Disputation of Achatius · §3 · Acts of the Martyrs

Refusing sacrifice to shameful visible gods

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Martianus orders Achatius to recognize and sacrifice to the visible gods, and Achatius answers by accusing Apollo, Asclepius, Venus and Jupiter.

Martianus said, "What empty battle of ideas has deceived you? Scorn what is unseen, and acknowledge instead the true gods whom you see." Achatius said, "Who are the gods to whom you order me to sacrifice?" Martianus said, "To Apollo our preserver, who drives away hunger and plague, through whom the whole world is kept safe and ruled."

Achatius answered, "To that interpreter of yours, as you call him? The wretch burned with love for a girl and ran wild, with no idea that he would lose the very prize he wanted most. So it is plain that he was not divine, for he did not know what would happen, and he was no god, for a girl fooled him. Nor did his pain end there, for a crueler fortune soon punished him with worse loss. As you well know, he was base toward boys, and he lusted after the beauty of a boy named Hyacinth. Poor and blind to what was coming, he killed with his discus the very boy he longed to look upon. This is the one who once served as a slave alongside Neptune and herded another man's flocks. Are you ordering me to sacrifice to him?"

Achatius continued, "Or shall I spend sacrifice on Asclepius, who was struck by lightning, or on Venus the adulteress, and the rest of that sort? Shall I worship, for the sake of this life's outcome, those I do not think worthy even to imitate? I despise them, I accuse them, I shudder at them. If anyone today did their deeds, could he escape the harshness of your own law? Do you worship in some what you punish in others?"

Martianus said, "Christians always invent many curses against our gods. So I order you to come with me to Jupiter and Juno, so we may celebrate together with a sweet feast and give the powers what is due to them." Achatius answered, "How shall I sacrifice to one whose tomb is agreed to be in Crete? Has he risen from the dead?"

Greek

III. Martianus ait: Quae te philosophiae disputatio vana decepit? sperne invisibilia; potius deos veros quos aspicis recognosce. respondit Achatius: Qui sunt dii quibus sacrificare me praecipis? Martianus ait: Apollini servatori nostro, famis et pestilentiae depulsori, per quem omnis mundus servatur [et — scan οὗ] regitur. respondit Achatius: Illi vestro, ut putatis, interpreti? qui infelix cum puellae amore flagraret currebat attonitus, ignarus perditurum se optatissimam praedam. apertum est itaque quia nec divinus fuit qui ista nescivit, nec deus quem puella decepit. nec hic solum dolores excepit, sed crudelior illum damno mox fortuna multavit. nam ut erat turpis in pueros, forma Hyacinthi cuiusdam captus, ut bene nostis, incaluit et miser atque ignarus futuri disco illum quem optabat videre occidit. qui cum Neptuno aliquando servivit, ipsi qui aliena pecora servavit, huic sacrificare me praecipis? an Aesculapio fulminato, an adulterae Veneri et [porientis — unreadable; sense: and the rest of that sort] ceteris sacrificium impendam? vel ob huius vitae exitum adorabo ego eos quos non dignor imitari? quos contemno, quos accuso, quos horreo; quorum facta nunc si quis admittat, num severitatem legis vestrae poterit effugere? et modo in aliis colitis quae in aliis vindicatis? Martianus ait: Christianorum consuetudo est multa in deos nostros maledicta confingere. propterea te venire mecum ad Iovem Iunonemque praecipio, ut simul celebrantes dulce convivium numinibus quae sunt digna reddamus. respondit Achatius: Quomodo hic sacrificabo illi cuius sepulcrum esse constat in Creta? numquid resurrexit a mortuis?

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Martianus, consular prefect under Decius, has Achatius brought before him to require sacrifice with him to the emperor's gods.

This work is anonymous and names no addressee. It is a disputation in dialogue form set under Decius, in which Martianus, consular prefect, has Achatius brought before him to require sacrifice with him to the emperor's gods. The narrator presents the interrogation as remembrance of the deeds of God's servants, ending with imprisonment and referral of the record to Decius, and the clause explaining why Achatius was singled out is corrupt and uncertain.

Achatius argues that Christians honor the emperor by constant prayer for his life, just rule, armies and world peace, but sacrifice is owed to the true God, not to a man, identified as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Most High Adonai above cherubim and seraphim. He rejects Apollo, Hyacinth, Neptune, Asclepius, Venus, Jupiter, Juno and the rest of that sort, refuses to deny Christ who will judge living and dead, and refuses to name those of the whole church or accept the charge of sorcery. The reader meets Achatius, also called Agathangelus, Martianus, Decius, Jesus Christ, Adam, and Piso and Menander, whose place in one clause as separate bishop and presbyter or as further titles of the speaker is uncertain, and hears judgment sayings, a saying of Christ, and a psalm quoted by Achatius, with Martianus as the voice argued against.

Here sacrifice means pagan offering demanded as proof of loyalty, true God means the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob opposed to visible gods, and gods means Apollo, Jupiter, Juno and others. Son of God and Word of truth name Jesus Christ, Christian faith means the life under attack, whole church means the universal Christian people, deny means public disowning under threat, force means judicial compulsion to sacrifice, and sorcerers states the charge against Christians. Quotations come without book names, introduced by prophet cries, it is written, and again, and psalms follow old numbering about one number lower than modern numbering, cited as Gen, Ps, Matt and Rom, while one passage about the rest of that sort stands in an unreadable gap.

Printed text used

Translated from Oscar von Gebhardt, Acta martyrum selecta (Berlin: A. Duncker, 1902) (Latin)

This work has passed our source check. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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