joh. Hyac. Sbaralea, Bologna 1741 ^
'

over him only 'quam infeliciter, quam ridicule.'


Tournemine a 'sehr griindlich' refutation was given by D,

p. 186, inscribes

To
Cotta,

Tiibingen 1740^.

Routh (J^. S. III. 186) records that Matthias Dannenmayr, Institutiones,


Vienna 1788, mentions authorities repudiating the scepticism as
Romanists and Weismann, Introd. Hist. Eccl. N. T. [Halae Magd. 1745],
vol. I. p. 249, and Koch, De Legationibtis Ecclesiast. xviii. p. 94, others
as Protestants: he refers also to T. M. Mamachi, Origg. et Antiqq.
In 1790 and 93 another FranChristian. [Rom. 1749 55] II. p. 316.
ciscan revived the attack, viz. Marcellinus Molkenbuhr in two Latin
Dissertations
he was laboriously refuted by Lumper (Migne, Cursus
p. 115,

Patrolog. TertuUian, vol.

ill.

P. G.

Lumper, Historia Theologico-Critica,

vol. XIII. pp.

797 sqq.).
Esercitazioni Cyprianiche,'
In 1795 Giov. Marchetti in his
[1787, Noiiv. Biogr. Gen.\ also attacks the genuineness.
'

In 1817 Morcelli in his grt^d. Africa Christiana

(v. II. p.

Roma

138) strangely

only because he cannot think that so saintly a person can have


denounced the Pope, and on the same grounds he denies the Epistle of
rejects

it,

Pompey.
Mr Shepherd 'added to and moulded' Molkenbuhr. His
idea is that the documents which the Romanists held so injurious to
their cause had been forged in the Roman interest.
In 1862 V. Tizzani, Archbishop of Nisibi, brought out 'La celebre conHim we leave to
tesa fra s. Stefano e s. Cipriano' (Roma, Salvincci).
the very tender mercies of his ashamed Romanists Dr Peters (p. 504),
and Mgr. Freppel (pp. 429 sqq.).
Cyprian

to

In 1853^

Mr

Shepherd's restatements and arguments, disengaged from their

liveliness, are these

That Firmilian's

I.

letter is

not spoken of by antients like Eusebius,


it might have been expected of

Augustine, Jerome, Optatus, &c., though

depraved human nature would delight in its


sarcasm and abuse.'
Several treatises which Mr S. says ought to have cited Firmilian's
letter if it were genuine, are themselves, according to him, not genuine,
But no one doubts
so that he can scarcely argue from their omissions.

them
'

especially because

'

'

ridicule,

Eusebius's ignorance of the West, or Augustine's of the East. Eusebius's


knowledge of Cyprianic transactions comes only from Dionysius' letters,
while Augustine is as ignorant of Clemens Alexandrinus, of Dionysius
^

Rettberg, p. 19011.

Rev. E.

J.

"

Rettberg,

Shepherd's Fifth Letter

to

z(J/</.

Dr Maitland.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

380

Helenus of Tarsus, and all the great prelates whom Eusebius


if they had never lived.
Shepherd argues as if
ignorance of an author's existence was knowledge of his non-existence.
Nevertheless Augustine seems quite aware that some Orientals had
mingled in this controversy quorundam orientalium litteris {c. Crescon.
iii.
I, 2)
and been influenced by ^epistolare colloqiiiufn' (JDe Bapt. c.
Don. iii. 2), although the accuracy of his information may be gauged
by his doubts as to whether many of them had held to rebaptism,
and by his statement that they had recanted {c. Crescon. I.e.). Why
Shepherd thinks that Eusebius records none of the facts of the quarrel
between Stephen and the Oriental churches, the probable convening
of one or more large Synods, and the cutting off of a large portion of the
East from the Roman Communion' (p. 18), is hard to say. He records
them all. It cannot be necessary to discuss why Jerome or Optatus do
not name Firmilian's letter. But Basil knew and used it. See note,

himself, of

ranks with Firmilian, as

'

'

'

p. 388.
2.

'

Cyprian ean only have written to Firmilian because Firmilian

Roman

'

was, like himself, under the

'

evidence of Cyprian's knowing this

been good ground for a


forger would for certain

'

3.

is

Such a

20).'

quite different

fact

would have

and a

forger's selection of a correspondent,

have brought out the


But the real reason

then favours genuineness.


Firmilian

ban, and yet the letter shows no


(p.

and

fully

brought out

point.

The

silence

for Cyprian's writing to


in the text.

Cyprian does not even whisper the name of Firmilian

great Council

(p.

21).'

How

wrote to him explaining his

should he.? on his

own

position,

own

in his

responsibility

he

but independently of and

after the Council.

The deacon Rogatian who

4.

been

in

such a hurry to return

'would not have


was important that he should

carried the letter

(p. 19).'

It

not only convey the reply, but also that he should anticipate the winter
at sea, beginning as

'The journey

5.

we have seen on Nov.

3.

of 2000 miles in a direct line' could not be per-

formed 'between the end of September and beginning of November' even


'if at that season there was a vessel sailing at all' (p. 25).
About 1400

and Mr S. has not realised either the rate of


number of Roman vessels, which for obvious
reasons covered the Mediterranean more numerously than those which
trade to the port of London itself, and especially before the open season

miles

is

Roman

the real distance,

travelling, or the

He

ended.

talks about sailing to

Ephesus or Antioch, but the valley of

the Sarus readily brought the people from the port of Tarsus to

within

fifty

It is

and

Comana,

miles of Cassarea.

well just to note

support each other,

how

the incidents of those objections

the speed

3,

4,

of Rogatian's journey on the verge

of winter, the haste of Firmilian to reply, and the silence at the Council

about his

letter.

VIII.
6.

ACTS AND DOCUMENTS

II. 2.

Some

FIRMILIAN.

38

other 'arguments' are beneath notice, but the boldest

is

and that there


Of course none

that "the 'Hellenisms' of the letter are not Hellenisms,"


is
if

'

no trace of the translator in the rest of the letter.'


Hellenisms are not such. As to this however judicent

the

'

'

In the translation

Mr

style.

it

is

vShepherd admits

it

the author of the rest writes his

In

A.
I.

be

to

own

some

magnam

of the

2 Cor. viii.

(cf.

Domino

in

unum

who

epithets

convenire

No

11) els ev avveXBelv.

alacritatem, the conjecture of Routh,


...a

compound phrases and coupled

voluntatis caritatem

dfXfiv irpoOvfiiav

3.

easy natural style in which

in the

letters.

equally impossible not to see the Greek

It is

periti.

impossible not to recognize touches of Cyprian's

n6Kkr]v tov

occasion for

points out the reference.

missi sunt unitatis spiritu velociter currentes {raxv-

SpOfJiOVVTfs).
4.

quoniam sermo
In the

B.

divinus...distribuatur, the

whole clause.

and sometimes awkward rendering of words

literal

3.

fratribus tarn longe positis

4.

seniores et propositi for Trpetr^vTepoi

(Keififvocs).

Ritschl.

oi npofarvtres,

Cf.

sup. p. 330 n.

In

c. 7,

prsesident majores natu,

where age

is

nothing to the point, but

the translator could not have used presbyteri, which would ascribe to

presbyters the power of confirming and ordaining.


5.

inexcusabilem sententiam

6.

eos qui

Romte

Hierosolymis observantur
7.

{avaTtokoy-qrov).

sunt,. ..nee

observari

illic

omnia

(squaliter quce

{ofioias kuX).

possident potestatem

{KfKTrjvrai).

10.

nee vexari in aliquo.

II.

quamvis ad imaginem

veritatis tameti {Kar

elKova ofias

Tfjs aXr]-

dfias).
ib.

pp.

daemonum

fallacia ipsa

est

[avrr]).

(Noticed by Hartel,

Praef.

xl., xli. n.)

12.

dividiint (the true reading for induit).

irvevfxa airo roi) irarpos Koi

(Hartel
17.

Cf. aVoxcopi^oi^fr to ayiov

tov viov. Theodoret, //. E.

4. 9, p.

314, ed. Gaisf.

I.e.).

quid aliud quatn communicat {t\ SXKo J?). (Hartel


Cf. 23 qtdd a/iud gua?n...hih\s.

i.e.

cor-

rectors inserted a^ii.)


22.

nos etiam

i//os

quos hi qui prius in Ecclesia Catholica Episcopi

fuerant cannot be an original Latin clause,


(TKOTrovvres nore e^auTia-avTO.)

Cf. S. Luc.

ii.

i^.

oaovs

49 Vg.

oi

kqt

'Ek*c.

sunt,' eV Tols TOV UaTpos.


25.

tit

quid

illos

hereticos...vocamus

(ii/a tl).

K. eVt-

'in /lis qtic Patris

(Hartel

t.c.)

mei

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

382
Note

also

quod totufn hoc

3.

fit

divina voluntate.

volentibus vivere.

23.
24.

...consilii et sermottis {^ovXrjs koL \6yov,

25.

quae ipse ac merito audire deberet {koX

25.

bene

omnibus

te valere

should be rationis).

a^lois).

^(5/j'...optamus,

ut...habeamus nobiscum

etiam de longinqtio adunatos.


Instances in which the Greek seems scarcely understood

C.

sed non enim

2.

si

= aXX'

improve the Latin

after Noltius

at

where Hartel (p. xli. n.) would


the expense of the Greek by etiam

ov yap

el,

conjectural.
nisi si his episcopis qzii

8.

ut per eos qui

22.

qui.

to

{?

oiovs

read as

cum

ipsi

nunc minor
:

fuit

Paulus {rav vvv).


Hartel would omit

cum unmeaning, and

ot cos.)

There is room for differences of judgment, but the above instances


which many might be added are fair, and together evince a Greek

original.

In

c.

10

we may

further notice the apphcability to the conditions of

Asia Minor, and of no other region perhaps, of the use of such words
zs, patrias suas about local persecutions.

The remarkable
invicem in dilectione,

translation
satis

in

c.

24 of Eph.

iv.

2,

3 'sustinentes

agentes servare unitatem Spiritus in conjunc-

is in the same words as in three places of Cyprian, and


from every other known rendering. Ep. 55. 24; De Unit. 8; De
Bono Pat. 15 (wrongly cited by Sabatier as from De Op. et El.). This
seems to indicate the use of a version which Cyprian used or made. It
is worth observing that even the African Nemesian {Sentt. Epp.
5)
quotes the passage as cttrantes servare.'

tione pacis'
differs

The

other quotations in the Epistle are either not

be conclusive, or

may have

marked enough

to

been borrowed from Cyprian's own Baptismal

letters.

Ritschl has undertaken to dissect the Epistle with a view to shewing

have been added

by Cyprian or his party to the


had been performed
with success, what would survive of the Epistle so much more than
suffices for the utmost support of Cyprian's views, that any motive for
forgery is latent.
But the destruction of literary monuments by conceits
that parts of

it

is

so

much

to

in Latin

Even

if

the operation

be deprecated that

it

is

original letter of Firmilian.

right to see

how

baseless the

allegations are.

Chapter
fiigt' (p.

132)

12.

Ritschl decides that this

is

'von anderer

Hand

ange-

VIII.

DOCUMENTS FIRMILIAN.

ACTS AND

II. 2.

383

because the question of the effect of unworthiness is deduced in


from the story of the demoniac woman.
(2) because the last words of 12 merely repeat the last words of ii.
Now this parallel form belongs to the stating of the Three Dilemmas
(i)

c. 1 1

pointed out below, and the beginnings also are parallel.

Numquid

c. II.

et

quando apud

hoc Stephanus

illos

omnino

Spiritus

Sanctus non
c.

12.

Illud etiam quale est

c.

13.

Sequiturenim

quod

vult

non

Stephanus

sit

autem

est.
illic

Spiritus Sanctus.
illud

quod interrogandi sunt

apud quos

Spiritus

Sanctus non
(3)

(...sich

est.

because (pp. 128, 9) c. 12 is closely modelled on Ep. 74. 5 only


iibrigens ganz geschickt zu verstecken) and tincti is used for bap-

(On this see 'Quotations,' p. 387.)


non mentitur apostolus' is used instead of

tizati in order to vary the words.

Again

for the

same reason

'si

'dicit apostolus.'
But 'non mentitur' takes S. Paul's words (Gal. i. 20)
from the same Epistle here quoted (Gal. iii. 27). And thirdly, quasipossit
...separari is varied with nisi si .dividunt and expanded.
This
varying however runs through nearly the whole Epistle only the words
are usually vtore varied. The phenomena are throughout precisely those
. .

of a retranslation of a translation, not


originals.

They

the emphasis
far

away.

checked by comparison with the

are familiar to classical tutors.

The

points are kept,

the wording sometimes very near, sometimes

is different,

In this last instance the original force of qiiasi possit...

Christo Spiritus separari

increased by the retranslation nisi si a

is

(May I here observe that Nisi si with


used in a reductio ad absurdujn when it is meant that

Christo Spiritum dividunt.


the Indicative

is

the opponent is logically proved to be actually in an absurd position,


and is not merely warned off his ground by a sight of the consequences ?
Compare 75. 11 nisi si...contendunt, 75. 14 nisi si...parit, 73. 21 nisi
si...prsedicant.)

To

pass from wording to substance.

puts Three

Dilemmas

to

In

cc. 11, 12

and

13 Firmilian

Stephen against his principle that 'baptism

in

heresy was Christian baptism'


(i) Would Stephen say that baptism by a person possessed by a
demon was Christian baptism, if administered in regular form ? (c. 11).
The baptized, if S. Paul is true, have 'put on Christ.' According
(2)

to Stephen, they
in

must

still

i-eceive

imposition of hands within the Church

order to receive the Holy Ghost

where the Holy Ghost


(3)

is not.-*

(c.

will

Stephen then say that Christ

Will Stephen say whether the baptism of heretics

flesh' or 'of the Spirit'.''

If

it is

differ from Jewish baptism?


cannot impart the Spirit? (c.

of the flesh,

how

is

'of the

does Christian baptism

If 'of the Spirit,'


13).

is

12).

how

is it

that they

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

384
Or

briefly (i)

unworthiness

Is there absolutely

(2)

If

no limitation

impart

heretics

Christ,

through

to efficacy

why

not

the

Spirit?

baptism is spiritual, what defect in their spiritual status?


Of these Three Dilemmas Ritschl proposes to drop out (2), that is
ch. 12, on the above frivolous grounds.
If their

(3)

Chapters 23

25

milian's original.

are also charged as a fraudulent addition to Fir-

They form,

it

said, 'a

is

whole' by themselves; the

Epistle ended with chapter 22,

and chapter 23 begins with introducing


a text of Proverbs that has no connection (unvermittelt) (p. 133) with what
precedes.
Further, certain words in the end of 22 are echoed in the end
of 25

(I

Now

suppose to create a deceitful similarity, but


these are the passages

am

not sure why).

c. 22. ...'And Stephen is not ashamed to maintain this; so that


he says remission of sins can be given through them, though they
are involved in all manner of sins, as if the Laver of Health could
be in the House of Death, c. 23, What place then will there be for
that which is written " Keep thee from the strange water, and from

a strange fount drink thou not^,"

if

leaving the " sealed fount ^" of the

Church you take* 'strange water' of your own


the Church with profane founts

Even

if

instead,

and

pollute

?'

a letter could have ended so abruptly, yet a complete

'whole' does not begin as

c.

The Proverb

23 begins.

certainly has a

quoted to support by Scripture


the argument that the Laver or Font can be only in the Church.
It is
quoted by Cyprian in the same connection in Ep. 70. i and thence (like
connection.

so

many

It is itself the link.

It is

other texts) adopted by Firmilian.

It is

quoted again

in the

same connection by Nemesian, Sentt. Epp. 5.


Again the end of 25 is no repetition of the first words of the above
extract, but a strong advance upon them.
c. 25...' it is manifest that neither can we have baptism in common
with heretics with whom we have nothing at all in common. (That
the point reached in 22 and he proceeds)

is

not

ashamed

And

yet Stephen

is

to afford to such his patronage against the Church,

and for the sake of maintaining the cause of heretics to cleave the
brotherhood asunder, and, over and above that, to say Cyprian is
a false Christ and false apostle and teacher and worker and con;

scious that all these flaws are in himself, forestalls

them by

falsely

laying to another's charge what he should quite deservedly have said


of himself.'
^

The

Prov.

ix.

strange (African?) addition to

Cant.

LXX.

'

18 which appears in

and in Ep. 70. i, in Sentt. Epp.


in Aug. and in Ambrose, but not
the Vulgate.

iv. 12.

must read

suscipis with the early

There

5,

corrector of Q.

in

the other Presents.

is

no

v.

1.

as to

VIII.

ACTS AND DOCUMENTS

II. 2.

FIRMILIAN.

385

The objection to c. 24 (p. 133) that its expositions are built up out of
Epp. Ti- 15 74- 4 '^"d 73. 20 would be of no weight if true. Firmilian's
open letter uses up for the purpose of reaffirming them most, if not all, of
the arguments contained in the two epistles which were submitted for his
But it does not happen to be true except in mere verbal
confirmation.
coincidence, as to the first two passages. The substance of Ep. 73. 15 is
the apostolic definition of heresy.
That of Ep. 74. 4 is the handling of
Neither of
Stephen's argument derived from the practice of heretics.
these reappear in c. 24.
That of Ep. 73. 20 is that Stephen actually
misleads the poor heretic who would fain enter the Church by rightful
steps.
This is repeated (not in c. 24, but) in c. 23 oi Ep. 75.
;

It is

asserted (Ritschl, p. 134) that

course of Stephen's action


it

may be
6.

c.

given so far in

'That the

primitive tradition,

purpose, anybody

and

as

c.

c.

is

25 contradicts

c.

full.

Roman
and

church does not

in all things

may know from

seeing that about the celebration of

and many other "sacraments" of religion, there


them some diversities, and all things are not observed there
{(zgtialiter quce) as

tribal differences

exist

with

in the

same

they are observed at Jerusalem, just as in the

other numerous provinces too there are

and

observe the

the authority of the Apostles to no

alleges

Easter,

way

6 as to the

interesting in other particulars

many

things varied to suit local

[locorum atque hoviinitni), and yet on this account

and unity of the Catholic Church have not at any time been
Stephen has now dared to do this, breaking (that) peace
with you which his predecessors have ever kept with you in love and
mutual honour.'
the peace

departed from.

The supposed

is found in the opening of c. 25.


Stephen fulfilled these the Apostle's commands
'and salutary monitions (those namely of Eph. iv.) keeping "lowliness
For what is more "lowly and meek"
'and meekness" in the first rank
than to have differed with so many bishops throughout the whole
'world, breaking the peace with each in various kind of discord, one
'while (w67^(?) with Eastern bishops, of which (fact) we are confident that
'

How

contradiction to this

diligently hath

'you too are aware, another while with yourselves


c.

c.

6 then,

25 places

it

it

is said,

later

makes

who

are in the south.'

the breach with Africa the

than the Eastern quarrel,

c.

while

first,

6 however touches no

question of time but only says that the Africans are themselves a living
instance of Stephen's quarrelsome pretensions; and

c.

25 does not say

that his Oriental quarrel preceded in point of time his African quarrel.

But

if

Dionysius and Eusebius (Euseb. H. E.

that the Oriental difficulty

was the

earlier

he

vii.

5) satisfy the

reader

will scarcely find his opinion

contradicted in 25, and in that case the error would be in Ritschl's

genuine chapter.
B.

25

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

386
The

linguistic objection, that the last

word of the

there applied to the union of Episcopal equals

Cyprian uses

it

among

epistle

adunatos

is

themselves, whereas

only of the union of inferiors to superiors, as of the people

to their bishops, or of the

Church

to Christ, absolutely breaks

down.

Adunatiis and adiinatio are used by Cyprian of the unitedness of his

Roman presbytery, and specially of the equal


and union among themselves of the congregation^, of the sons
of God", of the true people of Christ. Thrice in chapter 2, which the
own

action with that of the

relation

critic

himself calls genuine, of this very epistle,

it

is

used

in the

same

and once even of the union of angels with the Church. Similar
is Cyprian's application of the word adutiatio to the mutual bond of
churches', and to the 'many grains' of the sacramental loaf*.
Lastly, it must be observed that the marks of translation from the
Greek are as rife in Ritschl's condemned chapters as in any others.
sense,

Coticlusion.
These then are the fruits of (what I believe to be)
thorough examination of the objections pushed against the genuineness

of Firmilian's epistle.

The more

general questions raised either prove

pointless or lead to further confirmations.

The

diction

is

manifestly that of a translation from Greek

rings with Cyprian

the arguments are Cyprian's own.

the conditions of a letter translated under Cyprian's

the original of a Greek writer

The

who had

All

the style

fits

precisely

hand or eye from

studied Cyprian's arguments.

chapters which have been distinguished by a superfine

acumen

as insertions either cannot be detached from the context without violence


to the argument, or are provably not liable to the special charges

whether historically or linguistically


character as the

made,
and they have the same marked

rest.

No literary document

bears clearer stamp of authenticity and genuine-

ness than this interesting translation from such an author by such an


author.

Quotations of Scripture in Firniilian.

Another
milian)

test

some

may be

applied.

There are quoted in Ep. 75 (FirTwelve of these are also quoted

21 passages of Scripture.

De Dca.

Orat. 23.

Ep.

Dei...respondeant

adunati,

/. 69. 5;

...plebs adunata,

...filii

De

Zel. et

Liv.

18.

62.

i.

cf.

^.

60.

i.

75-

75-

VIII.

Ot Tolvvu

AND THE LETTER OF

BASIL

II. 2.

Uenvl^Tjt'ol fl-po5^\ws eiaiv aipe-

TlKol'

FIRMILIAN.

...quod etiana
pellantur

389

qui Cataphrygas ap-

illi

nee patrem possunt habere

nee filium

eh yap to Hvev/xa r6

clyiov i^\acr<prifj.t]-

aav,
TAovravi^ Kal UptffKlWr] ttjv toD Ilapa/cXi^Tou
01

irpocrriyoptav

Kadapo( Kal avrol

...

et<ri

oi

nveijfiaTos
/xerddocns

e<p^

n^

yap

fiiv

iirKprjfiiffavrei.

Priseam loeutum

5e r^s

'EK/cXTjcriaj

eavrois

'

'''O^

eTrAiTre

yap

x^'-P'''^^-^i

Trjs eviOicreios tCiv x/)i2'

rb xap'Cyoia to WVf.iaTiK6v

'^'<*'

8e airoppa-

yivres, XolVcoi yev6fJ.voi, oiiTe tov ^airTifeii' oi^re

toO

x^'-P'''''^^^

elxov rrjv i^ov-

Swd/xevoi x*^/"" Tivev/xaTos


aylov eripOLS irap^x^i-v, ^s avTol eKireirToifflav,

hseretici, si se

nihil

rint,

avrCiv elxov

oi

que

17

diaKoirrjvai tt]v aKoXovdiav

iaxov ray

airo-

aylov

wpQiroL avax'^p'fi<TavTe% irapa

tQiv varipuiv

5ta

si

quem Christum proedieent,


respondebunt eum se prsedieare qui
miserit spiritum per Montanum et

tCov dTrecrxtC/U^^'aij'

(TTavTes ovi^^Ti ^ffxov ttju X''P"'

Ot

quia nee spiritum sanctum, a quibus

quceramus

Sed

ab

qui-

et ceteri

ecclesia

Dei

scide-

habere potestatis aut gratia;

possunt quando omnis potestas et gratia


in ecclesia constituta

sit,

ubi president

majores

et

baptizandi

natu

manum

qui

imponendi

enim

sicut

manum

im-

sident potestatem, hsereticum

non

ordinare

nee

licet

et

ordinandi pos-

et

ponere, ita nee baptizare nee quicquam

ouK^Ti

Kaai.

Alb w?

Toiis Trap'

irapa.

XaiKwv

jiaTTTi^o/j.^vovs

avTwv eK4\vcav...T(^

oKrjOivi^

sancte et spiritaliter gerere,

totum nos jam pridem


leeti

peirOat.

baptismo baptizasset.

verbal.

There

is

more

quod

nisi

col.

eos prius etiam eeclesiae

8 yf.

are the

.... confirmavimus tenendum

Pairrlff/Mari ri^ ttjs 'ExKXT/crtas dvaKadai-

The correspondences

in Iconio

striking because they are so little

the constructive heresy of the Montanists

the two classes of heretics and schismatics

the loss of the

there are

power of

imparting the Holy Spirit through the loss of the Apostolic Succession
there

is

the reference in Basil to

some earlier canon, in Firmilian to


and there is the marked phrase
all these topics are in the same

contemporary Council of Iconium


'The Baptism of the Church.' And

his

order.

A. Harnack, Gesch. d. alt-Chr. Litteratur bis Euseb.

to this passage, but does not notice the parallelism.

tioned above

(p.

p. 409 refers
has been men-

I.

It

375) that in de Spiritit Saticto xxix. 29. 74 Basil appeals to

Firmilian's doctrine as a standard.

The words omitted

at the asterisk

couple Cyprian and 'our Firjnilian'' together as antient authorities

who

required the baptism of schismatics equally with heretics.

dXX'

TI\t\v

edo^e Tols dpxaiois, toIs irepi Kvnpiavbv Xeyw Kal ^ipfxiXiavov tov ^ixerspov

TOVTovs iravras nia

y}/i](f)Oi

vnoBaXflv, Kadapovs ....

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

390

The Nameless Author 'ON Rebaptism.'

The

interest centering

on the champion of the winning

make

yet lost cause must not

us forget that so far he alone

has registered what of record there

must be

cannot have been so unlike


scenes of controversy

who had

opinions

He

presbyters \

were with him.

is

His councils

record.

others as not to have been

his signataries not the only prelates

bishops not more docile than his

his

all

There

against himself

champion could not

facts a

regrets himself that not

all,

though so many,

some

In his last Council he seems to absolve

dioceses from compliance.

In his opinion worldliness

accounted for the disuse of Agrippinus' rebaptismal statute

we

but

are well able to see that that effect

also producible

by thought, by

Apostolic principle

and

if

charity,

was

at

least

by comprehension of

a contemporary of this stamp,

one who differed 'by a whole sky' from Cyprian, not traditionally or overbearingly but philosophically, should

vived,

how

have sur-

valuable might be his separate illustration of the

Christian reason and spirit in that age.

Such a

writer, I entertain

Author on

no doubt, exists

for us in

'

The

Rebaptism.'

His pamphlet was found and copied by the Pere Jacques Sirmond
from a 'very antient manuscript of Cyprian in the Ubrary of S. Remi
where it exists no more. It there followed Cyprian's
at Rheims,
letter to Pompeius^ and was subscribed Ccecilii Cypriani finivit de
Rigaut first printed it in 1648 seeing its value, and
rebaptismate.
from its diction concluding it to be ab cbvo Cyprianico parum dis'

tans.

Then Labbe

in 1672 in the Concilia., vol.

I.,

and, after

making

Hartel has no other materials to edit from

a new collation, Baluze.


(Prasf. p. Ixii.).

Ep.

dam.''
73.

71.

69.

plnrimi

coe^isco'p\. .qui.

10 'intus in ipsa ecclesia.

26 'coUegis et coepiscopis.'

Epp. 59 qtiidatn de collegis


Epp. 38 'quidam nostri
^

Sentt.

Sentt.
nostris.'

praevari-

catores veritatis.'

Compare 'episcopos

plurimos' and quidam in Ep. 63.


de Mort.

'etsi

quosdam.'
-

Ep.

74.

and

aput plurimos. ..tamen...

VIII.

ACTS, ETC.

II. 2.

THE

NAMELESS AUTHOR.

Labbe says {Synopsis Cone. Apparat.


the Vatican attributes

names

it.

it

Pearson accepts

this.

Baluze

and the Apostles

tween

its

series,

a phrase inapplicable

writing

torn.

in the

is

p. 83)

I.

Monk

to 'Ursinus the

a MS. of

it

in

an African,' and so

because the interval betot scectdorum tatita

also,

called

39

(c. vi.)

age of Cyprian.

Oudin {quifour-

Routh

{Rell. Sac. vol. v.

mille cTerretirs, as Tillemont says), besides

who

quotes Labbe as saying Three manuscripts, accept


Such names claim an otherwise superfluous answer. What
we know of Ursinus is from Gennadius, presbyter of Marseilles {pb.
283),

p.

Ursinus.

A.D. 496), in his continuation of Jerome,

De

Viris Illnstribus,

c.

27.

'Ursinus (Ursicinus Sirjnond) Monachus scripsit adversus eos qui


' rebaptizandos
haereticos decernunt, docens nee legitimum esse nee
'

Deo dignum

'in
*

nomine

baptizantur

rebaptizari illos qui in

nomine

Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti


:

simpliciter Christi, vel

quamvis pravo sensu

sed post Trinitatis et Christi simplicem confessionem

ad salutem manus impositionem catholici sacerdotis.' It


hard to see how this can have been taken for an account of our
author.
He is plainly not a monk but a bishop. The words legi-

'

sufficere

is

titnum and Deo dignum point to express reasonings turning on

(i)

which are not touched in this book nor yet


the distinction of baptisms in the name of Christ and of the Trinity,
nor the possibility of the latter being validly bestowed although pravo
sensu, which is an intelligible ground dealt with by Cyprian {Ep.
Neither is a preliminary confession insisted on. Again,
73. 5).
would Catholicus Sacerdos'' have been used in this abstract unless
it
were in the treatise described? our author always speaks of
authority, (2) analogy,

'

Episcopi.

Cave {H. L. I. p. 131) suggests that the Vatican subscription is due


some reader of Gennadius, and Tillemont that it would be well to
ascertain that the MS. is one of this treatise.
I do not know whence
comes Cave's account of Ursinus as 'gente Afer' except from the
subscription, or his date 440 A.D., but at any rate Ursinus must
have written (from Gennadius' statement) at a much later period of
the controversy, and probably in its Donatist stage.
As to Baluze's remark on the 'tot saeculorum tanta series' indicating a later date, the phrase is not of course more literally accurate
to

in

440 than in 250.

It

belongs to their general leaning to large

numbers: the expectation of the end of the world had something


but apart from
to do with making the Christian past seem long
that, this very treatise calls the few years of Peter and Paul's mutual
knowledge 'tanta tempora'; Cyprian speaks of 'tot haereticorum
milia' having entered the African church by rebaptism {Ep. y^- 3)>
Optatus, B. V. c. 5, speaks of John as baptizing 'infinita milia homi;

num.'
Fleury was absurd enough to think Stephanus a possible author.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

392
Tillemont

his clever discussion vol. iv. note

(in

Du

see also note

xl.,

Maran, Galland, Neander, Hefele, recognise the early


Cave also, partly on the ground of references to contemdate.
porary persecutions but of these, says Oudin, De Scriptt. Eccles.
Ant. V. I. p. 1006, Lips. 1722, truly, there is ne ypv quidem. The
position of the treatise in the Rheims manuscript is not without
its bearing on the date.
xxxix.),

Pin,

As

literary tokens

genuine reading of

of his antiquity

John

S.

vii.

we may mark the


Holy Ghost was nof

39 '(The)
Latin father reads this un-

No

before Christ's exaltation.


corrupted.

Again, 'The Holy Ghost,' he says, 'came down...

not of His

own

a paraphrase, which heresy early ren-

will,'

dered impossible, of '...He will not come unto you. ..I

send

Him

unto you,' combined perhaps with

He

'

will

shall not

speak from Himself \...'

From

upon the

a doctrinal point the higher value set

Hands than on

Imposition of

the Baptism itself

of early and not far from Tertullianesque age^


familiar use of

'

Baptism

in the

name

of Christ

'

is

mark

Again, the
as equivalent

would have been impossible when the

to perfect baptism

dis-

had once been thought out between that form and

tinction

the Invocation

of the

Holy

No one

Trinity.

could have

used the terms as equivalent after Cyprian's correspondence


with Stephanus was known.
^

14)

vii.

Jo.

and

xvi.

39 (ap. Auct. de Reb.


7, 13 (ap. Auct. c.

c.

6).

Tillemont, vifho does not recognise either


quotation, says (to
(v. IV.

note

xl.)

some

extent rightly)

that the fourth century

'would not have tolerated such expressions.'

It

deSofjLiPov,

had

in fact already inserted

Sodiv or daius.

fathers omit the

translator of Origen, if he

as independent.

preserved

No

Latin

word given except the

The

maybe

treated

true reading

extensively in

Latin

was
Mss.

Thus it is found in Dunelm. (A [Bentl.


K] saec. vii., viii.), Fuld. iF 541546
A.D.),

Sangerm. (G

saec.ix.),

Stonyhurst

(S^ sasc.

vii.),

Lindisfarn. (Y

Harl. (Z^

viii.),

saec. vi.,

Bezae (d saec. vi.), though

has in
in

eos,

srec. vii.,

Cod.

vii.).

has noiidatus,

it

Brix. (saec. vi.) not daiits but

See Bp. Wordsworth of Sarum

eis.

and H.

J.

White, Nov.

Test.

Latine,

559 (Oxon. 1895).


Routh remarks on the second passage

vol. iv. p.

'dictum illud non


tion,'

His

'edi-

in the

main

intelligo.'

R. S. vol. v. p. 291,

is

a wretched reprint of Fell's wretched

copy,

reproducing

even

nonsensical

punctuations.
^

Auctor

Bapt.

6,

7,

c.

8.

6 ad

fin.

Cf.

Tert. de

VIII.

ACTS, ETC.

II. 2.

There

THE

NAMELESS AUTHOR.

We

a yet nicer indication.

is

no more than an

He

applicability.

difficulty.

sense of

instinctive

does not drive

shall presently see

Church was in itself


Yet the Author has

that the Author's theory of the visible

adequate to solve Cyprian's

its

truth and of

home.

it

393

This

its

a phe-

is

nomenon which can only occur in contemporary arguments.


Two theories exist side by side in the next generation one
of them will have yielded.
At first the discoverer of the
;

one has rarely learnt

true

applies

merely as a

it

its

value

speculative

full

he

test to points of practice.

Again, the Author does not meet the great doctrine of


'

Unity

When

on which every argument of Cyprian's

'

based.

is

once a theory has passed out of the essay-stage,

when once

it

without seeing

it.

which others as yet compete with


session of the

field,

no eye can

stir

it

in

has pos-

No

one

could have written on Cyprian's subject even a few years later

The

without knowing of this key to his whole position.

absence of any allusion to the doctrine of Unity assigns the


Treatise on Rebaptism to the

How

could

it

the forms in which

which

assailable^

Acute

It

still

and fresh

Unity' as emphatically as

'

look at facts as

note how,

anticipating

they are,

'your

usual'

answer (which Cyprian does use


the case of the Samaritans, Ep. 73.
that

they were baptized

before receiving the

works out how

is

one

and not imperfect only but erroneous,


at the very time

when they

'...et

wei"e not

turbulentis hominibus ut

perstiadere:

9)

volncrint acquiescere.'

long

their Messianic beliefs

points,

si

Vi:/

iticipiant

consenittiris'^\yxx\vix\s.xa.(v3.Ta.

hoc quoque

nobis

Holy Ghost,' he

were then Judaic as to cardinal

mote suum negotium agere

in

'the disciples held the right

when

He

only baptized but baptizing others.

instance of his ability and

As an

desire to

viz.

in

language he writes as

in

to influence the controversy^

in his Letters.

faith

when

later

must be remembered that they

occur in the

little

was cast and the Scriptural symbols

in disputation"

one who hopes


^

it

was expressed were so taking, so popular, so numerous,

it

and so

years of the controversy.

first

have been excluded ever so

coiisilio

sano tandem

'Ut agendi in
ecclesia formam...2wrj fratribus msinticmus.''
telius et

MS.,

alii

Routk

\^Agendi conjecimus, Har-

multo ante egomet.


tacendi,

accenseri.]

accedenti,

Auctor

c.

Accendi
attendi.
i.

In

c.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

394

To him

of the bishops^

new

Cyprian's proposal

in effect a

is

question, an attempt to alter, to reform very widely the

He

usage of the churches, a step to Novatianism^

No Italian could
Roman tradition and

is

not an

Italian.

have avoided as he does an appeal

to

the

Roman

His adversaries are not heretics

African ^

possible for him, unless

is

like the Donatists;

There

they are churchmen and bishops.

His speech

pope.

no other date

is

can be shewn that there was some

it

other at which there raged a second tempest like ours within


the Latin-speaking church, yet one in which there was no re-

currence to either the arguments or the refutations of Cyprian.

would indeed be necessary to create a second Cyprian.


For no one else can be represented in the unkind sketch
which the Author gives of his antagonist, as he sees him
It

by

abetted

bishops in

his

imputing their own faulty

in-

To

set

ventions irreverently to the Church their mother.


against

the heart-burnings and separations that will arise,

all

the sole fruit of the


'of one

new

question

'

be vaingloriously proclaimed

'

man

of great

19 he calls the controversy pmsejiiem

He

among

and confirmation following


baptism

so

is,

tinue

and

(c. 9),

Optat.

(of.

ut venirent,

iii.

c.

retur Christus, it

should be denied).

c. 10.
-

Super hac nova qusestione

Nunc primum
insurgere
*

c. 6.

few

(c.

12);

(c.

9)

rebunt
is

Haereticorum...

of

these

Datives,

quoted.

flumina
14),

demanded by

citation

though

idioms

alio

prsestaturus
(c.

c.

i.

repente ac sine ratione

(c.

c.

may
4);

9);

devotans

the

(African)

sense

Routh

and

May

be
solo

(c.

de ventre ejus
this

propitius

sit

neque novi

i.

cur-

future

and the
Hartel

that,

whilst

existimarent ut...per-

iii.

c.

4 expectantes

8 dicebatur ut nega-

was ordered that he


As peculiarities of
version note ^absconsa hominum' (c.
13), Ro. ii. 16 (not noted by Hartel);

adminis-

with

may

he

think that he would con-

tered 'a ininore clcro per necessitatem.^

immediately,

that

the thoughtless as a

have 'currebant'
severet

contrasts baptism administered


'

he says*, the exaltation

and consistency

insight

altercationem.

'per nos

is,

whoever that

single person,

tibi

(c.

te (c. 9),

9),

Mt.

xvi.

22;

Mt. xxvi. 70.

here suggest an emendation

ie (=Joanne) for se? 'ait


enim Dominus...baptizandos esse non
quemadmodum a se in aqua ad poeniof

c. 2,

viz.

tentiam sed in Spiritu Sancto.'


^

Auct.

c. i.

VIII.

ACTS, ETC.

2.

II.

THE

NAMELESS AUTHOR.

395

enjoying the admiration of heretics^ whose solitary comfort

in perdition is to

'

extolled

right the errors

among

be seen sinning

his copyists

and defects of

company, he may be

in

and compeers,
all

having set

for

This pursuit

the churches.'

of logical issues, this tendency to Puritanism, lust of remodelling, extended ambition are contemporary accusations,

not so acrimonious as those of Puppian-, but as surely aimed

The charge

at Cyprian.

what angers Cyprian

Ape

is

'

is

the

what makes

is

sneer that

opponent undervalue

his

In the frequent interchange of singular

familiar*.

is

exactly

is

Novatian

The Author's

and imitate them^

want of humanity

custom

'

way to harden heretics

of the Church,' and that the

to patronise
'

of imitating Novatian

into the retort that

and plural addresses we see the large party, and the leader

who

himself the party.

is

text

is

sharply touched.

novelty,

'

that the

Even

may

Except a man be born again,

said,

must the

'

'

Why

'

and then why

want of

*at

'Whereto perhaps you, with your

the exquisite writing does not escape.

should

last

it

line

of disqualification

not at erroneous views

enforcing

to

so ornate

at

virtual heresy

imparting these rudiments.?

in

'

your

'

and precise as you

in

stupore

prsditus,

...sed

posite,

mysterium

Auct. 16.

Quoted four times

Epistles,

but

of

course

Cyprian's

the

cannot be limited to them only.

remark
Also

in this treatise,

isti

5, Auctor c. 3.
non tarn ornate ut tu et comquoque simpliciores homines

fidei

tradant.

Dicturus es

enim utique pro tua singulari diligentia


hos quoque denuo baptizandos esse.
Auct.

in

the

not

Nemesian, Scntt. Epp.


^

trocinii et consensus nostri....'

if

expression

are*^.'

I.

Ep. 66.
Cyp. Ep. 73. a 'simiarum more'; 3
' nos
non demus stuporem hsereticis pa-

You must

baptism

deimo''

has been imperfect

Finding ourselves then so close to Cyprian


Hsereticorum

How,' he asks
}

catechising bishop

&c.^

be drawn

skill

come

'

be drawn at heresy, more than at immorality

Auct.

favourite

forthwith impatiently answer, as you are wont,

Lord

sarcastically,

'at

Cyprian's use of a

c.

tain that
it

10.

It

Cyprian

appears to
is

me

as cer-

here meant as that

can never have been written after his

martyrdom.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

39^

Was

the Author acquainted with Cyprian's

it is

natural to ask,

full

writings on the subject? or

the Author

The

Had

Cyprian himself read

And

questions seem capable of answer.

as answers are deducible from facts lying aside of that

main

stream of the Argument on which we have not yet embarked,

we may

complete our review of the Book as a

intelligibly

document by producing them here.


(i)
Did then the Author know Cyprian's
on the subject

There

semblance of

scarcely a

is

where attacks
'

'

reception

'

holy martyrs.'

but

is

it

He

this.

baptism

If that

And

safe,

a reality,

is

no-

For example

very assailable typology.

his

Cyprian asks, If heretic baptism be so


.''

later writings

.'

why any church


heretics may be

Author meets these questions

the

simply as floating arguments without any appear-

ance of setting treatise against

He was

treatise.

ac-

quainted with Cyprian's line of action, with his treatment of


the ordinary texts, and with certain pamphlets on both sides'.

But he does not


His

them.

fasten

treatise

movement^ of

on Cyprian's

we know

specialities as

must therefore come quite early

in the

his day.

But another strong personality, besides Cyprian's, seems


be before him, when, analysing Christ's prediction of

to
'

false

prophets with miraculous powers,' the Author speaks

of certain powers,' and of the false prophesying^'


'

'

Montanism

for
'

certain

it

is

that,

own

his

in

'

nothing to do with Christ

Christ, cleaving only to the

'

helped thereby, nay rather

'

Name
^

soles,'

cc.

Scripta atqtie rescripta,'' Auctor


'^

p.

am

just as

if

Name

but

is

any one draw away from


of

Him, he

actually borne

3,

8.

is

unable to see what Fechtrup,

207, n. 2, sees: that de Rebapt.

an answer

to

profitlessness of

c. i.

13

is

not

much

down by

although he were before time most strong

His use of '^

'

because they are not Christ's, they have

'

the term

day, and then goes on

Cyp. Ep.

73. 21

martyrdom
Auctor

on the

to heretics.

FalsopropIietM-efidelissimus

aliquo honoratus.

this

in the faith,

12.

clero

VIII.

ACTS, ETC.

II. 2.

THE

NAMELESS AUTHOR.

39/

some rank among the clergy, or had


Can there be much
attained the dignity of confessorship.'
question as to who was the original of this sketch ? And if it
is Tertullian the early date is still more distinct.
or most upright, or held

'

'

Our impression
is

question
(2)

Had

as

the

answer to the next

Cyprian read the Author

.'

the Author proposes with the air of a new dilemma

can you consistently give to the unbaptized

place

confessor.^'
'

to be the

When
What

of the Author's place in the controversy

supported by what appears

and when Cyprian describes

human

exact question

this

argumentation of certain persons,' his reference

seems to be distinct^ and express.


When Cyprian says that the apostolic motto
baptisma' must
is

'

unum

not be construed as a rubrical direction but

a declaration of the oneness of the Christian bond, he seems


assail

to

that

'

to

Apostles.'

some such

as

interpretation

repeat baptism

the Author adopts,

was contrary to a decree of the

Stephen himself had not gone beyond saying

'what we have received from the Apostles,' meaning by


tradition''.

Again, the specialness of Cyprian's warning against the


idea that heretics will be kept

whereas they

away by the

required repetition,

appearance of

will rather be attracted, has the

a reply to some such representation as

Author paints the

that in which the

would by

responsibility of a church which

veritatem, catechwninos nobis op-

Quid autem statues


Auctor 1 1
personam ejus verbuni attdientis qui
forte adprehensus in nomine Christi

licas

statim confessus ac pritisqtiam baptizari

adprehensus fuerit et occisus, an spem

aqua permitteretur

salutis...amittat eo

'

in

ei fuerit punitus,

&c.

ponunt,

si

non

exomet...martyrium autem nonnisi in

consum?nari

sumtnari.^

Dominum

Compare

ii/i.

possit con-

73. 22 '...qui-

evacuare possint

humana

argumentatione prsedicationis

evange-

dam

quasi

antequam

his

sit

in

nominis

quod ex aqua prius


autem suo...

renatus... Sanguine

...quia Doininus...eum...//(7//2VeV5 est

ipso et per ipsum

ex

quis

ecclesia baptizetur in confessione

divinas

et

pollicitationis

gratiam consequi declarat...Dominus.'

The resemblance

is

verbal as well as

mental,
-

Ep.

73. 13,

Auctor

10.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

398

demands

needless

whom

deter from spiritual baptism those for

she holds material baptism to be essentials

Cyprian knew the

If then these are fair indications that

Author's work, can

perhaps be the actual epistle which

it

Jubaian enclosed to Cyprian^

There

the Church need not be baptized into

it,

a singular touch

as baptized already

name, says to Jubaian that he

in Christ's
'

is

Cyprian, scouting the idea that one baptized outside

here.

a mention of Marcion

'

which he observes

will not pass

over

in that enclosure^.

'

Marcion does not hold the same Trinity we hold, the same

'

Creator-Father, the

'

Marcion's baptism

this

the

precisely

is

same Son
is

and therefore

in true flesh,

Now

not in the true Christ's name*.'

ground which the Author

takes

in

denying to the (Marcionite) heretic the possibility of martyr-

dom.

'man
'

It is

'

an empty appearance of martyrdom, when the

believes in a different God, a different Christ; not the

omnipotent Creator of Scripture nor the Son of Him.' This

seems to be the

To

up.

the

'

mention of Marcion

which Cyprian takes

'

Author's acceptance of heretical baptism he

simply opposes his rejection of Marcionite martyrdom.


If

it

be thought that, supposing

enclosure, Cyprian

main

issue,

this to have been Jubaian's


would not have passed silently over its

namely, that while Baptism proper

Baptism,' like that of John, accompanied

has a certain power,


ing on of hands,

theory in no
^

Ep.

10.

73.

Not

may add

to

'

the

way

Spirit-Baptism

answer

lege

mum

24 compared with Auctor


accumulate passages,

we

Auct.

id est

is

on

his

because this

Rome.

naked

Name

ap-

*
'

solitary

sufficing for

with Firmilian, Ep.

9,

name

'men-

So Dr Peters, pp. 517 sqq.


Ep. 73. 4.
Ep. 73. 5.
Auct. 13.

75.

the

dacium.'

is

side as to the

who calls the invocation of


of God or of Christ alone

And

6 where he

own

salvation

parently correcting an extreme opinion

c.

It is

invocation of Jesus'

the com-

baptisma fuerant adepti.'

one very interesting instance


parison of Auctor

'

accompanies the Lay-

simple.

is

entered into the controversy with

John 'desciscens
2,
Moysi antiquissimo baptisviaie'' compared with Ep. 73.
17,
the Jews 'legis et Moysi antiquissia

'

Waterby Invocation which


is

VIII.

THE ARGUMENTS.

III.

The view

399

as remote from Stephen's as

is

it is

from Cyprian's

opinions.

The
about

Treatise then seems to yield these interesting facts


that Cyprian was acquainted with

itself;

it

that

its

Author, while certainly acquainted with Cyprian's action and

was not acquainted with

view,

writings on the controversy


it

in its early stage

that

it

his later or

more elaborate

that consequently he handled

was not improbably the

treatise

which Jubaian submitted to Cyprian.


Its interest lies

It is

not

in

Cyprian's being careful to answer

a fresh specimen of the

life in

which he

lived.

Its

it.

argu-

ments although they lie aside of the thread of the controversy


yet are produced in defence of the prevailing practice. In its

way it helped to widen the bond of Christendom at a time


when the greatest Christian man living was for contraction.
Its interpretation of isolated texts

employ or be

affected by.

by an acute mind whilst

The

was such as no modern could

forced subtle exegesis evolved

intent

on the

letter

is

in contrast

with the large anti-superstitious view which the same mind,


rich with Evangelic teaching, took of the

His

letter perished, his spirit prevailed.

which

this

phenomenon

most sacred

rite.

The frequency with

repeats itself in Theology

is

a great

witness that there truly abides in Theology a living

spirit,

from age to age using, and then dropping, that

which

to the eyes of subsequent generations


all

may seem

'letter'

to

have been

of which their fathers were capable.

III.

We may

The Arguments.

open our review of the Arguments with a

fuller

statement of that which, at the time when Cyprian began


to

give

his

support to the revival of

of Agrippinus by requiring

the old

discipline

Second Baptism, defended

the prevailing practice of receiving returned schismatics by

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

400

The Author on Rebaptism, though

imposition of hands.

his

particular arguments faded, yet contributed to maintain opinion

on the

may

which

side

The theory he

finally prevailed.

alleged

have been too subtle to be of popular service at any

time, too fanciful to have captivated the solid reason of the

r_.

Church for any period, and yet in fragments, in scattered


by side-strokes, such theories do substantial work. In

lights,

|pne sense nothing really dies of which the


{into the

This

which the form was accepted.

the line of reasoning by which the Author main-

is

tained the status quo


'

The preaching

I.

of John distinguished two baptisms,

These two are separ-

the one of Spirit, the other of Water.

When

able.

Name

Invocation

time

may

separated they are

The

fragments\
of the

has entered

may have outgrown

of the Church, however she

life

\the stage at

spirit

is

of Christ

integral

even after the

Power ;

still

essence of Water-Baptism

prior to

be completed ^

error cannot destroy

It

which

it,

gift

not unmeaning

is

the Invocation

of the Spirit, that

a Beginning which in due

has a virtue^ which intellectual

may

revive after

dormancy

which mistaken doctrines cannot

in its ministrants

hindrances than immoral

It

the Imposition of

lives.

Hands

gives the Baptism of the Spirit

it is

it

The Baptism

by the Divine Goodness.


less salutary

must be completed
of Blood, again, can-

than that of water, although to the heretic

nothing, because he suffers not in Christ, but only under

Name*.

Christ's

Invocation then, or Water-Baptism, must in order to

II.

become

effective

be completed for the heretically baptized by

the Spirit-Baptism of the Laying on of


^

to

remains ineffective until

although for such as never attain this

not be

be worse

Auctor

cc.

5,

with illustrations

from Scripture and from daily


-

cc. 6, 7.

Auctor

Thus he developes Acts

c.

17 'Those Gentiles on

name has been

life.

c. 10.

13

plated.'

baptized

c. 12.

whom

invoked... Yis^vq

"seek the Lord."


heretically

II.

xv.

Hands^

The
is

Christ's
still

case of

here

to

the

contem-

VIII.

THE ARGUMENTS

III.

CYPRIAN'S

I.

OBJECTIVE.

40I

Both the species of Baptism were represented on the

III.

Cross in their Unity, but two baptisms of one species would

be unendurable*.

There are then three Baptisms

IV.

of the Spirit

And

and these three are recognized by S. John^


Spirit willingly imparts Himself even to

We

the unworthy for certain ends.

should therefore trust

and not doing

so to do, adhering to the true rite;

by a second Baptism

violence

Christ or to venerable custom'.'

Such

is

his thesis*.

we have

making him responsible

for the

whose handling

Seventh Council

in

the

Invocation of

either to the

In examining the views of Cyprian,

arguments of

discrepant from that of his letters.

hand,

Blood,

Holy

the

Him

of Water, of

his partisans,

times very

at

is

to avoid

Firmilian, on the other

a fair representative and sensible summariser.

is

Cyprian's arguments are of remarkable range and fulness.

He

And

ignores but one aspect of the question.

that one

is

capital.

The

objective entity of the Church, the objective presence

of the sanctifying Spirit, the subjectivity of the baptizer and

baptized are discussed

of the

historic

evidence,

biblical

declarations, casuistic difficulties are tested.

grounds

His

objective

(i)

The unity of

t/ie

may be

arranged thus

The

Church demands (re)-Baptism.

we have

question with him broadened at once, as

from

seen,

the consideration of schism to the consideration of heresy.


the critical point these were identical.

Auctor

*
*

invalidate the rite and

c. 14.

Jo. V. 6

exception which follows

is

in-

what some
sects were.
'The conjuring fire' which
is shewn upon the water at Simonian

B.

is

an imposture

it

of

deadly.

becomes 'another Sacrament.' The


fire mentioned in John's Baptism is

teresting in illustration of

Baptism

make

In

It

8.

c. 15.

The

The demarcation

sufficient

metaphoric.

But

at

of Pentecost

fire

was

as

physical

'

salus

'

the

is

first

effusion

symbolic, just
the symbol of

spiritual in miracles of healing,

to

26

c.

16.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

402

Church from non-Church was

The

distinct \

representation of

sacred acts outside the Church was no equivalent for the


reality of sacred acts within

One Lord

was not

'

his,

and claim
for the

inviolate oneness

Although the

outlying dependencies.
'

The

it.

'

One

might own
One Baptism
the One Church,

schismatic'^

Faith,' yet the

One Baptism

had no

implied

'

which he renounced.

He

(2)

could not however claim even Unity of Belief 'One


,

Faith,' whilst the Apostles' creed stood in its African form.


'

Dost thou believe the Forgiveness of Sins and the Life

Everlasting through Holy Church

was on

?'

his lips null in

the very hour of baptism

The remissory

(3)

shewed

it

being outside the Church*.


side

it

of the

virtue

to be a function of the

respect of sin

in

rite

Holy Orders which had no

So that from the

ecclesiastical

might be said that the whole episcopal authority as the

bond of unity, and the whole dignity of the Divine economy


and organisation were involved in the question whether the
baptism of heretics was to be recognised ^
the Church had

many

centres,

dation-rock but upon

If

it

were, then

and rested not upon one Foun-

And

several^

if

that baptism were

recognised, untruly and untruthfully, then the unforgiven sins

by those who received them'


communion which behind the earthly scene knew them

of these strangers must be shared


into a
not.
Ep. 69. 3.
Ep. 75. 14, 15, 24, 25.
Ep. 69. 7; Ep. 70. 2.
Ep. 73. 7, a view which the mind

of Fortunatus of Thuccaboris developes


into 'Jesus Christus...potestatem bapti-

zandi episcopis dedit,' Sentt. Epp.

17.

Tertullian held the authority to baptize


to

be derivable from bishops, but as a

matter of order not of essence

Ep.

72.

Tertull.

Ep.
Ep.

75. 17.

73.

19

seternis peccatis

'...se

alienis

immo

communicare.' Augus-

tine properly observes

that Victor

of

Gorduba {Sentt. Epp. 40) goes far beyond Cyprian in alleging that such sins
must permeate the whole communion
with defilement [Aug.de Bapt.

vn.

iv. (6, 7)],

but

it is

c.

Donatt.

scarcely an

ille-

gitimate extension of Cyprian's view,

though inconsistent with other principles

de Bapt. 17.
^

I.

of his.

VIII.

THE ARGUMENTS

III.

The

separatist

CYPRIAN'S

I.

OBJECTIVE.

teacher has surrendered^

the animating,

unifying Spirit, and no personal earnestness of his

conveyJhat_S2irit

403

own could

He
followers by baptizing th enx'.
by the ingenious remark that in order
function John Baptist received the Holy

to. his.

illustrates his principle

to the exercise of this

Ghost

in his

mother's womtilij but since John did not impart

Holy Ghost

the

to his baptized crowds, he has to limit the

application to his baptism of our Lord

Christ, that they

sion

and similarly he says

Apostles received the Spirit by the breathing of

that the

might be enabled

to baptize

mid give

remis-

of sins.

(4) The admission of reconciled separatists to the Church


by imparting to them the Holy Ghost by imposition of Jiands,
which is the usage of even those who recognised their baptism,

was a

practical declaration that they

needed to

receive, that

had not received, but

Holy Ghost.

still

For the usage can never

be defended from the Apostles laying their hands on the bap-

was a confirming of work

tized Samaritans, since that

by

their

own

But

DeacoiVf)

the very water for baptism


...amiserit

.''

Ep. 69.
dat?'

Donatists.

Spiritum Sanctum, Ep.

who

tatus,

id est unctione, esse uncttts

The

in

'

reply of the Catholics

esse

solves

see

Op-

the question

with

datorem':

laughter.
*

^.69.11

\..adkuc

esset... ill yxitro

matris constitutus.' Cf. Luc.


KoiXias
*

iJ.r]Tp6s.

Ep.

i.

15 ^rt

Jo. xx. 21 23.

73. 9, in

connection with Ep.

Oportet

aquam

qui baptizatus est ut accepto chrismate,

se

gratiam

mundari

et

sanctificari

prius a sacerdote ut possit bap-

Dei et habere
Porro

Christi possit.

autem eucharistia est unde baptizati


unguntur oleum in altari sanctificatum.
Sanctificare autem non potuit olei creaturam qui nee altare habuit nee ecclesiam, Ep. 70. i, 1. Cf. Sedatus, Sentt.
Epp. 18 'in quantum aqua sacerdotis
prece in Ecclesia satutificata abluit delicta, in

69. 6.
*

mundus est et apud quem sanctus spiritus


non est?...ungi quoque necesse est eum

II.
Qui non habet quobecame a catchword of the

was 'Deum

sanctify

or the unction of confirmation

70. 2.

modo

initiated

the schismatic admittedly had

Holy Ghost, how should he

not as yet received the

if

cancer

tantum hseretico sermone velut


cumulat peccata.' In

infecta

Tertullian

(<3t

Bapt.

7)

the

unction

tismo suo peccata hominis qui baptizatur

gives the Christian his priesthood.

abluere...quomodo autem mundare

Aug. de Civ. Dei

sanctificare

aquam

et

potest qui ipse im-

xx. 10, Eiiarr.

in Ps. xxvi., Etiarr. in Ps. xliv. 19,

26

On

Ii. (2)

and

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

404
which

the sign of the Royalty and Priesthood of every

is

man

Christian

Above

all,

how

act of the Spirit

essentially the

is

yet could their Baptism be regarded as an inchoate

Nor

(5)

Sacrament, begun without the

The washing
Judaizing^

Spirit,

but completed in

of water 7vitJiout the Spirit

is

Under

a material pollution^

It is

and void of merit, the pretenders can neither

Who

but the living give

Comvi.

making

it

in

Joel

28 sqq.,

ii.

Dr A

.J.

Mason, Relation

Baptism, 1893, pp.


popularly Prudentius,

of Conjirtnation

to

And

it

sentence,

nor

'justify

but the holy can hallow^

life^''

our Kingship and

confer

Priesthood, see

Who

baptized^)

their

Jerome,

Him^

a mere carnal

Nay, applied as a deceiving semblance,

rite.

must be worse.
sanctify'

New

he give the

should

Birth\ which as the essence of the sacrament

must include

among

this

to.

XotTra 'tSv

which were omitted


on that occasion, and which are disXpy] ixeTaXa/x.^dveiv

'

tinguished from his neglect of confirma-

gale.^

See Bunsen: 'to the (catechu-

by Cornel. p. ad Fab. Euseb.


H. E. vi. 43.
If it were true the
argument of Cyprian would have been

men's)

vow

futile.

87,

171.

Psychoinachia, v. 361, 'unguentum re-

sponded

for

life

and death correas Priest and

tion

unction

the

King... The seal of a free pledge, of a


responsible
age, vol.

serve

120,

however that
is

bk.

no

and

Hippolytus

pp.

II.

stitutions,

there

act,'

(1854).

23,

the baptism, nor chrism (fivpov) for the


anointing,

both

iidaip

for

apKel

wpbs (Tcppaylda.

water

Kal wphs

It is

75. 13.

Ob-

the anointing before

subsequent

74. 6, 6.

Ep.
Ep.

'^

said that if

it is

Ep.

his

in the Apostolic Con-

vii. c.

oil for

suffices

XP'-'^'-^ "^"^

with Water that

74. 5.

Cf. Tert. de Bapt. i8.

Profanse aquae labes,

adulteraet profana aqua,

Ep.

.)).

11.

73.1,

profana aqua polluuntur, Ep. 69.

cf.

16.

21;

In

words this becomes more revolting in


the Vote of Sedatus [Sentt. Epp. 18,
above p. 403, note 5), but the sense is
nowhere stronger than in Cyprian's
earliest

men

declaration

on

the

subject

the English Church seals the baptized

'

with the Signaculum Crucis, although

but rather are defiled; nor are their

the Royal Priesthood of the Laity would

sins

be more plainly expressed and taught

higher.'

if

we used the primitive


As to the account

Haret. Fab.
ists

iii.

5,

anointing.

of

Theodoret,

that the Novatian-

used no unction,

it

is

possibly due

to the fact that Novatian himself

not received

it

(Routh, R. S.

in his 'clinical'

are not cleansed in that baptism

purged away but indeed are heaped

De

to consecrate than technically to sanctify.

The

effect of

temple of God.

had

Ep. 69.

baptism

''

Ep.

vol.iii. pp. 69, 70), for

we

Unit. 11.

Ep.6g. io,sanctiJicare\s\itver2Xhex

2.

71. I.

it

is

Ep.

to

make a man a

73. 12.

VIII.

THE ARGUMENTS

III.

(6) Is

CYPRIAN'S

SUBJECTIVE.

2.

405

maintained that for an earnest though misin-

it

formed convert the Presence and Sanctity of Christ Himself


Then, if
of the ministrant ?

countervail the unworthiness

how should His

Christ be there,

the Spirit be absent, as our Imposition of

can we affirm that Christ

We

And if
Hands affirms, how
wanting

Spirit be

.-'

present*?

is

have thus approached the subjective basis of the

Cyprianic argument.
(i)

\i

Faith of tJie RecipieuK^xs urged as the ground of the

mere

blessing, a

To

own

faith in his

be effective a faith must be a true

faith of the schismatic

is

cannot be adequate.

faith

But while the

faith.

deficient in a cardinal point, namely,

the remission of sins through the Church, the faith of the


heretic
(2)

false

is

words be

who

effective

in

Name

the

rare, if ever

it

ignorantly,

in

Africa

of Christ

was more than an exception.


still in

his

'

to be

This was evidently

without the Trinal Invocation.

says that although

own
some

in the Lord's

There seem to have been

understood baptism

sufficient

very

and often blasphemouij

But must not the Invocation of God

Augustine*

day many honest clergy prayed

and many erroneously, through

their

having pos-

sessed themselves unwittingly of copies of heretical devotions,

yet

that

it

baptizing

would probably be
than

sect,

people

easier

to

some non-

find

with

baptizing

mutilated

formula.

Stephen bestows no consideration,

When

upon such a form.


of Christ' he

persons

who

Christ.

He

is

'

in the

Name

using the words in a Scriptural sense, of

assumes the ordinary correctness of baptisms


Cyprian

it

of jt?;;A2)kind of baptizing

any approval,

less

at least intended to be baptized into the Faith of

such respects.

still

he defends baptism

Ep. 11. 12.


Epp. 73.4; 75.9.
Epp. 73. 4, 5; 74.

is
'

in the

Name

of Christ,' but only

Aug.

Bapt.

lie

{47).
2.

in

true argues against the validity

Ep^

73, ig.

c.

Donatt. vi. xxv.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

406

just as he argues against the validity of some baptizing in the

Name

namely because anotJier Christ and


another Trinity are understood by the baptizers.
of the

Trinity,

Name

Baptism in the
It is

of Christ alone.

necessary to look into this question with some care on account

of A. Neander's bold assertion {General Hist, of the Christian Religion

and Church,

sect,

iii.,

vol.

I.

pp. 446,

7,

and

notes,

Cyprian's letters and from the (contemporary) book

Bohn) that from

De

Rebaptismate it
undeniably clear that the Roman pa7-ty maintained, 'in a more liberal
Christian spirit' than his, the objective validity of baptizing in Christ's

is

name

alone, without the Invocation of the

It is in

the

first

Holy

place unfair to attribute to

Trinity.

Rome

the views of the

Author on Re-baptism who is certainly an African. But there is no sign


of his having held such a view.
1.
What the Author on Rebaptism says is (c. 7) that, while the
Trinal Invocation was not only verum et rectum et omnibus modis in
ecclesia observandum but was observari qjioque soliturn, 'we should consider that Invocation of the Name of Jesus ought not to be looked on
'by us ^s futile'' (a nobis futilis videri): 'it might have a sort of initial
'

virtue capable of subsequent completion.'

debet invocatio haec nominis

Jesu quasi initium quoddafn mysterii Dominici

omnibus

accipi,

quod possit postmoduvi

commune

nobis et ceteris

residuis rebus impleri.

not say what the residtice res are, but since the

'Name

-He does

of Jesus'

is

the

only thing as yet 'common' to the Church and these persons, the residue
of the Invocation, the communion of the Father and the Spirit, cannot
be excluded from them.
In the title and first chapter of the book the expression 'semel in

Domini Jesu Christi tincti'' is equivalent to 'Christian baptism,'


and does not mean one class of baptisms only, for it comprehends those
7iofnine

who

already were baptized in the

What

Roman

name

of the Trinity.

maintained can be gathered from the


arguments against them, but especially from certain clauses imbedded in
those which are recognisable as fragmentary quotations from Stephen.
2.

the

'

party

'

Stephen, Ep. 73. 16, is represented as


Such passages are these.
nomine Jesu Christi ubicumque et quomodocumque baptizati
gratiam baptismi sunt consecuti,' and Ep. 73. 18 'extra ecclesiam immo
et contra ecclesiam modo {i.e. provided that it be) in nomine Jesu Christi
cujuscumque et quomodocumque gentilem baptizatum remissionem peccatorum consequi posse' which is aversion of the same citation, ^///Wcumque' {sic lege) being Cyprian's paraphrase of Stephen's own word
ubicumque, and meaning whatever doctrine of the Person of Christ be
saying, 'In

'

'

'

'

'

VIII.

III.

THE ARGUMENTS CYPRIAN'S

2.

SUBJECTIVE.

407

The same passage Firmilian-Cyprian {Ep. 75.


multum' inquit 'proficit nomen Christi ad fidem
baptismi sanctificationem, ut quicumque et ubicumque in nomine

entertained by the

sect.'

18) quotes thus: 'sed in


'et

'Christi

baptizatus

fuerit

again the same passage

consequatur statim gratiam

And

Christi.'

nomine Jesu Christi


ubicumque et quomodocumque baptizantur.' Now this one harped-on
quotation (for it is only one) would have carried Neander's sense, had
the question been one of comparing the value of two forms. But there is
no such question stirring. The question is whether a schismatic person can
is

quoted Ep. 74.

'

qui in

being equal. Stephen uses 'baptized in the Name of


Chrisf in the New Testament sense as equivalent to Christian baptism
as Origen explains Rom. vi. 3, 'baptized into Christy by reference

baptize, all else

to the context to

mean

ordinary Christian baptism,

habeatur legitimum baptisma

nisi

sub nomine

'

cum

Tritiitatis^.''

utique

And

non

that

it

was only in this form that Stephen considered the Name of Christ to
be applied in baptism is plain from Firmilian's other quotation from him,
Ep. 75. 9 'non quasrendum esse quis sit ille qui baptizaverit eo quod qui
baptizatus sit gratiam consequi potuerit invocata Trinitate 7i07ninum
'

'

'

Patris et Filii et SpiritJis Sancti.' Firmilian indeed expressly assumes,


Ep. 75. II, that Stephen would require the symbolum Trinitatis, even
though his principles would (as he supposes) allow, if it were correct in
that point and in the interrogations, a baptism by a demoniac or a
demon.
Looking then even to the letter of what Stephen wrote (though so
If we
little remains to us), Neander's account of it is not justified.
Ipse
consider how strong Cyprian {Ep. 73. 18) was on this point,
Christus jubet baptizari gentes in plena et adutiata Tritiitate, following
his Master who says Lex tinguendi imposita est et forma prcescripta
we shall see that had he conceived 'Baptism in
(Tert. de Bapt. 13)
Christ's Name' to imply the disregard of Christ's 'form,' he would have
been armed with an argument against Stephen which he could not have
We shall also observe, with Tillemont (Tom. iv., Note 39
failed to use.
sur S. Cyprien), that neither Eusebius, Augustine, Vincent of Lerins or
'

Facundus ever perceived in Stephen such


would fain discover in him.

false 'liberality' as

Neander

In this view of Stephen, Fechtrup agrees, pp. 221 224. Tillemont,


title of the pamphlet, thinks the Author's
On the ground of the passage
position was that which Neander takes.
attaching impossible force to the

of Augustine, quoted in the text,


sects

named by Gennadius

it

has been doubted whether all the


dogmat. cap. Hi.) really did

{de Ecclesiast.

disuse the form.

While therefore Cyprian regards


^

this

Origen, Comment, in Epist. ad Rom.,

Form

lib. v. c. 8.

of Christ's

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

408
Institution

the

in

'

full

he appeals beyond
one can be

and united Trinity

this to

common

God

reason to decide whether

truly baptized into the Son,

of the Son's humanity, or one


of Creation and the

God

to be essentiaC^

'

who

who

denies the truth

taught to believe the

is

of Israel to be an evil deit;^

Granting then that the true formula has been uttered by


people of such tenets', he argues with force and dignity that
the

rite is

not a question of words

that the absent Christ, the

absent Spirit are not bound by them, as by a

spell, to bless

Thus then an

untruth, unfaith, broken charity.

effective

on the part of the recipient cannot be secured by

faith

the

formula.

Again, what

(3)

may be

incapable of definitio7i.

is

Church

effective faith outside the

It is

no part of the Church's duty

or prerogative to graduate degrees of departure

from the

Since a death suffered in persecution for a spurious

truth.

creed ought clearly not to rank as martyrdom for the truth,

how can

there be ascribed to erroneous baptism a virtue that

denied even to the Baptism of BloodQ.^

is

But

it is

Proof that

when he comes
for a

to the handling of the Historical

time Cyprian seems to have his adversary

in his grasp.

(i)

Ep.
Ep.

He had

and Ep. 74. 2. The


appearance of his argument is in

first

73.

Greek

in his

more

'

(Tert.

that

^a/^.

c. 15),

had drawn
'Our God and

fully still.

is

fl^^

treatise

not the same

nor

to say, not the

is

it

who
out

theirs

our Christ one,

same

accordingly

and ours is not one,


because not the same ; for as they have
it not duly and properly, they have it
not at all; and that cannot be taken
account of which is not had; and as
they have not they cannot receive.'
their

baptism

Cyprian, with a

The Author on Rebaptism

73. 18.

his 'Master

ls

pleaded 'Usage,' and

same
^

line of thought,

Ep.

Unit.

De Dca.
19.

14,

of this judgment

The

Oral. 24.

universality

can scarcely be

il-

than by the fact that

lust rated better

the broad churchman

Tract

follows the

c. 13.

75. 9

* Ep. 73. 21.

De

fire

De Jiebaptismate

who
in cc.

wrote the
i r

claims any doubt on the subject

'

3 dis-

as the

on another God and


on another Christ, he is a confessor
not of Christ, but in an unsubstantial
sufferer believed

{solitario)

name

of Christ.'

VIII.

THE ARGUMENTS

III.

CYPRIAN'S

HISTORICAL. 4O9

3.

caught from Tertullian*, argues that no lapse of time, no


extent of use can countervail Truth. Newest found Truth is

more precious than


an apology

Usage may be

the most venerable error*.

for ignorance while ignorance lasts, but

it

cannot

be a reason against Reasoiv)


(2)

Moreover the argument

Rome was
(3)

The

two-edged.

is

of

use

not the universal use*.

Again,

was argued that seceders from the Church

it

were not rebaptized upon their return to

it,

why

then should

whose fellowship they had lived meantime be differenced from them


He replies that they had once received
that one Baptism which was ever-availing to them as peni-

they

in

.-*

tents for

any

Their case was not parallel to that of a

sin.

heathen who had been made not a churchman at

first

but a

heretic^
(4) It

was

was argued that the original practice of the Church

by the

attested

fact that the

most divergent

heretical

bodies recognised each the baptism of the others, and required

no renewal of the sacrament upon

was

said)

the

transitions

and so

Church when they came home

nothing to require but a true confession.

own

to her,

had

Cyprian replied

that the Church had nothing to learn from heresy


objection that his

still (it

and to the

who

theory was in fact Novatian's,

re-

baptized even his Catholic adherents, he answere^lAan a sound


principle^ that accidental coincidence with heresy invalidated
Tert.

This meets the plea of Dr Peters

</^

Vel.

Virgs:. i.

5.^8) that Stephanus relied not on


Usage but on Tradition. Cyprian required that Usage should be verified by
Rea.son and by Scripture before he
would allow it to be Tradition at all.
2 Ep. 71. 3.
Ep. 73. 13.
* Ep. 71.
4, which was also true, as

(P-

Finnilian remarks, in other matters,

e.g.

in the celebration of Easter, Ep. 75. 6.

The Novatianists and

in the spirit of true

The former

Catholic Baptism as null.

the Donatists,

Puritans, treated

appealed to churchmen with such expressions as

Caia

Sei,

'Estote Christiani,' 'Cai


Seia,

aut pagana.'

adhuc

(Optatus

tatus speaks of the horror

him

...dicitis

'

11.)

es,

Op-

which affected

at the re-exorcism of Christians, 'vos

foras

paganus
iii.

!'

Deo

habitanti Maledicte, exi

iv. 6.

Ep. 74. 4.
Ep. 73. 2.
go ^yg. de Bapt.

xi. (16).

c.

Donatt.

Iii.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

410

no Church usage, and that indeed the Puritanic mimicrjt/was


good as evidence of what Novatian had learnt in the Church.
breadth.

For example, he

Church

'

the

whom

met by him with genuine

are

Casiustic difficulties

(5)

asked,

is

thus essential, what

is

term has

either

failed

.''

'

If regeneration within

the position of those for

is

of

catechumens martyred

'before baptisnV^.-' of heretics received in time past without


'

baptism and so deceaseai)*

His theory,

narrow than the more

Things

was

like his Master's,


liberal

essential to earthly order

goodness of God

less

would not (he knew) bar the

the most glorious of baptisms sanctified

such as having lived by the light they had

Church, though unbaptized

parted from her eternally.


for me,' says

one point

in this

party might have fairly expected.

Augustine

'

asleep in the

fear their

Simplicity like this

at this, in the

Ready with an answer

like this,

is

being

enough

midst of his refutations*.

Cyprian could yet more

abandonment of

effectively press the

fell

no man should

error

when

detected,

and despise mere scruples of conscience as to the unknown

consequence^ of Rebaptism
been perchance valid
difficulties,

in

'

should the

baptism have

As

the sight of God.'

for casuistic

such could be propounded on either

for instance

could even

now be

baptisms performed by a demoniac


tian

first

solemnity

i*

professed

side.

What

said as to the validity of

woman

prophetess

with every Chris-

who

foretold

and

claimed to have caused the earthquakes which led to the

who traversed frozen snows barewho had trains of followers for whom she

persecutions of A.D. 235,


footed and unhurt,

celebrated the eucharist with a form of


discredited,'

Were

her unexceptionable

'Sitniarum more,' Ep. 73.

Ep.
Ep.

invocation not to be

and seduced a deacon and a country presbyter

'

2.

73. 23.
ii.

33. (41).

or no

'Invidia quadam.'

Ep.

"jt,.

25.

Cappadocian case
Cp. the liberty
given by Firmilian.
given to the wandering Prophets, roi^
^

73. 22.

Contra Crescon.

rites valid

.-*

.''

Ep.

75. 10.

VIII.

THE ARGUMENTS

III.

The

4.

BIBLICAL.

Author on Rebaptism, though he

liberal

Simonian Baptism,

certain

CYPRIAN'S

the surface of the water,

'

which

in

fire

411
calls a

was exhibited upon

an adulterine, nay internecine

'

rite,

does not absolutely declare rebaptism necessary even then\

Of

Cyprian's Biblical arguments the more familiar need

more than simple mention.

scarcely
Loaf,'
'

'

One

One

Cup,'

'

There

the

is

'

One Ark,' to which the Donatists added


One Deluge.'
There is the schis-

Circumcision,'

There

matical (note, not heretical) gainsaying of Korah.


is

the inference that

on

whom

if

the Apostle baptized the household

how much more should those


was confessed by the imposition of

the Spirit had fallen ^

whom

be baptized on

hands

One

it

at their reception that

He had

never

fallen.

neat ingenuity appears in his dealing with some of the

passages

Name

as when he explainkythe omission

from

S. Peter's injunction of

Baptism (Acts

observing that these neophytes were Jews


Son's

Name

i.

18,

ii.

who needed

supplement their antient Baptism

to

on Philippians

of the Father's

38)

by

but the

or when,

which was quotefliyas shewing that even

an Apostle recognised the evangelizing work of his opponents,

he points out that their work was within the Church and their

enmity personal not doctrinal.

Some

of his most constant and conclusive quotations are

strangely erroneous.

He

perhaps started the interpretation of

Qui baptizatur a mortiio quidproficit lavatione ej'us^f He that is


washed after touching a dead body and toiccJieth it again, what
profiteth he by his washing.''' as if it meant 'He that is baptized
by one that is dead,' i.e. by a heretic. This is quoted in his
sense by Ouintus (Quietus) in the Council and constantly by
'

'

Petilianus, Cresconius,

and other Donatists, against Augustine,

hk trfKxpifTais iiriTpiireTe evxapi-CTelv


dKov<nv,

Unum

Aidaxr] t.

Auctor

c.

17.

off a

'Air. 10.

de Presbyteris rusticum

/.).
^

t/S'

(?sic

Ep.

/>. 73. 17.

p.

Sir. 31 (34). 30.

72.

i.

73. 14.

^ Sentf.

Epp,

27.

/.

71. I.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

412

who

at first

was only able

to reply that

the

Dead

baptizer

'

is

a heathen priest, or a deified hero, rather than a heretic \ not

observing the omission of

saw

'

and toucheth

he thought Donatus a

it

again discovered that

'

Fur

it

When

again.'

most of the older African manu-

in

words were wanting, and retracted

scripts these

he

and yet

divini eloquii,'

his strong

language ^

A spurious

spurious sense assigned to

Cyprian

in the First

and of

and run

it,

as mischievous a course.

Council on Baptism, quotes the Alex-

Proverbs

andrine addition to
water,

may have

passage as well as a genuine one

the alien

ix.

i8,

font drink thou

Keep

thee

not.

Since the Alex-

from

alien

andrine Clement had already applied the further spurious


context So shalt thon cross alien water to

and pass beyond an


waves to which

'

heretical baptism,'

and disordered

alien river to 'the ethnic

their pervert

would be

hurried,'

possible

is

it

that Cyprian or one of his bishops (Tertullian does not quote

thence learnt the application.

it)

them, and

in the

Firmilian adopts

it

from

Third Council Nemesian of Thubunae (whose

unusually long speech shews that he read Tertullian as well as

Cyprian) makes the passage his own.


5ense

Augustine's

not misled as to the meaning, but

is

its

common

authenticity he

does not question*.

Then again

Petiliani

Hit.

c.

Crescon.
^

favourite passages are Jeremiah xv. i8

il.

They

Epp.

are in

hXX.

27.

ix.

i.

(10),

xxv. (30). Retractt.

some

inserted in the citation

i.

cf.

<:.

21, 3.

editions wrongly
by Quietus Se^itt.

^airTi^6fji.vos dir6

veKpov

Ep.

c. xix.

70. I.

Clem. Alex. Strom. B.

his second clause not

Lxx. Ep.
c.

ii.

75. 23.

Sentt.

Epp.

Donatt. Ep. de Unit. EccL,

{65).

The Benedictine
words

are not in the Vulgate.

Cy-

them

15.

same form ab aqua aliena abstine


fonte, alieno ne biberis'; Neme'ab aqua autem aliena abstine nee

in the
te et

sian

'

I.

even in
5.
c.

'

ab aqua aliena abstine

alieno

ne

early

Latin

xxiii.

here.

Compare

cott's article

quoted, but

o/the Bible.

is

biberis.'

Aug.

editors have not

observed that the forgery


treat the

They

prian and Firmilian of course give

de fonte extraneo biberis

Kui TrdXt;/ awTbixevos avrod.


^

and

Deceiving water and Broken cisterns are to Cyprian plain

13.

as a version of Prov. v.

The

Versions

'

' ;

Augustine

te et

are

de fonte

varieties

of

illustrated

Tables in Bp. West-

Vulgata' in Smith's Diet.

VIII.

THE ARGUMENTS STEPHEN'S.

III.

We may apply to him almost

prophecies of heretical baptism.


literally the

address of Optatus to Parmenian,

futing his Cyprianic use of the

You

'

Law

batter the

413

'

when

broken cisterns

after re-

he proceeds

'

such purpose that wherever you

to

word Water you conjure out of it some sense to


'our disadvantage',' By the same verbal handling Cyprian
'find the

furnished the Donatists with their pet absurdity,

my

sinner's oil anoint

Let not the

'

head,' as being David's denunciation of

heretical unction ^

There

no denying the poetic aptness of

is

application of

the Paradise with

its

who in

sealed.,

pomegranateki;' from the Canticles, nor

of his bold pressure of the


Christian

his favourite

'The Garden enclosed. .the Fountain

New

Birth* and Sonship of the

Heresy can no more

than

find a Mother,

Christ can find in her the spotless spousif)

The Answer of Stephanus to this last was noble that


Heresy was indeed an unnatural mother, who exposed her
children as soon as they were born, but that the Church's part
;

was to
Lord^

and bring them home and rear them

find

the argument was on neither side a matter of simile.

Still

Whilst a glance through the references above given


that Cyprian's scheme

in

fragments in his mind, but was to him

coherent, logical

and

shew

will

not fully developed in any one place,

is

but has to be worked out from his correspondence,


lie

for her

was

did not

it

intelligible,

revealed.

Against such a piece of Christian philosophy, held and

promulgated by one
^

Optatus

2 Ps.

Optatus
*

II

iv.

Cant.

iron

iv. 9.

cxl.

(cxli.)

Ep.

5.

70.

1.

12,

13;

Epp.

69. 2;

74.

Ep.

by Aug.

How

poetry

74. 11; 75. 15,

Crescon.

may be

I.

answered

xxxiv.

(40).

turned into cast-

Epp.

33)

not

Ep.

is

Cyprian

Hartel

even

quoting.

Cyprian's

Felix bishop

{cautum) that ours

has

and

of

who

Bamsays

Christ has given us his security

natus.

75. 14.

c.

'

in

[Sentt.

{privatus).^

75- 15'

*./. 69. 2

mark

accora
that

7.

iv.

powers

of Cyprian's

75. 14.

/rz'z^a/^

at least

(small

noticed

blame
that

fountain

kept sigto

him)

Felix

is

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

414
character,

backed by an army of prelates

strained than stimulated',

moving

as one

whom
man

he rather re-

to his direction

yet with an independence which threw each upon himself for


his

how

argument,

No
strated

great was the triumph of Stephen

council assembled to support him.

Cappadocia denounced^

Alexandria remon-

His good cause was marred

by uncharity, passion, pretentiousness. Yet he triumphed,


and in him the Church of Rome triumphed, as she deserved.
For she was not the Church of Rome as modern Europe
has

known

She was the


the Truth made

her.

church

whom

secure

latitude,

liberal

free

church

the

the representative of

comprehensiveness,

charitable

then

considerate

regulation.

