# To Donatus - Author: [Cyprian of Carthage](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/cyprian-of-carthage/) - Latin title: *Ad Donatum* - Date: ca. 246 (approximate) - Source: Wilhelm von Hartel, ed., S. Thasci Caecili Cypriani Opera omnia, Pars 1, CSEL 3.1 (Vienna: Gerold, 1868), 3–16 (Latin text: W. von Hartel (CSEL 3.1, 1868), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text; each passage below gives the model and date - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/ - Passages: 16 ## To Donatus 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/1/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:3–4 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Cyprian, in a vine-covered garden during the autumn holidays, begins to keep his promise to talk with his friend Donatus. ### Latin text Bene admones, Donate carissime: nam et promisisse me memini, et reddendi tempestiuum prorsus hoc tempus est, quo indulgente uindemia solutus animus in quietem sollemnes ac statas anni fatigantis indutias sortiatur. locus etiam cum die conuenit, et mulcendis sensibus ac fouendis ad lenes auras blandientis autumni hortorum facies amoena consentit: hic iocundum sermonibus diem ducere et studentibus fabulis in diuina praecepta conscientiam pectoris erudire. ac ne loqui nostrum arbiter profanus impediat aut clamor intemperans familiae strepentis obtundat, petamus hanc sedem: dant secessum uicina secreta, ubi dum erratici palmitum lapsus nexibus pendulis per harundines baiulas repunt, uiteam porticum frondea tecta fecerunt. bene hic studia in aures damus, et dum in arbores et in uites uidemus, oblectante prospectu oculos amoenamus, animam simul et auditus instruit et pascit obtutus: quamquam tibi sola nunc gratia, sola cura sermonis est, contemptis uoluptariae uisionis inlecebris in me oculos tuos fixus es, qua ore, qua mente totus auditor es et hoc amore quo diligis. ### English translation (Claude) You do well to remind me, dearest Donatus: for I remember that I promised, and this is exactly the right time to pay, when the indulgent vintage releases the mind, and it takes its appointed and regular truce from the wearying year. The place too suits the day, and the pleasant look of the gardens agrees with the gentle breezes of mild autumn to soothe and cherish the senses. Here it is delightful to spend the day in conversation and, with earnest talk, to train the heart's conscience in the divine precepts. And lest a profane listener hinder our talk, or the unrestrained clamour of a noisy household deafen us, let us seek this seat: the nearby seclusion offers retreat, where the straying tendrils of the vines, creeping in hanging knots over the supporting reeds, have made a vine-covered portico with a roof of leaves. Here we do well to give our ears to study; and while we look at the trees and the vines, delighting our eyes with the pleasant view, hearing instructs the soul and sight at the same time feeds it. And yet for you now the only pleasure, the only care, is our conversation: scorning the allurements of pleasant sights, you have fixed your eyes on me; with mouth and mind you are all listener, and with that love with which you love me. ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/1/). ## To Donatus 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/2/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:4–5 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Cyprian will speak plainly, for God's mercy needs truth, not eloquence. ### Latin text Ceterum quale uel quantum est, quod in pectus tuum ueniat ex nobis, exilis ingenii angusta mediocritas tenues admodum fruges parit, nullis ad copiam fecundi caespitis culminibus ingrauescit, adgrediar tamen facultate, qua ualeo: nam et materia dicendi facit mecum. in iudiciis, [contione] pro rostris opulenta facundia uolubili ambitione iactetur: cum de Domino et de Deo uox est, uocis pura sinceritas non eloquentiae uiribus nititur ad fidei argumenta sed rebus. denique accipe non diserta, sed fortia, nec ad audientiae popularis inlecebram culto sermone fucata, sed ad diuinam indulgentiam praedicandam rudi ueritate simplicia: accipe quod sentitur, antequam discitur, nec per moras temporum longa agnitione colligitur, sed conpendio gratiae maturantis hauritur. ### English translation (Claude) But of what kind or how great is anything that could come into your heart from us? The narrow mediocrity of a slender talent produces a very thin crop and does not grow heavy with stalks to the abundance of a fertile field. Still, I will make the attempt with such ability as I have; for the subject of my speech is on my side. In the law courts, on the rostra, let rich eloquence be tossed about in fluent ambition; when the voice speaks of the Lord and of God, the pure sincerity of the voice relies for the arguments of faith not on the powers of eloquence but on facts. So receive things not eloquent but strong, not painted with elaborate speech to allure a popular audience, but simple with plain truth for proclaiming the divine mercy. Receive what is felt before it is learned, what is not gathered by long acquaintance over lengthy times, but drunk in by the short way of a grace that ripens quickly. ### Translation notes - The editor deletes "contione" ("in the assembly") as spurious. ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/2/). ## To Donatus 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/3/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:5 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Before his baptism Cyprian could not believe that a person could be reborn and leave behind ingrained habits. ### Latin text Ego cum in tenebris atque in nocte caeca iacerem cumque in salo iactantis saeculi nutabundus ac dubius uestigiis oberrantibus fluctuarem uitae meae nescius, ueritatis ac lucis alienus, difficile prorsus ac durum pro illis tunc moribus opinabar, quod in salutem mihi diuina indulgentia pollicebatur, ut quis renasci denuo posset utque in nouam uitam lauacro aquae salutaris animatus, quod prius fuerat, exponeret et corporis licet manente conpage hominem animo ac mente mutaret. qui possibilis, aiebam, tanta conuersio, ut repente ac perniciter exuatur, quod uel genuinum situ materiae naturalis obduruit uel usurpatum diu senio uetustatis inoleuit? alta haec et profunda penitus radice sederunt. quando