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MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS

Emperor and Philosopher

From an

ancient bust

"Until philosophers are kings, and the princes of this world

HAVE the spirit AND POWER OF PHILOSOPHY, AND POLITICAL GREATNESS AND WISDOM MEET IN ONE, CITIES WILL NEVER CEASE FROM ILL
NO, NOR THE HUMAN RACE, AS I BELIEVE AND THEN ONLY WILL OUR
STATE HAVE A POSSIBILITY OF LIFE, AND SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY/'
From The Republic of Plato. See Page 9.

GKEM^ mjm

HISTORY. ORATORY, SCIENCE,

AND PHILOSOPHY, TRANS-

LATED INTO ENGLISH PROSE

AND VERSE BY DISTINGVISHED

MEN OF LETTERS, WITH CRITICAL APPRECIATIONS BY AN

INTERNATIONAL COVNCIL OF
CLASSICAL SCHOLARS.

MARION MILLS MILLER,

Litt.D.

(PRINCETON) EDITOR IN CHIEF

ViNCfe;NT-R^RKE

AND

'

COMPAr^4Y'

-SaiSEW.YORKSSi'*

StacK

Annex

THI: CLASSICS
GREEK AND LATIN
CONTRIBUTING CLASSIC COUNCIL
J.

P.

SIR

MAHAFFY.

D.C.L.,

Trinity

ALEXANDER GRANT,

College,

Dublin

LL.D., Edinburgh

EDWARD

POSTE, M.A., Oxford University

FREESE, M.A., Cambridge University
BASIL L. GILDERSLEEVE, LL.D.,

J.

H,

Professor

of

Greek, Johns

JOHN HENRY WRIGHT,

Professor

HENRY

of

Greek,

Hopkins University

LL.D.,

Harvard University

WRIGHT,

PH.D.,
Professor of Latin, Yale University
P.

HARRY THURSTON

PECK, L.H.D.,
Professor of Latin, Columbia University

SAMUEL ROSS WINANS,

PH.D.,

Professor of Greek, Princeton University

CHARLES

E.

BENNETT,

LITT.D.,

Professor of Latin, Cornell University

WILLIAM

A.

LAMBERTON,

LITT.D.,

Professor of Greek, University of Pennsylvania

JOHN DAMEN MAGUIRE,

PH.D.,

Professor of Latin, Catholic University of America

PAUL SHOREY,

PH.D.,

Professor of Greek, University of Chicago

MARTIN LUTHER D'OOGE,

PH.D.,

Professor of Greek, University of Michigan

ANDREW

J.

BELL, M.A.,

Professor of Latin, University of Toronto

WILLIAM AUGUSTUS MERRILL,

L.H.D.,

Professor of Latin, University of California

MARY LEAL HARKNESS,

M.A.,

Professor of Latin, Tulane University

MARION MILLS MILLER,

LITT. D. (Princeton)

Editor-in-Chief

VINCENT PARKE ANu

COMPANY. NEW YORK

'

Copyright, 1909, by

Vincent Parke and Company,

New York

stack Annex

3C0U

CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction

Roman Philosophy
Introduction

Marcus Aurelius
By Alice Zimmern

The Meditations

...

of Marcus Aurelius

20

Translated by Jeremy Collier

Introduction

137

The Early Christian Fathers

By John Damen Maguire,

Professor

Ph.D.,

of

Latin in the Catholic University of America

The Apologeticus

of Tertullian

145

Translated by Rev. S. Thelwall, of Cambridge

Introduction
St.

'

233

Augustine, Defender of the Faith

By

the Rev. E. B. Pusey, D.D.

The Confessions

of St. Augustine

236

Sovereign Sun, by Julian the Emperor

309

Translated by the Rev. E. B. Pusey, D.D.

The

Translated by C.

W.

King, M.A.

Introduction

343

The Golden Age

By

J.

of Jurisprudence

T. Abdy, LL.D., of Cambridge, and Bryan

Walker, M.A., of Cambridge

ix

INTRODUCTION
ROMAN PHILOSOPHY
S we have

seen, in the Introduction to Epictetiis

The Greek

Classics), in the
four of
The Latin Classics), and in the Introduction
to Cicero (volume six of The Latin Classics), Roman philosophy in all its phases was
a mere expansion (hardly development even) of the various
schools of moral, physical and metaphysical thought among

(volume four of

Introduction

the Greeks.

to

The Romans were

Lucretius

(volume

singularly lacking in original

and investigation. The first impulse

to philosophical thought came to them as late as B.C. 155,
when an Athenian philosophical embassy, consisting of the
Academic Carneades, the Stoic Diogenes, and the Peripatetic
Critolaiis, came to Rome at the invitation of Scipio Africaintellectual speculation

Nus Minor, who

desired that his people, while retaining the

simple virtues of the old Romans, represented by Cato, should

temper and
the

refine these

by the high culture of Greek

The embassy was highly

tion.

various

philosophical

root at once and

civiliza-

successful, planting seeds of

systems represented, which took

grew even more vigorously than the parent

stocks.

In further pursuit of this plan, Scipio, one year after the

departure of Carneades and his fellows, encouraged Pan^eTius, a brilliant

young Rhodian, just graduated from the Stoic

come to Rome, and aided him to gain a

school at Athens, to

among the Roman nobles. From these Panaetius

made many adherents by minimizing the subtilties and casuhearing

of the other Stoic philosophers, softening the severe

which Stoicism had acquired from Cynicism, and
presenting the philosophy in a practical form, consonant with
istries

practices

literary culture

and

refined living.

B.C.) Panaetius returned to Athens,

After Scipio's death (129

where he died at the head

of the Stoic school (iii b.c), the acknowledged leader of

INTRODUCTION

Only a few fragments of his works remain.

His Treatise on Duty formed the foundation of Cicero's

that philosophy.

Offices.

Cicero and Varro took up the educational propaganda of

and by a number of works sought to popularize Greek
Their spirit was broadly
philosophy among the Romans.
eclectic, with a bias in favor of the Academic (Platonic)
This Eclectic Platonism was later taken up by Apuschool.
LEius, the author of The Golden Ass, an account of whom
appears in volume eight of The Latin Classics.
During the time of Cicero the Pythagorean philosophy,
which long had had its chief seat among the Greeks of southern Italy, or Magna Grsecia, was represented at Rome by
P. NiGiDius FiGULUS, who was accounted, next to Varro, the
most learned of the Romans. He was regarded as a profound
mathematician and natural philosopher, and especially looked
upon with awe as an astrologer, having predicted the future
greatness of Octavius (later Augustus) on hearing of his
birth.
He was active with Cicero in suppressing Catiline's
conspiracy, and took Pompey's part in the Civil War, being
banished in consequence by Caesar upon the latter's triumph.
He died B.C. 44 in exile. The fragments which remain of
his many works on mathematical, physical, grammatical, and
Scipio,

occult subjects, uphold his reputation for learning.

It was Epicureanism, however, as taught by Lucretius,
and Stoicism, as represented by Seneca (see volume one of
The Latin Classics), Cornutus, and the emperor Marcus
Aurelius, which became the most popular philosophies among
the Romans, virtually dividing the nation into two great
classes, ethical theists and aesthetic materialists.
A few words about Cornutus, who has not been discussed

elsewhere, will be in place here.

(whose name

L.

Ann.eus Cornutus

indicates a connection with the Senecas, possibly

was born at Leptis in Africa, and lived at

under the reign of Nero, when he achieved great fame
as a teacher of rhetoric and philosophy. He was the preceptor of Lucan, the poet, and Persius, the satirist (see Persius
in volume three, The Latin Classics).
Persius, dying before his master, left him his library, and considerable money.
as a freedman),

Rome

ROMAN PHILOSOPHY
Of

these bequests Cornutus accepted only the books, giving

In 68 a.d. Nero banished

to Persius's sisters.
in criticising the emspeech
freedom
of
his
for
Cornutus
and, on the imperial
length,
Rome
for
its
peror's poem on

money

the

egotist citing the length of Chrysippus's

work

as a precedent,

in frankly replying, "

His writings were useful to mankind."

of Cornutus only one has survived.
many
works
Of the
the Nature of the Gods; or, ConConcerning
It is entitled,
purpose is to explain the Greek
Allegories,
and
its
cerning
physical principles.
allegorical
and
mythology on

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus,

the emperor,

is

fully dis-

only pertinent to
among
meditations
his
including
for
state here the reason
ClasGreek
The
among
than
rather
The Latin Classics
Epictetus,
of
Encheiridion
Arrian's
like
sics, since this work,
was written in Greek. The fact that the author was a Rocussed in the following introduction.

It is

man

of Romans, and connected so intricately by his exalted

position with Roman history and literature, would cause him
to be sought for by all but linguistic scholars among the
Latin authors, and therefore, for practical considerations, he

has been so included. The same reason applies to the inclusion in this volume of Julian the Emperor, whose theosophical work. On the Sovereign Sun, was written in Greek, and
so linguistically as well as philosophically might properly have

been included in volume four of The Greek Classics, following the similar theosophical treatise of Plotinus, On the
Immortality of the Soul.
Since no introduction is given in connection with the
work of Julian, a sketch of his life will be here pertinent.
Flavius Claudius Julianus was born at Constantinople
in A.D. 331.
He was the youngest son of Julius Constantius,
the half-brother of Constantine the Great, on whose death
there was a general massacre of the younger line of the Flavian family, to which Julian belonged, his father being among
the slain.
Julian was spared because of his extreme youth,
and was reared under close and confining surveillance, which,
together with remembrance of the murder of his father and
brothers, caused him to hate Christianity, the faith professed

by the perpetrators of these wrongs.

Therefore, though Chris-

INTRODUCTION

tian born, he readily accepted the philosophical heathenism of

Grown to
Neoplatonism, taught by his master Maximus.

manhood, he pursued his general studies at Athens, and, since

this was the center of the Neo-Platonic philosophy, he undoubtedly seized the opportunity to delve still more deeply
In 355 a.d. he was summoned
into its mystical teachings.
to Milan to assume the rank of Caesar, though under the imperial

rule of Constantius at Constantinople, to

allegiance

was thought

to be secured

by

whom

his

his marriage, at the

time, with the emperor's sister Helena.

Julian was successful in his wars against the Franks and

Alemanni, and

man

this,

combined with

as well as a ruler,

made him

his notable virtues as a

the idol of his army.

There-

when Constantius, alarmed by Julian's popularity, ordered away his best troops, all the soldiers revolted and proclaimed him emperor (April 360 a.d.). With 3000 picked
troops he set out for Constantinople by way of the Danube.
On the way he heard of the death of Constantius, and thereupon (November 3, 361 a.d.), proclaimed himself both emfore,

peror and pagan, sacrificing to the Roman gods, and ordering

those persons who had torn down the pagan temples to rebuild them.
He also confiscated the revenues of the Christian

These

acts caused a recrudescence of paganism

which led to great disorders, many Christians being tortured and put to death.
Julian showed his
sympathy with the pagans by his laxity in quelling these
abuses, and by himself forbidding Christians to hold any
office, civil or military, and by subjecting them to other disabilities and indignities.
In July, 362 A.D., Julian went to war with the Persians,
establishing at Antioch his base of campaign. The people of
this city, who, prone to satire, had fastened in jest upon the

churches.

in the provinces,

followers of Jesus the name of Christians, now turned their

wit against the great enemy of the sect, making sport in verse
and caricature of his long nails, and shaggy, lousy beard (for

he was a true philosopher in that he took no care of his person). In reply he wrote a satire against them called Misopogon, " The Beard-hater," and, taking a lesson out of the

"

ROMAN PHILOSOPHY

Fables of their countryman ^sop, punished them by giving

them a King Storjc in the shape of a rapacious governor.
While at Antioch Julian attempted to confute the Christians, by bringing the Jews from all parts of the Roman em-

and so confuting the Christians, who

held that God had rejected those who were once his chosen
people. The attempt was a failure, being frustrated by miracle,
according to accounts of pagan and Jewish, as well as ChrisWhile the rebuilding of the ancient city to retian authors.
pire back to Jerusalem,

ceive the exiles,

was

" fearful globes of

in process, so ran the

fire,

common

report,

bursting forth repeatedly from the

earth close to the foundations, scorched the

rendered the place, after frequent

trials

on

workmen, and

their part, quite

inaccessible."

In the ensuing campaign with the Persians, the emperor

26, 363 a.d.), in the manner of

was mortally wounded (June

Jesus,' receiving a spear-thrust in the side.

Theodoretus, a

Christian writer, relates that, as Julian, falling from his horse,

saw the blood spurting from the wound, he exclaimed

do

"

Thou

renounce thee
Julian also wrote against the Christians, but these writings

hast conquered, Galilaean

yet

still

are lost.
The works that are extant are, besides the Misopogon already mentioned, seventeen Epistles, nine Orations,
and a satirical sketch called The Caesars, or The Symposium,
in

which Romulus,

deified,

seated, at separate tables, the

of

whom

are

gives a banquet at which are

gods and the Caesars, the latter

seriatim, by Silenus, the ribald

commented upon,

companion of Bacchus,

The work of Julian which appears in the present volume

one of the Epistles. It is addressed to Sallustius, or
Salustius, a friend of the emperor who was the pretorian

is

While a heathen, Sallust did much to restrain Julian

from persecuting the Christians. He was a Neo-Platonist,
like the emperor, and was probably the author of a theosophical treatise still extant entitled Upon the Gods and the

prefect.

Universe.

XIV

THE

MEDITATIONS
WITH HIMSELF OF
THE EMPEROR

OR, DISCOURSES

MARCUS AURELIUS
ANTONINUS
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK BY

JEREMY COLLIER
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

ALICE ZIMMERN

INTRODUCTION
MARCUS AURELIUS
BY ALICE ZIMMERN

"Until philosophers are kings, and the princes of this

world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political
greatness and wisdom meet in one, cities will never cease
from ill no, nor the human race, as I believe and then only
will our state have a possibility of life, and see the light of
day."
"The truth is, that the state in which the rulers are
most reluctant to govern is best and most quietly governed,
and the state in which they are most willing is the worst."

Thus writes Plato

in his Republic, laying

down

the condi-

which even to him appear impossible, under which a

state may be wisely governed.
The ruler must be a philosopher as well as a king; and he must govern unwillingly,
tions,

because he loves philosophy better than dominion.

Once

in

the history of the world these conditions were fulfilled: in

Marcus Aurelius we find the philosopher-king, the ruler who

preferred the solitude of the student to the splendour of the
palace, the soldier who loved the arts of peace better than the
glory of war.
It is with no small interest that we turn to the
records of history to see what was the outward life led by this
king but even more willingly do we open the precious record
of his own thoughts, which reveal to us the inner life of the
;

philosopher.

the

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was the adopted son of

Emperor Antoninus Pius, who died in i6i a.d. He had

been brought up with the utmost care by his adoptive father,

and received the best instruction in poetry and rhetoric, at
that time the staples of a liberal education.
But his favourite
study was philosophy, and when only eleven years old he
9

INTRODUCTION

10

assumed the philosophers' simple dress, adopted their mode of

life; and finding that his inclination was chiefly towards
Stoicism, he attached himself to this
the strictest of the philosophic schools.
A discipline of monastic severity, that bade
its followers disregard all bodily comfort, all that is commonly called pleasure, and care for nought but virtue, was indeed a strange training for one destined for tlie imperial
purple, and it hardly appeared to be a fitting preparation for
the cares of what was then the one great Empire of the

themselves citizens of
the world, and to inculcate that cosmopolitanism that is
broader and nobler than mere patriotism but while they maintained in theory that the wise man should take part in politics,
world.

True, the Stoics loved to

call

in practice there

was always something

in the existing state

doing so unadvisable. But Marcus

Destined for the
not choose his own lot.
by the Emperor Hadrian, associated in the
his adoptive father's lifetime, he could but

made

of things which
Aurelius could
throne already
empire even in

his

lot, and in striving to practise the noble principles

he had learnt, pay to his Stoic teachers the truest tribute.
His was a troubled reign. The Roman Empire, which
in the vigorous days of the Republic had been gradually but
surely extending its boundaries, had been consolidated, and
newly administered by Julius Caesar and Augustus. On the
death of the latter it extended from the Atlantic on the west
to the Armenian mountains and Arabian deserts on the east.
On the south the African deserts had alone stopped the conquering arms, while on the north a line of natural boundaries was traced by the English Channel, Rhine, Danube,
Black Sea, and Mount Caucasus. Warned by the ill-success
that attended the later campaigns of his generals on tlie Lower
Rhine, Augustus had cautioned his successors to aim at preserving rather than increasing their dominions.
Thus it came
about, that between the years 14 and 161 a.d., when Marcus

accept his

Aurelius succeeded to the throne, only two fresh conquests

Britain, a source of more trouble than profit
to the empire, and Dacia, conquered by Trajan in 106 a.d.

had been made

Natural boundaries and Roman legions kept peace and

many years within the circle of Roman dominion.

security for

MARCUS AURELIUS

11

But there were two weak points on these borders. On the

north the hardy German tribes on the Danube and Upper
Rhine, themselves hard pressed by Slavonian intruders from
Russia, threatened to invade the

Roman dominion on the east

Roman arms,
;

the " insolent Parthian," long the terror of the

was a constant source of trouble and danger. The peaceloving Marcus Aurelius was obliged to cope with both these

The arms, or rather

the army, of the insolent and

Verus for a time subdued the Parthians, but
no lasting peace was destined Marcus Aurelius. He himself
conducted the campaigns on the Danube, and again and again
beat back the northern enemy in wars, of which the chief

enemies.

profligate Lucius

interest to us

"This

tions

now consists in the scant notes in the Meditaamong the Quadi," "this at Carmuntum,"

showing how these precious records of a pure and serene soul

were composed amid the storms of battle and the elation of
victory.

Nor were

his troubles confined to

plague, imported

from the East, ravaged

the state good service in carying off

foreign wars.

The

though it did
Lucius Verus, Marcus's
Italy,

whom, in obedience to the wishes of Anhad associated with himself in the empire. There
were famines too in the land, with which the Emperor tried to
cope by schemes of carefully-organised charity. And, lastly,
Avidius Cassius, one of his most trusted and ablest generals,
revolted in Syria, and tried to obtain for himself the empire,
deeming it an easy matter to overcome a master who was so
full of generosity and compassion that he could only inspire
contempt in the mind of the unphilosophic soldier. The revolt was soon put down, but the leader was killed by one of
adoptive brother,

toninus, he

his

own

officers.

The Emperor expressed only

his regret that

he should have been thus deprived of the luxury of forgiveness, and he carefully destroyed all documents that could implicate any others in the revolt.
Thus in all the trials of his
life his philosophy inspired noble action, and he might
worthily be added to the short list of those whom the Stoics
acknowledged as really good and great.
Amid these records of gentleness and forbearance it seems
strange to read that Marcus Aurelius permitted a cruel per-

INTRODUCTION

12

Among the victims of this reign

secution of the Christians.
were Justin Martyr and Polycarp, and numbers suffered in a
general persecution of the churches at Lyons and Vienne.
It must not, however, be forgotten that the persecution was
poHtical

rather

Christianity

than

religious.

Of

Marcus Aurelius knew

the

little

true

teaching

and cared

less;

of
but

followers, in refusing to acknowledge a religion which included the Emperors among its deities, became rebels against
Of the
the existing order of things, and therein culpable.
old sincere belief in the gods of Rome but little could survive
its

in a state where the vote of the Senate had the power to add
a new divinity to the already bewildering list. So much the
more important were the outward forms, now that the actual
belief was gone, and the bond between Church and State grew
even closer, now that the Church could no longer stand alone.
Of the various systems of philosophy at that time fashionable
at Rome, all but the Epicurean could readily embody the creed
of the old religion, and by treating the names of gods and
heroes as mere symbols, they contrived to combine outward
conformity with inner enlightenment. Not so the Christians.
In their eyes the whole system of idolatry was accursed.
silent protest was insufficient.
It was not enough to refrain

from sacrifice themselves; in public and in private, in season

and out of season, they exhorted others to do the like; not
content with leaving the statues of the gods unhonoured, they
would throw them from their pedestals, or insult them in the
presence of the faithful.
What wonder that the Romans
looked on them with suspicion and hatred, and added to their
real offences the pretended ones of eating human flesh and indulging in all manner of immorality.
In our own more enlightened day

we know what

strange reports gather round

happens to be unfashionable or unpopular.
What wonder, then, that the secret meetings of the
Christians should have given rise to strange rumours, and that
the persecutions " were the expression of a feeling with which
a modern state might regard a set of men who were at once
Mormons and Nihihsts."^

any

^ F.

sect or school that

Myer's Classical Essays.

MARCUS AURELIUS
Add

to this that the Christians often actually provoked

persecution,
regret, that

take

its

13

and we cease to wonder, though we cannot but

Marcus Aurelius, in simply allowing the law to

course, should have failed to give an

example of that

perfect toleration to which Christianity itself has never yet

Let us be content to call him, with Farrar, "the

Pagan Emperors," and sorrowfully acknowledge
that we must seek in vain for a Christian monarch to place
beside him.
Wars and troubles attended Marcus Aurelius to the very
end of his days. In 177 a.d, fresh wars called him to the
north.
A presentiment seemed to tell his friends at Rome
that they should not see him again, and they begged him to
address them his farewell admonitions.
There is nothing
more striking in the whole of Aurelius' career than this picture of the great general discoursing for three days before
his departure for the wars on the deep questions of philosophy.
This was indeed the last time he was seen at Rome.
Worn out by anxiety and fatigue, after once more winning
victory for the Roman arms, he died, in Pannonia, on March
17th, 180 A.D., mourned with a note of such true sorrow as
never before or again was raised at the death of an Emperor.
attained.

noblest of

time to inquire into the nature of that philosophy

It is

which was capable of exercising an influence so

practical
its

founders,

afford

when we

yet,

little

bear in the

consider

its distinct

its

The world

is

down by

materialism and impracticable ethics

suggestion of such fruits as

Roman

distinctly

teachings as laid

it

was destined

to

world.

faultless, said the

Greek

Stoics,

and must

been produced by an intelligent artificer.

Hence the highest reason is immanent in the world, and must
be regarded as self-conscious and personal. For has it not
created man, who is self-conscious and personal, and can the
created be greater than the creator?
And yet, paradoxical
as it may seem, the Stoic god is not a person, but is the fiery
ether that pervades all things.
This fiery substratum of all
matter is its soul; the soul of the universe, which holds together all things in one fixed law, is God himself.
In one
therefore

have

INTRODUCTION

14

is but a fiery air-current; in another he is

Zeus, the intelligent, almost personal lord of the universe.
Both these aspects may be found in Marcus Aurelius; but in

aspect the Deity

him

the simpler ethical teaching, the gentle exhortation to a

life, predominate over subtle speculation on the origin

of things, and bespeaks of God in language that suggests
vividly to us the omnipotent omniscient. Deity of Monotheism.
The Stoics traced back all things to formless matter and
Matter was in its nature
the informing, animating ether.

virtuous

eternal,

since the underlying fire

was imperishable; but

all

things were being gradually consumed, and at the end of a

would be a general conflagration, when all

Then once more
they would be developed afresh, and another cycle begin.

fixed period there

things should be reabsorbed into the Deity.

"

The world's great age begins anew,

The golden days return,
The earth doth like a snake renew
Her winter weeds outworn,"

sings Shelley, but the Stoics expected no "brighter Hellas,"

or " fairer Tempes." The new things should be but as the
old; in the new cycle there should be another Socrates, destined to marry another Xanthippe, and meet with the same
rough treatment at her hands, and finally to be accused by
Anytus and Meletus, and once more utter his glorious defence,
and drain the cup of hemlock among his sorrowing disciples.
Some such scheme of the universe was certainly accepted
the Stoics, but the later teachers, at any rate, attached
importance to it, except in as far as it demonstrated
man's intimate connection with the Deity and his fellowmen.
They believed that the soul was material, and extended in
space.
It is the fiery current that is diffused through the
body, and holds it together. They regard it as the guiding
or dominant principle, the indestructible divine spark. It is
this, the reasoning element, which establishes the relationship
between God, the universal reason, and man. to whose lot
has fallen a minute share of it; while the brotherhood of Man
is maintained in virtue of a kinship, not of flesh and blood,

by

all

little

MARCUS AURELIUS
but of mind and reason.

"Though we

15

are not just of the

same flesh and blood, yet our minds are nearly

(Marcus Aurelius, Med. ii. i.)
Did the Stoics believe in a life after death?

related.''

It is

not

They did not, like the Epicureans, fiercely

easy to decide.
deny it, maintaining that annihilation alone could remove the
terrors of death.

Undoubtedly the individual soul must

at

be absorbed into the universal soul but whether this happened at once, or not until the next conflagration, was a point
on which authorities were not agreed. In any case, the soul
last

must return to the Deity whence it sprang. This relation to

It folthe Deity was the fundamental point of Stoic ethics.
lows from the kinship that man's true good must lie in conformity with the Deity. But God and reason are identical.
Therefore, life in accordance with reason must be best suited
to the constitution of the soul.
Aiid such a life must be in
accordance with virtue. Hence this is the highest good, and
happiness consists in virtue.

Thus the
is

Stoics arrive at their

admirable, virtue

is

main

thesis.

Virtue alone

absolutely self-sufficient; the

good man

needs no help from circumstances, neither sickness nor adAll

versity can harm him; he is a king, a god among men.
so-called good, if it be not moral good, is included in the class
of "things intermediate," neither good nor bad. Such abso-

made by any
had stipulated for sufficient external advantages to enable a man to devote himself without further
care to the life of thought and virtue.
The Stoics would permit of no such compromise. Virtue, and virtue only, was
what they demanded. The virtuous man might be a slave, a
victim to disease, to poverty, might be deprived of all he loved,
yet he would remain solely and absolutely happy.
Virtue
was one and indivisible. Whoever was not virtuous was
vicious there was no middle course.
Here was a point in
their doctrine which could hardly be made to square with fact.
We know too well that men are not divided into virtuous and
vicious, but all possess some share of good and evil, and that
most men desire what is right, and fail, when they do, from
weakness rather than viciousness. The Stoics, who delute claims

for virtue had never before been

Aristotle

school.

INTRODUCTION

16

manded

absolute virtue and disregard of externals, had to

confess that the wise

nay,

men were few and

when hard pressed

give a remarkable

list

to

name

the foolish legion;

their wise

Hercules,

men, they would

Odysseus,

Socrates,

the

Cynics Antisthenes and Diogenes and in the later days of the

school, Cato the younger, the only Stoic among the number.
Such a list alone appears to us sufficient condemnation of
Stoicism in its earlier forms.
Had no further advance been
made. Stoicism would be of small interest to us now, but
happily it was destined, as Capes remarks in his little hand;

book on Stoicism, to be " tempered by concessions to common

sense."
The paradoxes about the wise man had been borrowed from Cynicism, which was regarded by the Stoics as
"a counsel of perfection." Diogenes in his tub, bidding
Alexander stand out of his sunshine, might excite surprise
and wonder; but a movement that should lead a whole community to abandon civilisation and resort to life in tubs would
be distinctly retrogressive.

have

at best saved their

livered by St.

Simeon

In later times Christian hermits

own

Stylites

and the exhortations defrom the top of his pillar can-

souls,

not have influenced the gaping multitude as

much

as a noble

Without
would have been no life in Christianity, and Stoicism similarly
had to descend from its pedestal, and walk among men.
First of all, the theory of absolute good and evil had to be
modified.
Virtue was still the only real good, and vice the
life led in their

the practical element there

midst.

only real evil; but besides these they now admitted a class of
"things to be preferred," and another of "things to be
avoided." Among the former might be included health, good
repute, and other advantages which had formerly been summarily disposed of as "indifferent." Again, while the impossible wise man still remained the ideal of Stoicism, it was
admitted that there might be good men with lofty aims and

who should yet dwell among men as their felIn short, the wide gap between the sage and the fool

blameless lives
lows.

was now

filled

up,

to find a place for

its

and as a

result the Stoic

real, existing

human

system was able

beings.

These more practical developments were coincident with

The Romans were
introduction into the Roman world.


MARCUS AURELIUS

'

17

nation of soldiers and lawyers,

nothing if not practical.
they had borrowed from Greece her culture, and adapted it to
their own needs.
So too they borrowed their philosophy.

When

"conquered Greece led her barbarous conqueror capfew of the nobler minds at Rome discovered that
there was something at Athens worth carrying off besides the
statues.
Some would spend a year or two at Athens studying philosophy; others induced the greatest teachers themselves to bring their doctrines to Rome and in the first century B.C. all the Greek systems were represented in the capital
of the world. Among them all Stoicism found most adherents.
Its teachings of simplicity, resignation, and calm in
the midst of disturbance, found willing listeners among the
ti

e," a

who saw their hopes of liberty gradually

fading before the approaching monarchy. Its doctrine that
suicide was admissible, even admirable, when circumstances
made it no longer possible "to take arms against a sea of
troubles," pointed to a mode of escape from the tyranny they
could not avert.
Thus Cato sought death at his own hands
when the Republic perished, and it was Stoic teaching that
forbade Brutus and Cassius, though not Stoics themselves, to
survive the battle of Philippi.
In the early days of the empire, when corruption and
license were at their height, the court evinced deep hatred
against the philosophers, more especially the Stoics.
The outspoken manner in which they chastised the wickedness of the
time may have led to their unpopularity; in any case, there
were several decrees of banishment against them, and among
the victims at one time was
earnest Republicans,

That halting slave, who in Nicopolis

Taught Arrian, when Vespasian's brutal son
Cleared Rome of what most shamed him.

Well might the name of Epictetus be counted among those

cheer the soul in evil days, for where can sweeter resignation or truer piety be found than in such words as these
"Dare to look up to God and say, Deal with me for the
future as thou wilt^ I am of the same mind as thou art; I am

who

INTRODUCTION

18

me where

thou
will
thy
that
any dress thou choosest
should
hold
the
magistrate,
that
should
I
office of a
I
be in
the condition of a private man, stay here or be an exile, be
poor, be rich ?
I will make thy defence to men in behalf of
all these conditions."
These were not empty words, for they
thine
wilt

refuse nothing that pleases thee

clothe

me

in

lead
:

is it

found their illustration in the life of the speaker.

In the lame slave Stoic ethics rose to its noblest heights
but it was left to the imperial philosopher, by broadening and
humanising its teaching, to give to the world in his Meditations " the gospel of those who do not believe in the supernatural."

These Meditations were not written as a whole probably

they were never intended for publication; they were simply
the Emperor's

commonplace book^ where he entered

his re-

often quite unconnected, on the things of time and

flections,

By

eternity.

this

means he seems

counsel of withdrawing into his

calm and

quiet.

It

to

have adopted his

own mind,

noteworthy that

is

in

own

there to seek

Marcus Aurelius
Thus

the claims of natural affection are never disregarded.

Book

I.

is

entirely devoted to recording his obligation to his

parents, friends,

and teachers for the

benefit of

good training

or example.

The lovers of Marcus Aurelius have been many, and of

every shade of opinion. Long quotes from the preface to
Pierron's translation
"
man illustrious in the church, the
Cardinal Francis Barberini the elder, nephew of Pope Urban
VIII., occupied die last years of his life in translating into his
native language the thoughts of the Roman Emperor, in order

to diffuse

He

seeds.

make

it,

among

the

faithful the

fertilising

and vivifying

dedicated this translation to his soul, in order to

as he says, redder than his purple at the sight of the

Montesquieu says of Marcus Aurea secret pleasure within you when you
speak this emperor; one can not read his life without a kind
of tenderness. Such is the effect he produces that you have
a better opinion of yourself, because you have a better opinion
lof mankind."
Matthew Arnold, in his Essays in Criticism, points, out
virtues of this Gentile."
lius:

"You

feel

MARCUS AURELIUS

"
popularity

19

It
with his usual clearness the reason of this
is remarkable how little of a merely local or temporary character, how little of those sconce which a reader has to clear
away before he gets to the precious ore, how little that even
admits of doubt and question, the morality of Marcus Aure"In general the action Marcus Aurelius prelius exhibits."
scribes is action which every sound nature must recognise as
right, and the motives he assigns are motives which every
clear reason must recognise as valid.
And so he remains the
special friend and comforter of all clear-headed and scrupulous, yet pure and upward-striving souls, in those ages most
especially which walk by sight and not by faith, and yet have
no open vision. He cannot give such souls, perhaps, all they

yearn for, but he gives them much, and what he gives them
they can receive."
Perhaps there never was an age that more needed such
teaching than our own.
On one hand, sectarian hatred and
dogmatism almost obscure the great truths common to all

mankind; on the other, merciless and destructive criticism, in

undermining much that used to be generally accepted, seems
Here we
at times to threaten even the foundations of truth.
may turn, as Renan bids us, to the "absolute religion" of the
Meditations "The religion of Marcus Aurelius is the absolute religion, that which arises from the simple fact of a high
moral conscience facing the universe. It knows no race nor
country.
No revolution, no discovery can change it."
The Meditations appear here in the translation of Jeremy
Collier, a book with a charm all its own, in fact, a version
" Jeremy Collier," obfar more spirited than the original.
serves Matthew Arnold, " regarded in Marcus Aurelius the
living moralist, and not the dead classic; and his warmth of
feeling gave to his style an impetuosity and rhythm which are
absent from the style of Mr. Long [another translator]."

THE MEDITATIONS OF MARCUS

AURELIUS
BOOK I
The

example of

my

grandfather Verus gave

me

a good

disposition, not prone to anger.

By

the recollection of

my

father's^ character,

learned

to be both modest and manly.

As for my mother, she taught me to have regard for religion, to be generous and open-handed, and not only to forbear
from doing anybody an ill turn, but not so much as to endure
By her likewise I was bred to a plain, inthe thought of it.
expensive way of living, very different from the common
luxury of the rich.
I have to thank my great-grandfather that I did not go to
a public school, but had good masters at home, and learnt to
know that one ought to spend liberally on such things.
From my governor I learned not to join either the green
or the blue faction on the race-ground, nor to support the
Parmularius or Scutarius at the gladiators' shows. He
taught me also to put my own hand to business upon occasion,
to endure hardship and fatigues, and to throw the necessities
of nature into a little compass; that I ought not to meddle
with other people's business, nor be easy in giving credit to

informers.

From Diognetus, to shun vain pursuits, not to be led away

with the impostures of wizards and soothsayers, who pretend
they can discharge evil spirits, and do strange feats by
the strength of a charm; not to keep quails for the pit,
nor to be eager after any such thing. This Diognetus taught
me to bear freedom and plain-dealing in others, and apply
Annius Verus was the name of both his grandfather and father; his
name was Domitia Calvilla. The emperor T. Antoninus
Pius married the paternal aunt of Marcus Aurelius, and adopted him.
^

mother's

20

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

21

myself to philosophy. He also procured me the instruction

of Bacchius, Tandasis, and Marcianus. He likewise put me
upon improving myself by writing dialogues when I was a
boy; prevailed with me to prefer a couch covered with hides
to a bed of state; and reconciled me to other like rigours of
the Grecian discipline.
It was Rusticus ^ that first made me desire to live rightly,
and come to a better state; who prevented me from running
into the vanity of sophists, either by writing speculative
treatises, haranguing upon moral subjects, or making a fantastical appearance or display of generosity or discipline.
This philosopher kept me from yielding to the charms of
rhetoric and poetry, from affecting the character of a man of
pleasantry, from wearing my senator's robe in the house, or
anything of this kind which looks like conceit and affectation.
He taught me to write letters in a plain, unornamental style,
like that dated by him from Sinuessa to my mother.
By his
instructions I was persuaded to be easily reconciled to those
who had misbehaved themselves and disobliged me, as soon as
they desired reconciliation. And of the same master I learned
to read an author carefully.
Not to take up with a superficial
view, or assent quickly to idle talkers.
And, to conclude with
him, he gave me his own copy of Epictetus's memoirs.
Apollonius^ taught me to give my mind its due freedom,
and disengage it from dependence upon chance, and not to
regard, though ever so little, anything uncountenanced by
reason.
To maintain an equality of temper, even in acute
pains, and loss of children, or tedious sickness.
His practice
was an excellent instance, that a man may be forcible and yet
his humour as occasion requires.
The heaviness and
impertinence of his scholars could seldom rouse his ill-temper.

unbend

As

for his learning, and the peculiar happiness of his

manner

he was so far from being proud of himself upon

this score, that one might easily perceive, he thought it one of
the least things which belonged to him.
This great man let
in teaching,

^ L. Junius Rusticus was a Stoic philosopher who was put

by Domitian.

Apollonius of Chalcis was a Stoic philosopher.

XIV

to

death

MARCUS AURELIUS

22

me

an obligation, without
seeming ungrateful to my friend.
The philosopher Sextus recommended good-humour to
me, and showed me the pattern of a household governed in a
He also bade me make nature and reason
fatherly manner.
into the true secret of receiving

either lessening myself, or

By his precedent I was instructed to aprule to live by.

pear with an unaffected gravity, to study the temper and circumstances of my friends in order to oblige them. I saw
him bearing with the ignorant and undiscerning, complaisant
and obliging to all people, so that his conversation was more
charming than flattery and yet at the same time he was held
Conversing with this phiin the highest reverence by others.
losopher helped me to draw up a true, intelligible, and

my

methodical scheme for

as to

show the

life

least sign

and manners, and never so much

of anger, or any other disturbing

thought, but to be perfectly calm and indifferent, yet tenderhearted.

However, he let me see in himself that a man
might show his good-will significantly enough, without noise
and display, and likewise possess great knowledge without
vanity and ostentation.
Alexander the Grammarian taught me not to be ruggedly
critical about words, nor find fault with people for improprieties of phrase or pronunciation, but to set them right by
speaking the thing properly myself, and that either by way of
answer, assent, or inquiry, or by some such other indirect and
suitable correction.

Pronto ^ taught me that envy, tricking, and dissimulation

are the character and consequences of tyranny and that those
;

we
in

call patricians

have commonly not much fatherly feeling

them.

Alexander the Platonist advised me, that without necesshould never say to anyone, nor write in a letter, that I
am not at leisure, nor make business an excuse to decline frequently the offices of humanity to those we dwell with.
I learned of Catulus^ not to slight a friend for making a
sity I

M. Cornelius Fronto was a rhetorician who was the emperor's

Part of Marcus Aurelius' correspondence with him is extant.

tutor.
"

Cinna Catulus was a Stoic philosopher.

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
remonstrance, though

it

23

should happen to be unreasonable,

but rather to endeavour to restore him to his natural humour.

That, like Domitius and Athenodotus, I should always speak
well of those who had the care of my education, and that I
should always preserve an hearty affection for my children.
I am indebted to Severus ^ for the love I bear to my relations,

and towards

justice

and

truth.

He

likewise

made me

acquainted with the character and sentiments of Cato, Brutus,

Thrasea, Helvidius, and Dio; and gave me the idea of an
equal commonwealth, with equal rights and equal speech, and

monarchy, where the liberty of the subject was prinTo mention some more of my obligations
It was of him I learned not to grow wise by starts
to him
and sudden fancies, but to be a constant admirer of philosophy
and improvement that a man ought to be generous and oblig-^
ing, hope the best of matters, and never question the affection
of his friends; to be free in showing a reasonable dislike of
another, and no less clear in his own expectations and desires
and not to put his friends to the trouble of divining what he

also of a

cipally regarded.
:

would be

at.

Maximus^ to command myself, and not to

be too much drawn towards anything; to be full of spirits
under sickness and misfortune; to appear with modesty, obligingness, and dignity of behaviour; to turn off business
smoothly as it arises, without drudging and complaint.
Whatever he did, all men believed him, that as he spoke, so
he thought, and whatever he did, that he did with a good intent.
He attained that greatness of mind, not to wonder or
start at anything; neither to hurry an enterprise, nor sleep
over it; never to be puzzled or dejected, nor to put on an appearance of friendliness; not to be angry or suspicious, but
ever ready to do good, and to forgive and speak truth and all
this as one who seemed rather of himself to be straight and
right, than ever to have been rectified.
Nobody ever could
fancy they were slighted by him, or dared to think themselves
his betters.
Besides all this, he had an agreeable wit.
I

learned from

Claudius Severus was a Stoic philosopher.

Claudius

Maximus was

a Stoic philosopher.

MARCUS AURELIUS

24

In my adoptive father I observed a smooth and inoffensive

temper, with great steadiness in keeping close to measures
judiciously taken; a greatness proof against vanity and the
From him a prince might
impressions of pomp and power.
learn to love business and action, and be constantly at it; to
be willing to hear out any proposal relating to public advantage, and undeviatingly give every man his due to understand
the critical seasons and circumstances for rigour or remissness.
To have no boy-favourites. Not to stand upon points
;

of state and prerogative, but to leave his nobility at perfect

liberty in their visits and attendance and when he was upon
his progress, no man lost his favour for not being at leisure
to follow the court. To debate matters nicely and thoroughly
;

and then to stand by what was resolved

on, yet not hastily to give up the inquiry, as one easily satisfied
with sudden notions and apprehensions. To be constant to a

at the council-board,

friend, without tiring or fondness.

and cheerful.

To

accordingly.

Not

To

be always satisfied

reach forward into the future, and

manage

to neglect the least concerns, but all with-

out hurry, or being embarrassed.

Farther, by observing his

methods and administrations, I had the opportunity of learning how much it was the part of a prince to check the excesses
of panegyric and flattery. To have his magazines and ex-

chequer well furnished. To be frugal in his expenses, without minding being lampooned for his pains.
Not to worship
the gods to superstition; not to court the populace, either by
prodigality or compliment; but rather to be sober and firm
upon all occasions, keeping things in a steady decorum, without chopping and changing of measures.
To enjoy the plenty
and magnificence of a sovereign fortune without bragging,
and yet without making excuse; so as freely to enjoy them
when present, but when wanting, not to be mortified at the
loss of them.
And to behave himself so that no man could
charge him with sophistry, or buffooning, or being a pedant.
No; he was a person mature and perfect, scorning flattery,
and thoroughly qualified to govern himself and others. As
for those that were philosophers in earnest, he had a great
regard for them, but without reproaching those who were
otherwise, nor yet being led away by these.
He was con-

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

25

descending and familiar in conversation, and pleasant too, but

not to tiresomeness and excess.
As for his health, he was
not anxious about it, like one fond of living, or over-studious
of bodily appearance, and yet managed his constitution with
that care as seldom to stand in need of the assistance of
physic or outward applications.
Farther, he never envied
and browbeat those that were eminent in any faculty or
science, as eloquence, or knowledge of the laws or morals;
but, on the contrary, encouraged them in their ways, and
promoted their reputation. He observed fitness and custom
in all his actions, and yet did not seem to regard them.
He
was not fickle and fluttering in his humour, but constant both
to place and undertaking; and I have seen him, after violent
fits of the headache, return fresh and vigorous to his usual
business.
He kept but few things to himself, and those were
secrets of government.
He was very moderate and frugal
in shows, public buildings, liberalities, and such like, being
one that did not so much regard the popularity as the tightness of an action.
It was none of his custom to bathe at unusual hours, or to be overcome with the fancy of building, to
study eating and luxury, to value the curiosity of his clothes,
or the shape and person of his servants. His cloak came from
Lorium, his villa on the coast; at Lanuvium, he wore for the
most part only a tunic and at Tusculum he would scarcely so
much as put on a cloak without making an excuse for it. To
take him altogether, there was nothing of ruggedness, immodesty, or eagerness in his temper. Neither did he ever
seem to drudge and sweat at the helm. Things were dispatched at leisure, and without being felt and yet the administration was carried on without confusion, with great order,
force, and uniformity.
Upon the whole, what was told of
Socrates is applicable to him; for he was so much master of
himself, that he could either take or leave those conveniences
of life with respect to which most people are either uneasy
without them, or intemperate with them. Now, to hold on
with fortitude in one condition and sobriety in the other is a
proof of a great soul and an impregnable virtue, such as he
showed in the sickness of Maximus.
I have to thank the gods that my grandfathers, parents.
;

MARCUS AURELIUS

26

and domestics were almost all of them persons of probity, and that I never happened
to disoblige or misbehave myself towards any of them, notwithstanding that my disposition was such, that, had occasion
offered, I might have acted thus but by the goodness of the
It
gods, I met with no provocations to reveal my infirmities.
no
is likewise by their providence that my childhood was
longer managed by my grandfather's mistress; that I preserved the flower of my youth; that I was subject to the emperor my father, and bred under him, who was the most
proper person living to put me out of conceit with pride, and
sister, preceptors,

relations,

friends,

to convince

me

that

it is

possible to live in a palace without

the ceremony of guards, without richness and distinction of

habit, without torches, statues, or such other marks of royalty

and

state;

and that a prince may shrink himself almost into

the figure of a private gentleman, and yet act, nevertheless,

with all the force and majesty of his character when the

common weal

requires it.
It is the favour of the gods that
happened to meet with a brother, whose behaviour and affection is such as to contribute both to my pleasure and improvement.^ It is also their blessing that my children were
neither stupid nor misshapen; that I made no farther advances in rhetoric, poetry, and such other amusements, which
possibly might have engaged my fancy too far, had I found
myself a considerable proficient; that, without asking, I gave
my governors that share of honour which they seemed to desire, and did not put them off from time to time with promises
and excuses, because they were yet but young that I had the
happiness of being acquainted with Apollonius, Rusticus, and
Maximus; that I have a clear idea of the life in accordance
with nature, and the impression frequently refreshed so that,
considering the extraordinary assistance and directions of the
gods, it is impossible for me to miss the road of nature unless
by refusing to be guided by the dictates and almost sensible
inspirations of heaven.
It is by their favour that my conI

^ As Marcus Aurelius had no blood brother, this must refer to his

adopted brother, Lucius Verus, who certainly did not deserve the
praise here bestowed.

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

27

II

under a life of fatigue and

had to do with Benedicta or Theodotus
some fits of love, I was soon cured that

stitution has held out so well,

business

that I never

when I
when I fell
and,

fell

into

out with Rusticus, as it frequently happened, I

was not transported into any act of violence; that I had the
satisfaction of

my

while, though she

mother's

life

was destined

and company a considerable

young that when I was

to die

was never told

was empty and, again, it is they that kept
me from standing in need of any man's fortune. Farther,
it is from them that my wife is so very obedient and affectionate and so remote from luxury that I had choice of good
governors for my children; that remedies were prescribed me
in a dream against giddiness and spitting of blood, as at
Cajeta, by an ointment; that when I had a mind to look into
willing to relieve the necessities of others, I

that the exchequer

philosophy, I did not meet with a sophist to instruct me that

I did not spend too much time in reading history, chopping
;

or considering the heavens. Now all these points could

never have been compassed without a protection from above
and the gods presiding over fate.
This was written in the country of the Quadi, at the
Granua.
logic,

BOOK

II

Remember to put yourself in mind every morning, that

before night it will be your luck to meet with some busy-body,
with some ungrateful, abusive fellow, with some knavish, envious, or unsociable churl or other.
in

them proceeds from

Now

their ignorance of

all this

perverseness

good and

evil;

and

has fallen to my share to understand the natural

beauty of a good action, and the deformity of an ill one
since I am satisfied the person disobliging is of kin to me, and
though we are not just of the same flesh and blood, yet our
minds are nearly related, being both extracted from the Deity
I am likewise convinced that no man can do me a real injury, because no man can force me to misbehave myself, nor
can I find it in my heart to hate or to be angry with one of
my own nature and family. For we are all made for mutual
assistance, as the feet, the hands, and the eyelids, as the rows
since

it

MARCUS AURELIUS

28

of the upper and under teeth, from whence

clashing and opposition

an unfriendly disposition

is

is

it

follows that

Now

perfectly unnatural.

such

implied in resentment and aver-

sion.

This being of mine,

all

there

is

of

it,

consists of flesh,

and the ruling part. Away with your books then.

It is not
Suffer not your mind any more to be distracted.
permitted.
As for your body, value it no more than if you
were just expiring. For what is it? Nothing but a little
blood and bones; a piece of network, wrought out of nerves,
In the next place, conveins, and arteries twisted together.
sider what sort of thing your breath is why, only a little air,
and that not constant, but every moment let out of your
The third part of your comlungs, and sucked in again.
Now consider thus: you are an
position is the ruling part.
old man do not suffer this noble part of you under servitude
any longer. Let it not be moved by the springs of selfish pas-

breath,

sions

let it

not quarrel with fate, be uneasy at the present, or

afraid of the future.

Providence shines clearly through the works of the gods

even the works of chance are not without dependence on
Nature, being only an effect of that chain of causes which
are under a providential regulation.
Indeed, all things flow

from

fountain; besides, there

this

is

necessity,

and the

in-

of the whole universe, of which you are a part. Now,

that which is both the product and support of universal
Nature, must by consequence be serviceable to every part of
it; but the world subsists upon change, and is preserved by
the mutation of the simple elements, and also of things mixed
and compounded, and what it loses one way it gets another.
Let these reflections satisfy you, and make them your rule to
terest

live by.

As

you may not

for books, cast

away your

thirst after

them, that

go
good-humour, and
what you have had.
Remember how often you have postponed minding your
interest, and let slip those opportunities the gods have given
you.
It is now high time to consider what sort of world you
are part of, and from what kind of governor of it you are
descended that you have a set period assigned you to act in,
die complaining, but

heartily thank the gods for

off in

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
and unless you improve
thoughts,

it

will quickly

it

run

to brighten
off

29

II

and compose your

with you, and be lost beyond

recovery.
to remember that you are a man and a
every action be done with perfect and unaffected gravity, humanity, freedom, and justice.
And be
sure you entertain no fancies, which may give check to these
This is possible, if you will but perform every acqualities.

Take care always

Roman; and

let

were your last; if your appetites and pasupon your reason; if you keep clear of
rashness, and have nothing of insincerity and self-love to inYou see what
fect you, and do not complain of your destiny.
a few points a man has to gain in order to attain to a godlike
way of living; for he that comes thus far, performs all which
the immortal powers will require of him.

tion as though

it

sions do not cross

Continue to dishonour yourself, my soul! Neither will

For the life
left to do yourself honour.
of each man is almost up already; and yet, instead of paying
a due regard to yourself, you place your happiness in the souls
of other men.
Do not let accidents disturb, or outward objects engross
your thoughts, but keep your mind quiet and disengaged, that
you may be at leisure to learn something good, and cease
rambling from one thing to another. There is likewise another sort of roving to be avoided; for some people are busy
and yet do nothing; they fatigue and wear themselves out,
and yet aim at no goal, nor purpose any general end of action

you have much time

or design.

man

can rarely be unhappy by being ignorant of anbut he that does not attend to the motions
of his own is certainly unhappy.
These reflections ought always to be at hand: To consider well the nature of the universe and my own nature, together with the relation betwixt them, and what kind of part
it is, of what kind of whole
and that no mortal can hinder me
from acting and speaking conformably to the being of which
other's thoughts

am

a part.

Theophrastus, in comparing the degrees of faults (as men

would commonly distinguish them), talks like a philosopher

MARCUS AURELIUS

30

affirms that those instances of misbehaviour which

proceed from desire are greater than those of which anger is
For a man that is angry seems to quit his hold
the occasion.
of reason unwilHngly and with pain, and start out of rule

when he

But he that runs riot out of desire, being

is aware.
overcome by pleasure, loses all hold on himself, and all manly
Well, then, and like a philosopher, he said that he
restraint.

before he

of the two is the more to be condemned that sins with pleasure

For the first looks like an inthan he that sins with grief.
jured person, and is vexed, and, as it were, forced into a passion; whereas the other begins with inclination, and commits
the fault through desire.
Manage all your actions, words, and thoughts accordingly,
since

you may

at

any moment quit

life.

And what

great

matter is the business of dying? If the gods are in being,

you can suffer nothing, for they will do you no harm. And
if they are not, or take no care of us mortals
why, then, a
world without either gods or Providence is not worth a man's
while to live in.
But, in truth, the being of the gods, and
their concern in human affairs, is beyond dispute.
And they
have put it entirely in a man's power not to fall into any
calamity properly so-called. And if other misfortunes had
been really evils, they would have provided against them too,
and furnished man with capacity to avoid them. But how
can that which cannot make the man worse make his life so?
I can never be persuaded that the universal Nature neglected
these matters through want of knowledge, or, having that,
yet lacked the power to prevent or correct the error; or that
Nature should commit such a fault, through want of power or

as to suffer things, really good and evil, to happen promiscuously to good and bad men. Now, living and dying,
honour and infamy, pleasure and pain, riches and poverty
skill,

all

these things are the

vicious, because they

common

allotment of the virtuous and

have nothing

intrinsically noble or base

in their nature; and, therefore, to speak properly, are neither

good nor bad.

Consider how quickly all things are dissolved and resolved; the bodies and substances themselves into the matter
and substance of the world, and their memories into its

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
general age and time.

II

31

Consider, too, the objects of sense,

which charm us with pleasure, frighten us

with pain, or are most admired for empty reputation. The
power of thought will show a man how insignificant, despicable, and paltry these things are, and how soon they wither
and die. It will show him what those people are upon whose
fancy and good word the being of fame depends: also the
nature of death, which, if once abstracted from the pomp and
terror of the idea, will be found nothing more than a pure
natural action.
Now he that dreads the course of nature is
particularly those

not only a work of nature, but is also

we should consider how we are
related to the Deity, and In what part of our being, and in
what condition of that part.
Nothing can be more unhappy than the curiosity of that

a very child but this

;

profitable to her.

man

is

Lastly,

that ranges everywhere,

and digs into the

earth, as the

wonderfully busy to force

thoughts, but does
people's
conjecture
a
passage
into
other
by
not consider that it is sufficient to reverence and serve the
poet

says, for discovery

divinity within himself.

that

And

is

this

service consists in this,

man

keep himself pure from all violent passion, and

evil affection, from all rashness and vanity, and from all
manner of discontent towards gods or men. For as for the
that a

gods, their administration ought to be revered upon the score

of excellency; and as for men, their actions should be well

taken for the sake of common kindred. Besides, they are

often to be pitied for their ignorance of good and evil; which
incapacity of discerning between moral qualities is no less a
defect than that of a blind man,

who

cannot distinguish be-

tween white and black.

Though you were to live three thousand, or, if you please,
thirty thousand of years, yet remember that no man can lose
any other life than that which he now lives, neither is he possessed of any other than that which he loses.
Whence it follows that the longest life, as we commonly speak, and the
shortest, come all to the same reckoning. For the present is of
the same duration everywhere. Everybody's loss, therefore, is
^

Pindar quoted in the Theaetetus of Piato.

MARCUS AURELIUS

32

of the same bigness and reaches no further than to a point of

time, for no man is capable of losing either the past or the
So
future; for how can one be deprived of what he has not?
consideration
there
are
two
notions
worth
rethis
that under
membering. One is, that Nature treads in a circle, and has
much the same face through the whole course of eternity.
And therefore it signifies not at all whether a man stands
gazing here an hundred, or two hundred, or an infinity of
years ; for all that he gets by it is only to see the same sights
so much the oftener. The other hint is, that when the longest and shortest-lived persons come to die, their loss is equal
they can but lose the present as being the only thing they have
for that which he has not, no

man

can be truly said to

lose.

Monimus, the Cynic philosopher, used to say that all

things were but opinion.
Now this saying may undoubtedly
prove serviceable, provided one accepts

it

only as far as

it is

true.

ways by which a man's soul

of all, when it becomes an
were, an excrescence on the universe, as far

There are several

may do

abscess, and, as

as in

different

violence to itself;

it lies.

it

For

to be vexed at anything that happens

separation of ourselves

the natures of

all

first

from nature,

in

is

some part of which

other things are contained.

Secondly,

it

imder the same misfortune when it hates any person, or

goes against him, with an intention of mischief, which is the
case of the angry and revengeful.
Thirdly, it wrongs itself
when it is overcome by pleasure or pain. Fourthly, when it
makes use of art, tricking, and falsehood, in word or action.
Fifthly, when it does not know what it would be at in a business, but runs on without thought or design, whereas even the
least undertaking ought to be aimed at some end.
Now the
end of rational beings is to be governed by the law and reason
of the most venerable city and constitution.
falls

The

extent of

perpetual flux,

its

human

life is

but a point;

its

substance

is

in

perceptions dim, and the whole composition

of the body tending to corruption. The soul is but a whirl,

fortune not to be guessed at, and fame undiscerning in a
word, that which belongs to the body is a flowing river, and
what the soul has is but dream and bubble. Life is but a

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

33

III

campaign, or course of travels, and after- fame is oblivion.

What is it, then, that will stick by a man? Why, nothing but
philosophy.
Now, this consists in keeping the divinity within
us from injury and disgrace, superior to pleasure and pain,
doing nothing at random, without any dissembling and pretence, and independent of the motions of another.
Farther,
philosophy brings the mind to take things as they fall, and
acquiesce in their distribution, inasmuch as all events proceed
from the same cause with itself; and, above all, to have an
easy prospect of death, as being nothing more than a dissolving of the elements of which each thing is composed.
Now, if the elements themselves are never the worse for
running off one into another, what if they should all change
and be dissolved ? Why should any man be concerned at the
consequence? All this is but Nature's method; now. Nature
never does any mischief.
Written at Carnuntum.

iBOOK

We

III

ought not only to remember that

life is

wearing

off,

and a smaller part of

if
it

it is left daily, but also to consider that

a man's life should happen to be longer than ordinary, yet
is uncertain whether his mind will keep pace with his

and afford him sense enough for business, and power

to contemplate things human and divine.
For if the man
begins to dote, it is true the mere animal life goes on he may
breathe, and be nourished, and be furnished with imagination
and appetite but to make any proper use of himself, to fill up
the measure of his duty, to distinguish appearances, and to
know whether it is time for him to walk out of the world or
not as to all such noble functions of reason and judgment,
years,

the

man

is

perfectly dead already.

It

concerns us, therefore,

and make the most of our matters, for death

is continually advancing and besides that, our understanding
sometimes dies before us.
It is worth while to observe that the least thing that happens naturally to things natural has something in itself that is
Thus, for example, there are cracks
pleasing and delightful.
to push forward,

MARCUS AURELIUS

34

and

little breaks on the surface of a loaf, which, though never

intended by the baker, have a sort of agreeableness in them,
which invites the appetite. Thus figs, when they are most
ripe, open and gape and olives, when they fall of themselves
;

and are near decaying, are particularly pretty to look at.

The bending of an ear of corn, the brow of a lion, the foam
of a boar, and many other things, if you take them singly, are
far enough from being beautiful but when they are looked on
as effects of the products of Nature, help to adorn and attract.
Thus, if a man has but inclination and thought enough to
examine the product of the universe, he will find the most unpromising appearances in the results of Nature not without
charm, and that the more remote appendages have somewhat
One thus prepared will be no less
to recommend them.
the
gaping
pleased to see
jaws of living beasts than the imitations of painters and sculptors, and with chastened eyes he will
find beauty in the ripeness of age as well as in the blossom
;

of youth.

grant

many of these things will not charm everywho are truly in harmony with Nature

one, but only those

and her works.

Hippocrates,

and

at last

met with

Julius Caesar,

so

who

cured so

their

who had

many thousands of

at last to

many

The Chaldeans, who

died.

march

much about

oflf

own

diseases, himself fell

fate.

destroyed so

Alexander, Pompey, and

many towns, and cut off

horse and foot in the

themselves.

ill

foretold other people's death,

field,

Heraclitus,

were forced

who argued

so

the universal conflagration, died through water

by a dropsy. Democritus was eaten up with vermin another

sort of vermin destroyed Socrates.
What are these instances
for? Look you: you have embarked, you have made your
voyage and your port; debark then without more ado. If
you happen to land upon another world, there will be gods
enough to take care of you; but if it be your fortune to drop
into nothing, why, then you will be no more solicited with
pleasure and pain.
Then you will have done drudging for
your outer covering, which is the more unworthy in proportion as that which serves it is worthy for the one is all soul,
intelligence, and divinity, whereas the other is but dirt and
;

corruption.

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

III

35

do not spend your thoughts upon other

you are led to it by common interest. For the
prying into foreign business that is, musing upon the talk,
fancies, and contrivances of another, and guessing at the
what and why of his actions does but make a man forget
He
himself, and ramble from his own guiding principle.
ought, therefore, not to work his mind to no purpose, nor
throw a superfluous link into the chain of thought; and more
Acespecially, to avoid curiosity and malice in his inquiry.
custom yourself, therefore, to think upon nothing but what
you could freely reveal, if the question were put to you; so
that if your soul were thus laid open, there would nothing
appear but what was sincere, good-natured, and public-spirited
not so much as one voluptuous or luxurious fancy, nothing

For the

future,

people, unless

of hatred, envy, or unreasonable suspicion, nor aught else

which you could not bring to the light without blushing. A
man thus qualified, who does not delay to assume the first
rank among mortals, is a sort of priest and minister of the
By
gods, and makes a right use of the Deity within him.
the assistance thereof, he is preserved, uninfected with
pleasure, invulnerable against pain
out of the reach of injury, and above the malice of evil people.
Thus he wrestles
in the noblest fight, to hold his own against all his passions;
and penetrated with the spirit of justice, welcomes with his
whole heart all that happens and is allotted to him. He never
minds other people's speech, thoughts, or actions, unless public necessity and general good require it.
No he keeps himhis
self to
own business, and contemplates that portion of the
whole allotted him by the fates, and endeavours to do the first
For every
as it should be, and believes that his lot is good.
man's fate is suitable, since it is suited to him. He considers
that the rational principle is akin in all men, and that general
kindness and concern for the whole world is no more than a
piece of human nature
that not every one's good opinion is
nor worth the gaining, but only that of those who seek to live
in accordance with Nature.
As for others, he knows their
way of living, both at home an^ abroad, by day and by night,
and their companions in their evil way of life, and he bears it
in mind.
And, why, indeed, should he value the commenda-

MARCUS AURELIUS

36

tion of such people,

who

are not able even to please them-

selves ?

Be not

unwilling, selfish, unadvised, or passionate in any-

Do

not affect quaintness and points of wit:

Take care
neither talk nor meddle more than is necessary.
that the divinity within you has a creditable charge to preside
over; that you appear in the character of your sex and age.
Act like a Roman Emperor that loves his country, and be althing you do.

ways in a readiness to quit the field at the first summons and

ere you claim your discharge, manage your credit so, that you
need neither swear yourself nor want a voucher. Let your
air be cheerful; depend not upon external supports, nor beg
your tranquillity of another. And, in a word, never throw
away your legs, to stand upon crutches.
If, in the whole compass of human life, you find anything
preferable to justice and truth; to temperance and fortitude;
to a mind self-satisfied with its own rational conduct, and entirely resigned to fate
if, I say, you know anything better
;

than this, turn to it with your whole soul, and enjoy it, accounting it the best.
But if there is nothing more valuable
than the divinity implanted within you, and this is master of
its appetites, examines all impressions, and has detached it-

from the senses, as Socrates used to say, and shows itself

submissive to the government of the gods, and helpful and
benevolent to mankind if all things are trifles compared with
self

way

For if you are once inclined

any such thing, it will no longer be in your power to give
your undivided preference to what is your own peculiar good,
this,

give

to nothing else.

to

for

it is

not lawful that anything of another kind or nature,

as either popular applause, or power, or riches, or pleasures,

should be suffered to contest with what is rationally and

good. All these things, if but for a while they begin to please, presently prevail, and pervert a man's mind.
politically

Let your choice therefore run all one way, and be bold and
resolute for that which is best.
Now what is profitable is
best.
If that means profitable to man as he is a rational
being, stand to

animal, reject

Only take care

but if it means profitable to him as a mere

and keep your judgment without arrogance.

it;

it,

to

make

inquiry secure.

THE MEDITATIONS BOOK

37

III

Think nothing for your interest which makes you break

your word, quit your modesty, hate, suspect, or curse any
person, or incHnes you to any practice which will not bear the
light and look the world in the face.
For he that values his
mind and the worship of his divinity before all other things,
need act no tragic part, laments under no misfortune, and
wants neither solitude nor company and, which is still more,
he will neither fly from life nor pursue it, but is perfectly indifferent about the length or shortness of the time in which
his soul shall be encompassed by his body.
And if he were to
expire this moment, he is as ready for it as for any other action that may be performed with modesty and decency.
For
;

long, this is his only care

that his mind may always be occupied as befits a rational and social creature.
If you examine a man that has been well-disciplined and
purified by philosophy, you will find nothing that is unsound,
foul, or false in him.
Death can never surprise his life as
imperfect, so that nobody can say he goes off the stage before
his part is quite played.
Besides, there is in him nothing
all his life

he neither attaches himself too closely to

from them; he is neither responsible
to them, nor does he avoid them.
Hold in honour your opinionative faculty, for this alone
is able to prevent any opinion from originating in your guiding principle that is contrary to Nature or the proper constitution of a rational creature.
Now, a rational constitution enjoins us to do nothing rashly, and to be kindly disposed towards men, and to submit willingly to the gods.
As for other speculations, throw them all out of your
head, excepting those few precepts above mentioned
remembering withal, that every man's life lies all within the present,
which is but a point of time; for the past is spent, and the
future is uncertain.
Life moves in a very narrow compass;
yes, and men live in a small corner of the world too.
And
for,
most
lasting
will
stretch
but
to
sorry
extent;
the
fame
a
alas! poor transitory mortals who hand it down know little
even of themselves, much less of those who died long before
servile or affected;

others, nor keeps aloof

their time.

To the
XIV

foregoing hints you

may add

this

which follows

MARCUS AURELIUS

38

make for yourself a particular description and definition of

every object that presents itself to your mind, that you may
thoroughly contemplate it in its own nature, bare and naked,
wholly and separately. And in your own mind call itself and
the parts of which it is composed, and into which it will be
resolved, by its own and proper name for nothing is so likely
;

power truly
and methodically to examine and consider all things that happen in this life, and so to penetrate into their natures as to
apprehend at once what sort of purpose each thing serves, and
what sort of universe makes use of it what value it bears
to the whole, and what to man, who is a citizen of that great
capital, in respect of which all other towns are no more than
single families
what is this object which makes an impression on me; how long can it last; what virtue does it require
to raise the

mind

to a pitch of greatness as the

of me;

is

it

good-nature, fortitude, truth, simplicity, self-

or any of the rest? On each occasion a man

should be ready to pronounce, " This was sent me by heaven,
this by destiny, or the combinations of fate, or by one of the
sufficiency,

same clan, or family, or company as myself, who knows not

what is natural for him. But I do know therefore I am just
and friendly to him, and treat him according to the natural
laws of our communion. However, in things indifferent I
take care to rate them according to their respective value."
If you will be governed by reason, and manage what lies
before you with industry, vigour, and temper; if you will not
run out after new distraction, but keep your divinity pure,
even as though you must at once render it up again, your
mind staunch and well disciplined, as if this trial of 7)ehaviour
were your last; and, if you will but cleave to this, and be true
to the best of yourself, fearing and desiring nothing, but
living up to your nature, standing boldly by the truth of your
word, and satisfied therewith, then you will be a happy man.
But the whole world cannot hinder you from so doing.
As surgeons always have their instruments and knives
ready for sudden occasions, so be you always furnished with
rules and principles to let you into the knowledge of things
human and divine, remembering even in your slightest action
For without
the connection these two have with each other.
;

THE MEDITATIONS BOOK

IV

39

a regard for things divine, you will fail in your behaviour towards men and again, the reasoning holds for the other side
of the argument.
Wander at random no longer. Alas! you have no time
left to peruse your diary, to read over the Greek and Roman
history, or so much as your own commonplace book, which
you collected to serve you when you Avere old. Hasten then
towards the goal. Do not flatter and deceive yourself. Come
to your own aid while yet you may, if you have a kindness for
;

yourself.

;Men do not

words

know

in

how many

senses they can take the

what should
not effected by eyes, but by another kind

to steal, to buy, to sow, to be quiet, to see

be done; for this

of vision.

is

There are three things which belong to a man body,

and mind. Sensation belongs to the body, impulse to
the soul, and reason to the mind. To have the senses stamped
with the impression of an object is common to brutes and
cattle to be hurried and convulsed with passion is the quality
of beasts of prey and men of pleasure such as Phalaris and
Nero of atheists and traitors, too, and of those who do not
care what they do when no man sees them.
Now, since these
soul,

qualities are

probity.

common,

His

his practice, in

let

us find out the

distinction, then,

lies

contentment with

all

mark of a man of

in letting reason guide

that

is

allotted him, keep-

ing pure the divinity within him, untroubled by a crowd of

appearances, preserving it tranquil, and obeying it as a god.

He

is all

truth in his

words and

justice in his actions;

and

if

the whole world should disbelieve his integrity, dispute his

and question

his happiness, he would neither take it

nor turn aside from that path that leads to the
aim of life, towards which he must move pure, calm, wellprepared, and with perfect resignation in his fate.

character,
ill

in the least,

BOOK

IV

When the mind acts up to Nature, she is rightly disposed,

and takes things as they come, and tacks about with her circumstances; as for fixing the condition of her activity, she

MARCUS AURELIUS

40
is

not at

all

It is true,

solicitous about that.

she

not per-

is

moves forward with a preference in

anything comes cross, she falls to work

fectly indifferent; she

her choice; but

upon

it,

and

ment, when
well kindled
it

into its

if

like fire converts

it
it

own

is

weak,

seizes

is

it

it

into fuel; for like this ele-

easily put out, but

upon what

is

nature, and increases

heaped upon

by

when once
it,

subdues

resistance.

Let every action tend to some point, and be perfect in

its

kind.

custom of people to go to unfrequented places

and country places and the sea-shore and the mountains for
But, after
retirement; and this you often earnestly desired.
in
yQur
power
to withfancy,
for
is
vulgar
it
all, this is but a
own
desire.
Now
one's
whenever
you
draw into yourself
in
the
and
noise
mind is a place the most free from crowd
him
perfect
ensure
world, if a man's thoughts are such as to
tranquillity within, and this tranquillity consists in the good
It is the

ordering of the mind. Your way is, therefore, to make frequent use of this retirement, and refresh your virtue in it.
And to this end, be always provided with a few short, uncontested notions, to keep your understanding true, and send
you back content with the business to which you return.

For instance:

What

is

wickedness of the world.

it

that troubles

If this be

your

you?

case, out

It

is

the

with your

and consider that rational beings were made for

mutual advantage, that forbearance is one part of justice,
and that people misbehave themselves against their will.
Consider, likewise, how many men have embroiled themselves, and spent their days in disputes, suspicion, and animosities; and now they are dead, and burnt to ashes.
Be
quiet, then, and disturb yourself no more.
But, it may be,
the distribution of the world does not please you.
Recall
the alternative, and argue thus: either Providence or atoms
antidote,

Besides, you may recall the proofs that the

were, one great city and corporation.
But
possibly the ill state of your health afflicts you. Pray reflect,
your intellect is not affected by the roughness or smoothness
of the currents of sensation, if she will retire and take a
rule the universe.

world

is,

as

view of her

it

own

privilege

and power.

And when

she has

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

IV

41

done this, recollect the philosophy about pleasure and pain,

Well!
to which you have even now listened and assented.
are
If
you
hard
you.
the
concern
of
fame
sits
upon
be
it may
pinched here, consider how quickly all things vanish, and are
forgotten
what an immense chaos there stands on either side

of eternity.

Applause! consider the emptiness of the sound,

little judgment of those that give

and the narrow compass it is confined to for the whole
globe is but a point; and of this little, how small is your
habitation, and how insignificant the number and quality of
your admirers. Upon the whole, do not forget to retire into
the little realm of your own. And, above all things, let there
be no straining nor struggling in the case, but move freely,
and contemplate matters like a human being, a citizen, and
a mortal. And among the rest of your stock, let these two
maxims be always ready first, that things cannot disturb
the soul, but remain motionless without, while disturbance
The second is,
springs from the opinion within the soul.
to consider that the scene is just shifting and sliding off
into nothing; and that you yourself have seen abundance of
great alterations. In a word, the world is all transformation,
and life is opinion.
If the faculty of understanding lies in common amongst
us all, then reason, the cause of it, must be common too and
that other reason too which governs practice by commands
and prohibitions. From whence we may conclude, that mankind are under one common law; and if so, they must be
fellow-citizens, and belong to some body politic.
From
whence it will follow, that the whole world is but one commonwealth; for certainly there is no other society in which
mankind can be incorporated. Now this common fund of
understanding, reason, and law is a commodity of this same
country, or which way do mortals light on it? For as the
four distinctions in my body belong to some general head
and species of matter; for instance, the earthy part in me
comes from the division of earth the watery belongs to another element; the airy particles flow from a third spring,
and those of fire from one distinct from all the former (for
nothing can no more produce something, than something

the precarious tenure, the

it

us,


MARCUS AURELIUS

42

can sink into nothing) thus it is evident that our understanding must proceed from some source or other.
Death and generation are both mysteries of nature, and
somewhat resemble each other; for the first does but dissolve
those elements the latter had combined. Now there is nothing that a man need be ashamed of in all this; nothing that
is opposed to his nature as a rational being, and to the design
;

of his constitution.
Practices and dispositions are generally of a piece; such
usage from such sort of men is in a manner necessary. To
be surprised at it, is in effect to wonder that the fig-tree
Pray consider that both you and your enemy
yields juice.
are dropping off, and that ere long your very memories will

be extinguished.
Do not suppose you are hurt, and your complaint ceases.
Cease your complaint, and you are not hurt.
That which does not make a man worse, does not make
his life worse; and by consequence he has no harm either
within or without.
The nature of the general good was obliged to act in this

manner.

Take notice that all events turn out justly, and that if
you observe nicely, you will not only perceive a connection
between causes and effects, but a sovereign distribution of
justice, which presides in the administration, and gives everything its due.
Observe, then, as you have begun, and let
all your actions answer the character of a good man
I mean
a good man in the strictness and notion of philosophy.
If a man affronts you, do not accept his opinion or think
No,, look upon things as
just as he would have you do.

reality presents them.

Be

always

provided

with

To engage

principles

for

these

two

nothing but what reason dictates, what the sovereign and legislative part of you shall
suggest, for the interest of mankind. Secondly, To be disposed to quit your opinion, and alter your measures, when a
friend shall give you good grounds for so doing.
But then
the reasons of changing your mind ought to be drawn from
some consideration regarding justice and public good, or
purposes

First,

in

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

IV

43

some such generous motive, and not because it pleases your

fancy, or promotes your reputation.
Have you any sense in your head? Yes. Why do you
not make use of it then? For if this faculty does but do
its part, I cannot see what more you need wish for.
At present your nature is distinct; but ere long you will
vanish into the world. Or, rather, you will be returned into
that universal reason which gave you your being.
When frankincense is thrown upon the altar, one grain
usually falls before another; but it makes no difference.
Do but turn to the principles of wisdom, and those who
take you now for a monkey or a wild beast, will make a god
of you in a week's time.
Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw
away. Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something,
while you live and it is in your power.
What a great deal of time and ease that man gains who
lets his neighbour's words, thoughts, and behaviour alone,
confines his inspections to himself, and takes care that his
own actions are honest and righteous. " Truly," as Agathon
observes, " we should not wander thus, but run straight to
the goal without rambling and impertinence."

He
he

is

that

is

so very solicitous about being talked of

dead, and makes his

memory

when

his inclination, does not

who knew him

will quickly be gone.

That
next generation, and flag upon
the course; and handed from one to another by men who
eagerly desire it themselves, and are quenched themselves,
it will be quenched at last; but granting your memory and
your men immortal, what is their panegyric to you ? I do not
say, when you are dead, but if you were living, what would
commendation signify, unless for some reason of utility? To
conclude if you depend thus servilely upon the good word
of other people, you will be unworthy of your nature.
Whatever is good has that quality from itself; it is fin-

consider that
his

fame

will

all

grow

less in the

ished by

Why,

praised.

in the

own

commendation is no part of it.

neitl^r better nor worse for being
This holds concerning things which are called good

its

nature, and

then, a thing

common way

is

of speaking, as the products of nature

MARCUS AURELIUS

44

and

art;

what do you

this character in the

think, then, of that

strictest

propriety?

It

which deserves
wants nothing

more than law, truth, good

and sobriety. Do any of these virtues stand in need
of a good word, or are they the worse for a bad one? I
hope an emerald will shine nevertheless for a man's being
Neither is there any necessity
silent about the worth of it.
foreign to complete the idea any

nature,

of praising gold, ivory, purple, a lyre, a dagger, a

little

flower,

or a shrub.
If

human souls have a being after

made room for them from all

the air

death, which

eternity?

way has

Pray, how
the bodies

has the earth been capacious enough to receive all

buried in it? The solution of this latter question will satisfy

For as a corpse after some continuance by

former.
change and dissolution makes way for another, so when a
man dies, and the spirit is let loose into the air, it holds out
for some time, after which it is changed, diffused, and kindled in flame, or else absorbed into the generative principle

the

And

of the universe.

And

this

may

thus they

make room

serve for an answer

the soul's surviving the body.

for succession.

upon the supposition of

Besides,

we

are only to con-

number of bodies disposed of in the manner

above mentioned but what an infinite number are every day
sider the vast

devoured by mankind, and other living creatures, and as it

were buried in their bodies. And yet by the transmutation
of the food into the blood, or into fire and air, there is space
enough. And now which way can a man investigate the
truth? Why, in order to this, he must divide the thing in
question into the causal and material elements.

Do

not run riot; keep your intention honest, and your

convictions sure.

Whatever is agreeable
Nothing is early or
too.

to you,

late for

me

Universe, is so to me
that is seasonable for

is fruit for me which your seasons bring,

From
oh Nature.
you all things proceed, subsist in you,
and return to you. And if the poet said, " Dear City of
Cecrops," may we not also say, " Dear City of God " ?

you.

Everything

" If you would live at your ease," says Democritus, " manage but a few things." I think it had been better if he had


THE MEDITATIONS BOOK
said,

"Do

nothing but what

IV

45

necessary; and what becomes

is

the reason of a social being, and in the order too it prescribes

For by this rule a man has the double pleasure of makit."

For the
ing his actions good and few into the bargain.
we say and do, being unnecessary, if

greater part of what

were but once retrenched, we should have both more

and less disturbance. And therefore before a man sets
forward he should ask himself this question, " Am I not upon
the verge of something unnecessary?" Farther, we should
apply this hint to what we think, as well as to what we
do.
For impertinence of thought draws unnecessary action
this

leisure

after

it.

Make an experiment upon

proficiency in a
in

your

fate,

life

yourself,

and examine your

Try how you can

of virtue.

own

and whether your

acquiesce

honesty and good nature

will content you.

Have you

Pray view the other too.

your purpose be single. Is any
man guilty of a fault? It is to himself then. Has any advantage happened to you? It is the bounty of fate. It was
all of it preordained you by the universal cause, and woven
in your destiny from the beginning.
On the whole, life is
but short, therefore be just and prudent, and make the most
of it. And when you divert yourself, be always upon your

Never be

seen this

disturbed, but

side?

let

guard.

The world
if

the latter,

is

it is

either the effect of contrivance or chance;

a world for

all that,

regular and beautiful structure.

symmetry

own

Now

that

is

can any

to say,

man

it

is

discover

and yet take the universe for

say the universe, in which the very
discord and confusion of the elements settle into harmony
in his

a heap of disorder?

shape,

and order.^

black character, an effeminate character, an obstinate

brutish, savage, childish, silly, false, scurrilous,

character,

mercenary, tyrannical.

Not
is

done

to

know what

in the world,

*The Greek word

is in the world, and not to know what

comes much to the same thing, and a

for Universe

and Order

is

the same

kosntos.

MARCUS AURELIUS

46

one way no less a stranger than the other. He is

no better than a deserter that flies from pubHc law. He is
a blind man that shuts the eyes of his understanding and
he is a beggar that is not furnished at home, but wants the

man

is

assistance of another.

He

that frets himself because things

do not happen just as he would have them, and secedes and

separates himself from the law of universal nature, is but
a sort of an ulcer of the world, never considering that the
same cause which produced the displeasing accident made
him too. And lastly, he that is selfish, and cuts off his own
soul from the universal soul of all rational beings, is a kind
of voluntary outlaw.

This philosopher has never a tunic to his coat, the other

never a book to read, and a third is half naked, and yet
One learned man
they, are none of them discouraged.
Another,
says, "I have no bread, yet I abide by reason."
"I have no profit of my learning, yet I too abide by
reason."

Be satisfied with your

you were bred to and as
;

and learn to love what

remainder of your life, be
the gods do their pleasure with

business,
to the

entirely resigned, and let

your body and your soul. And when this is done, be neither
slave nor tyrant to anybody.
To begin somewhere, consider how the world went in
Vespasian's time consider this, I say, and you will find mankind just at the same pass they are now some marrying and
some concerned in education, some sick and some dying, some
fighting and some feasting, some drudging at the plough
and some upon the exchange; some too affable and some
overgrown with conceit; one full of jealousy and the other
Here you might find a group wishing for the
of knavery.
death of their friends, and there a seditious club complaining
Some were lovers and some misers, some
of the times.
grasped at the consulship and some at the sceptre. Well all
is over with that generation long since.
Come forward then
to the reign of Trajan.
Now here you will find the same
thing, but they are all gone too.
Go on with the contemplation, and carry it to other times and countries, and here you
will see abundance of people very busy with their projects,
;

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
who

are quickly resolved into their elements.

IV

47

More

particu-

your own memory, who have been

hurried on in these vain pursuits; how they have overlooked
the dignity of their nature, and neglected to hold fast to that,
and be satisfied with it. And here you must remember to
proportion your concern to the weight and importance of each
action. Thus, if you refrain from trifling, you may part with
amusements without regret.
Those words which were formerly current are now
become obsolete. Alas this is not all fame tarnishes in time
too, and men grow out of fashion as \Yell as language. Those
celebrated names of Camillus, Caeso, Volesus, and Leonnatus
Those of Scipio, Cato, and Augustus will
are antiquated.
soon have the same fortune, and those of Hadrian and AntoAll these things are transitory, and
ninus must follow.
quickly become as a tale that is told, and are swallowed up
I speak this of those who have been the wonder
in oblivion.
of their age and who shone with unusual lustre. But as for
the rest, they are no sooner dead than forgotten. And after
Mere vanity. What
all, what does fame everlasting mean?
then is it that is worth one's while to be concerned for ? Why
nothing but this to bear an honest mind, to act for the good
of society, to deceive nobody, to welcome everything that
happens as necessary and familiar, and flowing from a like
larly recollect those within

source.

Put yourself frankly into the hands of fate, and let her
you out what fortune she pleases.^
He that does a memorable action, and those that report

spin

it,

are

all

but short-lived things.

Accustom yourself

to consider that whatever is produced,

produced by alteration; that nature loves nothing so much
as changing existing things, and producing new ones like
them. For that which exists at present is, as it were, the
seed of what shall spring from it. But if you take seed in the
is

Clotho was one of the Fates.

They were

spinning fate; Lachesis, the one

Atropos, the sister
accomplished.

who

who

three sisters

assigns to

cut the thread

man

Clotho, the

his fate;

when a man's

destiny

and

was

MARCUS AURELIUS

48

common notion, and confine

have a dull fancy.

it

womb, you

to the field or the

You are just taking leave of the world, and yet you have
not done with unnecessary desires. Are you not yet above
disturbance and suspicion, and fully convinced that nothingwithout can hurt you ? You have not yet learned to be friends
with everybody, and that to be an honest rtian is the only
way

to be a wise one.

To

understand the true quality of people, you must look

into their minds, and

Your pain cannot

examine

their pursuits

and aversions.

originate in another man's mind, nor

any change or transformation of your corporeal covering.

then does it lie ? Why, in that part of you that forms
judgments about things evil. Do not imagine you are hurt,
and you are impregnable.
Suppose then your flesh was
in

Where

hacked, burnt, putrified, or mortified, yet let that part that

judges keep quiet that is, do not conclude that what is common to good or ill men can be good or evil in itself. For
that which may be everybody's lot, must in its own nature
be indifferent.
You ought frequently to consider that the world is an
animal, consisting of one soul and body, that an universal
sense runs through the whole mass of matter. You should
likewise reflect how nature acts by a joint effort, and how
everything contributes to the being of everything and lastly,
what connection and subordination there is between causes
;

and

effects.

Epictetus will

tell

you that you are a

living soul,

that

drags a corpse about with her.

Things that subsist upon change, and owe their being to
instability, can neither be considerably good nor bad.
Time is like a rapid river, and a rushing torrent of all
that comes and passes.
thing is no sooner well come, but
it is past
and then another is borne after it, and this too will
be carried away.
Whatever happens is as common and well known as a
rose in the spring, or an apple in autumn. Of this kind are
diseases and death, calumny and trickery, and every other

THE MEDITATIONS BOOK

IV

49

thing which raises and depresses the spirits of unthinking

people.

Antecedents and consequents are dexterously tied together

Things are not carelessly thrown on a heap,
and joined more by number than nature, but, as it were,
rationally connected with each other.
And as the things
that exist are harmoniously connected, so those that become
exhibit no mere succession, but an harmonious relationship.
Do not forget the saying of Heraclitus, " That the
earth dies into water, water into air, air into fire, and so
backward." Remember likewise the story of the man that
travelled on without knowing to what place the way would
bring him; and that many people quarrel with that reason
that governs the world, and with which they are daily conversant, and seem perfectly unacquainted with those things
which occur daily. Farther, we must not nod over business
for even in sleep we seem to act,
neither are we to be
wholly governed by tradition; for that is like children, who
believe anything their parents tell them.
Put the case, some god should acquaint you you were to
die to-morrow, or next day at farthest. Under this warning,
you would be a very poor wretch if you should strongly solicit
for the longest time.
For, alas! how inconsiderable is the
difference?
In like manner, if you would reason right, you
w^ould not be much concerned whether your life was to end
to-morrow or a thousand years hence.
Consider how many physicians are dead that used to knit
their brows over their patients; how many astrologers who
thought themselves great men by foretelling the death of
others; how many philosophers have gone the way of all
flesh, after all their learned disputes about dying and immorin the world.

how many warriors, who had knocked so many men's

how many tyrants, who managed the power of
life and death with as much insolence, as if themselves had
been immortal how many cities, if I may say so, have given

tality;

brains out

up the ghost: for instance, Helice in Greece, Pompeii and

Herculaneum in Italy; not to mention many besides. Do
but recollect your acquaintance, and here you will find one

MARCUS AURELIUS

50

man

closing another's eyes, then he himself is laid out, and

And all within a small compass of time.

one by another.

this

In short, mankind are poor transitory things! They are one

day in the rudiments of life and almost the next turned to
mummy or ashes. Your way is therefore to manage this
minute in harmony with nature, and part with it cheerfully;
and like a ripe olive when you drop, be sure to speak well

of the mother that bore you, and make your acknowledgments to the tree that produced you.
like a rock, against which though the waves
stands unmoved, and they fall to rest at last.
unfortunate has this accident made me, cries such an

Stand firm
batter, yet

How

it

one!
Not at all! He should rather say. What a happy
mortal am I for being unconcerned upon this occasion! for
being neither crushed by the present, nor afraid of what is
The thing rnight have happened to any other man
to come.
as well as myself but for all that, everybody would not have
been so easy under it. Why then is not the good fortune of
the bearing more considerable than the ill fortune of the
happening? Or, to speak properly, how can that be a mis;

man which does not frustrate his nature? And

can that cross upon a man's nature which is not opposed
to the intention and design of it? Now what that intention
is, you know.
To apply this reasoning does the present accident hinder your being just, magnanimous, temperate and
modest, judicious, truthful, reverent, and unservile? Now,
when a man is furnished with these good qualities, his nature
has what she would have. Farther, when everything grows
troublesome, recollect this maxim
This accident is not a
misfortune, but bearing it well turns it to an advantage.
To consider those old people that resigned life so
unwillingly, is a common yet not unserviceable aid in facing
For what are these long-lived mortals more than
death.
those that went off in their infancy? What has become of
Cadicianus, Fabius, Julianus, and Lepidus, and others like
them? They buried a great many, but came at last to it
themselves.
Upon the whole, the difference between long
fortune to a

how

and

short

life

is

especially
if
you concompany, and the body you must go

insignificant,

sider the accidents, the

THE MEDITATIONS BOOK V

through with.

Do

and

eternity

let a thought of this kind

but look upon the astonishing notion of time

Therefore do not

affect you.

how

51

what an immense deal has run out already, and

Do

infinite it is still in the future.

but consider

this,

and you will find three days and three ages of life come much
to the same thing.
Always go the shortest way to work. Now, the nearest
road to your business is the road of nature. Let it be your
constant method, then, to be sound in word and in deed, and
by this means you need not grow fatigued, you need not
quarrel, flourish and dissemble like other people.

BOOK V
When you find an unwillingness to
ing,

make

this short speech to yourself

rise early in the

:

am

morn-

getting up

now

man; and am I out of humour for

was made for, and for the sake of

to do the business of a

going about that I

which I was sent into the world? Was I then designed
for nothing but to doze and keep warm beneath the counterpane ? Well but this is a comfortable way of living. Granting that: were you born only for pleasure? were you never
to do anything? Is not action the end of your being? Pray
look upon the plants and birds, the ants, spiders, and bees,
and you will see them all exerting their nature, and busy in
!

Why

Pray, shall not a man act like a man?

not
rouse your faculties, and hasten to act according
do you
nature?
For all that, there is no living without rest.
to your
their station.

True but nature has fixed a limit to eating and drinking, and
you generally exceed bounds, and go beyond what
is sufficient.
Whereas in business you are apt to do less than
lies in your power.
In earnest, you have no true love for
yourself.
If you had, you would love your nature and
honour her wishes. Now, when a man loves his trade, how
he will sweat and drudge to perform to perfection. But you
honour your nature less than a turner does the art of turn;

here, too,

ing, a dancing-master the art of dancing.

