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User:G.W./On the Deaths of the Persecutors

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On the Deaths of the Persecutors (Latin: De Mortibus Persecutorum) is a pamphlet written by the Christian author Lactantius. It concerns itself primarily with the authors of the early fourth-century Great Persecution—Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, Severus and Maximinus—and God's judgment on them.

Content

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Lactantius dedicates the work to Donatus, a Christian who had been tortured nine times under three magistrates: the praetorian prefect Flaccinus, Sossianus Hierocles, and Priscillianus, successive governors of Bithynia.[notes 1] After torture, Donatus remained in prison until freed under the terms of Galerius' edict of toleration in spring 311.[2] Lactantius addresses Donatus in the opening passage of the work: The Lord has heard your prayers and the prayers of your brethren.[3] For God has made new emperors rise up to enforce His justice, and destroyed the men who insulted and blasphemed Him;[4] the churches destroyed by the persecutors' wrath have been rebuilt, stronger than before, and peace and tranquility reign again.[5] Thus God has taught a lesson to humanity: that there is but one God, who will, in time, judge all.[6] So that, Lactantius writes, his audience should learn these lessons, he will relate in narrative form God's judgment on the persecutors.[7]

Lactantius begins his account with a brief survey of the fates of earlier persecutors, including Nero, Domitian, Decius, Valerian, and Aurelian (de Mortibus 2–5). Following this, he moves on to his contemporaries, and offers a polemical description of their character, family, and policies of Diocletian, Galerius, and Maximian (de Mortibus 7–11). He describes the events and edicts constituting the Great Persecution (de Mortibus 12–16, 21–22) combined with a political history of the period: the last years of rule and retirements of Diocletian and Maximian, the accession and character of their successors (de Mortibus 17–20), Constantine's flight from Nicomedia and accession to the imperial college (de Mortibus 24–25), the rebellion of Maxentius (de Mortbius 26–27), Maximian's failed attempts to claim the imperial title and execution under Constantine (de Mortibus 28–30)...

...to de Mortibus 52.

Manuscript

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The text of On the Deaths survives in a single eleventh-century manuscript, the Codex Paris. 2627 (ol. Colbertinus 1297).[8]

Notes

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  1. ^ Flaccinus and Priscillianus are otherwise unknown.[1]

Citations

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  1. ^ Barnes, "Lactantius and Constantine", 30 n. 7.
  2. ^ Barnes, "Lactantius and Constantine", 30.
  3. ^ Lactantius, de Mortibus 1.1; Barnes, "Lactantius and Constantine", 30.
  4. ^ Lactantius, de Mortibus 1.3, 1.5; Barnes, "Lactantius and Constantine", 30.
  5. ^ Lactantius, de Mortibus 1.3, 1.5; Barnes, "Lactantius and Constantine", 30.
  6. ^ Lactantius, de Mortibus 1.7; Barnes, "Lactantius and Constantine", 30.
  7. ^ Lactantius, de Mortibus 1.8; Barnes, "Lactantius and Constantine", 30.
  8. ^ Quasten 2.401.

Bibliography

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Ancient sources

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  • Eusebius of Caesarea.
  • Historia Ecclesiastica (Church History) first seven books ca. 300, eighth and ninth book ca. 313, tenth book ca. 315, epilogue ca. 325.
  • Migne, J.P., ed. Eusebiou tou Pamphilou, episkopou tes en Palaistine Kaisareias ta euriskomena panta (in Greek). Patrologia Graeca 19–24. Paris, 1857. Online at Khazar Skeptik and Documenta Catholica Omnia. Accessed 4 November 2009.
  • McGiffert, Arthur Cushman, trans. Church History. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 28 September 2009.
  • Williamson, G.A., trans. Church History. London: Penguin, 1989.
  • Laudes Constantini (In Praise of Constantine) 335.
  • Migne, J.P., ed. Eusebiou tou Pamphilou, episkopou tes en Palaistine Kaisareias ta euriskomena panta (in Greek). Patrologia Graeca 19–24. Paris, 1857. Online at Khazar Skeptik. Accessed 4 November 2009.
  • Richardson, Ernest Cushing, trans. Oration in Praise of Constantine. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 19 October 2009.
  • Vita Constantini (The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine) ca. 336–39.
  • Migne, J.P., ed. Eusebiou tou Pamphilou, episkopou tes en Palaistine Kaisareias ta euriskomena panta (in Greek). Patrologia Graeca 19–24. Paris, 1857. Online at Khazar Skeptik. Accessed 4 November 2009.
  • Richardson, Ernest Cushing, trans. Life of Constantine. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 9 June 2009.
  • Jerome.
  • Chronicon (Chronicle) ca. 380.
  • Fotheringham, John Knight, ed. The Bodleian Manuscript of Jerome's Version of the Chronicle of Eusebius. Oxford: Clarendon, 1905. Online at the Internet Archive. Accessed 8 October 2009.
  • Pearse, Roger, et al., trans. The Chronicle of St. Jerome, in Early Church Fathers: Additional Texts. Tertullian, 2005. Online at Tertullian. Accessed 14 August 2009.
  • de Viris Illustribus (On Illustrious Men) 392.
  • Herding, W., ed. De Viris Illustribus (in Latin). Leipzig: Teubner, 1879. Online at Google Books. Accessed 6 October 2009.
  • Liber de viris inlustribus (in Latin). Texte und Untersuchungen 14. Leipzig, 1896.
  • Richardson, Ernest Cushing, trans. De Viris Illustribus (On Illustrious Men). From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 3. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1892. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 15 August 2009.
  • Epistulae (Letters).
  • Fremantle, W.H., G. Lewis and W.G. Martley, trans. Letters. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 19 October 2009.
  • Lactantius.
  • Divinae Institutiones (Divine Institutes).
  • Brandt, Samuel and Georg Laubmann, eds. L. Caeli Firmiani Lactanti Opera Omnia vol. 1 (in Latin). Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 19. Vienna: F. Tempsky, 1890. Online at the Internet Archive. Accessed 30 January 2010.
  • Fletcher, William, trans. The Divine Institutes. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 30 January 2010.
  • De Mortibus Persecutorum (On the Deaths of the Persecutors).
  • Brandt, Samuel and Georg Laubmann, eds. L. Caeli Firmiani Lactanti Opera Omnia vol. 2.2 (in Latin). Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 27.2. Vienna: F. Tempsky, 1897. Online at the Internet Archive. Accessed 30 January 2010.
  • Unknown ed. Lucii Caecilii Liber ad Donatum Confessorem de Mortibus Persecutorum. Online at the Latin Library. Accessed 31 January 2010.
  • Fletcher, William, trans. The Divine Institutes. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online at New Advent and CCEL. Accessed 30 January 2010.
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