Divine Institutes 6.21.1–6.25.16
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 6, chapter 21
6.21.1CSEL 19:562
Aurium uoluptas ex uocum et cantuum suauitate percipitur, quae scilicet tam uitiosa est quam oblectatio illa de qua diximus oculorum.
The pleasure of the ears is taken from the sweetness of voices and songs, and it is just as vicious as that delight of the eyes of which we have spoken.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pleasure of the ears is also dangerous.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.21.1 (CSEL 19:562; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-21-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.21.2CSEL 19:562
quis enim non luxuriosum ac nequam putet eum qui scaenicas artes domi habeat? atquin nihil refert utrumne luxuriam solus domi an cum populo exerceas in theatro.
For who would not think a man luxurious and worthless who keeps stage performers at home? Yet it makes no difference whether you indulge in luxury alone at home or with the people in the theater.
Notes and citation
Summary: Private or public, stage luxury is the same.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.21.2 (CSEL 19:562; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-21-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.21.3CSEL 19:562
sed iam de spectaculis dictum est. restat unum quod est nobis expugnandum, ne capiamur iis quae ad sensum intimum penetrant. nam illa omnia quae uerbis carent, id est aeris ac neruorum suaues soni possunt facile contemni, quia non adhaerent nec scribi possunt.
But enough has been said of spectacles. One thing remains which we must overcome, lest we be captured by what penetrates to our inmost sense. For all those things that lack words, that is, the sweet sounds of brass and strings, can easily be disregarded, because they do not stick and cannot be written down.
Notes and citation
Summary: Music without words is easily resisted.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.21.3 (CSEL 19:562; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-21-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.21.4CSEL 19:562
carmen autem compositum et oratio cum suauitate decurrens capit mentes et quo uoluerit inpellit. inde homines litterati cum ad religionem dei accesserint ab aliquo inperito doctore fundati, minus credunt.
But a well-composed poem and a speech flowing sweetly capture minds and drive them wherever they wish. That is why literary men, when they come to the religion of God, if grounded by some unskilled teacher, believe less.
Notes and citation
Summary: Literary people are hindered by plain Christian teaching.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.21.4 (CSEL 19:562; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-21-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.21.5CSEL 19:562
adsueti enim dulcibus et politis siue orationibus siue carminibus diuinarum litterarum simplicem communemque sermonem pro sordido aspernantur. id enim quaerunt quod sensum demulceat, persuadet autem quidquid suaue est et animo penitus, dum delectat, insidit.
For, used to sweet and polished speeches or poems, they scorn the simple and common language of the divine writings as vulgar. For they seek what soothes the sense; and whatever is sweet persuades and, while it delights, settles deep in the soul.
Notes and citation
Summary: They scorn Scripture's plain style.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: n for u): sine orationibus siue → siue orationibus siue.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.21.5 (CSEL 19:562; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-21-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.21.6CSEL 19:562–563
num igitur deus et mentis et uocis et linguae artifex diserte loqui non potest? immo uero summa prouidentia carere fuco uoluit ea quae diuina sunt, ut omnes intellegerent quae ipse omnibus loquebatur.
Can God, then, the maker of mind, voice, and tongue, not speak eloquently? On the contrary, with the highest providence he willed divine things to lack cosmetic paint, so that all might understand what he himself was saying to all.
Notes and citation
Summary: God made Scripture plain so all could understand.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.21.6 (CSEL 19:562–563; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-21-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.21.7CSEL 19:563
ergo qui ueritati studet, qui non uult se ipse deicere, abiciat inimicas ac noxias uoluptates, quae animam uitiant ut corpus cibi dulces: praeferantur uera falsis, aeterna breuibus, utilia iucundis.
So whoever is devoted to truth and does not want to cast himself down, let him throw away hostile and harmful pleasures, which spoil the soul as sweet foods spoil the body: let the true be preferred to the false, the eternal to the brief, the useful to the pleasant.
Notes and citation
Summary: Prefer the true, eternal, and useful.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.21.7 (CSEL 19:563; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-21-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.21.8CSEL 19:563
nihil aspectu gratum sit nisi quod iuste, quod pie fieri uideas, nihil auditu suaue nisi quod alit animam melioremque te reddit, maximeque hic sensus non est ad uitium detorquendus, qui nobis ideo datus est, ut doctrinam dei percipere possemus.
Let nothing be pleasing to the sight except what you see done justly and piously; nothing sweet to the hearing except what nourishes the soul and makes you better; and above all this sense must not be twisted to vice, since it was given to us so that we could receive the teaching of God.
Notes and citation
Summary: Use sight and hearing for good.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.21.8 (CSEL 19:563; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-21-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.21.9CSEL 19:563
itaque si uoluptas est audire cantus et carmina, dei laudes canere et audire iucundum sit.
So if it is a pleasure to hear songs and poems, let it be a delight to sing and hear the praises of God.
Col 3:16 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Sing God's praises.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.21.9 (CSEL 19:563; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-21-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.21.10CSEL 19:563
haec est uoluptas uera quae comes est et socia uirtutis, haec non est caduca et breuis ut illae quas adpetunt qui corpori ut pecudes seruiunt, sed perpetua et sine ulla intermissione delectans.
This is the true pleasure, which is the companion and partner of virtue; this is not fleeting and brief like those sought by people who serve the body like cattle, but perpetual and delighting without any interruption.
Notes and citation
Summary: True pleasure accompanies virtue and lasts.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.21.10 (CSEL 19:563; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-21-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.21.11CSEL 19:563
cuius terminos si quis excesserit nihilque aliut ex uoluptate petierit nisi ipsam uoluptatem, hic mortem meditatur, quia sicut uita perpetua in uirtute est, ita mors in uoluptate.
If anyone oversteps its limits and seeks nothing from pleasure but pleasure itself, he is contemplating death; for just as perpetual life lies in virtue, so death lies in pleasure.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pleasure for its own sake leads to death.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.21.11 (CSEL 19:563; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-21-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.21.12CSEL 19:563–564
qui enim temporalia maluerit, carebit aeternis, qui terrena praetulerit, caelestia non habebit.
For whoever prefers temporal things will lack eternal ones; whoever puts earthly things first will not have heavenly ones.
Notes and citation
Summary: Choosing the temporal forfeits the eternal.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.21.12 (CSEL 19:563–564; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-21-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 6, chapter 22
6.22.1CSEL 19:564
Ad uoluptates autem saporis et odoris, qui duo sensus ad solum corpus pertinent, nihil est quod a nobis disputetur, nisi forte quis exigit ut dicamus turpe esse sapienti ac bono, si uentri et gulae seruiat, si unguentis oblitus aut floribus coronatus incedat: quae qui facit, utique insipiens et ineptus et nihili est et quem ne odor quidem uirtutis attigerit.
About the pleasures of taste and smell, two senses that concern the body alone, there is nothing for us to discuss, unless perhaps someone demands that we say it is shameful for a wise and good man to serve his belly and gullet, or to go about smeared with perfumes or crowned with flowers. Whoever does these things is surely foolish, silly, and worthless, and not even the scent of virtue has touched him.
Notes and citation
Summary: Gluttony and perfumes are unworthy of the wise.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.22.1 (CSEL 19:564; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-22-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.22.2CSEL 19:564
fortasse quispiam dixerit cur ergo illa facta sunt, nisi ut iis fruamur? at enim saepe iam dictum est uirtutem nullam futuram fuisse, nisi haberet quae opprimeret. itaque fecit omnia deus ad instruendum certamen rerum duarum.
Perhaps someone will say: "Why then were these things made, if not for us to enjoy them?" But it has often been said already that there would have been no virtue unless it had something to overcome. So God made all things to set up a contest between two things.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pleasures exist so that virtue may overcome them.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.22.2 (CSEL 19:564; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-22-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.22.3CSEL 19:564
ergo inlecebrae istae uoluptatum arma sunt illius cuius unum opus est expugnare uirtutem iustitiamque ab hominibus excludere. his blandimentis et suauitatibus titillat animas: scit enim quia mortis est fabricatrix uoluptas.
