Letter 7: Sedent quidam in domibus suis nescientes, nor which loquantur nor concerning quibus affirment, concerning aliis...

Certain men sit in their houses, knowing neither what they are saying nor concerning what things they are making assertions, striving to pass judgment on others, while they do not judge their own selves; and they wish to accuse before they know, and to teach before they learn, and, with matters undiscussed and causes uninvestigated and no rational account of things sought out, they pour out inconsiderately and vomit forth headlong whatever has come to their lips, pronouncing not from any assertion of the truth that has been advanced, but, out of zeal for slander, censuring the things they do not know; and they have gone so far that they even strive to tear apart things rightly done with a purpose of malevolence. If these men had any sense, they would not at all rush their verdict, but, having first investigated the matters, would bring out what ought to be said. But because they accuse us of being slothful as censors in restraining the vices of the Church, let them accordingly learn from us that it is not only the sin of bodily adultery, which both ought to be examined and justly punished, but that there is a far greater kind of fornication and adultery, which in any Christian whatever, since every Christian is a member of the Church, ought fittingly to be punished; for the crime of sacrilege is so much greater as the fornication of the soul is worse than that of the body; for through the fornication of the soul one departs from the very union with God, and one crosses over to unclean spirits by a kind of spiritual adultery. But how does he not cut off this part [of himself], who, although he wishes to be seen and professes to be a Christian and says so, nevertheless does not shudder to proclaim openly and publicly, does not shrink from it, does not tremble, that diseases are therefore engendered because the demons are not worshipped and no sacrifice is offered to the god February—to that god, wherever he found out these ravings? How is he not a transgressor, who runs into these profanities of blasphemy? How is he not to be reckoned sacrilegious, who, having abjured the providence and power of the one God, which he confessed, is seduced to prodigious superstitions and empty fictions? According to the Apostle it is far worse and more justly to be condemned to desert the truth one has confessed than if one had in no way believed in it. For although the fictions which he brings forward are ridiculous, nevertheless the very disposition and will is in the offense, and the profession and proclamation is justly to be condemned; and by this fact, he who wishes a sentence of condemnation to be brought against another without delay, let him recognize that, in that wherein he judges another, he condemns his own very self. For surely the pontiff ought to take vengeance on those who commit bodily adultery, and ought he not to take vengeance on those who commit sacrilege, that is, who carry on fornication and spiritual adultery? Did not the Lord himself, when the adulteress had been brought to him, say to her accusers: If any of you is without sin, let him first cast a stone at her? He did not say, 'If any of you is not in like manner an adulterer,' but, 'If any of you is without sin'; therefore let anyone whatever, bound by any sin, not dare to cast a stone at one guilty of another sin; and to these, as they then departed because of their own conscience, the Savior of the world added: Woman, where are your accusers? No one has condemned you, neither will I condemn you. But go, and now sin no more. You hold, and you are held; you press, and you are pressed; you bind, and you are bound: you demand the pontiff's examination and you call for vengeance; remember that the same must be brought against every crime. Do not even human laws say that an accused man cannot make another an accused? You see the splinter in your brother's eye, and you do not see the beam in your own? You who accuse adulterers, do you commit adultery, and do you, a spiritual adulterer, attack bodily adulterers? Surely you demand an examination, you a diligent, mature, religious man; you do not wish anyone in the Church to sin, you desire the one who sins to be examined and accordingly subjected to penalty: whatever you bring forth against another, you are compelled to bring forth against yourself too; for you do this so that the pontiff may not be accused of slothfulness, so that the Church may not be stained. Both the solicitude and the severity of the pontiff ought not to be lacking in all misdeeds, and the Church's reputation ought to be cleansed by all. But you will say perhaps that you are a layman, and that the other is a minister of the Church, and on that account you make the crime more grievous. You speak truly, and I do not deny it: he is to be examined the more solicitously the more closely he is bound, and he is the more guilty the more he was established in that ministry and ought least of all to have done these things. Behold, the censure is not lacking: he is heard, and, if he is convicted, he is accordingly subjected to vengeance. Now then, what do you wish concerning yourself? Surely, because you are not in the sacred ministry, are you not in the sacred people? Or do you not know that you too are a member of the supreme pontiff? Or are you ignorant that the whole Church is called a priesthood? Finally, if that man is guilty who, approaching the ministry of the Church, transgresses, are you too not guilty, who, after confessing the truth, are led back to depraved and perverse and profane and diabolical