period, christianity was embraced by almost all the barbarians, who established their kingdoms on the ruins of the western empire; the Burgundians in Gaul, the Suevi in Spain, the Vandals in Africa, the Ostrogoths in Pannonia, and the various bands of mercenaries, that raised Odoacer to the throne of Italy. The Franks and the Saxons still persevered in the errors of paganism; but the Franks obtained the monarchy of Gaul by their submission to the example of Clovis; and the Saxon conquerors of Britain were reclaimed from their savage superstition by the missionaries of Rome. These barbarian proselytes displayed an ardent and successful zeal in the propagation of the faith. The Merovingian kings, and their successors, Charlemagne and the Othos, extended, by their laws and victories, the dominion of the cross. England produced the apostle of Germany; and the evangelic light was gradually diffused from the neighbourhood of the Rhine, to the nations of the Elbe, the Vistula, and the Baltic. Motives of their heavens and earth, the whole system of the universe, which may be conceived by the mind, is it created or eternal? If created, how, or where, could the gods themselves exist before the creation? If eternal, how could they assume the empire of an independent and pre-existing world? Urge these arguments with temper and moderation, insinuate, at seasonable intervals, the truth and beauty of the christian revelation; and endeavour to make the unbelievers ashamed, without making them angry." This metaphysical reasoning, too refined perhaps for the barbarians of Germany, was fortified by the grosser weight of authority and popular consent. The advantage of temporal prosperity had deserted the pagan cause, and passed over to the service of christianity. The Romans themselves, the most powerful and enlightened nation of the globe, had renounced their ancient superstition; and, if the ruin of their empire seemed to accuse the efficacy of the new faith, the disgrace was already retrieved by the conversion of the victorious Goths. The valiant and fortunate barbarians, who subdued the provinces of the west, successively received, and reflected, the same edi the christian nations of Europe might exult in the exclusive possession of the temperate climates, of the fertile lands, which produced corn, wine, and oil; while the savage idolaters, and their helpless idols, were confined to the extremities of the earth, the dark and frozen regions of the north.” conversion. The different motives which infaith. fluenced the reason, or the passions, of the barbarian converts, cannot easily be ascertained. They were often capricious and accidental;fying example. Before the age of Charlemagne, a dream, an omen, the report of a miracle, the example of some priest or hero, the charms of a believing wife, and, above all, the fortunate event of a prayer, or vow, which, in a moment of danger, they had addressed to the God of the christians. The early prejudices of education were insensibly erased by the habits of frequent and familiar society; the moral precepts of the gospel were protected by the extravagant virtues of the monks; and a spiritual theology was supported by the visible power of relics, and the pomp of religious worship. But the rational and ingenious mode of persuasion, which a Saxon bishop" suggested to a popular saint, might sometimes be employed by the missionaries, who laboured for the conversion of infidels. " Admit," says the sagacious disputant, "whatever they are pleased to assert of the fabulous and carnal genealogy of their gods and goddesses, who are propagated from each other. From this principle deduce their imperfect nature, and human infirmities, the assurance they were born, and the probability that they will die. At what time, by what means, from what cause, were the eldest of the gods or goddesses produced? Do they still continue, or have they ceased to propagate? If they have ceased, summon your antagonists to declare the reason of this strange alteration. If they still continue, the number of the gods must become infinite; and shall we not risk, by the in-kind was encouraged by the remembrance of a more discreet worship of some impotent deity, to excite the resentment of his jealous superior? The visible Christianity, which opened the gates Effects of their of heaven to the barbarians, introduced an important change in their moral and political condition. They received, at the same time, the use of letters, so essential to a religion