Divine Institutes 7.11.1–7.16.14
Latin text: CSEL 19 (Latin text: S. Brandt (CSEL 19, 1890), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7 (1886).
Divine 7, chapter 11
7.11.1CSEL 19:616
Inpletis igitur temporibus quae deus morti statuit terminabitur ipsa mors. et quia temporalem uitam temporalis mors sequitur, consequens est ut resurgant animae ad uitam perennem, quia finem mors temporalis accepit.
So when the times God has appointed for death are fulfilled, death itself will be ended. And since temporal death follows temporal life, it follows that souls rise again to everlasting life, since temporal death has received its end.
1 Cor 15:26 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: When bodily death ends, souls rise to everlasting life.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.11.1 (CSEL 19:616; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-11-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.11.2CSEL 19:616
rursus sicut uita animi sempiterna est, in qua diuinos et ineloquibiles inmortalitatis suae fructus capit, ita et mors eius perpetua sit necesse est, in qua perennes poenas et infinita tormenta pro peccatis suis pendit.
Again, just as the life of the soul is everlasting, in which it receives the divine and unspeakable fruits of its immortality, so its death must also be perpetual, in which it pays everlasting penalties and endless torments for its sins.
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul's death is eternal punishment.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.11.2 (CSEL 19:616; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-11-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.11.3CSEL 19:616
ergo in ea condicione res posita est, ut qui beati sunt in hac uita corporali atque terrena, semper miseri sint futuri, quia iam bonis quae maluerunt potiti sunt,
So the matter is set in this condition: those who are happy in this bodily and earthly life will always be wretched, because they have already enjoyed the goods they preferred,
Luke 16:25 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Those happy now will be wretched forever.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.11.3 (CSEL 19:616; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-11-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.11.4CSEL 19:616–617
quod iis euenit qui deos adorant ac deum neglegunt, deinde qui iustitiam sequentes in hac uita miseri fuerint et contempti et inopes et ob ipsam iustitiam contumeliis et iniuriis saepe uexati, quia nec aliter uirtus teneri potest, semper beati sint futuri, ut quia mala iam pertulerunt, etiam bonis fruantur: quod iis utique contingit qui contemptis terrestribus diis et fragilibus bonis caelestem religionem dei secuntur, cuius bona sicut ipse qui tribuit sempiterna sunt. quid?
which happens to those who adore gods and neglect God; while those who, following justice, have been wretched in this life, despised and poor, and often harassed with insults and injuries for the sake of justice itself, since virtue cannot be kept otherwise, will always be happy, so that, having already endured evils, they may also enjoy goods; which surely happens to those who, despising earthly gods and fragile goods, follow the heavenly religion of God, whose goods, like himself who gives them, are everlasting. What then?
Matt 5:10 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Those who suffer for justice will be happy forever.
Topics: Eschatology, Persecution
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.11.4 (CSEL 19:616–617; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-11-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.11.5CSEL 19:617
opera corporis atque animi nonne indicant esse animam mortis expertem? nam corpus quia ipsum fragile est atque mortale, quaecumque opera molitur, aeque caduca sunt. nihil enim Tullius ait esse quod sit manibus humanis laboratum, quod non aliquando ad interitum redigatur uel iniuria hominum uel ipsa confectrice rerum omnium uetustate.
Do not the works of body and soul show that the soul is free from death? For the body, since it is fragile and mortal, whatever works it undertakes are equally perishable. For nothing, Tullius says, has been made by human hands that is not at some time brought to ruin, either by human violence or by age itself, the consumer of all things.
Notes and citation
Summary: Bodily works perish.
- Cicero, For Marcellus 11.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.11.5 (CSEL 19:617; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-11-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.11.6CSEL 19:617
at uero animi opera uidemus aeterna. nam quicumque contemptu praesentium studentes in memoriam monumenta ingeniorum factorumque magnorum reliquerunt, hi plane mentis ac uirtutis suae nomen indelebile quaesierunt. ergo si opera corporis ideo mortalia sunt, quia ipsum mortale est, sequitur ut anima ex eo inmortalis appareat, quia uidemus opera eius non esse mortalia.
But we see the works of the soul are eternal. For all who, despising present things, have left monuments of their talents and great deeds to memory have plainly sought an indelible name for their mind and virtue. So if the works of the body are mortal because it is mortal, it follows that the soul appears immortal from this, that we see its works are not mortal.
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul's lasting works show it is immortal.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.11.6 (CSEL 19:617; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-11-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.11.7CSEL 19:617–618
eodem modo desideria quoque corporis animique declarant alterum esse mortale, alterum sempiternum. corpus enim nihil nisi temporale desiderat id est cibum potum indumentum quietem uoluptatem, et tamen haec ipsa sine nutu et adminiculo animi nec cupere nec adsequi potest: animus autem per se multa desiderat quae ad officium fructumue corporis non redundent, eaque non fragilia, sed aeterna sunt, ut fama uirtutis, ut memoria nominis.
In the same way the desires of body and soul show that one is mortal and the other everlasting. For the body desires nothing but temporal things, that is, food, drink, clothing, rest, pleasure; and yet it can neither desire nor obtain even these without the nod and help of the soul. But the soul desires by itself many things that do not serve the body's duty or profit, and these are not fragile but eternal, like the fame of virtue and the memory of a name.
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul desires eternal things.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR dropped a letter): decarant → declarant.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.11.7 (CSEL 19:617–618; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-11-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.11.8CSEL 19:618
nam cultum dei, qui constat abstinentia cupiditatum ac libidinum, patientia doloris, contemptu mortis, etiam contra corpus anima concupiscit. unde credibile est non interire animam, sed dissociari a corpore, quia corpus sine animo nihil potest, animus uero potest multa et magna sine corpore.
For the soul desires the worship of God, which consists in abstaining from desires and lusts, enduring pain, and despising death, even against the body. From this it is credible that the soul does not perish but is separated from the body, because the body can do nothing without the soul, but the soul can do many great things without the body.
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul can act without the body, so it survives.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.11.8 (CSEL 19:618; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-11-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.11.9CSEL 19:618
quid quod ea quae uisibilia sunt oculis et tangibilia manu, quia externam uim pati possunt, aeterna esse non possunt, ea uero quae neque sub tactum neque sub uisum ueniunt, sed tantummodo uis eorum et ratio et effectus apparet, aeterna sunt, quia nullam uim patiuntur extrinsecus?
What of the fact that things visible to the eyes and tangible to the hand cannot be eternal, since they can suffer external force, while things that come under neither touch nor sight, but only their force, principle, and effect appear, are eternal, because they suffer no force from outside?
2 Cor 4:18 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The invisible and intangible is eternal.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.11.9 (CSEL 19:618; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-11-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.11.10CSEL 19:618
corpus autem si ideo mortale est, quia uisui pariter et tactui subiacet, ergo et anima idcirco inmortalis est, quia nec tangi potest nec uideri.
And if the body is mortal because it is subject to both sight and touch, then the soul is immortal because it can be neither touched nor seen.
Notes and citation
Summary: The unseen soul is immortal.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: m for ui): uism → uisui.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.11.10 (CSEL 19:618; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-11-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 7, chapter 12
7.12.1CSEL 19:618
Nunc argumenta eorum qui contra disserunt refellamus: quae Lucretius tertio libro executus est. quoniam cum corpore inquit anima nascitur, cum corpore intereat necesse est.
Now let us refute the arguments of those who argue the contrary, which Lucretius set out in his third book. "Since the soul," he says, "is born with the body, it must perish with the body."
Notes and citation
Summary: Lucretius: the soul, born with the body, dies with it.
- Compare Lucretius, On the Nature of Things 3.445–458.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 3.445-458 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.1 (CSEL 19:618; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.2CSEL 19:618
at non est par utriusque ratio. solidum enim et conprehensibile corpus est et oculis et manu, anima uero tenuis et tactum uisumque fugiens. corpus e terra fictum atque solidatum est, anima nihil in se concreti, nihil ponderis terreni habet, ut Plato disserebat. nec enim tantam posset habere sollertiam, tantam uim, tantam celeritatem, nisi originem traheret e caelo.
But the nature of the two is not the same. For the body is solid and graspable by eyes and hand, while the soul is subtle and escapes touch and sight. The body was formed and made solid from earth; the soul has nothing compact in it, nothing of earthly weight, as Plato argued. Nor could it have such skill, such power, such speed, unless it drew its origin from heaven.
Notes and citation
Summary: Body and soul differ in nature; the soul is from heaven.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato (Plato (works); allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.2 (CSEL 19:618; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.3CSEL 19:618–619
corpus igitur quoniam fictum ex ponderoso et corruptibili elemento et tangibile est et uisibile, corrumpitur atque occidit nec uim repellere potest, quia sub aspectum et sub tactum uenit, anima autem quia tenuitate sua omnem tactum fugit, nullo ictu dissolui potest.
