TERTULLIAN

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullian (c. 160-220 AD) Apology (Apologeticum), Chapters 2.5,20; 3.3,4; 4.11; 6.7,8,10,11; 7.1,2; 8 .3,4; 37.1; 39.18,19 (197 AD, written in Latin); Ad Nationes, Book 1, Chapter 16 (197 AD: a few month earlier); On Fasts (De Jejuniis) 17 (c. 200 AD); De Corona Militis, Chapter 3 (written 211 AD)

Apology (Apologeticum):
http://www.tertullian.org/anf/anf03/anf03-05.htm, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. III: The Apology (Translated by S. Thelwall), Chapter II:

[5] Nothing like this is done in our case, though the falsehoods disseminated about us ought to have the same sifting, that it might be found how many murdered children each of us had tasted; how many incests each of us had shrouded in darkness; what cooks, what dogs had been witness of our deeds.

[20] And if a Christian is a murderer, why not guilty, too, of incest, or any other vile thing you believe of us?
Chapter III:

[3] Others, in the case of persons whom, before they took the name of Christian, they had known as loose, and vile, and wicked, put on them a brand from the very thing which they praise. In the blindness of their hatred, they fall foul of their own approving judgment! "What a woman she was! how wanton! how gay! What a youth he was! how profligate! how libidinous!-they have become Christians!" So the hated name is given to a reformation of character.[4] Some even barter away their comforts for that hatred, content to bear injury, if they are kept free at home from the object of their bitter enmity. The wife, now chaste, the husband, now no longer jealous,
Chapter IV: [11] I am Chapter VI:

a practiser of incest (so they say); why do they not inquire into it?

[7] The laws, too, your fathers in their wisdom had enacted concerning the very gods themselves, you their most loyal children have rescinded, The consuls, by the authority of the senate, banished Father Bacchus and his mysteries not merely from the city, but from the whole of Italy. [8] The consuls Piso and Gabinius, no Christians surely, forbade Serapis, and Isis, and Arpocrates, with their dogheaded friend,9 admission into the Capitol-in the act casting them out from the assembly of the gods-overthrow their altars, and expelled them from the country, being anxious to prevent the vices of their base and lascivious religion from spreading. These, you have

restored, and conferred highest honours on them. [10] to Bacchus, now become a god of Italy, you offer up your orgies,-I shall in its proper place show that you despise, neglect, and overthrow, casting entirely aside the authority of the men of old. [11] I go on meantime to reply to that infamous charge of secret crimes, clearing my way to things of open day.
Chapter VII:

[1] Monsters of wickedness, we are accused of observing a holy rite in which we kill a little child and then eat it; in which, after the feast, we practise incest, the dogsour pimps, forsooth, overturning the lights and getting us theshamelessness of darkness for our impious lusts. [2] This is what is constantly laid to our charge
Chapter VIII:

[3] The while as you recline at table, take note of the places which your mother and your sister occupy; mark them well, so that when the dog-made darkness has fallen on you, you may make no mistake, for you will be guilty of a crime-unless you perpetrate a deed of incest. [4] Initiated and sealed into things like these, you have life everlasting. It could be that incest was noteworthy enough, practiced via an instructed secret / mystery, to make it available for me to attain in the ingredient of free-sex exposure. In other words, if they didnt have incest, then possibly these writing wouldnt have been shocking enough to have been written, then wouldnt have been so easily available for me to utilize today. I dont recommend incest as there is enough love within families. Sexual love is just going to make families closer. However, technically little harm done if it gives me what I need today to expose Gods real recommendation.
Chapter XXXVII:

Interesting: [1] If we are enjoined, then, to love our enemies, as I have remarked above, whom have we to hate? If injured, we are forbidden to retaliate, lest we become as bad ourselves: who can suffer injury at our hands? Apparently Christians then, were a lot different than a lot of Christians are today.
Chapter XXXIX:

