Article. Beaver. The Donatist Circumcellions.
THE DONATIST CIRCUMCELLIONS
R. PIERCE BEAVER
Cincinnati, Ohio
Donatism was an exclusively African schism and for more than a century held the center of the stage in the Christian life of that land. It was born of local passions and quarrels, and had no success outside of Africa. It became the church of the native population and, raising “altar against altar,”‘ successfully opposed both the Catholic church and the Roman Empire during several generations. Frequently, and especially in Numidia, the church of Donatus was more numerous, richer, and more powerful than its Catholic neighbor. Moreover, the Donatist cause came to shelter under its name a true social and economic revolt, which it found a useful instrument at times, but which was never a recognized part of its policy. Although the Donatist controversy was thus a local schism, it had important results for the Latin church, chiefly in regard to the doctrine of the sacrament of baptism, the orders and reception of schismatics and heretics, and the coercion of non-Catholics.
This schism was born at the moment when peace came to the church and, therefore, robbed Africa of its full share of the benefits of the new relations between church and state. Its immediate causes lay in the persecution of Diocletian, during which the civil officials tried to avoid making martyrs, and instead sought to break the morale of the Christians by closing their churches, preventing preaching, and by destroying all copies of the sacred Scriptures. This policy was rendered more difficult of execution in Africa than elsewhere because of the fanaticism of a numerous class who sought martyrdom. Charges brought by fanatics and malcontents against Bishop Mensurius of Carthage, his successor Caecilian, and certain of the latter’s consecrators, were the given reasons for the schism,2 but the duration and success of Donatism can not be explained by them.
These gave birth to the schism, but it was sustained by the underlying forces which are to be found in the psychological, political, and especially in the social state of the country. One must remember the character of the African Christians, the passionate temper which they shared with their pagan fellows, the fanatical expression of their devotion extending even to voluntary martyrdom, their intransigency, their devotion to local traditions, and their desire to manage their own affairs. Yet more important than these in the century-long support of Donatism by the native masses was the wide-spread economic misery. With this misery the church, directed by Latin clerics, was identified in the minds of many.
The Romanization of Africa had never been more than a thin and partial veneer. The ruling class of Roman or Italian stock was not numerous in comparison with the natives of the Punic and Berber races. The sea-ports and a few inland towns had a considerable population of Roman officials, agents, and business men, but the basic elements were still Punic, and in the rural districts entirely non-Roman. Racial friction had never entirely subsided, and now in the period of the Empire’s decline it was stimulated by the ever-growing mountain of legislation with which the government afflicted the provinces, and by the increasingly marked distinction between the economic state of the masses and their Roman masters. The Punic- speaking natives3 were not slow in giving their allegiance to that church which was in truth national, and which opposed the church of their Latin-speaking superiors. This identification of the Catholic church with the state was further con- firmed in the minds of the native population by the increasing ecclesiastical jurisdiction in secular affairs, particularly those of a judicial nature, as the administrative structure of the Empire distintegrated. Finally, no doubt as to the alliance remained after imperial legislation favored the Catholic church and placed at its service the civil and military forces of the state.4 Africa was primarily an agricultural province, and its crops were demanded for the provisioning of Rome and Italy, even more exclusively now that the grain of Egypt went to Constantinople. During the fourth century all those who were in any way involved in the process of supplying the capitals with food- stuffs were more and more firmly chained to their trades by imperial measures, and the burdens became almost intolerable at times. As elsewhere in the Empire, under the economic pressure which resulted from the continuously increasing impoverishment of the provinces and the ever heavier burden of the taxes, the curiales disappeared from the towns and the small farmers from the country; the land was more and more consolidated into isolated, independent, and self-sufficient domains. The dispossessed and poor sought the protection of the great proprietors and entered a state of serfdom. These landlords were Romans, and frequently non-residents, until the invasion of Italy drove them to Africa. By the generosity of those nobles who were Christians, the church, too, became a proprietor, and the ill-feeling of the serf for his master was not often lessened by the fact that the master was a bishop. Baxter states: “It has been often suggested that the most formidable heresies that confronted the Church arose in those provinces where Hellenistic or Roman culture was least assimilated, in Arian Egypt, Monophysite Syria, and Donatist Africa, and here, at least the union of orthodoxy with the State brought to a head that national feeling which was already partially aroused by the heavy burden of taxation, the compact and depressing system of land-holding, and the undoubted increase of economic difficulties. Donatism began within the Church; it ended as a social revolution.”5 Perhaps it would be more correct to say that the distressed element of the population saw in the Donatist cause a spiritual and moral justification for its insurrection, and Donatism made willing use of that revolt which had not been a part of its original policy. This revolt took the form of Circumcellionism.
