On the Anger of God 10.1–13.25
Latin text: CSEL 27.1 (Latin text: S. Brandt and G. Laubmann (CSEL 27.1, 1893), 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).
Chapter 10
10.1CSEL 27.1:84
Qui nolunt diuina prouidentia factum esse mundum. aut principiis inter se temere coeuntibus dicunt esse concretum aut repente natura extitisse, naturam uero, ut Straton ait, habere in se uim gignendi et minuendi, sed eam nec sensum habere ullum nec figuram, ut intellegamus omnia quasi sua sponte esse generata, nullo artifice nec auctore.
Those who will not have it that the world was made by divine providence say either that it was compacted from first principles coming together at random, or that it arose suddenly by nature; and that nature, as Strato says, has in itself the power of producing and diminishing, but has neither any sense nor form, so that we are to understand that all things were generated as it were of their own accord, with no craftsman and no author.
Notes and citation
Summary: Those who deny providence say the world arose either from atoms colliding at random or from a mindless nature, as Strato held.
- Strato of Lampsacus; compare Cicero, Acad. 2.121 and Nat. d. 1.35.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.1 (CSEL 27.1:84; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.2CSEL 27.1:84
utrumque uanum et inpossibile. sed hoc euenit ignorantibus ueritatem, ut quiduis potius excogitent quam id sentiant quod ratio deposcit.
Both are empty and impossible. But this happens to those who do not know the truth: they devise anything rather than hold what reason demands.
Notes and citation
Summary: Both views are empty; ignorance of the truth breeds such inventions.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.2 (CSEL 27.1:84; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.3CSEL 27.1:84–85
primum minuta illa semina, quorum concursu fortuito cohaesisse mundum locuntur, ubi aut unde sint quaero. quis illa uidit umquam? quis sensit? quis audiuit? an solus Leucippus oculos habuit? solus mentem? qui profecto solus omnium caecus et excors fuit, qui ea loqueretur quae nec aeger quisquam delirare nec dormiens posset somniare.
First, I ask where or whence those tiny seeds are, by whose chance collision they say the world cohered. Who ever saw them? Who felt them? Who heard them? Or did Leucippus alone have eyes? Alone a mind? He surely was of all men the only one blind and senseless, who said things that no sick man could rave in delirium nor anyone dream in sleep.
Notes and citation
Summary: No one has ever seen the atoms; Leucippus, who invented them, said things no sick man would rave.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.3 (CSEL 27.1:84–85; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.4CSEL 27.1:85
quattuor elementis constare omnia philosophi ueteres disserebant. ille noluit, ne alienis uestigiis uideretur insistere, sed ipsorum elementorum alia uoluit esse primordia quae nec uideri possent nec tangi nec ulla corporis parte sentiri.
The ancient philosophers argued that all things consist of four elements. He would not have it, lest he seem to tread in others' footsteps; but he held that the elements themselves had other first beginnings, which could be neither seen nor touched nor perceived by any part of the body.
Notes and citation
Summary: Leucippus rejected the four elements and posited invisible first principles.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.4 (CSEL 27.1:85; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.5CSEL 27.1:85
tam minuta sunt inquit ut nulla sit acies ferri tam subtilis qua secari ac diuidi possint. unde illis nomen inposuit atomorum. sed occurrebat ei quod, si una esset omnibus eademque natura, non possent res efficere diuersas tanta uarietate quantam uidemus inesse mundo. dixit ergo esse leuia et aspera et rotunda et angulata et hamata.
“They are so tiny,” he says, “that there is no edge of iron so fine that they could be cut and divided by it.” Hence he gave them the name of atoms. But it occurred to him that if all had one and the same nature, they could not produce things as diverse, with so great a variety as we see in the world. So he said they are smooth and rough and round and angular and hooked.
Notes and citation
Summary: Leucippus called them atoms, uncuttable, and gave them different shapes to explain variety.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.5 (CSEL 27.1:85; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.6CSEL 27.1:85
quanto melius fuerat tacere quam in usus tam miserabiles, tam inanes habere linguam! equidem uereor ne non minus delirare uideatur qui haec putet refellenda, respondeamus tamen uelut aliquid dicenti.
How much better it would have been to keep silent than to have a tongue for such miserable, such empty uses! Indeed I fear that one who thinks these things need refuting may seem no less mad; yet let us answer as though he were saying something.
Notes and citation
Summary: The theory hardly deserves refutation, but Lactantius will answer it.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.6 (CSEL 27.1:85; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.7CSEL 27.1:85
si leuia sunt et rotunda, utique non possunt inuicem se adprehendere, ut aliquod corpus efficiant, ut si quis milium uelit in unam coagmentationem constringere, lenitudo ipsa granorum in massam coire non sinat.
If they are smooth and round, they certainly cannot grasp one another so as to form any body; just as, if someone wished to bind millet into one mass, the very smoothness of the grains would not allow them to come together into a lump.
Notes and citation
Summary: Smooth, round atoms could not stick together, any more than millet grains.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.7 (CSEL 27.1:85; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.8CSEL 27.1:85–86
sin aspera et angulata sunt et hamata, ut possint cohaerescere, diuidua ergo et secabilia sunt; hamos enim necesse est et angulos eminere, ut possint amputari. ita quod amputari ac diuelli potest, et uideri poterit et teneri.
But if they are rough and angular and hooked, so that they can cohere, then they are divisible and can be cut; for hooks and angles must stick out, so that they can be cut off. And so what can be cut off and torn apart can also be seen and held.
Notes and citation
Summary: But hooked or angular atoms could be cut, and so would not be atoms, and would be visible.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.8 (CSEL 27.1:85–86; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.9CSEL 27.1:86
haec inquit per inane inrequietis motibus uolitant et huc atque illuc feruntur, sicut pulueris minutias uidemus in sole, cum per fenestram radios ac lumen inmiserit. ex his arbores et herbae et fruges omnes oriuntur, ex his animalia et aqua et ignis et uniuersa gignuntur et rursum in eadem resoluuntur. ferri hoc potest, quamdiu de rebus paruis agitur. ex his etiam mundus concretus est.
“These,” he says, “flit through the void with restless motions and are carried hither and thither, as we see tiny specks of dust in the sun when it has sent its rays and light through a window. From these arise trees and plants and all crops, from these animals and water and fire and all things are produced, and again they are dissolved into the same.” This can be borne as long as it is a question of small things. “From these the world too was compacted.”
Notes and citation
Summary: The atomists say atoms dance in the void like dust in sunlight and form everything, even the world.
- The dust image is in Lucretius 2.114–124.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 2.114–124 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.9 (CSEL 27.1:86; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.10CSEL 27.1:86
inpleuit numerum perfectae insaniae, nihil uidetur ulterius adici posse, sed inuenit tamen ille quod adderet. quoniam omne inquit infinitum est nec potest quicquam uacare, necesse est ergo innumerabiles esse mundos.
He has completed the measure of perfect madness; nothing more, it seems, could be added. But he nevertheless found something to add. “Since all is infinite,” he says, “and nothing can be empty, it follows that there are innumerable worlds.”
Notes and citation
Summary: The atomists even claimed there are countless worlds.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.10 (CSEL 27.1:86; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.11CSEL 27.1:86
quae tanta uis fuerat atomorum, ut moles tam inaestimabiles ex tam minutis conglobarentur? ac primum requiro quae sit istorum seminum uel ratio uel origo. si enim ex illis sunt omnia, ipsa igitur unde esse dicemus? quae natura tantam copiam ad efficiendos et innumerabiles mundos subministrauit?
What great force did the atoms have, that such inestimable masses should be rolled together from things so tiny? And first I ask what is the principle or origin of these seeds. For if all things are from them, where shall we say they themselves come from? What nature supplied so great an abundance to make even innumerable worlds?
Notes and citation
Summary: Where did the atoms come from, and what supplied enough of them for countless worlds?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.11 (CSEL 27.1:86; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.12CSEL 27.1:86
sed concedamus ut inpune de mundis delirauerit, de hoc loquamur in quo sumus et quem uidemus. ait omnia ex indiuiduis corpusculis fieri.
But let us grant that he raved about the worlds with impunity; let us speak of this one in which we are and which we see. He says that all things are made from indivisible little bodies.
Notes and citation
Summary: Setting aside other worlds, consider the claim that everything in ours is made of atoms.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.12 (CSEL 27.1:86; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.13CSEL 27.1:86–87
si hoc ita esset, nulla res umquam sui generis semine indigeret, sine ouis alites nascerentur aut oua sine partu, item cetera uiuentia sine coitu, arbores et quae gignuntur e terra, propria semina non haberent; quae nos cottidie tractamus et serimus. cur ex frumento seges nascitur et rursum ex segete frumentum? denique si atomorum coitio et conglobatio efficeret omnia, in aere uniuersa concrescerent, siquidem per inane atomi uolitant.
