I have finished up the early church fathers and am now probably going to take a decent break. I hope people have enjoyed the series so far and found it informative, pacifist or not. I have certainly learned a whole lot writing it!

Lactantius on Violence

#Lactantius

#Life

Lactantius was a famous teacher of Latin rhetoric who was known to be incredibly elegant. He converted to Christianity late in life and wrote so elegantly that he has been dubbed a “Christian Cicero”. He became the first advisor to Constantine, the first Christian emperor. His most important work is The Divine Institutes which is the only of his works that will be referenced here. The Divine Institutes is an example of early Christian systematic thinking which was written in order to combat the ideas of paganism by showing the superiority of Christian thought. Although his theology and knowledge of scripture is criticized, the work still offers a very beautiful presentation of Christian ideas.

#Pacifism

Lactantius posed an interesting dilemma for this series. In Lactantius we get the most fierce and thorough condemnations of all killing, not least war. However, after the rise of Constantine, Lactantius wrote in support of his violent victory, contradicting much of what he had written before. He did not write an explanation as to what made his views change nor did he try to explain how this apparent change was actually consistent. Thus, I have decided to make sure the reader is fully aware of the change in views of Lactantius, yet feel no need in this essay to consider why such a change took place. His arguments against violence, despite an apparent change of heart later on in his life, remain.

 

Lactantius was absolutely fierce in his condemnation of killing of any kind. This was because of the God whom he worshipped. To him it was a given that were one to worship the true God, one could not end the life of another. They would “maintain concord with all.. even to enemies, love all men as brethren.. restrain anger and soothe every passion.” They would not “be at enmity with any human being nor desire anything at all which is the property of another.”

>But if God only were worshipped, there would not be dissensions and wars, since men would know that they are the sons of one God; and, therefore, among those who were connected by the sacred and inviolable bond of divine relationship, there would be no plottings, inasmuch as they would know what kind of punishments God prepared for the destroyers of souls, who sees through secret crimes, and even the very thoughts themselves.

5.8

 

Lactantius blamed pagans’ unjust ways (which inc

I'm trying to understand the circumstances surrounding Constantine's vision and subsequent conversion. So far, the only sources I have found are Eusebius of Caesarea and Lactantius. There are obvious biases in the cases of both these sources, so I'm trying to corroborate their accounts with anything else I can find. What other sources are there?

Eusebius and Lactantius both personally knew Constantine. Other than the "sign" by which Constantine was to conquer, do their accounts of his conversion, motivations, and pro-Christian policies differ in any substantial way?

The short version is:

Almost all of what almost everyone believes about Zeus is wrong.

Seriously.

If you actually sit down and read a lot of what genuine ancient Greek pagans said about Zeus, he is fundamentally righteous. Zeus hates iniquity and loves justice; he rewards the righteous, and strikes down the evil. Fire or lightning from heaven is a weapon against the cruel. Zeus is the foremost representative of cosmic order, and that includes moral order.

Remember that both the Euthyphro dilemma and the riddle of Epicurus were posed by pagan Greeks (assuming Epicurus' riddle is correctly attributed to Epicurus, which itself depends on how much you trust Lactantius), and neither make any sense if you don't believe that the gods are, at their core, righteous. If you open Hesiod at all, you'll notice that Zeus is all-wise, that true and perfect judgement is of Zeus, that Zeus has sent ten thousand invisible spirits to watch mortals and ensure they behave righteously, that Zeus hates corruption and lies, that Zeus is angered by evildoing and punishes the evildoer. If you read Cleanthes' Hymn to Zeus, you'd notice that Zeus is the source of law and cosmic harmony, that Zeus is supreme and has given the moral law to human beings. (That translation might sound a little Christian to you, despite the original being three centuries before Christ: here's an alternate.) Oh, hey, Aratus also speaks of Zeus as the one who, in his kindness, creates an ordered reality intelligible to human beings, who is a blessing to all men. Pindar too talks about the righteous judgements of the gods, and how the road of Zeus, for the pious, leads to eternal blessing.

I could go on.

But no, let's just make silly jokes about adultery and murder.

This is what happens when your only knowledge of ancient Greek religious practices comes from reading storybooks about mythology. See, the majority of Greek mythology? Those were stories. They were meant to be entertaining. They are not necessarily accurate depictions of wha

Do your worst!

We all know the infamous story of Nero killing his pregnant wife by a kick in the belly.

