1 Earliest Rome

13.6 Religion and empire
1. Perhaps a reference ro the Stoic doctrine that the beauty of the universe was proof of the
existence of the gods, or a reference to divine epiphanies. See e.g. 9.5c.
13.6 Religion and empire
Tertullian, Apology 25.,2-6
The argument that Rome rose to grandeur because of her religious piety (see
13.1) was confronted by the Christian writer Tertullian. His defence of
Christianity sought to show the illogicality of the argument, and so also the
pointlessness of persecuting Christians.
See further: Barnes (1971) 107-12*.
However, since the name of Rome happens to have been mentioned specifically, I do not
pass up the challenge which is issued by the assumption of those who say that the
Romans, as a reward for their especial religio, have been lifted to the peak of pre­
eminence, indeed to world dominion, and that their gods are so divine that those who
honour them more than others do prosper more than others.
So this is the bonus payment made by the gods to the name of Rome! Sterculus,
Mutunus and Larentina 1
have each extended the empire! For I could not imagine that
foreign gods have been inclined to show more favour to an alien race than to their own,
nor that they have given their native land, in which they were born, grew up, gained fame
and were buried, to invaders from overseas.
Let Cybele see to it, if she really loved the city of Rome in memory of
the Trojan race, her own descendants whom she guarded against the arms of the Greeks -
if she foresaw her transfer to the avengers whom she knew would subdue Greece, the
conqueror of Phrygia. 2
And so she has presented actually in our own time a strong proof
of her majesty transported to Rome: after the death of Marcus Aurelius at Sirmium 3
sixteen days before the Kalends of April , the most sacred archigallus on the
ninth day before the same Kalends , in offering a libation of tainted blood
from emasculation of his arms, instructed the customary prayers for the well-being of
Marcus, who had already passed away! O slow messengers, O sleepy despatches! It is your
fault that Cybele did not learn sooner of the death of the emperor, to prevent the
Christians from laughing at such a goddess.
1. Tertullian chooses some obviously inappropriate native Roman deities here: Sterculus
(though sometimes associated with the god Saturn) was connected with manure [status);
Mutunus was a phallic deity; Larentina (Acca Larentina), according to some Roman stories,
had been a prostitute.
2. Tertullian ironically suggests that Cybele is a good candidate for a divine protector of
Rome - always supposing that she had the foresight to see that the Romans would oneday
defeat the Greeks, who had themselves defeated Cybele's native Trojans.
3. Just south of the Danube, over 1,000 km. from Rome. (See 8.7.)
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