So these enticements of pleasures are the weapons of the one whose sole work is to overcome virtue and shut justice out from human beings. With these charms and sweetnesses he tickles souls, for he knows that pleasure is the maker of death.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pleasures are the devil's weapons.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: m for in): mlecebrae → inlecebrae.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.22.3 (CSEL 19:564; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-22-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.22.4CSEL 19:564
nam sicut deus hominem ad uitam non nisi per uirtutem ac laborem uocat, ita ille ad mortem per delicias ac uoluptates, et sicut ad uerum bonum per fallacia mala, sic ad uerum malum per fallacia bona peruenitur.
For just as God calls man to life only through virtue and labor, so the other calls him to death through delights and pleasures; and as one reaches the true good through deceptive evils, so one reaches the true evil through deceptive goods.
Notes and citation
Summary: Deceptive goods lead to true evil.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.22.4 (CSEL 19:564; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-22-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.22.5CSEL 19:564
cauenda sunt igitur oblectamenta ista tamquam laquei et plagae, ne suauitudinum mollitie capti sub dicionem mortis cum ipso corpore redigamur, cui nos manciparimus.
So these delights must be avoided as snares and nets, lest, captured by the softness of sweetness, we be brought under the rule of death together with the body itself, to which we have made ourselves slaves.
Notes and citation
Summary: Avoid pleasures as snares.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.22.5 (CSEL 19:564; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-22-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 6, chapter 23
6.23.1CSEL 19:564–565
Venio nunc ad eam quae percipitur ex tactu uoluptatem: qui sensus est quidem totius corporis. sed ego non de ornamentis ac uestibus, sed de sola libidine dicendum mihi puto, quae maxime coercenda est, quia maxime nocet.
I come now to the pleasure perceived through touch, a sense which belongs to the whole body. But I think I must speak not of ornaments and clothing but of lust alone, which must be restrained most, because it does the most harm.
Notes and citation
Summary: He turns to the pleasure of touch, especially lust.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.1 (CSEL 19:564–565; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.2CSEL 19:565
cum excogitasset deus duorum sexuum rationem, adtribuit iis ut se inuicem adpeterent et coniunctione gauderent. itaque ardentissimam cupiditatem cunctarum animantium corporibus admiscuit, ut in hos adfectus auidissime ruerent eaque ratione propagari et multiplicari genera possent.
When God had devised the plan of two sexes, he gave them to desire one another and to delight in union. So he mixed into the bodies of all living beings a most ardent desire, so that they would rush most eagerly into these feelings and by this means the kinds could be propagated and multiplied.
Gen 1:28 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God gave the two sexes desire for union so that kinds would multiply.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.2 (CSEL 19:565; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.3CSEL 19:565
quae cupiditas et adpetentia in homine uehementior et acrior inuenitur, uel quia hominum multitudinem uoluit esse maiorem uel quoniam uirtutem soli homini dedit, ut esset laus et gloria in coercendis uoluptatibus et abstinentia sui.
This desire and appetite is found stronger and keener in man, either because God willed the number of human beings to be greater, or because he gave virtue to man alone, so that there might be praise and glory in restraining pleasures and in self-control.
Notes and citation
Summary: Desire is stronger in man, so that restraint may be virtuous.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.3 (CSEL 19:565; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.4CSEL 19:565
scit ergo aduersarius ille noster quanta sit uis huius cupiditatis, quam quidam necessitatem dicere maluerunt, eamque a recto et bono ad prauum et malum transfert.
So our adversary knows how great the force of this desire is, which some have preferred to call a necessity, and he turns it from what is right and good to what is perverse and evil.
Notes and citation
Summary: The devil twists sexual desire toward evil.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.4 (CSEL 19:565; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.5CSEL 19:565
inlicita enim desideria inmittit, ut aliena contaminent quibus habere propria sine delicto licet. obicit quippe oculis inritabiles formas suggeritque fomenta et uitiis pabulum subministrat;
For he sends unlawful desires, so that those who may have their own without sin defile what belongs to others. He sets provocative forms before the eyes, supplies fuel, and provides food for vices;
Notes and citation
Summary: He prompts desire for others' spouses.
- "Their own": their own wives or husbands. The sentence continues in the next section.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.5 (CSEL 19:565; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.6CSEL 19:565
tum in intimis uisceribus stimulos omnes conturbat et commouet et naturalem illum incitat atque inflammat ardorem, donec inretitum hominem inplicatumque decipiat.
then he stirs and disturbs all the goads in the inmost parts, and rouses and inflames that natural heat, until he ensnares, entangles, and deceives the man.
Notes and citation
Summary: He inflames desire until the person is trapped.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.6 (CSEL 19:565; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.7CSEL 19:565
ac ne quis esset qui poenarum metu abstineret alieno, lupanaria quoque constituit et pudorem infelicium mulierum publicauit, ut ludibrio haberet tam eos qui faciunt quam quas pati necesse est.
And so that there would be no one who kept from another's wife through fear of punishment, he also set up brothels and made public the shame of unhappy women, so as to make sport of both the men who do it and the women who must suffer it.
Notes and citation
Summary: The devil established brothels.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.7 (CSEL 19:565; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.8CSEL 19:565–566
his obscenitatibus animas ad sanctitatem genitas uelut in caeni gurgite demersit, pudorem extinxit, pudicitiam flagitauit. idem etiam mares maribus adplicuit et nefandos coitus contra naturam contraque institutum dei machinatus est. sic imbuit homines et armauit ad nefas omne.
With these obscenities he plunged souls born for holiness as into a whirlpool of mud, extinguished modesty, and outraged chastity. He also joined males to males and contrived unspeakable acts of intercourse against nature and against the ordinance of God. So he steeped people in every wickedness and armed them for it.
Rom 1:27 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: He brought in homosexual acts against nature and God's ordinance.
- Compare Rom 1:26–27. The author's view is stated as written.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.8 (CSEL 19:565–566; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.9CSEL 19:566
quid enim potest esse sanctum iis qui aetatem inbecillam et praesidio indigentem libidini suae depopulandam foedandamque
For what can be holy to those who have subjected a weak age, needing protection, to their lust, to be ravaged and defiled?
Notes and citation
Summary: The abuse of children is condemned.
- The question continues across the division into the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: us for iis): sanctum us qui → sanctum iis qui.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.9 (CSEL 19:566; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.10CSEL 19:566
substrauerint? non potest haec res pro magnitudine sceleris enarrari. nihil amplius istos appellare possum quam inpios et parricidas, quibus non sufficit sexus a deo datus, nisi etiam suum sexum profane ac petulanter inludant. haec tamen apud illos leuia et quasi honesta sunt.
This thing cannot be described as the greatness of the crime deserves. I can call these men nothing more than impious and parricides, for whom the sex given by God is not enough, but who must also make profane and wanton sport of their own sex. Yet among them these things are light and almost honorable.
Notes and citation
Summary: Such acts are impious, yet treated as trivial by pagans.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: garbled letters; OCR: garbled word and stray letter; OCR: n for ri): sunstrauennt t → substrauerint?; magmtuaine → magnitudine; scelens → sceleris.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.10 (CSEL 19:566; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.11CSEL 19:566
quid dicam de iis qui abominandam non libidinem, sed insaniam potius exercent? piget dicere, sed quid iis fore credamus quos non piget facere? et tamen dicendum est, quia fit: de istis loquor quorum teterrima libido et execrabilis furor ne capiti quidem parcit.
What shall I say of those who practice not lust but rather an abominable madness? It is painful to say, but what shall we think awaits those who are not pained to do it? And yet it must be said, because it is done: I speak of those whose most foul lust and accursed fury does not spare even the head.
Notes and citation
Summary: He condemns a still more shameful practice.
- "Does not spare even the head" refers to a sexual act involving the mouth; the author does not specify further.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.11 (CSEL 19:566; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.12CSEL 19:566
quibus hoc uerbis aut qua indignatione tantum nefas prosequar? uincit officium linguae sceleris magnitudo. cum igitur libido haec edat opera et haec facinora designet, armandi aduersus eam uirtute maxima sumus.
With what words or with what indignation shall I pursue so great a wickedness? The greatness of the crime overcomes the power of the tongue. Since, then, lust produces these works and devises these crimes, we must be armed against it with the greatest virtue.
