Letter 141: The Council of Zerta tells Donatists that the Carthage conference records expose their case and calls them back to unity.

The bishops of the Council of Zerta, Silvanus the elder, Valentinus, Aurelius, Innocentius, Maximinus, Optatus, Augustine, Donatus, and the rest, to the Donatist communities. Since the report kept reaching our ears that your bishops are telling you the judge was corrupted by a bribe so that sentence would be given against them, and since you easily believe these things and for that reason many of you still refuse to yield to the truth, the love of the Lord compelled us to send you this letter from our council. First you must be warned that they are throwing out these lies because they were beaten and convicted. In the Mandate they prepared for that conference and confirmed with their names and signatures, they said we were traitors and persecutors, and there they were detected and convicted in open falsehood and lying. Wanting to boast in the large number of their fellow bishops, they inserted among the names of some absent men even the name of a dead man. When they were asked where he was, they were suddenly blinded by confusion and admitted that he had died on the road. Then, when asked how someone who had already died on the road could have signed at Carthage, they were still more disturbed and tied themselves up with another lie, answering that he had died while returning from Carthage. They could not get out of that lie at all. These are the people you believe, whether about the old betrayal or about the judge's corruption: people who could not write the Mandate in which they charged us with betrayal without committing the crime of falsehood. Therefore we have gathered into this letter, as into a brief summary, the points we thought most necessary, in case the great volumes of the proceedings are not easy for you to obtain, or you think it too much labor to read them. We came to Carthage, and so did your bishops. What they had first refused and called beneath their dignity, we all came together to do. Seven were chosen from us and seven from them to speak for everyone in the case. Another seven were chosen from each side, with whom, when needed, counsel could be discussed. Four were chosen from each side to guard the writing of the proceedings, lest anyone say something had been falsified. Four notaries were also supplied from us and four from them, so that two at a time could take turns with the judge's recorders, lest any of us complain that he had said something that had not been taken down. To such great care this also was added: both we and they, like the judge himself, subscribed our words, so that no one could say afterward that anything in those proceedings had been corrupted. Since these proceedings have become known while those who signed them are still alive, in all the places where they ought to become known, the truth will also remain confirmed for those who come after us. Do not be ungrateful for so great a mercy of God, which has been served to you through this diligence. No excuse remains. The hearts of people who still resist such a clear manifestation of truth are too hard, too much under the devil's power. Look at the bishops of your party, whom all of you chose to speak for everyone. They tried as hard as they could to keep the case itself from being heard at all, the very case for which so many bishops of both parties had come to Carthage from all Africa and from such distant places. While every soul in that great gathering waited in suspense to see what would be done, they pressed urgently that nothing be done. Why, unless they knew their case was bad and could not doubt they would be defeated easily if it were heard? Their very fear that the case might be heard showed that they were already beaten. If they had forced through what they wanted, so that the conference itself did not take place and the truth did not appear through our arguments, what would they have answered you when they returned from Carthage? What would they have shown you? I suppose they would have brought out the proceedings and said: "We kept pressing that the case not be heard; they kept pressing that it be heard. You are waiting to see what we accomplished. Here, read where we defeated them by making sure we did nothing." Perhaps, if you had a heart, you would have answered them: "If you were going to do nothing, why did you go to those men? Or rather, since you did