Divine Institutes 7.17.1–7.25.9
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 17
7.17.1CSEL 19:638
Sed planius quomodo id eueniat exponam. imminente iam temporum conclusione propheta magnus mittetur a deo, qui conuertat homines ad dei agnitionem, et accipiet potestatem mirabilia faciendi.
But I will explain more plainly how this will happen. When the conclusion of the times is already at hand, a great prophet will be sent by God to turn people to the knowledge of God, and he will receive power to do wonders.
Rev 11:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Mal 4:5 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A great prophet will come before the end.
- Compare the two witnesses of Rev 11:3–6 and Mal 4:5.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.17.1 (CSEL 19:638; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-17-1).
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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).
7.17.2CSEL 19:638
ubicumque homines non audierint eum, claudet caelum et abstinebit imbres, aquam conuertet in sanguinem et cruciabit illos siti ac fame, et quicumque conabitur eum laedere, procedet ignis de ore eius atque conburet illum. his prodigiis ac uirtutibus conuertet multos ad dei cultum. peractisque operibus ipsius alter rex orietur e Syria malo spiritu genitus, euersor ac perditor generis humani, qui reliquias illius prioris mali cum ipso simul deleat.
Wherever people do not listen to him, he will shut the sky and withhold the rains, turn water into blood, and torment them with thirst and hunger; and whoever tries to harm him, fire will come out of his mouth and burn him. By these portents and powers he will turn many to the worship of God. And when his works are finished, another king will arise from Syria, begotten of an evil spirit, the overthrower and destroyer of the human race, who will destroy the remnants of that former evil together with itself.
Rev 11:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Rev 11:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Dan 11:36 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The prophet does wonders; then a king from Syria arises.
- The king from Syria is the Antichrist figure.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.17.2 (CSEL 19:638; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-17-2).
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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).
7.17.3CSEL 19:638
hic pugnabit aduersus prophetam dei et uincet et interficiet eum et insepultum iacere patietur, sed post diem tertium reuiuiscet atque inspectantibus et mirantibus cunctis rapietur in caelum.
He will fight against the prophet of God, defeat him, kill him, and let him lie unburied; but after the third day he will come to life again and, while all look on and marvel, be caught up into heaven.
Rev 11:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Rev 11:11 (allusion, high confidence) · Rev 11:12 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The prophet is killed, rises on the third day, and ascends.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.17.3 (CSEL 19:638; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-17-3).
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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).
7.17.4CSEL 19:638–639
rex uero ille taeterrimus erit quidem et ipse, sed mendaciorum propheta, et se ipsum constituet ac uocabit deum, se coli iubebit ut dei filium. et dabitur ei potestas, ut faciat signa et prodigia, quibus uisis inretiat homines, ut adorent eum.
That king will be most foul, and himself a prophet, but of lies; he will set himself up and call himself God, and will order himself to be worshipped as the Son of God. And power will be given him to do signs and wonders, by the sight of which he will ensnare people to worship him.
2 Thess 2:4 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Thess 2:9 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rev 13:13 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The false king claims to be God and does signs.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.17.4 (CSEL 19:638–639; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-17-4).
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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).
7.17.5CSEL 19:639
iubebit ignem descendere a caelo et solem a suis cursibus stare et imaginem loqui, et fient haec sub uerbo eius: quibus miraculis etiam sapientium plurimi adlicientur ab eo.
He will command fire to come down from heaven, the sun to stand still in its course, and an image to speak, and these things will happen at his word; by these miracles even very many of the wise will be enticed by him.
Rev 13:13 (allusion, high confidence) · Rev 13:15 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 24:24 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: He will bring fire from heaven and make an image speak.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.17.5 (CSEL 19:639; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-17-5).
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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).
7.17.6CSEL 19:639
tunc eruere templum dei conabitur et iustum populum persequetur et erit pressura et contritio qualis numquam fuit a principio mundi.
Then he will try to overthrow the temple of God and persecute the just people, and there will be distress and affliction such as there never was from the beginning of the world.
Matt 24:21 (allusion, high confidence) · Dan 12:1 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: He will persecute the just in unprecedented tribulation.
Topics: Eschatology, Persecution
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.17.6 (CSEL 19:639; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-17-6).
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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).
7.17.7CSEL 19:639
quicumque crediderint atque accesserint ei, signabuntur ab eo tamquam pecudes, qui autem recusauerint notam eius, aut in montes fugient aut conprehensi exquisitis cruciatibus necabuntur.
Whoever believe and join him will be marked by him like cattle; but those who refuse his mark will either flee to the mountains or, if caught, be put to death with refined tortures.
Rev 13:16 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 24:16 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: His followers receive his mark; refusers flee or die.
Topics: Eschatology, Persecution, Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.17.7 (CSEL 19:639; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-17-7).
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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).
7.17.8CSEL 19:639
idem iustos homines obuoluet libris prophetarum atque ita cremabit. et dabitur ei desolare orbem terrae mensibus quadraginta duobus.
He will also wrap just men in the books of the prophets and so burn them. And it will be given him to lay waste the world for forty-two months.
Rev 13:5 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: He will burn the just with the Scriptures and rule forty-two months.
- The burning of the Scriptures recalls the edict of 303; forty-two months, Rev 13:5.
Topics: Eschatology, Persecution
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.17.8 (CSEL 19:639; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-17-8).
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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).
7.17.9CSEL 19:639
id erit tempus quo iustitia proicietur et innocentia odio erit, quo mali bonos hostiliter praedabuntur. non lex aut ordo aut militiae disciplina seruabitur, non canos quisquam reuerebitur, non officium pietatis adgnoscet, non sexus aut infantiae miserebitur: confundentur omnia et miscebuntur contra fas, contra iura naturae. ita quasi uno communique latrocinio terra uniuersa uastabitur.
That will be the time when justice is cast out and innocence hated, when the wicked will prey on the good as enemies. No law or order or military discipline will be kept; no one will respect gray hairs, acknowledge the duty of piety, or pity sex or infancy; everything will be confounded and mixed against right and against the laws of nature. So the whole earth will be laid waste as by one common robbery.
2 Tim 3:2 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: All order and piety will collapse.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.17.9 (CSEL 19:639; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-17-9).
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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).
7.17.10CSEL 19:639–640
cum haec facta erunt, tum iusti et sectatores ueritatis segregabunt se a malis et fugient in solitudines. quo audito inpius inflammatus ira ueniet cum exercitu magno et admotis omnibus copiis circumdabit montem in quo iusti morabuntur, ut eos conprehendat.
When these things have been done, then the just and the followers of truth will separate themselves from the wicked and flee into solitary places. When he hears this, the impious one, inflamed with anger, will come with a great army and, bringing up all his forces, will surround the mountain where the just are staying, in order to seize them.
Matt 24:16 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rev 20:9 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The just flee; the Antichrist besieges them.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: n for h, i for f): cum naec iacta → cum haec facta.
Topics: Eschatology, Persecution
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.17.10 (CSEL 19:639–640; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-17-10).
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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).
7.17.11CSEL 19:640
illi uero ubi se clausos undique atque obsessos uiderint, exclamabunt ad deum uoce magna et auxilium caeleste inplorabunt, et exaudiet eos deus et mittet regem magnum de caelo, qui eos eripiat ac liberet omnesque inpios ferro ignique disperdat.
But when they see themselves shut in and besieged on every side, they will cry to God with a loud voice and implore heavenly help; and God will hear them and send a great King from heaven to rescue and free them and destroy all the impious with sword and fire.
Rev 19:11 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God will send a great King from heaven to rescue them.
- The King from heaven is Christ at his second coming.
Topics: Eschatology, Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.17.11 (CSEL 19:640; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-17-11).
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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 18
7.18.1CSEL 19:640
Haec ita futura esse cum prophetae omnes ex dei spiritu tum etiam uates ex instinctu daemonum cecinerunt.
That these things will be so, both all the prophets have sung from the Spirit of God and also seers from the prompting of demons.
Notes and citation
Summary: Prophets and pagan seers alike foretold these things.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (leaked line number): ex dei 10 spiritu → ex dei spiritu.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.18.1 (CSEL 19:640; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-18-1).
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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).
7.18.2CSEL 19:640
Hystaspes enim, quem superius nominaui, descripta iniquitate saeculi huius extremi pios ac fideles a nocentibus segregatos ait cum fletu et gemitu extenturos esse ad caelum manus et inploraturos fidem Iouis: Iouem respecturum ad terram et auditurum uoces hominum atque inpios extincturum. quae omnia uera sunt praeter unum, quod Iouem dixit illa facturum quae deus faciet.
For Hystaspes, whom I named above, having described the iniquity of this last age, says that the pious and faithful, separated from the guilty, will stretch out their hands to heaven with weeping and groaning and implore the protection of Jupiter; that Jupiter will look down on the earth, hear the voices of men, and destroy the impious. All of this is true except one thing: that he said Jupiter would do what God will do.