And

as for wealth

and popularity, how eagerly are they pursued by the vain

and the covetous? All these people when they greatly desire

MARCUS AURELIUS

52

it, might and main, and will scarcely

allow themselves necessary refreshment. And now, can you
think the exercise of social duties less valuable than these
petty amusements, and worth less exertion?
What an easy matter it is to stem the current of your
imagination, to discharge a troublesome or improper thought,
and at once return to a state of calm.

anything, seek to attain

Do

word or action beneath you which is

with nature and never be misled by the apprehension of censure or reproach. Where honesty prompts you
Other
to say or do anything never hold it beneath you.
people have their own gliding principles and impulses mind
them not. Go on in the straight road, pursue your own and
the common interest.
For to speak strictly, these two are
approached by one and the same road.
I will march on in the path of nature till my legs sink
under me, and then I shall be at rest, and expire into that
air which has given me my daily breath fall upon that earth
which has maintained my parents, helped my nurse to her
milk, and supplied me with meat and drink for so many
years; and though its favours have been often abused, still
not think any

in accordance

suffers

me

to tread

upon

it.

Wit and smartness are not your talent.

There are a great many other good qualities

What

then?

which you
cannot pretend nature has failed you improve them as far as
you can, and let us have that which is perfectly in your power.
You may if you please behave yourself like a man of gravity
and good faith, endure hardship, and despise pleasure; want
but a few things, and complain of nothing you may be gentle
and magnanimous if you please, and have nothing of luxury
or trifling in your disposition. Do not you see how much
you may do if you have a mind to it, where the plea of incapacity is out of place? And yet you do not push forward
as you should do.
What then! Does any natural defect
force you to grumble, to lay faults upon your constitution,
in

to be stingy or a flatterer, to seek after popularity, boast,

and be disturbed

made
know

in

Can you say you are so weakly

The immortal gods
No, you might have stood clear of all

mind?

as to be driven to these practices?

the contrary.

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK V

53

your parts were somewhat

way had been to
have taken the more pains with yourself, and not to have
lain fallow and remained content with your own dulness.
Some men, when they do you a kindness, at once demand
the payment of gratitude from you; others are more modest
than this.
However, they remember the favour, and look
upon you in a manner as their debtor. A third sort shall
scarce know what they have done.
These are much like a
vine, which is satisfied by being fruitful in its kind, and bears
a bunch of grapes without expecting any thanks for it. A
fleet horse or greyhound does not make a noise when they
have done well, nor a bee neither when she has made a little
honey. And thus a man that has done a kindness never proclaims it, but does another as soon as he can, just like a vine
this

long since

and

after

all,

if

slow, and your understanding heavy, your

that bears again the next season.

those

who

Now we

are so obliging, as hardly to reflect

But you

should imitate

on

their benefi-

man ought

not to act without

reflection.
It is surely natural for one that is generous to be
conscious of his generosity; yes, truly, and to desire the
person obliged should be sensible of it too. What you say is
in a great measure true.
But if you mistake my meaning,
cence.

will say,

you

will become one of those untoward benefactors I first

mentioned; indeed, they too are misled by the plausibility of
their reasoning.
But if you will view the matter in its true
colours, never fear that you will neglect any social act.
A prayer of the Athenians, " Send down, oh send down
rain, dear Zeus, on the ploughed fields and plains of the
Athenians." Of a truth, we should not pray at all, or else
!

and noble fashion.

^sculapius, as we commonly say, has prescribed such an
one riding out, walking in his slippers, or a cold bath. Now,
with much the same meaning we may afiirm that the nature
of the universe has ordered this or that person a disease, loss
of limbs or estate, or some such other calamity. For as in
the first case, the word " prescribed " signifies a direction for
in this simple

the health of the patient, so in the latter it means an application fit for his constitution and fate. And thus these harsher
events may be counted fit for us, as stone properly joined

XIV

MARCUS AURELIUS

54

together in a wall or pyramid

is

said

by the workmen to

fit

Indeed, the whole of nature consists of harmony. For as

the world has its form and entireness from that universal
matter of which it consists, so the character of fate results
from the quality and concurrence of all other causes conin.

tained in

it.

The common

people understand this notion very

Their way of speaking

" This

happened to this
man, therefore it was sent him and appointed for him."
Let us then comply with our doom, as we do with the preThese doses are often unpalatable
scriptions of ^sculapius.
and rugged, and yet the desire of health makes them go
merrily down.
Now that which nature esteems profit and
convenience, should seem to you like your own health. And,
well.

is

when anything adverse happens, take it quietly to

you; it is for the health of the universe, and the prosperity
Depend upon it, this had never been sent
of Zeus himself.
you, if the universe had not found its advantage in it. Neither does nature act at random, or order anything which is
not suitable to those beings under her government. You have
two reasons, therefore, to be contented with your condition.
First, because it has befallen you, and was appointed you
from the beginning by the highest and most ancient causes.
Secondly, The lot even of individuals is in a manner destined
for the interest of him that governs the world.
It perfects
his nature in some measure, and causes and continues his
happiness; for it holds in causes, no less than in parts of a
whole that if you lop off any part of the continuity and contherefore,

you maim the whole. Now, if you are displeased

with your circumstances, you dismember nature, and pull the
nection,

in pieces, as much as lies in your power.

Be not uneasy, discouraged, or out of humour, because
practice falls short of precept in some particulars.
If you
happen to be beaten, come on again, and be glad if most of
your acts are worthy of human nature. Love that to which
you return, and do not go like a schoolboy to his master, with
an ill will. No, you must apply to philosophy with inclination, as those who have sore eyes make use of a good receipt.
And when you are thus disposed, you will easily acquiesce in
reason, and make your abode with her.
And here you are

world

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK V

55

remember that philosophy will put you upon nothing but

what your nature wishes and calls for. But you are crossing
the inclinations of your nature.
Is not this the most agreeAnd does not pleasure often deceive us under this
able?
pretence? Now think a little, and tell me what is there more
delightful than greatness of mind, and generosity, simplicity,
equanimity, and piety? And once more, what can be more
to

delightful

than prudence? than to be furnished with that

knowledge and understanding which keeps a man

from making a false step, and helps him to good fortune

faculty of

in all his business?

Things are so much perplexed and in the dark that several

upon them as altogether unintelligible, and that there was no certain test for the discovery
Even the Stoics agree that certainty is very hard
of truth.
to come at; that our assent is worth little, for where is
infallibility to be found?
However, our ignorance is not so
great but that we may discover how transitory and insignificant all things are, and that they may fall into the worst
Farther, consider the temper of those you converse
hands.
with, and you will find the best will hardly do; not to mention that a man has work enough to make himself tolerable
And since we have nothing but darkness and
to himself.
dirt to grasp at, since time and matter, motion and mortals
great philosophers looked

are in perpetual flux; for these reasons, I say, I cannot im-

agine what there

about.

for

it

here worth the minding or being eager

man ought to keep up his spirits,
will not be long before his discharge comes.
In the

On

is

the other hand, a

meantime, he must not fret at the delay, but satisfy himself

with these two considerations the one is, that nothing will
befall me but what is in accordance with the nature of the
universe; the other, that I need do nothing contrary to my
mind and divinity, since no one can force me to act thus, or
force me to act against my .own judgment.
What use do I put my soul to? It is a serviceable question this, and should frequently be put to oneself. How does
my ruling part stand affected ? And whose soul have I now ?
That of a child, or a young man, or a feeble woman, or of a
:

tyrant, of cattle or wild beasts.

MARCUS AURELIUS

56

What

good things those are, which are commonly

may learn from hence. For the purpose,
if you reflect upon those qualities which are intrinsically valuable, such as prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude,
you will not find it possible afterwards to give ear to those,
for this is not suitable to a good man. But if you have once
conceived as good what appears so to the many, you will
hear and gladly accept as suitable the saying of the comic
Thus we see the generality are struck with the diswriter.
tinction, otherwise they would not dislike the liberty in one
case, and allow it in the other, holding it a suitable and witty
jest when it is directed against wealth, and the means that
Now, what significancy and
further luxury and ambition.
excellence can there be in these things, to which may be
applied the poet's jest, that excess of luxury leaves no room
sort of

so reckoned on, you

for comfort?

My being consists of matter and form, that is, of soul

and body; annihilation will reach neither of them, for they
were never produced out of nothing. The consequence is,
me will serve to make something in the
world; and this again will change into another part through
an infinite succession of change. This constant method of
alteration gave me my being, and my father before me, and so
on to eternity backward: for I think I may speak thus, even
though the world be confined within certain determinate
that every part of

periods.

Reason and the reasoning faculty need no foreign

ance, but are sufficient for their

within themselves, and

make

own

purposes.

assist-

They move

directly for the point in view.

accordance with them are called right

acts, for they lead along the right road.
Those things do not belong to a man which do not belong
to him as a man. For they are not included in the idea they

Wherefore, acts

in

are not required of us

men; human nature does not promise

them; neither is it perfected by them. Form whence it follows that they can neither constitute the chief end of man,
nor strictly contribute towards it. Farther, if these things
were any real additions, how comes the contempt of them,
and the being easy without them, to be so great a commenda-

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK V

57

To balk an advantage would be folly if these things

were truly good.
But the case stands otherwise; for we
know that self-denial and indifference about these things, and
patience when they are taken away, is the character of a
good man.
Your manners will depend very much upon the quality
of what you really think on; for the soul is as it were
tinged with the colour and complexion of thought. Be sure
tion?

therefore to

he

work

may

in such

maxims

as these.

Wherever a man

by consequence, a life of virtue and

that of a courtier are not inconsistent. Again, that which a
thing is made for, is that towards which it is carried, and
in that which it is naturally carried to, lies the end of the
act.
Now where the end of a thing is, there the advantage
and improvement of it is certainly lodged. Now the happiness of mankind lies in society, since that we were made for
this purpose, I have proved already.
For is it not plain that
the lower order of beings are made for the higher, and the
higher for the service of each other? Now as those with
souls are superior to the soulless, so amongst all creatures
lives,

live well;

with souls the rational are the best.

To expect an impossibility is madness. Now it is impossible for ill men not to do ill.
There is nothing happens to any person but what was
in his power to go through with. Some people have had very
severe trials, and yet either by having less understanding, or
more pride than ordinary, have charged bravely through

come off without a scratch. Now it is

ignorance and vanity do more with us than

the misfortune, and

a disgrace to

let

prudence and principle.

Outward objects cannot take hold of the soul, nor force
their passage into her, nor set any of her wheels going.
No,
the impression comes from herself, and it is her own motions
which affect her. As for the contingencies of fortune, they
are either great or little, according to the opinion she has
of her

own

strength.

When we

consider

we

are

bound

kind, and bear with their faults,

common

tie

we

to be serviceable to

man-

a
But when

shall perceive there is

of nature and relation between us.

MARCUS AURELIUS

58

we

see people

ness,

here

we

no

less

grow troublesome and disturb us in our busiare to look upon men as indifferent sort of

than sun or wind, or a wild beast. It is true

but all this is of
intent stand firm,
for these can act according to the condition and change. For
the mind converts and changes every hindrance into help.

things,

may hinder me in the executing part,

no moment while my inclinations and good
they

And

thus

it is

Among

I may gain by
me on my road.

probable

the obstacle help

all

the opposition, and

let

things in the universe, direct your worship

And which

to the greatest.

manages and governs

all

is

that?

the rest.

being which
you worship the

It is that

And

as

you are to pay a proportionate regard

yourself, and this is akin to the Deity.

best thing in nature, so

to the best thing in

The

quality of

its

functions will discover

it.

It is

the reign-

ing power within you, which disposes of your actions and

your fortune.
That which does not hurt the city or body politic cannot
hurt the citizen. Therefore when you think you are ill-used,
let this reflection be your remedy:
If the community is not
the worse for it, neither am I.
But if the community is injured, your business is to show the person concerned his
fault,

but not to

grow

Reflect frequently

passionate about

upon the

it.

instability of things,

and how

very fast the scenes of nature are shifted.

Matter is in a
perpetual flux.
Change is always and everywhere at work;
it strikes through causes and effects, and leaves nothing fixed
and permanent. And then how very near us stand the two
vast gulfs of time, the past and the future, in which all things
disappear.

Now

is

not that

man

a blockhead that

lets

these

momentary things make him proud, or uneasy, or sorrowful,

as though they could trouble him for long?
Remember what an atom your person is in respect of the
what a minute of immeasurable time falls to your
and what a small concern you are in the empire of

universe,
share,
fate!

A man misbehaves himself towards me; what is that to

me? The action is his, and the disposition that led him to it
As for me, I am in
is his, and therefore let him look to it.

THE MEDITATIONS BOOK V

the condition the universal nature assigns me, and

what my own

Whether

59

am

doing

nature assigns me.

body are rugged or agreeyour ruling and governing principle be concerned with them; confine the impressions to their respective
quarters, and let your mind keep her distance, and not mingle
with them. It is true, that which results from the laws of
the union through the force of sympathy or constitution, must
be felt, for nature will have its course. But though the sensation cannot be stopped, it must not be overrated, nor
strained to the quality of good or evil.
We ought to live with the gods. This is done by him
who always exhibits a soul contented with the appointments
of Providence, and obeys the orders of that divinity which is
Now this
his deputy and ruler, and the offspring of God.
divine authority is neither more nor less than that soul and
reason which every man possesses.
Are you angry at a rank smell or an ill-scented breath?
What good will this anger do you? But you will say, the
man has reason, and can, if he takes pains, discover wherein
he offends. I wish you joy of your discovery. Well, if you
think mankind so full of reason, pray make use of your own.
Argue the case with the faulty person, and show him his
error.
If your advice prevails, he is what you would have
him; and then there is no need of being angry.
You may live now if you please, as you would choose to
do if you were near dying. But suppose people will not let
you, why then, give life the slip, but by no means make a
misfortune of it. If the room smokes I leave it, and there
is an end, for why should one be concerned at the matter?
However, as long as nothing of this kind drives me out, I
stay, behave as a free man, and do what I have a mind to;
but then I have a mind to nothing but what I am led to by
reason and public interest.
able,

do not

The

the motions of your

let

soul of the universe

this reason

it

has

made

is

of a social disposition.

For

the lower part of the creation for the

sake of the higher. And as for those beings of the higher

rank, it has bound them to each other. You see how admirably things are ranged and subordinated according to the

MARCUS AURELIUS

60
of

dignity

their

kind,

and cemented together

in

mutual

harmony.
Recollect how you have behaved yourself all along
towards the gods, your parents, brothers, wife, and children;
towards your instructors, governors, friends, acquaintance,
and servants. Whether men can say of you, " He never

wronged a man in word or deed." Recollect how much business you have been engaged in, and what you have had
strength to endure; that now your task is done, and the
history of your
fair sights

Remember likewise, how many

how much of pleasure and pain
how much glory disregarded, and how

life finished.

you have

seen,

you have despised,

often you have done good against evil.
Why should skill and knowledge be disturbed at the
But who are these knowing and
censures of ignorance?
skilful

people?

Why,

those

who

are acquainted with the

and end of all things, with that reason which

pervades the mass of matter, which renews the world at
certain periods, and which governs it through all the lengths
original cause

of time.

You will quickly be reduced to ashes and skeleton. And

may be you will have a name left you, and it may be not.
And what is a name? Nothing but sound and echo. And
then for those things which are so much valued in the world,
it

they are miserably empty and rotten, and insignificant.

It

puppies snarling for a bone; and the contests of little

children sometimes transported, and then again all in tears
is like

about a plaything. And as for modesty and good faith, truth

and justice, they have fled "up to Olympus from the widespread earth." And now, what is it that can keep you here?

For

if

the objects of sense are floating and changeable, and

the organs misty, and apt to be imposed on;

but a vapour drawn

oflF

if

the soul

the blood, and the applause of

is

little

if the case stands thus, why not have

you are either extinguished or removed? And
The answer is easy
till that time comes, what is to be done ?
to worship the gods, and speak honourably of them; to be
beneficial to rqankind to bear with them or avoid them and
lastly, to remember that whatever lies without the compass

mortals insignificant;

patience

till

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
of your
power.

own

flesh

and breath

is

VI

61

nothing of yours, nor in your

You may be always successful if you do but set out well,

and let your thoughts and practice proceed upon right method.
There are two properties and privileges common to the soul
of God and man and all rational beings. The one is, not to
be hindered by anything external; the other, to make virtuous intention and action their supreme satisfaction, and not
so

much

as to desire anything farther.

no fault of mine, nor a consequence of

community is never the worse for it,
why am I concerned? Now, how is the community injured?
Do not suffer a sudden impression to overbear your judgment. Let those that want your assistance have it as far as
the case requires. But if they are injured in matters indifferent, do not consider it any real damage, for that is a bad
But as the old man, when he went away, asked back
habit.
his foster-child's top, remembering that it was a top, so do
in this case also.
When you are haranguing in the rostra,
a little of this to yourself would not be amiss:
Hark you,
friend, have you forgotten what this glitter of honour really
If this accident is

it;

and

besides, if the

grant

is but tinsel, but for all that it is extremely

because other people are fools, must you be so
too? I can at once become happy anywhere, for he is happy
who has found for himself a happy lot. In a word, happiness
lies all in the functions of reason, in warrantable desires and

is?

valued.

it

And

virtuous practice.

BOOK
As

VI

the substance of the universe

is

pliable

so that sovereign reason which gives laws to

and obedient,
it

has neither

motive nor inclination to bring an evil upon anything. It has

no evil in its nature, nor does evil, but forms and governs
all things, and hurts nothing.
Do but your duty, and do not trouble yourself, whether
it is in the cold, or by a good fire, whether you are overwatched, or satisfied with sleep, whether you have a good
word or a bad one, whether you are dying, or doing anything
else, for this last must be done at one time or other.
It is

MARCUS AURELIUS

62

part of the business of

to

life to

leave

it,

and here too

manage the present well.

Look thoroughly into matters, and

let

it

suffices

not the peculiar

quality or intrinsic value of anything escape you.

The present appearance of things will quickly undergo

a change, and be either exhaled into common matter or
dispersed.

That

Being that governs the universe has

His own nature and acts, and of the matter

intelligent

perfect views of

on which

He

acts.

The best way of revenge is not to imitate the injury.

Be always doing something serviceable to mankind, and
let this

constant generosity be your only pleasure, not forget-

ting in the meantime a due regard to the Deity.

The governing
gives what air

it

part of the
pleases to

mind arouses and

its

own

alters itself;

and to

likeness,

all

the

accidents and circumstances without.

The

particular effects in the world are

all

wrought by

This universal cause has no foreign

assistant, no interloping principle, either without or within it.
The world is either a medley of atoms that now intermingle and now are scattered apart, or else it is a unity under
the laws of order and providence.
If the first, what should
I stay for, where nature is in such a chaos, and things are so
blindly jumbled together? Why do I care for anything else
than to return to the element of earth as soon as may be?
Why should I give myself any trouble? Let me do what I
will, my elements will be scattered.
But if there is a Providence, then I adore the great Governor of the world, and am
easy and of good cheer in the prospect of protection.
When you happen to be ruffled a little by any untoward
accident, retire immediately into your reason, and do not
move out of tune any further than needs must for the sooner
you return to harmony, the more you will get in your own
power.
Put the case, you had a step-mother and a mother at the
same time; though you would pay a regard to the first, your
Let
converse, I conceive, would be mostly with the latter.
the court and philosophy represent these two relations to

one

intelligent nature.

THE MEDITATIONS^BOOK

VI

63

you; apply frequently to this last, and seek your refreshment

For it is a life of virtue and philosophy which
with her.

makes

life

court

at

tolerable

to

you,

and you yourself

tolerable.

When we

us, or other dishes, we receive

but the carcass of a fish, this of a

have meat before

the impression that this

is

fowl, and the other of a pig.

And then for this bottle of
Falemian, what is it but a little moisture squeezed out of
the berry of a grape? And your purple is nothing but sheep's
hair twisted together, and stained in the gore of a little shellfish.
And if we were to proceed to some other satisfactions
of sense, we should find them but coarse in their causes and
constitution; and as these notions strike through the surface,

press into the heart of things, and

shew them

in their natural

we

should carry them on, and apply them to all

the pageantry of life. And where things appear most plausi-

colours, so

be sure to bring them to the

test, and look at their worthand strip them of all the words by which they were
exalted.
Without this care, figure and appearance are great
cheats; and when you think your fancy is best employed,
you will be the most fooled. Remember what Crates said
even of Xenocrates.

ble,

lessness,

The

inclination of the generality

may

be reduced to these
be attracted by
things in the state of bare existence or vegetation, as with
heads:

Some

people are

little

enough

to

wood, figs, grapes, olives, and such Hke. Others, who

somewhat more reasonable in their fancy, must have life
charm them and these, it may be, are in love with their

stones,

are
to

and herds. A third sort, better furnished than the

former, admire nothing beneath a rational soul, and this not
as a whole, but as it were they pride themselves in slaves,
possessed of some skill, parts, or industry. But he that values
a rational creature that is social and universal runs into none
of the follies above mentioned, but makes it his chief business
to look to his own soul, and keep it in rational and social
movements, and to assist all mankind in the public interest.
Some things are pressing into being, and others are
hastening out of it, and that which was entire just now, is
part of it spent already. The world is renewed by the change
flocks

MARCUS AURELIUS

64

and

flux,

no

less

than the

ages by the perwould set a value upon

infinite series of

Now, who
down the stream, on which it
impossible to stop?
Such a passion is much like falling
love with a sparrow flying over your head. You have, as
petual succession of time.

things hurried thus fast

is

in
it

were, but one glimpse of her, and she is out of sight. Life
is but a sort of exhalation of the blood, and a little breathing

Now,

to inhale and exhale your breath for the supwhich you do every moment, and expire your
last, when you lose the whole power of breathing which you
received at your birth yesterday or the day before, is much
the same action.
Neither the perspiration of plants, nor the breath of
animals, nor the impressions of sensation, nor the puppetTo
motions of passion are privileges of any great value.
which we may add the instinct of crowding into herds, toin of air.

port of

life,

gether with the functions of nutrition, this latter being not

unlike a separating of our food.
What then is it that you

Why,
count worth your esteem? Applause? Not at all.
then, you must not value the applause of tongues, for the
commendation of the multitude is nothing else. Well I find
fame and glory will not tempt you ; what, then, is there behind
worth the having? To govern your motions, and make use
of your being according to the intentions of nature. This is
the design of arts and improvement in other cases, every
and profession endeavoring to make the thing fit to
answer the end for which it was intended. This, for instance,
is the design of vine-dressers and those that manage horses
and dogs. And learning and education have all one object
in view. It is agreed then, the main point lies here. Compass
but this, and let all things else alone.
Must your inclinations always run riot, and will you never become free, selfcontained, and passionless?
This temper will let loose
abundance of uneasy passions upon you. It will make you
grow envious, full of jealousy and suspicion, and apt to overreach those who are possessed of something you have a mind
to.
And when strong desires are unsatisfied, you will find
yourself mightily 'disturbed.
And this will make you murmur and grow mutinous against the gods. But if you come
artificer

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

VI

65

once to pay a due regard and reverence to your own reason,

will be pleased with yourself, serviceable to society, and
compliant with the gods.
That is, you will be entirely
satisfied with their rule and administration.
The elements either press upwards, or fall downwards, or
else run round in a circle.
But virtue has none of these
motions; she is of a nobler kind. Her progress in regular
thoughts is somewhat unintelligible, but always prosperous.
What a strange humour there is amongst some people.
They do not care to afford a good word to their contemporaries, and yet are very desirous of being praised by posterity,
that is, by those they never saw, nor ever will have the least
acquaintance with. Now this is almost as absurd as it would
be to be disturbed because you were not commended by the
generations that lived before you.
Because you find a thing very difficult, do not at once
conclude that no man can master it.
But whatever you
observe proper and practicable by another, believe likewise
within your own power.
If an antagonist in the circus tears our flesh with his nails,
or tilts against us with his head, and wounds us, we do not
cry out foul play, nor are we offended at the rough usage,
nor suspect him afterwards as a dangerous person in con-

you

It is true, when we are at the exercise we guard

and parry, but all this is done without raising ill blood, or
looking upon the man as an enemy. Let us act in this way

versation.

in the other instances of life.

us disregard
as

it,

said before,

malice and

thinking
it

is

in

we

When we

receive a blow, let

are but at a trial of

our powder to

retire

skill,

for,

without feeling

ill-will.

any one can convince me of an error, I shall be very

glad to change my opinion, for truth is my business, and
nobody was ever yet hurt by it. No; he that continues in
ignorance and mistake, it is he that receives the mischief.
I do my duty, that is enough.
As for other things, I
shall never be disturbed about them.
For they are either
without life or without reason, or they have lost their way
and cannot find it.
As for brute animals, and things undignified with reason,
If

MARCUS AURELIUS

66

use them generously and nobly, as beings that have reason

should treat those that have none. But treat men, since they

have reason, as members of the same society. And in all

your affairs invoke the gods for their assistance. As for the
time you are to continue this, never trouble yourself whether
it is long or short.
For three hours of life thus well spent
are sufficient.

Alexander the Great and his groom, when dead, were

both upon the same level, and ran the same chance of being
scattered into atoms or absorbed in the soul of the universe.
What abundance of motions there are in the body, what
abundance of thoughts in the mind at the same time! He
that considers this will not wonder so much that infinitely
more productions, nay rather, all that are, should exist together in that great whole

we

call the

universe.

Suppose you were asked to spell Antoninus's name, would

you sound every letter with emphasis in the company's ears?
Or would you return their passion if they were angry? I
conceive you would rather go mildly to work, and give them
the letters and syllables as they stand, without noise. Apply
this to greater instances, and remember that all duties in
morality have a determinate number of parts to render them
complete. These must be observed, and performed in order;
but it must be done smoothly, without growing provoked upon
meeting with provocation.
You hold it cruel to balk people's fancies, and not give
them leave to pursue what they reckon their interest. Yet
with this you are chargeable in some measure yourself when
you are angry with those that do amiss; for they are carried
towards what they esteem their own interest and convenience.
But that you will say is their mistake. Then it is your part
to lead them out of it, and to show them their error without
resentment.

What

death? It is a resting from the vibrations of

and the swayings of desire, a stop upon the rambling of thought, and a release from the drudgery about your
is

sensation,

body.
It

in

would be

shame

before your body.

if

your mind should

falter

and give

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
Have

a care you have not too

much

VI

67

of a Caesar in you,

you are not died virith that dye. This is easily

Be candid,
learned, therefore guard against the infection.
virtuous, sincere, and modestly grave. Let justice and piety
have their share in your character; let your temper be remarkable for mildness and affection, and be always enterprising and vigorous in your business. And, in short, strive to
be just such a man as virtue and philosophy meant you to be.
Worship the gods and protect mankind. This life is short,
and all the advantage you can get by it is a pious disposition
and unselfish acts. Do everything as a disciple of Antoninus
imitate him in the vigour and constancy of his good conduct,
equality,
sweetness, and piety of his temper,
in the
the serenity of his aspect, his contempt of fame, and
the generous ambition he had to be perfectly master of

and

that

Further, it was his way to dismiss nothing till

he had looked through it, and viewed it on all sides; to bear
unreasonable remonstrances without making a return; never
to be in a hurry; to be backward in giving encouragement to
informers.
He was a great judge of men and manners, but
of no reprimanding humour; not at all apt to be frighted; not
too suspicious, nor like a sophist.
Satisfied with a little, as
might
one
easily perceive by his palace, his furniture, his
habit, his eating, and his attendance.
His disposition was
patient, and fatiguing his delight.
He was temperate in his
diet.
He was firm in his friendship, and steady and agreeable
in the manner of showing it.
He gave his courtiers all the
freedom imaginable to contradict him, and was pleased with
the proposal of a better expedient than his own. To conclude,
he was a religious prince, but without superstition. Pray
imitate these good qualities of his, that you may have the
satisfaction of them at your last hour as he had.
Rouse and recollect yourself, and you will perceive your
trouble lay only in a scene of imagination.
And when you
are well awake, look upon these realities as you did upon
his business.

those visions.

My

person consists of soul and a little body. To this

morally indifferent, the body being in no
condition to make a distinction of this kind.
And as to my
iatter all things are

MARCUS AURELIUS

68

mind, there

now

cepted;

tions she

is

nothing can affect her, her own actions exall within her power, and of all her aconly concerned with the present, for what is past

or to come,

is

these are

signifies as

much

as nothing, and

is

at present

indifferent.

As long as the hands and feet do the work they were

made for, they move naturally, and with ease. Thus while a

man

performs the functions of a man, and keeps true to his

no more weight than what nature lays
upon him. Now that which is not beside the intentions of
nature can never be a real misfortune.
What abundance of sensual satisfaction have thieves, parricides, and usurpers been possessed of?
Do not you observe among your artificers, though they
bear the contradiction and impertinence of the unskilful, yet
they will not comply so far as to be talked out of their knowledge, or work against the rules of their trade? And is it not
a scandalous business, that an architect or a physician should
have more regard for his profession than a man has for his ?
For his, I say, in which he has the honour of the gods for his
condition, he feels

partners.

The

Europe and Asia are but corners of

but a drop, and Mount Athos but
a grain in respect of the universe, and the present time but
a point to the extent of eternity. These things have all of
them petty, changeable, and transitory beings. Remember
likewise that all things proceed from the soul of the universe,
either by direct or indirect causality.
Thus the growling deformity of a lion, the poison of serpents, and whatever seems
offensive in nature, as thorns or dirt, are the outcome of something noble and beautiful.
Do not therefore suppose them
insignificant and unworthy the being you worship, but consider
the fountain whence all things spring.
vast continents of

the creation.

He
much

The ocean

is

that has taken a view of the present age, has seen as

had begun with the world, and gone to the

things are of one kind and of one form.
The mutual dependence all things have, and the relation
they stand in to each other, is worth your frequent observaFor all the parts of matter are in some measure linked
tion.
as if he

end of

it;

for

all

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

VI

69

together and interwoven, and for this reason have a natural

sympathy for each other. For one thing comes in order after
another, and this comes about through their active

movement

and harmony, and the unity of their substance.

Bring your will to your fate, and suit your mind to your
circumstances, and love those people heartily that it is your
fortune to be engaged with.
Those tools, vessels, and utensils are said to be right,
which serve for the uses they were made, though in this case
But in
the artificer that made them is commonly absent.
the works of nature, the forming power is always present
with the effect, and abides there, wherefore this deserves a
particular regard.
From hence you are to conclude that as
long as you behave yourself as this sovereign power directs
In this
you, you will live in accordance with intelligence.
way too all things in the universe are directed by intelligence.
If you suppose anything which lies out of your command
to be good or evil, your missing the one or falling into the
other will unavoidably make you a malcontent against the
gods, and cause you to hate those people whom you either
know or suspect to be instrumental in your misfortune. To
be plain, our being concerned for these objects often makes
us very unreasonable and unjust.
But if we confine the
notion of good and evil to things in our power, then all the
motives to complaint will drop off; then we shall neither
remonstrate against Heaven, nor quarrel with any mortal
living.

All people work in some measure towards the ends of

Providence, some with knowledge and design, though others
are not sensible of it.
And thus, as I remember, Heraclitus
observes, that those who are asleep may be said to help the
world forward. In short, the grand design is carried on by
different

plaining

hands and different means. For even he that commakes head against his fate, and strives to pull the

administration in pieces, even such a testy mortal as this con-

had need even

of such an one. Consider, then, how you are ranging yourself, and what workers you are joining.
For He that governs
the world will certainly make you good for something, and

tributes his share abundantly, for the universe

XIV

MARCUS AURELIUS

70

prove serviceable to his scheme, one way or other. Have a

care you do not make such a ridiculous figure in nature, as
that mean and ridiculous verse did in the play Chrysippus
mentions.

The sun never

covets the properties of a shower, nor does

JEsculapius interfere with the fruit-bearing god.

Are not the

from each other? And yet their influences

work towards the same end.
If the gods have decreed anything concerning me or my
For it is absurd
business, they have decreed my advantage.
stars different

to suppose that they are mistaken in their measures, or not

benevolent in their design.

intend

me any harm?

For

to

what purpose should they

What would

themselves, or the uni-

verse, the special object of their providence, gain

granting they have

made no

by

it?

But

particular provision for me, yet

government of the world is not disputed, the consequence will be much the same. And why, then, should I
not be contented with whatever happens as a consequence of
since their

To put the case further. Suppose the

gods take care of nothing (which, by the way, we must
reckon a scandalous opinion), then it will be high time to
leave off the common solemnities of sacrificing, prayers and
religious swearing, and all those observances which we keep
If the
as though the gods were present and dwelling with us.
gods, therefore, will take care of none of us, it is certainly

the universal whole?

lawful for me to take care of myself. Now, it is my right

Why,
to consider my own convenience, and what is that?
that is convenient for every one, which suits his nature and
his constitution.
Now reason and social principles are suited

my nature. Take me, then, under the particular distinction

of Antoninus, and Rome is my town and country; but consider me as a man in general, and I belong to the corporation
of the world. That, therefore, and only that which is serviceable to both these societies, is an advantage to me.
Whatever happens to particulars, is serviceable to the universe, that thought might satisfy.
But we can carry the
reasons for acquiescence farther, for upon observation you
will perceive that what is profitable to one man, is in some
measure for the interest of the rest. And here I take the
to

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
word

profit in the

common meaning

VI

71

of things neither good

nor bad.

You may remember

the

that at a play, or such

same thing coming over and over again

Remove

and extinguishes the pleasure.

into life; for here all things

Hke diversion,

tires the sense,

this

contemplation

come round, and bring

How

causes and appearances along with them.

the

same

long, then,

will this last?

Consider with yourself that people of

fessions,

and countries are dead,

if

you

all

conditions, pro-

cast

your eyes back

as far as Philistion, Phoebus, or Origanion,

Now

turn to-

men. And we must take our turn,

too, with the rest, and remove to the same place whither so
many famous orators and great philosophers, such as HeraSo
clitus, Pythagoras, and Socrates have shown us the way.
many heroes and generals and princes, and besides Eudoxus,
Hipparchus, and Archimedes, not to mention a great many

wards the other

classes of

other extraordinary geniuses, persons of industry, wit,

and

versatility

and confidence; they are

buffoons, who, like Menippus,

mocked

all

spirit,

gone; even those

at this perishable

and

Remember they are all in their graves.

harm of all this? nay, what are those the
have not so much as left their own names

transitory existence.

And where is the

worse for it, that
behind them ? In a word, there is only one thing here worth
the minding, and that is, to be true and just, and to show
benevolence, even to the untrue and unjust.
When you have a mind to divert your fancy, consider the
good qualities of your acquaintance; as the enterprising
vigour of this man, the modesty of another, the liberality of
a third, and so on. For there is nothing so entertaining as
a lively image of the virtues exhibited in the character of
those we converse with, occurring as numerously as possible.
Let this, therefore, be always at hand.
You are not angry because you weigh so light in the
scale, and do not ride forty stone.
Why, then, should you
be dissatisfied because your life is not drawn out to an unusual and extraordinary period? You ought to be no more
covetous of time than you are of bulk^ but be contented with

your own allowance.

MARCUS AURELIUS

72
It is

good

to try to bring people to a right understanding

of the case; but if they are unwilling, be governed by the law

of justice. If there comes a force upon you and stops your
progress, abandon it and be easy, and make a virtue of neces-

Remember

you undertook the business upon the

condition of its being feasible, and never pretended to grasp
at impossibilities.
What was it, then, you aimed at? Why,
Right! And this may be
to do your best in your effort.
effectually done, though the enterprise should happen to missity.

that

carry.

The ambitious person lodges his happiness in the activity

of another, the voluptuary in his own affections, but a man of
understanding places his good in his own action.
We are at liberty not to misinterpret any accident, and
by consequence we may be free from disturbance. Things
have no natural power over thoughts to influence our judgment.
Accustom yourself to attend to what is discoursed, and as
you can get into the soul of him that speaks.
That which is not for the interest of the whole swarm is

far as

not for the interest of a single bee.

If the patient rails at the doctor, or the

crew

at the

mas-

of the vessel, whom will they mind, or how can the

doctor secure their health, or the master of the vessel a good
voyage ?
How many people that come into the world with me are
gone out of it already?
ter

Honey
a

mad dog

tastes bitter to the jaundiced,

and people

are frightened at the sight of water.

bitten

And on

by
the

a beautiful thing to a child. This

should you be angry with any one? Can
you imagine that error has less force upon the mind than a
little bile or poison upon the body ?
As nobody can rob you of the privileges of your nature,
or force you to live counter to your reason, so nothing can
other hand, a
considered,

little ball is

why

happen to you but what

is

consistent with the interest of the

universe.

Consider with yourself what sort of people men must

and for what base objects and by what scandalous ac-

court,

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
And

tions.

many

it

then

how

time will cover

VII

all things,

73

and how

has covered already.

BOOK
What
When you

VII

is
wickedness? What you have often seen.
are in danger of being shocked, consider that the;

is nothing but what you have frequently seen already.

Everywhere, up and down, ages and histories, towns and
families are full of the same stories.
There is nothing new

sight

met with, but

to be

all

things are

common, and

quickly over.

Opinions, whether right or wrong, can never be pulled out

of your head, unless the impressions on which they rest are
first removed. It is in your power to kindle them afresh, or to

judgment upon the present emergency. And why,

For nothing that does not
enter my mind, and get within me, can hurt me. Hold to this,
and you are safe. Come, I will tell you a way how you may
live your time over again. Do but recollect, and review what
you have seen already, and the work is done.
Gazing after shows, the diversions of the stage, farms well
stocked with flocks and herds, contests for victory in the field
are all much the same. So, too, a bone thrown to puppies,

form a

right

then, should I be disturbed at it?

scrambling for a bait, ants laboriously carrying a grain

of wheat, mice frighted out of their wits and running away,
puppets danced upon a wire. And in the midst of them a wise
man must be good-humoured, and not grow haughty in the
contemplation. Remembering, notwithstanding, that the true
worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he purfishes

sues.

Do not let either discourse or action pass unobserved attend to the sense and signification of the one, and to the tendency and design of the other.
If it
Is my intellect sufficient for this business or not?
is, I will make use of my talent as given me by heaven for that
;

purpose.

If not, I will either let

it

alone,

better capacity, unless that be contrary to

will

do what

can.

I will

give

my

and resign

my

advice,

it

to a

duty, or else I

and put the exemoment and

cuting part into an abler hand, and thus the right

MARCUS AURELIUS

74

may be secured. For whatsoever I act,

by myself, or in conjunction with another, I am always
to aim at the advantage of the community.
How many famous men are dropped out of history and
forgotten? And how many, that promised to keep up other
people's names, have lost their own?
Never be ashamed of assistance. Like a soldier at the
storming of a town, your business is to maintain your post,
and execute your orders. Now suppose you happen to be lame
at an assault, and cannot mount the breach upon your own
feet, will you not suffer your comrade to help you?
Be not disturbed about the future, for if ever you come
to it, you will have the same reason for your guide, which preserves you at present.
All parts of the universe are interwoven and tied together
with a sacred bond. And no one thing is foreign or unrelated
to another. This general connection gives unity and ornament
the general interest
either

to the world.

There

is

For the world, take

but one sort of matter to

it

altogether,

make

it

is

of; one

but one.

God

that

and one law to guide it, the common

and one truth; if, indeed, beings of the
same kind, and endured with the same reason, have one and
the same perfection.
Everything material quickly disappears into the universal
pervades
all

reason of

it;

rational beings;

And

matter.

everything causal

universal reason.

And

the

is

quickly absorbed into the

memory of

everything

is

quickly

overwhelmed by time.
With rational beings action in accordance with nature and
reason is the same thing.
Either stand upright upon your own legs, or upon your
crutches.

Just as connection creates sympathy in the members of the

body, so relation of nature does the same thing among rational
beings. For though separate in space, they seem all made to
co-operate with each other. This thought will be more intelligible and affecting, if you frequently consider yourself
as a member of the rational system. But if you reckon your-

you do not yet love mankind with all your

generous action does not yet delight you from con-

self only a part,

heart.

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

VII

75

you do a good office merely for fashion and decency,

if it were really a kindness to yourself.
Let accidents happen to such as are liable to the impression, and those that feel misfortune may complain of it, if
they please. As for me, let what will come, I can receive no
damage by it, unless I think it a calamity; and it is in my
power to think it none, if I have a mind to it.
Let people's tongues and actions be what they will, my
business is to be good. And make the same speech to myself,
viction

but not as

Let peoand act as they please; I must be an emerald, and I

must keep my colour.
Does the mind ever cause herself disturbance? Does she
bring fears and passions upon herself? Let any other body
that a piece of gold, or an emerald, or purple should.

ple talk

try to frighten or trouble her if they can, for of her

And

viction she will not turn to such impressions.

own

con-

as for this

feel, and if it does, say so.

of passion and pain, which forms an
opinion on these things, need suffer nothing, unless she throws
herself into these fancies and fears.
For the mind is in her
own nature self-sufficient, and must create her wants before
she can feel them. This privilege makes her undisturbed and

small carcass,

But the

above

let it

take care not to

soul, the seat

restraint, unless she teazes

and puts

fetters

upon her-

self.

Happiness

is

the possession of a

good genius or goodness.

Why then

does fancy break in and disturb the scene ? Begone

However, since
by the gods, as you came I do not want you
you have custom to plead in your excuse, withdraw, and I will
;

forgive you.
Is anyone afraid of change?
I would gladly know what
can be done without it? and what is dearer and more suitable
to the universal nature ? Pray, must not your wood be transformed before your bath can be ready for you? Must not
your meat be changed to make it fit to nourish you ? Indeed,
what part of life or convenience can go forward without alteration?
Now, in all likelihood a change in your condition
may be as serviceable to the world in general, as those alterations above mentioned are to you.
All particular bodies are hurried as through a swift tor-

MARCUS AURELIUS

76

rent through the universal mass of which they are incorporate,

of serviceable limbs to the world. How many a

Chrysippus, Socrates, and Epictetus have sunk in the gulf of
time ? And the same reflection will hold good concerning any
other person or thing whatsoever.
I am only solicitous about one thing, and that is, lest I
like a sort

should do something that the constitution of man does not

permit, or in the way or time it does not permit.
It will not be long before you will have forgotten all the
world, and in a

little

time

the world will

all

forget

you

too.
It is the privilege

oblige us.

To

of

human

practise this,

nature to love those that dis-

you must consider

that the offend-

of kin to you, that ignorance is the cause of the

misbehaviour, and the fault is involuntary, that you will both
of you quickly be in your graves but especially consider that
you have received no harm by the injury, for your mind is
never the worse for it.
The universal nature works the universal matter like wax.
Now for the purpose, it is a horse soon after you will have
it melted down, and run into the figure of a tree, then a man,
then something else. And it is but a little while that it is
fixed in one species. Now a trunk feels no more pain by being
knocked in pieces than when it was first put together.
sour gruff look is very unnatural, and to put it on often
will make it settle, and destroy the beauty and pleasantness of
the aspect to that degree that it is never to be recovered from
whence you may conclude it is a foolish custom. It is high time
for those people to die that have outlived the sense of their
own misdemeanours.
That being which governs nature will quickly change tKe
present face of it. One thing will be made out of another by
frequent revolutions. And thus the world will be always new.
When anyone misbehaves himself towards you, immediately bethink yourself what notions he has concerning advantage and disadvantage. When you have found out this, 3^ou
will pity him, and neither be angry nor surprised at the matter. It may be upon enquiry you may find your opinions upon
these points much the same, and then you ought to pardon
ing party

is

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
But

him.

you

will

if

your notions of good and

more

VII

77

evil are different,

then

easily bear with his ignorance.

Do not let your head run upon that which Is none of your
own, but pick out some of the best of your circumstances, and
consider how eagerly you would wish for them, were they not
in your possession but then you must take care to keep your
satisfaction within compass, for fear it should carry you too
far, make you over-value the object, and be disturbed at the
;

loss of

it.

Rely upon yourself, for it is the nature of the principle

that rules within us, to be satisfied with honesty, and the inward quiet consequent to it.
Rub out the colours of imagination. Do not suffer your
passions to make a puppet of you. Confine your care to the
present. Look through that which happens either to yourself
or another. Distinguish the parts of your subject, and divide

them into the causal and the material element. Think upon
your last hour, and do not trouble yourself about other
people's faults, but leave them with those that must answer
for them.

When you hear a

pace with

it,

discourse, make your understanding keep

and reach as far as you can into events and

their causes.
set off your person, and recommend yourself?
be done by simplicity, by modesty of behaviour, and by
Love mankind
indifference to things neither good nor bad.
and resign to providence. For as the poet observes, "All
things are under law," not the elements only, but it suffices to
remember that there are at the most but very few things in

Would you

Let

it

the world that are not under law.

Concerning death
but

if

As
If

it

the universe
for pain,

stays long

is

if it is

it is

It is

a unity,

a dispersion
it is

intolerable

bearable.

if there

are atoms

either extinction or change.

It

will quickly despatch you.

Your mind

in the

meantime pre-

serves herself calm by the strength of the opining faculty, and

suffers nothing. And for your limbs that are hurt by the pain,

they can complain, let them do it.

As for fame, consider the intellect of the people that are
to commend, how insignificant they are, and how little in their

if

MARCUS AURELIUS

78

pursuits and aversions.

Consider also that as one heap of sand

it happens in life, a

thrown upon another covers the first, so

new glory soon eclipses an old one.

A saying of

Plato, "

He

that has raised his

mind

to a due

pitch of greatness, that has carried his view through the

whole

extent of matter and time, do you imagine such an one will

think

much of human

the dialogue).

What

him? Far from

it."

Not

life?

at all (says the other

man

Will the fear of death

then?

in

afflict

Antisthenes said, "It

is

a royal thing to be

ill

spoken of

for good deeds."

It is

a shame that a

man

nance, and compose or control

should be master of his counteit as the mind directs, while that

mind

is not controlled by itself,

" Ne'er fret at accidents, for things are sullen,

And don't regard your anger." ^

" To the immortal gods and us give joy."
" Fate mows down life like corn, this mortal
The
"If

other stands awhile."

falls;

and mine are by the gods neglected,

There's reason for their rigour."

the good is with me and the just."*
" No joining others in their wailing, no violent emotion."
More of Plato's sentences: "To such a one I should return this very reasonable answer. Hark ye, friend, your are
mightily out if you think a man that is good for anything is
either afraid of living or dying.
No; his concern is only
whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong acting
^
the part of a good man or a bad."
Plato again
" In my opinion, when a man holds a post
with his own choice, or has been put into it by his superior,
his business is to remain there in the hour of danger, and fear
nothing but disgrace and cowardice." ^

"For

From
From
*From
* From
"From
1

Plato's Republic.

Euripides' Bellerophon.

Euripides* Hypsipyle.

Aristophanes' Acharnians.
Plato's Apology.

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
Plato once more:

ways the part of

"With your

virtue

and

favour,

79

VII
sir, it

is

not

al-

your

bravery to preserve either

Hfe or your neighbour's. He that is a man in good earmust

not be so mean as to whine for Hfe, and grasp innest
temperately at old age let him leave this point to Providence.
The women can tell him that we must go when our time is
come. His duty is to consider how he may make the most of
^
his life, and spend what there is to the best advantage."
Consider the course of the stars as if you were driving
through the sky with them. Let the transmutation of the ele-

own

ments be frequently the subject of your meditation. Such

contemplations as these scour off the rust contracted by dwelling here below.
It is

a fine saying that of Plato's

" That when we con-

and condition of mankind, we should place our

imagination upon some lofty pyramid, and from thence take a
prospect of the world, and look it over as it were at one view.
Here we may see flocks, armies, husbandry, marriages and
separations, births and deaths, clamours of the law courts, dessider the state

of barbarous people, feasts, lamentations,

and markets. Take it altogether, it is a strange medley. And
yet you will find the diversity of the parts contributes to the
harmony of the whole." By looking back into history, and considering the fate and
revolutions of government, you will be able to draw a guess,
and almost prophesy upon the future; for they will certainly
be of the same nature, and cannot but be cast in the same
mould. So that forty years of human life may serve for a
sample of ten thousand. For what more will you see?
ert places, variety

"What's sprung from earth

And

heaven-born things

fly

dissolves to earth again,

to their native seats."

That is, there is a loosing of the entanglements of the atoms,

and a scattering abroad of the insensible elements.
^

From

Plato's Gorgias.

This does not appear to be in any of Plato's extant writings.

has been suggested that it should rather be referred to Pythagoras.
2

From

Euripides' Chrysippus.

It

MARCUS AURELIUS

80

"With

food, and drinks, and cunning magic arts,

Turning the channel's course to 'scape from death." ^

" The breeze which heaven has sent

,We must endure, and

without complaint."

toil

Can another man ride or fence better than you ? It may

be so. Let nobody outdo you in social and modest behaviour.
Let nobody be more resigned to fate and forgiving to his
neighbours.
As long as a man can make use of that reason which he
shares with the gods and man, he need not question the event.

There can be no grounds to suspect misfortune, provided you

and act in accordance with your con-

stick close to nature

dition.
It is

always and everywhere

in

your power to resign to

the gods, to be just to mankind, and to examine every impression with such care that nothing

may

enter that

is

not well

examined.

Never make any rambling enquiries after other people's

mark which nature has set
you. Nature, I say, either that of the universe or your own;
the first leads you to submission to Providence, the latter to
act as becomes you. Now that which is suitable to the frame
and constitution of things is what becomes them. To be more
particular, the rest of the world is designed for the service of
rational beings in consequence of this general appointment, by
which the lower order of things are made for the use of the
thoughts, but look directly at the

more

noble.

And

rational creatures

advantage of each other.

human

Now

are designed

social

temper

is

for the

that which

nature was principally intended for the next thing deis to be proof against corporeal impres;

signed in our being

sions

it

herself,

being the peculiar privilege of reason to move within

suffer sensation or passion to break in upon

and not

her for these are both o f animal and in f er ior quality.

But the
understanding part claims a right to govern, and will not bend
to matter and appetite and good reason for it, since she was
born to command and make use of them. The third main
;

From

Euripides' Supplices.

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

VII

81

requisite in a rational being is to secure the assent

from rash-

ness and mistake.

and

stick

Let your mind but compass these points,

to them, and then she is mistress of everything which

belongs to her.

We

ought to spend the remainder of our

to nature, as if

we were

life

already dead, and had

end of our term.

Let your fate be your only

according

come

to the

inclination, for there is noth-

ing more reasonable.

When any accident happens, call to mind those who have

formerly been under the same circumstances, how full of surprise, complaint, and trouble they were about the matter. And
where are they now ? They are gone, their murmuring could
not make them immortal. To what purpose should you imiCannot you leave these foreign emowho are moved by
them ? Your business is only to consider how you may give a
turn of advantage to the emergency. Now you can make good
use of them, and they will supply excellent material, if you
will but take care, and do nothing but what is warrantable.
Always remembering, that whether you use it ill or well, the
thing wherewith action is concerned, is in both cases indiftate their behaviour.

tions to those

who

cause them, and those

ferent.

Look inwards,
home that

ness at
for

for you have a lasting fountain of happiwill always bubble

up

if

you

will but dig

it.

Take care that your motions and gestures may be grave

and composed, for the same air of sense and decency which the
mind can put

into the face ought to be visible through the

whole body, but then

all this

must be done without the

least

affection.

The

art of living resembles wrestling

more than dancing,

man

does not know his movement and his measures

beforehand. No, he is obliged to stand strong against chance,
and secure himself as occasion shall offer.
Consider what sort of people are they that must commend you, and how are their understandings furnished. Truly,
for here a

if

you do but consider the source of

their opinions

and pas-

MARCUS AURELIUS

82
sions,

you

will pity their ignorant misbehaviour,

and not care

a rush for their approbation.

It is

a saying of Plato's, that no soul misses truth of her

own good- will. The same may

tice, sobriety,

be said with reference to jusgood-nature, and the like. Be particularly care-

remember

this, for it will help to sweeten your temper

men.
When you lie under any corporeal affliction, let this thought
be at hand to relieve you: that there is no disgrace in pain,
that the sovereign part of your mind is never the worse for

ful to

towards

all

For how can she suffer unless her material or her social
nature be impaired?
Besides, Epicurus's maxim will help
to support you under most pains for as he observes, they will
neither be intolerable nor everlasting. But then you must keep
it.

in

mind

the limits set to them, and not run into the

common

And

here you must remember that there

are many more sensations than we are aware of, which belong to the nature of pain, such as drowsiness, excessive heat,
want of appetite. Now, when you find yourself fret and grow
disturbed at these things, take notice that pain has got the better of you.
Do not return the temper of ill-natured people upon themselves, nor treat them as they do the rest of mankind.
Which way are we to conclude that Socrates was a better
man in virtue and temper than Telauges ? To make out this,
it is not enough to say that he disputed better with the sophists
and died more bravely; that he passed the night in the cold
with more endurance, and that when he was bidden to arrest
Leon of Salamis, he held it nobler to refuse;^ that he walked
with a swaggering air in the streets,^ though the truth of this
To prove the point, we must
last particular may be questioned.
opinion about them.

In the year 404 B.C., during the terrible tyranny of " the Thirty " at
Athens, Socrates was ordered to assist in unjustly arresting a rich
^

citizen of Salamis,

and bringing him

only a mockery of justice.

to this in the
2

This

is

to

Athens for a

trial that

was

Socrates refused to do this; and he alludes

Apology.

asserted by Aristophanes in his comedy, the Clouds,

he ridicules Socrates.

where

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

VII

83

examine what sort of soul Socrates carried about with him.

Could he be contented with the conscience of an honest and a
Did he abstain from fretting and fuming to no
pious man ?
purpose at the knavery and wickedness of the age? Was he
governed by nobody's ignorance? Did he never question the
equity of Providence, grow surprised at his hard fortune, and
sink under the weight of it, and not dip his soul too deep in
his senses?

Nature has not wrought your composition so close that

you cannot withdraw within your own limits, and do your own
business yourself; for a man may be first-rate in virtue and
You
true value, and yet be very obscure at the same time.
may likewise observe that happiness has very few wants.
Granting your talent will not reach very far into logic, this cannot hinder the freedom of your mind, nor deprive you of the
blessings of sobriety, beneficence, and resignation.
You may live with all the freedom and satisfaction imaginable, though the whole world should cry you down; nay,
though wild beasts should tear this flesh with which you are
enveloped. For pray, how can anything of this reach up to
your mind and ruffle her serenity? How can it prevent your
passing a right judgment upon your circumstances, and making the best use of them? And thus your reason may address the object of terror: "Look you! nature has made you
one thing, and common mistake another." Ajid use may address what befalls, " It is you I was seeking." For it is my
way to make everything serve as an opportunity for rational
or social virtue in a performance of some duty either to God
or man. For since all that happens is related to God or man,
there

is

nothing

new

in

it

or

difficult to

deal with, but

all is

familiar and easy.

He

that

is

every day as

come to the top of wisdom and practice, spends

were his last, and is never guilty of over-ex-

if it

citement, sluggishness, or insincerity.

Though

the gods are immortal,

tried through so

many

and have

their patience

ages, yet they are not angry, because

for so long a time they will have to put up with such base and
wretched mortals, but even provide liberally for them. And
are you, that are just going off the stage, sick of the company?

MARCUS AURELIUS

84

are you tired with evil

men

already,

and yet one of those un-

happy mortals yourself?

It is

great folly not to part with your

is possible,

faults,

own

faults

which

but to try instead to escape from other people's

which

is

impossible.

Whatever business tends neither

your reason, nor the

to the

improvement of
and social

benefit of society, the rational

faculty thinks beneath

it.

When you have

done a kindness, and your neighbour is the

better for it, why need you be so foolish as to look any farther, and gape for reputation and requital?

Nobody is ever tired of advantages. Now to act in conformity to the laws of nature is certainly an advantage. Do
not you therefore grow weary of doing good offices, whereby
you receive the advantage.
There was a time when the universal nature moved towards making the world. So that now all events must either
be consequences of the first creation, or else even the chief
things at which the universal ruling principle aims are without
design. Now this thought will go a great way towards making
a man easy.

BOOK
To

VIII

keep you modest and free from vain glory, remember

no longer in your power to spend your life wholly,
from youth upwards, in the pursuit of wisdom. Your friends
and yourself, too, are sufficiently acquainted how much you
fall short of philosophy; you have been liable to disturbance, so that the bare report of being a philosopher is
no longer an easy matter for you to compass; you are unqualified by your station.
However, since you know how
to come at the thing, never be concerned about missing the
credit.
Be satisfied, therefore, and for the rest of your life
let your own rational nature direct you.
Mind, then, what
she desires, and let nothing foreign disturb you.
You are
very sensible how much you have rambled after happiness,
and failed. Neither learning, nor wealth, nor fame, nor pleasure could ever help you to it. Which way is it to be had then ?
By acting up to the height of human nature. And how shall
that

it

is

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
a

man do

this?

Why, by getting
And what

impulses and actions.

as state

VIII

85

a right set of principles for

Such
Such as give us to
nothing properly good for a man but
principles are those?

and distinguish good and

evil.

understand that there is

what promotes the virtues of justice, temperance, fortitude,
and independence, nor anything bad for him, but that which

him off to the contrary vices.

At every action ask yourself this

carries

question.

What

will the

Am

consequence of this be to me?

I not likely to repent of it?
I shall be dead in a little time, and then all is over with me.
If the present undertaking is but suitable to an intelligent and
sociable being, and one that has the honour to live by the same
rule and reason with God himself; if the case stands thus, all
is well, and to what purpose should you look any farther ?
Alexander, Julius Caesar, and Pompey, what were they in
comparison of Diogenes, Heraclitus> and Socrates? These
philosophers looked through things and their causes, and their
ruling principles were in accordance.

But as for those great

what a load of cares were they pestered with, and to
how many things were they slaves
People will play the same pranks over and over again,
though you should burst.
princes,

In the first place, keep yourself easy, for all things are
governed by the universal nature. Besides, you will quickly
go the way of all flesh, as Augustus and Hadrian have done
before you. Farther, examine the matter to the bottom, and
remember that your business is to be a good man. Therefore,
whatever the dignity of human nature requires of you, set
about it at once, without " ifs " or " ands "
and speak always according to your conscience, but let it be done in the
terms of good nature and modesty and sincerity.
It is the work of Providence to change the face of things,
and remove them from one place to another. All conditions
are subject to revolution, so that you need not be afraid of
anything new, for all things are usual, and are equally dis;

tributed.

Every being is skt ease when its powers move regularly and
without interruption. Now a rational being is in this prosperous condition when its judgment is gained by nothing but

XIV

MARCUS AURELIUS

86
truth

and evidence, when

its

all meant for the adand aversions are con-

designs are

vantage of society, when

its

fined to objects within

power, when

its

desires

it

rests satisfied

the distributions of the universal nature of which

just as

much

it is

with

a part,

as a leaf belongs to the nature of the tree that

Only with

this difference, that a leaf is part of a

nature without sense or reason, and liable to be checked in its
operations, whereas a man is a limb as it were of an intelli-

bears

it.

wisdom, and
and fortune, to everything in one measure and proportion. And this you will easily
perceive if you do not compare one thing with another in every
detail, but compare the whole of one thing with the whole

and

gent, righteous,

irresistible being, that is all

assigns matter and form, time, force,

of another.

what then? You have

leisure to check your insolence.
in your power to be
It
superior to pleasure and pain, to be deaf to the charms of ambition.
It is in your power not only to forbear being angry
with people for their folly and ingratitude, but over and
above, to cherish their interest, and take care of them.
Never again let any man hear you censure a court life, nor
seem dissatisfied with your own.

You have no

leisure to read books,

is

Repentance is a reproof of a man's conscience for the negof some advantages. Now, whatever is morally good is
profitable, and ought to be the concern of a man of probity.
But no good man would ever be inwardly troubled for the
omission of any pleasure, whence it follows that pleasure is
neither profitable nor good.
What is this thing considered in itself? Of what sort of
substance, of what material and causal parts does it consist?
What share of action has it in the world? and how long is it
lect

likely to stay there?

When

morning, remember
is to act up to
nature and live like a man. Whereas sleep you have in common with the beasts. Now those actions which fall in with a
man's nature are more suitable and serviceable, yes, and more
pleasant than others.
Upon every new impression let it be your constant cus-

you

find yourself sleepy in a

that business and doing service to the world

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
torn to

examine the object

VIII

87

in the light of physics, ethics,

and

dialectics.

When you

are about to converse with any person,

make

What

man

this short speech to yourself:

notions has this

about good and evil? Then if he has such opinions concerning pleasure and pain, and the causes of them, reputation or
ignominy, life or death; if the case stands thus with him, I
shall not wonder at his practice, and I shall remember that it
is next to impossible he should do otherwise.
Would it not be an odd instance of surprise to stare at a
fig-tree for bearing figs?
Why then should it seem strange
to us for the world to act like itself, and produce things pursuant to quality and kind ? This is just as foolish as it would
be for a physician to wonder at a fever, or a master of a vessel at a cross blast of wind.
To retract or mend a fault at the admonition of a friend

no way hurts your liberty, for it is still your own activity

which by means of your own impulse and judgment, and by
your own mind, makes you see your mistake.
Why do you do this, if it is in your power to let it alone?
But if you cannot help it, whom do you blame? The atoms
or the gods? Either is folly, and therefore we must murmur
against nothing. If you can mend the cause, set about it. If
not, mend the thing itself. If you cannot do even that, what
are you the better for grumbling? Now a man should never
do anything to no purpose.
Whatever drops out of life is somewhere, for the world
loses nothing. If it stays here, it also changes here, and is dissolved into its proper parts, which are elements of the universe and of yourself. A;nd these two change and do not comin

plain.

Everything is made for some end. The sun even will say,
have my business assigned, and so too the celestial deities.
But pray, what were you made for? For your pleasure?
Common sense will not bear such an answer.
Nature pre-ordains the end of everything, no less than its
beginning and continuance, as does he that strikes a ball, and
what is the ball the better all this while for mounting, or the
worse for flying lower, and coming to the ground? What
I

MARCUS AURELIUS

88

does a bubble get in the swelling or lose in the breaking ? The

same may be said of a candle.

Turn your body the wrong side outwards, and see it as it
is, and consider what age and disease will make of you, and
consider that both the orator and the hero, the praiser and the
praised, will quickly be out of sight, and that we live but in
a corner of this httle dimension, that

men

differ in their no-

honour and esteem, and that even the same person is

not of the same opinion long together, and, moreover, that

tions of

the earth

Mind

is

but a point.

that which lies before you, whether

word, or action.

You

it be thought,
are well enough served for choosing

rather to become good to-morrow than be good to-day.

Am

terest of

about anything? I will do it with regard to the inmankind. Does anything happen to me? I receive

it, referring it to the gods, and the fountain of all things

whence springs all that happens.
Think a little, and tell me what you meet with in the
business of bathing? There is oil and sweat, and dirtiness
and water, but an offensive mixture, take it altogether. Why,
life and everything in it is made up of such indifferent stuff.
Lucilla buried Verus, and followed him soon after.
Secunda did the same office for Maximus, and survived but a
little while.
And thus it fared with Epitynchanus and Diotimus, with Antoninus and Faustina, with Celer and the Emperor Hadrianus; they assisted at one funeral, and quickly

made another

themselves.

Where

are those

men

of wit, force,

and knowledge, and the others puffed up with pride? They

made a great noise and figure formerly, but what is become of
them now ? Where are those sharp-witted philosophers, Charax, Eudaemon, Demetrius the Platonist, and others of their
learning? Alas! they took but a turn in the world, and are
gone long since. Some of them have sunk at once, and left no
memory behind them. The history of others is overcast, and
dwindled into fables, and a third sort have dropped even out
of fables. Your business is therefore to remember, that after
death this compound of yours will fall to pieces or else your
soul will either be extinguished or removed into another sta;

tion.

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

VIII

Satisfaction consists in doing the things

And how

for.

is this

to be compassed?

89

we were made

By

the practice of

general kindness, by neglecting the movements of our senses,

by distinguishing appearance from truth, and by contemplating the nature of the universe and its works.

Every man has three relations to acquit himself in: his

body that encompasses him makes one, the Divine cause that
gives all men all things another, and his neighbours a third.
If pain is an affliction, it must affect either the body or
the mind; if the body is hurt, let it say so; as for the soul, it
is in her power to preserve her serenity and calm by supposing
the accident no evil for judgment and impulse, aversion and
desire, are lodged within, and there no mischief can come at
;

them.

Rub

out the impressions of fancy on the mind by continusaying to yourself. It is in my power to make my soul free
from desire or disturbance. I am likewise able to distinguish
the quality of things, and make use of them accordingly. These
are all privileges of nature, and ought to be remembered as
ally

such.

When you

speak in the senate or elsewhere, speak suitlet your discourse be always

ably and without affectation, and

clear.

Augustus' court is buried long since; his empress and

daughter, his grand-children and ancestors, his sister and
Agrippa, his relations and domestics, physicians and sacrifices,

his

favourites,

Maecenas, they are

families, that of the

all

not

as

gone.

Arius the philosopher,

Go on from

Pompeys, for

the whole line extinct.

is

such

uncommon upon

" This

instance,

man was

a monument.

and you

of necessity be the

will find

the last of his house,"

How

were the
some one must

solicitous

ancestors of such people about an heir; and yet

whole race.
Guide your

and

single persons to

Here, too, consider the death of a

last.

towards a single course of action and if

due length, as far as may be, rest contented.
Now, no mortal can hinder you from putting your
affairs in this condition.
But may not some obstacle from
without interpose ? No not so far as to prevent your acting
life

every action goes

its

MARCUS AURELIUS

90

a man of probity, moderation, and prudence. But perhaps my activity may be checked in some other way. It is no
matter for that. As long as you are easy under the obstruction, and pass on smoothly to whatever offers, you have at
once another opportunity for action, in accordance with this
aforesaid government.
As to the case of good fortune, take it without pride, and
resign it without reluctance.
If you have observed a hand or a foot cut off, and removed from the body, just such a thing is that man, as far as
lies in his power, who is discontented with fate, and breaks off
from the interest of mankind, or who by a selfish act has cut
himself off from the union of nature, for by nature he is a part
of the whole. But here lies the good luck of the case. It is in
your power to set the limb on again. This favour is allowed
by God to no other part of the creation that what is separated
and cut off should be joined on again. Consider, then, the
particular bounty of God to man in this privilege.
He has
set him above the necessity of breaking off from nature and
Providence at all; but supposing he has broken away, it is
in his power to rejoin the body, and grow together again, and
recover the advantage of being the same member he was at
like

first.

Whence come all the powers and prerogatives of rational

beings? From the soul of the universe. Amongst other faculties, they have this which I am going to mention.
For as
the universal nature overrules all mutinous accidents, brings
them under the laws of
it is the power of man

fate,

to

and makes them part of

make something out

itself,

so

of every hin-

it to his own advantage.

not take your whole life into your head at a time, nor
burden yourself with the weight of the future, nor form an
image of all probable misfortunes. This method will but con-

drance, and turn

Do

found you. On the contrary, your way is upon every emergency to put this question to yourself, " What intolerable circumstance is there in all this ? " For you will be ashamed to
assign particulars, and confess yourself conquered.

you are to remember, that neither what

come need afflict you, for you have only

is

past nor

Besides,

what

is

to

to deal with the pres-

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
Now,

ent.

this is strangely lessened, if

VIII

you take

it

91
singly and

Chide your fancy, therefore, if it offers to shrink

for a moment and grow faint under so slender a trial.
Do Panthea and Pergamus still wait at the tomb of Verus,
or Chabrias and Diotimus at that of Hadrian? That would
be absurd indeed! And what if they were there, would those
princes be sensible of the service? Granting they were, what
satisfaction would it be to them?
And suppose they were
Are they not
pleased, would these waiters be immortal?
doomed to age and death with the rest of mankind? And

by

itself.

when they

are dead,

what would the royal ghosts do for want

Alas! all this ceremony must end at

of their attendance?

and dust.
you are so quick

last in stench

If

at discerning, says one, discern

and

judge wisely.
I find no mortal virtue which contradicts and combats justice; this cannot be affirmed of pleasure, for here temperance comes in with a restraint.
It is opinion which gives being to misfortune, do not fancy
yourself hurt, and nothing can touch you. But what is this
" you ? " It is your reason. But I am not all reason. Very
well, but do not let reason grow uneasy. And if any other part
of you is in trouble, let it keep its concerns to itself.
To be checked in the functions of sense, and motion, and
desire is an evil to the animal life; that which hinders the
growth or flourishing of a vegetable may be said to be an evil
there, so likewise to be cramped in the faculties of the mind is
an evil to an intelligent nature. Apply all this to yourself.
Does pleasure or pain attack you? Turn them over to your
senses, and let them answer for it. Does anything cross your
undertaking? Why, if you are positive and peremptory about
it, the disappointment is really an evil to your rational nature.
But if you consider the usual course of things, then no manner of hindrance or harm has happened to you; indeed, no
mortal can put a restraint upon the soul; and neither fire nor
sword, slander, tongue, nor tyrant can touch her; just as a
sphere when it has once come into being remains a sphere.
Why should I vex myself that never willingly vexed any-

body?

MARCUS AURELIUS

92

Every man has his particular inclination, but my pleasure

a sound understanding, a temper that never falls out
either with men or accidents, that sees and takes all things
with good humour, and puts them to the uses they are fit for.
Make the best of your time while you have it. Those who
are so solicitous about fame never consider that future generations will be much the same as the present whom they are
vexed with, and they, too, are mortal what then can the noise
or opinions of such little mortals signify to you?
Toss me into what climate or state you please, for all that,
I will keep my divine content, if it can but exist, and act
lies in

in accordance with its nature.

What

is

this

misadventure big

enough to ruffle my mind and make it deteriorate ? To make

it mean, craving, and servile, and frightened; what is there
that can justify such disorders?

No

man but what is consequent

same thing may be affirmed of a beast,
a vine, or a stone. Now if things fare no otherwise than according to kind and constitution, why should you complain?
You may be assured the universal nature has never laid upon
you an intolerable evil.
accident can happen to any

to his nature.

And

the

If anything external vexes you, take notice that

the thing which disturbs you, but your notion about

it
it,

is

not

which

notion you may dismiss at once if you please.

But if the
condition of your mind displease you, who should hinder you
from rectifying your opinion? Farther, if you are disturbed
because you are not active in the discharge of your duty, your
is rather to do something than to grieve at your own

way

omission. But you are under some insuperable difficulty then

never vex yourself about the matter, for you have nothing to
answer for. It may be you will say It is not worth my while
to live unless this business can be effected.
Why then, even
die; but take your leave contentedly, go off smoothly as if
you were in full activity, and be not angry with those that disappointed you.
;

The mind is invincible when she turns to herself, and relies

upon her own courage in this case there is no forcing her
will, though she has nothing but obstinacy for her defence.
What then must her strength be when she is fortified with
;

THE MEDITATIONS BOOK

VIII

93

upon thought and dehberation? A soul

unembarrassed with passion is a very citadel, the most im-

reason, and engages

pregnable security for

and defy our enemies.

man

He

in future; hither

we may

retire

that has not seen this advantage

must be ignorant, and he that neglects to use it unhappy.

Do not make more of things than your senses report. For
instance, you are told that such an one has spoken ill of you.
Right; but that you are really the worse for it is no part of
the news. Again, I see my child lie sick. True but that he
;

is in

danger

is

representation,

are safe.

Or

more than

Thus always
and add nothing yourself from
I see.

rather, reason

through the world, and

is

stop at the
within,

first

and you

upon it like a man that has looked

no stranger to anything that can

happen.

Does your cucumber taste bitter ? Let it alone. Are there

in your way ? Avoid them then. Thus far you are
well.
But, then, do not ask what does the world with such
things as this, for a natural philosopher would laugh at you.
This expostulation is just as wise as it would be to find fault

brambles

with a carpenter for having saw-dust, or a tailor shreds in

Yet they have places where to bestow these. But
universal nature has no place for refuse out of herself; but
the wondrous part of her art is that though she is circumscribed, yet everything within her that seems to grow old and
moulder and be good for nothing, she melts down into herself
and recoins in another figure, and thus she neither wants any
foreign substance or by-place to throw the dross in, but is
always abundantly furnished with room, and matter, and art
within herself.
Be not heavy in business nor disturbed in conversation, nor
rambling in your thoughts. Keep your mind from running
adrift, from sudden surprise and transports, and do not overset yourself with too much employment. Do men curse you?
Do they threaten to kill and quarter you ? How can this prevent you from keeping your mind pure, wise, temperate, and
just? It is much as if a man that stands by a pure and lovely
spring should fall a-rg^ling at it; the water never ceases bubbling up for all that; and if you should throw in dirt or clay,
his shop.

it

would quickly disappear and

disperse,

and the fountain

will

MARCUS AURELIUS

94

not be polluted. Which way now are you to go to work, to

keep your springs always running, that they may never stagnate into a pool ? I will tell you you must always preserve in
yourself the virtues of freedom, of sincerity, sobriety, and
:

good nature.

He

unacquainted with the nature of the world, must

be at a loss to know where he is. And he that cannot tell
the ends he was made for, is ignorant both of himself and the
world too. And he that is uninstructed in either of these two
points, will never be able to know the design of his being.
What do you think then of his discretion, that is anxious about
what is said of him, and values either the praise or the censure
of those folks that know neither where they are, nor who?
What Are you so ambitious of a man's good word, that
curses himself thrice every hour? Are you so fond of being
in their favour, that cannot keep in their own? And how can
they be said to please themselves, who repent of almost everything they do?
Let your soul work in harmony with the universal intelligence, as your breath does with the air. This correspondence
is very practicable, for the intelligent power lies as open and
pervious to your mind, as the air you breathe does to your
lungs, if you can but draw it in.
Wickedness generally does no harm to the universe, so
too in particular subjects, it does no harm to any one. It is
only a plague to him in whose power it lies to be rid of it whenever he pleases.
that

is

My

will

as

is

much my own

as

my

constitution;

and no

of another man, than my breath

and body is in another man's. For though we are born for the
service of each other, yet our liberty is independent. Otherwise my neighbour's fault might be my misfortune.
But
God has prevented this consequence, lest it should be in an-

more concerned

other's

power

The sun

in the will

to

make me unhappy.

and bestows itself everywhere, but

seeming expense never exhausts it. The reason is, because it is stretched like a thread, and thus its beams have
As for the properties and phitheir name from extension.
losophy of a ray, you may observe them, if you like to let it
this

is

diffused,

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
into a dark

move

room through a narrow

IX

passage.

Here you

95
will

a straight line, till it is broken, and, as it were,

divided, by having its progress stopped by a solid body; and
here the light makes a stand, without dropping or sliding off.
Thus you should let your sense shine out and diffuse, extended ^ but not exhausted and when you meet with opposition,
never strike violently against it, nor yet drop your talent in
despair.
But let your beams be fixed, and enlighten where
they find a capacity.
And as for that body that will not transmit the light, it will but darken itself by its resistance.
He that dreads death is either afraid that his senses will be
extinguished or altered.
Now, if you have no faculties, you
will have no feeling.
But if you have new perceptions, you
will be another creature, and will not cease to live.
Men are born to be serviceable to one another, therefore
either reform the world or bear with it.
Understanding does not always drive onward like an
arrow. The mind sometim^es by making a halt, and going
round for advice, moves straight on none the less, and hits
the mark.
Look nicely into the thoughts of every one, and give them
the same freedom as your own.
see

it

in

BOOK IX
Injustice

For

is

no

less

than high treason against heaven.

since the nature of the universe has

made

rational crea-

and support, but never to do anybody

any harm, since the case stands thus he that crosses upon this
design is profane, and outrages the most ancient Deity; so,
For the nature
too, does the liar outrage the same Deity.
tures for mutual service

of the universe is the cause of all that exists. Thus all things
are one family united, and, as it were, of kin to each other.
This nature is also styled truth, as being the basis of first
principles and certainty.
He, therefore, that tells a lie knowingly, is an irreligious wretch, for by deceiving his neighbour
^

He

derives the Greek

word

esthaij " to be extended."

from the verb ektein"

bad etymology.

for rays, aktines,

This, of course,

is

MARCUS AURELIUS

96

he is unjust to him. And he that is guilty of an untruth out

of ignorance is Hable to the same charge, because he dissents

from the nature of the whole, brings disorder into the world,
and opposes the nature of the universe. Yes, and he opposes
himself too, who is borne to what is at variance with truth.
By neglecting the impulses he was born to, he has lost the
Furtest of truth, and the distinction of right and wrong.
things
ther, he that reckons prosperity and pleasure among
really good, pain and hardship amongst things really evil, can
be no pious person; for such a man will be sure to complain
of the administrations of Providence, and charge it with mismatching fortune and merit. He will often see evil people
furnished with materials for pleasure, and regaled with the
relish of it, and good men harassed and depressed, and meeting with nothing but misfortune.
Now, he that is afraid of
pain will be afraid of something that will always be in the
world; but this is a failure in reverence and respect. On the
other hand, he that is violent in the pursuit of pleasure, will
not hesitate to turn villain for the purchase. And is not this
plainly an ungodly act?
To set the matter right, where the
allowance of God is equally clear, as it is with regard to pros-

and adversity (for had He not approved both these

He would never have made them both), I say,
where the good liking of heaven is equally clear, ours ought
perity

conditions,

we ought to follow the guidance of

nature and the sense of the Deity. That man, therefore,
that does not comply with Providence in the same indifference
with respect to pleasure and pain, life and death, honour and
infamy, he that does not this without struggling of passions,
to be so too, because

without unmanageable preference or aversion,

is

no friend to

the Divine government.

By

saying that universal nature or

God

stands equally

meaning is that
they are both comprehended in the general scheme, and equally
consequent to the first establishment. They were decreed by
Providence from the beginning, and struck out with the lines
of the creation. Then it was that the plan of Providence was
drawn, and the fate of futurity determined. Then nature
5vas made prolific, and enabled to bring forth in due time.
affected to these different dispensations, the

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
Then
tune,

IX

97

the whole stock of beings, the revolutions of forand the successions of time, were all stated and were

set going.

He is better bred and more a gentleman, that takes leave

of the world without a blot on his scutcheon, and has nothing
of falsehood and dissimulation, of luxury or pride, to tarnish
his character.
But when a man is once dipt in these vices, the
next best thing is for him to quit life. Have you determined
to abide with vice, and has not even experience yet taught you
to fly from the plague?
For the destruction of the understanding is a far worse plague than the corruption and change
of the air that surrounds us ; for the brute only suffers in the
but the man in the other.
not despise death, but accept it willingly look upon it
as part of the product of nature, and one of those things
which providence has been pleased to order. For such as are
first case,

Do

youth and age, growth and manhood, down and gray hairs,
pregnancy and birth, and all natural actions, and incidents of
life, so also is dying.
A wise man, therefore, must neither
run giddily nor impatiently and contemptuously into his grave.
He must look upon death as nature's business, and wait her
leisure as he does for the progress and maturity of other
things; for as you wait for a child to come into the world

when

it

is

ready, so

you should stay

in the other case

till

things are ripe, and your soul drops out of the husk of her

own

accord.

and

gentleness.

But if you stand in need of a vulgar remedy to

soothe the mind, consider, then, what sort of world and
what sort of customs you will be rid of! It is true you are.
not to fall foul upon mankind, but to treat them with kindness
But

still

you may remember

that

you

will

not be leaving men just of your own mind and fancy. Such
a unanimity amongst mortals might reasonably recommend
life, and make us loth to part with it.
But you perceive that
vast disturbances are bred by different opinions; insomuch
that now we ought rather to petition death to make haste, for
fear we too should forget our true selves.
He that commits a fault abroad is a trespasser at home;
and he that injures his neighbour, hurts himself, for to make
himself an evil man is a great mischief.

MARCUS AURELIUS

98

Omissions no
of injustice.
If your

less

than commissions are oftentimes part

judgment pronounces

friendly and well meant, if your

rightly, if

mind

your actions are

resigned to

is

all

that

proceeds from the external cause at this moment; if you are

in possession of these blessings, you are happy enough.
Do not be imposed on by appearances check your impulses, and moderate your desire, and keep your reason al;

ways in her own power.

The souls of brutes are

all

of one kind, and so are those of

And thus all liv-

rational beings, though of a rational kind.

ing creatures that have occasion for

are furnished with the same kind,
vision and

all

air,

and

earth,

and

light,

that have the faculty of

life.

Things of the same common quality have a tendency to

their kind.
Earthy bodies fall to the ground. One drop of
moisture runs after another; and thus air, where it is predominant, presses after air, and nothing but force and violence
can keep these things asunder. Fire, likewise, mounts upwards on account of its own element, fire, but it has such a
disposition to propagate its species and join every other fire
here below, that it catches easily upon all fuel a little more
dry than ordinary, because in such the qualities opposite to
ignition are weak and disabled.
Thus all beings which partake of the same common intelligent nature have a natural in-

own kind; only with

anything stands in the scale of
being, the more it is inclined to communication with its own
order.
To illustrate the argument, we find the force of
nature very active amongst brute animals, as appears by their
running together in herds and swarms according to kind; by
their providing for their young ones, and by that resemblance
of love which is carried on among them.
These animals have
a soul in them, by consequence their principle of union is more
vigorous than in plants, stones, and wood. To go on to reastinct

for correspondence with their

this difference, that the higher

sonable creatures,

and

we may

observe them united by public coun-

commonwealths, by particular friendships and

and in times of war they have truces and treaties.
Farther, to instance a higher order, the stars, though not

sels

families,

THE MEDITATIONS BOOK

IX

99

neighbours in situation, move by concert. Thus where things

are more noble and nature rises, sympathy rises too, and
operates even among distant objects.
But now see what hap-

The rational creatures are the only beings which have

forgotten this mutual desire and inclination, and here
alone this flowing together is not seen.
But though they

pens.

now

run from their kind, they are brought back again in some
measure. For great is the power of nature, and you shall
sooner see a piece of earth refuse to lie by its own element,
than find any man so perfectly unsociable as not to correspond
with somebody or other.
God and men and the world all of them bear fruit in their
proper seasons. It is true, use has restrained this signification
to vines and trees but this custom apart, reason may properly
;

enough be said

to bear fruit for itself

and for the common

good, especially if we consider that the fruit of the understanding keeps close to its kind and resembles the stock.
Give an injurious person good advice, and reform him
if

you

can.

If not,

remember

that your

good temper was

given you for this trial; that the gods too are so patient as
even to pass by the perverseness of such persons, and sometimes to assist them over and above in their health, fame, and
Just thus may you do if you
where is the impediment?
Do not drudge like a galley slave, nor do business in such
a laborious manner as if you had a mind to be pitied or wondered at but desire one thing only, to move or halt as social
fortune; so benign are they.

please;

if not,

reason shall direct you.

To-day I rushed clear out of all misfortune, or rather I
threw" misfortune from me; for to speak truth, it was not outside, nor ever any farther off than my own fancy.
All things are the same over again, and nothing but what
has been known to experience. They are momentary in their
lasting, and coarse in their matter, and all things are now as
they were in the times of those we have buried.
Things stand without doors and keep their distance, and

neither
is

it,

own

know nor

report any things about themselves.

then, that pronounces

ruling principle.

upon them?

What

Nothing but your

MARCUS AURELIUS

100

As

the good and evil of a rational, social animal consist

and not in feeling, so it is not what they feel but

in action

what they

do, which

makes mankind

either

happy or miser-

able.
It is all

downwards;

one to a stone whether

it is

no harm for

it

it is

thrown upwards or
good for it

to descend, or

to mount.

Examine

into men's understandings,

and you

sort of judges even of themselves are those

will see

whom you

what

fear.

All things are in a perpetual flux and a sort of consumption;

you yourself are continually changing, and in a manner

you company.

destroyed, and the whole world keeps

Let everybody's fault lie at his own door.

The intermission of action, and a stop in appetite and
opinion, and even a kind of death upon the faculties, is no
harm. Go on now to the different periods of life, and here
you will find infancy, youth, manhood, and old age, and one,
as it were, the death of another.
And where lies the terror
of all this? Proceed to your life in your grandfather's time,
and to that in your father's and mother's, and run over as
much ground in differences, changes, and decay as you please,
and ask yourself what grievance there is in this, and you may
conclude that ending and cessation and alteration of your
whole life will be no worse.
Hasten to examine your own ruling principle, and that of
Your own, that
the universe, and that of your neighbour.
you may keep it honest; that of the universe, that you may
know what you are part of; your neighbour's, that you may
discover whether he acts through ignorance or with knowledge; and here you should likewise remember that you are
of kin to him.
As you are a member of society yourself, so every action
of yours should tend to the benefit and improvement of it.
So that when you do anything which has neither immediate
nor remote reference to general advantage, you make a
breach in your life, destroy its unity, and are as really guilty
of seditious behaviour as a malcontent in an assembly, as far
as in him lies, disturbs the general harmony.
Children's anger, mere baubles, wretched souls, bearing

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

IX

101

up dead bodies, so that the picture of the underworld makes a

more vivid impression.
Penetrate the quahty of forms, and take a view of them,
abstracted from their matter; and when you have done this,
compute the common period of their duration.

You have been a great sufferer for not being contented

with your guiding principle, when it does what it was made
for.
But enough!
When f)eople treat you ill, blame your conduct, or report
anything to your disadvantage, enter into the very soul of
them; examine their understandings, and see of what nature
they are. You will be fully convinced that the opinion of
such mortals is not worth one troublesome thought.
However, you must be kind to them, for nature has made them
your relations. Besides, the gods give them all sort of countenance, warn them by dreams and prophecy, and help them to
those things they have a mind to.
The periodic movements of the universe are the same up
and down from age to age. This uncertain world is always
rolling, and turning things topsy-turvy.
Now the soul of the
imiverse either pursues its course towards each particular, in
which case accept what it brings with it or else it only moved
to create at first, and all things followed one another by necessary consequence.
But if neither of these hypotheses will
satisfy, you must set Epicurus's atoms at the helm.
In a
word, if God governs, all is well; but if things are left to
themselves, and set adrift, do not you float at random with
them. We shall quickly be all underground and ere long the
earth itself must be changed into something else, and that
something into another form, and so on to infinity. Now he
;

that considers these everlasting alterations, this constant toss-

ing and tumbling, and

other, he will have but a

how fast revolutions succeed each

mean opinion of what the world can

afford.

The
all

universal cause runs rapid like a torrent, and sweeps

things along.

feits

in virtue

you, friend!

let

quires of you.

XIV

What wretched

statesmen are those counter-

and philosophy!
honesty be served

Mere empty froth! Hark

first.
Do what nature re-

Fall on, then, as occasion offers,

and never

MARCUS AURELIUS

102

However, I would not have

the world goes, a moderate
reformation is a great point, and therefore rest contented;
for who can change men's opinions! And yet unless you

look about for commendation.

you expect

Plato's Republic.^

As

can change their opinions, their subjection will be all force

and dissembling. Come now! tell me of Alexander, Philip,
and Demetrius of Phalerum. Men shall see whether they had
a right notion of the laws of nature, and whether they educated themselves.
If they acted like tragedy heroes, no one
has condemned me to imitate them. Philosophy is a modest
and simple profession, do not entice me to insolence and
pride.

Fly your fancy into the clouds, and from this imaginary
height take a view of mortals here below.
What countless
herds

of

men and

countless

What

solemnities!

variety of voyages in storm and calm!

What

infinite

differences in

the things that become, exist with us, and perish!

Go on

with the speculation, stretch your thoughts over different

aspects of the past and the future, and the present among
barbarous nations how many are there that never heard your
;

name, how many that will quickly forget you, and how many
In short,
that admire you now will censure you afterwards?
memory and fame, and all those things which are commonly
so much valued, are of no account at all.
Keep a calm spirit towards things that proceed from an
external cause, and a just spirit towards those that proceed
from a cause within you; that is, let your impulse and action
aim at the interest of mankind, for then you know your
faculties are in the right posture that nature has set them.

The

greater part of your trouble

may

lies in

your fancy, and

when you please.

I will tell you which way you may move more freely, and give
yourself elbow-room.
Take the whole world into your contherefore you

free yourself

from

it

templation, and consider

its eternal duration, and the swift

change of every single thing in it. Consider how near the
end of all things lie to their beginning! But then the ages

In this work a picture

is

given of a perfect State.

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

IX

103

before our Dirth and after our death are both infinite and immeasurable.
Whatever you see now will quickly decay and disappear,
and those that gaze upon the ruins of time will be buried

under them. And then the longest and the shortest liver will
be both in the same condition.
If you would look within people, and discover the objects
they aim at, and their motives for liking and respect, you
must strip them to the soul if you can. When they fancy that
by commending or censuring they do you a good or an ill

what a strange conceit it is!

Loss is nothing else than change. Things are changed
Providence, by
this way, it is true, but they do not perish.
which all things are well contrived, delights in these alterations.
It has always been so in the world, and always will
be.
What then ? Will you say that all things were made ill
by so many gods, and must they always remain ill and lack
order? And is nature indeed condemned to an everlasting
misfortune?
The materials of bodies, if you examine them, are
strangely coarse; those that are animated have little in them
but water, and dust, and bones, and something that is offensive.
And again, marble is no more than a callous excrescence of the earth, nor gold and silver any better than its
dregs and sediment.
Fine clothes are nothing but hair
turn,

twisted together.

And

Purple

is

but the blood of a little fish.

And as for spirits, they

thus I might proceed farther.

are somewhat of kin to the rest, and are chased from one
figure to another.

