Divine Institutes 3.20.1–3.27.16
Latin text: CSEL 19 (Latin text: S. Brandt (CSEL 19, 1890), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7 (1886).
Divine 3, chapter 20
3.20.1CSEL 19:245
Videamus nunc quid in Socrate ipso tam magnum fuerit, ut homo sapiens merito gratias ageret illius temporibus esse se natum.
Let us see now what was so great in Socrates himself, that a wise man should rightly give thanks for being born in his time.
Notes and citation
Summary: He examines Socrates himself.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.1 (CSEL 19:245; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-1).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.2CSEL 19:245
non infitior fuisse illum paulo cordatiorem quam ceteros, qui naturam rerum putauerint ingenio posse conprehendi: in quo illos non excordes tantum fuisse arbitror, sed etiam inpios, quod in secreta caelestis illius prouidentiae curiosos oculos uoluerint inmittere.
I do not deny that he was a little more sensible than the others who thought the nature of things could be grasped by talent; in which I judge them to have been not only senseless but also impious, because they wished to thrust curious eyes into the secrets of that heavenly providence.
Notes and citation
Summary: Socrates was wiser than those who pried impiously into nature's secrets.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.2 (CSEL 19:245; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-2).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.3CSEL 19:245
Romae et in plerisque urbibus scimus esse quaedam sacra quae aspici a uiris nefas habeatur. abstinent igitur aspectu quibus contaminare illa non licet, et si forte uel errore uel casu quopiam uir aspexit, primo poena eius, deinde instauratione sacrificii scelus expiatur.
We know that at Rome and in most cities there are certain rites which it is held impious for men to look upon. Those not permitted to defile them, then, refrain from looking; and if by chance a man has looked, whether by mistake or some accident, the offence is expiated first by his punishment and then by the renewal of the sacrifice.
Notes and citation
Summary: Some pagan rites forbid men to look on them, on pain of punishment.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.3 (CSEL 19:245; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-3).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.4CSEL 19:245
quid his facias qui inconcessa scrutari uolunt? nimirum multo sceleratiores qui arcana mundi et hoc caeleste templum profanare inpiis disputationibus quaerunt quam qui aedem Vestae aut Bonae Deae aut Cereris intrauerit. quae penetralia quamuis adire uiris non liceat, tamen a uiris fabricata sunt.
What would you do with those who wish to search out what is not permitted? Surely they are much more wicked who seek to profane the secrets of the world and this heavenly temple with impious disputations than one who has entered the shrine of Vesta or the Good Goddess or Ceres. Those inner sanctuaries, though men may not enter them, were nevertheless built by men.
Notes and citation
Summary: Prying into nature's secrets is worse than violating forbidden shrines.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.4 (CSEL 19:245; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-4).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-4) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.5CSEL 19:245–246
hi uero non tantum inpietatis crimen effugiunt, sed, quod est multo indignius, eloquentiae famam et ingenii gloriam consecuntur.
But these not only escape the charge of impiety, but, what is far more shameful, gain a reputation for eloquence and the glory of genius.
Notes and citation
Summary: Yet the philosophers win fame for it.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.5 (CSEL 19:245–246; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-5).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-5) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.6CSEL 19:246
quid si aliquid inuestigare possent? sunt enim tam stulti in adseuerando quam inprobi in quaerendo, cum neque inuenire quicquam possint nec defendere, etiamsi inuenerint.
What if they could discover anything? For they are as foolish in asserting as they are wicked in inquiring, since they can neither find anything nor defend it even if they found it.
Notes and citation
Summary: They can neither find nor defend anything.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.6 (CSEL 19:246; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-6).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-6) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.7CSEL 19:246
nam si uerum uel fortuito uiderint, quod saepius contingit, committunt ut ab aliis id pro falso refellatur. non enim descendit aliquis e caelo qui sententiam de singulorum opinionibus ferat.
For if they have seen the truth even by chance, which often happens, they bring it about that it is refuted by others as false. For no one comes down from heaven to pass judgment on each one's opinions.
Notes and citation
Summary: Any truth they stumble on is refuted by others.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.7 (CSEL 19:246; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-7).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-7) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.8CSEL 19:246
quapropter nemo dubitauerit eos qui ista conquirant stultos ineptos insanos esse.
So no one should doubt that those who hunt out such things are foolish, absurd, and mad.
Notes and citation
Summary: Such inquirers are foolish.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.8 (CSEL 19:246; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-8).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-8) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.9CSEL 19:246
aliquid ergo Socrates habuit cordis humani, qui cum haec intellegeret non posse inueniri, ab eiusmodi quaestionibus se remouit, uereorque ne in eo solo. multa enim sunt eius non modo laude indigna, sed etiam reprehensione.
Socrates, then, had something of human sense, since, understanding that these things cannot be found, he withdrew from questions of that kind; and I fear it was in that alone. For many of his actions are not only unworthy of praise but also most deserving
Notes and citation
Summary: Socrates was sensible in avoiding natural philosophy, but perhaps only in that.
- The sentence continues in 3.20.10.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.9 (CSEL 19:246; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-9).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-9) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.10CSEL 19:246
dignissima, in quibus fuit suorum simillimus. ex his unum eligam quod ab omnibus sit probatum. celebre hoc prouerbium Socrates habuit: quod supra nos, nihil ad nos.
of blame, in which he was very like his fellows. Of these I will choose one which is approved by all. Socrates had this famous proverb: 'What is above us is nothing to us.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Socrates' saying: what is above us is nothing to us.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.10 (CSEL 19:246; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-10).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-10) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.11CSEL 19:246
procumbamus igitur in terram et manus ad praeclara opera nobis datas conuertamus in pedes, nihil ad nos caelum, ad cuius contemplationem sumus excitati, nihil denique lux ipsa pertineat.
Let us then fall down to the earth, and turn into feet the hands given us for splendid works; let the heaven, to the contemplation of which we have been raised, be nothing to us; in short, let light itself be no concern of ours.
Notes and citation
Summary: On that principle we should crawl like beasts and ignore the heavens.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.11 (CSEL 19:246; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-11).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-11) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.12CSEL 19:246–247
(at) certe uictus nostri causa de caelo est. quodsi hoc sensit, non esse de rebus caelestibus disputandum, ne illorum quidem rationem poterat conprehendere quae sub pedibus habebat. quid ergo? num errauit in uerbis? ueri simile non est, sed nimirum id sensit quod locutus est, religioni minime seruiendum: quod si aperte diceret, nemo pateretur.
⟨But⟩ certainly our food comes from heaven. If he meant that one should not dispute about heavenly things, he could not grasp even the reason of the things he had under his feet. What then? Did he err in his words? It is not likely; but he meant what he said, that religion should by no means be served. Had he said this openly, no one would have tolerated it.
Notes and citation
Summary: Socrates' proverb really meant rejecting religion.
- 'But' is the editor's addition.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.12 (CSEL 19:246–247; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-12).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-12) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.13CSEL 19:247
quis enim non sentiat hunc mundum tam mirabili ratione perfectum aliqua prouidentia gubernari, quandoquidem nihil est quod possit sine ullo moderatore consistere?
For who does not perceive that this world, completed with such wonderful design, is governed by some providence, since there is nothing that can hold together without some governor?
Notes and citation
Summary: The world's design shows it is governed by providence.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.13 (CSEL 19:247; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-13).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-13) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.14CSEL 19:247
sic domus ab habitatore deserta dilabitur, nauis sine gubernatore abit pessum et corpus relictum ab anima diffluit, nedum putemus tantam istam molem aut construi sine artifice aut stare tamdiu sine rectore potuisse.
So a house abandoned by its inhabitant falls apart, a ship without a helmsman goes to the bottom, and a body left by the soul decays; much less should we think that this vast mass could either be built without a craftsman or stand so long without a ruler.
Notes and citation
Summary: As houses, ships and bodies need a governor, so does the world.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.14 (CSEL 19:247; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-14).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-14) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.15CSEL 19:247
quodsi publicas illas religiones uoluit euertere, non inprobo, quin etiam laudabo, si ipse quod est melius inuenerit. uerum idem per canem et anserem deierabat. o hominem scurram, ut ait Zeno Epicureus, ineptum perditum desperatum, si cauillari uoluit religionem, dementem, si hoc serio fecit, ut animal turpissimum pro deo haberet!
If he wished to overthrow those public religions, I do not disapprove; indeed I will praise him, if he found something better himself. But the same man swore by a dog and a goose. O buffoon, as Zeno the Epicurean says, absurd, lost, desperate, if he wished to mock religion; mad, if he did this seriously, so as to hold a most base animal for a god!
