Figure 27: Quintus Septimus Florens Tertullianus, ca 200

 

References with modul-

 

content

Apologia, 21,13

Ad nationes, 1, 12, 1-9

De baptismo, 3.3 and 8.1

De anima, 33,7 and 27,1 and 5-7

Adversus Praxean, 9,1

De oratione, 22,10

De pudicitia, 7,20 and 14,26

 

 

Excellent pages:

http://www.tertullian.org/

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/tertullian.html

 

 

 

 

XXI

 

13. Ita et quod de deo profectum est, deus et dei filius et unus ambo; ita et de spiritu spiritus et de deo deus modulo alter[num], numerum gradu, non statu fecit, et a matrice non recessit, sed excessit.

 

English translation by Sydney Thelwall, 1869

 

English translation in:

Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson (Hrsg.): Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. XI: The Writings of Tertullian, Vol. 1, Edinburgh: Clark 1869, 53-140: The Apology  (translated by Sydney Thelwall); reprint in A. Cleveland Coxe (Hrsg.): The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol 3, Buffalo: The Christian literature publishing company 1885ff, 17-55.

 

XXI

 

13. so, too, that which has come forth out of God is at once God and the Son of God, and the two are one. In this way also, as He is Spirit of Spirit and God of God, He is made a second in manner of existence - in position, not in nature; and He did not withdraw from the original source, but went forth.

 

 

 

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus: Le premier livre Ad nationes de Tertullien. Introduction, texte, traduction et commentaire de André Schneider. Rome: Institut suisse de Rome 1968, 94-95.

 

1) English translation in:

Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson (Hrsg.): Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. XI: The Writings of Tertullian, Vol. 1, Edinburgh: Clark 1869, 416-506: Ad nationes (translated by Peter Holmes); reprint in A. Cleveland Coxe (Hrsg.): The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol 3, Buffalo: The Christian literature publishing company 1885ff, 109-147.

2) English translation by Q. Howe 2007

 

 

see also

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus: Opera catholica. Cura et studio E. Dekkers. Tumhout: Brepols 1953 (enthält: Ad Martyras; Ad Nationes libri duo).

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus: Opere apologetiche = [Opera apologetica]. A cura di Claudio Moreschini, Pietro Podolak. Roma: Città nuova 2006;
darin: Ad nationes, 356ff

Tertullianus: Ad nationes. Book I and Book II. Kessinger Publishing 2004 (only English translation, the old one by Peter Holmes 1869).

 

 

NAT.1, 12, 1-9

 

12

1. Sed et qui crucis nos antistites affirmat, consa<cerd>os erit noster. Crucis qualitas signum est de ligno: etiam de materia colitis penes uos cum effigie.

2. Quamquam sicut uestrum humana figura est, ita et nostrum sua propria. Viderint nunc liniamenta, dum una sit qualitas; uiderit forma, dum ipsum sit dei corpus.

3. Quodsi de hoc differentia intercedit, quanto distinguitur a crucis stipite Pallas Attica et Ceres Pharia, quae sine forma rudi palo et solo staticulo ligni informis repraesentatur? Pars crucis, et quidem maior, est omne robur quod derecta statione defigitur.

4. Sed nobis tota Crux imputatur, cum antemna scilicet sua et cum illo sedilis excessu. Hoc quidem uos incusabiliores, qui mutilum et truncum dicastis lignum, quod alii plenum et structum consecrauerunt!

5. Enimuero de reliquo integra est religio uobis integrae crucis, sicut ostendam. Ignoratis autem etiam originem ipsam deis uestris de isto patibulo prouenisse.

6. Nam omne simulacrum, seu ligno seu lapide desculpitur, seu aere defunditur, seu quacumq<ue> alia locupletiore materia producitur, plasticae manus praecedant necesse est.

7. Plasta autem lignum crucis in primo statuit, quoniam ips<i> quoque corpori nostro tacita et secreta linea crucis situs est, quod c<aput> emicat, quod spina dirigitur, quod umerorum obliquatio <……>; si statueris hominem manibus expansis, imaginem crucis fe<ceri>s.