Come! you have had enough of life, and grumbling, and

what makes you disturbed ? What can you be surprised at?
What has happened to you worse than you had
reason to expect? Does cause or matter make you uneasy?
Look into them, and you may probably be relieved. Now for

apishness

your comfort, besides these two natures, there is no other. It

is high time therefore to become simple and behave better
towards the gods. Three years' time to peruse these things
is as good as a hundred.

MARCUS AURELIUS

104

man

has done amiss, the mischief is to himself;

inquire, he has not done it.
Either all things proceed from one intelligent source, who
makes the world but one whole and if so, why should a part
or single member complain of that which is designed for the
benefit of the whole?
Or else we are under the misrule of
atoms, and confusion, and dispersion. Why then do you
If such a

and

it

may

be, if

you

trouble yourself.

Say

to your ruling faculty,

"You

have

passed through death and corruption, and forms of animals;

and even now you are playing a part, herding and feeding
with the rest."
Either the gods have power to assist us, or they have not.
If
If they have not, what does praying to them help you?
they have, why do you not rather pray that they would remove your fears and moderate your desires, and rather keep

you from grieving for any of these things, than keep away
one thing and grant another? For if the gods can help us, no
doubt they can help us to be wiser. But it may be you will
Why, then, do you not
say, they have put this in my power.
make use of your talent, and act like a man of spirit, and not
run cringing and creeping after that which is out of your
reach ? But then who told you that the gods do not assist us
in things which we might possibly compass by ourselves?
For
Begin, then, to pray for such things, and you will see.
instance, this man prays that he may gain such a woman, but
do you rather pray that you may have no such inclination.
Another invokes the gods to set him free from some trouble
but let it be your petition that your mind may never put you
upon such a wish. A third is very devout to prevent the loss
of his son; but I would have you pray rather against the fear
of losing him. Let this be the rule for your devotions, and
see if the event does not answer.

When I was sick," says Epicurus, " I did not discourse

to my visitors about my diseases, or the torment I was
troubled with.
No, my system of natural philosophy was
part of my subject; and my main concern was, that my mind,
"

although it partakes in these disturbances of the body, should

remain calm, and maintain its own good. I gave no handle
to the doctors to brag of their profession and what they did

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK IX

105

And
for me, but held on with fortitude and indifference."
cannot
disadvantage,
are
sick,
other
or under any
when you
you behave yourself as he did? It is practicable to all persuasions in philosophy to stand their ground against all accidents, and not to join in all the foolish talk of the ignorant,

who

are unacquainted with nature.

pared,

mind

with which

We

must always be pre-

the thing at present before us, and the tools, too,

we

are to work.

When you

are shocked by any man's impudence, put this

question to yourself:
"Is it possible for such impudent
people not to be in the world ? "
No, indeed. Why, then, do

you demand an impossibility?

For

this ill-behaved fellow is

one of those necessary rascals that the world cannot dispense

This reflection will furnish you with patience for a
with.
knave, a faithless person, or any other evil body. For when
you consider that there is no living without such men, you
will treat them better individually; and to fortify you further,
consider what an antidote nature has given you against this
disease.
For supposing you have to do with a troublesome
blockhead, you have meekness and temper given you for your
guard, and so with the rest.
It is likewise in your power to
inform the man better, and set him right; for everyone that
does an ill action is really out of his way, and misses his mark,
though he may not know it. Besides, what harm have you
received?
If you examine the case, you will find none of
these provoking mortals have done your mind any damage.
Now that is the place in which what is evil and harmful to
you originates. Pray, where is the wonder if an ignorant

you expected other things from

Your reason might make you
much
in this way, and yet, when
misbehave
he
would
conclude that
likely
has
happened,
which
most
you seem surprised
that
was
accuse
especially
if
you
any
But
man
of ingratitude
at it.
and infidelity, the fault is your own, if you believed that a
man of this disposition would keep faith, or else in conferring
a favour you did not give absolutely, for otherwise you would
have been satisfied with a generous action, and made virtue
her own reward. You have obliged a man, it is very well.
What would you have more? You have acted according to
fellow acts ignorantly?

him, you are

If

to blame.

106

MARCUS AURELIUS

your own nature, and must you still have a reward over and
above? This is just as if an eye or a foot should demand
a salary for their service, and not see or move without something for their pains.

For

as these organs are contrived for

which they pursue their

nature and attain their perfection, so man is made to be kind
and oblige. And, therefore, when he does a good office, and
particular functions, in performing

proves serviceable to the world, he has

being, and attains his own reward.

fulfilled the

end of his

BOOK X
O MY soul, are you ever to be rightly good, simple, and
uniform, unmasked, and made more visible to yourself than
the body that hangs about you ? Are you ever likely to relish
good nature and general kindness as you ought? Will you
ever be fully satisfied, get above want and wishing, and never
desire to seek your pleasure in anything foreign, either living
or inanimate? Not desiring, I say, either time for longer
enjoyment nor place for elbow-room, nor climate for good
air, nor the music of good company?
Can you be contented
with your present condition, and be pleased with all that is
about you, and be persuaded that you are fully furnished, that
all things are well with you; for the gods are at the head of
the administration, and they will approve of nothing but what
is for the best, and tends to the security and advantage of
that good, righteous, beautiful, and perfect being which
generates and supports and surrounds all things, and embraces those things which decay, that other resembHng beings
may be made out of them? In a word, are you ever likely to
be so happily qualified as to converse with the gods and men
in such a manner as neither to complain of them nor be condemned by them?
Examine what your nature requires, so far as you have
no other law to govern you. And when you have looked into
her inclinations never balk them, unless your animal nature is
likely to be worse for it.
Then you are to examine what your
animal nature demands; and here you may indulge your appetite as far as you please, provided your rational nature does

THE MEDITATIONS BOOK X

107

Now, your rational nature admits

not suffer by the liberty.
of nothing but what is serviceable to the rest of mankind.
Keep to these rules, and you will regard nothing else.
Whatever happens, either you have strength to bear it,
you have, exert your nature, and never
But if the weight is too heavy for
you, do not complain; it will crush you, and then destroy itself.
And here you are to remember that to think a thing
tolerable and endurable is the way to make it so if you do but
press it strongly on the grounds of interest or duty.
Is anyone mistaken?
Undeceive him civilly, and show
him his oversight. But if you cannot convince him, blame
or you have not.

murmur

If

at the matter.

yourself, or not even yourself.

Whatever happens to you was pre-ordained your lot from

first; and that chain of causes which constitutes fate, tied
your person and the event together from all eternity.
Whether atoms or nature rule the world I lay it down in
the

the

first place,

that

am

part of that whole which

am

is all

under

some measure related to those beings which are of my own order and species.
These points being agreed, I shall apply them. Insomuch

nature's government.

Secondly,

in

then as I am a part of the universe, I shall never be displeased

with the general appointment for that can never be prejudicial to the part which is serviceable to the whole, since the uniFor the
verse contains nothing but what is serviceable to it.
But the world has
nature of no being is an enemy to itself.
this advantage above other particular beings, that there is no
foreign power to force it to produce anything hurtful to itself.
Since, therefore, I am a member of so magnificent a body, I
shall freely acquiesce in whatever happens to me.
Farther,
inasmuch as I have a particular relation to my own species, I
will never do anything against the common interest.
On
the other hand, I shall make it my business to oblige mankind, direct my whole life for the advantage of the public,
and avoid the contrary. And by holding to this conduct, I
must be happy, as that citizen must needs be who is always
working for the benefit of his fellow-citizens, and perfectly
satisfied with that interest and station the government assigns
him.
;

MARCUS AURELIUS

108

All the parts of the whole that

lie

within the compass of

the universe must of necessity corrupt and decay

mean only

Now

by corrup-

be an evil and a
necessary one, by consequence the whole of nature must be in
a bad condition, by having the parts so slenderly put together,
and so very liable to destruction. And if the case stands thus,
nature must either design unkindness to the parts of her own
body, by making them subject to unavoidable evil in doing or
tion I

alteration.

if this

have these things come about without her

But both these suppositions are highly improbif any man has a mind to drop the term Nature,

receiving, or else

knowledge.
able.

Now

and affirm that these things are naturally produced, he that

affirms this does but expose himself, by granting in the first
place that the parts of the universe are

made

for alteration,

and then wondering and complaining, as if such accidents

were unnatural and extraordinary, especially since things do
but return whence they came, and are dissolved into their
first principles.
For either the elements are scattered at large,
or else that which is solid turns to earth, and the particles of
air join their own element; and thus they are received into
the rational substance of the universe, which will either be
destroyed by fire after a certain period, or else be renewed by
perpetual vicissitudes.
Now I would not have you think that
those particles of earth or air which you have now in your
constitution are the same with those you brought into the
world with you. The matter which now belongs to you is as
it were but of yesterday's growth or of the day before, and
you have taken it all in by food, or the air you breathe, and
therefore the alterations in your body do not rob you of the
flesh and blood you had from your mother, but only of some
later additions.
But suppose the same body you were born
with is so closely connected with that other, this is no objection to the former statement.
When you have given yourself the title of a man of goodness and modesty, of truth and prudence, of resignation and
magnanimity, take care that your practice answers to your
character, and if any of these glorious names are lost in your
mismanagement, recover them as soon as you can remembering withal, that prudence implies consideration, care, and dis:

THE MEDITATIONS BOOK X

109

criminating enquiry; that to be resigned signifies a cheerful

compHance with the allotments of universal nature; that

magnanimity imports a superiority of the reasoning part to

the pleasure and pain of the body to glory and death, and all
those things which people are either fond or afraid of. Now
if you can deserve the honour of these names, do not desire
them from other folks; you will be quite another man, and
will enter into a new life, and indeed it is high time to begin;
for to desire to go on at this rate, to be polluted with appetite,
and harassed with passion any longer, is a senseless and a
scandalous wish.
It resembles the meanness of those poor
wretches in the amphitheatre, who when they are half devoured, and have nothing but wounds left them, beg notwithstanding to be respited till the morrow; though they know
they will only be thrown again to the same claws and teeth

them before. Work into the soul of you these few

credit, and if you find you can abide by them, stand
your ground, and think yourself transported to the fortunate
islands.
But if you perceive that you are overmatched, and
begin to give way, retire cheerfully into some quiet nook,
where you may manage better. And if this will not do, you
may give life the slip, but do this without anger. Walk
simply, gravely, and freely into the other world, and thus the
last action of your life will be the only one worth the owning.
And to remember those good qualities above mentioned the
more effectually, you should remember the gods, and that they
had much rather that all rational natures should resemble than
flatter them, that trees are distinguished by their fruit, dogs
and bees by the qualities proper to their kind, and men too by
that tore

names of

the appellation of mankind.

Plays, warfare, terror, torpor, servility, will daily

away

wear

these holy principles of yours, which in your study of

nature you hastily conceive and let go again. Upon all occasions you should look and act in such a manner as to omit
neither the perfect performance of business nor the activity

of thinking, to be modest in the consciousness of your improvement, but not so far as to undervalue your knowledge,
and keep it out of sight. When will you relish simplicity?
when gravity? When will you be able to understand every-


no

MARCUS AURELIUS

thing,

to

pronounce upon

universe; to calculate

its

its

nature and

its

place

in

the

continuance, and the ingredients

which it is made up of, who are likely to be affected by it,

and what powers they are which can both give it and take it

away?

A spider when

has caught a fly thinks it has done some

great deed, and so does a sportsman when he has run down
a hare, and a fisherman too when he has caught a sprat in a
Some others must kill boars or bears before they can
net.
grow conceited and a fourth sort value themselves upon hunting Sarmatians; though it may be in this last case, if you go
to the definition of robbing, the one are as much thieves as the
it

other.

Observe the steps, and continually study the history of

and trace the progress of bodies from one form and
species to another; contemplate often upon this subject, for

nature,

nothing contributes so much to greatness of mind.

rightly affected with this speculation has in a manHe considers that this world will
ner laid his body aside.
quickly be over with him, that he must take his leave of mankind and everything here.
In consequence of these thoughts,
he is all justice in his acts, and resignation in all else. And
as for what people will say or think of him, or practise against
him, he never minds it.
He has but two points to secure
that is, to be honest in what he now does, and contented with
what he now receives. As for other projects and fancies, he
has done with them. His business is only to follow that
straight path which law has chalked out for him, for in so
doing he has the Deity for his guide.
Why need you be anxious about the event when you may
examine the enterprise, and debate the reasonableness of it?
If you find it practicable, go on contented, and let nothing
divert you.
But if you cannot see your way, make a halt,
there

He

is

that

is

and take the best advice upon the case. And if you happen
to be stopped by some new emergency, make the most of
what is in your power with due consideration, and always
stick to what appears just; for after all, that is the best thing
For though the grand design may not succeed, yet
to get.
your failure arose from attempting this. The man who fol-

^/

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK X

111

in all things is calm, and yet easily moved, cheerand yet grave.
When you are first awake you may put this question:
whether another man's virtue will signify anything to you in
doing your business? No, it will signify nothing. And do
not forget what sort of men those are which value themselves
so much upon the good or ill character they give their neighbours.
How scandalously do they live ? How are they overgrown with luxury and vice? How foolish are their
fancies, and how unreasonable their fears?
See how they
steal and rob, not with hands and feet, but with their most

lows reason
ful,

valuable part, which, if a man pleases, can produce

modesty, truth, law, happiness.

fidelity,

He that is truly disciplined and reverent will address

nature in this language: "Give me what you please, and
take what you please away/' And there is not the least
tincture of vanity in this, but it proceeds wholly from obedience and satisfaction with her.
Your time is almost over, therefore live as if you were
on a mountain. Place signifies nothing, if you live every-

where

in the world as in a social community. Never run into

a hole, and shun company. No. Let the world see and
recognise in you an honest man who lives according to nature
and if they do not like him, let them kill him, for it is much
better he were served so, than to live as they do.
Spend no more time in stating the qualifications of a man
of virtue, but endeavour to get them.
Take the whole bulk of matter and all the extent of time
frequently into your thoughts.
And then consider that all
particular bodies are but a grain in the proportion of
substance, and are but the turning a gimlet in respect of

time.

Examine all things closely, and you will find them already
decaying and changing, and, as it were, rotting or dispersing,
or else things are made as it were to be unmade again.
Consider what an humble figure people make when they
are eating or sleeping. But then when they put on lordly airs,
and strut about, or grow angry, and abuse their inferiors
from an altitude
And yet how many little masters did they
!

MARCUS AURELIUS

112
lately cringe to,

how mean was

condition will they

come

their salary,

and what a sorry

to in a short time?

That is best for every man which universal nature sends

him; and the time of sending too is also a circumstance of
advantage.

The earth, as the poet has it, loves the refreshment of a

shower, and the lofty ether loves the earth. And the world
loves to execute the decrees of fate; and therefore, say I to
the universe, your inclinations and mine shall aways be the
same. And do we not often say: This loves to be produced?
Either you will take the benefit of custom, and continue to
live, or you cut yourself off from the world; and this, too,
was your wish ; or you cease to live, then death will give you
your discharge. One of these cases must happen, therefore
be not discouraged.
Take it for a rule that this piece of land is like any other,
and that all things here are the same as on the tops of a
mountain, or by the sea-shore, or where you will. In this
case, as Plato observes,^ the walls of a town and the inclosure
of a sheep fold may be much the same thing.
How does my guiding principle stand affected ? To what
condition am I now bringing it, and to what uses do I put it ?
Does thought run low with me?
I grown selfish, and
broken loose from the general interest? Is my soul as it
were melted and mingled with the body, and perfectly governed by it?
He that runs away /rom his master is a fugitive now the
law is every man's master, and therefore he that transgresses
it is a deserter.
And all those that are dissatisfied, angry, and
uneasy, desire that something past, present, or future should
not be, of that which was appointed by the ruler of all, which
is justice, and which gives every one his due, and break
through the orders of Providence. Thus he who is dissatisfied, or angry, or uneasy, is a deserter.
man deposits seed in a womb, and then another cause
takes it and works on it, and makes a child.
What a thing

Am

In Theaetetus.

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK X

113

Again the child passes food down its

from such a material
and again another cause takes it, and makes perception
and motion, life and strength, and other things, both many
Observe then the things that are thus produced
and strange
in darkness, and recognise the power just as we perceive the
power which carries things upwards and downwards, not with
the eyes, but no less plainly.
You will do well to remember that the world is just as it
was formerly, and will go on at the same rate. If you either
dip into history, or recollect your own experience, you will
perceive the scenes of life strangely uniform, and nothing but
the old plays revived.
Take a view of the courts of Hadrian,
Antoninus Pius, of Philip, of Alexander, or Croesus, and you
!

throat,

will find the entertainment the same,

only the actors are

different.

He

that struggles with his fortune,

and makes an

afflic-

a pig that kicks and cries out when

his throat is cutting; and he that, when he is sick, mourns to
himself over the bonds in which we are held, is not much
better.
We should consider that none but rational creatures
have the privilege of making necessity a choice; merely to
submit is what all are compelled to do.
Consider the satisfactions of life singly, and examine them
as they come up, and then ask yourself if death is so terrible
tion of

it,

in taking

When

is

much

like

them from you.

anybody's misbehaviour disturbs you, immediately

turn to yourself and bethink you whether you have not been

same fault; for instance, whether you have not

over-valued money, or pleasure, or fame, or the like.
Such
reflections will quickly make you forget your anger, especially

guilty of the

if you consider that the offender was not altogether his own
man, but under some untoward compulsion. For what else
could he do ? Therefore, if you can, step in to the rescue and
free him from the compulsion.
When you consider Satyrion the Socratic, think upon
Eutyches or Hymen; and when you remember Euphrates,
think upon Eutychion or Sylvanus and when Alciphron comes
into your head, carry your thoughts to Tropaeophrous and
;

MARCUS AURELIUS

1 1

when you
come into

are musing upon Xenophon,

let

Crito^ or Severus

when you make

the contemplation; and

yourself

some of the emperors,

your predecessors, into your company; and thus set the dead
and the living of the same character and profession always
the subject of your meditations, bring

one against another; then ask the question: Where are those
The answer will be They are nowhere, or at least nowhere that I know of. Thus you will be strongly convinced

men ?

men are but smoke and bubbles and this impression will
go the deeper if you consider that what is once perished and
sunk will never come up again throughout the ages. As for
your share of time, it is but a moment in comparison. Why
then cannot you manage that little well and be satisfied?
What a noble opportunity of improvement do you run away
from? For what are all the revolutions of nature, and the
accidents of life, but trials of skill and exercises of reason
that has looked through the causes of things carefully and
philosophically.
Go on then till you have digested all this
and conquered the difficulty, for I would have you be like
a strong stomach, that masters all sort of diet, and makes
nourishment of it; or if you please, like a fire well kindled,
which catches at everything you throw in, and turns it into
flame and brightness.
Put it out of the power of any one truly to report you
not to be a sincere or a good man let your practice give him
the lie; this is all very feasible, for pray who can hinder you
from being just and sincere ? To make all sure, you should resolve to live no longer than you can live honestly; for, in
earnest, reason would rather you were nothing than a knave.
What is it that is most proper to be said or done upon
the present occasion? Let it be what it will, I am sure it is
in your power to perform it, and therefore never pretend it
impracticable. You will never leave grumbling till you can practise virtue with a relish, and make it your pleasure to perform
that

those acts that are suited to the constitution of a

ing; for a

Crito

man ought

to hold

it

was a friend of Socrates, and Plato used

of one of his dialogues.

human

be-

a pleasure to do everything
his

name

as a tide


THE MEDITATIONS BOOK X

115

and that is in his power. Now

power everywhere. The motion of a cylinder
may be stopped, fire and water may be checked in their tendency, and so may any part of the vegetable and animal world.
that

is

suitable to his nature,

this is in his

In this case a great many obstructions may interpose, but

is nothing can block up a soul, stop the course of reason,
or hinder a thought from running in its natural channel as it
pleases.
He that considers the irresistible liberty of the mind,
there

moves as easily as fire does upwards, as a stone downwards, as a cylinder on a smooth descent, seeks nothing
farther; for all other impediments proceed either from the
body, which is really a corpse, or else they are founded in
opinion, and unless we betray ourselves, and desert our reason, can do us no manner of mischief; otherwise, ill fortune,
as it is commonly called, would make a man ill, for all other
productions of nature or art, when any harm happens to
that she

them, are certainly the worse for it, but here a man is, so to
speak, the better for what he suffers; he improves his value
and raises his character by making a right use of a rugged
In short, I would have you remember, that no
accident.
citizen can receive any damage by that which does not affect
the community, neither can the community suffer unless the
laws suffer too; but these misfortunes, as they are called, do
not violate the laws, therefore they do not hurt the community, nor by consequence the citizen.
He that is well tinctured with philosophy needs but a short
receipt, a common cordial will keep up such a man's spirits

and expel fear from

"

As

his heart.

For

instance

man is found.
now withering on the ground."

leaves on trees the race of

Now

green in youth,

So your children are but leaves. Leaves, too, are the echoes
of praise, and censure, and silent blame, and reproach.
Leaves, too, are the continuance of fame. All these matters,
like leaves, have their spring for growing, then a puff of wind
sends them packing, and quickly after the wood is new furnished again. Things are strangely short-lived, and yet you
fear and pursue

them as

if all

were everlasting, but for

all

MARCUS AURELIUS

116

you will soon close your eyes, and then he that is your
mourner will quickly want another for himself.
An eye that is strong and rightly disposed is indifferent to
all colours, therefore if it calls for green, it is a sign it is weak
and out of order. Thus when the hearing and smelling are
in good condition, they do not pick and choose their objects,
but take in all manner of scents and sounds. Thus a strong
stomach despatches all that comes into it, like a mill that
grinds all sorts of grain. And thus a mind that is sound and
healthy is prepared to digest all sorts of accidents, and therethat,

chief

such wishes as these " O that

my children may live and flourish, that I may be commended
for everything I do " when the mind, I say, is thus sickly,
it is just like an eye that is all for green colours, and like a set
of teeth that would touch nothing by their good will but soft
fore

when

it is

clamorous

in

things.

There is nobody so happy in his family and friends, but

some of them when they see him going will rejoice at his
death.
Let him be a person of probity and prudence, somebody or other will drop some of these sentences over his
" Well our man of order and gravity is gone, we
grave.
shall now be no more troubled with his discipline
I cannot
say he was ill-natured to any of us, but for all that, I am
sensible he condemned us in his heart."
This is the best
treatment a good man must expect.
But alas as for our conduct, how many reasons will people muster up to be rid of us
If you consider this when you are dying, you will quit life
with the less reluctance. Say then to yourself, " I am leaving an odd sort of world, where the sharers in my fortune,
and the objects of my care and kindness, those people for
whom I have drudged and contrived, and wished so heartily,
count my life no better than a grievance, and would fain be
rid of me; now who would be fond of staying in such company any longer?" However, this thought must not go so
deep as to sour your humour,. You must keep your temper,
and part friendly with every body, but then your good nature
must not make you hang back. For as when a man has an
easy death, the soul slides gently out of the body, so you
must walk off handsomely, and bid the world adieu without
that

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

XI

117

nature has twisted your interests, and tied

she loosens the knot, and makes the
sign to disengage.
I will part then with the world as with
my friends and relations, but for all my kindness I will not be
regret.

you

It is true,

together, but

now

dragged from them but go of my free will. For this too is

ordained by nature.
Let it be your constant method to look into the design of
people's actions, and see what they would be at, as often as it
is practicable; and to make this custom the more significant,
practise it first upon yourself.
Remember that what pulls and hales you from one passion to another, is but your fancy within you.
There lies the
rhetoric that persuades you.
That is the living thing, and to
speak plainly, that is the man, after all.
But when you talk
of a man, I would not have you tack flesh and blood to the
notion, nor those limbs neither which are made out of it.
These are but tools for the soul to work with. Now the only
difference is that nature has glued them as it were to the soul,
It is the
but the use of them depends solely upon the mind.
will that either checks or sets them going.
They have but the
force of instruments, and signify no more without foreign
direction, than a shuttle, a pen, or a whip, which will neither
weave, nor write, nor lash the horses, without somebody to
"
manage them.

BOOK
The

XI

properties of a rational soul are these.

privilege to look into her

own

She has the

nature, to cut her qualities

and form herself to what character she pleases. She fenjoys

her product (whereas trees and cattle bring plenty for other
folks).
Whether life proves long or short, she gains the
ends of living. Her business is never spoilt by interruption,
as it happens in a dance or a play. In every part and in spite
of every interruption, her acts are always finished and entire;

may say I carry off all that belongs to me. Farranges through the whole world, views its figure,
looks into the vacuum on the outside of it, and strains her
sight on to an immeasurable length of time.
She contemplates the grand revolutions of nature, and the destruction
so that she

ther, she

XIV

MARCUS AURELIUS

118

and renewal of the universe

new

for posterity to gaze at;

and that our ancestors stood upon the same

tion; in so

much

for sense and enquiry

may

come by reason of

that

level for observa-

that in forty years' time a tolerable genius

past and

all

She consid-

at certain periods.

ers that there will be nothing

is

to

acquaint himself with

all

that

is

the uniformity of

things. Lastly, it is the property of a rational soul to love

her neighbours, to be remarkable for truth and sobriety, to
prefer nothing to her own dignity and authority, which has
likewise the custom and prerogative of a law; and thus far
all

right reason and rational justice are the same.

The way

to despise the pleasure of a fine song, a well-

performed dance, or the athletic exercise, is as follows: as

for the song, take the music to pieces and examine the notes
by themselves, and ask as you go along, " Is it this or this
You will be ashamed
single sound, that has subdued me ? "
Thus, to lessen the diversion of
to confess the conquest.
dancing, consider every

method

movement and gesture

apart

and

with respect to athletic contests. In

all
things
virtue
and virtuous acts abate by taking
short,
but
apply the expedient to all other
asunder,
and,
therefore,
them
life.
of
parts
your
What a brave soul is that that is always prepared to leave
the body and unconcerned about her being either extinguished,
prepared, I say, upon judgment, and
scattered, or removed
not out of mere obstinacy like the Christians ^but with a
solemn air of gravity and consideration, and in a way to persuade another and without tragic show.
Have I obliged anybody, or done the world any service?
If so, the action has rewarded me.
This answer will encourage good nature, therefore let it always be at hand.
What may your trade or profession be? It is to live like
a man of virtue and probity. And how can this end be compassed, but by the contemplation of the nature of the world
and of mankind in particular.
As to dramatic performances, tragedy appeared first. The
design of them was to show that the misfortunes of life were
customary and common, and that what attracted them upon
the stage, might surprise them the less when they met with it
this

will hold

THE WOMAN OR THE VASE?

From a painting by H. de Siemiradski
"Remember that what pulls and hales you from one passion
TO another, is but your fancy within you ... To speak
plainly, that is the man, after all."

Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.

Page

117.


118

and renewal

^he consid-

'

and that
tion; in

gaze at;

jj

ers that there

)bscrva-

genius

all

for sense

mity of

pa
all

that is
to love

.-

her V

ti)

!ias

P'

far

a well-

lows: as
the notes

ic

-;

the conqib

ii

version of

sider evf
will

.d

hold

things but
.

rt;

and

sts.

In

by taking

and, there

to all other

ieiit

Hfe.
!

reoared to leave

ave soul

bed,

and

.-,

with a
ner-

Id

any service?
will en,...nd.

to live like

end be com-

ip[jt:ared first,

llic

were
ttracted them upon

ortunes of

,!>,

-^aSAV

iicn

HHT HO VTAMOW 3HT

they

life

met with

i^s-boVtm^iZ -ib .H v^ \jjAmD<\ o m^-v\

M0188A1 aVIO MOH'? UOY gaJAH QUA gJJUI TAHW TAHT aSaUSUSSl'*

XAaid OT
.\ii agB^I

UOY KIHTIW YOMA^ HUOY TUS 21 ^aSHTOMA OT

"JJA H3THA .MAM SHT 81 TAHT ^YJMIAJI
.aiiilsiuA auDisM \o anoilBitbaM
.

it

"

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK

XI

119

on the larger stage of the world. Thus people see that these
events must happen, and that even those who cry out, "O
Cithaeron,"

cannot stand clear of them.

stage-poets their due, they have

some

And

to give the

serviceable passages, as,

for instance.
" If I and mine are by the gods neglected.

There's reason for their rigour."

Again
Ne'er fret at accidents, for things are sullen.
And don't regard your anger ;

Once more
" Fate

mows down

life like

com,

this

mortal

falls.

Another stands a while."

And others like them. Next to tragedy, old comedy took a

turn upon the stage and here pride and ambition were lashed
and pointed at with great freedom and authority, and not
;

without some success; and for this reason, Diogenes sometimes borrowed from them.
You are now to observe that
middle comedy succeeded to the old, and the new to the middle, this last kind sinking by degrees to the buffoonery of
the mimi. It is true, there are some useful expressions to be
met with even here but then you are to consider the tendency
of the whole poetic art, and whether these dramatic diver;

sions drive at any aim.

Nothing is clearer to me than that the present state of

your life is as good for philosophy and improvement as any
other whatsoever.

A bough

by being lopped off from another, must of necesfrom the whole tree; thus a man that breaks
with another loses the benefit of the whole community. It
is true a bough is lopped off by a foreign hand, but the man
pulls himself asunder by his untoward aversion and hatred
sity be lopped

when CEdipus
exposed on Mount Cithasron in order to avoid the
terrible doom prophesied against him.
^

cry of the chorus in Sophocles' (Edipus Tyrannus

as an infant

is

MARCUS AURELIUS

120

-He little thinks how he disincorporates

to his neighbour.
himself by this unhappy division from the body of mankind
And here the goodness of God who founded this society is ex-

He has put it in our power to grow to the limb

again into the advantage of the main body.
come
and
we
is often repeated, it will be a hard
misfortune
if
this
But
part
and close the division. For, as
the
restore
matter to
bough
cut off and grafted in again is
a
observe,
gardeners
with another which always
condition
good
not in the same
should be one in growth,
trunk.
We
upon
the
flourished
though not in sympathy.
People's malice or impertinence cannot beat you off your
reason, or stop your progress in virtue. Be not then disconIf you
certed, nor check your good, nature towards them.
meet with opposition and ill-will, you must neither be diverted
nor disturbed, but keep your right judgment and action and
your temper too towards people who try to hinder you or
otherwise annoy you. For as it is a weakness to give in from
fear and be diverted from your conduct, so it is likewise to
be angry with impertinent people. They are both a sort of
deserters from Providence, who are either frightened from
their duty, or fall out with those of their own nature and
traordinary.
left,

family.

Nature

falls

short of art in

imitation of nature; and

if so,

no

instance, art being but

an

the most perfect and all-em-

bracing nature cannot be supposed to work with less skill

than a common artificer. Now, in all arts the less in value
are contrived for the sake of the greater. This, therefore, is
the method of universal nature, and upon this ground justice
is founded.
The other virtues are but acts of justice differently applied. But just we can never be if we are eager and

anxious about external advantages,

astray and

grow

if

we

are apt to be led

in our motion.
Aversions and desires are the general occasions of disturbance.
Now since the objects of these passions do not
press upon you, but it is you that make up to them in some
measure, you should let your opinion about them lie still,
and they too will keep still, and then you will neither be seen
pursuing nor avoiding them any longer.

over-hasty,

and inconstant

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK XI

121

The figure of the soul is then round and uniform, when

she neither reaches after anything foreign, nor shrinks into
herself, nor is dispersed or sunk in, but shines in the light
by which she surveys the truth of

all

things and of herself

too.

Does anyone despise me? It is his look-out. I will take

him any reason for his contempt by my
words and acts. Does anyone hate me? It is his look-out.
I will continue kind and good-humoured to all the world,

care not to give

even to the injurious person himself. I am always ready to

show him his error without abuse, or making a display of
my own patience, but frankly, and with cordial sincerity,
Indeed your
as Phocion did, unless indeed this was put on.
mind should always be so disposed, that the gods may examine you, and perceive that you are neither angry nor uneasy
at anything.
Now, if you follow the current of your nature
of your own free will, and accept that which is now suitable
to the universal nature, where

is

know you were made on purpose

the

harm

in

it,

when you

to comply with the interest

of the universe?
People generally despise where they flatter, and cringe
to those they would gladly overtop.
How fulsome and hollow does that man look that cries,

" I'm resolved to deal straightforwardly with you." Hark

you, friend, what need of all this flourish? Let your actions
speak; your face ought to vouch for your speech. I would
have virtue look out of the eye, no less apparently than love
does in the sight of the beloved. I would have honesty and
sincerity so incorporated with the constitution, that it should
be discovered by the senses, and as easily distinguished as
a strong breath, so that a man must be forced to find it out
whether he would or no. But on the other side an affectation
of sincerity is a very dagger. Nothing is more scandalous
than the false friendship, and, therefore, of all things avoid
In short, a man of integrity, sincerity, and good-nature
it.
can never be concealed, for his character is wrought into his
countenance.

To bestow no more upon objects than they deserve; and

where things are indifferent, to let our thoughts be so too.

MARCUS AURELIUS

122
is

a noble expedient for happiness, and this faculty

in our souls.

The way

to attain to this indifference

we have
is

to look

through matters, and take them quite asunder, remembering

always that things cannot enter into the soul, nor force upon
us any opinions about them; they are quiet. It is our fancy
that makes opinions about them; it is we that write within
ourselves, though it is in our power not to write. And if any
false colours are laid on by surprise, we may rub them out
if

we

please.

We

are likewise to consider that this trouble

Where, then,

will not last, that death will relieve us soon.

upon our guard a

little while?
accordance with nature, bid them
heartily welcome, and then your inclination will make you
easy but if they i)rove contrary to nature, look out for something that is more serviceable to your nature, and pursue
For certainly every man
that, even if it bring you no glory.
may make himself happy if he can.
Consider the original of all things, the matter they are
made of, the alterations they must run through, and the result
of the change. And that all this does no manner of harm.
Concerning those that offend, consider in the first place,
the relation you stand in towards men, and that we are all
made for each other. And for my own part I am particularly
set at the head of the world, like a ram over a flock, or a bull
over a herd. You may go higher in your reasoning, if you
is

If

the difficulty of standing

these

things are in

please,

and consider

universe.

that either

atoms or nature governs the

If the latter, then the coarser parts of the creation

were made for the service of

their betters:

and these

last

for the sake of each other.

men are at bed and board, and

you should remember what strong
compulsion of opinion they lie under, and with what pride
they perform their acts.
Thirdly. Consider that if those men are in the right, you
have no reason to be angry; but if they are in the wrong, it
is because they know no better.
They are under the necessity
of their own ignorance.
For as no soul is voluntarily deprived of truth, so nobody would offend against good manners, if they were rightly aware of it.
And thus we see
Secondly, Consider what

at other times; especially

THE MEDITATIONS BOOK

XI

123

people will not endure the charge of injustice, ingratitude,

selfishness, or knavery of any description, without being

stung at the imputation.

Fourthly. Do not forget you are like the rest of the
world, and faulty yourself in a great many instances: that
though you may forbear from some errors, it is not for want

of inclination, and that nothing but cowardice, vanity, or some

such base principle hinders you from sinning.
Fifthly. That it is sometimes a hard matter to be certain

whether men do wrong, for their actions often are done with
a reference to circumstances; and one must be thoroughly
informed of a great many things before he can be rightly
qualified to give judgment in the case.
Sixthly. When you are most angry and vexed remember
that human life lasts but a moment, and that we shall all of
us very quickly be laid in our graves.
Seventhly. Consider that it is not other people's actions
(for they are lodged in their ruling principles), which disturb us, but only our own opinions about them. Do but thendismiss these notions, and do not fancy the thing a grievance,
and your passion will have ceased immediately. But how can

By considering that bare suffering

this fancy be discharged?
has no infamy in it. Now unless you restrain the notion of
evil to what is disgraceful, you will be under a necessity of
doing a great many unwarrantable things, and become a
robber and a villain generally.
Eighthly. Consider that our anger and impatience often
prove much more mischievous than the things about which
we are angry or impatient.
Ninthly. That gentleness is invincible, provided it is of
the right stamp, without anything of hypocrisy or malice.
This is the way to disarm the most insolent, if you continue
kind and unmoved under ill usage, if you strike in with the
right opportunity for advice.
If when he is going to do you
an ill turn you endeavour to recover his understanding, and
retrieve his temper by such language as this
I pray you,
child, be quiet, men were never made to worry one another.
I shall not be injured, but you are injuring yourself, child.
Then proceed to illustrate the point by general and inoffensive
:

MARCUS AURELIUS

124

arguments. Show him that it is not the custom of bees to

spend their stings upon their own kind, nor of cattle whose
nature it is to dwell in herds. And let all this be done out
of mere love and kindness, without any irony or scorn. Do
not seem to lecture him or court the audience for commenda-

him either alone and

was nobody but himself.

tion,

but discourse

as

there

if

Lay up

these nine heads in your

if

others are present,

memory with

much

as

they were a present from the nine muses, for now

And
it is high time to begin to be a man for your lifetime.
here you must guard against flattery, as well as anger, for
these are both unsocial qualities, and do a great deal of misRemember always, when you are angry, that rage is
chief.
care as

if

mark of an unmanly disposition. Mildness and temper

more human, but more masculine too. One
thus affected appears much more brave, and firm, and manly
than one that is vexed and angry. For he that has the least
the

are not only

passion in these cases has always the most strength.

On

the

a sign of weakness, so is anger too.

man is wounded in both these passions, and the smart is
too big for him.
As you have received these nine precepts from the Muses,
take this tenth if you please, from their leader, Apollo That
to wish that ill people may not do ill things is to wish an
impossibility, and no better than madness.
But then to give
them leave to plague other folks, and desire to be privileged
other hand, as grief

is

is a foolish and insolent expectation.

There are four evil qualities we must be particularly
careful to avoid, and pull them up as fast as we find them,
and address them as they rise in this fashion. " This fancy,"
say, "is unnecessary; this rough behaviour destroys society;
this phrase I cannot say from my heart.
Now this is most
absurd, not to speak from your heart." These are three of
them; and when you shall reproach yourself for anything,
since this degrades the diviner part of you, makes your mind
truckle to your body, and your reason to your pleasures, look
upon that as the fourth.
Those particles of fire and air which are lodged in your
body, notwithstanding their tendency to mount, submit to

yourself,

THE MEDITATIONS BOOK

XI

125

the laws of the universe, and keep the rest of the elements

Again, the earthy and watery parts in you, though

company.

they naturally press downwards, are raised above their level,

and stand poised in an unnatural position; thus the elements
serve the interest of the world.

anywhere they keep

For when they have been

their post

till the signal is given

not then a scandalous thing that your
mind should be the only deserter, and grow mutinous about
her station, especially when her orders agree with her con-

fixed

And

to separate.

stitution,

is it

and nothing that

is

unnatural

is

yet she will not bear the conduct of her

enjoined?

own

And

but
runs perfectly counter to humanity. For when a man turns
knave or libertine, when he gives way to fears and anger and
fits of the spleen, he does as it were run away from himself
and desert his own nature; and further, when his mind complains of his fortune

has placed

it;

it

quits the station in

faculties,

which Providence
its duty

for acquiescence and piety are no less

than honesty; for these virtues tend to the common interest,

and are rather of greater antiquity and value than justice.
He that does not always drive at the same end in his life
will never be uniform and of a piece in his conduct.
But

you describe the quality that we

Now as people do not agree
in the preferences of the things that in some way seem good
to the many, unless in what relates to the common good,
so a man ought to propose the benefit of society and the general interest of the world as his main aim.
For he that
levels at this mark will keep an even hand, and thus be always
this hint is too short, unless

ought principally to aim

at.

consistent with himself.

Remember

and the town mouse,

former was frightened and surprised.'Socrates used to say the common objects of terror were
nothing but bogies, fit only to scare children.
The Lacedaemonians, at their public shows, seated
strangers under a canopy in the shade, but made their own
people take their convenience as they found it.
Socrates, being invited to Perdiccas's court, made his
and how

the story of the country

pitifully the

See Horace's Satires,

ii.

6.

MARCUS AURELIUS

126

excuse: I dare not come, says he, for fear of being put
under an incapacity of returning an obligation, which I take
to be the worst way of destroying a man imaginable.
It is a precept of the Ephesian philosophers,^ that we
should always furnish our memory with some eminent

example of ancient virtue.

The Pythagoreans would have us look up into the sky
every morning, to put us in mind of the order and constancy
of the heavenly bodies, of the equality and purity of their
matter, and how frankly they lie open to observation; for a
star never wears a veil.
Remember how unconcernedly Socrates wore a sheepskin,
when Xanthippe had got his coat on, and ran out with it.
And how well he laughed off the matter to his friends, who
were strangely out of countenance by seeing him in such a
disguise.

till

People do not pretend to teach others to write and read

they have been taught themselves; this rule holds much

more of life.
Be dumb;

slaves have not the privilege of speaking.

And my heart laughed within."

" And virtue they will curse, speaking hard words."
He is a mad man that expects figs on the trees in winter;
*'

and he

is little

better that calls for his children again

when

they are dead and buried.

Epictetus

would have a man when he

is

kissing and

caressing his child, say to himself at the same time:

Toand leave me. These are the

words of ill omen, you will say. That is your mistake: the
consequences of mortality and the course of nature are no
ominous things to think on, otherwise it would be an ominous

morrow perhaps you may

business to cut

down

die

little

grass or corn.

Grapes are first sour, then ripe, then raisins, these are
all no more than bare alterations; not into nothing, but into
something which does not appear at present.
As Epictetus observes, nobody can rob another of his
free will.
*

Followers of Heraclitus.

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
The same

XII

127

philosopher has taught us the art of managing

our assent and movements; that we should have a regard to

circumstances; that our inclinations should be generous and
benevolent, and proportioned to the merit and dignity of
things that we must keep our desires from being headstrong,
and never have an aversion for anything which it is out of
;

our power to hinder.

Therefore, as Epictetus observes, the contest is no trifle,
but whether we are to live in our wits or out of them.
It is a saying of Socrates to some untoward people:

"What would you be at? Would you have the soul of a

man or of a beast in you ? Of a man. Of what sort of men,
of those that use their reason, or those that abuse it? Of the

Why then, continues the philosopher, do not you look

out for this privilege? Because we have it already. What
makes you then disagree, and fall foul upon each other?

first.

BOOK
All

XII

much ground
you may have at your ease, unless you are afraid of
making yourself too happy. Your method to do your busithose things you drudge, and range so

for,

is not to concern yourself about the time past, for that

never to be recovered; to rest the future with Providence,
and only stick to the present, and improve that to all the noble
purposes of piety and justice. The pious part will be discharged by being contented with your fate; and why should
you not, since nature made you for each other? And as to
the obligations of justice, you will acquit yourself here, provided you speak truth boldly and above board, and make

ness
is

law and the dignity of things your rule to act by. Wherein
you are not to be checked in your progress by the misbehaviour, the ignorance, and impertinent reports of other
people, nor yet by the sensations of the body that surrounds
you, for the part that suffers must look to that. To go on:
If, since your life is almost up, you lay aside all other mat-

and only cultivate your mind, and pay a regard to the

governing and diviner part of yourself; if you are not at all
afraid of losing your life, but only of never beginning to live
in accordance with nature, then you will act suitably to your

ters,

MARCUS AURELIUS

128

extraction, and deserve to be the offspring of the universe;

then you will be no longer a stranger in your own country,
nor be surprised at common accidents; you will never be
dependent on this or that.
God sees through the soul of every man as clearly as if
it was not wrapped up in matter, nor had anything of the

shroud and coarseness of body about

it.

And God,

with his
have

intellectual part alone, touches those beings only that

flowed and proceeded from him. Now, if you would learn

to do thus, a great deal of trouble would be saved; for he
that can overlook his body will hardly disturb himself about
the clothes he wears, the house he dwells in, about his repuor any part of this pomp and magnificence.
your body, your breath, and
consist of three parts
your mind. The first two are yours to take care of, but the
Therefore, if you abstract
latter is properly your person.
from the notion of yourself, that is, of your mind, whatever
other people either say or do, or whatever you may have said
tation,

You

or done yourself formerly, together with all that disturbs

you under the consideration of its coming to pass hereafter;
if you throw the necessary motions of your carcass out of
the definition, and those of the vortex that whirls about you,
and by this means preserve your rational faculties in an independent state of innocence, free from the allotments of fate,
holding close and steady to the virtues of justice, truth, and
acquiescence; if I say, you keep your mind separate and distinguished from the objects of appetite and the events of
time, both past and future, and make yourself like Empedocles's world,^

"
^

Round

as a ball in joyous rest reposing,"

Empedocles of Agrigentum was a philosopher who flourished about

B.C.
He was the first to establish the number of four elements.
These were, he thought, acted on by two moving causes love (combination), and strife (separation). Originally the four elements were
combined in a sphere where love reigned supreme, and all was peace
and harmony. Strife, which was originally outside the sphere, gradually forced its way in, and so began the period of change in which
we are living. Empedocles wrote an epic describing the origin of
the world, and from this the line in the text is a quotation.

444

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
is

the present

on

till

death stops

129

no longer than your real life,

you do all this, you may move
you, with credit and in harmony with the

and concern yourself

that

XII

to live

moment

if

deity within you.

I have often wondered how it comes to pass that everybody should love themselves best, and yet value their neighbour's opinion about themselves more than their own. Therefore, if any god or eminent instructor should stand at a man's
elbow and order him to turn his inside outwards, and publish
every thought and fancy as fast as they came into his head,
he would not submit so much as to a day's discipline; thus
we stand more in awe of our neighbour's judgments than our
own.
How comes it that since the gods have contrived all things
so well, and so much to the benefit of mankind, they should
overlook this particular, and suffer men of great virtue and
merit who, by their piety and devotion, were, as it were, in
communion with the powers above, and kept always a cor-

respondence with heaven, that they should suffer such men,

I say, to be finally extinguished by death, and not give them
their being again?
Now, if the case stands thus, you may
be assured had it been proper, the gods would have ordered
it otherwise; for had it been right it would have been possible, and nature would certainly have brought it forth if it
had been natural.
Be not satisfied with a superficial view of things, but
penetrate into their matter and form, and the end they were

made

for.

a mighty privilege is a man bom to, since it is

power not to do anything but what God Almighty
approves, and to be satisfied with all the distribution of

What

in his

Providence.

When things follow from the course of nature, we ought

not to blame the gods, for they do not wrong either willingly
or against their will, nor yet men, for their misbehaviour is
Therefore we must complain of nobody.
unacquainted is that man with the world, and how
ridiculous does he appear, that makes a wonder of anything
he meets with in this life!
all

involuntary.

How

MARCUS AURELIUS

130

Either the order of things is fixed by irrevocable fate,

may be worked into compassion, or else the
providence
or
random without any steerage. Now if nature
floats
at
world

under an immovable necessity, to what purpose should

you struggle against it? If the favour of Providence is to
lies

be gained, qualify yourself for the divine assistance; but if

chance and confusion prevail, be you contented that in such
a storm you have a governing intelligence within you, and
if the waves run too high, let them carry away your body,

your breath, and all things else, but there is no necessity

your mind should be driven with them.
A lamp till it is extinguished holds its light, and shines
without interruption, and can you find in your heart to see
your truth, honesty, and sobriety extinguished before you?
When you fancy anyone has transgressed, say this to
yourself: How do I know it is a fault? And granting it is,
it may be his conscience has corrected him, and if so, he has
Besides, you are to remember, that to
torn his own face.
wish an evil man should not do amiss, is just as wise as it
would be to desire that a fig-tree should not bear juice in
the figs, that children should not squall, nor horses neigh,
nor a great many other things act acccording to the necessity
of their condition. Pray, how would you have a man of such
an unfortunate disposition behave himself? If you are angry,
try to cure him.
If
it,

it is

not seemly never do

it,

if it is

not true, never speak

for your impulse should always be under your control.

Look always nicely into whatever makes an impression

upon your mind, distinguishing it into cause and matter;
and consider its purpose and design and the period of time,
beyond which it is unlikely to continue.
Consider, for it is high time, that you have something
more divine in you than the mechanism of passion, than the
wires of a puppet. What is there now in my soul? Is it
fear, or suspicion, or desire?
Or anything of this coarse
nature ?

Take care never

design, nor for

to do anything without thought, and

any other end but what may be serviceable

to the interest of society.

THE MEDITATIONS BOOK

XII

131

Consider that in a little time you will neither have place,

nor being, that your contemporaries will have the same fate,
and the present scene of nature be shut up. For all things
are formed by nature to change and turn and drop in pieces,
that new ones may be continually made out of them.
Remember that all things are opinion, and that it is in
your own power to think as you please. Therefore remove
the opinion, and then as if you had doubled some dangerous
cape, you will have nothing but a steady course, a smooth
sea, and a waveless bay to receive you.
Every activity that ceases in due time, suffers nothing
by breaking off: Neither does the agent receive any harm
from this. Thus life, which is nothing but a series and continuation of action, comes to no harm by having a seasonable
period put to it: Neither does he who has ended this series
Now nature assigns the term
in due time sustain any loss.
of Hfe; some times this period is fixed by particular nature,
as it happens when a man dies of old age but let it come late
or early, common nature has certainly a hand in it. And thus
the parts of nature changing from one form to another preserve the whole world in perpetual youth and vigour. Now
that is always good and reasonable which makes for the
From hence it follows that bare
service of the universe.
dying can be no real evil, seeing there is nothing disgraceful
in it, for it is both involuntary with respect to ourselves, and
;

serviceable to the general interest.

a good thing, since

it is

suitable,

Therefore,

it

is

certainly

and seasonable, and profitable

to the universe, for he that follows the Deity with his motions,

and

is

led

by

his will to the

same ends,

is

led

by God himself.

Let these three hints lie ready for service. First, As to

your own actions let nothing be done rashly nor to no purpose, nor indeed in any other manner than justice itself would
have ordered it. And as for external fortune, consider that
it is the blind distribution of chance or else the appointment
of providence.
Now either to murmur against chance or
impeach providence is extremely absurd. Secondly, Consider
what a slight thing man is from his conception till he receives
his soul; and from its reception till its loss; consider too the
parts of his composition and the state of his dissolution.

MARCUS AURELIUS

132

you could shoot yourself at pleasure

and thence take a view of human affairs, you
would perceive a strange -medley of condition, and discover
at the same time the air, and ether too, plentifully stocked
with inhabitants. And that if you mounted never so often,
you would have the old prospect. Alas! things are generally
of the same complexion and of the same short continuance
too, and yet how strangely we are conceited of them.
Discharge opinion and you are safe; and pray who can
hinder you from doing it?
When you are uneasy upon any account, you have forgotThirdly, Consider that if
into the sky

ten that

all

things

fall

out according to the nature of the

and that another man's fault is no concern of yours,

that what you reckon grievances is nothing but the old way
of the world and will come over again, and is now to be met
with in a thousand places. You have forgotten that all mankind are of kin, for though they may be unallied in flesh and
blood, their understandings are all of the same family. You
do not remember that every man's soul is a portion of the
Deity, and derived from thence, that we have nothing properly our own, but that our children, our bodies, and our
breath, are all borrowed from heaven, that opinion governs
all, and that it is not possible for any body to live, or lose
any more than the present moment. All this you seem to
have forgotten.
Reflect frequently upon those that have formerly been
mightily disturbed with accidents of any kind, that have carried their animosities and feuds to the most flaming excess,
that have made the most glorious figure or met with the
greatest misfortune, and then ask yourself, Where are they
universe,

all now?
They are vanished like a little smoke, they are
nothing but ashes, and a tale, or not even a tale. Recollect
likewise everything of this sort, what Fabius Catullinus did
at his country seat; Lucius Lupus, in his garden; Stertinius,

at Baiae; Tiberius, at Capreae; Rufus, at Velia, in short, the

overweening importance attached to anything whatsoever;

and know that the prize is insignificant, and the play not
worth the candle. It is much more becoming a philosopher
to stand clear of a^ectation, to be honest and temperate upon

THE MEDITATIONSBOOK
all

occasions,

XII

133

and to follow cheerfully wherever the gods lead

is more scandalous than a man that is proud

on, for nothing

of his humility.
To those that ask

my being so earnest in
ever saw any of the gods, or
convinced of the certainty of their existence

religious worship,

which way

am

me

the reason of

and whether

gods are not invisible.

But granting they were, the objection would signify nothing,
for I never had a sight of my own soul, and yet I have a
great value for it. And thus by my constant experience of
the power of the gods I have a proof of their being, and a
in the first place, I answer, that the

reason for

The

veneration.

happy life is to dissect everyand divide it into matter and

To practise honesty in good earnest, and speak truth

thing, view

form.

my

best provision for a

its

own

nature,

from the very soul of you. What remains but to live easy
and cheerful, and crowd one good action so close to another
that there may not be the least empty space between them.
The light of the sun is but one and the same, though it
is divided by the interposition of walls and mountains, and
abundance of other opaque bodies. There is but one common
matter, though it is parcelled out among bodies of different
There is but one sensitive soul too, notwithstandqualities.
ing it is divided among innumerable natures and individual
limitations.
And lastly, the rational soul, though it seems
Now,
to be split into distinction, is but one and the same.
excepting this

the other parts above-mentioned, such as

last,

breath and matter, though without apprehension, or any com-

mon

them to each other, are yet upheld by

and by that faculty which pushes things
of the same nature to the same place; but human understandings have a peculiar disposition to union; they stick
together by inclination, and nothing can extinguish such

an

affection to tie

intelligent being,

sociable thoughts

What

in

them.

you hanker after?

Is it bare existence? or
or motion ? or strength, that you may lose it again
in decay? What? Is it the privilege of speech, or the power
of thinking in general? Is any of this worth desiring? If
all these things are trifles, proceed to something that is worth

sensation

is

XIV 10

it

MARCUS AURELIUS

134

is to be governed by reason and the

you cannot be said to value these last-mentioned privileges rightly, if you are disturbed because death
must take them from you.
What a small part of immeasurable and infinite time falls
to the share of a single mortal, and how soon is every one
swallowed up in eternity! What a handful of the universal
matter goes to the making of a human body, and what a
very little of the universal soul too! And on what a narrow
clod with respect to the whole earth do you crawl upon!
Consider all this, and reckon nothing great, unless it be to
act in conformity to your own reason, and to suffer as the

your while, and that

And

Deity.

yet

universal nature shall appoint you.

man
this.

is

The

great business of a

to improve his mind, therefore consider

As

for

all

how

he does

other things, whether in our power to com-

pass or not, they are no better than lifeless ashes and smoke.

We

cannot have a more promising notion to set us above

it has been despised
even by that sect [the Epicureans] who made pleasure and
pain the standard of good and evil.
He that likes no time so
well as the fitting season, he that is indifferent whether he has
room for a long progress in reason or not, or whether he has
a few or a great many years to view the world in, a person
thus qualified will never be afraid of dying.
Hark ye friend you have been a burgher of this great
city, what matter though you have lived in it five years or
three; if you have observed the laws of the corporation, the
length or shortness of the time make no difference. Where is
the hardship then if nature, that planted you here, orders your
removal? You cannot say you are sent off by a tyrant or
unjust judge. No; you quit the stage as fairly as a player
does that has his discharge from the master of the revels.
But I have only gone through three acts, and not held out
jto the end of the fifth.
You say well; but in life three acts
play
entire.
make the
He that ordered the opening of the
the fear of death, than to consider that

first

scene

now

gives the sign for shutting

are neither accountable

retire well satisfied, for
satisfied too.

up the

last;

you

for one nor the other; therefore

He, by

whom

you are dismissed,

is

THE APOLOGETICUS
OF

TERTULLIAN
TRANSLATED BY THE

REV.

S.

THELWALL

LATE SCHOLAR OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

WITH AN INTRODUCTION UPON

THE EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS

By

JOHN DAMEN MAGUIRE,

Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF LATIN IN THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA

INTRODUCTION
THE EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS
BY THE REV, JOHN DAMEN MAGUIRE,

PH. D.

Professor of Latin in the Catholic University of America*

In August, 410 A. D., during the reign of Honorius,

Rome was sacked by a mixed army of Goths and Huns under
the command of Alaric. Almost to the day, eight hundred
years had passed since the city had been in the possession
of a foreign foe; and during that time, Rome, first RepubHcan and then Imperial, had extended her victorious sway
over three continents.
She had perfected a vast governmental system, had elaborated a marvellous culture and developed a literature which

basic in the literatures of

is still

The working out of

this stupendous achievement, in thought and art and deed, attained by Rome in her
long career, was gradual, intermittent and fluctuating; nor
civilization.

is it now possible, amid so many momentous events, to fix

upon any one of these as definitely setting a term to the

life

of the ancient world.

into the new.

In

all

The

old order faded insensibly

the post-Vergilian literature there are

premonitions of the coming centuries, and the later ages

never wholly lost reminiscences of the classic tradition. Thus,
while it is possible definitely to mark the beginning of Latin
literature, there is no fixed point at which its history may be
said to close.
From the day on which Livius Andronicus,
the Greek prisoner of war, produced the first Latin play in
the

Roman

theatre,

up to the day on which Rome capitu-

lated to the barbarian Alaric, Latin literature shared in all

Roman state itself, its development

and decay bring the reflexes of the changes, political, social
and economic, of which Roman history is the record. In

the vicissitudes of the

13T

INTRODUCTION

138

the

those centuries gradually

literature,

patterned

largely

upon a careful study and imitation of Greek models, passed

through all its varied phases, from feeble beginnings first
to substantial achievement, and thence onward to maturity
and the perfection which it finally reached in the earlier

Then followed

years of the principate of Augustus,

the

and the post-Augustan history of Roman

literature is simply the record of an attempt, only partially
successful, to repeat and prolong the glorious achievement of
inevitable reaction,

the past.

During the years, however, from Augustus to Cbmmodus,

a momentous change had overtaken the world. The teachings of Christianity during that period had spread so rapidly
that the Christian religion came finally to be regarded as a
serious menace to the existing polytheism, which was the
frame-work of the state religion. Year by year Christianity
had widened its influence, in the transformation of character
and conduct which its teachings inspired and, though it had
been opposed by all the power of the Roman Empire and
persecuted centuries long, it nevertheless had risen more
elastic than ever out of each persecution, and thus had found
in opposition and in persecution those very forces, vital and
enduring, which it needed to realize its literature.
Christianity has little to show in the way of literature
;

during the

first

century of

its

existence; during the second

century, however, ecclesiastical writings multiply and

become

almost exclusively apologetic in character. And this apologetic character, so distinctive of such early writers as Aristides of Athens, Aristo of Pella, and Justin Martyr, becomes
fixed and remains a permanent quality in patristic literature.
It is equally in evidence in Minucius Felix as in the writings
of Tertullian; and the master-piece of Christian antiquity,
the

De

Civitate Dei of St. Augustine,

is

an apology for the

Christian religion.

With the coming of the third century came also a desire

for a scientific treatment of Christian doctrine.
Ecclesiastical literature thus entered upon a new development.
From

now onward
ful

there

growth of

was

to be within the

literary

activity.

Church

This

itself a

scientific

peace-

tendency

THE EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS

found

best expression in the Christian East,

its

139

where the

School of Alexandria soon became known as

About i8o a.d., this
the centre of ecclesiastical science.
school had already reached a high degree of efficiency, and,
Catechetical

according to Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. V, lo, i), seems to have

been long established. The two most famous teachers of this
celebrated school were Clement (150-214?) and Origen
(186-255), both of whom labored with notable success in
enlisting Greek science and culture in the service of the Christian cause.

Clement of Alexandria was born

about 150 a.d., probAfter his conversion to Christianity he

travelled extensively and finally came under the influence of
Pantaenus, who was teaching at Alexandria. About 180
A.D., he became a presbyter, and was made an associate and
assistant to Pantaenus, after the latter's death, about 200 a.d.,
Clement succeeding him as head-master of the school. About
ably at Athens.

203 A.D., owing to the persecution of Septimius, Clement left

Alexander and went to Asia Minor. A letter addressed by
Alexander to Origen in 215 a.d., speaks of Clement as already dead.

The writings of Clement cover a wide range of subjects

and are epoch-making in the history of patristic literature.
The most important of his works is his extensive " Introduction to Christianity" in three parts, namely, the Protrepticus, or exhortation to the heathen, the

training in the Christian

lanies, a

proposed

Christianity.

life,

scientific

Paedagogus, or

and the Stromata, or miscel-

account of the revealed truths of

the list of his

Some minor works make up

literary activities,

Origen (Adamantius, "the man of

Christian
a.d.

He

steel") was born of

probably at Alexandria in 185 or 186
succeeded to the presidency of the Catechetical

parents,

School after the departure of Clement in 202 or 203 a.d.

He remained in charge of the school until about 215, and
it was during these years, while meditating on Matth. xix,
12, that Origen mutilated himself.
In the year 230 a.d.,
while on a journey to Athens, he stopped at Palestine and
was ordained priest by two of his friends, Alexander and

INTRODUCTION

140
Theoctistus,

this,

without the knowledge of his bishop, and

He was recalled
from the presidency of the school
by two synods, held 231 and 232 a.d. in addition to that,
he was degraded from the priesthood because of the irregularity of his ordination and because of his unecclesiastical
teachings.
He retired to Caesarea and suffered during the
Decian persecution. He died at Tyre in 254 or 255 a.d.
Origen was one of the most prolific writers of whom
There are rumors in antiquity of 6,000
there is record.
books which he is said to have written. Another story catalogues his works under 2,000 headings, and St. Jerome
(Ep. 33), repeating Eusebius numbers about 800 titles. We
possess but a small remnant of his works, and of this remnant one-half is known only through Latin translations. His
in

spite

of his self-inflicted mutilation.

to Alexandria and deposed

writings range over every department of ecclesiastical science,

for he was the first to construct, though not to conceive, a
philosophical-theological system at once comprehensive

and

uniform.
In the gigantic work

known as the Hexapla, Origen set

about exhibiting the relation of the Septuagint to the original
Hebrew text of the Bible. The work was constructed in six
columns containing respectively the Hebrew text in Hebrew
and Greek letters, as well as the Greek versions of

letters

Aquila, Symmachus, the Septuagint and Theodotian.

Exegetical works of Origen

The

may

be grouped under three

headings; Scholia, HomiHes and Commentaries. His Apologetic work consists of a treatise in eight books, against Celsus, a work pronounced to be the most perfect piece of
Apologetic literature of the primitive Church.
In the West as early as the third century, ecclesiastical
literature begins to exhibit certain native peculiarities.

the organ of this Western Christianity

of
the tone that dominates
all,

The

spirit that reigns

its

contents

is

throughout these

practical, for their direct

purpose

necessary and the useful.

As

is

is

distinctly

works

is

First

Latin and

Roman.

sober and

to secure the immediately

in the East so in the Latin

Church, the exigency of the times marks the Apologetic character as supreme.
Biblical studies are represented by Vic-

THE EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS

141

TORiNus Afer and Hippolytus; Commodianus leads the

procession of Christian poets.
The first representative chosen from
is

Tertullian, whose

full

among these writers

name was Quintus Septimius Flo-

He was born about i6o a.d., at Carthage,

was serving as a centurion of the proconsul

reno Tertullianus.

where

his father

of Africa. After an excellent training Tertullian probably

became an advocate and was converted to Christianity about

According to St. Jerome (De Viris 111. c. 53)

was ordained a priest. In the year 202 a.d., or
thereabouts, he openly became an adherent of the sect known
as Montanists and among these he soon founded a sect known
as the Tertullianists.
St. Jerome (ibid.) says that he lived
193 A.D.

Tertullian

to an advanced age.
Tertullian

was

easily the

most original as well as the most

No writer according to Ebert

ever more fully justified the saying of Buffon, that a man's
style is himself, than Tertullian. In all his writings the per-

prolific

of

sonal note

one of

all

is

the Latin writers.

ever dominant, and his habitual atmosphere

conflict.

The

writings that have

come down

is

to us fall

easily into three groups: Apologetic, in defence of Christianity

Dogmatico-Apologetic, refutations of heresy, and Prac.

tico-Ascetical, dealing with Christian morality

and

discipline.

The Apologeticus or Apologeticum (ancient authorities do not

agree) was written in the year 197. The special characteristic
of the work lies in the boldness with which Tertullian deals
with the political accusations against the Christians. It is still
a question whether the Octavius, written by Minucius Felix,
was a source used by Tertullian in his Apologeticus, as Ebert,
Schwenke and Reck hold or whether Minucius used the work
of Tertullian, as Lactantius implied in antiquity and as Massebieau maintained quite recently. One other work of Tertullian
is worthy of special mention, namely, the De Anima.
This
work is interesting because it is the first Christian psychology,
though its tone is theological as well as psychological. The
purpose of the work was to describe the doctrine of the human soul according to Christian revelation. The first section
deals with the nature and the faculties of the soul. In the second section the author discusses the origin of the soul, and in
;

INTRODUCTION

142

the third and final section he treats of certain psychological

dreams, death and the place and state of

states such as sleep,

the soul after death.

Other important writers of the period now under discusSt. Cyprian, the noble Bishop of Carthage; LacTANTius, the " Christian Cicero " St. Athanasius, " The
Pillar of the Church " Sts. Basil, Gregory of Nanzianzus,
and Gregory of Nyssa, the " Splendid Trinity in which are
concentrated all the rays of that brilliant epoch of Christianity " St. John Chrysostom, " The Golden-mouth Orator "
St. Ambrose, the statesman, orator and bishop of Milan St.
Jerome, whose monumental work of preparing a serviceable and trustworthy text of the Bible in the Latin language
remains one of the marvels of literary history.
Finally we come to St. Augustine, one of the most widely
sion were

read fathers of the early church.

The

full

name of

November

the thirteenth in the year 354

small and insignificant

town of Numidia.

a.d._,

came of a Christian

born

at Tagaste, a

His father became a

Christian only a short time before his death

ever, Monica,

this re-

He was

markable writer was Aurelius Augustinus.

family.

his mother,

In the

first

hownine

books of his Confessions, Augustine himself describes his intellectual and moral development from his earliest childhood
to the death of his beloved mother, in 387 a.d. At the age of
nineteen, while reading the Hortensius of Cicero, Augustine
felt himself deeply moved with the love for the " immortal
beauty of wisdom " the great work that he was reading, however, failed to satisfy the longing of his soul quod nomen
Christi non erat ibi, "because the name of Christ was absent."
(Conf., 4, 8.)
In the year 374 a.d., he joined the
sect known as Manichaeans and from that time until 386 a.d.
his life was one long struggle with doubt. In the year 383 a.d.
he obtained the chair of rhetoric at Milan and thus came under the influence of the great St. Ambrose. He was finally
;

baptized April the twenty-fifth, 387 a.d.

In 388 a.d. he returned to Carthage after a year spent in study in Rome. For
the history of the remaining years of his life we are indebted
to his friend Possidius, bishop of Calama, who wrote (432
A.D.), a Vita Sancti Augustini, which begins where the Con-

THE EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS

143

He was ordained priest at Hippo Regius in

fessions cease.
391 A.D. and was consecrated co-adjutor bishop by the primate
Megalius in 394 or 395 a.d. Shortly after the death of the
latter Augustine became bishop of Hippo.
During the years
of his episcopacy Augustine wrote against the Manichaean, the
Donatist and the Pelagian heresies. In the last years of his
life he saw the Roman Empire crumbling away. He had lived
to see Rome, the mistress of the world, sacked and given over
to pillage; and when he lay dying in 430 a.d. the barbarians
who had overrun the fciirest portions of his beloved Africa
were camped at the gates beleaguering his episcopal city
of Hippo.
The Benedictine edition, which is the basis of all subsequent recensions of the works of St. Augustine, begins
with two books of Retractions and thirteen books of ConIn the former work, the Retractions, written
fessions.
about three years before he died, the author surveys critically
all his literary productions from the time of his conversion.
He makes in his resume a chronological list of ninety-three
works distributed into two hundred and thirty-two books.
Throughout the whole compendium he takes occasion at every
point to correct the inaccuracies of his earlier works.

The second work, named above the Confessions, written

about 400 A.D., is of absorbing interest. Formally considered
the work is an outpouring of the writer's heart in the presence
of the AJl-knowing God. The first nine books with which
Augustine prefaces his Confessions seek to establish by personal experience the principle laid down in the beginning,
Fecisti nos ad te (Domine) et inquietmn est cor nostrum
donee requiescat in te, " Thou hast made us for Thyself, O
Lord, and our heart is not at peace until it findeth its rest in
Thee." The tenth book is a self analysis and the last three
are meditations on the creation the narrative of Genesis.
The other writings of St. Augustine cover a wide range of
subjects and discuss such matters as rhetoric, music, dialectics,
philosophy, Scripture, grammar and psychology.
The most
important, however, of his writings is the De Civitate Dei (The
City of God). This work was composed in twenty-two books

and published

in separated portions in the interval

between

INTRODUCTION

144

413 and 426

A.D.

It

owes

its

origin to a renewal of pagan ac-

It had been charged that the

gods of the ancient religion were angry at the spread of Christianity and had withdrawn their favour; as a consequence
Rome had fallen under the barbarian assault of Alaric and
his followers.
Augustine not only answers this ancient calumny, but he undertakes to establish for all time the true relation obtaining between Christianity and paganism. He passes
in review the present and the past and he forecasts the future
from the past. He charts the whole course of events and he
His apology thus
interprets them with insight and power.
rises to the dignity and the worth of a magnificent philosophy
of history, a work that towers among other apologies of
Christian Antiquity as an "Alpine peak towers among lesser

cusations against Christianity.

heights."

APOLOGETICUS
BY TERTULLIAN
Rulers of

the

Roman Empire,

if,

seated for the adminis-

tration of justice on your lofty tribunal, under the gaze of

every eye, and occupying there all but the highest position in
may not openly inquire into and sift before the
world the real truth in regard to the charges made against the
Christians; if in this case alone you are afraid or ashamed to
exercise your authority in making public inquiry with the carethe state, you

if, finally, the extreme severion our people in recently private judgments, stand
in the way of our being permitted to defend ourselves before
you, you cannot surely forbid the Truth to reach your ears by
the secret pathway of a noiseless book.
She has no appeals to make to you in regard of her condition, for that does not excite her wonder, She knows that
she is but a sojourner on the earth, and that among strangers
she naturally finds foes and more than that, that her origin,

fulness which becomes justice;

ties inflicted

her dwelling-place, her hope, her recompense, her honours,

are above.
One thing, meanwhile, she anxiously desires of
earthly rulers
not to be condemned unknown. What harm
can it do to the laws, supreme in their domain, to give her a
hearing? Nay, for that part of it, will not their absolute supremacy be more conspicuous in their condemning her, even
after she has made her plea? But if unheard sentence is pronounced against her, besides the odium of an unjust deed, they
will incur the merited suspicion of doing it with some idea
that it is unjust, as not wishing to hear what they may not be
able to hear and condemn.
lay this before you as the first ground on which we
urge that your hatred to the name of Christian is unjust. And
the very reason which seems to excuse this injustice (I mean
ignorance) at once aggravates and convicts it. For what is
there more unfair than to hate a thing of which you know

We

145


TERTULLIAN

146
nothing",

merited

even though

when

it

is

knowledge, whence

it

is its

to be merited.

justice to be vindicated

from the mere

to be proved, not

Hatred is only
But without that

deserve to be hated?

known

fact that

for that

an aversion

is

exists,

but from acquaintance with the subject.

When men, then, give way to a dislike simply because they
are entirely ignorant of the nature of the thing disliked, why

may

it

not be precisely the very sort of thing they should not

So we maintain that they are both ignorant while

dislike?

they hate us, and hate us unrighteously while they continue in

ignorance, the one thing being the result of the other either

way

of

it.

The proof of

and excusing

their ignorance, at once

their injustice,

is this,

that those

condemning

who

once hated

knew nothing about it, no sooner

come to know it than they all lay down at once their enmity.
From being- its haters they become its disciples. By simply
Christianity because they

it, they begin now to hate what they

had formerly been, and to profess what they had formerly
hated and their numbers are as great as are laid to our

getting acquainted with

charge.

The outcry

is that the State is filled with Christians

that
they are in the fields, in the citadels, in the islands they make
lamentations as for some calamity, that both sexes, every age
:

and condition, even high rank, are passing over to the profession of the Christian faith and yet for all, their minds are not
awakened to the thought of some good they have failed to notice in it.
They must not allow any truer suspicions to cross
their minds; they have no desire to make closer trial.
Here
;

alone the curiosity of human nature slumbers. They like to

be ignorant, though to others the knowledge has been bliss.
Anacharsis reproved the rude venturing to criticise the cultured; how much more this judging of those who know, by
men who are entirely ignorant, might he have denounced Because they already dislike, they want to know no more. But
thus they prejudge that of which they are ignorant to be such,
that, if they came to know it, it could no longer be the object
of their aversion since, if inquiry finds nothing worthy of
dislike, it is certainly proper to cease from an unjust dislike,
while if its bad character comes plainly out, instead of the de!

APOLOGETICUS

147

it being thus diminished, a stronger

reason for perseverance in that detestation is obtained, even
under the authority of justice itself.
But, says one, a thing is not good merely because multitudes go over to it for how many have the bent of their na-

testation entertained for

ture towards whatever

is

bad how many go astray into ways

!

of error! It is undoubted. Yet a thing that is thoroughly

evil, not even those whom it carries away venture to defend
as good. Nature throws a veil either of fear or shame over
all evil.
For instance, you find that criminals are eager to
conceal themselves, avoid appearing in public, are in trepidation when they are caught, deny their guilt when they are accused even when they are put to the rack, they do not easily
;

or always confess; when there is no doubt about their condemnation, they grieve for what they have done. In their
self-communings they admit their being impelled by sinful
dispositions, but they lay the blame either on fate or on the
stars.
They are unwilling to acknowledge that the thing is
theirs, because they own that it is wicked.
But what is there like this in the Christian's case? The
only shame or regret he feels, is at not having been a Christian earlier. If he is pointed out, he glories in it; if he is accused, he offers no defence interrogated, he makes voluntary
confession; condemned, he renders thanks. What sort of evil
thing is this, which wants all the ordinary peculiarities of evil
fear, shame, subterfuge, penitence, lamenting?
What! is
that a crime in w^hich the criminal rejoices? to be accused of
which is his ardent wish, to be punished for which is his felicity? You cannot call it madness, you who stand convicted
of knowing nothing of the matter.
If, again, it is certain that we are the most wicked of men,
why do you treat us so differently from our fellows, that is,
from other criminals, it being only fair that the same crime
should get the same treatment?
When the charges made
against us are made against others, they are permitted to
make use both of their own lips and of hired pleaders to show
their innocence.
They have full opportunity of answer and
debate in fact, it is against the law to condemn anybody undefended and unheard. Christians alone are forbidden to say
;

TERTULLIAN

148

anything in exculpation of themselves, in defence of the truth,

to help the judge to a righteous decision, all that is cared about
the confession of the
is having what the public hatred demands
name, not examination of the charge while in your ordinary
judicial investigations, on a man's confession of the crime of

murder, or sacrilege, or incest, or treason, to take the points

of which we are accused, you are not content to proceed at
once to sentence, you do not take that step till you thoroughly
examine the circumstances of the confession what is the real
character of the deed, how often, where, in what way, when
he has done it, who were privy to it, and who actually took
part with him in it.

Nothing

like this is

done

in

our

case,

though the falsehoods

disseminated about us ought to have the same sifting, that it

might be found how many murdered children each of us had
tasted; how many incests each of us had shrouded in dark-

what cooks, what dogs had been witness of our deeds.

Oh, how great the glory of the ruler who should bring to light
some Christian who had devoured a hundred infants! But,
instead of that, we find that even inquiry in regard to our case
is forbidden.
For the younger PHny, when he was ruler of
a province, having condemned some Christians to death, and
driven some from their sted fastness, being still annoyed by
their great numbers, at last sought the advice of Trajan, the
reigning emperor, as to what he was to do with the rest, explaining to his master that, except an obstinate disinclination
to offer sacrifices, he found in their religious services nothing
but meetings at early morning for singing hymns to Christ
and God, and sealing home their way of life by a united pledge
to be faithful to their religion, forbidding murder, adultery,
dishonesty, and other crimes.
Upon which Trajan wrote
back that Christians were by no means to be sought after; but,
if they were brought before him, they should be punished.
O miserable deliverance, under the necessities of the case,
ness;

a self-contradiction!
innocent,
is

and

it

commands them

at once merciful

Why

them

It forbids

and cruel;

dost thou play a

game of

to be sought after as

to be punished as guilty.

it

passes by, and

it

evasion upon thyself,

It

punishes.

Judg-


APOLOGETICUS
ment?

If

149

why dost thou not also

why dost thou not also

thou condemnest,

If thou dost not inquire,

Military stations are distributed through

all

inquire?

absolve?
the provinces for

Against traitors and public foes every man

is a soldier; search is made even for their confederates and
accessaries. The Christian alone must not be sought, though
he may be brought and accused before the judge as if a search
had any other end than that in view! And so you condemn
the man for whom nobody wished a search to be made when
he is presented to you, and who even now does not deserve
punishment, I suppose, because of his guilt, but because,
though forbidden to be sought, he was found.
And then, too, you do not in that case deal with us in the
ordinary way of judicial proceedings against offenders; for, in
the case of others denying, you apply the torture to make
tracking robbers.

them confess

Christians

alone you torture, to

make them

deny; whereas, if we were guilty of any crime, we should be

sure to deny it, and you with your tortures would force us to
confession. Nor indeed should you hold that our crimes require no such investigation merely on the ground that you are
convinced by our profession of the name that the deeds were
done, you who are daily wont, though you know well enough
what murder is, none the less to extract from the confessed
murderer a full account of how the crime was perpetrated. So
that with all the greater perversity you act, when, holding our
crimes proved by our confession of the name of Christ, you
drive us by torture to fall from our confession, that, repudiating the name, we may in like manner repudiate also the
crimes with which, from that same confession, you had assumed that we were chargeable.
I suppose, though you believe us to be the worst of mankind, you do not wish us to perish. For thus_, no doubt, you
are in the habit of bidding the murderer deny, and of ordering
the man guilty of sacrilege to the rack if he persevere in his
acknowledgment! Is that the way of it?
But if thus you do not deal with us as criminals, you declare us thereby innocent, when as innocent you are anxious
that we do not persevere in a confession which you know will

XIV 11

TERTULLIAN

150

bring on us a condemnation of necessity, not of justice, at

your hands. *' I am a Christian," the man cries out. He tells
you what he is; you wish to hear from him what he is not.
Occupying your place of authority to extort the truth, you do
your utmost to get lies from us. "I am," he says, "that which
you ask me if I am. Why do you torture me to sin? I confess, and you put me to the rack. What would you do if I denied ? " Certainly you give no ready credence to others when
they deny. When we deny you believe at once.
Let this perversity of yours lead you to suspect that there
is some hidden power in the case under whose influence you
act against the forms, against the nature of public justice,

For, unless I am
even against the very laws themselves.
greatly mistaken, the laws enjoin offenders to be searched out,
and not to be hidden away. They lay it down that persons who
own a crime are to be condemned, not acquitted. The decrees
of the senate, the commands of your chiefs, lay this clearly
down. The power of which you are servants is a civil, not a
tyrannical domination. Among tyrants, indeed, torments used
to be inflicted even as punishments: with you they are mitigated to a means of questioning alone. Keep to your law in
these as necessary till confession is obtained; and if the torture is anticipated by confession, there will be no occasion for
it: sentence should be passed; the criminal should be given
over to the penalty which is his due, not released. Accordingly, no one is eager for the acquittal of the guilty it is not
right to desire that, and so no one is ever compelled to deny.
Well, you think the Christian a man of every crime, an
enemy of the gods, of the emperor, of the laws, of good morals, of all nature yet you compel him to deny, that you may
acquit him, which without his denial you could not do. You
play fast and loose with the laws. You wish him to deny his
guilt, that you may, even against his will, bring him out blame;

less

and free from

is this

all guilt

in reference to the past!

strange perversity on your part

reflect that

a spontaneous confession

is

How

Whence

you do not
greatly more worthy of

is it

credit than a compelled denial; or consider whether,

when

compelled to deny, a man's denial may not be in good faith,

and whether acquitted, he may not, then and there, as soon

APOLOGETICUS
as the trial

is

151

over, laugh at your hostility, a Christian as

much

as ever?
Seeing, then, that in everything you deal differently with
us than with other criminals, bent upon the one object of
taking from us our name (indeed, it is ours no more if we
do what Christians never do), it is made perfectly clear that
there is no crime of any kind in the case, but merely a name

which a certain system, ever working against the truth, pursues with its enmity, doing this chiefly with the object of securing that men may have no desire to know for certain what
they

know

for certain they are entirely ignorant of.

Hence, too, it is that they believe about us things of which

they have no proof, and they are disinclined to have them
looked into, lest the charges^ they would rather take on trust,
are all proved to have no foundation, that the name so hostile
may
to that rival power
its crimes presumed, not proved
be condemned simply on its own confession. So we are put
to the torture if we confess, and we are punished if we persevere, and if we deny we are acquitted, because all the contention is about a name.
Finally, why do you read out of your tablet-lists that such
a man is a Christian? why not also that he is a murderer?
And if a Christian is a murderer, why not guilty, too, of incest, or any other vile thing you believe of us?
In our case
alone you are either ashamed or unwilling to mention the
very names of our crimes. If to be called a "Christian" does
not imply any crime, the name is surely very hateful, when
that of itself is made a crime.
What are we to think of it, that most people so blindly
knock their heads against the hatred of the Christian name;
that when they bear favourable testimony to any one, they
mingle with it abuse of the name he bears ? "A good man,"
says one, " is Gains Seius, only that he is a Christian."
So
another, " I am astonished that a wise man like Lucius should
have suddenly become a Christian." Nobody thinks it needful
to consider whether Gains is not good and Lucius wise, on this
very account that he is a Christian; or a Christian, for the
reason that he is wise and good. They praise what they know,
they abuse what they are ignorant of, and they inspire their

TERTULLIAN

152

knowledge with their ignorance though in fairness you should

rather judge of what is unknown from what is known, than
what is known from what is unknown.
;

Others, in the case of persons

whom,

before they took the

had known as loose, and vile, and

wicked, put on them a brand from the very thing which they

name of
praise.

Christian, they

In the blindess of their hatred, they

fall

foul of their

" What a woman she was how

own approving judgment
wanton! how gay! What a youth he was! how profligate!
So the
they have become Christians "
how libidinous
hated name is given to a reformation of character.
Some even barter away their comforts for that hatred, content to bear injury, if they are kept free at home from the obThe wife, now chaste, the husject of their bitter enmity.
band, now no longer jealous, casts out of his house the son,
now obedient, the father, who used to be so patient, disinherits
the servant, now faithful, the master, once so mild, com!

mands away from

a high offence for any

one to be reformed by the detested name. Goodness is of less
value than hatred of Christians.

Well now,

if

his presence:

there

is

it is

this dislike

can you attach to names?

What

of the name, what blame

accusation can you bring

against mere designations, save that something in the

word

sounds either barbarous, or unlucky, or scurrilous, or unchaste? But Christian, so far as the meaning of the word is
concerned, is derived from anointing. Yes, and even when
it is wrongly pronounced by you " Chrestianus " ( for you do
not even know accurately the name you hate), it comes from
sweetness and benignity. You hate, therefore, in the guiltless,
even a guiltness name.
But the special ground of dislike to the sect is, that it bears
the name of its Founder. Is there anything new in a religious
sect getting for its followers a designation from its master?
Are not the philosophers called from the founders of their
systems Platonists, Epicureans, Pythagoreans? Are not the
Stoics and Academics so called also from the places in which
they assembled and stationed themselves? and are not phy-

sicians

named from

chus, cooks even

Erasistratus,

from Apicius?

grammarians from

A'ristar-

Ajid yet the bearing of the

APOLOGETICUS

153

name, transmitted from the original institutor with whatever

he has instituted, offends no one. No doubt, if it is proved that
the sect is a bad one, and so its founder bad as well, that will
prove that the name is bad and deserves our aversion, in respect of the character both of the sect and its author. Before,
therefore, taking up a dislike to the name, it behoved you to
consider the sect in the author, or the author in the sect. But
now, without any sifting and knowledge of either, the mere
name is made matter of accusation, the mere name is assailed,
and a sound alone brings condemnation on a sect and its author
both, while of both you are ignorant, because they have such
and such a designation, not because they are convicted of anything wrong.
And so, having made these remarks as it were by way of
preface, that I might show in its true colours the injustice
of the public hatred against us, I shall now take my stand on
the plea of our blamelessness and I shall not only refute the
things which are objected to us, but I shall also retort them
on the objectors, that in this way all may know that Christians
are free from the very crimes they are so well aware prevail
;

among

themselves, that they

may

at the

the blush for their accusations against us,

same time be put

accusations

to

I shall

not say of the worst of men against the best, but now, as they
will have it, against those who are only their fellows in sin.

We

shall reply to the accusation

of

all

the various crimes

we

are said to be guilty of in secret, such as we find them committing in the light of day, and as being guilty of which we are
held to be wicked, senseless, worthy of punishment, deserving

of ridicule.

But

since,

when our

truth meets

you

successfully at

points, the authority of the laws as a last resort

against

it,

so that

it is

is

set

all

up

either said that their determinations are

absolutely conclusive, or the necessity of obedience

is,

how-

ever unwillingly, preferred to the truth, I shall first, in this

matter of the laws, grapple with you as with their chosen protectors.

Now

tences, " It

first,

when you

sternly lay

it

down

in

your sen-

not lawful for you to exist," and with unhesitating rigour you enjoin this to be carried out, you exhibit
the violence and unjust domination of mere tyranny, if you
is

TERTULLIAN

154

deny the thing to be lawful, simply on the ground that you

wish it to be unlawful, not because it ought. But if you would
have it unlawful because it ought not to be lawful, without doubt that should have no permission of law which does
harm; and on this ground, in fact, it is already determined
that whatever is beneficial is legitimate.
Well, if I have found what your law prohibits to be good,
as one who has arrived at such a previous opinion, has it
not lost its power to debar me from it, though that very
thing, if it were evil, it would justly forbid to me? If your
law has gone wrong, it is of human origin, I think it has not
fallen from heaven.
Is it wonderful that man should err in
;

making a law, or come to his senses in

rejecting

it ?

Did not the

Lacedaemonians amend the laws of Lycurgus himself, thereby

inflicting such pain on their author that he shut himself up,
and doomed himself to death by starvation? Are you not
yourselves every day, in your efforts to illumine the darkness of antiquity, cutting and hewing with the new axes of
imperial rescripts and edicts, that whole ancient and rugged
forest of your laws? Has not Severus, that most resolute of
rulers, but yesterday repealed the ridiculous Papian laws
which compelled people to have children before the Julian laws
allow matrimony to be contracted, and that though they have
the authority of age upon their side?
There were laws, too, in old times, that parties against
whom a decision had been given might be cut in pieces by their
creditors; however, by common consent that cruelty was afterwards erased from the statutes, and the capital penalty
turned into a brand of shame. By adopting the plan of confiscating a debtor's goods, it was sought rather to pour the blood
in blushes over his face than to pour it out. How many laws
lie hidden out of sight which still require to be reformed
For
it is neither the number of their years nor the dignity of their
maker that commends them, but simply that they are just and
!

therefore,

when

their injustice

is

recognised, they are deserv-

edly condemned, even though they condemn. Why speak we

of them as unjust? nay, if they punish mere names, we may
well call

But

them

if

irrational.

they punish acts,

why

in

our case do they punish acts

APOLOGETICUS

155

on the ground of a name, while in others they must

have them proved not from the name, but from the wrong
done? I am a practiser of incest (so they say) why do they
not inquire into it? I am an infant-killer; why do they not
apply the torture to get from me the truth? I am guilty of
solely

crimes against the gods, against the Csesars; why am I, who

am able to clear myself, not allowed to be heard on my own
behalf? No law forbids the sifting of the crime which it prohibits, for a judge never inflicts a righteous vengeance if he
not well assured that a crime has been committed nor does
a citizen render a true subjection to the law, if he does not
know the nature of the thing on which the punishment is inflicted. It is not enough that a law is just, nor that the judge
should be convinced of its justice those from whom obedience
is expected should have that conviction too.
Nay, a law lies
under strong supspicions which does not care to have itself
tried and approved it is a positively wicked law, if, unproved,
it tyrannizes over men.
To say a word about the origin of laws of the kind to
which we now refer, there was an old decree that no god
should be consecrated by the emperor till first approved by the
senate.
Marcus ^Emilius had experience of this in reference
to his god Alburnus. And this, too, makes for our case, that

is

among you

divinity is allotted at the judgment of human

Unless gods give satisfaction to men, there will be no
deification for them: the god will have to propitiate the
man. Tiberius accordingly, in whose days the Christian name
made its entry into the world, having himself received intelligence from Palestine of events which had clearly shown
the truth of Christ's divinity, brought the matter before the
senate, with his own decision in favour of Christ. The senate,
because it had not given the approval itself, rejected his proposal. Caesar held to his opinion, threatening wrath against all
beings.

accusers of the Christians.

Consult your histories you will there find that Nero was the
who assailed with the imperial sword the Christian sect,
making progress then especially at Rome. But we glory in
having our condemnation hallowed by the hostility of such a
wretch. For any one who knows him, can understand that not
;

first

v-^

"^

TERTULLIAN

except as being of singular excellence did anything bring on

it Nero's condemnation.
Domitian, too, a man of Nero's type
at persecution but as he had somehim, he soon put an end to what he had
begun, even restoring again those whom he had banished. Such
as these have always been our persecutors,
men unjust, imin cruelty, tried his

thing of the

human

hand

in

whom

even you yourselves have no good to

say, the sufferers under whose sentences you have been wont
pious, base, of

to restore.

