Divine Institutes 7.1.1–7.4.19
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 7, chapter 1
7.1.1CSEL 19:581
Bene habet, iacta sunt fundamenta, ut ait eximius orator. uerum nos non fundamenta solum iecimus quae firma et idonea essent operi perferendo, sed magnis robustisque molibus aedificium totum paene usque ad summa perduximus.
All is well: "the foundations have been laid," as the outstanding orator says. But we have not only laid foundations firm and fit to carry the work, but with great and strong masses have brought the whole building almost to the top.
Notes and citation
Summary: Book 7 opens: the building is nearly complete.
- The "outstanding orator" is Cicero (passage unidentified).
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.1 (CSEL 19:581; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.2CSEL 19:581
restat, id quod est multo facilius, uel tegere uel ornare, sine quo tamen priora opera et inutilia sunt et ingrata.
What remains, which is much easier, is to roof it or adorn it; yet without this the earlier work is both useless and unwelcome.
Notes and citation
Summary: The roof remains to be added.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.2 (CSEL 19:581; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.3CSEL 19:581
nam quid prodest aut falsis religionibus liberari aut intellegere ueram? quid aut uanitatem falsae sapientiae peruidere aut quae sit uera cognoscere? quid, inquam, prodest caelestem illam iustitiam defendere? quid cum magnis difficultatibus cultum dei tenere, quae est summa uirtus, nisi eam diuinum praemium beatitudinis perpetuae subsequatur?
For what good is it to be freed from false religions or to understand the true one? What good to see through the emptiness of false wisdom or to know what the true is? What good, I say, to defend that heavenly justice, or to keep the worship of God, the highest virtue, with great difficulties, unless the divine reward of perpetual happiness follows it?
Notes and citation
Summary: Everything depends on the reward of eternal happiness.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.3 (CSEL 19:581; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.4CSEL 19:581
de qua nobis est in hoc libro disserendum, ne priora omnia irrita et infructuosa uideantur, si hoc cuius causa illa suscepta sunt incertum relinquamus, ne quis forte arbitretur tantos labores in cassum suscipi, dum eorum caelesti mercede diffidit, quam deus statuit ei qui haec suauia terrae bona prae sola nudaque uirtute contempserit.
We must discuss this in this book, lest all that went before seem vain and fruitless if we leave uncertain that for whose sake it was undertaken; lest anyone perhaps think such great labors are undertaken in vain, while he distrusts their heavenly reward, which God has appointed for the one who has despised these sweet goods of the earth in favor of bare and simple virtue.
Notes and citation
Summary: This book treats the heavenly reward.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.4 (CSEL 19:581; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.5CSEL 19:581–582
satis et huic parti faciamus cum testimoniis diuinarum litterarum tum etiam probabilibus argumentis, ut aeque clarum sit et futura praesentibus et diuina terrenis et perpetua breuibus esse anteponenda, quoniam temporalia sunt praemia uitiorum, sempiterna uirtutum.
Let us satisfy this part too, both with testimonies from the divine writings and with probable arguments, so that it may be equally clear that the future is to be preferred to the present, the divine to the earthly, and the everlasting to the brief, since the rewards of vices are temporal and those of virtues everlasting.
Notes and citation
Summary: He will argue from Scripture and reason.
Topics: Eschatology, Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.5 (CSEL 19:581–582; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.6CSEL 19:582
exponam igitur rationem mundi, ut facile possit intellegi et quando et quare sit effectus a deo, quod Plato, qui de mundi fabricatione disseruit, nec scire poterat nec explicare: quippe qui caeleste mysterium, quod non nisi prophetis ac deo docente discitur, ignorabat ideoque in perpetuum dixit esse fabricatum. quod longe secus est, quoniam quidquid est solido et graui corpore ut initium cepit aliquando, ita finem capiat necesse est.
So I will set out the plan of the world, so that it can easily be understood both when and why it was made by God; which Plato, who discussed the making of the world, could neither know nor explain, since he did not know the heavenly mystery, which is learned only from the prophets with God teaching; and so he said it was made to last forever. That is far from true, since whatever consists of solid and heavy body, as it once took a beginning, must also come to an end.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato was wrong that the world will last forever.
- Plato, Timaeus 32c–33a, 41a–b.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato (Plato (works); allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.6 (CSEL 19:582; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.7CSEL 19:582
nam Aristoteles, qui cum non uideret quemadmodum posset tanta rerum magnitudo interire, et hanc praescriptionem uellet effugere, semper ait fuisse mundum ac semper fu-
For Aristotle, since he did not see how so great a mass of things could perish and wished to escape this objection, said that the world always was and always will
Notes and citation
Summary: Aristotle said the world is eternal.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Extrabiblical texts: Aristotle (Aristotle (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.7 (CSEL 19:582; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.8CSEL 19:582
turum, prorsus nihil uidit, quia quidquid est necesse est habuerit aliquando principium nec omnino quicquam potest esse nisi coeperit. nam cum terram et aquam et ignem disperire consumi extinguique uideamus, quae sunt utique mundi partes, intellegitur id totum esse mortale cuius sunt membra mortalia.
be, and saw nothing at all, because whatever exists must have had a beginning at some time, and nothing at all can exist unless it began. For since we see earth, water, and fire perish, be consumed, and be extinguished, which are certainly parts of the world, it is understood that the whole whose members are mortal is mortal.
Notes and citation
Summary: A world with mortal parts is mortal.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.8 (CSEL 19:582; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.9CSEL 19:582
ita fit ut natum sit quidquid potest interire. sed et omne quod sub uisum oculorum uenit, et corporale, ut ait Plato, et solubile sit necesse est.
So it follows that whatever can perish was born. And everything that comes under the sight of the eyes must also be, as Plato says, bodily and dissoluble.
Notes and citation
Summary: Whatever is visible is corporeal and dissoluble.
- Plato, Timaeus 28b.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray letters): ut ait so Plato → ut ait Plato.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.9 (CSEL 19:582; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.10CSEL 19:582–583
unus igitur Epicurus auctore Democrito ueridicus in hac re fuit, qui ait et ortum aliquando et aliquando esse periturum. nec tamen rationem reddere ullam potuit aut quibus de causis tantum hoc opus aut quo tempore resoluatur.
So Epicurus alone, following Democritus, spoke the truth in this matter, saying that the world both arose at some time and will at some time perish. Yet he could give no reason why or at what time so great a work will be dissolved.
Notes and citation
Summary: Epicurus rightly said the world will end, but not why.