Notes and citation
Summary: Socrates swore by a dog and a goose, which was either mockery or madness.
- Zeno of Sidon's remark is known from Cicero, Nat. d. 1.93.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.15 (CSEL 19:247; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-15).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-15) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.16CSEL 19:247
quis iam superstitiones Aegyptiorum audeat reprehendere quas Athenis Socrates auctoritate sua confirmauit? illut uero nonne summae uanitatis, quod ante mortem familiares suos rogauit, ut Aesculapio gallum quem uouerat prosecarent?
Who now would dare to blame the superstitions of the Egyptians, which Socrates confirmed at Athens by his authority? And is not this the height of vanity, that before his death he asked his friends to sacrifice to Aesculapius the cock he had vowed?
Notes and citation
Summary: Socrates asked for a cock to be sacrificed to Asclepius before he died.
- Plato, Phaedo 118a.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Phaedo 118a (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.16 (CSEL 19:247; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-16).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-16) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.20.17CSEL 19:247–248
timuit uidelicet ne aput Rhadamanthum reciperatorem reus uoti fieret ab Asclepio. dementisse hominem putarem, si morbo adfectus perisset. cum uero sanus hoc fecerit, est ipse insanus qui eum putat fuisse sapientem. en cuius temporibus natum esse se homo sapiens gratuletur!
He feared, no doubt, that before Rhadamanthus as judge he would be made a defendant by Asclepius for his vow. I would think the man had lost his mind if he had died from disease; but since he did this while sane, he himself is insane who thinks he was wise. Behold the man in whose time the wise man congratulates himself on being born!
Notes and citation
Summary: Socrates' last request was folly, and Plato's gratitude misplaced.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.20.17 (CSEL 19:247–248; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-20-17).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-20-17) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 3, chapter 21
3.21.1CSEL 19:248
Videamus tamen quid illum Socrates docuerit: qui cum totam physicam repudiasset, eo se contulit, ut de uirtute atque officio quaereret. itaque non dubito quin auditores suos iustitiae praeceptis erudierit.
Let us see, however, what Socrates taught him. Having rejected all natural philosophy, he turned to inquiring about virtue and duty. So I do not doubt that he instructed his hearers in the precepts of justice.
Notes and citation
Summary: Socrates turned to ethics and taught justice.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.21.1 (CSEL 19:248; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-21-1).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-21-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.21.2CSEL 19:248
docente igitur Socrate non fugit Platonem iustitiae uim in aequitate consistere, siquidem omnes pari condicione nascuntur. ergo nihil inquit priuati ac proprii habeant, sed ut pares esse possint, quod iustitiae ratio desiderat, omnia in commune possideant.
So, with Socrates teaching, it did not escape Plato that the force of justice consists in equality, since all are born in equal condition. 'Therefore,' he says, 'let them have nothing private and their own, but, so that they may be equal, as the principle of justice requires, let them possess all things in common.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato proposed that all property be held in common for the sake of equality.
- Plato, Resp. 3.416d–417b; 5.464b–e.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Resp. 5.464b–e (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.21.2 (CSEL 19:248; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-21-2).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-21-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.21.3CSEL 19:248
ferri hoc potest, quamdiu de pecunia dici uidetur. quod ipsum quam inpossibile sit et quam iniustum, poteram multis rebus ostendere, concedamus tamen ut possit fieri: omnes enim sapientes erunt et pecuniam contemnent.
This can be tolerated as long as it seems to be said of money. How impossible and how unjust that itself is, I could show by many facts; but let us grant that it can happen: for all will be wise and will despise money.
Notes and citation
Summary: Common property is doubtful, but let it pass.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.21.3 (CSEL 19:248; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-21-3).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-21-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.21.4CSEL 19:248–249
quo ergo illum communitas ista perduxit? matrimonia quoque inquit communia esse debebunt: scilicet ut ad eandem mulierem multi uiri tamquam canes confluant et is utique optineat qui uiribus uicerit aut, si patientes sunt ut philosophi, expectent, ut uicibus tamquam lupanar obeant.
Where then did this community lead him? 'Marriages too,' he says, 'will have to be common': so, no doubt, that many men may flock like dogs to the same woman, and he who has prevailed by strength will have her; or, if they are patient like philosophers, they may wait to take their turn as in a brothel.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato also proposed common wives, which Lactantius ridicules.
- Plato, Resp. 5.457c–d.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray digits): optineat 20 qui → optineat qui.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Resp. 5.457c–d (Plato (works); allusion)
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.21.4 (CSEL 19:248–249; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-21-4).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-21-4) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.21.5CSEL 19:249
o miram Platonis aequitatem! ubi est igitur uirtus castitatis? ubi fides coniugalis? quae si tollas, omnis iustitia sublata est.
O wonderful equity of Plato! Where then is the virtue of chastity? Where is conjugal fidelity? If you take these away, all justice is taken away.
Notes and citation
Summary: Common wives abolish chastity and marital fidelity.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.21.5 (CSEL 19:249; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-21-5).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-21-5) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.21.6CSEL 19:249
at idem dixit beatas ciuitates futuras fuisse, si aut philosophi regnarent aut reges philosopharentur. huic uero tam iusto, tam aequo uiro regnum dares, qui aliis abstulisset sua, aliis condonasset aliena, prostituisset pudicitiam feminarum, quae nullus umquam non modo rex, sed ne tyrannus quidem fecit? quam tamen intulit rationem turpissimi huius consilii?
But the same man said that cities would be happy if either philosophers reigned or kings philosophized. Would you really give a kingdom to this so just and equitable a man, who would have taken from some their own and given to others what belonged to others, and would have prostituted the chastity of women, which no king, nor even any tyrant, ever did? And what reason did he give for this most shameful plan?
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato's philosopher-king would do what no tyrant ever did.
- Plato, Resp. 5.473c–d.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Resp. 5.473c–d (Plato (works); allusion)
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.21.6 (CSEL 19:249; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-21-6).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-21-6) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.21.7CSEL 19:249
sic inquit ciuitas concors erit et amoris mutui constricta uinculis, si omnes omnium fuerint et mariti et patres et uxores et liberi.
'So,' he says, 'the city will be harmonious and bound by the chains of mutual love, if all are husbands and fathers and wives and children of all.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato argued common families would make the city harmonious.
- Plato, Resp. 5.462a–464b.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Resp. 5.462a–464b (Plato (works); allusion)
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.21.7 (CSEL 19:249; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-21-7).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-21-7) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.21.8CSEL 19:249
quae ista confusio generis humani est? quomodo seruari caritas potest, ubi nihil certum est quod ametur? quis aut uir mulierem aut mulier uirum diliget, nisi habitauerint semper una, nisi deuota mens et seruata inuicem fides indiuiduam fecerit caritatem? quae uirtus in illa promiscua uoluptate locum non habet.
What confusion of the human race is this? How can love be preserved where there is nothing definite to be loved? What man will love a woman, or woman a man, unless they have always lived together, unless a devoted mind and mutually kept faith have made their love undivided? That virtue has no place in that promiscuous pleasure.
Notes and citation
Summary: True marital love needs a shared life and kept faith, impossible in promiscuity.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.21.8 (CSEL 19:249; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-21-8).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-21-8) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.21.9CSEL 19:249–250
item si omnes omnium liberi sint, quis amare filios tamquam suos poterit, cum suos esse aut ignoret aut dubitet? quis honorem tamquam patri deferet, cum unde natus sit nesciat? ex quo fit
Likewise, if all children belong to all, who will be able to love children as his own, when he either does not know or doubts that they are his? Who will pay honour as to a father, when he does not know from whom he was born? From this it follows
Notes and citation
Summary: Common children destroy love between parents and children.
- The sentence continues in 3.21.10.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.21.9 (CSEL 19:249–250; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-21-9).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-21-9) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.21.10CSEL 19:250
ut non tantum alienum pro patre habeat, sed etiam patrem pro alieno. quid quod uxor potest esse communis, filius non potest? quem concipi non nisi ex uno necesse est. perit ergo illi uni communitas ipsa reclamante natura.
that he will not only hold a stranger as his father, but also his father as a stranger. What of the fact that a wife can be common, but a son cannot? He must be conceived from one man only. So the community itself fails for that one, nature herself protesting.
Notes and citation
Summary: A child can have only one father, so nature defeats the community of children.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.21.10 (CSEL 19:250; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-21-10).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-21-10) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.21.11CSEL 19:250
superest ut tantummodo concordiae causa uxores uelit esse communes. at nulla uehementior discordiarum causa est quam unius feminae a multis maribus adpetitio.
It remains that he wants wives to be common only for the sake of harmony. But there is no more violent cause of discord than the desire of many men for one woman.
