The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Index Database

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Due to load times, full text fetching is currently attempted for validated results only.
Full texts for Hebrew Bible and rabbinic texts is kindly supplied by Sefaria; for Greek and Latin texts, by Perseus Scaife, for the Quran, by Tanzil.net

For a list of book indices included, see here.

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All subjects (including unvalidated):

subject	book bibliographic info
lactantius	Ayres Champion and Crawford (2023), The Intellectual World of Late Antique Christianity: Reshaping Classical Traditions. 252, 377 Baumann and Liotsakis (2022), Reading History in the Roman Empire, 29 Bay (2022), Biblical Heroes and Classical Culture in Christian Late Antiquity: The Historiography, Exemplarity, and Anti-Judaism of Pseudo-Hegesippus, 63, 92 DeMarco, (2021), Augustine and Porphyry: A Commentary on De ciuitate Dei 10, 29, 49, 235, 2782 Del Lucchese (2019), Monstrosity and Philosophy: Radical Otherness in Greek and Latin Culture, 125, 131, 139, 177, 178, 188, 189, 192, 202, 203, 213, 214, 215, 317 Dijkstra and Raschle (2020), Religious Violence in the Ancient World: From Classical Athens to Late Antiquity, 200, 205, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 247 Edelmann-Singer et al. (2020), Sceptic and Believer in Ancient Mediterranean Religions, 27, 89, 148 Eidinow and Kindt (2015), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion, 45, 464 Fielding (2017), Transformations of Ovid in Late Antiquity. 4 Gorain (2019), Language in the Confessions of Augustine, 93, 230, 231 Harrison (2006), Augustine's Way into the Will: The Theological and Philosophical Significance of De libero, 10 Huttner (2013), Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley, 218, 236 Kahlos (2019), Religious Dissent in Late Antiquity, 350-450, 20, 63, 123, 154 Keith and Myers (2023), Vergil and Elegy. 80, 330, 331 Ker and Wessels (2020), The Values of Nighttime in Classical Antiquity: Between Dusk and Dawn, 116, 118 Kitzler (2015), From 'Passio Perpetuae' to 'Acta Perpetuae', 1 Konig and Wiater (2022), Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue, 188 Kraemer (2010), Unreliable Witnesses: Religion, Gender, and History in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, 17 KÃ¶nig (2012), Saints and Symposiasts: The Literature of Food and the Symposium in Greco-Roman and Early Christian Culture, 137 König and Wiater (2022), Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue, 188 Long (2006), From Epicurus to Epictetus Studies in Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy, 181, 182 Lynskey (2021), Tyconius’ Book of Rules: An Ancient Invitation to Ecclesial Hermeneutics, 33, 213, 214, 217, 222, 223 Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 12, 13, 14, 33, 88, 89, 90 Malherbe et al. (2014), Light from the Gentiles: Hellenistic Philosophy and Early Christianity: Collected Essays of Abraham J, 666, 672 Neusner Green and Avery-Peck (2022), Judaism from Moses to Muhammad: An Interpretation: Turning Points and Focal Points, 264, 265, 269 O'Daly (2012), Days Linked by Song: Prudentius' Cathemerinon, 315 O'Daly (2020), Augustine's City of God: A Reader's Guide (2nd edn), 42, 129 Pollmann and Vessey (2007), Augustine and the Disciplines: From Cassiciacum to Confessions, 179 Price, Finkelberg and Shahar (2021), Rome: An Empire of Many Nations: New Perspectives on Ethnic Diversity and Cultural Identity, 22, 23 Reed (2005), Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and Christianity: The Reception of Enochic Literature. 149 Schaaf (2019), Animal Kingdom of Heaven: Anthropozoological Aspects in the Late Antique World. 100, 101, 102, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 141, 142, 143, 144 Schwartz (2008), 2 Maccabees, 88 Seaford, Wilkins, Wright (2017), Selfhood and the Soul: Essays on Ancient Thought and Literature in Honour of Christopher Gill. 110, 122 Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 3, 8, 12, 24, 25, 32, 35, 36, 48, 65, 67, 70, 77, 105, 110, 114, 127, 148, 201 Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro, (2021), The Gods of the Greeks, 105, 106 Van Nuffelen (2012), Orosius and the Rhetoric of History, 148, 149 Widdicombe (2000), The Fatherhood of God from Origen to Athanasius, 77 Wilson (2018), Augustine's Conversion from Traditional Free Choice to "Non-free Free Will": A Comprehensive Methodology, 78, 82, 83, 84 van 't Westeinde (2021), Roman Nobilitas in Jerome's Letters: Roman Values and Christian Asceticism for Socialites, 114, 209
lactantius, and dating the adv. nat.	Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 53
