Divine Institutes 2.9.1–2.13.13
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 2, chapter 9
2.9.1CSEL 19:142
Nunc quoniam refutauimus eos qui de mundo et de factore eius deo aliter sentiunt quam ueritas habet, ad diuinam mundi fabricam reuertamur, de qua in arcanis religionis sanctae litteris traditur.
Now, since we have refuted those who think otherwise than the truth about the world and God its Maker, let us return to the divine fabric of the world, which is handed down in the secret writings of holy religion.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius turns to Scripture's account of creation.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.1 (CSEL 19:142; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-1).
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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).
2.9.2CSEL 19:142
fecit igitur deus primum omnium caelum et in sublime suspendit, quod esset sedes ipsius dei conditoris. deinde terram fundauit ac subdidit caelo, quam homo cum ceteris animalium generibus incoleret. eam uoluit umore circumflui et contineri.
God, then, first of all made the heaven and hung it on high, to be the seat of God the Creator himself. Then he founded the earth and placed it beneath the heaven, for man to inhabit with the other kinds of living creatures. He willed it to be surrounded and held together by water.
Gen 1:1 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God first made heaven as his seat, then the earth for man, surrounded by water.
- Compare Gen 1:1, 9–10.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (n for u)): fecit igitur dens → fecit igitur deus.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.2 (CSEL 19:142; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-2).
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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).
2.9.3CSEL 19:142
suum uero habitaculum distinxit claris luminibus et inpleuit, sole scilicet et lunae orbe fulgenti et astrorum micantium splendentibus signis adornauit. tenebras autem, quod est his contrarium, constituit in terra; nihil enim per se continet luminis, nisi accipiat e caelo: in quo posuit lucem perennem et superos et uitam perpetuam, et contra in terra tenebras et inferos et mortem.
His own dwelling he adorned and filled with bright lights, namely the sun and the shining orb of the moon, and adorned it with the gleaming signs of the twinkling stars. But darkness, which is contrary to these, he placed on the earth; for it contains no light of itself unless it receives it from heaven. In heaven he placed perpetual light, the beings above, and everlasting life; and on the contrary, on earth, darkness, the beings below, and death.
Notes and citation
Summary: God placed light and life in heaven and darkness and death on earth.
- Lactantius' contrast of heaven and earth, light and darkness, is his own cosmological scheme; translated as written.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.3 (CSEL 19:142; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-3).
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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).
2.9.4CSEL 19:142
tanto enim haec ab illis superioribus distant, quantum mala a bonis et uitia a uirtutibus.
For these are as far from those above as evils from goods and vices from virtues.
Notes and citation
Summary: Earth differs from heaven as evil from good.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.4 (CSEL 19:142; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-4).
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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).
2.9.5CSEL 19:142–143
ipsius quoque terrae binas partes contrarias inter se diuersasque constituit, orientem scilicet occidentemque. ex quibus oriens deo adcensetur, quia ipse luminis fons et inlustrator est rerum et quod oriri nos faciat ad uitam sempiternam: occidens autem conturbatae illi prauaeque menti adscribitur, quod lumen abscondat, quod tenebras semper inducat et quod homines faciat occidere atque interire peccatis.
Of the earth itself also he established two parts contrary and opposed to each other, namely east and west. Of these the east is assigned to God, because he himself is the source of light and the enlightener of things, and because he makes us rise to eternal life; but the west is ascribed to that disturbed and perverse mind, because it hides the light, always brings on darkness, and makes men fall and perish in sins.
Notes and citation
Summary: The east belongs to God, source of light and life; the west to the perverse spirit of darkness.
- The "perverse mind" is the devil (2.8.4–6). The Latin plays on oriri ("rise", east) and occidere ("fall", west).
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.5 (CSEL 19:142–143; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-5).
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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).
2.9.6CSEL 19:143
nam sicut lux orientis est, in luce autem uitae ratio uersatur, sic occidentis tenebrae sunt, in tenebris autem mors et interitus continetur.
For as light belongs to the east, and the principle of life lies in light, so darkness belongs to the west, and in darkness death and destruction are contained.
Notes and citation
Summary: East means light and life; west means darkness and death.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (n for u)): nitae ratio → uitae ratio.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.6 (CSEL 19:143; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-6).
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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).
2.9.7CSEL 19:143
deinde alteras partes eadem ratione dimensus est, meridiem ac septentrionem, quae partes illis duabus societate iunguntur.
Then by the same reasoning he measured out the other parts, south and north, which are joined in partnership with those two.
Notes and citation
Summary: South and north are paired with east and west.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.7 (CSEL 19:143; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-7).
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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).
2.9.8CSEL 19:143
ea enim quae est solis calore flagrantior, proxima est et cohaeret orienti, at illa quae frigoribus ac perpetuo gelu torpet, eiusdem est cuius extremus occasus. nam sicut contrariae sunt lumini tenebrae, ita frigus calori.
For the one that burns more with the heat of the sun is next to and joined with the east, while the one numb with cold and perpetual ice belongs to the same as the far west. For as darkness is contrary to light, so is cold to heat.
Notes and citation
Summary: The hot south goes with the east, the cold north with the west.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): soiis caiore nagranuor → solis calore flagrantior; sient → sicut.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.8 (CSEL 19:143; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-8).
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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).
2.9.9CSEL 19:143
ut igitur calor lumini est proximus, sic meridies orienti, ut frigus tenebris, ita plaga septentrionalis occasui. quibus singulis partibus suum tempus adtribuit, uer scilicet orienti, aestatem meridianae plagae; occidentis autumnus est, septentrionis hibernum. in his quoque duabus partibus, meridiana
As, then, heat is nearest to light, so the south to the east; as cold to darkness, so the northern region to the west. To each of these parts he assigned its season: spring to the east, summer to the southern region; autumn belongs to the west, winter to the north. In these two parts also, the southern
Notes and citation
Summary: Each direction has its season: spring east, summer south, autumn west, winter north.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point before the section break (OCR)): meridiana. → meridiana.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.9 (CSEL 19:143; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-9).
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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).
2.9.10CSEL 19:143
et septentrionali, figura uitae ac mortis continetur, quia uita in calore est, mors in frigore. sicut autem calor ex igni est, ita frigus ex aqua.
and the northern, a figure of life and death is contained, because life is in heat and death in cold. And as heat is from fire, so cold is from water.
Notes and citation
Summary: South and north figure life and death, as heat and cold.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (i for x)): ei aqua → ex aqua.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.10 (CSEL 19:143; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-10).
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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).
2.9.11CSEL 19:143–144
secundum harum partium dimensionem diem quoque fecit ac noctem, quae spatia et orbes temporum perpetuos ac uolubiles, quos uocamus annos, alterna per uices successione conficiant. dies, quem primus oriens subministrat, dei sit necesse est, ut omnia quaecumque meliora sunt, nox autem, quam occidens extremus inducit, eius scilicet quem dei esse aemulum diximus. quae duo etiam in hoc praescius futurorum deus fecit, ut ex his et uerae religionis et falsarum superstitionum imago quaedam ostenderetur.
According to the measurement of these parts he also made day and night, to complete by alternate succession the perpetual and revolving spaces and cycles of time which we call years. The day, which the east first supplies, must belong to God, as all things that are better; but the night, which the far west brings in, belongs, of course, to him whom we have called God's rival. These two God, foreknowing the future, made also for this purpose, that from them some image both of true religion and of false superstitions might be shown.
Notes and citation
Summary: Day belongs to God and night to his rival; they picture true and false religion.
- "God's rival": the devil. Translated as written.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (i for x)): ut ei his → ut ex his.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.11 (CSEL 19:143–144; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-11).
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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).
2.9.12CSEL 19:144
nam sicut sol, qui oritur in diem, licet sit unus, unde solem esse appellatum Cicero uult uideri, quod obscuratis sideribus solus appareat, tamen quia uerum ac perfectae plenitudinis lumen est et calore potentissimo et fulgore clarissimo inlustrat omnia, ita in deo, licet sit unus, et maiestas et uirtus et claritudo perfecta est.
For as the sun, which rises to make day, though it is one (from which Cicero would have it seem that it was called sol, because when the stars are darkened it appears alone, solus), yet, because it is a true light of perfect fullness and illuminates all things with most powerful heat and brightest splendour, so in God, though he is one, there is perfect majesty, power, and brightness.
Notes and citation
Summary: As the one sun lights everything, so the one God has perfect majesty and power.
- Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 2.68.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR)): omnia., → omnia,.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Nat. d. 2.68 (Cicero; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.12 (CSEL 19:144; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-12).
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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).
2.9.13CSEL 19:144
nox autem, quam prauo illi antitheo dicimus adtributam, eius ipsius multas et uarias religiones per similitudinem
But the night, which we say has been assigned to that perverse adversary of God, shows by likeness his many and various religions.
Notes and citation
Summary: Night represents the devil's many false religions.
- "Adversary of God" translates antitheus.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point before the section break (OCR)): similitudinem. → similitudinem.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.13 (CSEL 19:144; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-13).
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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).
2.9.14CSEL 19:144
monstrat. quamuis enim stellae innumerabiles micare ac radiare uideantur, tamen quia non sunt plena et solida lumina, nec caloris praeferunt quicquam nec tenebras multitudine sua uincunt.
For although countless stars seem to twinkle and shine, yet because they are not full and solid lights, they give out no heat, nor do they overcome the darkness by their number.