Notes and citation
Summary: Common wives would cause discord, not harmony.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.21.11 (CSEL 19:250; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-21-11).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-21-11) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.21.12CSEL 19:250
quod Plato si ratione non potuit, exemplis certe potuit admoneri et mutorum animalium, quae ob hoc uel acerrime pugnant, et hominum, qui semper ob eam rem grauissima inter se bella gesserunt.
If Plato could not be warned of this by reason, he certainly could have been by examples: both of dumb animals, which fight most fiercely over this, and of men, who have always waged the gravest wars with one another over this very thing.
Notes and citation
Summary: Animals and human wars show rivalry over women.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.21.12 (CSEL 19:250; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-21-12).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-21-12) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 3, chapter 22
3.22.1CSEL 19:250
Restat ut communio ista nihil aliut habeat praeter adulteria et libidines, propter quas funditus eruendas uirtus est uel maxime necessaria.
It remains that this community has nothing in it but adulteries and lusts, for the rooting out of which virtue is most of all necessary.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato's community amounts to adultery and lust.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.22.1 (CSEL 19:250; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-22-1).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-22-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.22.2CSEL 19:250
itaque non inuenit concordiam quam quaerebat, quia non uidebat unde oriatur. nam iustitia in extra positis nihil momenti habet, ne in corpore quidem, sed tota in hominis mente uersatur.
So he did not find the harmony he sought, because he did not see where it arises. For justice has no weight in external things, not even in the body, but is wholly concerned with the mind of man.
Notes and citation
Summary: Justice lies in the mind, not in external arrangements.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.22.2 (CSEL 19:250; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-22-2).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-22-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.22.3CSEL 19:250
qui ergo uult homines adaequare, non matrimonia, non opes subtrahere debet, sed adrogantiam superbiam tumorem, ut illi potentes et elati pares esse se etiam mendicissimis sciant.
He, then, who wishes to make men equal ought to take away not marriages, not wealth, but arrogance, pride, and swelling, so that the powerful and exalted may know that they are equal even to the poorest beggars.
Notes and citation
Summary: True equality comes from removing pride, not property or marriage.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.22.3 (CSEL 19:250; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-22-3).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-22-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.22.4CSEL 19:250
detracta enim diuitibus insolentia et iniquitate nihil intererit utrumne alii diuites, alii pauperes sint, cum animi pares fuerint, quod efficere nulla res alia praeter religionem dei potest.
For when insolence and injustice are taken from the rich, it will make no difference whether some are rich and others poor, since their minds will be equal; and nothing else can bring this about but the religion of God.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only the religion of God can make minds equal.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.22.4 (CSEL 19:250; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-22-4).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-22-4) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.22.5CSEL 19:250–251
putauit igitur se inuenisse iustitiam, cum eam prorsus euerteret, quia non rerum fragilium, sed mentium debet esse communitas. nam si iustitia uirtutum omnium mater est, cum illae singulae tolluntur, ipsa subuertitur.
So he thought he had found justice, while he overthrew it entirely, because there ought to be a community not of frail things but of minds. For if justice is the mother of all the virtues, when these are removed one by one, justice itself is overturned.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato overthrew justice, since community should be of minds, not goods.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.22.5 (CSEL 19:250–251; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-22-5).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-22-5) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.22.6CSEL 19:251
tulit autem Plato ante omnia frugalitatem, quae utique nulla est ubi proprii nihil habetur, tulit abstinentiam, siquidem nihil fuerit quo abstineatur alienum, tulit temperantiam, tulit castitatem, quae uirtutes in utroque sexu maximae sunt, tulit uerecundiam pudorem modestiam, si honesta et legitima esse incipiunt quae solent flagitiosa et turpia iudicari.
Plato took away above all frugality, which certainly does not exist where nothing is one's own; he took away abstinence, since there would be nothing belonging to another from which to abstain; he took away temperance, he took away chastity, virtues which are greatest in both sexes; he took away shame, modesty, and restraint, if things commonly judged wicked and shameful begin to be honourable and lawful.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato's scheme removes frugality, abstinence, temperance, chastity and modesty.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.22.6 (CSEL 19:251; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-22-6).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-22-6) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.22.7CSEL 19:251
sic uirtutem dum uult omnibus dare, omnibus ademit. nam rerum proprietas et uitiorum et uirtutum materiam continet, communitas autem nihil aliut quam uitiorum licentiam.
So, while he wishes to give virtue to all, he has taken it from all. For ownership of things contains the material both of vices and of virtues; but community contains nothing but licence for vices.
Notes and citation
Summary: Private ownership gives matter for virtue; community only licenses vice.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.22.7 (CSEL 19:251; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-22-7).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-22-7) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.22.8CSEL 19:251
nam uiri qui multas mulieres habent, nihil aliut dici possunt quam luxuriosi ac nepotes. item mulieres quae a multis habentur, non utique adulterae, quia certum matrimonium nullum est, sed prostitutae ac meretrices sint necesse est.
For men who have many women can be called nothing but debauchees and prodigals. Likewise women who are had by many are certainly not adulteresses, since there is no definite marriage, but they must be prostitutes and harlots.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato's scheme makes men debauchees and women prostitutes.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.22.8 (CSEL 19:251; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-22-8).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-22-8) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.22.9CSEL 19:251
redegit ergo humanam uitam ad similitudinem non dicam mutorum, sed pecudum ac beluarum. nam uolucres paene omnes matrimonia faciunt et paria iungunt et nidos suos tamquam geniales toros concordi mente defendunt et fetus suos quia certi sunt amant et si alienos subieceris abigunt.
He reduced human life, then, to the likeness, I will not say of dumb creatures, but of cattle and beasts. For almost all birds make marriages and join in pairs, and defend their nests as marriage beds with one mind, and love their young because they are sure of them, and drive away others if you put them in.
Notes and citation
Summary: Even birds keep pair-bonds and know their own young.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.22.9 (CSEL 19:251; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-22-9).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-22-9) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.22.10CSEL 19:251–252
at homo sapiens contra morem hominum contraque naturam stultiora sibi quae imitaretur elegit et quoniam uidebat in ceteris animalibus officia marum feminarumque non esse diuisa, existimauit oportere etiam mulieres militare et consiliis publicis interesse et magistratus gerere et imperia suscipere. itaque his arma et equos adsignauit: consequens est ut lanam et telam uiris et infantium gestationes.
But the wise man, against the custom of men and against nature, chose more foolish things to imitate; and since he saw that in the other animals the duties of males and females are not divided, he thought that women too should go to war, take part in public councils, hold magistracies, and take up commands. So he assigned them arms and horses; it follows that to men he should assign wool and the loom and the carrying of infants.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato's proposal that women fight and rule reverses nature.
- Plato, Resp. 5.451c–457b.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Resp. 5.451c–457b (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.22.10 (CSEL 19:251–252; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-22-10).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-22-10) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.22.11CSEL 19:252
nec uidit inpossibilia esse quae diceret et ex eo, quod adhuc in orbe terrae neque tam stulta neque tam sapiens ulla gens extitit, quae hoc modo uiueret.
Nor did he see that what he said was impossible, from the very fact that no nation in the world has yet appeared so foolish or so wise as to live in this way.
Notes and citation
Summary: No nation has ever lived as Plato proposed.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.22.11 (CSEL 19:252; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-22-11).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-22-11) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 3, chapter 23
3.23.1CSEL 19:252
Cum igitur in tanta uanitate ipsi philosophorum principes deprehendantur, quid illos minores putabimus? numquam sibi tam sapientes uideri solent quam cum pecuniae contemptu gloriantur. fortis animus. sed expecto quid faciant et quo ille contemptus euadat.
Since, then, the very chiefs of the philosophers are caught in such vanity, what shall we think of the lesser ones? They never seem to themselves so wise as when they boast of their contempt of money. A brave spirit! But I wait to see what they do and where that contempt ends up.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lesser philosophers boast of despising money.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.23.1 (CSEL 19:252; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-23-1).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-23-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.23.2CSEL 19:252
tradita sibi a parentibus patrimonia tamquam malum fugiunt ac deserunt et ne in tempestate naufragium faciant, in tranquillum se ultro praecipitant, non uirtute, sed peruerso metu fortes, sicut illi, qui cum timent ne ab hoste iugulentur, ipsi se iugulant, ut mortem morte deuitent.
They flee and abandon the patrimonies handed down to them by their parents as if they were an evil, and, lest they be shipwrecked in a storm, they throw themselves overboard in calm weather, brave not by virtue but by perverse fear, like those who, fearing to have their throats cut by the enemy, cut their own, avoiding death by death.
