Divine Institutes 1.23.1–2.3.25
Latin text: CSEL 19 (Latin text: S. Brandt (CSEL 19, 1890), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7 (1886).
Divine 1, chapter 23
1.23.1CSEL 19:92–93
Nunc, quoniam uanarum superstitionum originem deprehendimus, superest ut etiam tempora colligamus, per quae fuerint illi quorum memoria colitur.
Now, since we have found the origin of vain superstitions, it remains for us also to gather the times in which those lived whose memory is worshipped.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius now dates the deified men.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 1.23.1 (CSEL 19:92–93; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-1-23-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
1.23.2CSEL 19:93
Theophilus in libro de temporibus ad Autolycum scripto ait in historia sua Thallum dicere quod Belus, quem Babylonii et Assyrii colunt, antiquior Troiano bello fuisse inueniatur annis trecentis uiginti duobus, Belum autem Saturni aequalem fuisse et utrumque uno tempore adoleuisse. quod adeo uerum est, ut ratione ipsa colligi possit.
Theophilus, in the book On the Times written to Autolycus, says that Thallus says in his history that Belus, whom the Babylonians and Assyrians worship, is found to have been three hundred and twenty-two years older than the Trojan War, and that Belus was a contemporary of Saturn and both grew up at the same time. This is so true that it can be gathered by reason itself.
Notes and citation
Summary: Theophilus, citing Thallus, dates Belus and Saturn 322 years before the Trojan War.
- Theophilus, To Autolycus 3.29.
Extrabiblical texts: Theophilus, Autol. 3.29 (To Autolycus; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 1.23.2 (CSEL 19:93; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-1-23-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
1.23.3CSEL 19:93
nam et Agamemnon, qui gessit Troicum bellum, Iouis abnepos fuit et Achilles Aiaxque pronepotes, et Ulixes eodem gradu proximus, Priamus quidem longa serie.... sed auctores quidam tradunt Dardanum et Iasium Corythi filios fuisse, non Iouis: nec enim si ita fuisset, ad usus inpudicos Ganymeden pronepotem suum habere potuisset.
For Agamemnon, who waged the Trojan War, was the great-great-grandson of Jupiter, and Achilles and Ajax his great-grandsons, and Ulysses next in the same degree, Priam indeed by a long line.... But some authors report that Dardanus and Iasius were sons of Corythus, not of Jupiter; for if it had been so, he could not have had his own great-grandson Ganymede for shameful uses.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: The genealogies of the Trojan War heroes place Jupiter a few generations earlier.
- The text has a gap after "by a long line".
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (n for u); OCR slip (p for e)): nam pt Agamemnon → nam et Agamemnon; non Ionis → non Iouis.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 1.23.3 (CSEL 19:93; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-1-23-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
1.23.4CSEL 19:93
itaque parentibus illorum quos supra nominaui si congruentes annos diuidas, numerus consentiet. ab excidio autem Troianae urbis colliguntur anni mille quadringenti septuaginta.
So if you assign fitting years to the parents of those I named above, the number will agree. And from the destruction of the city of Troy one thousand four hundred and seventy years are counted.
Notes and citation
Summary: The count agrees, and 1,470 years have passed since Troy fell.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 1.23.4 (CSEL 19:93; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-1-23-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
1.23.5CSEL 19:93–94
ex hac temporum ratione manifestum est ante annos non amplius quam mille octingentos natum esse Saturnum, qui sator omnium deorum fuit. non ergo isti glorientur sacrorum uetustate, quorum et origo et ratio et tempora deprehensa sunt.
From this reckoning of times it is clear that Saturn, who was the sower of all the gods, was born not more than eighteen hundred years ago. So let them not boast of the antiquity of their rites, whose origin, reason, and times have been discovered.
Notes and citation
Summary: Saturn lived no more than 1,800 years ago, so pagan rites are not truly ancient.
- Sator ("sower") plays on Saturnus.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 1.23.5 (CSEL 19:93–94; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-1-23-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
1.23.6CSEL 19:94
Restant adhuc aliqua quae ad coarguendas religiones falsas plurimum ualeant, sed iam finem libro facere decreui, ne modum excedat.
Some things still remain that would be very effective for refuting false religions, but I have now decided to end the book, lest it exceed due measure.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius ends the book, leaving further arguments for later.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 1.23.6 (CSEL 19:94; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-1-23-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
1.23.7CSEL 19:94
ea enim plenius sunt exequenda, ut omnibus refutatis quae ueritati uidentur obstare homines qui bonorum ignorantia uagantur incerti ad religionem ueram possimus inbuere.
For these things must be pursued more fully, so that, having refuted everything that seems to stand in the way of truth, we may be able to instruct in true religion men who wander uncertain through ignorance of good things.
Notes and citation
Summary: Refuting error prepares people for true religion.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (m for ni)): ommbus → omnibus.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 1.23.7 (CSEL 19:94; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-1-23-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
1.23.8CSEL 19:94
primus autem sapientiae gradus est falsa intellegere, secundus uera cognoscere. ergo aput quem prima haec
The first step of wisdom is to understand what is false, the second to know what is true. So anyone with whom this first
Notes and citation
Summary: Wisdom begins with recognizing falsehood and then knowing truth.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 1.23.8 (CSEL 19:94; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-1-23-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
1.23.9CSEL 19:94–95
institutio nostra profecerit, qua falsa deteximus, excitabitur ad ueri cognitionem, qua nulla est homini iucundior uoluptas, et erit iam caelestis disciplinae sapientia dignus, qui ad cognoscenda cetera libens ac paratus accesserit.
instruction of ours has made progress, in which we have uncovered what is false, will be stirred to the knowledge of the truth, than which no pleasure is sweeter to man; and he will now be worthy of the wisdom of the heavenly teaching who comes willingly and ready to learn the rest.
Notes and citation
Summary: Whoever has learned this will be ready to seek the truth of heavenly teaching.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 1.23.9 (CSEL 19:94–95; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-1-23-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 2, chapter 1
2.1.1CSEL 19:95
Quamquam primo libro religiones deorum falsas esse monstrauerim, quod ii quorum uarios dissimilesque cultus per uniuersam terram consensus hominum stulta persuasione suscepit, mortales fuerint functique uita diuinae necessitati morte concesserint, tamen ne qua dubitatio relinquatur, hic secundus liber fontem ipsum patefaciet errorum causasque omnes explicabit, quibus decepti homines et primitus deos esse crediderint et postmodum persuasione inueterata in susceptis prauissime religionibus perseuerauerint.
