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Tertullian · To Scapula §3

Divine Warnings and the Judgments on Persecutors

Passage 2 of 3 · Latin

Summary

The author enumerates natural disasters, extraordinary celestial phenomena, and the miserable ends of individual persecutors, pointing to them as clear signs of divine wrath and warnings meant to urge the recipient to take heed.

§3Tamen, sicut supra diximus, doleamus necesse est, quod nulla civitas impune latura sit sanguinis nostri effusionem; sicut et sub Hilariano praeside, cum de areis sepulturarum nostrarum adclamassent: Areae non sint! areae ipsorum non fuerunt! Messes enim suas non egerunt.
Yet, as we said above, we must of necessity grieve that no city will escape with impunity for the shedding of our blood; as also under the president Hilarianus, when they had shouted concerning our burial grounds (areae): "Let there be no areae!"—their own threshing-floors (areae) were not! For they did not gather in their harvests.
Ceterum et imbres anni praeteriti quid commemoraverint genus humanum apparuit, cataclysmum scilicet et retro fuisse propter incredulitates et iniquitates hominum, et ignes, qui super moenia Carthaginis proxime pependerunt per noctem, quid minati sint, sciunt qui viderunt, et pristina tonitrua quid sonaverint, sciunt qui obduruerunt.
Moreover, what last year's rains reminded the human race has become apparent, namely, that the deluge of old also occurred because of the unbelief and iniquities of men; and what the fires, which recently hung over the walls of Carthage through the night, threatened, those who saw them know; and what the former thunders sounded, those who hardened their hearts know.
Omnia haec signa sunt imminentis irae dei, quam necesse est, quoquo modo possumus, ut et nuntiemus et praedicemus et deprecemur interim localem esse.
All these are signs of the impending wrath of God, which we must of necessity, in whatever way we can, both announce, preach, and pray that it may meanwhile be only local.
Universalem enim et supremam suo tempore sentient qui exempla eius aliter interpretantur.
For those who interpret its examples otherwise will feel its universal and supreme wrath in its own time.
Nam et sol ille in conventu Uticensi extincto paene lumine adeo portentum fuit, ut non potuerit ex ordinario deliquio hoc pati positus in suo hypsomate et domicilio.
For even that sun in the district of Utica, with its light almost extinguished, was such a portent that it could not have suffered this from an ordinary eclipse, being positioned in its own hypsoma and house.
Habetis astrologos.
You have astrologers.
Possumus aeque et exitus quorundam praesidum tibi proponere, qui in fine vitae suae recordati sunt deliquisse, quod vexassent Christianos.
We can likewise set before you the ends of certain presidents, who at the close of their lives remembered that they had sinned because they had harassed the Christians.
Vigellius Saturninus, qui primus hic gladium in nos egit, lumina amisit.
Vigellius Saturninus, who first drew the sword against us here, lost his sight.
Claudius Lucius Herminianus in Cappadocia, cum, indigne ferens uxorem suam ad hanc sectam transisse, Christianos crudeliter tractasset, solusque in praetorio suo vastatus peste convivis vermibus ebullisset, Nemo sciat, aiebat, ne gaudeant Christiani aut sperent Christianae. Postea cognito errore suo, quod tormentis quosdam a proposito sue excidere fecisset, paene Christianus decessit.
Claudius Lucius Herminianus in Cappadocia, when, being indignant that his wife had passed over to this sect, he had treated the Christians cruelly, and, wasted by plague alone in his palace, boiled over with worms while still alive, said, "Let no one know, lest the Christian men rejoice or the Christian women hope." Afterwards, having recognized his error in that he had made some fall away from their purpose by torments, he died almost a Christian.
Caecilius Capella in illo exitu By(??)mtinor, Christiani gaudete (??) exclamavit. Sed qui videntur sibi impune tulisse, venient in diem divini iudicii.
Caecilius Capella, in that end of the Byzantines, cried out, "Christians, rejoice!" But those who seem to themselves to have escaped with impunity will come into the day of divine judgment.
Tibi quoque optamus admonitionem solam fuisse, quod cum Adrumeticum Mavilum ad bestias damnasses, et statim hace vexatio subsecuta est et (??)nc en eadem causa interpellatio sanguinis.
For you also we wish that it was only an admonition, in that when you had condemned Mavilus of Adrumetum to the beasts, both this harassment immediately followed, and now there is an intervention of blood on account of this same cause.
Sed memento de cetere.
But remember for the future.

Notes

  1. §3doleamus necesse est, quod — The subjunctive `doleamus` directly follows the impersonal expression `necesse est` without a conjunction (omission of *ut*). The `quod` clause depends on the verb of emotion `doleamus`, functioning either as a noun clause explaining what we grieve or as a causal clause indicating the reason for our grief.
  2. §3areae — The word `area` (plural `areae`) is used here with a double meaning: the Christian sense of "burial grounds" (cemeteries) and the common agricultural sense of "threshing-floors." It implies an ironic wordplay: as the populace shouted "Let there be no Christian cemeteries (*areae*)," they ended up losing their own threshing-floors (*areae*), meaning their crop harvests.
  3. §3deprecemur interim localem esse — The verb `deprecari` (to pray against, pray to avert) governs an accusative and infinitive construction (`localem esse`), where the accusative subject is the preceding relative pronoun `quam` (referring to `irae dei`). It means "to pray that the wrath [of God] may meanwhile be only local [rather than universal]."
  4. §3positus in suo hypsomate et domicilio — The nominative participle `positus` agrees with the subject `sol`. `hypsoma` (from Greek ὕψωμα, meaning height or exaltation) and `domicilium` (house) are astrological technical terms, referring to the sun being in its most powerful and dignified positions on the celestial sphere. The text argues that because the sun was in such an astrological position, the dramatic dimming could not be explained by a natural or ordinary eclipse (`ordinario deliquio`), but was a supernatural portent (`portentum`).
  5. §3cum ... damnasses, et statim — A paratactic construction where the conjunction `et` is placed at the beginning of the main clause following the subordinate `cum` clause (historical *cum*: "when..."). This "apodotic *et*" is characteristic of Biblical and colloquial Latin, emphasizing temporal immediacy: "when you had condemned..., then immediately [this harassment followed]."

Cite this passage

Tertullian, To Scapula §3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:stoa0275.stoa003.humanitext-lat1:3

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