Notes and citation
Summary: We must arm ourselves against lust.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.12 (CSEL 19:566; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.13CSEL 19:566
quisquis affectus illos frenare non potest, cohibeat eos intra praescriptum legitimi tori, ut et illut quod auide expetit consequatur et tamen in peccatum non incidat.
Whoever cannot rein in those feelings, let him keep them within the bounds of the lawful marriage bed, so that he both obtains what he eagerly desires and yet does not fall into sin.
1 Cor 7:9 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Whoever cannot restrain desire should keep it within marriage.
- Compare 1 Cor 7:9.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.13 (CSEL 19:566; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.14CSEL 19:566
nam quid sibi homines perditi nolunt? nempe honesta opera uoluptas sequitur: si ipsam per se adpetunt, iusta et legitima frui licet.
For what do lost men want for themselves? Surely pleasure follows honorable works; if they seek pleasure for itself, they may enjoy what is just and lawful.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pleasure may be enjoyed lawfully in marriage.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.14 (CSEL 19:566; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.15CSEL 19:566–567
quodsi aliqua necessitas prohibebit, tum uero maxime adhibenda uirtus erit, ut cupiditati continentia reluctetur. nec tantum alienis toris quaeque attingere non licet, uerum etiam publicis uulgatisque corporibus abstinendum deus praecipit docetque nos, cum duo inter se corpora fuerint copulata, unum corpus efficere.
But if some necessity prevents it, then indeed virtue must be applied most of all, so that self-control may resist desire. And not only is it forbidden to touch anyone in another's bed, but God commands that we abstain also from public and common bodies, and teaches us that when two bodies are joined together, they make one body.
1 Cor 6:16 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 2:24 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Where marriage is impossible, continence; God forbids adultery and prostitution.
- "Public and common bodies": prostitutes. Compare 1 Cor 6:16 and Gen 2:24.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR dropped letters): probebit → prohibebit.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.15 (CSEL 19:566–567; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.16CSEL 19:567
ita qui se caeno inmerserit, caeno sit oblitus necesse est. et corpus quidem cito ablui potest, mens autem contagione inpudici corporis inquinata non potest nisi et longo tempore et multis bonis operibus ab ea quae inhaeserit conluuione purgari.
So whoever has plunged himself into mud must be smeared with mud. The body indeed can quickly be washed, but the mind, defiled by contact with an unchaste body, can be purged of the filth that has stuck to it only over a long time and by many good works.
Notes and citation
Summary: Sexual sin defiles the mind, which is cleansed only slowly.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): ab ea. quae → ab ea quae.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.16 (CSEL 19:567; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.17CSEL 19:567
oportet ergo sibi quemque proponere duorum sexuum coniunctionem generandi causa datam esse uiuentibus eamque legem his affectibus positam, ut successionem parent.
So each person should set before himself that the union of the two sexes was given to living beings for the sake of begetting, and that this law was laid on these feelings, that they should produce offspring.
Notes and citation
Summary: Sexual union was given for procreation.
- Lactantius's view that the purpose of sexual union is procreation.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.17 (CSEL 19:567; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-17).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.18CSEL 19:567
sicut autem dedit nobis oculos deus non ut spectemus uoluptatemque capiamus, sed ut uideamus propter eos actus qui pertinent ad uitae necessitatem, ita genitalem corporis partem, quod nomen ipsum docet, nulla alia causa nisi efficiendae subolis accepimus.
For just as God gave us eyes not to gaze and take pleasure but to see for the sake of those actions that belong to the needs of life, so we received the genital part of the body, as its very name teaches, for no other reason than to produce offspring.
Notes and citation
Summary: The genitals are for procreation, as the name shows.
- The name: genitalis, from gignere, "to beget."
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.18 (CSEL 19:567; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-18).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.19CSEL 19:567
huic diuinae legi summa deuotione parendum est. sint omnes qui se discipulos dei profitebuntur ita morati et instituti, ut inperare sibi possint.
This divine law must be obeyed with the greatest devotion. Let all who profess themselves disciples of God be so disciplined and trained that they can command themselves.
Notes and citation
Summary: Disciples of God must master themselves.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.19 (CSEL 19:567; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-19).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.20CSEL 19:567
nam qui uoluptatibus indulgent, qui libidini obsecuntur, hi animam suam corpori mancipant ad mortemque condemnant, quia se corpori addixerunt, in quod habet mors potestatem.
For those who indulge pleasures and obey lust make their soul a slave to the body and condemn it to death, because they have given themselves over to the body, over which death has power.
Rom 8:13 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Serving lust enslaves the soul to death.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: ti for u): qtii → qui.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.20 (CSEL 19:567; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-20).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.21CSEL 19:567
unus quisque igitur quantum potest formet se ad verecundiam, pudorem colat, castitatem conscientia et mente tueatur: nec tantum legibus publicis pareat, sed sit supra omnes leges qui legem dei sequitur.
So let each person, as far as he can, train himself to modesty, cultivate shame, and guard chastity in conscience and mind; and let him not only obey public laws, but let one who follows the law of God be above all laws.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cultivate modesty and chastity beyond what law requires.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.21 (CSEL 19:567; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-21).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.22CSEL 19:567–568
quibus bonis si adsueuerit, iam pudebit eum ad deteriora desciscere: modo placeant recta et honesta, quae melioribus iucundiora sunt quam praua et inhonesta peioribus.
If he has grown used to these goods, he will be ashamed to fall away to worse things; only let right and honorable things please him, which are more delightful to the better than perverse and dishonorable things are to the worse.
Notes and citation
Summary: Habit in virtue makes vice shameful.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.22 (CSEL 19:567–568; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-22).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.23CSEL 19:568
nondum omnia castitatis officia exsecutus sum: quam deus non modo intra priuatos parietes, sed etiam praescripto lectuli terminat, ut cum quis habeat uxorem, neque seruam neque liberam habere insuper uelit, sed matrimonio fidem seruet.
I have not yet gone through all the duties of chastity. God limits it not only within private walls but even by the rule of the marriage bed, so that when a man has a wife, he may not wish to have in addition either a slave woman or a free woman, but may keep faith with his marriage.
Notes and citation
Summary: A married man may have no other woman, slave or free.
- This forbids concubinage, which Roman custom tolerated for married men.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.23 (CSEL 19:568; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-23).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.24CSEL 19:568
non enim, sicut iuris publici ratio est, sola mulier adultera est quae habet alium, maritus autem etiamsi plures habeat, a crimine adulterii so-
For it is not, as the reasoning of public law has it, that only the woman who has another man is an adulteress, while the husband, even if he has several women, is free from the charge of adultery;
Notes and citation
Summary: Unlike Roman law, God's law does not excuse the husband.
- Roman law defined adultery as sex with a married woman; a husband's relations with unmarried women were not adultery. The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: m for ni, lU for iu, n for r): non emm, sicut lUns → non enim, sicut iuris.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.24 (CSEL 19:568; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-24).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.25CSEL 19:568
lutus est, sed diuina lex ita duos in matrimonium, quod est in corpus unum, pari iure coniungit, ut adulter habeatur quisquis compagem corporis in diuersa distraxerit.
but the divine law joins the two in marriage, that is, into one body, with equal right, so that whoever tears apart the union of the body in different directions is held an adulterer.
Gen 2:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 19:5 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God's law binds husband and wife equally; either is an adulterer if unfaithful.
- "One body" echoes Gen 2:24 and Matt 19:5–6.
Topics: Marriage, Divorce and remarriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.25 (CSEL 19:568; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-25).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.26CSEL 19:568
nec ob aliam causam deus cum ceteras animantes suscepto fetu maribus repugnare uoluisset, solam omnium mulierem patientem uiri fecit, scilicet ne feminis repugnantibus libido cogeret uiros aliut adpetere eoque facto castitatis gloriam non tenerent.
And for no other reason, while God willed that other animals resist the males once they have conceived, did he make woman alone of all to be receptive to her husband: namely, lest, if women refused, lust should drive men to seek something else, and by doing so they would not keep the glory of chastity.
Notes and citation
Summary: Woman remains receptive during pregnancy so men will not seek others.
