The Conference of the First Day. When, by the emperor's command, the catholic bishops and those of the party of Donatus had, in the records made before the tribune and notary Marcellinus the appointed judge, conferred with one another by disputation, a very lengthy record of those same proceedings was made, although the whole matter could have been transacted much more briefly. But those who knew that they did not have a good case, did this first, as far as they could: that the conference itself should not take place, and that the case itself should not be tried at all. But since they were quite unable to obtain this, they brought it about, by the multiplicity of the proceedings, that what had been done should not easily be read.
Whence it seemed good to embrace everything in this abridgment, so that, by means of the reference-numbers which are noted both in this little summary and in the proceedings themselves, anyone might without difficulty find what he wished. Accordingly, when both parties had entered, in the first place there was recited the rescript of the emperor, by which he ordered a conference to take place between the aforesaid bishops, that manifest reason might refute superstition. In the second place there was recited the edict of the judge himself, which he sent throughout the province, that the bishops of both parties should assemble, and within the day of the Kalends of June should be gathered at Carthage for the purpose of conferring.
In that edict, without the emperor's command, he restored the basilicas to the Donatists who should promise that they would come, so that in this way he might invite them to confer even by benefits. In the same edict also he offered them that they might appoint, along with him, any other judge whom they wished, and he swore that he would give this judgment which the truth should recommend, and the other things which are contained in the same edict for the encouragement of their assembling.
In the third place there was recited another edict of the judge, which he set forth when the bishops of both parties were now present at Carthage—what should be the place and the manner of the coming conference, the aforesaid day being likewise mentioned and fixed; and he admonished that each party should write back to him whether the things comprised in the edict pleased them. In the fourth place, when the bishops of the party of Donatus demanded that it be set forth to them by their adversaries for what cause they had been assembled, the judge deferred it, so that first all things should be recited in order which had been done before the day of the conference.
And there was recited the memorandum of the Donatists, in which they said that it did not please them what he had put in his edict—that only those of the bishops should assemble at the place of conference whom the rest should have chosen to conduct the case itself, who all together made up thirty-six, eighteen on this side and eighteen on that, that is, seven who should dispute among themselves, and another seven who should be brought in for counsel if there were need, and another four who should preside over the keeping and recording of the proceedings; but they requested that rather all who had come ought to be present, so that their number might appear, saying that the adversaries had falsely alleged them to be few.
There they said that they had all come, down to the gravest old men, so that only those were absent whom adverse bodily health had hindered, and the other things which that same memorandum contains. In the fifth place there were recited the letters of the catholics which they wrote back to the judge, as he had advised in his edict, intimating that they consented to all things which had been ordained in that edict. In the same letters they also bound themselves and promised that, if the truth of the Church were shown to them on the side of Donatus, they would not there seek the episcopal honour, but would follow their counsel for the sake of Christian salvation;
but if rather the truth of the Church were shown to be in their own communion, they would not deny to them the episcopal honours, and that this was done by them for the good of peace, so that those to whom this should be granted might understand that in them the catholics detested not the Christian consecration, but the human error. And that if the congregations could not bear two bishops in one church, then, both withdrawing from the midst, single bishops should be appointed, to be ordained by those bishops who should be found single in their own congregations.
In the same letters there was also mentioned the case of the Maximianists, some of whom, condemned by themselves, they nevertheless received back into their unimpaired honours for the sake of the peace of the party of Donatus, and they did not rescind the baptism given by them in a sacrilegious schism, and the other things which are contained in the aforesaid letters. In the sixth place there was recited also the edict of the judge himself, which he had set forth together with the aforesaid memorandum of the Donatists and the aforesaid letters of the catholics, intimating to the people what each party had written back to him.
In the seventh place there were recited the letters of the catholics given to the judge, by which they replied to the memorandum of the Donatists, granting them what they had asked—that all who had come should be present in that place where the conference was to be—while, however, of the catholic bishops only those should there be present whom the judge had defined in his edict, so that, if any tumult should arise (which the catholics greatly feared), it might not be imputed to them who were present in very small number, but rather to those who had willed their own multitude to be present.
In the same letters also the whole case itself was comprised, so that it might be shown that the catholic Church is not the party of Donatus, but rather that Church which throughout the whole world bears fruit and grows, beginning from Jerusalem according to Holy Scripture; and that nothing prejudices it, whatsoever evil men there may have been in it, to be separated at the end by the divine judgment; and that not even against Caecilianus himself could their forebears prove anything—who by ecclesiastical judgments, and especially by that of the emperor before whom he had been accused by them, was found and pronounced innocent.