The participants, before reclining, taste first of prayer to God. As much is eaten as satisfies the cravings of hunger; as much is drunk as befits the chaste. [18] They say it is enough, as those who remember that even during the night they have to worship God; they talk as those who know that the Lord is one of their auditors. After manual ablution, and the bringing in of lights, each is asked to stand forth and sing, as he can, a hymn to God, either one from the holy Scriptures or one of his own composing,-a proof of the measure of our drinking. As the feast commenced with prayer, so with prayer it is closed. [19] We go from it, not like troops of mischiefdoers, nor bands of vagabonds, nor to break out into licentious acts, but to have as
60

much care of our modesty and chastity as if we had been at a school of virtue rather than a banquet. (A school of virtue: Tertullian is good at this.)
Chapter XLVI:

[1] We have sufficiently met, as I think, the accusation of the various crimes on the ground of which these fierce demands are made for Christian blood. In other words, Christian had better conform to what the pagans deem moral, or else. In addition to being persecuted for it and always having to hide, I bet Christian married men got tired of other men having their wife: whenever you have marriage on board youre going to have jealousy. Its difficult to calculate the percentage of those for versus those against free sex, and those in-between, since its very easy to believe the Dark Age church was only going to allow writings they want to end up extant. It would also be nice to know how these percentages varied through time periods; but, it makes sense that there would be less free sex as the years progressed, to the culmination we see in the Dark Ages, and especially in todays era. A different translation:
http://www.tertullian.org/articles/bindley_apol/bindley_apol.htm, T.H. BINDLEY, The Apology of Tertullian (1890) (Edited by T. H. BINDLEY), ANALYSIS | II. REFUTATION OF THE PRINCIPAL ACCUSATIONS | i. Secret crimes: Incest, too, is one of your commonest crimes (ch. 9). THE APOLOGY OF TERTULLIAN FOR THE CHRISTIANS | CHAPTER II: how often incest had been committed under cover of the darkness, who were the cooks, what dogs were present. CHAPTER III: Others stigmatize on the very grounds on which they praise them, those whom they knew formerly in |12 their pre-Christian days as vagabonds, worthless, and base. In the blindness of their hatred they are driven into pronouncing a eulogium. 'What a woman! how wanton, how gay! (now, Im assuming that gay means happy, but I could be wrong) What a youth! how profligate, how licentious! They have become Christians.' Thus the name is credited with their reform. Some even strike a bargain between their own interests and such hatred, being content to suffer loss, provided only they can rid their homes of the objects of their hatred. The husband, no longer jealous, casts off his wife now chaste CHAPTER IV: I am guilty of incest; why do they not enquire into it? CHAPTER VI: Even as regards your gods themselves, what your ancestors wisely decreed, you, their most obsequious sons, have rescinded. Father Bacchus with his mysteries, the consuls by the authority of the senate banished, not only from the city but from the whole of Italy. Serapis and Isis and Harpocrates with his dog-headed Anubis, Piso and Gabinius the consuls, who at any rate were not Christians, forbade the Capitol, that is, expelled from the assembly of the gods, and rejected, having overthrown their altars; thus restraining the vices of shameful and idle superstitions. Upon these gods, whom you restored, you |22have conferred the highest majesty. although you may have offered your phrenzied orgies to the now Italian Bacchus,that very tradition I will in its proper place 19 shew that you have equally despised and neglected and destroyed in the face of their authority. At present I

shall reply to that disgraceful report of our secret atrocities, and so clear the way to deal with our more open crimes. CHAPTER VII: WE are called the most infamous of men on the charge of an infanticidal religious rite and a banquet thereat, and incest after the feast;incest which dogs that overturn the lights (our pimps forsooth) bring about through the shamelessness which is occasioned by the darkness and impious lusts. Yet we are ever but called so, nor are you at any pains to drag into light what we have been so long charged with. CHAPTER VIII: Meantime reclining at the feast, note the positions of your mother and sister; observe them diligently, so that when the darkness has been ushered in by the dogs, you may make no mistake. For you will contract pollution unless you commit incest. Thus initiated and sealed, you will live for ever. CHAPTER XLII: Interesting: I do not recline in public at the feast of Bacchus, as is the custom of the beastfighters who are making their last meal; yet in some place or other I do sup, and from your resources. I buy no crown for my head; but what difference does it make to you how I use the flowers which I do undoubtedly purchase? I think they are more pleasing when free, and loose, and straying unarranged : but even if made up into a crown, we prefer to appreciate it with our noses, no matter that some people smell with their hair.

