The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity · §19 · Passion of Perpetua and Felicity

Each man gets the death he asked for

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The redactor narrates how the men meet the wild beasts in the public games.

But the one who had said, "Ask and you will receive" (John 16:24), had granted to them as they asked the outcome that each one had desired. For whenever they were talking together about the vow of their martyrdom, Saturninus for his part would openly declare that he wanted to be thrown to all the wild beasts, so that, of course, he would wear a more glorious crown. So at the opening of the show Saturninus himself and Revocatus faced a leopard and were also mauled by a bear on the platform. Saturus, however, loathed nothing more than the bear, but he was already expecting to be finished off by a single bite from a leopard. So when he was handed over to a boar, it was rather the hunter who had tied him to the boar who was gored from below by the same wild beast and died after the days of the public games; Saturus was only dragged. And when he had been bound fast for the bear on the bridge, the bear refused to come out of its cage. So for a second time Saturus is called back unharmed.

Latin

Sed qui dixerat: Petite et accipietis, petentibus dederat eum exitum quem quisque desiderauerat. Nam, si quando inter se de martyrii sui uoto sermocinabantur, Saturninus quidem omnibus bestiis uelle se obici profitebatur, ut scilicet gloriosiorem gestaret coronam. Itaque in commissione spectaculi ipse et Reuocatus leopardum experti etiam super pulpitum ab urso uexati sunt. Saturus autem nihil magis quam ursum abominabatur; sed uno morsu leopardi confici se iam praesumebat. Itaque cum apro subministraretur, uenator potius qui illum ad aprum subligauerat, subfossus ab eadem bestia post dies muneris obiit; Saturus solummodo tractus est. Et cum ad ursum substrictus esset in ponte, ursus de cauea prodire noluit. Itaque secundo Saturus inlaesus reuocatur.

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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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