908 T E R T U 
Fr.] Land; country; dominion; district.—Linger not in 
my territories longer than swiftest expedition will give thee 
time to leave our royal court. S/ia/cspeare. 
TE'RROR, s. [terror, Lat.; t.erreur, Fr.] Fear com¬ 
municated. 
The thunder when to roll 
With terrour through the dark aerial hall. Milton. 
Fear received. 
It is the cowish terrour of his spirit 
That dares not undertake. Sha/cspeare. 
The cause of fear.—So spake the grisly terrour. Milton. 
TERROWEH, a town and fortress of Hindostan, pro¬ 
vince of Allahabad, and district of Bundelcund. Lat. not 
ascertained. 
TERRY VILLE, a post village of the United States, in 
Mecklenburg county, Virginia. 
TERSE, adj. [ters, Fr.; tersus, Lat.] Smooth. Not 
in use. —Many stones precious and vulgar, although terse 
and smooth, have not this power attractive. Brown .— 
Cleanly written; neat; elegant without pompousness. 
To raw numbers and unfinish’d verse. 
Sweet sound is added now to make it terse. Dryden. 
TE'RSELY, adv. Neatly: used ironically by Ben Jon- 
son.—Fastidius Brisk, a courtier,—speaks good remnants; 
swears tersely, and with variety! B. Jonson. 
TE'RSENESS, s. Smoothness or neatness of style.— 
They [Ogden’s Sermons] display that perfect propriety and 
purity of English diction, that chastised terseness of com¬ 
position, which has scarcely been equalled by any writer. 
Wakefield. 
TE'RTIAN, s. [tertiana, Lat.] Is an ague intermitting 
but one day, so that there are two fits in three days.— Ter¬ 
tians of a long continuance do most menace this symptom. 
Harvey. 
To TE'RTIATE, v. a. [tertio, tertius, Lat.] To do 
any thing the third time. 
TERTRE (John Baptist du), a missionary, and writer of 
history, was born at Calais in 1610; and having served in 
the army in early life, he joined the Dominicans at Paris, and 
made his profession in 1635, assuming the name of John- 
Baptist instead of James. About five years afterwards, he 
was sent as a missionary to the French American islands, 
where he collected materials for the work which engaged his 
attention after his return to France in 1658; that was his 
“ Histoire Generale des Antilles habitees par les Francois;” 
4 vols. 4to., 1667—71. After having filled various posts in 
the houses of his order, he died at Paris in 1687. Moreri. 
TERTULLIAN (Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus), 
generally reckoned the most ancient Latin father extant, was 
born at Carthage, not long after the middle of the second 
century. He was the son of a preconsular centurion, or mili¬ 
tary officer under the proconsul of Africa, and well ac¬ 
quainted with the Roman laws, though he does not seem to 
have practised the law as a profession. He was also intimately 
conversant with the Greek and Roman poets, historians, 
orators, and philosophers, and other heathen writers of every 
description. His skill in Greek was so considerable, that 
he wrote several books in that language. It has been inferred 
from his parentage, and from some expressions in his works, 
that he was once a Heathen; but the time and circumstances 
of his conversion to Christianity are not known. Cave sup¬ 
poses that he embraced Christianity about the year 185, and 
was made a presbyter of the church of Carthage about the 
year 192. According to Du Pin, he flourished chiefly from 
about the year 194 to 216. Tillemont is of opinion that he 
was born in 160, and that he died about the year 245, when 
he was between 80 and 90 years of age, having lived, as St. 
Jerome says, to an extreme, or decrepit, old age. Cave con¬ 
jectures that he died about the year 220. It is said that he 
was married, probably after his conversion to Christianity. 
Having been a member of the Catholic church for many 
years, he separated from it and became a Montanist, as Cave 
says, about the year 199, but about 205, according to Tille- 
L L I A N. 
mont. Different accounts have been given of this change; 
but the most probable seems to be, that the specious pre¬ 
tences of the Montanists to greater mortification in fasts and 
continence had an influence on his temper, which was severe. 
But whatever might have been his reasons for adopting the 
principles of Montanism, they seem to have made so little 
alteration in him as an author, that there are several of his 
pieces, concerning which it is not easy to determine, whether 
they were written by Tertullian a Montanist, or Tertullian 
still a Catholic. Although, in consequence of this change, 
his reputation sunk in the church, yet it produced no separa¬ 
tion between him and other Christians, except in point of 
discipline, which, agreeably to his temper, he wished to be 
harsh and rigorous. His doctrine remained the same with 
that of the Catholics. In process of time, however, he 
believed the divine inspiration ofMontanus and his two 
prophetesses, Priscilla and Maximilla, and that they were 
thus enabled to make further discoveries than had before been 
made, for the greater perfection of Christians. He approved 
of the longer, more strict, and more frequent fasts of the 
Montanists; he condemned all second marriages; and denied 
that the church was authorised to receive again into com¬ 
munion any who were chargeable with fornication, adultery, 
or any such offences, after baptism. He often arrogantly 
calls his own people spiritual, and the Catholics, as con¬ 
temptuously, animal or carnal. We have already observed 
that his knowlege was extensive; his fancy also was lively; 
and though his temper was severe, and his mode of expres¬ 
sion vehement and positive, yet his writings frequently 
manifest unaffected humility and modesty. The character 
given of his style by Lactantius must be universally allowed; 
that it is “ rugged and unpolished, and very obscure;” and 
yet, as Cave observes, “ it is lofty and masculine, and carries 
a kind of majestic eloquence along with it, that gives a 
pleasant relish to the judicious and inquisitive reader.” His 
books still extant, though many are lost, are numerous, some 
of which were written before and others after he embraced 
the errors of Montanism. Of these, the Apology is reckoned 
his principal work; and has been highly commended both 
by ancient and modern writers; whilst his other perform¬ 
ances are written with wit and force, and are edifying and 
instructive. The time when his “ Apology” was written has 
been differently stated by various authors; some refer it to 
the year 200, others to 203 and 205 ; but Mosheim, after 
laborious examination, concludes that it was composed in 
the year 198. All allow that it was written before he joined 
the Montanists. Learned men generally agree, that it was 
not addressed to the senate of Rome, but to the governors of 
provinces, or perhaps to the preconsul of Africa, and the 
chief magistrates residing at Carthage, where it was written, 
according to Lardner; though others are of opinion that it was 
written at Rome. From this Apology, it appears that Christians 
underwent a variety of grievous sufferings; they were, as he 
says, “ crucified, "hung upon stakes, burnt alive, thrown to 
wild beasts, condemned to the mines, and banished into 
desert islands.” That this was the case, appears also from 
Tertullian’s book to the proconsul Scapula, not written before 
the year 211 or 212. The “Apology” is written for the 
purpose of shewing the injustice of the persecutions inflicted 
upon Christians, and the falsehood of the charges brought 
against them ; and likewise to display the excellence of the 
Christian religion, and the folly and absurdity of that of the 
Heathens. His two books “ Ad Nationes” are connected 
with his Apology, and indicate his characteristic vehemence. 
His address to Scapula, already mentioned, was written 
under the emperor Caracalla, and contains an avowal of ad¬ 
mirable principles. “ It ought,” lie says, “ to be left to the 
free choice of men, to embrace that religion which seems to 
them most agreeable to truth. No one is injured or bene¬ 
fited by another man’s religion: it is not an act of religion 
to force religion, which ought to be adopted spontaneously, 
not by compulsion.” He proceeds to vindicate the conduct 
of Christians, and to shew that their religious principles 
induced them to pay entire obedience to the emperors, and 
that therefore they did not deserve to incur the penalties of 
treason. 