But among so many princes from that time to the present

day, with anything of divine and

human wisdom

point out a single persecutor of the Christian name.

in

them,

So far

from that, we, on the contrary, bring before you one who
was their protector, as you will see by examining the letters
of Marcus Aurelius, that most grave of emperors, in which
he bears his testimony that that Germanic drought was removed by the rains obtained through the prayers of the Chris-

who chanced to be fighting under him. And as he did

not by public law remove from Christians their legal disabilities, yet in another way he put them openly aside, even
adding a sentence of condemnation, and that of greater
tians

severity, against their accusers.

What sort of laws are these which the impious alone

execute against us and the unjust, the vile, the bloody, the
senseless, the insane?
which Trajan to some extent made

naught by forbidding Christians to be sought after; which

neither a Hadrian, though fond of searching into all things
strange and new, nor a Vespasian, though the subjugator of
the Jews, nor a Pius, nor a Verus, ever enforced ? It should
surely be judged something more natural for bad men to be
eradicated by good princes as being their natural enemies,
than by those of a spirit kindred with their own.
I would now have these most religious protectors and
vindicators of the laws and institutions of their fathers, tell
me, in regard to their own fidelity, and the honour and submission themselves show to ancestral institutions, if they
if they have in nothing gone
out of the old paths if they have not put aside whatsoever
is most useful and necessary as rules of a virtuous life.

have departed from nothing

APOLOGETICUS

157

What

has become of the laws repressing- expensive and

ways of living? Which forbade more than a
hundred asses^ to be expended on a supper, and more than
ostentatious

one fowl to be set on the table at a time, and that not a

fatted one which expelled a patrician from the senate on the
serious ground, as it was counted, of aspiring to be too great,
because he had acquired ten pounds of silver which put down
the theatres as quickly as they arose to debauch the manners
of the people which did not permit the insignia of official
dignities or of noble birth to be rashly or with impunity
usurped? For I see the Centenarian suppers must now bear
the name, not from the hundred asses, but from the hundred
sestertia^ expended on them
and that mines of silver are
;

made
tors,

were little if this applied only to senaand not to freedmen or even mere whip-spoilers^).
into dishes (it

I see, too, that neither is

theatres unsheltered

might not be torpid

a single theatre enough, nor are

no doubt

it

was

that

immodest pleasure

in the winter-time, the

Lacedaemonians

I see now no
matrons and prostitutes. In
regard to women, indeed, those laws of your fathers, which
used to be such an encouragement to modesty and sobriety,
have also fallen into desuetude, when a woman had yet known
no gold upon her save on the finger, which with the bridal
ring her husband had sacredly pledged to himself; when the
abstinence of women from wine was carried so far, that a
matron, for opening the compartments of a wine cellar, was
while in the times of Romstarved to death by her friends,
ulus, for merely tasting wine, Mecenius killed his wife, and

invented their woollen cloaks for the plays.

difference between the dress of

suffered nothing for the deed.

With

was the custom of women to kiss

might be detected by their breath.
it

Where

is

reference to this also,

their relatives, that they

that happiness of married

life,

ever so desirable,

which distinguished our earlier manners, and as the result

of which for about 600 years there was not among us a single
^

As

= cent.

Sestertius

= 4 cents.

Sestertium

$40.
^

Slaves

still

bearing the marks of the scourge.

= 1000 sestertii, about

TERTULLIAN

158

Now, women have every member of the body

divorce?
heavy laden with gold; wine-bibbing is so common among
them, that the kiss is never offered with their will; and as
for divorce, they long for it as though it were the natural
consequence of marriage.

The

laws, too, your fathers in their

wisdom had enacted

concerning the very gods themselves, you their most loyal

The consuls, by the authority of
children have rescinded.
the senate, banished Father Bacchus and his mysteries, not
merely from the city, but from the whole of Italyi The consuls Piso and Gabinius, no Christians surely, forbade Serapis,
and Isis, and Arpocrates, with their dogheaded friend
[Anubis],

admission into the Capitol

in

the

act

casting

them out from the assembly of gods overthrew their altars,

and expelled them from the country they were anxious to
prevent the vices of their base and lascivious religion from
spreading. But you have restored thetn, and conferred highest honours on them.
What has come of your religion of the veneration due
by you to your ancestors? In your dress, in your food, in
your style of life, in your opinions, and last of all in your
very speech, you have renounced your progenitors.
You
are always praising antiquity, and yet every day you have
novelties in your way of living.
From your having failed
to maintain what you should, you make it clear, that while
you abandon the good ways of your fathers, you retain and
guard the things you ought not. Yet the very tradition of
your fathers, which you still seem so faithfully to defend,
and in which you find your principal matter of accusation
:

against the Christian

mean

zeal

in the

worship of the
although

gods, the point in which antiquity has mainly erred

you have

rebuilt the altars of Serapis,

although to Bacchus,

now become

now

Roman

deity;

god of Italy, you offer

proper place show you despise
a

up your orgies, I shall in its

and neglect, and overthrow, throwing entirely aside the authority of the men of old. I go on meantime to reply to that
infamous charge of secret crimes, clearing

my way

to things

of open day.

Monsters of wickedness,

we

are accused of observing a

APOLOGETICUS

159

rite in which we kill a little child and then eat it, in

which after the feast we practise incest, the dogs our pimps,
forsooth, overturning the lights and getting us the shamelessness of darkness for our impious lusts. This is what is constantly laid to our charge, and yet you take no pains to elicit
Either
the truth of what we have been so long accused.
bring, then, the matter to the light of day if you believe it,
or give it no credit as having never inquired into it. On the
ground of your double dealing, we are entitled to lay it down
to you that there is no reality in the thing which you dare
not expiscate ["fish up"]. You impose on the executioner,

holy

in the case of Christians, a

duty the very opposite of expiscado, but to

make them confess what they

make them deny what they are.
tion: he

We

is

not to

we have menTruth and the

As soon as
hatred of truth come into our world together.
It has as many
truth appears, it is regarded as an enemy.
foes as there are strangers to it the Jews, as was to be looked
for, from a spirit of rivalry; the soldiers, out of a desire to
extort money; our very domestics, by their nature. We are
daily beset by foes, we are daily betrayed we are oftentimes
surprised in our meetings and congregations. Whoever happened withal upon an infant wailing, according to the common story? Whoever kept for the judge, just as he had
found them, the gory mouths of Cyclops and Sirens? Whoever found any traces of uncleanness in their wives? Where
is the man who, when he had discovered such atrocities, concealed them; or, in the act of dragging the culprits before
If we always keep our
the judge, was bribed into silence?
secrets, when were our proceedings made known to the
world? Nay, by whom could they be made known? Not,
surely, by the guilty parties themselves even from the very
idea of the thing, the fealty of silence being ever due to mysThe Samothracian and Eleusinian make no disclosteries.
date the origin of our religion, as

tioned before, from the reign of Tiberius.

ures

how much more

will silence

be kept in regard to such

as are sure in their unveiling to call forth punishment from

man

at

future

once, while wrath divine

is

kept in store for the

TERTULLIAN

160
If,

then, Christians are not themselves the pubHshers of

it follows of course it must be strangers.

And
whence have they their knowledge, when it is also a universal
custom in religious initiations to keep the profane aloof, and
to beware of witnesses, unless it be that those who are so
wicked have less fear than their neighbours?
Every one
knows what sort of thing rumour is. It, is one of your own
sayings, that " among all evils, none flies so fast as rumour."
Why is rumour such an evil thing? Is it because it is fleet?

their crime,

Is

because

it

it

carries information?

in the highest degree

it

Or

is

because

it

it

is

mendacious? a thing not even when

brings some truth to us without a taint of falsehood, either

or adding, or changing from the simple fact?

the very law of its being to continue only while
for when
it lives, and to live but so long as there is no proof
the proof is given, it ceases to exist, and, as having done its
detracting,

Nay

more,

it is

work

of merely spreading a report,

it

delivers

henceforth held to be a fact, and called a

no one says, for instance, " They say that
is

Rome,"

or, "

ince," but "

There

is

rumour

up a

fact.
it

fact,

And

and
then

took place at

that he has obtained a prov-

has got a province," and, " It took place at

Rumour, the very designation of uncertainty, has

He

Rome."
no place when a thing is certain. Does any but a fool put
his trust in it?
For a wise man never believes the dubious.
Everybody knows, however zealously it is spread abroad, on
whatever strength of asseveration it rests, that some time
or other from some one fountain it has its origin. Thence it
must creep into propagating tongues and ears and a small
seminal blemish so darkens all the rest of the story, that no
one can determine whether the lips, from which it first came
forth, planted the seed of falsehood, as often happens, from a
spirit of opposition, or from a suspicious judgment, or from a
;

confirmed, nay, in the case of some, an inborn, delight in lying.

It is well that

time brings

all

to light, as

your proverbs and

sayings testify, by a provision of nature, which has so appointed things that nothing long

rumour has not disseminated

be, that

it.

is

hidden,

It is just

even though
it should

then as

fame for so long a period has been alone aware of

This is the witness you bring

the crimes of Christians.

APOLOGETICUS
against us

one

161

that has never been able to prove the accusa-

some time or other sent abroad, and at last by mere

continuance made into a settled opinion in the world; so that
tion

it

confidently appeal to nature herself, ever true, against those

who

groundlessly hold that such things are to be credited.

set before you the reward of these enormiThey give promise of eternal life. Hold it meanwhile

See now, we
ties.

own

as your

you think

belief.

ask you, then, whether, so believing,

worth attaining with a conscience such as you

Come, plunge your knife into the babe, enemy of

it

will have.

none, accused of none, child of all or if that is another's

work, simply take your place beside a human being dying
before he has really lived, await the departure of the lately
given soul, receive the fresh young blood, saturate your
bread with it, freely partake. The while as you recline at
table, take note of the places which your mother and your
sister occupy; mark them well, so that when the dog-made
darkness has fallen on you, you may make no mistake, for
you will be guilty of a crime unless you perpetrate a deed
;

of incest.

have

life

it?

If

Initiated

everlasting.

it

is

and sealed into things like these, you

Tell me, I pray you, is eternity worth

not, then these things are not to

Even although you had

the belief,

deny the

you had the will, I deny the possibility.

others do it, if you cannot? why cannot you,
if

suppose

we

Sciapodes?^

are of a different nature

You

are a

man

are

and even

Why

then can

if

others can?

we Cynopae

or

yourself as well as the Chris-

if you cannot do it, you ought not to believe

For a Christian is a man as well as you.

tian

be credited.

will

it

of others.

But the ignorant, forsooth, are deceived and imposed on.

quite unaware of anything of the kind being imputed to Christians, or they would certainly have looked into
it for themselves, and searched the matter out.
Instead of
that, it is the custom for persons wishing initiation into sacred
rites, I think, to go first of all to the master of them, that he
may explain what preparations are to be made. Then, in
this case, no doubt he would say, " You must have a child

They were

Fabulous monsters.

TERTULLIAN

162
still

of tender age, that

smile under thy knife

knows not what

it is

to die,

and can

bread, too, to collect the gushing blood

in addition to these, candlesticks,

and lamps, and dogs

with

draw them on to the extinguishing of the lights:

above all things, you will require to bring your mother and
your sister with you." But what if mother and sister are
tit-bits to

unwilling? or if there be neither the one nor the other? What

He will
if there are Christians with no Christian relatives?
not be counted, I suppose, a true follower of Christ, who has

And what now, if these things are

them without their knowledge? At least
afterwards they come to know them and they bear with
them, and pardon them. They fear, it may be said, lest they
have to pay for it if they let the secret out: nay, but they
not a brother or a son.
in

all

store

for

have every claim to protection they

even prefer, one might think, dying by their own hand,
to living under the burden of such a dreadful knowledge.
Admit that they have this fear; yet why do they still persevere? For it is plain enough that you will have no desire to
continue what you would never have been, if you had had
will rather in that case

will

previous knowledge of

That

show

may

refute

it.

more thoroughly

these charges, I will

that in part openly, in part secretly, practices prevail

among you which have

led you perhaps to credit similar things

about us. Children were openly sacrificed in Africa to Saturn as lately as the proconsulship of Tiberius, who exposed
to public gaze the priests suspended on the sacred trees over-

shadowing their temple, so many crosses on which the punishment which justice craved overtook their crimes, as the
can testify who did that very
And even now that sacred crime
continues to be done in secret. It is not only Christians,

soldiers of our country

work
still

still

for that proconsul.

you see, who despise you for all that you do there is neither
any crime thoroughly and abidingly eradicated, nor does any
of your gods reform his ways. When Saturn did not spare
his own children, he was not likely to spare the children of
others; whom indeed the very parents themselves were in
the habit of offering, gladly responding to the call which was
made on them, and keeping the little ones pleased on the oc;

APOLOGETICUS

163

might not die in tears. At the same time,

a vast difference between homicide and parricide.

casion, that they

there

is

more advanced age was sacrificed to Mercury in Gaul. I

hand over the Tauric fables to their own theatres. Why,
even in that most rehgious city of the pious descendants of
^neas, there is a certain Jupiter whom in their games they
lave with human blood. It is the blood of a beast-fighter, you
it less, because of that, the blood of a man?
Or is
blood because it is from the veins of a wicked man?
At any rate it is shed in murder. O Jove, thyself a Christian, and in truth only son of thy father in his cruelty!
But in regard to child-murder, as it does not matter
whether it is committed for a sacred object, or merely at one's
own self-impulse although there is a great difference, as we
have said, between parricide and homicide I shall turn to
the people generally. How many, think you, of those crowding around and gaping for Christian blood,
how many even

say.
it

Is

viler

of your rulers, notable for their justice to you and for their
severe measures against us, may I charge in their own consciences with the sin of putting their offspring to death?

As

murder, it is certainly the

more cruel way to kill by drowning, or by exposure to cold
maturer age has always preferred
and hunger and dogs.
death by the sword. In our case, murder being once for all
forbidden, we may not destroy even the fcEtus in the womb,
while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts
of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely
a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take
away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to
the birth. That is a man which is going to be one you have
to

any difference

in the kind of

the fruit already in

its

seed.

As to meals of blood and such tragic dishes, read I am

how
not sure where it is told (it is in Herodotus, I think)
blood taken from the arms, and tasted by both parties, has
been the treaty bond among some nations. I am not sure
what it was that was tasted in the time of Catiline. They
say, too, that among some Scythian tribes the dead are eaten
by their
day,

friends.

among

But

am going

far

from home.

At

this

ourselves, blood consecrated to Bellona, blood

TERTULLIAN

164

drawn from a punctured thigh and then partaken

of,

seals

Those, too, who at

the gladiator shows, for the cure of epilepsy, quaff with greedy
thirst the blood of criminals slain in the arena, as it flows
to whom do they
fresh from the wound, and then rush off
belong? those, also, who make meals on the flesh of wild
who have keen appetites for
beasts at the place of combat
bear and stag? That bear in the struggle was bedewed with
initiation into the rites of that goddess.

man whom it lacerated that stag rolled itself

The entrails of the very bears, loaded
with as yet undigested human viscera, are in great request.
And you have men rifting up man-fed flesh ? If you partake
of food like this, how do your repasts differ from those you
the blood of the

in the gladiator's gore.

accuse us Christians of?

And do

who, with savage lust, seize on human bodbecause they devour the living? Have they less
the pollution of human blood on them because they only lick
up what is to turn into blood? They make meals, it is plain,
ies,

do

not so
vile

those,

less

much

of infants, as of grown-up men.

ways before the

Christians,

who have

Blush for your

not even the blood

of animals at their meals of simple and natural food;

who

from things strangled and that die a natural death,

abstain

for no other reason than that they

may

not contract pollution,

from blood secreted in the viscera. To clench the

matter with a single example, you tempt Christians with sausages of blood, just because you are perfectly aware that the
thing by which you thus try to get them to transgress they
so

much

as

hold unlawful.
those,

of

And how

whom you

unreasonable

it

is

to believe that

are convinced that they regard with

horror the idea of tasting the blood of oxen, are eager after
blood of men; unless, mayhap, you have tried it, and found
it sweeter to the taste!
Nay, in fact, there is here a test you
should apply to discover Christians, as well as the fire-pan
and the censer. They should be proved by their appetite for

human

blood, as well as by their refusal to offer sacrifice,

just as otherwise they should be affirmed to be free of Christianity

by

their refusal to taste of blood, as

by

their sacrific-

ing; and there would be no want of blood of men, amply

supplied .as that would be in the trial and condemnation of

prisoners.

APOLOGETICUS
Then who

are

who have enjoyed

more given

to the crime of incest than those

the instruction of Jupiter himself?

us that the Persians have

tells

mothers.

165

The Macedonians,

illicit

Ctesias

intercourse with their

too, are suspected

on

this point

hearing the tragedy of (Edipus they made mirth

Even now reflect what opportuof the incest-doer's grief.
nity there is for mistakes leading to incestuous comminglings
your promiscuous looseness supplying the materials. You
for on

first

of all expose your children, that they may be taken up

by any compassionate passer-by, to whom they are quite unknown; or you give them away, to be adopted by those who
will do better to them the part of parents.
Well, some time
or other, all memory of the alienated progeny must be lost;
and when once a mistake has been made, the transmission of
incest thence will still go on
the race and the crime creeping
on together. Then, further, wherever you are at home,
abroad, over the seas your lust is an attendant, whose general indulgence, or even its indulgence in the most limited
scale, may easily and unwittingly anywhere beget children,
so that in this way a progeny scattered about in the commerce
of life may have intercourse with those who are their own
kin, and have no notion that there is any incest in the case.
A persevering and stedfast chastity has protected us from
anything like this: keeping as we do from adulteries and all
first

post-matrimonial unfaithfulness, we are not exposed to incestuous mishaps.

Some of us, making matters still more
secure, beat away from them entirely the power of sensual
sin,

by a virgin continence,

still

boys in this respect

when

they are old.

If you would but take notice that such sins as I have
mentioned prevail among you, that would lead you to see
that they have no existence among Christians.
The same
eyes would tell you of both facts.
But the two blindnesses
are apt to go together; so that those who do not see what is,

think they see what

thing.

But now

is

let

not.

me

show it to be so in everyspeak of matters which are more

I shall

clear.

"You do not worship the gods," you say; "and you do

not offer sacrifices for their emperors." Well, we do not offer
sacrifice for others, for the

XIV 12

same reason that we do not for

TERTULLIAN

166

namely, that your gods are not at all the objects

ourselves,
of our worship. So we are accused of sacrilege and treason.
This is the chief ground of charge against us nay, it is the
sum-total of our offending; and it is worthy then of being

inquired into,

if

neither prejudice nor injustice be the judge,

no idea of discovering the truth, and

it.
We do not worship
your gods, because we know that there are no such beings.
This, therefore, is what you shoiild do: you should call on
us to demonstrate their non-existence, and thereby prove that
they have no claim to adoratioh; for only if your gods were
truly so, would there be any obligation to render divine homage to them. And punishment even were due to Christians,
the one of which has

the other simply and at once rejects

were made plain that those to whom they refused all

worship were indeed divine.
But you say. They are gods. We protest and appeal from
yourselves to your knowledge; let that judge us; let that condemn us, if it can deny that all these gods of yours were but
men. If even it venture to deny that, it will be confuted by
its own books of antiquities, from which it has got its information about them, bearing witness to this day, as they
plainly do, both of the cities in which they were born, and
the countries in which they have left traces of their exploits,
as well as where also they are proved to have been buried.
Shall I now, therefore, go over them one by one, so numerous and so various, new and old, barbarian, Grecian,
Roman, foreign, captive and adopted, private and common,
male and female, rural and urban, naval and military? It
were useless even to hunt out all their names so I may content
myself with a compend; and this not for your information,
but that you may have what you know brought to your recollection.
For undoubtedly you act as if you had forgotten
all about them.
No one of your gods is earlier than Saturn
from him you trace all your deities, even those of higher
rank and better known. What, then, can be proved of the
first, will apply to those that follow.
So far, then, as books
give us information, neither the Greek Diodorus or Thallus,
neither Cassius Severus or Cornelius Nepos, nor any writer
upon sacred antiquities, have ventured to say that Saturn
if

it

APOLOGETICUS

167

was any but a man so far as the question depends on

I find none more trustworthy than those
that in Italy
:

we have
after

the country in which, after

having partaken of Attic

many

hospitalities,

facts,

expeditions,

Saturn

itself

and

settled,

obtaining cordial welcome from Janus, or, as the Salii will

have it, Janis. The mountain on which he dwelled was called

Saturnius

the city he founded

is

called Saturnia to this

day

having borne the name

of Oenotria, was called Saturnia from him.
He first gave
you the art of writing, and a stamped coinage, and thence it
But if Saturn were
is he presides over the public treasury.
a man, he had undoubtedly a human origin; and having a
human origin, he was not the offspring of heaven and earth.
As his parents were unknown, it was not unnatural that he
should be spoken of as the son of those elements from which
we might all seem to spring. For who does not speak of
heaven and earth as father and mother, in a sort of way of
veneration and honour? or from the custom which prevails
among us of saying that persons of whom we have no knowledge, or who make a sudden appearance, have fallen from
the skies? In this way it came about that Saturn, everywhere
a sudden and unlooked-for guest, got everywhere the name
of the Heaven-born. For even the common folk call persons
whose stock is unknown, sons of earth. I say nothing of
how men in these rude times were wont to act, when they
were impressed by the look of any stranger happening to
appear among them, as though it were divine, since even at
this day men of culture make gods of those whom, a day
or two before, they acknowledged to be dead men by their
public mourning for them. Let these notices of Saturn, brief
as they are, suffice.
It will thus also be proved that Jupiter
is as certainly a man as from a man he sprung; and that one
after another the whole swarm is mortal like the primal stock.
And since, as you dare not deny that these deities of
yours once were men, you have taken it on you to assert
that they were made gods after their decease, let us conlast of all, the

whole of

Italy, after

In the
sider what necessity there was for this.
you must concede the existence of one higher God

wholesale dealer in divinity,

who

has

first place,

made gods

certain

of men.

TERTULLIAN

168

For they could neither have assumed a

divinity v^hich

not theirs, nor could any but one himself possessing

it

was
have

conferred it on them. If there was no one to make gods, it

is vain to dream of gods being made when thus you have
no god-maker. Most certainly, if they could have deified
themselves, with a higher state at their command, they never
would have been men. If, then, there be one who is able to

make

gods, I turn back to an examina^tion of any reason there

be for making gods at all; and I find no other reason
than this, that the great God has need of their ministrations
and aids in performing the offices of Deity. But first it is
an unworthy idea that He should need the help of a man, and
in fact a dead man, when, if He was to be in want of this

may

from the dead, He might more

some one a god at the beginning.

assistance

ated

Nor do
world-mass

I see

as

have cre-

For this entire

and uncreated, as Pythaginto being by a creator's hands,

any place for

whether
oras maintains, or brought
Plato holds was

fittingly

his action.

self-existent

manifestly, once for

all,

in its original

construction disposed, and furnished, and ordered, and sup-

government of perfect wisdom. That cannot be

made all perfect. There was nothing
waiting on for Saturn and his race to do. Men will make
fools of themselves if they refuse to believe that from the
very first rain poured down from the sky, and stars gleamed,
and light shone, and thunders roared, and Jove himself
dreaded the lightnings you put in his hands that in like manner before Bacchus, and Ceres, and Minerva, nay, before the
first man, whoever that was, every kind of fruit burst forth
plentifully from the bosom of the earth, for nothing provided
for the support and sustenance of man could be introduced
after his entrance on the stage of being. Accordingly, these
necessaries of life are said to have been discovered, not created.
But the thing you discover existed before; and that
which had a pre-existence must be regarded as belonging not
to him who discovered it, but to him who made it.
For of
course it had a being before it could be found.
But if, on
account of his being the discoverer of the vine, Bacchus is
plied with a

imperfect which was

raised to godship, Lucullus,

who

first

introduced the cherry

APOLOGETICUS
from Pontus

169

into Italy, has not been fairly dealt with

new

for as

he has not, as though he were

its creator, been awarded divine honours.
Wherefore, if the
universe existed from the beginning, thoroughly furnished,
with its system working under certain laws for the performance of its functions, there is in this respect an entire absence
of all reason for electing humanity to divinity; for the positions and powers which you have assigned to your deities
have been from the beginning precisely what they would have
been, although you had never deified them.
But you turn to another reason, telling us that the conferring of deity was a way of rewarding worth. And hence
the discoverer of a

you

fruit,

grant, I conclude, that the

scendent righteousness,

one

god-making God

who

will

is

of tran-

neither rashly,

improperly, nor needlessly bestow a reward so great.

have you then consider whether the merits of your

nor

would
deities

are of a kind to have raised them to the heavens, and not

rather to have sunk them down into the lowest depths of Tar-

the place which you regard, with many, as the prisonhouse of infernal punishments. For into this dread place are
wont to be cast all who offend against filial piety, and such as
are guilty of incest with sisters, and seducers of wives, and

tarus,

ravishers of virgins,

and

boy-polluters,

and men of furious

tempers, and murderers, and thieves, and deceivers;

short,

who

whom you

all,

in

tread in the footsteps of your gods, not one of

can prove free from crime or vice, save by denying

had ever a human existence. But as you cannot
deny that, you have those foul blots also as an added reason
For
for not believing that they were made gods afterwards.
if you rule for the very purpose of punishing such deeds; if
every virtuous man among you rejects all correspondence,
and converse, and intimacy with the wicked and the base,
while, on the other hand, the high God has taken up their
mates to a share of His majesty, on what grounds is it that
you thus condemn those whose fellow-actors you adore?
Your goodness is an affront in the heavens. Deify your
vilest criminals, if you would please your gods.
You honour
them by giving divine honours to their fellows. But to say
no more about a way of acting so unworthy, there have been
that they

TERTULLIAN

170

men

virtuous,

nobler

and pure, and good.

men you have

left in

Yet how many of these

the regions of

doom

as Socrates,

so renowned for his wisdom, Aristides for his justice, Themistocles for his warlike genius, Alexander for his sublimity
of soul, Polycrates for his good fortune, Croesus for his
wealth, Demosthenes for his eloquence. Which of these gods
of yours is more remarkable for gravity and wisdom than

Cato, more just and warlike than Scipio? which of them more
magnanimous than Pompey, more prosperous than Sylla, of
greater wealth than Crassus, more eloquent than Tally ? How
much better it would have been for the God Supreme to wait,

might have taken such men as these to be His heavHe must have surely been of
their worthier character! He was in a hurry, I suppose, and
straightway shut heaven's gates; and now He must surely
feel ashamed at these worthies murmuring over their lot in

that

He

enly associates, prescient as

the regions below.

But I pass from these remarks, for I know and I am

going to show what your gods are not, by showing what they
are.
In reference, then, to these, I see only names of dead
men of ancient times; I hear fabulous stories; I recognise
sacred rites founded on mere myths. As to the actual images,
I

regard them as simply pieces of matter akin to the vessels

utensils in common use among us, or even undergoing

and

a hapless change from these useful

hands of reckless art, which in the transforming process treats them with utter contempt, nay, in the very
act commits sacrilege; so that it might be no slight solace
to us in all our punishments, suffering as we do because of
in

their

consecration

articles at the

these

same gods, that

themselves.

You

in their

making they

suffer as

we do

put Christians on crosses and stakes: what

image is not formed from the clay in the first instance, set
on cross and stake ? The body of your god is first consecrated
on the gibbet. You tear the sides of Christians with your
claws; but in the case of your own gods, axes, and planes,
and rasps are put to work more vigorously on every member
of the body. We lay our heads upon the block; before the
lead, and the glue, and the nails are put in requisition, your
deities are headless.

We

are cast to the wild beasts, while


APOLOGETICUS
you

them

attach

to Bacchus,

171

and Cybele, and

We

Cselestis.

they in their original

the
to
mines;
condemned
are
from these your
lump.
are banished to islands; in islands it is
gods originate.
are burned

in the flames; so, too, are

We

We

common

thing for your gods to have their birth or die. If

this
is
in
way a deity is made, it will follow that as many
it
punished
are
are deified, and tortures will have to be
as

But plain it is these objects of your

declared divinities.
worship have no sense of the injuries and disgraces of their
consecrating, as they are equally unconscious of the honours
paid to them.

impious words!

upon us

Gnash

blasphemous reproaches!

foam with maddened rage against us

your
ye are the persons, no doubt, who censured a certain Seneca
speaking of your superstition at much greater length, and
In a word, if we refuse our homage to
far more sharply!
frigid
images,
and
the very counterpart of their dead
statues
originals, with which hawks, and mice, and spiders are so well
teeth

acquainted, does

it

not merit praise instead of penalty, that

have rejected what we have come to see

surely be

made

nonentities.

out to injure those

\Miat does not

exist,

error

is

who we
is

in

secure from
" But they are gods to us," you say.

We

we

cannot

are certain are

its

non-existence

suffering.

then, that in utter inconsistency with this,

And how

is

it,

you are convicted

of impious, and sacrilegious, and irreligious conduct to them,

neglecting those you imagine to exist, destroying those

who

making mock of those whose

honour you avenge ? See now if I go beyond the truth. First,
indeed, seeing you worship, some one god, and some another,
of course you give offence to those you do not worship. You
are the objects of your fear,

cannot continue to give preference to one without slighting

another, for selection implies rejection.
fore, those

whom you

You

despise, there-

thus reject; for in your rejection of

them, it is plain you have no dread of giving them offence.

For, as we have already shown, every god depended on the
decision of the senate for his godhead. No god was he whom
man in his own counsels did not wish to be so, and thereby

condemned.

The family

deities

you

call

Lares, you exercise

TERTULLIAN

172

a domestic authority over, pledging them, selling them, changing them making sometimes a cooking-pot of a Saturn, a
firepan of a Minerva, as one or other happens to be worn

done, or broken in

its

long sacred use, or as the family head

some more sacred home necessity.

In like manner, by public law you disgrace your state gods,
putting them in the auction-catalogue, and making them a
feels the pressure of

source of revenue.

Men

seek to get the Capitol, as they

seek to get the herb market, under tjie voice of the crier,
under the auction spear, under the registration of the quaestor.

Deity is struck off and farmed out to the highest bidder.

But indeed lands burdened with tribute are of less value;
men under the assessment of a poll-tax are less noble; for
In the case of the
these things are the marks of servitude.
gods, on the other hand, the sacredness is great in proportion
to the tribute which they yield; nay, the more sacred is a
god, the larger is the tax he pays. Majesty is made a source
of gain. Religion goes about the taverns begging. You de-

mand

a price for the privilege of standing on temple ground,

there is no gratis knowledge

of your divinities permitted ^you must buy their favours
with a price. What honours in any way do you render to
them that you do not render to the dead ? You have temples
in the one case just as in the other you have altars in the one
for access to the sacred services

Their statues have the same dress, the

same insignia. As the dead man had his age, his art, his
occupation, so is it with the deity.
In what respect does the
funeral feast differ from the feast of Jupiter? or the bowl of
the gods from the ladle of the manes ? or the undertaker from
the soothsayer, as in fact this latter personage also attends
upon the dead?

case as in the other.

With perfect propriety you give divine honours to your

departed emperors, as you worship them in life. The gods
will count themselves indebted to you nay, it will be matter
of high rejoicing among them that their masters are made
;

But when you adore Larentina, a public prosit might at least have been
Lais or Phryne among your Junos, and Cereses, and Dianas; when you instal in your Pantheon Simon Magus, givtheir equals.

titute

could have wished that

APOLOGETICUS

173

ing him a statue and the title of Holy God when you make
an infamous court page a god of the sacred synod, although
your ancient deities are in reality no better, they will still think
themselves affronted by you, that the privilege antiquity conferred on them alone, has been allowed to others.
I wish now to review your sacred rites and I pass no censure on your sacrificing, when you offer the worn-out, the
scabbed, the corrupting; when you cut off from the fat and
the sound the useless parts, such as the head and the hoofs,
which in your house you would have assigned to the slaves
or the dogs; when of the tithe of Hercules you do not lay
a third upon his altar (I am disposed rather to praise your
wisdom in rescuing something from being lost) but turning
to your books, from which you get your training in wisdom
and the nobler duties of life, what utterly ridiculous things
that for Trojans and Greeks the gods fought among
I find
;

themselves like pairs of gladiators; that Venus was wounded

by a man, because she would rescue her son ^Eneas when he
was in peril of his life from the same Diomede; that Mars

was almost wasted away by a thirteen months' imprisonment

was saved by a monster's aid from suffering the
same violence at the hands of the other gods; that he now
laments the fate of Sarpedon, now foully makes love to his

that Jupiter

own

sister, recounting to her former mistresses, now for a

long time past not so dear as she.
After this, what poet is not found copying the example
of his chief, to be a disgracer of the gods? One gives Apollo
to king Admetus to tend his sheep; another hires out the
building labours of Neptune to Laomedon.
A well-known
lyric poet, too
Pindar, I mean sings of -iEsculapius de-

servedly stricken with lightning for his greed in practising

art.
wicked deed it was of Jupiter if he
hurled the bolt unnatural to his grandson, and exhibiting
envious feeling to the Physician.
Things like these should
not be made public if they are true; and if false, they should

wrongfully his

not be fabricated

among

people professing a great respect for

religion.

Nor

indeed do either tragic or comic writers shrink from

setting forth the gods as the origin of all family calamities

TERTULLIAN

174

do not dwell on the philosophers, contenting myself with a reference to Socrates, who, in contempt of the
gods, was in the habit of swearing by an oak, and a goat, and

and

sins.

In fact, for this very thing Socrates was condemned

Plainly,
to death, that he overthrew the worship of the gods.
disliked.
is,
always
truth
that
at one time as well as another,
a dog.

However, when rueing their judgment, the Athenians inflicted

punishment on his accusers, and set up a golden image of him
in a temple, the condemnation was in the very act rescinded,
and his witness was restored to its former value. Diogenes,
too, makes utter mock of Hercules; and the Roman cynic
Varro brings forward three hundred Joves, or Jupiters they,
should be called, all headless.
Others of your writers, in their wantonness, even minister
Examine those
to your pleasures by vilifying the gods.

charming farces of your LentuH and Hostilii, whether in the

jokes and tricks it is the buffoons or the deities which afford
your merriment such farces I mean as Anubis the Adulterer,
and Luna of the masculine gender, and Diana under the lash,
and the reading the will of Jupiter deceased, and the three
famishing Herculeses held up to ridicule. Your dramatic
literature, too, depicts all the vileness of your gods.
The Sun
mourns his offspring [Phaethon] cast down from heaven, and
you are full of glee; Cybele sighs after the scornful swain,
[Attis], and you do not blush; you brook the stage recital of
Jupiter's misdeeds, and the shepherd [Paris] judging Juno,
Venus, and Minerva.
Then, again, when the likeness of a god is put on the
head of an ignominious and infamous wretch, when one impure and trained up for the art in all effeminacy, represents a
Minerva or a Hercules, is not the majesty of your gods insulted, and their deity dishonoured?
Yet you not merely look
;

You

are, I suppose, more devout in the

same fashion your deities dance on
human blood, on the pollutions caused by inflicted punishments, as they act their themes and stories, doing their turn

on, but applaud.

arena, where after the

for the wretched criminals, except that these, too, often put
on divinity and actually play the very gods. We have seen
in our day a representation of the mutilation of Attis, that

APOLOGETICUS
famous god of Pessinus, and a man burnt

175
alive as Hercules.

We have made merry amid the ludicrous cruelties of the noonexhibition, at Mercury examining the bodies of the dead
with his hot iron; we have witnessed Jove's brother [Pluto],
mallet in hand, dragging out the corpses of the gladiators.
But who can go into everything of this sort? If by such
things as these the honour of deity is assailed, if they go to
blot out every trace of its majesty, we must explain them by
the contempt in which the gods are held, alike by those who
actually do them, and by those for whose enjoyment they are

day

done.

This

it is

'

it

will be said,

what

all

however, is all in sport. But if I add

will admit as readily to be the fact

know and

that in the temples adulteries are arranged, that at the altars

pimping

is practised, that often in the houses of the templekeepers and priests, under the sacrificial fillets, and the sacred
hats, and the purple robes, amid the fumes of incense, deeds

of licentiousness are done, I am not sure but your gods have

more reason to complain of you than of Christians. It is
certainly among the votaries of your religion that the perpetrators of sacrilege are always found.
For Christians do
not enter your temples even in the day-time.
Perhaps they
too would be spoilers of them, if they worshipped in them.
What then do they worship, since their objects of worship are
different from yours?
Already indeed it is implied as the
corollary from their rejection of the lie, that they render
homage to the truth; nor continue longer in an error which
they have given up in the very fact of recognising it to be an
error.
Take this in first of all, and when we have offered a
preliminary refutation of some false opinions, go on to derive
from it our entire religious system.
For, like some others, you are under the delusion that our
god is an ass's head. Cornelius Tacitus first put this notion
into people's minds.
In the fifth book of his histories, beginning the narrative of the Jewish war with an account of
the origin of the nation and theorizing at his pleasure about
the origin, as well as the name and the religion of the Jews,
he states that having been delivered, or rather, in his opinion,
expelled from Egypt, in crossing the vast plains of Arabia,
;

TERTULLIAN

176

where water is so scanty, they were in extremity from thirst

but taking the guidance of the wild asses, which it was
thought Ynight be seeking water after feeding, they discovered
a fountain, and thereupon in their gratitude they consecrated
a head of this species of animal. And as Christianity is
nearly allied to Judaism, from this, I suppose, it was taken
for granted that we too are devoted to the worship of the
same image. But the said Cornelius Tacitus (the very opposite of tacit [silent] in telling lies) informs us in the work
already mentioned, that when Cneius Pompeius captured
Jerusalem, he entered the temple to see the arcana of the JewYet surely if worship
ish religion, but found no image there.
was rendered to any visible object, the very place for its ex-

would be the shrine; and that all the more that the
worship, however unreasonable, had no need there to fear
For entrance to the holy place was peroutside beholders.
mitted to the priests alone, while all vision was forbidden to
hibition

others by an outspread curtain.

that

all

You

will not,

however, deny

beasts of burden, and not parts of them, but the

animals entire, are with their goddess Epona objects of worship with you.
It is this perhaps which displeases you in us,
that while your worship here is universal, we do homage only
to the ass.

Then,

if

any of you think we render superstitious adora-

tion to the cross, in that adoration he

is

sharer with us.

If

you offer homage to a piece of wood at all, it matters little

what it is like when the substance is the same it is of no
consequence the form, if you have the very body of the god.
Aiid yet how far does the Athenian Pallas differ from the
stock of the cross, or the Pharian Ceres as she is put up
uncarved to sale, a mere rough stake and piece of shapeless
wood! Every stake fixed in an upright position is a portion
of the cross; we render our adoration, if you will have it so,
to a god entire and complete.
We have shown before that
your deities are derived from shapes modelled from the cross.
But you also worship victories, for in your trophies the cross
:

The camp religion of the Romans

through a worship of the standards, a setting the standards above all gods. Well, all those images decking out the
is

the heart of the trophy.

is all

APOLOGETICUS

177

standards are ornaments of crosses. All those hangings of

your standards and banners are robes of crosses. I praise
your zeal: you would not consecrate crosses unclothed and

unadorned.
Others, again, certainly with

more information and

greater

our god. We shall be

counted Persians perhaps, though we do not worship the orb
of day painted on a piece of linen cloth, having himself everywhere in his own disk. The idea no doubt has originated
from our being known to turn to the east in prayer. But
you, many of you, also, under pretence sometimes of worshipping the heavenly bodies, move your lips in the direction
of the sunrise. In the same way, if we devote Sun-day to rejoicing, from a far different reason than Sun-worship, we
have some resemblance to those of you who devote the day of
Saturn to ease and luxury, though they too go far away from
Jewish ways, of which indeed they are ignorant.
But lately a new edition of our god has been given to the
world in that great city it originated with a certain vile man
who was wont to hire himself out to cheat the wild beasts,
and who exhibited a picture with this inscription
The God
OF THE Christians, born of an ass. He had the ears
of an ass, was hoofed in one foot, carried a book,^ and wore
a toga. Both the name and the figure gave us amusement.
But our opponents ought straightway to have done homage
to this bi formed divinity, for they have acknowledged gods
dog-headed and lion-headed, with horn of buck and ram, with
goat-like lions, with serpent legs, with wings sprouting from
back or foot. These things we have discussed ex abundanti
[copiously], that we might not seem willingly to pass by any
rumour against us unrefuted. Having thoroughly cleared
ourselves, we turn now to an exhibition of what our religion
verisimilitude, believe that the sun

is

really

is.

The object of our worship Is the One God, He who by

His commanding word. His arranging wisdom, His mighty
power, brought forth from nothing
^

Referring evidently to the Scriptures

was

to the early Christians.

this entire

mass of our

and showing what the Bible

TERTULLIAN

178

world, with

array of elements, bodies, spirits, for the

glory of His majesty; whence also the Greeks have bestowed
on it the name of Kosmos [Universal Order]. The eye canall its

He
not see Him, though He is (spiritually) visible.
comprehensible, though in grace He is manifested.
though our human

beyond our utmost thought,

ceive of

Him.

He

that which, in the ordinary sense, can

inferior to the eyes

conceived,

is

the hands

by which

it

it is

tainted,

|)e

is

faculties con-

therefore equally real and great.

is

in-

is

He

But

seen and handled and

by which
and the

it is

in, and
by which

taken

faculties

discovered; but that which is infinite is known only to

This it is which gives some notion of God, while yet

is

itself.

our very incapacity of fully

all our conceptions
He
grasping Him affords us the idea of what He really is.
is presented to our minds in His transcendent greatness, as

beyond

at once

known and unknown.

And

crowning

of men, that they will not

they cannot possibly be ignorant.
Would you have the proof from the works of His hands, so
numerous and so great, which both contain you and sustain
you, which minister at once to your enjoyment, and strike
you with awe or would you rather have it from the testimony
of the soul itself? Though under the oppressive bondage of
this is the

recognise One, of

guilt

whom

the body, though led astray by depraving customs, though

enervated by lusts and passions, though in slavery to false
gods; yet, whenever the soul comes to itself, as out of a surfeit, or a sleep, or a sickness, and attains something of its

natural soundness,

because this
great and

is

good

it

speaks of God; using no other word,

name of the true God. " God is

the peculiar
"
" Which

may God

give," are the

words on

It bears witness, too, that God is judge, exclaimevery lip.

ing, " God sees," and, " I commend myself to God," and,
"God will repay me."
noble testimony of the soul by

nature Christian!
it

Then,

words as these,
It knows that
from Him and from

too, in using such

looks not to the Capitol, but to the heavens.

there

is

thence

the throne of the living God, as

itself

But, that
tive

came down.

we might

knowledge

attain

an ampler and more authoritaand of His counsels and

at once of Himself,

APOLOGETICUS

179

will, God has added a written revelation for the behoof of

every one whose heart is set on seeking Him, that seeking he

and believing obey.

For from
whose
stainless righteousness made them worthy to know the Most
High, and to reveal Him, men abundantly endowed with the
Holy Spirit, that they might proclaim that there is one God
only who made all things, who formed man from the dust
of the ground (for He is the true Prometheus who gave
order to the world by arranging the seasons and their course),
who have further set before us the proofs He has given of
His majesty in His judgments by floods and fires, the rules
appointed by Him for securing His favour, as well as the
retribution in store for the ignoring and forsaking and keeping them, as being about at the end of all to adjudge His
worshippers to everlasting life, and the wicked to the doom
of fire at once without ending and without break, raising up
again all the dead from the beginning, reforming and renewing them with the object of awarding either recompense.
Once these things were with us, too, the theme of ricidule.
We are of your stock and nature: men are made, not born,

may
the

find,

first

and finding

He

believe,

sent messengers into the world,

men

Christians.

The

called prophets,

preachers of

from the

office

whom we have spoken are

which belongs to them of pre-

future.
Their words, as well as the miracles
which they performed, that men might have faith in their
divine authority, we have still in the literary treasures they
have left, and which are open to all. Ptolemy, surnamed
Philadelphus, the most learned of his race, a man of vast acquaintance with all literature, emulating, I imagine, the book

dicting the

enthusiasm of Pisistratus,

among

other remains of the past

which either their antiquity or something of peculiar interest

made famous, at the suggestion of Demetrius Phalereus, who
was renowned above all grammarians of his time, and to
whom he had committed .lie management of these things,
applied to the Jews for their writings
I mean the writings
peculiar to them and in their tongue, which they alone posFor from themselves, as a people dear to God for
sessed.
their fathers' sake, their prophets had ever sprung, and to
them they had ever spoken. Now in ancient times the people


TERTULLIAN

180

we call Jews bare the name of Hebrews, and so both their

writings and their speech were Hebrew.
But that the understanding of their books might not be wanting, this also the
Jews supplied to Ptolemy; for they gave him seventy-two interpreters
men whom the philosopher Menedemus, the wellknown asserter of a Providence, regarded with respect as
sharing in his views. The same account is given by Aristaeus.
So the king left these works unlocked to all, in the
Greek language. To this day, at the temple of Serapis, the
libraries of Ptolemy are to be seen, with the identical Hebrew
originals in them.
The Jews, too, read them publicly.
Under a tribute-liberty, they are in the habit of going to hear
them every Sabbath. Whoever gives ear will find God in
them; whoever takes pains to understand, will be compelled

to believe.

Their high antiquity,

With you,

writings.
belief

on

this

first

too,

it

very ground.

of
is

all,

claims authority for these

a kind of religion to

Well,

all

materials, the origins, classes, contents of

writings, even

most nations and

demand

the substances,

all tlie

your most ancient

cities illustrious in

the records

of the past and noted for their antiquity in books of annals,

the very forms of your letters, those revealers and custodiers
of events, nay (I think I speak still within the mark), your
very gods themselves, your very temples and oracles, and
sacred rites, are less ancient than the work of a single
prophet, in whom you have the thesaurus of the entire Jewish
religion, and therefore too of ours.
If you happen to have
heard of a certain Moses, I speak first of him: he is as far
back as the Argive Inachus; by nearly four hundred years
only seven less he precedes Danaus, your most ancient name,
while he antedates by a millennium the death of Priam.
I
might affirm, too, that he is five hundred years earlier than
Homer, and have supporters of that view. The other
prophets also, though of later date, are even the most recent
of them as far back as the first of your philosophers, and

legislators,

and

historians.

not so fnuch the difficulty of the subject, as its vastness, that stands in the way of a statement of the grounds
It is

on which these statements

rest; the

matter

is

not so arduous

APOLOGETICUS
would be

as

it

of

many

tedious.

It

181

would require the anxious study

books, and the fingers' busy reckoning.

The

his-

most ancient nations, such as the Egyptians, the

Chaldeans, the Phoenicians, would need to be ransacked; the
men of these various nations who have information to give,
would have to be called in as witnesses. Manetho the
Egyptian, and Berosus the Chaldean, and Iromus the
Phcenician king of Tyre; their successors too, Ptolemy the
Mendesian, and Demetrius Phalereus, and King Juba, and
Apion, and Thallus, and their critic the Jew Josephus, the
tories of the

native vindicator of the ancient history of his people,

who

Also the Greek

censors' lists must be compared, and the dates of events ascertained, that the chronological connections may be opened
up, and thus the reckonings of the various annals be made to
give forth light.
We must go abroad into the histories and
literature of all nations.
And, in fact, we have already
brought the proof in part before you, in giving those hints as to
how it is to be effected. But it seems better to delay the full
discussion of this, lest in our haste we do not sufficiently
carry it out, or lest in its thorough handling we make too
lengthened a digression.
To make up for our delay in this, we bring under your
notice something of even greater importance we point to the
majesty of our Scriptures, if not to their antiquity. If you
doubt that they are as ancient as we say, we offer proof that
either authenticates or refutes the others.

And you may convince yourselves of this at

and without going very far. Your instructors, the
world, and the age, and the event, are all before you.
All
that is taking place around you was fore-announced; all that
you now see with your eye was previously heard by the ear.
The swallowing up of cities by the earth; the theft of islands
by the sea; wars, bringing external and internal convulsions;
the collision of kingdoms with kingdoms; famines and pestilences, and local massacres, and widespread desolating mortalities; the exaltation of the lowly, and the humbling of the
proud the decay of righteousness, the growth of sin, the
slackening interest in all good ways; the very seasons and
elements going out of their ordinary course, monsters and
they are divine.
once,

XIV 13

TERTULLIAN

182

and predicted before

it

came

it was all foreseen

While we suffer the

portents taking the place of nature's forms

to pass.

read of them in the Scriptures as we examine,

they are proved. Well, the truth of a prophecy, I think, is
Hence there is
the demonstration of its being from above.
among us an assured faith in regard to coming events as
things already proved to us, for they were predicted along
with what we have day by day fulfilled^ They are uttered by
calamities,

the

same

we

voices, they are written in the

same books

^the

same

one to prophecy foretelling

Among men, it may be, a distinction of times is
the future.
made while the fulfillment is going on from being future we
think of it as present, and then from being present we count
How are we to blame, I pray
it as belonging to the past.
you, that we believe in things to come as though they already
were, with the grounds we have for our faith in these two
Spirit inspires them.

All time

is

steps

But having asserted that our religion is supported by the

writings of the Jews, the oldest which exist, though it is
generally known, and we fully admit that it dates from a comparatively recent period
no further back indeed than the
reign of Tiberius
a question may perhaps be raised on this
ground about its standing, as if it were hiding something of
its presumption under shadow of an illustrious religion, one
which has at any rate undoubted allowance of the law, or
because, apart from the question of age, we neither accord
with the Jews in their peculiarities in regard to food, nor in
the sacred days, nor even in their well-known bodily sign,
nor in the possession of a common name, which surely behoved to be the case if we did homage to the same God as

they.

Then, too, the common people have now some knowledge

of Christ, and think of Him as but a man, one indeed such
as the Jews condemned, so that some may naturally enough
have taken up the idea that we are worshippers of a mere
human being. But we are neither ashamed of Christ for
we rejoice to be counted His disciples, and in His name to
nor do we differ from the Jews concerning God. We
suffer
must make, therefore, a remark or two as to Christ's divinity.

APOLOGETICUS

183

In former times the Jews enjoyed much of God's favour,

the fathers of their race were noted for their right-

when

So it was that as a people they flourished

kingdom attained to a lofty eminence; and

eousness and faith.

greatly,

and

their

so highly blessed were they, that for their instruction God

spake to them in special revelations, pointing out to them be-

forehand

how

displeasure.

they should merit His favour and avoid His

But how deeply they have sinned, puffed up

to their fall with a false trust in their noble ancestors, turning

from God's way into a way of sheer impiety, though they

themselves should refuse to admit it, their present national
ruin would afford sufficient proof.
Scattered abroad, a race
of wanderers, exiles from their own land and clime, they

roam over the whole world without either a human or a

heavenly king, not possessing even the stranger's right to set
so much as a simple footstep in their native country.
The sacred writers withal, in giving previous warning of
these things, all with equal clearness ever declared that, in the
last days of the world, God would, out of every nation, and
people, and country, choose for Himself more faithful worshippers, upon whom He would bestow His grace, and that
indeed in ampler measure, in keeping with the enlarged capacities of a nobler dispensation.
Accordingly, He appeared
among us, whose coming to renovate and illuminate man's
nature was pre-announced by God I mean Christ, that Son
of God. And so the supreme Head and Master of this grace
and discipline, the Enlightener and Trainer of the human
race, God's own Son, was announced among us, born
^but
not so born as to make Him ashamed of the name of Son or
of His paternal origin. It was not His lot to have as His
father, by incest with a sister, or by violation of a daughter
or another's wife, a god in the shape of serpent, or ox, or
bird, or lover, for his vile ends transmuting himself into the
gold of Danaus. They are your divinities upon whom these
But the Son of God has
base deeds of Jupiter were done.
no mother in any sense which involves impurity; she whom
men suppose to be His mother in the ordinary way, had never
entered into the marriage bond.

But,

first,

I shall

discuss His essential nature,

and so the


TERTULLIAN

184

We

have already
nature of His birth will be understood.
asserted that God made the world, and all which it contains,

by His Word, and Reason, and Power. It is abundantly

plain that your philosophers, too, regard the Logos
that is,
as the Creator of the universe.
For
the Word and Reason
Zeno lays it down that he is the creator, having made all

things according to a determinate plan

that his

name

is

Fate,

and the necessity of all

Cleanthes ascribes all this to spirit, which he mainthings.
And we, in like manner, hold
tains pervades the universe.
that the Word, and Reason, and Power, by which we have
said God made all, have spirit as their proper and essential
substratum, in which the Word has inbeing to give forth
utterances, and reason abides to dispose and arrange, and
power is over all to execute. We have been taught that He
proceeds forth from God, and in that procession He is generated; so that He is the Son of God, and is called God from
For God, too, is a Spirit.
unity of substance with God.
Even when the ray is shot from the sun, it is still part of the
parent mass; the sun will still be in the ray, because it is a
ray of the sun there is no division of substance, but merely
an extension. Thus Christ is Spirit of Spirit, and God of
God, as light of light is kindled. The material matrix remains entire and unimpaired, though you derive from it any
number of shoots possessed of its qualities; so, too, that which
has come forth out of God is at once God and the Son of
God, and the two are one. In this way also, as He is Spirit
of Spirit and God of God, He is made a second in manner of
existence
in position, not in nature and He did not withdraw from the original source, but went forth.
This ray of God, then, as it was always foretold in ancient
times, descending into a certain virgin, and made flesh in her
womb, is in His birth God and man united. The flesh formed
by the Spirit is nourished, grows up to manhood, speaks,
teaches, works, and is the Christ.
Receive meanwhile this
fable, if you choose to call it so
it is like some of your own
while we go on to show how Christ's claims are proved, and
who the parties are with you by whom such fables have been
set agoing to overthrow the truth, which they resemble.
The
and God, and the soul of

Jupiter,


APOLOGETICUS

185

Jews, too, were well aware that Christ was coming, as those to
whom the prophets spake. Nay, even now His advent is expected by them nor is there any other contention between
them and us, than that they beheve the advent has not yet
For two comings of Christ having been revealed
occurred.
to us a first, which has been fulfilled in the lowliness of a
human lot a second, which impends over the world, now near
its close, in all the majesty of Deity unveiled and, by misunderstanding the first, they have concluded that the second
which, as matter of more manifest prediction, they set their
hopes on is the only one. It was the merited punishment of
their sin not to understand the Lord's first advent
for if
they had, they would have believed; and if they had believed,
they would have obtained salvation.
They themselves read
how it is written of them that they are deprived of wisdom
;

and understanding of the use of eyes and ears [Isa. vi. lo].
As, then, under the force of their prejudgment, they had
convinced themselves from His lowly guise that Christ was
no more than man, it followed from that, as a necessary consequence, that they should hold Him a magician from the
powers which He displayed, expelling devils from men by

a word, restoring vision to the blind, cleansing the leprous, re-

invigorating the paralytic, summoning the dead to life again,

making the very elements of nature obey Him, stilling the
storms and walking on the sea; proving that He was the
Logos of God, that primordial first-begotten Word, accompanied by power and reason, and based on Spirit, that He
who was now doing all things by His word, and He who had
done that of old, were one and the same.
But the Jews were so exasperated by His teaching, by
which their rulers and chiefs were convicted of the truth,
chiefly because so many turned aside to Him, that at last they

brought Him before Pontius Pilate, at the time Roman governor of Syria, and, by the violence of their outcries against

Him up to them to be
Himself had predicted this which, however,
W'Ould have mattered little had not the prophets of old done it
as well.
And yet, nailed upon the cross, He exhibited many
notable signs, by which His death was distinguished from all
Him, extorted a sentence giving

crucified.

He

TERTULLIAN

186

At His own

He

with a word dismissed

from Him His spirit, anticipating the executioner's work.
In the same hour, too, the light of day was withdrawn, when
Those
the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze.
who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ,
no doubt thought it an eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in yoi^ir archives. Then, when
His body was taken down from the cross and placed in a
sepulchre, the Jews in their eager watchfulness surrounded it
others.

free-will,

with a large military guard, lest, as He had predicted His

resurrection from the dead on the third day, His disciples
might remove by stealth His body, and deceive even the incredulous.
But, lo, on the third day there was a sudden shock;
of earthquake, and the stone which sealed the sepulchre was
rolled away, and the guard fled off in terror without a single
disciple near, the grave was found empty of all but the clothes
of the buried One. But nevertheless, the leaders of the Jews,
whom it nearly concerned both to spread abroad a lie, and keep
back a people tributary and submissive to them from the faith,
gave it out that the body of Christ had been stolen by His followers.
For the Lord, you see, did not go forth into the
public gaze, lest the wicked should be delivered from their
error; that faith also, destined to a great reward, might hold
its ground in difficulty.
But He spent forty days with some
of His disciples down in Galilee, a region of Judea, instructing them in the doctrines they were to teach to others.
Thereafter, having given them commission to preach the gospel
through the world. He was encompassed with a cloud and
taken up to heaven, a fact more certain far than the assertions of your Proculi concerning Romulus.^
:

now in fact a
own convictions, he sent word of Him to
Caesar, who was at the time Tiberius.
Yes, and

All these things Pilate did to Christ; and

Christian in his
the reigning

the Caesars too would have believed on Christ, if either the

Caesars had not been necessary for the world, or if Christians
could have been Caesars. His disciples also spreading over
Proculus was a Roman senator,
appeared to him after his death.
^

who

affirmed that

Romulus had

APOLOGETICUS

187

the world, did as their Divine Master bade them; and after
themselves from the persecutions of the

suffering" greatly

Jews, and with no unwilling heart, as having faith undoubting

in the truth, at last by Nero's cruel sword sowed the seed of
Yes, and we shall prove that even
Christian blood at Rome.
your own gods are effective witnesses for Christ. It is a
if, to give you faith in Christians, I can bring
forward the authority of the very beings on account of whom

great matter

you refuse them credit.

Thus far we have carried out the plan we laid down. We
have set forth this origin of our sect and name, with this account of the Founder of Christianity. Let no one henceforth
charge us with infamous wickedness; let no one think that it
is otherwise than we have represented, for none may give a
false account of his religion.
For in the very fact that he
says he worships another god than he really does, he is guilty
of denying the object of his worship, and transferring his
worship and homage to another; and in the transference he
ceases to worship the god he has repudiated.
We say, and
before all men we say, and torn and bleeding under your

We worship God through Christ."

Count Christ a man, if you please; by Him and in Him God
would be known and be adored.
the Jews object, we
answer that Moses, who was but a man, taught them their
religion; against the Greeks we urge that Orpheus at Pieria,
Musaeus at Athens, Melampus at Argos, Trophonius in
Bceotia, imposed religious rites; turning to yourselves, who
exercise sway over the nations, it was the man Numa Pompilius who laid on the Romans a heavy load of costly superstitions.
Surely Christ, then, had a right to reveal Deity,
which was in fact His own essential possession, not with the
object of bringing boors and savages by the dread of multitudinous gods, whose favour must be won, into some civilisation, as was the case with Numa; but as one who aimed to
enlighten men already civilised, and under illusions from
their very culture, that they might come to the knowledge of
the truth.
Search, then, and see if that divinity of Christ
tortures,

we

cry out, "

it be of such a nature that the acceptance of it

be true.
transforms a man, and makes him truly good, there is implied

TERTULLIAN

188

duty of renouncing what is opposed to it as false

on every ground that which, hiding itself under
the names and images of the dead, labours to convince men
of its divinity by certain signs, and miracles, and oracles.
in that the

especially

And we
essences.

affirm indeed the existence of certain spiritual

Nor

is

their

acknowledge there are

name

unfamiliar.

The philosophers

demons; Socrates himself waiting on

Why

not? since it is said an evil spirit

him even from his childhood
attached
what w^s good. The poets
his
mind
from
turning
no doubt
are all acquainted with demons too even the ignorant common
In fact, they
people make frequent use of them in cursing.
call upon Satan the demon-chief in their execrations, as
though from some instinctive soul-knowledge of him. Plato
also admits the existence of angels.
The dealers in magic, no
less, come forward as witnesses to the existence of both kinds
of spirits.
a demon's will.

itself specially to

We

are instructed, moreover, by our sacred books

certain angels,

who

how

of their own free-will, there

sprang a more wicked demon-brood, condemned of God along
with the authors of their race, and that chief we have referred to.
It will for the present be enough, however, that
some account is given of their work. Their great business
is the ruin of mankind.
So, from the very first, spiritual
wickedness sought our destruction. They inflict, accordingly,
upon our bodies diseases and other grievous calamities, while
by violent assaults they hurry the soul into sudden and extraordinary
excesses.
Their marvellous subtleness and
tenuity give them access to both parts of our nature.
As
spiritual, they can do great harm for, invisible and intangible,
we are not cognizant of their action save by its effects, when
some inexplicable, unseen poison in the breeze blights the
apples and the grain while in the flower, or kills them in the
bud, or destroys them when they have reached maturity; as
though by the tainted atmosphere in some unknown way
spreading abroad its pestilential exhalations.
So, too, by an
influence equally obscure, demons and angels breathe into the
soul and rouse up its corruptions with furious passions and
vile excesses, or with cruel lusts accompanied by various

from

fell

APOLOGETICUS
errors, of

which the worst

commended

is

that by which these deities are

to the favour of deceived

ings, that they

may

189

and deluded human be-

get their proper food of flesh-fumes and

blood when that is offered up to idol-images. And what is

daintier food to the spirit of evil, than turning men's minds
away from the true God by the illusions of a false divination?
And here I shall explain how these illusions are managed.
Every spirit is possessed of wings. This is a common property of both angels and demons.
So they are everywhere in
a single moment the whole world is as one place to them
all that is done over the whole extent of it, it is as easy for
them to know as to report. Their swiftness of motion is taken
;

Thus they
for divinity, because their nature is unknown.
would have themselves thought sometimes the authors of the
things which they announce and sometimes, no doubt, the bad
;

things are their doing, never the good.

The purposes of

God, too, they took up of old from the lips of the prophets,
even as they spoke them; and they gather them still from
Thus getting,
their works, when they hear them read aloud.
too, from this source some intimations of the future, they set
themselves up as rivals of the true God, while they steal
His divinations. But the skill with w^hich their responses
are shaped to meet events, your Crcesi and Pyrrhi know too
well.
On 'the other hand, it was in that way we have explained, the Pythian was able to declare that a tortoise was
being cooked with the flesh of a lamb; in a moment he had
been to Lydia. From dwelling in the air, and their nearness to the stars, and their commerce with the clouds they
have means of knowing the preparatory processes going on
in these upper regions and thus can give promise of the
rains w^hich they already feel.
Very kind too, no doubt,
they are in regard to the healing of diseases.
For, first of
all, they make you ill; then, to get a miracle out of it, they
command the application of remedies either altogether new,
or contrary to those in use, and straightway withdrawing
hurtful influence, they are supposed to have wrought a cure.
What need, then, to speak of their other artifices, or yet
further of the deceptive power which they have as spirits?
of these Castor apparitions, and water carried by a sieve,


TERTULLIAN

190

and a ship drawn along by a guide, and a beard reddened by

a touch, all done with the one object of showing that men
should believe in the deity of stones, and not seek after the

only true

God?

Moreover, if sorcerers call forth ghosts, and even make

what seem the souls of the dead to appear; if they put boys
to death in order to get a response from the oracle; if, with
their juggling illusions, they make a pretence of doing various
miracles; if they put dreams into people's minds by the power
of the angels and demons whose aid they have invited, by
whose influence, too, goats and tables are made to divine,
how much more likely is this power of evil to be zealous in
doing with all its might, of its own inclination, and for its
own objects, what it does to serve the ends of others! Or
if both angels and demons do just what your gods do, where
in that case is the pre-eminence of deity, which we must
Will it not then be
surely think to be above all in might?

more reasonable

to hold that these spirits

make themselves

gods, giving as they do the very proofs which raise your gods
to godhead, than that the

demons?

You make

gods are the equals of angels and

a distinction of places,

suppose, re-

garding as gods in their temple those whose divinity you do

not recognise elsewhere; counting the madness which leads
one man to leap from the sacred houses, to be something
different from that which leads another to leap from an adjoining house; looking on one who cuts his arms and secret
parts as under a different furor from another who cuts his
throat.
The result of the frenzy is the same in both cases,
and the manner of instigation is one.
But thus far we have been dealing only in words we now
proceed to a proof of facts, in which we shall show that under
different names you have real identity.
Let a person be
brought before your tribunals, who is plainly under demoniacal possession. The wicked spirits, bidden speak by a
follower of Christ, will as readily make the truthful confession that he is a demon, as elsewhere he has falsely asserted
that he is a god.
Or, if you will, let there be produced one
of the god-possessed, as they are supposed, who, inhaling at
the altar, conceive divinity from the fumes, who are delivered
:


APOLOGETICUS

191

of it by retching, who vent it forth in agonies of gasping.

Let that same Virgin Caelestis herself the rain-promiser, let
^sculapius discoverer of medicines, ready to prolong the life
of Socordius, and Tenatius, and Asclepiodotus, now in the last
extremity, if they would not confess, in their fear of lying to
a Christian, that they were demons, then and there shed the
blood of that most impudent follower of Christ. What
clearer than a work like that? what more trustworthy than
such a proof? The simplicity of truth is thus set forth; its
own worth sustains it; no ground remains for the least susDo you say that it is done by magic, or some trick
picion.
of that sort? You will not say anything of the sort, if you
have been allowed the use of your ears and eyes. For what
argument can you bring against a thing that is exhibited to the
eye in its naked reality? If, on the one hand, they are really
gods, why do they pretend to be demons? Is it from fear of
us? In that case your divinity is put in subjection to Christians and you surely can never ascribe deity to that which is
under authority of man, nay (if it adds aught to the disgrace)
of its very enemies. If, on the other hand, they are demons
or angels, why, inconsistently with this, do they presume to
For as beset themselves forth as acting the part of gods?
ings who put themselves out as gods would never willingly
call themselves demons, if they were gods indeed, that they
might not thereby in fact abdicate their dignity; so those
whom you know to be no more than demons, would not dare
to act as gods, if those whose names they take and use were
really divine.
For they would not dare to treat with disrespect the higher majesty of beings, whose displeasure they
would feel was to be dreaded. So this divinity of yours is
no divinity; for if it were, it would not be pretended to by
demons, and it would not be denied by gods. But since on
both sides there is a concurrent acknowledgment that they
are not gods, gather from this that there is but a single race
Let
I mean the race of demons, the real race in both cases.
your search, then, now be after gods for those whom you
had imagined to be so you find to be spirits of evil. The truth
is, as we have thus not only shown from your own gods that
neither themselves nor any others have claims to deity, you
;


TERTULLIAN

192

may

see at once

and He alone

God, and whether that is He

own as also whether you
Him, and worship Him, after the manner

who

is

whom we

are to believe in

really

Christians

of our Christian faith and discipline.

But at once they will say, Who is this Christ with his
fables? is he an ordinary man? is he a sorcerer? was his
body stolen by his disciples from its tomb? is he now in the
realms below? or is he not rather up in the heavens, thence
about to come again, making the whole world shake, filling
the earth with dread alarms, making all but^Christians wail
as the Power of God, and the Spirit of God, and the Word,
and the Reason, and the Wisdom, and the Son of God?
Mock as you like, but get the demons if you can to join you
in your mocking; let them deny that Christ is coming to judge
every human soul which has existed from the world's beginning, clothing it again with the body it laid aside at death;
let them declare it, say, before your tribunal, that this work
has been alloted to Minos and Rhadamanthus, as Plato and
the poets agree; let them put away from them at least the
mark of ignominy and condemnation. They disclaim being
unclean spirits, which yet we must hold as indubitably proved

by

and fumes and foetid carcases of

and even by the vile language of their
Let them deny that, for their wickedness con-

their relish for the blood

sacrificial animals,

ministers.

demned
with

already, they are kept for that very judgment-day,

all

their worshippers

authority and power

their works.
Why, all the
over them is from our naming

and

we have

name of Christ, and recalling to their memory the woes

with which God threatens them at the hands of Christ as
Judge, and which they expect one day to overtake them.
Fearing Christ in God, and God in Christ, they become sub-

the

God and Christ. So at our touch and

overwhelmed by the thought and realization of
those judgment fires, they leave at our command the bodies
they have entered, unwilling, and distressed, and before your
very eyes put to an open shame. You believe them when
ject to the servants of

breathing,

they

lie

give credit to them, then,

about themselves.

upon

his

own

No

when they speak

the truth

one plays the liar to bring disgrace

head, but for the sake of honour rather.
You

APOLOGETICUS

193

give a readier confidence to people making confessions against

It has not been
themselves, than denials in their own behalf.
an unusual thing, accordingly, for those testimonies of your
deities to convert

we

men

to Christianity; for in giving full be-

Yes, your very

our Scriptures, they build up the conYou do homage, as I know, to them
On no account, then,
also with the blood of Christians.
would they lose those who are so useful and dutiful to them,
anxious even to hold you fast, lest some day or other as Chrisif under the power of a
tians you might put them to the rout,
follower of Christ, who desires to prove to you the Truth,
it were at all possible for them to lie.
This whole confession of these beings, in which they
declare that they are not gods, and in which they tell you
that there is no God but one, the God whom we adore, is
quite sufficient to clear us from the crime of treason, chiefly
For if it is certain the gods
against the Roman religion.
have no existence, there is no religion in the case. If there
is no religion, because there are no gods, we are assuredly
Instead of that,
not guilty of any offence against religion.
the charge recoils on your own head: worshipping a lie, you
are really guilty of the crime you charge on us, not merely
by refusing the true religion of the true God, but by going the
lief to

them,

are led to believe in Christ.

gods kindle up faith

fidence of our hope.

in

further length of persecuting

it.

But now, granting that these objects of your worship are

really gods, is it not generally held that there is one higher
and more potent, as it were the world's chief ruler, endowed
with absolute power and majesty? For the common way is
to apportion deity, giving an imperial and supreme domination
to one, while its offices are put into the hands of many, as
Plato describes great Jupiter in the heavens, surrounded by an
array at once of deities and demons. It behoves us, therefore,
to show equal respect to the procurators, prefects, and governors of the divine empire. And yet how great a crime does he
commit, who, with the object of gaining higher favour with
the Caesar, transfers his endeavours and his hopes to another,
and does not confess that the appellation of God as of Emperor belongs only to the Supreme Head, when it is held a

TERTULLIAN

194

among us to call, or hear called, by the highest

any other than Caesar himself! Let one man worship
God, another Jupiter; let one lift suppliant hands to the
if you choose
heavens, another to the altar of Fides; let one
count in prayer the clouds, and anto take this view of it
other the ceiling pannels; let one consecrate his own life to his
God, and another that of a goat. For see that you do not
give a further ground for the charge of irreligion, by taking
away religious liberty, and forbidding free choice of deity, so
that I may no longer worship according to my inclination, but
am compelled to worship against it. Not even a human being would care to have unwilling homage rendered to him;
and so the very Egyptians have been permitted the legal use
of their ridiculous superstition, liberty to make gods of birds
and beasts, nay, to condemn to death any one who kills a god

capital offence
title

of their

sort.

Every province even, and every

city, has its god.

Syria
has Astarte, Arabia has Dusares, the Norici have Belenus,
Africa has its Cselestis, Mauritania has its own princes. I
have spoken, I think, of Roman provinces, and yet I have not
said their gods are Roman; for they are not worshipped at
Rome any more than others who are ranked as deities over
Italy itself by municipal consecration, such as Delventinus of
Casinum, Visidianus of Narnia, Ancharia of Asculum, Nortia
of Volsinii, Valentia of Ocriculum, Hostia of Satrium, Father
Curis of Falisci, in honour of whom, too, Juno got her surname. In fact, we alone are prevented having a religion of
our own. We give offence to the Romans, we are excluded
from the rights and privileges of Romans, because we do not
worship the gods of Rome. It is well that there is a God of
all, whose we all are, whether we will or no.
But with you
liberty is given to worship any god but the true God, as
though He were not rather the God all should worship, to

whom
I

all

belong.

think

have offered

sufficient

of false and true divinity, having

proof upon the question

shown

that the proof rests

not merely on debate and argument, but on the witness of
the very beings whom you believe are gods, so that the point
needs no further handling. However, having been led thus

APOLOGETICUS
naturally to speak of the

troversy which

who maintain
religion,

power

the

is

Romans,

not avoid the con-

I shall

invited by the groundless assertion of those

that, as a

reward of their singular homage to

Romans have been

as to have

195

raised to such heights of

become masters of the world; and

that so

certainly divine are the beings they worship, that those prosper

beyond

all

forsooth,

others,
is

who beyond

all

others honour them.

their devotion.

The progress

of the empire

This,

Romans

the wages the gods have paid the

for

to be ascribed

is

and Mutunus, and Larentina

For I can hardly
think that foreign gods would have been disposed to show
more favour to an alien race than to their own, and given
to Sterculus,

their

own

fatherland, in

which they had their

birth,

grew up

to manhood, became illustrious, and at last were buried, over

to invaders from another shore!

As

for Cybele, if she set her affections on the city of

Rome

as sprung of the Trojan stock saved from the arms of Greece,

she herself forsooth being of the same race,

if she foresaw
her transference ^ to the avenging people by whom Greece
the conqueror of Phrj'^gia was to be subdued, let her look to
it (in regard of her native country's conquest by Greece).

Why,

too, even in these

days the Mater

Magna

has given a

notable proof of her greatness which she has conferred as a

boon upon the

city,

when, after the

loss to the State of

Mar-

cus Aurelius at Sirmium, on the sixteenth before the Kalends

of April, that most sacred high priest of hers

was

offering,

a week after, impure libations of blood drawn from his own

arms, and issuing his commands that the ordinary prayers

should be made for the safety of the emperor already dead.

sleepy despatches, through whose fault
tardy messengers,

Cybele had not an earlier knowledge of the imperial decease,

that the Christians might have no occasion to ridicule a goddess so unworthy.
Jupiter, again, would surely never have permitted his own
Crete to fall at once before the Roman Fasces, forgetful of
that Idean cave and the Corybantian cymbals, and the sweet
^

Her image was taken from

oracle, to

Rome,

Pessinus, in Asia Minor, seat of the

to satisfy an oracle in the Sibylline Books.

TERTULLIAN

196

odour of her who nursed him there. Would he not have exown tomb above the entire Capitol, that the land
which covered the ashes of Jove might rather be the mistress
of the world? Would Juno have desired the destruction of
the Punic city, beloved even to the neglect of Samos, and
As to that I know, "Here
that by a nation of ^Eneadse?
were her arms, here was her chariot, this kingdom, if the
Fates permit, the goddess tends and cherishes to be mistress
of the nations." Jove's hapless wife and sister had n6 power
alted his

to prevail against the Fates

by

fate."

And

yet the

" Jupiter himself

is

sustained

Romans have never done such homage

to the Fates, which gave

them Carthage against the purpose

Juno, as to the abandoned harlot Larentina.

It is undoubted that not a few of your gods have reigned
on earth as kings. If, then, they now possess the power of
bestowing empire, when they were kings themselves from
whence had they received their kingly honours? Whom did

and the

will of

Jupiter and Saturn worship?

Sterculus, I suppose.

But

did the Romans, along with the native-born inhabitants, afteralso some who were never kings? In that case,
however, they were under the reign of others, who did not yet
bow down to them, as not yet raised to godhead. It belongs
to others, then, to make gift of kingdoms, since there were
kings before these gods had their names on the roll of divini-

wards adore

ties.

But how utterly

of the

Roman name

Rome became

foolish

it

is

to attribute the greatness

to religious merits, since

an empire, or

call it still a

it

was

after

kingdom, that the

religion she professes made its chief progress

Is it the case
now? Has its religion been the source of the prosperity of
Rome? For though Numa set agoing an eagerness after superstitious observances, yet religion among the Romans was
!

not yet a matter of images or temples. It was frugal in its

ways, and its rites were simple, and there were no capitols
struggling to the heavens; but the altars were ofifhand ones
of turf, and the sacred vessels were yet of Samian earthenware, and from these the odours rose, and no likeness of God
was to be seen. For at that time the skill of the Greeks and
Tuscans in image-making had not yet overrun the city with
the products of their art. The Romans, therefore, were not

APOLOGETICUS

197

distinguished for their devotion to the gods before they attained to greatness and so their greatness was not the result
;

of their religion.

Indeed,

how

could religion

make a people

great

who have

I am not
mistaken, kingdoms and empires are acquired by wars, and
are extended by victories. More than that, you cannot have

owed

their greatness to their irreligion?

wars and

For,

if

and often the destrucThat is a thing in which the gods have their
share of calamity. Houses and temples suffer aHke; there is
indiscriminate slaughter of priests and citizens; the hand of
rapine is laid equally upon sacred and on common treasure.
Thus the sacrileges of the Romans are as numerous as their
trophies.
They boast as many triumphs over the gods as
over the nations; as many spoils of battle they have still, as

tion, of

victories without the taking,

cities.

And the poor gods

submit to be adored by their enemies, and they ordain illimitable empire to those whose injuries rather than their simulated homage should have had retribution at their hands. But
divinities unconscious are with impunity dishonoured, just as
in vain they are adored. You certainly never can believe that
devotion to religion has evidently advanced to greatness a
people who, as we have put it, have either grown by injuring
religion, or have injured religion by their growth.
Those,
too, whose kingdoms have become part of the one great whole
of the Roman empire, were not without religion when their
kingdoms were taken from them.
Examine then, and see if He be not the dispenser of
kingdoms, who is Lord at once of the world which is ruled,
and of man himself who rules; if He have not ordained the
changes of dynasties, with their appointed seasons, who was
before all time, and made the world a body of times; if the
rise and the fall of states are not the work of Him, under
whose sovereignty the human race once existed without states
at all.
How do you allow yourselves to fall into such error?
Why, the Rome of rural simplicity is older than some of her
there remain images of captive deities.

gods; she reigned before her proud, vast Capitol was built.
exercised dominion, too, before the days of
the Pontiffs; and the Medes before the Quindecemvirs and

The Babylonians

XIV 14

198

TERTULLIAN

the Egyptians before the SaHi

Luperci

and the Assyrians before the

and the Amazons before the Vestal Virgins. And
;

add another point: if the religions of Rome give empire,

would never have been a kingdom, despising
as it did one and all these idol deities Judea, whose God you
Romans once honoured with victims, and its temple with
gifts, and its people with treaties; and which would never
have been beneath your sceptre but for that last and crowning offence against God, in rejecting and cruc!f;^ing Christ.
Enough has been said in these remarks to confute the
charge of treason against your religion; for we cannot be
held to do harm to that which has no existence. When we
to

ancient Judea

are called therefore to sacrifice,

on the knowledge we
of the real objects to

we

resolutely refuse, relying

by which we are well assured

these services are offered, under

possess,

whom

profaning of images and the deification of human names.

Some, indeed, think it a piece of insanity that, when it is in
our power to offer sacrifice at once, and go away unharmed,
holding as ever our convictions, we prefer an obstinate persistence in our confession to our safety.
You advise us, forsooth, to take unjust advantage of you; but we know whence
such suggestions come, who is at the bottom of it all, and
how every effort is made, now by cunning suasion, and now
by merciless persecution, to overthrow our constancy. No
other than that spirit, half devil and half angel, who, hating
us because of his own separation from God, and stirred with
envy for the favour God has shown us, turns your minds
against us by an occult influence, moulding and instigating them to all that perversity in judgment, and that unrighteous cruelty, which we have mentioned at the beginning
of our work, when entering on this discussion.
For, though the whole power of demons and kindred spirits is subject to us, yet still, as ill-disposed slaves sometimes
conjoin contumacy with fear, and delight to injure those of
whom they at the same time stand in awe, so is it here. For
fear also inspires hatred.

Besides, in their desperate condi-

under condemnation, it gives them some comfort, while punishment delays, to have the usufruct of their
malignant dispositions. And yet, when hands are laid on

tion, as already

APOLOGETICUS

199

them, they are subdued at once, and submit to their lot; and
whom at a distance they oppose, in close quarters they
supplicate for mercy.
So when, like insurrectionary workhouses, or prisons, or mines, or any such penal slaveries, they
those

break forth against us their masters, they know all the while
that they are not a match for us, and just on that account,
indeed, rush the more recklessly to destruction.
We resist
them unwillingly, as though they were equals, and contend
against them by persevering in that which they assail; and
our triumph over them is never more complete than when
we are condemned for resolute adherence to our faith.
But as it was easily seen to be unjust to compel freemen
against their will to offer sacrifice (for even in other acts of
religious service a willing mind is required), it should be
counted quite absurd for one man to compel another to do
honour to the gods, when he ought ever voluntarily, and in
the sense of his own need, to seek their favour, lest in the
liberty which is his right he should be ready to say, " I want
none of Jupiter's favours; pray who art thou? Let Janus
meet me with angry looks, with whichever of his faces he
likes what have you to do with me ? "
You have been led,
no doubt, by these same evil spirits to compel us to offer
sacrifice for the well-being of the emperor; and you are under
a necessity of using force, just as we are under an obligation
to face the dangers of it.
This brings us, then, to the second ground of accusation,
that we are guilty of treason against a majesty more august;
for you do homage with a greater dread and an intenser reverence to Caesar, than Olympian Jove himself.
And if you
knew it, upon sufficient grounds. For is not any living man
better than a dead one, whoever he be ?
But this is not done
by you on any other ground than regard to a power whose
presence you vividly realize; so that also in this you are convicted of impiety to your gods, inasmuch as you show a
greater reverence to a human sovereignty than you do to
them. Then, too, among you, people far more readily swear
a false oath in the name of all the gods, than in the name of
the single genius of Caesar.
Let it be made clear, then, first of all, if those to whom
;

TERTULLIAN

200

emperor
and so adjudge us guilty of treason, if angels
and demons, spirits of most wicked nature, do any good, if
the lost save, if the condemned give liberty, if the dead (I
refer to what you know well enough) defend the living. For
surely the first thing they would look to would be the protection of their statues, and images, and temples, which rather
owe their safety, I think, to the watch kept by Cesar's guards.
Nay, I think the very materials of which these are made come
from Caesar's mines, and there is not a temple but depends
on Caesar's will. Yes, and many gods have felt the disIt makes for my argument if they
pleasure of the Caesar.
are also partakers of his favour, when he bestows on them
some gift or privilege. How shall they who are thus in
Caesar's power, who belong entirely to him, have Caesar's protection in their hands, so that you can imagine them able to
give to Caesar what they more readily get from him? This,
then, is the ground on which we are charged with treason
against the imperial majesty, to wit, that we do not put the
emperors under their own possessions; that we do not offer
a mere mock service on their behalf, as not believing their
safety rests in leaden hands.
But you are impious in a high
degree who look for it where it is not, who seek it from those
who have it not to give, passing by Him who has it entirely
in His power.
Besides this, you persecute those who know
where to seek for it, and who, knowing where to seek for it,
sacrifice is offered are really able to protect either

or anybody

else,

are able as well to secure

For we

it.

offer prayer for the safety of

eternal, the true, the living

our princes to the

God, whose favour, beyond all

must themselves desire. They know from whom

they have obtained their power; they know, as they are men,
from whom they have received life itself; they are convinced

others, they

He

God

on whose power alone they are entirely

they are second, after whom they occupy
the highest places, before and above all the gods.
Why not,
since they are above all living men, and the living, as living,
are superior to the dead? They reflect upon the extent of
that

is

dependent, to

alone,

whom

and so they come to understand the highest;

they acknowledge that they have all their might from Him

their power,

!;;:

APOLOGETICUS

201

whom their might is nought. Let the emperor make

war on heaven let him lead heaven captive in his triumph
let him put guards on heaven let him impose taxes on heaven
against

He

Just because he is less than heaven, he is great.

For he himself is His to whom heaven and every creature appertains.
He gets his sceptre where he first got his humanity
his power where he got the breath of life.
Thither we lift
cannot.

our eyes, with hands outstretched, because free from sin with
head uncovered, for we have nothing whereof to be ashamed
finally, without a monitor, because it is from the heart we supplicate.
And, without ceasing, for all our emperors we oflfer
prayer.
We pray for life prolonged; for security to the
empire for protection to the imperial house for brave armies,
a faithful senate, a virtuous people, the world at rest, whatever, as man or Caesar, an emperor would wish.
These things I cannot ask from any but the God from
whom I know I shall obtain them, both because He alone
bestows them and because I have claims upon Him for their
;

gift,

as being a servant of His, rendering

homage

to

Him

His doctrine, offering to Him, at His

own requirement, that costly and noble sacrifice of prayer
[Heb. X. 22] despatched from a chaste body, and unstained
soul, a sanctified spirit,
not the few grains of incense a
farthing buys tears of an Arabian tree,
not a few drops of
wine,
not the blood of some worthless ox to whom death is
a relief, and, in addition to other offensive things, a polluted
conscience, so that one wonders, when your victims are
examined by these vile priests, why the examination is not
rather of the sacrificers than the sacrifices.
With our hands
thus stretched out and up to God, rend us with your iron
claws, hang us up on crosses, wrap us in flames, take our
heads from us with the sword, let loose the wild beasts on us,
alone, persecuted for

the very

attitude of a Christian praying

one of preparayour work

wring from us the soul, beseeching God on the emperor's behalf.
Upon the truth of God, and devotion to His name, put
the brand of crime.
But we merely, you say, flatter the emperor, and feign
tion for all punishment.

Let

this,

good

is

rulers, be

these prayers of ours to escape persecution.

Thank you

for

TERTULLIAN

202

your mistake. For you give us the opportunity of proving

our allegations. Do you, then, who think that we care nothing for the welfare of Caesar, look into God's revelations,
examine our sacred books, which we do not keep in hiding,
and which many accidents put into the hands of those who are
not of us. Learn from them that a large benevolence is enjoined upon us, even so far as to supplicate God for our
enemies, and to beseech blessings on our persecutors [Matt.
Who, then, are greater enemies and persecutors of
V. 44].
Christians, than the very parties with treason against

we

whom

Nay, even in terms, and most clearly, the

Scripture says, *' Pray for kings, and rulers, and powers, that
For when there
all may be peace with you" [i Tim. ii. 2].
is disturbance in the empire, if the commotion is felt by its
other members, surely we too, though we are not thought to
be given to disorder, are to be found in some place or other
which the calamity affects.
There is also another and a greater necessity for our
offering prayer in behalf of the emperors, nay, for the complete stability of the empire, and for Roman interests in
general.
For we know that a mighty shock impending over
the whole earth
in fact, the very end of all things threatening dreadful woes
is only retarded by the continued existence of the Roman empire. We have no desire, then, to be
overtaken by these dire events; and in praying that their
coming may be delayed, we are lending our aid to Rome's
duration.
More than this, though we decline to swear by
the genii of the Caesars, we swear by their safety, which is
worth far more than all your genii. Are you ignorant that
these genii are called "Dsemones," and thence the diminuare charged?

tive

name "Dsemonia"

is

applied to

the emperors the ordinance of God,

the nations.

We

know

has willed; and to what

and we count an oath by

that there

God has

is

them?

who

that in

willed

We

respect in

has set them over

we

them which God

desire

all

safety,

But as for daemons,

that is, your genii, we have been in the habit of exorcising
them, not of swearing by them, and thereby conferring on
them divine honour.
But why dwell longer on the reverence and sacred respect
it

a great oath.

APOLOGETICUS
emperor, whom we

203

of Christians to the
cannot but look up
to as called by our Lord to his office ? so that on valid grounds
I might say Caesar is more ours than yours, for our God has
appointed him.
Therefore, as having this propriety in him, I
do more than you for his welfare, not merely because I ask
it of Him who can give it, or because I ask it as one who
deserves to get it, but also because, in keeping the majesty
of Caesar within due limits, and putting it under the Most
High, and making it less than divine, I commend him the more
to the favour of Deity, to whom I make him alone inferior.
But I place him in subjection to one I regard as more glorious
than himself. Never will I call the emperor God, and that
either because

it

not in

is

that I dare not turn

him

me

to be guilty of falsehood; or

himhave that high name applied to him. If

he is but a man, it is his interest as man to give God His
higher place. Let him think it enough to bear the name of
That, too, is a great name of God's giving.
emperor.
To
call him God, is to rob him of his title.
If he is not a man,
emperor he cannot be. Even when, amid the honours of a
triumph, he sits on that lofty chariot, he is reminded that he
is only human.
A voice at his back keeps whispering in his
ear, "Look behind thee; remember thou art but a man.'*
And it only adds to his exultation, that he shines with a glory
so surpassing as to require an admonitory reference to his
condition.
It adds to his greatness that he needs such a reminiscence, lest he should think himself divine.
Augustus, the founder of the empire, would not even have
For my
the title Lord; for that, too, is a name of Deity.
part, I am willing to give the emperor this designation, but in
the common acceptation of the word, and when I am not
But my relation
forced to call him Lord as in God's place.
to him is one of freedom for I have but one true Lord, God
omnipotent and eternal, who is Lord of the emperor as well.
into ridicule; or that not even

self will desire to

How

can he,

The name of

who
piety

is

is

truly father of his country, be

more grateful than

the

its

lord?

name of power;

so the heads of families are called fathers rather than lords.

can
Far less should the emperor have the name of God.

We

only profess our belief that he

is

that by the

most unworthy,


TERTULLIAN

204

it is just as if, having an emperor, you

another by the name, in which case will you not give
great and unappeasable offence to him who actually reigns ?
an offence he, too, needs to fear on whom you have bestowed
the title. Give all reverence to God, if you wish Him to be
propitious to the emperor.
Give up all worship of, and belief

nay, a fatal flattery;

call

in,

any other being as

divine.

