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The Past and Present Society

The Passion of Perpetua


Author(s): Brent D. Shaw
Source: Past & Present, No. 139 (May, 1993), pp. 3-45
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/651089
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THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA
Men surrenderthem their souls, women their bodies . . . and for the
samereasonfor whichthe spectatorsglorifythem, they also degradeand
belittlethem . . . Whatperversity.They love whom they punish.They
depreciatewhomthey value . . .
There was . . . that womanwho came out of the theatreand returned
possessedby a demon.Whenthe uncleanspiritwas beingexorcized,and
was pressed with the accusationthat he had entered a woman who
believed,he replied'Andquitejustlytoo, sinceI foundher in my place'.1
On the morningof 7 March2032a smallgroupof youngwomen
andmenwereled fromthe prisonwheretheyhadbeenincarcer-
ated to the arenaof the amphitheatre
at Carthage.3
They were
1Tertullian,De spectaculis,22, 26.
2 The datesmust remainconjectural.They are the best that can be derivedfrom
a range of possiblealternatives;the day and month are probable,the year is a
reasonableconjecture.For the arguments,see H. Leclercq,"Perpetueet Felicite",
Dictionnaired'archeologiechretienneet de liturgie,xiv (1939),cols. 393-444,at col. 420;
P. Monceaux,Histoirelitterairede l'Afriquechretiennedepuisles originesjusqu'al'invasion
arabe, 7 vols. (Paris, 1901-23;repr. Brussels, 1966), i, Tertullian et les origines,
pp. 71-2. The texts I have used are those as edited by C. I. M. I. van Beek, Passio
SanctarumPerpetuaeet Felicitatis, vol. i, TextumGraecumet Latinumad fidem codicum
MSS (Nijmegen,1936;repr. 1956).I havealsobenefitedfromthe text andcomment-
aryprovidedby J. ArmitageRobinson,The Passionof S. Perpetua(TextsandStudies,
Contributions to BiblicalandPatristicLiterature,1.2, Cambridge,1891;repr.Nend-
eln, 1967),and especiallythat by Pio Franchide' Cavalieri,La Passio SS. Perpetuae
et Felicitatis(RomischeQuartalschriftfur christlicheAlterthumskundeundfur Kirchenges-
chichte,v, Supplementheft, Rome, 1896).The Passio existsin a Latin(L) anda Greek
(G) version.The relationshipbetweenthe two has been intenselydebatedsince the
discoveryof the latterin the springof 1889 by RendelHarrisin the Libraryof the
Conventof the Holy Sepulchreat Jerusalem: J. R. HarrisandS. K. Gifford,The Acts
of the Martyrdomof Perpetua and Felicitas: The Original Greek Text (London,1890).
The mattercannotbe discussedat lengthhere. My positionis thatthe Latinversion
is manifestlythe original.The Greekversionis a "translation" of this ("translation",
that is, in the sense currentat the time the versionwas made:not a word-for-word
translation, but ratherwhatwe mightcalla "closeversion"withadditionsandglosses
madeby the translator).
3 On the problemof the location,see H. Slim, "Recherches preliminairessur les
amphitheatres romainsde Tunisie",in A. Mastino(ed.), L'Africa romana:Atti del I
convegnodi studio Sassari, 16-17 dicembre1983 (Sassari,1984),pp. 129-65.Thereare
casesof cities havingdoubleamphitheatres (p. 135 n. 15) but there is, as yet, only
oneamphitheatre attestedforCarthage: see D. I. Bomgardner, "TheCarthage Amphi-
theater:A Reappraisal", Amer.3tl. Archaeology,xciii (1989),pp. 85-103.The problem
stems partlyfrom the accountin the Passio itself which nowhereexplicitlystates
wherethe trialandexecutionstookplace.Fromcircumstantial detail,historianshave
arguedthatthe localemust be Carthage,thoughthe only placeattested(in the Greek
version)is ThuburboMinus.
4 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER139
destinedfor executionin a spectacularentertainment that was
simultaneously intendedas an instrumentof publicterror.4The
celebratory occasionfortheirdeathswasthebirthdayanniversary
of Geta, the reigningemperor'syounger son. Amongstthe
intendedvictimswerea youngwomancalledVibiaPerpetua,and
her companionin prison,a youngfemaleslavenamedFelicitas.
Therewerethreemen, Revocatus,Saturninus and Saturus,who
werealsopartof thegroup.Accordingto theauthorwhoreported
thesubsequentevents,the prisonersmaintained theircomposure,
walkingto their fates "with calmfaces,hardlytrembling,if at
all". Perpetuaherselfwas able to refutethe intrusivestaresof
the spectators"withher own intensegaze".Her abilityto stare
directlybackintothefacesof herpersecutors, notwiththeelusive
demeanourof a propermatrona, brokewith the normativebody
languagein a way that signalledan aggressiveness that was not
one of conventionalfemininity.5Her contemporary, Tertullian,
was well awareof the problem.When speakingof the need
for young women to cover their heads,he remarksthat such
veilingis necessarybecause"a youngwomanmustnecessarilybe
endangered by thepublicexhibitionof herself,whilesheis penet-
ratedby the gaze of untrustworthy and multitudinous eyes, is
fondledby pointedfingers,and is too well loved by far".6Her
intensereturngaze was thereforea sign of Perpetua'srejection
of the legitimacyof the onlookers'voyeurism.Her look was a
refutationof the spectators'naturalassumptionthatthey should
be able to engagein "the innocentenjoymentof theirnational
pornography".7
Whenthe prisonerswere firstled out to theirexecution,the
localauthoritieshad attemptedto add shameto their suffering
by tryingto compelthe condemnedto don the formalattireof
4 K. M. Coleman, C'FatalCharades: Roman Executions Staged as Mythological

Enactments", T1.Roman Studies, lxxx (1990), pp. 44-73, "Humiliation", pp. 46-7;
C. A. Barton, "The Scandal of the Arena", Representations,xxvii (1989), pp. 1-36.
5 M. Foucault, The History of Sexuality, trans. R. Hurley, 3 vols. (New York,
1978-88), iii, The Care of the Self, p. 138; E. M. Schur, Labeling WomenDeviant:
Gender, Stigma and Social Control (Philadelphia, 1984), pp. 55-7, drawing on the
work of Erving Goffman.
6 Tertullian, De virginibusvelandis, 14.

7 See T. Mitchell, Blood Sport:A Social History of SpanishBullfighting(Philadelphia,

1991), ch. 5, "Psychosexual Aspects of the Bullfight", pp. 154-75, at pp. 167-71, for
"transgressive looking" as an essential part of the "erotico-violent degradation" and
"arousal" that "necessarily accompanies any spectacle of killing and gratuitous risk
of life"; the quoted phrase is his (p. 173).
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA s

the priestessesand priestsof the greatnon-Christian religious


cultsof northAfrica:the womenwereto be dressedas priestesses
of the goddessCeres,the menas priestsof the god Saturn.8The
pointwas perhapsnot justone of symbolicinversion,but alsoa
wayin whichanelementof humansacrifice,whichhadtradition-
ally been part of the rites of Saturn,could be maintainedin
anotherform.9Becauseof the resoluteresistanceof VibiaPerpe-
tua, however,the militarytribunein chargeof the executions
relented,andtheprisonersweresentoffto theirexecutionclothed
as they were. Her abilityto confrontauthority,and to rejectits
terms,no doubtmarkedher out as a womenwho, like her later
Africancompatriot,the martyrCrispina,could be labelled"a
hardand contemptuouswoman''.l?When the three men who
were with Perpetuaenteredthe arena,by their gesturesand
expressionsthey indicatedto the governorHilarianuson his
tribunalthat,althoughhe mightbe ableto condemnthem,their
Godwasgoingto judgehim.Thisbehaviour,takenasa calculated
insultto establishedauthorityby the largecrowdsin the arena,
provokedthemto a furiousdemandforthe inflictionof additional
corporalpunishmenton the insolent prisoners.The crowd
demandedthat the men be severelybeatenby being forcedto
run a gauntletof "beast-hunting" gladiatorsor venatores. They
werethemainoperational personnelin thispublicexecutionsince
at their trial the group of Christianshad been condemnedto
deathby one of the threemost savagejudicialpenaltiesthatthe
Romanstatereservedfor its mosthardenedanddangerouscrim-
inals:"throwingto the beasts''.llThe spectacularcontextwas
8 M. Leglay, Saturne africain: histoire (Paris, 1966), pp. 10, 236-7; cf. Tertullian,

De testimonioanimae, 2, and De Pallio, 4.10.


9 Leglay, Saturne africain, pp. 340-1; cf. G. Ch.-Picard, "Les sacerdotes de Saturne
et les sacrifices humains dans l'Afrique romaine", Receuil des noticeset memoiresde la
Societe Archeologiquede Constantine,lxvi (1948), pp. 117-23, who pointed out that
Lactantius, Institutionesdivinae, 6.26 ("animal hunts, the games devoted to Saturn
are called") refers to this African reality; cf. Ausonius, De feriis romanis, 33-7.
Coleman, "Fatal Charades", p. 44, notes parallel casesn and the connection with
scapegoat rituals.
10H. Musurillo, The Acts of the Christian Martyrs (Oxford, 1972), no. 24, 1.5:
"dura es et contemptrix!" (by the exasperated governor trying her).
11H. Leclercq, "Ad bestias", Dictionnaire d'archeologiechretienneet de liturgie, i
(1907), cols. 449-62; G. Ville, La gladiature en occident (Rome, 1981), pp. 52-225
(venationesand munera), 235-40 (damnatio ad bestias); cf. the Passio SS. DIaximae,
Secundaeet Donatillae, 6 (ed. C. de Smedt, n. 40 below) for Fortunatus the venator
as the director of the punishment of the women condemned ad bestiasin the amphi-
theatre at Thuburbo (Minus?).
6 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 139

thereforeprovidedby a munus,or publicgames,involvingthe


huntingof wildanimals.It is interestingto notethata contempor-
ary jurist, Ulpian, thoughtthat "it is customaryto condemn
youngmen to this punishment''.l2 Customary,perhaps,because
the punishmentpitted young, aggressivemales againstwild
animals,highlightingactive confrontation,ratherthan passive
suffering.The involvementof female"criminals"in this sort of
publicpunishmentthereforesignalledsomethingunusual.
As a ritualof empowerment,the munusor publicgamewas
paradoxical in itseffects.Theintentionwasthatthepublichumili-
ationandexecutionof labelledmiscreants wouldfurtherempower
the powerful,the existing social and politicalorder. But the
opposite of this process, whether intentionalor not, also
happened:
the audiencecould give a man (or woman) honor where fortune had
deniedit . . . Whileit was not a prettypicture,it was one that offereda
pattern of glorificationto the powerless. If the price paid for this
empowermentwas debasement,one paidthat priceanyway.13
Perpetuawas thereforeto acquirehonourwith a doublevicari-
ousness,since she would gain it despitethe will of the crowd
itself. Throughher actionsmemoryof her would lay claimto
that power, the potentia, which befell those sacrificedto the
instruments of stateandpopularpunishment.l4It wasonlylogical
thatthosewho weremartyredcameto assumespecialpowers,to
takeover the positionof "lordliness"normallyreservedfor the
most potentin earthlywealthand prestige.They were granted
the titlesof Dominus("Lord")andDomina("Lady")whichbore
strongovertonesof mastery,ownershipanddomination.l5 Since
12 Coleman, "Fatal Charades", p. 20, citing Digest,48.19.8.11; little is known about
the linkage between social status, type of crime, and the specific punishment of
"throwing to the beasts": see P. Garnsey, Social Statusand LegalPrivilegein the
RomanEmpire(Oxford, 1970), pp. 129-31. It is difficult to see any consistent pattern
in the application of the penalty, apart from the fact that there is a special element
of public expiation in it and so it was particularlyapplied in crimes of sacrilege, and,
later, for sacraimpianocturnave ("impious and unholy acts committed in darkness").
13 Barton, "Scandal of the Arena", p. 15.
14 One can add very little to the masterful analysis of Peter Brown in his TheCult
of the Saints:Its Rise and Functionin Latin Christianity(Chicago, 1981), ch. 6,
"Potentia", pp. 106-27.
15 H. Delehaye, Sanctus: essaisurle cultedessaintsdansl'Antiquite (Brussels, 1927),
pp. 59-64; Y. Duval, Locasanctorum Africae:le cultedesmartyrsen Afriquedu IVeau
VIIesiecle,2 vols. (Rome, 1982), ii, p. 776; cf. B. D. Shaw, "The Family in Antiquity:
The Experience of Augustine", Past andPresent,no. 115 (May 1987), pp. 3-51, at
pp. 48 ff.
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 7

these attributeswere normallymale, by their actionsfemale


martyrsacquireda sort of virilehonour.16 It is no accidentthat
Perpetua'sbrother,who came to addressher as Dominasoror
("Ladysister")while she was in prison,believedthat she had
beenraisedto a special"greatstatus"(magnadignatio)andthat
she hadextraordinary powersto commandconnectionswith the
Lord.Evenherotherwisehostilefatherwasforcedto thisrecogni-
tion of her status,to see her not as daughter,but as domina.It
was not surprising,then, thatPerpetuaherselfbelievedthatshe
hadacquiredpower,havingcomeintoa specialpatronalrelation-
ship with her Lordwho bestowedhis favours(beneficia) on her
(4.1-2)
The young women, Perpetuaand Felicitas,were carefully
reservedasa finaleto thepublicexecutions.Symbolicdegradation
was addedto their punishment.They were to face a wild and
savagecow (ferocissima vacca).The choice of the animalwas
unusual,but was a deliberateone on the partof the authorities:
they wishedto mockthe sex of the condemnedwomenby using
one of theirown, a wild cow, to destroythem. The significance
of the choice is made clearonly if we understandthe normal
messageimpartedto crowdsandto the condemnedby the use of
the usual wild beast, the bull, in this type of punishment:it
signalleduttersexualdishonour,usuallythedisplayof thewoman
as a knownadulteress.17 Full exposureof the femaleto the bull
by entirelystrippingher of all clothingwas merelypartof the
processof shaming.Crowdswerewell acquaintedwith the sym-
bolic significanceof the punishment,and could cry out for its
imposition,knowingfullwellwhattheywouldbe implyingabout
thecharacter of thecondemnedwoman.Thesetwoaspects,sexual
shamingandphysicalpunishment,wereintegrallyinterrelated.18
The point is, of course,that femalescouldbe accusedof being
adulteresses regardlessof actualguilt.In the caseof Perpetuaand
Felicitas,however,the authoritieswereplayinga smallvariation
on the theme. It was a "wild cow" to which the condemned
womenwereexposed.Whatwasthe significance? To mocktheir
sex. By analogywitha bull,it wasimpliedthattheyweresexually
16 E. A. Clark,"Devil'sGateway andBrideof Christ:Womenin the EarlyChristian
World",in her Ascetic Piety and Women'sFaith: Essays on Late Antique Christianity
(Lewiston,N.Y., 1986),pp. 23-60, at p. 44.
17 Petronius,Satyricon, 45.