Notes and citation
Summary: Hystaspes foretold the rescue, but ascribed it to Jupiter.
Extrabiblical texts: Hyst. (Oracle of Hystaspes; allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.18.2 (CSEL 19:640; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-18-2).
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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).
7.18.3CSEL 19:640–641
sed et illut non sine daemonum fraude subtractum, missuiri a patre tunc filium dei, qui deletis omnibus malis pios liberet. quod Hermes tamen non dissimulauit. in eo enim libro qui λόγος τέλειος inscribitur, post enumerationem malorum de quibus diximus subiecit haec:
But this too was removed, not without the deceit of demons: that the Son of God would then be sent by the Father to destroy all evils and free the pious. Hermes, however, did not conceal it. For in that book entitled The Perfect Discourse, after the list of evils of which we have spoken, he added this:
Notes and citation
Summary: Hermes foretold a divine restoration.
- The Perfect Discourse (Logos teleios) survives in Latin as the Asclepius. The quotation follows in the next section.
Extrabiblical texts: Corp. herm. (Hermetic writings; allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.18.3 (CSEL 19:640–641; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-18-3).
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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).
7.18.4CSEL 19:641–642
ἐπὰν δὴ ταῦτα γένηται, ὦ Ἀσκλήπιε. τότε ὁ κύριος καὶ πατὴρ καὶ θεὸς καὶ τοῦ πρώτου καὶ ἑνὸς θεοῦ δημιουργὸς ἐπιβλέψας τοῖς γενομένοις καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ βούλησιν τοῦτ ἔστιν τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἀντερείσας τῆ ἀταξίᾳ καὶ ἀνακαλεσάμενος τὴν πλάνην καὶ τὴν κακίαν ἐκκαθαρας πὴ μὲν ὕδατι πολλῷ κατακλύσας, πὴ δὲ πυρὶ ὀξυτάτῳ διακαύσας, ἑνίοτε δὲ πολέμοις καὶ λοιμοῖς ἐκπαίσας, ἤγαγεν ἐπὶ τὸ ἀρχαῖον καὶ ἀποκατέστησεν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ κόσμον.
"When these things have happened, Asclepius, then the Lord and Father and God, the maker of the first and one god, looking on what has happened and setting his own will, that is, the good, against the disorder, recalling error and cleansing wickedness, now drowning it in much water, now burning it with sharpest fire, and at times striking it with wars and plagues, brought back and restored his own world to its ancient state."
Notes and citation
Summary: Hermes: God will cleanse and restore the world.
- Asclepius 26, quoted in Greek by the author. "The first and one god" is the world, in Hermetic language.
Extrabiblical texts: Corp. herm. Asclepius 26 (Hermetic writings; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.18.4 (CSEL 19:641–642; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-18-4).
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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).
7.18.5CSEL 19:642
Sibyllae quoque non aliter fore ostendunt quam ut dei filius a summo patre mittatur, qui et iustos liberet de manibus inpiorum et iniustos cum tyrannis saeuientibus deleat.
The Sibyls too show that it will be no other way than that the Son of God will be sent by the supreme Father to free the just from the hands of the impious and destroy the unjust together with the raging tyrants.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Sibyls foretell the sending of the Son of God.
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; allusion)
Topics: Eschatology, Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.18.5 (CSEL 19:642; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-18-5).
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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).
7.18.6CSEL 19:642–643
e quibus una sic tradit: ἥξει καὶ μακάρων ἐθέλων πόλιν ἐξαλαπάξαι. καί κέν τις θεόθεν βασιλεὺς πεμφθεὶς ἐπὶ τοῦτον πάντας ὀλεῖ βασιλεῖς μεγάλους καὶ φῶτας ἀρίστους; εἰθ᾽ οὕτως κρίσις ἔσται ὑπ᾽ ἀφθίτου ἀνθρώποισιν. item alia:
One of them teaches thus: "He will come, wishing to sack the city of the blessed; and a king sent from God against him will destroy all the great kings and the best men; and thus there will be judgment by the Imperishable One upon men." Likewise another:
Notes and citation
Summary: A Sibyl: a king sent from God will destroy the great kings.
- Sibylline Oracles 5.414 and following (quoted in Greek; location uncertain).
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.18.6 (CSEL 19:642–643; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-18-6).
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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).
7.18.7CSEL 19:643
καὶ τότ᾽ ἀπ᾽ ἠελίου θεὸς πέμψει βασιλῆα, ὃς πᾶσαν γαῖαν παύσει πολέμοιο κακοῖο. et rursus alia:
"And then God will send a king from the sun, who will stop the whole earth from evil war." And again another:
Notes and citation
Summary: A Sibyl: God will send a king to end war.
- Sibylline Oracles 3.652–653 (quoted in Greek).
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. 3.652-653 (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.18.7 (CSEL 19:643; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-18-7).
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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).
7.18.8CSEL 19:643–644
ὃς ῥά κε πραὺς ἰδοὺ ἤξει, ἴνα τὸ ζυγὸν ἡμῶν δοῦλον δυσβάστακτον ἐπ᾽ αὐχένι κείμενον ἄρῃ, καὶ θεσμοὺς ἀθέους λύσει, δεσμούς τε βιαίους.
"Who, behold, will come gentle, to lift our yoke of slavery, hard to bear, that lies on our neck, and will loosen godless ordinances and violent bonds."
Zech 9:9 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A Sibyl: a gentle one will lift the yoke of slavery.
- Sibylline Oracles 8.326–328 (quoted in Greek). Compare Zech 9:9 and Matt 11:29–30.
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. 8.326-328 (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology, Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.18.8 (CSEL 19:643–644; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-18-8).
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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).
Divine 7, chapter 19
7.19.1CSEL 19:644
Oppresso igitur orbe terrae cum ad destruendam inmensarum uirium tyrannidem humanae opes defecerint, siquidem capto mundo cum magnis latronum exercitibus incubabit, diuino auxilio tanta illa calamitas indigebit.
So when the world is oppressed, since human resources will fail to destroy a tyranny of immense strength, because he will lie upon the captured world with great armies of robbers, so great a calamity will need divine help.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only God can overthrow the final tyranny.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: ra for m): terrae cura ad → terrae cum ad.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.19.1 (CSEL 19:644; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-19-1).
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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).
7.19.2CSEL 19:644–645
commotus igitur deus et periculo ancipiti et miseranda conploratione iustorum mittet protinus liberatorem. tum aperietur caelum medium intempesta et tenebrosa nocte, ut in orbe toto lumen descendentis dei tamquam fulgur appareat; quod Sibylla his uersibus elocuta est: ὁππόταν ἔλθῃ, πῦρ ἔσται ψολόεν τι μέσσῃ ἐνὶ νυκτὶ μελαίνῃ.
So God, moved both by the doubtful danger and by the pitiable lament of the just, will at once send a deliverer. Then the middle of heaven will be opened in the dead of a dark night, so that the light of God descending may appear like lightning in the whole world; which the Sibyl expressed in these verses: "When he comes, there will be a smoky fire in the middle of black night."
Matt 24:27 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The deliverer descends at night like lightning.
- Sibylline Oracles, fragment (quoted in Greek; location uncertain). Compare Matt 24:27.
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology, Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.19.2 (CSEL 19:644–645; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-19-2).
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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).
7.19.3CSEL 19:645
haec est nox quae a nobis propter aduentum regis ac dei nostri peruigilio celebratur: cuius noctis duplex ratio est, quod in ea et uitam tum recepit, cum passus est, et postea regnum orbis terrae recepturus est.
This is the night which we celebrate with a vigil because of the coming of our King and God. That night has a twofold meaning: in it he then received back life after he had suffered, and afterward he will receive the kingdom of the world.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Easter vigil anticipates Christ's return.
- The paschal vigil, kept on the night of the resurrection.
Topics: Eschatology, Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.19.3 (CSEL 19:645; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-19-3).
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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).
7.19.4CSEL 19:645
hic est enim liberator et iudex et ultor et rex et deus, quem nos Christum uocamus, qui priusquam descendat, hoc signum dabit.
For this is the deliverer, judge, avenger, king, and God, whom we call Christ, who before he descends will give this sign.
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is deliverer, judge, king, and God.
Topics: Christology, Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.19.4 (CSEL 19:645; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-19-4).
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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).
7.19.5CSEL 19:645
cadet repente gladius e caelo, ut sciant iusti ducem sanctae militiae descensurum, et descendet comitantibus angelis in medium terrae et antecedet eum flamma inextinguibilis et uirtus angelorum tradet in manus iustorum multitudinem illam quae montem circumsederit et concidetur ab hora tertia usque in uesperum et fluet sanguis more torrentis: deletisque omnibus copiis inpius solus effugiet et peribit ab eo uirtus sua.