fictions, which you professed to renounce? And so you too, after blasphemies poured forth openly and publicly, are by all means to be kept away from the sacred body. For you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons, nor drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot be the temple of God and the temple of the devil; light and darkness cannot meet together in you. I would see whether you urge and compel that wrongdoing be avenged in another: you, however, cannot evade the weight of your own crime, and, by however much you do not allow the crime to pass unpunished in another, by so much you show what we too ought, in accordance with the rationale of things, to do concerning you. Nevertheless, in your very blasphemies, for which you are justly punishable, recognize plainly your own unskillfulness and, as that man says, that you have the will to lie but do not have the art of feigning, since you so understand that you have an evil disposition and a perverse purpose of apostatizing, that no material at all for that vanity supplies itself to you, nor can you build up what you conceive in your heart and bring forth with your mouth. Tell me: since it is read again and again in the Roman histories, Livy being the narrator, that very often in this city, a pestilence having arisen, countless thousands of men perished, and that it frequently came to such a pass that there was scarcely a source from which an army could be enrolled in those warlike times—was sacrifice in that time by no means offered to your god February, or was that worship of no avail at all? In that time were the Lupercalia not being celebrated? For you are not going to say that these rites had not yet begun in that time, which are reported to have been brought into Italy by Evander before Romulus. But for what purpose the Lupercalia were instituted, as far as concerns the inventions of that superstition itself, Livy speaks in his second decade, and he records that they were instituted not for the warding off of diseases, but for driving out the sterility, as it seems to him, of women, which had then occurred. Accordingly, if this rite availed anything even for this very thing, then, with this rite interrupted, the disease would not occur, against which the Lupercalia were not devised; but rather women ought by no means to have borne children, for whose fecundity the inventions are sung. What are you going to say about the plague, about the sterility, about the continual tempest of wars? Surely these too did not happen on account of the Lupercalia being taken away? But if the Lupercalia were not provided either for avoiding or for curing these things, why do you boast yourselves in empty agitation? What did the offense against the Lupercalia do to Tuscia, to Aemilia, and to the other provinces, in which scarcely any human being now exists, so that they were consumed by the necessity of war—provinces which were laid waste long before the Lupercalia were abolished? When the emperor Anthemius came to Rome, the Lupercalia were certainly being performed, and yet so great a pestilence crept in that it could scarcely be endured. Surely the Lupercalia were not being performed throughout Campania, so that, taken away, they should breed diseases and pestilence there? But you are going to say that, just as to the head, all things pertain to Rome, and that what was not done here harmed the various provinces pertaining to her. Why then, before these provinces pertained to Rome, did they flourish by their own resources apart from the Lupercalia? That the sterility of the lands should be continual—did the Lupercalia, taken away, cause this, or the deserts of our sins, concerning which it was once said: And what have Roman morals deserved to lose? Surely the sterility of women ought to have come about, for the removing of which the Lupercalia are boasted to have been instituted; not the sterility of the lands, for the removing of which the Lupercalia were not instituted. Whence the sterility in Africa? Whence in the Gauls? Did these Lupercalia cause it, or our morals—thefts, homicides, adulteries, injustices, iniquities, ambitions, cupidities, perjuries, false testimonies, oppressions of the wretched, the attacking of good causes and the defense of bad ones, and in all things an unheard-of perversity, and finally, what is above all things, minds feigned toward God, and sacrileges, and magic arts dreadful even to pagans? Behold the things which produce everything adverse and hostile to us—not the Lupercalia, which have been taken away for your salvation. But what do you yourselves say, you who defend the Lupercalia and propose that they be performed? You depreciate them, you render their cult and celebration cheap and common. If the offense against the Lupercalia procured adversity for us, it is your fault, who hold that these are to be celebrated—these which you think singularly profit you—most negligently and not [as was fitting to observe], with a far unequal cult and devotion than your forefathers in profanity celebrated them. For among them the nobles themselves ran, and the matrons were beaten with their bodies stripped bare in public. You therefore were the first to commit offense against the Lupercalia. It would have been better not to perform them than to celebrate them with injury; but you have brought down a cult which you reckon venerable to you and salvation-bearing to base and trivial persons, abject and lowly ones. If therefore you truly profess that this sacred rite—or rather this thing to be execrated—is salutary for you, celebrate it yourselves after the manner of the forefathers; run about yourselves naked with the