nothing, why did you come back?" Finally, after they could not accomplish what they had attempted, namely that the case not be heard, the hearing itself showed what they had feared, since they were defeated on every point. They confessed that they had nothing to say against the catholic Church, which is spread throughout the whole world, because they were overwhelmed by the divine testimonies of the holy Scriptures. These testimonies show the Church beginning from Jerusalem, growing through the places where the apostles preached, places named in their letters and in the Acts, and from there spreading among the rest of the nations. They openly professed that they had no case against that Church. In that, in God's name, our victory is completely clear. When they confirm the Church with which we plainly are in communion and they plainly are not, they testify that they were defeated long ago. If you are wise, they show you openly what you ought to leave and what you ought to hold, not by the falsehood with which they still never stop lying to you, but by the truth they were forced to confess when beaten. Whoever, then, is separated from this catholic Church, however praiseworthy he may think his life is, will not have life by this crime alone, because he is cut off from Christ's unity; rather, the wrath of God remains upon him. Whoever lives well in this Church is not harmed by the sins of others, because in it each person will carry his own burden, as the apostle says. Whoever eats the body of Christ unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself, as the same apostle wrote. When he says, "to himself," he shows clearly that he does not eat judgment for another but for himself. This is what we argued, showed, and obtained: communion with evil people does not stain anyone by sharing the sacraments, but by consenting to their deeds. If a person does not consent to their evil deeds, the evil person carries his own case and his own person, and does not harm another whom he does not have as a partner in the crime by consent to the evil work. They too were forced to confess this with the plainest voice, not when we were saying these things, but later, when another matter was being handled. When we came to the case of Caecilian, which we distinguished from the case of the Church, so that if he were perhaps found guilty we would anathematize him without leaving the Church of Christ on his account, since his bad case could not harm it; when, then, we came to Caecilian's case itself, they read the council of Carthage in which they recited the sentences of about seventy bishops pronounced against Caecilian while he was absent. We answered them that this council of bishops could not harm the absent Caecilian, just as the council of a greater number of bishops of the party of Donatus did not harm the absent Primian, when about a hundred bishops condemned him in the case of Maximian. Then, when the case of Maximian was named, a case in which they know they received back in full honor even men they had condemned, and confirmed rather than destroyed baptism given in the sacrilegious schism of Maximian, and in their sentence at Bagai gave a delay to some who had been in that schism and said that the sacrilegious shoots from Maximian's planting had not polluted them; when, then, this case struck their ears, they were frightened and confused. Forgetting what they had been arguing against us above, they immediately said, "Neither case prejudices case, nor person person." By their own words they confirmed what we had earlier been saying about the Church: not only the transmarine catholic Church, against which they confessed they had nothing to say, but also the African catholic Church joined to it by the communion of unity could not be prejudiced by the case or person of Caecilian, whatever he may have been. If Maximian, who with his other associates condemned Primian, and if Felician, who likewise condemned Primian and later was condemned by the party of Donatus in Primian's case, does not harm the party of Donatus, to which he is now joined again as bishop just as he had been before; if even Maximian does not harm his own associates, to whom they gave a delay by saying that they had not been polluted by the man with whom they had been, because neither case prejudices case nor person person, then why do you ask for more? They loaded the proceedings with many useless words, and because they could not keep the