Divine Institutes 7.5.1–7.10.11
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 5
7.5.1CSEL 19:596
Reddamus nunc rationem quare hominem ipsum fecerit: quod si philosophi scissent, aut defendissent illa quae uera inuenerant aut in maximos errores non incidissent.
Let us now give the reason why he made man himself; if the philosophers had known it, they would either have defended the true things they had found or not have fallen into the greatest errors.
Notes and citation
Summary: Why God made man.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.1 (CSEL 19:596; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-1).
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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).
7.5.2CSEL 19:596
haec enim summa, hic cardo rerum est, quem qui non tenuerit, ueritas illi omnis elabitur, hoc est denique, quod efficiat illis non quadrare rationem: quae illis si adfulsisset, si sacramentum hominis omne cognossent, numquam disputationes eorum et omnem philosophiam de transuerso Academia iugulasset.
For this is the sum, this the hinge of things; whoever does not hold it lets all truth slip away. This, in short, is what makes their reasoning not fit together; if it had shone upon them, if they had known the whole mystery of man, the Academy would never have cut the throat of their arguments and all philosophy from the side.
Notes and citation
Summary: Not knowing man's purpose left philosophy vulnerable to skepticism.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.2 (CSEL 19:596; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-2).
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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).
7.5.3CSEL 19:596
sicut ergo mundum non propter se deus fecit, quia commodis eius non indiget, sed propter hominem, qui eo utitur, ita ipsum hominem propter se.
So just as God made the world not for his own sake, since he does not need its advantages, but for man, who uses it, so he made man himself for his own sake.
Notes and citation
Summary: God made man for himself.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.3 (CSEL 19:596; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-3).
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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).
7.5.4CSEL 19:596–597
quae utilitas deo in homine, inquit Epicurus ut eum propter se faceret? scilicet ut esset qui opera eius intellegeret, qui prouidentiam disponendi, rationem faciendi, uirtutem consummandi et sensu admirari et uoce proloqui posset: quorum omnium summa haec est, ut deum colat.
"What use is man to God," says Epicurus, "that he should make him for his own sake?" Namely, that there might be one who would understand his works, who could admire with his mind and proclaim with his voice the providence of his arranging, the reason of his making, the power of his completing; and the sum of all these is that he worship God.
Notes and citation
Summary: God made man to understand his works and worship him.
Extrabiblical texts: Epicurus (Epicurus (sayings and fragments); quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.4 (CSEL 19:596–597; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-4).
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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).
7.5.5CSEL 19:597
is enim colit qui haec intellegit, is artificem rerum omnium, is uerum patrem suum debita ueneratione prosequitur qui uirtutem maiestatis eius de suorum operum inuentione inceptione perfectione metitur.
For he worships who understands these things; he honors with due veneration the maker of all things, his true Father, who measures the power of his majesty by the discovery, beginning, and completion of his works.
Notes and citation
Summary: Understanding God's works is worship.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray mark): inceptione « perfectione → inceptione perfectione.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.5 (CSEL 19:597; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-5).
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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).
7.5.6CSEL 19:597
quod planius argumentum proferri potest et mundum hominis et hominem sua causa deum fecisse, quam quod ex omnibus animantibus solus ita formatus est, ut oculi eius ad caelum directi, facies ad deum spectans, uultus cum suo parente communis sit uideaturque hominem deus quasi porrecta manu adleuatum ex humo ad contemplationem sui excitasse?
What plainer argument can be offered that God made the world for man and man for himself than that, of all living beings, man alone is so formed that his eyes are directed to heaven, his face looks toward God, his countenance is shared with his Parent, and God seems to have raised man from the ground as with outstretched hand and roused him to contemplate him?
Notes and citation
Summary: Man's upright form shows he was made for God.
- Compare Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.84–86.
Extrabiblical texts: Ovid, Metam. 1.84-86 (Ovid; echo)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.6 (CSEL 19:597; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-6).
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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).
7.5.7CSEL 19:597
quid ergo inquit deo cultus hominis confert beato et nulla re indigenti? uel si tantum honoris homini habuit, ut ipsius causa mundum fabricaret, ut instrueret eum sapientia, ut dominum uiuentium faceret eumque diligeret tamquam filium, cur mortalem fragilemque constituit? cur omnibus malis quem diligebat obiecit, cum oporteret et beatum esse hominem tamquam coniunctum ac proximum deo et perpetuum, sicut est ipse, ad quem colendum et contemplandum figuratus est?
"What then," he says, "does man's worship bring to God, who is blessed and needs nothing? Or if he held man in such honor as to build the world for his sake, to equip him with wisdom, to make him lord of living things, and to love him as a son, why did he make him mortal and fragile? Why did he expose to all evils one whom he loved, when man ought to have been blessed, as joined and nearest to God, and everlasting, as God himself is, for whose worship and contemplation he was formed?"
Notes and citation
Summary: Objection: why is God's beloved creature mortal and suffering?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.7 (CSEL 19:597; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-7).
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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).
7.5.8CSEL 19:597
quamquam haec fere in prioribus libris sparsim docuimus, tamen quoniam proprie id materia nunc exigit, qua de uita beata disserere propositum est, explicanda sunt ista diligentius et plenius, ut dispositio dei et opus uoluntasque noscatur.
Although we have taught these things, scattered through the earlier books, yet since the subject now properly requires it, as we propose to discuss the happy life, they must be explained more carefully and fully, so that God's arrangement, work, and will may be known.
Notes and citation
Summary: He will explain God's plan more fully.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray colon): quoniam: proprie → quoniam proprie.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.8 (CSEL 19:597; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-8).
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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).
7.5.9CSEL 19:597–598
cum posset semper spiritibus suis immortalibus innumerabiles animas procreare, sicut angelos genuit, quibus inmortalitas sine ullo malorum periculo ac metu constat, excogitauit tamen inenarrabile opus, quemadmodum infinitam multitudinem crearet animarum, quas primo fragilibus et inbecillis corporibus inligatas constitueret inter bonum malumque medias, ut constantibus ex utrisque natura uirtutem proponeret, ne immortalitatem delicate adsequerentur ac molliter, sed ad illut aeternae uitae ineloquibile praemium cum summa difficultate ac magnis laboribus peruenirent.
Though he could always have produced countless souls by his immortal spirits, as he begot the angels, for whom immortality stands firm without any danger or fear of evils, he nevertheless devised an indescribable work: how he might create an infinite multitude of souls which he would first bind to fragile and weak bodies and set midway between good and evil, so that he might set virtue before them, made up of both natures; so that they would not attain immortality delicately and softly, but would come to that unspeakable reward of eternal life with the greatest difficulty and great labors.
Notes and citation
Summary: God set souls in bodies between good and evil so they would earn immortality.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.9 (CSEL 19:597–598; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-9).
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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).
7.5.10CSEL 19:598
ergo ut eas grauibus et uexabilibus membris indueret, quoniam consistere in medio inani non poterant ponderibus et grauitate corporis deorsum premente, sedem illis ac domicilium primo condendum esse decreuit.
So, to clothe them with heavy and easily troubled limbs, since they could not stand in the empty middle air, with the weight and heaviness of the body pressing down, he decided first to found a seat and dwelling for them.
Notes and citation
Summary: God first made a dwelling for embodied souls.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.10 (CSEL 19:598; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-10).
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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).
7.5.11CSEL 19:598
itaque ineffabili uirtute ac potentia praeclara mundi opera molitus est: suspensis in altitudinem leuibus elementis et grauibus in ima depressis et caelestia firmauit et terrena constituit.
So with indescribable power and might he undertook the splendid works of the world: suspending the light elements on high and pressing the heavy ones down to the depths, he made firm the heavenly things and established the earthly.
Gen 1:1 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God made heaven and earth.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: l for i, l for f; stray colon): lneflabili → ineffabili; caelestia: firmauit → caelestia firmauit.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.11 (CSEL 19:598; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-11).
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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).
7.5.12CSEL 19:598
non est necesse nunc exsequi singula, quoniam in secundo libro uniuersa exsecuti sumus. lumina igitur posuit in caelo, quorum moderatio et claritas et motus aptissime ad utilitates uiuentium temperatus est, terrae autem, quam sedem uoluit esse, fecunditatem uaria gignendi ac proferendi dedit, ut ubertate frugum et herbarum et uirentium pro natura et usu cuiusque generis alimoniam ministraret.