whose doctrines are contained in a sacred book, and while they studied the divine truth, their minds were insensibly enlarged by the distant view of history, of nature, of the arts, and of society. The version of the Scriptures into their native tongue, which had facilitated their conversion, must excite, among their clergy, some curiosity to read the original text, to understand the sacred liturgy of the church, and to examine, in the writings of the fathers, the chain of ecclesiastical tradition. These spiritual gifts were preserved in the Greek and Latin languages, which concealed the inestimable monuments of ancient learning. The immortal productions of Virgil, Cicero, and Livy, which were accessible to the christian barbarians, maintained a silent intercourse between the reign of Augustus, and the times of Clovis and Charlemagne. The emulation of man perfect state; and the flame of science was secretly kept alive, to warm and enlighten the mature age of Winchester, (Beda, Hist. Eccles. Anglorum, I. v. c. 18. p. 203. edit. Smith,) to St. Boniface, who preached the gospel among the savages of Hesse and Thuringia. Epistol. Bonifacii, Ixvii. in the Maxima Bibliotheca Patrum, tom. xiii. p. 93. n The sword of Charlemagne added weight to the argument; but when Daniel wrote this epistle, (A. D. 723.) the Mahometans, who reigned from India to Spain, might have retorted it against the christians. the western world. In the most corrupt state of | tures in the Teutonic language, promoted the aposchristianity, the barbarians might learn justice from the law, and mercy from the gospel: and if the knowledge of their duty was insufficient to guide | their actions, or to regulate their passions, they were sometimes restrained by conscience, and frequently punished by remorse. But the direct authority of religion was less effectual, than the holy communion which united them with their christian brethren in spiritual friendship. The influence of these sentiments contributed to secure their fidelity in the service or the alliance of the Romans, to alleviate the horrors of war, to moderate the insolence of conquest, and to preserve, in the downfall of the empire, a permanent respect for the name and institutions of Rome. In the days of paganism, the priests of Gaul and Germany reigned over the people, and controlled the jurisdiction of the magistrates; and the zealous proselytes transferred an equal, or more ample, measure of devout obedience, to the pontiffs of the christian faith. The sacred character of the bishops was supported by their temporal possessions; they obtained an honourable seat in the legislative assemblies of soldiers and freemen; and it was their interest, as well as their duty, to mollify, by peaceful counsels, the fierce spirit of the barbarians. The perpetual correspondence of the Latin clergy, the frequent pilgrimages to Rome and Jerusalem, and the growing authority of the popes, cemented the union of the christian republic; and gradually produced the similar manners, and common jurisprudence, which have distinguished, from the rest of mankind, the independent, and even hostile, nations of modern Europe. But the operation of these causes They are involv. ed in the Arian was checked and retarded by the unheresy. fortunate accident, which infused a deadly poison into the cup of salvation. Whatever might be the early sentiments of Ulphilas, his connexions with the empire and the church were formed during the reign of Arianism. The apostle of the Goths subscribed the creed of Rimini; professed with freedom, and perhaps with sincerity, that the SON was not equal, or consubstantial, to the FATHER;" communicated these errors to the clergy and people; and infected the barbaric world with a heresy, which the great Theodosius proscribed and extinguished among the Romans. The temper and understanding of the proselytes were not adapted to metaphysical subtilties; but they strenuously maintained what they had piously received, as the pure and genuine doctrines of christianity. The advantage of preaching and expounding the Scrip The opinions of Ulphilas and the Goths inclined to Semi-Arianism, since they would not say that the Son was a creature, though they held communion with those who maintained that heresy. Their apostle represented the whole controversy as a question of trifling moment, which had been raised by the passions of the clergy. Theodoret, 1. iv. c. 37. P The Arianism of the Goths has been imputed to the emperor Valens: "Itaque justo Dei judicio ipsi eum vivum incenderunt, qui propter eum etiam mortui, vitio erroris arsuri sunt." Orosius, l. vii. c. 33. p. 554. This cruel sentence is confirmed by Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 604-610.) who coolly observes," un seul homme entraina dans l'enfer un nombre infini de Septentrionaux, &c." Salvian (de Gubern. Dei, l. v. p. 150, 151.) pities and excuses their involuntary error. tolic labours of Ulphilas and his successors; and they ordained a competent number of bishops and presbyters for the instruction of the kindred tribes. The Ostrogoths, the Burgundians, the Suevi, and the Vandals, who had listened to the eloquence of the Latin clergy, preferred the more intelligible lessons of their domestic teachers; and Arianism was adopted as the national faith of the warlike converts, who were seated on the ruins of the western empire. This irreconcilable difference of religion was a perpetual source of jealousy and hatred; and the reproach of barbarian was imbittered by the more odious epithet of heretic. The heroes of the north, who had submitted, with some reluctance, to believe that all their ancestors were in hell,' were astonished and exasperated to learn, that they themselves had only changed the mode of their eternal condemnation. Instead of the smooth applause, which christian kings are accustomed to expect from their loyal prelates, the orthodox bishops and their clergy were in a state of opposition to the Arian courts; and their indiscreet opposition frequently became criminal, and might sometimes be dangerous. The pulpit, that safe and sacred organ of sedition, resounded with the names of Pharaoh and Holofernes; the public discontent was inflamed by the hope or promise of a glorious deliverance; and the seditious saints were tempted to promote the accomplishment of their own predictions. Notwithstanding these provocations, the General toleracatholics of Gaul, Spain, and Italy, tion. enjoyed, under the reign of the Arians, the free and peaceful exercise of their religion. Their haughty masters respected the zeal of a numerous people, resolved to die at the foot of their altars; and the example of their devout constancy was admired and imitated by the barbarians themselves. The conquerors evaded, however, the disgraceful reproach, or confession, of fear, by attributing their toleration to the liberal motives of reason and humanity; and while they affected the language, they imperceptibly imbibed the spirit, of genuine christianity. of the Vandals. The peace of the church was some- Ariau persecution times interrupted. The catholics were indiscreet, the barbarians were impatient; and the partial acts of severity or injustice which had been recommended by the Arian clergy, were exaggerated by the orthodox writers. The guilt of persecution may be imputed to Euric, king of the Visigoths; who suspended the exercise of ecclesiastical, or at least of episcopal, functions; and punished the popular bishops of Aquitain with imprisonment, q Orosius affirms, in the year 416, (1. vii. c. 41. p. 580) that the churches of Christ (of the catholics) were filled with Huns, Suevi, Vandals, Burgundians. Radbod, king of the Frisons, was so much scandalized by this rash declaration of a missionary, that he drew back his foot after he had entered the baptismal fout. See Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 167. The Epistles of Sidonius, bishop of Clermont, under the Visigoths, and of Avitus, bishop of Vienna, under the Burgundians, explain, sometimes in dark hints, the general dispositions of the catholics. The history of Clovis and Theodoric will suggest some particular facts. Genseric confessed the resemblance, by the severity with which he punished such indiscreet allusions. Victor Vitensis, 1.7. p. 10, exile, and confiscation." But the cruel and absurd the royal favour, were the liberal rewards of aposenterprise of subduing the minds of a whole peo-tasy; the catholics, who had violated the laws, Genseric, Hilderic, A. D. 523. impious oath; and his accession was gloriously marked by the restoration of peace and universal freedom. The throne of that virtuous though feeble monarch, was usurped by his Gelimer, cousin Gelimer, a zealous Arian: but A. D. 530. the Vandal kingdom, before he could enjoy or abuse his power, was subverted by the arms of Belisarius; and the orthodox party retaliated the injuries which they had endured.