De Praedestinatione Sanctorum,

ProsperAquitanus or ProsperAquitanicus

surnamed Aquitanus or Aquitanicus, from the country of his birth, flourished during the first half of the fifth century. Regarding his family and education no records have been preserved ; but in early life he settled in Provence, and there became intimately associated with a certain Hilarius, who, to avoid confusion, is usually distinguished as Hilarius Prosperianus. or Prosperianus. The two friends displayed great zeal in defending the doctrines of Augustin against the attacks of the Semipelagians who were making inroads upon the orthodoxy of Southern Gaul, and having opened a correspondence with the bishop of Hippo, they received in reply the two tracts still extant under the titles De Praedestinatione Sanctorum, and De Dono Perseverantiae. Finding that, notwithstanding these exertions, their antagonists were still active and successful, they next undertook a journey to Rome, where they submitted the whole controversy to Pope Coelestinus, and induced him by their representations to publish, in A. D. 431, his well-known Epistola ad Episcopos Gallorum, in which he denounces the heresy of Cassianus, and warns all the dignitaries of the church to prohibit their presbyters from entertaining and disseminating tenets so dangerous. Armed with this authority, Prosper returned home, and, from the numerous controversial tracts composed by him about this period, appears to have prosecuted his labours with unflagging enthusiasm. Soon after, however, he disappears from history, and we know nothing certain with regard either to his subsequent career or to the date of his death. In the chronicle of Ado (fl. A. D. 850) he is spoken of as the Notarius of Pope Leo, and in some MSS. is styled Episcopus Rhegiensis (i. e. Ries in Provence), but ecclesiastical historians agree in believing that Prosper of Aquitaine had no claim to these titles.

Works

The works usually ascribed to this writer may be divided into three classes :--I. Theological. II. Historical. III. Poetical.

I. Theological.

1. Epistola ad Augustinum de Reliquiis Pelagianae Haereseos in Gallia.

Written between A. D. 427-429, and considered of importance in affording materials for the history of Semipelagianism. 2. Epistola ad Rufinum de Gratia et Libero Arbitrio. Written while Augustin was still alive, and therefore not later than the middle of the year A. D. 430. 3. Pro Augustino Responsiones ad Capitula Objectionum Gallorum calummantium. Written about A. D. 431. 4. Pro Augustini Doctrina Responsiones ad Capitula Objectionum Vincentianarum. Written, probably, soon after the preceding. 5. Pro Augustino Responsiones ad Excerpta quae de Genuensi Civitate sunt missa. Belonging to the same epoch as the two preceding. 6. De Gratia Dei et Libero Arbitrio Liber. In reply to the doctrines of Cassianus respecting Freewill, as laid down in the thirteenth of his Collationes Patrum [CASSIANUS], whence the piece is frequently entitled De Gratia Dei adversus Collatorem. Written about A. D. 432. 7. Psalmorum a C. usque ad CL. Expositio, assigned by the Benedictine editors to A. D. 435), but placed by Schoenemann and others before A. D. 424. 8. Sententiarum ex Operitus S. Augustini delibaturum Liber unus. Compiled about A. D. 451.

Editions

The whole of the above will be found in the Benedictine edition of the works of Augustin; the epistle is numbered ccxxv., and is placed immediately before another upon the same subject by Hilarius; the remaining tracts are all included in the Appendix to vol. x.

Works of doubtful authenticity

The authenticity of the following is very doubtful :--

1. Confession.

Sometimes ascribed to Prosper Aquitanicus, sometimes to Prosper Tiro.

Editions

It was first published from a Vatican MS. by Sirmond (8vo. Par. 1619), in a volume containing also the Opuscula of Eugenius, bishop of Toledo, together with some poems by Dracontius and others.See also the collected works of Sirmond, Paris, 1696, vol. ii. p. 913.

2. De Vocatione Gentium Libri duo.

Ascribed in some MSS. to Ambrose. Great diversity of opinion exists with regard to the real author. Erasmus would assign it to Eucherius, bishop of Lyons, Vossius to Hilarius Prosperi, Quesnel to Leo the Great. The whole question is fully discussed by Antelmius, in an essay, of which the title is given at the end of this article, and by thle brothers Ballerini in their edition of the works of Leo, vol. ii. p. 662 [LEO]. Those who assign it to Prosper suppose it to have been written about A. D. 440, while the Ballerini bring it down as low as 496.