A sword will suddenly fall from heaven, so that the just may know that the leader of the holy army is about to descend; and he will descend with angels accompanying him into the midst of the earth, and an unquenchable flame will go before him, and the power of the angels will deliver into the hands of the just that multitude which has surrounded the mountain; and it will be cut down from the third hour until evening, and blood will flow like a torrent; and when all his forces are destroyed, the impious one alone will escape, and his power will perish from him.
Rev 19:11 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rev 14:20 (echo, medium confidence) · Matt 25:31 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ descends with angels and destroys the Antichrist's army.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: S for fl; line-break hyphen and stray comma): ante-, cedet → antecedet; et Suet sanguis → et fluet sanguis.
Topics: Eschatology, Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.19.5 (CSEL 19:645; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-19-5).
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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).
7.19.6CSEL 19:645–646
hic est autem qui appellatur Antichristus, sed se ipse Christum mentietur et contra uerum dimicabit et uictus effugiet et bellum saepe renouabit et saepe uincetur, donec quarto proelio confectis omnibus impiis debellatus et captus tandem scelerum suorum luat poenas.
This is the one called Antichrist; but he will falsely claim to be Christ, will fight against the true one, will flee when defeated, will often renew the war and often be beaten, until in the fourth battle, all the impious having been destroyed, he is defeated and captured and at last pays the penalty of his crimes.
1 John 2:18 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Thess 2:8 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rev 19:20 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Antichrist is defeated in the fourth battle.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.19.6 (CSEL 19:645–646; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-19-6).
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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).
7.19.7CSEL 19:646
sed et ceteri principes ac tyranni, qui contriuerunt orbem, simul cum eo uincti adducentur ad regem, et increpabit eos et coarguet et exprobrabit iis facinora ipsorum et damnabit eos ac meritis cruciatibus tradet.
And the other princes and tyrants who crushed the world will be brought bound to the King together with him; and he will rebuke them, convict them, reproach them with their crimes, condemn them, and hand them over to deserved torments.
Rev 19:19 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The tyrants are brought bound for judgment.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: n for ri): mentis cruciatibus → meritis cruciatibus.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.19.7 (CSEL 19:646; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-19-7).
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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).
7.19.8CSEL 19:646
sic extincta malitia et inpietate conpressa requiescet orbis, qui per tot saecula subiectus errori ac sceleri nefandam pertulit seruitutem.
So, with wickedness extinguished and impiety suppressed, the world will rest, which for so many ages, subject to error and crime, endured an unspeakable slavery.
Rom 8:21 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The world will rest from its long slavery.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: m for in): et mpietate → et inpietate.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.19.8 (CSEL 19:646; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-19-8).
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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).
7.19.9CSEL 19:646–647
non colentur ulterius dii manu facti, sed a templis ac puluinaribus suis deturbata simulacra igni dabuntur et cum donis suis mirabilibus ardebunt: quod etiam Sibylla cum prophetis congruens futurum esse praedixit: ῥίψωσιν δ εἴδωλα βρότοι καὶ πλοῦτον ἄπαντα. Erythraea quoque idem spopondit: ἔργα δὲ χειροποιητὰ θεῶν κατακαυθήσονται.
Gods made by hand will no longer be worshipped, but the images, thrown down from their temples and couches, will be given to the fire and will burn with their wonderful gifts; which the Sibyl too, agreeing with the prophets, foretold: "Mortals will cast away idols and all wealth." The Erythraean Sibyl also promised the same: "The handmade works of gods will be burned up."
Isa 2:18 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Idols will be burned.
- Sibylline Oracles, fragments (quoted in Greek; compare 3.606 and 3.618).
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.19.9 (CSEL 19:646–647; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-19-9).
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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).
Divine 7, chapter 20
7.20.1CSEL 19:647
Post haec aperientur inferi et surgent mortui, de quibus iudicium magnum idem ipse rex ac deus faciet cui summus pater et iudicandi et regnandi dabit maximam potestatem. de quo iudicio et regno aput Erythraeam Sibyllam sic inuenitur:
After this the underworld will be opened and the dead will rise, over whom the same King and God will hold the great judgment, to whom the supreme Father will give the greatest power both of judging and of reigning. Of this judgment and reign this is found in the Erythraean Sibyl:
John 5:22 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rev 20:12 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The dead rise for Christ's judgment.
- The quotation follows in the next section.
Topics: Eschatology, Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.20.1 (CSEL 19:647; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-20-1).
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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).
7.20.2CSEL 19:647–648
ὁππότε δὴ καὶ τοῦτο λάβῃ τέλος αἴσιμον ἦμαρ, εἰς δὲ βροτοὺς ἥξει κρίσις ἀθανάτοιο θεοῖο, ἥξει ἑπ᾽ ἀνθρώπους μεγάλη κρίσις ἡδὲ καὶ ἀρχή.
"When this fated day too reaches its end, and the judgment of immortal God comes upon mortals, a great judgment and rule will come upon men."
Notes and citation
Summary: The Sibyl foretells the great judgment.
- Sibylline Oracles, fragment (quoted in Greek; location uncertain).
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.20.2 (CSEL 19:647–648; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-20-2).
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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).
7.20.3CSEL 19:648
deinde aput aliam: ταρτάρεον δὲ χάος δείξει τότε γαῖα χανοῦσα ἥξουσιν δὲ ἐπὶ βῆμα θεοῦ βασιλῆος ἄπαντες.
Then in another: "Then the earth, gaping open, will show the chaos of Tartarus, and all will come to the judgment seat of God the King."
2 Cor 5:10 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: All will come before God's judgment seat.
- Sibylline Oracles, fragment (quoted in Greek; compare 8.241–242).
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.20.3 (CSEL 19:648; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-20-3).
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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).
7.20.4CSEL 19:648–649
et alio loco apud eamdem: οὐρανὸν εἱλίξω, γαίης κευθμῶνας ἀνοίξω, και τότ᾽ ἀναστήσω νεκροὺς μοῖραν ἀναλύσας καὶ θανάτου κέντρον. καὶ ὕστερον εἰς κρίσιν ἄξω, κρίνων εὐσεβέων καὶ δυσσεβέων βίον ἀνδρῶν.
And in another place in the same: "I will roll up heaven, I will open the hollows of the earth, and then I will raise the dead, loosing fate and the sting of death; and afterward I will bring them to judgment, judging the life of pious and impious men."
1 Cor 15:55 (echo, medium confidence) · Isa 34:4 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Sibyl: God will raise the dead and judge them.
- Sibylline Oracles 8.413–416 (quoted in Greek).
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. 8.413-416 (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.20.4 (CSEL 19:648–649; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-20-4).
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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).
7.20.5CSEL 19:649
nec tamen uniuersi tunc a deo iudicabuntur, sed ii tantum qui sunt in dei religione uersati. nam qui deum non adgnouerunt, quoniam sententia de his in absolutionem ferri non potest, iam iudicati damnatique sunt, sanctis litteris contestantibus non resurrecturos esse inpios in iudicium.
Yet not all will then be judged by God, but only those who have been engaged in the religion of God. For those who did not acknowledge God, since sentence cannot be passed on them for acquittal, have already been judged and condemned, as the holy writings testify that the impious will not rise to judgment.
Ps 1:5 (quotation, high confidence) · John 3:18 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Only those within God's religion are judged; unbelievers are already condemned.
- "The impious will not rise to judgment": Ps 1:5 (in the Greek and Latin form). The author's view, stated as written.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.20.5 (CSEL 19:649; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-20-5).
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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).
7.20.6CSEL 19:649
iudicabuntur ergo qui deum scierunt et facinora eorum id est mala opera cum bonis conlata ponderabuntur, ut si plura et graui(or)a fuerint bona iustaque, dentur ad uitam beatam, si autem mala superauerint, condemnentur ad poenam.
So those who knew God will be judged, and their deeds, that is, their evil works compared with the good, will be weighed, so that if the good and just are more numerous and weightier, they may be given to the blessed life; but if the evil have prevailed, they may be condemned to punishment.
Notes and citation
Summary: Believers' good and evil deeds will be weighed.
- "Weightier" (grauiora) includes an editor's supplement.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.20.6 (CSEL 19:649; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-20-6).
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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).
7.20.7CSEL 19:649
hic fortasse dixerit quispiam: si est inmortalis anima, quomodo patibilis inducitur ac poenae sentiens? si enim ob merita punietur, sentiet utique dolorem atque ita etiam mortem: si morti non est obnoxia, ne dolori quidem: patibilis igitur non est. huic quaestioni siue argumento a Stoicis ita occurritur:
Here someone may say: "If the soul is immortal, how is it represented as capable of suffering and feeling punishment? For if it is punished for its deserts, it will surely feel pain, and so also death; if it is not liable to death, neither is it to pain; so it is not capable of suffering." To this question or argument the Stoics reply thus:
Notes and citation
Summary: Objection: an immortal soul cannot suffer.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.20.7 (CSEL 19:649; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-20-7).
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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).