case from being heard, they accomplished this by talking at length: that what was done would be hard to read. But even these few words of theirs ought to be enough for you, so that because of some crimes of people you do not know you will not hate the unity of the catholic Church. As they themselves said, reread, and signed: "Neither case prejudices case, nor person person." Even in Caecilian's own case, which did not belong to the case of the Church but which we nevertheless undertook to defend so that their slanders might be made clear there too, they were plainly defeated and could prove none of the charges they aimed at Caecilian. Furthermore, we produced episcopal proceedings about the crimes of betrayal, and from them we read that some of the bishops who had pronounced sentence against the absent Caecilian were themselves the most obvious traitors. Against those proceedings they had nothing to say except that they were false, but they could not prove this in any way. They also confessed, or rather boasted as a great glory, that Caecilian had been accused before the emperor Constantine by their predecessors. They added the lie that, when they accused him, he was condemned by the emperor. Here too they were defeated in the very matter by which they usually spread clouds of error over you, stirring up envy against us and bringing us into your hatred because we plead the Church's case before emperors. Look: their own elders, whose names they boast of, pleaded the Church's case before the emperor. By accusing Caecilian before the emperor, they persecuted him; they said he had been condemned. Let them no longer seduce you with empty and false words. Return to your heart, fear the Lord, think about truth, leave falsehood. Whatever you have already suffered under imperial laws, which you suffer not for righteousness but for iniquity, you will not be able to say that we are unjust because you should not have been treated in this way, with the emperor restraining you from this iniquity. Your bishops confessed that their elders dealt with Caecilian in the way you do not want to be dealt with. Yet it was sufficiently established, even by their own confession and profession, that their elders persecuted Caecilian before the emperor; and it was not established at all that Caecilian was condemned by the emperor. Rather, it was established that when their elders accused and persecuted him, he was cleared first twice by bishops and afterward by the emperor himself. They confirmed this too by later bringing forward documents as if for their own case, which were found rather to be against them and were read even for Caecilian's case. Whoever they wanted to accuse, they could not prove it by any certain documents. Whatever we said for the case of the Church and the case of Caecilian, they themselves confirmed both by their words and by the readings they brought forward. First they produced a book of Optatus, as though from it they could prove that Caecilian was condemned by the emperor. When that book was read against them and instead showed that Caecilian had been cleared, everyone laughed at them. Since the laughter itself could not be taken down by the recorders, they testified by their own words in the proceedings that they had been laughed at. Again they read and produced a petition given to the emperor Constantine by their elders, in which they complained that the emperor was persecuting them severely. By that very petition they made clear that they had been defeated by Caecilian before the emperor, and that what they had said was false, that he had been condemned by the emperor. Third, they produced letters of the same Constantine to the vicar Verinus, where he detests them severely and says they should be released from exile and abandoned to their own madness because God had already begun to take vengeance on them. By these imperial letters too they confirmed that they had spoken falsely when they said Caecilian had been condemned by the emperor. Rather, the emperor showed that they had been defeated by Caecilian, when he cursed them vehemently and ordered them released from exile so that, with God as judge, they might be punished as they had already begun to be. After that they brought forward the case of Felix of Aptunga, Caecilian's ordainer, saying that this Felix was a traitor by whom Caecilian had been ordained. And they produced, against themselves and for Caecilian, letters of the same emperor