And since concerning the ordinances of the emperors, which are established in favour of the catholic Church, they are wont to stir up ill-will, mention was also made of it from Holy Scripture—that kings had decreed in their kingdom the gravest penalties for those who had blasphemed God;
there was also mentioned the case of the Maximianists, whom they themselves both prosecuted in public trials, and out of whom, though condemned, they received some back into their unimpaired honours, nor did they destroy the baptism given by them in schism—since they said that those to whom they granted a delay, though communicating with Maximianus, were not polluted by his contagion; and the other things which are contained in the same letters. But all these things were therefore mentioned there, lest perchance, if the Donatists had thought within themselves and seen how bad a case the party of Donatus had, on this account all who had come should have been unwilling to enter the place of the conference, so that peace and unity might not come about.
In the eighth place, when the judge had inquired whether, as he saw with the catholics, so also on the part of Donatus there had already been chosen those who should conduct the case undertaken, it was answered by the party of Donatus that the case had already been transacted by the catholics before the persons of the disputants had been appointed, on account of those letters of the catholics which briefly contained the whole case. Then they began to insist that first there should be dealt with the question of the time, of the mandate, of the person, of the cause, and then one should come to the merits of the business.
And when the judge had interposed his ruling that nothing had been curtailed from the case, and had again inquired whether his edict concerning the establishing of the number of the disputants had been complied with (since through these all things ought to be transacted which were to be transacted), the Donatists began to argue about the time, since the case itself could not be argued, because the day had passed. For on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of June four months had been completed from the day of the judge's edict, which he had sent to the province, as the officium answered when questioned.
And since the emperor had commanded that the case be transacted within four months, they therefore said that the day had already passed, and asked that sentence be pronounced against the catholics as against contumacious persons—as though the catholics were absent, or as though the Donatists had at some time entered to conduct the case in their absence, or as though the catholics, admonished or summoned, had been wanting. These things, then, they said calumniously and evasively—things which would not even be transacted lawfully in the forum—being unwilling that anything should be transacted. But to this the judge himself replied that both parties had consented to the Kalends of June, although even if either party had not yet up to that time appeared, two other months could still remain, which the emperor had added, to be observed by three edicts.
In the ninth place, since the judge had said above concerning the time that to prescribe that the case should not be tried was a matter not of episcopal, but rather of forensic objection, the party of Donatus found an occasion whereby to say that therefore nothing ought to be transacted with them by public law, but only by the divine scriptures. Whence, when the judge had asked what pleased both parties concerning this matter, it was answered by the catholics that he should order the mandate of the catholic council to be recited, where, the disputants having been chosen, the manner of proceeding was enjoined: there it could better appear that it was to be transacted not by forensic evasions, but rather by divine testimonies. And for some while the conflict was prolonged, the catholics insisting that the mandate be recited, while they refused.
But afterwards, all delaying contentions being set aside, the judge ordered the mandate to be recited. In the tenth place the mandate of the catholic council was recited, by which, to the bishops chosen for disputing, was enjoined the defence of the catholic Church against the accusations of the Donatists.
In this mandate again, as in the earlier letters, the whole case was briefly comprised: first, that the case of the Church—which, as was promised, is spread throughout the whole globe of the lands—should be so distinguished from the case of Caecilianus, whatever it might have been, that it should be shown that the wicked in the Church, who are either unknown or tolerated by the good for the sake of the unity of peace, the good not consenting to their evils, cannot harm them—by evangelical similitudes, and by the example of the prophets and of the Lord Christ himself and of the apostles and of bishops, and by the very judgment of the Donatists themselves on account of the Maximianists; then, that the case of Caecilianus himself had not been bad should be demonstrated by sure documents, by which both he himself and his ordainer Felix of Aptunga (whom in their own council they had accused all the more criminally) should be proved to have been cleared; and the other things which are contained in the same mandate, whether concerning baptism or concerning persecution, which the party of Donatus is wont to cast against the catholics.
