The deaths of persecution

On the deaths of the pursuers (De mortibus persecutorum) is a work of Lactantius written after the triumph of Constantine (between 318 and 321).

There is no mention of it in the writings of the fathers of the Church. Jean-Baptiste Colbert took out the manuscript that was in a Benedictine monastery in Moissac to enrich his library. So it is only in 1679 when Estéfano Baluzio publishes it by publishing a version from those manuscripts of the eleventh century. It was in poor condition and copied with little rigor.

The title of the work indicated: Lucii Caecilii incipit liber without indicating the cognomen. This allowed the booklet to be awarded to various authors. It is dedicated to the confessor Donato, that is to say, the same one of another work of Lactancio, De ira Dei, and shares with that text his interpretation of the divine justice. It is a writing of philosophy of history with the personal interpretation of the author: the emperors who have persecuted the Christians have been punished by the divine justice. It focuses particularly on the period of the Tetrarchy with strong criticism of Diocletian.

In this work is the edict of tolerance proclaimed by Galerius before his death, the first Roman official document that allows the existence of Christians as a religion: XXXIV Bibliography

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