Notes and citation
Summary: They throw away inheritances out of perverse fear.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.23.2 (CSEL 19:252; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-23-2).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-23-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.23.3CSEL 19:252
sic isti unde possent gloriam liberalitatis adquirere, sine honore, sine gratia perdunt.
So these men waste, without honour and without gratitude, what could have gained them the glory of generosity.
Notes and citation
Summary: They waste what could have been used generously.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.23.3 (CSEL 19:252; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-23-3).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-23-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.23.4CSEL 19:252
laudatur Democritus, quod agros suos reliquerit eosque pascua publica fieri passus sit. probarem, si donasset. nihil autem sapienter fit, quod si ab omnibus fiat, inutile est ac malum.
Democritus is praised because he abandoned his fields and allowed them to become public pasture. I would approve if he had given them away. But nothing is done wisely which, if done by all, is useless and bad.
Notes and citation
Summary: Democritus abandoned his land rather than giving it away.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: n for ri): Democntus → Democritus.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.23.4 (CSEL 19:252; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-23-4).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-23-4) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.23.5CSEL 19:252–253
sed haec neclegentia tolerabilis. quid ille qui patrimonium in nummos redactum effudit in mare? ego dubito utrumne sanus an demens fuerit. abite inquit in profundum malae cupiditates, ego uos mergam, ne ipse mergar a uobis.
But this negligence is tolerable. What of him who turned his patrimony into coins and threw it into the sea? I doubt whether he was sane or mad. 'Go,' he says, 'into the deep, you evil desires; I will drown you, lest I myself be drowned by you.'
Notes and citation
Summary: A philosopher threw his money into the sea.
- The story is told of Crates the Cynic (also of Aristippus); Lactantius does not name him.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray digits): tolerabilis. 20 quid → tolerabilis. quid.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.23.5 (CSEL 19:252–253; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-23-5).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-23-5) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.23.6CSEL 19:253
si tantus pecuniae contemptus est, fac illam beneficium, fac humanitatem, largire pauperibus: potes hoc quod perditurus es multis succurrere, ne fame aut siti aut nuditate moriantur.
If you have so great a contempt of money, make it a benefit, make it kindness, give it to the poor: what you are going to throw away can help many, so that they do not die of hunger or thirst or nakedness.
Notes and citation
Summary: Money should be given to the poor, not thrown away.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.23.6 (CSEL 19:253; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-23-6).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-23-6) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.23.7CSEL 19:253
imitare insaniam saltem furoremque Tuditani: sparge populo diripiendam. potes et pecuniam effugere et tamen bene collocare, quia saluum est quidquid pluribus profuit. Zenonis autem paria peccata quis probat?
At least imitate the madness and frenzy of Tuditanus: scatter it to the people to snatch. You can both be rid of money and yet place it well, because whatever has benefited many is safe. And who approves Zeno's equality of sins?
Notes and citation
Summary: Even scattering money to the crowd would be better; Zeno's equality of sins is also absurd.
- Tuditanus is mentioned by Cicero, Phil. 3.16, as throwing money to the people. The Stoic doctrine that all sins are equal: Cicero, Parad. 3.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.23.7 (CSEL 19:253; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-23-7).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-23-7) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.23.8CSEL 19:253
sed omittamus id quod est ab omnibus semper inrisum: illut satis est ad coarguendum furiosi hominis errorem, quod inter uitia et morbos misericordiam ponit. adimit nobis adfectum quo ratio humanae uitae paene omnis continetur.
But let us pass over what has always been laughed at by all. This is enough to prove the error of the raving man, that he places pity among vices and diseases. He takes from us the feeling in which almost the whole principle of human life is contained.
Notes and citation
Summary: Zeno counted pity a vice, destroying the basis of human life.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.23.8 (CSEL 19:253; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-23-8).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-23-8) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.23.9CSEL 19:253
cum enim natura hominis inbecillior sit quam ceterorum animalium, quae uel ad perferendam uim temporum uel ad incursiones a suis corporibus arcendas naturalibus munimentis prouidentia caelestis armauit, homini autem quia nihil istorum datum est, accepit pro istis omnibus miserationis adfectum qui plane uocatur humanitas, qua nosmet inuicem tueremur.
For since man's nature is weaker than that of the other animals, which heavenly providence has armed with natural defences either to bear the force of the seasons or to ward off attacks from their bodies, while to man none of these has been given, he received instead of all these the feeling of compassion, which is rightly called humanity, by which we might protect one another.
Notes and citation
Summary: Compassion is man's natural protection in place of animals' weapons.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.23.9 (CSEL 19:253; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-23-9).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-23-9) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.23.10CSEL 19:253
nam si homo ad conspectum alterius hominis efferaretur, quod facere uidemus animantes quarum natura soliuaga est, nulla esset hominum societas, nulla urbium condendarum uel cura uel ratio, sic ne uita quidem satis tuta, cum et ceteris animalibus exposita esset inbecillitas hominum et ipsi inter semet ipsos beluarum more saeuirent. non minor in aliis dementia.
For if man were made savage at the sight of another man, as we see those animals do whose nature is solitary, there would be no society of men, no care or plan of founding cities; so life itself would not be safe enough, since the weakness of men would be exposed to the other animals, and they themselves would rage among themselves in the manner of beasts. No less madness is found in others.
Notes and citation
Summary: Without compassion there would be no society.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.23.10 (CSEL 19:253; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-23-10).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-23-10) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.23.11CSEL 19:253–254
quid enim dici potest de illo qui nigram esse dixit niuem? quam consequens erat ut etiam picem albam esse diceret! hic est ille qui se idcirco natum esse dixit, ut caelum ac solem uideret, qui in terra nihil uidebat sole lucente.
For what can be said of him who said that snow is black? How consistent it would have been for him to say that pitch is white! This is the man who said he was born to see the heaven and the sun, who saw nothing on earth while the sun was shining.
Notes and citation
Summary: Anaxagoras said snow is black.
- Anaxagoras; cf. Cicero, Acad. 2.72, 100.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Acad. 2.72 (Cicero; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.23.11 (CSEL 19:253–254; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-23-11).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-23-11) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.23.12CSEL 19:254
Xenophanes dicentibus mathematicis orbem lunae duodeuiginti partibus maiorem esse quam terram stultissime credidit et quod huic leuitati fuit consentaneum, dixit intra concauum lunae sinum esse aliam terram et ibi aliut genus hominum simili modo uiuere, quo nos in hac terra uiuimus.
Xenophanes, when the mathematicians said that the orb of the moon is eighteen times larger than the earth, most foolishly believed it, and, as fitted this levity, said that inside the hollow of the moon there is another earth, and there another race of men lives in a similar way to that in which we live on this earth.
Notes and citation
Summary: Xenophanes said people live inside the moon.
- Cf. Cicero, Acad. 2.123.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Acad. 2.123 (Cicero; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.23.12 (CSEL 19:254; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-23-12).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-23-12) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.23.13CSEL 19:254
habent igitur illi lunatici homines alteram lunam, quae illis nocturnum lumen exhibeat sicut haec exhibet nobis, et fortasse noster hic orbis alterius inferioris terrae luna sit.
So those lunatic men have another moon to give them light at night as this one gives it to us; and perhaps this globe of ours is the moon of another, lower earth.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius mocks the moon-dwellers.
- 'lunatici' puns on 'moon-dwellers' and 'lunatics'.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: n for u): lnnatici → lunatici.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.23.13 (CSEL 19:254; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-23-13).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-23-13) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.23.14CSEL 19:254
fuisse Seneca inter Stoicos ait qui deliberaret, utrumne soli quoque suos populos daret: inepte scilicet, qui dubitauerit. quid enim perderet, si dedisset? sed credo calor deterrebat, ne tantam multitudinem periculo committeret, ne si aestu nimio perissent, ipsius culpa euenisse tanta calamitas diceretur.
Seneca says there was one among the Stoics who deliberated whether he should give the sun too its own peoples: foolishly, to have hesitated. For what would he lose if he had given them? But I suppose the heat deterred him from exposing so great a multitude to danger, lest, if they perished from excessive heat, so great a calamity should be said to have happened by his fault.
Notes and citation
Summary: A Stoic wondered whether the sun has inhabitants.
- Seneca, fragment.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray letter): diceretur. S → diceretur..