- The author's explanation, stated as written.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.26 (CSEL 19:568; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-26).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.27CSEL 19:568
sed neque mulier uirtutem pudicitiae caperet, si peccare non posset. nam quis mutum animal pudicum esse dixerit, quia suscepto fetu mari repugnat? quod ideo facit, quia necesse est in dolorem atque in periculum ueniat, si admiserit.
But neither would a woman possess the virtue of modesty if she could not sin. For who would call a dumb animal chaste because it resists the male once it has conceived? It does so because it would necessarily come to pain and danger if it admitted him.
Notes and citation
Summary: Chastity is a virtue only where sin is possible.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.27 (CSEL 19:568; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-27).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.28CSEL 19:568
nulla igitur laus est non facere quod facere non possis. ideo autem pudicitia in homine laudatur, quia non naturalis est, sed uoluntaria.
There is no praise, then, in not doing what you cannot do. And modesty is praised in human beings precisely because it is not natural but voluntary.
Notes and citation
Summary: Human chastity is praiseworthy because it is chosen.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.28 (CSEL 19:568; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-28).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.29CSEL 19:569
seruanda igitur fides ab utroque alteri est, immo exemplo continentiae docenda uxor ut se caste gerat. iniquum est enim ut id exigas quod praestare ipse non possis. quae iniquitas effecit profecto ut essent adulteria, feminis aegre ferentibus praestare se fidem non exhibentibus mutuam caritatem.
So faith must be kept by each to the other; indeed, the wife must be taught by the example of the husband's continence to conduct herself chastely. For it is unfair to demand what you yourself cannot give. This unfairness has certainly produced adulteries, since women resent keeping faith with those who do not show them mutual love.
1 Cor 7:4 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Husband and wife owe equal fidelity; a husband's example teaches his wife.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.29 (CSEL 19:569; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-29).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.30CSEL 19:569
denique nulla est tam perditi pudoris adultera quae non hanc causam uitiis suis praetendat, iniuriam se peccando non facere, sed referre. quod optime Quintilianus expressit. homo inquit neque alieni matrimonii abstinens neque sui custos — quae inter se natura conexa sunt.
In short, there is no adulteress of such lost modesty that she does not put forward this excuse for her vices: that by sinning she does not do an injury but returns one. Quintilian expressed this excellently: "A man neither keeping from another's marriage nor guarding his own"; things which are by nature bound together.
Notes and citation
Summary: Unfaithful wives excuse themselves by their husbands' infidelity.
- Quintilian, from a lost declamation (no id for Quintilian in the controlled list).
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.30 (CSEL 19:569; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-30).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.31CSEL 19:569
nam neque maritus circa corrumpendas aliorum coniuges occupatus potest uacare domesticae sanctitati et uxor cum in tale incidit matrimonium, exemplo ipso concitata aut imitari se putat aut uindicare.
For neither can a husband busy with corrupting other men's wives have leisure for the holiness of his own home, and the wife, when she has fallen into such a marriage, roused by his very example, thinks she is either imitating him or taking revenge.
Notes and citation
Summary: A husband's adultery provokes his wife's.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.31 (CSEL 19:569; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-31).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.32CSEL 19:569
cauendum igitur, ne occasionem uitiis nostra intemperantia demus, sed adsuescant inuicem mores duorum et iugum paribus animis ferant: nos ipsos in altero cogitemus. nam fere in hoc iustitiae summa consistit, ut non facias alteri quidquid ipse ab altero pati nolis.
So we must take care not to give occasion to vices by our own lack of self-control; rather, let the characters of the two grow used to each other and bear the yoke with equal minds; let us think of ourselves in the other. For the sum of justice lies almost entirely in this: that you do not do to another whatever you would not wish to suffer from another.
Matt 7:12 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Spouses should bear the yoke together, following the golden rule.
- The negative form of the golden rule; compare Tob 4:15 and Matt 7:12.
Extrabiblical texts: Tob 4:15 (Tobit [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.32 (CSEL 19:569; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-32).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.33CSEL 19:569–570
haec sunt quae ad continentiam praecipiuntur a deo. sed tamen ne quis diuina praecepta circumscribere se putet posse, adduntur illa, ut omnis calumnia et occasio fraudis remoueatur, adulterum esse qui a marito dimissam duxerit et eum qui praeter crimen adulterii uxorem dimiserit, ut alteram ducat: dissociari enim corpus et distrahi deus noluit;
These are the precepts God gives for continence. But lest anyone think he can get around the divine precepts, these are added, so that every false pretext and occasion for fraud may be removed: that he is an adulterer who marries a woman dismissed by her husband, and so is he who, apart from the charge of adultery, dismisses his wife in order to marry another; for God did not will that one body be separated and torn apart.
Matt 5:32 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 19:9 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 16:18 (allusion, medium confidence) · Mark 10:11 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Marrying a divorced woman, or divorcing a wife (except for adultery) to marry another, is adultery.
- A paraphrase of Matt 5:32 and 19:9 (compare Mark 10:11–12; Luke 16:18). "Apart from the charge of adultery" (praeter crimen adulterii) renders the exception clause; Lactantius names adultery (adulterium) as the exception. The man who dismisses his wife to marry another is called an adulterer; the passage does not state whether a man who dismisses his wife for adultery may remarry.
Topics: Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage, Divorce and remarriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.33 (CSEL 19:569–570; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-33).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.34CSEL 19:570
praeterea non tantum adulterium esse uitandum, uerum etiam cogitationem, ne quis aspiciat alienam et animo concupiscat: adulteram enim fieri mentem, si uel imaginem uoluptatis sibi ipsa depinxerit.
Moreover, not only adultery must be avoided but even the thought of it, so that no one looks at another's wife and desires her in his mind; for the mind becomes adulterous even if it merely paints for itself an image of the pleasure.
Matt 5:28 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Even the thought of adultery must be avoided.
- Matt 5:28.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.34 (CSEL 19:570; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-34).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.35CSEL 19:570
mens est enim profecto quae peccat, quae immoderatae libidinis fructum cogitatione conplectitur, in hac crimen est, in hac omne delictum.
For it is surely the mind that sins, which embraces in thought the fruit of immoderate lust; in it lies the crime, in it every offense.
Notes and citation
Summary: Sin lies in the mind.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.35 (CSEL 19:570; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-35).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.36CSEL 19:570
nam etsi corpus nulla sit labe maculatum, non constat tamen pudicitiae ratio, si animus incestus est, nec inlibata castitas uideri potest, ubi conscientiam cupiditas inquinauit.
For even if the body is marked by no stain, the principle of modesty does not stand if the soul is unchaste, nor can chastity seem unimpaired where desire has defiled the conscience.
Notes and citation
Summary: Chastity requires a pure mind, not only a pure body.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.36 (CSEL 19:570; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-36).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.37CSEL 19:570
nec uero aliquis existimet difficile esse frenos inponere uoluptati eamque uagam et errantem castitatis pudicitiaeque limitibus includere, cum propositum sit hominibus eam uincere ac plurimi beatam atque incorruptam corporis integritatem retinuerint multique sint qui hoc caelesti genere uitae felicissime perfruantur.
Nor let anyone think it difficult to put reins on pleasure and to confine it, wandering and straying, within the bounds of chastity and modesty, since it has been set before human beings to conquer it, and very many have kept the blessed and uncorrupted integrity of the body, and there are many who enjoy this heavenly kind of life most happily.
Notes and citation
Summary: Many have kept perpetual virginity.
- "Integrity of the body": virginity.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.37 (CSEL 19:570; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-37).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.38CSEL 19:570
quod quidem deus non ita fieri praecipit tamquam adstringat, quia generari homines oportet, sed tamquam sinat. scit enim quantam his adfectibus inposuerit necessitatem. si quis hoc inquit facere potuerit, habebit eximiam inconparabilemque mercedem.
God does not command this to be done as if binding us, since human beings must be begotten, but as permitting it. For he knows how great a necessity he has laid on these feelings. "If anyone," he says, "is able to do this, he will have an outstanding and incomparable reward."
Matt 19:12 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 7:7 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Virginity is permitted, not commanded, and greatly rewarded.