little thong, so that you may duly carry out the mockeries of your salvation. If they are great, if divine, if salvation-bearing, if upon them hangs the integrity of your life, why are you ashamed to celebrate such things through your own selves? If you are ashamed and it is a disgrace, then is that salvation-bearing and divine and going to profit, which you yourselves confess to be a disgrace? No one professes a religion which he is wholly ashamed to carry out by himself and shrinks from: let your very shame teach you that it is a public crime, not salvation, and not the cult of divinity, of which no wise man is ashamed, but instruments of depravities, by which your mind, bearing witness against its own self, is ashamed to fulfill what it professes is to be performed. Your Castors, certainly, from whose cult you were unwilling to desist—why did they by no means furnish you favorable seas, so that in winter time ships might come here with grain and the city not labor at all from want? Or is this going to happen in the days of summer to follow? It is a benefit established by God, not the empty persuasion of the Castors. Tell us, you who are neither Christians nor pagans, everywhere faithless, nowhere faithful, everywhere corrupt, nowhere whole, who can no more hold both than each is contrary to the other; tell us, I say, you patrons of the Lupercalia and in very truth worthy defenders of such a mockery and of base songs, worthy masters of madness, and you who not without cause do not have sound heads, worthy of this religion which is celebrated with voices of obscenities and disgraces: you yourselves shall see what salvation is expended upon you by that which proposes so great a stain and ruin to morals. Nor is there any reason for you to say that, rather by doing these things and divulging the misdeeds of each person, minds are deterred from such commitments and restrained by shame, lest these things be sung about with a public voice; since, as that man says, these mockeries seem not so much to deter as to admonish minds, and, as that man said, 'they take their wrath and spirit from the crime,' being made the more shameless thereby, since, the crime having been published and shame exposed, nothing at all remains which one might be ashamed of, nor has one anything which one might fear to have made public; but now one boldly thrusts oneself forward, of whatever sort one is—the kind of person who, in the open, was sung about not through restraint but rather through a certain joy and celebration of the divinities—whatever that person is; nay rather, one is confident of distinguishing oneself even by means of religion, so as to be a source from which the solemnities of the divinities may be celebrated, which are not worshipped except by the singing of crimes. Tell us therefore, you who have a will for profanity, whose causes you cannot maintain, you who have a purpose of defending a falsehood which you cannot defend: what are you going to say about drought, about hail, about whirlwinds, about storms and the various disasters which come about in accordance with the quality of our morals? Surely all these did not happen on account of the Lupercalia being taken away, or are they brought on by deserved retributions for the chastising of evil morals? But it is no wonder that men wish these things to come about not by divine judgment but by the onset of empty superstition—men who, in order to cover over their own crimes and misdeeds, allege that the stars of heaven bring the authority [of fate] to bear, and that they bring in a fatal error and a necessity of sinning, and that their crimes and wicked deeds do not proceed from the perversity of their own heart but depend on heaven as their author. Set forth therefore for the removing of what evils or for the obtaining of what goods your Lupercalia were instituted, and let us see what goods came about when the Lupercalia were being performed, and what evils followed when the Lupercalia seemed to be taken away. Fix your step: to what destruction of yours do you say these prodigies were devised, you who are worthy to celebrate some monster, I know not what, composed of a mixture of beast and man, whether truly or falsely set forth? If it was for the warding off of pestilence—to pass over older instances—behold, before they were abolished in my times, there was without doubt a grievous pestilence both in the city and in the fields, of men and of cattle; if you boast it was for sterility, why do these things happen in Africa or the Gauls, where the Lupercalia neither ever existed nor is it established that they were abolished? Why does the East now overflow and abound with supplies of all things, which has neither ever celebrated the Lupercalia nor celebrates them? Or do you say that it does harm there, where for very many ages they had been celebrated and were suddenly abolished? Let us see therefore whether in these times, in which you say they were stirred up and duly and fully completed with their own devotion, as it seems to you, there was never any famine, never any pestilence at all. But if again and again it came to the extremity of peril through these disasters, it appears that the Lupercalia profited nothing for the warding off of these evils, even in that time when, as has been said, they were, as you think, performed in due order. So concerning each and every necessity, on account of which you shall say provision was made, if it shall be established that these did not cease even then, the presumption of this remedy is convicted of being empty. Nevertheless, why do you not even now make trial of this, whether things duly celebrated avail anything? And