| Keywords |
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| ID |
5691 |
| Text |
Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae (475 - 489) Victor of Vita |
| Quotation |
Hinc iam Hunirici persecutio doloris atque parturitionis nostrae sumpsit initium.
Qui non solum episcopum suum Iucundum, ut superius demonstravimus, flammis adussit, set et presbyteros et diacones suos, id est Arrianos, quam plurimos incendit nec non et bestiis mancipavit.
Amputatis igitur in brevi omnibus quos timebat, et solidans sibi, ut putabat, regnum... tela furoris in persecutionem ecclesiae catholicae, rugiens sicut leo, convertit. Ante monstratum fuerat malum. Nam ferme ante biennium quam fieret, vidit quidam Fausti ecclesiam solito in ornatu fulgentem, ceries quoque fulgentibus palliisque velaminum ac lampadibus rutilantem. Et dum laetaretur tanti fulgoris candore, subito, ait, luminis illius concuspicibilis extinctus est fulgor ac tenebris succedentibus adversarius naribus natus est foetor: omnisque illa beatorum turba expellentibus quibusdam Aethiopibus minata est foras, ob hoc iugiter lamentantum, quod eam in claritate pristina nequaquam viderit iterum restituam.
Item alius vidit aream triticeam ventilationi paratam, granis adhuc ventilatoris iudicio necdum a palea separatis: et dum ingentis massae, licet confusae, magnitudinem minaretur, subito ecce turbo veniens tempestatis sonivago flatu coepit adventum suum surgente pulvere demonstrare. Cuius impetu palea illa omni somnino volavit, remanentibus granis. Post haec venit quidam procerus, splendido vultu habituque nitido fulgens, et coepit grana vacua macilenta atque similagini reproba purgando proicere. Quae diu examinans vix magnitudinem illius massae, licet probatae, ad acervum tamen perduxit exiguum. Item alius ait: Stabat quidam praecelsus super montem, qui Ziquensis dicitur, et clamabat dextra laevaque: migrate, migrate. Alius conspicit rugiente caelo atque turbato sulphureas nubes, quae ingentes coeperunt lapides iaculari: qui lapides dum cecidissent in terram, plus accendebantur et maioribus flammis ardebant, atque intrantes in penetralia domorum quos invenerant incendebant. Qui autem vidit, ait, cum se in quodam cubiculo abscondisset, miseratione divina ad eum flamma non potuit pervenire, reor, ut illud propheticum compleretur: claude ostium tuum et abscondere aliquantulum, donec transeat ira dei. Vidit et venerabilis Paulus episcopus arborem usque ad caelos ramis florentibus extensam, quae etiam dilatatione sua omnem paene African opacabat. Et cum universi eius magnitudine et speciositate gauderent, ecce subito, inquit, venit unus asinus violentus, qui defricans cervicem suam super robur radicum eius, inpulsu suo cum ingenti sonitu illam mirabilem arborem elisit ad terram. Sed et Quintianus honorabilis episcopus vidit se super quendam montem stare, de quo conspiciebat gregem innumerabilium ovium suarum, et in medio gregis duae erant ollae nimium bullientes. Aderant autem ovium occisores, quarum carnes ollis bullientibus demergebant. Et cum ita fierent, omnis illa magnitudo consumpta est gregis. Reor ego illas duas ollas [Sicca Veneria et Laribus] duas esse civitates, in quibus magnitudo prima fuerat congregata, e quibus incendium initium sumpsit, aut Huniricum regem et Cyrilam episcopum eius. Sed de multis visionibus, quia brevitati consulendum fuit, haec dixisse sufficiat. |
| Translation |
11 From this point the persecution of Huniric, which was to bring us sorrow and travail, took its beginning. 16 Not only did he commit his bishop Jucundus to the flames, as we have shown above, but he also had very any priests and deacons of his, that is Arians, burned and delivered to the beasts.
17 Having therefore in a short time disposed of all those he feared and made his reign secure, as he thought ..., he turned his missiles of his rage towards a persecution of the catholic church. Nevertheless, prior to the time of persecution, the evil which impended was revealed by the many visions and signs which preceded it.
18 Some two years before it took place, someone saw the church of Faustus shining with its usual adornments of shining candles, cloth covering and glowing lamps. And while he was taking delight in so radiant a splendour, suddenly, he said, the light, so wonderfully bright, was extinguished, and in the darkness which followed there arose a stench terrible to smell; and all the throng of the blesses was driven outside by threatening Ethiopians. That he would never see the church restored again to its original brightness was something to be lamented without ceasing.
19 Likewise, someone else saw a threshing floor of wheat ready for the winnowing, the grains having not yet been separated from the chaff in accordance with the judgment of the winnower. And while he was marvelling at the size of the huge mass still mixed together, suddenly, behold! a whirlwind approached with a stormy noise which could be heard far away, and the dust rose as it began to make its presence felt. Under its impact all that chaff flew about, but the grains remained. Afterwards there appeared an impressive figure, his face shining and his bright attire gleaming. He began to cast forth the grains which were empty, thin and no good for flour, clearing them away. He spent a long time carefully going through that enormous mass; when he had put it to the text it was reduced to a tiny pile. 20 Likewise, someone else said: 'A certain person who towered about Mount Ziquense was crying out to right and left "Go away, go away!'' Someone else caught sight of sulphurous clouds in a thundering, turbulent sky which began to throw down huge stones. When these stones had fallen onto the ground they were kindled the more and burned with greater flames; they went inside houses and set people they encountered on fire. The person who saw this said that when he had hidden himself in a bedroom, by divine mercy the blaze was not able to reach him, and I think that this was so that this prophecy would be fulfilled: 'Shut your door and hide for a while, until the wrath of God passes'. (Is 26:20)
21 Ans the venerable bishop Paul saw a tree which reached to the heavens with its flowering branches, high enough to cover almost all Africa with its shade. And while everyone was rejoicing at its size and beauty, behold, suddenly, he said, there came a savage donkey which rubbed it´s neck over the bottom of the trunk, and as it shoved it knocked that wonderful green to the ground with a mighty noise.
22 The honourable bishop Quintianus saw himself standing on a mountain from which he could see the flock of his innumerable sheep, and in the middle of the flock were two pots, boiling fiercely. but there drew near people who slew the sheep and plunged their flesh into the boiling pots. And in the course of this, all that enormous flock was destroyed. I think that those two pots are the two towns Sicca Veneria (Kef) and Lares (Henchir Lorbeus), in which the multitude was first brought together and from which the fore took its beginning, or else king Huniric and his bishop Cyril. But I must be brief, so may it be enough to have said this much concerning the many visions. |
| Quotation source |
Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae, II, 11, 17-22, p. 15, 17-18, transl.: Victor of Vita: History of the Vandal Persecution, translation by John Moorhead, Translated Texts for Historians, vol. 10 (Liverpool University Press: 1992), p. 28-32 |
| Temporal Coverage |
477 - 484 |
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