Chapter 13
THE APPAREL OF WOMEN
her as such and bargained with her in the same fashion.3
Thus, we learn that it is our obligation to provide in every way against all immodest associations or even the suspicion of them. For, why is the purity of the chaste mind stained by the suspicion of another? Why is something looked for in me which I abhor? Why does not my garb announce beforehand my character lest my spirit should be wounded through hearing what is said by those who are shameless? Well, it is certainly permitted to you to appear chaste to an unchaste person.
Chapter 13 (1) Some women may say: 'I do not need the approval of men. For I do not ask for the testimony of men: it is God who sees my heart.'1 We all know that, to be sure, but let us recall what the Lord said through the Apostle: 'Let your modesty appear before men.'2 Why would he have said that unless we should be an example and a witness to those who are evil? Or, what did Christ mean by 'let your works shine before men'?3
Why did the Lord call us 'the light of the world'?4 Why did He compare us to a city set on a mountain if we were not to shine in [the midst of] darkness and stand out among those who are sunk down?5 (2) 'If you hide your light under the measure,'6 you will necessarily be lost in darkness and run
3 Cf. Gen. 38.14-16.
1 Cf. 1 Kings 16.7.
2 Phil. 4.5.
3 Cf. Matt. 5.16.
4 Matt. 5.14.
5 Cf. Matt. 5.14,15; Mark 4.21; Luke 8.16; 11.33.
6 Cf. ibid.
TERTU LLIAN
down by many people. It is our good works that make us to be the lights of the world. Moreover, what is good, provided it be true and full, does not love the darkness; it rejoices to be seen and exults in being pointed out by others. (3) It is not enough for Christian modesty merely to be so, but to seem so, too. So great and abundant ought to be your modesty that it may flow out from the mind to the garb, and burst forth from the conscience to the outer appearance, so that even from the outside it may examine, as it were, its own furniture
—a furniture that is suited to retain the faith forever. We must, therefore, get rid of such delicacies as tend by their soft ness and effeminacy to weaken the strength of our faith. (4)
Otherwise, I am not so sure that the wrist which is always surrounded by a bracelet will be able to bear the hardness of chains with resignation; I have some doubts that the leg which now rejoices to wear an anklet will be able to bear the tight squeeze of an ankle chain; and I sometimes fear that the neck which is now laden with strings of pearls and emeralds will give no room to the executioner's sword.
(5) Therefore, my blessed sisters, let us think of the hard ships to come, and we will not feel them. Let us abandon luxuries and we will never miss them. Let us stand ready to endure every violence, having nothing which we would be afraid to leave behind. For, these things are really the bonds that hold down the wings of our hope. Let us cast away the ornaments of this world if we truly desire those of heaven.
(6) Do not love gold—that substance which caused the very first sins of the people of Israel to be branded with infamy.7
You should hate that which ruined your fathers, that gold 7 Cf. Exod. 32.7-35; Josue 7.10-26.
THE APPAREL OF WOMEN
which they adored when they abandoned God, for even then gold was food for the fire.8
But the lives of Christians are never spent in gold, and now less than ever, but in iron. The stoles of martyrdom are being prepared,9 and the angels who are to carry us [to heaven] are being awaited. (7) Go forth to meet those angels, adorned with the cosmetics and ornaments of the Prophets and Apostles. Let your whiteness flow from simplicity, let modesty be the cause of your rosy complexion; paint your eyes with demureness, your mouth with silence; hang on your ears the words of God,10 bind on your neck the yoke of Christ;* 11 bow your heads to your husbands12—and that will be ornament enough for you. Keep your hands busy with spinning and stay at home—and you will be more pleasing than if you were adorned in gold. Dress yourselves in the silk of probity, the fine linen of holiness, and the purple of chastity. Decked out in this manner, you will have God Himself for your lover.
8 Cf. Exod. 32.20.
9 Cf. Apoc. 6.11.
10 Cf. Jer. 9.20.
11 Cf. Matt. 11.29.
12 Cf. Eph. 5.22,23.
PRAYER Translated by
SISTER EMILY JOSEPH DALY, C.S.J.,
College of St. Rose Albany, N. Y.
INTRODUCTION
|ith no diminution of zeal but with considerably less intensity and aggressiveness than appear in most of his writings, Tertullian sets forth to the catechumens, presumably in his native city of Carthage, his instructions on Prayer. No traces of unorthodoxy are present to detract from these inspiring exhortations. Consequently, it may be con cluded that the composition of this work falls within the early years of Tertullian's conversion (about 198-200).
In many of his writings, Tertullian's violent character and impassioned delivery have interfered with a well-ordered presentation of his material. Such is not the case with Prayer, which, after a brief introduction, presents a commentary, phrase by phrase, on the Lord's Prayer (Ch. 2-9). There follow (Ch. 10-28) the most varied admonitions regarding prayer: the attitude of heart and mind required; the modest and humble demeanor required of the one who prays; the kiss of peace; station days; the dress of women and the question of whether virgins should have their heads veiled; the time and place for prayer. The treatise ends in an enthusiastic exposition of the power and efficacy of prayer
(Ch. 29).