lactantius, and the beginning of the persecution	Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 40, 43
lactantius, and the galerian hypothesis	Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 41
lactantius, biblical text, divine institutes	Yates and Dupont (2020), The Bible in Christian North Africa: Part I: Commencement to the Confessiones of Augustine (ca. 180 to 400 CE), 175, 176, 177, 186
lactantius, christian writer	Marek (2019), In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World, 536
lactantius, church father	Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 241
lactantius, church father, anger need not be concerned with revenge	Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 138
lactantius, church father, attacks search for apatheia	Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 397
lactantius, church father, emotion needed for motivation	Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 185
lactantius, church father, misrepresents stoic recognition of eupatheiai as general acceptance of emotion	Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 207
lactantius, connection with palace fire	Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 44
lactantius, criticism of cyprian	Yates and Dupont (2020), The Bible in Christian North Africa: Part I: Commencement to the Confessiones of Augustine (ca. 180 to 400 CE), 120
lactantius, criticism of cyprian, divine institutes	Yates and Dupont (2020), The Bible in Christian North Africa: Part I: Commencement to the Confessiones of Augustine (ca. 180 to 400 CE), 120
lactantius, de aue phoenice attributed to	Fielding (2017), Transformations of Ovid in Late Antiquity. 13
lactantius, divine institutes	Ayres Champion and Crawford (2023), The Intellectual World of Late Antique Christianity: Reshaping Classical Traditions. 372 Niccolai (2023), Christianity, Philosophy, and Roman Power: Constantine, Julian, and the Bishops on Exegesis and Empire. 65, 66, 69, 125, 141, 142 O'Daly (2020), Augustine's City of God: A Reader's Guide (2nd edn), 52, 53
lactantius, jerome, augustine in latin western, church, but flourishes in apatheia, freedom from, eradication of emotion, search for apatheia attacked by east, and restored in west by cassian	Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 397
lactantius, jerome, on	O'Daly (2020), Augustine's City of God: A Reader's Guide (2nd edn), 52, 53 Yates and Dupont (2020), The Bible in Christian North Africa: Part I: Commencement to the Confessiones of Augustine (ca. 180 to 400 CE), 169
lactantius, justice, in	Davies (2004), Rome's Religious History: Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus on their Gods, 280
lactantius, kingship	Lunn-Rockliffe (2007), The Letter of Mara bar Sarapion in Context, 59, 130
lactantius, l. c. f.	Maso (2022), CIcero's Philosophy, 21, 24
lactantius, laertes, shroud of	Ker and Wessels (2020), The Values of Nighttime in Classical Antiquity: Between Dusk and Dawn, 202, 203, 205
lactantius, lost letters, damasus, familiar with	Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 50
lactantius, metriopatheia, moderate, moderation of emotion	Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 191, 195
lactantius, on apocalyptic prophecy, divine institutes	Yates and Dupont (2020), The Bible in Christian North Africa: Part I: Commencement to the Confessiones of Augustine (ca. 180 to 400 CE), 184, 185, 186
lactantius, on diocletians retirement	Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 45
lactantius, on prophetic fulfillment, divine institutes	Yates and Dupont (2020), The Bible in Christian North Africa: Part I: Commencement to the Confessiones of Augustine (ca. 180 to 400 CE), 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182
lactantius, on the deaths of the persecutors	Niccolai (2023), Christianity, Philosophy, and Roman Power: Constantine, Julian, and the Bishops on Exegesis and Empire. 127, 229
lactantius, rhetorician	Humfress (2007), Oppian's Halieutica: Charting a Didactic Epic, 111, 149, 186
lactantius, the banquet of	Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 50
lactantius, the death of the persecutors / de moribus persecutorum	Yates and Dupont (2020), The Bible in Christian North Africa: Part I: Commencement to the Confessiones of Augustine (ca. 180 to 400 CE), 172, 173
lactantius, the grammaticus of	Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 50
lactantius, the itinerary of	Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 50
lactantius, uncanonical sources, divine institutes	Yates and Dupont (2020), The Bible in Christian North Africa: Part I: Commencement to the Confessiones of Augustine (ca. 180 to 400 CE), 182, 183, 184

