Cyprian of Carthage, The Epistles of Cyprian

Argument.—This Epistle and the Two Following Contain Nothing Else Than Replies to the Foregoing, Inasmuch as They Contain The Thanksgiving as Well for the Comfort Conveyed by the Letter as for the Assistance Sent Therewith. But from the Fact that Three Distinct Letters are Sent in Reply to the Single One of Cyprian’s, We are to Gather that the Bishops Who Wrote Them Were Placed in Different Departments of the Mines.910 This is confirmed in Epistle lxxix., where mention is made of one mine in particular.

1. Nemesianus, Dativus, Felix, and Victor, to their brother Cyprian, in the Lord eternal salvation. You speak, dearly beloved Cyprian, in your letters always with deep meaning, as suits the condition of the time, by the assiduous reading of which letters both the wicked are corrected and men of good faith are confirmed. For while you do not cease in your writings to lay bare the hidden mysteries, you thus make us to grow in faith, and men from the world to draw near to belief. For by whatever good things you have introduced in your many books, unconsciously you have described yourself to us. For you are greater than all men in discourse, in speech more eloquent, in counsel wiser, in patience more simple, in works more abundant, in abstinence more holy, in obedience more humble, and in good deeds more innocent. And you yourself know, beloved, that our eager wish was, that we might see you, our teacher and our lover, attain to the crown of a great confession.

2. For, in the proceedings before the proconsul, as a good and true teacher you first have pronounced that which we your disciples, following you, ought to say before the president. And, as a sounding trumpet, you have stirred up God’s soldiers, furnished with heavenly arms, to the close encounter; and fighting in the first rank, you have slain the devil with a spiritual sword: you have also ordered the troops of the brethren, on the one hand and on the other, with your words, so that snares were on all sides laid for the enemy, and the severed sinews of the very carcase of the public foe were trodden under foot.911 Otherwise, “the sinews of the common enemy cut in two, his carcase was trodden under foot.” [Rom. xvi. 20.] Believe us, dearest, that your innocent spirit is not far from the hundred-fold reward, seeing that it has feared neither the first onsets of the world, nor shrunk from going into exile, nor hesitated to leave the city, nor dreaded to dwell in a desert place; and since it furnished many with an example of confession, itself first spoke the martyr-witness. For it provoked others to acts of martyrdom by its own example; and not only began to be a companion of the martyrs already departing from the world, but also linked a heavenly friendship with those who should be so.

3. Therefore they who were condemned with us give you before God the greatest thanks, beloved Cyprian, that in your letter you have refreshed their suffering breasts; have healed their limbs wounded with clubs; have loosened their feet bound with fetters; have smoothed the hair of their half-shorn head; have illuminated the darkness of the dungeon; have brought down the mountains of the mine to a smooth surface; have even placed fragrant flowers to their nostrils, and have shut out the foul odour of the smoke.912 [A graphic idea of mine-tortures is here afforded.] Moreover, your continued gifts, and those of our beloved Quirinus, which you sent to be distributed by Herennianus the sub-deacon, and Lucian, and Maximus, and Amantius the acolytes, provided a supply of whatever had been wanting for the necessities of their bodies. Let us, then, be in our prayers helpers of one another: and let us ask, as you have bidden us, that we may have God and Christ and the angels as supporters in all our actions. We bid you, lord and brother, ever heartily farewell, and have us in mind. Greet all who are with you. All ours who are with us love you, and greet you, and desire to see you.

EPISTOLA LXXVIII. (Pamel., Rigalt., Baluz., LXXVIII. Paris., Oxon., Lips., LXXXII.)NEMESIANI, DATIVI, FELIGIS ET VICTORIS RESPONSUM AD CYPRIANUM.

0420A

ARGUMENTUM.---Epistola haec et duae sequentes nihil aliud quam responsa continent ad epistolam praecedentem, utpote quae gratiarum actionem continent, tum pro consolatione litteraria, tum pro subsidio una misso. Ex eo autem quod tres diversae epistolae rescriptae sunt ad unicam Cypriani, colligere est in diversis metalli fodinis constitutos fuisse episcopos qui eas scribunt. Quod confirmat Epistola LXXX, ubi certi metalli fit mentio.

0420B I. Cypriano fratri Nemesianus, Dativus Felix, et Victor in Domino aeternam salutem. Semper magnis sensibus pro temporis conditione litteris tuis locutus es, Cypriane dilectissime; quibus assidue lectis et pravi corriguntur et bonae fidei homines corroborantur. Dum enim non desinis tractatibus tuis sacramenta nudare, sic nos in fide facis crescere et de saeculo homines ad credulitatem accedere. Nam quaecumque bona in multis libris tuis intulisti, nescius ipsum te nobis designasti; es enim omnibus hominibus in tractatu major, in sermone facundior, in consilio sapientior, in patientia simplicior, in operibus largior, in abstinentia sanctior, in obsequio humilior, et in actu bono innocentior. Scis ei ipse, charissime, nostrum optabile votum esse quod te videamus, 0420C doctorem et amatorem nostrum, ad coronam magnae confessionis pervenisse.

0421A II. Nam, quasi bonus et verus doctor, quid nos discipuli secuti apud praesidem dicere deberemus, prior apud acta proconsulis pronuntiasti, et tuba canens Dei milites, coelestibus armis instructos, ad congressionis praelium excitasti, et in acie prima pugnans spiritali gladio diabolum interfecisti, agmina quoque fratrum hinc et inde verbis tuis composuisti, ut insidiae inimico undique tenderentur, et cadaveris ipsius publici hostis nervi concisi calcarentur. Crede nobis, charissime, quoniam non est a centesimo praemio minor tua innocens anima, quae nec saeculi primos impetus timuit, nec ire in exsilium recusavit, nec relinquere civitatem dubitavit, nec in deserto loco commorari horruit; et, quoniam multis documentum confessionis dedit, ipsa martyrum prior duxit. 0421B Alios enim ad martyria facienda exemplo suo provocavit; et non tantum martyrum de saeculo jam excedentium socia esse coepit, sed cum et futuris coelestem amicitiam copulavit.

III. Agunt ergo tibi nobiscum damnati maximas apud Deum gratias, Cypriane dilectissime, quod litteris tuis laborantia pectora recreasti, fustibus vulnerata membra curasti, compedibus pedes ligatos resolvisti, semitonsis capitis capillaturam adaequasti, tenebras carceris illuminasti, montes metalli in planum deduxisti, naribus etiam fragrantes , flores imposuisti, et tetrum odorem fumi exclusisti . Fecit autem et prosecutum ministerium tuum et Quirini dilectissimi nostri quod per Herennianum hypodiaconum, et Lucianum et Maximum et Amantium acolytos 0421C distribuendum misisti quaecumque necessitatibus corporum defuerant expediri. Simus ergo orationibus nostris alterutrum adjutores, et rogemus, sicut mandasti, ut Deum et Christum et Angelos in omnibus actibus nostris habeamus fautores. Optamus 0422A te, domine frater , semper bene valere et nostri meminisse. Saluta omnes qui tecum sunt. Omnes nostri qui nobiscum sunt te amant et salutant, et videre desiderant.