The Circumcellions were remarkable bands of nomadic terrorists, recruited at haphazard from the dregs of the population, from the discontented of every native race and province, fugitive slaves, ruined farmers, oppressed colons, outlawed criminals, social failures, excommunicated Catholics, and purely religious fanatics.6 They spoke Punic. Their leaders were frequently Donatist clerics.8 Above all they were the self-appointed defenders of the church of Donatus, and called themselves Agonistici or Milites Christi.9 They were dubbed Circumcelliones by the Catholics because of their nomadic life in the rural districts where they found shelter in the peasants huts.’0 This appeal to, or at least approval of, brutal force and popular fanaticism is that which above all has discredited Donatism in the eyes of later ages, and is that which compelled Saint Augustine to approve of a policy of coercion. Although the church of Donatus sometimes disowned them, the Circumcellions were always its “advance guard,”” and its instruments of hatred and vengeance. Without the support of these wild bands Donatism would soon have been crushed by the machinery of the state.
The first troops of these Milites Christi appear to have arisen in 317 following Constantine’s order to hand the Donatist churches over to the Catholics.’1 Thereafter they appear throughout the course of the following century, showing more than usual violence at all times of crisis. A second outburst of Circumcellion fury occurred at the time of Constantine’s death, when the Praetorian Prefect Gregorius applied severe measures.13 During the following years the most renowned chiefs of the Numidian bands were Axido and Fasir, who rapidly ac- quired a sinister reputation.’4 The insurgents became bold enough even to oppose regular troops. Some of the schismatic bishops became so alarmed at the excesses of their allies, that they asked Count Taurinus to intervene, and in the ensuing battle the Circumcellions were routed and massacred. Although the bishops condemned them, their followers venerated them as martyrs.15 During the revolts of Firmus and Gildo the Agonistici and the majority of the Donatists supported the rebel chiefs, and in the time of the latter they found their most notorious leader in Gildo’s satellite, Bishop Optatus of Thamugadi. He recruited bands of Circumcellions and for ten years terrorized Numidia. Escorted by his henchmen, he went constantly through the land, pillaging villages, ransoming cities, intervening in all manner of private affairs, persecuting Catholics, im- posing his whims everywhere.’1 After the defeat of Gildo he was arrested and died in prison.” Through the first half of Saint Augustine’s episcopate one constantly encounters the roving bands, and the Conference at Carthage in 411 called forth their last great outburst of terrorism.’8 Repressive measures followed, but one still hears of Circumcellions in 418.19
Numidia was the stronghold of the Circumcellions and, therefore, Hippo constantly felt their presence. They are mentioned frequently in Saint Augustine’s correspondence.20 Not only did the schismatic bishop of Hippo have their support, but his regular followers were more numerous than the other party when Augustine succeeded to the Catholic throne.21 The reversal of this situation22 in the face of Circumcellion activity was by no means one of the lesser of the great churchman’s achievements. In 395 the Circumcellions damaged the church at Asna and destroyed the altar. This led to the trial of the guilty ones, and Saint Augustine feared reprisals.23 The new bishop of Hippo soon made himself so feared and hated by the rival sect that the Circumcellions decided to do away with him. Several times he was waylaid, and once the ambush would have been successful if Augustine’s guide had not fortunately lost his way.24 After the facts were known, the Catholics regarded this as an instance of divine intervention.25 In 403 the Circumcellions maltreated a priest, a converted Donatist, during the twelve days they held him prisoner.2 In nearby Calama, Augustine’s friend and biographer, Possidius, was waylaid by a band under the command of a priest who was a relative of the Donatist bishop of the place. He escaped from the road to a neighboring domain, and the house in which he sought refuge was set on fire three times.27 After the edict of union of 405’2 the violence increased.29 The Donatists of Hippo were not persecuted to an extreme degree in the execution of this measure ;3 their churches were confiscated, but the bishop remained in residence, and the priests were not dispossessed.3′ However, the law was the signal for renewed activity by the fanatics.32 In 406 the Catholic clergy of Hippo protested to the Donatist Primate of Numidia that his clergy and Circumcellions were raging against them in a new persecution of unparalleled ferocity.33 The wild bands beat to death certain of the Catholic clergy and slew others with the sword.34 Other victims were blinded with lime and acid. Houses of clerics