Dates

• 306 Constantius dies at York: Constantine proclaimed

  311 Galerius issues decree of tolerance and dies

  312 Battle of Milvian Bridge ; Constantine

  313 Edict of Milan

  324 Constantine defeats Licinius; work starts on Constantinople

  325 First Oecumenical Council meets at Nicaea

   

• Lactantius

• Lived c. 250-325 (see PLRE I, Firmianus). Taught Latin rhetoric at the court of Diocletian (up to 303); later became tutor to Crispus, son of Constantine I. See Jerome, De viris illustribus 80:

• Firmianus, qui et Lactantius, Arnobii discipulus, sub Diocletiano principe accitus cum Flavio Grammatico, cujus de Medicinalibus versu compositi exstant libri, Nicomediae rhetoricam docuit, et penuria discipulorum, ob Graecam videlicet civitatem, ad scribendum se contulit. Habemus ejus Symposium, quod adolescentulus scripsit; odoiporikon de Africa usque Nicomediam, hexametris scriptum versibus, et alium librum, qui inscribitur Grammaticus, et pulcherrimum de ira Dei, et Institutionum divinarum adversum gentes libros septem, et epitomen ejusdem operis in libro uno acephalo, et ad Asclepiadem libros duos, de persecutione librum unum, ad Probum Epistolarum libros quatuor, ad Severum Epistolarum libros duos; ad Demetrianum, auditorem suum. Epistolarum libros duos; ad eumdem de Opificio Dei, vel formatione hominis, librum unum. Hic extrema senectute magister Caesaris Crispi, filii Constantini, in Gallia fuit, qui postea a patre interfectus est.
• Translation at NPNF:
• 'Firmianus,known also as Lactantius, a disciple of Arnobius, during the reign of Diocletian summoned to Nicomedia with Flavius the Grammarian whose poem On medicine is still extant, taught rhetoric there and on account of his lack of pupils (since it was a Greek city) he betook himself to writing. We have a Banquet of his which he wrote as a young man in Africa and an Itinerary of a journey from Africa to Nicomedia written in hexameters, and another book which is called The Grammarian and a most beautiful one On the wrath of God, and Divine institutes against the nations, seven books, and an Epitome of the same work in one volume, without a title, also two books To Asclepiades, one book On persecution, four books of Epistles to Probus, two books of Epistles to Severus, two books of Epistles to his pupil Demetrius and one book to the same On the work of God or the creation of man. In his extreme old age he was tutor to Crispus Cæsar a son of Constantine in Gaul, the same one who was afterwards put to death by his father.'

ANF translation online

Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors, edition, translation and commentary, J. Creed (Oxford, 1984)

ANF translation online

Discussions

• T. D. Barnes, 'Lactantius and Constantine', JRS (JSTOR) 63 (1973), 29-46
• Elizabeth DePalma Digeser, 'Lactantius, Porphyry, and the Debate over Religious Toleration'
  JRS (JSTOR), Vol. 88, 1998 (1998), pp. 129-146
• Elizabeth DePalma Digeser, The making of a Christian empire : Lactantius & Rome (Cornell, 2000)
• S. Freund, 'Christian use and valuation of theological oracles: The case of Lactantius' Divine Institutes', Vigiliae Christianae 60 (2006), 269-284
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Page created October 5, 2008