This question she decided on one grand principle,

rather

a grand instinct as yet, to be informed later into a principle.

For Stephen's theology was not

Nor was

it.

it

sufficiently

advanced to define

formulated until Augustine's time.

It

was the

principle which all the four western doctors contributed to


establish

same

for

the analogous case of ordination.

in

It

which the Church must ever be content to

was the
set aside

her ever-recurring temptations to discountenance error by

denying the grace of those who

err,

by

to assert her dignity

increasing severity, and to attract mankind, as Cyprian said

by

her very

'As there was much for a learned Cyprian to


was something too for a teachable Cyprian

to learn,'

she would^,

and

this

is

hardest to forego,

exclusiveness.

there

teach, so

This must be our inference from

immo

his

opening speech; they would have

audacia, insolentia, imperitia.'

liked well to 'pass judgment' on the

Bishop of

Rome

some would not only

have baptized but exorcized returning


heretics:

Vincent of Thibaris (Senti.

pp. 37) exclaimed

'

we

knozo heretics

Firmilian sprinkles over

omnibus pejor

inhumanity was welcome;

it

es...

'His

had brought

out the faith and wisdom of Cyprian,

even

the

as

brought

perfidy

!'

of

Judas

'A budding

Episcopus episcoporum

[it

title

had
of

had already

provoked the sarcasm of Tertullian]

to be worse than the heathen.'


-

tu haereticis

him such

flowers as 'Animosus, iracundus...quin

protrudes
^

Ep.

itself.'

73. 24.

VIII.

THE ARGUMENTS

III.

STEPHEN'S.

415

says Augustine*, criticizing his reproof of Stephen's indocile

The

temper.

was

which underlay Cyprian's convictions

fallacy

which had deceived Tertullian

really that

moved and maintained*


they held to be

later

the Donatists in extending to what

Treason

'

which

in

'

an orthodox

cleric the grace-

debarring power which their fathers had attributed to schism

which made Wyclif^ deny the validity of Sacraments or


Orders given by a Bishop or Presbyter whilst
led Calvin

Knox

and

in sin

to refuse baptism to the infant children

of 'papists,' or the divines of Geneva to allow

hope

charitable

which

that

'grace which

the

upon a

it

had adopted... the

great-grandfathers might not yet be so wholly extinct' as that

the infants should

have

lost

'

their

right

common

to the

seal*.'

Although

Cyprian ^ and even as

in

Donatists, there

is

it

would seem

in

the

no trace of such teaching as that the moral

character of the priest affects the efficacy of the Sacrament, yet


the Puritan
talism

dogma (compared with which any

but shadowy) That the minister

is

sacrament

of the
^

De

'To confront

Bapt.

writings as

if

c.

(40);

cf.

'^

Aug.

be

Donatt. v. xxvi. (37).


us with Cyprian's

they were bases of canoni-

cal authority.' K\x^.

cent.;

may

c.

Crescon. Il.xxxii.

iS/. 93.C. 10(38),

Aug. Ep. 108.

c.

3 (9),

ad Vin-

ad Macrob.

'...Si episcopus vel sacerdos existat

in peccato viortali nan ordinat, conjicit,

nee baptizat

'

is

which some of
at the

a Wyclifite proposition
his disciples

renounced

Council of London, A.D. 1382,

and which was condemned at Constance


see Labbe (Mansi), vol. xxvi. col. 696
vol.
*

XXVII.

col. 1207.

Hooker, B.

III.

i.

Venet. 1784.
12.

Routh (vol. III. p. 151) strangely


accuses Erasmus of having written that
'Cyprian seems (in Ep. 67) to feel that
*

the sacrifice of a wicked priest avails

nothing but rather defiles the people,'

considered

to

implicitly

lie

Erasmus continues 'But he means,

for
I

other sacerdo-

of the substance

is

pointed by
bishop:

of a bishop ap-

the case

think, in

heretics,

his

rites

who

not a

is

do not

profit

Erasm.

wlio support his impiety.'


loc.

Cypr.

The

real

those
aa^

Donatist limitation of

disqualification to the Traditores s,e.Qms

an
For Augustine
seems always able to reduce them to a
dilemma by asking whether 'secret
murders and adulteries were not an

arbitrary, but apparently existed in

unthought out fashion.

equal disqualification.

had not so
case

stated

too in his

c.

'

They

There
litt.

therefore

is

'

baptized) really were baptized.'


^

a special

Petiliani

iii.

You (Donatists) /o o^ flfey


people (whom a criminal priest

xxxv. (40)
that the

W..

Hooker,

v. Ixi.

4 n.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

4l6

one proposition

in that

West.

rest of the

in which Cyprian differed from the


was not until Augustine's time that a

It

was developed soundly to each separate


argument of Cyprian and his bishops so long did they
categorical answer

seeming convincingness almost unbroken, nay had

retain their

become 'like Scripture" to their maintainers.


Yet the true solvent had evidently been perceived

by

his opponents, although the

at

once

minute fragments of Stephen's

own language which Cyprian gives us do not contain the


exact statement.
The grace of Baptism they said was
of Christ, not of the human baptizer.'
He who baptized did
'

'

'

not give being or add force

been almost on the

Cyprian of their
they,

Baptism

'

lips

when they

difficulty as to rebaptizing,

That oneness

One!

is

This had

to the Sacrament.

'

of the Numidians

is

first

told

because,' said

of the

One Lord

but they had allowed themselves to be put off with the superreply that

ficial

to admit

oneness was of the one Church, and that

its

non-Church baptism was to admit two baptisms or

more^

to recognise

The Author on Rebaptism


force,

so that

for so

many

it

is

states

subtleties this real

answer^

P. 415, note 2.

majestatis

"

Fechtrup,

prias,

answer

p. 201, n. 2, in trying to

Peters

Ep.

70.

by

Peters'

512) for his perfectly

(p.

^.

and

other hand Peters

is

71.

wrong

i.

On

the

in thinking

that Cyprian himself has this

key

own

There he

error

Ep.

in

69.

14.

to his

This
lib.

v.

is

c.

ejusdem

well expressed by Optatus,


i

rei

See also 13 of the same Epistle.


guards himself carefully.
^

Auctor 10

damus

et

'

He

cte-

lestibus vires suas, et dignationi divinse

'Has

res unicuique

non

c.

'

...omnes qui

baptizant operarios esse, non dominos,

sacramenta perse esse sancta, non per

cation

But

many

Optatus answers by impliof Cyprian's arguments.

how the power of his


name forbade direct attack. Au-

it

great

virorum optime, red-

permittamus virtutibus

operarius sed credentis fides

et Trinitas prsestat.'

et

Baptism.

libenter ei adquies-

camus.'

homines....'

in

us, excellent

concedamus operationes proquantum in ea

'Christ in his Church' as giving equal

member of it

Let

intellegentes

et

does not speak of Christ simply, but of


grace to every

'

emolumentum

sit

have

Peters should

statement.

right
cited

misled

is

wrong reference

with even scornful

it

surprising that he should have let slip

gustine

is

visible

first

both meets him

reads the true lesson of his


formity amid Differences.

full
life,

and
Con-

VIII.
'sir,'

THE ARGUMENTS STEPHEN'S.

III.

he writes (as

417

believe against Cyprian himself), 'render

'

and allow to the Powers of Heaven a might of

'

and

'

its

suffer the

independent operations.'

His conception of the

visible

been of more value than


he asks,

your

'

'

formula

What

is

indeed higher than

to apply

arguments

all his

some higher

unless

strict

Church

how

Cyprian's, and had he learnt

'

own,

their

condescension of the Divine Majesty to have

it,

would have

besides.

'

What,'

principle modify the rigidity of

is

the portion reserved for the

Christian multitude^ which dies without the imposition of

'hands.'''

adds,

'

'What

who

bishops themselves,' his irony

those

for

and confirm such as sicken and die

to visit

fail

in

'the outlying districts of their dioceses^?'

Thus on every

side,

he

even within the acknow-

infers,

ledged pale, even within the entrenched lines of saints and


martyrs, there

a vast verge beyond the operation

lies

measure of that simple sacerdotal unity, which

is

in full

nevertheless

essential to the general effectuation of the gospel.

And what

lies

beyond the pale

the solemn con-

It is in

l^

sensus which exists as to the adequate and complete sanctifi-

we

cation of that admitted verge or margin that

are to look

for analogies which shall solve the new-rising problems sug-

We

gested by the existence of heresy.

cannot subject

truth to the conclusions of a theory which


limits,

is

true

but which has limits beyond which nothing

is

up

to

all
its

clear save

the Love and the Power*.


Cyprian's
to

'justify

demand

and

for a sanctity in the baptizer in order

to sanctify'

revolted the Church of

the baptized^
as

Auctor,

Dispersis regionibus,

Compare Aug.

c.

IV. c. vii. (10)

(ie

c. 5.

Bapt.

c.

Donatt.

'If within the closed

God there are thorns of the


why may not the Spring of Christ

garden of

B.

in

'

have

well

a weaker sense than we.

flow out beyond

4 plerique.

may

does the Church of Eng-

it

Doubtless he took the terms

land.

Devil,

Rome

'

Salvation

is

it?'

of the Church'

Nulla salus extra ecclesiam

'

True.

True,

if

the definition of Ecclesia be so wide as


to

have no constitutional value.


*

Ep. 6g.

10.

27

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

41

But they

at least

make

The

Stephen's invective intelligible.

structure of the Church, the apostolic teaching, the personal

work of Christ seemed


so

had not theological science arisen

And

him endangered*.

to

they were

to refrain such careless

modes of speech.
Stephen taught that as one who separates

Church does not

his

forfeit

own church baptism by

wandering, but when he returns will return in


so neither in the meanwhile does he lose the

man he

as a baptized

from

'

the
his

validity,

its

power

which

'

possessed of imparting Baptism to

others ^

And

he taught that the child or the heathen who learns

Christ through the teaching of the heretic cannot be charged

with

defect or disorder

'

to which he

of

God

from

'

'

comes with

in the reception of that

and which

fullest faith*,

Though he

to impart to every creature.

the will

excluded

is

fellowship in holy duties with the visible Church,'

the beata vita as Augustine truly calls

Church he
with

sacrament

it is

all

a member.

is still

its

Its true

it

yet

image

is

of that visible

House

the great

variety of vessels, and the Cornfield, capable of

including for awhile, nay even of producing,

not

misbe-

These teachings of Stephen on

lievers only, but misdoers*.

the lasting virtue of Baptism were reaffirmed by Augustine

with overflowing illustration, but there


that Baptism has in

That would be not

Whatever

Ep.

75. 25

'...

is

any

Usurpare eum potestatem

'...homo ad

sacerdotem
erroris

incurrit.'

bapti-

70. 2.

Although these

illustrations are not

quoted among the fragments of Stephen

Deum

very wording to have softened Cyprian,

Ep.

7.

quaerit, in

to countervail separation.

no more purged by Baptism than any

pseud ochristum, pseu-

zandi posse, Ep. 69.

in either

heresy or schism, or in any form or

doapostolum, dolosum operarium....'


2

spell

no thought

liberality but superstition.

evil is in

origin of them,

it

is

veniens,

dum

sacrilegum fraude
quotation

(from

Stephen probably) which ought by

its

yet they were already in use.

had perceived

their bearing

of the Lapsed, though he

apply them more widely.

Cyprian

on the case

now
Ep.

failed to

55. 21.

VIII.

THE ARGUMENTS

III.

unrenounced
it,

As

sin.

it is

STEPHEN'S.

419

no step to salvation, but away from

one obtains baptism by a feigned or inconsistent repent-

if

ance*, so

if

another

baptized a

is

to Unity, to the Peace

foe"'^

of Christ, to Charity with His Church, these are not conditions

both

is in

men

let

and hindered,

fellowship and unity regained.


alike

The innermost power

Remission of Sins.

for realising the

of baptism

must make a more

until

it

matures

in

Both

Both need a change*.

But both alike

truthful confession*.

have received a consecration, and a 'Stamp of the Lord V which


protests to them, which

they need

is

With

former.

makes

for reconciliation.

The change

not another Consecration, but a fulfilment of the


that

begins not to be present, but to be

it

profitable, to minister to salvation^; their sins

melt away as

they enter within the bond of love^


If policy, convenience,

carelessness or the like take a

One Baptism

'

with him

taste, jealousy, self-will,

interest,

man who knows

there

but

is

it

from a separatist or to continue

in his separation,

those errors of the soul will work

to seek

'

their proper effect;

his

knowledge

will not

His Baptism

difference to unity.

excuse his

in-

not for his soul's

is

healths.

But the

faithful believer

when

outside teacher
tized

The

He

The

Aug. de Bapt. c.Donatt.

verbis

non

(18) 'quid,

Vll. v. (8)

factis renuntiantes.'

si

xii.

I.

adipsumBaptismumfictus

Ibid.

Ibid. VI. xiv. (23).

I. xiii.

wheat

Aug. Ep. 98.

h3ereticum...hahentem dominicum characterem.'

De

consecratio

Bapt.

incipit

c.

Donatt. vii.

liv.

adesse quod deerat,


I.

xii.

(ad

Bonifacium)

reum quidem

facit

Ibid. vi. v. (7).

^ Ibid. Vll. iii.


(5).
^ /iJjV/.

VI. xl. (78).

2"]

(103)

sed

(18) 'ad

salutem.'

'verax confessio.'
5

Yet

for the garner'.

prodesse quod inerat.'

(21).

^ Ibid. I. xii. (18)

'quse

unbap-

to die

flood which upbears the ark

'non

accessit?'

is

Heaven's rain feeds thorns and

tares for destruction as well as

'

Baptism from the

loses nothing.

symbols are lucid.

deathful to the despisers.

is

receives

against Christ's word, has remission of his sins and

other benefits.

all

who

his only other choice

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

420

Euphrates was not hedged in by Paradise. The river of


Eden flowed out into the world
The Church has within every separated communion a
something which is all her own^ By that something she
They are not born to others.
bears sons in them to herself.
When they turn homeward they are wholly hers.
The only real blot which Cyprian struck was the vulgar,
perhaps we ought to say the African, explanation of the
laying on of hands in the act of restoration to the Church.
If

had meant a

it

could

schismatics

hands

(for

might be
explains

But
it

impart by their own imposition of

not

unquestionably they too used this

then

rite),

it

reasoned that their Baptism equally needed

fairly

renewal.

imparting of the Holy Spirit which

first

in reality

it

had no such meaning.

Stephen

clearly as a rite 'unto penitence'": even Crescens

of Cirta as 'a reconciliation in penitence*.'

It

was not the

it was a renovation
first time
by the Spirit, an introduction to Communion of a repentant
For a Son of God
and enlightened Child of God.'

imparting of the Spirit for the

'

throughout, in
clares such an
this

'

of his theological errors, Stephen de-

spite

one to have been

in the full

sense\

And

it is

very expression which was most offensive at Carthage,

and which

cavilled at even in the synodic letter of their

is

second Council^ on baptism.

There were three intentions (besides that of ordination)


with which the imposition of hands was used.
for

I.

what we

of Penitents''.

what Stephen

call

3.

De

Ibid.

^
^

In poenitentiam, Ep. 74.


Sentt. Epp. 8.

Ep.

"

c.

Donait

VI. Kxi. {^]).

i.

Compare 75. 17.


74. 6.
Tunc enim demum plene sanctificari

et esse

''filii

DeV

possunt

si

sacramento

It

the

for

its

true

is

was used
Reception

of these

meaning

utroque nascantur,

Dei'

X. (14).

2.

The second

clearly brings out as

I.

Exorcism.

for

Bapt.

Confirmation.

Ep.

evidently a

is

the

in

i:

'filii

quotation.

The

72.

two sacraments are baptism and laying


on of hands.
''In which sense it is used in the
Apostolical Constitutions

viii.

c.

tit.

xapodtaia. koX evxi) inrip twv ev neravoiq..

VIII.

THE ARGUMENTS STEPHEN'S.

III.

maintained that

reception of schismatics, while Cyprian

meant the

and thereon

first,

42I

logical claim to

built a

Baptism repeated as Confirmation was repeated.

extreme partisans, some would even have made


third \

it

it

have

Of
mean

his

the

and so treated the schismatic as a demoniac.

To some
exclude

'

has seemed not clear that Stephen meant to

it

Confirmation

'

from the

intention whatever to include

give to

it

fact that

Cyprian

he shews no

from the

arises only

Baptism with

its

Similarly Firmilian

his side.

and quite contrarily

infers unfairly,

Still

endeavours to fasten that sense upon him,

and that we have no reply from


ciple, that if

idea.

and he uses terms which

The doubt

the other sense.


''

it

to Stephen's actual prin-

gracious gifts were

communi-

cable by heretics, no imposition of hands need be used, but


that

we might

at the altar

unite with

and

them

in their

prayer-meetings and

its sacrifice

Note on force of StepheiUs

'

Nihil

i}ino%>etur nisiJ

Questions have arisen upon the phrase of Stephen 'Si qui ergo a
haeresi venient ad vos nihil injiovetur nisi quod traditum est,

'quacunque

manus

iUi imponatur in poenitentiam....'


Ep. 74. i. Does Stephen
contemplate a Renewal' (innovetur) of something for the convert,
but only such a renewal or repetition as Tradition warrants? or (2) does
he forbid 'Innovation' in the rites, and require Tradition to be maintained against it? Does the innovari mea.n 'renovation' or 'innovation'?

'ut

here

(i)

'

Mattes {Tubing. Qicartalschrift, 1849, p. 636, ap. Peters, Fechtrup and


Hefele) adopts the first, and argues that as Penance has not occurred before,
So Hefele declares (B. i. c. i.,
the thing to be renewed is Confirmation.
6) that the second could not have been expressed grammatically
^

Sentt.

others prove nothing.

Ep.

ity

Epp. 7, 8, 31, 37.


and so Nemesian, Sentt.
Epp. 5, and Secundinus Bp. of Carpos,
Sentt. Epp. 24.
I may remark that Tissot t. I. p. 164
would correct the name of this place
(which was nearly opposite to Carthage
on the gulf) to Carpi but one of his
73. 6,

citations

from the maritime Itinerary

has a Carpos Carthaginevi... and the

in

Cyprian

The MS.

inscription a.d. 350

361 has kar

which Wilmanns would wrongly


C.

I.

L. viii.

Cities,

07t

graphers

i.

n. 994.

Ep.

pes

correct.

See Appendix

575 infra. Greek geoKdpTn? and Kd/OTrts.


Adj.
p.

Carpitanus, Morcelli,
*

author-

Carpos, and an

offers

75. 17.

i.

p. 121.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

422

except by 'Nihil innovetur, sed quod traditum est observelur.' Peters


takes innovetur to mean renewal in the convert, answering to what
is implied in laying hands on the sick, in exorcism, and in penance, and

holds that

hands used
Grammatical' Fechtrup (p. 225),
who sees that the clause 'ut manus imponatur in pcenitentiam' is the
expansion of 'quod tradihmi est,' and yet the act cannot be said 'to be
renewed,' having never been done before, feels obliged to say that in the
'nisi qnod traditum est' there is an incorrectness of expression, and that
it is

called 'innovari' because of the imposition of

already in Baptism.

This he says

is

'

even the best authors often write incorrectly.


the commentators

who

Fortunately

only

it is

grammar.

Both in Latin and Greek, particles denoting exception introduce not merely what is an exception under
some rule laid down, but also any contradiction of it, even the most

Thus

positive.

fail in

Matt.

in Vulg.

mittatur foras' does not

mean

v.

13,

purpose of being thrown away, but that


treated

so.'

'ad nihilum

valet

'it is

of no value

and can

Et multi leprosi erant in Israel sub Elisaeo propheta


'

eorum mundatus

Naaman

est nisi

nisi ut

ultra

that vapid salt has a value for the one

Syrus' (Luc.

iv.

only be
et

nemo
was

27), 'no Israelite

So Cyprian Ep. 63. 13 '...Sic vero


Domini non est aqua sola aut vinum solum nisi utrumque sibi
misceatur, quo modo nee Corpus Domini potest esse farina sola aut aqua
'sola nisi utrumque adunatum fuerit.' 'Each element is not one substance
but a compound.' Hence the passage before us 'nihil innovetur nisi quod
traditum est' means, in accordance with usage, 'No innovation is to be
made, only tradition must be kept to.' Eusebius {H. E. vii. 3) also had
these very words before him when he described Stephen as /x^ belv n
vfU)Tpov napa t^v Kpar^cracrav apx^dev napadoaiv eTTiKaivorofidv
olofifvos; and Cyprian thus sets them aside, 'quasi is innovet qui unum
baptismauni ecclesiae vindicat, et non ille utique qui...mendacia profanae
cleansed, but a non-Israehte was.'
calix

'

'

'

'tinctionis usurpat.'

phrase as 'nihil

Vincent of Lerins {Commonit. i. 6), who gives the


ttisi quod traditum est,' explains it 'non sua

novandum

posteris tradere sed a majoribus accepta servare.'

We

conclude therefore

with certainty that innovetur does not refer to the renewal of anything,

but to innovations in the


'tradition' required

was

rite,

and

that the Imposition of

Hands which

that which appertained to the Reception of a

Penitent alone.
Hefele, in spite of his view of 'grammar,' admits (in a footnote) that
this

is

the interpretation of Christian Antiquity

understood became a dictum classicum.

and

that the

words so

VIII.

ECCLESIASTICAL RESULTS.

IV.

IV.

Of

Ecclesiastical Results.

I.

UNBROKEN UNITY. 423

The Unbroken Unity.

I.

the legacy of lessons which this remarkable story

all

leaves us, none

more

strike

home

than those which spring from

the observation that Cyprian had a real point of contact with

We

Novatianism.
perceived

The

have already seen that the Novatianists

it.

was that the Church must be

central idea with both

attainted by,

and therefore cannot

elements foreign to her

tolerate, the

admixture of

Such inadmissible element the

spirit.

Novatianists found in those who, having tasted


forsook her and forswore them.

her

all

gifts,

In the case of the Lapsed,

He

however, Cyprian detected the fallacy.

would

not, like

Novatian, leave them to be reconciled in some unpenetrated

To him

region.

they were

dren not really such aliens as


;

To

the Church's reconcilable chil-

still

many wilful offenders within her\

himself however the bounds of the visible Church were

marked by

historic lines

definiteness

and unfailingly preserved

security of

all.

lines divinely

drawn with perfect

for the

guidance and

Without the action of the Catholic ministry

of the one episcopate there could be no effective Communion,

and no admission within even her outer


to admit

The moral

courts.

For who was

qualities or the correct beliefs of the

individual were irrelevant to the solely constitutional question.

Has he been made

member

of the visible Church

According to Novatian, Renouncement of Communion


annulled membership for ever.
catholic

Cyprian's historic

lines,

it.

We

are not required to

But the grand difference

appraise the two errors.

when

According to Cyprian, un-

Baptism never conferred

which misunderstood had

rightly interpreted corrected him.

is

here.

baffled him,

Novatian with his

unsoftened character broke from them without remorse, laid

new ones down, and made


1

all

Ep.

converge upon himself.

55. 21.

The

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

424

ECCLESIASTICAL

Divine idea which Cyprian saw in History, the Unity and Love

which underlay the scheme of


opposing the claims of
single diocese,

see and

its

much

it,

less

with

prelate might decide,

where the

logical

So Novatian became a
barren

The
it

swept

suffer him,

though

it

was inconceivable that he

The

mind went
sect

died after a while and

one

However erroneously any

all.

should break with the brethren.


straight

would not

heretics, to dissolve the ties with

heart of

Love kept him

astray.

not untruthful, but hard and

left

no

seed.

great Church held her way, and every generation as


its

sands over Cyprian's error bore stronger witness to

the power of Cyprian's passion for unity.

Whilst he seems

almost dearer because he could not be perfect, the perfectness


of that passion of his

Although the

is still

and too often

unrealised,

Roman Church

took wider

unfelt.

views

Cyprian of so great a matter as Man's Sonship to God,


to the possibility
practical theory

Augustine,

and duty of union

which

who

Rome

in diversity,

than
yet, as

he held a

never mastered.

says he never wearied of re-reading the

'peace-bestowing utterances'^ of the end of the Epistle to


Jubaian^, draws out the noble independence of thought and
action which Cyprian willed to maintain without bigotry or

exclusion

Every bishop

free to

judge

suffer separation for their thoughts

tender of the bond of peace.

for himself;

none to

therefore everyone to be

Salvo jure coinmunio7iis diversa

sentire.

The Baptismal Councils failed

2.

Unity then was not broken.

doctrinally

Yet what

is

a7td why ?

the conclusion

drawn from the spectacle of these Carthaginian assemTo some it might seem discouraging.
Can it be accounted for by the incidents of these

to be
blies

assemblies
1

De

Bapt.

c.

Donaft. v.

xvli. (22).

Ep.

73. 26.

VIII.

THE COUNCILS FAILED.

RESULTS.

IV. 2.

may

Province

WHY?

425

be too large to form a real Synod.

There are Provinces of to-day whose very extent, forbidding


even attendances, throws decisions into the hands of a metropolitical party.

Bishops may be too numerous for the area. There may


be more positions of influence than there are men born or

drawn

to

fill

In such cases the numbers outweigh the

them.

able men, or they


leader

fall

who combines

under the power of

men.

politic

fervour with policy sweeps

them head-

long.

But the degree


Carthage

is

They were

in

which these causes as yet existed at

not sufficient to account for the doctrinal failure.


exceptionally modified by the independence ex-

pected of the bishops and by the earnestness of the times.

The Councils were


cally,

neither deficient nor excessive numeri-

nor were they created for the sake of their

They were under no

nor were they packed.

They were

suffi-ages,

State pressure.

The

not recalcitrating at any state tribunal.

They were not trying a teacher or


They were looking for principles. Seldom

question was a broad one.

judging a leader.

could personal elements be so nearly eliminated.

Again, they

Each bishop was the elect of


None of the Councils was senile or too youthful.
The members were not drawn from seminary or cloister.
They were men of the world, who in a world of freest

were really representative.


his flock.

discussion

had

become

with Christian

penetrated

seldom ordained, sometimes not Christianised


Their chief was one
rarely blended

in

whom

mental and

till

ideas

late in

political ability

life.

were

rarely tempered with holiness, self-discipline

and sweetness.

Such was that house of bishops.


was

uncharitable,

anti-scriptural,

The

result

uncatholic

it

and

reached

was

it

unanimous.

painful issue.

us encouraging.

Yet

The

in

another respect, the moral

is

for

mischief was silently healed and per-

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

426

And how

fectly.

By no

counter-council

merely register the reversal


the Christian Society.
Is

ECCLESIASTICAL

but

for

later decrees

by the simple working of

Life corrected the error of thought.

there then no need of Christian assemblies

them, or of them

Is

sense, that without counsel

liberation

To how

.-'

no hope

in

the Church a polity unique in this


it

can govern

itself,

without de-

meet the changing needs of successive centuries

great an extent even this

may

we read in
Nor can any-

hold true

the disappearance of the Cyprianic judgments.

thing be more consonant with our belief in the indwelling


Spirit of the

on bonds

Church

still

nothing more

full

of comfort as

we look

seemingly inextricable, and on steps as yet

irretraceable.

But nevertheless

if

no reasonable mind questions the neces-

sity of Councils, in spite of the

gloomy moral and

history of whole centuries of them,


their constitution has
ill

may

it

be the case that

been incomplete, and that the so early

success of Cyprian's Councils in particular

warning of the defect

doctrinal

was a primaeval

The Laity were silent. Yet we cannot but deem that it


was among them principally that there were in existence and
at

work those very

the surface but

principles

which so soon not only rose to

overruled for the general good the voices

Each Council was a parliament of head


officials
a governing body composed of provincial governors,
whose irresponsibility, save in the forum of their own conscience, had more and more become Cyprian's axiom and
of those councillors.
;

theirs.

Were

these bodies divinely constituted for the great object

of 'guidance into

truth'.-*

were they the very Church

in its

doctrinal capacity,' the living Church to which The Presence


was promised
It has been held that they were and ever are.
Yet whatever false strands have been inwoven with Catholic
doctrine have been introduced by such bodies alone.
These

'

.-'

particular

judgments were, according to the whole Church

VIII.

THE COUNCILS

RESULTS.

IV. 2.

That

several considerations:

Council

oracle.

427

contrariant

Church opinion which surrounded them and quietly

prevailed over them.

the

WHY.?

They were even then

Catholic, greatly perverse.


to the

FAILED.

this

was so

be inferred from

from the determined unanimity of

i.

only one

the eighty-seven sentences voiced

from the avowal of two

2.

may

among

number

the

that

they were incompetent to form an opinion, yet they did not


abstain from voting, but voted with the majority.

Book on Rebaptism

the evidence which the


ful

from

3.

gives of a power-

and informed opinion existing yet unrepresented.

4.

from

the silent reversal of the decision.

Bishops were the

and from the second century Synods of


rule.
But all that we know tends to the

conclusion that

was no

It is true that in

it

'

derogation of antient custom to

admit others than bishops to be members of a synod \'

The

custom of admitting

laity was dying out under Cyprian I


It
had been no new experiment of his. The second and even

the third centuries preserved traces of their old admission.

The

intrusion of the

words and
'

the

'

into the text of the

a?td the brethren greeting...,' shews that at the time

were added ^

it

that they had in reality

been consulted appears from the narrative,

by the apostles and the


is

Hefele's assertion.

^ It

seems that

suited.

This

Introd.

in later African

cils seniores plebis

early usage, but the

relic

of the

shadowy character

of the facts only illustrates


disappearance,

4, 5.

Coun-

were at times con-

may be

its

practical

and does not support

Miinter's view of the democratic aspect

of that church.

Pritnordia Ecd. Afr.

(Hafnise, 1829), pp. 41, 51.

was determined

It

'

elders together with the whole Church,'

thought to be rhetoric.

Irenaeus writes a very

grave decision on the keeping of Easter


^

when they

did not seem so impossible that the laity should

have consulted even with apostles

unless this

Con-

of Jerusalem, 'The apostles and the presbyters

ciliar letter

See Cod.

'

in the

Cann. Ecd, Afr.

c.

name of

100,

cf. c.

91.

the
Acta

Purgationis Felicis ap. Optat. ed. Ziwsa


(Vienn. 1893), Appendix p. 198.
*

Tischendorf although

Acts xv. 23.

he retained koX
Ed.

8,

and

it is

oi

in

Tregelles, Westcott

vised Vers., with


^5o^e

22.

Ed.

7,

omits

it

in

omitted by Lachmann,

= Decretum

and Hort, and Re-

ABX*CD,
est, Placuit,

Vulg.

all.

Acts xv.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

428

whom

brethren

ECCLESIASTICAL

he presided over throughout GaulS'

Is

supposed that he had not obtained their judgment


very early

Councils,

demonstrated

'

heresy.'

many times, and


and

profanity,

their

seems impossible that

It

include the laity, and the question

in

'

is

having

though disused

had

his day,

in

'

should not

of doctrine, subtle doc-

by the

day

condescends to take the counsel

of an inferior priest even,

He

'Gentile^?'

Gentiles

'

was

earlier

way

of consulting presbyters and

to him.

Cyprianic letters themselves are distinct as

and duty of recognising and including a not

to the propriety

Councils of the Church.

silent laity in the

cannot be admitted that Cyprian meant to consult the

It

laity

of a layman, or a

be learnt from their great authors, and

was not unknown

But the

much more

has been showing that the 'counsel of the

to

apparently some practical


laity

place in the traditions

its
'

of Jethro, though an alien to


bishop in the preseiit

on only personal, individual questions, such as enquiries

into the fitness of private persons to be restored

munion ^

That

Euseb. H. E.

i]ye7To

v.

is

24

Kara rijvTaWiay

e/c

Trpocrunrov cof

ddeXcpoi

body not the bishops.


Cited by Dr Pusey {Councils of the

Church,

c.

Ii.

p.

Euseb.

dde\(pi2i' eTriffTei-

throughout the context means the Chris'*

53)

to

com-

very far from what he says when, for

Xas, irapicTTaTai rb deip k.t.X.

tian

bishops,

Moses sought the counsel


But what
the Jewish race.

of the past as well as in reason.

the

rejected

the faithful

others, hints that the consultation of the laity

'

places

stood alone, uses an expression which, side by side with

if it

'

many

Origen, in a passage which would not be conclusive

trine.

'

Asia

faithful throughout

TJie

examined the novel arguments, and

Asia, and having

in

'

this purpose,

'

'

speaks of the formal condemnation of

writer'"'

Montanism by
having met for

it

'

made

Horn.

this clear.

xi.

in

Exod.

c.

Quis autem hodie eorum qui populis

prsesunt...'

presents

^
c.

The

version no

wpoecrTWTui'.

Cp.

doubt

re-,

note

on

310.

p.

mistakenly as

ApoUinarius of Hierapolis. Valesius on

16

v.

Orig.

Dr

Pusey, Councils of the Church,

in. pp. 74sqq.

VIII.

THE COUNCILS FAILED.

RESULTS.

IV. 2.

'

'
:

from the

first

outset of

my own

'nothing on
'

could give you no reply at

my

episcopate

am come

you we

to

by myself,

all

for

resolved to transact

judgment without your counsel,

private

and without the consent of the

'grace

429

and deacons of

instance, he thus addresses the presbyters

Carthage

WHY.''

But when by God's

laity.

will treat in

common

of things

or to be transacted, as the honour due

'either transacted

At

'from each to other requires \'

commencement of

the

his episcopate the question of restoration

had not

arisen.

Again, when he asks the laity to persuade the Lapsed to

we may

patience until, 'convening our fellow-bishops,


*

numbers

deferring

'examine the
'

martyrs^,'

letters
is

it

Lord and the

to the discipline of the

own opinion

'Confessors' presence and your

and express

also

be able to

of the

desires

good

in

blessed

the determination of the broad principle, not

the application to particular cases, in which the Laity are


called

to

assist.

Yet

questions proposed,

should

still

it

if

we narrowed

would be

little

have to ask where even

this

the utmost the

to

purpose

to the

we

measure of consulta-

tion with the veritable laity appeared in the later Councils ^''

was no mere question of the application of

It

investigation of individual cases, which

function
function

is

not necessarily conciliar.

may

was
It

be committed to delegates,

is
it

view.

no
That

judicial.

That

in

rules,

may be

concen-

trated in a metropolitan, according to the constitution or the

use of the several churches.

had

in the early

Ep.
Ep.

Hefele,

days of his

was not this which Cyprian


episcopate, and seconded as yet
sensietsubscripsi{^dhhQ,X.OTa. V. c.814).

14. 4.

Note

17. 3.
//r<>d^. 4.

i2,gives a thin

list

of Councils in which laity have a serious


place,

It

and he attaches quite as much

weight to them against his

own

opinion

The most notable is


Orange [Arausicanum II.] a.d. 529 in
which i4bishops and 8 illustres viri sign
with the same formula consetitiens or conas they deserve.

also the just complaint

made

January 1436 to Sigismund that at


the Council of Basle the decrees are
in

made by

being

the lower clergy

and

the laity, there being scarce 20 bishops

among 500 or 600 members.


Eugenius IV. Ep. ad Nuncios,

present

[Cp.

Baronius (Raynald),June 1436,

Ambr.

Traversari,

i.

xvi.]

Ep. ad Sigismund.

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

430

by the Roman

ECCLESIASTICAL

clergy, set out as the conciliar office of the

laity.

In so vast a business

'

him,

Roman

writes the

'

we approve what you

'

also

Presbytery to

have yourself recommended,

and so

to await the restoration of peace to the Church,

'

first

'

after that,

'

deacons, confessors as well as the faithful

'

the treatment of the Lapsed^'

by united counsel with the

individuals which

is

bishops, presbyters,

consider

laity, to

It is

not the treatment of the

in question here,

but the greatest question

of discipline which had ever arisen, the terms of the restoration

communion

of apostates to the

The Roman

of the Church.

Confessors state in precisely the same

way

the views of Cyprian

and of themselves as to the body which has power to deter-

mine

principles so great.

because

'

it

affects

It is because

'

the ofifence

almost the whole world

you yourself

that

is

it

so great

ought not

handled except with caution and

'

to be, as

'

moderation after counsel taken with

'

ters,

'

in

'

timed wish to patch up ruins we

other and greater ruins^'

write,

'

all

the bishops, presby-

deacons, confessors, and the faithful laity themselves, as

your

letters

you yourself too

through our

testify, lest

may

ill-

prove to be preparing

It

cannot be argued with these passages before us that the

laity,

though present, were originally meant to be present

only,

and not to be consulted^


Storichi sul

Cecconi, Stud.
Part

Firenze,
(Firenze,
'

docum.

i.

Cone,

di

76, p. cxcv.

...quanquam nobis

in tarn ingenti

negotio placeat quod et tu ipse tractasti,

inde

pacem sustinendam,

de-

cum

epi-

conlatione consiliorum

sic

scopis presbyteris diaconis confessoribus


pariter ac stantibus laicis facta lapsorum

Ep. 30.

tractare rationem.
^

Ep.

31. 6.

Ep.

IQ.

we bishops assembling with


faithful

may be
strict

able to arrange

regard to

{^communis

'

This

is

what

and the very

life

of us

befits

a.x\d.

dis-

all,

that

all

common

consilii

who

and

fear,

things with
deliberation

religione).'

The

Bishops will decree but not without com-

mon

determination.

To

interpret 'prce-

etiam stantium plebe' as of by-

slanders only
2

clergy, the

being present,

laity also

in proportion to their faith

seftte

5.

both the moAesiy (vei^ectmdia)


cipline

was Cyprian's purpose to

themselves too are to be had in honour

1869).

prius ecclesise

It

is

to contradict the other

passages and this also.

Yet Hefele can

write 'The laics were scarcely


spectators.'

{Introd. 4. 5.)

more than
But

if so,

VIII.

consult

THE COUNCILS FAILED.

RESULTS.

IV. 2.

WHY.?

them and a purpose which the Roman clergy

43I

strongly-

supported, not upon the administration of principles in individual cases, but on the formation and enunciation of those

The

principles.

who had

those

question was

who had been

of those

who had denied

the second question,

But

doctrine*.'

topics in the abstract

question was

first

the

faith,'

'

not

fair

a practical matter and


a matter of
;

thus to formulate one of the

and the other

practical matter,

in the concrete.

would

It

namely

'

latter

the admission of schismatic

and the former a more awful doctrinal

penitents,'
*

Apostatical Communion.'

scarcely be

for

the restoration

be equally correct to reverse the phrases and to say the

was a

that of heretical Baptism,

'

is

it

terms of communion

'

schismatically baptized.

has been said that the

It

the

itself as

'

for

'

lapsed from Christianity to heathenism

question as great in

those

communion

the terms of

'

But

more analogous

in truth

point,

two questions could

as questions of

dogmatic

dis-

cipline.
*

The

contrast

Cyprian's

true.

early pledge

(it is

said)

very

is

That

striking.'

is

view disappeared from his mind.

first

was not redeemed.

But when we look

most
His

to the

ennobling success of his former Councils, and the collapse of


the later ones, rescued only

by the sweet grandeur of the man

from creating wide disunion, we cannot but think the change


disastrous^

The

course of History affirms this conclusion

of Christian reason.
what becomes of his other plea, viz. that
earlier precedent was departed from in

he distinguishes the votum decisivum

Cyprian's admission of them,

from the votum consultativtmi which


may be assigned to others. Yet upon

Dr

ibid.

Pusey, Councils of the Church,

It

may be

difficult to

be sure of the

which

'Bishops alone have the assistance of

priests,

of

Holy Spirit to govern


God' [Introd., 4, 11).

however

them

the authority of so

exact meaning of Hefele's assertion that

the

in

that developed theory

c. III. p. 87.
2

which belongs

the Church

He

speaks

in reference to Councils,

and

abbots,

religious

to Bishops only

what becomes of

many

Councils, in

archdeacons,

cardinal deacons,
orders, doctors

cardinal

generals of
in

theology,

doctors in canon law, have admittedly


exercised the votum decisivutn

(See

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION. ECCLESIASTICAL RESULTS.

432

The Catholic and the Ultramontane estimate of Cyprian.

3.

...TO fiffiurjcdai

Tov dvdpbs ayiacrfios.

Gregory Nazianzen.
of importance in the history of Christian character

It is

and of the gradual building up of that character, as the


spiritual expression of the consciousness formed by doctrine,
that we should have a clear idea of the conduct of Cyprian
through the controversy
in

advance of

to

Rome

Worthy

contemporaries

his

catholic or uncanonical

His language

most severe

it

style, that

in

such contrast with the

His influence on Augustine's own

his pattern,

How

probably inestimable.

is

would have been

different

Tertullian and not Cyprian had been

if

and yet we largely owe our very possession of

Tertullian to Cyprian's

thoughts

'

appreciation of him, and rendering

into so quiet

and so sweet a

which made the dark half-heretic

this

common

epithet of mildness, gentleness, sweetness,

placability, peacefulness.

was

when

such contrast with Stephen's hard state-

threat

controversial tone

of his

Augustine seldom refrains at mention of Cyprian's

name from some

it

behind or

in his attitude in relation

not always free from severity, yet

is

is in

ment and arrogant

or unworthy

style.'

It

intelligible

and

acceptable to Catholics who, but for the scholar, would have

shunned
of

'

His moderation much exceeds that

the Master.'

Firmilian and

is

equal with that of Dionysius, whose very

Hefele, Introd. 4. 11, 12.)

If these

held, as they are, to be Councils as

and

be

good

valid as any, then the Divine Right of

the Episcopal Order exclusively to form


conciliar decisions
so,

what

is

given up.

But

if

lines separate those particular

ranks from the laity or the rest of the


clergy?

The dilemma

is fatal

either to

the authority of all those Councils or


to

the jus

divinum

in Councils of a

solitaiy episcopate,

[At the Council of the Nidd


clear whether the

bury and .^Ifleda voted.


that

with the Bishops

Council

cum

separately,

who

were

eis Archiepiscoptis

not

lib. Ul.]

It

is

said

held the

aliquando

aliquando vero

sapientissimavirgo yElJleda.
de gest. Pontif.

it is

Archbishop of Canter-

Ex Malm,

CATHOLIC

ULTRAMONTANE

VIEW.

VIII.

IV. 3-

office

was the peacemaker's, not the combatant's.

versus

conduct of business and

in

his

he

rises to the

in his public

Among

highest tone.

judges neither

judges as the

circle of

is

it

we must reckon

candour and immediateness with which

and larger

But

appearance that

the causes of the extra-

ordinary unanimity of the Councils

larger

433

named by himself nor

the

he appeals to a

strife

waxes hotter

naturally biassed to-

wards him bishops first of one, then of two provinces, then


from beyond their border.
;

'

If

my

sins

do not disable me,

I will

learn, if I can,

from

Cyprian's writings, assisted by his prayers, with what peace


and what consolation the Lord governed His Church through

'

him \'

'

'The very remembrance of the Man is a sanctificationl'


Such were the judgments of Augustine and of Gregory.
Such has been the judgment of the whole Church. The
knew little of him personally, accepted his

East, which

For the simple

tenet as a sort of inspiration.

conversion

it

substituted a supernatural tale, and

him a supremacy

own.

his

all

Carthage alone does he

'

preside,'

'

Church of Africa

'

for him,

'the

famous

alone,

but over

all

Eastern Church

itself,

'

and

Cyprian becomes our own^'

Gregory Nazianzen

says

until

he

wheresoever

Aug. de Bapt.

c.

still

more

Donatt. v.

xvii.

came

Greg. Naz.

Or.

24,

vii.,

De

S.

Cypriano.
*

Greg. Naz. Or. 24,


B.

admiration.

in

xii. {oi

yap

and
wisdom

this his doctrine

his integrity

political

and rare union of

r^s KapxvSovlwv irpoKadi^erai n6vov


;

'E/c-

compare other expressions of

tiis ...tt]!/ Koivi]i'lipt(rTi.avu)v <piKoTt/j.lav...

t6
c.

Thus

But where the man was well

K\r)<rlai)

(23).
^

nor yet over the

now from him and

were fading away, his excellent

and energy, and

'

and over the bounds of south

and thoroughly known, there even while


discipline

assigned

the Western Church, nay and almost

'

north,

it

Not over the Church of

an oration delivered at Constantinople,

in

detail of his

jxi-ya.

irori

Kapxv^ovluv 6vona vvv 5k

rrjs olKovp.ivyifi airdaris, c. vi.

28

434 THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.


zeal

and

and

love, activity

and moderation, made him

at

once

West\
new malevolence, which since
has made it necessary for papal

for ever the delight of the

For ever
the

ECCLESIASTICAL RESULTS.

dogma

in

spite of the

of Infallibility

advocates to bespatter each whitest robe that has not walked


in the

Roman

method,

We

train.

must

justify Stephen,

by representations

'

'

in this

'

will not

'

Firmilian as a forgery or a romance^.'

We

both act and

we can succeed
drawn from the documents, we

their deliberate language.

is

If

without irrefragable arguments treat the letter of

have done justice to Stephen's correct judgment on

the particular point, and to the

soundness of

reasons.

his

But that he claimed an authority which the great fathers


and churches disdained rather than discussed

that he placed

the just custom of his church in an uncatholic form against


the tradition of other churches, that his best reasons were

unreasonably presented, that

accredited

of

reception

his

doctors was unchristianly harsh, has scarcely been questioned


till

of late^

For be

It is
it

the burden of the evidence.

observed that of

first

counsel, of all

own

his

all

who asked

councillors, of

prelates

Cyprian's

assembled

from Africa, Numidia, Mauretania, of Firmilian and Dionysius


the Great, not one suggests the least deference to the
See'*,

nor mentions

its

estimate of

the question, or as a scruple to be borne in mind.

who marshals every argument

in

Roman

an element

itself as

in

Augustine,

refutation of his opinion,

never suggests that obedience to Rome's speaking would

'Doubtless present,' says Augustine,

"*

In Ep.

70.

the

reference

to

with

the foundation

upon Peter of the one

the Council which set aside his error.

Church having

in this place

See the whole of the beautiful language

tion

'through the unity of the

oi de Bapt.

c.

Donatt. V.

Peters, p. 540.

See

for

prien, Artt.

149 f., 155

f.

spirit'

genuine part of

xlix.,

vol.

iv.

no

Rome, corresponds with

rela-

the

absence of any such reference in the

xvii. (23).

example Tillemont, S. Cyxlvii.

to

pp.

the

word

haps gave

De

Unitate

c. 4.

And

ratione here occurring perrise to

the rationis and then

the orationis of the forgery.

VIII.

CATHOLIC

IV. 3-

versus

have saved him from his

ULTRAMONTANE

VIEW.

435

Gregory the Theologian had

error.

not a suspicion that any authority could have been higher

than Cyprian's,

The

sole

'

he presides over West and

and the

ungrounded and

his

full

East.'

evidence shews Stephen's claim as

manner of stating

it

as intolerable.

But now the Ultramontane contention

is

'

that Stephen

'can never have contented himself with mere declaration,


'

would be so evidently

ineffective to

The fragments which lie


must represent some elaborate refutation

in Firmilian's

because such a course

'dispel prejudiced

Augustine,

'

letter

'

unacquainted with that letter and with the treatise on Re-

^.

Stephen had

'

baptism, excuses Cyprian

ignorantly,

'

appealed only to custom

Cyprian's hard words shew that

'.

'he presumed on victory*:


'

was summoned

'over Jubaian:

if

his third Council of Zj bishops

in the confidence

his

as

produced by

triumph

his

arguments exhibit partly wantonness,

'partly a determined adroitness in avoiding the point*': his


'

vindication of the independence of each bishop in unbroken

'

unity

'

of his practices from

is

a mere

"

turn " to forestall the expected prohibition

Rome^'

This wily worldly politician

for

he was no better

doctrine of unity was not the very pillar


'

or

may

not have retracted his

Rome

of his belief

error formally.

if

his

may
He must
'

'

have done

'

placed him

'

memorated him

'

desisted from his practice without retracting, and this but

all

that

in

the
in

roll

required or she would never have


of

saints,

much

have com-

less

the canon of the mass.

Probably he

'

shewed how holy Stephanus had taken the mildest way

'

of bringing back the venerable wanderer to the truth.

'

great the guilt of Cyprian had been

'

His other

services, his

Peters, p. 532.

Id. pp.

Id. p. 538.

Id. p. 511.

540

549.

is

known only

martyrdom, atoned
*

Id.

p. 515.

Id.

p. 535

Gewandtheit...
^

for

it.

to

How
God.

But who

'mit welch vornehmer


:

vorbeizuschiffen.'

Id. p. 514.

282

THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION.

436

'would rely on what Cyprian


'of error

in his

hours of passion and

thought of the papal supremacy, a doctrine which

'

Firmilian, though he tries to be sarcastic, does not seriously

'

question

'

Cyprianic

merit,

'

doctrine

We

'

And oh what

who have not

opposition

to

that

perhaps might never be allowed the oppor-

tunity of recanting

What an

a warning to us,

shun Cyprianic

to

\'

exquisite picture

his feet, reclaimed

by

Stephen smiling benevo-

on the passionate prodigal seated at

lently from his throne

his gentleness, clothed

and

in his right

mind.

And what
known

love for historic truth and

from the present

And what
That these

Roman

method

Countless

hypotheses constructed backwards

facts rejected for

position.

oneness with the Catholicity of old

writers cannot be regarded as other than faithful exponents

of the doctrine, see p. 322 note.

Peters, pp. 549, 550.

CHAPTER

IX.

EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING AND ENERGY


(RESUMED).

The Secret of Conduct.


I.

'Of the Good of Patience.'

Augustine
flowing
or

love.'

well-nigh adored Cyprian's 'Heart of over-

He

dwells on

how he extended

to worldly

immoral colleagues the same loving patience that he

used

'

in tolerating

those good prelates

who

in turn tolerated

him' when through 'human temptation he was "otherwise

minded" on an obscure question\'


tine's

finds antagonists

with than worldlings


subtler side.

merits

all

Experience since Augus-

on obscure questions harder to bear

especially when

one

But whichever alternative

is

is

oneself on the

the harder, Cyprian

the honour which even Augustine could bestow.

we saw how soon Cyprian recognised


new standing-point required a readjustment of ethical
views of old problems, whilst the position of the new people
daily created new problems.
Persecution could not do its
unequal work and rouse no Resentments. Old riddles of
In an earlier chapter

that the

Sorrow and Suffering grew

still

harder to the called and

chosen whose choice and calling landed them in the loss of


all things.

The whole philosophy


^

Aug. de Bapt.

c.

of Probation had blossomed

Donatt. iv.

ix. (12).

EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

43^

The philosophy

out.

of Spiritual Worship was in bud.

On

each of these he had written, we have seen how.

But now the seething tumult of Christian opinions on


questions of intense interest to the

ment

his

to

faith,

demanded,

in supple-

philosophy of Unity, some Theory of Right

Feeling and Action amid Divergences apparently scarce less

than those which separated catholic and heretic together

vital

from their joint oppressors.

Cyprian did not find himself involved as by surprise

He had

these considerations.

be the doctrine of a new and true School

Here was

lasting.
'

'

'

the last and ever-

a heavenly Learning

whereby our School {secta) directs itself to the attainment


after a Divine manner of the reward of faith and hope
'.'

The scope

of Paul's mission had been to 'form the nations

that Apostle of Nations


'

their philosophy

'

ialistic

'

Method of

the

in

understood Christianity to

and empty

secunditiit

mundi'm

had expressly witnessed


fallacy, self-evolved

'

against

'

and mater-

traditionem hominum, secundum elemeiita

contrast to that

which 'rested on the

reality

person of Christ indwelt in by the fulness of deity V

To

develop and apply the influences of this fresh and

powerful factor to thought and action was a pressing necessity.

And

now, at the outset, what was befalling the very foun-

tain of the

To
this

new

the

morality,

Spirit

of Charity or

Love?

say nothing of the threatening masses of heresy, was

new controversy with

Italy only a

heathenism had never known,

Hate

.''

new

field,

for Intolerance,

such as

Jealousy and

Evidently the supremacy of a Power actively an-

tagonistic to those Church-passions

The

enforced.

must be affirmed and

old riddles were world-riddles of

Church-riddles injected no less perplexity into

Cyprian found the danger strong

among his partisans as fast


own action had awakened it.
^

De Bono

Patient ia

i.

as
It

among
was

life.

The

faith.

It

grew

his adversaries.

His

in

himself

his to find the


^

De B.

Fat.

2.

remedy.

IX.

SECRET OF CONDUCT

I.

'

DE BONO PATIENTIM.'

439

Accordingly, writing to Jubaian*, he says, 'So far as in


'

us

'

with

lies,

we

are not, for the sake of heretics, going to contend

colleagues

and

fellow-bishops

'

we hold

gentleness

of our college, by the

'

episcopate.

'

'

by
bond

fast

'

them

with

keep

In patience and

'Divine concord and the Lord's peace

charity of spirit,

by the honour

by concord within the

of faith,

'To this end I have just composed a small book on


The Good of Patietice, to the best of my small powers, under
the permission and inspiration of the Lord.'

Under

this simple heading,

and which

itself also ^

which appears

its

Were

it

new chapter

on
ful.

That

least

provoking allusion

own teaching not always

its

might have

in eirenica

left

be reckoned

to

both motive and date doubt-

his auditors are subject to persecutions not only

from Jews and Gentiles but from separatists also

No word

reference to circumstances ^

of bishops

of Christian

not thus dated and motived by himself*,

determined exclusion of the

an example of

pamphlet

caught up from a passing touch

is

of TertuUian's^, he develops his


Ethics.

in the

'

here, nor of

But what

is

any discord within

nearest

is its

about the

'

college

it.

the 'Patience' which Cyprian desires to evoke

.^

Patience was that element which Cicero combines with


the Realisation of

High

Ideals, with Self-Reliance

Perseverance, to complete the notion of Fortitude.

thus defines

it"

'It

is

endurance of hardship and

'

usefulness.'
this

Ep.

De B.

Tert. de Pat.

difficulty for

what Cyprian longed

'

Bonum

ejus {pa-

'

summce

Pontius alludes to

it

in

a single

becoming a more

sic

Patientiam discere-

Vit. c. 7.

De B. Pat. 21.
De Inv. ii. 54

partes

virtutis appellatione honorant.'


*

'Unde

mus?'

Fat. 19.
i.

he

ends of honour and

to see

word.

73. 26.

tientm) etiam qui caeci vivunt

And

the voluntary and long-continued

'

Was

and with

'Fortitude... ejus

Magnificentia,

tientia, Perseverantia.'

Fidentia,

Pa-

AND ENERGY.

440 EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING


Church

active principle in the

fessorship had more than

The Tracts and


Cyprian's in

And

society.

sees 'a kinship

He

men.

certain

regards the originally good as

It is in their

the 'might of virtue

afflictions as
'

a true progeny

'

finds the perfection

a habitual joyous Pride in

He

undisciplined mindsl

man
only

'

'by Patience that

But

\'

in

with a pleasant contempt for

paradox that herein

attains to the

God

outside the endurance of

of

(endurance) that

'

is

it

and the reward of Patience

self,

has the advantage of

'

a lovingly severe edu-

power of Patience
shewn'; and

is

'

the spirit comes at last to contemn the power of evils

Seneca

sides.

all

and a likeness' between God and good

God, and their worldly


cation.'

unlike

moral tone of

humanity, a

certain

not

are

the

raising

breaks in upon his Stoic paradox on

spirituality,

He

Seneca

in

Seneca

of

Epistles

purpose of

their

Martyrdom and Con-

No.

fulfilled this ideal.

that

evils,

God

while

man

stands

stands above that

endurance ^'

was something more than

It

Cyprian perceived.

the world, a

in

God, the impartment of a something out of God's own

gift of

and so a certain

nature,

Father, and

'

of the sons

'

Father

What

seal of

Sonship

Patience

*.

The

the sons must not degenerated


is

is

is

of the

perfection

the restoration of the original likeness of the

the manifestation of His patience.'

in

Sonship'

in

antique virtue that

this

There was a new thing

'

Perseverance

the imitation of the Father's patience.

then

is

the

new

spirit

which now enters into the

iv.

Sen. Dial.

i.

Cum Deo

virtus

old word.''

Seneca,

DiaL

i.

i.

5;

ii.

4, 7;

6, 13.
^

Sen. Z)/a/.

IcEtusque
elatus.'

est,

xiv.

II. ix.

inde

3 'inde

tamerectus

continue

gaudio

'o quantus inter ista risus

Deo
'"

**

auctore,

De B.
Dr

vi. 6.

ista

De B.Pat.

Fat.

communis...

3;...

Dei

res, 5.

3, 5, 20.

Peters gives a w^ordy, incom-

quanta voluptate implen-

petent account of this treatise, vsrhich

dus animus ex alienorum enorum tu-

he characterizes as very easy to under-

multu contemplanti quietem suam.'

stand,

toUendus

est

as

it

is,

if

the exceeding

diffi-

IX.

SECRET OF CONDUCT

I.

DE BONO PATIENT/^'

'

441

Cyprian does not verbally distinguish the aspect of the


virtue regarded as the power which bears from that of the pozuer

which forbears ; the sufferance of calamity from the repression


of the desire to avenge oneself.
In the

these two aspects,


'

endurance

'

long-suffering, tolerance
'

The former

in his

for

{hypomone), for the former

'

{macrothymia), for the

'

Patientia.

have two words

latter.

opposed to cowardice or despondency, the

is

'

other to wrath or revenge.

'

hope, the latter

But

Both unite

New Testament we commonly

The former

is

closely allied to

commonly connected with mercy\'

is

in Aristotle the

former

the child of unmanliness

is

or cowardice; and Cyprian points out that the philosophies,

whether Stoic or Cynic ^ which exercised

did

it

not,

in

theory or in practice, aim at either Jiumility or mildness, but

and severe ^

were essentially

self-satisfying

and mildness are

to the Christian grace essential*.

The second
culty,

aspect of Patience {macrothymia) places

which Cyprian himself points

out,

of correlating heathen and Christian

Bp. Lightfoot on Col.

that the distinction

is

i.

adding

11,

not without ex-

ception.
^

It

Cynicism

is

De

which TertuUian

Pat.

'

ii.

affectatio

humana

ca-

ninae requanimitatis stupore formata.

De

'

B. Pat.

cycl.

deiXlas

was never clear of the

slur.

Tac.

Agric.

prselii

fortuna veteri /a/2l?/zi?

16

thus essential to
analysis

from

on Ethics

article

its

Prof,
in

En-

'The

far

may

greater prominence (of

under

be

the

partly

press teaching

new

referred

the

to

ex-

and example of Christ

partly, in so far as the virtue is

in

Hu-

dispensation

mani-

the renunciation of external

rank and dignity, or the glory of merely


6 avo avavdpias yap

ii.

i/wofioirq . . .a.nd classical

i}

is

delicate

itself

Brit, (ixth ed.), v. Vlii. p. 591 a:

fested

2.

Arist. P/tt.

tientia

idea a

mility)

has in view in the parallel passage of


his

HumiUty

that

H. Sidgwick's

virtues, is ignored.
^

But humility

'

2)

is

it

one aspect of the unworldliness which

See

we have

already noticed ;

while

the

unius

deeper humility that represses the claim

restituit.'

of personal merit even in the saint be-

(Britanniam)

Cyprian {De B. Pat.

and acquirements,

secular gifts

pa-

derives both

longs to the

strict

self-examination, the

these ideas, of the falsa sapientia and

continual

of the essential thought of Christian

utter reliance

Patience as hiimilis and

which characterize the inner moral life


of the Christian. Humility in this latter

mitis,

from

TertuUian's passing observations in his


c. xvi.

in

and

support

c. xii.

Let

me

here quote

of the view of

Cyprian

sense

imperfection,

of

on strength not

sense 'before God'

is

his

the

own.

an essential con-

dition of all truly Christian goodness.'

EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

442
in

no contradiction to

man

Long-suffering

Theophylact^ describes 'The

Justice.

as

'

justice

inflicting

'

deliberation, not in sharp haste, but tardily

we may

'

view which

from Plutarch's beautiful book

illustrate

abundant

after

'

Of God's

tardy judgments,' where he says that, as a means of pro-

ducing likeness to God, the contemplation of God's gentleness will not be ineffective, as one observes

He

'and leisurely
'

He

that

He

lest

lingeringly

Himself chastise over

should

He would

and have to repent, but because

'hastily

how

does justice even on the wicked, not

afraid

is

'

cure our

'

savagery and vehemence of vengeance, and teach us not

'

to spring in anger

'

burns and throbs and

is

us, whilst

convulsed, as

if

our wrath

we were

glutting

famine; but, imitating His mildness and delays,

'thirst or
'

orderly, regretfully,

'

is

on those who hurt

and taking into our counsels Time, who

be visited with repentances, so to set our

least likely to

hands to justice ^'

By

passage we see that what Cyprian adds

this excellent

to the idea

the resolution which,

is

God

and

giving the
'

it

is

power and an

active

at

this

the

awaits

same

fire

all

attribute

of deity.

Tertullian, while

counsel, ends his treatise with one glance

beneath

other

ourselves suffer

commits the whole cause unreservedly


which makes of Christian patience an

for conscience' sake,

to

when we

'

which awaits

'

false

patience

not a hope but a dread certainty, and the

is

he bids the Christian commit his cause


him.
either

One

Who

has not yet thought

it

is,

God

as

proceed to speak of the

Theophylact.

Bulgar.

Ad

Galatt.

V. 22.
^

to

whom

necessary to avenge

Himself or His Slain Son or His persecuted Church.

We

Form

in

which was brought

numinis vindicta,

/xifiov/iivovs

Trjv

sKeivov

v.

irpao-

life.

rrira kul ttjv neWijatv, ev rdfei


ffjifi<i\la%,

Plut. de sera

...dWd

it

he reminds

out the necessity of this fresh Virtue to the Church's


1

as

'

But to Cyprian such a thought

falsities.

cofievov

Cf.

Tov iJKiaTa fieravolg.

xpofov

Thuc.

iv.

i8.

ixovra^

/cat

^er'

irpoffoi-

<rv/x^ov\ov

IX.

SECRET OF CONDUCT

I.

Although

comes

it

devotional study

it

'

DE BONO

to us in the

shape of an Essay

begins with thoughts and

views, avoids his mistakes,

and misses

picturesqueness.

his

charged with sweeter and truer notions of Life

And

in

way

when they seem

While Tertullian
at his

yet

own

fits

is

coin-

from himself with a sharp gird

which

and

disqualifies

to discourse on the topic, Cyprian begins with

and with the occasion

his audience,

he

starts

avoids verbal

it

inevitable.

feverish impatient nature ^

him

God.

in

unlike the specimens of remodelling

quite

which we have examined hitherto,


cidences even

harsh

his

It is

from

illustrations derived

'Master's' tract on the same subject, shuns

his

for

bears marks of having been originally

an Address to some audience


It

PATIENTIM.' 443

which

for the virtue of

to speak, which they will find in listening to himself

Cyprian proceeds (as we saw) to indicate the need of a


new and Christian doctrine concerning a virtue lauded and
misrepresented in other systems

Tertullian in one breath accepts as

fact about them which


homage and resents as

c. 2.

impertinence I

But ours
tion

is

a Patience of Life, of Action, not of Specula-

part of God's

own Nature and

with His Divine Being into

all

Self which passes

c. 4.

His Sons, and belongs to

c. 5.

the restoration of the lost likeness.

Respondere Natalibiis

Cyprian's motto as in the

still

is

home

days of the plague*, and as he lovingly presses


any editor has

If

an Epistola,
viii.

(22).

indicate

They
flat,

Duas Epp.

c.

this

it

calls it

Pelagg. iv.

Yet the opening phrases

was orally delivered.


and would be too
'De
a metaphor to readers.
that

it

are too
for

noted

Even Augustine

escapes me.

full,

patientia locuturtts, fratres dilectissimi,

commoda

tram patientiam video esse necessariam,


ut nee ipsum
patientia

sine

enim

quod auditis
facere

demum sermo

efficaciter

discitur,

diciUir aitdiatur.
^

Tert. de Pat.

Pont. Vit.

ejus

et

si

9.

et discitis,

possitis.

et

Tunc

ratio salutaris

patienter

De B.

Pat.

quod

i.

caloribusimpatientia;.

i.

prtedi-

utilitates

'

Semper ?eger

Tert. de Pat.

unde potius incipiam, quam


quod nunc quoque ad audientiant ves-

et

cattirus,

our

c. i.

EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

444

Sonship and

its

obligation, he shews himself a better master

of motive than his Master, who, at this section of the subject,

only represents to us the obedient patience of our slaves and

our animals, and the suitableness of our rendering the like to


the Giver of such comforts \

The Patience

c. 4.

delays,
c. 6.

in

power as of

spiritual

for

man's

is

the return of the sinfidlest.

to

whom

^,

In this

own

broadening out of the

this

wholly derived

allusion to his

c. ,0.

immense

con-

spirit

of

Of the Patience of
though much expanded.
He
argument

'

concludes this section by alleging from S. Peter and


the

sal-

passion, full of
still

we have not merely an

Tertullian, from
is

manhood and

the

all

Patience of

visibly
power which (in exorcism)
foe and
displayed too in the opening

troversies, but a deliberate

'

the

suffering,

wide of His Church

God

allows

His eternal preparation

every act of His

last clause

c. 9.

displayed through ages

is

He

opportunities

shewn

is

in

tames the
c. 8.

the

all

the Son
vation,

c. 7.

of the Father

the gifts of nature to the idolatrous nations, in

in

S.

John

necessity of an Imitation of Christ along with

Types of His patience offered by Abel and


the Patriarchs, by Joseph and Moses, by David in his
great and marvellous and Christian patience with Saul, and
by the Martyrs and Prophets of the old Covenant. Here then
we must not miss his doctrine that, while ethnic patience
before Christ was worse than nothing, Jewish patience was
the

personal

'

'

perfect to the full extent

to

which types can be perfect

Theirs was a prefiguring of His.

ecu 17.

The next main

division of the subject

is

the Necessity

and Utility of Patience under the conditions of Humanity

Tert. de Pat.

Details

the

of

in

iv.

imitation

crop up

in

statement of our Lord's baptism

'a servo' [De B. Pat. 6) in the remark


that

He

never betrayed Judas'

throughout his discipleship

(6)

name

perhaps

the expression that

victimani

'

(7).

He was

Tert. de Pat.

however appears elsewhere


reading of Es.
cf.

De B.

Seg. reads

liii.

Pat. 23.

iii.

(which

in Cyprian's

[Testim.

led 'ad

11.

15],

Hartel with Cod.

ad criccem).

IX.
in

THE 'PATIENCE' OF TERTULLIAN AND CYPRIAN.

I.

The

its fall

tears of the

new-born child

initiate a state

of troubles in

which the Christian has the

Patience

one prospect of dealing with them

his

is

he find any other road to such special

dom

'

Truth

'

\z.

c.

14.

c.

15.

share

fullest

as are promised him, nor into that Faith,

'

445

nor can

and

Free-

'

Hope, and

Perseverance, which form the subjective part of his religion

nor yet find any other rampart of the Purity, Honesty, and

Innocence which he guards.

Of Charity which

is

Christianity in essence, and of the

Peacefulness, which so palpably differences

Christian from

heathen society ^ Patience and Tolerance are the substantial


substratum I
This section of Cyprian's

Far
striking

is

is

also built

and regular but

less orderly

far

on TertuUian.

more picturesque and

Tertullian's handhng. TertuUian finds the Necessity

view of

for Patience in the obligations of accepting Christ's


riches,

and

bearing our losses

Christianly
juries,

distributing

in the necessity of

though here

his

hot

satisfaction in the surprise

our patience must

afflict

surrendering

all

results

and disappointment with which


our enemies

in
in

the necessity of
the necessity for

of our

Augustine,

c.

Duas Epp.

as

Pelagg. iv.

(c.

ii)andofc.

17

shewing what Cyprian understood by


have sinned' with any Pelagian

TertuUian uses Malus as the equi-

valent of 6

7roj'7;p6s.

Certemus

igitur quae

Malo infliguntur sustinere. Again:


Quaqua ex parte, aut erroribus nostris,

MaH

'all

aut

opinion.

Domini intervenit usus, ejus


magna merces.... De Pat. xi.,

Compare Cyprian's first experience


of this in ad Donattun, 14, with this
which
*

is

his last.

...patientiae et tolerantijE firmitate.

(De B. Pat.

16.)

insidiis,

aut

'dissecabalur Malus.'

admonitionibus

On

general see Bp. Lightfoot

of the N.T.

(ed. 3),

App.

officii
cf.

xiv.

the use in
oit

11.

ix.

x.

have

mild.'

points out the irreconcilable-

ness of this passage

We

own misdoing, the plots


God we have to

of the Evil One*, and the corrections of

become 'humble and

viii.

cannot forego a distinct

vengeance into the hand of God.

to bear alike the

our largesses

taking Christ's view of in-

spirit

a nobler view of the death of friends

viii. (22),

Ten. de

Revision

p. 294.

xi.

EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

446

Peacefulness \ Forgivingness, The cotitinuance of Single

Tert. de

Divorce, Earnestness in Repentance, are the steps

life after

of the ch'max which, Hke his scholar, he finds and dwells

on with delight

And

in

Paul's perfect analysis of Charity I

S.

then each has his characteristic corollary

strangely

that

we have

so far spoken

uniform Patience, merely


has a
xiii.

'

multiform function

Divine

the

afflicting of the

'

through the

in

flesh

"^

to

'

is

'

a simple

but that she further

the body

toiling to deserve

'The

Asceticism.

a placatory victim unto the Lord

is

sacrifice of humiliation

of rations

stint

the heart

This function

favour.'

'

'

in

Tertullian

only of

the

Lord

'

and pure water, joining fast to

'

and

offering squalor with

food

content with plain

growing

fast,

into sackcloth

ashes.'

Of

Nebuchadnezzar was an example,

this satisfaction

though not of the highest order

and throughout every stage

of pain, self-inflicted or enforced by the persecutor, patience


the minister of power.

is

This chapter with

its

extravagant

counterpart in Cyprian, and while

teachings

indicates

it

tendencies even in his orthodox years,

it

its

finds

no

author's

instances also

how

uncatholic fashions in the Catholic Church arise not from

her true fathers, but are the inventions of sectarian geniuses.

While

Tertullian's corollary

maceration, Cyprian's

is

is

the very wildness of

self-

that noble doctrine of Probation

of which the English Church philosopher has been the chief


c.

17.

exponent^.
^

Tertullian

culty

(xii.)

speaks of the

which a son of impatience

diffi-

finds

in forgiving seventy times seven times.

Cyprian
need

(16) passingly alludes

for forgiving

to

the

not numerically but

Caritas

is

Cyprian's rendering, Di-

lectio Tertullian's in i
^

Tertullian,

venture to suggest

Tert. de Pat.

universally.
'

would surely be too violent for


even if he tolerated the
heathen metaphor of libation, which
he nowhere does, and surely could not.
sordes'

Cor.

xiii. 4.

xiii. 'cum sordes cum


domino libat.^
Libare

Tert. de Pat.

angustia victus

"

c.

x.

litat.

Compare

'Quern autem ho-

norem litabimus Domino Deo


Valent.

ii.

'

' ;

adv.

Infantes testimonium Christ!

sanguine litaverunt.'
*

Cyprian's examples of patience are

IX.

I.

THE 'patience' OF TERTULLIAN AND CYPRIAN. 447

The
and
or,

in

as

'

Necessity of Patience

Tertullian has

Both

assign

Envy

of Man.

its

woman's part
source

prefaced, T.

Tertullian

in

is

'

Cyprian followed up, by an enquiry into the 'Origin,' De

down

the

it,

genesis

The

Impatience \

of

'Parentage,'

same cause

to the

The

B. P.

^' '^'

Devil's

older writer dwells with acerbity on

All

in the Fall.

falls

to Israel's choice of

'

are traced to the

own

of the heretics in his

same

profane guiding godsV to

the massacres of prophets, and (says Cyprian) to


falls

de P. v.

the

all

But Tertullian has

day.

z-T-deP-vK.

beautiful contrast of the genesis of Patience in the Faith of

Abraham and

of her perfecting in Christ's doctrine of the

Love of Enemies.
Yet again Cyprian,
and enlarges

rarely borrowing his words', ioWo^s, De B. P.

his Master's

list

of the Effects of Patience in

^^'deP.Tiw.

generating the altruism of the Christian communities and


their persevering

discouragement

At

the

passage

work

keen

as 'sons of the Father.'

last,

the Master rises

in all his writings,

Catherine of Raffaelle.

'

into

the most beautiful T.deP.xv.

impersonating her beauty like a

Her countenance

still

and calm,

no wrinkledness from mourning or from anger

'

brow

to pucker

it,

'

downcast

in lowliness

pure,

the world through every

for

eyebrows evenly smoothed


not unhappiness,

for joyousness, eyes


lips sealed

with

all

'the dignity of silence; her complexion that of free hearts

and innocent she shakes her head at the Accuser, her smile
about her bosom her amice lies white and
threatens him
'folded close, unpuffed, unruffled; for she sitteth upon the

'

'

theLord'spacific calm, Stephen, Job, and

him

Tobias; TertuUian's (De Pat. xiv.) are

fine pathos, after calling

theEsaiasoftradition, Stephen, and Job.

censu

TertuUian's details of the wife and the

ditior,'

^^5/W2 are

borrowed by Cyprian, but not

his strange mistake that Job's children

were never replaced, and that he ascetically preferred to live alone. Cyprian
cannot

refrain

from

Satan's success through

supposing

that

Eve encouraged

to

employ Job's
dominus,

in

But with

him 'Dives

in

pater

liberis

he says 'nee dominus repente

nee pater
^

et

wife.

est.'

De

B. Pat.

Exordia, Cyprian

18.

Natales,

Ter-

tullian.
'^

Profanos deos...itineris sui duces.

T. divitem temperat.

potentiam divitum.

C.

coercet

EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

448

'throne of that gentlest, kindest Spirit

who

'

whirlwind, nor blackens in the cloud, but

clearness,

open and singlehearted, the

'

third vision, Elias saw.

'

foster-child,

So he

ever of a tender

is

Spirit

For where God

is,

not in the

rolls

whom

there also

his

in

His

is

even Patience.'

writes,

and then, as

if

impatient of Patience herself,

he dashes suddenly into a wild invective against the 'patience


l.de

Pat.

'

of the Gentiles of the earth

them by Satan's

false,

a criminal patience, taught

xvi-

emulating God.

self,

Patient of every

shame

'for gold's sake, patient of rivals, plutocrats, dinner-givers

'impatient of

only

God

'

the patience of the

'

flesh

and of

For

alone...'

we must

...'We,

fire.

spirit.'

We

flesh.

this patience there waits

offer the patience

He ends.

Cyprian's conclusion

is

may

as different as

'All retributions to be let

characteristic.

of the spirit,

believe in the resurrection of

De B. Fat. belong to God, saith Prophecy.

be and as

alone by man. They

/ have held my peace :

shall

CC. 21, 22.

my peace for ever^f ...

/ hold
CC. 23, 24.

the Judge

is

not Himself,

His

servants,

The

Lamb of the Passion


silence.
He who avenges

silent

who will not keep


who so long avenges not His
with

vindicate themselves before


on, stedfast in tolerance,

He

and

slain

unblushful

unscrupulous,

vindicated

is

in the

"Day

.-*

Son

shall

precipitation

Rather, work

of Wrath-" stand

with the just and the godfearing.'

'Of Jealousy and Envy.'

2.

The Tractate

'of

abroad as well as
^

Isai. xlii. 14.

time holden

and refrained

schwieg

E.

my peace;
myself.'

soil ich

Jealousy and Envy,' which long remained

at

home

V. 'I have long


I

have been

still

Bundes. (1840), v. 11. p. 420.


'Ille Ira et vindictae Dies^

d. Alt.

taken from
^

c.

the

Rom.

ii.

iv.

viii.

Is

5?

Epistola populis nota, Aug.

Donn.

(11).

</.

-5a/^.

'...librum...

valde optimum,' Hieron. Comment, in

Ep. ad
is

'epistle*,'

earliest theological use of this title.


it

H. Ewald : ^Ich

auf ewig verstummen

an mich halten?' Die Propheten


'^

a famous and popular

Galatt.

1. iii.

c. 5.

IX.

2.

SECRET OF CONDUCT

'

DE

ET

ZEI.O

LIVORE.'

449

but as it is unmencame out probably a little


later, although before the recommencement of persecution*.
This too is motived by the dread that in the official life of
the Church fresh fields were opening to commonplace passions.
Their outer activity might be checked by the rules of the

belongs to nearly the same time


tioned in the letter to Jubaian

society, yet the religion

would miss

hearts to be ridden over so secretly

whose energy Cyprian recognised


of good as fast as

it

'There

is

its

end

if it left

Christian

by that mysterious Being

in the

constant depravation

arose ^

These are some now


'violence

it

visible effects of

'

blinding jealousy.'

breaking of the bond of the Lord's peace, a

done

to brotherly charity,

there

a corrupting

is

'

of truth, a dividing of unity, a dashing into heresies and

'

schisms, (and

it

will continue) so

long as there

is

this cavil-

'

ling at chief priests, this

envying at the bishops,

any man

'

complaining aloud at not having been preferred

for conse-

'

cration, or disdaining to

'

one

'

crooked out of

"lifts

submit to another's prelacy.

up the heel"; hence one


rivalry,

rebels,

Hence

proud out of jealousy,

a foe through enmity and envy not to

man but to his office.' Maximus, Felicissimus, Novatus,


more Novatian, may have passed before his mind's eye
as he wrote^; but it was the general condition of factiousness
which had to be prok^d in order to be healed. Such is the

'

the

still

motive.

The purpose then

is in

continuance of his plan of analysing

and developing the new school of life. And in this his last
treatise he boldly feels after a more searching and more
formative discipline of the conscience than

hitherto.

He

goes to the foundations of spiritual self-knowledge.

This

may be

fairly

inferred

from

the character of the exhortation in


16.
-

Will of Evil,
^

c.

c.

Observe

reference

B.

of

in this treatise the constant

phenomena

to

a Living

This passage
12 (p.

(c.

6)

and that

in

454) below must I think be

taken as a grave incidental judgment on


Novatian's motives.

29

EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

450
c.

It is

I.

upon the 'dark and hidden devastation' which


unwary minds' that he focuses the new

'lurk-

ingly affects
c. 3.

'

The

'

hidden and clandestine the archery the more

'

us

c.

7.

c. 9.

awake

to understand

And

it.'

Let

it is.

which

is

wounds deeply lodged

the heart/ 'the

'

in the secret places of

'

within the hiding-places of the conscience,' that he directs

men's own observation.

And

which he applies.

the inner

It is

so with the course of

Itisthe 'Deifica Disciplina'

15.

which

remedy

of the conscience to

life

which the great organizer addresses himself


c.

fatal

so through the whole treatise.

to 'the recesses of the mind,' 'the unhappiness

It is

c. 6.

darts

light.

The more

from the ambushes.

thickest

rain

in the last issue.

the 'Discipline that divinises'

must, which only can, complete our soul's

'Birth

unto God.'

The
c. 16.

'How am

question,

first

to hold the grace once

given against the most secret and fatal of inner

he answers thus

By

by

meditations

Reading, Thought, Prayer, Works of Charity.


'

c.

17.

assaults.'''

exercises spiritual
'

For not the

days of martyrdom alone are the days of coronation


Peace

'God's warriors.
attain

them

'

too

It is possible

still,'

he

imitation of

Envy

Jealousy and

if

The inner accurate searchThe sweetening of bitterness.


'

of the Cross, with

good men,

'

for

'But how to

in me'*.^'

replies.

ing and weeding of the heart

The Sacrament

Jier crozvns^.'

the next question,

is

have been long dominant


'

has

or, if at

food and wine

its

The

present that seems impossible,

sympathy with them, and delight in the happiness of others.'


So nearly and so effectively does he reach the idea of an
enchiridion

he concludes with suggesting topics

that

frequent reflection,

and

especially

times has been found most


c.

18.

that one which

potent,

'

The

Practice

in

for
all

of the

Presence of God.'
Divina

(c.

15).

mus

(c.

nativitas.

Deifica disciplina

Corroborandus, firmandus ani16).

...tu

etiam possis qui fu eras zelo et

livore possessus... (c. 17).

IX.

SECRET OF CONDUCT

2.

Superficially unlike, this

Cyprianic of Cyprian's
it

is

defective in

'

is

DE ZELO ET

45

most

respects the

It is

broadly practical, and

analysis

of the passion to be

tracts.

scientific

some

in

LIVORE.'

subdued, though he rightly, like Clement of Rome, detects

most

to be the

it

We
Livor
an

now

will

are,

fatal of all to Church-life.

ideal perhaps never

tainly

by any

The

what Zehis and

ascertain his notion as to

and conclude with

his ideal of the opposite

more

temper:

(never cer-

perfectly realised

controversialist) than in himself ^

Title

De

'

Zelo et Livore

'

leads us to expect some-

But the

thing of logical distinction.

'

et

Livore

rather a substitute for an epithet to explain in

proves to be

'

what sense he

means to use Zelus'-.'


For in Aristotle Zelos has none but a good sense
'

reasonable quality
'

reasonable men,' for

in

pain at a visible presence of good and precious


for oneself to attain

'

but because oneself hath not^'

CEcumenius well puts when he*

ment of

'

resemble what

soul

so earnestly

it

But such noble emulation

mean

good,' 'apart from


1

this.

Cy-

(c. 13)

et

zeli

ac

livoris

alicnus.''

Augustine says, 'Vera decuit Cypria-

et

zelo ac livore et arguere graviter

monere, a quo tarn mortifero malo cor

ejuspenitusa/2V?^;tanta(-rtr?Va/abun-

dantia comprobavit
custodita, &c.'
viii.

II.

be depraved

qua vigilantissime

> Bapt.

c.

Donatt. iv,

by the mere

pain at another's

'

it^';

D. Brutus,

fashionable

as Plutarch,

or,

who was

words,

only prae- Augustan


Epistt.

two ways,

in

This antiently was

not.

it

passion of the mean,'

'eum posse caritatem


quisque magnanimus fuerit et

benignus

num de

affects.'

any hope of obtaining

Augustine has caught

prian says
tenere,

an enthusiastic move-

'

desire to engross the perceived good, or

'

sense which

It is this classical

calls it

may

base wish that the owner had


PhtJionos, the

possible

towards something, with some attempt to

'

by a

a kind of

gifts,

a pain not because another hath them,

'

'

is

it

'a

ad Earn.

a lover of un-

seemingly

is

who

x\. 10,

the

uses livor (Cic.


i).

Rket.

Oicumen. Comment, in Ep. Cath.

Jacob,
'

VII.

14.

Aristot.

ai'/rt^,

err'

iii.

11.

ii.

/.

aXKb. 81

c, and

dWoTpiois dyadoh.
i.

ii.

eKeivovs.

10,

m'J?

Cf.

Diog.

(III).

29

''vo.

rt.

...\)jnr)i>

Laert.

EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

452

'simply against those

who seem

who seem

in

advance

to

to prosper,... against those

Again

excellence'.'
call

further cleared the definition

by adding that the envied

being

the active feeling invidentia,


well-

such as to be unhurtful to the envious

is

But amid the


duced

who

Cicero,

proposed for clearness' sake to

esteem which the new ethics intro-

falling

for all qualities

which tended to emphasize or even

pronounce that Ego, which had hitherto been the world's


the idea that was

centre,
S.

