Divine Institutes 3.4.1–3.10.15
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 4
3.4.1CSEL 19:184
Recte igitur Zenon ac Stoici opinationem repudiarunt. opinari enim te scire quod nescias non est sapientis, sed temerarii potius ac stulti.
Rightly, then, did Zeno and the Stoics reject opinion. For to suppose that you know what you do not know is not the part of a wise man, but rather of a rash and foolish one.
Notes and citation
Summary: Zeno and the Stoics rightly rejected opinion.
- Cf. Cicero, Acad. 2.66–77, on the Stoic refusal to assent to opinion.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.4.1 (CSEL 19:184; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-4-1).
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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).
3.4.2CSEL 19:184
ergo si neque sciri quicquam potest, ut Socrates docuit, neque opinari oportet, ut Zenon, tota philosophia sublata est. quid quod non tantum ab his duobus euertitur qui philosophiae principes fuerunt, sed ab omnibus, ut iam uideatur iam pridem suis armis esse confecta?
If, then, nothing can be known, as Socrates taught, and one ought not to hold opinions, as Zeno taught, the whole of philosophy is removed. What of the fact that it is overthrown not only by these two, who were the leaders of philosophy, but by all, so that it seems long ago to have been finished off by its own weapons?
Notes and citation
Summary: Combining Socrates and Zeno, philosophy is wholly abolished, and indeed all philosophers overthrow it.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.4.2 (CSEL 19:184; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-4-2).
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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).
3.4.3CSEL 19:184
in multas sectas philosophia diuisa est et omnes uaria sentiunt. in qua ponimus ueritatem? in omnibus certe non potest.
Philosophy has been divided into many sects, and all hold different views. In which shall we place the truth? Certainly it cannot be in all.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophy is split into many contradictory sects.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.4.3 (CSEL 19:184; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-4-3).
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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).
3.4.4CSEL 19:184
designemus quamlibet: nempe in ceteris omnibus sapientia non erit. transeamus ad singulas: eodem modo quidquid uni dabimus, ceteris auferemus. una quaeque enim secta omnes alias euertit, ut se suaque confirmet, nec ulli alteri sapere concedit, ne se desipere fateatur: sed sicut alias tollit, sic ipsa quoque ab aliis omnibus tollitur.
Let us name any one: then in all the others there will be no wisdom. Let us go through them one by one: in the same way, whatever we give to one we shall take away from the rest. For each sect overthrows all the others in order to establish itself and its own views, and grants wisdom to no other, lest it confess itself foolish; but as it removes the others, so it is itself removed by all the others.
Notes and citation
Summary: Each sect denies wisdom to all others and is denied it by them.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): alias. euertit → alias euertit.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.4.4 (CSEL 19:184; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-4-4).
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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).
3.4.5CSEL 19:184
nihilominus enim philosophi sunt qui eam stultitiae accusant. quamcumque laudaueris ueramque dixeris, a philosophis uituperatur ut falsa.
For those who accuse it of folly are no less philosophers. Whichever one you praise and call true is censured as false by philosophers.
Notes and citation
Summary: Every sect is condemned as false by other philosophers.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word division): laudauerisu eramque → laudaueris ueramque.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.4.5 (CSEL 19:184; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-4-5).
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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).
3.4.6CSEL 19:184
credemusne igitur uni se suamque doctrinam laudanti an multis unius alterius ignorantiam culpantibus?
Shall we then believe one man praising himself and his own teaching, or many blaming the ignorance of one other?
Notes and citation
Summary: Should we believe one self-praising sect or the many that condemn it?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.4.6 (CSEL 19:184; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-4-6).
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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).
3.4.7CSEL 19:184–185
rectius sit necesse est quod plurimi sentiunt quam quod unus. nemo enim de se potest recte iudicare: quod nobilis poeta testatur: itan conparatam esse hominum naturam omnium, aliena ut melius uideant et diiudicent quam sua.
What the majority thinks must be more correct than what one thinks. For no one can judge rightly about himself, as a noble poet testifies: 'Is the nature of all men so constituted that they see and judge the affairs of others better than their own?'
Notes and citation
Summary: No one judges himself rightly, as Terence says.
- The poet is Terence, Heaut. 503–505.
Extrabiblical texts: Terence, Heaut. 503–505 (Terence; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.4.7 (CSEL 19:184–185; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-4-7).
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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).
3.4.8CSEL 19:185
cum igitur omnia incerta sint, aut omnibus credendum est aut nemini. si nemini, sapientes ergo non sunt, quia singuli sapientes esse se putant, si omnibus, aeque non sunt sapientes, quia singuli ab omnibus negantur esse sapientes.
Since, then, all things are uncertain, either all must be believed or none. If none, then they are not wise, since each thinks himself wise; if all, they are equally not wise, since each is denied by all to be wise.
Notes and citation
Summary: Whether we believe all or none of the sects, none is wise.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.4.8 (CSEL 19:185; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-4-8).
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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).
3.4.9CSEL 19:185
pereunt igitur uniuersi hoc modo et tamquam Sparti illi poetarum sic inuicem iugulant, ut nemo ex omnibus restet: quod eo fit, quia gladium habent, scutum non habent.
So in this way they all perish, and like those Sown Men of the poets they slaughter one another, so that none of them all is left; and this happens because they have a sword but no shield.
Notes and citation
Summary: Like the Sown Men of legend, the sects destroy one another, having swords but no shields.
- The Spartoi, the armed men who sprang from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus and killed one another (e.g. Ovid, Metam. 3.95–130).
Extrabiblical texts: Ovid, Metam. 3.95–130 (Ovid; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.4.9 (CSEL 19:185; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-4-9).
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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).
3.4.10CSEL 19:185
si ergo singulae sectae multarum sectarum iudicio stultitiae conuincuntur, omnes igitur uanae atque inanes reperiuntur: ita se ipsa philosophia consumit et conficit.
If, then, the individual sects are convicted of folly by the judgment of many sects, all are found to be vain and empty; thus philosophy consumes and destroys itself.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophy destroys itself.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.4.10 (CSEL 19:185; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-4-10).
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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).
3.4.11CSEL 19:185
quod cum intellegeret Arcesilas Academiae conditor, reprehensiones inter se omnium collegit confessionemque ignorantiae clarorum philosophorum armauitque se aduersus omnes: ita constituit nouam non philosophandi philosophiam.
When Arcesilas, the founder of the Academy, understood this, he gathered together the criticisms of all against one another and the confession of ignorance of the famous philosophers, and armed himself against them all; so he established a new philosophy of not philosophizing.
Notes and citation
Summary: Arcesilas founded a new philosophy of not philosophizing by arming himself with all the others' criticisms.
- Arcesilas founded the 'New' (sceptical) Academy.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.4.11 (CSEL 19:185; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-4-11).
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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).
3.4.12CSEL 19:185
eo igitur auctore duo philosophiae genera esse coeperunt, unum illut uetus, quod scientiam sibi uindicat, alterum nouum repugnans, quod eam detrahit. in his duobus generibus uideo discidium et quasi ciuile bellum:
From his initiative, then, there began to be two kinds of philosophy: the one old, which claims knowledge for itself; the other new, opposing it, which takes knowledge away. Between these two kinds I see discord and, as it were, a civil war.
Notes and citation
Summary: Two kinds of philosophy arose, the old claiming knowledge and the new denying it.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.4.12 (CSEL 19:185; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-4-12).
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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).
3.4.13CSEL 19:185–186
sapientiam, quae distrahi non potest, in qua parte ponemus? si natura rerum sciri potest, haec tironum caterua interibit; si non potest, ueterani conficientur; si pares fuerint, nihilominus peribit dux omnium philosophia, quia distracta est: nihil enim potest sine interitu sibi esse contrarium.
In which part shall we place wisdom, which cannot be divided? If the nature of things can be known, this troop of recruits will perish; if it cannot, the veterans will be destroyed; if they are equal, philosophy, the leader of all, will perish nonetheless, because it is torn apart: for nothing can be contrary to itself without destruction.
Notes and citation
Summary: Whichever side wins, philosophy perishes, being at war with itself.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.4.13 (CSEL 19:185–186; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-4-13).
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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).
3.4.14CSEL 19:186
si autem ut docui nulla in homine potest esse interna et propria scientia ob fragilitatem condicionis humanae, Arcesilae manus uincit. sed ne ipse quidem stabit, quia non potest omnino nihil sciri.
But if, as I have shown, there can be no inward and self-derived knowledge in man because of the frailty of the human condition, the band of Arcesilas wins. But not even he will stand, because it cannot be that nothing at all is known.
Notes and citation
Summary: Arcesilas seems to win, but he too falls, since something can be known.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR): honiine → homine.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.4.14 (CSEL 19:186; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-4-14).
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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).
Divine 3, chapter 5
3.5.1CSEL 19:186
Sunt enim multa quae scire nos natura ipsa et usus frequens et uitae necessitas cogit. itaque pereundum est, nisi scias quae ad uitam sint utilia, ut adpetas, quae periculosa, ut fugias et uites.
For there are many things that nature itself, frequent experience, and the necessities of life compel us to know. So one must perish unless one knows what things are useful for life, so as to seek them, and what are dangerous, so as to flee and avoid them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Nature and life compel us to know many things.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.5.1 (CSEL 19:186; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-5-1).
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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).
3.5.2CSEL 19:186
praeterea multa sunt quae usus inuenit. nam solis ac lunae uarii cursus et meatus siderum et ratio temporum deprehensa est, et natura corporum a medicis herbarumque uires, et ab agricolis natura terrarum nec non imbrium futurorum ac tempestatum signa collecta sunt: nulla denique ars est quae non scientia constet.