7.20.8CSEL 19:649
animas quidem hominum permanere nec interuentu mortis in nihilum resolui, sed eorum qui iusti fuerint puras et inpatibiles et beatas ad sedem caelestem, unde illis origo sit, remeare uel in campos quosdam fortunatos rapi, ubi fruantur miris uoluptatibus,
that the souls of human beings indeed endure and are not dissolved into nothing by the coming of death, but that those of the just return, pure, free from suffering, and blessed, to the heavenly seat from which they originated, or are carried off into certain fortunate fields, where they enjoy wonderful pleasures;
Notes and citation
Summary: Stoics: just souls return to heaven.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.20.8 (CSEL 19:649; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-20-8).
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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).
7.20.9CSEL 19:649–650
impias uero, quoniam se malis cupiditatibus inquinauerint, mediam quandam gerere inter immortalem mortalemque naturam et habere aliquid inbecillitatis ex contagione carnis, cuius desideriis ac libidinibus addictae ineluibilem quendam fucum trahant labemque terrenam: quae cum temporis diuturnitate penitus inhaeserit, eius naturae reddi animas, ut si non extinguibiles in totum, quoniam ex deo sint, tamen cruciabiles fiant per corporis maculam, quae peccatis inusta sensum doloris adtribuit.
but that the souls of the impious, since they have defiled themselves with evil desires, bear a nature midway between immortal and mortal and have some weakness from contact with the flesh, to whose desires and lusts they were enslaved, and so draw an indelible stain and earthly blemish; and when this has clung deeply over a long time, souls are brought to that nature that, though not wholly extinguishable, since they are from God, they become capable of torment through the stain of the body, which, burned in by sins, gives the sense of pain.
Notes and citation
Summary: Stoics: wicked souls, stained by the flesh, can suffer.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.20.9 (CSEL 19:649–650; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-20-9).
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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).
7.20.10CSEL 19:650
quam sententiam poeta sic explicauit: quin et supremo cum lumine uita reliquit, non tamen omne malum miseris nec funditus omnes corporeae excedunt pestes, penitusque necesse est multa diu concreta modis inolescere miris. ergo exercentur poenis ueterumque malorum supplicia expendunt.
This view the poet expressed thus: "Moreover, when life has left them at their last light, still not all evil nor all the plagues of the body depart wholly from the wretched, and it must be that many things long hardened in grow deep within in wondrous ways. So they are exercised with punishments and pay the penalty of old evils."
Notes and citation
Summary: Virgil on the purgation of souls after death.
- Virgil, Aeneid 6.735–740.
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Aen. 6.735-740 (Virgil; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.20.10 (CSEL 19:650; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-20-10).
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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).
7.20.11CSEL 19:650
haec propemodum uera sunt. anima enim cum diuortium fecit a corpore, est, ut ait idem poeta, par leuibus uentis uolucrique simillima somno, quia spiritus est et ipsa tenuitate inconprehensibilis, sed nobis, qui sumus corporales, deo autem, cui subiacet posse omnia, conprehensibilis.
This is almost true. For when the soul has separated from the body, it is, as the same poet says, "like the light winds and most like fleeting sleep," because it is spirit and, by its very subtlety, ungraspable; but ungraspable to us, who are bodily, while graspable to God, to whom all power is subject.
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul is ungraspable to us, but not to God.
- Virgil, Aeneid 6.702 (= 2.794).
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Aen. 6.702 (Virgil; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.20.11 (CSEL 19:650; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-20-11).
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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 21
7.21.1CSEL 19:650
Primum ergo dicimus tantam esse dei potestatem, ut etiam incorporalia conprehendat et quemadmodum uoluerit adficiat. nam et angeli deum metuunt, quia castigari ab eo possunt inenarrabili quodam modo, et daemones reformidant, quia torquentur ab eo ac puniuntur.
First, then, we say that the power of God is so great that he grasps even incorporeal things and affects them as he wills. For angels too fear God, because they can be chastised by him in some indescribable way; and demons dread him, because they are tortured and punished by him.
Jas 2:19 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God can punish even incorporeal beings.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.21.1 (CSEL 19:650; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-21-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.21.2CSEL 19:650–651
quid ergo mirum, si cum sint inmortales animae, tamen patibiles sint deo? nam cum in se nihil habeant solidum et contrectabile, a solidis et corporalibus nullam uim pati possunt: sed quia in solis spiritibus uiuunt, a solo deo tractabiles sunt, cui uirtus ac substantia spiritalis est.
What wonder, then, if souls, though immortal, are still capable of suffering before God? For since they have nothing solid and tangible in themselves, they can suffer no force from solid and bodily things; but because they live only as spirits, they can be handled only by God, whose power and substance is spiritual.
Notes and citation
Summary: Spirits can be handled only by God.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.21.2 (CSEL 19:650–651; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-21-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.21.3CSEL 19:651
sed tamen docent uos sanctae litterae quemadmodum poenas impii sint daturi. nam quia peccata in corporibus contraxerunt, rursus carne induentur, ut in corporibus piaculum soluant: et tamen non erit caro illa, quam deus homini superiecerit, huic terrenae similis, sed insolubilis ac permanens in aeternum, ut sufficere possit cruciatibus et igni sempiterno, cuius natura diuersa est ab hoc nostro, quo ad uitae necessaria utimur, qui nisi alicuius materiae fomite alatur, extinguitur.
But the holy writings teach you how the impious will pay the penalty. For because they contracted sins in bodies, they will again be clothed with flesh, so that they may pay the penalty in bodies; and yet that flesh which God will put on man will not be like this earthly flesh, but indissoluble and lasting forever, so that it can endure torments and everlasting fire, whose nature is different from this fire of ours, which we use for life's needs and which is extinguished unless fed by the fuel of some material.
Matt 25:41 (allusion, medium confidence) · Dan 12:2 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The wicked will rise in indestructible bodies for eternal fire.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.21.3 (CSEL 19:651; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-21-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.21.4CSEL 19:651
at ille diuinus per se ipsum semper uiuit ac uiget sine ullis alimentis nec admixtum habet fumum, sed est purus ac liquidus et in aquae modum fluidus: non enim ui aliqua sursum uersus urguetur sicut noster, quem labes terreni corporis quo tenetur et fumus intermixtus exsilire cogit et ad caelestem naturam cum trepidatione mobili subuolare.
But that divine fire always lives and thrives by itself without any fuel, and has no smoke mixed with it, but is pure and clear and flowing like water; for it is not driven upward by any force, as ours is, which the stain of the earthly body by which it is held and the smoke mixed with it force to leap up and fly toward the heavenly nature with restless motion.
Notes and citation
Summary: The divine fire needs no fuel and has no smoke.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray comma): labes, terreni → labes terreni.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.21.4 (CSEL 19:651; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-21-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.21.5CSEL 19:651–652
idem igitur diuinus ignis una eademque ui ac potentia et cremabit inpios et recreabit et quantum e corporibus absumet, tantum reponet ac sibi ipse aeternum pabulum sumministrabit: quod poetae in uulturem Tityi transtulerunt. ita sine ullo reuirescentium corporum detrimento aduret tantum ac sensu doloris adficiet.
So the same divine fire, with one and the same force and power, will both burn the impious and restore them, and as much as it consumes from their bodies it will replace, and will supply eternal food to itself; which the poets transferred to the vulture of Tityus. So, without any loss to the bodies that grow again, it will only scorch them and afflict them with the sense of pain.
Mark 9:48 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The divine fire burns and restores endlessly.
- Tityus, in myth, had his ever-regrowing liver devoured by a vulture.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.21.5 (CSEL 19:651–652; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-21-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.21.6CSEL 19:652
sed et iustos cum iudicauerit deus, etiam igni eos examinabit. tum quorum peccata uel pondere uel numero praeualuerint, perstringentur igni atque amburentur, quos autem plena iustitia et maturitas uirtutis incoxerit, ignem illum non sentient: habent enim aliquid in se dei, quod uim flammae repellat ac respuat.
But when God has judged the just too, he will also test them with fire. Then those whose sins have prevailed in weight or number will be grazed and scorched by the fire; but those whom full justice and ripeness of virtue have seasoned will not feel that fire, for they have something of God in them that repels and rejects the force of the flame.
1 Cor 3:13 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The just too will be tested by fire.
- Compare 1 Cor 3:13–15.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.21.6 (CSEL 19:652; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-21-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.21.7CSEL 19:652
tanta est uis innocentiae, ut ab ea ignis ille refugiat innoxius, quia accepit a deo hanc potentiam, ut impios urat, iustis temperet. nec tamen quisquam putet animas post mortem protinus iudicari: omnes in una communique custodia detinentur, donec tempus adueniat quo maximus iudex meritorum faciat examen.
So great is the power of innocence that that fire flees from it harmlessly, because it has received from God this power: to burn the impious and to spare the just. Yet let no one think that souls are judged immediately after death: all are held in one common custody until the time comes when the greatest Judge will make an examination of their deserts.
Isa 43:2 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Souls await the judgment in a common custody.