Paul

its

At once

Zelus declined.

in

Jerome still notes the double use, the noble and


But Cyprian had placed it wholly on the level of

tention^.

the base.

Phthonos.

He

words run

thus,

envy

'

and

to

'

and

trivial

begins by coupling
'

To

with Livor and his

it

be jealous {zelare) of the good you

{invidere) better

crimed'

In reality

men

is

some a

held by

he proceeds,
It

was the

occasion.
'

'

He

sight of the
'

and dear

like that of

Impatience^

Image of God

He, throned

to

in

brake out into Jealousy

{zelus)

man

snatched from

'

immortality, and himself lost

Man had
It

it

was

in

in

Man

which gave the

all

the

'

down from Abel

in

through malevolent Envy


^/te

grace of his imparted

that he once had been.'

caught the infection

was not
in

Its origin,

the will of Satan.

is

God, he was foremost to perish and to destroy...

(/ivor)...lle

mean,

see,

slight

majesty, he well-pleasing

angel

'

c. 5.

first

one of the deadliest be-

it is

cause one of the most secret of our temptations.


c. 4.

in

workings take rank with those of enmity and con-

Cyprian seems to

yet, as

the first-fallen that

its

power appeared.

primal hatreds of fresh brotherhood


to the delivery of the Christ

'

'

and

through envy,'

Cyprian touches the great Jewish instances.


^

Plut. de Odio et Invidia, vi. ...tois

fxaXKof
-

iir'

Tmsc. Disp.

iv. 8.

17

'

Eegritudinem

susceptam propter alterius res secundas


quae nihil

noceant invidenti

nam

quis doleat ejus rebus secundis a


ipse Isedatur,

non

Cf.
*

dperrj irpo'ievaL doKovffi.

si

quo

recte dicitur invidere.'

iii.

9. 20.

^X^P'*'' ^P'^-

Gal.

v. 20,

on which

see Bishop Lightfoot.


*

Zelare

things and

is

applied

virtutem...felicitateni

De

indifferently

persons, fratrem

B. Pat. 12,

(c.

19.

7).

(c.

to

11),

IX.

SECRET OF CONDUCT

2.

Then come

'

DE ZELO ET LIVORE!

the evils of which, in the Church and in the

world, Jealousy

is

the

and here there

root';

'

classification.

They

and ambition,

(3) irreligion, as

is

again a trace of

are (i) hate and animosity, (2) avarice

overpowering the consider-

ation of the Fear of God, the School of Christ

of Judgment,

(4)

discord, wrath, (6)

pride,

(5)

dwells on the self-torment of envy, on

the difficulty of eradicating

and

its

it,

Yet

is

it

its

the

treatise

It

physical symptoms^,

the self-contradictions of the

and

to the

whole Imitation of

He

taught that least

greatest,

is

away, removing the material^ cause

'emulation

curable by one master-thought of His duly

He, when

learnt.

of

contrariety alike to the Lowliness

to the Light of Christ*,

Him.

'

creates ^

it

impatience,

perfidy,

cruelty,

Day

and the

Church Divisions^

Lightly to sketch the remainder

situations

453

lopped

'

envy

of

itself

next the pattern of a Christian as drawn by

It outlines

our Lord and Saint Paul, and this

may

well be quoted at

length on account of the perfect ideal which, in


its

its 'reality

healthfulnessV Cyprian set before himself

and

It is scarcely

possible that a closer parallel could be found to the very

It

would seem from the above that

is

the ruin of

pax and

caritas,

and

is

Cyprian, as a moralist, uses zeius as the

the contrary of the iinanimis et niiiis

most comprehensive term, livor (unkind)


or invidia (mean) as its immediate de-

character.

velopment, and (zmulatio as a specific

labiis tremor.

The

activity.

Satan's

first

following are illustrations.

emotion was zelus : then in-

vidia grassatur on earth, and

man

livore

periturus...diabolum qui zelat imitatur


(c.

Ab

4).

livoris ignibus

tenebrse,
tas

(c.

livoris,

Zelus

livor ex-

majus incendium

in

inardescit

nubilum

11).

nunquam

invidis

^oxA.t\yx...Invidus

is

(c.

the opposite of

magnanimitas, livor oibenignitas


Again,

(i

Cor.

iii.

Zeli

7).

invidia Cceci-

\^.
found

(z.

3) zelus is

only in infants in Christ: accordingly

it

Vultus minax. .pallor in

facie,

in

c. 8.

...

malum

Perseverans

est

hominem

persequi ad Dei gratiam pertinentem,


calamitas sine
licem.
*

c.

remedio

est

odisse

fe-

9.

Is the rather singular phrase

Quae

sunt Christi gere quia /?<.* ^/ a'zVj C^rij/wj


^^^ (c. 10)

thegerm of the hymn

C^riV/i?

'/ l^'x es et dies ?

Omnem causam et materiam.

Per quem (Cypr.) ...Dominus vera-

cissima intonuit et

Aug. de Bapt.

c.

c.

to.

salubria prsecepit.

Donatt. iv.

viii.

(11).

c. 6.

EXPANSION OF CHRISTIAN FEELING AND ENERGY.

454

character which Pontius and Augustine

c. 12.

from acquaintance

and study describe as his own.


We must remember by what name Christ calls His own
people, by what title He designates His own flock. Sheep He
'

names them, that Christian innocence may match the inno-

Lambs He

cence of sheep.

them, that their simplicity of

calls

mind may copy the lamb's simple


under sheep's clothing

.''

Why

Christian falsely defame Christ's flock


Christ's

name and

Why

nature.

does one

To

lurks a wolf

calling himself a

not walk by Christ's way,

take upon one

what

is

but

this

of a Divine name, an abandonment

the counterfeiting

the road of salvation

Forasmuch

Himself

as

of

His

saith in

cometh unto Life who keepeth the commandis wise that heareth His words and doeth
he too is called the chief doctor in the kingdom

teaching, " he

ments," and "he


"

them," and
of heaven

who

teacheth and so doeth,"

shewing

that,

what

the preacher preacheth well and serviceably shall then profit


the preacher,

by his lips be fulfilled by


But what did the Lord oftener instil into

what

if

deeds following.

His disciples

precepts, hath

what,

He

is

delivered

among

saving warnings and heavenly

bidden us more observe and keep than that

"with the same love wherewith


should also love one another".-*

He

the peace of the Lord or charity,

doth he keep either

who through

the

of jealousy can neither be a peacemaker, nor be in

From

this

remonstrance he

change actually wrought by the


about the
led

'

'

by the

them,
c. 14.

He

Sonship to God.

'If

New

Birth,

Spirit,'

charity'.'''

Life,

of

of the

and of our true

and being 'God's

sons';

flesh,'

the

'

being

he argues from

uplifted our eyes from earth to heaven,

raised to things above

in

weaves together the Apostle's sayings

mortifying of the deeds of the

we have

coming

rises still in his delineation

the unearthly spiritual idea of the Christian

c. 13.

we

loved His disciples,

Now how

and things Divine a heart

See

p. 449, n. 3.

full

of

and

God

IX.
'

SECRET OF CONDUCT

2.

and of

Christ, let us be

'

DE ZELO ET

LIVOHE.'

455

doing nothing but things worthy of

'God and of Christ' Again he quotes 'Risen with Christ...


minded of things above... life hid with Christ in God... Christ
our life one day to appear, and we with Him,' and again he
argues, We then, who in baptism died and have been buried
as to the fleshly sins of the old man, who by heavenly
regeneration have risen with Christ, think we and do we the
things that are Christ's
The Apostle tells of " the first man
'

'

man from

of the earth and of the second

"bearing the image of the one

heaven," of our

and afterwards of the

first,

That heavenly image we shall never wear unless we


present Chrisfs likeness in zvhat we have already begun to be.
second."

This

have chajiged what you once were and

to

it is

begtin to be

what you were

not

to

have

namely, that a Divine nativity

shines out in you, that a deifying education responds to your

Father God,

that, in the

honour and praise of

livijig, the

Lord shapeth

brightens in the man... IJnto this brightness the

and prepareth
of

us,

and the Son of God enwindeth

God His Father

into

us.'

Then

follow

passages in which the Sonship of the Christian

Then

the questions

necessary

about

it,

life

if

to such a

life

in these

he held to be

at

to these

this likeness

his
is

favourite

worked

out.

in ourselves the world's

as this in the world

nothing yet has been effected

Of his answers
So

How to adapt

God

.-'

How to

set

.''

we have already spoken.

two Papers Cyprian

lets the

world see what

once the Secret of Conduct, the true way of

Church-Reform, and the Church's

Work

for the

Empire.

c. 15.

CHAPTER

X.

The Persecution of Valerian.


I.

'We

I.

wards.

its occasions.

stood together linked in a band of love and peace

against heretical

This

The Edict and

is

wrong and Gentile

pressure.'

Cyprian's reminiscence of the Council a year after-

It indicates

that externally there had been difficulties

way which have left no other trace in the correspondFrom indignant words of Pontius we must also infer
ence.
that some relics of the plague and the gallant service of the
Church had lasted through the Council up to the moment
in its

of Cyprian's banishment \

But

it

comes

as a surprise to find

Cyprian's next letter written from exile to exiled brothers of


the Council.

sudden blow has

Christian population

some died

early, the

upon a large proportion of the


a renewal of persecution under which
fallen

heads of the society were expelled, and

the youth of neither sex was spared.

Dionysius the Great was already in exile too, sent to


Kephron by ^milian himself ^ Just when Africa was the least
troubled part of the world, the success of the Third Council

on Baptism seems to have been a prelude to destruction.

We

will shortly

speak of the confused circumstances which

attended the outbreak.


^

Pontii Vit. ii.

The Acta Publica

fully by

are quoted very

Dionysius ap. Euseb. H. E.

vii.

See Note on Kephron and


ir.
Lands of Kolluthion, p. 463.

the

X.

MACRIANUS.

I.

I.

The new

457

persecuting phase of Valerian's

life

was ascribed

These were two remarkable men.


Valerian's purity and dignity of character had endeared him to

to the influence of Macrian'.

At Decius' fantastic revival

Decius.

even

primed

if

to choose him, did

'Pattern of old times,' 'Censor

of the censorship, the senate,

with such acclamations as

it

'Censor from a boy,'

all his life,'

Trebellius adds that he would have been elected imperator

by universal suffrage

There were so

Christian population honoured him.

themselves safe
called

it

his

in

household, that they affectionately

Church of Godl'

'a

In spite of a languid tempera-

ment he had been always admired


in selecting

of Macrian

men

he chose to

He was made
perhaps crippled

We

own

his

sketch

and

fertility

of resource, of distinguished
in several countries,

and of immense wealth.

Africa,

Exand

Macrian was a man of the highest

and influence with the armies

among them

sons were patterns of discipline.


his time

have

the closest place to himself^.

delicate in health, of luxurious habits,

in person'',

force of character

soldiership

fill

Rationalis, Chancellor of the Imperial

Though

chequer.

for a characteristic insight

for great posts*.

whom

The
many of

such voting power had existed^

if

His martial

Like other agnostics of

he was deeply impressed by the mysteries of the

Egyptian 'Magi,' and

is

called

by Dionysius

their 'Archisyna-

must at least mean an intimate and a patron^


The family had long kept up a kind of cultus of Alexander

gogus,' which

^ Zonaras xii. 24 says his name was


Macrinus and his son's Macrianus. But
the coins with the old bearded head

Rationibus or Rationalis.

have MACRIANUS as well as those with

Odrepov Trev-^puTo tCiv CKeXCov which per-

the young smooth face.

haps

duo,

Trebell. PoUio, ed. Peter, Valeriani

Dionvs. ap. Euseb.

Treb. Poll. Regilianus.

is

vii.

10.

crcb/jLCLTi,

Dionysius ap.

Zonaras

xii.

24.

says

not a mere version of Dionysius

as he has independent information about

10.

vii.

Nearly

all

became emperors.

Treb. Poll. Macrianus.

ivl

(Dion.

dvairi^pip rip

the family.

c. 5.

'^

his generals

''

Euseb.

tQ)v

KadoiKov

ap.

Euseb.

"Koyuv
vii.

Dionysius, ap. Euseb.

or Kpitns.

As Dionysius was

10),

i.e.

in

have known what he was saying


is

irpbvoia.

his con-

Egypt he may
which
very unlike Gibbon's version 'As

temporary and lived


^aatXiws

10, says

vii.

he did not recognise any Divine

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

458
the

wearing his portrait

Great,

embossing

it

on their

plate.

As

was

at

ceremonial cultus of Alexander, this perhaps

Magi

'

'

Alexandria a

may

There was

a traditional connection with Egypt.

between the

indicate

They

enforced the

common

tation of the deepening calamities of the Empire,

war

bitter

and the Christian Exorcists with

anti-daemoniac powers.

and

their embroideries

in

there

their

interpre-

and Macrian

His

prevailed on Valerian to be initiated in their mysteries*.


later effect

on the reputation of Gallienus himself

is

com-

pared rather stiltedly by Dionysius to that of a cloud hiding


for awhile the sun I

Valerian's son Gallienus, or the conception of him, was a

product of the times.

terrible

polished rhetorician, and

elegant composer, devoted personally to Plotinus^, a scientific

gardener withal, and a portent of heartless

His clever wicked face on the medals*

and

frivolity

sin.

in utter contrast to

is

Yet he had early received


such impressions, strengthened possibly by a Christian marhis father's clean

massive head.

language of Dionysius about him, immediately

riage*, that the

on the disappearance of Macrian, seems more than gratitude


for his instant action in the repeal of Valerian's edict".

The

persecution thus begun by the virtuous and stayed

Macrian was an enemy to the Christians,

"

Euseb.

him with being a magi-

eriixiqixav

they charged

Ep. ad Hermatnmon., ap. Euseb. vii. 23, means


no other betrayal of Valerian by
Macrian than the projecting him on
1

-rrpoiixevos

in Dion.

the evil policy which led to his

The mistake

a spurious sentence in Trebel-

it

lius

'ductu cujusdam

sui duds'"

fancying Macrian to be meant.

koX

rbv JWutIvov fidKurra

and
His

Syncellus quoting
axOeis.

has the same sense;

vii. 10)

it

Ed. Dind.

has

iiirb

p. 719.

OeoO irpo-

roinov ywr) ZaXoiviva.

avroKparup
Porphyr.

See plate xlviii. Grueber and Poole's

Roman
'

Medallions in British Museu?n.

Sup. p. 280

tributes

n.

his action

Orosius

(vii.

22) at-

to a sense of the

Divine judgment on Valerian. According to Trebellius he was gratified by the


event.

other expression virh tovtov irpoaxBds

Euseb.

r\

Vit. Plot. xii.

fall.

from mixing up

arises

with

(ap.

vii. 23.

xat ffi<p0T]ffav raXt^i'65 re 6

cian.

by

**

Euseb.

vii.

23 gives not Gallienus'

original edict but the rescript applying


it

to

Egypt. 'Offiwrepos Kal (piXodedirepos,

in the light of the rest of the letter to

THE

UPRISING OF NATIONS.'

459

the infamous emperor fulfilled for Dionysius,

by help of the

X.

I.

I.

key furnished

'

exact apocalyptic duration of three and a

in its

half years \ the vision of the Dragon's wrath

Woman. To Optatus

afterwards

it

seemed

against the

to be in connection

so close with Decius' persecution that together they

the

terrific

not

It is

made up

'Lion' Vision of DanieP.

common

from a

to find so total a revulsion

toler-

ant policy except towards the end of a career, or unless some


strong personal influences concur with some public difficulty.

We

see both elements

The

257) were

This was
truly,

The

In the

the

felt

first

first

NationsV as Zonaras says

of

no more, but Peoples

confederate Franks

by Aurelian

own way

triennimn of Valerian

death-pangs of the Empire.

The Uprising

'

raiders

before
all

fell

calamities which Macrian explained in his

were indeed appalling.


(254

work when without warning or


upon the Church.

at

inquiry edict and rescript

in irresistible

who had been

advance.

met some years

first

Mayence, and from there to the sea held

at

north of the Rhine, had streamed across Gaul, heeding no

defeats,

And now

and were entering Spain.

the whole vast

moat of the Empire formed by Rhine and Danube, with


Hadrian's wall and foss between them, then continued by the
Black Sea and the Don, was overleapt and overswum at every
point.
The All-men and the March-men poured countlessly in, the

Hermammon,

'

former soon to reach Milan thirty thousand*

goes beyond

It is possible that

knew

no-

It remains,

life.

problematical

believe,

official style.

Dionysius

thing of the personal


I

how

far the

scandalous chronicles of the emperors


represent

more than

brutal

popular

imaginings.
^

is

Dr

Peters, p. 574, thinks Dionysius

speaking only of the East and that


'second edict'

death of Macrian.

suppose

to

from the

there until

(?the rescript)

end

the

middle of 257 to
being himself
Kephron A. D. 257, he might

count

Optat.

Zonaras

until

counts

until Gallienus'

'

Besides,

260.

'^

A.D. 258, and infers that therefore the


lasted

edict

first

most natural

the

persecution to have

begun by that time,

eirl

persecution

of

banished to

in

Eastern

'

It is

Dionysius

that

edict of toleration,

fairly

there was no persecution

the

'

'

'

iii.

8.

xii.

23

...edvCov

ovv

tovtov yevofi^vrji iiravaffTdtreus

Zonar.

xii.

24.

Kai

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

460

strong before any check came.

Athens was

To

imperilled Thessa-

Isthmus walled across.

refortified, the

who mostly became Emperors

Generals

Gallienus committed Italy

were

The Goths

a general defence of Greece had to be organized;

lonica^;

infiltrated

day

in their

lUyricum, and Thrace. These

with tribes which

Borani,

they passed^,

itself,

left

'

nothing unravaged

Gotthi, Carpi, Orugduni.

as

'

He went

himself to the protection of the Celtic tribes and found

it

expedient to marry a Teutonic chieftain's daughter^, and to


surrender part of Pannonia, making the

Roman

first

cession*

to Barbarism.

Licinius

About the middle of 257 Valerian marched to the East;


^or the same enterprising otherwise unknown Borani, whose
sole contribution to civilisation was the overthrow of the past,
came from the Dniester to Byzantium in flat boats which

Valerianus

they there exchanged for Bosporan vessels, and scaring

Germ

settlers

A.D. 257.

A U

C.

loio. Coss.
j!"P'

of Pontus into the midlands and highlands

Max. mi. straight for the rich city of Pityus.

With

all

all

the

struck

the resources of

Imp.

them

CsesarP.

the great fort and harbour the baffling of

Gallienus

year was a great feat on the part of Successianus.

P. F.

A.

Max. Dae.

thgy were to take

it,

Next year

and to take the populous Trapezus, to

own amazement, and they were followed up by


bent only on the annihilation of

From

for a single

'all

their

tribe after tribe

beauty and

all greatness.'

the East the Persians or Parthians were not like

the Northerners driven on from behind, but with a spontaneous


lust of rapine

and

Africa for

Roman
Zos.

they swept Mesopotamia and Syria for captives

spoil.
all its

Berber raids was the safest portion of the

world.

i.

29,

Zonar.

xii.

Whether

(Dindorf) p. 715.

23,

Sync.

the

fortifi-

cation of Thermopylse was a fact seems


to

me
-

7j

TTjs'IXKvpi-

00s KaraXtTToiTes ddTjaiTov..., Zosim.


^

Sup. p. 300,

n. 7.

Gallus in 252 had promised annual

i.

24;

Zonar.

questionable.

fx^pos ov5ev TTjs 'IraXlas

subsidies to the Goths (yTreVxero, Zosim.

i.

31.

exaggerated into a-KevSerai


xii.

21),

by

but in 238 the Goths

had already been receiving annual s^iSee T. Hodgkin, Italy and her

pendia.

Ifivaders, (1892) vol.

i.

pp. 46 sqq.

X.

CHRISTIANS AGAINST UNITY.

I.

I.

The whole Empire was


of

No

fire.

girt as with

at

He was

persecutor.

hemmed

in civilisa-

any moment be anywhere and

Macrian then was not the one

the plague was everywhere.

The

an ever-contracting ring

worse time of misery has ever

The barbarian might

tion.

461

the voice and spirit of the Empire.

One army, one

essence of the Empire was unity.

law,

one senate. The adoration of the majesty of the Emperor with

which no national or
which grew more
universal.

local

The most

that in the midst of

worship interfered, was a necessity


the danger from

as

vital

Another unity was growing

up and growing everywhere which, as


could not,

deny

there was an ever-multiplying power,

all

which defied the central unity.

Caesar,

without grew

tolerant of emperors could not

men

would not adore

it

make common cause


The very usurpers were

thought, but

with the violators from without.

because their aim was at least to perpetuate in

less traitorous

themselves the imperial unity.

Whenever any

stir

directed

was
them an anti-Roman and therefore anti- human
unity which was believed to compact itself by the darkest
and most compromising bonds.
imperial or popular attention

visible

in

In every district

herents

to the Christians, there

their social

theory of an

'illicit

any

still

longer,

its

about

local chief

whom

ad-

when they obediently


evening meetings^ even when the old

Everywhere, even

rallied.

abandoned

had

it

religion' could not

be pressed consistently

everywhere unexplained

'

conventus

'

met

any individual who obeyed the magistrate by sacrificing to


the Majesty of Augustus evidently ceased to be a member of
and everywhere the cemeteries had a weird
them especially if there lay in them agents
who had suffered the extreme penalty of the law.

their corporation

fascination for

die

Plin. et Traj. Epp. 96

ante

luceni

'

Soliti stato

convenire...rursusque

coeandi ad capiendum cibum...quod

sum

facere desiisse post edictum

ip-

meum,

quo .secundum mandata tua hetaerias


esse vetueram.'
See W, M. Ramsay,
Church in Roman Empire, ch. x.

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

462

was June 257 when Valerian set out for the East, a
propitious moment for an able and popular minister of MacIt

By

views political and spiritual.

rian's

a despatch to the

senate Valerian committed to him the military dispositions of

In his hands was placed an Edict which empha-

the Stated

common

the

sized

law of the Empire, by enforcing these

crucial particulars.

The

their chiefs, to give

up

Christians were to be parted from

their meetings

and never to

visit

the

intended to be bloodless^.

It

cemeteries.

operation was at

Its

first

was thought that the removal of

among them would

ways^

natural

old-fatherly

governors as to

their influential

leave the people to

who

Particulars

should be separated.

fall

men from

back into their

were sent to the


Dionysius,

who was

brought before the Praefect of Egypt*, observed that -^milian


did not at once order him to hold no meetings^, but

him

simplicity desired

ready

way

to give

'

Ego

effect

on

that

rem

p. credidi

The appointment

is

It

proconsul or procurator, because Egypt

was incorporated abnormally in the


Empire, and was administered by the
personal staff of Augustus and his suc-

made from

does not seem to have

weakened Gallienus.
-

it

Lactantius says Valerian shed


'

But

much

in the first years 257, 8

seems doubtful whether any blood


It is quite

touching to see in the

Acta of the early


trates

''

Al/j-iXiavos 8e

iit}

aivaye.

ovk

elir^ /xoi

Euseb.

vii.

With him were convened

irporjyovii.

(accord-

ing to the Acta Publico) the presbyter

Maximus, who succeeded him


see,

in

trials

how

the magis-

always think the pantheon gods

the

Faustus a martyr in extreme old

age under Diocletian, Eusebius

was shed.
^

cessors.

fnh/ws

blood in a short time' (De mart. Persecut. v.).

had dwelt
which the

Ma-

the scene of war, not before Valerian's


departure.

Praefect

leniency with

The

quidem a

parte militari,' Treb. Pollio, Trig. Tyr.


I2ff.

when the

unusual

the

.bellum Persicum gerens

criano totam

in his

as

of ending the Christianity of the masses.

Proconsular Acts record

without

up being a Christian

after-

wards Bishop of Laodicea, Chseremon,


three

Deacons who had survived

terrific service in

their

the plague (sup. p. 244)

vii. II,

the viceroy in

and Marcellus, probably one of the


Romans whom he mentions (Euseb. /.f.).
These seem also to have accompanied

whole

civil

his exile,

are the natural ones for all


*

di^iriov

only in

T7]i>

fjyefiovlav,

men.

Euseb.

//.

E.

whose hand was the


and military power. It was
title that he was lower than

X.

THE

I.

I.

THE CCEMETERIES.

EDICT.

Emperors were ready to condone


he gave him a

his past

if

463

he would conform,

convene no assemblies, and

final injunction to

Meantime without a day's


malady he was to convey'' himself to Kephron
a wretched place, whose very name was new to him, on the
edge of the Desert, There his people were at first chased and
to enter

no

'so-called coemeteries\'

respite for his

pelted, but out of the

unpromising elements around them, with

the help of a confluence of visitors from Egypt, they formed a

He was then brought nearer Alexandria, to be


wanted again. This was to The Lands of Kol-

fresh mission.

within reach

'

if

luthion,' a disreputable place

caravans and freebooters


'

on the high road, worried with

on which account Dionysius

more Libyan than Kephron^

But he was

'

sible to friends

from the

city,

held regular

posts,

and so opened yet another mission.

contrasts

fill

up

calls

more

Synagogues

him.

there, as in other outlying

'

These

details

and

what happened about the same time

for us

Cyprian*, though there

is

it

acces-

who came and stayed with

They

'

also

no mention of the month

to

which

in

Dionysius was sentenced.

Oti

Kephron and The Lands of Kolluthion.

These places, unnamed by geographers, may be too

insignificant to

be ever identified, but points about them which can be made out from
Eusebius {H. E. vii. ir) are of interest as touching life. Kephron was
outside Mareotes, which in Roman times was a nome (Bockh, C. I. G.
III. p. 316), and its chief place, Marea {Meri), on the west of the lake.

Kephron was
that people
^

Euseb.

ei'y to. fxiprj

I.e.:

oida/xws Si i^iarai oCre

oSre aXXois tktIv

v/xiv

etadai,

tj

eiffUvai.

rrjs Ai0vr)s.

A poor village,

so far from Alexandria

who wanted to follow Dionysius (d8fX0c5i/

rj

ffvvoSovs

voi-

exile

at the

eTro/ieVwi/)

appointed time.

Koi/xrjTrjpla

Ets tA KoWvdlwvos.

It

to,

KoKoij/xeva

to take
Digesta,

48, 19, 4.

In this phrase he possibly

els

had

is

curious that Eusebius

vii.

i r

objects to the old-fashioned word, as

assigns to this Valerian persecution the

much

rough transportation and rescue of Dio-

as to the fact that (as he

the cemeteries were to them


^

note

On

knew)

much

else.

the penalty Deporiatio see infr.

on 'Cyprian's

treatment.'

The

penalty was death for not going to

nysius
rightly
vi.

40.

which he has himself quoted


under the Decian visitation,

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

464
up

abode there

their

(...ttoXXj)

avvfTredt^nrjo-ev

convenient for other parts of Egypt.

r)fu.v

eKKXTja-ia).

It

was

Lands, or Parts, of Kolhithion^


Ta KoXXou^iwcoy, were within the Mareotes. It was noplace for residents
rougher and more Libyan than Kephron which refers less to mileage
than to wildness. For it was nearer Alexandria {...ynTvia \mK\ov r^ rroXet,
&c.), and a frequented station (probably a night station) odoinopovvrav
evoxXyjaea-i on a high road, so that the Praefect could readily re-arrest
him, and his visitors could come easily and stay the night {dvaTravcrovTai).
He compares it to Trpoacrrfla, which were often miles from the head-place
'

T/ie

'

'

(Valesius, note on Eiiseb.

I.e.).

Kephron

Now

to the

exiled to a

'

Exile.

dismal, dirty

'

It

was

yvaypiyLarepos koX a-vvrjdiarepos than

the Decian persecution he

in

had been

place (epvpios kuI avxp-ijpos) three miles east of

Pareetonium, and, though Eusebius confusedly quotes his letter about that

Lands of
somewhere on the same road from Alexandria to
Cyrene.
Nicephorus, //. E. vi. 10, has muddled Eusebius more.
Koluthus, Kolluthus, Kephron were Egyptian personal names (Giorgi,
Fragm. Copticum ex actis S. Coluthi, 1781 de Miraculis S. Cohithi,

exile as if

it

KoUuthion

'

referred to this one, yet this fact suggests that the

may

lie

'

'

'

Epiphan. Hcer.

1793.

69).

curious that a pyramid

It is

is

called from Kephren, while a

the Sphinx bears the inscription To KoXXu^/cows'


Inscr. Gr. et L. de VEgypte,

seems too

far

p. 478,

(the

That neighbourhood

xxxix.).

sent for on the 30th of

August

Rome)

to the

day before the accession of Xystus

Proconsul's private office or Secretariuni

which

of

Treatment of Cyprian.

At Carthage Cyprian was

30.

D.

paw

(Letronne,

off.

2.

Aug.

II.

7rpoa-KvvTip,a

popular

for less

forum and crowded

at

a room of audience

now generally superseded

trials

basilica.

What was

the noisy

afterwards secured

as a right to distinguished provincials, that they should be


seated, during their
^

trial, in

trials

up

till

all

the

Secretarium,

in

Actssay that

Ruinart's Acta Sincera in

scene of the

trial is

Of

Cyprian's

Cod. fiistm. 3, 24, 3.

Christian

the secretariuni of the judged was

named,

which the
it is

always

the forum, the tribunal, or before the


multitude.

Only

in

the case of the

Scillitan martyrs, a later Christian ac-

count says that the

trial

was held

in the

ventu

'

while
it

was

the

Proconsular

'statute forensi con-

and 'Proconsul... sedens pro

tri-

Montanus and his companions,


a few months after Cyprian, are taken to
and fro in the Forum till the 'Prseses' decides to hear them in the Secretarium.
bunali.'

(^\xvcvz.x\.,PassioSS.Montani,Lucii...y\^

X.

CYPRIAN AND PROCONSUL.

2.

I.

no doubt conceded much

earlier

by usage.

465

Cyprian was at

though probably with

any rate heard in this less public way,


open doors. An undoubtedly genuine document of the Proconsular Acts

somewhat

and mutually

reports the following spirited

sarcastic conversation

which was held there

The Proconsul Aspasius Paternus opened thus


The most sacred Emperors Valerian and Gallien have done
:

me

the honour to send

me

a Despatch in which they have

directed that persons not following the


conform*^ to the

made

Roman

how you

enquiries as to

have you to give

ceremonies,

have

yourself^

call

religion

in

must

consequence

What answer

me ?

Cyprian the Bishop said

am

Roman

I know no other Gods


God who made heaven and earth, the
He is the God whom we Chrissea, and all that is in them.
Him we supplicate night and day for
tians wholly serve.
ourselves and for all men and for the safety of the Emperors

a Christian, and a Bishop.

but the one and true

themselves.

In this purpose then you persevere?


That a good purpose, formed in the knowledge

Paternus.
Cyprian.

of God, should be altered

Paternus

is

not possible.

{stieering at Cyprian's last word).

be 'possible' for you,

in

Well, will

it

accordance with the directions* of

Valerian and Gallien, to take your departure as an exile to


the city of Curubis

Cyprian did not condescend to meet the sneer with more


than one word

depart.

But Paternus wished to know something else. They have


done me the honour of writing to me not about bishops only,
^

Pontius does not report

this,

ving 'sunt acta quae referant,'


-

Recognoscere

this stage of

as the
'^

prefix re does not at

language imply return

Oxford translator has

De nomine
B.

obser-

Vit. 11.

ttto ;

to,

it.

explained by the

answer,
^

Praceptum. Act. Proc.

non potest.
P.
secundum prseceptum...'
mutari

//-6?<rf//</

ergo

prcecipere a.nd

the constant term.

SS. Pionii et socioriim

C. '...im-

poteris

SoPassio

ejus,m..{^\iXTi2.x\).

30

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

466

I would therefore know from you


who are the presbyters that reside in this city.
The old jurist had his turn. Cyprian. You have by your
own laws made good serviceable regulations against the very

but about presbyters too.

existence^ of informers.

Accordingly

and delate them.

to discover

it

not

is

However they

in

my

power

be found

will

in

their several cities.

My

Paternus.

question refers to this day and this place.

Inasmuch

Cyprian.

themselves spontaneously,, and this would also

your

they are unable to offer themselves

legislation,

you search

shall

but

if

they are to be found.

for them,

Paternus.

any to offer
go counter to

as our discipline forbids

have them found

and he added

'

They

'

have directed further that no assemblies are to be held, and

'

that they are not to enter cemeteries.

'

observe this salutary direction he will be capitally punished.'

Cyprian the Bishop replied,

Do

as

So

if

you are

any one

fails to

directed.

Thereupon Paternus sentenced the Blessed Bishop Cyprian


to be 'deported

'

into exiled

This was a sentence which carried with


ship^
^

Provincial Governors could not inflict

Trajan in his Rescript

to

Pliny

Epp. 97) allows Christians


be delated (though not by anonymous

Otto, vol.

to

iv.

/'aw^^^jr. 34, 35 gives

But Pliny

Hadrian ad Mhiuc. Fundan. orders


tft-Zfl^/tobepunishedif guilty, but calum-

nious delatores

more

yustini viart. opera,

Euseb.

severely.
vol.

i.

p.

Ep. ad Cotumune

Asia

(fictitious,

fact),

orders the delator to be punished

possibly preserving a

and the delatus to be pardoned. M. Aurelius Ep. ad Senatum (also spurious)


Both are
similarly and more strongly.

pp. 244, 246. See Euseb.


says Melito quoted the

instance

of the punishment of

Apollonius A.D. 188 under


Ruinart, de S. ApoU.
^

in

Jussit

Proc.
*

Pius,

i.

who

13,

An

iv. 9.

M. Antoninus

without special

a delator occurs in the martyrdom of

Otto,

192

it

former, but?

an account of Tra-

jan's vengeance on delaiores in general.

loss of citizen-

attached to Justin Martyr's Apologia:

(Plin.el Traj.

accusation) and punished.

it

Commodus.

Martyre,

exilium

iv.

deportari.

Act.

2.

Ulpian ap. Digesta, 48, 19, 2 ; 48,


I hesitate to understand Ulpian

22, 6.

in

48,

tatem

22,
et

14

'

Deportatio

bona adimit

'

to

et

mean

Deportatio in every case involved


feiture

of goods ipso faeto.

civi-

that
for-

For not

only does Marcian, Dig. 48, 22, 15, say

X.

I.

CYPRIAN AT CURUBIS.

2.

467

Paternus quoted the

direction from the Emperor.

'

praecept

of Valerian and Gallien for assigning him to Curubis, just

we saw that yEmilian did for sending Dionysius to


Kephron\ Deportation meant properly to an island. But,
as in the case of Relegation, isolated places might be named

as

as well as islands,

and

Egypt an

in

scene of

oasis, for the

exiled

Cyprian was allowed time

September

14^

reached Curubis, an out-of-the-way, clean,

pleasant, well-walled

Carthage^

arrangements and on

for his

coast town, about

little

fifty

a lonely, not savage district, at the back of the

in

great eastward promontory of the Gulf of Tunis.


a low

hill,

since silted

up^

illimitable

torrent beside

blue.
still

isolation

Its

it

scooped out a

its

The town was some

rrjs /ceXevcrews

vii.

permutat, fcenus exercet

tQv ae^ctaTGiv

Sed

et

passages Ulpian himself does not say

solitos relegare.

much, but speaks of


only; and I do not see
condition,

He

which

is

with

citizenship

how

that

Cyprian's

an excellent case.

while in ^ Jeportatio'' largely relieved

other sufferers [,Epp. 77, 78, 79), and by


order he returned to his own Horti,

which had therefore not been confiscated


during his year of absence. Acta proc. 2

Pont. FiV. 15.


Fit.

13,

In his dream

he asks leave

'res

tima ordinatione disponere.'

own

expression in

likely

to

the Acta,
1

also,

Pont.

meas

legi-

Cyprian's

p. 76, which

is

be as technically precise as
is

'relegatum.'

TOVTOV yap rbv rbirov i^eXe^dfiTju eK

sunt

Eo

partes provincije,

Pont. Vit.

quo

Digesta, 48, 22,


in exilii loco

7.

mansimus,

eo die post exactum

c. 12.

id.

prsesides

scio

desertiores,

die

annum,

eas

in

quse

as

Euseb.

rnJ-Civ,

II.

aliaque similia,' but in the two former

reconciled

by an

north and twelve from Neapolis

'libertatem retinet, et jure civili caret,

be

harbour,

strides across the torrent bed.

however was greats

gentium vero utitur. Itaque emit, vendit,


locat, conducit,

little

amenities were completed

twenty miles from Clypea to

could

crowned

In front glowed the island of Kossyra, set

aqueduct, which

The

It

sunny and green, a quarter of an hour's walk from

the shore^

in

miles from

die octava decima Kal.

13.

Oct., Act. Proc. 3

and

\^th Sep.

6, i.e.

Roman Kalendar, the feast of


Cyprian is now Sept. i6th. See p. 620.
* One
does not know where Dr
In the

thinks

Peters

was

it

'

er

hatte

zur

Reise von Karthago bis hieher ungefahr vierzehn

Two

very

sufficed.

Tage gebraucht,'
days

short

at

p. 577.

the

most

Cf. infr. p. 479, note 3.

Tissot, vol.

**

Sir Grenville

"

The

II.

p. 134.

Temple,

Bishops, Ep. 77.

deserto loco' for

all its

vol.
2,

11.

call

p. 13.
it

pleasantness.

302

'in

Colonia
Julia

Curubis.
Kofpo/Sts
Ptol.

Libera
Curubis
Plin.

Kourba.

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

468

It had with them followed


made terms with the Roman

Hadrume-

to the south.

the lead of

tum, and

invaders at once, and

been dignified therefore as a Julian Colony.

Freedman

tokens of their loyalty in

left

its

People of the

magistracy^ and have

class rose easily to its chief

improvements.

But beyond such loneliness as

and of course entire

this,

uncertainty as to the future, Cyprian had no hardship to com-

Some

plain of

of his household accompanied him, and his

devoted grandiloquent deacon Pontius, who

many

affected lines

tells

us through

though as Christians they would

that,

have equally enjoyed some place

like

Kephron, yet he found

the shore not too rocky nor too lonely nor too pathless, the

woods green and the waters wholesome,

as

sunny and as ade-

quate a retreat as he could desire even for so great a man's


privacy, while constant visitors rejoiced to supply every need^.

He

cannot nevertheless

from

forbear

although to themselves exile was no


guilt

was extreme^ of those who

remarking

that

penalty yet the

felt

inflicted

as

it

severe

punishment on the innocent.

Among

these odd observations

Cyprian's language that

To

his conversation.
'

'

uniting
if

name

world

is

It

we

own

'

Maxims

city.'

why

It

all

is

Christians were fancied to be bad


for

them to be at home in a
But Pontius himself
of civic obligation^

i.

pp.

oppidi totum ex saxo quadrate.

seems to have had one

so-

Inscrr. Lat. viii.


^

called 'Duovir.'
^

God

religious as their own.

Corp. Inscrr. Lat. vol. viii.


ff.

the Christian

which, misunderstood,

dwells excellently on Cyprian's sense

127

To

'The sincere servant of

was not possible yet

pagan polity as

as fragments of

even from parents

recoil

against the Lord.'

far to explain

patriots.

we may count them

one house.'

stranger in his

went

is

catch flashes so like

the heathen 'their country and their

are exceeding dear

their counsel

this

we

Loci gratiam, &c., Pont.

Vit. c. xi

apricumetcompetentem, 12 &c.

Murum

Ultimum crimen

Pont.
*

i.

Corp.

977.
at

pessimum

nefas.

Vit. 11.

Pont. Vit.

c.

11

'illis

patria nimis

X.

CYPRIAN'S DREAM.

2.

I.

469

His love of conversation was strong as

might

die talking

One

He

ever.

wished he

God\

And

conversation Pontius gives word for word.

singular story
visions

talking of

it

is

the

authentic narrative of one of those

which he himself regarded, and not unnaturally, with

deep reverence.
not surprising that on the

It is

slept in
'

first

night on which he

Curubis he dreamt about the Proconsul.

The day we stopped

at the place of banishment, before I

went fast asleep there stood before me a young man of


immensely superhuman stature. He led me as if to the Praetorium^, and

thought

was brought up

As

sate the Proconsul.

to the Tribunal

where

soon as he looked up at me, he at once

began to note down on

some sentence of which I


knew nothing, for he had not asked me anything in the usual
way of enquiry. But the young man who stood behind him read
his tablet

with great attention whatever

And

it

as he could not speak with

was that was entered

me from where he

there.

was, he set

by significant gestures what was going on in the way of


writing upon that said tablet. He opened out his hand quite flat
like a broadsword blade', and imitated the stroke given in an
ordinary execution. He expressed what he meant me to unforth

derstand as well as with the clearest speech.


cara et
tibus]

commune nomen
nos

Dominum

et

est

[cum paren-

parentes ipsos,

si

contra

suaserint, abhorremus.'

H.

Some

dull

The reading

is

interesting.

understood

it

meet the plague dwells most markedly


on Cyprian's zeal 'pro civitatis salute'

to

and

for the

good of 'respublica' and

'patria.'

African, not catching the constraction of

...cupido sermonis, Pont. FiV. 14.

the former clause and thinking that 'et

The

parentes ipsos' required a previous men-

thage

tion of parents, inserted


after est, in
is

the reading of

De

paretites

bold native syntax, which


all

moniibtis

it

into

'

imperatoremet regem suum,'

lam cum nomen

c.

9 'tabu-

regis Judseorum.'

Pontius in recalling his organization

site

of the Praetorium at Car-

fairly to

be identified on the

See Tissot,

eastern slope of the Byrsa.


vol.

A duller

the MSS.

cum parmtibics.
Sina et Sion, c. 8 cum

than he amended
Cf.

cum

is

I.

pp. 649

Spata, spatha (Pont.

broad sword
called
of

ff.

the

from

used
its

loom.

in

the

so

Vit.

shape like the

Thence

words spada, espada,


spade.

12),

executions

ffirddr]

all

Romance

epee,

and our

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

470

would be sentence of death. I began to ask and sue without stopping, that I might have even one day's reprieve
could arrange my affairs with due method.
had frequently renewed my entreaties, he began
However
again to make some note or other on his tablet.
from the calmness of his expression I gathered that my
Judge's mind was moved as feeling mine a reasonable

allowed me,

And

till I

after I

had given

And besides, that same youth who awhile


me the token of my passion \ by gesture rather

language,

now nodding

approach.

again and again on the

convey to me, by twisting

fingers together

his

morrow which

another, that the reprieve for the

was conceded.
read

sly,

back
than

hasted to

one behind
I

asked for

must say that though no sentence had been

my senses with

recovered

over the reprieve

And

received.

a very glad heart of rejoicing


yet through the dread of

uncertainty as to the interpretation

remains of the terror

made my

heart

trembled

still

so,

that the

throb with absolute

quivering.'

His candour about the

worthy witness
day year

it

came

borrowed

waking was

it

trust-

tJiat

very

'

'

from the dream I

to a

gave him shows a

remarkable dream, for

The Morrow became a housemeaning the day when he should

to pass.

hold word with them


suffer

fright

to a really

day of very

For

the

stern suffering

present

his

and business

cares.

There

is

no doubt that Cyprian's rank procured him

special exemptions, while

it

is

also certain that as yet there

was no general persecution, but rather a Roman confidence


moral decapitation

in

a belief that the removal of the Bishops

and the making examples of them would be the extinction


of Christian

life.

The

with which two years

'artistic

later,

cruelty'

the Clergy were shut up while various


1

Passionis, Pont. Vit. 12.

Pont.

Vii.

13

'

proximabat

is

commented on

even before they had to

crastinus';
dies

suffer,

temptations

and

15 'sed crastinus dies ille...

vere crastinus.'

X.

I.

THE NUMIDIAN BISHOP-CONFESSORS.

3.

were applied to the

terrors

much sorrow

even

if

it

layfolk'.

much

attention both

magnifying of their

felt

over

the

by

whom

upon

he had drawn

and by

his Councils

his constant

office.

Nuinidian Bishop-Confessors.

3.

Whether others were exiled


happened

Cyprian must have

was an exultant sorrow

miseries and courage of brethren

so

471

have no record ^

If

it

was

same

at the

whom

to the Presbyters for

difficult to

time, or

what

we

Paternus asked,

be severe when the

Bishop of Carthage had fared so differently at his hands

from even the Bishop of Alexandria, under the Praefect of


Egypt, the lenity was made up

for to the

Province after the Proconsul's death

And

extreme when the


under a Deputy.

fell

Numidia had no such scruples^


Nine* of the thirty-one Numidian bishops who had

the President of

Ruinart, Passio SS. Jacobi

the friend

et

Ma-

This document, written by

riani..., x.

who

received these martyrs

villa near Cirta, where


commemorative inscription is still
on the well-known rock, and the Passion
of Montanus and Lucius and other

with others in his


their

Felici, Litteo, Poliano,

sat in

Victori, laderi,

cf. Epp.
77,
These nine confessor bishops
were, I think, probably all from NumiNemesian of Thubunae,
dian sees.

Dativo,

'

Ep.

&c.,

76,

78, 79.

Litteusof Gemellae, Polianus of Mileou,

lader of Midili and Dativus of

Vada

Besides these, two were

Clergy of Carthage, partly written by

certainly were.

themselves just after Cyprian's death,

named Felix, one Lucius and one Victor.


Of seven named Felix in the Council two
had Numidian sees, Bagai and Bamac-

are

full

of points of greatest interest.

Ruinart, Passio SS. Alontani, Lucii


all.

Mm.

Afr.

As

Theogenes

et

cora.

Two

Lucii attended

it,

and one

was
martyred, as well as Successus of Abbir
germaniciana and Paulus of Obba, after
Cyprian (cp. Aug. Serm. 273, and
Passio Montani xii. with Sentt. Epp.
14, 16, 47 and Epp. 76, 80), they had
most likely been exiled previously.
These identifications may not amount

Numidian see of Castra


Galbae.
There were two Victors, one
of whom was bishop of Octavu(s), and

to certainty.

Jader

'

Passio

'

Montani

Nemesiano,

of

Hippo

ii., iii.,

Felici,

vi.

Lucio, alteri

of these had the

there was a see of that


in

Circumcellions
as

name (or Octava)

Numidia, where was the massacre by

in the

(Optatus

iii.

c.

4),

Octavum or Octavium
Byzacene. Mark also that Felix

well

as an

and Polianus

greeting

to

Numidian,

in

Ep.

Eutychianus

Ep.

70.

The

79 send

who was

writers

of

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

472

the Council are seen a

little

chained labour

later at

the

in

Their treatment had been severe and ignominious.

mines.

Some had

died under

some were

it^,

They had

prison.

in

been beaten with cudgels, which gives the estimate of their


rank as below the middle class of

society"''.

Others were brought to Cirta for execution two years


later after

Those

having been a long while

whom

to

writes toiled in the dark

77,

Nemesian, Dativus, Felix and

Victor, also speak as having been tried

before

the

Preses,

of Numidia,

i.e.

half-fed, half-clothed, half their

administered

Montani, Lucii

Jacobi, Mariani...,

use of Prases here illustrates

Mommsen
The

constantia.'

'Nominum

calls

Nu-

Presses of

title

midia was used in

in-

this third century

under Septimius Severus (or Caracalla),


C. I. L. vol. X.

i.

6569, and also under

Alexander Severus,

8328

vol. viii.

Index, vol. viii.

(cf.

2753,

i.

p. 1067).

ii.

Ep.

76.

called

is

contemporary Passio SS.

Prfvses in the

whereas Cyprian had been before the

The

a time after the

for

it

death of Galerius Maximus

Proconsul of Africa.

what

now

choked with the

at piles of ore,

smoke* of smelting furnaces,


Ep.

banishment^.

in

with presbyters and others Cyprian

'

Passio SS.

,\\., iii., vi.


iii.

(Ruinart).

martyrii

sui

consum-

matione.'

Fustibus

omnes

dumtaxat qui

non

76.

liberi sunt et
:

2.

Non

sed

hi

quidem

te-

solent,

csedi

nuiores homines
tibus

Ep.

cffisi,

fustibus

honestiores vero fus-

subjiciuntur.../?2]^. 48. 19. 28.

Flagella used for slaves only, together

Previously Nunnidia had been under a

with pcena vinculorum.

Legatus Augiisti of consular or highest

As Cyprian speaks of traversaria


simply as making the feet cunctabundi,
these are perhaps some kind of moveDucange in his igth Disable stocks.

From Gordian to Gallus


was governed only by a procurator, a
knight.
Again in our time under Valerian and Gallien the old status was
restored ; we have viii. i. 2615 Leg.
Atigg. pr. pr. ; and 2634 Leg. yhcggg.
pr?etorian rank.

it

pr. pr. in A.D. 253 (according to date


in

Mommsen's Index,

does not

if this

rather belong to the time of Septimius

Prases

Severus).

was

again

in

use

xviii.

i.

2729.
It

is

See

vili.

i.

monuments
In

the

(Glossarium,

[Niort.

63]) describes

it

as

1887, vol. X. p.

beam through
drawn

holes in which the feet were

wide apart
^

in the torture of the cippus.

Secundinus

Scntt.

Epp.

1 1

probably

of

Cedias

and Agapius 'jamdudum

in exsih'a

submotos. .ab exsilio perducePassio SS. Jacobi, Mariani...

to

find

iii.

officially

name,

on the

the

curator (referred to in the text)

Ep.

77. 3.

Cyprian seems to have

imagined them as gold and

Ep.

of this time.
itself

JoinvilWs Life of S. Louis

sertation on

bantur.'

then interesting

Province

19.

xvi,

prceses here used as the habitual

though not appearing

48.

pp.

under Constantine, with consular rank,


VIII.

Dig.

10.

76. 2,

silver mines,

but none svich are traced in

Pro-

that region.

who

been.

Copper there may have

See Tissot,

vol.

i.

p. 258.

X.

I.

THE NUMIDIAN BISHOP-CONFESSORS.

3.

hair dipt

Dragged too from the

sleeping on the ground.

off,

473

bright towns elsewhere described, the cleanly

Romans

sadly-

by the

liber-

missed their baths \

They were somewhat more than kept


ality of Cyprian, in

whom

Quirinus for

alive

banishment, and of his lay-friend

his

he compiled and classified the Testimonia.

The sub-deacon Herennianus^ with three acolytes, Lucan,


Maximus and Amantius, conveyed his letter and distributed
the help.
They brought back answers from three separated
groups of confessors.

One, the seventy-eighth,

is

dated from

the mine of Sigus about five-and-twenty miles south-south-

The

east of Cirta, in Numidia.

place

well

is

known though

was never important, but the mines have not yet been

it

rediscovered'.

The
been

seem not

lessons of the former persecution

There

lost.

though here

have

to

no lament as yet over lapsed brethren,

is

was

at least the persecution

Parts of Cyprian's letter to

them

general*.

happy than any-

are less

thing he has written since the high-flown language addressed

Humour seems

to the Decian martyrs.

amid

finds himself

practical pathos.

fort in the stocks to

It

him when he
surely was grim comto

have their suffering

fail

feet apostrophized,

to be bidden forget the labour of extracting silver or gold

and gold,

ores because they were themselves vessels of silver

and so were

home

at

fashionable quips, he

body and kingly


^

A characteristic

Ep.

through
supplies

whom

heart,' the

touch,

year

later

Carthaginian

the

with food, Pass. Montan.


*

Ep.

'body of

76. 2.

Lucian

prisoners

Playfair,

ben Zekri.

113, near Bordj

C. I. L. viil.

Several roads

many

p.

met

inscriptions,

there,

it

free of
'

this humiliation

such

captive

and the

monuments which probably are not


Ann. Arch, de Constan-

very ancient.

1863, p. 21.

tine,

If metalliim

Siguensem

is

right

which

Hartel gives from a right valuation of

ix.

Respublica Siguitanorum, hod. Zi-

ganieh;

But once

himself in his contrasts of

is

The same no doubt

3.

77.

a gold mine.

in

i.

p.

552.

has yielded

and has megalithic

we have an African

Mss.
*

Ep. 76.

6.

form,

Later on some

fell, re-

pented and were treated on Cyprian's


lines.

Passio Alontani xiv.

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

474

body of His

brightness,' the impossibility of binding the free

mind, or spoiling the shrines of the

And

Spirit.

nothing

is

nobler than the breadth with which he bids them not be

moved

at their inability to

'

of God,' seeing that in their


*

His holy immaculate

They

his.

his exposition of

had been

'

actually are

simple strain except when

sympathy, they value

feel his intense

by reading the Acta of

At

in a

hidden sacraments,' they

fortified for their

ProconsuP,

own persons they

sacrifices

victims.'

Their grateful answers are

they echo

and celebrate the

offer

own hearing

him how they

and behaviour before the

his trial

present they

tell

before the Pmeses,

know him

to be

'

a desert

in

place in exiled'

'Of Encouragement to Confessorship.'

4.

One occupation
we may

of the forced leisure of Curubis,

with

trace

The Book commonly

certainty.

fair

think,

Of Encouragement to Confessorship*, but originally To Fortunatus, has been already considered in


called

As

place in Cyprian's philosophy of life^

its

be remembered that he calls

will

for treating.'

Manual

It is to

'

no

and fortitude

to

its

form

it

treatise but material

meet the wants of

to sustain faith

placid times there are

it

teachers.

It is

in persecution

Manuals of Communion.

as

He

a
in

calls

a Compendiuvi of Capitiila, passages arranged under Tituli.

it

These Titles are most systematic, but the handling of them


'

'

not uniform nor compact.

is

and

briefly

At

the texts are neatly

first

woven together by a clever thread of connection


But the comments grow longer and more

and comment.
^

^
^

Ep.
Ep.

77.

Pammachium

I, 2.

editions

77. 2.

De Exhortatione Martyku

like TertuUian's
tatis.

It is

De

exhortatione casti-

quoted by Jerome, Ep. 48 ad

is

c.

19,

but in the older

attributed to Hilary

odd traceable blunder.


^

Sup.

c.

VI.

iii.

p. 264.

by an

X.

I.

'

4, 5.

DE EXHORTATIONE MARTYRII.'

475

and pass into argument and rhetoric, until on the


Maccabees, we have almost a sermon with a prefatory note
on the number Seven!
diffuse

'

It

contains no single expression which implies that the

storm of persecution had burst. But the atmosphere throughout

charged with the feeling that persecution

is

and certain^ The

false certificates

way

are spoken of in the

of having sacrificed,

libelli,

These conditions

only the time after the

fit

imminent

of warning, without mention of

people having accepted or refused them^


together seem to

is

edict of

first

Valerian when, after a long peace, the persecution which had

begun with the bishops, could not be expected to confine


itself to them
when there was need of a vigorous and sub;

no opportunity

stantial monition, but

Again,

this

very finished one.

for a

the last-mentioned subject of Cyprian's pen in

is

the quasi-catalogue of Pontius^

Accordingly,

we

attribute

respite of Curubis with

Accession

On August the 2nd


Edict was out

of

XvsTUS and

c.

A,.

an army in camp before


I

in

Libelli,

Cf.

Pontii Vit.

The

battle.

juxtaposition

which has been


with

the

ad

Forttmatuni, was written under raging

The

persecution [ad Denietr. 12, 13).


'recent lesson' of defeat (ad
fits

Rome,

D.

c.

17)

the catastrophe of Decius, but not

of Valerian whose overthrow was

fol-

lowed by the cessation of persecution.

after the Aug.

ad Fortun.

day

after Aug.

XYSTUS^
c. 11.

c. 6.

notion has indeed

come do\vn

so late as to possess Mgr. Freppel, pp.

473, 477, and


*

Aug.

31.

Dr

Peters, p. 503.

In Acta Stephani (Bol-

land) the date given

is viiii.

Kal. Sept.,

Aug. 24. But this is inconsistent with


the more valuable Liberian Catalogue
which (corrected by the omission of
the

'

2,

in with the later

the 31st, the

The Church

incufnbit, c. 2 praparare.

TheadfZ)(?z7iif/r?aMw,

edited

On

at

fell

Carthage, he was succeeded by

Ad Fortimai Pmf. c.

is

trial at

the

to

'

his immunity.

Stephanus had died

a circumstance which

notion that he was martyred*.

Cyprian's

Compendium

'

daily increasing danger.

its

Rome

5.

this

two years

'

arising perhaps

from

31.

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

476

The

image of Xystus

traditional

memorial

An

a distinct one.

is

great Teacher\

It is

hymn, prayer and

in

Athenian, a philosopher, a

by

acutely and learnedly maintained

Dr Adolph Harnack

the eminent scholar

that

we have

example of that teaching in the nameless Epistle TO NOVATIAN.


The theory if just would throw
such light and colour upon his figure, although not upon the
hitherto unrecognised

immediate

we

crisis

are

that

in,

it

In his eleven months

the question for separate discussion ^

Dionysius wrote Xystus

three

necessary to reserve

is

Baptism

on

epistles

one

sentiments and decisions of the Eastern

representing the

Bishops and the unreasonable conduct of Stephanus towards

them

again, asking his counsel^ rather earnestly in a case of

which he himself had not thought well to

heretical baptism

repeat

and

lastly giving

him a long

dissertation

on the

whole question^

no

Xystus

doubt

followed

Stephen's opinion, but

Pontius, not without a thrust at the dead lion, calls

good and

Priest ^'

pacific

it

is

clear that

as

him

*a

he did not hold

Stephen's language about Cyprian.

How

it

that

befel

all

the

time of the removal under

the Edict of other Bishops into banishment or degrading

'Xystus

ii.')

gives

There

episcopate.

xi

v'ld for

day of his death, Aug.

6,

See

258.

Apostolic Fathers, P.

Lightfoot,

his

no doubt of the

is

Clement of Rome, vol.

i.

p.

i.

290

S.

(ed.

1890).
^

Thus

nwnvm.
1.

the Sacramentarmni Leoniaid.

39o)'qui

Aug.

III.

(Muratori, ^/.

cit.

adeandemgloriampromeren-

dam doctrince suae

tery of Praetextatus repi-esented

him in
and

his chair with a hearer at his feet,

in the chair
-

Ad

p. 52.

he died

crv/j-jSovXri.

His second,

mal
^

(infra p. 490).

Novatiamim, Hartel,
See Appendix below,

letters,

Pont.

fifth

and

Euseb. H. E.
Vit.

Dr

14.

vol.

III.

p. 557.

sixth Baptisvii. 5, 9.

Peters,

with

incitabat et quos

ultramontane penetration, thinks the ex-

erudiebat hortatu praeveniebat exemplo.'

pression must be due to Xystus' having

Ambrosian
Hymn (H. A. Daniel,
Thesaurus Hymnolog. 1855, 1- "o- xci.)

informally reconciled Cyprian to the

filios

'

'

'

Ortus Athenis

studiis

et altus

Philosophorum

Mutavit artem artium Praeceptor

apostolicus.'

The

graffito in the

ceme-

Church, an event which must have occurred, though our

documents are

defective as to omit

it,

all

so

or else Cyprian

could never have been canonised.

X.

I.

AND

ACCESSION OF XYSTUS

5.

HIS IMMUNITY.

confinement Xystus was unmolested at Rome,

we know.

477

more than

is

Concealment was then a part of church

life.

Can

the magistracy have lain so long under the impression that,

through terror of the law whose appearance coincided so


nearly with Stephen's death, the See remained unfilled as

had done

for a longer interval

after Fabian's

had

death

it

under similar circumstances

It is difficult to

think that Gallienus

Macrian's presence to keep the

sufficient influence in

Yet when he afterwards repealed


Valerian's laws we observe that he took credit for some
previous protection of the Church \
However that may be
Xystus was untouched, and even at Rome not inactive, as we
shall see, until a new order was fulminated.
edict so long suspended.

II.

I.

The

Fragments of two very


longing to the year 258 are

Byzantium, the other


said to

is

Rescript.

documents be-

different imperial
in

One was drawn

our hands.

generally,

it

may

at

be groundlessly,

have been issued on the same occasion.

The year

before Valerian had promised to

and Ulpius Crinitus consuls on


and Gallien

May

22, in the

make Aurelian
room of himself

At a brilliant review which he held


make Aurelian consul, addressing him

his son.

at a.d. 258.

Byzantium he did
in
the great Thermae in a fulsome yet deserved panegyric, and
conferring on him in the presence of his troops and the
Palatine Staff-' decorations quadrupled and quintupled, to
match the allowances previously assigned him to enable him
as a poor man to support the consular burdens.
For Ulpius

a-u.c.

Coss.Memcus...Pom-

'

have pointed

this

out,

p.

304,

43.

So

An

also rdfts eKKXrjffiacrTiK'q.]

intermediate sense of the word ojicium

n. 4.
Offi.ciu7n

Falatitm/n, Fl. Vopiscus

Aurelianusc.\->,. [Organized by Hadrian,

Ap. Scrr. Byzz.


Theophan. Contin. iii,

occurs in Pliny Epp.

Aurel. Vict. Epit. xiv.

ness room.'

rd^is

c.

/SaffiXtKTj,

i.

venit in pr^etoris officio,'

i.

5,

11,

'mecon-

i.e. 'office,

busi-

Cf. Act. Alaximiliani

(Ruinart).

M.

bssus.

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

478

Crinitus, the richest

man

of his times, he did nothing that

day except make him adopt that great

soldier of fortune,

then fresh from his Gothic victories, as his son.

There

no subsequent

is

have kept great state

which Valerian could

interval in

when he was

there, either

resettling

Antioch or while he was dragging about upon the chance of


lighting on

'

Scythians.'

But

Memmius Tuscus was

in fact

with him there as Consul Ordinarius\ and as he entered on


is no doubt
day he had named
our First Fragment is the Court Circular of May 22. Vopiscus extracted it from the Act Book of Acholius, Master

on the

his office

first

about the year^

of January that year, there

If Valerian kept to the


'

'

of Presentations^, or Lord Chamberlain, to the Emperor.

was an extraordinary levee of great

It

might scarcely have been expected to leave

Upon

charges even to receive Valerian.


of the

Praefect

the

who

Praetorium,

medium

State' or

Empire ever
to

On
great

him
the

left

fortified frontiers.

lulius

frontier,

of the Rhaetian

Trypho

Fl. Vopiscus, Aurelianus, c. ii.

Magister

admissionum,

Vopisc.

of the

Illyrian

and

Other indications seem to put the


day later, and Ulpius Crinitus speaks of
himself as having already become what
be made, a Vir

Neither of them appears in

consulai-is.

lists,

and Valerian and Gallien


However the custom

did not resign.

already existed

who had

ii.

to

above Trypho however sat the Praefect

from the honorary con-

now

the

of

consular

Aurelian was

There was the

Avulnius Saturninus

Ulpius Crinitus himself; and Fulvius Boius

suls.

c.

Secretary of

the Marches, the Duces or special com-

frontier of the East,

Aurelianus,

the

sat in the russet tunics of their office'^ the

Wardens of

distinct

sat

This was now Baebius Macer.

frontier,

As

as Principal

'

sat the Praeses of the East, Q. Ancarius.

Ditx of the Scythian

his right

since Titus held the office under his father*,

manders of the Limites or

Thracian

tremendous

of communication, and second person in

was always with the Court.

Next

who

captains,

their

of creating consularcs

not been consuls.

Aurel. Victor, de Casar.

tunicas

Aurel.

c.

13.

ducales

russas,

g.

Vopisc.

X.

II.

THE RESCRIPT.

I.

479

Designate of Egypt, Murrentius Mauricius, and next below

him Maecius Brundisinus,

Corn-Supply {Au-

Praefect of the

nond) of the East.


has been usually concluded that this Court at Byzan-

It

tium had something to do with altering the character and

Why,

increasing the severity of the persecution \

hard to

is

This was not business which concerned a great Review.

see.

The Emperor's own Rescript could equally


any point of

It

well emanate at

was not

till

week

who had people at


was able to learn that a
Rescript had arrived there and had instantly

on the watch

new and

cruel

been put

in forced

was held on

made

then

halts.

6th of August that Cyprian,

after the

Rome

marches or

his

for information,

Certainly then

May

did not reach

Whether the date

the Byzantine pageant

if

we cannot suppose

22,

Rome

good or not

is

for

the

a decree

that

on

until well

August'.

in

former event,

we could allow for the dispatch


Emperor would be the first half

the earliest date which


Rescript by the

the

of
of

July.

The

process would be

or the idea

is

this.

Something happens

somehow motived

acting strongly enough to reform the Christians,

moved

is

in the

Rome,
is

not

request

Senate and sent to the Emperor, wherever he

Pearson, yiwwa/. Cv/r. A. D. 258,

"

He

iv.

obtained the information while

document

at

there that the Edict

was

on

Brundisium and the Via Lavicana as


1222 or 1233

Roman miles

(by Via Pras-

its

nestina 1240 or 1251), according to the

way to Aincz., quas litteras cotidie speramus venire, Ep. 80. i.

Itinerarium Antonini, that gives 17 or


18 days' journey at 70 miles a day, which

the

itself

yet only

R. L. Friedlaender, Darstellungen

aus der

Sittetigeschichte

1881, vol.

Roms, Leipz.

pp. 17, i99,gives instances

II.,

is

not excessive for the transmission of

posts as
rescript

compared with

which reached

of extraordinary travelling at the rate

need not have

of ICO miles or more a day for six and

18 or 19.

eight days.

Travellers

who

put up for

the nights travelled from 30 to 36 miles

a day.

If

Byzantium

we count
to

the distance from

Rome by

Dyrrhachium,

left

travelling.

Rome

on Aug. 4

Byzantium before July

Despatches were carried by the

le-

hemerodromos
vocant GrEeci ingens die uno cursu
emetientes spatium,' Livy xxxi. 24.

gionary

speculatores,

'

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

480

may

be, that

think

fit,

he would interpret, comment on,

assert the principle of the Edict.

or, as

may

he

was thus that

It

how the common

Pliny asked Trajan to express his mind as to

law should be worked.

Valerian writes back to the Senate.

And

our

an Oration ^
present,

if

Second Fragment,' called also


as representing the oration which the Emperor,

his said Rescript,

follows

'

would have addressed to the Senate, runs as

""That Bishops

and Presbyters and Deacons be

nently punished with death^

high rank and knights of


further, divested of their

inconti-

men

Senators however and

Rome

goods

forfeit their dignity^

and

if

of
be,

after being deprived

of their means* they persist in being Christians, be also capitally

punished

that matrons be deprived of their goods and

relegated into exile

and that

who have

Caesarians

all

either

confessed before or confess now, suffer confiscation, be put in

bonds, entered in the slave-lists, and sent to work on Caesar's


estates ^'

Whoever
Rank

final.

inspired these novel orders

meant them
any one.

to be

or sex were no longer to protect

It is

honeycombed by

plain that the higher ranks were felt to be

Christianity, while the special provision about the Csesarians^

Cf. Dig. 24, I, 3


Ep. 80. I.
'Hsec ratio et oratione im-

still

peratoris nostri Antonini Augusti electa

ajid

Ulpianus,

est

nam

ita ait,'

&c.

Animadvertantur = capite damnen-

Habere gladii potestatem ad animadvertendum in facinorosos homines,'


ap. Dirksen, Manuale, s.v.
tur.

tors

had long been styled

Later on the rank of

'

Sena-

'Clarissimi.'

Perfectissimatus

was inserted between 'Clarissimatus'


and 'Egregiatus.'

Rom. Antt.
Descripti,

s.v.
sic

'branded,' Mart.
'

'

Egregii z\xt2Ay 'a dignity.'

means wives not

in

It

the

power

^ee Did. Gk.

(wa2) of the husband,

'matrimonium.'
lege,

viii.

not

inscripii

75, 9.

was a punishment even

for slaves

be removed from ihe familia urbana

to

and sent
^

(as

into the rustica.

Csesariani were not ''Palastbeamien''

Schwarze

p.

115,

Peters p.

574,

de sa maison^ p. 485,
say), but inferior officials of the Fiscus

Freppel

'

officiers

under the Rationalis or Procurator CasIn Cod.

Ademptis facultatibiis.

saris.

Matroncz as used in law apparently

are employed in distraints.

Jtistin.

10,

i,

they

They had

8c

AKDEATINE WAYS

Sianford's 6eoq':stai^

ROME.
CEMETERIES ON THE APPIAN

&

ARDEATINE WAYS.

i/Jr\f ^

Loudon: MacmiUan

& C?L

S*co'.'*ai>*

X.

II.

THE RESCRIPT.

I.

48

or lower officials of the Revenue, illustrates the kind of

ployments into which, as

idolatrous

Cyprian notes

crowded.

Christians

from

free

the

taint,

emthe

of the

inclusion

whole body of the clergy*.

But

his intelligence

Prefects in the city^

The

comprised more fearful news.

had without a moment's pause begun

Not only

the confiscations and the executions^

so, Xystus**

himself had on Sunday the sixth instant been found in the


forbidden

cemetery

'

'

and then and there put

to death along

with four out of the seven Deacons of Rome.

Rome.

2.

The exclusion from

the Cemeteries.

Archaeology has few episodes able to compare for unexpected interest with the light and confirmation

it

throws upon

and receives from Cyprian's direct news about the Rescript.


This we shall see presently with the assistance of
as to the

But

there are two points on which

first

of Cemeteries

areas

capital?

It

was not merely

worship.

They had many

opportunities of enriching

oppressively and

themselves

be admitted to the rank of per-

fectissimatus, ducena, centena, egregiatus,

but might

less character

they retired with spot-

if

so Constantine enacts,

Cod. Theod. 10,


^

Ep.

80.

I,

7,

Ibid.

'

pnetorio.'

B.

legal rights

As

and other

its civil

made

their assembling for


FabriccB, as

importance grew

were two.

vast, there

were from time to time three, and at


There was sure to be at least

last four.

one

at

home, while Valerian had one

in

attendance so long a time and so far

away.

The mere

'si

qui sibi oblati fuerint

animadvertantur,' Ep. 80.

r,

looks as

if

enquiry were not too minute.

agonis constituti.
^

ourselves

was the entrance

stituted the latter office, there

cf. 10, 7, 2.

'universi clerici sub ictu

Prsefecti in urbe.'

'praefectus urbanus'

by

to stop

Basilicce

were under checks,

we may

Why

facts.

hitherto secured

they might not, while they held

office,

Rossi

martyrdom and memorials of Xystus.

look for some elucidation from

e.g.

De

suppose

and a 'praefectus

Under Augustus, who

'

Xistus

'

in

Ep.

80,

and Pontius

Vit. 14 (Hartel).

in-

31

X.

II.

THE

I.

RESCRIPT.

48

or lower officials of the Revenue, illustrates the kind of

ployments into which, as

idolatrous

taint,

emthe

Cyprian notes the inclusion of the

crowded.

Christians

from

free

whole body of the clergy*.

But

his intelligence

Prefects in the city^

comprised more

Not only

the confiscations and the executions^

Sunday the

himself had on
forbidden

cemetery

'

'

The

news.

fearful

had without a moment's pause begun


Xystus*

so,

sixth instant been found in the

and then and there put to death along

with four out of the seven Deacons of Rome.

Rome.

2.

The

exclusion

from

the Cemeteries.

Archaeology has few episodes able to compare for unexpected interest with the light and confirmation

and receives from Cyprian's


This

we

shall see presently with the assistance of

as to the

But

there are two points on which

first

look for some elucidation from

areas

capital?

It

was not merely

worship.

They had many

opportunities

of enriching

oppressively and

themselves

be admitted to the rank of per-

fectissimatus, ducena, centena, egregiatus,

but might

less character

if

Ep.

80.

I,

they retired with spot-

so Constantine enacts,

Cod. Theod. lo,

7,

i ;

Ibid.

'

prgetorio.'

B.

was the entrance

legal rights

As

and other

FabriccB, as

importance grew

its civil

were from time


last four.

one

at

made

their assembling for

were two.

vast, there

to time three,

There was sure

to

and

be at

at

least

home, while Valerian had one

in

attendance so long a time and so far

away.

The mere

'si

qui sibi oblati fuerint

animadvertantur,' Ep. 80.

i,

looks as

if

enquiry were not too minute.

agonis constitute
^

Rossi

ourselves

stituted the latter office, there

cf. 10, 7, 1.

'universi clerici sub ictu

Prsefecti in urbe.'

'prsefectus urbanus'

by

to stop

Basiliccz

were under checks,

we may

Why

facts.

hitherto secured

they might not, while they held

office,

De

martyrdom and memorials of Xystus.

of Cemeteries

e.g.

throws upon

it

news about the Rescript.

direct

suppose

and a 'prjefectus

Under Augustus, who

'

Xistus

'

in

Ep.

80,

and Pontius

Vit. 14 (Hartel).

in-

31

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

482

we know from

And why

the history of Fabian.

the sudden

access of severity in the Rescript?

(whom

Caius
reason

believe

to

be Hippolytus himself) says,

to

Dialogue with Proclus,


'

Road you

'Ostian
'

For

of the Apostles.

founded

'

But

you

if

will find

in

the

can shew you the trophies

will

go to the Vatican or

to the

who
we have

the trophies (tombs) of those

This

Church\'

this

Lightfoot shewed

an early essay Bp.

in

is

the earliest account

of the remains of the two Apostles.

belongs to the time

It

217.

of Zephyrinus A.D. 199^

The same
together
'

'

'

critic

observed

much

two Apostles

later that the

appear in connection with the

Roman Church

in the

document emanating from, as well as in the earliest


document addressed to. the Roman Church after their death^'
The historic certainty of their martyrdom there, and the

earliest

identity of their relics

is

a non-Cyprianic question which

Until more

forbear to judge.

is

known two
upon

clusions will be maintained, mainly


tions

remote from the matter

grow

clearer,

in

one of the two parties

There

is

remains of

at that early period the

believed to be on the Aurelian

facts ever

will discover that religious

opinion has no place in the discussion.

doubt that

religious considera-

Should the

hand.

opposite con-

Way

however no

S.

and those of

Peter were
S.

Paul on

the Ostian.

There

is

no more doubt that shortly afterwards they were

believed to be together in the Catacombs V under the apse of


'

S. Sebastian, three miles

burg Itinerary
^

Ap. Euseb. H. E.

foot in
vol.
^

in

I.

the

ii.

first

25.

along the Appian Way.

See Light-

Cambridge Journal of Philology,


p. 98, 1868.

Clem. Rom. ad Corinth,

ad Rom.

iv.

Ignat.

see Lightfoot's note

on

the latter passage.


^

Catacumbas, properly two words,

cata cumbas,

i.e.

was

'at the sleeping places,'

(as is well

term as

Salz-

yet,

known) not a general

but was long the

name

of

was of
course indeclinable and its cases were
falsely formed.
Gregoiy, Epp. lib. iv.
this

v.,

The

half of the seventh century and the

particular

indict, xii.

dicitur

30,

cemetery.

correctly

Cata Cumbas.'

It

'

in

loco

qui

X.

PETER AND PAUL MOVED TO CATACUMBAS. 483

SS.

II. 2.

rather later Epitome, 'Of the places of the

speak of

Sebastian's^

S.

i.e.

where the two Apostles rested forty years

There were eccentric

Holy

Martyrs,'

the Catacombs, as the place

account for this

to

stories

a symbolic date.
fact.

Eastern Christians had tried shortly after the martyrdoms to

convey the bodies to Palestine, had been arrested by God

them here on the way^ Long after


in or near their first homes Gregory
the Great refused relics from them to the Empress Constantina on the plea of other phenomena and particularly of these
and man, and had

left

they had been replaced

But they are attempts to account for the relics having


when both before and after they were

stories.

certainly been there,

elsewhere.

Another curious early attempt


pened

is

decipher what hap-

to

the account in the VitcE Papanitn of the Felician

Catalogue^ that Cornelius took the bodies from the


combs,' and that Lucina (a standing
in legends) restored

nelius laid

S.

S.

name

Paul to the Ostian

there was a time

Damasus(366

it

shews that

when they

it

and has a stone

Liber Pontificalis,

i.

civ

cvii.

thinks the

40 years might represent from a.d. 258


to soon after Constantine's defeat of Maxentius, 313.

The apocryphal Acts

of

v.

iii.

(a.d.

Acta Petri

et

Pauli, Tischendorf,

Ac/aAj>os(l. apocryp/ia, 18^1,

Tpp.

^8, ig.

Pseudo-Marcellus, de Actibtis Petri

530)

Lipsius,

et

op.

cit.

p.

Damasus...'et in Catacumbas ubi


Petri et Pauli, in

quo loco plato-

(platoniam) ipsam ubi jacuerunt

corpora sancta

versibus

Duchesne, Lib. Pontific.

resting-places.

Mar-

jacuerant corpora sanctorum apostolo-

lum

new tombs were

Y\or^xiiixi.\,Vetiisthis

275.

mam

first

p. 653.

tyrol. (Lucas, 1668), p. iii.

give a year and seven months for the

preparing in their

a pit

is

it

Fault, ap. Fabricium Cod. Apocr. N.T.

Peterand Paul and the Pseudo-Marcellus


time during which the

It is irregular

In the middle of

settle.

rested in the 'Catacombs.'

So also William of Malmesbury in the


'R.ossi, Rovta Sotterranea
i.
L. Duchesne,
Cristiana, I. pp. 180
ith century

is

384) adorned the half-underground chamber

This

was well known that

called Platonia* under the apse of S. Sebastian.


in shape,

Cata-

Way, while Cor-

Peter once more on the Vatican.

great anachronism, but

'

of Christian ladies

exomavit,'...
vol.

I.

p. ^\'l.

'Rivestimentidilastremarmoree.' '/Vatonia,

cioe

Rossi,

Rom.

grande lastra marmorea;'


Sott. 11. pp. 22, 33.

312

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

484

same depth, with


Damasus paved

six or seven feet square, and of about the

an opening into

it

through the pavement.

chamber, and lined the sides with marble,

this

a yard high to the walls.


slab dividing the pit into

For

this place

adhering

still

There remains also a large marble


two, making it a locus bisomus^'
'

he wrote one of his Inscriptions.

It exists in

several antient collections, as copied from here, and here

began

it

by a thirteenth century hand, but breaks


word of the third line^ It begins

to be replaced

off before the last

Here thou must know the saints beforetime dwelt,


Whoe'er dost ask for Peter and for Paul^.

We

now understand why


and

Rome

on the same day.

at three places

S.

Hymn

Ambrosian

the

Festival of S. Peter

Paul speaks of

it

for the

as kept in

Through the gi^eat city's round the dense crowds stream along.
Upon Three Roads they keep the sacred Martyrs' Feast^,

H.

There

an interesting paper by
Tonibe Apostoliche di
by Lanciani, Le
1892), see p. 36.
photograph of it is in Parker's Catacombs, plate xxi.
is

Roma

(Typ. Vat.

Grisar, translated

Hie habitasse

prius sanctos cognoscere debes,

Nomina quisque

Petri pariter Paulique requiris.

Discipulos oriens misit quod sponte fatemur.

Sanguinis ob meritum Christumque per astra


^therios petiere sinus regnaque pionim.

Roma

suos potius meruit defendere cives.

Hsec Damasus vestras

De

Rossi,

Inscriptiones

Urbis Rotnce, vol.

11.

Rome

Christiance

pp. 32, 65, 89, 105.

Duchesne, Lib. Pontile,

Damasi Opuscula et

i.

p. civ.

Gesta, ed.

S.

Merenda,

referat

nova sidera laudes.

origin,

and that the story of the Greeks

defeated in the attempt to appropriate

them

arose

from

these

misunderstood.
Fathers, part

1754, pp. 226, 136, 249.

regnaque need not be amendwould not have offended the ear


of Damasus.
Cf. Carm. 3, Angelus
hsec verba cecinit.
Carm. 4, In rebus

In

ed.

500.

S.

ii-

result p. 491, n. 2.

On

meant only

Roman

Bp. Lightfoot thinks that


that

Rome

it

claimed them as

citizens in spite of their

Tantae per urbis ambitum Stipata

tendunt agmina.

Trinis celebratur viis

Festum sacrorum martyrum.

Trina conjunctio mundi.


V. 6

Eastern

Daniel,
xc.

Apostolic

Clement of Rotne,vo\.
See a similar cause and
i.

It

p.

words being

Lightfoot,

V. 5

tantis

secuti,

Thesaurus

Lips. 1855.

H. A.

Hyt?inologicus,

i.

X.

SS.

2.

II.

PETER AND PAUL MOVED TO CATACUMBAS. 485

Roads being the Aurelian and the Ostian, where


they suffered, and the Appian which passes Catacumbas.
the Three

And now we come

to the interesting link which rivets

these facts to our story.

One

of those entries in the Kalendar called Hieronynnian,

Rome

which exhibit the Use of

in the fourth century, is this

On the twenty-ninth of June at Rome,


Birthday of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul,
of Peter on the Vatican the Aurelian

Way,

Way,

but of Paul on the Ostian


of both in Catacumbas;

they suffered under Nero,

Bassus and Tuscus being Consuls^.

The day seems


But

martyrdom.

day

at first as

if

in the early

named, much

were that of their joint

it

mentions of their deaths no

same day for both. It then


is the day of a Deposition,
afterwards supposed to be the day of martyrdom.
The
Depositio Martirwn of A.D. 354 registers the day correctly
is

suggests

as a Deposition

less the

once that

itself at

it

though the

scribe,

probably thinking that

Catacumbas applied to the Vatican, and knowing that now


again S. Paul was on the Ostian Way, has confused the
entry by inserting the word Ostense^. The Consulship named
shews that

But

is

it

could have nothing to do with the deaths.

it

the very year 258 A.D.,

when the

severe Rescript

We

appeared following the Edict about the Cemeteries.

may
^

be tolerably sure then that June 29, A.D. 258,

'liikal. Jul.

Romse

apostolorum Petri

et

natale sanctorum

Pauli

Petri

in

hist. Classe,

sch.

d.

was the

Konigl. Sachsisch. Gesell-

Wissenschaften Leipz.

1850,

Vaticano via Aurelia: Pauli vero in via

p. 632), called Liberia?!, Filocalian or

Catacumbas
Tusco con-

Bttcherian catalogue [calendar) from the

Ostensi

utriusque

in

Passi sub Nerone, Basso et


sulibus,'
^

Duchesne, Lib. Pontif.

*lll kl. lul. Petri in

p. cv.

I.

Catacumbas

et

Pauli Ostense Tusco et Basso cons. Libe'

rian

Catalogue

Depositio

martirum.

Mommsen's Uber den Chronographen


vom Jahre 354 (Abhandl. d. philolog.-

Pope who ordered

and
by R. A. Lipsius also
Chronologie der Rbmischen
Bischofe (1869) and the List of Popes is
the

first

it,

the compiler

editor. It is edited
:

revised from all the published material

byBp. Lightfoot, /f/<75/A ^a/Z/^rj, part


S. Cleynent of Rome, i. p. 201 sqq.

i.

