MarginaliaThe modestye of Cyprian in cōferrīg with his fellowe brethren.nothing vpon his own head and iudgement, but wyth the consent of his fellow bishoppes and other inferiour ministers, and that chiefly (among others) doth the. 10. epistle of his third booke wytnes. He was of a marueylous liberal disposition towards the poore brethren of other countries, for so often as he had cause of absence, he committed the care of those poore men to his fellowe officers, and wrote vnto them, that of their own proper goods they would helpe the banished brethren, to that which was necessary for them, as witnesseth the. xxiiii. epistle of his third booke. MarginaliaVisions cōcerning the troubles & peace of the church, recited and expoūded by Cyprian, before pag. 97He reciteth (amōg other giftes wherwith he was indued) as touching the visions and heauenly admonicions of the persecutions that shoulde follow, and of other matters touching the gouernment of the church in his first boke and third epistle, & fourth booke and fourth epistle, where he reciteth and expoundeth the forme or maner of a certayne vision, which we haue before sufficiently expressed.

He had moreouer great skil in the foreknowledge of thinges that should chaunce, as maye be gathered by the syxt epistle of his fourth booke. Also Augustine doth attribute vnto him many worthy vertues, which writeth much in setting forth his giftes of humilitye, in hys second booke of baptisme, the fourth chapter, agaynste the Donatistes, and in his seuenth booke and. xi. chapter, of his long sufferance and pacience. MarginaliaCyprian meeke and pacient.Also of his curtesy and meekenes, by which vertues he concealed nothing that he vnderstood, but vttered the same meekely and paciently. Also, that he kept the eccelsiasticall peace and concord with those that were of an other opinion, then he was of: lastly, that he neither circumuēted nor did preiudice to any mā, but followed that thing which seemedgood in his iudgement, is manifest in S. Augustine his fift booke, De baptismo contra Donatistas. Neither is this to be passed with scilence, that Hierom writeth that he was very diligent in reading, especially the workes of Tertulian. For he sayth that he sawe a certaine old man whose name was Paulus, which tolde him he saw the Notary of blessed Cyprian, being then an old man, when he himselfe was but a springal in the City of Rome, MarginaliaCyprian a great reder of Tertuliāand told him that it was Cypriās wont neuer to let one day passe without some reading of Tertulian, and that he was accustomed often times to saye vnto him: geue me my master, meaning thereby Tertulyan.

Now a few wordes touching his exile and martyrdome. Of his epistles which hee wrote backe to his congregacion, leading his life in exile, mencion is made aboue, wherin he sheweth the vertue beseeming a faythful pastor, in that he tooke no lesse care, as well of hys own church, as of other bishops being absent, then he did being present. Wherin also he himselfe doth signify that voluntary he absented himselfe, least he should doo more hurt then good to the congregacion, by reason of his presence, as likewise declared before. Thus from the desolate places of his banishment, wherein hee was oftentimes sought for, he writeth vnto his brethren: as in hys third booke and tenth epistle is manifest, whiche thing semeth to be done in the raygne of Decius or Gallus. But after that he returned agayne out of exile, in the raygne of thys Valerianus, MarginaliaThe second punishmēt of Cyprianhe was also after that the second time banished of Paternus the Proconsull of Aphrica, into the citye of Thurbin, as the oration of Augustine touching Cyprian sheweth, or els as Pontius the deacon sayth, into a city named Furabilitana, or Curabilitana. MarginaliaThe apprehension of Cyprian.But when Paternus the Proconsull was dead, Galyenus Maximus succeeded in the roume and office of Paternus: who finding Cyprian in a garden, caused him to be apprehended by his Sergeantes, and to bee brought before the Idoles, to offer sacrifice: which when he wold not do, then þ^e Proconsul breaking forth in these wordes sayd: Long hast thou lyued in a sa-crilegious mynde, and hast gathered together men of wicked conspiracy, and hast shewed thy selfe an enemy to the Gods of the Romaines, and to their holye lawes: neither coulde the sacrete Emperours Valerianus and Galienus reuoke thee to the sect of their ceremonies. MarginaliaThe martyrdō of Cyprian.At length the wicked tyrant condemning him to haue hys head cut of, he paciently and willinglye submitted hys necke to the stroke of the swoord (as Hieronimus affirmeth.) And so this blessed Martyr ended this presēt life in the Lord, Xistus thē being bishop of Rome, as Eusebius noteth, in the yeare of our Lord. 259. Sabellicus saith that he was martyred in the raygne of Gallus & Volusianus, Lucius being bishop of Rome, but that semeth not like.