Although in the first book I have shown that the religions of the gods are false, because those whose various and unlike cults the consent of men has taken up throughout the whole earth by foolish persuasion were mortal and, having finished their lives, yielded to the divine necessity by death, yet so that no doubt may remain, this second book will lay open the very fountain of errors and explain all the causes by which men were deceived, both at first believing that there are gods and afterwards, by inveterate persuasion, persisting in religions most wrongly adopted.
Notes and citation
Summary: Book 2 will explain the source of error and why people persist in false religions.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.1 (CSEL 19:95; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.2CSEL 19:95
gestio enim conuictis inanus et hominum inpia uanitate detecta singularis dei adserere maiestatem, suscipiens utilius et maius officium reuocandi homines a prauis itineribus et in gratiam secum ipsos reducendi, ne se, ut quidam philosophi faciunt, tanto opere despiciant neue se infirmos et superuacuos et nihili et frustra omnino natos putent, quae opinio plerosque ad uitia compellit.
For I am eager, once these empty things are refuted and men's impious vanity exposed, to assert the majesty of the one God, undertaking the more useful and greater task of calling men back from crooked ways and reconciling them with themselves, so that they may not, as certain philosophers do, despise themselves so greatly, nor think themselves weak, superfluous, worthless, and born entirely in vain; for that opinion drives most people to vice.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius wants to show God's majesty and to keep people from thinking their lives worthless.
- The word rendered "empty things" (inanus) is doubtful in the digital text; translated by the sense.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.2 (CSEL 19:95; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.3CSEL 19:95
nam dum existimant nulli deo esse nos curae aut post mortem nihil futuros, totos se libidinibus addicunt et dum licere sibi putant, hauriendis uoluptatibus sitienter incumbunt, per quas inprudentes in laqueos mortis incurrant.
For while they suppose that we are of concern to no god, or that after death we shall be nothing, they give themselves wholly to lusts and, thinking it permitted to them, apply themselves thirstily to draining pleasures, through which they run unawares into the snares of death.
Notes and citation
Summary: Believing God does not care or that death ends all, people run after pleasures into death's snares.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (ni for m)): nani dum → nam dum.
Topics: Ethics, Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.3 (CSEL 19:95; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.4CSEL 19:95–96
ignorant enim quae sit hominis ratio: quam si tenere uellent, in primis dominum suum agnoscerent, uirtutem iustitiamque sequerentur, terrenis figmentis animas suas non substernerent, mortiferas libidinum suauitates non adpeterent, denique se ipsos magni aestimarent atque intellegerent plus esse in homine quam uidetur: cuius uim condicionemque non aliter posse retineri, nisi cultum ueri parentis sui deposita prauitate susceperint.
For they do not know what the purpose of man is. If they wished to hold it, they would first acknowledge their Lord, follow virtue and justice, not subject their souls to earthly images, not seek the deadly sweetness of lusts; in short, they would value themselves highly and understand that there is more in man than appears, whose power and condition cannot be kept unless, putting away perversity, they take up the worship of their true Father.
Notes and citation
Summary: Knowing man's purpose would lead people to worship God and live justly.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.4 (CSEL 19:95–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.5CSEL 19:96
equidem sicut oportet de summa rerum saepenumero cogitans admirari soleo, maiestatem dei singularis quae continet regitque omnia in tantam uenisse obliuionem, ut quae sola debeat coli, sola potissimum neclegatur, homines autem ipsos ad tantam caecitatem esse deductos, ut uero ac uiuo deo mortuos praeferant, terrenos autem sepultosque in terra ei qui fundator ipsius terrae fuit.
For my part, as I often reflect, as one should, on the whole of things, I am accustomed to wonder that the majesty of the one God, which holds together and rules all things, has come into such oblivion that what alone ought to be worshipped is above all alone neglected, and that men themselves have been led into such blindness that they prefer the dead to the true and living God, and earthly beings buried in the earth to him who was the founder of the earth itself.
Notes and citation
Summary: It is astonishing that people neglect the one living God for the dead.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.5 (CSEL 19:96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.6CSEL 19:96
et tamen huic inpietati hominum posset uenia concedi, si omnino ab ignorantia diuini nominis ueniret hic error. cum uero ipsos deorum cultores saepe uideamus deum summum et confiteri et praedicare, quam sibi ueniam sperare possint inpietatis suae qui non adgnoscunt cultum eius, quem prorsus ignorari ab homine fas non est?
And yet pardon could be granted to this impiety of men if this error came wholly from ignorance of the divine name. But since we often see the very worshippers of the gods both confessing and proclaiming the supreme God, what pardon can they hope for their impiety who do not acknowledge the worship of him whom it is not right for man to be wholly ignorant of?
Notes and citation
Summary: Pagans who acknowledge the supreme God yet do not worship him have no excuse.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.6 (CSEL 19:96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.7CSEL 19:96
nam et cum iurant et cum optant et cum gratias agunt, non Iouem aut deos multos, sed deum nominant: adeo ueritas ipsa cogente natura etiam ab inuitis pectoribus erumpit.
For when they swear, when they wish, and when they give thanks, they name not Jupiter or many gods but God: so truly does the truth itself, under nature's compulsion, burst out even from unwilling hearts.
Notes and citation
Summary: People instinctively say "God" when swearing, wishing, or thanking.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.7 (CSEL 19:96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.8CSEL 19:96–97
quod quidem non faciunt in prosperis rebus. nam tum maxime deus ex memoria hominum elabitur, cum beneficiis eius fruentes honorem dare diuinae indulgentiae debent.
They do not do this in prosperity, however. For then above all God slips from the memory of men, when, enjoying his benefits, they ought to give honour to the divine kindness.
Notes and citation
Summary: In prosperity people forget God.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.8 (CSEL 19:96–97; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.9CSEL 19:97
at uero si qua necessitas grauis presserit, tunc deum recordantur: si belli terror infremuit, si morborum pestifera uis incubuit, si alimenta frugibus longa siccitas denegauit, si saeua tempestas, si grando ingruit, ad deum confugitur, a deo petitur auxilium, deus ut subueniat oratur.
But if some heavy necessity presses them, then they remember God. If the terror of war has roared, if the deadly force of disease has settled on them, if long drought has denied food from the crops, if a savage storm or hail has fallen, they flee to God, help is sought from God, God is prayed to come to their aid.
