Lactantius

Footnotes

^[141] Horat., 1 Serm. 8. 1.

^[142] The wood of the fig-tree is proverbially used to denote that which is worthless and contemptible.

^[143] The Georgics, which are much more elaborately finished than the other works of Virgil.

^[144] Priapus was especially worshipped at Lampsacus on the Hellespont; hence he is styled Hellespontiacus.

^[145] Compositum jus, fasque animi. Compositum jus is explained as “the written and ordained laws of men;” fas, “divine and sacred law.” Others read animo, “human and divine law settled in the mind.”

^[146] Persius, Sat., ii. 73.

^[147] Pupæ, dolls or images worn by girls, as bullæ were by boys. On arriving at maturity, they dedicated these images to Venus. See Jahn’s note on the passage from Persius.

^[148] The allusion is to the proverb that “old age is second childhood.”

^[149] An allusion to Ps. cxv. 5: “They have mouths, but they speak not.”

^[150] Quæ tam non habent qui accipiunt, quam qui illa donarunt. The senseless images can make no use of the treasures.

^[151] Justin relates that Græcia Magna, a part of Italy, was subdued by Dionysius. Cicero says that he sailed to Peloponnesus, and entered the temple of the Olympian Jupiter. [De Nat. Deor., iii. 34.]

^[152] Sigilla. The word is also used to denote seals, or signets.

^[153] Equuleus: an instrument of torture resembling a horse, on which slaves were stretched and tortured.

^[154] Nihil esse [= are nothing.]

^[155] The allusion is to the efforts made by the partisans of Verres to prevent Cicero from obtaining the necessary evidence for the condemnation of Verres. But all these efforts were unavailing: the evidence was overwhelming, and before the trial was over Verres went into exile.

Chap. V.—that god only, the creator of all things, is to be worshipped, and not the elements or heavenly bodies; and the opinion of the stoics is refuted, who think that the stars and planets are gods.

^[156] Ps. cxlviii. 6: “He hath established them for ever and ever.”

^[157] Ovid, Metam., lib. i. [79. Jussit et extendi campos, etc.].

^[158] Ovid, Metam., lib. i. [79. Jussit et extendi campos, etc.].

^[159] [De Nat. Deor., ii. cap. 21.]

^[160] Exorbitare, “to wander from their orbits.”

^[161] Deserviunt, “they are devoted to.”

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