Tertullian, Antidote for the Scorpion's Sting 2
We are not yet discussing the merit of martyrdom — unless it is a debt we owe first — nor its usefulness before we learn its necessity. Divine authority comes first: whether God actually willed and commanded such a thing, so that those who deny the good cannot be coaxed into what fits until they have been subdued. It is not worthy to compel heretics to duty; hardness must be broken, not persuaded. And the decisive point will certainly be this: whatever proves to be established and commanded by God. Let the Gospels wait a moment while I trace their root back to the first Law, and from there draw out God's will — the very source by which I recognize Him. "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You shall have no other gods besides Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol of anything in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I am the Lord your God" (Exodus 20:3-5). The same Exodus adds: "You yourselves saw that I spoke to you from heaven. You shall not make gods of silver for yourselves, nor shall you make gods of gold" (Exodus 20:22-23). Deuteronomy repeats the core: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Again: "Do not forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him only, and cling to Him, and swear by His name. You shall not go after other gods from among the gods of the peoples around you, for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you, lest His anger burn against you and He destroy you from the face of the earth" (Deuteronomy 6:12-15). He sets out blessings and curses: blessing if you obey the commandments He gives today and do not turn aside to serve unknown gods; but from those gods you must utterly destroy every trace — tear down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their sacred poles, burn their carved images, and erase their names from the places the nations once held (Deuteronomy 12:2-3). When you enter the land and dispossess the nations, take care not to follow their customs after they are gone, asking, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I will do the same' (Deuteronomy 12:30). If a prophet or dreamer arises among you and gives a sign or wonder that comes true, then says, 'Let us go after other gods you have not known,' do not listen; the Lord your God is testing whether you love Him with all your heart and soul. You shall follow the Lord, fear Him, keep His commandments, obey His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. But that prophet or dreamer shall die, because he tried to turn you away from the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). Even your closest kin — brother, son, daughter, the wife you cherish, the friend as dear as your own soul — if they secretly entice you to serve other gods, you must not consent or listen. Show no pity, spare no mercy, do not shield them. You must denounce them; your hand shall be first to strike them down, then the hand of all the people, and they shall be stoned to death, because they sought to draw you away from the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 13:6-10). The same ruthless law applies to whole cities that turn to other gods: kill every inhabitant, devote everything to destruction, burn the city and all its spoil before the Lord, and let it remain a ruin forever, never rebuilt, so that the Lord may turn from His fierce anger (Deuteronomy 13:12-17). The curse formula follows the same line: "Cursed is the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of a craftsman's hands, and sets it up in secret" (Deuteronomy 27:15). Leviticus echoes: "Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am the Lord your God" (Leviticus 19:4). Again: "The people of Israel are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God. You shall not make idols for yourselves, nor set up a carved pillar, nor place a figured stone in your land to worship; I am the Lord your God" (Leviticus 25:55; 26:1). These words first came through Moses, and they apply to anyone the Lord God of Israel delivers from Egypt — the most superstitious age — and from the house of human bondage. Afterward every prophet speaks with the same voice, layering the same law, and their first and principal warning is always the same: beware of every form of making and worshiping idols. As David sings: "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see; ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell; hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them" (Psalm 115:4-8).
Latin
