DONATISTS
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DONATISTS
important points. All these arguments ■svere found in
St. Optatus. Peculiar to St. Augustine is the neces-
sity of defending St. Cj-prian, and the third category is
wholly his o^ti. This third division comprises the
argumentum ad hominem drawn from the inconsistency
of the Donatists themselves: Secundus had pardoned
the traditors; full fellowship was accorded to malefac-
tors hke Optatus Gildonianus and the Circumcellions;
Tichonius turned against his own party; Maximian
had divided from Primianus just as Majorinus from
Caecilian; the Maximianists had been readmitted with-
out rebaptism.
This last method of argument was found to be of great practical value, and many conversions were now taking place, largely on account of the false position in which the Donatists had placed themselves. This point had been especially emphasized by the Council of Carthage of Sept., 401, which had ordered informa- tion as to the treatment of the Maximianists to be gathered from magistrates. The same synod re- stored the earlier rule, long since abolished, that Dona- tist bishops and clergy should retain their rank if they returned to the Church. Pope Anastasius I wTote to this council urging the importance of the Donatist question. Another council in 403 organized public disputations with the Donatists. This energetic ac- tion roused the Circumcellions to new violence. The life of St. Augustine was endangered. His future bi- ographer, St. Possidius of Calama, was insulted and ill-treated by a party led by a Donatist priest, Crispi- nus. The latter's bishop, also named Crispinus, was tried at Carthage and fined ten pounds of gold as a heretic, though the fine was remitted by Possidius. This is the first case known to us in which a Donatist is declared a heretic, but henceforward it is the common style for them. The cruel and disgusting treatment of Maximianus, Bishop of Bagai, is also related by St. Augustine in detail. The Emperor Honorius was in- duced by the Catholics to renew the old laws against the Donatists at the beginning of 405. Some good re- sulted, but the Circumcellions of Hippo were excited to new violence. The letter of Petilianus was de- fended by a grammarian named Cresconius, against whom St. Augustine published a reply in four books. The tlfird and fourth books are especially important, as in these he argues from the Donatists' treatment of the Maximianists, quotes the Acts of the Council of Cirta held by Secundus, and cites other important documents. The saint also replied to a pamphlet by Petilianus, "De unico baptismate".
The "Coll.vtio" of 411. — St. Augustine had once hoped to conciliate the Donatists by reason only. The violence of the Circumcellions, the cruelties of Optatus of Thamugadi, the more recent attacks on Catholic bishops had all given proof that repression by the secu- lar arm was absolutely unavoidable. It was not neces- sarily a case of persecution for religious opinions, but simply of the protection of life and property and the ensuring of freedom and safety for Catholics. Never- theless the laws went much further than this. Those of Honorius were promulgated anew in 408 and 410. In 411 the method of disputation was organized on a grand scale by order of the emperor himself at the re- quest of the Catholic bishops. Their case was now complete and unanswerable. But this was to be brought home to the people of Africa, and public opin- ion was to be forced to recognize the facts, by a public exposure of the weakness of the separatist position. The emperor sent an official named Marcellinus, an excellent Christian, to preside as cognitor at the con- ference. He issued a proclamation declaring that he would exercise absolute impartiality in his conduct of the proceedings and in his final judgment. The Don- atist bishops who should come to the conference were to receive back for tlie present the basilicas which had been taken from them. The number of those who arrived at Carthage was very large, though somewhat
less than the two hundred and seventy-nine whose
signatures were appended to a letter to the president.
The Catholic bishops numbered two hundred and
eighty-six. Marcellinus decided that each party
should elect seven disputants, who alone should speak,
seven advisers whom they might consult, and four
secretaries to keep the records. Thus only thirty-six
bishops would be present in all. The Donatists pre-
tended that this was a device to prevent their great
numbers being known ; but the Catholics did not ob-
ject to all of them being present, provided no disturb-
ance was caused.
The chief Catholic speaker, besides the amiable and venerable Bishop of Carthage, Aurelius, was of course Augustine, whose fame had already spread through the whole Church. His friend, Alypius of Tagaste, and his disciple and biographer, Possidius, were also among the seven. The principal Donatist speakers were Emeritus of Cajsarea in Mauretania (Cherchel) and Petilianus of Constantine (Cirta); the latter spoke or interrupted about a hundred and fifty times, until on the third day he was so hoarse that he had to desist. The Catholics made a generous proposal that any Donatist bishop who should join the Church, should preside alternately with the Catholic bishop in the episcopal chair, unless the people should object, in which case both might resign and a new election be made. The conference was held on 1, 3, and 8 Jime. The policy of the Donatists was to raise technical ob- jections, to cause delay, and by all manner of means to prevent the Catholic disputants from stating their case. The Catholic case was, however, clearly enun- ciated on the first day in letters which were read, ad- dressed by the Catholic bishops to Marcellinus and to their deputies to instruct them in their procedure. A discussion of important points was arrived at only on the third day, amid many interruptions. It was then evident that the unwillingness of the Donatists to have a real discussion was due to the fact that they could not reply to the arguments and documents brought forward by the Catholics. The insincerity as well as the inconsequence and clumsiness of the sectaries did them great harm. The main doctrinal points and his- torical proofs of the Catholics were made perfectly plain. The cognitor summed up in favoiu- of the Catholic bishops. The churches which had been pro- visionally restored to the Donatists were to be given up; their assemblies were forbidden under grave pen- alties. The lands of those who permitted Circumcel- lions on their property were to be confiscated. The minutes of this great conference were submitted to all the speakers for their approval, and the report of each speech (mostly only a single sentence) was signed by the speaker as a guarantee of its accuracy. We pos- sess these minutes in full only as far as the middle of the third day; for the rest only the headings of each little speech are preserved. These headings were composed by order of Marcellinus in order to facilitate reference. On account of the dullness and length of the full report, St. Augustine composed a popular resume of the discussions in his "Breviculus CoUa- tionis", and he went with more detail into a few points in a final pamphlet, "Ad Donatistas post Colla- tionem ' '.
On 30 Jan., 412, Honorius issued a final law against the Donatists, renewing old legislation and adding a scale of fines for Donatist clergj', and for the laity and their wives: the illustres were to pay fiftj- pounds of gold, the spectabiles forty, the senatores and soccnlotoles thirty,theclarissimiand principalis twenty, the dccii- riones, negotiatores, and plebeii five, while Circumcel- lions were to pay ten pounds of silver. Sla\-es were to be reproved by their masters, coloni were to be constrained by repeated beatings. All bishops and clerics were exiled from Africa. In 414 the fines were increa.sed for those of liigh rank: a proconsul, vicar, or count was fined two hundred pounds of goUl, and a senator a
