Chap. XXIII.—Of the Justice and Patience of the Christians.

It would be a lengthened task to draw forth all the appearances of virtue, to show respecting each how necessary it is for a wise and just man to be far removed from those goods, the enjoyment of which by the unjust causes the worship of their gods to be regarded as true and efficacious. As our present inquiry is concerned, it will be sufficient to prove our point from the case of a single virtue. For instance, patience is a great and leading virtue, which the public voices of the people and philosophers and orators alike extol with the highest praises. But if it cannot be denied that this is a virtue of the highest kind, it is necessary that the just and wise man should be in the power of the unjust, for obtaining patience; for patience is the bearing with equanimity of the evils which are either inflicted or happen to fall upon us. Therefore the just and wise man, because he exercises virtue, has patience in himself; but he will be altogether free from this if he shall suffer no adversity. On the other hand, the man who lives in prosperity is impatient, and is without the greatest virtue. I call him impatient, because he suffers nothing. He is also unable to preserve innocency, which virtue is peculiar to the just and wise man. But he often acts unjustly also, and desires the property of others, and seizes upon that which he has desired by injustice, because he is without virtue, and is subject to vice and sin; and forgetful of his frailty, he is puffed up with a mind elated with insolence.  

From this cause the unjust, and those who are ignorant of God, abound with riches, and power, and honours. For all these things are the rewards of injustice, because they cannot be perpetual, and they are sought through lust and violence. But the just and wise man, because he deems all these things as human, as it has been said by Lælius, and his own goods as divine, neither desires anything which belongs to another, lest he should injure any one at all in violation of the law of humanity; nor does he long for any power or honour, that he may not do an injury to any one. For he knows that all are produced by the same God, and in the same condition, and are joined together by the right of brotherhood.1048    See vol. iii. (cap. 36), p. 45, note 1, this series.]   But being contented with his own, and that a little, because he is mindful of his frailty, he does not seek for anything beyond that which may support his life; and even from that which he has he bestows a share on the destitute, because he is pious; but piety is a very great virtue. To this is added, that he despises frail and vicious pleasures, for the sake of which riches are desired; since he is temperate, and master of his passions. He also, having no pride or insolence, does not raise himself too highly, nor lift up his head with arrogance; but he is calm and peaceful, lowly1049    Planus et communis.   and courteous, because he knows his own condition. Since, therefore, he does injury to none, nor desires the property of others, and does not even defend his own if it is taken from him by violence, since he knows how even to bear with moderation an injury inflicted upon him, because he is endued with virtue; it is necessary that the just man should be subject to the unjust, and that the wise should be insulted by the foolish, that the one may sin because he is unjust, and the other may have virtue in himself because he is just.  

But if any one shall wish to know more fully why God permits the wicked and the unjust to become powerful, happy, and rich, and, on the other hand, suffers the pious to be humble, wretched, and poor, let him take the book of Seneca which has the title, “Why many evils happen to good men, though there is a providence;” in which book he has said many things, not assuredly with the ignorance of this world, but wisely, and almost with divine inspiration.1050    [“Deus homines pro liberis habet sed corruptos.” He attributes a sort of inspiration to such a writer, as to Orpheus and the Sibyl.]   “God,” he says, “regards men as His children, but He permits the corrupt and vicious to live in luxury and delicacy, because He does not think them worthy of His correction. But He often chastises the good whom He loves, and by continual labours exercises them to the practice of virtue: nor does He permit them to be corrupted and depraved by frail and perishable goods.” From which it ought to appear strange to no one if we are often chastised by God for our faults. Yea, rather, when we are harassed and pressed, then we especially give thanks to our most indulgent Father, because He does not permit our corruption to proceed to greater lengths, but corrects it with stripes and blows. From which we understand that we are an object of regard to God, since He is angry when we sin. For when He might have bestowed upon His people both riches and kingdoms, as He had before given them to the Jews, whose successors and posterity we are; on this account He would have them live under the power and government of others, lest, being corrupted by the happiness of prosperity, they should glide into luxury and despise the precepts of God; as those ancestors of ours, who, ofttimes enervated by these earthly and frail goods, departed from discipline and burst the bonds of the law. Therefore He foresaw how far He would afford rest to His worshippers if they should keep His commandments, and yet correct them if they did not obey His precepts. Therefore, lest they should be as much corrupted by ease as their fathers had been by indulgence,1051    Licentiâ.   it was His will that they should be oppressed by those in whose power He placed them, that He may both confirm them when wavering, and renew them to fortitude when corrupted, and try and prove them when faithful. For how can a general prove the valour of his soldiers, unless he shall have an enemy? And yet there arises an adversary to him against his will, because he is mortal, and is able to be conquered; but because God cannot be opposed, He Himself stirs up adversaries to His name, not to fight against God Himself, but against His soldiers, that He may either prove the devotedness and fidelity of His servants, or may strengthen them, until He corrects their wasting discipline by the stripes of affliction.1052    Pressuræ verberibus. The word “pressura” is used by the Fathers to express persecution or calamity.    

