Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/512

 490 APPENDIX death of Julian ; cp. vol. i. A])pendix 1 ; (2) Books 11-16, the work of Paulus Diaconus, who lived at the en(l of the eighth century and is more famous by his History of the Lombards ; (3) the continuation of Landulfus Sagax, who lived more than 200 years later. The second part, which concerns us here, is com- piled from Prosper, Oroeius, Jordanes and others, but contains some notices drawn from ]ost sources. The work may be consulted in Muratori's Scriptores Rerum Italicarum, vol. i., or in Migne's Patrol. Lat., vol. xcv. Paulus Orosius of Tarraco in Spain dedicated to his friend St. Augustine his Historiae advcrsum Pafjanos in 7 Books. He was yoimg when, at St. Augustine's suggestion, he wrote the work shortly after a.d. 417. It was in- tended to illustrate and vindicate the Divine dispensation of a history of the world from the deluge to his OAvn day, and to show that Christianity was not the cause of the evil times (see below on Salvian). The only part of importance as historical material is the last portion of Bk. vii., which deals with the latter part of the fourth, and first seventeen years of the fifth, century. His spirit is that of a narrow-minded provincial bigot, but he has some very important entries for the history of his own time — for example on the campaign of Pollentia and the invasion of Eadagaisus. [Edition C Zangemeister in the Corpus Script. Eccles. Lat. 1882 ; and text (Teubner) by same editor 1889.] The importance of the work of Salvias on the Divine Gk)vemment {De Guhernatione Dei, in 8 Books) for the state of the Empire in the fifth century is not adequately realized by Gilibon. It is (as Mr. Hodgkin justly says, i. p. ylS, in his admirable chapter on the book) "one of our most valuable sources of in- formation as to the inner life of the dying Empire and the moral character of its foes ". Salvian was a presbyter of Massilia. He was married, but after the birth of a daughter he and his wife took a vow of chastity for life. He seems to have been born c. 400 and was still living in 480. He wrote his book before the middle of the century. The purpose of this book was to answer the great problem which at that time was perplexing thoughtful people : "Why is ci^'ilized society dissolving and breaking up before the barbarians, if there is a Di^^ne governance of the world ? This question had been dealt with before by Augustine in the De Civitate Dei, and by Orosius in the Hist, adversus Paganos. Their various answers have been well compared by Mr. Hodgkin. Augustine's answer was merely negative : the evils which had come upon Rome were not the effect of the introduction of Christianity. Orosius denied the existence of the evUs. But a good deal had happened between 417 and 440 ; and in 440 even Orosius could hardly have ventured to maintain his thesis. Salvian's answer was : these evils are the effects of our vices. He draws a viid and highly exaggerated contrast between Roman vices and Teutonic virtues. He dwells especially on a matter which came very directlj' within his own knowledge, the abuses and unjust exactions practised by Gallic officials. So far as Salvian's arguments are concerned there is nothing to be added to Gibbon's criticism (xxxv. n. 12); "Salvian has attempted to explain the moral government of the Deity : a task which may be readily performed by supposi-ag that the calamities of the wicked ^xejudgvients, and those of the righteous trials" , Tyrannius Rufinus (bom at Concordia c. a.d. 345, died in Sicily, a.d. 410) lived in Egypt for some time, where he was thrown into prison, on the occasion of the persecution which was conducted with the permission of the Emperor Valens, by Lucius, the Arian successor of Athanasius at Alexandria. Having quitted Egypt, on his release, he spent nearly twenty years as a monk on the JMount of Olives. During this period he became acquainted ^^^th Bacurius the first Christian king of the Iberians, and with Oedesius the companion of Frumentius, the apostle of the Ethiopians. He returned to Italy in 397 and spent the later part of his life at Aquileia. This period was troubled by a famous controversy with his friend Jerome. Rufinus translated many Greek works into Latin, among others Origen's treatise Trepl apxiiv. Thecontroversj- arose out of certain references to Jerojne in the Preface to this translation, and it was represented