There is no need now to go through each thing, since we went through them all in the second book. So he placed lights in the heaven, whose ordering, brightness, and motion are most fittingly tempered to the needs of the living; and to the earth, which he wished to be their seat, he gave fertility for producing and bringing forth various things, so that by abundance of crops, herbs, and green things it might supply food according to the nature and use of each kind.
Gen 1:14 (echo, medium confidence) · Gen 1:11 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God set lights in heaven and gave the earth fertility.
- Institutes 2.8–10.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.12 (CSEL 19:598; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-12).
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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).
7.5.13CSEL 19:598–599
tum perfectis omnibus quae ad condicionem mundi pertinebant, hominem finxit ex ipsa terra, quam illi a principio in habitaculum praeparauit, id est spiritum suum terreno corpore induit et inuoluit, ut conpactus ex rebus diuersis ac repugnantibus bonum ac malum caperet.
Then, when all things belonging to the constitution of the world were complete, he formed man from the very earth which he had prepared from the beginning as his dwelling, that is, he clothed and wrapped his spirit in an earthly body, so that, joined together from different and opposing things, he might receive good and evil.
Gen 2:7 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God formed man from earth, clothing spirit in body.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.13 (CSEL 19:598–599; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-13).
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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).
7.5.14CSEL 19:599
et sicut terra ipsa fecunda est ad fruges pariendas, ita corpus hominis, quod adsumptum est e terra, generandi copiam facultatemque prodendae subolis accepit, ut quoniam (e) fragili materia formatus in aeternum manere non poterat, peracto temporalis uitae spatio cederet et illut, quod fragile atque inbecillum gerebat, perpetua successione renouaret.
And just as the earth itself is fertile for bearing crops, so the human body, taken from the earth, received the power and faculty of begetting and producing offspring, so that, since formed of fragile matter he could not last forever, he might give way when the span of temporal life was finished and renew by perpetual succession what he bore that was fragile and weak.
Notes and citation
Summary: Human reproduction renews the mortal race.
- "From" (e) is the editor's supplement.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.14 (CSEL 19:599; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-14).
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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).
7.5.15CSEL 19:599
cur igitur eum mortalem finxit et fragilem, cum illius causa mundum aedificasset? primum, ut infinita uis animarum gigneretur omnemque terram multitudine obpleret, deinde, ut proponeret homini uirtutem id est tolerantiam malorum ac laborum, per quam posset praemium inmortalitatis adipisci.
Why then did he make him mortal and fragile, when he had built the world for his sake? First, so that an infinite number of souls might be begotten and fill the whole earth with their multitude; then, so that he might set before man virtue, that is, endurance of evils and labors, by which he could obtain the reward of immortality.
Notes and citation
Summary: Mortality allows many souls and the testing of virtue.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.15 (CSEL 19:599; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-15).
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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).
7.5.16CSEL 19:599
nam quia homo ex duabus rebus constat, corpore atque anima, quorum alterum terrenum est, alterum caeleste, duae uitae homini adtributae sunt, una temporalis, quae corpori adsignatur, altera sempiterna, quae animae subiacet.
For since man consists of two things, body and soul, one earthly and the other heavenly, two lives have been assigned to man: one temporal, which is assigned to the body, the other everlasting, which belongs to the soul.
Notes and citation
Summary: Man has two lives, temporal and eternal.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.16 (CSEL 19:599; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-16).
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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).
7.5.17CSEL 19:599–600
illam nascendo accipimus, hanc adsequimur laborando ne immortalitas homini, ut ante diximus, sine ulla difficultate constaret; illa terrena est sicut corpus et ideo finitur, haec uero caelestis sicut anima et ideo terminum non habet; illam primam nescientes accipimus, hanc secundam scientes: uirtuti enim, non naturae datur, quia uoluit nos deus uitam nobis in uita conparare.
The first we receive by being born; the second we attain by laboring, so that immortality would not, as we said before, come to man without any difficulty. The first is earthly like the body and so ends; the second is heavenly like the soul and so has no end. The first we receive unknowing; the second knowingly: for it is given to virtue, not to nature, since God willed that we should gain life for ourselves in life.
Notes and citation
Summary: Eternal life is gained by virtue, not nature.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.17 (CSEL 19:599–600; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-17).
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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).
7.5.18CSEL 19:600
idcirco hanc praesentem dedit, ut illam ueram et perpetuam aut uitiis amittamus aut uirtute mereamur. in hac corporali non est summum bonum, quoniam sicut necessitate diuina nobis data est, ita rursus diuina necessitate soluetur: ita quod finem habet, summum bonum non habet.
So he gave this present life so that we might either lose that true and perpetual life by vices or earn it by virtue. The highest good is not in this bodily life, since as it was given us by divine necessity, so it will be dissolved again by divine necessity; so what has an end does not hold the highest good.
Notes and citation
Summary: This life is the testing ground for eternal life.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.18 (CSEL 19:600; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-18).
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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).
7.5.19CSEL 19:600
in illa uero spiritali, quam per nos ipsi adquirimus, summum bonum continetur, quia nec malum potest habere nec finem. cui rei argumentum natura et ratio corporis praebet.
But in that spiritual life, which we acquire by ourselves, the highest good is contained, because it can have neither evil nor end. The nature and structure of the body offer proof of this.
Notes and citation
Summary: The highest good lies in spiritual life.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (period for comma inside a sentence): adquirimus. summum → adquirimus, summum.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.19 (CSEL 19:600; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-19).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.5.20CSEL 19:600
cetera namque animalia in humum uergunt, quia terrena sunt, nec capiunt immortalitatem, quae de caelo est, homo autem rectus in caelum spectat, quia proposita est illi immortalitas, nec tamen uenit, nisi tribuatur homini a deo: nam nihil interesset inter iustum et iniustum, siquidem omnis homo natus immortalis fieret. ergo immortalitas non sequella naturae, sed merces praemiumque uirtutis est.
For other animals bend toward the ground, because they are earthly and do not receive immortality, which is from heaven; but man, upright, looks to heaven, because immortality has been set before him. Yet it does not come unless it is granted to man by God; for there would be no difference between the just and the unjust if every human being born became immortal. So immortality is not a consequence of nature but the wage and reward of virtue.
Notes and citation
Summary: Immortality is the reward of virtue, not a natural endowment.
- Lactantius holds that eternal blessed life is a reward, not a natural property; elsewhere (7.20–21) he holds that the souls of the wicked also survive to be punished.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.20 (CSEL 19:600; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-20).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.5.21CSEL 19:600
denique homo non statim quam natus est rectus ingreditur, sed quadrupes primo, quia ratio corporis et huius praesentis uitae communis est nobis cum mutis animalibus: post deinde confirmatis uiribus erigitur et lingua eius in eloquium soluitur et mutum animal esse desinit.
In fact man does not walk upright as soon as he is born, but first on all fours, because the constitution of the body and of this present life is common to us with dumb animals; then, when his strength is established, he stands up, his tongue is loosed for speech, and he ceases to be a dumb animal.
Notes and citation
Summary: Infants crawl before they stand, a sign of the two lives.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.21 (CSEL 19:600; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-21).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.5.22CSEL 19:600
quae ratio docet mortalem nasci hominem, postea uero inmortalem fieri, cum coeperit ex deo uiuere id est iustitiam sequi, quae continetur in dei cultu, cum excitauerit hominem deus ad aspectum caeli ac sui. quod tum fit, cum homo caelesti lauacro purificatus exponit infantiam cum omni labe uitae prioris et incremento diuini uigoris accepto fit homo perfectus ac plenus.
This reasoning teaches that man is born mortal and afterward becomes immortal, when he begins to live from God, that is, to follow justice, which is contained in the worship of God, when God has roused man to look at heaven and at himself. This happens when man, purified by the heavenly washing, lays aside his infancy with every stain of his former life and, receiving the increase of divine vigor, becomes a complete and full man.
Titus 3:5 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Baptism begins the immortal life.
- "Heavenly washing" (caeleste lauacrum) is baptism.