- The author's view of an intermediate state before the final judgment.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.21.7 (CSEL 19:652; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-21-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.21.8CSEL 19:652
tum quorum fuerit probata iustitia, hi praemium immortalitatis accipient, quorum autem peccata et scelera detecta, non resurgent, sed cum inpiis in easdem tenebras recondentur ad certa supplicia destinati.
Then those whose justice has been approved will receive the reward of immortality; but those whose sins and crimes have been exposed will not rise again, but will be hidden away with the impious in the same darkness, destined to certain punishments.
Matt 25:46 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The approved receive immortality; the condemned are cast into darkness.
- "Will not rise again" means they will not rise to the blessed life (compare 7.20.5).
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.21.8 (CSEL 19:652; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-21-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 7, chapter 22
7.22.1CSEL 19:652
Figmenta haec esse poetarum quidam putant ignorantes unde illa poetae acceperint, ac negant haec fieri posse: nec mirum est ita illis uideri.
Some think these are fictions of the poets, not knowing where the poets got them, and deny that they can happen; and no wonder it seems so to them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Some dismiss these things as poets' fictions.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.1 (CSEL 19:652; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.22.2CSEL 19:652
aliter enim quam res habet traditur a poetis: qui licet sint multo antiquiores quam historici et oratores et cetera genera scriptorum, tamen quia mysterium diuini sacramenti nesciebant et ad eos mentio resurrectionis futurae obscuro rumore peruenerat, eam uero temere ac leuiter auditam in modum commenticiae fabulae prodiderunt.
For the poets hand it on otherwise than it is. Though they are much older than historians, orators, and other kinds of writers, yet since they did not know the mystery of the divine sacrament, and a mention of the future resurrection had reached them by obscure rumor, they published it, heard rashly and lightly, in the manner of an invented tale.
Notes and citation
Summary: The poets distorted a rumor of the resurrection.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.2 (CSEL 19:652; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.22.3CSEL 19:652–653
et tamen idem testati sunt non auctorem se certum, sed opinionem sequi, ut Maro qui ait: sit mihi fas audita loqui.
And yet they testified that they followed not a sure authority but opinion, like Maro, who says: "Let it be lawful for me to tell what I have heard."
Notes and citation
Summary: Virgil admitted he spoke from hearsay.
- Virgil, Aeneid 6.266.
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Aen. 6.266 (Virgil; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.3 (CSEL 19:652–653; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.22.4CSEL 19:653
quamuis igitur ueritatis arcana in parte corruperint, tamen ipsa res eo uerior inuenitur, quod cum prophetis in parte consentiunt: quod nobis ad probationem rei satis est.
So though they partly corrupted the secrets of truth, the thing itself is found all the truer in that they partly agree with the prophets; which is enough for us to prove the matter.
Notes and citation
Summary: Poets' partial agreement with the prophets confirms the truth.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.4 (CSEL 19:653; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.22.5CSEL 19:653
errori tamen eorum subest ratio non nulla. nam cum prophetae adsiduis contionibus praedicarent iudicaturum esse de mortuis filium dei et haec adnuntiatio non lateret, quoniam rectorem caeli deum non alium putabant esse quam Iouem, iudicare aput inferos Iouis filium tradiderunt, sed tamen non Apollinem aut Liberum aut Mercurium, qui caelestes putantur, sed eum, qui et mortalis fuerit et iustus, uel Minoem uel Aeacum uel Rhadamanthum.
Yet there is some reason beneath their error. For since the prophets proclaimed in constant preaching that the Son of God would judge the dead, and this announcement was not hidden, since they thought the ruler of heaven was no other god than Jupiter, they handed down that a son of Jupiter judges in the underworld; not, however, Apollo or Liber or Mercury, who are thought heavenly, but one who was both mortal and just: Minos, or Aeacus, or Rhadamanthus.
Notes and citation
Summary: The poets turned the Son of God as judge into Jupiter's sons.
Topics: Eschatology, Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.5 (CSEL 19:653; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.22.6CSEL 19:653
corruperunt igitur poetica licentia quod acceperant, uel opinio ueritatem per diuersa ora sermonesque uarios dissipatam mutauit.
So they corrupted by poetic license what they had received, or else rumor changed the truth as it was scattered through different mouths and various accounts.
Notes and citation
Summary: Truth was distorted in transmission.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.6 (CSEL 19:653; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-6).
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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).
7.22.7CSEL 19:653–654
nam quod peractis ad inferos mille annis rursus ad uitam restitui cecinerunt, Marone ita dicente: has omnis, ubi mille rotam uoluere per annos, Lethaeum ad fluuium deus euocat agmine magno, scilicet inmemores supera ut conuexa reuisant rursus et incipiant in corpora uelle reuerti,
For as to their singing that after a thousand years spent in the underworld souls are restored again to life, as Maro says: "All these, when they have turned the wheel through a thousand years, God calls to the river Lethe in a great throng, so that, forgetful, they may see again the vault above and begin to wish to return into bodies,"
Notes and citation
Summary: Virgil's thousand-year cycle of souls.
- Virgil, Aeneid 6.748–751. The sentence continues in the next section.
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Aen. 6.748-751 (Virgil; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.7 (CSEL 19:653–654; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-7).
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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).
7.22.8CSEL 19:654
haec eos ratio fefellit, quod resurgent defuncti non post mille annos mortis suae, sed ut restituti rursus in uitam mille annis cum deo regnent. deus enim ueniet, ut orbe hoc ab omni labe purgato rediuiuas iustorum animas corporibus innouatis ad sempiternam beatitudinem suscitet.
this reasoning misled them: the dead will rise not a thousand years after their death, but so that, restored again to life, they may reign with God for a thousand years. For God will come so that, having purged this world of every stain, he may raise the revived souls of the just, with renewed bodies, to everlasting blessedness.
Rev 20:4 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The dead will rise to reign with God a thousand years.
- Rev 20:4–6; the author's millenarian reading, stated as written.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.8 (CSEL 19:654; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-8).
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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).
7.22.9CSEL 19:654
itaque praeter aquam obliuionis uera sunt cetera; quam idcirco finxerunt, ne quis illis opponeret: cur ergo non meminerint se aliquando uixisse aut qui fuerint aut quae gesserint? sed nihilominus tamen ueri simile non putatur et res tota uelut licenter ac fabulose ficta respuitur.
So apart from the water of forgetfulness, the rest is true; and they invented that so that no one could object: "Why then do they not remember that they once lived, or who they were, or what they did?" But nonetheless it is not thought probable, and the whole thing is rejected as invented with license and fable.
Notes and citation
Summary: Except for Lethe, the poets' account is true.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.9 (CSEL 19:654; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-9).
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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).
7.22.10CSEL 19:654
nobis autem de resurrectione adfirmantibus et docentibus animas ad alteram uitam non oblitas sui, sed in eodem sensu ac figura esse redituras illut opponitur: tot iam saecula transierunt: quis umquam unus ab inferis resur-
But when we affirm the resurrection and teach that souls will return to another life not forgetful of themselves but in the same sense and form, this is objected: "So many ages have passed already: who has ever risen from the underworld,
Notes and citation
Summary: Objection: no one has ever risen.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.10 (CSEL 19:654; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-10).
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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).
7.22.11CSEL 19:654
rexit, ut exemplo eius fieri posse credamus? at enim resurrectio fieri non potest dominante adhuc iniustitia. hoc enim saeculo necantur homines ui ferro insidiis uenenis et adficiuntur iniuriis egestate carceribus tormentis proscriptionibus.
so that by his example we may believe it can happen?" But resurrection cannot happen while injustice still rules. For in this age people are killed by violence, the sword, ambushes, and poisons, and are afflicted with injuries, want, prisons, tortures, and proscriptions.
Notes and citation
Summary: The resurrection cannot occur while injustice rules.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.11 (CSEL 19:654; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-11).
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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).
7.22.12CSEL 19:654
eo accedit quod iustitia inuisa est, quod omnes, qui deum sequi uolunt, non tantum odio habentur, sed uexantur omnibus contumeliis et excruciantur multiplici genere poenarum et ad inpios cultus manu factorum deorum non ratione aut ueritate, sed nefanda corporum laceratione coguntur.
Besides, justice is hated, since all who want to follow God are not only held in hatred but harassed with every insult and tortured with many kinds of punishment, and are forced to the impious worship of handmade gods not by reason or truth but by abominable mangling of their bodies.
Notes and citation
Summary: The just are persecuted in this age.
Topics: Persecution
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.12 (CSEL 19:654; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-12).
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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).
7.22.13CSEL 19:654–655
num igitur oportet ad haec eadem resurgere aut reuerti homines ad uitam, in qua tuti esse non possunt? cum ergo iusti tam uiles habeantur, tam facile tollantur, quid putemus futurum fuisse, si quis ab inferis rediens uitam postliminio recepisset?
Must people, then, rise again to these same things or return to a life in which they cannot be safe? Since the just are held so cheap and so easily killed, what should we think would have happened if anyone, returning from the underworld, had recovered life by the right of return?