Notes and citation
Summary: Like stars, the many false religions give no warmth and cannot dispel darkness.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): nncare → micare.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.14 (CSEL 19:144; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-14).
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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).
2.9.15CSEL 19:144
duo igitur illa principalia inueniuntur, quae diuersam et contrariam sibi habent potestatem, calor et umor, quae mirabiliter deus ad sustentanda et gignenda
Two principal things, then, are found, which have powers opposite and contrary to each other, heat and moisture, which God wonderfully devised for sustaining and generating
Notes and citation
Summary: Heat and moisture are the two opposed principles of life.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point before the section break (OCR)): gignenda. → gignenda.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.15 (CSEL 19:144; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-15).
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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).
2.9.16CSEL 19:144
omnia excogitauit. nam cum uirtus dei sit in calore et igni, nisi ardorem uimque eius admixta umoris ac frigoris materia temperasset, nec nasci quicquam nec cohaerere potuisset, quin statim conflagratione interiret quidquid esse coepisset.
all things. For since the power of God is in heat and fire, unless he had tempered its burning force with an admixture of the matter of moisture and cold, nothing could have been born or held together, but whatever had begun to exist would at once have perished in a conflagration.
Notes and citation
Summary: God tempered fire with moisture so that things could exist.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR)): coha.erere → cohaerere.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.16 (CSEL 19:144; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-16).
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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).
2.9.17CSEL 19:144–145
unde et philosophi quidam et poetae discordi concordia mundum constare dixerunt, sed rationem penitus non uidebant.
Hence certain philosophers and poets said that the world consists of a discordant concord, but they did not see the reason thoroughly.
Notes and citation
Summary: Poets and philosophers spoke of the world's "discordant concord" without understanding it.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (u for n); stray point (OCR)): uude → unde; concordia. mundum → concordia mundum.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.17 (CSEL 19:144–145; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-17).
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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).
2.9.18CSEL 19:145
Heraclitus ex igni nata esse dixit omnia, Thales ex aqua. uterque uidit aliquid, sed errauit tamen uterque, quod alterutrum si solum fuisset, neque aqua nasci posset ex igni neque rursus ignis ex aqua: sed est uerius simul ex utroque permixto cuncta generari.
Heraclitus said all things were born from fire, Thales from water. Each saw something, yet each erred, because if either had been alone, neither could water be born from fire nor fire from water; but it is truer that all things are generated from both mixed together.
Notes and citation
Summary: Heraclitus and Thales each saw part of the truth; all things come from fire and water together.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray comma (OCR)): Hera,clitus → Heraclitus.
Extrabiblical texts: Heraclitus (Heraclitus (fragments); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.18 (CSEL 19:145; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-18).
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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).
2.9.19CSEL 19:145
ignis quidem permisceri cum aqua non potest, quia sunt utraque inimica et si comminus uenerint, alterutrum quod superauerit conficiat alterum necesse est, sed eorum substantiae permisceri possunt: substantia ignis calor est, aquae umor.
Fire indeed cannot be mingled with water, because they are enemies, and if they come to close quarters, whichever prevails must destroy the other; but their substances can be mingled: the substance of fire is heat, that of water moisture.
Notes and citation
Summary: Fire and water cannot mix, but heat and moisture can.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR)): substantia. ignis → substantia ignis.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.19 (CSEL 19:145; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-19).
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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).
2.9.20CSEL 19:145
recte igitur Ouidius: quippe ubi temperiem sumpsere umorque calorque, concipiunt et ab his oriuntur cuncta duobus. cumque sit ignis aquae pugnax, uapor umidus omnes res creat et discors concordia fetibus apta est.
Rightly, then, Ovid: "For when moisture and heat take on a balance, they conceive, and from these two all things arise; and though fire fights with water, moist vapour creates all things, and discordant concord is fit for offspring."
Notes and citation
Summary: Ovid says all things arise from the balance of heat and moisture.
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.430–433.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (a for u); stray point (OCR)): Oaidius → Ouidius; apta. est. → apta est..
Extrabiblical texts: Ovid, Metam. 1.430–433 (Ovid; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.20 (CSEL 19:145; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-20).
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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).
2.9.21CSEL 19:145
alterum enim quasi masculinum elementum est, alterum quasi femininum, alterum actiuum, alterum patibile. ideoque a ueteribus institutum est ut sacramento ignis et aquae nuptiarum foedera sanciantur, quod fetus animantium calore et umore corporentur atque animentur ad uitam.
For the one is, as it were, the masculine element, the other the feminine; the one active, the other passive. And therefore it was established by the ancients that the bonds of marriage should be sanctioned by the rite of fire and water, because the offspring of living creatures are given body and animated to life by heat and moisture.
Notes and citation
Summary: Fire and water are like male and female, which is why Roman weddings used them.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.21 (CSEL 19:145; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-21).
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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).
2.9.22CSEL 19:145–146
cum enim constet omne animal ex anima et corpore, materia corporis in umore est, animae in calore: quod ex auium fetibus datur scire, quos crassi umoris plenos nisi opifex calor fouerit, nec umor potest corporari nec corpus animari.
For since every living creature consists of soul and body, the matter of the body is in moisture, that of the soul in heat; and this we may learn from the eggs of birds, which are full of thick moisture: unless heat, as craftsman, warms them, neither can the moisture be given body nor the body be given life.
Notes and citation
Summary: Body comes from moisture and soul from heat, as eggs show.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.22 (CSEL 19:145–146; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-22).
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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).
2.9.23CSEL 19:146
exulibus quoque igni et aqua interdici solebat: adhuc enim nefas uidebatur quamuis malos, tamen homines supplicio capitis adficere.
Exiles too used to be forbidden fire and water: for it still seemed wrong to inflict capital punishment on men, however wicked.
Notes and citation
Summary: Exiles were denied fire and water in place of death.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.23 (CSEL 19:146; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-23).
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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).
2.9.24CSEL 19:146
interdicto igitur usu earum rerum quibus uita hominum constat perinde habebatur, ac si esset qui eam sententiam exceperat morte multatus. adeo duo ista elementa prima sunt habita, ut nec ortum hominis nec uitam sine his crediderint posse constare.
So when the use of the things by which human life consists was forbidden, the one who received that sentence was considered as if he had been punished with death. So much were these two elements held to be primary, that they believed neither the birth nor the life of man could exist without them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Denial of fire and water was equivalent to death, showing their importance.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.24 (CSEL 19:146; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-24).
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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).
2.9.25CSEL 19:146
horum alterum nobis commune cum ceteris animalibus est, alterum soli homini datum. nos enim quoniam caeleste atque inmortale animal sumus, igni utimur, qui nobis in argumentum inmortalitatis est datus, quoniam ignis e caelo est; cuius natura quia mobilis est et sursum nititur, uitae continet rationem.
One of these we have in common with the other animals, the other is given to man alone. For since we are a heavenly and immortal creature, we use fire, which has been given to us as a sign of immortality, since fire is from heaven; and because its nature is mobile and strives upward, it contains the principle of life.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only humans use fire, a heavenly element and sign of immortality.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.25 (CSEL 19:146; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-25).
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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).
2.9.26CSEL 19:146
cetera uero animalia quoniam sunt tota mortalia, tantummodo aqua utuntur, quod est elementum corporale atque terrenum. cuius natura quia mobilis est ac deorsum uergens, figuram mortis ostendit. ideo pecudes neque in caelum suspiciunt neque religionem sentiunt, quoniam ab his usus ignis alienus est.
But the other animals, since they are wholly mortal, use only water, which is a bodily and earthly element; and because its nature is mobile and tends downward, it shows a figure of death. That is why cattle neither look up to heaven nor perceive religion, since the use of fire is foreign to them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Animals use only water, a downward element, and so lack religion.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.26 (CSEL 19:146; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-26).
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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).
2.9.27CSEL 19:146
unde autem uel quomodo deus haec duo principalia, ignem et aquam, uel accenderit uel eliquauerit, solus potest scire qui fecit.
But from where or how God either kindled or liquefied these two principal things, fire and water, only he who made them can know.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only God knows how he made fire and water.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.9.27 (CSEL 19:146; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-9-27).
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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 10
2.10.1CSEL 19:146–147
Consummato igitur mundo animalia uarii generis, dissimilibus formis, et magna et minora uti fierent imperauit. et facta sunt bina id est diuersi sexus singula, ex quorum fetibus et aer et terra et maria conpleta sunt, deditque his omnibus generatim deus alimenta de terra, ut usui esse homini possent, alia nimirum ad cibos, alia uero ad uestitum, quae autem magnarum sunt uirium, ut in excolenda terra iuuarent; unde sunt dicta iumenta.
When the world was completed, then, he commanded living creatures of various kinds, of unlike forms, both large and small, to be made. And they were made in pairs, that is, one of each sex, from whose offspring the air, the earth, and the seas were filled; and God gave all these, according to their kinds, food from the earth, so that they might be of use to man, some for food, others for clothing, and those of great strength to help in cultivating the earth; hence they are called iumenta (beasts of burden).
Gen 1:24 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God made the animals in pairs and gave them food so they could serve man.
- Compare Gen 1:20–25. Iumenta is linked with iuuare, "to help".
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR)): bina. id est → bina id est; de terra., → de terra,.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.1 (CSEL 19:146–147; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-1).
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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).
2.10.2CSEL 19:147
ita rebus omnibus mirabili discriptione compositis regnum sibi aeternum parare constituit et innumerabiles animas procreare, quibus inmortalitatem daret.