Cease also to give the sacred

him who has need of God hikiself. If such adulation is not ashamed of its lie, in addressing a man as divine,
let it have some dread at least of the evil omen which it bears.
It is the invocation of a curse, to give Caesar the name of god

name

to

before his apotheosis.

This is the reason, then, why Christians are counted public

enemies that they pay no vain, nor false, nor foolish honours
to the emperor; that, as men believing in the true religion,
they prefer to celebrate their festal days with a good conIt is, forscience, instead of with the common wantonness.
sooth, a notable homage to bring fires and couches out into
the public, to have feasting from street to street, to turn the
city into one great tavern, to make mud with wine, to run in
troops to acts of violence, to deeds of shamelessness, to lust
allurements!
What! is pyblic joy manifested by public disgrace? Do things unseemly at other times beseem the festal
days of princes? Do they who observe the rules of virtue
out of reverence for Caesar, for his sake turn aside from
them? And shall piety be a licence to immoral deeds, and
shall religion be regarded as affording the occasion for all
riotous extravagance?
Poor we, worthy of all condemnation
For why do we keep the votive days and high rejoicings in honour of the Caesars with chastity, sobriety, and
virtue? Why, on the day of gladness, do we neither cover
our door-posts with laurels, nor intrude upon the day with
lamps? It is a proper thing, at the call of a public festivity,
to dress your house up like some new brothel!
However, in
the matter of this homage to a lesser majesty, in reference
to which we are accused of a lower sacrilege, because we do
not celebrate along with you the holidays of the Caesars in a
manner forbidden alike by modesty, decency, and purity, in
truth they have been established rather as affording oppor:

APOLOGETICUS
tunities for licentiousness than
this

matter

am

205

from any worthy motive, in

how faithful and true

anxious to point out

perchance here also those who will not have us

counted Romans, but enemies of Rome's chief rulers, be found
I appeal to the
themselves worse than we wicked Christians
the
to
native
themselves,
population of
of
Rome
inhabitants
vernacular
theirs ever
hills:
Roman
of
does
that
the seven
wild
and
the
beasts'
schools
bear
The
Tiber
spare a Caesar?
covered
our
with
had
hearts
a
if
nature
Say
now
witness.
light
which
the
could
pass,
through
substance
transparent
whose hearts, all graven over, would not betray the scene of
another and another Caesar presiding at the distribution of a
And this at the very time they are shouting, " May
largess ?

you

are, lest

Jupiter take years from us, and with them lengthen life to
you," words as foreign to the lips of a Christian as it is out

of keeping with his character to desire a change of emperor.

But this is the rabble, you say yet as the rabble they still
are Romans, and none more frequently than they demand the
;

Of course, then, the other classes, as

death of Christians.
higher
rank,
are religiously faithful.
their
No breath
befits
ever
in
there
the
senate,
in
the
equestrian
order,
treason
is
of
camp, in the palace. Whence, then, came a Cassius, a
Niger, an Albinus? Whence they who beset the Caesar [Commodus] between the two laurel groves? whence they who practised wrestling, that they might acquire skill to strangle him?
Whence they who in full armour broke into the palace,* more
audacious than all your Tigerii and Parthenii?^ If I mistake
not, they were Romans; that is, they were not Christians.
Yet all of them, on the very eve of their traitorous outbreak,
offered sacrifices for the safety of the emperor, and swore
by his genius, one thing in profession, and another in the
heart; and no doubt they were in the habit of calling Christians enemies of the state.
Yes, and persons who are now daily brought to light as
confederates or approvers of these crimes and treasons, the
still remanent gleanings after a vintage of traitors, with what
in the

To murder

Tigerius and Parthenius were

Pertinax.

among

the murderers of

Commodus.

TERTULLIAN

206

verdant and branching laurels they clad their door-posts, with

what lofty and brilliant lamps they smoked their porches, with
what most exquisite and gaudy couches they divided the
Forum among themselves, not that they might celebrate public
rejoicings, but that they might get a foretaste of their own
votive seasons in partaking of the festivities of another, and
inaugurate the model and image of |heir hope, changing in
their

minds the emperor's name.

The same homage

is

paid, dutifully too,

who

by those

consult astrologers, and soothsayers, and augurs, and magicians,

about the

known by

life

of the Caesars,

arts which,

as

made

who

sinned and forbidden by God,

Christians do not even make use of in their own affairs.
But who has any occasion to inquire about the life of the
emperor, if he have not some wish or thought against it, or
the angels

some hopes and expectations after it? For consultations of

have not the same motive in the case of friends as
in the case of sovereigns. The anxiety of a kinsman is something very different from that of a subject.

this sort

If

it is

a fact that

men

bearing the

name of Romans

are

found to be enemies of Rome, why are we, on the ground

that we are regarded a% enemies, denied the name of
Romans? We may be at once Romans and foes of Rome,
when men passing for Romans are discovered to be enemies
of their country. So the affection, and fealty, and reverence,
due to the emperors do not consist in such tokens of homage
as these, which even hostility may be zealous in performing,
chiefly as a cloak to its purposes; but in those ways which
Deity as certainly enjoins on us, as they are held to be necessary in the case of all men as well as emperors.
Deeds of
true heart-goodness are not due by us to emperors alone.
We never do good with respect of persons; for in our own
interest we conduct ourselves as those who take no payment
either of praise or premium from man, but from God, who
both requires and remunerates an impartial benevolence. We
are the same to emperors as to our ordinary neighbours.
For we are equally forbidden to wish ill, to do ill, to speak
ill, to think ill of all men.
The thing we must not do to
an emperor, we must not do to any one else what we should
:

APOLOGETICUS

207

not do to anybody, a fortiori, perhaps we should not do to

him whom God has been pleased so highly to exalt.
If we are enjoined, then, to love our enemies, as I have
remarked above, whom have we to hate? If injured, we are
forbidden to retaliate, lest we become as bad ourselves: who
can suffer injury at our hands? In regard to this, recall

your own experiences.

on

How

Christians, partly because

often you
is

it

partly in obedience to the laws

inflict

your own

How

gross cruelties

inclination,

and

often, too, the hostile

mob, paying no regard to you, takes the law into its own
hand, and assails us with stones and flames! With the very
frenzy of the Bacchanals, they do not even spare the Christian dead, but tear them, now sadly changed, no longer entire,
from the rest of the tomb, from the asylum we might say of
Yet, banded
death, cut them in pieces, rend them asunder.
together as we are, ever so ready to sacrifice our lives, what
single case of reveng-e for injury are you able to point to,
though, if it were held right among us to repay evil by evil,
a single night with a torch or two could achieve an ample
vengeance? But away with the idea of a sect divine avenging itself by human fires, or shrinking from the sufferings in
which it is tried. If we desired, indeed, to act the part of open
enemies, not merely of secret avengers, would there be any
lacking in strength, whether of numbers or resources? The
Moors, the Marcomanni, the Parthians themselves, or any
single people, however great, inhabiting a distinct territory,
and confined within its own boundaries, surpasses, forsooth,
in numbers, one spread over

yesterday, and

we have

filled

all

the world!

every place

We

are but of

among you

cities,

camp, tribes,
have left nothing to

islands, fortresses, towns, market-places, the very

companies, palace, senate, forum, we

you but the temples of your gods.
For what wars should we not be fit, not eager, even with

unequal forces, we who so willingly yield ourselves to the

sword, if in our religion it were not counted better to be slain
than to slay? Without arms even, and raising no insurrectionary banner, but simply in enmity to you, we could carry
on the contest with you by an ill-willed severance alone. For
if such multitudes of men were to break away from you, and

TERTULLIAN

208

betake themselves to some remote corner of the world, why,

the very loss of so many citizens, whatever sort they were,
would cover the empire with shame nay, in the very forsak;

vengeance would be

ing,

Why, you would be horyou would find yourselves,

and that stupor as of a dead

inflicted.

ror-struck at the solitude in which

an all-prevailing silence,
You would have to seek subjects to govern. You
would have more enemies than citizens remaining. For now
it is the immense number of Christians which makes your
enemies so few, almost all the inhabitants of your various
Yet you choose to call us
cities being followers of Christ.
enemies of the human race, rather than of human error. Nay,
who would deliver you from these secret foes, ever busy both
destroying your souls and ruining your health? Who would
save you, I mean, from the attacks of those spirits of evil,
which without reward or hire we exercise? This alone would
be revenge enough for us, that you were henceforth left free
But instead of taking
to the possession of unclean spirits.
into account what is due to us for the important protection
we afford you, and though we are not merely no trouble to
you, but in fact necessary to your well-being, you prefer
to hold us enemies, as iifdeed we are, yet not of man, but
at such

world.

rather of his error.

a

Ought not Christians, therefore, to receive not merely

somewhat milder treatment, but to have a place among the

law-tolerated societies, seeing they are not chargeable with

any such crimes as are commonly dreaded from

societies of
mistake the matter, the prevention of such associations is based on a prudential regard
to public order, that the state may not be divided into parties,
which would naturally lead to disturbance in the electoral

the

illicit

class?

For, unless

assemblies, the councils, the curiae, the special conventions,

even in the public shows by the hostile collisions of rival

when now, in pursuit of gain, men have
begun to consider their violence an article to be bought and
parties, especially

sold.

But as those in whom all ardour in the pursuit of glory

and honour is dead, we have no pressing inducement to take
part in your public meetings nor is there aught more entirely
;

APOLOGETICUS

209

foreign to us than affairs of state. We acknowledge one allembracing commonwealth the world.
We renounce all
your spectacles, as strongly as we renounce the matters originating them, which we know were conceived of superstition;
when we give up the very things which are the basis of their

Among

us nothing

ever said, or seen, or

with the madness of
the circus, the immodesty of the theatre, the atrocities of the
arena, the useless exercises of the wrestling-ground. Why do
representations.

heard, which has anything in

you take offence

at us because

your pleasures?
the loss

is

If

we

is

common

we

from you in regard to

your enjoyments,

differ

will not partake of

ours, if there be loss in the case, not yours.

We

what pleases you. You, on the other hand, have no

The Epicureans were allowed
taste for what is our delight.
by you to decide for themselves one true source of pleasure
I mean equanimity; the Christian, on his part, has many
such enjoyments what harm in that?
I shall at once go on, then, to exhibit the peculiarities of
reject

the Christian society, that, as I have refuted the evil charged

against

it,

may

point out

knit together as such by

its

positive good.

common

We

are a body

religious profession,

by

We

unity of discipline, and by the bond of a common hope.

meet together as an assembly and congregation, that, offering

we may wrestle with

This violence God delights in.
pray, too, for the emperors, for their ministers and for

up prayer

Him

We

all in

to

God

as with united force,

in our supplications.

authority, for the welfare of the world, for the preva-

lence of peace, for the delay of the final consummation.

We

assemble to read our sacred writings, if any peculiarity of the

times makes either fore-warning or reminiscence needful.
However it be in that respect with the sacred words, we
nourish our faith, we animate our hope, we make our confidence more stedfast; and no less by inculcations of God's
precepts

we

confirm good habits.

In the same place also ex-

hortations are made, rebukes and sacred censures are administered.

For with a great gravity

carried on

among

is

the

who

work of judging

feel assured that

th^y are in the sight of God; and you have the most notable
example of judgment to come when any one has sinned so

us, as befits those

TERTULLIAN

210

grievously as to acquire his severance from us in prayer, and

the meeting, and

all

sacred intercourse.

The

tried

men

of

our elders preside over us, obtaining that honour not by purThere is no buying and
chase, but by established character.
selling of any sort in the things of God. Though we have our
treasure-chest, it is not made up pi purchase-money, as of
a religion that has

its price.

On

the monthly collection day,

each puts in a small donation; but only if it be his

pleasure, and only if he be able: for there is no compulsion;
These gifts are, as it were, piety's deposit
all is voluntary.
fund. For they are not taken thence and spent on feasts, and
drinking-bouts, and eating-houses, but to support and bury
poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute
of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the
house such, too, as have suffered shipwreck and if there happen to be any in the mines, or "banished to the islands, or shut
up in the prisons, for nothing but their fidelity to the cause
of God's church, they become the nurslings of their confesif

he

likes,

sion.

mainly the deeds of a love* so noble that lead

brand upon us. See, they say, how they love
one another, for themselves are animated by mutual hatred;
how they are ready even to die for one another, for they themselves will sooner put to death. And they are wroth with us,
too, because we call each other brethren for no other reason,

But

many

it

is

to put a

as

think, than because

among

themselves names of consan-

But we
common mother

guinity are assumed in mere pretence of affection.

are your brethren as well, by the law of our

nature, though
kind.

At

the

you are hardly men, because brothers so unsame time, how much more fittingly they are

and counted brothers who have been led to the knowledge of God as their common Father, who have drunk in
one spirit of holiness, who from the same womb of a common
ignorance have agonized into the same light of truth! But
on this very account, perhaps, we are regarded as having less
claim to be true brothers, that no tragedy makes a noise about
our brotherhood, or that the family possessions, which generally
destroy brotherhood among you, create fraternal bonds among
called

APOLOGETICUS
One

us.

in

mind and

soul,

we do

211

not hesitate to share our

earthly goods with one another.

We

All things are common among us but our wives.

give up our community where it is practised alone by others,
who not only take possession of the wives of their friends, but

most tolerantly also accommodate their friends with

theirs,

example, I believe, of those wise men of

ancient times, the Greek Socrates and the Roman Cato, who
shared with their friends the wives whom they had married,
it seems for the sake of progeny both ta themselves and to
following

the

others; whether in this acting against their partners' wishes,

I

am

not able to say.

away ?

when

Why

should they have any care over

so readily bestowed it
noble example of Attic wisdom, of Roman gravity
the philosopher and the censor playing pimps
What won-

their chastity,

their husbands

der if that great love of Christians towards one another

desecrated by you!

is

For you abuse also our humble feasts, on the ground that
they are extravagant as well as infamously wicked. To us,
" The people of
it seems, applies the saying of Diogenes
:

Megara feast as though they were going to die on the morrow they build as though they were never to die " But one
sees more readily the mote in another's eye than the beam in
!

his

own.

so

many

Why,

soured with the eructations of

the Salii cannot have
their feast without going into debt you must get the accountants to tell you what the tenths of Hercules and the sacrificial banquets cost; the choicest cook is appointed for the
Apaturia, the Dionysia, the Attic mysteries; the smoke from
the banquet of Serapis will call out the firemen. Yet about
the modest supper-room of the Christians alone a great ado
is made.
Our feast explains itself by its name. The Greeks
Whatever it costs, our outlay in the name of
call it love.
tribes,

the very air

and

curiae,

is

and

decuriae

piety

is

gain, since with the

benefit the needy; not as

it

is

good things of the feast we

with you, do parasites aspire

to the glory of satisfying their licentious propensities, selling

themselves for a belly-feast to all disgraceful treatment, but

us it is with God Himself, a peculiar respect is shown to the

TERTULLIAN

212

If the object of our feast be good, in the light of

lowly.

that consider

its

religious service,

As much

it

it

an act of

is

taste first

of prayer to God.

eaten as satisfies the cravings of hunger

is

The

vileness or immodesty.

permits no

before reclining,

participants,

As

further regulations.

They say

much

as

enough, as those
is drunk as befits the chaste.
night
they
have to worthe
who remember that even during
know
that
the Lord is one
ship God; they talk as those who
ablution,
and
the bringing
After manual
of their auditors.
forth
and sing, as he can,
in of lights, each is asked to stand
a hymn to God, either one from the holy Scriptures or one
a proof of the measure of our drinkof his own composing,
ing.
As the feast commenced with prayer, so with prayer
it is closed.
We go from it, not like troops of mischiefdoers, nor bands of roamers, nor to break out into licentious
acts, but to have as much care of our modesty and chastity as
if we had been at a school of virtue rather than a banquet.
Give the meeting of the Christians its due, and hold
it is

it

unlawful,

means

if it is like

assemblies of the

illicit

sort

by

all

be condemned, if any complaint can be validly

laid against it, such as liea against secret factions.
But who
has ever suffered harm in our assemblies?
are in our
meetings just what we are when separated from each other;
let it

We

we

are as a community what

we

nobody,

trouble nobody.

virtuous meet together,

ble in congregation,

a curia

On

when

we

are as individuals;

When

the upright,

the pious,

you ought not

when

we injure
when the

the pure assem-

to call that a faction, but

a sacred meeting.

the contrary, they deserve the

conspire to bring

name of

odium on good men and

faction

who

who

cry
out against innocent blood, offering as the justification of
their enmity the baseless plea, that they think the Christians
the cause of every public disaster, of every affliction with

which the people are

the city walls,
the

fields,

quake,
is,

if

if

What!

visited.

If the Tiber rises as high as

the Nile does not send

the heavens give no rain,

there

"Away

if

is

virtuous,

its

waters up over

is an earthfamine or pestilence, straightway the cry

if

there

with the Christians to the lion!"

you give such multitudes to a single beast?

shall

APOLOGETICUS
Pray,

tell

me how many

213

calamities befell the world

and par-

before the coming,

read
of
the
islands
of Hiera, and
that is, of Christ?
Rhodes,
and
Cos,
and
Delos,
and
Anaphe,
with many thoubeen
swallowed
Plato
having
up.
sands of human beings,
ticular

Tiberius reigned

before

cities

We

informs us that a region larger than Asia or Africa was

An earthquake, too, drank up

Corinthian
the
force
of the waves cut off a part
sea
and
the
name of Sicily. These
obtained
the
whence
it
of Lucania,
place
without the inhabisurely
could
have
taken
things
not
them.
suffering
tants
by
seized by the Atlantic Ocean.
;

But where I do not say were Christians, those despisers

but where were your gods themselves in those
of your gods
when
the
flood poured its destroying waters over all
days,
or,
world,
as
Plato thought, merely the level portion of it?
the
For that they are of later date than that calamity, the very
cities in which they were born and died, nay, which they
founded, bear ample testimony; for the cities could have no
existence at this day unless as belonging to postdiluvian times.
Palestine had not yet received from Egypt its Jewish swarm,
nor had the race from which Christians sprung yet settled
down there, when its neighbours Sodom and Gomorrha were
consumed by fire from heaven. The country yet smells of
that conflagration; and if there are apples there upon the
trees, it is only a promise to the eye they give
you but touch
them, and they turn to ashes.
had
Tuscia
and CamNor
pania to complain of Christians in the days when fire from
heaven overwhelmed Vulsinii, and Pompeii was destroyed by
fire from its own mountain.
No one yet worshipped the true
God at Rome, when Hannibal at Cannae counted the Roman
slain by the pecks of Roman rings.
Your gods were all
objects of adoration, universally acknowledged, when the
Senones closely besieged the very Capitol. And it is in keeping with all this, that if adversity has at any time befallen
cities, the temples and the walls have equally shared in the
disaster, so that it is clear to demonstration the thing was not
the doing of the gods, seeing it also overtook themselves.

The

truth

God's hand.

XIV 15

is,

the

First of

human
all,

race has always deserved

as undutiful to

ill

at

Him, because when


TERTULLIAN

214

knew Him in part, it not only did not seek after Him, but
even invented other gods of its own to worship and further,
because, as the result of their willing ignorance of the
Teacher of righteousness, the Judge and Avenger of sin, all
But had men sought,
vices and crimes grew and flourished.
it

they would have come to

know

the glorious object of their

seeking; and knowledge would have produced obedience, and

obedience would have found a gracious instead of an angry

God. They ought then to see that the very same God is
angry with them now as in ancient times, before Christians
were so much spoken of. It was His blessings they enjoyed created before they made any of their deities: and
why can they not take it in, that their evils come from the
Being whose goodness they have failed to recognise? They
suffer at the hands of Him to whom they have been ungrate-

ful.

And, for

all

that

is

said, if

we compare

the calamities of

former times, they fall on us more lightly now, since God

gave Christians to the world. For from that time virtue put
some restraint on the world's wickedness, and men began to
pray for the averting of God's wrath. In a word, when the
summer clouds give no rain, and the season is matter of
anxiety, you indeed
full of feasting day by day, and ever
eager for the banquet, baths and taverns and brothels always
busy offer up to Jupiter your rain-sacrifices, you enjoin on
the people barefoot processions, you seek heaven at the Capitol,

you look up to the temple-ceilings for the longed-for clouds

God and heaven not in all your thoughts: we, dried up with
fastings, and our passions bound tightly up, holding back as
long as possible from all the ordinary enjoyments of life,
rolling in sackcloth and ashes, assail heaven with our importunities
touch God's heart and when we have extorted
divine compassion, why, Jupiter gets all the honour!
You, therefore, are the sources of trouble in human
affairs; on you lies the blame of public adversities, since you
are ever attracting them you by whom God is despised and
images are worshipped.
It should surely seem the more

natural thing to believe that

angry, and not they to

it

whom

is

all

the neglected

homage

is

One who

is

paid; or most

APOLOGETICUS
unjustly they act,
trouble on their

if,

own

215

on account of the
devotees,

whom

Christians, they send

they are bound to keep

But this, you say,

your God as well, since He permits His worshippers to
But admit
suffer on account of those who dishonour Him.
arrangings,
all
His
providential
and
you
will
first of
not make
this retort.
For He who once for all appointed an eternal
judgment at the world's close, does not precipitate the separation, which is essential to judgment, before the end. Meanclear of the punishments of Christians.

hits

while He deals with all sorts of men alike, so that all together
share His favors and reproofs. His will is, that outcasts and
elect

we
and

should have adversities and prosperities in common, that

should have all the same experience of His goodness
severity.

from His own lips, we love

His wrath, while both by you are
treated with contempt and hence the sufferings of life, so far
as it is our lot to be overtaken by them, are in our case

Having learned

His goodness, we

these things

fear
;

gracious admonitions, while in yours they are divine punish-

ments.

We

one thing

indeed are not the least put about for,

concerns us, and that
;

in this life greatly

is,

only

to get

and next, if any adversity befalls us, it is

the door of your transgressions. Nay, though we are

quickly out of
laid to

first,

it;

likewise involved in troubles because of our close connection

with you,

we

are rather glad of

it,

because

we

recognise in

it

go to confirm the confidence

and faith of our hope. But if all the evils you endure are
inflicted on you by the gods you worship out of spite to us,
why do you continue to pay homage to beings so ungrateful,
so unjust, who, instead of being angry with you, should
rather have been aiding and abetting you by persecuting
keeping you clear of their sufferings?
Christians
But we are called to account as harm-doers on another
ground, and are accused of being useless in the affairs of life.
How in all the world can that be the case with people who
are living among you, eating the same food, wearing the
same attire, having the same habits, under the same necesiWe are not Indian Brahmins or Gymnoties of existence?
sophists, who dwell in woods and exile themselves from ordidivine foretellings, which, in fact,

TERTULLIAN

216

human life. We do not forget the debt of gratitude we

God our Lord and Creator; we reject no creature of
His hands, though certainly we exercise restraint upon ourselves, lest of any gift of His we make an immoderate or
sinful use.
So we sojourn with you in the world, abjuring

nary

owe

to

neither forum, nor shambles, nor bath, nor booth, nor workshop, nor inn, nor weekly market, nor any other places of

commerce. We sail with you, and fight with you, and till
ground with you; and in like manner we unite with you
in your traffickings
even in the various arts we make public
property of our works for your benefit. How it is we seem
useless in your ordinary business, living with you and by
you as we do, I am not able to understand.
But if I do not frequent your religious ceremonies, I am
I do not at the Saturnalia
still on the sacred day a man.
bathe myself at dawn, that I may not lose both day and night
yet I bathe at a decent and healthful hour, which preserves
me both in heat and blood. I can be rigid and pallid like you
after ablution when I am dead.
I do not recline in public
at the feast of Bacchus, after the manner of the beast-fighters
at their final banquet.
Vet of your resources I partake,
wherever I may chance to eat. I do not buy a crown for
my head. What matters it to you how I use them, if nevertheless the flowers are purchased? I think it more agreeable
to have them free and loose, waving all about. Even if they
are woven into a crown, we smell the crown with our nostrils: let those look to it who scent the perfume with their
hair.
We do not go to your spectacles; yet the articles that
are sold there, if I need them, I will obtain more readily at
their proper places.
We certainly buy no frankincense. If
the Arabias complain of this, let the Sabaeans be well assured
that their more precious and costly merchandise is expended
as largely in the burying of Christians as in the fumigating
of the gods. At any rate, you say, the temple revenues are
every day falling off: how few now throw in a contribution!
In truth, we are not able to give alms both to your human
and your heavenly mendicants; nor do we think that we are
required to give any but to those who ask for it. Let Jupiter
then hold out his hand and get, for our compassion spends

the

APOLOGETICUS

217

But
acknowledge a debt of gratitude to
Christians; for in the faithfulness which keeps us from fraud
upon a brother, we make conscience of paying all their dues,
so that, by ascertaining how much is lost by fraud and false-

more

in

the streets than yours does in the temples.

your other taxes

hood

will

in the census declarations

made

the

calculation

may

easily

would be seen that the ground of complaint in

one department of revenue is compensated by the advantages
which others derive,
be

it

however, without hesitation, that there are

a sense may complain of Christians that they
are a sterile race: as, for instance, pimps, and panders, and
bath-suppliers; assassins, and poisoners, and sorcerers; soothsayers, too, diviners, and astrologers.
But it is a noble fruit
of Christians, that they have no fruits for such as these. And
yet, whatever loss your interests suffer from the religion we
profess, the protection you have from us makes amply up for
it.
What value do you set on persons, I do not here urge
who deliver you from demons, I do not urge who for your
sakes present prayers before the throne of the true God, for
perhaps you have no belief in that but from whom you can
have nothing to fear ?
Yes, and no one considers what the loss is to the common
weal,
a loss as great as it is real, no one estimates the
injury entailed upon the state, when, men of virtue as we
are, we are put to death in such numbers, when so many of
the truly good suffer the last penalty. And here we call your
own acts to witness, you who are daily presiding at the trials
of prisoners, and passing sentence upon crimes.
Well, in
your long lists of those accused of many and various atrocities, has any assassin, any cutpurse, any man guilty of sacI will confess,

some who

in

or seduction, or stealing bathers' clothes, his name

Or when Christians are
brought before you on the mere ground of their name, is
there ever found among them an ill-doer of the sort?
It is
rilege,

entered as being a Christian too?

always with your folk the prison

is

steaming, the mines are

from you the exhibitors

of gladiatorial shows always get their herds of criminals to
feed up for the occasion. You find no Christian there, except

sighing, the wild beasts are fed

it is

TERTULLIAN

218

simply as being such; or if one is there as something else,

a Christian he is no longer.
We, then, alone are without crime. Is there ought
wonderful in that, if it be a yery necessity with us? For a
necessity indeed it is.
Taught of God Himself what good-

we have both a perfect knowledge of it as revealed

by a perfect Master; and faithfully we do His will, as
But your
enjoined on us by a Judge we dare not despise.
ideas of yirtue you have got from mere human opinion; on
human authority, too, its obligation rests: hence your system of practical morality is deficient, both in the fulness and
Man's
authority requisite to produce a life of real virtue.
wisdom to point out what is good, is no greater than his
authority to exact the keeping of it; the one is as easily
deceived as the other is despised. And so, which is the ampler
rule, to say, " Thou shalt not kill," or to teach, " Be not even

ness

is,

to us

angry?"
restrain

Which is more perfect, to forbid adultery, or to

from even a single lustful look? Which indicates

the higher intelligence, interdicting evil-doing, or evil-speak-

ing? Which is more thorough, not allowing an injury, or not

even suffering an injury done to you to be repaid?
Though withal you know that these very laws also of
yours, which seem to lead to virtue, have been borrowed from
the law of God as the ancient model.
Of the age of Moses
we have already spoken. But what was the real authority of
human laws, when it is in man's power both to evade them, by
generally managing to hide himself out of sight in his crimes,
and to despise them sometimes, if inclination or necessity leads
him to offend?
Think of these things, too, in the light oi the brevity of

any punishment you can inflict never to last longer than

till death.
On this ground Epicurus makes light of all suffering and pain, maintaining that if it is small, it is contemptible; and if it is great, it is not long continued.
No
doubt about it, we, who receive our awards under the judgment of an all-seeing God, and who look forward to eternal
punishment from Him for sin, we alone make real effort
to attain a blameless life, under the influence of our ampler
knowledge, and the impossibility of concealment, and the


APOLOGETICUS

219

greatness of the threatened torment, not merely long-enduring, but everlasting, fearing Him, whom he too should fear
who the fearing judges, fearing God, I mean, and not the

proconsul.

We

have sufficiently met, as I think, the accusation of the

various crimes on the ground of which these fierce demands

We have made a full exhibiand we have shown you how we are able
to prove that our statement is correct, from the trustworthiness, I mean, and antiquity of our sacred writings, from the
confession likewise of the powers of spiritual wickedness
themselves.
Who will venture to undertake our refutation,
not with skill of words, but, as we have managed our demonBut while the truth we
stration, on the basis of reality?
are

made

for Christian blood.

tion of our case;

made

clear to all, unbelief meanwhile, at the very

convinced of the worth of Christianity, which has
now become well known for its benefits as well as from the
intercourse of life, takes up the notion that it is not really a
thing divine, but rather a kind of philosophy. These are the
very things, it says, the philosophers counsel and profess

hold

is

time

it

is

innocence, justice, patience, sobriety, chastity.

we

Why,

then, are

not permitted an equal liberty and impunity for our doc-

whom, in respect of what we teach,

compared? or why are not they, as so like us, not
pressed to the same offices for declining which our lives are
imperilled?
For who compels a philosopher to sacrifice or
take an oath, or put out useless lamps at midday ? Nay, they
openly overthrow your gods, and in their writings they attack
your superstitions; and you applaud them for it. Many of
them even, with your countenance, bark out against your
rulers, and they are rewarded with statues and salaries, intrines as they have, with

we

are

stead of being given to the wild beasts.

And

very right

it

should be

so.

For they are

called phi-

This name of philosopher has no

power to put demons to the rout. Why are they not able to
do that too? since philosophers count demons inferior to
gods.
Socrates used to say, " If the demon grant permission." Yet he, too, though in denying the existence of your
divinities he had a glimpse of the truth, at his dying ordered
losophers, not Christians.

TERTULLIAN

220

a cock to be sacrificed to ^sculapius, I believe in honour of

his father, for Apollo pronounced Socrates the wisest of men.
Thoughtless Apollo! testifying to the wisdom of the man
who denied the existence of his race. In proportion to the

enmity the truth awakens, you give offence by faithfully

standing by it; but the man who corrupts and makes a mere
pretence of it, precisely on this ground gains favour with its
persecutors.

The
ers of

truth which philosophers, these mockers and corrupt-

it,

with hostile ends merely affect to hold, and

in

doing

so deprave, caring for nought but glory, Christians both in-

and intimately long for and maintain in its integrity,

who have a real concern about their salvation. So
that we are like each other neither in our knowledge nor our
ways, as you imagine. For what certain information did
tensely

as those

Thales, the

first

of natural philosophers, give in reply to the

inquiry of Croesus regarding Deity, the delay for further

thought so often proving in vain? There is not a Christian

workman but finds out God, and manifests Him, and hence
assigns to Him all those attributes which go to constitute a
divine being, though Plato afiirms that it is far from easy
to discover the
it is

But

if

we

Maker of the universe and when He

make Him known to all.
;

difficult to

nians against Socrates,

The

found,

challenge you to comparison in the virtue of

chastity, I turn to a part of the sentence passed

youth.

is

who was pronounced

by the Athe-

a corrupter of

Christian confines himself to the female sex.

how the harlot Phryne kindled in Diogenes the

fires of lust, and how a certain Speusippus, of Plato's school,
perished in the adulterous act.
The Christian husband has
nothing to do with any but his own wife. Democritus, in
putting out his eyes, because he could not look on women
have read also

without lusting after them, and was pained

was not

satisfied,

his incontinence.
sightless

in

owns
But

if

his passion

by the punishment he inflicts,

a Christian with grace-healed eyes is
plainly,

the matter;

he

is

mentally blind against the

assaults of passion.
If I

maintain our superior modesty of behaviour, there

me Diogenes with filth-covered feet tram-

at once occurs to

APOLOGETICUS

221

pling on the proud couches of Plato, under the influence of

another pride; the Christian does not even play the proud
man to the pauper. If sobriety of spirit be the virtue in
debate, why, there are Pythagoras at Thurii, and Zeno at
Priene, ambitious of the supreme power the Christian does
not aspire to the aedileship. If equanimity be the contention,
you have Lycurgus choosing death by self-starvation, because
the Lacons had made some emendation to his laws: the
Christian, even when he is condemned, gives thanks. If the
comparison be made in regard to trustworthiness, Anaxagoras denied the deposit of his enemies: the Christian is
noted for his fidelity even among those who are not of his
religion.
If the matter of sincerity is to be brought to trial,
:

Aristotle basely thrust his friend

the Christian does

Hermias from

no harm even

to his

foe.

his place:

With

equal

baseness does Aristotle play the sycophant to Alexander, instead of exercising his influence to keep

him

in the

right

way, and Plato allows himself to be bought by Dionysius

for his belly's sake.
Aristippus in the purple, with all his
great show of gravity, gives way to extravagance; and
Hippias is put to death laying plots against the state: no
Christian ever attempted such a thing in behalf of his brethren, even when persecution was scattering them abroad with
every atrocity.

be said that some of us, too, depart from the

In that case, however, we count them
no longer Christians but the philosophers who do such things
retain still the name and the honour of wisdom.
So, then,

But

rules of

will

it

our

discipline.
;

where

is there any likeness between the Christian and the

philosopher? between the disciple of Greece and of heaven?
between the man whose object is fame, and whose object is
life? between the talker and the doer? between the man who

up and the man who pulls down? between the friend

and the foe of error? between one who corrupts the truth,
and one who restores and teaches it ? between its thief and its
builds

custodian

Unless

am

utterly mistaken, there is nothing so old

as the truth; and the already proved antiquity of the divine

writings

is

so far of use to me, that

it

leads

men more

easily

TERTULLIAN

222
to take

it

in that they are the treasure-source

whence

all later

wisdom has been taken. And were it not necessary to keep

my work to a moderate size, I might launch forth also into

What poet or sophist has not drunk at the

fountain of the prophets? Thence, accordingly, the philos-

the proof of this.

ophers watered their arid minds, so that it is the things they

have from us which bring us into comparison with them.
For this reason, I imagine, philosophy was banished by certain
states
I mean by the ThebanSfHby the Spartans also, and

sought to imitate our doctrines;

and ambitious, as I have said, of glory and eloquence alone,
if they fell upon anything in the collection of sacred Scriptures which displeased them, in their own peculiar style of
research, they perverted it to serve their purposes: for they
had no adequate faith in their divinity to keep them from
changing them, nor had they any sufficient understanding of
them either, as being still at the time under veil even obthe Argives

disciples

its

scure

to

the

Jews themselves, whose peculiar possession

they seemed to be.

For

too,

so,

if

the truth

more on

was distinguished by

sim-

its

man,
too proud to believe, set to altering it; so that even what
they found certain they made uncertain by their admixtures.
Finding a simple revelation of God, they proceeded to dispute
about Him, not as He had been revealed to them, but turned
aside to debate about His properties. His nature. His abode.
plicity, the

Some

assert

a body,

the

Him

that account the fastidiousness of

to be incorporeal; others maintain

Platonists teaching the one doctrine,

He

has

and the

Stoics the other. Some think that He is composed of atoms,

others of numbers: such are the different views of Epicurus
and Pythagoras.
One thinks He is made of fire; so it

appeared to Heraclitus. The Platonists, again, hold that He

administers the affairs of the world; the Epicureans, on the
contrary, that

nobody

in

He

human

is

idle

things.

and

inactive, and,

Then

as placed outside the world,

so to speak, a

the Stoics represent

and whirling round

this

Him
huge

mass from without Hke a potter; while the Platonists place

Him within the world, as a pilot is in the ship he steers.

So, in like manner, they differ in their views about the

APOLOGETICUS
world

itself,

whether

destined to pass

it is

created or uncreated, whether

for ever.
So again

away or to remain

223
it is
it is

debated concerning the nature of the soul, which some contend is divine and eternal, while others hold that it is dissolAccording to each one's fancy. He has either introuble.
duced something new, or refashioned the old.

Nor need we wonder if the speculations of philosophers

have perverted the older Scriptures. Some of their brood,
with their opinions, have even adulterated our new-given
Christian revelation, and corrupted it into a system of philosophic doctrines, and from the one path have struck off many
and inexplicable by-roads. And I have alluded to this, lest
any one becoming acquainted with the variety of parties
among us, this might seem to him t(5 put us on a level with
the philosophers, and he might condemn the truth from the
But we at once put
different ways in which it is defended.
in a plea in bar against these tainters of our purity, asserting
that that is the rule of truth which comes down from Christ
by transmission through His companions, to whom we shall
prove that those devisers of different doctrines are all
posterior.

Everything opposed to the truth has been got up from

itself, the spirits of error carrying on this system

the truth

of opposition.

By them

all

corruptions of wholesome dis-

have been secretly instigated; by them, too, certain

fables have been introduced, that, by their resemblance to
the truth, they might impair its credibility, or vindicate their
own higher claims to faith so that people might think Chriscipline

unworthy of credit because the poets or philosophers

are so, or might regard the poets and philosophers as worthier
of confidence from their not being followers of Christ. Actians

we get ourselves laughed at for proclaiming that

one day judge the world. For, like us, the poets
and philosophers set up a judgment-seat in the realms below.
And if we threaten Gehenna, which is a reservoir of secret
fire under the earth for purposes of punishment, we have in
the same w^ay derision heaped on us. For so, too, they have
their P)-riphlegethon, a river of flame in the regions of the
And if we speak of Paradise, the place of heavenly
dead.
cordingly,

God

will

TERTULLIAN

224
bliss

appointed to receive the spirits of the saints, severed

this world by that fiery zone as by

from the knowledge of

a sort of enclosure, the Elysian plains have taken possession

of their faith.
Whence is it, I pray you, that you have all this, so like us,
in the poets and philosophers ? The reason simply is, that they
have been taken from our religion. But ifxthey are taken
from our sacred things, as being of earlier date, then ours are
the truer, and have higher claims
imitations find

faith

among

upon

you.

even their
they maintain their

belief, since

If

from their own minds, in

that case ours will be reflections of what are later than themFor
selves, which by the nature of things is impossible.
never does the shadow precede the body which casts it, or
the image the reality.
Come now, if some philosopher affirms, as Laberius
holds, following an opinion of Pythagoras, that a man may
have his origin from a mule, a serpent from a woman, and
with skill of speech twists every argument to prove his view,
will he not gain acceptance for it, and work in some the conviction that, on account of this, they should even abstain from
eating animal food? May any one have the persuasion that
he should so abstain, lest by chance in his beef he eats of
some ancestors of his ? But if a Christian promises the return
of a man from a man, and the very actual Gaius from Gaius,
the cry of the people will be to have him stoned; they will
not even so much as grant him a hearing. If there is any
ground for the moving to and fro of human souls into difsacred mysteries to have sprung

why may

they not return into the very subis to be restored, to be that

which had been? They are no longer the very things they
had been for they could not be what they were not, without
first ceasing to be what they had been.
ferent bodies,

stance they have

left,

seeing this

If we were inclined to give all rein upon this point, discussing into what various beasts one and another might probably
be changed, we would need at our leisure to take up many

points.

But

this

we would do

as setting forth what

will

is

chiefly in

our

own

defence,

greatly worthier of belief, that a

man

come back from a man, any given person from any given

APOLOGETICUS

225

retaining his humanity so that the soul, with its

unchanged, may be restored to the same condition,
though not to the same outward framework. Assuredly, as
the reason why restoration takes place at all is the appointed
judgment, every man must needs come forth the very same
who had once existed, that he may receive at God's hands
a judgment, whether of good desert or the opposite. And
therefore the body too will appear for the soul is not capable
of suffering without the solid substance, that is, the flesh;
and for this reason also, that it is not right that souls should
have all the wrath of God to bear: they did not sin without
the body, within which all was done by them.
But how, you say, can a substance which has been dissolved be made to reappear again? Consider thyself, O man,
and thou wilt believe in it! Reflect on what you were before
you came into existence. Nothing. For if you had been
anything, you would have remembered it. You, then, who
were nothing before you existed, reduced to nothing also
when you cease to be, why may you not come into being
again out of nothing, at the will of the same Creator whose
will created you out of nothing at the first? Will it be anything new in your case? You who were not, were made;
when you cease to be again, you shall be made. Explain, if
you can, your original creation, and then demand to know
how you shall be re-created. Indeed, it will be still easier
surely to make you what you were once, when the very same
creative power made you without difficulty what you never

person,

still

qualities

were before.
There will be doubts, perhaps, as to the power of God, of
Him who hung in its place this huge body of our world,
made out of what had never existed, as from a death of
emptiness and inanity, animated by the Spirit who quickens
all

living things,

resurrection, that

its
it

very

image of the resurrection.

shines out again

self the

might be

unmistakable type of the

you a witness nay, the exact

Light, every day extinguished,

to

and, with like alternation, darkness succeeds

The defunct stars re-live; the seasons, as

soon as they are finished, renew their course; the fruits are
brought to maturity, and then are reproduced. The seeds
light's outgoing.


TERTULLIAN

226

do not spring up with abundant produce, save as they rot

and dissolve away; all things are preserved by perishing,
all things are refashioned out of death. Thou, man of nature
so exalted, if thou understandest thyself, taught even by the
Pythian* words, lord of all these things that die and rise,
Wherever your dissoshalt thou die to perish evermore?
lution shall have taken place, whatever material agent has
destroyed you, or swallowed you up, or swept you away,
or reduced you to nothingness, it shall again restore you.
Even nothingness is His who is Lord of all.
You ask, Shall we then be always dying, and rising up
from death ? If so the Lord of all things had appointed, you
would have to submit, though unwillingly, to the law of
your creation. But, in fact. He has no other purpose than
that of which He has informed us. The reason which made
the universe out of diverse elements, so that all things might
be composed of opposite substances in unity of void and
solid, of animate and inanimate, of comprehensible and incomprehensible, of light and darkness, of life itself and death
has also disposed time into order, by fixing and distinguishing its mode, according to which this first portion of it, which
we inhabit from the beginning of the world, flows down by
a temporal course to a close but the portion which succeeds,
and to which we look forward, continues for ever. When,
therefore, the boundary and limit, that millennial interspace,
has been passed, when even the outward fashion of the world
which has been spread like a veil over the eternal econitself
omy, equally a thing of time passes away, then the whole
human race shall be raised again, to have its dues meted out
according as it has merited in the period of good or evil, and
thereafter to have these paid out through the immeasurable

ages of eternity.

And

therefore after this there

we

is

neither death nor repeated

be the same that we are now, and

still unchanged
the servants of God, ever with God, clothed
upon with the proper substance of eternity; but the profane,
and all who are not true worshippers of God, in like manner
resurrections, but

"

Know

thyself."

shall

APOLOGETICUS

227

consigned to the punishment of everlasting- fire that fire

which, from its very nature indeed, directly ministers to their
incorruptibility.
The philosophers are familiar as well as

with the distinction between a common and a secret fire.

that which is in common use is far different from that
which we see in divine judgments, whether striking as thunderbolts from heaven, or bursting up out of the earth through
mountain-tops; for it does not consume what it scorches, but
So the mountains continue ever
while it burns it repairs.
burning; and a person struck by lightning is even now kept
notable proof this of the
safe from any destroying flame.
fire eternal a notable example of the endless judgment which
The mountains burn,
still supplies punishment with fuel!
and last. How will it be with the wicked and the enemies

we

Thus

of

God?

These are what are called presumptuous speculations in

our case alone; in the philosophers and poets they are regarded as sublime speculations and illustrious discoveries.
They are men of wisdom, we are fools. They are worthy
of all honour, we are folk to have the finger pointed at; nay,
besides that, we are even to have punishments inflicted on us.
But let things which are the defence of virtue, if you will,
have no foundation, and give them duly the name of fancies,
yet still they are necessary; let them be absurd if you will,
yet they are of use: they

men and women, under

make

all

who

believe

them

better

the fear of never-ending punishment

and the hope of never-ending

bliss.

wise to brand as false, nor to regard as

absurd, things the truth of which it is expedient to presume.
It is not, then,

On no ground is it right positively to condemn as bad what

beyond all doubt is profitable. Thus, in fact, you are guilty
of the very presumption of which you accuse us, in condemning what is useful. It is equally out of the question to regard
them as nonsensical; at any rate, if they are false and foolthey hurt nobody. For they are just (in that case) like
many other things on which you inflict no penalties foolish
and fabulous things, I mean, which, as quite innocuous, are
never charged as crimes or punished. But in a thing of the
ish,

kind, if this be so indeed,

we

should be adjudged to ridicule.

TERTULLIAN

228

not to swords, and flames, and crosses, and wild beasts, in

which iniquitous cruelty not only the blinded populace exults
and insults over us, but in which some of you too glory, not
As
scrupling to gain the popular favour by your injustice.
though all you can do to us, did not depend upon our pleasure.

It is

Christian.

assuredly a matter of

Your condemnation,

my own
then,

inclination being a

will

only reach

me

wish to be condemned; but when all you

can do to me, you can do only at rny will, all you can do is
dependent on my will, and is not in your power. The joy of
the people in our trouble is therefore utterly reasonless. For
it is our joy they appropriate to themselves, since we would
far rather be condemned than apostatize from God; on the
contrary, our haters should be sorry rather than rejoice, as
we have obtained the very thing of our own choice.
In that case, you say, why do you complain of our persecutions? You ought rather to be grateful to us for giving
you the sufferings you want. Well, it is quite true that it
is our desire to suffer, but it is the way the soldier longs
for war.
No one indeed suffers willingly, since suffering
in that case, if I

necessarily

implies

fear

and danger.

objected to the conflict, both fights with

when

Yet the man who

strength, and

all his

he rejoices in the battle, because he reaps

It is our battle to be summoned to
your tribunals, that there, under fear of execution, we may
battle for the truth.
But the day is won when the object
of the struggle is gained.
This victory of ours gives us
the glory of pleasing God, and the spoil of life eternal.
But we are overcome. Yes, when we have obtained our
wishes. Therefore we conquer in dying; we go forth victorious at the very time we are subdued. Call us, if you like,
Sarmenticci and Semaxii, because, bound to a half -axle stake,
we are burned in a circle-heap of fagots. This is the attitude
in which we conquer, it is our victory-robe, it is for us a sort
of triumphal car. Naturally enough, therefore, we do not
please the vanquished; on account of this, indeed, we are
counted a desperate, reckless race. But the very desperation

from

victorious,

it

glory and spoil.

to in us, among yourselves lift

high the standard of virtue in the cause of glory and of fame.

and recklessness you object

APOLOGETICUS

229

hand on the altar: what

Empedocles gave his whole body at
Catana to the fires of ^tna: what mental resolution! A
certain foundress of Carthage gave himself away in second
marriage to the funeral pile: what a noble witness of her
chastity! Regulus, not wishing that his one life should count
for the lives of many enemies, endured these crosses over all
his frame how brave a man
even in captivity a conqueror
Anaxarchus, when he was being beaten to death by a barleypounder, cried out, " Beat on, beat on at the case of Anaxarchus; no stroke falls on Anaxarchus himself."
O magnanimity of the philosopher, who even in such an end had jokes
upon his lips!
Mucius of

his

own

will left his right

sublimity of mind!

I omit all reference to those who with their own sword,

or with any other milder form of death, have bargained for

Nay, see how even torture contests are crowned by

TheAthenian courtezan, having wearied out the executioner, at last bit off her tongue and spat it in the face of
the raging tyrant, that she might at the same time spit away
her power of speech, nor be able longer to confess her fellowconspirators, if even overcome, that might be her inclination.
Zeno the Eleatic, when he was asked by Dionysius what good
philosophy did, on answering that it gave contempt of death,
was, all unquailing, given over to the tyrant's scourge, and
glory.

you.

sealed his opinion even to the death.

We

all

know how

the

Spartan lash, applied with the utmost cruelty under the very
eyes of friends encouraging, confers on those who bear it
honour proportionate to the blood which the young men shed.

O glory legitimate, because it is human, for whose sake it is

counted neither reckless foolhardiness, nor desperate obstinacy, to despise death itself and all sorts of savage treatment,
for whose sake you may for your native place, for the empire,
for friendship, endure all you are forbidden to do for God!
And you cast statues in honour of persons such as these, and
you put inscriptions upon images, and cut out epitaphs on
tombs, that their names may never perish. In so far as you
can by your monuments, you yourselves afford a sort of resurrection to the dead.
tion

from God,

XIV 16

is

Yet he who expects the true resurrec-

insane

if

for

God he

suffers!

TERTULLIAN

230

But go zealously on, good presidents, you will stand

higher with the people if you sacrifice the Christians at their
wish, kill us, torture us, condemn us, grind us to dust; your
Therefore it is
injustice is the proof that we are innocent.
mere
will,
that we thus
of God's permitting, not of your
condemning
a Christian
suffer.
For but very lately, in
woman to the pimp rather than to the lion, you made confession that a taint on our purity is considered among us something more terrible than any punishment and any death.
Nor does your cruelty, however exquisite, avail you; it
is

The oftener we are mown down

number we grow; the blood of Chris-

rather a temptation to us.

by you, the more

in

is seed.
Many of your writers exhort to the courageous
bearing of pain and death, as Cicero in the Tusculans, as
Seneca in his Chances, as Diogenes, Pyrrus, Callinicus. And
yet their words do not find so many disciples as Christians
That very
do, teachers not by words, but by their deeds.

tians

obstinacy you rail against is the preceptress. For who that

contemplates it is not excited to inquire what is at the bottom
of it? who, after inquiry, does not embrace our doctrines?
and when he has embraced them, desires not to suffer that he
may become partaker of the fulness of God's grace, that he

may

obtain from God complete forgiveness, by giving in

exchange his blood? For that secures the remission of all
offences.
On this account it is that we return thanks on the
very spot for your sentences. As the divine and human are
ever opposed to each other, when we are condemned by you,
we are acquitted by the Highest.

THE CONFESSIONS
OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE
HIS CONVERSION

TRANSLATED BY
E. B.

PUSEY, D.D.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE SAME ON

ST.

AUGUSTINE, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH

INTRODUCTION
ST.

AUGUSTINE, DEFENDER OF
THE FAITH

The

"Confessions of St. Augustine" have been transand again into almost every European language,
and in all loved. One may quote two sayings, prefixed to a
French edition, and which bear evident marks of sincerity:
" O how I wish the Confessions were familiar to all who
hear me, that they would read and re-read them unceasingly.
For there is no book in the world more capable to take away

lated again

the human heart from the vain, passing, perishable things,

which the world presents, and to cure self-love. I have known
it but too late, and cease not to grieve thereat."
Another
says, " The Confessions of St. Augustine are, of all his works,
that which is most filled with the fire of the love of God,
and most calculated to kindle it in the heart the most full of
unction, and most capable to impart it; and where one best
sees how faithfully and carefully this holy man recorded all
the blessings which he had received from the mercy of God."
The subject of the Confessions would naturally give them
a deep interest, presenting, as they do, an account of the way
in which God led, perhaps the most powerful mind of Christian antiquity, out of darkness into light, and changed one,
who was a chosen vessel unto Himself, from a heretic and a
seducer of the brethren, into one of the most energetic de;

fenders of Catholic Truth, both against the strange sect to

which he had belonged, and against the Arians, Pelagians,

and semi-Pelagians, Donatists, Priscillianists. Such, not an
autobiography, is the object of the Confessions; a praise and
confession of God's unmerited goodness, but of himself only
so much, as might illustrate out of what depth God's mercy
had raised him.
Although his subject is God's mercies to himself, himself
2S3

INTRODUCTION

234
is

the subject which he least Hkes to dwell upon; and,

most

probably, upon analyzing the Confessions, would be surprised

to find the comparative paucity of details, which they contain.

For

his principle being not to

God on

convey notices of himself, but

him or in
him, he does not accumulate instances of his own wickedness,
but rather singles out particular acts as instances or specimens of a class, and as furnishing occasion to enquire into
The " Confesthe nature of, or temptations to, such arts.
"
then rather contain a general sketch of his unconverted
sions
life, illustrated by some particular instances, than a regular
biography. The details, on the other hand, which he gives as
to his friend Alypius, remarkably illustrate this absence of
egotism, as does the brief sentence in which he relates his
conversion, " Alypius, who always differed much from me
for the better, without much turbulent delay, joined me."
This perhaps is it (next to the vivid account of his conversion, or the beautiful history of the last days of his
mother) which has given such an abiding interest to the Confessions.
With extreme naturalness, (as one to whom absence of self had become nature,) he passes at once from the
immediate subject or fact to the principles with which it is
connected, thus giving instruction as to man, or rising to the
reverent, though eloquent, or rather to the eloquent, because
reverent, praise of God. Thus his youthful sin in robbing the
pear tree gives the occasion of enquiring into the nature of
sins, committed without apparent temptation; the loss of his
friend, into the nature and real cure of grief; his dedication
of an early work to one known by reputation only, into the
interest we bear to persons so known the effect produced by
the jollity of a drunken beggar, into the nature of joy and
the like; yet on all occasions ending not in these inquiries,
but naturally rising up to God, who alone can explain what
is mysterious, satisfy our longings, restore what is defective,
fill up what is void, or rather viewing every thing habitually
in God's sight and in His light, and so, from time to time
leading the reader more sensibly into His Presence, in which
himself unceasingly lived and thought.
to praise

occasion of what had happened to

The same

reference to principles gives interest to his allu-

AUGUSTINE, DEFENDER OF FAITH

235

whom, as being at that time formidable to the unstable, though now a forgotten heresy, he
never notices without furnishing opposite and corrective
principles.
The value of these remains, as lying at the root
of the difficulty or temptation, which then gained proselytes
to Manicheism the inward bane and antidote being the same
in different ages, though Satan disguises his temptations differently according to the varying characters of the ages, peoThe principles upon which St. Augustine
ple, and climate.
meets the Manichsean cavils against the Old Testament, may
be of use in this day to a class, which appears in a form outwardly very different; as may the observations, (founded in
part upon his own experience,) on the effect of any one indulged error to prevent the reception of other truth.
It must never be lost sight of, in reference to this whole
story of St. Augustine, that he himself was, during the whole
period, not a Christian, for he was not baptized; his mother
had been given in marriage to one, who was altogether a
heathen, until long after Augustine's birth, (for in his sixteenth year his father was but recently a Catechumen, b. ii.
sec. 6.) and, as a heathen, lived in heathenish sin; and himself, although in infancy made a Catechumen, had fallen into
a sect, which could in no way be called Christian. Christianity, as now in India, was then every where surrounded by
Heathenism, which it was gradually leavening, and there was
consequently a mixed race, born of intermarriages with the
heathen, or of parents who had not made up their minds to
become wholly Christians, (like the "mixed multitude," which
went up with Israel out of Egypt,) and who were in a sort
of twilight state, seeing Christianity but very imperfectly,
although the grossness of their own darkness was much mitiThis should be borne in mind, lest any should think
gated.
that St. Augustine's descriptions of himself and his comrades
furnish any representation of the then state of the Christian
Church.
sions to the Manichseans,

CONFESSIONS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

HIS CONVERSION
As a boy I had already heard of an eternal life, promised
us through the humility of the Lord our God stooping to
our pride; and even from the womb of my mother, who
greatly hoped in Thee, I was sealed with the mark of His
Thou sawest, Lord, how
cross and salted with His salt.^
while yet a boy, being seized on a time with sudden oppression
of the stomach, and like near to death

Thou

sawest,

my

God, (for Thou wert my keeper,) with what eagerness and

what faith I sought, from the pious care of my mother and
Thy Church, the mother of us all, the baptism of Thy Christ
my God and Lord. Whereupon the mother of my flesh, being
much troubled, (since, with a heart pure in Thy faith, she
even more lovingly travailed in birth of my salvation,) would
in eager haste have provided for my consecration and cleansing by the healthgiving sacraments, confessing Thee, Lord
Jesus, for the remission of sins, unless I had suddenly recovered.
And so, as if I must needs be again polluted should I

my

live,

cleansing

was

deferred, because the defilements of

and more perilous guilt. I then already believed; and my mother, and the
whole household, except my father yet did not he prevail over
the power of my mother's piety in me, that as he did not yet
believe, so neither should L For it was her earnest care, that
Thou my God, rather than he, shouldest be my father; and
in this Thou didst aid her to prevail over her husband, whom
she, the better, obeyed, therein also obeying Thee, who hast
sin would, after that washing, bring greater

so

commanded.
I

beseech Thee,

rite

in the

my

God,

would

fain

know,

Western Churches, on admission as

if

so

Thou

Catechumen,

previous to Baptism, denoting the purity and uncorruptedness and

discretion required of Christians.

SS6

CONFESSIONS
purpose my baptism was

what
good that the

237

then deferred?
Was
was laid loose, as it were,
upon me, for me to sin? or was it not laid loose? If not,
why does it still echo in our ears on all sides, " Let him alone,
let him do as he will, for he is not yet baptized ? " but as to
bodily health, no one says, " Let him be worse wounded, for
wiliest,

it

he

is

for

for

my

not yet healed."

at once healed

my

rein

How much

and then, by

my

better then, had

friends' diligence

been

and

my

had been kept safe in Thy

keeping who gavest it. Better truly.
But how many and
great waves of temptation seemed to hang over me after my
These my mother foresaw and preferred to exboyhood
pose to them the clay whence I might afterwards be moulded,
own,

soul's recovered health

than the very cast, when made.^

In boyhood itself, however, (so much less dreaded for me
than youth,) I loved not study, and hated to be forced to it.
Yet I was forced; and this was well done towards me, but I
did not well for, unless forced, I had not learnt.
But no
one doth well against his will, even though what he doth, be
well. Yet neither did they well who forced me, but what was
well came to me from Thee, my God.
For they were regardless how I should employ what they forced me to learn,
except to satiate the insatiate desires of a wealthy beggary,
and a shameful glory. But Thou, by whom the very hairs
of our head are numbered, didst use for my good the error
of all who urged me to learn; and my own, who would not
learn. Thou didst use for my punishment
a fit penalty for
;

So by those who
me; and by my own sin
For Thou hast commanded,

one, so small a boy and so great a sinner.

did not well,

Thou
and so

Thou

didst well for

didst justly punish me.

it is,

that every inordinate affection should be

its

own

punishment.

But why did I so much hate the Greek, which I studied

boy? I do not yet fully know. For the Latin I loved;
not what my first masters, but what the so-called grammaFor those first lessons, reading, writing.
rians taught me.
as a

His unregenerate nature, on which the image of God was not yet

impressed, rather than the regenerate.

238

ST.

AUGUSTINE

and arithmetic, I thought as great a burden and penalty as

any Greek. And yet whence was this too, but from the sin
and vanity of this Hfe, because I was Hesh, and a breath that
passeth away and cometh not again? For those first lessons
were better certainly, because more certain; by them I obtained, and still retain, the power of reading what I find written, and myself writing what I will; whereas in the others, I
was forced to learn the wanderings of one yEneas, forgetful
of my own, and to weep for dead Dido, because she killed
herself for love; the while, with dry eyes, I endured my miserable self dying among these things, far from Thee, O God

my

life.

For what more miserable than a miserable being who

commiserates not himself; weeping the death of Dido for
love to ^neas, but weeping not his own death for want of

O God. Thou light of my heart, Thou bread

inmost soul, Thou Power who givest vigour to my

love to Thee,

of

my

mind, who quickenest my thoughts, I loved Thee not. I committed fornication against Thee, and all around me thus fornicating there echoed "Well done! well done!" for the friendship of this world is fornication against Thee; and " Well

done

well done

" echoes on

till

one

is

ashamed not to be

thus a man. And all this I wept not, I who wept for Dido
slain, and " seeking by the sword a stroke and wound ex-

treme," myself seeking the while a worse extreme, the extremest and lowest of thy creatures, having forsaken Thee,
earth passing into the earth.

And

if

forbid to read

all this,

might not read what grieved me. Madness like this is thought a higher and a richer learning, than
that by which I learned to read and write.
But now, my God, cry Thou aloud in my soul; and let
Thy truth tell me, " Not so, not so. Far better was that first
For, lo, I would readily forget the wanderings of
study."
^neas and all the rest, rather than how to read and write.
But over the entrance of the Grammar School is a vaiP
I

was grieved

The " vail

that I

" was an emblem of honour, used in places of worship,

and subsequently in courts of law, Emperors' palaces, and even
private houses. That between the vestibule, or proscholium, and the
1

CONFESSIONS
drawn! true; yet

239

much an emblem of aught

Let not those, whom I no
longer fear, cry out against me, while I confess to Thee, my
God, whatever my soul will, and acquiesce in the condemnation of my evil ways, that I may love Thy good ways. Let
not either buyers or sellers of grammar-learning cry out
against me.
For I question them whether it be true, that
^neas came on a time to Carthage, as the Poet tells, the less
is

this not so

recondite, as a cloke of error.

know

not, the more learned that

ask with what letters the name
written, every one who has learnt this will an-

learned will reply that they

he never

did.

" 7Enea.s "

swer me
settled.

is

But should

which men have conventionally

aright, as to the signs

If,

again, I should ask, which might be forgotten

with least detriment to the concerns of life, reading and writing or these poetic fictions? who does not foresee, what all
must answer who have not wholly forgotten themselves? I
sinned, then, when as a boy I preferred those empty to those
more profitable of studies, or rather loved the one and hated
the other. " One and one, two " " two and two, four " this
was to me a hateful sing-song " the wooden horse lined with
armed men," and " the burning of Troy," and " Creusa's
shade and sad similitude," were the choice spectacle of my
;

vanity.

Why

then did

like tales?

hate the Greek classics, which have the

For Homer

also curiously

wove

the like fictions,

most sweetly-vain, yet was he bitter to my boyish taste.

And so I suppose would Virgil be to Grecian children, when
forced to learn him as I was Homer. Difficulty, in truth, the

and

is

difficulty of a foreign tongue, dashed, as

it

were, with gall

all

For not one word of it did

I understand, and to make me understand I was urged vehemently with cruel threats and punishments. Time was also,
(as an infant,) I knew no Latin; but this I learned without
fear of suffering, by mere observation, amid the caresses of
the sweetness of Grecian fable.

school itself, besides being a mark of dignity, may, as S. Aug. perhaps implies, have been intended to denote the hidden mysteries
taught therein, and that the mass of mankind were not fit hearers of
truth.

ST.

240

AUGUSTINE

my nursery and jests of friends, smiling and sportively encouraging me. This I learned without any pressure of punishment to urge me on, for my heart urged me to give birth
to its conceptions, which I could only do by learning words
not of those who taught, but of those who talked with me;
in whose ears also I gave birth to the thoughts, whatever I
conceived.
No doubt then, that a free curiosity has more
force in our learning these things, than a frightful enforcement.
Only this enforcement restrains the rovings of that
freedom, through Thy laws, O my God, Thy laws, from the
master's cane to the martyr's trials, being able to temper for
us a wholesome bitter, recalling us to Thyself from that
deadly pleasure which lures us from Thee.
Hear, Lord, my prayer; let not my soul faint under Thy
discipline, nor let me faint in confessing unto Thee all Thy
mercies, whereby Thou hast drawn me out of all my most evil
ways, that Thou mightest become a delight to me above all
the allurements which I once pursued; that I may most entirely love Thee, and clasp Thy hand with all my affections,
and Thou mayest yet rescue me from every temptation, even
unto the end. For, lo,
Lord, my King and my God, for
Thy service be whatever useful thing ray childhood learned;
for Thy service, that I speak
write
read
reckon.
For
Thou didst grant me Thy discipline, while I was learning

vanities

my sin of delighting in those vanities Thou hast

In them, indeed, I learnt many a useful word, but
as well be learned in things not vain; and that is

and

forgiven.

these

may

the safe path for the steps of youth.

thou torrent of human custom! Who

How long shalt thou not be dried
up? How long roll the sons of Eve into that huge and hideous ocean, which even they scarcely overpass who climb the
cross? Did not I read in thee of Jove the thunderer and the
adulterer? Both, doubtless, he could not be but so the feigned
thunder might countenance and pander to real adultery. And
now which of our gowned masters, lends a sober ear to one ^

But woe

is thee,

shall stand against thee?

who from

their

iQc. Tuscul.

I.

i.

own
c.

school cries out, " These were

26.

Homer's

CONFESSIONS

241

transferring things human to the gods would he had

brought down things divine to us " Yet more truly had he
said, " These are indeed his fictions but attributing a divine
nature to wicked men, that crimes might be no longer crimes,
and whoso commits them might seem to imitate not abandoned
men, but the celestial gods,"
And yet, thou hellish torrent, into thee are cast the sons
of men with rich rewards, for compassing such learning; and
a great solemnity is made of it, when this is going on in the
forum, within sight of laws appointing a salary beside the
scholar's payments; and thou lashest thy rocks and roarest,
" Hence words are learnt hence eloquence most necessary
As if we should
to gain your ends, or maintain opinions."
have never known such words as " golden shower," " lap,"
fictions,

" beguile," " temples of the heavens," or others in that pass-

had brought a lewd youth upon the

up Jupiter as his example of seduction.^

age, unless Terence

setting

Viewing a

picture,

where the

tale

stage,

was drawn,

Of Jove's descending in a golden shower

To Danae's lap, a woman to beguile.

And

mark how he

then

excites himself to lust as

by

celestial

authority

And what God?

Great Jove,
shakes lieav'n's highest temples with his thunder.

Who
And

I,

I did

it,

poor mortal man, not do the same

and with all my heart I did it.

Not one whit more

vileness; but
less

shame.

by

Not

words learnt for all this

means the vileness is committed with
I blame the words, being, as it were,

easily are the

their

that

choice and precious vessels; but that wine of error which

is

them by intoxicated teachers; and if we, too,

drink not, we are beaten, and have no sober judge to whom
we may appeal. Yet, O my God, (in whose presence I now
without hurt may remember this,) all this unhappily I learnt
drunk

to us in

Coleman's Terence, Eunuch.

ST.

242

AUGUSTINE

willingly with great delight,

and for

this

was pronounced a

hopeful boy.

Bear with me, my God, while I say somewhat of my wit.

gift, and on what dotages I wasted it.
For a task was
set me, troublesome enough to my soul, upon terms of praise
or shame, and fear of stripes, to speak the words of Juno,
as she raged and mourned that she could not

Thy

This Trojan prince from Latium turn.

I had heard that Juno never uttered; but we
were forced to go astray in the footsteps of these poetic fictions, and to say in prose much what he expressed in verse.
And his speaking was most applauded, in whom the passions
of rage and grief were most pre-eminent, and clothed in the
most fitting language, maintaining the dignity of the charWhat is it to me, O my true life, my God, that my
acter.
declamation was applauded above so many of my own age
and class? Is not all this smoke and wind? And was there
nothing else whereon to exercise my wit and tongue? Thy
praises. Lord, Thy praises might have stayed the yet tender
shoot of my heart by the prop of Thy Scriptures; so had it
not trailed away amid these empty trifles, a defiled prey for
the fowls of the air. For in more ways than one do men sac-

Which words

rifice

to the rebellious angels.

But what marvel that I was thus carried away to vanities,

and went out from Thy presence, O my God, when men were
set before me as models, who, if in relating some action of
theirs, in itself not ill, they committed some barbarism or
solecism, being censured, were abashed but when in rich and
adorned and well-ordered discourse they related their own
disordered life, being bepraised, they gloried? These things
Thou seest. Lord, and boldest Thy peace long-suffering, and
plenteous in mercy and truth.
Wilt Thou hold Thy peace
;

for ever?

And

even

now Thou

drawest out of this horrible

gulf the soul that seeketh Thee, that thirsteth for

ures,

Thy

whose heart

saith unto Thee, I have sought

face, Lord, will I seek.

moval from Thee.

place, that

men

For

it

is

For darkened
not by our

Thy pleasThy face;

affections

feet,

leave Thee, or return unto Thee.

is

re-

or change of

Or

did that

CONFESSIONS

243

Thy younger

son look out for horses or chariots, or ships,

with visible wings, or journey by the motion of his limbs,
that he might in a far country waste in riotous living all Thou
loving Father, when Thou gavest,
gavest at his departure ?
and more loving unto him, when he returned empty. So then
in lustful, that is, in darkened affections, is the true distance
fly

from Thy
Behold,

wont,

how

face.

Lord God,

yea, behold patiently as

men

carefully the sons of

observe the
rules of letters and syllables received from those
before them, neglecting the eternal covenant of
salvation received from Thee.
Insomuch, that a
learner of the hereditary laws of pronunciation

Thou

art

covenanted
who spake
everlasting

teacher or
will

more

offend men, by speaking without the aspirate, of a "

uman

being," in despite of the laws of grammar, than if he, a " human being," hate a " human being " in despite of Thine. As
if any enemy could be more hurtful than the hatred with
which he is incensed against him or could wound more deeply
him whom he persecutes, than he wounds his own soul by his
enmity. Assuredly no science of letters can be so innate as
the record of conscience, "that he is doing to another what
from another he would be loth to suffer." How deep are Thy
ways, O God, Thou only greatj that sittest silent on high and
by an unwearied law dispensing penal blindness to lawless desires.
In quest of the fame of eloquence, a man standing
before a human judge, surrounded by a human throng, de;

claiming against his enemy with fiercest hatred, will take

heed most watchfully, lest, by an error of the tongue, he
murder the word " human-being " but takes no heed, lest,
;

through the fury of his

spirit,

he murder the real human

being.

This was the world at whose gate unhappy I lay in my

this the stage, where I had feared more to commit a
barbarism, than having committed one, to envy those who had
not. These things I speak and confess to Thee, my Grod for
which I had praise from them, whom I then thought it all virtue to please. For I saw not the abyss of vileness, wherein /
was cast away from Thine eyes. Before them what more foul
than I was already, displeasing even such as myself? with

boyhood

244

innumerable
ents,

AUGUSTINE
deceiving my tutor, my
ST.

lies

from love of

masters,

my

par-

and restcommitted, from my

play, eagerness to see vain shows,

them! Thefts also I

and table, enslaved by greediness, or that I
might have to give to boys, who sold me their play, which all
the while they liked no less than I. In this play, too, I often
sought unfair conquests, conquered myself meanwhile by vain
desire of pre-eminence.
And what could I so ill endure, or,
when I detected it, upbraided I so fiercely, as that I was doing
to others ? and for which if, detected, I was upbraided, I chose
lessness to imitate

parents' cellar

And

rather to quarrel, than to yield.

is this

the innocence of

boyhood ? Not so. Lord, not so I cry Thy mercy, O my God.

For these very sins, as riper years succeed, these very sins
are transferred from tutors and masters, from nuts and balls
and sparrows, to magistrates and kings, to gold and manors
and slaves, just as severer punishments displace the cane. It
was the low stature then of childhood, which Thou our King
;

didst

Of

commend

such

the

is

as an emblem of lowliness, when Thou

kingdom of heaven.

saidst.

Yet, Lord, to Thee, the Creator and Governor of the uni-

and most good, thanks were due to Thee

our God, even hadst Thou destined for me boyhood only.
For even then I was, I lived, and felt and had an implanted
providence over my own well-being, a trace of that mysteI guarded by the inward
rious Unity, whence I was derived
sense the entireness of my senses, and in these minute pursuits,
and in my thoughts on things minute, I learnt to delight in
truth, I hated to be deceived, had a vigorous memory, was
gifted with speech, was soothed by friendship, avoided pain,
verse, m.ost excellent

In so small a creature, what was not

admirable?
wonderful, not
But all are gifts of my God; it
was not I, who gave them me and good these are, and these
together are myself. Good, then, is He that made me, and He
is my good and before Him will I exult for every good which
of a boy I had. For it was my sin, that not in Him, but in His
myself and others I sought for pleasures, sublimcreatures
ities, truths, and so fell headlong into sorrows, confusions,
Thanks be to Thee, my joy and my glory and my
errors.
confidence, my God, thanks be to Thee for Thy gifts; but do
baseness, ignorance.

CONFESSIONS

245

Thou preserve them to me. For so wilt Thou preserve me,

and those things shall be enlarged and perfected, which Thou
hast given me, and I myself shall be with Thee, since even to
be

Thou
I

hast given me,

WILL now

corruptions of

call

my

mind

to

my

past foulness, and the carnal

soul: not because I love them, but that I

love Thee, O my God. For love of Thy love I do it;

reviewing my most wicked ways in the very bitterness of my
remembrance, that Thou mayst grow sweet unto me; (Thou
sweetness never failing. Thou blissful and assured sweetness;)
and gathering me again out of that my dissipation, wherein I
was torn piecemeal, while turned from Thee, the One Good, I
lost myself among a multiplicity of things.
For I even burnt
in my youth heretofore, to be satiated in things below and I
dared to grow wild again, with these various and shadowy
loves my beauty consumed away, and I stank in Thine eyes
pleasing myself, and desirous to please in the eyes of men.
And what was it that I delighted in, but to love, and be beloved? but I kept not the measure of love, of mind to mind,
friendship's bright boundary but out of the muddy concupiscence of the flesh, and the bubblings of youth, mists fumed
up which beclouded and overcast my heart, that I could not
discern the clear brightness of love, from the fog of lustfulness.
Both did confusedly boil in me, and hurried my unstayed youth over the precipice of unholy desires, and sunk me
in a gulf of flagitiousnesses. Thy wrath had gathered over me,
and I knew it not. I was grown deaf by the clanking of the
chain of my mortality, the punishment of the pride of my soul,
and I strayed further from Thee, and Thou lettest me alone,
and I was tossed about, and wasted, and dissipated, and I
boiled over in my fornications, and Thou heldest Thy peace,
Thou my tardy joy! Thou then heldest Thy peace, and I wandered further and further from Thee, into more and more
fruitless seed-plots of sorrows, with a proud dejectedness, and
a restless weariness.
Oh! that some one had then attempered my disorder, and
turned to account the fleeting beauties of these, the extreme
points of Thy creation had put a bound to their pleasurable-

may

XIV 17

ST.

246

ness that so the tides of

upon the marriage shore,

AUGUSTINE
my youth might have cast themselves

if they could not be calmed, and kept

Lord
within the object of a family, as Thy law prescribes,
who this way formest the offspring of this our death, being
able with a gentle hand to blunt the thorns, which were ex-

For Thy omnipotency is not far

from us, even when we be far from Thee. Else ought I more
watchfully to have heeded the voice from the clouds; Never-

cluded from

Thy

paradise?

theless such shall

have trouble

in the Uesh, but I spare you.

And, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. And, he that

is unmarried thinketh of the things of the Lord, hozv he may
please the Lord; but he that is married careth for the things of
this world,

To

how he may

these

words

please his wife.

should have listened more attentively,

sake, had more

poor wretch, foamed
like a troubled sea, following the rushing of my own tide, forsaking Thee, and exceeded all Thy limits; yet I escaped not
Thy scourges. For what mortal can? For Thou wert ever
with me mercifully rigorous, and besprinkling with most bitter alloy all my unlawful pleasures: that I might seek pleasures without alloy. But where to find such, I could not discover, save in Thee, O Lord, who teachest by sorrow, and
woundest us, to heal; and killest us, lest we die from Thee.
Where was I, and how far was I exiled from the delights of
Thy house, in that sixteenth year of the age of my flesh, when
the madness of lust (to which human shamelessness giveth
free license, though unlicensed by Thy laws) took the rule
over me, and I resigned myself wholly to it ? My friends meanwhile took no care by marriage to save my fall; their only
care was that I should learn to speak excellently, and be a per-

and being served for the kingdom of heaven's

happily awaited

Thy embraces;

but

I,

suasive orator.

For

my
^

were my studies intermitted: whilst

from Madaura,^ (a neighbour city, whither

that year

return

Formerly an episcopal

city

The Golden Ass, was a

now

small

village.

At

this

had
time

Aug. calls them " his fathers," in

embrace the Gospel. Apuleius, author of

the inhabitants were heathen.

a letter persuading them to

after
I

S.

native of this city.

CONFESSIONS

247

journeyed to learn grammar and rhetoric,) the expenses for

a further journey to Carthage were being provided for me:
and that, rather by the resolution than the means of my father,
who was but a poor freeman of Thagaste. To whom tell I
this ? not to Thee, my God but before Thee to mine own kind,
even to that small portion of mankind as may light upon these
writings of mine. And to what purpose? that whosoever reads
this, may think out of what depths we are to cry unto Thee.
For what is nearer to Thine ears than a confessing heart, and
a life of faith? Who did not extol my father, for that beyond
the ability of his means, he would furnish his son with all
necessaries for a far journey for his studies' sake ? For many
far abler citizens did no such thing for their children. But yet
this same father had no concern, how I grew towards Thee, or
;

were so that I were but copious in speech, howwere to Thy culture, O God, who art the only
true and good Lord of Thy field, my heart.
But while in that my sixteenth year I lived with my par-

how

chaste

ever barren

ents, leaving all school for a while, (a season of idleness be-

ing interposed through the narrowness of my parents' forgrew rank over my head,

tunes,) the briers of unclean desires

and there was no hand

saw me

at the baths,

to root

them

out.

When

that

my

father

now growing toward manhood, and

en-

youth fulness, he, as already hence anticipating his descendants, gladly told it to my mother; rejoicing
in that tumult of the senses wherein the world forgetteth Thee
its Creator, and becometh enamoured of Thy creature, instead
of Thyself, through the fumes of that invisible wine of its
self-will, turning aside and bowing down to the very basest
things. But in my mother's breast Thou hadst already begun
Thy temple, and the foundation of Thy holy habitation,
whereas my father was as yet but a catechumen, and that but
recently. She then was startled with an holy fear and trembling; and though I was not as yet baptized, feared for me
those crooked ways, in which they walk, who turn their back
to Thee, and not their face.

dued with a

restless

and dare I say that Thou heldest Thy peace, O

I wandered further from Thee? Didst Thou
then indeed hold Thy peace to me? And whose but Thine

Woe is me

my

God, while

AUGUSTINE
were these words which by my mother, Thy faithful one, Thou
sangest in my ears? Nothing whereof sunk into my heart, so
ST.

248

as to do

it.

For she wished, and

great anxiety warned me, "not to

remember in private with

commit fornication; but

especially never to defile another's wife."

me womanish

These seemed to

should blush to obey. But they

were Thine, and I knew it not: and I thought Thou wert silent, and that it was she who spake; by whom Thou wert
advices,

not silent unto

which

me and
;

in

her wast despised by me, her son,

Thy handmaid. Thy

servant. But I knew it not;

and ran headlong with such blindness, that amongst my equals
I was ashamed of a less shamelessness, when I heard them
boast of their flagitiousness, yea, and the more boasting, the
more they were degraded and I took pleasure, not only in the
pleasure of the deed, but in the praise. What is worthy of
dispraise but Vice? But I made myself worse than I was, that
I might not be dispraised; and when in any thing I had not
sinned as the abandoned ones, I would say that I had done
what I had not done, that I might not seem contemptible in proportion as I was innocent or of less account, the more chaste.
Behold with what companions I walked the streets of
Babylon, and wallowed in the mire thereof, as if in a bed of
spices, and precious ointments. And that I might cleave the
faster to its. very centre, the invisible enemy trod me down, and
the son of

was easy to be seduced. Neither did

(who had now fled out of the centre of
Babylon, yet went more slowly in the skirts thereof,) as she
advised me to chastity, so heed what she had heard of me from
seduced me, for that

my

the mother of

flesh,

her husband, as to restrain within the bounds of conjugal affection, (if it could not be pared away to the quick,) what she
felt to be pestilent at present, and for the future dangerous.
She heeded not this, for she feared, lest a wife should prove
Not those hopes of the
a clog and hindrance to my hopes.
world to come, which my mother reposed in Thee but the
hope of learning, which both my parents were too desirous I
should attain my father, because he had next to no thought
of Thee, and of me but vain conceits; my mother, because she
accounted that those usual courses of learning would not only
be no hindrance, but even some furtherance towards attaining
;

CONFESSIONS
Thee.

For

249

may, the
were slackened to me, beyond all temper of due severity, to spend my
time in sport, yea, even unto dissoluteness is whatsoever I affected.
And in all was a mist, intercepting from me, O my
God, the brightness of Thy truth; and mine iniquity burst
this I conjecture, recalling, as well as I

disposition of

my

parents.

The

reins,

out as from very fatness.

Theft is punished by Thy law,

mean

time,

Lord, and the law writ-

ten in the hearts of men, which iniquity itself effaces not.

what

thief will abide a thief? not even a rich thief,

one

For
steal-

Yet I lusted to thieve, and did it, comby no hunger, nor poverty, but through a cloyedness of
welldoing, and a pamperedness of iniquity. For I stole that,
of which I had enough, and much better. Nor cared I to enjoy
what I stole, but joyed in the theft and sin itself. A pear tree
there was near our vineyard, laden with fruit, tempting neither
for colour nor taste. To shake and rob this, some lewd young
fellows of us went, late one night, (having according to our
pestilent custom prolonged our sports in the streets till then,)
and took huge loads, not for our eating, but to fling to the very
hogs, having only tasted them. And this, but to do, what we
liked only, because it was misliked. Behold my heart, O God,
behold my heart, which Thou hadst pity upon in the bottom of
the bottomless pit. Now, behold let my heart tell Thee, what
it sought there, that I should be gratuitously evil, having no
temptation to ill, but the ill itself. It was foul, and I loved it;
I loved to perish, I loved mine own fault, not that for which
I was faulty, but my fault itself. Foul soul, falling from Thy
firmament to utter destruction not seeking aught through the
shame, but the shame itself!
For there is an attractiveness in beautiful bodies, in gold
and silver, and all things and in bodily touch, sympathy hath
much influence, and each other sense hath his proper object
answerably tempered. Wordly honour hath also its grace, and
the power of overcoming, and of mastery; whence springs also
the thirst of revenge. But yet, to obtain all these, we may not
depart from Thee, O Lord, nor decline from Thy law. The
life also which here we live hath its own enchantment, through
a certain proportion of its own, and a correspondence with all
ing through want.

pelled

250

ST.

AUGUSTINE

things beautiful here below.

Human

friendship also

is

en-

deared with a sweet tie, by reason of the unity formed of many

souls. Upon occasion of all these, and the like, is sin committed, while through an immoderate inclination towards these
goods of the lowest order, the better and higher are forsaken,

Thou, our Lord God, Thy

truth,

and Thy law.

For these

lower things have their delights, but not like my God, who
made all things: for in Him doth the righteous delight and He
is the joy of the upright in heart.
When, then, we ask why a crime was done, we believe
it not, unless it appear that there might have been some desire of obtaining some of those which we called lower goods,
or a fear of losing them. For they are beautiful and comely;
although compared with those higher and beatific goods, they
be abject and low.
man hath murdered another why ? he
loved his wife or his estate or would rob for his own livelihood or feared to lose some such thing by him or, wronged,

was on fire to be revenged. Would any commit murder upon

no cause, delighted simply in murdering? Who would beheve
For as for that furious and savage man, of whom it is
it?
said that he was gratuitously evil and cruel, yet is the cause
assigned;^ " lest" (saith he) "through idleness hand or heart
should grow inactive," And to what end ? That, through that
practice of guilt, he might, having taken the city, attain to
honours, empire, riches, and be freed from fear of the laws,
and his embarrassments from domestic needs, and consciousness of villanies. So then, not even Catiline himself loved his
own villanies, but something else, for whose sake he did them.
What then did wretched I so love in thee, thou theft of
mine, thou deed of darkness, in that sixteenth year of my age?
Lovely thou wert not, because thou wert theft. But art thou
any thing, that thus I speak to thee ? Fair were the pears we
stole, because they were Thy creation.
Thou fairest of all.
Creator of all. Thou good God God, the sovereign good and
my true good. Fair were those pears, but not them did my
wretched soul desire; for I had store of better, and those I
gathered, only that I might steal. For, when gathered, I flung
;

Sallust.

Conspiracy of Catiline.

CONFESSIONS

251

my

only feast therein being my own sin, which I

For if aught of those pears came within
Lord
mouth, what sweetened it was the sin. And now,

them away,
was pleased

to enjoy.

my
my

enquire what in that theft delighted me; and be-

God,

hath no loveHness; I mean

wisdom nor such as is in
senses, and animal life of man; nor
ous and beautiful in their orbs; or

hold

it

justice and

not such loveliness as in

the

mind and memory, and

yet as the stars are glori-

the earth, or sea, full of

embryo-Hfe, replacing by its birth that which decayeth; nay,
nor even that false and shadowy beauty, which belongeth to

deceiving vices.

What

...

had I then (wretched man!) in those things,

of the remembrance whereof I am now ashamed f Especially,
in that theft which I loved for the theft's sake; and it too was
nothing, and therefore the more miserable I, who loved it. Yet
alone I had not done it such was I then, I remember, alone I
had never done it. I loved then in it also the company of the
fruit

accompHces, with whom I did it ? I did not then love nothing

else but the theft, yea rather I did love nothing else for that
circumstance of the company was also nothing. What is, in
truth ? who can teach me, save He that enlighteneth my heart,
and discovereth its dark corners ? What is it which hath come
;

my mind

and consider ? For had

and wished to enjoy them, I
might have done it alone, had the bare commission of the
theft sufficed to attain my pleasure; nor needed I have inflamed the itching of my desires, by the excitement of accomplices. But since my pleasure was not in those pears, it was in
the offence itself, which the company of fellow-sinners occainto
I

to enquire,

then loved the pears

and

discuss,

I stole,

sioned.

What then was this feeling? For of a truth it was too foul
and woe was me, who had it. But yet what was it? Who
can understand his errors f It was the sport, which, as it were,
tickled our hearts, that

we

beguiled, those

what we were doing, and much misliked

my

who
it.

little

Why

thought

then was

delight of such sort, that I did it not alone? Because none

doth ordinarily laugh alone? ordinarily no one; yet laughter
sometimes masters men alone and singly when no one whatever is with them, if any thing very ludicrous presents itself

ST.

252

AUGUSTINE

Yet I had not done this alone alone

had never done it. Behold my God, before Thee, the vivid
remembrance of my soul; alone, I had never committed that
theft, wherein what I stole pleased me not, but that I stole;
nor had it alone Hked me to do it, nor had I done it. O friend-

to their senses or mind.

ship too unfriendly! thou incomprehensible inveigler of the

soul, thou greediness to do mischief out of mirth and wantonness, thou thirst of others' loss, without lust of my own
gain or revenge: but when it is said, "Let's go, let's do it,"
we are ashamed not to be shameless.
Who can disentangle that twisted and intricate knottiness ?
Foul is it I hate to think on it, to look on it. But Thee I long
for,
Righteousness and Innocency, beautiful and comely to
With Thee is
all pure eyes, and of a satisfaction unsating.
rest entire, and life imperturbable. Whoso enters into Thee,
enters into the joy of his Lord: and shall not fear, and shall
do excellently in the All-Excellent. I sank away from Thee,
and I wandered, O my God, too much astray from Thee my
stay, in these days of my youth, and I became to myself a bar:

ren land.

To

came, where there sang all around me in

I loved not yet, yet I loved
to love, and out of a deep-seated want, I hated myself for
wanting not. I sought what I might love, in love with loving,
and safety I hated, and a way without snares. For within me
was a famine of that inward food. Thyself, my God; yet,
through that famine I was not hungered; but was without
all longing for incorruptible sustenance, not because filled
For
therewith, but the more empty, the more I loathed it.

Carthage

my ears a cauldron of unholy loves.

this cause

ably cast

my
itself

soul

was

forth,

sickly

and

full

of sores,

it

miser-

desiring to be scraped by the touch

objects of sense.
Yet if these had not a soul, they
would not be objects of love. To love then, and to be
loved, was sweet to me; but more when I obtained to

of

enjoy the person I loved. I defiled, therefore, the spring

of friendship with the filth of concupiscence, and I beclouded its brightness with the hell of lustfulness; and thus
foul and unseemly, I would fain through exceeding vanity, be

CONFESSIONS

253

and courtly. I fell headlong then into the love, wherein I

longed to be ensnared. My God, my Mercy, with how much
gall didst thou out of thy great goodness besprinkle for me
that sweetness ? For I was both beloved, and secretly arrived
at the bond of enjoying; and was with joy fettered with sorrow-bringing bonds, that I might be scourged with the iron
burning rods of jealousy, and suspicions, and fears, and an-

fine

gers,

and quarrels.

Stage-plays also carried

miseries,
to be

and of

made

fuel to

my

me away,
fire.

sad, beholding doleful

yet himself would by no

means

spectator to feel sorrow at them,

pleasure.

What

is

full

Why

is it,

and

of images of

man

that

tragical things,

my

desires

which

suffer? yet he desires as a

and

very sorrow is his

madness? for a man
the less free he is from

this

this but a miserable

the more affected with these actions,

such affections. Howsoever, when he suffers in his own person, it uses to be styled misery when he compassionates others, then it is mercy.
But what sort of compassion is this
for feigned and scenical passions ? for the auditor is not called
on to relieve, but only to grieve and he applauds the actor of
these fictions the more, the more he grieves. And if the calamis

of those persons (whether of old times, or mere ficis not moved to tears, he
goes away disgusted and criticising, but if he be moved to
passion, he stays intent, and weeps for joy.
But I, miserable, then loved to grieve, and sought out what
to grieve at, when in another's and that feigned and personated
ities

tion) be so acted, that the spectator

misery, that acting best pleased me, and attracted me the most
vehemently, which drew tears from me. What marvel that

an unhappy sheep, straying from Thy flock, and impatient of

Thy keeping, I became infected with a foul disease? And
hence the love of griefs not such as should sink deep into me
for I loved not to suffer, what I loved to look on but such as
upon hearing their fictions should lightly scratch the surface;
;

upon which as on envenomed nails, followed inflamed swelling, impostumes, and a putrified sore. My life being such, was
it

Hfe,

O my

And Thy
how grievous

God?
faithful
iniquities

mercy hovered over me afar. Upon

consumed I myself, pursuing a sacri-

254

ST.