run yourselves through these mockeries after the manner of your forefathers, so that, by celebrating more devoutly a thing divine and salutary to you, as you say, you may be able more and more to look out for your own salvation! Surely, when these were being celebrated, was Rome not captured by the Gauls and did it not again and again come to the very extremities? Surely, under this celebration, did it not fall in civil wars? Surely the Lupercalia were not lacking, when Alaric overturned the city? And lately, when it was overthrown by the civil fury of Anthemius and Ricimer, where were the Lupercalia? Why did they by no means profit in these cases? Surely, if it is divine, if salutary to you, why do you not do these things through your own selves, like your forefathers? Why do you diminish the causes of your own salvation? Why do you discolor them, why do you crush them, why do you bring them down to base things? Why do you impute it to us, when you yourselves trample on your own remedies? It is better not even to attempt than to perform contumeliously. Certainly your forefathers, if they had celebrated some sacred rite faultily, as it seemed to them, judged that it must be restored: why do you not, by a fitting restoration, repair what you have reduced to a faulty cult through such unworthy persons employed in carrying it out, so that you may handle the causes of your salvation more fully and more perfectly? Why are you ashamed to perform it, if it is salutary? If it is divine, why is it a disgrace to have handled it? But you say that not even the image of the thing itself ought to be removed. If it profits, if it is salutary, why is there rather an image among you and not the truth itself? Or if certainly it did not profit even then, when it was handled with the rite whole, as you say, why do you seek the image of that whose very truth you perceive did not profit? But you say that a thing performed for so many ages ought not to be set aside. Nonetheless, for many ages the superstition of paganism was bandied about. Let there be sacrifice in the temples of demons, and let profane vanity be celebrated in the Capitol! Why do you defend a portion and pass over the things that are greater? If very many kinds of vanities performed through many ages are proved to have been abolished, why cannot a portion bandied about for however long a time be taken away? If you plead prescription by length of time, impute it to your forefathers, who, since they did not use this prescription of time, indicated that what is superfluous can and ought to be removed, since more and greater things were taken away. But you say that these things existed even in Christian times. But those things too were celebrated for some while even in Christian times. Surely, because under the first prelates of the Christian religion they were not taken away, therefore under their successors they ought by no means to be removed? There are many harmful or contemptible things which were taken away by individual pontiffs at different times; for medicine does not cure all the languors in the body at once, but that which it perceives to threaten more dangerously, lest either the material of the body should not suffice for the cure, or, on account of the mortal condition, it should not be able to turn aside all things at once. Inquire what sort of thing it is whence you act: if it is good, if divine, if salutary, deservedly it ought never at any time to have been taken away; if it is neither salutary nor divine, you have rather to plead a cause as to why what is established to be superstitious and empty is taken away too late—what is certainly manifest not to befit the Christian profession. Finally, as far as concerns me, let no baptized person, no Christian celebrate this, and let only the pagans, whose rite it is, carry it out. It befits me to pronounce that these things undoubtedly exist as pernicious and deadly for Christians. Why do you accuse me, if I pronounce that what is intimately hostile to the profession ought to be removed from the partners of the Christian profession? I certainly shall absolve my own conscience: let those see to it themselves who have neglected to obey just admonitions. And I do not doubt that my predecessors too perhaps did this and attempted to have these things removed in the imperial ears, and, because it is not established that they were heard, since these evils endure even today, therefore these very empires failed, therefore even the Roman name, the Lupercalia too not being removed, came all the way to the very extremities. And therefore I now urge that those things be removed which, since I know that they have profited nothing, I pronounce to have existed rather as harmful and contrary to true religion. Finally, if you reckon that a prescription is to be drawn from the person of my predecessors, each one of us is going to render an account of his own administration, just as you perceive happens also in public dignities. I do not dare to accuse the negligence of my predecessors, since I should rather believe that they perhaps attempted that this depravity should be removed, and that certain causes existed, and contrary wills, which impeded their intentions, just as not even now do you yourselves perceive that you wish to desist from your insane attempts.

