rst appeal to the final sentence, lasted above three years. A severe
inquisition, which was taken by the Praetorian vicar, and the proconsul
of Africa, the report of two episcopal visitors who had been sent to
Carthage, the decrees of the councils of Rome and of Arles, and the
supreme judgment of Constantine himself in his sacred consistory,
were all favorable to the cause of Caecilian; and he was unanimously
acknowledged by the civil and ecclesiastical powers, as the true and
lawful primate of Africa. The honors and estates of the church were
attributed to his suffragan bishops, and it was not without difficulty,
that Constantine was satisfied with inflicting the punishment of exile
on the principal leaders of the Donatist faction. As their cause was
examined with attention, perhaps it was determined with justice. Perhaps
their complaint was not without foundation, that the credulity of the
emperor had been abused by the insidious arts of his favorite Osius. The
influence of falsehood and corruption might procure the condemnation
of the innocent, or aggravate the sentence of the guilty. Such an act,
however, of injustice, if it concluded an importunate dispute, might be
numbered among the transient evils of a despotic administration, which
are neither felt nor remembered by posterity.

[Footnote 6: The best materials for this part of ecclesiastical history
may be found in the edition of Optatus Milevitanus, published (Paris,
1700) by M. Dupin, who has enriched it with critical notes, geographical
discussions, original records, and an accurate abridgment of the whole
controversy. M. de Tillemont has bestowed on the Donatists the greatest
part of a volume, (tom. vi. part i.;) and I am indebted to him for an
ample collection of all the passages of his favorite St. Augustin, which
relate to those heretics.]

[Footnote 7: Schisma igitur illo tempore confusae mulieris iracundia
peperit; ambitus nutrivit; avaritia roboravit. Optatus, l. i. c. 19. The
language of Purpurius is that of a furious madman. Dicitur te necasse
lilios sororis tuae duos. Purpurius respondit: Putas me terreri a te..
occidi; et occido eos qui contra me faciunt. Acta Concil. Cirtenais,
ad calc. Optat. p. 274. When Caecilian was invited to an assembly of
bishops, Purpurius said to his brethren, or rather to his accomplices,
"Let him come hither to receive our imposition of hands, and we will
break his head by way of penance." Optat. l. i. c. 19.]

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