Topics: Baptism
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.22 (CSEL 19:600; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-22).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.5.23CSEL 19:600–601
ergo quia uirtutem proposuit homini deus, licet anima et corpus consociata sint, tamen contraria sunt et inpugnant inuicem. animi bona mala sunt corporis, id est opum fuga, uoluptatum interdictio, doloris mortisque contemptus. item corporis bona mala sunt animi, hoc est cupiditas et libido, quibus et opes adpetuntur et suauitates uariarum uoluptatum, quibus eneruatus animus extinguitur.
So because God set virtue before man, though soul and body are joined, they are contrary and fight each other. The goods of the soul are evils to the body, namely, shunning wealth, forbidding pleasures, despising pain and death. Likewise the goods of the body are evils to the soul, namely greed and lust, by which wealth and the sweetness of various pleasures are sought, and by which the soul, weakened, is extinguished.
Gal 5:17 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Soul and body have opposite goods.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.23 (CSEL 19:600–601; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-23).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.5.24CSEL 19:601
ideo necesse est iustum et sapientem in omnibus malis esse, quoniam malorum uictrix est fortitudo, iniustos autem in diuitiis, in honore, in potestate: haec enim bona corporalia et terrena sunt; illi autem terrenam uitam agunt nec adsequi immortalitatem queunt, quia se uoluptatibus dediderunt, quae sunt uirtutis inimicae. itaque uita haec temporalis illi aeternae debet esse subiecta sicut corpus animae.
So the just and wise must be amid all evils, since fortitude is the conqueror of evils, while the unjust are in riches, honor, and power; for these are bodily and earthly goods. They lead an earthly life and cannot attain immortality, because they have given themselves to pleasures, which are enemies of virtue. So this temporal life must be subject to that eternal one, as the body to the soul.
Notes and citation
Summary: The just suffer; the unjust prosper in earthly goods.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray comma): potestate:, haec → potestate: haec.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.24 (CSEL 19:601; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-24).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.5.25CSEL 19:601
quisquis ergo animae uitam maluerit, uitam corporis contemnat necesse est nec aliter eniti ad summum poterit, nisi quae sunt ima despexerit. qui autem corporis uitam fuerit amplexus et cupiditates suas in terram deiecerit, illam superiorem uitam consequi non potest.
So whoever prefers the life of the soul must despise the life of the body, and cannot strive up to the highest except by looking down on what is lowest. But whoever has embraced the life of the body and cast his desires on the earth cannot attain that higher life.
Notes and citation
Summary: One must choose the life of the soul over the body.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.25 (CSEL 19:601; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-25).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.5.26CSEL 19:601
sed qui mauult bene uiuere in aeternum, male uiuet ad tempus et adficietur omnibus molestiis et laboribus quamdiu fuerit in terra, ut habeat diuinum et caeleste solacium. et qui maluerit bene uiuere ad tempus, male uiuet in aeternum: damnabitur enim sententia dei ad aeternam poenam, quia caelestibus bonis terrena praeposuit.
But whoever prefers to live well forever will live badly for a time and be afflicted with all troubles and labors while he is on earth, so as to have divine and heavenly consolation. And whoever prefers to live well for a time will live badly forever; for he will be condemned by God's sentence to eternal punishment, because he preferred earthly things to heavenly goods.
Luke 16:25 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Good now, evil forever; or evil now, good forever.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.26 (CSEL 19:601; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-26).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
7.5.27CSEL 19:601–603
propterea igitur coli se deus expetit et honorari ab homine tamquam pater, ut uirtutem ac sapientiam teneat, quae sola inmortalitatem parit. nam quia nullus alius praeter ipsum donare eam potest, quia solus possidet, pietatem hominis qua deum honorauerit hoc adficit praemio, ut sit in aeternum beatus sitque aput deum et cum deo semper.
For this reason, then, God seeks to be worshipped and honored by man as a father, so that man may hold virtue and wisdom, which alone produce immortality. For since no one but he can grant it, because he alone possesses it, he rewards the piety with which man has honored God with this reward: that he be blessed forever and be with God and in God's presence always.
Notes and citation
Summary: God rewards piety with eternal blessedness.
- ANF 7 prints further paragraphs after this one (on good and evil and the first man), which are missing in many manuscripts; they are not in the text translated here.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): praemio., ut → praemio, ut.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.5.27 (CSEL 19:601–603; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-5-27).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 7, chapter 6
7.6.1CSEL 19:603–604
Nunc totam rationem breui circumscriptione signemus. idcirco mundus factus est, ut nascamur: ideo nascimur, ut adgnoscamus factorem mundi ac nostri deum: ideo adgnoscimus, ut colamus: ideo colimus, ut immortalitatem pro laborum mercede capiamus, quoniam maximis laboribus cultus dei constat: ideo praemio immortalitatis adficimur, ut similes angelis effecti summo patri ac domino in perpetuum seruiamus et simus aeternum deo regnum.
Now let us mark out the whole plan in a brief outline. The world was made so that we might be born; we are born so that we may acknowledge God, the maker of the world and of ourselves; we acknowledge him so that we may worship him; we worship him so that we may receive immortality as the reward of our labors, since the worship of God consists of the greatest labors; we are given the reward of immortality so that, made like the angels, we may serve the supreme Father and Lord forever and be an eternal kingdom for God.
Luke 20:36 (echo, medium confidence) · Rev 1:6 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The whole plan: world, birth, knowledge, worship, immortality, service.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.6.1 (CSEL 19:603–604; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-6-1).
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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).
7.6.2CSEL 19:604
haec summa rerum est, hoc arcanum dei, hoc mysterium mundi, a quo sunt alieni qui sequentes praesentem uoluptatem terrestribus et fragilibus se bonis addixerunt et animas ad caelestia genitas suauitatibus mortiferis tamquam luto caenoue demerserunt.
This is the sum of things, this the secret of God, this the mystery of the world, from which those are strangers who, following present pleasure, have given themselves over to earthly and fragile goods and have sunk souls born for heavenly things in deadly sweetness as in mud and mire.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lovers of pleasure are strangers to this mystery.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.6.2 (CSEL 19:604; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-6-2).
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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).
7.6.3CSEL 19:604–605
quaeramus nunc uicissim an in cultu deorum ratio ulla subsistat. qui si multi sunt, si ideo tantum ab hominibus coluntur, ut praestent illis opes uictorias honores quaeque alia non nisi ad praesens ualent, si sine causa gignimur, si in hominibus procreandis prouidentia nulla uersatur, si casu nobismet ipsis ac uoluptatis nostrae gratia nascimur, si nihil post mortem sumus, quid potest esse tam superuacuum, tam inane, tam uanum quam humana res et quam mundus ipse, qui cum sit incredibili magnitudine, tum mirabili ratione constructus, tamen rebus ineptis uacet?
Let us now ask in turn whether any reason stands in the worship of the gods. If they are many, if they are worshipped by people only so that they may grant them wealth, victories, honors, and other things that avail only for the present; if we are born without cause, if no providence is at work in the begetting of human beings, if we are born by chance for ourselves and for our pleasure, if we are nothing after death, what can be so superfluous, so empty, so vain as human affairs and as the world itself, which, though of incredible size and built with wonderful reason, would yet be empty of anything but silly things?
Notes and citation
Summary: Without providence and afterlife, all is vain.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.6.3 (CSEL 19:604–605; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-6-3).
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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).
7.6.4CSEL 19:605
cur etenim uentorum spiritus citent nubes? cur emicent fulgura, tonitrua mugiant, imbres cadant? cur fruges terra producat, uarios fetus alat? cur denique omnis natura rerum laboret, ne quid desit earum rerum quibus uita hominis sustinetur, si est inanis, si ad nihilum interimus, si nihil est in nobis maioris emolumenti deo?
For why do the winds' breaths drive the clouds? Why do lightnings flash, thunders roar, rains fall? Why does the earth produce crops and nourish various offspring? Why, finally, does all nature labor so that nothing may be lacking of the things by which human life is sustained, if it is empty, if we perish into nothing, if there is nothing in us of greater benefit to God?
Notes and citation
Summary: Nature's labor would be pointless.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.6.4 (CSEL 19:605; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-6-4).
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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).
7.6.5CSEL 19:605
quod si est dictu nefas nec putandum est fieri posse ut non ob aliquam maximam rationem fuerit constitutum quod uideas maxima ratione constare, quae potest esse ratio in his erroribus prauarum religionum et in hac persuasione philosophorum qua putant animas interire? profecto nulla.
