Lactantius

“ It is certain that this...was composed and published while Licinius, sovereign of the East, still preserved the friendship of Constantine and of the Christians. Every reader of taste must perceive that the style is of a very different and inferior character to that of Lactantius; and such, indeed, is the judgment of Le Clerc [2] and Lardner. [3] Three arguments (from the title of the book and from the names of Donatus and Cæcilius) are produced by the advocates of Lactantius. [4] Each of these proofs is, singly, weak and defective; but their concurrence has great weight. ”

“ Footnotes ↑ Cap. xiv. (vol. i.) p. 452. ↑ Bibliothèque Ancienne et Mod., tom. iii. p. 438. ↑ Credib., part ii. vol. vii. p. 94. ↑ The Père Lestocq, tom. ii. pp. 46–60. ↑ This word is italicized by Gibbon. ↑ Vol. ii. cap. 20. ↑ Inst., i. 1 and vii. 27. ↑ Vol. ii. cap. 20. ↑ Now (1880) a thousand years old. ”