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TREASTISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN ON QUESTIONABLE AUTHORITY.

ON THE GLORY OF MARTYRDOM.[1]
Translated by the Rev. Ernest Wallis, Ph.D.

ARGUMENT.--THE GLORY OF MARTYRDOM,--NAMELY, WHAT MARTYRDOM IS, HOW GREAT IT
IS, AND OF WHAT ADVANTAGE IT IS. BY SIMILITUDES, AND BY ARGUMENT DEDUCED
FROM THE DAILY DEATHS, THE AUTHOR EXHORTS TO A JOYOUS SUBMISSION TO DEATH
FOR CHRIST'S SAKE.[2] AMONG THE BENEFITS OF MARTYRDOM HE MAINTAINS THAT
WITHOUT EXPERIENCE OF THE UNIVERSAL SUFFERING THAT PREVAILS, THE
PROPITIATION OF CHRIST CROWNS MARTYRS IN SUCH A WAY THAT HIS SAYING ABOUT
THE VERY LAST FARTHING IS NOT APPLICABLE TO THEM.

   1. Although, beloved brethren, it is unfitting, while my speaking to
you receives this indulgence, to profess any trepidation, and it very
little becomes me to diminish the glory of so great a devotion by the
confession of an incipient doubt; yet at the same time I say that my mind
is divided by that very deliberation, being influenced by the desire of
describing the glory, and restrained from speaking by the magnitude of the
virtue (to be described); since it is either not becoming to be silent, or
it is perilous to say too little, save that to one who is tossing in doubt
this consideration alone is helpful, that it would appear easy for him to
be pardoned who has not feared to dare. Wherefore, beloved brethren,
although my mental capacity is burdened by the importance of the subject in
such a way, that in proportion as it puts itself forth in declaring the
dignity of martyrdom, in that degree it is overwhelmed by the very weight
of the glory, and by its estimation of all those things concerning which,
when it speaks most, it fails, by its address being weakened, and broken,
and self-entangled, and does not with free and loosened reins display the
might of such glory in the liberal eloquence of discourse; yet, if I am not
mistaken, some power there will be in my utterance, which, when fortified
by the appeal of the work itself, may here and there pour forth what the
unequal consciousness of my ability withheld from my words. Since,
therefore, beloved brethren, involved as we are in affairs so many and
important, we are endeavouring with all eagerness and labour to confirm the
excellent and most beautiful issues of salvation, I do not fear being so
deterred by any slothful dread as to be withheld or rendered powerless;
since, if any one should desire to look into that of which we are
considering, the hope of devotion being taken into account, and the very
magnitude of the thing being weighed, he would rather wonder that I could
have dared at all, in a matter wherein both the vastness of the subject
oppressed me, and the earnestness of its own desire drove my mind, confused
with its joy, into mental difficulties. For who is there whom such a
subject would not alarm? who is there whom it would not overthrow with the
fear of its own wonder!

   2. For there is indeed, unless I am mistaken, even in the very power of
conscience, a marvellous fear which at once disturbs and inflames us; whose
power, the more closely you look into, the more the dreadful sense of its
obligation is gathered from its very aspect of venerable majesty. For
assuredly you ought to consider what glory there is in expiating any kind
of defilement of life, and the foulness of a polluted body, and the
contagions gathered from the long putrefaction of vices, and the worldly
guilt incurred by so great a lapse of time, by the remedial agency of one
stroke, whereby both reward may be increased, and guilt may be excluded.
Whence every perfection and condition of life is included in martyrdom.
This is the foundation of life and faith, this is the safeguard of
salvation, this is the bond of liberty and honour; and although there are
also other means whereby the light may be attained, yet we more easily
arrive at nearness to the promised reward, by help of these punishments,
which sustain us.

   3. For consider what glory it is to set aside the lusts of this life,
and to oppose a mind withdrawn from all commerce with nature and the world,
to all the opposition of the adversary, and to have no dread of the cruelty
of the torturer; that a man should be animated by the suffering whereby he
might be believed to be destroyed, and should take to himself, as an
enhancement of his strength, that which the punisher thinks will aggravate
his torments. For although the hook, springing forth from the stiffening
ribs, is put back again into the wound, and with the repeated strokes of
the whip the returning lash[3] is drawn away with the rent portions of the
flesh; still he stands immoveable, the stronger for his sufferings,
revolving only this in his mind, that in that brutality of the executioners
Christ Himself is suffering[1] more in proportion to what he suffers. For
since, if he should deny the Lord, he would incur guilt on His behalf for
whom he ought to have overcome, it is essential that He should be seen to
bear all things to whom the victory is due, even in the suffering.