Besides, there are many things that experience has discovered. For the varied courses of the sun and moon, the movements of the stars, and the reckoning of times have been discovered; the nature of bodies and the powers of herbs have been gathered by physicians, and by farmers the nature of soils and also the signs of coming rains and storms; in short, there is no art that does not consist of knowledge.
Notes and citation
Summary: Experience has produced real knowledge in astronomy, medicine and farming.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.5.2 (CSEL 19:186; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-5-2).
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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).
3.5.3CSEL 19:186
debuit ergo Arcesilas, si quid saperet, distinguere quae sciri possent quaeue nesciri. sed si id fecisset, ipse se in populum redegisset.
Arcesilas ought, then, if he had any sense, to have distinguished which things can be known and which cannot. But if he had done that, he would have reduced himself to the common people.
Notes and citation
Summary: Arcesilas should have distinguished the knowable from the unknowable, but that would have made him ordinary.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.5.3 (CSEL 19:186; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-5-3).
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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).
3.5.4CSEL 19:186
nam uulgus interdum plus sapit, quia tantum quantum opus est sapit. a quo si quaeras utrum sciat aliquid an nihil, dicet se scire quae sciat, fatebitur nescire quae nesciat.
For the common people are sometimes wiser, because they are wise just so far as is needed. If you ask one of them whether he knows something or nothing, he will say that he knows what he knows, and will admit that he does not know what he does not know.
Notes and citation
Summary: Ordinary people know what they know and admit what they do not.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.5.4 (CSEL 19:186; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-5-4).
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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).
3.5.5CSEL 19:186–187
recte ergo aliorum sustulit disciplinas, sed non recte fundauit suam. ignoratio enim rerum omnium non potest esse sapientia, cuius est scire proprium. ita cum philosophos expugnauerit ac docuerit nihil eos scire, ipse quoque nomen philosophi perdidit, quia doctrina eius est nihil sciri. nam qui alios reprehendit, quod nesciant
He rightly, then, did away with the teachings of others, but he did not rightly found his own. For ignorance of all things cannot be wisdom, whose proper function is to know. So, when he had defeated the philosophers and taught that they knew nothing, he too lost the name of philosopher, because his teaching is that nothing is known. For he who blames others because they do not know
Notes and citation
Summary: Arcesilas rightly refuted others but lost the name of philosopher by teaching that nothing is known.
- The sentence continues in 3.5.6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period; the sentence runs on into 3.5.6): quod nesciant. → quod nesciant.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.5.5 (CSEL 19:186–187; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-5-5).
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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).
3.5.6CSEL 19:187
, ipse debet sciens esse: cum autem nihil sciat, quae peruersitas quaeue insolentia est ob id ipsum se philosophum constituere propter quod ceteros tollat? possunt enim sic respondere:
must himself be knowing; but since he knows nothing, what perversity or what insolence is it to set himself up as a philosopher on the very ground on which he abolishes the rest? For they can answer thus:
Notes and citation
Summary: One who knows nothing cannot claim to be a philosopher for refuting others.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.5.6 (CSEL 19:187; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-5-6).
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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).
3.5.7CSEL 19:187
si nihil nos scire conuincis et ideo non esse sapientes, quia nihil sciamus, ergo ne tu quidem sapiens es, quia te quoque confiteris nihil scire:
'If you convict us of knowing nothing, and therefore of not being wise because we know nothing, then neither are you wise, because you too confess that you know nothing.'
Notes and citation
Summary: The philosophers can reply that he is not wise either.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.5.7 (CSEL 19:187; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-5-7).
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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).
3.5.8CSEL 19:187
quid ergo promouit Arcesilas nisi quod confectis omnibus philosophis se quoque ipsum eodem mucrone transfixit?
What, then, did Arcesilas accomplish, except that, having finished off all the philosophers, he also ran himself through with the same blade?
Notes and citation
Summary: Arcesilas killed himself with the same sword he used on the others.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split): trans fixi t → transfixit.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.5.8 (CSEL 19:187; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-5-8).
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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).
Divine 3, chapter 6
3.6.1CSEL 19:187
Nusquamne igitur sapientia est? immo uero inter ipsos fuit, sed nemo uidit. alii putauerunt posse sciri omnia: sapientes utique non fuerunt; alii nihil: ne hi quidem sapientes fuerunt: illi, quia plus homini dederunt, hi, quia minus; utrisque in utramque partem modus defuit. ubi ergo sapientia est?
Is wisdom, then, nowhere? No, it was there among them, but no one saw it. Some thought that all things could be known: they certainly were not wise. Others thought nothing could be: not even these were wise; the former because they gave too much to man, the latter too little. In both, measure was lacking in one direction or the other. Where, then, is wisdom?
Notes and citation
Summary: Wisdom was near the philosophers, but some claimed too much knowledge and others too little.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.1 (CSEL 19:187; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-1).
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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).
3.6.2CSEL 19:187
ut neque omnia scire te putes, quod est dei, neque omnia nescire, quod pecudis. est enim aliquid medium quod sit hominis, id est scientia cum ignoratione coniuncta et temperata.
In neither thinking that you know all things, which belongs to God, nor that you are ignorant of all things, which belongs to a beast. For there is a middle something which belongs to man, that is, knowledge joined with ignorance and tempered by it.
Notes and citation
Summary: Human wisdom lies between knowing all, which is God's, and knowing nothing, which is a beast's.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.2 (CSEL 19:187; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-2).
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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).
3.6.3CSEL 19:187
scientia in nobis ab animo est, qui oritur e caelo, ignoratio a corpore, quod ex terra; unde nobis et cum deo et cum animalibus est aliqua communitas.
Knowledge in us comes from the soul, which has its origin from heaven; ignorance from the body, which is from the earth. Hence we have some fellowship both with God and with the animals.
Notes and citation
Summary: Knowledge comes from the heavenly soul, ignorance from the earthly body.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.3 (CSEL 19:187; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-3).
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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).
3.6.4CSEL 19:187–188
ita quoniam ex his duobus constamus elementis, quorum alterum luce praeditum est, alterum tenebris, pars nobis data est scientiae, pars ignorantiae. per hunc quasi pontem transire sine cadendi periculo licet: nam illi omnes qui se in alteram partem inclinauerunt, aut dextro aut sinistro uersus ceciderunt. utraque autem pars quomodo errauerit dicam.
So, since we consist of these two elements, one endowed with light, the other with darkness, a portion of knowledge has been given us and a portion of ignorance. Across this, as across a bridge, we may pass without danger of falling; for all those who leaned to one side or the other fell, turned either to the right or to the left. How each side went astray I will explain.
Notes and citation
Summary: Human beings have a share of both knowledge and ignorance, a bridge from which the philosophers fell on either side.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.4 (CSEL 19:187–188; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-4).
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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).
3.6.5CSEL 19:188
Academici contra physicos ex rebus obscuris argumentati sunt nullam esse scientiam et exemplis paucarum rerum inconprehensibilium contenti amplexi sunt ignorantiam, tamquam scientiam totam sustulissent, quia in parte sustulerant.
The Academics argued against the natural philosophers from obscure things that there is no knowledge, and, content with examples of a few incomprehensible things, embraced ignorance, as though they had removed all knowledge because they had removed it in part.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Academics denied all knowledge because some things are obscure.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.5 (CSEL 19:188; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-5).
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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).
3.6.6CSEL 19:188
physici contra ex iis quae aperta sunt argumentum trahebant (omnia) sciri posse contentique perspicuis retinebant scientiam, tamquam totam defendissent, quia ex parte defenderant. ita neque hi clara neque illi obscura uiderunt, sed utrique dum solam scientiam consertis manibus uel retinent uel eripiunt, non uiderunt in medio constitutam forem, quae illos ad sapientiam transmitteret.
The natural philosophers, on the other hand, drew the argument from things that are plain that ⟨all things⟩ can be known, and, content with what is evident, held on to knowledge, as though they had defended the whole of it because they had defended it in part. So neither did the latter see what is clear nor the former what is obscure; but both, while they either hold on to knowledge alone or snatch it away in hand-to-hand combat, did not see the door placed in the middle which would have brought them through to wisdom.
Notes and citation
Summary: The natural philosophers claimed all knowledge from plain things; neither side saw the middle door to wisdom.
- 'all things' is the editor's addition.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.6 (CSEL 19:188; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-6).
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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).
3.6.7CSEL 19:188
uerum Arcesilas ignorantiae magister cum Zenoni obtrectaret principi Stoicorum, ut totam philosophiam euerteret, auctore Socrate suscepit hanc sententiam, ut adfirmaret sciri nihil posse.
But Arcesilas, the master of ignorance, when he was disparaging Zeno, the leader of the Stoics, in order to overthrow the whole of philosophy, took up this view on the authority of Socrates, so as to affirm that nothing can be known.
Notes and citation
Summary: Arcesilas, opposing Zeno, claimed on Socrates' authority that nothing can be known.
- Cf. Cicero, Acad. 1.44–45.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Acad. 1.44–45 (Cicero; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.7 (CSEL 19:188; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-7).
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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).
3.6.8CSEL 19:188
itaque coarguit existimationem philosophorum, qui putassent ingeniis suis erutam esse atque inuentam ueritatem. uidelicet quia mortalis fuerat illa sapientia paucisque ante temporibus instituta ad summum iam incrementum peruenerat, ut iam necessario consenesceret ac periret, extitit repente Academia tamquam senectus
So he refuted the belief of the philosophers who had supposed that the truth had been dug out and discovered by their own talents. Evidently, since that wisdom was mortal, and, established only a short time before, had already reached its greatest growth, so that it must now necessarily grow old and perish, the Academy suddenly arose like the old age
Notes and citation
Summary: The Academy arose like the old age of philosophy, refuting the claim to have found truth.
