§4Non te terremus, qui nec timemus, sed velim, ut omnes salvos facere possimus monendo μὴ θεομαχεῖν.
We do not terrify you, we who do not even fear; but I could wish that we might be able to save all by warning them not to fight against God.
Potes et officio iurisdictionis tuae fungi et humanitatis meminisse, vel quia et vos sub gladio estis.
You can both discharge the duty of your jurisdiction and be mindful of humanity, if only because you yourselves also are under the sword.
Quid enim amplius tibi mandatur quam nocentes confessos damnare, negantes autem ad tormenta revocare? Videtis ergo, quomodo ipsi vos contra mandata faciatis, ut confessos negare cogatis.
For what more is commanded to you than to condemn the guilty who have confessed, but to recall to torments those who deny? You see, therefore, how you yourselves act contrary to your commands, in that you compel those who have confessed to deny.
Adeo confitemini innocentes esse nos, quos damnare statim ex confessione non vultis.
To such a degree do you acknowledge that we are innocent, whom you do not wish to condemn immediately upon confession.
Si autem contenditis ad elidendos nos, iam ergo innocentiam expugnatis.
But if you strive to crush us, then you are already assaulting innocence itself.
Quanti autem praesides et constantiores et crudeliores dissimulaverunt ab huiusmodi causis? ut Cincius Severus, qui Thysdri ipse dedit remedium, quomodo responderent Christiani, ut dimitti possent: ut Vespronius Candidus, qui Christianum quasi tumultuosum civibus suis satisfacere dimisit: ut Asper, qui modice vexatum hominem et statim deiectum nec sacrificium compulit facere, ante professus inter advocatos et adsessores dolere se incidisse in hanc causam.
Moreover, how many presidents, both more resolute and more cruel, have turned a blind eye to cases of this kind? such as Cincius Severus, who himself at Thysdrus gave the remedy of how Christians should answer so that they might be dismissed; such as Vespronius Candidus, who dismissed a Christian as if he were a riotous person, to satisfy his fellow citizens; such as Asper, who did not compel a man, moderately harassed and immediately yielding, even to offer sacrifice, having beforehand declared among the advocates and assessors that he grieved to have fallen into this case.
Pudens etiam missum ad se Christianum in elogio concussione eius intellecta dimisit, scisso eodem elogio, aine accusatore negans se auditurum hominem secundum mandatum.
Pudens also dismissed a Christian sent to him, when he understood from the charge-sheet that it was a case of extortion, tearing up that same charge-sheet and declaring, in accordance with the mandate, that he would not hear a man without an accuser.
Haec omnia tibi et de officio suggeri possunt et ab eisdem advocatis, qui et ipsi beneficia habent Christianorum, licet acclament quae volunt.
All these things can be suggested to you both from your office and by those same advocates, who themselves also receive benefits from Christians, although they shout what they will.
Nam et cuiusdam notarius, cum a daemone praecipitaretur, liberatus est, et quorundam propinquus et puerulus, et quanti honesti viri (de vulgaribus enim non dicimus) aut a daemoniis aut valetudinibus remediati sunt? Ipse etiam Severus, pater Antonini, Christianorum memor fuit.
For even the secretary of a certain person, when he was being cast down by a demon, was delivered, as well as the relative and the little boy of certain people; and how many honorable men (for we do not speak of the common people) have been cured either of demons or of illnesses? Even Severus himself, the father of Antoninus, was mindful of the Christians.
Nam et Proculum Christianum, qui Torpacion cognominabatur, Euhodiae procuratorem, qui eum par oleum aliquando curaverat, requisivit et in palatio suo habuit usque ad mortem eius; quem et Anto(??)s optime noverat lacte Christiano educatus.
For he sought out the Christian Proculus, surnamed Torpacion, the steward of Euhodia, who had once cured him by means of oil, and kept him in his palace until his death; whom Antoninus also knew very well, having been brought up on Christian milk.
Sed et clarissimas feminas et clarissimes viros Severus, sciens huius sectae esse, non modo non laesit, verum et testimonio exornavit et populo furenti in nos pala(??) restitit.
But Severus, knowing that most illustrious women and most illustrious men belonged to this sect, not only did not harm them, but even honored them with his testimony, and openly resisted the populace raging against us.
Marcus quoque Aurelius in Gemanica expeditione Christianorum militum orationibus ad deum fectis imbres in siti illa impetrarit Quande non geniculationibus et ieiunationibus nostris etiam siccitates sunt depulsae? Tunc et populus adclamans duo deorum, qui solus potens, in Ievis nomine deo nostre testimonium reddidit.
Marcus Aurelius also, in the German expedition, obtained rains in that thirst by the prayers offered to God by Christian soldiers. When have droughts not been driven away also by our kneelings and fastings? Then even the people, acclaiming "to the God of gods, who alone is powerful," bore testimony to our God in the name of Jupiter.
