Divine Institutes 3.11.1–3.15.21
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 3, chapter 11
3.11.1CSEL 19:204
Constat igitur totius humani generis consensu religionem suscipi oportere. sed quomodo in ea erretur explicandum est.
It is agreed, then, by the consent of the whole human race, that religion ought to be taken up. But how people go wrong in it must be explained.
Notes and citation
Summary: All agree religion must be taken up; he will explain how people err in it.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.1 (CSEL 19:204; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-1).
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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).
3.11.2CSEL 19:204
naturam hominis deus hanc esse uoluit, ut duarum rerum cupidus et adpetens esset, religionis et sapientiae. sed homines ideo falluntur, quod aut religionem suscipiunt omissa sapientia aut sapientiae soli student omissa religione, cum alterum sine altero uerum esse non possit.
God willed human nature to be such that it would desire and seek two things, religion and wisdom. But people are deceived because either they take up religion and neglect wisdom, or they pursue wisdom alone and neglect religion, whereas neither can be true without the other.
Notes and citation
Summary: Religion and wisdom must go together; people err by separating them.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.2 (CSEL 19:204; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-2).
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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).
3.11.3CSEL 19:204–205
cadunt ergo ad multiplices religiones, sed ideo falsas, quia sapientiam reliquerunt, quae illos docere poterat deos multos esse non posse, aut student sapientiae, sed ideo falsae, quia religionem summi dei omiserunt, qui eos ad ueri scientiam potuit erudire.
So they fall into many religions, but false ones, because they have abandoned wisdom, which could have taught them that there cannot be many gods; or they pursue wisdom, but a false one, because they have neglected the religion of the supreme God, who could have instructed them in the knowledge of the truth.
Notes and citation
Summary: Religion without wisdom leads to polytheism; wisdom without religion is false.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.3 (CSEL 19:204–205; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-3).
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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).
3.11.4CSEL 19:205
sic homines qui alterutrum suscipiunt uitam deuiam maximisque erroribus plenam secuntur, quoniam in his duobus inseparabiliter conexis et officium hominis et ueritas omnis inclusa est.
Thus those who take up only one of the two follow a life that has left the road and is full of the greatest errors, since in these two, inseparably joined, both the duty of man and all truth are contained.
Notes and citation
Summary: Man's duty and all truth lie in religion and wisdom joined.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.4 (CSEL 19:205; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-4).
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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).
3.11.5CSEL 19:205
miror itaque nullum omnino philosophorum extitisse, qui sedem ac domicilium summi boni reperiret.
I am surprised, then, that none at all of the philosophers appeared who found the seat and dwelling of the highest good.
Notes and citation
Summary: No philosopher found where the highest good dwells.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.5 (CSEL 19:205; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-5).
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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).
3.11.6CSEL 19:205
potuerunt enim sic quaerere: quodcumque est summum bonum, necesse est omnibus esse propositum. uoluptas est quae adpetitur a cunctis, sed haec et communis est cum beluis et honesti uim non habet et satietatem adfert et nimia nocet et processu minuitur aetatis et multis non contingit; nam qui opibus carent, quorum maior est numerus, etiam uoluptate careant necesse est. non est igitur summum bonum, sed ne bonum quidem uoluptas.
For they could have sought it in this way: whatever the highest good is, it must be set before all. Pleasure is what all seek; but it is common with the beasts, has not the force of the honourable, brings satiety, harms when in excess, diminishes with advancing age, and does not fall to many; for those who lack means, who are the greater number, must also lack pleasure. So pleasure is not the highest good, and not even a good.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pleasure cannot be the highest good, since it is not open to all and has many defects.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.6 (CSEL 19:205; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-6).
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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).
3.11.7CSEL 19:205
quid diuitiae? multo magis: nam et paucioribus et plerumque casu et inertibus saepe et nonnumquam scelere contingunt et optantur ab iis qui eas iam tenent. quid regnum ipsum?
What of riches? Much more so; for they fall to fewer, and mostly by chance, often to the idle, and sometimes through crime, and they are wished for by those who already have them. What of kingship itself?
Notes and citation
Summary: Riches are not the highest good.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.7 (CSEL 19:205; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-7).
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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).
3.11.8CSEL 19:205
ne id quidem: non enim cuncti homines regnare possunt et necesse est uniuersos summi boni capaces esse.
Not that either: for not all men can reign, and all must be capable of the highest good.
Notes and citation
Summary: Kingship is not open to all, so it is not the highest good.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.8 (CSEL 19:205; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-8).
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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).
3.11.9CSEL 19:205
quaeramus igitur aliquid quod propositum sit omnibus. num uirtus? negari non potest quin et bonum sit et omnium certe bonum. sed si beata esse non potest, quia uis et natura eius in malorum perferentia posita est, non est profecto summum bonum. quaeramus aliut.
Let us seek, then, something that is set before all. Is it virtue? It cannot be denied that it is a good, and certainly a good for all. But if it cannot be happy, because its force and nature lie in the endurance of evils, it is surely not the highest good. Let us seek something else.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue is a good for all but not happy in itself, since it consists in enduring evils.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.9 (CSEL 19:205; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-9).
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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).
3.11.10CSEL 19:205–206
at nihil uirtute pulchrius, nihil sapiente dignius inueniri potest. si enim uitia ob turpitudinem fugienda sunt, uirtus igitur adpetenda est ob decorem. quid ergo? potestne fieri ut quod bonum, quod honestum esse constat, mercede ac praemio careat sitque tam sterile, ut nihil ex se commodi pariat?
Yet nothing more beautiful than virtue, nothing more worthy of the wise man, can be found. For if vices are to be avoided because of their ugliness, virtue is to be sought because of its beauty. What then? Can it be that what is agreed to be good and honourable should lack reward and prize, and be so barren as to produce no benefit from itself?
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue is supremely beautiful and cannot be without reward.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.10 (CSEL 19:205–206; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-10).
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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).
3.11.11CSEL 19:206
labor ille magnus et difficultas et eluctatio aduersus mala, quibus haec uita plena est, aliquid magni boni pariat necesse est.
That great toil and difficulty and struggle against the evils with which this life is full must produce some great good.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue's struggle must produce some great good.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.11 (CSEL 19:206; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-11).
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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).
3.11.12CSEL 19:206
id uero quid esse dicemus? num uoluptatem? at nihil turpe ex honesto nasci potest. num diuitias? num potentatus? at ea quidem fragilia sunt et caduca. num gloriam? num honorem? num memoriam nominis? at haec omnia non sunt in ipsa uirtute, sed in aliorum existimatione atque arbitrio posita.
But what shall we say this is? Pleasure? But nothing shameful can be born of the honourable. Riches? Power? But these are frail and perishable. Glory? Honour? The remembrance of one's name? But all these lie not in virtue itself but in the esteem and judgment of others.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue's reward is not pleasure, riches, power, or glory.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.12 (CSEL 19:206; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-12).
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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).
3.11.13CSEL 19:206
nam saepe uirtus et inuisa est et malo adficitur. debet autem id bonum quod ex ea nascitur ita cohaerere, ut diuelli atque abstrahi nequeat, nec aliter summum bonum uideri potest, quam si et proprium sit uirtutis et tale, ut neque adici quicquam neque detrahi possit.
For virtue is often hated and suffers evil. The good that is born of it ought to cling to it so closely that it cannot be torn away and separated; and it cannot be seen as the highest good in any other way than if it is both proper to virtue and such that nothing can be added to it or taken away.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue's good must be inseparable from it and complete.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.13 (CSEL 19:206; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-13).
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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).
3.11.14CSEL 19:206
quid quod in his omnibus contemnendis uirtutis officia consistunt? nam uoluptates opes potentias honores eaque omnia quae pro bonis habentur non concupiscere, non adpetere, non amare, quod ceteri faciunt uicti cupiditate, id est profecto uirtutis.
What of the fact that the duties of virtue consist in despising all these things? For not to covet, not to seek, not to love pleasures, wealth, power, honours, and all the things that are held to be goods, as the rest do, overcome by desire, this is surely the part of virtue.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue consists in despising what others count as goods.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.14 (CSEL 19:206; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-14).
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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).
3.11.15CSEL 19:206–207
aliut ergo sublimius atque praeclarius efficit nec frustra his praesentibus bonis reluctatur, nisi quod maiora et ueriora desiderat.
It produces, then, something else more sublime and splendid; and it does not struggle against these present goods in vain, but because it desires greater and truer ones.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue rejects present goods because it seeks greater ones.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.15 (CSEL 19:206–207; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-15).
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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).
3.11.16CSEL 19:207
non desperemus inueniri posse, modo uerset se cogitatio in omnia: neque enim leuia aut ludicra petuntur praemia.
Let us not despair that it can be found, if only our thought turns itself to everything; for the rewards sought are not light or trifling.
