apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

PERSECUTION OF TRAJAN. 57
2.
Tertullianus Apologdicwn
2.
Atquin invenimus inquisitionem quoque
in nos prohibitam.
Plinius
enini Secundus cum provinciam regeret, damnatis quibusdam Christianis,
quibusdam gradu pulsis, ipsa tamen multitudine perturbatus, quid de
cetero ageret, consuluit tunc Trajanum imperatorem, adlegans praeter
5 obstinationem non sacrificandi nihil aliud se de sacramentis eorum
comperisse, quam coetus antelucanos ad canendum Christo ut deo et ad
confoederandam disciplinam, homrcidium, adulterium, fraudem, perfidiam,
et cetera scelera prohibentes. Tunc Trajanus rescripsit, hoc
genus inquirendos quidem non esse, oblatos vero puniri oportere. O
10 sententiam necessitate confusam! Negat inquirendos ut innocentes, et
mandat puniendos ut nocentes. Parcit et saevit, dissimulat et animadvertit.
Quid temetipsam, censura, circumvenis Si damnas, cur non et
inquiris si non inquiris, cur non et absolvis Latronibus vestigandis
per universas provincias railitaris statio sortitur; in reos majestatis et
I c pubUcos hostes omnis homo miles est ;
ad socios, ad conscios usque,
inquisitio extenditur. Solum Christianum inquiri non licet, offerri licet,
quasi aliud esset actura inquisitio, quam oblationem. Damnatis itaque
oblatum, quern nemo voluit requisitum ; qui, puto, jam non ideo meruit
poenam, quia nocens est, sed quia, non requirendus, inventus est.
3. de cetero]
'for the future'' : comp.
is one point more certain than another, it
ad Scap. 3, with Oehler's note. is that Eusebius derived all his informa-
6. ut deo] There can be no question tion respecting this persecution from a
about the reading, though the Mss have Greek translation of TertuUian.
ct deo, which is retained by Oehler : see 7. confoederandam] i.e. ' to strengthen
the note on Act. Ign. Koin. 1 1 . To and consoHdate by a common pledge and
the arguments there urged it should be league.'
added that Jerome in his edition of the 14. militaris statio] Sueton. 717'. 37 'In
Chronicon (11. p. 165), having the text of
primis tuendae pacis a grassatoribus ac
TertuUian before him, writes ' Christo ut latrociniis seditionumque licentia curam
deo.' Variot {Revue des Questions Histo- habuit stationes militum per Italiam
:
riques, ler Juillet 1878, p. 142) strangely solito frequentiores disposuit' (comp. Reargues
that Eusebius and Jerome must tav. 32). For the Roman i^olice arrangehave
consulted the original of Pliny, be- ments see Marquardt Romische Staatscause
they read 'Christo ut deo,' whereas verwaltung i. 521, 11. 468.
TertuUian has 'Christo et deo.'
If there
TertuUian doubtless derived his information entirely from the same correspondence
between Pliny and Trajan which we possess. Ulpian indeed, in his 7th book dc
Officio Proconsulis, collected all the imperial rescripts issued against the Christians
(Lactant. Div. Inst. v. n); but this work can hardly have been in existence when