Lactantius

Common questions

Who was Lactantius?

Lactantius (250–325) — Latin rhetorician and apologist, called the 'Christian Cicero.' Author of Divinae Institutiones and De Mortibus Persecutorum. Tutor to Constantine's son Crispus.

Who taught Lactantius?

Arnobius of Sicca.

Sources for biography

• Jerome, De Viris Illustribus 80 primary
• Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum primary

documented connections(1)

• cited Minucius Felix
  Lactantius praises Minucius Felix's Octavius in his survey of Latin apologists.
  Lactantius, Divinae Institutiones 5.1

tradition connections(2)

• taught by Arnobius of Sicca
  Jerome (De Vir. Ill. 80, c. 393) states Lactantius was a pupil of Arnobius at Sicca; no contemporary attestation, and Lactantius himself does not name Arnobius.
  Jerome, De Viris Illustribus 80 · Jerome, Chronicon ad ann. 327
• knew of Constantine the Great
  Jerome reports that in his old age Lactantius was tutor in Latin to Crispus, son of Constantine, in Gaul. Lactantius dedicated De Mortibus Persecutorum within Constantine's circle.
  Jerome, De Viris Illustribus 80 · Jerome, Chronicon ad ann. 318