“The toxic offspring of the viper’s seed”: Augustine’s 418 Encounter with Emeritus of Caesarea Mauretaniae
-
Geoffrey D. Dunn
Abstract
In 418 Augustine encountered Emeritus, one of his Donatist adversaries, in Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell) in Mauretania Caesariensis. In the resultant work, Gesta cum Emerito, Augustine relived some of the arguments that had earlier been employed against the Donatist in 411, particularly by having Alypius read out passages of Aurelius’ 411 letter to Marcellinus, the imperial commissioner (Epistula 128). Not only does Augustine shape our understanding of the 418 encounter but continues to take control of how the 411 confrontation was to be remembered. This paper will examine how Gesta cum Emerito saw the Donatist weakness in 411 being based upon their inconsistencies in dealing with schismatics, especially their treatment of Maximianists at the 394 synod in Bagaï, where Emeritus himself had condemned Maximian as “the toxic offspring of the viper’s seed.” The encounter gave Augustine an opportunity to highlight the Maximianists to an extent greater than the records of 411 indicate had been the case then.
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Patristic, Medieval and Renaissance Conference at Villanova University in October 2019 while I was the 2019 Thomas F. Martin St Augustine Fellow there. I am grateful to the Augustinian Institute of Villanova University and to the participants at the conference for their helpful questions and comments. I am also grateful to the anonymous reviewers whose comments led to a restructuring of the argument. This project is funded by the Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education within the program under the name “Regional Initiative of Excellence” in 2019–2022, project number: 028/RID/2018/19, the amount of funding: 11 742 500 PLN.
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Edition
- Der Erstgeborene Eingeborene oder warum man das Gerade nicht krumm machen soll. Ein neues unbekanntes griechisches Fragment aus dem Kommentar Cyrills von Alexandrien zum Hebräerbrief
- Aufsätze
- Justin’s Dialogue and the Search for Contemporary Discourse Between Christians and Jews: A Closer Look at Dialogue, Chapter 47
- Job as a Steadfast Wrestler: Athletic Exemplarity in John Chrysostom and Severian of Gabala
- Rufinus of Aquileia’s Historia ecclesiastica and Historia monachorum in Aegypto: A Dual Program of Monastic Historiography
- Überlegungen zu Form und Gattung in Hieronymus’ Briefen
- “The toxic offspring of the viper’s seed”: Augustine’s 418 Encounter with Emeritus of Caesarea Mauretaniae
- The Biblical Text and its Variants at the Heart of the Debate between the Emperor Julian and Cyril of Alexandria: The Cases of Genesis 6,2 and 49,10
- Catholic Identity in a Hostile Vandal Context: Insights from the Notitia Provinciarum
- Rezensionen
- Angelica Dinger: Basileia bei Origenes. Historisch-semantische Analysen im Matthäuskommentar, Beiträge zur historischen Theologie 194, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2020, IX + 337 pp., ISBN 978-3-16-159127-3, € 94,–.
- Francesco Celia: Preaching the Gospel to the Hellenes: The Life and Works of Gregory the Wonderworker, Late Antique History and Religion 20, Leuven (Peeters) 2019, X + 379 pp., ISBN 978-90-429-3816-8, € 105,–.
- Carmen Angela Cvetković and Peter Gemeinhardt, eds.: Episcopal Networks in Late Antiquity: Connection and Communication Across Boundaries, Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte 137, Berlin (de Gruyter) 2019, VII + 365 pp., ISBN 978-3-11-073662-5, € 19,95.
- Dawn LaValle Norman and Alex Petkas, eds.: Hypatia of Alexandria: Her Context and Legacy, Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 119, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2020, XIV + 343 pp., ISBN 978-3-16-154969-4, € 99,–.
- Eva Elm and Nicole Hartmann, eds.: Demons in Late Antiquity: Their Perception and Transformation in Different Literary Genres, Transformationen der Antike 54, Berlin (de Gruyter) 2019, 176 pp., ISBN 978-3-11-062672-8, € 82,95.
