Chapter XXX.

For we offer prayer for the safety of our princes to the eternal, the true, the living God, whose favour, beyond all others, they must themselves desire.  They know from whom they have obtained their power; they know, as they are men, from whom they have received life itself; they are convinced that He is God alone, on whose power alone they are entirely dependent, to whom they are second, after whom they occupy the highest places, before and above all the gods. Why not, since they are above all living men, and the living, as living, are superior to the dead? They reflect upon the extent of their power, and so they come to understand the highest; they acknowledge that they have all their might from Him against whom their might is nought. Let the emperor make war on heaven; let him lead heaven captive in his triumph; let him put guards on heaven; let him impose taxes on heaven! He cannot. Just because he is less than heaven, he is great. For he himself is His to whom heaven and every creature appertains. He gets his sceptre where he first got his humanity; his power where he got the breath of life. Thither we lift our eyes, with hands outstretched, because free from sin; with head uncovered, for we have nothing whereof to be ashamed; finally, without a monitor, because it is from the heart we supplicate. Without ceasing, for all our emperors we offer prayer.  We pray for life prolonged; for security to the empire; for protection to the imperial house; for brave armies, a faithful senate, a virtuous people, the world at rest, whatever, as man or Cæsar, an emperor would wish. These things I cannot ask from any but the God from whom I know I shall obtain them, both because He alone bestows them and because I have claims upon Him for their gift, as being a servant of His, rendering homage to Him alone, persecuted for His doctrine, offering to Him, at His own requirement, that costly and noble sacrifice of prayer40    Heb. x. 22. [See cap. xlii. infra. p. 49.] despatched from the chaste body, an unstained soul, a sanctified spirit, not the few grains of incense a farthing buys41    [Once more this reflection on the use of material incense, which is common to early Christians, as in former volumes noted.]—tears of an Arabian tree,—not a few drops of wine,—not the blood of some worthless ox to which death is a relief, and, in addition to other offensive things, a polluted conscience, so that one wonders, when your victims are examined by these vile priests, why the examination is not rather of the sacrificers than the sacrifices. With our hands thus stretched out and up to God, rend us with your iron claws, hang us up on crosses, wrap us in flames, take our heads from us with the sword, let loose the wild beasts on us,—the very attitude of a Christian praying is one of preparation for all punishment.42    [A reference to kneeling, which see the de Corona cap. 3, infra. Christians are represented as standing at prayer, in the delineations of the Catacombs.  But, see Nicene Canon, xx.] Let this, good rulers, be your work: wring from us the soul, beseeching God on the emperor’s behalf. Upon the truth of God, and devotion to His name, put the brand of crime.

CAPUT XXX.

Nos enim pro salute imperatorum Deum invocamus aeternum, Deum verum , Deum vivum, quem et ipsi imperatores propitium sibi praeter caeteros malunt. Sciunt, quis illis dederit imperium ; sciunt, qua homines, quis et animam ; sentiunt, eum Deum esse solum, in cujus solius potestate sunt, a quo sunt secundi, post quem primi, ante omnes et super omnes deos. Quidni ? cum super 0442A omnes homines , qui utique vivunt et mortuis antistant. Recogitant, quousque vires imperii sui valeant, et ita Deum intelligunt; adversus quem valere non possunt, per eum valere se cognoscunt. Coelum denique debellet imperator, coelum captivum triumpho suo invehat , coelo mittat excubias, coelo vectigalia imponat . Non potest; ideo magnus est, quia coelo minor est. Illius enim est ipse, cujus et coelum est et omnis creatura. Inde est imperator, unde est et homo antequam imperator; inde potestas illi, unde et spiritus. Illuc suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis quia innocuis, capite nudo , 0443A quia non erubescimus, denique sine monitore , quia de pectore oramus. Precantes sumus omnes semper pro omnibus imperatoribus, vitam illis prolixam, imperium securum, domum tutam, exercitus fortes, senatum fidelem, populum probum, orbem quietum, et quaecumque hominis et Caesaris vota sunt. Haec ab alio orare non possum, quam a quo scio me consecuturum, quoniam et ipse est qui 0444A solus praestat, et ego sum cui impetrare debetur, famulus ejus, qui eum solum observo, qui propter disciplinam ejus occidor , qui ei offero opimam et majorem hostiam , quam ipse mandavit, orationem de carne pudica, de anima innocenti, de spiritu sancto profectam. Non grana thuris unius assis , Arabicae arboris lacrymas nec duas meri guttas , 0445A nec sanguinem reprobi bovis mori optantis, et post omnia inquinamenta etiam conscientiam spurcam: ut mirer, cum hostiae probantur penes vos a vitiosissimis sacerdotibus, cur praecordia potius victimarum, quam ipsorum sacrificantium examinentur . Sic itaque nos ad deum expansos ungulae fodiant, cruces suspendant, ignes lambant , gladii guttura detruncent, bestiae insiliant; paratus est ad omne supplicium ipse habitus orantis Christiani. Hoc agite, boni praesides, extorquete animam Deo supplicantem pro Imperatore. Hic erit crimen, ubi veritas est Dei et devotio .