But if it is wrong to say, and should not be thought possible, that what you see to be constituted by the greatest reason was not established for some very great reason, what reason can there be in these errors of depraved religions and in this conviction of the philosophers by which they think souls perish? Surely none.
Notes and citation
Summary: Idolatry and mortalism have no reason.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.6.5 (CSEL 19:605; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-6-5).
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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).
7.6.6CSEL 19:605
quid enim habent dicere cur dii hominibus tam diligenter suis quaeque temporibus exhibeant? an ut illis far et merum demus et odorem turis et sanguinem pecudum? quae neque inmortalibus grata esse possunt, quia sunt fragilia, neque usui esse expertibus corporum, quia haec ad usum corporalium data sunt: et tamen si ea desiderarent, sibi ipsi possent exhibere, cum uellent.
For what can they say about why the gods so carefully supply human beings with everything in its season? That we may give them grain and wine, the scent of incense, and the blood of cattle? These can neither please immortals, since they are fragile, nor be of use to beings without bodies, since they are given for the use of the embodied; and yet, if they desired them, they could supply them to themselves when they wished.
Notes and citation
Summary: The gods cannot need offerings.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.6.6 (CSEL 19:605; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-6-6).
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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).
7.6.7CSEL 19:605
siue igitur intereunt animae siue in aeternum manent, quam rationem continet cultus deorum aut a quo mundus constitutus est? cur aut quando aut quousque, quatenus homines aut quam ob rem procreati? cur nascuntur intereunt succedunt renouantur? quid dii ex cultibus eorum adsecuntur qui post mortem nihil futuri sunt? quid praestant, quid pollicentur, quid minantur aut hominibus aut diis dignum?
So whether souls perish or remain forever, what reason does the worship of the gods contain, or by whom was the world established? Why, or when, or how long, or to what end, or for what reason were human beings produced? Why are they born, why do they die, succeed, and renew? What do the gods gain from the worship of those who will be nothing after death? What do they grant, promise, or threaten that is worthy of either human beings or gods?
Notes and citation
Summary: Pagan religion answers none of life's questions.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.6.7 (CSEL 19:605; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-6-7).
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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).
7.6.8CSEL 19:605–606
uel si manent animae post obitum, quid de iis faciunt facturiue sunt? quid illis opus est thesauro animarum? ipsi illi ex quo fonte oriuntur?
Or if souls remain after death, what do they do or intend to do with them? What need have they of a treasury of souls? From what source do they themselves arise?
Notes and citation
Summary: What would gods do with souls?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.6.8 (CSEL 19:605–606; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-6-8).
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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).
7.6.9CSEL 19:606
quomodo aut quare aut unde multi sunt? ita fit ut si ab illa rerum summa quam superius conprehendimus aberraueris, omnis ratio intereat et ad nihilum omnia reuoluantur.
How, or why, or from where are there many? So it happens that if you stray from that sum of things which we set out above, all reason perishes and everything collapses into nothing.
Notes and citation
Summary: Without the true plan all reason collapses.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.6.9 (CSEL 19:606; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-6-9).
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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 7
7.7.1CSEL 19:606
Quam summam quia philosophi non conprehenderunt, nec ueritatem conprehendere potuerunt, quamuis ea fere quibus summa ipsa constat et uiderint et explicauerint. sed diuersi ac diuerse illa omnia protulerunt non adnectentes nec causas rerum nec consequentias nec rationes, ut summam illam quae continet uniuersa et conpingerent et inplerent.
Because the philosophers did not grasp this sum, they could not grasp the truth either, although they saw and explained almost all the things of which that sum consists. But they put all these forward separately and in different ways, not linking the causes of things, their consequences, or their reasons, so as to fit together and complete that sum which contains everything.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers had fragments but not the whole.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.7.1 (CSEL 19:606; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-7-1).
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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).
7.7.2CSEL 19:606
facile est autem docere paene uniuersam ueritatem per philosophos et sectas esse diuisam. non enim sic philosophiam nos euertimus, ut Academici solent, quibus ad omnia respondere propositum est, quod est potius cauillari et inludere, sed docemus nullam sectam fuisse tam deuiam neque philosophorum quemquam tam inanem qui non uiderit aliquid ex uero.
It is easy to show that almost the whole truth has been divided among the philosophers and their schools. For we do not overturn philosophy as the Academics do, whose aim is to answer everything, which is rather quibbling and mockery; but we teach that no school was so astray, and no philosopher so empty, that he did not see something of the truth.
Notes and citation
Summary: Every school saw part of the truth.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: t for f, u for il): tacue est → facile est.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.7.2 (CSEL 19:606; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-7-2).
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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).
7.7.3CSEL 19:606
sed dum contradicendi studio insaniunt, dum sua etiam falsa defendunt, aliorum etiam uera subuertunt, non tantum elapsa illis ueritas est quam se quaerere simulabant, sed ipsi eam potissimum suo uitio perdiderunt.
But while they rave in their zeal to contradict, defending even their own falsehoods and overturning even others' truths, not only has the truth they pretended to seek slipped away from them, but they themselves lost it chiefly by their own fault.
Notes and citation
Summary: Contentiousness made them lose the truth.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.7.3 (CSEL 19:606; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-7-3).
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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).
7.7.4CSEL 19:606–607
quodsi extitisset aliquis qui ueritatem sparsam per singulos per sectasque diffusam colligeret in unum ac redigeret in corpus, is profecto non dissentiret a nobis. sed hoc nemo facere nisi ueri peritus ac sciens potest, uerum autem scire non nisi eius est qui sit doctus a deo.
But if someone had arisen to gather into one the truth scattered among individuals and spread through the schools, and to reduce it to a body, he would surely not disagree with us. But no one can do this except one skilled in and knowing the truth; and to know the truth belongs only to one who has been taught by God.
Notes and citation
Summary: Gathered together, the scattered truths agree with Christianity.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.7.4 (CSEL 19:606–607; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-7-4).
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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).
7.7.5CSEL 19:607
neque enim potest aliter repudiare quae falsa sunt, eligere ac probare quae uera: sed si uel casu id efficeret, certissime philosopharetur, et quamuis non posset diuinis testimoniis illa defendere, tamen se ipsa ueritas inlustraret suo lumine.
For otherwise one cannot reject what is false and choose and approve what is true; but if someone did this even by chance, he would philosophize most surely, and though he could not defend these things with divine testimonies, truth itself would illuminate itself by its own light.
Notes and citation
Summary: Truth shines by its own light.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.7.5 (CSEL 19:607; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-7-5).
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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).
7.7.6CSEL 19:607
quare incredibilis est error illorum qui cum aliquam sectam probauerint eique se addixerint, ceteras damnant tamquam falsas et inanes armantque se ad proeliandum nec quid defendere debeant scientes nec quid refutare incursantque passim sine dilectu omnia quae adferunt quicumque dissentiunt.
So incredible is the error of those who, having approved some school and devoted themselves to it, condemn the rest as false and empty and arm themselves for battle, knowing neither what they should defend nor what refute, and attack indiscriminately everything brought forward by whoever disagrees.
Notes and citation
Summary: Sectarian philosophers attack everything indiscriminately.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.7.6 (CSEL 19:607; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-7-6).
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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).
7.7.7CSEL 19:607
ob has eorum pertinacissimas contentiones nulla extitit philosophia quae ad uerum propius accederet: nam particulatim ueritas ab iis tota conprehensa est. factum esse a deo mundum dixit Plato:
Because of these most stubborn disputes of theirs, no philosophy has arisen that came nearer to the truth; for taken piece by piece, the whole truth was grasped by them. Plato said that the world was made by God;
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato said God made the world.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.7.7 (CSEL 19:607; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-7-7).
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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).
7.7.8CSEL 19:607
idem prophetae locuntur idemque ex Sibyllae carminibus apparet. errant igitur qui uel omnia sua sponte nata esse dixerunt uel minutis seminibus conglobatis, quoniam tanta res, tam ornata, tam magna neque fieri neque disponi et ordinari sine aliquo prudentissimo auctore potuit et ea ipsa ratio qua constare ac regi omnia sentiuntur, sollertissimae mentis artificem confitetur.
the prophets say the same, and the same appears from the verses of the Sibyl. So those are wrong who said that all things arose of their own accord or from tiny seeds clustered together, since so great, so ordered, so vast a thing could neither be made nor be arranged and ordered without some most wise maker; and the very reason by which all things are perceived to stand and be ruled confesses the maker of a most skillful mind.
