The third-century martyr text that tells the story of Perpetua and her coreligionists as they witnessed to their faith in Carthage—the Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas—is much beloved by modern readers. It purports to be Perpetua's prison diary, and, as such, it is the earliest writing by a Christian woman that has been preserved. In the fifth century, two shorter texts—the Acts—were written that recount in quite different ways the experiences of these North African Christians. In this essay, I explore the ways these shorter accounts reimagine the original text as well as the possible motives for doing so. The fifth-century author did not merely shorten the Passion; he made marked changes to it. It presents, for instance, a dramatic change in the death scene: whereas the Passion narrates Perpetua drawing the gladiator's sword to her own throat, the Acts report that she was killed by a lion. An analysis of these revisions to the Passion suggest the author was working from an Augustinian perspective. The author revised the Passion to deny the Donatists’ claims to the Carthaginian martyrs. The author's revision of Perpetua's death, therefore, is best understood as a rejection of Donatist desires for martyrdom.

中文翻译：

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角斗士自杀？北非背景下的 Perpetua 和 Felicitas 行为

3 世纪的殉道者文本，讲述了 Perpetua 和她的同教信徒见证他们对迦太基的信仰的故事——Perpetua 和 Felicitas 的激情——深受现代读者的喜爱。它声称是 Perpetua 的监狱日记，因此，它是被保存下来的最早的基督徒女性著作。在五世纪，两部较短的文本——使徒行传——以完全不同的方式叙述了这些北非基督徒的经历。在这篇文章中，我探讨了这些较短的叙述重新构想原始文本的方式以及这样做的可能动机。5 世纪的作者不仅缩短了热情; 他对它进行了显着的修改。例如，它呈现了死亡场景的戏剧性变化：虽然《受难记》叙述了 Perpetua 将角斗士的剑拔到自己的喉咙上，但《使徒行传》却报道了她被狮子杀死。对《受难记》的这些修订的分析表明，作者是从奥古斯丁的角度工作的。作者修改了《受难记》，以否认多纳特主义者对迦太基烈士的主张。因此，作者对 Perpetua 之死的修正最好理解为对多纳特主义殉难欲望的拒绝。