Extrabiblical texts: Epicurus (Epicurus (sayings and fragments); allusion); Democritus (Democritus (fragments); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.10 (CSEL 19:582–583; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.11CSEL 19:583
quod quoniam nobis deus reuelauit nec coniecturis id adsequimur sed traditione caelesti, docebimus sedulo, ut tandem studiosis ueritatis appareat non uidisse neque conprehendisse philosophos ueritatem, sed ita leuiter odoratos, ut tamen unde eos odor ille sapientiae tam suauis, tam iucundus adflauerit, nullo modo senserint.
Since God has revealed this to us and we reach it not by conjectures but by heavenly tradition, we will teach it carefully, so that it may at last be clear to those eager for truth that the philosophers did not see or grasp the truth, but caught so faint a scent of it that they in no way perceived from where that so sweet, so pleasant fragrance of wisdom had wafted to them.
Notes and citation
Summary: God revealed what philosophers only faintly sensed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (doubled period): senserint.. → senserint..
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.11 (CSEL 19:583; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.12CSEL 19:583
interim necessarium puto admonere lecturos quod haec nostra quae tradimus prauae uitiosaeque mentes aut omnino non intellegent — hebetatur enim acies eorum terrenis cupiditatibus, quae sensus omnes grauant inbecillosque reddunt — aut etiamsi intellegent, dissimulabunt tamen et haec uera esse nolent, quia trahuntur a uitiis et scientes malis suis fauent, quorum suauitate capiuntur, et uirtutis uiam deserunt, cuius acerbitate offenduntur.
Meanwhile I think it necessary to warn readers that depraved and vicious minds will either not understand at all what we are handing on (for their keenness is dulled by earthly desires, which weigh down all the senses and make them weak), or, even if they understand, will pretend not to and will not want these things to be true, because they are dragged by vices and knowingly favor their evils, captured by their sweetness, and abandon the way of virtue, offended by its bitterness.
Notes and citation
Summary: Vicious minds will reject or ignore this teaching.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.12 (CSEL 19:583; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.13CSEL 19:583–584
nam quia auaritia et opum inexplebili quadam siti flagrant, quia non possunt uenditis aut dilargitis quae amant tenui cultu uitam degere, sine dubio malunt id esse fictum quo desideriis suis renuntiare coguntur.
For since they burn with avarice and an insatiable thirst for wealth, and cannot sell or give away what they love and live a plain life, they doubtless prefer that to be fiction which would force them to renounce their desires.
Notes and citation
Summary: The greedy prefer to think the faith false.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.13 (CSEL 19:583–584; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.14CSEL 19:584
item qui libidinum stimulis incitati, ut ait poeta, in furias ignemque ruunt, utique incredibilia nos adferre dicunt, quia uulnerant aures eorum praecepta continentiae, quae illos uoluptatibus suis prohibent quibus animam suam cum corpore adiudicauerunt.
Likewise those who, spurred by the goads of lust, "rush into frenzy and fire," as the poet says, surely say that we bring incredible things, because the precepts of self-control wound their ears, forbidding them the pleasures to which they have handed over their soul along with their body.
Notes and citation
Summary: The lustful reject precepts of self-control.
- Virgil, Georgics 3.244.
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Georg. 3.244 (Virgil; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.14 (CSEL 19:584; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.15CSEL 19:584
qui uero ambitione inflati aut amore potentiae inflammati omne studium suum ad honores adquirendos contulerunt, ne si solem quidem ipsum gestemus in manibus, fidem commodabunt ei doctrinae quae illos iubet omni potentia et honore contempto humiles uiuere atque ita humiles, ut et accipere iniuriam possint et referre nolint, si acceperint.
And those puffed up with ambition or inflamed with love of power, who have given all their effort to acquiring honors, would not trust a teaching that bids them despise all power and honor and live humbly, so humbly that they can receive injury and refuse to return it if they receive it, not even if we carried the sun itself in our hands.
Notes and citation
Summary: The ambitious reject a teaching of humility.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.15 (CSEL 19:584; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.16CSEL 19:584
hi sunt homines qui contra ueritatem clausis oculis quoquo modo latrant. qui autem sani erunt, id est non ita uitiis inmersi, ut insanabiles sint, et credent his et libenter accedent, et quaecumque dicimus aperta plana simplicia et, quod maxime opus est, uera et inexpugnabilia illis uidebuntur.
These are the people who bark against the truth with closed eyes in any way they can. But those who are sound, that is, not so sunk in vices as to be incurable, will both believe these things and gladly come to them, and whatever we say will seem to them open, plain, simple, and, what is most needed, true and unassailable.
Notes and citation
Summary: The sound-minded will gladly accept the truth.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.16 (CSEL 19:584; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.17CSEL 19:584
nemo uirtuti fauet nisi qui sequi potest, sequi autem non facile est omnibus: ii possunt quos paupertas et rerum indigentia exercuit et capaces uirtutis effecit.
No one favors virtue except one who can follow it; and following is not easy for all. Those can whom poverty and want have trained and made capable of virtue.
Notes and citation
Summary: Poverty makes people capable of virtue.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.17 (CSEL 19:584; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-17).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.18CSEL 19:584
nam si uirtus est tolerantia malorum, non capiunt ergo uirtutem qui semper in bonis fuerunt, quia mala neque experti sunt neque ferre possunt adsuetudine ac desiderio bonorum, quae sola nouerunt.
For if virtue is the endurance of evils, those who have always been among goods do not possess virtue, because they have not experienced evils and cannot bear them, through habit and longing for the goods, which alone they have known.
Notes and citation
Summary: The always-prosperous cannot bear evils.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.18 (CSEL 19:584; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-18).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.19CSEL 19:584–585
eo fit ut pauperes et humiles deo credant facilius, qui sunt expediti, quam diuites, qui sunt inpedimentis pluribus inplicati. immo uero catenati et conpediti seruiunt ad nutum dominae cupiditatis, quae illos inextricabilibus uinculis inretiuit, nec possunt in caelum aspicere, quoniam mens eorum in terram prona humique defixa est.
So it happens that the poor and lowly believe God more easily, being unencumbered, than the rich, who are entangled in many impediments; indeed, chained and fettered, they serve at the nod of their mistress, desire, who has ensnared them in inextricable bonds; nor can they look up to heaven, since their mind is bent toward the earth and fixed on the ground.
1 Cor 1:26 (echo, low confidence) · Jas 2:5 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The poor believe more easily than the rich.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.19 (CSEL 19:584–585; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-19).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.1.20CSEL 19:585
uirtutis autem uia non capit magna onera gestantes: angustus admodum trames est per quem iustitia hominem deducit in caelum, hunc tenere non potest nisi qui fuerit expeditus ac nudus.
But the way of virtue does not admit those carrying great burdens: very narrow is the path by which justice leads man to heaven; no one can keep to it unless he is unencumbered and bare.
Matt 7:14 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The narrow way requires traveling light.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.20 (CSEL 19:585; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-20).