Sedent quidam in domibus suis nescientes, neque quae loquantur neque de quibus affirment, de aliis iudicare nitentes, cum se ipsi non £iu»dicent et uelint prius accusare quam nosse ac docere quam discere et indiscussis rebus nec inuesticgati»s eausis nec rerum ratione quaesita, quod eis ad buccam uenerit, inconsideranter effundere et praecipitanter euomere, non ueritatis adsertione prolata censentes sed studio cacologiae, quae nesciunt, arguentes, eoque progressi sunt, ut etiam reete faeta mali- uolentiae proposito lacerare contendant; qui si saperent, non praecipitarent omnino sententiam sed perserutatis ante rebus loquenda depromerent. uerum quia nos arguunt segnes esse 2 anathematizarat οἷα mam. post. ita distinxi ab eis quae sequun- tur coniunzique cum eis quae antecedunt — 4 talia V, corr. o 5 par- ridie V, corr. o? 6 ad V: ad se a, unde se ad g* 7 laotari V, corr. o. quanto V, corr. Thiel 9 repperitur V fort. esto — 11 co- hertionem V. correxi: cohortationem uulgo —12 perseuerang V 100, Edd. Car. I* 410; Bar. ad a. 496, 30; Collect. Concil.; Thiel 598. 14. cre xrvspEx V — 19 iudicent o*; dicent V ^ nosce F, corr. o? 80 inuestigatis Car.: inuestrtis V — 25 qui o: qua V 454 Gelasius I. aduersum Andromachum contra Lupercalia censores in uitiis ecclesiae cohercendis, et a nobis consequenter agnoscant non tantum corporalis adulterii esse peccatum, quod et discuti debeat et iure puniri, sed esse longe maius for- nicalionis et adulterii genus, quod in quolibet Christiano, quia membrum omnis Christianus ecclesiae est, competenter debeat uindicari: tanto enim sacrilegii maius est crimen, quanto animae fornicatio peior est corporis; nam per animae fornicationem ab ipsius dei coniunctione disceditur adque inmundos spiritus spiritalis adulterii genere transitur. —quomodo autem non {1} hanc partem recidit, qui cum se Christianum uideri uelit et profiteatur et dicat, palam tamen publiceque praedicare non horreat, non refugiat, non pauescat ideo morbos gigni, quia daemonia non colantur et deo Februario non litetur, ei deo, ubi haec deliramenta compererit? quomodo praeuaricator non est, qui in has blasphemiae profanitates incurrit? quomodo κε: sacrilegus non aestimetur, qui abiurata unius dei prouidentia ei potestate, quam confessus, ad prodigiosas superstitiones et uana figmenta seducitur? secundum apostolum longe deterius iureque damnandum confessam ueritatem deserere quam si in eam nullatenus credidisset. quamuis enim ridiculosa sint figmenta, quae proferat, tamen ipse affectus et uoluntas in erimine est et professio ac praedicatio iure damnanda, ac per hoc, qui in alium sententiam damnationis uult sine dilatione proferri, in quo alium iudicat, semet ipsum se condemnare cognoscat. numquid enim pontifex uindicare debet in eos, qui adulterium corporale committunt, et in eos, qui sacrilegium, id est fornicationem et adulterium spiritale gerunt, non debet uindi- 18 sqq. cf. Petr. I1 2, 20 sq. | | 9 fornicationis et adulterii p?: fornicariis et adulteris V — 8 coniunc- lione ex coniunctione corr. V adque scripsi: atque V, atque «ad» p! 9 in add. Bar. 11 publiceque p? Bar.: publiceque suppliceque V 12 morbo signi V, corr. a man. 1 ut uidetur 18 deo o: ideo V — ei deo tempiawi: uideo V Bar. 14 conceperit Bar. 158 hac V, corr. o blaphemiae V . 17 confessus (est? Car. 18 uana ex unas corr. οἷ: ua- nas V fort. reducitur (cf. p. 456, 8) deterius iureque damnandum Scripsi: deterius iureque damnandus V 19 in eam o: meam V 20 cre- didisset o: credidisse V -— ^ 20 10 15 20 Epist. C 2—7. 455 care? nonne ipse dominus, cum adultera ad eum esset adducta, accusantibus dixit: si quis uestrum sine peccato est, primus in eam lapidem mittat? non ait 'si quis uestrum non simili modo adulter est' sed 'si quis sine peccato est'; quolibet ergo obstrietus quisque peceato in alterius peccati reum lapidem non audeat mittere, quibus tune pro sua conscientia discedentibus mundi saluator adiecit: mulier, ubi sunt accusatores tui? nemo te condemnauit nec ego te condemnabo. sed uade, ulterius iam noli peccare. tenes et teneris, urgues urgueris, obstringis obstringeris; pontificis discussionem flagitas uindictamque deposcis: memento idem aduersum omne crimen esse proferendum. numquid non etiam leges humanae dicunt, quod reus reum facere non possit? fistucam uides in oculo fratris et in tuo trabem non uides? qui moechos aceusas, adulterium facis et corporales adulteros spiritalis adulter incessis? certe discussionem poscis, homo diligens maturus religiosus non uis aliquem in ecclesia peccare, peccantem eupis discuti et poenae consequenter addici: quaecumque in alium promis, et in te proferre cogeris; hoc enim facis, ne segnitia pontificis accusetur, ne maculetur ecclesia: debet ego et pontificis in omnibus malefactis sollicitudo et seueritas non deesse et ab ommibus ecclesiae fama purgari. sed dicas forsitan «te» laicum, illum ecclesiae ministrum et eo grauius crimen exaggeres. uerum dicis nec ego diffiteor: tanto sollieitius examinandus est quanto magis propinquus est, tanto magis reus est quanto in illo ministerio constitutus, et haec facere minime debuisset. ecce censura non deest: auditur et, si conuictus fuerit, uindietae consequenter addicitur. age 2 Ioh. 8, 7 7 Ioh. 8, 10 sq. 13 cf. Dig. XLVIII 1, δ; C. Th. IX 1, 12; C. Iust. IX 1,19 14 Matth. 