So when all things had been composed in wonderful order, he resolved to prepare for himself an eternal kingdom and to create countless souls, to whom he would give immortality.
Notes and citation
Summary: God resolved to create souls for an eternal kingdom.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.2 (CSEL 19:147; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-2).
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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).
2.10.3CSEL 19:147
tum fecit sibi ipse simulacrum sensibile atque intellegens id est ad imaginis suae formam, qua nihil potest esse perfectius: hominem figurauit ex limo terrae; unde homo nuncupatus est, quod sit fictus ex humo.
Then he made for himself a sentient and intelligent image, that is, after the form of his own image, than which nothing can be more perfect: he formed man from the slime of the earth; hence he was named homo, because he was formed from the soil (humus).
Gen 2:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 1:27 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God formed man from the earth in his own image.
- Gen 1:26–27 and 2:7. Homo is linked with humus, "soil".
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.3 (CSEL 19:147; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-3).
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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).
2.10.4CSEL 19:147
denique Plato humanam formam θεοειδῆ esse ait, et Sibylla quae dicit: είϰών ὲστ ᾰνθρωπος ἐμὴ λόγον ὀρθὸν ἔχουσα.
In fact Plato says the human form is "godlike," and so does the Sibyl, who says: "Man is my image, having right reason."
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato and the Sibyl also say man is made in God's likeness.
- Plato, Republic 501b (theoeidēs). Sibylline Oracles 8.402; quoted in Greek.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Resp. 501b (Plato (works); allusion); Sib. Or. 8.402 (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.4 (CSEL 19:147; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-4).
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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).
2.10.5CSEL 19:147
de hac hominis fictione poetae quoque quamuis corrupte, tamen non aliter tradiderunt: namque hominem de luto a Prometheo factum esse dixerunt. res eos non fefellit, sed nomen artificis.
About this forming of man the poets too, though in a corrupted way, handed down nothing different: for they said man was made from clay by Prometheus. The fact did not escape them, but the name of the Maker did.
Notes and citation
Summary: The poets knew man was made from clay but credited Prometheus.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.5 (CSEL 19:147; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-5).
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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).
2.10.6CSEL 19:147–148
nullas enim litteras ueritatis attigerant, sed quae prophetarum uaticinio tradita in sacrario dei continebantur, ea de fabulis et obscura opinione collecta et deprauata, ut ueritas a uulgo solet uariis sermonibus dissipata corrumpi nullo non addente aliquid ad id quod audierat, carminibus suis conprehenderunt. et hoc quidem inepte, quod tam mirabile tamque diuinum opificium homini dederunt.
For they had touched no writings of truth; but what was handed down by the prophecy of the prophets and kept in God's sanctuary, they gathered from fables and obscure rumour, and, corrupted (as truth is usually corrupted when scattered among the people by varied talk, everyone adding something to what he had heard), they put it into their poems. And they did this foolishly, in giving so wonderful and divine a work to a man.
Notes and citation
Summary: The poets distorted the prophets' truth through rumour and credited a man with God's work.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (i for l); stray hyphen (OCR)): iitteras → litteras; depraua-ta → deprauata.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.6 (CSEL 19:147–148; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-6).
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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).
2.10.7CSEL 19:148
quid enim opus fuit hominem de luto fingi, cum posset eadem ratione generari qua ipse Prometheus ex Iapeto natus est? qui si fuit homo, generare hominem potuit, facere non potuit: de diis autem illum non fuisse poena eius in Caucaso monte declarat.
For what need was there for man to be formed from clay, when he could have been begotten in the same way in which Prometheus himself was born of Iapetus? If he was a man, he could beget a man, but he could not make one; and that he was not one of the gods his punishment on Mount Caucasus declares.
Notes and citation
Summary: Prometheus, a man punished on the Caucasus, could beget but not create a man.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.7 (CSEL 19:148; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-7).
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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).
2.10.8CSEL 19:148
sed neque patrem eius Iapetum patruumque Titana quisquam deos nuncupauit, quia regni sublimitas penes Saturnum solum fuit, per quam diuinos honores cum omnibus suis posteris consecutus est. multis argumentis hoc figmentum poetarum coargui potest.
But no one called his father Iapetus or his uncle Titan gods, because the height of kingship lay with Saturn alone, through which he gained divine honours together with all his descendants. This fiction of the poets can be refuted by many arguments.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only Saturn's line was deified; the Prometheus story can be refuted.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.8 (CSEL 19:148; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-8).
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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).
2.10.9CSEL 19:148
factum esse diluuium ad perdendam tollendamque ex orbe terrae malitiam constat inter omnes. id enim et philosophi et poetae scriptoresque rerum antiquarum locuntur in eoque uel maxime cum prophetarum sermone consentiunt.
It is agreed among all that the flood was made to destroy and remove wickedness from the world. For philosophers, poets, and writers of ancient history say this, and in it they agree most of all with the words of the prophets.
Gen 6:13 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: All agree the flood came to destroy wickedness, as the prophets also say.
- Gen 6–8.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.9 (CSEL 19:148; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-9).
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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).
2.10.10CSEL 19:148
si ergo cataclysmus ideo factus est, ut malitia quae per nimiam multitudinem increuerat perderetur, quomodo fictor hominis Prometheus fuit, cuius filium Deucalionem idem ipsi ob iustitiam solum dicunt esse seruatum? quomodo unus gradus et una progenies orbem terrae tam celeriter potuit hominibus inplere?
If, then, the deluge was made to destroy the wickedness which had grown through the excessive multitude, how was Prometheus the maker of man, when these same writers say that his son Deucalion alone was saved for his righteousness? How could one degree of descent and one generation fill the world with men so quickly?
Notes and citation
Summary: If Deucalion, son of Prometheus, survived the flood alone, Prometheus cannot be man's maker.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.10 (CSEL 19:148; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-10).
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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).
2.10.11CSEL 19:148–149
sed uidelicet hoc quoque sic corruperunt ut illut superius, cum ignorarent et quo tempore cataclysmus sit factus in terra et quis ob iustitiam meruerit genere humano pereunte seruari et quomodo aut cum quibus seruatus sit: quae omnia propheticae litterae docent. apparet ergo esse falsum quod de opificio Promethei narrant.
But evidently they corrupted this too, like the former, since they did not know at what time the deluge happened on the earth, who deserved to be saved for his righteousness when the human race was perishing, and how and with whom he was saved: all of which the prophetic writings teach. It is clear, then, that what they tell of the workmanship of Prometheus is false.
Notes and citation
Summary: The poets distorted the flood story that Scripture tells correctly.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slips and line-break hyphen): de opi- Scio Promethei → de opificio Promethei.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.11 (CSEL 19:148–149; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-11).
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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).
2.10.12CSEL 19:149
uerum quia poetas dixeram non omnino mentiri solere, sed figuris inuoluere et obscurare quae dicant, non dico esse mentitos, sed primum omnium Promethea simulacrum hominis formasse de molli ac pingui luto ab eoque primo natam esse artem statuas et simulacra fingendi, siquidem Iouis temporibus fuit, quibus primum templa constitui et noui deorum cultus esse coeperunt.
But because I had said that the poets are not wont to lie outright but to wrap up and obscure what they say in figures, I do not say they lied, but that Prometheus was the first of all to shape an image of a man from soft, rich clay, and that from him first arose the art of fashioning statues and images, since he lived in the times of Jupiter, when temples first began to be built and new cults of the gods to arise.
Notes and citation
Summary: Prometheus was probably the first maker of statues, which the poets turned into making men.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.12 (CSEL 19:149; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-12).
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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).
2.10.13CSEL 19:149
sic ueritas fucata mendacio est et illut quod a deo factum ferebatur, homini, qui opus diuinum imitatus est, coepit adscribi. ceterum fictio ueri ac uiui hominis e limo dei est.
So truth was coloured with falsehood, and what was reported to have been made by God began to be ascribed to a man who imitated the divine work. But the forming of a true and living man from clay belongs to God.
Gen 2:7 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Making a living man from clay is God's work, not Prometheus'.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR)): fucata. mendacio → fucata mendacio.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.13 (CSEL 19:149; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-13).
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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).
2.10.14CSEL 19:149
quod Hermes quoque tradit, qui non tantum hominem ad imaginem dei factum esse dixit a deo, sed etiam illut explanare temptauit, quam subtili ratione singula quaeque in corpore hominis membra formauerit, cum eorum nihil sit quod non tantundem ad usus necessitatem quantum ad pulchritudinem ualeat.
Hermes too teaches this: he not only said that man was made by God after the image of God, but even tried to explain with what fine reasoning God formed each of the members in the human body, since none of them is not as valuable for the needs of use as for beauty.
Notes and citation
Summary: Hermes taught that God made man in his image and designed each limb for use and beauty.
- Hermetic fragment.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (doubled point (OCR); stray point (OCR)): membra. formauerit → membra formauerit; ualeat.. → ualeat..
Extrabiblical texts: Corp. herm. (Hermetic writings; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.14 (CSEL 19:149; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-14).
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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).
2.10.15CSEL 19:149–150
id uero etiam Stoici cum de prouidentia disserunt, facere conantur et secutus eos Tullius pluribus quidem locis, sed tamen materiam tam copiosam et uberem strictim contingit. quam ego nunc idcirco praetereo, quia nuper proprium de ea re librum ad Demetrianum auditorem meum scripsi.
The Stoics too try to do this when they discuss providence, and Tullius, following them, in several places; yet he touches only briefly on so copious and rich a subject. I pass over it now because I recently wrote a book of its own on this subject to my pupil Demetrianus.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius passes over the design of the body, which he treated in his book to Demetrianus.