parcimoniam discit, qui epularibus cenis et largis dapibus adsueuit? et qui pretiosa ueste conspicuus in auro atque in purpura fulsit, ad plebeium se ac simplicem cultum quando deponit? fascibus ille oblectatus et honoribus esse priuatus et inglorius non potest. hic stipatus clientium cuneis, frequentiore comitatu officiosi agminis honestatus, poenam putat esse, cum solus est. tenacibus semper inlecebris necesse est, ut solebat, uinolentia inuitet, inflet superbia, iracundia inflammet, rapacitas inquietet, crudelitas stimulet, ambitio delectet, libido praecipitet. ### English translation (Claude) When I lay in darkness and blind night, and when I was tossed about on the sea of the restless world, wavering and doubtful with wandering steps, ignorant of my own life, a stranger to truth and light, I thought it very difficult and hard, given my habits at that time, what the divine mercy was promising for my salvation: that a man could be born again, and that, given life for a new life by the bath of saving water, he could put off what he had been before, and, though the structure of the body remained, change the man in soul and mind. 'How is so great a conversion possible,' I said, 'that what has either hardened as inborn in the condition of our natural matter, or grown in through long use and the old age of habit, should be put off suddenly and swiftly? These things have settled deep with a root far down. When does he learn frugality who is accustomed to lavish dinners and ample feasts? And he who was conspicuous in costly clothing and shone in gold and purple, when does he lower himself to common and simple dress? He who delighted in the fasces and honours cannot be a private and inglorious man. This one, thronged by crowds of clients, honoured by a more numerous escort of an attentive train, thinks it a punishment to be alone. With their clinging allurements, it must be that, as always, drunkenness invites, pride puffs up, anger inflames, greed disturbs, cruelty goads, ambition delights, lust hurls headlong.' ### Scripture references - John 3:3–5: allusion, medium confidence - Titus 3:5: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - "Born again" echoes John 3:3–5; "the bath of saving water" is baptism (cf. Titus 3:5). ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/3/). ## To Donatus 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/4/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:5–7 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: At baptism Cyprian was cleansed and reborn by the Spirit, and what had seemed impossible became possible, all by God's gift. ### Latin text Haec egomet saepe mecum. nam et ipse quam plurimis uitae prioris erroribus inplicatus tenebar, quibus exui me posse non crederem: sic uitiis adhaerentibus obsecundans eram, desperatione meliorum malis meis uelut iam propriis ac uernaculis et fauebam. sed postquam undae genetalis auxilio superioris aeui labe detersa in expiatum pectus ac purum desuper se lumen infudit, postquam caelitus spiritu hausto in nouum me hominem natiuitas secunda reparauit, mirum in modum protinus confirmare se dubia, patere clausa, lucere tenebrosa, facultatem dare quod prius difficile uidebatur, geri posse quod inpossibile putabatur, ut esset agnoscere terrenum fuisse, quod prius carnaliter natum delictis obnoxium uiueret, Dei esse coepisse, quod iam Spiritus sanctus animaret. scis profecto et mecum pariter recognoscis, quid detraxerit nobis quidue contulerit mors ista criminum, uita uirtutum. scis ipse, nec praedico. in proprias laudes odiosa iactatio est: quamuis non iactatum possit esse sed gratum, quicquid non uirtuti hominis adscribitur, sed de Dei munere praedicatur, ut iam non peccare esse, coeperit fidei, quod ante peccatum est, fuerit erroris humani. Dei est, inquam, Dei omne, quod possumus. inde uiuimus, inde pollemus, inde sumpto et concepto uigore hic adhuc positi futurorum indicia praenoscimus: sit tantum timor innocentiae custos, ut qui in mentes nostras indulgentiae caelestis adlapsu clementer Dominus influxit, in animi oblectantis hospitio iusta operatione teneatur, ne accepta securitas indiligentiam pariat et uetus denuo hostis obrepat. ### English translation (Claude) So I often said to myself. For I myself was held entangled in very many errors of my former life, from which I did not believe I could be freed: so I was complying with the vices that clung to me, and, despairing of better things, I even favoured my evils as if they were now my own and native to me. But after the stain of my former life was washed away by the help of the water of birth, and light from above poured itself into my cleansed and pure heart; after, having drunk the Spirit from heaven, a second birth restored me into a new man, then in a wonderful way doubtful things at once became firm, closed things opened, dark things shone; what had seemed difficult became possible, what had been thought impossible could be done; so that one could recognize that what had first been born of the flesh and lived liable to sins had been earthly, and that what the Holy Spirit now animated had begun to be of God. You surely know, and recognize together with me, what was taken from us and what was given us by that death of crimes and life of virtues. You know it yourself, and I do not proclaim it: boasting in one's own praise is odious; although what is not ascribed to man's virtue but proclaimed as God's gift can be not boasting but gratitude, so that not sinning now has begun to belong to faith, as sinning before belonged to human error. Of God, I say, of God is all that we are able to do. From him we live, from him we have strength; from him, having received and conceived vigour, while still placed here we foresee the signs of things to come. Only let fear be the guardian of innocence, so that the Lord, who has mercifully flowed into our minds by the inflowing of heavenly mercy, may be kept in the lodging of a delighted soul by righteous conduct, lest the security received beget carelessness and the old enemy creep in again. ### Scripture references - Eph 4:24: echo, low confidence - John 3:6: echo, low confidence - 1 Cor 4:7: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - "The water of birth" is baptism; "new man" echoes Eph 4:24. ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/4/). ## To Donatus 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/5/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:7–8 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God's Spirit is given without measure to those who remain faithful, and gives power to heal and to drive out demons. ### Latin text Ceterum si tu innocentiae, si iustitiae uiam teneas inlapsa firmitate uestigii tui, si in Deum uiribus totis ac toto corde suspensus hoc sis tantum quod esse coepisti, tantum tibi ad licentiam datur, quantum gratiae spiritalis augetur. non enim, qui beneficiorum terrestrium mos est, in capessendo de Deo munere mensura ulla uel modus est. profluens largiter spiritus nullis finibus premitur nec coercentibus claustris intra certa metarum spatia frenatur. manat iugiter, exuberat afluenter: nostrum tantum sitiat pectus et pateat. quantum illuc fidei capacis adferimus, tantum gratiae inundantis haurimus. inde iam facultas datur, castitate sobria, mente integra, uoce pura in medellam dolentium posse uenenorum uirus extinguere, animorum desipientium labes reddita sanitate purgare, infestis iubere pacem, uiolentis quietem, ferocientibus lenitatem, inmundos et erraticos spiritus, qui se expugnandis hominibus inmerserint, ad confessionem minis increpantibus cogere, ut recedant duris uerberibus urguere, conflictantes, eiulantes, gementes incremento poenae propagantis extendere, flagris caedere, igne torrere. res illic geritur nec uidetur: occulta plaga et poena manifesta. ita quod esse iam coepimus, acceptus spiritus licentia sua potitur: quod necdum corpus ac membra mutauimus, adhuc carnalis aspectus saeculi nube caecatur. quantus hic animi potentatus est, quanta uis est, non tantum ipsum esse subtractum perniciosis contactibus mundi, ut quis expiatus et purus nulla incursantis inimici labe capiatur, sed adhuc maiorem et fortiorem uiribus fieri, ut in omnem adversarii grassantis exercitum inperioso iure dominetur. ### English translation (Claude) But if you hold to the way of innocence and justice with the unslipping firmness of your step, if, depending on God with all your strength and with all your heart, you are only what you have begun to be, so much freedom of action is given you as spiritual grace increases. For there is no measure or limit in receiving God's gift, as is the custom with earthly benefits. The Spirit, flowing forth abundantly, is confined by no bounds, nor is it bridled within fixed limits by restraining barriers. It flows continually, it overflows abundantly: only let our heart thirst and be open. As much capacious faith as we bring there, so much overflowing grace we draw. Thence power is given, with sober chastity, sound mind, and pure voice, to be able to extinguish the venom of poisons for the healing of the suffering, to cleanse the stains of foolish minds by restoring health, to command peace for the hostile, quiet for the violent, gentleness for the raging; to compel by threatening rebukes to confession the unclean and wandering spirits who have plunged themselves into men to overthrow them, to press them with hard blows to depart, to stretch them out, struggling, howling, groaning, with the increase of a spreading punishment, to beat them with scourges, to roast them with fire. The thing is done there and is not seen: the blow is hidden, the punishment manifest. So in what we have already begun to be, the Spirit we have received enjoys its freedom; in that we have not yet changed our body and members, our fleshly sight is still blinded by the cloud of the world. How great is this power of the soul, how great its strength: not only to be itself withdrawn from the deadly contacts of the world, so that, cleansed and pure, it is caught by no stain of the attacking enemy, but even to become greater and stronger in its powers, so that it rules with commanding right over the whole army of the raging adversary! ### Scripture references - John 3:34: echo, medium confidence - Mark 16:17–18: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - "No measure" echoes John 3:34. ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/5/). ## To Donatus 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/6/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:8 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: From a mountain top Donatus should view the world's violence, where murder is called valour when done by nations. ### Latin text Atque ut inlustrius ueritate patefacta diuini muneris indicia clarescant, lucem tibi ad cognitionem dabo, malorum caligine abstersa operti saeculi tenebras reuelabo. paulisper te crede subduci in montis ardui uerticem celsiorem, speculare inde rerum infra te iacentium facies et oculis in diuersa porrectis ipse a terrenis contactibus liber fluctuantis mundi turbines intuere: iam saeculi et ipse misereberis tuique admonitus et plus in Deum gratus maiore laetitia quod euaseris gratuleris. cerne tu itinera latronibus clausa, maria obsessa praedonibus, cruento horrore castrorum bella ubique diuisa. madet orbis mutuo sanguine: et homicidium cum admittunt singuli, crimen est: uirtus uocatur, cum publice geritur. inpunitatem sceleribus adquirit non innocentiae ratio, sed saeuitiae magnitudo. ### English translation (Claude) And so that the signs of the divine gift may shine more brightly with the truth laid open, I will give you light for knowing; wiping away the mist of evils, I will uncover the darkness of the hidden world. Imagine yourself for a little while carried off to the higher summit of a steep mountain; from there survey the appearance of things lying below you, and, with your eyes stretched out in different directions, yourself free from earthly contacts, gaze at the whirlwinds of the tossing world. At once you too will pity the world, and, reminded of yourself and more grateful to God, you will rejoice with greater gladness that you have escaped. See the roads closed by robbers, the seas beset by pirates, wars spread everywhere with the bloody horror of camps. The world is wet with mutual blood; and when individuals commit homicide, it is a crime; it is called valour when it is done publicly. Impunity is gained for crimes not by the plea of innocence but by the greatness of the cruelty. ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/6/). ## To Donatus 7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/7/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:8–9 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The gladiatorial games teach killing as an art and make spectators accomplices in murder. ### Latin text Iam si ad urbes ipsas oculos tuos atque ora conuertas, celebritatem offendes omni solitudine tristiorem. paratur gladiatorius ludus, ut libidinem crudelium luminum sanguis oblectet. inpletur in sucum cibis fortioribus corpus, et aruinae toris membrorum moles robusta pinguescit, ut saginatus in poenam carius pereat. homo occiditur in hominis uoluptatem, et ut quis possit occidere, peritia est, usus est, ars est: scelus non tantum geritur sed docetur. quid potest inhumanius, quid acerbius dici? disciplina est, ut perimere quis possit, et gloria est, quod perimit quid illud, oro te, quale est, ubi se feris obiciunt, quos nemo damnauit, aetate integra, honesta satis forma, ueste pretiosa? uiuentes in ultroneum funus ornantur, malis suis miseri et gloriantur. pugnant ad bestias non crimine sed furore. spectant filios suos patres, frater in cauea et soror praesto est, et spectaculi licet pretium largior muneris adparatus amplificet, ut maeroribus suis mater intersit, hoc pro dolor mater et redimit. et in tam impiis spectaculis tamque diris esse se non putant oculis parricidas. ### English translation (Claude) Now if you turn your eyes and face to the cities themselves, you will meet a throng sadder than any solitude. A gladiatorial show is prepared, so that blood may delight the lust of cruel eyes. The body is filled out with stronger foods for vigour, and the robust bulk of the limbs grows fat with muscle, so that, fattened for punishment, it may perish at a higher price. A man is killed for the pleasure of a man, and to be able to kill is a skill, a practice, an art: crime is not only committed but taught. What can be called more inhuman, more bitter? It is a discipline to be able to kill, and it is glory to kill. What is this, I ask you, of what kind is it, when men throw themselves to wild beasts whom no one has condemned, of sound age, of fair enough form, in costly clothing? Living, they are adorned for a voluntary funeral, and the wretches even glory in their own evils. They fight with beasts not for a crime but out of madness. Fathers watch their sons; a brother is in the arena and his sister is at hand; and though a more lavish provision for the show may increase the price of the spectacle, so that the mother may be present at her own griefs, alas! the mother even pays for it. And at such impious and dreadful spectacles they do not think that they are parricides with their eyes. ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/7/). ## To Donatus 8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/8/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:9–10 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The theatre keeps ancient crimes alive, teaches adultery and effeminacy, and makes vice religious by showing the gods' immorality. ### Latin text Conuerte hinc uultus ad diuersi spectaculi non minus paenitenda contagia: in theatris quoque conspicies, quod tibi et dolori sit et pudori. cothurnus est tragicus, prisca carmine facinora recensere: de parricidiis et incestis horror antiquus expressa ad imaginem ueritatis actione replicatur, ne saeculis transeuntibus exolescat quod aliquando commissum est. admonetur aetas omnis auditu fieri posse quod factum est. numquam aeui senio delicta moriuntur, numquam temporibus crimen obruitur, numquam scelus obliuione sepelitur. exempla fiunt quae esse iam facinora destiterunt. tum delectat in mimis turpitudinum magisterio uel quid domi gesserit recognoscere uel quid gerere possit audire. adulterium discitur dum uidetur, et lenocinante ad uitia publicae auctoritatis malo quae pudica fortasse ad spectaculum matrona processerat, de spectaculo reuertitur inpudica. adhuc deinde morum quanta labes, quae probrorum fomenta, quae alimenta uitiorum, histrionicis gestibus inquinari, uidere contra foedus iusque nascendi patientiam incestae turpitudinis elaboratam: euirantur mares, honor omnis et uigor sexus eneruati corporis dedecore mollitur plusque illic placet, quisque uirum in feminam magis fregerit. in laudem crescit ex crimine et peritior quo turpior iudicatur. spectatur hic pro nefas et libenter. quid non possit suadere qui talis est? mouet sensus, mulcet adfectus, expugnat boni pectoris conscientiam fortiorem: nec deest probri blandientis auctoritas, ut auditu molliore pernicies hominibus obrepat. exprimunt inpudicam Venerem, adulterum Martem, Iouem illum suum non magis regno quam uitiis principem, in terrenos amores cum ipsis suis fulminibus ardentem, nunc in plumam oloris albescere, nunc aureo imbre defluere, nunc in puerorum pubescentium raptus ministris auibus prosilire. quaere iam nunc, an possit esse qui spectat integer uel pudicus. deos suos, quos ueneratur, imitatur: fiunt miseris et religiosa delicta. ### English translation (Claude) Turn your face from here to the no less regrettable contagions of another kind of spectacle: in the theatres too you will see what will give you both grief and shame. It is the tragic buskin to recount in verse the crimes of old: the ancient horror of parricides and incests is unfolded again in action shaped to the image of truth, lest what was once committed should fade away as the ages pass. Every generation is reminded by hearing that what has been done can be done. Sins never die with the old age of time, crime is never buried by the passing of the years, wickedness is never interred in oblivion. Things that have ceased to be crimes become examples. Then in the mimes it delights, by the instruction of shameful acts, either to recognize what one has done at home or to hear what one could do. Adultery is learned while it is seen; and, with the evil of public authority acting as pimp for vice, a matron who had perhaps gone to the show chaste returns from the show unchaste. Then further, how great a ruin of morals, what fuel of shameful deeds, what nourishment of vices, to be defiled by the actors' gestures, to see, against the covenant and law of birth, the endurance of incestuous shamefulness elaborately worked out! Males are unmanned; all the honour and vigour of their sex is softened by the disgrace of an enervated body; and he pleases most there who has most broken the man into a woman. He grows in praise from his crime, and is judged the more skilled the more shameful he is. He is watched, O horror, and gladly. What could such a man not persuade? He moves the senses, soothes the feelings, storms the stronger conscience of a good heart; nor is the authority of a flattering disgrace lacking, so that ruin may creep upon men by a softer hearing. They represent an unchaste Venus, an adulterous Mars, that Jupiter of theirs, chief no more in rule than in vices, burning with his very thunderbolts for earthly loves, now whitening into the plumage of a swan, now flowing down in a golden shower, now leaping forth with his ministering birds to carry off boys in their youth. Ask now whether he who watches can be sound or chaste. He imitates the gods he venerates: for the wretches even their sins become religious. ### Translation notes - "Adultery" renders adulterium; the Jupiter stories are those of Leda (the swan), Danaë (the golden shower), and Ganymede (the eagle). ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/8/). ## To Donatus 9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/9/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:10–11 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: In private, people commit shameful acts, including men with men, which they condemn in public. ### Latin text O si et possis in illa sublimi specula constitutus oculos tuos inserere secretis, recludere cubiculorum obductas fores et ad conscientiam luminum penetralia occulta reserare: aspicias ab inpudicis geri quod nec possit aspicere frons pudica, uideas quod crimen sit et uidere, uideas quod uitiorum furore dementes gessisse se negant et gerere festinant. libidinibus insanis in uiros uiri proruunt. fiunt quae nec illis possunt placere qui faciunt. mentior, nisi alios qui talis est increpat, turpes turpis infamat et euasisse se conscium credit, quasi conscientia satis non sit. idem in publico accusatores, in occulto rei, in semet ipsos censores pariter et nocentes: damnant foris quod intus operantur, admittunt libenter, quod cum admiserint criminantur. audacia prorsus cum uitiis faciens et inpudentia congruens inpudicis. nolo mireris quae locuntur huiusmodi: ore illo quidquid iam uoce delinquitur minus est. ### English translation (Claude) O, if placed on that lofty watchtower you could thrust your eyes into secret places, open the closed doors of bedrooms, and unlock the hidden inner rooms to the witness of your sight! You would see things done by the unchaste that a chaste brow could not look at; you would see what it is a crime even to see; you would see what, maddened by the fury of vice, they deny having done and hurry to do. With insane lusts men rush upon men. Things are done that cannot please even those who do them. I lie if the man who is such does not rebuke others; the shameful man defames the shameful, and believes that he, who knows, has escaped, as if conscience were not enough. The same men are accusers in public, defendants in secret, at once censors and guilty against themselves: they condemn outside what they practise inside; they gladly commit what, when they have committed it, they accuse. A boldness entirely in league with vice, and a shamelessness in keeping with the unchaste. I would not have you wonder at the things such people say: with that mouth, whatever sin is committed by the voice is the lesser. ### Scripture references - Rom 1:27: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 2:1: echo, low confidence ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/9/). ## To Donatus 10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/10/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:11–12 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Even the law courts are corrupt: advocates cheat, judges take bribes, and the innocent are condemned. ### Latin text Sed tibi post insidiosas uias, post dispersas orbe toto multiplices pugnas, post spectacula uel cruenta uel turpia, post libidinum probra uel lupanaribus prostituta uel domesticis parietibus obsaepta, quorum quo secretior culpa, maior audacia est, forum fortasse uideatur immune, quod ab iniuriis lacessentibus liberum nullis malorum contactibus polluatur. illuc aciem tuam flecte: plura illic quae detesteris inuenies, magis oculos tuos inde deuertes. incisae sint licet leges duodecim tabulis et publico aere praefixo iura. proscripta sint: inter leges ipsas delinquitur, inter iura peccatur, innocentia nec illic, ubi defenditur, reseruatur. saeuit inuicem discordantium rabies et inter togas pace rupta forum litibus mugit insanum. hasta illic et gladius et carnifex praesto est, ungula effodiens, eculeus extendens, ignis exurens, ad hominis corpus unum supplicia plura quam membra. quis inter haec uero subueniat? patronus? sed praeuaricatur et decipit. iudex? sed sententiam uendit. qui sedet crimina uindicaturus admittit, et ut reus innocens pereat, fit nocens iudex. flagrant ubique delicta et passim multiformi genere peccandi per improbas mentes nocens uirus operatur. hic testamentum subicit, ille falsum capitali fraude conscribit: hic arcentur hereditatibus liberi, illic bonis donantur alieni: inimicus insimulat, calumniator inpugnat, testis infamat. utrubique grassatur in mendacium criminum prostitutae uocis uenalis audacia, cum interim nocentes nec cum innocentibus pereunt. nullus de legibus metus est, de quaesitore, de iudice pauor nullus: quod potest redimi non timetur. esse iam inter nocentes innoxium crimen est: malos quisquis non imitatur offendit. consensere iura peccatis et coepit licitum esse quod publicum est. quis illic rerum pudor, quae esse possit integritas, ubi qui damnent improbos desunt, soli tibi qui damnentur occurrunt? ### English translation (Claude) But after the treacherous roads, after the manifold battles spread over the whole world, after the shows either bloody or shameful, after the disgraces of lust, whether prostituted in brothels or hedged in by domestic walls, where the more secret the guilt, the greater the boldness, perhaps the forum may seem to you exempt, as being free from provoking injuries and polluted by no contact with evils. Turn your gaze there: you will find more there to detest; you will turn your eyes away from it the more. Though the laws be engraved on the Twelve Tables, and the statutes be publicly posted on bronze set up before all, there is wrongdoing amid the laws themselves, sin amid the statutes; innocence