- The saying is not an exact biblical quotation; compare Matt 19:12 and 1 Cor 7:7, 25–28.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.38 (CSEL 19:570; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-38).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.39CSEL 19:570–571
quod continentiae genus quasi fastigium est omnium consummatioque uirtutum. ad quam si quis eniti atque eluctari potuerit, hunc seruum dominus, hunc discipulum magister adgnoscet: hic terram triumphabit, hic erit consimilis deo, qui uirtutem dei cepit.
This kind of continence is, as it were, the summit and consummation of all the virtues. If anyone can strive and struggle up to it, the Lord will recognize him as servant, the Master as disciple; he will triumph over the earth; he will be like God, having taken on the virtue of God.
Notes and citation
Summary: Continence is the summit of the virtues.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.39 (CSEL 19:570–571; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-39).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.23.40CSEL 19:571
haec quidem difficilia uidentur, sed de eo loquimur cui calcatis omnibus terrenis iter in caelum paratur. nam quia uirtus in dei agnitione consistit, omnia grauia sunt, dum ignores, ubi cognoris, facilia: per ipsas difficultates nobis exeundum est, qui ad summum bonum tendimus.
These things seem difficult indeed, but we are speaking of one for whom, all earthly things trampled underfoot, the road to heaven is being prepared. For since virtue consists in the knowledge of God, all things are hard while you do not know him, easy once you have known him. Through these very difficulties we must make our way, we who strive toward the highest good.
Notes and citation
Summary: Knowing God makes the hard way easy.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.23.40 (CSEL 19:571; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-23-40).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 6, chapter 24
6.24.1CSEL 19:571
Nec tamen deficiat aliquis aut de se ipse desperet, si aut cupiditate uictus aut libidine inpulsus aut errore deceptus aut ui coactus ad iniustitiae uiam lapsus est. potest enim reduci ac liberari, si eum paeniteat actorum et ad meliora conuersus satis deo faciat.
Yet let no one lose heart or despair of himself if, overcome by greed, driven by lust, deceived by error, or forced by violence, he has slipped onto the way of injustice. For he can be brought back and set free if he repents of what he has done and, turned to better things, makes satisfaction to God.
Notes and citation
Summary: The fallen can be restored through repentance.
- "Repents" renders paeniteat; "makes satisfaction" (satis faciat) is the language of penance.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.1 (CSEL 19:571; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.2CSEL 19:571
quod fieri posse Cicero non putauit, cuius haec in Academico tertio uerba sunt: quodsi liceret ut iis qui in itinere deerrauissent, sic uitam deuiam secutis corrigere errorem paenitendo, facilior esset emendatio temeritatis. licet plane.
Cicero did not think this possible; these are his words in the third book of the Academics: "But if, as those who have gone astray on a journey may, so those who have followed a devious life could correct their error by repenting, the amendment of rashness would be easier." It plainly is possible.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero doubted that repentance could correct a life; it can.
- Cicero, Academics (lost part; fragment).
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; quotation)
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.2 (CSEL 19:571; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.3CSEL 19:571–572
nam si liberos nostros, cum delictorum suorum cernimus paenitere, correctos esse arbitramur et abdicatos abiectosque rursus tamen suscipimus fouemus amplectimur, cur desperemus clementiam ueri
For if, when we see our children repent of their faults, we consider them corrected, and though we had disowned and cast them off, we take them back again, cherish, and embrace them, why should we despair that the mercy of the true
Luke 15:20 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: As parents forgive repentant children, so God forgives.
- Compare Luke 15:11–32. The sentence continues in the next section.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.3 (CSEL 19:571–572; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.4CSEL 19:572
patris paenitendo posse placari? ergo idem dominus ac parens indulgentissimus remissurum se paenitentibus peccata promittit et obliteraturum omnes iniquitates eius qui iustitiam denuo coeperit operari.
Father can be won by repentance? So the same Lord and most indulgent Parent promises that he will forgive the sins of those who repent and will blot out all the iniquities of the one who has begun again to do justice.
Ezek 18:21 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God promises to forgive the repentant.
- Compare Ezek 18:21–22; 33:14–16.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: n for ri, m for ni, t for question mark): patns paemtendo posse placarit → patris paenitendo posse placari?.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.4 (CSEL 19:572; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.5CSEL 19:572
sicut enim nihil prodest male uiuenti ante actae uitae probitas, quia superueniens nequitia iustitiae opera deleuit, ita nihil officiunt peccata uetera correcto, quia superueniens iustitia labem uitae prioris aboleuit.
For just as the uprightness of his former life is of no benefit to one who lives badly, because the wickedness that followed has wiped out the works of justice, so old sins do no harm to one who has been corrected, because the justice that followed has abolished the stain of his former life.
Ezek 18:24 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Later justice wipes out earlier sins, and later wickedness earlier good.
- Compare Ezek 18:24–27.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray colon): uitae: probitas → uitae probitas.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.5 (CSEL 19:572; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.6CSEL 19:572
quem enim facti sui paenitet, errorem suum pristinum intellegit, ideoque Graeci melius et significantius μετάνοιαν dicunt quam nos Latine possumus resipiscentiam dicere. resipiscit enim ac mentem suam quasi ab insania recipit quem errati piget, castigatque se ipsum dementiae et confirmat animum suum ad rectius uiuendum: tum illud ipsum maxime cauet, ne rursus in eosdem laqueos induatur.
For whoever repents of his deed understands his former error; and so the Greeks say metanoia, better and more expressively than we can say resipiscentia in Latin. For one who regrets his error comes to his senses and recovers his mind as if from madness; he rebukes himself for his folly and strengthens his mind to live more rightly; then he takes the greatest care not to be caught again in the same snares.
Notes and citation
Summary: Repentance (metanoia) is coming to one's senses.
- Greek metanoia, "change of mind"; Latin resipiscentia, "coming to one's senses."
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: n for u; OCR: wrong Greek letters): μετϰ́νοταν → μετάνοιαν; maxime canet → maxime cauet.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.6 (CSEL 19:572; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.7CSEL 19:572
denique muta quoque animalia cum fraude capiuntur, si aliquo se modo in fugam extricauerint, fiunt postmodum cautiora uitantque semper ea omnia in quibus dolos insidiasque senserunt.
Even dumb animals, when caught by a trick, if they have somehow got free and fled, become more cautious afterward and always avoid all the places in which they have sensed tricks and traps.
Notes and citation
Summary: Animals learn caution from traps.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.7 (CSEL 19:572; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.8CSEL 19:572
sic hominem paenitentia cautum ac diligentem facit ad euitanda peccata in quae semel fraude deciderit.
So repentance makes a person cautious and careful to avoid the sins into which he once fell by deceit.
Notes and citation
Summary: Repentance makes one careful.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.8 (CSEL 19:572; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.9CSEL 19:572–573
nemo enim potest esse tam prudens, tam circumspectus, ut non aliquando labatur. et idcirco deus inbecillitatem nostram sciens pro sua pietate aperuit homini portum salutis, ut huic necessitati, cui fragilitas nostra subiecta est, medicina paenitentiae subueniret. ergo quicumque aberrauerit, referat pedem seque quam primum recipiat ac reformet.
For no one can be so prudent, so circumspect, as not to slip at some time. And so God, knowing our weakness, in his compassion opened to man a harbor of salvation, so that the medicine of repentance might come to the aid of this necessity to which our frailty is subject. So whoever has gone astray, let him turn back his foot and recover and reform himself as soon as possible.
Notes and citation
Summary: God gave repentance as a harbor for frail humanity.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.9 (CSEL 19:572–573; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.10CSEL 19:573
sed reuocare gradum superasque euadere ad auras, hoc opus, hic labor est. degustatis enim male iucundis uoluptatibus uix diuelli ab iis possunt: facilius recta sequerentur, si earum suauitates non attigissent. sed eripiant se malae seruituti: condonabitur iis error omnis, si errorem suum uita meliore correxerint. nec lucrari se quisquam putet, si delicti conscium non habebit:
"But to retrace one's steps and escape to the upper air, this is the task, this the labor." For once they have tasted wickedly pleasant pleasures, they can hardly be torn from them; they would follow the right more easily if they had never touched their sweetness. But let them snatch themselves from an evil slavery: every error will be pardoned them if they correct their error by a better life. Nor let anyone think he gains anything if he has no witness to his fault:
Notes and citation
Summary: Returning is hard, but a reformed life earns pardon.
