heretic with marrying repeatedly; but I doubt whether the words are sufficiently precise to warrant the inference.

Great diversity of opinion prevails among the commentators respecting the date of the Apology. Allix appears to me to have shewn satisfactorily that it was written, 86 not at Rome, but at Carthage: and that it was addressed, not 87 to the Senate, but to the governors of Proconsular Africa. He has not, however, been equally successful in proving that it was written so late as the year 217. I cannot discover, in 88 the passage in

Ecce in illâ

86 Speaking of Rome, Tertullian says, c. 9. religiosissimâ urbe Æneadum: and in c. 21. sub fine, he thus addresses the Romans: Ut ad vos quoque, dominatores gentium, aspiciam: and again, in c. 35. Ipsos Quirites, ipsam vernaculam septem collium plebem, convenio: modes of expression which he would scarcely have used, had the Tract been written at Rome.

87 In designating the persons to whom the Apology is addressed, he styles them in general Præsides; thus, Veritatis extorquendæ Præsides, c. 2. Ex ipsis etiam vobis justissimis et severissimis in nos Præsidibus, c. 9. Hoc agite, boni Præsides, c. 50. In c. 2. he uses the expression, Hoc imperium cujus ministri estis; and from a passage in c. 45. Deum non Proconsulem timentes, it may fairly be inferred that he was writing in a province governed by a Pro-Consul.

88 Nonne vanissimas Papias Leges, quæ ante liberos suscipi cogunt quam Juliæ matrimonium contrahi, post tantæ auctoritatis senectutem heri Severus constantissimus Principum exclusit? c. 4.

which Tertullian speaks of the reformation of the Papian Laws, any reason for thinking that Severus was then dead; I should rather infer the contrary. The allusion to the conspiracies which were daily 89 detected at the very time when the book was written, as well as the enumeration of the barbarous nations which either then were, or had recently been, at war with Rome, correspond to the events which took place during the reign of Severus; and as the work contains internal testimony that the Christians were then suffering persecution, why may it not have been written soon after "1 the promulgation of the law, by which the Christians were forbidden to make proselytes, that is, about the year 204? The date assigned

91

89 Unde Cassii et Nigri et Albini? and again, Sed et qui nunc scelestarum partium socii aut plausores quotidie revelantur, post vindemiam parricidarum racematio superstes, &c. c. 35. This passage appears to relate to the triumph of Severus after his return from the Parthian War, and to the conspiracy of Plautianus which took place about the year 204.

90

c. 37. Plures nimirum Mauri et Marcomanni ipsique Parthi.

91 The part taken by the Syrians of Palestine in favour of Niger greatly irritated Severus, and probably gave occasion to this law. Ælii Spartiani Severus, p. 902. C. From the words of the historian it might be inferred that the law applied only to Palestine. In itinere Palæstinis plurima jura fundavit. Judæos fieri sub gravi pœna vetuit. Idem etiam de Christianis sanxit, p. 904. A. Speaking shortly after of the inhabitants of Alexandria, he says, Multa præterea his jura mutavit.

by Mosheim, in a Tract written expressly on the subject, is 198. It was not to be expected that any marks of Montanism would appear in the Apology.

The two books, entitled ad Nationes, have come down to us in so imperfect a state that it is difficult to ascertain whether they were designed to be a distinct work from the Apology, or whether Tertullian at first wrought his materials into this form, which he afterwards thought proper to change. The arguments are for the most part the same as those urged in the Apology, and are frequently expressed in the same words. Allix fancied that he found an allusion 92 to the assumption of the title of Parthicus by Caracalla, and concluded, therefore, that these books were written after the death of Severus; but I suspect that the allusion existed only in his own fancy.

92 Ita vero sit, quum ex vobis nationibus quotidie Cæsares, et Parthici, et Medici, et Germanici, L. i. c. 17. Allix drew his inference from a passage in the life of Caracalla which goes under the name of Ælius Spartianus. Datis ad Senatum, quasi post victoriam, literis Parthicus appellatus est; nam Germanici nomen patre vivo fuerat consecutus, p. 930. D. The circumstance here alluded to occurred not long before the death of Caracalla in 217. But the titles of Parthicus and Germanicus had been so frequently conferred upon Emperors, that it cannot be affirmed with any degree of certainty that a particular allusion to Caracalla was intended.

The tract de Testimonio Animæ was subsequent to the Apology, to which it contains a reference. Ut loco suo edocuimus ad fidem earum (Divinarum Scripturarum) demonstrandam, c. 5. The reference is to the nineteenth chapter of the Apology, in which Tertullian establishes the superior antiquity of the Hebrew Scriptures to the literature of the Gentiles.

The terms in which Tertullian speaks,95 in his address to Scapula, of the favour shewn by Severus to the Christians, in consequence of the cure wrought upon him by one of their body named Proculus, lead to the conclusion that the work was composed after that Emperor's death. There is 94 in this Tract an allusion to the destruction of Byzantium which took place in the year 196; as well as to a preternatural extinction of the Sun's light which occurred at Utica, and which Allix supposes to have been an eclipse of the Sun that happened in the year 210. He agrees with Scaliger and Holstenius in thinking that this was one of the latest of Tertullian's works, and written about the year 217. In c. 4. Tertullian

93

c. 4. The cure was performed by the use of oil. Severus laboured under an arthritic complaint. Elii Spartiani Severus, p. 903. D.

94 c. 3. Extincto pene lumine.

mentions Cincius Severus among the governors who treated the Christians with lenity. This governor was put to death by Severus after the defeat and death of 95 Albinus. The Tract contains no traces of Montanism, yet was probably written after the author became a Montanist.

96

The Treatises, in which we find positive allusions to the prophecies of Montanus, are those de Coronâ, 97de Animâ, 98 de Virginibus velandis, 99 de Resurrectione Carnis, 100 against Praxeas, 101 the first, 102 third, 103 fourth, and 104 fifth books against Marcion, and the Tracts de Fugâ in Persecutione, de Monogamiâ, de Jejuniis, and de Pudicitiâ. The four last-mentioned Tracts are stated by Jerome to have been composed by our author in direct opposition to the Church, and their contents fully confirm the statement. With respect to their order, we know only that the Tract de Monogamiâ was prior to that de Jejuniis, 105 which contains a reference to it.

95

A. D. 198. Ælii Spartiani Severus, p. 902. A.

96 c. 1. Qui prophetias ejusdem Spiritûs Sancti respuerunt. 97 cc. 9. 11. 55. 58. There is in this Tract, c. 55. an allusion to the martyrdom of Perpetua, which is supposed to have happened about the year 203.

104

c. 16. Ut docent Veteres et Novæ Prophetiæ.