PL 6 · cols. 731–734

Scultetus, Analysis libri septimi, De vita beata

Editors' preface

ANALYSIS LIBRI SEPTIMI, DE VITA BEATA.

ANALYSIS OF THE SEVENTH BOOK, ON THE BLESSED LIFE.

Partes libri septimi novem sunt:

The parts of the seventh book are nine:

Prima indagat summum bonum, sive praemium virtutis, a cap. 1 usque ad 7, idque immortalitatem esse statuit.

The first inquires into the highest good, or the reward of virtue, from chapter 1 up to 7, and establishes that it is immortality.

Secunda de immortalitate animae disserit, a c. 7 usque ad 14.

The second discourses on the immortality of the soul, from chapter 7 up to 14.

Tertia docet, quatenus homini tribuatur beatitas, cap. 14.

The third teaches how far blessedness is granted to man, chapter 14.

Quarta docet de tempore, quando ei tribuatur: ubi disserit de fine mundi, et signis antecedentibus, tum remotioribus, tum propioribus (Cap. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19).

The fourth teaches about the time when it is granted to him: there it discourses on the end of the world and the signs that precede it, both the more remote and the nearer (Chapters 15, 16, 17, 18, 19).

Quinta agit de judicio novissimo (Cap. 20, 21, 22, 23).

The fifth treats of the Last Judgement (Chapters 20, 21, 22, 23).

Sexta agit de imperio christianorum in terra per mille annos (Cap. 24).

The sixth treats of the reign of the Christians on earth for a thousand years (Chapter 24).

Septima rursum de tempore finis mundi, et quidem specialius disserit (Cap. 25).

The seventh discourses again on the time of the end of the world, and indeed more specifically (Chapter 25).

Octava docet quid, exactis mille annis, futurum sit (Cap. 26).

The eighth teaches what will be when the thousand years have been completed (Chapter 26).

Quibus omnibus subjicitur generalis totius operis conclusio, quae nona hujus libri pars est.

To all these is appended the general conclusion of the whole work, which is the ninth part of this book.

Summam PRIMAE PARTIS Lactantius ipse colligit sub initium capitis sexti. Idcirco, inquit, mundus factus est, ut nascamur: ideo nascimur, ut agnoscamus factorem mundi ac nostri Deum: ideo agnoscimus, ut colamus: ideo colimus, ut immortalitatem pro laborum mercede capiamus: ideo praemio immortalitatis afficimur, ut similes angelis effecti, summo Patri in perpetuum serviamus. Hanc summam esse dicit theologiae, quam philosophi non comprehenderunt, licet quaelibet secta aliquid viderit. Summum igitur bonum immortalitas statuitur.

Lactantius himself gathers up the sum of the FIRST PART near the beginning of the sixth chapter. For this reason, he says, the world was made, that we might be born; we are born for this, that we might acknowledge God, the Maker of the world and of ourselves; we acknowledge Him for this, that we might worship Him; we worship Him for this, that we might receive immortality as the wage of our labours; we are endowed with the reward of immortality for this, that, made like the angels, we might serve the highest Father for ever. This, he says, is the sum of theology, which the philosophers did not grasp, although each sect saw something of it. Immortality, therefore, is established as the highest good.

ALTERA parte immortalitas animae defenditur negarunt, quam philosophorum alii asseruerunt, alii (cap. 8). Argumentis utitur subsequentibus.

In the SECOND part the immortality of the soul is defended, which some of the philosophers asserted and others denied (chapter 8). He uses the following arguments.

I. Si dii sunt expertes corporum, necesse est humanas animas eadem ratione subsistere.

I. If the gods are without bodies, human souls must subsist on the same principle.

II. Aeternitas animae ex eo dignoscitur, quia nullum

II. The eternity of the soul is recognized from this, that there is no

Editors' notes and page, col. 731

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est aliud animal, quod habeat notitiam Dei.

other animal that has knowledge of God.

III. Homo solus coelesti elemento utitur, igni scilicet, elemento lucis et vitae. Igitur immortalem sortitus est conditionem.

III. Man alone makes use of the heavenly element, namely fire, the element of light and of life. Therefore he has been allotted an immortal condition.

IV. Virtus soli homini data nocet praesenti vitae; proderit igitur vitae futurae (Cap. 9).

IV. Virtue, given to man alone, is harmful to the present life; therefore it will profit the life to come (Chapter 9).

V. Ipsa virtutis perpetuitas indicat humanum animum, si virtutem ceperit, permanere.

V. The very perpetuity of virtue shows that the human mind, if it has taken hold of virtue, endures.

VI. Cicero ipse in Tusculanis sensit summum homini bonum non nisi post mortem contingere (Cap. 10).

VI. Cicero himself, in the Tusculans, held that the highest good befalls man only after death (Chapter 10).

VII. Sicut Deus sempiternus est: sic et bona, quae piis tribuit.

VII. As God is everlasting, so too are the goods which He grants to the godly.

VIII. Ut corporis opera ideo mortalia sunt, quia ipsum mortale est: ita anima ex eo immortalis apparet, quia videmus opera ejus non esse mortalia.