Notes and citation
Summary: In war, plague, drought, or storm people turn to God.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR)): ingruit., → ingruit,.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.9 (CSEL 19:97; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.10CSEL 19:97
si quis in mari uento saeuiente iactatur, hunc inuocat, si quis aliqua ui adflictatur, hunc potius inplorat, si quis ad extremam mendicandi necessitatem deductus uictum precibus exposcit, deum solum obtestatur, per eius diuinum atque unicum nomen hominum sibi misericordiam quaerit.
If anyone is tossed at sea in a raging wind, it is he whom he invokes; if anyone is afflicted by some violence, it is he rather whom he implores; if anyone, brought to the last necessity of begging, asks for food by prayers, he calls on God alone and seeks men's pity for himself by his divine and unique name.
Notes and citation
Summary: The endangered and the poor call on God alone.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.10 (CSEL 19:97; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.11CSEL 19:97
numquam igitur dei meminerunt, nisi dum in malis sunt: postquam metus deseruit et pericula recesserunt, tum uero alacres ad deorum templa concurrunt, his libant, his sacrificant, hos coronant.
So they never remember God except while they are in trouble. After fear has left them and dangers have receded, then they eagerly run together to the temples of the gods; to these they pour libations, to these they sacrifice, these they crown with garlands.
Notes and citation
Summary: Once danger passes, people thank the idols instead of God.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.11 (CSEL 19:97; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.12CSEL 19:97
deo autem quem in ipsa necessitate implorauerant, ne uerbo quidem gratias agunt. adeo ex rerum prosperitate luxuria, ex luxuria uero ut uitia omnia sic inpietas aduersus deum nascitur.
But to God, whom they had implored in their very need, they do not give thanks even with a word. So true is it that from prosperity comes luxury, and from luxury, as every vice, so impiety toward God is born.
Notes and citation
Summary: Prosperity breeds luxury, and luxury breeds impiety toward God.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.12 (CSEL 19:97; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.13CSEL 19:97
quanam istut ex causa fieri putemus nisi esse aliquam peruersam potestatem, quae ueritati sit semper inimica, quae humanis erroribus gaudeat, cui unum ac perpetuum sit opus offundere tenebras et hominum caecare mentes, ne lucem uideant, ne denique in caelum aspiciant ac naturam corporis sui seruent?
For what cause are we to think this happens, except that there is some perverse power, always hostile to the truth, which rejoices in human errors, whose one and perpetual work is to pour out darkness and blind the minds of men, so that they may not see the light, nor, in short, look up to heaven and keep the nature of their own bodies?
Notes and citation
Summary: A perverse power hostile to truth blinds people so they do not look to heaven.
- The devil, treated later in this book.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.13 (CSEL 19:97; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.14CSEL 19:97–98
nam cum ceterae animantes pronis corporibus in humum spectent, quia rationem ac sapientiam non acceperunt, nobis autem status rectus, sublimis uultus ab artifice deo datus sit, apparet istas religiones deorum non esse rationis humanae, quia curuant caeleste animal ad ueneranda terrena.
For while the other living creatures look to the ground with bodies bent down, because they have not received reason and wisdom, while to us an upright posture and a lofty face have been given by God the Maker, it is clear that these religions of the gods are not of human reason, because they bend a heavenly creature down to venerate earthly things.
Notes and citation
Summary: Humans are made upright to look to heaven, so idol worship goes against their nature.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.14 (CSEL 19:97–98; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.15CSEL 19:98
parens enim noster ille unus et solus cum fingeret hominem id est animal intellegens et rationis capax, eum uero ex humo subleuatum ad contemplationem sui artificis erexit. quod optime ingeniosus poeta signauit: pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terram, os homini sublime dedit caelumque uidere iussit et erectos ad sidera tollere uultus.
For that one and only Parent of ours, when he formed man, that is, a creature intelligent and capable of reason, raised him from the ground and set him upright to contemplate his Maker. This the ingenious poet expressed excellently: "And while the other animals bend down and look at the earth, he gave man a lofty face and bade him see the heaven and raise his upturned face to the stars."
Notes and citation
Summary: God made man upright to contemplate him, as Ovid says.
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.84–86.
Extrabiblical texts: Ovid, Metam. 1.84–86 (Ovid; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.15 (CSEL 19:98; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.16CSEL 19:98
hinc utique ἄνθρωπον Graeci appellauerunt, quod sursum spectet. ipsi ergo sibi renuntiant seque hominum nomine abdicant qui non sursum aspiciunt, sed deorsum: nisi forte id ipsum quod recti sumus sine causa homini adtributum putant.
Hence, surely, the Greeks called him anthrōpos, because he looks upward. Those, then, who look not upward but downward renounce themselves and disown the name of men; unless perhaps they think that the very fact that we are upright was given to man without a reason.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Greek word for man means "one who looks up"; those who look down disown their humanity.
- A popular etymology of ἄνθρωπος.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.16 (CSEL 19:98; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.17CSEL 19:98
spectare nos caelum deus uoluit utique non frustra. nam et aues et ex mutis paene omnia caelum uident, sed nobis proprie datum est caelum rigidis ac stantibus intueri, ut religionem ibi quaeramus, ut deum, cuius illa sedes est, quoniam oculis non possumus, animo contemplemur: quod profecto non facit qui aes aut lapidem, quae sunt terrena, ueneratur.
God wished us to look at the heaven, and surely not in vain. For both birds and almost all dumb creatures see the heaven, but to us it is given in a special way to gaze at heaven upright and standing, so that we may seek religion there, so that we may contemplate with the mind God, whose seat it is, since we cannot with our eyes. This he certainly does not do who venerates bronze or stone, which are earthly.
Notes and citation
Summary: Humans stand upright to seek God in heaven, not to venerate earthly bronze or stone.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.17 (CSEL 19:98; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-17).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.18CSEL 19:98–99
est autem prauissimum, cum ratio corporis recta sit, quod est temporale, ipsum uero animum, qui sit aeternus, humilem fieri, cum figura et status nihil aliut significet nisi mentem hominis eo spectare oportere quo uultum, et animum tam rectum esse debere quam corpus, ut id cui dominari debet imitetur.
It is most perverse that the posture of the body, which is temporal, should be upright, while the soul itself, which is eternal, is made lowly, since the figure and posture signify nothing else than that the mind of man ought to look where his face looks, and that the soul ought to be as upright as the body, so as to imitate what it ought to rule.
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul should be as upright as the body, looking where the face looks.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.18 (CSEL 19:98–99; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-18).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.1.19CSEL 19:99
uerum homines et nominis sui et rationis obliti oculos suos ab alto deiciunt soloque defigunt ac timent opera digitorum suorum, quasi uero quicquam esse possit artifice suo maius.
