Primary source · Latin
On the Deaths of the Persecutors (De Mortibus Persecutorum)
Lactantius · c. AD 314–315
What this text is
History as verdict: every persecuting emperor dies badly, from Nero to Maximinus Daza — and along the way the book preserves, verbatim, Galerius's edict of toleration and the Milan settlement.
Interlinear passages
Word-for-word glosses of the original; the complete public-domain translation is linked below.
Chapter 1 — the opening
AudivitHas heardDominusthe Lordorationesthe prayerstuas,yourDonateO Donatuscarissimemost dear
Public-domain translations
William Fletcher (ANF, 1886)
The Lord has heard those supplications which you, my best beloved Donatus, pour forth in His presence all the day long… all the adversaries are destroyed, and tranquillity having been re-established throughout the Roman empire, the late oppressed Church arises again.
Manuscript witnesses
Paris, BnF lat. 2627 (Colbertinus)
11th c.De mortibus persecutorum survives in one manuscript, found at Moissac and first printed in 1679.
Provenance
Nicomedia, c. AD 313–315 — the persecutors' ends, told by a survivor
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Lactantius: De Mortibus Persecutorum (OECT)J. L. Creed, 1984Critical text with facing translation.
- Lactance: De la mort des persécuteurs (SC 39)Jacques Moreau, 1954Edition with French translation and commentary.