Notes and citation
Summary: The reward can be found by careful thought.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.11.16 (CSEL 19:207; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-11-16).
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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).
Divine 3, chapter 12
3.12.1CSEL 19:207
Si quaeritur quid sit propter quod nascimur, quid efficiat uirtus, possumus sic inuestigare. duo sunt ex quibus homo constat, animus et corpus. multa sunt propria animi, multa propria corporis, multa utrique communia, sicut est ipsa uirtus: quae quotiens ad corpus refertur, discernendi gratia fortitudo nominatur.
If it is asked what it is for which we are born, and what virtue produces, we can investigate it in this way. There are two things of which man consists, soul and body. Many things are proper to the soul, many to the body, many common to both, as is virtue itself; which, whenever it is referred to the body, is called fortitude, for the sake of distinction.
Notes and citation
Summary: Man is soul and body; virtue belongs to both, and in the body is called fortitude.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.1 (CSEL 19:207; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-1).
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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).
3.12.2CSEL 19:207
quoniam igitur utrique subiacet fortitudo, utrique proposita dimicatio est et utrique ex dimicatione uictoria: corpus quia solidum est et conprehensibile, cum solidis et conprehensibilibus confligat necesse est, animus autem quia tenuis est et inuisibilis, cum iis congreditur hostibus qui uideri tangique non possunt.
Since, then, fortitude underlies both, a combat is set before both, and to both comes victory from the combat. The body, because it is solid and can be grasped, must fight with things solid and graspable; but the soul, because it is subtle and invisible, engages with enemies that cannot be seen or touched.
Notes and citation
Summary: Body and soul each have their own combat.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.2 (CSEL 19:207; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-2).
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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).
3.12.3CSEL 19:207
qui sunt autem hostes animi nisi cupiditates uitia peccata? quae si uicerit uirtus ac fugauerit, inmaculatus erit animus ac purus.
And who are the soul's enemies but desires, vices, sins? If virtue conquers and routs these, the soul will be unstained and pure.
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul's enemies are desires, vices and sins.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.3 (CSEL 19:207; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-3).
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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).
3.12.4CSEL 19:207
unde igitur colligi potest quid efficiat animi fortitudo? nimirum ex coniuncto et pari hoc est ex corporis fortitudine: quod cum in aliquam congressionem certamenque uenerit, quid aliut ex uictoria quam uitam petit? siue enim cum homine siue cum bestia dimices, pro salute certatur.
From what, then, can we infer what the soul's fortitude produces? Surely from what is joined and equal to it, that is, from the fortitude of the body. When the body enters some encounter and contest, what else does it seek from victory but life? For whether you fight with a man or with a beast, the contest is for safety.
Notes and citation
Summary: Bodily fortitude fights for life.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.4 (CSEL 19:207; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-4).
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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).
3.12.5CSEL 19:207
ergo ut corpus uincendo id adsequitur, ut non intereat, sic et animus, ut permaneat, et sicut corpus ab hostibus suis uictum morte multatur, ita superatus a uitiis animus moriatur necesse est.
So as the body by conquering gains this, that it does not perish, so also the soul gains that it endures; and as the body, conquered by its enemies, is punished with death, so the soul overcome by vices must die.
Notes and citation
Summary: As the body conquers to live, so the soul conquers to endure; defeated by vice it dies.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.5 (CSEL 19:207; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-5).
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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).
3.12.6CSEL 19:207
quid ergo intererit inter animi et corporis dimicationem nisi quod corpus temporalem uitam expetit, animus sempiternam?
What difference, then, will there be between the combat of soul and of body, except that the body seeks temporal life, the soul eternal?
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul's combat is for eternal life.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.6 (CSEL 19:207; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-6).
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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).
3.12.7CSEL 19:207–208
si ergo uirtus per se ipsam beata non est, quoniam in perferendis ut dixi malis tota uis eius est, si omnia quae pro bonis concupiscuntur neclegit, si summus eius gradus ad mortem patet, quandoquidem uitam quae optatur a ceteris saepe respuit mortemque quam ceteri timent fortiter suscipit, si necesse est ut aliquid ex se magni boni pariat, quia suscepti et superati usque ad mortem labores
If, then, virtue is not happy of itself, since, as I said, its whole force lies in enduring evils; if it neglects all the things that are coveted as goods; if its highest step lies open to death, since it often rejects the life others long for and bravely takes up the death others fear; if it must produce some great good from itself, because labours undertaken and overcome even to death
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue endures evils, rejects goods, and even embraces death, so it must yield some great reward.
- The sentence continues in 3.12.8.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.7 (CSEL 19:207–208; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-7).
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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).
3.12.8CSEL 19:208
sine praemio esse non possunt, si nullum praemium quod ea dignum sit reperitur in terra, quandoquidem cuncta quae fragilia et caduca sunt spernit, quid aliud restat nisi ut caeleste aliquid efficiat, quia terrena uniuersa contemnit, et ad altiora nitatur, quia humilia despicit? id uero nihil potest esse aliut quam inmortalitas.
cannot be without reward; if no reward worthy of it is found on earth, since it spurns all things frail and perishable: what else remains but that it produces something heavenly, since it despises all earthly things, and strives toward higher things, since it looks down on low ones? And that can be nothing else than immortality.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue's reward must be heavenly: immortality.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.8 (CSEL 19:208; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-8).
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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).
3.12.9CSEL 19:208
merito ergo philosophorum non obscurus Euclides qui fuit Megaricorum conditor disciplinae, dissentiens a ceteris id esse dixit summum bonum, quod simile sit et idem semper.
Rightly, then, Euclides, no obscure philosopher, the founder of the Megarian school, dissenting from the others, said that the highest good is that which is alike and always the same.
Notes and citation
Summary: Euclides of Megara defined the highest good as what is always the same.
- Cf. Cicero, Acad. 2.129.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Acad. 2.129 (Cicero; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.9 (CSEL 19:208; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-9).
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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).
3.12.10CSEL 19:208
intellexit profecto quae sit natura summi boni, licet id non explicauerit, quid sit: id est autem inmortalitas nec aliut omnino quicquam, quia sola nec inminui nec augeri nec immutari potest.
He surely understood what the nature of the highest good is, though he did not explain what it is. It is immortality and nothing else whatever, because it alone can neither be diminished nor increased nor changed.
Notes and citation
Summary: Euclides grasped its nature; the highest good is immortality, which never changes.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.10 (CSEL 19:208; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-10).
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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).
3.12.11CSEL 19:208
Seneca quoque inprudens incidit ut fateretur nullum esse aliud uirtutis praemium quam inmortalitatem. laudans enim uirtutem in eo libro quem de inmatura morte conscripsit, una inquit res est uirtus, quae nos inmortalitate donare possit et pares diis facere.
Seneca too fell unawares into confessing that there is no other reward of virtue than immortality. For praising virtue in the book he wrote On Untimely Death, he says: 'Virtue is the one thing that can endow us with immortality and make us equal to the gods.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Seneca admitted that virtue's only reward is immortality.
- Seneca, De immatura morte, a lost work; this fragment survives only here.
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca, De immatura morte (fragment) (Seneca; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.11 (CSEL 19:208; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-11).
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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).
3.12.12CSEL 19:208–209
sed et Stoici, quos secutus est, negant sine uirtute effici posse quemquam beatum. ergo uirtutis praemium beata uita est, si uirtus, at recte dictum est, beatam uitam facit.
But the Stoics too, whom he followed, deny that anyone can be made happy without virtue. So the reward of virtue is the happy life, if virtue, as has rightly been said, makes life happy.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Stoics' own teaching makes the happy life virtue's reward.
- 'at recte dictum est' is taken as 'ut recte dictum est' ('as has rightly been said'); the text is left as printed.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.12 (CSEL 19:208–209; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-12).
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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).
3.12.13CSEL 19:209
non est igitur ut aiunt propter se ipsam uirtus expetenda, sed propter uitam beatam, quae uirtutem necessario sequitur.
So virtue is not to be sought for its own sake, as they say, but for the sake of the happy life, which necessarily follows virtue.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue is sought for the happy life that follows it.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.13 (CSEL 19:209; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-13).
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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).
3.12.14CSEL 19:209
quod argumentum docere eos potuit, quod esset summum bonum. haec autem uita praesens et corporalis beata esse non potest, quia malis est subiecta per corpus.
This argument could have taught them what the highest good is. But this present bodily life cannot be happy, because through the body it is subject to evils.
Notes and citation
Summary: The present bodily life cannot be happy.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.14 (CSEL 19:209; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-14).
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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).
3.12.15CSEL 19:209
Epicurus deum beatum et incorruptum uocat, quia sempiternus est. beatitudo enim perfecta esse debet, ut nihil sit quod eam uexare aut minuere aut inmutare possit.
