A new history of ecclesiastical writers containing an account of the authors of the several books of the Old and New Testament, of the lives and writings of the primitive fathers, an abridgement and catalogue of their works ... also a compendious history of the councils, with chronological tables of the whole / written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin.

VICTORINUS.

VICTORINUS Bishop of Passaw a, a City of the ancient Pannonia, situate upon the Drave in Styria, and not of Poictiers in France, passeth for a very indifferent Author. b St. Jerome says of him, That he did not understand Latin so well as Greek; that the Style of his Works

is simple and mean, though the Sence is very high; that he had no Notion of Style, though he under∣stood the Holy Scriptures very well; that he had no Learning, but that he had great Inclinations that way. His Works, whereof St. Jerome has composed a Catalogue, are, besides a Treatise against all Heresies, some Commentaries upon Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Isaiah; and as far as the Vision of the Four-footed Beasts in in Ezechiel; Ecclesiastes, the Canticles, and the c Revelations.

We have in the Bibliotheca Patrum, a Commentary upon the Apocalypse by Victorinus, with a Preface attributed to St. Jerome. It is said in this Preface, That Victorinus was of the same Opinion with Pa∣pias and Nepos, touching the Reign of the Thousand Years; and the very same thing is likewise ob∣served by St. Jerome in his Catalogue: Nevertheless we find the contrary in this Commentary, and that Opinion seems to be plainly rejected there, as belonging to the Heretick Cerinthus. There is also mentioned in this Book an Epitome of Theodorus, who reckoned Twenty Four Books of the Old Testa∣ment. Now this Theodorus having lived under Justinian, we must of necessity conclude, that the Au∣thor of this Commentary lived since that time; however, 'tis far more probable that this Citation of Theodorus has been added since, because the Author of this Commentary lived before Justinian's Age. For he believed with the Ancients, that the Souls of Men should not be happy till after the Day of Judgment; and that Nero was Antichrist; which Opinions were no where maintained in Justinian's time.

Tis likewise very probable, that they have altered somewhat of what he says in his Com∣mentary concerning the Reign of the Thousand Years;

besides that, he formally rejects only the Er∣rour of Cerinthus, who believed no other Beatitude but that of a Temporal Reign.

I don't believe, says he, that the Reign of the Thousand Years will be at the end of the Judgment; or if there is one, we ought to believe that it ends after the Thousand Years are compleated.

Thus we cannot be cer∣tainly assured, that this Commentary does not belong to Victorinus; on the contrary, 'tis somewhat probable that it is his.

Notes

• a

  Bishop of Passaw, a City of the Ancient Pannonia, and not of Poictiers in France.] Monsieur Launoy has written a Dissertation on purpose, to prove that he was not Bishop of Poictiers in France, but of a City in Pannonia called Petabion or Peta∣vion, now called Passaw. He quotes in this Dis∣sertation Five several places of St. Jerome, where mention is made of this Victorinus, twice in his Catalogue, once against Vigilantius, once against Helvidius, and once upon the Thirty sixth Chapter of Ezekiel; we find in the ancient Editions Petabi∣onensis, or Petavionensis, or Pictabiensis, or Pictabi∣onensis; and that he is also called by this Name in the Martyrologies of Usuardus and Ado, and in some other Ancient Writers, as well as in the first Edition of the Councils by Merlinus; and in the Edition of the Commentary upon the Apocalypse attributed to this Author. And he concludes from all these Authorities, and from several other Rea∣sons that he produceth, that this Voctorinus was nor Bishop of Poictiers, but of a certain City in Pan∣nonia called Petabion or Petavion, and now Passaw. He likewise observes in another small Dissertation, that there were five Authors of this Name. The First is the Defender of the Opinion of Praxeas, whereof Tertullian makes mention. The Second is our Author. The Third is a Rhetorician of Rome, of whom St. Austin speaks in the Eighth Book of his Confessions, Chap. 2. The Fourth is mention∣ed by Gennadius, who was of Marseilles. And the Last is an Orator, Surnamed Lampadius, menti∣oned by Photius, Cod. 101. See this Dissertation.
• b

  St. Jerome saith of him, that he did not un∣derstand Latin so well as Greek,] These Passages of St. Jerome are in this Catalogue: Non aeque Latine ut Graece noverat; inde opera ejus grandia sensibus, viliora sunt compositione verborum. And in his Commentary upon Isaiah, Lib. 1. Imperitus ser∣mone, non tamen scientia. Epist. ad Magnum: Victorino Martyri in suis libris licet desit eruditio, non deest tamen eruditionis voluntas.
• Pierius.
• c

  And upon the Revelations.] He likewise wrote some other Works, and made a Commentary up∣on St. Matthew, as St. Jerome tells us, Praefat. in Matth. And in his Catalogue he says, That he composed several other Works.