But men, forgetting both their name and their reason, cast their eyes down from on high, fix them on the ground, and fear the works of their own fingers, as if anything could be greater than its maker.
Notes and citation
Summary: People look down and fear the works of their own hands.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.1.19 (CSEL 19:99; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-1-19).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 2, chapter 2
2.2.1CSEL 19:99
Quae igitur amentia est aut ea fingere quae ipsi postmodum timeant aut timere quae finxerint? non ipsa inquiunt timemus, sed eos ad quorum imaginem ficta et quorum nominibus consecrata sunt. nempe ideo timetis, quod eos in caelo esse arbitramini: neque enim, si dii sunt, aliter fieri potest.
What madness is it, then, either to fashion things which they themselves afterwards fear, or to fear things which they have fashioned? "We do not fear the things themselves," they say, "but those in whose likeness they were fashioned and to whose names they were consecrated." Surely you fear them because you think they are in heaven; for if they are gods, it cannot be otherwise.
Notes and citation
Summary: Idolaters say they fear not the images but the gods they represent, who must be in heaven.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.1 (CSEL 19:99; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.2CSEL 19:99
cur igitur oculos non in caelum tollitis et aduocatis eorum nominibus in aperto sacrificia celebratis? cur ad parietes et ligna et lapides potissimum quam illo spectetis, ubi eos esse credatis? quid sibi templa, quid arae uolunt, quid denique ipsa simulacra, quae aut mortuorum aut absentium monumenta sunt?
Why then do you not lift your eyes to heaven and, calling on their names, celebrate sacrifices in the open? Why do you look at walls and wood and stones rather than there, where you believe them to be? What do temples mean, what do altars mean, what finally do the images themselves mean, which are memorials either of the dead or of the absent?
Notes and citation
Summary: If the gods are in heaven, why worship walls, wood, and stone?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.2 (CSEL 19:99; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.3CSEL 19:99
nam omnino fingendarum similitudinum ratio idcirco ab hominibus inuenta est, ut posset eorum memoria retineri qui uel morte subtracti uel absentia fuerant separati.
For the practice of making likenesses was invented by men altogether so that the memory of those could be kept who had been taken away by death or separated by absence.
Notes and citation
Summary: Images were invented to remember the dead or absent.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.3 (CSEL 19:99; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.4CSEL 19:99
deos igitur in quorum numero reponemus? si in mortuorum, quis tam stultus ut colat? si in absentium, colendi ergo non sunt, si nec uident quae facimus nec audiunt quae precamur.
Among which, then, shall we place the gods? If among the dead, who is so foolish as to worship them? If among the absent, then they are not to be worshipped, if they neither see what we do nor hear what we pray.
Notes and citation
Summary: Gods who are dead or absent should not be worshipped.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.4 (CSEL 19:99; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.5CSEL 19:99–100
si autem dii absentes esse non possunt, qui quoniam diuini sunt, in quacumque parte mundi fuerint, uident et audiunt uniuersa, superuacua sunt ergo simulacra illis ubique praesentibus, cum satis sit audientium nomina precibus aduocare.
But if gods cannot be absent, since, being divine, in whatever part of the world they are, they see and hear everything, then images are superfluous, since they are present everywhere; it is enough to call on their names in prayer, since they hear.
Notes and citation
Summary: If the gods are everywhere, images are unnecessary.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.5 (CSEL 19:99–100; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.6CSEL 19:100
at enim praesentes non nisi ad imagines suas adsunt. ita plane: quemadmodum uulgus existimat mortuorum animas circa tumulos et corporum suorum reliquias oberrare.
"But they are present only at their images." Just so: as the common people think that the souls of the dead wander around their tombs and the remains of their bodies.
Notes and citation
Summary: Saying gods are present only at their images is like believing ghosts haunt tombs.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.6 (CSEL 19:100; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.7CSEL 19:100
set tamen postquam deus ille praesto esse coepit, iam simulacro eius opus non est. quaero enim, si quis imaginem hominis peregre constituti contempletur saepius, ut ex ea solacium capiat absentis, num idem sanus esse uideatur, si eo reuerso atque praesente in contemplanda imagine perseueret eaque potius quam ipsius hominis aspectu frui uelit?
But even so, once that god has begun to be present, his image is no longer needed. For I ask: if someone often gazes at the image of a man who is abroad, to take comfort from it for his absence, would he seem sane if, when the man has returned and is present, he went on gazing at the image and preferred to enjoy it rather than the sight of the man himself?
Notes and citation
Summary: No sane person prefers a portrait to the friend who has come home.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.7 (CSEL 19:100; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.8CSEL 19:100
minime profecto. et tamen hominis imago necessaria tum uidetur, cum procul abest, superuacua futura, cum praesto est, dei autem, cuius numen ac spiritus ubique diffusus abesse numquam potest, semper utique superuacua est.
Certainly not. And yet a man's image seems necessary when he is far away and will be superfluous when he is present; but the image of God, whose divinity and spirit are spread everywhere and can never be absent, is always superfluous.
Notes and citation
Summary: Since God is never absent, an image of him is always superfluous.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.8 (CSEL 19:100; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.9CSEL 19:100
sed uerentur ne omnis illorum religio inanis sit et uana, si nihil in praesenti uideant quod adorent, et ideo simulacra constituunt, quae quia mortuorum sunt imagines, similia sunt mortuis: omni enim sensu carent.
But they fear that their whole religion would be empty and vain if they saw nothing present to adore; and so they set up images, which, because they are images of the dead, are like the dead: for they lack all sense.
Notes and citation
Summary: Idolaters need something visible, but their images, like the dead, lack sense.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.9 (CSEL 19:100; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.10CSEL 19:100
dei autem in aeternum uiuentis uiuum et sensibile debet esse simulacrum. quod si a similitudine id nomen accepit, qui possunt ista simulacra deo similia iudicari quae nec sentiunt nec mouentur? itaque simulacrum dei non illut est quod, digitis hominis ex lapide aut aere aliaue materia fabricatur, sed ipse homo, quoniam et sentit et mouetur et multas magnasque actiones habet.
But the image of the God who lives forever ought to be living and sensible. If it took that name from likeness, how can those images be judged like God which neither feel nor move? So the image of God is not that which is made by human fingers out of stone or bronze or other material, but man himself, since he both feels and moves and has many great activities.
Gen 1:27 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The true image of the living God is man, not a statue.