   4. Therefore, since martyrdom is the chief thing, there are three
points arising out of it on which we have proposed to ourselves to speak:
What it is, how great it is, and of what advantage it is. What, then, is
martyrdom? It is the end of sins, the limit of dangers, the guide of
salvation, the teacher of patience, the home of life, on the journey to
which those things moreover befall which in the coming crisis might be
considered torments. By this also testimony is borne to the Name, and the
majesty of the Name is greatly enhanced: not that in itself that majesty
can be diminished, or its magnitude detracted from, by the guilt of one who
denies it; but that it redounds to the increase of its glory, when the
terror of the populace that howls around is giving to suffering, fearless
minds, and by the threats of snarling hatred is adding to the title whereby
Christ has desired to crown the man, that in proportion as he has thought
that he conquered, in that proportion his courage has grown in the
struggle. It is then, therefore, that all the vigour of faith is brought to
bear, then facility of belief is approved, when you encounter the speeches
and the reproaches of the rabble,[2] and when you strengthen yourself by a
religious mind against those madnesses of the people,--overcoming, that is,
and repelling whatever their blasphemous speech may have uttered to wrong
Christ in your person; as when the resisting breakwater repels the adverse
sea, although the waves dash and the rolling water again and again beats
upon it, yet its immoveable strength abides firm, and does not yield even
when covered over by the waves that foam around, until its force is
scattered over the rocks and loses itself, and the conquered billow lying
upon the rocks retires forth into the open spaces of the shore.

   5. For what is there in these speeches other than empty discourse, and
senseless talk, and a depraved pleasure in meaningless words? As it is
written: "They have eyes, and they see not; ears have they, and they hear
not."[3] "Their foolish heart is made sluggish, lest at any time they
should be converted, and I should heal them."[4] For there is no doubt but
that He said this of all whose hardened mind and obstinate brutality of
heart is always driven away and repugnates from a vital devotion, folly
leading them, madness dragging them, in fine, every  kind of ferocity
enraging them, whereby they are  instigated as well as carried away, so
that in their case their own deeds would be sufficient for their
punishment, their guilt would burden the very penalty of the persecution
inflicted.

   6. The whole of this tends to the praise of martyrdom, the whole
illuminates the glory of suffering wherein the hope of time future is
beheld, wherein Christ Himself is engaged, of whom are given the examples
that we seek, and whose is the strength by which we resist. And that in
this behalf something is supplied to us to  present, is surely a lofty and
marvellous condescension, and such as we are able neither mentally to
conceive nor fully to express in words. For what could He with His liberal
affection bestow upon us more, than that He should be the first to show
forth in Himself what He would reward with a crown in others? He became
mortal that we might be immortal, and He underwent the issue of human
destiny, by whom things human are governed; and that He might appear to
have given to us the benefit of His having suffered, He gave us confession.
He suggested martyrdoms; finally, He, by the merits of His nativity,
imputed all those things whereby the light (of life) may be quenched, to a
saving remedy, by His excellent humility, by His divine strength. Whoever
have deserved to be worthy of this have been without death, have overcome
all the foulest stains of the world, having subdued the condition of death.

   7. For there is no doubt how much they obtain from the Lord, who have
preferred God's name to their own safety, so that in that judgment-day
their blood-shedding would make them better, and the blood spill would show
them to be spotless. Because death makes life more complete, death rather
leads to glory. Thus, whenever on the rejoicing wheat-stalks the ears of
corn distended by rains grow full, the abundant harvests are forced[5] by
the summer; thus, as often as the vine is pruned by the knife from the
tendrils that break forth upon it, the bunch of grapes is more liberally
clothed. For whatever is of advantage by its injury turns out for the
increase of the time to come; just as it has often been of avail to the
fields to let loose the flames, that by the heat of the wandering
conflagration the blind breathing-holes of the earth might be relaxed. It
has been useful to parch the light stalks with the crackling fire, that the
pregnant corn-field might raise itself higher, and a more abundant grain
might flourish on the breeding stems. Therefore such also is first of all
the calamity, and by and by the fruit of martyrdom, that it so contemns
death, that it may preserve life in death.