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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).
7.1.21CSEL 19:585
nam isti locupletes multis et ingentibus sarcinis onerati per uiam mortis incedunt, quae latissima est, quoniam late perditio dominatur.
For those rich men, loaded with many huge packs, walk along the way of death, which is very broad, since perdition rules widely.
Matt 7:13 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The rich walk the broad way of death.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.21 (CSEL 19:585; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-21).
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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).
7.1.22CSEL 19:585
his acerba sunt, his uenena quae deus ad iustitiam praecipit quaeque nos dei magisterio de uirtute ac ueritate disserimus. quibus si repugnare audebunt, hostes se necesse est uirtutis iustitiaeque fateantur.
To them the things God commands for justice, and the things we discuss about virtue and truth under God's teaching, are bitter, are poison. If they dare to oppose them, they must confess themselves enemies of virtue and justice.
Notes and citation
Summary: Opposing God's precepts shows enmity to justice.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.22 (CSEL 19:585; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-22).
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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).
7.1.23CSEL 19:585
Adgrediar nunc quod superest, ut finis operi possit inponi, id autem superest ut de iudicio dei disseramus: quod tum constituetur, cum dominus noster redierit in terram, ut uni cuique pro merito aut praemium persoluat aut poenam.
I will now approach what remains, so that an end may be put to the work. What remains is to discuss the judgment of God, which will be established when our Lord returns to earth to pay each one, according to his merit, either reward or punishment.
Matt 16:27 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rev 22:12 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The last theme is God's judgment at Christ's return.
Topics: Eschatology, Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.23 (CSEL 19:585; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-23).
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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).
7.1.24CSEL 19:585
itaque ut in quarto libro de primo aduentu eius diximus, sic in hoc secundum referemus aduentum, quem Iudaei quoque et confitentur et sperant, sed frustra, quoniam necesse est ad eos consolandos reuertatur ad quos conuocandos prius uenerat.
So as in the fourth book we spoke of his first coming, so in this we will report the second coming, which the Jews too both confess and hope for, but in vain, since he must return to console those whom he had first come to call together.
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ's second coming, which the Jews await in vain.
- Institutes 4. "In vain" is the author's view of Jewish messianic hope, stated as written.
- The text printed here reads consolandos, "to console"; ANF 7 translates a reading "to the confusion of" (confundendos).
Topics: Eschatology, Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.24 (CSEL 19:585; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-24).
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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).
7.1.25CSEL 19:585
nam qui uiolarunt impie humilem, sentient in potestate uictorem eaque omnia quae legunt et non intellegunt deo repensante patientur, quippe qui peccatis omnibus inquinati et insuper sancto cruore perfusi ab illo ipso cui nefandas manus intulerunt sint ad aeterna supplicia destinati.
For those who impiously violated him when humble will feel him victorious in power, and they will suffer, with God repaying, all that they read and do not understand, since, stained with every sin and moreover drenched with holy blood, they are destined to eternal punishments by the very one on whom they laid their wicked hands.
Zech 12:10 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Those who crucified Christ will face his judgment.
- The author's polemic against the Jews, stated as written; he blames them for Christ's death, a charge the New Testament also lays on Gentile rulers (Acts 4:27).
Topics: Eschatology, Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.25 (CSEL 19:585; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-25).
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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).
7.1.26CSEL 19:585
sed erit nobis contra Iudaeos separata materia, in qua illos erroris et sceleris reuincemus.
But we will have a separate work against the Jews, in which we will convict them of error and crime.
Notes and citation
Summary: A separate work against the Jews is promised.
- No such work of Lactantius survives.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.1.26 (CSEL 19:585; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-1-26).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 7, chapter 2
7.2.1CSEL 19:585–586
Nunc ignaros ueritatis instruamus. dispositione summi dei sic ordinatum, ut iniustum hoc saeculum decurso temporum spatio terminum sumat extinctaque protinus omni malitia et piorum animis ad beatam uitam reuocatis quietum tranquillum pacificum, aureum denique ut poetae uocant saeculum deo ipso regnante florescat.
Now let us instruct those ignorant of the truth. By the arrangement of the supreme God it has been ordained that this unjust age, when its span of time has run out, will come to an end; and, with all wickedness immediately extinguished and the souls of the pious called back to a happy life, a quiet, tranquil, peaceful age, golden, as the poets call it, will flourish with God himself reigning.
Notes and citation
Summary: This unjust age will end, and a golden age will follow under God's reign.
- The author's millenarian expectation; see 7.14–26.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.2.1 (CSEL 19:585–586; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-2-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.2.2CSEL 19:586
in primis causa errorum omnium philosophis haec fuit, quod rationem mundi, quae totam sapientiam continet, non conprehenderunt.
In the first place, the cause of all the philosophers' errors was that they did not grasp the plan of the world, which contains all wisdom.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers erred by not grasping the world's plan.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.2.2 (CSEL 19:586; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-2-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.2.3CSEL 19:586
ea uero sensu proprio et interna intellegentia non potest conprehendi: quod illi sine doctore per se ipsos facere noluerunt. itaque in uarias sibique saepe contrarias sententias inciderunt ex quibus exitum non haberent, et in eodem luto, sicut comicus ait, haesitauerunt, scilicet adsumtionibus eorum non respondente ratione, cum adsumpsissent quidem uera, sed quae adfirmari probarique non possent sine scientia ueritatis rerumque caelestium: quae, ut saepe iam dixi, non potest esse in homine nisi deo docente percepta.
That cannot be grasped by one's own sense and inner understanding, which they were unwilling to do without a teacher, by themselves. So they fell into various and often contradictory opinions from which they had no way out, and they stuck, as the comic poet says, "in the same mud," since reasoning did not correspond to their premises; for they had assumed true things, but ones that could not be affirmed and proved without knowledge of the truth and of heavenly things, which, as I have often said, cannot be found in man unless received with God teaching.
Notes and citation
Summary: Without God's teaching philosophers stuck in the mud.
- "In the same mud": Terence, Phormio 780.
Extrabiblical texts: Terence, Phorm. 780 (Terence; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.2.3 (CSEL 19:586; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-2-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.2.4CSEL 19:586
nam si potest homo intellegere diuina, poterit et facere: nam intellegere est quasi e uestigio subsequi. non potest autem facere quae deus, quia mortali corpore indutus est, ergo ne intellegere quidem potest quae facit deus: quod an fieri possit, ex inmensitate rerum atque operum diuinorum facile est uni cuique metiri.
For if man could understand divine things, he could also do them; for to understand is, as it were, to follow in the footsteps. But he cannot do what God does, because he is clothed in a mortal body; so neither can he understand what God does. Whether this can be done, each can easily measure from the immensity of things and of divine works.
