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Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage – His Banishment, Condemnation & Execuction – Which Much Ignited the Ardor of the First Christians and Incited Them to Martydom
During the same period of persecution, the zealous, the
eloquent, the ambitious Cyprian governed the church, not only of
Carthage, but even of Africa. He possessed every quality which
could engage the reverence of the faithful, or provoke the
suspicions and resentment of the Pagan magistrates. His character
as well as his station seemed to mark out that holy prelate as
the most distinguished object of envy and danger. 76 The
experience, however, of the life of Cyprian, is sufficient to
prove that our fancy has exaggerated the perilous situation of a
Christian bishop; and the dangers to which he was exposed were
less imminent than those which temporal ambition is always
prepared to encounter in the pursuit of honors. Four Roman
emperors, with their families, their favorites, and their
adherents, perished by the sword in the space of ten years,
during which the bishop of Carthage guided by his authority and
eloquence the councils of the African church. It was only in the
third year of his administration, that he had reason, during a
few months, to apprehend the severe edicts of Decius, the
vigilance of the magistrate and the clamors of the multitude, who
loudly demanded, that Cyprian, the leader of the Christians,
should be thrown to the lions. Prudence suggested the necessity
of a temporary retreat, and the voice of prudence was obeyed. He
withdrew himself into an obscure solitude, from whence he could
maintain a constant correspondence with the clergy and people of
Carthage; and, concealing himself till the tempest was past, he
preserved his life, without relinquishing either his power or his
reputation. His extreme caution did not, however, escape the
censure of the more rigid Christians, who lamented, or the
reproaches of his personal enemies, who insulted, a conduct which
they considered as a pusillanimous and criminal desertion of the
most sacred duty. 77 The propriety of reserving himself for the
future exigencies of the church, the example of several holy
bishops, 78 and the divine admonitions, which, as he declares
himself, he frequently received in visions and ecstacies, were
the reasons alleged in his justification. 79 But his best
apology may be found in the cheerful resolution, with which,
about eight years afterwards, he suffered death in the cause of
religion. The authentic history of his martyrdom has been
recorded with unusual candor and impartiality. A short abstract,
therefore, of its most important circumstances, will convey the
clearest information of the spirit, and of the forms, of the
Roman persecutions. 80
Footnote 76: The letters of Cyprian exhibit a very curious and
original picture both of the man and of the times. See likewise
the two lives of Cyprian, composed with equal accuracy, though
with very different views; the one by Le Clerc (Bibliotheque
Universelle, tom. xii. p. 208-378,) the other by Tillemont,
Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. iv part i. p. 76-459.
Footnote 77: See the polite but severe epistle of the clergy of
Rome to the bishop of Carthage. (Cyprian. Epist. 8, 9.) Pontius
labors with the greatest care and diligence to justify his master
against the general censure.
Footnote 78: In particular those of Dionysius of Alexandria, and
Gregory Thaumaturgus, of Neo-Caesarea. See Euseb. Hist.
Ecclesiast. l. vi. c. 40; and Memoires de Tillemont, tom. iv.
part ii. p. 685.
Footnote 79: See Cyprian. Epist. 16, and his life by Pontius.
Footnote 80: We have an original life of Cyprian by the deacon
Pontius, the companion of his exile, and the spectator of his
death; and we likewise possess the ancient proconsular acts of
his martyrdom. These two relations are consistent with each
other, and with probability; and what is somewhat remarkable,
they are both unsullied by any miraculous circumstances.
When Valerian was consul for the third, and Gallienus for
the fourth time, Paternus, proconsul of Africa, summoned Cyprian
to appear in his private council-chamber. He there acquainted
him with the Imperial mandate which he had just received, 81
that those who had abandoned the Roman religion should
immediately return to the practice of the ceremonies of their
ancestors. Cyprian replied without hesitation, that he was a
Christian and a bishop, devoted to the worship of the true and
only Deity, to whom he offered up his daily supplications for the
safety and prosperity of the two emperors, his lawful sovereigns.
