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The Donatists. 559
was fit^ Milaiii in 31(). But" the Donatists did not ac(|ni-
c'sce any more in tlic judgment now passed than in the former.
Thus the ditt'erence was fixed: there was no reconciling
the two parties. There was however a famous conference
held at Carthage in 411, between the catholics and Dona-
tists : by which, and by the writings of Augustine about that
time, the Donatists seem to have been much weakened. Nevertheless,
they subsisted in Africa till the end of the
sixth century, or> later.
3. The Donatists were very numerous; there must have
been many of them in Numidia, and the proconsular province
of Africa. Augustine intimates that' though there were
Donatists in many places, yet in most cities, except those of
Numidia, the catholics were much more numerous than they.
At the fore-mentioned conference at Carthage were present
286 catholic bishops: the Donatists counted'* but 279,
and some of them absent. Tychonius'' speaks of a council
of Donatists at Carthage, consisting of 270 bishops, but the
time of it is uncertain. Augustine often speaks of a council of
and
theirs, about the year 394, consisting'^ of 310 bishops ;
all these 310 were friends of Primianus : if the Maximianists,
who were absent, were 100, their number in the whole were
410.
For certain this unhappy difference among the christians
of Africa affords an admonition to all men to respect and
hearken to Solomon's observation, and the counsel founded
upon it; Prov. xvii. 14. " The beginning of strife is as
" Vid. Pagi Crit. in Baron. A. 316. n. xiv. xv.
" Responderunt, etiani imperatorias aures pravis siiggestionibiis inflatas.
Aug. Brev. Coll. D. 3. cap. 19.
^ Vid. Vales, de Schism. Donat. cap. ult. fin.
^ Quod enim propterea se universos adesse dixerunt, et eorum numerus
appareat, quoniam eos paucos esse adversarii sui saepe mentiti sunt. Hoc si
aliquando a nostris dictum est, de his locis dici verissime potuit, ubi nostiorum
coepiscoporum et clericoium et laicoium longe major est numerus, et maxima
in Proconsulari Provincia. Quanquam, excepta Numidia Consulari, etiam in
caeteris provinciis Africanis, nostrorum numero facillime superantur. Aug.
Ep. 129. n. E. '' Respondit Officium, nomina Donatistarum
episcoporum esse ducenta septuaginta novem, annumeratis etiam illis, pro
quibus absentibus alii subscripserant. Catholicorum autem omnium praesenfium
nomina esse constitit ducenta octoginta sex. Aug. Brev. D. 1. cap. 14.
'' Dicit enim Tychonius, homo, ut dixi, vestrse communionis, a ducentis
et septuaginta vestris episcopis concilium Carthagini celebratum. Aug.
Ep. 93. [al. 48.] cap. x. n. 43.
^ Sed ecce damnaverunt in concilio suo Maximianistas trecenti decern
episcopi Donatistae. Contr. Ep. Petil. 1. i. c. 11. n. 18. Sic enim eos
describunt trecenti decern plenarii concilii. Contr. Ep. Parmen. 1. ii. c. 3. n. 7.
Vid. et contr. Crescon. I. iii. c. 52. n. 58. et c. 53—56. et passim.