So the body, since it is formed of a heavy and corruptible element and is tangible and visible, is corrupted and dies and cannot repel force, because it comes under sight and touch; but the soul, since by its subtlety it escapes all touch, cannot be dissolved by any blow.
Notes and citation
Summary: The intangible soul cannot be destroyed by blows.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.3 (CSEL 19:618–619; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.4CSEL 19:619
ergo quamuis inter se coniuncta et sociata nascantur et alterum, quod est de terrena concretione formatum, quasi uasculum sit alterius, quod est a caelesti suptilitate deductum, cum uis aliqua utrumque discreuerit, quae discretio mors uocatur, utrumque in naturam suam recedit: quod ex terra fuit, id in terram resoluitur, quod ex caelesti spiritu, id constat ac uiget semper, quoniam diuinus spiritus sempiternus est.
So though they are born joined and united with each other, and the one, formed of earthly compound, is like a little vessel for the other, which is drawn from heavenly subtlety, when some force separates the two, and this separation is called death, each returns to its own nature: what was from the earth is dissolved into earth, and what is from the heavenly spirit stands and lives forever, since the divine spirit is everlasting.
Eccl 12:7 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: At death body returns to earth and soul endures.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.4 (CSEL 19:619; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.5CSEL 19:619
denique idem Lucretius oblitus quid adsereret et quod dogma defenderet, hos uersus posuit: cedit item retro, de terra quod fuit ante, in terram, sed quod missum est ex aetheris oris, id rursum caeli fulgentia templa receptant. quod eius non erat dicere qui perire animas cum corporibus disserebat: sed uictus est ueritate et inprudenti ratio uera subrepsit.
In fact the same Lucretius, forgetting what he was asserting and what doctrine he was defending, wrote these verses: "Likewise what was from earth before goes back into the earth, but what was sent from the shores of the ether, that the shining temples of heaven receive again." That was not for one to say who argued that souls perish with bodies; but he was overcome by truth, and true reasoning crept up on him unawares.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lucretius unwittingly admitted the soul returns to heaven.
- Lucretius, On the Nature of Things 2.999–1001.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 2.999-1001 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.5 (CSEL 19:619; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.6CSEL 19:619
praeterea id ipsum quod colligit, dissolui animam, hoc est simul cum corpore interire, quoniam simul nascantur, et falsum est et in contrarium conuerti potest. non enim simul interit, sed anima discedente integrum per multos dies manet et plerumque medicatum diutissime durat.
Moreover, what he infers, that the soul is dissolved, that is, perishes together with the body, because they are born together, is both false and can be turned the other way. For it does not perish at the same time; when the soul departs, the body remains intact for many days, and often, when embalmed, lasts a very long time.
Notes and citation
Summary: The body outlasts the soul's departure.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.6 (CSEL 19:619; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.7CSEL 19:619–620
nam si ut simul nascuntur, simul interirent, non discederet repente anima corpusque desereret, sed uno temporis puncto utrumque pariter dissiparetur et tam celeriter etiam corpus adhuc spiritu in eo manente deliquesceret ac periret, quam celeriter anima secedit, immo uero dissoluto corpore anima uanesceret uelut umor fracto uase diffusus.
For if, as they are born together, they perished together, the soul would not suddenly depart and leave the body; both would be scattered alike in one moment, and the body would melt and perish, even while the spirit remained in it, as quickly as the soul withdraws; indeed, when the body was dissolved, the soul would vanish like liquid spilled from a broken vessel.
Notes and citation
Summary: If they perished together, both would vanish at once.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.7 (CSEL 19:619–620; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.8CSEL 19:620
nam si terrenum et fragile corpus post secessum animae non statim diffluit in terramque tabescit, ex qua illi origo est, ergo anima, quae fragilis non est, in aeternum manet, quoniam origo eius aeterna est.
For if the earthly and fragile body does not immediately dissolve after the soul's departure and waste away into the earth from which it originates, then the soul, which is not fragile, remains forever, since its origin is eternal.
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul, with an eternal origin, endures.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: i for x; OCR: t for f): tragile → fragile; ei qua illi → ex qua illi.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.8 (CSEL 19:620; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.9CSEL 19:620
quoniam crescit inquit mens in pueris et in iuuenibus uiget et in senibus deminuitur, apparet esse mortalem. primum non idem est anima et mens: aliut est enim quo uiuimus, aliut quo cogitamus. nam dormientium mens, non anima sopitur, et in furiosis mens extinguitur, anima manet, et ideo non exanimes, sed dementes appellantur.
"Since the mind," he says, "grows in children, flourishes in youth, and declines in the old, it is clearly mortal." First, soul and mind are not the same: that by which we live is one thing, that by which we think is another. For in the sleeping it is the mind, not the soul, that is put to sleep; and in the mad the mind is extinguished while the soul remains, and so they are called not lifeless but out of their minds.
Notes and citation
Summary: Soul and mind differ.
- Compare Lucretius 3.445–458. The Latin plays on exanimes ("lifeless," from anima) and dementes ("out of their minds," from mens).
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 3.445-458 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.9 (CSEL 19:620; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.10CSEL 19:620
mens ergo id est intellegentia uel augetur uel minuitur pro aetate. anima in statu suo semper est, et ex quo tempore spirandi accipit facultatem, eadem usque ad ultimum durat, donec emissa corporis claustro ad sedem suam reuolet.
So the mind, that is, the understanding, either grows or diminishes with age; the soul is always in its own state, and from the time it receives the power of breathing it remains the same until the end, until, released from the prison of the body, it flies back to its home.
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul remains constant through life.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.10 (CSEL 19:620; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.11CSEL 19:620
deinde, quod anima quamuis a deo sit inspirata, tamen quia tenebroso domicilio terrenae carnis inclusa est, scientiam non habet, quae est diuinitatis.
Next, although the soul is breathed in by God, yet because it is shut in the dark dwelling of earthly flesh, it does not have knowledge, which belongs to divinity.
Notes and citation
Summary: The embodied soul lacks innate knowledge.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.11 (CSEL 19:620; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.12CSEL 19:620–621
audit igitur ac discit omnia et sapientiam discendo et audiendo capit, et senectus non minuit sapientiam, sed auget, si tamen iuuenilis aetas uirtute decursa est, et si nimia senectus fregerit membra, non est animae uitium, si uisus euanuit, si lingua torpuit, si auditus obsurduit, sed corporis.
So it hears and learns everything and acquires wisdom by learning and hearing; and old age does not diminish wisdom but increases it, if youth has been spent in virtue; and if extreme old age has broken the limbs, it is not a fault of the soul if the sight has faded, the tongue grown sluggish, the hearing gone deaf, but of the body.
Notes and citation
Summary: Decline in old age belongs to the body, not the soul.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.12 (CSEL 19:620–621; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.13CSEL 19:621
at enim memoria deficit. quid mirum si labentis domicilii ruina premitur mens et praeterita obliuiscitur, non aliter futura diuina quam si carcerem quo cohibetur effugerit?
"But memory fails." What wonder if the mind is weighed down by the ruin of its collapsing dwelling and forgets the past, and does not divine the future except when it has escaped the prison in which it is confined?
Notes and citation
Summary: Memory fails because the body's dwelling decays.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.13 (CSEL 19:621; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.14CSEL 19:621
uerum eadem inquit dolori et luctui obnoxia est et ebrietate dementit, unde fragilis ac mortalis adparet.
"But," he says, "the same is subject to pain and grief and goes mad with drunkenness, from which it appears fragile and mortal."
Notes and citation
Summary: Lucretius: the soul suffers and so is mortal.
- Compare Lucretius 3.459–479.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 3.459-479 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.14 (CSEL 19:621; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.15CSEL 19:621
idcirco igitur uirtus et sapientia necessaria est, ut et maeror, qui contrahitur indigna patiendo ac uidendo, fortitudine repellatur et uoluptas non modo potandi, sed etiam rerum ceterarum abstinentia superetur. nam (anima) si careat uirtute, si uoluptatibus dedita molliatur, morti fiet obnoxia, quoniam et uirtus, ut docuimus, inmortalitatis est fabricatrix et uoluptas mortis.
That is precisely why virtue and wisdom are necessary: so that the sorrow contracted by suffering and seeing unworthy things may be driven back by fortitude, and the pleasure not only of drinking but of other things may be overcome by abstinence. For if the soul lacks virtue, if it is softened by giving itself to pleasures, it will become liable to death, since virtue, as we have taught, is the maker of immortality, and pleasure of death.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue defends the soul; pleasure makes it liable to death.
- "The soul" (anima) is the editor's supplement.
Topics: Eschatology, Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.15 (CSEL 19:621; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.16CSEL 19:621
mors autem, sicut ostendi, non funditus perimit ac delet, sed aeternis afficit cruciatibus. nam interire prorsus anima non potest, quoniam ex dei spiritu qui aeternus est originem cepit.