* ple, was undertaken by the Vandals might purchase their pardon by the renunciation of A. D. 429–477. alone. Genseric himself, in his early their faith; and whenever Thrasimund meditated youth, had renounced the orthodox communion; any rigorous measure, he patiently waited till the and the apostate could neither grant, nor expect, a indiscretion of his adversaries furnished him with sincere forgiveness. He was exasperated to find, a specious opportunity. Bigotry was his last sentithat the Africans, who had fled before him in the ment in the hour of death; and he exacted from his field, still presumed to dispute his will in synods successor a solemn oath that he would never toleand churches; and his ferocious mind was incapa-rate the sectaries of Athanasius. But ble of fear or of compassion. His catholic subjects his successor, Hilderic, the gentle son were oppressed by intolerant laws and arbitrary of the savage Hunneric, preferred the duties of punishments. The language of Genseric was furi-humanity and justice, to the vain obligation of an ous and formidable; the knowledge of his intentions might justify the most unfavourable interpretation of his actions; and the Arians were reproached with the frequent executions, which stained the palace and the dominions of the tyrant, Arms and ambition were, however, the ruling passions of the monarch of the sea. But Hunneric, his inglorious son, who seemed to inherit only his vices, tormented the catholics with the same unrelenting fury which had been fatal to his brother, his nephews, and the friends and favourites of his father; and even to the Arian patriarch, who was inhumanly burnt alive in the midst of Carthage. The religious war was preceded and prepared by an insidious truce; persecution was made the serious and important business of the Vandal court; and the loathsome disease, which hastened the death of Hunneric, revenged the injuries, without contributing to the deliverance, of the church. The throne of Africa was successively filled by the two Gundamund, nephews of Hunneric; by Gunda Hunneric, A. D. 477. A. D. 484. mund, who reigned about twelve, and by Thrasimund, who governed the nation above twenty-seven, years. Their administration was hostile and oppressive to the orthodox party. Gundamund appeared to emulate, or even to surpass, the cruelty of his uncle; and, if at length he relented, if he recalled the bishops, and restored the freedom of Athanasian worship, a premature death intercepted the benefits of his tardy clemency. Thrasimond, His brother, Thrasimund, was the greatest and most accomplished of the Vandal kings, whom he excelled in beauty, prudence, and magnanimity of soul. But this magnanimous character was degraded by his intolerant zeal and deceitful clemency. Instead of threats and tortures, he employed the gentle but efficacious powers of seduction. Wealth, dignity, and u Such are the contemporary complaints of Sidonius, bishop of Clermont. (1. vii. c. 9. p. 182, &c. edit. Sirmond.) Gregory of Tours, who quotes this Epistle, (1. ii. c. 25. in torn. ii. p. 174.) extorts an unwarrantable assertion, that of the nine vacancies in Aquitain, some had been produced by episcopal martyrdoms. x The original monuments of the Vandal persecution are preserved in the five books of the History of Victor Vitensis, (de Persecutione Vandalica,) a bishop who was exiled by Hunneric; in the Life of St. Fulgentius, who was distinguished in the persecution of Thrasimund, (in Biblioth. Max. Patrum, tom. ix. p. 4-16.) and in the first book of the Vandalic War, by the impartial Procopius, (c. 7, 8. p. 196, 197, 198, 199.) Dom. Ruinart, the last editor of Victor, has illustrated the whole subject with a copious and learned apparatus of notes and sup. plement. (Paris, 1694.) Africa. The passionate declamations of the A general view of catholics, the sole historians of this the persecution in persecution, cannot afford any distinct series of causes and events, any impartial view of characters or counsels; but the most remarkable circumstances, that deserve either credit or notice, may be referred to the following heads: I. In the original law, which is still extant, Hunneric expressly declares, and the declaration appears to be correct, that he had faithfully transcribed the regulations and penalties of the imperial edicts, against the heretical congregations, the clergy, and the people, who dissented from the established religion. If the rights of conscience had been understood, the catholics must have condemned their past conduct, or acquiesced in their