List of validated texts:

14 validated results for "lactantius"

1. None, None, nan (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Lactantius • Lactantius, Church Father

Found in books: Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 148; Sorabji (2000), Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 241

2. Cassius Dio, Roman History, 62.18.3 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Lactantius

Found in books: Konig and Wiater (2022), Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue, 188; König and Wiater (2022), Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue, 188

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62.18.3 \xa0There was no curse that the populace did not invoke upon Nero, though they did not mention his name, but simply cursed in general terms those who had set the city on fire. And they were disturbed above all by recalling the oracle which once in the time of Tiberius had been on everybody\'s lips. It ran thus: "Thrice three hundred years having run their course of fulfilment, Rome by the strife of her people shall perish."'' None

3. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 10.12.2-10.12.3, 10.12.6-10.12.7 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Lactantius

Found in books: Konig and Wiater (2022), Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue, 188; König and Wiater (2022), Late Hellenistic Greek Literature in Dialogue, 188

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10.12.2 ἡ δὲ Ἡροφίλη νεωτέρα μὲν ἐκείνης, φαίνεται δὲ ὅμως πρὸ τοῦ πολέμου γεγονυῖα καὶ αὕτη τοῦ Τρωικοῦ, καὶ Ἑλένην τε προεδήλωσεν ἐν τοῖς χρησμοῖς, ὡς ἐπʼ ὀλέθρῳ τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ Εὐρώπης τραφήσοιτο ἐν Σπάρτῃ, καὶ ὡς Ἴλιον ἁλώσεται διʼ αὐτὴν ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων. Δήλιοι δὲ καὶ ὕμνον μέμνηνται τῆς γυναικὸς ἐς Ἀπόλλωνα. καλεῖ δὲ οὐχ Ἡροφίλην μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἄρτεμιν ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν αὑτήν, καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος γυνὴ γαμετή, τοτὲ δὲ ἀδελφὴ καὶ αὖθις θυγάτηρ φησὶν εἶναι. ^10.12.3 ταῦτα μὲν δὴ μαινομένη τε καὶ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ κάτοχος πεποίηκεν· ἑτέρωθι δὲ εἶπε τῶν χρησμῶν ὡς μητρὸς μὲν ἀθανάτης εἴη μιᾶς τῶν ἐν Ἴδῃ νυμφῶν, πατρὸς δὲ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ οὕτω λέγει τὰ ἔπη· εἰμὶ δʼ ἐγὼ γεγαυῖα μέσον θνητοῦ τε θεᾶς τε, νύμφης δʼ ἀθανάτης, πατρὸς δʼ αὖ κητοφάγοιο, μητρόθεν Ἰδογενής, πατρὶς δέ μοί ἐστιν ἐρυθρή Μάρπησσος, μητρὸς ἱερή, ποταμός τʼ Ἀιδωνεύς. ^10.12.6 τὸ μέντοι χρεὼν αὐτὴν ἐπέλαβεν ἐν τῇ Τρῳάδι, καί οἱ τὸ μνῆμα ἐν τῷ ἄλσει τοῦ Σμινθέως ἐστὶ καὶ ἐλεγεῖον ἐπὶ τῆς στήλης· ἅδʼ ἐγὼ ἁ Φοίβοιο σαφηγορίς εἰμι Σίβυλλα τῷδʼ ὑπὸ λαϊνέῳ σάματι κευθομένα, παρθένος αὐδάεσσα τὸ πρίν, νῦν δʼ αἰὲν ἄναυδος, μοίρᾳ ὑπὸ στιβαρᾷ τάνδε λαχοῦσα πέδαν. ἀλλὰ πέλας Νύμφαισι καὶ Ἑρμῇ τῷδʼ ὑπόκειμαι, μοῖραν ἔχοισα κάτω τᾶς τότʼ ἀνακτορίας. ὁ μὲν δὴ παρὰ τὸ μνῆμα ἕστηκεν Ἑρμῆς λίθου τετράγωνον σχῆμα· ἐξ ἀριστερᾶς δὲ ὕδωρ τε κατερχόμενον ἐς κρήνην καὶ τῶν Νυμφῶν ἐστι τὰ ἀγάλματα. ^10.12.7 Ἐρυθραῖοι δὲ—ἀμφισβητοῦσι γὰρ τῆς Ἡροφίλης προθυμότατα Ἑλλήνων—Κώρυκόν τε καλούμενον ὄρος καὶ ἐν τῷ ὄρει σπήλαιον ἀποφαίνουσι, τεχθῆναι τὴν Ἡροφίλην ἐν αὐτῷ λέγοντες, Θεοδώρου δὲ ἐπιχωρίου ποιμένος καὶ νύμφης παῖδα εἶναι· Ἰδαίαν δὲ ἐπίκλησιν γενέσθαι τῇ νύμφῃ κατʼ ἄλλο μὲν οὐδέν, τῶν δὲ χωρίων τὰ δασέα ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἴδας τότε ὀνομάζεσθαι. τὸ δὲ ἔπος τὸ ἐς τὴν Μάρπησσον καὶ τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν Ἀϊδωνέα, τοῦτο οἱ Ἐρυθραῖοι τὸ ἔπος ἀφαιροῦσιν ἀπὸ τῶν χρησμῶν.'' None

