Tertullian, Apology 33
But what more need I say about Christian religion and piety toward the emperor? We must regard him as the one our Lord has chosen. And I say this deservedly: Caesar belongs to us more than to anyone else, since our God established him. Therefore I labor all the more for his salvation — not only because I ask it from the One who can grant it, or because I ask in a way that deserves an answer, but also because, in my moderation, I commend his majesty to God, to whom alone I subject myself, more than to Caesar. I subject myself to the One I do not equate with anyone. For I will not call the emperor God — not because I don't know how to lie, not because I don't dare mock him, not because he himself refuses the title. If he is a man, it is fitting for a man to yield to God; let the title emperor be enough for him. That name is great, and it comes from God. Whoever calls him God denies that he is emperor. Unless he is a man, he is not an emperor. Even at the height of triumph, riding in that loftiest chariot, he is reminded that he is a man. A voice whispers from behind: Look back; remember you are a man. And he rejoices all the more in such blazing glory precisely because the reminder of his condition is necessary. The man who is recalled from thinking himself a god is the greater for it.
Latin
Sed quid ego amplius de religione atque pietate christiana in imperatorem? quem necesse est suspiciamus ut eum, quem dominus noster elegerit. Et merito dixerim, noster est magis Caesar, ut a nostro Deo constitutus. Itaque et in eo plus ego illi operor in salutem, non solum quod eam ab eo postulo, qui potest praestare, aut quod talis postulo, qui merear impetrare, sed etiam quod temperans majestatem Caesaris infra deum magis illum commendo deo, cui soli subjicio. Subjicio autem, cui non adaequo. Non enim deum Imperatorem dicam, vel quia mentiri nescio, vel quia illum deridere non audeo, vel quia nec ipse se deum volet dici. Si homo sit, interest hominis deo cedere; satis habeat appellari imperator. Grande et hoc nomen est, quod a deo traditur. Negat illum imperatorem, qui deum dicit. Nisi homo sit, non est imperator. Hominem se esse etiam triumphans in illo sublimissimo curru admonetur. Suggeritur enim ei a tergo: Respice post te, hominem memento te. Et utique hoc magis gaudet tanta se gloria coruscare, ut illi admonitio conditionis suae sit necessaria. [Minor erat, si tunc deus diceretur, quia non vere diceretur.] Major est qui revocatur, ne se deum existimet.