- Virgil, Aeneid 6.128–129.
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Aen. 6.128-129 (Virgil; quotation)
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.10 (CSEL 19:573; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.11CSEL 19:573
scit ille omnia in cuius conspectu uiuimus, nec si uniuersos homines celare possumus, deum possumus, cui nihil absconditum, nihil potest esse secretum.
he knows all things in whose sight we live; and even if we can hide from all human beings, we cannot hide from God, to whom nothing can be hidden, nothing secret.
Heb 4:13 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Nothing is hidden from God.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.11 (CSEL 19:573; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.12CSEL 19:573
Exhortationes suas Seneca mirabili sententia terminauit. magnum inquit nescio quid maiusque quam cogitari potest numen est, cui uiuendo operam damus. huic nos adprobemus. nihil prodest inclusam esse conscientiam, patemus deo.
Seneca ended his Exhortations with a wonderful sentence: "It is some great divinity," he says, "greater than can be imagined, for whom we labor in living. Let us approve ourselves to him. It does no good to have one's conscience shut up; we lie open to God."
Notes and citation
Summary: Seneca: we live for a great divinity to whom we lie open.
- Seneca, Exhortations (lost; fragment).
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca (Seneca; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.12 (CSEL 19:573; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.13CSEL 19:573–574
quid uerius dici potuit ab eo qui deum nosset quam dictum est ab homine uerae religionis ignaro? nam et maiestatem dei expressit maiorem esse dicendo quam ut eam cogitatio mentis humanae capere posset, et ipsum ueritatis attigit fontem sentiendo uitam hominum superuacuam non esse, ut Epicurei uolunt, sed deo ab iis operam uiuendo dari, siquidem iuste ac pie uixerint.
What truer thing could have been said by one who knew God than was said by a man ignorant of true religion? For he expressed the majesty of God by saying that it is greater than the thought of the human mind can grasp, and he touched the very source of truth by perceiving that human life is not superfluous, as the Epicureans hold, but that in living people labor for God, provided they have lived justly and piously.
Notes and citation
Summary: Seneca rightly saw God's greatness and life's purpose.
Extrabiblical texts: Epicurus (Epicurus (sayings and fragments); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.13 (CSEL 19:573–574; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.14CSEL 19:574
potuit esse uerus dei cultor, si quis illi monstrasset, et contempsisset profecto Zenonem et magistrum suum Sotionem, si uerae sapientiae ducem nactus esset.
He could have been a true worshipper of God if someone had shown him, and he would surely have despised Zeno and his teacher Sotion if he had found a guide to true wisdom.
Notes and citation
Summary: Seneca could have become a true worshipper.
Extrabiblical texts: Zeno of Citium, Zeno (Zeno of Citium; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.14 (CSEL 19:574; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.15CSEL 19:574
huic nos inquit adprobemus: caelestis prorsus oratio, nisi antecederet ignorantiae confessio. nihil prodest inclusam esse conscientiam, patemus deo: nullus ergo mendacio, nullus dissimulationi locus est, quia parietibus oculi hominum submoventur, dei autem diuinitas nec uisceribus submoueri potest, quominus totum hominem perspiciat et norit.
"Let us approve ourselves to him," he says: a thoroughly heavenly saying, were it not preceded by the confession of ignorance. "It does no good to have one's conscience shut up; we lie open to God": so there is no room for lying or pretense, because human eyes are kept out by walls, but God's divinity cannot be kept out even by our inward parts from seeing through and knowing the whole person.
Notes and citation
Summary: God sees within us; there is no room for pretense.
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca (Seneca; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.15 (CSEL 19:574; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.16CSEL 19:574
idem in eiusdem operis primo quid agis? inquit quid machinaris? quid abscondis? custos te tuus sequitur. alium tibi peregrinatio subduxit, alium mors, alium ualitudo: haeret hic quo carere numquam potes.
The same man, in the first book of the same work: "What are you doing? What are you plotting? What are you hiding? Your guardian follows you. One companion travel has taken from you, another death, another sickness: this one clings to you, whom you can never be without.
Notes and citation
Summary: Seneca: an inner guardian always accompanies us.
- Seneca, Exhortations 1 (fragment).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: m for in): idem m eiusdem → idem in eiusdem.
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca (Seneca; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.16 (CSEL 19:574; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.17CSEL 19:574–575
quid locum abditum legis et arbitros remoues? puta tibi contigisse ut oculos omnium effugias, demens: quid tibi prodest non habere conscium habenti conscientiam?
Why do you choose a hidden place and send away witnesses? Suppose you have managed to escape the eyes of all, madman: what good is it to you to have no witness when you have a conscience?"
Notes and citation
Summary: Conscience is a witness one cannot escape.
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca (Seneca; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.17 (CSEL 19:574–575; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-17).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.18CSEL 19:575
non minus mirabiliter de conscientia et deo Tullius. meminerit inquit deum se habere testem, id est, ut ego arbitror, mentem suam, qua nihil homini dedit deus ipse diuinius.
No less wonderfully Tullius speaks of conscience and God: "Let him remember," he says, "that he has God as witness," that is, as I think, his own mind, than which God himself has given man nothing more divine.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero: God, through the mind, is our witness.
- Cicero, On Duties 3.44.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: h for se): deum h habere → deum se habere.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Off. 3.44 (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.18 (CSEL 19:575; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-18).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.19CSEL 19:575
item cum de iusto ac bono uiro loqueretur, itaque talis uir inquit non modo facere, sed ne cogitare quidem quicquam audebit quod non audeat praedicare.
Likewise, when he spoke of the just and good man: "So such a man," he says, "will dare not only to do, but even to think, nothing that he would not dare to proclaim."
Notes and citation
Summary: The good man thinks nothing he would not proclaim.
- Cicero, On Duties 3.77.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Off. 3.77 (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.19 (CSEL 19:575; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-19).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.20CSEL 19:575
purgemus igitur conscientiam, quae oculis dei peruia est, et, ut ait idem, semper ita uiuamus, ut rationem reddendam nobis arbitremur, putemusque nos momentis omnibus non in aliquo, ut ille dixit, orbis terrae theatro ab hominibus, sed desuper spectari ab eo qui et iudex et testis idem futurus est, cui rationem uitae reposcenti actus suos infitiari non licebit.
So let us purify the conscience, which lies open to God's eyes, and, as the same man says, let us always live as if we thought we must render an account; and let us think that at every moment we are watched not, as he said, in some theater of the world by human beings, but from above by him who will be both judge and witness, and to whom, when he demands an account of our life, we will not be able to deny our deeds.
Rom 14:12 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Live as under God's eye, who will judge.
- The phrases are from Cicero (the "theater of the world" in Tusculan Disputations 2.64; the first phrase from a speech, uncertain).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (doubled period): licebit.. → licebit..
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.20 (CSEL 19:575; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-20).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.21CSEL 19:575
ergo satius est aut effugere conscientiam aut nos ipsos ultro aperire animum et perniciem rescissis uulneribus effundere: quibus nemo alius mederi potest nisi solus ille qui gressum claudis, uisum caecis reddidit, maculata membra purgauit, mortuos excitauit.
So it is better either to escape the conscience or ourselves to open our soul of our own accord and let out the poison by lancing the wounds; which no one else can heal but he alone who gave walking to the lame, sight to the blind, cleansed stained limbs, and raised the dead.
Matt 11:5 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Confess our wounds to Christ, the only healer.
- "Escape the conscience" (effugere conscientiam) probably means to avoid incurring a guilty conscience (uncertain). Compare Matt 11:5.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.21 (CSEL 19:575; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-21).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.22CSEL 19:575–576
ille ardorem cupiditatis extinguet, extirpabit libidines, inuidiam detrahet, iram mitigabit, ille reddet ueram et perpetuam sanitatem.