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10.12.2 Herophile was younger than she was, but nevertheless she too was clearly born before the Trojan war, as she foretold in her oracles that Helen would be brought up in Sparta to be the ruin of Asia and of Europe, and that for her sake the Greeks would capture Troy . The Delians remember also a hymn this woman composed to Apollo. In her poem she calls herself not only Herophile but also Artemis, and the wedded wife of Apollo, saying too sometimes that she is his sister, and sometimes that she is his daughter.' "^10.12.3 These statements she made in her poetry when in a frenzy and possessed by the god. Elsewhere in her oracles she states that her mother was an immortal, one of the nymphs of Ida, while her father was a human. These are the verses:— I am by birth half mortal, half divine; An immortal nymph was my mother, my father an eater of corn; On my mother's side of Idaean birth, but my fatherland was red Marpessus, sacred to the Mother, and the river Aidoneus. " ^10.12.6 However, death came upon her in the Troad, and her tomb is in the grove of the Sminthian with these elegiac verses inscribed upon the tomb-stone:— Here I am, the plain-speaking Sibyl of Phoebus, Hidden beneath this stone tomb. A maiden once gifted with voice, but now for ever voiceless, By hard fate doomed to this fetter. But I am buried near the nymphs and this Hermes, Enjoying in the world below a part of the kingdom I had then. The Hermes stands by the side of the tomb, a square-shaped figure of stone. On the left is water running down into a well, and the images of the nymphs. ^10.12.7 The Erythraeans, who are more eager than any other Greeks to lay claim to Herophile, adduce as evidence a mountain called Mount Corycus with a cave in it, saying that Herophile was born in it, and that she was a daughter of Theodorus, a shepherd of the district, and of a nymph. They add that the surname Idaean was given to the nymph simply because the men of those days called idai places that were thickly wooded. The verse about Marpessus and the river Aidoneus is cut out of the oracles by the Erythraeans.'' None

4. Tertullian, Apology, 24 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Lactantius • Lactantius,

Found in books: Del Lucchese (2019), Monstrosity and Philosophy: Radical Otherness in Greek and Latin Culture, 188; Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 8, 105

