Variae editiones Lactantii, cum versionibus et dissertationibus ad Lactantium

VARIOUS EDITIONS OF LACTANTIUS.

Of Lactantius Firmianus, On the Divine Institutes against the Gentiles, seven books, and also of the same, to Donatus, On the

Wrath of God, one book, together with the book On the Workmanship of Man, to Demetrianus, in folio, in the venerable monastery

at Subiaco, in the year of the Lord 1465, in the second year of the pontificate of Pope Paul II, in the 13th indiction, on the third-to-last day of the month of October. This edition is sometimes called the Roman one, which Dom Bernard de Montfaucon in his Diarium Italicum had by mistake assigned to the year 1461. It is moreover very rare. It is found at Rome in the Barberini library; at Mainz, in the literary archive of the most noble chapter of Mainz; at Paris, in the cabinet of the most distinguished Monsieur Claude de Boze, member of the Academies of France and of Inscriptions. The Greek passages in that edition are read sometimes, but not always, and it seems to have been taken from a single manuscript copy only. The title of book I is written in by hand. This edition, as being less polished, the Cambridge editor, according to some, judged to be a manuscript codex: but the CAMBRIDGE manuscript codex, of which mention is made in the preceding list, is different from the printed one.—In folio. Rome, in the house of Pietro de' Massimi, at the press of Konrad Sweynheym, in the year 1468. It is extant both in the Royal Library at Paris and in the cabinet of Monsieur de Boze. It is also extant at Rome in the library of the most eminent Cardinal Passionei.—In folio, Rome, with the preface of Andrea, Bishop of Aleria, at the press of the same Konrad Sweynheym, 1470. It is extant in the Royal Library at Paris. It differs from the earlier one of the year 1468.—In folio, Rome, 1471. Johann Ludolph Bünemann saw and collated this one. — In folio, Venice, 1472, which Gallaeus, but wrongly, judged to be the first of all. Isaeus, Heumann and Bünemann saw this one. — In folio, without place and year, but printed in Germany in a rough type, already from the very first cradle-years of the art of printing. The most eminent Cardinal Passionei has this one at Rome. Nor have I found it anywhere, neither in the libraries of the Germans nor in those of our own French. — In folio, Rome, 1474. It is extant in the Royal Library at Paris; and it was extant in the Carpzov library, from which Christoph Cellarius had obtained it. It was also extant in the Hulsius library. — In folio, Rome, 1475. Johann Albert Fabricius praises this one, which Bünemann, however, thinks is not extant. —In folio, Rostock, 1476. Heumann and Bünemann diligently collated this one. In it empty spaces have been left for the Greek.—In folio, Venice, by Joseph of Cologne and Johann Manthen of Gerresheim, 1478. This edition is fairly accurate, and in it the Greek is printed. It is extant in the library of the royal abbey of Sainte-Geneviève; and Heumann made use of it. The Hulsius catalogue, by mistake, on account of the name Joseph of Cologne, cites this one under the year 1478 as if printed at Cologne. — In folio, Venice, by Andrea de Paltasichis of Cattaro and Boninus de Boninis, 1478. It presents the Greek quotations, but in a rough type; in it the Epitome is printed. At Rome in the outstanding library of the same most eminent Cardinal Passionei; Bünemann also has this one. — In folio, Venice, by Bernardino de Benaliis, 1483. Fabricius, Mettayre and others praise this one; but Bünemann doubts that it existed.— In folio, Venice, by Theodorus de Ragazonibus of Asola, 1490 (by mistake, for 1490). Isaeus, Gallaeus, Carpzov and Cellarius had this one: the most distinguished Claude de Boze has this one. — In folio, Venice, by Vincenzo Benalio, 1493. It is extant in the library of the royal abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.—In folio, Venice, 1494, which Carpzov had. — In folio, Venice, by Simone Bevilaqua, through the care of Andrea, Bishop of Aleria, 1497. Bünemann thinks it was reproduced from the edition of 1470. — In small quarto, Paris, 1500, with the annotations of Gilles Delf.—In folio, Venice, edited by Giovanni da Tridino, 1502. I myself had this one, and had sent it to Jean le Brun in the year 1709. — In folio, Venice, edited by the same Giovanni da Tridino, 1509. Carpzov used to have this one. — In small quarto, Paris, corrected by Gilles de Maizières, 1509. He is the same who had corrected the edition of the year 1500. — In folio, Venice, revised by Janus Parrhasius, 1510. — In octavo, Antwerp 1510. — In quarto, Paris, 1511. — In folio, Venice, 1511, by Giovanni da Tridino: it is the same as the Parrhasian of 1510; it was used by Isaeus and

