“The toxic offspring of the viper’s seed”: Augustine’s 418 Encounter with Emeritus of Caesarea Mauretaniae

Abstract

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.