De mortibus persecutorum
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(''On the Deaths of the Persecutors'') is a hybrid historical and Christian apologetical work by the Roman philosopher
Lactantius Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325) was an early Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor, Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to his son Cr ...
, written in Latin sometime after AD 316.


Contents

After the monumental
Divine Institutes ''Institutiones Divinae'' (, ; ''The Divine Institutes'') is the name of a theological work by the Christian Roman philosopher Lactantius, written between AD 303 and 311. Contents Arguably the most important of Lactantius's works, the ''Divinae ...
, the comparatively brief ''De mortibus persecutorum'' is probably the most important extant work of
Lactantius Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325) was an early Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor, Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to his son Cr ...
, a convert to Christianity who served at the courts of both the pagan
Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
and the Christian
Constantine the Great Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...
. In this work, Lactantius describes in occasionally lurid detail the downfall and deaths of the most egregious persecutors of Christians. The first few chapters briefly cover the ends of the earliest Christian persecutors: Nero, Domitian, Decius, Valerian, and
Aurelian Aurelian ( la, Lucius Domitius Aurelianus; 9 September 214 October 275) was a Roman emperor, who reigned during the Crisis of the Third Century, from 270 to 275. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited t ...
. The bulk of the work, however, concerns the deeds and deaths of the Tetrarchy:
Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
,
Maximian Maximian ( la, Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus; c. 250 – c. July 310), nicknamed ''Herculius'', was Roman emperor from 286 to 305. He was ''Caesar'' from 285 to 286, then ''Augustus'' from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his ...
, Galerius, Constantius, Maximinus,
Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I * Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given na ...
and
Maxentius Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius (c. 283 – 28 October 312) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 306 until his death in 312. Despite ruling in Italy and North Africa, and having the recognition of the Senate in Rome, he was not recognized ...
. It is one of the most important extant primary sources for the Great Persecution of Christians which was initiated by Diocletian and Galerius in AD 303, containing information on individuals and events from that period that appear nowhere else. As to his reason for writing, Lactantius says in Chapter 1:
"Of the end of those men I have thought good to publish a narrative, that all who are afar off, and all who shall arise hereafter, may learn how the Almighty manifested his power and sovereign greatness in rooting out and utterly destroying the enemies of His name."
While this quote reveals the apologetic character of the work, Lactantius was also quite aware of the historical import, saying:
"I relate all those things on the authority of well-informed persons, and I thought it proper to commit them to writing exactly as they happened, lest the memory of events so important should perish, and lest any future historian of the persecutors should corrupt the truth."
Several historical figures are known to us completely or primarily from Lactantius's account in ''De Mortibus Persecutorum,'' among them:
Prisca Priscilla is an English female given name adopted from Latin '' Prisca'', derived from ''priscus''. One suggestion is that it is intended to bestow long life on the bearer. The name first appears in the New Testament of Christianity variously a ...
, the wife of Diocletian; Galeria Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian and wife of Galerius; Candidianus, the son of Galerius; Severus, the short-lived Augustus of the West; and Flavius Severianus, the son of Severus.


Constantine's dream of the cross

One of the most important passages in ''De Mortibus Persecutorum'' occurs in Chapter XLIV wherein Lactantius describes the
Battle of the Milvian Bridge The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius on 28 October 312. It takes its name from the Milvian Bridge, an important route over the Tiber. Constantine won the battle and started on the pa ...
and the theophany which Constantine experienced just prior to the battle. Differing from the account of
Eusebius Pamphilus Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...
who specifically recounts a vision of a cross in the sky with the words, in hoc signo vinces, Lactantius describes a dream in which Constantine is instructed to paint the chi-rho on the shields of his soldiers.


The Edict of Milan

This work is also one of the sources, along with the ''Ecclesiastical History'' of Eusebius Pamphilus, of the so-called Edict of Milan. The document is recorded here by Lactantius in the original Latin whereas the version in Eusebius is a translation from Latin into Greek.


Manuscript history

''De Mortibus Persecutorum'' was mentioned among the works of Lactantius by Saint Jerome in his work,
De Viris Illustribus ''De Viris Illustribus'', meaning "concerning illustrious men", represents a genre of literature which evolved during the Italian Renaissance in imitation of the exemplary literature of Ancient Rome. It inspired the widespread commissioning of g ...
. Jerome called the work ''De Persecutione'' and the work was considered lost for centuries until a manuscript was discovered in 1678 preserved in the Augustine Convent library in Moissac, France. For decades after the discovery, the authenticity of the work was disputed by scholars. French scholar Rene Pinchon proved decisively that Lactantius was the author in 1902 and this view has subsequently been adopted by most scholars. Since its rediscovery, the work has been translated into English several times, including versions by John Fell (1680),
Gilbert Burnett Gilbert Burnet (18 September 1643 – 17 March 1715) was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was highly respected as a cleric, a preacher, an academic, ...
(1687), Lord Hailes (1782), M. F. MacDonald (1964), and J. L. Creed (1984). See listings in the bibliography below.


Controversy and criticism

The discovery of ''De Mortibus Persecutorum'' in the 17th century caused some controversy. For example, the mention by Lactantius that the Apostle Peter arrived in Rome during the reign of Nero seemed to contradict the established belief of the Catholic Church that Peter had arrived much earlier in AD 44. The work was also appropriated by Protestant scholars who attempted to compare the persecuting tyrants of the Tetrarchy with
King Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...
of France and King James II of England. Lactantius has long been criticized as a biased observer of the events he records, writing polemic rather than history.
Timothy Barnes Timothy or Tim Barnes may refer to: * Timothy Barnes (classicist) (born 1942), British classicist * Timothy Barnes, 4th Baron Gorell (1927–2007), British businessman * Tim Barnes (politician) Timothy Kent Barnes (born December 28, 1958) is a ...
summed up this position saying about ''De Mortibus Persecutorum'': "Lactantius’ prejudices and strong opinions foster the suspicion that he must have tailored the facts to suit his thesis."Barnes, Timothy D. ''Constantine and Eusebius.'' Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1981. p. 13.


References


Bibliography

* * Lactantius. Lord Hailes (transl.) (2021
''On the Deaths of the Persecutors: A Translation of De Mortibus Persecutorum by Lucius Cæcilius Firmianus Lactantius''
Evolution Publishing, Merchantville, NJ , p. 2 * Lactantius. J. L Creed

Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984. * Lactantius. McDonald, Mary Francis (transl.) 1964
''Lactantius: The Minor Works.''
Catholic University of America Press: Washington, DC. * {{refend


External links



at New Advent 4th-century Christian texts 4th-century Latin books Christian apologetic works Christianity and paganism Christian philosophy