8. Huic igitur exordio et uelut statumini argilla desuper intexta <pau>latim membra complet, et corpus struit, et habitum, quem placui<t argil>lae, intus cruci ingerit;

9. inde circino et plumbeis modulis prae<para>tio simulacri, in marmor, in lutum uel aes uel argentum, uel quodcumque placuit deum fieri, transmigratura. A cruce argilla, ab argilla deus: quodammodo transit Crux in deum per argillam.

 

TRADUCTION

 

12

1. Quant à celui qui affirme que nous sommes les prêtres d'une croix, il partagera aussi ce sacerdoce avec nous. La nature d'une croix est d'être une figure de bois. Vous aussi, vous adorez des objets de cette matière auxquels on a donné une figure.

2. Cependant, comme les vôtres ont forme humaine, de mème les nôtres ont leur forme propre. Mais peu importent les lignes, pourvu que la qualité soit la même; peu importe la forme, pourvu que ce soit le corps mème d'un dieu.

3. Et même si sur ce point il y a une diférence, qu'est-ce qui sépare du montant d'une croix une Pallas d'Athènes ou une Cérès de Pharos, représentée sans effigie par un pieu brut, par une simple figurine de bois informe? Tout morceau de bois planté dans une position verticale est une partie de croix, et même la plus grande.

4. Mais on nous impute la croix tout entière, avec la traverse et la barre d'appui. Vous êtes donc d'autant moins excusables, vous qui avez voué au culte un morceau de bois mutilé et tronqué, que d'autres ont consacré entier et completement équipé!

5. Du reste, vous observez aussi le culte intégral de la croix intégrale, comme je vais le montrer. Car vous ignorez que vos dieux tirent leur origine même de cet instrument de supplice.

6. Toute idole en effet, qu'elle soit sculptée dans le bois ou la pierre, coulée dans le bronze, ou tirée de quelque autre matière plus précieuse, est précédée nécessairement par le travail des mains du modeleur.

7. Or le modeleur commence par dresser le bois d'une croix, puisque la structure de la croix sert de ligne secrète et dissimulée ä notre corps lui-même: la tête s'éleve, la colonne vertébrale se redresse, la ligne perpendiculaire des épaules s'étend latéralement; si l'on dresse un homme les mains étendues, on réalise l'image d'une croix.

8. En jetant sur ce départ, sur cette sorte de fondement, une enveloppe de terre, le modeleur confère peu à peu aux membres leur volume, construit le corps et impose à la croix qui est ä l'intérieur l'attitude qu'il a voulu donner à l'argile;

9. puis on prépare l'ébauche de la statue, à l'aide du compas et des règles de plomb, pour aboutir ä l'oeuvre de marbre, d'argile, de bronze, d'argent ou de n'importe quelle matière dont on a décidé de faire un dieu. De la croix à la terre, de la terre au dieu: en quelque sorte la croix devient dieu en passant par la terre.

 

 

English translations by Peter Holmes, 1869, and Q. Howe, 2007

http://www.tertullian.org/works/ad_nationes.htm

English translation by Peter Holmes, 1869

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/tertullian06.html

 

 

English translation by Peter Holmes, 1869

 

1. As for him who affirms that we are "the priesthood of a cross,"we shall claim him as our co-religionist. A cross is, in its material, a sign of wood; amongst yourselves also the object of worship is a wooden figure. Only, whilst with you the figure is a human one, with us the wood is its own figure.

2. Never mind for the present what is the shape, provided the material is the same: the form, too, is of no importance, if so be it be the actual body of a god.

3. If, however, there arises a question of difference on this point what, (let me ask,) is the difference between the Athenian Pallas, or the Pharian Ceres, and wood formed into a cross, when each is represented by a rough stock, without form, and by the merest rudiment of a statue of unformed wood? Every piece of timber which is fixed in the ground in an erect position is a part of a cross, and indeed the greater portion of its mass.

4. But an entire cross is attributed to us, with its transverse beam, of course, and its projecting seat. Now you have the less to excuse you, for you dedicate to religion only a mutilated imperfect piece of wood, while others consecrate to the sacred purpose a complete structure.

5. The truth, however, after all is, that your religion is all cross, as I shall show. You are indeed unaware that your gods in their origin have proceeded from this hated cross.

