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The Divine Institutes

Lactantius

Book 7 · Chapter 2

About this work

A large Latin presentation of Christian teaching that criticizes pagan religion and philosophy while treating justice, God, creation, Christ, worship, ethics, and the final destiny of humanity.

Author: Lactantius
Date: c. AD 303–311
Origin: North Africa and Nicomedia
Genre: Apology

Chap. II.—Of the Error of the Philosophers, and of the Divine Wisdom, and of the Golden Age.

Now let us instruct those who are ignorant of

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the

truth

.

It

has

been

so

determined

by

the

arrangement

of

the

Most

High

God

,

that

this

unrighteous

age

,

having

run

the

course

of

its

appointed

times

,

should

come

to

an

end

;

and

all

wickedness

being

immediately

extinguished

,

and

the

souls

of

the

righteous

being

recalled

to

a

happy

life

,

a

quiet

,

tranquil

,

peaceful

,

in

short

,

golden

age

,

as

the

poets

call

it

,

should

flourish

,

under

the

rule

of

God

Himself

.

This

was

especially

the

cause

of

all

the

errors

of

the

philosophers

,

that

they

did

not

comprehend

the

system

of

the

world

,

which

comprises

the

whole

of

wisdom

.

But

it

cannot

be

comprehended

by

our

own

perception

and

innate

intelligence

,

which

they

wished

to

do

by

themselves

without

a

teacher

.

Therefore

they

fell

into

various

and

ofttimes

contradictory

opinions

,

out

of

which

they

had

no

way

of

escape

,

And they remained fixed in the same mire,

as the comic writer says, since their conclusion does not correspond with their assumptions; inasmuch as they had assumed things to be true which could not be affirmed, and proved without the knowledge of the truth and of heavenly things. And this knowledge, as I have often said already, cannot exist in a man unless it is derived from the teaching of God. For if a man is able to understand divine things, he will be able also to perform them; for to understand is, as it were, to follow in their track. But he is not able to do the things which God does, because he is clothed with a mortal body; therefore he cannot even understand those things which God does. And whether this is possible is easy for every one to measure, from the immensity of the divine actions and works. For if you will contemplate the world, with all the things which it contains, you will assuredly understand how much the work of God surpasses the works of men. Thus, as great as is the difference between divine and human works, so great must be the distance between the wisdom of God and man. For because God is incorruptible and immortal, and therefore perfect because He is everlasting, His wisdom also is perfect, as He Himself is; nor can anything oppose it, because God Himself is subject to nothing.

But because man is subject to passion, his wisdom also is subject to error; and as many things hinder the life of man, so that it cannot be perpetual, so also his wisdom must be hindered by many things: so that it is not perfect in entirely perceiving the truth. Therefore there is no human wisdom, if it strives by itself to attain to the conception and knowledge of the truth; inasmuch as the mind of man, being bound up with a frail body, and enclosed in a dark abode, is neither able to wander at large, nor clearly to perceive the truth, the knowledge of which belongs to the divine nature. For His works are known to God alone. But man cannot attain this knowledge by reflection or disputation, but by learning and hearing from Him who alone is able to know and to teach. Therefore Marcus Tullius, borrowing from Plato the sentiment of Socrates, who said that the time had come for himself to depart from life, but that they before whom he was pleading his cause were still alive, says: Which is better is known to the immortal gods; but I think that no man knows. Wherefore all the sects of philosophers must be far removed from the truth, because they who established them were men; nor can those things have any foundation or firmness which are unsupported by any utterances of divine voices.

Notes

1
Decurso temporum spatio. A metaphor taken from the chariot course; spatium being used for the length of the course, between the metæ, or goals.
2
Ter., Phorm., v. 2.
3
Assumptio: often used for the minor proposition in a syllogism.
4
Tusc. Disp., i. 41.