were pillaged, and the Circumcellions stalked about the diocese armed with formidable weapons and “breathing out threats of slaughter, rapine, burning of houses, and blinding of eyes.”35 These acts were repeated in other bishoprics,36 and at Thibilis, Bishop Simplicius, a feeble old man of ninety, was reduced to the status of a catechumen and then rebaptized.37 In 409 the Proconsul Donatus initiated a campaign against the Agonistici by the proclamation of an edict on the application of the laws.38 The provisions were so severe that Saint Augustine thought it wise to encourage Donatus to be moderate and merciful and not to inflict the death penalty.39 At Sinitum near Hippo the Donatist priests issued an audacious proclamation, and addressed Augustine in most abusive and menacing terms.4? He responded with an Advertisement to the Donatists in which he urged them to come into the church and justified the repressive laws.41 This led to the usual violence, but now the acts of the Circumcellions reacted to the discomfort of the Donatist prelates, who feared the application of the legal penalties. They, therefore, opened subscription lists to idemnify the proprietors who had suffered loss.42 Just at this time the Donatists of Hippo received a new bishop, Macrobius, who made a triumphal entry into the city escorted by the “Soldiers of Christ,” singing their usual chant of Deo Laudes.4 One of his first acts was the rebaptism of a Catholic sub-deacon.44 This stimulated his ferocious allies to acts of bestial cruelty so great that Saint Augustine informed a correspondent who lamented the barbarian invasions, that the ravages of the invaders would seem light in comparison with those of the Donatist terrorists. What barbarian would be so fiendishly cruel, blinding, beating, and wounding the clergy; plundering and burning houses; robbing granaries, and pouring out oil and wine; and, by threatening to do this to all others in the region, compel many to be rebaptized?45 The forty-eight inhabitants of one small village were thus coerced.46 The answer of the Circumcellions to the Conference of Carthage and the edict of 411 was their last outburst of terrorism. Led by clerics the Circumcellions harassed the region about Hippo. The priest Restitutus was slain, and another, Innocentius, was mutilated. The criminals were tried and condemned by the Proconsul Apringius, brother of Marcellinus;47 but Augustine urged a modification of the extreme penalty.48 Elsewhere the Circumcellions made night attacks, burned priests’ houses, and threw Catholic manuscripts of the Scriptures into the fire.49 They killed bishops and clerics, put out the eyes, and tore off the hand and tongue of one bishop.50 Former Donatist churches in Carthage which had been delivered again to the Catholics were burned.51 One still hears of Circumcellion violence in 418,52 about 420,53 and even under the Vandal domination.54
From the beginning Circumcellionism took and kept the character of a jacquerie,55 a social rebellion of the peasantry. Goaded by economic misery and slavery, the Circumcellions attempted to reform society. They were not content only to dominate the country-side, to pillage and burn the farms and villages, to kill or mutilate those who displeased them; but they posed further as the redressers of wrongs, and as the defenders of the oppressed. They drove to revolt the colons on the great domains, the farmers, the slaves, and the natives.56 They raged against the wealthy, especially the great proprietors ;5 and, even when they had no grudge against an individual and did not know him, they took pleasure in humiliating him if he belonged to this class. If they met a man who was riding in a vehicle, they forced him to descend and give place to one of his slaves while he himself ran before in the manner of his servitors.58 By the use of intimidation, usually in the form of threats of death or burning, the Circumcellions extorted large sums of money from the proprietors,59 or compelled them to liberate slaves or satisfy some other whim.60 They took debtors under their protection, and forced the creditor to cancel the debt by destroying or handing over the document which proved the debt. If one resisted, he was certain to be visited with night attacks and even the burning of his house and farm buildings. Sometimes they went so far as to reduce a wealthy man to slavery and force him to turn the mill.61
These audacious attacks against the rich, often to the advantage of the poor and oppressed, won for the Circumcellions the loyalty of a large portion of the rural population. They seldom ventured into the towns, but the rural districts were absolutely under their control.62 Ordinarily the magistrates had little desire to invade their domain to bring them to justice, and the tax-farmers and fiscal agents no longer attempted to collect the imposts in these regions.63 The interest of the emperors in the suppression of the Circumcellions was due to this state of affairs perhaps even more than to religious considerations.
