8vo. (XVI including frontispiece),670;(XXIX index),(5 blank) p. Overlapping vellum 15.5 cm (Ref: Schoenemann 1,227; Graesse 4,66; Ebert 11609; Brunet 3,337) (Details: 6 thongs laced through the joints. Engraved frontispiece, depicting the first Christian Roman emperor Constantine the Great, ca. 280-338 A.D.; his left foot rests on the head of a destroyed bronze statue of a pagan predecessor, or of the pagan god Zeus; the trunk and a hand which holds the thunderbold, symbol of paganism, lay in the dust before him; in the background a destroyed building, probably a temple. Lactantius dedicated his 'Divinae Institutiones' ca. 320 A.D. to Constantine) (Condition: Vellum age-tanned and slightly soiled. Both pastedowns detached. Front endpapers creased. Some small scriblings on the front flyleaf) (Note: The Latin Christian author Lactantius was born ca. 250 A.D. in the Roman province Africa, and he died ca. 325 in Gaul. In the Renaissance Lactantius was sometimes called 'Cicero christianus', the christian Cicero. He went to Bithynia in Asia Minor to teach Latin rhetoric. There he was converted to christianity, and after the beginning of the Great Persecution (of the christians) which ravaged ca. 300, he became an eloquent apologist in defence of christianity. In old age he was tutor to Crispus, son of Constantine the Great, the first 'christian' emperor. His earliest surviving work is 'De opificio Dei' (On the craftmanship of God), in which 'he works out with some elaboration the thesis that the human body shows by its admirable structure the existence of a wise and benificient Creator'. (H.J. Rose, A handbook of Latin Literatur, Ldn, 1967, p. 482) The 'Institutiones Divinae' (Divine Teachings) is his principal work, which probably occupied him for several years. It consists of 7 books. 'Book 1, 'de falsa religione' is directed against the false pagan religion, book 2, 'de origine erroris', treats the machinations of the devil. In book 3, 'de falsa sapientia' Lactantius criticizes Greek and Roman philosophy, the 4th book, 'de vera sapientia et religione' elaborates on the superiority of the Christian faith. Book 5, 'de iustitia' discusses justice brought back by Christ and persecuted by the pagans. Book 6, 'de vero cultu' explains the duties of a christian. In book 7, 'de vita beata' the aim of human existence is considered to be immortality and the nearness of God. The Institutiones Divinae 'give a full and eloquent statement of what Christian doctrine is, with the incidental result that we get a most interesting and very readable account of what an intelligent christian believed in an age so uncritical that the forged Sibylline oracles were accepted without hesitation as genuine documents'. (op. cit. p. 482) Another theological work, now on a small scale, 'de ira Dei, discusses the question in what sense Anger can be attributed to a perfect Being. Gods Anger is part of his power, and a necessary part of his Grace. 'De mortibus persecutorum' is a work of history about the persecution of christians and Gods revenge upon the deadliest of enemies of the Church. Lactantius also wrote a poem 'de ave Phoenice', which treats the legend of the Phoenix. This book contains also a text which is no longer attributed to Lactantius, 'De Pascha'. § In the preface to his edition of Lactantius the Dutch jurist and classical scholar Antony Thys, or in Latin Antonius Thysius, 1603-1665, calls his author 'Ciceronius aemulum', and a 'purissimae latinitatis auctorem'. (p. *5 recto). He was an author who, 'Chistianam religionem dissertissimis libris multum promovit'. (p. *4 recto) Thysius was from 1637 professor of poêsis of the University at Leiden, where he also lectured on 'jus publicum', after 1663 as a professor. In 1655 he succeeded Daniel Heinsius as librarian of the University. Thysius was not a great or original scholar. He manufactured 'Variorum' editions, in which he skillfully compared and contrasted the excerpted material of brighter minds. He also produced an edition of Sallust (1649), Justinus (1650), of the tragedies of Seneca (1651), Valerius Maximus (1651), Velleius Paterculus (1653) and Gellius (1666). Such editions were very popular, and reissued more than once, because they contained everthing a student required. It offered the 'textus receptus' which was widely accepted, accompanied with the commentary and the annotations of specialists, taken from earlier useful, normative or renewing editions. Editions like these, 'cum notis Variorum', were useful, but never broke new ground. The production of this kind of editions was the specialty of Dutch scholars of the 17th and 18th century. According to Schoenemann Thysius wisely chose for his Lactantius as source the text, notes and 'variae lectiones' of the edition of Michael Thomasius, Antwerp 1570, though he doesnot tell this in the preface) (Collation: *8, A-2X8 (leaf 2X6 verso blank, 2X7 & 2X8 blank) (Photographs on request)