He will extinguish the heat of greed, root out lusts, remove envy, soothe anger; he will restore true and lasting health.
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ heals the soul's passions.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.22 (CSEL 19:575–576; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-22).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.23CSEL 19:576
adpetenda est haec omnibus medicina, quoniam maiore periculo uexatur anima quam corpus et quam primum latentibus morbis adhibenda curatio est.
This medicine must be sought by all, since the soul is troubled by greater danger than the body, and treatment must be applied to hidden diseases as soon as possible.
Notes and citation
Summary: Seek the soul's healing quickly.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.23 (CSEL 19:576; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-23).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.24CSEL 19:576
neque enim si utatur aliquis oculorum acie clara, membris omnibus integris, firmissima totius corporis ualitudine, tamen eum dixerim sanum, si efferatur ira, superbia tumidus infletur, libidini seruiat, cupiditatibus inardescat:
For even if someone has clear sight, all his limbs sound, and the firmest health of his whole body, I would still not call him healthy if he is carried away by anger, swollen with pride, a slave to lust, burning with greed;
Notes and citation
Summary: Bodily health is not true health.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.24 (CSEL 19:576; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-24).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.25CSEL 19:576
sed eum potius qui ad alienam felicitatem non attollat oculos, opes non admiretur, alienam mulierem sancte uideat, nihil omnino adpetat, nihil concupiscat alienum, non inuideat ulli, non fastidiat quemquam, sit humilis misericors beneficus mitis humanus, pax in animo eius perpetua uersetur: ille homo sanus, ille iustus, ille perfectus est.
but rather the one who does not lift his eyes to another's prosperity, does not admire wealth, looks on another's wife with purity, seeks nothing at all, covets nothing of another's, envies no one, despises no one, is humble, merciful, beneficent, gentle, humane, and in whose soul perpetual peace dwells: that man is healthy, that man is just, that man is perfect.
Exod 20:17 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The healthy soul is humble, merciful, and at peace.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.25 (CSEL 19:576; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-25).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.26CSEL 19:576
quisquis igitur his omnibus praeceptis caelestibus obtemperauerit, hic cultor est uerus dei, cuius sacrificia sunt mansuetudo animi et uita innocens et actus boni:
So whoever obeys all these heavenly precepts is a true worshipper of God, whose sacrifices are gentleness of soul, an innocent life, and good deeds.
Notes and citation
Summary: A true worshipper's sacrifices are virtues.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.26 (CSEL 19:576; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-26).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.27CSEL 19:576–577
quae omnia qui exhibet, totiens sacrificat, quotiens bonum aliquid ac pium fecerit. deus enim non desiderat uictimam neque muti animalis neque mortis ac sanguinis, sed hominis et uitae.
Whoever displays all these offers sacrifice as often as he does something good and pious. For God desires a victim not of a dumb animal, nor of death and blood, but of man and of life.
Rom 12:1 (echo, medium confidence) · Hos 6:6 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God desires the living sacrifice of a good life.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): uictimam. neque → uictimam neque.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.27 (CSEL 19:576–577; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-27).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.28CSEL 19:577
ad quod sacrificium neque uerbenis opus est neque februis neque cespitibus, quae sunt utique uanissima, sed iis quae de intimo pectore proferuntur.
For this sacrifice there is no need of sacred boughs, purifications, or altars of turf, which are surely most empty, but of those things that are brought forth from the inmost heart.
Notes and citation
Summary: The heart's offerings, not rites, are needed.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.28 (CSEL 19:577; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-28).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.29CSEL 19:577
itaque in aram dei, quae uere maxima est et quae in corde hominis conlocata inquinari non potest sanguine, iustitia imponitur, patientia fides innocentia castitas abstinentia. hic est uerissimus ritus, haec illa lex dei, ut a Cicerone dictum est, praeclara et diuina, semper quae recta et honesta iubet, uetat praua et turpia: cui parentem sanctissimae ac certissimae legi iuste ac legitime necesse est uiuere.
So upon the altar of God, which is truly the greatest and which, set in the human heart, cannot be defiled with blood, are laid justice, patience, faith, innocence, chastity, and abstinence. This is the truest rite; this is that law of God, as Cicero said, "excellent and divine, which always commands what is right and honorable and forbids what is wrong and shameful"; whoever obeys this most holy and most certain law must live justly and lawfully.
Notes and citation
Summary: The heart is God's altar; virtues are its offerings.
- Cicero, Philippics 11.28.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: m for in): itaque m aram → itaque in aram.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.29 (CSEL 19:577; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-29).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.30CSEL 19:577
cuius legis pauca equidem capita posui, quod sum pollicitus ea me tantummodo esse dicturum quae summum fastigium uirtuti et iustitiae imponerent.
I have set down only a few heads of this law, since I promised to speak only of those things that would put the highest summit on virtue and justice.
Notes and citation
Summary: He has given only the chief precepts.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.30 (CSEL 19:577; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-30).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.24.31CSEL 19:577
si quis uolet cetera omnia comprehendere, ex fonte ipso petat unde ad nos riuus iste manauit.
If anyone wishes to grasp all the rest, let him seek it from the very source from which this stream has flowed to us.
Notes and citation
Summary: The rest is found in Scripture itself.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.24.31 (CSEL 19:577; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-24-31).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 6, chapter 25
6.25.1CSEL 19:577
Nunc de sacrificio ipso pauca dicamus. ebur inquit Plato non castum donum deo. quid ergo? picta scilicet et texta pretiosa? immo uero non castum donum deo quidquid corrumpi, quidquid subripi potest.
Now let us say a few things about sacrifice itself. "Ivory," says Plato, "is not a chaste gift to God." What then? Paintings, no doubt, and costly weavings? On the contrary, whatever can be corrupted or stolen is not a chaste gift to God.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato: ivory is no pure gift; nothing perishable is.
- Plato, Laws 12.956a.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Leg. 956a (Plato (works); quotation)
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.1 (CSEL 19:577; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.2CSEL 19:577
sed sicut hoc uidit, non oportere uiuenti offerri aliquid quod sit ex mortuo corpore, cur illud non uidit, non debere incorporali corporale munus offerri?
But just as he saw that nothing from a dead body should be offered to the living God, why did he not see that a bodily gift should not be offered to an incorporeal God?
Notes and citation
Summary: No bodily gift befits an incorporeal God.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.2 (CSEL 19:577; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.3CSEL 19:577–578
quanto melius et uerius Seneca uultisne uos inquit deum cogitare magnum et placidum et maiestate leni uerendum, amicum et semper in proximo, non immolationibus nec sanguine multo colendum — quae enim ei trucidatione immerentium uoluptas est? —, sed mente pura, bono honestoque proposito? non templa illi congestis in altitudinem saxis extruenda sunt: in suo cuique consecrandus est pectore.
How much better and more truly Seneca: "Do you wish," he says, "to think of God as great and calm and to be revered with a gentle majesty, a friend always near, to be worshipped not with sacrifices and much blood (for what pleasure does he take in the slaughter of the innocent?) but with a pure mind and a good and honorable purpose? Temples are not to be built for him with stones piled high: he is to be consecrated in each one's own heart."
Notes and citation
Summary: Seneca: God is worshipped with a pure mind, in the heart.
- Seneca, fragment (from a lost work).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): immo lationibus → immolationibus.
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca (Seneca; quotation)
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.3 (CSEL 19:577–578; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.4CSEL 19:578
uestes igitur et gemmas et cetera quae habentur in pretio si quis putat deo cara, is plane quid sit deus nescit: cui putat uoluptati esse eas res quas etiam homo si contempserit, iure laudabitur.
So if anyone thinks that clothing, gems, and the other things held valuable are dear to God, he plainly does not know what God is, since he thinks those things please him which a man too will rightly be praised for despising.
Notes and citation
Summary: Valuables do not please God.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.4 (CSEL 19:578; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.5CSEL 19:578
quid ergo castum, quid deo dignum nisi quod ipse in illa diuina lege sua poposcit? duo sunt quae offerri debeant, donum et sacrificium, donum in perpetuum, sacrificium ad tempus.
What, then, is pure and worthy of God except what he himself has asked for in that divine law of his? There are two things that must be offered, a gift and a sacrifice: the gift for all time, the sacrifice for a time.