- Compare Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 2.133–153. The book to Demetrianus is Lactantius' On the Workmanship of God.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR)): cona.ntur → conantur.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Nat. d. 2.133–153 (Cicero; allusion); Lactantius, Opif. (On the Workmanship of God; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.15 (CSEL 19:149–150; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-15).
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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).
2.10.16CSEL 19:150
illut hoc loco praeterire non possum quod errantes quidam philosophi aiunt, homines ceteraque animalia sine ullo artifice orta esse de terra. unde illud est Vergilianum uirumque terrea progenies duris caput extulit aruis. et ii maxime in ea fuere sententia qui esse prouidentiam negant: nam Stoici animantium fabricam diuinae sollertiae tribuunt.
I cannot pass over here what certain erring philosophers say, that men and the other animals arose from the earth without any maker; hence that line of Virgil: "and the earthborn race of men raised its head from the hard fields." And those especially held this opinion who deny that there is providence; for the Stoics attribute the fabric of living things to divine skill.
Notes and citation
Summary: Some philosophers who deny providence say animals sprang from the earth without a maker.
- Virgil, Georgics 2.341.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (u for ii); stray points and comma (OCR)): orta. esse de terra,. → orta esse de terra.; et u maxime → et ii maxime.
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Georg. 2.341 (Virgil; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.16 (CSEL 19:150; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-16).
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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).
2.10.17CSEL 19:150
Aristoteles autem labore se ac molestia liberauit dicens semper fuisse mundum: itaque et humanum genus et cetera quae in eo sunt initium non habere, sed fuisse semper ac semper fore.
But Aristotle freed himself from toil and trouble by saying the world always existed, and therefore the human race and the other things in it have no beginning, but always were and always will be.
Notes and citation
Summary: Aristotle claimed the world and humankind always existed.
Extrabiblical texts: Aristotle (Aristotle (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.17 (CSEL 19:150; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-17).
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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).
2.10.18CSEL 19:150
sed cum uideamus singula quaeque animalia quae ante non fuerint esse incipere et esse desinere, necesse est totum genus aliquando esse coepisse et aliquando desiturum esse, quia coepit.
But since we see that each single animal which did not exist before begins to exist and ceases to exist, the whole race must at some time have begun to exist and will at some time cease, because it began.
Notes and citation
Summary: Since individuals begin and end, the race too must have a beginning and end.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.18 (CSEL 19:150; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-18).
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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).
2.10.19CSEL 19:150
omnia enim tribus temporibus contineri necesse est, praeterito praesenti futuro. praeteriti est origo, praesentis substantia, futuri dissolutio.
For all things must be contained in three times: past, present, and future. To the past belongs origin, to the present existence, to the future dissolution.
Notes and citation
Summary: All things have past origin, present existence, and future dissolution.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): contmen → contineri.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.19 (CSEL 19:150; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-19).
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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).
2.10.20CSEL 19:150–151
quae omnia in singulis hominibus apparent: et incipimus enim, cum nascimur, et sumus, cum uiuimus, et desinimus, cum interimus. unde etiam tres Parcas esse uoluerunt, unam quae uitam hominis ordiatur, alteram quae contexat, tertiam quae rumpat ac finiat.
All these appear in individual men: we begin when we are born, we exist while we live, and we cease when we die. That is why they held there are three Fates, one who begins the web of a man's life, another who weaves it, a third who breaks and ends it.
Notes and citation
Summary: The three Fates represent birth, life, and death.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.20 (CSEL 19:150–151; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-20).
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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).
2.10.21CSEL 19:151
in toto autem genere hominum quia solum praesens tempus apparet, ex eo tamen et praeteritum id est origo colligitur et futurum id est dissolutio.
In the whole human race, although only the present time appears, from it are gathered both the past, that is, the origin, and the future, that is, the dissolution.
Notes and citation
Summary: From the present, the race's beginning and end can be inferred.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.21 (CSEL 19:151; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-21).
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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).
2.10.22CSEL 19:151
nam quoniam est, apparet aliquando coepisse — esse enim nulla res sine exordio potest - et quia coepit, apparet quandoque desiturum; nec enim potest id totum esse inmortale quod ex mortalibus constat.
For since it exists, it is clear that it began at some time (for nothing can exist without a beginning), and since it began, it is clear that it will one day cease; for the whole cannot be immortal which consists of mortals.
Notes and citation
Summary: A race of mortals had a beginning and will end.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.22 (CSEL 19:151; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-22).
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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).
2.10.23CSEL 19:151
nam sicut uniuersi per singulos interimus, fieri potest ut aliquo casu omnes simul, uel sterilitate terrarum, quae accidere particulatim solet, uel pestilentia, ubique diffusa, quae singulas urbes aut regiones plerumque populatur, uel incendio in orbem inmisso, quale iam fuisse sub Phaethonte dicitur, uel diluuio aquarum, quale sub Deucalione traditur, cum praeter unum hominem genus omne deletum est.
For as we all perish one by one, it can happen that by some chance all perish together, whether by barrenness of the earth, which usually happens in particular places; or by pestilence spread everywhere, which often lays waste individual cities or regions; or by fire sent upon the world, such as is said to have happened under Phaethon; or by a flood of waters, such as is recorded under Deucalion, when all the race except one man was destroyed.
Notes and citation
Summary: Famine, plague, fire, or flood could destroy the whole race at once.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.23 (CSEL 19:151; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-23).
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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).
2.10.24CSEL 19:151
quod diluuium si casu accidit, profecto potuit accidere ut et ille unus qui superfuit interiret. si autem diuinae prouidentiae nutu, quod negari non potest, ad reparandos homines reseruatus est, apparet in dei potestate esse uel uitam uel interitum generis humani. quod si potest occidere in totum, quia per partes occidit, apparet aliquando esse ortum, et fragilitas ut initium, sic declarat et terminum.
If that deluge happened by chance, it could certainly have happened that the one who survived also perished. But if he was kept by the will of divine providence, which cannot be denied, to restore mankind, it is clear that both the life and the destruction of the human race are in God's power. And if it can perish entirely, since it perishes in parts, it is clear that it arose at some time; and frailty, as it declares a beginning, so it declares an end.
Notes and citation
Summary: The survival of one man in the flood shows God controls humanity's life and end.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.24 (CSEL 19:151; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-24).
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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).
2.10.25CSEL 19:151
quae si uera sunt, non poterit defendere Aristoteles quominus habuerit et mundus ipse principium. quod si Aristoteli Plato et Epicurus extorquent, et Platoni et Aristoteli qui semper fore mundum putauerunt, licet sint eloquentes, ingratis tamen idem Epicurus eripiet quia sequitur ut habeat et finem.
If these things are true, Aristotle will not be able to maintain that the world itself had no beginning. And if Plato and Epicurus wrest this from Aristotle, then from Plato and Aristotle, who thought the world would last forever, eloquent though they are, the same Epicurus will against their will snatch this away, since it follows that it has an end too.
Notes and citation
Summary: Aristotle's eternal world fails; if it began, as Plato and Epicurus say, it will also end.
Extrabiblical texts: Aristotle (Aristotle (works); allusion); Plato (Plato (works); allusion); Epicurus (Epicurus (sayings and fragments); allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.25 (CSEL 19:151; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-25).
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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).
2.10.26CSEL 19:151–152
sed haec in ultimo libro pluribus: nunc ad hominis originem recurramus.
But of these things more in the last book; now let us return to the origin of man.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius returns to the origin of man.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.10.26 (CSEL 19:151–152; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-10-26).
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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 11
2.11.1CSEL 19:152
Aiunt certis conuersionibus caeli et astrorum motibus maturitatem quandam extitisse animalium serendorum, itaque terram nouam semen genitale retinentem folliculos ex se quosdam in uterorum similitudinem protulisse — de quibus Lucretius: crescebant uteri terram radicibus apti — eosque cum maturuissent, natura cogente ruptos animalia tenera profudisse.
They say that through certain revolutions of the heaven and motions of the stars there came about a kind of ripeness for sowing living creatures, and so the new earth, holding generative seed, put forth from itself certain bags like wombs (of which Lucretius says: "wombs grew, fixed to the earth by roots"); and that when these had ripened, they burst by nature's compulsion and poured out tender animals.
Notes and citation
Summary: Some claim the early earth grew womb-like pods that burst to release animals.
- Lucretius, On the Nature of Things 5.808.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 5.808 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.1 (CSEL 19:152; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-1).
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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).
2.11.2CSEL 19:152
deinde terram ipsam umore quodam qui esset lacti similis exuberasse eoque alimento animantes esse nutritas. quomodo igitur uim frigoris uel caloris ferre aut uitare potuerunt aut omnino nasci, cum sol exureret, frigus adstringeret? non erant inquiunt in principio mundi nec hiemps nec aestas, sed perpetua temperies et uer aequabile.
Then the earth itself overflowed with a certain moisture like milk, and the living creatures were fed by that food. How then could they either bear or avoid the force of cold or heat, or be born at all, when the sun scorched and the cold bound? "There were," they say, "at the beginning of the world neither winter nor summer, but a perpetual mildness and even spring."
Notes and citation
Summary: They say the earth fed the first animals with milk in a perpetual spring.
- Compare Lucretius 5.811–820.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 5.811–820 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.2 (CSEL 19:152; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-2).
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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).
