LACTANTIUS, Lucius Coelius Firmianus

Lactantii Firmiani de divinis institutionibus adversus gentes. Rubricae primi libri incipiut.

      Folio, 216ll (of 218), 38 lines to a full page, leaf 12 (recto) has an early decorative border, coloured blue, red and brown and the capital letter (ëMí) is embellished and coloured; at some time this copy has been washed as there are the faint remains in margins of very early (16th century?) annotations and a light grey ëleachí mark on the borders of most pages, a few leaves with neat and barely visible strengthening to the inner margin and occasional remains of glue showing as a small brown stain; however this is a crisp copy with large margins, bound in later, but not recent, vellum with red morocco label on spine. (Venice?), Adam de Ambergrau, 1471. Lactantius was an eminent father of the early church and was a Christian in the reign of Dioclesian, but is thought to have been as African by birth who was appointed by Dioclesian to teach rhetoric and was later appointed by the Emperor Constantine to teach his son Crispus. His principal work is ëInstitutiones Divinalí produced in response to two heathen authors who attacked Christianity.