Ante-Nicene Christian library; translations of the writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325

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tonitor, o destre, o love leasures, riches, dominions and honours, and ali thos things hicli are esteemed a goods, asother do ove o ered by destre, that assuredi is virtve. here- fore it effecta somethin eis more sublime and excellent nor

Aecordis torati aut man eo lata of three parta Ody soae, and virit. Laetantium Mara torum the mord ais in the same aenae in Whichtho Scripturea veis es spirit.

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162 LACTANTIUS. Boo m. causerit is stight y and subito, and invisibie contend with those

lis preservatio hom destruction, so the wul obtain a continuationis ita existence and a theiody When Vercome istis nemies, suffers death so the foui, When verpoWered by

Vices, must die. What difference, there oro, mill thero b be- tWeen the contest carried on by the foui and that carried on bytheiody, excepi that the Ody seeis for temporal, but the fovi sternal lis, of therefore, virtve is no hapy by itself, sinceiis holo force consisis, as' have aid, in the enduring osoriis is it neglect ali ining Whicli ars destre a moti itin iis hioest condition it is exposed to eath, in much as it

treat wit contemptinii earthi things, and ma iam at hi erinings, sincerit despises thing that ars humble this re ard canae nothingislseaut immortali . With good reason, thereiore did Euclid, no obscura phil sopher, Wh Was theriounder of the system of the Megareans, dissering rom the thera, a that that was in chie good Whic mas unua in and HWay the fame. ΗΘ certainbunderstood What is the natur of the hie good although hedidio explain in hacit consisted bucit consistam immo tali , nor authing eis at ali, inasmuch as it Mono is incap leo diminution, o increas' o change Seneca iam unco Tenuis, is applied to tho Qui opposed to aesidua,' applied to tho hod

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Boox III. THE DIONE INSTITUTES. 163sciousimhappened is conses that hero is no other re aes of virtus than immortali . For in pressing virtus in tho treatim .hic ho roto in the subjectis premature death, he sua: Virtus is sto ianthing Whic can confer Monos immo tali , and missos equa in theratas.' ut tho Stoic iam, homae followed in that nomne canis made hare Without virtus Therelare tho re ard os virtus is a happy liso, is virtus ascit is rightly saidymae a happy life Viriue, ther fore, is not, a the say, toae ought on ita om account, buton account os a liapy lite, hici necessarii solioWa virtus. Anythis argument might have taught them in hat the chia Mod consisted. ut this present and corporea lis cannot be

everi ting. For a state of happines ought is e perfeci, sothat there may be nothing Whic can haras' ordessen, orchangeit. Nor caninnythingae udged hapta in ther respecti, unlessit bo incorruptibio But nothiniis incorruptibis ut that whic is immortes. Immortalit thereior is lone happy, Minus it an either e corrupte nor destroyed But ii virtus falis Mihin the poweri man, Whichiso one an deu, happines also belong to him. For it is impossibio for a manto bo wretched Whoris ondus With virtus. I happines falla ithin his poWer, then immortali , hic is possesse os theattributo of happiness, also long to him. The chio good, theretore, is found toae immortalit alone, Whic pertain toto oster animal oriody nor an it happento any one ithout the virtve of knowledge, that is, Without thoknowledg o God and justice And hoW true and right is inos hinitor this, tho very destre of this life shows for althoughi boaut tempora , an mos fuit os labour, et it is oughtand destred by est for both old me and bos, hings and thoso of the lones station, in fine, Nise a Weli actoolisti, destre this. O sue value ascit seeme to Anaxagoras is the contemplationis the heaven and the light itseli, that men illinglyundem an miseries on thia account. Since, thereiore this

inori and laborious lite, by the generat consent nolintroi men, but also of the animati, is considere a reat good, it is manifest that it ecomes also a very great an persect good u

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164 LACTANTIUS. Boo III. never ould have been any one ho ould despis this lite, hoWeve alior it is, o undergo deat, unies through the opeos a longe lite For thos Who voluntarii offere themselvesto death so the aiat of their countrymen, a Menoeceus dida Thebes, Codrus at Athens, Curtius and the Wo Mures at me, ould never have preferred death to the advantages os lise, unies thentia thought that the should attain to immortali ethrough the estimatio of their count men and althoughthe wero ignorant of the lite o immortali , yet tho realityitsol did nota cape thei notice For is virtve despises opulence and riches ecause the are Dail, and pleasures ecause the amissaries continuance, it thereiare despises adiso whichis irai and brios, stat it ma obtain ne hicli is substantialand lasting. Thereiore reflectio iiseis, advancingi regularorder, and weighing everything, leadsis to that excellent an lsurpassing good, on account of hicli e re orn. An is