There is also another cause why He permits persecutions to be carried on against us, that the people of God may be increased.1053    [See Tertullian, vol. iii. pp. 36 (note 1), 45 (note 2), 49, 55, and 60.]   Nor is it difficult to show why or how this happens. First of all, great numbers are driven from the worship of the false gods by their hatred of cruelty. For who would not shrink from such sacrifices? In the next place, some are pleased with virtue and faith itself. Some suspect that it is not without reason that the worship of the gods is considered evil by so many men, so that they would rather die than do that which others do that they may preserve their life. Some one desires to know what that good is which is defended even to death, which is preferred to all things which are pleasant and beloved in this life, from which neither the loss of goods, nor of the light, nor bodily pain, nor tortures of the vitals deter them. These things have great effect; but these causes have always especially increased the number of our followers. The people who stand around hear them saying in the midst of these very torments that they do not sacrifice to stones wrought by the hand of man, but to the living God, who is in heaven: many understand that this is true, and admit it into their breast. In the next place, as it is accustomed to happen in matters of uncertainty while they make inquiry of one another, what is the cause of this perseverance, many things which relate to religion, being spread abroad and carefully observed by rumour among one another, are learned; and because these are good they cannot fail to please. Moreover, the revenge which follows, as always happens, greatly impels men to believe. Nor, indeed, is it a slight cause that the unclean spirits of demons, having received permission, throw themselves into the bodies of many; and when these have afterwards been driven out, they who have been healed cling to the religion, the power of which they have experienced. These numerous causes being collected together, wonderfully gain over a great multitude to God.1054    [A most important résumé of the effects upon the heathen of Christian fortitude and patience. See Tertullian on “the Seed of the Church,” vol. iii. pp. 55 and 60; also vol. iv. p. 126.]    

0625A CAPUT XXIII. De justitia et patientia Christianorum.

Longum est universas virtutis species 0625A promere, ut de singulis doceam quam necesse sit sapientem ac justum virum longe ab illis bonis abhorrere; quibus quia fruuntur injusti, deorum cultus veri et efficaces esse creduntur. Quod ad praesentem pertinet quaestionem, satis est si ex una virtute id probemus quod intendimus. Nempe magna et praecipua virtus est patientia, quam pariter et vulgi voces publicae, et philosophi, et oratores summis laudibus celebrant. Quod si negari non potest quin summa sit virtus, necesse est justum et sapientem virum in potestate 0625B esse hominis injusti, ut capiat patientiam. Patientia est enim malorum quae aut inferuntur, aut accidunt, cum aequanimitate perlatio. Ergo justus ac sapiens, quia virtutem capit, habet in se patientiam; qua carebit omnino, si nihil patietur adversi. Contra, qui in rebus prosperis agit, impatiens est, et virtute maxima caret. Impatientem dico, quia nihil patitur. Innocentiam quoque servare non potest, quae et ipsa justo et sapienti viro propria virtus est. Sed et nocet saepe, et concupiscit aliena, et rapit, quae cupierit, per injuriam; quia virtutis expers, vitio peccatoque subjectus est, et fragilitatis oblitus, animo insolenter elato tumet.

Inde injusti, ac Deum nescientes, et divitiis, et 0625C potentia, et honoribus florent. Haec enim cuncta injustitiae 0626A praemia sunt; quia et perpetua esse non possunt, et per cupiditatem violentiamque quaeruntur. Justus vero ac sapiens, quia illa omnia humana (ut est a Laelio dictum) sua bona, divina judicat, nec alienum quidquam concupiscit, ne quem contra jus humanitatis laedat omnino, nec ullam potentiam honoremve desiderat, ne cui faciat injuriam. Scit enim cunctos ab eodem Deo, et eadem conditione generatos, jure fraternitatis esse conjunctos. Sed et suo contentus, et parvo, quia fragilitatis suae memor, non amplius quaerit, quam unde vitam sustentet; et ex eo ipso, quod habuerit, impertit etiam non habenti, quia pius est: pietas autem summa virtus est. Eo accedit, quod voluptates caducas vitiosasque contemnit, quarum causa opes 0626B appetuntur; quoniam continens est, ac libidinum victor. Idem nihil tumoris atque insolentiae gerens, non extollit se altius, nec erigit superbum caput: sed placidus, et concors et comis, et planus est, quia conditionem suam novit. Cum ergo injuriam nulli faciat, nec aliena cupiat, nec sua quoque, si vi auferantur, defendat: cum sciat etiam illatam injuriam moderate ferre, quia virtute praeditus est: necesse est justum hominem subjectum esse injusto, et contumeliis affici ab insipiente sapientem, ut et ille peccet, quia injustus est, et hic in servitutem abeat, quia justus est.