If this were so, nothing would ever need seed of its own kind: birds would be born without eggs, or eggs without laying; likewise other living things without mating; trees and what grows from the earth would not have their own seeds, which we handle and sow every day. Why does a crop spring from grain, and grain again from the crop? In short, if the coming together and clumping of atoms made all things, everything would grow together in the air, since the atoms flit through the void.
Notes and citation
Summary: If atoms made everything, nothing would need its own seed, and things would form in mid-air.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Greek letter in a Latin word in the digital text; stray symbol in the digital text): partu, + item → partu, item; serῑmus → serimus.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.13 (CSEL 27.1:86–87; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.14CSEL 27.1:87
cur sine terra, sine radicibus, sine umore, sine semine non herba, non arbor, non fruges oriri augerique possunt?
Why can neither grass nor tree nor crops arise and grow without earth, without roots, without moisture, without seed?
Notes and citation
Summary: Plants need earth, roots, water, and seed, not just atoms.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.14 (CSEL 27.1:87; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.15CSEL 27.1:87
unde apparet nihil ex atomis fieri, quandoquidem una quaeque res habet propriam certamque naturam, suum semen, suam legem ab exordio datam.
From this it is plain that nothing is made from atoms, since each thing has its own fixed nature, its own seed, its own law given from the beginning.
Gen 1:11 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Each thing has its own nature and seed from the beginning, so nothing comes from atoms.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray characters and line number in the digital text): certamque \\ 10 naturam → certamque naturam.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.15 (CSEL 27.1:87; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.16CSEL 27.1:87
denique Lucretius quasi oblitus atomorum quos adserebat, quo redargueret eos qui dicunt ex nihilo fieri omnia, his argumentis usus est, quae contra ipsum ualerent. sic enim dixit: nam si de nihilo fierent, ex omnibus rebus omne genus nasci posset, nil semine egeret. item postea nil igitur fieri de nilo posse putandum est, semine quando opus est rebus, quo quaeque creatae aeris in teneras possint proferrier auras.
Indeed Lucretius, as if forgetting the atoms he was asserting, to refute those who say that all things come from nothing, used these arguments, which would count against himself. For he spoke thus: “For if they came from nothing, every kind could be born from all things; nothing would need seed.” And likewise later: “We must therefore think that nothing can come from nothing, since things need seed, from which each, when created, may be brought forth into the soft breezes of the air.”
Notes and citation
Summary: Lucretius himself argued that everything needs its own seed, which undercuts his atomism.
- The quotations are Lucretius 1.159–160 and 1.205–207.
Extrabiblical texts: Lucretius, 1.159–160 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; quotation); Lucretius, 1.205–207 (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.16 (CSEL 27.1:87; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.17CSEL 27.1:87
quis hunc putet habuisse cerebrum, cum haec diceret nec uideret sibi esse contraria? nihil enim per atomos fieri exinde apparet, quod semen cuiusque rei certum est, nisi forte ignis et aquae naturam ex atomis esse credemus.
Who would think he had a brain when he said these things and did not see that they contradicted him? For that nothing is made through atoms is plain from the fact that the seed of each thing is fixed; unless perhaps we are to believe that the nature of fire and water is from atoms.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lucretius contradicted himself; fixed seeds show nothing comes from atoms.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.17 (CSEL 27.1:87; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-17).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.18CSEL 27.1:87–88
quid quod durissimi rigoris materiae si ictu uehementiore conlidant, ignis excutitur? num in ferro aut silice atomi latent? quis inclusit? aut cur sua sponte non emicant? aut quomodo semina ignis in materia frigidissima permanere potuerunt?
What of the fact that if materials of the hardest firmness are struck together with a violent blow, fire is struck out? Do atoms lie hidden in iron or flint? Who shut them in? Or why do they not leap out of their own accord? Or how could the seeds of fire remain in the coldest matter?
Notes and citation
Summary: Fire struck from cold flint and iron cannot be explained by atoms of fire hidden within.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.18 (CSEL 27.1:87–88; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-18).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.19CSEL 27.1:88
mitto silicem ac ferrum. orbem uitreum plenum aquae si tenueris in sole, de lumine quod ab aqua refulget ignis accenditur etiam in durissimo frigore. num etiam in aqua ignem esse credendum est? atquin de sole ignis ne aestate quidem accendi potest.
I pass over flint and iron. If you hold a glass globe full of water in the sun, fire is kindled from the light reflected from the water, even in the hardest cold. Must we believe that there is fire in water too? And yet fire cannot be kindled from the sun even in summer.
Notes and citation
Summary: A globe of water can kindle fire from sunlight; must water then contain fire?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.19 (CSEL 27.1:88; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-19).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.20CSEL 27.1:88
si cerae inhalaueris uel si uapor leue aliquid attigerit, aut crustam marmoris aut laminam, paulatim per minutissimos rores aqua concrescit. item de halitu terrae aut maris nebula existit: quae aut dispersa umefacit quidquid texerit, aut collecta in arduos montes (et) in sublime uento rapta stipatur in nubem atque imbres maximos deicit.
If you breathe on wax, or if vapor touches something smooth, either a slab of marble or a metal plate, water gradually gathers in the tiniest drops. Likewise from the breath of the earth or the sea a mist arises, which either, when dispersed, moistens whatever it has covered, or, gathered on high mountains and snatched aloft by the wind, is packed into a cloud and pours down very great rains.
Notes and citation
Summary: Breath and vapor condense into water, and mist into clouds and rain.
- "(et)" in the edition marks a word supplied by the editor.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.20 (CSEL 27.1:88; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-20).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.21CSEL 27.1:88
ubi ergo dicimus liquores atomos esse? num in uapore? num in halitu? num in uento? atquin nihil potest consistere in eo quod nec tangitur nec uidetur.
Where, then, are we to say the atoms of liquids are? In the vapor? In the breath? In the wind? Yet nothing can subsist in what is neither touched nor seen.
Notes and citation
Summary: Where are the atoms of water in vapor, breath, or wind?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.21 (CSEL 27.1:88; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-21).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.22CSEL 27.1:88–89
quid ergo de animalibus loquar, in quorum corporibus nihil sine ratione, sine ordine, sine utilitate, sine specie figuratum uidemus, adeo ut sollertissima et diligentissima omnium partium membrorumque discriptio casum ac fortunam repellat?
What, then, shall I say of animals, in whose bodies we see nothing shaped without reason, without order, without usefulness, without beauty, so that the most skillful and careful arrangement of all the parts and members rules out chance and fortune?
Notes and citation
Summary: The careful design of animal bodies rules out chance.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen and line number in the digital text): membrorum- 20 que → membrorumque.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.22 (CSEL 27.1:88–89; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-22).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.23CSEL 27.1:89
sed putemus artus et ossa et neruos et sanguinem de atomis posse concrescere: quid sensus cogitatio mens memoria ingenium, quibus seminibus coagmentari possunt? minutissimis inquit. sunt ergo alia maiora. quomodo igitur insecabilia?
But let us suppose that limbs and bones and sinews and blood can be compacted from atoms: sense, thought, mind, memory, intellect, from what seeds can they be joined together? “From the tiniest,” he says. There are, then, others larger. How then are they indivisible?
Notes and citation
Summary: Even if bodies came from atoms, mind and memory cannot; and "smaller" atoms imply atoms are divisible.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.23 (CSEL 27.1:89; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-23).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.24CSEL 27.1:89
deinde, si ex inuisibilibus sunt quae non uidentur, consequens est ut ex uisibilibus sint quae uidentur. cur igitur nemo uidet?
Then, if the things that are not seen come from invisible atoms, it follows that the things that are seen come from visible ones. Why then does no one see them?
Notes and citation
Summary: If visible things came from visible atoms, someone would see them.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.24 (CSEL 27.1:89; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-24).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.25CSEL 27.1:89
sed siue inuisibilia quae sunt in homine consideres siue tactilia quae ueniunt sub aspectum, ratione utraque constare quis non uidet? quomodo ergo sine ratione coeuntia possunt aliquid efficere rationale? uidemus enim nihil esse in omni mundo quod non habeat in se maximam mirabilemque rationem. quae quia supra hominis sensum et ingenium est, cui rectius quam diuinae prouidentiae tribuenda est?
But whether you consider the invisible things in man or the tangible things that come under sight, who does not see that both consist by reason? How then can things coming together without reason produce anything rational? For we see that there is nothing in the whole world that does not have in itself the greatest and most wonderful reason. And since this is above man's perception and intellect, to what can it more rightly be attributed than to divine providence?
