apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

PERSECUTION OF TRAJAN. 51
fuisse, cum praeeunte me deos appellarent et imagini tuae, quam
propter hoc iusseram cum simulacris numinum adferri, ture ac vino
supplicarent, praeterea male dicerent Christo, quorum nihil posse cogi
dicuntur qui sunt re vera Christiani, dimittcndos esse putavi. Alii ab
5 indice nominati esse se Christianos dixerunt et mox negaverunt ;
fuisse
quidem, sed desisse, quidam ante plures annos, non nemo etiam ante
viginti. [Hi] quoque omnes et imaginem tuam deorumque simulacra
venerati sunt et Christo male dixerunt.
summam vel culpae suae vel erroris. quod
Adfirmabant autem banc fuisse
essent soliti stato die ante
10 lucem convenire carmenque Christo quasi deo dicere secum invicem,
seque sacramento non iu scelus ahquod obstringere, sed ne furta,
I. praeeunte] 'dictating the ivords' as
in a similar case related Ep. x. 60 (52)
'
praeivimus et commilitonibus jusjurandum
more soUemni. '
9. stato die] i.e. on Sunday; comp. Justin
Mart. Apol.
i.
67 (p. 98) t% tov i]\iov Xeyofi^pri
rifxipq. Trd.in-o}v...iTri rh auro avviXev-
(7is yiverai, and in the context he gives the
reasons for the selection of this day. See
also Barnab. 15, Ign. Magn. 9. For
Pliny's account of these services of the
Christians generally see Harnack's Christlicher
Gemeindegotlesdienst p. 215 sq,
with the references there given.
10. carmenque] The word does not necessarily
imply a metrical composition, a
song or hymn, but is used of any set form
of words (e.g. Paiteg. 92 'sanctissimum
illud carmen praeire dignatus es'). Yet
here probably
it is used in this more restricted
sense, as the words secutn invicem
seem to show. See Hamack /. f. p. 219
sq, Probst Lchre ii. Gcbet p. 276 sq, and
my note on Col. iii. 16.
quasi deo] As Pliny is a heathen
writer, the words should not improbably
be translated 'as to a god' (comp. Acts
xii. 22) ; but it does not follow that Tertullian
and Eusebius so understood them.
For the fact comp. Anon. [Hippolytus]
in Euseb. H. E. v. 28 t}/a\fj.oi di So-ot Kal
tfoal a5eX(pwv air' apxv^ i'to Tri