Notes and citation
Summary: Prophets and the Sibyl agree that God made the world.
Extrabiblical texts: Sib. Or. (Sibylline Oracles; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.7.8 (CSEL 19:607; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-7-8).
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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).
7.7.9CSEL 19:607
hominum causa mundum et omnia quae in eo sunt esse facta Stoici loquuntur: idem nos diuinae litterae docent. errauit ergo Democritus, qui uermiculorum modo putauit effusos esse de terra nullo auctore nullaque ratione.
The Stoics say the world and all that is in it were made for the sake of human beings; the divine writings teach us the same. So Democritus erred, who thought that men were poured out of the earth like little worms, with no maker and no reason.
Notes and citation
Summary: Scripture agrees with the Stoics that the world was made for man.
Extrabiblical texts: Democritus (Democritus (fragments); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.7.9 (CSEL 19:607; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-7-9).
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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).
7.7.10CSEL 19:607–608
cur enim formatus sit homo, diuini sacramenti est, quod quia ille scire non poterat, humanam uitam deduxit ad nihilum.
For why man was formed belongs to the divine mystery; and since he could not know it, he reduced human life to nothing.
Notes and citation
Summary: Not knowing man's purpose, Democritus reduced life to nothing.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.7.10 (CSEL 19:607–608; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-7-10).
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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).
7.7.11CSEL 19:608
ad uirtutem capessendam nasci homines Ariston disseruit: idem nos monemur ac discimus a prophetis. falsus igitur Aristippus, qui hominem uoluptati hoc est malo tamquam pecudem subiugauit.
Ariston argued that human beings are born to take up virtue; we are warned and taught the same by the prophets. So Aristippus was wrong, who subjected man to pleasure, that is, to evil, like a beast.
Notes and citation
Summary: Ariston rightly said man is born for virtue; Aristippus erred.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.7.11 (CSEL 19:608; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-7-11).
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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).
7.7.12CSEL 19:608
inmortales esse animas Pherecydes et Plato disputauerunt: haec uero propria est in nostra religione doctrina. ergo Dicaearchus cum Democrito errauit, qui perire cum corpore ac dissolui argumentatus est.
Pherecydes and Plato argued that souls are immortal; but this is the teaching proper to our religion. So Dicaearchus erred, together with Democritus, who argued that the soul perishes and is dissolved with the body.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pherecydes and Plato taught the soul's immortality.
Extrabiblical texts: Pherecydes of Syros, Pherecydes (Pherecydes of Syros (fragments); allusion); Plato (Plato (works); allusion); Democritus (Democritus (fragments); allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.7.12 (CSEL 19:608; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-7-12).
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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).
7.7.13CSEL 19:608
esse inferos Zeno Stoicus docuit et sedes piorum ab inpiis esse discretas et illos quidem quietas ac delectabiles incolere regiones, hos uero luere poenas in tenebrosis locis atque in caeni uoraginibus horrendis: idem nobis prophetae palam faciunt. ergo Epicurus errauit, qui poetarum id esse figmentum putauit et illas inferorum poenas quae ferantur in hac esse uita interpretatus est.
Zeno the Stoic taught that there is an underworld and that the dwellings of the pious are separated from the impious, and that the former inhabit quiet and delightful regions, while the latter pay penalties in dark places and in horrible pits of mud; the prophets make the same plain to us. So Epicurus erred, who thought this a fiction of the poets and interpreted the punishments said to be in the underworld as belonging to this life.
Notes and citation
Summary: Zeno taught separate abodes after death; Epicurus denied them.
Extrabiblical texts: Zeno of Citium, Zeno (Zeno of Citium; allusion); Epicurus (Epicurus (sayings and fragments); allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.7.13 (CSEL 19:608; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-7-13).
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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).
7.7.14CSEL 19:608
totam igitur ueritatem et omne diuinae religionis arcanum philosophi attigerunt, sed aliis refellentibus defendere id quod inuenerant nequiuerunt, quia singulis ratio non quadrauit, nec ea quae uera senserant in summam redigere potuerunt, sicut nos superius fecimus.
So the philosophers touched the whole truth and every secret of divine religion, but when others refuted them they could not defend what they had found, because the reasoning did not fit the particulars, nor could they bring into a sum the things they had perceived to be true, as we did above.
Notes and citation
Summary: Philosophers touched all truths but could not unite them.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.7.14 (CSEL 19:608; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-7-14).
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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).
Divine 7, chapter 8
7.8.1CSEL 19:608
Unum est igitur summum bonum inmortalitas, ad quam capiendam et formati a principio et nati sumus. ad hanc tendimus, hanc spectat humana natura, ad hanc nos prouehit uirtus: quod bonum quia deprehendimus, superest ut etiam de ipsa inmortalitate dicamus.
So the one highest good is immortality, for receiving which we were both formed from the beginning and born. Toward this we strive, to this human nature looks, to this virtue carries us. Since we have found this good, it remains for us to speak also of immortality itself.
Notes and citation
Summary: Immortality is the highest good.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.8.1 (CSEL 19:608; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-8-1).
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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).
7.8.2CSEL 19:608–609
Platonis argumenta quamuis ad rem multum conferant, tamen parum habent firmitatis ad probandam et inplendam ueritatem, quoniam nec rationem totius mysterii magni consummauerat in unumque collegerat nec summum bonum conprehenderat. nam licet uerum de animae inmortalitate sentiret, tamen non ita de illa tamquam de summo bono disserebat.
Plato's arguments, though they contribute much to the matter, still have too little firmness to prove and complete the truth, since he had neither completed the reasoning of the whole great mystery and gathered it into one nor grasped the highest good. For though he thought truly about the immortality of the soul, he did not discuss it as the highest good.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato's arguments for immortality are incomplete.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato (Plato (works); allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.8.2 (CSEL 19:608–609; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-8-2).
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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).
7.8.3CSEL 19:609
nos igitur certioribus signis eligere possumus ueritatem, qui eam non ancipiti suspicione colligimus, sed diuina traditione cognouimus.
So we can choose the truth by surer signs, since we gather it not by doubtful conjecture but have learned it by divine tradition.
Notes and citation
Summary: Christians know by divine tradition.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.8.3 (CSEL 19:609; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-8-3).
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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).
7.8.4CSEL 19:609
Plato autem sic argumentatus est: immortale esse quicquid per se ipsum et sentit et semper mouetur; quod enim principium motus non habet, nec finem habiturum, quia deseri a semet ipso non potest. quod argumentum etiam mutis animalibus aeternitatem daret, nisi adiectione sapientiae discreuisset.
Plato argued thus: whatever both perceives by itself and is always in motion is immortal; for what has no beginning of motion will have no end either, since it cannot be abandoned by itself. This argument would give eternity even to dumb animals, had he not distinguished them by adding wisdom.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato's argument from self-motion.
- Plato, Phaedrus 245c–e.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-break hyphen and stray period): aeter-. nitatem → aeternitatem.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Phaedr. 245c-e (Plato (works); allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.8.4 (CSEL 19:609; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-8-4).
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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).
7.8.5CSEL 19:609
addidit ergo, ut effugeret hanc communitatem, fieri non posse quin sit inmortalis animus humanus, cuius miranda sollertia inueniendi et celeritas cogitandi et facilitas percipiendi atque discendi et memoria praeteritorum et prouidentia futurorum et artium rerumque innumerabilium scientia, qua ceterae careant animantes, diuina et caelestis appareat,
So, to escape this sharing, he added that the human mind cannot fail to be immortal, since its wonderful skill in discovering, quickness in thinking, ease in perceiving and learning, memory of the past and foresight of the future, and knowledge of arts and countless things, which the other animals lack, appear divine and heavenly;
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato: the mind's powers show it is divine.
- Compare Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 1.56–66. The sentence continues in the next section.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.8.5 (CSEL 19:609; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-8-5).
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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).