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

486

day when both were removed


in the

scarcely

It

we

to their

temporary hiding-place

Catacumbas.
is

venturing into too minute a coincidence should

observe, that,

if

a fortnight sufficed, as

it

probably did, for

the government couriers to transmit dispatches between

Rome

and Byzantium, there was a good margin of time between


June 29 and August 6 to communicate to Valerian, even if
he were further afield, what the Christians were about, and to
The removal from their place of execution
receive his reply.
of the remains of notorious leaders of a dangerous section,

which

it

was always necessary

to suspect

and impossible to

understand, was probably noted, and invested, as


in

Europe to-day, with

it

The

political significance.

would be
graves of

those criminal Jewish agitators had not ceased to be visited,

and now the modern leaders were somehow turning the old

names to account. Xystus in this same year translated to


the Cemetery of Callistus the Virgin Lucilla and her father
Nemesius the Deacon, who had been laid on the Via Latina
by Stephen in 257 \ It is tempting to think that the Emperor
may have been induced to sharpen his decree by tidings of
the translation.
It could not be unknown that the 'trophies'
and the cemeteries were tampered with by the Christians
after

they had been warned off from places dear and long

legally secured to them.

'

You know even

'meetings,' says Tertullian^ 'and so


'

'

we

the days of our

are laid wait for

apprehended and in these actual secret congregations

we

and
are

arrested.'

The whole proceeding wears

the

aspect of precaution.

There was no knowing what violence might be


if it

at hand.

And

could be shewn that the blocking up of passages, the

breaking away of staircases, the opening of secret galleries out


into the sandpits, which are such

marked

facts in the history

of the cemeteries, belonged partly to the days of Valerian's


1

J.

H. Parker, Archaol. of Fame,


The Catacombs, p. 73.

vol. XII.

Ad Nationes,

I.

i.

c. 7.

X.

II.

UNDER XYSTUS.

3-

487

persecution, as well as to those of Diocletian, there

However

may

this

Rome would

of

meaning of that proceeding.

or no doubt of the

little

would be

we cannot doubt

be

have his share

that the Bishop

directing the removal of

in

the sacred forms and any other measures of precaution or

And

reverence.

as legislation about cemeteries

where apply to anything

we may

Roman

extent that

had

legislation

could

did at

it

no-

Rome,

origin

its

in

difficulties.

Memorials of Xystus and his Martyrdom.

3.

We

that such

sure

feel

like the

have

from Cyprian's own

learnt,

was martyred

letter,

that Xystus

cemetery on the sixth of August\ and

in a

with him four- (of the seven) Deacons of Rome.

There

De

is

no uncertainty now as to the place of

Rossi's researches,

and

insight

Callistus

There

calls his

earliest

Coemeterium

'

still

Roman

of

list

Callisti

ad

'extended

of knowledge,

masterpiece

and patience, have cleared up endless

The

I.

and what he himself

comment,'

complicated

this tragedy.

difficulties^

cemeteries calls that of

Via Appia*.'

S. Xystiivi

stands above ground a small chapel, originally

a Schola, in plan a square, with large apses on three sides


its front,

Xystus

open antiently
sat 11

months 12

Lipsius,^/. aV. p.213.


vii.

(?6) days,

Eusebius,

i^. j?.

27 has (in the same error noticed

already

him

like

as

in

other

many

instances)

years.

So

in

assigned
vii.

14 he

seems to speak of him as overliving the


edict of restoration.

Another error

repeated from him by Jerome,


assigns eight years to Xystus.

Chronic. Euseb. ad
-

Ep.

80.

I.

Ann. D.

Quartus

unwarrantable alteration

is

who

{Interpret.

by

'

Appia-

Pamele, Fell.
^

The

following are the chief refer-

ences to

De

Cristiana

Rossi,

vol.

i.

Roma

Sotterranea

p. 247, Xystus'

chapel

inCemetei^of Prsetextatus; vol. ii.p. 4,


'S. Sistus and S. Cecilia' ; vol. II. p. 20,
Crypt of S. Sistus;
chre,

vol. Ii.p. 87, Sepul-

monuments and companions of

Sistus; vol.
Sistus

258.)

for quattuor,

adopted

an exhedra, to the Via

and

III.

p. 468,

S. Cecilia.

S.

Tricora of S.

See Lanciani,

Pagan and Christian Rome,


^ Rom. Sott. vol. il. p. 6.

p. 117,

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

488

The lower masonry and

Ardeatina','

the fact that

has

it

been rased nearly to the ground and rebuilt under Con-

make

stantine

probable that

it

was one of the many


by Fabian^ and
'

it

fabrics' placed 'throughout the cemeteries'

removed as a conventiciilwn by Diocletian. From very early


times it has been called the Church of S. Xystus, of S. Caecilia,
Pilgrims halt at

or of both.

two

before descending one of the

it

which lead to the crypt of

flights of steps

S. Sisto', in

which the popes of the third century were usually buried, and
to that of S. Caecilia.

Xystus became the chief and central

sanctity of this crypt.

The

plaster over the door of the crypt

scored with invocations of

is

'

Sustus,' graffiti'^ so early that

they are mutilated by the changes

made by Damasus

in the

fourth century, although Celerinus and Lucianus in the be-

ginning of our story would, with

exaggerations about

all their

Within

martyrs, have revolted from them.

it

was placed the

very chair in which he was teaching when he was martyred.

For the whole cemetery Damasus wrote an


his best hexameters, and cut it on marble in

in

where

De

inscription
this chapel,

Rossi found almost the whole in above lOO frag-

ments and with surprising

refitted

skill

them together

into

the appearance of some delicate net^

They

are to this effect


Here

The

closely lie a

crowd of Holy ones

aweful graves their sacred Bodies keep

Heaven's palace hath caught up the soaring


^

The Cross-road which

Appia and Ardeatina


called by De Rossi.

connects the

map) is so
The names of

Roma,
^

(see

cit.

these roads are as yet matter of controversy.

Sign.

Lanciani

names,

as

having lately thrown some light on the


question,

the

memoirs by

327, Taf.

ix.

san

&c.

comunale

di

di

Sott. II.

S.

headed 'La

p. 27,

Sisto

fu

il

sepolcreto

secolo

horationes Aureliu Repentinu.'

Romassetti, Scoperte Suburbaite, in Boll.

Arch,

Rom.

op.

III.'

'Sante Suste in mente habeas in

Commiss.

Mommsen,

op. cit. ^. 267.

ordinario dei papi nel

(Roemische Abtheilung), nnd by Gius.


della

635; Lipsius,

cripta

Christian

Huelsan, sulla porta Ardeatina in Mittheilungen, 1894, pp. 320

1895, p. 162.

Liberian Catalogue,
p.

souls.

utse

Libera
te

Rom.

Ii.

'Suste

'Sane

abe in oratione

Sott. II. p. 17.

Ro7H. Sott.

.'

tav.

ii.

',

X.

MEMORIALS OF XYSTUS.

II. 3-

who the trophies won,


who at Christ's altars watch.

Here
Here
Here
Here
Here

Xystus' comrades

Who

willed to keep their Virgin Modesty.

many
lies

Peers

the Priest

who

lived a lengthened Peace,

whom

the Confessor Saints

Youths, old

Here would
But feared

This epigram

men

Grsecia sent,

and grandsons pure

yet boys,

Damasus have

489

laid

my

limbs

vex the ashes of the Just^

to

itself

witnesses to the pre-eminent honour

of Xystus^ as does likewise the inscription placed above the

Chair by Damasus, of which also minute fragments were


found.
Its

purport was as follows


What

time the sword pierced through the Mother's heart,

Set here as Pilot I taught heaven's decrees.

Sudden they came and took me

as I sate.

The peoples gave their necks to the soldiery.


The Elder marked one who would fain have
His palm; but first he offered his own head,
Not suffering savagery to strike at large.
Christ with His bounteous gifts of

The Shepherd's wage, and

Hie congesta

jacet quseris

life

assigns

folds the flock

si

snatch'd

Himself.

turba piorum

Corpora sanctorum retinent veneranda sepulcra


Sublimes animas rapuit sibi regia cseli

Hie
Hie
Hie
Hie
Hie

comites Xysti portant qui ex hoste tropsea

numerus procerum servat qui

altaria Christi

positus longa vixit qui in pace sacerdos

confessores sancti quos Graecia misit

juvenes puerique senes castique nepotes

Quis mage virgineum placuit retinere pudorem.

4ta,
^

He is

Sylloge,

Chr.

ap. Rossi, Inscr.


said to be the only
*

volui

in Sylloge Tnronensis,

and Corp. Laureshatnensis


43,

mea condere membra

fateor

cineres timui sanctos vexare piorum.

Text preserved
23,

Damasus

Hie
Sed

11.

pp. 66, 105.

View

of S. Xystus, Eotn. Solt.

of Crypt

11. tav. i.

Urb.

Roman

Tempore quo

Roma,

martyr admitted into the Syriac Kalendar.

gladius secuit pia viscera matris

Hie positus Rector cselestia jussa docebam


Adveniunt subito rapiunt qui forte sedentem.

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

490

Yet

2.

his sepulture

where Xystus was beheaded

church

little

solemn place of

this

confused with

not 'the

is

though often

\'

it.

Opposite to the Cemetery of Callistus along the Appian

Way

and towards the antient temple


of Ceres, now St Urban's Church, was found in 1848 the
a

little

further south,

Cemetery of Praetextatus.
great family

who were

to let Christians use

Here

all

the

is

name

of a

when they began

Christians

it.

a painting of

is

Praetextatus

not

Sustus

'

'

with his name.

Here was

a graffito of a Cathedra, another of a Doctor seated in a

Cathedra with a hearer

Here

at his feet.

seen

is

still

the

inscription
...mi refrigeri^ Jamiarius

The Liber

Pontificalis

Agatopus Felicissimus martyres^.

records

Xystus were

with

that

Deacons, Felicissimus, Agapitus, Januarius, Magnus,

slain six

Vincentius, Stephanus, also that the Deacons were buried here

on

Xystus was

VIII id. Aug.^, while

laid

with his predecessors

Militibus missis populi tunc colla dedere;

Mox

cognovit senior quis tollere vellet

sibi

Palmam, seque sumnque caput


Impatiens

feritas posset

prioi- obtulit ipse

ne laEDere quenquam.

Ostendit Christus, reddit qui PRsemia


Pastoris meritum

Text

in

Duchesne, Z. P.

preserved in
4ta, 60.

p.

II.

Corp.

v.

i.

Lauresh.

Rossi, Inscr. Chr. U-

For probable

108.

taw.

I.

and

in the crypt

is

2.

Roma,

to a

II.

tav.

ful.

The fragment found

iii.

of a third inscription,

no. 8, no doubt belong

Damasian epigram on the

though the

Sott.

letter cutting

is

events,

less beauti-

'

vitse

ipse tuetur.

Ecclesia parva ubi decollatus est S.

Salzburg Itinerary,

Xystus.'

Rot)i. Sott.

p. 180.

i.

situation of

indicated by capitals.

The fragments
R. S.

p. 156:

Sylloge,

Chair and inscription, see Rom.


11.

numerum gREois

= refrigeret.

Refrigeri

V.oss\, Boll.

R. S.

i.

Arch.

Crist. 1863, p. 3.

p. 251, 11. p. 89,

Agathopus

the form for Agapitus in apparently

is

all

codices of the Hieronymian Cata-

logue.
^

R.

S. 11. pp. 41, 47.

Duchesne, Z./".

date

is

vili id.

I.

Aug.

p. 155.

Cyprian's

X.

MEMORIALS OF XYSTUS.

II. 3-

Cemetery of Callistus\

in the

49I

just across the road.

His Chair

went with him.

Over two of the Deacons Damasus wrote

for the

Cemetery

of Praetextatus
Comrades and Servers of the unconquered Cross
They followed their pure Pastor's Faith and Works.
Damasus to Felicissimus and Agapitus-.

some shreds

dialogue of some dramatic power with

by Ambrose, as having been held


with Laurentius^ another Deacon, by Xystus on his way to
of authenticity

is

recited

execution.

This story seems at

count of his beheading


the observation of

Romans

De

first

sight irreconcilable with the ac-

But we cannot

in the Chair.

Rossi'* that

it is

set aside

impossible that seven

should have been simply murdered without

a gang of soldiers

that they must have been taken before

may have been

the judge, and

by

trial

sent back to the place where

they were apprehended as law-breakers to be put to death^


'Sepultus est in cymiterio Calesti

Appia nam vi diaconi ejus in cymitirio Prsetextati via Appia Vlii id. Aug.'
via

Hi

Duchesne, Z/3./bA

pp. 68, 9 (i.^.

I.

first

edition of Z. P. as represented in Feli-

cian abridgment).

crucis invictse comites pariterque ministri

Rectoris sancti meritumque fidemque secuti.

Felicissimo et Agapito Damasus.


Rossi,

Itiscr.

Ch.

epigram probably
op.

p. 223)

cit.

11.

p.

This

d^.

(as Lipsius suggests,

gave birth

to the line of

legends in which Xystus himself

cruci-

is

Ambxos.de Off. Ministroruvi,i.yl\.


'Ambrosian' Hymn ap. H. A. Daniel,
Prudent. Pe)'isteph.
Thes. H. I. xc. i.

fied.

11.

21
^

cal,

though archidiacoius (not in

The

is

an anachronism,

fine story of

circle of heroes

it.

was transferred with the story of a


Pope's martyrdom in it, enriched by the
It

account of blood shed over

it,

to

Stephen

as the nearest

unmartyred

spite of his not

appearing in the Depo-

sitio

Martirum but

in

the

pontiff,

in

Depositio

Episcoporuvi in the Liberian Catalogue

26.

Lipsius regards Laurence as histori-

brose)

epigram of Damasus placed over

0/. V. p. 120.

Laurence, with the

who

obliterated after a

Am-

gathered round

it,

time the recollec-

tion that the Chair belonged to Xystus,

whose name was not mentioned

in the

(Mommsen, Chron.

v.

Jakre^i,^,

op. cit.

Augustas Steffani in
Calisti.
The Chair was bestowed by
Innocent XII. on Cosmo III. and taken

p. 631),

to Pisa

iiii 71011.

(Merenda, Damasus,

p. i).

R. S.

Lib. Pontif. (ist ed.), Duchesne, p.

11.

pp. 91, 92.

69,'truncatisuntcapite'

solemn Roman

THE PERSECUTION OF VALERIAN.

492
for a

warning to those who persisted

Upon

teries.

may have been

This conjecture

'

'

is

urges the

some such conversation


rapitint' of

'

Xystus was apprehended by Valerian['s

There

is

was beheaded

no reason

carefully notes

De

He

to

Rossi

Pontificalis^

edition of the Liber

led aivay to sacrifice to the demons.

'of Valerian and

Damasus.

supported by a passage which

The second

does not notice.


says

He

held.

frequenting the ceme-

in

the road, he suggests,

and

officers]

scorned the precepts

^'

doubt the incidents which Damasus

how he was found teaching

the people offered themselves to die for

how

in his Chair,

him or with him, how

anxiety was to prevent them from provoking the soldiers,

his

and how the old

man

anticipated the self-devotion of one

by stretching out

faithful follower

own neck

his

to receive

the blow.

The
the

And

of the history, the monuments, the epigrams,

relics

are wonderfully yet not too absolutely in accord I

letter,

what more natural than that the


more protected chapel of Praetextatus should have
been resorted to by the bishop, deacons and people, when
the larger and less private ones were made dangerous by the
as to the scene itself

quieter and

edict

Cyprian's word attimadvermore often than not used of decollation, and there is Damasus' 'caput obtulit.^
The Leonian Sacramentary also

cannot apparently be reconciled with

preserves 'intrepida cervice,' Muratori,

says

execution.
su?n

is

op. cit.

I.

c.

390.

This has seven

Duchesne,

p.
^

Pont.

Lil>.

The

up with

distress

and
But

'

technical

word,

p. ex,

18

sacro

11

praecepto;

1.

as

in

24; ex,

prsecepcxii

10

prseceptum, &c.
^

it

needs amendment.

155;

Xystus

cxi 8 prseceperunt,

est,

gives

did not understand a// the comrades of

Acta Proc. ap. Hartel,

tum

fF.

Z/(5. /'ow/.

comites

only three are claimed for Prretextatus

Ducttis ut sacrificaret.

12;

p. 91

'

De Rossi,

by the Invocation and Damasus, whose


epigram for this place shews that he

69.

Prseceptum,

1.

p.

i.

ii.

in Ccem. Callisti.

?>iisste

for his day.

cf.

Damasus' epigram saying that

XystV were

in

Cam.

Prcetextati

to be at Callistus.

It

is

not

worth while here to pursue the question


through

the

Perhaps

Kalendars.

Cyprian's statement that four Deacons

died with him


ray.

Lib. Pontif. entry of all six

Deacons as buried

'

later.

If

{cutti

eo)

there were six

may
two

lend a
suffered

CHAPTER

XI.

The Birthday.
Quod notnen

sic

frequentat Ecclesia id

Martyrum

Natales, ut Natales vocet pretiosas

est

Aug.

mortes.

Serin. 310,

i.

c.

It was (as we have seen) Cyprian himself who with his


constant promptitude and his
the very

accompanied by an imperial
of Provinces, was

gence of

still

on

secured probably

official skill

news which reached

first

The

Africa.

circular addressed to

its

way when he

Rescript,

Governors

sent the intelli-

approach to Successus to be circulated. Successus

its

of Abbir Germaniciana, near Curubis, was one of the Senior


Bishops.

In

a few months he was to follow Cyprian to

martyrdom \

His

He

world.

letter to

There

from Carthage.

is

Successus

The

He

'

of being in the

it

attitude of

the clergy

'

could leave the

'

and

rash confessions ^

no dread, only gladness

watchwords

stroke.'

was, he says, one of hope and devotion.

all

He

no defection, no lapse now^

anticipates

deathlessness,'

'

body being placed under the death

the whole

only excitement

istic

apparently written

mentions the derangement of his correspondence

caused by the fact that none of


place,

is

a sound about

for

'

'

Not

were

deprecates
death,

but

his character-

them.

name

Ep.

"

Ep. 80.

57, seventh in Ep. 67, sixteenth in


Sentt. Epp. Ruinart, Passio SS. Mon-

Ep.

only gives a warning beforehand against

tani, Lucii, aliorunt, xxi.

libelli.

Ep.

80.

The

ninth

in

81.

De Exhorlatione Alartyrii

Supra,

p.

475.

THE BIRTHDAY.

494

He came

to Carthage because

Maximus, who

Galerius

had succeeded Paternus as Proconsul, had, upon receiving the


Imperial Rescript, suddenly ended his year of exile by a

summons

to appear before him.

owing probably

But when he came, Galerius,

him

to ill-health detaining

at Utica, could

own
The

not hear him, and ordered him to retire to his

house^ by Carthage and there confine himself

HortP,

countrybeautiful

of memories of the days of his pagan eloquence

full

and eminence, where, glowing with the

and joy of

light

Baptism, he had held his colloquy with Donatus

home which he had

in early

days sold

poor, but from which his great friends

his

the dear

for the benefit of the

would not allow him

to

be separated, repurchasing them and presenting them to him


afresh,

was a strange chance

it

(so to speak)

which gave

quiet days there, of which he expected each, as

him the

it

came, to be the last^

High

officials

even, as well as people of senatorial rank

and of the great

families*, certainly not all of

now urged

upon

flight

But he recognized no

safe retreats.

He

ing to compliance.

to substitute in men's
for the ordinary

felt

them

Christians,

and offered him various

their old friend^

and no inner prompt-

sign,

only a fresh stimulus to teach,

minds the sanctions of the

motives of the world.

He was

to

life

so filled with

the passion of teaching that he trusted the stroke might


to

him

it

at Utica,

still

He

(as

had come to Xystus)

Act.

was naturally anxious

knew

alone

Proc.

1.

It

will

how

Pontius {Vit.

15)

Proc.
*

come

Galerius,

obey the Rescript.

that

the

1.

Plurcs egregii
sanguinis sed

et

generosi.

Pont.

d
et

Vit.

clarissitni ordinis

s?ecuh

nobilitate

14.

Ep.%i.

men were

important

Consilio carissimorum.

Rome and

Audituri ab eo (proconsule) quid

more of Carthage.

On what

they

imperatores

implied see Professor Mayor's stores of

corum

quotation on Juvenal

verint...

act,

topography of

'Horti' of great

still

he came to be there.

be remembered

features of the

to

very

the special contents of the private dispatch

speaks of him as at the Horti without

mentioning

in that

come

i.

75.

Quotidie sperabat veniri ad

se.

Act.

et

super

Christianorum

lai-

episcoporum nomine manda-

Ep.Si.

THE BIRTHDAY.

XI.

495

two of

to the Governors, and presently he sent

his military

Bishop quietly over to Utica.

clerks^ to fetch the

But now acting with the coolness of a person used to take


his

own

course in details, even with magistrates, Cyprian was

He was

not to be found.

ments

there

come

to Carthage.

gone

one of the offered conceal-

to

to stay until the Proconsul should be able to

He was

sure that the

summons

to Utica

meant death. And although he had no fear of death,


Cyprian had deliberate views as to the scene of his death.
This was no new impulse, no new prudence. Years before
he had congratulated

Rome^ most
because

Lucius on his return

likely

die

to

the victim which

'

on

there,

up

his retreat

very ground

has to set before the brother-

'hood the pattern of manliness and of


'offered

from exile to

this

ought to be

faith

So now from
Deacons and Commons,

presence of his brethren.'

in the

he writes to

his Presbyters,

that he only awaits the Proconsul's visit to Carthage, because


'

the City in which he presides over the Church of the Lord

'

the place where a Bishop ought to confess his Lord and to

glorify his

whole

'

prelate

their presence.'

in

Commons by
So

the confession of their


to confess, there

thence to take his departure to his Lord, was


stant

Beyond

prayer'.

this,

he fully

Divine might be breathed into the


Bishop.

Commentarii or

Office

who

Commentariettsfs
in the Proconsul's

suffer,

his con-

something

words of a Confessor-

last

turion would have been sent, and this


was done the second time, after the

kept the journals of pro-

present

Their position was among

yacobi

the highest /'r//a/'5, or officers below

One

the rank of Centurion.


duties was, as

we

see

by

of their

later

laws

(a.d. 371, 380), to schedule prisoners,


their offences, rank

were responsible

and age

and they

for their safe-keeping.

failure.
et

2613;

cf.

2586.

Ep. 61.

had been apprehended a cen-

Ep. 81.

4,

4,

5).

If

iv.

Ruinart,

Pass.

At Lambsese

is erected by ...fvs. Severwj


comuevtaHis m. valKRl Etrvj
/eg. Ave Pr. Pr (a.d. 152); another
names the Commentarius of the Ilird
Legion there. Corp. Inscrr. Li. Vlll. i.

an altar

9,

Cf.

Mariani,

any

{Codex yusiui.
difficulty

that

own

Confession was more after God's mind than the best

were military clerks


ceedings.

felt

to

now

is

THE BIRTHDAY.

49^

The
moment \

professions.

such a

indwelling

God Himself might perhaps


known such

Doubtless the Decian persecution had


tions,

In

be.

the year after Cyprian's

death Marianus at Cirta, waiting blindfold with

inspira-

and there are striking contemporary examples of what

they were understood to

the stroke, and

for

use

'

now

strengthened the envy

by

viewed,

many

with the prophetic

filled

others
spirit,'

with which these holy deaths were

'

the

foretelling

approach

God's

of

avenging

scourges.

When,

at that same time, the clergy of Carthage suffered,


Montanus cried with prophetic voice, He that sacrificeth to any
Gods but the Lord alone will be rooted out' He then charged
Heretics to mark the abundance of her Martyrs as a sure note
of the true Church he charged the Lapsed to submit to the
'

Cyprianic discipline

the Virgins to maintain their constancy;

to be in obedience to the Bishops

all

tain

among themselves

bond of the
*

laity.

He

the Bishops to main-

the Cyprianic Unity as the one true

ended,

'

This

copy Christ

Christ's sake, namely, to

the true suffering for

is

in discourse,

and

own person the great proof of the faith!


Now, should God give Cyprian any such message

to be

'in one's

be not for Cyprian's sake but

for

his

people's,

it

would

and they

Whenever therefore the Proconsul came, then


he would be found. The Proconsul came, and Cyprian was
at home in his Horti at once.
The Proconsul of course knew
should hear

it.

nothing of the motives of his movement, and naturally deter-

mining not to be again eluded, ordered a sudden

descent''

upon the house.

The Thascian

gardens, as they would be called, lay doubt-

which has been

less in the vast beautiful quarter

Ep. 8 1. It is to this dying


and not to the apologia

ration,

that

trial,

58,

in

inspi-

the Epistle to Thibaris

his

x.

19

gardens

'in ilia hora.'

at the

Cyprian applies Matth.

all

Pontius

own

Vit.

15 has a platitude

'repente

Proconsular Acts

subitavit'

c. 2

and

on
the

give the 'repente.'

THE BIRTHDAY.

XI.

and
'

Roman, Arab, European, ever

villas,

sparse

yet

native kraals called

'

their

left

497

name

behind.

seen the great bare

and flowers have

Its rich trees

and they are

Proconsul

still

The Thascian gardens then cannot

their glory.

in

have been very

it,

piled with marble Carthage, then

hill

stripped to build Tunis or shipped to Pisa,

there

the 'rare,'

since

Mapalia disappeared from

from the Villa of Sextus where the sick

far

lay.

Early on the 13th September an unexpected chariot drove

through them to the

villa door,

The

vented other egress\


they were styled,

as

important

chief

strator or

him

out, lifted

Principes^

'

One was

centurions.

The

equerry.

They

prison department.

the

to

two

very

of the legion, and was, besides, the Pro-

officer

own

consul's

while a guard of soldiers pre-

chariot brought

into their chariot

other was

attached

quietly fetched

Cyprian

and drove away with him

between them"^
^

This only can have been the use of

bringing soldiers to the


2

duo unus strator


Maximi proconsulis at

...principes

Galerii

equistrator a custodiis ejusdem

Acta Proc.

officii

alius
officii.

struck with the exact-

ness of the terms used in the Acta2, and

more general but

quite coirect usage

The second

in Pontius.

centurion of a

was called/w cohortis pHiueps

legion

prior ox princeps prmtorii, C.


i.

2917,

ii.

L.

I.

5293, or simply /;'iff/^.

III.

His

duties required the assistance of an ad-

a librarhis and an optio.

jtitor,

vin.

i.

2555.

in his hands.

consideration.

The

C. I. L.

tabulcs tnilitares

were

He was an officer of much


C. I. L. viil.

i.

2676,

the Princeps of the 3rd Legion builds

a temple to Invictus Augustus


suo a solo' at Lamb^ese.

Ibid.

the Princeps of the 3rd legion


LX...'

and
B.

in prsediis suis.

in his

built a

mausoleum

'

Here we

find

him

'

'asre

2841,

vix. an.

at

Rome

house for the night.

A strator originally saddled


the great officer's horse

him

2.

Anyone must be
the

'

able to receive Cyprian and his friends

villa.

to

(sternere)

and

assisted

The Governors

mount.

perial provinces

and the

of im-

Praefect of the

prtetorium had stratores personally at-

tached to them

who were

but not so Proconsuls,

required to employ soldiers in

that capacity. (Ulpian, ap. Dig.

'Nemo proconsulum

i, 16, 4,

stratores suos ha-

bere potest sed vice eorum milites ministerio in provinciis funguntur.')

Inscriptions

shew

that the dignity of

was valued and the title retained


the function was laid down. Com-

strator
after

pare Gruteri, Corp. Inscrr.


8, 'strator consulis.'

i.

p. 631, n.

C. I. L. vii. 78,

'strator consularis'; Vlii.i. 2748, 'prje-

2957, '^SsXxator \&gatV


9002, 'strator ejus,' sc. of the

sidis stratores,'

vin.

ii.

Prreses of both Mauritanias.

32

THE BIRTHDAY.

498
Everything had

among

die

his usual

As he

his people.

serious joyousness

'

He

fallen in with Cyprian's plan.

'

door

left his

should

for the last

time

of expression was transfigured

by the manful heart to a lofty eagerness and almost mirthfulness'


which was indeed to break out, like Sir Thomas
More's, as the hour drew near.
'

'

When

they reached the Proconsul's they found he was

again too
prisoner

ill

home

his

He remanded

to proceed with the easel

the

next day, but would not risk his returning to


or even going upon bail to friends.
He was com-

till

mitted to the courteous 'free custody' of the

and

himself,

first

Princeps

house within the city* spent the evening

in his

Deacons and with the higher members of


the household of a Roman gentleman as
his own household
well as Bishop of Carthage
and with other intimate friends*.
as usual with his

In

Corrispon-

Bollett. dell. Instil, di

erected

is

'J.

expressly

assigned

to

the

proconsul to settle {(Estimare) whether

Flavio Sereno perfectis-

persons after arrest should be imprisoned,

simo viro a cognitionibus Augusti

.
.

'

by

C. I. L. viii.

his 'amici et stratores.'

monument

2792, a 'signifer' erects a

i.

was

It

monument

denza Archeol. i860, p. 22, a

committed

own

their

to take

to sureties, to soldiers, or to

houses, and he was

into

consideration

the

bound
office,

to his brother, a 'strator.'

estate, or dignity of the

With this Princeps. ..Strator. ..Officii


came another, princeps Equistrator a

as the character of the charge. Digesta,

aistodiis,

attached to the department

i.e.

So Codex yustin.

of prisons.

those

describes

'qui

and

guntur

officio'

able to

inflict suffering

'ministri

from the
the

first,

fun-

eorum' as

on prisoners and

to protract their detention.

was however

9, 4, i,

st7-ator\xra

This one

'

We

ought indeed to be

able to identify a site noted for us so


carefully

and near

to

two

if

not three of

the chief temples of Carthage.

But the

Pont.

museum

objects, even if the advertise-

ments of 'Terrains a vendre, a


6 and

Vit.

15,

fruitless,

batir' are

must long preclude the develop-

sequel shews that Pontius, Vit.

ment of sites.
*
Receptum eum tamen et in domo
principis constitutum una nocte continuit

down

custodia delicata, ita ut convivse ejus et

hilaritatem

to

the Via Venerea and the Via Salutaris.'


Act. Proc. 1.

crown of the Byrsa and the pursuit of

prjeferens

vultu

corde

virtutem.'

The

I-

In vico qui dicitur Saturni, between

and Pontius only mentions


whose house he was enter-

Compare

3.
'

construction of a vast precinct on the

tained for the night.


1

in a very different position

first,

in

48,

person as well

'

was hard upon him

in setting

laziness or caprice the

which he saw a

remand

special providence.

in

cari in

contubemio ex more fuerimus.'

Pont. Vit. 15.

Several interesting points

THE BIRTHDAY.

XI.

The

499

convoy had passed so quickly through a quiet


quarter to the Proconsul's, that none were aware of it, until
first

Cyprian was again on his way to the house of the Princeps.

Then the rumour ran

Thascius the famous orator, the

fast,

benefactor in the plague S was in custody.

It

was a spectacle

of regret to the pagans, of veneration to the faithful.

The whole

multitude assembled.

was

said,

watched the house

Christian

it

movement should

the least

lest

vast

Commons,' so

Afterwards they realized that they had been

escape them.

One message they

keeping the Vigil of the Martyr.

from within

'

in

received

the course of the night, a charge that the

maidens who were abroad should be well cared for^

The morrow
sky without
mingled with

rose with the broad pure blaze of the African

The bay was

fleck of cloud.

fire.

a sea of glass

wonderful walk lay before him as he

turned away to the north-west.

The

crush of public buildings

on the High Byrsa, the narrow streets of

tall

houses falling

down from it on all sides, the mass and the fierce colouring
of the immense temples, the vast palaces of base and savage
amusement how long would this order of things last what

.''

would become of
Councils

face

it,

to

with the Bishops and

face

when they should come

to their strength, as even

now they represented a New Order well begun ? The City of


God rose before him more solid than those material amazing
bulwarks, grander than the majesty of

than the immeasurable force behind

Roman Law, more

it.

As he

His path led across the Stadium.


appear.

RecepHan

(technical

word)

i,

i) or

as here in custodiam (ibid. 10).

Not

in carcerem

merely

which

[Digesta, 48,

^libera

custodia'

3,

but delicata,

refers to the entertainment.

viva, in

its

Con-

post-classical sense, of the

higher rank of the people of a great

household.

Ex

more,

the style and

Pont. Vit. 15;

boni aliquid pro


^

real

crossed

cf.

it

his

it, illequi fecerat

civitatis saluti.

This was the subject within half a

Cone. EliLabbe, Mansi, Flor.

century of a special canon.


berit. can.

I759>
4,

^-

xxxv.

''

^^'

treats this as

^^-

-^"S- S^rm. 309,

a marked instance of

'pastoral wakefulness.'

habit of Cyprian.

322

THE BIRTHDAY.

5O0

companions thought,

he did not, of a race run and an ex-

if

He had

pectant crown.

left

the Chief Centurion's threshold,

looking like a Chief Centurion himself^ with a Diviner com-

He moved

mission ^

in the centre

of the guard of officers

by an endlessly gathering army, who


looked, says the eyewitness, as if they were on the march to
take Death by storm.'
and

soldiers, followed

'

The Proconsul had

summoned

actually

the populace to

the villa of Sextus^, so resolved was he that a great blow

should be struck, a great example made.

The smooth paved


luxuriant

road

was

and

deep

emerged from the dark close

dust, as they

plain.

Among

the

date

and

bloom was

The

still.

with

on the

palms ripening

for the

gathering, and high above the silver olives, on


final

silent

streets

whose

the

fruit

just appearing, the cypresses towered black

stubble of the reaped corn was standing deep,

the vines had been relieved of their burdens, the grassy slopes

were white with the long summer, and the vast carpets of
dazzling flowers had faded,

all

but the invincible dark green

asphodel.

Beyond the wide and


glowing

peerless tract of vegetation were the

dense with brushwood of cistus and cytisus,

hills,

myrtle and lentisk, gaps opening into the world's cornfields,

and the solemn aqueduct bringing

rivers of living

water from

mountains leagues away.

How much
know

not

of natural things

we
man

the old man's eye

filled

he was beyond caring for

little

things, but

no

knows whether those things are little. Certainly he had not


humorous observation which has sometimes caught
us unexpectedly in gravest moments.

lost that

Egressus est

Christi et

domum

Principis sed

Dei Princeps, Pont.

compare 18.
^ Ex omni parte

Vil. 16;

Sexti,

Maximi

Vit.

3,

niulta tui-ba convenit

Galerii

later on,

as in Bede's

Martyrology (18 Kal. Oct.) and


where,

Acta Proc.

secundum prseceptum

proconsulis.

This became
vallatus, Pont.

16.
*

ad

'sexto

juxta mare.'

milliario

else-

Carthagine

XL

THE BIRTHDAY.

501

They reached the Prcetorium. The crowd was great.


The hearing was appointed for an open colonnaded court
called Atrmvi Sauciolum^.
Again the Proconsul was unable
to receive him at once and a more retired room was at his
service to rest in. The seat, so it happened, was covered with
His

a white linen cloth like a bishop's chair in the apse.

and through with perspiration


from such a walk. One of the officers^ whose business was
to carry the Proconsul's passwords to the posts, offered him a
clothes were soaked through

change of

Humanely

clothes.

He was

disinterestedly.

yet innocent store set by


replied,

day

'

but, Pontius thought, not quite

a Lapsed Christian and

Cures for complaints that

will

be over maybe

ushered

his

civil

and leading provincials who formed

him

six lictors with the rods

of incense.
rational.

was a

It

He was

brief

axes'*

behind

it,

Roman

for

him a small
and a box

before

coals in

live

trial,

his council

courts were

arraigned on the one count of Sacrilege.

Sacrilege legally covered every violation of or careless


Atriuvi Saticiobim.

The only

Acta Proc.

3.

of this

be beheaded within the house.

name was pointed

out by

appropriation of the

Bp. Fell. In the great Prankish Council

Macon under king Guntramn,

A.D.

585, any Cleric is forbidden to attend


'ad locum examinationis reorum' {i.e.
place of torture,

martyria

fidei

cf.

Tert. Scorpiace,

examinatoria)

intersit atrio saiiciolo

qualitate

Labbe, Mansi,

ii.

can.

Florentiffi,

No Roman

name meaning

'neque
est.'

xix.

1763.

t.

ap.
IX.

would bear

court

'place of execution';

Galerius's atrium sauciolum


'

7,

ubi pro reatus sui

quispiam interficiendus

Cone. Matisconense,
col. 956.

Criminals would not

not such a place.

know

illustration

mysterious

and

a chafing dish with

tripod, or

hastily

dress between the high officers of his

staff

at

in the

and was face to face with the great governor

in
in

He was

the Proconsul asked for him.

last

sitting

the

At

As

knew

Cyprian himself only

Relics^

'

was clearly

name

The

to a death-

chamber must have been altogether


later.
^

'

Quidam ex

Tesserariis,' Pont. Vit.

and Ro7n. Antt.

vol.

Pontius too, Vit. 16, 'sudores

jam

16; see Did. Gk.


i.

pp. 377, 801.


*

sanguineos
*

'

is

a curious exaggeration.

Acta Proc.

Cf. Digesta,

On

i,

3,

4.

Pont.

Vit.

16.

16, 14.

the curious insignia ('symbola')

which belonged to the Proconsul of


Africa, see Revue Africainc, vol. viii.
p. 323.

THE BIRTHDAY.

502

Law

offence against the Divine Law, which

included expres-

sions of the Emperor's will, no Christian lawyer

would quibble

was not daily and

wilfully guilty

at the term or pretend that he

of it\

The

imperial note had as before particularized Cyprian.

You

Galerius spoke.
Cyprian.

You have

Galerius.

are Thascius Cyprianus

.''

am.

lent yourself to be a

pope

to persons

of sacrilegious views.
Cyprian.

have.

The most hallowed emperors have ordered you

Galeritis.

to perform the

Cyprian.

rite.

do not

offer.

Do consider yourself.
Do what you are charged

Galeriiis.

Cyprian.

so straightforward there

That was

make

to

is

The Proconsul

all.

In a matter

to do.

nothing to consider^
conferred with his council

And

the process technically correct ^

then, a re-

luctant and a very ailing man, he with difficulty yet with

the new criminality and


new and necessary penalty. It was simply for
Bishop of the modern and spreading union that he

concurrence, explained

sternest

justified the

being the

was
1

to suffer*.

Qui Divinse

sanctitatem aut

legis

nesciendo confundunt
violant

et

negligendo

aut

offendunt sacrilegium com-

mittunt...Disputari de principali judicio

non oportet
dubitare an
imperator.

This

is

ciple

sacrilegii

is

dignus

Cod.

sit

Just.

{Gratiati),

Consule

Acta Proc.

quem
9,

elegerit

29,

i,

2.

the well-known

but

more

tibi.. .nulla

3.

Quod

severe.

est consultatio,

caro et sanguis

diceret stolide (noverat) hoc

dicere subdole, Aug.

.S"^;-;;;.

diabolum

309,

Certain translations seem


it

instar est

a later exposition of the prin-

earlier definitions are


"^

enim

to

5.

make

well to offer these merely grammatical

observations. /rta'c?

word.

He

In r^ i'aw
jitstum
miiri

sacrificial

burn incense.

y?/rt, 'regular, ordinary': so

iter,

[I

the

is

refuses to

anni, statura, altitudo

j.

do not know the word

cceri-

moitiari elsewhere],
* Any grave decision had to be pronounced de consilii sententia. The proconsul was bound to consult them but
not bound even by a majority of their

opinions.
^

Acta Proc.

4.

V/<r disciplina.'

...quod

Vit.

17,

sanguine ejus inciperet disci-

plina sanciri.
tyrii

'Sanguine tuo san-

So Pontius,

'

Prior in provincia mar-

primitias dedicavit,'

which

in

19

XL

THE BIRTHDAY.

He

said,

'

Your

life

503

has long been led

in

a sacrilegious

'

mode

of thought

'

large

number of persons

'

constituted yourself an antagonist to the gods of

'

to their sacred observances.

'

hallowed princes, Valerian and Gallien the Augusti, and

you have associated yourself with a very


in criminal

complicity

Nor have our

you have

Rome and

pious and most

'Valerian the most noble Csesar\ been able to recal you to


the obedience

'

of

own

their

And

ceremonial.

therefore,

'whereas you have been clearly detected^ as the instigator


'

and standard-bearer

'

own person be a

'

you have by

'

pline shall be ratified with your blood.'

in

very bad offences, you shall in your

lesson to those

'

they were present whom


'

your own associated with you.

guilt of

prepared tablet and read,

'

He

Our pleasure

is

Disci-

then took the


that

Thascius

Cyprianus be executed with the sword.'


'

Thanks be

To

the

to God,' said Cyprian.

bosom

friends

'morrow' and

revealed

who had

realized that this

was the

sentence suspended in the

this the

dream a year ago, every word of the judge seemed beyond


himself and spiritual and prophetic in the manner of Caiaphas.
It was all true
'standard-bearer' he was 'foe of the gods'
he was, and a fresh discipline of martyrdom was inaugu-

'

'

rated, consecrated.

But the Christian multitude broke out


he

expands

'sacerdotales coronas in

Africa primus imbueret,' &c.


^

gave him the

tomb

his

This passage answers Eckhel, who

says (vol. Vll. p. 427) that the

young

perator.
c.

at

in a

more human

title of Augustus, and on


Milan he was called Im-

Treb.

Poll.

Valenani Duo,

The young Valeiian was 'forma

8.

Valerian never became either Augustus

conspicuus, verecundia probabilis, eru-

Museum

ditione pro setate clarus, moribus perju-

a beautiful medallion of these

cundus,' a contrast to his half-brother

or Caesar.

there

is

But

in the British

three heads with


'

Salonina,

inscribed

Gallien.

Pietas Augustorum, Concordia Augus-

Grueber, Rotttan Medallions,

torum.'

Br. Mils.

pi.

xlvii.

of dates

255

260

names

in

Codex

4.

are

Several laws

under

Justinianus.

their

Gallienus

'Deprehensus,'

Theodos.
rit,

16,

v4c/rt /"roc.

4: Cod,

11, quicumque...audie-

deprehenderit, occupaverit.

Sdiitt.
3,

<j,

2,

26, 2, deprehenderit.

Paul,

Gaius,

198, in ipso delicto deprehendere.

THE BIRTHDAY.

504
cry,

And

'

let

us be beheaded too

was something

along with

There

him,'

And

beginning of a disturbance\

like the

the great company, whose presence had been invited,

moved

onwards with him as he left the doors, guarded by a detachment of the famous Third Legion, with its centurions and
tribunes on either side of him.

Their short march,

within the grounds of Sextus, was

still

to a level space surrounded with steep high slopes thick with


trees.

was an amphitheatre", but on a scale too large for


seeing, while below the multitude was one mass.

It

distinct

Many who

were

in

sympathy (and there were many besides

the Christians*) with the great old citizen and friend of the

had climbed into the

city

They saw the


in the

and

halt.

trees to see the end.

They saw the

and Julian the Subdeacon.

others, the Presbyter Julian

He

legionaries enclose a space

midst of which stood Cyprian with his Deacons, Pontius

undid his shoulder-clasp and took off his white woollen

cape

then at once knelt on the ground, and prostrated himself

in prayer.

When

he rose this seemed the

moment

in

which the

looked-for prophecy would be uttered.

He had

longed, and he had himself expected that his last

words on earth would be given to him from above. But now he


spoke

He

not.

quietly took off his dalmatic,

and gave

it

to his

deacons, and stood upright and silent in his long white and

We

girdled tunic of linen.


if

we did not think how

of his people.

know him very

should

his yearning

No man

imperfectly

went out to the yearning

was more capable of simple moving

speech rich with the truth he had loved, and fraught with the
significance of that hour
in that

if,

Ada

exortus
^

and

Proc.

5,

'tinmdUis

fratnim

est.

prsebeat.'

For spedaculiun

thissense of 'aseeing-place,'
Hist.

iv. I,

full

would have been no wonder

exalted frame of mind, the thoughts that gathered

Pont. Vit. 18, 'Ut-.-sublime specta-

culum

it

'...Tarentini

cf.

in

Orosius,

Romanam

clas-

sem

forte praetereuntem, j/i?c/a</i? the-

atri

prospectam, hostiliter invaserunt.'

So spedaada

is

constantly the blocks

of seats.
^

'

Personje faventes,' Pont. Vit. i^.

THE BIRTHDAY.

XI.

505

upon him had presented themselves

thick

him

to

as the ex-

pected message of God. Nothing could so perpetuate the Unity

which he had lived


the seal upon

it

for in the

now\

Church as that he should place

But nothing came to him which he

own mind, nothing

could distinguish from the working of his

which he could recognize as

He knew

that his ever)^

And

spiration.

he was

'

given him

He might

silent.

moment.

that

in

'

word would be accepted

as an in-

disappoint them

but he would not delude them for their good.

There was a delay

When

in

the

he appeared Cyprian

of the executioner-.

arrival

with his usual largeness of ideas

about money desired his friends to give him twenty-five gold

The

pieces^

bystanders

Christian

now strewn by

grass before his feet was

who

nearest with

stood

the

cloths

linen

and handkerchiefs*.

He

took a handkerchief, perhaps one of these

and covered
So

ciated

his eyes

the Martyr

Cyprian's

with

it,

Montanus re-enun-

principles,

Ruinart,

Passio Mofitani.
-

and

/V<?f. 5, is

aiirov,

/cai

due

avrbv

dweXdiHii' direK<f)d\i,crei>

kv rri (pvXaKri.

p. 506, n. 2

it

to tie the ends, but

In Senec.

the speculator

The form spiadator in


to a wrong derivation

Speculator.

.<4f^.

and began

folded

is

a'^

i6

i.

the executioner

on centurion and

At Lambsese

/r,

(infr.

speculator).

are three inscriptions

on

not found in the Inscriptions.

spcciilatores of the

Third Legion, Corp.

Livyxxxi. 24, using the word to represent

Inscrr. Latt. viii.

i.

is

hemerodrof?ios

spatium

'

mgens

nx\o die txa&titni&s

incidentally

derivation, a specula

There were

the

true

the

officer.

in

They

Au-

-phg aureus, equivalent under

gustus to the forty-sixth part of a libra

rank ^principales,' next

or 126 English grains of gold, had sunk

below centurions, who carried the dispatches very rapidly, and as alert
athletic men were also the usual executioners.

same legion rarisshnus films.

each legion ten such

to

officers of the

gives

a look-out

2603, 2890, 2989;

another, 4381, at Seriana calls one of

carried Caius' dispatches

state to the

Senate on his absurd

conquest of Britain, Suet. Calig. 44, and


brought to Vitellius the news of the

submission of the East from Syria and


Juda;a, Tac. Hist.

ii.

capacity,seeMark

vi.

73.

For the other

27, 28... (TTreKouXci-

Topa eireTa^ev ivex^V^O''-

ttiv

KeipaKrji'

by

Gallienus' time to about 70 grains

Troy, which in English money would


be about

115. Bd., so that

the fee which

Cyprian gave was nearly ^^i 5.

gave

milian

the

speculator

military suit, Ruinart, Acta Sti.

miliani
^

new

Maxi-

iii.

Acta Proc.

5,

linteamina et manu-

Manualis, not a classical word.

alia.

See

M.

Maxi-

his

The dress of Cypria7i,


manuales, p. 516.

infr.

cinicB

4,

la-

THE BIRTHDAY.

506
this
it

was not

and the two JuHans tied them, while he held


He said something to quicken the movements

easy,

to his eyes\

Then occurred

of the soldier.

a singular circumstance, missed

every rendering of the event which

in

at the good-will expressed to

such an

office,

have

him by

seen^.

Astonished

so generous a gift for

or touched with the sight of so venerable

and

unusual a figure awaiting his stroke, or moved by the sur-

rounding sympathy, or

it

may

be by a secret leaning towards

the faith, the headsman dropped his hand and could scarcely
close his trembling fingers

on the

hilt

of his broadsword.
in command of
who waited for the

Seeing him utterly unnerved the centurion


the party stepped forward, and, to those

very ripeness of the hour of

the promised

this,

a preternatural strength seemed to be

'And

of the populace was remarkable.

indeed speaks

This

way

a conventional

in

what Pontius means by

is

stroke''.

so suffered the blessed Cyprian-*.'

The demeanour
tine'

one

in his

Morrow,'

'

his

speculator

Augus'savage

of the

be the centurion.

\.o

Pontius,

slight note of correction to the Acta.

who was

Up

what happened, here again completes


the Acts, which say only 'ita beatusCy-

to this point Pontius has left out all

from the moment that Cyprian

detail

entered the 'convalHs,' because, as he


says in

ii,

c.

stmt Acta quce

referaiit.

est.'

only

it

He
is

relates clearly

known

that the

superior officer acted so as to close the

ei

ligaverunt.

texit,

sibi

qui

non

Pontius,

'

cum

potuis-

close to him, does not wish this to be

understood, as

it

might be, that Cyprian

merely placed his hand over his eyes,


while his friends put on the handkerchief,

and so says
oculis

'

it

they tied
All

these

mark

maims suas
own hands
down while

(18) 'ligatis/<?r

with the help of his

he held

if

who

sua oculos sibi

manuales ligare

diaconus

was

enough;

Julianus presbyter et Julianus sub-

manu

lacinias
set,

prianus passus

them and saw exactly

'cujusmunus
est ferrum,' and the centurion were
officers of utterly different grade and
position.
The headsman failing, his

Butherethe^fT/j-, 5,say, 'beatusCypria-

nus

close to

from slipping

it,

which he could not

little

do.

touches put together

the genuineness of the account.

Marshall, Tillemont, Rettberg, C.

Thornton, Wallis and

all

imagine the

speculator,

or 'carnifex,'

painful scene

{,Vit. i8).
See note, p.
and compare Seneca, de Ira,
i16, 'Tunc centurio, supplicio prsepositus, condere gladium speculatorem

505) " 2,

jubet.'
^

'

Clarificationis

hora matura'... con'

cesso desuper vigore,' Pont.


*

Acta Proc.

5.

Awg. Serin. 110, 2.


however is metaphorical,
^

S.

next seraion.

Vit. 18.

"

Calcabatiir''

as

it

is

in his

THE BIRTHDAY.

XI.
multitude

'

communions of

as contrasted with the

same ground.

held on that

507

But

at the

There was evident

triumph, no molestation.

they wished to gaze more closely on the

acknowledged benefactor
assured) was a deadly

enemy

And

surprise.

man who had been

and yet

to the city,

after years

time there was no

(so they

of the State, head in

all

an

were

Africa of

an unfathomable society whose unity was coextensive with


the unity of the

Empire

man who would

sooner die than

consider whether he could honour the gods.

They came and went while


the night the Christians,
lights

and

torches, with

still
*

daylight

name

Bearing the

owner or founder,

its

wax

prayer and a great triumph,' to the

cemetery of Macrobius Candidianus.


former Procurator as

Through

lasted.

unhindered S bore him with

of a

this resting-place

can scarcely have been appropriated yet by Christians.

It

lay within the beautiful region of the Mapalia, yet close to

the busy street and gate of the city proper^ and near to the
cisterns of
its

Maalka

enormous aqueduct poured

into which the

ceaseless river.

The

upon the Christian multitude assembled by


Galerius was the reverse of what he contemplated.
Their
Martyr had fallen as he resolved, among them. And he was
the

first

effect

Martyr Bishop of the Church of Carthage,

believed, of Proconsular Africa^ since

Apostolic age.

judgment between the two


1

The Proconsul could not

up the body.
officio

if

'

at

this

ix.

his

being carried to

natorum,' Digesta, 48, 24,

De

de

Corpora eorum qui

capite
damnantur cognatis ipsorum
neganda non sunt'; but Paulus says,
'Corpora animadversorum quibuslibet
petentibus ad sepulturam danda sunt.'
Ulpian adds, Nonnunquam non perniittitur maxime majestatis causa dam'

foundation in the

its

apparitors*, the Zacchseuses

he would, to give

Ulpianus, libro

proconsulis,

they

There grew on them also touches of im-

mediate likeness to Christ's Passion

time have refused,

or, as

Rossi, Bollettino, ann.


I

venture here to

i,

Ii.

3.

who
(See

p. 27.)

what

assert

think can be shewn ; see p. 509.


^

We

of

this,

if

there

have Pontius' clear statement


Vit.

17,

19,

but

was no instance

it

is

singular

in the province

during the Decian persecution.


*

This

the Acta,

touched

is

significantly

2,

'levaverunt in medioque

in

THE BIRTHDAY.

508

had climbed the

him approach, the prophecy of


the Gentile ruler like that of the High-priest.
But even such
glorying- in him was outdone by a sense of consecration in
themselves.
For years he had taught them that martyrdom
was not a mere opportunity of suffering that it consisted in
clear realization and self-devotion \
Never had he expressed
this more forcibly than since it was evident that the opportunity would be his.
The last words of his last manual were
trees to see

to this

effect

'

'

'

'

'

If

persecution

God's soldier

finds

this

in

away without attaining "martyrdom"


the faith which was ready to welcome it will not lose its
reward. The wages of God are paid in full without any
deductions for lack of opportunity. The crown is given for

'mind... and he

is

called

field-service in time of persecution

time of peace

in

who is certain of His will^'


The eyewitness who confesses like a
own heart, sorrow was stronger than joy,

it

is

'given to him

tions of

the people

'

child that, in his


treats the ejacula-

us be beheaded too

let

made

outburst, but as a solemn record

the ears of His blindfold martyr

'

as

a message to Himself com-

many

mitted to that faithful ambassador on the part of

they themselves were very martyrs

But

if

we

recollect in

how

possessed those regions,

no mere

before Christ's eyes in

in wilP.

Cynicism

short a time a frenzy of

is

that

cheap.

martyrdom

we may see little reason to doubt


made a forward bound that

that the enthusiasm of the faith

hour

little

reason to question the reality of the joy in which

after their long vigil, the Christians left

sepulchre, and went home

were

Crowned*'

posuerunt,' and

by Augustine,
^

in

in

309,

his
'

3.

Demortalitate,!-]. Vo\\\:ms>,Vit.\%,

says that the people (whose will was


ti-uly to suffer

the pagan

in

him.

somewhat rudely forced


Serin.

Cyprian

a consciousness that they too

with him) compassus est


'

at sicut ipso tractante setnper audierat,

Deo judice coronatus est.' There is

fin.

'

Pont.

Vit.

18,

'publicata

voce,

Pontius refers again to the Acta Proc


5 init-

These concluding

tius, c. 18,

here

a verbal reference to the quoted close of

Ad Fortunattitn.
Ad Forttinat.
Conscientia.'

"*

'

'

lines

of

Pon

are worth marking.

Gaudium passionis,

'

Pont. Vii. 19

compassus. .coronatus,' Pont. Vit. 18


.

ENVIRONS OF CARTHAGE

Strzn/ords Oeoffrtiphtcal Satahlithment.

Lanclon Macmillaii.
:

&

C? Lta

THE BIRTHDAY.

XI.

Where

He was

tvas Cyprian

509

Martyr buried

brought with torchlight procession^ 'ad areas Macrobii Can-

uidiani procuratoris quae sunt in via Mappaliensi juxta Piscinas.'

Tissot has translated the

are three points.

first

mean

point to

'

la

Here
maison

du procurateur Macrobe dans la cour ext^rieure de laquelle fut enterre


du martyr^.' But Areas as usual means the burial place*.' And
Macrobius could not well be the procurator at that time, because to welcome Cyprian's remains would have implied relations with Christianity
at least kindly, and for a great official dangerous, whereas during the
vacancy after Galerius' death, which immediately followed Cyprian's, the
then procurator governed the province with almost furious rigour against
'

'le corps

'

[In a proconsular or senatorial province the Procurator

the Christians^.

was over the branch of the Fiscus, and in matters of inheritance, legacies
and various Imperial dues, had concurrent jurisdiction with the Proconsul himself. We have inscriptions relating to three Procuratores
'

Africas Tractus Karthaginiensis",' as well as to other 'Tracts,' Hippo,

Hadrumetum, Theveste.]

These Arece then

which

in

Cyprian was

buried were no doubt a cemetery provided or founded by a former


procurator,

and bearing

his

name, as those

at

Rome

bore the names of

their founders.

Where were

these

ArecB?

Roman

They were

'in via Mappaliensi,' a second

would probably be outside the


city proper.
Old Carthage (wrote Cornelius Nepos) 'had the aspect of a
double city,' the 'outer town' of the Magalia 'embracing' the inner
Byrsa and precinct
But the limited space, the wall along the bay, and
point.

Provided

in

times, they

'^.

Since the text and following notes

have been in print the third Livraison

also at

Carthage Montanus desires

medio eorum

solum servari

in area

'...in

jussit

has appeared of the magnificent Atlas

ut nee sepultm-ae consortio privaretur,'

Edition

PassioSS.Montani &.c.c.xv.(VMm3,n)',

Archeologique de la
Speciale, published

Gtierre,

la

Tunisie,

by the Ministere de

with explanatory text by

E. Babelon, R. Cagnat and S. Reinach.


Feuille xiv.

is

La Marsa,

plementary chart and

with a sup-

text.

This has

not necessitated any alteration in this

work, but the plan in

this

volume

is

mainly drawn from these maps.


*

Acta Proc.

Tissot, vol.

Tertull.

praeside

p. 660.

a^iVa/.

cum de

areis

3, '...sub

'

in area

C^j/a a/?^^

De Rossi explains, ^<)//^/-

1702), p. 170.

ann.

tino,

sepulchral
^

11.

p.

''

ad

27, that casa

Ruinart,

Passio
ii.

vi.

Montani

SS.

viii.

i.

1269,

10570.

Fragm. Cornelii Nep.

^n.

et

&c.

Corp. Inscrr. Latt.


ii.

means a

cell.

Lucii, A.D. 259,

Hilariano

trarum adclamassent Areae non sint';

'

Zenophibim, ap. Dupin's Optatus (Paris,

1578,

sepulturarum nos-

were shut up

martyrum...in casa majore,

5.
I.

at Ciita people

i.

368

(see

ap. .Serviuni

Thilo and Hagen's

Servius, Leips. 1878), 'Carthago antea

THE BIRTHDAY.

Sio

the harbours must have early squeezed out the

Magalia on those

and

giving the 'aspect of a

lying mainly on the north, but

left it

still

sides

double city.' North of the double city, called Byrsa from the citadel
round which it hung, Megara, or 'The New Town,' spread to the
sea, and north to the sandy dunes between Kamart and Sidi bou
Said.
It was a vast suburb full of gardens and villas, as it still is,
the present El-Marsa, and was not merely coextensive with the
region of the Mapalia^, which bore to the latest times the native
name of the Hut-farms whose circles once covered it 2. The Via
Mappaliensis was no doubt the road or street which ran out by the west of
the Byrsa through the Mapalia. Such a road there is traversing its whole
length an antient road, with its many cross roads at exact right angles.
It was on this street in the Mapalia itself that the Arecs lay.
;

Genseric occupied a number of churches outside the wall, and partwo noble and ample basilicas of the holy martyr Cyprian, one

ticularly

'

where he shed his blood, the other where his body was buried, the place
'which is called Mappalia,' so writes Victor Vitensis^. The 'wall outside
of which' the Basilica stood was probably either the outer wall of Megara
'

speciem habuit duplicis oppidi, quasi

Garamantes' villages between OEa and

aliud alteram complecteretur, cujus in-

Leptis were so called, Tac. Hist.

Byrsa dicebatur,

pars

terior

Magalia.'

Quoted by Tissot,

v.

exterior
p. 586,

i.

as the language of Servius.


Tissot,

iv.

pp. 569, 579 ff.


Magalia is the great suburb of Car-

I.

thage, one half of Cornelius's 'double


city,' in

the fragment of Sallust ap. Serv.

on JEn.

i.

421, 'Magalia sunt circumjecta

suburbana

civitati

aedificia

'

in Plaut.

Pcen. Prolog. 86 (Magaribus)


rectly in Virg.

^Sn.

421,

i.

and

iv.

having preceded Punic Carthage.

on

Sail.

yug. 18 says

mapalia only

differs

cor-

iii.

two/'s

mon

at

native

any rate
African

which were

later.

is

Liv.

xxix.

like inverted boats,

31,
Sail.

I.e.,

then the whole kraal, 'map-

quasi cohortes rotundse sunt....'

jungitur

villa
et

It is interesting to notice that

still

Hippo

called Mappalienses in

Ep. 66

(3)

Auad Crispimim

Cala?>iensem.
^

Victor Vitensis,

Serin. 62,

17,

5.

i.

Augustine,

speaks to the people as

Mappalibiis, which refers no doubt to this

Gear.

ap. Fast,

Megara.

the farm labourers on estates near

having heard a Scripture lesson read in

of herdsmen and shepherds,

'quod in

of the quarter at Carthage through

iv.

18,

Cato

they

inaccu-

is

com-

Jiig.

palia

says

which the Via Mappaliensis ran, as it


lay both inside and outside the wall of

in

The word meant

tents,

name

gustine's time,

340, Lucan,

Festus

and can only be derived from the

rate

Kritz

from magalia

684), but mappalia with

74.

iii.

'casse Punicse,' but this

were

quantity (as above in the yEneid com-

pared with Georg.

25,

were

259, as

after Servius that

iv.

and so were the war-camps of


Tacfarinas and the Numidians, Attn.
50;

Basilica. In Sermons 311, 312 and 313,


which he preached in it, he speaks of its
'amplitude,' and of the sublimity of its
Divine altar, and says that the site of it
had been within living memory a scene of
pagan revelries with singing and dancing
'

'

The

and Serv. (cohors means

all

ex pluribus tectis con-

Bishop {/rater noster) had instituted

quiddam

fit

unum');

the

night {Serm. 311,

5).

present

the 'holy vigils' which displaced them.

THE BIRTHDAY.

5II

or the great wall which, though Carthage

was dismantled, could not

XI.
itself

be destroyed (and

not destroyed yet), which went east from Madlka to

is

Megara^ But it may have


been the wall on the west of Megara.
The third point is that the Arece were 'juxta piscinas,' that is
no doubt the immense cisterns at Maalka which are just outside that

the sea, shutting the city proper off from

The

great wall.

smaller cisterns by the sea do not

as these exactly do.

mark

fit

the other points

cannot doubt then that within a few yards we can

the site of that Basilica of Cyprian's resting-place

namely by the

Piscinae, outside the antient north wall of the Byrsa, within the Mapalia,

and on the long street which traverses it.


There is however a passage which at first
with

this

as

refusing

for

Maximilian

locality.

of

seems irreconcileable

sight

Theveste, beheaded in a.d.

Christian to serve

in

295

was buried sub

the army,

monticulo juxta Cyprianuni inartyrem secus platum'^, or in the other


Tissot thence concludes that Cyprian was

MS. of this passio, palatium.

buried not far from the Proconsular Palace^, which he elsewhere shews to

have been on the eastern slope of the Byrsa-Citadel, which was crowded
with buildings. Intramural and Christian interment in such a spot at either
date seems impossible, and that spot could not be called juxta piscinas.
This being so I think it possible that palatium in the 13th cent. MS.
was a correction, and that plattcm may represent platea77i. Near to the
Platea Nova, and near the shore, there was a third church of S. Cyprian,
the Metnoria Sancti Cypriani, in which Monica by Augustine's persuasion spent the night in which he eluded her affection and sailed for
^

Cf.

Atlas Archeol. de la Tunisie,

note on

La Marsa,

Sevtiticarmn,

The

^
first

i.

Ixxx.

C.

Cf.

/.

of

Town

is

now

no.

167 in the

Library of Avranches.

It

is

only of the 13th century.

p. 243.

Passion

Mt. S. Michel

Maximilian was

printed at the end of the Oxford

In the passage above discussed, the

Sarum

MS. had secus platum, for which

Edition of Lactantius, de Mortibus Per-

the Oxford Editors conjecture ///;/;

secutorum, i2mo. 1680, from' membranse

because Pontius says that the place was

Sarisburienses.
/(f/a:,

Mabillon,

'

tom. IV. 1685, reprints

Vet.
it

Ana-

pp. 565

ff.

arboribiis coftsitum,

or else palatium,

because the Cotton MS. of the Acta

was beheaded in

'ex codice Sarensi nuperOxonii Vulgata

Proc.

post Lactantii librum de morte perse-

agro Sexti post prcBtoritim (Lactantii de

cutorum,

V. C.

primum editum

Stephano Baluzio

quam Passionem

recudere visum est ad superiora

\_scil.

hie
in

Martyrum acta illustranda.


Ruinart, Acta Martyrum sincera, prints

tomo

it

iv.'\

*ex codice MS. Montis S. Michaelis

cum editis collato.'


The Sarum MS.
and we do not know

has disappeared,
its

date.

That of

says Cyprian

Mortibus Persecut.QyiOTa..

\()%o,^. jfiw.).

But both those expressions

refer to the

and
no indication that the Villa

place of execution, not of burial,


there

is

where Galerius was, though properly


called a /"r^/wiKW, was called /Vz/a/mw.
The late MS. Mt. S. Mich, had palatium, also Ruinart, Acta MM.
*

Tissot,

I.

660.

THE BIRTHDAY.

512

Rome^ This locality further answers the description of the place in


which Maximilian was buried, for it would be stib monticulo, namely
under the low hill on which was formed the Platea whose giant-steps
descended to the quays'-.
[Is it moreover certain that platum itself could not be used, though
Platos est latum sive planiun idem platea, gloss,
traces of it are later?
MSS. S. Andreae Avenion.' ap. Ducange^, who also gives (A.D. 1519) 'super
'

quodem

Platto dicto

petit plat site Lugduni...']

le

Where was Cyprian

tried

and

executed?

The Acta Proconsularia are explicit. On the ides of September


Cyprian was fetched from his gardens and conveyed in a chariot in
where Galerius was for his health. That day he was too ill to
Cyprian went to the house of the prificeps for the night.
Next morning a great crowd assembled ad Sexti. Cyprian was brought
up and heard by the proconsul in a certain atriiitn, and was taken in
agrutn Sexti to be executed *.
Ad Sexti, like many other place-names in Africa, as ad AtticillcB, ad
Sexti^

take the case.

ad

Casalis,

Gerinani,

ad

Lali, represents a villa of importance, or the

had grown up about it a village proper. Corresponding


to these in meaning would be such names as Vicus Aureli, Vicus
Sextus (or Sextius ?) then had been the founder
Juliani, Villa Marci.
or was the well-known owner of a villa fit to nurse a sick proconsul, and
containing at least one hall not unfit for a proconsul's hall of judgment
It had an ager or farm, in some part of
in the trial of a great citizen.
which executions could be held in the sight of a great multitude, and on
vicus which

'

which there were

many

'

trees.

Pontius had these Acts in his hands.

In the

trial

before Paternus he

says he purposely omits details because the Acts gave them


says that on the

first

on the second day

fully.

He

day Cyprian was remanded yr<?; the prcetorium, went

to the prcstorium to

be

tried,

and

left

the prcetorium

doors condemned to death".

This has led even such authorities as Tissot to look for the scene of

Aug.

^aw(/.

i.

Co7tf. V. 8.

Cf. Procop.

21, ed. Dindorf, vol.

i.

p.

B.

397.

Bede,

Martyrol.

18

Kal.

Oct.,

through a misunderstanding about ad

^ See Tissot, I.
569, and Falbe's map
and note on La Marsa, ex. in Atlas

Sexti and of reports as to Cyprian's

Archcol. de la Tunisie.

mavit sexto milliario a Carthagine juxta

'^

More

fully described in his list of

authorities.

third church, has

'martyrium consum-

mare.'
*

Pontii Vit. 15 bis, 18.

THE BIRTHDAY.

XI.

513

the trial near the PrcEtoriiim or Palathun Proconsularc which, as he

shews, stood on the steep slope of the citadel and looked towards the

But it is next to impossible that a place called ad Sexti with an


ager Sexti and a very large wood could be so situated, even if no reasons
But the error arises from imagining the word
carried it elsewhere.

ports ^

prcctorium to be so limited
quarters,' had passed into a

in

use.

At

this

common name

time prcetorium^

'head-

and
any great estate^. Pontius' word 'praetorium'
a villa 'ad Sexti,' even if the Proconsul did not
no contradiction between Pontius and the Acts.
for the residence-house

buildings, the tirbana^ of

would perfectly suit


occupy it. There is
From the house of the Princeps to ad Sexti is called iter longuni^^
which scarcely could be applied to the distance from near the Palatium
so that ad Sexti was probably a good way
to the Cisterns of Madlka
beyond that say twice as far. Again, the body was brought back
This was along the Mappalian Way, which probably was
pe7' noctein.
also his way out. Its being brought there favours the idea that 'Sextus's'
was in that wide, healthy, beautiful region, which has from immemorial
time been all gardens and villas, the present El-Marsa in which the
English Consulate lies among its gardens and trees. It seems probable
that the trial and execution were not far from that.
The sites marked
out under the auspices of the Cathedral do not claim to be and have no
They are for the convenience of functions
interest in being authentic.
and functionaries. On the spot where he fell was erected the Holy
Table of one of those Basilicas which Victor speaks of*, and it was called
Mensa Cypriani.' Augustine", while he says that everyone knew it who
knew Carthage, finds it well to explain that it had never been used by
Cyprian, but only was marked by his offering to be a place for offerings.
;

'

The dress of Cyprian.


In preparation for the death-blow he took
then the dahnatic then he stood in his linea.

off first the

He was

lacerna byrrus,

unable to fasten

the lacinice mammies.


^

Vol.

I.

Atlas Archeol.

p. 660, p. 649.

de la Tunisia does not hold with any


special identification of the ruins, note

La Marsa,

on
'^

Z??["/fjto,

ria voluptati

gentum

Speluncaenomen

Tacitus,

Ami.

cui

xlii.

50, 16, 198, Ulpian, 'praeto-

tantum deservientia

'

come

Suet. Tib.

vetus.'

torio cui

iv.

Ut

75, 'criminibus

Aug. Sertn. 310,

i.

<lebent hortos, prcetoria,

B-

in villa

Suet. Calig.

37 'in exstructionibus prcetoriorum et

Juv.

'

in prcs-

villarum.

estates in the country with buildings

of town-fashion.

'

of which

59, speaks as

vocabulum Speluncse

under the definition of urbana prcedia,


i.e.

^t)

est,'

Pontii Vit. 16.


sup. Victor Vitensis,

i.

5.

c. 2.

mensas, Ar-

35

THE BIRTHDAY.

514
Lacerna byrrus.

1.

do not know whether lacerna

junction

but there

See also Diet. Gk. and Rom. Antiquities.,

the older antiquarians.

The

occur elsewhere in con-

byrrus'^

copious illustration of each in Ducange, and in

is

s.vv.

lacerna was a man's woollen cape or short cloak, fastened on the

down the side, worn over the toga in chilly times or


and by soldiers. Too common originally for town wear; but had
largely come in, when Augustus sarcastically quoted Ronianos 7-erum
dominos gentemque togatam. As it grew fashionable it might only be
white in the theatre if the Emperor (Claudius) entered the Equites put it
Birrhus appears as synoFinally worn of all colours, and costly.
off.
nymous with more than one kind of cloak. In the Edictum Diocletiani
shoulder, open

places,

de Pretiis

Rerum

from

a.D. 301, the birrhus has a large range of price

the Laodicene, which was very expensive, to the African, which was cheap.

The name has nothing to do with

Ttvppos, and is probably barbaric. Auguswore a cheap birrhus and sold more expensive ones given to him for
Serm. 356, 13.
Sulp. Sev. Dial. i. 21 speaks of it
his community.
The lacerna was also thinner
as rigens, while the lacerna was fiuens.
(Aug. Semi. 161, 10). Ascetics disdained it in comparison with the monastic pallitcni to such an extent that the Council of Gangra anathe-

tine

matized their

was made too


cf.

costly for

monks

to

wear

(Isidor. Hispal. Reg.

Mon.

it

xii. 2,

i. 7).
In Gregory the Great's time men
baptism white, and dedicated it. The hood often attached

Jo. Cassian. de Ccenob. Instil,

put

it

on

after

to the birrhus

We

became a

'head-dress,'

and thence

birretta.

see then that Cyprian wore the unpretentious citizen's dress and

rather plain, just as Pontius

6 describes him, 'cultus...temperatus

c.

'ipse de medio. ..non superbia S3ecularis...nec


'

In the seventh

folly (Can. xii.^) in the fourth century.

et

tamen prorsus adfectata

penuria.'
2.

Dalmaiica.

Dr

R. Sinker speaks like other learned authorities of the wearing of

the dalmatic by Cyprian as an

ecclesiastical use,' and this has perhaps


something to do with a doubt ^ which he hints as to the authenticity of
the Acta Procoftsularia. The Dalmatian tunic {chiridota Dalmataruni)

...pcenulasque,

lacernas

et

'

chiro-

Mercat. pallia; Dion.

/SoXaty (Isidor.

dotas Dalmatarum... ap. Jul. Capitol.

Exig. amictu pallii)

Pertinax

iK to^tov Tr]v

and we

8,

with very similar meaning,

shall note

viamiales

is

below that lacinia

probably a similar com-

bination in the matter of dress.


2

Gangra, A.D. 358

Christ.

Antiq.

dvdpCiv

did

s.v^.

(v.

Ffoulkes,

Can.

vopx^opiv7]v

xii.

d<TKrj(TU>

^pTjipiiroiTo tQiv fjLer'

(popovvroiv,
(rw7)6elq.

Z>2V/.
et

rts

irepi-

Kat

ova-ri

xRV^c-i-)

diKaiocr6v7]v

eiXafSelai rovs p'^povi

rrj

aWrj

icrdijri

See

p. 518.

Koivrj

Kal

Kexpy]piv(i3v,

depa^crw. Labbe (Mansi),


Florent. 1759.

fat ws av

^osv Kara-

li.

iv

avd-

col. iioi,

THE BIRTHDAY.

XI.
is

among Romans

never heard of

learning about

it is

till

515

the end of the second century.

too extensive and accessible to repeat.

The

was squarely

It

good material, and being made originally of one width,


had a fringe or selvage down the joining of the edges on one side only.
The colobiott, otherwise like it, had no sleeves. The dalmatic had large
stiff sleeves as far as the elbow, which were not always sewn up under the
constructed, of

arm.

When we consider that as


who wore a dalmatic in public
Edict of Diocletian^

the

late as A.D.

222 under Elagabalus, a

man

did something outre'^, and that in A.D. 301


the prices of

fixed

all

of dalmatics

sorts

men and women,

according to their manufacture (the African were


cheap) as regular articles of wear, it is impossible to conceive that about
for

halfway between these two dates they had been adopted as solemn
ecclesiastical vestments.

Further, not

till

under Silvester

(314

I.

335),

Council of 335 (according to Roman tradition) certainly


magnified their office, was the dalmatic adopted for Deacons instead of

who

in his last

the sleeveless colobion^, but this

Two
xt,

centuries later, a.d. 513, the

was for the Seven Deacons of Rotne.


Deacons of Aries receive licence to use

petifide ac Roinance ecclesm diaconi^.

Ind.

ii.

Ep. 107) grants the use of

it

In A.D. 599 Gregory {Epp. 1. ix.


much consideration' *as a

'after

Bishop of Gap (Vapincum) and his Archdeacon, so that


it was the proper episcopal dress before Silvester
cannot be true, and the use was still connected with Rome. But when
Gregory conceded this, it must be remembered that persons like himself
and his father at any rate, who were of senatorial rank, wore it laically
(Joann .Diac. Vit. S. Greg. iv. 83, 84). Gregory's Sacramentary (ed. Bened.
vol. III. col. 65, Paris, 1705) is quoted in proof of the early liturgical use of
it, the Pope and the Seven Deacons being directed all to wear dalmatics
for the consecration of oil on the Thursday in Holy Week.'
But whatever the use may have been, these Rubrics are not part of the original^
In Spain the dalmatic had not become a clerical vestment in A.D.

new thing'
the

to the

common

idea that

'

Considering then the lay use of the dalmatic in the third century

633''.

and the Roman aspect of


question that

it

ecclesiastical use

its

Lamprid. Anton. Helagabalus,

Edictum

Diocletiani

rerum, Corp. Inscrr.

W. H.

836.

Diocletien, ^.
*

vol.
*

I.

26.

pretiis

iii.

ii.

p.

Waddington, Edit de

They

Regesta Pontifictim
I.

p. 99.

early ninth century.

They cannot be

traced earlier than the Ordo Romanjis


/.

of which Muratori has two recensions

(Lit.

Rom.

Vet.) vol. Ii.

992 and 1006,

andthe.se Rubrics represent a third.

7^0.

col. 444, Florent. 1759.

513, vol.
^

Latt.

de

See Vita SilvestriP., Labbe (Mansi)

Jaffe,

out of the

later, it is

should have been an ecclesiastical vesture in Africa in

Ordo seems
a.d. 730

s.

ann.

Vita Casarii, 4.

are not in Muratori's Vatican

MS. or in Cod. Ottoboni, both of the

to

The

have been compiled about

and describes the Roman rite


H.A.w.

of perhaps the seventh century.

C.W.
*

See Diet. Chris. Antt.

s.v.

Dalma-

tica.

332

THE BIRTHDAY.

5l6

and worn with a very long cape over it. We see again that
Cyprian in fact wore the dress of a quiet Roman gentleman.
Such questions are wholly unimportant except so far as incorrect

A,D. 258,

assertions give for any age a perverse view of

what the world


3.

how

the world looked and

felt.

Lima.

We may

take

it

no particular change between Cyprian's and

that

Augustine's time took place in

this.

Augustine speaks of the antient

and long-sleeved

idea of effeminacy attached to long

So in
was once a
crime,' says Augustine, to have tunics to the ancles and sleeved.
But
now when people of respectable birth wear tunics it is a crime not to
'have them so^.' Soldiers were very particular that they should fit the
body close. The girdle was essential to neatness out of doors, and the
tunic was shortened by being drawn up through it.
Virgil, et tunica: jnanicas et

'

habent redimicula mitres.

tunics.

'

It

'

Lacinice inanuales.

4.

Words

not elsewhere conjoined, and certainly not meaning

The

sleeve of his robe at the wrist' (Thornton).

meanings of

illustrate that successive

hemmed

on to a garment, the

dress used

among

hem

lacinice are fringed or cut

of the garment

other things to wipe the face.

The

of cloth, of skin, of land.

itself,

'

Then

me

that Apuleius ever uses the

edges

the lappet of a

of separate strips

strips,'

'

observe are particularly affected by African writers.


to

the

and hence of folds,'


-atim, -osz(s, -ose, which I should

notion of

runs through a set of words, laciniare,

'

lexicons abundantly

word simply

not at

It is

all

clear

as equivalent to vestis, as

Mamialis, or -e, is used by itself as 'a


was blindfolded he tore the nianualis
in two and said half should be kept for Flavian qiia oculi post crastitumi
ligarentur. Halves of it served the purpose as well as the whole. (Compare manipulus, which came to mean a long shaped towel or a towel
folded long and narrow.) Manuales then may be adjectival, but I should
Hildebrand and others

handkerchief.'

say.

When Montanus

rather think lacinice majmales

meant

is

constructed like lacerna

large handkerchiefs, originally of substantial

stuff,

biri'lnis^

and

it

narrow, or folded

narrow, and perhaps two of them used, one over the other.

The Soldiers and


The more we
their

who

in the Trial.

more
we can tell

press every detail in these Cyprianic documents the

truthfulness

exactly

named

Officers

stands

out.

It

is

very interesting that

these soldiers of the Proconsul were.


^

De

Doctr. Christiana,

iii.

xi, (20).

single line in a

XL

THE BIRTHDAY.

striking inscription reveals

517

{Corp. Inscrr. Latt. vill.

it

i.

2532).

On

pedestal of a column which formed part of the west gate of the

the

camp

Lambasse the Third Legion inscribed a speech which Hadrian adto them on a memorable visit.
He says the Legate has
explained to him that he may notice certain deficiencies, and has given

at

dressed
'

'

Among

'the reasons for them.'

these

is

OMNIA MIHI PRO VOBIS IPSE Dl[.l7/ quod}


COHORS ABEST QUOD OiMNIBUS ANNIS PER VICES IN OFFICIUM ^'R\pcon\
SULIS MITTITUR.

one cohort of the Third Legion from the camp at Lambaese was
attendance in annual turns on the Proconsul. If we ask why
the whole Third Legion was not under the command of the Proconsul,
the answer is in Tacitus, Hist. iv. 48.
Caligula, insanely jealous of the
then Proconsul, took away the control of it and established a Legate to
command the Legion and (as we know from elsewhere) the fortresses.
The soldiers then who appear in the narrative with their tribunes,
centurions, and the other officers so freely named belonged to that
cohort of the Third Legion which for that year was appointed to the

That

is

always

in

officium of the Proconsul.

Of

the

Massa Candida.

We

have seen how Cyprian was summoned to Utica by the Proundoubtedly with a view to his execution there. From the
different mentions of the group known by this curiosity-wakening name
of Massa Catidida it has been inferred by Tillemont as well as
others that in 258 A.D., on the i8th or 24th August^, a great number
But the accounts
of Christians were summoned thither, and martyred.
consul,

cannot be put together, or rather there are none which can be put
(i) Augustine's Enarration of Ps. 144 (or
together. The facts are these,
part of it) is a sermon preached at Utica in the Basilica of the Massa
'

He

preached Sermon 306 on the solemnity of their 'Natalis';


in Sermon 311, preached at Carthage, in the Memoria of Cyprian on his
'Birthday' (c. 10), he mentions them as Uticensis Massa Candida,' and
apparently as having been rich and poor together, but not as being

Candida 2.'

'

That he mentions them along with


In his Enarration on
in proximo quae dicitur Massa Candida'

specially connected with Cyprian.

Cyprian
Ps. 49,
^

is

merely because both

c. 9,

he speaks of

Aug. 24th,

IX.

illustrate his point.

'...sola

Kal. Sept. Uticse

SS. MM. CCC. MassiB CandidcE. Kalendar.

Ant. Eccl. Carth.; Aug. i8th

Hieron. Martyrolog.

Usuard.

24th

Ado

24th

Heading

in

Cod. Floriac. 'habitus

Utic^e in basilica Massse Candidae.'

reason to doubt
the allusions.

this,

No

which agrees with

THE BIRTHDAY.

5l8

perhaps in the neighbouring Utica), and says they were more numerous
than 'the 153 fishes' which he is expounding. He says {Serm. 306, c. 2)
they were called tnassa because of their number^, and Candida for their

{i.e.

demands a Candida conscientia in us. It is


known which he could dwell on.
sermon upon them tastelessly attributed to Augustine, but

martyr-brightness^ which

apparent that no details were

(2)

possibly of his time, speaks oi cruentus percussor,ferrum...^cervicem as

if

they were then supposed to have died by the sword^.

Of what Augustine on

(3)

know Prudentius

the spot did not

{Peri-

about the same time in Spain has full particulars. By him our
Cyprian is first confounded with Cyprian the magician, Bishop of Antioch.

steph.

3)

After being brought before the Proconsul he

is

imprisoned in chains in the

dark. His prayer so nerves the Carthaginians that 300 of them being offered
their choice

between sacrificing or being burnt

the place where Cyprian was to be executed,

in a lime-kiln,

all

open

at

flung themselves into

the kiln, and are called Candida from the whiteness of their bodies in the

lime as well as that of their souls.

Then Cyprian

is

brought before the

Proconsul and beheaded, 'rejoicing in their martyrdom.'