7, 3 4 simili modo scripsi: similitudo V, similiter o? 5 quodlibet V, corr. Car. 10 urges et urgeris, obstringis et obstringeris Bar. ^ ob- stringes V, corr, o? 12 idem scripsi: in V — 17 non uis o: nouis V 18 eupi V, corr. o pene V 19 in te g*: inter V — 20 facit Mansi ne mac. scripsi: He (an Ne?) mac. V, et mac, o 23 te add. Bar.: om. V; forsan te o* — 24 eo scripsi: ego V, esse o*, ergo (om. et) Edit. reg. . exaggeras o? 25 solicitius ΡῈ 27 auditu V, correzi 6 456 Gelasius I. aduersum Ándromachum contra Lupercalia modo, quid uis de te? numquid quia in ministerio sacro non es, in plebe sacra non es? an nescis et te membrum esse summi pontificis? an ignoras totam ecclesiam sacerdotium 8uocitatam? postremo $i ile reus est, qui accedens ad ministerium ecclesiae delinquit, numquid et tu reus non es, qui post confessionem ueritatis ad praua et peruersa et profana et diabolica, quibus te renuntiare professus es, figmenta 9 reduceris? itaque etiam tu post blasphemias palam publiceque profusas a sacro corpore modis omnibus abstinendus es. non potes enim mensae domini participare et mensae daemoniorum nec calicem domini bibere et calicem dàemoniorum, non potes templum dei esse et templum diaboli, lux simul et tenebrae in te conuenire non possunt. uiderim, utrum urgueas atque compel- las in alio maleficium uindicari: tu tamen sceleris tui pondus non potes. declinare et, quanto in alio transire crimen non pateris impunitum, tanto quid etiam in te pro rerum ratione facere lOdebeamus ostendis. ^uerumtamen in ipsis blasphemiis tuis, quibus es iure plectibilis, imperitiam tuam euidenter agnosce et, sicut ait ille, uoluntatem habere te mentiendi, artem fingendi non habere, cum sic te intellegas malum habere affectum peruersumque apostatandi propositum, ut tibi materia prorsus uanitatis illius nulla suppeditet nec possis lladstruere, quod corde concipis et ore depromis. dic mihi, cum saepenumero in Romanis historiis legatur Liuio orato »re saepissime in hac urbe exorta pestilentia infinita hominum milia deperisse atque eo frequenter uentum, ut uix esset, unde ills bellicosis temporibus exercitus potuisset adscribi: illo tempore deo tuo Februario minime litabatur an etiam cultus 8 Petr. 12, 5 9 sqq. cf. Cor. I 10, 21 et 20; I1 6, 14. 19? 23 sqq. inter Liuii secundae decadis fragmenta receperunt qui Liuium ediderunt (Hertz fragm. 12)* Qt [95 5 25 en 20 3 m e Epist. C 8—14. 457 lie omnino nil proderat? illo tempore Lupercalia non celebr« a- b»antur? nec enim dicturus es haec saera adhue illo tempore non coepisse, quae ante Romulum ab Euandro in Italiam perhibentur adlata. ^ Luperealia autem propter quid instituta 12 sunt, quantum ad ipsius superstitionis commenta respectat, Liuius in seeunda decade loquitur nec propter morbos inhi- bendos instituta commemorat sed propter sterilitatem, ut ei uidetur, mulierum, quae tune acciderat, exigendam. proinde si uel ad hoc ipsum aliquid hoc ualeret, hoe intermisso non morbus aeciderit, econtra quem Lupercalia reperta non sunt. sed feminae nequaquam generare debuerant, pro quarum feeunditate coneinuntur inuenta. ^ quid dieturi estis de peste, 13 de sterilitate, de bellorum tempestate continua? numquid et haec propter sublata Lupercalia contigerunt? si autem non propter ista uel uitanda uel curanda Lupercalia sunt prouisa, quid inani turbatione iaetamini? quid Tuscia, quid Aemilia ceteraeque prouinciae, in quibus hominum jprope nullus existit, ut bellica necessitate consumerentur, Lupercaliorum fecit offensio, quae longe ante uastatae sunt, quam Luperealia tolle- rentur? quando Anthemius imperator Romam uenit, Lupercalia utique gerebantur et tamen pestilentia tanta subrepsit, ut tole- randa uix fuerit. numquid per Campaniam Luperealia gerebantur, quae sublata morbos illie et pestilentiam proerearent? sed 14 dieturi estis ad Homam tamquam ad caput omnia pertinere et, quod hie faetum non est, diuersis prouinciis ad eam pertinentibus obfuisse. cur ergo, antequam ad Homam istae prouinciae pertinerent, praeter Luperealia propriis opibus floruerunt? ut sterilitas sit continuata terrarum, Lupercalia sublata fecerunt 1 proderat illo tempore quo Lup. celebrabantur Thiel] ^ celebrantur V, corr. p. 9 cepisse qui V, corr. o! 5 respectant V, correzi 6 libius V 3 exigendam Labb. in marg.: exhibenda V, eximendam Thiel 10 ae- videre Thiel 12 coneinantur V, correri: concinnantur cod. Anmgelic. 13 sterelitate V — 16 demilia V, corr. o 18. uellica V, corr. ο3 21 suprepsit V 22. campania V, corr. (man. post.?) « (8 pesti- lentia V, corr. o: pestilentias a? procrearet V, corr. p 24 dicitur iestis V, corr. Car.: dicitur gestis « 458 Gelasius I. aduersum Ándromachum contra Lupercaiia an nostrorum merita peccatorum, de quibus olim dictum est: et Quiequid Romani meruerunt perdere mores? Sterilitas certe feminarum debuit prouenire, propter quam auferendam Lupercalia instituta iactantur, non sterilitas terrarum, s propter quam Luperealia non sunt instituta remouendam. quid 15in Africa unde sterilitas? quid in Galliis? Lupercalia ista fecerunt an nostri mores, furta, homicidia, adulteria, iniustitiae, iniquitates, ambitiones, cupiditates, periuria, falsa testimonia, oppressiones miserorum, bonarum causarum impugnatio malarumque defensio et in omnibus inaudita peruersitas, postremo, quod supra omnia est, deo fictae mentes et sacrilegia artesque magicae etiam paganis horrendae? ecce, quae faciunt omnia aduersa et inimica nobis, non Luperealia, quae sunt pro uestra salute sublata. l6sed quid dicitis uos ipsi, qui Lupercalia defenditis et agenda 15 proponitis? uos ea depretiatis, uos eorum cultum celebritatemque uilem uulgaremque redditis. si offensio Lupercaliorum nobis aduersa procurauit, uestra culpa est, qui quod uobis singulariter prodesse putatis, neglegentissime et non « « longe impari cultu et deuotione ea ducitis celebranda, quam profanitatis uestrae so celebrauere maiores. apud illos enim nobiles ipsi currebant et matronae nudato publice corpore uapulabant. uos ergo primi in Lupercalia commisistis. satius fuerat non agere quam ea cum iniuria celebrare, sed deduxistis uenerandum uobis cultum et salutiferum quem putatis ad uiles triuialesque ss 17 personas, abiectos et infimos. si uere ergo profitemini hoc Sacrum ac potius execramentum uobis esse salutare, ipsi celebrate more maiorum, ipsi cum resficulo nudi discurrite, 2? 2 et praesertim $n fine uersus εἷς sanum — baterelitas V 6 remouenda V. corr. Thiel 8 nostris V, corr. ? 