2.11.3CSEL 19:152
cur ergo nihil horum fieri etiamnunc uidemus? quia semel fieri necessarium fuit ut animalia nascerentur; postquam uero esse coeperunt, concessa his facultate generandi et terra parere desiit et temporis condicio mutata est.
Why then do we see none of these things happen even now? "Because it was necessary for this to happen once, so that animals might be born; but after they began to exist, when the power of generating was granted to them, the earth ceased to bear and the condition of the season was changed."
Notes and citation
Summary: They explain that spontaneous generation happened only once.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR)): concessa. his → concessa his.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.3 (CSEL 19:152; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-3).
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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).
2.11.4CSEL 19:152
o quam facile est redarguere mendacia! primum, quod nihil potest esse in hoc mundo, quod non sic permaneat ut coepit. nec enim sol et luna et astra tunc non erant aut cum essent, meatus non habebant ac non diuina moderatio, quae cursus eorum temperat et gubernat, cum ipsis simul coeperat.
O how easy it is to refute lies! First, because nothing can be in this world which does not continue as it began. For the sun and moon and stars either did not exist then, or, if they existed, did not have their courses; or else the divine governance, which tempers and rules their courses, began together with them.
Notes and citation
Summary: The world's order has always been as it began, under divine governance.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray hyphen and OCR slip; stray point (OCR)): astra. tunc → astra tunc; habeba-ut → habebant.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.4 (CSEL 19:152; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-4).
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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).
2.11.5CSEL 19:152
deinde, quod si ita sit ut dicunt, esse prouidentiam necesse est, et in id ipsum incidunt quod maxime fugiunt.
Next, if it is as they say, there must be providence, and they fall into the very thing they most flee.
Notes and citation
Summary: Their theory actually requires providence.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): demue → deinde.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.5 (CSEL 19:152; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-5).
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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).
2.11.6CSEL 19:152–153
nondum enim natis animalibus aliquis utique prouidit ut nascerentur, ne orbis terrae desertus atque incultus horreret. ut autem de terra sine officio parentum nasci possent, necesse est magna ratione esse prouisum; deinde ut umor ille concretus e terra in uarias imagines corporum fingeretur, item ut e folliculis quibus tegebantur accepta uiuendi sentiendique ratione tamquam ex aluo matrum profunderentur, mira inextricabilisque prouisio est.
For before the animals were born, someone certainly provided that they should be born, lest the world bristle desert and untilled. And that they could be born from the earth without the service of parents must have been provided with great reason; then that that moisture congealed from the earth should be shaped into various forms of bodies, and likewise that, receiving the principle of living and feeling, they should be poured out of the bags that covered them as if from mothers' wombs, is a wonderful and inexplicable provision.
Notes and citation
Summary: Such a process would require great foresight, that is, providence.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (i for x)): tamquam ei aluo → tamquam ex aluo.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.6 (CSEL 19:152–153; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-6).
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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).
2.11.7CSEL 19:153
sed putemus id quoque casu accidisse, illa certe quae secuntur fortuita esse non possunt, ut terra continuo lacte manaret, ut aeris temperies esset aequalis.
But suppose that this too happened by chance; the things that follow certainly cannot be fortuitous: that the earth flowed continuously with milk, that the temperature of the air was even.
Notes and citation
Summary: The milk and mild climate could not be chance.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR)): fortuita. esse → fortuita esse.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.7 (CSEL 19:153; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-7).
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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).
2.11.8CSEL 19:153
quae si constat idcirco esse facta, ut animalia recens edita uel haberent alimentum uel non haberent periculum, necesse est ut aliquis diuina nescio qua ratione prouiderit. quis autem potest prouidere nisi deus?
If it is agreed that these were made so that newborn animals might have food or be free from danger, someone must have provided it by some divine reason. And who can provide but God?
Notes and citation
Summary: Only God could have provided for the first animals.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (t for f)): tacta → facta.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.8 (CSEL 19:153; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-8).
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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).
2.11.9CSEL 19:153
uideamus tamen an id ipsum quod dictitant fieri potuerit, ut homines nascerentur e terra. si consideret aliquis quamdiu et quibus modis educetur infans, intelleget profecto non potuisse terrigenas illos pueros sine ullo educatore nutriri.
Let us see, however, whether what they keep saying could have happened, that men were born from the earth. If anyone considers how long and in what ways an infant is reared, he will surely understand that those earthborn children could not have been nourished without anyone to rear them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Earthborn infants could not have survived without someone to rear them.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.9 (CSEL 19:153; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-9).
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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).
2.11.10CSEL 19:153
fuit enim necesse conpluribus mensibus iacere proiectos, donec confirmatis neruis mouere se locumque mutare possent: quod uix intra unius anni spatium fieri potest.
For they would have had to lie abandoned for many months until their sinews were strengthened and they could move and change place, which can hardly happen within the space of one year.
Notes and citation
Summary: Infants cannot move for many months.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.10 (CSEL 19:153; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-10).
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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).
2.11.11CSEL 19:153
iam uide utrumne infans eodem loco et eodem modo quo effusus est iacere per multos menses ualuerit ac non et umore illo terrae, quem alimenti gratia ministrabat, et sui corporis purgamentis in unum mixtis obrutus corruptusque moreretur?
Now consider whether an infant could have lain for many months in the same place and in the same way in which it was poured out, and not have died, overwhelmed and corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it received for food mixed together with the refuse of its own body.
Notes and citation
Summary: An untended infant would die in its own filth.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (a for u)): corruptasque → corruptusque.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.11 (CSEL 19:153; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-11).
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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).
2.11.12CSEL 19:153–154
itaque nullo modo fieri potest quin ab aliquo fuerit educatus: nisi forte animalia omnia non tenera nata sunt, sed excreta, quod ut dicerent numquam illis uenit in mentem.
So it cannot possibly be that he was not reared by someone: unless perhaps all animals were born not tender but full-grown, which it never occurred to them to say.
Notes and citation
Summary: Someone must have reared the first humans.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.12 (CSEL 19:153–154; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-12).
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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).
2.11.13CSEL 19:154
omnis igitur illa ratio inpossibilis et uana est, si tamen ratio dici potest qua id agitur, ut nulla sit ratio. qui enim dicit omnia sua sponte esse nata nihilque diuinae prouidentiae tribuit, hic profecto rationem non adserit, sed euertit.
That whole theory, then, is impossible and empty, if indeed it can be called a theory (ratio) whose aim is that there be no reason (ratio). For he who says all things were born of their own accord and attributes nothing to divine providence certainly does not assert reason but overturns it.
Notes and citation
Summary: Denying providence overturns reason itself.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.13 (CSEL 19:154; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-13).
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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).
2.11.14CSEL 19:154
quodsi neque fieri quicquam sine ratione neque nasci potest, apparet esse diuinam prouidentiam, cuius est proprium quod dicitur ratio. deus igitur rerum omnium machinator fecit hominem.
But if nothing can be made or born without reason, it is clear that there is divine providence, whose property is what is called reason. God, then, the designer of all things, made man.
Notes and citation
Summary: Since nothing arises without reason, God made man.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.14 (CSEL 19:154; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-14).
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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).
2.11.15CSEL 19:154
quod Cicero quamuis expers caelestium litterarum uidit tamen, qui libro de legibus primo hoc idem tradidit quod prophetae.
Cicero, though without the heavenly writings, nevertheless saw this; in the first book On the Laws he taught the same as the prophets.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero, without Scripture, agreed with the prophets that God made man.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.15 (CSEL 19:154; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-15).
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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).
2.11.16CSEL 19:154
cuius uerba subieci. animal hoc prouidum sagax multiplex acutum memor plenum rationis et consilii, quem uocamus hominem, praeclara quadam condicione generatum esse a supremo deo. solum est enim ex tot animantium generibus atque naturis particeps rationis et cogitationis, cum cetera sint omnia expertia.
I have added his words: "This creature, provident, shrewd, many-sided, acute, mindful, full of reason and counsel, which we call man, was begotten by the supreme God in a certain glorious condition. For he alone, of so many kinds and natures of living things, shares in reason and thought, while all the rest lack them."
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero says man, alone rational among creatures, was made by the supreme God.
- Cicero, On the Laws 1.22.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR)): uerba. subieci. → uerba subieci.; ra.tionis → rationis.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Leg. 1.22 (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.16 (CSEL 19:154; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-16).
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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).
2.11.17CSEL 19:154
uidesne hominem quamuis longe a ueritatis notitia remotum tamen, quoniam imaginem sapientiae tuebatur, intellexisse non nisi a deo hominem potuisse generari?
Do you see that a man, though far removed from knowledge of the truth, nevertheless, because he kept to an image of wisdom, understood that man could only have been begotten by God?
Notes and citation
Summary: Even Cicero saw that only God could make man.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.17 (CSEL 19:154; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-17).
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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).
2.11.18CSEL 19:154–155
sed tamen diuinis opus est testimoniis, ne minus humana sufficiant. Sibylla hominem dei opus esse testatur: ὃς μόνος ἐστὶ θεὸς ϰτίστης ὰϰράτητος ύπάρχων αὐτὸς δ ἐστήριξε τύπον μορϕῆς μερόπων τε - αὐτὸς ἕμιξε ϕύσιν πάντων, γενέτης βιότοιο.
But divine testimonies are needed, lest human ones be insufficient. The Sibyl testifies that man is the work of God: "He who alone is God, creator, unconquerable, he himself fixed the type of the form of mortals, he himself mingled the nature of all, the begetter of life."