18 Mitchell,Blood Sport, ch. 5.


8 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER139
shameful;but sincea cow was employed,the inferencewas that
they were not "realwomen"enoughto be guilty of adultery.
There was the problemthat, being Christians,Perpetuaand
Felicitaswere not readilysusceptibleto credibleaccusationsof
adultery.Weretheauthorities andthecrowdattemptingto shame
the two womenwith the imputationof a differentsortof sexual-
ity?Afterall, as waslaterto be said,whereweretheirhusbands?
Not only in their exposureto bulls, but more generallyin
publicpunishment,we find that women were exposedin the
nude, often with their handstied behindtheir backsand with
theirbodiessecuredto verticalstakes.l9Their publicdenuding
was a calculatedmove furtherto strip them of dignity and
power.20This specificdegradation of nudityin the punishment
of femalesis illustratedby the actionsof a laterRomangovernor
who sentenceda Christianwoman,one Irene,to be sent, under
the authorityof the localmarket-inspectors of Thessaloniki,
to a
publicwhorehousewhereshe was to be exposedin the nude.2l
ThatIrenedid not surrenderto this immenseshame,but rather
held out to be burntalive, was creditedby the narratorof her
martyrdom to the powerof God.So PerpetuaandFelicitaswere
furtherdegradedby havingall theirclothingremovedandbeing
driveninto the arena,into the publicsight of all, intentionally
clad only in diaphanousnets.22Their particulardegradation,
including,as it did, a publicaffrontto manifestmotherhood, was
too much for the crowd.When the "coversof modesty"had
beenremovedfromthe women,the spectatorswerehorrifiedto
seethat"onewasa delicateyounggirlandtheotherwasa woman
freshfromchildbirth,with milkstill drippingfromher breasts"

19See the illustrations in Leclercq, "Ad bestias", nos. 89, 90, 92; contrast the
treatment of males, figs. 88, 91, 92.
20 M. Perniola, "Between Clothing and Nudity", in M. Feher, R. Naddaff and N.

Tazi (eds.), Fragments for a Historyof theHumanBody(New York, 1989), pp. 237-65,
at p. 237; M. Miles, CarnalKnowing: FemaleNakedness andReligious Meaningin the
ChristianWest(New York, 1989), introduction and ch. 2, "'Becoming Male': Women
Martyrs and Ascetics", pp. 53-77.
21 Martyrdom of Agape, Irene and Chione (A.D. 304): Musurillo, Actsof theChristian

Martyrs,no. 22, 5.8-6.


22 This seems to be a typical form of shaming; it is also reported in the case of

Blandina at Lyons in 177, and in the Actsof SaintsPaul and Thecla,33 (W. Schnee-
melcher, "Acts of Paul", in E. Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, ed. W. Schnee-
melcher, trans. R. McL. Wilson, 2 vols., Philadelphia, 1963-5, ii, pp. 324-64, at p.
362) the young girl Thekla is stripped of all her clothing, covered with a see-through
net, and sent into the amphitheatre.
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 9

(20.1-2).23The sexualdimensionsof punishment,andthe female


resolveto resist such manipulation of their bodies,had a long
"pre-Christian" history.Thatmuchis reflected,for example,in
the "popularliterature"of the period,like novels, to which a
literatewomanlikePerpetuawouldhavehadaccess.In theseone
couldreadof episodessuchas theoneretoldin thenovelLeukippe
and Kleitophon. In it, the attemptedrape of a "slavewoman"
namedLeukippe(in facta womanof freebirth)by her "master"
Thersandros, andhis threatsto use tortureto enforcehis will on
her, is resistedby her with the followingwords:
Bringon the instrumentsof torture:the wheel here,takemy armsand
stretchthem;the whips here is my back, lash away;the hot irons
here is my body for burning;bringthe axe as well here is my neck,
slice through!Watcha new contest:a singlewomancompeteswith all the
enginesof tortureand wins every round.24
Femaleoppositionwasnothingnew northereforethe possibil-
ities of Perpetua'sresistance.
In answerto the crowd'saffrontedsensibilities,Perpetuaand
Felicitaswereremovedfromthe arenaandclothedin plainloose
garments.They were then returnedto the arenato be hit and
trampledby the wild animal.Thoughconcussedand knocked
senselessby the initialassaultof the beast,Perpetuasurvivedand
was takenback,for a briefrespite,throughthe Gateof Life. In
the meantime,Saturus,who hadsurvivedearlierattemptsto kill
him, wasthrownbackinto the arenaandsuffereda savagemau-
lingby a leopard.So muchbloodgushedout of his bodythatthe
greatcrowdin the amphitheatre reactedto the attackwithrhyth-
mic chanting:Salvumlotum!Salvumlotum!("Hada greatbath!
Had a greatbath!").25Saturus,still not deadafterall this, had
his unconsciousbody tossed "in the usual place" to have his
throatcut. But the crowdgreatlywishedto see his death,as well

23Leclercq, "Ad bestias", col. 458; L. Robert, Comptesrendusde l'Academie des


Inscriptionset Belles-Lettres (1982), p. 249 and fig. 9 (p. 248), men exposed nude,
except for a brief loincloth.
24 Achilles Tatius, Leukippe^ and Kleitophon,6.20-22 (precisely contemporary with
Perpetua's youth), trans. J. J. Winkler, in CollectedAncient Greek Novels, ed. B. P.
Reardon (Berkeley, 1989).
25For the background to the shout (it was usually a greeting to those coming out
of the baths), see F. J. Dolger, "Gladiatorenblut und Martyrerblut: eine Szene der
Passio Perpetuae in kultur- und religionsgeschichtlicher Beleuchtung", Vortrageder
Bibliothek Warburg,1922-1923 (1926), pp. 196-214; F. J. Dolger, "Tertullian uber
die Bluttaufe: Tertullian De baptismo 16", Antike und Christentum, ii (1930),
pp. 117-41, esp. pp. 129-37; cf. Leclercq, "Ad bestias", cols. 429-31.
PAST AND PRESENT
as
10 those NUMBER139
of hisfellowprisoners.So
to mountthe steps of Saturuswasrevivedandforced
a platformin the arena
wascut by a wherehis throat
sword-wielding
the finale,likewisewas executioner.Perpetua,reservedas
forcedto climb the steps of
Prepared forexecution,shereceived the
andrattledyounggladiator the errantblowof a stage.
on her collarbone. She nervous
agony.Regainingher screamed in
ofthe traineegladiator composure,she guidedthe
to her throat. shakinghand
Thispublicbloodbathis a
levels.The systematic difficultdocumentto readon
vented cruelty,
on the bodiesof the the levels and types of many
prisoners, violence
celebration of imperialpower,were all partof a plannedpublic
larly neitherunusualnor particu-
extraordinary.26 Butthepassionof Perpetua
forall of these facts than is lessremarkable
it is for somethingquite
Perpetua's accountof herarrest,detainment different:
ences leadingup to her execution. in prison,andexperi-
wehave concerningher is Giventhatall the information
derived
much can be said abouther fromthis singulardocument,
not
explainherunusualactions.We socialbackgroundthat might
personswho werearrestedonknowthatshewaspartof a group
of
the chargeof
perhaps in theaftermath of theRomanemperorbeinga Christian,
decreesof 202thatforbade Septimius
As the Greektext ofconversion
ity.27 to Judaismandto Severus'
her martyrdom Christian-
her
companionswere arrestedin makesclear,she and
about the town of Thuburbo
thirty-sixRomanmiles Minus
BagradaRiverto the west of (fifty-threekilometresor so) on the
the
wealthiestand most Carthage.28 In the midstof one of
ofnorthAfrica,andinhighlydevelopedagricultural
all
of
the closeproximityto oneof the regionsof
empire,ThuburboMinus great
local
centreof some consequence. wouldhave to be rankedcities
doubt, Its localrulingclasswas,as a
relativelywell-offby no
The "family"nameof Vibia contemporary standards.
that had held Roman Perpetua("Vibius")indicatesa
family
In
citizenshipfor many generations
addition
26
to Barton,"Scandalof
see K.
Hopkins, the Arena"and Coleman,
Death and Renewal "Fatal
Games",
pp. 1-30. (Cambridge,1983), ch. 1, "The Charades",
Eusebius,
27
Murderous
Historia Ecclesiae,6.1.1;
Severi,
17.1. Scriptor(es)
HistoriaeAugustae,Vita
28Passio, 2.1 (G).
Septimii
The identificationis
Historical
and Literary Study rejectedby T. D. Barnes,
of H. (Oxford,1971;revisededn., Tertullian:A
Delehaye, Les passions 1985),p. 72, on
p.53, but I can see nodes martyrs et les genres litteraires, 2nd edn. the basis
1966),
firm
de l'Afriquechretienne, groundsfor the rejection;cf. Monceaux,
litteraire (Brussels,
i, p. 73. Histoire
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA ll

beforethe timeof herarrest.29 Sheis describedas "of highbirth,


educatedin a mannerbefittingher status and formallyand
properlymarried",all termsnormallyusedto describea woman
of highersocialstanding.30 The descriptorsare brief,but would
suggestthat she was from a familythat was from the "more
honest"ranksof Romansociety-probably fromthe decurial
class of the town of ThuburboMinus.31She came, therefore,
froma solidmunicipalfamily,no doubtof somelocalwealthand
prestige.Shewas arrestedalongwith otheryoungcatechumens,
two of whom, Revocatusand Felicitas,are specifiedas being
slaves (Felicitasspecificallyas the conserva, or fellow female-
slave,of Revocatus32). Two othermen arrested,Saturninus and
Secundulus,were of unspecifiedsocialstatus(the latterwas to
die in prison,and thereforewas not partof the groupexecuted
in thearena:14.2).Theintroduction to theaccountof hermartyr-
domalsoprovidesa few basicfactsaboutVibiaPerpetua'sfamily
background: she hada fatheranda motherstill living,as well as
two living brothers,one of whomwas a Christiancatechumen.
Froma reportin oneof hervisionswe knowthatat someprevious
time a youngerbrother,namedDinocrates,had died when he
was only six yearsold, apparentlyfroma terriblecancerof the
face(7.4-5). Her own familysituationis ratherunclear.Shewas
married,thoughherhusbandis neverreferredto once,eitherby
herself(mostimportantly)or by any of the contextualmaterial
in the largeraccountthat bracketsher own words.His absence
is somethingto be noted,and to be explained.Perpetuaherself
is describedas beingnearthe end of hertwenty-firstyearin age,
thatis to say, twentyyearsold in our terms.At the time of her
arrest,she had a baby boy whom she was still breast-feeding.
29 Vibiiarefrequently foundamongthe militaryelementsof northAfricansociety:
seeJ. M. Lassere,Ubiquepopulus:peuplementet mouvementsde populationdans l'Afrique
romaine(Paris,1977),pp. 254, 266, 287, 443, 445. If they receivedcitizenshipfrom
a Vibiuswho was governor,then it must date fromthe firsthalfof the firstcentury
(Barnes,Tertullian,p. 70); but thereis no necessaryconnectionwith a gubernatorial
grant it is a commonnamein Italy and well attestedamongthe Caesareanand
AugustanItaliansoldier-settlerswho were located aroundThuburboMinus: see
Lassere,Ubiquepopulus,pp. 121, 149-50, 157, 192, andhis commentsat p. 242.
30 Passio, 2.1 (L): "honestenata,liberaliter
instituta,matronaliternupta".
31 That wouldmatchthe rankof similardescriptions of socialrankfromAfrica;I
find it difficultto acceptBarnes'ssuggestion(Tertullian, p. 70) that she mightbe of
senatorialrank;nothingovertlyindicatesthis, and othermatters,such as the nature
of the punishmentsand indignitiesheapedon her, and even more so, her father,
wouldseem to argueagainstsuch a high socialstatus.
32 In the Acta Felicitasrefersto Revocatusas her cousin(congermanus).
PAST AND PRESENT
12 NUMBER 139
There are no indicationsof any other children.
The
presumably her firstchild,andwouldthereforeindicateboy that
was
was marriedat aboutage eighteenor nineteen she
a paradigmof
matrimonial normality.33
Perpetuawas privilegednot just in her inherited
butalsobecauseof heracquiredskills,notably socialrank,
her literary educa-
tion. Thisis evidentnot justfromherabilityin
her use of commonliteraryallusionsfrom composition and
"highculture",but
from the simplefact that she was literate at
perhapsalso in Greek.34If so, she was unusualnot least in Latin,
literacy,but also because,in the self-laudatory only in her
of proudnorthAfricans,she was educatedin pronouncements
Latin(utraque lingua erudita).35 It is preciselythisboth Greekand
ourattentionto her case. For, afterhaving factthatdraws
briefly
mainfactsregardingthe arrestof the grouparound repeatedthe
editorof the martyrdom Perpetua,the
announces:"Thewholeseriesof events
concerning her own deathshe herselfnarrated,justas she
itdownwith her own hand,and according wrote
to her own feelings
onthe matter"(2.3). The achievementwas
forthe editorto emphasizethe fact yet againsignificantenough
ofPerpetua'saccount:"These were the at the conclusion
thosemost blessedmartyrsSaturusand remarkable visionsof
Perpetua,which they
themselves wrote down" (14.1). But it was the
existence of an accountin her own wordsof a woman's extraordinary
experiences which was seen, even then, as somethingpersonal
of great
rarity.
First,a few elementaryfacts.The actualnumber
piecesof literaturefrom all of antiquitythat wereof surviving
femalesis, of course,exiguouslysmall.If one exceptswrittenby
of
letters(of whichrelativelyfew survive)and the writing
ments operational
to whichtheyweresignatories(wills,billsof sale docu-
thereis not much left at all in terms of writing, andsuch)
much less
33 B. D. Shaw, "The Age of RomanGirlsat
1.
Roman Studies, lxxvii (1987),pp. 30-46.
Marriage:SomeReconsiderations",
34 W. V. Harris,Ancient Literacy (Cambridge,Mass., 1989),
acy".For someof her literaryallusions,see P. Dronke, s.v. "women'sliter-
Ages:
A Critical Study of Textsfrom Perpetua ( WomenWritersof the Middle
t 203) to MargueritePorete ( t
(Cambridge,1984),pp. 107-11. I 1310)
am, however,very suspiciousof the one piece
evidence
for her knowledgeof Greek. of
35 T. Kotula,
"Utraque lingua eruditi: une page relativea
l'Afriqueromaine",in J. Bibauw(ed.), Hommagesa l'histoirede l'education
dans
(Collection Marcel Renard, 3 vols.
Latomus,nos. 101-3, Brussels,1969),ii, pp. 386-92.
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 13