- Compare Gen 1:26–27.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slips (m for in; umentis for uiuentis)): m aeternum umentis → in aeternum uiuentis.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.10 (CSEL 19:100; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.11CSEL 19:100–101
nec intellegunt homines ineptissimi quod, si sentire simulacra et moueri possent, ultro adoratura hominem fuissent a quo sunt expolita: quae essent aut incultus et horridus lapis aut materia informis ac rudis, nisi fuissent ab homine formata.
Nor do these most foolish men understand that, if images could feel and move, they would of their own accord have adored the man by whom they were polished; for they would be either rough, unshaped stone or shapeless, raw material, had they not been formed by man.
Notes and citation
Summary: If images could feel, they would worship the man who made them.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (n for u)): ant materia → aut materia.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.11 (CSEL 19:100–101; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.12CSEL 19:101
homo igitur illorum quasi parens putandus est, per cuius manus nata sunt, per quem figuram speciem pulchritudinem habere coeperunt, et ideo melior qui fecit quam illa quae facta sunt.
Man, then, is to be regarded as their parent, as it were, by whose hands they were born, through whom they began to have figure, appearance, and beauty; and therefore he who made them is better than the things made.
Notes and citation
Summary: The maker of an image is better than the image.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.12 (CSEL 19:101; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.13CSEL 19:101
et tamen factorem ipsum nemo suspicit aut ueretur: quae fecit timent, tamquam possit plus esse in opere quam in opifice.
And yet no one looks up to or reveres the maker himself: they fear what he made, as if there could be more in the work than in the workman.
Notes and citation
Summary: People fear the work but not its maker.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.13 (CSEL 19:101; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.14CSEL 19:101
recte igitur Seneca in libris moralibus simulacra inquit deorum uenerantur, illis supplicant genu posito, illa adorant, illis per totum adsident diem aut adstant, illis stipem iaciunt, uictimas caedunt: et cum haec tanto opere suspiciant, fabros qui illa fecere contemnunt.
Rightly, then, Seneca says in his moral books: "They venerate the images of the gods, pray to them on bended knee, adore them, sit or stand by them all day long, throw them coins, slaughter victims; and while they look up to these things so greatly, they despise the craftsmen who made them."
Notes and citation
Summary: Seneca notes that people adore statues but despise the sculptors.
- Seneca, Books of Moral Philosophy (lost; fragment).
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca (Seneca; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.14 (CSEL 19:101; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.15CSEL 19:101
quid inter se tam contrarium quam statuarium despicere, statuam adorare et eum ne in conuictum quidem admittere qui tibi deos faciat? quam ergo uim, quam potestatem habere possunt, cum ipse qui fecit illa non habeat? sed ne haec quidem dare iis potuit quae habebat, uidere audire loqui moueri.
What is so self-contradictory as to despise the sculptor and adore the statue, and not even to admit to your table the man who makes your gods? What force, then, what power can they have, when the man who made them does not have it? But he could not even give them what he did have: to see, hear, speak, and move.
Notes and citation
Summary: Statues cannot have powers their maker lacks, nor even the ones he has.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.15 (CSEL 19:101; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.16CSEL 19:101
quisquamne igitur tam ineptus est, ut putet aliquid esse in simulacro dei, in quo ne hominis quidem quicquam est praeter umbram? sed haec nemo considerat: infecti sunt enim persuasione (uana) ac mentes eorum penitus sucum stultitiae perbiberunt.
Is anyone so foolish, then, as to think there is anything in the image of a god, in which there is not even anything of a man except his shadow? But no one considers this: for they are stained with a vain persuasion, and their minds have drunk deeply of the juice of folly.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: Images contain nothing divine, but people are soaked in foolish belief.
- The editor adds "uana" ("vain") in round brackets; translated.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.16 (CSEL 19:101; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.17CSEL 19:101–102
adorant ergo insensibilia qui sentiunt, inrationabilia qui sapiunt, exanima qui uiuunt, terrena qui oriuntur a caelo.
So those who feel adore what does not feel; those who are wise, what lacks reason; the living, the lifeless; those who spring from heaven, earthly things.
Notes and citation
Summary: Living, rational, heavenly beings adore lifeless earthly things.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.17 (CSEL 19:101–102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-17).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.18CSEL 19:102
iuuat igitur uelut in aliqua sublimi specula constitutum, unde uniuersi exaudire possint, Persianum illud proclamare: o curuae in terris animae et caelestium inanes! caelum potius intuemini, ad cuius spectaculum uos excitauit ille artifex uester deus.
It is pleasing, then, as if placed on some lofty watchtower from which all could hear, to proclaim that line of Persius: "O souls bent down to the earth and empty of heavenly things!" Look rather to heaven, to the sight of which God your Maker has raised you.
Notes and citation
Summary: With Persius, Lactantius calls people to raise their eyes to heaven.
- Persius, Satires 2.61; no id for Persius in the list.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.18 (CSEL 19:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-18).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.19CSEL 19:102
ille uobis sublimem uultum dedit, uos in terram curuamini, uos altas mentes et ad parentem suum cum corporibus suis erectas ad inferiora deprimitis tamquam uos paeniteat non quadrupedes esse natos.
He gave you a lofty face; you bend down to the earth. Your minds, which are lofty and raised up toward their Parent together with your bodies, you press down to lower things, as if you regretted not having been born four-footed.
Notes and citation
Summary: People bend their God-given upright minds down, as if they wished to be beasts.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.19 (CSEL 19:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-19).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.20CSEL 19:102
fas non est caeleste animal cum terrenis in terramque uergentibus coaequari. quid uos beneficiis caelestibus orbatis pronique in humum uestra sponte procumbitis? humi enim miseri uolutamini, cum deorsum quaeritis quod in sublimi quaerere debuistis.
It is not right for a heavenly creature to be made equal to earthly creatures bent toward the earth. Why do you deprive yourselves of heavenly benefits and fall forward of your own accord onto the ground? For you wretches roll on the ground when you seek below what you ought to have sought on high.
Notes and citation
Summary: Humans should not grovel on the ground seeking below what is above.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (t for f)): tas non est → fas non est.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.20 (CSEL 19:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-20).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.21CSEL 19:102
nam ista mortalium digitorum ludicra et fragilia figmenta ex quolibet materiae genere formata quid aliut sunt nisi terra ex qua nata sunt?
For those playthings of mortal fingers, those fragile figments formed from any kind of material, what else are they but earth, from which they were born?