But death, as I have shown, does not destroy and blot out entirely, but inflicts eternal torments. For the soul cannot perish utterly, since it took its origin from the Spirit of God, which is eternal.
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul's death is eternal torment, not annihilation.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.16 (CSEL 19:621; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.17CSEL 19:621
anima inquit etiam morbum corporis sentit et obliuionem sui patitur et sicut aegrescit, ita etiam saepe sanatur.
"The soul," he says, "also feels the disease of the body and suffers forgetfulness of itself, and just as it falls sick, so it is often healed."
Notes and citation
Summary: Lucretius: the soul sickens and recovers.
- Compare Lucretius 3.463–525.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 3.463-525 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.17 (CSEL 19:621; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-17).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.18CSEL 19:621–622
hoc est ergo cur maxime uirtus adhibenda sit, ne ullo corporis dolore frangatur et obliuionem sui non anima, sed mens patiatur. quae quoniam certa corporis regione consistit, cum eam partem uis aliqua morbi uitiauerit, mouetur loco et quasi conquassata sede sua emigrat reditura scilicet, cum medella et sanitas domicilium suum reformauerit.
This is why virtue must above all be applied, so that it is not broken by any bodily pain, and it is not the soul but the mind that suffers forgetfulness of itself. Since it resides in a definite region of the body, when some force of disease has damaged that part, it is moved from its place and, as if its seat were shaken, it moves out, evidently to return when healing and health have restored its dwelling.
Notes and citation
Summary: Forgetfulness in illness affects the mind, not the soul.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (period for comma inside a sentence): consistit. cum → consistit, cum.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.18 (CSEL 19:621–622; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-18).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.19CSEL 19:622
nam quia iuncta est anima cum corpore, si uirtute careat, contagio eius aegrescit et inbecillitas de societate fragilitatis redundat ad mentem, cum autem dissociata fuerit a corpore, uigebit ipsa per se nec ulla iam fragilitatis condicione temptabitur, quia indumentum fragile proiecit.
For because the soul is joined with the body, if it lacks virtue, it sickens by contact with the body, and weakness overflows from its association with frailty onto the mind; but when it has been separated from the body, it will flourish by itself and will no longer be tried by any condition of frailty, because it has thrown off its fragile garment.
Notes and citation
Summary: Separated from the body, the soul is free of frailty.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.19 (CSEL 19:622; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-19).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.20CSEL 19:622
sicut oculus inquit eunlsus ac separatus a corpore nihil potest uidere, ita et anima separata nihil sentire, quia et ipsa pars est corporis.
"Just as an eye," he says, "torn out and separated from the body can see nothing, so the soul separated can feel nothing, since it too is part of the body."
Notes and citation
Summary: Lucretius: the soul is part of the body like an eye.
- Compare Lucretius 3.548–557.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 3.548-557 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.20 (CSEL 19:622; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-20).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.21CSEL 19:622
falsum hoc et absurdum est: anima enim non pars corporis, sed in corpore est. sicut id quod uase continetur, uasis pars non est nec ea quae in domo sunt, partes domus esse dicuntur, ita nec anima pars est corporis, quia corpus uel uas est animae uel receptaculum.
This is false and absurd: for the soul is not part of the body but is in the body. Just as what is held in a vessel is not part of the vessel, and the things in a house are not called parts of the house, so the soul is not part of the body, since the body is the soul's vessel or receptacle.
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul is in the body, not part of it.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: garbled letters; OCR: t for f): talsum → falsum; absumle → absurdum.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.21 (CSEL 19:622; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-21).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.22CSEL 19:622
iam illut argumentum multo magis inane est, quod ait animam, quia non citius emittatur ex corpore, mortalem uideri, sed paulatim se ex omnibus membris explicet a summis pedibus incipiens: tamquam si esset aeterna, uno temporis momento erumperet, quod fit in iis qui ferro intereunt. quos autem morbus interimit, spiritum diutius exhalant, ut paulatim frigescentibus membris anima effletur.
That argument is much emptier still in which he says the soul seems mortal because it is not released from the body all at once but gradually withdraws from all the limbs, beginning from the tips of the feet; as though, if it were eternal, it would burst out in one moment of time, which happens to those who die by the sword. But those whom disease kills breathe out their spirit more slowly, so that the soul is breathed out as the limbs gradually grow cold.
Notes and citation
Summary: Gradual dying does not prove the soul mortal.
- Compare Lucretius 3.526–547.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 3.526-547 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.22 (CSEL 19:622; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-22).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.23CSEL 19:622–623
quae cum materia sanguinis contineatur sicut lumen oleo, ea materia febrium calore consumpta necesse est membrorum summa quaeque frigescere, quoniam uenae exiliores in extrema corporis porriguntur et extremi ac tenuiores riui deficiente uena fontis arescunt.
Since it is held in the substance of the blood as light is in oil, when that substance is consumed by the heat of fevers, the extremities of the limbs must grow cold, since the finer veins stretch to the extremities of the body, and the farthest and thinnest streams dry up when the source vein fails.
Notes and citation
Summary: Coldness in the limbs has a physical cause.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.23 (CSEL 19:622–623; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-23).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.24CSEL 19:623
nec tamen quia sensus corporis deficit, animae sensum extingui et occidere putandum est. non enim anima corpore deficiente, sed corpus anima decedente brutescit, quia sensum omnem trahit secum.
Yet it must not be thought that because the body's sensation fails, the soul's sensation is extinguished and dies. For the soul does not become senseless when the body fails, but the body becomes senseless when the soul departs, because it takes all sensation with it.
Notes and citation
Summary: The body loses sensation when the soul departs.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.24 (CSEL 19:623; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-24).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.25CSEL 19:623
cum autem praesens anima sensum tribuat corpori et uiuere m efficiat, fieri non potest ut non ipsa per se et uiuat et sentiat, quoniam ipsa est et sensus et uita. nam quod ait:
But since the soul, when present, gives sensation to the body and makes it live, it cannot be that it does not itself live and feel by itself, since it is itself both sensation and life. For as to what he says:
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul is itself life and sensation.
- The words translated "makes it live" are slightly garbled in the digital text (uiuere m efficiat); translated by sense. The quotation follows in the next section.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.25 (CSEL 19:623; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-25).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.12.26CSEL 19:623
quodsi inmortalis nostra foret mens, non tam se moriens dissolui conquereretur, sed magis ire foras uestemque relinquere, ut anguis, equidem numquam uidi qui se quereretur in morte dissolui:
"If our mind were immortal, it would not so complain at dying that it is being dissolved, but rather that it is going out and leaving its garment, like a snake": for my part I have never seen anyone complain at death that he was being dissolved.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lucretius' argument from the complaints of the dying.
- Lucretius, On the Nature of Things 3.612–614.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 3.612-614 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.26 (CSEL 19:623; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-26).
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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).
7.12.27CSEL 19:623
sed ille fortasse Epicureum aliquem uiderat etiam dum moritur philosophantem ac de sui dissolutione in extremo spiritu disserentem.
But perhaps he had seen some Epicurean philosophizing even while dying and discoursing with his last breath about his own dissolution.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only an Epicurean would say so.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.27 (CSEL 19:623; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-27).
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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).
7.12.28CSEL 19:623
quomodo sciri potest utrum dissolui se sentiat an corpore liberari, cum in exitu lingua mutescat? nam dum sentit et loqui potest, nondum dissolutus est, ubi dissolutus est, nec sentire iam nec loqui potest: ita queri de dissolutione aut nondum potest aut iam non potest.
How can it be known whether he feels himself dissolved or freed from the body, since at the end the tongue falls silent? For while he feels and can speak, he is not yet dissolved; when he is dissolved, he can no longer feel or speak. So he can either not yet or no longer complain of dissolution.
Notes and citation
Summary: No one can report his own dissolution.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.28 (CSEL 19:623; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-28).
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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).
7.12.29CSEL 19:623–624
at enim priusquam dissoluatur, intellegit se dissolutuiri. quid quod uidemus plerosque morientium non dissolui conquerentes, ut ait, sed exire se et proficisci et ambulare testantes idque aut gestu significant aut si adhuc possunt, et uoce pronuntiant? unde apparet non dissolutionem fieri, sed separationem, quae declarat animam permanere.
"But before he is dissolved, he understands that he is going to be dissolved." What of the fact that we see many of the dying not complaining that they are being dissolved, as he says, but testifying that they are going out, setting off, and walking away, and they show this by gesture or, if they still can, declare it with the voice? From this it is clear that it is not dissolution that happens but separation, which shows that the soul remains.
Notes and citation
Summary: The dying speak of departing, showing the soul survives.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.29 (CSEL 19:623–624; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-29).
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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).
7.12.30CSEL 19:624
cetera Epicurei dogmatis argumenta Pythagorae repugnant disserenti migrare animas de corporibus uetustate ac morte confectis et insinuare se nouis ac recens natis et easdem semper renasci modo in homine modo in pecude modo in bestia modo in uolucre et hac ratione inmortales esse, quod saepe uariorum ac dissimilium corporum domicilia commutent.