7.8.6CSEL 19:609–610
quia et origo animi, qui tanta capiat, tanta contineat, nulla reperiatur in terra, siquidem ex concretione terrena nihil habeat admixtum: sed necesse esse in terram resolui quod est in homine ponderosum et dissolubile, quod autem tenue atque suptile, id uero esse indiuiduum ac domicilio corporis uelut carcere liberatum ad caelum et ad naturam suam peruolare.
and because no origin can be found on earth for a mind that grasps and holds so much, since it has nothing mixed in from earthly compound; but what is heavy and dissoluble in man must be dissolved into earth, while what is subtle and fine is indivisible and, freed from the dwelling of the body as from a prison, flies to heaven and to its own nature.
Notes and citation
Summary: The subtle soul returns to heaven when freed from the body.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.8.6 (CSEL 19:609–610; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-8-6).
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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).
7.8.7CSEL 19:610
haec fere Platonis collecta breuiter, quae aput ipsum late copioseque explicantur. in eadem sententia fuit etiam Pythagoras antea eiusque praeceptor Pherecydes, quem Cicero tradidit primum de aeternitate animarum disputauisse.
These are Plato's points gathered briefly, which he explains at length and fully. Pythagoras too held the same view before him, and his teacher Pherecydes, who, Cicero records, was the first to argue for the eternity of souls.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pythagoras and Pherecydes held the same.
- Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 1.38.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; allusion); Pherecydes of Syros, Pherecydes (Pherecydes of Syros (fragments); allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.8.7 (CSEL 19:610; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-8-7).
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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).
7.8.8CSEL 19:610
qui omnes licet eloquentia excellerent, tamen in hac dumtaxat contentione non minus auctoritatis habuerunt qui contra hanc sententiam disserebant, Dicaearchus primo, deinde Democritus, postremo Epicurus, adeo ut res ipsa de qua inter se pugnabant in dubium uocaretur.
Though all these excelled in eloquence, yet in this dispute at least those who argued against this view had no less authority: first Dicaearchus, then Democritus, finally Epicurus; so much so that the very matter they fought over was called into doubt.
Notes and citation
Summary: Opponents of immortality had equal authority.
Extrabiblical texts: Democritus (Democritus (fragments); allusion); Epicurus (Epicurus (sayings and fragments); allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.8.8 (CSEL 19:610; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-8-8).
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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).
7.8.9CSEL 19:610
denique Tullius expositis horum omnium de inmortalitate ac morte sententiis nescire se quid sit uerum pronuntiauit. harum inquit sententiarum quae uera sit, deus aliqui uiderit. et rursus alibi quoniam utraque inquit earum sententiarum doctissimos habuit auctores nec quid certi sit diuinari potest —.
In the end Tullius, having set out the opinions of all these on immortality and death, declared that he did not know which was true. "Which of these opinions is true," he says, "some god will see." And again elsewhere: "Since each of these opinions has had most learned authorities, and nothing certain can be divined…"
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero confessed he did not know.
- Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 1.23; the second quotation is from another work (uncertain).
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.8.9 (CSEL 19:610; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-8-9).
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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).
7.8.10CSEL 19:610
uerum nobis diuinatione opus non est, quibus ueritatem diuinitas ipsa patefecit.
But we have no need of divining, to whom divinity itself has revealed the truth.
Notes and citation
Summary: God has revealed the truth to Christians.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.8.10 (CSEL 19:610; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-8-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).
Divine 7, chapter 9
7.9.1CSEL 19:610
Aliis itaque argumentis, quae nec Plato nec ullus alius inuenit, animarum aeternitas probari ac perspici potest: quae nos breuiter colligemus, quoniam properat oratio ad enarrandum iudicium dei maximum, quod in terra propinquante saeculorum fine celebrabitur.
So by other arguments, which neither Plato nor anyone else found, the eternity of souls can be proved and seen. We will gather them briefly, since the discourse hastens to describe the great judgment of God, which will be held on earth as the end of the ages approaches.
Notes and citation
Summary: New arguments for the soul's eternity.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.1 (CSEL 19:610; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-1).
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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).
7.9.2CSEL 19:610–611
ante omnia, quoniam deus ab homine uideri non potest, ne quis tamen ex eo ipso putaret deum non esse, quia mortalibus oculis non uidetur, inter cetera institutorum suorum miracula fecit etiam multa quorum uis quidem apparet, substantia tamen non uidetur, sicut est uox odor uentus, ut harum rerum argumento et exemplo etiam deum, licet sub oculos non ueniret, de sua tamen ui et effectu et operibus cerneremus.
First of all, since God cannot be seen by man, yet so that no one might think from this very fact that God does not exist because he is not seen by mortal eyes, among the other wonders of his institution he also made many things whose power appears though their substance is not seen, such as voice, smell, and wind; so that by the argument and example of these things we might discern God too, though he does not come under our eyes, from his power, effect, and works.
Rom 1:20 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Invisible things like voice and wind show God can be unseen yet real.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.2 (CSEL 19:610–611; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-2).
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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).
7.9.3CSEL 19:611
quid uoce clarius aut uento fortius aut odore uiolentius? haec tamen cum per aerem feruntur ad sensusque nostros ueniunt et eos potentia sua inpellunt, non cernuntur acie luminum, sed aliis corporis partibus sentiuntur.
What is clearer than a voice, stronger than wind, more forceful than smell? Yet when these are carried through the air and reach our senses and strike them with their power, they are not seen by the eye but perceived by other parts of the body.
Notes and citation
Summary: Powerful things are perceived without being seen.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.3 (CSEL 19:611; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-3).
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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).
7.9.4CSEL 19:611
similiter deus non aspectu nobis alioue fragili sensu conprehendendus est, sed mentis oculis intuendus, cum opera eius praeclara et miranda uideamus.
Likewise God is not to be grasped by us by sight or another fragile sense, but beheld with the eyes of the mind, when we see his splendid and wonderful works.
Notes and citation
Summary: God is seen with the mind through his works.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.4 (CSEL 19:611; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-4).
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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).
7.9.5CSEL 19:611
nam illos qui nullum omnino deum esse dixerunt non modo philosophos, sed ne homines quidem fuisse dixerim, qui mutis simillimi ex solo corpore constiterunt nihil cernentes animo et ad sensum corporis cuncta referentes, qui nihil putabant esse nisi quod oculis contuebantur.
For those who said there is no god at all I would say were not only not philosophers but not even human beings; like dumb animals, they consisted of body alone, seeing nothing with the mind and referring everything to bodily sense, thinking nothing exists except what they saw with their eyes.
Ps 14:1 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Atheists are like beasts.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.5 (CSEL 19:611; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-5).
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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).
7.9.6CSEL 19:611
et quia uidebant aut bonis accidere aduersa aut malis prospera, fortuito geri omnia crediderunt et natura mundum, non prouidentia constitutum. hinc iam prolapsi sunt ad deliramenta, quae talem sententiam necessario sequebantur.
And because they saw adversity befall the good or prosperity the wicked, they believed that everything happens by chance and that the world was established by nature, not providence. From here they slid into the ravings that necessarily followed such a view.
Notes and citation
Summary: Seeing the good suffer, they denied providence.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.6 (CSEL 19:611; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-6).
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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).
7.9.7CSEL 19:611
quodsi est deus et incorporalis et inuisibilis et aeternus, ergo non idcirco interire animam credibile est, quia non uidetur, postquam recessit a corpore, quoniam constat esse aliquid sentiens ac uigens quod non ueniat sub aspectum.
But if God is incorporeal, invisible, and eternal, then it is not credible that the soul perishes because it is not seen after it has left the body, since it is agreed that something sensing and vigorous exists which does not come under sight.
Notes and citation
Summary: An unseen soul need not perish.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.7 (CSEL 19:611; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-7).
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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).
7.9.8CSEL 19:611–612
at enim difficile est animo comprehendere quemadmodum possit anima retinere sensum sine iis partibus corporis in quibus inest officium sentiendi.
"But it is hard to grasp in the mind how the soul can retain sensation without those parts of the body in which the function of sensing resides."
Notes and citation
Summary: Objection: how can the soul sense without the body?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.8 (CSEL 19:611–612; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-8).
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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).