Notes and citation
Summary: Man cannot fully understand God's works.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.2.4 (CSEL 19:586; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-2-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.2.5CSEL 19:586
nam si mundum cum omnibus quae sunt in eo contemplari uelis, intellegas profecto quantum dei opus humanis operibus antistet. ita quantum inter opera diuina et humana interest, tantum distare inter dei hominisque sapientiam necesse est.
For if you wish to contemplate the world with all that is in it, you will surely understand how far God's work surpasses human works. So as great as the difference between divine and human works is, so far must the wisdom of God and of man differ.
Notes and citation
Summary: Divine wisdom surpasses human as God's works surpass ours.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.2.5 (CSEL 19:586; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-2-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.2.6CSEL 19:586–587
nam quia deus incorruptus atque inmortalis est et ideo perfectus, quia sempiternus est, sapientia quoque eius perinde ut ipse perfecta est nec obstare illi quicquam potest, quia nulli rei deus ipse subiectus est.
For since God is incorruptible and immortal, and therefore perfect because everlasting, his wisdom too is perfect as he is, and nothing can hinder it, since God himself is subject to nothing.
Notes and citation
Summary: God's wisdom is perfect.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.2.6 (CSEL 19:586–587; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-2-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.2.7CSEL 19:587
homo autem quia subiectus est passioni, subiecta est et sapientia eius errori, et sicut hominis uitam multae res inpediunt, quominus possit esse perpetua, ita sapientiam quoque eius multis rebus inpediri necesse est, quominus in perspicienda penitus ueritate perfecta sit.
But man, since he is subject to suffering, has his wisdom subject to error; and just as many things hinder human life from being perpetual, so his wisdom must be hindered by many things from being perfect in seeing the truth thoroughly.
Notes and citation
Summary: Human wisdom is subject to error.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.2.7 (CSEL 19:587; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-2-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.2.8CSEL 19:587
ergo nulla est humana sapientia, si per se ad notionem ueri scientiamque nitatur, quoniam mens hominis cum fragili corpore inligata et in tenebroso domicilio inclusa neque liberius euagari neque clarius perspicere ueritatem potest, cuius notitia diuinae condicionis est. deo enim soli opera sua nota sunt.
So there is no human wisdom if it strives by itself toward the knowledge and understanding of truth, since the human mind, bound to a fragile body and shut in a dark dwelling, can neither roam more freely nor see more clearly the truth, knowledge of which belongs to the divine condition. For to God alone his works are known.
Notes and citation
Summary: Truth is known only to God.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.2.8 (CSEL 19:587; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-2-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.2.9CSEL 19:587
homo autem non cogitando aut disputando adsequi eam potest, sed discendo et audiendo ab eo qui scire solus potest et docere.
But man can attain it not by thinking or arguing but by learning and hearing from him who alone can know and teach.
Notes and citation
Summary: Truth comes by learning from God.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.2.9 (CSEL 19:587; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-2-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.2.10CSEL 19:587
ideo Marcus Tullius sententiam Socratis de Platone transferens dicentis uenisse tempus ut ipse migraret e uita, illos autem aput quos causam suam perorabat agere uitam, utrum melius sit, inquit dii immortales sciunt, hominem arbitror scire neminem.
So Marcus Tullius, translating from Plato the saying of Socrates, who said the time had come for him to depart from life and for those before whom he had pleaded his case to go on living, says: "Which is better, the immortal gods know; I think no man knows."
Notes and citation
Summary: Socrates, via Cicero: only the gods know which is better.
- Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 1.99, translating Plato, Apology 42a.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: iu for ll; OCR: n for Pl): Tuiuus → Tullius; de natone → de Platone.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; quotation); Plato, Apol. 42a (Plato (works); quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.2.10 (CSEL 19:587; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-2-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.2.11CSEL 19:587
quare necesse est omnes philosophiae sectas alienas esse a ueritate, quia homines erant qui eas constituerunt, nec ullum fundamentum aut firmitatem possunt habere quae nullis diuinarum uocum fulciuntur oraculis.
So all schools of philosophy must be strangers to truth, because they were men who founded them, and those things can have no foundation or firmness which are supported by no oracles of divine voices.
Notes and citation
Summary: Human philosophies lack divine foundation.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.2.11 (CSEL 19:587; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-2-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 7, chapter 3
7.3.1CSEL 19:587–588
Et quoniam de philosophorum erroribus loquimur, Stoici naturam in duas partes diuidunt, unam quae efficiat, alteram quae se ad faciendum tractabilem praebeat: in illa prima esse uim sentiendi, in hac materiam nec alterum sine altero (quicquam) posse.
And since we are speaking of the errors of the philosophers, the Stoics divide nature into two parts, one that acts and the other that lends itself to be acted on: in the first is the power of sensation, in the second matter, and neither can do anything without the other.
Notes and citation
Summary: Stoics divide nature into active and passive parts.
- "Anything" (quicquam) is the editor's supplement.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.1 (CSEL 19:587–588; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.2CSEL 19:588
quomodo potest idem esse quod tractat et quod tractatur? si quis dicat idem esse figulum quod lutum aut lutum idem esse quod figulum, nonne aperte insanire uideatur?
How can the same thing be what handles and what is handled? If anyone said the potter is the same as the clay, or the clay the same as the potter, would he not plainly seem mad?
Isa 29:16 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The potter is not the clay.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.2 (CSEL 19:588; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.3CSEL 19:588
at isti uno naturae nomine duas res diuersissimas conprehendunt, deum et mundum, artificem et opus, dicuntque alterum sine altero nihil posse, tamquam natura sit deus mundo permixtus. nam interdum sic confundunt, ut sit deus ipse mens mundi et mundus sit corpus dei, quasi uero simul esse coeperint mundus et deus ac non ipse mundum fecerit.
But these men include under the one name of nature two very different things, God and the world, the maker and the work, and say that neither can do anything without the other, as if nature were God mixed with the world. For sometimes they so confuse them that God is the mind of the world and the world is the body of God; as if the world and God began to exist together, and he did not make the world.
Notes and citation
Summary: Stoics confuse God with the world.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.3 (CSEL 19:588; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.4CSEL 19:588
quod et ipsi fatentur alias, cum hominum causa praedicant esse fabricatum, et esse sine mundo, si uelit, possit, siquidem deus est diuina et aeterna mens, a corpore soluta et libera. cuius uim maiestatemque quoniam intellegere non poterant, miscuerunt eum mundo id est operi suo.
This they themselves admit elsewhere, when they proclaim that it was made for the sake of human beings, and that he could exist without the world if he wished, since God is a divine and eternal mind, released and free from body. Since they could not understand his power and majesty, they mixed him with the world, that is, with his own work.
