§12Iam enim et in ista specie ditati saturatique regnatis, non delicta incursantes, quae ieiuniis elimentur, nec reuelationum scientia indigentes, quae xerophagiis extorqueantur, nec bella propria metuentes, quae stationibus discutiantur.
For already in this respect you reign, rich and satisfied, not falling into sins which are washed away by fasts, nor needing the knowledge of revelations which are wrung out by xerophagies, nor fearing your own battles which are dispersed by stations.
ut ab Iohanne paracletus obmutuisset, et ipsi nobis prophetae in hanc maxime causam extitissemus, iam non dico ad exorandam dei iram nec ad impetrandam tutelam eius aut gratiam, sed ad praemuniendam per nosmet ipsos nouissimorum temporum condicionem indicentes omnem Tonueivoippovrjariv, cum carcer ediscendus et fames ac sitis exercendae et tam inediae quam anxii uictus tolerantia usurpanda sit, ut in carcerem talis introeat Christianus, qualis inde prodisset, non poenam illic passurus, sed disciplinam, nec saeculi tormenta, sed sua officia, eoque fidentior processurus ad certamen e custodia abusus nihil habens carnis, sic ut nec habeant tormenta materiam, cum sola et arida sit cute loricatus, et contra ungulas corneus, praemisso iam sanguinis suco tamquam animae impedimentis, properante iam et ipsa, quae iam saepe ieiunans mortem de proximo norit.
Even if the Paraclete had been silent since John, and we ourselves had stood out as prophets for this very cause, I do not now say for appeasing the wrath of God, nor for obtaining His protection or grace, but for preparing ourselves beforehand against the condition of the last times, commanding every "humility", since we must learn to endure prison, and practice hunger and thirst, and accustom ourselves to the tolerance of both fasting and a sparse diet, so that a Christian may enter into prison in such a state as he would come out of it, not to suffer punishment there, but discipline, nor the torments of the world, but his own duties; and that he may proceed to the contest from custody with greater confidence, having used up and possessing nothing of the flesh, so that the torments may not even have material, since he is clad in dry skin alone as a breastplate, and is horny against the claws, the fluid of his blood having already been sent on ahead as the impediments of the soul, while the soul itself is already hastening, which by fasting often has already known death from nearby.
plane uestrum est in carceribus popinas exhibere martyribus incertis, ne consuetudinem quaerant, ne taedeat uitae, ne noua abstinentiae disciplina scandalizentur, quam nec ille Pristinus uester non Christianus martyr adtigerat, quem ex facultate custodiae liberae aliquamdiu fartum, omnibus balneis quasi baptismate melioribus et omnibus luxuriae secessibus quasi ecclesia secretioribus et omnibus uitae istius inlecebris quasi aeterna dignioribus hoc puto obligatum mori uellet, postremo ipso tribunalis die luce summa condito mero tamquam antidoto praemedicatum ita eneruastis, ut paucis ungulis titillatus (hoc enim ebrietas sentiebat) quem dominum confiteretur interroganti praesidi respondere non potuerit amplius, atque ita de hoc iam extortus, cum singultus et ructus solos haberet, in ipsa negatione discessit.
Clearly, it is your part to provide taverns in prisons for uncertain martyrs, lest they miss their usual custom, lest they grow weary of life, lest they be offended by the new discipline of abstinence, which not even that Pristinus of yours, a non-Christian martyr, had touched; whom, fattened for some time by the facility of free custody, with all baths better than baptism, and all retreats of luxury more secret than a church, and all allurements of this life more worthy than eternal life, he wished, I suppose, to die bound to this; and finally, on the very day of the tribunal, having been pre-medicated with neat wine poured out at early dawn as if it were an antidote, you so enervated him that, tickled by a few claws (for his drunkenness felt it thus), he could no longer answer the presiding governor who asked which Lord he confessed, and so dragged away from this torture, having only hiccups and belches, he departed in the very midst of denial.
ideo sobrietatis disciplinam qui praedicant, pseudoprophetae, ideo haeretici, qui obseruant.
Therefore those who preach the discipline of sobriety are pseudo-prophets, and those who observe it are heretics!
quid ergo cessatis paracletum, quem in Montano negatis, in Apicio credere?
Why then do you delay to believe in Apicius the Paraclete whom you deny in Montanus?
§13Praescribitis constituta esse sollemnia huic fidei scripturis uel traditione maiorum nihilque obseruationis amplius adiciendum ob illicitum innouationis.
You maintain that solemnities have been established for this faith by the Scriptures or by the tradition of the ancestors, and that nothing more of observance should be added because of the unlawfulness of innovation.
state in isto gradu, si potestis.