Praeter haec depositum non abnegamus, matrimonium nullius adulteramus, pupilles pie tractamus, indigentibus refrigeramus, nulli malum pro male reddimus.
Besides these things, we do not deny a deposit, we commit adultery against no one's marriage, we treat orphans piously, we refresh the needy, we render evil for evil to no one.
Viderint qui sectam mentiuntur, quos et ipsi recusamus.
Let them look to it who falsely pretend to our sect, whom we ourselves also disown.
Quis denique de nobis alio nomine queritur? Quod aliud negotium patitur Christianus, nisi suae sectae, quam incestam, quam crudelem tanto tempore nemo probavit? Pro tanta innocentia, pro tanta probitate, pro iustitia, pro pudicitia, pro fide, pro veritate, pro deo vivo cremamur, quod nec sacrilegi nec hostes publici veri nec tot maiestatis rei pati solent.
Who, in short, complains of us on any other charge? What other trouble does a Christian suffer, except that of his own sect, which no one for so long a time has proved to be either incestuous or cruel? For so great innocence, for so great probity, for justice, for chastity, for faith, for truth, for the living God are we burned; a thing which neither sacrilegious persons, nor true public enemies, nor so many guilty of treason are accustomed to suffer.
Nam et nunc a praeside Legionis et a praeside Mauritaniae vexatur hoc nomen, sed gladio tenus, sicut et a primordio mandatum est animadverti in huiusmodi.
For even now by the governor of Legion and by the governor of Mauritania is this name harassed, but only as far as the sword, just as from the beginning it was commanded to punish such people.
Sed maiora certamina, maiora praemia.
But greater conflicts, greater rewards.
§5Grudelitas vestra gloria est nostra.
Your cruelty is our glory.
Vide tantum, ne hoc ipso, quod talia sustinemus, ad hoc solum videamur erumpere, ut hoc ipsum probemus, nes haec non timere, sed ultro vocare.
Only see to it lest, by this very fact that we endure such things, we should seem to break forth for this sole purpose, namely, to prove this very thing: that we do not fear these things, but rather invite them.
Arrius Antoninus in Asia cum persequeretur instanter, omnes illius civitatis Christiani ante tribunalia eius se manu facta obtulerunt.
When Arrius Antoninus was persecuting relentlessly in Asia, all the Christians of that city in a body presented themselves before his tribunal.
Tum ille paucis duci iussis reliquis ait, Ὦ δειλοὶ, εἰ θέλετε ἀποθνήσκειν, κρημνοὺς ἢ βρόχους ἔχετε. Hoc si placuerit et hic fieri, quid facies de tantis milibus hominum, tot viris ac feminis, omnis sexus, omnis aetatis, omnis dignitatis, offerentibus se tibi? Quantis ignibus, quantis gladiis opus erit? Quid ipsa Carthago passura est, decimanda a te, cum propinquos, cum contubernales suos illic unusquisque cognoverit, cum viderit illic fortasse et tui ordinis viros et matronas et principales quasque personas et amicorum tuorum vel propinquos vel amicos? Parce ergo tibi, si non nobis.
Then he, having ordered a few to be led away to execution, said to the rest: "O wretches, if you wish to die, you have cliffs or halters!" If it should please you that this be done here also, what will you do with so many thousands of human beings, so many men and women, of every sex, of every age, of every dignity, offering themselves to you? How many fires, how many swords will be needed? What will Carthage itself suffer, to be decimated by you, when everyone shall recognize there his own relatives, his own companions, when he shall see there perhaps even men of your own order, and matrons, and all the principal personages, and either the relatives or the friends of your own friends? Spare therefore yourself, if not us.
Parce Carthagini, si non tibi.
Spare Carthage, if not yourself.
Parce provinciae, quae visa intentione tua obnoxia facta est concussionibus et militum et inimicorum suorum cuiusque.
Spare the province, which, upon your intention being seen, has been made subject to the extortions both of the soldiers and of each one of its enemies.
Magistrum neminem habemus, nisi deum solum.
We have no master save God alone.
Hic ante te est nec abscondi potest, sed cui nihil facere possis.
He is before you, nor can He be hidden, but He is one against whom you can do nothing.
Ceterum quos putas tibi magistros, homines sunt, et ipsi morituri quandoque.
But those whom you think to be masters for yourself are men, and themselves to die sometime.
Nec tamen deficiet haec secta, quam tunc magis aedificari scias, cum caedi videtur.
Nor yet will this sect fail, which you may know is then more built up when it seems to be cut down.
Quisque enim tantam tolerantiam spectans, ut aliquo scrupulo percussus, et inquirere accenditur, quid sit in causa, et ubi cognoverit veritatem, et ipse statim sequitur.
For everyone, beholding such great endurance, as if struck by some scruple, is both kindled to inquire what is at the bottom of the matter, and when he has learned the truth, he himself also immediately follows.