Thus literally there exists nothing like history. Nothing to shew at


what period or in what way the Group suffered. The argument from nonmention is of positive value here. For, if there had been such a large
self-martyrdom so early, the advocates of the Circumcellions must have
alleged it. And such is the copiousness of Augustine that we must have
known both their use of the argument and his answer.
Prudentius' tale as it stands is absurd, and where it is attempted to give
it more probability by separating it from Cyprian's execution and putting
it nearer to his exile,
the attempt, the supposition that a mass of
people could have been put to death by the Proconsul of Africa immediately after Valerian's Edict (or Rescript),
whole idea of the legislation up to this point.
It

was

entirely in the

is

a misconception of the

hope of averting such large executions that


and directed upon the leaders of

Valerian's penalties were conceived

the

new

Society.

Acta Proconsidaria.
The Acta were certainly older than the Life of Cyprian by Pontius,
who was his constant companion and was with him at his death. Pontius
quotes from them, and silently but evidently corrects two details in that
brief

document, so that added to its own accuracy of detail


document to be better accredited.

it

is

scarcely

possible for a
1

ii.

'Denumerimultitudine.' Cf. Optat.


26 ad

fin.

'massam

pcenitentiiim

facere.'
-

Rarely used of people,

Aug. Serm. Supposit. 317.

THE BIRTHDAY.

XI.

519

Pontius, c. II, says 'quid sacerdos Dei proconsule interrogante


spondent, sunt Acta quae referant.'
Pontius's expression publicata voce^
*

c.

18, is

not intelligible without

the exclamation of the people as given in Acta Procons.

The

tying of the handkerchief

account of the Acts (see Text,

So

is

pared with

Ada

5.

who

a detail

in

5 init.

which Pontius corrects the

p. 505).

also his explanation that

not the executioner

The

is

it

was the centurion

in

actually gave the death stroke.

Text,

re-

command and
(Pont. 18

com-

p. 506.)

of Cyprian which Fell gives p. 14 'ex MS. S.


non Bodleiano I.' and which Rigault (and apparently Fell)
thinks the more antient form is nothing but a piece (c. 2 4) of the longer
one with abbreviations and interpolations meant to give a more formal
appearance, so that it is best presented, as by Hartel, merely in the shape
of various readings on the genuine Acta. Pontius and Augustine, Serinni.
309, 310, and c. Gaudentium i. 31, (40) quote only from the longer one
phrases and words which have been modified in the shorter and later.
short Passion

Victoris nee

CHAPTER

XII.

AFTERMATH.

There
in

is

not only interest, there

marking how,

bright

air,

like

a cloud from

is

spiritual reassurance

Atlas floated into the

Cyprian's error disappears in the

warmth of the

Church's atmosphere.

At

Aries, where, in A.D. 314, seven or eight out of thirty-

three bishops

who

signed were Africans, the African custom

was quietly overruled.

At

Nicaea in A.D. 325 the mere enactment that Paulianists

were to be baptized shews how peaceably the enactments


of Iconium and Synnada had died, just as that of Agrippinus
had died before Cyprian revived it. The Church has never

been ruled by
collect

eternity

canons except

its

themselves from
the standard

fixed the stream sets

At Carthage

in

time

for

A.D.

it

the

349*

Men

time and formulate for

to

of the hour,

away from

brief instants.

and

soon as

as

it

is

again.

successors

of Cyprian's

bishops dispersed by acclamation the 8y reasoned fallacies


of their fathers.

And

one the suffrages given to

and love he

by
the man whose wisdom, power

afterwards Augustine refuted one

literally adored.

That there was a seed


^

in

Cone. Carth.

I.

his teaching
sub Grata.

which fanatics

AFTERMATH.

XII.

52I

could foster to a wild growth, cannot be denied, although

Augustine has shewn with what exaggerations the mistake


was urged, and what corrections he had himself supplied.
But it fell unhappily on a widespread temper, mad for laxities
in

mad

one direction,

exclusion

for

in

another,

mad

for

a ceremonial materialism in a third, and a temper charged

moreover with

political revengefulness.

This was Cyprian's unforeseen contribution to Donatism

the

of an

invalidation

subjective

imperfection

ecclesiastical

in the minister.

act

on account of

For the modern

doctrine of Intention he has no responsibility.

The

last

of that string of canons which, beginning with

those of Nicaea, was affirmed in the second canon of the

Quini-Sext Council
*

in A.D. 692,

was

'

the canon put forth

by

Cyprian, that was Archbishop of the land of the Africans and

'

Martyr, and the Synod of his time, which canon prevailed in

the places of the aforesaid prelates, and only according to the

'

custom delivered to them.'

The Greek acceptance

of this

Council might seem to commit their Church to Cyprian's


practice, unless the

practice

still

canon be interpreted as supposing the

extant and

Some

limited to Africa.

still

pretation must be found for

it

as

it

stands, for

contradiction to part of the ninety-fifth of the

it

is

interin flat

same Council,

and the usage did not prevail among the Greeks.

The canon was however turned

into Syriac, accepted

by

Syrian Churches, and became the ground on which Jacobites


rejected the baptism of the orthodox\

A strange irony that the


episcopate should be swept
Absit of their
vote,

should find

Not
even

own

and that the

successors, too impatient of


vital necessity of

its final

that

unanimous rulings of the African


away by the resounding Absit,

to speak or

lodgment with the heterodox.

human hunger

in the greater

it

baptism by the orthodox

Churches.

for exclusiveness

The

Renaudot, Liturg. OHent.

was appeased

exclusions that had been


vol.

II.

p. 292.

AFTERMATH.

522

set aside as untenable Doctrine

were revived on special pleas

The Greeks long denied

of Form.

baptism and accepted only


rebaptize

all

'

'

conditionally

'

the validity of

trine immersion.'
;

that

is,

other

all

The Romans

upon a theory dating

only from Alexander 111}, and rarely put

in practice until

the sixteenth century.

As Hero and

Saint Cyprian's personality went through

scarcely less strange experiences.

him 'almost a

local deity.'

It

Gibbon is charmed to call


was not long before every

Mediterranean sailor called the September gales Cypriana

from his

Birthday.'

'

It

was kept

at

Rome

in the

Cemetery

of Callistus long before Cornelius himself was honoured by a

commemoration with him. He was and is the one nonRoman commemorated in the Roman Canon, the one Latin
father really recognised by the world-contemning Greeks.
But this recognition was more fantastic than their ignorance.
Gregory of Nazianzus looses floods of eloquence upon him.

joint

Some

of his works he

knew

he knew particulars which he

could scarcely have derived from anything but memoirs as


personal as those of Pontius.

Yet he thought that he

was th

fered under Decius, that his chief merit

suf-

restoration

Holy Trinity and he identified


him with that Cyprian of Antioch, whose legend, a compound
of riotous fancy, pagan theurgy, and new demonology, exercised a depraving influence on the popular religion far down
into the middle ages.
Near three centuries later he had
of accurate definitions of the

appeared unto

many and

quieted the indignation of African

Catholics at his sea-side church being in the hands of the

Arians

own

eve

he would care

'

in A.D.

for himself in his

miles from Carthage, and was received

triumphal welcome.
in,

The

'

in

time.'

On

Thomas Aquinas, Siiinma

Thcol. P.

III.

his

Vandals ten

the city with a

Christians,' Procopius relates,

lighted the already prepared lamps,


^

own

533 Belisarius overthrew the

came

and celebrated the


Q.

Ixvi. art. 9.

AFTERMATH.

XII.

day

in the

523

sanctuary which the Arian priests had splendidly

arrayed for the festival \

To

own contemporaries he seemed for a time scarcely


The faces of confessors and martyrs

his

to have quitted them.

beamed with the remembrance that they had been Cyprian's


disciples".
Almost his very words rose to their lips as at the

moment they spoke of


commended her discipline to

the sufferings of the Church or

last

One

their survivors^

questions

dream 'whether it is pain to die*?' Another


after torture saw him sitting by the Judge, helping him
mount the steps to his side, and then giving him water from
a fountain^ That he spoke as the oracles of God, that he
was essentially a Ruler, essentially a Comforter nothing
Cyprian

in his

could better express the intense reverence for Cyprian than


these three martyr-thoughts.

Nor

is

anything

lost

if

we bring

high-wrought

that

emotional view into comparison with the practical analytic

measure of the man.


ideas.

He

Christian

men

Cyprian was possessed by two overmastering


burned to make them

live

and breathe

for

He did more than any man to house them in


and
polity
of the world. The ideas were to each other
the
To him they were one fact, one truth.
as soul and body.
as for himself
life

One was

the vital principle, the other was the organism of

Christendom.
I.

He was

certain that

human

nature (in which Thucy-

dides himself perhaps thought that wickedness was not a

permanent, necessary ingredient) could be changed, could be


perfectly remoulded.
civilization
falsities'
^

He was convinced

taken the wrong bent

of religion but

Procop. de Bello Vand.

i.

Id. xiv.

that

20, 21.

it

had

Id. xxi.

Fassio SS.

'

superb

institutions

Jacobi

alioriim., vi.
^

Roman

in

that not only the

many contemporary

See Appendix on S. Cyprian^ s Day.


- Passio SS. Motitani et Lucii, xiii.
=*

Aug. Serm. 312,

5.

et

which

Mariani

et

AFTERMATH.

524

were the

life

of society were working powerfully for degrada-

He was

and destruction.

tion

God had marked another


powers

offered

sufficient to

to another end.

assured to demonstration that

provided other institutions,

line,

conduct nature along another road

had been revealed that the individual

It

could be enabled to assume and justify his true place


creation, his true dignity,

This fact realized was enough to dethrone


renovate society.

thought, to

in

which was that of the 'Sons of God.'


In

self,

view

this

to transform

suffering

all

became probation, death often a duty, always a triumph.


Every virtue of the world must be born again and live a
His Ctistodi puellas was felt, strange as that
resurrection-life.
now seems, to be the utterance of a new protective influence,^
a new kind of shepherding.' A plague city need be no more
the hell that it had ever been. Perfect altruism would perfect
'

the world.

These were no dreams.


mental

He had

facts.

in his

They were
own person

established experitested the

the 'illumination,' the 'inundation' of grace.

consciousness he had ascertained what

water and the

it

was

power of

In his

own

to be born of

Multitudes drank from the Chalice of

Spirit.

the Lord a strength without which no

man

could be expected

to stand.
It

II.

place

was no cloud-land,

The New City had

begun.
'

this lofty spiritual future.


'

descended.'

tinguished from

'

by

common

ones and from the rest of the world

peculiar religious institutions

'instruction

and an

'

The very

notion of

'

visibility
It

was

the settlement of a Visible Church, of a society dis-

'

'

It

There had taken

instituted
it

by an

instituted

form of external

method of
religion...^

implied positive institutions, for the

of the Church consisted in them.'

was mere

'

why

'

others V and

idle

wantonness to

insist

upon knowing

such particular (institutions) were fixed upon rather than

among
^

those which offered no justification for

'Q^iiXsx^i

Analogy, Part

ii.

i.

i.

AFTERMATH.

XII.

525

themselves, but simply lay there in evidence, in a universal


sort of

way, with the uniformity and with the variety of the

phenomena

of nature, was the institute of the Overseership, the

When

episcopacy, of the Church.

and placed himself under


either

when

ciliar

action.

'

commons

'

it,

Cyprian became a Christian

authority was no

its

new

object,

vesting in the individual or in the union of con-

The

by the communicant

individual, elected

of Christ's Church, was their representative as

was the representative of the commons


of Rome. But he was no Bishop until he had received the
office through bishops by transmission from regions and
times in which (as Bp. Lightfoot clearly shewed in his extruly as the Tribune

tremely cautious and discriminating essay)


*

'

its

prevalence

maturer forms cannot be dissociated from their (the

in its

He was

'Apostles') influence or their sanction \'

No

Offerer, Teacher, Judge.

one

fulfilled

Baptizer,

any of these func-

tions but as his delegate with no further right of transmission,

no power to confer even the humblest Orders.

The

Office carried the thoughts of

men

(whether con-

sciously or not) back to the Origines of the three


principles of constitutional

governments

the power of the Aristoi, to Hierarchy

Up

to this point

And

received.

no novel

we

to

Democracy, to

Levitic or

are dealing only with

ruling

earlier.

what Cyprian

Cyprian made no fresh invention, introduced

action, modified

Yet he did more than

no method.

any man.

Far more than Hildebrand with

investiture

and celibacy.

his inventions of

was not that he summoned

It

Councils and set them to solve Church-problems.

had met before and determined questions.


they had worked

But so

Councils
to speak

in the dark.

Cyprian formulated the 'Theory,' as Brahe, Copernicus


or
'

Newton gave

constructed the

ception upon the


^

'The Christian

the 'Theory' of the

Hypothesis
facts.'

The

'

he

'

Solar System.

He

superinduced the con-

conception was that the one

Ministry,' Lightfoot's Ep. to the Philippians, p. 226.

AFTERMATH.

526

undivided episcopate constituted not the authority only, but

Then that followed which follows


The conception is a secret, which, once

the unity of the Church.

always

in science.

'

'

uttered, cannot be recalled, even

'

those to

whom

it is

imparted.

though

As soon

be despised by

it

as the leading term

new theory has been pronounced and understood, all the


phenomena change their aspect. There is a standard to
'which we cannot help referring them\'
of a

'

Why

Cyprian never formulated his seemingly serious and

palpable purpose of consulting the laity more sedulously, and

what would have been the effect of so doing is hard to say,


but what he did leave, his leading term, his standard, remains.

And

now, whatever exceptions

trations, his analogies, his

tions

may

be taken to his

illus-

assert themselves in practice, whatever safeguards

or subsidiaries

may

be required

whatever encroachments
tions

may

interpretings, whatever qualifica-

endangered the

may have

to

preserve equilibrium,

whatever corrup-

limited,

institution, still

that

is

the

'

Theory

which underlies Christendom to-day.

much

of Europe

was overridden by a usurpation


which secular events favoured and no scruples impeded, the
usurpation by the principal see of a monarchical, autocratic
In

it

attitude toward the episcopate, obliterating

it

except in name,

only multiplying phantom names when votes are required.


In North-west Europe intense reaction threw up in some
of

its

countries a counter system which, for the

deliberately dispensed with the Episcopate

a risky asseveration that Episcopacy


itself,

that

it

amply

is

time,

not necessary even to

resides in Presbytery.

suaded that there was no Apostolic survival


successive varieties of

first

a hardy venture,

management have

But, once perin the

Church,

successfully dotted

the globe with truncate communities, generating Ministries


for

themselves spontaneously, energetic, expansive, sincere.

Some
1

of them have sought a Unity in their

See Whewell's Philosophy of the Inductive

common

Sciences, vol.

ii.

repulsion.

pp. 59, 50, 53.

AFTERMATH.

XII.

We

are not

now

bility of doctrine

52/

to enquire whether in either case insta-

has had any connexion with the subversion

of the primitive preservative organization.

In

the later

instance there are not wanting voices of anxiety, either from

who

within or from those without

mysteries of the

faith,

which

was the

it

them unloved,

love

even that Didache, that Doctrina, that

'

first

Instruction

lest

in the

'

object of Primitive

Institutions to secure, should tremble unsafely or slide

upon

the down-grade.

But

in either case

where should either that Usurpation or

Revolution look for historic justification

this

Where but

to

the age in which the conception of a united Christendom was

formulated

all

to

Yet on the one hand the mind of Cyprian, dwelling on


the phenomena which were to be co-ordinated, was found
have been such a blank on that one central point of

Roman

supremacy that a determined and sustained attempt had

made

to remodel his language.

The

and yet Cyprian remains a hopeless


extract

is

authorities

had

be

to

their will,

Even the glozed


Or let

difficulty.

inadequate without glozing comments.

the supposed teaching be tested by the conduct which

formed.
at

If

least

Church

Cyprian meant

Roman Unity

the next succeeding stage of the history of the

which was

Carthage,

of

devoted

to

him,

have exhibited some approximation to that form of


its first

by the dropping of

his

The

must

unity,

was the removal of a barrier


obstinate opinion.
But what was the

especially as one of

fact

acts

great scholar and

critic

whose erudition and

Roman Communion of to-day shall


own words, By the end of the fourth century

accuracy adorn the


us in his

it

then

in principle,

'Africans were already organized, and formed around

tell

the
the

Bishop of Carthage a close serried phalanx {faisceau tresserre).

'Carthage was scarcely

On

less

autonomous than Alexandria^'

the other hand, whither should the extreme reactionaries


^

M. I'Abbe Duchesne,

Pastes ^piscopaux,

I.

p. 91.

AFTERMATH.

528

same times of Cyprian

turn but to the

earliest expression given to their views, if

order to find

in

Cyprian was really

was a creation of his mind,


phenomena
upon
which
did not correspond to
fitted
violently
it, where should we find the protest and the contradictory
phenomena but as the readiest armature of the strong parties
which so long opposed him? The ecclesiastical circumstances,
innovating

If Cyprian's theory

the action of his contemporaries, must have yielded


refutation of his postulates.

And we

the rock.

find

some

Step by step we have explored

may

no ledge whereon

lie

the very

egg of a presbyteral fancy.


Cyprian and his times were as innocent of presbyterian

and

of

congregational,

as

they

were

papal

of

catholi-

city.

We
as

it

saw that

in the first

then subsisted, the strongest threads of primitive consti-

tutions were singularly

how

order of the Christian Ministry,

woven

together.

strong that leadership was, though

and believed that

commons might

if

The Empire felt


knew not why,

it

only this were eradicated the Christian

As

safely be left their ailtus.

time went on

was perceived that the Imperial magistracy was powerless


against a jurisdiction which rested on moral and spiritual

it

convictions in conflict with which

its

own

material sanctions

were utterly despised.


If that perception

had not been taken up and acted on,

the Christian Ministry would have remained a magistracy to


this day,

always either dominant or persecuted.

was impossible.
justice

Then,

and
all

all its

Alliance with the Imperial


lawfulness,

The prospect

rule,

with

became an impending

all its

necessity.

history would predict that alliance with the State

could not become an accomplished fact without a practical


outburst and shock of worldliness probably of a

So

it

was.

But the worldliness was

alliance, whose strength was its


Reform would henceforth be the salt of every age.

and motive of the

terrific sort.

a violence to the principle


purity,

and

AFTERMATH.

XII.

529

But the maintenance of a position unallied with the State


and outside

independent, indifferent, unaggressive, would

it,

have involved a

faithless worldliness inaccessible to reform,

*The external bonds may be severed

for

Bp. Lightfoot, 'but the State cannot liberate


'influence of the Church, nor the

'the State.... Where there

Indifference

'collision.

'there can be

no

earliest

Christianity and

leave

cry,

and

'

impossible, and without indifference

Quid

It is

\'

christianis

'

cum

regibus"^^

sectarianism.

gives up the

one of the world's

leavened.

Church from the influence of

earthliest real
it

from the

not an alliance there must be a

is

strict neutrality

The Donatist
the

is

says

time,'

itself

world.

It

gives

content to

It is

measures of meal

three

was
up
un-

'

content that States should have no profession

of the Truth of Christ.


perish without ever

The kingdoms

of this world must

becoming the kingdom of God and of

His Christ.
It gives

powers

up

in the

Christianity.

For

confesses that there are

it

world which Christianity cannot and dare not

deal with, gates of hell which must be

left

to prevail.

For the development of the two overmastering ideas

in

which he dwelt Cyprian possessed marvellous qualifications


of character, of trained literary power, of position.

The

character which endeared

him

to

the

laity,

and

which excited warmer and more affectionate feeling than that


of any leader in the antient Church, has been noted again

and again

in these pages.

Exact habits of business

suiting a lively innate courtesy

kept every authority informed of

He was

facts.

ready to

discuss doubts and differences with every earnest and capable

The

enquirer.

generosity possible only to a wealthy

denuded himself of
like

God

in
1

B.

nature

'

man

limits

of his wealth until he had

his estates.

His passion was to work

was not curbed by the


for

good and

Historical Essays, p. 38.

for

bad
^

'

alike.
Optat.

i.

In political
11.

34

AFTERMATH.

530

and party

within the Church he had a singular power of

life

In deaHng with

self-recal.

the pretentious

'

the

martyrs,'

puritans and the lapsed, he was in each instance on the edge

of going too

In each he recovered himself with dignity

far.

At
his charity.
when and where he would

and carried the Church along with him by


calm settling

last the

for himself

not be martyred, and where he would, and his silence in the


last

hour when

he and

all

expected a Divine utterance

through him, help us to realize that grave and sweet serenity

which

his contemporaries

thought that his manners, his

face,

his very dress betokened.

His trained literary power appeared

not

only

his

in

sympathetic approaches, his marshalling of arguments weak


or strong, his antithetic point, his rising periods, but in the
variety of topics in ethics, doctrine, policy which are grasped

and handled by him so

We

said

lightly, yet so definitely.

we might not

find in

him one of the well-springs

Yet Jerome, that profound and exact


considers that he was not a great commentator, only

of scientific theology.
critic,

because he was
so

many

in incessant conflict

different situations.

with the practicalities of

The inexhaustible memory

of

and adaptations of

its

language, were to his contemporaries admirable, and to

us

Scripture,

the

prolific

would be incredible

if

illustrations

Of

they were not actual.

course he

contributed to the misleading pile of verbal and mechanical


discoveries of symbol.

Donatists that, as

It

was almost as true of him as of the

Optatus says, they saw Baptism

mention of water.

But were

all

in

every

those fancies cut away, his

argument would seldom disappear.

And

it

was impossible

that this error of judgment should not be committed largely

when

it

first

began

and words was

As

to theology

all

to

dawn on men

that the world of things

a temporary expression

itself, it

of the eternal.

must not be forgotten that the simple

yet learned straightforwardness of his interpretations


for

Augustine a very mine

Separatists as they arose.

of testimonies

against

made
later

AFTERMATH.

XII.

531

of his eloquence, 'the calm fountain-

The equable grace


like flow,'

which the same great judge marks as

istic style,

almost impedes the recognition of his genius.

He was

we

so thoroughly what

call

his character-

a scholar that he

edited for Christians a phraseological lexicon of Cicero

His

diction

unworthy

not

is

of antiquity

classical writers

to

be

and

easier

to

had lodging

and that not because

the

who had

stronger than any

come between him and them, purer and


contemporary

beside

read

clearer than

any

were simpler

his ideas

but because no sort of affectation

render,

in his soul.

He

what he had not found, a

left

language which Divinity could use as a

facile, finely

tempered,

unbreakable instrument.

When

Tertullian began to write Theological Latin had to

His

be formed.

unhesitating, creative genius

free,

hewed a new language out of

Out of

a fresh-opened quarry.

It

stands like the masses of

Cyprian wrought shapely

it

columns, cornices, capitals in perfect

Eocene record opening

phrase.

finish.

It

gifts,

like the

more artiAgain he had

the breathing of

life

dead or languid

into

tongue sat on his brow as on Tertullian's,

fiery

but of a purer, tenderer radiance.

The lamp which

learnt of him.

was

into the Pleiocene with

and forecasts of more to come.

culate forms

that gift of

and African

classical literature

renderings of Hellenistic Greek.

rough-

race have received

is

Every Christian Church has


all

runners in the sacred

that which Tertullian

lit

and Cyprian

trimmed.

These

came

gifts

of character and of genius met in a

to Christ from a

anything

modern

in

and wealthy

life

foremost

man among

to

the great

rhetoricians.

They had

the most refined and varied

times, experiences of
tions were

man who

Pagan position not very analogous

won

life

in

culture of their

every condition.

Their reputa-

before the generals as well as the lawyers


^

V. Hartel's Prafatio, pp. Ixviii, Ixix.

342

AFTERMATH.

532

of the Empire, and before the whole populace.

Their leaders

were at home with Proconsuls and Emperors.

For the devotion of

his gifts,

to the

work and

Christ,

Carthage offered a

because

it

was

life

once

at

split into classes

People as they grew

fairer, larger

less

hopelessly-

continued, until at last the mis-

it

and the degradation of a capital

races

daily reflooded with fresh

in

than Rome,

field

and

less officialized

and so

management of subject

acquirements and position

New

of the

tides

of vice, threw open every

door to the barbarian.

Of

his

the greatest was

great gifts

Charity was no purple patching.


sent

for

the

is

His

Charity.

In the letters which are

purpose of keeping authorities

business-like

informed there

his

always visible the affectionate desire that

affairs.
That on the other
was no mere good nature, appears by the vigour
with which he can chastise. A quiet amusement lies sup-

they should be in the heart of

hand

it

pressed below the encouragement which he gives to Cornelius


in

nervousness about

his

byters, declining to think


tality

which

his

letter of the

dignity with

Roman

pres-

can be genuine, and the immor-

it

sarcasm and indignation have conferred on

Florentius Puppianus,
his

The

Felicissimus.

which he returns the presuming

make

was charity with a

it

will.

plain that,

He was

if

he was charitable,

regarded as a special

So Augustine \ 'Praise be to
Him Glory to Him who made this man what he was, to
set forth before His Church the greatness of the evils with

manifestation of that Grace.


'

'

'

which Charity was to do

battle,

and the greatness of the

'goodnesses over which Charity was to have precedence,


'

and the worthlessness of the Charity of any Christian,

'

who would

'

'spare the
*

not keep the Unity of Christ.

Unity was so dear as to make him

A man

as

bad, and
free

in
^

To him

that

for very charity not

yet for peace' sake endure the bad.

expressing what

Aug.

he

Serfn. 312, 6 et passim.

felt

himself,

as

AFTERMATH.

XII.
'

he was patient

533

what he knew

in listening to

his brethren

'felt.'

But when we try to estimate the working of that Charity


of his on the great scale the incongruous puzzle seems at

first

same man who so evolved and so used the


Theory of Unity should have been the man who afterwards
went so near to breaking up, by an opinion, the unity that
to be that the

then was.

But indeed

was an actual
'

in the

For certain

Unity.'

way

test of the
it

of providence that doctrine of his

that,

is

and durableness of

stability

however uncatholic that one

Roman

opinion was, however uncatholic the

tone concerning

fullest

Bishop

in his

Cyprian was never parted from the very

Communion

heart of the

was the

it,

his

of Saints in Christendom.

This

example possible of that great truth which

word and conduct he enunciated

'
:

in

That Christian men must

'be able to differ in opinions without forfeiting or withholding

'from each other the rights of intercommunion

\'

Wearied and weakened by separations of which the


the

as between those

who triumph and

those

who

the spirit of Christendom has feebly begun

Reunion

in

some form,

are defeated,
to

is

yearn for

to recognize that a fractured force

cannot complete the conquest of Heathendom.

Church

guilt,

and even the suffering can never be truly apportioned

loss,

Yet each

rightly aghast at the thought of purchasing

Unity

at the cost of Truth.

Cyprian does not recommend such barter to his

'

most

loved colleagues.'

What Cyprian meant

is

summed by Augustine and

rounded into one exact and perfect phrase.


muniojiis diversa sentire.
are
^

not

Communions.

Aug. de Bapt.

c.

Donat. vi.

vii. lo.

Salvo jure communionis diversa sentire.

The

Salvo jure com-

He means that Schools of Thought


He means that the Apostleship

actual words are gathered from

Cyprian

Ep.

proain, Ep. 68,

through

all

72.
fin.

Cyprian.

The

Sentt.
spirit

Epp.

breathes

AFTERMATH.

534

and

the

Creed

Apostolic

are

He means

enough.

that

a world of

harmony of mankind, in a world which


Beginnings, never will be a harmony intellectual or metais

the

physical, but that

may

it

even now be a harmony spiritual

and sacramental.
Such Unity as the Lord prayed
thing.

It is

no fantasy, but

for

answers

it

in

mysterious

is

no way to the idea

that 'one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism' can be condensed


into one

one Code, one Chair.

Rite,

mysterious thing.

Nothing formal, mechanical, or limitable by words.

That

is

evident in His very comparison and apposition of that Unity

the

to

No

relations

which subsist within the Holiest Trinity.

embrace these

intellectual expression can

relations

so

neither can intellectual Articles of Faith express that Unity

which

He

Nothing can reach


and

by likening it to those Divine relations.


but some mystery, compact of visible

defines only

spiritual

it

nothing but a Sacrament.

A true Unity has to take account equally of Christ's Prayer


and of

Christ's

Laws

He

offered over

Laws which

Himself, our

of the Prayer which

the sacrifice of Himself, and of the

Creator, impressed on the intellectual existence of our race.

One

centre

we

have, but the approaches to

the radii of thought, are


In that saying
'jus coimminiofiis'
'

divers a

lies

it

from without,

infinite.

enfolded the germ of Christ's Prayer

and

the

germ of

Christ's natural

Law

sett tire!

The Church which masters

that saying, which roots

it

as

the principle of the thought which itself cherishes and encourages, which fructifies
that

Church was and

is

it

in the action that itself enterprises,

the Church of the Future.

APPENDICES.

537

APPENDIX
Principalis Ecclesia.

A.

Note on the meaning of

Principalis (p, 192).

It

is

matter of grief when one finds a scholar like Duchesne led by the

logic of his position to iTZXi^^lo. principalis ecclesia

{Origines Chretiennes, vol.

II. c.

'

souveraine'

I'^glise

xxiv., sect. 6, pp. 427, 436).

Postponing the question whether the priticipalitas originated in the


Urbs {Civiias) or the Ecclesia, with other questions not belonging to the
plan of this book, we should do well to learn accurately first what the
word principalis meant to Romans under the Empire.
The word is irom princeps, the ordinary title of the Emperor in daily
use, and mediaeval or later students may be excused for vaguely concluding that it held in it all that was imperial and dominating, the highest
idea of authority on earth. But why was it the title of the Emperor? and
what notion did it convey to the Roman world 1 Constitutional and
philological research leave no doubt on these questions.

The theory of the Roman Emperor was that all his powers were conupon him by virtue of the separate republican offices with which

ferred

after his nomination he was invested, at first each by itself, but afterwards
by one statute {Journal of Philology, xvil. p. 45). This mass of powers
was conferred on a person who bore the most unpretending constitutional
title, 'a title of courtesy pure and simple' {Diet. Gk. and R. Antf. v. ll.
p. 483^).

The Republic
civitatis or
'

'

and of placing
^

itself

had been familiar with the idea of a pj-inceps

pre-eminent single
at the

In these two paragraphs

ferred to

citizen,'

make no statement

have pre-

of

my own

but to define the princeps solely from


Professor

H. Pslham's learned and com-

prehensive papers, written without any


ecclesiastical reference,

'

the foremost

man

of the state,'

head of the Republican system a constitutional

viz.,

'Princeps

abbreviated from, or in any


senting

the latter)

lology, viii. pp.

323

ff.

'On some

dis-

perium" of Augustus and

his succes-

sors,' ibid. xvii. pp.

'Princeps,'

27

Dictionary of Gk. and

former was an independent

ed. vol.

not

repre-

puted points connected with the "im-

or Princeps Senaius' (proving that the


title

way

Journal of Phi-

II.

pp. 483

ff.

ff.

Pom. Antt. 3rd

APPENDIX

538

as

A.

means of securing administrative


of Phil. viil. p. 329). 'The significance of the term as accorded by popular consent to Augustus and
'his successors was the same.' And still in the time of Ulpian, 'The
'

primate

citizen

first

the best

and Republican freedom'

'stability

(/.

'

princeps was only a citizen invested by senate and people with certain

'The

'powers.'
'

prerogative.'

'

title

did not connote the tenure of any special office or

implied not only a general pre-eminence as distinct

It

pre-eminence among
opposed to despotic rule (Tac. Hist. iv. 3, ...Ceterum ut
'princeps loquebatur, civilia de se, de republica egregia. Plin. Paneg.
It involved an ex55, sedem obtinet principis ne sit domino locus).'
plicit recognition of the continued existence of a free commonwealth.'
The
The position was created only for each princeps for his life.'
'

from a

specific official function, but a constitutional

'free citizens as

'

'

'

'

'

'principate

died with the princeps' {Diet.

Gk. atid R. Antt.

v.

ll.

pp. 484, 485)-

The term principalis


make plain

possible to

ecclesia, fiyenoviKi],

to

was the best and most exact

constitutional subjects

the

Roman

of the

Empire what was the position claimed by the Roman Church among
Churches. First and highest in a great Republic of Churches, securing
administrative unity and freedom, possessing a general pre-eminence as
distinct

from a special function, a constitutional pre-eminence as opposed

to despotic rule.

That was the meaning of


lawyer or

citizen.

'

included, implied or allowed in


to be separately

Roman

any

pri/icipalitas, principatus to

Ruling power' is exactly what was 7tot


the term.
All iinperium ox potestas had

Sovereignty,'

'

and solemnly conferred.

So long as the public

they had the conferring of each high authority as so

many

felt

offices,

that

while

who held the many offices nothing but priticeps, the


name enabled them to believe that they were a republic,

they called the one


first citizen, this

not a monarchy.

In the case

of the See

rogatives of which the

its

principatus was undoubted.

sum was autocracy were never

The

pre-

conferred on

it,

and at first not only not claimed, but repudiated by it. The assumption
of them came later, but with that assumption came wide and deep disregard for the principatus

itself.

Let us add some illustrations of the true sense. Princeps Sejiatus


was a well-known position in Rome. At no time did it imply power or
authority

simply 'the privilege of delivering his sententia before the rest

of the assembled Fathers.'

Eqtntes,

had not a

The Princeps

Juventntis.,

first

of the

tinge of authority.

In Africa itself the Principales were a rank to which Sovereignty


by no means appertained. They are mentioned after Decuriones and
before Cives (probably because they had no special jurisdiction) in an
inscription from Sitifis (C/.Z. vili. i. nn. 14, 4224; ii. n. 8480). Augustine

PRINCIPALIS ECCLESIA.
Ep.

commends

139, 4,

539

Marcellinus 'our son' Ruffinus as Cirtensis

to

Principalis^.

Augustine in his Epistle 43 to Glorius, Eleusius...Iays much stress


on the principate of the Church of Rome, '...Romanae ecclesiae in qua
semper apostohcae cathedrae viguit principatus' {s. 7), and urges the
Donatists to submit to the judgment of Pope Melchiades and his colleague Bishops given on appeal at Rome {s. 14). Then he points out that,
supposing that Roman judgment to be wrong, there was still an appeal to
a General Council, which might reconsider and reverse the judgment

Pope and Bishops. 'Ecce putemus illos episcopos, qui Romae


non bonos judices fuisse restabat adhuc plenarium universae

of the

judicarunt,

'

'

Ecclesiae concilium, ubi etiam

'ut

si

That

male judicasse convicti

cum

essent,

causa posset

ipsis judicibus

eorum

agitari,

sententiae solverentur'

distinctly expresses the nature of the principatus.

{s. 19).

was exactly not

It

was the respect

to be paid to them.
has to determine the purely abstract
metaphysical question of whether the anirna or the animtts in man has to
TjyenoviKov, principalitas ubi sit? quid cui prcsest? 'where resides the
'

sovereign

'

in its decisions, great as

TertuUian, de Anitna,

principalitas ? which

cc. 13

15,

over which

is

He

?'

renders rb riyefioviKov hy prin-

being the equivalent for princeps.


He decides of course that the principa/c is in the anima, of which the
animus with its senses and operations is in one view a function officium,'
Next he proceeds
in another its furniture or apparatus instrumentum.'

cipal, the only possible term,

rj-yeficov

'

'

to enquire in

what recess of the body the principale has


'

'

its

shrine,

'

esse

consecratum.'

There

is

no analogy drawn or resemblance existent between the

metaphysical relations

most abstract discussion and the practical


and no one would pretend that the

in this

relations of political or civil ranks,

Church

is in

of a See.

The meaning

What

any sense a

function,' or

No

'

definition of principalis

word

of the

is

assumed

to

the apparatus
sought or given by TertuUian.

the furniture,' or
is

'

be known by any Roman reader.


is the pre-eminent place of the

here supposed to be ascertained

is

anima. It is simply shewn that the principale, the foremost, chiefest,


pre-eminent rank, belongs to the anima.
This however is the passage of which the Rev. L. Rivington writes
{Primitive Church and See of Peter, 1894, p. 58), 'Since Irenaeus wrote
'those words about

Rome, TertuUian

'as meaning "that which

[Cf. C. I. L. vol. v.

is

ii.

n.

viro innocent! principali civitatis.


IX. nn. -259, 1540, 1683.
7, 16, 41

in

some

belonging

often

to

it

had defined the word

Apuleius, in Africa, in this century,


is

similarly used

god

Serapis,

42,

and

viii.

(175)

like a

rank

case

decurion.

In

seems
a

7786,

vol.

In Cod. yustin.

10, 32 (31), 33, 40,

inscriptions,

{de Anifn. 13)

over anything" as the soul presides over and

is

men and

Metatnorph.
Florid,

there

sovereignty.]

of

iv.

trace

xi.

it

of the
{-261),

21.

In

no

of

rule

or

APPENDIX

540

A.

There is (as I have said) no attempt to define^ the


and application of quid cui prceest is too shocking there is

rules the body.'

translation

not a trace of the illustration of soul ruling body.

As

to 'those

words of Irenasus'

Hares,

c.

iii.

3,

observes that 'this expression "principal Church" and

lent occurring
little slip

in S.

2,

Mr

Rivington

Greek equivaIrenaeus... means the ruling Church.'


There is a
its

here, as the passage of Irenasus does not exist in Greek, but the

potentior principalitas which he assigns to the Church, not the Bishop, of

Rome, means of course what


3 calls ^ irpoa-Taa-ia

xvii.

it

ttjs

means everywhere.

r]yep.ovias,

It

means what Strabo

the precedence, the presidency,

the pre-eminence belonging to the position of princeps.

we have

What

this

was

seen.

Principatiis, principnlitas embodied the tradition and the hope of


Rome. They expected to maintain the idea of undisputed pre-eminence
and to exclude inherent autocracy, making all authority and jurisdiction
They exto be only the exercise of various offices specially conferred.
pected.
So did the Christians.
^

When Tertullian

de Prcescriptioiii-

bus Haretic. 3 1 claims principalitas for

Truth

as

against

Heresy,

equally well be said to have

he
'

might

defined

the
'

word

as

meaning 'priority in

time,'

sed ab excessu revertar ad principali-

tatem veritatis et posteritatem mendacitatis.'

541

APPENDIX

B.

Additional note on Libelli (pp. 8i

84).

The account of the Libelli, pp. 81 84, was constructed many years ago
from the various extant references to them. We little thought then to find
such actual documents extant after sixteen centuries and a half But in
1893 3.nd 1894 there appeared two, one in the Brugsch Collection of the
Berlin Museum, the other in that of the Archduke Rainer, brought from
the province of Faioum, S.W. of Cairo. The former is a papyius leaf,
about 8 inches by 3, much damaged but most skilfully deciphered by Dr
Krebs,
it

who acknowledges Dr Harnack's

learned assistance in illustrating

the fragments of the other have been skilfully pieced together by Prof.

K. Wessely^

These documents give us a sharpened sense of the suppression planned


by Decius a policy of Thorough,' an application of the great Roman
administrative forces to any and every individual in the Empire. The
scheme extends formally to little villages (Euseb. H. E. vi. 42, i), and takes
in country folks outside them, and their wives. The form in Africa is not
The date, we shall see, is of
likely to have differed from that in Egypt.

the year

we

'

are describing.

had concluded

formerly'^ that besides the process of Registration

there were two kinds of libelli or certificates of sacrifice, one an allowed


protest or declaration of innocence put in {traditiis)

by the person accused

him {acceptus) from the


magistrate that he was satisfied of his paganism. Our second papyrus
might have seemed one of the former sort, if it had stood alone, and our
of Christianity, the other a certificate received by

But their being in dupliand their both praying


for attestation, shews that what I thought might be different documents
were combined in each libellus, the two parts being what was conjectured.
first

a similar one, attested by the magistrate.

cate, except for the personal particulars filled in,

The former

trated with

Krebs

is

described and

illus-

by Dr

Fritz

a facsimile

in the Sitzungsherichte d. Kdngl.

Preuss. Akadetnie d. IVissenschaften zu

Berlin, 1893, 30 Nov.,

xlviii. p.

1007;

The

second

A. Harnack

zeitung, Leipzig, 17

Dr A. Harnack, and one


by the Bishop of Salisbury in the Guar-

vol. II. p. 981.

an article on

Jan. 1894, by

dian, Jan. 31, 1894, p. 167.

it

in the

Dr

March, 1894 [from

Phil. -Hist. Classe 131 B.

Theolog. Literaturzeihing, Leipzig, 20

is

by

Sitzungsb.d.Kaiserl.Akad.d.Wissettsch.

and by [Dr] A.
Guardian, March

and there

described

is

in the Theolog. Literattir-

J.

Wien, 1894]

M[ason]

in

the

i\, 1894, p. 431.

Diet, of Christian Antiquities, s.v.

APPENDIX

542

B.

I admit also that if there was Registration (which seems essential) it


would be the registering of these documents and not a different process.

rois

(TTi

(Brugsch).

Ta>v 6v<Ti(x)v

vrapa avpri\{iov) 8ioyepov{s) trara-

^ovTos

OTTO KO>(p,r]s) a\f^av8(pov)

S vijaov (OS Lo/3 ouX(7;)

Tav

dv(Ti(ov rjprjfievois

KcofiTjs

napa

<|)(XaSeX0taff

avpri\i(ov

avpov

nai Tracr^tiov tov

a8(\(f)ov Kai 8riprjTpias Kai a-apaniabos

yvvaLKa>v

\ri\p.(x)v

e^coTrvX f trtui/

o(j)pvi 8e^{ia) Kai a(i

atL Bvovljes] rois 6fois 8ifTf\(

dva)v TOIS 6fOlS 8lfTf-

aafitv Kai vvv

\(cra Kai vvv

Kara ra npocrraxdfvra Kai (ormcrapfv

eiri ira-

povcriv vpfiv Kara

Kai

sic

!0

em

a\e^(av8pov) vrjaov

p.Vois K(i>{p,r)s)

(Rainer).

II

rois

rjpij-

Trapovrcov vp.a>v

i[epeKui'] f[yev(rapf6a Kai]

[a^iovixev vp.as VTrotrj/jneiw]

ra TTpocTTeTaTalypt]
va fdvaa \Ka\i

[t-coJi/

(tti

(raadai ijpiv

8i(vT[yxfiTe]

e7r[...]

avpi]^ (Tvpos Kai naa^rjs eTTiSeSco'^


[.].

TOiv i\e'\pfia)v [...]

aafirfv Kai a^io>

laidapos fyp
vipasj

av'^

ayp

vnoarfpiaxracrdai

SuvTyxft-Tai

15

avpr)\[^ios] [8i]oyfvr]s (7n8[{8a)Ka)]

qypnO-tos)

Qvovra

o".

p. ..[...]

/Ltucr[...]

...vatvos aa-(^ripia>pai)
20

[La] avTOKpaTopo[^s] Kai^aapos^


[ya^iov fifcrcriov k[o]iv[tov]
[rp^ail^avov SeJ/ciov evcr[e^oiis]
[e]uT-[w;(Ovi] o"e[/8]a[o-]Toii

f7r[et0]

I.

To

the commissioners of the sacrifices of the village of Alexander's

island from Aurelius Diogenes [son of] Satabus of the village of Alex-

ander's island.

About

Scar on right eyebrow. I was both constant


gods and now in your presence according to
sacrificed and drank and tasted of the victims and I
attach your signature.
72.

in ever sacrificing to the

the precepts

beseech you to

May
I

you ever prosper.

Aurelius Diogenes have delivered

/ Aurelius

[?saw]

him

this.

sacrificing

/ Mys[thes son

have signed.
[first

year] of the

Emperor Csesar
Gaius Messius Quintus
Trajanus Decius Pius
Felix Augustus

2*

day of Epiphi.

of]....non

LIBELLI.

543

To the commissioners of the sacrifices of the village of PhilaII.


delphia from the Aurelii Syrus and Pasbeius his brother and Demetria
were constant
and Serapias our wives, Dwellers outside the gates,

We

gods and now in your presence according to


the precepts we both poured libations and tasted of the victims and
we beseech you to attach your signature for us. May you ever prosper.
in ever sacrificing to the

We

Aurelius Syrus and Pasbes have delivered

them as

Isidorus wrote for

The

date

(11.

20

24)

is

not so well written as the declaration, but the


rg) are hurriedly scribbled with a

signatures of the magistrates (17

thick reed pen.

square

[ ]

Round

this.

unlettered.

brackets

( )

indicate abbreviations in the original,

indicate holes in the papyrus.

added to the local magiqui edicto nuper magistratibus fuerant


copulati of Ep. 43. 3, sup. p. 76, probably selected by higher courts.
Cf. turba eorum quos ad investigandos Christianos Polemoni judicia
majora sociaverant. Ruinart, Passio SS. Pionii et sou. iii.
'Alexander's Island' in one of the former lakes of the Faioum, so
2.
called from the veterans settled there by Ptolemy I.
Aurelius from Caracalla, who gave the Civitas to the Orbis Ro3.
Dig. i, 5, 17. Cf. ovoixaa-ri re
fnatius, Dion. Cass, jj, 9 and cp. 60, 17.
KoXovfievoi Ta'is...6v(riaii irpoa^faav, Dionys. ap. Eus. vi. 41. Note that the
1.

01 jipr^fiivoi

I.

strates, the

magistrate
7.

are the local commissioners

quinque primores

is

an Aurelius

illi

too.

Nothing indicates whether these Aurelii were genuine pagans or

lapsing Christians,

cf. IcrxvpiCofievoi

r^ 6paa~vTr)Ti to nr}8e rrporepov Xpiariavol

yeyovevai, Dionys. ap. E^is. vi. 41.


10.

41

ra Tzpoxmrayp.iva &C.

11.

i.e.

the provisions of the TTpoarayfia, Eus.

vi.

40,

or the Prceceptum (see pp. 465, n. 4; 492, n. 2).


Decipherers hesitated between e7r[toi'] and (aneiaa koi, but the

the Edict, Ep. 43.

3,

by the second libellus.


There can be little doubt that the right reading

latter is verified
12.

is

iyev(Tap.r]v,

which constructs with iepdav. Cf. Passio Pionii, ii., *sicut ceteros qui
degustabant sacrificia.' Acta S. Theodori Amas. (Surius, Nov. 9), 'si
Ora maculare, polluere,' is the constant
execrandos cibos gustassent.'
expression about the sacrificati as an essential part of the test, e.g.
Ep. 20. 2 31. 7 55. 14; 59- 12, 13 Ep. 30. 3 dc Lapsis, 10. 15, 22,
'

24, 25.

The reading

These are thought to be


and of his Secretary Mys[thes]
Are they not
(not an uncommon name), with the name of his father.
likely to be the signatures of one Magistrate and one Commissioner?
However for Myc Harnack would read Y^-\{op.ivov).
17, 18.

the

names of

24.

of 18

is

not certain.

the Magistrate Aurelius

Epiphi

in

Egyptian kalendar

is

26 June.

By

that time in A.D.

APPENDIX

544
251 the persecution

was

over.

26 June 250, Decius'

first

year.

11.

typa^a

of the libellus

must be

another hand.

12. 13 written in
13.

Hence the date

Unknown.

Philadelphia.

2.

C.

avTav dypafifiaTcov

vne.p

is

Harnack's ingenious reading.

APPENDIX C
about Manutius' Text

T/ie Intrigue

(Note on
The language

p. 212, nn.

of these intriguers at Trent

so self-conscious that

it is

Visconti's Letter.
and

and

2.)

Rome

is

so clever

and

worth while to look at the originals.

Appendix

Visconti's letters are printed in Mansi's

to

Baluzii Miscel-

lanea (4 vols. fo. Lucas, 1761 4), 'from a MS. in the public library at
Siena'; not in the first edition 1678 83. Also in 'Lettres, anecdotes et
'

'

mdmoires historiques du Nonce Visconti...dont plusieurs intrigues inou'ies


se trouvent dans ces relations, mises au jour, en Italien et Francois, par
Mr. Aymon.' 2 vols. 12. Amsterdam, 1719. Mansi indicates his sources,

Vol.

III.

Index,

Aymon

p. xviii.

Mansi {Bahiz. Misc.

(i)

name

does not

ill.

p. 472),

1.

his MS.

xlv (from Trent, Visconti to

Borromeo).

Di

xxii.

Fu

scritto, questi di,

Giugno, 1563^

da

Roma

che

le

Opere

di

San Cipriano, ristam-

M. Paolo Manutio^ non erano

pate nuovamente da
quelle correttioni che

correttori

state date fuori

ma

havevano notate;

con

nel trattare de

dove si parla de Primatu Papce^ erano state mutate


non si truovano* citate nelli Decreti, xvh da gli
authori, che ne fanno mentione, in quel modo che sono date fuori, &
essendomi stato detto, che Monsignor Agostino haveva havuto sovra di
cio littere da Roma, parendomi, che fosse di molta importanza il non
lasciare a questo tempo, che si tratta dell' auttoritk del Papa, spargere
aiithoritate Ecclesice,

alcune parole

le quali

con buona occasione d' intendere dal sodetto Monne haveva, il qual mi disse che molti giorni sono
M. Latino un de correttori scrisse a Monsignor Siglicello^ sopra di questo

cotali voci, procurai

signore

1'

avviso, ch' egli

Aymon,

end of

vol.

letter di

Ii.

p.

Trento

a'

84, reads
21 di

at

Giugno

\tjSx.
2

Aymon

(p.

78)

I'

opere. ..da

Mon-

signore Paulo Manucio.


'^

Aymon,

dell'

Autorita Eccksiastka

dove

si

tratta

de Primatu Pontificis

Romani (pp. 7880).


* Aym. trovavano.
^ Aym. Sighuello
;

ghicello. Latino,
11.

lo. Baptista Sin-

Ep. ad Andr. Masium,

p. loi (Hartel,

Praf. p.

ix).

MANUTIUS' TEXT.

545

che ne havesse a parlar col Sig. Cardinal Varmiense [Hosius,


Bp. of Varmie, Poland] avvertendolo, che 'I Manutio non haveva in quel
luogo detto di sopra seguita la correttione fatta dal Faerno & da lui,
& che il Faerno, il quale haveva sopra di cio rincontrato molti essemaffine,

plari e particolarmente uno,

che

fu della

santa memoria di Marcello

[il]

haveva notate le sodette parole diversamente da quel che 1' haveva


poste il Manutio, soggiungendomi il predetto Monsignore, che sendole
stata mandata una di queste opere, gli fu scritto anco a lui il medesimo.
Di che ne ho avvertito il Sig. Cardinal Simoneta, & crederei che non
fosse se non bene, prima che tale opinione si andasse confirmando, trovar
modo di levarla, il che si potria fare, se cosi piacesse a V.S. lllustriss.,
con dare auttorita a quelle parole che sono date fuori, autenticandole
col Testimonio & approbatione di persone che havessero visto e confrontato

codici antichi.

The

following is the Note at the end of Manutius' Cyprian^


Romas, m.d. lxiii.
The few notes follow the Index and this is on the last page but one
signed TTiii. It is on the words loquitur... ecclesia' in Ep. ix. (Manutius) to Florentius Puppianus, Hartel, Ep. 66. 8, p. 732, 25.
'Pag. 106, V. 2)'^ Loqtcitur Petrus sicper quern fiuidata \text aedificata]
ftierat ecclesia. Quantum Petro & illius Cathedrae tribuendum censuerit B.
(2)

'

Cyprianus, hie,
iPi

deperit

si

&

Omnium tandem
unum

Christi

multis

aliis

Nee quidquam

eximiis probat testimoniis.

extant divers* doctorum ad verba Christi expositiones.

in

finis

eo tendit ut recognoscant

esse relictu pro quo

ecclesia

successoribus rogavit ne deficeret fides

nicum pasceret.

&

Catholicorum scopus

loco

Nee quemquain

illius,

&

&

illius

sede

&

universum gregem domi-

inovere debet

quod

alicubi dicat hoc

fuisse ceterps apostolos quod fuit &^ Petrus, pari coiisortio prceditos

honoris

Manut.

potestatis, [de unit. 4.

p. 139, 32,

Hartel, p. 213, 2]

quod

de Eequalitate apostolatus est omnino intelligendum, qui cum apostolis


morientibus cessavit nee ad episcopos trasiit qui succedunt apostolis in
ministerio episcopalis dignitatis pro sua quisque portione.

In solo Petro

remansit omnis plenitudo potestatis ad universalem ecclesiae totius guberet comprobarunt. Nee
patrum scriptis pice 6r* catholicce adhibeaiitur
sensus, ad conservaiidani semper Ecclesice uni-

nationem, ut catholici doctores acutissime viderunt


est alienuin si priscoruin

&= veri
qua B. Cypriano nil fuit

iiiterpretationes,
tatent,
(3r

iti

scribendo optabilius. alioqui haresemn

schistnatum nullus Jinis.'

Thus

in 1563, instantly after

and notwithstanding the interpolations,

the papal warning against the teaching of the

De

Unitate has

still

to

be

raised.

As

there

Roman
B-

could be no more thorough exposition and example of

practice, so there

can be no keener comment on

its futility.

35

546

APPENDIX
The Intrigue about

the Benedictine

on du Mabaret

(p.

D.

Text

Additiofial note

213).

The Abbd du Mabaret was from 1720 to 1733 Professor of Philosophy


and then of Theology at Angers. In 1725, at the age of 28, in a work
called Veritatis triumphus he refuted Spinosa, Protestantism and Jansenism, and proved Papal Infallibility. To the age of 86 he was a pious
patient student of 'vast erudition' without a touch of critical method or
'

He

power.

disallowed the genuineness of Lactantius 'on the deaths of

was the compiler of enormous works which never found

persecutors';
editor,

'

publisher or patron, and complains that his contributions to

His
Moreri's Dictionnaire Historiqiie are inadequately acknowledged.
one literary success was, as we have seen, the spoiling of Baluze's
Cyprian. His feeble 'arguments' on the Interpolation survive among
M. I'Abbd Arbellot
Freppel's. They chiefly rest on the 'Citations.'
published at Limoges 1867 a pamphlet, now rare, which collects the
particulars of his writings,

The

time were pointed out to

The 'Sgavant
p.

and

as far as possible admires him.

following interesting illustrations of the state of feeling at the

1902) says,

'

me by M.

d'A...' of Oct.

le

Vicomte de Cormenin.

1726 {Mem. de Trevoux for that year,

Personne n'ignore avec combien d'dclat

et

de force M.

'I'Abbd du Plessis d'Argentre, aujourd'hui Eveque de Tulles, a soutenu


'

de ce passage.' In Feb. 1743 du Mabaret published in the


his ^loge on du Plessis d'Argentre.
du Plessis was a young doctor of the Sorbonne he had pubquarto at Paris in 1702, Elemetita Theologies in quibus de

I'authenticite

same memoirs

When
lished in

'

'autoritate

et

pondere

cujuslibet

argumenti theologici diligenter

et

'accurate disputatur...autore Carolo du Plessis d'Argentrd, socio Sor'bonico, e Sacra Facultate Parisiensi Doctore Theologo et Abbate a

Cruce juxta Ouinquainpum in Armorica.' The author's estimate of


work was not generally accepted. And in the copy at the Bibliotheque
Natiotiale (Inv. D 3616, D 384) is preserved a printed letter of 8 pp. dated
27 Dec. 1707 which describes the Archbishop of Reims (Charles Maurice
Le Tellier, 1668 1710) administering to Dr du Plessis what he called a
'

S.

his

'

Correction

Louvois.

'

'

before a great

He

did

it

for him,'

company
he

at

his

nephew's, the

Abb^ de

said, 'in his quality of fellowship with

him inthe Doctorate.' The Controller of his Household revealed that, if


he had not thus met him, the Archbishop's intention had been to dine
on Christmas Day at the Sorbonne and there correct him before the
Doctors.
His book was full of ignorance and false principles. Never
'had he read a worse. He had written it only from motives of policy
'

having attained his object of getting


He himself had been much
scandalized by the book. The Cardinal de Noailles still more. He ought
'to suppress it.'
He did not. And in 1725 he obtained his bishopric.

'to
'

pay court

to the Jesuits, and,

himself an Abbey, to get a Bishopric.

'

APPExNDIX

E.

TEXT OF THE INTERPOLATION OF


CYPRIAN DE UNITATE

C.

IV.

35-2

'Bod

I,'

(Fell)

Bodleian Library Oxford, Laud. Misc. 451

double columns, well written.


'Of same class as
xlv, xlvi) if not a copy of it.'
F. M.

fo. ff 199,

Bod

'

loth century

(Hartel

Bodleian cod. 210

2,'

12th cent,

double columns. a better jMS in some respects than 451


(Bod t) though written by a careless scribe and afterwards much
corrected.' J. W. 'The order of contents resembles
(H. p. xlvi)
and /3 (Ivii).' F. M. It is older than either.
208,

ff

fo.

'

/ui

'Bod

Bodleian Laud. Misc. 217

3,'

small 4to.

MQ

Follows

'Bod

4,'

15th cent,

129 rather closely written, full page.


'2nd Family.
as against T, and
as against M.' F. M.

ff

Bodleian Laud. Misc. 105

loth or

nth

cent.

be a selection from T
and to agree with the
Considering its resemblance to
Q, with
purer readings like T, it may seem a better though more recent
representation of the archetype of
Q, coordinate with Hartel

'seems

4to. ff 163
first

<X>

'Bod

'

to

corrector of T.

and

<Y>

Bodleian MS add. C. 15
(so I venture to call it).
'acquired at the Libri sale 1859 a beautiful MS: has
ep. ad Thibaritanos twice over with different texts.'
F. M.

early loth cent,

'

Ebor,' not in Library.

'Lam,' Archbishop's Library

Lambeth, Codd. Lamb. 106

at

13th cent.

'Epistolse et tractatuslxxxv... Codex perpulcher' H. Wharton (ms catal.


Liber Lanthoni1688) rubricated, several fine illuminated initials.
Qui detinuerit anatemasit.'
ensis Ecclie.
'

'Lin,' Lincoln College Library

Order same as

Oxford

n.

15th cent.

47

In fronte Vespasianus
librariiis Jloreiitinits Inmc libmin Jloreiitie traHScribetidum curavit' '? copied from one at Florence described by Randini i. 268,
Has some good 11. but by a careviz. MS laureut. plut 16 cod 22.

fo. ff 231.

Hartel p.

(v.

less scribe as these beautiful

'NC

College Oxford

MSS often

are.'

'

J.

W.
12th cent.

130

24s, 2 col., well writ, 'very interesting MS; seems coordinate


with those of the 3rd family, though perhaps independent enough
F. M.
to be regarded as alone of its kind.'

fo.

'NC

New

I,'

Ivi)

ff

New

2,'

131,

sm.

College Oxford

fo.

ff 155.

132,

15th cent.

131, 2

sm.

fo.

ffi37.

These two thought

to

be

really one MS ; but some treatises occur in both parts the order of
the epp. in 131 do not answer
treatises in 132 is mainly that of
;
F. M.
in order to any of Hartel's.
;

'Pern,'

Pembroke College Library Cambridge

20 (1935)

early 13th cent.

Italian MS. The initials resmall fo. ff 89, 2 columns, 36 lines, pale.
markable. Given by Abp Rotheram, Master in a.d. 1480 to Pem8''^
libriiiii
e>ni
Mcssaiia
istinn
broke Hall. Has a note

'

VenetiU.

Pern. Coll. Lib. Camb., no press mark, 'Petri Blesensis'


pencil in marg. catal.
not known to Fell; ff 189, of which 143 contain 'Passio Cypriani et
Epistolae Ixxiiii,' of which ZJc Unitate is one among other treatises.
Large beautiful folio, double columns, finely writ, 40 lines to page.

'Pern

2,'

'Sar,' Cathedral Library .Salisbury

12th cent,

12th cent,

n. 9.

'oblong, well written, injured on outer margin by damp.'

For convenience in following the description in Chapter IV, in I have placed the
readings of
Q Bod 3 Bod 4 and Pelagms together. New collations are given of
the English manuscripts (on which see Hartel p. Ixxxvi) because Fell's are not
1, I have to thank the Rev.
For the collations of Bod i, Bod 2,
accurate.
John Wordsworth (now Bishop of Salisbury) F. Madan, Esq. of the Bodleian
i and Line, and for
for those of Bod i Bod 2 also, as well as of Bod 3, Bod 4,
the notes on classification: for transcript of Pern E. H. C. Smith, Esq., for tranFellow
of the College
Heriz
Smith,
scripts also of Pern and Pe7n 2, the Rev. E. J.
of Sarum, the Rev. H. G. White, Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Salisbury.

NC

NC

549

Text of the Interpolated Passage in Cyp. de Utiitate iv. as given in the


The clause in [ ]
edition of Paulus Manutius, a.d. 1563 (p. 139).
is from Pam^le ed. 1568 (p. 254), Rigault 1648, and Baluze (Maran)
1726.

Loquitur Dominus ad

&

quia tu es Petrus,

siam meam,

inferorum

portse

et

Petrum

&

dabo claves regni caelorum,


erunt ligata
erunt soluta
dicit

& in
& in

caelis

&

inquit,

dico,

tibi

non vincent

Tibi

earn.

quse ligaveris super terram,

quaecunque solveris super terram,

eidem post resurrect ionem suam

Et

caelis.

Super

Pasce oves meas.

&

Ego

super istam petram aedificabo Eccle-

mandat

illtmi

unum

aedificat

Ecclesiam

Et quamvis apostolis
omnibus post resurrectionem suam parem potestatem tribuat

suam,

&

dicat

Readings of

illi pascendas

Sicut misit

corrections

me

oves suas.

pater, et ego mitto vos, accipite 10

(Monacensis) from Hartel with which Q (Trecensis) agrees precisely even in


Bod 3, Bod 4 ( = Laud Misc. 217 & 105) and oi Ep. Pelagii Papse ii

of Fell's

porte
3.
dico tibi M. inquit petre
1. Et ego
2. hanc petram edificabo
3.
4
3
celis B 3
5- legata M.
4.
iigaberis
{et sic setnper ^ pro z& z'el o)
4, legaveris
2 B 3. dicit] illi (illi
7. ilium
6. Et idem. ..meas
4
3), et eidem. ..meas
3 (pm. suam
perlineatum)
07n. unum
edificavit
4. et illi pascendas
8- om. suam
4.
3
3
4.
3
4.
9. om. post resurrectionem suam
oves mandat suas
3
3
3
4)
4 (om. suas
manifestaret,
insertuig
dicat...
potestatem
B
tribuit
potestatem
om.
et
tribuat
10.
4,
3

Readings of

Bod

MB
MB
M
i,

Bod

MB

2,

Bod

5,

Lcivibeth, Lincoln Coll.,

Cam.

1, 2,

and

Neiu

Coll.

i,

2,

Pembroke

Coll.

Sarmn

Pem
Pem Pem

Pern 2, hedificabo
2. hanc
1. dico tibi Line, in quid petre
s Line Sar. edificabo La
i, dabo
2
i Line, et tibi B 2
inferiorum Line, tibi dabo
3. porte Sar.
Sar
celis Sar Pem,
Pem,
que
queeunque
5.
2.
zut
4. celorum Sar La
tibi
i, celis Sar, caelo
2
6. celis et idem. ..meas B 2 La
queeunque Sar
caelo
5.
7- om. ilium
Line, om. et Pem, om. et eidem. ..meas B i Sar
Bs, celis et eidem. ..meas
2.
om. unum Pem. edilieat Line Sar La, edificat (ma 1
I Line Sar La
I
2
5

Pem

Line

NC
B

2.

NC

Pem Pem

Pem Pem

Pem
Pem

Pem

NC

NC

8. om. suam B 2 B 5 La NC i Pem


Pem, aedificavit B 2, edificavit NC i Pem 2
om. suam. ..suas B i Sar, et illi pascendas (tuendasque B 5) oves mandat. Et B 2 NC i

-avit) ille delet.

Pem

APPENDIX

550
Spiritum sanctum
ilH

imam

festaret,

tenebuntur

catJiedrain

ut unitatem mani-

tamen

remittentur

peccata,

remiseritis

Si cui

cui tenueritis,

si

E.

ejusdem

unitatis

et

constitiiit,

Hoc

originem ab uno incipientem sua auctoritate disposuit.


15

erant

et

utiq,

&

consortio praediti

quod

apostoli,

caeteri

&

honoris

&

fuit

pari

Petrus,

*exordium ab

potestatis, sed

& primatus Petro datur, ut tina Ecclesia


monstretitr
& pastores sunt omnes, et
ostenditur, qui & apostolis omnibus unanimi con-

unitate proficiscitur,

tma

Christi et cathedra

grex unus

20 sensiotie pascatjit'**

ut Ecclesia Christi una monstretur,

unam Ecclesiam etiam

ex persona Domini designat


perfecta mea,

una

2S

et dicit

Una

est

columba mea,

est matri suae, electa genitrici suae.

Ecclesiae unitatem

qui

non

quam

caticorum Spiritus Sanctus

in cantico

*Hanc

se fidem credit

tenet, tenere

Qui Ecclesiae

renititur et resistit, \jqui cathedrani Petri stiper

quam fundata

est Ecclesia deserit^ in

Readings of M, Q, Bod
tamen between unam and cathedram

the

Bod 4 and Ep.


B3 B4

Pelagii Papae
13.

ojii.

ii

et

3.

ejusdem

ojn.

14. originem] atque orationis suae (atque erased by a second hand) M, atque
o?n. ab uno incipientem
B3 B 4
15. utique
B 3 B 4. am. et
4.

rationem sua B 3 B
B 4. om. apostoli

3,

Ecclesia se esse confidit

4.

otn. fuit et

M, om.

et

4,

om.

fuit

o>n. pari. ..proficiscitur

3.

B 3 B 4. ^x. pro ut
17. sed primatus
B4
ut
2 B 4.
om. una Pel.
B 3, et
monstretur
B 3, monstratur B 4. .sed grex
B 3 B 4 Pel.
B 3 B 4 Pel.
19. ab for et
* in B
om. omnibus Pel.
20.
om. ut Ecclesia...
4 genuijie form begins here, v. inf.
*
genitrici suae
om.
B 3.
ut Ecclesia. ..confidit B 4
23.
'2.Jid cit. in Pelagins commences.
24. et Pauli for Ecclesiae
B3
B 3.
25. Qui Ecclesiae renititur et resistit, 07n. Pel.
Qui Cathedram Petri. ..deserit ins.
3; Qui Cath. P. super quam Ecclesia fundata e.st
deserit et resistit Pel. Here follows in
B 3 the repetition from line 2 of words super unum
aedificavit ecclesiam, atid then the whole passage once more in its genuine form without the
interpolations.
3

16. * 1st citation in Pelag. begins.


4
B 3 B 4. Xti eccl. Pel.
18. oni. Christi

'

MB

Gretser's collation of his Bavariati Codex (supra p. 206) gives ego dico tibi et idem...meas
om. [Eccl] suam .suas om. post resurrectionem suam parem tribuat potestatem
om. dicat...manifestaret l^imen betweoi unam ?</ cathedram otn. ejusdem; orationis suae
om. ab uno incipientem; om. apostoli; et for ut sed (grex); 3.\> for et; om. ut Ecclesia...
genitrici suae all iti perfect correspondence with
(Munich).
;

o;. ilium;

9. otn. post resurrectionem Pem. om. suam Line, tribuat potesPern La Pem 2. apostolus Bar
si cujus B 2 B 5 La Pem 2.
et si cui
tatem B2 La NC I Pem 2
11. cujus remiseritis B i.

Pem.

remittuntur

B5

NC 2 Pem

12. o;.

illi

Sar.

illis,

cujus

i.

si

cujus Pem.

ei

si

cujus

retinueritis retenta erunt E 2 La Pem 2, retinueritis retenta


ei si cui Pem 2.
tenebuntur zVi mi^ Line. o?. ut Pem. manifestarent NC i
13. o;. unam cath... et
unitatis ejus B i.
ejus idem (idem in rasiira
i NC2 Pem 2 Sar.
B I B 2 B 5 La Line
dem ut udtur scriptum) Sar
14. originem atque rationem B 2 Pem. incipiente B 5 Line,
incipientes Sar. om. ab uno incipientem Pem
15. erasjire of a letter betw. caeteri </ apostoli
B 2. fuit Petrus B 5 La Pem 2
16. ab uno prof. B i NC 2
17 om. et prim...pascatur Bi
AIS of Card. Hosizts ap Pamelh.\cfor et. Christi
B2 B5 La Line
2 Pem 2 Sar.
i
sed grex Pem
ecclesia, Line
18. monstratur Pem, monstraretur Line, monstretur bis Sar.
19. qui ab Pem
20. otn. ut Ecc... genitrici suae Pem. dei NC 2. om. quam. ..genitrici suae
2
23. matris...genitricis
21. in cantica B i
22. de ecclesia pro designat et Sar
Pem 2
B I B 2 B 5 La Line
electa est ex Line, electa est B 2* La
i
i Pem 2.
24. Petriyiir Ecclesiae Pem. si Pem. o;. fidem B 2 La Pem 2
25. o/. qui cathedram. ..deserit
B 1 B 2 La Line
i
2 Pem 2 Sar
26. quern fundata Ecclesia est Pem. aecclesia B i
[Note Pem otn. from confidit to corrumpat c. 5 as does also a. Ms at Bologtia not otherwise mtich
like Pem in this passage, see p. 352].

La B
sunt

NC

5 Sar.

I.

NC

NC NC

NC

NC

NC
NC

NC

INTERPOLATION OF DE UNITATE,

C.

IV,

55

So ends the interpolated passage in Manutius, and here in the


manuscripts
Q B 3 the whole passage is repeated in its genuine
In B 4 the repetition follows pascatur
form, following the word cotiftdlL
but this Codex leaves out the genuine qui Ecclesife renititur et resistit

'

and replaces

by the interpolated sentence.

it

Thus

(Hartel's text)

super unum jedificat ecclesiam et quamvis apostolis omnibus post resurrection em suam parem potestatem tribuat
sicut misit me pater et ego mitto uos.
accipite
et dicat
Spiritum sanctum
si cuius remiseritis peccata, remittentur
illi
si cuius tenueritis, tenebuntur, tamen ut unitatem mani- 5
festaret, unitatis eiusdem originem ab uno incipientem sua
auctoritate disposuit. hoc erant utique et ceteri apostoli quod
fuit Petrus, pari consortio praediti et honoris et potestatis,
sed exordium ab unitate proficiscitur, ut ecclesia Christi una
monstretur. quam unam ecclesiam etiam in cantico canti- 10
corum Spiritus Sanctus ex persona Domini designat et dicit
una est columba mea, perfecta mea, una est matri suae, electa
genitrici suae,
hanc ecclesiae unitatem qui non tenet tenere
se fidem credit ?
qui ecclesiae renititur et resistit in ecclesia
:

se esse confidit

15

Readings of M, Q, Bod

3, Bod \ and Ep. Pelagii Papae ii


B 3. ecclesiam et quamvis super litiiru B 4. ojn. et B 3 2. resurillis M B 3,
reccionem B 3
4. quorum B 3. sicut B 4. remittuntur B 4, dimittentur B 3
5.
monstraret B 3
6.
era in rasura B 4.
eis B 4.
quorum B 3. unitatem ut B 4.
inerat B 3
cipiente B 3 B 4
erunt Et ceteri B 4. om. et B 3.
prediti B 3 B 4
7.
812. perfecta una B 4.
matris B 4. sue B 3.
9. exoritur B 4
10. ecclesiam in cantica B 4
electa est M, electa e genitrice sua cojitractioti. mark over e erased B 3
13 genetricis B 4
14. ecclesie B 3. pro qzii ecclesia. resistit,' c\a\ cathediam petri super quem fundata ecclesia
deserit B 4.

1.

sedificavit

M,

edificavit

..

Hartel's collations.

WGMVR

inquito7. G 3. dabotibi S, tibi dabo


5. et(^<? in) o>. S. super]
om. Hart, et eidem...meas cmn
7. om. Hart, ilium C7tm SWGM'RV
8. o>n. Hart. suam...oves suas cum
10. sicut bis R', si cui bis R^ rem.
accipe S
manifestet R
11. remittuntur R
12. illis M, om. G.
13. Hart. om. unam cathedram
constituit et cum SWGRV. ejus R
14. ab uno incipientem] atque originem V teste Rigaltio
15 et om. R. fuit et G
17. Hart. om. et primatus... pascatur cum SWGVR.
ut s. I. in. 2 R
18. om. Christi V
20 mostretur S
21 etiam 07n. S
22. designat et] de ecclesia G.
dicat S
25 Hart. om. qui cathedram. ..deserit.
23 electa est M, om. S
24 tenet om. R
1.

in

dicotibilMR.

SWGVR
SWGVR

6.

It will be seen that Bod i


interpolation Bod 2 La Line
charge to Peter.
The curious corruption in
:

rise in

Ep.

l.xx. c. 3,

NC 2 Sar (and Ebor. by Fell's collation), have entirely escaped


NC i Pem 2 have only the insertion about the post-resurrection

B 3 B 4 as to rationem and orationis seems to


super Petrum origin e unitatis et ratione fundata.

Pelagii Papee ii Ep. vi

Labbe

(ed. 1729) vol. vi p.

me

to

have their

631

...Sed et beatus Cyprianus egregius martyr in libro quem de unitatis


nomine titulavit inter alia sic dicit Exordium ab unitate proficiscitur
:

una Christi ecclesia et cathedra monstretur:


et pastores sunt omnes, sed grex unus ostenditur, qui ab apostolis unanimi
cojisensione pascatur.
Et post pauca
Hanc ecclesiae unitatem qui non
et

primatus Petro datur^

7it

Qtii cathedram Petri., super quavi ecclesia


est, deserit 5r resistit, in ecclesia se esse confidit.

tenet, tenere se

fundata

fidem credit

APPENDIX

552

F.

J. W. from a MS in University Library Bologna (no. 257-2, sm. 4,


xiv or first half xv in Italian hand), whicli belonged formerly to
S. Salvadore di Canonici Lateranensi, shews the same curious omission
from confidit to corrumpat as Pan, which it does not otherwise resemble.

by

transcript

S(C.

e.g.

has: petram istam

teniieritis

APPENDIX
On

points in the

CHRONOLOGY
(pp.

The

following observations

F.

of Valerian's reign

sqq.).

them geographically, not

may

chronologically.

serve the cause of clearness

The end of Valeria}fs

I.

456

confusions of events in Valerian's reign were such that Tillemont

obliged to take

felt

post resurrectionem tribuat potestatem et cui remiseritis et si


tamen ut unitatem et ceteri quod fuit et monstraretur animi passuper quam fundata est ecclesia \.It has: et tibi et idem originem atque
rationetn sed exordium].
it

cui

cantur

The

reign.

Niebuhr {Lectt. Rom. Hist. ill. p. 279, London, 1850) is unable to decide
whether the catastrophe which ended Valerian's reign was in A.D. 256 or 260.
There can be no doubt, looking at the varied indications, that it was in 260.
(i) The persecution lasted 42 months (Dionys. ap. Euseb. vii. 10) until
Gallienus repealed the edict after Valerian's disappearance. Supposing
Cyprian, on Aug. 30, A.D. 257, to have been the first confessor as is
probable^ in Africa, the edict can scarcely have appeared earlier than
July, when Valerian made his arrangements for the empire, departed
This brings the end of
for the East, and left Macrian to administer.
Valerian's power to the end of A.D. 260.
(2) Valerian was proclaimed
Augustus in Rhastia before the end of 253, since his second year of
Tribunitian power dates from Jan. i, 254. This makes his reign, ending
in his 8th year, to end in 260 (cf. Clinton, F. R. I. p. 284).
(3) There are
coins of Valerian struck in his eighth Tribuneship,

i.e.

in 260, at Alex-

andria in August, and in Cilicia after October, and enactments bearing his

name

issued through that year up

How
no

recover him.

effort to

while

September 24th^ (see Clinton, I.e.).


His son Gallienus made
was reported dead at Rome, and deified

long he lived in captivity

still

He

alive in captivity.

till

is

not known.

name

and

was

fust.

if

so whether they prove that he

3, 8,

5,

Whether
c. 10.)
and 265 are genuine,

(Treb. Poll. Gallieni duo,

the headings of two laws which bear his

in 262

still

living is doubtful {Cod.

62, 17).

They maybe

1 ... Quid nos...diceredeberemus prior


apud Acta Proconsulis pronuntiasti et

found by the Index to the Ci7;'/?<J'yww

tuba canens &c. in acie prima... primos

Civilis (Berlin, 1880), v.

impetus, Ep. 77.

2.

Codex yustiniamis.

11.

p. 494.

CHRONOLOGY OF VALERIAN.
The date of

2.

The main cause

553

the captjire of Antioch.

of confusion

Gibbon

of Antioch by Sapor.

difference as to the date of the capture

is

(c. x. p.

284, ed.

Mihnan, 1846) and Niebuhr

295) place this event after Valerian's capture, in 260, following (they
believe) Ammianus Marcellinus (xxiii. 5, 3), who adds a special note to his
p.

(/. c.

particular tale,

These events were

in the times of Gallienus,'

i.e.

260 on-

ward.

Zosimus

how Valerian engaged himself with Succesits ruin*.


The fall of Pityus in 258
withdrawing for that purpose Successianus, who had

32) relates

(i.

sianus in resettling Antioch after

was

attributed to his

Antioch had therefore

saved Pityus the year before.

fallen before 258.

a hopeless compromise by placing

Tillemont

tries

There

however, no real contradiction between these late but not

is,

The

careless authorities^.

late in 258.

its fall

Antioch was twice captured by


(v. inf.), having been in the

fact is that

Sapor, once in A.D. 252-3, and again in 260


interval restored

To

by Valerian.

Zosimus himself

(in

i.

27,

we may
RESTITUTOR ORBIS^

this restoration

with the legend RESTITUT. ORIENTIS,

refer his coins

a passage which almost seems to have been

overlooked) relates the capture of Antioch by Sapor in the time of Callus,

May 253 when ^milian was proclaimed. Antioch was


unprepared and offered no x-esistance, and on this occasion, after a great
massacre and the destruction of 'every building private or public,' the
A.D. 252 or before

Persians, 'while the conquest of

home

all

Asia lay in their power,' returned

masses of captives and


method often was destruction and abandonment.
immediately

to deposit their

The same author

writes

36) that, at the later time

(i.

when he captured

Valerian, Sapor 'was ranging over the East and subduing


^

TO,

Ta.'uTri^
^

Trepl

rrjv

oiKifffiov

'Ai/Ti6xetai'

Considering the lateness of their

dates, the evident paucity

tary

Eusebii Chronicon

rov

kclI

olKoi>ofiovi>To^.

and fragmen-

character of their materials and

Zosimus foruii
Georgius

scarcely be said that the

been more successful as

is

Consider that

{i-e.

the only contem-

Trebellius Pollio wrote his later

[Restit. orientis; a

under Constantine.

a crown.

'

turret ed

turreted

female

Emperor with
the

Em-

female.

No

Restitntor Orbis;

raises

ground for the statement that these


were struck in anticipation of success,
'

Diet. Rom.
They commemorate

Vopiscus began to write in 291 or 292


and refers to Trebellius {Divus Aureli-

as

anus,

restoration.

ii.).

wrote between

a city) presents the

peror

work

after 4'20.

Syncellus

ZonaratS fornit 11 18.

moderns have

porary writer.

dated A.D. 325,

is

780 and 800.

critics in digest-

ing even their materials.

Dionysius Magnus

can

before him'

380.

write, the old historians scarcely merit


It

all

Jerome's edition, 378.


Aurelius Victor wrote after 350.
Ammianus Marcellinus wrote before

the brevity with which generally they

the lavish abuse they receive.

Their

spoil.

Stevenson,

687.]

Coins,

p.

the actual

APPENDIX

554
{eniav

tijv itiav

anavra

KnTf(TTp(f)fTo)

F.

and

(iii.

32) that after his (second)

capture of Antioch, which this time he had to take by storm {Kara Kparos),

he had marched across as far as to the Cilician Gates,' when Valerian


advancing against him fell into his power (v. infr. sect. 4).
The earlier chronicle of Eusebius places the capture of Valerian in
260, and the ravaging {depopidatur) of Syria, Cilicia i.e. within
the
Gates,' and Cappadocia in 261 {s. anno).
This is not inconsistent with
Zosimus. Sapor entered Syria not from the south, but from Mesopotamia, made direct for Antioch, and having taken it the second time,
ravaged the Syria adjacent to the other two countries and north of
'

'

Antioch.

Thus the

earlier authorities agree in

But when we come

to the ninth century

the fourth and

we

fifth

century.

find that Georgius Syncellus

(ed. Dind. p. 716) thought this 'ravaging of Syria' in 261 must include the taking of Antioch.
So he makes the capture of Valerian

precede the taking of Antioch, as well as of Tarsus in Cilicia and Caesarea


of Cappadocia. This is against the earlier testimonies so far as Antioch
concerned. And it is improbable in itself that Valerian, considering
what we know of his dilatory tactics, should anticipate the approach
of Sapor and throw himself in his way outside Antioch. But Syncellus
himself indicates that there was something wrong in his story, for a few
lines earlier he says {I.e. p. 715) 'Sapor overran Syria, came to Antioeh,
and ravaged all Cappadocia' before the capture of Valerian. He could not
have 'come to Antioch' and marched on, leaving such a place in his rear.
In the twelfth century we find that Zonaras gives first an account,
which agrees with Zosimus and Eusebius ; the overrunning of Syria
followed by the ravage of Cappadocia and then by the siege of Edesa, in
attempting to relieve which city Valerian is taken (xii. 23) 1. He then
gives another version, which is nothing but a paraphrase^ of Syncellus,
and puts together the capture of Antioch, Tarsus and Caesarea as all after
is

Valerian's seizure.

The only discrepancy then which remains on close comparison arises


from Syncellus's late misinterpretation. It is clear that the two campaigns
of Sapor, in each of which Antioch was taken, at an interval of eight
years, were quite differently conceived.
The object of the first was the
sack of Antioch

itself.

But

in the

second the annihilation of the

re-

colonized and restored city was the basis of a vast invasion of the countries

north of
^

it.

So Aural.

Vict. Epit. 32 'in

potamia bellum gerens.'

Cf.

Meso-

dn Ccssa-

In one or two places not even a

paraphrase but the very words. Syncell.

Dind. ed. p. 715 eavrbv

-^v

/cat

rriv

tov irKridovs npodoffiav,

alo'do/j.evoi'I'w/xaioi /jloXh dLe(pvyov 6\i-

jo}v avaipedivruv.

riites, ^2.
^

O^/xevos

irpo\iS{>iKe...(Tvv-

23^,

Compare Zonar.

xii.

irpoSe5ijjKil)iia.vTov...a.\\a.'yv6vreiTTiv

irpodoffiav 5U(pvyov,

oXiywp dvaiped^vTuu.

CHRONOLOGY OF VALERIAN.

555

To the second assault belongs (it is said) the picturesque story in


Ammianus (xxiii. 5, 3) of the actress suddenly exclaiming from the stage
'

Is

it

a dream, or do

and of

see the Persians,'

overwhelming

the instant

of the gathered population by the archery^


3.

Fall of CcEsarea of Cappadocia.

Dr

Peters^ says 'Valerian hurried to Cappadocia against Sapor in

A.D. 258.'

No

antient authority gives an idea that Valerian

any

his characteristic) either in that year or

anywhere near Cappadocia.


Valerian set out, as Zosimus says (i.

'

hurried

'

(inertia vi^as

Sapor was

other, or that

at

that time

Scythians,' then ravaging Bithynia

36),

with the view of meeting the

only he got no further than Cappa-

and returned 'having done nothing but just damage the

docia,

by

cities

his transit^'

The fall of Caesarea belongs to that wide sustained campaigning of


Sapor (Zosim. i. 36), spoken of under the last head, when, after Antioch
was taken for the second time. Valerian, as the Eusebian Chronicle
rightly gives it, was captured in A.D. 260, and Syria, Cilicia and Cappadocia were overrun in 261.
The Treachery in the capture of Valerian.