Notes and citation
Summary: Stoics contradict themselves about God and the world.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.4 (CSEL 19:588; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.5CSEL 19:588
unde est illud Vergilianum: totamque infusa per artus mens agitat molem et magno se corpore miscet.
Hence that line of Virgil: "and mind, poured through the limbs, moves the whole mass and mingles with the great body."
Notes and citation
Summary: Virgil's world-soul.
- Virgil, Aeneid 6.726–727.
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Aen. 6.726-727 (Virgil; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.5 (CSEL 19:588; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.6CSEL 19:588
ubi est ergo illud quod idem ipsi aiunt, et factum esse diuina prouidentia et regi? si enim fecit mundum, fuit ergo sine mundo; si regit, non utique sicut mens corpus regit, sed tamquam domum dominus, nauem gubernator, auriga currum, nec tamen mixti sunt iis rebus quas regunt.
Where then is what they themselves say, that the world was both made and is ruled by divine providence? For if he made the world, then he existed without the world; if he rules it, surely not as a mind rules a body, but as a master rules a house, a helmsman a ship, a driver a chariot; yet these are not mixed with the things they rule.
Notes and citation
Summary: God rules the world as a master rules a house.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.6 (CSEL 19:588; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.7CSEL 19:588–589
nam si haec omnia quae uidemus dei membra sunt, iam insensibilis ab his constituitur deus, quoniam membra sensu carent, et mortalis, quoniam uidemus membra esse mortalia.
For if all these things we see are members of God, then God is made insensible by them, since members lack sensation, and mortal, since we see that the members are mortal.
Notes and citation
Summary: A world-body would make God insensible and mortal.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.7 (CSEL 19:588–589; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.8CSEL 19:589
possum enumerare quotiens repentinis quassatae motibus uel hiauerint terrae uel desederint in abruptum, quotiens demersae fluctibus et urbes et insulae abierint in profundum, frugiferos campos paludes inundauerint, flumina et stagna siccauerint, montes etiam uel deciderint abrupti uel planis fuerint adaequati; plurimas regiones et multorum fundamenta montium latens et internus ignis absumit.
I could list how often lands, shaken by sudden quakes, have gaped open or sunk into chasms; how often cities and islands, overwhelmed by waves, have gone down into the deep; how often marshes have flooded fruitful fields, and rivers and lakes have dried up; how mountains have fallen away or been leveled with the plains; hidden inner fire consumes many regions and the foundations of many mountains.
Notes and citation
Summary: Natural disasters show the world's parts are mortal.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.8 (CSEL 19:589; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.9CSEL 19:589
et hoc parum est si membris suis non parcit deus, nisi etiam homini liceat aliquid in dei corpus: maria extruuntur, montes exciduntur et ad eruendas opes interiora terrae uiscera effodiuntur. quid quod ne arari quidem sine laceratione diuini corporis potest? ut iam scelerati atque impii simus, qui dei membra uiolemus.
And this is too little, if God does not spare his own members, unless man too may do something against the body of God: seas are built over, mountains cut away, and the inner parts of the earth dug out to extract wealth. What of the fact that the ground cannot even be ploughed without tearing the divine body? So we are already wicked and impious for violating the members of God.
Notes and citation
Summary: Human works would wound a God identified with the world.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen and stray period): extru-. untur → extruuntur.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.9 (CSEL 19:589; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.10CSEL 19:589
patiturne ergo uexari corpus suum deus et debilem se uel ipse facit uel ab homine fieri sinit? nisi forte diuinus ille sensus qui mundo et omnibus mundi partibus mixtus est, primam terrae superficiem reliquit ac se in ima demersit, ne quid doloris de adsidua laceratione sentiret.
Does God then allow his body to be harassed, and does he either make himself weak or let man make him so? Unless perhaps that divine sense, mixed with the world and all its parts, has left the surface of the earth and sunk itself into the depths, so as to feel no pain from the constant laceration.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Stoic view is absurd.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.10 (CSEL 19:589; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.11CSEL 19:589
quodsi hoc uanum et absurdum est, tam igitur ipsi eguerunt quam haec indigent sensu, qui non perspexerunt diuinum quidem spiritum esse ubique diffusum eoque omnia contineri, non tamen ita, ut deus ipse, qui est incorruptus, grauibus et corruptibilibus elementis misceatur.
But if this is empty and absurd, then they themselves lacked sense as much as these things lack it, since they did not perceive that the divine spirit is indeed spread everywhere and all things are held together by it, yet not so that God himself, who is incorruptible, is mixed with heavy and corruptible elements.
Notes and citation
Summary: God's spirit pervades all without being mixed with matter.
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 1:7 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; echo)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.11 (CSEL 19:589; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.12CSEL 19:589–590
illut ergo rectius quod a Platone sumpserunt, a deo factum esse mundum et eiusdem prouidentia gubernari. oportebat igitur et Platonem et eos qui idem senserunt, docere atque explicare quae causa, quae ratio fuerit tanti operis fabricandi, quare hoc aut cuius gratia fecerit.
So what they took from Plato is more correct, that the world was made by God and is governed by his providence. Plato and those who thought the same should then have taught and explained what the cause and reason was for making so great a work, why he made it, or for whose sake.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato rightly said God made the world, but not why.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.12 (CSEL 19:589–590; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.13CSEL 19:590
at idem Stoici hominum inquiunt causa mundus effectus est. audio. sed Epicurus ignorat ipsos homines quare aut quis effecerit. nam Lucretius cum mundum diceret non esse a diis constitutum, sic ait: dicere porro hominum causa uoluisse parare praeclaram mundi naturam deinde intulit desipere est. quid enim inmortalibus atque beatis gratia nostra queat largirier emolumenti, ut nostra quicquam causa gerere adgrediantur?
"But," the same Stoics say, "the world was made for the sake of human beings." I hear it. But Epicurus does not know why or by whom human beings themselves were made. For Lucretius, saying the world was not established by the gods, speaks thus: "To say, moreover, that they wished to prepare the glorious nature of the world for the sake of men"; then he added: "is folly. For what profit could our thanks bestow on immortal and blessed beings, that they should undertake to do anything for our sake?"
Notes and citation
Summary: Lucretius denies the world was made for humans.
- Lucretius, On the Nature of Things 5.156–158, 165–167.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 5.156-167 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.13 (CSEL 19:590; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.14CSEL 19:590
merito. illi enim nullam rationem adferebant cur humanum genus uel creatum uel constitutum esset a deo: nostrum hoc officium est, sacramentum mundi et hominis exponere, cuius illi expertes sacrarium ueritatis nec attingere nec uidere potuerunt.
Rightly so. For they gave no reason why the human race was created or established by God. This is our task: to set out the mystery of the world and of man, which they did not share, and so could neither touch nor see the sanctuary of truth.