Epicurus calls God happy and incorruptible because he is everlasting. For happiness must be perfect, so that there is nothing that can trouble or lessen or change it.
Notes and citation
Summary: Epicurus called God happy because everlasting; happiness must be perfect.
- Cf. Epicurus, Principal Doctrines 1.
Extrabiblical texts: Epicurus, Sent. 1 (Epicurus (sayings and fragments); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.15 (CSEL 19:209; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-15).
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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).
3.12.16CSEL 19:209
nec aliter quicquam existimari beatum potest nisi fuerit incorruptum. incorruptum autem nihil est nisi quod est inmortale. sola ergo inmortalitas beata est, quia corrumpi ac dissolui non potest.
Nor can anything be thought happy unless it is incorruptible; and nothing is incorruptible except what is immortal. Immortality alone, then, is happy, because it cannot be corrupted and dissolved.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only immortality is truly happy.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.16 (CSEL 19:209; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-16).
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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).
3.12.17CSEL 19:209
quodsi cadit in hominem uirtus, quod negare nullus potest, cadit et beatitudo: non potest enim fieri ut sit miser qui uirtute est praeditus. si cadit beatitudo, ergo et inmortalitas cadit in hominem, quae beata est.
But if virtue falls to man, which no one can deny, happiness falls to him too; for it cannot be that he who is endowed with virtue is wretched. If happiness falls to him, then immortality, which is happy, falls to man too.
Notes and citation
Summary: If man can have virtue, he can have happiness and so immortality.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.17 (CSEL 19:209; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-17).
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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).
3.12.18CSEL 19:209
summum igitur bonum sola inmortalitas inuenitur, quia nec aliut animal nec corpus adtingit nec potest cuiquam sine scientia et uirtute id est sine dei cognitione ac iustitia prouenire.
Immortality alone, then, is found to be the highest good, because it touches neither another animal nor the body, and cannot come to anyone without knowledge and virtue, that is, without the knowledge of God and justice.
Notes and citation
Summary: Immortality alone meets all the conditions of the highest good.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.18 (CSEL 19:209; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-18).
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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).
3.12.19CSEL 19:209–210
cuius adpetitio quam recta, quam uera sit, ipsa uitae huiusce cupiditas indicat, quae licet sit temporalis et labore plenissima, expetitur tamen ab omnibus et optatur: hanc enim tam senes quam pueri, tam reges quam infimi, tam denique sapientes quam stulti cupiunt.
How right and true the desire for it is, the very longing for this life shows, which, though it is temporal and full of toil, is yet sought and wished for by all: old and young, kings and the lowest, wise and foolish alike desire it.
Notes and citation
Summary: Everyone's love of this life shows the rightness of desiring immortality.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.19 (CSEL 19:209–210; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-19).
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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).
3.12.20CSEL 19:210
tanti est, ut Anaxagorae uisum est, contemplatio caeli ac lucis ipsius, ut quascumque miserias libeat sustinere.
So precious, as it seemed to Anaxagoras, is the contemplation of the sky and of light itself that one is glad to endure any miseries.
Notes and citation
Summary: People endure any misery just to see the light.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.20 (CSEL 19:210; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-20).
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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).
3.12.21CSEL 19:210
cum igitur laboriosa haec et breuis uita non tantum hominum, sed etiam ceterarum animantium consensu magnum bonum esse ducatur, manifestum est eandem summum ac perfectum fieri bonum, si et fine careat et omni malo.
Since, then, this toilsome and short life is held to be a great good by the agreement not only of men but of the other living creatures too, it is plain that the same life becomes the highest and perfect good if it is without end and without any evil.
Notes and citation
Summary: Life without end and without evil would be the perfect good.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.21 (CSEL 19:210; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-21).
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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).
3.12.22CSEL 19:210
denique nemo umquam extitisset qui hanc ipsam breuem contemneret aut subiret (mortem) nisi spe uitae longioris. nam illi qui pro salute ciuium uoluntariae se neci optulerunt, sicut Thebis Menoeceus, Athenis Codrus, Romae Curtius et Mures duo, numquam mortem uitae commodis praetulissent, nisi se inmortalitatem opinione ciuium consequi putauissent. qui tamenetsi nescierunt inmortalitatis uiam, res eos tamen non fefellit.
In short, no one would ever have appeared who despised this short life or underwent ⟨death⟩ except in the hope of a longer life. For those who offered themselves to a voluntary death for the safety of their fellow citizens, as Menoeceus at Thebes, Codrus at Athens, and at Rome Curtius and the two Mures, would never have preferred death to the advantages of life unless they had thought they would gain immortality in the opinion of their fellow citizens. And although they did not know the way of immortality, yet the matter did not deceive them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Heroes who died for their cities did so hoping for immortality.
- 'death' is the editor's addition. The two Mures are the Decii Mures, father and son, who devoted themselves to death in battle.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.22 (CSEL 19:210; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-22).
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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).
3.12.23CSEL 19:210
si enim uirtus diuitias et opes ideo contemnit, quia fragiles sunt, uoluptates ideo, quia breues, ergo et uitam fragilem breuemque ideo contemnit, ut solidam et perpetuam consequatur.
For if virtue despises riches and wealth because they are frail, and pleasures because they are brief, then it also despises this frail and brief life in order to gain one that is solid and everlasting.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue despises this brief life to gain an everlasting one.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.23 (CSEL 19:210; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-23).
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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).
3.12.24CSEL 19:210
ipsa igitur cogitatio per ordinem gradiens et uniuersa considerans perducit nos ad eximium illut ac singulare cuius causa nascimur bonum.
So thought itself, advancing in order and considering everything, leads us to that outstanding and unique good for the sake of which we are born.
Notes and citation
Summary: Orderly reasoning leads to the good for which we are born.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.24 (CSEL 19:210; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-24).
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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).
3.12.25CSEL 19:210–211
quod si fecissent philosophi, non quod semel apprehenderant tueri pertinaciter maluissent, profecto peruenissent ad uerum hoc, ut ostendi modo. quod si non fuit eorum qui caelestes animas una cum corporibus extinguunt, illi tamen qui de inmortalitate animae disputant intellegere debuerunt ideo propositam nobis esse uirtutem, ut perdomitis libidinibus rerumque terrestrium cupiditate superata purae ac uictrices animae ad deum id est ad originem suam reuertantur.
If the philosophers had done this, and had not preferred obstinately to defend what they had once taken up, they would surely have arrived at this truth, as I have just shown. And if this was not for those who extinguish heavenly souls together with bodies, yet those who argue for the immortality of the soul ought to have understood that virtue is set before us so that, when lusts have been subdued and the desire for earthly things overcome, souls may return pure and victorious to God, that is, to their origin.
Notes and citation
Summary: Those who held the soul immortal should have seen that virtue leads souls back to God.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.25 (CSEL 19:210–211; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-25).
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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).
3.12.26CSEL 19:211
idcirco enim soli animantium ad aspectum caeli erecti sumus, ut summum bonum nostrum in summo esse credamus,
For this is why we alone of living creatures are made upright to look at the sky: so that we may believe our highest good to be in the highest place;
Notes and citation
Summary: Our upright posture points us to our highest good above.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.26 (CSEL 19:211; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-26).
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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).
3.12.27CSEL 19:211
ideo religionem soli capimus, ut ex hoc sciamus humanum spiritum non esse mortalem, quod deum qui est inmortalis et desiderat et agnoscit.
and this is why we alone receive religion: so that we may know from this that the human spirit is not mortal, because it both longs for and acknowledges God, who is immortal.
Notes and citation
Summary: Religion shows the human spirit is immortal, since it longs for the immortal God.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.27 (CSEL 19:211; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-27).
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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).
3.12.28CSEL 19:211
igitur ex omnibus philosophis qui aut scientiam pro summo bono aut uirtutem sunt amplexi, tenuerunt quidem ueritatis uiam, sed non peruenerunt ad summum.
So of all the philosophers, those who embraced either knowledge or virtue as the highest good held to the way of truth, but did not reach the top.
Notes and citation
Summary: Those who chose knowledge or virtue were on the right road but did not arrive.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.28 (CSEL 19:211; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-28).
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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).
3.12.29CSEL 19:211
haec enim duo sunt, quae simul efficiant illut quod quaeritur: scientia id praestat, ut quomodo et quo perueniendum sit nouerimus, uirtus, ut perueniamus. alterum sine altero nihil ualet: ex scientia enim uirtus, ex uirtute summum bonum nascitur.
For these are the two things which together produce what is sought: knowledge ensures that we know how and where we must arrive, virtue that we arrive. The one without the other avails nothing; for from knowledge virtue is born, and from virtue the highest good.
Notes and citation
Summary: Knowledge shows the way, virtue reaches it; together they yield the highest good.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.29 (CSEL 19:211; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-29).