The other arguments of the Epicurean doctrine oppose Pythagoras, who taught that souls move out of bodies worn out by age and death and insinuate themselves into new and newborn ones, and that the same souls are always reborn, now in a man, now in cattle, now in a beast, now in a bird, and are immortal in this way, since they often change their dwellings among various and unlike bodies.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pythagoras taught transmigration.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.30 (CSEL 19:624; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-30).
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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).
7.12.31CSEL 19:624
quae sententia deliri hominis quoniam ridicula et mimo dignior quam scola fuit, ne refelli quidem serio debuit: quod qui facit, uidetur uereri ne quis id credat.
Since this view of a raving man was ridiculous and more worthy of the mime than of the school, it should not even have been refuted seriously; whoever does so seems afraid that someone might believe it.
Notes and citation
Summary: Transmigration deserves no serious refutation.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.31 (CSEL 19:624; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-31).
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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).
7.12.32CSEL 19:624
praetereunda sunt igitur nobis ea quae pro falso contra falsum disserebantur: satis est ea refutasse quae contra uerum disputata sunt.
So we must pass over the arguments made for a falsehood against a falsehood; it is enough to have refuted those argued against the truth.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only arguments against truth need refuting.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.12.32 (CSEL 19:624; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-12-32).
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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).
Divine 7, chapter 13
7.13.1CSEL 19:624
Declaraui, ut opinor, animam non esse solubilem: superest citare testes, quorum auctoritate argumenta firmentur.
I have shown, I think, that the soul is not dissoluble; it remains to cite witnesses by whose authority the arguments may be confirmed.
Notes and citation
Summary: Witnesses to the soul's immortality.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.13.1 (CSEL 19:624; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-13-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.13.2CSEL 19:624
neque nunc prophetas in testimonium uocabo, quorum ratio et diuinatio in hoc solo posita est, ut ad cultum dei et ad inmortalitatem ab eo accipiendam creari hominem doceant, sed eos potius quibus istos qui respuunt ueritatem credere sit necesse.
Nor will I now call the prophets as witnesses, whose whole reasoning and prophecy lies in this alone, to teach that man was created for the worship of God and to receive immortality from him; but rather those whom these rejecters of truth must believe.
Notes and citation
Summary: He will cite pagan witnesses.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.13.2 (CSEL 19:624; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-13-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.13.3CSEL 19:624–625
Hermes naturam hominis describens, ut doceret quemadmodum esset a deo factus, haec intulit: καὶ τὸ αὐτό ἐξ ἑκατέρων φύσεων, τῆς τε ἀθανάτου καὶ τῆς θνητῆς, μίαν ἐποίει φύσιν τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, τὸν αὐτὸν πὴ μὲν ἀθάνατον, πὴ δὲ θνητὸν ποιήσας, καὶ τοῦτον φέρων ἐν μέσῳ τῆς θείας και ἀθανάτου φύσεως καὶ τῆς θνητῆς καὶ μεταβλητῆς ἵδρυσεν, ἵνα πάντα μὲν ὁρῶν πάντα θαυμάζῃ.
Hermes, describing the nature of man in order to teach how he was made by God, added this: "And from both natures, the immortal and the mortal, he made one nature, that of man, making the same being in one respect immortal and in another mortal; and bringing him, he set him in the middle between the divine and immortal nature and the mortal and changeable, so that, seeing all things, he might marvel at all."
Notes and citation
Summary: Hermes: man is set between the immortal and the mortal.
- Hermetic fragment quoted in Greek by the author; compare Asclepius 8.
Extrabiblical texts: Corp. herm. (Hermetic writings; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.13.3 (CSEL 19:624–625; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-13-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.13.4CSEL 19:625
sed hunc fortasse aliquis in numero philosophorum conputet, quamuis in deos relatus Mercurii nomine ab Aegyptiis honoretur, nec plus ei auctoritatis tribuat quam Platoni aut Pythagorae.
But perhaps someone may count him among the philosophers, though he was deified and is honored by the Egyptians under the name of Mercury, and may attribute to him no more authority than to Plato or Pythagoras.
Notes and citation
Summary: Hermes may be counted only a philosopher.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.13.4 (CSEL 19:625; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-13-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.13.5CSEL 19:625–626
maius igitur testimonium requiramus. Polites quidam consuluit Apollinem Milesium utrumne maneat anima post mortem an dissoluatur, et respondit his uersibus:
Let us seek, then, a greater testimony. A certain Polites consulted Milesian Apollo whether the soul remains after death or is dissolved, and he answered in these verses:
Notes and citation
Summary: An oracle of Apollo on the soul.
- The oracle follows in the next section.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.13.5 (CSEL 19:625–626; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-13-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.13.6CSEL 19:626–627
Ψυχὴ μὲν μέχρις οὖ δεσμοῖς πρὸς σῶμα κρατεῖται, φθαρτὰ νοοῦσα πάθη θνηταῖς ἀλγηδόσιν εἴκει· ἡνίκα δ᾽ ἀνάλυσιν βροτέην μετὰ σῶμα μαρανθὲν ὡκίστην εὔρηται, ἐς αἰθέρα πᾶσα φορεῖται αἰὲν ἀγήραος οὖσα, μένει δ᾽ εἰς πάμπαν ἀπειρὴς. πρωτόγονος γὰρ τοῦτο Θεοῦ διέταξε πρόνοια. quid? carmina Sibyllina nonne hoc ita esse declarant, cum fore aliquando denuntiant ut a deo de uiuis ac mortuis iudicetur? quorum exempla paulo post inferemus.
"The soul, as long as it is held by bonds to the body, perceiving corruptible passions, yields to mortal pains; but when, after the body has withered, it finds its swiftest mortal release, it is borne wholly into the ether, being ever ageless, and remains forever unwearied; for the first-born providence of God ordained this." What then? Do not the Sibylline verses declare that this is so, when they announce that there will one day be a judgment of the living and the dead by God? Examples of these we will give a little later.
Notes and citation
Summary: Apollo's oracle and the Sibyl affirm the soul's survival.
- The Greek oracle of Apollo at Didyma (Miletus) is quoted by the author (no id for it in the controlled list). The last word of its fifth line (ἀπειρής) is uncertain in meaning.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: n for u): indicetur → iudicetur.
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.13.6 (CSEL 19:626–627; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-13-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.13.7CSEL 19:627
falsa est ergo Democriti et Epicuri et Dicaearchi de animae dissolutione sententia. qui profecto non auderent de interitu animarum mago aliquo praesente disserere, qui sciret certis carminibus cieri ab inferis animas et adesse et praebere se humanis oculis uidendas et loqui et futura praedicere, et si auderent, re ipsa et documentis praesentibus uincerentur.
So the view of Democritus, Epicurus, and Dicaearchus on the dissolution of the soul is false. They certainly would not dare to argue about the destruction of souls in the presence of some magician who knew that by certain spells souls are summoned from the underworld, appear, show themselves to human eyes, speak, and foretell the future; and if they dared, they would be defeated by the fact itself and by present proofs.
1 Sam 28:11 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Necromancy refutes the materialists.
- The author's argument from necromancy, stated as written; he elsewhere ascribes such apparitions to demons.
Extrabiblical texts: Democritus (Democritus (fragments); allusion); Epicurus (Epicurus (sayings and fragments); allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.13.7 (CSEL 19:627; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-13-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.13.8CSEL 19:627
sed quia non peruiderant animae rationem, quae tam suptilis est, ut oculos humanae mentis effugiat, interire dixerunt.
But because they did not perceive the nature of the soul, which is so subtle that it escapes the eyes of the human mind, they said it perishes.
Notes and citation
Summary: They denied what they could not perceive.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR dropped letters): peruieant → peruiderant.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.13.8 (CSEL 19:627; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-13-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.13.9CSEL 19:627
quid Aristoxenus, qui negauit omnino ullam esse animam, etiam cum uiuit in corpore? sed sicut in fidibus ex intentione neruorum effici, concordem sonum atque cantum, quem musici harmoniam uocant, ita in corporibus ex conpage uiscerum ac uigore membrorum uim sentiendi exsistere: quo nihil dici delirius potest.
What of Aristoxenus, who denied that there is any soul at all, even while it lives in the body? He said that just as on a lyre a concordant sound and melody, which musicians call harmony, is produced from the tension of the strings, so in bodies the power of sensing arises from the joining of the organs and the vigor of the limbs; nothing madder can be said.
Notes and citation
Summary: Aristoxenus called the soul a harmony.
- Compare Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 1.19.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.13.9 (CSEL 19:627; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-13-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.13.10CSEL 19:627
uerum ille oculos quidem habuit incolumes, cor tamen caecum, quo uiuere se et habere mentem, qua id ipsum cogitauerat, non uidebat.
He had sound eyes, but a blind heart, by which he did not see that he lived and had a mind with which he had thought that very thing.