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca, fragment (Seneca; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.23.14 (CSEL 19:254; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-23-14).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-23-14) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 3, chapter 24
3.24.1CSEL 19:254–255
Quid? illi qui esse contrarios uestigiis nostris antipodas putant num aliquid locuntur? aut est quisquam tam ineptus qui credat esse homines quorum uestigia sint superiora quam capita? aut ibi quae aput nos iacent, inuersa pendere, fruges et arbores deorsum uersus crescere, pluuias et niues et grandines sursum uersus cadere in terram? et miratur aliquis hortos pensiles inter septem mira narrari, cum philosophi et agros et urbes et maria et montes pensiles faciant? huius quoque erroris aperienda nobis origo est.
What of those who think there are antipodes, opposite to our footsteps? Do they say anything? Or is anyone so absurd as to believe that there are men whose footprints are higher than their heads? Or that there the things that lie flat with us hang upside down, crops and trees grow downward, rains and snows and hail fall upward to the earth? And does anyone wonder that the hanging gardens are told among the seven wonders, when philosophers make hanging fields and cities and seas and mountains? The origin of this error too must be laid open by us.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius ridicules belief in the antipodes.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: P for question mark; stray period): in terram P et → in terram? et; philosophi et. agros → philosophi et agros.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.24.1 (CSEL 19:254–255; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-24-1).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-24-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.24.2CSEL 19:255
nam semper eodem modo falluntur. cum enim falsum aliquid in principio sumpserint ueri similitudine inducti, necesse est eos in ea quae consecuntur incurrere. sic incidunt in multa ridicula, quia necesse est falsa esse quae rebus falsis congruunt.
For they are always deceived in the same way. When they have assumed something false at the start, led on by its likeness to truth, they must run into what follows from it. So they fall into many absurdities, because what agrees with false things must be false.
Notes and citation
Summary: A false first assumption leads to absurd conclusions.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.24.2 (CSEL 19:255; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-24-2).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-24-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.24.3CSEL 19:255
cum autem primis habuerint fidem, qualia sint ea quae secuntur non circumspiciunt, sed defendunt omni modo, cum debeant prima illa utrumne uera sint an falsa ex consequentibus iudicare. quae igitur illos ad antipodas ratio perduxit?
And when they have put faith in the first things, they do not look around at what the consequences are like, but defend them in every way, when they ought to judge from the consequences whether those first things are true or false. What reasoning, then, led them to the antipodes?
Notes and citation
Summary: They defend consequences instead of testing their premises.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.24.3 (CSEL 19:255; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-24-3).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-24-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.24.4CSEL 19:255
uidebant siderum cursus in occasum meantium, solem atque lunam in eandem partem semper occidere et oriri semper ab eadem.
They saw the courses of the stars moving toward the west, and the sun and moon always setting in the same quarter and always rising from the same.
Notes and citation
Summary: They observed heavenly bodies always rising and setting in the same places.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.24.4 (CSEL 19:255; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-24-4).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-24-4) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.24.5CSEL 19:255
cum autem non perspicerent quae machinatio cursus eorum temperaret nec quomodo ab occasu ad orientem remearent, caelum autem ipsum in omnes partes putarent esse deuexum, quod sic uideri propter inmensam latitudinem necesse est, existimauerunt rotundum esse mundum sicut pilam et ex motu siderum opinati sunt caelum uolui; sic astra solemque, cum occiderint, uolubilitate ipsa mundi ad ortum referri.
But since they did not perceive what mechanism regulated their courses, nor how they returned from west to east, and thought the sky itself sloped down in every direction, which must seem so because of its immense breadth, they concluded that the world is round like a ball, and from the motion of the stars they supposed that the sky revolves; and so the stars and the sun, when they have set, are carried back to their rising by the very revolving of the world.
Notes and citation
Summary: From these observations they inferred a spherical, rotating heaven.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.24.5 (CSEL 19:255; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-24-5).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-24-5) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.24.6CSEL 19:255
itaque et aereos orbes fabricati sunt quasi ad figuram mundi eosque caelarunt portentosis quibusdam simulacris, quae astra esse dicerent.
So they even made bronze spheres, as if after the shape of the world, and engraved them with certain monstrous images which they said were the stars.
Notes and citation
Summary: They built armillary spheres with star figures.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.24.6 (CSEL 19:255; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-24-6).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-24-6) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.24.7CSEL 19:255–256
hanc igitur caeli rotunditatem illut sequebatur, ut terra in medio sinu eius esset inclusa. quod si ita esset, (esse) etiam ipsam terram globo similem: neque enim fieri posse ut non esset rotundum quod rotundo conclusum teneretur.
This roundness of the sky led to the conclusion that the earth is enclosed in the middle of its hollow. If that were so, the earth itself too ⟨would be⟩ like a globe; for it could not be that what was held enclosed by a round thing was not round.
Notes and citation
Summary: A round sky implied a round earth at its centre.
- 'would be' renders the editor's addition (esse).
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.24.7 (CSEL 19:255–256; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-24-7).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-24-7) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.24.8CSEL 19:256
si autem rotunda etiam terra esset, necesse esse ut in omnes caeli partes eandem faciem gerat, id est montes erigat, campos (ex)tendat, maria consternat. quod si esset, etiam sequebatur illut extremum, ut nulla sit pars terrae quae non ab hominibus ceterisque animalibus incolatur. sic pendulos istos antipodas caeli rotunditas adinuenit.
But if the earth also were round, it must present the same face to all parts of the sky, that is, raise mountains, spread plains, and lay out seas. If that were so, that final consequence followed, that there is no part of the earth not inhabited by men and other animals. So the roundness of the sky invented these hanging antipodes.
Notes and citation
Summary: A round earth led to the idea of inhabited antipodes.
- 'spread' renders (ex)tendat, partly the editor's addition.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.24.8 (CSEL 19:256; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-24-8).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-24-8) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.24.9CSEL 19:256
quodsi quaeras ab iis qui haec portenta defendunt, quomodo ergo non cadant omnia in inferiorem illam caeli partem, hanc respondent rerum esse naturam, ut pondera in medium ferantur et ad medium conexa sint omnia, sicut radios uidemus in rota, quae autem leuia sunt, ut nebula fumus ignis, a medio differantur, ut caelum petant.
But if you ask those who defend these monstrosities how it is, then, that everything does not fall into that lower part of the sky, they answer that the nature of things is such that heavy things are borne to the middle and all things are joined to the middle, as we see spokes in a wheel, while light things, such as cloud, smoke, and fire, are carried away from the middle so as to seek the sky.
Notes and citation
Summary: They answer that heavy things tend to the centre and light things away from it.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: n for u): quae autem lenia sunt → quae autem leuia sunt.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.24.9 (CSEL 19:256; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-24-9).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-24-9) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.24.10CSEL 19:256
quid dicam de his nescio, qui cum semel aberrauerint, constanter in stultitia perseuerant et uanis uana defendunt, nisi quod eos interdum puto aut ioci causa philosophari aut prudentes et scios mendacia defendenda suscipere, quasi ut ingenia sua in malis rebus exerceant uel ostendant.
I do not know what to say of these men, who, having once gone astray, persist steadily in folly and defend vain things with vain things, except that I sometimes think they philosophize either as a joke, or knowingly and deliberately undertake to defend lies, as if to exercise or display their talents on bad subjects.
Notes and citation
Summary: Such philosophers defend absurdities either in jest or to show off.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.24.10 (CSEL 19:256; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-24-10).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-24-10) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.24.11CSEL 19:256–257
at ego multis argumentis probare possem nullo modo fieri posse ut caelum terra sit inferius, nisi et liber iam concludendus esset et adhuc aliqua restarent quae magis sint praesenti operi necessaria. et quoniam singulorum errores percurrere non est unius libri opus, satis sit pauca enumerasse, ex quibus possit qualia sint cetera intellegi.
I could prove by many arguments that it is in no way possible for the sky to be lower than the earth, were it not that the book must now be brought to a close, and some things still remain that are more necessary to the present work. And since running through the errors of each one is not the work of a single book, let it be enough to have listed a few, from which the nature of the rest can be understood.
Notes and citation
Summary: He leaves the subject, since enough examples have been given.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.24.11 (CSEL 19:256–257; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-24-11).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-24-11) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 3, chapter 25
3.25.1CSEL 19:257
Nunc pauca nobis de philosophia in commune dicenda sunt, ut confirmata causa peroremus. summus ille noster Platonis imitator existimauit philosophiam non esse uulgarem, quod eam non nisi docti homines adsequi possint.
Now a few things must be said by us about philosophy in general, so that, the case being confirmed, we may conclude. That great imitator of Plato among us thought that philosophy is not for the common people, because only learned men can attain it.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero held that philosophy is only for the learned.
