§21Timiditatis est autem, cum te alius per deos suos obligat iuratione uel aliqua testificatione et tu, ne intellegaris, quiescis.
But it is a mark of timidity when another binds you by his own gods, in an oath or some testimony, and you keep silent so that you may not be recognized.
nam aeque quiescendo confirmas maiestatem eorum, cuius causa uideberis obligatus.
For by keeping silent you equally confirm their majesty, for the sake of which you will seem to be bound.
quid refert, deos nationum dicendo deos an audiendo confirmes? iures per idola, an ab alio adiuratus acquiescas? cur non agnoscamus uersutias satanae, qui, quod ore nostro perficere non potest, id agit, ut suorum ore per- Sciat per aures inferens nobis idololatriam? certe quisquis ille est, aut amica aut inimica congressione adstringit.
What difference does it make whether you confirm the gods of the nations by calling them gods or by hearing them so called? Whether you swear by idols, or acquiesce when adjured by another? Why do we not recognize the crafts of Satan, who, what he cannot accomplish by our mouth, busies himself to effect by the mouth of his own, bringing in idolatry upon us through our ears? Certainly, whoever he is, he binds you either in a friendly or a hostile encounter.
si inimica, iam ad pugnam uocaris et scis tibi dimicandum esse: si amica, quanto securius in dominum transferes sponsionem tuam, ut dissoluas obligationem eius, per quem te malus honori idolorum id est idololatriae quaerebat annectere.
If hostile, you are already called to battle and you know you must fight; if friendly, how much more safely will you transfer your pledge to the Lord, so that you may dissolve the obligation of him through whom the evil one sought to connect you to the honor of idols, that is, to idolatry.
omnis patientia eiusmodi idololatria.
All tolerance of this kind is idolatry.
honoras eos, quibus impositis obsequium praestitisti.
You honor those whom, by having them imposed upon you, you have rendered obedience.
scio quendam, cui dominus ignoscat, cum illi in publico per litem dictum esset: Iupiter tibi sit iratus, respondisse: immo tibi. quid aliter fecisset ethnicus, qui Iouem deum credidit? etiamsi non per eundem retorsisset maledictum nec per ullum Iouis similem, confirmauerat Iouem deum, per quem se maledictum indigne tulisse demonstrauerat remaledicens.
I know a certain person (may the Lord forgive him) who, when it was said to him in public during a lawsuit, "May Jupiter be angry with you," replied, "Nay, with you." What else would a pagan have done, who believed Jupiter to be a god? Even if he had not retorted the curse by the same name, nor by any similar to Jupiter, he had confirmed Jupiter as a god, by whom, in cursing back, he had shown that he took being cursed indignantly.
ad quid enim indigneris per eum, quem scis nihil esse? nam si insanis, iam esse confirmas, et erit idololatria professio timoris tui: quanto magis, cum per ipsum remaledicis, eodem Iouis honorem facis, quo et ille, qui te prouocauit? fidelis autem in eiusmodi ridere debet, non insanire, immo, secundum praeceptum, ne per deum quidem remaledicere, sed plane benedicere per deum, ut et idola destruas et deum praedices et adimpleas disciplinam.
For why should you be indignant at being cursed by one whom you know to be nothing? For if you rave, you thereby confirm that he exists, and the profession of your fear will be idolatry. How much more, when you curse back by him, do you pay the same honor to Jupiter as he did who provoked you? But a believer in such matters ought to laugh, not to rave; nay, according to the precept, not even to curse back by God, but clearly to bless by God, so that you may both destroy idols and preach God, and fulfill discipline.
§22Aeque benedici per deos nationum Christo initiatus non sustinebit, ut non semper reiciat immundam benedictionem et eam sibi in deum conuertens emundet.
¦20 Likewise, one initiated into Christ will not tolerate being blessed by the gods of the nations, without always rejecting the unclean blessing and cleansing it by converting it to God for himself.
benedici per deos nationum maledici est per deum.
To be blessed by the gods of the nations is to be cursed by God.
si cui dedero eleemosynam uel aliquid praestitero beneficii, et ille mihi deos suos uel coloniae genium propitios imprecetur, iam oblatio mea uel operatio idolorum honor erit, per quae benedictionis gratiam compensat.
If I give alms to anyone or perform some act of benefit, and he prays that his gods or the genius of the colony may be propitious to me, my offering or charitable work will now become an honor to idols, through which he compensates the favor of the blessing.
cur autem non sciat me dei causa fecisse, ut et deus potius glorificetur et daemonia non honorentur in eo quod propter deum feci? si deus uidet, quoniam propter ipsum feci, pariter uidet, quoniam propter ipsum fecisse me nolui ostendere, et praeceptum eius idolothytum quodammodo feci.
But why should he not know that I did it for God's sake, so that God rather may be glorified and demons may not be honored in that which I did for the sake of God? If God sees that I did it for His sake, He likewise sees that I was unwilling to show that I did it for His sake, and I have in a manner made His precept an idol-sacrifice.
multi dicunt, nemo se debet promulgare; puto autem nec negare.
Many say, "No one ought to publish himself"; but I think, neither ought he to deny.
negat enim, quicumque dissimulat in quacumque causa pro ethnico habitus, et utique omnis negatio idololatria est, sicut omnis idololatria negatio siue in factis siue in uerbis.
For whoever dissembles, in whatever cause, when regarded as a pagan, denies; and indeed, all denial is idolatry, just as all idolatry is a denial, whether in deeds or in words.