10 inpugnatio ex inpugnatione corr. V 17 ostensio V, corr. Bar. 19 non longe V: tam longe Bar., cum longe Thiel, nunc longe Hartel; ego lacunam indicaui quam sic fere expleuerim non «sicut. decuit obseruantes? longe 25 et salutiferumque quem V, corr. o: et del. Thiel 26 hoc Bar.:inhoc V — 28 resticulo scripsi coll. Plutarchi Caes. 61 διαϑέουσι ἀνὰ τὴν πόλιν γυμνοὶ σκχύτεσι λασίοις τοὺς ἐμποδὼν... καίοντες (cf. ettam Romul. 21, Anton. 12): ridiculo V, amiculo Car. “ὦ 10 1 20 25 Epist. C 14—20. 459 ut rite uestrae salutis ludibria peragatis. si magna sunt, si diuina, si salutifera, si in his uitae uestrae pendet integritas, cur uos pudet per uos ipsos talia celebrare? si pudet et dedeeus est, itane salutiferum est et diuinum et profuturum, quod uos ipsi dedecus esse fateamini? memo religionem profitetur. quam per se exsequi prorsus erubescit et refugit: ipsa uere- cundia uestra uos doceat crimen esse publicum, non salutem et non diuinitatis cultum, de quo sapiens nullus erubescit, sed instrumenta prauitatum, quibus mens uestra contra semet ipsam testimonium ferens, quod gerendum profitetur, erubescit implere. — Castores uestri certe, a quorum cultu desistere 18 noluistis, cur uobis oportuna maria minime praebuerunt, ut hiemis tempore uenirent huc nauigia eum frumentis et ciuitas inopia minime laboraret? an diebus sequentibus hoc futurum est aestatis? a deo constitutum beneficium est, non Castorum uana persuasio. dicite nobis, nec Christiani nec pagani, ubique 19 perfidi nusquam fideles, ubique corrupti nusquam integri, qui tam utrumque tenere non potestis, quam sibi utrumque con- trarium est; dicite inquam, Luperealiorum patroni et re uera digni talis ludibrii et cantilenarum turpium defensores, digni magistri uesaniae et qui non sine causa sana capita non habetis, digni hac religione, quae obscenitatum et flagitiorum uocibus celebratur: uideritis ipsi, quid uobis salutis impendat, quae tantam moribus labem pernieiemque proponit? ^ nee est, quod 20 dicatis potius haec agendo et facinora uniuscuiusque uulgaudo deterreri a talibus eommissis animos et pudore refrenari, ne de his publica uoce cantetur, quando, sieut ille ait, non tam deterrere quam admonere animos haee ludibria uideantur et, sicut ille dixit, iram atque animos à crimine sumunt 27? 30 Iuuenal. VI 285 1 peragratis V, corr. o. 11 pastores et 15 pastorum quam ineptissime coniecit Thiel 17 numquam integri V, corr. Car. 20 digni talis Scripsi: dignitati V, diuinitatis Car., dignitates Hartel 20 deterrire V, corr. à?: deterrere o? 28 diterrere V, corr. o! admouere Coust, hac V, corr. o. 80 ira V, corr. o 400 Gelasius I. aduersum Andromachum contra Lupercalia eo impudentiores effecti, quo crimine publicato expositaque uerecundia nil superest omnino, quod pudeat, nec habet, quod metuat publicari, sed iam se fiducialiter exertat, qualis iu propatulo non per cohercci»tionem sed potius per quandam laetitiam et celebritatem numinum decantata est, quaelibet illa s persona, immo et religione se praestare confidit, ut sit, unde numinum sollemnia celebrentur, quae nisi criminum decantati- 2lonibus non coluntur. dicite nobis itaque, qui uoluntatem profanitatis habetis, cuius causas asserere non potestis, qui tuendae habetis propositum falsitatis, quam defendere non : potestis: quid dicturi estis de siecitate, de grandine, de turbinibus, de tempestatibus uariisque cladibus, quae pro morum nostrorum qualitate proueniunt? numquidnam haec omnia pro sublatis Lupercalibus contigerunt an malis moribus castigandis 22 meritis retributionibus inferuntur? — sed non mirum est homines 15 non iudicio diuino uelle ista contingere sed uanae superstiti- onis incursu, qui ut sua crimina et malefacta cooperiant, auc- toritatem caeli sidera perhibent adhibere et fatalem indu« cere» errorem necessitatemque peccandi facinoraque sua non de cordis proprii peruersitate procedere sed caelo auctore pendere. pro- so ponite igitur, pro quibus aut submouendis malis aut promerendis bonis Lupercalia uestra fuerint instituta, et uideamus, quae illa bona prouenerint, cum Lupercalia gererentur, et quae mala 23 successerint, cum Lupercalia uiderentur ablata. figite gradum: ad quod uestrum excidium dicatis haec prodigia fuisse reperta, 26 digni, qui monstrum nescio quod pecudis hominisque mixtura compositum siue uere siue false editum celebretis? si propter 1 eo o: co V expositamque V, corr. o 8. exerat V, correxi 4 cohertionem V, corr. Bar. 5 nominum PV, corr. Thiel 6 sint o 7 nominum F, corr. Bar. 11 dicitur V, corr. o 12 turbinis V, corr. o3: turbine o? 14 an malis o: animalis V, an in malis Car. 17 qui αὖ Thiel: quibus V cooperiant auctoritate coeli, sidera perh, adhiberi Thiel 18 inducere scripsi: indu V, inducit a, inducunt Bar., induci Edit. reg. — 25 post excidium Thiel add$ iubet submouendum Epist. C 20—25. 461 pestilentiam summouendam, ut antiquiora praeteream, ecce, antequam meis temporibus tollerentur, pestilentiam grauem tam in urbe quam in agris hominum pecudumque fuisse non dubium est; si pro sterilitate iactatis, cur in Africa uel Galliis 5 ista contingunt, ubi nee fuerunt aliquando Lupercalia nec constat fuisse sublata? cur nunc Oriens omnium rerum copiis exuberat et abundat, qui nee celebrauit umquam Lupercalia nec celebrat? an dieitis illie nocere, ubi per plurima saecula 24 fuerant celebrata et repente sublata sunt? uideamus ergo, si 10 his temporibus, quibus dicitis agitata et rite ac plena sui, sieut uobis uidetur, deuotione completa sunt, numquam fames, numquam pestilentia prorsus extiterit. si uero saepenumero his cladibus ad extremum periculi uentum est, apparet his malis summouendis nihil Lupercalia profuisse etiam eo 15 tempore, quo, sieut dietum est, ut putatis, competenti ordine