Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/495

 PRISCIANUS

429

PRISCILLIANISM

Via Salaria (ed. De Rossi-Duchesne, 10). This Pri- Bcilla is evidently identical with the Prisca whose grave was in the Catacomb of Priscilla and who is mentioned in the itineraries of the seventh century. Later legendary traditions identified the founder of the Titulus Priscce with St. Paul's friend, Priscilla, whose home would have occupied the spot on which the church was later erected. It was from here that St. Paul sent a greeting in his Epistle to the Romans. Another legend relates the mart3'rdom of a Prisca who was beheaded at the tenth milestone on the Via Ostiensis, and whose body Pope Eutychianus is said to have translated to the church of Prisca on the Aventine. The whole narrative is unhistorical and its details impossible. As 18 January is also assigned as the day of the execution of this Priscilla, she is probably the same as the Roman martyr buried in the Catacomb of Priscilla. Her feast is observed on IS January.

Acta SS., January, II, 184 sqq.; Dijfourcq, Les Gesta martyrum Tomains. I (Paris. 1900), 169 sq.; Gorres. D. Martynum d. hi. Prisca in Jahrbuch fiir protest. Theologie (1892), 108 sq.; Carini, Sul titolo presbiterale di S. Prisca (Palermo, 1885) ; De Rossi, Delia casa d^iquila e Prisca sulV Aventino in Bull, d'arch. crist, (1867), 44 sq.; Idem, Aquila e Prisca e gli Acilii Glabriones, ibid. (1888-9), 128 sq.: M.4RUCCH1, Les basiliques et eglises de Rome (2nd ed., Rome, 1909), ISO sq.; Butler, Lives of the Saints, Janu- ary, I, 83.

J. P. KiRSCH.

Priscianus, Latin grammarian, b. at Ca?sarea (Mauretania), taught at Constantinople under .\nas- tasius I (491-518). He delivered the panegyric of the Emperor Anastasius about 512; we possess this work in 312 hexameter verses, preceded by a prologue of 22 iambic senarii. Besides this he composed a "Perie- gesis" in 1087 hexameters; a translation of the work of the same name, written under Hadrian by Dionys- ius of Alexandria; three works, dedicated to a certain Symmachus (perhaps the consul of 485), on numbers, numeration, and coins, on the metrical character of Latin comedies, on rhetoric according to the "Pro- gymnasmata" of Hermogenes; the "Partitiones XII versuum ^Eneidos" (on the versification of the Mneid); a treatise "De accentibus"; a compendium on declensions ("Institutio de nomine et pronomine et verbo"). But he is chiefly celebrated for a great work of which the last-named is an extract, the eigh- teen books of the "Institutiones Grammaticae", the most important grammatical work of antiquity which we possess. Each of these eighteen books has its own special title and subject. The first sixteen, often separately copied ("Priscianus Maior"), treat of forms ("De accidentibus"); the last two ("Priscianus Minor") of syntax. They are dedicated to a certain Julianus, consul and patrician. In this preface Pris- cian declares that he borrows his doctrines from the enormous volumes {spatiosa volumina) of ApoUonius Dyscolus and from "the sea" (pelagus) of Herodian. He also cites Juba, Heliodorus, and Hephaestion. Moreover, he follows his sources servilely, as is proved by comparison with the extant fragments of ApoUo- nius. His knowledge of Latin authors is chiefly de- rived from his predecessor Flavins Caper (end of second century). Priscian lacks judgment and taste, but he is valuable because he has preserved for us the theories of the Greek grammarians, and numerous Latin quotations for which he is our sole authority. The best edition is Hertz in Keil's "Grammatici Latini", II, III (185.5-9).

A copy of Priscian carried to England in the time of Aldhelm (d. 709) was quoted by Bede and Alcuin, and copied by Rabanus Maurus, who reintroduced Priscian on the Continent. Together with Donatus he became the personification of grammar. More than a thousand manuscripts of his work exist. His portrait accompanies the allegorical figure of Gram- mar at Santa Maria Novella, and on the doorway of the cathedral of Chartres.

