Lactantius | |
|---|---|
 Fourth-century mural possibly depicting Lactantius | |
| Born | Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius c. 250 PossiblyCirta, Numidia |
| Died | c. 325 (agedc. 75) |
| Citizenship | Roman |
| Notable works | Institutiones Divinae |
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325) was anearly Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperorConstantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence,[1] and a tutor to his sonCrispus. His most important work is theInstitutiones Divinae ("The Divine Institutes"), anapologetic treatise intended to establish the reasonableness and truth of Christianity to pagan critics.
He is best known for his apologetic works, widely read during theRenaissance byhumanists, who called Lactantius the "ChristianCicero". Also often attributed to Lactantius is the poemThe Phoenix, which is based on the myth of thephoenix from Egypt and Arabia.[2] Though the poem is not clearly Christian in its motifs, modern scholars have found some literary evidence in the text to suggest the author had a Christian interpretation of the eastern myth as a symbol of resurrection.[3]
Lactantius was ofPunic[4] orBerber[5][6] origin, born into a family that had not converted to Christianity. He was a pupil ofArnobius who taught atSicca Veneria, an important city inNumidia (corresponding to today's city ofEl Kef inTunisia). In his early life, he taught rhetoric in his native town, which may have beenCirta in Numidia, where an inscription mentions a certain "L. Caecilius Firmianus".[7]
Lactantius had a successful public career at first. At the request of theRoman emperorDiocletian, he became an official professor of rhetoric inNicomedia; the voyage from Africa is described in his poemHodoeporicum (now lost).[8] There, he associated in the imperial circle with the administrator and polemicistSossianus Hierocles and theNeoplatonic philosopherPorphyry; he first metConstantine, andGalerius, whom he cast as villain in thepersecutions.[9] Having converted to Christianity, he resigned his post[10] before Diocletian's purging of Christians from his immediate staff and before the publication of Diocletian's first "Edict against the Christians" (February 24, 303).[11]
As a Latinrhetor in a Greek city, he subsequently lived in poverty according toSaint Jerome and eked out a living by writing untilConstantine I became hispatron. The persecution forced him to leave Nicomedia, perhaps re-locating to North Africa. The emperorConstantine appointed the elderly Lactantius Latin tutor to his sonCrispus in 309–310 who was probably 10–15 years old at the time.[12] Lactantius followed Crispus toTrier in 317, when Crispus was madeCaesar (subordinate co-emperor) and sent to the city. Crispus wasput to death by order of his fatherConstantine I in 326. The time and circumstances of Lactantius's death are unknown.[13]
Like many of the early Christian authors, Lactantius depended onclassical models.Saint Jerome praised his writing style while faulting his ability as a Christian apologist, saying: "Lactantius has a flow of eloquence worthy ofTully: would that he had been as ready to teach our doctrines as to pull down those of others!"[14] Similarly, the earlyhumanists called him the "ChristianCicero" (Cicero Christianus).[13] A translator of theDivine Institutes wrote: "Lactantius has always held a very high place among the Christian Fathers, not only on account of the subject-matter of his writings, but also on account of the varied erudition, the sweetness of expression, and the grace and elegance of style, by which they are characterized."[15]
Like many writers in the first few centuries of the early church, Lactantius took apremillennialist view, holding that the second coming of Christ will precede a millennium or a thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. According to Charles E. Hill, "With Lactantius in the early fourth century we see a determined attempt to revive a more 'genuine' form of chiliasm."[16] Lactantius quoted theSibyls extensively (although theSibylline Oracles are now considered to bepseudepigrapha). Book VII ofThe Divine Institutes indicates a familiarity with Jewish, Christian, Egyptian and Iranian apocalyptic material.[17]
Attempts to determine the time of the End were viewed as in contradiction to Acts 1:7: "It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority,"[17] and Mark 13:32: "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."
He wroteapologetic works explainingChristianity in terms that would be palatable to educated people who still practiced thetraditional religions of the Empire. He defended Christian beliefs against the criticisms ofHellenistic philosophers. HisDivinae Institutiones ("Divine Institutes") were an early example of a systematic presentation of Christian thought.
The point of the work is to describe the deaths of the persecutors of Christians before Lactantius (Nero,Domitian,Decius,Valerian,Aurelian) as well as those who were the contemporaries of Lactantius himself: Diocletian,Maximian,Galerius,Maximinus andMaxentius. This work is taken as a chronicle of the last and greatest of the persecutions in spite of the moral point that each anecdote has been arranged to tell. Here, Lactantius preserves the story ofConstantine's vision of theChi Rho before hisconversion to Christianity. The full text is found in only one manuscript, which bears the titleLucii Caecilii liber ad Donatum Confessorem de Mortibus Persecutorum.[13]"I relate all those things on the authority of well-informed persons, and I thought it proper to commit them to writing exactly as they happened, lest the memory of events so important should perish, and lest any future historian of the persecutors should corrupt the truth."[23]
For unclear reasons, he became considered somewhatheretical after his death. TheGelasian Decree of the 6th century condemns his work as apocryphal and not to be read.[24]Renaissancehumanists took a renewed interest in him, more for his elaborately rhetorical Latin style than for his theology. His works were copied in manuscript several times in the 15th century and werefirst printed in 1465 by the GermansArnold Pannartz and Konrad Sweynheim at the Abbey ofSubiaco. This edition was the first book printed in Italy to have a date of printing, as well as the first use of aGreek alphabetfont anywhere, which was apparently produced in the course of printing, as the early pages leave Greek text blank. It was probably the fourth book ever printed in Italy. A copy of this edition was sold at auction in 2000 for more than $1 million.[25]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Healy, Patrick (1910)."Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved26 February 2016.
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