Apparently Christians didnt support Bacchuss beast-fighters. Christians could afford to buy flowers? In Kansas City 200 years ago, the flowers were free. (This is an expansion on parts of Thelwalls version that I apparently did prior, so I leave it as is:)
http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/library/tertullian_apology.htm (Religious Facts), Tertullian, Apology, CHAP. VII.: Tertullian (160-? AD) wrote the Apology (or Defense) around 197 AD. This translation by S. Thelwall.
Monsters of wickedness, we are accused of observing a holy rite in which we kill a little child and then eat it; in which, after the feast, we practise incest, the dogs--our pimps, forsooth, overturning the lights and getting us the shamelessness of darkness for our impious lusts. This is what is constantly laid to our charge, and yet you take no pains to elicit the truth of what we have been so long accused. Either bring, then, the matter to the light of day if you believe it, or give it no credit as having never inquired into it. On the ground of your double dealing, we are entitled to lay it down to you that there is no reality in the thing which you dare not expiscate. You impose on the executioner, in the case of Christians, a duty the very opposite of expiscation: he is not to make them confess what they do, but to make them deny what they are.

CHAP. IX.:
Then who are more given to the crime of incest than those who have enjoyed the instruction of Jupiter himself? So incest was a Roman crime. Ctesias tells us that the Persians have illicit intercourse with their mothers. The Macedonians, too, are suspected on this point; for on first hearing the tragedy of OEdipus they made mirth of the incest-doer's grief, exclaiming, hlaune eis thn mhtera Sounds like hes justifying it.

CHAP. XXXIX.:
As the feast commenced with prayer, so with prayer it is closed. We go from it, not like troops of mischief-doers, nor bands of vagabonds, nor to break out into licentious acts, but to have as much care of our modesty and chastity as if we had been at a school of virtue rather than a banquet. Give the congregation of the Christians its due, and hold it unlawful, if it is like assemblies of the illicit sort: by all means let it be condemned, if any complaint can be validly laid against it, such as lies against secret factions. But who has ever suffered harm from our assemblies?

See, theyre just trying to not be persecuted.

Harpers Latin Dictionary, Lewis / Short, 1879, p. 69, gp:

http://www.tertullian.org/works/apologeticum.htm, Apologeticum (The Apology), Summary: It falls into two parts, dealing with the two types of accusations against the Christians: To be a Christian means taking part in vile and contemptible crimes like ritual incest, and baby-eating, and is a superstition of the ignorant. Christianity involves high treason and contempt for the state religion. Content: If to be a Christian is to take part in baby-eating and ritual incest, why does no-one try to prove those charges? Despite the activities of the informers and way that soldiers blackmail the Christians, no-one has ever come across a half-eaten baby! It's all just rumour. And do you think eternal life is worth it, if the price is eating babies and incest? If not, why do you suppose we do? Tertullian paints a vivid and ridiculous picture of what a Christian life must be like, if the rumours have any foundation. But maybe you believe it, because you know that infant sacrifice to Cronos was still going on until very recently, right here in Africa. Maybe you remember that it is quite legal to drown an unwanted baby, or expose it. Do you suppose that these stern magistrates, baying for the blood of the Christians, might know something of infanticide and abortion? How cruel to snuff out a child in the womb, or in water. Grown-ups would rather die by iron. Ritual murder is already part of pagan religion, in specially convened games. As for incest, since you unbelievers screw around so much, and abandon your children to an unknown fate, incest for you must be a inevitable although unknown event! Christians are not homosexual, and are content with one wife. (ch 46).

