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166 Credibility of the Gospel History.
he speaks there of Victoiiims as the only Latin who had
written upon that prophet ; or, at least, avIio had explained
any large part of him, whilst several Greek writers had
bestowed a great deal of labour that way. In" another place
he mentions a mystical explication, which Victorinus gives
of a passage in Isaiah, ch. vi. 2.
4. ]n his Commentary upon the book of Ecclesiastes,
Jerom observes Victorinus's^ explication of Ecc. iv. 13, in
which he agrees with Origen. 1 have put part of Jerom's
passage in the margin, as of some use to show our author's
manner in his Commentaries : and I would likewise refer
my readers to what there follows. This Commentary upon
Ecclesiastes is expressly mentioned by'= Cassiodorus : it
seems by him that Victorinus had explained some parts or
passages only of this book,
5. In his Catalogue, Jerom says nothing of Victorinus's
having written upon St. Matthew : but, in the preface to his
own Commentary upon that evangelist, he mentions '^ V ictorinus
with other Latin commentators. Cassiodorus too mentions
^Victorinus's explication of that gospel. The expressions
used both by Jerom and Cassiodorus seem to imply,
that Victorinus's performance was no large work ; but contained
either short notes upon the whole, or else explications
of some passages only.
6. The Commentary upon the Revelation is also mentioned
by Cassiodorus as well as Jerom. Says Cassiodorus: ' Vic-
' torinus,*^ the bishop, already mentioned by us more than
' once, explained briefly the most difficult places in this
' book.'
There is still extanf^ a Commentary upon the Revelation,
Latinos grande silentiutn est, prseler sanctae memoriae martyrum Victorinum,
(^ui cum apostolo dicere poterat: Etsi imperitus sermone, non tamen scientia.
Ilier. Pr. in Is. p. 3.
^ ' Sex alae uni, et sex alae alteri,' Victorinus noster duodecim apostolos
interpretatus est. Hieron. ad Dam. T. iii. p. 518. Bened. al. Ep. 142.
'' Origenes et Victorinus non multum inter se diversa sensenint. Post generalem
illam sententiam, quae omnibus patet, quod melior sit adolescentulus
pauper et sapiens, quam rex senex et insipiens; et, quod frequenter evenit, ut
ille per sapientiam suam de carcere regis egrediens, imperet pro dominatore
perverso ; et rex insipiens perdat imperium, quod tenebat ; super Christo et
diabolo hunc locum interpretati sunt, quod puerum pauperem et sapientem,
Christum velint, &c. Hier. in Ecc. T. ii. p. 741. tin.
•= De quo libro [Ecclesiaste] et Victorinus—nonnulla disseruit. Instr. Div.
Lit. cap. 5. *• Legisse me fateor—et Latinorum, Hilarii, Vic-
torini, Fortunatiani opuscula. Hier. P. in Matth. p. 3. f.
* De quo [Matthaeo] et Victorinus, ex oratora episcopus, nonnulla disseruit.
Cassiod. ib. c. vii. ' De quo libro [Apocalypsi] et Victorinus,
saepe dictus episcopus, difficillima quaedam loca breviter tractavit. Id. ib.c. ix.
8 Ap. Bib. P. P. T. iii. p. 414. &c.