Notes and citation
Summary: Christians alone can explain the purpose of creation.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.14 (CSEL 19:590; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.15CSEL 19:590
ergo, ut paulo ante dicebam, cum adsumpsissent id quod erat uerum, id est mundum a deo (factum) et hominum causa esse factum, tamen quoniam eos in consequentibus ratio defecit, non potuerunt defendere id quod adsumpserant.
So, as I was saying a little before, though they assumed what was true, namely that the world was made by God and made for the sake of human beings, yet since reasoning failed them in what followed, they could not defend what they had assumed.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers could not defend their true premises.
- "Made" (factum) after "by God" is the editor's supplement.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.15 (CSEL 19:590; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.16CSEL 19:590–591
denique Plato ne dei opus inbecillum et ruinosum faceret, in aeternum dixit esse mansurum. si hominum causa factus est et ita factus est, ut esset aeternus, cur ergo ipsi quorum causa factus est non sunt sempiterni? si mortales, propter quos factus est, ergo et ipse mortalis atque solubilis: neque enim pluris est ipse quam ii quorum gratia factus est.
Finally Plato, so as not to make God's work weak and ruinous, said it would last forever. If it was made for the sake of human beings, and made so as to be eternal, why then are those for whose sake it was made not everlasting? If those for whom it was made are mortal, then it too is mortal and dissoluble; for it is not worth more than those for whose sake it was made.
Notes and citation
Summary: A world made for mortals must be mortal.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.16 (CSEL 19:590–591; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.17CSEL 19:591
quodsi ei ratio quadraret, intellegeret periturum esse quia factus est, nec posse in aeternum manere nisi quod tangi non potest.
But if his reasoning had fitted together, he would have understood that it will perish because it was made, and that nothing can last forever except what cannot be touched.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only the intangible is eternal.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.17 (CSEL 19:591; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-17).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.18CSEL 19:591
qui autem negat hominum causa factum, hic nullam rationem tenet. si enim dicit ipsum fabricatorem sua causa tanta haec opera esse molitum, cur ergo nos nati sumus? cur mundo ipso fruimur? quid sibi uult humani generis ceterarumque animantium fictio? cur aliena commoda intercipimus? cur denique augemur minuimur interimus?
But whoever denies it was made for human beings holds no reason at all. For if he says that the maker himself undertook these great works for his own sake, why then were we born? Why do we enjoy the world itself? What is the point of forming the human race and other living beings? Why do we take advantages meant for another? Why, finally, do we grow, decline, and die?
Notes and citation
Summary: Without man as its purpose, creation is pointless.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.18 (CSEL 19:591; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-18).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.19CSEL 19:591
quid habet rationis ipsa generatio? quid perpetua successio? nimirum uidere deus uoluit et suis uariis imaginibus tamquam sigilla confingere quibus se oblectaret: et nihilominus tamen, si ita esset, curae haberet animantes praecipueque hominem, cuius imperio cuncta subiecit.
What reason does generation itself have? What does perpetual succession have? No doubt God wanted to watch and to fashion his various images like figurines to amuse himself; and yet even if that were so, he would care for living beings and especially for man, to whose rule he subjected all things.
Gen 1:28 (echo, medium confidence) · Ps 8:6 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Even so, God would care for man, lord of creation.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.19 (CSEL 19:591; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-19).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.20CSEL 19:591
qui autem dicunt semper fuisse mundum — omitto illut, quod esse ipsum sine aliquo principio non potest; unde se extricare non queunt — sed hoc dico: si mundus semper fuit, nullam potest habere rationem.
As for those who say the world always existed (I pass over the fact that it cannot exist without some beginning, from which they cannot extricate themselves), I say this: if the world always existed, it can have no reason.
Notes and citation
Summary: An eternal world would have no rational plan.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.20 (CSEL 19:591; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-20).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.21CSEL 19:591–592
quid enim potuit in eo ratio moliri quod numquam sumpsit exordium? nam priusquam fiat aliquid aut struatur, opus est consilio, ut disponi possit quemadmodum fiat, nec incipi quicquam potest sine prouisione rationis.
For what could reason accomplish in what never took a beginning? For before anything is made or built, planning is needed so that it can be arranged how it is to be made; nothing can be begun without the forethought of reason.
Notes and citation
Summary: Every work requires prior planning.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.21 (CSEL 19:591–592; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-21).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.22CSEL 19:592
itaque omne opus ratio praecedit: non habet ergo rationem quod factum non est. atquin mundus habet rationem, quia et constat et regitur: ergo factus est; si factus est, et resoluetur.
So reason precedes every work: what was not made has no reason. But the world has reason, because it both stands and is governed; so it was made; if it was made, it will also be dissolved.
Notes and citation
Summary: The world was made and will be dissolved.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.22 (CSEL 19:592; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-22).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.23CSEL 19:592
reddant ergo isti rationem, si possunt, cur aut factus in principio sit aut postea resoluatur. quod quia docere non poterat Epicurus siue Democritus, sua sponte natum esse dixit seminibus inter se passim coeuntibus: quibus iterum resolutis discidium atque interitum secuturum.
So let them give the reason, if they can, why it was made in the beginning or will afterward be dissolved. Because Epicurus, or Democritus, could not teach this, he said it arose of its own accord from seeds coming together at random, and that when they came apart again, separation and destruction would follow.
Notes and citation
Summary: Atomists said the world arose by chance.
Extrabiblical texts: Epicurus (Epicurus (sayings and fragments); allusion); Democritus (Democritus (fragments); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.23 (CSEL 19:592; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-23).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.24CSEL 19:592
corrupit ergo quod recte uiderat et totam rationem penitus ignorantia rationis euertit redegitque mundum et omnia quae in eo geruntur ad similitudinem cuiusdam uanissimi somnii, siquidem rebus humanis ratio nulla subsistet.
So he spoiled what he had seen rightly, and through ignorance of reason overturned the whole reason completely, and reduced the world and all that happens in it to the likeness of some most empty dream, since no reason would remain in human affairs.
Notes and citation
Summary: Atomism reduces the world to a meaningless dream.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.24 (CSEL 19:592; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-24).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.25CSEL 19:592–593
cum uero mundum omnesque partes eius ut uidemus mirabilis ratio gubernet, cum caeli temperatio et aequalis in ipsa uarietate cursus astrorum luminumque caelestium, temporum constans ac mira descriptio, terrarum uaria fecunditas, plana camporum, munimenta et aggeres montium, uiriditas ubertasque siluarum, fontium saluberrima eruptio, fluminum opportuna inundatio, maris opulenta et copiosa interfusio, uentorum diuersa et utilis aspiratio ceteraque omnia ratione summa constent, quis tam caecus est ut existimet sine causa esse facta in quibus mira dispositio prouidentissimae rationis elucet?