MarginaliaThe bookes of Cyprian.Now remaineth to speake somthing likewise of hys workes and bookes left behinde him, although al perauenture do not remaine that he wrote: wherof some are myssing, some againe which go in the lyuerye of hys name and title, are not his: but such as be certainly his by the stile and sence may soone be discerned. Suche is the eloquēce of his phrase, and grauity of his sentence, vigor of wit, power in perswasion, so muche differing from many other, as he can lightlye be imitated but of few. Of the which his bookes with vs extant, as the florishing eloquence is worthely commended, proceedyng out of the schole of Rhetoricians, so is the autority therof no lesse in reputation, not onelye among vs of thys age of the church, but also among the auncient fathers. MarginaliaThe iudgemēt of Alusten vpon the bookes of Cyprian.
Alust. contra Cresconium. lib. 2. cap. 32.Wherof S. Austen speaking of his cōmendacion saith: Ego, inquit, literas Cypriani non vt canonicas habeo, sed eas ex canonicis considero: & quod in eis diuinarum scripturarum autoritati cōgruit cum laude eius accipio: quod autem non congruit, cum pace eius respuo. &c.  

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Eighth persecution down through writings of Cyprian: citation from Augustine

Foxe text Latin

Ego, inquit, literas Cypriani non vt canonicas habeo, sed eas ex canonicis considero: & quod in eis diuinarum scripturarum autoritati cōgruit cum laude eius accipio: quod autem non congruit, cum pace eius respuo. &c.

Foxe text translation

Not translated.

Translation

John Wade, University of Sheffield

I, he says, do not regard the letters of Cyprian as connonical, but I consider them as being from the canons: (?) and

Vincentius, and Laziardus Celestinus, reciting the names of diuers bookes, bearing the title of Cyprian (mo perchaunce thē be truly his) do collect out of them a certaine extract of his most pithy sētences, al which here to repeate were to tedious. To geue a taste of certayne of the speciall, I thought it not impertinent. As wher he speaking of the treasures of a rich mā, exhorteth saying: MarginaliaSentēces of Cyprian collected
Ex Vincēt lib 12. cap. 63.Ne dormiat in thesauris tuis, quod pauperi prodesse potest

Let it not sleepe in thy treasures, þ^t may profit þ^e poore.Duo nunquam veterascunt in homine, cor semper nouas cogitationes machinando: lingua, cordis vanas conceptiones proferendo. i.
Two thinges neuer waxe old in man, the hart euer
in imagining new cogitations, the tong euer in vt-
tering the vaine conceptions of the hart.

>Quod aliquando de necessitate, amittēdum est, sponte pro diuina remuneratione distribuendum est. i.
That which a man must needes forgo of necessitye,
wysdome it is a man to distrubute so, that God may
euerlastingly reward him.

Disciplina est morum præsentium ordinata correctio, & malorum præteritorum regularis obseruatio. i.
Disciple is an ordinate amendment of maners
present, and a regular obseruation of euyls past.

Integritas ibi nulla esse potest, vbi qui improbos damnēt, desunt: & soli qui damnentur, occurrunt.
There can bee no integritye, where as they whiche
should condemne the wicked are euer wanting: and
they onely which are to be condēned, are euer presēt.

Auari ad hoc tantum possident, quæ habent, vt ne alteri possidere liceat.
A couetous man onely possesseth his goods for thys,
because an other man should not possesse them.

Sericum & purpuram indutæ, Christum induere nō possūt