Notes and citation
Summary: A risen person would only be killed again.
- "By the right of return" (postliminio): the Roman legal right of a returning captive to recover his former status.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: l for i; stray mark): num lgitur → num igitur; si & quis → si quis.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.13 (CSEL 19:654–655; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-13).
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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).
7.22.14CSEL 19:655
auferretur profecto ab oculis hominum, ne uiso eo uel audito deos uniuersi relinquerent et ad unius se dei cultum religionemque conuerterent.
He would certainly be removed from human sight, lest, when he was seen or heard, everyone should abandon the gods and turn to the worship and religion of the one God.
Luke 16:31 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Persecutors would silence any risen witness.
Topics: Persecution
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.14 (CSEL 19:655; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-14).
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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).
7.22.15CSEL 19:655
ergo semel fieri resurrectionem necesse est, cum malum fuerit ablatum, quoniam eos qui resurrexerint nec mori iam ulterius nec uiolari ullo modo fas est, ut beatam possint agere uitam quorum mors resignata est.
So the resurrection must happen once, when evil has been removed, since those who have risen may no longer die or be harmed in any way, so that they may live a blessed life whose death has been canceled.
Luke 20:36 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The resurrection happens once, when evil is gone.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.15 (CSEL 19:655; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-15).
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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).
7.22.16CSEL 19:655
poetae uero cum scirent hoc saeculum malis omnibus redundare, obliuionis amnem induxerunt, ne malorum ac laborum memores animae reuerti ad superos recusarent.
But the poets, knowing that this age overflows with every evil, introduced the river of forgetfulness, so that souls remembering their evils and labors would not refuse to return to the upper world.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lethe was invented to explain return to an evil world.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.16 (CSEL 19:655; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-16).
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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).
7.22.17CSEL 19:655
unde Vergilius: o pater, anne aliquas ad caelum hinc ire putandum est sublimis animas iterumque ad tarda reuerti corpora? quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido?
Hence Virgil: "O father, must we think that some souls go hence up to the sky and return again to sluggish bodies? What is this so dire desire of the wretched for the light?"
Notes and citation
Summary: Virgil questions why souls would return to bodies.
- Virgil, Aeneid 6.719–721.
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Aen. 6.719-721 (Virgil; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.17 (CSEL 19:655; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-17).
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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).
7.22.18CSEL 19:655
ignorabant enim quomodo aut quando id fieri oporteret, itaque ] renasci eas putauerunt et denuo ad uterum reuolui atque ad infantiam regredi.
For they did not know how or when this was to happen, and so they thought souls were reborn, rolled back into the womb, and returned to infancy.
Notes and citation
Summary: Poets imagined rebirth into infancy.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.18 (CSEL 19:655; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-18).
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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).
7.22.19CSEL 19:655
unde etiam Plato de anima disserens ex hoc ait posse cognosci animas esse inmortales atque diuinas, quod in pueris mobilia sint ingenia et ad percipiendum facilia, quod ea quae discant ita celeriter rapiant, ut non tunc primum discere illa uideantur, sed recognoscere atque reminisci: in quo uir sapiens poetis ineptissime credidit.
Hence Plato too, discussing the soul, says it can be known from this that souls are immortal and divine: that in children minds are quick and ready to perceive, and seize what they learn so quickly that they seem not to be learning it for the first time but to be recognizing and remembering it; in which the wise man most foolishly believed the poets.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato's doctrine of recollection came from the poets.
- Plato, Meno 81b–86b; Phaedo 72e–77a.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.22.19 (CSEL 19:655; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-22-19).
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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 23
7.23.1CSEL 19:655–656
Non igitur renascentur, quod fieri non potest, sed resurgent et a deo corporibus induentur et prioris uitae factorumque omnium memores erunt et in bonis caelestibus conlocati ac fruentes iucunditate innumerabilium copiarum praesenti deo gratias agent, quod malum omne deleuerit, quod eos ad regnum uitamque perpetuam suscitarit.
So they will not be reborn, which cannot happen, but will rise again and be clothed by God with bodies, and will remember their former life and all their deeds; and, placed among heavenly goods and enjoying the delight of countless riches, they will give thanks to God, present with them, for having destroyed all evil and raised them to the kingdom and perpetual life.
1 Cor 15:42 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The just will rise in bodies, remembering their lives.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.23.1 (CSEL 19:655–656; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-23-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.23.2CSEL 19:656
qua de anastasi philosophi quoque dicere aliquid conati sunt tam corrupte quam poetae. nam Pythagoras transire animas in noua corpora disputauit, sed inepte, quod ex hominibus in pecudes et ex pecudibus in homines et se ipsum ex Euphorbo esse reparatum.
About this anastasis the philosophers too tried to say something, as corruptly as the poets. For Pythagoras argued that souls pass into new bodies, but foolishly, since from men into cattle and from cattle into men, and that he himself was restored from Euphorbus.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pythagoras taught transmigration.
- Greek anastasis, "resurrection," is used by the author.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.23.2 (CSEL 19:656; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-23-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.23.3CSEL 19:656
melius Chrysippus, quem Cicero ait fulcire porticum Stoicorum: qui in libris quos de prouidentia scripsit cum de innouatione mundi loqueretur, haec intulit: τούτου δέ οὕτως ἔχοντος δῆλον, ὡς οὐδὲν ἀδύνατον, καὶ ἡμᾶς μετά τὸ τελευτῆσαι πάλιν περιόδῳ τινὶ χρόνου εἰς τοῦτο ἐν ᾧ νῦν ἐσμεν ἀποκαταστῆναι σχῆμα.
Chrysippus did better, whom Cicero says props up the Stoic porch. In the books he wrote On Providence, speaking of the renewal of the world, he added this: "This being so, it is clear that nothing is impossible, and that we too, after we have died, will be restored again after some period of time to this form in which we now are."
Notes and citation
Summary: Chrysippus: we will be restored to our present form.
- Chrysippus, On Providence (fragment, quoted in Greek); Cicero, Academics 2.75.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: i for l): meiius → melius.
Extrabiblical texts: Chrysippus (Chrysippus; quotation); Cicero (Cicero; allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.23.3 (CSEL 19:656; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-23-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.23.4CSEL 19:656–657
sed nos ab humanis ad diuina redeamus. Sibylla dicit haec: δύσπιστον γὰρ ἅπαν μερόπων γένος. ἀλλ᾽ ὅταν ἠδὴ κόσμου καὶ θνητῶν ἔλθῃ κρίσις, ἣν θεὸς αὐτὸς ποιήσει κρίνων ἀσεβεῖς θ᾽ ἅμα εὐσεβέας τε, καὶ τότε δυσσεβέας μὲν ἐπὶ ζόφον ἐν πυρὶ πέμψει. ὅσσοι δ᾽ εὐσεβέουσι, πάλιν ζήσουσ᾽ ἐπὶ γαίης, πνεῦμα θεοῦ δόντος τιμὴν ἅμα καὶ βίον αὐτοῖς.
But let us return from human to divine things. The Sibyl says this: "For the whole race of mortals is faithless. But when the judgment of the world and of mortals comes, which God himself will make, judging the impious and the pious together, then he will send the impious into darkness in fire; but as many as are pious will live again upon the earth, God's Spirit giving them honor and life together."
Notes and citation
Summary: The Sibyl: God will judge, and the pious will live again on earth.
- Sibylline Oracles 4.40–46 and 187–190 (quoted in Greek; exact lines uncertain).
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.23.4 (CSEL 19:656–657; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-23-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.23.5CSEL 19:657–658
quodsi non modo prophetae, sed etiam uates et poetae et philosophi anastasim mortuorum futuram esse consentiunt, nemo quaerat a nobis quemadmodum fieri possit. nec enim diuinorum operum reddi potest ratio: sed si a principio deus hominem nescio quo inenarrabili modo instituit, credamus ab eodem restitui ueterem posse qui nouum fecit.
If, then, not only the prophets but also seers, poets, and philosophers agree that the anastasis of the dead will come, let no one ask us how it can happen. For no account can be given of divine works; but if God in the beginning formed man in some indescribable way, let us believe that the old man can be restored by the one who made him new.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Creator can restore the dead.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.23.5 (CSEL 19:657–658; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-23-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 7, chapter 24
7.24.1CSEL 19:658
Nunc reliqua subnectam. ueniet igitur summi et maximi dei filius, ut uiuos ac mortuos iudicet, Sibylla testante atque dicente: πάσης γὰρ γαίης τότε θνητῶν σύγχυσις ἔσται, αὐτὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ ὅταν ἐλθῃ βήματι κρῖναι ζώντων καὶ νεκύων ψυχὰς καὶ κόσμον ἅπαντα.
Now I will add the rest. The Son of the highest and greatest God will come to judge the living and the dead, as the Sibyl testifies and says: "For then there will be confusion of mortals over all the earth, when the Almighty himself comes to his judgment seat to judge the souls of the living and the dead and the whole world."
