"entrusted with the whole republic" by Valerian, now on his last march to Persia, was determined to carry things to an extremity with Christians, Cyprian was probably the first African who procured a copy of the tremendous rescript, and of the letter which was about to be issued to the Praesides (Ep. 80). The proconsul in Cyprian's trial mentions both the extension of capital penalties to presbyters, and the new prohibition of the use of cemeteries for worship. His messenger returned with the full intelligence of sweeping measures before their publication, and with news that Xystus had been beheaded (Pont. Vit. Cyp. xii.; Leon. Sacr. Muratori, vol. i. p. 391) on Sunday, Aug. 5, in the cemetery of Praetextatus[1] when actually "teaching" in his episcopal chair, and with him four of the great Roman deacons.[2] It may be taken as historical fact that on Wed. the 29th of the previous June, Xystus had translated the supposed remains of St. Peter to the cemetery known as Cata Cumbas, on the Appian Way, and those of St. Paul to the Ostian Way. It is possible that this increasing reverence to two malefactors executed two centuries before both shewed the magistrates that the spirit of the sect was becoming more dangerous and determined them to withdraw from Christians the protection which the burial laws hitherto accorded to rites celebrated in connexion with places of sepulture; and further, that this occasioned a withdrawal from the better-known cemetery of Callistus to the more obscure one of Praetextatus (see de Rossi, Rom. Sott. vol. ii. p. 41; and Lips. ll.cc.), and the death of Xystus in that place. The news of it had scarcely reached Carthage when Galerius, now in residence at Utica, summoned Cyprian thither in honourable form (Ep. 81). Having previously refused offers of a retreat, urged on him even by heathens, he now said he was resolved not to die, or utter the dying prophecy with which he apparently expected to be inspired, away from his people. Accordingly, informed of the dispatch before it came, he went into hiding in Carthage, there to await the proconsul's return. On his return, he reappeared and reoccupied his own house.[3] The details of the trial are too numerous to repeat and too remarkable to abridge. They are found not only in the narrative of Pontius, but also in a "Passion of Cyprian," which we have in different forms, and which from its simplicity, provinciality, and minute topography, must be contemporary.[4] Cyprian was removed from his home on Aug. 13; the magistrate's broken health prolonged the examination; but the prisoner's rank shielded him from suffering or indignity. Though the language of the judge was stern, the Christians confessed the reluctance with which he gave sentence. In them sense of triumph in the possession of such a martyr is dwelt on with almost as much force as the sense of loss. With a strange mingled feeling, characteristic of the vividness with which in intense moments circumstances are apprehended which would at other times be trivial, they marked how little incidents combined to do him honour. The seat he rested on for the last time happened to be covered with a white cloth, the episcopal emblem. The trees were climbed, as he passed, by many a Zacchaeus. The eve and vigil of his martyrdom were kept by all his flock, watching through the night in the streets before his house, when as yet the only vigil of the Christian year was that which preceded the day of Christ's own Passion. The idea of this parallel took such hold that Augustine carries it to a painful pitch (Serm. 309). The two officers between whom Cyprian rode are compared to the two malefactors between whom our Lord went to His Passion. Pontius compares the words of the sentence to the prophecy of Caiaphas. Cyprian received no dying prophecy, nor uttered any, though his time was ample. His words were very few, and no exhortation could have been so eloquent as the "Thanks be to God " with which he answered the judgment: "our pleasure is that Thascius Cyprianus be executed by the sword."
Personal, Theological, and Political Effectiveness.—To sum up the effect of Cyprian's 13 years' episcopate in briefest terms. Over and above, (1) the social impressiveness for the time of a convert with such culture and such mental habits, and of that perfect ἐπιείκεια and πρᾳότης to which Augustine constantly reverts with delight, comes (2) his Philosophy. It is usual to expand the fact that he was no philosopher. Nevertheless his writings on Resentment, Patience, Probation, Envy, Self-devotion, are most able essays towards establishing a new Christian basis of Morals, and have a permanent place in the series. (3) Evidences. As against both contemporary Judaism and contemporary paganism his collections have a distinct worth. (4) Interpretation. He has a free ideal scheme before him (Ep. 64), but in detail falls from it, and makes mere riddles of texts. (5) Organization. This is the real epigraph of his career. The magnitude of the effect he produced is incomparably greater than that of any other person, not excepting Hildebrand. (a) The Church Council, a local and doubtful institution before, became through his management a necessary institution and the imperial power of the church, and, with its system of representation by a life-aristocracy popularly elected, and its free discussionary scheme, exercised an important
- ↑ After 11 months and 12 (6 ?) days' episcopate. Eusebius, by an error, in which he indulges in other instances, ascribes to him years for months both in chronicle and history; and Jerome repeats it from him. So in vii. 15 he seems to speak of him as alive after the edict of restoration. See Lipsius, l.c.
- ↑ Sic lege "cum eo diacones quattuor."
- ↑ Nothing is more self-consistent than the language of Ep. 83, or more inconsistent with Gibbon's "recovering that fortitude which his character required."
- ↑ They are entitled Acta Proconsularia, and so accepted by Pearson and Gibbon. Aug. Serm. 309 seems to quote either this Passio or some earlier document which is now embedded in it. Ep. 77, ii. refers to Cyprian's confession "Apud Acta proconsulis" just after it was made. Does Acta mean merely "trial before"? (Cf. Optat. B. iii. p. 68, apud acta locuti sunt.) If it means "official report," how could a Christian report be so styled, or how could a heathen one give the details with such advantage to the prisoners? Dionysius Alex. refers a carping adversary to the record of his own trial before Aemilian, then prefect of Egypt (Eus. vol. i. p. 384, notes on ὑπεμνηματίσθη).