- 'That great imitator of Plato' is Cicero.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.1 (CSEL 19:257; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-1).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.2CSEL 19:257
est inquit philosophia paucis contenta iudicibus multitudinem consulto ipsa fugiens. non est ergo sapientia, si ab hominum coetu abhorret, quoniam sapientia si homini data est, sine ullo discrimine omnibus data est, ut nemo sit prorsus qui eam capere non possit.
'Philosophy,' he says, 'is content with few judges, deliberately shunning the multitude.' It is not wisdom, then, if it shrinks from the company of men; since if wisdom has been given to man, it has been given to all without any distinction, so that there is absolutely no one who cannot receive it.
Notes and citation
Summary: True wisdom, unlike philosophy, is given to all.
- Cicero, Tusc. 2.4.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Tusc. 2.4 (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.2 (CSEL 19:257; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-2).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.3CSEL 19:257
at illi uirtutem humano generi datam sic amplexantur, ut soli omnium publico bono frui uelle uideantur, tam inuidi quam si uelint deligare oculos aut effodere ceteris, ne solem uideant.
But they embrace virtue, which was given to the human race, in such a way that they alone of all seem to want to enjoy a public good, as envious as if they wished to bind or gouge out the eyes of others so that they could not see the sun.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers would keep a common good to themselves.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.3 (CSEL 19:257; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-3).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.4CSEL 19:257
nam quid est aliut hominibus negare sapientiam quam mentibus eorum uerum ac diuinum lumen auferre?
For what else is it to deny wisdom to men than to take away the true and divine light from their minds?
Notes and citation
Summary: Denying wisdom to people takes away their divine light.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.4 (CSEL 19:257; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-4).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-4) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.5CSEL 19:257
quodsi natura hominis sapientiae capax est, oportuit et opifices et rusticos et mulieres et omnes denique qui humanam formam gerunt doceri, ut sapiant, populumque (sapientium) ex omni lingua et condicione et sexu et aetate conflari.
If human nature is capable of wisdom, then craftsmen and farmers and women and in short all who bear human form ought to have been taught to be wise, and a people ⟨of the wise⟩ ought to have been gathered from every tongue and condition and sex and age.
Notes and citation
Summary: If wisdom is natural to man, all kinds of people should have been taught it.
- 'of the wise' is the editor's addition.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.5 (CSEL 19:257; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-5).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-5) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.6CSEL 19:257
maximum itaque argumentum est philosophiam neque ad sapientiam tendere neque ipsam esse sapientiam, quod mysterium eius barba tantum celebratur et pallio.
So the strongest argument that philosophy neither tends toward wisdom nor is itself wisdom is that its mystery is celebrated only with a beard and a cloak.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophy belongs only to those with a beard and cloak.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.6 (CSEL 19:257; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-6).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-6) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.7CSEL 19:257–258
senserunt hoc adeo Stoici, qui et seruis et mulieribus philosophandum esse dixerunt, Epicurus quoque, qui rudes omnium litterarum ad philosophiam inuitat, item Plato, qui ciuitatem de sapientibus uoluit conponere.
The Stoics were so aware of this that they said slaves and women should philosophize; Epicurus too, who invites to philosophy those ignorant of all letters; likewise Plato, who wished to compose a city of wise men.
Notes and citation
Summary: Some philosophers wanted everyone to philosophize.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray mark): litterarum ^ ad → litterarum ad.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.7 (CSEL 19:257–258; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-7).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-7) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.8CSEL 19:258
conati quidem sunt illi facere quod
They tried, indeed, to do what
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers tried to open philosophy to all.
- The sentence continues in 3.25.9.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.8 (CSEL 19:258; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-8).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-8) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.9CSEL 19:258
ueritas exigebat, sed non potuit ultra uerba procedi, primum, quia multis artibus opus est, ut ad philosophiam possit accedi: discendae istae communes litterae propter usum legendi, quia in tanta rerum uarietate nec disci audiendo possunt omnia nec memoria contineri.
truth demanded, but they could not go beyond words: first, because many arts are needed before one can approach philosophy. These common letters must be learned for the sake of reading, because in so great a variety of subjects not everything can be learned by hearing or held in memory.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophy requires much prior learning, beginning with reading.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): accedi.: → accedi:.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.9 (CSEL 19:258; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-9).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-9) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.10CSEL 19:258
grammaticis quoque non parum operae dandum est, ut rectam loquendi rationem scias; id multos annos auferat necesse est.
No little effort must also be given to the grammarians, so that you may know the right way of speaking; that must take many years.
Notes and citation
Summary: Grammar takes years.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.10 (CSEL 19:258; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-10).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-10) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.11CSEL 19:258
ne oratoria quidem ignoranda est, ut ea quae didiceris proferre atque eloqui possis. geometria quoque ac musica et astrologia necessaria est, quod hae artes cum philosophia habent aliquam societatem.
Not even rhetoric may be neglected, so that you can set forth and express what you have learned. Geometry, music and astronomy are also necessary, because these arts have some connection with philosophy.
Notes and citation
Summary: Rhetoric, geometry, music and astronomy are also required.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.11 (CSEL 19:258; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-11).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-11) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.12CSEL 19:258
quae uniuersa perdiscere neque feminae possunt, quibus intra puberes annos officia mox usibus domesticis profutura discenda sunt, neque serui, quibus per eos annos uel maxime seruiendum est quibus possunt discere, neque pauperes aut opifices aut rustici, quibus in diem uictus labore quaerendus est. ob eam causam Tullius ait abhorrere a multitudine philosophiam.
Women cannot master all these, since before the years of puberty they must learn the duties soon to serve domestic needs; nor slaves, who during the very years in which they could learn must above all serve; nor the poor, craftsmen, or farmers, who must seek their daily food by labour. For this reason Tullius says that philosophy shrinks from the multitude.
Notes and citation
Summary: Women, slaves, the poor and labourers cannot acquire this learning.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.12 (CSEL 19:258; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-12).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-12) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.13CSEL 19:258
at enim rudes Epicurus accipiet. quomodo ergo illa quae de principiis rerum dicuntur intellegent, quae perplexa et inuoluta uix etiam politi homines adsecuntur?
'But Epicurus will take the uneducated.' How then will they understand what is said about the first principles of things, which are intricate and involved and which even polished men scarcely grasp?
Notes and citation
Summary: The uneducated cannot understand Epicurus's physics.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.13 (CSEL 19:258; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-13).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-13) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.14CSEL 19:258–259
in rebus igitur obscuritate inplicatis et ingeniorum uarietate confusis et eloquentium uirorum exquisito sermone fucatis quis inperito ac rudi locus est?
In matters entangled in obscurity, confused by the variety of talents, and dressed up in the refined speech of eloquent men, what place is there for the unskilled and uneducated?
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophy's obscurity excludes the unlearned.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.14 (CSEL 19:258–259; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-14).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-14) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.15CSEL 19:259
denique nullas umquam mulieres philosophari docuerunt praeter unam ex omni memoria Themisten neque seruos praeter unum Phaedonem, quem male seruientem redemisse ac docuisse traduntur.
In short, they never taught any women to philosophize except one in all memory, Themista, nor any slaves except one, Phaedo, whom they are said to have ransomed from a bad servitude and taught.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers taught only one woman, Themista, and one slave, Phaedo.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.15 (CSEL 19:259; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-15).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-15) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.16CSEL 19:259
enumerant etiam Platonem ac Diogenem, qui tamen non serui fuerunt, sed his seruitus euenerat: sunt enim capti. Platonem quidem redemisse Anniceris quidam traditur sestertiis octo. itaque insectatus est conuiciis hunc ipsum redemptorem Seneca, quod Platonem paruo aestimauerit,
They also list Plato and Diogenes, who nevertheless were not slaves, but slavery had befallen them, for they were captured. A certain Anniceris is said to have ransomed Plato for eight sesterces. So Seneca attacked this very ransomer with abuse because he valued Plato cheaply:
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato was ransomed by Anniceris, whom Seneca blamed for paying too little.
- Seneca, fragment.
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca, fragment (Seneca; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.16 (CSEL 19:259; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-16).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-16) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.17CSEL 19:259
furiosus, ut mihi uidetur, qui homini fuerit iratus, quod non multam pecuniam perdidit: scilicet aurum appendere debuit tamquam pro mortuo Hectore aut tantum ingerere nummorum, quantum uenditor non poposcit.
raving, it seems to me, to be angry with a man because he did not lose much money. No doubt he should have weighed out gold as for the dead Hector, or heaped on more coins than the seller had asked.
Notes and citation
Summary: Seneca's complaint is absurd.
- Priam ransomed Hector's body with gold (Homer, Il. 24).
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.17 (CSEL 19:259; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-17).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-17) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.25.18CSEL 19:259
ex barbaris uero nullum praeter unum Anacharsin Scytham, qui philosophiam ne somniasset quidem, nisi et linguam et litteras ante didicisset.