4.

The

capture of Valerian was a tragic but not a politically significant

was accompanied by no loss to the Roman armies or adminisis agreed by historians that it was effected by treachery,
but not so agreed where or what the treachery.
It is variously attributed
to Sapor, to an unknown general, to Macrian, and to Valerian himself.
There is, however, no real difficulty in determining the fact.
In the fragment of a contemporary dispatch from some potentate to
Sapor with which Trebellius' memoir on The Two Valerians begins the
capture is treated as simply Sapoi-^s craft, ' Look to it lest ill befall you for
event.

It

tration.

It

'

'

Et

hcEC qtiidem Gallieni temporibiis

evenertint'' unless Gallieni is a mistake

The

for

Gain.

the

time

of peace,

the

the former

fall.

burnt

city,

exactly

fit

But the second does

not absolutely refuse them.


Clinton places this sack of Antioch
in 262

(s.

year in

anno) from the notice of that


Hieronymus' Chron. Parthi

Mesopotamiavi tenentes Syriam incursavertint.

But

it is

impossible to suppose

that the raids of years

on

had been carried

in Syria with the restored

intact in the midst of

it.

events,

is

and the

not adequate to such


text

shews

sufficient

reasons for placing this earlier,

features of the story,

the retiring with vast booty,

incnrsaverunt

Antioch

The mere

Peters, p. 573.

...koX rrj irap68(ii /xovov iirLTpl\pas

ras

TroXets vTriarpeij/ev els roiiricrw.

Moses Chorenensis
Armen. 1. ii.

Jlist.

(cent.
c.

Whiston, 1736, pp. 1967,

72,

iv.

73

v.),

(ed.

on

8) states

the authority of Firmilian that Valerian

was informed of the danger in which


Armenia stood, but did not help, ad
regionem nostram tutendam Valerianus
non pervenit, nee diu vitam traxit.'
'

APPENDIX

556

F.

having seized the aged emperor and that too by fraud^.'


So Aurehus
Victor, circumvented by the treachery of the king of the Persians, whose
name was Sapor^.' Zosimus developes the nature of the treachery. In
iii. 32 he mentions that Valerian advanced with his troops against Sapor,
'

but in

i.

36 relates that he was not inclined to fight, but proposed by


Sapor requested to see the emperor
to buy off the enemy ^.

ambassadors

Valerian unreflectingly
for personal conference on some essential points.
and uncircumspectly set out with a few attendants, thinking to discuss a
truce with Sapor, and was suddenly seized*.
Thus there is no question among the earlier batch of writers as to
whose was the treachery.
Still the fraus in Trebellius was misunderstood, and in an interpolation in his text, quoted as genuine by Gibbon (c. x. iv. p. 283) and Clinton
(l. p. 284) we read 'victus est enim a Sapore, rege Persarum, dum ductu
cujusdam sui ducis, cui summam omnium bellicarum rerum agendarum
'

'

'

commiserat, seu fraude seu adversa fortuna in ea esset loca deductus, ubi
nee vigor nee disciplina militaris quin caperetur quicquam valere potuit^.*
Here the fraud has been transferred to one of the Roman officers. Then

'

'

Tillemont {E?np.

who was

himself,
that,

ill. p.

313)

far

and Pearson

anno

{s.

mean

260), taking the Trpoe-

Macrian
enough away, as the betrayer. Tillemont observing

of Dionysius (Euseb.

/Ltei/09

23)

vii.

though the passage of Trebellius

and Macrian's character

to

'

betrayal,' regard

may not be genuine,

it fits

the history

Yet again the later historians formed another misconception of the


treachery.

They

cording to

Georgius Syncellus

Ache who, terrified at the


mutinous spirit of his hungry troops in Edessa, pretends a battle, and
gives himself up to Sapor, having arranged also the betrayal of all his
men, but they understood the case in time to escape. Zonaras (xii. 23)
gives both stories, paraphrasing the second from Georgius.
Thus the two latest authors, who placed the siege of Antioch wrongly,
also make the treachery, which was purely Sapor's, to be a plot of
Valerian's to betray the Roman army.
^

attach

it

the unfortunate Valerian himself.

to

(p.

Vide ne quod senem imperatorem


et id quidem fraude male tibi

/3ouX6;uevos.]
*

cepisti

cedat.
^

Treb. Poll. Vai. duo,

regis, cui

nomen Sapor erat,

ventus....
3

instruit,

Aur. Vict, de

Persarum

dole circum-

rws

/xer

de

fieydXais

56(re<rt

rdv irdXenoy

p.

.iirl

KaraXmai

dXiywv

(ppovT^crei

dp/Mrjcras iirl 'Eairdjprjv t5s

nium Tranquillum

toricorwn GrcEc. Paris 1851, vol. iv.


avuayayihv

ovdenlg.

Historise

la

Roviere

Scriptt. Latt.,
^

twv

irokeixiwv.

Sic ap. Csesarum vitre post Sueto-

155 1

ci.<f>aTou

ai/v

<TvX\afj.^a.veTai irapa

Ccbs. 32.

[So also Petrus Patric. (6th cent.,

xp^'^^o"

6 Se

wepl a-iropSwv avrip diaXe^o/j-evos, a<pvuf

87]

Fragin. 9 ap. C. Miiller, Fragnwi. His-

186)

36:

l.

KaTaveijffas tols airovfiii'ois, dwepiffKiTr-

4.

Cum...bellum per Mesopotamiam

anceps diuturnumque

is

it

715),

conscriptje,

Rom.

Lugd.

Scriptores Latini,

1609; Hist. Augustse


Sylburg 1589.

Sup. p. 458,

n.

i.

557

APPENDIX
On

the nameless Epistle

of it

G.

Ad Novatianum
Xystns

to

atid

tJie

attribntion

(p. 476).

Since the chapters on Xystus were

in print,

Dr Adolf Harnack has

published an essay on 'A hitherto unrecognised Writing of Pope Sixtus II.


of the years 2578^.' Whether his view is accepted or not, the treatment

and the by-learning of the essay are


If true his

view

of interest

full

so important, that

is

select those

and suggestiveness.
main points which

touch our history, and must add the lights

in which they appear to me.


His Excursus (pp. 54 64), comparing the Versions of Scripture used
Cyprian and in this author, will not come within our scope, but it is of

in

capital interest

and

value.

well-known Ad Novatianum, taken hitherto


by Hartel) The work of a bishop who was on
'Cyprian's side as against Stephen (see H. Appendix, p. 55, 4), and
'against the schism of Felicissimus (54, 12), shortly after the Decian

The

be

to

'

writing

'

the

is

(as described

'

'persecution (57, 25)^.'


Stephen is not mentioned in

it,

but the comparison of the Church to

domus una id est Christi


no doubt references to this
controversy, and the whole tenor of the tractate is clear. But the reference
to Felicissimus is in the supposed pun 'quid ad ista respondeant...inFelicissimi pauci,' and is in my judgment impossible-^
one saving Ark

the

(as

ecclesia' {ad Novat.

c.

Hartel) and the

H.

13,

V. Gebhardt and Harnack, 7>x^f '

Untersitchungen, XIII.
Leipzig,

1895.

Band, Heft

'Eine

bisher

vomJahre257
-

8... von

Ad Novatianum

li.

Adolf Harnack.'

Hartel's Cyprian, vol.

ill.,

Appendix, Opera Sptiria, &c.,

The

i,

nicht

erkannte Schrift des Papstes Sixtus

first

Pars

iii.

p.

52.

appeared not

Erasmus' ed. 1519, as Hartel's note


there, but, as he corrects it {Pnrfatio,

in

pp.

Ix, Ixi), in

'

63, 8), are

the Editio Daventriensis,

Hartel had corrected previous

^47 7-

by MS. K, and

texts

at the latter

adds the readings of ^a^.


first

marked

Antv. pp. 434

There

is

12.

Cf.

Pamel. Gyp. 1568,

no other reference

Ed. Dav. has

to the

23

n.)

a vocative case.

Ap.

'infelicissime,'

which certainly cannot be


p.

was

5.

action or tenets of Felicissimites,


54,

page

It

as not Cyprian's in Eras-

mus' ed. 1520.


^

Z^az'.

(as

Harnack,

APPENDIX

558
Harnack.
I.

The

author of
'ad Novatianum'?

I.

G.

shall try to represent accurately, but of course shortly,

Harnack's

argument.

The

Treatise opens thus

(H.

p.

mihi

52, 9) 'Cogitanti

animo

et intolerabiliter

'nam agere deberem de miserandis

aestuanti quid-

fratribus qui vulnerati

non propria

'voluntate sed diaboli sasvientis inruptione adhuc usque, hoc est per

'longam temporum seriem, agentes pcenas darent, ecce ex adverso


'obortus est alius hostis et ipsius paternse pietatis adversarius haereticus
'

Novatianus.'

Ad Novat.

i.

from a highly responsible Bishop


such Lapsed persons as had remained
Penitents a very long time, but who found himself confronted by sudden
This language

is

appropriate

who was anxious

to

restore

on Novatian's

action

part.

The words vulnerati

shew

ff.

that he

took a more compassionate view of their temptation than was possible


earlier.

That he took Cyprian's view of the Church

itself as

the one

Ark

of

Salvation appears in the words

(H.

p.

55,

est in aqua,

Ad Novat.

'

3)

Quae area sola cum his quae secum fuerant liberata


in ea inventi non sunt diluvio perierunt.'

at caeteri qui

2,

and

as the only valid authorized baptizer in

(H.

p.

'

55, 23)

humani provisum
(permissum add.

...sacramentum baptismatis, quod in salutem generis


et soli ecclesise Ccclesti ratione celebrare

//.).

Ad Novat.

The

limits of date are fixed

(H.

p.

56,

18)

Ad Novat.
(H.

from the following

'Cataclysmus...ille qui sub

persecutionis quae per totum

permissuni^

3.
:

Noe

factus

est fiiguram

orbem nunc nuper supereffusa

ostendit.'

5.

p. 57, 24)

'

Duplex ergo

ilia

emissio [columbse ex area] duplicem

prima in qua qui lapsi sunt


qua hi ipsi qui ceciderunt victores extiterunt.
Nulli enim nostrum dubium vel incertum est, fratres dilectissimi, illos
qui prima acie id est Deciana persecutione vulnerati fuerunt, hos postea
id est secundo proelio ita fortiter perseverasse, ut contemnentes edicta
saecularium principum hoc invictum haberent, quod et non metuerunt
exemplo boiii pastoris animajn suatn tradere, sanguinem fundere nee

nobis persecutionis temptationem ostendit


victi

ceciderunt, secunda in

uUam

insanientis tyranni saevitiam recusare.'

secundo prcelio must

mean

Ad Novat.

6.

the persecution of Gallus, which was not

over before Aug. 253, but was over when this treatise was written. It
can be described by 'nunc nuper,' yet the Penitent Lapsed have been
Penitents 'per longam temporum seriem 1,' which would be adequately
met by allowing three years or even two since the persecution of Gallus.
Even so, some would have been in that condition five years since the
Cyprian thought a trieninuvi

sufficient.

Ep.

56. a.

*AD NOVATIANUM.'

559

The

persecution of Valerian

beginning of the persecution of Decius.


plainly not begun.

is

Rome

not at

all till

began Aug. 257, but not


Aug. 258. We have then the

^^S- 255 and Aug. (257

It

in earnest,

limits fixed

and for
between

or) 258.

by considering who these Lapsi


must have been. They fell in the persecution of Decius many retrieved
their honour in that of Gallus, but none have been restored.
Now the
Carthaginian penitents were restored by the Council of May 252, to arm
them for the threatened persecution of Gallus. But there is no indication
of any such restoration at Rome.
Cyprian was pressed by a lax party
who would have absorbed the penitents if these were kept out of the
Church much longer. But Stephanus was pressed by the Puritan party
of Novatianists, who would have absorbed many Catholics if his action
had been indulgent. Stephanus had in the case of Marcian of Aries
shewn himself unwilling to be hard on Novatianists, and was ready even
to admit their Baptism.
The Roman policy had been to keep penitents

The

locality is interestingly fixed

long waiting.

There are strong touches of Roman colour also in the Christology


which writes that Judas 'Z>^7^w prodidit' (H. 64, 22. Ad Novat. 14);
and in the assumption implied in quoting the baptismal charge as given
by Christ Petro sed et ceteris discipulis^' (H. 56, i. Ad Novat. 3.)
Our author then is a Bishop at Rome between Aug. 253 and Aug. 257
'

or

anxious to restore meritorious penitents of long standing, his efforts

8,

frustrated by Novatian's action.


It

the

being shewn that neither Stephanus nor Lucius could have written
it remains by process of exhaustion that the Bishop in

treatise'^,

and he had opportunity to write, for it is almost


months and six days' reign the Christians
and he were unmolested at Rome he and Roman presbyters were in
question

Sixtus

is

II.,

certain that during his eleven

corresponding

fact peacefully

Such

is

grateful to

the outline

him

The

all

the time with Dionysius.

and we certainly are


on so interesting a quest.

of Harnack's argument,

for taking us

which he deduces are still more remarkable. Historical


There must have been in the time of Sixtus a new and *^""
sequences
forceful outbreak of Novatianism, led by Novatian himself.
'ecce ex of Sixtus
adverso obortus est alius hostis...Novatianus.'
Ad Novat. i. It was II. being
^^^ author.
sufficient to stem the charitable policy of the Church, or at least to
compel it to parley on the question in argument with the hsereticus.'
II.

Thus

historic results

(i)

'

The words

of the charge itself are

though the arguments adduced against

here compounded of Matth. xxviii. 19

the authorship of Lucius are not very

and Mark

strong,

of

xvi.

Argument
Stephanus

15.

against

was

the

authorship

superfluous,

and

yet

they

are

satisfactory

in

the absence of any probability on the

other side.

APPENDIX

560

G.

becomes clear how the Baptismal Controversy ended at Rome


Harnack says (p. 39), was not known to Augustine himself,
namely by Sixtus' adopting the policy and even the formula^ of Cyprian.
This further explains the remark of Dionysius^ to Sixtus that the Roman
presbyters, Dionysius and Philemon, had formerly sided with Stephen
(2)

It

which, as

((TviJ.\l/'i](j)ois

(3)

TTpoTfpov

Sixtus

II.

'2Te(f)av(p yevofievois).

becomes much more than the 'bonus

pacificus

et

sacerdos' of Pontius {Vil. 14) (an expression, we may remark, to which


in his mouth it is possible to attach too much significance).

A comparison of passages (Harn. pp. 35 fif.) shews the closest


(4)
dependence of the ad Novatiamun on the de Unitate. Twenty places
Besides this there

at least are distinct quotations.

is (pp.

50 ff.) a constant

near resemblance to Cyprian's style and use of words.

Sixtus

II.

was

in fact a 'Scholar of the great African Bishop,' a 'slavish copyist' of his

and 'on Work and Almsdeeds' and of some of


and he adopted his policy in every particular.

treatises 'on Unity'

Epistles,

In fact in a.d. 257

over the

Roman

The above
-fH-

Difficulties

in accept''^^th

This

his

Cyprian 'by his writings spiritually lorded

See' (pp. 67

it

f.).

are Harnack's principal historical inferences.


is

beyond question a

strikingly

and

to the eyes of the historical student,

it

new aspect

of Rome exhibited

requires reflexion.

Meantime

^^ ^^ certain difficulties present themselves.

author.

I-

If the

manner

it is

Baptismal controversy ended in so round and simple

by Xystus adopting

as

and language,
and that others should have

entirely Cyprian's views

strange that Augustine did not

know

it,

given such wild accounts of the reversal.


2.

It is

strange that no trace of intercourse between Cyprian and

Xystus, no mention of either by the other, should have survived

or,

so far

we know, have ever been known to exist. Cyprian had agents in


Rome, and Xystus was corresponding with Dionysius in exile.
It is yet more strange, if Xystus thus adopted Cyprian's treat3.
ment of heretical baptism, that the treatment which prevailed and
as

continued in the Western Church should have been not that of Cyprian

and Xystus but that of Stephen.


4.

The Roman

Lord which

inclination to appropriate to Peter language of our

addressed to others

is

is

traced by

Harnack

in the 'rnandat

But there is a much more


extraordinary instance of that proclivity which for some reason he does
not notice. In c. 11 the ad Novatiaiium (\\ioies at length the conversation
between our Lord and Simon the Pharisee over the penitent woman.
Three times over our author in his quotation of S. Luke vii. vv. 40,
43, 47 substitutes the name of Peter for that of Simon, in the last verse

Petro sed

et ceteris discipulis

Harn.

p. 66.

'

noticed above.

Euseh.

vii. 5.

'AD NOVATIANUM.'
inserts

who
to

Can

it.

either

this

561

be really Xystus the typical Doctor, he of the Chair,


Simon Peter with Simon the Pharisee, or thinks

confuses

honour the See of

Rome

by the change

But there are also other passages which, if this is a genuine letter
fall in with an earlier year and person.
The language about Novatian seems more appropriate to his
1.
first rise than to a recrudescence.
While our author was considering how
the Lapsed should be reconciled, ^ecce ex adverso obortics est alius hostis
et ipsius paternas pietatis adversarius hasreticus Novatianus,' c. i, H. 52,
12.
This is not the phraseology which would be used about one who had
now for over six years been pursuing the same policy.
2.
In c. 14 Novatian is scarcely addressed as if his sound teaching
in the Church belonged to years ago; and the writer proceeds 'hodie
retractas an debeant lapsorum curari vulnera,' H. 64, 10, as if his
discussion of the question were new, not of such old standing as by
Xystus' time it would have become.
In c. I, H. 53, 12 his adherents are called 'suos quos coUigit,'
3.
not as if they were a long-standing formidable congregation.
In c. 2, H.
54, 12 they are 'vel nunc infelicissimi pauci,' just as Cornelius (Euseb. H. E.
VI. 43) says that Novatian yfyvfivaxrdai. koi fprjfxov yeyovevai, KaToKifiiravovrcov
avTov KaO' i]fj.epav eKaarrfv rap d8f\(f>a>v.
Compare the already quoted 'ecce ex adverso obortus est alius
4.
IV.

of those times, might seem to

Indica^

^^^f

jate.

and the exclamation of surprise at the attitude of Novatian,


'mirum quot acerba, quot aspera, quot perversa sunt,' c. i, H. 52, 13 with
what Cornelius writes of him (Euseb. /.c), a'Kpvlbiov (nlcrKOTros aairep e/c
fxayydvov tivos els to fxeaov pi<f>df\s dvacfjaivfrai and dp.iJX'^''^^ ootjv
rponfiv
hostis &c.'

Koi fxeTa^oXrjV iv

^paxfl Kaipa 46eacrdp.(6a in avrov

Compare

5.

tare... ferina

c. i,

H.

53,

yiyevrjfieirqv.

9'luporum more tenebrosamcaliginem op-

sua crudelitate oves...laniare'with Cornelius'

Tfjv

aKOLvavrjaiav

avTOV Koi \vKO(f)i\iav.

Compare what

6.

teachei",

at

sound on

him as

this

is said
c.
14 of his former position as a
very subject of penitence, with Cornelius' sneer

o 8oyfiaTia-njs, 6 ttjs KK\r]cria(mK.^s

Compare

iivKjTTfp^-qs vnepaairicrTijs.

on their intentional superseding of the


name Christiani by Novatiatii with, what Cornelius relates of the personal
pledges taken to Novatian in the Eucharist itself by his followers ^
In all these passages the point of view is identical. The personal
angles may be different, for c. 13 treats him as having been a tender
pastor, which Cornelius does not.
But the point of view is the same. It
cannot be said that one describes the rise of an enemy, the other the
7.

c.

8,

H.

59,

i,

revival of a heretic of several years' standing.


8.
The passage 'Duplex ergo &c.' from c. 6, H. p. 57, 24 does No proof
not require (as Harnack thinks) that the persecution of Gallus should be of date
^

B.

Euseb.

vi. 43.

36

APPENDIX

562
later than

over

the begin-

It

when

it

was

written.

It at

least

G.

admits of an earlier application.

only says, in that seauidum pr'oeliuin^

some who had before

lapsed,

'victores extiterunt,' that they 'fortiter perseverassc.nec ullam inthe'perBut these noble recoveries
secution of SEevientis tyranni saevitiam recusare.'
Gallus.
were of frequent occurrence. One of the strongest arguments of Cyprian

and the Council 'de pace maturius danda,' a.d. 252, even before the
persecution of Gallus, was the cases of the Lapsed who in a second
trial 'fortiter steterint et adversarium nobiscum in congressione prostraverint' {Ep. 57. 3) and Epistle 56 is occupied with the case of three
such persons whose endurance was marvellous.
The passage contains no indication that the secundum prcslmin was
more than begun, and we know that it was not considered to be ended.
Harnack thinks (p.41) that the newoutbreak of Novatianismin the
No second
9.
outbreak
time of Sixlus II., which he infers from ad Noval., is indicated by Dionysius
'^^^j '^ writing to his namesake the Roman presbyter (Euseb. H. E. vii. 8),
tianism described by gives these reasons for hostility to Novatian, namely as BiaKoxf/avn rfjv skkXt]iJionysius

g-j'^,^^

k^I rivas rtov d8(\(pa)v fty dcr(j3fias Koi

^Xacrcfyrjfjiias eXKiicravTC,

Qeov BidaaKoXiav avoaicoTaTrjv eTTetaKVKXrjaavTi- Koi tov


rjpatv 'irjaovv

Xpicrrov

cos dvrjXefj

aderovvTi to ayiov, Koi

ttjv re

to ayiov e^ avTciv,

TTVevp-a

el

koi rrepl rod

xP^^'''^'''o-fov

(rvKocpavTovvTi, enl Tracriv de rovrois to

npo avTov
Kai tis

rjv

ttlcttiv

Kvpiov

XovTpw

koi ofioXoyiav avaTpinovTi to re

eXwls tov

Trapafieli^ai

rj

(TraveXdelv npos

avTovs, navTeXas (jivyabevovTi.


I

am

upon the
and lead,

obliged to quote the whole passage in Greek because


participial tenses,

as

it

is

turns

to Harnack's.

The

distinguished from the outbreak of the schism.

The

seems

continuous result

all

which are surely most carefully kept apart,

to

me, to a conclusion contrary

violent cleavage of the Church, the perversion of a

body of

believers to

and even blasphemous acts (such as the Eucharistic pledges by


which Novatian compacted a following^), the introduction of a doctrine
dishonouring to God, these are told in aorists they were one group of
actions past, the formation of the heretical schism.
But the misrepresentation of Christ's compassionate character, the contempt of the font,
and perversion of the baptismal confession, the keeping of the Holy
Ghost at a distance from those who would repent but are not allowed
irreverent

We

do not doubt the application of


Cyprian shews that there

holds that

it

may be

a version of his

these words.

altering the Baptismal Creed.

was a short interval before it after the


Decian persecution, which he calls
'quies et tranquillitas,' but they were
even then under the fear 'impendentis

us

prcelii,'

'urguente certamine,' p. 57.

Harnack,

original

of

But

the account

let

is

the

Cornelius, describing

the

that

very gestures and words of Novatian.


Cornelius had

such particulars of his

Texvaa-p-ara Kai irovrjpeijp.aTa from

Maxi-

mus, Urbanus, Sidonius and Celerinus

2, 3, 5.
2

observe

p. 42, thinks this

account

of Novatian's Eucharist incredible, but

(Eus. /.c).

'AD NOVATIANUM.'

563

new strokes, of Novatianism, and


The passage distinctly differences
and the continuous
first energetic movement
places in past time, but gives no sign of new

these are the continuous operation, not


so are related in the present tense.

from each other the

The former it
development or even revival in the time of Xystus.
result.

V. There remains one external argument for the book being by Sixtus. The

The

PrcBdestinatus, which belongs to the middle of the fifth century

Harnack, pp. 44

(so

49)

has

^,

in its Part

The Catalogue

I.,

haeresis est Catharorum qui se ipsos isto nomine quasi


munditiam superbissime appellarunt, secundas nuptias non
admittunt, paenitentiam denegant, Novatum sectantes hsreticum, unde
contra hunc beatus Xystus martyr et
etiam Novatiani appellantur.

'XXXVIII.

propter

episcopus et venerabilis Cyprianus martyr Christi tunc Carthaginiensis


Novatum librum de lapsis quod possint per paeni-

pontifex scripsit contra

adserebat

omnino non

fieri

quam labendo

quod Novatus

perdiderant,

posse.'

This description of the book 'contra Novatum' is an account exactly


point of this fragment ad Novatianum^ but has no relation to
Cyprian's de Lapsis. I suggest that it was the occurrence of these two words

to the

de lapsis which caused some erudite scribe to insert


its

construction

the words

all

'et

Fortunately the word scripsit remains, which by

venerabilis...po7itifex'

makes the

The

insertion certain.

rest of the statement

must leave for what it is worth. The Catalogue of Heresies is of course


admitted by Harnack himself to be much of it quite valueless. But his

him

historic Erkettntiiiss assures


this

obscure fragment

VI.
present

that

its

assignment of the authorship of

correct.

is

Upon the whole, I believe that if this fragment (which does not
many points to lay hold of) is not an historic and theological study

but a book genuinely addressed to Novatian,

it is

the

work of a responsible

about Rome.

But to identify the writer with Xystus is to


create a view of that doctor himself, of Rome as under the influence of
Cyprian, and of the end of the Baptismal controversy, which is not
warranted, but discredited by our other knowledge of the times.
Bishop

in or

[First published

Paris 1643.
varia, vol.

La

Eigne,

by Jacques Sirmond,

Printed in Sirmondi Opera


I.

pp. 465

Max.

ff.

(Paris 1696);

Bibl. vett. Patr., vol.

xxvil. p. 543 (Lyon 1677); Galland.


359 (Ven.

Bibl. vett. Pair., vol. x. p.


1774).

Book

I.

edited

by

Oehler,

Corpus hcereseologicum, Berlin,

1856,

The Catalogue

Part

I.,

full

of blunders.

of Heresies,

Part

II.

is

absurdly

professes to be Augustine's.

Part III.

condemn the

Pelagians,

professes

but

is

passage
ipsos

...

to

full

of Pelagianism.]

given

in

appellarunt

Augustine,

De

the
'

text

In the
'

qui

copied

is

of Heresies, destinatus.

this notice.

tentiam recuperare gratiam

testi-

^1%,

hares. 30.

362

se

from

APPENDIX

564
But there
five or six

is

G.

nothing which would not

fall in

with the conditions of

years earlier, the anxious days in which Cornelius and Cyprian

were with great unanimity dealing with the rise of Novatianism and the
when Cyprian was sending Cornelius
his new book de Uiiitate and the kinder view of the Lapsed, as 'vulnerati
proper treatment of the Lapsed

a diabolo,' and not as wilful sinners, had already

come

in,

see Cyprian's

19 (H. p. 637, 22), Ep. 58. 13 (H. 680, 16) et passim.


carried (if so desired) almost to the end of Cornelius's life.

Ep.

55.

It
its

It

might be

not inconceivable that the author might be Cornelius^.

is

general, abstract style contrasts too

much

Yet

with the detailed, definite,

personal style in which he handles Novatian in the letter to

Fabius

even allowing for the different situations. I am also


loth to impute to him either the confusion between Simon the Pharisee
and Simon Peter, or the lengthy, feeble and inextricably confused
(Euseb.

H. E. vi.

43),

applications of the flights of Noah's dove to the

fall

and recovery of the

Lapsed.

There were other Bishops near to Rome who were quite capable of
book and who (like Hippolytus before this time) may have
felt their responsibility for all that went on as even superior to that of
inditing the

the Pope.
I make with diffidence, with a lively
Dr Harnack's paper, and with gratitude

These observations
of the interest of

appreciation
for the inci-

dental lights which in brief space he has thrown on the subject and

its

literature.

Erasmus

thought

de

Viris

...scripsit

lUustribus,

epistolam

but

so,

through misapprehension
Ixvi.,

ad

of
'

only

Jerome,
Cornelius

Fabium...et

aliam de Novatiano et de his qui lapsi

sunt,' as if this could describe the ad


Novatianum. 'Erasmus's adnotatmncula
(in

Fo. 500) prefixed to his Cyprian,

1520; repeated in ed. 1530.

56s

APPENDIX
Examination of

H.

of Bishops attending the Counciis.

the Lists

(jGenuineness, Seniority^

There

are four

were assembled

from the year 252

The

lists

of Bishops, varying in

in Councils,

to 256 A.D. {Epp. 57, 67, 70,

1316,

ii. c.

ill. cc.

represented the tradition.

Ep.

59.

and

I.

They

to 86,

who

Sentt. Episc).

African bishops sat by seniority according to Codex

Eccles. Africanae Can. 86, which

Labbe,

number from 36

or were formally addressed by Councils,

comes from

Canonum

Concil. Milevit. A.D. 416,

This, as all the bishops there affirmed,


Augustine complains of breaches of the rule,

383, 4.

sate under their primates,

and

of the Council of 256 A.D. that they did not

sit

it

is

evident in the hst

by provinces from the

mixture of Proconsular and Numidian sees.


If the Cyprianic lists were genuine, then
(i)

From an

we should expect
number some names would recur in

episcopate so large and so widespread,

that in lists so far short of the whole

more than one list, but many would appear only once.
Also we should find certain relations among the recurrent names.
Names which appeared in more than one list would, when inter(2)
vening non-recurrent names were struck out, stand in nearly the same order
allowance being

made

such as disputable
from date of consecration
being uncertain or other causes, such as appear in Augustine and the
in different lists,

precedence which might

Canon
(3)

for incidents

arise, for instance,

as cited above.

The percentage

of recurrent

names would dwindle

in later lists

on account of deaths.
(4)

In a longer

dotted along

its

list

the recurrent

whole length.

The

names would be more spread out,


names in a list of 36 might be

later

list of 86, but if the largest list be the latest it would probably
end a number of junior names not occurring in earlier ones.
If those conditions were met the genuineness of the lists would
be established. In forged lists such conditions would find no place,
unless they had been clearly foreseen, and the names arranged upon
a skeleton drawn before to ensure the appearances. But the multiplicity
and complication of the relations between the names on these lists and in
other parts of the Cyprianic correspondence is far too great to have been
invented and constructed by any romancer. Disturbances we do find,
but small in proportion. Some of them are singular and explicable,
while the very presence of other disturbances to which we find no
clue, in a case where most is coherent and our knowledge so limited,
indicates that at least they are not shaped on a plan.

the later in a

have

at the

566

APPENDIX

H.

LISTS OF BISHOPS.

TABLE

I.

[continued).

The Four
VIP" Council,

Lists.

567

APPENDIX

568

I.

If

we

turn

now

H.

to the actual lists given in

complete as they are found

in

the

MSS.

Table

of Cyprian,

side by side,
and again as

I.

II., with the omission of names which occur only in


and of very common names like Felix, where nothing points to
identification, we shall find upon an inspection of the numbers which
give their position in each list, that the identified names do follow in
the same sequence in each to such an extent as to shew at once the
genuineness of the documents and the existence in Cyprian's time of

opposite in Table

one

list,

the rule of seniority.

An
ment.

inspection of Table

The number

markable.

of

II. will at

once shew the force of

names which have

this argu-

their sequence exact

is

re-

LISTS OF BISHOPS.

569

APPENDIX

570

We

2.

next ascertain that of the

H.

names which can be

identified

throughout the Usts,


30 occur in the

first

28

second

third

36 (A.D. 254), 77-8


49(A.D. 255), 6i-2

30

39

fourth

86 (a.d. 256), 45-3

hst of 41 (a.d. 252), or 73-2 per cent.

So that the second test as to the diminution


second list, where the percentage rises 1.

The

3.

third test

is

seen upon inspection to be

77th bishop, Honoratus, or the 78th (which

name

Victor

spond

to

is

so

names

is fulfilled,

common) no names

is

except in the

After the

fulfilled.

more

doubtful, since the

in the last longest list of 86 corre-

in the other lists.

The

instances of disturbance are curious, and worth consideration

(i)

In

list

of Council

v.

the reversal of the order of Primus and

Csecilius, the variation of Junius

and the

and Nicomedes on

stability of Polycarp, while as a

The
The

(2)

(3)

group these

either side of them,


five

hold their place.

and Marrutius in same list.


disturbance of Sedatus and Fortunatus, and in v. the de-

similar disturbance of Felix

pression of Sedatus.

The
The

(4)

(5)

names

alternation visible

in

to pairs

of

extended to groups of four in Councils IV., v., vil., where


sqq.) Pomponius, Januarius, Demetrius, Saturninus, are inter-

mixed, Victor keeping his place

among them; and again

Marcellus, Iambus, Adelphius, Paulus, of

much

II.

above instances as

the

is

II

(iv.

disturbance of Rogatianus and Saturninus

whom

(iv.

Adelphius

is

32 sqq.)
in

vil.

higher.

Other isolated variations are pointed out by a square bracket

(6)

after the names.

At the close of

(j)

of seven

names

ett

list

masse.

of Council

ll.

occurs a very evident depression

While they are

last in this list

they

one, not again mentioned) occupy very high places in the other

(all

save

lists.

These appear without omission below the fine at the end of Table II.,
and are nos. 34 to 41 in the list of Council ll.
Now 35 Polycarpus was bishop of Hadrumetum. He and his clergy
had already addressed Cornelius as duly elected Pope of Rome, before
the Council met which was to decide for or against his recognition. When
the Council had determined to await the arrival of more authentic information as to the character of the election, Cyprian the Metropolitan

and Liberalis the senior bishop

In this

there

is

list

it

will

visited

be found that

twice as large a proportion of

attendances from the immediate vicinity

Hadrumetum

of Carthage, from

45 miles radius
p. 578).

(v.

together during

places

within the

Appendix on

Cities^

LISTS OF BISHOPS.

5/1

the pause (pp. 132, 133). The result of that visit was (and CorneHus
complained of it accordingly) that the clergy of Hadrumetum in ad-

Rome, directed it this time not


and deacons of the city.
What was the object of this visit of Cyprian and Liberalis if it was not
to induce the bishop and clergj' of a city which had been precipitate in its
recognition to suspend their judgment
And would the visit have been
necessary if Polycarp had been with them at Carthage ?
The presumption is not weak that Polycarp was absent from the first
and present at the later sittings, and when we consider the names and
numbers which follow, especially such an instance as that of Monnulus,
we must assume (it would appear) some formal cause for the anomalous
depression of these members below their usual place
and deferred
attendance seems to be at least one rational way of accounting for the
dressing a second ecclesiastical letter to
to Cornelius but to the presbyter

.''

fact.

(8)

In the long

list

of the 86 bishops of Council vil. there are two

lines of disturbance clearly not accidental, yet without

more knowledge

inexplicable.

62?

65.-*

that ^hez'r
b.

lists,

be seen that the bishops numbered 40, 48, 51, 52, 60, 64,
all placed in this list much lower than in the others, but
seniority among themselves is very slightly deranged.

It will

a.

67,

are

In same

Notes,

(i)

are all much higher than


among theTnselves is respected.

in

other

Pudentianus, speaks of his

own

list 24, 27, 21, 25, 30, 36,

but again their seniority

The bishop

vil.

71,

juniority.
It appears that Junius
(2)
be the same as v. 3 Junius.

vii.

86 unless he came late can scarcely

In treating vii. 52 as Numidian Tucca, and vn. "jj as Proconsular


(3)
Tucca, Morcelli has transposed them. For vii. "j-j Honoratus is the
Numidian by Epp. 62, 70, and answers to 49 in Council v.
VII. 52 Saturninus of Tucca (Terebinthina) is the proconsular bishop,

and comes in his proper place according to the other lists.


I have forborne to collate some of the name of
(4)

Felix, or

to

identify vii, 58 Faustus with iv. 25.

On VII. 27 see note on Quietus of Buruc, p. 363. If that


(5)
view is right then vil. 27 will not be identified with iv. 21 Quietus, but
would as Qui7itus take the place now given to vii. 65 Quintus. This
would be more in order, which would again still further confirm the view
taken in that note.

APPENDIX

572

Lists of

H.

Numidian Bishops.

Taking out the Numidian bishops by themselves for a similar comwe have a similar result. There are about 25 (some uncertain) in

parison

the longest

list,

that of Council vil.

their Epistle 70,

and

there are 18 in the superscription of

8 in that of their Epistle 62.

All of these earliest

same order (with others


intervening), except that in the first two lists Proculus and one Victor
change places, and that Nemesian is low in both of these and highest but
eight recur in one of the other two,

one

in the third.

He

is

also the

and

first

all in

the

named

in the

two

letters 76,

"]"]

to

and from the Numidian Confessor- Bishops. These two however are not
formal documents as the others are, and their agreement is more general.
Inspection of the following Numidian names found in more than one
list will

detect the facts.

TABLE

III.

Order of Numidian Bishops in the Headings of Epp. 62 and


AND IN THE Seventh Council, and in the Headings of Epp. 76,
Epistle 62

70,
77.

Mnsnla?

Stanfords Geoarap'hicaZ BstabHsfunent.

London

MacniillaTi

& C9

S!tBatli*ni

L**}^

^i*^^v-'-

APPENDICES
The

Cities.

I,

K.

APPENDICES
The

Cities.

I,

K.

574

APPENDIX

INDEX TO

I.

CITIES.

575

APPENDIX
Note

the

oil

Cities

from

zvhich

K.

the

Bishops came

to

the

Seventh Council of Cyprian and TJiird on Baptism on


the first of September, A.D. 256^ (pp. 366 sqq.).

A
^

But the

cities

Principal Authorities

Wilmanns( Corp.

Inscriptiones Africce Latina, Gust.


i.

which
and their

short sketch has been given in the text of the interests

invested most of these cities under the Empire.

ii.),

fo.,

Berl.,

Inscriptt. Latt., vol. VIII.

1881 and Supplefuentum (Afr. Proc), R.

Cagnat

et

Johan.

Schmidt, fc, Berl., 1891.


Inscriptions

Romaines

d''Algerie, L. Renter, Paris,

Societe Archeologique de la Province de Constantine.

1858

ff.

Anniiaire 1853

Revue Africaine, Alger, Paris, Constantine, 1856 ff.


Fouilles a Carthage, M. Beule, 4to., Paris, 1861.
Explorations epigraph iqtics et Archeologiques en Tunisie, M.
3 fascicules, Paris, 1883

ff.

R. Cagnat,

1886.

Geographic comparee de la Province Romaine d'Afriqne, C. Tissot [Exploration


Scientijiqtie dc la Tunisie), Paris,

Remains of
Algeria, Al.

the

Roman

Graham

1884

1888.

2 vols. 410.

and

Atlas.

of N. Africa with special reference to


{Transactions of R. Inst, of British Architects, vol. I. N.S.,
occupation

Lond,, 1885).
Travels in the Footsteps of Bruce, Col. Sir R. L. Playfair, 4to., Lond., 1887.
Various Monographs on Discoveries at Carthage, by le R. P. Delattre, 8vo.,
Lille (Desclee),

1888 1890.

Tresor de Chronologie, d'Histoire

et

de Geographic, C'^ de

Mas

Latrie, fo.,

Paris, 1889.

Untersuchungen

iiber die dussere

Entwicklung der Afrikanischen Kirche, Dr

A. Schwarze, Gottingen, 1892.

Excursions in the Mediterranean, Algeria and Tunis, Sir Grenville T. Temple,


Lond., 1835.

Four Months

ifi

Algeria, J.

W.

Blakesley, 8vo., Cambridge, 1859.

APPENDIX

576

K.

I have cast into


This Note cannot pretend to
originality, although I felt it a duty and found it an intense enjoyment to
I have to rely on published investivisit some of these remarkable sites.

occupation of the country are indeed so remarkable that

the form of a long Note fuller particulars.

gations and, where possible,

mistakes are,

have verified the authorities, although


summarizing so large a number of

fear, inevitable in

statements.

Some

explorations have been

monumental

assiduous and their records so

so

that increasing research will rather increase than lessen

The

their value^.

gratitude of learning will never be withdrawn from

Charles Tissot or Gustavus Wilmanns.

To recapitulate a few necessary points.


The Council of Carthage of the year 256 (September i) is described in
contemporaneous minutes as The meeting of very many Bishops of the
'

province of Africa, Numidia, Mauritania.'


if

It

must not be understood as

the 87 were an approximately even representation of the sees of the

At the most two Mauritanian Bishops, and one whose see

continent^.

Great Sahara, H. B. Tristram, 8vo., London, i860.

Carthage and her Remains

Ruined

Cities

Dr N.

Davis, Svc, London, 1861.

within Numidian and Carthaginian Territory, N. Davis, 8vo.,

London, 1862.
Travels in Tunisia, A.

Maps: Carthage,

Graham and H.

Caillat, 1877.

Ashbee, imp. 8vo., London, 1887.

S.

Perthes (Afrika),

West Sahara

(i),

Central

Afrique Reg. SepSpruner-Menke, Atlas antiq. no. xxxi.


R. de Lannoy de Bissy), i, 2, 6.
tentrionale (Service geographique de I'Armee
Environs de
Carte de Reconnaissance (Serv. geogr. de I'Armee) Tunisie iii.

Sahara

(2).

la Tunisie et

Pelet,

de Carthage, Paris, Depot

Above

89 1.

all,

de

Algerie et Tunisie,

Guerre.

la

the grand Atlas archeologique de la Tunisie (Ministere

de rinstruction Publique), Paris,

3 livraisons, 1893-5.

A.D.

Note that the margin gives the

349.

antient

names of the towns from the


Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum ; and
the modern names of the towns gene-

393.

Synodus Carthagin. sub Grato.


Synodus Maximianistarum [Concilium apud Cabursussi].

397.

Synodus Carthaginensis.

rally as in Tissot; the figures are the

411.

Collatio Carthagine habita inter

The date of Cyprian's

419.

Synodus Carthaginensis.

not entered because

484.

Collatio Carthagine habita inter

525.

Concilium Carthaginense.

641.

Concilium Byzacenum.

dates at which their Bishops appear,

mostly in Councils.
Council, 256 A. D.,

is

Catholicos

there.

belong

Nearly

all

the other dates

to the following Councils

IV. Concilia Africana.

646.

A.D.

Donatistas.

Catholicos et Arianos.

the Bishops of all the towns treated of

were

et

Poole, Life

and Times of Cyprian,

Synodus Carthaginensis sub Cypriano VII. de Baptismo III.

p-

305.

Synodus

Bishops of Africa, Numidia and Mauri-

314.

Synodus Arelatensis

256.

Cirtce Celebrata.
i.

'^

366,

tania.'

'the far greater

part

of the

THE
was half
as
of

in

Numidia, appear

CITIES.

577

for this vast Province.

There were twice

many from the Proconsular Province as from the larger Numidia, and
the 55 who represented the Province 12 came from within five and

forty miles of Carthage.

The bare roll of the eighty-seven names would be a wonderful witness


commanding influence of Cyprian, but to review their cities is to

to the

which was being shaped into Christendom.

realize the material

we could

If

revive but a faint picture of those cities, their number,

and administration, we should stand


and the elaboration

their beauty, their wealth, resources

amazed

at the

power and the

policy, the magnificence

Rome organized so resourceful a continent so wickedly won.


But a separate interest still lies in the fact that the Christians had so
immediately and so vigorously laid hold on the centres of life and activity,
and faced on new principles the problems which defied that Roman
genius of rule and grew more intricate both in spite of and in consequence
with which

of

its efforts.

Buildings

may be mentioned

in

Note which belong

this

later century than Cyprian's, but already in his time

many

to

of the cities

grown and magnificent, and it is strange to remember how


was going on side by side with Christian growth.
In most of these towns which lay so thick in that resourceful region
there was a bishop, a stipendiary^ staff of presbyters, organized on a
collegiate or quasi-canonical plan of life and work, and a set of deacons
administering the more secular affairs and providing for the monetary
needs of the Church. Many of these places have ruins of more than one
Christian basilica, which no doubt succeeded to private halls, secular
rooms, and 'fabricae' like Fabian's, which were used in Cyprian's time.
The bishop was everywhere elected by and represented an enlightened
and steadily increasing portion of the community. What his powers
He had been brought up like every
were, sole or joint, we have seen.
were

full

actively heathen growth

educated

Roman

within constant sight of the administration

justice, of revenue, of military force, within

practice, of eloquence

pleasures,

and with

of firm

sound, and possibly in the

and argumentation, amid the publicity of the wildest


him in the body politic,

his precise place assigned

under the name but without the least substance of liberty. The only
known was that which was being re-formed under the new consti-

liberty

tution which he himself represented.

The Episcopus Christianorum was


town

sacerdotes in every

temples, and countless altars.

and generals who


day.

Some were

officiated

called sacerdos.

There were many

iiamens, pontiffs, ministers of the beautiful

The higher

of these were great civilians

from time to time

for

hereditary keepers of the gods'

an hour of their secular

homes and

of the gods

themselves ; some were nominated and lived partly by endowments, partly


1

B.

Epp.

I.

I ;

34. 4

39. 5

see note 3

on

p.

305 sup.

17

APPENDIX

578

K.

But the new sacerdotes had begun to live among them, each
men and the successor to powers which 'loved not the
world, neither the things which were in the world.' He was the ambassador
of One God who had had and was having real dealings with men, touching
things inexpressible by the voices of heathen prayer things which had
nothing to do with prosperity, or material, or disease, which triplet was

on
at

offerings.

once the elect of

the hope or fear of the heathen.


It

was some such person, who with

tides of

could

life

make

it,

his personal equation as various as

came glowing with

the faith of Christ from

each of eighty-six cities to the central chair of the Province.


The list runs off merely, as it would seem, according to the seniority of
the prelates, with perhaps a queue of late comers.

we can

cast those cities into groups,

a living idea to their names.

We

But with a little effort


attach somewhat of

we can even now

shall thus appreciate the significance

and the force of the thoughts which rise out of it.


I will group them as follows, merely for convenience and easy recognition on the map, as they lay in the eye of neighbours or travellers.

of the

list

4.

The circle of cities about Carthage.


The circle of Cirta.
The circle of Mount Aures.
The Theveste Road.

5.

Three Routes

1.

2.
3.

Carthage from the

to

cities

on the Syrtes and

upwards.
6.

Mauretania.

7.

The

cities unidentified.

I.

The

Circle of Carthage.

First; from the group of sees close

round the Metropolis, within a

radius of 45 miles, twelve bishops came to the Council.


Utica, with memories of primaeval rivalry with Carthage,
Municipium

still

ranked as

ka''"coi!mia

^^ second cityof Africa, but was nowfast ceding that place to Hadrumetum,

juiia^iia

for the

Aries 314,

military
and merchant harbours,
its grand
Bagradas
was silting
j
o up
i
o
"
and banking the sea out further every year from immense structures
reared for the health, pleasure, and defence of its many generations. In
^^^ miles of fragments we trace Phoenician works almost as extensive and
more solid than the finest Roman. From Cape Carthage Utica lies full

339, 411, 419,


484, 525, 556,

in

Hadnana
Augusta
Bou<:hater.

f D^o*

'

'"at

Colonia Julia
'^"^

^^

rhytus.

on the northern trend of the

hills

which hide

coast.

Bizertc, cven in its strangely altered name, is Hippo Diarrhytus.


occupied picturcsquely both banks and the mid-island of the tidal

The fame of neither city


its garden shores.
from the unpatriotic memory of having deserted
ittCarthage in its extremity, and Hippo was now a poor-spinted, self-contained provincial town^, living by its marvellous fisheries.

^^^^ ^

"v'^o"Vtor
Hippone

'"-^

north lake with

_,..

seemed ever

Zarito, Itin.

Benzert,

Bp^^'401
52si 646.

view across the curve of the bay, pale against the

Bizerte

'

clear

See the pretty sarcastic story of Pliny, Ep.

--iir

ix. 33.

THE

CITIES.

579

lay on the coast between the two, came


from Hippo Petrus, and from Utica Aureliusi.

From Thinisa, which


the Bishop Venantius

iVKraa, Ptol.
XulTeTza''-

^'

Tuniza/i ^"t-

From Carthage, looking due east across the glorious gulf, a good
way beyond the eastern spur of the Horns of Ben Gournin, Secundinus
would discern his own Carpos^, with its fashionable hot-springs scene

later

on of Donatist savagery.

B^.^^j'f^gt'''
Colonia

lUptts.^Pt'^

B^T'Ti

Out of sight on the far side of the same eastern promontory lay 484. 523.646.
gulf then called after it, now Gulf of Co'- J"!'^
Neapolis, the north horn of the
Neapolis.
Hammamet an African Bay of Naples. It was a Carthagmian factory, A'eieL
the nearest African harbour to Sicily^, captured by Agathocles and by ^^g^^'sasM.
Edrisi saw great ruins of it, but they have
Piso, and an early
Colonia.'
all passed into the mean carcase of the Arab town.
He speaks
Its Bishop Junius was the last who spoke in the Council.
of the earlier conciliar decisions as 'what we once for all sanctioned*,' and
and as a senior.
in each of the former Council-lists his name appears
'

...

'

Some element

of either distance or lateness enters into the

list

of a.d. 257,

as the Tripolitan Bishops are all together at the end.

Southward a few miles, between Mount Zaghouan and the sea, was Munidpium
Segermes, only ruins still to us, not identified until 1884^ Nicomedes Augusmm
was one of the seniors.
n^ZT.^^'

The

tiny

Oued Meliana,

with

its

deep torrent channel, drains into the

Lake of Tunis a fertile waste once thick with cities. In its upper dale it
skirts on the south-east the site of Great Thuburbo^ one of Pliny's
One of
eight Colonies,' founded by JuHus, improved by Commodus.

%s-4ii,484.

Aureia

'

Epp. 49,
Sentt. Epp. 24.

Sentt.

On

Quod semel

72, 41.

censuimus, Sentt. Epp. gpj


(Aries),

form of name

86.

He

not one of the Emporia proper which

and Suppl. i., p. 1164, nn.


11 170 and 11 172.
Cf. Bullet, archeol.
du Com. des Trav. Hist. 1885, p. 162,

were the towns on the

1886, p. 71.

"

see p. 421, n. 2.
^

Thucydides

vii.

50.

calls

polls a Kapx'jSoj'iaKdt' i/xwopiov

little

Nea-

that

Syrtis

is,

from

Thense, though those between the two


Syrtes

are

sometimes

understood in

n.

Epp. 9

Seyitt.

C.

I.

Sentt.

Epp.

that the see

is

18.

No reason

and

of

was here meant,

ance of two synonymous

it

viii.

in

314

to

Thuburbo majus.

Morcelli thought Neapolis


since

L.

i.

910,

the word.
Tripoli

at Aries there is

doubt

Now

no appear-

cities.

But in

from 'Thuburbo majus'

follows the other Tripolitan sees and

411, bishops

Leptis Magna.

and 'minus' attend the Collation of

polis to

Magna.

Tissot holds this Neabe only a new quarter of Leptis


Still

the order

is

remarkable;

although geographical arrangement does


not

appear (except as above) in the

Carthage.
Tuburbis,

bur, Inscrr.

Qov^ovp^w,

Plin.

Tuburbo Majus,

But the great inscription,

by finding which

too.

like the text of Cyprian.

first

Ptol.

Tuburb, Thu-

Peut.

and the non-representation of the


greater Neapolis might seem unlikely
list,

xhub!l?bo
Majus.

in

1857 M. Tissot

identified the place, has

Thuburbo,

17^

'

APPENDIX

58o
the noble

Roman

Cities of Peace,

now

K.

among

'lying

the pots'

fragments
more

of three temples, great Phoenician stones in the fort-walls, and four

'grand

Under Genseric and Huneric

edifices.'

Sedatus,

bishop, thought that

its

'bishop's prayer in the church, so


'

Civitas,

Respublica
Thimidensium Regio'

rum.'
Sidz A li-esSedfini.
Bps. 484,
525, 646.

Uthina
'Colonia.'Pl.
Ovfliva, Pt.

Oudena.
Bps. 314
(Aries), 411,
525-

Over the Meliana opposite was GOR^

In

lower valley was

its

Thimida Royal that

pure Punic for

'Hospice'

its

the

'

most splendid

commonwealth

'

of

an ancient seat of Numidian kings, and


higher up the mountain slopes is another of the earlier Colonies,
is,

Uthina.
It

is

speak of the majesty of

to

difficult

Roman

time of

bishop of

its

This apparent indication of

art.

the Vandal sack

never rebuilt

ruins,

its

They

by Byzantine general nor quarried by Arab.

its

are all of the best

abandonment

after

strengthened by the fact that in a.d. 525 it had no


In Tertullian's time the character of its bishop had

is

own 2.

When

been a weapon of his against Catholics.

Felix

came

to Cyprian,

square miles of undulating plateau covered with buildings, as

with

relics,

theatre for

now

required those enormous sets of cisterns, that massy and

complicated citadel for

Bps. 411,646.

was hallowed by the


into a cancer by the

as water

lands bestridden by the great aqueduct of Carthage.

its

Tuccabor.
Toukkabciir.

'

was tainted

speech of heresy.'

s.

Respublica
Gontana.
Driia el
Gatnra.

it

martyrs were many.

its

its

its

defence,

ferocious pleasure.

and that

It

perfectly appointed

presented one and

all

amphi-

of those social

problems which Cyprian saw spread out before Christianity.


The Lower Bagradas Valley, of untold agricultural wealth, spreads to
the north past Carthage. The river is alternately a brooklet and a wide

sudden stream, laden with alluvium.

On

a buttress of hills overlooking

hung Thuccaboris, 40 miles


is inhabited meanly in its old

plain from the north,

Carthage.

It

still

foundations, below the great rock cisterns which

Punic quarters, and the native cultus


Conservator, was served with

name was

On

Ftimi.

insulas
it

on their own

bears in

its

name^,

had its Roman and its


of Cselestis and of Baal as Her-

within fortifications of enormous blocks; for

cules

it

The

Imperial temples.

bishop's

Fortunatus.

the other side of the valley, eight and twenty miles from Carthage,

ElMssaadin.

lying on the chord of a long sweep in Hadrian's road to Theveste,

Bps. a
Donat. 411,

giving

525-

stood FURNI*.
1

its

name

and
by which that road started from Carthage,
This was the place in which Cyprian applied his first act
to the gate

Gorduba, Hartel; two of the best

MSS. and Aug. have Gor.


tions identify with

Gamra, and mention

Two inscrip-

Henchir Draa
its

trates, perpetual flamen,

el

annual magis-

ordo and de-

curiones.
-

its

in a direct line west of

Felicissimus episcopus plebis Sede-

lensis

qui et Utinensis.

Syn. Carth.

Bonifacii Episcopi, A.D. 525.

Labbe,

V. 771.
*

'Bor'

seems

Hebrew and
*

to

Punic.

he

identical

Tissot,

11.

in

292 n.

adopt as probable Tissot's identi-

fication of the see with the

Furni which

THE
of clerg)' discipline in the

now

Geminian

CITIES.

581

One

family.

same family was

of that

bishop.

its

In this

same Lower Medjerda Valley, threaded by the great Road,


in whose extended ruins are relics of good architecture

were Sicilibba^,

and Me.mbres.a., of Punic origin, a difficult unfortified hill-town^, overhanging an elbow of the river, the key both to its upper valley and to
the rich agricultural vale of Vaga.
Here it was that, aided by the

invincible north-west gale of the region, Belisarius dispersed the rebel


forces of Stotzas.

Near Membresa was the

The

AviTlN^E^

yet unfound

three bishops were Sattius, Lucius, Saturninus.

^''^''"'''^^

Aiouenim.
*

^^'^

aDon^at*"'
419. U84j't^^^nr^^'
Mcdjez-eiBps. a Do-

At Vaga, seated on the high western end of the tract which it com- "f'' ^84,' 525;
mands, there were no doubt traces of the large Italian population of '^'6.
which Sallust speaks, connected with its great trade in other commodities gl^'beT^
besides corn. It had been specially made over to Masinissa, and became 404?. 4",
440, 525, 648.
the prmcipal centre of Numidian commerce.
^
o
Colonia SepThrough the Upper Medjerda Valley, above Membresa, road and river timia Vaga.
run together until near the Numidian frontier, passing Vicus Augusti, Bps/tii,
which some would identify with that otherwise unknown ViCUS C^SAris, 484, 495which sent Januarius to the Council.
It lies some twenty-six miles ? Vicus
on%vard, and after yet another twenty-nine is Bulla Regia, which Bps. a
.

"^'- 393.

sent Therapius.

King's Bulla,' with its massy Punic Byrsa (lately pulled down to y,\x\\2l Regia.
metal the railway), with crag-defended plateau and a vast water-storage*, nbeJ^""?!
with marshes below prolific of eel and barbel, with hot sulphur baths, Hammam
'

,-1,

Darradji.
,-,
sweet fouutams reverently enshrmed, theatre and amphitheatre, covers Bps. 390,
/

many

acres with

its

ruins.

It

was, like

Head

Samaria, 'The

of the

*'''

Fat Valley.'

North of Bulla the mountains rise to a height of 3,326 feet at Ain


Draham. Thence the smiling hills of the Tell fall in terrace and
slope to the sea level.
And due north, where the bewilderingly fertile
and feverous valley of Oued-el-Kebir, the antient partition of Numidia
and the Province, enters the sea, lies Thabraca", on mamland and
*

'

...

he here discovered, and not with the

the Membresitan Bishop Salvius by the

Henchir Ain Fournou 130 miles away,


near Zama Regia.
But it is not

people of Avitinas.

Augustin.

Parnun.

c.

demonstrated.

(t.

Al.

Sicilibra,

Fortia d'
*

'Ev

Urban

x*^P^V

Procop. B.

V.

Cf. Itin.

Anc.

ii.

'

'^'

15, ap.

Sv(rK6\(p,

Tissot,

II.

Neighbourhood

is

implied in the

horrid story of the religious ill-usage of

Crescon.

c.

Ep.

iv.

49

and note).

Carton,

Bullet.

Cornite des Trav. Hist.


;

archJol.

du

1891, p. ii^,

not only

its

public

cisterns, but, p. 247, 'pas d'habitation,


si

modeste

fut elle, qui

ces reservoirs.'

327, with plan.


*

Dr

77,

29, with

describes this feature

(1845), p. 12.

^^V^V

Sicilippa,

Sicilbra,

Sciliba also Idn. Ant.

ix. c.

iii.

On its

see Id. 1892, p. 69.


'

Sentt.

Epp.

25.

ne possedat de
Punic necropolis

Thabraca,

r^Ha
^/'/."

'

Xai'rac

Monast.
Vict. Vit.
Pers. Vand.

APPENDIX

582

K.

The mainland is still dense with 'glorious forest-lands,' the


'shadowed glades^' of Juvenal, among whose immense oaks were hunted
The island is a towering fortified
lions and leopards as well as deer.
rock, four hundred feet high, forming and sheltering a slight roadstead.
The sea is rich in coral, whose fishers have carried their craft and their
native name in colonies to Sardinia and Spain ^.
From either Hippo and from Bulla roads converged on Thabraca,
bringing material from east, west and south for embarkation along with its
own rich local exports. It is difficult to explore, but the basilica and some
mosaics of the Christians have emerged ^ Their bishop was at Cyprian's
island.

Council, Victoricus.

town.

Colo'^a,
It. Ant.

Bdne.

is another Royal Numidian


Hippo Regius*, on high ground between the marshy mouths of the
Seyboux and a lesser stream. The Seyboux draws waters from Augustine's
home, Thagaste, on the high Medjerda valley, and delivers them at this
home of his labour and his rest. Of the six or seven known basilicas

Fifty-one miles west along the coast-road

Hippo

'

?35o, bef.'

Relics of the cisterns,


^^^^ churches of his time no trace yet appears.
Don. ?396,
Don. 409, S. aqueduct, quay and bridge remain of what up to the sixth century, long
(395430)-

after its

fall,

was a strong

city

Five important roads converged

still.

French dominion, it was


one of the best along the iron-bound seaboard. King's Hippo then
was an active place. Its bishop now was Theogenes, one of the Seniors,
a martyr in whose Memoria at Hippo Augustine sometimes celebrated^.
Above the valley of the Mellag, a great branch of the Upper Medjerda
System, towers the strongest, most commanding place in Tunisia, El Kef,
'The Rock.' This is SiCCA Veneria^, known also by either name
It is on the road to Cirta from Carthage, more than 21 miles
severally.

here, for, though an insecure harbour until the

Colonia Julia

cfrtrNova
Sicca.

Colonia Julia
Cirta Nova,
Bps. 349,411,
4i8,483?.646-

,_..,

beyond Thacia, where it forks off from the Theveste road. A Royal City of
Masinissa, and first to join the Romans after the Battle of Muthul, thence
honoured as a 'Julian' Colony. Seat of infamous, originally Punic, rites.
A fine inscription honours the Restorer of a Venus stolen by thieves
interrupta templi munitione.' Arnobius born here, who is very strong on
the Heathen vice which such a place fostered. Another inscription
Its bishop
describes a charitable foundation for 300 boys and 300 girls.
was Castus and his text the duty of preferring truth to custom.
*

And
1

in

Quales umbriferos ubi pandit Tha-

braca saltus.
^

another southern side-valley of the Upper Medjerda, the

Juv. Sat.

x.

194.

Tabarcini in Sardinia and also near

of

Toutain, Btdl.
195, speaks of a

Sentt.

name

'marsh'

Trav. Hist. 1892,

iii.

'lirirwvq.

14.

Antiquis dilectus

Ubbo, Phcen.?

Bona,
is

Bone.

from

its

Its

jujube

Serm. ad Populum, 273, 7.


Sentt. Epp. 28; Tissot, 11. 375; C.
Z. viil. i. nn. 1632, 1648.

Epp.

The changes

259.

are curious,

trees,

'necropole Chre-

tienne.'
^

its

Arab name Atmaba

Alicanti.

p.

regibus, Sil. Ital.

Oued

/.

THE

CITIES.

583

Thibaris, to whose 'plebs consistens' Cyprian wrote

Tibar',

is

epistle,

to

his 58th Resp.

The

nerve them for the expected persecution of Gallus.

basiUca of their descendants

is

The bishop

traceable.

was

of Thibaris

AmiUnl'i.
Bp. 4"-

Vincentius.

2.

The

Circle of Cirta.

We pass

The Circle of Cirta, as we may


to the heart of Numidia.
was a unique group of towns. Each sent its Christian bishop to
the Council.
Lordly CiRTA,' the tragic capital of the Numidian kings,
has well been thought the noblest site in the whole world.' A gigantic
foursquare pedestal of rock, a cubic mountain (like that of the Apocalypse)
touches the surrounding country at one point, islanded otherwise by
streams.
Its precipices grow to a thousand feet in height as the plateau
of the city tilts slowly up, while the ravine bed of the Rummel, spanned
here and there by giant arches of rock, slopes to its beautiful cascades.
Antient epithets for it vied with one another
the most fenced city,'
the most opulent.'
Palaces and temples rimmed the highest edge
where the hideous barrack is now, and left marvellous remains even till
the French came. The most prosaic of races is still clearing away everything that is picturesque.
Inscriptions record how many were its priests,
pontiffs, augurs and flamens.
Very antiently it had some close bond with surrounding pagi, and the
Roman wisdom of colonization is eminent in that it not only allowed the
exemption of so proud a place for a time from proconsular jurisdiction
and even from that of the qusestor, but gave to the four greater pagi
the title of Colonies. At the same time there was appointed to each a
praefect of its own, apparently under a 'praefect of the colonies^.'
The
union certainly existed under Trajan is not recorded after Alexander
Severus^, and perhaps at the time of the Council was becoming needless
call

it,

'

'

'

'

This name together

Sentt. Epp.T,-}.

with an inscription C./.Z. VIII. Supplt.


i,

p. I486, n. 15435,

^^ the place but not

name, genio thibaris augusto

its

SACRUM R
Thibar.
2

p THIB. Dd.

It is within

C. I. L.

I.

Tissot Calls

Byzacena.

C.

I.

Une

[la

L. viii.

i.

Tissot,

vol.

Ii.

p.

401,

says:

inscription de Milev prouve que

confederation] fut dissoute, probable-

ment dans

cours ou vers la

le

siecle.'

III*

tion to

See

6944, 67 II, 7978.

Mommsen's article
The title
p. 618.

it

M.

^
'

shew

du

fin

understand the inscrip-

that the Confederation

was

still

active at the date of the inscription,

and

that sometimes as a

mark of respect

shews

the towns paid the fees or subsciiptions

that they were not reduced to the rank

expected from members of the magis-

oi privfecturcE

and

conferred

so,

think,

the

appointment of a prafectus no longer

tracy

on

their

appointment,

D, M. Qonimodi.

aeiilis a.Hgicris

]ure

diaindo

conveyed the idea of chastisement for


revolt as antiently in the case of Capua,

colonia Rusicad^^5j et in colonia Chul-

&c., yet was

litana et bis in colonia MMevitana functi

still

desirable as a security.

ill

virz

"prxiectura

in

Colonia Julia
"Honoris et

cirta"^
Canstatuine.
^^ps- 303. 305*
330, bef. 400,

4*6,484'/^''

APPENDIX

584

Yet as a matter of sentiment

as a matter of policy.

long

K.

it

remained

and

still

after'.

The 'Four

Cirtensian Colonies' were Cirta, Rusicade,

Mileou, and with them was sometimes associated

'

ChuUu and

the Fifth Colony of

CuicuP.'

The Mileou

Colonia

of to-day was Mileou in its bishop's signature in A.D.


can almost be seen from Constantine, 18 miles away, with the

Samensis
Milevitana.
Bps. bef. 375,
?399.
408 25,

484. 553-

553.

It

snowy Djirdjura
strange

ally,

Numidia

When

a background.

for

Caesar recompensed

the Catilinarian P. Sittius Nucerinus, by the grant of

to his Italian

and Spanish

figured the unchangeable

name

his

West

volunteers, the exile touchingly dis-

of the city into a reminiscence of his

own

perhaps never was a very large place, yet


its Church life was memorable.
Two Councils were held here in 402 to
try reconciliation with the Donatists, and in 416 against the Pelagians.
Here S. Optatus ruled, and wrote his vigorous and accurate^ history. Of
one Bishop Honorius there was a dark story. Another was Severus, in
native stream, the Sarnus.

It

whom was

the 'large and holy deep of heart.' To another Optatus


Augustine wrote on the Origin of Souls,' and one was banished with the
other bishops by Huneric.
'

Colonia
Veneria
Rusicade.
Philippeville.

Bps. 305,
411.

Colonia
Minervia

ChuUu.
Kollo.

Bp. 411.

Rusicade* was in reality the port of Cirta, thirty-seven miles distant


due north. The same reason for which France has re-created it into the
fine harbour of Philippeville led Rome to place it under the Legate of
Numidia, namely, to insure the most direct communication with themselves.
The area and variety of its ruins seemed to make it not so much
a centre as a group of centres. The contractor and the archaeologist have
nowhere captured so much prey.
Twenty miles west of Philippeville, on the same wide open bay, is
CoUo, once Chullu or Chulli, which the Greek form KoXXor//' connects with
the Chullabi of the Council the second city of Numidia.
Its purple
manufacturers competed with those of Tyre. On till the 17th century A.D.

it was the great mart for Kabyle wax and hides and wheat.
chantmen and warships had to make the best of its harbour.
CuiCUL was sometimes counted a Fifth Colony with

quinquennalis, item joluta contributione

credidit...''

a Cirtensib?/.? iterum in coXonia MWezi-

tana patria sua primi


perpeiui quod

ei

III

s'vci

^atninis

ad legitimam quaw//ta-

tem pro adfectionum

in

ordme adq^

populo meritis suffragio oblatum


C. I. L. VIII.
^

i.

est ...

n. 8210.

Under Constantine and Constans

. .

C. I. L. viii.

i.

of

n. 7013.

the two basilicas of Cirta and

pp. 80, 81.


^

[See the

important discovery of

materials described by the

Abbe Du-

chesne in Acad. d. Inscrr. Nov. 1890.]


* The name is thought to be from the
Phoenician pharos

Forum

of

fire,' its

uhi honorificentius erigendam

-i,

-em ;

of the Four, erect a statue in the


'

On

those

the Christian inscriptions see Schwarze,

in

the Ordo of the Colonia of Milev, one

at Cirta

But mer-

it

Rus

ikda,

'

Headland

cases appear as Rusicadis,


survives in

Cape Skikda.

THE
Roman

Cirta^, seventy-five

and close on the

among

lie

and

CITIES.

miles from

585

it (//.

Ant), on the road to

Remains of

frontier of Mauretania.

its

temples, theatre, and triumphal arch (to Severus, Julia

Caracalla).

Its

voted acquiescently

Sitifis, Respubiica

Christian basilica

Domna

bishop at the Council was one of the juniors


Pudentianus.

who

rum'^'cdoni'a

Cuiculuano-

Djemtla.

4ii%84%S3.

Macomades was

43 miles from Cirta, about 25 beyond Sigus, the Con- Macomades,


fessors' mine, along the road to Theveste.
Traces of fine irrigation, 100 MaKOjuoSa,
acres of ruins, baths, an aisled basilica 100 feet long
its

bishop rather copious and rhetorical in a short

Gazaufala

so Tissot.

Cassius

space''.

u^^^^t'f

(depraved from Gadiaufala, like Zaritus from Diarrhytus).

was two days' journey from Cirta,' as Procopius says, being about 45
A curious inscription on a
it on the road to Carthage.
native veteran, who had campaigned in Britain, fixes the place and the
spelling^. The Bishop Salvian based his easy inference on the self-evident
It

406,411,484.

'

miles from

proposition

was 46 miles from

It

It

'

'

river

and

sea".'

It was
Ptolemy

Numidian and Pliny Mauretanian. At the collation of 41 1


its bishop was Numidian
in relations with Mileou.
Before Huneric,
in 484, its bishop was Mauretanian. Hence scholars have thought of two
But the conditions are fulfilled if we
cities and two sees, synonymous.
think of it as a double city, like Buda-Pesth or Mayence, seated on both
banks of the Ampsaga, where that stream, pouring down from Cirta,
becomes, at its confluence with Oued Endja, the boundary of the
two provinces. Their bishop now was Honoratus, who appears as a
it

Cuiculi

(It.

inscr. of a.d.

Ant.)

is

ablative.

Cuiculum

1892, p. 303.

by C.

8319. ...FL

ET cvic
NORIBVS

L.

I.

Illl

is

COL

8318,

i.

CGI,

hist.

not really

viii.

OMNiBVS

PONT
IN

Cf.

256 resp cvicvl devot,

Cagnat, Bull. Arch. Com.. Trav.

proved

CIRT
HO

FVNCTVS...

('FlamenperpetuusillI coloniarumCirtensium

at

CuicuU'

),

but Cagnat,

Bull, des Ant. de France, 1889, p. 179,


gives

'Miles morans Coiclo ann v et

menses
2
*

C. /.
Sentt.

Vand.
5

412.

ii.

Tissot,

li.

p. 477.

Procop.

de B.

76.

(11.

verify

cf.

Tissot,

II.

pp. 41

1,

27)

is

warrant for the


(I

cannot quite

them) of the Peutinger Table,

which make

it

at least out of the question

Tucca should have been where


Wilmanns places it, on the mouth of the
Ampsaga. He speaks of the city as on
the left bank (p. 413), and thinks therefore the boundary shifted.
But the
difficulty removes itself at the explicit
that

statement Ravennat. Ano?iymi Cosmograph: 'Civitas Tuca qu^ juxta mare


:

dividitur

Numidiam

et

[ill.

magnum and
^^ llumini'

15.

Tab. Peut.,

Tissot

fensem'

Z. VIII. n. 4800.

Epp.

''

finding of the distances

magnum

Vliii.'

Smtt. Epp. 22.

Procop.
'^''

Bp!'484.

60 from Cuicul^ Oppidum

Ilgilgilis,

commanded both

divided between the provinces of Numidia and Mauretania.'

counts

Gasaufuta^'
I'- Ant.

Haereticos nihil habere constat*.'

'

TUCCA. Unfound.
was near the sea.'

It
*

^Merckeb-

by the

inter ... provinciam


ipsam Mauritaniam Sitivii.]

This Juxta

mare

Pliny's 'impositam mari

[H. N. v,

i, 2)

strategic position.

are fulfilled

Zaouiat-eigp^'^^/j
4841 646.

APPENDIX

586
Numidian

in

and

Epistles 62

70.

He

K.
allows Tradition no standing

aeainst Truths

The Circle of

3.

Aiires.

Betwixt South Numidia and the Great Desert

grand mass of
range of
Aures.
Its outer and inner plateaux, most fertile of corn and fruit, commanded by village-clustered crests, its central heights of between seven
and eight thousand feet, its almost inaccessible rock castles and camps
of refuge^, its copious springs, its endless valleys and ravines, with their
perennial waters and cedar forests, made Aures the nursing-ground, the
impenetrable warren and impregnable citadel of the Berber tribes and
lies that

the Southern Atlas which ranks by itself as Aurasius

the

chieftains.

The Phoenicians had skirted but not pierced it. To the Romans it
was the borderland of danger. Yet it was to Aures that in this continent they devoted their chief attention.
They circled it with roads and
strong towns, and in its circuit founded model cities on lands higher

Roman

than Helvellyn, 'most splendid'" even to


waited and finally reconquered

From Augustus

Civitas

Lambaesis,

Aures

conceptions.

all.

to Diocletian the

Third Legion Augusta held the

check from Lamb^SIS*, a camp and city of its own creation.


This three centuries was the longest time that any Roman Legion was
fixed in one head-quarters. Its history gives us an idea of what a Roman
Legion had to do and further, what massive elements Christianity had
Its camp and extant prsetorium are a magnificent, a
to grapple with.
grammatical specimen of a military centre. Outside the camp, detached

Municipium tribes in
Lanibaesi-

tanum,
Colonia
Lambassitana,

Respublica

Lam basis.
Lambese.
Bps. 240
(Cypr. Ep.
36), 411.

by a considerable space, the town grew up. Hadrian ran a


191 Roman miles direct from Carthage to Theveste, engineered by his legate P. Metilius Secundus the Propraetor, constructed
by the labour of the legion''', and finished A.D. 123.
from

it

great road

Sentt.

Epp. 77 and

Tissot,

52.

thina in 'Three Routes,' Route

'

11.

(See note on Tucca Terebin-

p. 619.

i,

p.

Imp

Masqueray,

M.

Aw-asio,

pp.

in splendi issimis civita ib

dua-

de

'

...

bus col

bjEsitani....'

amug
C.

mu

et

L.

I.

icipi

viii.

i.

Lam2407.

And

Theveste was in

did

than either Thamugadi or Lam-

'

fact

more

'splen-

an.

The modern French Lambessa


is

in

too barbarous.

at

Carthage

10048)

ii.

is

in-

Caes

Divi Traiani
.

Divi

Nervae

Parthici

Nepos

F Traianus
Max Trib

Aug Pont
Cos III viam a Karthagine
Thevestem stravit Per leg iii Aug
P Metilio Secundo Leg Aug Pr
Pot VII

Pr

Lxxxv

An

inscription at Tebessa gives the

distance which

Inscrr. rarely Lambesis, Lambesit-

imitation of Tebessa

VIII.

bsesis.
*

L.

Hadrianus

13. 533

milliarium found

/.

scribed

602.)
*

(C

modern measurements

accurately verify:

Imp

Caes

divi Traiani

Nervse Nepos

Divi
I

Parthici

Traianus

Had-

THE
They had

nearly

if

CITIES.

587

camp at
when Hadrian

not quite finished their permanent stone

Lambassis, having occupied two temporary ones before,


visited

them

He

in July A.D. 128.

them a great

delivered to

allocution

which stands recorded on a special monument ^ He speaks of the


number of their works as having in no degree impaired the excellence of
their manoeuvring.

The town long remained a Vicus only. It was made a Municipium


Its citizens
in A.D. 207 Numidia was made a Province.
were enrolled in Trajan's own tribe Papiria.
Severus claimed to be a great reformer, and soldiers held him to be a
probably when

great corruptor, of military

Legionaries could not contract valid

life.

marriage before, but from him they received the jus conubii with cives
RomancB and leave to reside with their wives 2. At Lambassis are many
traces of the working of the plan, in

monuments to the sons and daughunknown fact that their children

ters of soldiers, in the curious elsewhere

by Roman citizen-women were enrolled in a special tribe Pollia of their


own, and not in Collina, the tribe of the spurious, and particularly in
the gradual covering of the great spaces of the camp itself by large buildings,

among them numerous scholcB for the collegia and military clubs.

It is

palpable that the legionaries were allowed to live in the town.

Around us now spread miles

immense remains of
pomps beyond
our conceiving, arches, temples of singular but somewhat irregular
beauty. The triple shrine of ^sculapius, Serapis and Silvanus is on a
We know the very years of most
fantastic yet most elegant ground plan.
They were all erected, whether in the camp or city
of these buildings ^
of fragments with

public buildings, a 'Praetorium' constructed for military

and the temples themIn the camp was no


not be thought surprising that these and many more

(except perhaps the Capitol) by the Legion

itself,

selves were retained under military guardianship.

temple.

It will

particulars of the

rianus

Cos

Aug

III

Pontif

of the great head-quarters are

life

Max Trib

Pot vii

viam a Carthagine The|vestein


|

Dccxxx

Mil P cxci

stravit

P. Meti-

23,

2,

But

known

35; 23,

2,

assert

that

to

to us

45, 3; 49,

when

16.

17,

children

their

foreign wives were citizens seems

it

by

diffi-

Secundo leg

lio

Aug Pro Pr

Cos

cult.

Desig

Per

leg iii

Aug

The monumental work

lez
III Atjc^
^ has

been erased and

which

will

re-

1.

n. 2532.

j-.

t.g.

rp,

and Serapis

Herodianus, iii. 8. Papinian and


^
Ulpian,
in and ijust after Severus time,
r
'
speak of their matnmonium as if it
:

'

all

'

is

raiis,

283.

p.

-o

i.

Cagnat, Ar-

1892.

,
nt
^
he great temple
ofr Neptune
1

148, dedicated 158, enlarged 174.

C. I. L. VIII.

were in

j n ^^mee de FAjrique,

be explained
*^

presently.
1

views, C. I. L. viii.

sen's

'^'

stored, a fact

^"^ Wilmanns' essay, giving Monim-

(C. I. L.

'

respects justum.

Digesta

Isis

^sculapius and Salus


jj-.c
u j
-..v.
..u
r
102, nnished 211 with the addition of
--

158,

-.

..

^i

Jupiter and Silvanus.

o-i

Silvanus restored

APPENDIX

588
is

K.

realized that this one place yields to the Corpus over 1600 inscriptions.

many more are built into the French prison walls.


The Christians after awhile had at least four basilicas of dates unknown at present. We have already heard of the early Council here of
ninety bishops, and of the 'old heretic' Privatus^. Wilmanns and
Probably as

Tissot mention that no Christian inscription has been found.


there two

sculptures

large

wreath, and on one of

of the labarum with

them the Dove^.

and

0.

co

It is interesting that

copied

within a

the time of

Cyprian was a marked period in the history of Lambaesis. He is the


only author who tells us that it ever was a Colony^. From A.D. 238 to
253 the Third Legion was disbanded, and this is thought to be
time when the town rose to that dignity, when the Capitol
was founded and the noble temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus
built on it.
The Legion was restored and replaced by Gallienus and Valerian* in
A,D. 253, but only for about 40 years, up till the time of Diocletian^
Its
bishop appears in our Council, but apparently not in that of 41 1 ^, and as
no bishop appears in 484 or ever again, it is likely that after its abandonment as the seat of the Legate Propraetor under Constantine it fell into
decline.
The ceasing of inscriptions tells the same tale.
It has seemed worth while to dwell upon Lambsesis on account of the
vividness with which its life and its necessary problems for Christianity
suggest themselves.
But what would be the interest of Thamugadi,
what of Theveste, if their story were as clear ?
the

Theveste'', at the north-east corner of the Aures system,

Colonia
TebelsT.'
Bps. 349,411,

is

no doubt

the place which the Greeks regarded as the capital of Libya, and as a

'Hundred-gated'

city not quite distinguishable

from Thebes.

Yet

in

Roman

age and until Vespasian none but geographers name it.


Then, while Lambaesis was the military centre, Theveste was the centre
Eight great roads linked it to Cirta, Sitifis, Lambaesis,
of communication.
the best

Cypr. Ep. 36. 4; Ep. 59.

Another,

Dr

Ep.

10 Lambesitana Colonia,

59.

agreeing

thus

C. I. L. VIII.

with
i.

10, 11.

the

inscriptions

2661, 2720, 2721,

ii.

This inscription on a statue base,

which
lates

VIII.

to
i.

this will

be generally thought stronger

C.

I.

L.

re-

Momms.

their return.

L.

xxii, xxiii.

C.

It is

I.

POTEN
IN HONOREM LEG
III AVG
V.-VLERIA^^
GALLiENi^ VALERIA/^
SATTONivs iv|cvNDVS< pp QVi|pRiMVS
LEG RENo|VATA i APVT AQVI|LAM
MARTI

copied in the Prsetorium,

2634.

DEO
STATWV

than those of

10228, 10229, 10256, 10259.


*

vitem posv|it votvm dedit dedicante| vetvrio vetv|riano ^ vc ^


leg avggg PR PR
' The
arguments of Wilmanns for
|

.Schwarze, p. 75.

Mi.niJS.

Mommsen

viii.

C. I.

tit.

i.

against him.

and

Lambcssis,

L. vol. viii.

In spite of Masqueray

i.,

pp.

must agree

with Wilmanns that Lambiefisis

not

is

a likely appellative from Lambsesis.

''

Sentt.

Epp.

31,

Lauresh, Veron. H.

Thebeste

MSS^

THE
Tacape, Sufetula and Thysdrus

most important,

CITIES.

589

Hadrian (we have seen) developed the

that to Carthage.

favourable station for Christian pioneering,

it

has been said, and

number and apparently

the remark seems to be borne out by the

early

date of Christian inscriptions^ from that region.


Procurators

managed imperial

estates in the neighbourhood.

Settlers

on military tenure of knight-service held wide lands, and were protected

They planted out groups

with elaborate care.

of towers throughout the

domains, with an eye to the raids from Aures.


The scale and splendour of the place are marvellous
its

baths,

with

its

The

arrangement of
marble pavement, marble screens, and
its

drainage.

careful

stabling for troops of horses.

its

its

water-works,

forum and market

cloisters,

and with

African architecture like African Latin

has marked pecuHarities, and the fine temple of Jupiter is an excellent


instance of them, as is also the quadruple Janus, finer than that of Rome,
and again the simple grand basilica with its stately steps and mosaic

contemporary with Cyprian, and stopped, three or four


immense church
and establishment. Rude Christian capitals lie ready to be hoisted, and
an immense array of monks' cells in solid masonry has been already
added, together with a bishop's house and chapel and a baptistry,
the whole defended vainly by the Byzantine ramparts^. The Vandals

floor, exactly

centuries later, in actual process of conversion into an

were driven back, but the spirit of the dry places returned to his garnished house, and the Arabs sit marketing by thousands in the dust

among
The

their camels,

and the debris of the

third of these glorious cities,

grandly placed to do the work which


wild world, was

Thamugadi, Timgad

city are

which we must

(a see

notice, that

was so

'

conceived to be hers in the Thamuthe African Pompeii.'


