of which he himself in his wild youth, had had but too sad
experience. Salvian's assertion is, that the Africans were the most
profligate of all the Romans; and that while each barbarian tribe had
(as we have just seen) some good in them, the Africans had none.

But there were noble souls left among them, lights which shone all
the more brightly in the surrounding darkness. In the pages of
Victor Vitensis, which tell the sad story of the persecution of the
African Catholics by the Arian Vandals, you will find many a moving
tale which shews that God had his own, even among those degraded
Carthaginians.

The causes of the Arian hatred to the Catholics is very obscure. You
will find all that is known in Dean Milman's History of Latin
Christianity. A simple explanation may be found in the fact that the
Catholics considered the Arians, and did not conceal their opinion,
as all literally and actually doomed to the torments of everlasting
fire; and that, as Gibbon puts it, 'The heroes of the north, who had
submitted with some reluctance, to believe that all their ancestors
were in hell, were astonished and exasperated to learn, that they
themselves had only changed the mode of their eternal condemnation.'
The Teutons were (Salvian himself confesses it) trying to serve God
devoutly, in chastity, sobriety, and honesty, according to their
light. And they were told by the profligates of Africa, that this
and no less, was their doom. It is not to be wondered at, again, if
they mistook the Catholic creed for the cause of Catholic immorality.
That may account for the Vandal custom of re-baptizing the Catholics.
It certainly accounts for the fact (if after all it be a fact) which
Victor states, that they tortured the nuns to extort from them
shameful confessions against the priests. But the history of the