And of the barbarians, none except Anacharsis the Scythian, who would never even have dreamed of philosophy had he not first learned both the language and letters.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only one barbarian, Anacharsis, became a philosopher, and only after learning Greek.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.25.18 (CSEL 19:259; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-25-18).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-25-18) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 3, chapter 26
3.26.1CSEL 19:259
Quod ergo illi poscente natura faciendum esse senserunt, sed tamen neque ipsi facere potuerunt neque a philosophis fieri posse uiderunt, sola haec efficit doctrina caelestis, quia sola sapientia est.
What, then, they felt ought to be done at nature's demand, yet neither could do themselves nor saw could be done by philosophers, this heavenly teaching alone accomplishes, because it alone is wisdom.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only heavenly teaching makes all people wise.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.26.1 (CSEL 19:259; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-26-1).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-26-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.26.2CSEL 19:259–260
illi scilicet persuadere cuiquam potuerunt, qui nihil persuadent etiam sibi, aut cuiusquam cupiditates oppriment, iram temperabunt, libidinem cohercebunt, cum ipsi et cedant uitiis et fateantur plus ualere naturam?
Could they, forsooth, persuade anyone, who persuade even themselves of nothing? Or will they suppress anyone's desires, temper anger, restrain lust, when they themselves both yield to vices and confess that nature is stronger?
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers cannot reform others when they cannot reform themselves.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.26.2 (CSEL 19:259–260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-26-2).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-26-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.26.3CSEL 19:260
dei autem praecepta quia et simplicia et uera sunt, quantum ualeant in animis hominum, cottidiana experimenta demonstrant.
But how much the precepts of God, because they are both simple and true, prevail in the minds of men, daily experience shows.
Notes and citation
Summary: God's precepts prove their power daily.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.26.3 (CSEL 19:260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-26-3).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-26-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.26.4CSEL 19:260
da mihi uirum qui sit iracundus maledicus effrenatus, paucissimis dei uerbis tam placidum quam ouem reddam.
Give me a man who is irascible, abusive, unbridled: with very few words of God I will make him as gentle as a sheep.
Notes and citation
Summary: God's words make the angry gentle.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.26.4 (CSEL 19:260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-26-4).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-26-4) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.26.5CSEL 19:260
da cupidum auarum tenacem, iam tibi eum liberalem dabo et pecuniam suam plenis manibus largientem.
Give me one who is greedy, avaricious, tight-fisted: I will presently give him back to you generous and bestowing his money with full hands.
Notes and citation
Summary: They make the greedy generous.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.26.5 (CSEL 19:260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-26-5).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-26-5) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.26.6CSEL 19:260
da timidum doloris ac mortis, iam cruces et ignes et Perilli taurum contemnet.
Give me one afraid of pain and death: presently he will despise crosses and fires and the bull of Perillus.
Notes and citation
Summary: They make the fearful brave in the face of torture.
- The bronze bull made by Perillus for the tyrant Phalaris.
Topics: Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.26.6 (CSEL 19:260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-26-6).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-26-6) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.26.7CSEL 19:260
da libidinosum adulterum ganeonem, iam sobrium castum continentem uidebis.
Give me one lustful, an adulterer, a glutton: presently you will see him sober, chaste, self-controlled.
Notes and citation
Summary: They make the lustful chaste.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.26.7 (CSEL 19:260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-26-7).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-26-7) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.26.8CSEL 19:260
da crudelem et sanguinis adpetentem, iam in meram clementiam furor ille mutabitur.
Give me one who is cruel and thirsty for blood: presently that fury will be changed into pure clemency.
Notes and citation
Summary: They make the cruel merciful.
- 'meram' ('pure') may be a slip for 'ueram' ('true'); the sense is the same.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR; OCR: l for i): cruaeiem → crudelem; aapetenteIll, → adpetentem,; lam in → iam in.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.26.8 (CSEL 19:260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-26-8).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-26-8) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.26.9CSEL 19:260
da iniustum insipientem peccatorem, continuo et aequus et prudens et innocens erit: uno enim lauacro malitia omnis abolebitur.
Give me one who is unjust, foolish, a sinner: at once he will be fair and prudent and innocent; for by one washing all his wickedness will be abolished.
Notes and citation
Summary: One washing, baptism, abolishes all wickedness.
- 'one washing' refers to baptism.
Topics: Baptism
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.26.9 (CSEL 19:260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-26-9).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-26-9) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.26.10CSEL 19:260
tanta diuinae sapientiae uis est, ut in hominis pectus infusa matrem delictorum stultitiam uno semel inpetu expellat: ad quod efficiendum non mercede, non libris, non lucubrationibus opus est.
So great is the power of divine wisdom that, poured into a man's breast, it drives out folly, the mother of sins, with one single onset; and to accomplish this there is no need of fees, of books, of night study.
Notes and citation
Summary: Divine wisdom drives out folly at once, without fees or study.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.26.10 (CSEL 19:260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-26-10).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-26-10) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.26.11CSEL 19:260–261
gratis ista fiunt, facile, cito, pateant modo aures et pectus sapientiam sitiat. nemo uereatur: nos aquam non uendimus nec solem mercede praestamus. dei fons uberrimus atque plenissimus patet cunctis et hoc caeleste lumen uniuersis oritur quicumque oculos habent.
These things are done freely, easily, quickly, if only the ears are open and the heart thirsts for wisdom. Let no one fear: we do not sell water, nor provide the sun for a fee. God's fountain, most abundant and full, lies open to all, and this heavenly light rises for all who have eyes.
Isa 55:1 (echo, low confidence) · Rev 22:17 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God's wisdom is free to all, like water and sunlight.
- Cf. Isa 55:1, 'come, buy wine and milk without money'; Rev 22:17.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.26.11 (CSEL 19:260–261; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-26-11).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-26-11) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.26.12CSEL 19:261
num quis haec philosophorum aut umquam praestitit aut praestare si uelit potest? qui cum aetates suas in studio philosophiae conterant, neque alium quemquam neque se ipsos, si natura paululum obstitit, possunt facere meliores. itaque sapientia illorum, ut plurimum efficiat, non excindit uitia, sed abscondit.
Has any of the philosophers ever provided these things, or could he if he wished? Though they wear out their lives in the study of philosophy, they cannot make anyone else, or even themselves, better, if nature puts up a little resistance. So their wisdom, at the most it achieves, does not cut out vices but hides them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophy hides vices but does not remove them.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.26.12 (CSEL 19:261; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-26-12).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-26-12) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.26.13CSEL 19:261
pauca uero dei praecepta sic totum hominem inmutant et exposito uetere nouum reddunt, ut non cognoscas eundem esse.
But a few precepts of God so change the whole man, and, having put off the old, make him new, that you would not recognize him as the same.
Eph 4:22 (allusion, medium confidence) · Col 3:9 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A few of God's precepts make a person wholly new.
- Cf. Eph 4:22–24; Col 3:9–10 (putting off the old man and putting on the new).
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.26.13 (CSEL 19:261; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-26-13).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-26-13) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 3, chapter 27
3.27.1CSEL 19:261
Quid ergo? nihilne illi simile praecipiunt? immo permulta, et ad uerum frequenter accedunt, sed nihil ponderis habent illa praecepta, quia sunt humana et auctoritate maiore id est diuina carent.
What then? Do they teach nothing similar? On the contrary, very many things, and they frequently approach the truth; but those precepts have no weight, because they are human and lack greater authority, that is, divine.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers' precepts, though often near the truth, lack divine authority.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.1 (CSEL 19:261; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-1).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.2CSEL 19:261
nemo igitur credit, quia tam se hominem putat esse qui audit, quam est ille qui praecipit.
So no one believes, because the hearer thinks himself as much a man as he who gives the precept.
Notes and citation
Summary: Hearers do not defer to a merely human teacher.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.2 (CSEL 19:261; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-2).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.3CSEL 19:261
praeterea nihil aput eos certi est, nihil quod a scientia ueniat, sed cum omnia coniecturis agantur, multa etiam diuersa et uaria proferantur, stultissimi est hominis praeceptis eorum uelle parere, quae utrum uera sint an falsa dubitatur: et ideo nemo paret, quia nemo uult ad incertum laborare.
Besides, there is nothing certain among them, nothing that comes from knowledge; but since everything is done by conjecture, and many different and varied things are put forward, it is the part of a very foolish man to want to obey their precepts, when it is doubtful whether they are true or false; and so no one obeys, because no one wishes to toil for what is uncertain.
