The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity · §18 · Passion of Perpetua and Felicity

Walking into the arena in plain clothes

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

The anonymous redactor narrates in third person as the prisoners leave prison for the public games on the day of execution.

The day of their victory dawned, and they walked out of the prison into the arena as if into heaven, cheerful and radiant in appearance. If they trembled at all, it was with joy and not with fear. Perpetua followed with a calm step, as a matron of Christ and as God's beloved, and the strength in her eyes made every onlooker look away. Felicity rejoiced that she had given birth safely and could now fight against the wild beasts, going from blood to blood, from the midwife to the net-fighter, to wash herself after her labor in a second baptism.

When they were brought to the gate and ordered to put on ritual dress, the men into the robes of the priests of Saturn and the women into the robes of the consecrated women of Ceres, that noble resolve resisted to the very end. Perpetua spoke for them: "We came to this place freely so our freedom would not be veiled. We pledged our lives so we would do no such thing. That is the agreement we made with you." Injustice recognized justice, and the tribune allowed them to be brought in simply wearing what they wore.

Perpetua sang a psalm as she went, already trampling the head of the Egyptian underfoot, while Revocatus, Saturninus, and Saturus threatened the watching crowd. Then, when they came into the sight of Hilarianus, they began to speak to him with gestures and nods: "You condemn us," they said, "but God will condemn you." The crowd was enraged at this and demanded that they be beaten with whips as they passed down the line of hunters. They were glad of it, because they had come to share even something of the sufferings of the Lord.

Latin

Inluxit dies uictoriae illorum, et processerunt de carcere in amphitheatrum, quasi in caelum, hilares et uultu decori; si forte gaudio pauentes non timore. Sequebatur Perpetua placido incessu, ut matrona Christi, ut dei delicata, uigore oculorum deiciens omnium conspectum. Item Felicitas, saluam se peperisse gaudens ut ad bestias pugnaret, a sanguine ad sanguinem, ab obstetrice ad retiarium, lotura post partum baptismo secundo. Et cum deducti essent in portam et cogerentur habitum induere, uiri quidem sacerdotum Saturni, feminae uero sacratarum Cereri, generosa illa in finem usque constantia repugnauit. Dicebat enim: Ideo ad hoc sponte peruenimus, ne libertas nostra obduceretur; ideo animam nostram addiximus, ne tale aliquid faceremus; hoc uobiscum pacti sumus. Agnouit iniustitia iustitiam: concessit tribunus, quomodo erant, simpliciter inducerentur. Perpetua psallebat, caput iam Aegyptii calcans; Reuocatus et Saturninus et Saturus populo spectanti comminabantur. Dehinc ut sub conspectu Hilariani peruenerint, gestu et nutu coeperunt Hilariano dicere: Tu nos, inquiunt, te autem deus. Ad hoc populus exasperatus flagellis eos uexari per ordinem uenatorum postulauit; et utique illi gratulati sunt quod aliquid et de dominicis passionibus essent consecuti.

Report a mistake in this passage

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.

Report a mistake