Constantine in which he wrote to the proconsul that Ingentius should be sent to his court. This Ingentius had confessed in the hearing of the proconsul Aelian that he had forged evidence against Felix, Caecilian's ordainer. They therefore said that the emperor would not have wanted Ingentius sent to him without reason unless Caecilian's case was still pending. They tried to introduce the emptiest suspicion: that after Ingentius was sent to court, the emperor might then have judged against Caecilian and overturned by a later sentence that judgment of his which we had read, where he had heard the parties and cleared Caecilian. But they were told instead to read this, and they brought forward nothing at all. Those imperial letters, which they read against themselves for Caecilian when the emperor ordered Ingentius sent to him, contain this: that the proconsul Aelian had given a proper hearing in Felix's case and that Felix was found innocent of the crime of betrayal; but Ingentius was ordered sent to the emperor's court so that this could be shown and made known to those who were there and who kept pressing him day after day, and so that it could be shown they were bringing envy against Caecilian in vain and had wished to rise violently against him. Who would believe that they read these things against themselves and for us, unless it had been done by the command of almighty God, so that not only their words would be held in the proceedings, but also the hands of those who signed would be read? If anyone now carefully considers the order of consuls and days expressed in the proceedings, he will find first that Caecilian was cleared by episcopal judgment. Not long afterward, the case of Felix of Aptunga was examined by the proconsul Aelian, and Felix was found innocent; in that case Ingentius was ordered to be sent to the emperor's court. Much later, the emperor himself heard and ended the case between the parties; in that hearing he judged Caecilian innocent and the others most slanderous. This order of consuls and days shows plainly enough that they spoke deceitfully and slanderously when they said that, after Ingentius was sent to court, the emperor changed his judgment and condemned Caecilian, whom he had first cleared. Not only were they unable to read anything about this, and not only did they read so much against themselves, but by the order of consuls they are convicted still more clearly: after Felix's case was ended by the proconsular judgment, in which Ingentius was ordered sent to court, not after a short interval but much later, Caecilian was cleared by the judgment of the emperor already mentioned, after the case had been heard between the parties. Therefore let them not tell you that we corrupted the judge with a bribe. What else do beaten people usually say? Or if we gave the judge something so that he would pronounce for us against them, what did we give them, so that they would say and even read so many things against themselves and for us? Perhaps they want us to thank them before you because, although they say the judge was corrupted by a bribe from us, they themselves provided free of charge all the many things they said and read for us against themselves. Or certainly, if they say they defeated us because they handled Caecilian's case better than we did, then believe them completely. We thought two readings were enough for him; they produced four. Why load this letter with more words? If you are willing to believe us, believe us, and let us hold together the unity God commands and loves. If you are not willing to believe us, read the proceedings themselves, or allow them to be read to you, and test for yourselves whether what we have written to you is true. But if you are willing to do none of these things and still desire to follow the falsehood of the party of Donatus after it has been convicted by the plainest truth, we are clean of your punishment when afterward you repent too late. If, however, you do not despise what God has granted you, and after a case so carefully heard and so carefully made clear you leave your crooked habit and agree to the peace of Christ and to unity, we will rejoice over your correction. The sacraments of Christ, which you have to your judgment in the sacrilege of schism, will be useful and saving for you when in catholic peace you have Christ as your head, where love covers a multitude of sins. We wrote these things to you on the eighteenth day before the Kalends of July, in the ninth consulship of the most devout emperor Honorius, so that this letter might reach each of you wherever it can.

EPISTOLA 141 Scripta ante d. XVIII Kal. Iul. a. 412. Zertensis concilii episcoporum nomine Augustinus significat Donatistarum calumnias, cognitorem scilicet in Carthaginensi collatione catholicis favisse contra schismaticos (n. 1), quos Actis collationis eiusdem probat omni ratione adversatos esse collationem ipsam qua falsitatis convicti sunt (nn. 24), Catholicos autem in Donatistas traditionis scelus convertisse quod illi in Caecilianum Felicemque Aptungensem inferre ausi erant (nn. 5-10) aperitque schismaticorum inconstantiam (nn. 11-12) hortans denique ut ad Ecclesiae redeant unitatem (n. 13). SILVANUS SENEX, VALENTINUS, AURELIUS, INNOCENTIUS, MAXIMINUS, OPTATUS, AUGUSTINUS, DONATUS, ET CAETERI EPISCOPI DE CONCILIO ZERTENSI, AD DONATISTAS. Donatistarum calumniae quomodo refellantur. 1. Cum in auribus nostris fama crebresceret, hoc vobis vestros episcopos dicere, Cognitorem praemio fuisse corruptum, ut contra eos sententia proferretur, vos autem ista facile credere, ac propterea multos vestrum adhuc nolle acquiescere veritati; placuit nobis, cogente Domini caritate, ex concilio nostro haec ad vos scripta dirigere, quibus primitus admoneremini illos vobis victos atque convictos haec mendacia iactare: qui etiam in suo Mandato, quod pro illa collatione fecerunt, et suis nominibus atque subscriptionibus firmaverunt, nos illic traditores et persecutores suos esse dicentes, in falsitate atque mendacio manifestissimo detecti atque convicti sunt; ita ut volentes gloriari de multitudine coepiscoporum suorum, inter aliquorum absentium nomina etiam mortui nomen insererent; et cum quaereretur ubi esset, subita perturbatione caecati, ipsi eum confiterentur in itinere defecisse. Et cum interrogarentur quomodo potuerit apud Carthaginem subscribere, qui in itinere iam defecerat, vehementius perturbati, alio mendacio se obligaverunt, respondentes eum a Carthagine redeuntem fuisse defunctum: de quo mendacio exire omnino minime potuerunt. Ecce quibus creditis vel de antiqua traditione, vel de Cognitoris corruptione, qui Mandatum suum, ubi nobis obiecerunt crimen traditionis, non potuerunt conscribere sine crimine falsitatis. Proinde quae maxime necessaria credidimus, his litteris tamquam breviario collecta inseruimus, ne forte ad magna Gestorum volumina vel pervenire non facile possitis, vel ea legere laboriosum putetis. Collationis Acta fidem adstruunt. 2. Carthaginem venimus et nos et episcopi vestri, et quod prius nolebant et indignum esse dicebant, in unum convenimus. Electi sunt ex nobis et ex ipsis septem hinc, et septem inde, qui pro causa omnium loquerentur. Electi sunt alii septem hinc, et septem inde, cum quibus, ubi opus erat, consilium pertractarent. Electi sunt quatuor hinc, et quatuor inde, qui Gestis conscribendis custodes essent, ne infalsatum aliquid ab aliquo diceretur. Dati sunt etiam a nobis et ab ipsis notarii quatuor hinc, et quatuor inde, ut bini cum exceptoribus iudicis alternarent, ne aliquis nostrum se dixisse aliquid causaretur, quod non fuisset exceptum. Huic tantae diligentiae etiam illud est additum, ut et nos et ipsi, quemadmodum ipse iudex, verbis nostris subscriberemus, ne quisquam diceret in illis Gestis aliquid vel postea fuisse corruptum. Cum enim adhuc viventibus eis qui subscripserunt, innotuerint eadem Gesta omnibus locis, in quibus oportet ut innotescant; sic etiam ad posteros confirmata veritas perdurabit. Nolite ergo esse ingrati tantae misericordiae Dei, quae per istam diligentiam vobis ministrata est. Nulla excusatio iam remansit; nimium dura, nimium diabolica sunt hominum corda quae adhuc tantae manifestationi veritatis obsistunt. Omni ratione Donatistae adversati sunt collationi. 3. Ecce episcopi partis vestrae, quos omnes elegerunt, ut pro omnibus loquerentur, conati sunt, quantum potuerunt, ut omnino ipsa causa non ageretur, propter quam tantus numerus episcoporum utriusque partis de universa Africa, et de tam longinquis locis Carthaginem venerat. Et cum omnis anima suspensa exspectaret in tanta collectione quid ageretur, illi vehementer instabant ut nihil ageretur. Quare hoc, nisi quia causam suam malam sciebant, et facillime se posse vinci, si ageretur, dubitare non poterant? Ipse ergo animus eorum, quo timebant ne causa ageretur, iam victos eos esse monstrabat. Si enim extorquerent quod volebant, ut iam collatio ipsa non fieret, nec disputationibus nostris veritas appareret: redeuntes a Carthagine, quid vobis erant responsuri? quid demonstraturi? Credo, prolaturi erant Gesta, et dicturi vobis: Nos instabamus ut causa non ageretur, illi instabant ut ageretur. Vos exspectatis videre quid egerimus: ecce legite ubi eos vicimus, ut nihil ageremus. Forte et vos responderetis, si cor haberetis: Nihil ergo acturi, utquid istis? vel potius qui nihil egistis, utquid redistis? Donatistarum mendacia in collatione patefacta. 