VIII. As the works of the body are mortal because the body itself is mortal, so the soul appears immortal from this, that we see its works are not mortal.

IX. Animus desiderat non fragilia, sed aeterna; credibile est igitur, ipsum quoque esse aeternum.

IX. The mind desires not frail things but eternal ones; it is credible, therefore, that it too is eternal.

X. Si ideo mortale est corpus, quia visui pariter et tactui subjacet; ergo et anima idicirco immortalis est, quia nec tangi potest, nec videri (Cap. 11).

X. If the body is mortal because it is subject alike to sight and to touch, then the soul is for that reason immortal, because it can be neither touched nor seen (Chapter 11).

Objicit Lucretius lib. III, animam cum corpore nasci: ergo et interire.

Lucretius objects, book III, that the soul is born with the body, and therefore also perishes.

Respon.—Non est par utriusque ratio, quia corpus ex terra, anima ex coelesti spiritu constat. Immo nec corpus post secessum animae statim diffluit; manet igitur multo magis anima.

Reply.—The case of the two is not alike, since the body consists of earth, the soul of heavenly spirit. Indeed, not even the body dissolves at once after the departure of the soul; much more, therefore, does the soul remain.

Objicit idem: Sensus in pueris et in juvenibus viget, et in senibus diminuitur: ergo anima est mortalis.

The same man objects: Sense is vigorous in children and in the young, and is diminished in the old; therefore the soul is mortal.

Respon.—Differunt mens et anima. Illa augetur, vel minuitur pro aetate; haec in statu suo semper est.

Reply.—The mind and the soul differ. The former is increased or diminished according to age; the latter is always in its own state.

Objicit: Animam dolori et luctui esse obnoxiam; igitur et mortalitati.

He objects that the soul is liable to pain and grief, and therefore to mortality also.

Respon.—Idcirco virtus necessaria est, ut moeror repellatur, et voluptas abstinentia superetur.

Reply.—For that reason virtue is necessary, that grief may be driven back and pleasure overcome by abstinence.

Objicit: Oculum evulsum a corpore nihil videre; igitur et animam separatam nihil sentire.

He objects that an eye torn from the body sees nothing; therefore the soul, too, when separated, perceives nothing.

Respon.—Dissimilitudo est. Anima enim non pars

Reply.—There is a dissimilarity. For the soul is not a part

Editors' notes and page, col. 732

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misprints kept as printed: "idicirco" (item X; for idcirco) (Q3)

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corporis est. sed in corpore (Cap. 12).

of the body, but in the body (Chap. 12).

Reliquae objectiones non sunt magni momenti, ideoque hic omissae.

The remaining objections are not of great moment, and have therefore been omitted here.

XI. Hermes quoque et Sibyllina carmina immortalitatem animae docuerunt (Cap. 13).

XI. Hermes also and the Sibylline verses taught the immortality of the soul (Chap. 13).

TERTIA parte libri docet, quatenus homini immortalitas tribuatur; aitque solam justitiam esse, quae vitam homini pariat aeternam, et solum Deum, qui aeternae vitae praemium largiatur. Qui autem suis meritis immortales facti esse dicuntur, quia vera justitia caruerint, non immortalitatem sibi, sed mortem peccatis quaesivisse.

In the third part of the book he teaches how far immortality is granted to man; and he says that it is justice alone which brings forth eternal life for man, and God alone Who bestows the reward of eternal life. Those, however, who are said to have been made immortal by their own merits, since they lacked true justice, sought for themselves by their sins not immortality but death.

QUARTA parte disserit de fine mundi, et finis illius signis.

In the fourth part he discourses on the end of the world, and on the signs of that end.

De fine audacter pronuntiat, expletis sex mille annis consummationem futuram; quia sex dierum spatio omnia Deus condiderit et perfecerit (Cap. 14).

Concerning the end he boldly declares that the consummation will come when six thousand years have been completed, because God founded and finished all things in the space of six days (Chap. 14).

Signa antecedentia, tum remotiora, tum proximiora enumerat.

He enumerates the preceding signs, both the more remote and the nearer.

Remotiora: summam hominum impietatem, et romani imperii destructionem (Cap. 15). Atque hic miras conjecturas Lactantii legere est, de tempore et modo destructionis imperii romani, per totum cap. 16, 17 et 18.

The more remote: the utmost impiety of men, and the destruction of the Roman empire (Chap. 15). And here one may read remarkable conjectures of Lactantius on the time and manner of the destruction of the Roman empire, throughout chaps. 16, 17 and 18.