Notes and citation
Summary: Idols are only earth.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.21 (CSEL 19:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-21).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.22CSEL 19:102
quid ergo rebus inferioribus subiacetis? quid capitibus uestris terram superponitis? cum enim uos terrae submittitis humilioresque facitis, ipsi uos ultro ad inferos mergitis ad mortemque damnatis, quia nihil est inferius et humilius terra nisi mors et inferi.
Why then do you subject yourselves to lower things? Why do you set earth above your heads? For when you submit yourselves to the earth and make yourselves lower, you plunge yourselves of your own accord into the underworld and condemn yourselves to death, since nothing is lower and humbler than the earth except death and the underworld.
Notes and citation
Summary: Bowing to earthly things sinks people toward death and the underworld.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.22 (CSEL 19:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-22).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.23CSEL 19:102–103
quae si effugere uelletis, subiectam pedibus uestris terram contemneretis corporis statu saluo, quod idcirco rectum accepistis, quo oculos atque mentem cum eo qui fecit conferre possetis.
If you wished to escape these, you would despise the earth set beneath your feet, keeping your bodily posture intact, which you received upright for this reason, that you might turn your eyes and mind to him who made it.
Notes and citation
Summary: People should despise the earth beneath them and look to their Maker.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.23 (CSEL 19:102–103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-23).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.2.24CSEL 19:103
contemnere autem et calcare terram nihil aliut est quam simulacra non adorare, quia de terra ficta sunt, item diuitias non concupiscere, uoluptates corporis spernere, quia opes et corpus ipsum cuius hospitio utimur terra est. uiuum colite, ut uiuatis: moriatur enim necesse est qui se suamque animam mortuis adiudicauit.
To despise and trample on the earth is nothing else than not to adore images, because they are made from earth; and likewise not to covet riches and to spurn the pleasures of the body, because wealth and the very body whose hospitality we use are earth. Worship the Living One, that you may live; for he must die who has assigned himself and his soul to the dead.
Notes and citation
Summary: Rejecting idols, riches, and bodily pleasures means worshipping the living God and living.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.2.24 (CSEL 19:103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-2-24).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 2, chapter 3
2.3.1CSEL 19:103
Sed quid prodest ad uulgus et ad homines inperitos hoc modo contionari, cum uideamus etiam doctos ac prudentes uiros, cum religionum intellegant uanitatem, nihilo minus tamen in iis ipsis quae damnant colendis nescio qua prauitate perstare? intellegebat Cicero falsa esse quae homines adorarent.
But what use is it to harangue the crowd and the unlearned in this way, when we see that even learned and prudent men, though they understand the vanity of these religions, nevertheless by some perversity persist in worshipping the very things they condemn? Cicero understood that the things men adored were false.
Notes and citation
Summary: Even learned men like Cicero, knowing idolatry false, still practised it.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.1 (CSEL 19:103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.2CSEL 19:103
nam cum multa dixisset quae ad euersionem religionum ualerent, ait tamen non esse illa uulgo disputanda, ne susceptas publice religiones disputatio talis extinguat.
For when he had said many things that tended to overthrow religions, he nevertheless said that these things were not to be discussed before the common people, lest such discussion extinguish the religions publicly adopted.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero said such criticism should not be aired before the people.
- Compare Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 3.94 and On Divination 2.148; the exact passage is uncertain.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.2 (CSEL 19:103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.3CSEL 19:103–104
quid eo facias, qui cum errare se sentiat, ultro ipse in lapides inpingat, ut populus omnis offendat, ipsi sibi oculos eruat, ut omnes caeci sint? qui nec de aliis bene mereatur quos patitur errare nec de se ipso qui alienis accedit erroribus nec utitur tandem sapientiae suae bono, ut factis impleat quod mente percepit, sed prudens et sciens pedem laqueo inserit, ut simul cum ceteris quos liberare ut prudentior debuit et ipse capiatur.
What can you do with a man who, knowing that he is in error, of his own accord dashes himself against the stones so that all the people may stumble, and tears out his own eyes so that all may be blind? He deserves well neither of others, whom he allows to err, nor of himself, since he joins in others' errors; nor does he at last use the good of his own wisdom so as to fulfil in deeds what he has grasped in mind, but knowingly and wittingly puts his foot into the snare, so that he himself is caught together with the rest, whom as the wiser he ought to have freed.
Notes and citation
Summary: Knowingly joining the people's error harms both them and oneself.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.3 (CSEL 19:103–104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.4CSEL 19:104
quin potius si quid tibi, Cicero, uirtutis est, experire populum sapientem. digna res est ubi omnes eloquentiae tuae exeras non enim uerendum est ne te in tam bona causa deficiat oratio, qui saepe etiam malas copiose ac fortiter defendisti.
Rather, Cicero, if you have any courage, try to make the people wise. It is a cause worthy of your putting forth all your eloquence; for there is no fear that speech would fail you in so good a cause, you who have often defended even bad causes fully and boldly.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius challenges Cicero to use his eloquence to make the people wise.
- A word such as "powers" (uires) seems to be missing after "eloquence"; translated by the sense.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digital text prints the marked error and its correction together; the correction is kept; slip marked sic in the digital text): exersas → exeras; deciciatdeficiat → deficiat; decendistidefendisti → defendisti.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.4 (CSEL 19:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.5CSEL 19:104
sed nimirum Socratis carcerem times ideoque patrocinium ueritatis suscipere non audes. at mortem ut sapiens contemnere debuisti, et erat multo pulchrius ut ob benedicta potius quam ob maledicta morerere, nec plus tibi laudis Philippicae adferre potuerunt quam discussus error generis humani et mentes hominum ad sanitatem tua disputatione reuocatae.
But no doubt you fear the prison of Socrates, and so you do not dare to take up the defence of the truth. Yet as a wise man you ought to have despised death, and it would have been far nobler to die for good speech rather than for abuse; nor could the Philippics have brought you more praise than the dispelling of the error of the human race and the recalling of men's minds to health by your reasoning.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero feared Socrates' fate; dying for truth would have been nobler than dying for the Philippics.
- Cicero was killed in 43 BC because of his Philippics against Antony.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (u for n); digital text prints the marked error and its correction together; the correction is kept): pattoruiumpatrocinium → patrocinium; saprettssapiens → sapiens; geueris → generis.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.5 (CSEL 19:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.6CSEL 19:104
sed concedamus timiditati, quae in sapiente esse non debet: quid ergo ipse in eodem uersaris errore? uideo te terrena et manu facta uenerari: uana esse intellegis et tamen eadem facis quae faciunt ii quos ipse stultissimos confiteris.