7.9.9CSEL 19:612
quid de deo? num facile est comprehendere quemadmodum uigeat sine corpore? quodsi deos esse credunt, qui si sunt, utique animae sunt expertes corporum, necesse est humanas animas eadem ratione subsistere, quoniam ex ipsa ratione ac prudentia intellegitur esse quaedam in homine ac deo similitudo.
What of God? Is it easy to grasp how he lives without a body? If they believe there are gods, who, if they exist, are surely souls without bodies, human souls must subsist in the same way, since from reason and wisdom itself it is understood that there is a certain likeness between man and God.
Notes and citation
Summary: If gods live without bodies, so can souls.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.9 (CSEL 19:612; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-9).
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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).
7.9.10CSEL 19:612
denique illut argumentum, quod etiam Marcus Tullius uidit, satis firmum est, ex eo aeternitatem animae posse dinosci, quia nullum sit aliud animal quod habeat notitiam aliquam dei, religioque sit paene sola quae hominem discernat a mutis: quae cum in hominem solum cadit, profecto testatur id adfectare nos, id desiderare, id colere quod nobis familiare, quod proximum sit futurum.
Finally, that argument which Marcus Tullius also saw is quite firm, that the eternity of the soul can be discerned from this: that there is no other animal with any knowledge of God, and religion is almost the only thing that distinguishes man from the dumb animals. Since it belongs to man alone, it surely testifies that we aspire to, desire, and worship what will be familiar to us and nearest to us.
Notes and citation
Summary: Religion, unique to man, shows the soul is eternal.
- Cicero, On the Laws 1.24.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Leg. 1.24 (Cicero; allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.10 (CSEL 19:612; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-10).
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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).
7.9.11CSEL 19:612–613
an aliquis cum ceterarum animantium naturam considerauerit, quas pronis corporibus abiectas in terramque prostratas summi dei prouidentia effecit, ut ex hoc intellegi possit nihil eas rationis habere cum caelo, potest non intellegere solum ex omnibus caeleste ac diuinum animal esse hominem, cuius corpus ab humo excitatum, uultus sublimis, status rectus originem suam quaerit et quasi contempta humilitate terrae ad altum nititur, quia sentit summum bonum in summo sibi esse quaerendum memorque condicionis suae, qua deus illum fecit eximium, ad artificem suum spectat? quam spectationem Trismegistus θεοπτίαν rectissime nominauit: quae in mutis animalibus nulla est.
When anyone considers the nature of the other animals, which the providence of the supreme God made prone in body, cast down and stretched out on the ground, so that it might be understood that they have nothing in common with heaven, can he fail to understand that man alone of all is a heavenly and divine animal, whose body, raised from the ground, lofty face, and upright stance seek his origin and, as if despising the lowness of the earth, strive upward, because he feels that the highest good must be sought on high, and, mindful of his condition by which God made him outstanding, looks to his Maker? This looking Trismegistus most rightly called theoptia, "the vision of God"; there is none in dumb animals.
Notes and citation
Summary: Man's upright form looks to God (theoptia).
- Greek theoptia is quoted by the author from the Hermetic writings.
Extrabiblical texts: Corp. herm. (Hermetic writings; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.11 (CSEL 19:612–613; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-11).
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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).
7.9.12CSEL 19:613
cum autem sapientia, quae soli homini data est, nihil aliut sit quam notitia dei, apparet animam non interire neque dissolui, sed manere in sempiternum, quia deum, qui sempiternus est, et quaerit et diligit, ipsa cogente natura sentiens uel unde orta sit uel quo reuersura.
And since wisdom, given to man alone, is nothing other than the knowledge of God, it is clear that the soul does not perish or dissolve but remains forever, because it seeks and loves God, who is everlasting, sensing under nature's own compulsion from where it arose or where it will return.
Notes and citation
Summary: Seeking the eternal God, the soul is eternal.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.12 (CSEL 19:613; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-12).
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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).
7.9.13CSEL 19:613
praeterea non exiguum inmortalitatis argumentum est quod homo solus caelesti elemento utitur. nam cum rerum natura his duobus elementis, quae repugnantia sibi atque inimica sunt, constet, igni et aqua, quorum alterum caelo, alterum terrae adscribitur, ceterae animantes quia terrenae mortalesque sunt, terreno et graui utuntur elemento, homo solus ignem in usu habet, quod est elementum leue sublime caeleste.
Moreover, it is no small argument for immortality that man alone uses the heavenly element. For since the nature of things consists of these two elements, which are opposed and hostile to each other, fire and water, one assigned to heaven, the other to earth, the other animals, being earthly and mortal, use the earthly and heavy element, while man alone has fire in use, which is the light, lofty, and heavenly element.
Notes and citation
Summary: Man alone uses fire, the heavenly element.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.13 (CSEL 19:613; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-13).
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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).
7.9.14CSEL 19:613
ea uero quae ponderosa sunt, ad mortem deprimunt, et quae leuia sunt, ad uitam subleuant, quia uita in summo est, mors in imo. et ut lux esse sine igni non potest, sic uita sine luce. ignis igitur elementum est lucis ac uitae: unde apparet hominem qui eo utitur, immortalem sortitum esse condicionem, quia id illi familiare est quod facit uitam.
Heavy things press down to death, and light things lift up to life, because life is above and death below. And as light cannot exist without fire, so life cannot exist without light. So fire is the element of light and life; from which it is clear that man, who uses it, has been allotted an immortal condition, since what makes life is familiar to him.
Notes and citation
Summary: Fire, source of light and life, points to immortality.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.14 (CSEL 19:613; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-14).
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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).
7.9.15CSEL 19:613
uirtus quoque soli homini data magno argumento est inmortales animas esse. quae non erit secundum naturam, si anima extinguitur; huic enim praesenti uitae nocet. nam uita ista terrena, quam communem cum mutis animalibus ducimus, et uoluptatem expetit, cuius fructibus uariis ac suauibus delectatur, et dolorem fugit, cuius asperitas naturam uiuentium acerbis sensibus laedit et ad mortem perducere nititur, quae dissoluit animantem.
Virtue too, given to man alone, is a great argument that souls are immortal. It would not be according to nature if the soul were extinguished, for it harms this present life. For this earthly life, which we lead in common with dumb animals, both seeks pleasure, delighting in its varied and sweet fruits, and flees pain, whose harshness wounds the nature of the living with bitter feelings and tends to lead to death, which dissolves the living being.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue harms this life, so it must aim beyond it.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.15 (CSEL 19:613; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-15).
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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).
7.9.16CSEL 19:613–614
si ergo uirtus et prohibet iis bonis hominem quae naturaliter adpetuntur et ad sustinenda mala inpellit quae naturaliter fugiuntur, ergo malum est uirtus et inimica naturae stultumque iudicari necesse est qui eam sequitur, quoniam se ipse laedit et fugiendo bona praesentia et adpetendo aeque mala sine spe fructus amplioris.
If, then, virtue both keeps man from the goods naturally sought and drives him to endure the evils naturally fled, then virtue is an evil and hostile to nature, and whoever follows it must be judged a fool, since he harms himself both by fleeing present goods and by seeking evils, without hope of greater fruit.
Notes and citation
Summary: Without afterlife, virtue would be foolish.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.16 (CSEL 19:613–614; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-16).
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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).
7.9.17CSEL 19:614
nam cum liceat nobis iucundissimis frui uoluptatibus, nonne sensu carere uideamur, si malimus in humilitate, in egestate, in contemptu, in ignominia uiuere aut ne uiuere quidem, sed dolore cruciari et emori, ex quibus malis nihil amplius adsequamur quo possit uoluptas omissa pensari?
For when we could enjoy the most delightful pleasures, would we not seem senseless if we preferred to live in lowliness, want, contempt, and disgrace, or not even to live, but to be tortured with pain and die, gaining nothing further from these evils to repay the pleasure we gave up?
Notes and citation
Summary: Choosing suffering without reward is senseless.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.17 (CSEL 19:614; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-17).
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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).
7.9.18CSEL 19:614
si autem uirtus malum non est facitque honeste, quod uoluptates uitiosas turpesque contemnit, et fortiter, quod nec dolorem nec mortem timet, ut officium seruet, ergo aliquod maius bonum adsequatur necesse est quam sunt illa quae spernit. at uero morte suscepta quod ulterius bonum sperari potest nisi aeternitas?