Notes and citation
Summary: Aristoxenus was blind in heart.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.13.10 (CSEL 19:627; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-13-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.13.11CSEL 19:627
sed plerisque hoc philosophis accidit, ut putarent omnino non esse quicquid oculis non apparet, cum mentis acies multo clarior debeat esse quam corporis ad ea perspicienda quorum uis ac ratio sentitur potius quam uidetur.
But this happened to most philosophers: they thought that whatever does not appear to the eyes does not exist at all, when the sight of the mind ought to be much clearer than that of the body for seeing things whose force and nature are felt rather than seen.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers wrongly equated existence with visibility.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.13.11 (CSEL 19:627; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-13-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 7, chapter 14
7.14.1CSEL 19:627–628
Quoniam de immortalitate animae diximus, sequitur ut doceamus quatenus homini et quando tribuatur, ut in hoc quoque prauitatis ac stultitiae suae perspiciant errores qui mortales quosdam decretis placitisque mortalium deos esse factos opinantur, uel quod artes inuenerant uel quod usum quarundam frugum docuerant uel quod utilia uitae hominum prodiderant uel quod inmanes bestias interemerant.
Since we have spoken of the immortality of the soul, it follows that we teach how far and when it is granted to man, so that in this too those may see the errors of their depravity and folly who think that certain mortals were made gods by the decrees and resolutions of mortals, either because they had invented arts, or had taught the use of certain crops, or had brought useful things to human life, or had killed savage beasts.
Notes and citation
Summary: When is immortality granted?
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray comma; stray letter): usum I quarundam → usum quarundam; hominum, prodiderant → hominum prodiderant.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.1 (CSEL 19:627–628; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.2CSEL 19:628
quae merita quam longe ab inmortalitate semota sint, et docuimus in prioribus libris et nunc docebimus, ut appareat solam esse iustitiam quae uitam homini pariat aeternam, et solum deum qui aeternae uitae praemium largiatur.
How far these merits are removed from immortality we have taught in the earlier books and will teach now, so that it may be clear that justice alone produces eternal life for man, and God alone bestows the reward of eternal life.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only justice brings eternal life, and only God gives it.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray comma): quae, merita → quae merita.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.2 (CSEL 19:628; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.3CSEL 19:628
nam illi qui suis meritis inmortales facti esse dicuntur, quia nec iustitia nec ulla in his uera uirtus fuit, non inmortalitatem sibi, sed mortem peccatis ac libidinibus quaesierunt neque caeleste praemium, sed inferna supplicia meruerunt, quae pendent simul cum iis omnibus qui eos coluerunt. cuius iudicii propinquare tempus ostendam, ut et iustis merces digna soluatur et poena merita inpiis inrogetur.
For those who are said to have been made immortal by their merits, since there was neither justice nor any true virtue in them, sought for themselves not immortality but death by their sins and lusts, and earned not a heavenly reward but the punishments of hell, which they pay together with all who worshipped them. I will show that the time of this judgment is approaching, so that a fitting wage may be paid to the just and deserved punishment inflicted on the impious.
Notes and citation
Summary: Deified heroes earned hell; the judgment is near.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.3 (CSEL 19:628; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.4CSEL 19:628
Plato et multi alii philosophorum cum ignorarent originem rerum supremumque illut tempus quo mundus esset effectus, multa milia saeculorum fluxisse dixerunt, ex quo hic pulcherrimus mundi extiterit ornatus, secuti fortasse Chaldaeos, qui, ut Cicero tradit in libro de diuinatione primo, quadringenta septuaginta milia annorum monumentis conprehensa se habere delirant: in quo se quia posse argui non putabant, liberum sibi crediderunt esse mentiri.
Plato and many other philosophers, since they did not know the origin of things and that first time at which the world was made, said that many thousands of ages had passed since this most beautiful adornment of the world came to be; following perhaps the Chaldeans, who, as Cicero records in the first book On Divination, rave that they have 470,000 years contained in their records; and because they thought they could not be refuted in this, they believed they were free to lie.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers and Chaldeans claimed vast ages for the world.
- Cicero, On Divination 1.36.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.4 (CSEL 19:628; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.5CSEL 19:628
nos autem, quos diuinae litterae ad scientiam ueritatis erudiunt, principium mundi, finemque cognouimus: de quo nunc in fine operis disseremus, quoniam de principio in secundo libro explicauimus.
But we, whom the divine writings train in the knowledge of truth, know the beginning of the world and its end; of this we will now speak at the end of the work, since we explained the beginning in the second book.
Notes and citation
Summary: Scripture teaches the world's beginning and end.
- Institutes 2.8–10.
Topics: Eschatology, Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.5 (CSEL 19:628; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.6CSEL 19:628–629
sciant igitur philosophi qui ab exordio mundi saeculorum milia enumerant, nondum sextum millesimum annum esse conclusum. quo numero expleto consummationem fieri necesse est et humanarum rerum statum in melius reformari: cuius rei argumentum prius enarrandum est, quo ratio eluceat.
So let the philosophers who count thousands of ages from the beginning of the world know that the six thousandth year has not yet been completed. When this number is fulfilled, the consummation must come and the state of human affairs be reformed for the better. The argument for this must first be told, so that its reason may shine out.
Notes and citation
Summary: The world is nearing six thousand years, when the end comes.
- The author's chronological scheme (a world-week of six thousand years), stated as written.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.6 (CSEL 19:628–629; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.7CSEL 19:629
Mundum deus et hoc rerum naturae admirabile opus, sicut arcanis sacrae scripturae continetur, sex dierum spatio consummauit diemque septimum, quo ab operibus suis requieuerat, sanxit.
God completed the world and this wonderful work of nature, as is contained in the secrets of Holy Scripture, in the space of six days, and hallowed the seventh day, on which he had rested from his works.
Gen 2:2 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God made the world in six days and rested on the seventh.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.7 (CSEL 19:629; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.8CSEL 19:629
hic est autem dies sabbati, qui lingua Hebraeorum a numero nomen accepit, unde septenarius numerus legitimus ac plenus est. nam et dies septem sunt quibus per uicem reuolutis orbes conficiuntur annorum et septem stellae quae non occidunt et septem sidera quae uocantur errantia, quorum dispares cursus et inaequabiles motus rerum ac temporum uarietates efficere creduntur.
This is the day of the sabbath, which in the Hebrew language took its name from the number; hence the number seven is lawful and full. For there are seven days by whose turning in order the circles of the years are completed, and seven stars that do not set, and seven heavenly bodies called wandering, whose unequal courses and irregular motions are believed to produce the variations of things and times.
Notes and citation
Summary: The number seven is complete.
- The derivation of "sabbath" from the number seven is the author's (Hebrew sheva, "seven"; shabbat, "rest").
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.8 (CSEL 19:629; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.9CSEL 19:629
ergo quoniam sex diebus cuncta dei opera perfecta sunt, per saecula sex id est annorum sex milia manere in hoc statu mundum necesse est. dies enim magnus dei mille annorum circulo terminatur, sicut indicat propheta, qui dicit: ante oculos tuos, domine, mille anni tamquam dies unus.
So since all the works of God were completed in six days, the world must remain in this state for six ages, that is, six thousand years. For the great day of God is bounded by a circle of a thousand years, as the prophet indicates, who says: "Before your eyes, O Lord, a thousand years are as one day."
Ps 90:4 (89:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Pet 3:8 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Six days of creation mean six thousand years of history.
- Ps 90:4 (LXX 89:4); compare 2 Pet 3:8.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.9 (CSEL 19:629; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.10CSEL 19:629
et sicut deus sex illos dies in tantis rebus fabricandis laborauit, ita et religio eius et ueritas in his sex milibus annorum laboret necesse est, malitia praeualente atque dominante.
And just as God labored those six days in making such great things, so his religion and truth must labor in these six thousand years, while wickedness prevails and rules.
Notes and citation
Summary: Truth labors for six thousand years under wickedness.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.10 (CSEL 19:629; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.11CSEL 19:629–630
et rursus quoniam perfectis operibus requieuit die septimo eumque benedixit, necesse est ut in fine sexti millesimi anni malitia omnis aboleatur e terra et regnet per annos mille iustitia sitque tranquillitas et requies a laboribus quos mundus iam diu perfert.
And again, since he rested on the seventh day when his works were completed and blessed it, at the end of the six thousandth year all wickedness must be abolished from the earth, and justice reign for a thousand years, and there be tranquillity and rest from the labors the world has long endured.
Gen 2:3 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rev 20:4 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A thousand-year reign of justice will follow.
- The thousand-year reign (millennium) follows Rev 20:4–6; Lactantius's millenarian view, stated as written.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.11 (CSEL 19:629–630; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.12CSEL 19:630
uerum quatenus id eueniat, ordine suo explicabo. saepe diximus minora et exigua magnorum figuras et praemonstrationes esse, ut hunc diem nostrum, qui ortu solis occasuque finitur, diei magni speciem gerere, quem circuitus annorum mille determinat.
