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Cyprian
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Introductory Notice to Cyprian.
[3401] [On the Amen see Elucidation V. See vol. i. p. 186.]
Treatise V. An Address to Demetrianus.
[3402] [Written a.d. 252.]
[3403] Next, having reproached him with the unaccustomed kinds of tortures with which he tormented the Christians more severely than any other criminals, not for the purpose of making them confess, but of making them deny their faith, he shows the impotence of the gods,—as well because they themselves cannot defend themselves, and so Demetrianus, who pretended to avenge them, should rather be worshipped by them, than himself worship them;—as because, when expelled by Christians from possessed bodies, they themselves confess what they are. Nor indeed must the fall of kings, the destruction of property, and such like evils which accompanied the persecutions of Christians as a punishment from Heaven, be judged not to be punishments, because they were shared by the Christians themselves; inasmuch as all these things are a joy to them rather than a punishment. Accordingly, while there is time, he urges him to return to a better mind, or at least to dread the judgment and an ever burning fiery Gehenna. In this tract Cyprian partly imitates Tertullian’s Apology and his treatise to Scapula, partly the Octavius of Minucius Felix.
[3404] Some add, “and name.”
[3408] [Elucidation VI. See Commodian, vol. iv. 219.]
[3409] [Wisd. v. 13.]
[3415] Jer. ii. 30. [Compare Aug., City of God, passim.]
[3417] Some read, “But you do not serve God, by whom all things are ordained to your service; you do not wait upon Him,” etc.
[3418] [“Æquali jure et pari lege.” This would have furnished ground for Jefferson’s famous sentence in the American Declaration of Independence. See also Franklin’s sentiment, vol. i. p. 552, note 9. There is a very remarkable passage in Massillon which might have engendered the French Revolution had it been known to the people. See Petit Carême, On Palm Sunday, p. 189, etc., ed. 1745.]
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