Chapter III.29    Comp. The Apology, cc. i. and ii.    Patrocinatur.—The Great Offence in the Christians Lies in Their Very Name. The Name Vindicated.

Since, therefore, you who are in other cases most scrupulous and persevering in investigating charges of far less serious import, relinquish your care in cases like ours, which are so horrible, and of such surpassing sin that impiety is too mild a word for them, by declining to hear confession, which should always be an important process for those who conduct judicial proceedings; and failing to make a full inquiry, which should be gone into by such as sue for a condemnation, it becomes evident that the crime laid to our charge consists not of any sinful conduct, but lies wholly in our name. If, indeed,30    Adeo si.    Mancipium. any real crimes were clearly adducible against us, their very names would condemn us, if found applicable,31    Si accommodarent.    Prov. ix. 10; Ps. cxi. 10. so that distinct sentences would be pronounced against us in this wise: Let that murderer, or that incestuous criminal, or whatever it be that we are charged with, be led to execution, be crucified, or be thrown to the beasts.  Your sentences, however,32    Porro.    Porro. import only that one has confessed himself a Christian. No name of a crime stands against us, but only the crime of a name. Now this in very deed is neither more nor less than33    Hæc ratio est.    Deum omnium notititam et veritatem adsecutus, i.e., “following the God of all as knowledge and truth.” the entire odium which is felt against us.  The name is the cause: some mysterious force intensified by your ignorance assails it, so that you do not wish to know for certain that which for certain you are sure you know nothing of; and therefore, further, you do not believe things which are not submitted to proof, and, lest they should be easily refuted,34    Reprobentur.    Nutat. you refuse to make inquiry, so that the odious name is punished under the presumption of (real) crimes. In order, therefore, that the issue may be withdrawn from the offensive name, we are compelled to deny it; then upon our denial we are acquitted, with an entire absolution35    Impunitate.    Passivæ fidei. for the past: we are no longer murderers, no longer incestuous, because we have lost that name.36    i.e., the name “Christians.”    Solummodo. But since this point is dealt with in a place of its own,37    By the “suo loco,” Tertullian refers to The Apology.    Otiosum. do you tell us plainly why you are pursuing this name even to extirpation? What crime, what offence, what fault is there in a name? For you are barred by the rule38    Præscribitur vobis.    “A nobody.” which puts it out of your power to allege crimes (of any man), which no legal action moots, no indictment specifies, no sentence enumerates. In any case which is submitted to the judge,39    Præsidi.    Nisi ut sint expedire. inquired into against the defendant, responded to by him or denied, and cited from the bench, I acknowledge a legal charge.  Concerning, then, the merit of a name, whatever offence names may be charged with, whatever impeachment words may be amenable to, I for my part40    Ego.    Aliquot commeatus. think, that not even a complaint is due to a word or a name, unless indeed it has a barbarous sound, or smacks of ill-luck, or is immodest, or is indecorous for the speaker, or unpleasant to the hearer.  These crimes in (mere) words and names are just like barbarous words and phrases, which have their fault, and their solecism, and their absurdity of figure. The name Christian, however, so far as its meaning goes, bears the sense of anointing. Even when by a faulty pronunciation you call us “Chrestians” (for you are not certain about even the sound of this noted name), you in fact lisp out the sense of pleasantness and goodness.41    Χρηστός means both “pleasant” and “good;” and the heathen founded this word with the sacred name Χριστός.    Quasi certus. You are therefore vilifying42    Detinetis.    Istos deos. in harmless men even the harmless name we bear, which is not inconvenient for the tongue, nor harsh to the ear, nor injurious to a single being, nor rude for our country, being a good Greek word, as many others also are, and pleasant in sound and sense. Surely, surely,43    Et utique.    Non tenebat. names are not things which deserve punishment by the sword, or the cross, or the beasts.

3. Vos igitur, alias diligentissimi ac pertinacissimi discussores scelerum longe minorum, cum talibus tam horrendis et omnem impietatem supergressis eam diligentiam deseratis, neque confessionem recipiendo judicantibus semper laborandam, neque exquisitionem digerendo damnatoribus semper consulendam: jam apparet, omne in nos crimen non alicujus sceleris sed nominis dirigi. Adeo, si de criminum 0561C veritate constaret, ipsa criminum nomina damnatis accommodarent, ut ita pronuntiaretur in nos: illum homicidam, vel incestum, vel quodcumque jactamur, duci, suffigi, ad bestias dari placet. Porro sententiae 0562A vestrae nihil nisi Christianum confessum notant; nullum criminis nomen exstat, nisi nominis crimen est: haec etenim est revera ratio totius odii adversus nos. Nomen in caussa est, quod quaedam occulta vis per vestram ignorantiam oppugnat, ut nolitis scire pro certo, quod vos pro certo nescire certi estis, et ideo nec creditis quae non probantur, et, ne probentur facile , non vultis inquirere, ut nomen inimicum sub praesumptione criminum puniatur: adeo ut de nomine inimico recedatur, ideo negare compellimur, dehinc negantes liberamur tota impunitate proeteritorum: jam non cruenti, neque incesti, quia nomen illud amisimus. Sed dum haec ratio suo loco ostenditur, vos quam insequimini ad expugnationem nominis, edite: quod nominis crimen, quae offensa, 0562B quae culpa? Praescribitur enim vobis, non posse crimina objicere, quae neque institutum dirigit, neque probatio assignat, neque sententia enumerat. Quod praesidi offeratur, quod de reo inquiratur, quod respondetur vel negatur, quod de consilio recitatur, id reum agnosco. Itaque de nominis merito, si qui reatus est nominum, si qua accusatio vocabulorum, ego arbitror nullam esse vocabulo aut nomini querelam, nisi cum quid aut barbarum sonat, aut infaustum sapit, vel impudicum, vel aliter quam enuntiantem delectet. Haec vocabulorum aut nominum crimina, sicuti verborum atque sermonum barbarismus est vitium et solecismus et insulsior figura. Christianum vero nomen, quantum significatio est, de unctione interpretatur; etiam cum corrupte a vobis Christiani 0562C pronuntiamur (nam ne nominis quidem ipsius liquido certi estis), sic quoque de suavitate vel bonitate modulatum est . Detinetis igitur in hominibus innoxiis etiam nomen innoxium nostrum, non incommodum 0563A linguae, non auribus asperum, non homini malum, non patriae infestum, sed et graecum aliis et sonorum et interpretatione jucundum. Et utique non gladio aut cruce aut bestiis punienda sunt nomina.