Sect IV: Of the power of the eleventh horn of Daniels fourth Beast to change times & laws (section 7.3b)
The Christians of every city were at first governed by a Council of Elders with or Presbyters with a President of this Council sat where the people met to worship as in the Iewish synagogues & this was the original of Cathedral Churches. And when the Christians of any City grew too numerous to meet in one place, & the Christian religion spread into the village{s}{ , } they divided the city into parishes & appointed curates or ministers inevery Parish & in every village to pray & read the scriptures & preach to the people. As in the Proseuchæ of the Iews. And these Parishes & Curates were under the government of the Councils. The name of Bishop was at first given to all the Prebyters but in a little time became restrained to the President.
All the fundamental points of the Christian religion necessary to remission of sins, to communion & to salvation were in the beginning of the gospel taught in catechizing before baptism & imposition of hands . For baptism was into the remission of sins, & remission {inputs} men into a state of {salvation} & by imposition of hands men were admitted into communion :
By admission into communion men enter into a covenant of enjoying communion so long as they keep to the conditions upon which they were admitted into it & therefore to deprived of communion without breaking those conditions would be a breach of covenant
And to excommunicate or anathematize men for any thing which was not taught from the beginning in catech{i}{ï}sing, is to make a new fundamental article of the Christian religion, an article which ought to be taught in catechizing before baptism into the remissions of sins & admission into communion.
The Law of Moses was good if a man could keep it, but it was not necessary to salvation & therefore the Apostle would not suffer it to be imposed on the Gentiles as a fundamental Article of religion necessary to salvation but said that such an imposition would be a preaching of another Gospel & a making void the faith of Christ. And the case is the same with every new Article of communion not imposed before baptism from the beginning of the Gospel. It is not enough that it be good or true. It must be such a truth as is necessary to the remission of sins. After baptism & admission into communion men are to grow in grace & the knowledge of our Lord I. C. They are to study other truths & teach them to one another but not to fall out about them. The strong must not must not despise the weak & the weak must not judge the strong : much less must they anathematize one another
This primitive Christian religion was preserved entire in the Greek Church ( especially among the Churches of Asia ) till the fourth Century: but began to be violated by the Latines before the end of the second. For Pope Victor excommunicated the Churches of Asia for keeping Easter on the 14th day of the Moon, & thereby made it a fundamental article of religion to keep Easter on the same day with the Church of Rome. And in the third century Pope Stephen excommunicated those who disallowed the Baptism performed by hereticks. And the African Churches in Cyprians days denyed Baptism to those who did not believe in the remission{s} of sins & life everlasting through the holy Church. And in the beginning of the fourth century the Council of Eliberis in Spain excommunicated those who in the day time lighted wax candles in the cæmeteries or burying places of the dead because the spirits of the dead Saints were not to be disquieted.
And by this power which the Councils assumed of making new laws or Canons under pain of Excommunication, the Greek Emperor who had it in his power to call Councils & presc{rib}e to them what points they should consider, & by his interest was able to influence them; by means of these Councils became the king who ( in matters of religion ) did according to his will & exalted{s} himself & magnified himself ( in legislative authority ) above every God ; & at length by a Council called the seventh General Council established the worship of Images
Neither did he regard the desire of women, but overspread the Empire with the religion of those who placed holiness in abstinence from marriage. Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History tells us that Mus{urius}
The fundamental Articles of the Christian religion the Apostle calls milk for Babes & the first Principles of the doctrine of Christ, & particularly the foundation of repentances from dead works & of ✝that is the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye the pride of life & the worship of Idols. faith toward God of the doctrine of Baptisms & of laying on of hands, & of resurrection of the dead & of eternal judgement . All this was taught in catechizing For By faith in God he means the faith conteined in the primitive Creed{ . } & by repentance from dead works he means forsaking the world the flesh & the devil, that is forsaking covetousness, ambition, unchastity & idolatry. All these Principles he calls milk for babes & After admission into communion we are to feed on strong meats & grow in grace & in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ, we are to study higher truths & teach them to one another but not to fall out about them
<1v>Thus Councils of Bishops which were but of humane authority, assumed by degrees a power of making Canons or laws in matters of religion under pain of anathemas & excommunication & at length by this power the seventh General Council established the worship of Images: & the Greek Emperor who had it in his power to call such Councils together & prescribe to them – – – – above every God.
Neither did he regard the desire of weomen
Sect IV
Of the power of the eleventh horn of Daniels
fourth Beast to change times & laws.