But how this will come about I will explain in its order. We have often said that small and slight things are figures and foreshadowings of great ones, as this day of ours, bounded by the rising and setting of the sun, bears the likeness of the great day, which the circuit of a thousand years determines.
Notes and citation
Summary: Small things foreshadow great ones.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.12 (CSEL 19:630; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.13CSEL 19:630
eodem modo etiam figuratio terreni hominis caelestis populi praeferebat in posterum fictionem. nam sicut perfectis omnibus quae in usum hominis molitus est deus ipsum hominem sexto die ultimum fecit eumque induxit in hunc mundum tamquam in domum iam diligenter instructam, ita nunc sexto die magno uerus homo uerbo dei fingitur, id est sanctus populus doctrina et praeceptis dei ad iustitiam figuratur.
In the same way the forming of earthly man foreshadowed the future forming of a heavenly people. For just as, when all things he had made for man's use were complete, God made man himself last, on the sixth day, and brought him into this world as into a house already carefully furnished, so now on the great sixth day the true man is being formed by the Word of God, that is, a holy people is being shaped for justice by the teaching and precepts of God.
Gen 1:27 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: In the sixth age God forms a holy people.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.13 (CSEL 19:630; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.14CSEL 19:630
et sicut tunc mortalis atque inperfectus e terra fictus est, ut mille annis in hoc mundo uiueret, ita nunc ex hoc terrestri saeculo perfectus homo fingitur, ut uiuificatus a deo in hoc eodem mundo per annos mille dominetur.
And just as then a mortal and imperfect man was formed from the earth to live a thousand years in this world, so now from this earthly age a perfect man is being formed, so that, made alive by God, he may rule in this same world for a thousand years.
Rev 20:6 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The perfected people will rule the world for a thousand years.
- "A thousand years" for Adam: the author rounds Adam's lifespan (930 years, Gen 5:5).
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.14 (CSEL 19:630; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.15CSEL 19:630
quomodo autem consummatio futura sit et qualis exitus humanis rebus inpendeat, si quis diuinas litteras fuerit scrutatus, inueniet.
How the consummation will come and what end hangs over human affairs, anyone who has searched the divine writings will find.
Notes and citation
Summary: Scripture reveals the end.
Topics: Eschatology, Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.15 (CSEL 19:630; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.16CSEL 19:630
sed et saecularium prophetarum congruentes cum caelestibus uoces finem rerum et occasum post breue tempus adnuntiant describentes quasi fatigati et dilabentis mundi ultimam senectutem.
But the voices of the secular prophets too, agreeing with the heavenly ones, announce the end and fall of things after a short time, describing, as it were, the final old age of a tired and failing world.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pagan prophets also foretell the end.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.16 (CSEL 19:630; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.14.17CSEL 19:630–631
quae uero a prophetis et uatibus futura esse dicantur, priusquam superueniat extrema illa conclusio, collecta ex omnibus et coaceruata subnectam.
What the prophets and seers say will happen before that final conclusion comes, I will append, gathered and assembled from all of them.
Notes and citation
Summary: He will gather the prophecies of the end.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.14.17 (CSEL 19:630–631; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-14-17).
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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).
Divine 7, chapter 15
7.15.1CSEL 19:631
Est in arcanis sanctarum litterarum transcendisse in Aegyptum cogente inopia rei frumentariae principem Hebraeorum cum omni domo et cognatione.
It is in the secrets of the holy writings that the chief of the Hebrews, compelled by shortage of grain, crossed into Egypt with all his household and kin.
Gen 46:6 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jacob's family went down to Egypt.
- Gen 46.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.1 (CSEL 19:631; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.2CSEL 19:631
cuius posteri cum diutius in Aegypto commorantes in magnam gentem creuissent et graui atque intolerando seruitutis iugo premerentur, percussit Aegyptum deus insanabili plaga et populum suum liberauit traductum medio mari, cum discissis fluctibus et in utramque partem dimotis per siccum populus graderetur.
When his descendants, staying long in Egypt, had grown into a great nation and were oppressed by a heavy and intolerable yoke of slavery, God struck Egypt with an incurable plague and freed his people, leading them through the middle of the sea, when the waves were parted and moved to either side and the people walked across on dry ground.
Exod 1:7 (allusion, medium confidence) · Exod 14:21 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God freed Israel from Egypt through the sea.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.2 (CSEL 19:631; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.3CSEL 19:631
conatusque rex Aegyptiorum profugos insequi coeunte in statum suum pelago cum omnibus copiis interceptus est.
And the king of the Egyptians, trying to pursue the fugitives, was caught with all his forces as the sea came back together into its place.
Exod 14:28 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Pharaoh's army drowned.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.3 (CSEL 19:631; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.4CSEL 19:631
quod facinus tam clarum tamque mirabile quamuis ad praesens uirtutem dei hominibus ostenderet, tamen praesignificatio et figura maioris rei fuit, quam deus idem in extrema temporum consummatione facturus est: liberabit enim plebem suam de graui seruitute mundi.
This deed, so famous and wonderful, though for the present it showed God's power to human beings, was nevertheless a foreshadowing and figure of a greater thing, which the same God will do at the final consummation of the times: for he will free his people from the heavy slavery of the world.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Exodus prefigures the final deliverance.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.4 (CSEL 19:631; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.5CSEL 19:631
sed quoniam tunc una plebs dei et aput unam gentem fuit, Aegyptus sola percussa est, nunc autem quia populus dei ex omnibus linguis congregatus aput omnes gentes commoratur et ab his dominantibus premitur, necesse est uniuersas nationes id est orbem totum caelestibus plagis uerberari, ut iustus et cultor dei populus liberetur.
But since then God's people was one and in one nation, Egypt alone was struck; now, however, because the people of God, gathered from all languages, lives among all nations and is oppressed by those who rule them, all nations, that is, the whole world, must be lashed with heavenly plagues, so that the just people who worship God may be set free.
Rev 7:9 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: At the end the whole world will be struck to free God's people.
Topics: Eschatology, Persecution
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.5 (CSEL 19:631; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.6CSEL 19:631
et sicut tunc signa facta sunt quibus futura clades Aegyptiis ostenderetur, ita in ultimo fient prodigia miranda per omnia elementa mundi, quibus imminens exitus uniuersis gentibus intellegatur.
And just as then signs were given by which the coming disaster was shown to the Egyptians, so at the last there will be wonderful portents throughout all the elements of the world, by which all nations will understand that the end is at hand.
Luke 21:25 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Portents will announce the end.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.6 (CSEL 19:631; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.7CSEL 19:631–632
propinquante igitur huius saeculi termino humanarum rerum statum commutari necesse est et in deterius nequitia inualescente prolabi, ut iam nostra haec tempora, quibus iniquitas et malitia usque ad summum gradum creuit, in illius tamen insanabilis mali conparatione felicia et prope aurea possint iudicari.
So as the end of this age approaches, the state of human affairs must change and slide toward the worse as wickedness grows strong, so that these our times, in which iniquity and malice have grown to the highest degree, may still be judged happy and almost golden in comparison with that incurable evil.
2 Tim 3:1 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Things will get far worse before the end.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.7 (CSEL 19:631–632; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.8CSEL 19:632
ita enim iustitia rarescet, ita inpietas et auaritia et cupiditas et libido crebrescet, ut si qui forte tum fuerint boni, praedae sint sceleratis ac diuexentur undique ab iniustis, soli autem mali opulenti sint, boni uero in omnibus contumeliis atque in egestate iactentur. confundetur omne ius et leges interibunt.
For justice will become so rare, and impiety, greed, desire, and lust so common, that if there happen to be any good people then, they will be prey to the wicked and harassed on every side by the unjust, while only the wicked will be rich, and the good tossed about in every insult and in want. All right will be confounded and laws will perish.
Matt 24:12 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Justice will vanish and the good suffer.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.8 (CSEL 19:632; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.9CSEL 19:632
nihil quisquam tunc habebit nisi aut quaesitum aut defensum manu, audacia et uis omnia possidebunt. non fides in hominibus, non pax, non humanitas, non pudor, non ueritas erit atque ita neque securitas neque regimen neque requies a malis ulla.
No one will then have anything except what he has won or defended by his own hand; boldness and force will possess everything. There will be no faith among people, no peace, no humanity, no shame, no truth, and so no security, no government, no rest from evils.
Notes and citation
Summary: Force will rule and all order collapse.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.9 (CSEL 19:632; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.10CSEL 19:632
omnis enim terra tumultuabitur, frement ubique bella, omnes gentes in armis erunt et se inuicem obpugnabunt: ciuitates inter se finitimae proeliabuntur et prima omnium Aegyptus stultarum superstitionum luet poenas et sanguine uelut flumine operietur.
For the whole earth will be in tumult, wars will roar everywhere, all nations will be in arms and attack one another; neighboring cities will fight each other, and Egypt first of all will pay the penalty for its foolish superstitions and be covered with blood as with a river.