Proximiora signa haec recenset: casurum dicit gladium e coelo, et Christum descensurum comitantibus angelis in medium terrae, et virtutem Angelorum in manus justorum tradituram reprobos (Cap. 19).

The nearer signs he reviews thus: he says that a sword will fall from heaven, and that Christ will descend, with angels accompanying Him, into the midst of the earth, and that the power of the Angels will deliver the reprobate into the hands of the just (Chap. 19).

QUINTA parte agit de judicio novissimo, cujus formam breviter describens, judicabuntur, inquit, qui Deum scierunt, et facinora eorum, id est, mala opera cum bonis collata ponderabuntur: ut si plura et graviora fuerint bona, justificentur ad vitam beatam; si autem mala superaverint, condemnentur ad poenam. Hoc loco quaestionem illam discutit: Quomodo anima affligatur, quae est immortalis. Ac

In the fifth part he treats of the last judgement, and, briefly describing its form, those will be judged, he says, who have known God, and their deeds, that is, their evil works set against their good ones, will be weighed: so that if the good have been more numerous and weightier, they are justified to the blessed life; but if the evil have prevailed, they are condemned to punishment. In this place he discusses that question: how the soul is afflicted, which is immortal. And

Stoicos quidem impiorum animas mediam quamdam inter immortalem mortalemque naturam gerere, scribit asseverare (Cap. 20). Ipse autem potestatem Dei advocat, quae incorporalia etiam comprehendat, et quemadmodum velit, afficiat. Deinde modum afflictionis exponens, ignis divinus, inquit, una eademque vi cremabit impios et recreabit; et quantum à corporibus absumet, tantum r⟨e⟩ponet, ac sibi ipse aeternum pabulum subministrabit. Sed et justos cum judicaverit, etiam igni eos examinabit. Tum quorum peccata, vel pondere, vel numero praevaluerint, perstringentur igni, atque amburentur. Quos autem plena justitia incoxerit, ignem illum non sentient (Cap. 21). Addit his Lactantius, quae poetae de novissimo judicio, quaeque philosophi de resurrectione scripserunt (Cap. 22, 23).

He writes that the Stoics assert that the souls of the impious bear a certain nature midway between the immortal and the mortal (Ch. 20). He himself, however, calls upon the power of God, which can lay hold even of incorporeal things and affect them as He wills. Then, setting forth the manner of the affliction, the divine fire, he says, will with one and the same force burn the impious and restore them; and as much as it consumes from their bodies, so much will it replace, and it will supply itself with eternal fuel. But when He has judged the just as well, He will also test them by fire. Then those whose sins have prevailed, either in weight or in number, will be grazed by the fire and scorched. But those whom full justice has thoroughly ripened will not feel that fire (Ch. 21). To these things Lactantius adds what the poets have written about the last judgement, and what the philosophers have written about the resurrection (Ch. 22, 23).

SEXTA parte, Chiliastarum somnium secutus, docet Christum mille annis inter homines versaturum, eosque justissimo imperio gubernaturum (Cap. 24).

In the sixth part, following the dream of the Chiliasts, he teaches that Christ will dwell among men for a thousand years and will govern them with a most just rule (Ch. 24).

SEPTIMA parte specialius definit tempus finis mundi. Omnis exspectatio, inquit, non amplius quam ducentorum videtur annorum (Cap. 25).

In the seventh part he defines more specifically the time of the end of the world. All expectation, he says, seems to be of no more than two hundred years (Ch. 25).

OCTAVA, quid, exactis mille annis, futurum sit, enarrat. Renovabitur mundus, inquit, a Deo, et coelum complicabitur, et terra mutabitur, et transformabit Deus homines in similitudinem angelorum, et erunt candidi, sicut nix, et versabuntur semper in conspectu Omnipotentis, et Domino suo sacrificabunt, et servient in aeternum. Eodem tempore fiet secunda illa et publica omnium resurrectio, in qua excitabuntur injusti ad cruciatus sempiternos (Cap. 26).

The eighth relates what will happen when the thousand years are completed. The world, he says, will be renewed by God, and the heaven will be folded up, and the earth will be changed, and God will transform men into the likeness of angels, and they will be white as snow, and will always dwell in the sight of the Almighty, and will sacrifice to their Lord, and will serve for ever. At the same time there will take place that second and public resurrection of all, in which the unjust will be raised up to everlasting torments (Ch. 26).

CONCLUSIO totius operis sequitur, qua gratulatur Ecclesiae de pace per Constantinum facta; et universos ac singulos hortatur, ut abjectis deorum cultibus, Deo vero se dedant, atque ita poenas venturas effugiant. SCULTETUS.