Notes and citation
Summary: Rational order cannot come from irrational collision; the world's wonderful reason must be due to divine providence.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.25 (CSEL 27.1:89; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-25).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.26CSEL 27.1:89
an simulacrum hominis et statuam ratio et ars fingit, ipsum hominem de frustis temere concurrentibus fieri putabimus? et quid simile ueritatis in ficto, cum summum et excellens artificium nihil aliud nisi umbram et extrema corporis liniamenta possit imitari? num potuit humana sollertia dare operi suo aut motum aliquem aut sensum?
Or, if reason and art fashion an image and statue of a man, shall we think that man himself is made of scraps coming together at random? And what likeness of the truth is there in the image, since the highest and most excellent artistry can imitate nothing but the shadow and the outer lines of the body? Could human skill give its work any motion or sense?
Notes and citation
Summary: If a statue needs an artist, how much more a living man, whom no art can copy in motion or sense?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.26 (CSEL 27.1:89; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-26).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.27CSEL 27.1:89
mitto usum uidendi audiendi odorandi ceterorumque membrorum uel apparentium uel latentium mirabiles utilitates: quis artifex potuit aut cor hominis aut uocem aut ipsam sapientiam fabricare? quisquamne igitur sanus existimat, quod homo ratione et consilio facere non possit, id concursu atomorum passim cohaerentium perfici potuisse? uides in quae deliramenta inciderint, dum nolunt effectionem curamque rerum deo dare.
I pass over the use of seeing, hearing, smelling, and the wonderful usefulness of the other members, visible or hidden: what craftsman could fashion the heart of man, or his voice, or wisdom itself? Does anyone in his right mind think that what man cannot make by reason and counsel could have been accomplished by a concourse of atoms sticking together anywhere? You see into what ravings they have fallen, while they refuse to give God the making and care of things.
Notes and citation
Summary: No craftsman can make a heart, a voice, or wisdom; it is madness to credit atoms with them rather than God.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.27 (CSEL 27.1:89; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-27).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.28CSEL 27.1:89–90
concedamus tamen his ut ex atomis fiant quae terrena sunt: num etiam caelestia? deos aiunt incorruptos aeternos beatos esse solisque dant inmunitatem, ne concursu atomorum concreti esse uideantur.
Let us grant them, however, that earthly things are made from atoms: are heavenly things also? They say the gods are incorruptible, eternal, and blessed, and grant them alone exemption, so that they may not seem to be compacted by a concourse of atoms.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Epicureans exempt their gods from being made of atoms.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.28 (CSEL 27.1:89–90; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-28).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.29CSEL 27.1:90
si enim dii quoque ex illis constitissent, dissipabiles fierent seminibus aliquando resolutis atque in naturam suam recurrentibus. ergo si est aliquid quod atomi non effecerint, cur non et cetera eodem modo intellegamus?
For if the gods too had been made of them, they would be capable of dissolution, when the seeds at some time were loosed and returned to their own nature. If, then, there is something the atoms did not make, why should we not understand the rest in the same way?
Notes and citation
Summary: If something exists that atoms did not make, why not everything else?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.29 (CSEL 27.1:90; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-29).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.30CSEL 27.1:90
sed quaero, antequam mundum primordia ista generassent, cur sibi dii habitaculum non aedificauerint? uidelicet nisi atomi coissent caelumque fecissent, adhuc dii per medium inane penderent.
But I ask why, before those first beginnings had generated the world, the gods did not build a dwelling for themselves. Evidently, if the atoms had not come together and made the heaven, the gods would still be hanging in the midst of the void.
Notes and citation
Summary: Mockingly: without atoms making heaven, the Epicurean gods would have had nowhere to live.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.30 (CSEL 27.1:90; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-30).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.31CSEL 27.1:90
quo igitur consilio, qua pactione de confuso aceruo se atomi congregauerunt, ut ex aliis inferius terra conglobaretur, caelum desuper tenderetur tanta siderum uarietate distinctum, ut nihil umquam excogitari possit ornatius?
By what counsel, then, by what agreement did the atoms gather themselves together out of a confused heap, so that from some the earth was rolled together below, and the heaven stretched out above, adorned with so great a variety of stars that nothing more beautiful could ever be devised?
Notes and citation
Summary: What plan made the atoms form earth below and a star-adorned heaven above?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.31 (CSEL 27.1:90; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-31).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.32CSEL 27.1:90
tanta ergo qui uideat et talia, potest existimare nullo effecta esse consilio, nulla prouidentia, nulla ratione diuina, sed ex micis subtilibus et exiguis concreta esse tanta miracula?
Can one who sees things so great and such as these think they were made by no counsel, no providence, no divine reason, but that such great wonders were compacted from fine and tiny crumbs?
Notes and citation
Summary: No one who sees such wonders can think them made from mere crumbs without providence.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.32 (CSEL 27.1:90; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-32).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.33CSEL 27.1:90
nonne prodigio simile est aut natum esse hominem qui haec diceret aut extitisse qui crederent, ut Democritum, qui auditor eius fuit, uel Epicurum, in quem uanitas omnis de Leucippi fonte profluxit?
Is it not like a portent either that a man was born who said these things, or that there were those who believed him, like Democritus, who was his hearer, or Epicurus, into whom all folly flowed from the spring of Leucippus?
Notes and citation
Summary: It is a marvel that anyone taught this, or that Democritus and Epicurus believed it.
Extrabiblical texts: Democritus (Democritus (fragments); allusion); Epicurus (Epicurus (sayings and fragments); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.33 (CSEL 27.1:90; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-33).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.34CSEL 27.1:90–91
at enim, sicut alii dicunt, natura mundus effectus est, quae sensu et figura caret. hoc uero multo est absurdius. si natura mundum fecit, consilio et ratione fecerit necesse est: is enim facit aliquid qui aut uoluntatem faciendi habet aut scientiam.
“But,” as others say, “the world was made by nature, which lacks sense and form.” This is much more absurd. If nature made the world, it must have made it by counsel and reason; for he makes something who has either the will to make it or the knowledge.
Notes and citation
Summary: Others say mindless nature made the world, but whatever makes must have will or knowledge.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.34 (CSEL 27.1:90–91; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-34).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.35CSEL 27.1:91
si caret sensu ac figura, quomodo potest ab ea fieri quod et sensum habeat et figuram? nisi forte quis arbitratur animalium fabricam tam subtilem tamque mirabilem a non sentiente formari animarique potuisse aut istam caeli speciem tam prouidenter ad utilitates uiuentium temperatam nescio quo casu sine conditore, sine artifice subito extitisse.
If it lacks sense and form, how can what has both sense and form be made by it? Unless perhaps someone thinks that the structure of animals, so subtle and so wonderful, could have been formed and given life by something without sense; or that this appearance of the heaven, so providently tempered for the uses of living things, arose suddenly by some chance, without founder or craftsman.
Notes and citation
Summary: What lacks sense cannot make sentient creatures or the providently ordered heavens.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.35 (CSEL 27.1:91; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-35).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.36CSEL 27.1:91
si quid est inquit Chrysippus quod efficiat ea quae homo, licet ratione sit praeditus, facere non possit, id profecto est maius et fortius et sapientius homine. homo autem non potest facere caelestia: ergo illud quod haec efficiat uel effecerit, superat hominem arte consilio prudentia potestate.
“If there is anything,” says Chrysippus, “that makes things which man, though endowed with reason, cannot make, that is certainly greater and stronger and wiser than man. But man cannot make heavenly things; therefore what makes or has made them surpasses man in art, counsel, prudence, and power.”
Notes and citation
Summary: Chrysippus argued that whatever made the heavens, which man cannot make, must surpass man in wisdom and power.
- Chrysippus as reported by Cicero, Nat. d. 2.16.
Extrabiblical texts: Chrysippus (Chrysippus; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.36 (CSEL 27.1:91; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-36).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.37CSEL 27.1:91
quis igitur potest esse nisi deus? natura uero, quam ueluti matrem esse rerum putant, si mentem non habet, nihil efficiet umquam, nihil molietur. ubi enim non est cogitatio, nec motus est ullus nec efficacia.
Who, then, can this be but God? But nature, which they think is as it were the mother of things, if it has no mind, will never make anything, never contrive anything. For where there is no thought, there is no motion and no effectiveness.
Notes and citation
Summary: Only God can be this maker; mindless nature can do nothing.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.37 (CSEL 27.1:91; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-37).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.38CSEL 27.1:91
si autem consilio utitur ad incipiendum aliquid, ratione ad disponendum, arte ad efficiendum, uirtute ad consummandum, potestate ad regendum et continendum, cur natura potius quam deus nominetur?
But if it uses counsel to begin something, reason to arrange it, art to make it, power to complete it, and might to rule and hold it together, why should it be called nature rather than God?
Notes and citation
Summary: A nature with counsel, reason, and power is simply God by another name.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.38 (CSEL 27.1:91; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-38).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.39CSEL 27.1:91
aut si concursus atomorum uel carens mente natura ea quae uidemus effecit, quaero cur facere caelum potuerit, urbem aut domum non potuerit, cur montes marmoris fecerit, columnas et simulacra non fecerit.
