Lactantius

Footnotes

^[846] Acerbitates et amaritudines.

^[847] The word “corona” denotes a “crown,” and also, as here, a “ring” of persons standing around. The play on the word cannot be kept up in English. [Thus “corona tibi et judices defuerunt.” Cicero, Nat. Deor., ii. 1. So Ignatius, στέφανον του̑ πρεσβυτερίου = corona presbyterii, vol. i. p. 64, this series."]

^[848] Præsentibus.

^[849] The cross was the usual punishment of slaves.

^[850] Integrum.

^[851] A weak and senseless reason. The true cause is given by St. John xix. 36: “These things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of Him shall not be broken.” [The previous question, however, remains: Why was the Paschal lamb to be of unbroken bones, and why the special providence that fulfilled the type? Doubtless He who raised up His body could have restored it, had the bones also been broken; but the preciousness of Christ’s body was thus indicated as in the new tomb, the fine linen and spices, and the ministry of “the rich in his death, because He had done no violence,” etc.—Isa. liii. 9.]

^[852] The sign of the cross used in baptism.

^[853] The account, Ex. xii., makes no mention of colour. “Without spot” is equivalent to “without blemish.” [But the whiteness implied. “Without spot” excludes “the ring-streaked and speckled,” and a black lamb a fortiori — 1 Pet. i. 19. “Without spot” settles the case. Isa. i. 18 proves that the normal wool is white.]

^[854] Significatio.

^[855] ὰπο του̑ πάσχειν, “from suffering” The word “pascha” is not derived from Greek, as Lactantius supposes, but from the Hebrew “pasach,” to pass over.

^[856] [See book vii., and the Epitome, cap. li., infra.]

Chap. XXVII.—Of the Wonders Effected by the Power of the Cross, and of Demons.

^[857] Litant, a word peculiar to the soothsayers, used when the sacrifices are auspicious.

^[858] Virg., Georg., iii. 491.

^[859] Nostri, i.e., Christians.

^[860] Depingere; to make observations on the entrails of the victims, so as to foretell future events.

^[861] Prosecrârant. Others read “prosecârant,” a sacrificial word, properly denoting the setting apart some of the victim for offering to the gods.

^[862] Præsentibus pœnis, “on the spot.”

^[863] i.e., the sign of the cross, with which the early Christians frequently marked themselves. [So long as Christians were mocked and despised as followers of a crucified one, there was a silent testimony and bold confession in this act which must be wholly separated from the mere superstition of degenerate Christians. It used to mean just what the Apostle says, Gal. vi. 14. In this sense it is retained among Anglicans.]

^[864] [See vol. iii. pp. 37, 176, 180, and iv. 189–190.]

^[865] [The cessation of oracles is attested by Plutarch. See also Tertullian, vol. iii. p. 38, this series, and Minucius, vol. iv. p. 190. Demonology needs further exposition, for Scripture is express in its confirmation of patristic views of the subject.]

^[866] There is probably a reference to Iliad, i. 221, where Athene is represented as going to Olympus:—

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