# Fragments

- Author: [Lactantius](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/lactantius/)
- Latin title: *Fragmenta*
- Date: ca. 290-325 (approximate)
- Source: Samuel Brandt and Georg Laubmann, eds., L. Caeli Firmiani Lactanti Opera omnia, Pars 2, fasc. 2, CSEL 27.2 (Vienna: Tempsky; Leipzig: Freytag, 1893) (Latin text: digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0)

- Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator
- Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/
- Passages: 7

## Fragment 1

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/1/#p-1
- Source: CSEL 27:155fragment 1
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Lactantius, as quoted by Jerome, derives the name of the Galatians from the Greek word for milk, because of the Gauls' white skin, and explains the name Gallograecia.

### Latin text

Galli inquit antiquitus a candore corporis Galatae nuncupabantur et Sibylla sic eos appellat. quod significare uoluit poeta, cum ait: 'tum lactea colla Auro innectuntur', cum posset dicere 'candida'. hinc utique Galatia prouincia, in quam Galli aliquando uenientes cum Graecis se miscuerunt. unde primum ea regio Gallograecia, post Galatia nominata est.

### English translation (Claude)

“The Gauls,” he says, “were anciently called Galatians from the whiteness of their bodies, and the Sibyl calls them so. This is what the poet meant when he says, ‘then their milk-white necks are entwined with gold,’ when he could have said ‘white.’ From this, certainly, comes the province of Galatia, into which the Gauls came at one time and mingled with the Greeks; for this reason that region was first called Gallograecia, and afterwards Galatia.”

### Extrabiblical texts

- Virgil, Aen. 8.660 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence
- Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles): allusion, low confidence

### Translation notes

- From Lactantius's third book of letters to Probus, quoted by Jerome, Commentary on Galatians, preface to book 2. Jerome's introduction and his comment after the quotation are removed. The poet is Virgil, Aeneid 8.660; the Greek word for milk is gala.

### Citation (SBL)

Lactantius, Frag. 1 (CSEL 27:155fragment 1; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/1/#p-1).

## Fragment 2

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/1/#p-2
- Source: CSEL 27:156fragment 2
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: In a letter to Probus, quoted by Rufinus the grammarian, Lactantius explains how the Latin comic poets varied their meters, which led many to think Terence's plays had no meter.

### Latin text

nam quod de metris comoediarum requisisti, et ego scio plurimos existimare Terentianas uel maxime fabulas metrum non habere comoediae Graecae, id est Menandri Philemonos Diphili et ceterorum, quae trimetris uersibus constat. nostri enim ueteris comoediae scriptores in modulandis fabulis sequi maluerunt, Eupolin Cratinum Aristophanem. prologos igitur et primarum scaenarum actiones trimetris conprehenderunt, deinde longissimos id est tetrametros subdiderunt, qui appellantur quadrati. in consequentibus deinceps uariauerunt: modo enim trimetros, modo addito quadrante uel semisse posuerunt, id est uel semipede adiecto uel integro pede iambo uel sesquipede. haec per medios actus uarie, rursus in exitu fabularum quadratos, quales diximus in secunda scaena. sed idem quadrati cum sedecim syllabis constare debeant, tamen plerumque fiunt uiginti aut amplius syllabarum. hinc putantur metro carere nec lege ulla contineri.

### English translation (Claude)

“As for your question about the meters of comedies, I too know that very many think that the plays of Terence above all do not have the meter of Greek comedy, that is, of Menander, Philemon, Diphilus, and the rest, which consists of trimeter verses. For our writers of the old comedy preferred, in setting their plays to measure, to follow Eupolis, Cratinus, and Aristophanes. So they composed the prologues and the action of the first scenes in trimeters, and then put after them the longest lines, that is, tetrameters, which are called ‘square’ lines. In what follows they varied the meter: sometimes they used trimeters, sometimes trimeters with a quarter or a half added, that is, with a half-foot added, or a whole iambic foot, or a foot and a half. These they used variously through the middle acts, and again at the end of the plays square lines, such as we mentioned in the second scene. But although these same square lines ought to consist of sixteen syllables, they very often have twenty or more. Hence they are thought to lack meter and to be bound by no rule.”

### Translation notes

- From Lactantius's letters to Probus, “on the meters of comedies,” quoted by the grammarian Rufinus, Commentary on the Meters of Terence. Rufinus's introduction (“Firmianus to Probus on the meters of comedies says this”) and his later remark that Cicero, Scaurus, and Firmianus affirm that the comic and tragic poets have meter are removed.

### Citation (SBL)

Lactantius, Frag. 2 (CSEL 27:156fragment 2; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/1/#p-2).

## Fragment 3

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/1/#p-3
- Source: CSEL 27:157fragment 3
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Jerome reports that Lactantius, in his letters to Demetrianus, held that Scripture often calls the Holy Spirit the Father or the Son.

### Latin text

... multi per inperitiam Scripturarum, quod et Firmianus in octauo ad Demetrianum epistularum libro facit, adserunt spiritum sanctum saepe patrem, saepe filium nominari.

### English translation (Claude)

… many, through ignorance of the Scriptures, as Firmianus also does in the eighth book of his letters to Demetrianus, assert that the Holy Spirit is often called the Father, often the Son.

### Translation notes

- Not a quotation but Jerome's report of Lactantius's view, Commentary on Galatians, book 2, on Gal 4:6. The editor's source reference is removed. Jerome's criticism is translated as written.

### Citation (SBL)

Lactantius, Frag. 3 (CSEL 27:157fragment 3; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/1/#p-3).