But let us make allowance for timidity, which ought not to be in a wise man: why then do you yourself remain in the same error? I see you venerating earthly things made by hand: you understand that they are vain, and yet you do the same things as those whom you yourself confess to be most foolish.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero himself worshipped idols he knew were vain.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.6 (CSEL 19:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.7CSEL 19:104
quid igitur profuit uidisse te ueritatem, quam nec defensurus esses nec secuturus? sed libenter errant etiam ii qui errare se sentiunt: quanto magis uulgus indoctum, quod pompis inanibus gaudet animisque puerilibus spectat omnia, oblectatur friuolis et specie simulacrorum capitur nec ponderare secum unam quamque rem potest, ut intellegat nihil colendum esse quod oculis mortalibus cernitur, quia mortale sit necesse est!
What good was it, then, for you to have seen the truth, when you would neither defend it nor follow it? But even those who know they are in error err willingly; how much more the unlearned crowd, which delights in empty processions, looks at everything with childish minds, is amused by trifles, is captured by the appearance of images, and cannot weigh each thing with itself so as to understand that nothing seen by mortal eyes is to be worshipped, because it must be mortal!
Notes and citation
Summary: If the learned err willingly, the childish crowd is even more captivated by images.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.7 (CSEL 19:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.8CSEL 19:104
nec mirandum est si deum non uideat, cum ipsi ne hominem quidem uideant quem uidere se credunt. hoc enim quod oculis subiectum est non homo, sed hominis receptaculum est: cuius qualitas et figura non ex liniamentis uasculi quo continetur, sed ex factis ac moribus peruidetur.
Nor is it surprising if they do not see God, since they do not even see the man whom they think they see. For what is subject to the eyes is not the man but the man's receptacle; his quality and form are discerned not from the outlines of the little vessel in which he is contained, but from his deeds and character.
Notes and citation
Summary: The real person is seen in deeds and character, not in the body that contains him.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.8 (CSEL 19:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.9CSEL 19:104–105
qui ergo colunt simulacra, corpora sunt hominibus carentia, quia se corporalibus dediderunt nec uident plus aliquid mente quam corpore, cum sit animi officium ea subtilius cernere quae acies corporalis non potest intueri.
Those who worship images, then, are bodies without men in them, because they have given themselves to bodily things and see nothing more with the mind than with the body, although it is the task of the soul to discern more finely what the bodily eye cannot see.
Notes and citation
Summary: Idolaters are bodies without true humanity, seeing nothing beyond the physical.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.9 (CSEL 19:104–105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.10CSEL 19:105
quos homines idem ille philosophus ac poeta grauiter accusat tamquam humiles et abiectos, qui contra naturae suae rationem ad ueneranda se terrena prosternant. ait enim: et faciunt animos humiles formidine diuum depressosque premunt ad terram. aliut quidem ille cum haec diceret, sentiebat, nihil utique colendum esse, quoniam dii humana non curent.
These men that same philosopher and poet sharply accuses as lowly and abject, since against the reason of their own nature they prostrate themselves to venerate earthly things. For he says: "And they make their souls lowly with fear of the gods, and press them down, bowed to the earth." He meant something else, indeed, when he said this: that nothing at all should be worshipped, since the gods do not care for human affairs.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lucretius accused worshippers of abasing themselves, though he meant the gods should not be worshipped at all.
- Lucretius, On the Nature of Things 6.51–52.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 6.51–52 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.10 (CSEL 19:105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.11CSEL 19:105
denique alio loco religiones et cultus deorum inane esse officium confitetur: nec pietas ulla est uelatum saepe uideri uertere se ad lapidem atque omnis accedere ad aras et procumbere humi prostratum et pandere palmas ante deum delubra nec aras sanguine multo spargere quadrupedum nec uotis nectere uota. quae profecto si cassa sunt, non oportet sublimes et excelsos animos auocari atque in terram premi, sed nihil aliut quam caelestia cogitare.
Finally, in another place he confesses that religions and the worship of the gods are an empty duty: "Nor is it piety to be often seen with veiled head turning toward a stone and approaching every altar, and to fall prostrate on the ground and spread out the palms before the shrines of the gods, nor to sprinkle the altars with much blood of beasts, nor to link vow to vow." If these things are indeed vain, lofty and exalted souls should not be called away and pressed to the earth, but should think of nothing but heavenly things.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lucretius says ritual is not piety; so souls should think only of heavenly things.
- Lucretius, On the Nature of Things 5.1198–1202.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 5.1198–1202 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.11 (CSEL 19:105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.12CSEL 19:105
inpugnatae sunt ergo a prudentioribus falsae religiones, quia sentiebant esse falsas, sed non est inducta uera, quia qualis aut ubi esset ignorabant.
False religions, then, were attacked by the more prudent, because they perceived them to be false; but the true one was not brought in, because they did not know what or where it was.
Notes and citation
Summary: The wise attacked false religions but could not introduce the true one.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.12 (CSEL 19:105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.13CSEL 19:105–106
itaque sic habuerunt tamquam nulla esset omnino, quia ueram non poterant inuenire, et eo modo inciderunt in errorem multo maiorem quam illi qui falsam tenebant.
So they behaved as if there were none at all, because they could not find the true one; and in this way they fell into a far greater error than those who held the false one.
Notes and citation
Summary: Rejecting all religion was a worse error than holding a false one.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.13 (CSEL 19:105–106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.14CSEL 19:106
nam isti fragilium cultores quamuis sint inepti, quia caelestia constituunt in rebus corruptibilibus atque terrenis, aliquid tamen sapientiae retinent et habere ueniam possunt, qui summum hominis officium etsi non re ipsa, tamen proposito tenent, siquidem hominum atque mutorum uel solum uel certe maximum in religione discrimen est.
For those worshippers of fragile things, though they are foolish in setting heavenly things in corruptible and earthly objects, still retain something of wisdom and can be pardoned, since they hold to the highest duty of man, if not in fact, at least in intention; for the only difference, or at any rate the greatest, between men and dumb animals lies in religion.
Notes and citation
Summary: Idolaters at least keep religion, which chiefly distinguishes humans from animals.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.14 (CSEL 19:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.15CSEL 19:106
hi uero quanto fuerunt sapientiores, quod intellexerunt falsae religionis errorem, tanto sunt facti stultiores, quod esse aliquam ueram non putauerunt.
But these philosophers, the wiser they were in understanding the error of false religion, the more foolish they became in not thinking there was any true one.