Matt 24:7 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Universal war; Egypt first punished.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.10 (CSEL 19:632; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.11CSEL 19:632
tum peragrabit gladius orbem metens omnia et tamquam messem cuncta prosternens. cuius uastitatis et confusionis haec erit causa, quod Romanum nomen, quo nunc regitur orbis — horret animus dicere, sed dicam, quia futurum est — tolletur e terra et inperium in Asiam reuertetur ac rursus oriens dominabitur atque occidens seruiet.
Then the sword will traverse the world, mowing down everything and laying all low like a harvest. And the cause of this devastation and confusion will be this: that the Roman name, by which the world is now ruled (my mind shudders to say it, but I will say it, because it will happen), will be taken from the earth, and power will return to Asia, and again the East will rule and the West serve.
Notes and citation
Summary: Rome will fall and power return to the East.
- The author's expectation, drawn from the Sibylline oracles and Hystaspes (7.15.18–19), stated as written.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.11 (CSEL 19:632; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.12CSEL 19:632
nec mirum cuiquam debet uideri, si regnum tanta mole fundatum ac tamdiu per tot et tales uiros auctum, tantis denique opibus confirmatum aliquando tamen conruet. nihil est enim humanis uiribus laboratum quod non humanis aeque uiribus destrui possit, quoniam mortalia sunt opera mortalium.
Nor should it seem strange to anyone if a kingdom founded on so great a mass, increased so long by so many and such great men, and strengthened by such great resources, will nevertheless one day collapse. For nothing built by human strength cannot equally be destroyed by human strength, since the works of mortals are mortal.
Notes and citation
Summary: All human empires are mortal.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.12 (CSEL 19:632; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.13CSEL 19:632–633
sic et alia prius regna cum diutius floruissent, nihilominus tamen occiderunt. nam et Aegyptios et Persas et Graecos et Assyrios proditum est regimen habuisse terrarum: quibus omnibus destructis ad Romanos quoque rerum summa peruenit. qui quanto ceteris omnibus regnis magnitudine antistant, tanto maiore decident lapsu, quia plus habent ponderis ad ruinam quae sunt ceteris altiora.
So other kingdoms before, though they flourished for a long time, nonetheless fell. For it is recorded that the Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, and Assyrians held rule over the earth; and when all these were destroyed, supreme power came to the Romans too. As much as they surpass all other kingdoms in size, so much greater will be their fall, because what is higher than the rest has more weight to bring it down.
Dan 2:40 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Rome, like earlier empires, will fall, and more heavily.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.13 (CSEL 19:632–633; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.14CSEL 19:633
non inscite Seneca Romanae urbis tempora distribuit in aetates. primam enim dixit infantiam sub rege Romulo fuisse, a quo et genita et quasi educata sit Roma; deinde pueritiam sub ceteris regibus, a quibus et aucta sit et disciplinis pluribus institutisque formata; at uero Tarquinio regnante cum iam quasi adulta esse coepisset, seruitium non tulisse et reiecto superbae dominationis iugo maluisse legibus obtemperare quam regibus; cumque esset adulescentia eius fine Punici belli terminata, tum denique confirmatis uiribus coepisse iuuenescere.
Not unskillfully did Seneca divide the times of the city of Rome into ages. He said its first age, infancy, was under King Romulus, by whom Rome was begotten and, as it were, reared; then childhood under the other kings, by whom it was enlarged and shaped by many disciplines and institutions; but under Tarquin, when it had begun to be almost grown up, it did not bear slavery, and, throwing off the yoke of proud domination, preferred to obey laws rather than kings; and when its adolescence ended with the end of the Punic war, then at last, its strength confirmed, it began to be a young man.
Notes and citation
Summary: Seneca divided Rome's history into life stages.
- Probably Seneca the Elder, in a lost historical work (uncertain).
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca (Seneca; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.14 (CSEL 19:633; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.15CSEL 19:633–634
sublata enim Carthagine, quae tam diu aemula imperii fuit, manus suas in totum orbem terra marique porrexit, donec regibus cunctis et nationibus imperio subiugatis cum iam bellorum materia deficeret, uiribus suis male uteretur, quibus se ipsa confecit.
For once Carthage was removed, which had so long been a rival for empire, it stretched its hands over the whole world by land and sea, until, when all kings and nations had been subjected to its rule and material for wars was lacking, it used its strength badly and wore itself out.
Notes and citation
Summary: Rome, unrivaled, turned its strength on itself.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.15 (CSEL 19:633–634; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.16CSEL 19:634
haec fuit prima eius senectus, cum bellis lacerata ciuilibus atque intestino malo pressa rursus ad regimen singularis imperii reccidit quasi ad alteram infantiam reuoluta. amissa enim libertate, quam Bruto duce et auctore defenderat, ita consenuit, tamquam sustentare se ipsa non ualeret, nisi adminiculo regentium niteretur.
This was its first old age, when, torn by civil wars and pressed by internal evil, it fell back again to the rule of a single sovereign, as if returned to a second infancy. For having lost the liberty it had defended under Brutus as leader and founder, it grew old as though it could not support itself unless it leaned on the prop of rulers.
Notes and citation
Summary: Under the emperors Rome entered old age.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: e for c): laeerata → lacerata.
Extrabiblical texts: Seneca (Seneca; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.16 (CSEL 19:634; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.17CSEL 19:634
quodsi haec ita sunt, quid restat nisi ut sequatur interitus senectutem? et id futurum breui contiones prophetarum denuntiant sub ambage aliorum nominum, ne facile quis intellegat.
If this is so, what remains but that death should follow old age? And that this will happen soon the declarations of the prophets announce, under the cover of other names, so that no one may easily understand.
Notes and citation
Summary: Rome's death will follow its old age.
- The "other names" probably refer to Babylon (compare Rev 17–18) and Daniel's beasts.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.17 (CSEL 19:634; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-17).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.18CSEL 19:634
Sibyllae tamen aperte interituram esse Romam locuntur et quidem iudicio dei, quod nomen eius habuerit inuisum et inimica iustitiae alumnum ueritatis populum trucidarit.
The Sibyls, however, say openly that Rome will perish, and indeed by the judgment of God, because it held his name hateful and, as an enemy of justice, slaughtered the people nurtured by truth.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Sibyls foretell Rome's fall for persecuting God's people.
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; allusion)
Topics: Eschatology, Persecution
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.18 (CSEL 19:634; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-18).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.15.19CSEL 19:634–635
Hystaspes quoque, qui fuit Medorum rex antiquissimus, a quo amnis nomen accepit qui nunc Hydaspes dicitur, admirabile somnium sub interpretatione uaticinantis pueri ad memoriam posteris tradidit: sublatuiri ex orbe imperium nomenque Romanum multo ante praefatus est quam illa Troiana gens conderetur.
Hystaspes too, a most ancient king of the Medes, from whom the river now called Hydaspes took its name, handed down to the memory of posterity a wonderful dream, interpreted by a prophesying boy: he foretold that the empire and name of Rome would be taken from the world, long before that Trojan race was founded.
Notes and citation
Summary: Hystaspes foretold Rome's end.
- The Oracle of Hystaspes, a Persian-Greek apocalyptic text, survives chiefly through Lactantius.
Extrabiblical texts: Hyst. (Oracle of Hystaspes; allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.15.19 (CSEL 19:634–635; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-15-19).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 7, chapter 16
7.16.1CSEL 19:635
Quomodo autem id futurum sit, ne quis incredibile arbitretur, ostendam. in primis multiplicabitur regnum et summa rerum potestas per plurimos dissipata et concisa minuetur. tum discordiae ciuiles in perpetuum serentur nec ulla requies bellis exitialibus erit, donec reges decem pariter existant, qui orbem terrae non ad regendum, sed ad consumendum partiantur.
But lest anyone think it incredible, I will show how this will happen. First the kingdom will be multiplied, and supreme power, scattered among very many and cut up, will be diminished. Then civil discords will be sown perpetually, and there will be no rest from deadly wars, until ten kings arise at the same time, who will divide the world not to rule it but to consume it.
Dan 7:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Rev 17:12 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Ten kings will divide the world.
- Compare Dan 7:7, 24 and Rev 17:12.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.16.1 (CSEL 19:635; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-16-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.16.2CSEL 19:635
hi exercitibus in immensum auctis et agrorum cultibus destitutis, quod est principium euersionis et cladis, disperdent omnia et comminuent et uorabunt.
These, with armies increased beyond measure and the cultivation of the fields abandoned, which is the beginning of overthrow and disaster, will ruin, crush, and devour everything.