TERTULLIAN
Not only for the inspiring exhortations which it contains but also for its stylistic qualities the treatise merits special attention. From the opening sentence, with its striking rhetor ical figures,1 to the final chapter with its eulogy of prayer so reminiscent of Cicero's famous passage in the Pro Archia, the exceptional literary genius of the author is in evidence. There is an inescapable feeling that the work was a sermon:2 the sentences are composed and arranged in oratorical style; balance, assonance, rhetorical questions, touches of ironical humor,3 and, in general, a certain directness of manner strengthen this impression.
As in his other ascetical and moral works, quotations from both Old and New Testament abound. Of classical writers only Herodotus—an author whom Tertullian often cites—is quoted once. It is particularly interesting to note the prom inence of terminology culled from the world of business
(Ch. 7), military life (Ch. 19), and the courts. The catechu mens who received the exhortations in Prayer formed a crosssection of the metropolis and would find their teacher using an idiom familiar to them in their various pursuits. Even the neophyte, long accustomed to the pagan ritualistic ceremonies, would discover that the material victim of pagan sacrifice was supplanted in Christian worship by the spiritual offering
1 Translation fails to reproduce the impact and effectiveness of the anaphora, chiasmus, and polyptoton of this sentence: Dei spiritus et dei sermo et dei ratio, sermo rationis et ratio sermonis et spiritus utriusque, Iesus Christus, dominus noster, novis discipulis novi testamenti novam orationis formam determinavit.
2 Cf. Ch. 22.10 . . . constanter super meum modulum pronuntiare contestarique possum velandas . . . : 'I can declare and avow this with more than my usual firmness: their heads should be covered . . . '
Both verbs are most commonly used of spoken expression.
3 E.g., the reference to Paul's cloak (Ch. 15.2) and the ridiculum ad absurdurn arguments of Ch. 16.1-4.
PRAYER
which manifested, on a supernatural plane, all the qualities specified by Roman law (Ch. 28.4).
Foremost among the significant features of this work is the contribution which it makes to the history of the development of the liturgy. There is an allusion (Ch. 3) to the beginning of the Preface and Sanctus of the Mass: 'Certainly it is right that God should be blessed in all places and at all times because it is every man's duty to be ever mindful of His benefits ... To Him the hosts of angels cease not to say:
"Holy, holy, holy!" Therefore, we, too—the future comrades of the angels, if we earn this reward—become familiar here on earth with that heavenly cry of praise to God and the duty of our future glory.' There is reference (Ch. 3-4) to the use of the Lord's Prayer at Mass, and Tertullian's statement that we prepare for this prayer cum memoria praeceptorum (Ch. 10) suggests the liturgical introduction of this prayer in the Mass.
Elsewhere (Ch. 14) there is a reference to the Mass as the Sacrifice which repeats the Passion of Christ. From Chapter
18 it is learned that there was a kiss of peace after prayer with the brethren. This was usual in all public prayers. Some people wanted to omit the kiss on fast days. Tertullian allows this omission only on Good Friday (which he calls dies paschae). In Chapter 19 he refers to station days and in 27 to the practice of the people singing the Alleluia and verses of the Gradual psalms.
The treatise of St. Cyprian, De oratione Dominica, is proof of the high esteem in which he held Tertullian's Prayer. He adheres closely to the pattern established by Tertullian. While the verbal reminiscences are few,4 there is in both works a preliminary admonition against ostentatious display of one's
4 A notable exception is Cyprian's 'Deus non vocis sed cordis auditor est' (De oratione dominica 4), which is taken verbatim from Tertullian (17.3) .
TERTULLIAN
piety, followed by consideration of the sevenfold petitions of the Pater Noster. Cyprian's tract is not, however, the stylized, rhetorical work that his African predecessor has produced.
The present translation is based on the critical text of G. F.
Diercks in the Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 1 (Tumholti 1954) 255-274.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Texts-.
A. Reifferscheid and G. Wissowa, CSEL 20 (1890) 180-200.
R. W. Muncey, Q. S. F. Tertulliani De oratione, edited with intro duction and notes (London 1926) .
G. F. Diercks, Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 1 (Turnholti 1954) 255-274.
Secondary Sources:
F. J. Dolger, 'Das Niedersitzen nach dem Gebet. Ein Kommentar zu Tertullian, De oratione 16,' Antike u'nd Christentum 5 (1936)
116-137.
W. Haller, 'Das Herrengebet bei Tertullian,' Zeitschrift fur praktische Theologie 12 (1890) 327-354.
G. Loeschke, Die Vaterunsererklarung des Theophilus von Antiochien. Eine Quellenuntersuchung zu den Vaterunsererklarungen des Tertullian, Cypriaji und Hieronymus (Berlin
1908) .
J. Moffat, 'Tertullian on the Lord's Prayer,' Expository Times 18 (1919) 24-41.
J. Quasten, Patrology 2 (Westminster, Md. 1953) 296-298.
B. Simovic, 'Le pater chez quelques p£res latins,' France Franciscaine 21 (1938) 193-222;245-264.
O. Schafer, 'Das Vaterunser, das Gebet des Christen. Eine aszetische Studie nach Tertullian De oratione,' Theologie und Glaube 35
(1943) 1-6.