4. Denique posteaquam non potuerunt efficere quod conati sunt, id est ut causa non ageretur; ipsa actio demonstravit quid timuerint, quando in omnibus victi sunt. Confessi sunt enim, contra Ecclesiam catholicam, quae toto terrarum orbe diffunditur, nihil se habere quod dicerent; quia divinis sanctarum Scripturarum testimoniis oppressi sunt, quibus Ecclesia designatur incipiens ab Ierusalem 1 crevisse per loca in quibus Apostoli praedicaverunt, et nomina eorumdem locorum in suis Epistolis et Actis conscripserunt, et inde diffundi per caeteras gentes. Contra istam Ecclesiam se non habere causam manifesta voce professi sunt, ubi est evidentissima in nomine Dei nostra victoria. Cum enim confirmant Ecclesiam, cui nos communicare, ipsos autem non communicare manifestum est, olim se victos esse testantur; et vobis, si sapiatis, apertissime indicant quid dimittere, et quid tenere debeatis, non ea falsitate qua vobis non cessant adhuc usque mentiri, sed illa veritate quam victi coacti sunt confiteri. Solum consentiens peccatis alienis maculatur. 5. Quisquis ergo ab hac catholica Ecclesia fuerit separatus, quantumlibet laudabiliter se vivere existimet, hoc solo scelere quod a Christi unitate disiunctus est, non habebit vitam; sed ira Dei manet super eum 2. Quisquis autem in hac Ecclesia bene vixerit, nihil ei praeiudicant aliena peccata; quia unusquisque in ea proprium onus portabit, sicut Apostolus dicit 3. Et quicumque in ea corpus Christi manducaverit indigne, iudicium sibi manducat et bibit 4: nam etiam hoc ipse Apostolus scripsit. Cum autem dicit, iudicium sibi manducat, satis ostendit, quia non alteri iudicium manducat, sed sibi. Hoc nos egimus, et ostendimus, et obtinuimus, quia communio malorum non maculat aliquem participatione Sacramentorum, sed consensione factorum. Nam si in factis malis non eis quisque consentiat; portat malus causam suam et personam suam, nec praeiudicat alteri quem in consensione mali operis socium non habet criminis. Caeciliani causa collata cum Maximiani donatistae. 6. Hoc etiam ipsi voce apertissima coacti sunt confiteri; non tunc quando ista dicebamus, sed postea cum aliud ageretur. Nam cum ventum fuisset ad causam etiam Caeciliani, quam nos ab Ecclesiae causa distinguebamus, ut si forte malus esset inventus, ipsum anathematizaremus, non tamen propter ipsum Ecclesiam Christi relinqueremus, cui per malam suam causam praeiudicare non posset: cum ergo etiam ad ipsam Caeciliani causam ventum fuisset, et legissent illi concilium Carthaginense, ubi recitabant septuaginta plus minus episcoporum sententias contra Caecilianum absentem prolatas; respondimus eis, sic non obesse illud episcoporum concilium absenti Caeciliano, quemadmodum non obfuit plurium episcoporum partis Donati concilium absenti Primiano, quando eum in Maximiani causa plus minus centum episcopi damnaverant. Tunc illi, nominata causa Maximiani, unde sciunt se etiam quos damnaverant, in honore integro suscepisse, et baptismum in sacrilego Maximiani schismate datum se confirmasse, et non destruxisse; et in sua Bagaitana sententia, qua eos damnaverunt, quibusdam qui in ipso schismate fuerunt, dilationem dedisse, et dixisse quod eos non polluerint sacrilegi surculi Maximiani plantaria: ista ergo causa posteaquam eorum aures percussit, expavescentes et perturbati, et obliti unde superius contra nos contendebant, continuo dixerunt: Nec causa causae, nec persona personae praeiudicat: et confirmaverunt verbis suis quod nos antea de Ecclesia dicebamus, quia non solum Catholicae transmarinae, contra quam se confessi sunt non habere quod dicerent, verum etiam Catholicae Africanae, quae illi unitatis communione coniungitur, causa et persona Caeciliani, qualiscumque fuisset, praeiudicare non posset; si Maximianus qui cum caeteris sociis suis Primianum damnavit, si etiam Felicianus qui simul Primianum damnavit, et postea in causa Primiani a Donati parte damnatus est, non praeiudicat parti Donati, cui modo episcopus, sicut antea fuerat, receptus adiungitur; si etiam ipsis sociis suis Maximianus non praeiudicat, quibus isti dilationem dederunt, dicentes eos ab illo, cum quo fuerunt, non fuisse pollutos, quia nec causa causae praeiudicat, nec persona personae. "Traditionis" crimen in Donatistas converti. 