Primary source · Latin
To Scapula
Tertullian of Carthage · AD 212
What this text is
An open letter to the proconsul actively persecuting Carthage — containing antiquity's clearest sentence on liberty of conscience: it is no part of religion to compel religion.
Profile of Tertullian of Carthage →
Interlinear passages
Word-for-word glosses of the original; the complete public-domain translation is linked below.
Chapter 2 — the axiom
SedButnecneitherreligionisof religionestis itcogereto compelreligionemreligion
Public-domain translations
S. Thelwall (ANF, 1885)
It is a fundamental human right, a privilege of nature, that every man should worship according to his own convictions… It is assuredly no part of religion to compel religion — to which free will and not force should lead us.
Manuscript witnesses
Corpus Cluniacense manuscripts
9th c. onwardThe open letter transmitted with the apologetic works.
Provenance
Carthage, AD 212, to the proconsul of Africa
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Tertullian: Apologetical Works (FOC 10)R. Arbesmann et al., 1950Faithful annotated translation.
- Tertullian: A Historical and Literary StudyTimothy D. Barnes, rev. ed. 1985Historical setting of the Scapula letter.