Lactantius, The Divine Institutes

Some imagine that these things are figments of the poets, not knowing whence the poets received them, and they say that these things are impossible; and it is no wonder that it so appears to them. For the matter is related by the poets in a manner which is different from the truth; for although they are much more ancient than the historians and orators, and other kinds of writers, yet because they were ignorant of the secret of the divine mystery, and mention of a future resurrection had reached them by an obscure rumour, yet they handed it down, when carelessly and lightly heard, after the manner of a feigned story. And yet they also testified that they did not follow a sure authority, but mere opinion, as Maro, who says,1396 Virg., Æn., vi. 266.

“What ear has heard let tongue make known.”

Although, therefore, they have partly corrupted the secrets of the truth, yet the matter itself is found to be more true, because it partly agrees with the prophets: which is sufficient for us as a proof of the matter. Yet some reason is contained in their error. For when the prophets proclaimed with continual announcements that the Son of God was about to judge the dead, and this announcement did not escape their notice; inasmuch as they supposed that there was no other ruler of heaven but Jupiter, they reported that the son of Jupiter was king in the lower regions, but not Apollo, or Liber, or Mercurius, who are supposed to be gods of heaven, but one who was both mortal and just, either Minos, or Æacus, or Rhadamanthus. Therefore with poetic licence they corrupted that which they had received; or, the opinion being scattered through different mouths and various discourses, changed the truth. For inasmuch as they foretold that, when a thousand years had been passed in the lower regions, they should again be restored to life, as Maro said:1397 Ibid., 748. —

“All these, when centuries ten times told

The wheel of destiny have rolled,

The voice divine from far and wide

Calls up to Lethe’s river side,

That earthward they may pass once more,

Remembering not the things before,

And with a blind propension yearn

To fleshly bodies to return:”

this matter escaped their notice, that the dead will rise again, not after a thousand years from their death, but that, when again restored to life, they may reign with God a thousand years. For God will come, that, having cleansed the world from all defilement, He may restore the souls of the righteous to their renewed bodies, and raise them to everlasting blessedness. Therefore the other things are true, except the water of oblivion, which they feigned on this account, that no one might make this objection: why, therefore, did they not remember that they were at one time alive, or who they were, or what things they accomplished? But nevertheless it is not thought probable, and the whole matter is rejected, as though licentiously and fabulously invented. But when we affirm the doctrine of the resurrection, and teach that souls will return to another life, not forgetful of themselves, but possessed of the same perception and figure, we are met with this objection: So many ages have now passed; what individual ever arose from the dead, that through his example we may believe it to be possible? But the resurrection cannot take place while unrighteousness still prevails. For in this world men are slain by violence, by the sword, by ambush, by poisons, and are visited with injuries, with want, with imprisonment, with tortures, and with proscriptions. Add to this that righteousness is hated, that all who wish to follow God are not only held in hatred, but are harassed with all reproaches, and are tormented by manifold kinds of punishments, and are driven to the impious worship of gods made with hands, not by reason or truth, but by dreadful laceration of their bodies.

Ought men therefore to rise again to these same things, or to return to a life in which it is impossible for them to be safe? Since the righteous, then, are so lightly esteemed, and so easily taken away, what can we suppose would have happened if any one returning from the dead had recovered life by a recovery1398 Postliminio. For the uses of this word, see Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities of his former condition? He would assuredly be taken away from the eyes of men, lest, if he were seen or heard, all men with one accord should leave the gods and betake themselves to the worship and religion of the one God. Therefore it is necessary that the resurrection should take place once only when evil shall have been taken away, since it is befitting that those who have risen again should neither die any more, nor be injured in any way, that they may be able to pass a happy life whose death has been annulled.1399 Resignata est, properly “unsealed.” But the poets, knowing that this life abounds with all evils, introduced the river of oblivion, lest the souls, remembering their labours and evils, should refuse to return to the upper regions; whence Virgil says:1400 Virg., Æn., vi. 719. —

“O Father! and can thought conceive

That happy souls this realm would leave,

And seek the upper sky,

With sluggish clay to reunite?

This dreadful longing for the light,

Whence comes it, say, and why?”

For they did not know how or when it must take place; and therefore they supposed that souls were born again, and that they returned afresh to the womb, and went back to infancy. Whence also Plato, while discussing the nature of the soul, says that it may be known from this that souls are immortal and divine, because in boys minds are pliant, and easy of perception, and because they so quickly comprehend the subjects which they learn, that they appear not then to be learning for the first time, but to be recalling them to mind and recollecting them: in which matter the wise man most foolishly believed the poets.

CAPUT XXII. De errore poetarum, atque de animae reditu ab inferis.