   8. For what is so illustrious and sublime, as by a robust devotion to
preserve all the vigour of faith in the midst of so many weapons of
executioners? What so Meat and honourable, as in the midst of so many
swords of the surrounding guards, again and again to profess in repeated
words the Lord of one's liberty and the author of one's salvation?--and
especially if you set before your eyes that there is nothing more
detestable than dishonour, nothing baser than slavery, that now you ought
to seek nothing else, to ask for nothing else, than that you should be
snatched from the slaughters of the world, be delivered from the ills of
the world, and be engaged only as an alien from the contagion of earth,
among the ruins of a globe that is speedily to perish? For what have you to
do with this light, if you have the promise of an eternal light? What
interest have you in this commerce of life and nature, if the amplitude of
heaven is  awaiting you? Doubtless let that lust of life keep hold, but let
it be of those whom for unatoned sin the raging fire will torture with
eternal vengeance for their crimes. Let that lust of life keep hold, but
let it be of those to whom it is both a punishment to die, and a torment to
endure (after death). But to you both the world itself is subjected, and
the earth yields, if, when all are dying, yon are reserved for this fate of
being a martyr. Do we not behold daily dyings? We behold new kinds of death
of the body long worn out with raging diseases, the miserable re-suits of
some plague hitherto unexperienced; and we behold the destruction of wasted
cities, and hence we may acknowledge how great is to be considered the
dignity of martyrdom, to the attainment of the glory of which even the
pestilence is beginning to compel us.[1]

   9. Moreover, beloved brethren, regard, I beseech you, this
consideration more fully; for in it both salvation is involved, and
sublimity accounted of, although I am not unaware that you abundantly know
that we are supported by the judgments of all who stand fast, and that you
are not ignorant that this is the teaching handed down to us, that we
should maintain the power of so great a Name without any dread of the
warfare; because we whom once the desire of an everlasting remembrance has
withheld from  the longing for this light, and whom the anticipations of
the future have wrenched away, and  whom the society of Christ so longed
for has kept aloof from all wickedness, shrink from offering our soul to
death except it be in the way of yielding to a mischief, and that those
benefits of God must no longer be retained and clung to by us, since beyond
the burning up of these things the reward is so great as that human
infirmity can hardly attain sufficiently to speak of it. Heaven lies open
to our blood; the dwelling-place of Gehenna gives way to our blood; and
among all the attainments of glory, the title of blood is sealed as the
fairest, and its crown is designated as most complete.

   10. Thus, whenever the soldier returns from the enemy laden with
triumphant spoils, he rejoices in his wounds. Thus, whenever the sailor,
long harassed with tempests, arrives at safe shores, he reckons his
happiness by the dangers that he has suffered. For, unless I am mistaken,
that is assuredly a joyous labour whereby safety is found. Therefore all
things must be suffered, all things must be endured; nor should we desire
the means of rejoicing for a brief period, and being punished with a
perpetual burning. For you ought to remember that you are bound, as it
were, by a certain federal paction, out of  which arises the just condition
either of obtaining salvation, or the merited fearfulness of punishment.
You stand equally among adverse things and prosperous, in the midst of arms
and darts; and on the one hand, worldly ambition, on the other heavenly
greatness, incites you.

   11. If you fear to lose salvation, know that you can die; and,
moreover, death should be  contemned by you, for whom Christ was slain.
Let the examples of the Lords passion, I beseech you, pass before your
eyes; let the offerings, and the rewards, and the distinctions prepared
come together before you, and look carefully at both events, how great a
difficulty they have between them. For you will not be able to confess
unless you know what a great mischief you do if you deny. Martyrs rejoice
in heaven; the fire will consume those who are enemies of the truth. The
paradise of God blooms for the witnesses; Gehenna will enfold the deniers,
and eternal fire will burn them up. And, to say nothing of other matters,
this assuredly ought rather to urge us, that the confession of one word is
maintained by the everlasting confession of Christ; as it is written,
"Whosoever shall confess me on earth before men, him also will I confess
before my Father, and before His angels."[2] To this are added, by way of
an enhancement of glory, the adornments of virtue; for He says, "The
righteous shall shine as sparks that run to and fro among the stubble; they
shall judge the nations, and shall have dominion over the peoples."[3]

   12. For it is a great glory, beloved brethren, to adorn the life of
eternal salvation with the dignity of suffering: it is a great sublimity
before the face of the Lord, and under the gaze of Christ, to contemn
without a shudder the torments inflicted by human power. Thus Daniel, by
the constancy of his faith, overcame the threats of the king and the fury
of raging lions, in that he believed that none else than God was to be
adored. Thus, when the young men were thrown into the furnace, the fire
raged against itself. because, being righteous, they endured the flames,
and guarded against those of Gehenna, by believing in God, whence also they
received things worthy of them: they were not delayed to a future time:
they were not reserved for the reward of eternal salvation. God saw their
faith; that what they had promised to themselves to see after their death,
they merited to see in their body. For how great a reward was given them in
the present tribulation could not be estimated. If there was cruelty, it
gave way; if there was flame, it stood still. For there was one mind to all
of them, which neither violence could break down nor wrath could subvert;
nor could the fear of death restrain them from the obedience of devotion.
Whence by the Lord's grace it happened, that in this manner the king
himself appeared rather to be punished in those men (who were slain),
whilst they escape whom he had thought to slay.