7. Quid ergo quaeritis amplius? Multis quidem verbis superfluis Gesta oneraverunt; et quia non potuerunt efficere ut causa non ageretur, hoc fecerunt multum loquendo, ut quod actum est difficile legeretur. Sed debent vobis etiam ista eorum pauca verba sufficere, ne propter nescio quae, nescio quorum hominum crimina, oderitis unitatem catholicae Ecclesiae; quia, sicut ipsi dixerunt, relegerunt, subscripserunt: Nec causa causae praeiudicat, nec persona personae. Nam et in ipsa causa Caeciliani, quam licet ad Ecclesiae causam non pertinentem, tamen defendendam suscepimus, ut etiam ibi calumniae manifestarentur ipsorum, apertissime victi sunt, nihilque eorum quae in Caecilianum intendebant, probare potuerunt. Insuper etiam de criminibus traditionis nos episcopalia Gesta protulimus, unde recitavimus aliquos eorum episcoporum qui sententias in absentem dixerant Caecilianum, manifestissimos fuisse traditores. Contra ipsa Gesta illi, quia non habebant quod dicerent, falsa esse dixerunt; sed nullo modo probare potuerunt. Caeciliani innocentia Actis publicis demonstrata. 8. Insuper etiam confessi sunt, vel potius pro magna gloria professi sunt, Caecilianum apud Constantinum imperatorem a suis praecessoribus accusatum. Et addiderunt mendacium, quod illis accusantibus fuerit ab Imperatore damnatus. Ecce et hinc victi sunt, unde vobis solent nebulas erroris offundere, concitantes nobis invidiam, et in odium vestrum nos adducentes, quia Ecclesiae causam apud Imperatores agimus. Ecce maiores eorum de quorum nominibus gloriantur, Ecclesiae causam egerunt apud Imperatorem; persecuti sunt accusando Caecilianum apud Imperatorem, damnatum dixerunt. Iam non vos seducant vanissimis et mendacissimis verbis: redite ad cor vestrum 5, timete Dominum, cogitate veritatem, relinquite falsitatem. Quidquid enim iam passi fueritis imperialibus legibus, quod non pro iustitia, sed pro iniquitate patimini, non poteritis dicere ideo nos esse iniustos, quia sic vobiscum agi non debuit, ut Imperator vos ab ista iniquitate compesceret. Episcopi enim vestri confessi sunt maiores suos sic egisse cum Caeciliano, quomodo vobiscum agi non vultis. Et tamen quod Caecilianum apud Imperatorem persecuti fuerint, etiam ipsis confitentibus et profitentibus satis constitit: quod autem Caecilianus fuerit ab Imperatore damnatus, omnino non constitit; imo etiam constitit eum, accusantibus et persequentibus maioribus eorum, et bis numero prius ab episcopis, et ab ipso postea Imperatore fuisse purgatum. Hoc etiam ipsi confirmaverunt, talia postea, quasi pro causa sua, proferendo, ut magis contra ipsos esse invenirentur, et pro causa Caeciliani etiam illa quae protulerunt, recitarentur. Quoscumque ergo accusare voluerunt, nullis certis documentis probare potuerunt: quidquid autem nos et pro Ecclesiae causa, et pro Caeciliani causa diximus, et verbis suis et lectionibus a se prolatis etiam ipsi confirmaverunt. Donatistae illusi irrisique. 9. Nam protulerunt primo codicem Optati, unde quasi probarent Caecilianum ab Imperatore damnatum: qui codex cum contra illos legeretur, et magis ostenderet Caecilianum fuisse purgatum, ab omnibus risi sunt. Sed quia ipse risus non potuit ab exceptoribus excipi, verbis suis apud Acta risos se esse testati sunt. Iterum recitaverunt et protulerunt libellum imperatori Constantino a suis maioribus datum, ubi questi sunt quod eos memoratus imperator graviter persequeretur; ac sic eodem libello manifestarunt se apud Imperatorem a Caeciliano fuisse superatos, falsumque esse quod dixerant, eum ab Imperatore damnatum. Tertio protulerunt litteras eiusdem Constantini ad vicarium Verinum datas, ubi eos graviter detestatur, et propterea dicit de exsilio relaxandos, et furori suo dimittendos, quia iam Deus coeperat in illos vindicare: ac sic etiam istis Imperatoris litteris confirmaverunt se falsum dixisse, quod Caecilianus ab Imperatore damnatus sit; cum potius Imperator ipsos a Caeciliano victos esse monstraverit, quando eos vehementer exsecratus, ideo iussit ut de exsilio dimitterentur, ut Deo iudice, sicut et iam coeperant, punirentur. Felicis Aptungensis innocentia. 