says: "About the same time" (as that at which he wrote
POLITICAL WRITINGS 207 for His cause. Your predecessors exposed Caecilianus and his companions to be punished by the kings of the earth for crimes with which they were falsely charged: let the lions now be turned to break in pieces the bones of the calumniators, and let no intercession for them be made by Daniel when he has been proved innocent, and set free from the den in which they meet their doom;^''' for he that prepareth a pit for his neighbour shall himself most justly fall into it.^®
C. Treatise on the Correction of the Donatists^
[A letter to Boniface, who, as we learn from
Letter CCXX, was tribune, and afterwards count in Africa. In it Augustine shows that the heresy of the Donatists has nothing in common with that of Arius; and points out the moderation with which it was possible to recall the heretics to the communion of the church through awe of the imperial laws. He adds remarks concerning the savage conduct of the Donatists and Circumcelliones, concluding with a discussion of the unpardonable nature of the sin against the Holy Ghost.]
I must express my satisfaction, and congratulations, and admiration, my son Boniface, in that,
27. Dan. vi. 23, 24. 28. Prov. xxvi. 27.
1. In Book II. c. xlviii. of his Retractations, Augustine says: "About the same time" (as that at which he wrote his treatise De Gestis Pelagii, i.e. about the year 417), "I wrote also a treatise De Correctione Donatistarum, for the sake of those who were not willing that the Donatists should be subjected to the correction of the imperial laws. This treatise begins with the words "Laudo, et gratulor, et admiror." This letter in the old editions was No. 50,—the letter which is now No. 4 in the appendix being formerly No. 185.
a. Letters, CLXXXV, 1-2.