Argument.—The Deacon Pontius in a Few Words Unfolds the Burthen of This Treatise in His Life of Cyprian.2    He says: “By whom were Christians,—grieved with excessive fondness at the loss of their friends, or what is of more consequence, with their decrease of faith,—comforted with the hope of things to come?” [See p. 269, supra.] First of All, Having Pointed Out that Afflictions of This Kind Had Been Foretold by Christ, He Tells Them that the Mortality or Plague Was Not to Be Feared, in that It Leads to Immortality, and that Therefore, that Man is Wanting in Faith Who is Not Eager for a Better World. Nor is It Wonderful that the Evils of This Life are Common to the Christians with the Heathens, Since They Have to Suffer More Than Others in the World, and Thence, After the Example of Job and Tobias, There is Need of Patience Without Murmuring. For Unless the Struggle Preceded, the Victory Could Not Ensue; And How Much Soever Diseases are Common to the Virtuous and Vicious, Yet that Death is Not Common to Them, for that the Righteous are Taken to Consolation, While the Unrighteous are Taken to Punishment.3    Then to the tacit objection that by this mortality they would be deprived of martyrdom, he replies that martyrdom is not in our power, and that even the spirit that is ready for martyrdom is crowned by God the judge. Finally, he tells them that the dead must not be bewailed in such a matter as that we should become a stumbling-block to the Gentiles, as if we were without the hope of a resurrection.  But if also the day of our summons should come, we must depart hence with a glad mind to the Lord, especially since we are departing to our country, where the large number of those dear to us are waiting for us: a dense and abundant multitude are longing for us, who, being already secure of their own immortality, are still solicitous about our salvation.

ARGUMENTUM.

0581C Paucis argumentum explicat D. Pontius in Vita Cypriani: «A quo, inquit, Christiani mollioris affectus circa amissionem suorum aut, quod majus est, fidei parvioris, consolarentur spe futurorum.» In primis enim, ubi praedictas docuit ejuscemodi 0581D afflictiones a Christo, non timendam docet mortalitatem seu pestem, eo quod ad immortalitatem 0582C ducat, atque adeo fidem illi deesse qui non ad meliora festinat. Neque mirum quod Christiano cum gentilibus sint mala hujus vitae communia, cum plus caeteris illis in saeculo sit laborandum: atque proinde exemplo sanctorum Job et Tobiae, patientia opus 0582D esse, neque murmurandum. Nisi enim praecesserit pugna, non posse victoriam contingere, et quantumvis 0583A morbi communes sint virtutibus vitiisque, mortem tamen communem non esse; ad refrigerium enim justos, ad supplicium rapi injustos. Deinde objectioni tacitae quod per hanc mortalitatem privarentur martyrio, respondet; non esse in nostra potestate martyrium, et vel animum ad martyrium promptum Deo judice coronari. Postremo non ita lugendos docet mortuos, ut gentilibus scandalo simus, tamquam spe resurrectionis careamus. Quin si et nostrae accersitionis dies venerit, lubenti animo ad Dominum hinc emigrandum, praesertim cum ad patriam transmigremus: ubi nos magnus charorum numerus exspectat, frequens et copiosa turba desiderat, jam de sua immortalitate secura, et adhuc de nostra salute sollicita, facit autem occasionis qua librum hunc scripsit mentionem 0583B Eusebius in Chronico: «Pestilens morbus, inquit, totius orbis multas provincias occupavit, maximeque Alexandriam et Aegyptum, ut scribit Dionysius, et Cypriani de Mortalitate testis est liber.»