3. Ad Sacram Virginem Demetriadem Epistola

s. De Humilitate Christiana Tractatus, supposed to have been written about A. D. 440. It is placed among the letters of Ambrose (lxxxiv.) in tihe earlier editions of that father, claimed for Prosper by Sotellus and Antelmius, chiefly on account of a real or fancied resemlmblance in style, and given by Quesnel to Leo the Great. See the edition of the works of Leo by the Ballerini, vol. ii. p. 743.

4. Praetcritorum Sedis Apostolicae Episcoporum Auctoritates de Gratia Dei et Libero Voluntatis Arbitrio.

Believed to have been compiled about A. D. 431. It was first made known by Dionysius Exiguus who subjoined it to the Epistle of Coelestinus addressed to the bishops of Gaul. See the observations of the Ballerini in the edition of Leo, vol. ii. p. 719.

Definitely spurious

The following, although bearing the name of Prosper, are certainly spurious :--

1. De Vita Contemplativa Libri tres.

Composed, in all probability, as Sirmond has pointed out, by Julianus Pomerius, a Gaulish presbyter, who flourished at the close of the fifth century. (Gennad. de Viris Ill. 98; Isidor. de Script. Eccles. 12.)

2. De Promissionibus et Praedictionibus Dei.

Referred to by Cassiodorus as the production of Prosper, but apparently the work of some African divine.

II. Historical.

Two, perhaps we should say three, chronicles are extant bearing the name of Prosper. It will be convenient to describe them separately according to the titles by which they are usually discriminated.

1. Chronicon Consulare

Extending from A. D. 379, the date at which the chronicle of Jerome ends, down to A. D. 455, the events being arranged according to the years of the Roman consuls. We find short notices with regard to the Roman emperors, the Roman bishops, and political occurrences in general, but the troubles of the Church are especially dwelt upon, and above all the Pelagian heresy. In the earlier editions this chronicle ended with the year A. D. 444, but appeared in its complete form in the Historiae Francorum Scriptores Coaetanei of Andrew Du Chesne, fol. Par. 1636-1649. Rösler infers from internal evidence, that it was originally brought down by Prosper to A. D. 433, and that subsequently two additions were made to it, either by himself or by some other hand, the one reaching to A. D. 444, the other to A. D. 455. We ought to observe also that, as might be expected in a work of this nature, we find it in some MSS. continued still further, while in others it is presented in a compressed and mutilated form.

2. Chronicon Imperiale

Called also Chronicon Pithoeanum, because first made known by Peter Pithou, in 1588. It is comprehended within precisely the same limits as the preceding (A. D. 379-455), but the computations proceed according to the years of the Roman emperors, and not according to the consuls. While it agrees with the Chronicon Consulare in its general plan, it differs from it in many particulars, especially in the very brief allusions to the Pelagian controversy, and in the slight, almost disrespectful notices of Augustine. It is, moreover, much less accurate in its chronology, and is altogether to be regarded as inferior in authority.

The singular coincidence with regard to the period embraced by these two chronicles, a coincidence which, however, in some degree disappears if we adopt the hypothesis of Rösler, would lead us to believe that they proceeded from the same source; but, on the other hand, the difference of arrangement, and the want of harmony in details, would lead to an opposite conclusion. Hence, while the greater number of critics agree in regarding Prosper Aquitanicus as the framer of the first, not a few are inclined to make over the second to Prosper Tiro, who, it is imagined, flourished in the sixth century. It must be remembered, at the same time, that the existence of this second Prosper as a personage distinct from the antagonist of the Semipelagians, has never been clearly demonstrated, and consequently all statements regarding him must be received with caution and distrust.

3. Chronicles

Labbe, in his Nora Bibliotheca MSS. Librorum, fol. Paris, 1657, published the Chronicon Consulare, with another chronicle prefixed, commencing with Adam, and reaching down to the point where the Consulare begins. This was pronounced by Labbe to be the complete work as it issued from the hands of Prosper, the portion previously known having been, upon this supposition, detached from the rest, for the sake of being tacked as a supplement to the chronicle of Jerome. The form and style, however, of the earlier section are so completely different from the remainder, that the opinion of Labbe has found little favour with critics.

