The works of Nathaniel Lardner - The Christian Researcher - Home

164 Credibiidij of the Gospel llialory.
that he shouhl confound their characters. And, notwithstanding'
what Jeroni says, Victorinus might be a man of
good learning", and able to write elegantly in Greek, as he
himself seems to allow. Victorinus's disadvantage, there-
fore, probably was this : that whilst he was well skilled in
Greek, he wrote chiefly in the Latin tongue, which was in
use in the country where he lived, though he was not completely
master of the propriety and elegance of that language.
I might add, that' the style of Victorinus the African is not
admired, though he gained so much reputation in his pro-
fessorship.
We must content ourselves with this short history of our
Victorinus, unless some more particulars should ofl'er themselves
to us when we come to observe his works, and the
testimonies g'iven to him.
II. But it is fit that we first take notice of some other
ancient writers of this name.
Our Victorinus had been long" supposed bishop of Poictiers
in France, until John Launoy ^ in the last century published
his Dissertation concerning him : and he was so fortunate
as to prove his point, and satisfy the learned in general, that
Victorinus, bishop and martyr, of whom Jerom speaks in the
forecited chapter of his Catalogue, and often elsewhere,
ought not to be numbered among Gallican bishops, but was
bishop of Petabion, or Petabium, in upper Pannonia : or,
according to the modern division of that country, of Pettaw,
in the dukedom of .Stiria and circle of Austria.
At the end of that Dissertation, Launoy added an appendix
concerning- five illustrious persons of this name ; that is, four
-beside our bishop.
The first of which is Victorinus, who' wrote in defence
of Praxeas, and is mentioned by TertuUian.
The second is our Victorinus, bishop and martyr.
The third is Victorinus, an African, who, after he had long
taught rhetoric at Rome with g-reat applause, embraced the
christian religion: he is mentioned by '"Augustine," Jerom,
' Stylus Victoriiio parum felix, praesertim in dogmaticis perplexus et ingratus,
et qui vix ulla adeo decantate eloquentiae vestigia retinet. Cav. H. L. in Fab.
M. Victorino. Scripsit ad versus Ariuni hbros more dialed ico valde ob-
scuros. Hieron. De V. I. cap. 101.
^ Joann. Launoii Constantiensis. Paris. Theologi, de Victorino Episc. et
Mart. Dissertatio. Ed. Secund. Paris. 1664. ' Sed post hos omnes
etiam Piaxeas qiiidam haeresim introduxit, quam Victorinus corroborare cnravit.
Tertull. de Pr. Hacr. cap. 53. p. 255. A. "" Confess. I. viii. cap. 2.
" Victorinus, natione Afer,Roniae sub Constant io principe rhetoricam docuit,
et in extrema senectute, Christi se tradens fidei, scripsit. Hier. de V. I. cap.
101. Vid. ejusd. Prooem. in Ep. ap. Gal. Vid. et adv. Ruf. I. i. T. iv. p.
3fi7. in.