- Christoph Hammann: Katharsis in Kaiserzeit und Spätantike. Vorstellungen von Reinigung und Reinheit in Medizin, platonischer Philosophie und christlicher Theologie des 2. bis 4. Jahrhunderts n. Chr., Hypomnemata 208, Göttingen (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) 2020, 983 S., ISBN 978-3-525-31723-5, € 100,–.
- Wolfgang Häfele: Krankheit und ihre Behandlung. Studien zu Sophronios von Jerusalems Wundern der Heiligen Kyros und Johannes, Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 118, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2020, X + 295 S., ISBN 978-3-16-159192-1, € 89,–.
- Rafał Toczko: Crimen Obicere: Forensic Rhetoric and Augustine’s anti-Donatist Correspondence, Forschungen zur Kirchen- und Dogmengeschichte 120, Göttingen (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) 2020, 232 pp., ISBN 978-3-525-56722-7, € 59,99.
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Edition
- Der Erstgeborene Eingeborene oder warum man das Gerade nicht krumm machen soll. Ein neues unbekanntes griechisches Fragment aus dem Kommentar Cyrills von Alexandrien zum Hebräerbrief
- Aufsätze
- Justin’s Dialogue and the Search for Contemporary Discourse Between Christians and Jews: A Closer Look at Dialogue, Chapter 47
- Job as a Steadfast Wrestler: Athletic Exemplarity in John Chrysostom and Severian of Gabala
- Rufinus of Aquileia’s Historia ecclesiastica and Historia monachorum in Aegypto: A Dual Program of Monastic Historiography
- Überlegungen zu Form und Gattung in Hieronymus’ Briefen
- “The toxic offspring of the viper’s seed”: Augustine’s 418 Encounter with Emeritus of Caesarea Mauretaniae
- The Biblical Text and its Variants at the Heart of the Debate between the Emperor Julian and Cyril of Alexandria: The Cases of Genesis 6,2 and 49,10
- Catholic Identity in a Hostile Vandal Context: Insights from the Notitia Provinciarum
- Rezensionen
- Angelica Dinger: Basileia bei Origenes. Historisch-semantische Analysen im Matthäuskommentar, Beiträge zur historischen Theologie 194, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2020, IX + 337 pp., ISBN 978-3-16-159127-3, € 94,–.
- Francesco Celia: Preaching the Gospel to the Hellenes: The Life and Works of Gregory the Wonderworker, Late Antique History and Religion 20, Leuven (Peeters) 2019, X + 379 pp., ISBN 978-90-429-3816-8, € 105,–.
- Carmen Angela Cvetković and Peter Gemeinhardt, eds.: Episcopal Networks in Late Antiquity: Connection and Communication Across Boundaries, Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte 137, Berlin (de Gruyter) 2019, VII + 365 pp., ISBN 978-3-11-073662-5, € 19,95.
- Dawn LaValle Norman and Alex Petkas, eds.: Hypatia of Alexandria: Her Context and Legacy, Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 119, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2020, XIV + 343 pp., ISBN 978-3-16-154969-4, € 99,–.
- Eva Elm and Nicole Hartmann, eds.: Demons in Late Antiquity: Their Perception and Transformation in Different Literary Genres, Transformationen der Antike 54, Berlin (de Gruyter) 2019, 176 pp., ISBN 978-3-11-062672-8, € 82,95.
- Christoph Hammann: Katharsis in Kaiserzeit und Spätantike. Vorstellungen von Reinigung und Reinheit in Medizin, platonischer Philosophie und christlicher Theologie des 2. bis 4. Jahrhunderts n. Chr., Hypomnemata 208, Göttingen (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) 2020, 983 S., ISBN 978-3-525-31723-5, € 100,–.
- Wolfgang Häfele: Krankheit und ihre Behandlung. Studien zu Sophronios von Jerusalems Wundern der Heiligen Kyros und Johannes, Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 118, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2020, X + 295 S., ISBN 978-3-16-159192-1, € 89,–.
- Rafał Toczko: Crimen Obicere: Forensic Rhetoric and Augustine’s anti-Donatist Correspondence, Forschungen zur Kirchen- und Dogmengeschichte 120, Göttingen (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) 2020, 232 pp., ISBN 978-3-525-56722-7, € 59,99.