## Fragment 4

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/1/#p-4
- Source: CSEL 27:fragment 4
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Jerome reports that Lactantius, especially in his letters to Demetrianus, denied that the Holy Spirit is a distinct substance, yet defends reading his Divine Institutes.

### Latin text

Et apostolus praecipit: omnia legentes, quae bona sunt retinentes. Lactantius in libris suis et maxime in epistulis ad Demetrianum spiritus sancti omnino negat substantiam et errore Iudaico dicit eum uel ad patrem referri uel filium et sanctificationem utriusque personae sub eius nomine demonstrari. quis mihi interdicere potest ne legam Institutionum eius libros, quibus contra gentes scripsit fortissime, quia superior sententia detestanda est?

### English translation (Claude)

And the apostle commands: “reading all things, holding fast what is good.” Lactantius in his books, and especially in his letters to Demetrianus, entirely denies the substance of the Holy Spirit, and with a Jewish error says that he is referred either to the Father or to the Son, and that the sanctification of both persons is shown under his name. Who can forbid me to read the books of his Institutes, in which he wrote most powerfully against the pagans, because the opinion stated above is to be detested?

### Scripture references

- 1 Thess 5:21: allusion, high confidence

### Extrabiblical texts

- Lactantius, Inst. (Divine Institutes): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Not a quotation but Jerome's report, Letter 84.7. The editor's source reference and a note of his apparatus (that one edition omits “entirely”) are removed. Jerome paraphrases 1 Thess 5:21. Jerome's charge of “Jewish error” is translated as written.

### Citation (SBL)

Lactantius, Frag. 4 (CSEL 27:fragment 4; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/1/#p-4).

## Fragment 5

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/1/#p-5
- Source: CSEL 27:158fragment 5
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: God implanted the passions in human nature from the beginning; kept within bounds they become virtues and earn eternal life, but beyond their bounds they become vices and bring eternal punishment.

### Latin text

<Spes> timor, amor odium, laetitia tristitia, libido cupiditas, ira miseratio. zelus admiratio, hi motus <animi> uel adfectus a deo ab initio hominis existunt conditi et naturae humanae utiliter et salubriter sunt insiti, ut per eos ordinate et rationabiliter
regendos homo uirtutes bonas uiriliter agendo exercere posset: per quas a deo perpetuam accipere uitam iuste meruisset. hi namque animi motus intra fines proprios coartati, hoc est in bona parte positi, in praesenti uirtutes bonas et in futuro aeterna praemia parant, extra metas uero suas afluentes, hoc est in malam partem declinantes, uitia et iniquitates existunt et aeternas poenas pariunt.

### English translation (Claude)

Hope, fear, love, hatred, joy, sadness, lust, desire, anger, pity, zeal, wonder: these motions or affections of the mind were created by God in man from the beginning, and were implanted in human nature usefully and healthfully, so that, by ruling them in order and according to reason, man might by acting manfully practice good virtues, through which he would justly have deserved to receive eternal life from God. For these motions of the mind, when kept within their proper bounds, that is, directed to the good, prepare good virtues in the present and eternal rewards in the future; but when they overflow their limits, that is, when they turn aside to the bad, they become vices and iniquities and bring forth eternal punishments.

### Translation notes

- From a Milan manuscript of church excerpts (Ambrosianus F. 60 sup., formerly of Bobbio), headed in the margin “Lactantius, on the motions of the mind.” The editor's description of the manuscript is removed. “Hope” and “of the mind” translate the editor's supplements ⟨spes⟩ and ⟨animi⟩. The ascription to Lactantius rests on this marginal heading.

### Citation (SBL)

Lactantius, Frag. 5 (CSEL 27:158fragment 5; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/1/#p-5).

## Fragment 6

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/1/#p-6
- Source: CSEL 27:fragment 6
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Marius Victorinus notes that Lactantius, in a work on meters, used the terms pentameter and tetrameter.

### Latin text

Nostra quoque memoria Lactantius de metris pentameter inquit et tetrameter.

### English translation (Claude)

Within our own memory too, Lactantius, writing on meters, speaks of “pentameter” and “tetrameter.”

### Translation notes

- A report by Marius Victorinus, On Meters and on the Hexameter, not a quotation. The editor's source reference is removed.

### Citation (SBL)

Lactantius, Frag. 6 (CSEL 27:fragment 6; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/1/#p-6).

## Fragment 7

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/1/#p-7
- Source: CSEL 27:fragment 7
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: An expanded commentary on Virgil reports that Lactantius, as a commentator, read “carried” instead of “vault” in Aeneid 7.543.

### Latin text

et caeli conuexa (sc. Allecto) per auras] ... dicit etiam Firmianus commentator non 'conuexa', sed 'conuecta' legendum, ut sit ipsa conuecta: quod difficile in exemplaribus inuenitur.

### English translation (Claude)

“and the vault of heaven through the air” (that is, Allecto) … Firmianus the commentator also says that one should read not “conuexa” (the vault) but “conuecta” (carried), so that it is she herself who is carried; this reading is hard to find in the copies.

### Extrabiblical texts

- Virgil, Aen. 7.543 (Virgil): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- A report in the fuller Servius commentary on Virgil, Aeneid 7.543 (Codex Floriacensis), not a quotation. The editor's source reference and a note of his apparatus are removed. Allecto is the Fury in Virgil's poem.

### Citation (SBL)

Lactantius, Frag. 7 (CSEL 27:fragment 7; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-fragmenta/1/#p-7).