reflectiveliterature.To haveany one suchdocument,therefore,


is to be presentedwith unusualopportunitiesboth in termsof
the simplecontentof the document,and for a qualityof inter-
pretationthatis otherwisesystematically deniedus. Wehavethe
hope, howeverfleeting,of being able to seize for a momentin
time the perceptionssharedby an individualwhoseentireclass
of personswas systematicallydenied this sort of expression.
Beyondthis, of course,also lies the simple fact of Perpetua's
martyrdom. Giventhe variousfactorsthatclearlyindicateto most
historiansthatmanymorefemalesthanmaleswereconvertingto
Christianity in its firstcenturies,one wouldtendto expectthem
to be in the frontline of persecution.36 Femalesmay well have
been martyredjustas frequentlyas malesin the sporadicfits of
persecution thateruptedin variousregionsof the Romanempire,
buttheirchancesof beingmemorialized in literaturewasnowhere
nearas frequent.In fact, maleswere celebratedfour times (or
more)as frequentlyas females.A usefulpoint of view on that
imbalanceis providedby a studyof medievaland earlymodern
sainthood.As its authorsremark:"The idealtype we discussed
in answeringthe question'Who was a saint?'might well have
been separatedinto males and females,for nothingso clearly
dividedtheranksof thesaintsasgender".37 In theirwholesurvey,
only aboutone out of six of all the "saints"(sancti) whomthey
countedas partof theirstudywerefemales,a proportionwhich
rosein the "eraof femalesaints"in the thirteenthandfourteenth
centuriesto aboutone in five,but whichfell as low as aboutone-
tenthof all saintsin the eleventhandtwelfthcenturies a male
preferencewhichthe authorssee as closelylinkedto the deep-
seatedmaleprejudicesof medievalsociety.38 Althoughthecriteria
forsaintsandmartyrsarenotthesame,thetwocategoriesdemand
personalcharacteristics thatarebroadlysimilar,andit therefore
36Averil Cameron, "Neither Male nor Female", Greece S Rome, xxvii (1980),
pp. 60-8, noting that the claim goes back at least as far as A. Harnack, The Mission
and Expansionof Christianityduringthe First ThreeCenturies,English trans., 2nd edn.,
2 vols. (London, 1908), ii, ch. 2.4, "On the Inward Spread of Christianity: Among
Women", pp. 64-84; R. Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians(New York, 1987), pp. 308
ff.; though the received view is currently being questioned: M. R. Salzman, "Aristo-
cratic Women: Conductors of Christianityin the Fourth Century", Helios, xvi (1989),
pp. 207-20.
37 D. Weinstein and R. M. Bell, Saints e Society: The Two Worldsof Western
Christendom,1000-1700 (Chicago, 1982), ch. 8, "Men and Women", pp. 220-38, at
p. 220.
38 Ibid-, pp. 220-21-
14 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER 139

cannotbe purelyaccidentalthattheproportionof "femaleentry"


to thesehighlyprivilegedreligiousstatusesis muchthe same.
Perpetua'saccessionto the rank,therefore,wasin itselfsome-
whatunusual.But exactlyhow unusual?A statisticalanalysisof
all knownpre-Constantinian martyrsrevealsthat, comparedto
generalMediterranean trends, Africanwomen representeda
markedlyhigherproportionof all femalesaints.This patternis
unusualbecauseit involvesan extraordinarily stronginversionof
gendervaluationin the westernMediterranean world.Of all the
majorregionalzonesandsocialgroupsof the westernempire,it
is north Africathat revealsby far the greatestbias towardsa
higherpublic valuationof men (and, combinedwith this, an
unusualemphasison seniority).39 Even if we take into account
her highersocialstatus,therefore,thereis still a largeproblem
to be explained.The onlyimportantconclusionthatcanbe noted
at thispointis thatnorthAfricanfemaleswerereactingto martyr-
dom in almostexactlythe oppositeproportionto their actual
devaluationin their own society. They were doing this with
sufficientfrequencyto upset the normalexpectationof female
roles in martyrdomin the Mediterranean world (and hence a
certaintype of empowerment in Christiancircles).A reasonable
deductionthatflowsfromthis observationis that,whethercon-
sciouslyor not, they were doingthis in reactionto theiractual
position in their secularrelationships.Therefore,Perpetua's
behaviourmusthavebeenpartof thistendencyin Africansociety.
On the otherhand,heractions,andthoseof Felicitas,musthave
contributedto, and reinforced,this behaviour must,in part,
have set a model for later women.Later femalemartyrswho
cameto playsucha dominantroleat Carthage,couldhardlyhave
been unawareof her action. Othersoutside Carthageas, for
example,the three females,Maxima,Donatillaand Secunda,
whosemartyrdomboreresemblances to hers,couldhardlyhave
beenignorantof herexample40 especiallyso sincethegovernor
Anullinussentencedthem to die, preciselyas Perpetua,by
throwingthemto the beastsin the amphitheatre at Thuburbo.
39 B. D. Shaw, "The Cultural Meaning of Death: Age and Gender in the Roman

Family", in D. Kurtzer and R. Saller (eds.), TheFamilyin ItalyfromAntiquityto the


Present(New Haven, 1991), ch. 4, pp. 66-90, where some of the evidence is presented.
40 C. de Smedt, "Passio SS. Maximae, Secundae et Donatillae", AnalectaBollandi-
ana,ix (1890), pp. 110-16; C. Annius Anullinus, procons1l1
Africae,was governor A.D.
303-4. Monceaux tried to make the case for Thuburbo Minus but, alas, there is
nothing in the martyrology to clinch the identification.
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 15

Ofcourse,occupational andsocialstatuswerealsodeterminants
of access to celebratedmartyrdom.The measurablepatterns
clearlyshow high-rankingimperialand ecclesiasticalofficials,
and personsof high socialstanding,absolutelydominatingthe
calendar.Set against these patterns, Perpetua'shigh social
standing(despiteher gender)makesthe recordand survivalof
herownaccountof hermartyrdom morecomprehensible. At the
sametime, it bringsto our attentionthe extraordinary natureof
the memorialization of Felicitas,the slave. Finally,thereis the
dimensionof chronological context.Perpetua'sdeathoccursin
an earlyphaseof recordedand rememberedChristianmartyr-
doms.Mostmartyrdoms, includingmostfemaleones,wereto be
recollectedfor periodsmuch closer to the final Constantinian
victoryof the Christianchurch.The Decianpersecutionof the
mid-thirdcenturyis clearlya watershed,butmostof the formally
remembered martyrdoms comefromoneperiod-the immediate
run-upto Constantine, the so-called"GreatPersecution"begin-
ning with Diocletianand his successors.This period,close in
timeto the Constantinian "revolution"thatwasfinallyto legalize
andofficiallyempowerthe church,accountsfor well nighhalfof
all recordedandmemorialized martyrdoms. Perpetua,therefore,
is to be placedin a veryearlyphaseof the productionof narrative
memoirsthat were to feed into the laterreinterpretation of the
historicalsignificance of martyrdomin the church.
Perpetua'saccountis also unusualin anotherway a way
whichmightwell accountfor the relativefreedomshe hadin her
narrationandin the fixingof her own accountas authoritative in
a way that was not possiblefor laterwomen.She was the first.
Thatis to say, if we were to makea crudedivisionamongstthe
narrativemartyrologies andformalmartyrActa(Actamartyrum)
we mightsay thatthereis a divisionbetweenthosethatportray
the fates of collectivegroupsof Christiansas opposedto those
whichrelatethefatesof "solitaries".The lattertendto emphasize
the heroicachievements of greatindividuals all of themmale
andordinarilyholdingsomespecialstatusin the church(usually
that of bishop).In this respectthe martyrActa only reflectthe
generalmale preferencesand power networksof the time
power relationshipsthat are even more clearlydrawnin the
generalrunof allmartyrswhereecclesiastical andimperialofficials
(and soldiers)dominatethe field. Femalefiguresdo appearin
"collective"accountsof martyrdoms beforePerpetua but as
PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER139
16
subordinateactorsin a widerdrama.In
her own experiences,therefore,Perpetuawriting her accountof
was(to the best of our
knowledge)breakingnew groundin assertingthe
legitimacyof her own experiences.41 primacyand
But her wordsdid not just
recordthis personalexperience.They had such
that her narrativehad a greatinfluenceon the persuasiveness
way subsequent
autobiographical
accountsof "martyrdoms" werecomposed,pro-
voking mimicryof her words and style,
Africa.42
especiallyin north
To make the point clearer,we might
femalesin the accountsthat precedehersconsider the roles of
in date.A very early
referenceto a femalemartyrdomcomes from the
emperorMarcusAurelius,fromPergamumin Asia time of the
Minor.43
narrativeis primarilyof the "solitary"type, with The
emphasis the main
beingon the heroicresistanceof two males,
Papylos.Theaccountalsoincludestheactionsof one Karposand
oneof the first femalemartyrsso celebrated. Agathonike,
executedalongwith the two men,her actionsareAlthoughshe is
representedas
41 I would therefore
like to make three critical distinctions in
othersthat have been commonly used to my approach from
analyse Perpetua's significance:
(1) One is to claim her as a "late
antique" or even a "medieval" writer. Unless
weare willing completely to ignore the
normal meanings of historical periodization,
sucha categorization does violence to her
experience. She cannot properly be under-
stoodas "late antique", and even less as
thoseperiods summoned in comparison "medieval" (as the female writers from
clearly show), but must be placed in a late
second-and early third-century social milieu,
at the height of "classical" Roman
powerin the Mediterranean.
(2) Another is to claim her as an example
of a great, but lost, tradition of femal.q
writers. This position I also reject. There is, alas, no
and the few surviving female writers who can be sign of any such "lost tradition"
able placed with her are utterly imcompar-
in every way with her achievement.
Though of small scale, her narrative is an
incandescent jewel of writing; to place beside it, for
would be somewhat like claiming the example, Egeria's travelogue
regionaries of Rome, or extracts from geo-
graphers, as paradigms of high literature, which
they are not. Historians, alas, must
face the facts. There is very little surviving
any female writing, and few indications of
"lost tradition": it is the relative absence
of any such tradition that demands
explanation, and we are not likely to get an honest
false ideological claims. Typical of the latter answer by pre-empting the solution
by
is P.
Lost Tradition:WomenWritersof theEarlyChurch Wilson-Kastner et al. (eds.), A
(3) Finally, there are movements to (Washington, 1981).
theologize her whole experience (an interpreta-
tionthat is manifestly rejected by the whole of
this article) or to reread it through
the
modern ideology of Freudianism.
42 The accounts of
Marianusand Jacobus (A.D. 259)
Martyrs, no. 14, pp. 194-213) and that of Montanus (Musurillo, Actsof theChristian
15,
pp. 214-39) show clear signs of mimicry of and Lucius (A.D. 259) (ibid.,no.
certain aspects of the diction, themes,
conceptsand structure of Perpetua's narrative.
43 Ibid., no. 2, pp.
22-37: "possible" because there is a dispute
with
some placing the acts under the emperor over the dating,
Decius (A.D. 249-51).
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 17

the sudden, impulsiveactionsof an onlooker:"There was a


certainAgathonikewho happenedto be standingthereandwho
saw the gloryof the LordwhichKarpossaidhe had seen, and,
knowingthatthiswasa heavenlycall,immediately shoutedout".
It is thissudden,unpremeditated actwhichleadsto herexecution
alongwith the two men. Sheendslife not as a saintherself,but
"with the holy men".44The only other femalesso celebrated
beforePerpetuaappearin "collective"martyrdomswhere the
principalemphasisis on the maleactors.The accountthatwould
haveset the stagedirectlyfor Perpetua'sownexperiencewasthe
"trial transcript"(commentarius) versionof the deathsof the
Scillitanmartyrs,personsfrom Scillium,a villagelocatednear
herhometown,in northAfrica.4sTheirtrialandexecutionstook
placeon 17 July 180 - thereforein the generationjust before
Perpetua's.Thefivefemaleswhowereexecuted,alongwithseven
men, are listed in secondplace in the account.Only threeare
directlyquestionedby the governor,and they offer only the
standardperfunctory answers.Not muchin thewayof aninspira-
tionalliterarymodel.
The onlyothercelebratedfemalemartyrdom in the generation
beforePerpetuais thatof a femaleslave,one Blandina,who died
in the brutalmassacre,publicdegradation and theatricalexecu-
tionsof Christiansin theGalliccityof Lyonsin 177.46Theancient
editorof the documentwas compelledto admitthat Blandina's
achievementsprovedthe oppositeof male assumptions the
worthof someonewho was both a slaveand a woman.Indeed,
it wasthroughherthat"Christprovedthatthingsthatmenthink
cheap,uglyandcontemptible aredeemedworthyof glorybefore
God,by reasonof herloveforhimwhichwasnot merelyvaunted
in appearance,but demonstrated in deeds".She provedherself
superiorpreciselywith respectto her body:
44 That is to say, in the Greek recension. In the later Latin version Agathonica is

not moved by a sudden fit of emotion, but is put through the same inquisitorial
process as the men, facing much the same questions, and offering her own rational
defences of her beliefs. The crowd of spectators shout out to her to have pity on
herself and her children, a sentiment that is then echoed by the proconsul. When she
does not relent, they have pity on her because of herbeauty,which they could judge
since she had been stripped of her clothing (6.4-5 [L]).
45 The precise location of the town is not known; it was in the general area of north