cus the immortalit of the foui ought to have understood that virtus is set besore usis this account, that, lusis haring been subdued, and the destre of earthi things Vercome, our ovis, pure and Victorious, marreturn to God that is to thei originalsource For it is o this account that, alon os livingcreatures are aised to the sight of the heaven that e may bolievo that our chie good is in the ighest place There re malone receis religion that, mayano from his ource that the spirit os mau is no mortal, sincerit long for and achnowledges God, horis immortal. Therelare, o ali in philosophers, thos Who have embracedoither knowledge or virtuo a the hie good, avo kopi theway o truth, but have no arrive a perfection. For theseare the two things,hic together misera this,hic is foughtior. nowle e causeam to kno by What means andri Whatend we must attain virtve causes us to attain to it Tho onewithout the ther is o no avail; for hom knowledge arises viriue, and hom virtuerilis chie good is produced. Therofore

happyclite, hic philosophers have alWay sought, an still

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Boocui. TNE DIUINE INSTITUTES 165 do seeli, has no existenco iste in the worshimo the od orin philosophy and on this account the were unablerio findrit,

vicem virtve only, e live in ali labour an miseries, hicharo the means o exercisin and strengthening virtus ii, in ahori, eaee to that rugged and dissiculi path whicli has beenopene forma to happineas. The hie good theresore Whichmines me hapta cannot exist unlescit be in that religion and doctrine to hic is annexed the hopem immortali . CHAP. XIII. Oftha immortality of the oul, and of Adoni, philosophy, and eloquenoe. The subjeci seem to require in this place that since Wo havetauot that immortaliuris the chiei good me should prove thisalso that tho ou is immortal on hic subject there is great disputation among philosophera nor have the who helduue opinion respecting the foui been abierio explain or proveanything for, being destitutem divinelnoMedge, therneitherbrought forwar true arguments by hic the might ovem come nor evidenco by hicli the might convince But moahal treat of this question more conveniently in tho las book,

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166 LACTANTIUS. Boo III. When o hal have to discus the subjectis a apy lise. Thero remain that thir partis philosophy, hicli the callLogic in hicli the whole subjectis dialectic and the wholemethod os speining are contained. Divine learning does notatan in med of this, ecauso the seat os isdom is no thelangue, but in heari and it massis differencs what hindo language ou emptori for the question is not about ords, but facta. An me are no disputin about in grammariano tho orator, hos knowledge is concerne mit the propermanne of spmhing, but about the is man, hos learningis concerne Wit tho right manner o living. ut is that system os natural philosophyaesore mentioned is no necessarn nor his os logic because the are not able in rander a mantapy, it remaius that he hole force of philosoplinis containe in tho ethica part alone, to hicli Socrates is sal totavo applied hisseis layin aside the thera. An sine Ιhave inown that philosopher erred in this part also, ho didno gras in chie good, o si sine of gaining hic moare bom it appears that philosopli is altogether falso indemptri sinceri do mo prepare us for the duties os justice, nor strengae in obligations an aetile cours of man' lito. Let themano' therasore, that the are in error ho imagine that philosophyris isdom; tot them notae dra n aWay by the authorium an ono; ut athli let them incline to tho truth, an approach it There is no mom for rastines here memus enduro the punishment of ur follyrio ali terni , U. inali oraeceived either is an empi character oris false opinion But man, suci acheris, ita trusis in himself, thatis, is he trusis in man is no to a laolisti, in that hora sno se his is error undoubtedi arrogant, in venturin toeliam sor himself that hicli tho condition os man does notadmit os. An hominuta that greatest author os in Roman language

Therocia a memorabie stor relate is ecclesiastica historiana, a ut Ver eleve disputant, hos sophiatries ouae notis ansuere is his fello.-disputanta, but mas completetraile ed by the imple ana eraes a Christian otheruia unknown. When questione a ut hi auddenailance, the sophia replied inat othera exina in mordario morda, Mahatinis simplo Christiandought Wit virtve. There semcto M a resereno to a passage of Terenoe in Whio thopoet representa it a the properi os manno ere.

