Chapter LXXXII.
Cyrus, [2717] an Alexandrian by race, and a physician by profession, at first a philosopher then a monk, an expert speaker, at first wrote elegantly and powerfully against Nestorius, but afterwards, since he began to inveigh against him too intemperately [2718] and dealt in syllogism rather than Scripture, he began to foster the Timothean doctrine. Finally he declined to accept the decree of the council of Chalcedon, and did not think the doctrine that after the incarnation the Son of God comprehended two natures, was to be acquiesced in.
[2717] Flourished 460.
[2718] since he began to inveigh against him too intemperately Norimb. and the eds., but the other mss. read "nevertheless" inveigh or "inveighs less" or "more" and "is found" for "inveigh." T 21 25 a Wolfenb. agree in reading in illo minus invenitur instead of in illum nimius inventur. Norimb has same with nimius instead of minus. The reading of T 21 25 a Wolfenb. thus reinforced and in view of the fact of the easy confusion of minus and nimius in transcribing, is the most probable reading, but it is hard to decide and harder still to make sense of it.
Chapter LXXXIII.
Samuel, [2719] presbyter of the church at Edessa, is said to have written many things in Syriac against the enemies of the church, especially against the Nestorians, the Eutychians and the Timotheans, new heresies all, but differing from one another. On this account he frequently speaks of the triple beast, while he briefly refutes by the opinion of the church, and the authority of Holy Scriptures, showing to the Nestorians, that the Son was God in man, not simply man born of a Virgin, to the Eutychians, that he had true human flesh, taken on by God, and not merely a body made of thick air, or shown from Heaven; to the Timotheans, that the Word was made flesh in such wise, that the Word remains Word in substance, and, human nature remaining human nature, one person of the Son of God is produced by union, not by mingling. He is said to be still living at Constantinople, for at the beginning of the reign of Anthemius, I knew his writings, and knew that he was in the land of the living.
[2719] Presbyter 467.
Chapter LXXXIV.
Claudianus, [2720] presbyter of the church at Vienne, a master speaker, and shrewd in argument, composed three books, On the condition and substance of the soul, in which he discusses how far anything is incorporeal excepting God.
[He wrote also some other things, among which are, A Hymn on Our Lord's Passion, which begins "Pange lingua gloriosi." He was moreover brother of Mamertus, bishop of Vienne.] [2721] (See note.)
[2720] Claudianus Ecdicius Mamertius died 473-4.
[2721] wrote...Vienne is said to be in a certain manuscript of the Monastery of "St. Michaelis de Tumba" but is omitted by A T 25 30 31 a e 21 Bamb. Bern. etc etc. and certainly does not belong in text. It is left in brackets above because given in the editions.
Chapter LXXXV.
Prosper [2722] of Aquitania, a man scholastic in style and vigorous in statement, is said to have composed many works, of which I have read a Chronicle, which bears his name, and which extends from the creation of the first man, according to Divine Scripture, until the death of the Emperor Valentinianus and the taking of Rome by Genseric king of the Vandals. I regard as his also an anonymous book against certain works of Cassianus, which the church of God finds salutary, but which he brands as injurious, and in fact, some of the opinions of Cassian and Prosper on the grace of God and on free will are at variance with one another. Epistles of Pope Leo against Eutyches, On the true incarnation of Christ, sent to various persons, are also thought [2723] to have been dictated by him.
[2722] Born 403, wrote chronicle 445? died 463.
[2723] thought A 25 30 31 a e 21; said T Fabr. Her.
Chapter LXXXVI.
Faustus, [2724] first abbot of the monastery at Lerins, and then made bishop [2725] of Riez in Gaul, a man studious of the Divine Scriptures, taking his text from the historic creed of the church, composed a book On the Holy Spirit, in which he shows from the belief of the fathers, that the Holy Spirit is consubstantial and coeternal with the Father and the Son, the fulness of the Trinity and therefore God. [2726] He published also an excellent work, On the grace of God, through which we are saved, [2727] in which he teaches that the grace of God always invites, precedes and helps our will, and whatever gain that freedom of will may attain for its pious effect, is not its own desert, but the gift of grace. I have read also a little book of his Against the Arians and Macedonians, in which he posits a coëssential Trinity, and another against those who say that there is anything incorporeal in created things, in which he maintains from the testimony of Scriptures, and by quotations from the fathers, that nothing is to be regarded as incorporeal but God. There is also a letter of his, written in the form of a little book, and addressed to a certain deacon, named Graecus, who, leaving the Catholic faith, had gone over to the Nestorian impiety.
In this epistle he admonishes him to believe that the holy Virgin Mary did not bring forth a mere human being, who afterwards should receive divinity, but true God in true man. There are still other works by him, but as I have not read, I do not care to mention them. This excellent doctor is enthusiastically believed in and admired. He wrote afterwards also to Felix, the Prætonian prefect, and a man of Patrician rank, son of Magnus the consul, a very pious letter, exhorting to the fear of God, a work well fitted to induce one to repent with his whole heart.
[2724] Abbot of Lerins 433-4, bishop of Riez 462, exiled 477-84, died 490.
[2725] Made bishop A T 31 e 21; bishop a 25 30.
[2726] and therefore God T 25 31 a e 21 [31 A?;] obtaining Fabr. Her.; Bamb and ed. 1512 read and therefore but join to next sentence.
[2727] savedA T 25; add and the free will of the human mind in which we are saved 30 31 a e.