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486 Credibility of the Gospel History
is said by Jeroiii of our author's poverty, does not relate to
the time when he had Crispus under his care.
We are not acquainted with the circumstances of this
Avriter's family. The Epitome is inscribed to his brother'^
Pentadius: but in what sense Pentadius was his brother,
does not clearly "appear. Nor do we know any thing- more
of the life of Lactantius, tlian the particulars already mentioned;
his education under Arnobius, his teaching- rhetoric
at Nicomedia, (where he certainly was at the beginning- of
the persecution under Dioclesian : where likewise, or in its
neighbourhood, he'' seems to have stayed some while after
that persecution was begun,) his writing- the books above
mentioned, his instructing- Crispus in the Latin tongue in
Gaul, his being- generally poor, and living- to a great age,
and' that he never pleaded as an advocate at the bar. But
we are not informed, how he passed through that long- and
dreadful persecution. Nor can the time of his leaving-
Nicomedia, or of his coming- into Gaul, or of his death, be
exactly determined at present. If indeed the book of the
Deaths of Persecutors be his,it may be thought, as'^ is argued
by Baluze, that Lactantius became acquainted with Constantine,
and left Nicomedia about the year 314, and soon
after came into Gaul by order of that emperor.
It has been supposed by some, that Lactantius was at first
a heathen. Gallceus*^ speaks of this as a point not to be
disputed : Tillemont* in a manner takes it for granted : and
it was the opinion likewise of» Du Pin, that Lactantius was
converted in his youth. ButCellarius'' was in suspense about
it. Du Pin refers to two passages' of our author's works
paupertatem aliis baud dubie temporibus passus est, qiiam cum Crispiim, Con-
btantini M. filhini, discipulum habuit. Nourr. ib. p. 382. B.
^ tamen horum tibi epitomen fieri, Pentadi frater, desideras. Lact.
Ep. cap. 1.
^ Vid. ib. Pfaff. Annot.
^ Vidi ergo in Bilhynia prKsidein gaudio mirabiliter elatiim,— quod unus,
qui ]X'T bieniiii m magna virtute restiterat, postremo cedere visus esset. 1. v.
c. 11. p. 491.
•^ Equidem tametsi operam dederim, ut quantulamcumque dicendi assequerer
facultatem propter studium docendi ; tamen eloquens nunquam fui, quippe
qui forum ne attigerim quidem. Inst. 1. iii. c. 13. p. 275.
'' Vid. Baluz. Annot. ad libr. deM. P. p. 5. edit. Ultraj.
= Gall, de Vit. Lact.
8 Du Pin, as before, p. 205.
f Tillem. as before, p. 34.
^ Primum ingcnii monimentum, Symposium, in Africa adolescens edidit
utrum tum christianus, non omnino certum est. Cellar. Excerpt, de Vit. Lact.
' Superest, ut exhortemur omnes,—ut, contemtis terrestnbus et abjectis
erroribus, quibus antea tenebamur—ad coelestis thesauri praemia dirigamur
Div. Inst. 1. vii. cap. ult. p. 730. In hoc statu cum essent humanae res,
misertus est nostri Deus— revelavit se nobis,— ut errore prioris vita abjecto,
legem divinam, tradente ipso Domino, sumercmus ; qua lege universi, quibus
.
—
;