Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/932

Rh dH CYPRIAN US. earthly kings, that is, mere mortal men, to the rank of divinities, the impotence of such imaginary- powers, and the emptiness of the science of augury. 2. The Unity of God. 3. The Advent of Christ, and his Consubstantiality with the Father. This tract is expressly ascribed to Cyprian by Jerome in his Epist. ad Magnum Oral. 3. Testimoniorum advevsus Jtidaeos libri tres. A collection of remarkable texts from Scripture, divided into three books, and illustrated by re- marks and applications. Those in the first are quoted for the purpose of proving that the Jews, by their disobedience, had, in accordance with prophecy, forfeited the protection and promises of God ; those in the second demonstrate that the Christians had taken their place, and that Jesus was the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament ; those in the third exhibit within a short compass the great moral and religious obligations of the Christian life. The precise date at which this compilation was arranged is unknown, but it pro- bably belongs to the early part of Cyprian's career. It is quoted by Jereme {Dial. I. adv. Pelag.) and by Augustin. {Cefitra duos Epist. Pelag, iv. 8, 10.) 4. De Disciplina et Hahitu Virginum liber, written in A. D. 248, the year in which he was raised to the episcopate, in imitation of the disser- tations of Tertullian, " De Virginibus velandis," " De Habitu Mulierum," &c., the object being to enferce upon those holy maidens who had made a vow of celibacy the necessity of simplicity in their drees and manner of life. He commences with an enc«mium on virginity, insists upon the propriety of abstaining from all sumptuous apparel and vain omiiraents, from paint, from fr>equenting baths, marriages, or public spectacles, and concludes with a general exhortation to avoid all luxurious indul- genoies. This book is referred to by Jerome (JS^t. ad Demeiriad, et Eustock.) and by Augus- tin {de Doctrina Clu-isd, iv. 2 1 ), 5. De Unitate Erclesiae Catholicac lilter, written and despatched to Rome in a. d. 2.52, at a period when both Italy and Africa were distracted by the pretensions of Novatianus, with the view of bringing back to the bosom of the church those who had wandered from her pale or were wavering in their allegiance, by pointing out the danger and sin of schism, and by demonstrating the necessity of a visible union among all true Christians. This remarkable treatise is of the utmost importance to the student of ecclesiastical historj-, since here we first find the doctrine of Catholicism and of the typical cliaracter of St. Peter developed in that form which was afterwards assumed by the bishops of Rome as the basis of Papal supremacy. It is quoted by Augustin (c. Crescon. ii. 33 ; see also Cyprian. Epist. 51). 6. De Lapsis liber, written and despatched to Rome in the month of November, a. d. 252. It may be considered as a sort of supplement to the preceding work, explaining and defending the justice and consistency of that temperate policy which was adopted both by Cornelius and Cyprian with regard to the readmission of fallen brethren into the communion of the church. The tract is quoted by Eusebius {Hist. Eccl. vi. 33), by Au- gustin {de Adult. Co72J. i. 25), and by Pontius {Vit. Ci/prian). See also Cyprian, Epist. 51. 7. De Oratione Doininica liber, written about A. D. 252, in imitation of Tertullian, " De Ora- CYPRIANUS. tione," contains a lengthened commentary on each of the petitions in the Lord's Prayer, accompanied by remarks upon prayer in general, and upon tlie frame of mind which best befits those who thus approach the throne of God. Tliis work is highly extolled by Hilarius in his commentary on St. Matthew, by Augustin in many places (e. g. de Do7i. persev. 2), by Cassiodorus {Divin. Instit. 19), and by Pontius in his life of Cyprian, while among moderns, Barth pronounces it one of the noblest productions of ancient Christian Latinity. {Advers. Iviii.) 8. De MortaUtate liber, written in a. d. 252, during the prevalence of the terrible pestilence which for the space of five years ravaged the most populous provinces of the Roman empire, for the purpose of pointing out how little death ought to be an object of dread to the Christian, since to him it was the gate of immortality, the beginning of eternal bliss. It is mentioned by Augustin (^c/« Julian, ii.), and elsewhere. 9. Ad Demetrianum liber, also written in A. D. 252. Demetrianus, proconsul of Africa, catching up the popular cry, had ascribed the famine and plague under which the world was at this time labouring to the impiety of the Christians, who refused to render homage to the deities. Cy- prian here replies, that the Gentiles themselves were much more the cause of these disasters, by neglecting the worship of the only true God and cruelly persecuting his followers. It is quoted by Lactantius {Divin. Instit. v. 1, 4), by Jerome (^(/u. Mag.), and by Pontius. ( Vit. Cyprian.) 1 0. De Exliortatione Martyrii, a letter addressed to Fortunatus in A. D. 252, during the persecution of Gallus, on the reasonableness, the duty, and the reward of martyrdom, in imitation of a treatise on the same subject by Tertullian. This piece has been by some persons erroneously attributed to Hilarius, but is now generally acknowledged as the undoubted production of Cyprian. 1 1. De Opere et Eleemosynis liber, on the duty of almsgiving, written according to some critics to- wards the close of a. d. 254, while others suppose that it belongs to the preceding year, and believe it to be connected with an epistle (Ixii.) addressed by Cyprian to some Numidian bishops who had solicited pecuniary assistance to enable them to redeem from captivity several of the brethren who had been carried off and were kept in slavery by the Moors. It is named under the above title by Augustin {Contra duos ep. Pelag. iv. 4), and by Jerome {Ad Pammach.), as a discourse " De Mise- ricordia." 12. De Bono Patientiae liber, written about A. D. 256, in imitation of the work of Tertullian on the same subject. It is quoted by Augustin {Contra duos ep. Pelag. iv. 9) and by Pontius, ( Vit. Cy- prian.) 13. De Zelo et Livore, written in A. d. 25 G, at the period when the controversy between Cyprian and Stephen, bishop of Rome, on the rebaptizing of heretics, was at its height, exhorting Christians carefully to avoid envy and malice, and to cherish feelings of charity and love towards each other. It is quoted by Augustin {de Baptism. Parv. 4), by Jerome {hi ep. ad Gal. c. 5), and by Pontius. ( Vit. Cyprian.) 14. Epistolae. In addition to the above we possess a series of eighty-one official letters, ex- tending over the whole public life of Cyprian, in-