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172 Credibility of the Gospel History.
received all the books of the New Testament, generally received
by christians, and esteemed by them of authority :
nor does there appear any sign of his receiving any other
christian writings in that manner.
IV. We return to Yictorinus himself; to whom I intend
to produce some more testimonies chiefly taken from Jerom :
my readers will not be displeased to see them, as they will
help them to some knowledge of this good man's character;
which otherwise we could never be acquainted with, since
the loss of the greatest part of his works.
We saw in the passage transcribed from Jerom's Catalogue,
at the beginning of this chapter he said that ' Victorinus
' understood Greek better than Latin ; and that his works,
' though valuable for the sense, were mean as to the style.'
In another place he says, ' that ^Victorinus, who was crowned
' with a glorious martyrdom, was not able to express his
' thoughts.' In that place Jerom passeth his judgment upon
several other Latin writers of the church ; such as Tertullian,
Cyprian, Lactantius, Arnobius, and Hilary. In his letter
to Magnus he says, ' thaty thougli the writings of the martyr
' Victorinus are not learned, they show a good will to learn-
* ing.' In another^ place he calls Victorinus a martyr of
blessed memory, who could say with the apostle :
" though
I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge :" 2 Cor. xi. 6.
He also informs us that* Victorinus, as well as many others,
made great use of Origen's Commentaries upon the scriptures
: he speaks of ^ this again ; at the same time giving-
Victorinus the character of a man of renowned integrity.
Once more, Victorinus'' is mentioned with divers others, who
are represented as very eminent persons, or pillars of the
" [nclyto Victorinus martyrio coronatus, quod intelligit, eloqui non potest.
Ad Paulin. Ep. 49. [al. 13.] T. iv. P. iii p. 567. m.
y Victorino martyri in libris suis licet desit eruditio, tamen non deest erudi-
tionis voluntas. Ep. 83. [al. 84.] ib. p. 656. f.
* Caetenmi apud Latinos grande silentium est, praeter sanctae memoriae
martyrem Victorinum, qui cum apostolo dicere poterat : Etsi imperitus sermone,
non tamen scientia. In Is. Pr. p. 3. f. * Taceo de Victormo Pictabionensi,
et caeteris, qui Origenem in explanatione duntaxat scripturamm se-
quuti sunt, et expresserunt. Ad Vigilant. Ep. 36. [al. 75.] p. 279. sub fin.
'' Nee disertiores sumus Hilario, nee fideliores Victorino, qui ejus [Origenis]
tractatus, non ut interpretes, sed ut auctores proprii operis, transtulerunt. Ad.
Pam. et Ocean. Ep. 41. [al. 65.] p. 346. in.
*= Si auctoritatem suo operi praestruebat,—habuit in promptu Hilarium Con-
fessorem,—habuit Ambrosium, cujus pene oinnes libri hujus sermonibus pleni
sunt :
et martyrem Victorinum, qui simplicitatem suam in eo probat, dum nulli
molitur insidias. De his omnibus tacet, et, quasi columnis ecclesiae praeter-
missis, me solum pulicem et nihili hominem consectatur. Adv. Ruf, 1. i. p.
351.