- The sentence continues in 3.6.9.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.8 (CSEL 19:188; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-8).
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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).
3.6.9CSEL 19:188
philosophiae, quae illam conficeret iam deflorescentem, recteque Arcesilas uidit adrogantes uel potius stultos esse qui putent scientiam ueritatis coniectura posse conprehendi.
of philosophy, to finish it off as it was already fading; and Arcesilas rightly saw that those who think the knowledge of truth can be grasped by conjecture are arrogant, or rather foolish.
Notes and citation
Summary: Arcesilas rightly saw that truth cannot be grasped by conjecture.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.9 (CSEL 19:188; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-9).
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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).
3.6.10CSEL 19:188–189
sed tamen falsa dicentem redarguere non potest nisi qui scierit ante quid uerum sit. quod Arcesilas ueritate non cognita facere conatus introduxit genus philosophiae asystatum, quod latine instabile uel inconstans possumus dicere.
But no one can refute a man who speaks falsely unless he has first known what is true. Arcesilas, trying to do this without having known the truth, introduced a kind of philosophy that is asystaton, which in Latin we can call unstable or inconsistent.
Notes and citation
Summary: Without knowing the truth, Arcesilas produced an unstable, self-inconsistent philosophy.
- asystatum renders the Greek ἀσύστατον, 'incoherent, not standing together'.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.10 (CSEL 19:188–189; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-10).
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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).
3.6.11CSEL 19:189
ut enim nihil sciendum sit, aliquid sciri necesse est: nam si nihil omnino scias, id ipsum, sciri nihil posse, tolletur.
For in order that nothing may be known, something must be known; for if you know nothing at all, this very thing, that nothing can be known, will be removed.
Notes and citation
Summary: To assert that nothing can be known, one must know something.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.11 (CSEL 19:189; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-11).
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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).
3.6.12CSEL 19:189
ita qui uelut sententiae loco pronuntiat nihil sciri, tamquam perceptum profitetur et cognitum: ergo aliquid sciri potest.
So he who pronounces as a settled judgment that nothing is known professes it as something perceived and known: therefore something can be known.
Notes and citation
Summary: Declaring that nothing is known claims knowledge of that very thing.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.12 (CSEL 19:189; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-12).
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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).
3.6.13CSEL 19:189
huic simile est illut quod in scholis proponi solet in asystati generis exemplum, somniasse quendam ne somniis crederet. si enim crediderit, tum sequetur ut non sit credendum, si autem non crediderit, tum sequetur ut credendum sit.
Like this is that example commonly set forth in the schools as a case of the inconsistent kind: a man dreamed that he should not believe dreams. For if he believes it, it follows that he should not believe; but if he does not believe it, it follows that he should believe.
Notes and citation
Summary: Like the dream that says not to trust dreams, the sceptical claim refutes itself.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.13 (CSEL 19:189; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-13).
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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).
3.6.14CSEL 19:189
ita si nihil sciri potest, necesse est id ipsum sciri, quod nihil sciatur, si autem scitur non posse sciri, falsum est ergo quod dicitur nihil sciri posse. sic inducitur dogma sibi ipsi repugnans seque dissoluens.
So, if nothing can be known, this very thing must be known, that nothing is known; but if it is known that it cannot be known, then what is said, that nothing can be known, is false. Thus a doctrine is brought in that contradicts itself and dissolves itself.
Notes and citation
Summary: The doctrine that nothing can be known contradicts itself.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.14 (CSEL 19:189; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-14).
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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).
3.6.15CSEL 19:189
sed homo uersutus ceteris philosophis scientiam uoluit eripere, ut eam domi absconderet — nam sibi illam profecto non adimit qui aliquid adfirmat, ut ceteris adimat —: sed nihil agit; apparet enim ac furem suum prodit.
But the crafty man wished to snatch knowledge from the other philosophers in order to hide it at home; for he who affirms something in order to take it from others certainly does not take it from himself. But he achieves nothing; for it is apparent and betrays its thief.
Notes and citation
Summary: Arcesilas took knowledge from others only to keep it himself, and so betrays himself.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.15 (CSEL 19:189; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-15).
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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).
3.6.16CSEL 19:189
quanto faceret sapientius ac uerius, si exceptione facta diceret causas rationesque dumtaxat rerum caelestium seu naturalium quia sunt abditae nec sciri posse, quia nullus doceat, nec quaeri oportere, quia inueniri quaerendo non possint.
How much more wisely and truly he would have acted if he had made an exception and said that only the causes and reasons of heavenly or natural things, because they are hidden, cannot be known, since no one teaches them, and ought not to be sought, since they cannot be found by seeking.
Notes and citation
Summary: He should have said only that the hidden causes of nature cannot be known.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.16 (CSEL 19:189; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-16).
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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).
3.6.17CSEL 19:189
qua exceptione interposita et physicos admonuisset, ne quaererent ea quae modum excederent cogitationis humanae, et se ipsum calumniae inuidia liberasset et nobis certe dedisset aliquid quod sequeremur.
By inserting this exception he would both have warned the natural philosophers not to seek things beyond the limit of human thought, and freed himself from the odium of false accusation, and would certainly have given us something to follow.
Notes and citation
Summary: Such an exception would have warned the natural philosophers and given us something to follow.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.17 (CSEL 19:189; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-17).
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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).
3.6.18CSEL 19:189–190
nunc autem cum ab aliis sequendis nos retraxerit, ne uelimus plus scire quam possumus, non minus a se quoque ipso retraxit.
But as it is, while he has drawn us back from following others, so that we may not wish to know more than we can, he has drawn us back no less from himself.
Notes and citation
Summary: By turning us from others he also turns us from himself.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.18 (CSEL 19:189–190; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-18).
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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).
3.6.19CSEL 19:190
quis enim uelit laborare, ne quicquam sciat, aut eiusmodi suscipere doctrinam, ut etiam communem scientiam perdat? quae si doctrina est, scientia constet necesse est, si non est, quis tam stultus, ut discendum id putet in quo aut nihil discitur aut etiam dediscitur?
For who would wish to toil so as to know nothing, or to take up a teaching of such a kind that he loses even common knowledge? If it is a teaching, it must consist of knowledge; if it is not, who is so foolish as to think something must be learned in which either nothing is learned or something is even unlearned?
Notes and citation
Summary: No one would toil to learn a teaching that teaches nothing.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.19 (CSEL 19:190; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-19).
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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).
3.6.20CSEL 19:190
quare si neque omnia sciri possunt, quod physici putauerunt, neque nihil, quod Academici, philosophia omnis extincta est.
Therefore, if neither can all things be known, as the natural philosophers thought, nor nothing, as the Academics thought, the whole of philosophy is extinguished.
Notes and citation
Summary: Both natural philosophy and scepticism fail, so philosophy is extinguished.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.6.20 (CSEL 19:190; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-6-20).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 3, chapter 7
3.7.1CSEL 19:190
Transeamus nunc ad alteram philosophiae partem quam ipsi moralem uocant, in qua totius philosophiae ratio continetur, siquidem in illa physica sola oblectatio est, in hac etiam utilitas.
Let us now pass to the other part of philosophy, which they themselves call moral, in which the whole purpose of philosophy is contained, since in natural philosophy there is only enjoyment, but in this there is also usefulness.
Notes and citation
Summary: He turns to moral philosophy, the useful part.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split with stray marks): contine-. tur → continetur.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.7.1 (CSEL 19:190; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-7-1).
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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).
3.7.2CSEL 19:190
et quoniam in disponendo uitae statu formandisque moribus periculo maiore peccatur, maiorem diligentiam necesse est adhiberi, ut sciamus quomodo nos oporteat uiuere.
And since one errs with greater danger in ordering the condition of life and forming character, greater care must be applied so that we may know how we ought to live.
Notes and citation
Summary: Errors in moral philosophy are more dangerous, so more care is needed.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.7.2 (CSEL 19:190; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-7-2).
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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).
3.7.3CSEL 19:190
illic potest uenia concedi, quia siue aliquid dicunt, nihil prosunt, siue delirant, nihil nocent, hic uero nullus discidio, nullus errori locus est. unum sentire omnes oportet ipsamque philosophiam uno quasi ore praecipere, quia si quid fuerit erratum, uita omnis euertitur.
In the former field indulgence can be granted, because if they say something, they do no good, and if they rave, they do no harm; but here there is no room for disagreement, none for error. All ought to think the same, and philosophy itself ought to teach as with one mouth, because if any error is made, the whole of life is overturned.
Notes and citation
Summary: In ethics there is no room for disagreement, since error overturns life.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.7.3 (CSEL 19:190; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-7-3).
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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).
3.7.4CSEL 19:190–191
in illa priore parte ut periculi minus, ita plus difficultatis est, quod obscura rerum ratio cogit diuersa et uaria sentire, hic ut plus periculi est, ita minus difficultatis, quod usus ipse rerum et cottidiana experimenta possunt docere quid sit melius et uerius.
In that former part, as there is less danger, so there is more difficulty, because the obscurity of the subject forces people to hold different and varied opinions; here, as there is more danger, so there is less difficulty, because the very practice of affairs and daily experience can teach what is better and truer.
Notes and citation
Summary: Ethics is more dangerous but less difficult than natural philosophy, since experience teaches it.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.7.4 (CSEL 19:190–191; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-7-4).
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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).
3.7.5CSEL 19:191
uideamus ergo utrumne consennant aut quid nobis adferant, quo rectius uita degatur.
Let us see, then, whether they agree, or what they offer us by which life may be led more rightly.