This social revolution was not a part of the regular Donatist policy and was never officially sanctioned by the schismatic church. Nevertheless, the Circumcellions were first and foremost not social revolutionists, but religious fanatics. They were exalted Donatists, in their own opinion the very flower of the church. They were “soldiers of Christ,” the army of “saints,” and their commanders were the “chiefs of the saints.”64 The majority of them had taken vows of virginity or chastity, and they regarded themselves most favorably in comparison with the Catholic monks and nuns.65 One of their most marked characteristics was an aspiration to martyrdom, which they believed could be voluntarily achieved.66 Although they confused martyrdom with suicide, they did not wish to strike the fatal blow themselves for fear that they might thus exclude them- selves from Paradise. They, therefore, sought for persons to kill them, and in a letter to Count Boniface, Saint Augustine related some of their practices.67 “Vast crowds of them used to come in processions to the most frequented pagan ceremonies, while the worship of idols still continued, not with the view of breaking the idols, but that they might be put to death by those who worshipped them. For if they had sought to break the idols under the sanction of lawful authority, they might in case of anything happening to them, have some show of a claim to be considered martyrs; but their only object in coming was, that while the idols might remain uninjured, they themselves might meet with death. For it was the general custom of the strongest youths among the idolaters, for each of them to offer in sacrifice to the idols themselves any victims that they might have slain. Some went so far as to offer themselves for slaughter to any armed travellers whom they met, using violent threats that they would murder them if they failed to meet with death at their hands. Sometimes too they extorted with violence from any passing judge that they should be put to death by the executioners, or by the officers of his court. And hence we have a story, that a certain judge played a trick upon them, by ordering them to be bound and led away as though for execution, and so escaped their violence, without injury to himself or them. Again it was their daily sport to kill themselves by throwing themselves over precipices, or into the water, or into fire; for the devil taught them these three ways of suicide, so that when they wished to die and could not find anyone whom they could terrify into slaying them with his sword, they threw themselves over the rocks, or committed themselves to the fire or to the eddying pool.” In the latter cases they sought to es- cape the charge of suicide by the assertion that they were thus escaping from their persecutors.
The other constant expression of this religious fanaticism was the persecution of the Catholic clergy, especially of those who had rallied to the church from Donatism.6 This use of the Circumcellions as the Donatist instrument of hate is characteristic of the schism throughout its entire history. In their fiendish work the wild bands were usually led by Donatist clerics, occasionally even by bishops like the notorious Optatus, a fact which proves the close, if unofficial, alliance between the “Soldiers of Christ” and the schismatic church.69 Saint Augustine frequently denounced this connection to the Donatists themselves.70 Many Donatist prelates did condemn the Circumcellions, and even Macrobius of Hippo, who began his episcopate in alliance with them, ended by denouncing them to their faces, although he expressed himself in Latin, and not in Punic which they understood.71 The majority, however, seem to have desired to keep the Circumcellions without being compromised with them, and to retain public favor without breaking with them.72 That must have been most difficult at times. In the end it led to the downfall of the sect, for it was the persistence of Circumcellion terrorism more than any other thing which induced the Catholic church to use the forces of the state in order to execute a relentless policy of coercion.
