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The Epitome of the Divine Institutes

Lactantius

Chapter 4

About this work

A condensed presentation of Lactantius’s apologetic project, summarizing his case against pagan worship and his account of divine providence, true religion, justice, and Christian hope.

Author: Lactantius
Date: Early 4th century
Origin: Nicomedia or Gaul
Genre: Apology

Chap. IV.—The Testimonies of the Philosophers to the Unity of God.

But let us come to the philosophers,

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whose

authority

is

regarded

as

more

certain

than

that

of

the

poets

.

Plato

asserts

His

monarchy

,

saying

that

there

is

but

one

God

,

by

whom

the

world

was

prepared

and

completed

with

wonderful

order

.

Aristotle

,

his

disciple

,

admits

that

there

is

one

mind

which

presides

over

the

world

.

Antisthenes

says

that

there

is

one

who

is

God

by

nature

,

the

governor

of

the

whole

system

.

It

would

be

a

long

task

to

recount

the

statements

which

have

been

made

respecting

the

Supreme

God

,

either

by

Thales

,

or

by

Pythagoras

and

Anaximenes

before

him

,

or

afterwards

by

the

Stoics

Cleanthes

and

Chrysippus

and

Zeno

,

or

of

our

countrymen

,

by

Seneca

following

the

Stoics

,

and

by

Tullius

himself

,

since

all

these

attempted

to

define

the

being

of

God

,

and

affirmed

that

the

world

is

ruled

by

Him

alone

,

and

that

He

is

not

subject

to

any

nature

,

since

all

nature

derives

its

origin

from

Him

.

Hermes, who, on account of his virtue and his knowledge of many arts, deserved the name of Trismegistus, who preceded the philosophers in the antiquity of his doctrine, and who is reverenced by the Egyptians as a god, in asserting the majesty of the one God with infinite praises, calls Him Lord and Father, and says that He is without a name because He does not stand in need of a proper name, inasmuch as He is alone, and that He has no parents, since He exists of Himself and by Himself. In writing to his son he thus begins: To understand God is difficult, to describe Him in speech is impossible, even for one to whom it is possible to understand Him; for the perfect cannot be comprehended by the imperfect, nor the invisible by the visible.

Notes

1
Naturalem.
2
Quid sit Deus.