Notes and citation
Summary: No one obeys uncertain precepts.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.3 (CSEL 19:261; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-3).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.4CSEL 19:261–262
uirtutem esse Stoici aiunt, quae sola efficiat uitam beatam. nihil potest uerius. sed quid si cruciabitur aut dolore adficietur? poteritne quisquam inter carnifices beatus esse? immo uero inlatus corpori dolor materia uirtutis est, itaque ne in tormentis quidem miser est.
The Stoics say that it is virtue alone which makes life happy. Nothing can be truer. But what if a man is tortured or afflicted with pain? Will anyone be able to be happy among executioners? 'Rather,' they say, 'pain inflicted on the body is the material of virtue, so he is not wretched even under torture.'
Notes and citation
Summary: The Stoics say the virtuous are happy even under torture.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray digits): potest 10 uerius → potest uerius.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.4 (CSEL 19:261–262; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-4).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-4) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.5CSEL 19:262
Epicurus multo fortius sapiens inquit semper beatus est et uel inclusus in Phalaridis tauro hanc uocem emittet: suaue est et nihil curo. quis eum non inriserit, maxime quod homo uoluptarius personam sibi uiri fortis inposuit et quidem supra modum? non enim fieri potest ut quisquam cruciatus corporis pro uoluptatibus ducat, cum satis sit ad officium uirtutis inplendum perferre ac sustinere.
Epicurus says much more boldly: 'The wise man is always happy, and even shut in the bull of Phalaris he will utter this cry: "It is pleasant, and I care nothing."' Who would not laugh at him, especially because a man of pleasure put on the mask of a brave man, and beyond all measure? For it cannot be that anyone should count bodily tortures as pleasures, when it is enough for fulfilling the duty of virtue to bear and endure them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Epicurus absurdly claimed the wise man would find torture pleasant.
- Cf. Cicero, Tusc. 2.17; 5.75.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Tusc. 2.17 (Cicero; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.5 (CSEL 19:262; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-5).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-5) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.6CSEL 19:262
quid dicitis Stoici? quid tu Epicure? beatus est sapiens, etiam cum torquetur. si propter gloriam patientiae, non fruetur: in tormentis enim fortasse morietur; si propter memoriam, aut non sentiet, si occidunt animae, aut si sentiet, nihil ex ea consequetur.
What do you say, Stoics? What do you say, Epicurus? 'The wise man is happy even when he is tortured.' If because of the glory of endurance, he will not enjoy it, for perhaps he will die under the torture; if because of remembrance, either he will not perceive it, if souls perish, or if he does perceive it, he will gain nothing from it.
Notes and citation
Summary: Neither glory nor fame can make the tortured wise man happy.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.6 (CSEL 19:262; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-6).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-6) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.7CSEL 19:262
quis ergo alius in uirtute fructus est? quae beatitudo uitae? aequo aiunt animo moriatur. bonum mihi adfertis unius horae aut fortasse momenti, propter quod non expediat in tota uita miseriis et laboribus confici.
What other fruit, then, is there in virtue? What happiness of life? 'Let him die with an even mind,' they say. You offer me the good of one hour, or perhaps a moment, for the sake of which it is not worth being worn out by miseries and toils through a whole life.
Notes and citation
Summary: Dying calmly is a poor reward for a lifetime of toil.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.7 (CSEL 19:262; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-7).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-7) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.8CSEL 19:262
quantum autem temporis mors occupat? quae cum uenit, utrum aequo an iniquo animo subieris, iam nihil refert. ita fit ut nihil aliut ex uirtute captetur nisi gloria.
And how much time does death take up? When it comes, it makes no difference whether you have undergone it with an even mind or not. So it comes about that nothing else is gained from virtue but glory.
Notes and citation
Summary: On their view virtue gains only glory.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.8 (CSEL 19:262; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-8).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-8) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.9CSEL 19:262
sed haec aut superuacua et breuis est aut prauis hominum iudiciis non sequetur. nullus igitur ex uirtute fructus est, ubi uirtus mortalis est et caduca.
But this is either superfluous and brief, or through the perverse judgments of men will not follow. So there is no fruit from virtue, where virtue is mortal and perishable.
Notes and citation
Summary: If virtue is mortal it has no fruit.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.9 (CSEL 19:262; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-9).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-9) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.10CSEL 19:262–263
ita qui haec locuti sunt, umbram quandam uirtutis uidebant, ipsam uirtutem non uidebant. defixi enim fuerunt in terram nec uultus suos in altum erigebant, ut eam possent intueri, quae sese a caeli regionibus ostentabat.
So those who said these things saw a kind of shadow of virtue, but did not see virtue itself. For they were fixed on the earth and did not raise their faces on high so as to be able to behold it, as it showed itself from the regions of heaven.
Notes and citation
Summary: They saw only the shadow of virtue, not virtue itself.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.10 (CSEL 19:262–263; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-10).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-10) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.11CSEL 19:263
haec causa est cur praeceptis eorum nullus obtemperet, quoniam aut ad uitia erudiunt, si uoluptatem defendunt, aut si uirtutem adserunt, neque peccato poenam minantur nisi solius turpitudinis neque uirtuti ullum praemium pollicentur nisi solius honestatis et laudis, cum dicant non propter aliut, sed propter se ipsam expetendam esse uirtutem.
This is the reason why no one obeys their precepts: because either they train men to vices, if they defend pleasure, or, if they champion virtue, they neither threaten sin with any punishment but its disgrace alone, nor promise virtue any reward but honour and praise alone, since they say virtue is to be sought not for anything else but for itself.
Notes and citation
Summary: Their precepts either teach vice or offer no real reward or penalty.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.11 (CSEL 19:263; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-11).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-11) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.12CSEL 19:263
beatus est igitur sapiens in tormentis: sed cum torquetur pro fide, pro iustitia, pro deo, illa patientia doloris beatissimum faciet.
The wise man, then, is happy under torture; but when he is tortured for faith, for justice, for God, that endurance of pain will make him most happy.
Notes and citation
Summary: Suffering for faith and God makes one truly happy.
Topics: Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.12 (CSEL 19:263; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-12).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-12) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.13CSEL 19:263
est enim deus qui solus potest honorare uirtutem, cuius merces inmortalitas sola est. quam qui non adpetunt nec religionem tenent, cui aeterna subiacet uita, profecto neque uirtutis uim sciunt, cuius praemium ignorant, neque in caelum spectant, quod ipsi facere se putant, cum res non uestigabiles quaerunt, quia ratio in caelum spectandi nulla est alia nisi aut religionem suscipere aut animam suam inmortalem esse credere.
For it is God who alone can honour virtue, whose reward is immortality alone. Those who do not seek this, nor hold the religion to which eternal life belongs, surely neither know the power of virtue, whose reward they do not know, nor look to heaven, as they think they do when they search out things that cannot be traced; because there is no other reason for looking to heaven but either to take up religion or to believe that one's soul is immortal.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only God rewards virtue, with immortality; looking to heaven means religion and hope of immortality.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.13 (CSEL 19:263; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-13).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-13) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.14CSEL 19:263
quisquis enim aut deum colendum esse intellegit aut inmortalitatis spem propositam sibi habet, mens eius in caelo est et licet id non aspiciat oculis, animi tamen lumine aspicit.
For whoever either understands that God is to be worshipped or has the hope of immortality set before him, his mind is in heaven; and though he does not behold it with his eyes, yet he beholds it with the light of the soul.
Notes and citation
Summary: The worshipper's mind is in heaven.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.14 (CSEL 19:263; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-14).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-14) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.15CSEL 19:263
qui autem religionem non suscipiunt, terreni sunt, quia religio de caelo est, et qui animam putant cum corpore interire, aeque in terram spectant, quia ultra corpus, quod est terra, nihil amplius uident quod sit inmortale.
But those who do not take up religion are earthly, because religion is from heaven; and those who think the soul perishes with the body likewise look to the earth, because beyond the body, which is earth, they see nothing further that is immortal.
Notes and citation
Summary: The irreligious and those who deny immortality are earthbound.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.15 (CSEL 19:263; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-15).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-15) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
3.27.16CSEL 19:263–264
nihil igitur prodest ita fictum esse hominem, ut recto corpore spectet in caelum, nisi erecta mente deum cernat et cogitatio eius in spe uitae perpetuae tota uersetur.
It profits nothing, then, that man is so formed as to look to heaven with upright body, unless with upright mind he beholds God and his whole thought is occupied with the hope of everlasting life.
Notes and citation
Summary: An upright body is useless without an upright mind fixed on God and eternal life.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 3.27.16 (CSEL 19:263–264; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/3-20-1/#p-3-27-16).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-3-27-16) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).