For there again was mentioned, as in the earlier letters, the case of the Maximianists, by which the Donatists were shown by their own judgment to have dissolved all the things which they are accustomed to cast against the catholics, whether concerning baptism, or persecution, or the contagion of communion. It was also added that, if even now they should wish, for the sake of interposing delays, to cast crimes against the catholic bishops, then, for the sake of finishing the case which pressed first, these should be deferred to be heard and discussed afterward.
But this—namely, that the whole case should be comprised both in the earlier letters and in this mandate—was done by the catholics with this counsel: lest perchance, if, as rumour boasted, the Donatists should attempt to bring in some delaying prescriptions, and perhaps, not being permitted, should recoil from the conference itself, the case of the catholic Church, though set forth briefly, should nevertheless remain to be read in the record of the proceedings—which they would be understood to have feared, and therefore to have been unwilling to confer.
In the eleventh place, when the judge had interposed his ruling that in the mandate of the catholics divine testimonies rather than forensic bonds had been put forward, and had ordered also that the subscriptions of all be recited, a conflict arose and was for some while prolonged, the Donatists demanding the presence of those who had subscribed to the mandate, objecting that, with persons substituted who had not been bishops, they could have deceived the judge, in whose presence they were read as having subscribed, and that they had added other bishops to ancient sees, that the number might be increased.
But the catholics resisted lest their own should be produced, fearing lest those men should prepare some tumult, by which the conference itself should be utterly broken off—which the Donatists seemed to be altogether unwilling to have take place, especially when, as to the time (as though the case had already lapsed and could not be heard), they wished to raise a prescription. And they were thought not yet to have made this tumult for this reason: because, if it were made, they saw that it could not be imputed to the catholics, who were present in very small number, but rather to themselves, whose multitude was present. But the catholics yielding to their will, that all who had subscribed should enter, it afterward appeared that the Donatists had wished this for this reason: because they supposed that not so many catholics had assembled at Carthage as the subscriptions showed.
But they were supposed to have believed this for this reason: because the catholics had not entered Carthage with that pomp with which those men had entered, and on this account they suspected that they had come few in number. In the twelfth place, when the catholic bishops whose presence was demanded had entered, all were recited one by one, and, coming forward into the midst, were recognized by the Donatists either by their neighbours or by those with whom they were in one place; and whatever catholic bishops were recited from those places where the party of Donatus did not exist, it was well enough known even to the Donatists themselves that they had there no colleagues or communion of their own, and that there were catholics there whom they either knew or of whom they had heard in the region of their own vicinity.
Thus it came about that no subscription of any catholic at all was recited about whose presence they doubted. Indeed, when it had come to the name of Victorianus of Mustis, a catholic bishop, and he, coming forward into the midst, had answered that he had two opponents—Felicianus in the city of Mustis and Donatus in the place of Turres—the catholics demanded that it be established by the acts that Felicianus was in the communion of Primianus; for they had condemned this very man, among others, together with Maximianus, as a condemner of Primianus and the ordainer of Maximianus himself, whom afterward they had received in unimpaired honour, and had not destroyed the baptism in those whom he had baptized in the schism of Maximianus.
But they refused to answer the question of the Catholics, saying that this ought not to be demanded of them; and when the demand was pressed more urgently, they said that this now belonged to an internal deliberation. And in accordance with them the presiding judge ruled that what had been begun should be carried on, and that the other matter, if it were needful, should be inquired into afterward. In the diocese of Musti itself, moreover, it appeared that they too had added another bishop to an ancient see — the very thing which in empty spite they had cast up against the Catholics; and it was later shown that they had done this in other places as well. In the thirteenth place, after the present Catholics who had signed had been reviewed and identified, the judge, having the authority, proposed that they should conduct the proceedings seated rather than standing.
The Donatists, however, declined, though they gave thanks that he had offered a seat to such aged men; and in that refusal they said many things in praise of themselves and in praise of the judge himself, which anyone who wishes may read in the record of the proceedings. For it is pertinent to the matter how they, who praised him in such terms as to call him honorable, just, reverent, and kindly, nevertheless were unwilling that the cause for whose transaction so many had assembled should be pleaded before him. In the fourteenth place the Donatists' mandate too was brought forward and read aloud, drawn up briefly, that those whom they had chosen should conduct the proceedings as against traitors and their own persecutors.