Ilfrcia^"''
to us nor represented at Jrajana
i

Thamugadi was founded in A.D. 100 with a true soldier's eye by


Munatius Gallus, Trajan's legate and propraetor, to control the adits to
the very heart of Aures by the veterans of the Thirtieth Legion, Ulpia
See Schwarze, pp. 63 ff.
gratefully acknowledge the cour-

^ I

tesy of the

plished

Abbe

Delapart, the accom-

antiquarian

and

self-

devoted

ComCommand-

parish priest of Tebessa, of the

mandant des Armes, and the

ant des Indigenes, Captains Martineau

and Empiroget.

One

of

most singular discoveries

M. Delapart's
is

the mosaic

plaque of a cross placed within an apse

between

A and

ft,

namugadi.

Timgad.

Morcelli).

L.

Colonia

Rome

Verecunda was a fourth not so much known


Carthage

spread out for miles.

which he found some

feet

beneath the altar of the basilica,

some token

where he expected to
of consecration.
For

find

of Lambsesis, Theveste

andThamugadis

fine illustrations

Mr Graham's Paper on the 'Remains


of the Roman Occupation of N. Africa,'

see

Transactions of R. Inst, of Brit. Architects, vol.

fair's

i.

N.S. part 3; Sir L. Play-

Travels; Duthoit, Soc. Arch, de

Constantine, 1884, and especially Boes-

willwald and Cagnat's Timgad.

Optatu'
^^^^' g.

APPENDIX

590

K.

They were enrolled in the Emperor's own tribe,


and held a richer, wider territory than any African colony. It is
unmentioned except by geographers, until with Bagai it is very much
mentioned for its Donatist terrors, and for 'the ten years long groaning
of all Africa' under its Bishop Optatus, the 'Dux Circumcellionum.'
But who shall say what the long groaning of real Africa had been under
Roman Africa, or what the misery of the dispossessed and destitute
natives who listened to him ? The scene of his harangues in the curia
and the forum needs little imagination to complete it. After the disappearance of the baffled Vandals it was the Maurusii who poured in, depopulated Timgad, and made it uninhabitable, so that no civilized being
might find in it a pretext for even approaching Aures^. It was reoccu-

Victrix, as colonists.

Papiria,

pied by

Solomon about

A.D.

538

not restored, but quarried for his

fortifications.

The long white

streak beneath the mountain brow, which you watch


you approach it, develops at last into an almost perfect city
which looks as if roofs and capitals had been taken away a year ago,
leaving walls and floors and bases perfect. The whole aspect is that
of a city built on a perfectly considered and beautiful plan.
Its fine
triumphal arch takes you into the long street with its smooth wheelgrooved pavements and shady colonnades towards the north breeze.
These lead on to the macellum, to the forum with its cloisters and
statuary, and then to the basilica and public offices.
A short stroll
brings you to the beautiful theatre in the hillside. Ever in your ears
is the rush of waters which once poured through these dry troughs,
channels and fountains, and charged the vast baths.
It is notable that the fine temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was built
under a severe Christian Emperor Valentinian I., and that when the
Arabs came a new basilica was in building".
Respublica
From Theveste the road which encircles the ridges and defiles of
Oum^K^' Aures and commands the plateaux and skirts the salt-basins that lie
northwards, goes west through Cedias, whose ruins as yet serve only to
^^t ^i^
identify it.
It was like Mascula a seat of Donatism.
Two Christians
at some time built a church near, and dedicated it as 'men of Cedias,
sinners,' perhaps on their restoration to the Church^.
The road passes
for hours as

Procop.

de

Bell.

Vand.

ii.

13,

'civibus sublatis,' perhaps; but 'sequa-

verant solo,' no; for that

is

not

its

d.

/.

Thimgad

as Lambaesis

is
is

essentially a civil city

a military one, but laid

Iuser. May
^

state

even now.
2

towards Lambsesis.

Cagnat ap. Acad.

1891.

This noteworthy record


L.

i.

domini
atus fer navis
j

in

is

C.

in atri
2309
DfeFQUi feSTSfeRMONi don-

vill.

n.

'

lus Fi;cfeRUNT cfeDi


|

main streets crossing at


right angles, Cardo N. and S. towards
Constantine, Decumanus E. and W.

out with

its

;Nsfes

pfecKATORfes,'

corrected

and

explained by De Rossi as In nomine Patris domini dei qui est sermofii.


(?)

THE

CITIES.

591

on through the wide strewn ruins of Mascula, on the north-east spur of


Aures, a critical strategic post, then and now commanding one of the
main passes of Aures, and covering the direct route from the Tell to

Colonia
K^ifnchela.
^p*- 305i

Sahara to begin with, a great corn and cattle station .


s^sBagai and Timgad Bagai. Ksar
It communicated with Bagai near the salt lake.
the Donatists claimed as all their own. Augustine sarcastically makes one Bps.'do"^'"st343,
What do you
of them ariiue
'And ours too is a "Great Congregation."'
J

b b
394^ 402,
think of Thamugade and Bagai-.'"
Here was held their Council ofUos, 404, a

Donat. 411,
_.
...
_,.
Donatus the Circumcellion leader was a 484.
310 Bishops m A.D. 394'".
native of Bagai, and here were perpetrated many of the horrors of the
;

.,

faction^.

These places were

all

revived into Byzantine fortresses by Solomon,


cities had failed, by mere
have retained their Christianity long

but were never likely to hold a country, whose

Yet they seem

force of arms.

all to

Arabs had exterminated it elsewhere.


of Cedias, Mascula and Bagai were now Secundinus,
Clarus and Felix ^
Facing from Lambassis towards Sitifis, capital of Mauretania, 21 Resp.
Lamasbensis
IllT
11
the last station but one Antoniniana.
mountamous miles would
brmg you to Lamasba,
on the Numidian side of the border, a great depot for the products of the Lam^ba""
fertile plains beyond.
A great inscription on the distribution of water, Lamasua,
probably for the use of the numberless oil-mills, is an instance of the Lamasbua,
Pusillus, a Merouana.
perfection with which the Roman farmers were attended to''.
"*"'
rare name, was their bishop.
^^^'
more,
the
road
Westward and then southward, about 62 kilometres
from Lambtesis sweeps round down the stern deep defile which the
Romans called 'Hercules' Shoe' and the Arabs, in amazement at the

after the

The bishops

-1

.,

Donatiis

et

Mommsen's

patre domini

(i.e.

nomine

have knowledge of only one Donatus.'

Schwarze, p. 69,

Dominus Deus

quotes for

(of Christ)

suggestion in

in deo) defunctits qui

seems unnatural.

est

Aug. Contr. Crescon. Donat. \v. 10.


Xeander, vol. III. p. 271 (Bohn), on
the question whether Donatus a Casis
Nigris and Donatus Magnus were one
and the same, says 'Optatus seems to

Navigius fecertint Cedienses

peccatons.

C. I. L. VIII.

i.

2079

n.

-^^

Domini dci wostri atqtti salbntoris


IHU xpi
C. I.
L. VIII. ii. n.
8429 In nomine ^ Z>omini Z?ei ; and
on ^^r;?/^ for A670S Tert. cuiv. Prax.v.
I would therefore emend simply In
Patre Domini Dei qui est sermo Dei,
'In the Father of the Lord God Who
;

is

the
^

Word

of God.'

Masqueray has a

Schwarze,

Ruines

Paris, 1879.

ii.

Optatus expressly distinguishes them,


lib.

iii.

init.

and

says,

'Donatus Bagai-

ensis collected the " insana multitudo."

Epp. 11, 79, 12. It is interesting that from the neighbourhoods


'

Sentt.

of Cedias,

come

Mascula, Theveste

Bagai,

the inscriptions with 'Deolaudes,'

of the

on Psalm

xxi. 26.

Catholic

Schwarze, pp. 69

p. 73.

Aug. Enarr.

the Donatist greeting adopted instead


treatise

anciennes de Khenehela.
Cf.

Sentt,

4440.

Epp.

'Deo

gratias.'

See

f.

75.

C. I. L. viii.

i.

n.

APPENDIX

592

K.

Roman bridge 'El Kantara'; then it suddenly bursts into that vision
of a hundred thousand palm trees which startle every traveller into the
new

sense that he has touched a

Japhet

will

From El

Tubunse

TobonS,^"
^^'JBps. 411,

and

Roman

Kantara, a

munic.
eou^oui', Pt. files

zone,

and a world

in

which the sons of

never be at home.
road, quarried throusrh wonderful de-

set all along with towers

and

up

ruins, turns

to

THUBUNyE,

the

westernmost frontier town and castle of Numidia, though Wilmanns


almost assigns it to Mauretania^ Its Nemesian was a very senior bishop
and the lengthiest speaker twice as long as Cyprian.
Then from Biskra, about 112 kilom. from Lambjesis^, the inexorable
road sets itself back eastward to enchain the precipice walls of Mount

Aures on the south, with nothing but the sandy rock of Sahara

and

far

Out

beyond the horizons

of

many

in front

days.

Mokran five-and-thirty kilometres south-west


planted his last outpost, the immense and mani-

into the desert of

of Biskra, the

Roman

foldly fortified

camp

of

Gemell^e.

We

shall

come

to

it

by another

route ^.

Great stations, Ad Badias and others, watched the valleys which


poured out their torrents of waters and of Berbers through the mountain
posterns.

By such a tremendous chain of fortresses, cities and colonies, by


'wardens of the marches' and tenants inheriting and holding lands by
military service, by actual 'moss-troopers' in the marshlands, the whole
vast frontier was continuously guarded.
From Leptis Magna the limites ran westward in this order, Thamellensis, Badiensis (then came Aurasius itself, which need not and could
not be a limes'^)^ Gemellensis, Tubunensis. A similar line of limites then
ran northward to the sea, and behind was Mauretania Caesariensis
itself (apparently) all held by this tenure.
Alexander Severus had, just
before Cyprian's time, taken important measures for the security of the
limitaiiei duces et inilites and their heredes in their ^ sola^^ and for keeping up their stock of cattle and slaves iie desererentur rura vicina
'

'

'

barbarice.'

On the colonies and principal towns every


Rome in miniature was lavished. Officers
1

A Thubunas.

Sentt.

Epp.

5,

Tissot,

pp. 512 and 518.

II.

C. I. L. VIII.

See

infr.

i.

very

little

of family, augurs, legates,


of

could be farmed.

it

his interesting sketch

pp. 70

p. 275.

'Three Routes'

Rte.

(i).

* Masqueray seems much impressed


and puzzled by the fact. But Aures
was absolutely ringed round with forts
and camps and legions, and certainly

ff.)

make

delight which could

See

Aurasio M.,
and their con-

i^de

of the limites

ditions, as also the laws against extortion

by these armed farmers.

The marsh-

lands are particularly noticed


limitaneos universos,
in Cod. lib. xi.

tit.

cum

('agros

paludibus,')

Lix. (lx.).

THE
proprfetors

Thus

CITIES.

593

devoted themselves to the enrichment of the new homes.


an old praefect

at Theveste, before a.d. 212, C. Cornelius Egrilianus,

to a family which has left many monubequeaths ^5,000, half to found the extant Triumphal
Arch, half for gymnastic games in the Thermae on fixed days through the

who belonged

of the 14th Legion,

ments

at Lambaesis,

and gold vessels for the Capitol.


But not amusement only was provided, whether fierce or luxurious.
The courts indicate elaborate administrations complete upon the spot.
There were curiae and rostra and the appointments of an apparent
republic.
The marriage privileges, the tribal arrangements all were for
the purpose of founding not only garrison cities for the marches but comyear, as well as sets of large silver

munities perfect in themselves yet identified in every interest with the

The country probably could

Empire.
all,

not at this time have been held at


had not been distributed in vast latifundia
members of the imperial families and even ladies) and

or cultivated to profit

to capitalists (often

by them partly furnished


as

we

if it

for themselves with fortified country

houses (such

see in the African mosaics) surrounded by large villes,

sublet to
It is

Roman

and partly

farmers and contractors^.

evident that this civilization cannot have been carried on without

the co-operation of vast numbers of native tenants as labourers, as well as

poor colonists.

To them we must

ascribe the abundant traces of small

farmsteads in some of the larger and safer valleys.


called

'

Roman Gardens

'

of olives

and

fruit trees

Spots which still are


seem as likely to be
which would probably

Berber copies as to be original Roman plantations,


have borne Roman names.
When Rome grew Christian the mountaineers too were so soaked with
Christian usages that to this day they keep Christmas^. They call the
months by Latin names and measure the year, Hke Christians, by the sun
and not by moons.

Yet these

cities

were not

at last

desolated by their neighbours the

captured by Vandals, but deliberately

first

hour that the invasion called the

garrison away.

and Christianity were unable to overcome animosity


That is how we put it. Rather Civilization and Christianity sate helpless, not knowing or thinking how to deal
with the prodigious, multiplying masses of dispossessed, impoverished,
harried natives, whom mile by mile soldiers and settlers drove out before
Yes.

Civilization

of race and wildness of temper.

them.

The Circumcellions had weakened everything long before the Vandals


came. They liberated slaves, destroyed account books, broke up villas,
drove the gentry round and round in the mills. Their weapons were sticks.
They were accompanied by troops of women. Their numbers were
such herds,' such crowds,' so many thousands.'
everywhere immense

See

ap.

Masqiieray,

'

'

'

De

Auras.

Moolid, 'The Nativity.'

Monte, pp. 50, 57.


B.

38

APPENDIX

594

What

K.

The controversy was nothing to


They attached themselves to the Donatists because these
They had no hold on
disaffected party in Church and State.

they hated was proprietorship.

such people.

were the
life

When life was too miserable they quitted it by the


seems plain who and what they were.
Material wonders are being worked in other parts of the world before
except

life.

thousand ^

own

our

It

eyes.

The Thevestc Road.

4.

There were 20 stations on 197 Roman miles of direct road between


Carthage and Theveste on the average 9;^ Roman miles apart 2. From
eleven of these station-towns bishops attended the Collation of Carthage
in the year A.D. 411. Between Thurris and Thignica the road was double,
and on the second line the town of Valli sent a bishop to the same conPertusa, It. ference.
Besides there is no reason to doubt that three other stationAnt. Ad
Pertusa. El towns which had bishops before (two of them also afterwards) had
;

Harairia.
Bp. 393-

This makes 15

Whether

Djemel.
Bps. 396,

a Donat.
411.

Thacia,
Tab. Peut.
ao-i'a, Ft.

Bordj
Messaoudi.
Bps. 348, a
Donat. 393,
525, 646.

Colonia
iElia

Augusta.
Lares.
Laribus.

Lorbeus.
Bps. 411,
483, 525-

Ad Pertusa, Thurris, Thacia.

bishops in A.D. 411

Thurris, It.
Ant. El

sees, or as nearly as possible

a see every 13 miles.


is no knowing.

these all were sees in Cyprian's time there

Bishops from

them, distributed

five of

all

along the

line,

attended the

from Sicilibba (33 miles), Membresa (54), Laribus (117), Ad


Medera (172), Theveste (197).
With the exception of one or two older Liby-Punic towns, the others
were probably little more than travelling stations founded with the road,
and gathering settlements about them. Not much is known of them but
their distances in the Itineraries and their Christianity.
Sicilibba and Membresa, in the Lower Medjerda valley, have been
A hundred and seventeen miles from Carthage we come
described.
upon Lorbeus, which represents Laribus, which again, from being an
incessantly used case, had become (first on barbarian lips) as in other
Council,

viz.

Widespread ruins in an unbuilt out of them, Justinian's


land once rich with forest
walls
a Christian basilica which saw the massacre of 30,000 Christians
and became a mosque. Its bishop, Hortensianus*, had attended the
instances a substitute for the true Lares^.

inhabited

Councils of 252 and 255 A.D.


1

Augustine supplies such particulars

The

Ad

stations are:

Mercurium

SICILIBBA
(44),

[2nd

BRESA
(78),

(33),

Agbia

Thurris

route

(54),

Valli

Tichilla
(84),

(124),

(172),

Ad Mer-

Pertusa

(14),

(20),

early in the

(38),

Chisiduo

(44),]

MEM-

Thignica

(91),

Thacia

LARIBUS (117),

Altuburos

AD MEDERA

Inuca

(64),

Musti

(98), Drusiliaiia (105),

Obba

Ad

(18),

(156),

curium (186), rz/^r.ffi-T'^ (197). (Tissot, II. 443-)


The italicized were sees

passim.

(140),

Mutia

The

fifth

century,

or

earlier.

mark the sees from which


bishops came to Cyprian. The figures
shew the distances from Carthage.
'^

capitals

EZs Adpi^ov, Aapl^ovs, Procop. de

Bell.
*

Vand.

Senii.

ii.

23, 28.

Epp.

21.

Coripp. Joh.

vi.

THE

CITIES.

595

Seven miles further Ebba, Orba in the Peutinger Table, miswritten it


seems for Obba, where the bishop was Paulus^. He thought the error of
aliquis a fall from the faith.
Then Mutia, and then Ammedera-, rather more than 19 miles
Great ruins on both sides of the river, quays, great
from Theveste.
theatre, five Christian churches, two triumphal arches, one very fine,
A.D. 195.
Hyginus relates how it was gated and streeted as a camp, and
'

'

recognize

it.

Eugenius' speech consists of the four least offensive words of his

whom

fanatical neighbour

he followed immediately.

5.

Three Routes.

Three main routes linked the Theveste road

to that

grand coast

which, south from Cape Bon, sweeps out the great gulf of

line

Hammamet

Gabes (Tacape), which forms the crescent of the lesser


and then trends south-east to the great Syrtis. (i) The coast
road from Leptis Magna throws off at Tacape, the last of the Emporia,
a great road passing the end of the salt lakes, and working northward
through the highlands, until it meets at Asturas (2) a second road from
Thenze, where the Emporia began then from Assuras a loop-line ran
to two stations on the Theveste road, Althiburos and Thacia.
(3) At
Coreva, higher up on this same road, a third route falls in from Hadrumetum.
There was a Musula on the great Syrtis, 150 miles beyond Leptis
Magna, between Dissio and ad Ficum, which Tissot makes no attempt
Nothing
to identify with the see of Januarius Muzulensis. But why not
but its distance seems against it*.
that of

Syrtis^,

.''

143 (ap. Tiss.), Urbs Laribus surgit


mediis tutissima silvis Et maris munita
novis

quam

condidit ipse Justinianus

apex.
^

has yielded 282 inscriptions,

tion

(It

34 of them Christian.
p. 50,

Astitis

See Schwarze,

on two Christians of the family


bearing the

title

flamen per-

Roma and Augustus, in


6th century.) Ad Medera, Pait. Ad
Medera, Admedera, Ad Medra, //. Ant.

petuus,

sc.

of

Admedera, Hygin.
Metridera,

Avfierepa, Proc.

Cro^.

Procopius dwells on the crescent,

^:

i]

/x-qvoeioij KdXirov...
"*

Inscrr.

fMTjvoeiSrj.

OdXaffcra iv ffTev(^ O\ioixivrt direpyd^eraL

231.

de yEtii/.vi. ^: is koXvov

Epp. 47.
'Afi/jiaiSapa,
Sic Sentt. Epp. 32.
Ammsedara, Ammcedera, Corp.

Sentt.

/v.

Bps^l^ii,
'*84.

5S3-

Colonia

Augusta
f^^l^'ra*^""

Haxdra.
Bp. 411.

we can

and

Obba.

Sentt.

There

Epp.
is

(adopted by

34, Tissot,

no ground

De Mas

'Januarius

of

for

11.

pp. iiS,

Morcelli's

Latrie) identifica-

Muzulensis' with

There are two Muzucas near


Lama (Tissot, il. 603 f. PI. xix.). Morcelli says readings vary, as Mucuza,
Muzuca, Muzucha, Muzulensis, MosuMuzuca.

lensis,

Mutucensis.

Hartel gives no

variant in Cyp. save Mozulensis Cod.


S'^^.,

though Rigault alleges 'a Muzucha

Co^j^.

Co;'^.'

and Holsten 'Muzuca.'

the other hand the only reading in

382

On
list

APPENDIX

596

K.

Other roads too connected the towns ^ but these three Hnes striking
and traversing the inland, would bring up representatives

the coast road,

of at least three-and-twenty sees to Carthage.

Hadrumetum was about

Roman

108

miles from Carthage^, and Great

Hadrumetum.

Leptis about 650^ by the coast from

The

hundred

last

miles of this were the sand-deluged coast of the Tripolis, a

name which

then meant the three early Phoenician Marts of Sabratoun, Oiat, and
Lebki^, but which, as

Oea and

The

conditions of

in

life

settled

upon Oiat or

the Tripolis differed

much from all that we have been considering.


To Livy"^ Leptis seemed 'the only city' there worth mention.

Colonia
Ulpia

Trajana

must have been strong, since

stitution

Leptis.

Leptis

Magna,

two neighbours decayed,

its

so remains.

PI.

Its

con-

was still ruled


As Gibeon from Joshua, so

in our first century

it

by the old Canaanite 'Judges' or Sufetes**.


Leptis from Bestia sought and obtained instant conditions of

peace when
Lebda.
Bps.aDonat. the Romans appeared on the soil in the outset of the Jugurthan war.
393, a
Donat. 411,
be estimated from its antient
Its enormous imports and exports

may

an Euboic
impost with which C.

tribute of

talent daily to

Carthage

and from the permanent

'^j

Julius Caesar visited its reception of the shattered

Pompeians.

The splendour

Oea, Ocea,
Colonia,

Oea

of

is

witnessed

still

by the grandest Four-fronted

It.

Ant.
Civitas
Ocensis,
Oensis, PI.
TrzJ>oli.

Janus extant^. It had been built by a chief magistrate, and dedicated by


a proconsul about a century before our date, and was probably surpassed

by the

edifices with

which Septimius Sevei'us adorned

this his birthplace.

Bps.aDonat.
411, 484.

of 484 A.D. (Labbe, v. 266) and


41

(Labbe,

province

The

is

ill.

which

99)

list

of

refers to the

Muzucensis.

Death; Death bilath Makar, 'town of


Makar, the Tyrian Hercules ; the final
'

'

/ is

use of the adjectival form in

'

the Punic feminine.

Literary fonns

Osa, Dza, Oca, &c.

Cyprian^s time has a bearing on the

**

It

praises

itself

as

'

ex marmore

geography, see p. 597, n. 6.


^ From Thense the first route might

solido'

and

Roman

specimen in material, construc-

be struck at Sufetula.

tion

It.

Ant.; but

//.

//.

Ant.; but

It. Petit.

Hence

Sir

632.

tanus side by side with Leptitanus.

Livy xxxiv.

Their

British

in

the

c.

Wilmanns, L.

I.

L. viii.

p. 3.
''

Liv. xxxiv. 62.

Hirtii de

97, tricies centena millia

B. Afric.

pondo

olei

Sentt.

Lambert

Epp.

83.

Brace's

Playfair's Travels, p. 280.

Drfitus
I
is

was proconsul about 163 a.d.

may remark

that if Quintilian,

Coins,

Quiath,

viii. 3,

right (and the reading right) in ascrib-

ing the

first

use of Munerarius to Au-

gustus,

it

is

interesting that in African

inscriptions, in Tertullian

and Cyprian,

Munerarius occurs several times and

Munerator never.

annually.
^

is

Calpurnius was 'curator muneris publici

English

strange

adventures under our Fourth George

i.

It

great

flamen perfectus.' Ser. Cornelius Scipio

monument

Museum had

and William.

decoration.

the

munerarius, duumvir quinquennalis et

62.

notable

surpasses

'most exquisite and elaborate' sketch,

Pent. X14.

the Latin appellative Lepci-

and

far

THE

CITIES.

597

The position of Sabrata appears perhaps in the fact that the cause in
which Apuleius had triumphantly pleaded for himself on the charge of
magic employed in winning his wealthy lady was tried there though all
the parties belonged to Oea. Travellers have seen its amphitheatre, the
marble floor of its temple or basilica, and its pier amid the sand. A
This may
vast space, apparently never built on, is included in its walls.
be what the Punic name of Sabratoun^

Market of

was

Tripolis

fusion of

thought to describe

'

Corn-

nations.

'

The

is

its

at

our date somewhat more than trilingual, and the

population was never accomplished, any more than that of

three tongues, Libycized Punic 2, Siceliot Greek and Latin.

its

The

was held together

Tripolis

unsubstantially that

Oea about

at least ^

by an annual council, but so


Garamantes to help

A.D. 70 brought in the

her quarrel with Leptis.


It is

who

a mirror for colonists

think

whom

the religion of nations with

to

it

policy to be liberally indifferent

they dwell, or to the barbarism

which looks across their pale.


Thenceforth the drift of the Sahara sand, successfully resisted for so
many ages, was seconded by the drift of Sahara tribes no less multitudinous^.
Protectors like Count Romanus made resistance to them
hopeless. Leptis was destroyed once more by the Ausuritani in A.D. 370,
yet bishops of all three towns appeared in 41 1. None however after their
banishment by Huneric in 484. So that the towns sank probably soon
after that to the condition in which Justinian found them, mounded deep
in sand''.
His splendid revivals were soon buried again, and of Great
Leptis nothing now emerges but white sea-walls and a ghostly likeness
to Carthage.

The

self-governing organization which, adverse to

war and unifying as

expanded, had arisen in that antient scene of industrious wealth and


anxious splendour, was the salt of their old world. It could not here
become the seed of the new. That element in Tripolis was represented

it

by Natalis of Oea, who with his own suffrage brought the


of Sabrata and Dioga of Great Leptis six or seven
hundred miles, and as Augustine says begged the question*'.

at the Council

proxies of

Pompey

Which

is

also

its

other Greek

'A^p6tovov, Scyl. Peripl.

y^dif.

d.

vi.

name

Procop.

'AXXd koX "Zajiapadav

ireixicrcLTO woKiv,

TToWoO

no.

ov

Svj

Kal Xoyov d^iai'

^ug.

writes of their

78.

Silius,

Fun.

iii.

256,

pre-Roman age not with-

out discrimination.

Sabi-atha turn

Ty-

rium vulgus, Sarranaque Leptis, Oeaque


Trinacrios Afris permixta colonos.
2

The

diffident

'

C. /. Z. viii.

i.

p. 2.

Globi supervenere barbarici.'

mianus

at the

end of

Am-

lib. xxviii. relates

the 'terrific tragedy' with feeling and

4KK\7]a-iav iSeifj-aro.

Sail.

Wilmanns' protest against any idea of


confederation.

particle

is

due

justice,
^ "^d/x/j.ov

/xeX^crdai

^dif.
*

to

irXridet

to.

woWa

KCLTax^iXTdelaa.

ti^

clttt}-

Procop.

de

The two

ab-

vi. 4.

Sentt.

Epp. 83

85.

sentee bishops are quoted in the forms

sabrata
Coloma,
2a/3paea, Pt.

Sabathra}^'-

Bpt'lDonat.
393''.

4".

APPENDIX

598
Route

Oea

(i).

K.

Assuras by the Salt Lakes and Capsa.

to

Now if we may make so bold with this said Natahs of Oea as to


watch his journey to Carthage by one or other of these routes, he would,
for any of them, take first the coast-road as far as Tacape, now Gabes.
Thence he might turn inland to Capsa, thence by Thelepte, Sufetula,
These all, save Tacape, were
Sufes, Tucca Terebinthina to Assuras.
sees which sent their bishops to Council with Cyprian.

From between

Girba,

^yj"^'""
Bps.aDonat.
393, 411, 450,
484, 525.

the gulf and the dunes, below the curved escarpments of

which do their best to break the endless drifts of sand


and catch them in their valley parallels, his road emerged on a level of
vast lagoons beyond which, but as if among them, lay the low island of
Meninx, which in these very years was beginning to be called GlRBA^ as it
The Canaanites had brought to
It was the Lotus Eaters' Isle.
is now.
But the superior brilliance
^jg^^g palms and the arts of the purple dye.
>
-^
1
of the colour made here, and the marvellous fruitage of the isle, are due
still to the unbroken industry of the Berbers, who received and survived
the Tyrians, resisted the Mahommedans, though they accepted their

the Nefousa

hills,

jj.

i.

and speak their original tongue among themselves to this day.


Like the Kabyles they accepted and dropped Christianity. They had
a bishop already in Cyprian's day, and he went to the Council, a senior

creed,

Monnulus by name. Besides his singular bad grammar, it is


him expressing 'a stain' by using a technical term of
dyeing, and that in a form nowhere else existing-.

bishop,

interesting to find

Then on

Natalis'

left

opened out the extraordinary chain of the three

water Chotts, 215 miles of lake-basins^, full of quicksands, crusted


thick with salt which has conveyed and betrayed armies and caravans in
salt

single

for

file

Sabratensis

2ii\A

thousands of years
Leptimagnmsis ;

others as e.g. Natalis ab Oea.

a crust spread like 'floors of camphor,'


'Cs\Q

tificetur.'

use

offectura as

of this form at this time z this district

only

itself inclines

Muzulensis

one to believe that

in Sentt.

Musula on the Great


Later,

came

when

local

(to this

be-

temporal lords

the bishops kept

I,

p. 195 n.

for inventing

(as

Morcelli

does) in the Proconsular Province.


-

Setitt.

baptizari,

Monnulus 'Debent...
cancer quod habebant et

Epp.
ut

10.

damnationis iram

But

means a

it

'Infectores

colour into another.

qui

alienum colorem in lanam conjiciunt

officiunt.'
^

qui

proprio

Festus, lib.

Laciis Salinariim

It

was only

colori

novum

ix.

= Sebkha.

1853 that the

in

first

real exploration of this strange country

25^ and 260; v.


There is no ground

another Girba

= 'tenebrse.'

dye specially for the conversion of one

offectores

designations

day) the adjective.

Between a.d.

Tissot,

de,

relates to

Syrtis.

territorial titles, the

used the a or the


^

Epp. 34

Hartel, /w^A p. 440, explains

^\\

The

et ervoiis offectui'am

per sanctum et cseleste lavacrum sane-

was made, by M.

The

lacustrine

Tissot.

valley

is

348 kilo-

metres long in the Carte de Reconnaissance, 1881

map

1887.

gives 370

273, vol.

i.

and

p. 100.

Sir L.

Playfair's

Tissot's apparently

'The

Chotts varies every month.'

size of the

THE
an

'arctic

that shine

CITIES.

599

landscape under a sky of fire,' and set with fathomless lakes


among the mirage like molten metal. The first and greatest

the mystical lake Tritonis. The traveller crossed only 'the Mouth'
and passed behind 'the Lips' these are the Arab names for the gap
where Sahara comes upon the sea, and for the low north ranges which
fringe it.
Sheltered from the August heat of the weird valleys he would
use Roman roads and stations until, a hundred miles beyond Gabes, he
is

reached Capsa.

Capsa^ is but an oasis set in a great breach of the same perpendicular


cliff which continuing beyond Biskra walls in the salt desert. There
three vast valleys meet from north, north-west and east, and pour streams
and roads and merchandise out through the Mountain-gate. For from the
north

days of 'the Libyan Hercules'-

the

the city

Capsa

Respubi^''
Capsensium.

Capsa

warder /ca/sa^
of the mountain plateaux of the Tell, and keeps the gate of Sahara and
'^'^^^Donat
Soudan^. Mediaeval travellers could still admire its fortress, defences 4". 484and masonry we have only its vast reservoirs and bathing tanks. The
Roman historians were amazed at its lonely greatness, amid immeasurable solitudes,' as Sallust writes, and at its security in mid Afric fenced
with sands and serpents' says Florus. No figure of speech the French
columns of to-day keep fires burning through their quarters, not to scare
the cerastes, but for instant cautery ^
Marius is still a legendary hero there on account of his preternatural
first

Phoenicians

is

'

'

capture of the fortress in mere lust of battle.


district (Pliny

observes that

it is

more of a clan

The

Christians of the

{tiatid)

than a city*) had

no bloody contest with Islam, but held their faith longer than others with
a quietude which is described as still characteristic of them.
Donatulus, who went to the Council, was^ a junior bishop consecrated
as we have seen in a.d. 252, and it is rather amusing to notice that he
begins his brief speech with Et ego semper sensi.'
'

Far away, quite at the western end of the same vast valley of the salt
Roman military road swept down south through another grand
defile, the famous El Kantara, and onward for some 50 miles to reach the

lakes, the

fine oasis of Mlili

thence

returned up to Biskra, and ran east under

it

Aures and the long vertical

cliffs

which rim Sahara.

It

reached the

embraced it and went on to Gabes.


This military road was the south boundary of the Roman Province,
here called Limes Gemellensis, for the oasis which made its corner was
Chott-el-Djerid,

Gemellx.
Bp.'abonat.
411.

Morcelli dreams of two Capsas also.

Senit.

Epp. 69

Capse, H.

omit

the frequent statement that Capsa was

'

Bruce did not find

this necessary.

Playfair, p. 286.
*

...ex reliquo

numero non

civitates

the treasure city of Jugurtha, because

tantum sed plerceque

Wilmanns, C.

jure dici possunt ut Natabudes, Capsi-

I.

L.

vni.

i.

p.

22,

reasonably questions the accuracy of the


text of Strabo.

tani...
*

H. N.

Sentt.

etiam nationes

v. 4.

Epp. 69.

Cf.

Ep. 56.

APPENDIX

600

K.

was nothing but one magnificent fortified camp and preknown form of defence, with outlying forts and outposts.
It was the bastion of Rome against wild Africa. There is still on the spot
a monument erected in the year 253, while Carthage was most angry

Gemell^.

It

cinct with every

a monument of the gratitude of a squadron (vexillatio) a


thousand strong of the Third Legion, Augusta,' disbanded by Gordian
and lately reconstituted and recalled from Rhcetia^, which on Oct. 23rd
in that year marched back into its old quarters, Geinell{as) Regressi^.''
The present desert of Mokran became a garden, for Sahara soil
wants nothing but water, and the troops completely intersected the whole
tract as far as the first salt lake, Chott Melghigh, with channels from
The great camp had its
their river and cross channels and ditches.
bishop Litteus who went to Carthage, and there drew the metaphor
by which he proved his position, from the 'blind leading the blind
with Cyprian

'

'

into the ditch ^.'

No other Catholic bishop of the place is ever


the Donatist bishop of the year 41

states that

Medinat

HM)iich el theatre,

B'^"aDonat

plateau on which

cl

mentioned, and Burcaton,


he had never known one**.

The north road from Capsa


'climbs by immense stairs' to the high
^
*
Thelepte stands a city of the usual inland type

Colonia
Thelepte.

411, 484.

1,

an old citadel and a Byzantine one as

baths,

at

^f Si miles, and its insula traceable. That is,


be Thelepte. If Thelepte is Haouch el Khima^

Tebessa, a

Medinat el
Kdima
it is on a still
higher plateau to the eastward, and still a city of similar type. But our
two great authorities differ as to the distance*^, and no inscription has yet
decided between them. Its bishop, Juhan'', was at the Council.
^^^^^^^^

Cp. sup. Lambaesis,

C.

L.

I.

Mommsen's

viii.

Preface

Epp.

i.

from

p. 586.

no.

and

2482

xxii.

Sentt.

His delicate dissenting style

82.
is

'

Tra-

It

is

intelligible that

a fortress

should cease to be the seat of a bishop.

(At
in

Durham

or Carlisle the bishop

command.)

explain
thinks,
.^';m),

was

it would be hard to
had been, as Morcelli
Gemellas of Numidia {Kherbet
or the Gemellas one stage north

But

if this

The
'

Mlili

inscription
'

and

the fragment

prove that the Peutinger Table

(see Spruner) erred in placing Gemellse

map

iii. p.

Haouch

vol.

11.

el

5,

does not mention

Khima

or

Henchir

Mzira, two localities shewn near together

he describes con-

in Tissot, pi. xix., but

siderable ruins at Henschir-el-Khima-

ruta-Zarouia,

seem

to appear.

ploration

are

name in which both


The difficuUies of ex-

great

tale of miseries

viil.

p. 31.

i.

See Wil-

here.

manns'

and misgivings,

The Peutinger Table

(Roman)

of Capsa.

Notices Episcopales,

ff.

Cagnat,

either

ditorem non habeo neque unquam habui.'

his

pp. 770

if

miles

as

the

gives

44

distance

of

Thelepte from Capsa, and the Itinerary


of Antoninus gives 7 1
fairly

these

numbers

correspond to the distances of the

named

two towns named above.


^ Sentt. Epp.
The Gentile name
57.
Julius was common here
C. Julius

accurate author omits Gemell^ altogether

Saturninus of Thelepte and C. Julius

east of Biskra.

glance at the

(Tissot, pi. xxii.) explains the mistake.

do not understand why the

last

THE
From

either Thelepte to Sufetula^

SUFETULA,

Privatianus^,

60I

CITIES.

The bishop of
we have de-

about yj miles.

is

came from a town

unlike any type

It was not even


It was the very seat of wealth and of security.
and its spoil astounded its captors. It stood where the great
road from Theveste to the sea crossed the great road from Carthage

scribed.

walled,

to Sahara.

Its

regular streets are

of beautiful relics of architecture

full

among them,

without a single Arab structure ever having been raised

and

range of three

its

temples^, side by side, in golden limestone,

tall

with their great gate and

was of unsurpassed beauty.

cloisters,

are of the Aurelius and Verus age, while a great triumphal arch

These
is fifty

Maximian and Constantine.

years later than the Council, dedicated to

There are many temples traceable, and many churches.

The

destruction of the Christian

'

Tyrant' Gregorius by Ibn Saad was

a crucial event, which closed the Christianity of


turies and a half ago.

this region twelve cen-

The country below and

all west of Sbeitla to the sea is one monuwhat Islam has done for civilization. The crystal river of
the city, 'copious as Zaghouan,' and many streams besides lose themselves in the sand.
The now trackless, treeless, scorching plains were
once alive with 'villages* that touched each other,' says the Arab hisThe soil is all strewn with hewn stones.
torian, along infinite woods.
Dry fountains and broken stations dot the wayside. Roman oil mills
stand with no olives in sight, save some glorious giant which the Arab is
burning piecemeal. The very soil, no longer bound together by roots,
is washed from the hills.
For all this denudation, physical and moral, Islam is to be thanked,

mental

test of

thanks are due to Christian sects which, unlearning all


and Augustine had taught, sank for lack of charity into a
controversial and political religion, and armed opinion with material

some

yet

earlier

that Cyprian

forces.

Sufetuia may, to judge from

its

sound, be a daughter of SUFES, and


Yet

Jovinus of Thelepte are the names of

sign.

two

with the fact that the great entrance

i.

officers at Lambsesis.

C. /. L.viil.

2568, 2569.

p. 40.

i.

is

'Probabiliter Colonia' C./.Z. VIII.

But

how

established?

Not

so in liin. Ant. nor in any inscription.


C.

I.

Its

L. VIII.

i.

Suppl.

i.

p. 1180.

themselves

Sufetu-

p. 40,

people called

this division of styles,

taken

not centric to the fayade, seem to

to indicate extension at

Two

some

me

period,

beautiful drawings of Bnice's

have

been reproduced by Sir Lambert Playfair,


(

p.

155, while

Mr

Alex.

Graham

Travels hi Tunisia) has two interesting

lentes as well as Suffetulenses, C. I. L.

sketches and a restoration of the Triple

VIII.

Temple.

i.

233.

Epp.

Sentt.

The two

side temples of the Corin-

thian order, flanking a middle which

This word of Ibn Khaldoun, their

19.

is

Composite, are said to be one large de-

own
for

historian,

seems to

Wilmanns' surprise

inscriptions

among

so

me

to account

at finding so

many

few

remains.

Sufetuia,
(?'coionia].
\^''i*^'^^^_

4'8. 484-

APPENDIX

602

K.

name from

^Soiif or

The

Sufes.

Sufes seems a primaeval Berber

Colonia
Sufetana.

straight north road thither runs about nineteen miles along

...Aurelia

wondrous valleys of the Tell. About a.d. 399 the blood of sixty Christians was shed here for a broken Hercules whom Augustine scornfully offered to replace, and who in a fine inscription is yet honoured
there as Genius of the Fatherland.' That means an early settlement of
Phoenicians and one of the oldest Roman inscriptions in the country
The present
records the new settlings under or before Augustus ^

Sufetana.
Castellum

Sufetanum.
Sbibn.
Bps. 411,484,
Playf. 191.

its

river.

one of the

'

bishop was Privatus^.


Tucca Terebinthina.
It.

Ant.

Dougga.

The next stage was the next see, Tucca Terebinthina. The
bishop was Saturninus, for Honoratus belongs to Tucca of Numidia^.
Saturninus is familiar with the teaching of Marcion.
Twelve Roman miles bring us
1

ASSURAS*, again a noble regularly

258.

Another Dougga near Tibursicum has

points out that the address

remains 'the most exquisite in Africa'

C. I. L. VIII.

Wilmanns

to

nos.

i.

-262,

temple and mausoleum

of Augustine's indignant note {Ep. 50)

(Playfair) of a

should have Sufetanse for Suffectanre.

from which the British

The same correction appears to have


been made in Victor Vitensis, Pcrsec.

bilingual Libyan-Phoenician inscription

Afric.

alphabet.

I.

7.

There are

at Sufetula

two graceful

Museum

which gives us the key


plored by

It

Dr

is

now

to the

has the

Libyan

being fully ex-

Carton.

do not venture

to

identify,

as

prevalent views of Life and Death which

Wilmanns does, either


Tucca (Thucca) with this Dougga because

Privatus was set to dispel.

its

spelling

Thugga, Thugge, Tugga,

epitaphs which set

little

VIII.

i.

C.

L.

I.

does not vary in a dozen inscriptions

Marcellus hie quiescit

no. 241.

Medica nobilis

those

forth

arte

Annis qui

fere vixit
|

Sed cum cuncta


Edendo, placiturus Tertium

Triginta et duobus.
parasset

muneris ante

Diem

Valida febre crematus

[Edendo 7nuneri

defunctus obiit.

Tertium

At nunc videndo

ji'igiter

Et

Epp.

Alius Saturninus

52.

a Tucca, Hartel; a tucga, Cod. Seg.;


attu*ca,

Cod. Regin.

d7r6 2u/c9)s,

Gk. vers.

a Thucca, edd.
Morcelli trans-

a Catholic

Tuccensis

called

and a Donatist bishop (Paschasius)


In 649, Victor
called Tuggensis.

is
is

called Episcopus Municipii Togise.

Epp. 7 7 Honoratus a Tiiucca, no

V.I.; airb AovyKTijs,

courage us to follow Wilmanns in choosing either see as Terebinthina or in

Thugga

writing either of them

respond with the Proconsular

[de ^Edif. vi. 5),

to cor-

city.

Pro-

Thugge ToDsKa

and Pcolemy

Toi^/cKa.

Wilmanns declines to decide what Tucca


is meant by Dio Cassius, 48. 21, ev ttj
7r6\et

Toi/zc/CTj

but one

may modestly

point out that the person and the scene

poses them.
Sentt.

In 411
is

copius however calls

fletum et gemitus integrat.


Sentt.

it.

(Sabinus)

Neither do the MSS. of Cyprian en-

bishop

diem.'\

No. 251, acrostich. Genitor Junonem


dedicat Alteque Pompeiae locat Levamen hoc doloribus Lacrimisquepausam
credidit

which name

Gk. vers. (}AovyK7ii).

Where Tucca Terebinthina

should

be by the stages in the Itinerary of


Antoninus we find Henschir Dougga.

are concerned with Numidia.

On Nu-

midian Tucca see Circle of Cirta,


*

Ptol.;
Jt.

p. 583.

Hatsor, Punic 'precinct.' "Aaa-ovpos,


Assurse and indecl. ab Assuras

Ant. ; Assures, Tab. Pent.

and

^diL

THE
laid out city

and

one of

CITIES.

traceable great gates very perfect, with wall Colonia Julia

its

inscription adoring Caracalla

theatre with remarkably long stage

fine Corinthian portions of its temple.

to

Like Sufes,

Roman

be of earliest Punic settling and earliest

Route

And now

603

Oea

(2).

its

two names shew

it

zan/our.

fjf t^"^''
4oi> 484-

resettling.

to Assiiras by Thence.

another road which Natalis of Oea


might have travelled, if (not turning inland at Gabes) he kept the coast
beyond Thenae and turned inland to Thysdrus. He would by this route
pass by sees as many as between Capsa and Assuras.

The

little

at

Assuras swept

acropolis of

most of the Emporia.


circuit

the

Then^

rises sternly

Its port silted up.

over the sea, the northern-

Its solid city wall

two miles

nothing within but small stones and potsherds.

marks

necropolis
it still

in

coined

name

antiquity of settlement,

its

money bearing

its

and

great

Augustus
Punic lettering. Yet

in the reign of

name Tainat

old

The

in

^'
thought to be the Berber of 'date palms

is

Colonia

in Augusta
^hjMijJ^no!

rumBps. 411,
"^"^ ^^^'

Its bishop was now Eucratius


a man of precision and violence.
Blasphemy of the Trinity is his phrase for heretic baptism.
The great foss which in A.D. 146 the Romans made to bound their
first province ran over the continent from the river Tusca over against
Tabraca, and it just took in Thenas.

'

'

From Thysdrus

(it

sent no bishop to Carthage), at

its

star of roads,

and studied as if to excel the


grandest known, a straight thirty-four Roman miles in two stages would
bring our Natalis to Germaniciana. So stands the Itineraiy of Antonine^.
Many ruins about no verifying inscription. It is this place
which is commonly assumed to have sent Bishop Iambus to the Council^.
It was of course a different place from Arbir Germaniciana*, whose
with amphitheatre almost rivalling in

size,

col.

ab

Assuribus, C.

Assuras,

Assuras

L. viii. i. 631 ;
Epp. 68; plebi

I.

Sentt.

plain Bled-es-Sers.

Itin.

I.

Ant.

Geati'ttt, Ptol.

Germanicianas

p. 164,

name

the

Wilmanns, C.
Abbir Majus

(?

a trace of As-

L. viii.
Qiva.,

i.

n.

2991

Gatj/a, Strab.

d7r6 %evu>v, Sentt.

Tenitanus,

coll.

Es beam

Tha;nat,

Wilmanns).

Epp.

411, notit. 484.

Ep. 649

(ap.

'of

people of Thenre,' Punic Inscr.

Acad.

perplexity

65.

Civitatis Thenisiis, Syjt.

the

Epp. 42.
is

I.

of

thus

Abbirs
resolved

L. viii.
411)

(coll.

i.

p.

and

by
102.

and Abbir

Cellense (Municipium Julianum Philip-

Then(3e), C.

Greece.

The

Ep.

suras.)

Plin.,

Sentt.

Cypr.

consistenti,

Graham and Ashbee,

d. Inscrr.

Tissot,

II.

Jan. 1890.

p. 588.

pianum Abbir Cellense) or Cella {Not.


Epp.) are one city; Abbir 411, 484,
Abbir Minus, and Abbir Germaniciana,
or Germanicianorum, are one city.

may
trace

be, but I

of

Wilmanns
tine's

the

have

failed to find

name

Abbir

also does not note

Germanicianenses.

This

any

Minus,

Augus-

Germaniit.

Ant.

*^'

APPENDIX

6o4

K.

Abbir Ger-

bishop now was Successus', and which had

maniciana.
Bps. 411,

419

but has not

A.D.,

The Roman

419.

its site

made

clear

by

bishop also in 411 and in

its

either itinerary or inscription.

had under Gregory the Great a patrimony at Germade the notary and record-keeper, Hilarus,

see

maniciana, of which he
'

Marazanse,
Marazanis,
It.

AiU.

Bps.
411, 4S4, 641,

Rector.'

Beyond Germaniciana, twenty-two miles by

of

its

Mactarita-

Colonia

^lia
Aurelia
Mactaris.
Col.

^lia

Aurelia

Augusta
Mactaris s.
Mactarina.

Makter.
Bps.

a Donat.
411, 484.

not visited yet, but

its

and

survive'',

its

unknown

date, but four

bishops appear in three other crises

Council of ours Felix^ did

From

Arab

ruins heard of in

In this highland was a Council held, of

canons

in this

norum.

Marazana,

Sufes was

rumour.

Civitas

the Itinerary, lay another

great centre of roads, Aquas Regias, and on a cross road between this and

as

with eleven weighty words.

Aquae Regiae or Sufes we rise fast among the high


The name has lived
is 944 feet above the sea^.
orally, though not entered in itineraries nor, until the other day, found
in inscription.
Yet in the ^Elian century Mactharis must have been
one of the stateliest of African cities. The ruins cover miles of ground
buildings finished in the noble if not strictly grammatical style of the
country. Aqueduct and amphitheatre, arches of triumph, bath and palace,
mausolea with stone doors on their pivots, and columbaria^'. Bruce's
beautiful drawings" prove how fast they disappear,
like the surrounding
Aleppo pines which the Turk taxes for pitch and neglects to preserve.
Marcus the bishop gave not only his suffrage but a severe side stroke
either

Mactharis*

plateaux.

at Stephen.
Civitas

Mactharis lay high on the

Uzappa
Uzappensis.

Ausafa

leads to

Sentt.

Greg.
Diac.)

Epp.

53.

left

Uzappa ^

of our road

Great ruins,

i.

Vita (Joan.

75, 77;

Tissot

does not men-

tion that Augustine (,Ep. iv. 251) speaks

Germanicianenses within his

of

jurisdiction

of

Hippo.

It

own

might be

ttTTo

Mukthert
in the

1 1

and before

Huneric

v.

265 a, hi.

carte

so

that the

town may have been

Germania, and Germanicianensis only


the long

drawn out

adjective

Ferrandus, Breviatio Canon. 44, 76,


Harduin, Cone. i. col. 1251.

=5

Sentt.

Epp.

46.

Ma-

suppose an aspirate

But Cod. Seguier,

L. Supplem.
11 81 3

i.

RP.

Pelet, Noiiv. Atl. des

nn. 11 801,
Col.

Col.

Mac-

Fran^.

(1891).

Necropoles de Mactaris,

Bull.

atrh.

dti

1891, p. 509 sq.

Com.
'

des

Cagnat,

Trav.

hist.

entierement entouree

de necropoles.'

which the

Africans affected.

127, 220.

list)

C. I.

809 Mactaris,

that in the Collation of 4

ses

(Playfair)

the slip

and the modern

Alactari; the Episcopal Lists, Mactari-

taritanee.

184 A, the latter in the Numidian

Macthari (Hartel),

vers.),

middle letters.

the distant or to the nearer place, but

there appear bishops called Germanien-

38, a

chari in Cod. Regin.,

tanus

484 (Labbe,

Epp.

Ma^apwy (Gk.

doubtful whether the Roman estates


and the bishop at Carthage belonged to

in

from Aqute Regime, which

lately discovered, partly of the

Sentt.

16.

M. Epp.

II.

or

Six, reproduced

pp. 194
II.
1

p.

ff.;

621.

by Sir L.

Playfair,

Plan of 'Macteur,' Tissot,


C. I. L. VIII. Suppl.

i.

n.

1804.
*

Ausafa,

Sentt.

Epp. 73;

Ava-d(prj,

THE

CITIES.

605

best age; undisturbed sepulchres, beside a stream

by inscriptions and answering

identified

still

called

Ousapha

Munidpium

Lucius, bishop, Uzappense.

to the itinerary.

speaks with a quiet piety.

f/^Me/ei!"^'

Roman miles to Seggo, and the road sweeps west


Zama Regia, for from AquK Regiaj to Assuras it circles

Twenty-three

Kp. a Don.

twenty more to
^^^^ j^ .^
by the high valleys round some very lofty plateaux and mountain heads. *^?'"'*
There was not an African or Roman in Africa who did not hold the Hadriana
field of Zama to have determined, as Polybius clearly saw ^ it must do, the Zama^'Regia.
dominion not of Libya or Europe, but of the world. The warring powers, Za^a^'^'i^w".
the fortresses and genius of the commanders, and the prize contended for Djiama.
Bp. 411.
had trifled former knowings.' But Zama has little to shew ^very broken
ground, an eminence among eminences its old work very solid^, and
abundant evidence that at our epoch the place was populous, rich and
.

'

artistic.

so,

Marcellus^ was the bishop. He put the controversy in a nutshell.


Another ten miles completed this cross-country route, if we may call
from Thense to Assuras. Thence the Theveste road to Carthage.

Route

Oea by

(3).

TheficB

and Hadrumetum

to

it

Carthage.

Another perhaps easier way to Carthage was open to the traveller


from Oea when he had reached Tlienae. He might go on from Thysdrus
to Hadrumetum, either direct or by Leptiminus.
Leptis, Leptiminus* was built to the waterside, with a fine roadstead but

difficult to

the days of the

first

make^

solid fort

small

which

city,

but splendidly fortified from

sufficed the Phoenicians until

it

was

upon as one of the two residences of the Governor of the Byzacene.


It had sided at once like its larger namesake with Rome when she appeared on the ground and reaped its advantage, in being a free and
exempt town for ever.
Demetrius the bishop" merely turns the whole question under disfixed

cussion into an assertion.

Zonar. (ap. Tissot),


of Usappa.'

II.

Found

p. 575.

Baal Usappan, 'citizen

only in 1884.

Punic Inscr. Acad, des In-

Polyb. XV. 9, 3.
This agrees with Sallust, Jug. 56,

Avho says

it

iiiograph.

was 'magis opere quam

'

Epp. 53.

Sentt.

Coins until Tiberius Mtttl (Phce-

at

Procop.) until

p.iKpa.

Leptis

added

(jWttttj,

in the

second

Stadiasmus, as

been destroyed

The

then Atn-ris.

Leptis minus (Leptis Parva

Wihnanns misreads what

this in

natura munita.'

nician),

Then Leptiminus (indecl.);


Anonym. Ravejinat. Cos-

Lepteminus

in Tissot 's Index, not antient).

scriptions, Jan. 1890.


1

century.

if

is

said of

the port had

in the third century.

Christian

(Phoenician?) burials

Leptiminus are curious; Schwarze,

pp. 54, 55, and 59 and Tafel


^ Sefitt.

Epp.

36.

i.

Leptiminus,
asVtis
''

^^Imta.
^p*

411. 434,041.

APPENDIX

6o6
Colonia
Concordia
Ulpia
Trajan a

Augusta
Frugifera

Hadrumetina.

Colonia
Concordia
Ulpia

Hadrumetum.
Justinianopolis.

Susii,
Soussc'.

Bps. 348, a

Donat. 393,
397.411.451
453. 551-

Horrea CaeAnt.
Hergla.
lia, It.

Bps.

a Donat.
411, 419.

Hadrumetum^

K.

rose picturesquely, a white pyramid, over

its

elabo-

mighty breakwater and secluded cothon hke


Carthage. As at Carthage, a massive yellow-coated temple topped the
citadel, and a noble suburb overspread the walls. For it came direct from
Tyre, an older settlement than Carthage, and now was second city of
frugiferous,'
the province.
It never had a history, for it was strong,
commercial, opulent, and unpatriotic. Ceesar had stalked round its triple
When the war was
walls, and knew he could not afford to take them.
It was chief
over, he would make them pay for their regard to Pompey.
of the seven cities which, at the first scent of danger, had gone over to
Rome. Henceforth it is styled a Free City. Trajan made it a colony.
Its forts, cisterns, circus, grandly porticoed theatre, and huge edifices of
undivined intention date through all its ages. The two events which the
critic records of it, its long litigation with Thysdrus over a temple, and
its rough reception of Vespasian as Proconsul, are less significant to
real history than Cyprian's visit to its clergy and instructions about the
Roman see. Its bishop, Polycarp, had perhaps not been in attendance
at Carthage before this.
He missed no Council of which the list remains^, and at this of A.D. 255 he assisted with six sufficient words*.
The traveller, leaving Hadrumetum for the north, whether he kept
close to the sea or pursued the parallel road a few miles inland, soon saw
before him, clear against water and sky, a castle-crowned promontory.
This was one of the great grain depots. It gave its name to the small
town of quays and magazines which surrounded it, HORREA C^LIA^

rately created harbour- with

'

This too had a bishop, Tenax, who begins scriptuni

est,

inserts ecclesia

and so proves his point easily. Tenax might be taken


up by the way, or might join the travellers from Oea further on. The
bishop of Segermes^ might also join them at Bibae (Djeradorl or Birel-Foouara), and thence the way was short through beautiful Zaghouan

tena in

Eph.

iv. 5,

'ASpi^/iTJS, -/XTJTOS, -PL7]t6s,' A5pOV/J.T]TOS,

'AdpafjLiJTrjs, -fivros, -/Utjtos,

-/xevros.

In

Greek never aspirate. In Latin medals


and inscriptions always, Hadrumetum,

El-Bekri speaks of

Epp.

Adri-

metum, -umetum, -ymetum. In Mysia


was also an 'AdpapLvrrLov, -VTeiov, in
Lycia an 'Mpafivms, and an Arab tribe
is called 'Adpa/xirai.
(W. and P.)

his

-imetum, -ymetum.

Is

it

Elsewhere

presumptuous

to

think that

harbour.

its fine

See p. 569 sup., A.D. 252, Ep. 57;


254, />. 67; 255, j>. 70; 256, SefiU.
'

3.

Epp.

Sentt.

low place

3,

pendix, p. 566.
'

Sentt.

Epp.

has (without
the

Greek

V.

The

6^.
I.)

d7r6

text of

'OpiQv

KeXXiuv

have been serviceable when Justinian


repaired it, and in the twelfth century

metum, 18 miles (/A Ant.).


Above, p.
579.

6)

Cyprian

'ab Horreis Ceelise,'

Ant., 'Horrea Cselia vicus.'

1 1

Ap-

see

li.

means with no
natural harbour, and not (as Wilmanns)
that in the third century its port had
disappeared ? For the breakwater must
dXI/ief OS (Stadiasm.

On

a senior place.

Council

in

The

ft.

va-

riants of the bishops' titles are several,


at last 'OppeoKiXijs;

tracted

name

is

and

Hergla.

its

now

con-

From Hadru-

THE
and Gor and Thuburbo Majus

into

CITIES.

607

Carthage 1, striking the Theveste road

usually at Coreva.

6.

Mauretania.

The proem of the Council says that there were assembled at it


Bishops very many, out of the Province Africa, Numidia, Mauretania.'
Mauretania seems to have been represented, except as claiming to itself a

'

half share in the bishop of Tucca, only by the bishops of

Nova.

BURUC and

?BoOp/ca, Pt.

Wilmanns

thinks Thubunje^ might be claimed for Mauretania, bonaf.


but does not claim it. Whatever the reasons in favour, they are not the

same as for Tucca.


BuRUC. There
wrongly read

are independent reasons for believing Quietus^ to be

Ouintus, and Quintus to

for

411.

be the correspondent of

Ouintus was a Mauretanian,

Cyprian's seventy-first epistle.

league established in Mauretania,' and

if

so

BuRUC was

'

our col-

a Mauretanian

which from other considerations also is more likely than not*.


for Nova, two bishops, each styled Nobensis, both of Mauretania,
from different cities, presented themselves before Huneric in A.D. 484,
and were banished. One of them, Mingin, barbarous name, died in
exile*.
Also a bishop from one of them assisted in a.d. 411 at the Colsee,

As

Bps.
'^"' *

'''

lation of Carthage.

There

is

no African Nova except

Oppidum Novum

Roman

62

in

South Egypt, but two

Mauretania.

are in

One

of these

is

cities called

too

far,

only

The other is near Manliana and only about 210 miles beyond the
Numidian frontier. This may be the Nova of our very explicit bishop
Rogatianus.

The

7.

[This

list

seems complete as

far as

Cities Unidentified.

was known up to 1893


E. F. Benson.]

it is

possible that fresh identifica-

tions have been conjectured or proved since.

It

names of the sees which yet await disThe disinterment of inscriptions alone could

only remains to add the

covery and identification.


^

Route, Tissot,

Bibffi to

11.

p. 539.

Tab. Peut.

Onellana (Zaghouan) r6 miles,

Onellana to Thuburbo Majus


^

C. I. L. VIII.

Note on Quintus appears

i.

Mauretanian Burca, and the Burugiatensis

Episcopus of a.d. 411 (Labbe, in.


may belong to it. Leontius

233 b)

15.

Burcensis, A.D. 484 (Labbe, v. 263)

p. 453.

p.

363

Numidia.

is

of

Rigault has Buruch, Baluze

before the Third Council.

Baruch.

In Sentt. Epp. 27
Mss. have and editions attest 'Buruc'

^ Sentt.
Epp. 60, 'a Nova.'
In
Labbe, v. 268 B, per stands for peregre;

Epp.

71, 72,

and 'Burug.'

I.

It is

no way impossible

that these should be latinised as Buruca,

Burugia,

it.

Ant.

miles from Tangiers, 16 13 from Carthage.

and

that

Ptolemy's BoOp/ca,

see also 269 B, in. 326 D.

Nobensis;

so Nobabarbarensis, Nobagermaniensis,

Nobasparsensis, &c.

Ptol.
"

and

APPENDIX

6o8
set

K.

which arise, so that further criticism would


There is a list of late authorities in Tissot, II.
The MS. readings are from Hartel,

at rest the questions

be mostly misspent.
p.

771, note

I.

/;/
[?

Oiiara,

Str.) Bp.

Vada.
Vicus Caesaris = V. Augusti

The reading

(Vamaccorensis.
cures, a
p.

[Dativus]
?

Bamaccora H.
Ab amacora Law'esh. Abbamaccora T.
{Regin.) ab amaccura Aug. de Bapt. c. Donatt. vi. xl. [Felix]

Bps. 411,
484-

Bps,

Seiitcntia 15

23

484-

Ntimidia.

45

777 gives

H.

Midili

nat. 411,

Numidian
it

tribe,

Coll.

among known

cod. Seg. Reghi.

see-sites,

list

v.

Bama-

Tissot

11.

but no more.)

Madili Lauresh. Midila August.

de Baptistn. contr. Donatt. vil.

(Numidia by

Carth. with Pliny

shews that B belongs to name.

[lader]

ix.

of 484, and therefore not as Morcelli, 'Pagus Mer-

curialis

Veteran orum Medilitanorum,' which was found

Proc.

Tiss. II. 591.)

in

Pro v.

(The Bishop's name Iader has a Barbarian look. It occurs elsewhere only in a Christian inscription at Tebessa, Acad, des Insa-r.

Mai
Bp. 484.

54

1890, 'lulio laderi patri dulcissimo in pace a w.')

\5\v\cE

('ab Ululis')-

More, would identify with

Bp. 484.

56

(UUitanus, A.D. 484, Labbe


Tharassa H. Tharasa.

Bps.411,^

66

Marcelliana,

v. 265).

Giru Marcelli.

In Provincia.
Bps.

Ullas

[Irenaeus]

[Zosimas]
[Julianus]

THE

CITIES.

609

Victoriana H. Victorina Seg. (Byzac).

Senietitia 51

{OviKToplo., Pt.

in

[Saturninus]

Mauretania Caesariensis...' Victoriana dicitur

Bps.393,484,

villa,

ab Hippone Regio minus xxx milibus abest,' August, de Civ. Dei


22, 8, 7.)

64

Avitin<, Abitin^.
Tissot

II.

\al.

Epist. Parmeti.

iii.

6.

Saturninus]

Membresa from Aug.

771 infers neighbourhood of

(In 411 Bp. of Avitta also present.)

civitate Abitinensi,' ap.

Acta SS. Sattirnini, Dativi

Bps.

before

304, 411, 440,


f. 525, 649.

*In

aliorum

et

in Afi-ica (a.d. 304), Ruinart Act. Martyr.

65

Aggya H. so August, dc Baptism,


acbia Mon. Reghi. acdia Lauresh.
(?

80

Agensis Ep. Syn. ad Paul. Constant.

coiitr.

VII. xxix. Bp. 646.

Donatt.

[Quintus]
'

a.d. 646.)

a Thambis H. Thanbis Seg. Thambeis August, de Baptism.


contr. Donatt. VII. xliv.

(Byzac).

(Tambaiensis 411, Tambeitanus 484)


[Secundianus]

Bps.

Do-

484!^^'''''"'

Province Uncertain.
7

Castra Galbas H. Castro Aug. de Bapt.

c.

Donatt.

VI. xiv.

[Lucius]

44

Luperciana.

55

Cibaliana,

[Pelagianus]

Djebeliana Tissot

II.

781 [near Usilla on Lesser Bp. aDonat.

[Donatus]

Syrtis].

63

*"'

a Buslacenis H. abustiacgenis Lauresh. abustlaccens Reg.


abusti lacceni

Monac.

Felix]

\al.

(More, conjectures contraction of Bisica Lucana, west of Thuburbo

Majus; Tissot

II.

p. 333.

411, and in Ep. Syn.

Visicensis in Coll. Carth.

ad Paulutn Constant.

A.D. 646.

Labbe

III.

1880.)

74

a Gurgitibus
(The regular

Gurgaitensis (Byzac.) More.

foi'm a gurgitibus

\al.

ble corruption from Gergis in Byzac. 'Stadiasm. 102;

jEdif.
II.

vi.

p. 35.

4.

Procop.

cerc

(Cercine).')

[Victor] Bp.

(Octabensis in Numidia 484

B.

but

Octavu.

iii.

484-

4 ; C. L. Miiller Numismatiqzie de Vancienne Afrique


B. V. Head Historia Nwnortwi p. 735 read Gerg. for

Gergis on a medal in Brit. Mus.

78

Felix] Bp.

can scarcely be traced to any proba-

massacre by Circumcellions, Optat.

Octabensis, Octabiensis in Byzacene 484.)

39

484-

APPENDIX

6lO

Readings of

The
which

Cities in

L.

Crawford MS.

following are the readings of the cities in the Crawford MS.


Hartel's MSS. which they resemble are
from Hartel's.
no MS. is noted none agrees. A or ab noted only when

differ

When

noted.

necessary.
3

4 thamoga

adrimeto

12 Imcai

15 badis

11 buruch editiones aliquot

\o ^ox

35 thevalthe

47 a bobba

{Aug)

galha
17

31 theveste

LT {Aug)

abustlaccens

77 tucca

72 hip

78 octaviu

LV

33 abamaccora, ab amacora

A nd how

it

62 Membressa

65 achia

pomine

67 orreis

63 a bustlacgenis,

68 asurag

cselise

76 gazauphala, gazauphalia

harit to

Z Z"

81 chulabi.

APPENDIX
S.

LT

45 medeli
50 a bausuagga, ausuaggaZ ad ausuagga

48 dionisiana
54 Ubulis

71 cuiguli

70 rusicca

11 accedias

ad huccabori, dhuccabori

42 ger maniciana

51 victoria (QiiKTopla. Ptol.)

a bustlacgenis

10 girpa

(,Aug)

Cyprian's

comes

to be in

Day

L.

Kalendars

in

England

oji

the 26th instead of the

14th September.

This enquiry

is

not so trivial as

logically curious as a

but

it

has a spiritual

it

may

seem.

It is

not only archaso-

good instance of the gradual formation of kalendars,


side, too, of which we will say a word when we have

finished ^

Accordingly in the
S. Cyprian suffered on the 14th of September.
Martyrology of the African Church and in the earlier Roman kalendars
this was the day of his commemoration by himself alone.
The deposiiio
*

inartirntn' of

memorable

Day was

Rome

in

the middle of the fourth century records the

fact that, (though his relics

were of course not

The

celebrated in the Cemetery of Callistus.

Mozarabic

there,) his

Missal of the

and the Sanctorale of its Breviary also give complete


at first commemorated alone in the Services,
although there have been uncritical and unhistorical guesses hazarded
evidence

rite

how he was

about Cornelius' absence from the Depositio.

The
^

first

change made was by uniting

{Note
in the

A.)

commemoration with

In the collation and verification of some of the kalendars

indebted to M. Larpent.

am

greatly

CYPRIAN'S DAY IN KALENDARS.

S.

6x1

Cyprian his friend Cornelius, who had died in June 253. The change
was made at Rome, and it is notable that the Pope was placed on
Cyprian's Day, not Cyprian transferred to his but the name of Cornelius
;

is

placed

This

first.

what we

is

of the fourth or

{Note

find in the

fifth

Leonian Sacramentary and

in a

kalendar

century from MSS. once at Grasse and Avignon.

B.)

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, commemorated in the


West the recovery of that precious relic from the Persians by Heraclius in
A.D. 628.
The date of the introduction of the Festival is unknown, but it
was kept on the 14th September, as if traditionally the day on which the
cross was re-erected.
The addition of that commemoration, usually in
change in the observance of the day. This we
and Gregorian Sacramentaries as they stand. {Note C.)
For a long time after these, which have the appearance of having been
neatly re-edited, kalendars shew themselves to be copied carefully from
older ones by the perpetuation of the word RonicE after the observance
had become universal, and of Karthagine after Carthage had ceased to
be.
This continues, though diminishingly, until quite the end of the
the

first

place, is the next

see in the Gelasian

tenth century.

From

{Note

this

period

They

are at

D.)

the local origins of

home

the

commemorations

dis-

But at the very same time


singular instances occur of the saints themselves too disappearing from
the kalendars.
This does not, however, mean that they disappeared from
the Offices, although it shews the increased appreciation of the Exaltaappear.

tion.

{Note

But

all

everywhere.

E.)

the time the Celebration of

Holy Cross Day was growing

in

popularity and observance, and was also of civil importance as the unre-

formed Quarter Day. The commemoration of Cornelius and Cyprian on


the same day became inconvenient, and began to be moved to various
days. The first to move it was Cardinal Quignon in the Reformed
Breviary of 1535, which was allowed to be used by secular clergy who
desired it. {Licence of Paul PP. III.., Feb. 5, 1535.)
He moved it on to
the next day, the 15th.

{Note

F.)

England throughout had the same usage, but with a curious groundwork for future confusions. In the Sarum Breviary Calendar, 1531 (as in
the Roman Missal of 1477), Cornelius and Cyprian are omitted, though
their commemoration is provided for in the Office itself.
Perhaps this
was for typographical reasons, but even so it shews that Holy Cross Day
had quite overshadowed theirs. And this had occurred in earlier kalendars,
English and foreign. Nevertheless the Ambrosian Missal still exhibited
the old order

The

the Saints

first.

{Note

ordinary entry then has

Stce Crucis

SS. Cornelii

G.)

now become

xvili Kal. Oct. Exaltatio

and so remains until the Council of


the new Roman books appear and remove

et Cypriani,

Trent, after which, in 1570,

392

APPENDIX

6l2
the true and antient

commemoration of

but to one day later

still.

The
and

Bull A.D. 1568,

Cyprian as Ouignon had done,

{Note H.)

'Quod a nobis

New

substitutes the

S.

L.

Breviary.

postulat ratio,' abolishes Quignon's

In the

first

post-tridentine

Roman

Breviary Cornelius and Cyprian are transferred to the


{Note I.) In the Gelasian Sacramentary stood the error
1 6th September.
XVI Kal. Oct. (Sept. 16). {Note c.) It is impossible to say whether this

Missal and

had anything

error

to

do with the new

selection, but there

it

was.

mark in the ea.r\y Drafts {Note K)for our own Common


which Dom Gasquet called attention) that Cranmer did not
follow Quignon, but restored Cyprian to his own day without the Exaltation, and also in his own handwriting replaced Cornelius, who was at first
Sept. 26, with Cyprian and Justina, is dropped in both drafts.
left out.
But in the Festivale, a collection of Third Lessons for Holydays, in this
book, there is a long lesson for this day, composed of extracts from
Gregory Nazianzen {0?'at. xxiv.), and from the Acta Proconsularia,
simplified and with some interpolations, beginning as in Sarum with
Cyprian is here identified fully with
the examination before Paternus.
the magician-bishop of the Justina legend. It must have seemed then that
the two Cyprians were one, and that there ought not to be a second day.
Archbishop Parker and his Commission for framing our own New
Calendar' in 1561 had no difficulty as to concurrence of services and
increasing of commemorations as there were no collects or lessons for
It is

Prayer

interesting to
(to

'

these black letter days, but they returned to the principle of the earliest

name or event on one day.


was desirable to retain Holy Cross Day, not merely for its historic
interest, but on account of the civil functions which depended on it.
kalendars to have but one
It

Where

to place Cyprian?
do not know whether they had before them Cranmers drafts,
dropping the other Cyprian and Justina on the 26th, restoring Cyprian to
his 14th, and adding Cornelius 1.
But if they had, the drafts were misleading because the Third Lesson identified the two Cyprians with each
other, and thus gave a colour for choosing the 26th.

We

'

'

They had old kalendars before them which omitted the Cyprian from
1 6th and named a Cyprian alone on the 26th.
Further and separately, Dr Wickham Legg has pointed to the
mediaeval accumulations of namesakes on the same day. Thus in the
the

Acta Sanctorum, taking days at random, e.g. from Feb. 7 17 there is


not a day which has not two or more saints of the same name. Feb. 14
has two Valentines (Bolland, Acta Sa?ictt. Febr. vol. ll. Antv. 1658).

And
^

there are instances in almost every week.

They were asked for by the ConWhether produced

vocation of 1547.
is

not recorded.

F. A. Gasquet and

E. Bishop, Edivard

Common

Prayer, p.

VI and the Bk.


2.

of

S.

Each

CYPRIAN'S

DAY

IN KALENDARS.

613

of these three conditions supplied a fair argument, and probably

each had

its effect

'We

must have the 14th

for

Holy Cross Day, and

'there are abundance of old kalendars which have no mention

Even

'

Cyprian on that day.

'

We had better move him,

'the next

S.

if it

is

we are bound
precedent, and not

his feast

according to

And

Cyprian on the 25th.

in

of S.

move him.

to

arbitrarily, to

probability those two

all

'Cyprians are but one.'

This was what the Commissioners under Parker


Cross

Day paramount on

by himself

to the 26th.

They

did.

left

Holy

Cyprian's true festival, and translated Cyprian

At any

rate they substituted a true saint for

an

intolerable legendary wizard.

We

said that this enquiry

was not

trivial,

not merely an illustration of

had somewhat of the

the nature of entries in kalendars, but

spiritual to

exhibit.

We have seen the reverence with which such entries had been made by
Cyprian himself {Ep. 12. 2; Ep. 38. 3) we have seen the way in which
;

own commemoration was welcomed in other countries.


we have seen the passing away of the original local setting
new interests. But the instance in question shews also

After that,

his

in favour of

the original

moral force of commemoration infringed first by the jealous dignity of


another Church, then gradually pushed off by an imperial association
of little or no moral power but of much superstition, and finally subsiding
into a

mere application for patronal help.


and typical of many ideals lowered and

Parallel to

lost.

Spiritual

powers allowed to depart while we cherish material symbols. That


persistence of nature against which the Church needs all her energ>'.

Note
* Martyrologium

A.

Ecclesia AfricancB

(Morcelli,

Africa

Christiana, vol.

II.

P- 372).

xviil Kal. Oct, Carthagine S.

Depositio

martirum

M. Cypriani

Episc,

Th. Mommsen, Chronogr.

(ap.

v.

J. 354,

p.

633).

(Bucher. Kalendar.)

XVI II Kl. Octob. Cypriani AfriccB Roihcb celebratur in

Rom.

Calisti.

39 n. (c), makes the unhappy conjecture 'in


postremis verbis fortasse excidit nomen Comelii Papse in which, alas, De Rossi
Muratori, Lit.

Vet.

i.

c.

'

and

Mommsen

celebratur

have followed,

may be

the latter dreaming

(op.

cit.

p.

633

n.)

that

a corruption of Cornelii.

* Missale mixtum secundum regulam beati Isidori dictum Mozarabes (ed. Card.
Ximenes A.D. 1500) has fo. ccclxxix (verso) the missa In Festo Sancti Cipriani
without Cornelius, and

fo.

ccclxxv (verso) Exaltatio sancte Crucis.

A. Lesley, 1755, pp. 379, 375; Migne, Lit. Moz.


The kalendar has a mass of late entries.

i.

c.

856, 848.)

(So also ed.

APPENDIX

6l4
* Breviarium

L.

Ximenes A.D. 1502.

secutidiim regulas beati hysidoii, ed. Card.

Kalendar. xvili Kls Octobris Exaltatio See

i<

vi capparil Cipriani ix

Ic.

(without Cornelius).

Sanctorale

in

Cipriani

sancti

festo

In festo sancti

ccccii...

Fesla Septembris,

Ad

epi.

cccc Exaltatio Sancte Crucis....In

fo.

Urbis magister tuscie

Vesperu....Hyvm.

fo.

cornelii epi mris...

(Ed. Ant. Lorenzana, Matriti, 1775) Kalendar. xviii Kalendas OdobHs

Cypriani noveni

lectionuin.

Sanctorale p. ccxcii Festa Septembris die xiv in Festo Sancti Cypriani episcopi
(without Cornelius). [The kalendar has been corrected by I^orenzana and Exaltatio

and Cornelius

for

'

Tusciae

'

rejected.

Appendix, p. 17; Migne,

Hymn, ad

Vesp. correctly, though

The obvious

1341.

11. c.

the September days reappears in Migne,

slip in printing

11.

c.

['Tasciae'

41.]

embodying a peculiar theory of

Cyprian's name.]

Note

B.

* The Leonian Sacramentary (Muratori, Liturg. Rom.

Veins,

c.

i.

404, cod,

bef. cent. x.).

XVIII Kal. Octobris Natale sanctorum Cornelii

Missale [Gallo-)Gothicum (Muratori,


in Natale Sanctorum

Kalendarium

A7it.

Andrese Avenionensis
Anecdd.

S.

Martyrum

et

Cypriani.

629, cod. bef. cent.

li. c.

Cornili

et

ix.).

Cypriani.

R. E. ex MSS. codd. Grassensis monasterii et S.


Martene and Durand, Thesaur. nov.

(cent, iv or v. ace. to

vol. v. c. 76, Paris, 1717).

XIV mensis Septembris natal. SS. Cornelii et Cypriani, seczmdum


Lucam cap. CXL (sic) Dicebat...\xz(in&...generatione.

die

Very curious kalendar has no saint later than Sylvester, cent. iv. init. no
commemoration in Lent; (the loth Council of Toledo, a.d. 656, decrees
this 'sicut ex antiquitate regulari cautum est,' ap. Bruns, Cann. Apostt. et Concill.
I. p. 298; as Council of Laodicea had done, a.d. 352, canon 51, Bruns, i. p. 78;)
;

feast or

no mention of Exaltatio S. Crucis; no feast of B. V. M. except Ass7imption,


which must be interpolated if (as appears) it is as a whole genuine for this feast
was later than the Annuntiation and the Nativity and was not called at first

Assumptio but Transitus, Dormitio, Pausaiio.

Note
* The

C.

Gelasian Sacramentary (our recension

Muratori,

i. c.

667, 8) has

LVi In Exaltat. Sanctce Crucis xvili Kal. Octob.


LVii In Natal. Sanctorum Comeli

This XVI
Index,

I.

c.

is

et

Cypriani xvi Kal. Octob.

no doubt an antient error corrected without remark

In Exaltatione San eta: Crucis xviii Kal.


In

And

in his

in Muratori's

771.
Oct.

natal. Sanctorujn Cornelii et Cypriani.

Kalendar. Gelasianujii (Murat.

i.

c.

xviii Kal. Octob. exaltatio Sanctcs Cnicis.


et

Cypriani.

Item xviii Kal. Octob.

49).

Item Sanctorum Cornelii

CYPRIAN'S DAY IN KALENDARS.

S.

But

it is

a question whether the error had not a remarkable permanent result

Roman

in the

615

and Note

post-tridentine books, see above

* The Gregorian

Sacra?nentary, Muratori,

XVIII Kaletidas Octobris id

est

Natalc Sanctontm Cornelii

et

Item eodem die XIV

II. c.

xiv

die

infra.

119-

Mensis Septe?nb.

Cypriani

dicti mensis Septembris

Exaltatio Sandce Crucis,

[How

darium, which

is

XIII

Rome

long the association with Cornelius was in spreading from

possibly exemplified

in

given in Lesley's

(?)

P.S. Cipr.

et exalt.

See Criecis.]

Vetustiits Occidcntalis Ecclesia; Martyrologiit?n

D. Hieronymo a Cassiodoro,

Beda, Walfrido, Notkero, aliisque scriptoribus tributum,

Romanum

Magno

is

Alarmoreum S. EccL Neapolitans Kalennote on Litiirg. Mozarab. Migne, I. c. 855.

Vetus

the

Quod nuncupandum

esse

Gregorio descriptum, ab Adone laudatum, Proximioribus

prseteritum et expetitum non leviora argumenta suadent.


Franciscus
Maria Florentinius nob. Lucensis ex suo prsesertim, ac Patriae Majoris Ecclesi;:e,
&c. integre vulgavit. Lucse, mdclxviii.

sseculis

XVIII Kal. Octobris. Exaltatio Saticta Crucis. Romce in Ciniiterio Via

Appia

natalis Cortieli Episcopi

S. Cypriani Episcopi

\}

.in

cent, vii,

Africa civitate Cartagine natalis

viii,

E.G.].

Martyrologiu7n vetustissimum S. Hieronymi presb. nomine insignitum, ed.

D'Achery, Migne, P. L.
Retract, in Act.

App.

t.

XXX.

c.

475: cent.

?vii, viii (ace. to

Bede

vi or vii

c. i).

XVIII Kal. Oct. Exaltatio Sanctce Crucis. Romce via Appia in ecemeterio

Sanctorum Cornelii episcopi

Calesti natalis
civitate

In Africa

et confessoris.

Carthagine natalis sancti Cypriani episcopi

et

Note D.
* ^Romanum Parvum,' so called by Sollier as the source of Ado; 'Vetus
Romanum,' Rosweyd; 'venerabile et perantiquum martyrologium Ado, who
'

first

edited

episcopo

'

it,

having found

at Aquileia.

XVIII

K.

it

at

(Cent,

Octob.

Ravenna given by the Roman


;

viii

or end of

Romce Cornelii

episcopi et Martyris.

pontiff

'cuidam sto

vii,

episcopi etmartyris Carthagine

CypHani

Exaltatio StcE Crucis ab Heraclio imperatore

a Persis Hierosylmam reportatce quando


Crucis a Sergio

Rome

et Romce lignus salutiferum


Papa inventum ab omni popnlo veneratur. (Had

a rival Cross?)

* Martyrologiutn Vetus ab annis circiter mille sub nomine Hieronymi compactum ex MS. S. Germani Antissiodorensis (cent, viii ix) (Martene and Durand,

Thes, Nov. Anecdott.

III. c.

Calendas

XVIII

1560).

Octobris

Roma:

Cornelii,

Cypriani

tnartyris,

et

Salutatio S. Crucis.
(If this implies

much

knowledge that Cornelius was not a martyr

earlier source.)

it

represents

some

APPENDIX

6l6
* Kahfidariutn

Frontonis.

'

Kal.

L.

Romanum

nongentis annis antiquius ex MS.

Monast. S. Genovefae Parisiensis in monte, aureis characteribus &c. ed.... F.Joannes


Fronto [Fronteau] Can. Reg. S. T. Prof, in Mon. S. Genovefae, & in Acad.
Paris. Cancellarius

'

(Paris, 1552) (a.d.

714

741

F.).

seems distinctly Roman.

It

Die XIV

Die

Natal. SS. Corneli Pontif.

7nens. Sept.

Luc. cap. CXL

exaltatio S. Crucis secund.

sups,

et

(sic) Dicebat... usque... acciisarent

yoann.

Cypriani. Secund.

eum.