Tedfpel, Gesch. d. lot. Literatur, § 481; Jeep, Gesch. d. Lehre V, d. Redeteilen bei d. lot. Grammatiker (Leipzig, 1893), 89; Idem in Philologus, LXVII (1908). 12; LXVIII (1909), 1; Sandys, A Hist, of Classical Scholarship, I, 258; M.\rriage, The Sculp- tures of Chartres Cathedral (Cambridge, 1909), 30. For the share of the eighth- and ninth-century Irish monks in transmitting the text of Priscian, see Tbaube, O Roma Nobitis (Munich).

Paul Lejay.

Priscillianism. — ^This heresy originated in Spain in the fourth century and was derived from the Gnostic-Manichaean doctrines taught by Marcus, an Egyptian from Memphis. His first adherents were a lady named Agape and a rhetorician named Hcl- pidius, through whose influence Priscillian "a man of noble birth, of great riches, bold, restless, eloquent, learned through much reading, very ready at debate and discussion " (Sulpicius Severus, "His. Sac", II, 46), was also enrolled. His high position and great gifts made him the leader of the party, and he became an ardent apostle of the new doctrmes. Through his oratorical gifts and reputation for extreme asceti- cism he attracted a large following. Among those drawn to him were two bishops. Instant ius and Salvianus. The adherents of the new sect organized themselves into an oath-bound society, the rapid spread of which attracted the attention of the Catholic Bishop of Cordova, Hyginus, who made known his fears to Idacius, Bishop of Emeritu, and, at the in- stance of the latter and of Ithacius of Ossanova, a sjTiod was held at Saragossa in 380. Bishops were present at this synod not only from Spain but from Aquitaine. Though summoned, the Priscillianists refused to appear, and the sjTiod pronounced sen- tence of excommunication against the four leaders, Instantius, Salvianus. Helpidius, and Priscillian. The enforcement of the synod's decrees was commit- ted to Ithacius, an impulsive and violent man. He failed to bring the heretics to terms, and, in defiance, Priscillian was ordained to the priesthood and ap- pointed Bishop of Avila. Idacius and Ithacius ap- pealed to the imperial authorities. The Emperor Gratian issued a decree which not only deprived the Priscilhanists of the churches into which they had intruded themselves but sentenced Priscillian and his followers to exile. Instantius, Salvianus, and Priscillian proceeded to Rome to gain the aid of Pope Damasus in having this sentence revoked. Denied an audience, they went to Milan to make a similar request of St. Ambrose, but with the same result. They then resorted to intrigue and briberj' at the Court with such success that they were not only freed from the sentence of exile, but permitted to regain possession of their churches in Spain, where, under the patronage of the imperial officials, they enjoyed such power as to compel Ithacius to with- draw from the country. He, in turn, appealed to Gratian, but before anything had been accomplished the emperor was murdered in Paris, and the usurper Maximus had taken his place. Maximus, wishing to curry favour with the orthodox party and to re- plenish his treasury through confiscations, gave orders for a synod, which was held in Bordeau.x in 384. Instantius was first tried and condemned to deposi- tion. Thereupon Priscillian appealed to the em- peror at Trier. Ithacius acted as his accuser and was so vehement in his denunciations that St. Martin of Tours, who was then in Trier, intervened, and, after expressing his disapproval of bringing an ecclesiastical case before a civil tribunal, obtained from the em- peror a promise not to carrj' his condemnation to the extent of shedding blood. After St. Martin had left the city, the emperor appointed the Prefect Evodius as judge. He found Priscillian and some others guilty of the crime of magic. This decision was reported to the emperor who put Priscillian and several of his followers to the sword; the property of others was confiscated and they were banished. The conduct of Ithacius immediately met with the