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24 This whole confession of these beings, in which they declare that they are not gods, and in which they tell you that there is no God but one, the God whom we adore, is quite sufficient to clear us from the crime of treason, chiefly against the Roman religion. For if it is certain the gods have no existence, there is no religion in the case. If there is no religion, because there are no gods, we are assuredly not guilty of any offense against religion. Instead of that, the charge recoils on your own head: worshipping a lie, you are really guilty of the crime you charge on us, not merely by refusing the true religion of the true God, but by going the further length of persecuting it. But now, granting that these objects of your worship are really gods, is it not generally held that there is one higher and more potent, as it were the world's chief ruler, endowed with absolute power and majesty? For the common way is to apportion deity, giving an imperial and supreme domination to one, while its offices are put into the hands of many, as Plato describes great Jupiter in the heavens, surrounded by an array at once of deities and demons. It behooves us, therefore, to show equal respect to the procurators, prefects, and governors of the divine empire. And yet how great a crime does he commit, who, with the object of gaining higher favour with the C sar, transfers his endeavours and his hopes to another, and does not confess that the appellation of God as of Emperor belongs only to the Supreme Head, when it is held a capital offense among us to call, or hear called, by the highest title any other than C sar himself! Let one man worship God, another Jupiter; let one lift suppliant hands to the heavens, another to the altar of Fides; let one - if you choose to take this view of it - count in prayer the clouds, and another the ceiling panels; let one consecrate his own life to his God, and another that of a goat. For see that you do not give a further ground for the charge of irreligion, by taking away religious liberty, and forbidding free choice of deity, so that I may no longer worship according to my inclination, but am compelled to worship against it. Not even a human being would care to have unwilling homage rendered him; and so the very Egyptians have been permitted the legal use of their ridiculous superstition, liberty to make gods of birds and beasts, nay, to condemn to death any one who kills a god of their sort. Every province even, and every city, has its god. Syria has Astarte, Arabia has Dusares, the Norici have Belenus, Africa has its C lestis, Mauritania has its own princes. I have spoken, I think, of Roman provinces, and yet I have not said their gods are Roman; for they are not worshipped at Rome any more than others who are ranked as deities over Italy itself by municipal consecration, such as Delventinus of Casinum, Visidianus of Narnia, Ancharia of Asculum, Nortia of Volsinii, Valentia of Ocriculum, Hostia of Satrium, Father Curis of Falisci, in honour of whom, too, Juno got her surname. In, fact, we alone are prevented having a religion of our own. We give offense to the Romans, we are excluded from the rights and privileges of Romans, because we do not worship the gods of Rome. It is well that there is a God of all, whose we all are, whether we will or no. But with you liberty is given to worship any god but the true God, as though He were not rather the God all should worship, to whom all belong. "" None

5. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Lactantius • Lactantius, Christian writer

Found in books: Dijkstra (2020), The Early Reception and Appropriation of the Apostle Peter (60-800 CE): The Anchors of the Fisherman, 83; Marek (2019), In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World, 536

6. Lactantius, Divine Institutes, 1.1.13, 7.16.11, 7.19.2 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Divine Institutes (Lactantius), biblical text • Divine Institutes (Lactantius), on apocalyptic prophecy • Lactantius • Lactantius, Divine Institutes

Found in books: Dijkstra and Raschle (2020), Religious Violence in the Ancient World: From Classical Athens to Late Antiquity, 234, 235, 244, 245; Niccolai (2023), Christianity, Philosophy, and Roman Power: Constantine, Julian, and the Bishops on Exegesis and Empire. 125; Pignot (2020), The Catechumenate in Late Antique Africa (4th–6th Centuries): Augustine of Hippo, His Contemporaries and Early Reception, 269; Yates and Dupont (2020), The Bible in Christian North Africa: Part I: Commencement to the Confessiones of Augustine (ca. 180 to 400 CE), 185, 186