With modest confidence he pleaded the privilege of a citizen, in
refusing to give any answer to some invidious and indeed illegal
questions which the proconsul had proposed. A sentence of
banishment was pronounced as the penalty of Cyprian's
disobedience; and he was conducted without delay to Curubis, a
free and maritime city of Zeugitania, in a pleasant situation, a
fertile territory, and at the distance of about forty miles from
Carthage. 82 The exiled bishop enjoyed the conveniences of life
and the consciousness of virtue. His reputation was diffused over
Africa and Italy; an account of his behavior was published for
the edification of the Christian world; 83 and his solitude was
frequently interrupted by the letters, the visits, and the
congratulations of the faithful. On the arrival of a new
proconsul in the province the fortune of Cyprian appeared for
some time to wear a still more favorable aspect. He was recalled
from banishment; and though not yet permitted to return to
Carthage, his own gardens in the neighborhood of the capital were
assigned for the place of his residence. 84
Footnote 81: It should seem that these were circular orders,
sent at the same time to all the governors. Dionysius (ap.
Euseb. l. vii. c. 11) relates the history of his own banishment
from Alexandria almost in the same manner. But as he escaped and
survived the persecution, we must account him either more or less
fortunate than Cyprian.
Footnote 82: See Plin. Hist. Natur. v. 3. Cellarius, Geograph.
Antiq. part iii. p. 96. Shaw's Travels, p. 90; and for the
adjacent country, (which is terminated by Cape Bona, or the
promontory of Mercury,) l'Afrique de Marmol. tom. ii. p. 494.
There are the remains of an aqueduct near Curubis, or Curbis, at
present altered into Gurbes; and Dr. Shaw read an inscription,
which styles that city Colonia Fulvia. The deacon Pontius (in
Vit. Cyprian. c. 12) calls it "Apricum et competentem locum,
hospitium pro voluntate secretum, et quicquid apponi eis ante
promissum est, qui regnum et justitiam Dei quaerunt."
Footnote 83: See Cyprian. Epistol. 77, edit. Fell.
Footnote 84: Upon his conversion, he had sold those gardens for
the benefit of the poor. The indulgence of God (most probably
the liberality of some Christian friend) restored them to
Cyprian. See Pontius, c. 15.
At length, exactly one year 85 after Cyprian was first
apprehended, Galerius Maximus, proconsul of Africa, received the
Imperial warrant for the execution of the Christian teachers.
The bishop of Carthage was sensible that he should be singled out
for one of the first victims; and the frailty of nature tempted
him to withdraw himself, by a secret flight, from the danger and
the honor of martyrdom; * but soon recovering that fortitude
which his character required, he returned to his gardens, and
patiently expected the ministers of death. Two officers of rank,
who were intrusted with that commission, placed Cyprian between
them in a chariot, and as the proconsul was not then at leisure,
they conducted him, not to a prison, but to a private house in
Carthage, which belonged to one of them. An elegant supper was
provided for the entertainment of the bishop, and his Christian
friends were permitted for the last time to enjoy his society,
whilst the streets were filled with a multitude of the faithful,
anxious and alarmed at the approaching fate of their spiritual
father. 86 In the morning he appeared before the tribunal of the
proconsul, who, after informing himself of the name and situation
of Cyprian, commanded him to offer sacrifice, and pressed him to
reflect on the consequences of his disobedience. The refusal of
Cyprian was firm and decisive; and the magistrate, when he had
taken the opinion of his council, pronounced with some reluctance
the sentence of death. It was conceived in the following terms:
"That Thascius Cyprianus should be immediately beheaded, as the
enemy of the gods of Rome, and as the chief and ringleader of a
criminal association, which he had seduced into an impious
resistance against the laws of the most holy emperors, Valerian
and Gallienus." 87 The manner of his execution was the mildest
and least painful that could be inflicted on a person convicted
of any capital offence; nor was the use of torture admitted to
obtain from the bishop of Carthage either the recantation of his
principles or the discovery of his accomplices.