Africa close to Carthage, and Thuburbo Minus: see P. Mesnage, L'Afrique chretienne:
eveAcheset ruinesantiques(Paris, 1912), p. 219.
46 Musurillo, Acts of the Christian Martyrs,no. 5, pp. 62-85; Eusebius, Historia
Ecclesiae,5.1 (1-51).
18 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 139
Blandina'searthlymistress[that is, her female slave owner], who was
herselfamongstthe martyrsin this conflict,was in agonylest, becauseof
her bodilyweakness,she wouldnot be able to makea bold confessionof
her faith. Yet Blandinawas filled with such power that even those who
were takingturnsto tortureher in every way from dawn to dusk were
wearied and exhausted. They admitted that they were beaten, that
therewas nothingfurtherthey coulddo to her. They were surprisedshe
was still breathing,for her entirebody had been brokenand torn.
On the day she was takeninto the amphitheatre at Lyons,along
withthreemalecompanions, to be exposedto wildbeasts "to
offera publicspectacle".The menweremadeto "runthe gaunt-
let" and were exposedto other calculatedtortures,finallyto
expire. Blandina,on the other hand, was tied to a post and
exposedto wildanimalsthatwerelet looseon her:"Sheseemed
to hangtherein the formof a cross".But none of the animals
wouldtouchher,so she wastakendown,andreturnedto prison.
On the lastdayof the gladiatorial
gamesBlandinawasbrought
back,savedfor the culminatingpointof the tortures.That was
the usualfemaleplacein suchentertainments.47 In publicpunish-
ments,therefore,the specialvalueof rarityattachedto females,
when coupledwith the dangerousand yet alluringspectacleof
witnessingthe public violationof normsof sexualityand the
mutilationof otherwiseprotectedand honouredfemalebodies,
gavea specialedge,a sharperculmination to the display.In being
compelledto play the femalerole in a dramaof publicpunish-
ment,theslavewomanBlandinaachievedthesortof glorydoubly
deniedto her in normallife, where honourwas normallythe
preserveof malesof free status.48Giventhese knownways in
which femaleswere punished,where else would women like
BlandinaandPerpetuaexpectto be in thatprocess,exceptlast?
As the culminatingpoint of the display,however,Blandina's
deathcouldbringher honour.Afterthe ritualgauntletof whip-
ping and clubbing,beingburnedon glowingred irons,she was
strippednaked,coveredwith see-throughnetting,and exposed
to theattackof a bull.Hernudityandexposureto the quintessen-
tial male beast,as must now be clear,were simplypartof the

47 M. Cebeillac-Gervasoniand F. Zevi, "Revisions et nouveautes pour trois inscrip-

tions d'Ostie: des femmes gladiateursdans une inscription d'Ostie", Melangesd'archeo-


logie et d'histoirede l'Ecole Franfaise de Rome, lxxxviii (1976), pp. 602-20; in general,
see Ville, Gladiatureen occident,pp. 263-4; on the parallel attraction and marginality
of the Spanish senoritastoreras,see Mitchell, Blood Sport, pp. 157-8.
48 J. Davis, Peopleof the Mediterranean: An Essay in ComparativeSocial Anthropology
(London, 1977), pp. 89-100, remains the most convincing treatment.
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 19

Romanlanguageof punishment.Blandinawasgoredandthrown
aboutuntilshewassenseless,until"sheno longerperceivedwhat
washappening".She died. The spectators,it is said,werecom-
pelled to admitthat in their experience"no womanhad ever
sufferedso much".Her fortitudeandendurancewerecompared
to those of a victoriousmaleathletewho triumphedagainstall
odds"to win" andso to achievegreathonour.
Theseearlierpublicexecutionsprovidea minimalcontextfor
the understanding of whathappenedto Perpetuaand Felicitas:
the orderin whichthey werebe placed(becauseof gender),the
types of humiliationto which they were to be exposed, the
dishonourof publicnudityandthe shameof netting(becauseof
gender),the sortof wildbeaststo whichtheywereto be exposed,
bulls or cows (becauseof gender),the bodily reactions(being
thrownuntil renderedinsensate),and the types of attitudesin
whichthesewere to be interpreted(by malewriters).Although
theaccountof Perpetua'sdemisecanbe betterunderstood against
this background, it is the uniquenessof her narrativethatstands
out againstthe earliercomparativematerials.Perpetua'swords
are of such unusualliteraryand historicalqualitiesthat it is
difficultto conveyhow theirpowerof communication, styleand
contentdifferso muchin thefundamental aspectof simplereport-
age fromall otherso-called"martyracts".Her wordsare:
colloquial. . . no emotion,no fantasyof Perpetua'sappearsdisguisedby
stylisticornaments. . . [she]recordsher thoughtsin an informal,graphic
way, which is moving partlybecauseshe is not strivingto be literary.
There are no rhetoricalflourishes,no attemptsat didacticismor edifica-
tion. The dialogue. . . retainsthe imprecisionsof livingconversation. . .
The heroinesin Greektragedyhave momentsof comparableintensity,
but the intimate and unselfconsciousquality of Perpetua'sutterance
standsalone.49
Perpetua'scompositionalsosharescharacteristics typicalof other
femalewritingin comparable genres,amongstthem a penchant
for a repetitiveparatactical
style whichemphasizesthe concrete
and is more directlytied to the realitiesof actualface-to-face
49 Dronke,WomenWritersof the Middle Ages, ch. 1, "FromPerpetua to the Eighth
Century",pp. 1-35, at pp. 1, 6; he sees this not so much as a literaryartifice,as
somethingwellingup out of given socialconditions:"Whilethereis as Auerbach
saw a profoundconnectionbetweensermohumilisand the new realismfoundin
certainChristianwriters, this concept is particularlyproblematicin the case of
Perpetua.Her diarycan scarcelybe discussedin terms of a 'new realism'-any
morethancan the diaryof AnneFrank,or the Indianmemoirof MaryTyler,or the
prisonlettersof AngelaDavis, in our time";cf. E. Auerbach,Literary Languageand
(cont. on p. 20J
20 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER139
relationships thanthe abstractions andcomplexitiesof male
aryproduction.It has beenargued,convincingly,thather liter-
andthatof womenwritersfromlate antiqueandearly style,
medieval
contexts,flowsdirectlyout of a worldof oralcommunication, to
whichwe otherwisehavelittle, or no, access.50But if
wasthe firstto so write,she was, in manyways,the last. Perpetua
were to be few repetitionsof her singularachievement. There
positionis thereforelikethatof a Sapphoor a Corinna females Her
who brokeinto the worldof literaryproductionat a
fortuitous
conjuncturewhen new genres were openingand before male
controlanddomination overliteraryproductionled to a
exclusionof womenfrompublicwriting.Thatis surelycomplete why she
"speaksof things that do not occur elsewhere. . . Ancient
literaturehadits Antigone,but thereis nothinglike [Perpetua],
norcouldtherebe; therewas no literarygenrecapableof
sentingrealitywith so muchdignityandelevation''.5l pre-
The whole documentthat is today labelledthe "Passion
SaintsPerpetuaandFelicity"(PassioSanctarumPerpetuaeet of
Fel-
icitatis)is much more than just Perpetua'sbare
account.(See
Table).It also includessubstantialadditionsby an editor
bothprecedeandfollowherwords.Myinvestigation which
of the entire
document hastwo primarypurposes.First,I wishto establishan
understanding of the core of the documentshornof the male
editor'sadditions.The greatimportanceof this aim should
haveto be emphasized. not
Establishing theprimacyof whatPerpetua
experienced, thought,saw and felt is not only a rarepossibility
granted to the historian,but also demandsthat we reproducea
faithfulversionof howshe sawherselfandthe waysin whichshe
interpreted whatwashappeningto her. This taskis all the more
pressing becauseof thesecondaimof thisinvestigation: to demon-
(n.
49 cont.)
its
Publicin Late LatinAntiquityand in the MiddleAges,trans.
York,1965),ch. 1, "Sermohumilis",pp. 27-66, at pp. 60-65. R. Manheim(New
50E. A. Petroff(ed.), MedievalWomen's Visionary
duction, Literature(Oxford,1986),intro-
"The VisionaryTraditionin Women'sWritings:Dialogue
graphy",pp. 28-9, noting the effect of oral communicationon and Autobio-
Perpetua's
stylehasthusbeenfrequentlymisinterpreted, female reportage.
ments leadingto typicalmisiudge-
such as that of Leclercq "this heroic woman uses childish
"Perpetueet Felicite",col. 422. I amonlyclaimingthatthissortlanguage":
Leclercq,
is"characteristic",
not determined.It couldwell be the resultof of rhetoric
"rhetorical"strategiesas muchas anythingelse: see A.conscious
conscious or semi-
and the Rhetoricof Femininity(Princeton,1990), esp. pp. Weber,Teresaof
Avila
analysis. 5-1S, for a cogent
51 Auerbach, LiteraryLanguage andits Public,p. 63.
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA
21
TABLE
STRUCTUREOF THE
"PASSIONSOF SAINTSPERPETUAAND FELICITY"
Editor's Introductionto the document(1-2)
(a) Statementconcerningthe theologicalstatusof the document(1)
(b) Introductionto the principalcharactersof the drama(2)

Perpetua'saccountof her arrest,imprisonment,and life in


prison to the point of her execution "writtenin her own
hand"(3-10)
(a) Arrestand firstencounterwith her father(3)
(b) First vision (4)
(c) Secondencounterwith her father(5)
(d) Trialscene and thirdencounterwith her father(6)
(e) Visionsof Dinocrates(7-8)
(f) Life in prisonand finalencounterwith her father(9)
(g) Visionof personalcombatin the arena(10)

Vision of Saturus:One of Perpetua'sfellow prisoners"writtenin


his own hand"(11-13)

Editor's accountof the fate of Perpetuaand her fellow prisoners


(14-21)
(a) Generalstatementon the fidelityof the documents(14)
(b) Reportof the fate of Felicitas(15)
(c) Reporton the executionof the prisonersin the amphitheatre
(16-21.10)
(d) Perorationorl the significanceof the martyrdoms(21.11)

strate the modes by which this unmediatedself-perception, her


reality,was subsequentlyappropriatedby a male editor, and then
greatly distorted by subsequentmale interpreters.52There is, of
course, the related, and larger, problem of reconstituting her
experiences, free from the mass of subsequent theologicalinter-
pretation.Both problemsare provoked by the natureof her own
52 That is to say, it is a simpleattemptto test the utilityof a categoryof historical
analysis:JoanW. Scott, "Gender:A UsefulCategoryof HistoricalAnalysis",Amer.
Hist. Rev., xci (1986), pp. 1053-75,revisedas ch. 2 in her Genderand the Politics of
History (New York, 1988), pp. 28-50, on which see the cogent remarksby W. H.
Sewell,History and Theory,xxix (1990),pp. 71-82. I wouldabjurethe literary-critical
elementsof Scott'stheoryin favourof moretraditionalhistoricalmethods so Linda
Gordonin Signs, xv (1990), pp. 853-8.
22 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER139

narrative.The startlingand incandescent wordspennedby this


youngwomanfacingdeathproducean accountthat derivesits
powerfromthe simplicityand directnessof its communication.
Hers is a directaccountof actualhumanexperience,a piece of
reportagestrippedof the illusoryrhetoricalqualitiesof other
martyrActa.
Whatthen are the significarltelementsin her own story, as
told in her own words?First of all, her decisionto act on her
own, in sucha way as deliberatelyto riskher own life, brought
into questionall her familyconnections,the closestrelationships
of powerinto whichshe had been boundon a day-to-daybasis
up to thatpoint.Therecan be no doubtthatthe mostpowerful
linkin this familialnetworkso faras she wasconcerned(andthe
one whichis constantlybroughtto the foreas the mostproblem-
atic)wasthatwithherfather.53 In thecourseof herimprisonment,
trial, and the events leadingup to her execution,she had no
fewerthanfourtraumaticmeetingswith her father,eachtold in
a straightforward mannerthatrevealsboth the tensionsandthe
problemsin this relationship.The firstconfrontation took place
whileshe wasstill underhousearrest.Shereportsit in the form
of a dialogue(3.1-4):
Whenwe were still with our arrestingofficers,my fatherwishedto make
me change my mind with words of persuasion.He perseveredin his
attemptsto defeatme, all becauseof his love for me.
'Father', I said, 'for the sake of argument,do you see this vase, or
whateveryou want to call it, lying here?'
And he said, sYes,I see it'.
And I said to him, 'Canyou call it by any othernamethanwhat it is?'
And he said, CNo,you can't'.
'So', I said, 'I cannotcall myself anythingother than what I am a
Christian.
Merelyhearingthis word upset my fathergreatly.He threw himselfat
me with such violencethat it seemedhe wantedto tearmy eyes out . . .
but in the end he just harassedme and then left, beaten,alongwith his
devilisharguments.For the next few days duringwhich my fatherwas
away, I gave thanks to the Lord, and was able to refresh myself in
his absence.

The secondconfrontation with her fatheroccurredaftershe had


alreadybeen in prisonfor a few days.Suddenlynewscamethat
the prisonerswereto be takento trial(5.1-6):
A few dayslatera rumourbeganto circulatethatwe were to be takento
our court hearing.My father,consumedwith worry, hurriedfrom the
S3 Cf.C. Heilbrun)Writinga Woman'sLafe(NewYork,1988))pp.64-8.
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 23
city. He cameup to me in orderto dissuademe, and said:'My daughter,
havepity on my grey hair.Havepity on your father,if I am still worthy
to be called"Father"by you. With these handsof mine I raisedyou to
the flowerof your presentage. I placedyou beforeall your brothersin
honour.Pleasedon'tshameme beforeothermen. Consideryourbrothers.
Consideryourmotherandyour mother'ssister.Thinkof yourbabyson,
who will not be able to live withoutyou. Changeyour mind beforeyou
destroyus all. If anythingshouldhappento you, none of us will be able
to speakfreelyagain'.
My father spoke these words to me, as a father would, with paternal
affection,kissingmy hands.Then, throwinghimselfat my feet, he wept.
He no longeraddressedme as 'Daughter'but ratheras 'Lady'.For my
part) I grieved for my father'smisfortune,becausehe alone of all my
relationstook no joy in my suffering.I tried to comirt him, and said,
'Whathappenstomorrowon the prisoners'platformwill be what God
wishes.You must know that we are no longerin our own power,but in
thatof God'. He went awayfromme deeplysaddened.
Next day therefollowsthe trialscenein whichthe defendants
are arraignedbeforethe proconsul'stribunalin frontof a large
crowdin the town forum.One by one they climbthe stairsto
the platformto be interrogated.
Hereagain,Perpetua'sfatheris
the principalfigurein heraccount,as he attempted,yet again,to
get her to changeher mind(6.2):
My turn came. My fatherappearedright there carryingmy baby boy.
He pulled me down off the stairsand said to me, CSacrifice
. . . please
. . . have pity on your baby'.
In which pleas her father was supportedby the governor
Hilarianus,who added(6.3-5):
'Sparethe whitehairof yourfather,spareyourinfantson. Makea sacrifice
on behalfof the Healthof our Lord Emperors.'
And I said, 'I will not'.
Hilarianussaid, 'Areyou a Christian?'
And I replied,'Yes, I am a Christian'.
And whenmy fatherrushedup to try to dissuademe, Hilarianusordered
him to be struckdown. He was beatenwith rods. I was in painover my
father'streatment as if I myself were being beaten.I grievedfor his
old age.