6. Now, every image, whether carved out of wood or stone, or molten in metal, or produced out of any other richer material, must needs have had plastic hands engaged in its formation.

7. Well, then, this modeller, before he did anything else, hit upon the form of a wooden cross, because even our own body assumes as its natural position the latent and concealed outline of a cross. Since the head rises upwards, and the back takes a straight direction, and the shoulders project laterally, if you simply place a man with his arms and hands outstretched, you will make the general outline of a cross.

8. Starting, then, from this rudimental form and prop, as it were, he applies a covering of clay, and so gradually completes the limbs, and forms the body, and covers the cross within with the shape which he meant to impress upon the clay;

9. then from this design, with the help of compasses and leaden moulds, he has got all ready for his image which is to be brought out into marble, or clay, or whatever the material be of which he has determined to make his god. (This, then, is the process: ) after the cross-shaped frame, the clay; after the clay, the god. In a well-understood routine, the cross passes into a god through the clayey medium.

 

 

English translation by Q. Howe 2007

 

1. He who calls us devotees of the cross shall be our fellow devotee. In its essence the cross is a wooden symbol. You also worship an image of wood, but for you that wood represents the human form, while for us the wood speaks for itself.

2. Forget about the actual shape as long as the essence is wood; same for the form as long as the wood represents the form of a god.

3. But if a distinction is to be made, what is the difference between a wooden cross on the one hand and a shapeless wooden strip representing Pallas Athena or Pharian Ceres on the other hand? Any piece of wood planted upright in the ground is part of a cross and indeed the larger part of a cross.

4. But we Christians are credited with an entire cross complete with a transverse beam and a projecting seat. You are all the more to be condemned because you present a deformed and roughhewn chunk of wood while others consecrate a full and finished offering.

5. The fact of the matter is that in the end the fullness of your religion derives from the fullness of a cross, as I shall now show. You are not even aware of the fact that the very origins of your gods derive from the cross, this instrument of torment.

6. Every image, whether it has been shaped from wood or stone, forged from brass or finished from some opulent substance -- its shape was imparted by manual craftsmanship.

7. Those formative hands first shaped the wood in the figure of a cross. This is because the very structure of our body suggests the essential and primal outline of a cross. The head ascends to the peak, the spine stands upright, the shoulders traverse the spine. If you position a man with his arms outstretched, you shall have created the image of a cross.

8. With this cross as a starting point, the craftsman gradually fills out the limbs by laying on clay. By adding further layers of clay, he fills out the cross within to assume the body and posture of his original intention.

9. Then through the further refinement of precise drawing instruments and body parts cast from lead, the artisan transforms the cross into the likeness of a god fashioned of marble or clay or bronze or silver or whatever material suits his purpose. From the cross to the clay; from the clay to the god. In a manner of speaking, the cross becomes a god through the medium of the clay.

 

 

 

English translation by Ernest Evans, 1964

 

3.3

quid quod exinde dispositio mundi modulatricibus quodammodo  aquis deo constitit? nam ut firmamentum caeleste suspenderet in medietate, distinctis aquis fecit; ut terram aridam expanderet,  segregaris aquis expediit.

 

Next after  that also God's ordering of the world was in a sort of way carried out by regulative waters: for by dividing the waters he brought about the suspension of the firmament of heaven in the midst,  and by gathering the waters aside <into one place> he accomplished the spreading out of the dry land.

 

8.1

 

Dehinc manus imponitur per benedictionem advocans  et invitans spiritum sanctum. sane humano ingenio licebit spiritum in aquam arcessere et concorporationem eorum accommodatis desuper manibus alio spiritu tantae claritatis animare, deo autem in suo organo non licebit per manus sanctas sublimitatem modulari spiritalem?

 

Next follows the imposition of the hand in  benediction, inviting and welcoming the Holy Spirit. Human ingenuity has been permitted to summon spirit to combine with water, and by application of a man's hands over the result of their union to animate it with another spirit of excellent clarity: and shall not God be permitted, in an organ of his own, by the use of holy hands to play a tune of spiritual sublimity?