gererentur. sic de singulis quibusque necessitatibus, propter quas dixeritis fuisse prouisum, si constiterit etiam illis non desisse, uana huius remedii conuincitur esse praesumptio. — uerumtamen cur non hoc etiam nune experiamini, utrum 30 ualeant aliquid rite celebrata? et uos per ludibria ista discur- rite uestrorum more maiorum, ut diuinam rem et salutarem uobis, ut dicitis, deuotius celebrando saluti uestrae prospicere magis magisque ualeatis! — numquid cum haec celebrarentur, 25 a Gallis Roma non capta est et saepenumero ad extrema »5 quaeque peruenit? numquid bellis ciuilibus sub hae cele- britate non concidit? numquid Luperealia deerant, quando urbem Alarieus euertit? et nuper, cum Anthemii et Rieimeris ciuili furore subuersa est, ubi sunt Lupercalia? cur istis minime profuerunt? certe «si» diuinum est, si salutare uobis, s» eur non per uos ipsi, ut maiores uestri, ista faciatis? cur causas uestrae salutis minuitis? cur decoloratis, cur eliditis, 3 urbem quam in agros V, corr. Car. 4 sterelitate V — 6 quar V 7 exuberat ex exuberauit corr. V qui o?: quae Y. 10 agitatta V 11 famis V 17 quas Bar.: quam V 19 uerumtamen cur usque ad 23 ualeatis post 29 profuerunt collocanda widentur 20 ualeat V, corr. Bar. 29 si add. Bar. 30 facitis Bar. 462 Gelasius I. aduersum Andromachum contra Lupercalia eur ad uilia quaeque deducitis? quid imputatis nobis, cum 26ipsi remedia uestra calcetis? satius est et non temptare quam contumeliose peragere. maiores certe uestri si uitiose, ut illis uidebatur, sacrum aliquod celebrassent, instaurandum esse ducebant: eur non, quod ad uitiosum cultum redegistis per 5 indignas quasque id exequendo personas, competenti instaurati- one reparatis, ut causas uestrae salutis plenius perfectiusque tractetis? cur uos pudeat agere, si salutare est? si diuinum, 27 cur tractasse sit dedecus? sed inquis uel imaginem ipsius rei non debere moueri. si prodest, si salutare est, cur imago 10 potius apud uos et non ipsa sit ueritas? aut si certe nec tunc profuit, quando ritu integro, sicut dicitis, tractabatur, quid quaeritis eius imaginem, cuius nec ipsam profnmisse 28 cernitis ueritatem? sed dicitis tot saeculis rem gestam non oportere secludi. nihilominus multis temporibus paganitatis :5 superstitio nentilata est. sacrificetur in templis daemonum et in Capitolio profana uanitas celebretur! cur portionem defen- ditis et, quae maiora sunt, praeteritis? si plurima genera uanitatum multis acta saeculis probantur esse sublata, cur portio quantouis tempore uentilata non possit auferri? 8] Ὁ temporibus praescribitur, imputate maioribus uestriS, qui cum hac temporis praescriptione non usi sint, posse, quod super- fluum est, et debere remoueri, dum plura et maiora submota 29 sunt, indicarunt. sed dicis etiam Christianis temporibus haec fuisse. sed etiam illa aliquamdiu Christianis quoque temporibus 35 celebrata sunt. numquidnam, quia sub primis praesulibus Christianae religionis ablata non sunt, ideo sub eorum succes- soribus tolli minime debuerunt? multa sunt, quae singulis pontifieibus diuerso tempore sublata sunt noxia uel abiecta; non enim simul omnes in eorpore curat medicina languores, s .9 8 ei (est et) im és et (— esset) mutawit o3, est (del. et) Bar. 5 ad uitiosum ex anitiosum (sic a) corr. o?: auitiosum V 9 cur scripsi: quod V 1] fort. fit 12 tractebitur V, corr. ο 22 hec V, corr. o? praescriptionem V, corr. o 25 aliquandiu V . 28 (8) singulis Car. 80 curati V, corr. o langore V, corr. o Epist. C 26—82. 463 sed quod periculosius conspicit iuminere, ne aut materia corporis non sufficiat medicinae aut pro conditione mortali simul omnia non possit auertere. quaere, quale sit, unde agis: si bonum est, si diuinum, si salubre, merito quando- 5 cumque tolli non debuit; si nec salubre nec diuinum, eausandum tibi magis est, eur tardius auferatur, quod super- stitiosum constat et uanum, quod certe Christianae professioni non eonuenire manifestum est. postremo, quod ad me pertinet, 30 nullus baptizatus, nullus Christianus hoec celebret et soli hoe τὸ pagani, quorum ritus est, exsequantur. me pronuntiare conuenit Christianis ista perniciosa et funesta indubitanter existere. quid me incusas, si quod professioni intime inimicum est, ἃ consortibus professionis Christianae pronuntio submouendum ὃ ego certe absoluam conseientiam meam: ipsi uideant, qui 15. iustis admonitionibus oboedire neglexerint. quod etiam prae-31 cessores meos forsitan fecisse non ambigo et apud imperiales aures haec summouenda temptasse et, quia auditos esse non constat, dum haec mala hodieque perdurant, ideo haee ipsa imperia defecerunt, ideo etiam nomen Romanum non remotis 90 etiam Luperealibus usque ad extrema quaeque peruenit. et ideo nune ea remouenda suadeo, quae eum nihil profuisse cognosco, tamquam contraria uerae religioni noxia potius extitisse pronuntio. postremo si de meorum persona praescri- 32 bendum aestimas decessorum, unusquisque nostrum admini- 95. Strationis suae redditurus est rationem, sicut etiam in publieis dignitatibus fieri peruidetis. ego neglegentiam accusare non audeo praecessorum, eum magis credam fortasse temptasse 1 fori. quos — aut Car.: autem V 4 post diuinum del. est. V meritoque T'hiel per errorem ut uidetur 8. ad o: a V — 12 professioni intime (?) Hartel: professio (corr. ex professione) minime V, professi minime « (unde professis minime Thiel) professo nomini Bar. 19 Ro- manorum Car. 22 uera VF, corr. o 27 ante fortasse del. fuisse V 464 Gelasius I. episcopis per Dardaniam etc. constitutis eos, ut haec prauitas tolleretur, et. quasdam extitisse causas et contrarias uoluntates, quae eorum intentiones praepedirent, Sicut ne nunc quidem uos ipsos absistere insanis conatibus uelle perpenditis. |