Their names too were read out, since the Catholics had requested that this be done, so that it might be established whether they had signed while present at Carthage. But the Donatists wrung this from the judge with much greater insistence, that their number also should appear — a thing which they showed themselves eager to have done with great earnestness. In that reading, indeed, certain men were found for whom, in their absence, others had signed. One man too was found who, when his name was read out, made no response, and they said that he had died on the journey. And when the Catholics asked how a man who had died on the journey could have signed at Carthage, they wavered long, troubled and not knowing what to answer.
For at first they said that the matter had been suggested not about this man but about another. And when the Catholics supposed they were speaking of another — that is, of a cleric who might have signed on behalf of the dead man — it was asked whether the cleric had signed in his own name or in the name of that man on behalf of the deceased. But afterward they answered that the man himself had indeed signed while present, when the mandate was drawn up on the eighth day before the Kalends of June, but that, since he had signed while ill, he had perished on the journey as he was returning home. When this was heard, the Catholics requested that their earlier words be read out, so that the very inconsistency, once caught, might come to light.
When this had been done and it became evident, the judge asked whether they would at least affirm under the testimony of God that the man had been at Carthage, when those present enjoined those present to sign. Whereupon, more violently disturbed, they answered: 'What if another put himself forward in his place?' Leaving this falsehood of theirs, once detected, to the judgment of God, the judge ordered the remaining names to be read out; and when they had been read, he inquired about the number of bishops on each side. The office replied that the names of the Donatist bishops were two hundred and seventy-nine, counting also those for whom, in their absence, others had signed, and reckoning in the deceased man as well. But it was established that the names of all the Catholics present were two hundred and eighty-six.
For twenty had not signed who nevertheless, presenting their own presence and coming forward into the midst — except those whom bodily infirmity there at Carthage kept back — professed that they committed themselves to and consented to the recorded proceedings. Therefore in the place of conference — that is, in the Baths of Gargilius, since that place had afterward been agreed upon — of those Catholics who had signed the mandate and who present had committed themselves to the proceedings, these alone were absent who were detained there at Carthage by ill health.
But of those whose names the Donatists' signatures contained, not only were those absent whom they had answered to be sick at Carthage, but also those for whom, in their absence — that is, when they were not present at Carthage — others had signed. Since therefore the Donatists boasted of their great numbers, apart from the fact that it was established that more Catholics had come to Carthage, it was said by the Catholics that a further one hundred and twenty bishops had not come to Carthage, because some of them were hindered by old age, some by infirmity, and some by various necessities.
When the Donatists heard this, they replied that many more of their own also had not come to Carthage, and that among them there were many sees widowed of bishops — although in their own written statement, which they had given to the judge, they had said most plainly that all of them had come to Carthage to such a degree that not even age and toil had been able to deter the most burdened old men, and that those alone had not come whom adverse health had detained in their own sees or on the journey. As for the sees which they said were vacant of bishops among them, it was answered by the Catholics too that there were sixty for which successor bishops had not yet been ordained.
And thus, in these signatures of both sides, it was established both that falsehoods had been detected among the Donatists, and that the number of their bishops was smaller — inasmuch as only the sick had not come to Carthage, and yet for these, sick on the journey, others had signed. And the signatures contained the names of all, including even those for whom others had signed, as two hundred and seventy-nine; nor is it in any way credible that far more than one hundred and twenty — that is, a third part of them all — could have been sick in their own sees and therefore not come to Carthage.
In the fifteenth place, after all had withdrawn who were now present to no purpose, and those remaining whom each side had chosen as necessary, the conference was deferred by the consent of both parties to the day after next, since the present day now seemed spent. THE CONFERENCE OF THE SECOND DAY. In the first place, when — after a day's interval — assembly was made at the aforementioned place, as had been agreed and appointed, the judge again offered a session, entreating that it be done. And presently the Catholics sat down, but the Donatists refused. In that refusal they said, among other things, that it had been written to them not to sit with such men. To this the Catholics, lest delays arise, at that time made no answer, but in a more suitable place in the conference of the third day.
Then therefore the judge himself too answered that he would conduct the hearing standing. In the second place there was read the written statement which they had given the day before, requesting that the Catholics' mandate be issued to them, so that, having considered it, they might be present duly prepared on the appointed day — since the recorders could not keep pace with the transcription of the proceedings — together with the judge's reply upon that same statement, in which he had ordered that what they requested be done.