Perpetua'sfinalencounterwith her fathercamein the finalday


beforeshe was to be led out for executionin the amphitheatre
(9.2-5):
Then the day of the gameswas uponus. My father,absolutelyexhausted
by the ordeal,cameto see me. He beganto tearat his beard.He prostrated
himself,fallingface down on the ground.He cursedthe numberof his
years,andutteredsuchwordsas wouldhavemovedall creation.I grieved
for his unhappyold age.
24 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER139
It was the last time they met beforeshe died. Her fatheris the
singledominantpersonin her diary.Her husbandis nowhereto
be foundin her account(andthereis no presumption of divorce
or death).
Perpetua'sother constantconcernwas her new-bornchild,
whomshe was still breast-feeding at the time of her arrestand
imprisonment. It is the firstthing that occursto her aftershe
adjusts,as muchas she can,to the terrorsof beingtransferred to
the prison(3.5-8):
A few days later [afterour arrest]we were throwninto prison. I was
reallyfrightened.I'd neverexperiencedsuchdarkness.It wasa hardtime.
The overcrowdedconditions.The heat was overpowering.The constant
'shake-downs'and demandsby the prisonguardsandsoldiers.On top of
everything,I was torturedwith worry for my baby. Then the blessed
deaconsTertiusand Pomponius,who broughthelp to us, paid out the
necessarybribes and withina few hourswe were sent to a betterpart
of the prisonwherewe were able to refreshourselves.Whenwe left our
prisonquarters,we were all able to get some freedomfor ourselves.I
breast-fedmy baby. He was alreadyfaint from hunger.In my worry,
I spokeaboutthe babyto my mother,and tried to comfortmy brother.
I handedmy baby boy over to their care. I was exhaustedwhen I saw
how wornout they werewith concernfor me. Theseworriestorturedme
for many days. Finally I got permissionto keep my baby with me in
prison.Once I had been relievedof my torturesand worriesaboutmy
child, I immediatelygot better.The prisonsuddenlybecamea palace
I wouldhavepreferredto be thereratherthananywhereelsein the world.
Thispermission,however,musthavebeentemporary.The baby
musthavebeengivenbackto her parents'caresincehe appears
with her fatherat her trialbeforethe governor.Followingher
sentencingad bestiasandreturnto prisonquarters,Perpetuawas
onceagaindistressedby this separationfromher child(6.7-8):
But becausemy babyhadbecomeusedto beingbreast-fedandto staying
with me in prison,I immediatelysentthe deaconPomponiusto my father
to ask him to returnmy baby to me. My fatherrefused.It was as God
willed. The babyno longerdesiredmy breasts.They were no longerto
be so sore and inflamed.I was no longer torturedwith concernfor my
baby,or by the painin my breasts.54
The personswho figuremost prominentlyin her accountare
thereforeher fatherand her baby son; after that appearher
brothersthen, as a shadowyfigure,her mother.Her husbandis
absent.That absencedemandssome explanation.A hint might
be found in Perpetua'sperplexingstatementthat her father
"aloneof all her relations"took no joy in her suffering.On the
54 Shaw, "Family in Antiquity", pp. 41-2, for further context on Perpetua's experi-

ences here.
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 25

faceof it, this claimis falseif one takesthe "familyline"(genus)


concernedto be herownnatalfamily,sincethereis no indication
whateverthather motheror her brothersgot any particularjoy
out of her suffering.Indeed,at least one of her brotherswas a
Christiancatechumenlike herself.A reasonablesolutionis that
the "familyline"concernedis thaton herfather'sside, to which
her husbandwas related.In thatcase, only her fatherout of all
of the relativeson his side of the familysympathizedwith her
plight.It seemsmostprobable,then, thather own husbandwas
franklyhostileto her decisionto becomea Christianand found
no difficultyin acceptingthe harshactionsthe Romanauthorities
were takingagainsther and her companions.In that case, his
absencefromher accountis easilyexplicable.Shehad,in effect,
rejectedhim and his views.55Such husbandlyhostilityto the
involvementof wives with the newfangledcult of Christianity
and its organizations outsidethe home (directedby "outsider"
males)is well attested.56
Perhapsjust as puzzling,given the joint attributionof the
martyrology, is the absenceof anymentionof Felicitasby Perpe-
tua. Althougharrested,imprisonedandexecutedwith Perpetua,
Felicitas'storyhasto be told by the editor(15). The lackof any
referenceto Felicitasin Perpetua'sown wordsis perhapsunder-
standablegivenherdiary-likeconcentration on the self. Butsince
Felicitaswas apparentlycloselyconnectedwith her in the small
group of Christiansreceivinginstructionat ThuburboMinus,
waspregnant,andgavebirthwhenshe wasin prisonwithPerpe-
tua, the absenceof any hint of her existenceis worth noting.
PreciselybecauseFelicitas'experienceshave to be reportedby
the male editor, they lack the immediacyof Perpetua'ssenti-
ments. We know that she was eight months pregnantwhen
55For her husbandto be part of her father'sline presentsno great difficulty;it
would involve a cross or parallelcousin marriage(i.e., a marriageto her father's
brother'sor father'ssister'sson), a not-infrequentoccurrenceamongthe socialclass
fromwhichPerpetuacame.The wordPerpetuausedforthatsegmentof her "family"
that was so hostile to her (genus) can certainlybe taken to have preciselythis
meaning i.e., the "family"of the maleascendants(see ThesauruslinguaeLatinae,
vi.2, 1925-54,s.v. "genus",#I.l, cols. 1886-8).
56 To takebut one examplefromthe martyrologies themselves,thereis the martyr-
dom of Ptolemaios(Musurillo,Acts of the ChristianMartyrs, no. 3, pp. 38-41, from
the A.D. 150s-160s;JustinMartyr,Apologia, 2.2). It concernsthe case of a woman
(unnamed)who joineda Christiangroupand whose husbandis reported(fromthe
Christianviewpoint)to have been "depraved";in fact, she wishedto divorcehim.
The angryhusbandthen turnedon her Christianteacherand informedon them to
the authorities as a resultof whichboth of them were executed.
PASTAND PRESENT
26 NUMBER139
arrestedand throwninto prison.Two daysbeforethe munus
which the catechumenswere to die, she suddenlywent at
labour.Accordingto the editor'saccount,she sufferedgreatly into
this birth(accordingto his explanation"becauseof the in
natural
difficultyof givingbirthin the eighthmonth").The babywas a
girl, and was handedover to "a certainsister"to raise
certainlya Christianwoman,not one of Felicitas'siblings).(almost
thereare the editor'sreactions first,to the prematureThen
Forhimthisis entirelya theologicalmatter.Felicitasis birth.
distressed
becauseshe will haveto die alone,thusdevaluingthe impact
her martyrdom.Her executionwouldhave been of
theRomanauthoritiesbecauseof a law forbiddingthe postponed by
of pregnantwomen.57It was thereforebecauseof the execution
prayersof herfellowprisonersto "theLord"thatthe birth ardent
pains
immediately cameon. Secondly,the "suffering"of childbirth.
The ordealwas so difficultto witness that one of the
guards'assistantswas moved to remarkthat if she could prison
toleratethis degreeof pain,how wouldshe be ableto face not
tornto piecesby beastsin the arena?Felicitas'(reported)being
reply
categorizes the sufferingof childbirthas somethingwhollyher
concern.Her sufferingsin the arena,on the otherhand,she
madeto assert,will be sharedwith "Him"andso will be is
bearable. more
"His" absencefrom, and lack of concernwith,
process of childbirthis takenfor granted,at least, one mustthe
be
carefulto add,by the editor.
Finally,therearePerpetua'svisions.Theyaretruly
aryin the qualityof their reportage.Whatevertheextraordin-
and traditional
stereotypical imagescontainedin them,thereis no reasonable
question of their authenticity.58
Moreover,her visionssharea
number of characteristicsthathavebeenfoundto be characteristic
57 Digest, 48.19.3 (Ulpian).
58 E. R. Dodds, Pagan and Christianin the Age of
Anxiety (Cambridge, 1965; repr.
NewYork, 1970), pp. 47-53, at p. 52: "I conclude,
then, that in the prison diary we
havean authentic first-hand narrative of the last days
of a gallant martyr. It is a
touching record of humanity and courage, quite free from
the pathological self-
importance of an Ignatius or an Aristides. Perpetua has been
another Christian martyr, Sophie Scholl, who at about instructively compared
with
the same age was put to
deathby the Nazis. Miss Scholl also had a dream as she
lay in prison on the last night
of
her life: she thought that she was climbing a steep
achildto be baptised . . .". A further item: mountain, carrying in her arms
Perpetua's visions have been interpreted
almostsolely in the light of Greek or Roman models; but
there was a deeply rooted
indigenousnorth African tradition of receiving dream messages
ally
via incubation; for the evidence, see Leglay, from the god, especi-
Saturne africain, pp. 342 S.
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 27

of similarfemalevisionaryaccounts:a strongdrivetowardsan
autobiographical presentationof the self (withthe necessaryrhet-
orical stratagemstherebyinvolved),a markedimpactof oral
communication in the writtenpresentation,and an immanent
"presence"of the authorthat exudesfromher own account.S9
Perpetua'sfirst vision came in responseto a requestfrom her
brotherwho believedthat she couldeasilyask for a visionsince
shestoodin such"highdignity".She,in turn,feelsshecaneasily
makea promiseto her brotherto havesucha visionbecause"I
knew that I could speakwith the Lord, whose favoursI had
alreadyexperienced"(4.1-2). In her dreamshe does not get a
directanswerto herbrother'srequest,butinsteadclimbsa ladder
of greatheight,at the baseof whichis coiledan enormoussnake.
At thetopsheentersintoanimmensegarden(hortus= garden=
paradise)wheresheseesa white-haired man(likeherownfather)
in shepherd'sdress milkinghis sheep. Aroundhim are many
thousandsof peoplecladin shiningwhitegarments.He givesher
some cheese to eat. Upon hearingthe surroundingmultitudes
chant"Amen",shesuddenlyawakeswiththetasteof "something
sweet"in her mouth.Sheoffersno furtherinterpretation of the
meaningof the dream.Hersecondandthirddreamscameto her
as the result of an unpremeditated reactionwhen she was at
prayer.Quite involuntarilyPerpetuautteredthe name of her
deceasedbrotherDinocrates.The suddenrecollectionof herdead
brotherprovokesa secondvisionin whichshe sees Dinocratesin
a darkplace(alongwith manyotherpeople)wherehe is hot and
very thirsty,but deprivedof accessto a pool of waterthat was
locatedcloseat hand.60Shedecidesto interveneon his behalfby
prayingfor him. Her third dreamconfirmsthe successof her
efforts.Dinocratesis not onlyableto drinkfromthe nearbypool
of water,but alsohas beencuredof the disfiguringfacialcancer
thathadkilledhimas a youngchild.He drinksandproceeds"to
play joyfullyas young childrendo". She attributesno more
meaningto hersecondandthirdvisionsthanthe communication
of a certaintypeof knowledge,andthe efficacyof herownactions
in dealingwith the problemonce she hadbecomeawareof it.
59Petroff (ed.), Medieval Women'sVisionaryLiterature, introduction, p. 21 f.; one
must note that the characteristicsPetroff assigns to her medieval female writers (e.g.,
celibacy) are not shared by Perpetua. In her actual social position, she cannot be
grouped with them.
60 The standard images which lay behind parts of the vision are outlined by
F. J. Dolger, "Antike Parallelen zum leidenden Dinocrates in der Passio Perpetuae",
(cont. on p. 28)
PASTAND PRESENT
28Of NUMBER139
these visions, however, it is
the day before her the fourth-the one seen
on
execution-that has occasionedthe
comment.61In it she is taken greatest
from
Pomponius and led to an arena. A her prison by the deacon
her. Even in her dream huge roaring crowd awaits
state Perpetua is confused.
that she has been She
condemnedto the beasts; yet this is knows
is happeningto her.
Rather, it is clear that she is to not what
physicalcombatwith a male engage in a
inher own words (10.6-7): opponent. The rest is best continued
There cameout againstme an
with his assistants,to fight Egyptian,disgusting appearance,
youngmen as my assistantsand me. And there came to in along
me some handsome
a man. And my assistants supporters.I was undressedand
beganto rub me all over with became
customaryin suchathleticcontests.62 olive oil, as is
Overshadowing the arenashe sees an
resplendent enormousfigureclad in the
festivalgarmentsand holding
(editor)of the games, holding the the symbolsof a patron
(lanista) staff of a gladiatorialtrainer
and a branchwith golden
forthe victor. A brutal, apples that is to be the reward
isa combinationof the grindinghand-to-handfight ensues that
Greek-style
artscontest known as the pankration"no-holds-barred"martial
combat.63 and elements of gladiatorial
Perpetuadefeatsthe Egyptianand
toaccept her reward. He kisses goes up to the lanista
peace her and says: "My
be with you". To Perpetua, daughter,
thatin the games on the next the visionhad the clearmeaning
day
withmere beasts, but against the she was not going to battle
(n. O
Devil himself (representedby
cont.)

