ot rid of, and differences of opinion were reduced to a
minimum. Germanus and Lupus dealt with the people of Britain as their
predecessor had dealt with the bishops of Gaul. They went all over,
discussing the great question with the people whom they found. They
preached in the churches, they addressed the people on the highroads, they
sought for them in the fields, and followed them up bypaths. It is clear
that the visitors from Gaul could speak to the people, both in town and in
country, in their own tongue, or in a tongue well understood by them. No
doubt the native speech of Gaul and that of Britain were still so closely
akin that no serious difficulty was felt in this respect. They met with
success so great that the leaders on the other side were forced to take
action. They felt, so the biographer tells us, not that his is likely to
be convincing evidence as to their feelings, that they must run the risk
of defeat rather than seem by silence to give up the cause. They
undertook to dispute with the Gallicans in public. The biographer is not
an impartial chronicler. The Pelagians came to the disputation with many
outward signs of pomp and wealth, richly dressed, and attended by a crowd
of supporters. Why should the biographer thus indicate that the Pelagian
heresy was specially rife among great and wealthy and popular people?
Perhaps it may be the case, that, with imperfectly civilised people, a
position of wealth and distinction tends to make men less humble in their
view of the need of the grace of God. Besides the principals, we are told
that immense numbers of people came to hear the dispute, bringing with
them their wives and children; coming, in the important phrase of the
biographer, to play the part of spectator and judge. That is the first
note we have of the function of the laity in religious disputes in this
land of ours. It is a pregnant hint. The disputants were now face to face.
On one side divine authority, on the other human presumption; on one side
faith, on the other perfidy; on one side Christ, on the other Pelagius.
The description is Constantius's, not mine. The bishops set the Pelagians
to begin, and a weary business the Pelagians made of it. Then their turn
came. They poured forth torrents of eloquence, apostolical and evangelical
thunders. They quoted the scriptures. The opponents had nothing to say.
The people, to whose arbitration it was put, scarce could keep their hands
off them; the decision