Notes and citation
Summary: The philosophers were wise to reject false religion but foolish to deny any true one.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.15 (CSEL 19:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.16CSEL 19:106
itaque quoniam facilius est de alienis iudicare quam de suis, dum aliorum praecipitium uident, non prospexerunt quid ante pedes suos esset.
So, since it is easier to judge others' affairs than one's own, while they saw others' fall over the precipice, they did not look out for what was before their own feet.
Notes and citation
Summary: They saw others' errors but not their own.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (c for e)): cst → est.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.16 (CSEL 19:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.17CSEL 19:106
in utraque igitur parte et summa stultitia inuenitur et odor quidam sapientiae, ut possis dubitare quos dicas potissimum stultiores, illosne qui falsam religionem suscipiunt an eos qui nullam.
On both sides, then, are found both the height of folly and a certain scent of wisdom, so that you may doubt whom above all to call the more foolish: those who adopt a false religion or those who adopt none.
Notes and citation
Summary: Both idolaters and irreligious philosophers mix folly with some wisdom.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.17 (CSEL 19:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-17).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.18CSEL 19:106
sed ut dixi uenia concedi potest inperitis et qui se sapientes non esse fateantur: iis uero non potest, qui sapientiam professi stultitiam potius exhibent.
But, as I said, pardon can be granted to the unlearned and to those who confess that they are not wise; but not to those who, professing wisdom, display folly instead.
Notes and citation
Summary: The ignorant may be pardoned, but not those who profess wisdom and show folly.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (u for n)): coucedi → concedi.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.18 (CSEL 19:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-18).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.19CSEL 19:106
non sum equidem tam iniquus, ut eos putem diuinare debuisse ut ueritatem per se ipsos inuenirent, quod ego fieri non posse confitear, sed hoc ab iis exigo quod ratione ipsa praestare potuerunt.
I am not so unfair as to think they ought to have divined so as to find the truth by themselves, which I confess cannot be done; but I require of them what they could have achieved by reason itself.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius asks of the philosophers only what reason could achieve.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.19 (CSEL 19:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-19).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.20CSEL 19:106
facerent enim prudentius, si et intellegerent esse aliquam ueram religionem et falsis inpugnatis aperte pronuntiarent eam quae uera esset ab hominibus non teneri. sed mouerit eos fortasse illut, quod si qua esset uera religio, exereret se ac uindicaret nec pateretur esse aliut quicquam.
For they would act more prudently if they both understood that there is some true religion and, having attacked the false, openly declared that the one which is true is not held by men. But perhaps this moved them: that if there were a true religion, it would put itself forward and vindicate itself and not allow anything else to exist.
Notes and citation
Summary: They should have admitted a true religion existed; perhaps they thought a true one would prevail by itself.
- The digital text marks "religionem" as an editor's supplement.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.20 (CSEL 19:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-20).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.21CSEL 19:106–107
uidere enim nullo modo poterant quare aut a quo et quemadmodum religio uera opprimeretur, quod est diuini sacramenti et caelestis arcani: id uero nisi doceatur, aliquis scire nullo pacto potest. summa rei haec est.
For they could in no way see why, or by whom, and how true religion was suppressed, which belongs to the divine mystery and the heavenly secret; and this no one can know in any way unless he is taught. This is the sum of the matter:
Notes and citation
Summary: Why true religion was suppressed is a divine mystery known only by revelation.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.21 (CSEL 19:106–107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-21).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.22CSEL 19:107
inperiti et insipientes falsas religiones pro ueris habent, quia neque ueram sciunt neque falsam intellegunt, prudentiores autem quia ueram nesciunt, aut in his quas falsas esse intellegunt perseuerant, ut aliquid tenere uideantur, aut omnino nihil colunt, ne incidant in errorem, cum id ipsum maximi sit erroris, uitam pecudum sub figura hominis imitari.
the unlearned and foolish hold false religions for true, because they neither know the true nor understand the false; but the more prudent, because they do not know the true, either persist in those they understand to be false, so as to seem to hold something, or worship nothing at all, lest they fall into error, though this itself is the greatest error: to imitate the life of cattle under the form of man.
Notes and citation
Summary: The ignorant hold false religions; the wise either keep them anyway or reject all religion, the worst error.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slips (lost i; u for n; i for l; u for n)): mperiti et iusipieutes falsas reiigioucs → inperiti et insipientes falsas religiones.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.22 (CSEL 19:107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-22).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.23CSEL 19:107
falsum uero intellegere est quidem sapientiae, sed humanae, ultra hunc gradum procedi ab homine non potest, itaque multi philosophorum religiones ut docui sustulerunt: uerum autem scire diuinae sapientiae est; homo autem per se ipsum peruenire ad hanc scientiam non potest, nisi doceatur a deo.
To understand what is false belongs indeed to wisdom, but human wisdom; beyond this step man cannot go, and so many philosophers, as I have shown, did away with religions. But to know what is true belongs to divine wisdom; and man cannot come to this knowledge by himself unless he is taught by God.
Notes and citation
Summary: Human wisdom recognizes falsehood; knowing truth requires God's teaching.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.23 (CSEL 19:107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-23).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.24CSEL 19:107
ita philosophi quod summum fuit humanae sapientiae adsecuti sunt, ut intellegerent quid non sit: illud adsequi nequiuerunt, ut dicerent quid sit. nota Ciceronis uox est: utinam tam facile uera inuenire possem quam falsa conuincere.
So the philosophers attained what was the highest point of human wisdom, to understand what is not; they could not attain to saying what is. Cicero's saying is well known: "I wish I could find the truth as easily as I can refute the false."
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers could say what is not but not what is, as Cicero admitted.
- Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 1.91.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slips (u for n; c for e)): humauae sapicntiae → humanae sapientiae.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Nat. d. 1.91 (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.24 (CSEL 19:107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-24).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
2.3.25CSEL 19:107
quod quia uires humanae condicionis excedit, eius officii facultas nobis adtributa est, quibus tradidit deus scientiam ueritatis. cui explicandae quattuor posteriores libri seruient: nunc interim falsa ut coepimus detegamus.
Because this exceeds the powers of the human condition, the ability for this task has been given to us, to whom God has handed down the knowledge of the truth. The last four books will serve to explain it; for now, meanwhile, let us uncover the false, as we began.
Notes and citation
Summary: God has given Christians the truth, which the last four books will explain.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (ii for n)): condicioiiis → condicionis.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.3.25 (CSEL 19:107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/1-23-1/#p-2-3-25).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).