Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325 CE), the “Christian Cicero,” stands as one of the crucial figures through whom the intellectual and spiritual legacy of the ancient world flowed into the Christian era. His Divine Institutes form not only an apology for Christianity but a conscious preservation and rearticulation of Hermetic and Platonic wisdom within a newly sanctified framework. For Lactantius, the prisca theologia, the ancient theology given to humanity through Hermes Trismegistus, Orpheus, and the Sibyls, finds its fulfillment, not its negation, in the revelation of Christ.
This synthesis made him a revered source for Renaissance humanists and Christian Hermeticists alike, from Ficino to Pico della Mirandola, who saw in him an early architect of the reconciliation between reason and revelation, philosophy and prophecy. His elegant Latin, deeply imbued with classical cadence, became a model for those who sought to harmonize pagan wisdom with divine truth. A beautiful and scarce Lyon printing from the De Tournes press, representing an essential link in the long chain of Hermetic continuity that joined the mysteries of antiquity to the light of Christian humanism.
Lactantius, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus. Divinarum Institutionum Libri VII.Lyon: J. de Tournes, 1567. [2] 785. Index 22p. [3] Small octavo (3¼ x 5 inches). Title page within typographical border; small wormtrack affecting the first few leaves. Full contemporary vellum binding with blue edges and gilt spine label. Text in Latin.
Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325 CE), the “Christian Cicero,” stands as one of the crucial figures through whom the intellectual and spiritual legacy of the ancient world flowed into the Christian era. His Divine Institutes form not only an apology for Christianity but a conscious preservation and rearticulation of Hermetic and Platonic wisdom within a newly sanctified framework. For Lactantius, the prisca theologia, the ancient theology given to humanity through Hermes Trismegistus, Orpheus, and the Sibyls, finds its fulfillment, not its negation, in the revelation of Christ.
This synthesis made him a revered source for Renaissance humanists and Christian Hermeticists alike, from Ficino to Pico della Mirandola, who saw in him an early architect of the reconciliation between reason and revelation, philosophy and prophecy. His elegant Latin, deeply imbued with classical cadence, became a model for those who sought to harmonize pagan wisdom with divine truth. A beautiful and scarce Lyon printing from the De Tournes press, representing an essential link in the long chain of Hermetic continuity that joined the mysteries of antiquity to the light of Christian humanism.
Lactantius, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus. Divinarum Institutionum Libri VII.Lyon: J. de Tournes, 1567. [2] 785. Index 22p. [3] Small octavo (3¼ x 5 inches). Title page within typographical border; small wormtrack affecting the first few leaves. Full contemporary vellum binding with blue edges and gilt spine label. Text in Latin.