Notes and citation
Summary: He will test whether the philosophers agree on ethics.
- 'consennant' is evidently a slip for 'consentiant' ('agree'), translated so; the text is left as printed.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.7.5 (CSEL 19:191; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-7-5).
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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).
3.7.6CSEL 19:191
non necesse est omnia circumire, unum eligamus ac potissimum, quod est summum ac principale, in quo totius sapientiae cardo uersatur.
It is not necessary to go round all the questions; let us choose one, and that the most important, which is the highest and chief, on which the hinge of all wisdom turns.
Notes and citation
Summary: He will examine the chief good, the hinge of all wisdom.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.7.6 (CSEL 19:191; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-7-6).
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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).
3.7.7CSEL 19:191
Epicurus summum bonum in uoluptate animi esse censet, Aristippus in uoluptate corporis; Callipho et Dinomachus honestatem cum uoluptate iunxerunt. Diodorus in priuatione doloris summum bonum posuit, Hieronymus in non dolendo, Peripatetici autem in bonis animi et corporis et fortunae.
Epicurus holds that the highest good is in pleasure of the mind, Aristippus in pleasure of the body; Callipho and Dinomachus joined honourableness with pleasure. Diodorus placed the highest good in the removal of pain, Hieronymus in not feeling pain, and the Peripatetics in the goods of the mind, the body and fortune.
Notes and citation
Summary: He lists the philosophers' views of the highest good.
- The list follows Cicero, e.g. Fin. 2.19; 5.21; Acad. 2.129–131.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Acad. 2.129–131 (Cicero; allusion)
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.7.7 (CSEL 19:191; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-7-7).
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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).
3.7.8CSEL 19:191
Herilli summum bonum est scientia, Zenonis, cum natura congruenter uiuere, quorundam Stoicorum, uirtutem sequi. Aristoteles in honestate ac uirtute summum bonum conlocauit. hae sunt fere omnes omnium sententiae.
The highest good of Herillus is knowledge; of Zeno, to live in agreement with nature; of certain Stoics, to follow virtue. Aristotle placed the highest good in honour and virtue. These are more or less all the opinions of them all.
Notes and citation
Summary: He completes the list of views of the highest good.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.7.8 (CSEL 19:191; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-7-8).
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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).
3.7.9CSEL 19:191–192
in tanta diuersitate quem sequimur? cui credimus? par est in omnibus auctoritas. si eligere possumus quod est melius, iam non est nobis philosophia necessaria, quia sapientes iam sumus qui de sapientium sententiis iudicemus.
In so great a diversity, whom do we follow? Whom do we believe? The authority is equal in all. If we can choose what is better, then philosophy is no longer necessary for us, since we who judge the opinions of the wise are already wise.
Notes and citation
Summary: If we could choose among them, we would already be wise and not need philosophy.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.7.9 (CSEL 19:191–192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-7-9).
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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).
3.7.10CSEL 19:192
cum uero discendae sapientiae causa ueniamus, qui possumus iudicare qui nondum sapere coeperimus, maxime cum praesto adsit Academicus, qui nos pallio retrahat ac uetet cuiquam credere nec tamen ipse adferat quod sequamur?
But since we come for the sake of learning wisdom, how can we judge, who have not yet begun to be wise, especially when the Academic is at hand to pull us back by the cloak and forbid us to believe anyone, and yet himself offers nothing for us to follow?
Notes and citation
Summary: Learners cannot judge, and the Academic forbids belief while offering nothing.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.7.10 (CSEL 19:192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-7-10).
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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).
Divine 3, chapter 8
3.8.1CSEL 19:192
Quid ergo superest nisi ut omissis litigatoribus furiosis ac pertinacibus ueniamus ad iudicem, illum scilicet datorem simplicis et quietae sapientiae, quae non tantum formare nos et inducere in uiam possit, uerum etiam de controuersiis istorum ferre sententiam?
What remains, then, except that we leave these raving and obstinate litigants and come to the judge, that is, to the giver of simple and tranquil wisdom, which can not only shape us and lead us into the way, but also pass sentence on their controversies?
Notes and citation
Summary: We must turn from quarrelling philosophers to God, the giver of true wisdom.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.1 (CSEL 19:192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-1).
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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).
3.8.2CSEL 19:192
haec nos docet quod sit hominis uerum ac summum bonum. de quo priusquam dicere incipiam, illae omnes sententiae refellendae sunt, ut appareat neminem illorum fuisse sapientem.
This wisdom teaches us what the true and highest good of man is. But before I begin to speak of it, all those opinions must be refuted, so that it may be clear that none of them was wise.
Notes and citation
Summary: Before stating the true highest good, he will refute all the other opinions.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): illae. omnes → illae omnes.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.2 (CSEL 19:192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-2).
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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).
3.8.3CSEL 19:192
Cum de officio hominis agatur, oportet summum summi animalis bonum in eo constitui, quod commune cum ceteris animalibus esse non possit.
Since the question concerns the duty of man, the highest good of the highest living creature ought to be placed in something that cannot be shared with the other animals.
Notes and citation
Summary: Man's highest good must be something not shared with animals.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.3 (CSEL 19:192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-3).
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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).
3.8.4CSEL 19:192
sed ut feris dentes, armentis cornua, uolucribus pinnae propria sunt, sic homini aliquid suum debet adscribi sine quo rationem suae condicionis amittat. nam quod uiuendi aut generandi causa datum est omnibus, est quidem bonum naturale, summum tamen non est, nisi quod est uni cuique generi proprium.
But as teeth are proper to wild beasts, horns to cattle, and wings to birds, so something of his own ought to be ascribed to man, without which he would lose the principle of his condition. For what has been given to all for the sake of living or begetting is indeed a natural good, but it is not the highest, unless it is proper to each kind.
Notes and citation
Summary: The highest good must be proper to man, as teeth, horns and wings are to animals.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.4 (CSEL 19:192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-4).
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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).
3.8.5CSEL 19:192–193
sapiens ergo non fuit qui summum bonum credidit animi uoluptatem, quoniam siue illa securitas siue gaudium est, communis est omnibus.
So he was not wise who believed that pleasure of the mind is the highest good, since whether it is freedom from care or joy, it is common to all.
Notes and citation
Summary: Mental pleasure, being common to all creatures, is not the highest good.
- Aimed at Epicurus.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.5 (CSEL 19:192–193; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-5).
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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).
3.8.6CSEL 19:193
Aristippo ne respondendum quidem duco, quem semper in corporis uoluptates ruentem nihilque aliut quam uentri et Veneri seruientem nemini dubium est hominem non fuisse. sic enim uixit, ut nihil inter eum pecudemque distaret nisi unum, quod loquebatur.
Aristippus I do not think even worth answering: no one doubts that he, always rushing into the pleasures of the body and serving nothing but his belly and lust, was not a man. For he lived in such a way that there was no difference between him and a beast except one thing: that he spoke.
Notes and citation
Summary: Aristippus, devoted to bodily pleasure, lived like a beast.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.6 (CSEL 19:193; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-6).
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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).
3.8.7CSEL 19:193
quodsi asino aut sui aut cani facultas loquendi tribuatur quaerasque ab iis quid sibi uelint, cum feminas tam rabide consectantur, ut uix diuelli queant, cibos etiam potumque neglegant, cur aut alios mares uiolenter abigant aut ne uicti quidem absistant, sed a fortioribus saepe contriti eo magis insectentur, cur nec imbres nec frigora pertimescant, laborem suscipiant, periculum non recusent, quid aliut respondebunt nisi summum bonum esse corporis uoluptatem? eam se adpetere, ut adficiantur suauissimis sensibus eosque esse tanti, ut adsequendorum causa nec laborem sibi ullum nec uulnera nec mortem ipsam recusandam putent.
But if the power of speech were given to an ass or a pig or a dog, and you asked them what they mean when they pursue the females so madly that they can hardly be torn away, neglecting even food and drink; why they either drive other males off violently or, even when beaten, do not give up, but, often crushed by stronger ones, press on all the more; why they fear neither rains nor cold, undertake toil, and do not shrink from danger: what else will they answer but that the highest good is bodily pleasure? That they seek it so as to be affected with the sweetest sensations, and that these are worth so much that for the sake of obtaining them they think no toil, no wounds, not death itself should be refused?
Notes and citation
Summary: Beasts, if they could speak, would give Aristippus's answer.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.7 (CSEL 19:193; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-7).
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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).
3.8.8CSEL 19:193
ab hisne igitur praecepta uiuendi petemus, qui hoc idem sentiunt quod animae rationis expertes?
Shall we then seek rules for living from those who think the very same as creatures without reason?
Notes and citation
Summary: We should not learn how to live from those who think like irrational creatures.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.8 (CSEL 19:193; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-8).
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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).
3.8.9CSEL 19:193–194
aiunt Cyrenaici uirtutem ipsam ex eo esse laudandam, quod sit efficiens uoluptatis. uero inquit obscenus canis aut sus ille lutulentus; nam ideo cum aduersario summa uirium contentione depugno, ut uirtus mea pariat mihi uoluptatem, cuius expers sim necesse est, si uictus abscessero’.
The Cyrenaics say that virtue itself is to be praised because it produces pleasure. 'Yes indeed,' says the filthy dog or that muddy pig, 'for this is why I fight my adversary with the utmost strain of my strength, so that my virtue may bring me pleasure, which I must go without if I come away defeated.'
Notes and citation
Summary: The Cyrenaic praise of virtue as producing pleasure is what a dog or pig might say.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.9 (CSEL 19:193–194; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-9).
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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).
3.8.10CSEL 19:194
ab his ergo sapere discamus, quos a pecudibus ac beluis non sententia, sed lingua discernit? priuationem doloris summum bonum putare non plane Peripateticorum aut Stoicorum, sed clinicorum philosophorum est.