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1.1.13 We undertake, therefore, to discuss religion and divine things. For if some of the greatest orators, veterans as it were of their profession, having completed the works of their pleadings, at last gave themselves up to philosophy, and regarded that as a most just rest from their labours, if they tortured their minds in the investigation of those things which could not be found out, so that they appear to have sought for themselves not so much leisure as occupation, and that indeed with much greater trouble than in their former pursuit; how much more justly shall I betake myself as to a most safe harbour, to that pious, true, and divine wisdom, in which all things are ready for utterance, pleasant to the hearing, easy to be understood, honourable to be undertaken! And if some skilful men and arbiters of justice composed and published Institutions of civil law, by which they might lull the strifes and contentions of discordant citizens, how much better and more rightly shall we follow up in writing the divine Institutions, in which we shall not speak about rain-droppings, or the turning of waters, or the preferring of claims, but we shall speak of hope, of life, of salvation, of immortality, and of God, that we may put an end to deadly superstitions and most disgraceful errors. And we now commence this work under the auspices of your name, O mighty Emperor Constantine, who were the first of the Roman princes to repudiate errors, and to acknowledge and honour the majesty of the one and only true God. For when that most happy day had shone upon the world, in which the Most High God raised you to the prosperous height of power, you entered upon a dominion which was salutary and desirable for all, with an excellent beginning, when, restoring justice which had been overthrown and taken away, you expiated the most shameful deed of others. In return for which action God will grant to you happiness, virtue, and length of days, that even when old you may govern the state with the same justice with which you began in youth, and may hand down to your children the guardianship of the Roman name, as you yourself received it from your father. For to the wicked, who still rage against the righteous in other parts of the world, the Omnipotent will also repay the reward of their wickedness with a severity proportioned to its tardiness; for as He is a most indulgent Father towards the godly, so is He a most upright Judge against the ungodly. And in my desire to defend His religion and divine worship, to whom can I rather appeal, whom can I address, but him by whom justice and wisdom have been restored to the affairs of men? Therefore, leaving the authors of this earthly philosophy, who bring forward nothing certain, let us approach the right path; for if I considered these to be sufficiently suitable guides to a good life, I would both follow them myself, and exhort others to follow them. But since they disagree among one another with great contention, and are for the most part at variance with themselves, it is evident that their path is by no means straightforward; since they have severally marked out distinct ways for themselves according to their own will, and have left great confusion to those who are seeking for the truth. But since the truth is revealed from heaven to us who have received the mystery of true religion, and since we follow God, the teacher of wisdom and the guide to truth, we call together all, without any distinction either of sex or of age, to heavenly pasture. For there is no more pleasant food for the soul than the knowledge of truth, to the maintaining and explaining of which we have destined seven books, although the subject is one of almost boundless and immeasurable labour; so that if any one should wish to dilate upon and follow up these things to their full extent, he would have such an exuberant supply of subjects, that neither books would find any limit, nor speech any end. But on this account we will put together all things briefly, because those things which we are about to bring forward are so plain and lucid, that it seems to be more wonderful that the truth appears so obscure to men, and to those especially who are commonly esteemed wise, or because men will only need to be trained by us - that is, to be recalled from the error in which they are entangled to a better course of life. And if, as I hope, we shall attain to this, we will send them to the very fountain of learning, which is most rich and abundant, by copious draughts of which they may appease the thirst conceived within, and quench their ardour. And all things will be easy, ready of accomplishment, and clear to them, if only they are not annoyed at applying patience in reading or hearing to the perception of the discipline of wisdom. For many, pertinaciously adhering to vain superstitions, harden themselves against the manifest truth, not so much deserving well of their religions, which they wrongly maintain, as they deserve ill of themselves; who, when they have a straight path, seek devious windings; who leave the level ground that they may glide over a precipice; who leave the light, that, blind and enfeebled, they may lie in darkness. We must provide for these, that they may not fight against themselves, and that they may be willing at length to be freed from inveterate errors. And this they will assuredly do if they shall at any time see for what purpose they were born; for this is the cause of their perverseness - namely, ignorance of themselves: and if any one, having gained the knowledge of the truth, shall have shaken off this ignorance, he will know to what object his life is to be directed, and how it is to be spent. And I thus briefly define the sum of this knowledge, that neither is any religion to be undertaken without wisdom, nor any wisdom to be approved of without religion. ^7.16.11 But, test any one should think this incredible, I will show how it will come to pass. First, the kingdom will be enlarged, and the chief power, dispersed among many and divided, will be diminished. Then civil discords will perpetually be sown; nor will there be any rest from deadly wars, until ten kings arise at the same time, who will divide the world, not to govern, but to consume it. These, having increased their armies to an immense extent, and having deserted the cultivation of the fields, which is the beginning of overthrow and disaster, will lay waste and break in pieces and consume all things. Then a most powerful enemy will suddenly arise against him from the extreme boundaries of the northern region, who, having destroyed three of that number who shall then be in possession of Asia, shall be admitted into alliance by the others, and shall be constituted prince