>He dearly loved Poppaea, whom he married twelve days after his divorce from Octavia, yet he caused her death too by kicking her when she was pregnant and ill, because she had scolded him for coming home late from the races.
>
>– Seutonius, Nero 35.3

>Sabina also perished at this time through an act of Nero's; either accidentally or intentionally he had leaped upon her with his feet while she was pregnant.
>
>– Cassius Dio, Epitome of Book LXII.27.4

>After the close of the festival, Poppaea met her end through a chance outburst of anger on the part of her husband, who felled her with a kick during pregnancy.
>
>– Tacitus, Annals XVI.6.1

Tacitus further adds that some writers claimed Nero poisoned her, though he does not believe them.

>That poison played its part I am unable to believe, though the assertion is made by some writers less from conviction than from hatred; for Nero was desirous of children, and love for his wife was a ruling passion.
>
>– Tacitus, Annals XVI.6.1

Many people do not know that apart from Nero, Persian King Cambyses II (Son of Cyrus the Great), Periander (Second Tyrant of the Cypselid dynasty that ruled over ancient Corinth) and Herodes Atticus (Athenian sophist and teacher of young Marcus Aurelius) have been attributed to have killed their pregnant wives by a kick in the belly during pregnancy. Cambyses and Periander killed their pregnant wife in the same manner as Nero, whereas Herodes was accused by his brother-in-law of having his freedman kick his pregnant wife in the belly but was later exonerated by Aurelius.

>But the Egyptian tale is that as the two sat at table the woman took a lettuce and plucked off the leaves, then asked her husband whether he [Cambyses] liked the look of it, with or without leaves; "With the leaves," said he; whereupon she answered: "Yet you have stripped Cyrus' house as bare as this lettuce." Angered at this, they say, he leaped upon her, she being great with child; and she died of the hurt he gave her.
>
>– Herodotus, Histories 3.32.4

>By her [Lysida] he [Periander] had two sons, Cypselus and Lycophron, the younger a man of intelligence, the elder weak in mind. However, after some time, in a fit of anger, he killed his wife by throwing a footstool at her, or by a kick, when she was pregnant, having be

It really does, I swear!

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

They’re on standbi

Buenosdillas

Pilot on me!!

Hello fellow worldbuilders,

Today I stumbled upon an article in Swiss newspaper Le Temps, about the wrong idea that, in the Middle Ages, people thought the Earth was flat. The fact itself is not very relevant, but the process behind it - how a wrong idea could become rooted so deep into the collective mindset that it still distorts our today's picture of a past era - is extremely interesting. And I thought I'd share this with you, as the process could be used in, or inspire, our worldbuilding works.

The original article is in French, I translated it as well as I could with deepl.com (+ a few manual corrections). I apologize if there are still some weird formulations in it. Also, the article talks about a book that has been published on the matter.

It's a bit a long read, but here it is.

----------------------

In the Middle Ages, people thought the Earth was flat: a "fake news" invented by Voltaire

The roundness of the Earth has never been forgotten since Greek antiquity, contrary to what has been propagated since the 18th century, notably by Voltaire. A fascinating book revisits a myth that was well-established, since it has done so much good.

*

Try it out around you. What did people know in the Middle Ages about the shape of the Earth? And who discovered that the Earth was round? Chances are that you will be told first of all that - of course - the Earth was flat in the Middle Ages, and then that - let's see, it was Galileo, who fought against the Church to make his point of view known, there was a famous trial...

Perhaps you will also hear the name of Copernicus, or even that of Columbus - the navigator who fought against the great people of Spain to discover America, who did not believe his journey was possible... Of course, you will have excluded from this experience the "flat-earthers", those people who are currently convinced that the Earth is really flat - a curiosity of a contemporary world that never fails to surprise us.

However, the truth is that the rotundity of the Earth has never been forgotten. What created very strong tensions with the Church was the question of its movement, the fact that it was not at the center of the world, and even the famous question of whether or not the antipodes were populated; but the roundness of our planet was not questioned. It was because they were tired of the untruths and nonsense uttered by their students and encountered in films or in the writings of a former minister that two resea

Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.

This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.

If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.

Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.

What did 0 say to 8 ?

" Nice Belt "

So What did 3 say to 8 ?

" Hey, you two stop making out "

When I got home, they were still there.

I won't be doing that today!

You take away their little brooms

This morning, my 4 year old daughter.

Daughter: I'm hungry

Me: nerves building, smile widening

Me: Hi hungry, I'm dad.

She had no idea what was going on but I finally did it.

Thank you all for listening.

There hasn't been a post all year!