On the Pallium

Tertullian of Carthage · c. 210 AD

Ante-Nicene Fathers (Roberts–Donaldson), Roberts, Donaldson, and Coxe (eds.), Ante-Nicene Fathers, Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing, 1885–1887; digitized by CCEL.

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; the first great Latin Christian writer. A North African of Carthage, trained in rhetoric and law; coined much of the Latin theological vocabulary the West later inherited (Trinitas, persona, substantia). His pre-Montanist works are widely cited and respected; his later embrace of the New Prophecy (Montanism) places him outside the catalogue of formally venerated saints, though he is treated honourably as a witness and theologian.

Contents

1. Time Changes Nations' Dresses--and Fortunes.
2. The Law of Change, or Mutation, Universal.
3. Beasts Similarly Subject to the Law of Mutation.
4. Change Not Always Improvement.
5. Virtues of the Mantle.  It Pleads in Its Own Defence.
6. Further Distinctions, and Crowning Glory, of the Pallium.
7. Elucidations