The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity · §16 · Passion of Perpetua and Felicity

Perpetua rebukes the tribune and wins relief

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The redactor is now speaking after Felicity has given birth, adding one more deed before the public games.

Since the Holy Spirit has permitted the record of these public games to be written down, and in permitting it has willed it, we are carrying out what stands as a command from most holy Perpetua, indeed a charge she entrusted to us, although we are unworthy to add to the telling of so great a glory. We add one further proof of her firm resolve and her greatness of mind.

The tribune had begun to treat them rather harshly because he had listened to the warnings of utterly foolish men and feared they would be stolen out of prison by some magical incantations. Perpetua answered him to his face: "Why do you not let us get relief, the most noble condemned ones who are about to fight, of course, for Caesar's birthday? Or is it not to your credit if we are brought out fatter on that day?" The tribune shuddered and blushed. Then he ordered them to be kept more humanely, so that her brothers and the others were given leave to come in and get relief with them, and by this time even the prison adjutant himself had come to believe.

Latin

Quoniam ergo permisit et permittendo uoluit spiritus sanctus ordinem ipsius muneris conscribi, etsi indigni ad supplementum tantae gloriae describendae, tamen quasi mandatum sanctissimae Perpetuae, immo fideicommissum eius exequimur, unum adicientes documentum de ipsius constantia et animi sublimitate. Cum a tribuno castigatius eo tractantur, quia ex admonitionibus hominum uanissimorum uerebatur ne subtraherentur de carcere incantationibus aliquibus magicis, in faciem ei respondit: Quid utique non permittis nobis refrigerare noxiis nobilissimis, Caesaris scilicet natali depugnaturis? Aut non tua gloria est, si pinguiores illo producamur? Horruit et erubuit tribunus; et ita iussit illos humanius haberi, ut et fratribus eius et ceteris facultas fieret introeundi et refrigerandi cum eis, iam et ipso optione carceris credente.

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About this text

The prison diary of Perpetua, a young mother of Carthage, with the visions of Saturus and an editor's account of how she, the slave woman Felicity and their companions died in the arena in 203.

This account was put together by Perpetua, Saturus, and an unnamed editor. Perpetua wrote her prison diary in her own hand, Saturus wrote his own vision, and the editor arranged and supplemented their words with a beginning and an end. It is addressed to fellow Christians, called brothers and little children, who will hear or read the account in the church.

It was written because new visions and martyrdoms had occurred. The editor holds that they should be written down and read in church like older examples, so that God is honored and faith is strengthened rather than supposing that grace worked only in the past. He argues that recent prophecies, visions, and martyrdoms carry the same authority as ancient ones because the Holy Spirit was promised for the last days and God still acts for believers and against unbelievers.

The reader will meet Perpetua, Felicity, Revocatus, Saturninus, Secundulus, Saturus, Dinocrates, Hilarianus, Tertius and Pomponius, Pudens, Optatus, and Aspasius, with Perpetua and Saturus speaking in the first person and the editor speaking around them. Here martyrdom means suffering from arrest to execution accepted as faithful witness, vision means sleep vision received as promised revelation, to confess Christ means to declare Christian identity before interrogation, wild beasts means the arena animals and the public execution, public games means the imperial birthday show where the sentence is carried out, baptism covers water baptism and blood as a second cleansing wash, relief means release from prison misery and suffering after death, and the devil is the opponent met as dragon, serpent, Egyptian, and cow. The work cites the last days promise of the Spirit in the form found in Acts, given here as Joel 2:28-29 and Acts 2:17-18, with ancient book and divine names in modern form such as Jesus Christ, Felicity, Revocatus, Ceres, Saturn, and Geta Caesar.

Printed text used

Translated from Oscar von Gebhardt, Acta martyrum selecta (Berlin: A. Duncker, 1902) (Latin)

This work has passed our source check. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Latin on any section, or the Latin source link, to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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