Ad Nationes:
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03061.htm (Catholic Encyclopedia), Ad Nationes (Book I), Chapter 16: I am now come to the hour for extinguishing the lamps, and for using the dogs, and practising the deeds of darkness. And on this point I am afraid I must succumb to you; for what similar accusation shall I have to bring against you? But you should at once commend the cleverness with which we make our incest look modest, in that we have devised a spurious night, to avoid polluting the real light and darkness, and have even thought it right to dispense with earthly lights, and to play tricks also with our conscience. For whatever we do ourselves, we suspect in others when we choose (to be suspicious).

There are lots of incest examples in Ad Nationes: too many to cite.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14520c.htm (Catholic Encyclopedia), Tertullian (Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus):

The "Ad nationes" has for its entire object the refutation of calumnies against Christians. In the first place they are proved to repose on unreasoning hatred only; the procedure of trial is illogical; the offence is nothing but the name of Christian, which ought rather to be a title of honour; no proof is forthcoming of any crimes, only rumour; the first persecutor was Nero, the worst of emperors. Secondly, the individual charges are met; Tertullian challenges the reader to believe in anything so contrary to nature as the accusations of infanticide and incest. Your promiscuous lust causes you to be in danger of the incest of which you accuse us.

Miscellaneous:
http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/history/2_ch05.htm, HISTORY of the CHRISTIAN CHURCH: CHAPTER V: CHRISTIAN WORSHIP, 68. Celebration of the Eucharist:

At first the communion was joined with a LOVE FEAST, and was then celebrated in the evening, in memory of the last supper of Jesus with his disciples. But so early as the beginning of the second century these two exercises were separated, and the communion was placed in the morning, the love feast in the evening, except on certain days of special observance.410 Tertullian gives a detailed description of the Agape in refutation of the shameless calumnies of the heathens.411 But the growth of the churches and the rise of manifold abuses led to the gradual disuse, and in the fourth century even to the formal prohibition of the Agape, which belonged in fact only to the childhood and first love of the church.
(footnote):
411

Apol. c.39: "About the modest supper-room of the Christians alone a great ado is made. Our feast explains itself by its name. The Greeks call it love. Whatever it costs, our outlay in the name of piety is gain, since with the good things of the feast we benefit the needy, not as it is with you, do parasites aspire to the glory of satisfying their licentious propensities, selling themselves for a belly-feast to all disgraceful treatment-but as it is with God himself, a peculiar respect is shown to the lowly. If the object of our feast be good, in the light of that consider its further regulations. As it is an act of religious service, it permits no vileness or immodesty. The participants, before reclining, taste first of prayer to God. As much is eaten as satisfies the cravings of hunger; as much is drunk as befits the chaste. They say it is enough, as those who remember that even during the night they have to worship God; they talk as those who know that the Lord is one of their auditors. After the washing of hands and the bringing in of lights, each is asked to stand forth and sing, as he can, a hymn to God, either one from the holy Scriptures or one of his own composing-a proof of the measure of our drinking. As the feast commenced with prayer, so with prayer it closed. We go from it, not like troops of mischief-doers, nor bands of roamers, nor to break out into licentious acts, but to have aq ruucli care of our modesty and chastity as if we had been at a school of virtue rather than a banquet." (Translation from the "Ante-Nicene Library ").
http://books.google.com/books?id=VBN6r3cC6v0C&printsec=frontcover&vq=%22When+Children+Becam e+People:+The+Birth+Of+Childhood+In+Early#PPA124,M1, When Children Became People: The Birth

of Childhood in Early Christianity Google Books Result, by Odd Magne Bakke, 2005, p. 124, Abortion, Infanticide and Expositio, and Sexual Relations:

http://www.wishop.com/philosophy/BibleInfo/persecution_of_christians.htm, Persecution of Christians, Undermining the Family:

