Prescription against Heretics 16

Latin text · Oehler 2:16–17

Hoc de consilio diffidentiae aut de studio aliter ineundae constitutionis induxerim, nisi ratio constiterit inprimis illa quod fides nostra obsequium apostolo debeat, prohibenti quaestiones inire, novis vocibus aures accommodare, haereticum post unam correptionem convenire, non post disputationem. Adeo interdixit disputationem, correptionem designans causam haeretici conveniendi, et hoc unam scilicet, quia non est Christianus, ne more Christiani semel et iterum et sub duobus aut tribus testibus castigandus videretur, cum ob hoc sit castigandus propter quod non sit cum illo disputandum, dehinc quoniam nihil proficiat congressio scripturarum, nisi plane ut stomachi quis ineat eversionem aut cerebri.

English · Claude translation

I might seem to have brought this in from a lack of confidence or from a desire to enter on the case some other way, were it not that reason first of all establishes that our faith owes obedience to the apostle, who forbids us to enter into questions, to lend our ears to novel words, and to meet with a heretic after one rebuke, not after a dispute. So thoroughly did he forbid disputing that he names rebuke as the reason for meeting a heretic, and that only once, because he is not a Christian, so that he might not seem to deserve correction, like a Christian, once and again and under two or three witnesses, since he is to be corrected for the very reason that one must not dispute with him; and then, because a contest over the Scriptures achieves nothing, unless it be to upset one's stomach or one's brain.

About this passage

Source

Oehler 2:16–17 · Franz Oehler, ed., Quinti Septimii Florentis Tertulliani quae supersunt omnia, vol. 2 (Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, 1854), 3–46 · Latin text: Franz Oehler (Oehler 2), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Oehler 2. 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 Oehler, vol. 2 (1854); 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

1 Tim 6:4 · allusion, high confidence
1 Tim 6:20 · allusion, high confidence
Titus 3:10 · allusion, high confidence
Matt 18:16 · allusion, high confidence

Topics

Heresy, Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

The allusions are 1 Tim 6:4, 20, 2 Tim 2:23, Titus 3:10, and Matt 18:15-16. The digital text's “stomachi qua ineat” is read as “stomachi quis ineat.”

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (misreading in the digital text; the sense requires an indefinite subject): stomachi qua ineat → stomachi quis ineat.

Cite this passage

Tertullian, Praescr. 16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-praescriptione/16/).

Plain text

Tertullian, Praescr. 16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-praescriptione/16/).