In the third place, when the judge had asked what they would also answer concerning the signatures — that is, whether what he had proposed in his edict pleased them, namely that each should sign his own pleadings — and the Catholics had answered that they had already expressed their consent to this in writing, the Donatists said that they were much disturbed, because custom did not admit this. And when the judge had asked whether the number of guardians appointed from both sides for the recording of the proceedings sufficed them, they began to request a postponement, so that the transcribed proceedings might be issued to them and then they would answer. Hence arose a prolonged dispute with them, while their own consent — by which it had been agreed that the matter be transacted on that day — was often read out from the records.
And when they said that they were ignorant of the shorthand notes, requesting that the transcribed proceedings first be issued to them, the judge ordered that what their own notaries had taken down be read to them from the codices brought forth — which were kept sealed — lest they act contrary to their own consent. And when they too often made pretext about the issuing of the proceedings, saying that the recorders had not kept pace in transcribing the proceedings, this too was answered them: that in their own written statement they had said they requested the Catholics' mandate to be issued to them precisely so that they might come duly prepared on the present day, since the recorders could not keep pace with the issuing of the proceedings.
There, finding nothing to say, they wished once more to rub up the objection of the day-limit, concerning which they had been answered more than enough, and past which they had already moved on the first day. But then the Catholics answered them to this as well: that not only was the day set at the Kalends of June to be read in the judge's edict, but they themselves had drawn up their own mandate on the eighth day before the Kalends of June, when the day on which they said the cause ought to have been pleaded — that is, the fourteenth day before the Kalends of June — had already passed. It was said too that Primianus himself had promised to appear at the Kalends of June. All of which was said by the Catholics because they had heard that these men had spoken invidiously about this matter even among their own people;
and yet, amid all this, they persisted most vehemently in demanding a postponement. When the Catholics saw that they were trifling at length toward this end, that the record might be burdened with many words, they asked the judge to grant them the postponement they were requesting. And a postponement of six days was granted, the recorders answering when the issuing of the proceedings could be accomplished, and those men promising that, once the proceedings had been issued, they would sign their own pleadings. On the third day of the conference — that is, the sixth day before the Ides of June — the parties having entered, in the first place the judge inquired whether the proceedings had been issued to them. The office answered that it had issued them before the day it had promised, which was proved by the receipts of both parties.
And the receipts were read, by which it was established that the Catholics had received the proceedings on the eighth day before the Ides of June at the fifth hour of the day, but the Donatists on the same day at the third hour. In the second place, when the judge had ordered that the principal business now be set forth, it was said by the Catholics that they had long wished to plead the principal business, and that this was it: that the crimes which the Donatists are wont to allege against the Church spread throughout the whole world, they should prove, if they could. It was answered by the Donatists that first it should be inquired who they were that would conduct the case, so that delays might arise from the examination of persons.
Concerning this matter, when there had long been strife — the Catholics refusing, and vehemently insisting that, with the evasions of superfluous delays removed, they come to the cause; the Donatists, on the contrary, contending most obstinately that the persons be examined, and demanding that it be declared who had petitioned the emperor that this conference should be held. For they wished it to be established that the Catholics were the petitioners, so that by forensic law they might be able to examine the persons of the petitioners — although in the first session the Catholics' mandate had already been read out, wherein they showed themselves to be not petitioners but defenders against the crimes which those men are wont to cast at their communion;
since these men themselves had first demanded that the Church's cause be pleaded not by forensic formulas but rather by the testimonies of the divine Scriptures, and had confessed, when the Catholics' mandate was read, that they had wished to establish the Church's cause by the holy Scriptures, and had promised that they in turn would proceed from the same authority of the divine law. Then therefore, as though forgetful of what they had demanded and of what they themselves had also promised, when the Catholics had proposed that the matter of the accusation and clearing of the Church ought to be dealt with, they began to inquire after the persons of the petitioners, so that they might examine them by forensic law.
The Catholics therefore resisted on the contrary, and, in order to cut off the delays which they had heard these men were preparing and now saw them weaving in, they persistently insisted that the Church's cause be pleaded rather. In the strife it came to this: that the emperor's command, by which he had ordered the conference to be held, should be read, so that in that way the person of the petitioner might be established. For it seemed even to the judge — lest anything be denied to the Donatists as though demanding what was just, even concerning forensic law itself — that the persons of the petitioners should first be established. When therefore the imperial command had been read out, it was declared that the Catholics had petitioned for the conference and that it had been granted. Then the Donatists began to demand also the petition by which that conference had been requested by them.