Chapter 12
TERTULLIAN
the faithful citizen is a soldier, just as the faithful soldier is a citizen. (6) The state of faith admits no plea of compulsion.
Those are under no compulsion to sin whose sole obligation is not to sin. A Christian may be pressed to the offering of sacrifice and to the straight denial of Christ under threat of torture and punishment. Yet, the law of Christianity does not excuse even that compulsion, since there is a stronger obliga tion to dread the denial of the faith and tp undergo martyr dom than to escape suffering and to perform the sacrificial rite required. (7) Moreover, that kind of argument destroys the very essence of our sacramental oath, since it would loosen the fetters for voluntary sins. For, it will be possible to maintain that inclination is a compulsion, too, since there is, indeed, some sort of compelling force in it. The foregoing principles I wish to have also applied to the other occasions for wearing crowns in some official capacity (it is with reference to such occasions especially that people are wont to plead compulsion), since for this very reason we must either refuse public offices lest we fall into sin, or we must endure martyrdom in order to sever our connection with them.
Chapter 12 (1) I will not waste any more words over the essential point of the question, namely, the unlawfulness of military life itself, but return to the secondary point of the matter.
Indeed, if, employing all my efforts, I do away with military service altogether, there will be little point in issuing a challenge on the military crown. Let us assume, then, that military service is permitted up to the point of wearing a crown. Let me say, first, a word about the crown itself. We
THE CHAPLET
know from Claudius1 that the laurel crown (such as the one in question) is sacred to Apollo as the god of archery2 and to Bacchus as the god of triumphs.3 (2) He also tells us that soldiers were often garlanded with myrtle. 'For the myrtle,' he writes, 'belongs to Venus, the mother of the descendants of Aeneas, the mistress also of Mars, who through Ilia and her twins is Roman herself.' But I myself do not believe that Venus shares in this respect the friendly feelings of Mars for Rome, in view of the god's dealing with a concubine.4 More over, when a soldier is crowned with an olive wreath, he commits idolatry to Minerva, who is also a goddess of arms, even though she crowned her head with an olive branch to celebrate her peace with Neptune.5 In all these relations we see the defiled and all-defiling superstitious character of the military crown. In fact, I think that the very motives for wearing it causes its defilement.
(3) Take the annual public pronouncement of vows.6
What do you think of it? The first takes place in the general's quarters; the second, in heathen temples. In addition to the places, note the words, also; 'We promise to give to you, then, O Jupiter, an ox with golden horns.' What is the real sense of that pronouncement? Is it not a denial of the faith?
Even though the Christian says nothing on that occasion with his mouth, he makes his response by having the crown on his head. The wearing of the laurel crown is likewise enjoined
1 See above, Ch. 7 nn. 5,17.
2 In plastic art laurel and bow are Apollo's attributes at a very early time.
3 See above, Ch. 7 n. 16.
4 See above, Spectacles 5 n. 10.
5 See ibid. 9 n. 2.
6 Tertullian refers to the vows offered for the well-being of the emperor on New Year's Day. Cf. Tacitus An'nales 4.17; 16.22; Pliny, Ep. 10.35
(Kukula).
TERTULLIAN
at the distribution of a largess, though, plainly, you do not attend this ceremony without making a profit.
(4) Idolater! Do you not see that you are selling Christ for a few pieces of gold, just as Judas sold him for silver? It is written: 'You cannot serve God and mammon.'7 Does this perhaps mean that you can do both things: reach out your hand to mammon and stand on the side of God? And what about 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's'?8 Does this perhaps mean that you can withhold the man from God and take the denarius from Caesar? Is the laurel of triumph made of leaves, or of corpses? Is it adorned with ribbons, or with tombs? Is it anointed with perfumes, or with the tears of wives and mothers, some of them, perhaps, Christian women, for we know that Christianity has also spread among the barbarians.
(5) Has the man who wears a crown as a symbol of glory not actually fought in battle? There is yet another kind of military service—that of the bodyguard in the imperial house hold. For these men, too, are called 'soldiers of the camp,' and they perform services in connection with the ceremonial observed in the imperial court. But, even then you are still the soldier and servant of another, and if of two masters—God and Caesar then, certainly, not of Caesar, when you owe yourself to God, who, I am inclined to believe, has a higher claim even in matters in which both have an interest.
7 Matt. 6.24; Luke 16.13.
8 Matt. 22.21; Mark 12.17; Luke 20.25.