Author: Le Nourry, Denis-Nicolas (1647-1724); Lactantius (ca. 240 a.D.)
Title: Lucii Cecilii liber ad donatum confessorem de mortibus persecutorum, hactenus Lucio Caelio Firmiano Lactantio adscriptus,... accessit dissertatio, in qua de hujus libri auctore disputatur... studio & opera D. Nicolai le Nourry...
Description: Parisiis, Apud Joannem-Baptistam Delespine, 1710. (32), 403, (33 index) pp. (in some copies - LC; Nat. libr. of Scotland - a last leaf of facs. plates is called for). 8vo 12x20cm. Rebound in modern half leather cloth with raised bands, marbled boards. Clean copy with wide margins. Mailorder only - Alleen verzending mogelijk. Book condition : very good. Edition of Lactantius' Liber ad Donatum confessorem de mortibus persecutorum (pp. 1-102). Being a Christian apologist, it is not surprising that this work, the only historical work we have from him, should have an apologetic character. It is an account of the frightful deaths of the principal persecutors of the Christians, Nero, Domitian, Decius, Valerian, Aurelian, and the contemporaries of Lactantius himself, Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Maximus. Not withstanding the manifest bias of the author, is of prime importance as a source of the last and greatest of the persecutions, though, somewhat strangely, the style is not so perfect might be expected. The full text is found in only one manuscript, which bears the title, Lucii Caecilii liber ad Donatum Confessorem de Mortibus Persecutorium. Many attempts have been made to show that the work was not by Lactantius. The pages 103-403 of our work contain a special and controversial dissertation by Le Nourry in which he also tries hard to prove that the book was written by Lucius Caecilius and not by Lactantius. Le Nourry, member of the famous Benedictine congregation of St. Maur, was a classical scolar (editions of Cassiodor, Ambrose) and best known for his Apparatus ad bibliothecam maximam veterum patrum et antiquorum scriptorum, published at Paris in two volumes (1703 and 1715) as an aid to the study of the Lyons collection of the Fathers. A few old marginal scribblings; small stamp in upper right corner of first two pages. Graesse IV, p. 67; Cf. Cellier, Auteurs Sacrés, II, p. 504vv.; 5 US copies in OCLC.

Keywords: CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY,