In 8° (165x100 mm) cc. n.n. 16, cc. num. 301. Title page within a rich woodcut frame, in Renaissance style, with ramages and winged cherubs playing horns, on dolphins; ornate woodcut initials. 18th-century half-leather with double title on the spine in gold, floral decorations, cardboard covers decorated in green. Rare edition with beautiful italic type, preceding the first edition by Aldus Manutius of 1515. First Giuntina edition of the philosophical and apologetic works of Lactantius. Editor of the edition: Mariano Tucci. Lactantius (c. 250 – probably 325 AD) was of African origin. Diocletian called him to Nicomedia as a teacher of rhetoric, where he converted to Christianity and defended it against pagan ideas, even during Diocletian's persecutions. Around 315, Constantine brought him to Trier as tutor to his son Crispus. He saw rhetorical elegance, honed by classical antiquity, as a means of making Christianity attractive. Despite his position as a Doctor of the Church, he was rejected as a heretic in the Middle Ages; the Renaissance appreciated him as a great stylist (Pico della Mirandola called him "Cicero christianus"). Good copy with some defects on the upper cap and corners. Minimal light halo at the foot of p. only marginal margin on a few leaves. Occasional light foxing. Unknown to Caillet; Adams L- 15; Bandini II, 51. CNCE 28725; BMSTC (Italian Books) 366; Decia/Delfiol I, 46; Brunet III, 736; Graesse IV, 66; Ebert 11600; not in Schweiger.