Shall we then learn wisdom from those who are distinguished from cattle and beasts not by their thinking but by their tongue? To hold that the removal of pain is the highest good is not at all the view of Peripatetics or Stoics, but of bedridden philosophers.
Notes and citation
Summary: Making freedom from pain the highest good is a philosophy for the sickbed.
- 'clinici' plays on the sickbed (Greek κλίνη) and on philosophical schools.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.10 (CSEL 19:194; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-10).
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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).
3.8.11CSEL 19:194
quis enim non intellegat ab aegrotis et in aliquo dolore positis esse hoc disputatum? quid tam ridiculum quam id habere pro summo bono, quod medicus possit dare? dolendum est ergo, ut fruamur bono, et quidem grauiter ac saepe, ut sit postea non dolere iucundius.
For who does not see that this was argued by the sick and those in some pain? What is so ridiculous as to hold for the highest good what a physician can give? One must then suffer pain in order to enjoy the good, and that severely and often, so that not suffering afterwards may be the more pleasant.
Notes and citation
Summary: A good that a doctor can give, and that requires prior pain, is absurd as the highest good.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.11 (CSEL 19:194; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-11).
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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).
3.8.12CSEL 19:194
miserrimus est igitur qui numquam doluit, quia bono caret: quem nos felicissimum putabamus, quia malo caruit.
So he is most wretched who has never suffered pain, because he lacks the good; yet we thought him most fortunate, because he lacked evil.
Notes and citation
Summary: On that view the man who has never suffered would be most wretched.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.12 (CSEL 19:194; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-12).
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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).
3.8.13CSEL 19:194
ab hac uanitate non longe afuit qui omnino nihil dolere summum bonum dixit, nam praeter quod omne animal doloris est fugiens, quis potest sibi hoc bonum praestare, quod nobis ut eueniat, nihil aliut possumus quam optare?
Not far from this folly was he who said that the highest good is to feel no pain at all. For besides the fact that every animal flees pain, who can guarantee himself this good, which we can do nothing but wish may befall us?
Notes and citation
Summary: Painlessness is not in our power and is shared with animals.
- Aimed at Hieronymus (3.7.7).
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.13 (CSEL 19:194; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-13).
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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).
3.8.14CSEL 19:194
summum autem bonum non potest efficere quemquam beatum, nisi semper fuerit in ipsius potestate: hoc autem non uirtus homini, non doctrina, non labor, sed natura ipsa cunctis animantibus praestat.
But the highest good cannot make anyone happy unless it is always in his own power; and this it is not virtue, not learning, not labour that supplies to man, but nature itself supplies it to all living things.
Notes and citation
Summary: Painlessness is given by nature to all creatures, not gained by virtue.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: 11011 for non): autem 11011 uirtus → autem non uirtus.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.14 (CSEL 19:194; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-14).
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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).
3.8.15CSEL 19:194
qui uoluptatem cum honestate iunxerunt, communionem hanc effugere uoluerunt, sed effecerunt repugnans bonum, quoniam qui uoluptati deditus est, honestate careat necesse est, qui honestati studet, uoluptate.
Those who joined pleasure with honourableness wished to escape this commonality, but they produced a self-contradictory good, since he who is devoted to pleasure must lack honourableness, and he who pursues honourableness must lack pleasure.
Notes and citation
Summary: Joining pleasure and honour produces a contradictory good.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (hyphen left from a line break): uo-luptati → uoluptati.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.15 (CSEL 19:194; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-15).
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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).
3.8.16CSEL 19:194–195
Peripateticorum bonum nimium multiplex et exceptis animi bonis, quae ipsa quae sint magna contentio est, commune cum beluis potest uideri.
The good of the Peripatetics is too manifold, and, apart from the goods of the mind, about which there is great dispute as to what they are, it may seem common with the beasts.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Peripatetic good is too manifold and largely shared with beasts.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.16 (CSEL 19:194–195; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-16).
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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).
3.8.17CSEL 19:195
nam corporis bona id est incolumitas indolentia ualetudo non minus sunt mutis quam homini necessaria ac nescio an etiam magis, quia homo et medellis et ministeriis subleuari potest, muta non possunt. item, quae appellant fortunae bona:
For the goods of the body, that is, safety, freedom from pain and health, are no less necessary to dumb animals than to man, and perhaps even more, because man can be relieved by remedies and services, and dumb animals cannot. So too what they call the goods of fortune:
Notes and citation
Summary: Bodily goods are as necessary to animals as to men.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.17 (CSEL 19:195; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-17).
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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).
3.8.18CSEL 19:195
nam sicut homini opibus ad uitam tuendam, sic illis praeda et pabulis opus est.
for as man needs wealth to sustain life, so they need prey and fodder.
Notes and citation
Summary: Animals need prey and fodder as men need wealth.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.18 (CSEL 19:195; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-18).
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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).
3.8.19CSEL 19:195
ita inducendo bonum quod non sit in hominis potestate, totum hominem alienae dicioni subiugauerunt.
So, by bringing in a good that is not in man's power, they subjected the whole man to another's control.
Notes and citation
Summary: Goods of fortune put man under another's control.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.19 (CSEL 19:195; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-19).
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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).
3.8.20CSEL 19:195
audiamus etiam Zenonem: nam is interdum uirtutem somniat. summum inquit est bonum cum natura consentanee uiuere. beluarum igitur nobis more uiuendum est.
Let us hear Zeno too, for at times he dreams of virtue. 'The highest good,' he says, 'is to live in agreement with nature.' Then we must live after the manner of beasts.
Notes and citation
Summary: Zeno's 'living according to nature' would have us live like beasts.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray asterisk): *est → est.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.20 (CSEL 19:195; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-20).
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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).
3.8.21CSEL 19:195
nam quae abesse debent ab homine, in his omnia deprehenduntur: uoluptates adpetunt, metuunt fallunt insidiantur occidunt et, quod ad rem maxime attinet, deum nesciunt.
For in them are found all the things that ought to be absent from man: they seek pleasures, they fear, they deceive, they lie in wait, they kill, and, what matters most, they do not know God.
Notes and citation
Summary: Beasts do everything man should avoid and do not know God.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.21 (CSEL 19:195; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-21).
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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).
3.8.22CSEL 19:195
quid ergo me docet ut uiuam secundum naturam, quae ipsa in deterius prona est et quibusdam blandimentis lenioribus in uitia praecipitat?
Why then does he teach me to live according to nature, which itself is prone to the worse and by certain gentle allurements hurls one headlong into vices?
Notes and citation
Summary: Nature inclines to vice, so it cannot be the rule of life.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.22 (CSEL 19:195; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-22).
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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).
3.8.23CSEL 19:195
uel si aliam mutorum, aliam hominis dicit esse naturam, quod homo ad uirtutem sit genitus, nonnihil hoc, sed tamen non erit definitio summi boni, quia nullum est animal quod non secundum naturam suam uiuat.
Or if he says that the nature of dumb animals is one thing and that of man another, because man was born for virtue, this is something; but still it will not be a definition of the highest good, since there is no animal that does not live according to its own nature.
Notes and citation
Summary: Even so, 'living by nature' does not define the highest good, since every animal does that.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.23 (CSEL 19:195; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-23).
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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).
3.8.24CSEL 19:195
qui scientiam summum bonum fecit, aliquid homini proprium dedit, sed scientiam alterius rei gratia homines adpetunt, non propter ipsam.
He who made knowledge the highest good gave man something proper to him; but people seek knowledge for the sake of something else, not for itself.
Notes and citation
Summary: Knowledge is proper to man but sought for something else.
- Aimed at Herillus (3.7.8).
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.24 (CSEL 19:195; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-24).
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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).
3.8.25CSEL 19:195–196
quis enim scire contentus est non expetens aliquem fructum scientiae? artes ideo discuntur ut exerceantur, exercentur autem uel ad subsidia uitae uel ad uoluptatem uel ad gloriam. non est igitur summum bonum quod non propter se expetitur.
For who is content to know without seeking some fruit of knowledge? Arts are learned in order to be practised, and they are practised either for the support of life or for pleasure or for glory. So that which is not sought for its own sake is not the highest good.
Notes and citation
Summary: Knowledge is sought for its fruits, so it is not the highest good.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.25 (CSEL 19:195–196; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-25).
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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).
3.8.26CSEL 19:196
quid ergo interest utrum scientiam summum bonum putemus an illa ipsa, quae scientia ex se parit id est uictum gloriam uoluptatem? quae non sunt homini propria et ideo ne summa quidem bona: nam uoluptatis et uictus adpetentia non homini solum, sed etiam mutis inest.
What difference, then, is there whether we think knowledge the highest good or those very things which knowledge produces from itself, that is, livelihood, glory, pleasure? These are not proper to man and so are not the highest goods either; for the desire of pleasure and livelihood is found not in man alone but in dumb animals too.
Notes and citation
Summary: The fruits of knowledge, livelihood, glory and pleasure, are shared with animals.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.26 (CSEL 19:196; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-26).
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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).
3.8.27CSEL 19:196
quid cupiditas gloriae? nonne in equis deprehenditur, cum uictores exultant, uicti dolent? tantus amor laudum, tantae est uictoria curae. nec inmerito summus poeta experiendum esse ait, et quis cuique dolor uicto, quae gloria palmae.
What of the desire for glory? Is it not found in horses, when as victors they exult and when defeated they grieve? 'So great is their love of praise, so great their care for victory.' And not without reason does the greatest poet say that one must try 'what grief each feels when beaten, what glory in the palm.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Even horses love glory, as Virgil says.