- 1 Augustine, Epistulae, 43. 17, 76. 2 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), pp. 99, 327). [In the following notes the Epistulae of Augustine will be cited as Ep.]; Optatus, De Schismate Donatistarum, I. 19 (CSEL, v. 26, p. 21). [Hereafter cited as Optatus].
- 2 For the history of the schism see volume IV of Monceaux, Histoire litteraire de I’Afrique chretienne.
- 3 Ep., 66. 2; 108. 14; 209. 2-3 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), pp. 236, 628; v. 57, p. 348); Augustine, In Johan. Ep. Tracitatus, II, 3 (PL v. 35, p. 1191).
- 4 The periods of imperial persecution of the Donatists were 317-321, 347-362, and following 411. Throughout the entire period there was a steadily in- creasing mass of legislation against the party. and it is too detailed to review here.
- 5 Baxter, Select Letters of St. Augustine, p. xxxii.
- 6 Ep., 35.2; 108. 14; 185. 12, 15 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), pp. 28, 628; v. 57, pp. 11, 14); Optatus, III., 4 (CSEL, 26, pp. 82-4).
- 7 Ep., 108. 14 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), p. 628).
- 8 Ep., 81. 1, 6, 7; 105. 3; 108. 14; 111. 1; 133. 1; 134. 2; 185. 25 (CSEL. v. 34 (2), pp. 407, 412, 413, 597, 627, 643; v. 44, pp. 80, 85; v. 57, p. 24); Augustine, Contra Crescon., III, 43. 47; IV, 51. 61 (PL, v. 43, pp. 522, 580-1); Breviculss Collationis, III, 11. 21, 22 (PL, v. 43, pp. 635-6); Optatus, III, 4 (CSEL, v. 26, p. 81, 83).
- 9 Ep., 108. 18 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), p. 632): Augustine, Enar. in Ps., 132. 3 (PL, v. 37, p. 1732); Optatus, III, 4 (CSEL, v. 26, p. 81).
- 10 Augustine, Contra Gaudent., I, 28. 32 (PL, v. 43, p. 725); Enar. in Ps., 132. 3 (PL, v. 37, p. 1732), Nam Circumcelliones dicti sunt, quia cireum cellas vagantur.
- 11 Monceaux, Hist. lit. de I’Afr. chrét., IV., p. 179.
- 12 Augustine, Contra Ep. Parmen., I, 11. 18 (PL., 43, p. 47).
- 13 Monceaux, Hist. lit. de I’Afr. chret., IV., p. 31; Kidd, Hist. of the Church to A. D. 461, II, p. 112.
- 14 Optatus, III. 4 (CSEL, v. 26, p. 82).
- 15 Ibid.
- 16 Ep., 43. 24; 51. 3; 53. 6; 76. 3; 87. 4, 5, 8; 108. 5 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), pp. 106, 147, 157, 327, 400, 401, 404, 616); Augustine, Contra Lit. Petil., I, 24. 26; II, 23. 53-55; 28. 65; 37. 88; 39. 94; 52. 120; 103. 237 (PI, v. 43, pp. 257, 276-9, 281, 291, 293, 301, 340); Monceaux, Hist. lit. de I’Afr. chret., IV, p. 65.
- 17 Augustine, Contra Lit. Petil., II, 92. 209 (PL, v. 43, p. 330).
- 18 Ep., 133; 134; 139. 1-2; 185. 30 (CSEL, v. 44, pp. 80ff, 148-50; v. 57, p. 28); Augustine, Contra Gaudent., I, 6. 7 (PL, v. 43, p. 709); Gesta cum Emerito, IX, (PL, v. 43, p. 704); Possidius, Vita Aug., 15.
- 19 Augustine, Gesta cum Emerito, IX, (PL, v. 43, p. 704); Monceaux, Hist. lit. de ‘Afr. chrét., IV, p. 94.
