1 Earliest Rome

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6.8 Conflict and opposition 6.8 Conflict and opposition The central position of animal sacrifice throughout Roman paganism made it a highly charged marker of the conflict between paganism and Christianity. The Christians' complete rejection of sacrifice set them apart from other religions of the Roman empire, all of whom accepted sacrifice in some form or other. See further: Vol 1, 226, 239-41, 374-5; Young (1979) 79-96; R. P. C. Hanson (1980) 913-18*; R. L. Gordon (1990c). 6.8a The folly of animal sacrifice Arnobius, Against the Gentiles VII.9 In this passage Arnobius pillories the cruelty, illogicality and unfairness (what after all had the animal done to deserve it?) of killing animals to honour the gods or expiate human crimes. Although writing from an explicitly Christian standpoint, Arnobius draws on long-standing debates within Greek and Roman philosophy: how far, for example, did the lack of 'rationality' in the animal justify its killing? See further: on the character of Arnobius' attack on paganism, Liebeschuetz (1979) 254-60*; on pagan philosophical discussion of sacrifice, Attridge (1978). Imagine that some ox, or any other animal you like, that is being slaughtered to placate and assuage the fury of the gods, were to take on a human voice and speak in these words: 'How is it Jupiter (or whatever other god you are) that it is right and proper, or to be reckoned at all fair, that when someone else has committed a sin, it is me that is put to death, and that it is from my blood that you accept reparation - when I never hurt you, when I never knowingly or unknowingly violated your divinity and majesty, a dumb animal as you know, just following my guileless nature, not a fickle trickster, full of deceit? Did /ever celebrate your games without proper care and scruple? Did /ever drive a dancer through the circus before they started, to dishonour your majesty? 1 Did /ever swear falsely by you? Did /ever commit unholy theft, seizing your property or despoiling your treasure houses? Did /ever uproot your most sacred groves, or pollute and desecrate any holy sites with my own private buildings? So whatever is the reason that a crime that is not mine is to be paid for with my blood, that for someone else's sin my innocent life is to be led to the altar? Or is it the fact that I am a worthless animal, with no rationality or reason, as those who call themselves 'humans' claim, those who surpass the beasts in their savagery? Surely the same nature, with the self same elements, brought me too into being, gave me my form? Surely there is a single life breath that rules both me and them? Is it not according to the same principles that I breathe and see and am endowed with the other senses? They have livers, lungs, hearts, intestines, bellies. And is not exactly the 163
6. S A C R I F I C E S same number of limbs assigned to me as to them? They love their offspring and they join in union to bring forth children. But do not I too have the desire to bear offspring to succeed me, and do not I too take pleasure in them when they have been born? But they are rational beings and utter articulate speech. Yet how do they know whether I too do what I do according to my own rationality, and whether that sound I make is the language of my species and is understood by us alone?' 1. A reference to a story told later in the book: how Jupiter was said to have been angered when a slave (ironically called a 'dancer') was dragged through the circus before the start of the games. 6.8b Refusal to sacrifice Their willingness to perform sacrifice came to be used as a key test of Christians during the persecutions. In this passage Perpetua, a recently converted Christian woman from North Africa, describes her trial (A.D. 203) - and how she was urged by both her father and a Roman magistrate to sacrifice and so avoid the death penalty. See further: Vol. 1, 237-8; on the martyrdom of Perpetua in particular, Barnes (1971) 71-80*; Lefkowitz (1981) 53-8; Kraemer (1992) 159-61*; Shaw (1993); for the dreams of Perpetua, see 7.9b; for the anniversary of the martyrdom, 3.6. The Martyrdom ofSts Perpetua and Felicitas 6 One day when we were having breakfast 1 we wete suddenly rushed off for a hearing. We came to the to rum and straightaway the news travelled all round the parts of the town near the forum and a huge crowd assembled. We stepped up onto the platform. The others were questioned and confessed their faith. Then it came to my turn. And my father appeared straightaway with my son and dragged me from the steps, saying: 'Perform the sacrifice. Have pity on your baby' And Hilarianus, the procurator, who had then taken over the right to try capital crimes in place of the late governor Minucius Timinianus, 2 said to me: 'Have compassion for the white hairs of your father; have compassion for your baby boy. Perform the sacrifice for the well-being of the emperors.' 3 And I replied: Tm not doing it.' 'Are you a Christian?' Hilarianus said. And I replied: 'I am a Christian.' And when my father went on trying to sway me from my resolve, Hilarianus gave orders for him to be thrown to the ground and beaten with a rod. And I grieved for my father as if it was me that had been beaten; I grieved for his miserable old age. Then Hilarianus proclaimed sentence on all of us and he condemned us to the beasts; and joyfully we went back down to our prison." 1 164 1. That is, in the prison where they bad been taken prior to trial. 2. Hilarianus, a junior olficial {procurator) in the province of Africa, had taken over the responsibilities of the governor who had died in office. 3. There is no question here of her being asked to perform sacrifice to the emperor (treat-
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VOLUME 2 A Sourcebook M A R Y BEARD
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Acknowledgements We would like to e
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Judaism and Christianity) whose ori
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Preface xii the religion of early R
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Conventions and abbreviations XIV I
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I EARLIEST ROME 2 Scullard (1981) 1
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1 EARLIEST ROME Ovid, Fasti n.639-4
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2 The deities of Rome 26 Throughout
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348 Paul and Peter pray for Victor.
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decemviri (sacris faciundis) see qu
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Deities and their epithets 370 Fort
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Bibliography 372 Cassius Dio, Roman
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Paul, Opinions: this work, compiled
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Attridge, H. W. (1978) 'The philoso
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Bibliography 378 Politics in the He
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Cameron, Averil (1969) 'Perronius a
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Bibliography 382 de See. Croix, G.
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Frickel, J. ( 1984) Hellenistische
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Gruen, E. S. (1990) Studies in Gree
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Kirsch, J. P. (1924) Der stadtrömi
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Bibliography 390 Long, A. A. (1974)
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Bibliography 392 Nock, A. D. (1925)
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Potter, D. (1991) Prophecy and Hist
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(1992) 'The religious roles of Roma
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Syme, R. (1978) 'Thepomerium'm the
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Walker, S. and Burnett, A. (1981) T
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Details of illustrations 1.5b(ii) L
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Detaih ofillustrations 404 6. If Re
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Gaius, Institutes ll. 1—11: 10.4c
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CI/72, 476, 523: 12.6d CILl 2 . 101
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General index festivals, sacrifices
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