Tertullian, Apology 30
We pray to the eternal God, the true God, the living God, for the emperors' safety—and the emperors themselves would rather have this God favorable to them than any other. They know who handed them the empire; they know, as mere mortals, who also gave them a soul. They realize that this God alone holds all power over them; they stand second to him, first after him, before and above every so-called god. Why wouldn't they? They tower over all other living men, leaving the dead behind. They measure the reach of their own power, and that very measurement teaches them who God is: the one they cannot defeat, the one through whom they prevail. Let the emperor try to wage war on heaven, drag heaven captive in his triumph, post guards to heaven, slap taxes on heaven. He can't; his greatness proves he is smaller than heaven. He belongs to the One who owns heaven and every creature. The emperor comes from the same source as the man he was before he became emperor; his authority springs from the same place as his breath. Christians look toward that source with hands stretched wide—because they are innocent—heads bare—because we have no shame—and no prompter, because our prayer rises from the heart. We never stop praying for every emperor: long life, secure rule, a safe household, strong armies, a faithful senate, an upright people, a peaceful world, and every wish that belongs to both man and Caesar. I cannot ask these things from anyone except the One from whom I know I will receive them, since he alone is the giver, and I am the servant who owes him the asking—because I obey him alone, because I die for his discipline, because I offer him the richest and greatest sacrifice he himself commanded: a prayer that springs from a chaste body, an innocent soul, a holy spirit. Not a few grains of incense worth a penny, not tears of the Arabian tree, not two drops of pure wine, not the blood of a bull condemned to die, and on top of all that pollution, a defiled conscience. It makes you wonder: when your most corrupt priests inspect the sacrifices, why do they examine the victims' entrails instead of the sacrificers' own hearts? So then, good governors, drive nails through our outstretched hands, hang us on crosses, let flames lick us, let swords slit our throats, let beasts tear us apart; the very posture of a praying Christian is ready for every punishment. Do it. Extort the soul that pleads with God for the Emperor. That will be the crime—precisely where God's truth and devotion are found.
Latin
Nos enim pro salute imperatorum Deum invocamus aeternum, Deum verum, Deum vivum, quem et ipsi imperatores propitium sibi praeter caeteros malunt. Sciunt, quis illis dederit imperium; sciunt, qua homines, quis et animam; sentiunt, eum Deum esse solum, in cujus solius potestate sunt, a quo sunt secundi, post quem primi, ante omnes et super omnes deos. Quidni? cum super omnes homines, qui utique vivunt et mortuis antistant. Recogitant, quousque vires imperii sui valeant, et ita Deum intelligunt; adversus quem valere non possunt, per eum valere se cognoscunt. Coelum denique debellet imperator, coelum captivum triumpho suo invehat, coelo mittat excubias, coelo vectigalia imponat. Non potest; ideo magnus est, quia coelo minor est. Illius enim est ipse, cujus et coelum est et omnis creatura. Inde est imperator, unde est et homo antequam imperator; inde potestas illi, unde et spiritus. Illuc suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis quia innocuis, capite nudo, quia non erubescimus, denique sine monitore, quia de pectore oramus. Precantes sumus omnes semper pro omnibus imperatoribus, vitam illis prolixam, imperium securum, domum tutam, exercitus fortes, senatum fidelem, populum probum, orbem quietum, et quaecumque hominis et Caesaris vota sunt. Haec ab alio orare non possum, quam a quo scio me consecuturum, quoniam et ipse est qui solus praestat, et ego sum cui impetrare debetur, famulus ejus, qui eum solum observo, qui propter disciplinam ejus occidor, qui ei offero opimam et majorem hostiam, quam ipse mandavit, orationem de carne pudica, de anima innocenti, de spiritu sancto profectam. Non grana thuris unius assis, Arabicae arboris lacrymas nec duas meri guttas, nec sanguinem reprobi bovis mori optantis, et post omnia inquinamenta etiam conscientiam spurcam: ut mirer, cum hostiae probantur penes vos a vitiosissimis sacerdotibus, cur praecordia potius victimarum, quam ipsorum sacrificantium examinentur. Sic itaque nos ad deum expansos ungulae fodiant, cruces suspendant, ignes lambant, gladii guttura detruncent, bestiae insiliant; paratus est ad omne supplicium ipse habitus orantis Christiani. Hoc agite, boni praesides, extorquete animam Deo supplicantem pro Imperatore. Hic erit crimen, ubi veritas est Dei et devotio.