Gallaeus. In quarto, Paris, by Jean Petit and Nicolas des Prés, 1513, from the emendation of Aegidius Mazeriensis Delphus. To this is prefixed the title: The Charming Works of Lactantius, etc. In octavo, Florence, of the Giunti, from the emendation of Marianus Tuccius, 1513. The Royal Library has this one, and Isaeus, Gallaeus and Heumann used it. In octavo, Venice, Aldus, from the emendation of Joan. Bapt. Egnatius of Venice, 1515. In folio, Paris, 1521. In folio, Venice, which Janus Parrhasius revised, 1521. We have seen this in the Royal Library; in it the Greek passages are printed quite correctly. It is the same as the Parrhasian of the year 1510. In quarto, Basel, of Cratander, 1521. For the most part it was taken from the Aldine; nevertheless it is fairly well emended. In folio, or in quarto, Basel, of Cratander, 1523. Gallaeus said that he used this one; Bünemann, however, holds that it is the same as that of the year 1524. In quarto, Basel, of Cratander, 1524. Bünemann used this in emending Lactantius. In folio, Paris, 1525. In folio, Basel, of Cratander, 1532. The Cambridge editor used this one. Nicol. Lenglet supplied a copy of this edition to Jean le Brun. In octavo, Lyon, 1532. In octavo, Antwerp, of Joan. Graphaeus, 1532, with the notes of Erasmus on the Book on the Workmanship of God. This is the one which we once sent to Jean le Brun. Heumann had this one. In quarto, Basel, 1534. In octavo, Venice, Aldus, from the correction of Honoratus Fasitellius of Venice according to the manuscripts of Monte Cassino, 1535. Thomasius, Isaeus and Gallaeus used this one; and in its time it was the foremost edition. In octavo, Venice, Paulus Manutius, 1538. In octavo, Cologne, 1539. In octavo, Antwerp, Gymnicus, 1539. Erasmus of Rotterdam emended this one in part, whose annotations on the book on the Workmanship of God are read [in it]. In octavo, Lyon, Gryphius, from the emendation of Fasitellius, 1541: quite elegant. In octavo, Lyon, Gryphius, from the same emendation, 1543. This one is less correct. In folio, Cologne, 1544, with the notes of Desiderius Erasmus on the little book on the Workmanship of God. This one is excellent and most correct. In quarto, Basel, 1545, according to others 1546. In sixteens, Lyon, Tornesius, from the emendation of Fasitellius, 1548. An elegant and neat edition. In sixteens, Lyon, Tornesius, 1555, from the same emendation of Fasitellius. In octavo, Antwerp, 1553. This one is praised by Ellies Dupin in the Ecclesiastical Library. In octavo, Antwerp, Gymnicus, 1555, with the annotations of Erasmus on the book on the Workmanship of God. In sixteens, Lyon, of the Tornesii, 1556, from the correction of Fasitellius: quite neat. In octavo, Antwerp, 1556. In folio, Basel, from the press of Henricus Petri, 1556, where, according to Ellies Dupin and Dom Rémi Ceillier, it was printed twice. It was indeed printed in the Haeresiologia of Jo. Herold. But Claude Ceillier thinks that the same was printed separately in this very year 1556. In folio, Basel, of Henricus Petri, 1559. In sixteens, Paris, Hieronymus de Marnef, 1561, from the recension of Fasitellius; not very neat. In folio, Basel, with the commentaries of Xystus Betuleius, 1563. It is not altogether approved by the learned, although Betuleius has gathered much into them, and perhaps more than is fitting. In octavo, Paris, 1563. In sixteens, Paris, 1565. In sixteens, Lyon, of the Tornesii, 1567: quite elegant, and emended according to a manuscript which Tornesius had acquired for himself. In octavo, Antwerp, 1568. In octavo, Antwerp, of Stelsius, 1570, with the notes of Erasmus on the little book on the Workmanship of God. In octavo, Antwerp, from the Plantin press, 1570. Quite elegant, from the emendation of Michael Thomasius according to two Bologna manuscripts and seven Vatican ones. This one pleased Gronovius less, nor did it altogether please Isaeus, who observes that Thomasius applied a healing hand to some things indeed in the text of Lactantius, but left most and almost countless things completely untouched: for which reason he informs us that in the Thomasian text he emended three hundred errors and more, in order to render Lactantius purer and more complete. In octavo, Antwerp, 1579. In sixteens, Lyon, of the Tornesii, 1579, emended according to two manuscripts. In octavo, Antwerp, 1580. In sixteens, Lyon, of the Tornesii, 1586. In octavo, Antwerp, Plantin, 1587. This is the second edition of the Thomasian emendation;

