| Quotation |
porro autem, inchoato semel bello Punico utrum aliquando bella caedes ruinae atque omnia infandarum mortium genera nisi Caesare Augusto imperante ces- sauerint, inquirat inueniat prodat quisquis infamanda 4 Christiana tempora putat, absque illo tamen inter bella Punica unius anni ueluti auis praeteruolantis excursu Romani propter clausas Iani portas inter fe- bres morbosque reipublicae ad hoc breuissimo pacis signo uelut tenuissimo aquae gelidae haustu inlecti sunt, ut in peius recalescentes multo grauius uehementiusque adflictarentur. At uero, si indubitatissime constat sub Augusto primum Caesare post Parthicam pacem uniuersum terrarum orbem positis armis abolitisque discordiis generali pace et noua quiete conpositum Romanis paruisse legibus, Romana iura quam propria arma maluisse spretisque ducibus suis iudices elegisse Romanos, postremo omnibus gentibus, cunctis prouinciis, innumeris ciuitatibus, infinitis populis, totis terris unam fuisse uoluntatem libero honestoque studio inseruire paci atque in commune consulere - quod prius ne una quidem ciuitas unusue populus ciuium uel, quod maius est, una domus fratrum iugiter habere potuisset -; quodsi etiam, cum imperante Caesare ista prouenerint, in ipso imperio Caesaris inluxisse ortum in hoc mundo Domini nostri Iesu Christi liquidissima probatione manifestum est: inuiti licet illi quos in blasphemiam urguebat inuidia, cognoscere faterique cogentur pacem istam totius mundi et tranquillissimam serenitatem non magnitudine Caesaris, sed potestate filii Dei qui in diebus Caesaris apparuit, exstitisse nec unius urbis imperatori sed creatori orbis uniuersi orbem ipsum generali cognitione paruisse, qui, sicut sol oriens diem luce perfundit, ita adueniens misericorditer extenta mundum pace uestierit. |
| Translation |
3. Therefore let anyone who thinks that these Christian times should be disparaged, make enquiries, discover, and publish abroad his findings as to whether after the beginning of the Punic War, wars, slaughter, destruction, and every kind of appalling death have, save in the times of Caesar Augustus, ever ceased. 4. The one exception is a single year during the Punic Wars which passed by like a flying bird, when the Romans, because the gates of Janus were closed when the republic was suffering from fever and disease, were seduced by this fleeting sign of peace, like by the merest sip of cold water, and then, as the fever blazed up again all the worse, found themselves more seriously and badly afflicted. 5. Nevertheless, if there is indisputable agreement that the whole world laid down its arms for the first time in Caesar Augustus’s reign, after he had made peace with the Parthians, set aside its quarrels, enjoyed a universal peace and a state of quiet that had been hitherto unknown; that its peoples obeyed Roman ordinances, preferred Roman law to their own arms, and, spurning their own leaders, chose Roman judges in their stead; 6. and that finally that every race, all the provinces, innumerable cities, countless peoples, and every land had one desire: to cultivate peace freely and honourably and take counsel for the common good (something which previously not even a single city, a single citizen-body, or, what is more, even brothers in a single household had been able to do together). if it is agreed that these things came to pass in Caesar’s reign, it is obvious from crystal-clear evidence that the birth in this world of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, shone its light on Caesar’s realm. 8. And those whom envy drives to blasphemy are compelled to recognise and admit that this peace over all the world and its tranquil serenity came not from the wide rule of Caesar, but from the power of the Son of God, Who became manifest in the time of Caesar, and that the world itself with a universal understanding obeyed not the ruler of a single city, but the world’s Creator, Who, just as the rising sun fills the day with light, coming in mercy clothed the world in a lasting peace. These matters will be more fully discussed, when we come, the Lord willing, to that place. |