- 20 Ep., 23. 6-7; 29. 12; 35. 2; 43. 24; 76. 2; 88. 1, 6-8; 93. 2; 105. 3; 108. 14, 18; 111. 1; 133. 1; 134. 2; 139. 1-2; 185. 12, 25-27, 30, 41; 209. 2 (CSEL, v. 34 (1) pp. 70, 72, 122; v. 34 (2), pp. 28, 106, 327, 407, 412- 15, 447, 597, 627, 632, 643-4; v. 44, pp. 80-81, 85, 148-150, v. 57; pp. 10-12, 14, 24-25, 28, 36, 348).
- 21 Ep., 93. 17 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), pp. 461-2).
- 22 Even in the most remote districts of the diocese. Ep., 209. 2 (CSEL, v. 57, p. 348).
- 23 Ep., 29. 12 (CSEL, v. 34 (1), p. 122).
- 24 Augustine, Enar. in Ps., 54. 26; 132. 6 (PL, v. 36, p. 645; v. 37, p. 1732); Enchiridion, XVII (PL, v. 40, p. 239); Possidius, Vita Aug., 12; Cf. Ep. 88. 6 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), p. 412).
- 25 Possidius, Vita Aug., 12.
- 26 Ep., 88. 6-7 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), p. 412-413); Augustine, Contra Cresc., III, 46. 50-47. 51 (PL, v. 43, pp. 523-5).
- 27 Ep. 105. 4 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), p. 598), Possidius, Vita Aug. 14.
- 28 Cod. Theod, XVI, 5. 38, 6. 3-5; Ep. 88. 10; 185. 26 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), p. 416; v. 57, p. 26). This formal outlawry of Donatism brought into the Catholic fold so many of the wavering and moderate classes who were alarmed at the growing fury of the Circumcellions that Saint Augustine was at last whole-heartedly converted to the policy of coercion.
- 29 Ep., 88. 1, 6-8; 105. 3-4; 108. 14-16; 111. 1 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), pp. 407, 412- 415, 597-8; 627-30, 643-4).
- 30 Ep. 88. 8 (CSEL, 34 (2), p. 414).
- 31 Ibid.
- 32 Ep., 86; 88. 8-12; 105. 3; 106; 107; 108; 111. 1 (CSEL., v. 34 (2), pp. 396-7, 414-418, 597, 610-11, 611-12, 612-34, 643-4).
- 33 Ep., 88 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), pp. 407-419).
- 34 Ibid., 8 (p. 414).
- 35 Ibid.
- 36 Gesta Collat. Carth., I, 139, 187-189, 201 (Mansi, v. IV., pp. 123, 137-142, 149- 153.
- 37 Ibid., 188, 197.
- 38 Ep., 100. 2 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), p. 538); Cf. Cod. Theod., XVI, 5. 44.
- 39 Ep. 100 (pp. 535-538).
- 40 Ep., 105. 1, 4, 17 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), pp. 595-6, 597, 610).
- 41 Ep., 105 (pp. 595-610).
- 42 Ep., 108. 18 (CSEL v. 34 (2), p. 632).
- 43 Ibid., 18 (p. 632). Saint Augustine says that this “war-cry” was more dreadful than the roaring of the lion. Enar. in Ps., 132. 6 (PL., v. 37, p. 1732).
- 44 Ep., 106; 107; 108 (CSEL v. 34 (2), pp. 610-634).
- 45 Ep., 111. 1 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), pp. 643-4).
- 46 Ibid.
- 47 Ep., 133. 1; 134. 2; 139. 1-2; 185. 30 (CSEL, v. 44, pp. 80-81, 85, 148-150- v. 57, p. 28).
- 48 Ep., 133; 134 (CSEL, v. 44, pp. 80ff, 84ff).
- 49 Ep., 185. 30 (CSEL, v. 57, p. 28).
- 50 Ibid.
- 51 Augustine, Contra Gaudent., I, 6. 7 (PL, v. 43, p. 709).
- 52 Augustine Gesta cum Emerito 12 (PL, v. 43, p. 706).
