Primary source · Latin

The Acts of Maximilian

Proconsular court record · AD 295

What this text is

The trial transcript of the conscript who refused the military oath — 'I cannot serve; I am a Christian' — among the most unvarnished authentic court records of the pre-Diocletianic church.

Public-domain translations

Working translation (from the Latin)

Maximilian answered: 'I cannot serve as a soldier; I cannot do evil. I am a Christian.'... Dion said: 'Serve, lest thou perish miserably.' Maximilian: 'I shall not perish; and if I depart from this world, my soul shall live with Christ my Lord.'

Manuscript witnesses

Medieval passionals (the African acta)

9th c. onward

The protocol form — proconsular date, question and answer — marks the text as drawn from the court record itself.

SURVIVING WITNESSES

Ruinart, Acta sincera

1689

The collection that established the acta's authenticity for modern scholarship.

PRINTED PROXY

Provenance

Theveste, Africa Proconsularis

Editions & scholarship

Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.

Figures named in this text (1)