Antike
undChristentum, ii (1930), pp. 1-40, though
are
notall that strong in it must be said that the
substance. parallels
Though it too is dreamt in
61

dem
Agypter in der conventional images: F. J. Dolger,
Perpetua-Vision: das Martyrium als "Der Kampf mit
Antike
undChristentum, iii (1932), pp. 177-88. Kampf mit dem Teufel",
62 The choice of the "foul Egyptian"
reflection is almost always
of racism. The Egyptians misinterpreted. It is a simple
group
in the Roman world were the most despised,
hated and reviled ethnic
satanic
thing. therefore an appropriate choice
for a dark and
63Louis
Robert, "Une vision de
rendus
del'Academie Perpetue, martyre a Carthage en 203", Comptes
desInscriptions et Belles-Lettres
that
theGreek text has a better (1982), pp. 228-76, who
command of the observed
does
notargue, however, for technical
any priority of this version. terms of the contest. This
author's
mastery of the technical The reason for the Greek
PassioSS. Perpetuaeetvocabulary was understood long ago by Franchi de'
Cavalieri,
not
conversant Felicitatis, p. 35 f. It is simply that Perpetua was
with the jargon of the
translator
was. Further, contra arena or amphitheatre,
Robert, the whereas her Greek
contest;
as with many Christian contest is not just a pankration
and
athletic
texts
contests are merged into a
(see ibid.,p. 37 f.) elements of both or athletic
single mixed literary type. gladiatorial
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 29

the disgustingEgyptianin her dream).But the mannerin which


it is represented
hasits troublingaspects.Therearetwo radically
opposedstandardinterpretations. The first,committedto Freud-
ianor Jungianpsychoanalysis, sees deepandtroublingpsycholo-
gicaldimensionsin her dream.64 The other,morepragmaticand
rootedin the hardrealitiesof the Graeco-Roman world,is simply
dismissive:if Perpetuawishedto engagein a pankration in the
arenashe hadto becomea male,andthatis that.65But the latter
positionis surelymistaken therewas no needfor her to have
seen mattersthis way, muchless to go out of her way to dream
the detailsand feel constrainedto describethem in words. A
closerreadingof the text suggestsotherwise.Beingrubbeddown
with oil was not only a simpleathleticprocedure.66 The words
suggestan undertowof recognitionsubliminally releasedforPer-
petuain her dreamstate, a confessionalrealitywhichshe does
not consciouslyfacein "thewakingworld",butwhichshe faith-
fullyreportsas partof her confrontation with a threateningand
evil male.67That is to say, this incidentin her dreamseemsto
be coherentwith the importof hervisionsin general-they are
empoweringexperiences.In themPerpetuais able to asserther
powers to the full: to be able to interveneon behalfof the
64 Dodds, Paganand Christian in theAge of Anxiety;M. L. von Franz,an acolyte
of Jung,in her "Die PassioPerpetuae: Versucheiner psychologischen Deutung",in
C. G. Jung(ed.), Aion(Zurich,1951),pp. 389-496;on whichtype of interpretation
considerthe salutarywarningsof S. R. F. Price, "The Future of Dreams:From
Freud to Artemidorus",Past and Present,no. 113 (Nov. 1986), pp. 3-37. For an
exampleof the excesses of the genre, see R. Rousselle, "The Dreams of Vibia
Perpetua:Analysisof a Female ChristianMartyr",ZI. Psychohistory, xiv (1987),
pp. 193-206.
65 So Robert,"Visionde Perpetue",pp. 256-8.
66 See, for example, Apuleius, Metamorphoses, 10.21, paralleledin the earlier
Pseudo-Lucian,Ass, 51. The latternovelincludesa strikingpassage(9-11) whereoil
rub-downsare used extensivelyin a sexualencounterbetweenthe hero and a slave
girl named,appropriately, Palaestra("Ms. Wrestler"),whichis an extensiveparody
of a pankration matchof the type in whichPerpetuaengageshere;cf. Dronke,Women
Writersof theMiddleAges,p. 14: "Herewe mightsee not so mucha sexualfantasy
as a willed identification. . . At the sametime, the detailof her nakedbody being
rubbedwith oil by handsomeyoungmen who are her secondscannothelp carrying
erotic suggestion,notwithstandingher disclaimerthat this is customarybefore an
agon"
67 Therefore,a rathermoreconscious socialthing(cf. Heilbrun,Writinga Woman's
Life, pp. 96-8), for which there are manyparallelsin early Christiancommunities:
see Miles, carnQl Knowing,ch. 2. This is not to deny the distinctpossibilityof an
"unconscious"absorptionof the dominantideologythat to be good and to succeed
one hadto be male:see K. Aspegren,TheMale Woman: A FeminineIdealin theEarly
Church,ed. R. Kieffer(Uppsala,1990),esp. chs. 6-8, wherethe impactof this "ideal"
is studied.
30 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER139

bettermentof the conditionof the dead, to deal directlywith


figuresof authorityin the churchon an equalbasis,andto fight
successfullyin the arenain a quintessentially malecontest.68
With this finaldreamends the sequenceof Perpetua'swords
as we now have them. This simpleand barerecordof a human
experience,however,wasonlybeginningits ownlife,so to speak,
one in whichit wasdestinedto be rereadandcommentedon by
others,all of whomhappenedto be men. Theirinterestin her
words was, to say the least, hardlydisinterested.Indeed,the
processof the male rethinkingof her experiencebeganalmost
immediately.The firsteditorknewof, andemphasized,the fact
thatthe executionswere timedto coincidewith the birthdayof
Geta,the youngersonof SeptimiusSeverus,thereigningemperor
of Rome.As has been convincinglyargued,thatwouldseem to
indicatean editingprocessthat took placein the yearsimmedi-
atelyfollowingthe deathsin thearenain 203.69Thisfirsteditorial
responsewas, so to speak,unpremeditated. Thereare few signs
that the editingwas a deliberateattemptto distort.Rather,the
resultingtext seemsto mirrorthe way in whichhe assumedthis
text oughtnaturallyto be interpreted.The editeddocumentas
we haveit, therefore,includesVibiaPerpetua'sexperiences,but
systematically bracketsthem with a complicatedprefacewhich
attemptsto lay out the terms on which her accountis to be
understoodby readerandlisteneralike)andby a tailpiecethatis
meantto concludeher story(againto producethe desiredeffect
on readerandlistener).(SeeTable.)Thetermsof thesebracketing
piecesarethoseof the formalmale-dominated church.Therehas
been much speculation,some convincing,some not, that the
editorwasnoneotherthanTertullian.70 If he wasthe editor,the
casefor the degreeand type of malereinterpretation is thereby
strengthened; if not, the casestillstands.The identificationis not
necessary.Givenboththeoverwhelming probabilitiesof the case,
and the types of ideasand verbiageand modesof expressionof
68 That is to say, althoughsome femaleathletesare known,they were rare,rarer

still in the gladiatorialarena(I knowof no femalepankrationists).


69T. D. Barnes,"Pre-DecianActa Martyrum",3tl. Theol.Studies,xix (1968),
pp. 509-31, at pp. 522 ff., repr. in his Early Christianityand the RomanEmpire
(London,1984),ch. l; Barnes,Tertallian,appendix17, p. 265; since the date must
be well before211, thereis no reasonto delaythe editingprocessto long afterthe
event;simplelogic arguesotherwise.
70 On the much-debated subjectof Tertullian'sauthorship,see Robert)"Visionde
Perpetue",p. 235 n. 35, who opts for Tertullian,but adds"but I wouldn'tinsiston
it", whichis perhapsthe pointof cautionwherethe wholematteroughtto be left.
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 31

the "editor", there can be little doubt that the hand is a male
one, and, for the purposesof the problemat hand, that is all that
matters.
This first stage in the appropriationof Perpetua'sexperiences
thereforeleft her own accountfundamentallyintactandunaltered.
That already argues for a certain "untouchability"of the basic
text, for which the most likely explanation(to me) would lie in
its inherentpower, its resistanceto tampering.Somethingof this
inability of the editor to touch the original is hinted at when he
remarkson how "unworthy"he might be to add anythingto the
descriptionof her glory ( 16.1). Being unableto rewritePerpetua's
own account in any "better way" the editor chose instead to
surroundher document with his own materials that is to say,
with a preface(1-2) and an epilogue (16-21), and by the insertion
of the dream of Saturus immediately after the conclusion of
Perpetua'sown words that report her final vision (11-13). That
is to say, the editor brackets or surroundsthe original work in
such a way that the reader enters it, and exits from it, through
his interpretations,through his words. In this way he can guide
the readerinto Perpetua'swords, can "set up" the readerso that
he or she will read Perpetua's account with a certain meaning
alreadyplaced in his or her mind. First of all, in direct contrast
to the simple, factualreal-time replay of what was happeningto
her, the editor counterpoisesa heavily theologizedtext, a densely
theoretical structure which is intended to deflect the reader's
attention away from the plane of immediateexperience to tran-
scendent levels of meaning. The ideology (as opposed to her
straightforwardpractice) holds that her experiences are to be
interpreted in a cosmic frameworkwhere, as the editor quotes
Holy Scriptureto show, God will work in such a way that even
daughtersand female-slaveswill be able to functionas bearersof
His Spirit in this world. That such low-status persons should be
able to be witnesses (martyres) was just anothersign that the final
stages of the currentworld orderwere at hand, and that everyone
was now living "in the final days".
Much the same themes can be found in the "tailpiece"attached
to the end of the passion. The editor neatly works his way from
the last of Perpetua's own words (her fourth dream) by adding
to the accountat that very place the dreamof Saturus.This vision
has been deliberatelyinserted to counter the implicit assertions
of her words (that is, men can have visions too) and to serve as
32 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER139
a bridge to the closing comments of the editor. In attemptingto
establishthe equallegitimacyof Saturus'visions, the editormakes
the same claims of primacy for it as for Perpetua's: "But the
blessed Saturusalso publishedthis vision of his, which he himself
wrote down in his own hand" (11.1). But this vision is unlike
Perpetua's not only in its language and construction,but in its
impersonalbent, its concern with theologicalinterpretationand
ecclesiastical hierarchy (underwritten as a template of divine
order), a cast of new male characters,and a "reread" Perpetua
(now speaking, quite properly, in ecclesiastical Greek) who
declares:"Praise to God, as I was once happy in the flesh, so I
am now much happierhere in this existence" (12.7). If the vision
was truly Saturus'own, then it would already attest to distinct
perceptualdifferencesbetween those who were to be martyred
(basedpartlyon gender, it would seem). But there must be strong
doubts that the account, as it stands, is indeed "by him and in
his own hand".
The editor can also assertthe highestauthorityfor his interven-
tion in Perpetua'sstory: it is the Holy Spirit that finally permits
his recountingof the final events of the games (16.1). He can also
appeal to the strongest secular legitimationfor his actions; in a
parody of the Roman law, he claims both a contractof mandate
(mandatum)and a "trust" (fideicommissum) granted to him by
Perpetuaherself. In his version of their deaths, the editor's mar-
tyrs hardly experience the real terrorsof jail and prison. Instead
they walk from prison to the amphitheatre"in joy, as if they
were going to heaven". Perpetuais transformedinto a "shining
countenance" and becomes the "bride of Christ" and "God's
darling"(Dei delicata)(18.1). Similarly,the experiencesof Felic-
itas (one who had endured the frighteningordeal of giving birth
in prison) are reconfiguredinto a metaphoricalsymbol: "she goes
from one blood bathto another,from the midwifeto the gladiator,
ready to wash after childbirthin a second baptism" (18.3). The
reinterpretationsimultaneouslybears a simple theologicalimage
and a manifestly degradingmessage. The terrifyingexperiences
of the arena itself are themselves reread. Insteadof the real fear
evinced in Perpetua's words, one gets divine certainties. "But
He who said, 'Askand you shall receive', answeredtheir prayers
by giving each one the death he asked for" (19.1). So too,
Perpetuaherself, in behaviourand image, is transformedinto the
model of a Roman matrona.When shaken by the charge of the
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA
33
wild cow, she is moreconcernedaboutpersonalshameand
thananythingelse (20.3-5): style
First the wild CQW chargedPerpetuaand threw her on her
sittingup, she pulleddown the garmentthat back. Then,
side, so that it uncoveredher thighs,thinkinghad been rippedalongone
moreof her modestythan
of pain.Next she askedfor a pin to put her messed-up
It wasnot rightthata [female]martyrshoulddiewithher hairbackin place.
hairout of order.
Withthese words,and a heavytheologicalenvoi) the editor
finishedhis taskof "framing"Perpetua. has
The first editor'sresponseto Perpetua'swords was
unusualnor solitary.It was to be repeatedagainandagain. neither
specificproblemthat faceda male-dominated The
socialorderwas
the very rarityof Perpetua'sachievement.That a female
donesuchthingsin itselfthrewintoreliefthosevery had
areasof sexual definitionand power that much troubledproblematic
organizedchurch.7lHer challengewas thereforea permanent the
one. She had narratedher own accountof her experiences,
theseweretold in sucha way, with sucha powerand and
of rhetoricthatthe verywordsshe wrotecontainedan simplicity
irrefutable
self-empowerment. They could not be ignored. They assert
specificactionsthat placedher experienceat the centre
she was achieving in roles that had been and
overwhelmingly
restrictedto males.That was only part of the problem.Every
year,on the anniversaryof her martyrdom,Perpetua's
wereread aloud to the assembledparishionersin the words
various
Christianchurchesin northAfrica.Her particular visionwasre-
enactedannually,andthusreplayedwascontinuallyto returnto
hauntthosewho hadto confrontit. In this sense)therefore,
wasa livingtraditionin whichthe audiences)maleand hers
wouldhearreplayedfor themthe experiencesof a woman female,
amode, and in a contextof action,that surely(at least)put in
doubton the normativevaluesof theirsociety. threw
One way in whichthe problemposedby her recordcould
metwasby its redactionfromherlargelydescriptive be
andnarrative
accountinto anotherform, that of a commentarius (trial tran-
script).72
Thatis to say,a laterauthortookthe basicfactsknown
aboutPerpetua'sdeathandrecasttheminto the classicmouldof
71 S. Leuchli, Power and Sexuality: The Emergenceof Canon
Elvira Law at the Synod of
(Philadelphia, 1972), ch. 4, "The Sexual Dilemma", pp.
72 For the conventions of
88-113.
the form, see G. A. Bisbee, Pre-Decian Acts of
andCommentarii(Philadelphia, 1988). Martyrs
PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER139
34
the trial-transcriptformoftenfoundin other
authorwasprobablywritingsometimein themartyrologies. The
fourthcentury;his
perhapspretendedignoranceis suggestedby his
deathsof the two women in the consulshipsof placingthe
Valerian
Gallienus(A.D. 255/7).73This sort of later reactionto and
Christianhistoryalso seems to have been typicalof theearlier
fourthcentury.In theaftermath mid-
of theformalizationof ecclesiast-
icalpower,therewas a general"housecleaning"to
makemore
manageable the marginalproblematical areasof power,including
sainthoodandsexuality.For liturgicalandideological
earlierexperiencesanddocumentshadto be brought"into purposes,
Thefirstbig problemof compositionfacedby the line".
of Perpetua'sexperience of merelyprovidinga re-compositor
neat court
document wasthattherewasno survivingtrialtranscript:
originalmartyrology the
of Perpetuaand Felicitashad very little to
sayaboutthe trialproceedingsat whichthey were
Unlesswe cansupposethatthe authorhadindependent condemned.
suchinformation accessto
(forwhichthereis no evidence),thenthe only
reasonable suppositionis that his mode of workingwas to use
whatinformation he had (in the GreekandLatinaccountspro-
ducedin the first decadesof the thirdcentury)and to use his
imagination to reconstructwhathe thoughtmusthavebeensaid
onthe occasionof the trial.This doesindeedseemto
hismodusscribendi. havebeen
The interestingquestionsto ask are: What
didhe thinkwasworthaddingto the accountthatwas
not in the
original(eitherin word,or by implication)? Andwhatwouldbe
suggested to him as normalinquisitorial questioningand typical
dialogue from othersuch trialscenes(questionssuch as: "Will
younot sacrifice?",followedby the appropriate
retorts defencesand
regardingadhesionto Christianbelief)?Otherthanthese
"typicalelements"therearenotableinventionsthathavestruck
more than one readerof the Acta. First of all, the
judgeseparatesthe menfromthe womenso as to dealproconsul-
withthem
separately.74After this sexualsegregation,he proceedsfirst to
ask
the men the normalquestionsaboutsacrificeand
removes belief.He
them,andthenturnsto the females.Herethe questions
are
of a whollydifferentorder:
73 The Acta arepreservedin two variantLatinrecensions
see
VanBeek,Passio SanctarumPerpetuaeet Felicitatis, (A andB); for the texts,
is drawnprincipallyfromthe fuller(A) version. pp. 58-73;the evidencein my
text
74 Acta, 4.5 (A)-
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 35
The proconsulorderedthe men to be removed(from his tribunal)and
orderedFelicitasand Perpetuato be broughtin.
He then spoketo Felicitas:'Whatnamedo you go by?' She replied,
'Felicitas'.
The proconsulsaid:'Do you have a husband?'
Felicitasreplied:'I haveone whomI haverejected'.
The proconsulsaid:'Whereis he?' Felicitasreplied,'He's not here'.
The proconsulsaid:'What'shis rank?'Felicitasreplied,'Plebeian'.
The proconsulsaid:'Do you haveanyparents?'Felicitasreplied:'I don't.
Revocatusis my cousin.The truthis that I am not able to have more
importantrelativesthanthese personswith me here'.
The proconsulsaid:'Girl,have pity on your own and makethe sacrifice
so that you can continueto live. Especiallysince I see that you have
an unbornchildin your womb'.
The proconsulthen turned to Perpetuaand said: 'Do you have any
parents?'Perpetuareplied:'I do'.
[Indeedher parents,her motherand father,as well as her brothersand
husband,werelisteningandpresent,alongwith her new-bornchild,who
was still beingbreast-fed.]
The proconsulsaid to her: 'The tearsof your parentsshouldmove you
androuseyoursenseof pity, andespeciallythe criesof yourlittleone'.
[Her fathermakesa finalprotest,and asksher to pity them.]
Shovingaway her infantand pushingher parentsaway, she said: 'Get
awayfromme you workersof evil, since I no longerknow you'.75