For full information with regard to these chronicles, and the various opinions which have been broached as to their origin, we may refer to Roncalli, Vetust. Lat. Script. Chronicorum, 4to. Patav. 1787; Rösler, Chronica Medii Aevi, Tubing. 1798; Graevius, Thesaur. Antiq. Rom. vol. xi.

III. Poetical.

Among the works of the Christian poets which form the fifth volume of the "Collectio Pisaurensis" (4to. Pisaur. 1766), the following are attributed to Prosper Aquitanicus, but we must premise that they have been collected from many different sources, that they unquestionably are not all from the same pen, and that it is very difficult to decide whether we are to regard Prosper Aquitanicus and Prosper Tiro, the latter name being prefixed to several of these pieces in the MSS., as the same or as distinct individuals.

1. Exsententis S. A Augustini Epigrammalum Liber unus

A series of one hundred and six epigrams in elegiac verse, on various topics connected with speculative, dogmatical, and practical theology, and with morals. Thus the third is De Essentia Deitatis, the thirty-ninth De Justitia et Gratia, the twenty-second De diligendo Deum, the hundred and fifth De cohibenda Ira.

2. Carmen de Ingratis

In dactylic hexameters, divided into four parts and forty-five chapters. An introduction is prefixed in tive elegiac couplets, of which the first two explain the nature and extent of the poem. Unde voluntatis sanctae subsistat origo,Unde animis pietas insit, et unde fides.Adversum ingratos, falsa et virtute superbos,Centenis decies versibus excolui.

3. In Obtrectatorem S. Augustini Epigramma

In five elegiac couplets.

4. Another, on the same subject.

in six elegiac couplets.

5. Epitaphium Nestorianae et Pelagianae haereseon,

In eleven elegiac couplets, in which "Nestoriana Haeresis loquitur." Written after the condemnation of the Nestorians by the council of Ephesus in A. D. 431.

6. Uxorem hortatur ut se totam Deo dedicet

In fifty-three elegiac couplets, with an introduction in sixteen Iambic Dimeters Catalectic (Anacreontics).

Besides the above there is a Carmen de Providentia divina, in some editions of Prosper, which is rejected by Antelmius, and made over by some scholars to Hilarius.

Editions

The first among the works ascribed to Prosper which issued from the press was the Epigrammata published at Mayence, 4to. 1494, as "Epigrammata Sancti Prosperi episcopi regiensis de Vitiis et Virtutibus ex dictis Augustini," and reprinted by Aldus, 4to. Venet. 1501, along with other Christian poems.Next appeared the treatise De Gratia Dei, printed by Schoeffer at Mavence, 4to. 1524, as "S. Prosperi Presbyteri Aquitanici Libellus adversus inimicos Gratiae Dei contra Collatorem," in a volume containing the epistle of Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, the epistle of Pope Coelestinus, and other authorities upon the same subject.Then followed the Epistola ad Ruffinum and the Responsiones ad Excerpta, &100.8vo. Venet. 1538, and soon after Gryphius published at Leyden, fol. 1539, the first edition of the collected works, carefully corrected by the collation of MSS. The edition of Olivarius, 8vo. Duaci, 1577, was long regarded as the standard, but far superior to all others is the Benedictine, fol. Paris, 1711, superintended by Le Brun de Marette and D. Mangeaut.

Further Information

Full information with regard to the interminable controversies arising out of the works of Prosper is contained in the notes and dissertations of the Benedictines, in the dissertations of Quesnel and the Ballerini in their respective editions of the works of Leo the Great. and in a rare volume "De veris Operibus SS. Patrum Leonis Magni et Prosperi Aquitani Dissertationes criticae. &c." 4to. Paris, 1689, by Josephus Antelmius, to which Quesnel put forth a reply in the Ephemerides Parisienses, viii. and xv. August, 1689, and Antelmius a duply in two Epistolae duabus Epistolae P. Quesnelli partibus responsoriae, 4to. Paris, 1690.

(See the works on the Semipelagian heresy referred to at the end of the articles CASSIANUS and PELAGIUS.)

[W.R]