yet nothing was changed in it. — In octavo, Lyons, Tornesius, 1587. This edition was corrected against many manuscript codices, and also against various notes sent by Jacques Cujas. — In folio, Paris, 1589, in the Bibliotheca Patrum. — In sextodecimo, Lyons, Tornesius, 1594. It does not differ from the edition of the year 1587. — In octavo, Paris, 1589, from the recension of Thomasius. — In sextodecimo, Lyons, Thomas Soubron, 1594; corrected well enough, though less neatly set out. — Colonia Allobrogum (that is, Geneva), Tornesius, 1613; corrected from two manuscripts by Jacques Cujas. Gallaeus thinks highly of it; yet Isaeus asserts that he observed the text of Lactantius to be corrupt everywhere in it. — In sextodecimo, Cologne, 1613, on the testimony of Bünemann. Perhaps the same as the preceding. — In sextodecimo, Lyons, 1615 and 1616. — In sextodecimo, Geneva, 1630. — In folio, Lyons, 1642. — In folio, Cesena, 16⟨ ⟩6. By the care and correction of Joseph Isaeus, corrected against two Bolognese and twelve Vatican manuscript codices. — In folio, Rome, Mascardi, 1650, from the emendation of Isaeus. But it is not new; rather it is plainly the same as the Cesena edition, changed only on the title page. — In octavo, Leiden, from the emendation of Antonius Thysius, 1652: it is handsome enough, but of little weight among the learned; it is corrupt in chapter 15 of the first book, where Plato is treated. — In octavo, with selected notes of various scholars, by Servatius Gallaeus, Leiden, 1660. This is elegant enough. Gallaeus pilfered nearly all the notes from the edition of Betuleius and from the papers of Salmasius; but he had collated some manuscript codices, whose variant readings are added at the end of the book. Since it is not corrected throughout, Jean le Brun had in it the annotations of Pieter Francius, professor of history and eloquence in the Amsterdam gymnasium. We have used it in like manner in this our edition. — In octavo, Oxford, from the recension and with some brief notes of Thomas Spark, 1684. It is elegant, and corrected against five manuscript codices. In it the book On the Deaths of the Persecutors is published. Like Jean le Brun, we have used this edition. — In octavo, Cambridge, 1685. Elegant enough: but it is printed from the Thomasian edition. The editor, however, made use of two manuscript codices, whose variant readings he placed before the books of Lactantius. In it likewise the book On the Deaths of the Persecutors is to be read. Albert Fabricius indeed thinks, but wrongly, that this editor took the Subiaco copy for a manuscript codex. — In octavo, from the recension of Christoph Cellarius, Leipzig, 1698. Although corrected, it is not however entirely blameless; nevertheless it has some notes of no small weight. — In octavo, from the recension of Johann Georg Walch, Leipzig, 1715. He was the first to publish the Epitome entire together with the other works of Lactantius. A learned inquiry into the life and style of Lactantius is prefixed. In this edition the learned find something wanting. What wonder? Could the most distinguished Walch, who had scarcely reached his twentieth year, give in editing Lactantius the same proof of critical skill and learning in which he now, at fifty, excels? Would the critics of Walch, at the same age, have put forth a work, I do not say more learned, but equally learned? — In octavo, from the emendation of Christoph August Heumann, Göttingen, 1736. This edition is far more perfect than the earlier ones. In it, though some things were changed, the text of Christoph Cellarius is kept; and to the Cellarian notes new and learned ones are added throughout: this edition we read more attentively and made use of. — In octavo, from the emendation of Johann Ludolph Bünemann, Leipzig, 1739. Our Lactantian edition was already hastening to its end when I received this excellent one from the most learned Johann Daniel Schoepflin, professor of history and eloquence in the Academy of Strasbourg. It is wonderful how much labour and study the most distinguished Bünemann expended in editing Lactantius: we have gathered notes from it, even those which ran counter to our opinions, so that this new edition might, as it were at a single glance, embrace all the other editions.

Note. In the list of the various editions of Lactantius I have passed over those which were sent forth in the Libraries

of the Holy Fathers, among which the works of Lactantius hold no lowest place. But those collections of the Fathers were published at least six times, either at Cologne, or at Paris, or at Lyons. These editions, moreover, were not corrected against manuscript codices, but printed from some already published copy.

Parts of the Lactantian works published separately.

L. Caecilius Lactantius Firmianus, On the Workmanship of God, or the Formation of Man, from the recension and with the notes of Desiderius Erasmus, octavo, Basel, Froben, 1529. — Octavo, Paris, Colines, 1529. — Quarto, Paris, 1551. These little annotations appeared in certain other editions of Lactantius, as we have already observed. These, moreover, though useful, are nevertheless few, and would not fill three pages of our edition. — The same book with the observations of Jodocus Willich, octavo, Frankfurt and Strasbourg, 1542. The Royal Library has this edition. — The same book from the emendation of Georg Ludwig Goldner, with the Life of Lactantius and the judgements of the learned, octavo, Gera, 1714.

