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Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died

Lactantius, ANF 7

The Lord has heard those supplications which you, my best beloved Donatus, pour forth in …
In the latter days of the Emperor Tiberius, in the consulship of Ruberius Geminus and …
After an interval of some years from the death of Nero, there arose another tyrant no …
This long peace, however, was afterwards interrupted. Decius appeared in the world, an …
And presently Valerian also, in a mood alike frantic, lifted up his impious hands to …
Aurelian might have recollected the fate of the captived emperor, yet, being of a nature …
While Diocletian, that author of ill, and deviser of misery, was ruining all things, he …
What was the character of his brother in empire, Maximian, called Herculius? Not unlike …
But the other Maximian (Galerius), chosen by Diocletian for his son-in-law, was worse, …
Diocletian, as being of a timorous disposition, was a searcher into futurity, and during …
The mother of Galerius, a woman exceedingly superstitious, was a votary of the gods of …
A fit and auspicious day was sought out for the accomplishment of this undertaking; and …
Next day an edict was published, depriving the Christians of all honours and dignities; …
But Galerius, not satisfied with the tenor of the edict, sought in another way to gain on…
And now Diocletian raged, not only against his own domestics, but indiscriminately …
Thus was all the earth afflicted; and from east to west, except in the territories of …
The wicked plan having been carried into execution, Diocletian, whom prosperity had now …
Within a few days Galerius Caesar arrived, not to congratulate his father-in-law on the …
Matters having been thus concerted, Diocletian and Galerius went in procession to publish…
Galerius having effected the expulsion of the two old men, began to consider himself …
Having thus attained to the highest power, he bent his mind to afflict that empire into …
And now that cruelty, which he had learned in torturing the Christians, became habitual, …
But that which gave rise to public and universal calamity, was the tax imposed at once on…
Already the judgment of God approached him, and that season ensued in which his fortunes …
Some few days after, the portrait of Constantine, adorned with laurels, was brought to …
Things seemed to be arranged in some measure to the satisfaction of Galerius, when …
But Maximian, who knew the outrageous temper of Galerius, began to consider that, fired …
After the flight of Galerius, Maximian, having returned from Gaul, held authority in …
Then Maximian returned into Gaul; and after having made some stay in those quarters, he …
Maximian, having thus forfeited the respect due to an emperor and a father-in-law, grew …
From Maximian, God, the avenger of religion and of His people, turned his eyes to …
Maximin Daia was incensed at the nomination of Licinius to the dignity of emperor, and he…
And now, when Galerius was in the eighteenth year of his reign, God struck him with an …
“Amongst our other regulations for the permanent advantage of the commonweal, we have …
This edict was promulgated at Nicomedia on the day preceding the kalends of May, in the …
Daia, on receiving this news, hasted with relays of horses from the East, to seize the …
While occupied in this plan, he received letters from Constantine which deterred him from…
But that which distinguished his character, and in which he transcended all former …
Now Daia, in gratifying his libidinous desires, made his own will the standard of right; …
There was a certain matron of high rank who already had grandchildren by more than one …
But the empress, an exile in some desert region of Syria, secretly informed her father …
At this time, by command of Constantine, the statues of Maximian Herculius were thrown …
Of the adversaries of God there still remained one, whose overthrow and end I am now to …
And now a civil war broke out between Constantine and Maxentius. Although Maxentius kept …
Constantine having settled all things at Rome, went to Milan about the beginning of …
The armies thus approaching each other, seemed on the eve of a battle. Then Daia made …
So the two armies drew nigh; the trumpets ave the signal; the military ensigns advanced; …
Not many days after the victory, Licinius, having received part of the soldiers of Daia …
While Licinius pursued with his army, the fugitive tyrant retreated, and again occupied …
Thus did God subdue all those who persecuted His name, so that neither root nor branch of…
Valeria, too, who for fifteen months had wandered under a mean garb from province to …
I relate all those things on the authority of well-informed persons; and I thought it …
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