THE DECLINE AND FALL

808

chap, midia. The authority of these bishops, who,to the number of seventy, condemned Caecilian,and consecrated Majorinus , is again weakenedby the infamy of some of their personal charac-ters ; and by the female intrigues, sacrilegiousbargains, and tumultuous proceedings, whichare imputed to this Numidian council.® Thebishops of the contending factions maintained,with equal ardour and obstinacy, that their ad-versarieswere degraded, or at least dishonouredby the odious crime of delivering the holy scrip-tures to the officers of Diocletian . From theirmutual reproaches, as well as from the story ofthis dark transaction, it may justly be inferredthat the late persecution had embittered thezeal, without reforming the manners, of the Af-rican Christians. That divided church wasincapable of affording an impartial judicature;the controversy was solemnly tried in five suc-cessive tribunals, which were appointed by theemperor; and the whole proceeding, from thefirst appeal to the final sentence, lasted abovethree years. A severe inquisition, which wastaken by the praetorian vicar, and the proconsulof Africa, the report of two episcopal visitorswho had been sent to Carthage , the decrees of

* Schisma igitur illo tempore confus® mulieris iracundia peperit;ambitus nutrivit ; avaritia roboravit. Optatus , 1. i, c. J9. Tbe lan-guage of Purpurius is that of a furious madman. Dicitur te necassefilios sororis tu® duos. Purpuri us respondit: l’utas me terreri a te

.occidi; et occido eos qui contra me faciunt- Acta Concil.

Cirtensis, ad calc. Optat . p. 274. When C®cilian was invited toan assembly of bishops, Purpurius said to his brethren, or rather tohis accomplices, “Let him come hither to receive our imposition of“ hands; and we will break his head by way of penance.” Optat . Li, c. 10.