In the year 752 from the founding of the City, then, Christ was born, bringing to the world the faith of salvation: truly a rock set in the midst of things, where whoever stumbled against it would be broken and whoever believed would be saved; truly a burning fire, by which whoever follows is enlightened and whoever tempts it is burned up;
1 Igitur anno ab urbe condita DCCLII natus est Christus salutarem mundo adferens fidem, uere petra medio rerum posita, ubi comminueretur qui offenderet, qui crederet saluaretur; uere ignis ardens, quem qui sequitur inluminatur, qui temptat exuritur;
he is Christ, the head of Christians, the saviour of the good, the punisher of the wicked, the judge of all; who, setting a pattern in word and deed for those who would follow, in order the better to teach them that they must be patient in the persecutions they would undergo for the sake of eternal life, began with his own sufferings as soon as he appeared to the world, brought forth by the childbearing of a virgin. For as soon as Herod, king of Judaea, learned that he was born, he resolved to kill him, and in pursuing one he slew a great many little children.
2 ipse est Christus, Christianorum caput, saluator bonorum, malorum punitor, iudex omnium, qui formam subsecuturis uerbo et opere statuens, quo magis doceret patientes in persecutionibus, quas pro uita aeterna exciperent, esse oportere, mox ut uirginis partu editus mundo apparuit, de passionibus suis coepit. namque eum rex Iudaeae Herodes simul ut natum conperit, necare decreuit plurimosque tunc paruulos, dum unum insectatur, occidit.
From this point on, fitting punishment befalls the malicious who wickedly assail him; from this point on, in so far as the world goes on in tranquillity, it is for the sake of believers, and in so far as it is ruinously disturbed, it is the punishment of blasphemers — while faithful Christians are secure in every case, for whom either the rest of eternal life is safe, or even the rest of this life is gain. This I shall show the more readily by the facts themselves as I relate them in order.
3 hinc malignis inprobe incurrentibus digna punitio est; hinc, in quantum tranquille agitur mundus, credentium gratia, in quantum perniciose inquietatur, blasphemantium poena est, securis per omnia fidelibus Christianis, quibus aut aeternae uitae requies in tuto aut etiam huius in lucro est. quod promptius cum per ordinem referam, ipsis rebus ostendam.
After the Redeemer of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, came upon the earth and was enrolled as a Roman citizen in Caesar’s census, while for twelve years, as I have said, the gates of war were kept closed in the most blessed tranquillity of peace, Caesar Augustus sent his grandson Gaius to set in order the provinces of Egypt and Syria.
4 postquam redemptor mundi, Dominus Iesus Christus, uenit in terras et Caesaris censu ciuis Romanus adscriptus est, dum per duodecim, ut dixi, annos clausae belli portae beatissima pacis tranquillitate cohibentur, Gaium nepotem suum Caesar Augustus ad ordinandas Aegypti Syriaeque prouincias misit.
Passing from Egypt along the borders of Palestine, he disdained to worship at Jerusalem in the temple of God, then holy and much frequented, as Suetonius Tranquillus relates. When Augustus learned of this from him, he made a perverse judgement and praised him for having acted wisely.
5 qui praeteriens ab Aegypto fines Palaestinae, apud Hierosolymam in templo Dei tunc sancto et celebri adorare contempsit, sicut Suetonius Tranquillus refert. quod Augustus ubi per eum conperit, prauo usus iudicio prudenter fecisse laudauit.
Accordingly, in the forty-eighth year of Caesar’s rule, so dreadful a famine fell upon the Romans that Caesar ordered the households of the gladiator-trainers, all foreigners, and also very great numbers of slaves, with the exception of physicians and teachers, to be thrust out of the City. Thus, when the prince sinned against the holy place of God and the people were chastised by famine, the nature of the vengeance showed the magnitude of the offence.
6 itaque anno imperii Caesaris quadragesimo octauo adeo dira Romanos fames consecuta est, ut Caesar lanistarum familias omnesque peregrinos, seruorum quoque maximas copias, exceptis medicis et praeceptoribus, trudi urbe praeceperit. ita peccante principe in sanctum Dei et correpto per famem populo quantitatem offensionis qualitas ultionis ostendit.
Then, to use the words of Cornelius Tacitus: “Janus was opened when Augustus was old, and, while new peoples were sought at the furthest bounds of the earth, often with profit and sometimes with loss, it remained so until the reign of Vespasian.” Thus far Cornelius.
7 deinde, ut uerbis Corneli Taciti loquar, sene Augusto Ianus patefactus, dum apud extremos terrarum terminos nouae gentes saepe ex usu et aliquando cum damno quaeruntur, usque ad Vespasiani durauit imperium. hucusque Cornelius.
But then, when the city of Jerusalem had been taken and overthrown, as the prophets had foretold, and the Jews destroyed, Titus — who by the judgement of God had been appointed to avenge the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ — triumphing as victor with his father Vespasian, closed Janus.
8 ceterum et tunc capta euersaque urbe Hierosolymorum, sicut prophetae praenuntiauerunt, extinctisque Iudaeis Titus, qui ad uindicandum Domini Iesu Christi sanguinem iudicio Dei fuerat ordinatus, uictor triumphans cum Vespasiano patre Ianum clausit.
So, although Janus was opened in the last times of Caesar, yet for a long time after that no wars resounded, even though the army stood under arms.
9 igitur etsi sub extremis Caesaris temporibus apertus est Ianus, tamen per multa ex eo tempora, quamuis in procinctu esset exercitus, nulla bella sonuerunt.
Hence the Lord Jesus Christ himself too, in the Gospels, when the whole world was then living in the utmost tranquillity and a single peace covered all nations, being asked by his disciples about the end of the times to come, said among other things:
10 unde etiam Dominus ipse Iesus Christus in Euangeliis, cum temporibus illis in summa tranquillitate uniuersus mundus ageret cunctasque gentes pax una uelaret et a discipulis suis interrogatus esset de conclusione temporum subsequentium, inter cetera sic ait:
“You will hear of battles and rumours of battles. See that you are not troubled; for these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be pestilences and famines and earthquakes in various places. But all these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.”
11 audituri autem estis proelia et opiniones proeliorum. uidete ne turbemini; oportet enim haec fieri, sed nondum est finis. consurget enim gens in gentem et regnum in regnum et erunt pestilentiae et fames et terrae motus per loca. haec autem omnia initia sunt dolorum. tunc tradent uos in tribulationem et occident uos, et eritis odio omnibus gentibus propter nomen meum.
In teaching this by divine providence, he both strengthened believers by forewarning them and confounded unbelievers by foretelling it.
12 hoc autem diuina prouidentia docens et credentes praemonendo firmauit et incredulos praedicendo confudit.