The writerof the Acts then quicklyends the courtproceeding


with the finalsentencingand deathsof Perpetuaand Felicitas.
The questionmustbe, why hadthe authorfashionedhis account
in the way he did by addingthe new creativematerialhe has?
Clearlyit is a matterof genderthattroubleshim. He imposesa
clearseparationof malesand femalesin the trialscenein order
thatthe issuecanbe madedistinctandclearin the mindsof those
who reador heardhis version.The proconsulfacesthe women
alone(thoughsecondin order)andthe questionshe putsto them
areobviouslyonesof the typethatthe redactorthinksmustmost
concernhis potentialaudience.The firstmatterthatarises,oddly
enoughwith respectto Felicitas(has the authormadeanother
one of his characteristicconfusions?)and which we must also
understand to applyto Perpetua,is "Wherearethe husbandsin
all of this?"To thisquestionFelicitasis ableto offerno satisfac-
tory answer.The authordoes not put this obviousquestionin
the caseof Perpetua.He merelyasserts,ratherlamely,thather
husbandwasamongstthe relativeswhocameto the courtto hear
the proceedings(forwhichthereis no supportingevidencefrom
anyotheraccount).The proconsul'swordsreflecta greatconcern
not onlywith"Wherearethe husbands?", butalsoon the proper
75 Acta, 5.1-6.6(A).
36 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER139
relationshipof these women to their other relatives, above all
their parents. The troubling matter is the way in which these
particularwomen feel free to move away from the normal con-
straintsimposed by husbands,fathersand others.
In his rewritingof Perpetua'sexperiences, the redactorof the
Acta seems to be pushed mentally first this way and that. He is
constrainedto end contradictorily,in a rather schizoid manner:
the women are to be praised after all they weremartyrsto the
Christianfaith. On the other hand, their actionsare so unnatural,
from the standpointof male culturalexpectations, that they are
portrayedin an extreme and ratherunlikeablemanner. Perpetua
is shown to reject her own baby, and harshlyto dismiss her own
parentsin a way that would be bound to elicit a negative reaction
from (at least) the male listeners to the Acta. Perpetua'sexperi-
ence is totally "reread"in a mannerthat simultaneouslyconcedes
the technicalvalue of her martyrdom,but removesany sense that
these actions were innately good or could be made to coincide
with "natural"passions(as, for example, a mother's concernfor
her new-born infant). Of course, it hardly needs pointing out
that all of this wholly contradicts Perpetua's own view of her
relationshipto her baby (as expressed in her own words) and to
her father (the fine nuances of her own contradictoryemotions
are wholly absentfrom the Acta) or her own views of her relations
with her mother or brothers.The purposeof producingthe Acta
version must have been twofold: to provide a shorterabbreviated
"passion" account that would be more readily usable for
liturgical purposes, but in the very process of abbreviationto
excise its dangerouscontent-Perpetua's own words which,
as we shall see, bishops were coming to fear greatly since such
narrativeswere coming to be regardedby ordinaryparishioners
as C'canonical scripture".
Yet another way in which the challenge of the annual verbal
re-enactmentof Perpetua'sactions was met, was not by embed-
ding the written documentitself in anotherone, nor by rewriting
it, but by challengingit orally by meeting it, so to speak, on
its own ground. In this context, one might considerthe sermons
delivered by the great African preachersof the fourth and fifth
century, amongst them the bishops Augustine of Hippo and
Quodvultdeusof Carthage.Male church leaders, like Augustine,
could hardly ignore the potential in the message, and they dealt
with it, if Augustine'swords are to be taken as a normaltype of
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 37

response,by reinterpreting the message by accompanying the


direct messageof Perpetua'swords (and their not-too-covert
subtext)with anotheroralpresentation,a sermon,whichwould
interpretthe meaningof Perpetua'sexperiencein a "correct"
way.Indeed,somesortof responsewasdemandedbecauseof the
authorityPerpetua'swords,listenedto eachyearby parishioners
throughout northAfrica,hadwiththecommonpeople.Augustine
himselfhadto warnsternlythather words,her views,werenot
canonicalscripture.76 Threeof thesesermonsof Augustinehave
survived,eachdeliveredon a differentanniversary of Perpetua's
martyrdom.Thatas manyas threeof thesehavebeenpreserved
is someindicationof theimportance of thesubjectto Augustine
he may well have deliveredsuch controlpieces on an annual
basis.77That is to say, facedwith a livingchallenge(the way in
whichPerpetua'sexperiencewasrelivedeachyear)he responded
in muchthe sameway as the originalmaleeditorof her written
work:he bracketedit with his commentswhichwere intended
to lead the listenersto rehearwhat they had heard.Augustine,
and other northAfricanbishops,frequentlydeliveredsermons
on the natalitia, celebrations of the martyrs'"birth"into eternal
life. But therearetwo distinctplaneson whichhis response(and
thatof Quodvultdeus) to Perpetuacaneasilybe seento be differ-
ent in kind. First of all, his responseto thteproblemof male
martyrdoms neverconfrontsthe specificchallengesthatPerpetua
presents.78 Hisprincipalconcernin theformercasewasto restrain
what he saw as unacceptableforms of popular belief and
empowerment attributedto martyrs.Moresignificanteven than
this, however,is the simplefact that otherfemalemartyrdoms,
suchas thatof Crispina,an Africanwomanexecutedat Theveste
in A.D. 304, did not usuallyprovokethe intensivereinterpreta-
tion andargumentsin refutationthatPerpetua'sdid.79
76Augustine, De natura et origine animae, 1.10.12: "nec scriptura ipsa canonica
est", in specific reference to her dream sequence on her deceased brother Dinocrates.
77 For context, see a list of all sermons delivered by Augustine on the occasion of

the anniversaries of martyrs collated in V. Saxer, Morts, martyrs, reliquesen Afrique


chretienneaux premierssiecles(Paris, 1980), pp. 315-21.
78 C. Lambot, "Les sermons de saint Augustin pour les fetes de martyrs", Analecta

Bollandiana, lxvii (1949), pp. 249-66; A. M. La Bonnardiere, "Les Enarrationesin


Psalmos prechees par saint Augustin a l'occasion de fetes de martyrs", Recherches
Augustiniennes,vii (1971), pp. 73-104.
79 On Crispina, an interesting parallel, see Enarrationesin Psalmos, 120, 137. Indeed

her anniversary provokes no comment at all. Augustine felt quite at liberty, as he did
on the anniversary days of most male martyrs, to use the occasion to deliver a sermon
(cont. on p. 38)
38 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER 139

The reasonis clear.Theirownwordswerenot at the epicentre


of theirremembrance. As Augustinemakesclear,hisreplieswere
intendedto reflectbackon the lived experiencecreatedby the
re-creationof Perpetua'sworldin the readingof her account:
Todayis the anniversaryday on which, by a sort of repetition)there is
calledback to our memory,and in some way actuallyre-presented,the
day on which Perpetuaand Felicitas,holy slave-womenof God, were
rewardedwith the crownof martyrdomwhich[words]. . . we haveheard
as they were readaloud. . . thosewords,so shiningandluminescent,we
have takenin by ear, we have consideredin our minds,and honouredin
our belief.80

Beginningwitha concession thathis talentsmightnot be equal


to thepraisetheymerit-Augustine launchesintohisinterpreta-
tion of her words for his listeners:'4Forwhat could be more
gloriousthanthesewomen,whommenadmiremuchmorereadily
thanthey imitate?"He then gives expressionto a normalmale
judgement: measuredagainstthe standards set forexcellence,the
actionsof these womenhave outdonethose of men. But he is
thenleft with the taskof explainingtheirunusual"virility".He
appealsfirstto Paulinescripture)where,in the millennialscheme
of things,actualgenderdifferencesareto be abolished:accordlng
to Paul "there will be found inside men neither male nor
female''.81Thenhe goes on to makethe connection:
even in the case of these women althoughfemalein body, the virtue
of theirmind/soul(anima) concealedthe sexualityof theirflesh,andwhat
is consideredso shamefulin the physicallimbs of their bodiesdoes not
appearin theirsimpleactions.
To Augustine,Perpetua'ssexualchastitybecomesthe key to her
being able to treadon the snake'shead in her vision from
whichclaimhe is thenableto makea connectionneverapparent
in Perpetua'sown words:';Thus the head of that old snake,
whichwas the causeof the fall of woman,was madeinto a step
by whichshe [Perpetua]couldascend[to Paradise]".Thatis to
say, Augustineis ableto suggestto his listenersan essentialfault
in Perpetua'sgender,to whichhe canthenattachthe imageryof
the snake a not overlysubtleway of bringingto the mindof
(n. 79 cont.)

on anotherthemeentirely,simplynotingfor the congregation thatthe day happened


to be this or thatsaint'sbirthday.
80Augustine,Sermo,280.1.1; also directlyalludedto in the last sermon,Sermo
282.2.2.
81 For the male-dominant contextin whichPaul'scommentsmustbe understood)
see Cameron,"NeitherMalenor Female".
PASSIONOF PERPETUA
THE 39

parishioners
his a differentsortof moralorderin whichPerpetua's
canbe placed.82He can thenappropriate her gaze
achievements faith",can
transferit to his auditorswho, with the "gazeof
and that,
the martyr'scrown,and who can now understand
witness merely
facingthe chargeof "thatsavagecow", Perpetuawas
in
sheddingher own bodyin this world.
same
Thesecondof Augustine'ssermonsreplaysmanyof these crown is
themes,only with greaterforce. "For the [martyr's]
moreglorious",he begins:
goes withoutsaying,a
in the case where the sex is weaker.Because,itgreater
mind in a female body is able to achieve things [relatively
male does not give out beneath
speaking,that is] so long as feminine fragility
suchan onerousburden.83
Felic-
HethenonceagainspecificallyattacheswhatPerpetuaand
thereto
itasdid to dominationby men, by husbands,and from
thetraditional"Evetheme":
It was good for them that they clung to one husband,He to whom the
Church,being one, is presentedas a pure virgin. It was a good thing, I
man from whom they drew the strengththey
say, that they clungto that were able to lay low that old
neededto defeatthe Devil that women
enemy,who, throughwoman,utterlydefeatedman.
Augustine goes on at somelengthto play on this themeof role
weakto
reversal,explainlnghow the Devil, who madewomen creatures:
defeatmen,is in turndefeatedby these selfsame weak
to die
"He[God]madethesewomenableto facedeathlikemen, sorrowfully
onbehalfof thosewho were destined to be born so
fromwomen".As proofof this interpretation Augustineis able
to appeal"to whatthe blessedPerpetua herself narratedin her
that she struggled with the
own wordsconcerningher vision: is then able
Devil aftershe had been changed into a man". He
argument: it was a good thing that
to closethis firstcircleof his not be
the Devil "whohaddefeated man through woman should
to feel
ableto escapethese ambushes good that he was able
thata womanwas fighting with him like a man".
in the Fathers of the
82 R. R. Ruether, "Misogynism and Virginal Feminism
R. Ruether (ed.), Religion and Sexism: Images of Womanin the 3tewish
Church", in R.
(New York, 1974), pp. 150-83, offers a good general context,
and Christian Traditions of the evidence she analyses
against which, I think, all
shorn of her final conclusions, Women and the Rhetoric
as Metaphor:
speaks; see, rather, Averil Cameron, "Virginity
History as Text: The Writing of
of Early Christianity", in Averil Cameron (ed.),
who catches the reasons for both
AncientHistory (London, 1989), ch. 8, pp. 181-205, systematically links the two.
the fascination with virginity, and then
the misogyny and
83 Augustine, Sermo, 281.
40 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 139