Notes and citation
Summary: The Sibyl testifies that God alone formed mankind.
- Sibylline Oracles, fragment 3.3–5 (numbering uncertain); quoted in Greek.
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.18 (CSEL 19:154–155; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-18).
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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).
2.11.19CSEL 19:155
eadem sanctae litterae continent. deus ergo ueri patris officio functus est, ipse corpus effinxit, ipse animam qua spiramus infudit, illius est totum quidquid sumus.
The holy writings contain the same. God, then, performed the office of a true father: he himself fashioned the body, he himself breathed in the soul by which we breathe; all that we are is his.
Gen 2:7 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Scripture teaches that God formed the body and breathed in the soul.
- Gen 2:7.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.19 (CSEL 19:155; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-19).
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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).
2.11.20CSEL 19:155
quomodo id fecerit si nos oporteret scire, docuisset, sicut docuit cetera quae cognitionem nobis et pristini erroris et ueri luminis adtulerunt.
How he did this, if we needed to know, he would have taught us, as he taught the other things that have brought us knowledge both of former error and of true light.
Notes and citation
Summary: God has not revealed how he made man because we need not know.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.11.20 (CSEL 19:155; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-11-20).
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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).
Divine 2, chapter 12
2.12.1CSEL 19:155
Cum ergo marem primum ad similitudinem suam finxisset, tum etiam feminam configurauit ad ipsius hominis effigiem, ut duo inter se permixti sexus propagare subolem possent et omnem terram multitudine opere.
When, then, he had first formed the male after his own likeness, he then also shaped the female after the image of the man himself, so that the two sexes, joined together, might propagate offspring and fill the whole earth with their multitude.
Gen 2:22 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 1:28 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God made man in his likeness and woman after man, so they might fill the earth.
- Gen 1:27–28; 2:21–22. The last verb in the Latin ("opere") is garbled; translated "fill" by the sense.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.1 (CSEL 19:155; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-1).
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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).
2.12.2CSEL 19:155
in ipsius autem hominis fictione illarum duarum materiarum quas inter se diximus esse contrarias, ignis et aquae, conclusit perfecitque rationem.
In the making of man himself he included and completed the principle of those two materials which we said are contrary to each other, fire and water.
Notes and citation
Summary: Man was made from the two opposed elements, fire and water.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (m for in)): m ipsius → in ipsius.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.2 (CSEL 19:155; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-2).
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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).
2.12.3CSEL 19:155–156
ficto enim corpore, inspirauit ei animam de mtah fonte spiritus sui qui est perennis, ut ipsius mundi ex contrariis constantis elementis similitudinem gereret. constat enim ex anima et corpore id est quasi ex caelo et terra, quandoquidem anima qua uiuimus uelut e caelo oritur a deo, corpus e terra, cuius e limo diximus esse formatum.
For when the body had been formed, he breathed into it a soul from the living fountain of his Spirit, which is everlasting, so that he might bear the likeness of the world itself, which consists of contrary elements. For he consists of soul and body, that is, as it were of heaven and earth, since the soul by which we live arises as if from heaven, from God, and the body from the earth, from whose slime we said it was formed.
Gen 2:7 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Man, of soul from God and body from earth, mirrors heaven and earth.
- Gen 2:7. The adjective with "fountain" is garbled in the digital text; translated "living" by the sense.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (u for n)): euim → enim.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.3 (CSEL 19:155–156; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-3).
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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).
2.12.4CSEL 19:156
Empedocles, quem nescias utrumne inter poetas an inter philosophos numeres, quia de rerum natura uersibus scripsit ut aput Romanos Lucretius et Varro, quattuor elementa constituit, ignem aerem aquam terram, fortasse Trismegistum secutus, qui nostra corpora ex his quattuor elementis constituta esse dixit a deo:
Empedocles, whom you could not tell whether to count among the poets or the philosophers, because he wrote on nature in verse, as Lucretius and Varro did among the Romans, established four elements, fire, air, water, earth, perhaps following Trismegistus, who said that our bodies were constituted by God from these four elements:
Notes and citation
Summary: Empedocles, perhaps following Hermes, taught four elements.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray comma and point, OCR slip (i for x)): nostra, corpora ei his quattuor elementis constituta. esse → nostra corpora ex his quattuor elementis constituta esse.
Extrabiblical texts: Empedocles (Empedocles (fragments); allusion); Corp. herm. (Hermetic writings; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.4 (CSEL 19:156; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-4).
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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).
2.12.5CSEL 19:156
habere namque in se aliquid ignis, aliquid aeris, aliquid aquae, aliquid terrae, et neque ignem esse neque aerem neque aquam neque terram. quae quidem falsa non sunt: nam terrae ratio in carne est, umoris in sanguine, aeris in spiritu, ignis in calore uitali.
that they have in them something of fire, something of air, something of water, something of earth, and yet are neither fire nor air nor water nor earth. These things are not false: for the principle of earth is in the flesh, of moisture in the blood, of air in the breath, of fire in the vital heat.
Notes and citation
Summary: The body contains earth in flesh, water in blood, air in breath, and fire in its warmth.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR)): carne est,. umoris → carne est, umoris.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.5 (CSEL 19:156; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-5).
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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).
2.12.6CSEL 19:156
sed neque sanguis a corpore secerni potest sicut umor a terra neque calor uitalis a spiritu sicut ignis ab aere: adeo rerum omnium duo sola reperiuntur elementa, quorum omnis ratio in nostri corporis fictione conclusa est.
But blood cannot be separated from the body as moisture from earth, nor vital heat from breath as fire from air: so only two elements of all things are found, whose whole principle is included in the fashioning of our body.
Notes and citation
Summary: Really only two elements, heat and moisture, make up the body.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.6 (CSEL 19:156; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-6).
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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).
2.12.7CSEL 19:156
ex rebus ergo diuersis ac repugnantibus homo factus est sicut ipse mundus ex luce ac tenebris, ex uita et morte: quae duo inter se pugnare in homine praecepit, ut si anima superauerit quae oritur ex deo, sit inmortalis et in perpetua luce uersetur, si autem corpus uicerit animam dicionique subiecerit, sit in tenebris sempiternis et in morte.
Man, then, was made from diverse and conflicting things, as the world itself was from light and darkness, from life and death; and God ordained that these two should fight with each other in man, so that if the soul, which arises from God, prevails, he may be immortal and dwell in perpetual light; but if the body conquers the soul and subjects it to its rule, he may be in everlasting darkness and in death.
Notes and citation
Summary: Soul and body contend in man; if the soul wins he gains eternal light, if the body, eternal death.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.7 (CSEL 19:156; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-7).
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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).
2.12.8CSEL 19:156
cuius non ea uis est ut iniustas animas extinguat omnino, sed ut puniat in aeternum. eam poenam mortem secundam nominamus, quae est et ipsa perpetua sicut et inmortalitas.
Its force is not such as to extinguish unjust souls altogether, but to punish them forever. That punishment we call the second death, which is itself perpetual, just as immortality is.
Rev 20:14 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The second death punishes unjust souls forever rather than annihilating them.
- "Second death": compare Rev 20:14.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR)): perpetua. sicut → perpetua sicut.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.8 (CSEL 19:156; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-8).
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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).
2.12.9CSEL 19:156–157
primam sic definimus: mors est naturae animantium dissolutio, uel ita: mors est corporis animaeque seductio; secundam uero sic: mors est aeterni doloris perpessio, uel ita: mors est animarum pro meritis ad aeterna supplicia damnatio. haec mutas pecudes non adtingit, quarum animae non ex deo constantes, sed ex communi aere morte soluuntur.
The first we define thus: death is the dissolution of the nature of living beings; or thus: death is the separation of body and soul. The second thus: death is the enduring of eternal pain; or thus: death is the condemnation of souls to eternal punishments according to their deserts. This does not touch dumb cattle, whose souls, consisting not of God but of the common air, are dissolved by death.
Notes and citation
Summary: The first death separates soul and body; the second is eternal punishment, which animals do not face.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.9 (CSEL 19:156–157; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-9).
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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).
2.12.10CSEL 19:157
in hac igitur societate caeli atque terrae, quorum effigies expressa est in homine, superiorem partem tenent ea quae sunt dei, anima scilicet quae dominium corporis habet, inferiorem autem ea quae sunt diaboli, corpus utique, quod quia terrenum est, animae debet esse subiectum sicut terra caelo.
In this partnership of heaven and earth, then, whose likeness is expressed in man, the higher part is held by what belongs to God, namely the soul, which has dominion over the body; but the lower part by what belongs to the devil, namely the body, which, because it is earthly, ought to be subject to the soul, as earth to heaven.
Notes and citation
Summary: In man the soul belongs to God and should rule; the body, earthly, belongs to the devil's side and should serve.
- Lactantius assigns the body to "the devil's" side as the earthly, lower part; translated as written.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.10 (CSEL 19:157; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-10).
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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).
2.12.11CSEL 19:157
est enim quasi uasculum, quo tamquam domicilio temporali spiritus hic caelestis utatur. utriusque officia sunt, ut hoc quod est ex caelo et deo, imperet, illut uero quod ex terra et diabolo, seruiat.
For it is like a little vessel, which this heavenly spirit uses as a temporary dwelling. The duties of each are that what is from heaven and God should rule, and what is from earth and the devil should serve.
Notes and citation
Summary: The body is a temporary vessel; the heavenly soul should rule it.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.11 (CSEL 19:157; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-11).
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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).