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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).
3.12.30CSEL 19:211
beata igitur uita, quam philosophi quaesierunt semper et quaerunt siue in cultu deorum siue in philosophia, nulla est et ideo non potuit ab his reperiri, quia summum bonum non in summo quaesierunt, sed in imo.
The happy life, then, which the philosophers have always sought and still seek, whether in the worship of the gods or in philosophy, does not exist there, and so could not be found by them, because they sought the highest good not in the highest place but in the lowest.
Notes and citation
Summary: They failed because they sought the highest good below instead of above.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.30 (CSEL 19:211; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-30).
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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).
3.12.31CSEL 19:211
summum autem quid est nisi caelum et deus, unde animus oritur? imum quid nisi terra, unde corpus est?
And what is the highest but heaven and God, from whom the soul arises? What is the lowest but the earth, from which the body comes?
Notes and citation
Summary: The highest is heaven and God; the lowest is earth.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.31 (CSEL 19:211; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-31).
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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).
3.12.32CSEL 19:211
itaque licet quidam philosophi summum bonum non corpori, sed animo dederint, tamen quoniam illut ad hanc uitam rettulerunt quae cum corpore terminatur, ad corpus reuoluti sunt, cuius est omne hoc tempus quod transigitur in terra.
So, though some philosophers assigned the highest good not to the body but to the soul, yet because they referred it to this life, which ends with the body, they fell back to the body, to which belongs all this time that is spent on earth.
Notes and citation
Summary: Even those who placed the good in the soul tied it to this bodily life.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.32 (CSEL 19:211; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-32).
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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).
3.12.33CSEL 19:211
quare non inmerito summum bonum non conprehenderunt, quia quidquid spectat ad corpus et inmortalitatis est expers, imum sit necesse est.
So not without reason they did not grasp the highest good, because whatever looks to the body and has no share of immortality must be the lowest.
Notes and citation
Summary: Whatever concerns the mortal body is the lowest.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.33 (CSEL 19:211; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-33).
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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).
3.12.34CSEL 19:211–212
non cadit ergo in hominem beatitudo illo modo quo philosophi putauerunt, sed ita cadit, non ut tunc beatus sit, cum uiuit in corpore, quod utique ut dissoluatur corrumpi necesse est, sed tunc, cum anima societate corporis liberata in solo spiritu uiuit.
Happiness, then, does not fall to man in the way the philosophers thought; but it does fall to him, not so that he is happy while he lives in the body, which must in any case decay in order to be dissolved, but then, when the soul, freed from partnership with the body, lives in spirit alone.
Notes and citation
Summary: Happiness comes to man not in the body but after the soul is freed from it.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.34 (CSEL 19:211–212; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-34).
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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).
3.12.35CSEL 19:212
hoc uno beati esse in hac uita possumus, si minime beati esse uideamur, si fugientes inlecebras uoluptatum solique uirtuti seruientes in omnibus miseriis laboribusque uiuamus, quae sunt exercitia et corroboramenta uirtutis, si denique asperam illam uiam difficilemque teneamus, quae nobis ad beatitudinem patefacta est.
We can be happy in this life in this one way: if we seem least happy; if, fleeing the enticements of pleasures and serving virtue alone, we live in all miseries and toils, which are the exercises and strengthenings of virtue; if, finally, we keep to that rough and difficult way which has been opened to us toward happiness.
Matt 7:14 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: In this life we are happy only by keeping to virtue's hard way amid hardships.
- The 'rough and difficult way' recalls the narrow way of Matt 7:14; Lactantius develops the two ways in Book 6.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.35 (CSEL 19:212; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-35).
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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).
3.12.36CSEL 19:212
summum igitur bonum quod beatos facit non potest esse nisi in ea religione atque doctrina, cui spes inmortalitatis adiuncta est.
The highest good that makes us happy, then, can be nowhere but in that religion and teaching to which the hope of immortality is joined.
Notes and citation
Summary: The highest good is found only in the religion that brings hope of immortality.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.12.36 (CSEL 19:212; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-12-36).
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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 3, chapter 13
3.13.1CSEL 19:212
Res exigere uidetur hoc loco, ut quoniam docuimus inmortalitatem esse summum bonum, id ipsum, inmortalem esse animam, conprobemus.
The matter seems to require at this point that, since we have shown immortality to be the highest good, we should prove this very thing, that the soul is immortal.
Notes and citation
Summary: Having shown immortality is the highest good, he turns to the soul's immortality.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.1 (CSEL 19:212; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-1).
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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).
3.13.2CSEL 19:212
qua de re ingens inter philosophos disceptatio est, nec quicquam tamen explicare aut probare potuerunt ii qui uerum de anima sentiebant.
On this question there is great dispute among the philosophers; yet those who thought truly about the soul could not explain or prove anything.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers who held the soul immortal could not prove it.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.2 (CSEL 19:212; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-2).
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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).
3.13.3CSEL 19:212
expertes enim diuinae huius eruditionis nec argumenta uera quibus uincerent adtulerunt nec testimonia quibus probarent. sed oportunius hanc quaestionem tractabimus in ultimo libro, cum de uita beata nobis erit disserendum.
For, lacking this divine instruction, they brought forward neither true arguments by which to win nor testimonies by which to prove. But we shall treat this question more fittingly in the last book, when we must discuss the happy life.
Notes and citation
Summary: He defers the proof of the soul's immortality to the last book.
- The immortality of the soul is treated in Book 7.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.3 (CSEL 19:212; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-3).
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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).
3.13.4CSEL 19:212
superest pars illa philosophiae tertia quam uocant λογικήν, in qua tota dialectica et omnis loquendi ratio continetur.
There remains that third part of philosophy which they call logic, in which all dialectic and the whole method of speaking is contained.
Notes and citation
Summary: The third part of philosophy is logic.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Greek word mis-encoded in Latin letters in the digital text): Xoycxiav → λογικήν.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.4 (CSEL 19:212; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-4).
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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).
3.13.5CSEL 19:212–213
hanc diuina eruditio non desiderat, quia non in lingua, sed in corde sapientia est nec interest quali utare sermone. res enim, non uerba quaeruntur. et nos non de grammatico aut oratore, quorum scientia est quomodo loqui deceat, sed de sapiente disserimus, cuius doctrina est quomodo uiuere oporteat.
Divine instruction does not need this, because wisdom is not in the tongue but in the heart, and it makes no difference what kind of speech you use. For things, not words, are sought. And we are discussing not the grammarian or the orator, whose knowledge is how one should speak, but the wise man, whose teaching is how one should live.
Notes and citation
Summary: Divine teaching needs no logic, since wisdom is in the heart, not the tongue.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.5 (CSEL 19:212–213; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-5).
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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).
3.13.6CSEL 19:213
quodsi neque physica illa ratio necessaria est neque haec logica, quia beatum facere non possunt, restat ut in sola ethica totius philosophiae uis contineatur; ad quam se abiectis omnibus Socrates contulisse dicitur.
If, then, neither that natural philosophy is necessary nor this logic, because they cannot make one happy, it remains that the whole force of philosophy is contained in ethics alone, to which Socrates is said to have devoted himself after casting aside all else.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only ethics remains of philosophy, as Socrates saw.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: a for u): restat at in → restat ut in.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.6 (CSEL 19:213; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-6).
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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).
3.13.7CSEL 19:213
in qua etiam parte quoniam philosophos errasse docui, qui summum bonum cuius capiendi gratia generati sumus non conprehenderunt, apparet falsam et inanem esse omnem philosophiam, quia nec instruit ad iustitiae munera nec officium hominis rationemque consummat.
And since I have shown that in this part too the philosophers went wrong, who did not grasp the highest good for the obtaining of which we were begotten, it is clear that all philosophy is false and empty, because it neither equips us for the duties of justice nor completes the duty and purpose of man.
Notes and citation
Summary: Since they erred in ethics too, all philosophy is false and empty.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.7 (CSEL 19:213; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-7).
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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).
3.13.8CSEL 19:213
sciant igitur errare se qui philosophiam putant esse sapientiam; non trahantur auctoritate cuiusquam, sed ueritati potius et faueant et accedant. nullus hic temeritati locus est, in aeternum stultitiae poena subeunda est, si aut persona inanis aut opinio falsa deceperit.
Let those, then, who think philosophy is wisdom know that they are wrong; let them not be carried away by anyone's authority, but rather favour and draw near to the truth. There is no room here for rashness: the penalty of folly must be undergone for ever, if either an empty person or a false opinion has deceived us.
Notes and citation
Summary: Following philosophy rather than truth risks eternal punishment.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.8 (CSEL 19:213; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-8).
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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).
3.13.9CSEL 19:213
homo autem, qualiscumque est, si sibi credit hoc est si homini credit, ut non dicam stultus, qui suum non uideat errorem, certe adrogans est, qui sibi audeat uindicare quod humana condicio non recipit.
