Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

9968

Pseudo-Tertullian, Martyrdom Of Perpetua And Felicitas, 4

nan Then said my brother to me: Lady my sister, you are now in high honor, even such that you might ask for a vision; and it should be shown you whether this be a passion or else a deliverance. And I, as knowing that I conversed with the Lord, for Whose sake I had suffered such things, did promise him nothing doubting; and I said: Tomorrow I will tell you. And I asked, and this was shown me. I beheld a ladder of bronze, marvelously great, reaching up to heaven; and it was narrow, so that not more than one might go up at one time. And in the sides of the ladder were planted all manner of things of iron. There were swords there, spears, hooks, and knives; so that if any that went up took not good heed or looked not upward, he would be torn and his flesh cling to the iron. And there was right at the ladder's foot a serpent lying, marvelously great, which lay in wait for those that would go up, and frightened them that they might not go up. Now Saturus went up first (who afterwards had of his own free will given up himself for our -sakes, because it was he who had edified us; and when we were taken he had not been there). And he came to the ladder's head; and he turned and said: Perpetua, I await you; but see that serpent bite you not. And I said: it shall not hurt me, in the name of Jesus Christ. And from beneath the ladder, as though it feared me, it softly put forth its head; and as though I trod on the first step I trod on its head. And I went up, and I saw a very great space of garden, and in the midst a man sitting, white-headed, in shepherd's clothing, tall milking his sheep; and standing around in white were many thousands. And he raised his head and beheld me and said to me: Welcome, child. And he cried to me, and from the curd he had from the milk he gave me as it were a morsel; and I took it with joined hands and ate it up; and all that stood around said, Amen. And at the sound of that word I awoke, yet eating I know not what of sweet. And at once I told my brother, and we knew it should be a passion; and we began to have no hope any longer in this world.

Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

13 results
1. Mishnah, Berachot, 5.5 (1st cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) 5.5. One who is praying and makes a mistake, it is a bad sign for him. And if he is the messenger of the congregation (the prayer leader) it is a bad sign for those who have sent him, because one’s messenger is equivalent to one’s self. They said about Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa that he used to pray for the sick and say, “This one will die, this one will live.” They said to him: “How do you know?” He replied: “If my prayer comes out fluently, I know that he is accepted, but if not, then I know that he is rejected.”"
2. Anon., Apocryphon of John (Bg), 9.5 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
3. Tertullian, Apology, 50 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) 50. In that case, you say, why do you complain of our persecutions? You ought rather to be grateful to us for giving you the sufferings you want. Well, it is quite true that it is our desire to suffer, but it is in the way that the soldier longs for war. No one indeed suffers willingly, since suffering necessarily implies fear and danger. Yet the man who objected to the conflict, both fights with all his strength, and when victorious, he rejoices in the battle, because he reaps from it glory and spoil. It is our battle to be summoned to your tribunals that there, under fear of execution, we may battle for the truth. But the day is won when the object of the struggle is gained. This victory of ours gives us the glory of pleasing God, and the spoil of life eternal. But we are overcome. Yes, when we have obtained our wishes. Therefore we conquer in dying; we go forth victorious at the very time we are subdued. Call us, if you like, Sarmenticii and Semaxii, because, bound to a half-axle stake, we are burned in a circle-heap of fagots. This is the attitude in which we conquer, it is our victory-robe, it is for us a sort of triumphal car. Naturally enough, therefore, we do not please the vanquished; on account of this, indeed, we are counted a desperate, reckless race. But the very desperation and recklessness you object to in us, among yourselves lift high the standard of virtue in the cause of glory and of fame. Mucius of his own will left his right hand on the