On Prayer 17 · Sophia Scriptura

Latin text · CSEL 20:190–191

Atquin cum modestia et humilitate adorantes magis commendabimus deo preces nostras ne ipsis quidem manibus sublimius elatis, sed temperate ac probe elatis, ne uultu quidem in audaciam erecto. nam et ille publicanus, qui non tantum prece, sed et uultu humiliatus atque deiectus orabat, iustificatior Pharisaeo procacissimo discessit. sonos etiam uocis subiectos esse oportet, aut quantis arteriis opus est, si pro sono audiamur? deus autem non uocis, sed cordis auditor est, sicut conspector. daemonium oraculi Pythii, et mutum, inquit, intellego et non loquentem exaudio. dei aures sonum expectant? quomodo ergo oratio Ionae de imo uentre ceti per tantae bestiae uiscera ab ipsis abyssis per tantam aequoris molem ad caelum potuit euadere? quid amplius referent isti qui clarius adorant, nisi quod proximis obstrepunt? immo prodendo petitiones suas quid minus faciunt, quam si in publico orent?

English · Claude translation

But if we pray with modesty and humility we will commend our prayers to God the more, not even raising our hands too high, but raising them with restraint and propriety, and not even lifting up our face in boldness. For that tax collector, who prayed humbled and downcast not only in his petition but also in his face, went away more justified than the most impudent Pharisee. The sounds of the voice too should be subdued; or how great a windpipe would we need, if we were heard for our noise? But God listens not to the voice but to the heart, as he looks upon it. The demon of the Pythian oracle says, “I understand even the mute, and hear one who does not speak.” Do God's ears wait for a sound? How, then, could Jonah's prayer from the depths of the whale's belly, through the entrails of so great a beast, from the very abyss, through so great a mass of sea, escape to heaven? What more will those who pray loudly get, except that they disturb their neighbors? Indeed, by making their petitions known, what less do they do than if they prayed in public?

About this passage

Source

CSEL 20:190–191 · August Reifferscheid and Georg Wissowa, eds., Quinti Septimi Florentis Tertulliani Opera, Pars 1, CSEL 20 (Prague: Tempsky; Vienna: Tempsky; Leipzig: Freytag, 1890), 180–200 · Latin text: August Reifferscheid and Georg Wissowa (CSEL 20), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in CSEL 20. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 20; made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

Luke 18:13 · allusion, high confidence
Luke 18:14 · allusion, high confidence
1 Sam 16:7 · echo, medium confidence
Jonah 2:1 (2:2 Vulg.) · allusion, high confidence
Matt 6:5 · echo, medium confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Herodotus, Hist. 1.47 (Herodotus, Histories) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Prayer

Notes

Translation notes

The allusions are Luke 18:13–14 and Jonah 2:1–2 (2:2–3 Vulg.); God as “hearer of the heart” echoes 1 Sam 16:7. The oracle is the Delphic reply to Croesus in Herodotus 1.47. The digital text ends with a stray bullet, removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray character in the digital text): orent? • → orent?.

Cite this passage

Tertullian, Or. 17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-oratione/17/).

Plain text

Tertullian, Or. 17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-oratione/17/).