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De mortibus persecutorum

1.

[1] Audivit dominus orationes tuas, Donate carissime, quas in conspectu eius per omnes horas ‹cotidie fundebas, ceterorumque› fratrum nostrorum, qui gloriosa confessione sempiternam sibi coronam pro fidei meritis quaesierunt. [2] Ecce, deletis omnibus adversariis, restituta per orbem tranquillitate, profligata nuper ecclesia rursum exurgit et maiore gloria templum dei, quod ab impiis fuerat eversum, misericordia domini fabricatur. [3] Excitavit enim deus principes qui tyran norum nefaria et cruenta imperia resciderunt ‹et› humano generi providerunt, ut iam quasi discus so tristissimi temporis nubilo mentes omnium pax iucunda et serena laetificet. [4] Nunc post atrae tempestatis violentos turbines placidus aer et optata lux refulsit. Nunc placatus servorum suorum ‹precibus› deus iacentes et afflictos caelesti auxilio sublevavit, nunc maerentium lacrimas extincta impiorum conspiratione detersit. [5] Qui insultaverant deo, iacent, qui templum sanctum everte rant, ruina maiore ceciderunt, qui iustos excarnificaverunt, caelestibus plagis et cruciatibus meritis nocentes animas profuderunt. [6] Sero id quidem, sed graviter ac digne. [7] Distulerat enim poenas eorum deus, ut ederet in eos magna et mirabilia exempla, quibus posteri discerent et deum esse unum et eundem iudicem digna vid‹elicet› supplicia impiis ac persecutoribus inrogare. [8] De quo exitu ‹eorum tes›tificari placuit, ut omnes qui procul remoti fuerunt vel qui p‹ostea fu›turi sunt, scirent quatenus virtutem ac maiestatem suam in ex‹tinguen›dis delendisque nominis sui hostibus deus summus ostenderit. Ab re ta‹men non› est, si a principio, ex quo est ecclesia constituta, qui fuerint persecutores ‹eius› et quibus poenis in eos caelestis iudicis severitas vindicaverit, expo nam.

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Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died

Chap. I.

The Lord has heard those supplications which you, my best beloved Donatus, ¹ pour forth in His presence all the day long, and the supplications of the rest of our brethren, who by a glorious confession have obtained an everlasting crown, the reward of their faith. Behold, all the adversaries are destroyed, and tranquillity having been re-established throughout the Roman empire, the late oppressed Church arises again, and the temple of God, overthrown by the hands of the wicked, is built with more glory than before. For God has raised up princes to rescind the impious and sanguinary edicts of the tyrants and provide for the welfare of mankind; so that now the cloud of past times is dispelled, and peace and serenity gladden all hearts. And after the furious whirlwind and black tempest, the heavens are now become calm, and the wished-for light has shone forth; and now God, the hearer of prayer, by His divine aid has lifted His prostrate and afflicted servants from the ground, has brought to an end the united devices of the wicked, and wiped off the tears from the faces of those who mourned. They who insulted over the Divinity, lie low; they who cast down the holy temple, are fallen with more tremendous ruin; and the tormentors of just men have poured out their guilty souls amidst plagues inflicted by Heaven, and amidst deserved tortures. For God delayed to punish them, that, by great and marvellous examples, He might teach posterity that He alone is God, and that with fit vengeance He executes judgment on the proud, the impious, and the persecutors. ²

Of the end of those men I have thought good to publish a narrative, that all who are afar off, and all who shall arise hereafter, may learn how the Almighty manifested His power and sovereign greatness in rooting out and utterly destroying the enemies of His name. And this will become evident, when I relate who were the persecutors of the Church from the time of its first constitution, and what were the punishments by which the divine Judge, in His severity, took vengeance on them.