In the reign of the Greek Emperor Iustinian & again in the reign of the Greek Emperor Phocas, the Bishop of Rome obteined some dominion over the Greek Churches, but of no long continu{a}nce. His standing jurisdiction was only over the nations of the western Empire represented by the fourth Beast. And this jurisdiction was set up by the fo{ll}owing Edict of the Emperors Gratian & Valentinian --------- Volumus ut quicun judicio Damasi ––––––––––––– & submitted to the Popes authority. And at length by this authority the Pope excommunicated the Greek Emperor for opposing the worship of Images & made his subjects revolt from him in Italy & absolved the people of France from their oath of Allegiance to their king Childeric in order to set the Crown of France on the head of his Friend Pipin, & by means of Pipin & his son Charles the great, subdued three of the ten kings, & by their fall acquired a temporal dominion & grew up above all humane judicature within the western Empire as above ; & his Laws conteined in the genuine Decretal Epistles & Canon Law have been received in all the western nations of his communion, & many Decretal Epistles have been fourged to make those Laws look more ancient then they really were.
The Franks in Gaul became Roman Catholicks in the end of the 5t Century, the Goths in Spaine in the end of the sixt, & the Lombards in Italy were conquered by Charles the great A.C. 774, & between the years 775 & 794 the same Charles extended the Popes authority over all Germany northward to the Baltick & eastward to the river Teis , & then set him above all humane judicature.
est, et habitavit in nobis.
{Irenæus} who wrote his book against Heresies in the days of Elentherus the successor of Soter bishops of Rome ( as he himself tells us lib. 3 cap. 3 ) tells us that one & the same faith was propagated down from the Apostles in all the Churches to those days & that Polycarp who was made bishop of Smyrna by the Apostles & whom he had seen in his younger days, taught in the Churches what he had learnt from the Apostles, & that all the churches of Asia were witnesses of this, & that in the days of Anicetus the predecessor of Soter, he came to Rome, converted many hereticks to the Church, testifying that he had received from the Apostles what he taught in the Church. And that among many barbarous nations those who believed in Christ, assented to this institution having salvation written in their hearts by the spirit without paper & ink, & keeping diligently the ancient tradition & believing in one God the maker of heaven & earth & of all things in them by Iesus Christ: who took flesh of the Virgin, suffered under Pontius Pilate rose again, ascended into heaven & shall come in glory to judge those who are to be judged. They that without Letters have believed this faith, as to our language are barbarians, but as to opinion custome & conversation because of their faith are most wise & please God, conversing in all justice chastity & wisdome To whome, if any one should tell the inventions of the hereticks they would presently shut their ears & flee away not enduring the blasphemous discourse. Hac Irenæus l 3. c. 3, 4. And again Ecclesia vero per universum mundum ab Apostolis firmum habens initium in una et eadem de Deo & de Filio ejus perseverat sententia. ib. c. 1. 2.
Hitherto therefore, that is till Irenæus wrote against Hereticks or till about the middle of the reign of the Emperor Commodus, the Apostolick tradition was preserved in all the Churches & they all continued of one & the same faith & communion, notwithstanding the heresies of the Gnosticks. By stopping their ears at the discourses of the Gnosticks they kept themselves undefiled with their opinions. But soon after these days, erroneous opinions & practices began to creep silently into the Churches.
And first Tatian a disciple of Iustin Martyr, about year 171 lapsing into Gnosticism joyned several errors of Saturninus {Marcion} & Valentinus with his own making invisible Æons with Valentinus & condemning marriage with Saturnius & Marcion as unlawfull, & introducing abstinence from divers sorts of meats & from wine, pretending to lead a sober & austere life. And from thence this new sect had the name of Encratites or Continents. And tho this sort of abstinence from things lawfull was soon condemned as the Heresy of the Encratites yet being specious & plausible it gained many followers & at length ended in the abstemious sects of Moncks & Nunns to whom marriage is forbidden & in abstinence from flesh on fasting days.
Tatian was presented followed by Montanus who refining upon the errors of the Gnosticks rejected their fabulous Æons, received all the books of the old & new Testament, forbade second marriages as fornication, allowed of divorces, appointed annual fasting days, & made a singular shew of some unusual rigours & severities in religion. Some of his followers made the father son & Holy Ghost to have one common substance, & these were called κατὰ Æschynem, & hence came the Praxeans, Noetians Patripassians & Sabellians. Others made the Son & Holy Ghost to be Æons emitted from the father & these were called {κατα} Proclum or Proculum. Of this sort was Tertullian { . } He made the son to be a part of the father, that is by emission as a branch is emitted from the root or as light is emitted from the Sun or a river from the fountain ; & the Holy Ghost an emission from them both.