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i any one censures the destre of this Udo no indeed unde stand what there is hic he imagines pratwwortis. For Uonjoyment of the in and res iram cares is ouot, halenjument an e compare With the pureuits of thoso hoare alWays inquiring into omething hicli has reserenco toand tend to promote a good an happydiso Orci an a municis ahen o consistenc an virtve, ister his is hostud, is hic κε may attain them, or there is non at all. say that there is no system in connectio mith in greatest subjecis, he non of the leas is Without a system, is hopar of men speahing inconsiderately, and erring in the greatest subjecta. ut is there is any disciplineis viriue, here hallitae fought When o havo departed frem stat hind of lear ing Τ' For myiwn pari, although Pendeavo ed is attain inmme degre to the means o acquirinclearning on account of in desis to Mach thera, et Phave neve been eloquent, im muta asa neve even engaged in public speining but thegoodnes of the causo cannot fallis itselia mae me eloquent, and for it clear and copion defenco theano ledgem divini and tho truth itfel aro sussicient. I could wish, theresore, that Cicero might for arahor time rise hom theraead that a mano suci consummate eloquene might o tauo is an insignificant person hocis devoid o eloquence, fimi, ha that is

.hie is dismed mortii os prais by him ho lames that stud .hic is calle philosophy an in the ex place thali is no that stud by hicli virtve and justice are learned, nor an other, Ma thought and lastly that since therocis a disciplineis virtus, he mightae taught Where it is inae sono .hen o have laidisside that hin o learning, hic he did

Cicero, de metis, i 2. denotea ainv method, or vatem. The moestia applied both totheoreticalano linge and practica1 iniit.

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168 LACTANTIUS. Boo m. though he wem confident that no answer could e give tostio that philosoplis a not the instructres of virtve Andin tho Tuscula disputationsae opent prosesse this, turning his Mech to philosophy, a though he were hoWing himselfo is a declamator stylo os speising. philosophy, thouguid o lita,' ho sus thou investigator of Viriue, and expelleris vices soliat could not oesy we,aut the lis of men, have effecto at ali ithout theos Thou has beo tho inventoris iam thou in Dacheri morais and discipline; '-asthough, indeed sh could perceive anythiniis herself, and homere not ather in e praue Who me her. In the samo manne ho might have ive thanks to ood and rinh, be- cause Without these lis could no exist; et these, hile theyminister o sense, consermo benefit But a thes things aretho nourishment of the body so isdom is of the foui. CHAP. XIV.-That Lucretius an others have erred, and Cisero

himset , in fring the originis .is m.

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been discovered by man. ut he Vae pardone as a poet. But stat fame accompliine orator, that fame consummate philosopher, also censures the Greehs, hos levit he alWaysaccuses, and et imitates Wisdom itself, hic at ono timoli calis horaiit, at another timo the inventionis the god' hos hion aster the anne of the poeta, and presses on accounto ita beau . e also grievousi complain stat there have been som Who disparaged it an any one, a says, Haro

old ago and deat betore they have determinedipo theaefit-ting cours of life of ha truth an ou holdier sortii asan explores since o osten testis that in s great a multu tud o philosophers, no a single is man has et existed. What, then, did that mistros o lite eac Duq ascit toassai Wit reproachea the mos ponersu consul, and by yo Envenomed spe hos to render him the ne is his count But letis para by thos things, hic may be excused under the nam os fortune. applied ourself, in truth, to tho

mo allusion icto sis punishment of parricides, ho mere ae in into abag With an ape, a serpent, and a coch, and thua thro cinio the aea. Il any one has a machinae M a learner.'' Mareua Antoni , - - consul mit C. Caeaar in the ear honcamar a Manasinated. t ma against Antonius stat Cicero roto thosea echea tuli ot invectives, inita, in imitation es Demoathenea, he named

Philippica.

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1N LACTANTIUS. Boo III. stud os philosophy, and so, indeed statis one ver applied himself mors diligently since o mero acquainted mit allthe system o philosophy, as ou Ourseis are accustomed toboast, and lucidate in subject irael in Latin writings, and displayed yὀurses as an imitator o Plato Tellius, there ore, What ou have learned, or in hat sectoo have dis vered thetreth. Doubiles it mas in the Academ which o sollowod an approved. ut his leaches nothing, excepting that ou

as membersi a communi .

not What error possesses us, or deplorable ignorance of the truth.

Where then, icth guidance of philosophyri or hat has that parent of lite tauot Du is yo ars deplorabi ignorant of the

truth ut is this confessionis error and ignorance has been extorte almos against our Will Domaour innermos Meast,

Thiasolacia diac sed is Cicero in his Academic queationa.