Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book I Chapter X
by Venerable Bede
HOW, IN THE REIGN OF ARCADIUS, PELAGIUS, A BRITON, INSOLENTLY IMPUGNED THE GRACE OF GOD
IN the year of our Lord 394, Arcadius, the son of Theodosius, the fortythird from
Augustus, taking the empire upon him, with his brother Honorius, held it thirteen years.
In his time, Pelagius, a Briton, spread far and near the infection of his perfidious
doctrine against the assistance of the Divine grace, being seconded therein by his
associate Julianus of Campania, whose anger was kindled by the loss of his bishopric, of
which he had been just deprived. St. Augustine, and the other orthodox fathers, quoted
many thousand catholic authorities against them, yet they would not Correct their madness;
but, or the contrary, their folly was rather increased by contradiction, and they refused
to embrace the truth; which Prosper, the rhetorician, has beautifully expressed thus in
heroic verse
"A scribbler vile, inflamed with hellish spite,
Against the great Augustine dared to Write;
Presumptuous serpent! from what midnight den
Durst thou to crawl on earth and look at men?
Sure thou wast fed on Britain's sea-girt plains,
Or in thy breast Vesuvian sulphur reigns."