The conclusion of the whole work follows, in which he congratulates the Church on the peace brought about through Constantine; and he exhorts all and each that, casting away the worship of the gods, they should devote themselves to the true God, and so escape the punishments to come. SCULTETUS.

Editors' notes and page, col. 733

Footnotes

(printed under page 380)

(1) ‹anchor: De Vita beata (title)› · call in col 733

De Vita beata. In cap. 5, et in vet. edit. Rom. et in manuscriptis, titulus hujus septimi libri est de Vita beata, praeter 1 Colbert., 2 Reg. in quibus est de praemio virtutis: in plerisque editis est de divino praemio et ultimo futuro judicio. Priorem lectionem tuetur cap. 1, in quo legitur, divinum praemium beatitudinis perpetuae; posteriorem, caput 2 superest ut de judicio Dei disseramus, etc., cap. 15. Prudenter monet Thomasius, in hoc septimo libro Lactantii multos esse errores, partim a philosophis, iisque Platonicis, partim ab Origene desumptos; nam et iidem in antiquis libris reperiuntur. Hoc igitur monere sufficiat initio libri.

On the Happy Life. In chapter 5, in the old Roman edition, and in the manuscripts, the title of this seventh book is "On the Happy Life", except in 1 Colbert. and 2 Reg., which have "On the Reward of Virtue"; most printed editions have "On the Divine Reward and the Last, Future Judgement". The former reading is supported by chapter 1, where we read "the divine reward of everlasting blessedness"; the latter by chapter 2, "it remains that we discuss the judgement of God", etc., chapter 15. Thomasius wisely warns that in this seventh book of Lactantius there are many errors, taken partly from the philosophers (and those the Platonists), partly from Origen; for the same are found in the ancient books. Let it suffice, then, to give this warning at the start of the book.

(printed under page 380)

(2) ‹anchor: Bene habet: jacta sunt fundamenta› · call in col 733

Bene habet: jacta sunt fundamenta. Lips. 2, 3 Reim.: Bene hactenus. Ven. 1493, 77: Bene habeat. Camerarius ad Ciceronem h. l. subaudit, bene habet se res. At Cicero et alii veteres voces se res non addunt. Seneca Herc. Fur. iv, 10, 35: Bene habet: pudendi regis excisa est domus. Oedip. v, 998: Bene habet: peractum est. BUNEMAN.

"It is well: the foundations are laid." Lips. 2 and 3 Reim. read "Well so far"; Ven. 1493 and 1477 [77] read "May it be well". Camerarius, on Cicero at this place, understands "the matter stands well" (bene habet se res). But Cicero and other ancients do not add the words se res. Seneca, Hercules Furens IV, 10, 35: "It is well: the shameful king's house is destroyed." Oedipus V, 998: "It is well: it is accomplished." Bünemann.

(printed under page 380)

(3) ‹anchor: operi perferendo› · call in col 733

Operi perferendo. Optime; fundamenta enim perferunt opus seu aedificium, non perficiunt. Itaque male immutarunt in perficiendo librarii, 5 mss. rec. et edit. Rom. 1468, 1470.

"For carrying the work." Excellently; for foundations carry the work or building, they do not complete it. So the copyists, 5 recent manuscripts, and the Roman editions of 1468 and 1470 wrongly changed it to perficiendo ("completing").

(printed under page 380)

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Editors' notes and page, col. 734

Footnotes

(4) ‹anchor: falsis religionibus› · call in col 734

Falsis religionibus. De falsis religionibus dictum est libro i et ii.

"From false religions." False religions were treated in books I and II.

(printed under page 380)

(5) ‹anchor: intelligere veram› · call in col 734

Veram. De qua Lactantius agit libro vi.

"The true one." Lactantius treats it in book VI.

(printed under page 380)

(6) ‹anchor: falsae sapientiae› · call in col 734

Falsae sapientiae. De hac agitur libro iii.

"Of false wisdom." This is treated in book III.

(printed under page 380)

(7) ‹anchor: quae sit vera› · call in col 734

Quae sit vera. Hanc docet auctor libro iv.

"What the true one is." The author teaches this in book IV.

(printed under page 380)

(8) ‹anchor: coelestem illam justitiam› · call in col 734

Coelestem justitiam. De qua vide libro v.

"Heavenly justice." On this see book V.

(printed under page 380)

(9) ‹anchor: nisi eam divinum› · call in col 734

Nisi eam. Sic restitui ex antiquioribus et potioribus mss., 2 Bonon., Regio-Put., Tax., 2 Claro… (continues)

"Unless it." I have restored this from the older and better manuscripts: 2 Bonon., Regio-Put., Tax., 2 Claro… (continues)

(printed under page 380; the last abbreviation is printed "Claro…" at the line end, its ending cut or carried to the next page, Q1)

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