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| Chapter XLIX.
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Chapter XLIX.
But the power, not the
will, to resist, failed Ithacius; for the heretics had won over by
bribes Voluentius, the proconsul, and thus consolidated their own
power. Moreover, Ithacius was put on his trial, by these men as being a
disturber of the churches, and he having been ordered as the result of
a fierce prosecution, to be carried off392
| 392 This appears to be
the meaning, but the text is obscure. |
as a prisoner, fled in terror into Gaul, where he betook himself to
Gregory the prefect. He, after he learned what had taken place, orders
the authors of these tumults to be brought before himself, and makes a
report on all that had occurred to the emperor, in order that he might
close against the heretics every means of flattery or bribery. But that
was done in vain; because, through the licentiousness and power of a
few, all things were there to be purchased. Accordingly, the heretics
by their artifices, having presented Macedonius with a large sum of
money, secure that, by the imperial authority, the hearing of the trial
was taken from the prefect, and transferred to the lieutenant in Spain.
By that time, the Spaniards had ceased to have a proconsul as ruler,
and officials were sent by the Master to bring back to Spain Ithacius
who was then living at Treves. He, however, craftily escaped them, and
being subsequently defended by the bishop Pritannius, he set them
at
defiance. Then,
too, a faint393
| 393
“clemens”: some read “Clementen,” and join it
with “Maximum.” | rumor had spread
that Maximus had assumed imperial power in Britain, and would, in a
short time, make an incursion into Gaul. Accordingly, Ithacius then
resolved, although his affairs were in a ticklish state, to wait the
arrival of the new emperor; and that, in the meantime, no step should
on his part be taken. When therefore Maximus, as victor, entered the
town of the Treveri, he poured forth entreaties full of ill-will and
accusations against Priscillian and his confederates. The emperor
influenced by these statements sent letters to the prefect of Gaul and
to the lieutenant in Spain, ordering that all whom that
disgraceful394
heresy had
affected should be brought to a Synod at Bordeaux. Accordingly,
Instantius and Priscillian were escorted thither and, of these,
Instantius was enjoined to plead his cause; and after he was found
unable to clear himself, he was pronounced unworthy of the office of a
bishop. But Priscillian, in order that he might avoid being heard by
the bishops, appealed to the emperor. And that was permitted to be done
through the want of resolution on the part of our friends, who ought
either to have passed a sentence even against one who resisted it, or,
if they were regarded as themselves suspicious persons, should have
reserved the hearing for other bishops, and should not have transferred
to the emperor a cause involving such manifest
offences.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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