Figmenta haec esse poetarum quidam putant, ignorantes unde illa poetae acceperint, ac negant haec fieri posse; nec mirum est ita illis videri. Aliter enim, quam res habet, traditur a poetis: qui licet sint multo antiquiores quam historici, et oratores, et caetera 0803B genera scriptorum; tamen quia mysterium divini sacramenti nesciebant, et ad eos mentio resurrectionis futurae obscuro rumore pervenerat, eam vero temere ac leviter auditam in modum commentitiae fabulae prodiderunt. Et tamen iidem testati sunt, non auctorem se certum, sed opinionem sequi; ut Maro qui ait: Sit mihi fas audita loqui.Quamvis igitur veritatis arcana in parte corruperint; tamen ipsa res eo verior invenitur, quod cum prophetis 0804A in parte consentiunt: quod nobis ad probationem rei satis est. Errori tamen eorum subest ratio nonnulla. Nam cum prophetae assiduis concionibus praedicarent, judicaturum esse de mortuis Filium Dei, et haec annuntiatio non lateret, quoniam rectorem coeli non alium putabant esse, quam Jovem, judicare apud inferos Jovis filium tradiderunt: sed tamen non Apollinem, aut Liberum, aut Mercurium, qui coelestes putantur, sed eum qui et mortalis fuerit, et justus, vel Minoem, vel Aeacum, vel Rhadamantum.

Corruperunt igitur poetica licentia, quod acceperant; vel opinio veritatem per diversa ora sermonesque varios dissipata mutavit. Nam quod peractis apud inferos mille annis, rursus ad vitam restitui cecinerunt, Marone ita dicente: 0804B Has omnes, ubi mille rotam volvere per annos, Lethaeum ad fluvium Deus evocat agmine magno, Scilicet immemores supera ut convexa revisant, Rursus et incipiant in corpora velle reverti:haec eos ratio fefellit, quod resurgent defuncti, non post mille annos mortis suae: sed ut restituti rursus in vitam, mille annis cum Deo regnent. Deus enim veniet, ut orbe hoc ab omni labe purgato, redivivas justorum animas, corporibus innovatis, ad sempiternam beatitudinem suscitet. Itaque praeter aquam oblivionis vera sunt caetera: quam idcirco finxerunt, 0805A ne quis illud opponeret: 0805A Cur ergo non meminerunt se aliquando vixisse, aut qui fuerint, aut quae gesserint? Sed nihilominus tamen verisimile non putatur; et res tota velut licenter et fabulose ficta respuitur. Nobis autem de resurrectione affirmantibus, et docentibus animas ad alteram vitam non oblitas sui, sed in eodem sensu ac figura esse redituras, illud opponitur. Tot jam saecula transierunt: quis unquam unus ab inferis resurrexit, ut exemplo ejus fieri posse credamus? At enim resurrectio fieri non potest, dominante adhuc injustitia. Hoc enim saeculo necantur homines vi, ferro, insidiis, venenis; afficiuntur injuriis, egestate, carceribus, tormentis, proscriptionibus. Eo accedit, quod justitia invisa est; quod omnes, qui Deum sequi volunt, non tantum 0805B odio habentur: sed vexantur omnibus contumeliis, et excruciantur multiplici genere poenarum, et ad impios cultus manufactorum deorum non ratione, aut veritate, sed nefanda corporum laceratione coguntur.

Num igitur oportet ad haec eadem resurgere, et reverti homines ad vitam, in qua tuti esse non possint? Cum ergo justi tam viles habeantur, tam facile tollantur; quid putemus futurum fuisse, si quis ab inferis rediens vitam postliminio recepisset? Auferretur profecto ab oculis hominum; ne viso eo, vel audito, deos universi relinquerent, et ad unius se Dei cultum religionemque converterent. Ergo semel fieri resurrectionem necesse est, cum malum fuerit ablatum; 0805C quoniam eos, qui resurrexerint, nec mori jam 0806A ulterius, nec violari ullo modo fas est, ut beatam possint agere vitam, quorum mors resignata est. Poetae vero cum scirent, hoc saeculum malis omnibus redundare, oblivionis amnem induxerunt, ne laborum ac malorum memores animae reverti ad superos recusarent; unde Virgilius: O pater, anne aliquas ad coelum hinc ire putandum est Sublimes animas, iterumque ad tarda reverti Corpora? Quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido?Ignorabant enim quomodo, aut quando id fieri oporteret. Itaque renasci eas putaverunt, et denuo ad uterum revolvi, atque ad infantiam regredi. Unde etiam Plato de anima disserens, ex hoc ait posse cognosci animas esse immortales atque divinas, quod in pueris mobilia sunt ingenia, et ad percipiendum facilia; quod ea quae discant, ita celeriter rapiant, uti non 0806B tunc primum discere illa videantur, sed recognoscere, atque reminisci: in quo vir sapiens poetis ineptissime credidit.