But a man, whatever he is like, if he believes himself, that is, if he believes a man, is, not to call him a fool who does not see his own error, certainly arrogant, daring to claim for himself what the human condition does not admit.
Notes and citation
Summary: Trusting human wisdom is arrogant.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.9 (CSEL 19:213; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-9).
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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).
3.13.10CSEL 19:213–214
ipse Romanae linguae summus auctor quantum fallatur, licet ex illa sententia peruidere: qui cum in libris officiorum philosophiam nihil aliut esse dixisset quam studium sapientiae, ipsam autem sapientiam rerum diuinarum et humanarum scientiam, tum adiecit: cuius studium qui uituperat, haut sane intellego quidnam sit quod laudandum putet.
How greatly the chief author of the Roman tongue himself is deceived can be seen from that sentence of his in which, having said in the books On Duties that philosophy is nothing else than the pursuit of wisdom, and wisdom itself the knowledge of things divine and human, he then added: 'Whoever blames the pursuit of this, I do not really understand what he thinks worth praising.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero praises philosophy as the pursuit of wisdom.
- Cicero, Off. 2.5–6; the quotation continues in 3.13.11.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray letter): ipse e Romanae → ipse Romanae.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Off. 2.5–6 (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.10 (CSEL 19:213–214; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-10).
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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).
3.13.11CSEL 19:214
nam si oblectatio quaeritur animi requiesque curarum, quae conferri cum eorum studiis potest, qui semper aliquid anquirunt quod spectet et ualeat ad bene beateque uiuendum? siue ratio constantiae uirtutisque ducitur, aut haec est ars aut nulla omnino, per quam eas adsequamur. nullam dicere maximarum rerum artem esse, cum, minimarum sine arte nulla sit, hominum est parum considerate loquentium atque in maximis rebus errantium. si autem est aliqua disciplina uirtutis, ubi ea quaeretur, cum ab isto discendi genere discesseris?
For if delight of mind and rest from cares is sought, what can be compared with the pursuits of those who are always searching out something that bears on and avails for living well and happily? Or if an account of constancy and virtue is sought, either this is the art by which we attain them, or there is none at all. To say that there is no art of the greatest things, when there is none of the least without art, is the part of men speaking inconsiderately and erring in the greatest things. But if there is some discipline of virtue, where will it be sought when you have left this kind of learning?'
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero argues philosophy is the only art of virtue.
- Cicero, Off. 2.6.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Off. 2.6 (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.11 (CSEL 19:214; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-11).
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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).
3.13.12CSEL 19:214
equidem tametsi operam dederim ut quantulamcumque dicendi adsequerer facultatem propter studium docendi, tamen eloquens numquam fui, quippe qui forum ne adtigerim quidem: sed necesse est ipsa me faciat causae bonitas eloquentem, ad quam diserte copioseque defendendam scientia diuinitatis et ipsa ueritas sufficit.
For my part, although I have taken pains to acquire some small power of speaking for the sake of teaching, I have never been eloquent, since I never so much as set foot in the forum; but the goodness of my cause must itself make me eloquent, for the eloquent and copious defence of which the knowledge of the divine and truth itself suffice.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius, no orator, trusts the goodness of his cause.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.12 (CSEL 19:214; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-12).
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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).
3.13.13CSEL 19:214–215
uellem igitur Ciceronem paulisper ab inferis surgere, ut uir eloquentissimus ab homunculo non diserto doceretur: primum quidnam sit quod laudandum putet qui uituperat id studium quod uocatur philosophia; deinde neque illam esse artem qua uirtus et iustitia discatur nec aliam ullam, sicut putauit; postremo quoniam est uirtutis disciplina, ubi quaerenda sit, cum ab illo discendi genere discesseris, quod ille non audiendi discendique gratia quaerebat. a quo enim posset audire, cum sciret id nemo?
I could wish, then, that Cicero might rise for a little while from the dead, so that the most eloquent of men might be taught by a little man without eloquence: first, what it is that he thinks worth praising who blames the pursuit called philosophy; next, that neither is that the art by which virtue and justice are learned, nor any other such as he supposed; lastly, since there is a discipline of virtue, where it is to be sought when you have left that kind of learning, which he was not seeking for the sake of hearing and learning. For from whom could he have heard it, when he knew that no one knew it?
Notes and citation
Summary: He wishes Cicero could return to be taught where true virtue is learned.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.13 (CSEL 19:214–215; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-13).
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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).
3.13.14CSEL 19:215
sed ut in causis facere solebat, interrogatione uoluit urguere ad confessionemque perducere, tamquam confideret responderi prorsus nihil posse, quominus philosophia esset magistra uirtutis. quod quidem in Tusculanis disputationibus aperte professus est ad eam ipsam conuersa oratione, tamquam se declamatorio dicendi genere iactaret.
But, as he used to do in lawsuits, he wanted to press by questioning and bring to a confession, as though confident that nothing at all could be answered to prevent philosophy being the teacher of virtue. This indeed he openly professed in the Tusculan Disputations, turning his speech to philosophy herself, as though showing off in the declamatory style:
Notes and citation
Summary: In the Tusculans Cicero addresses philosophy as the teacher of virtue.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.14 (CSEL 19:215; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-14).
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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).
3.13.15CSEL 19:215
o (uitae) philosophia dux inquit o uirtutis indagatrix expultrixque uitiorum! quid non modo nos, sed omnino uita hominum sine te esse potuisset? — tu inuentrix legum, tu magistra morum et disciplinae fuisti:
'O philosophy, guide ⟨of life⟩,' he says, 'O searcher out of virtue and expeller of vices! What could not only we but the whole life of men have been without you? You were the discoverer of laws, you the teacher of morals and discipline.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero's apostrophe to philosophy.
- Cicero, Tusc. 5.5. 'of life' is the editor's addition, from Cicero's text.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Tusc. 5.5 (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.15 (CSEL 19:215; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-15).
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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).
3.13.16CSEL 19:215–216
quasi uero aliquid per se ipsa sentiret ac non potius ille laudandus esset qui eam tribuit. potuit eodem modo gratias agere cibo et potui, quod sine his rebus constare uita non possit, in quibus ut sensus ita beneficii nihil est: atquin ut illa corporis alimenta sunt, sic animae sapientia.
As though philosophy perceived anything by itself, and he were not rather to be praised who bestowed it! In the same way he could have given thanks to food and drink, because life cannot continue without these things, in which there is no feeling and so no kindness; and yet as those are the nourishment of the body, so wisdom is of the soul.
Notes and citation
Summary: Praising philosophy rather than its Giver is like thanking food instead of the host.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.13.16 (CSEL 19:215–216; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-13-16).
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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).
Divine 3, chapter 14
3.14.1CSEL 19:216
Rectius itaque Lucretius, cum eum laudat qui sapientiam primus inuenit, sed hoc inepte, quod ab homine inuentam putauit: quasi uero illam alicubi iacentem homo ille quem laudabat inuenerit tamquam tibias ad fontem, ut poetae aiunt.
Lucretius, then, did better when he praised him who first discovered wisdom; but this foolishly, that he thought it was discovered by a man, as if that man whom he praised had found it lying somewhere, like the pipes by the spring, as the poets say.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lucretius praised the discoverer of wisdom but wrongly thought a man found it.
- The pipes: the flute thrown away by Athena and found by Marsyas.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.1 (CSEL 19:216; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-1).
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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).
3.14.2CSEL 19:216
quodsi repertorem sapientiae ut deum laudauit — ita enim dicit: nemo, ut opinor, erit mortali corpore cretus. nam si, ut ipsa petit maiestas cognita rerum, - dicendum est, deus ille fuit, deus, inclute Memmi —
And if he praised the discoverer of wisdom as a god, for he says: 'No one, I think, who is born of mortal body. For if we must speak as the known majesty of things itself demands, he was a god, a god, illustrious Memmius',
Notes and citation
Summary: Lucretius calls the discoverer of wisdom a god.
- Lucretius 5.6–8 (quoted in part).
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 5.6–8 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.2 (CSEL 19:216; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-2).
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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).
3.14.3CSEL 19:216
tamen non erat sic laudandus deus, quod sapientiam inuenerit, sed quod hominem fecerit qui posset capere sapientiam: minuit enim laudem qui partem laudat ex toto.
yet God should not have been praised in that way, for having discovered wisdom, but for having made man able to receive wisdom; for he lessens praise who praises a part out of the whole.
Notes and citation
Summary: God should be praised for making man capable of wisdom.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.3 (CSEL 19:216; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-3).
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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).
3.14.4CSEL 19:216
sed ille ut hominem laudauit, qui tamen ob id ipsum deberet pro deo haberi, quod sapere inuenerit: nam sic ait: nonne decebit hunc hominem numero diuum dignarier esse?