of all. He shall harass the world with an intolerable rule; shall mingle things divine and human; shall contrive things impious to relate, and detestable; shall meditate new designs in his breast, that he may establish the government for himself: he will change the laws, and appoint his own; he will contaminate, plunder, spoil, and put to death. And at length, the name being changed and the seat of government being transferred, confusion and the disturbance of mankind will follow. Then, in truth, a detestable and abominable time shall come, in which life shall be pleasant to none of men. Cities shall be utterly overthrown, and shall perish; not only by fire and the sword, but also by continual earthquakes and overflowings of waters, and by frequent diseases and repeated famines. For the atmosphere will be tainted, and become corrupt and pestilential - at one time by unseasonable rains, at another by barren drought, now by colds, and now by excessive heats. Nor will the earth give its fruit to man: no field, or tree, or vine will produce anything; but after they have given the greatest hope in the blossom, they will fail in the fruit. Fountains also shall be dried up, together with the rivers; so that there shall not be a sufficient supply for drinking; and waters shall be changed into blood or bitterness. On account of these things, beasts shall fail on the land, and birds in the air, and fishes in the sea. Wonderful prodigies also in heaven shall confound the minds of men with the greatest terrors, and the trains of comets, and the darkness of the sun, and the color of the moon, and the gliding of the falling stars. Nor, however, will these things take place in the accustomed manner; but there will suddenly appear stars unknown and unseen by the eyes; the sun will be perpetually darkened, so that there will be scarcely any distinction between the night and the day; the moon will now fail, not for three hours only, but overspread with perpetual blood, will go through extraordinary movements, so that it will not be easy for man to ascertain the courses of the heavenly bodies or the system of the times; for there will either be summer in the winter, or winter in the summer. Then the year will be shortened, and the month diminished, and the day contracted into a short space; and stars shall fall in great numbers, so that all the heaven will appear dark without any lights. The loftiest mountains also will fall, and be levelled with the plains; the sea will be rendered unnavigable. And that nothing may be wanting to the evils of men and the earth, the trumpet shall be heard from heaven, which the Sibyl foretells in this manner:- The trumpet from heaven shall utter its wailing voice.And then all shall tremble and quake at that mournful sound. But then, through the anger of God against the men who have not known righteousness, the sword and fire, famine and disease, shall reign; and, above all things, fear always overhanging. Then they shall call upon God, but He will not hear them; death shall be desired, but it will not come; not even shall night give rest to their fear, nor shall sleep approach to their eyes, but anxiety and watchfulness shall consume the souls of men; they shall deplore and lament, and gnash their teeth; they shall congratulate the dead, and bewail the living. Through these and many other evils there shall be desolation on the earth, and the world shall be disfigured and deserted, which is thus expressed in the verses of the Sibyl: - The world shall be despoiled of beauty, through the destruction of men.For the human race will be so consumed, that scarcely the tenth part of men will be left; and from whence a thousand had gone forth, scarcely a hundred will go forth. of the worshippers of God also, two parts will perish; and the third part, which shall have been proved, will remain. ^7.19.2 The world therefore being oppressed, since the resources of men shall be insufficient for the overthrow of a tyranny of immense strength, inasmuch as it will press upon the captive world with great armies of robbers, that calamity so great will stand in need of divine assistance. Therefore God, being aroused both by the doubtful danger and by the wretched lamentation of the righteous, will immediately send a deliverer. Then the middle of the heaven shall be laid open in the dead and darkness of the night, that the light of the descending God may be manifest in all the world as lightning: of which the Sibyl spoke in these words:- When He shall come, there will be fire and darkness in the midst of the black night.This is the night which is celebrated by us in watchfulness on account of the coming of our King and God: of which night there is a twofold meaning; because in it He then received life when He suffered, and hereafter He is about to receive the kingdom of the world. For He is the Deliverer, and Judge, and Avenger, and King, and God, whom we call Christ, who before He descends will give this sign: There shall suddenly fall from heaven a sword, that the righteous may know that the leader of the sacred warfare is about to descend; and He shall descend with a company of angels to the middle of the earth, and there shall go before Him an unquenchable fire, and the power of the angels shall deliver into the hands of the just that multitude which has surrounded the mountain, and they shall be slain from the third hour until the evening, and blood shall flow like a torrent; and all his forces being destroyed, the wicked one shall alone escape, and his power shall perish from him. Now this is he who is called Antichrist; but he shall falsely call himself Christ, and shall fight against the truth, and being overcome shall flee; and shall often renew the war, and often be conquered, until in the fourth battle, all the wicked being slain, subdued, and captured, he shall at length pay the penalty of his crimes. But other princes also and tyrants who have harassed the world, together with him, shall be led in chains to the king; and he shall rebuke them, and reprove them, and upbraid them with their crimes, and condemn them, and consign them to deserved tortures. Thus, wickedness being extinguished and impiety suppressed, the world will be at rest, which having been subject to error and wickedness for so many ages, endured dreadful slavery. No longer shall gods made by the hands be worshipped; but the images being thrust out from their temples and couches, shall be given to the fire, and shall be burnt, together with their wonderful gifts: which also the Sibyl, in accordance with the prophets, announced as about to take place:- But mortals shall break in pieces the images and all the wealth.The Erythr an Sibyl also made the same promise:- And the works made by the hand of the gods shall be burnt up. '' None