This logically leads Augustine into a considerationof another


highly problematicareaof Perpetua'saccount(rememberingthat
his parishioners,and others, would have heard her own words)
and one which is the burden of his sermonizing. This was the
problem of her unorthodox("unorthodox"that is from the per-
spective of current ideology) relationships with persons who
should have been dominantmales: her husbandand her father.
As alreadystated, there is nothing in her own words that gives
any hint of the existence of her husband.Augustineexplains:
He [the Devil] did not troubleher with a husband,so that she, who was
alreadydwellingon heavenin her higherthoughts,wouldremainstrong,
not being drawnaside, blushingeven at the merestsuspicionof desires
of the flesh. But he inculcatedin her fatherwordsof deceit so that her
godlymind,whichcouldnot be softenedby the instinctsof sexualdesire,
mightbe brokenby the bondsof parentalpiety.
Likewise, in her relationshipwith her father, Augustine has to
tone down the natureof her repliesto him: "When holy Perpetua
replied to her father, she did it with such moderationthat she
would not violate the commandby which we owe honour to our
parents". He then turns his attention to the other female,
Felicitas:
Felicitaswas indeedpregnantwhen she was in jail. In giving birth she
gavewitnessto herfeminineconditionwith herfemalevoice. The penalty
of Eve was not absent,but the graceof Marywas also present.She had
to pay the dues whichwomenowe.
He goes on to explain that all she did and happenedto her (that
is, the premature birth of her child) was due to the "plan of
God". In thus addressinghis congregation,Augustinewas being
more specific about the context in which Perpetua was to be
understood.Her actions, as well as those of Felicitas, were to be
seen within a theodicy rooted in the creation of all existing
conditions. Her powers could then be "explained" as an
overcomingof inherentfaultsand weaknessesthrough"the grace
of God".
In his final (surviving)sermon on the matter, Augustinerefers
once again to the readingof her accountwhich everyone has just
heard, and then remarks:
those womenof such greatvirtueand achievementwere not just female,
but fully grown women. One of them was a mother, so that softer
(maternal)affectionswereaddedto the weaknessof her sex . . . But they
wereableto hold out againstattackson them, andto breaktheseassaults
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 41

by a hiddenand very greatstrengthbecauseinsidethemselvesthey were


like men.84
Afterall, saysAugustine,"evenverybraveandstrongmenwere
overcomeby violenceon the same day, but they did not give
theirnameto the celebrationof this day".The factthatthe day
is remembered for PerpetuaandFelicitasis not "becausefemales
outshonemen in the worthof theiractions,but sincewomanly
weaknesswasableto conquerthe old enemybecauseof a greater
miracle,and a male virtue struggledon behalf of perpetual
andadds
felicity".The sermonreinforcesexistinginterpretations
little (excepta banalpun, with which Augustineseems rather
taken,giventhe numberof timeshe repeatsit). But therewere
othercontexts,apartfromsermonspreached,in whichAugustine
felt he hadto respondto otherproblemsposedby thesewomen,
as,forexample,thevalidityof Perpetua's visions,andthelegitim-
acy of her experience.Quiteapartfromthe theologicalimplica-
tionsof hervision(of whichmore,later)he felt calledupon,once
again,to explainthe extraordinary natureof her martyrdom.
How couldshe have done it? The key, he says, lies withinthe
visionwhere,in her strugglewith the Egyptian,she saw herself
changeinto the bodyof a man."Howcanone doubt",he says:
that her mind was not also changedlike her body?But not so much in
fact her body, because,when she was asleepon her bed she remainedin
herfemininesex whilehermindfought[withthe Egyptian]in the likeness
of a malebody. Is it not likelythatthis was merelythe likenessof a man's
body, and not a real body?. . . if indeedit was an actualbody, why did
it not keep the shape of its vagina?For in that female flesh no male
genitaliawere to be found.85
mighthavethe meritof some
PerhapsAugustine'sinterpretations
"theoreticalcontent",someoverallgeneraljustificationsthatcan
be drawnfromhis worldof thought.He is interestedin making
her experiencesconcordantnot with traditionalpractices,but
alsowithpresentandfuturethinking.Blunter,butperhapsmore
revealingof generalmale attitudesof the time, are a seriesof
tractsand sermonscomposedby Quodvultdeus, who wroteand
deliveredthemas bishopof Carthagein the A.D. 430s.86He too
was respondingto the public readingand celebrationof the
martyrdom of the two women.His problemin thisregard,how-
84 Ibid., 282; cf. the similar themes enunciated in the Pseudo-Augustine, Sermo,394.
85 Augustine, De natura et origineanimae, 4.18.26.
86 I have used the text as edited by R. Braun, Opera QuodvultdeoCarthaginiensi

episcopotributa(Corpus Christianorum, series latina, no. 60, Turnhout, 1976).


42 PASTAND PRESENT NUMBER 139

ever, wasrathermorepressingthanthatof Augustinein distant


HippoRegius.The bodiesof the two womenhadbeeninterred
at Carthagein the greatfunerarychurch,the massiveBasilica
Maiorum,locatedon the plateauof Mcidfathat overlookedthe
whole city to the north.87If Pere Delattre'sexcavationsand
identificationsareto be trusted,the tombsof PerpetuaandFelic-
itas have actuallybeen discovered,locatedin the greatapsidal
end of the basilicain conjoinedsacrophagibeneathone large
mensamartyrum.88 A place,therefore,of quintessential publicand
religiousimportance a locationin hierarchyof space and
displaythatwouldbe regularlywitnessedby AfricanChristians.
The placewasmarkedby memorialinscriptionsthatmadeclear
the sanctityof the location.89
PerpetuaandFelicitashaddiedon
the diesnatalisof GetaCaesarn but their own true "birthday",
the anniversaryof theirmartyrdom,was celebratedwith much
greaterpopularfeelingandintensity,andfor farlongerthanthat
of the temporalemperor.The celebrations of the "birthdays"of
martyrsweregreatfestivepublicoccasionsinvolvingmuchpop-
ularparticipation, wildmerriment,the stagingof spectacles,and
thereplayingof thestoriesof themartyrs.90 Suchfestivals,especi-
ally those at the decorativebanquet"tables"that coveredthe
gravesof themartyrs(theso-calledmensa martyrum), wereceleb-

87 Known by the witness of Victor Vitensis, HistoriapersecutionisAfricanaeprovin-


ciae, 1.3.9.
88 The problems of identification persist. For commentary and discussion, see N.
Duval, Les e'glisesafricainesa deux absides(Paris, 1973), no. 10, pp. 69-73, esp. p. 72;
Duval, Loca sanctorumAfricae, ii, p. 682 f.; Saxer, Morts, martyrs,reliquesen Afrique
chrettienne,pp. 182-3, "basiliques martyriales de Carthage" (dubious). The basic
problem is the great "faith" that informed Pere Delattre's discovery of the tombs of
the two saints, and his readiness to identify the site as the Basilica Maiorum. H.
Leclercq, "Carthage", Dictionnaired'archeologiechretienneet de liturgie,ii (1910), cols.
2233-52, gives clear reportage of Delattre's excavations at the site. They convinced
no less an authority than Gsell that Delattre had indeed discovered the tombs of the
women; on the whole I too am convinced, despite the ambiguities of the evidence.
89 R. P. Delattre, "Sur l'inscription des martyrs de Carthage, sainte Perpetue,
sainte Felicite et leurs compagnons", Comptesrendusde l'Acadetmiedes Inscriptionset
Belles-Lettres(1907), pp. 193-5 (CIL, viii, 25038) (cf. Duval, Eglises africainesa deux
absides,no. 6, pp. 13-16). The inscription was heavily restored by Delattre and his
workers: see the reports in Leclercq, "Perpetue et Felicite", cols. 433-5, and the two
photographs in Leclercq, "Carthage", col. 2241, figs. 2123-4, and InscriptionesLatinae
Christianae veteres, ed. E. Diehl et al., 4 vols. (Berlin, 1924-67), i, no. 2040 (cf.
Duval, Eglises africainesa deux absides,no. 3, pp. 7-10).
90S. Poque, "Spectacles et festins offerts par Augustin d'Hippone pour les fetes de
martyrs", Pallas, xv (1968), pp. 103-25.
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 43

ratedwithgreatzealby the Africans.9l It wason the anniversary


of PerpetuaandFelicitas,andin theirgreatbasilicaat Carthage,
in the midstof an immenselypopularfanfare,thatthe bishopof
Carthagewouldbe constrained to commenton theirdeaths.92
On the anniversaryreplay of Perpetua'swords, therefore,
Quodvultdeus facedproblemsof a peculiardensity.He phrases
part of this problemratherbluntly:since there were so many
men who were martyredat that time, how is it that the names
of thesetwo womenare placedbeforethoseof men?Why does
the day celebratetheirdeaths?Couldit be because"the weaker
sex" actuallyequalled,or evensuperseded,the braveryof males?
But one of the womenwas pregnant,and the otherwas breast-
feeding.Felicitaswas givingbirthand Perpetuawas producing
milk for her infant.Quodvultdeuscannotget over these over-
poweringimagesof womanlyinfirmity.He graspsat images.
First,the milk. SincePerpetuaaccepteda cup of milk fromthe
"GoodShepherd"in her vision,it is thismilk that enablesher
to rejectherchildandherfatheron behalfof Christ.Thatneatly
andsymbolically counters,andtrumps,the "weakness"of moth-
erhood.93 Stillthe bishopcannotquiteacceptthe facts.He breaks
into exclamations:
What virtue in females!What sort of graceis this, which, when one is
filled with it, judgesno sex to be unworthy!Praisebe to this grace!It
even restoresthe female sex! Woman,of course, remainsin great dis-
grace fromthe beginningtherewasthe womanishsin becauseof which
we all die. The Devil conqueredone Eve. But Christ,bornfroma virgin,
raisesup manywomen.Perpetuaand Felicitaswere able to treadon the
head of the snake,becauseEve had not been admittedinto the core of
theirhearts.94
Finally,unableto do muchmore,Quodvultdeus, like his prede-
cessors,lapsesinto Paulinedoctrine:"For in ChristJesusthere
will be no slaveor free,no masculineor feminine,but all will be
runtogetherinto one perfectedman".
91Augustine, Contra epistulamParmeniani libri tres, 3.6.29; cf. W. H. C. Frend,
The Donatist Church:A Movementof Protest in Roman North Africa (Oxford, 1952;
repr. 1971), pp. 54-5.
92The bishop would normally preach in the basilica located further to the south
called the Basilica Restituta, which was the great episcopal cathedral of the city. But
on this particular occasion, wher, the natalitia would be celebrated at the site of the
mensamartyrum,it is difficult to believe that his location did not also shift to the locus
of popular activity.
93 Quodvultdeus, Sermode temporebarbarico,1.5.1-9, emphasizing the same factors
in this feminine fragility.
94 Ibid.
44 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 139

In anothertract,alsowrittenin responseto a currentcelebra-


tion of Perpetua,eitherQuodvultdeus or, perhapsmorelikely,a
nearcontemporary, showsthat he cannotquite come to terms
withPerpetua,or herbehaviour(in thiscaseherattitudetowards
herfather).95He wonderswhy on earthshe actedin thispeculiar
manner.Afterall, he says,she wasa youngwoman:
She was an adolescent,in the most fecundyears,in that age most prone
to love (amor). She was only twenty-one,an age when the feversof the
flesh are commonlythoughtto be greaterthan any divine charity.But,
becauseof God's grace, she spurnedher new body, her new strength,
and so was able to exercisethe powersof a youngman.
Thatis to say,the divinegraceof Godplusthe submissionof the
womanovercameotherwisepermanentfemininefragilities.Even
so, Quodvultdeusonce againreturnsto the "womanlyweak-
nesses"-given this fundamental fault,how on earthweretheir
deedspossible.Afterall, "a babyson clungto the breastsof this
youngwoman:indeeda heavyburdenof maternalcareattached
to herbreasts".Thisleadshimto dilateon thefeminineproblems
thatFelicitassuffered:"Felicitaswasseriouslyweigheddownby
herpregnancy: her wombwasin its eighthmonth. . . neverthe-
less, aidedby her own prayersandthoseof her companions,she
gavebirthsafely,sinceit wouldnot be possibleto abortwithout
dying".He goes on to remarkthat Christcan hastenbirths,or
delaythemto the ninthor tenthmonth,if necessary.Felicitas,
in his eyes, only suffersas she should:"Felicitasin givingbirth
paidoff the age-longdebt in sufferingand painwhichEve had
incurred".
His finaljudgementto his parishioners is accordingly
grudging
andmean-spirited:
Let us then celebratethis festivaldayof the holy martyrs,famousfor the
deathsof men,andmademoreillustriousby the namesof women.Women
who, inflamedwith the love of Christ,overcamenot only the harshness
of their everydaylife, and all the allurementsand terrorsof the world
. . . but also the affectionof a father,the trustof children,the weakness
of their sex, the impedimentsof the womb and the terribledangersof
givingbirth.
Suchreflections,fromthe firsteditorandredactor,to Augustine,
Quodvultdeus and beyond,surelydo not have to be multiplied
95 Morinthoughtthis sermonhad once been part of Quodvultdeus' work;Dom
Fransesthoughtnot and his views are reflectedin the standardeditions.See Braun,
OperaQuodvultdeo Carthaginiensiepiscopotributa,who does not includeit among
Quodvultdeus'genuineworks.
THE PASSIONOF PERPETUA 45
in number,or analysedin anygreaterdetail,to drawthe obvious
conclusion.Thereis a monotonoussamenessto theirreactions.
Theirpredictability stemsnot fromanymechanicalcopying,but
ratherfrom a samenessin their perceptionof the problem.In
thatprecisesensetheirwritings,sermonsandcommentsarenot
particularlyforcedor artificial.Given the irreduciblefeminine
duritiaof Perpetua'srecord,theirreactionsseem as logicaland
naturalas antibodiessurrounding a foreignviralinfection.It is,
alas,a featureof thisrecordtoo, andperhapsnot withoutits own
ironies,thatthe presentwriterhasnot actedmuchdifferently.
A final word. In rereadingall these materialsone is left, I
think,withtwodominantimpressions. Thefirst,sharedby almost
all those who have read or heardPerpetua'sstory, is of the
overpowering singularity
of herachievement.Thereis something
so unusual,so directand uncompromising abouther reportage
that it has evokeda whollyunusualorderof responsesfrom a
very wide rangeof modernreaders.They know that there is
something,perhapsineffable,that marksher wordsas different
in kindfromanycomparable pieceof literaturefromantiquity.96
Realitiesare reflecteddirectlyin the rhetoric.Then thereis the
second.Whenall the complexapparatusof scholarship has been
set aside,it is a deeplydepressingfeeling.This is one of the very
rarepieceswrittenby a femalehandthatis knownfromantiquity.
It was, even in its own day, a smalland fragilething.Yet even
this exiguousvoice couldnot be left alone.Fromthe very start
it was buried under an avalancheof male interpretations,
rereadings,anddistortions.Whatchance,one mustwonder,was
therefor any Perpetuato tell her story?Despiteall this, thereis
that other demon hope. Perpetua'swordsare still with us.
Her experiences,her thoughtsand her visionshave, after all,
survived.
University
of Lethbridge,
Alberta BrentD. Shaw

96 Typicaljudgements,like thoseof Pio Franchide' Cavalieri("thispricelessgem


of ancientliterature")and Paul Monceaux("one of the jewels of early Christian
literature"),have beenreiteratedby manyothers.

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