   13. And now, beloved brethren, I shall come to that point whence I
shall very easily be able to show you how highly the virtue of martyrdom is
esteemed, which, although it is well known to all, and is to be desired on
account of the insignia of its inborn glory, yet in the desire of its
enjoyment has received more enhancement from the necessity of the times.
Because if any one be crowned at that season in which he supposes himself
to be crowned, if perchance he should die, he is greatly rewarded.
Therefore, sublime and illustrious as martyrdom is, it is the more needful
now, when the world itself is turned upside down, and, while the globe is
partially shattered, failing nature is giving evidence of the tokens of its
final destruction. For the rain-cloud hangs over us in the sky, and the
very air stretches forth the mournful rain(curtain); and as often as the
black tempest threatens the raging sea, the glittering lightning-flashes
glow terribly in the midst of the opening darkness of the clouds. Moreover,
when the deep is lashed into immense billows, by degrees the wave is lifted
up, and by degrees the foam whitens, until at length you behold it rush in
such a manner, that on those rocks on which it is hurled, it throws its
foam higher than the wave that was vomited forth by the swelling sea. You
read that it is written, that we must pay even the uttermost farthing. But
the martyrs alone are relieved of this obligation; because they who trust
to their desires for eternal salvation, and have overcome their longings
for this life, have been made by the Lord's precepts free from the
universal suffering.[1] Therefore from this especially, beloved brethren,
we shall be able to set forth what great things the virtue of martyrdom is
able to fulfil.

   14. And, to pass over everything else, we ought to remember what a
glory it is to come immaculate to Christ--to be a sharer in His suffering,
and to reign in a perpetual eternity with the Lord--to be free from the
threatening destruction of the world, and not to be mixed up with the
bloody carnage of wasting diseases in a common lot with others; and, not to
speak of the crown itself, if, being situated in the midst of these
critical evils of nature, you had the promise of an escape from this life,
would you not rejoice with all your heart? If, I say, while tossing amid
the tempests of this world, a near repose should invite you, would you not
consider death in the light of a remedy? Thus, surrounded as you are with
the knives of the executioners, and the instruments of testing tortures,
stand sublime and strong, considering how great is the penalty of denying,
in a time when you are unable to enjoy, the world for the sake of which you
would deny, because indeed the Lord knew that cruel torments and
mischievous acts of punishment would be armed against us for our
destruction, in order that He might make us strong to endure the all. son,
says He, "if thou come to serve God, stand fast in righteousness, and fear,
and prepare thy soul for temptation."[2] Moreover, also, the blessed
Apostle Paul exclaimed, and said, "To me to live is Christ, and to die is
gain."[3]

   15. Wherefore, beloved brethren, with a firm faith, with a robust
devotion, with a virtue opposed to the fierce threatenings of the world,
and the savage murmurs of the attending crowds, we must resist and not
fear, seeing that ours is the hope of eternity and heavenly life, and that
our ardour is inflamed with the longing for the light, and our salvation
rejoices in the promise of immortality. But the fact that our hands are
bound with tightened bonds, and that heavy links fastened round our necks
oppress us with their solid weight, or that our body strained on the rack
hisses on the red-hot plates, is not for the sake of seeking our blood, but
for the sake of trying us.[4] For in what manner should we be able to
recognise even the dignity of martyrdom, if we were not constrained to
desire it, even at the price of the sacrifice of our body? I indeed have
known it, and I am not deceived in the truth of what I say, when the cruel
hands of the persecutors were wrenching asunder the martyr's limbs, and the
furious torturer was ploughing up his lacerated muscles, and still could
not overcome him. I have known it by the words of those who stood
around.[1] "This is a great matter. Assuredly I know not what it is--that
he is not subdued by suffering, that he is not broken down by wearing
torments." Moreover, there were other words of those who spoke: "And yet I
believe he has children: for he has a wife associated with him in his
house; and yet he does not give way to the bond of his offspring, nor is he
withdrawn by the claim of  his family affection from his stedfast purpose.
This matter must be known, and this strength must be investigated, even to
the very heart; for that is no trifling confession, whatever it may be, for
which a man suffers, even so as to be able to die."

