OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

liar jest; which, from the mouth of a sove-reign, must have been received with applauseand gratitude.'

Thecomplaints and mutual accusationswhichassailed the throne of Constantine , as soon as thedeath of Maxentius had submitted Africa to hisvictorious arms, were ill adapted to edify an im-perfect proselyte. He learned with surprise,that the provinces of that great country, fromthe confines of Cyrene to the columns of Her-cules, were distracted with religious discord/The source of the division was derived from adouble election in the church of Carthage ; thesecond, in rank and opulence, of the ecclesias-tical thrones of the West. Caecilian and Ma-jorinus were the two rival primates of Africa ;and the death of the latter soon made room forDonatus , who, by his superior abilities and ap-parent virtues, was the firmest support of hisparty. The advantages which Caecilian mightclaim from the priority of his ordination, wasdestroyed by the illegal, or at least indecent,haste, with which it had been performed, with-out expecting the arrival of the bishops of Nu-

* Sozomen, I. i, c. 22 ; Socrates , 1. i, c. 10. These historians havebeen suspected, but I think without reason, of an attachment to thenovatian doctrine* The emperor said to the bishop, u Acesius, take a‘Madder, and get up to heaven by yourself.” Most of the Christiansects have, by turns, borrowed the ladder of Acesius.

f The best materials for this part of ecclesiastical history may befound in the edition of Optatus Milevitanus, published (Paris , 1700)by M. Dupin, who has enriched it with critical notes, geographical dis-cussions, original records, and an accurate abridgment of the wholecontroversy. M. de Tiliemont has bestowed on the donatists the great-est part of a volume (tom. vi, part i); and I am indebted to him for anample collection of all the passages of his favourite St. Augustin, whichrelate to those heretics.

307

CHAP.

XXI.

African

contro-

versy,

A. D. 312-