is not preserved even where it is defended. The rage of those at odds with one another is savage, and among the togas, peace broken, the mad forum bellows with lawsuits. There the spear and the sword and the executioner are at hand, the claw that digs, the rack that stretches, the fire that burns: for one human body more punishments than limbs. Who amid these things will truly help? The advocate? But he colludes and deceives. The judge? But he sells his verdict. He who sits to punish crimes commits them, and so that the innocent defendant may perish, the judge becomes guilty. Sins blaze everywhere, and on all sides, by a manifold kind of sinning, the guilty poison works through wicked minds. This man forges a will, that one writes a false one by a capital fraud; here children are shut out from inheritances, there strangers are given the property; an enemy accuses falsely, a slanderer attacks, a witness defames. On both sides the venal boldness of a prostituted voice rushes into lying charges, while meanwhile the guilty do not perish even with the innocent. There is no fear of the laws, no dread of the investigator or the judge: what can be bought off is not feared. To be innocent among the guilty is now a crime: whoever does not imitate the wicked offends them. The laws have come to terms with sins, and what is public has begun to be lawful. What shame can there be there, what integrity, where those who would condemn the wicked are lacking, and you meet only those who should be condemned? ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/10/). ## To Donatus 11 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/11/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:12–13 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Worldly honours and offices are bought with humiliation and end in ruin when flatterers leave. ### Latin text Sed nos uideamur eligere fortasse peiora et studio destruendi per ea oculos tuos ducere, quorum tristis adque auersandus aspectus ora et uultus conscientiae melioris offendat: iam tibi illa quae ignorantia saecularis bona opinatur ostendam. illic etiam fugienda conspicies. quos honores putas esse, quos fasces, quam afluentiam in diuitiis, quam potentiam in castris, in magistratus purpura speciem, in principatus licentia potestatem: malorum blandientium uirus occultum est, et adridentis nequitiae facies quidem laeta, sed calamitatis abstrusae inlecebrosa fallacia. instar quoddam ueneni, ubi in letales sucos dulcedine aspersa calliditate fallendi sapore medicato poculum uidetur esse, quod sumitur: ubi epota res est, pernicies hausta grassatur. quippe illum uides, qui amictu clariore conspicuus fulgere sibi uidetur in purpura: quibus hoc sordibus emit, ut fulgeat, quos adrogantium fastus prius pertulit, quas superbas fores matutinus salutator obsedit, quot tumentium contumeliosa uestigia stipatus in clientium cuneos ante praecessit, ut ipsum etiam salutatum comes postmodum pompa praecederet, obnoxia non homini sed potestati. neque enim coli moribus meruit ille sed fascibus. horum denique uideas exitus turpes. cum auceps temporum palpator abscessit, cum priuati latus nudum desertor adsecla foedauit: tunc laceratae domus plagae conscientiam feriunt, tunc rei familiaris exhaustae damna noscuntur, quibus redemptus fauor uulgi et caducis adque inanibus uotis popularis aura quaesita est. stulta prorsus et uana iactura, frustrantis spectaculi uoluptate id parare uoluisse, quod nec populus acciperet et perderet magistratus. ### English translation (Claude) But perhaps we may seem to be choosing the worse things, and, out of eagerness to tear down, leading your eyes through things whose sad and repulsive sight offends the face and countenance of a better conscience. Now I will show you those things which worldly ignorance thinks good. There too you will see things to flee. What you think are honours, what fasces, what affluence in riches, what power in the camp, what splendour in the purple of the magistrate, what power in the licence of the principate: there is a hidden poison of flattering evils, and the face of smiling wickedness is indeed cheerful, but it is the alluring deceit of a hidden calamity. It is like a kind of poison, when, with sweetness sprinkled into deadly juices by a cunning to deceive, what is taken seems to be a drink with its flavour sweetened; when it has been drunk, the destruction swallowed spreads. You see, indeed, that man who, conspicuous in brighter clothing, seems to himself to shine in purple: with what degradation he bought the right to shine! What contempt of the arrogant he first endured, what proud doors he besieged as a morning caller, how many insulting footsteps of the swollen he walked before, crowded among the throngs of clients, so that later a retinue might also walk before him when he himself was greeted, subservient not to the man but to his power! For he did not deserve to be honoured for his character but for his fasces. Then see their shameful ends. When the flatterer, a fowler of the times, has gone away, when the deserter hanger-on has disgraced the bare side of the man now private, then the wounds of the ruined house strike the conscience, then the losses of the exhausted estate are known, by which the favour of the crowd was bought and the breeze of popularity sought with fleeting and empty wishes. A foolish and vain loss indeed, to have wished to procure by the pleasure of a disappointing show what the people would not accept and the magistrate would lose. ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/11/). ## To Donatus 12 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/12/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:13–14 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The rich are tormented by fear for their wealth, possessed by it, and share it with no one. ### Latin text Sed et quos diuites opinaris continuantes saltibus saltus et de confinio pauperibus exclusis infinita ac sine terminis rura latius porrigentes, quibus argenti et auri maximum pondus et pecuniarum ingentium uel exstructi aggeres uel defossae strues, hos etiam inter diuitias suas trepidos cogitationis incertae sollicitudo discruciat, ne praedo uastet, ne percussor infestet, ne inimica cuiusque locupletioris inuidia calumniosis litibus inquietet. non cibus securo somnusue contingit, suspirat ille in conuiuio, bibat licet gemma, et cum epulis marcidum corpus torus mollior alto sinu condidit, uigilat in pluma nec intellegit miser, speciosa sibi esse supplicia, auro se alligatum teneri et possideri magis, quam possidere [diuitias], adque — o detestabilis caecitas mentium et cupiditatis insanae profunda caligo! – cum exonerare se possit et leuare ponderibus, pergit magis fortunis augentibus incubare, pergit poenalibus cumulis pertinaciter adhaerere. nulla in clientes inde largitio est, cum indigentibus nulla partitio est, et pecuniam suam dicunt, quam uelut alienam domi clausam sollicito labore custodiunt, ex qua non amicis, non liberis quicquam, non sibi denique impertiunt, possident ad hoc tantum, ne possidere alteri liceat, et — o nominum quanta diuersitas! — bona appellant, ex quibus nullus illis nisi ad res malas usus est. ### English translation (Claude) But those too whom you think rich, joining woodland to woodland, and, shutting the poor out of their borders, extending their estates ever more widely without end or limit, who have the greatest weight of silver and gold and huge sums of money either heaped up in piles or buried in hoards: these, even amid their riches, trembling, are tortured by the anxiety of uncertain thought, lest the robber lay waste, lest the assassin attack, lest the hostile envy of some richer man trouble them with slanderous lawsuits. Neither food nor sleep comes to him in security; he sighs at the banquet, though he drink from a jewel, and when a softer couch has buried his body, weakened with feasting, in its deep folds, he lies awake on the down; nor does the wretch understand that these are splendid torments for him, that he is held bound to gold, that he is possessed rather than possesses; and (O detestable blindness of minds and deep darkness of insane greed!) when he could unburden himself and lighten himself of his weights, he goes on rather brooding over his growing fortunes, goes on stubbornly clinging to his penal heaps. From them there is no largesse for clients, no sharing with the needy; and they call it their own money, which they guard, shut up at home with anxious toil, as though it were another's, from which they give nothing to friends, nothing to children, nothing, finally, to themselves. They possess only so that another may not possess; and (O how great a difference of names!) they call 'goods' the things from which they have no use but for bad things. ### Scripture references - Isa 5:8: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - "Joining woodland to woodland" echoes Isa 5:8. The editor deletes "diuitias" ("riches") after "possess". ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/12/). ## To Donatus 13 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/13/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:14 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Rulers surrounded by guards live in greater fear than anyone, and their power turns against them. ### Latin text An tu uel illos putas tutos, illos saltim inter honorum infulas et opes largas stabili firmitate securos, quos regalis aulae splendore fulgentes armorum excubantium tutela circumstat? maior illis quam ceteris metus est. tam ille timere cogitur quam timetur. exigit poenas pariter de potentiore sublimitas, sit licet satellitum manu saeptus et clausum ac protectum latus numeroso stipatore tueatur. quam securos non sinit esse subiectos, tam necesse est non sit et ille securus: ante ipsos tenet potestas sua quos facit esse terribiles: adridet, ut saeuiat, blanditur, ut fallat, extollit, ut deprimat. faenore quodam nocendi quam fuerit amplior summa dignitatis et honorum, tam maior exigitur usura poenarum. ### English translation (Claude) Or do you think those at least safe, those secure with stable firmness amid the insignia of honours and ample wealth, whom, shining in the splendour of a royal court, the protection of armed guards surrounds? Their fear is greater than others'. Such a man is forced to fear as much as he is feared. Loftiness exacts penalties equally from the more powerful, though he be hedged in by a band of attendants and guard his side, enclosed and protected, with numerous escort. As he does not allow his subjects to be secure, so necessarily he himself is not secure: his own power holds in its grip before others those whom it makes terrible. It smiles that it may rage, it flatters that it may deceive, it lifts up that it may cast down. By a kind of interest on harm, the greater the sum of rank and honours has been, the greater the usury of punishments exacted. ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 13 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/13/). ## To Donatus 14 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/14/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:14–15 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: True security is found only in God's free gift, which lifts a person above the world. ### Latin text Una igitur placida et fida tranquillitas, una solida et firma securitas, si qui ab his inquietantis saeculi turbinibus extractus. salutaris portus statione fundetur: ad caelum oculos tollit a terris et ad Domini munus admissus ac Deo suo mente iam proximus, quidquid apud ceteros in rebus humanis sublime ac magnum uidetur, intra suam iacere conscientiam gloriatur. nihil adpetere iam, nihil desiderare de saeculo potest, qui saeculo maior est. quam stabilis, quam inconcussa tutela est, quam perennibus bonis caeleste praesidium, inplicantis mundi laqueis solui, in lucem immortalitatis aeternae de terrena faece purgari. uiderit, quae in nos prius infestantis inimici pernicies insidiosa grassata sit plus amare conpellimur, quod futuri sumus, dum et scire conceditur et damnare, quod eramus. nec ad hoc pretiis aut ambitu aut manu opus est, ut hominis summa uel dignitas uel potestas elaborata mole pariatur: et gratuitum de Deo munus et facile est. ut sponte sol radiat, dies luminat, fons rigat, imber inrorat, ita se spiritus caelestis infundit. postquam auctorem suum caelum intuens anima cognouit, sole altior et hac omni terrena potestate sublimior id esse incipit, quod esse se credit. ### English translation (Claude) The one peaceful and trustworthy tranquillity, then, the one solid and firm security, is if a man, drawn out of these whirlwinds of the disturbing world, is anchored in the harbour of