 

 

 

XXXII

 

7. Et ideo adicio: si nulla ratione capax est huiusmodi translationis in animalia nec modulis corporum nec ceteris naturae suae legibus adaequantia, numquid ergo demutabitur secundum qualitates generum et uitam eorum contrariam humanae uitae, facta et ipsa contraria humanae per demutationem? Enimuero si demutationem capit amittens quod fuit, non erit quae fuit; et si quae fuit non erit, soluta est metensomatosis, non adscribenda scilicet ei animae quae, si demutabitur, non erit. Illius enim metensomatosis dicetur quaecumque eam in suo statu permanendo pateretur.

 

XXXVII

 

1. Omnem autem hominis in utero serendi struendi fingendi paraturam aliqua utique potestas diuinae uoluntatis ministra modulatur, quamcumque illam rationem agitare sortita. Haec aestimando etiam superstitio Romana deam finxit Alemonam alendi in utero fetus et Nonam et Decimam a sollicitioribus mensibus et Partulam, quae partum gubernet, et Lucinam, quae producat in lucem. Nos officia diuina angelos credimus.

 

5. Societatem carnis atque animae iamdudum commendauimus a congregatione seminum ipsorum usque ad figmenti perfectionem; perinde nunc et a natiuitate defendimus, inprimis quod simul crescunt, sed diuisa ratione pro generum condicione, caro modulo, anima ingenio, caro habitu, anima sensu. Ceterum animam substantia crescere negandum est, ne etiam decrescere substantia dicatur atque ita et defectura credatur; sed uis eius, in qua naturalia peculia consita retinentur, saluo substantiae modulo, quo a primordio inflata est, paulatim cum carne producitur.

 

6. Constitue certum pondus auri uel argenti, rudem adhuc massam: collectus habitus est illi et futuro interim minor, tamen continens intra lineam moduli totum quod natura est auri uel argenti. Dehinc cum in laminam massa laxatur, maior efficitur initio suo per dilatationem ponderis certi, non per adiectionem, dum extenditur, non, dum augetur; etsi sic quoque augetur, dum extenditur: licet enim habitu augeri, cum statu non licet.

 

7. Tunc et splendor ipse prouehitur auri uel argenti, qui fuerat quidem et in massa, sed obscurior, non tamen nullus. Tunc et alii atque alii habitus accedunt pro facilitate materiae, qua duxerit eam qui aget, nihil conferens modulo nisi effigiem. Ita et animae crementa reputanda, non substantiua, sed prouocatiua.

 

 

English translation by Peter Holmes, 1870

 

English translation in:

Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson (Hrsg.): Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. XV: The Writings of Tertullian, Vol. 2, Edinburgh: Clark 1870, 410-541: A Treatise on the Soul  (translated by Peter Holmes); reprint in A. Cleveland Coxe (Hrsg.): The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol 3, Buffalo: The Christian literature publishing company 1885ff, 181-235.

 

 

XXXII

 

7. And this induces me to ask another question: If the soul is by no means capable of this kind of migration into animals, which are not fitted for its reception, either by the habits of their bodies or the other laws of their being, will it then undergo a change according to the properties of various animals, and be adapted to their life, notwithstanding its contrariety to human life-having, in fact, become contrary to its human self by reason of its utter change? Now the truth is, if it undergoes such a transformation, and loses what it once was, the human soul will not be what it was; and if it ceases to be its former self, the metensomatosis, or adaptation of some other body, comes to nought, and is not of course to be ascribed to the soul which will cease to exist, on the supposition of its complete change. For only then can a soul be said to experience this process of the metensomatosis, when it undergoes it by remaining unchanged in its own (primitive) condition.

 

XXXVII

 

1. Now the entire process of sowing, forming, and completing the human embryo in the womb is no doubt regulated by some power, which ministers herein to the will of God, whatever may be the method which it is appointed to employ. Even the superstition of Rome, by carefully attending to these points, imagined the goddess Alemona to nourish the foetus in the womb; as well as (the goddesses) Nona and Decima, called after the most critical months of gestation; and Partula, to manage and direct parturition; and Lucina, to bring the child to the birth and light of day. We, on our part, believe the angels to officiate herein for God.