Or if a concourse of atoms or a mindless nature made the things we see, I ask why it could make the heaven but could not make a city or a house; why it made mountains of marble but did not make columns and statues.
Notes and citation
Summary: Why then did atoms or nature make mountains of marble but never a house or a statue?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.39 (CSEL 27.1:91; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-39).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.40CSEL 27.1:91–92
atquin non debuerant atomi etiam ad haec efficienda concurrere, siquidem nullam positionem relinquunt quam non experiantur? nam de natura quae mentem non habeat non est mirandum quod haec facere oblita sit.
And yet the atoms ought to have come together to make these things too, since they leave no position untried. As for a nature that has no mind, it is no wonder that it forgot to make them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Atoms trying every combination should have produced buildings too.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray symbol in the digital text): relinquunt / quam → relinquunt quam.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.40 (CSEL 27.1:91–92; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-40).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.41CSEL 27.1:92
quid ergo est? utique deus cum inchoaret hoc opus mundi, quo nihil potest esse nec dispositius ad ordinem nec aptius ad utilitatem nec ornatius ad pulchritudinem nec maius ad molem, quae fieri ab homine non poterant fecit ipse, in quibus etiam hominem ipsum: cui particulam de sua sapientia dedit et instruxit eum ratione quanta<m> fragilitas terrena capiebat, ut ipse sibi efficeret quae ad usus suos essent necessaria.
What, then, is the case? Surely God, when he began this work of the world, than which nothing can be more ordered in arrangement, more fit for use, more adorned in beauty, or greater in mass, himself made the things that could not be made by man, among them man himself; to whom he gave a small portion of his wisdom and furnished him with reason, as much as earthly frailty could receive, so that he might make for himself the things necessary for his own uses.
Notes and citation
Summary: God made what man cannot, including man, to whom he gave a share of his wisdom so that man could make what he needs.
- The angle brackets mark a letter supplied by the editor.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (closing bracket misread in the digital text): quanta<m) → quanta<m>.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.41 (CSEL 27.1:92; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-41).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.42CSEL 27.1:92
si uero in huius mundi ut ita dixerim re publica nulla prouidentia est quae regat, nullus deus qui administret, nec omnino sensus ullus in hac rerum natura pollet, unde igitur mens humana tam sollers, tam intellegens orta esse credetur?
But if in the commonwealth of this world, so to speak, there is no providence to rule, no God to administer, and no sense at all is powerful in this nature of things, from where, then, will the human mind, so skillful and so intelligent, be believed to have arisen?
Notes and citation
Summary: Without a governing God, where could the intelligent human mind have come from?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.42 (CSEL 27.1:92; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-42).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.43CSEL 27.1:92
si enim corpus hominis ex humo fictum est, unde homo nomen accepit, animus ergo, qui sapit, qui rector est corporis, cui membra obsecuntur tamquam regi et imperatori, qui nec aspici nec conprehendi potest, non potuit in hominem nisi a sapiente natura peruenire.
For if the body of man was fashioned from the ground (humus), from which man (homo) received his name, then the soul, which is wise, which is ruler of the body, which the members obey as a king and commander, which can be neither seen nor grasped, could not have come into man except from a wise nature.
Gen 2:7 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Man's body is from the earth, but his wise, ruling soul can only come from a wise source.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.43 (CSEL 27.1:92; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-43).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.44CSEL 27.1:92
sed sicut omne corpus mens et animus gubernat, ita et mundum deus. nec enim ueri simile est ut minora et humilia regimen habeant, maiora et summa non habeant.
But just as mind and soul govern the whole body, so God governs the world. For it is not probable that lesser and lowly things have government and the greater and highest do not.
Notes and citation
Summary: As the soul governs the body, God governs the world.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.44 (CSEL 27.1:92; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-44).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.45CSEL 27.1:92–93
denique Marcus Cicero in Tusculanis et in Consolatione animorum inquit nulla in terris origo inueniri potest. nihil est enim in animis mixtum atque concretum aut quod ei terra natum atque fictum esse uideatur, nihil ne aut umidum quidem aut flabile aut igneum.
Indeed Marcus Cicero, in the Tusculans and in the Consolation, says: “No origin of souls can be found on earth. For there is nothing mixed and compounded in souls, or anything that seems born and fashioned from the earth; nothing even moist or airy or fiery.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero says souls have no earthly origin and contain nothing earthly, watery, airy, or fiery.
- Cicero, Tusc. 1.66, quoting his Consolatio.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Tusc. 1.66 (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.45 (CSEL 27.1:92–93; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-45).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.46CSEL 27.1:93
his enim in naturis nihil est quod uim memoriae mentis cogitationis habeat, quod et praeterita teneat et futura prouideat et conplecti possit praesentia: quae sola diuina sunt; nec enim inuenietur umquam unde ad hominem uenire possint nisi a deo.
For in these natures there is nothing that has the power of memory, mind, or thought, that holds the past, foresees the future, and can embrace the present: which alone are divine.” Nor will any source ever be found from which they could come to man except from God.
Notes and citation
Summary: Memory, mind, and foresight are divine and can come to man only from God.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.46 (CSEL 27.1:93; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-46).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.47CSEL 27.1:93
exceptis igitur duobus tribusue calumniatoribus uanis cum constet diuina prouidentia mundum regi, sicut et factus est, nec sit quisquam qui Diagorae Theodorique sententiam uel Leucippi inane commentum uel Democriti Epicurique leuitatem praeferre audeat auctoritati uel illorum septem priorum qui appellati sunt sapientes uel Pythagorae uel Socratis uel Platonis ceterorumque summorum philosophorum qui esse prouidentiam iudicauerunt, falsa igitur est et illa sententia qua putant terroris ac metus gratia religionem a sapientibus institutam, quo se homines inperiti a peccatis abstinerent.
Setting aside, then, two or three empty slanderers, since it is agreed that the world is ruled by divine providence, as it was also made, and there is no one who would dare to prefer the opinion of Diagoras and Theodorus, or the empty fiction of Leucippus, or the levity of Democritus and Epicurus, to the authority either of those seven early men who were called the wise, or of Pythagoras, or Socrates, or Plato, and the other greatest philosophers who judged that providence exists: false, then, is also that opinion by which they think religion was instituted by wise men for the sake of terror and fear, so that ignorant men might keep themselves from sins.
Notes and citation
Summary: Since nearly all the great philosophers affirm providence, the claim that religion was invented by wise men to frighten the ignorant is false.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (letter misread in the digital text): eiceptis → exceptis.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.47 (CSEL 27.1:93; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-47).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.48CSEL 27.1:93
quod si uerum sit, derisi ergo ab antiquis sapientibus sumus. quod si fallendi nostri atque adeo totius generis humani causa commenti sunt religionem, sapientes igitur non fuerunt, quia in sapientem non cadit mendacium.
If that were true, then we have been mocked by the ancient wise men. But if they invented religion to deceive us, and indeed the whole human race, then they were not wise, because lying does not befall a wise man.
Notes and citation
Summary: If the wise invented religion to deceive, they were not wise, for the wise do not lie.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.48 (CSEL 27.1:93; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-48).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.49CSEL 27.1:93–94
sed fuerint sapientes: quae tanta felicitas mentiendi, ut non modo indoctos, sed Platonem quoque ac Socratem fallerent et Pythagoram Zenonem Aristotelem, maximarum sectarum principes, tam facile deluderent?
But suppose they were wise: what great success in lying was theirs, that they deceived not only the unlearned but Plato too and Socrates, and so easily fooled Pythagoras, Zeno, and Aristotle, the founders of the greatest schools?
Notes and citation
Summary: How could such lies have fooled Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras, Zeno, and Aristotle?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.49 (CSEL 27.1:93–94; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-49).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.50CSEL 27.1:94
est igitur diuina prouidentia, ut senserunt hi omnes quos nominaui: cuius ui ac potestate omnia quae uidemus et facta sunt et reguntur.
There is, therefore, a divine providence, as all these whom I have named held, by whose force and power all the things we see were both made and are governed.
Notes and citation
Summary: There is a divine providence that made and governs all things.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.50 (CSEL 27.1:94; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-50).
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10.51CSEL 27.1:94
nec enim tanta rerum magnitudo, tanta dispositio, tanta in conseruandis ordinibus temporibusque constantia aut olim potuit sine prouido artifice oriri aut constare tot saeculis sine incola potenti aut in perpetuum gubernari sine perito ac sentiente rectore: quod ratio ipsa declarat.
For so great a magnitude of things, so great an arrangement, so great a constancy in keeping their orders and seasons, could neither have arisen at first without a provident craftsman, nor have lasted so many ages without a powerful indweller, nor be governed for ever without a skilled and perceiving ruler: which reason itself declares.
