Paulus Orosius (c. 385–420)[citation needed] was a Christian historian, theologian and
disciple of St. Augustine who came from Gallaecia
(a sub-province of Hispania Tarraconensis, comprising modern Galicia, in Spain, and northern Portugal), probably from the capital city Bracara
Augusta[1]. He is best known for his Historiarum
Adversum Paganos Libri VII ("Seven Books of History Against the Pagans"), which he wrote in response to the belief that the
decline of the Roman Empire was the result of its adoption of Christianity.
Biography
After entering the priesthood, he took an interest in the Priscillianist controversy then going on in his native country. He went
to consult with Augustine at Hippo (now Annaba in
Algeria) in 413 or 414, possibly in connection with this controversy. After staying for some
time in North Africa as Augustine's disciple, he was reportedly sent by him in 415 to
Palestine with a letter of introduction to Jerome, then living
in Bethlehem.
The ostensible purpose of his mission (apart from the typical intent of pilgrimage and perhaps relic-hunting) was that he
might gain further instruction from Jerome on the points raised by the Priscillianists and
Origenists. In reality, it would seem that his business was to assist Jerome and others against
Pelagius, who, after the synod of Carthage in 411, had been living in Palestine, and finding some acceptance there.
After his arrival. John, bishop of Jerusalem, was induced to summon a synod
in June 415 at which Orosius communicated the decisions of Carthage and read several of Augustine's writings against Pelagius.
Success, however, was not achieved among Greeks who did not understand Latin, and whose sense of
reverence was unshocked by Pelagius's famous question, Et quis est mihi Augustinus? ("Who is Augustine to me?") Orosius
succeeded only in obtaining was John's consent to send letters and deputies to Pope Innocent
I of Rome; and, after having waited long enough to learn the unfavourable decision of the
synod of Diospolis (Lydda) in December of the same year, he returned to north Africa, where he is
believed to have died. According to Gennadius, he carried with
him relics of the protomartyr Stephen from
Palestine to Minorca, where they were reported to be useful in attempts to convert members of
the Jewish community to Christianity.
His work
The earliest work of Orosius, Consultatio sive commonitorium ad Augustinum de errore Priscillianistarum et
Origenistarum, explains its object by its title; it was written soon after his arrival in Africa, and is usually printed in
the works of Augustine along with the reply of the latter, Contra Priscillianistas et Origenistas liber ad Orosium.
His next treatise, Liber apologeticus de arbitril libertate, was written during his stay in Palestine, and in
connection with the controversy which engaged him there. It is a keen but not always fair criticism of the Pelagian position from
that of Augustine.
The Historiae adversum Paganos was undertaken at the suggestion of Augustine, to whom it is dedicated. When Augustine
proposed this task he had already planned and made some progress with his own De civitate
Dei; it is the same argument that is elaborated by his disciple, namely, the evidence from history that the
circumstances of the world had not really become worse since the introduction of Christianity.
The work, a universal history of the calamities that have happened to mankind from
the fall down to about 417, has little accuracy or learning, and even less of literary charm; but it was the first attempt to
write the history of the world as a history of God guiding humanity. Its purpose gave it value in the eyes of the orthodox, and
the Hormesta, Ormesta, or Ormista as it was called, no one knows why, speedily attained a wide
popularity.
Nearly two hundred manuscripts of it have survived. An abridged, free translation by King
Alfred is still extant.[2] Bono Giamboni translated it in Italian language.[3]. A still unpublised XIV century Aragonese translation, made by Domingo de
García Martín at the request of Juan Fernández de Heredia, comes from
Bono Giamboni's Italian translation.
The sources Orosius used have been investigated by T. de Morner; besides the Old and New
Testaments, he appears to have consulted Caesar, Livy,
Justin, Tacitus, Suetonius, Florus and a cosmography, attaching also great value to
Jerome's translation of the Chronicles of Eusebius.
The history of Orosius was translated into Arabic during the reign of
al-Hakam II of Córdoba. It later became one of
the sources of Ibn Khaldun in his history.
See also
Notes
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia - Paulus Orosius
- ^ Old English text, with original in Latin, edited by H. Sweet, 1883.
- ^ ed. Tassi, Firenze 1849; partial editions are available in Cesare Segre, Volgarizzamenti del Due e del Trecento, Torino 1953 and in Cesare Segre, La prosa del Duecento, Milano-Napoli 1959)
References
External links
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