7. None, None, nan (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Jerome, on Lactantius • Lactantius • Lactantius, Divine Institutes • Lactantius, The Death of the Persecutors / De moribus persecutorum

Found in books: Dijkstra and Raschle (2020), Religious Violence in the Ancient World: From Classical Athens to Late Antiquity, 238; O'Daly (2020), Augustine's City of God: A Reader's Guide (2nd edn), 52; Yates and Dupont (2020), The Bible in Christian North Africa: Part I: Commencement to the Confessiones of Augustine (ca. 180 to 400 CE), 172

8. None, None, nan (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Lactantius • Lactantius, and the beginning of the persecution • Lactantius, connection with palace fire

Found in books: Dijkstra and Raschle (2020), Religious Violence in the Ancient World: From Classical Athens to Late Antiquity, 232; Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 43, 44

9. None, None, nan (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Lactantius • Lactantius, connection with palace fire

Found in books: Lynskey (2021), Tyconius’ Book of Rules: An Ancient Invitation to Ecclesial Hermeneutics, 33; Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 44

10. None, None, nan (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Lactantius • Lactantius,

Found in books: Del Lucchese (2019), Monstrosity and Philosophy: Radical Otherness in Greek and Latin Culture, 215; Fowler (2014), Plato in the Third Sophistic, 102, 107, 109; Lynskey (2021), Tyconius’ Book of Rules: An Ancient Invitation to Ecclesial Hermeneutics, 213, 214, 222

11. None, None, nan (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Lactantius • Lactantius, • Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors • Lactantius, The Death of the Persecutors / De moribus persecutorum • Lactantius, and the Galerian Hypothesis • Lactantius, and the beginning of the persecution • Lactantius, connection with palace fire

Found in books: Bay (2022), Biblical Heroes and Classical Culture in Christian Late Antiquity: The Historiography, Exemplarity, and Anti-Judaism of Pseudo-Hegesippus, 63; Dijkstra and Raschle (2020), Religious Violence in the Ancient World: From Classical Athens to Late Antiquity, 200, 205, 235; Kahlos (2019), Religious Dissent in Late Antiquity, 350-450, 154; Niccolai (2023), Christianity, Philosophy, and Roman Power: Constantine, Julian, and the Bishops on Exegesis and Empire. 127; Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 24, 40, 41, 44, 67, 70; Yates and Dupont (2020), The Bible in Christian North Africa: Part I: Commencement to the Confessiones of Augustine (ca. 180 to 400 CE), 173

12. None, None, nan (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Lactantius • Lactantius,

Found in books: Del Lucchese (2019), Monstrosity and Philosophy: Radical Otherness in Greek and Latin Culture, 202, 214, 215; Schaaf (2019), Animal Kingdom of Heaven: Anthropozoological Aspects in the Late Antique World. 132, 133, 134, 138

13. Augustine, The City of God, 19.23 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Lactantius • Lactantius, The Death of the Persecutors / De moribus persecutorum

Found in books: Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 12, 24; Yates and Dupont (2020), The Bible in Christian North Africa: Part I: Commencement to the Confessiones of Augustine (ca. 180 to 400 CE), 172

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19.23 For in his book called &" None

14. None, None, nan (5th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Damasus, familiar with Lactantius lost letters • Jerome, on Lactantius • Lactantius • Lactantius, the Banquet of • Lactantius, the Grammaticus of • Lactantius, the Itinerary of

Found in books: KÃ¶nig (2012), Saints and Symposiasts: The Literature of Food and the Symposium in Greco-Roman and Early Christian Culture, 137; Simmons(1995), Arnobius of Sicca: Religious Conflict and Competition in the Age of Diocletian, 3, 8, 48, 50; Yates and Dupont (2020), The Bible in Christian North Africa: Part I: Commencement to the Confessiones of Augustine (ca. 180 to 400 CE), 169

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Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database