Footnote 85: When Cyprian; a twelvemonth before, was sent into
exile, he dreamt that he should be put to death the next day.
The event made it necessary to explain that word, as signifying a
year. Pontius, c. 12.
Footnote *: This was not, as it appears, the motive which
induced St. Cyprian to conceal himself for a short time; he was
threatened to be carried to Utica; he preferred remaining at
Carthage, in order to suffer martyrdom in the midst of his flock,
and in order that his death might conduce to the edification of
those whom he had guided during life. Such, at least, is his own
explanation of his conduct in one of his letters: Cum perlatum ad
nos fuisset, fratres carissimi, frumentarios esse missos qui me
Uticam per ducerent, consilioque carissimorum persuasum est, ut
de hortis interim recederemus, justa interveniente causa,
consensi; eo quod congruat episcopum in ea civitate, in qua
Ecclesiae dominicae praeest, illie. Dominum confiteri et plebem
universam praepositi praesentis confessione clarificari Ep. 83. -
G
Footnote 86: Pontius (c. 15) acknowledges that Cyprian, with
whom he supped, passed the night custodia delicata. The bishop
exercised a last and very proper act of jurisdiction, by
directing that the younger females, who watched in the streets,
should be removed from the dangers and temptations of a nocturnal
crowd. Act. Preconsularia, c. 2.
Footnote 87: See the original sentence in the Acts, c. 4; and in
Pontius, c. 17 The latter expresses it in a more rhetorical
manner.
As soon as the sentence was proclaimed, a general cry of "We
will die with him," arose at once among the listening multitude
of Christians who waited before the palace gates. The generous
effusions of their zeal and their affection were neither
serviceable to Cyprian nor dangerous to themselves. He was led
away under a guard of tribunes and centurions, without resistance
and without insult, to the place of his execution, a spacious and
level plain near the city, which was already filled with great
numbers of spectators. His faithful presbyters and deacons were
permitted to accompany their holy bishop. * They assisted him in
laying aside his upper garment, spread linen on the ground to
catch the precious relics of his blood, and received his orders
to bestow five-and-twenty pieces of gold on the executioner. The
martyr then covered his face with his hands, and at one blow his
head was separated from his body. His corpse remained during
some hours exposed to the curiosity of the Gentiles: but in the
night it was removed, and transported in a triumphal procession,
and with a splendid illumination, to the burial-place of the
Christians. The funeral of Cyprian was publicly celebrated
without receiving any interruption from the Roman magistrates;
and those among the faithful, who had performed the last offices
to his person and his memory, were secure from the danger of
inquiry or of punishment. It is remarkable, that of so great a
multitude of bishops in the province of Africa, Cyprian was the
first who was esteemed worthy to obtain the crown of martyrdom.
88
Footnote *: There is nothing in the life of St. Cyprian, by
Pontius, nor in the ancient manuscripts, which can make us
suppose that the presbyters and deacons in their clerical
character, and known to be such, had the permission to attend
their holy bishop. Setting aside all religious considerations,
it is impossible not to be surprised at the kind of complaisance
with which the historian here insists, in favor of the
persecutors, on some mitigating circumstances allowed at the
death of a man whose only crime was maintaining his own opinions
with frankness and courage. - G.
Footnote 88: Pontius, c. 19. M. de Tillemont (Memoires, tom.
iv. part i. p. 450, note 50) is not pleased with so positive an
exclusion of any former martyr of the episcopal rank.