Si quis autem volet scire plenius, cur malos et injustos Deus potentes, beatos et divites fieri sinat; 0626C pios contra, humiles, miseros, inopes esse patiatur: 0627A sumat eum Senecae librum cui titulus est: Quare bonis viris 0627A multa mala accidant, cum sit providentia; in quo ille multa, non plane imperitia saeculari, sed sapienter ac pene divinitus elocutus est. «Deus, inquit, homines pro liberis habet: sed corruptos et vitiosos luxuriose ac delicate patitur vivere, quia non putat emendatione sua dignos. Bonos autem, quos diligit, castigat saepius, et assiduis laboribus ad usum virtutis exercet; nec eos caducis ac mortalibus bonis corrumpi ac depravari sinit.» Unde nemini mirum debet videri, si pro nostris saepe delictis castigamur a Deo. Imo vero, cum vexamur ac premimur, tum maxime gratias agimus indulgentissimo patri; quod corruptelam nostram non patitur longius procedere, sed plagis ac verberibus emendat. Ex quo intelligimus 0627B esse nos Deo curae; quoniam, cum peccamus, irascitur. Nam cum posset populo suo, et opes, et regna largiri, sicut dederat ante Judaeis, quorum nos successores ac posteri sumus; idcirco enim voluit sub aliena ditione atque imperio degere, ne rerum prosperarum felicitate corruptus, in luxuriam laberetur, ac Dei praecepta contemneret, sicut illi majores nostri, qui saepe terrenis ac fragilibus his bonis enervati, aberrarunt a disciplina, et legis vincula 0628A ruperunt. Providit ergo, quatenus cultoribus suis praestaret quietem, si mandata servassent, et tamen eos emendaret, si praeceptis non obtemperassent. Itaque ne tam corrumperentur otio, quam patres eorum licentia, premi eos voluit ab iis, in quorum manibus eos collocavit, ut et labantes confirmet, et corruptos ad fortitudinem reparet, et fidos experiatur ac tentet. Quomodo enim potest imperator militum suorum probare virtutem, nisi habuerit hostem? Et illi tamen adversarius exurgit invito, et quia mortalis est, et vinci potest. Deo autem quia repugnari non potest, ipse adversarios nomini suo excitat, non qui contra ipsum Deum pugnent, sed contra milites ejus, ut devotionem ac fidem suorum vel probet, vel corroboret, donec pressurae verberibus 0628B diffluentem colligat disciplinam.

Est et alia causa cur adversum nos persecutiones fieri sinat, ut Dei populus augeatur. Nec est difficile monstrare cur aut quomodo id fiat. Primum, fugantur a deorum cultibus plurimi, odio crudelitatis. Qui enim talia sacrificia non horreant? Deinde placet quibusdam virtus ac fides ipsa. Nonnulli suspicantur, deorum cultum non sine causa malum putari a tam multis hominibus, ut emori malint quam id facere, 0629A quod alii faciunt, ut vivant. Aliquis cupit scire 0629A quodnam sit illud bonum, quod ad mortem usque defenditur; quod omnibus, quae in hac vita jucunda sunt et chara, praefertur; a quo, nec bonorum, nec lucis amissio, nec dolor corporis, nec viscerum cruciamenta deterrent. Valent haec plurimum. Sed illae maxime causae nostrorum numerum semper auxerunt. Audit circumstans populus inter ipsa tormenta dicentes, non sacrificare se lapidibus humana manu factis, sed Deo vivo, qui sit in coelo. Multi hoc verum esse intelligunt, et in pectus admittunt. Deinde, ut fieri solet in rebus incertis, dum inter se invicem quaerunt, quae sit hujus perseverantiae causa, multa quae ad religionem pertinent, divulgata ac per rumorem vicissim aucupata discuntur, quae quia bona sunt, 0629B placeant necesse est. Praeterea, ultio consecuta, sicut semper accidit, ad credendum vehementer impellit. Ne haec quidem levis causa est, quod immundi daemonum spiritus, accepta licentia, multorum se corporibus immergunt; quibus postea ejectis, omnes qui resanati fuerint, adhaereant religioni, cujus potentiam senserunt. Hae tot causae in unum collatae magnam Deo multitudinem mirabiliter acquirunt.