2 Tim 4:1 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Son of God will come to judge the living and the dead.
- Sibylline Oracles, fragment (quoted in Greek; compare 8.81–83; location uncertain).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray comma): dicente:, → dicente: .
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology, Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.1 (CSEL 19:658; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.24.2CSEL 19:658
uerum ille cum deleuerit iniustitiam iudiciumque maximum fecerit ac iustos qui a principio fuerunt ad uitam instaurauerit, mille annos inter homines uersabitur eosque iustissimo imperio reget. quod alia Sibylla uaticinans furensque proclamat: κλῦτε δέ μου, μέροπες, βασιλεὺς αἰώνιος ἄρχει.
But when he has destroyed injustice, held the great judgment, and restored to life the just who have lived from the beginning, he will dwell among men for a thousand years and rule them with most just authority. Another Sibyl, prophesying and raving, proclaims this: "Hear me, mortals: an everlasting King rules."
Rev 20:4 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ will reign among men for a thousand years.
- The author's millenarian view, stated as written; compare Rev 20:4–6. Sibylline fragment (quoted in Greek; location uncertain).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (period for comma inside a sentence): instaurauerit. mille → instaurauerit, mille.
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology, Christology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.2 (CSEL 19:658; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.24.3CSEL 19:658–659
tum qui erunt in corporibus uiui, non morientur, sed per eosdem mille annos infinitam multitudinem generabunt et erit suboles eorum sancta et deo cara: qui autem ab inferis suscitabuntur, hi praeerunt uiuentibus uelut iudices.
Then those who are alive in their bodies will not die, but through those same thousand years will beget an infinite multitude, and their offspring will be holy and dear to God; while those who are raised from the underworld will preside over the living as judges.
1 Cor 6:2 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: In the millennium the living will beget holy offspring; the risen will judge.
- A distinctive feature of Lactantius's millenarianism, stated as written.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.3 (CSEL 19:658–659; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.24.4CSEL 19:659
gentes uero non extinguentur omnino, sed quaedam relinquentur in uictoriam dei, ut triumphentur a iustis ac subiugentur perpetuae seruituti.
The nations, however, will not be wholly extinguished, but some will be left for God's victory, so that they may be triumphed over by the just and subjected to perpetual servitude.
Isa 60:12 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Some nations will remain in servitude to the just.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.4 (CSEL 19:659; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.24.5CSEL 19:659
sub idem tempus etiam princeps daemonum, qui est machinator omnium malorum, catenis uincietur et erit in custodia mille annis caelestis imperii, quo iustitia in orbe regnabit, ne quod malum aduersus populum dei moliatur.
At the same time the prince of demons too, the contriver of all evils, will be bound with chains and kept in custody for the thousand years of the heavenly rule, during which justice will reign in the world, so that he may contrive no evil against the people of God.
Rev 20:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Rev 20:3 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The devil will be bound for the thousand years.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (period for comma inside a sentence): regnabit. ne quod → regnabit, ne quod.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.5 (CSEL 19:659; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.24.6CSEL 19:659–660
post cuius aduentum congregabuntur iusti ex omni terra peractoque iudicio ciuitas sancta constituetur in medio terrae, in qua ipse conditor deus cum iustis dominantibus commoretur. quam ciuitatem Sibylla designat, cum dicit: καὶ πόλιν, ἥν ἐπόθησε θεὸς, ταύτην ἐποίησεν λαμπροτέραν ἄστρων ἠδ ἡλίου ἠδὲ σελήνης.
After his coming the just will be gathered from all the earth, and when the judgment is finished, a holy city will be established in the midst of the earth, in which God the Maker himself will dwell with the just who rule. The Sibyl indicates this city when she says: "And the city which God desired, this he made brighter than the stars and the sun and the moon."
Rev 21:2 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rev 21:23 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A holy city will be established in the midst of the earth.
- Sibylline Oracles 5.420–421 (quoted in Greek). Compare Rev 21:2, 23.
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. 5.420-421 (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.6 (CSEL 19:659–660; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.24.7CSEL 19:660
tunc auferentur a mundo tenebrae illae quibus obfundetur atque occaecabitur caelum, et luna claritudinem solis accipiet nec minuetur ulterius, sol autem septies tanto quam nunc est clarior fiet. terra uero aperiet fecunditatem suam et uberrimas fruges sua sponte generabit, rupes montium melle sudabunt, per riuos uina decurrent et flumina lacte inundabunt: mundus denique ipse gaudebit et omnis rerum natura laetabitur erepta et liberata dominio mali et impietatis et sceleris et erroris.
Then the darkness by which the sky will be covered and blinded will be removed from the world, and the moon will receive the brightness of the sun and will no longer wane, while the sun will become seven times brighter than it is now. The earth will open its fertility and produce the richest crops of its own accord; the rocks of the mountains will sweat honey, wines will run down the streams, and rivers will overflow with milk; in short, the world itself will rejoice and all nature will be glad, snatched and freed from the dominion of evil, impiety, crime, and error.
Isa 30:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Joel 3:18 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The earth will be renewed in abundance and light.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.7 (CSEL 19:660; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.24.8CSEL 19:660
non bestiae per hoc tempus sanguine alentur, non aues praeda, sed quieta et placida erunt omnia. leones et uituli ad praesepe simul stabunt, lupus ouem non rapiet, canis non uenabitur, accipitres et aquilae non nocebunt, infans cum serpentibus ludet.
In this time beasts will not be fed on blood nor birds on prey, but all things will be quiet and peaceful. Lions and calves will stand together at the manger, the wolf will not seize the sheep, the dog will not hunt, hawks and eagles will not harm, the infant will play with serpents.
Isa 11:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 11:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 65:25 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Animals will live in peace.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.8 (CSEL 19:660; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.24.9CSEL 19:660
denique tum fient illa quae poetae aureis temporibus facta esse iam Saturno regnante dixerunt. quorum error hinc ortus est, quod prophetae futurorum pleraque sic proferunt et enuntiant quasi iam peracta. uisiones enim diuino spiritu offerebantur oculis eorum et uidebant illa in conspectu suo quasi fieri ac terminari.
In short, then will happen those things which the poets said had already happened in the golden times when Saturn reigned. Their error arose from this: that the prophets set forth and announce most future things as if already accomplished. For visions were presented to their eyes by the divine Spirit, and they saw those things in their sight as if being done and completed.
Notes and citation
Summary: The poets' golden age is really the future millennium.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.9 (CSEL 19:660; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.24.10CSEL 19:660–661
quae uaticinia eorum cum paulatim fama uulgasset, quoniam profani a sacramento ignorabant quatenus dicerentur, conpleta esse iam ueteribus saeculis illa omnia putauerunt, quae utique fieri conplerique non poterant homine regnante.
When report had gradually spread these prophecies, since the profane, strangers to the mystery, did not know how far they applied, they thought all those things had already been fulfilled in ancient ages, which certainly could not be done and fulfilled while man reigned.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pagans misread prophecies as past events.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.10 (CSEL 19:660–661; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.24.11CSEL 19:661
cum uero deletis religionibus impiis et scelere compresso subiecta erit deo terra, cedet et ipse mari uector nec nautica pinus mutabit merces, omnis feret omnia tellus. non rastros patietur humus, non uinea falcem; robustus quoque iam tauris iuga soluet arator. tunc et molli paulatim flauescet campus arista incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uua et durae quercus sudabunt roscida mella. nec uarios discet mentiri lana colores, ipse sed in pratis aries iam suaue rubenti murice, iam croceo mutabit uellera luto, sponte sua sandyx pascentis uestiet agnos. ipsae lacte domum referent distenta capellae ubera nec magnos metuent armenta leones. quae poeta secundum Cymaeae Sibyllae carmina prolocutus est.
But when, with impious religions destroyed and crime suppressed, the earth is subject to God, "the trader himself will quit the sea, nor will the ship's pine exchange wares; every land will bear all things. The soil will not suffer the harrow, nor the vine the pruning-hook; the sturdy ploughman too will now loose the yoke from his bulls. Then the plain will slowly turn golden with soft ears of grain, the reddening grape will hang from wild brambles, and hard oaks will sweat dewy honey. Nor will wool learn to feign varied colors, but the ram himself in the meadows will change his fleece, now to sweetly blushing purple, now to saffron yellow; of its own accord scarlet will clothe the grazing lambs. The goats themselves will bring home udders swollen with milk, nor will the herds fear great lions." These things the poet uttered following the verses of the Cumaean Sibyl.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virgil's golden-age verses describe the millennium.
- Virgil, Eclogues 4.38–45 and 21–22.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (words joined in the digital text): rubentimurice → rubenti murice.
