Stelle Nonnulli qui barbaros diligitis et ...; (Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae (475 - 489), Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae, III, 18 (p. 56), translation: Victor of Vita: History of the Vandal Persecution, 62, translation by John M [5696]

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Text Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae (475 - 489) Victor of Vita
Quotation Nonnulli qui barbaros diligitis et eos in condemnationem vestram aliquando laudatis, discutite nomen et intellegite mores. Numquid alio proprio nomine vocitari poterant nisi ut barbari dicerentur, ferocitatis utique, crudelitatis et terroris vocabulum possidentes? Quos quantiscumque muneribus foveris, quantiscumque deliniereis obsequiis, illi aliud nesciunt nisi invidere Romanis: et quantum ad eorum adtinet voluntatem, semper cupiunt splendorem et genus Romani nominis nebulare nec ullum Romanorum omnino desiderant vivere. Et ubi adhuc noscuntur parcere subiectis, ad utendum servitiis illorum parcunt; nam nullum dilexerunt aliquando Romanum. Si disputare nitebatur de fide nobiscum barbara ferocitas, et haeresis Arriana rationalibiter disputaret - sed quando tenuit rationem, quae a patre deo deum filium separat salavtorem? - quare dolis et calumniis egerunt, et velut spiritus tempestatis procella sui furoris totum subvertere voluerunt? Si disputatio necessaria fuerat episcopalis, quare suspendia, quare ignes, quare ungulae simul et cruces? quare Arrianorum serpentina proles contra innocentes genera talia tormentorum invenit, qualia nec ipse Mezentius exquisivit? Dimicavit contra innocentiam cupiditas furoris et avariatia crudeliatas, ut et animas perderet et substantiam arpagaret. Si conlatio desiderabatur, quare rapinae rerum alienarum non tantum sacerdotum, verum etiam omnium laicorum? Sed illi expoliati laetati sunt et rapinam rerum suarum cum gaudio susceperunt.
Translation 62 Those of you who love barbarians and sometimes praise them, in a way worthy of condemnation, give thought to their name and understand their ways. Surely there is no name by which they could be appropriately called other than 'barbarian', a fitting word connoting savageness, cruelty and terror? However many may be the gifts with which you befriend them, and however many the acts of compliance with which you placate them, they can think of nothing other than looking on Romans with envy, and, to the extent that things turn out in accordance with their will, it is their constant desire to darken the brightness and nobility of the Roman name. The desire not a single one of the Romans to live. And in cases where it is known that they have spared their subject until now, they spare them for to use as slaves; for they have never loved a single Roman. 63 If barbarian ferocity was concerned to dispute with us concerning the faith, and if the Arian heresy would dispute in a reasonable way - but when did it possess reason, separating as it does God the Son, the Saviour, from God the Father? - why have they relied on plots and false accusations and tried to turn everything upside down? The storm of their rage has been like the wind of a tempest: if it was necessary for the bishops to dispute, why the hangings, why the fires, why the claws and the crosses? Why has the serpent-like progeny of the Arians devised for use against the innocent such as tortures as Mezentius himself did not dream up? A passionate desire for rage and a greed for cruelty, which sought the loss of souls and the plunder of property, contended against innocence. If it was a conference that was sought, why the seizure of the property of others, not just of bishops but of all the laity as well? But those people rejoiced at being despoiled and received the seizure of their property with joy.
Quotation source Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae, III, 18 (p. 56), translation: Victor of Vita: History of the Vandal Persecution, 62, translation by John Moorhead, Translated Texts for Historians, vol. 10 (Liverpool University Press: 1992), p. 90
Temporal Coverage 477 - 484
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