But if virtue is not an evil, and acts honorably in despising vicious and shameful pleasures, and bravely in fearing neither pain nor death so as to keep its duty, then it must attain some greater good than those it spurns. But once death has been undergone, what further good can be hoped for except eternity?
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue must aim at eternity.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period): contemnit., → contemnit,.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.9.18 (CSEL 19:614; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-9-18).
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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).
Divine 7, chapter 10
7.10.1CSEL 19:614
Transeamus nunc uicissim ad ea quae uirtuti repugnant, ut etiam ex his inmortalitas animae colligatur.
Let us now pass in turn to what opposes virtue, so that the immortality of the soul may be inferred from these too.
Notes and citation
Summary: Vices too point to immortality.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.10.1 (CSEL 19:614; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-10-1).
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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).
7.10.2CSEL 19:614
uitia omnia temporalia sunt: ad praesens enim commouentur. irae impetus recepta ultione sedatur, libidinis uoluptas corporis finis est, cupiditatem aut satietas earum rerum quas expetit aut aliorum affectuum commotiones interimunt, ambitio postquam honores quos uoluit adepta est, consenescit; item cetera uitia consistere ac permanere non possunt, sed ipso fructu quem expetunt finiuntur.
All vices are temporary, for they are stirred for the present. The rush of anger subsides once vengeance is taken; the pleasure of lust ends with the body; greed is killed either by satiety of what it seeks or by the stirrings of other passions; ambition, once it has gained the honors it wanted, grows old; likewise the other vices cannot stand and remain, but end with the very fruit they seek.
Notes and citation
Summary: Vices are temporary.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.10.2 (CSEL 19:614; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-10-2).
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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).
7.10.3CSEL 19:614–615
recedunt ergo et redeunt. uirtus autem sine ulla intermissione perpetua est nec discedere ab eo potest qui eam semel cepit. nam si habeat interuallum, si aliquando carere ea possumus, redibunt protinus uitia, quae uirtutem semper inpugnant.
So they withdraw and return. But virtue is perpetual without any interruption and cannot depart from one who has once taken it up. For if it had an interval, if we could sometimes be without it, the vices, which always attack virtue, would at once return.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue is constant.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.10.3 (CSEL 19:614–615; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-10-3).
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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).
7.10.4CSEL 19:615
non est igitur conprehensa, si deserit, si aliquando secedit: cum uero sibi domicilium stabile conlocauit, in omni actu uersari eam necesse est nec potest fideliter depellere uitia et fugare, nisi pectus quod insedit perpetua statione munierit.
So it has not been grasped if it deserts, if it sometimes withdraws; but when it has set up a stable dwelling for itself, it must be active in every act, and it cannot faithfully drive out and put to flight the vices unless it guards the heart it has occupied with a perpetual watch.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue must keep perpetual watch.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.10.4 (CSEL 19:615; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-10-4).
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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).
7.10.5CSEL 19:615
ipsa ergo uirtutis perpetuitas indicat humanum animum, si uirtutem ceperit, permanere, quia et uirtus perpetua est et solus animus humanus uirtutem capit.
So the very perpetuity of virtue shows that the human soul, if it has taken up virtue, remains, because virtue is perpetual and the human soul alone takes up virtue.
Notes and citation
Summary: Perpetual virtue implies a perpetual soul.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.10.5 (CSEL 19:615; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-10-5).
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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).
7.10.6CSEL 19:615
quoniam igitur contraria sunt uitia uirtuti, omnis ratio diuersa et contraria sit necesse est. quia uitia commotiones et perturbationes animi sunt, uirtus e contrario lenitudo et tranquillitas animi est; quia uitia temporalia et breuia sunt, uirtus perpetua et constans et par sibi semper; quia uitiorum fructus id est uoluptates aeque ut ipsa breues temporalesque sunt, uirtutis ergo fructus ac praemium sempiternum est;
Since, then, vices are contrary to virtue, their whole nature must be different and contrary. Because vices are agitations and disturbances of the soul, virtue on the contrary is the calm and tranquillity of the soul; because vices are temporary and brief, virtue is perpetual, constant, and always equal to itself; because the fruits of vices, that is, pleasures, are brief and temporary like the vices themselves, the fruit and reward of virtue is everlasting;
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue's reward is everlasting, unlike vice's.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.10.6 (CSEL 19:615; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-10-6).
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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).
7.10.7CSEL 19:615
quia uitiorum commodum in praesenti est, uirtutis igitur in futuro. ita fit ut in hac uita uirtutis praemium nullum sit, quia uirtus adhuc ipsa est.
because the advantage of vices is in the present, that of virtue is in the future. So it comes about that in this life there is no reward for virtue, because virtue itself is still in progress.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue's reward lies in the future.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.10.7 (CSEL 19:615; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-10-7).
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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).
7.10.8CSEL 19:615
nam sicut uitia cum in actu suo finiuntur, uoluptas et praemia eorum secuntur, ita uirtus cum finita est, merces eius insequitur. uirtus autem numquam nisi morte finitur, quoniam et in morte suscipienda summum eius officium est. ergo praemium uirtutis post mortem est.
For just as pleasure and reward follow vices when they end in their act, so when virtue has ended, its wage follows. But virtue never ends except by death, since its highest duty lies in undergoing death. So the reward of virtue is after death.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virtue's reward comes after death.
Topics: Eschatology, Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.10.8 (CSEL 19:615; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-10-8).
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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).
7.10.9CSEL 19:615–616
denique Cicero in Tusculanis quamuis dubitanter tamen sensit summum homini bonum non nisi post mortem contingere. fidenti animo, inquit si ita res feret, gradietur ad mortem, in qua aut summum bonum aut nullum malum esse cognouimus. mors igitur non extinguit hominem, sed ad praemium uirtutis admittit.
In fact Cicero in the Tusculans, though doubtfully, still felt that the highest good comes to man only after death. "With confident mind," he says, "if it so turns out, he will go to death, in which we have learned there is either the highest good or no evil." So death does not extinguish man but admits him to the reward of virtue.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero: death brings the highest good or no evil.
- Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 1.110.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray asterisk): non * extinguit → non extinguit.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; quotation)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.10.9 (CSEL 19:615–616; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-10-9).
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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).
7.10.10CSEL 19:616
qui autem se, ut ait idem, uitiis ac sceleribus contaminauerit uoluptatique seruierit, is uero damnatus aeternam luet poenam, quam diuinae litterae secundam mortem nominant: quae est et perpetua et grauissimis cruciatibus plena.
But whoever, as the same author says, has defiled himself with vices and crimes and served pleasure, he indeed, condemned, will pay an eternal penalty, which the divine writings call the second death, which is both perpetual and full of the heaviest torments.
Rev 20:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Rev 21:8 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The wicked suffer the eternal second death.
- "The second death": Rev 2:11; 20:14; 21:8.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray letter; stray parenthesis): qui i autem → qui autem; poenam) → poenam.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero (Cicero; allusion)
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.10.10 (CSEL 19:616; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-10-10).
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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).
7.10.11CSEL 19:616
nam sicuti duae uitae propositae sunt homini, quarum altera est animae, altera corporis, ita et mortes duae propositae sunt, una pertinens ad corpus, qua cunctos secundum naturam fungi necesse est, altera pertinens ad animam, quae scelere adquiritur, uirtute uitatur. ut uita haec temporalis est certosque terminos habet, quia corporis est, sic et mors aeque temporalis est certumque habet finem, quia corpus attingit.
For just as two lives are set before man, one of the soul and the other of the body, so two deaths are set before him: one belonging to the body, which all must undergo according to nature, the other belonging to the soul, which is incurred by crime and avoided by virtue. As this life is temporary and has fixed limits, because it is of the body, so death too is equally temporary and has a fixed end, because it touches the body.
Notes and citation
Summary: Two lives and two deaths.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (period for comma inside a sentence): terminos habet. quia → terminos habet, quia.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Inst. 7.10.11 (CSEL 19:616; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-institutes/7-5-1/#p-7-10-11).
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-lactantius-institutes-7-10-11) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Brandt, CSEL 19 (1890); made independently of existing English translations and compared afterwards with ANF 7 (which leaves 6.23 in Latin).