AUGUSTINE

it might bring
and the beguiHng service of devils,
to whom I sacrificed my evil actions, and in all these things
thou didst scourge me! I dared even, while Thy solemnities
were celebrated within the walls of Thy Church, to desire, and
to compass a business, deserving death for its fruits, for which
Thou scourgedst me with grievous punishments, though nothing to my fault, O Thou my exceeding mercy, my God, my

legious curiosity, that having forsaken Thee,

me

to the treacherous abyss,

refuge from those terrible destroyers, among whom I wandered with a stiff neck, withdrawing further from Thee, loving mine own ways and not Thine loving a vagrant liberty.
Those studies also_, which were accounted commendable,
had a view to excelling in the courts of litigation the more bepraised, the craftier. Such is men's blindness, glorying even in
;

And now

their blindness.

was

chief in the rhetoric school,

whereat I joyed proudly, and I swelled with arrogancy, though

(Lord, Thou knowest) far quieter and altogether removed

from the subvertings of those " Subverters " ^ (for this illomened and devilish name, was the very badge of gallantry)
among whom I lived, with a shameless shame that I was not
even as they. With them I lived, and was sometimes delighted
with their friendship, whose doings I ever did abhor, i.e. their
" subvertings," wherewith they wantonly persecuted the modesty of strangers, which they disturbed by a gratuitious jeering, feeding thereon their malicious mirth.
liker the very actions of devils

than these.

Nothing can be

What

then could
they be more truly called than " subverters ? " themselves subverted and altogether perverted first, the deceiving spirits
secretly deriding and seducing them, wherein themselves delight to jeer at,

and deceive

Among such

others.

as these, in that unsettled age of mine, learned

I books of eloquence, wherein I desired to be eminent, out of

a damnable and vain glorious end, a joy in human vanity. In
ihe ordinary course of study, I fell upon a certain book of

" Eversores." This appears to have been a name which a pestilent

and savage set of persons gave themselves, licentious alike in speech
and action. They seem to have consisted mainly of Carthaginian
students, whose savage life is mentioned again, ib. c. 8.
*

CONFESSIONS

255

whose speech almost all admire, not so his heart. This

book of his contains an exhortation to philosophy, and is called
" Hortensius" But this book altered my affections, and turned
my prayers to Thyself, O Lord and made me have other purposes and desires. Every vain hope at once became worthless
to me and I longed with an incredibly burning desire for an
immortality of wisdom, and began now to arise, that I might
return to Thee. For not to sharpen my tongue, (which thing I
seemed to be purchasing with my mother's allowances, in that
my nineteenth year, my father being dead two years before,)
not to sharpen my tongue did I employ that book; nor did it
Cicero,

infuse into

me

How did

its style,

but

its

matter.

my

God, how did I burn to re-mount

from earthly things to Thee, nor knew I what Thou wouldest
do with me ? For with Thee is wisdom. But the love of wisdom is in Greek called "philosophy," with which that book inflamed me. Some there be that seduce through philosophy, under a great, and smooth, and honourable name colouring and
disguising their own errors; and almost all who in that former ages were such, are in that book censured and set forth
there also is made plain that wholesome advice of Thy Spirit,
by Thy good and devout servant; Beware lest any man spoil
yoii through philosophy and vain deceitj after the tradition of
men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

For

in

Him

burn then,

dwelleth

all

the fulness of the

Godhead

bodily.

of my heart, knowest)
Apostolic Scripture was not known to me, I was delighted
with that exhortation, so far only, that I was thereby strongly
roused, and kindled, and inflamed to love, and seek, and obtain,
and hold, and embrace not this or that sect, but wisdom itself whatever it were; and this alone checked me thus enkindled, that the name of Christ was not in it.
For this name,
according to Thy mercy, O Lord, this name of my Saviour
Thy Son, had my tender heart, even with my mother's milk,
devoutly drunk in, and deeply treasured and whatsoever was
without that name, though never so learned, polished, or true,
took not entire hold of me,
I resolved then to bend my mind to the holy Scriptures,
that I might see what they were. But behold, I see a thing not

And

since at that time

(Thou,

light

256

ST.

AUGUSTINE

understood by the proud, nor laid open to children, lowly in

its recesses lofty, and veiled with mysteries; and I
was not such as could enter into it, or stoop my neck to follow
For not as I now speak, did I feel when I turned
its steps.
to those Scriptures; but they seemed to me unworthy to be
compared to the stateliness of Tully: for my swelling pride
shrunk from their lowliness, nor could my sharp wit pierce the
interior thereof. Yet were they such as would grow up in a little one.
But I disdained to be a little one; and, swoln with
pride, took myself to be a great one.
Therefore I fell among men^ proudly doting, exceeding
carnal and prating, in whose mouths were the snares of the
Devil, lined with the mixture of the syllables of Thy name, and
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, our Comforter. These names departed not out of their
mouth, but so far forth, as the sound only and the noise of
the tongue, for the heart was void of truth. Yet they cried
out "Truth, Truth," and spake much thereof to me, yet it
was not in them: but they spake falsehood, not of Thee only,
(who truly art Truth,) but even of those elements of this
world. Thy creatures. And I indeed ought to have passed by
even philosophers who spake truth concerning them, for love
of Thee, my Father, supremely good. Beauty of all things
beautiful.
O Truth, Truth, how inwardly did even then the
marrow of my soul pant after Thee, when they often and diversely, and in many and huge books, echoed of thee to me,
though it was but an echo ? And these were the dishes wherein
to me, hungering after Thee, they, instead of Thee, served up
the Sun and Moon, beautiful works of Thine, but yet Thy
works, not Thyself, no nor Thy first works. For Thy spiritual works are before these corporeal works, celestial though
they be, and shining. But I hungered and thirsted not even after
those first works of Thine, but after Thee Thyself, the Truth
in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning: yet
they still set before me in those dishes, glittering fantasies,
than which better were it to love this very sun, (which is
real to our sight at least,) than those fantasies which by our
access, in

The Manichees,

mystical sun-worshippers.

CONFESSIONS
\

257

eyes deceive our mind. Yet because I thought them, to be Thee,

I fed thereon not eagerly, for Thou didst not in them taste to
me as Thou art for Thou wast not these emptinesses, nor was
;

nourished by them, but exhausted rather. Food in sleep shews

very like our food awake; yet are not those asleep nourished
by it, for they are asleep. But those were not even any way
like to Thee, as Thou hast now spoken to me for those were
I

corporeal fantasies, false bodies, than which these true bodies,

celestial or terrestrial, which with our fleshly sight we behold,
are far more certain these things the beasts and birds dis:

cern as well as we, and they are more certain than when we
fancy them. And again, we do with more certainty fancy

them, than by them conjecture other vaster and infinite bodies

which have no being. Such empty husks was I then fed on;
and was not fed. But Thou, my soul's Love, in looking for

whom

I fail, that I

may become

strong, art neither those

heaven; nor those which we

see not there for Thou hast created them, nor dost Thou account them among the chief est of Thy works. How far then
art Thou from those fantasies of mine, fantasies of bodies
which altogether are not, than which the images of those

we

bodies which

see,

though

in

which

bodies,

are, are far

more

the bodies themselves, which yet

soul,

which

certain

is

is

certain,

Thou

the life of the bodies.

So

art the life of souls, the life of lives,

Where

not, life of

my

then, better

having

still

no, nor yet the

the life of the bodies, than the bodies.

and changest

Far

and more certain

art not

and more
But Thou

life in

Thyself;

soul.

Thou then to me, and how far from me?

straying from Thee, barred from the very

then wert

was

verily

husks of the swine,

whom

with husks I fed. For how much

and grammarians, than these

better are the fables of poets

snares

For

verses,

and poems, and " Medea

flying," are

more

profitable truly, than these men's five elements, variously disguised, answering to five dens of darkness, which have no be-

For verses and poems I can turn

and " Medea flying," though I did sing, I maintained not though I heard it sung, I believed not but those
Woe. woe, by what steps was I brought
things I did believe.
down to the depths of hell! toiling and turmoiling through
ing, yet slay the believer.

to true food,
;

258

ST.

want of Truth,

AUGUSTINE

since I sought after Thee,

my

God, (to Thee

who

hadst mercy on me, not as yet confessing,)

not according to the understanding of the mind, wherein Thou
willedst that I should excel the beasts, but according to the
sense of the flesh. But Thou wert more inward to me, than
I

confess

it,

my most inward part and higher than my highest. I lighted

upon that bold woman, simple and knoweth nothing, shadowed
out in Solomon, sitting at the door, and saying, Eat ye bread
of secrecies willingly, and drink ye stolen waters which are
sweet: she seduced me, because she found my soul dwelling
abroad in the eye of my flesh, and ruminating on such food,
as through it I had devoured.
For other than this, that which really is I knew not and
was, as it were through sharpness of wit, persuaded to assent
"
to foolish deceivers, when they asked me, " whence is evil ?
" is God bounded by a bodily shape, and has hairs and nails ? "
"are they to be esteemed righteous, who had many wives at
once, and did kill men, and sacrificed living creatures?" At
which I, in my ignorance, was much troubled", and departing
from the truth, seemed to myself to be making towards it;
because as yet I knew not that evil was nothing but a privation
of good, until at last a thing ceases altogether to be; which
how should I see, the sight of whose eyes reached only to
bodies, and of my mind to a phantasm? And I knew not God
;

to

he a Spirit, not

One who hath

parts extended in length

and breadth, or whose being was bulk for every bulk is less
in a part, than in the whole: and if it be infinite, it must be
;

is defined by a certain space, than in its inand so is not wholly every where, as Spirit, as God.
And what that should be in us, by which we were like to God,
and might in Scripture be rightly said to be after the Image of
God, I was altogether ignorant.
Nor knew I that true inward righteousness, which judgeth
not according to custom, but out of the most rightful law of
God Ailmighty, whereby the ways of places and times were disposed, according to those times and places; itself meantime being the same always and everywhere, not one thing in one
place, and another in another^ according to which Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and David, were righteous.

less in

such part as

finitude

;:

CONFESSIONS

259

and all those commended by the mouth of God; but were

judged unrighteous by silly men, judging out of mart's judgment, and measuring by their own petty habits, the moral
habits of the whole human race. As if in an armory, one ignorant what were adapted to each part, should cover his head
with greaves, or seek to be shod with a helmet, and complain
that they fitted not or as if on a day, when business is publicly
stopped in the afternoon, one were angered at not being allowed to keep open shop, because he had been in the forenoon
or when in one house he observeth some servant take a thing
in his hand, which the butler is not suffered to meddle with
or something permitted out of doors, which is forbidden in
the dining-room and should be angry, that in one house, and
one family, the same thing is not allotted every where, and to all.
Even such are they, who are fretted to h^ar something to have
been lawful for righteous men formerly, which now is not; or
that God, for certain temporal respects, commanded them one
thing, and these another, obeying both the same righteousness
whereas they see, in one man, and one day, and one house,
different things to be fit for different members, and a thing
formerly lawful, after a certain time not so; in one corner
permitted or commanded, but in another rightly forbidden and
punished. Is justice therefore various or mutable? No, but
the times, over which it presides, flow not evenly, because they
are times. But men, whose days are few upon the earth, for
that by their senses they cannot harmonize the causes of things
in former ages and other nations, which they had no experience of, with these which they have experience of, whereas in
one and the same body, day, or family, they easily see what is
fitting for each member, and season, part, and person; to the
one they take exceptions, to the other they submit.
These things I then knew not, nor observed; they struck
my sight on all sides, and I saw them not. I indited verses,
in which I might not place every foot every where, but differently in different metres nor even in any one metre the selfsame foot in all places. Yet the art itself, by which I indited
had not different principles for these different cases, but comprised all in one. Still I saw not how that righteousness, which
good and holy men obeyed, did far more excellently and sub:

;!

ST.

260
limely contain in one

all

and

AUGUSTINE
those things which

no part varied although

God commanded,

varying times it prescribed

not every thing at once, but apportioned and enjoined what
was fit for each. And I, in my blindness, censured the holy
Fathers, not only wherein they made use of things present as
Grod commanded and inspired them, but also wherein they
in

in

were foretelling things to come, as God was revea.ing

in

them/
These things

being ignorant of, scoffed at those Thy holy

And what gained I by scoffing at them,

servants and prophets.

but to be scoffed at by Thee, being insensibly and step by step

drawn on to those follies, as to believe that a fig-tree wept
when it was plucked, and the tree, its mother, shed milky
tears?

Which

not his

own

notwithstanding (plucked by some other's,

had some (Manichsean) saint eaten and
mingled with his bowels, he should breathe out of it angels,
yea, there shall burst forth particles of divinity, at every moan
or groan in his prayer, which particles of the most high and
true god had remained bound in that fig, unless they had been
set at liberty by the teeth or belly of some " Elect " saint
And I, miserable, believed that more mercy was to be shewn
to the fruits of the earth, than men, for whom they were created. For if any one an hungered, not a Manichaean, should
fig

guilt)

ask for any, that morsel would seem as it were condemned to

which should be given him.
And Thou sentest Thine hand from above, and drewest my

capital punishment,

soul out of that profound darkness,

my

mother.

Thy

faithful

Thee for me, more than mothers weep the

bodily deaths of their children.
For she, by that faith and
spirit which she had from Thee, discerned the death wherein
I lay, and Thou heardest her, O Lord Thou heardest her, and
one, weeping to

despisest not her tears,

when streaming down, they watered

under her eyes in every place where she prayed

yea Thou heardest her. For whence was that dream whereby
the ground

Thou comfortedst her

^

As

He

in typical actions

so that she allowed

to lie flat

to live with her,

of the Patriarchs.

alludes here to that devout

who used

me

oa

manner

of the Eastern ancients,

their faces in prayer.

CONFESSIONS

261

and to eat at the same table in the house, which she had begun to shrink from, abhorring and detesting the blasphemies
of my error?
For she saw herself standing on a certain
wooden rule, and a shining youth coming towards her, cheerful
and smiling upon her, herself grieving, and overwhelmed with
grief.
But he having (in order to instruct, as is their wont,
not to be instructed) enquired of her the causes of her grief
and daily tears, and she answering that she was. bewailing my
perdition, he bade her rest contented, and told her to look and
observe, " That where she was, there

she looked, she saw

was

I also."

And when

me

standing by her in the same rule.

Whence was this, but that Thine ears were towards her heart?
Thou Good omnipotent, who so carest for every one of
us, as if Thou caredst for him only; and so for all, as if they
were but one!

Whence was
and

when

this also, that

would fain bend

she had told

me

this

mean, "That she rather

should not despair of being one day what I was;" she presently, without any hesitation, replies; " No; for it was not told
me that, where he, there thou also but where thou, there
he also ? " I confess to Thee, O Lord, that to the best of
my remembrance, (and I have oft spoken of this), that Thy
answer, through my waking mother, that she was not perplexed by the plausibility of my false interpretation, and so
quickly saw what was to be seen, and which I certainly had

vision,

it

to

'

'

not perceived, before she spake, even then moved me more

than the dream itself, by which a joy to the holy woman, to
be fulfilled so long after, was, for the consolation of her present anguish, so long before foresignified. For almost nine
years passed, in which I wallowed in the mire of that deep
pit, and the darkness of falsehood, often assaying to rise, but
dashed down the more grievously. All which time that chaste,
godly, and sober widow, (such as Thou lovest,) now more
cheered with hope, yet no whit relaxing in her weeping and
mourning, ceased not at all hours of her devotions to bewail

my

case unto Thee.

ence; and yet

Thou

And

her prayers entered into Thy presme to be yet involved and re-

sufferest

involved in that darkness.

Thou gavest her meantime another

XIV 18

answer, which

I call

"

262

ST.

much

to mind; for

more

me

press

AUGUSTINE

pass by, hasting to those things which

and much I do not re-

to confess unto Thee,

Thou gavest her then another answer, by a Priest

of Thine, a certain Bishop brought up in Thy Church, and

member.

well studied in

Thy

books.

Whom

when

this

woman had

treated to vouchsafe to converse with me, refute

unteach

me

was wont

ill

things,

to do,

and teach me good

when he found persons

my

en-

errors,

things, (for this

he

fitted to receive it,)

For he anI afterwards perceived.

swered, that I was yet unteachable, being puffed up with the
novelty of that heresy, and had already perplexed divers unskilful persons with captious questions, as she had told him:
**but let him alone a while," (saith he,) "only pray God for
him, he will of himself by reading find what that error is, and
he refused, wisely, as

how

great

himself,

its

when

impiety."

little

At

the

same time he

one, had by his seduced

told her,

how

mother been

consigned over to the Manichees, and not only read, but frequently copied out almost all, their books, and had (without
any argument or proof from any one) seen how much that
sect was to be avoided; and had avoided it. Which when he
had said, and she would not be satisfied, but urged him more,
with intreaties and many tears, that he would see me, and
discourse with me; he, a little displeased at her importunity,
saith, " Go thy ways, and God bless Thee, for it is not possible
that the son of these tears should perish." Which answer she
took (as she often mentioned in her conversations with me)
as

if it

For
year, to

had sounded from heaven.

this space

my

eight

ing, deceived

of nine years then (from my nineteenth

lived seduced and seduc-

and twentieth) we

and deceiving,

in divers lusts

openly, by sciences

with a false named religion

here proud, there superstitious, every where vain! Here,
hunting after the emptiness of popular praise, down even to
theatrical applauses, and poetic prizes, and strifes for grassy
garlands, and the follies of shows, and the intemperance of

which they

call liberal

secretly,

desires.
There, desiring to be cleansed from these defilements, by carrying food to those who were called " elect
and "holy," out of which, in the workhouse of their stomachs.

CONFESSIONS

263

they should forge for us Angels and Gods, by whom we might

These things did I follow, and practise with my
friends, deceived by me, and with me. Let the arrogant mock

be cleansed.

me, and such as have not been, to their soul's health, stricken
and cast down by Thee, O my God but I would still confess
to Thee mine own shame in Thy praise.
Suffer me, I beseech
Thee, and give me grace to go over in my present remembrance the wanderings of my forepassed time, and to offer
unto Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. For what am I to
myself without Thee, but a guide to mine own downfall? or
what am I even at the best, but an infant sucking the milk
Thou givest, and feeding upon Thee, the food that perisheth
notf But what sort of man is any man, seeing he is but a
man? Let now the strong and the mighty laugh at us, but
let us poor and needy confess unto Thee.
In those years I taught rhetoric, and, overcome by cupidity, made sale of a loquacity to overcome by.
Yet I preferred
(Lord, Thou knowest) honest scholars, (as they are accounted,) and these I, without artifice, taught artifices, not to
be practised against the life of the guiltless, though sometimes
for the life of the guilty.
And Thou, O God, from afar perceivedst me stumbling in that slippery course, and amid much
smoke sending out some sparks of faithfulness, which I
shewed in that my guidance of such as loved vanity, and
sought after leasing, myself their companion. In those years
I had one,
not in that which is called lawful marriage, but
whom I had found out in a wayward passion, void of understanding; yet but one, remaining faithful even to her; in
;

whom

I in

my own

case experienced,

what

difference there

is

betwixt the self-restraint of the marriage-covenant, for the

sake of issue, and the bargain of a lustful love, where children are born against their parents' will, although, once born,
they constrain love.

when I had settled to enter the lists

some wizard asked me what I would
give him to win but I, detesting and abhorring such foul
mysteries, answered, " Though the garland were of imperishable gold, I would not suffer a fly to be killed to gain me it."
For he was to kill some living creatures in his sacrifices, and
I

remember

also, that

for a theatrical prize,

:

AUGUSTINE

264

ST.

by those honours to

invite the devils to

ill

favour me.

my

heart; for I

how

knew not how

to love

But

this

God of
Thee, who knew not

also I rejected, not out of a pure love for Thee,

to conceive aught beyond a material brightness.

And

doth not a soul, sighing after such fictions, commit fornication

against Thee, trust in things unreal, and feed the wind? Still
I would not forsooth have sacrifices offered to devils for me,
For,
to whom I was sacrificing myself by that superstition.
what else is it to feed the wind, but to feed them, that is, by
going astray to become their pleasure and derision ?
Those impostors then, whom they style Mathematicians,
I consulted without scruple; because they seemed to use no
sacrifice, nor to pray to any spirit for their divinations which
art, however, Qiristian and true piety consistently rejects
and condemns. For, it is a good thing to confess unto Thee,
and to say, Have mercy upon me, heal my soul, for I ha/ve>
sinned against Thee; and not to abuse Thy mercy for a
license to sin, but to remember the Lord's words, Behold, thou
art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto
All which wholesome advise they labour to destroy,
thee.
saying, "The cause of thy sin is inevitably determined in
heaven;" and "This did Venus, or Saturn, or Mars:" that
man, forsooth, flesh and blood, and proud corruption, might
be blameless; while the Creator and Ordainer of heaven and
And who is He but our God ?
the stars is to bear the blame.
the very sweetness and well-spring of righteousness, who
renderest to every man according to his works and a broken
and contrite heart wilt Thou not despise.
There was in those days a wise man ^ very skilful in physic,
and renowned therein, who had with his own proconsular
hand put the Agonistic garland upon my distempered head,
but not as a physician for this disease Thou only curest, who
resistest the proud, and givest grace to the humble.
But
didst Thou fail me even by that old man, or forbear to heal
my soul? For having become more acquainted with him,
and hanging assiduously and fixedly on his speech, (for
though in simple terms, it was vivid, lively, and earnest,)
:

Vindicianus, the great physician of his time.

when he had

CONFESSIONS
gathered by my discourse,

265

that I was given to

the books of nativity-casters, he kindly and fatherly advised

me

them away, and not fruitlessly bestow a care and

necessary for useful things, upon these vanities;
saying, that he had in his earliest years studied that art, so
as to make it the profession whereby he should live, and that,
to cast

diligence,

understanding Hippocrates, he could soon have understood

such a study as this and yet he had given it over, and taken
to physic, for no other reason, but that he found it utterly
false; and he, a grave man, would not get his living by de" But thou," saith he, " hast rhetoric to mainluding people.
tain thyself by, so that thou folio west this of free choice, not
of necessity the more then oughtest Thou to give me credit
herein, who laboured to acquire it so perfectly, as to get my
living by it alone."
Of whom when I had demanded, how
then could many true things be foretold by it, he answered me
(as he could) " that the force of chance, diffused throughout
the whole order of things, brought this about.
For if when a
man by hap-hazard opens the pages of some poet, who sang
and thought of something wholly different, a verse oftentimes
;

wondrously agreeable to the present business it were

at, if out of the soul of man, unconscious
what takes place in it, by some higher instinct an answer
should be given, by hap, not by art, corresponding to the business and actions of the demander."
And thus much, either from or through him. Thou conveyedst to me, and tracedst in my memory, what I might hereBut at that time neither he, nor
after examine for myself.
my dearest Nebridius, a youth singularly good and of a holy
fear, who derided the whole body of divination, could persuade me to cast it aside, the authority of the authors swaying me yet more, and as yet I had found no certain proof
(such as I sought) whereby it might without all doubt appear,
that that which had been truly foretold by those consulted
was the result of hap-hazard, and not of the art of the starfell out,

not to be wondered

gazers.

when I first began to teach rhetoric in my

made one my friend, but too dear to me,
had
I
pursuits, of mine own age, and, as myof
from a community
In those years

native town,

";

AUGUSTINE

ST.

266

the first opening flower of youth.

He had grown up
of a child with me, and we had been both school- fellows, and
play-fellows.
But he was not yet my friend as afterwards,
nor even then, as true friendship is for true it cannot be, unless in such as Thou cementest together, cleaving unto Thee,
by that love which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost, which is given unto us.
Yet was it but too sweet,
ripened by the warmth of kindred studies for, from the true
faith (which he as a youth had not soundly and thoroughly
self, in

him

imbibed,) I had warped

pernicious fables, for which

me

he

now

also to those superstitious

my

mother bewailed me.

erred in mind, nor could

my

and

With

soul be without him.

on the steps of Thy fugitives, at

once God of vengeance, and Fountain of mercies, turning us
to Thyself by wonderful means; Thou tookest that man out
of this life, when he had scarce filled up one whole year of
my friendship, sweet to me above all sweetness of that my

But behold Thou wert

close

life.

Who

can recount

What

his one self?

searchable

is

Thy praises, which he hath felt in

Thou then, my God, and how unof Thy judgments? For long, sore

all

diddest

the abyss

sick of a fever, he lay senseless in a death-sweat

and

his re-

covery being despaired of, he was baptized, unknowing; myself meanwhile little regarding, and presuming that his soul
would retain rather what it had received of me, not what was
wrought on his unconscious body. But it proved far otherwise for he was refreshed, and restored. Forthwith, as soon
as I could speak with him, (and I could, so soon as he was
able, for I never left him, and we hung but too much upon each
other,) I essayed to jest^ with him, as though he would jest
with me at that baptism which he had received, when utterly
absent in mind and feeling, but had now understood that he
had received. But he so shrunk from me, as from an enemy
and with a wonderful and sudden freedom bade me, as I
:

The Manichaeans, which

S. Aug. then was, could not but reject

employing a material substance. They purified
matter, not matter them.
S. Aug. speaks again of his " mocking
in
his
Baptism
own
case.
at
1

Baptism, or any

rite

CONFESSIONS

267

would continue his friend, forbear such language to him. I,

all astonished and amazed, suppressed all my emotions till he
should grow well, and his health were strong enough for me
to deal with him, as I would.
But he was taken away from
my phrensy, that with Thee he might be preserved for my
comfort; a few days after, in my absence, he was attacked
again by the fever, and so departed.
At this grief my heart was utterly darkened; and whatever I beheld was death. My native country was a torment
to me, and my father's house a strange unhappiness; and
whatever I had shared with him, wanting him, became a dis-

Mine eyes sought him every where, but he

was not granted them; and I hated all places, for that they
had not him nor could they now tell me, " he is coming," as
when he was alive and absent. I became a great riddle to myself, and I asked my soul, why she was so sad, and why she disquieted me sorely: but she knew not what to answer me. And
tracting torture.

if I said. Trust in God, she very rightly obeyed me not; because that most dear friend, whom she had lost, was, being

man, both truer and better, than that phantasm she was bid
to trust in.
Only tears were sweet to me, for they succeeded

my

friend, in the dearest of

my

And now.

affections.

Lord, these things are passed by, and time hath

assuaged my wound. May I learn from Thee, who art Truth,
and approach the ear of my heart unto Thy mouth, that Thou
Hast
rnayest tell me why weeping is sweet to the miserable ?
Thou, although present every where, cast away our misery far
from Thee? And Thou abidest in Thyself, but we are tossed
about in divers trials. And yet unless we mourned in Thine
Whence then is sweet
ears, we should have no hope left.
fruit gathered from the bitterness of life, from groaning,
Doth this sweeten it, that we
tears, sighs, and complaints?
hope Thou hearest? This is true of prayer, for therein is a
longing to approach unto Thee. But is it also in grief for a
thing lost, and the sorrow wherewith I was then overwhelmed? For I neither hoped he should return to life, nor
did I desire this with my tears but I wept only and grieved.
For I was miserable, and had lost my joy. Or is weeping
indeed a bitter thing, and for very loathing of the things.
;

AUGUSTINE

ST.

268

which we before enjoyed, does it then, when we shrink from

them, please us?
But what speak I of these things? for now is no time to
Wretched I was and
question, but to confess unto Thee.
wretched is every soul bound by the friendship of perishable
things; he is torn asunder when he loses them, and then he
feels the wretchedness, which he had, ere yet he lost them.
So was it then with me I wept most bitterly, and found my
Thus was I wretched, and that wretched
repose in bitterness.
;

life I

held dearer than

ingly have changed

it,

my

friend.

yet

was

For though I would willmore unwilling to part with

know not whether I would have
I

than with him; yea, I

it even for him, as is related (if not feigned) of
Pylades and Orestes, that they would gladly have died for
each other or together, not to live together being to them
worse than death. But in me there had arisen some unexplained feeling, too contrary to this, for at once I loathed ex-

it,

parted with

ceedingly to

and feared to

live,

more did

die.

I suppose, the

more

and fear (as a most cruel

enemy) death, which had bereaved me of him: and I imagined
it would speedily make an end of all men, since it had power
Behold my
over him. Thus was it with me, I remember.
heart, O my God, behold and see into me for well I remember it, O my Hope, who cleansest me from the impurity of such
affections, directing mine eyes tozuards Thee, and plucking
my feet out of the snare. For I wondered at others, subject
loved him, the

I hate,

to death, did live, since he

whom

I loved, as if

he should never

was dead: and I wondered yet more that myself, who was
him a second self, could live, he being dead. Well said

die,

to

one^ of his

my

friend,

and
and therefore was
that

soul

And

live halved.

he

whom

foolish

"Thou

his soul

my

life

half of

my souh"

for

felt

were " one soul in two bodies " ^

a horror to me, because I would not
:

therefore perchance

feared to die, lest

had much loved, should die wholly.

madness, which knowest not how to love men,
I

man

Hor. Carm. L.

Ovid. Trist.

1.

like

men

that I then was, enduring impatiently the lot

i.

iv.

od. 3.

Eleg.

iv.

72.

CONFESSIONS
of

man!

fretted then, sighed, wept,

For

neither rest nor counsel.

269

was

distracted;

had

bore about a shattered and

bleeding soul, impatient of being borne by me, yet where to
repose it, I found not.
Not in calm groves, not in games
and music, nor in fragrant spots, nor in curious banquettings,
I

nor in the pleasures of the bed and the couch; nor (finally) in
books or poesy, found it repose. AJl things looked ghastly,
yea, the very light whatsoever was not what he was, was revolting and hateful, except groaning and tears.
For in those
alone found I a little refreshment.
But when my soul was
withdrawn from them, a huge load of misery weighed me
down. To Thee, O Lord, it ought to have been raised, for
Thee to lighten I knew it but neither could nor would the
more, since, when I thought of Thee, Thou wert not to me
any solid or substantial thing. For Thou wert not Thyself,
but a mere phantom, and my error was my God. If I offered
to discharge my load thereon, that it might rest, it glided
through the void, and came rushing down again on me; and
I had remained to myself a hapless spot, where I could neither
For whither should my heart flee
be, nor be from thence.
from my heart? Whither should I flee from myself?
Whither not follow myself? And yet I fled out of my country; for so should mine eyes less look for him, where they
were not wont to see him. And thus from Thagaste, I came
;

to Carthage.

Times

lose

no time nor do they

;

roll idly

by through our
;

work strange operations on the mind. Behold,

they went and came day by day, and by coming and going,
introduced into my mind other imaginations, and other remembrances and little by little patched me up again with my
senses they

old kind of delights, unto which that

my

sorrow gave way.

And yet there succeeded, not indeed other griefs, yet the
For whence had that former grief so
causes of other griefs.
easily reached

my

my

the dust, in loving one that

I had poured out

must die, as if he

very inmost soul, but that

soul upon
would never die? For what restored and refeshed me chiefly,
was the solaces of other friends, with whom I did love, what
instead of Thee I loved and this was a great fable, and protracted lie, by whose adulterous stimulus, our soul, which lay
:

270

ST.

AUGUSTINE

was being defiled. But that fable would

not die to me, so oft as any of my friends died. There were
other things which in them did more take my mind to talk
and jest together, to do kind offices by turns to read together
itching in our ears,

honied books to play the fool or be earnest together to dissent at times without discontent, as a man might with his own
self; and even with the seldomness of these dissentings, to
season our more frequent consentings; sometimes to teach,
and sometimes learn; long for the absent with impatience;
and welcome the coming with joy. These and the like expressions, proceeding out of the hearts of those that loved and
were loved again, by the countenance, the tongue, the eyes,
and a thousand pleasing gestures, were so much fuel to melt
our souls together, and out of many make but one.
This is it that is loved in friends; and so loved, that a
;

man's conscience condemns

loves

him

from

for nothing

Hence

his

if

he love not him that

him

that loves him, looking

itself,

again, or love not again

person, but indications of his love.

that mourning, if one die,

and darkenings of sorrows,

that steeping of the heart in tears, all sweetness turned to

and upon the

bitterness;

Thee, and his

to him, to

And who
earth,

whom

of

life

of the dying, the death of

are dear in Him Who cannot be lost.

our God, the God that made heaven and
them, because by filling them He created
all

this but

is

and

loss

whoso loveth Thee, and his friend in

enemy for Thee. For he alone loses none dear

Blessed

the living.

iilleth

them ? Thee none loseth, but who leaveth. And who leaveth
Thee whither goeth or whither fleeth he, but from Thee wellpleased, to Thee displeased?
For where doth he not find
Thy law in his own punishment ? And Thy law is truth, and
truth Thou.

These things I then knew not, and I loved these lower

beauties, and I was sinking to the very depths, and to my
friends I said, "do we love any thing but the beautiful?
What then is the beautiful? and what is beauty? What is it
that attracts and wins us to the things we love? for unless
there were in them a grace and beauty, they could by no means
draw us unto them." And I marked and perceived that in
bodies themselves, there was a beauty, from their forming a

CONFESSIONS

271

sort of whole,

and again, another from apt and mutual correspondence, as of a part of the body with its whole, or a shoe
with a foot, and the like. And this consideration sprang up
in

my

and

mind, out of

my

inmost heart, and

wrote " on the fair

two or three books. Thou knowest, O Lord,

for it is gone from me; for I have them not, but they are
strayed from me, I know not how.
But what moved me, O Lord my God, to dedicate these
books unto Hierius, an orator of Rome, whom I knew not
by face, but loved for the fame of his learning which was
eminent in him, and some words of his I had heard, which
pleased me ? But more did he please me, for that he pleased
others, who highly extolled him, amazed that out of a Syrian,
first instructed in Greek eloquence, should afterwards be
formed a wonderful Latin orator, and one most learned in
things pertaining unto philosophy.
One is commended, and,
fit," I

think,

unseen, he is loved: doth this love enter the heart of the

hearer from the mouth of the commander? Not so. But

by one who loveth is another kindled. For hence he is loved,

who is commended, when the commender is believed to extol
him with an unfeigned heart; that is, when one that loves
him, praises him.

For so did I then love men, upon the judgment of men,

not thine,
my God, in Whom no man is deceived. But yet
why not for qualities, like those of a famous charioteer, or
fighter with beasts in the theatre, known far and wide by a
vulgar popularity, but far otherwise, and earnestly, and so as
I would be myself commended?
For I would not be commended or loved, as actors are, (though I myself did com-

mend and

love them,) but had rather be unknown, than so

Where now are the

hated, than so loved.
impulses to such various and divers kinds of loves laid up in
one soul? Why, since we are equally men, do I love in anknown; and even

if I did not hate, I should not spurn and cast

from myself? For it holds not, that as a good horse is loved
by him, who would not, though he might, be that horse, therefore the same may be said of an actor, who shares our nature.
Do I then love in a man, what I hate to be, who am a main?
Man himself is a great deep, whose very hairs Thou number-

other what,

272
est,

And

ST."

Lord, and they

AUGUSTINE

fall

not to the ground zvithout Thee.

yet are the hairs of his head easier to be numbered, than

are his feelings, and the beatings of his heart.

But that orator was of that sort whom I loved, as wishing

and I erred through a swelling pride, and
was tossed about with every wind, but yet was steered by
Thee, though very secretly. And whence do I know, and
whence do I confidently confess unto Thee, that I had loved
him more for the love of his commenders, than for the very
things for which he was commended ?
Because, had he been
unpraised, and these selfsame men had dispraised him, and
with dispraise and contempt told the very same things of him,
And
I had never been so kindled and excited to love him.
yet the things had not been other, nor he himself other; but
only the feelings of the relators.
See where the impotent soul
lies along, that is not yet stayed up by the solidity of truth!
Just as the gales of tongues blow from the breast of the
opinionative, so it is carried this way and that, driven forward
and backward, and the light is overclouded to it, and the truth
unseen.
And lo, it is before us. And it was to me a great
matter, that my discourse and labours should be known to
that man which should he approve, I were the more kindled
but if he disapproved, my empty heart, void of Thy solidity,
had been wounded. And yet the " fair and fit," whereon I
wrote to him, I dwelt on with pleasure, and surveyed it, and
admired it, though none joined therein.
But I saw not yet, whereon this weighty matter turned in
Thy wisdom, O Thou Omnipotent, who only doest zvonders;
and my mind ranged through corporeal forms; and " fair," I
defined and distinguished what is so in itself, and " fit," whose
beauty is in correspondence to some other thing: and this I
supported by corporeal examples. And I turned to the nature
of the mind, but the false notion which I had of spiritual
Yet the force of truth did
things, let me not see the truth.
itself
flash
into
mine
eyes,
and
of
I turned away my panting
lineaments, and colours,
incorporeal
to
substance
soul from
able to see these in the
being
magnitudes.
And
not
and bulky
mind.
could
see
my
Abd whereas in
not
mind, I thought I
to be myself such;


CONFESSIONS

273

loved peace, and in viciousness I abhorred discord;

observed an unity, but in the other, a sort of
division.
And in that unity, I conceived the rational soul,
and the nature of truth and of the chief good to consist but
virtue

in the first I

division

miserably imagined there to be some

unknown substance of irrational life, and the nature of
the chief evil, which should not only be a substance, but real
life also, and yet not derived from Thee,
my God, of whom
are all things.
And yet that first I called a Monad, as it had
in

this

been a soul without sex; but the latter a Duad; ^anger, in

deeds of violence, and in flagitiousness, lust; not knowing
whereof I spake. For I had not known or learned, that
neither was evil a substance, nor our soul that chief and unchangeable good.
For as deeds of violence arise, if that emotion of the soul
be corrupted, whence vehement action springs, stirring itself
insolently

soul

is

and unrulily; and

do errors and

that affection of the

knew not

that

in,

so

false opinions defile the conversation, if the

reasonable soul

may

when

lusts,

ungoverned, whereby carnal pleasures are drunk

be corrupted as it was then in me, who

must be enlightened by another light, that it

itself

it

be partaker of truth, seeing

my

itself is

not that nature of

O Lord my God,
Thou shalt enlighten my darkness: and of Thy fulness have
we all received, for Thou art the true light that lighteth every
truth.

man

For Thou

that

cometh

shalt light

candle,

into the world; for in

shadow of change.
pressed towards Thee, and was

Thee

there is no

variableness, neither

But I
thrust from Thee,
I might taste of death
for thou resistest the proud. But
what prouder, than for me with a strange madness to mainFor
tain myself to be that by nature which Thou art?
whereas I was subject to change, (so much being manifest
to me, my very desire to become wise, being the wish, of
worse to become better;) yet chose I rather to imagine Thee
subject to change, than myself not to be that which Thou art.
Therefore I was repelled by Thee, and Thou resistedst my
vain stiffneckedness, and I imagined corporeal forms, and
myself flesh, I accused flesh; and, a zvind that passeth away, I
that

274

ST.

AUGUSTINE

reiiirned not to Thee, but I passed on and on to things which

have no being, neither in Thee, nor in me, nor in the body.
Neither were they created for me by Thy truth, but by my
vanity devised out of things corporeal.
And I was wont to
ask Thy faithful little ones, my fellow-citizens, (from whom,
unknown to myself, I stood exiled,) I was wont, prating and
foolishly, to ask them, "Why then doth the soul err which
God created ? " But I would not be asked, " Why then doth
God err?" And I maintained, that Thy unchangeable substance did err upon constraint, rather than confess that my
changeable substance had gone astray voluntarily, and now,
in punishment, lay in error.
I was then some six or seven and twenty years old when
I wrote those volumes revolving within me corporeal fictions,
buzzing in the ears of my heart, which I turned, O sweet
truth, to thy inward melody, meditating on the " fair and fit,"
and longing to stand and hearken to Thee, and to rejoice
greatly at the Bridegroom's voice, but could not; for by the
voices of mine own errors, I was hurried abroad, and through
the weight of my own pride, I was sinking into the lowest
pit.
For Thou didst not make me to hear joy and gladness,
nor did the hones exidt which were not yet humbled.
And what did it profit me, that scarce twenty years old a
book of Aristotle, which they call the ten Predicaments, falling into my hands, (on whose very name I hung, as on something great and divine, so often as my rhetoric master of
Carthage, and others, accounted learned, mouthed it with
cheeks bursting with pride,) I read and understood it unaided? And on my conferring with others, who said that
they scarcely understood it with very able tutors, not only
orally explaining it, but drawing many things in sand, they
could tell me no more of it than I had learned, reading it by
myself.
And the book appeared to me to speak very clearly
of substances, such as "man," and of their qualities, as the
figure of a man, of what sort it is; and stature, how many
feet high and his relationship, whose brother he is or where
placed; or when born; or whether he stands or sits; or be
shod or armed or does, or suffers any thing and all the innumerable things which might be ranged under these nine
;

CONFESSIONS

275

Predicaments,^ of which I have given some specimens, or

under that chief Predicament of Substance.
What did all this further me, seeing it even hindered me ?
when, imagining whatever was, was comprehended under
those ten Predicaments,

essayed in such wise to understand,

O my
if

God, Thy wonderful and unchangeable Unity also, as

Thou also hadst been subjected to Thine own greatness or

beauty; so that (as in bodies) they should exist in Thee, as

their subject: whereas Thou Thyself art Thy greatness and
beauty but a body is not great or fair in that it is a body, seeing, that though it were less great or fair, it should notwithstanding be a body. But it was falsehood which of Thee I conceived, not truth; fictions of my miser>% not the realities of
Thy Blessedness. For Thou hadst commanded, and it was
done in me, that the earth should bring forth briars and thorns
to me, and that in the sweat of my brows I should eat my
;

bread.

And what did it profit me, that all the books I could procure of the so-called liberal arts, I, the vile slave of vile
affections, read by myself, and understood?
And I delighted
in them, but knew not whence came all, that therein was true
or certain. For I had my back to the light, and my face to
the things enlightened; whence my face, with which I discerned the things enlightened, itself was not enlightened.
Whatever was written, either on rhetoric, or logic, geometry,
music, and arithmetic, by myself without much difficulty or
any instructor, I understood. Thou knowest, O Lord my God
because both quickness of understanding, and acuteness in discerning, is Thy gift: yet did I not thence sacrifice to Thee.
So then it served not to my use, but rather to my perdition,
since I went about to get so good a portion of my substance
into my own keeping; and I kept not my strength for Thee,
but wandered from Thee into a far country, to spend it upon
harlotries. For what profited me good abilities, not employed

All the relations of things were comprised by Aristotle under nine

relation, action, passion, where, when,

and these with that wherein they might be found,
or " substance," make up the ten categories or predicaments.

heads;

quantity,

situation, clothing;

quality,

ST.

276

AUGUSTINE

good uses? For I felt not that those arts were attained
with great difficulty, even by the studious and talented, until
I attempted to explain them to such when he most excelled in
them, who followed me not altogether slowly.
But what did this further me, imagining that Thou,
Lord God, the Truth, wert a vast and bright body, and I a
fragment of that body? Perverseness too great! But such
to

I.
Nor do I blush,
my God, to confess to Thee Thy
mercies towards me, and to call upon Thee, who blushed not
then to profess to men my blasphemies, and to bark against

was

me

my nimble wit

Thee.

What

and

those most knotty volumes, unravelled by me, without

all

profited

then

in those sciences

aid from human instruction seeing I erred so foully, and with

such sacrilegious shamefulness, in the doctrine of piety? Or
what hindrance was a far slower wit to Thy little ones, since
they departed not far from Thee, that in the nest of Thy
Church they might securely be fledged, and nourish the wings
of charity, by the food of a sound faith. O Lord our God,
under the shadow of Thy wings let us hope; protect us, and
carry us.
Thou wilt carry us both when little, and even to
hoar hairs wilt Thou carry us; for our firmness, when it is
Thou, then is it firmness; but when our own, it is infirmity.
Our good ever lives with Thee; from which when we turn
away, we are turned aside. Let us now, O Lord, return,
that we may not be overturned, because with Thee our good
lives without any decay, which good art Thou; nor need we
fear, lest there be no place whither to return, because we fell
from it for through our absence, our mansion fell not Thy
;

eternity.
I would lay open before my God that nine and twentieth
year of mine age.
There had then come to Carthage, a certain Bishop of the Manichees, Faustus^ by name, a great
snare of the Devil, and many were entangled by him through
that lure of his smooth language which though I did com:

Faustus, of African origin, born at Milevis.

He

was, as a Mani-

chee, banished to an island by the proconsul, the Christians

interceding for him.

however

CONFESSIONS
mend, yet could

was earnest

I separate

277

from the truth of the things which

much regard the service

of oratory, as the science which this Faustus, so praised
among them, set before me to feed upon. Fame had before
bespoken him most knowing in all valuable learning, and exI

to learn: nor did I so

And since I had read

and well remembered much of the philosophers, I compared
some things of theirs with those long fables of the Manichees,
and found the former the more probable even although they
could only prevail so far as to make judgment of this lozver
world, the Lord of it they could by no means find out. For
Thou art great, O Lord, and hast respect unto the humble, but
the proud Thou beholdest afar off. Nor dost thou draw near,
but to the contrite in heart, nor art found by the proud, no,
not though by curious skill they could number the stars and
the sand, and measure the starry heavens, and track the
quisitely skilled in the liberal sciences.

courses of the planets.

For with their understanding and wit, which Thou bestowedst on them, they search out these things and much have
they found out; and foretold, many years before, eclipses of
those luminaries, the sun and moon, what day and hour,
;

and how many digits, nor did their calculation fail; and it
came to pass as they foretold and they wrote down the rules
they had found out, and these are read at this day, and out
of them do others foretell in what year, and month of the
year, and what day of the month, and what hour of the day,
and what part of its light, moon or sun is to be eclipsed, and
;

foreshewed. At these things men, that

marvel and are astonished, and they that
it, exult, and are puffed up; and by an ungodly pride
departing from Thee, and failing of Thy light, they foresee
a failure of the sun's light, which shall be, so long before, but
see not their own, which is.
For they search not religiously
whence they have the wit, wherewith they search out this. And
finding that Thou madest them, they give not themselves up to
Thee, to preserve what Thou madest, nor sacrifice to Thee,
what they have made themselves; nor slay their own soaring
imaginations, as fowls of the air, nor their own diving curiosities, (wherewith, like the fishes of the sea, they wander over
so

it

know
know

shall be, as

not this

XIV 19

it is

art,

278

ST.

unknown paths of

the

AUGUSTINE

the abyss,) nor their

own

luxurious-

Thou, Lord, a consuming fire,

mayest burn up those dead cares of theirs, and re-create themness, as beasts of the field, that

selves immortally.

But they knew not the way, Thy Word, by Whom Thou
madest these things which they number, and themselves who
number, and the sense whereby they perceive what they number, and the understanding, out of which they number or that
of Thy wisdom there is no number. But the Only Begotten
is Himself made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctiUcation, and was numbered among us, and paid tribute
unto Ccesar. They knew not this Way whereby to descend to
Him from themselves, and by Him ascend unto Him. They
know not this way, and deemed themselves exalted amongst
the stars and shining: and behold, they fell upon the earth,
and their foolish heart tvas darkened. They discourse many
;

things truly concerning the creature; but Truth, Artificer of

the creature, they seek not piously, and therefore find

Him

they find Him, knowing Him to be God, they glorify

Him not as God, neither are thankful, but become vain in
their imaginations, and profess themselves to be wise, attrib-

not

or

if

Thine; and thereby with most

Thee what is their own,
forging lies of Thee who art the Truth, and changing the glory
of the uncorruptible God, into an image made like corruptible
man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things,
changing Thy truth into a lie, and worshipping and serving
the creature more than the Creator.
Yet many truths concerning the creature retained I from
these men, and saw the reason thereof from calculations, the
succession of times, and the visible testimonies of the stars;
and compared them with the saying of Manichseus, which in
his phrenzy he had written most largely on these subjects; but
discovered not any account of the solstices, or equinoxes, or
the eclipses of the greater lights, nor whatever of this sort I
had learned in the books of secular philosophy. But I was
commanded to believe and yet it corresponded not with what
had been established by calculations and my own sight, but
uting to themselves what

is

perverse blindness, study to impute to

was

quite contrary.

CONFESSIONS

279

Lord God of truth, whoso knoweth these

Thee? Surely unhappy is he who
knoweth all these, and knoweth not Thee: but happy whoso
knoweth Thee, though he know not these. And whoso
knoweth both Thee and them, is not the happier for them, but
for Thee only, if, knowing Thee, he glorifies Thee as God, and
is thankful, and becomes not vain in his imaginations.
For
off,
who
knows
how
is
better
to
possess
he
a
tree,
reand
as
turns thanks to Thee for the use thereof, although he know
Doth

then,

things, therefore please

how many cubits high it is, or how wide it spreads, than

he that can measure it, and count all its boughs, and neither
owns it, nor knows or loves its Creator so a believer, whose
all this w^orld of wealth is, and who having nothing, yet possesseth all things, by cleaving unto Thee, whom all things
serve, though he know not even the circles of the Great Bear,
yet is it folly to doubt but he is in a better state than one who
can measure the heavens, and number the stars, and poise the
not

elements, yet neglecteth

Thee who hast made

all

things in

number, weight and measure.

But yet who bade that Manichaeus write on these things
For Thou hast
also, skill in which was no element of piety?
of
which
Behold,
piety
and
wisdom;
he might be
to
man.
said
things;
of
these
perfect
knowledge
though
he
had
ignorant,
most
impudently
knowing
not,
he
since,
things,
but these
dared to teach, he plainly could have no knowledge of piety.

For

it

is

vanity to

make

even when known;

fore this wanderer to

profession of these worldly things

but confession to Thee

is

piety.

Where-

end spake much of these things,

that convicted by those who had truly learned them, it might
be manifest what understanding he had in the other abstruser
things.
For he would not have himself meanly thought of,
but w^ent about to persuade me, " That the Holy Ghost, the
Comforter and Enricher of Thy faithful ones, was with
plenary authority personally within him." When then he was
found out to have taught falsely of the heaven and stars, and
of the motions of the sun and moon, (although these things
this

pertain not to the doctrine of religion,) yet his sacrilegious

presumption would become evident enough, seeing he delivered things which not only he knew not, but which were

AUGUSTINE

ST.

280
falsified,

with so

mad a

vanity of pride, that he sought to

them to himself, as to a divine person.

For when I hear any Christian brother ignorant of these
things, and mistaken on them, I can patiently behold such a
man holding his opinion nor do I see that any ignorance as
ascribe

to the position or character of the corporeal creation can in-

jure him, so long as he doth not believe any thing unworthy

But it doth injure him,

of Thee, O Lord, the Creator of all.
if he imagine it to pertain to the form of the doctrine of piety,
whereof he is ignorant. And
even such an infirmity, in the infancy of faith, borne
by our mother Charity, till the new-born may grow tip unto a
perfect man, so as not to he carried about with every wind of
doctrine.
But in him, who in such wise presumed to be the
teacher, source, guide, chief of all whom he could so persuade, that whoso followed him, thought that he followed, not
a mere man, but Thy Holy Spirit; who would not judge that
so great madness, when once convicted of having taught any
thing false, were to be detested and utterly rejected?
But
I had not as yet clearly ascertained, whether the vicissitudes of
longer and shorter days and nights, and of day and night
itself, with the eclipses of the greater lights, and whatever
else of the kind I had read of in other books, might be explained consistently with his sayings; so that, if they by any
means might, it should still remain a question to me, whether
it were so or no; but I might, on account of his reputed
sanctity, rest my credence upon his authority.
And for almost all those nine years, wherein with unsettled mind I had been their disciple, I had longed but too intensely for the coming of this Faustus.
For the rest of the
sect, whom by chance I had lighted upon, when unable to
solve my objections about these things, still held out to me the
coming of this Faustus, by conference with whom, these and
greater difficulties, if I had them, were to be most readily
and abundantly cleared. When then he came, I found him
a man of pleasing discourse, and who could speak fluently and
in better terms, yet still but the self-same things which they
were wont to say. But what availed the utmost neatness of
the cup-bearer to my thirst for a more precious draught?

and

will yet affirm that too stiffly

yet

is

CONFESSIONS

281

Mine

ears were already cloyed with the like, nor did they
seem to me therefore better, because better said nor therefore
true, because eloquent; nor the soul therefore wise, because
the face was comely, and the language graceful.
But they
;

who

held him out to me, were no good judges of things; and

therefore to them he appeared understanding and wise, because in words pleasing.
I felt however that another sort of

people were suspicious even of truth, and refused to assent

to it, if delivered in a smooth and copious discourse.
But
Thou,
my God, hadst already taught me by wonderful and

and therefore I believe that Thou taughtest me,

truth, nor is there besides Thee any teacher of
truth, where or whencesoever it may shine upon us.
Of Thyself therefore had I now learned, that neither ought any thing
to seem to be spoken truly, because eloquently; nor therefore
secret ways,

because

falsely,

it

is

because the utterance of the

lips is

inharmonious; nor,
nor therefore

again, therefore true, because rudely delivered

false,

because the language

is

rich

but that

wisdom and

folly,

are as wholesome and unwholesome food; and adorned or

unadorned phrases, as courtly or country vessels; either kind

of meats may be served up in either kind of dishes.
That greediness then, wherewith'! had of so long time expected that man, was delighted verily with his action and feeling when disputing, and his choice and readiness of words
to clothe his ideas.
others and

was then

more than

delighted, and, with

they, did I praise

many

and extol him.

It

troubled me, however, that in the assembly of his auditors, I

was not allowed to put in, and communicate^ those questions
that troubled me,

when

in

familiar converse with him.

might, and with

at such times as

it

my

Which

friends began to engage his ears

was not unbecoming for him

to discuss

with me, and had brought forward such things as moved me

I found him first utterly ignorant of liberal sciences, save
grammar, and that but in an ordinary way. But because he
had read some of Tully's Orations, a very few books of
iThis was the old fashion of the East; where the scholars had
liberty to ask questions of their masters, and to move doubts as the
professors were reading, or so soon as the lecture was done.

282

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Seneca, some things of the poets, and such few volumes of his
sect, as were written in Latin and neatly, and was daily

own

practised in speaking, he acquired a certain eloquence, which

proved the more pleasing and seductive, because under the

guidance of a good wit, and with a kind of natural gracefulness.
Is it not thus, as I recall it, O Lord my God, Thou
Judge of my conscience? Before Thee is my heart, and my
remembrance. Who didst at that time direct me by the hidden
mystery of Thy providence, and didst set those shameful
errors of mine before my face, that I might see and hate
them.
For after it was clear, that he was ignorant of those arts
in which I thought he excelled_, I began to despair of his opening and solving the difficulties which perplexed me; (of which
indeed however ignorant, he might have held the truths of
piety, had he not been a Manichee.)
For their books are
fraught with prolix fables, of the heaven, and stars, sun, and
moon, and I now no longer thought him able satisfactorily to
decide what I much desired, whether, on comparison of these
things with the calculations I had elsewhere read, the account
given in the books of Manichseus were preferable, or at least
as good.
Which when 1 proposed to be considered and discussed, he, so far modestly, shrunk from the burthen.
For
he knew that he knew not these things, and was not ashamed
to confess it.
For he was not one of those talking persons,
many of whom I had endured, who undertook to teach me
these things, and said nothing.
But this man had a heart,
though not right towards Thee, yet neither altogether treacherous to himself.
For he was not altogether ignorant of his
own ignorance, nor would he rashly be entangled in a dispute,
whence he could neither retreat, nor extricate himself fairly.

Even

for this

liked

him

the better.

For

fairer

is

the

modesty of a candid mind, than the knowledge of those things

which I desired; and such I found him, in all the more difficult

and subtle questions.

My

zeal for the writings of Manichseus being thus blunted,

and despairing yet more of their other teachers, seeing that in

divers things which perplexed me, he, so renowned among

CONFESSIONS

283

them, had so turned out; I began to engage with him in the

study of that hterature, on which he also was much set, (and

which as rhetoric-reader I was at that time teaching young

students at Carthage,) and to read with him, either what himself desired to hear,

But

my

or such as

judged

fit

for his genius.

whereby I had purposed to advance in that

sect, upon knowledge of that man, came utterly to an end;
not that I detached myself from them altogether, but as one
finding nothing better, I had settled to be content meanwhile
with what I had in whatever way fallen upon, unless by
chance something more eligible should dawn upon me. Thus
that Faustus, to so many a snare of death, had now, neither
w'illing nor witting it, begun to loosen that wherein I was
taken.
For Thy hands, O my God, in the secret purpose of
Thy providence, did not forsake my soul; and out of my
mother's heart's blood, through her tears night and day
poured out, was a sacrifice offered for me unto Thee; and
Thou didst deal with me by wondrous ways. Thou didst it,
all

O my

efforts

man are ordered by the Lord,

way. Or how shall we obtain salvation, but from Thy hand, re-making what It made?
Thou didst deal with me, that I should be persuaded to go
to Rome, and to teach there rather, what I was teaching at
Carthage. And how I was persuaded to this, I will not neglect to confess to Thee: because herein also the deepest recesses of Thy wisdom, and Thy most present mercy to us,
must be considered and confessed. I did not wish therefore
to go to Rome, because higher gains and higher dignities were
warranted me by my friends who persuaded me to this,
(though even these things had at that time an influence over
my mind,) but my chief and almost only reason was, that I
heard that young men studied there more peacefully, and were
kept quiet under a restraint of more regular discipline so that
and

God

He

for the steps of a

shall dispose his

they did not, at their pleasures, petulantly rush into the school
of one, whose pupils they were not, nor were even admitted
Whereas at Carthage, there reigns
W'ithout his permission.
among the scholars a most disgraceful and unruly licence.
They burst in audaciously, and with gestures almost frantic,

ST.

284

AUGUSTINE

disturb all order which any one hath established for the good
of his scholars. Divers outrages they commit, with a wonderful stolidity, punishable by law, did not custom uphold
them that custom evincing them to be the more miserable, in
that they now do as lawful, what by Thy eternal law shall
never be lawful and they think they do it unpunished, whereas
they are punished with the very blindness whereby they do it,
and suffer incomparably worse than what they do. The manners then which, when a student, I would not make my own,
I was fain, as a teacher, to endure in others and so I was well
pleased to go where, all that knew it, assured me that the like
was not done. But Thou, my refuge and my portion in the
land of the living, that I might change my earthly dwelling
for the salvation of my soul, at Carthage didst goad me, that
I might thereby be torn from it; and at Rome didst proffer
me allurements, whereby I might be drawn thither, by men
in love with a dying life, the one doing frantic, the other
promising vain, things; and, to correct my steps, didst secretly
For both they who disuse their and my own perverseness.
turbed my quiet, were blinded with a disgraceful phrenzy, and
they who invited me elsewhere, savoured of earth.
And I,
who here detested real misery, was there seeking unreal
;

happiness.

But why I went hence, and went thither. Thou knewest, O

God, yet shewedst it neither to me, nor to my mother, who
grievously bewailed my journey, and followed me as far as
the sea.
But I deceived her, holding me by force, that either
she might keep me back, or go with me, and I feigned that I
had a friend whom I could not leave, till he had a fair wind
to sail.
And I lied to my mother, and such a mother, and
escaped: for this also hast Thou mercifully forgiven me, preserving me, thus full of execrable defilements, from the
waters of the sea, for the water ^ of Thy Grace whereby when
I was cleansed, the streams of my mother's eyes should be
dried, with which for me she daily watered the ground under
her face. And yet refusing to return without me, I scarcely
persuaded her to stay that night in a place hard by our ship,
;

The waters

of Baptism.

CONFESSIONS

285

where was an Oratory^ in memory of the blessed Cyprian.

That night I privily departed, but she was not behind in weeping and prayer.
And what, O Lord, was she with so many
tears asking of Thee, but that

Thou wouldest

not suffer

me

to

But Thou, in the depth of Thy counsels and hearing

the main point of her desire, regardest not what she then
asked, that Thou mightest make me what she ever asked.
The wind blew and swelled our sails, and withdrew the shore
from our sight; and she on the morrow was there, frantic
with sorrow, and with complaints and groans filled Thine ears,
who didst then disregard them; whilst through my desires,
Thou wert hurrying me to end all desire, and the earthly part
of her affection to me was chastened by the allotted scourge
sail?

of sorrows.

For she loved

my being

with her, as mothers do,

much more than many; and she knew not how great joy
Thou wert about to work for her out of my absence. She
knew not therefore did she weep and wail, and by this agony

but

there appeared in her the inheritance of Eve, with sorrow

sorrow she had brought forth. And yet,

treachery and hardheartedness, she betook
herself again to intercede to Thee for me, went to her wonted
place, and I to Rome.
And \Oi there was I received by the scourge of bodily sickness, and I was going down to hell, carrying all the sins which
I had committed, both against Thee, and myself, and others,
many and grievous, over and above that bond of original sin,
whereby we all die in Adam. For Thou hadst not forgiven
me any of these things in Christ, nor had He abolished by
His cross the enmity which by my sins I had incurred with
For how should He, by the crucifixion of a phantasm,
Thee.
which I believed Him to be? So true, then, was the death of
my soul, as that of His flesh seemed to me false; and how
seeking,

what

after accusing

in

my

true the death of His body, so false

Such churches as were

called

by his name

built

was the

life

of

my

soul,

over the grave of any Martyr, or

to preserve the

memory

of him, had usually the

Memoria given
The Latins instead of Martyrium commonly use the name of
Memoria Martyrum for such kind of churches.
distinguishing

them.

title

of Martyrium, or Confessio, or

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286

AUGUSTINE

which did not believe it. And now the fever heightening, I
was parting and departing for ever. For had I then parted
hence, whither had I departed, but into fire and torments, such
as my misdeeds deserved in the truth of Thy appointment?
And this she knew not, yet in absence prayed for me. But
Thou, every where present, heardest her where she was, and,
where I was, hadst compassion upon me that I should recover
the health of my body, though phrenzied as yet in my sacrilegious heart.
For I did not in all that danger desire Thy
baptism; and I was better as a boy, when I begged it of my
But
mother's piety, as I have before recited and confessed.
I had grown up to my own shame, and I madly scoffed at the
prescripts of Thy medicine, who wouldest not suffer me, being
With which wound had my
such, to die a double death.
mother's heart been pierced, it could never be healed. For I
cannot express the affection she bare to me, and with how
much more vehement anguish she was now in labour of me
in the spirit, than she had been at her childbearing in the
;

flesh.

how she should have been healed, had such

mine
stricken
through the bowels of her love. And
a death of
would
have
where
been those her so strong and unceasing
prayers, unintermitting to Thee alone?
But wouldest Thou,
God of mercies, despise the contrite and humbled heart of that
chaste and sober widow, so frequent in almsdeeds, so full of
duty and service to Thy saints, no day intermitting the oblation at Thine altar, twice a day, morning and evening, without
any intermission, coming to Thy church, not for idle tattlings
and old wives fables; but that she might hear Thee in Thy discourses, and Thou her, in her prayers.
Couldest Thou despise
and reject from Thy aid the tears of such an one, wherewith
she begged of Thee not gold or silver, nor any mutable or
passing good, but the salvation of her son's soul ? Thou, by
whose gift she was such? Never, Lord. Yea, Thou wert at
hand, and wert hearing and doing, in that order wherein Thou
hadst determined before, that it should be done.
Far be it
that Thou shouldest deceive her in Thy visions and answers,
some whereof I have, some I have not mentioned, which she
I see

not then

CONFESSIONS

287

up in her faithful heart, and ever praying, urged upon

Thee, as Thine own handwriting. For Thou, because Thy
mercy endureth for ever, vouchsafest to those to whom Thou
laid

forgivest

their debts, to

all

become

also a debtor

by Thy

promises,
^

Thou

recoveredst

the son of
for

live,

health.

me

Thy handmaid,

Thee

And

then of that sickness, and healedst

for the time in body, that he might

to bestow upon him a better and more abiding

even then, at Rome, I joined myself to those de-

ceiving and deceived "holy ones;" not with their disciples

only, (of which number was he, in whose house I had fallen
sick and recovered ;) but also with those whom they call " The

" that it was not we that sin, but

that I know not what other nature sinned in us " and it delighted my pride, to be free from blame and when I had done
any evil, not to confess I had done any, that Thou mightest
heal my soul because it had sinned against Thee: but I loved
to excuse it, and to accuse I know not what other thing,
which was with me, but which I was not. But in truth it
was wholly I, and mine impiety had divided me against myElect."

For

I still thought,

self and that sin was the more incurable, whereby I did not
judge myself a sinner; and execrable iniquity it was, that I
had rather have Thee, Thee, O God Almighty, to be overcome
in me to my destruction, than myself of Thee to salvation.
Not as yet then hadst Thou set a watch before my mouth,
and a door of safe keeping around my lips, that my heart
might not turn aside to wicked speeches, to make excuses of
sins, with men that work iniquity: and, therefore, was I still
united with their Elect.
But now despairing to make proficiency in that false
doctrine, even those things (with which if I should find no
better, I had resolved to rest contented) I now held more laxly
and carelessly. For there half arose a thought in me, that
those philosophers, whom they call Academics, were wiser
than the rest, for that they held, men ought to doubt every
thing, and laid down that no truth can be comprehended by
man: for so, not then understanding even their meaning, I
also was clearly convinced that they thought, as they are com:

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AUGUSTINE

ST.

monly ^ reported. Yet did

I freely

and openly discourage that

host of mine from that over-confidence which I perceived

to have in those fables,

him

which the books of Manichseus are

full of.
Yet I lived in more familiar friendship with them,
than with others who were not of this heresy.
Nor did I
maintain it with my ancient eagerness still my intimacy with
that sect (Rome secretly harbouring- many of them) made me
slower to seek any other way especially since I despaired of
;

from which they had turned me aside, in

Thy Church, O LxDrd of heaven and earth, Creator of all
things visible and invisible and it seemed to me very unseemly
to believe Thee to have the shape of human flesh, and to be
bounded by the bodily lineaments of our members. And because, when I wished to think on my God, I knew not what to
think of, but a mass of bodies, (for what was not such, did
not seem to me to be any thing,) this was the greatest, and
finding the truth,

almost only cause of my inevitable error.

For hence I believed Evil also to be some such kind of
substance, and to have its own foul, and hideous bulk whether
gross, which they called earth, or thin and sublime, (like the
body of the air,) which they imagine to be some malignant
mind, creeping through that earth. And because a piety, such
as it was, constrained me to believe that the good God never
created any evil nature, I conceived two masses, contrary to
one another, both unbounded, but the evil narrower, the good
more expansive. And from this pestilent beginning, the other
sacrilegious conceits followed on me.
For when my mind
endeavoured to recur to the Catholic faith, I was driven back,
since that was not the Catholic faith, which I thought to be
so.
Ajid I seemed to myself more reverential, if I believed of
Thee, my Grod, (to whom Thy mercies confess out of my
mouth,) as unbounded, at least on other sides, although on
that one where the mass of evil was opposed to Thee, I was
constrained to confess Thee bounded; than if on all sides I
;

The ordinary opinion

as to the Academics,

was that they were

universal sceptics; S. Aug. states his conviction that they held, concealed, positive truth, but publicly contented themselves with refuting

the opposed errors.

CONFESSIONS

289

should imagine Thee to be bounded by the form of a human

body.
And it seemed to me better to believe Thee to have
evil, (which to me ignorant seemed not some only,
but a bodily, substance, because I could not conceive of mind,
unless as subtile body, and that diffused in definite spaces,)
than to believe the nature of evil, such as I conceived it, could

created no

come from Thee.

Yea, and our Saviour Himself,

Thy Only

believed to have been reached forth (as it were)

for our salvation, out of the mass of Thy most lucid sub-

Begotten,

stance, so as to believe nothing of Him, but what I could

imagine in my vanity. His Nature then, being such, I
thought could not be born of the Virgin Mary, without being mingled with the flesh: and how that which I had so

figured to myself, could be mingled,

I

and not

defiled, I

Him born in
Him defiled by

feared therefore to believe

saw

not.

the flesh, lest I

should be forced to believe

the flesh.
Now
Thy spiritual ones mildly and lovingly smile upon me, if
they shall read these my confessions. Yet such was I.
Furthermore, what the Manichees had criticised in Thy
Scriptures, I thought could not be defended; yet at times
verily I had a wish to confer upon these several points with
some one very well skilled in those books, and to make trial
what he thought thereon for the words of one Helpidius, as
he spoke and disputed face to face against the said Manichees,
will

had begun to stir me even at Carthage in that he had produced things out of the Scriptures, not easily withstood, the
Manichees' answer whereto seemed to me weak. And this
answer they liked not to give publicly, but only to us in
private.
It was, that the Scriptures of the New Testament
had been corrupted by I know not whom, who wished to engraff the law of the Jews upon the Christian faith yet themselves produced not any uncorrupted copies.
But I, conceiving of things corporeal only, was mainly held down,
vehemently oppressed and in a manner suffocated by those
"masses " panting under which after the breath of Thy truth,
I could not breathe it pure and untainted,
I began then diligently to practise that for which I came
to Rome, to teach rhetoric; and first, to gather some to my
house, to whom, and through whom, I had begun to be
:

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ST.

AUGUSTINE

known; when lo, I found other offences committed in Rome,

to which I was not exposed in Africa.
True, those *' subvertings" by profligate young men, were not here practised, as
was told me but on a sudden, said they, to avoid paying their
master's stipend, a number of youths plot together, and remove to another; breakers of faith, who for love of money
:

hold justice cheap. These also my heart hated, though not

zvith a perfect hatred: for perchance I hated them more because I was to suffer by them, than because they did things
utterly unlawful.
Of a truth such are base persons, and they
go a whoring from Thee, loving these fleeting mockeries of
things temporal, and filthy lucre, which fouls the hand that

grasps

who

it;

hugging the fleeting world, and despising Thee,

and recallest, and forgivest the 'adulteress soul

abidest,

of man, when she returns to Thee,

depraved and crooked persons, though

And now

hate such

them if corrigible, so as to prefer to money the learning, which they acquire,

and to learning. Thee, O God, the truth and fulness of assured
But then I rather for my own
good, and most pure peace.
sake misliked them evil, than liked and wished them good for
I

love

Thine.

When
their city,

had sent to Rome to

them with a rhetoric reader

therefore they of Milan

prefect of the city, to furnish

and send him

at the public expense, I

made

the
for

applica-

tion (through those very persons, intoxicated with Manich?ean

wherefrom I was to go, neither of us

however knowing it) that Symmachus, then prefect of the
city, would try me by setting me some subject, and so send
me. To Milan I came, to Ambrose the Bishop, known to
the whole world as among the best of men, Thy devout servant; whose eloquent discourse did then plentifully dispense

vanities, to be freed

unto

Thy

people the flour of

Thy

wheat, the gladness of

Thy

and the sober inebriation of Thy wine. To him was I unknowing led by Thee, that by him I might knowingly be led
That man of God received me as a father, and
to Thee.
shewed me an Episcopal kindness on my coming. Thenceforth I began to love him, at first indeed not as a teacher of
the truth, (which I utterly despaired of in Thy Church,) but
And I listened diligently
as a person kind towards myself.

oil,

CONFESSIONS
to

291

him preaching

to the people, not with that intent I ought,

were, trying his eloquence, whether it answered the
fame thereof, or flowed fuller or lower than was reported;

but, as

and

it

hung on

his words attentively but of the matter I was

and scornful looker-on; and I was delighted with
the sweetness of his discourse, more recondite, yet in manner,
less winning and harmonious, than that of Faustus.
Of the
matter, however, there was no comparison; for the one was
wandering amid Manichaean delusions, the other teaching salvation most soundly. But salvation is far from sinners, such
as I then stood before him; and yet was I drawing nearer by
little and little, and unconsciously.
For though I took no pains to learn what he spake, but
only to hear how he spake; (for that empty care alone was
left me, despairing of a way, open for man, to Thee,) yet together with the words which I would choose, came also into
my mind the things which I would refuse; for I could not
separate them.
And while I opened my heart to admit " how
I

as a careless

eloquently he spake," there

spake " but this by degrees.
;

also

For

entered
first,

"how

truly

he

these things also had

appear to me capable of defence; and the

for which I had thought nothing could be
said against the Manichees' objections, I now thought might
be maintained without shamelessness especially after I had
heard one or two places of the Old Testament resolved, and
ofttimes " in a figure/' which when I understood literally, I
was slain spiritually. Very many places then of those books
having been explained, I now blamed my despair, in believing,
that no answer could be given to such as hated and scoffed^

now begun

to

Catholic faith,

at the

Law and

the Prophets.

Yet did

not therefore then

way was to be held, because it also could

maintainers, who could at large and with some

see, that the Catholic

find learned

shew of reason answer objections; nor that what I held was

therefore to be condemned_, because both sides could be maintained.
For the Catholic cause seemed to me in such sort
not vanquished, as

Hereupon
^

still

not as yet to be victorious.

earnestly bent

my

mind, to see

This was the main weapon of the Manichees.

if in

any way

ST.

292

AUGUSTINE

could by any certain proof convict the Manichees of falseCould I once have conceived a spiritual substance, all
hood.
their strong holds had been beaten down, and cast utterly out

of

my

mind; but

could not.

Notwithstanding, concerning

the frame of this world, and the whole of nature, which the
senses of the flesh can reach to, as I more and more considered and compared things, I judged the tenets of most of the
philosophers to have been much more probable.
So then
after the manner of the Academics (as they are supposed)

doubting of every thing, and wavering between all, I settled

so far, that the Manichees were to be abandoned; judging
that, even while doubting_, I might not continue in that sect,
to which I already preferred some of the philosophers; to
which philosophers notwithstanding, for that they were without the saving Name of Christ, I utterly refused to commit
the cure of my sick soul.
I determined therefore so long
Catholic
in
the
Church, to which I had
be
a
Catechumen
to
parents,
till
something
commended
my
certain should
been
by
might
steer
upon
whither
I
my
course.
dawn
me,

O Thou, my hope from my youth, where wert Thou to me,

and whither wert Thou gone? Hadst not Thou created me,
and separated me from the beasts of the field, and fowls of
the air? Thou hadst made me wiser, yet did I walk in darkness, and in slippery places, and sought Thee abroad out of
myself, and found not the God of my heart; and had come
into the depths of the sea, and distrusted and despaired of
ever finding truth. My mother had now come to me, resolute
through piety, following me over sea and land, in all perils
confiding in Thee.
For in perils of the sea, she comforted
the very mariners, (by

whom

passengers unacquainted with

the deep, use rather to be comforted

when

troubled,) assur-

ing them of a safe arrival, because Thou hadst by a vision

assured her thereof. She found me in grievous peril, through

But when I had discovered to

was now no longer a Manichee, though not yet a
Catholic Christian, she was not overjoyed, as at something
unexpected; although she was now assured concerning that

despair of ever finding truth.

her, that I

part of

my

misery, for which she bewailed

me

as one dead.

CONFESSIONS

293

though to be reawakened by Thee, carrying

bier of her thoughts, that

the

widow,
and

revive,

his mother.
etxultation,

desired of
that,

me

forth

upon the

Thou

mightest say to the son of

Young man, I say unto thee. Arise; and he should
begin to speak, and thou shouldest deliver him to
Her heart then was shaken with no tumultuous
when she heard that what she daily with tears
Thee, was already in so great part realized; in

though

from falsehood

had not yet attained the

truth, I

was rescued

Thou, who hadst

promised the whole, wouldest one day give the rest, most
calmly, and with an heart full of confidence, she replied to
me, " She believed in Christ, that before she departed this life,
;

but, as being assured, that

me a Catholic believer." Thus much to me.

Thee,
Fountain
of mercies, poured she forth more
But to
prayers
and
tears,
copious
that Thou wouldest hasten Thy
help, and enlighten my darkness; and she hastened the more
eagerly to the Church, and hung upon the lips of Ambrose,
praying for the fountain'^ of that water, which springeth up
unto life everlasting. But that man she loved as an angel of
God, because she knew that by him I had been brought for
she should see

the present to that doubtful state of faith

now was

through which she anticipated most confidently, that

pass from sickness unto health, after the access, as

in,

should

it

were,

of a sharper fit, which physicians call " the crisis."

When then my mother had once, as she was wont in
Afric, brought to. the Churches built in memory of the Saints,
certain cakes, and bread and wine, and was forbidden by the
door-keeper; so soon as she knew that the Bishop had forbidden this, she so piously and obediently embraced his wishes,
that I myself

wondered how

readily she censured her

own

For wine-bibpractice, rather than discuss his prohibition.

love
of wine prospirit,
nor
did
her
bing did not lay siege to
(both
many,
doth
too
as
it
truth,
the
voke her to hatred of

men and women,) who

revolt at a lesson of sobriety, as

men

well-drunk at a draught mingled with water. But she, when

she had brought her basket with the accustomed festivalis quoted in the prayers for the consecration
in the old Roman and Galilean Liturgies.
Baptism
of the water of

Baptism.

XIV 20

The

text

294

ST.

AUGUSTINE

food, to be but tasted by herself, and then given away, never

joined therewith

more than one small cup of wine, diluted

according to her
she would taste.

own abstemious habits, which for courtesy

And if there were many Churches of the

departed saints, that were to be honoured in that manner,

she still carried round that same one cup, to be used every
where; and this, though not only made very watery, but unpleasantly heated with carrying about, she would distribute
to those about her by small sips; for she sought their devo-

So soon, then, as she found this custom

by that famous preacher, and most pious
prelate, even to those that would use it soberly, lest so an
occasion of excess might be given to the drunken ^ and for
tion, not pleasure.

to be forbidden

that these, as

much resemble

it

were, anniversary funeral solemnities did

the superstition of the Gentiles, she

and for a basket

most

will-

with fruits of the

earth, she had learned to bring to the Churches of the martyrs, a breast filled with more purified petitions, and to give
what she could to the poor; that so the communication^ of
the Lord's Body might be there rightly celebrated, where,
after the example of His Passion, the martyrs had been sacrificed and crowned.
But yet it seems to me, O Lord my
God, and thus thinks my heart of it in Thy sight, that perhaps she would not so readily have yielded to the cutting off
of this custom, had it been forbidden by another, whom she
loved not as Ambrose, whom, for my salvation, she loved
most entirely; and he her again, for her most religious conversation, whereby in good works, so fervent in spirit, she
was constant at church; so that, when he saw me, he often
burst forth into her praises; congratulating me, that I had
such a mother; not knowing what a son she had in me, who
ingly forbare

it:

filled

Aug. on the same ground, persuaded the Church of Hippo,

its Bishop, to abandon this practice, and wrote to
urge Aurelius, Bishop of Carthage, to abolish it in his see, anticipating that the rest of Africa would follow the example of the chief
*

S.

before he became

see.
2 The holy Eucharist was always celebrated by the whole Church
on the birthday, i. e., day of martyrdom, of the Martyr.

CONFESSIONS

295

doubted of all these things, and imagined the way to life

could not be found out.
Nor did I yet groan in my prayers, that Thou wouldest
help me; but my spirit was wholly intent on learning, and
restless to dispute. And Ambrose himself, as the world counts
happy, I esteemed a happy man, whom personages so great
held in such honour only his celibacy seemed to me a painful
course.
But what hope he bore within him, what struggles
he had against the temptations which beset his very excellencies, or what comfort in adversities, and what sweet joys
;

Thy Bread had

for the hidden mouth of his spirit, when chewing the cud thereof, I neither could conjecture, nor had experienced. Nor did he know the tides of my feelings, or the

abyss of my danger.
For I could not ask of him, what I
would as I would, being shut out both from his ear and speech
by multitudes of busy people, whose weaknesses he served.
With whom when he was not taken up, (which was but a
little time,) he was either refreshing his body with the sustenance absolutely necessary, or his mind was reading. But
when he was reading, his eye glided over the pages, and his
heart searched out the sense, but his voice and tongue were
Oft-times when we had come, (for no man was forat rest.
bidden to enter, nor was it his wont that any who came
should be announced to him,) we saw him thus reading to
himself, and never otherwise and having long sat silent, ( for
who durst intrude pn one so intent?) we were fain to depart,
conjecturing, that in the small interval, which he obtained,
free from the din of others' business, for the recruiting of his
mind, he was loath to be taken off and perchance he dreaded
lest if the author he read should deliver any thing obscurely,
some attentive or perplexed hearer should desire him to expound it, or to discuss some of the harder questions; so that
;

his time being thus spent, he could not turn over so

many

volumes as he desired; although the preserving of his voice

(which very little speaking would weaken) might be the
But with what intruer reason for his reading to himself.
tent soever he did
I
I

however

it,

man it was good.

had no opportunity of enquiring what

certainly in such a

certainly

wished, of that so holy oracle of Thine, his breast, unless

ST.

296

AUGUSTINE

the thing might be answered briefly.

But those tides in me,

poured
out to him, required his full leisure, and never
to be
found it. I heard him indeed every Lord's day, rightly expounding the Word of Truth among the people; and I was
more and more convinced, that all the knots of those crafty
calumnies, which those our deceivers had knit against the
Divine Books, could be unravelled. But when I understood
withal, that "man, created by Thee, after Thine own image,"
was not so understood by Thy spiritual sons, whom of the
Catholic Mother Thou hast born again through grace, as
though they believed and conceived of Thee as bounded by

human

shape; (although what a spiritual substance should be

had not even a faint or shadowy notion;) yet, with joy I

blushed at having so many years barked not against the CathI

olic

faith,

but against the fictions of carnal imaginations.

For so rash and impious had I been, that what I ought by

enquiring to have learned, I had pronounced on, condemning.
For Thou, Most High, and most near most secret, and most
present; Who hast not limbs some larger, some smaller, but
art wholly every where, and no where in space, art not of
such corporeal shape, yet hast Thou made man after Thine
own image; and behold, from head to foot is he contained in
;

space.

Ignorant then how this Thy image should subsist, I should

have knocked and proposed the doubt, how it was to be believed, not insultingly opposed it, as if believed.
Doubt,

what

then,

to hold for certain, the

more ashamed

more sharply gnawed

my

was, that so long deluded and

deceived by the promise of certainties, I had with childish
error and vehemence, prated of so many uncertainties.
For
heart, the

were falsehoods, became clear to me later. Howwas certain that they were uncertain, and that I had
formerly accounted them certain, when with a blind conten-

that they

ever

tiousness, I accused

Thy

Catholic Church,

whom

now

dis-

covered, not indeed as yet to teach truly, but at least not to

So I
was confounded, and converted: and I joyed, O my God,
that the One Only Church, the body of Thine Only Son,
(wherein the name of Christ had been put upon me as an
teach that, for which I had grievously censured her.

CONFESSIONS
infant,)

had no

297

taste for infantine conceits;

nor in her sound

any tenet which should confine Thee, the
space, however great and large, yet bounded

doctrine, maintained

Creator of all, in
every where by the limits of a

human

form.

And how Thou didst deliver me out of the bonds of desire,

wherewith I was bound most straitly to carnal concupiscence,
and out of the drudgery of worldly things, I will now declare,
and confess unto Thy name, O Lord, my helper and my redeemer. Amid increasing anxiety, I was doing my wonted
business, and daily sighing unto Thee.
I attended Thy
Church, whenever free from the business under the burden
of which I groaned.
Upon a day there came to see me and Alypius,^ one
Pontitianus, our countryman so far as being an African,
in high office in the Emperor's court.
What he would with
us, I know not, but we sat down to converse, and it
happened that upon a table for some game, before us, he
observed a book, took, opened it, and contrary to his expectation, found it the Apostle Paul; for he had thought it some
of those books, which I was wearing myself in teaching.
Whereat smiling, and looking at me, he expressed his joy
and wonder, that he had on a sudden found this book, and this
only before my eyes. For he was a Christian, and baptized,
and often bowed himself before Thee our God in the Church,
in frequent and continued prayers.
Thence his discourse turned to the flocks in the Monasteries, and their holy ways, a sweet smelling savour unto
Thee, and the fruitful deserts of the wilderness, whereof we
knew nothing. And there was a Monastery at Milan, full
of good brethren, without the city walls, under the fostering
care of Ambrose, and we knew it not. He went on with his
He told us then
discourse, and we listened in intent silence.
how one afternoon at Triers, when the Emperor was taken up
with the Circensian games, he and three others, his companions, went out to walk in gardens near the city walls, and
there as they happened to walk in pairs, one went apart with
.

dear friend of Augustine.

298

ST.

AUGUSTINE

him, and the other two wandered by themselves; and these,

in their wanderings, Hghted upon a certain cottage, inhabited
by certain of thy servants, poor in spirit, of whom is the

kingdom of heaven, and there they found a little book, containing the life of Antony, This one of them began to read,
admire, and kindle at it and as he read, to meditate on taking
up such a life, and giving over his secular service to serve
Thee. And these two were of those whom they style agents
for the public affairs/
Then suddenly, filled with an holy
love, and a sober shame, in anger with himself he cast his eyes
upon his friend, saying, " Tell me, I pray thee, what would we
attain by all these labours of ours? what aim we at? what
serve we for? Can our hopes in court rise higher than to be
the Emperor's favourites? and in this, what is there not brittle, and full of perils? and by how many perils arrive we at a
greater peril ? And when arrive we hither ? But a friend of
God, if I wish it, I become now at once." So spake he. And
;

in pain with the travail of a

new

life,

he turned his eyes again

upon the book, and read on, and was changed inwardly, where
Thou sawest, and his mind was stripped of the world, as soon
appeared. For as he read, and rolled up and down the waves
of his heart, he stormed at himself a while, then discerned,
and determined on a better course and now being Thine, said
to his friend, " Now have I broken loose from those our hopes,
and am resolved to serve God and this, from this hour, in this
place, I begin upon.
If thou likest not to imitate me, oppose
not." The other answered, he would cleave to him, to partake
;

Thus both being

Thine, were building the tozver at the necessary cost,
the forsaking all that they had, and following Thee. Then
Pontitianus and the other with him, that had walked in other
so glorious a reward, so glorious a service.

now

parts of the garden,

^

came

in search of

Their imployments were, to gather

them

in the

to the

same place;

Emperor's tributes: to

fetch in offenders: to do Palatina obsequia, offices of court, provide

corn, &c. ride of errands like messengers of the chamber,

lie

abroad

as spies and intelligencers; they were often preferred to places of

magistracy in the province: such were called principes or magistriani.

They succeeded

Between which two, and

was not much difference.

the frumentarii.

the curiosi, and the specidatores, there

CONFESSIONS

299

and finding them, reminded them to return, for the day was
now far spent. But they relating their resolution and purpose, and how that will was begun, and settled in them,
begged them, if they would not join, not to molest them.
But the others, though nothing altered from their former
selves, did yet bewail themselves, (as he affirmed,) and piously
congratulated them, recommending themselves to their
prayers and so, with hearts lingering on the earth, went away
to the palace. But the other two, fixing their heart on heaven,
remained in the cottage. And both had affianced brides, who
;

when they heard

hereof, also dedicated their virginity unto

God.

Such was the story of Pontitianus; but Thou,

Lord,
while he was speaking, didst turn me round towards myself,
taking me from behind my back, where I had placed me,
unwilling to observe myself; and setting me before my face,
that I

might see how foul

bespotted and ulcerous.

And

was, how crooked and defiled,

beheld and stood aghast; and

flee from myself I found not.

And if I sought
mine eye from off myself, he went on with his relation, and Thou again didst set me over against myself, and
thrustedst me before my eyes, that / might find out mine
iniquity, and hate it.
I had known it, but made as though
I saw it not, winked at it, and forgot it.
But now, the more ardently I loved those, whose healthful affections I heard of, that they had resigned themselves
wholly to Thee to be cured, the more did I abhor myself,
when compared with them. For many of my years (some
twelve) had now run out with me since my nineteenth, when,
upon the reading of Cicero's Hortensius, I was stirred to an
earnest love of wisdom; and still I was deferring to reject
mere earthly felicity, and give myself to search out that,
whereof not the finding only, but the very search, was to be
preferred to the treasures and kingdoms of the world, though
already found, and to the pleasures of the body, though
But I wretched, most
spread around me at my will.
wretched, in the very commencement of my early youth, had
begged chastity of Thee, and said, " Give me chastity and
continency, only not yet." For I feared lest Thou shouldest

whither to

to turn

ST.

300
hear

me

me

soon, and soon cure

which

cence,

AUGUSTINE

And

guished.

of the disease of concupis-

wished to have satisfied, rather than extinI had wandered through crooked ways in a

sacrilegious superstition,^ not indeed assured thereof, but as

it to the others which I did not seek rehgiously,
but opposed maHciousIy.

preferring

And

had thought, that

therefore deferred from day

to day to reject the hopes of this world, and follow

Thee

only, because there did not appear aught certain, whither to

direct

my

And now was

course.

the day

come wherein

was

my conscience was to upbraid

my tongue ? Thou saidst, that

to be laid bare to myself, and

me.