actual sufferings. But they still persisted to refuse the indulgence which they claimed. While they trembled under the lash of persecution, they praised the laudable severity of Hunneric himself, who burnt or banished great numbers of Manichæans; and they rejected, with horror, the ignominious compromise, that the disciples of Arius, and of Athanasius, should enjoy a reciprocal and similar toleration in the territories of the Romans, and in those of the Vandals. II. The practice of a conference, which the catholics had so frequently used to insult and punish their obstinate antagonists, was retorted against themselves. At the command of Hunneric, four hundred and sixty-six orthodox bishops assem y Victor. iv. 2. p. 65. Hunneric refuses the name of catholics to the Homoousians. He describes, as the veri Divinæ Majestatis cultores, his own party, who professed the faith, confirmed by more than a thousand bishops, in the synods of Rimini and Seleucia. z Victor. ii. 1. p. 21, 22. Laudabilior... videbatur. In the MSS. which omit this word, the passage is unintelligible. See Ruinart, Not. p. 164. a Victor. ii. 2. p. 22, 23. The clergy of Carthage called these conditions periculosa; and they seem, indeed, to have been proposed as a snare to entrap the catholic bishops. b See the narrative of this conference, and the treatment of the bishops, in Victor, ii. 13-18. p. 35-42. and the whole fourth book, P. 63-171. The third book, p, 42-62. is entirely filled by their apology or confession of faith. bled at Carthage; but when they were admitted whenever their cavalry took the field it was the See the list of the African bishops, in Victor. p. 117–140. and Ruinart's notes, p. 215-397. The schismatic name of Donatus frequently occurs, and they appear to have adopted (like our fanatics of the last age) the pious appellations of Deodatus, Deogratias, Quidvultdeus, Habetdeum, &c. d Fulgent. Vit. c. 16-29. Thrasimund affected the praise of moderation and learning; and Fulgentius addressed three books of controversy to the Arian tyrant, whom he styles pissime Rex. Biblioth. Maxim. Patrum, tom. ix. p. 41. Only sixty bishops are mentioned as exiles in the life of Fulgentius; they are increased to one hundred and twenty by Victor Tunnunensis, and Isidore; but the number of two hundred and twenty is specified in the Historia Miscella, and a short authentic chronicle of the times. See Ruinart, p. 570, 571. See the base and insipid epigrams of the Stoic, who could not sup. port exile with more fortitude than Ovid. Corsica might not pro. duce corn, wine, or oil; but it could not be destitute of grass, water, and even fire. f Si ob gravitatem cœli interissent vile damnum. Tacit. Annal. ii. | when they reached the Moorish huts, might excite the compassion of a people, whose native humanity was neither improved by reason, nor corrupted by fanaticism: but if they escaped the dangers, they were condemned to share the distress, of a savage life. V. It is incumbent on the authors of persecution previously to reflect, whether they are determined to support it in the last extreme. They excite the flame which they strive to extinguish; and it soon becomes necessary to chastise the contumacy, as well as the crime, of the offender. The fine, which he is unable or unwilling to discharge, exposes his person to the severity of the law; and his contempt of lighter penalties suggests the use and propriety of capital punishment. Through the veil of fiction and declamation, we may clearly per reign of Hunneric, endured the most cruel and ignominious treatment. Respectable citizens, noble matrons, and consecrated virgins, were stripped naked, and raised in the air by pulleys, with a weight suspended at their feet. In this painful attitude their naked bodies were torn with scourges, or burnt in the most tender parts with red-hot plates of iron. The amputation of the ears, the nose, the tongue, and the right hand, was inflicted by the Arians; and although the precise number cannot be defined, it is evident that many persons, among whom a bishop and a proconsulTM may be named, were entitled to the crown of martyrdom. The same honour has been ascribed to the memory of count Sebastian, who professed the Nicene creed with unshaken constancy; and Genseric might de 85. In this application, Thrasimund would have adopted the reading of some critics, utile damnum. See these preludes of a general persecution, in Victor. ii, 3, 4. 7. and the two edicts of Hunneric, l. ii. p. 35. 