But he praised him as a man, who nevertheless ought to be held a god for this very reason, that he discovered wisdom. For so he says: 'Will it not be fitting that this man be deemed worthy to be numbered among the gods?'
Notes and citation
Summary: Lucretius said this man deserved to be counted among the gods.
- Lucretius 5.50–51. The man Lucretius praises is Epicurus.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 5.50–51 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.4 (CSEL 19:216; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-4).
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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).
3.14.5CSEL 19:216
unde apparet aut Pythagoram uoluisse laudare, qui se primus ut dixi philosophum nominauit, aut Milesium Thalen, qui de rerum natura primus traditur disputasse.
From which it appears that he wished to praise either Pythagoras, who, as I said, first called himself a philosopher, or Thales of Miletus, who is said to have been the first to discuss the nature of things.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius supposes Lucretius meant Pythagoras or Thales.
- Lucretius in fact meant Epicurus.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.5 (CSEL 19:216; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-5).
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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).
3.14.6CSEL 19:216–217
ita dum hominem quaerit extollere, rem ipsam depressit: non est enim magna, si ab homine potuit inueniri.
So while he seeks to exalt a man, he has lowered the thing itself; for it is not great if it could be discovered by a man.
Notes and citation
Summary: Exalting a human discoverer lowers wisdom itself.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.6 (CSEL 19:216–217; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-6).
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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).
3.14.7CSEL 19:217
uerum potest ut poetae dari uenia. at ille idem perfectus orator, idem summus philosophus, ne Graecos reprehendam quorum leuitatem semper accusat et tamen sequitur, ipsam sapientiam, quam alias donum, alias inuentum deorum uocat, poetice figuratam laudat in faciem. grauiter etiam queritur extitisse aliquos qui eam uituperarent.
But pardon can be granted him as a poet. Yet that same man, the perfect orator and the greatest philosopher, not to blame the Greeks, whose levity he always accuses and yet follows, praises wisdom itself to its face, figured poetically, calling it at one time the gift, at another the discovery of the gods; and he complains bitterly that some have appeared who blamed it.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero too praised philosophy extravagantly.
- 'that same man' is Cicero.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.7 (CSEL 19:217; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-7).
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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).
3.14.8CSEL 19:217
quisquamne inquit uituperare uitae parentem et hoc parricidio se inquinare audet et tam inpie ingratus esse?
'Does anyone,' he says, 'dare to blame the parent of life, and to stain himself with this parricide, and to be so impiously ungrateful?'
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero calls blaming philosophy parricide.
- Cicero, Tusc. 5.6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray letters): ingratus It esse → ingratus esse.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Tusc. 5.6 (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.8 (CSEL 19:217; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-8).
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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).
3.14.9CSEL 19:217
nos ergo, Marce Tulli, parricidae sumus et insuendi iudice in culleum, qui philosophiam negamus parentem esse uitae,
Are we then parricides, Marcus Tullius, and in your judgment to be sewn up in the sack, we who deny that philosophy is the parent of life?
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius rejects Cicero's charge.
- The sack (culleus) was the Roman punishment for parricide.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.9 (CSEL 19:217; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-9).
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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).
3.14.10CSEL 19:217–218
an tu, qui aduersus deum tam inpie ingratus es, non hunc cuius effigiem ueneraris in Capitolio sedentem, sed illum qui mundum fecit hominemque generauit, qui sapientiam quoque ipsam inter cetera caelestia sua beneficia largitus est? magistram tu uirtutis aut parentem uitae uocas? ad quam si quis accesserit, multo sit incertior necesse est quam prius fuerit.
Or are not you rather so impiously ungrateful toward God, not this one whose image you venerate sitting on the Capitol, but him who made the world and begot man, who also bestowed wisdom itself among his other heavenly benefits? Do you call it the teacher of virtue or the parent of life? Whoever approaches it must become far more uncertain than he was before.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero is ungrateful to the true God; philosophy only increases uncertainty.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.10 (CSEL 19:217–218; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-10).
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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).
3.14.11CSEL 19:218
cuius enim uirtutis? quae ipsa ubi sita sit, adhuc philosophi non expediunt. cuius uitae? cum ipsi doctores ante fuerint senectute ac morte confecti quam constituerint quomodo uiui deceat. cuius ueritatis indagatricem profiteri potes, qui saepe testaris, cum tanta multitudo fuerit philosophorum, sapientem tamen extitisse adhuc neminem? quid ergo te magistra illa uitae docuit?
Of what virtue? The philosophers have not yet explained where it is situated. Of what life? The teachers themselves were worn out by old age and death before they settled how one should live. Of what truth can you profess it the searcher, you who often bear witness that, though there has been so great a multitude of philosophers, no one has yet appeared who was wise? What, then, did that teacher of life teach you?
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophy has not defined virtue, life, or truth, as Cicero himself admits.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: a for u and P for question mark): uirtatisP → uirtutis?.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.11 (CSEL 19:218; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-11).
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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).
3.14.12CSEL 19:218
an ut potentissimum consulem maledictis incesseres eumque hostem patriae uenenatis orationibus faceres? sed omittamus illa quae possunt excusari fortunae nomine.
Was it to attack a most powerful consul with abuse and make him an enemy of the fatherland by poisonous speeches? But let us pass over those things which can be excused in the name of fortune.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophy did not keep Cicero from his fatal invectives.
- The consul is Mark Antony, attacked in Cicero's Philippics.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.12 (CSEL 19:218; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-12).
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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).
3.14.13CSEL 19:218
studuisti nempe philosophiae et quidem sic, ut nullus umquam diligentius, quippe qui omnes cognoueris disciplinas, sicut ipse gloriari soles, eamque ipsam Latinis litteris inlustraueris imitatoremque te Platonis ostenderis.
You studied philosophy, certainly, and more diligently than anyone ever did, since you came to know all the schools, as you yourself like to boast, and illustrated it in Latin letters and showed yourself an imitator of Plato.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero studied philosophy more than anyone.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.13 (CSEL 19:218; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-13).
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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).
3.14.14CSEL 19:218
cedo igitur quid didiceris aut in qua secta ueritatem deprehenderis. in Academia scilicet, quam secutus es, quam probasti.
Tell me, then, what you learned, or in which sect you found the truth. In the Academy, no doubt, which you followed, which you approved.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero followed the Academy.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.14 (CSEL 19:218; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-14).
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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).
3.14.15CSEL 19:218–219
at haec nihil docet nisi ut scias te nihil scire. tui ergo te libri arguunt, quam nihil a philosophia disci possit ad uitam. haec tua uerba sunt: mihi autem non modo ad sapientiam caeci uidemur, sed ad ea ipsa quae aliqua ex parte cerni uideantur, hebetes et obtunsi.
But it teaches nothing except that you know that you know nothing. Your own books, then, prove against you how nothing can be learned from philosophy for life. These are your words: 'But we seem to me not only blind with regard to wisdom, but dull and blunted even toward those things which seem in some part to be discerned.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero himself confessed that philosophers are blind and dull.
- A quotation from a lost work of Cicero (probably the Academica or Hortensius); source uncertain.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, fragment (uncertain) (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.15 (CSEL 19:218–219; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-15).
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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).
3.14.16CSEL 19:219
si ergo philosophia uitae magistra est, cur tibi ipse caecus et hebes et obtunsus uidebare, quem oportuit illa docente et sentire et sapere et in clarissima luce uersari?
If, then, philosophy is the teacher of life, why did you seem to yourself blind and dull and blunted, you who ought, under its teaching, to have perceived and been wise and to have dwelt in the clearest light?
Notes and citation
Summary: If philosophy taught life, Cicero would not have felt blind.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.16 (CSEL 19:219; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-16).
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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).
3.14.17CSEL 19:219
at quam confisus fueris philosophiae ueritate, docent ad filium conposita praecepta, quibus mones philosophiae quidem praecepta noscenda, uiuendum autem esse ciuiliter. quid tam repugnans dici potest?
But how much you trusted in the truth of philosophy is shown by the precepts written for your son, in which you advise that the precepts of philosophy should indeed be known, but that one should live as a citizen. What more self-contradictory thing can be said?
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero told his son to know philosophy but live as a citizen.
- From a lost work addressed to Cicero's son; source uncertain.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, fragment (uncertain) (Cicero; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.17 (CSEL 19:219; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-17).
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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).
3.14.18CSEL 19:219
si noscenda sunt praecepta philosophiae, ideo utique noscenda sunt, ut recte sapienterque uiuamus, uel si ciuiliter uiuendum est, non est igitur philosophia sapientia, siquidem melius est ciuiliter quam philosophe uiuere.
