That the evidence by which clearly to identify the person of Donatus might be by no means scanty there is yet another proof, with which the above-mentioned accusation was closed. God had said that Donatus would not die upon the earth. That this is the case is known to all. He dwelt in the house of God, but lived in the heart of the sea. We read that the sea always signifies the world. It was not enough for him to be beloved by some Christian people, but, by reason of his acquaintance with worldly letters, he was also in the heart of the sea, that is, was beloved by the world, and on account of his knowledge seemed to himself to be wise. But of this wisdom of his God made little, saying:
'Art thou more wise than Daniel?'
With how great reason, and how well, has been humbled that wisdom of his, which made him think himself wiser than was Daniel (when he refused the gifts of the King), and would not accept that which had been sent by a Christian Emperor. And he |141 seemed to himself to be a new Daniel, or to have been raised above Daniel in wisdom, for we read that Daniel, when he was once required to receive presents from King Balthassar----a ring; a chain and the rest----answered thus:
'Thy gifts to thyself, O King.'
He answered with wisdom, and did not hurl abuse at the King, and did not blame him for what he offered, but put the matter off for a while.
Quite otherwise Donatus, who both spoke to Constans as abusive words as he knew how, and refused what had been destined for the poor. We can see the wisdom of holy Daniel in not accepting that day the gifts that were offered him. For the question that they asked him was still [known only] in Heaven, and it would have been the act of a fool to receive any kind of reward for that which he had not yet in his power to reveal. Therefore he was for the time unwilling to accept these presents. Afterwards, when God showed him what he should say to the King, he told it to Balthassar, and, later on, gladly accepted that which he was known formerly to have rejected. Deservedly, therefore, does God rebuke the Prince of Tyre (that is Donatus), when He asks him:
'Art thou more wise than Daniel?'
But oh! how far removed is the presumption of Donatus from the character of Daniel! For what Balthassar gave, he gave to Daniel, not to the poor; but that which Constans, the Christian Emperor, had sent, he had sent to the poor, not to Donatus.
So to Donatus God said:
'The wise men have not taught thee their wisdom' ;
for thou hast refused to learn from the words of Solomon:
'Hide thy bread in the heart of the poor man, and he shall pray for thee.'
Moreover, he would not learn from Daniel himself the lesson which Daniel gave to Nebuchadnezzar, as to how one who had offended God might make satisfaction:
'And do thou, O King,' he said, 'hear my advice, and may it find favour in thy sight. Redeem thy sins by alms-deeds, and the unjust things that thou hast done by having compassion upon the poor.'
Daniel advised a king, who was a sinner and sacrilegious, to give alms. Donatus, who has deserved to be blamed, hindered Constans, a Christian Emperor, from doing deeds of mercy. Therefore is he blameworthy, because wise men have not taught him their wisdom, for he did not suffer the gifts sent by this King to be distributed through his hands.
From all these things it is certain that Donatus |143 was the fountain from which flowed the causes of the evils which ensued.
IV. An account of violent deeds done by Donatists against Donatists.
So, you see, my brother Parmenian, to whose charge any severity that may have occurred in the work of bringing about unity ought to be attributed. You say that an armed force was asked for by us Catholics. If so, how is it that no one at that time ever saw an armed soldier in the proconsular Province?
Paul and Macarius came in order to console the poor everywhere, and exhort everyone individually to unity. But when they drew near to the city of Bagaia, then it was that the second Donatus (as we have already written) who was the Bishop of that city, in his desire to oppose an obstacle to unity, and to place a check in the way of the above-mentioned legates of the Emperor, sent his heralds through the neighbourhood, and especially to all the fairs, and called upon his fighting dervishes to come in a body to a place which he had fixed for them. So it was |144 that at that juncture those men were called together, whose madness had been deemed by these same Bishops, only a short time previously, to have been set on fire by their wickedness.
For when men of this sort were, before the attainment of unity, wandering about in every place, and in their insanity called Axido and Fasir 'Captains of the Saints,' no man could rest secure in his possessions. Written acknowledgments of indebtedness had lost their value. At that time no creditor was free to press his claim, and all were terrified by the letters of these fellows, who boasted that they were 'Captains of the Saints.' If there was any delay in obeying their commands, of a sudden a host of madmen flew to the place. A reign of terror was established. Creditors were hemmed in with perils, so that they who had a right to be supplicated on account of that which was due to them, were driven, through fear of death, to be themselves the humble suppliants. Very soon everyone lost what was owing to him----even to very large amounts, and held himself to have gained something in escaping from the violence of these men.
Even journeys could not be made with perfect safety, for masters were often thrown out of their own chariots and forced to run, in servile fashion, in front of their own slaves, seated in their lord's place. By the judgement and command of these outlaws, the condition of masters and slaves was completely reversed.
So when the Bishops of your party were reproached [with this state of affairs], they are said to have written |145 to Taurinus, who was at the time in possession of civil authority, saying that as men of this class could not be corrected by the Church, they requested that they should be punished by the above-mentioned officer.
In answer to this letter Taurinus ordered an armed force to go through the fairs, where these mad vagrants were accustomed to wander about.
In the district round Octavum a large number were put to death, of whom many were beheaded. Even to the present day we may count their bodies by the whitened altars or tables. When the custom was introduced of burying some in the basilicas, the priest Clarus in the district of Subula was required by his Bishop to undo the burial. Through this it came to be known that what was done had been |146 done through a command, when not even burial in the House of God was permitted them.
Afterwards the numbers of these fanatics had once more increased; so Donatus of Bagaia found the means of getting together from them a furious horde with which to oppose Macarius.