- 53 Ibid.; Contra Gaudent., I, 22. 25 (PL, v. 43, pp. 720-21). About 420 to 423 there were still a number of fugitive remnants of the wandering bands. Ep., 209. 2 (CSEL, v. 57, p. 348).
- 54 Victor of Vita, Hist. Persecutionis Africae Provinciae (De Perseoutione Vanadalica), III, 10 (PL, v. 58, p. 225-6); Monceaux, Hist. lit. de l’Afr. chret., IV, p. 180.
- 55 Monceaux, Hist. lit. de l’Afr. chret., IV, p. 181.
- 56 Ep., 108. 18; 185. 15 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), p. 632; v. 57, p. 14); Optatus, III. 4 (CSEL, v. 26, pp. 81ff); Monceaux, Hist. lit. de 1’Afrique chret., IV, p. 182.
- 57 Ep., 108. 18; 185. 15 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), p. 632; v. 57, p. 14).
- 58 Optatus, III. 4 (CSEL, v. 26, p. 82).
- 59 Ibid.
- 60 Ep., 185. 15 (CSEL, v. 57, p. 14).
- 61 Ibid.
- 62 Augustine, Contra Lit. Petil., II, 83. 184 ( PL., v. 43, pp. 316-317); Contra Cresc., III, 42. 46 (pp. 520-21); Ad Don. Post. Col., 17. 22 (p. 666); Contra Gaudent., I, 28. 32 (p. 725).
- 63 Ep. 185. 15 (CSEL, v. 57, p. 14).
- 64 “Sanctorum duces,” Optatus, III. 4 (CSEL, v. 26, p. 82); Augustine, Enar. in Ps., 132. 6 (PL, v. 37, p. 173).
- 65 “Continentes, virgines sanctae, sanctimoniales.” Augustine regarded these Donatist virgins as “bands of homeless women who have declined matrimony in order that they may avoid restraint.” Ep., 35. 2 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), p. 28). Cf. Enar. in Ps., 132. 4, 6 (PL, v. 37, pp. 1730, 1732); Contra Ep. Parmen., II, 3. 6; 9. 19 (PL., v. 43, pp. 53, 62); Contra lit. Petil; II, 88. 195 (PL., v. 43, p. 320); Contra Gaudent., I, 31. 37; 36. 46 (PL, v. 43, pp. 729, 734-5).
- 66 Ep., 43. 24; 88. 8; 185. 8, 12; 204. 1-2, 5 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), pp. 106, 415; v. 57, pp. 8, 10-11, 317-18, 320); Optatus, III., 4 (CSEL, v. 26, p. 82f); Augustine, Ad. Don. Post Col., 17. 22 (PL, v. 43, p. 666); Contra Gaudent., I, 22. 25; 27. 30-31; 28. 32 ( PL, v. 43, pp. 720-21, 724, 725).
- 67 Ep., 185. 12 (CSEL, v. 57, pp. 10-11).
- 68 Ep., 88. 6; 105. 3, 4; 133. 1; 134. 2; 139. 1-2; 185. 18 (CSEL, v. 24 (2), pp. 412, 597-8; v. 44, pp. 80-81, 85, 148-50; v. 57, p. 16).
- 69 Ep., 88. 6, 7; 105. 3; 108. 14; 111. 1; 131. 1; 134. 2, 185. 2, 5 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), pp. 412, 413, 597, 627, 643; v. 57, p. 24); Augustine, Contra Cresc., III, 43. 47; IV, 51. 61 (PL, v. 43, pp. 522, 581).
- 70 Ep., 76. 2 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), p. 327): Ipse dixit, Messores angli sunt, non dixit, Messores principes Circumeellionum sint. The clerics were always the duces Circumncellionum, as Ep., 105. 3 (CSEL, v. 34 (2), p. 597). Cf.: Ep., 88. 1 (p. 407), and Contra Cresc., III, 43. 47 (PL, v. 43, p. 522).
- 71 Ep., 108. 14 (CSEL, v. 34 (2) p. 627).
- 72 Ibid., 18 (p. 632).