If the precepts of philosophy are to be known, they are surely to be known so that we may live rightly and wisely; or if one is to live as a citizen, then philosophy is not wisdom, since it is better to live as a citizen than as a philosopher.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero's advice implies philosophy is not wisdom.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.18 (CSEL 19:219; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-18).
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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).
3.14.19CSEL 19:219
nam si sapientia est quae dicitur philosophia, stulte profecto uiuet qui non secundum philosophiam uiuet: si autem non stulte uiuit qui ciuiliter uiuit, sequitur ut stulte uiuat qui philosophe uiuit. tuo itaque iudicio philosophia stultitiae inanitatisque damnata est.
For if what is called philosophy is wisdom, he will surely live foolishly who does not live according to philosophy; but if he who lives as a citizen does not live foolishly, it follows that he who lives as a philosopher lives foolishly. So by your own judgment philosophy has been condemned of folly and emptiness.
Notes and citation
Summary: By Cicero's own judgment philosophy is folly.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): si autem. non → si autem non.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.19 (CSEL 19:219; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-19).
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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).
3.14.20CSEL 19:219–220
idem in Consolatione id est in opere non ioculari hanc de philosophia sententiam tulisti: sed nescio a qui nos teneat error ac miserabilis ignoratio ueri. ubi est ergo philosophiae magisterium aut quid te docuit illa uitae parens, si uerum miserabiliter ignoras?
The same man in the Consolation, that is, in no jesting work, pronounced this sentence on philosophy: 'But I do not know what error holds us and what wretched ignorance of the truth.' Where, then, is the teaching of philosophy, or what did that parent of life teach you, if you are wretchedly ignorant of the truth?
Notes and citation
Summary: In his Consolation Cicero confessed wretched ignorance of the truth.
- Cicero, Consolatio, a lost work (fragment).
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Consolatio (fragment) (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.20 (CSEL 19:219–220; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-20).
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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).
3.14.21CSEL 19:220
quodsi haec erroris ignorationisque confessio paene inuito tibi ab intimo pectore expressa est, cur non tibi uerum fateris aliquando: philosophiam, quam tu nihil docentem in caelum laudibus extulisti, magistram uirtutis esse non posse?
And if this confession of error and ignorance was forced out of your inmost heart almost against your will, why do you not at last confess the truth to yourself: that philosophy, which you exalted to heaven with praises though it teaches nothing, cannot be the teacher of virtue?
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero should admit that philosophy cannot teach virtue.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray comma; words joined): haecerroris → haec erroris; aliquando,: → aliquando:.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.14.21 (CSEL 19:220; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-14-21).
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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).
Divine 3, chapter 15
3.15.1CSEL 19:220
Eodem ductus errore Seneca — quis enim ueram uiam teneret errante Cicerone? — philosophia inquit nihil aliut est quam recta ratio uiuendi uel honeste uiuendi scientia uel ars rectae uitae agendae. non errabimus, si dixerimus philosophiam esse legem bene honesteque uiuendi, et qui dixerit illam regulam uitae, suum illi reddidit.
Led by the same error, Seneca (for who would keep the true way when Cicero errs?) says: 'Philosophy is nothing else than the right method of living, or the knowledge of living honourably, or the art of leading a right life. We shall not err if we say that philosophy is the law of living well and honourably; and he who called it the rule of life gave it its due.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Seneca defined philosophy as the rule of right living.
- Seneca, from a lost work (fragment).
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca, fragment (Seneca; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.1 (CSEL 19:220; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-1).
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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).
3.15.2CSEL 19:220
hic plane non respexit ad commune philosophiae nomen. quae cum sit in plures sectas disciplinasque diffusa nihilque habeat certi, nihil denique de quo uniuersi una mente ac uoce consentiant, quid potest esse tam falsum quam regulam uitae philosophiam nominari, in qua diuersitas praeceptorum rectum iter inpediat et turbet aut legem bene uiuendi, cuius capita longe dissonant, aut scientiam uitae agendae, in qua nihil aliut efficitur contraria saepe dicendo quam ut nemo quicquam sciat?
He plainly did not look to the common name of philosophy. Since it is spread out into many sects and schools and has nothing certain, nothing in short on which all agree with one mind and voice, what can be so false as to call philosophy the rule of life, when the diversity of its precepts hinders and confuses the right road; or the law of living well, when its chief articles are widely discordant; or the knowledge of leading life, in which nothing else is achieved by often saying contrary things than that no one knows anything?
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophy's disagreements make Seneca's definitions false.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.2 (CSEL 19:220; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-2).
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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).
3.15.3CSEL 19:220–221
quaero enim utrumne Academiam philosophiam putet esse an non. negaturum non arbitror. quod si est, nihil ergo illorum cadit in philosophiam, quae ut omnia reddat incerta, legem abrogat, artem nullam putat, rationem subuertit, regulam deprauat, scientiam funditus tollit. falsa igitur illa omnia, quia in rem semper incertam et adhuc nihil explicantem cadere non possunt.
For I ask whether he thinks the Academy is philosophy or not. I do not think he will deny it. If it is, then none of these fits philosophy, which, in order to make everything uncertain, abolishes law, thinks there is no art, overthrows method, perverts the rule, and removes knowledge entirely. All those definitions are false, then, because they cannot fit something always uncertain and so far explaining nothing.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Academy, a philosophy, overthrows all Seneca's definitions.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split with stray letters): philo- ss sophiam → philosophiam.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.3 (CSEL 19:220–221; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-3).
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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).
3.15.4CSEL 19:221
nulla itaque ratio uel scientia uel lex bene uiuendi nisi in hac unica et uera et caelesti sapientia constituta est, quae philosophis fuerat ignota.
So there is no method or knowledge or law of living well established anywhere except in this unique, true and heavenly wisdom, which had been unknown to the philosophers.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only heavenly wisdom provides the rule of good living.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.4 (CSEL 19:221; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-4).
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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).
3.15.5CSEL 19:221
nam illa terrena quoniam falsa est, uaria et multiplex sibique tota contraria est. et sicut unus est huius mundi constitutor et rector deus, una ueritas, ita unam esse ac simplicem sapientiam necesse est, quia quidquid est uerum ac bonum, id perfectum esse non potest, nisi fuerit singulare.
For that earthly wisdom, since it is false, is varied, manifold, and wholly contradictory to itself. And as there is one God, the founder and ruler of this world, and one truth, so wisdom must be one and simple, because whatever is true and good cannot be perfect unless it is single.
Notes and citation
Summary: As God and truth are one, true wisdom must be one.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.5 (CSEL 19:221; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-5).
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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).
3.15.6CSEL 19:221
quodsi philosophia uitam posset instruere, nulli alii nisi philosophi essent boni et qui eam non didicissent, essent omnes semper mali.
If philosophy could equip life, no others but philosophers would be good, and those who had not learned it would all always be bad.
Notes and citation
Summary: If philosophy made men good, only philosophers would be good.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.6 (CSEL 19:221; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-6).
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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).
3.15.7CSEL 19:221
cum uero innumerabiles exsistant et semper extiterint qui sint aut fuerint sine ulla doctrina boni, ex philosophis autem perraro fuerit qui aliquid in uita fecerit laude dignum, quis est tandem qui non uideat eos homines uirtutis, qua ipsi egent, non esse doctores?
But since there are and always have been countless people who are or were good without any learning, while among the philosophers there has very rarely been one who did anything in life worthy of praise, who is there at last who does not see that these men are not teachers of the virtue which they themselves lack?
Notes and citation
Summary: Many unlearned people are good, few philosophers are; so they do not teach virtue.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.7 (CSEL 19:221; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-7).
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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).
3.15.8CSEL 19:221
nam si quis mores eorum diligenter inquirat, inueniet iracundos cupidos libidinosos adrogantes proteruos et sub obtentu sapientiae sua uitia celantes, tum domi facientes ea quae in scolis arguissent.
For if anyone examines their characters carefully, he will find them irascible, greedy, lustful, arrogant, insolent, and hiding their vices under the cloak of wisdom, doing at home the very things they had censured in the schools.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers often practise at home the vices they condemn in school.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.8 (CSEL 19:221; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-8).
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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).
3.15.9CSEL 19:221–222
mentior fortasse accusandi gratia: nonne id ipsum Tullius et fatetur et queritur? quotus quisque inquit philosophorum inuenitur qui sit ita moratus, ita animo ac uita constitutus, ut ratio postulat? qui disciplinam (suam) non ostentationem scientiae, sed legem uitae putet? qui obtemperet ipse sibi et decretis pareat suis? uidere licet alios tanta leuitate et iactatione, ut iis fuerit non didicisse melius, alios pecuniae cupidos, alios gloriae, multos libidinum seruos, ut cum eorum uita mirabiliter pugnet oratio.