Notes and citation
Summary: Their armies will devour everything.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: garbled letters; OCR: garbled word and period for comma; period for comma inside a sentence): III mensum → in immensum; agrorum cuius destitutis. → agrorum cultibus destitutis,; cladis. disperdent → cladis, disperdent.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.16.2 (CSEL 19:635; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-16-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.16.3CSEL 19:635
tum repente aduersus eos hostis potentissimus ab extremis finibus plagae septentrionalis orietur, qui tribus ex eo numero deletis qui tunc Asiam obtinebunt, adsumetur in societatem a ceteris ac princeps omnium constituetur.
Then suddenly a most powerful enemy will arise against them from the farthest borders of the northern region; having destroyed three of that number who then hold Asia, he will be taken into alliance by the rest and made chief of all.
Dan 7:8 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A northern enemy will destroy three kings and rule the rest.
- Compare Dan 7:8, 24.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.16.3 (CSEL 19:635; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-16-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.16.4CSEL 19:635
hic insustentabili dominatione uexabit orbem, diuina et humana miscebit, infanda dictu et exsecrabilia molietur, noua consilia in pectore suo uolutabit, ut proprium sibi constituat imperium, leges commutet et suas sanciat, contaminabit diripiet spoliabit occidet: denique inmutato nomine atque imperii sede translata confusio ac perturbatio humani generis consequetur.
He will harass the world with unbearable tyranny, confound things divine and human, undertake deeds unspeakable and accursed, and turn over new plans in his heart to establish his own empire; he will change the laws and ordain his own; he will defile, plunder, despoil, and kill; and finally, with the name changed and the seat of empire transferred, confusion and disturbance of the human race will follow.
Dan 7:25 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: He will change laws and move the seat of empire.
- Compare Dan 7:25.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.16.4 (CSEL 19:635; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-16-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.16.5CSEL 19:635
tum uero detestabile atque abominandum tempus existet, quo nulli hominum sit uita iucunda. eruentur funditus ciuitates atque interibunt non modo ferro atque igni, uerum etiam terrae motibus adsiduis et eluuie aquarum et morbis frequentibus et fame crebra.
Then indeed a detestable and abominable time will come, in which life will be pleasant for no one. Cities will be utterly overthrown and perish, not only by sword and fire, but also by constant earthquakes, floods of water, frequent diseases, and repeated famine.
Luke 21:11 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Cities will perish by war, earthquake, flood, and famine.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.16.5 (CSEL 19:635; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-16-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.16.6CSEL 19:635–636
aer enim uitiabitur et corruptus ac pestilens fiet modo inportunis imbribus modo inutili siccitate, nunc frigoribus nunc aestibus nimiis, nec terra homini dabit fructum: non seges quicquam, non arbor, non uitis feret, sed cum in flore spem maximam dederint, in fruge decipient.
For the air will be corrupted and become foul and pestilent, now with unseasonable rains, now with useless drought, now with cold, now with excessive heat; nor will the earth give man its fruit: no crop, no tree, no vine will bear anything, but after giving the greatest hope in flower, they will disappoint in fruit.
Notes and citation
Summary: Weather and harvests will fail.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.16.6 (CSEL 19:635–636; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-16-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.16.7CSEL 19:636
fontes quoque cum fluminibus arescent, ut ne potus quidem suppetat, et aquae in sanguinem aut amaritudinem mutabuntur.
Springs too will dry up with the rivers, so that there will not even be drink enough, and waters will be changed into blood or bitterness.
Rev 8:11 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rev 16:4 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Waters will dry up or turn to blood.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.16.7 (CSEL 19:636; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-16-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.16.8CSEL 19:636
propter haec deficient et in terra quadrupedes et in aere uolucres et in mari pisces. prodigia quoque in caelo mirabilia mentes hominum maximo terrore confundent, et crines cometarum et solis tenebrae et color lunae et cadentium siderum lapsus.
Because of these things four-footed animals on land, birds in the air, and fish in the sea will fail. Wonderful portents in the sky too will confound human minds with the greatest terror: the tails of comets, the darkenings of the sun, the color of the moon, and the falling of stars.
Hos 4:3 (echo, low confidence) · Matt 24:29 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Animals will die and portents fill the sky.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: m for in (twice)): et m terra quadrupedes et m aere → et in terra quadrupedes et in aere.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.16.8 (CSEL 19:636; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-16-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.16.9CSEL 19:636
nec tamen haec usitato modo fient, sed existent subito ignota et inuisa oculis astra. sol in perpetuum fuscabitur, ut uix inter noctem diemque discernat, luna iam non tribus deficiet horis, sed perpetuo sanguine offusa meatus extraordinarios peraget, ut non sit homini promptum aut siderum cursus aut rationem temporum agnoscere: fiet enim uel aestas in hieme uel hiemps in aestate.
Nor will these happen in the usual way, but stars unknown and unseen will suddenly appear. The sun will be darkened perpetually, so that it will hardly distinguish between night and day; the moon will no longer be eclipsed for three hours, but, covered with perpetual blood, will make unusual courses, so that it will not be easy for man to recognize the courses of the stars or the reckoning of seasons; for there will be summer in winter or winter in summer.
Joel 2:31 (allusion, high confidence) · Rev 6:12 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Sun and moon will be darkened and seasons confused.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.16.9 (CSEL 19:636; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-16-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.16.10CSEL 19:636
tunc annus breuiabitur et mensis minuetur et dies in angustum coartabitur, stellae uero creberrimae cadent, ut caelum omne caecum sine ullis luminibus appareat.
Then the year will be shortened, the month diminished, and the day narrowed into a small space; and stars will fall in great numbers, so that the whole sky will appear dark without any lights.
Matt 24:22 (echo, medium confidence) · Matt 24:29 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Time will be shortened and stars fall.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.16.10 (CSEL 19:636; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-16-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.16.11CSEL 19:636–637
montes quoque altissimi decident et planis aequabuntur, mare innauigabile constituetur. ac ne quid malis hominum terraeque desit, audietur e caelo tuba: quod hoc modo Sibylla denuntiat: σάλπιγξ οὐρανόθεν φωνὴν πολύθρηνον ἀφήσει. itaque trepidabunt omnes et ad luctuosum illum sonitum contremescent.
The highest mountains too will fall and be leveled with the plains; the sea will be made unnavigable. And that nothing may be lacking to the evils of men and the earth, a trumpet will be heard from heaven, which the Sibyl announces thus: "A trumpet from heaven will send forth a voice of much lamenting." So all will tremble and quake at that mournful sound.
1 Thess 4:16 (echo, low confidence) · Rev 16:20 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Mountains will fall and a trumpet sound from heaven.
- Sibylline Oracles 4.174 (quoted in Greek by the author).
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. 4.174 (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.16.11 (CSEL 19:636–637; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-16-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.16.12CSEL 19:637
tum uero per iram dei aduersus homines qui iustitiam non adgnouerint, saeuiet ferrum ignis fames morbus, et super omnia metus semper inpendens. tunc orabunt deum et non exaudiet, optabitur mors et non ueniet. ne nox quidem requiem timori dabit nec ad oculos somnus accedet, sed animas hominum sollicitudo ac uigilia macerabit, plorabunt et gement et dentibus strident, gratulabuntur mortuis et uiuos plangent.
Then indeed, through the wrath of God against people who did not acknowledge justice, sword, fire, famine, and disease will rage, and over all, fear always hanging over them. Then they will pray to God and he will not hear; death will be longed for and will not come. Not even night will give rest to fear, nor will sleep come to the eyes, but anxiety and wakefulness will waste human souls; they will weep, groan, and gnash their teeth, congratulate the dead and lament the living.
Rev 9:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 8:12 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God's wrath will bring terror; people will long for death.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.16.12 (CSEL 19:637; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-16-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.16.13CSEL 19:637–638
his et aliis pluribus malis solitudo fiet in terra et erit deformatus orbis atque desertus: quod in carminibus Sibyllinis ita dicitur: ἔσται ϰόσμος ἄϰοσμος ἀπολλυμένων άνθρώπων.
By these and many other evils there will be desolation on the earth, and the world will be disfigured and deserted, which is said thus in the Sibylline verses: "The world will be no world, as men perish."
Notes and citation
Summary: The earth will be desolate.
- Sibylline Oracles, fragment (quoted in Greek by the author; exact location uncertain). The Greek plays on kosmos, "world" and "order."
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR dropped a letter): ἀπολλμένων → ἀπολλυμένων.
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.16.13 (CSEL 19:637–638; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-16-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.16.14CSEL 19:638
ita enim conficietur humanum genus, ut uix decima pars hominum relinquatur, et unde mille processerant, uix prodient centum. de cultoribus etiam dei duae partes interibunt et tertia quae fuerit probata remanebit.
For the human race will be so worn away that scarcely a tenth part of people will be left, and where a thousand went forth, scarcely a hundred will come out. Of the worshippers of God too, two parts will perish, and the third, which has been proved, will remain.
Zech 13:8 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Few will survive; a tested third of believers will remain.
- Compare Zech 13:8–9.
Topics: Eschatology, Persecution
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.16.14 (CSEL 19:638; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-11-1/#p-7-16-14).
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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).