Notes and citation
Summary: Two offerings: a lasting gift and a sacrifice.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.5 (CSEL 19:578; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.6CSEL 19:578
uerum apud istos, qui nullo modo rationem diuinitatis intellegunt, donum est quidquid auro argentoque fabricatur, item quidquid purpura et serico texitur, sacrificiumque uictima et quaecumque in ara cremantur.
But among these people, who in no way understand the nature of divinity, a gift is whatever is made of gold and silver, or woven of purple and silk; and a sacrifice is a victim and whatever is burned on the altar.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pagans offer material gifts and burnt victims.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.6 (CSEL 19:578; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.7CSEL 19:578
sed utroque non utitur deus, quia et ipse incorruptus est et illud totum corruptibile. itaque deo utrumque incorporale offerendum est, quo utitur. donum est integritas animi, sacrificium laus et hymnus; si enim deus non uidetur, ergo his rebus coli debet quae non uidentur. nulla igitur alia religio uera est nisi quae uirtute et iustitia constat.
But God uses neither, because he himself is incorruptible and all that is corruptible. So both must be offered to God in incorporeal form, which he can use. The gift is integrity of soul; the sacrifice is praise and a hymn. For if God is not seen, he must be worshipped with things that are not seen. So no other religion is true except that which consists of virtue and justice.
Heb 13:15 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The gift is a pure soul; the sacrifice is praise.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.7 (CSEL 19:578; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.8CSEL 19:578
quomodo autem deus iustitia hominis utatur, intellectu facile est. si enim iustus fuerit homo, accepta immortalitate in aeternum deo seruiet.
How God uses man's justice is easy to understand. For if a man has been just, having received immortality he will serve God forever.
Notes and citation
Summary: The just will serve God forever.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.8 (CSEL 19:578; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.9CSEL 19:578–579
omnes autem non nisi ad iustitiam nasci cum philosophi ueteres tum etiam Cicero suspicatur. disserens enim de legibus sed omnium inquit quae in hominum doctorum disputatione uersantur, nihil est profecto praestabilius quam plane intellegi nos ad iustitiam esse natos. id ergo solum deo exhibere atque offerre debemus ad quod capiendum nos ipse generauit.
That all are born for nothing but justice was suspected both by the ancient philosophers and by Cicero. For in discussing the laws he says: "But of all that is discussed among learned men, nothing is surely more excellent than to understand clearly that we are born for justice." So we should display and offer to God that alone for the receiving of which he himself begot us.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero: we are born for justice.
- Cicero, On the Laws 1.28.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Leg. 1.28 (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.9 (CSEL 19:578–579; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.10CSEL 19:579
hoc autem duplex sacrificii genus quam sit uerissimum, Trismegistus Hermes idoneus testis est, qui nobiscum, id est cum prophetis quos sequimur, tam re quam uerbis congruit. de iustitia sic locutus est: hoc uerbum, o fili, adora et cole. cultus autem dei unus est malum non esse.
How very true this twofold kind of sacrifice is, Hermes Trismegistus is a fit witness, who agrees with us, that is, with the prophets whom we follow, both in substance and in words. He spoke thus of justice: "This word, my son, adore and worship. And the worship of God is one: not to be evil."
Notes and citation
Summary: Hermes: the one worship of God is not to be evil.
- Compare Corpus Hermeticum 12.23, where the second sentence occurs in Greek.
Extrabiblical texts: Corp. herm. CH 12.23 (Hermetic writings; quotation)
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.10 (CSEL 19:579; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.11CSEL 19:579
item in illo sermone perfecto, cum exaudisset Asclepium quaerentem a filio suo utrum placeret patri eius proferri tus et alios odores ad sacrificium dei, exclamauit: bene, bene ominare, o Asclepi. est enim maxima inpietas tale quid de uno illo ac singulari bono in animum inducere. haec et his similia huic non conueniunt: omnium enim quaecumque sunt plenus est et omnium minime indigens. nos uero gratias agentes adoremus: huius enim sacrificium sola benedictio est. et recte.
Likewise in that Perfect Discourse, when he heard Asclepius asking his son whether it would please his father for incense and other perfumes to be brought for the sacrifice to God, he exclaimed: "Hush, hush, Asclepius! It is the greatest impiety to entertain any such thought about that one and only good. These things and things like them do not befit him; for he is full of all things that exist and least in need of any. But let us adore him giving thanks; for his sacrifice is blessing alone." And rightly.
Notes and citation
Summary: Hermes: God needs no incense; his sacrifice is thanksgiving.
- The Perfect Discourse (Logos teleios), preserved in Latin as the Asclepius (§41).
Extrabiblical texts: Corp. herm. Asclepius 41 (Hermetic writings; quotation)
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.11 (CSEL 19:579; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.12CSEL 19:579–580
uerbo enim sacrificari oportet deo, siquidem deus uerbum est, ut ipse confessus est. summus igitur colendi dei ritus est ex ore iusti hominis ad deum directa laudatio, quae tamen ipsa ut deo sit accepta, et humilitate et timore et deuotione maxima opus est, ne quis forte integritatis atque innocentiae fiduciam gerens tumoris et adrogantiae crimen incurrat eoque facto gratiam uirtutis amittat.
For sacrifice must be offered to God by word, since God is the Word, as he himself has confessed. So the highest rite of worshipping God is praise directed to God from the mouth of a just man; yet for this to be acceptable to God there is need of humility, fear, and the greatest devotion, lest anyone, trusting in his integrity and innocence, incur the charge of pride and arrogance and thereby lose the grace of virtue.
John 1:1 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The highest worship is humble praise from a just man.
- "God is the Word": John 1:1. "He himself has confessed" may refer to Hermes, just quoted (uncertain).
Topics: Prayer, Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.12 (CSEL 19:579–580; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.13CSEL 19:580
sed ut sit deo carus omnique macula careat, misericordiam dei semper inploret nihilque aliut precetur nisi peccatis suis ueniam, licet nulla sint.
But to be dear to God and free from every stain, let him always implore God's mercy and pray for nothing but pardon for his sins, even if he has none.
Notes and citation
Summary: Always ask God's mercy and forgiveness.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.13 (CSEL 19:580; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.14CSEL 19:580
si quid aliut desiderauerit, non est opus dicto scienti quid uelimus: si quid ei boni euenerit, gratias agat, si quid mali, satisfaciat et id sibi ob peccata sua euenisse fateatur. et nihilo minus etiam in malis gratias agat et in bonis satisfaciat, ut idem sit semper et stabilis et immutabilis et inconcussus. nec tantum hoc in templo putet sibi esse faciendum, sed et domi et in ipso etiam cubili suo.
If he desires anything else, there is no need to say it to one who knows what we want. If anything good befalls him, let him give thanks; if anything bad, let him make satisfaction and confess that it befell him because of his sins. And nonetheless let him give thanks even in evils and make satisfaction in goods, so that he may be always the same, steady, unchangeable, and unshaken. Nor let him think he must do this only in the temple, but also at home and even in his own bed.
Matt 6:8 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Thess 5:18 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Give thanks in all things and pray everywhere.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: h for li): si quid ahut → si quid aliut.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.14 (CSEL 19:580; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.15CSEL 19:580
secum denique habeat deum semper in corde suo consecratum, quoniam ipse est dei templum.
In short, let him have God with him always, consecrated in his heart, since he himself is the temple of God.
1 Cor 3:16 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Each person is God's temple.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.15 (CSEL 19:580; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
6.25.16CSEL 19:580
quodsi deo, patri ac domino, hac adsiduitate, hoc obsequio, hac deuotione seruierit, consummata et perfecta iustitia est: quam qui tenuerit, hic, ut ante testati sumus, deo paruit, hic religioni atque officio suo satisfecit.
If he has served God, the Father and Lord, with this constancy, this obedience, this devotion, justice is complete and perfect; and whoever holds it, as we testified before, has obeyed God and has fulfilled his religion and his duty.
Notes and citation
Summary: Such service is perfect justice.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 6.25.16 (CSEL 19:580; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/6-21-1/#p-6-25-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).