Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1273

VINDEX. this production, which is composed in a very lively ajid impressive style, is in the first place to collect the opinions of the early fathers on the points which had given rise to the most important doctrinal con- troversies ; and, in the second place, to establish some rule by which error may be detected and avoided, and the true faith maintained in purity. He determines that the means for accomplishing this object are two-fold : 1. The authority of Holy Scripture. 2. The tradition of the Catholic church, the latter being indispensable for the right under- standing of the former. We are to hold that as a Catholic tradition, which has been believed in the Catholic church everywhere, always, and by all {quod ubiqiie, quod semper, quod ab omnibus cre- ditum est), thus obtaining universality, antiquity and consent. The Commomtorium,'he'mg the first work on which the proposition, which now forms the broad line of demarcation between the Protestant and Roman churches, is broadly and distinctly affirmed, it has always been regarded with great interest and studied with much care, while the opinions formed with regard to its merits have depended, in a great measure, on the theological predilections of its critics. The charge of Semi-Pelagianism frequently urged againstVincentius seems altogether unfounded, and indeed probably originated in the erroneous belief that Vincent of Lerins was the author of the tract first published by Sirmond (4to. Paris, 1643), entitled Praedestinatus s.Praedestinatorum Haeresis et libri S. Augustino temere adscripti Refatatio, and also of the attack upon the tenets of Augustine knovra to us only from the reply of Prosper, Pro Augustini Dodrina Responsiones ad capitula ob- jectionum Vincentianarum. The Commonitorium was first printed in the Antidotum contra diversas omnium fere saeculorum Haereses of Jo. Sichardus, fol. Basil. 1528, and has, since that period, been very frequently republished both in a separate form, and in all the larger col- lections of the Fathers. The standard edition is that of Baluzius, 8vo. Paris, 1663, 1669, 1684, and the last of these is followed by Galland, in his Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. x. p. 103, fol. Venet. 1774. The most recent edition is that of KlUpfel, 8vo. Vienn. 1809, which deserves to be consulted. ( Gennadius, de Viris lUustr. 64 ; Trithemius, de Scriptt. Eccles. 145 ; Schoenemann, Biblioth. Pa- trum Latt. vol. ii. § 37 ; Bahr, GeschicM. der Romisch. Litterat. Suppl. Band. 2te Abtheil. § 154. Consult also the historians of Semipelagianism [ Cassia N us] and the Prolegomena of Galland and Klupfel.) [W. R.] VINDEX, C. JU'LIUS, was the son of a Ro- man senator, but was descended from a royal family in Aquitanian Gaul. He was appointed propraetor of Gallia Celtica towards the latter end of the reign of Nero ; and there he resolved to make an effort to get rid of the tyrant, of whose oppressive rule the Roman world had become weary. Accordingly, he called together the people of his province about the month of March, a. d. 68, and after describing their grievances and the des- picable character of their oppressor, he urged them to revolt. His call was eagerly responded to by the greater part of Gaul, and he soon found him- self at the head of a formidable army. He did not, however, aspire to the empire himself, but wrote to Galba, who was governor of Hispania Tarraco- nensis, to offer his assistance in raising him to VINDICIANUS. 1261 the throne. Galba, however, would not assume the title of emperor, but nevertheless took up arms against Nero, contenting himself with the title of legatus of the senate and of the Roman people. Most of the governors of the Roman provinces in Europe now declared in favour of Galba ; Vir- ginius Rufus, however, the governor of Upper Ger- many,^who had been offered the sovereignty by his own soldiers, not onl}'^ refused it himself, but said that he would not acknowledge any one as em- peror except the person upon whom the senate had conferred the title. He accordingly marched with his army against Vindex, and proceeded to lay siege to the town of Vesontio (Besanqon). Vindex marched to its relief ; and the two generals had a conference, in which they appear to have come to some agreement ; but as Vindex was going to enter the town, the soldiers of Rufus, thinking that he was about to attack them, fell upon him. Many of his troops were killed, and Vindex, who believed that it was a plot for his destruction, put an end to his own life. (Dion Cass. Ixiii. 22 — 26 ; Tac. Ann. XV. 74, Hist. i. 6, 8, 51, iv. 17, 51 ; Pint. Gnlb. 4—6 ; Suet. Ner. 40, 41, 45, Galb. 9, 11 ; Plin. Ep. ix. 19.) VINDEX, MACRI'NUS, praefectus praetorio under M. Aurelius, perished in the war against the Marcomanni. The emperor erected three statues in honour of him. (Dion Cass. Ixxi. 3, with the note of Reimarus.) VINDEX, C. OCTA'VIUS, consul saffectus under Commodus, A. d. 184 (Fasti). VINDICIA'NUS, an eminent Christian phy- sician in the fourth century after Christ, tutor to Theodoras Priscianus (Theod. Prise. Rer. Med. iv, praef. p. 81, ed. Argent.), who attained the rank of Comes Archiatrorum (see Diet, of Ant. s. v. Arehi- ater), and was physician to the Emperor Valentinian, A. D. 364 — 375. He was also proconsul in Africa, and in this capacity crowned St. Augustine in a rhetorical contest (Aug. Conf. iv. 3. § 5), probably A. D. 376. It was perhaps this incident which gave Vindicianus an interest in the j^oung man's welfare, for St. Augustine says that he tried to divert him from the study of astrology and divina- tion, to which he was at that time addicted. {Ibid, and vii. 6. § 8.) St. Augustine gives him a high character, calling him " an acute old man," " a wise man, very skilful and renowned in physic,'* and in another place {Epist. 138. § 3) " the great physician of our times." There is attributed to him a short Latin hexameter poem, consisting chiefly of an enumeration of a great number of medicinal substances ; which, however, some per- sons suppose to be the conclusion of the poem by Serenus Saraonicus, while others think it belongs to Marcellus Empiricus. It is to be found at the end of several editions of Cf>lsus, in Burmann's Pottae Latini Minores, and in Fabricii Bibl. Gr. vol. xiii. p. 446, ed. vet. There is also extant a letter addressed to the Emperor Valentinian by Vindicianus, in which he maJces mention of a me- dical work which he had written, but which appears to be lost. This letter is by Sprengel {Hist, de la Med.) supposed to be spurious, but perhaps with- out sufficient reason. It is to be found in the Aldine Collection of Medici Antiqui, Venet. 1547, fol. ; in H. Stephani Medicue Artis Principes, Paris, 1567, fol. ; and in Fabricii Bibl. Gr. vol. xiii. p. 448, ed. vet. One of the medical formulae of