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Ecl. 4.38-45 (Virgil; quotation); Virgil, Ecl. 4.21-22 (Virgil; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.11 (CSEL 19:661; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.24.12CSEL 19:661–662
Erythraea uero sic ait: οἱ δὲ λύκοι τε καὶ ἄρνες ἐν οὔρεσιν ἄμμιγ ἔδονται χόρτον παρδάλιες τ᾽ ἐρίφοις ἄμα βοσκήσονται· ἄρκτοι σὺν μόσχοισιν ὁμοῦ καὶ πᾶσι βροτοῖσιν σαρκοβόρος τε λέων φάγεται ἄχυρον παρὰ φάτνῃ, σὺν βρέφεσίν τε δράκοντες ἄμ ἀσπίσι κοιμήσονται.
And the Erythraean Sibyl says thus: "Wolves and lambs will eat grass together on the mountains, and leopards will graze with kids; bears together with calves and with all mortals; and the flesh-eating lion will eat straw at the manger, and serpents will lie down with infants, together with asps."
Isa 11:6 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Sibyl on peace among animals.
- Sibylline Oracles 3.788–795 (quoted in Greek).
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. 3.788-795 (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.12 (CSEL 19:661–662; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.24.13CSEL 19:662–663
et alio loco de ubertate rerum: καὶ τότε δὴ χάρμην μεγάλην θεὸς ἀνδράσι δώσει. καὶ γὰρ γῆ καὶ δένδρα καὶ ἄσπετα θρέμματα γαίης δώσουσι καρπὸν τὸν ἀληθινὸν ἀνθρώποισιν οἴνου καὶ μέλιτος γλυκεροῦ λευκοῦ τε γάλακτος καὶ σίτου, ὅπερ ἐστὶ βροτοῖς κάλλιστον ἁπάντων. et alia eodem modo:
And in another place on the abundance of things: "And then God will give great joy to men; for the earth and trees and countless flocks of the earth will give men the true fruit of wine and sweet honey and white milk and grain, which is the most excellent of all for mortals." And another in the same way:
Notes and citation
Summary: The Sibyl on the abundance of the earth.
- Sibylline Oracles 3.619–623 (quoted in Greek).
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. 3.619-623 (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.13 (CSEL 19:662–663; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.24.14CSEL 19:663
εὐσεβέων δὲ μόνων ἁγία χθὼν πάντα τάδ᾽ οἴσει, νᾶμα μελισταγέης ἀπὸ πέτρης ἠδ᾽ ἀπὸ πηγῆς καὶ γάλα τ᾽ ἀμβροσίης ῥεύσει πάντεσσι δικαίοις.
"The holy earth of the pious alone will bear all these things: a stream dripping with honey from the rock and from the spring, and milk of ambrosia will flow for all the just."
Notes and citation
Summary: Honey and milk will flow for the just.
- Sibylline Oracles, fragment (quoted in Greek; compare 3.744–746).
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.14 (CSEL 19:663; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.24.15CSEL 19:663
uiuent itaque homines tranquillissimam et copiosissimam uitam et regnabunt cum deo pariter, reges gentium uenient a finibus terrae cum donis ac muneribus, ut adorent et honorificent regem magnum, cuius nomen erit praeclarum ac uenerabile uniuersis nationibus quae sub caelo erunt et regibus qui dominabuntur in terra.
So people will live a most tranquil and abundant life and will reign together with God; kings of the nations will come from the ends of the earth with gifts and offerings to adore and honor the great King, whose name will be illustrious and venerable to all the nations under heaven and to the kings who rule on the earth.
Isa 60:3 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 72:10 (71:10 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Kings of the nations will honor the great King.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.24.15 (CSEL 19:663; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-24-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 7, chapter 25
7.25.1CSEL 19:663–664
Haec sunt quae a prophetis futura dicuntur: quorum testimonia et uerba ponere opus esse non duxi, quoniam esset infinitum nec tantam rerum multitudinem mensura libri caperet tam multis uno spiritu similia dicentibus simulque ne fastidium legentibus fieret, si ex omnibus collecta et translata congererem, praeterea ut ea ipsa quae dicerem non nostris, sed alienis potissimum litteris confirmarem doceremque non modo aput nos, uerum etiam aput eos ipsos qui nos insectantur, ueritatem consignatam teneri, quam recusent adgnoscere.
These are the things the prophets say will happen. I did not think it necessary to set down their testimonies and words, since it would be endless and the length of the book could not hold such a multitude of things, with so many saying similar things with one Spirit; and at the same time so as not to weary readers if I heaped together what was collected and translated from all; and besides, so that I might confirm the very things I said not by our writings but chiefly by others', and show that the truth is held sealed not only among us but even among those very people who persecute us, though they refuse to acknowledge it.
Notes and citation
Summary: He has cited pagan rather than prophetic sources.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): nostris,. sed → nostris, sed.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.25.1 (CSEL 19:663–664; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-25-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.25.2CSEL 19:664
si quis autem diligentius haec uoluerit scire, ex ipso fonte hauriat et plura quam nos in his libris conplexi sumus admirabilia reperiet.
But if anyone wants to know these things more carefully, let him draw from the source itself, and he will find more wonderful things than we have included in these books.
Notes and citation
Summary: Read the prophets themselves.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.25.2 (CSEL 19:664; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-25-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.25.3CSEL 19:664
Fortasse quispiam nunc requirat quando ista quae diximus sint futura. iam superius ostendi conpletis annorum sex milibus mutationem istam fieri oportere et iam propinquare summum illum conclusionis extremae diem.
Perhaps someone may now ask when these things we have spoken of will happen. I have already shown above that this change must happen when six thousand years are completed, and that that highest day of the final conclusion is already approaching.
Notes and citation
Summary: The end comes at six thousand years.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.25.3 (CSEL 19:664; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-25-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.25.4CSEL 19:664
de signis quae praedicta sunt a prophetis licet noscere: praedixerunt enim signa, quibus consummatio temporum et expectanda sit nobis in dies singulos et timenda.
It can be known from the signs foretold by the prophets; for they foretold signs by which the consummation of the times is to be expected by us from day to day and feared.
Matt 24:33 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Signs show the end is near.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.25.4 (CSEL 19:664; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-25-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.25.5CSEL 19:664
quando tamen conpleatur haec summa, docent ii qui de temporibus scripserunt, colligentes ex litteris sanctis et ex uariis historiis quantus sit numerus annorum ab exordio mundi. qui licet uarient et aliquantum numeri eorum summa dissentiant, omnis tamen expectatio non amplius quam ducentorum uidetur annorum.
When this sum is completed, however, those who have written on chronology teach, gathering from the holy writings and various histories how great the number of years is from the beginning of the world. Though they vary and differ somewhat in the sum of their numbers, yet the whole expectation seems to be not more than two hundred years.
Notes and citation
Summary: Chronographers place the end within two hundred years.
- The author's estimate, stated as written.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.25.5 (CSEL 19:664; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-25-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.25.6CSEL 19:664
etiam res ipsa declarat lapsum ruinamque rerum breui fore, nisi quod incolumi urbe Roma nihil istius uidetur esse metuendum.
The situation itself also declares that the fall and ruin of things will come soon, except that while the city of Rome is safe, nothing of this seems to be feared.
2 Thess 2:7 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The end is restrained while Rome stands.
- Compare 2 Thess 2:6–7, often read of Rome in the early church.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.25.6 (CSEL 19:664; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-25-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.25.7CSEL 19:664
at uero cum caput illut orbis occiderit et ῥύμη esse coeperit, quod Sibyllae fore aiunt, quis dubitet uenisse iam finem rebus humanis orbique terrarum?
But when that head of the world has fallen and has begun to be a rhymē, a mere street, as the Sibyls say will happen, who would doubt that the end has come for human affairs and the world?
Notes and citation
Summary: When Rome falls, the end will come.
- Sibylline Oracles 8.165: "Rome will be a rhymē" (a street), a Greek pun on Rhōmē.
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. 8.165 (Sibylline Oracles; allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.25.7 (CSEL 19:664; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-25-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.25.8CSEL 19:664–665
illa est ciuitas quae adhuc sustentat omnia, precandusque nobis et adorandus est deus caeli, si tamen statuta eius et placita differri possunt, ne citius quam putamus tyrannus ille abominabilis ueniat, qui tantum facinus moliatur ac lumen illut effodiat, cuius interitu mundus ipse lapsurus est.
That is the city which still holds everything up, and we must pray and entreat the God of heaven, if indeed his decrees and decisions can be delayed, that that abominable tyrant may not come sooner than we think, to undertake so great a crime and put out that light, at whose destruction the world itself will fall.
Notes and citation
Summary: Christians pray that Rome's fall be delayed.
Topics: Eschatology, Prayer
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.25.8 (CSEL 19:664–665; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-25-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.25.9CSEL 19:665
nunc ad cetera exequenda redeamus quae deinceps secutura sunt.
Now let us return to setting out the rest of what will follow.
Notes and citation
Summary: Return to the sequence of events.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.25.9 (CSEL 19:665; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-17-1/#p-7-25-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).