THIRD MILLENNIUM LIBRARY
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THIRD MILLENNIUM LIBRARY |
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ST. HILARY OF POITIERS
BY
JOHN GIBSON CAZENOVE
CHAPTER I. The Country and the Age of Hilary
CHAPTER II. Outlines of the Career of Hilary
CHAPTER III. The Youth of Hilary
CHAPTER IV. First Years of Hilary’s Episcopate
CHAPTER VI. The Questions at Issue
CHAPTER VII. Hilary and the Arians
CHAPTER VIII. Hilary and the Semi-Arians
CHAPTER IX. Hilary and the Emperor
CHAPTER XI. The Critics of Hilary
CHAPTER XII. Hilary as Teacher and as Commentator
CHAPTER XIII. Hilary's Irenicon
CHAPTER XIV. Hilary as Historian
CHAPTER XV. Minor Elucidations
CHAPTER XVI. Last Years of Hilary—Conclusion
PREFACE.
The biographies contained in this small volume are
based, like the rest of the series, upon a study of the original authorities.
These are, in the case of St. Hilary, most especially the very considerable
writings which he has left us. In the case of St. Martin, we have to depend
almost exclusively upon the comparatively small treatises of Sulpicius Severus;
for St. Gregory of Tours, though greatly extolling him, tells us hardly
anything concerning Martin’s earthly career, and the poems of Paulinus of Perigueux and of Venantius Fortunatus are little more than reproductions in verse of the prose narrative of the
earlier biographer.
It is right to confess my obligations to the authors
cited in the notes, not only for the particular information therein mentioned,
but also for much general light upon the topics discussed. Let me add a word of
gratitude, for what are sometimes called side-lights, to Dean Merivale’s “History of the Romans under the Empire”; to “Les Cesars” of Count Franz de Champagny;
to the “Heathenism and Judaism” and to “The First Age of the Church” of Dr. Von Dollinger; and to the Commentary of Bishop Lightfoot
on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians. I have also made free use,
sometimes for elucidation, sometimes for confirmation of conclusions reached
independently, of the “Dictionary of Christian Biography” which is in progress
under the editorship of Dr. William Smith and Professor Wace; more particularly
of the articles on Damasus and Liberius,
and of my own contributions on Hilarius Pictaviensis and Martinus Turonensis.
The very mixed character of the Emperor Maximus is coloured with a more romantic tint than is discernible in
the pages of Sulpicius and of the pagan historian Pacatus in the poem entitled “The Dream of Maxen Wledig”,' which forms one of “The Visions of England”
depicted for us by Sir. Francis Palgrave. The fact that the poem is inspired by
“The Mabinogion”, the collection of the legends of
that highly poetic country, Wales, may suffice to account for the apparent discrepancy.
If any of my readers are induced to compare the two portraits, they may perhaps
be inclined to think that of the Latin historians the more probable. But in any
case they will, if I mistake not, feel grateful for the reference to a book
which, over and above its poetic merits, is so full of instruction and
suggestiveness to all students of history.
J. G. C.
Edinburgh, Mid summer, 1883.
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