   16. Moreover, beloved brethren, so great is the virtue of martyrdom,
that by its means even he who has wished to slay you is constrained to
believe. It is written, and we read: "Endure in suffering, and in thy
humiliation have patience, because gold and silver are tried by the
fire."[2] Since, therefore, the Lord proves us by earthly temptations, and
Christ the Judge weighs us by these worldly ills, we must congratulate
ourselves,  and rejoice that He does not reserve us for those eternal
destructions, but rejoices over us as purged from all contagion. But from
those whom He adopts as partners of His inheritance, and is willing to
receive into the kingdom of heaven, what else indeed does He ask than a
walk in integrity? He Himself has said that all things are His, both those
things which are displayed upon the level plains, and which lift themselves
up into sloping hills; and moreover,  whatever the greatness of heaven
surrounds, and  what the gliding water embraces in the circum-fluent ocean.
But if all things are within His ken, and He does not require of us
anything but sincere actions, we ought, as He Himself has said, to be like
to gold. Because, when you behold in the glistening ore[3] the gold
glittering under the tremulous light, and melting into a liquid form by the
roaring flames (for this also is generally the care of the workmen),
whenever from the panting furnaces is vomited forth the glowing fire, the
rich flame is drawn away from the access of the earth in a narrow channel,
and is kept back by sand from the refluent masses of earth. Whence it is
necessary to suffer all things, that we may be free from all wickedness, as
He has said by His prophet: "And though in the sight of men they have
suffered torments, yet is their hope full of immortality; and being vexed
in a few things, they shall be well rewarded in many things, because God
has tried them, and has found them worthy of Himself, and has received them
as a sacrifice of burnt-offering."[4]

   17. But if ambitious dignity deter you, and the amount of your money
heaped up in your stores influence you--a cause which ever distracts the
intentions of a virtuous heart, and assails the soul devoted to its Lord
with a fearful trembling--I beg that you would again refer to the heavenly
words. For it is the very voice of Christ who speaks, and says, "Whosoever
shall lose his life for my name's sake, shall receive in this world a
hundred fold, and in the world to come shall possess eternal life."[5] And
we ought assuredly to reckon nothing greater, nothing more advantageous,
than this. For although in the nature of your costly garments the purple
dye flows into figures, and in the slackening threads the gold strays into
a pattern, and the weighty metals to which you devote yourselves are not
wanting in your excavated treasures; still, unless I am mistaken, those
things will be esteemed vain and purposeless, if, while all things else are
added to you, salvation alone is found to be wanting; even as the Holy
Spirit declares that we can give nothing in exchange for our soul. For He
says, "If you should gain the whole world, and lose your own soul, what
shall it profit you, or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?"[6]
For all those things which we behold are worthless, and such as resting on
weak foundations, are unable to sustain the weight of their own mass. For
whatever is received from the world is made of no account by the antiquity
of time. Whence, that nothing should be sweet or dear that might be
preferred to the desires of eternal life, things which are of personal
right and individual law are cut off by the Lord's precepts; so that in the
undergoing of tortures, for instance, the son should not soften the
suffering father, and private affection should not change the heart that
was previously pledged to enduring strength, into another disposition.
Christ of His own right ordained that truth and salvation alone must be
embraced in the midst of great sufferings, under which wife, and children,
and grandchildren, under which all the offspring of one's bowels, must be
forsaken, and the victory be claimed.

   18. For Abraham also thus pleased God, in that he, when tried by God,
spared not even his own son, in behalf of whom perhaps he might have been
pardoned had he hesitated to slay him. A religious devotion armed his
hands; and his paternal love, at the command of the Lord who bade it, set
aside all the feelings of affection. Neither did it shock him that he was
to shed the blood of his son, nor did he tremble at the word; nevertheless
for him Christ had not yet been slain. For what is dearer than He who, that
you might not sustain anything unwillingly in the present day, first of all
Himself suffered that which He taught others to suffer? What is sweeter
than He who, although He is our God and Lord, nevertheless makes the man
who suffers for His sake His fellow-heir in the kingdom of heaven? Oh
grand--I know not what!--whether that reason scarcely bears to receive that
consciousness, although it always marvels at the greatness of the rewards;
or that the majesty of God is so abundant, that to all who trust in it, it
even offers those things which, while we were considering what we have
done, it had been sin to desire. Moreover, if only eternal salvation should
be given, for that very perpetuity of living we should be thankful. But
now, when heaven and the power of judging concerning others is bestowed in
the eternal world, what is there wherein man's mediocrity may not find
itself equal to all these trials? If you are assailed with injuries, He was
first so assailed. If yon are oppressed with reproaches, you are imitating
the experience of God. Whence also it is but a little matter whatever you
undergo for Him, seeing that you can do nothing more, unless that in this
consists the whole of salvation, that He has promised the whole to
martyrdom. Finally, the apostle, to whom all things were always dear, while
he deeply marvelled at the greatness of the promised benefits, said, "I
reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared to the glory that is to follow, which shall be revealed in us."[1]
Because he was musing in his own mind how great would be the reward, that
to him to whom it would be enough to be free from death, should be given
not only the prerogative of salvation, but also to ascend to heaven: to
heaven which is not constrained into darkness, even when light is expelled
from it, and the day does not unfold into light by alternate changes; but
the serene temperature of the liquid air unfolds a pure brightness through
a clearness that reddens with a fiery glow.

