Tertullian's Address to Martyrs

TERTULLIAN'S ADDRESS TO MARTYRS

PART VI

VI. But let us say no more of these examples of endurance arising from desire of notoriety. Let us turn to the simple contemplation of ordinary human life, and learn instruction also from those accidents which have to be bravely borne, which happen whether we will or no. How often have the flames burned men alive! How often have wild beasts devoured men both in their natural forests, and in the midst of cities when they have escaped from their dens! How many have been put an end to by brigands with the sword, and by enemies even on the cross, after having first been tortured, ay, and finally disposed of with every kind of insult! One will even suffer for the sake of a man 12 what he hesitates to undergo in the cause of God. On this point, indeed, even the present times may furnish us with proof, when so many persons of dignity are meeting with deaths never dreamt of for them in view of their family, rank, bodily condition and age—and all in the cause of a man, being punished either by himself if they have acted against him, or by his opponents if they have ranged themselves on his side.

Notes have been placed here at the end with a single numbering for ease of reading

1. p. 51 n 1. Tertullian’s use of “martyrs” for those who were destined to suffer, but had not yet done so, is in accordance with the Greek use of the word. See above, p. 45. They were “witnesses.” Later a distinction was drawn between those witnesses who suffered but escaped death (“ confessors “) and those who paid the extreme penalty (“ martyrs “).

2. p.53 n. 1. On this custom see above, pp. 21, 39, 46.

3. p.54 n.1 The reference is to the Vow of Renunciation at Baptism, for the various forms of which see Bright, Sermons of St. Leo, note 78, page 187.

4. p.55 n.1 These words contain a reference to the recreation walk planted with trees, and to the athletic and intellectual contests in the stadium and the Porch or school of Stoic philosophers. These are contrasted with Him Who is the true “Way” (John xiv. 6).

5. p55 n.2 In the Baptismal Vow of Obedience. The metaphor of the Christian soldier comes from 2 Tim. ii. 3, 4.

6. p.56 n.1 A movement in which the soldiers interlocked their shields over their heads, so as to resemble the shell of the tortoise (testudo).

7. p.56 n.2. The metaphor throughout this passage is that of the palæstra,

8. p.57 n. 1. It will have been noticed that the martyrs’ prison is viewed under five different aspects: It is first the house of the devil, the abode of criminals, and yet to be the scene of the devil’s discomfiture (chap. i.) secondly, it is a place of safety or watching (chap. ii.) thirdly, it is a retreat (chap. ii.); fourthly, a place for military training (chap. iii.) ; and fifthly, a wrestlingschool.

9. p.57 n. 2. Compare the case of Blandina, p. 37.

10. p.59 n. 1 Her name was Leæna: see Pliny, Hist. Nat. vii. 23; Pausanias, i. 23.

11. p.60 n.1 See above, p. 36, and below, p. 73.

12. p.60 n.2 An emperor, for instance, or a usurper. The following words refer to the ruthless punishment inflicted by Severus on the followers of his rivals, Albinus in the west, and Niger in the east, in the earlier years of his reign; Spartian, Severus, 12; Dion. Cass. lxxv. 8, lxxvi. 4; Herodian, iii. 8, 12.

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