- Virgil, Georg. 3.112 and 3.102.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): ait,. et → ait, et.
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Georg. 3.112 (Virgil; quotation); Virgil, Georg. 3.102 (Virgil; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.27 (CSEL 19:196; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-27).
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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).
3.8.28CSEL 19:196
quodsi ea quae parit scientia communia sunt cum aliis animalibus, non est ergo summum bonum scientia. praeterea non mediocre huius definitionis est uitium, quod scientia nude ponitur. incipient enim beati omnes uideri qui artem aliquam scierint, immo uero qui et res malas scierint, ut tam beatus sit qui uenena didicerit temperare quam qui mederi.
If, then, the things that knowledge produces are common with other animals, knowledge is not the highest good. Besides, there is no small fault in this definition, that knowledge is put without qualification. For all who know some art will begin to seem happy, and indeed even those who know evil things, so that he who has learned to mix poisons will be as happy as he who has learned to heal.
Notes and citation
Summary: Unqualified knowledge would make even a poisoner happy.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: o for u): node ponitur → nude ponitur.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.28 (CSEL 19:196; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-28).
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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).
3.8.29CSEL 19:196–197
quaero igitur ad quam rem scientia referenda sit. si ad causas rerum naturalium, quae beatitudo mihi erit proposita, si sciero unde Nilus oriatur uel quidquid de caelo physici delirant? quid quod earum rerum non est scientia, sed opinatio, quae pro ingeniis uaria est?
I ask, then, to what knowledge is to be referred. If to the causes of natural things, what happiness will be set before me if I know where the Nile rises, or whatever the natural philosophers rave about the heavens? What of the fact that of these things there is no knowledge but opinion, which varies with men's talents?
Notes and citation
Summary: Knowledge of nature brings no happiness and is only opinion.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: n for u): naria est → uaria est.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.29 (CSEL 19:196–197; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-29).
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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).
3.8.30CSEL 19:197
restat ut scientia bonorum ac malorum summum bonum sit. cur ergo scientiam maluit quam ipsam sapientiam summum bonum dicere, cum sit utriusque significatio et uis eadem? nemo tamen usque adhuc summum bonum dixit esse sapientiam, quod melius dici potuit.
It remains that the knowledge of good and evil is the highest good. Why then did he prefer to call knowledge the highest good rather than wisdom itself, since the meaning and force of both are the same? Yet no one up to now has said that the highest good is wisdom, which could have been said better.
Notes and citation
Summary: If knowledge of good and evil is meant, 'wisdom' would have been better, but no one said it.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.30 (CSEL 19:197; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-30).
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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).
3.8.31CSEL 19:197
nam scientia parum est ad bonum suscipiendum malumque fugiendum, nisi accedat et uirtus. multi enim philosophorum cum de bonis malisque dissererent, aliter tamen quam loquebantur natura cogente uixerunt, quia uirtute caruerunt. uirtus autem cum scientia coniuncta sapientia est.
For knowledge is too little for taking up good and fleeing evil unless virtue is added. For many of the philosophers, while they discoursed on good and evil, nevertheless lived otherwise than they spoke, nature compelling them, because they lacked virtue. But virtue joined with knowledge is wisdom.
Notes and citation
Summary: Knowledge without virtue is not enough; virtue joined to knowledge is wisdom.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: o for e): parum ost → parum est.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.31 (CSEL 19:197; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-31).
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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).
3.8.32CSEL 19:197
superest ut eos etiam refellamus, qui uirtutem ipsam summum bonum putauerunt, in qua opinione etiam Marcus Tullius fuit: in quo multum inconsiderati fuerunt. non enim uirtus ipsa est summum bonum, sed effectrix et mater est summi boni, quoniam perueniri ad illut sine uirtute non potest. utrumque intellectu facile est.
It remains for us to refute also those who thought virtue itself the highest good, of which opinion Marcus Tullius also was; in this they were very inconsiderate. For virtue itself is not the highest good, but the producer and mother of the highest good, since it cannot be reached without virtue. Both points are easy to understand.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue is not the highest good but the mother of it, contrary to Cicero and others.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split and OCR): opi- Dione → opinione.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.32 (CSEL 19:197; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-32).
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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).
3.8.33CSEL 19:197
quaero enim utrumne ad praeclarum illut bonum facile perueniri putent an cum difficultate ac labore? expediant acumen suum erroremque defendant.
For I ask whether they think that famous good is reached easily or with difficulty and toil. Let them bring out their sharpness and defend their error.
Notes and citation
Summary: Is the highest good reached easily or with toil?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.33 (CSEL 19:197; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-33).
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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).
3.8.34CSEL 19:197
si facile ad illut ac sine ullo labore perueniri potest, summum bonum non est. quid enim nos cruciemus, quid conficiamus enitendo diebus ac noctibus, quandoquidem tam in promptu id quod quaerimus iacet, ut illut quilibet sine ulla contentione animi comprehendat?
If it can be reached easily and without any toil, it is not the highest good. For why should we torment ourselves, why wear ourselves out by striving day and night, if what we seek lies so ready to hand that anyone may grasp it without any effort of mind?
Notes and citation
Summary: If it were easy, it would not be the highest good.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.34 (CSEL 19:197; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-34).
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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).
3.8.35CSEL 19:197–198
sed si commune quoque ac mediocre quodlibet bonum non nisi labore adsequimur, quoniam bonorum natura in arduo posita est, malorum in praecipiti, summo igitur labore summum bonum adsequi necesse est. quod si est uerissimum, ergo altera uirtute opus est, ut perueniamus ad eam uirtutem quae dicitur summum bonum: quod est incongruens et absurdum, ut uirtus per se ipsam perueniat ad se ipsam.
But if we obtain even any common and ordinary good only with toil, since the nature of goods is set on a steep ascent and that of evils on a downward slope, then the highest good must be obtained with the highest toil. If this is most true, then another virtue is needed for us to reach that virtue which is called the highest good; and this is incongruous and absurd, that virtue should arrive at itself through itself.
Notes and citation
Summary: If the highest good needs toil, virtue would need another virtue to reach itself, which is absurd.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.35 (CSEL 19:197–198; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-35).
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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).
3.8.36CSEL 19:198
si non potest ad ullum bonum nisi per laborem perueniri, apparet uirtutem esse per quam perueniatur, quoniam in suscipiendis ac perferendis laboribus uis officiumque uirtutis est. ergo summum bonum non potest esse id per quod necesse est ad aliut perueniri.
If no good can be reached except through toil, it is clear that virtue is that through which it is reached, since the force and office of virtue lie in undertaking and enduring toils. So the highest good cannot be that through which one must reach something else.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue is the means to the good, so it cannot be the highest good.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.36 (CSEL 19:198; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-36).
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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).
3.8.37CSEL 19:198
sed illi cum ignorarent quid efficeret uirtus aut quo tenderet, honestius autem nihil reperirent, substiterunt in ipsius uirtutis nomine, quam nullo proposito emolumento adpetendam esse dixerunt, ut bonum sibi constituerent quod bono indigeret.
But they, not knowing what virtue produces or at what it aims, and yet finding nothing more honourable, stopped at the name of virtue itself, which they said was to be sought with no reward in view; so they set up for themselves a good which itself needed a good.
Notes and citation
Summary: Not knowing virtue's goal, they made virtue the highest good, a good that needs another good.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray hyphen): quid -efficeret → quid efficeret.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.37 (CSEL 19:198; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-37).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.8.38CSEL 19:198
Aristoteles ab his non longe recessit, qui uirtutem cum honestate summum bonum putauit: quasi possit ulla esse uirtus inhonesta ac non, si quid habuerit turpitudinis, uirtus esse desinat.
Aristotle did not depart far from them, who thought virtue together with honour the highest good, as if there could be any virtue that is dishonourable, and as if, should it have anything shameful, it would not cease to be virtue.
Notes and citation
Summary: Aristotle's 'virtue with honour' is redundant.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.38 (CSEL 19:198; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-38).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.8.39CSEL 19:198
sed uidit fieri posse ut de uirtute prauo iudicio male sentiatur, et ideo existimationi hominum seruiendum putauit: quod qui faciat, a recto bonoque discedet, quia non est in nostra potestate ut uirtus pro suis meritis honestetur. nam quid est honestas nisi honor perpetuus ad aliquem secundo populi rumore delatus?
But he saw that it could happen that people think ill of virtue through perverse judgment, and so he thought that men's esteem should be served. He who does this will depart from what is right and good, because it is not in our power that virtue be honoured according to its merits. For what is honour but a lasting esteem conferred on someone by the favourable report of the people?
Notes and citation
Summary: Making virtue depend on public esteem departs from the good.
- The argument plays on honestas ('honourableness') and honor ('esteem').
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.39 (CSEL 19:198; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-39).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.8.40CSEL 19:198
quid ergo fiet, si errore ac prauitate hominum mala existimatio subsequatur? abiciemusne uirtutem, quia flagitiosa et turpis ab insipientibus iudicetur?
What then will happen if, through men's error and depravity, a bad reputation follows? Shall we throw away virtue because it is judged wicked and shameful by the foolish?
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue must not be abandoned because fools condemn it.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.40 (CSEL 19:198; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-40).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.8.41CSEL 19:198–199
quae quoniam inuidia premi ac uexari potest, ut sit ipsa proprium ac perpetuum bonum, nullo extrinsecus adiumento indigere debet, quin suis per se uiribus nitatur et constet.
Since virtue can be oppressed and harassed by ill will, if it is to be a proper and lasting good it ought to need no help from outside, but to rest and stand by its own strength.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue must stand by its own strength.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): quin suis. per se → quin suis per se.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.41 (CSEL 19:198–199; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-41).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.8.42CSEL 19:199
itaque nec ullum ei ab homine bonum sperandum est nec ullum malum recusandum.