   19. It now remains, beloved brethren, that we are bound to show what is
the advantage of martyrdom, and that we should teach that especially, so
that the fear of the future may stimulate us to this glorious title.
Because those to whom great things are promised, seem to have greater
things which they are bound to fear. For the soldier does not arouse
himself to arms before the enemy have brandished their hostile weapons; nor
does a man withdraw his ship in an anchorage, unless the fear of the deep
have checked his courage. Moreover also, while eager for his wealth, the
considerate husbandman does not stir up the earth with a fortunate
ploughshare, before the crumbling glebe is loosened into dust by the rain
that it has received. Thus this is the natural practice of every man, to be
ignorant of what is of advantage, unless you recognise what has been
mischievous. Whence also a reward is given to all the saints, in that the
punishment of their deeds is inflicted on the unrighteous. Therefore what
the Lord has promised to His people is doubtful to none, however ignorant
he is; but neither is there any doubt what punitive fires He threatens. And
since my discourse has led me thus to argue about both these classes of
things in a few words, as I have already spoken of both, I will briefly
explain them.

   20. A horrible place, of which the name is Gehenna, with an awful
murmuring and groaning of souls bewailing, and with flames belching forth
through the horrid darkness of thick night, is always breathing out the
raging fires of a smoking furnace, while the confined mass of flames is
restrained or relaxed for the various purposes of punishment. Then there
are very many degrees of its violence, as it gathers into itself whatever
tortures the consuming fire of the heat emitted can supply. Those by whom
the voice of the Lord has been rejected, and His control contemned, it
punishes with different dooms; and in proportion to the different degree of
deserving of the forfeited salvation it applies its power, while a portion
assigns its due distinction to crime. And some, for example, are bowed down
by an intolerable load, some are hurried by a merciless force over the
abrupt descent of a precipitous path, and the heavy weight of clanking
chains bends over them its bondage. Some there are, also, whom a wheel is
closely turning, and an unwearied dizziness tormenting; and others whom,
bound to one another with tenacious closeness, body clinging to body
compresses: so that both fire is devouring, and the load of iron is
weighing down, and the uproar of many is torturing.

   21. But those by whom God has always been sought or known, have never
lost the position which Christ has given them, where grace is found, where
in the verdant fields the luxuriant earth clothes itself with tender grass,
and is pastured with the scent of flowers; where the groves are carried up
to the lofty hill-top, and where the tree clothes with a thicker foliage
whatever spot the canopy, expanded by its curving branches, may have
shaded. There is no excess of cold or of heat, nor is it needed that in
autumn the fields should rest, or, again in the young spring, that the
fruitful earth should bring forth. All things are of one season: fruits are
borne of a continued summer, since there neither does the moon serve the
purpose of her months, nor does the sun run his course along the moments of
the hours, nor does the banishment of the light make way for night. A
joyous repose possesses the people, a calm home shelters them, where a
gushing fountain in the midst issues from the bosom of a broken hollow, and
flows in sinuous mazes by a course deep-sounding, at intervals to be
divided among the sources of rivers springing from it. Here there is the
great praise of martyrs, here is the noble crown of the victors, who have
the promise of greater things than those whose rewards are more abundant.
And that either their body is thrown to wild beasts, or the threatening
sword is not feared, is shown as the reason of their dignity, is manifested
as the ground of their election. Because it would have been inconsistent,
that he who had been judged equal to such a duty, should be kept among
earthly vices and corruptions.

   22. For you deserve, O excellent martyrs, that nothing should be denied
to you who are nourished with the hope of eternity and of light; whose
absolute devotion, and whose mind dedicated to the service of heaven, is
evidently seen. Deservedly, I say deservedly, nothing to you is forbidden
to wish for, since by your soul this world is looked down upon, and the
alienated appearance of the time has made you to shudder, as if it were a
confused blindness of darkness; to whom this world is always regarded in
the light of a dungeon, its dwellings for restraints, in a life which has
always been esteemed by you as a period of delay on a journey. Thus,
indeed, in the triumph of victory he is snatched from these evils, whom no
vain ambition with pompous step has subdued, nor popular greatness has
elated, but whom, burning with heavenly desire, Christ has added to His
kingdom.