10. Postea Felicis Aptungensis ordinatoris Caeciliani causam in medium miserunt, dicentes eumdem Felicem fuisse traditorem, a quo Caecilianus fuerat ordinatus: et eiusdem Constantini imperatoris pro Caeciliano contra seipsos litteras protulerunt, ubi ad proconsulem scripsit, ut ad Comitatum suum mitteretur Ingentius. Iste autem Ingentius confessus fuerat in cognitione Aeliani proconsulis falsum se fecisse adversus Felicem Caeciliani ordinatorem. Dicebant ergo isti non sine causa voluisse Imperatorem ut ad se mitteretur Ingentius, nisi quia Caeciliani adhuc causa pendebat: et conabantur immittere suspicionem vanissimam, quod posteaquam Ingentius ad Comitatum directus est, tunc Imperator contra Caecilianum potuerit iudicare, et illud iudicium suum quod nos recitaveramus, ubi inter partes cognoverat, Caecilianumque purgaverat, sententia posteriore rescindere. Sed dicebatur eis ut hoc potius legerent; et nihil omnino proferebant. Illae autem litterae Imperatoris, quibus ad se mitti iussit Ingentium 6, quas contra seipsos pro Caeciliano recitaverunt, hoc continent, quod Aelianus proconsul in causa Felicis audientiam praebuerit competentem, eumdemque Felicem a crimine traditionis innocentem fuisse constiterit: sed Ingentium ad Comitatum suum propterea iubere transmitti, ut illis qui ibi erant, et diurnis diebus eum interpellare non desinebant, apparere et intimari posset, et frustra eos Caeciliano invidiam comparare, et adversus eum violenter insurgere voluisse. Donatistae testimonia sibi adversa subscripserunt. 11. Quis eos crederet ista contra se recitasse pro nobis, nisi Dei omnipotentis nutu factum esset, ut non solum verba eorum Gestis tenerentur, sed etiam manus subscribentium legerentur? Nam et ordinem consulum et dierum, qui Gestis expressus est, si quis nunc diligenter advertat, inveniet primo Caecilianum episcopali iudicio fuisse purgatum. Deinde non multo post Felicis Aptungensis causa ab Aeliano proconsule examinata est, ubi eum constitit innocentem: in qua causa ad Comitatum mitti iussus est Ingentius. Et longe postea ipse Imperator causam inter partes cognovit atque finivit: in qua cognitione Caecilianum innocentem, illos autem calumniosissimos iudicavit. In quo ordine consulum et dierum satis ostenditur fallaciter eos et calumniose dixisse, quod Imperator misso ad Comitatum Ingentio, iudicium suum mutavit, et Caecilianum quem prius purgaverat, postea condemnavit. Non solum autem nihil de hac re legere potuerunt, et contra seipsos tanta legerunt; sed etiam per ordinem consulum evidentius convincuntur, post causam Felicis proconsulari iudicio terminatam, in qua iussum est ut ad Comitatum Ingentius mitteretur, nec parvo intervallo, sed longe postea memorati imperatoris iudicio inter partes habito, Caecilianum fuisse purgatum Donatistarum inepta perfugia. 12. Non ergo vobis dicant quia praemio corrupimus iudicem. Quid enim aliud solent victi homines dicere? Aut si aliquid dedimus iudici, ut contra illos pro nobis pronuntiaret; ipsis quid dedimus, ut contra se pro nobis tanta non solum dicerent, verum etiam recitarent? An forte volunt ut eis apud vos gratias agamus, quia cum dicant iudicem praemio a nobis esse corruptum, ipsi tam multa, quae pro nobis contra seipsos dixerunt et recitaverunt, gratis nobis omnia praestiterunt? Aut certe si propterea dicunt quod nos vicerint, quia melius egerunt causam Caeciliani quam nos, hoc plane credite illis. Nos enim duas lectiones pro illo sufficere putaveramus: illi autem quatuor protulerunt. Donatistae ad Ecclesiae redeant unitatem. 13. Sed quid pluribus litteras oneramus? Si vultis nobis credere, credite; et teneamus pariter unitatem, quam iubet et diligit Deus. Si autem nobis non vultis credere, Gesta ipsa legite, aut vobis ut legantur admittite, et an vera sint quae scripsimus vobis, ipsi probate. Si autem nihil horum facere vultis, et manifestissima veritate convictam partis Donati falsitatem adhuc sequi desideratis, mundi sumus a poena vestra, quando vos sero postea poenitebit. Si vero id quod vobis praestitit Deus non contempseritis; et post causam tam diligenter actam, et tam diligenter manifestatam, perversam consuetudinem relinquentes, paci Christi et unitati consenseritis, de vestra correctione gaudebimus: et Sacramenta Christi, quae in sacrilegio schismatis ad iudicium habetis, utilia et salubria vobis erunt cum in catholica pace habueritis caput Christum, ubi caritas cooperit multitudinem peccatorum 7. Haec ad vos scripsimus XVIII Kal. Iulias, piissimo Honorio Augusto IX Cos. ut quando possunt ad quosque vestrum istae litterae pervenirent.