So it must neither hope for any good from man nor refuse any evil.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue expects no good from men and shrinks from no evil.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.8.42 (CSEL 19:199; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-8-42).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin 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 9
3.9.1CSEL 19:199
Venio nunc ad uerae sapientiae summum bonum. cuius natura hoc modo determinanda est, primum ut solius hominis sit nec cadat in ullum aliut animal, deinde ut solius animi nec communicari possit cum corpore, postremo ut non possit cuiquam sine scientia et uirtute contingere.
I come now to the highest good of true wisdom. Its nature must be defined in this way: first, that it belongs to man alone and does not fall to any other animal; next, that it belongs to the soul alone and cannot be shared with the body; lastly, that it cannot fall to anyone without knowledge and virtue.
Notes and citation
Summary: The true highest good must be proper to man, belong to the soul, and require knowledge and virtue.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.1 (CSEL 19:199; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.2CSEL 19:199
quae circumscriptio illorum omnes sententias excludit ac soluit: eorum enim quae dixerunt nihil tale est.
This definition excludes and dissolves all their opinions, for nothing they said is of this kind.
Notes and citation
Summary: This definition rules out all the philosophers' answers.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.2 (CSEL 19:199; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.3CSEL 19:199
dicam nunc quid sit, ut doceam quod institui, philosophos omnes caecos atque insipientes fuisse, qui quod esset homini summum bonum constitutum nec uidere nec intellegere nec suspicari aliquando quiuerunt.
I will now say what it is, in order to show what I set out to show: that all the philosophers were blind and foolish, who could never see nor understand nor even suspect what highest good had been established for man.
Notes and citation
Summary: He will show that the philosophers never grasped man's highest good.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.3 (CSEL 19:199; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.4CSEL 19:199
Anaxagoras, cum ab eo quaereretur cuius rei causa natus esset, respondit caeli ac solis uidendi. hanc uocem admirantur omnes ac philosopho dignam iudicant.
Anaxagoras, when he was asked for what purpose he had been born, answered, 'To see the heaven and the sun.' Everyone admires this saying and judges it worthy of a philosopher.
Notes and citation
Summary: Anaxagoras said he was born to see the heaven and the sun.
- Reported by Cicero and Diogenes Laertius 2.10.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.4 (CSEL 19:199; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.5CSEL 19:199
at ego hunc puto non inuenientem quid responderet effudisse hoc passim, ne taceret: quod quidem secum, si sapiens fuisset, commentatum meditatumque habere debuit, quia si quis rationem sui nesciat, ne homo sit quidem. set putemus non ex tempore dictum illut effusum. uideamus in tribus uerbis quot et quanta peccauerit:
But I think that he, not finding what to answer, blurted this out at random so as not to be silent; if he had been wise, he ought to have had it thought out and pondered beforehand, because if anyone does not know the reason for his own existence, he is not even a man. But let us suppose that saying was not blurted out on the spur of the moment. Let us see how many and how great errors he committed in three words.
Notes and citation
Summary: Anaxagoras's answer was either careless or seriously wrong.
- 'Three words' refers to the Latin form of the answer.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.5 (CSEL 19:199; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.6CSEL 19:199
primum, quod omne hominis officium in solis oculis posuit nihil ad mentem referens, sed ad corpus omnia. quid?
First, that he placed the whole duty of man in the eyes alone, referring nothing to the mind but everything to the body. What then?
Notes and citation
Summary: He placed man's duty in the eyes, not the mind.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.6 (CSEL 19:199; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.7CSEL 19:199–200
si caecus fuerit, officiumne hominis amittet?
If a man were blind, would he lose the duty of man?
Notes and citation
Summary: Would a blind man lose his human purpose?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.7 (CSEL 19:199–200; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.8CSEL 19:200
quod fieri sine occasu animae non potest. quid ceterae corporis partes? num carebunt suis quaeque muneribus? quid quod plus est in auribus quam in oculis situm, quoniam doctrina et sapientia percipi auribus solis potest, oculis solis non potest?
That cannot happen without the death of the soul. What of the other parts of the body? Will each lack its own functions? What of the fact that more is placed in the ears than in the eyes, since learning and wisdom can be received by the ears alone, but not by the eyes alone?
Notes and citation
Summary: Hearing matters more than sight for learning wisdom.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): quam. in oculis → quam in oculis.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.8 (CSEL 19:200; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.9CSEL 19:200
caeli ac solis uidendi causa natus es: quis te in hoc spectaculum induxit aut quid caelo rerumque naturae uisio tua confert? nimirum ut hoc inmensum et admirabile opus laudes.
You were born to see the heaven and the sun: who brought you into this spectacle, or what does your seeing contribute to the heaven and the nature of things? No doubt, that you may praise this vast and wonderful work.
Notes and citation
Summary: Seeing the heavens implies someone who brought us to see and praise them.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.9 (CSEL 19:200; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.10CSEL 19:200
confitere igitur esse rerum omnium constitutorem deum, qui te in hunc mundum quasi testem laudatoremque tanti sui operis induxit.
Confess, then, that there is a God, the maker of all things, who brought you into this world as a witness and praiser of his so great work.
Notes and citation
Summary: Anaxagoras should confess God the Creator.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.10 (CSEL 19:200; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.11CSEL 19:200
magnum esse credis uidere caelum atque solem: cur ergo non gratias agis ei qui huius beneficii auctor est? cur non ipsius uirtutem prouidentiam potestatem metiris animo, cuius opera miraris? necesse est enim multo mirabilior sit qui mirabilia perfecit.
You believe it a great thing to see the heaven and the sun: why then do you not give thanks to him who is the author of this benefit? Why do you not measure in your mind the power, providence and might of him whose works you admire? For he who accomplished wonders must be far more wonderful.
Notes and citation
Summary: One should thank and honour the Maker of what one admires.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): gratias. agis → gratias agis.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.11 (CSEL 19:200; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.12CSEL 19:200
si te quispiam uocasset ad cenam in eaque optime acceptus esses, num sanus uiderere, si pluris faceres ipsam uoluptatem quam uoluptatis auctorem? adeo philosophi ad corpus referunt omnia, nihil prorsus ad mentem nec uident amplius quam quod sub oculos uenit.
If someone had invited you to dinner and you had been splendidly entertained there, would you seem sane if you valued the pleasure itself more than the author of the pleasure? So completely do the philosophers refer everything to the body, nothing at all to the mind, and see no further than what comes before their eyes.
Notes and citation
Summary: Like a guest who ignores his host, philosophers value creation above the Creator.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.12 (CSEL 19:200; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.13CSEL 19:200–201
atquin remotis omnibus officiis corporis in sola mente ponenda est hominis ratio. non ergo ideo nascimur, ut ea quae sunt facta uideamus, sed ut ipsum factorem rerum omnium contemplemur id est mente cernamus.
Yet, all the functions of the body set aside, the purpose of man must be placed in the mind alone. We are born, then, not in order to see the things that have been made, but to contemplate the maker of all things himself, that is, to behold him with the mind.
Notes and citation
Summary: We are born to contemplate the Maker with the mind.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.13 (CSEL 19:200–201; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.14CSEL 19:201
quare si quis hominem qui uere sapiat interroget, cuius rei causa natus sit, respondebit intrepidus ac paratus colendi se dei gratia natum, qui nos ideo generauit, ut ei seruiamus.
So if anyone asks a truly wise man for what purpose he was born, he will answer fearlessly and readily that he was born for the sake of worshipping God, who begot us for this reason, that we might serve him.
Notes and citation
Summary: The wise man answers that he was born to worship and serve God.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.14 (CSEL 19:201; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.15CSEL 19:201
seruire autem deo nihil aliut est quam bonis operibus tueri et conseruare iustitiam. sed ille ut homo diuinarum rerum inperitus rem maximam redegit ad minimum duo sola deligendo, quae sibi diceret intuenda.
And to serve God is nothing else than to maintain and preserve justice by good works. But he, as a man ignorant of divine things, reduced the greatest matter to the least, choosing only two things which he said he was to gaze on.
Notes and citation
Summary: Serving God means keeping justice by good works; Anaxagoras reduced the greatest matter to two objects.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (doubled period): iustitiam.. → iustitiam..
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.15 (CSEL 19:201; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.16CSEL 19:201
quodsi natum se esse dixisset, ut mundum intueretur, quamquam omnia conprehenderet ac maiore uteretur sono, tamen non inplesset hominis officium, quia quanto pluris est anima quam corpus, tanto pluris est deus quam mundus, quia mundum deus et fecit et regit.
And if he had said that he was born to gaze on the world, though he would have included everything and used a grander sound, he still would not have fulfilled the duty of man; because as much as the soul is worth more than the body, so much is God worth more than the world, since God both made the world and rules it.
Notes and citation
Summary: Even contemplating the world would fall short, for God is above the world as soul is above body.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.16 (CSEL 19:201; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.17CSEL 19:201
non ergo mundus oculis, quia utrumque corpus est, sed deus animo contemplandus est, quia deus ut est ipse inmortalis, sic animum esse uoluit sempiternum. dei autem contemplatio est uenerari et colere communem parentem generis humani.
So it is not the world that is to be contemplated with the eyes, for both are bodies, but God with the soul; for as God is himself immortal, so he willed the soul to be everlasting. And the contemplation of God is to venerate and worship the common parent of the human race.
