Some method of subdivision is necessary, and the simplest and most obvious is that which breaks the whole into two great parts, the ante-Nicene and the post-Nicene.
The ante-Nicene period of patristic literature opens with the "apostolic fathers," 5 i.e.
Migne's texts are not always satisfactory, but since the completion of his great undertaking two important collections have been begun on critical lines - the Vienna edition of the Latin Church writers,' and the Berlin edition of the Greek writers of the ante-Nicene period .8 For English readers there are three series of translations from the fathers, which cover much of the ground; the Oxford Library of the Fathers, the Ante Nicene Christian Library and the Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.
There is an English translation in the Library of the Ante-Nicene Fathers.
For English translations consult the "Oxford Library of the Fathers" and the "Ante-Nicene Library."