   23. There is nothing, then, so great and venerable as the deliverance
from death, and the causing to live, and the giving to reign for ever. This
is fitting for the saints, needful for the wretched, pleasing to all, in
which the good rejoice, the abject are lifted up, the elect are crowned.
Assuredly God, who cares for all, gave to life a certain medicine as it
were in martyrdom, when to some He assigned it on account of their
deserving, to others He gave it on account of His mercy. We have assuredly
seen very many distinguished by their faith, come to claim this illustrious
name, that death might ennoble the obedience of their devotion. Moreover,
also, we have frequently beheld others stand undismayed, that they might
redeem their sins committed, and be regarded as washed in their gore by His
blood; and so being slain they might live again, who when alive were
counted slain. Death assuredly makes life more complete, death finds the
glory that was lost. For in this the hope once lost is regained, in this
all salvation is restored. Thus, when the seed-times shall fail on the
withering plains, and the earth shall be parched with its dying grass, the
river has delighted to spring forth from the sloping hills, and to soothe
the thirsty fields with its gushing streams, so that the vanquished poverty
of the land might be dissolved into fruitful wheat-stems, and the corn-
field might bristle up the thicker for the counterfeited showers of rain.

   24. What then, beloved brethren, shall I chiefly relate, or what shall
I say? When all dignified titles thus combine in one, the mind is confused,
the perception is misled; and in the very attempt to speak with brilliancy,
my unworthy discourse vanishes away. For what is there to be said which can
be sufficient, when, if you should express the power of eternal salvation,
its attending glories come in your way; if you would speak of its
surroundings, its greatness prevents you? The things at the same time are
both in agreement and in opposition, and there is nothing which appears
worthy to be uttered. Thus the instances of martyrdom have held in check
the impulses of daring speech, as if entangled and ensnared by an opponent.
What voice, what lungs, what strength, can undertake to sustain the form of
such a dignity? At the confession of one voice, adverse things give way,
joyous things appear, kingdoms are opened, empires are prepared, suffering
is overcome, death is subdued, life is preferred, and the resisting weapons
of a mischievous enemy are broken up. If there is sin, it perishes; if
there is crime, it is left behind. Wherefore I beseech you, weigh this in
your minds, and from my address receive so much as you know that you can
feel.

   25. Let it present itself to your eyes, what a day that is, when, with
the people looking on, and all men watching, an undismayed devotion is
struggling against earthly crosses and the threats of the world; how the
minds in suspense, and hearts anxious about the tremblings of doubt, are
agitated by the dread of the timid fearfulness of those who are
congratulating them! What an anxiety is there, what a prayerful entreaty,
what desires are recorded, when, with the victory still wavering, and the
crown of conquest hanging in doubt over the head while the results are
still uncertain, and when that pestilent and raving confession is inflamed
by passion, is kindled by madness, and finally, is heated by the fury of
the heart, and by gnashing threats! For who is ignorant how great a matter
this is, that our, as it were, despised frailty, and the unexpected
boldness of human strength, should not yield to the pangs of wounds, nor to
the blows of tortures,--that a man should stand fast and not be moved,
should be tortured and still not be overcome, but should rather be armed by
the very suffering whereby he is tormented?

   26. Consider what it is, beloved brethren: set before your perceptions
and your minds all the endurance of martyrdom. Behold, indeed, in the
passion of any one you will, they who are called martyrs rejoice as being
already summoned out of the world; they rejoice as being messengers of all
good men; they rejoice in like manner as elected. Thus the Lord rejoices in
His soldier,[1] Christ rejoices in the witness to His name. It is a small
matter that I am speaking of, beloved brethren; it is a small matter, so
great a subject in this kind of address, and so marvellous a difficulty has
been undertaken by me; but let the gravity of the issue, I beseech you, not
be wanting for my own purpose, knowing that as much can be said of
martyrdom as could be appreciated. Whence also this alone has been the
reason of my describing its glory, not that I judged myself equal and
fitted for its praise, but that I saw that there was such a virtue in it,
that however little I might say about it, I should profess that I had said
as much as l possible. For although the custody of faith may be preferred
to the benefit of righteousness, and an immaculate virginity may recognise
itself as better than the praises of all; yet it is necessary that even it
should give place to the claim of blood, and be made second to a gory
death. The former have chosen what is good, the latter have imitated
Christ.

   27. But now, beloved brethren, lest any one should think that I have
placed all salvation in no other condition than in martyrdom, let him first
of all look especially at this, that it is not I who seem to speak, that am
of so great importance, nor is the order of things so arranged that the
promised hope of immortality should depend on the strength of a partial
advocacy. But since the Lord has testified with His own mouth, that in the
Father's possession are many dwellings, I have believed that there is
nothing greater than that glory whereby those men are proved who are
unworthy of this worldly life. Therefore, beloved brethren, striving with a
religious rivalry, as if stirred up with some incentive of reward, let us
submit to all the abundance and the endurance of strength. For things
passing away ought not to move us, seeing that they are always being
pressed forward to their own overthrow, not only by the law proposed to
them, but even by the very end of time. John exclaims, and says, "Now is
the axe laid to the root of the tree; "[2] showing, to wit, and pointing
out that it is the last old age of all things. Moreover, also, the Lord
Himself says, "Walk while ye have the light, lest the darkness lay hold
upon you."[3] But if He has foretold that we must walk in that time,
certainly He shows that we must at any rate walk.