But since, as we see, a wonderful reason governs the world and all its parts; since the temperate climate of heaven, the regular course, amid variety itself, of the stars and heavenly lights, the constant and wonderful ordering of the seasons, the varied fertility of lands, the level plains, the defenses and ramparts of mountains, the greenness and richness of forests, the most healthful bursting forth of springs, the timely flooding of rivers, the rich and abundant spreading of the sea, the diverse and useful blowing of winds, and all the rest consist by the highest reason, who is so blind as to think these made without cause, in which the wonderful arrangement of a most provident reason shines forth?
Notes and citation
Summary: The world's order shows providential design.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.25 (CSEL 19:592–593; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-25).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.3.26CSEL 19:593
si ergo sine causa nec est nec fit omnino quicquam, si et prouidentia summi dei ex dispositione rerum et uirtus ex magnitudine et potestas ex gubernatione manifesta est, hebetes ergo et insani qui prouidentiam non esse dixerunt. non inprobarem, si deos idcirco non esse dicerent ut unum dicerent, cum autem ideo ut nullum, qui eos delirasse non putat, ipse delirat.
If, then, nothing at all exists or happens without cause, if the providence of the supreme God is manifest from the arrangement of things, his power from their greatness, and his might from their government, then those who said there is no providence are dull and mad. I would not disapprove if they said there are no gods in order to say there is one; but when they say so in order to say there is none, whoever does not think them raving is raving himself.
Notes and citation
Summary: Denying providence is madness.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.3.26 (CSEL 19:593; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-3-26).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 7, chapter 4
7.4.1CSEL 19:593
Sed de prouidentia satis in primo libro diximus: quae si est, ut apparet ex mirabilitate operum suorum, necesse est etiam hominem ceterasque animantes eadem prouidentia creauerit.
But we spoke enough about providence in the first book. If it exists, as is clear from the wonder of its works, then the same providence must also have created man and the other living beings.
Notes and citation
Summary: Providence created man and animals.
- Institutes 1.2.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.1 (CSEL 19:593; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-1).
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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).
7.4.2CSEL 19:593
uideamus ergo quae ratio fuerit fingendi generis humani, quoniam constat, id quod Stoici aiunt, hominum causa mundum esse fabricatum; quamquam in hoc ipso non mediocriter peccent, quod non hominis causa dicunt, sed hominum: unius enim singularis appellatio totum conprehendit humanum genus.
Let us see, then, what was the reason for forming the human race, since it is agreed, as the Stoics say, that the world was made for the sake of human beings; although in this very point they err not a little, in saying "for the sake of men" rather than "of man"; for the singular name of one man comprehends the whole human race.
Notes and citation
Summary: The world was made for man.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.2 (CSEL 19:593; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-2).
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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).
7.4.3CSEL 19:593
sed hoc ideo, quia ignorant unum hominem a deo esse formatum putantque homines in omnibus terris et agris tamquam fungos esse generatos. at Hermes non ignorauit hominem et a deo et ad dei similitudinem fictum. sed redeo ad propositum.
But they say this because they do not know that one man was formed by God, and they think that men sprang up in all lands and fields like mushrooms. But Hermes was not ignorant that man was formed both by God and in the likeness of God. But I return to my purpose.
Gen 1:26 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Hermes knew man was made in God's likeness.
Extrabiblical texts: Corp. herm. (Hermetic writings; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.3 (CSEL 19:593; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-3).
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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).
7.4.4CSEL 19:593
nihil est, ut opinor, quod sit propter se ipsum factum, sed quidquid omnino fit, ad usum aliquem fieri necesse est. quis est enim uel tam ineptus uel tam otiosus, ut adgrediatur aliquid facere frustra ex quo nullam utilitatem, nullum commodum speret?
Nothing, in my view, is made for its own sake; whatever is made at all must be made for some use. For who is so foolish or so idle as to set about making something in vain, from which he hopes for no use and no benefit?
Notes and citation
Summary: Everything is made for a purpose.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.4 (CSEL 19:593; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-4).
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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).
7.4.5CSEL 19:593–594
qui domum aedificat, non idcirco aedificat, ut tantummodo domus sit, sed ut in ea possit habitari; qui nauem fabricat, non ideo insumit operam, ut tantum nauis appareat, sed ut in ea nauigetur;
Whoever builds a house does not build it only so that it may be a house, but so that it may be lived in; whoever builds a ship does not spend his labor only so that a ship may appear, but so that people may sail in it;
Notes and citation
Summary: A house is for living in, a ship for sailing.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.5 (CSEL 19:593–594; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-5).
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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).
7.4.6CSEL 19:594
item qui uas aliquod instituit ac format, non propterea id facit, ut tantum fecisse uideatur, sed ut uas illut effectum capiat aliquod necessarium. similiter cetera quaecumque fiunt, non utique in superuacuum, sed ad usus aliquos utiles laborantur.
likewise whoever designs and shapes a vessel does not do it only to seem to have made it, but so that the finished vessel may hold something necessary. Similarly all other things that are made are worked on not in vain but for some useful purposes.
Notes and citation
Summary: All things are made for use.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.6 (CSEL 19:594; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-6).
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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).
7.4.7CSEL 19:594
mundus igitur a deo factus est non utique propter ipsum mundum: neque enim aut calore solis aut lumine lunae aut adspiratione uentorum aut umore imbrium aut alimonia frugum, cum sensu careat, indiget.
So the world was made by God certainly not for the sake of the world itself; for since it lacks sensation, it does not need the heat of the sun, the light of the moon, the breath of the winds, the moisture of rains, or the nourishment of crops.
Notes and citation
Summary: The insensible world was not made for itself.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (period for comma inside a sentence): careat. indiget → careat, indiget.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.7 (CSEL 19:594; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-7).
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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).
7.4.8CSEL 19:594
sed ne illut quidem dici potest, quod deus propter se ipsum fecerit mundum, quoniam potest esse sine mundo, sicut fuit antea, et iis omnibus quae in eo sunt quaeque generantur deus ipse non utitur.
But neither can it be said that God made the world for his own sake, since he can exist without the world, as he did before, and God himself does not use all the things that are in it and are produced.
Notes and citation
Summary: God did not make the world for himself.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.8 (CSEL 19:594; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-8).
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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).
7.4.9CSEL 19:594
apparet ergo animantium causa mundum esse constructum, quoniam rebus iis quibus constat animantes fruuntur: quae ut uiuere, ut constare possint, omnia iis necessaria temporibus certis sumministrantur.
So it is clear that the world was built for the sake of living beings, since living beings enjoy the things of which it consists; and so that they can live and subsist, all that they need is supplied at fixed times.