1. iv. p. 64. h See Procopius de Bell. Vandal. I. i. c. 7. p. 197, 198. A Moorish prince endeavoured to propitiate the God of the christians, by his dili gence to erase the marks of the Vandal sacrilege. i See this story in Victor. ii. 8-12. p. 30-34. Victor describes the distress of these confessors as an eye-witness. k See the fifth book of Victor. His passionate complaints are confirmed by the sober testimony of Procopius, and the public declaration of the emperor Justinian, (Cod. 1. i. tit. xxvii.) 1 Victor. ii. 18. p. 41. m Victor. v. 4. p. 74, 75. His name was Victorianus, and he was a wealthy citizen of Adrumetum, who enjoyed the confidence of the king; by whose favour he had obtained the office, or at least the title, of proconsul of Africa. test, as an heretic, the brave and ambitious fugitive | who were assembled at Carthage, that they would whom he dreaded as a rival." VI. A new mode of support the succession of his son Hilderic, and that conversion, which might subdue the feeble, and they would renounce all foreign or transmarine coralarm the timorous, was employed by the Arian respondence. This engagement, consistent, as it ministers. They imposed, by fraud or violence, the should seem, with their moral and religious duties, rites of baptism; and punished the apostasy of the was refused by the more sagacious members' of the catholics, if they disclaimed this odious and pro- assembly. Their refusal, faintly coloured by the fane ceremony, which scandalously violated the pretence that it is unlawful for a christian to swear, freedom of the will, and the unity of the sacra- must provoke the suspicions of a jealous tyrant. ment. The hostile sects had formerly allowed the The catholics, oppressed by royal Catholic frauds, validity of each other's baptism; and the innova- and military force, were far superior tion, so fiercely maintained by the Vandals, can to their adversaries in numbers and learning. With be imputed only to the example and advice of the the same weapons which the Greek" and Latin Donatists. VII. The Arian clergy surpassed, in fathers had already provided for the Arian controreligious cruelty, the king and his Vandals; but versy, they repeatedly silenced, or vanquished, the they were incapable of cultivating the spiritual fierce and illiterate successors of Ulphilas. The vineyard, which they were so desirous to possess. consciousness of their own superiority might have A patriarch might seat himself on the throne of raised them above the arts and passions of religious Carthage; some bishops, in the principal cities, warfare. Yet, instead of assuming such honourable might usurp the place of their rivals; but the pride, the orthodox theologians were tempted, by smallness of their numbers, and their ignorance of the assurance of impunity, to compose fictions, the Latin language, disqualified the barbarians which must be stigmatized with the epithets of fraud for the ecclesiastical ministry of a great church; and forgery. They ascribed their own polemical and the Africans, after the loss of their orthodox works to the most venerable names of christian pastors, were deprived of the public exercise of antiquity; the characters of Athanasius and Auguschristianity. VIII. The emperors were the natural tin were awkwardly personated by Vigilius and his protectors of the Homoousian doctrine and the disciples; and the famous creed, which so clearly faithful people of Africa, both as Romans and as expounds the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incatholics, preferred their lawful sovereignty to the carnation, is deduced, with strong probability, from usurpation of the barbarous heretics. During an this African school. Even the Scriptures theminterval of peace and friendship, Hunneric restored selves were profaned by their rash and sacrilegious the cathedral of Carthage; at the intercession of hands. The memorable text, which asserts the Zeno, who reigned in the east, and of Placidia, the unity of the THREE who bear witness in heaven," is daughter and relict of emperors, and the sister of condemned by the universal silence of the orthodox the queen of the Vandals. But this decent regard fathers, ancient versions, and authentic manuwas but of short duration; and the haughty tyrant scripts. It was first alleged by the catholic bishops displayed his contempt for the religion of the empire, whom Hunneric summoned to the conference of by studiously arranging the bloody images of per- Carthage. An allegorical interpretation, in the secution, in all the principal streets through which form, perhaps, of a marginal note, invaded the text the Roman ambassador must pass, in his way to the of the Latin Bibles, which were renewed and corpalace. An oath was requested from the bishops, rected in a dark period of ten centuries. After the vi. p. 516-522. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 667-671.) 1. St. Athanasius is not the author of the creed which is so frequently read in our churches. 2. It does not appear to have existed within a century after his death. 3. It was originally composed in the Latin tongue, and, consequently, in the western provinces. Gennadius, patriarch of Constantinople, was so much amazed by this extraordinary composition, that he frankly pronounced it to be the work of a drunken man. Petav. Dogmat. Theologica, tom. ii. 1. vii. c. 8. p. 68. z 1 John v. 7. See Simon, Hist. Critique du Nouveau Testament, part. i. c. xviii. p. 203-218; and part ii. c. ix. p. 99-121; and the elaborate Prolegomena and Annotations of Dr. Mill and Wetstein to their editions of the Greek Testament. In 1689, the papist Simon strove to be free in 1707, the protestant Mill wished to be a slave; in 1751, the Arminian Wetstein used the liberty of his times, and of his n Victor. i. 6. p. 8, 9. After relating the firm resistance and dexterous reply of count Sebastian, he adds, quare alio generis argumento postea bellicosum virum occidit. o Victor. v. 12, 13. Tillemont. Mem. Eccles, tom. vi. p. 609. P Primate was more properly the title of the bishop of Carthage; but the name of patriarch was given by the sects and nations to their principal ecclesiastic. See Thomasin, Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. i. p. 155. 158. The patriarch Cyrila himself publicly declared, that he did not understand Latin, (Victor. ii. 18. p. 42.) Nescio Latine; and he might converse with tolerable ease, without being capable of disputing or preaching in that language. His Vandal clergy were still more ignorant; aud small confidence could be placed in the Africans who had conformed. r Victor. ii. 1, 2. p. 22. • Victor. v. 7. p. 77. He appeals to the ambassador himself, whose name was Uranius. t Astutiores, Victor. iv. 4. p. 70. He plainly intimates that their quotation of the gospel "Non jurabitis in toto," was only meant to elude the obligation of an inconvenient oath. The forty-six bishops who refused were banished to Corsica; the three hundred and two who swore were distributed through the provinces of Africa. u Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspæ, in the Byzacene province, was of a senatorial family, and had received a liberal education. He could repeat all Homer and Menander before he was allowed to study Latin, his native tongue. (Vit. Fulgent. c. 1.) Many African bishops might understand Greek, and many Greek theologians were translated into Latin. x Compare the two prefaces to the Dialogue of Vigilius of Thapsus. (p. 118, 119. edit. Chiflet.) He might amuse his learned reader with an innocent fiction; but the subject was too grave, and the Africans were too ignorant. y The P. Quesnel started this opinion, which has been favourably received. But the three following truths, however surprising they may seem, are now universally acknowledged, (Gerard Vossius, tom. sect. a Of all the MSS. now extant, above fourscore in number, some of which are more than 1200 years old, (Wetstein ad loc.) the orthodox copies of the Vatican, of the Complutensian editors of Robert Stephens, are become invisible; and the two MSS, of Dublin and Berlin are unworthy to form an exception. See Emlyn's Works, vol. ii. p. 227-255. 269-299; and M. de Missy's four ingenious letters, in tom. viii. and ix. of the Journal Britannique. b Or, more properly, by the four bishops who composed and published the profession of faith in the name of their brethren. They style this text, luce clarius. (Victor Vitensis de Persecut. Vandal. I. iii. C. 11. p. 54.) It is quoted soon afterwards by the African polemics, Vigilius and Fulgentius. e In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Bibles were corrected by Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, and by Nicolas, cardinal and librarian of the Roman church, secundum orthodoxam fidem. (Wet. stein, Prolegom. p. 84, 85.) Notwithstanding these corrections, the passage is still wanting in twenty-five Latin MSS. (Wetstein. ad loc.) the oldest and the fairest; two qualities seldom united, except in manuscripts. |