salvation: he lifts his eyes from earth to heaven, and, admitted to the Lord's gift and already close in mind to his God, he glories that whatever seems lofty and great among others in human affairs lies beneath his own consciousness. He can now seek nothing, desire nothing from the world, who is greater than the world. How stable, how unshaken a protection it is, how heavenly a defence with everlasting goods, to be freed from the snares of the entangling world, to be cleansed from the dregs of earth into the light of eternal immortality! Whatever treacherous ruin of the hostile enemy may have raged against us before, no matter: we are compelled to love more what we shall be, while it is granted us both to know and to condemn what we were. Nor is there need for this of payments or canvassing or force, as when the highest rank or power of a man is brought forth by laborious effort: it is a free gift from God, and easy. As the sun shines of itself, the day gives light, the spring waters, the rain bedews, so the heavenly Spirit pours itself in. After the soul, gazing at heaven, has recognized its Author, it begins, higher than the sun and more sublime than all this earthly power, to be what it believes itself to be. ### Scripture references - Matt 5:45: echo, low confidence - Rom 3:24: echo, low confidence ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 14 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/14/). ## To Donatus 15 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/15/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:15–16 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Donatus should pray and read Scripture, adorning his soul, the temple of the Holy Spirit, which will last into the resurrection. ### Latin text Tu tantum, quem iam spiritalibus castris caelestis militia signauit, tene incorruptam, tene sobriam religiosis uirtutibus disciplinam. sit tibi uel oratio adsidua uel lectio. nunc cum Deo loquere, nunc Deus tecum. ille te praeceptis suis instruat, ille disponat. quem ille diuitem fecerit, nemo pauperem faciet. penuria esse nulla iam poterit, cum semel pectus caelestis sagina saturauerit. iam tibi auro distincta laquearia et pretiosi marmoris crustis uestita domicilia sordebunt, cum scieris te excolendum magis, te potius ornandum, domum tibi hanc esse potiorem, quam Dominus insedit templi uice, in qua Spiritus sanctus coepit habitare. pingamus hanc domum pigmentis innocentiae, luminemus luce iustitiae. non haec umquam procumbet in lapsum senio uetustatis, nec pigmento parietis aut auro exolescente foedabitur. caduca sunt, quaecumque fucata sunt, nec fiduciam praebent possidentibus stabilem, quae possessionis non habeant ueritatem. hoc manet cultu iugiter uiuido, honore integro, splendore diuturno. aboleri non potest nec extingui, potest tantum in melius corpore redeunte formari. ### English translation (Claude) Only you, whom the heavenly soldiery has now marked for the spiritual camp, keep your discipline uncorrupted, keep it sober with religious virtues. Let prayer or reading be constant with you. Now speak with God, now let God speak with you. Let him instruct you by his precepts, let him direct you. Whom he has made rich, no one will make poor. There can be no want any longer, once heavenly nourishment has filled the heart. Now ceilings picked out with gold and houses faced with slabs of costly marble will seem mean to you, when you know that it is rather you who must be cultivated, you who must be adorned, and that this house is better for you, in which the Lord has taken his seat as in a temple, in which the Holy Spirit has begun to dwell. Let us paint this house with the colours of innocence, let us light it with the light of justice. This will never fall into ruin with the old age of time, nor be defiled by fading paint on the walls or gold. Whatever is painted over is perishable, and things that do not have the reality of possession offer no stable confidence to their possessors. This remains with ever-living adornment, unimpaired honour, lasting splendour. It cannot be abolished or extinguished; it can only be formed for the better when the body returns. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 3:16: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 6:19: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - "Marked" (signauit) refers to the baptismal sealing, with a military image. ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/15/). ## To Donatus 16 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/16/ - Source: CSEL 3.1:16–17 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Cyprian ends the talk and invites Donatus to sing psalms at their evening meal. ### Latin text Haec interim breuibus, Donate carissime. nam etsi facilem de bonitate patientiam, mentem in domino solidam, fidem tutam salutaris auditus oblectat, nihilque tam tuis auribus gratum est, quam quod in Dominum gratum est, moderari tamen dicenda debemus simul iuncti et saepius locuturi, et quoniam feriata nunc quies ac tempus est otiosum, quidquid inclinante iam sole in uesperam dies superest, ducamus hunc diem laeti nec sit uel hora conuiuii gratiae caelestis inmunis. sonet psalmos conuiuium sobrium: ut tibi tenax memoria est, uox canora, adgredere hoc munus ex more. magis carissimos pascis, si sit nobis spiritalis auditio, prolectet aures religiosa mulcedo. ### English translation (Claude) This for now, briefly, dearest Donatus. For although the hearing of saving things delights your patience, easy through goodness, your mind firm in the Lord, your secure faith, and nothing is so pleasing to your ears as what is pleasing to the Lord, still we ought to moderate what we say, since we are together and shall speak often. And since this is now a holiday rest and a time of leisure, whatever of the day remains as the sun sinks toward evening, let us spend it joyfully, and let not even the hour of the meal be without heavenly grace. Let the sober meal resound with psalms; and as your memory is retentive and your voice melodious, take up this task as usual. You will feed your dearest friends better if we have spiritual hearing and religious sweetness draws our ears. ### Scripture references - Eph 5:19: echo, low confidence - Col 3:16: echo, low confidence ### Citation (SBL) Cyprian, Don. 16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-donatum/16/).