Notes and citation
Summary: The world's vastness, order, and constancy require a provident maker and ruler.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.51 (CSEL 27.1:94; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-51).
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10.52CSEL 27.1:94
quidquid est enim quod habet rationem, ratione sit ortum necesse est. ratio autem sentientis sapientisque naturae est, sapiens uero sentiensque natura nihil aliud potest esse quam deus. mundus autem quoniam rationem habet qua et regitur et constat, ergo a deo factus est.
For whatever has reason must have arisen from reason. But reason belongs to a perceiving and wise nature, and a wise and perceiving nature can be nothing else than God. And since the world has reason, by which it is both governed and holds together, it was therefore made by God.
Notes and citation
Summary: What is rational comes from reason, reason belongs to God, and so the rational world was made by God.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.52 (CSEL 27.1:94; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-52).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
10.53CSEL 27.1:94
quod si est conditor rectorque mundi deus, recte igitur ac uere religio constituta est: auctori enim rerum parentique communi honos ueneratioque debetur.
And if God is the founder and ruler of the world, then religion has been rightly and truly established: for honor and veneration are owed to the author of things and common parent.
Notes and citation
Summary: Since God made and rules the world, religion is rightly owed to him.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 10.53 (CSEL 27.1:94; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-10-53).
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Chapter 11
11.1CSEL 27.1:94
Quoniam constitit de prouidentia, sequitur ut doceamus utrumne multorum deorum esse credenda sit an potius unius.
Since the matter of providence is settled, it follows that we should show whether it is to be believed to be the providence of many gods or rather of one.
Notes and citation
Summary: Next: is providence the work of many gods or of one?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.1 (CSEL 27.1:94; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
11.2CSEL 27.1:94–95
satis, ut opinor, ostendimus in nostris Institutionibus deos multos esse non posse, quod diuina uis ac potestas si distrahatur in plures, deminui eam necesse sit: quod autem minuitur, utique mortale est, si uero mortalis non est, nec minui nec diuidi potest.
We have sufficiently shown, I think, in our Institutes that there cannot be many gods, because if the divine force and power were divided among several, it would necessarily be diminished; but what is diminished is certainly mortal, and if it is not mortal, it can be neither diminished nor divided.
Notes and citation
Summary: As the Institutes showed, divine power divided among many would be diminished, and so mortal.
- Lactantius, Inst. 1.3.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.2 (CSEL 27.1:94–95; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-2).
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11.3CSEL 27.1:95
deus igitur unus est, in quo uis et potestas consummata nec minui potest nec augeri. si autem multi sint, dum habent singuli potestatis aliquid ac numinis, summa ipsa decrescit nec poterunt singuli habere totum quod est commune cum pluribus: uni cuique tantum deerit, quantum ceteri possidebunt.
God, therefore, is one, in whom force and power, being complete, can be neither diminished nor increased. But if there were many, while each had some share of power and deity, the sum itself would decrease, and no single one could have the whole of what is shared with several: each would lack as much as the others possessed.
Notes and citation
Summary: God is one, with complete power; many gods would each lack what the others had.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.3 (CSEL 27.1:95; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
11.4CSEL 27.1:95
non possunt igitur in hoc mundo multi esse rectores nec in una domo multi domini nec in naui una multi gubernatores nec in armento aut grege duces multi nec in uno examine multi reges, sed ne in caelo quidem multi soles esse poterunt, sicut nec animae plures in uno corpore: adeo in unitatem natura uniuersa consentit. quod si mundum
There cannot, then, be many rulers in this world, just as there are not many masters in one house, nor many helmsmen in one ship, nor many leaders in a herd or flock, nor many kings in one swarm; indeed there could not even be many suns in the sky, just as there are not several souls in one body: so thoroughly does all nature agree in unity. And if the world
Notes and citation
Summary: As a house, ship, herd, or hive has one ruler and the sky one sun, the world has one ruler.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.4 (CSEL 27.1:95; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
11.5CSEL 27.1:95
spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus mens agitat molem et magno se corpore miscet, apparet testimonio poetae unum esse mundi habitatorem deum, siquidem corpus omne nisi ab una mente incoli regique non potest.
“a spirit within nourishes, and mind, poured through the limbs, moves the whole mass and mingles with the great body,” it is plain by the testimony of the poet that there is one God who inhabits the world, since no body can be inhabited and ruled except by one mind.
Notes and citation
Summary: Virgil too speaks of one mind moving the whole world, as one mind rules one body.
- The quotation is Virgil, Aen. 6.726–727.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word broken up in the digital text): to tam que → totamque.
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Aen. 6.726–727 (Virgil; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.5 (CSEL 27.1:95; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-5).
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11.6CSEL 27.1:95
omnem igitur diuinam potestatem necesse est in uno esse cuius nutu et imperio regantur omnia, et ideo tantus est, ut ab homine non possit aut uerbis enarrari aut sensibus aestimari.
All divine power, therefore, must be in one, by whose nod and command all things are ruled; and so he is so great that he cannot be told in words by man or estimated by the senses.
Notes and citation
Summary: All divine power is in one God, too great for words or senses.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.6 (CSEL 27.1:95; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
11.7CSEL 27.1:95–96
unde igitur ad homines opinio multorum deorum persuasione peruenit? nimirum ii omnes qui coluntur ut dii, homines fuerunt et idem primi ac maximi reges, sed eos aut ob uirtutem qua profuerant hominum generi diuinis honoribus adfectos esse post mortem aut ob beneficia et inuenta quibus humanam uitam excoluerant inmortalem memoriam consecutos quis ignorat?
From where, then, did the opinion of many gods come to men by persuasion? Doubtless all those who are worshiped as gods were men, and indeed the first and greatest kings; but who does not know that they were either honored with divine honors after death because of the virtue by which they had benefited the human race, or won immortal memory because of the benefits and inventions by which they had improved human life?
Notes and citation
Summary: The many gods were once men, great early kings honored after death for their benefits to mankind.
- This is the theory of Euhemerus; compare Lactantius, Inst. 1.8–15.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray symbol in the digital text): / unde → unde.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.7 (CSEL 27.1:95–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
11.8CSEL 27.1:96
nec tantum mares, sed et feminas. quod cum uetustissimi Graeciae scriptores, quos illi theologos nuncupant, tum etiam Romani Graecos secuti et imitati docent: quorum praecipue Euhemerus ac noster Ennius, qui eorum omnium natales coniugia progenies imperia res gestas obitus
And not only men, but women too. This is taught both by the most ancient writers of Greece, whom they call theologians, and also by the Romans who followed and imitated the Greeks; among them especially Euhemerus and our Ennius, who show the births, marriages, offspring, reigns, deeds, deaths,
Notes and citation
Summary: Early Greek writers, and Euhemerus and Ennius, show that the gods and goddesses were once human.
- Ennius translated Euhemerus's Sacred History into Latin (lost; fragments in Lactantius, Inst. 1.11–22).
Extrabiblical texts: Ennius (Ennius; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.8 (CSEL 27.1:96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
11.9CSEL 27.1:96
sepulcra demonstrant, et secutus eos Tullius tertio De natura deorum libro dissoluit publicas religiones, sed tamen ueram, quam ignorabat, nec ipse nec alius quisquam potuit inducere.
and tombs of them all; and Tullius, following them, in the third book On the Nature of the Gods, dissolved the public religions; but yet neither he nor anyone else could bring in the true one, of which he was ignorant.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero, following them, demolished the public cults but could not supply the true religion.
- Cicero, Nat. d. 3 (e.g. 3.53–60).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (letter misread in the digital text): sepulera → sepulcra.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Nat. d. 3 (Cicero; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.9 (CSEL 27.1:96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
11.10CSEL 27.1:96–97
adeo et ipse testatus est falsum quidem apparere, ueritatem tamen latere. utinam inquit tam facile uera inuenire possem quam falsa conuincere! quod quidem non dissimulanter ut Academicus, sed uere atque ex animi sententia proclamauit, quia ueritas humanis sensibus erui numquam potest: quod adsequi ualuit humana prouidentia, id adsecutus est, ut falsa detegeret. quidquid est enim fictum et commenticium, quia nulla ratione subnixum est, facile dissoluitur.
So much so that he himself testified that the false is indeed evident, but the truth lies hidden. “I wish,” he says, “I could find the truth as easily as I can refute falsehood!” And this he cried out not with dissimulation, as an Academic, but truly and from his heart, because the truth can never be dug out by human senses. What human foresight could attain, he attained: to expose what is false. For whatever is invented and made up, since it rests on no reason, is easily dissolved.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cicero confessed he could refute error more easily than find truth, which human reason alone cannot reach.
- Cicero, Nat. d. 1.91.
Extrabiblical texts: Cicero, Nat. d. 1.91 (Cicero; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.10 (CSEL 27.1:96–97; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-10).