2.12.12CSEL 19:157
quod quidem non fugit hominem nequam Sallustium, qui ait: sed nostra omnis uis in animo et corpore sita est: animi imperio, corporis seruitio magis utimur.
This did not escape even that worthless man Sallust, who says: "But all our power lies in mind and body: we use the mind rather to rule, the body to serve."
Notes and citation
Summary: Sallust too said the mind should rule and the body serve.
- Sallust, Catiline 1.2; no id for Sallust in the list.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point and comma (OCR)): a.nimo et corpore sita, est → animo et corpore sita est.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.12 (CSEL 19:157; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-12).
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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).
2.12.13CSEL 19:157
recte, si ita uixisset ut locutus est.
Rightly, if he had lived as he spoke.
Notes and citation
Summary: Sallust spoke well but did not live accordingly.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.13 (CSEL 19:157; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-13).
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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).
2.12.14CSEL 19:157
seruiuit enim foedissimis uoluptatibus suamque ipse sententiam uitae prauitate dissoluit. quodsi anima ignis est ut ostendimus, in caelum debet eniti sicut ignis, ne exstinguatur, hoc est ad inmortalitatem, quae in caelo est: et sicut ardere ac uiuere non potest ignis, nisi aliqua pingui materia teneatur in qua habeat alimentum, sic animae materia et cibus est sola iustitia, qua tenetur ad uitam.
For he was a slave to the foulest pleasures and undid his own saying by the depravity of his life. But if the soul is fire, as we have shown, it ought to strive toward heaven like fire, lest it be extinguished, that is, toward immortality, which is in heaven; and as fire cannot burn and live unless it is held by some rich material in which it has nourishment, so the material and food of the soul is justice alone, by which it is held to life.
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul, like fire, must rise toward heaven and is kept alive by justice alone.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.14 (CSEL 19:157; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-14).
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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).
2.12.15CSEL 19:157–158
post haec deus hominem qua exposui ratione generatum posuit in Paradiso id est in horto fecundissimo et amoenissimo: quem in partibus orientis omni genere ligni arborumque conseuit, ut ex earum uariis fructibus aleretur expersque omnium laborum deo patri summa deuotione seruiret.
After this God placed the man, begotten in the way I have set out, in Paradise, that is, in a most fruitful and pleasant garden, which he planted in the regions of the east with every kind of wood and tree, so that he might be fed by their various fruits and, free from all labours, serve God the Father with the utmost devotion.
Gen 2:8 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God placed man in Paradise, a fruitful garden in the east, to serve him.
- Gen 2:8–9, 15.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.15 (CSEL 19:157–158; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-15).
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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).
2.12.16CSEL 19:158
tum dedit ei certa mandata, quae si obseruasset, inmortalis maneret, si transcendisset, morte adficeretur. id autem praeceptum fuit, ut ex arbore una quae fuerat in medio Paradiso non gustaret, in qua posuerat intellegentiam boni ac mali.
Then he gave him certain commands, which, if he kept them, he would remain immortal, and if he transgressed them, he would be punished with death. The precept was that he should not taste of one tree which was in the middle of Paradise, in which he had placed the knowledge of good and evil.
Gen 2:17 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God forbade man to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, on pain of death.
- Gen 2:16–17.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.16 (CSEL 19:158; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-16).
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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).
2.12.17CSEL 19:158
tum criminator ille inuidens operibus dei omnes fallacias et calliditates suas ad deiciendum hominem intendit, ut ei adimeret inmortalitatem.
Then that accuser, envying the works of God, bent all his deceits and cunning to casting man down, so as to take immortality from him.
Notes and citation
Summary: The devil, envious, plotted to rob man of immortality.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.17 (CSEL 19:158; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-17).
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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).
2.12.18CSEL 19:158
et primo mulierem dolo inlexit ut uetitum cibum sumeret, et per eam ipsi quoque homini persuasit ut transcenderet dei legem. percepta igitur scientia boni et mali pudere eum nuditatis suae coepit absconditque se a facie dei, quod antea non solebat.
And first he enticed the woman by guile to take the forbidden food, and through her persuaded the man himself also to transgress the law of God. Having gained, then, the knowledge of good and evil, he began to be ashamed of his nakedness and hid himself from the face of God, which he had not been accustomed to do before.
Gen 3:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 3:8 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The devil deceived the woman and through her the man, who then hid in shame.
- Gen 3:1–10.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR)): ea.m → eam.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.18 (CSEL 19:158; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-18).
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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).
2.12.19CSEL 19:158–159
tum deus sententia in peccatores data eiecit hominem de Paradiso, ut uictum sibi labore conquireret, ipsumque Paradisum igni circumuallauit, ne homo posset accedere, donec summum iudicium faciat in terra et iustos uiros cultores suos in eundem locum reuocet morte sublata, sicut sacrae uoces docent et Sibylla Erythraea, cum dicit: οἱ δὲ θεὸν τιμῶντες ἀληθινὸν ἀέναόν τε ζωὴν κληρονομοῦσι, τὸν αἰῶνος χρόνον αὐτοὶ οἰκοῦντες Παράδεισον ὁμῶς, ὲριθηλέα κῆπον. uerum haec quoniam extrema sunt, in extrema
Then God, passing sentence on the sinners, cast the man out of Paradise to seek his living by labour, and surrounded Paradise itself with fire, so that man could not approach, until he executes the final judgment on earth and calls the just, his worshippers, back to the same place, death being taken away, as the sacred voices teach and the Erythraean Sibyl, when she says: "But those who honour the true and everlasting God inherit life, dwelling for the time of the age in Paradise alike, the flourishing garden." But since these things belong to the end, we shall treat them in the final
Gen 3:24 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God expelled man from Paradise and guarded it with fire until the just return at the final judgment.
- Gen 3:23–24. Sibylline Oracles, fragment 3.46–49; quoted in Greek.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (a for u); stray point before the section break (OCR)): aerum haec → uerum haec; in extrema. → in extrema.
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. frag. 3.46–49 (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.19 (CSEL 19:158–159; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-19).
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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).
2.12.20CSEL 19:159
operis huius parte tractabimus: nunc ea quae prima sunt explicemus. mors itaque secuta est hominem secundum dei sententiam, quod etiam Sibylla in carmine suo docet dicens: ὰνθρωπον πλασθέντα θεοῦ παλάμαις άγίαισιν, ὃν ἀ ὲπλάνησεν ὅϕις δολίως ἐπὶ μοῖραν ἀνελθεῖν τοῦ θανάτου γνῶσιν τε λαβεῖν ἀγαθοῦ τε κακοῦ τε.
part of this work; now let us explain the things that come first. Death, then, followed man according to God's sentence, which the Sibyl also teaches in her song, saying: "Man, formed by God's holy hands, whom the serpent deceived by guile, so that he went to the fate of death and received the knowledge of good and evil."
Gen 3:19 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Death followed man by God's sentence, as the Sibyl also says.
- Sibylline Oracles 1.39–42 (approximately); quoted in Greek.
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. 1.39–42 (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.20 (CSEL 19:159; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-20).
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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).
2.12.21CSEL 19:159–160
sic facta est uita hominis temporaria, sed tamen longa, quae in mille annos prorogaretur. quod diuinis litteris proditum et per omnium scientiam publicatum cum Varro non ignoraret, argumentari nisus est, cur putarentur antiqui mille annos uictitasse.
So man's life was made temporary, yet long, extending to a thousand years. Since Varro was not ignorant of this, which was handed down in the divine writings and made public to the knowledge of all, he tried to argue why the ancients were thought to have lived a thousand years.
Gen 5:27 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Man's life became mortal but long, nearly a thousand years, which Varro tried to explain away.
- Gen 5.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray hyphen (OCR)): puta-rentur → putarentur.
Extrabiblical texts: Varro (Varro; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.21 (CSEL 19:159–160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-21).
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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).
2.12.22CSEL 19:160
ait enim, aput Aegyptios pro annis menses haberi, ut non solis per duodecim signa circuitus faciat annum, sed luna, quae orbem illum signiferum triginta dierum spatio lustrat. quod argumentum perspicue falsum est: nemo enim tunc millesimum annum trans-
For he says that among the Egyptians months were reckoned as years, so that not the sun's circuit through the twelve signs makes a year, but the moon, which traverses that circle of signs in the space of thirty days. This argument is plainly false: for no one then passed
Notes and citation
Summary: Varro claimed the ancients' 'years' were really months.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR); words run together (OCR)): aitenim, → ait enim,; signa. circuitus → signa circuitus; triginta. dierum → triginta dierum.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.22 (CSEL 19:160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-22).
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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).
2.12.23CSEL 19:160
gressus est, nunc uero qui ad centesimum perueniunt, quod fit saepissime, mille certe ac ducentis mensibus uiuunt. et auctores idonei tradunt ad centum uiginti annos perueniri solere.
his thousandth year, whereas now those who reach a hundred, which happens very often, certainly live twelve hundred months. And reliable authors report that people commonly reach a hundred and twenty years.
Notes and citation
Summary: Varro's theory fails, since people now live over a thousand months.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.23 (CSEL 19:160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-23).
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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).
2.12.24CSEL 19:160
sed quia ignorabat Varro cur aut quando esset uita hominis deminuta, ipse deminuit, cum sciret, mille et quadringentis mensibus posse hominem uiuere.
But because Varro did not know why or when man's life was shortened, he himself shortened it, though he knew that a man could live fourteen hundred and forty months.
