---
title: "Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Commodian and Origen"
author: "Various Church Fathers"
translator: "S. Thelwall and others; A. Cleveland Coxe (ed.)"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Church Fathers"
section: 35 of 199
url: https://scriptura.si/works/church-fathers-tertullian-minucius-felix-commodian-origen/35/
cite: "Various Church Fathers, tr. S. Thelwall and others; A. Cleveland Coxe (ed.), Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Commodian and Origen, section 35. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/church-fathers-tertullian-minucius-felix-commodian-origen/35/"
---

# Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Commodian and Origen

*Various Church Fathers, tr. S. Thelwall and others; A. Cleveland Coxe (ed.)*

Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Commodian, and Origen's On First Principles and Against Celsus.

## 35. A Strain of Sodom · 2 of 6

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/church-fathers-tertullian-minucius-felix-commodian-origen/35/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/church-fathers-tertullian-minucius-felix-commodian-origen/35/#p-N

[¶0] Wise, and a practicer of righteousness,

[¶1] He was the only one to think on God:

[¶2] As oft a fruitful tree is wont to lurk,

[¶3] 45 Guest-like, in forests wild. He, sitting then

[¶4] Before the gate (for the celestials scarce

[¶5] Had reached the ramparts), though he knew not them

[¶6] Divine, accosts them unsolicited,

[¶7] Invites, and with ancestral honour greets;

[¶8] 50 And offers them, preparing to abide

[¶9] Abroad, a hospice. By repeated prayers

[¶10] He wins them; and then ranges studiously

[¶11] The sacred pledges on his board, and quits

[¶12] His friends with courteous offices. The night

[¶13] 55 Had brought repose: alternate dawn had chased

[¶14] The night, and Sodom with her shameful law

[¶15] Makes uproar at the doors. Lot, suppliant wise,

[¶16] Withstands: “Young men, let not your new fed lust

[¶17] Enkindle you to violate this youth!

[¶18] 60 Whither is passion’s seed inviting you?

[¶19] To what vain end your lust? For such an end

[¶20] No creatures wed: not such as haunt the fens;

[¶21] Not stall-fed cattle; not the gaping brood

[¶22] Subaqueous; nor they which, modulant

[¶23] 65 On pinions, hang suspended near the clouds;

[¶24] Nor they which with forth-stretched body creep

[¶25] Over earth’s face. To conjugal delight

[¶26] Each kind its kind doth owe: but female still

[¶27] To all is wife; nor is there one that has

[¶28] 70 A mother save a female one. Yet now,

[¶29] If youthful vigour holds it right to waste

[¶30] The flower of modesty, I have within

[¶31] Two daughters of a nuptial age, in whom

[¶32] Virginity is swelling in its bloom,

[¶33] 75 Already ripe for harvest—a desire

[¶34] Worthy of men—which let your pleasure reap!

[¶35] Myself their sire, I yield them; and will pay

[¶36] For my guests’ sake, the forfeit of my grief!”

[¶37] Answered the mob insane: “And who art thou?

[¶38] 80 And what? and whence? to lord it over us,

[¶39] And to expound us laws? Shall foreigner

[¶40] Rule Sodom, and hurl threats? Now, then, thyself

[¶41] For daughters and for guests shalt sate our greed!

[¶42] One shall suffice for all!” So said, so done:

[¶43] 85 The frantic mob delays not. As, whene’er

[¶44] A turbid torrent rolls with wintry tide,