   28. And to return to the praise of martyrdom, there is a word of the
blessed Paul, who says; "Know ye not that they who run in a race strive
many, but one receiveth the prize? But do ye so run, that all of you may
obtain."[4] Moreover also elsewhere, that be may exhort us to  martyrdom,
he has called us fellow-heirs with Christ; nay, that he might omit nothing,
he says, "If ye are dead with Christ, why, as if living in the world, do ye
make distinctions?"[5] Because, dearest brethren, we who bear the rewards
of resurrection, who seek for the day of judgment, who, in fine, are
trusting that we shall reign with Christ, ought to be dead to the world.
For you can neither desire martyrdom till you have first hated the world,
nor attain to God's reward unless you have loved Christ. And he who loves
Christ does not love the world. For Christ was given up by the world, even
as the world also was given up by Christ; as it is written, "The world is
crucified unto me, and I unto the world."[6] The world has been an object
of affection to none whom the Lord has not previously condemned; nor could
he enjoy eternal salvation who has gloried in the life of the world. That
is the very voice of Christ, who says: "He that loveth his life in this
world, shall lose it in the world to come; but he that hateth his life in
this world, shall find it in the world to come."[7] Moreover, also, the
Apostle Paul says: "Be ye imitators of me, as I also am of Christ."[8] And
the same elsewhere says: "I wish that all of you, if it were possible,
should be imitators of me."[9]

   29. He said this who suffered, and who suffered for this cause, that he
might imitate the Lord; and assuredly he wished us also to suffer for this
cause, that through him we might imitate Christ. If thou art righteous, and
believest in God, why fearest thou to shed thy blood for Him whom thou
knowest to have so often suffered for thee? In Isaiah He was sawn asunder,
in Abel He was slain, in Isaac He was offered up, in JOseph He was sold
into slavery, in man He was crucified. And I say nothing of other matters,
such as neither my discourse is able to tell nor my mind to bear. My
consciousness is overcome by the example of His humility; and when it
considers what things befell when He suffered, it marvels that He should
suffer on whose behalf all things quaked. The day fled into the night; the
light gave up all things into darkness; and, its mass being inclined
backwards and forwards, the whole earth was jarred, and burst open; the
dead[1] were disturbed, the graves were laid bare, and as the tombs gaped
open into the rent of the earth, bodies returning to the light were
restored; the world trembled at the flowing of His blood; and the veil
which hung from the opening of the temple was rent, and all the temple
uttered a groan. For which cause it is a great matter to imitate Him who,
in dying, convicted the world. Therefore when, after the example of the
Lord's passion, and after all the testimony of Christ, you lay down your
life, and fear not to shed your blood, everything must absolutely give way
to martyrdom. Inestimable is the glory of martyrdom, infinite its measure,
immaculate its victory, invaluable its title, immense its triumph; because
he who is presented to Him with the special glory of a confessor, is
adorned with the kindred blood of Christ.

   30. Therefore, beloved brethren, although this is altogether of the
Lord's promise and gift, and although it is given from on high, and is not
received except by His will, and moreover, can neither be expressed in
words nor described by speech, nor can be satisfied by any kind of powers
of eloquence, still such will be your benevolence, such will be your
charity and love, as to be mindful of me when the Lord shall begin to
glorify martyrdom in your experience. That holy altar[2] encloses you
within itself, that great dwelling-place of the venerable Name encloses you
within itself, as if in the folds of a heart's embrace: the powers of the
everlasting age sustain you, and that by which you shall ever reign and
shall ever conquer. O blessed ones! and such as truly have your sins
remitted, if, however, you who are Christ's peers ever have sinned![3] O
blessed ones !whom the blood of the Lord has dyed from the beginning of the
world, and whom such a brightness of snowy clothing has deservedly
invested, and the whiteness of the enfolding robe has adorned! Finally, I
myself seem to myself to behold already, and, as far as is possible to the
mind of man, that divine and illustrious thing occurs to my eyes and view.
I seem, I say to myself, already to behold, that that truly noble army
accompanies the glory and the path of their Christ. The blessed band of
victors will go before His face; and as the crowds become denser, the whole
army, illuminated as it were by the rising of the sun, will ascribe to Him
the power. And would that it might be the lot of such a poor creature as
myself to see that sight! But the Lord can do what He is believed not to
deny to your petitions.[4]


Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland beginning in
1867. (ANF 5, Roberts and Donaldson). The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.

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