Lucius Caecilius Lactantius Firmianus, On the Deaths of the Persecutors, edited with annotations by the most illustrious man Étienne Baluze, octavo, Paris, 1679, in volume II of the Miscellanea. — The same published separately, octavo, Paris, 1679. — The same, but without Baluze's notes, by John Fell, duodecimo, Oxford, 1680. — The same, with the notes of Johannes Columbus, octavo, Åbo in Finland, 1684. — The same book with the notes of various scholars, namely Baluze, Columbus, Gisbert Cuper, Toinard and Paul Baudry, octavo, Utrecht, 1692 and 1693, for the same edition bears both years. — The same, by the care and with the observations of Nicolas le Nourry, a Benedictine monk of the Congregation of St Maur, octavo, Paris, 1710. Of all these editions we have spoken in the preface of the second volume. The Epitome of the Divine Institutes of L. Caecilius Lactantius Firmianus, edited by the most illustrious and most learned man Christoph Matthäus Pfaff, chancellor of the Academy of Tübingen, octavo, Paris, 1712. — Octavo, with the notes of John Davies, Cambridge, 1718.

Certain Lactantian works translated into the vernacular languages.

Lactantius Firmianus, Of the Divine Institutes, against the religions and errors of the gentiles and idolaters (translated into French by René Fame, secretary of King Francis I), folio, Paris, 1546; — folio, Lyons, 1547; — sextodecimo, Paris, 1555; — sextodecimo, Lyons, de Tournes, 1563; — sextodecimo, Paris, 1581. This is the only complete translation of the Divine Institutes of our Lactantius.

The first book of the Divine Institutes, translated into French by M. Drouet de Maupertuis, duodecimo, Avignon, 1710.

Treatise on the Wrath of God, translated from the Latin of Lactantius, preceded by a discourse on the life, opinions and works of the author, in the form of an apology; by M. Dreux du Radier, councillor of the king, lieutenant particulier at Châteauneuf-en-Thimerais. This most elegant translation I have in my possession, written out by hand, entrusted to me in a friendly and kindly way by its diligent author. I desire nothing more earnestly than that it be soon put to the press. From the life of Lactantius written by him I have excerpted certain things, the elegant and polished author freely consenting.

Treatise of Lactantius on the Death of the Persecutors of the Church, put into French by M. de Maucroix, canon of the cathedral church of Reims, duodecimo, Paris, 1680. This translation is not merely elegant, but indeed most elegant. — The same book turned into English by Gilbert Burnet, bishop of Salisbury, with a preface on the persecution against Christians, octavo, London, 1686 and 1714. Albert Fabricius himself admits that the preface of this work is hardly seemly. — The same book, translated into French from the English version of Mr Burnet, with the preface, octavo, Utrecht, 1687.

Symphorien Champier, Translation from the Greek into French of the prophecies of the Sibyls, put into French verse

in the Nef des Dames. These contribute little to illuminating Lactantius; from this, however, one may infer how highly the learned esteemed our author.

DISSERTATIONS ON LACTANTIUS.

Of Antoninus of Rho, theologian of the Order of Minors, three books on the errors of Firmianus Lactantius.

Anthology of Lactantius Firmianus, comprising most elegant sentences, distinguished as much for piety as for learning: recently arranged under commonplaces, by Thomas Becon, in octavo, Lyons, 1558. This Anthology is a kind of Lactantian theology, in which everything that is read in Lactantius concerning God and divine things is brought under definite headings; and also those passages in which the morals of Christians are treated.

Jean Gardei, Collection des fleurs de Lactance Firmian, contenant sentences très-belles, in octavo. This book is almost the same as the Anthology of Thomas Becon.

Défense des sentimens de Lactance sur le sujet de

l'usure, by M. Louis Bulteau, in duodecimo, Paris, 1671 and 1677.

Nicolas Toinard, Notes on Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors, in duodecimo, 1690. We have published these notes, which are the more learned.

Johann August Krebs, On the Style of Lactantius, in quarto, Halle in Saxony, 1702. The Memoirs of Trévoux for the year 1706, page 1069, judge it worthy to be added to the editions of Lactantius.

Matthias Nicolaus Kortholt, Dissertation on Lactantius the Christian Cicero, in quarto, Giessen, 1711.

Daniel Michelius, Introduction to Literary History, in octavo, Cambridge, 1721, in which is read an excellent critical inquiry into the Colbertine manuscript of On the Deaths of the Persecutors, from page 187 to 210, against Nicolas le Nourry, of the Order of St Benedict.

Joachim Justus Rau, Historico-philosophical Discourse on the Philosophy of Lucius Lactantius Firmianus, in octavo, Jena, 1733.