Christianity also disapproved of mixed marriages. Tertullian called the Pagan husbands of Christian women, "slaves of the Devil," because they objected to their wives going "round from street to street, to other men's cottages, especially those of the poor" or "even to exchange a kiss with one of the brethren." What were these supposedly respectable Christian housewives up to? It does not seem surprising that Roman husbands were puzzled or suspiciousespecially as the Christian "love feasts" had themselves a bad reputation.
The Encyclopdia Britannica, Vol. 1, 1910, p. 364, AGAP:

Tertullian defines debauchery as illicit that deserves to be condemned, showing that hes trying to cover for the accusations by agreeing with the reader that they are illegal. This also conveys that society eventually stopped the Agape-Feast, not because of something allowed, but more likely because of something that the powers of society didnt like. Again, free sex strongly upsets the prostitution and marriage trade. That cop-out that the Agape-Feast was condemned because it was sometimes bias with the food, doesnt make any sense to an intelligent person: Not equally sharing food to the poor is something I can see early Christians would try to correct, but condemning the Agape-Feast would eliminated even more food for the poor. Duh!

http://www.bible-history.com/nero/NEROThe_International_Standard_Bible.htm, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: NERO, "III. Nero's Reign | 5. Persecution of Christians":

Tertullian, Apol., xxi). (3) As Christianity formed a society apart from Roman society, all kinds of crimes were attributed to its followers, Thyestean feasts, nightly orgies, hostility to temples and images. These flagitia (esp., a shameful or disgraceful act done in the heat of passion, dissolute) seemed summed up in odium humani generis, "hatred for the human race."
The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity , Peter Brown, 1988, A Promiscuous Brotherhood and Sisterhood: Men and Women in The Early Churches, p. 153:

Tertullian, On Fasts (De Jejuniis) 17: I noticed this next to the word agape:
http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/02m/01600220,_Tertullianus,_De_Jejuniis,_MLT.pdf, Documenta Catholica Omnia: Tertullianus - De Jejuniis [0160-0220]: QUINTI SEPTIMII FLORENTIS TERTULLIANI DE JEJUNIIS, CAPUT XVII.:

In text: CAPUT XVII. [d] Vetus es, vers [4] si velimus dicere, tu [0977B] qui tantum gulae indulges, et merito te priorem jactitas; semper agnosco sapere Esau venatorem ferarum, ita passim indagandis turdis studes, ita de campo laxissimae disciplinae tuae venis, ita spiritu deficis, si tibi lenticulam defruto inrufatam obtulero, [e] statim toto primatus tuos vendes; apud te [f] agape in cacabis fervet, fides in culinis calet, spes in ferculis jacet. Sed major his [5] est agape (I Cor. XIII, 13), qui per hanc adolescentes tui cum sororibus dormiunt. Appendices scilicet gulae, lascivia atque luxuria [6], quam societatem et Apostolus sciens, cum praemisisset: Non in ebrietatibus, nec in comessationibus; adjunxit: nec in cubilibus et libidinibus. (Rom. XIII, 14.) Ad elogium gulae tuae pertinet, quod [g] duplex apud te praesidentibus honor binis

[0978A] partibus deputatur; cum Apostolus duplicem honorem dederit, ut et fratribus et praepositis. Verbatim translation from Latin: apud among te you [f] agape Christian love feast in in cacabis cooking fervet be hot, fides faith in in culinis kitchen calet be kept warm, spes hope / anticipation in in ferculis food tray jacet lie down. Sed But major large his these [5] esteat agape Christian love feast (I Cor. XIII, 13), qui who per during hanc this adolescentes young men tui you cum with sororibus sisters dormiunt sleep. Appendices Appendages scilicet one may know / certainly gulae appetite,lascivia lasciviousness / licentious / wantonness atque as well as luxuria grow luxuriantly / indulge oneself / excess / prodigality [6], quam who societatem fellowship / communion et and Apostolus Apostle sciens know / understand, cumwith praemisisset things sent in advance: Non not in in ebrietatibus drunkenness, nec nor in in comessationibus carousing / merry-making / revelry / Bacchanal procession/rioting; adjunxit attach: nec nor in in cubilibus bed etand libidinibus libidinous / lust / passion. (Rom. XIII, 14.) So, while waiting for the hot food to cool, the young men had sex with the sisters. But, Tertullian says you oughta not. By the way:
1 Cor. XIII, 13: And

