The Patrologia Latina · Volume VIII
The First Christian Emperor
Volume 8 opens the Constantinian age: Eusebius’ Life of Constantine, the emperor’s own oration, laws, and letters, the panegyrics spoken in his praise, the documents of the Donatist controversy, the Bordeaux pilgrim’s road-book of 333 AD, and the theological works of Marius Victorinus — the famous Roman rhetor whose late-life conversion stunned the city. We are translating every one into English.
About this volume
The empire changes sides
In 312 AD Constantine won the battle of the Milvian Bridge; within a generation the empire that had persecuted the church was building its basilicas. This volume gathers the record of that turn: Eusebius of Caesarea’s Life of Constantine in its Latin dress, the Oration to the Assembly of the Saints transmitted as the emperor’s own, his letters and the laws collected from the legal codes, the speeches of Nazarius and the older Gallic panegyrists, and the dossier of edicts and court acts from the Donatist controversy in North Africa. Beside them stands the Bordeaux Itinerary of 333 AD, the earliest surviving record of a Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
The volume’s theologian is Marius Victorinus, the African rhetor honored with a statue in the Forum of Trajan whose conversion around 355 AD Augustine retells in the Confessions. His four books Against Arius, the exchange with Candidus the Arian, his hymns on the Trinity, and the earliest surviving Latin commentaries on Paul — Galatians, Philippians, Ephesians — bring Neoplatonic philosophy into the defense of Nicaea. Letters of Pope Julius I, Pope Liberius, Hosius of Corduba, and Potamius of Lisbon complete the picture of the church in its first imperial generation.
As across the whole project, we translate the original works only, in fresh English, and give them away free to read.
Where to start
Three to begin with
The life
The Life of Constantine
De Vita Constantini
The first Christian emperor remembered by the first church historian — the vision before battle, Nicaea, and the new Rome.
Read →The theology
Against Arius
Adversus Arium
Rome’s most famous teacher of rhetoric turns Neoplatonic philosophy into a four-book defense of the Trinity.
Read →The curiosity
The Bordeaux Itinerary
Itinerarium Burdegalense
A pilgrim’s road-book from Bordeaux to Jerusalem in 333 AD — the oldest Christian travel record we have.
Read →The contents
24 works
Each is a fresh English translation from the Latin, free to read online, in the order Migne printed them.
- 01
The Life of Constantine De Vita Constantini
Eusebius's panegyrical portrait of Constantine, from his conversion at the Milvian Bridge to his deathbed baptism, in its Latin dress.
206 ch. Read free → - 02
The Decrees and Constitutions of Constantine Decreta et Constitutiones
A dossier of Constantine's laws and rescripts, from the Edict of Milan to statutes on appeals, slavery, Jews, and provincial administration.
762 ch. Read free → - 03
Oration to the Assembly of the Saints Oratio ad Sanctorum Coetum
Constantine's own address to a Christian assembly, arguing from nature, philosophy, and pagan prophecy—including Virgil's Fourth Eclogue—to the truth of Christ.
26 ch. Read free → - 04
Letters of Constantine the Great Epistolae
Constantine's own letters on church unity, the Donatist schism, the Council of Nicaea, and the Holy Sepulchre, including the legendary Helena exchange.
5 ch. Read free → - 05
Panegyric on Constantine Panegyricus Constantino Augusto Dictus
A Gallic orator's 321 AD tribute to Constantine, recounting the fall of Maxentius and Rome's liberation before the assembled court.
50 min Read free → - 06
Ancient Panegyrics Addressed to Constantine Panegyrici Veteres Constantino Dicti
Four Gallic orations honoring Constantine, from his 307 AD wedding to Maximian's daughter to his 312 AD victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge.
4 ch. Read free → - 07
Ancient Documents on the History of the Donatists Monumenta Vetera Ad Historiam Donatistarum
A documentary dossier of edicts, court proceedings, and martyr narratives recording the Donatist schism in Africa from its outbreak under Diocletian to the 340s AD.
18 ch. Read free → - 08
The Bordeaux Pilgrim's Itinerary Itinerarium Burdegalense
A mile-by-mile itinerary of the earliest known Christian pilgrimage, from Bordeaux to Jerusalem and back, dated 333 AD.
4 ch. Read free → - 09
Letters of Pope Julius I Epistolae et Fragmenta
Pope Julius I's landmark defense of Athanasius and Marcellus against the Eastern bishops, gathered with later letters, synodal acts, and disputed decretals bearing his name.
61 ch. Read free → - 10
To Justin the Manichaean Liber ad Justinum Manichaeum
A point-by-point refutation of Manichaean dualism, arguing that one omnipotent God, not two rival eternal principles, is the source of all things.
32 min Read free → - 11
On the Words "It Was Evening and Morning, One Day" Tractatus de verbis: Factum est vespere et mane dies unus
A treatise defending Genesis's evening-and-morning order by showing the sun's light governs only part of the world at once.
14 min Read free → - 12
On the Divine Generation Liber de Generatione Divina
Candidus the Arian's letter to Marius Victorinus argues God cannot beget and that Christ is his supreme work, not his begotten Son.
16 min Read free → - 13
On the Generation of the Divine Word Liber de Generatione Divini Verbi
Marius Victorinus turns the philosophical language of being and non-being against Candidus's claim that Christ was made from nothing.
37 min Read free → - 14
Letter to Marius Victorinus Epistola ad Marium Victorinum
An Arian correspondent opens his case to Marius Victorinus by quoting the founding letters of Arius and Eusebius of Nicomedia on the Son's origin.
4 min Read free → - 15
Against Arius Adversus Arium Libri Quattuor
A Roman rhetor's four-book defense of the Nicene faith, arguing point by point from Scripture that Father and Son share one substance.
113 ch. Read free → - 16
On Accepting the Homoousion De Homoousio Recipiendo
Marius Victorinus presses the case for the Nicene word homoousion, showing it alone excludes every evasion Arius offered about the Son.
8 min Read free → - 17
Three Hymns on the Trinity De Trinitate Hymni Tres
Three devotional hymns in which Marius Victorinus turns his Trinitarian metaphysics into prayer and praise.
3 ch. Read free → - 18
Commentary on Galatians In Epistolam Pauli ad Galatas
The earliest surviving Latin commentary on Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, working through the letter chapter by chapter.
8 ch. Read free → - 19
Commentary on Philippians In Epistolam Pauli ad Philippenses
One of the earliest Latin commentaries on Paul's letters, working through Philippians verse by verse with a rhetorician's eye for argument and doctrine.
4 ch. Read free → - 20
Commentary on Ephesians In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios
Marius Victorinus works verse by verse through Ephesians, turning Paul's letter into a meditation on Christ as the will of the Father.
8 ch. Read free → - 21
On Physics Liber de Physicis
A natural-reason argument for one Creator that moves from the order of the cosmos to the fall of man and the incarnation of Christ.
45 min Read free → - 22
The Sayings and Letter of Hosius of Corduba Sententiae et Epistola
The presiding bishop's own account of the canons of Sardica, followed by his defiant letter refusing an emperor's pressure to condemn Athanasius.
19 min Read free → - 23
Letters, Sayings, and Acts of Pope Liberius Epistolae, Dicta et Gesta
A dossier of Pope Liberius's letters and acts under Constantius II, including his defense of the exiled Athanasius and the disputed letters written during his exile.
18 ch. Read free → - 24
The Treatise and Letter of Potamius of Lisbon Tractatus et Epistola
A Lusitanian bishop's ornate treatise on Lazarus and the martyred Isaiah, closing with a letter defending the divine substance against Arian objections.
13 min Read free →
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