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Lactantius
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Introductory Notice To Lactantius.
[1227] [Quæ, nisi in metu cohibetur.]
[1228] [Assiduis verberibus. This might be rendered “careful punishments.”]
[1229] [Quod ignorantes Deum facere non possunt. In a later age Lactantius might have been charged with Semi-Pelagianism, many of his expressions about human nature being unstudied. But I note this passage, as, like many others, proving that he recognizes the need of divine grace.]
[1230] C. 12.
[1231] Cœlum potius quàm cœlata. There appears to be an allusion to the supposed derivation of “cœlum” from “cœlando.”
[1232] [Intermicantibus astrorum luminibus. It does not seem to me that the learned translator does full justice here to our author’s idea. “Adorned with the twinkling lights of the stars” would be an admissible rendering.]
[1233] [It is unbecoming for a Christian, unless as an officer of the law or a minister of mercy, to be a spectator of any execution of criminals. Blessed growth of Christian morals.]
[1234] Dissipari. [A very graphic description of the brutal shows of the arena, which were abolished by the first Christian emperor, perhaps influenced by these very pages.]
[1235] Lactrocinari.
[1236] i.e., without reference to the manner in which death is inflicted. [Lactantius goes further here than the Scriptures seem to warrant, if more than private warfare be in his mind. The influence of Tertullian is visible here. See Elucidation II. p. 76, and cap. xi. p. 99, vol. iii., this series.]
[1237] [Sanctum animal. See p. 56, supra. But the primal law on this very subject contains a sanction which our author seems to forget. Because he is an animal of such sacred dignity, therefore “whoso sheddeth man’s blood,” etc. (Gen. ix. 6). The impunity of Cain had led to bloodshed (Gen. vi. 11), to which as a necessary remedy this sanction was prescribed.]
[1238] Oblidere.
[1239] They thought it less criminal to expose children than to strangle them.
[1240] Sanguinem suum.
[1241] i.e., by exposing them, that others may through compassion bring then up.
[1242] Ab uxoris congressione.
[1243] i.e., at the shows of gladiators.
[1244] [How seriously this warning should be considered in our days, when American theatricals have become so generally licentious beyond all bounds, I beg permission to suggest. See Elucidation I. p. 595, vol. v.; also Ibid., pp. 277, 575, this series.]
[1245] Cothurnata scelera.
[1246] Mentiuntur.
[1247] The mimus was a species of dramatic representation, containing scenes from common life, which were expressed by gesture and mimicry more than by dialogue.
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