now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is

love.
Rom. XIII, 14: But

put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to

fulfill its lusts. Again, lust is not just sexual desire, its intense, strong, passionate / sexual desire: like the burning that makes someone want another exclusively. As Jesus states in Matt. 5:28, its the desire / passion for the more attractive, rather than open / diverse sex. One just has to be smart enough to see that over what weve all been taught.

De Corona Militis, Chapter 3 (written 211 AD):

I noticed this context around the word coitus:
http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0247/_P3.HTM, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus: The chaplet (English translation of De corona militis): text , III.

Then when we are taken up (as new-born children), we taste first of all a mixture of milk and honey, and from that day we refrain from the daily bath for a whole week. We take also, in congregations before daybreak, and from the hand of none but

the presidents, the sacrament of the Eucharist, which the Lord both commanded to be eaten at meal-times, and enjoined to be taken by all alike. As often as the anniversary comes round, we make offerings for the dead as birthday honours. We count fasting or kneeling in worship on the Lord's day to be unlawful. We rejoice in the same privilege also from Easter to Whitsunday. We feel pained should any wine or bread, even though our own, be cast upon the ground. At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign. The above word used as congregations is coetibus in the Latin text:
http://www.tertullian.org/latin/de_corona.htm, Tertulliani liber De Corona Militis (Latin text), 3.3: Eucharistiae sacramentum, et in tempore uictus et omnibus mandatum a Domino, etiam antelucanis coetibus nec de aliorum manu quam praesidentium sumimus. http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe?coetibus (Latin word translator), coetibus: coet.ibus N 4 1 DAT P M coet.ibus N 4 1 ABL P M coetus, coetus N (4th) M [XXXBO](base form of the word) meeting, encounter, (political or illegal) assembly; union; band, gang, crowd; social intercourse (w/hominium), society, company; sexual intercourse; Harpers Latin Dictionary, Lewis and Short, 1979, p. 360, coetus:

Or (same Latin dictionary):

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgibin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%238902, Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, coetus:

coetus , us, v. 2. coitus. When clicking on coetus link:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgibin/morphindex?lang=la&lookup=coetus&bytepos=19633139&wordcount=1&embed=2&doc=Perseus%3 Atext%3A1999.04.0059:

coitus#2
coetus coets coets coets

sexual union masc nom sg masc acc pl masc nom pl masc gen sg

coetus

masc nom sg

I wonder if they used coitus interruptus?

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgibin/image?lookup=2000.02.0093&vers=Medium&oldvers=Small&old.x=0&old.y=0&zoom.x=411&zoom.y= 96, Greek and Roman Materials, Cast showing coitus

And whats that shes leaning upon? : The above word used as couch is cubilia in the Latin text:
http://www.tertullian.org/latin/de_corona.htm, Tertulliani liber De Corona Militis (Latin text), 3.4:

Ad omnem progressum atque promotum, ad omnem aditum et exitum, ad uestitum, ad calciatum, ad lauacra, ad mensas, ad lumina, ad cubilia, ad sedilia, quacumque nos conuersatio exercet, frontem signaculo terimus.
http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe?cubilia (Latin word translator), cubilia: cubil.ia N 3 4 NOM P N cubil.ia N 3 4 VOC P N cubil.ia N 3 4 ACC P N cubile, cubilis N (3rd) N [XXXBO] bed, couch, seat; marriage bed; lair, den, nest, pen, hive of bees; base, bed;

http://web.archive.org/web/20101227054104/http://goldenrule.name/Orgy_Tertullian.htm