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560 Credibility of the Gospel History.
when one lets out water. Therefore leave off contention
before it be meddled with."
4. 1 forbear to enter into an account of the persecutions
suffered by the Donatists. They were restrained by the
imperial laws, which sometimes were very severe ; but''
they were rarely executed in their utmost rigour. And
the Donatists, who were not free from differences among
themselves, often'' showed great bitterness toward each other:
and in places where they were superior in number, they^
bore hard upon the catholics.
III. I add a brief account of some Donatist writers.
It ought to be observed, that I have already transcribed
Jerom's article of Donatus bishop of Carthage next after Majorinus:
from whom, as some supposed, the party had its
denomination.
1. Anonymous? author of the Acts of Saturninus, Felix,
which appear to have been
Pativus, Ampelius, and others ;
written not long after'' the beginning of the fourth century.
2. Cresconius, a learned' grammarian among the Donatists,
wrote a book against the first part of Augustine's confutation
of Petilian : which Augustine answered in four
books, still extant, written in 406.
3. Gaudentius,'' bishop of Tamugada in Numidia. He
^ Quae res coegit tunc primum adversus vos allegari apud Vicariura Serranum
legem lUam de decern libris auri, quas nullus vestruni adhuc pendit, et nos
crudelitatis arguitis. Contr. Lit. Petil. 1. ii. c. 83. n. 184.
* Ita caeci et insani, ut cum schismaticos suos Maximianistas per potestates
a catholicis imperatonbus missas de basilicis excluserint, et vi magna jussionem
et auxiliorum cedere sibi compulerint, arguant catholicam, si pro ea catholici
principes tale aliquid fieri praeceperit. Contr. Parm. 1. i. c. 10. n. 16.
^ Nonne apud Hipponem, ubi ego sum, non desunt, qui meminerint,
Faustinum vestrum regni sui tempore praecipisse, quoniam catholicorum ibi
paucitas erat, ut nullus eis panem coqueret ? &c. Contr. Petil. 1. ii. c. 83.
n. 184. e Extant ap. Baluz. Misc. T. ii. p. 56, &c. et Optat.
Milev. ex Edit. Du Pin. p. 150, &c. " Vid. Baluz. Monitum.
' Grammaticus etiam quidam Donatista Cresconius, cum invenisset epistolam
meam, qua prmias partes, quae in manus nostras tunc venerant epistolfe
Petiliani, redargui, putavit mihi esse respondendum, et hoc ipsum scripsit ad
me. Cui operiejus libris quatuor respondi. Retract. 1. ii. c. 26.
^ Per idem tempus Dulcitius tribunus et notarius : hie erat exsecutor imperialium
jussionum contra Donatistas datarum. Qui cum dedisset literas ad
Gaudentium Thamugadensem Donatistam episcopum, unum illorum septem,
quos in nostra coUatione auctores sude defensionis elegerant, exhortans eum
ad unitatem catholicam, et dissuadens incendium, quo se ac suos cum ipsa, in
qua erat, ecclesia consumere minabatur. Hie rescripsit epistolas duas,
unam brevem aliam prolixam— Has mihi supra memoratus tribunus
existimavit esse mittendas, ut eas potius ipse refelierem : quas ambas uno libro
redargui. Qui cum in ejusdem Gaudentii pervenisset manus, rescripsit quod
ei visum est, ad meipsum. Hinc factum est, uf hi nosfri ad ilium duo
libri cssent. Aug. Retr. 1. ii. c. 59. Conf. 0pp. T. ix. sub fi.i.