Summary

Portrait of Lactantius Lactantius Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VII, The Divine Institutes… (1885)

For justice has no weight in outward circumstances, not even in the body, [1] but it is altogether employed on the mind of man. He, therefore, who wishes to place men on an equality, ought not to take away marriage and wealth, but arrogance, pride, and haughtiness, that those who are powerful and lifted up on high may know that they are on a level even with the most needy.
Source: Wikisource

Portrait of Lactantius Lactantius Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VII, The Divine Institutes… (1885)

For insolence and injustice being taken from the rich, it will make no difference whether some are rich and others poor, since they will be equal in spirit, and nothing but reverence towards God can produce this result. He thought, therefore, that he had found justice, whereas he had altogether removed it, because it ought not to be a community of perishable things, but of minds. For if justice is the mother [2] of all virtues, when they are severally taken away, it is also itself overthrown.
Source: Wikisource

Portrait of Lactantius Lactantius Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VII, The Divine Institutes… (1885)

For the ownership of property contains the material both of vices and of virtues, but a community of goods contains nothing else than the licentiousness of vices. For men who have many mistresses can be called nothing else than luxurious and prodigal. And likewise women who are in the possession of many men, must of necessity be not adulteresses, because they have no fixed marriage, but prostitutes and harlots.
Source: Wikisource

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