Erat homo...

cap. xxiil

Nicodenms.. .usque. .aternam.


.

This very curious kalendar numbers and

Day and
Hebd.

week before the Nativity

the 4th

has close

It

the Weeks between S. Cyprian's

1. 11.

in. iv. v. vi. postS. Cypriani

(meaning also post S. Cypriani) ^

VII.'

mentioned

calls

'Hebd.

affinity

with the above-named Grassense, but Cornelius

exaltatio S. Crucis has

four Feasts of the Virgin,

Natal. S. Marise^.

1.

It

[i.e.

S. Marise.

is

it

not

has

?Jan. 11] die supras.

3.

4.

has often two missce for

Gospels as Grassense for that which

is

Die xv mens. Aug.


Die IX (Punice) mens. Sep. Nativitas
the same day with the same Epistles and

(Mar. 25) adnuntiatio Do7nini.

SoUemnia de Fausatione
S. Marije.

In Octabas Domini

i.

And

been added, but after S. Cyprian.

common

Grassense counts the six Sundays

'

only longer.

to both

Dominica

&c. a Festo Sancti Angeli

[Michaelis].

Bed{E Martyrologiufn (as edited by Florus, a.d. 830).


XVIII Kalend. Oct. Roma natale S. Cornelii episcopi...Itevi Sancti

Cypriani episcopi...martyriuvi

* His Martyrologium Foeticum


* Martyrologium

consummavit

Eodem

Carthagine, juxta mare.

D'Achery, Spicilegium,

11.

agrees.

Gellonense sive Monasterii S.

Guillelmi de Deserto O. B.

Dioecesis Lutevensis pervetustum, ineunte scilicet sseculo


[ap.

milliario

sexto

die exaltatio Sanctce Crucis...

nono anno

circiter

804

p. 25 (Paris, 1723)].

(Printed at end of old editions of Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramentaries.)

XVIII Kal. Octobris

Roma

(sic).

Cornelii et Cypriani

Mart

Et

salutatio Sanctce Crucis.

* Rabanus Maurus, a.d.


XVIII Kal.

cir.

845, has dropped

Episcopi... eodem die exaltatio est

But
to the

'

Rome and

'

'

Africa

Roma

&c.

Sancti Cortielii episcopi. ...Eodem die natale Sancti

Oct.

'

were

still

Sancta Crucis.

much

perpetuated to a

later date, at least

end of the loth century.

* Wandalbert, Deacon and Monk

in

the diocese of Treves,

Martyrologittm in verse gives the Exaltation, Cornelius at

Carthage on

this day.

(One

line versified

from Jerome

cujus sacra dicta per orbem,' ap. D'Achery, Spicilegium,

'

fl.

Rome and

854.

His

Cyprian at

totum Ecclesits scribunt

il.

p. 38.)

1 So the Mozarabic Breviary dates


the September fast by his feast, 'Incipit Officium
Jejuniorum Kalendarum [Nov]embrium, quod observatur tribus diebus ante festum Sancti
Lorenzana, Brev. Goth. p. 431. Migne, 11. c. 708.
Cypriani....'
'
11.

Cf.

p. 71.

'

de

S.

Maria

in

Octava Domini' Atitijthonar., Greg.

M.

ap.

Pamelium

Liturgic. (1571)

S.

CYPRIAN'S DAY IN KALENDARS.

* Ado.
for

Not so much a kalenclar as


Holy Cross being postponed here.

Romm

XVIII Kal. Oct.

brief memoirs,

617

which accounts

sufficiently

Obiit a.d. 875.

via Appia in ca'tneterio Callisti natale

Cornelii episcopi : qui sub pcrsecutione Decii

Sandi

Ss'c.

Item apud Africam natale hcati Cypriani episcopi Valeriano et Gallieno


impp. Galerio vtaximo proconstile ^r'c. (from Pontius mainly)...

Referuntur autem cum beato Cypriano passi Crescentius dr'c.


the four commemorated same day in Kal. Eccl. Afric).

Eodem die Exaltatio


* Usuard, A.D. 875 circ.

(scil.

Stce Crucis.

Exaltatio Sta Crucis... Rovkb via Appia beati Cornelii


papa. ..In Africasancti Cypriani episcopi... martyriicm cotisummavit

XVIII Kal. Oct.

sexto milliario

runtur cum

eo

a Carthagine jtixta mare (from Beda sup.) Refepassi Cresc. &^c. (from Ado).

Ant. Kal. Corbeiense, written


XVIII

Cal.

for

Abbot Rathold, who died 986.


Sane tee Crucis. Roma; Cornelii papce

Exaltatio

Oct.

Karlagine sancti Cypriani

episcopi et martyris (Papce;

of.

sup.

Usuard).

(Martene and Durand, Th. No7). in.

* Ant.

cc. 1548, 1601.)

Martyrol. Morbacetise, xth cent.

Roma

xvili Cal. [Oct.]

Cornelii Cypriani et exaltatio S. Crucis.

(Mart, and Dur. Th. Nov. in.

Note
* Missale

Vet.

Hibernicum

ap.

c.

1569.)

E.

C.C.C. Oxford (cent,

xii) p.

39 (ed. F. E. Warren,

1879).

XVIII Kal. Oct.

* Antiquum

Exaltatio Sancte Crucis.

Coi'beiensis monasterii

XVIII Cal. Oct.

Martyrologium

(cent. x).

Exaltatio S. Crucis.
(Mart, and Dur. Th. Nov.

Note
* Brev. Roma7ium a Fr. Card.

III. c.

1583.)

W.

Legg,

F.

Qiiignonio edit. A.D. 1535 (ed. J.

p. xli).

XVIII Ca/' (Sept.) 14 Exaltatio sauctcB Crucis duplex majus

XVII

CaV

15 Cornelius

* Sanctorum historic [i.e. Proprium


is

et

Cyprianus.

Fuerunt

Sanctortim abbreviated].

heri.

The Third Lesson

of Cornelius and Cyprian [said rightly in Index to be from Platina et

caeteri,

but

seems paraphrased from Jerome, Vv, III. Ixvii. and the


Cornelius part from the Liber Pontijicalis (ed. Duchesne, i. pp. 150, 151)].
The note fueruttt heri and that on Sept. 8, the Nativity of the Virgin, habet
the Cyprian part of

it

octavam, shew that Quignon

made

the change to the 15th deliberately.

afterwards Cyprian and Cornelius were not ordinarily

because

it

was the octave of the Nativity

though dating only from a.d. 1245.

moved

But

to that day, probably

of the Virgin, a feast

much

observed,

APPENDIX

6l8

Note

L.

G.

* Missale Romanum, Venet. 1477.


Kalendar. xviii Kl. Octobris Exaltatio Sancte Crucis Propr. Temporis.
exaltatioiie

Sacte

Crucis

Secreta P.

Comm.

Corn,

et Jit

hi

commeinoratio dc Sditis [Oratio

et Cyp.].

* Missale Amhrosianiim, Mediol. 1475.


XVIII Kl. Oct.

Scot Cornelii

Cipriani m.

et

code die exaltatio See

Propr. temp, (no octave of Nativity B.V.M.)

Crucis

(verso) in scor viartyr cornelii et cypHatti, fo. clxvii

[Cornelius and Cyprian

exaltatio Scte Crucis.

Caleiidariuiii

Durand,

Vett.

Anglicanum

Scriptorum

et

anno

(cod.

Monum.

M.

circ.

amplissima

fo.

clxvi

eodcm die

still first.]

exaratum), Martene and

Coll. vi. cc. 635,

651 (Paris,

1729).

Exaltatio Ste Crucis

XVIII Kal. Octembres.

Exeter,

Leofric Missal,

Kalendar.

1050

1072

(ed.

et

SS. Cornehi

et

Cypriani.

E. Warren, Oxford, 1883)

F.

p. 31.

XVIII Kl. Oct.

Exaltatio See Crucis, Cornelii,

* Saruni Missal, Rothom. 1492


XVIII Kl. Octobris.

[ed. F.

H. Dickenson,

et

p.

Cipriani.

25** &c. 902].

Exaltatio See Crucis mi. dup. nov. led. vied.

Ic.

de SS. Cornelio et Cypriano.

(The note about the

lessons, assigning the

middle three of the nine lessons

to

Cornelius and Cyprian, applies to the Breviary.)

The Proprium Sanctonim provides a Memoria,


commemoration on Holy Cross Day,

Secreta and Post- Communion

for their

* Sarmn
worth,

Bf'eviary Kalendar, Chevallon, 1531 (ed. F. Procter and C. Words-

fasc. i).

XVIII Kalen. Octobris.

Exaltatio S. Crucis festum minus duplex IX

lectiones.

Cornelius and Cyprian omitted in the kalendar, but provided for in the Offices

with Collect and Lessons.

Proprium Sanctorum (Fasc. 3, pp. 810, 815):


Memoria fiat de martyribus Cornelio et Cypriano cum Ant.

Media

lectiones fiant de

martyribus Cornelio

et

S3'c.

Cypriano.

(In the middle of the middle lesson Cyprian begins.

It is

a shortened and

edificatory version of Pontius, beginning with the examination before Paternus.)

* W. Maskell, Monumenta Ritualia


Appendix

to the
I.

Eccl. Anglic. (1846) vol.

II.

pp. 179

Prymer, gives three early and 'valuable' English Kalendars,

In Bodleian (Bodl. MS.


crois...N\ Seint Ciprian.

the

vi Kl. S.

cros.

Sarum

ff.,

viz.

85) xvili (Kl. Oct.) Exultacion^ of the

2.

(Douce 275) xviii A7.

Ciprian bischop.

3.

(Maskell Collection), Paris, 1530.


VI Kl.
Cypriani et yustincB.

Reisyng of
Enchiridion ad usum
xviii Kl.

Exaltatio

S. crucis.

There must have been many such. Here we have three, chosen only for their
on the right day and two of them giving Cyprian alone on
For foreign examples see Note c above.
the 26th.

value, omitting Cyprian

So exultatio sometimes

in foreign

Kalendars.

CYPRIAN'S DAY IN KALENDARS.

S.

* York Missal

/Calendar

(v.

I.

619

p. xxxviii, ed, Surtees Soc. 1874).

XVIII Aa/. Octobris Exaltatio Sanctce Crucis. S. Cornelii

IX

led tones.

medice

led.

Comparative

(see

et Cypriaiii,

Calendar,

v.

11.

p. 267).
(v.

II.

p. loi)

Proprinni Missantin de Sanctis


in Festo Exaltationis Sanctcc Crucis.

p. 102,

(xviii Kal. Oct.)

eodem die Satictorum jnartyriim Cornelii

Cypriani

et

oratio.

p. 104, secreta...postcoinm.

* Hereford Missal /Calendar (W. G. Henderson,


xvill

Cornelii

et

1874, p. xxix).

Exaltatio Sanctce Crucis festum duplex, SS.

Octobris.

JCal.

Cypriani co7nniemoratio IX

Proprium Sanctorum
second collect

(id. p.

led.

The

exaltatione Sanctce Crucis.

memoria de martyribus Cornelio

'

is

In

323).

Cypriano,

et

Oratio. ..alia Secreta...alia Post-Communio.

* Hereford Missal,

1502.

XVIII A7. Octobr.

Exaltatio S.

been brought down

(Lit.

Moz. Migne,

XVIII JCal. Octobris

Cornelii et Cipriai

lj(

Calendarium Mozarabicujii

It is to this stage that the

I. c.

'

riit.

scepius

aitdum has
'

loi)

Exaltatio sancte crucis vi capp.


Cornelii et Cipriani

IX led.

Note H.
So
X

for

xi),

example Calendaria Verdtinense, Stabulense, Aniissiodorense (all cent.


many do) and the four African martyrs

the last adding Pantaleon (as

of the day.
(Mart, and Dur. Vett. Sci'r.

* Kalend. Sitonianuni
Milan) (cent.

(called from

its

owner

Mon.

SS.

Co7'fielii et

exaltatio S. Crucis

in 18th cent. Camillo Sitonio of

Cypriani eode7n die S. Nicomedis

t.

11.

pt. 2, p.

1040 (Mediol. 1726).)

Antiq. Calendarium ex MS. Lyrensis mofiasterii (cent, xi

xii).

Exaltatio S. Crucis SS. Cornelii et Cypriani.

XVIII Kal. Oct.

(Mart, and Dur. Thes. Nov.


thus Missale

XVIII

Romanum,

Kal. Octobris

Cipriani

?n.

Exalta. S.

Cru. d. mi. mis. 211

Cornelii

et

(Venet.).

Exaltatio Ste

Cornelii et Cypriani martyril ofo

known

XVIII Cal. 14 Octobris.

1614.)

ofo 211.

XVIII Kal. Octobris

Cornelii

iii. c.

1533.

* Breviarium Romanum, 1534

1564, Venet. (the last

et

ad Dionysium.

(Muratori, Rer. Ital. Scrr.

And

Vi. c. 720.)

xi).

XVIII Kal. Oct.

et

edition of the

Crucis
Ice.

d.

mi.

omnia

Old Breviary, superseded

Exaltatio see Crucis du. mi, 340.

Cypriani martyrum, 342.

320

Et

ix 322.
1568).

APPENDIX

620

Note
*
Pii V.

Cone. Tridentini restitutum,

Rome, 1570 (Manutius).


Exaltatio S. Crucis du. eu com Oct. Nat.

Pont. Max. jussu, ed.

XVI 16
It

I,

Breviariiini Roiiiamiin ex deer, sacrosanct.

XVIII 14

This

L.

Ma. 821.

S.

Cornelii et Cipriani pont. at Mart, semid.

appoints the 4th and 5th Lessons for Cornelius, and the 6th for Cyprian.
latter

is

taken from Jerome, de Viris

* Missale Romanum ex

Illiistribus,

Ixvi.

deer. Cone. Pii v. jussu, ed. a.d. 1572, Venet.

XVIII Sept. Cal. 14 Exaltatio San. Crucis dup.

cum commemo.

Octavse

Nativitatis .Sanctee Marise, 189.

XVII Cal. 15

Octava Nativitatis beatse Marine dup. cum commemora.

San. Nicomedis mar. 190.

XVI Cal. 16

* In

Cornelii

Cypriani pont.

et

(St^

mar. Sane. dup. &c.

modern Roman books, a.d. 1631 &c.

the

Missal, XVI Kal. Sep. 16

Cornelii et Cypriani Pont, et

Breviary, xvi Kal. Sep. 16

SS. Cornelii

et

M.

semi-d.

Cypriani Pont,

et

Mart,

semi-d.

* Lyons,
The

a.d. 1737, has Cornelius on i6th and Cyprian on 17th.

following references were sent to the Archbishop by his friend the Rev.

Christopher Wordsworth

Breviariiim Sanctce Lugdunensis Ecclesice

pj-iiiicB

Galliarnin

sedis,

Lugduni,

M.DCC.XXXVII.
XVili 14

XVII 15

XVI 16

XV

Cornelii

These curious

et

Cypriani

^ Brev.

Papd

et

Martyris

(e

[In

ecclesia

Primatiali.

entries witness to the transfer

an. 326.

et

Simplex,

an. 2 $2....

Martyris.

Semiduplex

Siviplex

(i

?najus'\ ati. 258.

and to the reasons

Ainbrosian. (Mediol. 1582 and 1841).


ep.

die \j^.

Cypriani Carthaginensis Episcopi

17

die 14).

* Brev.

Duplex minus,

Exaltatio Sanctce Crucis.

Octava Nativit. B. Alarice Virginis. Soniduplex minus....

for

it.

SS. Cornelii papa

12 Prid. Id.

iii'/u.

Paris. A.D. 1778

commemorates Cornelius (Pap. & Mart.) on Holy

Cross Day, but also keeps the semi-double feast of Cyprian (Episc. Eccl. Doct.

&

Mart.) on i6th.

Note
* British Museum, Royal MS.
First

7,

Kalendar

B. IV.

September 14 Cyprianus.

Second Kalendar

Et

K.

Cyprianus

F. A. Gasquet and E. Bishop,

Prayer, 1890, p. 16,

et

Cornelius.

own handwriting.
Edward VI. and the Book of Comvion

Cornelius added in Archbishop Cranmer's

BOOKS QUOTED.

LIST OF

Many authorities are quoted in this book and some important works {e..
Mommsen, On the Chronography of A.D. 354; Lipsius, On. the Chronology of the
Roman Bishops; Morcelli's Africa Christiana, Tissot's great work On the Roman
Province of Africa, &c.) have been of necessity referred to in an abbreviated form.
It has been thought that the reader would find it convenient to consult a more

complete description of some of these authorities.

Alexandre,

Charles.
Editio altera, 1869.

Oracula

Sibyllina....

Paris,

1841.

vol.

8vo.

1'.
S. Optati... Opera cum observationibus at notis
G. Albaspinaei.... 1631. Fol.^De Veteribus Ecclesise ritibus.... Lute4to.
tise Parisiorum, 1623.
3 vols.

AUBESPINE, Gabriel de

Ballerini, Pietro. De vi ac ratione primatus Romanorum Pontificum et


de ipsorum infallibilitate in definiendis controversiis fidei.
Veronae,
New edition by E. W. Westhofif. Monasterii Westphalorum,
1766.
8vo.

1865.

Baluze, Etienne.

Sancti Caecilii Cypriani... opera... studio et labore Ste-

phani Baluzii Tutelensis. Absolvit post Baluzium ac Praefationem et


Vitam Sancti Cypriani adornavit unus ex monachis Congregationis
S. Mauri (Dom Prudent Maran). Parisiis, ex Typographia regia, 1726.
Fol.
Editio secunda, Veneta, 1758.
Fol.

Baluze, Etienne. Capitularia regum Francorum


partim ab ipso scripta, catalogus et index,
2 vols.

Parisiis, 1780.

Accessere vita Baluzii


Curante P. de Chhtiac.

Fol.

Stephani Baluzii miscellanea. Parisiis, 1678 83. 4 vols. 8vo. ...novo


ordine digesta et non paucis ineditis monumentis opportunisque animadversionibus aucta opera ac studio y. D. Mansi.
Lucae, 1761
64.

vols.

Baronius,

Fol.

Caesar.

O. Raynaldi
1738 59. Fol.

Annales Ecclesiastici [a.d. i 1198]


continuatione
(edited by G. D. Mansi and D. Georgius).
Lues,
38 vols.

Bingham, Joseph. Works, quoted from the Oxford edition.


BOECKHIUS, Augustus. Corpus Inscriptionum Grascarum.

1867.

4 vols.

Bright, William.

10 vols.

Berolini, 1828

Fol.

Select Anti-Pelagian Treatises of S. Augustine.

London,

8vo.

1880.

Bruns, Herman Theodor.


selecti.

Bunsen,

1855.

Berolini, 1839.

Canones Apostolorum
2 vols.

et

Conciliorum veterum

8vo.

Christian Carl Josias.


Hippolytus and his Age. London, 1852.
8vo.
Christianity and Mankind... 7 vols. Hippolytus and his
Analecta Ante-Nicsena. (5, 6, 7.) London, 1854.
(i, 2.)

4 vols.
Age.

LIST OF BOOKS QUOTED.

622

Burn, Robert. Rome and the Campagna. London, 1871 6. 4to.


Burnet, Gilbert. Some letters containing accounts of what seemed most
Amsterdam, 1686. 2 vols.
remarkable in Switzerland, Italy, &c.
;

1 2 mo.
Cecconi, Eugenio. Studi storici sul concilio di Firenze con documenti
inediti o nuovamente datti alia luce sui manoscritti di Firenze e di Roma.

Firenze, 1868.

8vo.

See Baluze Capitularia Regum Francorum. Histoire des


Capitulaires des Rois Francois de la premiere et seconde race ou traduction de la preface niise par E. B. a la tete de son Edition des Capitulaires.
Paris, 1779.
8vo.
Avec la vie de Baluze
Clinton, H. F. Fasti Romani. Oxford, 1845. 2 vols. 4to.

Chiniac,

p. de.

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.


parts

VIII.,

i,

Inscriptiones

ii.

Chiefly vol.
Berolini, 1873 1891.
Africa; Latinas, collegit Gustavus

Supplementum ediderunt Renatus Cagnat et


1881.
Wilmanns.
Johannes Schmidt. 1S91.
Corpus Juris Civilis (edited by Theodor Mommsen and Paul Krueger).
Berolini, 1888.

2 vols.

8vo.

Councils. When no special mention of editions occurs. Councils are quoted


from
Labbe, Philippe, and Cossart, G., Sacrosancta concilia ad
regiam editionem exacta... 25 vols. (Apparatus 2 vols.)... Supplementum.. .collegit J. D. Mansi. Venetiis, 1728 52. 29 vols. Fol.
:

When references are


following edition

made

to

Mansi, the reader

will consult

the

Mansi,

J.

D.

Sacrorum conciliorum nova

Florentiae, Venetiis, 1759

Cyprian.
S.

31 vols.

98.

amplissima collectio

et

Fol.

The works of Cyprian are quoted from the following edition


Thasci C^cili Cypriani opera omnia, recensuit et com:

VindobouEe, apud
mentario critico instruxit Giiilelmus Hartel.
8vo.
1871.
3 vols.
Geroldi Filium Bibliopolam Academiae, 1868

DiRKSEN, Heinrich Eduard. Manuale


Romanorum. Berolini, 1837. 4to.

DODWELL, Henry.
Cyprian.

DOiLLINGER,

Dissertationes
Oxonii, 1682.

Johann

Regensburg, 1853.

Joseph

Latinitatis

Cyprianicae.

Ignaz

von.

fontium

Ap.

juris

Fell's

J.

Hippolytus

und

C.

civilis

edition

of

Kallistus.

8vo.

Du

Cange, Charles Du Fresne. Glossarium mediae et


10 vols.
Niort, 1883 1887.
Duchesne, Louis. Le Liber Pontificalis. Paris, 1884.

infimas Latinitatis.
2 vols.

4to.

Le

Fastes Episcopaux de I'Ancienne


1890.
Dossier du Donatisme.
1891. 2vols. ^4to. (LithoGaule. 1894. Les Origines Chretiennes.
Etude sur la
graphed throughout.)- Origines du Culte Chretien.
1889.
liturgie latine avant Charlemagne.
.?

Ewald, Georg Heinrich August


1840.

Fechtrup, Bernhard.
Miinster, 1878.

Fell.

von.

Die Propheten des Alten Bundes...

8vo.

Der

hi.

Cyprian.

Sein

Leben und seine Lehre.

8vo.

Sancti Caecilii Cypriani opera.

Accedunt Annales Cyprianici...per

Joannem Cestriensem. (Pearson.) Oxonii, 1682.


Fortia D'Urban. Recueil des Itin^raires anciens....

Paris, 1844.

4to.

LIST OF BOOKS QUOTED.

623

Freppel, Charles Emile.


1859.

1864

Les P^res Apostoliques et leur Epoque....


Saint Cyprien et I'Eglise d'Afrique au 111'"*= si^cle.
8vo.
5.
8vo.

Paris,
Paris,

Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte Roms in


der Zeit von August bis zum Ausgang der Antonine. Leipzig, 1862 71.
Leipzig, 1888
Sechste...vermehrte Auflage.
8vo.
90.
3 Thle.
3
Thle.

Friedlaender, Ludwig.

Kalendarium Romanum nongentis annis antiquius....


Jean.
Epistolae et dissertationes ecclesiasticae....
Veronae, 1733.

Fronteau,

8vo.

1652.
8vo.

Gallandius, Andreas.

Veterum

Bibliotheca

Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum.

Patrum

Venetiis, 1765

Antiquorumque

Fol.

81.

14 vols.

Gams, Bonifacius. Series Episcoporum. Ratisbon, 1873. 4toGoar, Jacobus. Euchologion sive Rituale Grcccorum. Paris, 1647.
Gretser, J. De jure et more prohibendi, expurgandi et abolendi
hereticos et noxios....

Grisar, H.

Gryn^US, Johan
Basileae,

Monumenta

Jacob.
Fol.

569.

Ingoldstadii, 1603.

Le Tombe Apostoliche

(S. J.)

di
S.

Fol.
libros

8vo.

Roma. Roma, 1892. 4to.


Patrum Orthodoxographa....

3 vols.

Harnack,

Adolf.
Geschichte der altchristlichen Litteratur bis Eusebius.
Leipzig, 1893.
8vo.
2 vols.
Sources of the Apostolic Canons, with a
treatise on the origin of the Readership and other lower orders....
Translated by L. A. Wheatley. London, 1895. ^'^o- Die Briefe des
romischen Klerusaus der Zeit der Sedisvacanz im Jahre 250. Ap. Theologische Abhandlungen.
Carl von Weizsacker, zu seinem siebzigsten
Geburtstage...
Freiburg i. B. 1892.
8vo.
Articles ap. Texte und
Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur von Oscar

von Gebhardt und Adolf Harnack.


Hefele, Carl Joseph von. Conciliengeschichte. Histoire des Conciles...
traduite de I'Allemand par M. I'abbe Delarc.
12 vols.
8vo.
Paris,

186970.

HODGKIN, Thomas.

Italy

and her Invaders.

2nd

6 vols.

edition.

Ox-

ford, 1892.

HURTER, Heinrich von.


1868 1874 1885.
Jaffe, Philippus.

Sanctorum Patrum opuscula

Regesta Pontificum Romanorum.

selecta.

Qiniponti,

Lipsiae, 1885.

2 vols.

4to.

Codex Canonum

JUSTEL, Christophe.

Ecclesias Africanee.

Paris,

1614.

8vo.

Klein, Josephus.

Fasti Consulares.

La Eigne, Margarinus
quorum
15 vols.

Lipsiae, 1881.

Maxima

Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum et AntiScriptorum Ecclesiasticorum.... Coloniae Agrippinas, 1618 22.


de.

Fol.

Lanciani, Rodolfo Amadeo.

Pagan and Christian Rome.

London, 1892.

8vo.

Latinius, Latinus.
Fol.

Epistolce....

Bibliotheca sacra et profana.


Romae, 1659. 2 tom. 4to.

Le Nain de Tillemont, Louis

Sdbastien.

Romse, 1677.

2 tom.

Histoire des Empereurs....

4to.
M^moires pour servir k I'histoire
36.
6 vols.
Paris, 1700
12.
ecclesiastique des six premiers siecles.... Paris, 1701
16 vols. 4to.

LIST OF BOOKS QUOTED.

624
Leydekker,

Historia E'cclesias Africanae.

Melchior.

Ultrajecti, 1690.

4to.

LiGHTFOOT, Bishop Joseph Barber. Epistles of S. Paul [Galatians, Philippians,


London, 1865. 8vo. The Apostolic Fathers.
Colossians, Philemon].
London, 1890. 2 vols. 8vo. Part ll.
Part I.
S. Clement of Rome.

London, 1889. 3 vols.


8vo.
Historical
S. Polycarp.
London, 1895. 8vo. On a fresh revision of the English New
Testament. London, 1871. 2nd edition, 1872. 8vo.
LiPSlUS, Richard Adelbert. Chronologic der Romischen Bischofe. Kiel,
S.

Ignatius,

Essays.

1869.

Mabillon,
Mabillon,

Vetera Analecta.

Jean.

Parisiis, 1675.

Jean, and Germain,


Parisiorum, 168789. 2 vols.

by

J.

of the First and Second


^^o.

Prudent. Vita Sancti Cypriani, ap. Etienne


Cyprian. Paris, 1726.

De

Lutetiae

London, 1875.

B. Lightfoot.

Maran,

Martene, Edmond.

Italicum.

410.

Mansel, Henry Longueville. The Gnostic Heresies


Centuries.. ..Edited

8vo.

4 vols.

Museum

Michel.

antiquis Ecclesias Ritibus.

Baluze's

edition

Antwerpis, 1736

of
^7.

Fol.

3 vols.

Martene, Edmond, and Durand,

Thesaurus novus Anecdotorum.

Ursin.

Veterum Scriptorum Monumentorum...


Fol.
amplissima Collectio. Parisiis, 1724
Maskell, William. Monumenta Ritualia Ecclesiae Anglicanse. London,
8vo.
8vo. Second Edition. Oxford, 1882. 3
1846
3
Series Latina.
Paris, 1844
Patrologise Cursus Completus.
MiGNE,
P.
1864. 221
Paris, 1857 1866.
Series Graeca.
162 vols.
1717.

Parisiis,

vols.

Fol.

33.

vols.

vols.

47.

J.

vols.

4to.

4to.

Mommsen,

De

Theodor.

Kilias, 1843.
Collegiis et Sodaliciis Romanorum.
J. 354: ap. Abhandlungen der Philo-

Ueber den Chronographen vom

logisch-Historischen Classe der Koniglich Sachsischen Gesellschaft der

Wissenschaften (erster Band). Leipzig, 1850.


M. is quoted constantly in connection with the Corpjcs Inscriptio-

num

Latiiiarmn.

MORCELLI, Stefano Antonio.

Africa Christiana.

Brixise,

1816

3 vols.

^17.

4to.

MuNTER,

Primordia Ecclesiae Africanae.

Frederic Christian Carl Henrik.

Hafniae.

4to.

1829.

MURATORi, Lodovico Antonio. Liturgia Romana Vetus. Venetiis,


Rerum Italarum Scriptores. Mediolani, 1723
2 vols.
Fol.
Fol.

25 vols.

History of the Christian Religion and


A. W.
Bohn's Standard Library. London, 1850 58. 9 vols. 8vo.

Neander,

1748.

1751.

J.

Church.

CEhler, Franciscus. Corpus Haereologicum. Vol. I. Berolini, 1856. 8vo.


Otto, Johann Carl Theodor von. Corpus Apologetarum Christianorum
Jenae, 1851

Saeculi Secundi.

Pamelius,
2 vols.

Liturgia

Jacobus.

9 vols.

Latinorum

...

8vo.

Coloniae

Agrippinas,

1571.

4to.

Panvinio, Onofrio.
Veronae, 1589.

De

Primatu Petri

et

Apostolicae

sedis potestate...

4to.

Parker, John Henry.


combs).

76 81.

The Archaeology

London, 1878.

8vo.

of

Rome

(chiefly

on the Cata-

LIST OF BOOKS QUOTED.


Pearson, John.

625

Annales Cyprianici, ap. J. Fell's edition of Cyprian.


Oxonii, 1682.
Minor Theological Works.
Oxford, 1844.
2 vols.
Svo.
Vindicias Epistolarum S. Ignatii.
CantabrigicC, 1672. 4to.
2 vols.
Editio nova. Oxonii, 1852.
8vo.

Peters, Johannes. Der heilige Cyprian von Karthago...in seinen Leben


und Wirken dargestellt. Regensburg, 1877. Svo.
PiTRA, Jean Baptiste.

Spicilegium Solesmense.... Paris, 1852

58.

vols.

Svo.

The Councils of the Church from the Council of


Jerusalem, a.D. 51, to the Council of Constantinople, a.D. 381. Oxford,

PUSEY, Edward Bouverie.


Svo.

1857.

Renaudot, Eus^be.
4to.

Liturgiarum Orientalium Collectio....

Parisiis, 1716.

2 vols.

Rettberg, Friedrich Wilhelm.


Carthage,

Thascius Cacilius Cyprianus, Bischof von

nach seinen Leben und Wirken.

dargestellt

Gottingen,

Svo.

1831.

Cyprian von Karthago und die Verfassung der Kirche.

RiTSCHL, Otto.

Gottingen. 1SS5.

Svo.

Robert, Ulysse. BuUaire du Pape Calixte IL Paris, 1891. Svo. 2 vols.


Das
Rcensch, Hermann. Itala und Vulgata.... Leipzig, 1S69. Svo.
Leipzig, 1871.
neue Testament Tertullian's...mit... Anmerkungen

Svo.

Inscriptiones Christianje Urbis Romse septiantiquiores.


Romae, 1861.... 2 vols. Fol. La Roma
Sotterranea Cristiana descritta ed illustrata. Roma, 1864.... 3 vols. Fol.

Rossi, Giovanni Battista de.

mo

saiculo

ROUTH, Martin

Joseph.

RuiNART, Thierry.

Reliquiae Sacr^e.

Acta Martyrum.

Oxonii, 1846

48.

5 vols.

Svo.

Ratisbonas, 1859.

Bibliorum sacrorum Latinas versiones antiqui^, seu Vehis


Rheims, 1743 49. 3 vols. Fol.
Schelstrate, Emanuel. Ecclesia Africana sub Primate Carthaginiensi.

Sabatier,

p.

Italica....

Paris, 1679.

4to.

A First (fifth) Letter to the Rev. S. R. Maitland on the genuineness of the writings ascribed to Cyprian, Bishop
London, 1852 53. Svo.
of Carthage.

Shepherd, Edward John.

SiRMOND, Jacques. Opera


Stevenson, Seth William.

varia.

Paris, 1696.

Dictionary of

5 vols.

Roman

Fol.

Coins.

London, 1889.

Svo.

TiSSOT,

Charles.

comparee de
2 vols.

4to.

Exploration
Province

la

and

scientifique de la Tunisie.
Romaine d'Afrique. Paris,

G^ographie
1884 1SS8.

Atlas.

Wetstein, Johann Jacob. Novum Testamentum Grsecum, 1751. Epistola


ad...H. Venema: de duabus dementis Romani ad Virgines epistolis ex
Codice Syriaco nuper

editis.

Amstelsedami, 1751.

Svo.

Wordsworth,

Christopher, Bishop of Lincoln.


S. Hippolytus and the
Church of Rome.... (Second edition.) London, iSSo. Svo.

Novum
John, Bishop of Salisbury, and H. J. White.
Christi, Latine secundum editionem
Sancti Hieronymi.
Oxonii, 1S91. 4 vols.
Old Latin Biblical Texts.
Oxford, 18S3.... Svo.

Wordsworth,

Testamentum Domini Nostri Jesu

B.

40

INDEX.
The Reader

Note.

the work of the


Appendix on the

will kindly bear in

University Press

Cities, but the

is

mind

that a special Geographical

Table

given at page 574; that table relates to the

towns mentioned in the body of the Book have been

entered in the Index.

Abstinere, sense of the

word

in Cyprian,

143. n-

Apostolic Canons and Constitutions, 27,


n.; 46, n.; 54, n.; 294, n. 341, n.; 404,
;

Acta Proconsularia, 518


Actors, 46
Adam (date for), 166, n.
Adsertor, use of the word, 6, n.
Adunatio adunatus, use of the words,
386 and nn. ; 407
^milius, the Martyr, 78
^^mulus princeps, Valens, opportunity
afforded for the election of Cornelius,

126, n.

Agripphius.
See Baptismal Question.
Tradition of Africa, 337 ; date of
Council, 337, 348
Alexander Severus, the Emperor, his
organization of the city of

Rome

(cura-

tores), 67 and n.
Alexander III., Pope (Conditional Baptism), 522
Amantiiis, acolyte, carries with others

Numidian

Cyprian's letters to the


Bishop-Confessors, 473

Ambrose,

11, n.

S.,

286, 384, n.

55, n.

272, n.

491, n.

Antioch

(Council of), 167, 168, 347


Councils on Paul of Samosata, 376

and n.
Antioch (first and second capture of). See
special note on Points in the Chronology of Valerian's reign, 552

Antonianus (Letter of Cyprian to), 156, n.;


167, n.
157 and n.
Apollo Salutaris, allusion to the Plague
on Coins and Medals, 243, n.
;

n. ; 420, n.
Apostolic Succession, 34, 389, 525
Aries (Church of). See Gaulish Appeal.
Foundation of this Church, Trophimus
and the tradition handed down by
Stephen V. and Gregory of Tours,
Council of Aries see
314, 315, 316.
Councils
Assuras, a town, 232 and n. ; 369, 602
Atrium Sanciolum, 501 and n.
Auctor Schismatis, sense of the words,
:

136, n.

Augendtis, a deacon, joins Felicissimus


(see name), 113, 136, 137, n.
Augustine, S., 23, n. ; 42
43, nn.
55>n-; 59' n.; 81, n.; 112, n.; 147, n.;
174, n. ; 249, n.; 259, n.
271, n.
272, n.
283; 285, n.
273 and n.
n.
and
n.;
; 296
291,
331; 334, n. 338,
;

n-; 343. n-; 369. "! 402, n.; 403, n.


405, n.; 409, n.; 412, n.; 413, n.
415, n. 417, n. ; reaffirms the teaching
of Stephen on Baptism, 418, sqq.
;

424, n. ; 433, n.
434, n. ; 437 and
n.
448, n.; 45r,n.;
443, n.; 445, n.
453. n-; 471. n-; 493; 499' n-; 5o6, n.;
510, n.; 512, n. ; 513, n.
517; 519;
5^3' n-; 533 and n.; 538
Aiirelius, a young Confessor (Persecution
of Decius) ,71; his name used by Lucianus, 93
Aureus, value of the aureus in Gallienus'
time, 505, n.
;

INDEX.
Baluze, fitienne, his edition of Cyprian
published after his death by Dom
Maran the interpolations introduced,
212, 213, 214, 215, 216, n.
231, n.
;

Baptism and Baptismal Question

(the),

Tradition of
Tradition of Asia Minor,
;
Councils of Iconium and
Synnada (dates), 340, 348; Cyprian's
First and Second Council on Baptism,
Attitude of Stephanus, 351
349, 351
Dionysius of Alexandria, 354 Third
Council on Baptism, 364 Towns which
See also
sent their Bishops, 366, sqq.
23',
295,
Africa, 335
East, 339

sqq.

331,

Appendix on

and Index of same

Cities

SententicE
Episcoporuni,
Appendix.
authenticity of the document, 371, 372 ;

Cyprian's Arguments on Rebaptism,


401 Baptism performed by a demoniac
woman, 410 The Councils failed,
;

why, 424
Baptism by one that

is

dead, sense of the

words, 41

Baptism in the Name of Christ alone, 398


and n. 406, 407
Basil, S., 54, n.
166, n.; on Dionysius
on Firmilian,
the Great, 356 and n.
375 and n.
Basilicse, 41, n.
68 and n.; 296, n.
;

Basilides, a lapsed Bishop, 37, n. ; 233.


See also Spanish Appeal, 311, sqq.
(died OcBenson,
His 'juvenile lutober II, 1896).

Edward White

the Martyrdom and


of S. Hippolytus, and
Lightfoot's Comments on it,

cubration

on

'

Commemoration
Bishop
169,

n.

his

on Agrippinus,

article

627

Bishop, on junior Clerics and


professed virgins, 47, the same as Caecilius of Biltha
Ccecilius, Bishop of Biltha, 291
Cresarea, 373; dateof its fall, 373, n.; 555
Caesariani, sense of the word, 480, n.
Caius (Hippolytus himself), 482
Caldonius, a bishop, 84 ; one of Cyprian's
five representatives during his retireCctciliiis,

107; excommunicates Felicissimus, 1 13, 114, n. sent to Rome (see


Title
'the
of Cornelius'), 131, 133,

ment,

145. See also Herculanus, Numidicus,

Rogatianus, Victor
the Pope, 31, 308, 336 and
n., 348
Callixtus II., Pope, his citation of de
Unitate, 218 and n.
Canonize (to), origin of the word, 90, n.
Capsa, a town, 223, 368, 599
Captives (redemption of), 238
Carpos, a town, 421, n.; 579
Carthage.
See Introduction. Carthage
and her Society ; %vhere was Cyprian
Martyr buried? 509 ; where was Cyprian
tried and executed? 512; also 45, n.; 79,
n.; 112, 113, 359, n.; 497, 498, 500
Callistus,

and

n.

Castus, the Martyr, 78


Catacombs, 61, 481, sqq.
Celerina, the Martyr, 69, 70
Celeriniis (Persecution of Decius), his
family; his history, 69, sqq.; 93.
See

Confessors at Rome
Cemeteries, 233, 481, sqq. See
Catacombs and Collegia
Chromatins of Aquileia, 280, sqq.

Chrysostom, S.John, 54,

3i?7. n-

Berber Raid (the), 236, sqq.


Biennium, use of the word, 128, n.
Birrhus, 514 and nn. See Lacerna
Bishops. See Apostolic Succession, Episcopate see also Examination of the
Lists of Bishops attending the Councils,
Appendix, 564 also Cities from which
the Bishops came to the Seventh Council, Appendix, 573, sqq.
;

Bojia (Persecution of Decius), her history,

Church of the Future

n.

(the),

284, 294, n.

534

Cirta, a town, 368, 583


Clement of Rome (Epistles
attributed to), 56, n.

Clement of Alexandria,

37,

also

to

Virgins

355 and n.

412, n.

Clementianus, one of the Lapsed;


ennium of penance, 223
Clinical baptism, 121, n. ; 4O4, n.
Clypea, a town, 467

tri-

See also Ceme233.


teries and Catacombs
Commentarii (Commentarienses), sense

Collegia, 61, n.;

Budinarius, 117
Bulla Regia, a town, 231, n.

Bunsen, 27, nn.; 28,


54,

n.

n.

72,

n.

337,

581

45, n.
n.

46, n.;

341,

n.

404, n.
Butler, Bp.,
also 524

Byzantium

to

on Resentment, 250; see

Rome.

Distance, journey

from, 479, n.

of the word, 495, n.

Commission of five representatives appointed by Cyprian during his retirement, 107. See also Caldonius, Rogatianus, Herculanus, Victor, Numidicus
Conditional Baptism, 522 and n.
Confessors at Rome (Persecution of De(See also Moyses,
69, sqq.
Maximus, Rufinus, Nicostratus, Urba-

cius),

CcEcilianus the presbyter, 7, 9, 18, 19, 48

INDEX.

628

Sidonius, Macarius, Celerinus.)


After the death of Moyses (119, 120)
they place themselves on the side of
Novatian, X40, sqq. ; the 'brief letter'
of Cyprian, 146; Letter of Dionysius
of Alexandria, 147 ; Restoration of
Roman Confessors, 159, sqq. ; on Nicostratus, delegate of Novatian to Carthage, permanently alienated from the
Church, 159, 160
Confirmation, 394, n.; 404, n.; 420, 421
Consessus, 20, 21, 324, 325 and n.
Contestatio, use of the word, 372, n.
Coprianus, 5, n.
Cornelius, the Pope, 70; his character,
nus,

his election
family,
124, sqq.
(date discussed), 127 and n.; First
Council of Cyprian, the title of Cornelius, 129, sqq.; letters of recognition
Novatian, the schism,
sent to him
134, sqq. ; Restoration of Roman ConRoman Council,
fessors, 159, sqq.;
Felicishis letters, 168 and n.
163
simus goes to Rome as legate of Fortunatus, attitude of Cornelius, 228;
Cornelius banished to Centumcellas,
298 his death, 299 ; date of his death,
299, n.; place of his repose, 301 ; Commemoration of Cornelius, 303
his

Cyprian Companion
Cornelius
and
Saints in Kalendar and Collect, 310
and n. See also S. Cyprian's Day in
Kalendars, 610, sqq.
Councils of Cyprian. First, 129; Second,
224; Third, 231; Fourth, 233; Fifth
(I. on Baptism), 349; Sixth (II. on
Baptism), 351 ; Seventh (III. on Baptism), 364
the Baptismal Councils
failed doctrinally and why? 424, sqq.
African, but not Cyprianic,
Councils.
36, n.; 43, n.; 49, nn.; 53, n. ; 55, n;
;

114, n.

129, n.;

163, n.

237,

n.

520
Councils (not African), quoted.

Antioch,

168, 347, 376, nn.; Aries, 173,


n. ; 312, n.; 520; Basle, 429, n. ; Constance, 415, n.; Elvira, 43, n.; 46, n.;
166, n.; 173, n. ; 312, n.
79, n. ;
499, n.; Florence, 292, n.; London, 415,
167,

n.

Macon, 501

Neo-Coesarea, 166,

n.; 244, n.; Nicrea, 55, n.; 163, 166, n.


333' n-; 520; Nid, 432, n. ; Orange, 429,

Quini-Sext, 294, n.; 521; Trent,


293, n.; Tribur, 292, n.
Crementius, a sub-deacon sent to Rome
(retirement of Cyprian), 100, n.
Crescens, Bishop of Cirta, 371, n.; 420, n.
Crimen Majestatis, 61 and n.
Curubis (Cyprian deported to), 467 and n.
Custodia, use of the word, 499, n.
n.

his name, i, n.
at the African bar, 2

Cyprian,

and place,

his wealth, 4;
his

5; person
Cyprian Catechumen,

5;

7;

Influence of TertuUian and Minucius


9; Quod
Idola dii non sint; the Grace of God,
Felix, 9;

his

first

exercise,

13; Cyprian Deacon, 17; his charity,


18; Cyprian Presbyter, 19, sqq. Scripture studies, Testimonies, 22, sqq.
Cyprian Bishop of Carthage, 25, sqq.;
his title of Papa, 29; his view of the
Authority and the Design of the Episcopate, 3
sqq. his work as a Bishop, 41
sqq. Virginal life in Carthage, 5 1 ; The
Dress of Virgins, 55 ; his retirement
(Persecution of Decius), 84, sqq.
his
scheme for restorative discipline, 95,
sqq.; the thirteen Epistles of which
Cyprian sent copies to the Romans,
his Diocesan disquietudes,
102, sqq.
and his confidence in the Plebes, 106;
his five representatives, 107; Ecclesiastical parties at Carthage, the Five
Presbyters, 1 08, sqq. return of Cyprian
to
Carthage,
128;
First
Council;
;

Cyprian
133, n.

at

Hadrumetum,

129,

132,

Novatian's delegacies to Car-

thage, 143, 159; Cyprian on the return


of the Confessors to the Church, 163,
Analysis of the de Lapsis, 174; of
1 74
the de Uiiiiate EcclesicB, 180, sqq.;
Catena of Cyprianic passages on the
Unity signified in the Charge to Peter,
197, sqq.; Persecution of Callus, 222;
Second Council, 224; softening of the
Penance, 224; Maximus and Fortunatus
made anti-popes at Carthage, 226, sqq.
Third Council,
characteristic
231
mistake of Cyprian, 232; Fourth Council ; Intercourse of Churches and Dio;

ceses,
233, 234; Cyprian's Charity
during the Berber Raid, 236, sqq. the
Plague; the work of Cyprian, 240,
sqq.; on Work and Ahns deeds, 246;
ad Demetriami7n, 249, sqq.; de Mortalitate, 256, sqq.
Cyprian's Epistle to
the people of Thibaris, 258 ; ad Fortu;

natum, 264, sqq. (also 474, 475); on


the Lord's Prayer, 267, sqq.; Cyprian
on the mixed cup, 289, sqq. his views
on the dignity of the Roman See, 307
;

the Spanish Appeal to Carthage, 311,


sqq.; the Gaulish Appeal, 314, sqq.;
the Baptismal Question, 331, sqq.;
Tradition of Africa, 335; First and

Second Council on Baptism, 349, 35 1


of Cyprian towards Stepha-

Attitude

351, 352; Cyprian's letter to


358, sqq.; Third Council on
Baptism, 364, sqq. ; speech of Cyprian,
nus,

Pompey,

INDEX.
369; Arguments of Cyprian on Rebaptism, 401, sqq. the Catholic and
Ultramontane estimate of Cyprian, 432,
sqq.; of the Good of Patience, 437;
of Jealousy and Ettvy, 448, sqq. ;
Cyprian sent to exile, 466; Cyprian at
Curubis, 467; Cyprian's dream, 469;
the Numidian Bishop Confessors, 471,
sqq. Cyprian returns to Carthage, 494
;

horti;
Cyprian condemned to
death, 503; martyrdom, 505,506; where

his

was Cyprian buried? 509; where was


Cyprian tried and executed? 512;

Dress of Cyprian, 513 516; Ideal of


Cyprian, see Chapter Xll. Aftermath,
620, sqq.; S. Cyprian's Day in Kalendars, 610, sqq.;
Mai's supposed
fragment of Cyprian, 179
Cyprian and Cornelius, Companion Saints
in Kalendar and Collect, 310 and n.
See also S. Cyprian's Day in Kalendars,
610, sqq.

Dalmatica, 514
Damasus, the Pope, 30; on Hippolytus,
his inscriptions, 95, n.
165, n.
301
;

and n.; 483,

n.

484, n.;

488,

489,

490, n.

Dativns, Bishop of Vada, 471, n.


Deacons, Hie (Fabianus) regiones divisit
Diaconibus, 67 and n. 68 and n. ; (the
third priesthood), 114; case of a contumelious Deacon, 234; as administrators of churches, 312, n.
Decius, the Emperor, 64; the persecution, 64, sqq.
75, sqq; his death, 127
;

629

Donatus, Bishop of Carthage, predecessor of Cyprian, 7, 25, 227


Donatus, one of the Five Presbyters,
original opponents of Cyprian, ni,n.
See also Novatus
of

Dress,

Virgins

(of

the),

51,

sqq.;

57- sqq.

Duchesne, Abbe L., 68,

n.;

on Deacons

as administrators of churches, 312, n.


on the Vicariate of Aries, 315, n. ; on
the autonomy of Carthage, 4th century,

527 on Principalis Ecclesia, 537 ; aXso


483, n. ; 484, n.; 485, n. ; 490, n.
491, n.; 492, n.
;

Edicta feralia, 222, n.


Egnatius, the Martyr, 70
End (nearness of the), 266 and n.
Ennodius, 30, n. 3
Epictetus, Bishop of Assuras, elected after
the lapse of Fortunatianus, 232
Episcopate.
Election and Consecration
of Bishops, 27, 35, sqq.; 327; the
Order is of Divine creation ; Character
derived from the Apostles, 34; Authority of the Episcopate, 31, sqq.;
106, 193, 195, 196; Unityof the Episcopate, 181, 182; Restoration of Lapsed
Bishops, 166 (and n.), 230; Bishops
and the rights of the Laity, 313, 327
Government of churches when the See
is vacant or the Bishop absent, 329
Episcopus Episcoporum, 30, 31, 197
Etecusa (Persecution of Decius), 71 ; note
on her name, 74
Eucharist (the Holy), 45, 86 and n. ; 90,
;

92, 108, 225, 248, 259, 268, 284, 285,

and n.
Demetrianus (ad D.), 249, sqq.; D. perhaps one of the Five Primores, 250, n.
Tertullian's ad Scapulam compared,
251 Style of the 'Demetrian,' 256

289 295, 410 and n.


Eucratius, Bp. of Thenae (the training of

Deprehendere, in its legal sense, 503, n.


Didache, Teaching of the XII. Apostles,

Evangelium, character

44, n.;

294, n.; 410, n.

Dionysius the Great, of Alexandria, 29;


79, n. ; 65, 158; on Novatian and
Novatianism, 141, 142, 147, 164; his
'diaconal letter' 'through Hippolytus,'
J 64,
Baptismal ques167, 169, 171
tion, 341, 353, 354, sqq.; on Stephen's
liberality, 311;
on Firmilian, 375;
letters to Xystus, 355, 358; his exile to
Kephron, 456, 463
Doctor Audientium, 44, n.
;

Dollinger, 337, n.

340, n.

342, n.

Donatulus, Bishop of Capsa, date of his


ordination, 224, n.
Donatus, fellow neophyte of Cyprian, 4,
13; Ad Donatum, 13, sqq.; 445, n.

actors), 45, 46
Eusebius (questions of dates),

14,

n.;

strictness

at-

128, n.; 347, 463, 487, n.

tached

to

this

147 and n.
a

Bishop,

Evaristtis,

of,

word (Novatianism),
the

promoter of

Novatianism, 136, 160


Evil (Deliver us from), on the clause, 272

Exomologesis, 98, 99
Exorcism, ro and n.; 253, 258, 409, n.
Extorres, use of the word, 102, 103, 107,
n.;

114, n.

Fabian, the Pope, his death, 65


F.
'divided the Regions to the Deacons,'
67, 88, 90, 120, 227
Fabius of Antioch, his leaning towards
the schism letter of Cornelius to him,
(See also Council of An167, 168.
;

tioch.

INDEX.

630
FechtiupjB.,

19, n.; 65,11.; 83,11.; 88, n.;


94, n.; Ill, n.; 115, n.; 116, n.; 130,
n.; 158,11.; 163,11.; 166, n.; 336, n.;
342, n.; 396, n.; 416, n.
Felicissi/mis, a layman, one of the earliest

Confessors at Carthage in the Persecution of Decius, 77


Fellcissiitms, a Deacon who joined Novatus...non communicaturos in Monte
secuni...the
Presbyters
'his
Five
satellites,' 113 and nn.; was already a
Deacon when he joined Novatus, 116.
First Council of Carthage
Decision
on Felicissimus, 131, 133... 180; his
journey to Rome as a legate of Fortunatus, 228
Felix, Bishop of Bagai, 471, n.
Felix, Bishop of (?) Bamaccora, 413, n.
471, n.
Felix, pseudo bishop of Privatus (of
Lambeesis, see name), appointment,
227
Felix III., Pope... Penitential discipline,
:

167, n.

Fidus, a Bishop: his views on penitential


discipline and infant Baptism, 231,
295, 296,297
Firmare concilium, 363, n.
Firmilianus, Bishop of Caesarea, his
letter to Cyprian, 372, sqq.; Genuineness of this Letter, 377; Greek locu-

Quotations of Scripture
in his letter, 386; Origen and Firmilian, 374; Dionysius of Alexandria on
Firniilian, 375; Basil on Firmilian,
Firmilian's influence in as.^7.5' S^Sj
sembling Councils, 376 and n.; Latino
tions,

381;

Latini on the Letter of Firmilian, 378


Florentini (his Martyrology quoted), 483,
n.; 615
Florida (confessio), floridiores...use of
the words, 78, n.
Florus, one of the Lapsed ; triennium of

Fortunatus, Venantius, 280, sqq.


Freppel, Mgr., 26, n.; 55, n.; 66, n.;
87, n.
91, n. ; 94, 97, n. ;
202, 218, 227, n.; 267, n.;
321, 370, n.; 475, n.
Furni, a town, 45, n.
580
;

201,
307, n.;

98,

Gains of Dida and his deacon, 107, 113,


n.; 328
Galeritis, the Proconsul, 502
Gallienus, the Emperor, 300 concessions
made long ago to the Christians, 304
and n. 458, 460, 477 and n.
Gallus (Persecution of), 222
Gaulish Appeal to Carthage (the), 314,
;

sqq.
Gemellze, a town, 369, 592, 599
Geminius, Bishop of Furni, 50
Geminiiis Victor, of Furni, nominates a
presbyter as tutor, 45^47
Geminius Faustinus, the presbyter, appointed as tutor, 45, 47
Girba (the isle of Meninx), 367, 598
Go7-dius, one of the Five Presbyters,
original opponents of Cyprian, in, n.

See also Novatus


Grecising-Latin Inscriptions, 306 and n.
Gratia Dei (de), 13. See Donatus
Gratian (Decretum of). Quotations of De

Unit ate, 219


Gregory of Nyssa,
90, n.;

27, n.

54, n.

284
Gregory Nazianzen, 3, n. ;
8, n.

242, n.

1,

n.

240, n.

Gregory Thaumaturgus,
65, n.

65, n.

5, n.;

6, n.

432, 433, n.
27,

n.

29, n.;

242, n.

Gregory the Great, 315, 515


Gregory of Tours, on Trophimus of Aries,
316 and n.
his Bavarian manuscript, 206,
207 and n.; 209 and n.

Gretser,

penance, 223
Fortunatianus, Proconsul at Carthage,
Persecution of Decius, 76, n.
Fortunatianus, the lapsed Bishop of Assuras, 232
Fortunatiis (ad F., Exhortation to Con-

Harnack, Dr A., 67, n. 389; see note


Cyprian before the Roman Presbyters,'
See Appendix,
150.
Additional note on Libel! i, 541, sqq. and
Appendix, On the Nameless Epistle ad
Novatiamiin and the attribution of it

fessorship), 264, sqq.; 474, 475


Fortunatiis, Bishop of Thuccabor, 402, n.
Fortunatus, a Bishop, sent to Rome with

to Xystus, 557, sqq.


Hartel (readings of his edition of Cyprian),

Caldonius (see name), 131, 133, 145


Fortunatus, a sub-deacon, sent by Cyprian

and

to

the

clergy of

Rome,

no

n.

Fortunatus, one of the original opponents


of Cyprian, iii, n. anti-pope at Carthage, 227, sqq. ; the Five Bishops who
;

created

him anti-pope,

227, n.

'

; 22, n.; 23, n.; 34, n.; 44, n.; 70, n.


80, n. ; 85, n. ; 87, n. ; 88, n.; 107, n.
112, n.; 116, n. ; 130, n. ; 144, n.

8, n.

145, n. 146, n. ; 185, n. 204, n. ; 205


n.; 206, n.; 207, n.; 208, n. ; 209, n.
2to, n. ; 211, n.; 288, n.; 313, n.
;

363. 37 1> n-; 393. " 394. n. ; 469, n.


473' n.; 481, n. 531, n.
Hefele,
on
votum decisivum
and
;

'

'

INDEX.
'votum

consultativum

'

in

Councils,

431. nHeraclas, his title of Pope, 29


Herculantis, a Bishop, one of Cyprian's
five representatives during his retirement, 107. See also Caldonius, Rogatianus, Victor, Numidicus
Herenniantis, a sub-deacon, carries with
others Cyprian's letter to the Numidian
Bishop Confessors, 473
Hilary, S., 280 and n. ; 286
Hippo Diarrhytus, 367, 578
Hippolytus of Portus, 31, n. Difficulties
identifying
Hippolytus through
in
whom Dionysius wrote to the Romans
with Hippolytus of Portus, 169; on
;

Callistus, 336, n.

Hooker, 325,

n.

334335

Hort, Dr, 8, n. 44, n. 427, n.


Horti (Cyprian's), 18, 494, 496
Hosius, Cardinal, his Codex of de Unitale, 21 1, 216
;

lader. Bishop of Midili, 471, n.


Iconium and Synnada (Councils

342-

347. 348

'Idols are not Gods' (That), 10, sqq.

n.

427,

540
yanuarius, Bishop of Lambsesis, 227,
10,
Jerome, S., r, n.
3, 6, n. ;
;

n.
n.

21, n. ; 53, n.; 54, n. ; 72. n.;


112, n.; 141, n.; 164, n. ; 255 and n.;
35^ n-; 356. n. ; 359, 374, "n. ; 391,
12, n.;

404, n.; 448, n.

474, n.

Jewish priesthood, 33
yovinus, a lapsed Bishop, 227
Jubaianus, a Bishop of Mauretania, his
Letter to Cyprian, 352 Cyprian's Letter
to J., 352, 372, 373. "; 398, 399
;

Justin Martyr, 37, 38, n.

Kephron and

the

to Hadrumetum, 132
Lightfoot, Bp., on Hippolytus of Portus,
1 69 and nn. ; on Dionysius' Epistle called
diaconic, 171 ; 11, n.; 20, n.; 37,n.; 38,
n. 39, n.; 40, n. ; 57, n.; 68, n.; i i6,n.
164, n. ; 165, nn. ; 284, n.
445, n. ;
452, n.; 476, n.; 484, n.; 485, n.; 525,
;

.529

on the Episcopate, 38,

164, sqq. ; the treatise De Lapsis, 174,


sqq.; 230, 259, 298, 305.
See also
Spanish Appeal, 311, sqq.
Latino Latini, withdraws his annotations
from Manutius' edition of Cyprian, 209,
210; on the Letter of Firmilian, 378
Lattrentinus, the Martyr, 70
Laurentius, S., Martyr, his dialogue with
Xystus, 491 and n.
Laying on of hands, 400. Cyprian's and
Stephen's explanation.
Three intentions with which it was used besides
that of ordination, 420 and n.
Leo I., Pope, i66, n.; 315, nn.
Levitica tribus, 36, n.
Lex Regia, 62, n.
Libelli, 81, 82, 265; additional note, 541.
See also Martyrs (Letters from)
Libcralis, a Bishop, accompanies Cyprian

340

of),

Indulgence granted by Lucianus to 'all


Lapsed' in the name of 'all Confessors,'
93. 109
Infant Baptism, 231, 295, 296
Intercourse of Churches or Dioceses, 232,
See Aftermath, end
233.
Interpolations (de Unitate), 200, sqq. 547
Irenseus,

631

Lands of Kolluthion,

Linea, 516
Lipsius, 65, n.
67, n.; 120, n. ; 126, n.
(on the date of the election of Corne;

lius, 127, n.); 133, n.

138, n. 145, n.;


299, n. ; 304, n. 316, n. 373, n. ; 485,
488, n.
;
Littetis, Bishop of Gemellte, 369 and n. ;
471, n.
Liturgies (mixed cup symbolism), 293, n.
Longinus, a member of the first Nova;

n.

tianist delegacy to Carthage, 136


Lucanns, acolyte, carries with others the
letter of Cyprian to the Numidian

Bishop-Confessors, 473
Lucianus, a Carthaginian friend of Celerinus (see name), Persecution of Decius, 70, 93, See letters from Martyrs.
Grant of a general indulgence to 'all
Lapsed' in the name of 'all Confessors,'
93. 109
Lucius, the Pope, successor of Cornelius,
his exile and recall, 304, 305; a 'precept' attributed to him; his treatment
of the Lapsed, 305; his death, 306

463, 464

Lacema birrhus, 514


Lacinise manuales, 516
Lactantius, 5, n. 255, 266, n. ; 462, n.
Laity.
See Plebes
Lambresis, a town, 226, n.; 586
Lapsi, 79, sqq. ; the Lapsed and the Martyrs, 89, sqq.; io6, sqq.; 156, sqq.;
;

Abbe du, his letter ap. 'Memoiresde Trevoux'...the interpolations

Mabaret,
(de

Uniiatt) are restored in

edition, 213, sqq.

Macarius,

Roman

of Decius),

Rome

69.

Baluze's

Appendix, 546

Confessor (Persecution
See Confessors at

INDEX.

632

Machxcus, a member of the first Novatianist delegacy to Carthage, 136


Macrianus, his influence on Valerian, 457,
sqq.

Mactharis, a town, 369, 604


Magalia, Mapalia, Mappalia, 510, n.
Magister Sacrorum, 61
Magnus (Letter of Cyprian to), 349
Majestas.
See Crimen Majestatis
Manualis, -e, 516. See Lacinise
Manutius' edition of Cyprian's works,
209 212. Special note, Appendix,

544
Mappalicns, the Martyr, II, <)i
Maran, Dom Prudent, see Baluze

penance, 223
;

213,

214, n.; 215, n.


Marciamcs, Novatianist Bishop of Aries,
See Gaulish Appeal
317, sqq.
Marcion, Marcionites, 347, 398
Martialis, a lapsed Bishop, 37, n.; 233.
See also Spanish Appeal, 311, sqq.
Martyrs (Acts of the).
See Notarii and

Eucharist
Martyrs (Letters from), see the Lapsed

and the Martyrs

89, 92, sqq.

172, 173,

n.

Massa Candida, 517


Maxumis, Roman Presbyter and Confessor (Persecution of Decius), 69;
joins the schism of Novatian, 140,
141 ; is reconciled to Cornelius and
becomes his supporter, 160162; Loculus, 69, 162

Maxinnis, Novatianist Roman Presbyter


sent by Novatian to Carthage to announce the election of Novatian as
Antipope, 1 36 ; made Antipope at
Carthage, 226
Maxiinus, acolyte, carries with others
Cyprian's Letter to the Numidian
Bishop-Confessors, 473
Metator (of Antichrist), sense of the word,

70
Mettius, a sub-deacon sent to Rome with
Nicephorus the acolyte, 145
Minucius Felix, 9, sqq.
Mixed Cup (the), 289, sqq.
Mommsen, 61, n. 67, n.; 162, n. ; 231,
n.
237, n.; 300, n.; 303, n. 472, n.
485, n. ; 488, n.; 491, n.
Mofimilus, Bishop of Girba, 367 and n.
Mons, in Monte, i.e. Bozra, 112 and n.
113, n.
Moses of Chorene on Firmilian, 375 and
;

Natalis, Bishop of Oea, 360


Neapolis, a town, 467
Nemesiatius, Bishop of Thubunse, 371, n.;
387; 412; 421, n.; 471, n.
Nicephorus, an acolyte, sent to Rome with
Mettius the sub-deacon, 145
Nicostratus, Deacon, Roman Confessor
(Persecution of Decius), 69. See Confessors at Rome.
N. delegate of Novatian to Carthage; his character;
permanently alienated from the Church,
159, 160
Niniis, one of the Lapsed, triennium of

n.; 555 n-

Moyses, Roman Presbyter and Confessor


(Persecution of Decius), 69, 70; refuses
to act with Novatian, 120, sqq. ; his
death, 119, 120
Munerarii, use of the word, 248 and n.

Notarii, 67, n.
the Martyrs

See also Acts of

90, n.

Novatianus, 88

; his character and talents,


120, sqq.; his works, 123; the schism,
sqq.;
Novatian's
delegacies to
134,

Carthage, 136, 143, 159; the Roman


Confessors join Novatianus, 140; Maxi-

mus

the head of the first legation made


Antipope at Carthage, 226
Novatianus, on the Nameless Epistle ad
Novatianum, and the attribution of it
to Xystus.
Special note, Appendix,

557
Novatits, Bishop of Thamugadi, 337
Novatiis, the presbyter, his life and intrigues, no. III, sqq.; in Aioiite or
in morte, ri2, n. ; Novatus leader of
the Five Presbyters, 112 and n. ; did
N. confer orders upon Felicissimus,
his connection with Novatianism,
115
136, sqq.; his journey to Rome, 137,
;

138. n.

Numeria, see Etecusa


Numidian Bishop -Confessors.
tion of Valerian, 471, sqq.
471, n.

Persecu-

their

names,

a Carthaginian Presbyter
(Persecution of Decius), 77; one of
Cyprian's five representatives during
his retirement, 107.
See also Caldonius, Herculanus, Rogatianus, Victor

N2i>nidtcus,

Offering

sacrifice

323. "
Otferre nomen,

and

pro

use

dormitione,

of

the

word,

45,

92

n.

Optatus, the reader, made Teacher of


Catechumens, 44
Optatus of Milev, 18, n. 42, n.; 68, n.
147. n-; 157 and n.; 231, n.; 313, n.;
;

394, n. ; 409, n. ; 413, n.; 416,


427, n. ; 459, n.; 471, n.; 529, n.

n.;

Ordo, the clergy, 19


Origen, 36, n.; 41, n.; 65; O. and Firmilian, 374; O. on Baptism into Christ,

INDEX.
;
on consultation of the laity by
Bishops, 428 and n.
Orosius, 504, n.
Ostensiones, 222, n.
See also Visions of

407

Cyprian
Pallium, the philosopher's pall, 5 and n.
Pamele, Jacques de, his edition of Cyprian's works, 206, 216, n. 3

Papa, Title

of, 29
Paternus, the Proconsul. See Treatment
of Cyprian, 464, sqq.
Paul of Samosata, 376 and n.
Paula Sarcinatrix, 117

Paulinianists, 333, n.
520
Paulus, the Confessor, at his request
Lucianus begins the system of Indulgence to the Lapsed, 93, 109
Pearson, 4, n.
18, n.; 29 and n.; 71, n.;
;

85, n.; 90, n. ; 105; 163, n.;


77, n.
224, n.; 235, n. ; 250, n. ; 258, n.
259, n.; 289, n. ; 291, n. ; 299, nn.
341, n.; 373, n.; 479, n.
;

Pelagius II., Pope, 217; his letters to


the Bishops of Istria, 220, 221.
See
Appendix, 549 551. See also Interpolations (de Unitate)
Penitential discipline, 166 and n.; 176,
229, 230, sqq.
Perferre coronam, sense of the words,

633

Pompeiits, an African Bishop, present at


the Consecration of Cornelius, 135 (also
133.

n)

Pompeius, Bishop of Sabrata (Letter of


Cyprian to), 358; special note on this
Letter, 361
Pomponiiis, Bishop of Dionysiana, 371, n.
Pontianus, the Pope, 169, 1 70
Pontiff (the title of ), 33, 197
Praeceptum, 465, n. 492, n.
Prserogativa (martyrum), sense of the
word, 91, n.
Pnescriptio, use of the word, 313
Prsesens, Prsesentes, use of the words,
;

32, n. ; 88, 96, n.


328, 329, 430, n.
Prjeses (of Numidia), 472, n.
Prayers, thrice daily, 269
Presbyterian theories with regard to
;

Novatus, 115 and n.


528
Presbyters,

members

Presbyterianism,

36, 193, n. ; Presbyters as


of the Administration, 323,

sqq.; 381
Presbyters (the Five), a faction hostile to
Cyprian's election and authority, 25,
26, 109 and n. ; Novatus their leader
their identification,

10, n.

Priesthood, of the Laity, 20, 37, 38, 404, n.


Primitiviis, a presbyter, sent to Cornelius,

^45
Primores quinque. Commissioners at Carthage, Persecution of Decius, 76 and n.;
.

223, n.
See
Persecutions, Roman theory, 60.
Decius, Gallus, Valerian
Peter (the Charge to the Apostle), catena
of Cyprianic passages on the unity
signified in the Charge to Peter, 197
Peter and Paul (the Apostles), removed
to the Catacombs, 484, 485, 486
Peter of Alexandria, S., 81, nn.
82,
;

Peters, Dr, 5, n.; 24, n.


146, n.; 319, n.;
321, n.; 343, n.; 348; 350, n.; 351, n.;
353. "; 370, n.; 373, n.; 398, n. ;
409, n. ; 416, n.; 434, n.
435, nn.;
;

475, n. ;
476. n.
Philip, the Emperor, his toleration of the
440,

n.

459,

n.

Christians, 64 and n.
(the), 24O, sqq.
Platonia (see also Damasus), 483 and n.
Plebes, the Commons (the Laityj, 19,

Plague

32,

n.

36,

106,

173, n.; 188, 430,


the Laity of with-

Right of
drawing from the Communion of
431

sacri-

legious or sinful Bishops, 194, n. ; 313,


314, 327; the Laity silent in the Baptismal Councils, 426, sqq.
Polianus, Bishop of Milev, 471, n.
Bishop of Hadrumetum,
Polycarpus,

371. n-

B.

note, 537
Principalitas, sense

95. n-

436

"3
Princeps, sense of the word, 537, 538,
404, n.
Principalis, Principales, sense and use of
the words, 495, 538, 539
special
Principalis Ecclesia, 192, 234

and use of the word,

539, 540 and n.


Principes, use of the word, 497
Privatus, Bp. of Lambsesis, condemned of
heresy, 226, 227
Probation (idea of), 254, 258, sqq.
Prophets, 4 10, n. (the Cappadocian case
of a professed prophetess)
Prudentius, 2, n. 7, n.; 165, n.; 169, n.;
404, n.; 491, n.
Puppiattus (Letter of Cyprian to), 28, n.;
;

37

Quadriennium, use of the word, 41, n.


Quintus, Mauretanian Bishop, 350; Letter
Special note
of Cyprian to Q., 350.
that Quietus of Buruch [Sentt. Epp.
27)

is

Quintus, Recipient of Ep. 71,

363
Quirtnus, a lay friend of Cyprian the
Testimonia compiled and classified for
;

41

INDEX.

634

him, 22, sqq.; 473; his liberality to the


Numidian Bishop-Confessors, 473

baptism of Schismatics, 336


R. under Xystus, 475, sqq.

the C. of

Rome
Rebaptism. See Baptismal Question
Rebaptismate (de), the Nameless Author,
390 ; antiquity of the Treatise, genuine
reading of S. John vii. 39, 392 and n.
arguments, 393, sqq.; did the Author
know Cyprian's later writings on Baphad Cyprian read the
tism ? 396
;

Author? 397; possibly the Treatise


which Jubaianus submitted to Cyprian,

words, 498,
Reposttis of

;
69, n,
;
72, n. ; 95, n. ; 125, n. ; 162, n. ; 183,
n.; 300, n.; 301, n. ; 303, n. ; 483, nn.;

484, n. ; 487, nn.


490, nn.; 491, n.

n.

Tuburnuc, apostate Bishop,

80
Repraesentare, 324, n.

Restoration

of

and nn.

230
Rettberg, F.W., 15, n.

23, n.
54, n.
Ill, n.; 161, n.
225, n.; 255,
289, n.; ^49, n.; 351, n.; 357, n.;
;

65, n.;

373. n.
Ritschl, O., t8, n.
40, n.; 85, n.
94, n.;
125, n.; 130, n.; 135, n.; 143, n.; 144, n.
See notes: 'Cyprian before his own
'
Felicissimus as a
presbyters,' 148;
more faithful representative of the
Church,' 153; 'Evanescence of Novatus under Ritschl's analysis,' 154
161, n.; 166, n. ; 189, n. ; I9i,n.
196,
n.; 235, n.; 289, n.; 3ii,n.; 330; 373, n.;
;

on Ep. 74 to Pompeius, 361 on Ep.


on Ep. 75 (Fir72 to Stephanus, 362
;

milian's), 382, sqq.


Ritual.
See Mixed Cup,

Water, Wine,

Unction
Rivington, Rev. L., 220, 539, 540
Mogatianus, Bishop of Nova, case of a
contumelious deacon (Cypr. Ep. 3),
2.34, 235
Rogatianus, presbyter at Carthage, trustee
of Cyprian's charities during his absence, 77, 85 ; one of Cyprian's representatives during his retirement, 107.
See also Caldonius, Herculanus, Numidicus, Victor
Rogatianus, a deacon, who carried the
Letter of Firmilian, 372
Rome (the Church of), under Fabian, 67
interference of the C. of R. (Persecution
of Decius), 87 ; Cornelius elected, 127;
Novatianism, 134, sqq. the C. of R.
under Lucius, 304, 305 under Stephanus, 307, sqq.
the Spanish Appeal to
Carthage, 31 1, sqq.; the Gaulish Appeal
to Carthage, 314, sqq.; tradition on re;

489, n.

Rome

Sabrata, a town, 358, 597


Sacerdos, Sacerdotium, use of the words,
33, n.; 36, 166, n.
Sacrificati (Persecution of Decius), 80,

See also 223

Sacrilegium, 502, n.
Salonina, Cornelia, wife of Gallienus,
probably a Christian, 300, 458, n.
Salzburg Itinerary, 482, 490, n.
Sanctificare, use of the word, 404, n.
Sarcinatrix, 117
Saiurus, appointed to read the lesson at
Easter, 41, n. 44, n. 45
Scruples (a case recorded by Dionysius
of Alexandria), 355
Secretarium, 464
Secundums, Bishop of Carpos, 421, n.
Sedatus, Bishop of Thuburbo, 404, n.
Seniores Plebis, in later African Councils,
427, n.
Sentenha Episcoporum, authenticity of
the document, 371, 372
Sexti (ad), 500, 512, 513
Shepherd, Rev. E. J., 47 51, 224, 280,
;

297. 364. 371. 379


First

Sicily.

488, n.

Rujinus, Deacon, Roman Confessor (Persecution of Decius), 69. See Confessors

166, n.

166

Clerics,

of the

Resentment (on), 249


Respondere Natalibus, 245

Freppel, Peters, Rivington


B. de, 5, n. 30, n.

Rossi, G.

at

399

Receptum eum...contmuit..., use

n.

(claims of the Modern Church of


R.), 208, sqq. See 'Principalis Ecclesia,'

Church

mention

of

Christian

95 and n.
Christian Humility,

in that island,

Sidgwick,

H.,

on

441, n.
Sidonius, Roman Confessor (Persecution
of Decius), 69.
See Confessors at

Rome
Sigus (the mines of), 473 and n.
Sin (original), 273, 297 and n.
Slavery, slaves, 14, 81, 252, n.; 260
Soldiers and officers named in Cyprian's
trial,

516

SoHassiis, budinarius, 117


Sorrows (Interpretation of), 256, &c.
Spanish Appeal to Carthage, 311, sqq.
See also Basilides and Martialis
Spectaculum, use of the word, 504, n.

Speculator, 505, n.

506, n.

Spisina (Espesina), 74 and


Sportula,
325. n.

'

n.

...sportulantium

fratrum...,'

INDEX.
Stantes (The), at Carthage (Persecution
of Decius), 75, sqq.
Stephen V., the Pope, on Trophimus of
Aries, 315 and n.
His characStepkanus, the Pope, 307.
Spanish Apter and poHcy, 309, sqq.
Gaulish
Appeal to Carthage, 311;
peal, 31 4 ; the Baptismal Question,
331, sqq.; Tradition of the Roman
Church on Rebaptism of Schismatics,
336; First and Second Council of
Cyprian on Baptism, 349, 351; some
African Bishops in sympathy with
Stephanus, 351 ; a deputation of
Bishops from Cyprian waits on Stephanus, his attitude, 352; he threatens
to withdraw from the Communion of
the Bishops of Asia Minor, 353; note
on ws ov Koivo3vfi(TU)v, 354 are Letters
missing from the correspondence with
Stephanus? 360; special note on the
Epistle to Pompey, 362 Cyprian'sThird
Council on Baptism, 364, sqq. ; 370, n.
arguments of Stephanus on Baptism,
413, sqq.; note on Stephen's 'Nihil
innovetur nisi,' 421
Stephanus, an African Bishop, present
at the Consecration of Cornelius, his
return to Carthage, 135 (also 133, n.)
Strator, use of the word, 497, n.
Subintroductas, 47, 54, n.
Successes, Bishop of Abbir Germaniciana
(Letter of Cyprian to), 493
Suffragium, use of the word, 25, n. ; 28, n.
Superius, a Bishop (See unknown), 224
;

Superstitions, 269

Synnada

(site of),

340, n.

Taylor, Jeremy, on Stephen the Pope,


310; on Stephen and Cyprian, 335

Te Deum

(clauses of), 264


61. See also Introduction
Tertullian, 'the master,' 9; on the priest-

Tertium genus,

hood of the

laity, 20, 38 ; on ^ Episcopus


Episcoporum," 30, 31, 197; on Virginal

52, sqq.; de Ftiga in Persecutione,


85; on the Prayer, 269; Table shewing the verbal debts to Tertullian in
Cyprian's Treatise de Dominica Oratione, 276, 277, 278; date of the de
Baptismo, 338, 348. Tertullian's de
Patientia, 443, sqq. References 5, n.;
13, n. ; 20 nn. ; 21, n.
33, n. 38, n.
41, n.
39, n.
43, n.;45, n.; 51, n.;
52, nn. ; 53, nn. 54, n. 56, n. ; 57, n.
58, nn.; 59, nn.; 61, n. ; 64, n. ; 85, n.;
197, n. ; 250, n. ; 251 and n.
89, 91
254, nn. 265, n. 266, n. ; 267, n. ; 269,
nn.; 270, nn.; 271, nn.; 272, nn.; 283,
life,

635

nn.; 293, n.
n.; 392, n. ;
n.
408, n.;
nn. ; 441, n.
n. ; 446, nn. ;

339, n. ;
402, nn.;
409, n.;
443, nn. ;
447, nn. ;

343, n.
403, n.;
414, n.;
444, nn. ;
474, n.
;

364,
404,
439,
445,
501,

n. ; 509, n.
Tertulhis, a presbyter of Carthage, advocate of the concealment of Cyprian,

86

Thabraca (the island rock of), 367, 581


Thamugadi, a town, 337, 368, 589
Thelepte, a town, 369, 600
Thense, a town, 45 and n. 603
Theophilus of Antioch (Introduction of
the word 'Trinity'), 269, n.
Therapius, Bishop of Bulla, 232 and n.
;

Theveste (road

to), 368,

588, 593

Thiharis (the Epistle to the people of),

258
_

Thibaris, a town, 258, 583


Thirteen Epistles (the), of which Cyprian
sent copies to the Romans, special note,
102, 103, 104, 105

Thomas Aquinas,

Conditional Baptism,

522, n.

Thuburbo, a town, 369, 579


Thurificati

(Persecution of Decius),

80,

166, n.

Timesitheus, on the name, 3, n.


Tinguere, i.e. Baptizare, 387
Tractatus, Tractare, sense of the words,
32, n.; 165, n.; 508, n.
Traditor, Traditores (disqualification of,
by the Donatists), 415 and n.
Traversaria, sense of the word, 472, n.
Tria Fata (temple of the), 71, n.
Triennium, use of the word, 223, n.
Trinity, Tptds (earliest use of the word),
269, n.
Trinity, '...sacrament of the Trinity...,'

269 and

n.

Tripolis, a town, 367, 596, 597


Trqfimus, a lapsed Bishop, restored to
the Church as a layman, 166. See also
Penitential Discipline
Trophimus of Aries, 314, sqq.

Tubumuc, a town, 80 and


Tutores

(clerics), 45, 46,

Unam Sanctam

n.

47

(Bull), 322, n.

Unction (baptism, confirmation), 403, n.


Unity of the Catholic Church, Treatise of,
180, sqq.; Codices of de Unitate, 204,
sqq.
See also Appendix, 547, sqq.
Urbanus, Roman Confessor (Persecution
of Decius), 69.
See Confessors at

Rome
Ursinus, supposed author of de Rebaptismate, 391

INDEX.

6^6

Valens, ^mulus, princeps, opportunity


afforded for the election of Cornelius,

Visions of Cyprian, 60, 85,


Ostensiones

See also

n.

126, n.

Valerian, the Persecution of; the Edict


and its occasion, 456, sqq., 459; his
departure to the East, 460; the levee
of Byzantium, 477, sqq.; the Rescript
(its

Water

(instead of Wine) in the Eucharist,


290 and-nn.; water alone cannot be
offered and reason why, 292 ; water in
Baptism, 403, 404 and n. ; profaned
and polluted water, 351 and n.; 404,
n.
412 and n. Water used instead of

date), 479, and n. 480 ; special note


in the Chronology of Vale;

on Points

rian's reign, Appendix, 552


Vatican decrees, 322, n.
Veil (to take the), original meaning of
the words, 53 and n.
Victor, a Bishop, one of Cyprjan's five
representatives during his retirement,
See also Caldonius, Herculanus,
107.
Numidicus, Rogatianus
Victor, Bishop of Gorduba, 402, n.
Victor, Bishop of Octavu, 471, n.
Victor, a presbyter i-eadmitted to Communion by Therapius, Bishop of Bulla,
224, n.; 231
Viduatus, the Order of Widows; their
seat of honour in the church, their

functions, 53 and n.
Vigil of the Martyr, 499
Vincent of Lerins, 311, n. 335, 422
Vincentiiis, Bishop of Thibaris, 371, n.;

See also Appendix, 544

CAMBRIDGE

PRINTED BY

J.

AND

C.

for

404

n.

consignation of the baptized,

Westcott, Bishop, 9 n.; 57, n.

427, n.

William of Malmesbury, 483, n.


Wine alone cannot be offered, the reason
why, 292
Wordsworth, Bp. Christopher, on the
Diaconal Epistle of Hippolytus of
Portus, 171

Wordsworth, Bp. John, on Latin Mss. of


the Gospel, 272, n.

392, n.

Work and Alms Deeds

246

(treatise on),

Wyclif, 415; Wyclifite proposition condemned, 415, n.

Xystiis, the Pope, his Election, 475

his

immunity, 477; Memorials of Xystus


and his Martyrdom, 487, sqq.; on the

414, n.
Virginal life in Carthage, 51, sqq.
Virgines (custodi virgines), a word of
Cyprian before his death, 499 and n.
Visconti, Carlo; his letter concerning the
edition of Cyprian (1563), 211, 212.

oil

Nameless Epistle ad Novatianum and


the attribution of

it

to Xystus,

557

Zephyrinus, Bishop of Rome (date), 348


Zosimus, Pope, on the Rights of the
Metropolitan of Aries, 315 and n.

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