Note: M. de. Tillemont, as an honest writer, explains the
difficulties which he felt about the text of Pontius, and
concludes by distinctly stating, that without doubt there is some
mistake, and that Pontius must have meant only Africa Minor or
Carthage; for St. Cyprian, in his 58th (69th) letter addressed to
Pupianus, speaks expressly of many bishops his colleagues, qui
proscripti sunt, vel apprehensi in carcere et catenis fuerunt;
aut qui in exilium relegati, illustri itinere ed Dominum profecti
sunt; aut qui quibusdam locis animadversi, coeleses coronas de
Domini clarificatione sumpserunt. - G.
It was in the choice of Cyprian, either to die a martyr, or
to live an apostate; but on the choice depended the alternative
of honor or infamy. Could we suppose that the bishop of Carthage
had employed the profession of the Christian faith only as the
instrument of his avarice or ambition, it was still incumbent on
him to support the character he had assumed; 89 and if he
possessed the smallest degree of manly fortitude, rather to
expose himself to the most cruel tortures, than by a single act
to exchange the reputation of a whole life, for the abhorrence of
his Christian brethren, and the contempt of the Gentile world.
But if the zeal of Cyprian was supported by the sincere
conviction of the truth of those doctrines which he preached, the
crown of martyrdom must have appeared to him as an object of
desire rather than of terror. It is not easy to extract any
distinct ideas from the vague though eloquent declamations of the
Fathers, or to ascertain the degree of immortal glory and
happiness which they confidently promised to those who were so
fortunate as to shed their blood in the cause of religion. 90
They inculcated with becoming diligence, that the fire of
martyrdom supplied every defect and expiated every sin; that
while the souls of ordinary Christians were obliged to pass
through a slow and painful purification, the triumphant sufferers
entered into the immediate fruition of eternal bliss, where, in
the society of the patriarchs, the apostles, and the prophets,
they reigned with Christ, and acted as his assessors in the
universal judgment of mankind. The assurance of a lasting
reputation upon earth, a motive so congenial to the vanity of
human nature, often served to animate the courage of the martyrs.
The honors which Rome or Athens bestowed on those citizens who
had fallen in the cause of their country, were cold and unmeaning
demonstrations of respect, when compared with the ardent
gratitude and devotion which the primitive church expressed
towards the victorious champions of the faith. The annual
commemoration of their virtues and sufferings was observed as a
sacred ceremony, and at length terminated in religious worship.
Among the Christians who had publicly confessed their religious
principles, those who (as it very frequently happened) had been
dismissed from the tribunal or the prisons of the Pagan
magistrates, obtained such honors as were justly due to their
imperfect martyrdom and their geNerous resolution. The most
pious females courted the permission of imprinting kisses on the
fetters which they had worn, and on the wounds which they had
received. Their persons were esteemed holy, their decisions were
admitted with deference, and they too often abused, by their
spiritual pride and licentious manners, the preeminence which
their zeal and intrepidity had acquired. 91 Distinctions like
these, whilst they display the exalted merit, betray the
inconsiderable number of those who suffered, and of those who
died, for the profession of Christianity.
Footnote 89: Whatever opinion we may entertain of the character
or principles of Thomas Becket, we must acknowledge that he
suffered death with a constancy not unworthy of the primitive
martyrs. See Lord Lyttleton's History of Henry II. vol. ii. p.
592, &c.
Footnote 90: See in particular the treatise of Cyprian de
Lapsis, p. 87- 98, edit. Fell. The learning of Dodwell
(Dissertat. Cyprianic. xii. xiii.,) and the ingenuity of
Middleton, (Free Inquiry, p. 162, &c.,) have left scarcely any
thing to add concerning the merit, the honors, and the motives of
the martyrs.
Footnote 91: Cyprian. Epistol. 5, 6, 7, 22, 24; and de Unitat.
Ecclesiae. The number of pretended martyrs has been very much
multiplied, by the custom which was introduced of bestowing that
honorable name on confessors.
To cite original text:
Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794. The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. (NY : Knopf, 1993), v. 2, pp. 34 - 40.
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