Sed nondum de bono Martyrii, nisi debito primum; nec ante de utilitate ejus, quam de necessitate discendum. Auctoritas divina praecedit, an tale quid voluerit atque mandaverit Deus, ut qui negant bonum, non suadeantur accommodum, nisi cum subacti fuerint. Ad officium haereticos compelli, non illici dignum est. Duritia vincenda est, non suadenda. Et utique satis optimum praejudicabitur, quod probabitur a Deo constitutum atque praeceptum. Sustineant Evangelia paulisper, dum radicem eorum ex primo Legem; dum inde elicio Dei voluntatem, unde et ipsum recognosco. Ego sum, inquit, Deus tuus qui te eduxi de terra Aegypti. Non erunt tibi dii alii praeter me. Non facies tibi simulacrum eorum quae in coelo, et quae in terra deorsum, et quae in mari infra terram. Non adorabis ea, neque famulaberis eis. Ego enim sum Dominus Deus tuus. Item in eadem Exodo: Ipsi vidistis quod de coelo locutus ad vos sim. Non facietis vobis deos argenteos, et deos aureos non facietis vobis. Secundum haec et in Deuteronomio: Audi, Israel, Dominus Deus tuus unus est, et: Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua, et ex totis viribus tuis; et rursus: Ne obliviscaris Domini Dei tui, qui te eduxit de terra Aegypti et domo servitutis. Dominum Deum tuum timebis, et illi famulaberis soli, et illi adglutinaberis; et in nomine ejus dejerabis. Non ibitis post deos alienos ex diis nationum quae circum vos, quia aemulatur Deus tuus in te: ne iratus indignetur, et exterminet te a facie terrae. Sed et proponens benedictiones et maledictiones: Benedictiones, inquit, si audieritis praecepta Domini Dei vestri, quaecumque ego praecipio vobis hodie, et non erraveritis de via, quam mandavi vobis, ut abeuntes serviatis diis aliis, quos non scitis. De quibus omnifariam extirpandis: Perditione perdetis, inquit, omnia loca, in quibus servierunt nationes diis suis, quas vos possidebitis haereditate: subter montes et colles, et sub arbores densas quasque effodietis aras earum, evertetis et comminuetis staticula earum, et excidetis lucos earum, et scalptilia ipsorum deorum concremabitis igni, et disperdetis nomen eorum de loco illo. Adhuc ingerit cum introissent terram promissionis, et exterminassent nationes ejus: Cave tibi ne sequaris eas posteaquam exterminatae fuerint a facie tua, ne requisieris deos illarum, dicens: quemadmodum faciunt nationes deis suis, et ego ita faciam. Sed et id: Si prophetes, inquit, exsurrexerit in te, aut somnium somnians, et dederit tibi signum vel ostentum, et evenerit, et dixerit: eamus, et serviamus deis aliis, quos non scitis: ne audiatis sermonem prophetae, aut somniatoris illius; quia tentat vos Dominus Deus vester, an ex toto corde vestro, et ex tota anima vestra timeatis eum. Post Dominum Deum vestrum abibitis, et hunc timebitis, et praecepta ejus custodietis, et vocem ejus audietis, et illi servietis, et illi adjiciemini. Prophetes autem et somniator ille morietur: locutus est enim ad seducendum te a Domino Deo tuo. Sed et alio capitulo: Si autem rogaverit te frater tuus ex patre vel matre, aut filius tuus, aut filia tua, aut mulier, quae in gremio tuo est, aut amicus qui animae tuae pars est, clam dicens: eamus, et serviamus deis aliis, quos non scis, nec patres tui, ex deis nationum quae circum te proxime sunt, aut longe; ne velis ire cum illo, et ne audieris eum. Non parcet oculus tuus super eum, nec misereberis, nec celabis eum: annuntians annuntiabis de eo; manus tuae erunt in eum in primis ad occidendum, et manus omnis populi in novissimis, et lapidabitis illum, et morietur, quoniam quaesivit avertere te a Domino Deo tuo. Subjicit etiam de civitatibus, si quam ex his constitisset suasu iniquorum hominum transiisse ad deos alios. ut interficerentur omnes incolentes eam, et devotamenta fierent universa ejus, et colligerentur omnia spolia ejus in omnes exitus ejus, et igni cremarentur cum omnibus vasis suis, et cum omni populo in conspectu Domini Dei. Et non erit habitabilis, inquit, in aeternum, non reaedificabitur amplius, nec adhaerebit quidquam manibus tuis ex devotamento ejus, uti avertatur Dominus ab indignatione irae suae. Maledictionum quoque ordinem ab idolorum exsecratione commisit: Maledictus homo qui fecerit sculptile aut fusile, aspernamentum Domino, opus manuum artificis, et collocaverit illud in abscondito. In Levitico vero: Non sequemini, inquit, idola, et deos fusiles non facietis vobis. Ego Dominus Deus vester. Et alibi: Filii Israel famuli pueri mei; hi sunt quos eduxi de terra Aegypti. Ego Dominus Deus vester. Non facietis vobis manu facta, nec scalptile staticulum statuetis vobis, nec lapidem scopum ponetis in terra vestra. Ego Dominus Deus vester. Et haec quidem prima per Moysen dicta sunt a Domino, utique pertinentia quoscumque Dominus Deus Israelis perinde de Aegypto superstitiosissimi saeculi, et de domo humanae servitutis eduxerit. Sed et deinceps omne os Prophetarum ejusdem Dei vocibus sonat, eamdem legem suam eorumdem praeceptorum instauratione cumulantis, nec aliud primum tam principaliter denuntiantis, quam ab omni factura atque cultura idolorum cavere; ut per David: Dei nationum argentum et aurum; oculos habent, nec vident; aures habent, nec audiunt; nares habent, nec odorantur; os, nec loquuntur; manus, nec contrectant; pedes, nec ingrediuntur. Similes erunt illis qui faciunt ea, et qui fidunt in illis.