Notes and citation
Summary: God is to be contemplated with the immortal soul, which means worshipping him.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.17 (CSEL 19:201; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-17).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.18CSEL 19:201
quod si a philosophis afuit proiectique in terram fuerunt diuina ignorando, existimandus est Anaxagoras ad quae uidenda natum esse se dixerit, nec caelum uidisse nec solem.
And if this was absent from the philosophers, and they were cast down to the earth through ignorance of divine things, Anaxagoras must be judged to have seen neither the heaven nor the sun, which he said he was born to see.
Notes and citation
Summary: Not knowing God, Anaxagoras did not truly see what he claimed to be born for.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.18 (CSEL 19:201; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-18).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.9.19CSEL 19:201–202
expedita est igitur hominis ratio, si sapiat: cuius propria est humanitas. (sed) ipsa humanitas quid est nisi iustitia? quid iustitia nisi pietas? pietas autem nihil aliut quam dei parentis agnitio.
The purpose of man, then, is plain, if he is wise; and humanity is proper to him. ⟨But⟩ what is humanity itself but justice? What is justice but piety? And piety is nothing other than the acknowledgement of God as parent.
Notes and citation
Summary: Humanity is justice, justice is piety, and piety is acknowledging God as Father.
- 'But' is the editor's addition.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.9.19 (CSEL 19:201–202; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-9-19).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 3, chapter 10
3.10.1CSEL 19:202
Summum igitur hominis bonum in sola religione est. nam cetera, etiam quae putantur esse homini propria, in ceteris quoque animalibus reperiuntur.
Man's highest good, then, is in religion alone. For the other things, even those thought proper to man, are found in the other animals too.
Notes and citation
Summary: Man's highest good lies in religion alone.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.1 (CSEL 19:202; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.10.2CSEL 19:202
cum enim suas uoces propriis inter se notis discernunt atque dinoscunt, conloqui uidentur. ridendi quoque ratio apparet in his aliqua, cum demulsis auribus contractoque rictu et oculis in lasciuiam resolutis aut homini adludunt aut suis. quid coniugibus ac fetibus propriis? nonne aliquid amori mutuo et indulgentiae simile inpertiunt?
For when they distinguish and recognize their own cries among themselves by their own signs, they seem to converse. Some capacity for laughter also appears in them, when with ears laid back, mouth drawn in, and eyes relaxed into playfulness they fawn on a person or on their own kind. What of their mates and their own young? Do they not show something like mutual love and indulgence?
Notes and citation
Summary: Animals seem to communicate, laugh and love.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.2 (CSEL 19:202; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.10.3CSEL 19:202
iam illa quae sibi prospiciunt in futurum et cibos reponunt, habent utique prouidentiam. rationis quoque signa in multis deprehenduntur. nam quando utilia sibi adpetunt, malo cauent, periculum uitant, latibula sibi parant in plures exitus dispatentia, profecto aliquid intellegunt.
Again, those that provide for the future and store up food certainly have foresight. Signs of reason, too, are found in many. For when they seek what is useful to them, beware of evil, avoid danger, and prepare lairs for themselves opening into several exits, surely they understand something.
Notes and citation
Summary: Animals show foresight and signs of reason.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.3 (CSEL 19:202; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.10.4CSEL 19:202
potest aliquis negare illis inesse rationem, cum hominem ipsum saepe deludant? nam quibus generandi mellis officium est, cum adsignatas incolunt sedes, castra muniunt, domicilia inenarrabili arte componunt, regi suo seruiunt, nescio an in his sit perfecta prudentia.
Can anyone deny that reason is in them, when they often outwit man himself? For those whose task is to produce honey, when they inhabit their assigned dwellings, fortify camps, build homes with indescribable skill, and serve their king, I do not know whether perfect prudence is not in them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Bees show something like perfect prudence.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.4 (CSEL 19:202; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.10.5CSEL 19:203
incertum igitur est utrumne illa quae homini tribuuntur communia sint cum aliis uiuentibus, religionis certe sunt expertia.
It is uncertain, then, whether those things attributed to man are common with other living things; they are certainly without religion.
Notes and citation
Summary: Animals may share other human traits, but not religion.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: a for u): incertam igitur → incertum igitur.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.5 (CSEL 19:203; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.10.6CSEL 19:203
equidem sic arbitror, uniuersis animalibus datam esse rationem, sed mutis tantummodo ad uitam tuendam, homini etiam ad propagandam. et quia in homine ratio ipsa perfecta est, sapientia nominatur, quae in hoc eximium facit hominem, quod soli datum est intellegere diuina.
My own view is this: reason has been given to all animals, but to the dumb ones only for protecting life, to man also for prolonging it. And because in man reason itself is perfect, it is called wisdom, which makes man outstanding in this, that to him alone it has been given to understand divine things.
Notes and citation
Summary: Man's perfected reason, wisdom, alone understands divine things.
- 'ad propagandam' (uitam), 'for prolonging it', probably means extending life beyond this life.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.6 (CSEL 19:203; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.10.7CSEL 19:203
qua de re Ciceronis uera sententia est: ex tot inquit generibus nullum est animal praeter hominem quod habeat notitiam aliquam dei, ipsisque in hominibus nulla gens est neque tam mansueta neque tam fera, quae non etiamsi ignoret qualem haberi deum deceat, tamen habendum sciat.
On this point the opinion of Cicero is true: 'Of so many kinds,' he says, 'there is no animal except man that has any knowledge of God; and among men themselves there is no nation so civilized or so savage that, even if it does not know what sort of God it ought to have, does not know that it ought to have one.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero says only man knows God, and every nation knows there is a God.
- Cicero, Leg. 1.24.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Leg. 1.24 (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.7 (CSEL 19:203; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.10.8CSEL 19:203
ex quo efficitur ut is agnoscat deum, qui unde ortus sit quasi recordetur.
From this it follows that he acknowledges God who, as it were, remembers where he came from.
Notes and citation
Summary: Acknowledging God is like remembering one's origin.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.8 (CSEL 19:203; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.10.9CSEL 19:203
qui ergo philosophi uolunt animos omni metu liberare, tollunt etiam religionem et orbant hominem suo proprio ac singulari bono: quod est a recte uiuendo atque ab omni humanitate diiunctum, quia deus ut cuncta uiuentia subiecit homini, sic ipsum hominem sibi.
So those philosophers who wish to free minds from all fear take away religion too and rob man of his own proper and unique good, which is separate from right living and from all humanity; because God, as he subjected all living things to man, so subjected man himself to himself.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers who remove fear of the gods remove religion, man's proper good.
- Aimed at the Epicureans. 'which is separate from right living' is literally so in the text; the sense seems to be that removing religion cuts man off from right living and all humanity.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: u for n): omui metu → omni metu.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.9 (CSEL 19:203; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.10.10CSEL 19:203–204
nam quid est cur idem ipsi disputent eo dirigendam esse mentem quo uultus erectus est? si enim nobis in caelum spectandum est nihil utique aliut quam ob religionem, si religio tollitur, nulla nobis ratio cum caelo est.
For why is it that these same men argue that the mind should be directed where the upright face is turned? For if we are to look to heaven, it is certainly for no other reason than religion; if religion is taken away, we have no business with heaven.
Notes and citation
Summary: Man's upright stance, pointing to heaven, is for religion.
- The theme of man's upright posture is common in classical writers, e.g. Ovid, Metam. 1.84–86; Cicero, Nat. d. 2.140.
Extrabiblical texts: Ovid, Metam. 1.84–86 (Ovid; echo)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.10 (CSEL 19:203–204; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.10.11CSEL 19:204
itaque aut eo spectandum est aut in terram procumbendum. in terram procumbere ne si uelimus quidem possumus, quorum status rectus est.
So we must either look there or bow down to the earth. We cannot bow down to the earth even if we wish, since our posture is upright.
Notes and citation
Summary: Our upright posture keeps us from bowing to the earth.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.11 (CSEL 19:204; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.10.12CSEL 19:204
in caelum igitur spectandum est, quo natura corporis prouocat. quod si constat esse faciendum, aut ideo faciendum est, ut religioni seruiamus, aut ideo, ut rationem rerum caelestium cognoscamus.
We must, then, look to heaven, to which the nature of the body summons us. And if it is agreed that this must be done, it must be done either so that we may serve religion, or so that we may learn the principle of heavenly things.
Notes and citation
Summary: We look to heaven either for religion or for knowledge of the heavens.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): a.ut ideo → aut ideo.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.12 (CSEL 19:204; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.10.13CSEL 19:204
sed rationem rerum caelestium cognoscere nullo modo possumus, quia nihil eiusmodi potest cogitando inueniri, sicut supra docui.
But we cannot in any way learn the principle of heavenly things, because nothing of that kind can be discovered by thinking, as I showed above.
Notes and citation
Summary: Knowledge of the heavens is impossible.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.13 (CSEL 19:204; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.10.14CSEL 19:204
religioni ergo seruiendum est, quam qui non suscipit, ipse se prosternit in terram et uitam pecudum secutus humanitate se abdi-
Religion, then, must be served; and he who does not take it up throws himself down to the earth and, following the life of cattle, renounces his humanity.
Notes and citation
Summary: Whoever rejects religion lives like cattle and renounces his humanity.
- The word 'abdicat' is split between this section and the next in the digital text.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): abdi-. → abdi-.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.14 (CSEL 19:204; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.10.15CSEL 19:204
cat. sapientiores igitur inperiti, qui etiamsi errant in religione deligenda, tamen naturae suae condicionisque meminerunt.
The unlearned, then, are wiser, who, even if they err in choosing their religion, yet remember their own nature and condition.
Notes and citation
Summary: The unlearned who worship, even wrongly, are wiser than the irreligious philosophers.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.10.15 (CSEL 19:204; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-4-1/#p-3-10-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).