"

Where

art

thou now,

for an uncertain truth thou likedst not to cast off the baggage

of vanity; now,

it

is

certain,

presseth thee, while they

who

and yet that burthen

still

op-

worn themselves
ten years and more have been

neither have so

out with seeking it, nor for

thinking thereon, have had their shoulders lightened, and received wings to fly away." Thus was I gnawed within, and
exceedingly confounded with an horrible shame, while Ponti-

And he having brought to a close

and the business he came for, went his way; and
I into myself.
What said I not against myself? with what
scourges of condemnation lashed I not my soul, that it might
follow me, striving to go after Thee!
Yet it drew back;
All arguments were spent
refused, but excused not itself.
and confuted; there remained a mute shrinking; and she
feared, as she would death, to be restrained from the flux
of that custom, whereby she was wasting to death.
Then in this great contention of my inward dwelling,
which I had strongly raised against my soul, in the chamber
of my heart, troubled in mind and countenance, I turned
tianus

was so speaking.

his tale

upon Alypius. "What ails us?" I exclaim: "what is it?

what heardest thou? The unlearned start up and take heaven
by force, and we with our learning, and without heart, lo,
Are we ashamed to
where we wallow in flesh and blood
follow, because others are gone before, and not ashamed not
even to follow ? " Some such words I uttered, and my fever
!

Manicheism.

CONFESSIONS

301

of mind tore me away from him, while he, gazing on me in

astonishment, kept silence. For it was not my wonted tone
and my forehead, cheeks, eyes, colour, tone of voice, spake

than the words I uttered. A little garden there

our lodging, which we had the use of, as of the whole
house; for the master of the house, our host, was not living
Thither had the tumult of my breast hurried me,
there.
where no man might hinder the hot contention wherein I had
engaged with myself, until it should end as Thou knewest, I
knew not. Only I was healthfully distracted and dying, to
live knowing what evil thing I was, and not knowing what
good thing I was shortly to become. I retired then into the
garden, and Alypius, on my steps. For his presence did not
lessen my privacy or how could he forsake me so disturbed ?
We sate down as far removed as might be from the house.
I was troubled in spirit, most vehemently indignant that I
entered not into Thy will and covenant, O my God, which
all my bones cried out unto me to enter, and praised it to the
skies.
And therein we enter not by ships, or chariots, or
feet, no, move not so far as I had come from the house to that
place where we were sitting. For, not to go only, but to go
in thither was nothing else but to will to go, but to will resolutely and thoroughly; not to turn and toss, this way and
that, a maimed and half-divided will, struggling, with one

my mind more
was

to

part sinking as another rose.

very fever of my irresoluteness, I made

with my body many such motions as men sometimes would,
but cannot, if either they have not the limbs, or these be
bound with bands, weakened with infirmity, or any other
way hindered. Thus, if I tore my hair, beat my forehead, if
locking my fingers I clasped my knee I willed, I did it. But
I might have willed, and not done it, if the power of motion
So many things then I did,
in my limbs had not obeyed.
when "to will" was not in itself "to be able;" and I did
not what both I longed incomparably more to do, and which
soon after, when I should will, I should be able to do because
soon after, when I should will, I should will thoroughly.
For in these things the ability was one with the will, and to
will was to do and yet was it not done and more easily did
Lastly,

in the

;
:

my

AUGUSTINE
weakest willing of my
ST.

302

body obey the

limbs at

nod, than the soul obeyed

its

the will alone this

Thus

soul-sick

moving

soul, in

itself to

its

accomplish in

momentous will.
was I, and tormented, accusing myself

its

my

wont, rolling and turning me

wholly
in my
broken, whereby I now
that were
was but just, but still was, held. And Thou, O Lord,
pressedst upon me in my inward parts by a severe mercy,
redoubling the lashes of fear and shame, lest I should again
give way, and not bursting that same slight remaining tie,
For I
it should recover strength, and bind me the faster.
said within myself, " Be it done now, be it done now." And

much more

severely than

chain,

as

spake, I

till

but enacted

all

yet sunk not back to

my

it.

I all

former

but did
state,

it,

and did

but kept

it

my

not

stand

hard by, and took breath. And I essayed again, and wanted
somewhat less of it, and somewhat less, and all but touched
and laid hold of it; and yet came not at it, nor touched, nor
laid hold of it hesitating to die to death and to live to life
and the worse whereto I was inured, prevailed more with me
than the better, whereto I was unused: and the very moment
wherein I was to become other than I was, the nearer it
approached me, the greater horror did it strike with me yet
did it not strike me back, nor turned me away, but held me
:

in suspense.

The very
mistresses,

toys of toys, and vanities of vanities,

still

and whispered

held

me; they plucked

softly, "

Dost thou

cast us

moment shall we no more be with thee

that moment shall not this or that be

my

my

ancient

fleshy garment,

ofif ?

and from that

from

for ever? and

lawful for thee for

ever ? "
And what was it which they suggested in that I
said, " this or that," what did they suggest,
my God ? Let

Thy mercy

turn

it

away from

defilements did they suggest!

Thy servant. What

what shame! And now I much
the soul of

less than half heard them, and not openly shewing themselves
and contradicting me, but muttering as it were behind my
back, and privily plucking me, as I was departing, but to look
back on them. Yet they did retard me, so that I hesitated
to burst and shake myself free from them, and to spring over
whither I was called a violent habit saying to me, " Thinkest
thou, thou canst live without them?"
;

CONFESSIONS
I

303

But now it spake very faintly. For on that side whither

had set my face, and whither I trembled to go, there
ap-

peared unto me the chaste dignity of Continency, serene,

yet
not relaxedly gay, honestly alluring me to come, and
doubt
not; and stretching forth to receive and embrace
me, her
holy hands full of multitudes of good examples. There
were
so many young men and maidens here, a multitude of
youth
and every age, grave widows and aged virgins; and Continence herself in all, not barren, but a fruitful mother
of
Lord. And she
with a persuasive mockery, as would she say,

children of joys, by

Thee her Husband,

smiled on me
" Canst not thou what these youths, what these
maidens can?
or can they either in themselves, and not rather in the Lord
their

God?

The Lord

their

God gave me unto

them.

Why

standest thou in thyself, and to standest not? Cast thyself

upon Him, fear not He will not withdraw Himself that thou

shouldest
receive,

fall;

and

cast

will

thyself

fearlessly

heal thee."

And

upon Him,

He

will

blushed exceedingly,

yet heard the mutterings of those toys, and hung

And she again seemed to say, " Stop thine ears
against those thy unclean members on the earth, that they
for that

in suspense.

may

be mortified. They tell thee of delights, but not as doth

the law of the Lord thy God." This controversy in my heart
was self against self only. But Alypius sitting close by my

waited the issue of my unwonted emotion.

But when a deep consideration had from the secret bottom
of my soul drawn together and heaped up all my misery in
the sight of my heart; there arose a mighty storm, bringing
a mighty shower of tears. Which that I might pour forth
wholly, in its natural expressions, I rose from Alypius: solitude was suggested to me as fitter for the business of weepside, in silence

ing; so

I retired

so far that even his presence could not be

Thus was it then with me, and he perceived

something of it; for something I suppose I had spoken,
wherein the tones of my voice appeared choked with weeping,
and so had risen up. He then remained where we were sitI cast myself down I know
ting, most extremely astonished.
not how, under a certain fig-tree, giving full vent to my tears;
and the floods of mine eyes gushed out, an acceptable sacrifice
to Thee. And, not indeed in these words, yet to this purpose,
a burthen to me.

AUGUSTINE

ST.

304
spake I

how

much unto Thee: And Thou, O Lord, how long?

Thou be angry, for ever? Remember

long. Lord, wilt

not our former iniquities, for I felt that I was held by them.
I sent up these sorrowful words; How long? how long, "to-

morrow, and to-morrow? " Why not now? why not is there
this hour an end to my uncleanness?
So was I speaking, and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when, lo! I heard from a neighbouring
house a voice, as of boy or girl, I know not, chanting, and
Inoft repeating, " Take up and read Take up and read."
stantly, my countenance altered, I began to think most
intently, whether children were wont in any kind of play to
sing such words nor could I remember ever to have heard
;

the

So checking

like.

the torrent of

to be no other than a

my

tears, I arose

command from God,

inter-

open
and read the first chapter I should find. For I had
heard of [Saint] Antony, that coming in during the reading
of the Gospel, he received the admonition, as if what was
being read, was spoken to him Go, sell all that thou hast, and
give to the poor, and thou shall have treasure in heaven,
and come follow me. And by such oracle he was forthwith
preting

it

to

the book,

converted unto Thee. Eagerly then I returned to the place

where Alypius was sitting; for there had I laid the volume

when

I seized, opened, and

on which my eyes first fell Not
in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying: but put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, in concupiscence.
No further would I read nor needed I for instantly at the
end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused
into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away.
Then putting my finger between, or some other mark,
I shut the volume, and with a calmed countenance made it
known to Alypius. And was wrought in him, which I knew
not, he thus shewed me.
He asked to see what I had read:
I shewed him; and he looked even further than I had read,
and I knew not what followed. This followed, him that is
weak in the faith, receive; which he applied to himself, and
disclosed to me.
And by this admonition was he strength-

of the Apostle,

arose thence.

in silence read that section,

CONFESSIONS

305

ened and by a good resolution and purpose, and most corresponding to his character, wherein he did always very far
differ from me, for the better, without any turbulent delay
he joined me. Thence we go into my mother; we tell her;
;

she rejoiceth: we relate in order how it took place; she leaps

for joy, and triumpheth, and blesseth Thee, Who art able to
do above that which we ask or think; for she perceiveth that

hadst given her more for me, than she was wont to
pitiful and most sorrowful groanings.
For Thou
convertedst me unto Thyself, so that I sought neither wife,
nor any hope of this world, standing in that rule of faith,
where Thou hadst shewed me unto her in a vision, so many
And Thou didst convert her mourning into
years before.

Thou

beg by her

much more plentiful than she had desired, and in a much

more precious and purer way than she erst required, by hav-

joy,

ing grandchildren of

my

body.

SAINT AUGUSTINE AND SANTA MONICA

From a painting by Alexis Douillard
"And Thou didst convert her mourning into joy, much more
plentiful than she had desired, and in a much more precious
and purer way than she erst required, by having grandchildren
of

my

body."

Confessions of

St.

Augustine.

Page

305.

ADU/OM ATVIA8 QVIA 3VIIT8U0UA

TVIIA8

aaoM HDUM ^YOi OTvii omviauoM aan xaavviOD r&aia uohT axA"
2U0I'J3J11 aaOM HDUM A MI OWA ,a3I23a QAH 3Ha WAHT JU^ITViaO^
>i3flajiH3a>iAao OMiVAH Yfl ^a3jiiuQ3a Taaa ana viaht yaw aanui aviA
.0

sgB^

.aniJau^uA .18 io znoiaaalnoD

".Yaoa

YM

10

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

A THEOSOPHICAL TREATISE
BY

JULIAN THE EMPEROR

TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK BY
C.

W. KING, M.A.

UPON THE SOVEREIGN SUN

ADDRESSED TO SALLUST^
It

is

my

opinion that the present subject interests

"Whatever
all

that are

endowed with

with a mind

asmuch

breathes, and

as I

am

my

others

all

it

and

interests myself, in-

a votary (opados) of the Sun. Of which

most certain evidences in my own case; but

one instance, which

From

earth,"

existence, with a rational soul,

but that above

fact I possess the

moves upon the

all:

it is

allowable to adduce,

earliest infancy I

is

the following:

was possessed with a strange

longing for the solar rays, so that when, as a boy,

eyes upon the ethereal splendour,

my

I cast

soul felt seized

and

my
car-

ried up out of itself. And not merely was it my delight to

gaze upon the solar brightness, but at liight also whenever I
walked out in clear weather, disregarding all else, I used to
fix my eyes upon the beauty of the heavens so that I neither
paid attention to what was said to me, nor took any notice of
what was going on. On this account, people used to think me
too much given to such pursuits, and far too inquisitive for
my age and they even suspected me, long before my beard
was grown, of practising divination by means of the heavenly
bodies. And yet at that time no book on the subject had fallen
into my hands, and I was utterly ignorant of what that science
meant.
But what use is it to quote these matters, when I
have still stranger things to mention if I should mention what
But let oblivion rest
I at that time thought about the gods?
;

upon that epoch of darkness!

diffused all around me, used to
templation
^

How
lift

up

the radiance of heaven,

my

For an account of Julian the Emperor and

duction to this volume on

Roman
309

XIV21

soul to

its

own

con-

to such a degree that I discovered for myself that

Philosophy.

Sallust see the intro-

JULIAN THE EMPEROR

310

the moon's motion was in the opposite direction to that of

the rest of the system, long before I met with any works giving the philosophy of such matters. What I have said must

be taken as evidence of this. And truly do I envy the felicity

of that man who, being endowed with a body sprung from a
holy and prophetic seed, is able to unlock the treasures of
philosophy: but neither do I undervalue that state and condition to which I have myself attained through the favour of
heaven, in that I have drawn my birth from the family to
which it has given the empire, and possession of the world.

My own
that the

Sun

belief
is

the

prehensive term.

if

is,

philosophers be entitled to any credit,

common

It is

Sun " but

parent of all men, to use a coma true proverb, " Man begets man, and

down upon
and out of the other gods: which
souls show to what end they were propagated by the kind of
life that they pursue.
But well is it for that man who, from
generation
the third
backwards^ and a long succession of years,
so does the

souls that luminary showers

earth, both out of himself,

has been dedicated to the service of this god; yet neither is

that person's condition to be despised who, feeling in his own
nature that he is a servant of this deity, alone, or with few on
his side, shall have devoted himself to his worship.^
Come then, and let us celebrate in the best way we can the
anniversary festival,^ which the imperial city is keeping by
sacrifices, with unusual splendour. And yet I feel how difficult
it is for the human mind even to form a conception of that
Sun who is not visible to the sense, if our notion of Him is
to be derived from the Sun that is visible but to express the
same in language, however inadequately, is, perhaps, beyond
To fitly explain His glory, I am very
the capability of man
well aware, is a thing impossible in lauding it, however, mediocrity seems the highest point to which human eloquence is able
;

1 Julian's first care had been to erect a temple to the Sun, within the
palace precincts, in which he began each day with sacrifice to that

luminary.
2 Natale Solis Invicti, " Nativity of the Unconquerable Sun," December 25, the origin of Christmas Day Julian was writing at Antioch,
in the middle of his preparations for the Persian campaign.

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

311

to attain.

Nevertheless in that attempt may Hermes, presiding

knowledge, be our guide, together with the Muses
and Apollo leader of their quire, for to him belongs my theme

over

all

and may they grant me to deliver such things concerning the

immortal gods as shall be acceptable and well-pleasing to
themselves. What plan, therefore, of setting forth His praises
shall we pursue? shall we treat of His nature and origin. His
powers and influences, both those that be manifest to all, and
those occuh; or of the distribution of blessings which He
showers down so largely upon all worlds; and by so doing,

we

perchance,
that
let

is

shall not be unsuccessful in the kind of praise

most acceptable unto

Him ?

From

this point therefore

us start.

That divine and all-beauteous World, which from the

Heaven down to the lowest Earth is held together by the immutable providence of God, and which has
existed from all eternity, without creation, and shall be eternal
for all time to come, and which is not regulated by anything,
except approximately by the Fifth Body^ (of which the
principle is the solar light) placed, as it were, on the second
step below the world of intelligence ; and finally by the means
of the " Sovereign of all things, around w^hom all things
stand." ^
This Being, whether properly to be called "That
which is above comprehension," or the " Type of things existing," or "The One," (inasmuch as Unity appears to be the
most ancient of all things), or "The Good," as Plato regularly
highest vault of

designates

Him,

This, then,

is

the Single Principle of

all things,

universe as a model of indescribable

beauty, perfection, unity, and power. And after the pattern
of the primary substance that dwells within the Principle, He

and which

serv^es to the

hath sent forth out of Himself, and like in all things unto
Himself, the Sun, a mighty god, made up of equal parts of inAnd this is the sense of the
telligible and creative causes.
Apparently the same as the " Soul of the World " intermediate
between the kosmos noetos, " world of intelligence," and the Supreme
God, " The One."
2 As Plato calls Him in his celebrated Epistle to Dionysius the
1

Younger,

312
divine
that I

JULIAN THE EMPEROR

Plato, where he writes, "You may say (replied I)
mean the offspring of the Good, whom the Good has

produced, similar to itself; in order that, what the Good is in

the region of intelligence, and as regards things only appreciable

by the mind,

region that

is visible,

its

offspring should be the

and

same

in the

in the things that are appreciable

by

For this reason I believe that the light of the Sun

bears the same relation to things visible as Truth does to things
intelligible.
But this Whole,^ inasmuch as it emanates from
the Model and "Idea" of the primal and supreme Good,
and exists from all eternity around his immutable being,
the sight."

has received sovereignty also over the gods appreciable

by the intellect alone, and communicates to them the same
good things, (because they belong to the world of intelligence), as are poured down from the Supreme Good upon the
other objects of Intelligence.

Good

is

For

to these latter, the

Supreme

the source, as I believe, of beauty, perfection, exist-

holding them together and illuminating them

by its own virtue which is the " Idea " of the Good. The same
things, therefore, does the Sun communicate to things intelligible, over whom he was appointed by the Good to reign and
to command: although these were created and began to exist
And this, I think, was
at the same moment with himself.
done, in order that a certain Principle which possessed the
ence and union

"Idea" or pattern of the Good, and exercised the principle

of Good towards the intelligible gods, should direct all things
according to intelligence. And in the third place, this visible
disk of the Sun is, in an equal degree, the source of life and
preservation to things visible, the objects of sense; and everything which we have said flows down from the Great Deity
upon the intelligible gods, the same doth this other visible deity
communicate to the objects of sense. Of all this there are clear
proofs, if you choose to investigate things non-apparent by
the means of things that are visible. For example, first take
his light
is it not an incorporeal and divine image of what is

Referring to the emanation from the Good, above described by

Plato and apparently what Julian had designated in the beginning as

the " Fifth Body."
;

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

313

its action? and the very quality that we term

"transparence," what else is it, to speak generally, but the
property that goes with all the elements, and is there approxi-

transparent in

mate form? and which is neither corporeal, nor composite,

and does not destroy the natural properties of the body with
which it goes. For this reason it is wrong to call heat a property of

we

or cold

it,^

any other

attribute to

question

its

opposite; or to hardness, softness, or

by the touch, nor, again, must

distinction perceptible
it

For the

either scent or taste.

the object of the sight alone, which

quality in

brought into
play by the instrumentality of light. But light is a form of
this, as it were of a material substance, diffused through
But of that light which is incorporeal, the most perbodies.
fect part

is

and as

Phoenicians

it

were the

who from

is

flower,^ are the solar rays.

their sagacity

The

and learning possess great

insight into things divine, hold the doctrine that this univer-

a part of the " Soul of the Stars."

This opinion is consistent with sound reason: if we consider
the light that is without body, we shall perceive that of such
light the source cannot be a body, but rather the simple action
of a mind, which spreads itself by means of illumination as
far as its proper seat; to which the middle region of the
heavens is contiguous, from which place it shines forth with

sally diffused radiance is

vigour and fills the heavenly

same time the whole universe with
ance. The effects that redound from
all its

orbs, illuminating at the

its

this

divine and pure radi-

Power

iipon the gods

themselves, have been already slightly touched upon, and

I will

shortly return to the subject. When we see things, this action

name of " Sight," but the effect is of no value unless

has the

For can
brought under

obtains the influence and assistance of the light.

it

anything be the object of

it,

its

sight, unless

it

be

first

raw material to the workman, that it may receive

form? In the same manner, the things that are by their

like the

nature objects of the sight, unless they be brought together

with light before the instruments of seeing, cease altogether
to be objects of sight. Since, therefore, both to the seers, in
1

The

Or, as

light of the Sun.

we

should say, " quintessence.'

JULIAN THE EMPEROR

314

may

and to the objects seen, in order that

god gives the powers, it follows that
he constitutes by his own action both sight and the objects of
" Perfections " consist of Form and Essence this defisight.
nition, however, may be too abstruse. But a fact patent to all,
learned equally with unlearned, philosophers and uneducated,
is the influence which this deity possesses in the world at his
rising and at his setting how he produces day and night, and
how he manifestly transforms and regulates the state of this
creation
an influence assignable to no one of the other planets.
From these considerations ought we not to draw conclusions respecting matters more beyond the reach of man: that

order that they

may

they

be

see,

visible, this

is

to say, respecting the existence of those beings that are di-

and objects of the intellect alone, who exist invisible

"
above the heavens, and derive their fulness from that " Type
of Good, Him whom all the host of the stars follow and whose
nod that whole family (of deities), whom he governs by his
providence, fail not to obey. For the planets round about him
(the Sun), as though he were their king, lead on their dance,
at appointed distances from him pursue their orbits with the
utmost harmony; they make, as it were, pauses; they move
backwards and forwards (terms by which those skilled in astronomy denote these properties of the stars) and then, in
proportion to her distance from the Sun, how doth the Moon
increase or wane!
things patent to all. And such being the
case, is it not reasonable to suppose that a more ancient system, corresponding to this visible arrangement of Nature, exists in the case of the deities who are only conceivable by the
mind? From all this, therefore, we must gather the powerful
and perfecting truth, that the object which enables things to
see that are endowed with the sense of sight, the same object renders these things perfect by means of his oum light,
vine,

whilst the creative and productive power arises from his

changes as he moves around the universe: and that capacity
for embracing all things at once is the effect of what is so apparent in his movements; namely, the harmony of all in one
and the same thing. The C entr e-^o'mi comes from himself^
* Is

furnished by himself.

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

315

as being central

whilst the circumstance of his being placed

;
for king amongst the objects of intellect is the result of his
station amongst the planets. If we perceived these, or other
similar properties, to exist in any other of the visible deities,
we should award him the first place amongst them.

certainly

If, however, he should have nothing in common with them,

except this power of doing good, which he communicates unto
all, then we ought to acquiesce in the reasoning of the Egyp-

who raise altars to the Sun conjointly with Jupiwe should assent to Apollo himself (long bethem), who sits on the same throne with Jove, and whose

tian priests,

ter; nay, rather

fore

words

are,
"

One

Jove, one Pluto, one

Sun

is

Serapis."

From which we must

conclude that the sovereignty of the

Jupiter amongst the deities that are objects of inheld ;n common, or rather is one and the same. For

Sun and of
tellect is

this reason Plato seems to me to be right in calling Pluto a

provident (phronimos) deity. The same god we also name
" Serapis," that is Hdides, " Invisible," clearly because he is

the object of the intellect alone ; up to whom (it is said) that

the souls ascend of such as have led the best and most right-

We

eous lives.
must not suppose him (Pluto) ^ the terrible
being that Fable describes him but a mild and benevolent one,
who completely frees souls from the trammels of Birth; far
;

from nailing them down

^

to

new

Julian seems here to have in his

his Isis

Pluto

bodies,

mind

and punishing and ex-

Plutarch's observation (in

and Osiris) on the true nature of Osiris as

" It disturbs the

and truly holy Osiris dwells

that the sacred

identified with

mind of the vulgar when they get

in the earth

the notion

and under the

have come to

where are hidden the corpses of such as seem to

an end.
But the souls of men here below, enveloped in bodies
and in passions, have no participation in that deity except in as far
as they grasp him by conception, like some indistinct dream, through
the medium of philosophy. But when they are set free and migrate
to the Formless, Invisible, Impassible, and Good, then doth this god
become Leader and King to them they hang, as it were, upon him, and
contemplate without ever being satiated, and long for, that Beauty
earth,

which can neither be spoken nor described."

JULIAN THE EMPEROR

316

from souls already released from the body

upward course,
and carries them aloft to the Intelligible World. This doctrine
is far from being of modem origin; those most ancient poets,
Homer and Hesiod, are already possessed thereof whether
acting retribution

but on the contrary, he directs them in their

they conceived

it

through their

own

sagacity, or whether, like

from some supernatural

fact itself.
For the one
in describing the genealogy of the Sun makes him out to be
the offspring of Hyperion and Thea by which account he almost directly declares that he is the son of the supernal and
all-surpassing Godhead: for what else can we understand by
the title " Hyperion " ?'
And as for " Thea," what does that
imply except the most divine of all things? For we must not
suppose any corporeal conjunction or marriage in the case
all which are merely the sportive fables of Poetry; but must
hold the father and the producer of that Being as something
most divine and super-eminent. Of such a nature is He who
is above all things, around whom, and by reason of whom, all
things do subsist. But Homer calls him by his father's name,
" Hyperion," in order to show that he is independent, and not
subjected to any constraint.^ For Jupiter, as the poet tells,
orders about the other gods according to his will and pleasure,
prophets,
source,

they

derived the truth

must be concluded from the

as being their master

but

when

this deity declares that

he will

from Olympus on account of the impious deed of the

companions of Ulysses, Jupiter swears
retire

" I would drag thee with the sea and earth together."

Yet he does not threaten him with chains or personal violence: and promises to avenge him upon the authors of the
sacrilege, and begs him to continue to give light to the gods.
Now what else did Homer signify by this fable but that this
deity,

besides being totally independent, possesses also the

literally for " he that goes over or above."

Translating huperion in a second sense of " overleaping

Taken

Of

these far-fetched etymologies Julian found examples

enough in the above-quoted

treatise of Plutarch's.

all

bounds."

more than


THE SOVEREIGN SUN

317

power of perfecting r For wherefore do the other gods stand

need of him, unless that he, by infusing into their substance
and essence the illumination of his mystic radiance, he may
communicate to them the power of effecting all the good things
that we have already mentioned?^
in

" Imperial

Juno sent the unwearied Sun

To Ocean

his unwilling course to run,"

has no other significance than that, in consequence of darkness being spread over the earth, men supposed it to be night
before its time. And of the same goddess we read in another
passage of this poet:
"Darkness profound great Juno sent before."

But let us now dismiss these poetical fictions because with

what is divine they have mingled much of human alloy; and
let us now consider what the deity has declared concerning
himself and the other gods.
;

The

region surrounding the Earth has

tue of birth.

From whom

imperishability, if not

then does

it

its

from him who holds

within defined limits, for

it is

existence in vir-

receive
all

its

eternity

and

things together

impossible that the nature of

bodies (material) should be without a limit, inasmuch as they

cannot dispense with a Final Cause, nor exist through themselves. For if things should be created out of what previously
existed, whilst nothing is again refunded into that same source
the material for such creation would in time come to an end.
But this deity, as he revolves with a defined and regular motion, by kindling this nature, stimulates and renews the same,
whilst by his receding to a distance he weakens and destroys
it, or else animates its nature by impressing motion upon it.
and transfusing life out of himself; whilst when he deserts the
same objects, and turns his influence in another direction, he

occasions the destruction of the things that are destroyed

^ The argument only becomes
"gods" here signify " Natural

ences of the planets,

etc.

intelligible

the

by keeping in mind that

Causes," such as the respective influ-

JULIAN THE EMPEROR

318

emanate from the same source are equally

earth. Different regions become partakers
in these benefits in different ways; so that neither their production comes to an end, nor does the Deity confer his blessings upon the recipient world with any degree of variation.
For where the substance is the same, so is the action thereof,
in the case of Divine Powers; especially with him who is king
of them all, namely, the Sun of whom the motion is the most
simple amongst all the bodies that move in a contrary direction to the world, which fact that most excellent philosopher,
Aristotle, adduces to prove the superiority of that luminary to

good

effects that

diffused

upon the

the others.

But, further, the other intelligible Powers exercise a by no

means imperceptible influence upon our earth ^but what of
that, for we do not exclude them when we give the first rank
to the deity in question ? In fact, we endeavour to draw conclusions from things evident concerning things that are abFor which reason, in the same way
struse and not apparent.
as the Sun perfects the influence and virtue which descend
upon the earth from the other powers, and modifies and applies the same to himself, or rather to the universe, so have
we good grounds to infer the existence of a similar arrangement and co-partnership of the same powers in the things that

are not apparent to the sense

Sun holds

namely,

that the influence of

amongst these also, whilst the

rest act in concert with him. But as we have laid it down that
he holds the middle place amongst the intelligible Powers
(which are themselves intermediate), I pray the Sovereign
the

Sun himself

the chief place

to grant

station that he holds

placed
is

By

me

ability to explain the

amongst those

the term " middle "

we

in

are to

nature of the

whose middle he is
understand not what

so defined in the case of things contrary to each other, as

" equi-distant

from the extremes,"

and dark broivn

and cold, and
other things of the sort; but the power that collects and unites
into one things dispersed, like the " Harmony " of Empedocles,
from which he completely excludes all discord and contention.
What, then, are the things that the Sun unites into one, and in
the midst of which he holds his station, as we have defined
in the case of colours;

lukewarm,

as orange

in that of hot

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

319

The answer is, the Sensible Powers that revolve around

as their centre, and the Immaterial and Intelligible Powers that are with the " Good," whose essence also is intelligible
it?-

him
and

and multiplied

divine,

in

a manner of their own, without

either passion or accession.

In this manner, therefore, the intelligible and excellent subSun does not consist of anything
made up out of extremes, but is perfect in itself, and free from
stance of the sovereign

admixture with other Powers, whether visible or invisible,

whether intelligible or sensible. This is my definition of the
sense in which "middle station" ought to be understood; but

all

we

are to investigate particularly this central station of his

its relation to iirst and last, although the subject be
not any easy one to explain, nevertheless let us endeavour to

if

nature, in

treat

it

to the best of our ability.

The one

absolutely, the Intelligible, the ever Pre-existing,

comprehending all the universe together within the One nay,

more, is not the whole world One living thing ^all and everywhere full of life and soul, perfect and made up out of parts
likewise perfect? Now of this double unity the most perfect
part (I mean of the Unity in the Intelligible World that comprehends all things in One, and of the Unity encompassing the
Sensible World, that brings together all things into a single
and perfect nature) is the perfection of the sovereign Sun,
which is central and single, and placed in the middle of the
intermediate Powers. But coming after this, there exists a

certain connection in the Intelligible

World with

the

Power

Does not the essence of the Fifth Body, which is turned, as it were by a lathe,
in a circle, move around the heavens, and is that which holds
together all the parts, and binds them to one another, uniting
what is naturally united ^ amongst them and also those parts
These two essences, which
that mutually affect each other.^
are the causes of mutual attraction and of union (whereof the
that orders and arranges

The

all

things in one.

parts having a natural affinity to each other.

showing this " Fifth Body " to be the

definition

Mercury

to

whom,

says

same with the

Ammian, JuHan paid adoration on

waking, as the " Soul of the World."

his first


JULIAN THE EMPEROR

320

one manifests

itself in the Intelligible, the

other in the Sensi-

Sun thus concentrate into one. Of the

this power of embracing and containing all

ble creation) does the

former he imitates

things in the Intelligible creation, inasmuch as he proceeds

from

which is
world of Sense. Perhaps, therefore, the
self-existent principle, which existed first in the Intelligible
creation, and lastly in the Visible bodies of the heavens, is
that source; whilst he governs the latter, that

perceptible in the

owner of the intermediate,

self-created essence of the sover-

eign Sun, from which primal creative essence there descends

upon the

visible-

world the radiance which illuminates the

universe.

And
deed

is

again, to consider the subject in another light,

the Creator of

powers revolving

all

things, but

in the heavens;

the influence of the

Sun

we

is

World; our world,

One

in-

are the creative

must, therefore, place

as intermediate with respect to each

single operation affecting the earth.

productive of Life

many

Moreover, the principle

vastly superabundant in the Intelligible

of generative life.
power of the sovereign Sun is intermediate between these two, since the phenomena of Nature bear testimony to the fact; for some kinds
of things the Sun brings to perfection, others of them he
It is

also, is evidently full

therefore clear that the life-producing

brings to pass, others he regulates, others he excites, and there

exists nothing that, without the creative influence of the Sun,

And, furthermore, if we conand immaterial essence

where nothing from without approaches, and nothing of a
different nature has part; but which is full of its own undefiled purity and also his nature in the universe, as regards the
Body that revolves in a circle about the planets which are all
free from admixture, must be homogeneous in the extreme
and composed of an undefiled and divine body. We shall from
comes to

light

and

is

born.

sider the Sun's unpolluted, pure,

all

these considerations lay

down

that the essence of the sove-

reign Sun, being pure and unmixed,

two

is

intermediate between the

the immaterial Purity in the Intelligible World, and that

World which is undefiled and without mixture as regards birth and corruption, and of pure
very weighty argument is this namely.
homogeneousness.
part existing in the Visible

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

that neither does the light which descends

upon the world, mix

321

from

thence, chiefly

with anything, nor admit of dininess or pollution, but remains entirely, and in all things that
are, free from defilement, admixture, and suffering.
Besides,
we must pay attention to the other kinds of phenomena, both
to the Intelligible, and yet more to the Sensible
whatever are
connected with matter, or will manifest themselves in relation to our subject. Here, again, the Intelligible is the centre
of the species that lie around the mighty Sun, through whose
means the species connected with Matter are benefited, inasmuch as they would be unable either to exist, or to subsist, unless they be helped by him as regards their existence. Besides,
is not he the author of the separation of Species and of the
combination of Matter? He not merely allows himself to be
mentally conceived, but to be an object of the sight, for the
distribution of his rays over the whole world, and the unity
of his light, demonstrate the creative and separating powers
of his mode of action.
And as there are still numerous visible benefits connected
with the essence of this deity, which surround that which is
intermediate between the Intelligible and the Sensible powers,
itself

let us pass on to his final and visible conclusion. The first degree of his, contains as it were the model and the substance for
a pattern to the Solar Angels who are stationed around the
lowest world. After this comes that which is generative of
things perceptible to Sense: of which the more refined part
contains the source of heaven and the stars, whilst the inferior
part superintends generation, containing from all eternity
within itself the ungenerated essence of generation. To explain, however, everything relating to the nature of this deity,
is

beyond the power of man, even though the god himself

him the ability to understand it in a case where

should grant

even mentally to conceive

And now that we have discussed so much, we
all its extent.
must put as it were a seal upon this subject; and to stay a
while and pass on to other points no less requiring examinaWhat then is this seal; and what comprises everything,
tion.
as it were in a summary of the conception concerning the nature of the god? May He Himself inspire our understanding
it

seems, to

me

at least, impossible

JULIAN THE EMPEROR

322

when we attempt

which he
what
effects he
proceeded; and what he is himself; and with
fills the visible world.
It must therefore be laid down that
One out
the sovereign Sun proceeded from the One God,
briefly to explain the source out of

of the one Intelligible world; he is stationed in the middle of

the Intelligible Powers, according to the strictest sense of
" middle position " bringing the last with the first into a union
both harmonious and loving, and which fastens together the
things that were divided: containing within himself the means
of perfecting, of cementing together, of generative life, and
of the uniform existence, and to the world of Sense, the author
of all kinds of good not merely adorning and cheering it with
the radiance wherewith he himself illumines the same, but also
by making subordinate to himself the existence of the Solar
Angels; and containing within himself the unbegotten Cause
of things begotten; and moreover, prior to this, the unfading,
;

unchanging source of things

eternal.

was

fitting to be said touching the

nature of this deity (although very much has been passed over
in silence) has now been stated at some length. But since the
multitude of his qualities, and the beauty of his effects have
been passed in review, it remains for us to glance at the super-

All,

therefore, that

abundance of the theories that have been started concerning

the nature of this god, because as divine objects,

come

the excess and the fecundity of the

But what,
to

when they

forth into the light, are naturally multiplied,

swim a

beseech you, shall

life that is in

we do when we

owing

to

the same.

strip ourselves

sea without a shore, having hardly, and

much

to

our content, recovered our breath after the discourse already

pronounced? Nevertheless let us trust in the god and take
courage, and make an attempt to handle the subject.
As a general rule, all that has been hitherto advanced respecting the nature of this deity, must be understood to refer
to his properties: for the nature of the god is not one thing,
and his influence another: and truly, besides these two, his
energy a third thing: seeing that all things which he zvills,
these he is, he can, and he works. For neither doth he will that
which he is not; nor is he without strength to do that which
he wills; nor doth he will that which he cannot effect. Now

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

323

very different in the case of men, for theirs is a double

nature mixed up in one, that of soul and body; the former
divine, the latter full of darkness and obscurity hence naturally arise warfare and discord between the two.
For this
reason Aristotle remarks that neither our pleasures, nor our

this is

pains harmonize with each other within us for the one part
of our nature being in opposition to the other parts, pain is the
:

result.

But with the

their essence
edly, not
first

is

nothing of the kind, for

good, and that too uninterrupt-

deities there is

that which

is

sometimes one thing, sometimes another.

scribe his being,

it

we

In the

when attempting to
must be borne in mind that we lay

place, therefore, as

stated

dethis

down

as regards his qualities and his effects, since in matters

of this kind the discussion has a natural tendency to contradict itself.
Everything, therefore, that we are going to consider under the title of qualities and energies, all these must
be regarded as existence, and as effects. For there are Powers
of kindred nature with the Sun, crowning the unpolluted being
of that god, multiplying themselves around him in the world,

though existing in uniformity.

Listen, therefore, to what
those say who do not look up to heaven, like so many horses
or oxen, or any other irrational or untaught animal, but who
investigate the unseen through the medium of the visible Nature.

Besides, if agreeable to you,

mundane powers and

energies,

let

us consider his supra-

and as they are

infinite in

num-

few of them for subjects of discussion. The first

of his powers is that by which bringing together into one and
the same thing the whole intelligible existence through its
whole extent, that is to say, the extremities thereof, he converts it into One a thing which is clearly discernible in the
case of the visible world, how that fire and earth being wrapped together, air and water, which are in the middle, form
the bond between the extremes this fact we may reasonably
ber, take a

take as a guide in the case of the nature of bodies that is beyond the reach of Sense. That which possesses the final cause

of generations is not itself generation so must we consider it

as the law that, in the former case, the extreme causes, entirely separated from bodies,^ by means of certain intermediate
;

Purely immaterial.

JULIAN THE EMPEROR

324

Sun brought together, and made

with him, too, concurs the creative power of
On this account, as we have already stated, in CyJupiter.
prus certain temples are founded and dedicated to them both
conjointly.
Nay, we call Apollo himself to bear witness to
this statement (who certainly ought to know more about his
own nature than anyone else), for he is co-existent with the
Sun, and communicates to him both the unmixed character of
things Intelligible, and the stability of his being, and the unchangeableness of his energy.
Nay, more, this deity, as is
agencies are by the sovereign

one around him

evident,

by no means separates from the Sun the discriminat-

ing operation of Dionysos; for he ever makes

to the latter; and, by declaring

it

subordinate

him (the Sun) "partner of

his

throne," he becomes to us the interpreter of the most beautiful

thoughts by means of that deity.

But how many are the

final

causes of union, the most beautiful, which this deity contains

The Sun, that is, Apollo, is "Leader of the

Muses;" and inasmuch as he completes our life with good

within himself?

order, he produces in the world 2Esculapius; for even before

the world was, he had the latter by his side.

But were one to discuss the numerous other qualities belonging to this god, he would never arrive to the end of them.
But we must content ourselves with considering his property
of separation (which also is prior to all bodies and is also
prior to all visible energy) whence we must conclude that the
sovereign power is one and the same of the Sun and Jupiter;
but that the singleness of thoughts, coupled with divinity and
unchangeableness, we must adjudge to Apollo: whilst the separative power of creation together with the power that directs
this separation, belongs to Dionysos, whilst the quality of the
finest harmony and intelligible unification we have already
defined as belonging to the power of the "Leader of the
Muses;" whilst that which makes complete the harmony of
;

all life,

we

suppose the prerogative of ^Esculapius.^

The Sun and Apollo are one deity in two, but certain powers belong
him when entitled " Dionysos," others when " Musagetes," others
again when " ^sculapius." This deity or Natural Power, has the

to

same influence

in the universe as the planet Jupiter.

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

325

Thus much then for his powers that are prior to the creation of the world, but his operation, which is of the same
order with them, over the visible world, consists in the fully
carrying out of what is good. For since he is the legitimate
offspring of the Good, having received from Him the good
portion entire, he distributes it amongst all the Intelligible
deities, imparting to them their good-working and perfect
nature.

This, then,

is

operation of this god

one of his operations. And the second

the most exact distribution of Intelli-

is

Beauty amongst the intelligible incorporeal species. For

the generative principle which is visible in Nature (that which
aims at generating in the Beautiful, and at bringing forth its

gible

must necessarily be directed and preceded by that Being

the same function in the Intelligible Beauty,
with full power and without intermission, that is, not to do so
at one time, and at another to do the contrary or now to be
generating, and then without generation: inasmuch as all

birth),

who performs

things that here below are occasionally beautiful, are so per-

manently

in the Intelligible world.

We

must, therefore, hold

that the generative final cause belonging to the

Sun

in the

visible creation is preceded

by the uncreated offspring existing

in the intelligible and eternal Beauty, which offspring this
deity contains, having also stationed it round about himself:
to which likewise he imparts his perfect Intelligence, in the
same manner as he imparts sight to the eyes by means of his
own light so, in the same way, by means of that Intelligible
pattern which he holds out (one far more conspicuous, in
:

truth, than his celestial radiance) doth he, as I think, furnish

all

the Intelligible

to be understood.

Powers with the capacity to understand and

Another operation, equally worthy of our

admiration, besides those just described,

is

discoverable with

respect to that sovereign of the universe, the

that

more benignant Fate which grants

Sun

namely,

birth to angels, to

and to those souls out of the common run, all

which abide by the guidance of their Pattern and Type, with-

genii, to heroes,

out giving themselves over to the tendency of their bodies.

Now^, therefore, the pre-mundane existence, the properties,
the operations, in celebrating the sovereign Sun, as far as our
ability extended to extol his divinity, all these we have re-

XIV 22

JULIAN THE EMPEROR

326

hearsed with the utmost care. But sirxe, as the saying goes,
more to be trusted than the ears (although they
be less to be relied on, and more feeble than the intellect), let
us now make an attempt to speak concerning his visible operation, after first soliciting from him a moderate degree of sucthe eyes are

cess in such attempt.

The visible world has, as I have said, subsisted around

him from all eternity and the Light also which surrounds the
:

world has also its place from all eternity,^ not intermittently,
nor in different degrees at different times, but constantly and
in an equable manner. But whosoever will attempt to estimate
as far as thought goes, this external Nature, by the measure
of Time, he will very easily discover respecting the Sun, Sovereign of all things, of how many blessings he is, from all
eternity, the author to the world.
I am aware that the great
Plato himself, and after him, a man posterior to him in date,
though not in mind, I mean lamblichus of Chalcis (who initiated us into other branches of philosophy, and also into this
by means of his discourses), did both of them as far as hypothesis goes, take for granted the fact of a Creation and assumed the universe to have been, in a certain sense, the Work
of Time, in order that the most important of the effects produced by this Power, may be reduced into a shape for examination.
But for myself, so far inferior in force to those philosophers, such a liberty must not be taken in any way since
it is certainly unsafe to assume, even as far as bare hypothesis,
any temporal creation in the case of the world as also the ilNevertheless, as
lustrious hero lamblichus was of opinion,^
this deity himself proceeds from an Eternal Cause, or, rather,
has produced all things from all eternity, by his divine volition,
and with ineffable velocity, and with power not to be surpassed, having begotten all things simultaneously in Time that
;

Julian insists upon this proposition as being diametrically opposed to

the cosmogonies of the Epicureans and the Christians.

2

lamblichus, though for the convenience of discussion he assumed a

temporal creation, nevertheless thought such assumption a very dangerous one, and not to be attempted by any not passed-masters in
philosophy

evidently fearing the advantage such an admission would

afford to the Christian side.

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

now

is,

as

were, for his

327

he hath allotted to himself the middle space of heaven,

more peculiar station, in order that he may
equally from all sides distribute his benefits upon the gods that
come forth below him and together with him that he may direct the Seven,^ and also the eighth revolution of the heavens.
This ninth operation I assume to be the Generation eternally
revolving in an uninterrupted course of production and deAs for the planets as they dance around him, it is
struction.
evident that they have for the law of their movement in relation to this god, some such harmony as that just described
it

to regulate their figures; and the entire heaven,

parts everywhere harmonize with him,

making

its

with spirits
emanating out of the Sun. For this God is ruler of Hve orbits
in the heavens, and whilst traversing three out of these orbits,
he produces in three the Graces, themselves three in number,
the remaining circles form the Scales to the Balance of su-

preme Necessity.

is

filled

am, perhaps, speaking

unintelligibly to

the Greeks^ (just as if it were right only to speak of things

commonplace and familiar to them), yet this point is not, as

one might suppose, altogether strange to them. For what, I

pray you tell me, are your Dioscuri, ye very wise people that
take most things upon credit, without any examination ? Are
they not called "alternate day-keepers" because it is not lawful for both of them to be visible on the same day ? It is clear
that you hear of this both yesterday and to-day.^ In the next
place, in the name of these same Dioscuri, let us mentally assume this very circumstance as applicable to a nature and an
operation of a very different kind, in order that what we are
speaking about may not be unintelligible yet, however much
we investigate it, we shall not arrive at any exact result. For
:

not true, what some suppose to be stated by theologians,

two hemispheres of the universe possess a kind of Rea"* it
son (logos) for in what way each of them is "alternate
it is

that the

The seven

spheres,

moving one within the

of his " Republick."

other, as fully described

by Plato, at the end

2 These astrological doctrines being of Chaldean growth.
3 " This is no news to you."
* Because they do not change places with each other day by day, but
by an imperceptible movement.


JULIAN THE EMPEROR

328

not easy even to conceive, inasmuch as each day the increase

in their visible appearance takes place by insensible degrees.
is

Let us now examine the points in which we shall probably

be thought by some people to be introducing a novelty.
Those beings may properly be designated as "alternate daykeepers " ^ whichsoever possess an equal portion of time out
of the Sun's passage over the earth, in one and the same
month. Let anyone now see whether this " alternate daykeeping " does not apply to the other cycles, as well as to the
tropical.
Someone will reply that the case is not the same,
because the former are always visible and for those inhabiting
opposite sides of the globe, the one tropical cycle is visible to
the one half, the second to the other; whereas in the case of
the latter (cycles) those who behold the one, do not behold
the other by any manner of means. But not to waste time by
dwelling too long upon the same subject; the Sun, by performing his returns (solstices) in the manner known to all,
becomes the parent of the Seasons: but did he never desert the
poles at all, he would be the "Oceanos," that Ruler of the
double substance.
Perhaps what we are saying is somewhat
unintelligible? Homer has said the same thing before us:
;

" Ocean, to

all

things

made

the source of life."

What, both of mortal, and (as he would say) " of

the blessed

gods " ? Yea, verily, for of all things nothing exists that is
not by its substance the offspring of ocean,- But why will you
have me tell this to the vulgar? Although better to have
been shrouded in silence, it nevertheless has been spoken at
;

all

events

declare

it,

although

all

men

will not readily receive

the same.

and
he

The solar disk moves over the space which has no stars,
is much more elevated than the fixed region
in this way

will not

occupy the centre of the planets, but rather of the

the ancient

Heteremeroi

In other words the philosophical

all

things.

title

of the Dioscuri.

dogma

that

Water

is

the source of

Julian seems to allude to the Egyptian notion (often cited

by Plutarch) that the Sun was born of water.

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

329

" Three Motions," as they are called in the hypotheses taught

if, indeed, such things are rightly to be
termed "hypotheses," or rather ought they not to be called
in the Mysteries,

"articles of faith" (dogmata), but what relates to the spheres

" hypotheses " ? For those so assert who have heard the same

from the gods, or

the others

else

from some mighty daemons; whereas

make up a theory that is

[natural philosophers]

from

agreement with visible phenomena. The

but fair to praise; but whoso thinks it better to believe in the former [the teaching of the Mysteries]
him do I both in jest and in earnest admire, and always have
admired.
Such therefore are their statements upon these
points.
Besides those I have mentioned, there exist a vast
number of Powers in the confines of the heavens; they have
been discovered by those persons who do not contemplate the
heavens carelessly and after the manner of brute beasts; for
the Sun cutting the three circles in four places, by reason of
the communication with each of them of the zodiacal circle,
again distributes this zodiac amongst the powers of twelve
deities, and this again is subdivided into three, so as to make
six-and-thirty.
Hence, I think, there extends as far as ourselves downwards from heaven above, a triple descent of the

plausible

its

latter, indeed, it is

which this god interand so sends down the fourfold splendour of the Seasons, which in truth occupy the turn-

Graces

that

is

to say,

from the

circles

sects in his course in four places,

Graces in their representations* upon earth imitate the figure of a circle,^ whilst the
" Giver of the Graces " (charidotes) is Dionysos, who has been
ing-points of the times.

In

fact, the

shown to reign conjointly with the Sun in the same place.

Wherefore should I mention to you Horus, and the other
names of gods, all of them belonging in reality to the Sun?
For we men have gained our notion of the god from the works
Graces, clasping each other round the neck, stand in the form
Julian, after the fashion of theologians, taking words in
the sense they will bear, not in that for which they are meant, makes
Bacchus' old title, "joy-giver," as god of wine, take the transcendental meaning of " Giver of the Graces," supposing the god the

The

of a circle.

Solar Power.


JULIAN THE EMPEROR

330

which the same god actually works

he

that hath

made

the

universal heaven perfect through his Intelligible blessings, and

given to the same a share of his Intelligible beauty. And beginning from that point, himself wholly and partially by the
giving of good men,^
for they superintend every
motion as far as the extremest limits of the universe. And
Nature and Soul, and all that at any time exists, all these, and
in all places, does he bring to perfection; and after having
marshalled so vast a host of deities into one governing unity,
he has given to them Athene, or Providence ; who, mythology
says, sprung forth out of the head of Jupiter; but whom we
assert to have been projected entire out of the entire Sovereign
Sun, for she was contained within him, in this particular dissenting from the legend, in that we do not hold her to have
sprung out of the topmost part, but all entire, and out of the
For in other respects, inasmuch as we consider
entire god.
Jupiter to be one and the same with the Sun, we are agreed
with the antique tradition. And in calling Athene " Providence," we are making no innovation, if indeed we rightly
understand the line
.

"

He came

to

Pytho and the blue-eyed Prescience."

In this way, then, was Athene, or Providence, regarded by

the ancients also, as partner of the throne with Apollo, the
latter considered as no other than the Sun.
Perhaps Homer
uttered this by divine command, for he was, as is commonly
said, " possessed by a god," and he has actually spoken like a

prophet in

many

places in his

poem

" Honours, that Phoebus and

From

Athene gain."

is to say, who is the same with the Sun,

same way as the sovereign Apollo is a partner with the
Sun by means of the singleness of their conceptions. So, in-

Jupiter, that

in the

lacuna here in the MS., but what follows shows

it

to

have referred
amongst

to the Sun's giving birth to angels, heroes, etc, as set forth

his other " Operations."

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

331

we believe that Athene, having received her ov^rn

being from him (and who is also his perfect Intelligence),
deed, must

binds together the other deities, with the Sun into unity, without confusion of person with the Sun, sovereign of the universe; and that she regulates and distributes the streams of
unpolluted and pure Life from the topmost vault ^ of heaven,
through the seven cycles, as far as the region of the Moon,

which

as being the

last,

goddess

cycles, this

most remote of the bodies moving in

filled by the agency of her thought

has

Moon not merely contemplates the

be above the heavens, but regulates the
below her, and eliminates therefrom whatever

empowered by which

the

Intelligible things that

Matter that

is

and disorderly. Unto men Athene gives

good things namely, wisdom, understanding, and the creative
arts and she dwells in their citadels, I suppose, as being the
founder of civil government through the communication of
her own wisdom.
Now for a few words about Aphrodite, whom the Phoenician theologians agree in making co-operate in the work of
creation with the last-mentioned goddess
and I believe they
is

brutish, turbulent,

are right.

She, then,

is

the mingling together of the celestial

and of the harmony of the same, for the purposes of

For she being near to the Sun, and running her course together with him, and approaching close to
him, she fills the heavens with a good temperament, she imdeities,

love and unification.

parts to the earth the generative power, whilst she herself

provides for the perpetuity of generation of animals, of which

generation the Sovereign Sun contains the final efficient cause.
She, however, is joint cause with him, enthralling our souls
by the aid of pleasure, whilst she sheds down from the aether

upon the earth her rays so

than gold

delightful

and pure, more lustrous

itself.

^The Egyptian Neith

is

regularly depicted as forming, by her

own

body, bent from one end of the horizon to the other, the actual vault
of heaven. In the primitive Nature-worship she represented the visible heavens.

The Alexandrian

Platonists extracted from the type

the refined doctrine set forth in the text.

2 Perhaps referring to Aristotle's statement that Athene was properly
the lunar deity, whence her attribute, the Owl.

JULIAN THE EMPEROR

332

And yet, again, I wish to mete out a little more of the

theology of the Phoenicians whether to good purpose my
argument will discover as it goes on. Those who inhabit
Edessa, a place consecrated to the Sun, from time immemorial,
place on the same throne with him two gods called "Moni-

" Azizos,"
By these names are understood (as
lamblichus says, from whom I have borrowed these few things
out of his abundance) by "Monimos" Mercury, by "Azizos"
Mars, the assessor of the Sun, who also diffuses, as a channel,
many blessings upon the region encompassing the earth.
The operations therefore of this deity as regards the
heavens are of the number above stated, and are effected by
the aforesaid agencies, reaching as far as the extremest boundaries of the earth. But all that he operates in the region above
the Moon it would be too tedious to recount in full. Nevertheless, these also must be told in a summary way I am aware
that I have already alluded to them when I recommended you
to view things unseen through the medium of natural phenomena, in the question of the nature of the gods.
My subject
now demands that in this sequence I should express my opin-

mos" and

ions

upon these

points.

In the same manner therefore as we have laid it down that

the Sun holds the supremacy in the Intelligible world, having
round about his own being, in one species, a vast multitude of

gods (supposing him to have the same in the Sensible world),

all of which move along their everlasting and most felicitous
course in a circle, so do we prove him to be Leader and Lord,
imparting to and filling the whole heaven, as he does, with his
own splendour, likewise with infinite other blessings that be
invisible to us; whilst the benefits commenced by the other
deities are brought to perfection by him; nay, more, before
this, these gods themselves were rendered perfect through
his spontaneous and divine operation.
And similarly it is to
be believed that certain deities, held together by the Sovereign
Sun, are stationed about the region belonging to Birth,^ who
'

Meaning, perhaps, the Milky Way, which Macrobius describes as

the road taken by souls In their

body.

downward course

for union with the

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

333

govern the fourfold nature of the elements, and dwell, in company with the three superior species, round about the souls
around which these same elements are fixed. And to the
disembodied souls themselves of how many blessings is not
He the source by his holding forth to them the means of examining themselves, by his correcting them with his justice,
and purifying them with his brilliancy. Is it not He that stirs
up and fans the flame of all Nature, by imparting unto her
the faculty of generation?
Nay more, to the disembodied
natures also He is truly the cause of their progress towards
perfection, for Man is generalled by Man and the Sun, as
Aristotle hath it. The same opinion it behoves us to hold respecting the Sovereign Sun^ in the case of all other things,
whatever be the operations. And what! doth not this deity
produce the rain, the winds, and all that takes place in the upper regions, by making use of the double effect of evaporation,
as it were for his raw material ? For by his heating the earth
he draws up the vapour and fumes out of which are generated
not only atmospheric changes, but all the effects, both small
and great, that go on under the earth.
But why do I dwell upon the same things when it is in
my power to advance towards the end, after having sung all
the benefits that the Sun hath bestowed upon mankind ? For
we spring out of him, and are nourished from him. Furthermore, his more transcendental operations all the service he
renders unto souls, by releasing them from the body, and carrying them up to the Beings that are cognate to the Divinity,
whilst he lends them for vehicle of their safe return to their
all
birthplace, the subtile and elastic part of the divine light
this may be celebrated by others as it deserves: but by us it
must rather be believed in than demonstrated. Such things,
however, as by their nature are patent to all people, these we
must not be too lazy to set forth. Heaven, says Plato, was
!

our first teacher of Philosophy; for from thence we got the

notion of the nature of Numbers. The same Plato adds Day
and Night, in the first place to the list of teachers and secondly we gain the same notions from the light of the Moon,
;

the which is lent to this deity from the Sun. After this we
advance still further in this power of comprehension, every-

JULIAN THE EMPEROR

334

where having for our aim an exact agreement with the teaching of this deity. Ab the same philosopher somewhere observes "that our race being full of trouble, the gods out of

compassion have given to us Bacchus and the Muses for allies." ^

Now it has been proved by us already that the Sun is
the common leader of these deities, since he is sung of as the
sire of Bacchus and likewise is the " Leader of the Muses."
Ajnd the Apollo who is joint-ruler with him, hath he not given
forth his Oracles in all parts of the earth? He has given to
men inspired wisdom he has adorned states with religious and
;

political institutions.

This god has

civilized,

by the agency of the Greek

onies, the greatest part of the habitable globe

col-

he has prepared

readily to submit to the Romans

a race possessorigin,
also
merely
a
Grecian
Greek,
and who have
ing not
but
and
maintained
a
creed
regards
the
gods that is
established
as
from
beginning
to
thoroughly Greek
end and who, besides all
this, have founded a form of government in no way inferior
even if of all the governto that of the best regulated states
ments that have ever been tried, it be not the very best from
all which circumstances, I think I have myself recognized the
Roman state as being Greek both in its origin and in its government. Furthermore, I make known unto thee how He hath
provided for the bodily health of us all, by having produced
j^scnlapius, the Preserver of the universe and how he hath
communicated to us virtue of every kind, by sending down
Aphrodite in company with Athene for our guardian having
made it all but a law that no one should use copulation except
for the end of generating his like. For this reason truly, according to his revolutions and seasons^ do the various vegetable and animal races feel themselves stirred towards the
generation of their kind. What need is there to magnify the
night without moon,
glory of his rays, and of his light?
and without stars, how terrible is it! Let anyone reflect on
this, in order that he may estimate how great a blessing is
it

the

more

^ Julian, like the philosophers of his day, here " sees in Plato more
than Plato saw," for the ancient sage is unmistakably thinking of
.wine and song in their most materialistic sense.

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

the light

we

335

derive from the Sun!

Although he affords the

and not shared with Night, in the
suitable regions reckoning upwards from the Moon, yet doth
he grant men a respite from their toil through the interv^ention
But there would be no end to the discourse
of the night.
were one to attempt to enumerate everything of this sort, inasmuch as there is no blessing in life that we have not received from this deity either complete, and directly from
him, or else indirectly coming from him, but perfected by the
means of the other Powers. Our patron is he for the Capitol in our metropolis is occupied not merely by Jupiter, conjointly with Venus and Minerva
that Jupiter, who is hymned
as the "Universal Sire"
but by Apollo likewise upon the

same

light continuously,

himselfa name

Palatine Hill, Apollo

thus

common

to

all,

and belonging by right to them. But how we universally and

everywhere belong to him, as the sons of Romulus and of
^neas, though I have much to say, I will but mention a few,
and the best-known facts. ^Eneas sprung from Venus, who
The actual founder of
is the agent of and akin to, the Sun.
our city, tradition has delivered down to be the son of Mars,
confirming the improbable tale by the miracle that followed
his birth; for a she-wolf gave suck to the child, according to
report. That Mars, called " Azizos " by the natives of Edessa
in Syria, is the harbinger of the Sun, though I am aware of the
fact and have already named, I shall for the present pass it by.
For what reason is the wolf the attribute of Mars, rather than
of the Sun? And yet they say that his annual revolution is
called " Lycobas," Wolfs-walk, after this god and not only
Homer so denominates it, but also other well-known poets;
as, moreover, the god himself, for he says at the end of a re;

sponse

"The

twelvemonth's ancient Lycobas, in dance."

Do you wish me then to adduce to you a stronger proof that

the founder of our city was not merely sent down from (the
planet) Mars, but that perhaps to the creation of his body
aid

the one
lent by some martial and generous daemon
according to the legend, visited Sylvia as she was carry-

was

that,

336
ing the lustral

JULIAN THE EMPEROR

water to her goddess. And to make

observation, the soul of the god Quirinus

For

a general

came down from the

same manner as the exact conjunction of

Sun and
Moon, brought him down upon earth, so did it carry up again
to heaven that soul which it carried back again from earth
when it eliminated the mortal part of his body by the fire of
Sun.

in the

those bodies which assign sovereignty, namely, the

lightning.

And

thus manifestly, the goddess

ator of terrestrial phenomena, and

who

who

is in

is

the cre-

a special sense

subordinate to the Sun, took back again that Quirinus who

sent down upon earth through the agency of Minerva

was

Providence for she carried him back, as he flew upwards from

Do you wish
me to adduce respecting the same matter the institution of
King Numa? The fire derived from the Sun is preserved
unextinguished by virgins, agreeing with the different Seasons
;

earth, unto the Sun, sovereign of the Universe.

number; which latter in truth guard the fire that was produced by the Moon, around the earth, by the influence of the
Sun. I have yet a stronger proof to mention of this deity's
existence; the actual working of the most divine sovereign.
The months, by all mankind so to speak, are reckoned from
the Moon; we alone, and the Egyptians, count the days of the
year according to the motions of the Sun. If after this I were
to mention that we worship Mithras, and celebrate quadrennial games, I should be speaking of more recent institutions;
it is better therefore to confine myself to those of more anThe beginning of the
cient date in what I am going to add.
annual cycle different nations calculate in different ways some
taking for it the vernal equinox; others the middle point of
Summer; others again the end of Autumn. In all this they
celebrate the most conspicuous blessings of the deity: in the
first, the opening of the favourable season for work, when
the earth blossoms and rejoices, with all the crops just springing up. The seas do then become fit for navigation and the
never-smiling and sulky face of Winter is transformed into a
more cheerful aspect. The second sort have done this honour to Midsummer Day, as having it then in their power to
rejoice securely over the success of their crops
the seedcrops being by this time got in, and the fruit-crops already
in

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

and the produce

337

hanging on the trees now drawing

to maturity. The third, yet more acute than they have established for the end of the year the most complete maturity and
decay of all productions for this cause do they hold their annual festivals when the Autumn is now drawing to an end.
But our ancestors, from the time of that most religious King
Numa, paying special honour to the god in question, cast aside
the common practice, and as they were of superior understanding, they recognized this deity, and settled to hold the
New Year's festival in the present season, at what time the
Sun returns to us, leaving the extreme distance of the meridian, and bending his course around Capricorn as his goal,
moves from the South towards the North being about to give
us our share of his annual blessings. And that they have thus
fixed the time of the New Year's festival out of an accurate
understanding of the case, may be easily discerned from the
following circumstance they did not fix the festival upon
the actual day when the Sun makes the turn, but on the day
when it is apparent to all that he is making his progress from
the South towards the North. For not yet known to them was
the subtlety of those rules which the Chaldaeans and Egyptians
invented, but which Hipparchus and Ptolemy brought to perfection; but they trusted to their senses, and followed the
guidance of natural phenomena. And in this way, as I have
said, the matter was discovered to be of such a nature by those
who came after them. Immediately after the last month,
which is Saturn's, and previous' to the festival in question, we
celebrate the most solemn of our Games, dedicating it to the
honour of the " Invincible Sun," during which it is not lawful for anything cruel (although necessary), which the previous month presented in its Shows, should be prepetrated on
ripe,

still

this occasion.

The

Saturnalia,^ being the concluding festival,

are closely followed in cyclic order by the Festival of the Sun

the which I hope that the Powers above will grant me fre-

quently to chaunt, and to celebrate

*

The Saturnalia

and above

all

lasted the three days following the

others

may

i6th or i8th

December, the festival of the " Sol Invictus " was held on the 25th of
the same month.

338
the Sovereign

from

all

JULIAN THE EMPEROR

Sun, lord of the universe
He who
!

proceeding

eternity in the generative being of the Good, stationed

and
them all with concord, infinite beauty, generative
superabundance, and perfect intelligence, and with all blessings collectively without limit of time; and in time present
illuminating his station which moves as the centre of all the
heavens, his own possession from all eternity! Whilst he
imparts his own beauty to every phenomenon of Nature, and
as the central one amidst the central intelligible deities,

replenishing

fills

many

the universal heaven with as

intelligibly within himself; whilst

deities as

he contains

they multiply round about

him without

separation, and dwell together with him in unity

of species! And nevertheless the region below the Moon he
embraces by the agency of his perpetual generation, and the
benefits flowing out of the Cyclic Body; providing for the
entire family of Man, and, especially, for our commonwealth;
in the same way as he hath from all eternity created our ozvn
soul, having appointed it for minister unto himself}
May
He therefore grant unto me that which I have just now
prayed for; and moreover to the whole of my empire may He
with his good will supply and guard all possible continuance!
And to ourselves may He grant success both in religious and
secular affairs, so long as He may concede us life!
And
grant us to live, and to govern in life, as long as it is well-

pleasing to himself, best for us, and expedient to the public

interests of the

Romans.^

Thus much, my dear

Sallust,'

upon the threefold operation

of the deity have I ventured to write for you, in about three

nights' space, having gone over the subject in my memory as
far as

*A

it

was

possible: since

what

had previously written

remarkable enunciation of the soul's eternal pre-existence, and

derivation from the Sun.

*A

prayer most remarkably

fulfilled! for

what a troublous, perhaps

disgraceful reign, awaited the enthusiast, had he returned alive from

his unsuccessful expedition.
*

Sallustius or Salustius, to

whom

Praefectus Praetorio under the

adviser.

this essay is addressed,

emperor,

was the

and his close friend and

Although a pagan, he advised Julian against persecuting

the Christians.

THE SOVEREIGN SUN

339

to you " upon the Saturnalia " ^ did not prove entirely
labour thrown away. But on the same subject you will obtain more complete and more abstruse information by consulting the works upon it composed by the divine lamblichus you
:

extreme limit of human wisdom attained.

May the mighty Sun grant me to attain to no less knowledge
of himself, and to teach it publicly to all, and privately to
such as are worthy to receive it and as long as the god grants

wall find there the

us consult in common his well-beloved

lamblichus; out of whose abundance a few things, that have
come into my mind, I have here set down. That no other
person will treat of this subject more perfectly than he has
done, I am well aware; not even though he should expend
much additional labour in making new discoveries in the research for in all probability he will go astray from the most
It were perhaps
correct conception of the nature of the god.

this

to

us,

let

idle attempt (if I were writing this discourse for the sake
of giving instruction) for me to treat of it at all after what
that philosopher has done; but inasmuch as it is my wish
only to compose a hymn of thanksgiving in honour of the
god, I have deemed it quite sufficient to discourse to the best
of my ability concerning his nature. I do not think I have
wasted words to no purpose: the maxim, "Sacrifice to the
immortal gods according to thy means," I accept as applying
not merely to burnt-oiferings, but also to our praises adI pray for the third time, in return
dressed unto the gods.
for this my good intention, the Sun lord of the universe to
be propitious to me, and to bestow on me a virtuous life, a
more perfect understanding, and a superhuman intellect, and
a very easy release from the trammels of life at the time ap-

an

pointed: and after that release, an ascension up to himself,

and an abiding place with him, if possible, for all time to
come; or if that be too great a recompense for my past life,

many and
1

long-continued

The book has

perished

it

revolutions around his presence

doubtless

was of the same mystic charac-

and the following " Hymn."

2 Before the same soul is again re-united with Matter, and imprisoned
in the body exemption from such thraldom being a reward doled out
in measure proportioned to merit during its last probation on earth.

ter as this

THE

RULES OF ULPIAN
[A

DIGEST OF

ROMAN LAW]

TRANSLATED BY
J.

T.

ABDY, LL.D.

JUDGE OF COUNTY COURTS

LATE REGIUS PROFESSOR OF LAWS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

BRYAN WALKER,
LAW LECTURER OF

ST.

M.A., LL.D.

JOHN 's COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE SAME ON

THE GOLDEN AGE OF JURISPRUDENCE

AND AN APPENDIX UPON

EARLY ROMAN INSTITUTIONS AND THE

TWELVE TABLES
BY W.
XIV 23

A.

HUNTER, M. A.,

LL.D.

INTRODUCTION
THE GOLDEN AGE OF JURISPRUDENCE
The golden age of Jurisprudence is a well-known and almost proverbial expression for the 200 years that intervened
between the accession of Augustus and the death of Alexander
This period presents so

Severus.

to the student of

upon

might-

it

fill

many

features of interest

Roman

Legislation that an exhaustive essay

a volume, involving as it would the Social,

and Literary history of Rome. Among the various

which must present themselves to a writer of the His-

Political

topics

Roman Law

during the period we have mentioned, the

and character of the lawyers would necessarily be a
prominent one.
In the oldest days of Rome, when the interpretation of the
law and the application of its mysteries to daily life were contory of

influence

fined to the patricians,

was

when

the cultivation of Jurisprudence

and retained by the nobility, and when caste privileges dominated every portion of Roman society, the practical and professional element of the lawyer's life was unknown, and the knowledge of those customary observances
that stood for law and of the acts and fictions that surrounded
them was rather one of the chief instruments for attaining
seized

power.
Various causes tended to disturb this state of things; the
publication of a code, the betrayal (a well-known story) of
the forms and ceremonies by which the application of the law
was masked, the extension of Roman power, the increase of a
political

foreign element,
old dominant

all

class.

these things affected the position of the

In process of time the ancient privileges

of the patrician order in the state were diminished, their claim

to undisturbed power interfered with, and their charmed circle
invaded: but still the social position of the learned jurisconsult was maintained, and even down to the days of Cicero
343

INTRODUCTION

344

the attainment of legal honours and forensic reputation

regarded as one of the safest and surest roads to

distinction

The

was

political

and rank.

accession of Augustus to Imperial honours led to an

rivalry
important change in the status of the Roman Bar.
so dangerous as that of a body of men formidable from their
numbers, from their influence with the people, from their
learning and from their thorough acquaintance with all the
forms and practices of the state-craft coeval with the constitution itself, a body moreover allied with almost every
family of distinction, was not to be endured by one who
meant to consolidate his authority and to reign without a
rival.

No man knew better than Augustus that force and fear

were wrong weapons with which to counteract this opposing
element, no man knew better than himself the sacred character
of Law and Jurisprudence in the eye of every citizen of
Rome, his reverence for the institutions of the city, and the
respect with which the professors and expounders of the laws
were regarded by him " To strike down the Jurisconsults was
to strike at the city itself," ^ and therefore measures of a
plan was devised and, as the
milder nature were requisite.
This plan was to change
result shews, crowned with success.
the character of the profession by diverting its members from
That was done by granting
their ancient line of ambition.
to a select body out of the whole number of Jurisconsults the
hitherto unheard-of privilege of giving official opinions, which
though nominally published by the emperor were in effect the
authoritative decisions of certain eminent and leading lawyers.
The result of this was that a new object of ambition was held
up to the eyes of the Jurists and Legists of Rome a new incentive and one of the most stirring kind was given them to
;

achieve distinction in the ranks of their profession, but the

inducement was no longer

to political advancement
end, but an end in itself:
of every leading advocate
:

to cultivate law as a stepping-stone

law was no longer the means an

henceforth the aim and object
to

^and

was

to merit the approval of the

Giraud, Histoire du droit Romain.

GOLDEN AGE OF JURISPRUDENCE

345

emperor alone, who was to him that fountain of honour and

reward which in old times the people had been. It is unnecessary to pursue the history of this movement further. The
wise and politic designs of Augustus were recognized and improved upon by succeeding rulers, especially by Tiberius,
Vespasian, Titus and Trajan. Under Adrian the dignity of
the Jurisconsult

was

still

further advanced through that well-

known

provision by which certain Responsa were invested

with the force of law. Great as the effect of these measures

was from a

political point

of view, from a literary point of

view still greater results followed. It is impossible in these

few lines to describe adequately the marvellous energy displayed in the cause of learning by the Roman Lawyers of the
golden aera. Law was their proper pursuit, but in every
branch of literature they shone Philosophy, Philology,
Mathematical and Physical
History,
Oratory,
Poetry,
Sciences, to all they devoted themselves and in all they were

eminent.

Their varied reading was reflected in their legal writings,

profound learning gave them vantage ground in their

their

professional labours.

greater pleasure

we

"The more we study

derive from the perusal.

their

works the

The wonderful

propriety of diction, the lucid structure of the sentences, the

method of the argument, give to the performances of

exquisite

these writers a

charm

peculiarly their

own."

Nor must

it

be forgotten that their literary fame, their zeal for learning,

and their vast energy, were displayed at a time when learning
and science were in their decadence. But for the Jurists of

would have perished. Of the men

of genius whose names have come down to us and whose writof the
ings or whose opinions are worked into the great body

Rome

the cause of Letters

Roman Law we may particularize five, not so much for their

own distinctive merits, as for the importance given to their
published about
writings in the celebrated Law of Citations
Of these five, Gaius, Papinian, Modestinus,
A.D. 426.
Paulus and Ulpian, the compilers of the Digest at a later
1

Introduction to the Study of

more.

Roman Law, by John George

Philli-

INTRODUCTION

346

period made large use.

In the Theodosian law referred to
above the authority of Papinian was pre-eminent, whilst to the
writings of Gaius himself a higher impress of authority was
given than they had hitherto attained.
That Papinian was a man of undoubted reputation is clear
from his position in the state, as well as from the fragments of
his writings preserved in the Digest fellow-pupil, friend and
minister of Septimius Severus, he became at an early age
Praetorian Prefect and drew upon himself the hatred and
vengeance of Caracalla. Famous himself, he had as pupils
the two most illustrious lawyers of the succeeding generation,
Paulus and Ulpian. The former, a man of great and varied
learning, occupied with Ulpian the post of A'ssessor to the
Praetorian Prefect, and attained to high honours in the state.
As for Ulpian, the fact that his writings have furnished 2461
laws to the Digest shews the reputation he left and the reverence with which his name was regarded. His chief works
were a Commentary on the Edict in eighty-three books a collection of Opinions in six books and another collection of
Responsa in two books. As a lawyer he ranks high for the
soundness of his views, for his practical common sense, and
A!s a writer he is clear and
for the logical turn of his mind.
concise, well deserving the dignity of an authoritative jurisprudent by his power of marshalling facts and applying legal
principles to them.
As an instance at once of his juristical
skill and of his natural acumen, we may point to his celebrated
calculation of the present value of a life-annuity,^ nor would
;

it

be

difficult to select

Of

other examples.

his public life but

little is

known beyond

connection with the Emperor Alexander

his official

Severus and his

seems to have
been a man of wit and a pleasant companion, whose society
was sought after by the most noble and the best in the state.
Of the old writers Aelius Lampridius gives us most information regarding Ulpian and his political and professional career
but we need not enter into further details, for those who are
desirous to learn all that is known about him may refer to the
assassination by the Praetorian guards.

Digest 35.

2. 68.

He

GOLDEN AGE OF JURISPRUDENCE

two accounts of
Corpore Ulpiani,

347

his life prefixed to Schulting's Titidi ex

in that author's Jurisprudentia
Vetus

Antejiistinianea, one

by John Bertrand, president of Thouand the other by William Groot whilst in the Dictionary
of Greek and Roman Biography by Smith appears a somewhat
elaborate sketch of him and his writings.
Just as there is but one manuscript of Gaius' Commentaries
in existence, so is there but one of Ulpian's Rules.
This is
now in the Vatican Library, numbered 1 128 in its catalogue,
louse,

having originally belonged to the abbey of St. Benedict at

Fleury-sur-Loire, whence it was conveyed to Rome after the
destruction of that religious house by the Calvinists in 1562.
It is generally believed that all the modern editions of
Ulpian's Rules are derived from this codex, Heimbach alone
maintaining that the first edition of all, that of John Tillus,
was derived from another codex now destroyed. But

whether

this be so or not is after all

of

little

practical im-

Heimbach himself allows that the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Tilianus, if the latter ever existed, were
either transcripts of one and the same original, or one copied
from the other.
Tilius described the work, when he introduced it to the
learned world at Paris in 1549, as "a mere epitome of doctrines contained in a variety of works by Ulpian;'* a view
now quite exploded, for almost all the best modern authorities
portance, for

hold that the manuscript is a genuine

only one work of Ulpian, namely
Regidarum: so that the only point still
far it has been mutilated, and whether

fragment of one and

Liber Singularis
open to debate is how
intentionally or by accident.
It is true that Puchta holds to the epitome theory,
but even he regards the codex as an epitome of the "Rules"
only, and his view meets with little favour.
Mommsen's idea is, that about Constantine's time some

man, partim doctus et

and incredibly stupid,"
treatise to

make

it

the

incredibiliter stupidus, "little learned

and partly rewrote the

partly abridged

coincide with the law of his time.

Against

Huschke argues that the excellent lawyers of that

period would never have accepted an abridgment that did not,
in the main, coincide with its original and he further points
this theory

INTRODUCTION

348

i. 21; xx. 2, 10; xxvii. i, where the

not removed from the text. From this evidence
and also from the fact that important matters are lost which
must have been treated of in the original work, and which
certainly were in force in Constantine's reign, he maintains
that the omissions are throughout the result of accident rather
than of design, his theory being that the transcriber of the one
surviving manuscript (apparently written about the tenth century, and probably in Gaul) put together all he could find of
Ulpian's acknowledged work but that owing partly to his inability to discover the whole, and partly to subsequent mutilation of what' he managed to collect, the work has come down
to us in its present dilapidated condition.
It seems pretty clear that the transcript of the tenth century, whether embracing the greater part or only a fraction
of Ulpian's original treatise, has been mutilated by the loss of
a large section towards its conclusion. Ulpian's work as a
whole runs parallel with that of Gains. It is true that topics
are usually treated more briefly in the " Rules " still they
occur in the same order as in the " Commentaries." It is true

to passages, such as

ancient law

is

given in the first-named treatise

to points which Gains either omitted or dismissed with a word
or two, such as dos, donatio inter virum et uxorem and the
Lex Papia Poppaea: but these extended digressions either are
introduced where Gains' briefer notices occur, or when realso that particular attention

is

ferring to matters upon which Gains

is absolutely silent, they

can imagine the older writer
would have introduced them, if they had not been excluded by
the plan of his work.
And yet although Ulpian's treatise is
parallel with that of Gains so far as it goes, it stops abruptly,
and omits not only all the matter touched upon by the earlier
writer in his Fourth Commentary, but even the subjects contained in the sections running from the 55th to the end of the
Third Commentary. From the evident appearance of a general parallelism, and from the fact of the sudden defect just
mentioned, we hold that the missing portion at the conclusion
of the " Rules " is not merely a few lines or even pages, but
almost a half of the work.
If we must venture a theory as to the object with which

are brought in just where

we

GOLDEN AGE OF JURISPRUDENCE

349

Ulpian wrote, we should attach no little importance to what

has been already named, the fact that he interpolates so largely
although following the arrangement of Gains in the main.
Gains wrote a handbook for students, with the intention of
putting clearly before them the leading principles of Roman

Law. His object was not so much to enter into details of

practice as to present his readers with a comprehensive outline
of the Roman Law as a system. On the other hand Ulpian's
aim was, we venture to think, entirely different: he wished to
draw up a handbook for the use of practising lawyers. Now
that a book of practice is improved by a systematic arrangement is obvious: Ulpian therefore, writing in the reign of
Caracalla (see xvii. 2), took, as a model, the educational
treatise which his brother lawyer had published a few years
previously, introducing into it important and necessary
modifications.
Whilst then, on the one hand, he omitted all
antiquarian disquisitions as out of place in a book of practice,
on the other he introduced large interpolations on such matters
These topics Gains (writing for
as dos and its retentiones.
beginners) had passed over unnoticed, because they involved
more detail than principle, because also a student could very
well comprehend the general scheme of the

Roman Law,

with-

out any special acquaintance with them. Ulpian, on the contrary, in a work intended for practitioners, was obliged to
treat at length the rules relating to matters of such practical
Divorces were everyday
value as those above mentioned.
so that suits with regard to dotes and
retentiones must have filled the court-lists of the time, and
formed a profitable branch of a lawyer's practice: a knowl-

occurrences at

Rome;

edge therefore of all the regulations on these topics was to

such an one of the highest importance.
The very title prefixed to Ulpian's work bears out our
"Principles" (institutiones) are for beginners, but
view.
"Rules" (regulce) aid the memory of those who have passed
through their course of study, and are now engaged in the
active business of their profession.

THE RULES OF ULPIAN

On

A PERFECT

LAW

Classes of

Laws

one which forbids something to be

is the Lex.
.
An imperfect law is one which forbids something to
be done, and yet if it be done neither rescinds it nor imposes
a penalty on him who has acted contrary to the law of which
character is the Lex Cincia prohibiting donations beyond a
specified amount, except those to certain persons, relations
for instance and yet not revoking a gift in excess. 2. A law
short of perfect is one which forbids something to be done,
and if it be done does not rescind it, but imposes a penalty on
him who has acted contrary to the law: of which character
I.

done, and rescinds

.

IS

it if it

be done, of which kind

is

the

Lex Furia Testamentaria,

prohibiting

those specially exempted, from taking

all

persons, save

more than a thousand

asses as a legacy or gift in prospect of death, and appointing

a fourfold penalty against anyone who has taken a larger

sum.
A law is either " rogated," that is to say introduced
3.
"
abrogated," that is to say a former law is revoked or
or
" derogated," that is to say a part of a former law is revoked
or "subrogated," that is to say something is added to a
former law or " obrogated," that is some portion of a former
law is altered.
:

Customs are the tacit consent of a people established

4.
by long-continued habit.
I.

On Freedmen

There are three classes of freedmen, viz. Roman

Junian Latins, and those in the category of dediticii.
Roman citizens are freedmen manumitted in the
6.
regular mode, that is to say by vindicta, census or testament,
and in contravention of no regulation.
5.

citizens,

350

DIGEST OF
7.

ROMAN LAW

351

The manumission by

magistrate of the
a Proconsul.

Roman

vindicta takes place before a

people, as a Consul, a Praetor, or

Manumission was effected by census in olden times

slaves at the quinquennial registration entered themselves on the roll amongst the Roman citizens by order of
8.

when

their masters.

The liberty of those who have been manumitted by

9.
testament results from a law of the Twelve Tables which confirms testamentary gifts of liberty in these words: "as one
has disposed of his own property, so let the right be."
Latins are freedmen who have not been manumitted
10.
in

regular

form, those

for instance manumitted privately

(inter amicos), provided

no regulation be contravened: and

these in olden times the Praetor merely used to protect in the
semblance of liberty; for in strict law they remained slaves.
But at the present day they are free by strict law on account
of the Lex Junia, by which lex those manumitted in the presence of our friends were styled Junian Latins.
Those are in the category of dediticii who have been
11.
chains
put in
by their masters as a punishment, or who have
branded,
or who have been tortured for a misdeed and
been
found guilty, or who have been delivered over to fight with
the sword or against wild beasts, or cast into a gladiatorial
school or into a prison for the like cause, and have afterwards
been manumitted by any form. And these rules the Lex
Aelia Sentia establishes.
12.
By the same lex it was provided that a slave under
thirty years of age when manumitted by vindicta should not
become a Roman citizen, unless cause for manumission had
been proved before the council; in fact it lays down that a
slave of that age manumitted without application to the council remains a slave still
but when he is manumitted by testament it directs him to be regarded as though he were holding
his freedom at his master's will, and therefore he becomes a
:

Latin.

The same lex prohibits a master under twenty years

13.
of age from manumitting a slave, unless he have proved cause
The council consists at Rome of
13a.
before the council.

ULPIAN

352
five senators

and

five

twenty reciperators,
to be free

and

Roman knights,
Roman citizens.

but in the provinces of

slave ordered
14.

instituted heir in a testament

by an insolvent

master, although he be under thirty years of age, or so cir-

cumstanced that he ought to become a dediticius, yet becomes

a Roman citizen and heir provided only no one else be heir
under that testament. But if two or more be ordered to become free and heirs, the one first-named becomes free and
heir and this too the Lex Aelia Sentia enacts. 15. The same
lex forbids manumissions in fraud of creditors or a patron.
16.
He who holds a slave merely by Bonitary title and
not also by Quiritary, makes him a Latin by manumission.
slave belongs to a man by Bonitary title only in such a
case as the following: when a Roman citizen has bought a
slave from another Roman citizen, and the slave has been
delivered to him, but not transferred by mancipation or cesFor so long
sion in court, nor possessed by him for a year.
as some one of these circumstances be wanting, that slave
belongs to the purchaser by Bonitary title, but to the vendor
by Quiritary.
A woman under tutelage, and a pupil, male or
17.
cannot
manumit, except with the tutor's authorization.
female,
If one of two joint-owners manumit a common slave,
18.
he loses his portion and it accrues to his partner; at any rate
if he manumit him in a form whereby he would have made
him a Roman citizen if he had had the sole property in him.
For if he manumit him privately it is generally held that the
:

act is void.

If the usufruct of a slave belong to one man and the

19.
ownership to another, and he be manumitted by him who has
the ownership, he does not become free, but is a slave without
a master.^
gift of liberty cannot be bestowed in any testament,
20.
except that of a soldier, to take effect after the death of the
heir, nor (can it be inserted) before the institution of the
heir.
21.
Al gift of liberty inserted between the appoint-

"

But only so long as the usufruct

Latin."

Mommsen.

lasts

after that he becomes a

DIGEST OF

ROMAN LAW

353

ments of two heirs is void, if both take up the inheritance:

but if the one first-named alone take it up, the gift is valid
according to the ancient law. But since the passing of the
Lex Papia Poppaea, which makes to lapse the portion of one
who does not take up the inheritance, it has been ruled that
the gift stands good in case the heir first-named has either the
right derived from children or the ancient right ;^ but when
he has neither of these rights, it is decided that the gift does
not stand good, because the legatees who have children be-

who fails to accept ^ but

maintain that it stands good in this
slave who is ordered in a testament to be22.
case too.
come free becomes free the instant that even one of the heirs
takes up the inheritance.* 23. Full freedom can be given by
testament to those slaves who belonged to the testator in
Quiritary right both at the time of his making the testament
come

heirs in the place of the heir

there are persons

who

and

at his death.

The Lex Furia Caninia

24.

directs that not

more than

manumitted by testament;
allows a half to be manumitted out of a number between
four and ten; a third out of any number between ten and

two

slaves out of three shall be

thirty,

but

still

allowing five at least to be manumitted, just

would have been out of the antecedent number; a

fourth of any number from thirty up to a hundred, but, as
before, permitting ten to be manumitted on the reckoning of
the antecedent number a fifth of any number from one hunas they

^We

see

from

Tit.

xviii. that ascendants

and descendants of the

testator to the third degree were exempted from the provisions of

the Lex Papia Poppaea. These therefore are the persons referred
to as having the juj antiquum.
2 These legatees are by hypothesis named in the testament subse-

quently to the gift of freedom, for that gift is inter medias instituHence, when they become heirs in the place of the firsttiones.
named heir, all the heirs are posterior to the legacy of freedom;
which is therefore void: for it can only subsist as a charge upon

an antecedent
8

In

of

heir, as stated in

i.

all

20.

supposed to be after the institution

who accepts
the heirs, or at any rate after that of the one

this case the gift of liberty is

the inheritance.

"

ULPIAN

354

dred to five hundred, but still enabling twenty-five to be liberated on the reckoning of the antecedent number; and finally
it directs that not more than a hundred in all shall be
by virtue of any man's testament.
The same lex provides that gifts of freedom
25.
conferred on slaves by name in a testament.

II.

On

set free

shall

be

Statuliberi

I.
The name Statuliher is applied to a slave ordered in a
testament to become free under some condition, 2.
Because
the statuliber, so long as the condition is pendent, is a slave of
the heir; when it is fulfilled, is at once free. 3. The statu-

whether alienated by the heir, or acquired by anyone

through usucapion, carries with him the condition of his freedom.
If ordered to be free under the condition: "if he give
4.
10,000 sesterces to the heir," he will attain to freedom, even
though he have been alienated by the heir, by giving the money
to his purchaser; and this a law of the Twelve Tables proIf anything be done by the heir to prevent the
vides.
5.
statuliber complying with the condition, he becomes free just
Also if he
as though the condition had been fulfilled,
6.
be ordered to give money to some stranger and so become
free, and be prepared to give it, but he to whom he was
ordered to give it refuse to accept or die before accepting, he
becomes free just as though he had given it.
Liberty can neither be given directly, in such phrase as
7.
" Be thou free," " Let him be free," " I order him to be free
or by Udeicommissum, for instance in the words, " I request,
I entrust to my heir's good faith that he manumit my slave
Stichus."
One ordered in express terms to be freed be8.
comes a freedman of the testator or liber tus orciniis: but one
whose liberty is given him by Udeicommissum becomes the
freedman of the manumittor and not of the testator, 9,
Any man who can be charged by Udeicommissum to perform
anything, can also be charged by Udeicommissum to confer
freedom.
10, Liberty can be given by Udeicommissum either
to the testator's own slave, to the slave of an heir or legatee, or
liber,

DIGEST OF

ROMAN LAW

355

to the slave of any stranger,

ii.
If liberty be given to a
stranger's slave by fideicommissiim and the owner will not sell
him for a fair price, the liberty is extinguished, because no
calculation of price in lieu of liberty is possible.
As
12.
liberty can be given, so also can it be taken away either by a
testament or by codicils confirmed in a testament; provided
only it be taken away in the same manner in which it was

given.
ni.
I.

