Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/816

 LACTANTIUS

736

LADERGHI

1893): REnss, Biog. Cycl. of the Calh. Hierarchy, U. S. (Milwau- kee, 1898); The Catholic Citizen (Milwaukee), files.

Thomas F. Meehan.

Lactantius, Lucius C.ecilius Fikmianus, a Chris- tian apologist of the fourth centurj'. The name Fir- mianus has misled some authors into believing that he was an Italian from p^ermo, whereas he was an African by birth and a pupil of Arnobius who taught at Sicca Veneria. An inscription found at Cirta in Numidia, which mentions a certain L. Cscilius Firminianus, has led to the conclusion in some quarters that his family belonged to that place (Harnack, " Chronologie d. alt- chr. Ijt.", II, 416). Lactantius was born a pagan and in his early life taught rhetoric in his native place. At the request of Emperor Diocletian he became an official professor of rhetoric in Nicomedia. One of his poems (Hodoeporicum) is an account of his journey from Africa to his new home. It is probable that his conversion to Christianity did not take place until after his removal to Nicomedia. It seems clear, how- ever, that he could not retain his position as public teacher after the publication of Diocletian's first edict against the Christians (24 Feb., 303). After his dis- missal it was not easy to find pupils in that Greek city who would patronize a teacher of Latin, and he was in consequence reduced to such poverty that he at times lacked the necessaries of hfe (St. Jerome, "Chron.", ad. ann. Abr. 2333). In those circumstances he at- tempted to eke out a li\-ing by writing. The persecu- tion compelled him to leave Nicomedia, and from the outbreak of hostilities until perhaps 311 or313 he had to find a home elsewhere. The friendship of the Emperor Constantine raised him from penury, and though very old (extrema senectute) he was appointed tutor in Latin to the emperor's son Crispus. This new appointment compelled him to follow his charge to Trier where he spent the remainder of his life. It seems verj- prol> able that his transfer to Trier did not take place until 317, when Crispus was made Ca>sar and sent to that city. Crispus was put to death in 326, but when Lac- tantius died and in what circumstances is not known. Like so many of the early Christian authors, Lactan- tius in all his works betrays his dependence on classical models, and, true to the requirements of his profession, he is polished rather than profound. He well merits the designation of the "Christian Cicero " bestowed on him bj' the humanists, for he exhibits many of the shortcomings as well as the graces of his master. Among the works from his pen still extant, the earliest is the " De Opificio Dei", written in 303 or 304 during the Diocletian persecution, and dedicated to a former pupil, a rich Christian official named Demetrianus. The apologetic principles underlying all the works of Lactantius are well set forth in this treatise, which may be considered as an introduction to his great work "The Divine Institutions" (Divinarum Institutionum Libri VII), written between 304 and 311. This, the most important of the writings of Lactantius, is syste- matic as well as apologetic, and was intended to point out the futility of pagan beliefs and to establish the reasonableness and truth of Christianity. It was the first attempt at a systematic exposition of Christian theology in Latin, and though aimed at certain pamph- leteers who were aiding the persecutors by literarv- as- saults on the Church, the work was planned on a scale sufficiently broad to silence all opponents. The strength and the weakness of Lactantius are nowhere tetter .shown than in this work. The beauty of the style, the choice and aptness of the terminology, can- not hide the author's lack of grasp on Christian princi- ples and his almost utter ignorance of Scripture. The "dualistic and panegyrical" passages which have been such a puzzle to st\idents of Lactantius are mani- festly not from his pen, but from that of some one who lived close to his t inic, proliably a rhetorician of Trier. The "Epitome Divinarum Institutionum", made by

Lactantius himself at the request of a friend named Pentadius, is much more than a mere abbreviation, rather a more summary treatment of the subject dealt with in the older work. Another treatise, "De Ira Dei ", directed against the Stoics and Epicureans, is supplementary to the "Divine Institutions" (II, xvii, 5) and deals with anthropomorphism in its true sense. Knowing the bent of Lactantius's mind it is not sur- prising that the only historical work we have from his pen, the " De Mortibus Persecutorum ", should have an apologetic character. In this work we have an ac- count of the frightful deaths of the principal persecu- tors of the Christians, Nero, Domitian, Decius, Vale- rian, Aurelian, and the contemporaries of Lactantius himself, Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, Maximus. Tliis work, notwithstanding the manifest bias of the author, is of prime importance as a source for the last and greatest of the persecutions, though, somewhat strangely, the style is not so perfect as might be ex- pected. The full text is found only in one manuscript, which bears the title: " Lucii Cscilii liber ad Donatum Confessorem de Jlortibus Persecutorum". Many at- tempts have been made to show that the work was not written by Lactantius; however, the coincidences of name, both of author and recipient, the similarities in style and train of thought between this and other works of Lactantius, are too striking to admit of such a possibility. The chronological difficulties which Brandt thought he discovered are shown by Harnack to have no weight (Chronologie, II, 423). Of the poems attributed to Lactantius only one, besides the " Hodoeporicum ", is genuine, \\z., the " De Ave Phoe- nice",an account, in eighty-five distichs, of the fabu- lous eastern bird which is reborn from its own ashes every thousand years. The poem "De Resurrec- tione" was written by Venantius Fortunatus, and the " De Passione Domini " is by a medieval humanist. St. Jerome (De Vir. 111., c. Ixxx) mentions two other works, "Symposium" and "Grammaticus", which have not been preserved.

MoNCEAUX, Histoire Litteraire de VAfnque Chreitenne, II (Paris, 1902); Brandt, Sitzungsherichte der philos, hist. Klasse der Akad. Wiss. , CXVIII, CXIX. CXX, CXXV (Vienna, 1889- 91). The best edition of the works of Lactantius is that of Brandt and Laubmann, 2 vols., in Corpus Script, eccl. Lai., XIX, XXVII (Vienna, 1890-97).

P. J. Healy.

Lacy, RicHAED. See Middlesbrough, Diocese of.

Laderchi, James, an Italian Oratorian and ecclesi- astical historian, b. about 1678, at Faenza near Ra- venna; d. 25 April, 17.38, at Rome. He is chiefly known for his continuation of the "Annals" of Baro- nius and Raynaldus, which he brought down from the year 1566 to 1571. His work, though of some useful- ness, is not sufficiently critical and is encumbered with numerous unimportant documents. It appeared at Rome (1728-1737), and extends from volume XXXV to volume XXXVII in the latest edition of Baronius (Bar-le-Duc, 1864-83). Laderchi was also the author of several other historical works, two of which in- volved him in heated hterary controversies. His vo- luminous "Life of St. Peter Damian" (Vita Sancti Petri Damiani, Rome, 1702) was mercilessly but ex- cessively criticized in the anonymous work entitled: "Sejani et Rufini dialogus de Laderchiana historia S. Petri Damiani" (Paris, 1705). When he published his edition of the "Acts of the martyrdom of St. Crcscus and companions" (Acta passionis SS. Cresci et soci- orum martyrum, Florence, 1707), the Servile G. Ca- passi attacked their authenticity and trustworthiness in a letter to the Roman scholar Fontanini. The let- ter fell into the hands of Laderchi, who published it with a refutation. This elicited a vehement answer from Capassi under the title "Nugae Laderchian®" (Genoa, 1709). The ecclesiastical authorities seem to have put an end to the controversy ; both works were placed on the Index (22 June, 17i2). These centre-