altar: what sublimity of mind! Empedocles gave his whole body at Catania to the fires of Ætna: what mental resolution! A certain foundress of Carthage gave herself away in second marriage to the funeral pile: what a noble witness of her chastity! Regulus, not wishing that his one life should count for the lives of many enemies, endured these crosses over all his frame: how brave a man - even in captivity a conqueror! Anaxarchus, when he was being beaten to death by a barley-pounder, cried out, Beat on, beat on at the case of Anaxarchus; no stroke falls on Anaxarchus himself. O magimity of the philosopher, who even in such an end had jokes upon his lips! I omit all reference to those who with their own sword, or with any other milder form of death, have bargained for glory. Nay, see how even torture contests are crowned by you. The Athenian courtezan, having wearied out the executioner, at last bit off her tongue and spat it in the face of the raging tyrant, that she might at the same time spit away her power of speech, nor be longer able to confess her fellow-conspirators, if even overcome, that might be her inclination. Zeno the Eleatic, when he was asked by Dionysius what good philosophy did, on answering that it gave contempt of death, was all unquailing, given over to the tyrant's scourge, and sealed his opinion even to the death. We all know how the Spartan lash, applied with the utmost cruelty under the very eyes of friends encouraging, confers on those who bear it honor proportionate to the blood which the young men shed. O glory legitimate, because it is human, for whose sake it is counted neither reckless foolhardiness, nor desperate obstinacy, to despise death itself and all sorts of savage treatment; for whose sake you may for your native place, for the empire, for friendship, endure all you are forbidden to do for God! And you cast statues in honour of persons such as these, and you put inscriptions upon images, and cut out epitaphs on tombs, that their names may never perish. In so far you can by your monuments, you yourselves afford a sort of resurrection to the dead. Yet he who expects the true resurrection from God, is insane, if for God he suffers! But go zealously on, good presidents, you will stand higher with the people if you sacrifice the Christians at their wish, kill us, torture us, condemn us, grind us to dust; your injustice is the proof that we are innocent. Therefore God suffers that we thus suffer; for but very lately, in condemning a Christian woman to the leno rather than to the leo you made confession that a taint on our purity is considered among us something more terrible than any punishment and any death. Nor does your cruelty, however exquisite, avail you; it is rather a temptation to us. The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed. Many of your writers exhort to the courageous bearing of pain and death, as Cicero in the Tusculans, as Seneca in his Chances, as Diogenes, Pyrrhus, Callinicus; and yet their words do not find so many disciples as Christians do, teachers not by words, but by their deeds. That very obstinacy you rail against is the preceptress. For who that contemplates it, is not excited to inquire what is at the bottom of it? Who, after inquiry, does not embrace our doctrines? And when he has embraced them, desires not to suffer that he may become partaker of the fullness of God's grace, that he may obtain from God complete forgiveness, by giving in exchange his blood? For that secures the remission of all offenses. On this account it is that we return thanks on the very spot for your sentences. As the divine and human are ever opposed to each other, when we are condemned by you, we are acquitted by the Highest.
4. Tertullian, On Patience, 13.6 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
5. Tertullian, Antidote For The Scorpion'S Sting, 5.3 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
6. Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah, None (3rd cent. CE - 6th cent. CE)
7. Cyprian, Letters, 55.14.1, 69.15.2 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
8. Cyprian, Letters, 55.14.1, 69.15.2 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
9. Cyprian, Letters, 55.14.1, 69.15.2 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
10. Cyprian, Letters, 55.14.1, 69.15.2 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
11. Anon., Martyrdom of Montanus And Lucius, 4.2, 6.4
12. Pseudo-Tertullian, To His Wife, 1.3.4
13. Pseudo-Tertullian, Martyrdom of Perpetua And Felicitas, 2.1, 3.1-3.3, 3.5, 6.3-6.6

Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
agency	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352, 367
angels	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352
aqiva	Poorthuis and Schwartz, Saints and role models in Judaism and Christianity (2014) 171
augustine, and martyrdom of perputua and felicitas	Moss, Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions (2012) 132
aurelius victor, marcus aurelius	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
author	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
authority	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
bible, catechumenate and	Ayres Champion and Crawford, The Intellectual World of Late Antique Christianity: Reshaping Classical Traditions (2023) 161
bible, cyprians ad quirinum, summarising divine truths of	Ayres Champion and Crawford, The Intellectual World of Late Antique Christianity: Reshaping Classical Traditions (2023) 161
biographical	Poorthuis and Schwartz, Saints and role models in Judaism and Christianity (2014) 171
bishops and martyrs	Ployd, Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric (2023) 10
body	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
carthage	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352, 367
catacomb of saints marcellinus and peter, structures for transmitting knowledge via	Ayres Champion and Crawford, The Intellectual World of Late Antique Christianity: Reshaping Classical Traditions (2023) 161
chains	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
christian	Poorthuis and Schwartz, Saints and role models in Judaism and Christianity (2014) 171
colonialism, colonial, colonized, postcolonial	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
colonialism, colonial, colonized	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
commentarii	Kitzler, From 'Passio Perpetuae' to 'Acta Perpetuae' (2015) 8
confessor	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
confessors	Ployd, Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric (2023) 10
cult, martyrdom	Ployd, Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric (2023) 10
cult, the lapsed	Ployd, Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric (2023) 10
cult of the martyrs, cyprian	Ployd, Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric (2023) 10
cult of the martyrs, north africa	Ployd, Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric (2023) 10
cyprian of carthage, ad quirinum, summarising divine truths	Ayres Champion and Crawford, The Intellectual World of Late Antique Christianity: Reshaping Classical Traditions (2023) 161
cyprian of carthage, cyprian of carthage, testimonia collections of	Ayres Champion and Crawford, The Intellectual World of Late Antique Christianity: Reshaping Classical Traditions (2023) 161
death, as freedom	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
death, consolatory writings	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352
death	Poorthuis and Schwartz, Saints and role models in Judaism and Christianity (2014) 171
dedicatory epigrams, gifts from the gods	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352
diary, of perpetua	Moss, Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions (2012) 132
dragon	Moss, Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions (2012) 132
dreams as medium	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352
egypt	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352
emotions, fear	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
execution	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
faith	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
family, of perpetua'	Moss, Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions (2012) 132
family	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151; Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
felicitas, portrayal of	Moss, Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions (2012) 132
felicitas	Poorthuis and Schwartz, Saints and role models in Judaism and Christianity (2014) 171
gladiators	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352
hanina	Poorthuis and Schwartz, Saints and role models in Judaism and Christianity (2014) 171
hanina ben teradyon	Poorthuis and Schwartz, Saints and role models in Judaism and Christianity (2014) 171
hilarianus	Moss, Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions (2012) 132
humiliation	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
hypomnemata	Kitzler, From 'Passio Perpetuae' to 'Acta Perpetuae' (2015) 8
identity, religious identity	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
individualization	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352, 367
jesus, good shepherd figure	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352
justina, lapsed	Ployd, Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric (2023) 10
law, gods judgment	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
law, roman legal culture	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
liturgy	Kitzler, From 'Passio Perpetuae' to 'Acta Perpetuae' (2015) 8
martin	Poorthuis and Schwartz, Saints and role models in Judaism and Christianity (2014) 171
martyr literature	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352, 367
martyrdom	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352, 367
martyrdom of perpetua and felicitas	Ayres Champion and Crawford, The Intellectual World of Late Antique Christianity: Reshaping Classical Traditions (2023) 161
martyrs as exempla	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352
martyrs death	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352, 367
martyrs tomb, perpetua, martyr	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352, 367
martyrs tomb, saturus, martyr	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352, 367
montanism	Kitzler, From 'Passio Perpetuae' to 'Acta Perpetuae' (2015) 8
mos maiorum	Kitzler, From 'Passio Perpetuae' to 'Acta Perpetuae' (2015) 8
narrative	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
norms, behavior	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
north africa	Ployd, Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric (2023) 10
origen	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
passio perpetuae	Poorthuis and Schwartz, Saints and role models in Judaism and Christianity (2014) 171
passion	Poorthuis and Schwartz, Saints and role models in Judaism and Christianity (2014) 171
passion of perpetua and felicitas	Moss, Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions (2012) 132
performance, ritual	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
perpetua, as author	Moss, Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions (2012) 132
perpetua, visions of	Moss, Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions (2012) 132
perpetua	Moss, Ancient Christian Martyrdom: Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions (2012) 132; Ployd, Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric (2023) 10; Poorthuis and Schwartz, Saints and role models in Judaism and Christianity (2014) 171
perpetua (martyr, martyrdom of)	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
politics and religion, roman administration	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
politics and religion	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
power, martyrdom	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352, 367
power	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
prayer, christian	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
presbyters	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352
priesthood, bishops	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352
priesthood, deacons	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352
prison	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
prophecy	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352
rabbi	Poorthuis and Schwartz, Saints and role models in Judaism and Christianity (2014) 171
resurrection	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
revocatus	Kitzler, From 'Passio Perpetuae' to 'Acta Perpetuae' (2015) 8
ritual	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
rome	Kitzler, From 'Passio Perpetuae' to 'Acta Perpetuae' (2015) 8
satan	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352
saturninus	Kitzler, From 'Passio Perpetuae' to 'Acta Perpetuae' (2015) 8
saturus	Ayres Champion and Crawford, The Intellectual World of Late Antique Christianity: Reshaping Classical Traditions (2023) 161
scriptures	Kitzler, From 'Passio Perpetuae' to 'Acta Perpetuae' (2015) 8
secundulus	Kitzler, From 'Passio Perpetuae' to 'Acta Perpetuae' (2015) 8
shame	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
slaves	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
soul	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
space, spatial, spatial turn	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
space, spatial, spatiality	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
space, spatial	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
tertullian	Ployd, Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric (2023) 10
texts, martyrdom	Ployd, Augustine, Martyrdom, and Classical Rhetoric (2023) 10
tyrant, christian discours	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 367
vision	Maier and Waldner, Desiring Martyrs: Locating Martyrs in Space and Time (2022) 151
visions	Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 352
woman	Poorthuis and Schwartz, Saints and role models in Judaism and Christianity (2014) 171