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11.11CSEL 27.1:97
unus est igitur princeps et origo rerum deus, sicut Plato in Timaeo et sensit et docuit: cuius maiestatem tantam esse declarat, ut nec mente conprehendi nec lingua exprimi possit.
There is, therefore, one God, prince and origin of things, as Plato both thought and taught in the Timaeus; whose majesty he declares to be so great that it can be neither grasped by the mind nor expressed by the tongue.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato's Timaeus teaches one God, the source of all, beyond thought and speech.
- Plato, Tim. 28c.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Tim. 28c (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.11 (CSEL 27.1:97; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
11.12CSEL 27.1:97
idem testatur Hermes, quem Cicero ait in numero deorum apud Aegyptios haberi, eum scilicet qui ob uirtutem multarumque artium scientiam Termaximus nominatus est, et erat non modo Platone, uerum etiam Pythagora septemque illis sapientibus longe antiquior.
Hermes testifies the same, who, Cicero says, is counted among the gods by the Egyptians: that is, the one who for his virtue and his knowledge of many arts was named Thrice-Greatest; and he was far more ancient not only than Plato but even than Pythagoras and those seven wise men.
Notes and citation
Summary: Hermes Trismegistus, whom Lactantius thinks older than Plato and Pythagoras, also teaches one God.
- Cicero, Nat. d. 3.56. The Hermetic writings are in fact of the Roman period; Lactantius's dating is his own belief.
Extrabiblical texts: Corp. herm. (Hermetic writings; allusion); Cicero, Nat. d. 3.56 (Cicero; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.12 (CSEL 27.1:97; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-12).
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11.13CSEL 27.1:97
apud Xenophontem Socrates disputans ait formam dei non oportere conquiri, et Plato in Legum libris, quid omnino sit deus. non esse quaerendum, quia nec inueniri possit nec enarrari.
In Xenophon, Socrates, in discussion, says that the form of God ought not to be inquired into; and Plato, in the books of the Laws, that what God is ought not to be sought at all, because it can be neither found nor told.
Notes and citation
Summary: Socrates in Xenophon and Plato in the Laws say God's nature is beyond inquiry.
- Xenophon, Mem. 4.3.13; Plato, Leg. 7.821a (loosely reported).
Extrabiblical texts: Xenophon, Mem. 4.3.13 (Xenophon, Memorabilia; allusion); Plato, Leg. 7.821a (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.13 (CSEL 27.1:97; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
11.14CSEL 27.1:97
Pythagoras quoque unum deum confitetur dicens incorporalem esse mentem quae per omnem rerum naturam diffusa et intenta uitalem sensum cunctis animantibus tribuat. Antisthenes autem in Physico unum esse naturalem deum dixit, quamuis gentes et urbes suos habeant populares deos.
Pythagoras too confesses one God, saying that he is an incorporeal mind which, spread and stretched through the whole nature of things, gives living sense to all living creatures. And Antisthenes in his Physicus said that there is one natural God, although nations and cities have their own popular gods.
Notes and citation
Summary: Pythagoras and Antisthenes also taught one God.
- Compare Cicero, Nat. d. 1.27 (Pythagoras) and 1.32 (Antisthenes).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (letters misread in the digital text): conStetur → confitetur.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.14 (CSEL 27.1:97; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
11.15CSEL 27.1:97–98
eadem fere Aristoteles cum suis Peripateticis et Zeno cum suis Stoicis. longum est enim singulorum sententias exsequi: qui licet diuersis nominibus sint abusi. ad unam tamen potestatem quae mundum regeret concurrerunt.
Aristotle with his Peripatetics and Zeno with his Stoics said nearly the same. For it would be long to go through the opinions of each: though they used different names, they nevertheless agreed on one power that rules the world.
Notes and citation
Summary: Aristotle and Zeno, under other names, also agreed on one ruling power.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray letters in the digital text): Peripate io ticis → Peripateticis.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.15 (CSEL 27.1:97–98; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
11.16CSEL 27.1:98
sed tamen summum deum cum et philosophi et poetae et ipsi denique qui deos colunt saepe fateantur, de cultu tamen et honoribus eius nemo umquam requisiuit, nemo disseruit, ea scilicet persuasione qua semper beneficum incorruptumque credentes nec irasci eum cuiquam nec ullo cultu indigere arbitrantur. adeo religio esse non potest ubi metus nullus est.
But although philosophers and poets, and even those who worship the gods, often confess the supreme God, no one has ever inquired, no one has discussed, about his worship and honors: from that persuasion, namely, by which, believing him always beneficent and incorruptible, they think he is neither angry with anyone nor needs any worship. So true is it that there can be no religion where there is no fear.
Notes and citation
Summary: Though many confess one God, no one seeks to worship him, believing he is never angry; without fear there is no religion.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 11.16 (CSEL 27.1:98; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-11-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
Chapter 12
12.1CSEL 27.1:98
Nunc, quoniam respondimus inpiae quorundam detestabilique prudentiae uel potius amentiae, redeamus ad propositum.
Now, since we have answered the impious and detestable prudence, or rather madness, of certain people, let us return to our subject.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lactantius returns to his main subject.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 12.1 (CSEL 27.1:98; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-12-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
12.2CSEL 27.1:98
diximus religione sublata nec sapientiam teneri posse nec iustitiam, sapientiam, quia diuinitatis intellectus quo differimus a beluis in homine solo reperiatur, iustitiam, quia nisi cupiditates nostras deus qui falli non potest coercuerit, scelerate inpieque uiuemus.
We said that when religion is taken away neither wisdom nor righteousness can be kept: wisdom, because the understanding of divinity, by which we differ from the beasts, is found in man alone; righteousness, because unless God, who cannot be deceived, restrains our desires, we shall live wickedly and impiously.
Notes and citation
Summary: Without religion we lose wisdom, which is knowing God, and righteousness, which needs God's restraint.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 12.2 (CSEL 27.1:98; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-12-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
12.3CSEL 27.1:98
spectari ergo actus nostros a deo non modo ad utilitatem communis uitae attinet, sed etiam ad ueritatem, quia religione iustitiaque detractis uel ad stultitiam pecudum amissa ratione deuoluimur uel ad bestiarum inmanitatem, immo uero amplius, siquidem bestiae sui generis animalibus parcunt.
That our actions are watched by God, then, concerns not only the usefulness of common life but also the truth; because when religion and righteousness are removed, we either sink, reason lost, to the stupidity of cattle, or to the savagery of wild beasts; indeed further, since wild beasts spare animals of their own kind.
Notes and citation
Summary: Without religion and righteousness men become worse than beasts, which at least spare their own kind.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 12.3 (CSEL 27.1:98; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-12-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
12.4CSEL 27.1:98
quid erit homine truculentius, quid inmitius, si dempto metu superiore uim legum aut fallere potuerit aut contemnere?
What will be more ferocious than man, what more pitiless, if, fear of a higher power being removed, he can either evade or despise the force of the laws?
Notes and citation
Summary: Without fear of God, man is the cruelest of creatures.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 12.4 (CSEL 27.1:98; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-12-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
12.5CSEL 27.1:98–99
timor igitur dei solus est qui custodit hominum inter se societatem, per quem uita ipsa sustinetur munitur gubernatur. is autem timor aufertur, si fuerit homini persuasum quod irae sit expers deus, quem moueri et indignari, cum iniusta fiunt, non modo communis utilitas, sed etiam ratio ipsa nobis et ueritas persuadet. rursum nobis ad superiora redeundum est, ut quia docuimus a deo factum esse mundum, doceamus quare sit effectus.
The fear of God, therefore, is the only thing that guards the society of men with one another, by which life itself is sustained, protected, and governed. But this fear is taken away if a man is persuaded that God is without anger; that he is moved and indignant when unjust things are done, not only the common good but reason itself and the truth persuade us. We must go back again to earlier matters, so that, since we have taught that the world was made by God, we may teach why it was made.
Prov 1:7 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Fear of God alone holds society together, and it vanishes if God is thought never angry; next, why the world was made.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 12.5 (CSEL 27.1:98–99; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-12-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
Chapter 13
13.1CSEL 27.1:99
Si consideret aliquis uniuersam mundi administrationem, intelleget profecto quam uera sit sententia Stoicorum, qui aiunt nostra causa mundum esse constructum. omnia enim quibus constat quaeque generat ex se mundus, ad utilitatem hominis adcommodata sunt.
If anyone considers the whole administration of the world, he will certainly understand how true is the opinion of the Stoics, who say that the world was built for our sake. For all the things of which the world consists and which it produces from itself are adapted to the usefulness of man.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Stoics rightly say the world was made for man, since everything in it serves him.