Notes and citation
Summary: Not knowing why life was shortened, Varro shortened it himself.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point and OCR slip): qua.drmgentis → quadringentis.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.12.24 (CSEL 19:160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-12-24).
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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 13
2.13.1CSEL 19:160
Deus autem postea cum uideret orbem terrae malitia et sceleribus obpletum, statuit humanum genus diluuio perdere. sed tamen ad multitudinem reparandam delegit unum, quod corruptis omnibus singulare iustitia supererat exemplum.
Afterwards, when God saw the world filled with wickedness and crimes, he resolved to destroy the human race by a flood. But to restore the multitude he chose one, who, when all were corrupted, remained a singular example of righteousness.
Gen 6:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 6:9 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God resolved to destroy the wicked world by a flood but chose one righteous man.
- Gen 6:5–9.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.13.1 (CSEL 19:160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-13-1).
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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).
2.13.2CSEL 19:160
hic cum sescentorum esset annorum, fabricauit arcam, sicut ei praeceperat deus, in qua ipse cum coniuge ac tribus filiis totidemque nuribus reseruatus est, cum aqua uniuersos montes altissimos operuisset.
When he was six hundred years old, he built an ark, as God had commanded him, in which he himself with his wife and three sons and as many daughters-in-law was preserved when the water had covered all the highest mountains.
Gen 7:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 7:19 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Noah built the ark and was saved with his family.
- Gen 6:14–7:24.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray hyphen (OCR)): fabrica-uit → fabricauit.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.13.2 (CSEL 19:160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-13-2).
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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).
2.13.3CSEL 19:160
deinde orbe siccato exsecratus iniustitiam prioris saeculi deus, ne rursus longitudo uitae causa esset excogitandorum malorum, paulatim per singulas progenies deminuit hominis aetatem atque in centum et uiginti annis metam conlocauit, quam transgredi non liceret.
Then, when the world had been dried, God, abhorring the injustice of the former age, lest length of life should again be a cause of devising evils, gradually shortened the age of man generation by generation and set the limit at a hundred and twenty years, which it would not be permitted to pass.
Gen 6:3 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: After the flood God shortened human life to 120 years.
- Gen 6:3.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.13.3 (CSEL 19:160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-13-3).
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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).
2.13.4CSEL 19:160–161
ille uero cum egressus esset ex arca, sicuti sanctae litterae docent, terram studiose coluit ac uineam sua manu seuit. unde arguuntur qui auctorem uini Liberum putant. ille enim non modo Liberum, sed etiam Saturnum atque Uranum multis antecessit aetatibus.
When he had come out of the ark, as the holy writings teach, he tilled the earth diligently and planted a vineyard with his own hand. By this those are refuted who think Liber the author of wine. For he preceded not only Liber but even Saturn and Uranus by many ages.
Gen 9:20 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Noah planted the first vineyard, long before Liber.
- Gen 9:20.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.13.4 (CSEL 19:160–161; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-13-4).
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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).
2.13.5CSEL 19:161
qua ei uinea cum primum fructum cepisset, laetus factus bibit usque ad ebrietatem iacuitque nudus. quod cum uidisset unus ex filiis, cui nomen fuit Cham, non texit patris nuditatem, sed egressus etiam fratribus indicauit. at illi sumpto pallio intrauerunt auersis uultibus patremque texerunt.
When he had first gathered fruit from that vineyard, he became merry, drank to drunkenness, and lay naked. When one of his sons, whose name was Ham, saw this, he did not cover his father's nakedness but went out and even told his brothers. But they took a cloak, went in with faces turned away, and covered their father.
Gen 9:21 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 9:23 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Noah got drunk; Ham told his brothers, who covered their father.
- Gen 9:21–23.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (a for u); OCR slip (i for x)): factas bibit → factus bibit; unus ei filiis → unus ex filiis.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.13.5 (CSEL 19:161; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-13-5).
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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).
2.13.6CSEL 19:161
quae facta cum pater recognosset, abdicauit atque expulit filium. at ille profugus in eius terrae parte consedit quae nunc Arabia nominatur, eaque terra de nomine eius Chanaan dicta est et posteri eius Chananaei.
When the father learned what had been done, he disowned and drove out his son. And he, a fugitive, settled in that part of the earth which is now called Arabia, and that land was called Canaan from his name, and his descendants Canaanites.
Gen 9:25 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Noah drove out Ham, whose land and descendants were called Canaan.
- In Gen 9:25 the curse falls on Canaan, Ham's son; Lactantius' account differs from Genesis here. Translated as written.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray comma (OCR)): Arabia, nominatur → Arabia nominatur.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.13.6 (CSEL 19:161; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-13-6).
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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).
2.13.7CSEL 19:161
haec fuit prima gens quae deum ignorauit, quoniam princeps eius et conditor cultum dei a patre non accepit maledictus ab eo: itaque ignorantiam diuinitatis minoribus suis reliquit.
This was the first nation that did not know God, since its chief and founder did not receive the worship of God from his father, being cursed by him; and so he left ignorance of the divinity to his descendants.
Notes and citation
Summary: Ham's line was the first to lose the knowledge of God.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (n for u)): ignoranit → ignorauit.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.13.7 (CSEL 19:161; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-13-7).
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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).
2.13.8CSEL 19:161
ab hac gente proximi quique populi multitudine increscente fluxerunt. ipsius autem patris posteri Hebraei dicti: penes quos religio dei resedit.
From this nation, as the multitude increased, all the neighbouring peoples flowed. But the descendants of the father himself were called Hebrews, among whom the religion of God remained.
Notes and citation
Summary: Noah's other descendants, the Hebrews, kept the worship of God.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.13.8 (CSEL 19:161; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-13-8).
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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).
2.13.9CSEL 19:161
sed et ab his postea multiplicato in inmensum numero cum eos angustiae locorum suorum capere non possent, tum adulescentes uel missi a parentibus uel sua sponte, cum rerum penuria cogeret, profugi ad quaerendas sibi nouas sedes huc atque illuc dispersi omnes insulas et orbem totum repleuerunt et a stirpe sanctae radicis auulsi nouos sibi mores atque instituta pro arbitrio condiderunt.
But from these too, afterwards, when their number had multiplied immensely and the narrowness of their lands could not hold them, young men, either sent by their parents or of their own accord, when want of things compelled them, went out as fugitives to seek new homes for themselves, scattered here and there, filled all the islands and the whole world, and, torn from the stock of the holy root, founded new customs and institutions for themselves at their own will.
Notes and citation
Summary: Overcrowding scattered people across the world, where they formed new customs apart from the true religion.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.13.9 (CSEL 19:161; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-13-9).
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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).
2.13.10CSEL 19:161–162
sed omnium primi qui Aegyptum occupauerant caelestia suspicere atque adorare coeperunt. et quia neque domiciliis tegebantur propter aeris qualitatem nec ullis in ea regione nubibus subtexitur caelum, cursus siderum et effectus notauerunt, dum ea saepe uenerantes curiosius ac liberius intuentur.
But first of all those who had occupied Egypt began to look up to and adore the heavenly bodies. And because they were neither sheltered by houses, owing to the quality of the air, nor is the sky in that region veiled by any clouds, they observed the courses and effects of the stars, while, often venerating them, they gazed at them more curiously and freely.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Egyptians, under clear skies, first began to worship the stars.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray hyphen (OCR); stray point (OCR)): caelestia. suspicere → caelestia suspicere; nota-uerunt → notauerunt.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.13.10 (CSEL 19:161–162; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-13-10).
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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).
2.13.11CSEL 19:162
postea deinde portentificas animalium figuras quas colerent commenti sunt quibusdam prodigiis inducti, quorum mox auctores aperiemus.
Afterwards they devised monstrous figures of animals to worship, led by certain prodigies, whose authors we shall soon disclose.
Notes and citation
Summary: Then the Egyptians invented animal-shaped gods.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): Sguras → figuras.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.13.11 (CSEL 19:162; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-13-11).
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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).
2.13.12CSEL 19:162
ceteri autem qui per terram dispersi fuerant admirantes elementa mundi, caelum solem terram mare, sine ullis imaginibus ac templis uenerabantur et his sacrificia in aperto celebrabant, donec processu temporum potentissimis regibus templa et simulacra fecerunt eaque uictimis et odoribus colere instituerunt. sic aberrantes a notitia dei gentes esse coeperunt.
But the others, who had been scattered over the earth, admiring the elements of the world, heaven, sun, earth, and sea, venerated them without any images or temples and celebrated sacrifices to them in the open, until in the course of time they made temples and images for their most powerful kings and began to worship them with victims and incense. So the Gentiles, straying from the knowledge of God, began to exist.
Notes and citation
Summary: Other peoples first worshipped the elements, then deified kings, and so became the Gentiles.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.13.12 (CSEL 19:162; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-13-12).
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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).
2.13.13CSEL 19:162
errant igitur qui deorum cultus ab exordio rerum fuisse contendunt et priorem esse gentilitatem quam dei religionem, quam putant posterius inuentam, quia fontem atque originem ueritatis ignorant. nunc ad principium mundi reuertamur.
They err, therefore, who contend that the worship of gods existed from the beginning of things and that paganism is older than the religion of God, which they think was invented later; because they do not know the fountain and origin of truth. Now let us return to the beginning of the world.
Notes and citation
Summary: The worship of God is older than paganism.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray point (OCR)): quia. fontem → quia fontem.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 2.13.13 (CSEL 19:162; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/2-9-1/#p-2-13-13).
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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).