Perhaps I lie for the sake of accusing? Does not Tullius himself both admit and complain of this very thing? 'How few of the philosophers,' he says, 'are found whose character, mind and life are ordered as reason demands; who think ⟨their⟩ teaching not a display of knowledge but a law of life; who obey themselves and submit to their own decrees! One may see some of such levity and boastfulness that it would have been better for them not to have learned; others greedy of money, others of glory, many slaves of lusts, so that their speech is wonderfully at war with their life.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero himself complains that few philosophers live by their teaching.
- Cicero, Tusc. 2.11–12. 'their' is the editor's addition.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Tusc. 2.11–12 (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.9 (CSEL 19:221–222; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-9).
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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).
3.15.10CSEL 19:222
Nepos quoque Cornelius ad eundem Ciceronem ita scribit: tantum abest ut ego magistram putem esse uitae philosophiam beataeque uitae perfectricem, ut nullis magis existimem opus esse magistros uiuendi quam plerisque qui in ea disputanda uersantur. uideo enim magnam partem eorum qui in schola de pudore (et) continentia praecipiant argutissime, eosdem in omnium libidinum cupiditatibus uiuere.
Cornelius Nepos too writes thus to the same Cicero: 'So far am I from thinking philosophy the teacher of life and the perfecter of the happy life, that I consider none need teachers of living more than most of those who are occupied in discussing it. For I see that a great part of those who give the subtlest precepts in the school about modesty ⟨and⟩ self-control live in the desires of every lust.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Cornelius Nepos wrote to Cicero that philosophers most need teachers of living.
- Cornelius Nepos, letter to Cicero (lost; fragment). No extrabiblical entry exists for Nepos. 'and' is the editor's addition.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.10 (CSEL 19:222; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-10).
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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).
3.15.11CSEL 19:222
item Seneca in Exhortationibus plerique inquit philosophorum tales sunt, diserti in conuicium suum. quos si audias in auaritiam, in libidinem, in ambitionem perorantes, indicium professos putes: adeo redundant ad ipsos maledicta in publicum missa. quos non aliter intueri decet quam medicos, quorum tituli remedia habent, puxides uenena.
Likewise Seneca in his Exhortations: 'Most philosophers,' he says, 'are like this, eloquent to their own reproach. If you hear them declaiming against avarice, against lust, against ambition, you would think they were informing against themselves: so much do the reproaches aimed at the public flow back upon themselves. They should be regarded exactly as physicians whose labels promise remedies and whose boxes hold poisons.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Seneca says philosophers condemn themselves when they condemn vice.
- Seneca, Exhortationes, a lost work (fragment).
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca, Exhortationes (fragment) (Seneca; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.11 (CSEL 19:222; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-11).
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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).
3.15.12CSEL 19:222–223
quosdam uero nec pudor uitiorum tenet, sed patrocinia turpitudini suae fingunt, ut etiam honeste peccare uideantur.
Some, indeed, are not even held back by shame at their vices, but invent defences for their own baseness, so that they may seem to sin even honourably.
Notes and citation
Summary: Some philosophers invent defences for their vices.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.12 (CSEL 19:222–223; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-12).
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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).
3.15.13CSEL 19:223
— faciet sapiens inquit idem Seneca etiam quae non probabit, ut etiam ad maiora transitum inueniat, nec relinquet mores bonos, sed tempori aptabit, et quibus alii utuntur in gloriam aut uoluptatem, utetur agendae rei causa.
'The wise man,' says the same Seneca, 'will do even things he will not approve, in order to find a passage to greater things; nor will he abandon good morals, but will adapt them to the occasion; and what others use for glory or pleasure, he will use for the sake of getting things done.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Seneca allows the wise man to do what he disapproves for a greater end.
- Seneca, from a lost work (fragment).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): non. probabit → non probabit.
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca, fragment (Seneca; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.13 (CSEL 19:223; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-13).
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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).
3.15.14CSEL 19:223
deinde paulo post: omnia quae luxuriosi faciunt quaeque inperiti, faciet et sapiens, sed non eodem modo eodemque proposito. atquin nihil interest quo animo facias quod fecisse uitiosum est, quia facta cernuntur, animus non uidetur.
Then shortly afterwards: 'Everything the luxurious do and the ignorant, the wise man too will do, but not in the same way nor with the same purpose.' Yet it makes no difference with what intention you do what is vicious to have done, because deeds are seen, the intention is not seen.
Notes and citation
Summary: Intention cannot excuse a vicious act, since deeds are seen and intentions are not.
- Seneca, fragment.
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca, fragment (Seneca; quotation)
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.14 (CSEL 19:223; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-14).
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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).
3.15.15CSEL 19:223
Aristippo Cyrenaicorum magistro cum Laide nobili scorto fuit consuetudo. quod flagitium grauis ille philosophiae doctor sic defendebat, ut diceret multum inter se et ceteros Laidis amatores interesse, quod ipse haberet Laidem, alii a Laide haberentur.
Aristippus, the master of the Cyrenaics, had an affair with Lais, the famous prostitute. That grave teacher of philosophy defended this outrage by saying that there was much difference between himself and Lais's other lovers, because he possessed Lais, while the others were possessed by Lais.
Notes and citation
Summary: Aristippus excused his affair with the courtesan Lais with a clever saying.
- The saying is reported by Diogenes Laertius 2.75.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.15 (CSEL 19:223; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-15).
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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).
3.15.16CSEL 19:223
o praeclara et bonis imitanda sapientia! huic uero liberos in disciplinam dares, ut discerent habere meretricem? aliquid inter se ac perditos interesse dicebat, scilicet quod illi bona sua perderent, ipse gratis luxuriaretur. in quo tamen sapientior meretrix fuit:
O splendid wisdom, to be imitated by good men! Would you really give your children to him for instruction, so that they might learn to keep a prostitute? He said there was some difference between himself and the profligate, namely that they squandered their property while he indulged himself for free. Yet in this the prostitute was wiser:
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius mocks Aristippus's wisdom.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.16 (CSEL 19:223; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-16).
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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).
3.15.17CSEL 19:223–224
quae philosophum habuit pro lenone, ut ad se omnis iuuentus doctoris exemplo et auctoritate corrupta sine ullo pudore concurreret.
she had the philosopher as her pander, so that all the youth, corrupted by the teacher's example and authority, flocked to her without any shame.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lais used the philosopher to draw young men to her.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.17 (CSEL 19:223–224; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-17).
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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).
3.15.18CSEL 19:224
quid ergo interfuit quo animo philosophus ad meretricem famosissimam commearet, cum eum populus et riuales sui uiderent omnibus perditis nequiorem?
What difference did it make, then, with what intention the philosopher visited the most notorious prostitute, when the people and his rivals saw him more worthless than all the profligates?
Notes and citation
Summary: His intention did not matter; all saw him as the worst.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.18 (CSEL 19:224; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-18).
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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).
3.15.19CSEL 19:224
nec satis fuit ita uiuere, sed docere etiam libidines coepit ac mores suos de lupanari ad scolam transtulit disserens uoluptatem corporis esse summum bonum. quae doctrina exsecrabilis et pudenda non in corde philosophi, sed in sinu meretricis est nata.
Nor was it enough to live so; he began also to teach lusts, and transferred his habits from the brothel to the school, arguing that bodily pleasure is the highest good. This detestable and shameful doctrine was born not in the heart of a philosopher but in the bosom of a prostitute.
Notes and citation
Summary: Aristippus's teaching that bodily pleasure is the highest good came from the brothel.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.19 (CSEL 19:224; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-19).
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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).
3.15.20CSEL 19:224
nam quid ego de Cynicis loquar, quibus in propatulo coire cum coniugibus mos fuit? quid mirum si a canibus, quorum uitam imitantur, etiam uocabulum nomenque traxerunt?
For what shall I say of the Cynics, whose custom it was to have intercourse with their wives in public? What wonder if they took even their name and title from dogs, whose life they imitate?
Notes and citation
Summary: The Cynics lived like the dogs they are named after.
- Cynic from Greek κύων, 'dog'.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.20 (CSEL 19:224; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-20).
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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).
3.15.21CSEL 19:224
nullum igitur in hac disciplina magisterium uirtutis est, cum etiam illi qui honestiora praecipiunt, aut non faciant ipsi quae suadent aut si faciunt, quod raro accidit, non disciplina eos ad rectum, sed natura producat, quae saepius etiam indoctos inpellit ad laudem.
There is no teaching of virtue, then, in this discipline, since even those who give more honourable precepts either do not themselves do what they urge, or, if they do, which rarely happens, it is not their discipline that brings them to what is right but nature, which more often drives even the unlearned to praiseworthy conduct.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophy does not teach virtue; any goodness in philosophers comes from nature.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: m for in): igitur m hac → igitur in hac.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.15.21 (CSEL 19:224; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-11-1/#p-3-15-21).
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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).