Stand on that ground, if you can.
ecce enim conuenio uos et praeter pascha ieiunantes citra illos dies, quibus ablatus est sponsus, et stationum semiieiunia interponentes, et uos interdum pane et aqua uictitantes, ut cuique uisum est.
For behold, I confront you who fast also besides Passover, outside those days in which the bridegroom was taken away, and who interpose the half-fasts of stations, and who sometimes live on bread and water, as it seems good to each.
denique respondetis haec ex arbitrio agenda, non ex imperio.
Finally, you answer that these things are to be done by free will, not by command.
mouistis igitur gradum excedendo traditionem, cum quae non sunt constituta obitis.
You have therefore moved your ground by exceeding tradition, since you perform what has not been established.
quale est autem, ut tuo arbitrio permittas, quod imperio dei non das? plus humanae licebit uoluntati quam diuinae potestati? ego me saeculo, non deo liberum memini.
But what kind of thing is it, that you permit to your own free will what you do not grant to the command of God? Shall more be allowed to human will than to divine power? I remember that I am free to the world, not to God.
sic meum est ultro officium facere domino, sic indicere illius est.
Thus it is my part to offer service voluntarily to the Lord, and thus it is His part to command it.
non tantum obsequi ei debeo, sed et adulari; illud enim imperio eius, hoc arbitrio meo praesto.
I ought not only to obey Him, but also to please Him; for the former I render to His command, the latter to my own free will.
bene autem, quod et episcopi uniuersae plebi mandare ieiunia adsolent, non dico de industria stipium conferendarum, ut uestrae capturae est, sed interdum et ex aliqua sollicitudinis ecclesiasticae causa.
But it is well that even bishops are accustomed to command fasts for the whole congregation, I do not say for the sake of collecting alms, as is your way of capture, but sometimes also from some cause of ecclesiastical concern.
itaque si et ex hominis edicto et in unum omnes \'tCl\'itEtVoą\'póV\'tjatv agitatis, quomodo in nobis ipsam quoque unitatem ieiunationum et xerophagiarum et stationum denotatis? nisi forte in senatus consulta et in principum mandata coitionibus opposita delinquimus.
Therefore, if both by man's decree and all together in one body you practice "humility", how is it that you censure in us also that very unity of fasts, xerophagies, and stations? Unless perchance we offend against the decrees of the senate and the commands of the emperors opposed to assemblies.
spiritus sanctus, cum in quibus uellet terris et per quos uellet praedicaret, ex prouidentia imminentium siue ecclesiasticarum temptationum siue mundialium plagarum, qua paracletus id est aduocatus ad exorandum iudicem dicitur, huiusmodi officiorum remedia mandabat, puta, nunc ad exercendam sobrietatis et abstinentiae disciplinam; hunc qui recipimus, necessario etiam quae tunc constituit obseruamus.
The Holy Spirit, when He preached in whatever lands He pleased and through whomsoever He pleased, out of foresight of imminent trials, whether ecclesiastical or worldly plagues, for which He is called the Paraclete, that is, the advocate to appease the Judge, was commanding remedies of duties of this kind, for instance, now for practicing the discipline of sobriety and abstinence; we who receive Him, of necessity observe also what He then established.
aspice ad Iudaicos fastos et inuenies nihil nouum, si, quae patribus sunt praecepta, omnis deinceps posteritas hereditaria religione custodit.
Look at the Jewish calendar, and you will find nothing new, if all succeeding posterity guards by hereditary religion what was commanded to the fathers.
aguntur praeterea per Graecias illa certis in locis concilia ex uniuersis ecclesiis, per quae et altiora quaeque in commune tractantur, et ipsa repraesentatio totius nominis Christiani magna ueneratione celebratur.
Moreover, those councils from all the churches are celebrated throughout Greece in certain places, through which both deeper matters are treated in common, and the very representation of the whole Christian name is celebrated with great veneration.
et hoc quam dignum fide auspicante congregari undique ad Christum! uide, quam bonum et quam iucundum habitare fratres in unum!! hoc tu psallere non facile nosti, nisi quo tempore cum compluribus cenas.
And how worthy is this of a faith that gathers from all sides to Christ as its guide! "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" This you do not easily know how to sing, except at the time when you dine with many.
conuentus autem illi stationibus prius et ieiunationibus operati dolere cum dolentibus et ita demum congaudere gaudentibus norunt.
But those assemblies, having first worked through stations and fasts, know how to weep with those who weep, and only then to rejoice with those who rejoice.
si et ista sollemnia, quibus tunc praesens patrocinatus est sermo, nos quoque in diuersis prouinciis fungimur in spiritu inuicem repraesentati, lex est sacramenti.
If we also in various provinces practice these solemn duties, which the Word then present defended, being represented in spirit with one another, it is the law of our sacrament.