Notes and citation
Summary: The world was made for living beings.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.9 (CSEL 19:594; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-9).
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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).
7.4.10CSEL 19:594
rursus ceteras animantes hominis causa esse fictas ex eo clarum est, quod homini seruiunt et tutelae eius atque usibus datae sunt, quoniam, siue terrenae sunt siue aquatiles, non sentiunt mundi rationem, sicut homo.
Again, that the other living beings were formed for the sake of man is clear from this: they serve man and were given for his protection and use, since, whether land or water creatures, they do not perceive the plan of the world as man does.
Notes and citation
Summary: Animals were made for man.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: i for x): ei eo clarum → ex eo clarum.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.10 (CSEL 19:594; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-10).
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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).
7.4.11CSEL 19:594
respondendum est hoc loco philosophis maximeque Ciceroni, qui ait: cur deus omnia nostra causa cum faceret, tantam uim natricum uiperarumque fecerit? cur tam multa pestifera terra marique disperserit?
Here we must answer the philosophers, and especially Cicero, who says: "Why, when God made all things for our sake, did he make such a multitude of water snakes and vipers? Why did he scatter so many harmful things over land and sea?"
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero asks why God made harmful creatures.
- Cicero, Academics 2 (Lucullus) 120.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.11 (CSEL 19:594; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-11).
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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).
7.4.12CSEL 19:594–595
ingens ad disputandum locus, sed ut in transcursu breuiter stringendus est. quoniam homo ex rebus diuersis ac repugnantibus configuratus est, anima et corpore, id est caelo atque terra, tenui et conprehensibili, aeterno ac temporali, sensibili atque bruto, luce praedito atque tenebroso, ipsa ratio ac necessitas exigebat et bona homini proponi et mala, bona, quibus utatur, mala, quae uitet et caueat.
A huge field for discussion, but it must be touched briefly, as in passing. Since man is formed of different and opposing things, soul and body, that is, heaven and earth, the subtle and the tangible, the eternal and the temporal, the sensate and the brute, the endowed with light and the dark, reason itself and necessity required that both goods and evils be set before man: goods for him to use, evils for him to avoid and beware of.
Notes and citation
Summary: Man, made of opposites, faces both goods and evils.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.12 (CSEL 19:594–595; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-12).
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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).
7.4.13CSEL 19:595
idcirco enim data est illi sapientia, ut cognita bonorum malorumque natura et in adpetendis bonis et in malis declinandis uim suae rationis exerceat. nam ceteris animalibus quia sapientia non data est, et munita indumentis naturalibus et armata sunt, homini autem pro his omnibus, quod erat praecipuum, rationem solam dedit.
For wisdom was given him so that, knowing the nature of goods and evils, he might exercise the power of his reason both in seeking goods and in turning from evils. For since wisdom was not given to the other animals, they were both protected with natural coverings and armed; but to man, in place of all these, God gave what was chief: reason alone.
Notes and citation
Summary: Man has reason in place of natural armor.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.13 (CSEL 19:595; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-13).
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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).
7.4.14CSEL 19:595
itaque nudum formauit et inermem, ut eum sapientia et muniret et tegeret: munimenta et ornatum eius non foris, sed intus, non in corpore, sed in corde constituit. nisi ergo essent mala, quae caueret, quae a bonis utilibusque distingueret, non esset ei sapientia necessaria.
So he formed him naked and unarmed, so that wisdom might both protect and cover him; he set his defenses and adornment not outside but within, not in the body but in the heart. So unless there were evils for him to beware of and distinguish from goods and useful things, he would not need wisdom.
Notes and citation
Summary: Without evils, wisdom would be unnecessary.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.14 (CSEL 19:595; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-14).
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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).
7.4.15CSEL 19:595
sciat ergo Marcus Tullius aut ideo homini datam esse rationem, ut et pisces caperet usus sui gratia et natrices uiperasque uitaret salutis suae causa, aut idcirco ei bona malaque proposita, quia sapientiam acceperat, cuius uis omnis in discernendis bonis malisque uersatur.
So let Marcus Tullius know that either reason was given to man so that he might catch fish for his use and avoid water snakes and vipers for his safety, or goods and evils were set before him because he had received wisdom, whose whole force lies in distinguishing goods and evils.
Notes and citation
Summary: Reason exists to distinguish good from evil.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.15 (CSEL 19:595; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-15).
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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).
7.4.16CSEL 19:595
magna igitur et recta et admirabilis est uis et ratio et potestas hominis, propter quem mundum ipsum et uniuersa quaecumque sunt deus fecit tantumque illi honoris habuit, ut eum praeficeret uniuersis, quoniam solus poterat dei opera mirari.
Great, then, and right and admirable is the power, reason, and might of man, for whose sake God made the world itself and all that exists, and whom he held in such honor as to set him over all things, since he alone could admire the works of God.
Ps 8:6 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God made all things for man and set him over them.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.16 (CSEL 19:595; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-16).
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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).
7.4.17CSEL 19:595–596
optime igitur Asclepiades noster de prouidentia summi dei disserens in eo libro quem scripsit ad me, atque ideo inquit merito quis arbitretur proximum sibi locum diuinam prouidentiam dedisse ei qui potuerit intellegere ordinationem suam.
So our friend Asclepiades, discussing the providence of the supreme God in the book he wrote to me, said excellently: "And therefore one may rightly think that divine providence gave the place nearest to itself to the one who could understand its ordering.
Notes and citation
Summary: Asclepiades: providence placed man nearest itself.
- Asclepiades, a friend of Lactantius; his work is lost (no id in the controlled list).
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.17 (CSEL 19:595–596; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-17).
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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).
7.4.18CSEL 19:596
nam sol iste est: quis eum uidet ita, ut intellegat quia sol est et quantum gratiae adferat ceteris institutis? hoc caelum est: quis id suspicit? terra haec: quis eam colit? hoc pelagus: quis id nauigat?
For there is the sun: who sees it so as to understand that it is the sun and how much benefit it brings to the rest of creation? This is the sky: who looks up at it? This is the earth: who tills it? This is the sea: who sails it?
Notes and citation
Summary: Only man appreciates sun, sky, earth, and sea.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.18 (CSEL 19:596; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-18).
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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).
7.4.19CSEL 19:596
hic ignis est: quis eo utitur? instituit ergo <cuncta.> summus deus non propter se, quia nihilo eget, sed propter hominem, qui iis congruenter uteretur.
This is fire: who uses it?" So the supreme God established all things not for his own sake, since he needs nothing, but for the sake of man, who would use them fittingly.
Notes and citation
Summary: God made all things for man's use.
- "All things" (cuncta) is the editor's supplement.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.4.19 (CSEL 19:596; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-1-1/#p-7-4-19).
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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).