- Compare Cicero, Nat. d. 2.154–162.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.1 (CSEL 27.1:99; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.2CSEL 27.1:99
homo igni utitur ad usum calefaciendi et luminis et molliendorum ciborum ferrique fabricandi, utitur fontibus ad potus et ad lauacra, fluminibus ad agros inrigandos terminandasque regiones, utitur terra ad percipiendam fructuum uarietatem, planis ad segetem, collibus ad conserenda uineta, montibus ad usum arborum atque lignorum, utitur mari non solum ad commercia et copias ex longinquis regionibus ferendas, uerum etiam ad ubertatem omnis generis piscium.
Man uses fire for warming and light, for softening food and working iron; he uses springs for drinking and bathing, rivers for watering fields and marking the boundaries of regions; he uses the earth to gather a variety of fruits, the plains for grain, the hills for planting vineyards, the mountains for trees and timber; he uses the sea not only for commerce and bringing supplies from distant regions but also for its abundance of every kind of fish.
Notes and citation
Summary: Fire, water, land, and sea all serve human needs.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.2 (CSEL 27.1:99; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.3CSEL 27.1:99–100
quod si his elementis utitur quibus est proximus, non est dubium quin et caelo, quoniam et caelestium rerum officia ad fertilitatem terrae ex qua uiuimus temperata sunt.
And if he uses these elements to which he is nearest, there is no doubt that he uses the heaven also, since the functions of the heavenly bodies too are tempered for the fertility of the earth by which we live.
Notes and citation
Summary: The heavens too serve man by making the earth fertile.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray letters in the digital text): utitur to quibus → utitur quibus.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.3 (CSEL 27.1:99–100; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.4CSEL 27.1:100
sol inrequietis cursibus et spatiis inaequabilibus orbes annuos conficit et aut oriens diem promit ad laborem aut occidens noctem superducit ad requiem, et tum abscessu longius ad meridiem tum accessu propius ad septentrionem hiemis et aestatis uicissitudines facit, ut et hibernis umoribus ac pruinis in ubertatem terra pinguescat et aestiuis caloribus uel herbidae fruges maturitate durentur uel quae sunt in umidis, incocta et feruefacta mitescant.
The sun, with unresting courses and unequal spaces, completes the yearly circuits, and either, rising, brings forth the day for labor, or, setting, brings on the night for rest; and, now by withdrawing further to the south, now by approaching nearer to the north, it makes the alternations of winter and summer, so that the earth may be enriched to fertility by the moisture and frosts of winter, and by the heat of summer either the grassy crops may be hardened to ripeness or those that grow in moist places, cooked and heated, may become mellow.
Ps 104:19 (103:19 Vulg.) (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The sun's courses give day and night, winter and summer, for the fertility of the earth.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.4 (CSEL 27.1:100; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.5CSEL 27.1:100
luna quoque nocturni temporis gubernatrix amissi ac recepti luminis uicibus menstrua spatia moderatur et caecas tenebris horrentibus noctes fulgore suae claritatis inlustrat, ut aestiua itinera et expeditiones et opera sine labore ac molestia confici possint, siquidem nocte leues melius stipulae, nocte arida prata tondentur.
The moon too, governess of the night, regulates the monthly spaces by the alternations of her lost and recovered light, and illuminates with the brilliance of her brightness the nights that would otherwise be blind with bristling darkness, so that summer journeys, expeditions, and labors may be accomplished without toil or trouble; since “by night the light stubble, by night the dry meadows are better mown.”
Notes and citation
Summary: The moon measures the months and lights the night for travel and work.
- The quotation is Virgil, Georg. 1.289–290.
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Georg. 1.289–290 (Virgil; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.5 (CSEL 27.1:100; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.6CSEL 27.1:100
astra etiam cetera uel ortu uel occasu suo certis stationibus opportunitates temporum subministrant. sed et nauigiis, quominus errabundo cursu per inmensum uagentur, regimen praebent, cum ea rite gubernator obseruans ad portum destinati litoris peruehatur.
The other stars also, by their rising or setting at fixed stations, supply the right seasons. They also give guidance to ships, so that they do not wander on an aimless course through the immensity, when the helmsman, duly observing them, is carried to the harbor of the shore he aims for.
Notes and citation
Summary: The stars mark the seasons and guide sailors.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.6 (CSEL 27.1:100; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.7CSEL 27.1:100–101
uentorum spiritu attrahuntur nubes, ut sata imbribus inrigentur, ut uites fetibus, arbusta pomis exuberent. et haec per orbem uicibus exhibentur, ne desit aliquando quo uita hominum sustineatur. at enim ceteras animantes eadem terra nutrit et eiusdem fetu etiam muta pascuntur. num etiam mutorum causa deus laborauit?
By the breath of the winds the clouds are drawn along, so that the crops may be watered by rains, so that vines may abound in fruit and trees in apples. And these things are presented in turn throughout the world, so that there may never be lacking that by which human life is sustained. “But the same earth nourishes the other living creatures, and even the dumb animals are fed by its produce. Did God labor for the sake of the dumb animals too?”
Notes and citation
Summary: Winds bring rain for crops everywhere; but, one might ask, did God also labor for the beasts?
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.7 (CSEL 27.1:100–101; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.8CSEL 27.1:101
minime, quia sunt rationis expertia. sed intellegimus et ipsa eodem modo in usum hominis a deo ficta partim ad cibos partim ad uestitum partim ad operis auxilia, ut clarum sit diuinam prouidentiam rerum et copiarum abundantia hominum uitam instruere atque ornare uoluisse, ob eamque causam et aerem uolucribus et mare piscibus et terram quadrupedibus inpleuit.
Not at all, because they are devoid of reason. But we understand that they too were made by God in the same way for the use of man, partly for food, partly for clothing, partly for help in work; so that it is clear that divine providence willed to furnish and adorn the life of men with an abundance of things and supplies, and for this reason filled the air with birds, the sea with fish, and the earth with four-footed beasts.
Gen 1:28 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 9:3 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The animals too were made for man's use, as food, clothing, and labor.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.8 (CSEL 27.1:101; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.9CSEL 27.1:101
sed Academici contra Stoicos disserentes solent quaerere cur, si omnia deus hominum causa fecerit, etiam multa contraria et inimica et pestifera nobis reperiantur tam in mari quam in terra.
But the Academics, arguing against the Stoics, usually ask why, if God made all things for the sake of men, many things are also found that are contrary, hostile, and pestilent to us, both on sea and on land.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Academics ask why, if all was made for man, so much in nature is harmful.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.9 (CSEL 27.1:101; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.10CSEL 27.1:101
quod Stoici ueritatem non perspicientes ineptissime reppulerunt. aiunt enim multa esse in gignentibus et in numero animalium quorum adhuc lateat utilitas, sed eam processu temporum inuentu<i>ri, sicut iam multa prioribus saeculis incognita necessitas et usus inuenerit.
This the Stoics, not perceiving the truth, rebutted most foolishly. For they say that there are many things among growing things and in the number of animals whose usefulness is still hidden, but that it will be found in the course of time, just as necessity and use have already found many things unknown to earlier ages.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Stoics foolishly replied that the use of such things will be discovered in time.
- The angle brackets mark a letter supplied by the editor.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.10 (CSEL 27.1:101; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.11CSEL 27.1:101–102
quae tandem utilitas potest in muribus in blattis in serpentibus reperiri, quae homini molesta et perniciosa sunt? an medicina in his aliqua latet? quae si est, inueniatur aliquando, nempe aduersus mala, cum id illi querantur, esse omnino malum!
What usefulness, pray, can be found in mice, in cockroaches, in serpents, which are troublesome and pernicious to man? Or does some medicine lie hidden in them? If there is, let it be found some day; namely, against evils, when they complain that that is wholly evil!
Notes and citation
Summary: What use are mice, roaches, and snakes? A medicine against the harm they do is no answer.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.11 (CSEL 27.1:101–102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.12CSEL 27.1:102
uiperam ferunt exustam in cineremque dilapsam mederi eiusdem bestiae morsui. quanto melius fuerat eam prorsus non esse quam remedium contra se ab ea ipsa desiderari!
They say that a viper, burned and crumbled to ashes, heals the bite of the same beast. How much better it would have been for it not to exist at all than that a remedy against it should have to be sought from it!
Notes and citation
Summary: Better no viper at all than a cure for its bite made from its ashes.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.12 (CSEL 27.1:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.13CSEL 27.1:102
breuius igitur ac uerius respondere potuerunt in hunc modum: deus cum formaret hominem ueluti simulacrum suum, quod erat diuini opificii summum, inspirauit ei sapientiam soli, ut omnia imperio ac dicioni suae subiugaret omnibusque mundi commodis uteretur. proposuit tamen ei et bona et mala, quia sapientiam dedit, cuius omnis ratio in discernendis bonis ac malis sita est.
