A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

914 CYPRIAN US.
earthly kings, that is, mere mortal men, to the
rank of divinities, the impotence of such imaginary
powers, and the emptiness of the science of augury.
2. The Unity of God. 3. The Advent of Christ,
and his Consubstantiality with the Father. This
tract is expressly ascribed to Cyprian by Jerome
in his Epist. ad Mlagnum Orat.
3. Testimoniorum adversus Judaeos libri tres.
A collection of remarkable texts from Scripture,
divided into three books, and illustrated by remarks and applications. Those in the first are
quoted for the purpose of proving that the Jews,
by their disobedience, had, in accordance with
prophecy, forfeited the protection and promises of
God; those in the second demonstrate that the
Christians had taken their place, and that Jesus
was the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament;
those in the third exhibit within a short compass
the great moral and religious obligations of the
Christian life. The precise date at which this
compilation was arranged is unknown, but it probably belongs to the early part of Cyprian's career.
It is quoted by Jerome (Dial. I. adv. Pelag.) and
by Augustin. (Contra duas Ep.ist. Pelag. iv. 8,
10.)
4. De Disciplina et IHlbitu Virginumn liber,
"written in A. D. 248, the year in which he was
raised to the episcopate, in imitation of the dissertations of Tertullian, " De Virginibus velandis,"
"D De Habitu Mulierum," &c., the object being to
enforce upon those holy maidens who had made a
vow of celibacy the necessity of simplicity in their
dress and manner of life. He commences with an
encomium on virginity, insists upon the propriety
of abstaining from all sumptuous apparel and vain
ornaments, from paint, from frequenting baths,
marriages, or public spectacles, and concludes with
a general exhortation to avoid all luxurious indulgencies. This book is referred to by Jerome
(Epist. ad Demetriad. et Eustoch.) and by Augustin (de Doctrina Christi, iv. 21).
5. De Unitate Ecclesiae Catholicae liber, written
and despatched to Rome in A. D. 252, at a period
when both Italy and Africa were distracted by
the pretensions of Novatianus, with the view of
bringing back to the bosom of the church those
who had wandered from her pale or were wavering
in their allegiance, by pointing out the danger and
sin of schism, and by demonstrating the necessity of
a visible union among all true Christians. This
remarkable treatise is of the utmost importance to
the student of ecclesiastical history, since here we
first find the doctrine of Catholicism and of the
typical character of St. Peter developed in that
form which was afterwards assumed by the bishops
of Rome as the basis of Papal supremacy. It is
quoted by Augustin (c. Crescon. ii. 33; see also
Cyprian. Epist. 51).
6. De Lapsis liber, written and despatched to
Rome in the month of November, A. D. 252. It
may be considered as a sort of supplement to the
preceding work, explaining and defending the
justice and consistency of that temperate policy
which was adopted both by Cornelius and Cyprian
with regard to the readmission of fallen brethren
into the communion of the church. The tract is
quoted by Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. vi. 33), by Augustin (de Adult. Conj. i. 25), and by Pontius
(Vit. Cyprian). See also Cyprian, Epist. 51.
7. De Oratione Dominica liber, written about
A. D. 252, in imitation of Tertullian, " De Ora

CYPRIANUS.
tione," contains a lengthened commentary on each
of the petitions in the Lord's Prayer, accompanied
by remarks upon prayer in general, and upon the
frame of mind which best befits those who thus
approach the throne of God. This work is highly
extolled by Hilarius in his commentary on St.
Matthew, by Augustin in many places (e. g. de
Don. persev. 2), by Cassiodorus (Divin. Instit. 19),
and by Pontius in his life of Cyprian, while among
moderns, Barth pronounces it one of the noblest
productions of ancient Christian Latinity. (Advers.
Iviii.)
8. De Mortalitate liber, written in A. D. 252,
during the prevalence of the terrible pestilence
which for the space of five years ravaged the most
populous provinces of the Roman empire, for the
purpose of pointing out how little death ought to
be an object of dread to the Christian, since to
him it was the gate of immortality, the beginning
of eternal bliss. It is mentioned by Augustin (Adv
Julian. ii.), and elsewhere.
9. Ad Demetrianum liber, also written in A. D.
252. Demetrianus, proconsul of Africa, catching
up the popular cry, had ascribed the famine and
plague under which the world was at this time
labouring to the impiety of the Christians, who
refused to render homage to the deities. Cyprian here replies, that the Gentiles themselves
were much more the cause of these disasters, by
neglecting the worship of the only true God and
cruelly persecuting his followers. It is quoted by
Lactantius (Divin. Instit. v. 1, 4), by Jerome (Adv.
Mag.), and by Pontius. (Vit. Cyprian.)
10. De Exhortatione Martyrii, a letter addressed
to Fortunatus in A. D. 252, during the persecution
of Gallus, on the reasonableness, the duty, and the
reward of martyrdom, in imitation of a treatise on
the same subject by Tertullian. This piece has
been by some persons erroneously attributed to
Hilarius, but is now generally acknowledged as
the undoubted production of Cyprian.
11. De Opere et Eleemosynis liber, on the duty
of almsgiving, written according to some critics towards the close of A. D. 254, while others suppose
that it belongs to the preceding year, and believe
it to be connected with an epistle (lxii.) addressed
by Cyprian to some Numidian bishops who had
solicited pecuniary assistance to enable them to
redeem from captivity several of the brethren who
had been carried off and were kept in slavery by
the Moors. It is named under the above title by
Augustin (Contra duas ep. Pelag. iv. 4), and by
Jerome (Ad Pamnmach.), as a discourse " De Misericordia."
12. De Bono Patientiae liber, written about A. D.
256, in imitation of the work of Tertullian on the
same subject. It is quoted by Augustin (Contra
duas ep. Pelag. iv. 9) and by Pontius. (Vit. Cyprian.)
13. De Zelo et Livore, written in A. D. 256, at
the period when the controversy between Cyprian
and Stephen, bishop of Rome, on the rebaptizing
of heretics, was at its height, exhorting Christians
carefully to avoid envy and malice, and to cherish
feelings of charity and love towards each other. It
is quoted by Augustin (de Baptism. Parv. 4), by
Jerome (In ep. ad Gal. c. 5), and by Pontius. (Vit,
Cgprian.)
14. Epistolae. In addition to the above we
possess a series of eighty-one official letters, extending over the whole public life of Cyprian, in