Tertullian

(1), QUINTUS SEPTIMIUS FLORENS, or— simply —SEP- TIMIUS. I. Life ; Il. Times (p. 819) ; IIL. Writings (p. 821). A. As Layman and Apologist (p. 822); B. As Priest (p. 828); C. In relation to Montanism (p. 840); [V. Summary (p. 862); Y. Literature (p. 864).

I. Life.—tThe first of the great Latin Fathers in point of date, their chief in fire and daring, and the first to create a technical Christian Latinity—is known almost entirely through his writings. The date of his birth is as unknown as that of his death. It can only be conjectured that he was born between A.D. 150 and 160, and that he died between a.p. 220 and 240; with preference for the later dates. His birthplace . was Carthage (Jerome, Cutal. Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum, 53. Cp. Tertullian's Apologeticum, ch. ix.), and his parents were heathen (De Poen. ch. i.; Apol. ch. xviii. 'de vestris sumus") ; his father's position being that of a proconsular centurion (Jerome). As a lad, Tertullian was marked by great natural abilities, and he received a good education (Apol. ch. xiv.; Adv. Prax. ch. iii.). In after-life he recalled his school studies in Homer (Ad Nat.i. ch. x.); but poetry was evidently less attractive to him than philosophy, history, science, and antiquarian lore. He spoke and composed in Greek, but his Greek writings are lost. He studied the systems of the philosophers if he mocked and hated the men (cp. De Anima, chs. i-iii.); and with results which made him famous :—' Quid Tertulliano eruditius, quid acutius? Apologeticus ejus et contra Gentiles libelli cunctam saeculi obtinent disciplinam' (Jerome, Epist. 1xxxiii.). Tertullian, possibly destined for state-official life, was not less celebrated for his knowledge of Roman law (Eusebius, H. Z. ii. 2); and the legal fence and juridical style of the advocate are observable throughout his apologetic and polemical writings. In the heroes of ancient Rome—* the grave and wise Cato, the just and soldierly Scipio, the noble Pompey, the fortunate Sylla, the wealthy Crassus, the eloquent Tullius" —he found human models and examples which would bear comparison with the gods of the heathen (Apol. ch. xi.); and the passage perhaps helps to qualify others in which a morbid consciousness makes him represent himself as ~ more than usually profligate and vicious, or apply to himself the self-conviction of a St. Paul (De Resur. carnis, ch. lix.; De Poenit. ch.iv.). In his Christian days he loathed to recall the scenes of the theatre and arena which, in common with his class and age, he had so much frequented (De Spectac. ch. xix.; Ad Nat. i. ch. x. ; Apol. ch. xv.).

Tertullian was probably attracted to Christianity by complex irresistible and converging forces. As he said, 'Fiunt, non nascuntur Christiani' (Aol. ch. xviii.). First, he was met by facts inspired by a faith; facts such as these: —(a) The constancy of the Christians in times of persecution. This staggered him. He knew men who began by denouncing such constancy as " obstinacy,' and who ended in embracing the belief which dictated it (Apol. ch. 1.; ad Scap. ch. v.). (6) Demons confessed the superiority of the new faith (Apol. ch. xxiii.); and Ter-