They could, then, have answered more briefly and truly in this way: God, when he formed man as his own image, which was the summit of the divine workmanship, breathed wisdom into him alone, so that he might subject all things to his command and rule and use all the advantages of the world. Yet he set before him both goods and evils, because he gave him wisdom, whose whole principle lies in distinguishing good and evil.
Gen 1:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 2:7 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 2:9 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The true answer: God made man in his image and gave him wisdom, which needs both good and evil to discern between them.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.13 (CSEL 27.1:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.14CSEL 27.1:102
non potest enim quisquam eligere meliora et scire quod bonum sit, nisi sciat simul reicere ac uitare quae mala sunt. inuicem sibi alterutra conexa sunt, ut sublato alterutro utrumque sit tolli necesse.
For no one can choose the better and know what is good unless he knows at the same time how to reject and avoid what is evil. The two are bound to each other in turn, so that if either is removed, both must be removed.
Notes and citation
Summary: Choosing the good requires knowing and rejecting the evil.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.14 (CSEL 27.1:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.15CSEL 27.1:102
propositis igitur bonis malisque tum demum opus suum peragit sapientia et quidem bonum adpetit ad utilitatem, malum reicit ad salutem.
When goods and evils have been set before it, then at last wisdom performs its work: it seeks the good for its usefulness, and rejects the evil for its safety.
Notes and citation
Summary: Wisdom works by seeking the good and rejecting the evil.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.15 (CSEL 27.1:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.16CSEL 27.1:102
ergo sicut bona innumerabilia data sunt quibus frui posset, sic etiam mala quae caueret. nam si malum nullum sit, nullum periculum, nihil denique quod laedere hominem possit, tolletur omnia materia sapientiae nec erit homini necessaria.
Therefore, just as countless goods have been given which he might enjoy, so also evils which he should guard against. For if there were no evil, no danger, nothing in short that could harm a man, the whole material of wisdom would be removed, and it would not be necessary to man.
Notes and citation
Summary: Without evils to guard against, wisdom would have nothing to do.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.16 (CSEL 27.1:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-16).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.17CSEL 27.1:102–103
positis enim tantummodo in conspectu bonis quid opus est cogitatione intellectu scientia ratione, cum quocumque porrexerit manum, id naturae aptum et adcommodatum sit? ut si quis uelit apparatissimam cenam infantibus qui nondum sapiant adponere, utique id adpetent singuli quo unum quemque aut impetus aut fames aut etiam casus attraxerit, et quidquid sumpserint, id illis erit uitale ac salubre.
For if only goods were set in view, what need would there be of thought, understanding, knowledge, reason, since wherever he stretched out his hand, it would be suitable and fitted to his nature? As if someone wished to set a most lavish dinner before infants who do not yet have sense: each will certainly go for whatever impulse or hunger or even chance draws him to, and whatever they take will be life-giving and healthful to them.
Notes and citation
Summary: If only goods existed, man would need no more wisdom than infants at a feast of wholesome food.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.17 (CSEL 27.1:102–103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-17).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.18CSEL 27.1:103
quid igitur nocebit eos sicuti sunt permanere et semper infantes ac nescios esse rerum? si autem admisceas uel amara uel inutilia uel etiam uenenata, decipientur utique per ignorantiam boni ac mali, nisi accedat his sapientia per quam habeant malorum reiectionem bonorumque dilectum.
What harm, then, will it do them to remain as they are and to be always infants and ignorant of things? But if you mix in bitter or useless or even poisonous things, they will certainly be deceived through ignorance of good and evil, unless wisdom comes to them, through which they may reject evil and choose good.
Notes and citation
Summary: Mix in poison, and the children need wisdom to choose between good and evil.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.18 (CSEL 27.1:103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-18).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.19CSEL 27.1:103
uides ergo magis propter mala opus nobis esse sapientia: quae nisi fuissent proposita, rationale animal non essemus.
You see, then, that we need wisdom more because of evils; and if these had not been set before us, we would not be a rational animal.
Notes and citation
Summary: It is chiefly because of evils that we need wisdom and are rational.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.19 (CSEL 27.1:103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-19).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.20CSEL 27.1:103
quod si haec ratio uera est, quam Stoici nullo modo uidere potuerunt, dissoluitur etiam illud argumentum Epicuri. deus inquit aut uult tollere mala et non potest, aut potest et non uult, aut neque uult neque potest, aut et uult et potest.
And if this reasoning is true, which the Stoics could in no way see, then that argument of Epicurus too is dissolved. “God,” he says, “either wishes to take away evils and cannot; or can and does not wish to; or neither wishes nor is able; or both wishes and is able.
Notes and citation
Summary: This also answers Epicurus's dilemma: God either wills to remove evil and cannot, or can and will not, or neither, or both.
- This is the only surviving source of the argument ascribed to Epicurus (fr. 374 Usener).
Extrabiblical texts: Epicurus, fr. 374 Usener (Epicurus (sayings and fragments); quotation)
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.20 (CSEL 27.1:103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-20).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.21CSEL 27.1:103–104
si uult et non potest, inbecillus est, quod in deum non cadit; si potest et non uult, inuidus, quod aeque alienum est a deo; si neque uult neque potest, et inuidus et inbecillus est ideoque nec deus; si et uult et potest, quod solum deo conuenit, unde ergo sunt
If he wishes and cannot, he is weak, which does not befall God; if he can and does not wish, he is envious, which is equally foreign to God; if he neither wishes nor is able, he is both envious and weak, and therefore not God; if he both wishes and is able, which alone befits God, where then do
Notes and citation
Summary: Each option seems to make God weak or envious, except the last, which raises the question where evil comes from.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.21 (CSEL 27.1:103–104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-21).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.22CSEL 27.1:104
mala aut cur illa non tollit? scio plerosque philosophorum qui prouidentiam defendunt, hoc argumento perturbari solere et inuitos paene adigi ut deum nihil curare fateantur, quod maxime quaerit Epicurus, sed nos ratione perspecta formidolosum hoc argumentum facile dissoluimus.
evils come from, or why does he not take them away?” I know that most of the philosophers who defend providence are usually thrown into confusion by this argument and are driven almost against their will to admit that God cares for nothing, which is what Epicurus most seeks; but we, having looked into the reason, easily dissolve this formidable argument.
Notes and citation
Summary: This argument unsettles many defenders of providence, but Lactantius will easily answer it.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (question mark misread in the digital text): tollit Y scio → tollit? scio.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.22 (CSEL 27.1:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-22).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.23CSEL 27.1:104
deus enim potest quidquid uelit et inbecillitas uel inuidia in eo nulla est, potest igitur mala tollere, sed non uult: nec ideo tamen inuidus est. idcirco enim non tollit, quia sapientiam, sicut edocui, simul tribuit et plus est boni ac iucunditatis in sapientia quam in malis molestiae. sapientia enim facit ut etiam deum cognoscamus et per eam cognitionem inmortalitatem adsequamur, quod est summum bonum. itaque nisi prius malum agnouerimus, nec bonum poterimus agnoscere.
For God can do whatever he wills, and there is no weakness or envy in him. He can, therefore, take away evils, but he does not will it; and yet he is not envious for that reason. For he does not take them away because he has at the same time bestowed wisdom, as I have shown, and there is more good and delight in wisdom than there is trouble in evils. For wisdom brings it about that we know God too, and through that knowledge we attain immortality, which is the highest good. And so unless we first recognize evil, we shall not be able to recognize the good either.
Notes and citation
Summary: God can remove evil but does not, because he gave wisdom, which leads to knowing God and to immortality, the highest good.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.23 (CSEL 27.1:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-23).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.24CSEL 27.1:104
sed hoc non uidit Epicurus nec alius quisquam, si tollantur mala, tolli pariter sapientiam nec ulla in homine uirtutis remanere uestigia: cuius ratio in sustinenda et superanda malorum acerbitate consistit.
But Epicurus did not see this, nor did anyone else: that if evils were taken away, wisdom would be taken away as well, and no traces of virtue would remain in man, whose principle consists in enduring and overcoming the bitterness of evils.
Notes and citation
Summary: Remove evil, and wisdom and virtue, which consist in overcoming evil, would vanish too.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.24 (CSEL 27.1:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-24).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.
13.25CSEL 27.1:104
ita propter exiguum conpendium sublatorum malorum maximo et uero et proprio nobis bono careremus. constat igitur omnia propter hominem proposita tam mala quam etiam bona.
So for the sake of the small gain of having evils removed, we would lack the greatest, the true, and our own proper good. It is established, then, that all things, evils as well as goods, have been set before us for man's sake.
Notes and citation
Summary: Removing evils would cost us our greatest good; both evil and good were set before us for man's sake.
Cite (SBL): Lactantius, Ira 13.25 (CSEL 27.1:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/lactantius-ira/10-1/#p-13-25).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 27.1; made independently of existing English translations.