 

5. We have already demonstrated the conjunction of the body and the soul, from the concretion of their very seminations to the complete formation of the foetus. We now maintain their conjunction likewise from the birth onwards; in the first place, because they both grow together, only each in a different manner suited to the diversity of their nature - the flesh in magnitude, the soul in intelligence - the flesh in material condition, the soul in sensibility. We are, however, forbidden to suppose that the soul increases in substance, lest it should be said also to be capable of diminution in substance, and so its extinction even should be believed to be possible; but its inherent power, in which are contained all its natural peculiarities, as originally implanted in its being, is gradually developed along with the flesh, without impairing the germinal basis of the substance, which it received when breathed at first into man.

 

6. Take a certain quantity of gold or of silver-a rough mass as yet: it has indeed a compact condition, and one that is more compressed at the moment than it will be; yet it contains within its contour what is throughout a mass of gold or of silver. When this mass is afterwards extended by beating it into leaf, it becomes larger than it was before by the elongation of the original mass, but not by any addition thereto, because it is extended in space, not increased in bulk; although in a way it is even increased when it is extended: for it may be increased in form, but not in state.

 

7. Then, again, the sheen of the gold or the silver, which when the metal was any in block was Inherent in it no doubt really, but yet only obscurely, shines out in developed lustre. Afterwards various modifications of shape accrue, according to the feasibility in the material which makes it yield to the manipulation of the artisan, who yet adds nothing to the condition of the mass but its configuration. In like manner, the growth and developments of the soul are to be estimated, not as enlarging its substance, but as calling forth Its powers.

 

 

 

Caput 9

 

1. Hanc me regulam professum, qua inseparatos ab alterutro patrem et filium et spiritum testor, tene ubique, et ita quid 25 quomodo dicatur agnosces. ecce enim dico alium esse patrem et alium filium et alium spiritum (male accepit idiotes quisque aut perversus hoc dictum, quasi diversitatem sonet et ex diversitate separationem protendat patris et filii et spiritus: necessitate autem hoc dico cum eundem patrem et filium et spiritum contendunt, adversus oeconomiam monarchiae adulantes) non tamen diversitate alium filium a patre sed distributione, nec divisione alium sed distinctione, quia non sit idem pater et filius, vel modulo alias ab alio.

 

English translation by Peter Holmes, 1870

 

English translation in:

Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson (Hrsg.): Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. XV: The Writings of Tertullian, Vol. 2, Edinburgh: Clark 1870, 333-409: Against Preaxeas  (translated by Peter Holmes); reprint in A. Cleveland Coxe (Hrsg.): The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol 3, Buffalo: The Christian literature publishing company 1885ff, 597-627.

 

Caput 9

 

1. Bear always in mind that this is the rule of faith which I profess; by it I testify that the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and so will you know in what sense this is said. Now, observe, my assertion is that the Father is one, and the Son one, and the Spirit one, and that They are distinct from Each Other. This statement is taken in a wrong sense by every uneducated as well as every perversely disposed person, as if it predicated a diversity, in such a sense as to imply a separation among the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit. I am, moreover, obliged to say this, when (extolling the Monarchy at the expense of the Economy) they contend for the identity of the Father and Son and Spirit, that it is not by way of diversity that the Son differs from the Father, but by distribution: it is not by division that He is different, but by distinction; because the Father is not the same as the Son, since they differ one from the other in the mode of their being.

 

 

 

XXII

 

10. ‚Sed non putet institutionem unusquisque antecessoris commouendam.’ Multi alienae consuetudini prudentiam suam et constantiam eius addicunt.  Ne compellantur uelari, certe uoluntarias prohiberi non oportet; quae se etiam uirgines negare non possunt, <sint> contentae abuti [ in] fama suae conscientiae apud Deum securitate. De illis tamen quae sponsis dicantur constanter super meum modulum pronuntiare contestarique possum uelandas ex ea die esse qua ad primum uiri corpus osculo et dextera expauerint; omnia enim in his praenupserunt, et aetas per maturitatem et caro per aetatem et spiritus per conscientiam et pudor per osculi experimentum et spes per expectationem et mens per uoluntatem. Satisque nobis exemplo Rebecca est quae sponso demonstrato tantum notitia<e> eius nubendo uelata est.