Latins

obtain

On

Latins

Roman

citizenship

in

the

following

ways: by grant of the emperor, by children, by iteration, by

military service, by a ship, by building, by the trade of baking;^ and besides, in virtue of a senatus-consnUum, a woman
obtains it by bearing three children.
2.
A Latin obtains
Roman citizenship by grant of the emperor, if he acquires the
right through direct request to him.
A Latin obtains
3.
Roman citizenship by children, if at the time of his manumission he was under the age of thirty years for it was provided by the Lex Junia that if a Latin take to wife a Roman
citizen or a Latin, making attestation that he marries her for
the purpose of obtaining children, he can, after the birth of a
son or daughter and their attainment of the age of one year,
prove his case before the Praetor or the governor of a province and become a Roman citizen, both himself and his son or
daughter, and his wife; that is to say if she too be a Latin;
for if the wife be a Roman citizen, her offspring also is a
Roman citizen by virtue of a senatus-consultum passed at the
instance of the late emperor Hadrian.
A Latin becomes
4.
a Roman citizen by iteration, if after the gift of Latinity has
been conferred on him when over thirty years of age, he be
a second time manumitted in due form by the person whose
slave he was in Quiritary right. But by virtue of a senatiiscofisultum it is allowed such an one to acquire Roman citizenship by children also.
A Latin receives Roman citizenship by military service
5.
:

Bakers had other privileges

decline a tutorship.

for

instance they were allowed to

ULPIAN

356

of the Lex Visellia,^ if he have served six years in

the Roman guards: but afterwards by a senatus-consultum it
was allowed him to obtain Roman citizenship by serving three
years in the guards. 6. A' Latin receives Roman citizenship,
in virtue of an edict of the late emperor Claudius, by a ship,
if he have built one of the burden of not less than 10,000
modii and imported com in it to Rome for six years.
in virtue

IV.

On

those

who

Those who are heads of

1.

juris, that is the

are sui juris

their

own

families are sui

father of a family, and the mother of a

family.^

Those sprung from a known mother, but an unknown

2.

father, are called spurious.

V.

On

those

who

are under potestas

Children born from a lawful marriage are under the

1.

potestas of their parents.

It is

2.

a lawful marriage,

if

there be conuhiiim between

man be of the age of

puberty as well as the woman of the age of child-bearing, and
if they both consent, supposing them to be sui juris, or if
their parents also consent, supposing them to be under potestas.
Conubium is the right of marrying a wife. 4. Roman
3.
citizens have conubium with Roman citizens; but with Latins
and foreigners only when there has been a special grant to
With slaves there is no conubium. 6. Bethat effect.
5.
tween ascendants and descendants in any degree without
Formerly also marriages
limitation there is no conubium.
those

who

contract the marriage, if the

Introduced by L. Visellius Varro in the time of Claudius.

states that a wife was mater familias only when

( Top. 4)
under manus. Aulus Gellius (18. 6) says the same. But during
her husband's life-time a wife in manu was certainly not princeps
familiae, for she was regarded as a daughter of her husband: she
would therefore become princeps familiae only on the death of the
husband and her familia would consist of herself only, for " raulier
2

Cicero

familiae suae et caput et finis est."

DIGEST OF

ROMAN LAW

357

could not be contracted between those collaterally related

within the fourth degree; but now it is allowable to take a
wife even of the third degree; but only a brother's daughter,
and not also a sister's daughter or the sister of a father or a
mother, although they are in the same degree. Lastly we

cannot marry one who has been our step -mother or stepdaughter, daughter-in-law, or mother-in-law.
If any
7.
a woman whom he is prohibited to marry, he canan incestuous marriage, and therefore his children do
not come under his potestas, but are spurious, like those born

man marry
tracts

out of wedlock.
If there be conubium between the parents, the children
8,
always follow the father: if there be not conubium they follow the condition of the mother: excepting anyone born from
a foreigner and a Roman woman, for he is a foreigner from
his birth, inasmuch as the Lex Mensia orders that a child
sprung from a foreigner on either side shall follow the con-

dition of his inferior parent.

9.

The

offspring of a

Roman

and a Latin woman is a Latin from his birth, and that

of a free man and a slave woman is a slave; for there being
no conubium in these cases, the offspring follows the mother.
citizen

The time of conception is regarded in the case of those

are born from a lawful marriage; that of birth in the
case of those conceived illegitimately: for instance, if a
female slave have conceived, and then after manumission bear
10.

who

her

child, the child she bears is free

ceive legitimately

offspring

and

for as she did not con-

herself free at the time of birth, her

free also.

is

VI.
1.

is

On

Marriage-portions

marriage-portion

is

either given,

declared or

promised.

A woman about to marry can declare a marriage-porso can the debtor of a woman, provided he does so
and
tion,
and so can a male ascendant of a woman related
order
her
at
2.

to her through a line of males, as a father or a paternal grandAny person can give or promise a marriage-portion.
father.
**
marriage-portion is said to be either profectitious,'*
3.

XIV 24

ULPIAN

358

one which the father of the woman has given: or "adi.e. one which has been given by somebody else.
If the woman die during the continuance of the mar4.
riage a marriage-portion which proceeded from the father re-

i.e.

ventitious,"

turns to the father, a

fifth

being retained in the husband's con-

trol for each child as far as the marriage-portion will go.

But if the father be no longer alive, it remains with the husAn adventitious portion, on the contrary, always
band.
5.
remains in the husband's hands, unless the donor made a
stipulation that it should be returned to him and such a marriage-portion has the specific name of " receptitious."
When a divorce takes place, the woman herself has the
6.
action for the wife's property, i.e. the suit for recovery of the
marriage-portion, if she be sui juris; but if she be under the
potestas of her father, he has the action in the joint name of
his daughter and himself: and whether the marriage-portion
;

be adventitious or profectitious makes no matter, 7, If the

woman die after a divorce has taken place, an action does not
lie for her heir, unless the husband made delay in restoring
the marriage-portion to his wife.
If the marriage-portion consists of things weighed,
8.
numbered or measured, it is restored by instalments at the
end of one, two and three years respectively ^ unless there
have been an agreement for its immediate restoration. Other
marriage-portions are restored at once.
Retentions out of a marriage-portion are made either
9.
on account of children, or on account of immorality, or on
account of expenses, or on account of donations, or on account of abstractions.
Retention is made on account of children, if the
10.
divorce take place through the fault of the woman or of her
father under whose potestas she is for in such case a sixth
is retained out of the marriage-portion on account of each
child but not a greater number of sixths than three.
11.
marriage-portion which has once undergone the retention of
:

The dos was

usually paid over to the husband by the father in

three instalments,
fore

sometimes

when returned would

in

more by

special

agreement:

there-

naturally be paid back in the same way.

DIGEST OF

ROMAN LAW

sixths, cannot undergo it again,

unless the marriage be varied,

if

359

the marriage be renewed,

Retention is made for immorality; a sixth for each

12.
immorality of a grosser kind, an eighth for immorality of a
lighter kind.
Adulteries alone constitute the grosser immorality, all others are the lighter.
In the case of a
13.
marriage-portion which ought to be returned by annual instalments, the immorality of a husband is punished by making
him restore it at once for grosser immortality, and by instalments at intervals of six months for lighter immorality:
whilst in the case of that which is usually restored at once,
he is ordered to restore so much out of profits as the payment in advance would amount to in the case of a marriageportion returnable by three yearly payments.^
Of expenses there are three kinds: for they are
14.
styled either necessary, or profitable, or ornamental.
15.
Expenses are " necessary " where the marriage-portion would
be deteriorated by their not being incurred; as, for instance,
" Profitable " ex16.
if any one repair a falling house.
penses are such, that if they were not incurred the marriageportion would not be deteriorated, but by their being incurred
it is made more productive; as, for instance, if a man plant
"Ornamental" expenses are
vineyards or oliveyards.
17.
such, that if they were forborne the marriage-portion would
suffer no deterioration, and by their being incurred it is not
made more productive ; which is the case with lawns and pic-

tures

and such

VII.

On the law

like.

of gifts between husband and wife

gift between husband and wife does not stand good

I.
except in certain cases, that is, in prospect of death, in prospect of divorce, and to procure the manumission of a slave.
Besides a woman is allowed by imperial constitutions to make

calculation is made of the amount he would have lost by having

1
to pay at once a marriage-portion properly returnable in three in-

stalments:

then

to

the marriage-portion,

once according to agreement, a further

loss.

which he pays back at

is added equal to that

sum

ULPIAN

360

a gift to her husband to the end that he

may

receive

from

the emperor the distinction of senatorial or equestrian rank,

or some honour of the same nature.

If the wife in prospect of a divorce abstract property
2.
from her husband, she will further be liable in the action " for
things abstracted."

When

a husband has bound himself for his wife or

the occurrence of a divorce
usual for him to assure himself on that account by a

3.

money upon her property, on

spent
it

is

tribunician stipulation/

Those children too are under the potestas of their

4.
parents whose case has been proved, after a marriage has been
contracted under a misapprehension between persons of un-

equal condition.^ For by a senatus-consultum if a

citizen have in ignorance married a Latin or foreign

woman in the
Roman citizen, or if

or a

category of

dediticii,

Roman
woman

taking her for a

Roman woman have

been married by
mistake to a foreigner or one in the category of dediticii,
either thinking him a Roman citizen or even thinking him a
Latin and intending to take advantage of the Lex Aelia
Sentia, on proof of the case on behalf of the children born
from that marriage, Roman citizenship is given both to the
children and the parents, unless the latter be in the category
of dediticii: and thereby the children come under the potestas
of their parents.

VIII.

Not only are

I.

their ascendants,

On

Adoptions

actual children under the potestas of

but adopted children also.

2.

Adoption

takes place either by authority of the populus, or by that of

That adoption
which takes place by authority of the populus has the special
the Praetor or the governor of a province.

" That is, the plebeian tribunes, when application is made to them
by husbands called upon to restore a marriage-portion, will interfere
on their behalf unless they are secured by their wives entering into
this stipulation."
Huschke.
2 The subject of potestas is now resumed from v. i, the law as to
marriages and marriage-portions forming a parenthesis extending
*

from

V.

2 to

VII.

3 inclusive.

DIGEST OF
name of

arrogation.

3.

sui juris are arrogated:

By

ROMAN LAW

361

authority of the populus those

by authority of the Praetor those

under potestas are given in adoption by their ascendants. 4.

Arrogation takes place at Rome only, but adoption in the
provinces too in the presence of the governors thereof.
5.
By authority of the Praetor or the governor of a province

both males and females, those under puberty and those over
Women are not arrogated even at
the present day by authority of the Roman populus; but
pupils, who also in former times could not be arrogated, now
can after investigation of their case, by virtue of a constituOne who can6.
tion of the late emperor Antoninus Pius.
not procreate, as an eunuch-born, can adopt by either method.
The same rule applies also to an immarried person. 7. Likewise he who has no son, can adopt a person to stand to him as
But women cannot adopt by either method,
ya.
grandson,
because they have not even their actual children under their

puberty, can be adopted.

potestas.

If a person

8.

arrogation,

children

his

who
also

is

sui juris give himself in

pass under

the

arrogator's

potestas in the capacity of grandchildren.

IX.
I.

On those who are under manus

woman comes

under manus by a conferreation

in

a set form of words uttered in the presence of ten witnesses,

and by the performance of a solemn sacrifice, in which a
cake of fine flour

X.

How

is

used.

WHO ARE UNDER POTESTAS, MANUS OR MANCIPIUM, ARE SET FREE FROM THE TIE

THOSE

Descendants are freed from the potestas of their asafter

cendants by emancipation, i.e. if they are manumitted
after
only
juris
sui
becomes
But a son
being mancipated.
for
times
three
manumitted
and
being mancipated three times
words
following
the
in
this
directs
a law of the Twelve Tables
" ?f a father sell his son three times, let the son be free from
Whilst descendants other than a son, whether
the father."
and one
male or female, become sui juris by one mancipation
I.

:
;

ULPIAN

362

manumission.

2.

son and a daughter become sui juris by

the death of their father; but grandsons become sui juris by

the death of their grandfather, only in case they will not fall

under the potestas of their father on the grandfather's death

for example,

if at

the time of their grandfather's death their

father either be dead or released from potestas: for they

into their father's potestas
if

at that

moment

on the death of

their father be in his potestas.

from

come

their grandfather,
3.

If the

and water, the paternal

potestas is destroyed, because one who is interdicted from
fire and water becomes a foreigner, and neither can a foreigner have a Roman citizen under his potestas nor a Roman
citizen a foreigner.
4. If a father be taken by the enemy,
although he becomes a slave of the enemy, yet on his
return he recovers all his original rights by the rule
of postliminy. But so long as he remains with the enemy,
father or son be interdicted

fire

his parental potestas over his son is for the time suspended

and on

his return he will have his son under his potestas, but
he die there the son will be sui juris. So too if the son
be taken by the enemy, the parental potestas will in like manner be suspended for the time by the rule of postliminy.
5. Those also cease to be under the potestas of their ascendants who are admitted flamens of Jupiter or elected vestal
if

virgins.
XI.
1.

On

Tutelages

Tutors are appointed both to males and females: but

to males only whilst they remain under the age of puberty,

on account of their infirmity of age: to females, however,

both under and over the age of puberty, as well on account
of their infirmity of sex as on account of their ignorance
of forensic matters.
Tutors are either statutable, appointed by senatus2.
consulta, or introduced
3.

by custom.

Statutable tutors are those originating

from any

lex:

but those are more specially styled statutable who are introduced by a law of the Twelve Tables, whether in direct terms,
as agnates are, or constructively, as are patrons. 4, Agnates
are male relatives connected on the

father's

side,

tracing

DIGEST OF

ROMAN LAW

363

through the male sex, and of the same family,^ as brothers

on the father's side, a father's brothers, a brother's sons, the
sons of two brothers.
He who has manumitted a free person mancipated to
5.
him either by an ascendant or by a coemptionator, becomes
tutor because of his analogy to a patron, and is called a
fiduciary tutor.

Statutable tutors can transfer their tutorship to another

6.

by means of a cession
ship

is

ceded

is

in court.

7,

He

to

called a cessician tutor;

whom

and

the tutor-

he either die,
or suffer capitis diminutio, or cede the tutorship again to another, the tutorship returns to the statutable tutor and so too
if the statutable tutor die or suffer capitis diminutio, the cessiif

cian tutorship is also extinguished. 8. So far as the agnates

are concerned, cessician tutorship does not exist at the present day; since it used to be allowed to make cession of the
tutelages of females only and not of those of males; and the

Lex Claudia abolished the statutable

when held by patrons.

women,

tutelages of

except

A statutable tutorship is lost by capitis diminutio.

There are three varieties of capitis diminutio, maxima,
media, and minima. 11. Capitis diminutio maxima is that by
which both citizenship and liberty are lost, as in the case of
a man being sold for not enrolling himself on the censor's
9.

10.

register,

or in that of a

woman who

cohabits with another

person's slave against his master's warning, and

is

made

his

slave in accordance with the senatus-consultum of Claudius.

12. Capitis

diminutio media

is

the

name

applied

when

citizen-

and liberty retained; which is the case

with one interdicted from fire and water. 13. Capitis diminutio minima is that whereby the status only of a man is
changed, his citizenship and liberty being unaltered; a result
which follows on adoption and the passing under m^anus.
Tutors appointed by name in a testament are also
14.
confirmed by the same law of the Twelve Tables in these
" In accordance with the testamentary disposition
words
ship alone

is

lost

Emancipation or adoption broke the agnatic

ing.

tie previously subsist-

ULPIAN

364

which a man has made regarding his family, his money or

let the right be:" and these

the tutelage of his property, so

tutors are called dative.

Tutors can be given in a testament by ascendants

who are under their potestas. 16. Any
persons with whom the testator has testamenti factio can be
appointed tutors in a testament, except a Junian Latin. For
a Latin has testamenti factio, and yet cannot be appointed
tutor; the Lex Junia forbidding it. If the tutor appointed in
a testament suffer capitis diminutio, he does not lose his tutorship but if he renounce the tutorship, he ceases to be tutor
and to renounce it is to state that he declines to be tutor.
Further a testamentary tutor cannot transfer his office by
cession in court; whereas a statutable tutor can get rid of it
by cession in court, but not by mere renunciation.
15.

to those descendants

18.

The Lex

Atilia orders that

when women

or pupils

have no tutors some shall be given to them by the Praetor

and the majority of the Tribunes of the Plebs, and these we
call Atilian tutors.
But as the Lex Atilia is in force at Rome
only, it has been provided by the Lex Julia et Titia that in
the provinces also tutors shall in like

by

their governors.

manner be appointed

The Lex Junia

19.

orders that the tutor

of a female Latin or of a male Latin under the age of puberty

shall be the person to whom they belonged in Quiritary right
before their manumission. 20. By the Lex Julia de mari-

tandis ordinihus a tutor

any

woman

or virgin

is

given by the Praetor Urbanus to

bound

to

marry under

that law,

in

order that he may give, assign or promise her marriage-portion, if she have a pupil for her statutable tutor.
But afterwards the senate decreed that tutors should be appointed in
the provinces also by the governors thereof in like manner
under similar circumstances. 21. The senate has further decreed that another tutor shall be appointed in the place of a
dumb or mad tutor for the purpose of settling the marriageportion.
22.
Likewise by a senatus-consultum 3. tutor is
appointed to a woman whose tutor is absent, unless the absentee be a patron: for one cannot be applied for by a freed
woman in the place of an absent patron, except to take up an
inheritance or to arrange a marriage. And the same appoint-

DIGEST OF
ment
23.

ROMAN LAW

365

is permitted in the case of a patron's son being

a pupil.
Besides this the senate has decreed that if the tutor of a

whether male or female, be removed from his tutorship as untrustworthy, or excused for a just reason, another
tutor may be appointed in his place.

pupil,

tutor is appointed by custom to a woman or pupil

wishes to sue the proper tutor under a lex or by statutable proceedings, that she may act under his authorization
( for the proper tutor cannot authorize in a matter concerning
himself) and such an one is called a Praetorian tutor, be24.

who

cause

it is

the custom for

him

to be appointed by the Praetor

Urbanus.

The

25.

their business

tutors of pupils, male or female, both transact

and give their authorization: but the tutors of

women

give their authorization only.

If there be several tutors, they must all give their
authorization to each individual transaction, except they be
26.

testamentary tutors,
is enough.

for in their case the authorization of

any one
27.

The

authorization of their tutor

is

needful for

in the following matters: if they take proceedings

women

under a lex

or by statutable action, if they bind themselves by contract,

if they transact any business connected with the civil law,*
if they permit one of their freedwomen to cohabit with another person's slave, if they alienate a thing mancipable.

Further than

this,

pupils require their tutor's authorization

for the alienation of things non-mancipable.

28.

Males are

set free

Cassians say that he

bodily development,
culians say that he

is

from tutelage by puberty and the

who shows the fact by his
:

of puberty

who can procreate; whilst the Prowho has completed his fourteenth year;

i.e.,

is

but Priscus maintains that he is of puberty in whom both requirements are fulfilled, viz. both bodily development and the

number of

years.

28a.

Women

on the other hand are

liber-

ated from tutelage by prerogative of three children: freedwomen who are under the tutelage of a patron are liberated

from
^ e.

g.,

it

only by prerogative of four children.

a cessio in jure, or a mancipation or an auditio hereditatis.

ULPIAN

366
XII.

On

Curators

Curators are either statutable, i.e. such as are given

under a law of the Twelve Tables, or honorary, i.e. such as
are appointed by the Praetor. 2.
law of the Twelve Tables orders a madman, and likewise a prodigal interdicted
from the management of his property, to be in the curation
curator is appointed by the Praetor,
of his agnates. 3.
being such person as the Praetor himself chooses, to prodigal
freedmen, and likewise to free-born persons who are made
heirs by the testament of their ascendant and criminally waste
his goods for to such persons a curator could not be given
under the law, inasmuch as the freeman is heir to his father
not on intestacy but by his testament; and the freedman cannot be heir to his father in any way, for he is not even considered to have a father, there being no relationship among
Moreover the Praetor by the Lex Plaetoria gives
slaves. 4.
a curator to one who has just attained puberty, but cannot
properly superintend his own business.
I.

On the

Unmarried, the Childless, and the

Father who has lost his children
By the Lex Julia senators and their descendants are
I.
forbidden to marry freedwomen, or women who have themXIII.

whose father
and both they and all other freeborn persons are forbidden to marry a common prostitute, or
a procuress, or a woman manumitted by a procurer or procuress, or a woman caught in adultery, or one condemned in
a public action, or one who has followed the profession of
the stage; and the senatus-consultum Mauricianum adds one
condemned by the senate.
selves followed the profession of the stage, or

or mother has done so;

2,

XIV.
I.

On the

The Lex

Julia

penalty of the Lex Julia

allows women a respite ^ from

its re-

where it is explained that by the vacatio abovemeant a permission to women to take without the usual
qualification legacies, inheritances or lapses devolving on them
1

See App. (G)

named

is

within the specified periods after their husband's

divorce.

death or their

DIGEST OF

ROMAN LAW

367

quirements for one year after the death of a husband, and

for six months after a divorce: but the Lex Papia allows
a respite for two years after the death of a husband and for
a year and six months after a divorce. . . .

XV.

On Tenths

I.
husband and wife can receive one from the other a
tenth on account of their marriage. And if they have children by another marriage surviving, they can, in addition to

the tenth on the

in

number equal

of their marriage, take further tenths

2. Likewise a son

title

to that of their children.

or daughter common to them and lost after his or her namingday adds one-tenth, and two lost after their naming-days add

two

tenths.^

Besides the tenth, a husband or wife can also receive

the usufruct of a third part of the consort's goods and when
3.

they have had children, the ownership of the same amount:

and in addition to this the wife over and above the tenth
can take her marriage-portion if bequeathed to her as a
legacy.

XVI.

I.

On the

power of taking the whole as between

HUSBAND AND WIFE.

Sometimes husband and wife can

one from
both or either

receive,

the other, the entire inheritance, for instance

if

of them be not yet of the age at which the lex insists on

children, i. e. if either the husband be under 25, or the wife
under 20 years of age also if both of them have, whilst their
marriage subsists, exceeded the ages limited by the Lex Papia,
i. e. the husband 60, the wife 50; likewise if relations within
la. There is also complete
the sixth degree have married,
testamenti factio between them, if they have obtained from
the Ernperor the privileges attaching to children, or if the
husband be absent on public business, both whilst he is still
absent and within a year after he has ceased to be absent,
;

Festus says the naming-day was the eighth or ninth after birth.

ULPIAN

368

or

if

they have a son or daughter born from their union/

or have a lost son of the age of fourteen or a daughter of

the age of twelve: or have lost two children of the age of
three years, or three after their naming-days, provided nevertheless that even

them the

one child

lost at

any age under puberty gives

right of receiving the whole estate within a period

of one year and six months from the death. Likewise if the
wife within ten months after her husband's death bear a child
by him, she takes the whole of his goods.
Sometimes they cannot take anything one from the
2.
other, i.e. when they have contracted a marriage contrary to
the Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea, when for instance any freeborn man has married a woman of abandoned character, or
when a senator has married a freedwoman.
man who has conformed to neither lex within his
3.
sixtieth year, or a woman who has not done so within her
fiftieth, although after such age exempt from compliance according to the rules of the leges themselves, yet will be liable
to their standing penalties by reason of the senatus-consultum
Persicianum.^ 4. But by the senatus-consultum Claudianum

mark the fact that the words " habet liberos, non habet
Lex Papia Poppaea do not render it needful for
two or more children to be born of the marriage, but even one will
*

This

is

liberos "

to

in the

suffice.
2

The Lex Papia says,

named from the

Heineccius, freed

men and women

of the ages

and Tiberius did not

forbid marriages between these persons (any more than the Lex
Papia had done), but made such unions unavailing to save the
parties from the penalties of the law, laying it down as a presumption juris et de jure that no children could be born from them and
this rule was embodied in the senatus-consultum of Persicus, consul
just

penalties

of celibacy:

three years before Tiberius' death.

The senatus-consultum. Claudianum allowed the marriage of a

man over sixty with a woman under fifty to save the former from
the penalties of the law, because from such a marriage there

some chance of

was

issue.

The senatus-consultum Calvisianum, on the other hand, forbade

when the wife was above fifty and the
husband under sixty, because from this marriage there was no reathe penalties to be remitted

sonable prospect of children.

DIGEST OF

ROMAN LAW

369

a man above sixty who marries a woman under fifty, will be

accounted as if he had married whilst under sixty. But if a

woman

man under sixty, the marand by the senatus-consultum Calvisianum is ordered to be of no avail for taking inheritance,
legacies or marriage-portions. Therefore on the death of the
riage

is

above

fifty

be married to a

styled " unequal,"

wife her marriage-portion will lapse.^

XVII.

On

Lapses

testamentary gift which the donee fails from any

I.
cause to take, although left to him in such manner that he
could have taken it according to the civil law, is called a
lapse, for it has in a way slipped from him; for instance, if

a legacy be left to an unmarried man or to a Junian Latin,

and the unmarried man do not within a hundred days conform
to the lex, or the Latin do not obtain Roman citizenship; or
if the heir appointed to a part, or if a legatee die or become
a foreigner before the opening of the testament.^
2.
At the present day, in accordance with a constitution of the
Emperor Antoninus, all lapses are claimed for the treasury:
the ancient rule, however, being upheld for the benefit of
descendants and ascendants.
and there3. Lapses carry with them their own burdens
legacies
Udeicommissa
of
freedom,
and
charged
gifts
fore
inheritance
lapses,
stand
good,
from
whom
the
upon him
Udeicommissa
subject
legacies
and
also
lapse
course
and of

...

to their burdens.
^

Mommsen

says these two paragraphs have been retained through

inadvertence by the abbreviator of Ulpian: for their provisions had

been abolished by a law of Constantine; and the abbreviator in all
other cases has struck out obsolete rules.
The marriage-portion, which in general went to the husband or

went instead to the iiscus, if the marriage had been impar.

doubt Ulpian proceeded to state the provisions of the Lex
Julia et Papia Poppaea as to lapses, but the abbreviator has struck
father,

No

out this passage.

ULPIAN

370

Who

XVIII.

have the ancient right in Lapses.

I.
The Lex Papia Poppaea has further granted the
ancient right to descendants and ascendants of the testator as

far as the third degree.

So

when

that

these are instituted

which another person does not take under the

testament belongs to them wholly or in part, according as it

heirs anything

can belong.

On Dominum and

XIX.

acquisitions of things.

All things are either mancipable or non-mancipable.

1.

The former
as a

field,

are praedial property^ on Italic

and urban, as a house;

soil,

both rural,

also rights belonging to

rural praedial property, as via, iter, actus, aquaediictus: also

slaves

and those quadrupeds which are tamed by yoke and

saddle, as oxen, mules, horses, asses.

All other things are

Elephants and camels, although they may

be tamed by yoke and saddle, are non-mancipable because
they are in the category of wild beasts.^
2.
We acquire ownership over individual things by mannon-mancipable.

cipation,

by

tradition,

by cession

in court,

by usucapion, by

adjudication, and by operation of law.

Mancipation is the form of transfer peculiar to things

3.
mancipable: and it is transacted with a special phraseology,
and in the presence of a balance-holder (libripens) and five
The parties to a mancipation may be Roman
witnesses.
4.
citizens, Latin colonists, Junian Latins, or those foreigners to
Praedium is anything attached to or connected with the land.
The true reason why elephants and camels were classed with res
nee mancipi is given by Maine in his Ancient Law, viz. that these
animals in all probability became known to the Romans after the list
of res mancipi had been settled. That list was formed in early
^

and included all property likely to be important to a halfcommunity; and as writing was unknown, transfers were
hedged about with formalities. When property became more extensive and more varied in character, what had originally been a protection became an inconvenience, and new articles of commerce were
allowed to be alienated by simpler methods.
times,

civilized

DIGEST OF

whom

ROMAN LAW

371

the privilege of commerciiim has been given.

5.

Cow-

mercium is the reciprocal right of purchase and sale. 6.

Moveable things can be mancipated only when produced before the parties, and then no more at one time than are able
to be taken by the hand but immoveable things can be manci;

pated several together as well as lying in different localities.

Tradition, in like manner, is the method of transfer
7.

For we acquire the

appropriate to things non-mancipable.

ownership of these things by the delivery itself, provided

always that they have been delivered to us in consequence
of a transaction recognised by the law. 8. By usucapion we
onobtain the ownership of things both mancipable and
mancipable. Now usucapion is the acquisition of ownership
through continuous possession for one or two years one,
where the things are moveable ^two, where they are immove-

able.
9.

Cession in court also

to both classes of things.

is

It is

mode of

transfer

transacted by

common

means of three

and the adjudicant.

the transferee is claimant, and the

parties, the cessor in court, the claimant

10.

The owner

Praetor

is

is

cessor,

adjudicant.

11.

Even

incorporeal things can be

transferred by cession, as for instance an usufruct, and an

inheritance, and the statutable tutelage of a freed woman.
12. An inheritance is transferred by cession either before or

Before entry the transfer may be effected

by a statutable heir; after entry both by a statutable heir,
and by him who has been appointed heir in a testament. 14.
If the inheritance have been transferred before entry, the
transferee becomes heir just as if he himself had been the
after entry.

13.

statutable heir; but

if

the transfer be

made

after entry, the

remains
transferor continues to be heir,
however,
debts,
the
deceased;
bound to the creditors of the
perish; in other words, the debtors of the deceased are set
of
free; 15. But the corporeal things pass to the transferee

and on

the inheritance just as

by

if

this account

they had been separately transferred

cession.

adjudication we obtain ownership by means of the

co"
for severing an estate," which is applicable to
formula
partnership
dividing
for
formula
the
heirs, by means also of
16.

By

ULPIAK

372

property, applicable to partners, and by

means of the formula

for setting out boundaries, applicable to neighbouring proprietors; for

if

a judex have adjudicated anything to one of

several co-heirs, partners, or neighbours, acquisition thereof

immediately accrues to him, whether the thing be mancipable

or non-mancipable.
We acquire ownership by operation of law, as in the
17.
case of a lapse or an escheat by force of the Lex Papia
Poppaea, and in that of a legacy by force of a Law of the
Twelve Tables, whether the subject be a thing mancipable
or a thing non-mancipable.
is also acquired for us by means of
have in our potestas, manus or mancipium.
If then, for instance, such persons have received something
by way of mancipation, or if something have been delivered
to them by tradition, or if they have stipulated for some-

Ownership

18.

whom we

persons

thing, that thing belongs to us; 19.

So too

if

these persons

have been instituted as heirs, or if a legacy have been left

them, they acquire for us thp inheritance upon entry therein
by our direction, and the legacy belongs to us. 20. If a slave
belong to one person by Bonitarian and to another by Quiritarian title, he acquires in all cases for his Bonitarian owner.
21. An individual whom we possess in good faith, whether
he be a free man or a slave belonging to another, acquires
for us in two cases only, viz. when his acquisition is the
product of something belonging to us and when it is the
Acquisitions resulting from
product of his. own labour.
causes other than either belong to the man himself, if he be
free, or to his owner, if he be the slave to another person
(than his bona fide possessor).
The same rules apply also
to the case of a slave in whom we have only an usufruct.

XX.

On Testaments

testament is the legal attestation of our intentions,

solemn form for the express purpose of being carried
2. There used to be three kinds of
out after our death.
testaments; one which was made at the specially-summoned
comitia, another which was made in battle-array, a third
I.

made

in

DIGEST OF

ROMAN LAW

373

which was called "by coin and balance." The two former
having been abolished, the only one in use at the present day
is that which is solemnized by coin and balance, that is, by
means of an imaginary mancipation. And in this form of
testament a balance-holder {libripens) is employed, also a
purchaser of the estate {familiae emptor), and not less than
five witnesses, with whom the testator can lawfully deal in
testamentary matters. 3. He who is in the potestas of the
testator or of the purchaser of the estate cannot be employed
as a witness or as a balance-holder, since the mancipation of
the estate is a transaction between the testator and the pur-

chaser of the estate, and members of their households must

not be employed as witnesses. 4. For this reason also where a
filius

familias

is

the purchaser of the estate, his father cannot

Of two brothers under the potestas of the

one cannot be the purchaser of the estate, and
the other a witness, since that which one of them takes by
the mancipation he acquires for his father, for whom his
other son cannot be a witness. 6. But a father and a son
under his potestas, as also two brothers under the potestas of
the same father, may both of them be witnesses, or one may
be a witness and the other the balance-holder, when some
third party is the purchaser of the estate; for there is no
harm in several witnesses from the same household being

be a witness.^

same

5.

father,

employed when the business

person, a deaf person, a

not be
holder.

aflfects

madman,

a stranger.

a minor, or a

7. A dumb
woman can-

made purchaser
8.

the estate,

of the estate, or witness or balanceJunian Latin can be made either purchaser of

balance-holder or witness, inasmuch as testament-

ary dealing with him

is legal.

In the form of testament by coin and balance two

matters are transacted, the mancipation of the estate and the
nuncupation of the testament. The testament is nuncupated
9.

after this

manner the
:

testator holding the tablets of the tes-

tament says as follows

in these tablets of wax,
1

Domesticus

to

coercion.
XIV 25

testis is

" These things as they are written

I so give, I so bequeath, I so claim

not only a son or slave, but any one amenable

ULPIAN

374

your evidence, and do you, Quirites, so grant

this is called the nuncupation and attestation.

10.

it

me."

And

make a testament inasmuch

own, so as to be able to declare any
But the late emperor (Marcus)^ by a

aiius-familias cannot

as he has nothing of his

intention regarding

it.

Constitution enacted that a Ulius-familias, being a soldier,

might make a testament affecting that portion of his peculium

which he acquired whilst on service, ii. Where a man has
become uncertain about his status (through ignorance, for
example, that he is sni juris in consequence of his father hav12. A youth
ing died abroad), he cannot make a testament.
not of the age of puberty, though he chance to be sui juris,
cannot make a testament, inasmuch as he is not yet endowed
with full mental capacity. 13. A dumb person, a deaf person,
a madman, and also a prodigal who is restrained by interdict
from the management of his property, cannot make a testament.
The dumb person because he cannot utter the
nuncupatory formula, the deaf person because he cannot fully
hear the words of the purchaser of the estate, the madman
because he has not mental powers for making testamentary
disposition as to the subject in hand, the prodigal because

he has been laid under a general prohibition as to legal transand on that account cannot mancipate his estate.

actions,^

Junian Latin, as also a person classed among the

cannot make a testament: the Latin because he is
specially prohibited by the Lex Junia: and he who is classed
among the dediticii because he can neither make testamentary
disposition as a Roman citizen, seeing that he is a foreigner,
14.

dediticii,

nor as a foreigner, seeing that he

is a citizen of no ascertained
be able to make his testament in accordance
with the laws of his state.
15. Women after their twelfth
year can make testaments, with the authorization of their
tutors, as long as they are under tutelage.
public
16.

state, so as to

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.

Cotnmercium was the right of being a party in those transactions,
such as mancipatio, cessio in jure, etc., which were peculiar to the
jus civile. The prodigal was interdicted from these because he was
under a wider disqualification, viz. de bonis suis. Which debarred
him from all dealings equitable as well as legal.
^

DIGEST OF
Roman

slave of the

ment as

ROMAN LAW

people has the right of

375

making a

testa-

to half his peciilium.

XXI.

How AN

Heir ought to be instituted

I.
An heir can be properly instituted by the following
phraseology: "Titius, be thou heir;" "Let Titius be heir;"
" I order Titius to be heir." But an institution running thus
" I institute as heir," or " I make heir," has been generally
disapproved.

...

XXII.
I.

Who

Those can be

can be instituted Heirs

instituted heirs

capacity relatively to the testator.

among

the dediticii cannot be instituted heir, because he

foreigner,
3.

who have testamentary

2. One who is classed

for

whose

benefit

is

a testament cannot be made.

Junian Latin can be instituted heir; and can take up

Roman citizen at the time

the inheritance, provided he be a

of the testator's death, or within the period for cretion; but

if he have continued to be a Latin, he is prohibited from
taking the inheritance by the Lex Junia. The same rule is
applied to an unmarried person by reason of the Lex Julia.
4. An uncertain person cannot be instituted heir, as for in-

stance in this
let

way

him be my

heir

"

Whoever

"

shall first

come

to

my

funeral,

for a testator's intention ought to be

clear.
5. Neither a municipal corporation nor its members
can be instituted heirs, because the body is an uncertain one,
and can neither collectively make a cretion nor act in the
character of heirs, so as to become heirs: but by a senatusconsulhim it has been conceded that they can be instituted
An inheritance, however, that
heirs by their own freedmen.
has been left by way of fidei-commissum can be delivered
over to the members of a municipal corporation; in fact, this
is laid down by the same senatus-consultiim.
6. We cannot
institute the gods as heirs, save those whose institution has
been permitted by senatus-consulta or by imperial constitu-

This rule applies to legacies

also.

ULPIAN

376

Tarpeian Jove, Didymaean Apollo of Miletus, Mars

in Gaul, Minerva of Ilium, Hercules of Gades, Diana of
Ephesus, the Sipylenian mother of the gods, worshipped at
Smyrna, and Selene Coelestis, the goddess of Carthage.
7. We can institute slaves as heirs; with a gift of liberty,
if they belong to us; without a gift of liberty, if they are
owned by other people; with or without a gift of liberty, if
tions, as

8.
in common by ourselves and others.
alone
title
we
cannot
institute
Bonitary
by
ours
slave
heir even with a gift of liberty, because (by the gift of
liberty) he attains the Latin status, and this is not available
for the purpose of taking an inheritance.
9. Slaves belongonly
institute
heirs
we
can
when we have
other
people
ing to

owned

they are

who

is

10.
testamentary capacity in reference to their masters.
property
ourselves
is
the
common
of
and
others
who
slave
is duly instituted heir with a gift of liberty, inasmuch as he

own

him

is

without a gift of liberty, inasmuch as he

is

is

ours so far as our

share in

erty so far as our partner's share in

Our own

slave

when

him

is

concerned; and
another's prop-

concerned/

11.

instituted heir with a gift of liberty,

"
and heir under the testament, i.e., " necessary
heir, provided only he continue in the same condition; 12.
but if he be manumitted or alienated by the testator himself
during his lifetime, he can enter upon the inheritance of his
own accord or by order of his purchaser. If, however, he

becomes

free

be instituted without a gift of Hberty, the institution is altogether ineffectual."

13. Where a slave who is owned by some
other person has been instituted heir, in the event of his continuing in the same condition he ought to enter upon the
inheritance by his master's orders; but if he be manumitted
or alienated by his master during the testator's lifetime he
will be able to enter upon the inheritance either of his
accord by order of his purchaser.

Cujacius in his commentary ad

own

loc. says: "If he is instituted with

he becomes the sole property of the other partner
(i. 18), and therefore the whole inheritance goes to that partner:
if without a gift of liberty, the inheritance is divided between the

a gift of

liberty,

partner and the heir of

'But Justinian

the, testator."

ruled otherwise.

See

Inst. 11. 14. pr.

DIGEST OF

ROMAN LAW

377

Sui heredes must be either instituted heirs or disinNow stii heredes are the descendants whom we have
under our potestas, whether natural or adopted; also a wife
who is under mantis, and a daughter-in-law who is under the
manus of a son who is himself under potestas. 15. Afterborn descendants too, that is, those still in the womb,^ if they
be such as would have been under our potestas if born, are
16, The fact of one of the sui
classed among sui heredes.
heredes being a son neither instituted heir nor disinherited by
name, prevents the testament from being valid. 17. If other
classes of descendants, a daughter for instance or a grandson, or a granddaughter, be passed over, the testament is
valid, but they attach themselves therein to the appointed
14.

herited.

to sui heredes, for a proportional portion, to extrane18. Any after-born deous heirs for one-half the estate.
scendants of either sex, if not named, by their after birth
make void a testament which otherwise was valid. 19. Those
who are in the womb we can institute as heirs, supposing
they would have been sui heredes to us in case they had been
born by virtue of the civil law, if their birth take place after
our death but if in our lifetime, by virtue of the Lex Junia.
20. If a son who is under potestas be not instituted heir
he ought to be disinherited by name; all other sui heredes
of either sex may be disinherited either by name or in a gen21. An after-born son must be disinherited by
eral clause.
name, an after-born daughter and other after-born female descendants either by name, or in a general clause, provided,
however, that some legacy be left to those who are disinherited
in a general clause.^ 22. Grandsons and great-grandsons and
other after-born males, except a son, must be disinherited
either by name or in a general clause with the addition of
heirs

is made.
These omitted persons do not become heirs in opposition to the
testament, but become heirs ex testamento as though tacitly instituted therein." Huschke.
2 Gaius insists on a male postunms being disinherited by name, and
does not agree with Ulpian, that, unless he be a son, he may be
1

Sc. at the time the testament

2 "

disinherited inter caeteros with a legacy.

ULPIAN

378

a legacy; it is, however, safer that they be disinherited by

name, and that is the more usual practice.
23. As to emancipated children of either sex, although by
not necessary either to institute them heirs
or to disinherit them, yet the Praetor orders that unless they
be instituted as heirs they shall be disinherited, if males by
name, but if females (either by name) or in general clause,
the civil law

it is

otherwise he promises them possession of the goods as against

the testament.

Between heredes necessarii, that Is, slaves appointed

24.
as heirs with a gift of liberty, and heredes siii et necessarii,
that is, descendants under potestas, there is no distinction
civil law, for both these classes are heirs
even against their will; but by the Praetorian law the privilege is accorded to heredes sui et necessarii of renouncing
their ancestor's inheritance, whilst to heredes necessarii alone

according to the

this privilege

is

not accorded.^

an extraneous heir have been instituted " with

cretion," he becomes heir by the act of cretion but if he have
been instituted " without cretion " he becomes heir by acting
as heir. 26. A man acts as heir who makes use of the effects
belonging to the inheritance as though owner, as for instance
where he puts up the effects to auction, or gives provisions to
the slaves belonging to the inheritance.
27. " Cretion " is
a space of certain days which is given to the instituted heir
for the purpose of deliberating whether it be advisable for
him to enter upon the inheritance or not: as for instance
(in the following direction):
"Titius, be thou heir and
make thy cretion within the next one hundred days after
thou hast knowledge and ability, but if thou dost not so make
thy cretion, be disinherited." 28. To make cretion is to utter
" Since Maevius has instithe words of cretion in this way
25.

If

tuted

me

heir,

cretion for

enter upon that inheritance and

29. If he

make my

who

has been instituted heir without cretion, have declared that he will not be heir, he is forth^

it."

Heredes necessarii had however the heneiiciunt separationis, which

enabled them to deduct any acquisitions they had

testator's death.

made

since the

DIGEST OF

ROMAN LAW

379

with excluded from the inheritance, and has no further opportunity of entering upon it.
30. But in like manner as he
who is instituted heir with cretion becomes heir by the act
of cretion, so he is not excluded within the period limited;
and therefore although he may have decided that he will not
be heir, yet if any portion of the limited period remains, by
repenting this act and by making cretion he can become heir.
31. Cretion is styled either common or continuous: common cretion being the one in which these words are added,
" after thou hast knowledge and ability " continuous, the one
in which they are not added.
32. Against him who has the
common cretion those days only are reckoned during which
he knew that he was instituted heir and was able to decide,
whilst against him who has continuous cretion those days
also are reckoned during which he was unaware of having
been instituted heir, or did know it but could not decide.
Heirs are said to be either instituted or substituted.
33.
Those are instituted who have been inscribed heirs in the first
degree, those are substituted who are inscribed in the second
or following degrees, thus " Titius, be thou heir, and decide
within the next one hundred days after thou shalt have
knowledge and ability, but unless thou shalt so decide be disinherited. In that case, Maevius, be thou my heir, and decide
within the next one hundred days, etc." And so in similar
terms can successive substitutions be made.
If an heir have been instituted under an imperfect
34.
" If thou
cretion, that is, without the addition of the words
dost not decide, be disinherited," but only in this form: "If
thou dost not decide, then, Maevius, be thou heir," by the act
of deciding the first heir excludes the one after him, whilst
by not deciding, but by acting as heir, the first heir admits
the substituted heir into a half of the inheritance. The Emperor Marcus, however, afterwards enacted by a Constitution, that even by acting as heir the first-named person becomes heir to the whole. But if he have neither decided nor
acted as heir, he is excluded, and the substitute becomes heir
to the whole inheritance.
;

ULPIAN

380

XXIII.

1.

How

Testaments are broken

made

testament, though

two ways,

invalidated in

if it

in proper legal form, is

be broken, or if it be rendered

ineffectual.

testament is broken by a change, that is, if another

2.
testament have been afterwards made in proper legal form.
So too it is broken by agnation, that is, when a suits heres is

who has been neither instituted heir nor disinherited

form prescribed. 3. A suus heres is agnated either by
after-birth, or by adoption, or by coming under manus, or by
succeeding to the position of a suus heres, as a grandson does
to that of a deceased or emancipated son, or by manumission,
that is, if a son who has been manumitted after a first or
agnated
in the

second mancipation has reverted to his father's potestas.

testament is made ineffectual where a testator has
4.
suffered capitis diminutio, or where there is no surviving heir

under a testament legally made.

5.

When

a person

who

has

made

captured by the enemy, his testament

is

virtue of the rule of postliminy; but

a testament has been

valid
if

he

if

he return, by

die,

Cornelia, which confirms his succession in like

by the Lex

manner

as

if

he had died in the state.

If a testament have been sealed, with the seals of
6.
seven witnesses, though it may have become broken or ineffectual according to the civil law, yet the Praetor gives possession of the
tions

to the

goods in accordance with the testator's direcappointed heirs, provided the testator was a

Roman citizen and sui juris at the time of his death and this
possession such heirs take 'cum re,' that is effectually, provided
there be no one else legally heir.
;

To descendants who are under the age of puberty and

subject to potestas, whether they be born or after-born,

7.
still

their ascendants can substitute heirs in two ways, viz. either

in the form prescribed for making a substituted heir to ex-

traneous heirs, so that

heirs the substitute shall

if

the descendants do not

become

so that the substitute shall

heir

become

become

or in a special manner,
heir in case those who

DIGEST OF

ROMAN LAW

381

have been made heirs should die under the age of puberty
and after their ascendants' death. 8. Ascendants are allowed

to make substitutions even to disinherited children.

9.
person cannot substitute anybody as heir to a son under years
of puberty except he have previously instituted as heir to
himself either that son or some other one else.

may have made their

even without any legal
form. For by certain Imperial Constitutions they have been
privileged to declare their intentions as they will and as they
can.
But where a soldier has made a testament contrary to
the rule of law, it is only valid if he have died either on
service or within a year after his discharge.
10.

In whatever

manner

soldiers

testaments, they are valid, that

On

XXIV.
1.

legacy

form, that

made

is,

is

is,

Legacies

is left by testament in legal

For those bequests which are

that which

imperatively.

precatively are called Udeicommissa.

Now we make legacies in four ways: by vindicatio,

by damnatio, ' sinendi modo," by praeceptio. 3. We give a
legacy by vindication in these words : " I give and bequeath,"
"acquire," "take," "have for himself;" 4. by damnation in
these words " Let my heir be bound to give," " give," " do,"
" I order my heir to give " 5. by form of sufferance thus
"Let my heir be bound to suffer Lucius Titius to take that
thing and to have it for himself;" 6. by praeception, thus:
" Let Lucius Titius first take that thing."
7. By vindication those things can be left in legacy which
were the testator's property in Quiritary right at both times,
i. e. at the time of his death and at the time when he made
his testament, unless they are dependent on weight, number
or measure; for as to these it is sufficient if they were the
2.

testator's property in Quiritary right at the time of his death

only.

8.

All things can be left by damnation, even those

which are not the

as can be given.

testator's, provided,
9.

free

the populus, or a thing that

however, they are such

man, or anything belonging to

is

sacred, or religious, cannot

be legacied even by damnation, because

it

cannot be given.

ULPIAN

382
lo.

By form of

sufferance things belonging to the testator

himself or his heir can be legacied. ii. Anything capable of

being legacied by vindication can be legacied also by praeception.

Where

no.

a thing that

was not

the testator's property

by Quiritary title at both (the above-mentioned) times has

been left by vindication, though by the civil law the legacy
is not valid, yet it is upheld by the senatus-consultum Neronianiim; in which it was enacted that when a legacy is made
by inapt words it shall be the same as if it had been made in
the most advantageous form, and the most advantageous form
of legacy

is

that by damnation.

Where

the same thing has been left to two persons

by vindication, whether jointly, as "I give and bequeath to
Titius and Seius my slave Stichus," or severally, as for instance, " I give and bequeath to Titius my slave Stichus, I
give and bequeath the same slave to Seius " half goes to each,
if they join in accepting; but in the case of one not accepting,
his part used to accrue to the other according to the civil law
but since the passing the lex Papia Poppaea, the share of him
who does not take becomes a lapse. 13. Where the same
thing has been left by damnation to two persons, if it be
jointly, then half is due to each (and the share of the one
who did not take used to remain the inheritance according
to the civil law, but now becomes a lapse) but if it be severally, then the whole is due them individually.
In the case of an optional legacy being given by way
14.
of vindication, for instance in the words: "Titius, do thou
choose or select a slave," the selection is with the legatee;
and the rule is also the same if the option be given tacitly, in
this form:
"I give and bequeath a slave to Titius." But
if it be by way of damnation, for instance, " Let my heir be
bound to give a slave to Titius," the heir has a right to elect
12.

what

slave he will give.

No legacy can be inserted before the institution of

the heir, since the whole force and power of a testament start
from the institution of the heir. 16. Also no legacy can be
15.

left (to take effect) after the heir's death, for fear that there
be an appearance of a legacy being made chargeable on the

DIGEST OF

ROMAN LAW

383

heir of the heir, which the principles of the civil law

But a legacy can be

allow.

left

do not

(to take effect) at the time

of the heir's death, as in this form: "When the heir shall

be dying."
legacy cannot be left by way of penalty; and a
17.
legacy is by way of penalty when something is left for the
purpose of constraining the heir to do or not to do an act,
and not for the purpose of giving something to the legatee,^
as for instance in this way: "If thou bestow thy daughter
in marriage on Titius, give 10,000 sesterces to Seius."
legacy cannot be left to an uncertain person; for
18.
instance, thus " Whosoever shall have bestowed his daughter
in marriage on my son, do thou, my heir, give him so many
thousand sesterces."
legacy can however be left to an
uncertain person under a definite description, for instance
thus " Do thou, my heir, give such and such a thing to him

of my

relations

now

existing

who

shall first

come

to

my

funeral."
19.

legacy

is

not rendered ineffectual either by a false

description or by a false consideration.

false description

such as this: "The estate which I bought of Titius I give

.and bequeath to Titius," when in fact the estate was not
bought of Titius.
false consideration is as follows: "I
give and bequeath to Titius that estate, in consideration of his
having managed my business," whereas Titius never had
is

managed
20.

the testator's business.

legacy cannot be charged upon a legatee.

legacy can only be charged upon the person

who

21.

has been

appointed heir in a testament; and therefore if a filius-familias

or a slave be instituted heir, a legacy cannot be charged upon
his father or his master.^ 22. A legacy cannot be left to the
^

This

rule, as well as those in the

tinian abolished

two preceding paragraphs, Jus-

although he retained the rule that heirs could not be

charged with a penalty on non-performance of an impossible, immoral or illegal act.

2 Sc. it cannot be charged upon them, although they get the inheritance by consenting to the son's or slave's acceptance. That this is
the meaning
8.

I.

is

plain from a strikingly analogous dictum in D. 28. 6.

ULPIAN

384

legacy can be left condicharged upon himself.^ 23.

the
potestas, manns or fiianis
under
who
person
tionally to a
that
the question to be asked
heir
so
appointed
cipium of the
the
potestas of the heir at
under
he
is
not
will be whether
legacy can be left
legacy.
24.
the time of vesting of the
person
in
whose
potestas, manus
even without condition to a
heir
is;
if
but
he become heir
or mancipium the appointed
through his means he cannot take the legacy.
Just as separate things can be legacied so can an
25.
aggregate of things, that is to say a share, which species of
legacy is called a "partition;" as for instance in this way:
heir,

" Let
in

my

heir share

and divide

my

which case half the property

Titius

inheritance with Titius

is

'*
;

regarded as legacied to

but of course other shares can be legacied, as a third

or a fourth.
26.
By the civil law a legacy can be left of the usufruct
of any things which admit of their usufruct being enjoyed
without injury to their substance; and this usufruct may
either be of separate things or of several things together.
2y. By a senatus-consultum it was provided that even though

the usufruct legacied be that of things valuable for

tion only, as for

example wine,

oil,

delivered to the legatee, but security

their restitution

when

consump-

corn, the things are to be

must be provided for

the usufruct shall cease to belong to

the legatee.
28. A legacy can be left to any of the civic communities
which exist under the sway of the Roman people;- a privilege
which was introduced by the late emperor Nerva, and was
afterwards more definitely established by the senate at the

instance of Hadrian.

^An example
116.

I.

of the application of this rule

and

is

given in D. 30.

i.

are coheirs of an estate in equal portions, and a

given as a legacy to B, C and D: B's share of that

be one-sixth, C's or D's five-twelvths. For B, C,
conjoin in dividing the moiety of the field which appertained to
specific field is

field will

as heir:

C and D

alone divide; for

cannot have a legacy charged

upon himself, and so as to that moiety the legacy is to C and

only.

^Though an

inheritance cannot, xxii.

5.

DIGEST OF
29.

legacy

codicils confirmed

provided, however, that the

30.

its

385

when given can be adeemed'

same testament, or by
same as of

ROMAN LAW
mode of

its

either by the
by the testament,
ademption be the

bequest.

Legacies do not pass to the heir of the legatee except

the death of the legatee take place after the vesting of the
legacies.

31.

The

vesting of legacies left unconditionally, or

(to be retained) until a certain day, dated

from the death of

the testator under the old jurisprudence; but by the

Lex

Papia Poppaea from the opening of the tablets of the testament; where, however, the legacies are left conditionally, the
vesting dates from the time of the fulfilment of the condition.
The Lex Falcidia forbids more than three-fourths of
32.
inheritance
to be expended in legacies, so that a clear
an
fourth may always remain with the heir.
There is no right of recovering legacies wrongly
33.
paid.

XXV.

On

Fideicommissa.

A Meicommissum is a devise expressed not in strict

phraseology
legal
but by way of request; and does not take
effect by force of the Civil Law, but is given in compliance
with the wish of the person leaving it. 2. The phraseology
of fideicommissa generally employed is such as this: "I commit to your good faith, I ask, I wish to be given," and so
forth. 3. It has been established by usage that a Meicommissum can be given even by a nod. 4. Those who can make
a testament, although they have not made one, can leave a
Udeicommissum: for even a man about to die intestate can
I.

leave a Udeicommissum.

commissum which can

5.

Those things can be

also be left as legacies

left

by

fidei-

"by damna-

Fideicommissa can be given to the same persons

7. Junian Latins can take a
Meicommissum, though they cannot take a legacy. 8. A
Meicommissum can be given both before the institution of
the heir and (to take effect) after the death of the heir, and
also by codicils unconfirmed in a testament; though legacies
cannot be left in this way. 9. Again a Meicommissum written in Greek is valid, though a legacy written in Greek is

tion."

to

6.

whom

legacies can be left.

ULPIAN

386

son of a legatee under his potestas, or his

slave be appointed heir, or if a legacy be left to them, a
Udeicommissum can be charged upon the father or owner
ii.
person who
although a legacy cannot be so charged,
heir
requested
by
can
be
testamentary
has been instituted as
lo. If the

not.

though unconfirmed, to restore the inheritance either

wholly or in part to another, although an heir cannot be
12. The proinstituted directly even by confirmed codicils.
codicils,

cess for recovering

Meicommissa

is

not, like that for lega-

under the jurisdiction of

cies, by formula, but at Rome
the Consuls or of the Praetor called Fideicommissary Praetor;
13. Not even
in the provinces under that of their presidents.
Meicommissa can be given by way of penalty, or to a foreigner or to an uncertain person.
Where a person has been requested to hand over the
14.
inheritance to another, supposing the Lex Falcidia be not in
question, because he has not been asked to hand over more
than three- fourths, he hands it over under the senatus consulturn Trebellianum, so that all actions are granted for and
against him to whom the inheritance has been handed over.
But supposing that the Lex Falcidia does apply, in consequence of his having been requested to hand over more than
three-fourths or even the whole of the inheritance, then he
hands it over under the senatusconsultum Pegasianum, so
that, after the deduction of the fourth, all actions are maintained for and against him who has been appointed heir
falls

whilst he

who

is regarded as being,
of legatee.
If the inheritance have
15.
been handed over under the senatusconsultum Pegasianum,
the method whereby the advantages and disadvantages of
the inheritance are shared between the heir and the person
to whom the residue has been handed over, is by stipulations
being entered into after the model of the stipulations "of

in

the

receives the inheritance

position

and for a part." Now those stipulations are properly called

" of and for a part " which are usually entered into, for the
object of dividing the gain and loss, between the heir and a
partiary legatee,^

For

i.e.

a person with

partitio, see xxiv. 25, above.

whom

the heir

is

ordered

DIGEST OF
to share the inheritance.

ROMAN LAW

387

i6. If the heir declare the inherit-

ance to be ruinous, he is compelled by the Praetor to enter

upon it and hand over the whole, so that all actions may be
granted for and against the person receiving the inheritance,
just as though it had been handed over under the senatusconsultum Trehellianum, and provisions to this effect have
been enacted by the senatusconsultum Pegasianum.
If any one have fraudulently given a secret promise
17.
to hand over a Udeicommissum to a person incapable of taking it, the senate has rtiled that he can neither deduct a
quarter, nor claim a lapse under that testament, supposing
that he has children.^
Liberty can be given by means of a fideicommissum.
18.

XXVI.
1.

first

The

Statutable Heirs

inheritances of intestate free-born persons belong

to their sui heredes, that

potestas and

ants; then,
that

On

is,

if

all

is,

their descendants

under their

other persons in the position of descend-

there be no sui heredes, to the consanguinei,

brothers and sisters begotten of the same father

then,

failing these also, to the other agnates of nearest degree, that

relations of the rnale sex, tracing their descent through

males and of the same family; for this was enacted by a law
of the Twelve Tables in the following words "If any one
die intestate without any suus heres, then let the nearest
agnate have the estate."
If the deceased leave one son and also one grandson,
2.
or even more, born of another son deceased, the inheritance
belongs to them all, not in such manner as to be divided per
capita, but per stirpes, that is, that the surviving son have
one half share and the grandsons, however many, have the
other half: for it is fair that the grandsons should succeed to
their father's place and have that share which their father
would have, were he living.
So long as there is any expectation of a suiis heres
3.
is,

possibly becoming heir, there

is

no place for the agnates, as

^This regulation was made by Antoninus.

ULPIAN

388

where the wife of the deceased

is

pregnant, or his son

is

in

the enemy's hands.

The inheritances of agnates are divided per capita; for
4.
instance, if there be a brother's son and two or more children
of another brother, whatever be the number of persons in
the two branches taken together, the inheritance is divided
into that number of portions, so that each person may take
one. 5. If there be several agnates in the same degree, supposing some of them to be unwilling that the inheritance
should belong to them, or to have died before their entry

upon it, their share accrues to those who have entered; but
if none have done so, the inheritance is not in law transmissible to the next degree, because there is no representation

among

statutable inheritance does not

statutable heirs.
6.
belong to women beyond the degree of consanguineae, therefore a sister becomes statutable heir to her brother or sister,
but a father's sister or a brother's daughter, etc., does not
become statutable heir. 7. According to the law of the Twelve
Tables the inheritance of an intestate mother did not belong
to her descendants, unless the marriage had been with con-

ventio in manum, because women have no sui herdes; but at

a later period the rule was made by an oration of the Emperors Antoninus and Commodus delivered in the senate, that
the statutable inheritances of mothers should belong to their
sons, to the exclusion of the consanguinei and the other ag8. The inheritance of an intestate son does not belong
mother by virtue of any law of the Twelve Tables but
if she have the prerogative of children, which in the case of
a free-born woman is acquired by three, in that of a f reedwoman by four, then she is made statutable heir by virtue of

nates.
to his

the senatusconsultum Tertullianum; provided only that her

son have neither a suus heres nor any one who is called by
the Praetor amongst the sui heredes to the possession of the
goods, nor a father to whom in law the inheritance or the
possession of the goods belongs effectively, nor a brother by

the father's side

but
then the inheritance

mother and

he have a

if
is

sister

by the father's

side,

directed to belong to both (viz. the

this sister).

ROMAN LAW

DIGEST OF
XXVII.

On the

successions (or goods) of Freedmen

inheritance of intestate freedmen belongs

The

I.

389

their sui heredes; then to those

first

whose freedmen they

to

are,

such as their patron or patroness, or their patron's descend2. Should there be a patron and the son of another
ants.
patron, the inheritance belongs to the patron alone. 3. The
son of a patron again is preferred to the grandsons of a
patron.
4. The inheritance of the deceased (freedman) on

going to the descendants of the patron

and not per

5.

The

divisible per capita

is

stirpes.

right of statutable inheritance originating

the law of the Twelve Tables

XXVIII.

On

is lost

by

from

capitis diminutio.^

GIVING Possessions

Possession of goods is granted either in opposition to,

1.
or in accordance with the testamentary directions, or upon an
intestacy.
2.

Bonorum

possessio in opposition to the testament

given to descendants, even

if

emancipated,

is

who have been

passed over in the testament, though by statutable rules the

inheritance does not belong to the latter.
3. Bonorum possessio in opposition to the testamentary dispositions is given

and adopted

to descendants both actual

scendants even

who
alone

and to actual de-

when emancipated, though not

also to those

are in an adopted family; but to those adopted children

who have remained

The Bonorum

in the pot est as

(of the adopter).

granted to emancipated deif they are prepared to give

security to their brothers who have continued under potestas,
that they will bring into the division the property they had
at the death of their father.

4.

possessio

is

scendants by virtue of the Edict,

Bonorum possessio in accordance with the testament5.

ary dispositions is granted to the appointed heirs, provided
there be no one to whom possession belongs in opposition to
the dispositions, or provided none of these wish to claim it.
^

The other

XIV26

statutable inheritances followed the

same

rule.

ULPIAN

390

further if a testament be invalid according to the

Civil Law, because, perhaps, the mancipation of the estate,
or the nuncupation was wanting, still bonorum possessio is
6.

And

granted

if

the testament have been sealed with the seals of

not less than seven witnesses,

Roman

citizens.

Bonorum possessio upon an intestacy is granted

7.
through seven degrees:^ in the first degree to descendants;
in the second to statutable heirs; in the third to the nearest
relations; in the fourth to the family of the patron; in the
fifth to the patron or patroness, and to the descendants or
ascendants of the patron or patroness; in the sixth to the
husband or wife; in the seventh to the relations of the manumittor, who are allowed by the Lex Furia to take more
than one thousand asses; and if there be no one, to whom the
bonorum possessio can belong, or if there be such an one,
but he have abandoned his right, the property devolves upon
the populus by virtue of the Lex Julia concerning lapses. 8.
The bonorum possessio " to descendants " is conferred both
upon those who remained under potestas up to the time of
the ascendant's death, and upon those who have been emancipated; likewise upon those received in adoption, but not upon
those given in adoption. 9. Not only do those persons receive the

bonorum

possessio " as nearest relation,"

who

are

related through a person of the female sex, but also such

agnates as have undergone a capitis diminutio: for although

by the capitis diminutio they have lost the statutable right of
agnation, they still remain relations by nature.

Bonorum possessio is granted to the ascendants and

10.
descendants within one year from the time when they became
able to make their claims; to all other persons within one
11. And when any of these classes have not
their claim within this fixed time, the next degree is

hundred days.

made

admitted, just as if those preceding were non-existent, and

this is the case throughout the seven degrees.
* The first, second, third, and
sixth degrees of intestate succession
here named, form the subject of separate titles of the Digest, viz.

38. 6, 38. 7, 38. 8, 38. II.

fluous by Justinian's

new

The

other degrees were rendered super-

regulations regarding patronage.

DIGEST OF

ROMAN LAW

391

12.
Those to whom bonorum possessio is granted by
virtue of the successory edict are not indeed heirs, but are

by the Praetor's grant placed in the position of heirs; and

therefore whether they are themselves suing or are being
sued, fictitious actions must be employed in which they are
feigned to be heirs.

The grant of bonorum possessio is made either

13.
" with benefit " or " without benefit." With benefit, when the
recipient receives effectively, so that he can retain the property without benefit, when some one else can by help of the
For instance,
Civil Law wrest the inheritance from him.
;

if

there be an heir appointed in a testament, the bonorum

is " without benefit," because this ap-

possessio on intestacy

pointed heir can by his statutable right wrest the inheritance

from the bonorum

XXIX.

possessor.

On the

Property of Freedmen

law of the Twelve Tables confers the inheritance of

citizen freedman upon the patron, where the freeddied intestate without leaving a suus heres: and
therefore if he either die after making a testament, although
leaving no suus heres, or die intestate, and leave a suus heres,
even one not connected by birth, but a wife, for instance,
who has been under his maniis, or an adopted son, the law
above-mentioned grants nothing to the patron. But by virtue
of the Praetor's edict if, on the one hand, the freedman die
testate, bequeathing nothing or less than half to his patron,
possession of one half of the goods is granted to the patron
in spite of the testamentary directions, unless the freedman
leave as his successor some one of his actual descendants;
and if, on the other hand, he die intestate and leave, say,
a wife under manus, or an adopted son, possession of one
half of the goods is in the same way granted to the patron
I.

Roman
man has

2. No rights over the

goods of a freed woman are bestowed upon a patron by the
Edict; therefore if, on the one hand, she die testate, the
patron has no rights beyond those given him in the testament, which he as guardian authorized; and if, on the other

to the detriment of the sui heredes.

ULPIAN

392

hand, she die intestate, the inheritance always belongs to

him, although she may have descendants, for these, not being
sui heredes to their mother, do not stand in the patron's way.
Poppaea afterwards exempted f reed3. The Lex Papia

women from
children,

and having established the

thenceforth
tion,

it

the tutelage of patrons, by prerogative of four

make testaments without

rule

that

they could

the patron's authoriza-

provided that a proportionate share of the freed-

woman's property should be due to the patron, dependent

4. The male
on the number of her surviving children.
descendants of a patron have the same rights over the goods
of the freedmen of their ascendants as the patron himself
has.
5. Under the law of the Twelve Tables female descendants have just as much right as male descendants of
patrons, but

bonorum

possessio does not appertain to

them

either in opposition to the testamentary directions of a freed-

man, or on his intestacy as against those sui heredes who are

not such by blood; yet if they have obtained the prerogative
of three children, they acquire these rights also by virtue of
the Lex Papia Poppaea.
Patronesses used to have only such rights over their
6.
freedmen's property as the law of the Twelve Tables established; the

Lex Papia Poppaea, however, afterwards gave

to a patroness of free-birth enjoying the privilege of

two
and to a freedwoman enjoying that of three, the
same rights that the patron has under the Edict.^ 7. So too,
the same lex gave to a womaji of free-birth enjoying the
privilege of three children all the rights which it conferred
upon the patron himself.
children,

^ Gaius says that the Lex Papia Poppaea did not give to a freeborn patroness having two children or to a freedwoman patroness
having three children the full rights of a patron, but eadem fere

jura, allowing the complete rights only to a free-born patroness having three, or a freedwoman patroness having four children. This
agrees with Ulpian's statement that the one class had only the rights

under the Edict, the other the rights under the Lex Papia Poppaea.

APPENDIX
EARLY ROMAN INSTITUTIONSTHE
TWELVE TABLES
BY W.

A.

HUNTER,

M.A., LL.D.

EARLY ROMAN INSTITUTIONS

After

the expulsion of the kings (b.c. 509) the sovereign

power of the Roman state was vested in the comitia centuriata,
The Assembly of the Centuries. It elected the chief magis-

through them, the senate)

decided questions of peace and war, and

trates (and, indirectly

laws

it

court of final appeal in capital cases.

embraced the whole body of the

The

passed the

it

it

formed a

comitia centuriata

citizens, plebeian as well as

patrician, each voting according to his census

the appearance of political equality, the

but, in spite of

power lay

really with

For measures submitted to the comitia centuduring the next century and a half could not pass into

the patricians.
riata

law without patrician or senatorial sanction.

In place of the king there were now elected by the comitia
centuriata two chief magistrates. Down to b.c. 449 these were
called

Indeed,

("leaders")

prcetores

leagues").
it

Naturally, at

was not

to this office.

As

first,

until b.c.

after
that consules ("colthey were of patrician rank.

366 that a plebeian was elected

and tyran-

security against a return to regal

nical government these praetors or consuls held office only for

one year, and, although each possessed supreme power, neither
could act alone in opposition to the will of his colleague. Their
powers were the powers of the kings, more or less modified;
but, as time went on, mfiny of the original functions of the
consuls were distributed \o other officials, and curtailed by the

rising influence of the plebeians.

The

priestly functions of the king

were

at once transferred

to a special officer, thi rex sacrorum, or rex sacrijicuhis, in

whose nomination the consuls had no

393

voice,

and who was ex-

APPENDIX

394

eluded from

all political offices,

and

officially

subordinated to

the pontifix maximiis, or high priest, an office retained from

the monarchy. This relegation, however, was no loss of power
to the chief magistrates,
ligion to

who were always

what they considered

able to bend re-

to be the true service of the

state.

The consuls were invested with supreme military power.

As civil heads of the state they convoked the senate and
comitia centuriata, conducted the business of their meetings,
and directed the executive administration.

but

In international business the consuls represented the state,

all their agreements required the sanction of the senate.
As judges, the consuls administered justice, both in civil

and

in

criminal cases, to patricians and plebeians equally,

either in person or through delegates.

But

in capital cases,

while plebeians were tried by the consuls, patricians were tried

before the comitia cenhiriata; the plebeians, however, had the

from

judgment of the consuls and, at a

might interpose on their behalf.
The charge of the state-chest and of the state-archives de-

right of appeal

the

later time, the tribunes

volved on the qiiccstores, quaestors, who now became regular

annual magistrates. Later, the office of prcetor was established, to which the judicial functions of the consuls were deleThe establishment of the office of censor relieved the
gated.
consuls of other functions.

In connection with their

own

official business,

the consuls

which were recognised as valid during their term of office. These edicts were
often retained, with modifications, by succeeding consuls, and
this led to a rapid development of law as an organic system.
The senate remained for a long time a purely patrician
body; a whole century had elapsed after the foundation of
issued proclamations, or orders {edicta),

the republic before

we

find a single plebeian in this assembly.

had no independent legislative or executive power, but was

simply an administrative council appointed, convened, and presided over by the consuls. "Yet," says Ihne in his Roman History, "owing to the annual change of consuls, and the great influence which the senate, as a permanent body, exercised on the
It

election of consuls, the practical result was, that, in all essen-

EARLY ROMAN INSTITUTIONS

395

and important questions, the senate decided the policy

which the consuls had no alternative but to adopt."

tial

In usual course, the consul laid a proposition before the

senate, which, after discussion, adopted a resolution (senatus-

considtiim) on the subject.

This the consul laid before the

by these representatives of the
people, it returned to the senate, whose confirmation (patrum
ouctoritas) gave it the force of law.
In 508 B.C., the year following the establishment of the
republic, the consul P. Valerius Publicola secured the enactment of certain important laws suggested by the circumstances
of the revolution. One devoted to the infernal gods the person
and property of anyone who should attempt to obtain royal
power. Another secured to every citizen the right of appeal
to the comitia centuriata from a sentence of death or scourging
pronounced by a magistrate (that is, in the first instance, a
consul).
This Valerian law of appeal has been called the
Roman Habeas Corpus Act. This law, however, did not apply
to strangers or to slaves it did not interfere with the power
of the house-father and it did not operate beyond a mile from
If approved

comitia centuriata.

the

city.

494 the plebeians wrung from the patricians the

two special plebeian officers
In B.C. 471 the number of
called Tribunes of the Plebeians.
tribunes was increased to five, and in B.C. 457 to ten. From
B.C. 471 they were elected in accordance with the lex Publilia
by the comitia trihuta, Assembly of the Tribes, a popular as-

About

B.C.

right of legal protection through

sembly which, originally open to patricians as well as plebeians,

had been ignored by the patricians, who were now (b.c. 471)
definitely excluded.
From this time on it passed resolutions
upon other than local questions, which, while not of legal
effect, had great moral force as expressing the will of the
populace.

The tribunes had no military or other secular means of

enforcing their orders, except the services of a single messenger {viator). But the office and person of the tribune were
guarded by the strongest sanctions of religion. Originally the
sole function of the tribunes
justice.

was

to protect plebeians

from

in-

This they accomplished by pronouncing the word

APPENDIX

3%

Veto, "I forbid." To this veto even the consul had to submit.
However, any one tribune might veto the order of a fellow
tribune.

The

tribunes at

first

were only privileged

to

watch the

proceedings of the senate, sitting on benches outside the door

of the senate-house; later they found entrance and liberty to
address the house.
The doors of the tribunes' houses stood open day and night,
to afford unimpeded access to plebeians requiring their aid.

Their power ceased at the first milestone from the city.

At the same time as the tribunes were first elected two
ccdiles were appointed as their assistants, bearing a similar relation to them to that borne to the consuls by the quaestors.
They had charge of the resolutions of the comitia tributa,
They also
and, after B.C. 446, of the decrees of the senate.
possessed inferior judicial powers, extending to the imposition
of

fines.

452 ten commissioners {decemviri) were appointed

power to compile a complete
Next year (e.g. 451) these decemvirs took
code of laws.
All the ten were
office, all other magistracies being suspended.
patricians, the plebeians, according to Mommsen and Ihne, having been tricked out of representation on the board. Each commissioner administered the government in turn for a single day.
They drew up a body of laws, which was approved by the
senate and the comitia centuriata, and was straightway set forth
in public on ten tables of bronze.
The decemviral form of government was continued for
another year. The plebeians secured representation on the new
board, which prepared additional laws.
These were rejected
by the patrician senate and comitia centuriata.
In B.C. 449 the decemvirate passed out of power, and the
dual system of consulship and tribuneship was reestablished.
The new consuls, Valerius and Horatius, immediately drew up
two tables of laws no doubt the additional laws of the decemvirs, more or less modified
which were duly passed and
In

B.C.

for one year with sole and supreme

published.

The ten sections of the decemviral laws, and the two sections of the consular (Valerian-Horatian) laws constitute the

EARLY ROMAN INSTITUTIONS

397

famous Laws of the Twelve Tables. They are the foundation

of the whole Roman Law. Except in a few points, general prinThe style is most rugged and conciples alone are set forth.
and sternly imperative.
Says Stephen in his History of the Criminal

cise, direct

land

"The

Law

of Eng-

excessive curtness of these provisions implies the

existence of an

all

but unlimited discretion in those

We

to administer the law.

that in ancient

Rome

know

the courts

indeed,

who had

from other

and magistrates

sources,

practically

their own laws to a great extent. The laws of the Twelve

Tables were of less importance in the history of the development of Roman law than the institutions by which they were

made

carried into execution."

The following

is

the substance of the Tables

THE TWELVE TABLES

Table

I.

Proceedings Preliminary to Trial.

If the complainant

1.

magistrate, he shall

go

if

summon the defendant before the

he do not go, the plaintiff may call a

bystander to witness, and take him by force.

If the defendant attempt evasion or flight, the complain-

2.

ant

may

lay hands

upon him.

by sickness or old age,

conveyance;
but he need not
complainant
shall
provide
the
a
provide a covered carriage, unless he choose.
3. If the defendant be prevented

freeholder (or taxpayer, or man whose fortune is

4.
valued at not less than 1500 ases) shall find a freeholder (or
taxpayer) as vindex or surety (for his appearance at trial);
a proletary (or man of less fortune) shall find such surety as

he can.
5.

Where

tiff shall

ties

come
6.

the parties agree (as to preliminaries), the plain-

open

his case at once.

to terms,

let

If the parties

[Otherwise:

Where

the par-

the matter be settled.]

do not agree, the plaintiff shall state his

forum before midday. Let both

case in the comitium or in the

and argue out the matter together.

one of the parties has not appeared by midday, the

parties appear,
7.

If

APPENDIX

398

magistrate shall then give judgment in favour of the party that

has appeared.
8. If both have appeared, at sunset the court shall rise.
9. Both parties shall enter into recognisances for their re-

appearance (vades, suhvades).

Table

II.

The

Trial.

The amount of the stake to be deposited by each litigant

be either 500 ases or 50 ases; 500 when the subject of
dispute is valued at 1000 or upwards, 50 when at less than
But when the subject of dispute is the freedom of a
1000.
1.

shall

man, then, however valuable the

man may

be, the deposit shall

be only 50 ases.
2. A dangerous illness, or a day appointed for the hearing
which an alien is a party. ... If any of these circumstances
occur to a judex or to an arbiter, or to a party, the cause shall
be
3. A party that is in want of a witness, shall go and cry
aloud at the door of his house, thus summoning him to attend
on the third market day following.
4. Theft may be the subject of compromise.

in

Table

III.

Execution.

1. In the case of an admitted debt or of awards made by

judgment, 30 days shall be allowed for payment.
2. In default of payment, after these 30 days of grace
have elapsed, the debtor may be arrested [or proceeded against
by the action of maniis injectio], and brought before the mag-

istrate.
3. Unless the debtor discharge the debt, or someone come
forward in court to guarantee payment, the creditor may take
the debtor away with him, and bind him with thongs or with
fetters, the weight of which shall not be more (but, if the creditor choose, may be less) than 15 pounds.
4. The debtor may, if he choose, live on his own means.
Otherwise the creditor that has him in bonds shall give him a
pound of bread a day, or, if he choose, more.
5. In default of settlement of the claim, the debtor may be
kept in bonds for 60 days.
In the course of this period he

THE TWELVE TABLES

399

brought before the praetor in the comitium on three

amount of the debt shall be
publicly declared. After the third market day the debtor may
be punished with death or sold beyond the Tiber.
6. After the third market day the creditors may cut their
several portions of his body; and anyone that cuts more or
less than his just share shall be guiltless.
shall be

successive market days, and the

Table IV.
1.

2.

Patria Potestas.

Monstrous or deformed offspring may be put to death.^

father shall, during his whole life, have absolute

The

power over

his legitimate children.

He may

imprison the son,

scourge him, or keep him working in the fields in fetters, or

put him to death, even if the son held the highest offices of
state,

also

and were celebrated for

sell

his public services.

He may

the son.

3. But if the father sell the son a third time, the son shall
be free from his father.
4. A child born within ten months of the death of the
mother's husband shall be held legitimate.

Table V.
1.

All

women

Inheritance and Tutelage.

shall be

under the authority of a guardian;

but the vestal virgins are free from tutelage.

2. The mancipable things belonging to a woman that is
under the tutelage of her agnates are not subject to usuca-

pion, unless she herself deliver possession of

them with the

authority of her tutor.

3.

The

provisions of the will of a paterfamilias concerning

his property
4.

and the tutelage of

his family, shall be law.

If the paterfamilias die intestate

and without suns

heres,

his nearest agnate shall succeed.

5.

Failing an agnate, the gentiles shall succeed.

In default of a testamentary tutor, the male agnates

be tutors by operation of law.

6.

shall

Dion., 2, 15, says the law of

should

first

be shown to

five

prove of the course proposed.

Romulus required

that such offspring

neighbours, and that these should ap-

APPENDIX

400

control his actions, or is prodigal, his

7. If a man cannot
person and his property shall be under the power of his agnates, and, in default of these, of his gentiles ... if he has

no curator.
If a

8.

freedman die

intestate,

and without

sum

heres, his

patron shall succeed.

divided among
9. Debts due to or by a deceased person are
his co-successors, by mere operation of law, in proportion to
their shares in the inheritance.

The

10.

rest

of the succession

is

divided

among

the co-

successors by the action families erciscundce.

slave freed by will, upon condition of giving a cer11.

sum

tain

may,

to the heir,

in the

the heir, obtain his freedom by

event of being alienated by

payment of

this

sum

to the

alienee.

Table VI.

Ownership and Possession.

1. The legal effect of every contract, and of every conveyance (made with the money and the scales) shall rest upon

the declarations
2.

Anyone

made

in the transaction.

that refuses to stand by such declarations shall

pay a penalty of double damages.

3.

prescriptive

title is

acquired after two years' posses-

sion in the case of realty; after one year's possession in the

case of other property.

4. If a wife (not married by confarreatio or coemtio)
wishes to avoid subjection to the hand of her husband by
usucapion, she shall absent herself for a space of three nights
in each year from his house, and thus break the usus of each

year.
5.
title

No

length of possession by an alien can vest in

to property as against a

Roman

him a

citizen.

6. In the case where parties plead by joining their hands

on the disputed property, in the presence of the magistrate

[the actual possessor shall retain provisional possession

when

is

but,

a question of personal freedom], the magistrate

award provisional possession in favour of liberty (that is,

favour of the party that asserts the man's freedom).
7. If a man finds that his timber has been used by another

shall

in

it

THE TWELVE TABLES

or for the support of vines, he shall not

in building a house,

remove it.
8. But he

shall

for double

value.

9.

its

Between the

401

have a right of action against the other

first

pruning and the vintage [the owner

may not recover the timber by vindicatio?]. [Otherwise:

And when they become separated, then they may be claimed
by the owner.]
10. Things sold and delivered

shall not

become the prop-

erty of the vendee until he has paid or otherwise satisfied the

vendor.
11. Conveyance by bronze and scales {mancipatio)
surrender in court {in jure cessio) are confirmed.

Table VI L
1.

A clear

every house.

and

Real Property Law.

space of two feet and a half shall be left around

[That

is

to say, every

two houses must stand

at

least five feet apart.]

2. Boundaries shall be regulated (according to the commentary of Gains) by the provisions of Solon's Athenian
code [if a man plants a fence between his own land and his
neighbour's, he shall not go beyond the boundary line; if he
builds a wall, he must leave a foot of space; if a house, two
feet if he digs a ditch or a trench, he must leave a space equal
:

in breadth to the depth of the ditch or trench; if a well, six

feet;

and

olives

and

fig-trees

may

not be placed within nine

nor other trees within five feet].

Conditions relating to villas, farms, and country cot-

feet of a neighbour's land,

3.

tages.
4. A space of five feet between adjoining lands shall not
be liable to usucapion.
5. For the settlement of disputes as to boundaries, three

arbiters shall be appointed.

6.
is

The breadth of road over which

eight feet in the straight,

7.

The neighbouring

able; but

if it

there

may

is

right of

way

feet at the bends.

proprietors shall

be impassable, one

hicle across the land

8.

and sixteen

make

the road pass-

drive one's beast or ve-

wherever one chooses.

If one's property

is

threatened with

damage from

rain-

APPENDIX

402

artificially diverted from its natural chanowner may bring an action aquce pluvicB arcetidcc, and
exact compensation for any damage his property may sustain,
9. The branches of trees that overshadow adjoining land
shall be lopped to a height of fifteen feet from the ground.
10. Fruit that falls from one's trees upon a neighbour's
land may be collected by the owner of the tree.

water that has been

nels, the

Table VIII.
1.

Whoever

shall publish a libel

Torts.

that

is

to say, shall write

verses imputing crime or immorality to anyone

shall be beaten

to death with clubs.

2.

If a

man

break another's limb, and do not compromise

the injury, he shall be liable to retaliation.

3. For breaking a bone of a freeman, the penalty shall be
300 ases; of a slave, 150 ases.
4. For personal injury or affront, 25 ases.
[On the
5. [Accidental] damage must be compensated.
whole of this subject see Sell, Die Actio de rupitiis sarciendis
der XII. Tafcln. This provision was followed up by the Lex

Aquilia.]
6.

land,

quadruped that has done damage on a neighbour's

up to the aggrieved party, unless the

shall be given

owner of
7.

He

liable to

it

make compensation.

that pastures his animals

an

on a neighbour's land

is

action.

A man shall not remove his neighbour's crops to another

by incantations, nor conjure away his corn.
9. For a person of the age of puberty to depasture or cut
down a neighbour's crop by stealth in the night, shall be a
capital crime, the culprit to be devoted to Ceres and hanged
but if the culprit be under the age of puberty, he shall be
scourged at the discretion of the magistrate, and be condemned
to pay double the value of the damage done.
8.

field

10. If a man wilfully set fire to a house, or to a stack of

corn set up near a house, he shall be bound, scourged, and
burned alive; if the fire rose through accident, that is, through

negligence, he shall
shall

make compensation,

undergo a moderate punishment.

and,

if

too poor, he

THE TWELVE TABLES

403

11. If a man wrongfully fell his neighbour's trees, he shall

pay a penalty of 25 ases in respect of each tree.
12. A person committing theft in the night may lawfully

be

killed.

13. But in the day-time a thief

he defend himself with a weapon.

14.

committed

If theft be

may

not be

in the day-time,

killed, unless

and

if

the thief

be taken in the fact, and do not defend himself with a weapon,

then, if a freeman, he shall be scourged

bondsman

to the person robbed

if

and adjudged as a

a slave, he shall be scourged

A boy under puberty

scourged at the discretion of the praetor, and made to
compensate for the theft.
and hurled from the Tarpeian rock.
shall be

person that searches for stolen property on the premof another, without the latter's consent, shall search naked,
wearing nothing but a girdle, and holding a plate in his hands
and if any stolen property is thus discovered, the person in
15.

ises

possession of

it

stolen property

a thief taken in the fact. When

searched for by consent in the presence of

shall be held as
is

witnesses (without the girdle and plate), and found in a person's possession, the

owner can recover by action of furti

on whose premises it is found, and

concepti against the person

the latter can recover by action furti ohlati against the person

who brought

it

on

his premises, three times the value of the

thing stolen.
16. For theft not discovered in commission, the penalty
double the value of the property stolen.
1

7.

Title to property in stolen

is

goods cannot be acquired by

prescription.
18.

usurer exacting higher interest than the legal rate

annum is liable to fourfold damages.

of ten per cent, per

19.

fraudulent bailee shall pay double the value of the

deposit.

20.

Any

citizen

may

bring an action for the removal of a

tutor suspected of maladministration, and the penalty shall be

double the value of the property stolen.

21.

patron that wrongs his client shall be devoted to the

infernal gods.

APPENDIX

404
22. If

anyone that has consented to be a witness, or has

acted as scale-bearer (in mancipation), refuses to give his evidence, he shall be infamous and incapable of giving evidence,

or of having evidence given on his behalf.

23. False w^itnesses shall be hurled from the Tarpeian rock.
24. If one kill another accidentally, he shall atone for the
deed by providing a ram to be sacrificed in place of him.^
25. For practicing incantations or administering poison-

ous drugs [the penalty shall be death].

26. Seditious gatherings in the city during the night are
forbidden.

may adopt whatever rules they

provided such rules be not inconsistent with public law.

27. Associations (or clubs)

please,

Table IX.
1.

No

2.

The assembly of

Public Law.

laws shall be proposed affecting individuals only.

the centuries alone may pass laws af-

fecting the caput of a citizen.

3.

a case,

A judex or arbiter, appointed by the magistrate to decide

if

guilty of accepting a bribe, shall be punished with

death.
4.

Provisions relating to the quaestors (or court appointed

right of appeal

There shall be a
from every decision of a judex {judicium ) and

for the investigation of cases) of homicide.

from every penal sentence {poena).

5.

Whoever

stirs

up an enemy against the

state,

or be-

trays a citizen to an enemy, shall be punished capitally.

6. No one
and sentence.

shall be put to death, except after

Table X.
1.

formal

trial

Sacred Law.

A dead body shall not be buried or burnt within the city.

More than this shall not be done. The

funeral pile shall not be smoothed with the axe.
2.

wood of

the

^'To depasture one's crops by stealth was a capital crime by the

Twelve Tables a more severe punishment than was inflicted in case
of homicide."

Pliny, Hist. Nat., 18, 3, 12.

Compare Table VIII,

9.

THE TWELVE TABLES

405

3. Not more than three mourners wearing ricinia/ one

wearing a small tunic of purple, and ten flute-players may at-

tend the funeral.

4.

Women

shall

not tear

their

cheeks,

nor indulge

in

wailing.
5.

The bones of

a dead person shall not be preserved for

later burial, unless he died in battle or in a foreign country.

6.

Regulations regarding [prohibiting?] unction, drinking

expensive hbations (of wine perfumed with

(banquets),

myrrh), chaplets, and incense boxes.

7. But if the deceased has gained a chaplet, by the achievements either of himself or of his slaves or his horses, he or his
parents may legitimately wear such, in virtue of his honour and
valour [while the corpse is lying within the house or is being
borne to the sepulchre].
8. No person shall have more than one funeral, or more
than one bier.
9. Gold shall not be burned or buried with the dead, except such gold as the teeth have been fastened with.
10. A funeral pile or sepulchre for burning the corpse shall
not be erected within sixty feet of another man's house, except
with his consent.
11. Neither a sepulchre for burning nor
be acquired by usucapion.

Table
'

I,

XL

vestibule can

Supplementary.

Patricians shall not intermarry with plebeians.

Table XIL
1.

its

An

Supplementary.

action of distress shall

lie,

on default of payment

against the purchaser of a victim, and also against the hirer

of a beast of burden that has been lent for the purpose of

raising
2.

money

on a sacrifice.
commit a theft, or do any other injury, the
an alternative to paying the damages assessed,

to spend

If a slave

master may, as

surrender the delinquent.

' Riciniiim, a small square sheet of woolen cloth, doubled and wrapped
over the head and shoulders; a mourning dress assumed more especially by females.

XIV 27

APPENDIX

406

obtain possession of a thing that

3 If anyone wrongfully
litigation,' the magistrate shall appoint three
is the subject of
and, on their adverse action,
arbiters to decide the ownership;
pay as compensation double the
the fraudulent possessor shall
of the thing in question.
value of the temporaiy possession
litigation
thing whose ownership is the subject of
4.
penalty
a
under
purposes,
religious
shall not be consecrated to

of double
5.

its

value.

The most

inconsistent with

recent law repeals

it.

all

previous laws that are

'^^SaH^ REGIONAL UBRA=

OOP 140 796