 

English translation by Sydney Thelwall, 1869

 

English translation in:

Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson (Hrsg.): Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. XI: The Writings of Tertullian, Vol. 1, Edinburgh: Clark 1869, 178-204: On Prrayer  (translated by Sydney Thelwall); reprint in A. Cleveland Coxe (Hrsg.): The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol 3, Buffalo: The Christian literature publishing company 1885ff, 681-691.

 

 

XXII

 

10. "But each individual man is not to think that the institution of his predecessor is to be overturned." Many yield up their own judgment, and its consistency, to the custom of others. Granted that virgins be not compelled to be veiled, at all events such as voluntarily are so should not be prohibited; who, likewise, cannot deny themselves to be virgins, content, in the security of a good conscience before God, to damage their own fame. Touching such, however, as are betrothed, I can with constancy "above my small measure" pronounce and attest that they are to be veiled from that day forth on which they shuddered at the first bodily touch of a man by kiss and hand. For in them everything has been forewedded: their age, through maturity; their flesh, through age; their spirit, through consciousness; their modesty, through the experience of the kiss their hope, through expectation; their mind through volition. And Rebecca is example enough for us, who, when her betrothed had been pointed out, veiled herself for marriage merely on recognition of him.

 

 

 

Caput 7

 

20. Iuxta drachmae quoque exemplum etiam intra domum Dei ecclesiam licet esse aliqua delicta pro ipsius drachmae modulo ac pondere mediocria, quae ibidem delitescentia mox ibidem et reperta statim ibidem cum gaudio emendationis transigantur.

 

Caput 14

26. Age iam, si non tot personas prima epistola contristasset, si neminem increpuisset, neminem terruisset, si solum incestum cecidisset, si nullum in causam eius in pauorem misisset, inflatum consternasset, nonne melius suspicareris et fidelius argumentareris aliquem potius longe alium apud Corinthios tunc in eadem causa fuisse, ut increpitus et territus et maerore saucius propterea permittente modulo delicti ueniam postea ceperit, quam ut eam incesto fornicatori interpretareris?

 

 

English translation by Sydney Thelwall, 1870

 

English translation in:

Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson (Hrsg.): Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. XVIII: The Writings of Tertullian, Vol. 3, Edinburgh: Clark 1870, 56-122: On Modesty  (translated by Sydney Thelwall); reprint in A. Cleveland Coxe (Hrsg.): The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol 4, Buffalo: The Christian literature publishing company 1885ff, 74-101.

 

Caput 7

 

20. that in accordance also with the example of the drachma (lost and found again) even within the house of God, the Church) there may be some sins of a moderate character, proportionable to the small size and the weight of a drachma, which, lurking in the same Church, and by and by in the same discovered, forthwith are brought to an end in the same with the joy of amendment?"

 

Caput 14

 

26. Come, now, if he had not "wholly saddened" so many persons in the first Epistle; if he had "rebuked" none, had "terrified" none; if he had "smitten" the incestuous man alone; if, for his cause, he had sent none into panic, had struck (no) "inflated" one with consternation, - would it not be better for you to suspect, and more believing for you to argue, that rather some one far different had been in the same predicament at that time among the Corinthians; so that, rebuked, and terrified, and already wounded with mourning, he therefore - the moderate nature of his fault permitting it - subsequently received pardon, than that you should interpret that (pardon as granted) to an incestuous fornicator?

 

English translation by Gösta Claesson, 1950

 

Caput 7

 

20. According also to the example of the piece of silver there can be some sins even inside the house of God, the church, but as little as the piece of silver is as to measure and weight, which for a moment concealing themselves there, are immediately even discouvered there and soon in the same house absolved with rejoicing at the amendment.

 

Caput 14

 

26. Well - if he had not caused grief to so many persons by his first epistle, if he had not inflicted anybody, not menaced anybody, if he had only punished the incestuous one, if he had not filled anybody with awe as to his own conduct, not confounded anybody, who was vainglorious, then you had better suspect and could more likely conclude, that someone but quite another person at that moment among the Corinthians was in the same situation, that he, being inflicted and fearing  and wounded by sorrow, for this reason later on had gained forgiveness, while his sin was not of any importance, rather than to interpret this forgiveness in this incestuous fornicator.