He tells us that he had learnt from the Paraclete ( so he calls Montanus ) that there was one only God; yet under this dispensation that this one God had a Son his Word which proceeded from him & by whom all things were made. He saith that God was always rational & that his reason was older then his Word . That by his reason he first disposed all things in his own mind by thinking, & when he was minded to produce them in their proper substances{ . } & species he firstly emitted his Word having in it its individuals, Reason & Wisdom. For this was wanting to the things in his mind that they should exist before him in their proper species & substances & that his reason then received its proper species & ornament, namely sound & voice, when God said, Let there be light. And this was the perfect nativity of his Word while it proceeded from God. And this Word has its proper substance. For tho the word of a man is void of substance yet nothing void of substance can proceed from so great a substance & the author of so many substances as God is. And this substance he calls a person & the son of God, & προβολὴν an emission projection or prolation of one thing from another . And if it be objected that this is to introduce the Prolations of Valentinus who produced Æons from one another: he answers, that it is no good reason against using this language because a heresy used it; that the heresy had it from the truth, the Son being Probola veritatis ; & that Valentinus separated his Probolas from their author & put them so far asunder that Æon knows not the father; but with the disciples of Montanus the son alone knows the father, & is always in his bosom, & never separated from him. They say that the son was emitted from him but not seperated. Montanus teaching that God produced the Word as a root produces a plant, & a fountain a river, & the sun a ray, & the plant is not separate from the root nor the river from the fountain nor the ray from the sun. The son is the second from God but not separated, & the Holy Ghost is the third from the father & the son as the fruit from the plant is the third from the root & the flood from the River is the third from the fountain & the focus from the ray is the third from the Sun, but without being separated from them{ . } The father is the whole substance & the Son a derivation & portion of the whole, as he himself professeth saying that the Father is greater then me. And yet as the Father is every where so also the son is every where with the father. And by this economy the Trinity is but but one God in substance undivided, tho distinguished into three persons For he calls the Son the second person in the Trinity & the Holy Ghost the third. . This was the philosophy of Montanus according to Tertullian. But it was not received in those days by the generality of Christians either Latines or Greeks. They looked upon it as Polytheism & shut their ears against it, comparing these emissions or Æons of the Son & Holy Ghost to the philosophy of the heathens who derived their Gods from the substance of the supreme God by emission. For Tertullian tells us: Simplices enim qui, ne dixerim imprudentes & idiotæ, quæ major semper credentium pars est, quoniam et ipsa Regula fidei a pluribus Dijs sæculi ad unicum et verum Deum transfert, non intelligentes unicum quidem sed cum suæ {œcumnia} , esse credendum, expavescunt ad œconomiam. Numerum et dispositionem Trinitatis, divisionem presumunt unitatis ; quando unitas ex semetipsa derivans trinitatem, non destruatur ab illa, sed administretur. Ita duos & tres jam jactitant a nobis prædicari, se vero unius Dei cultores præsumunt: quasi non et unitas irrationaliter collecta hæresin faciat; & trinitas rationiter expensa veritatem constituat. Monarchiam, inquiunt, tenemus. Et ita sonum ipsum vocaliter exprimunt etiam Latini, etiam Opici [ gens Italiæ , ] ut putes illos tam bene intelligere Monarchiam, quam enunciant. Sed monarchiam sonare student Latini, œconomiam intelligere nolunt etiam Græci.
Tertullian tells us further that the Word was made flesh not by transfiguration but by putting on flesh. For that which is transfigured ceases to be what it was & begins to be something els, & therefore if the Word was transfigured, Iesus would be a substance composed of two, a certain mixture of flesh & spirit, as electrum is a mixture of gold & silver & yet is neither of them but a third thing made of both. But Christ is both God & Man, both substances being distant each in its own property: because the Word is nothing else then God & the flesh is nothing else then man. They are not confused but joyned in one person God & Man. The property of each substance is preserved & the spirit [ or Word ] did the signes & miracles & the flesh underwent the passions of hungering thirsting weeping being sorrowfull & dying on the cross. Of these two Iesus was composed being man of the flesh & God of the Spirit, the son of man of the flesh & the son of God of the spirit. And this was the doctrine of Montanists according to Tertullian. They made the son of God an Æon emitted from the father in the beginning of the creation when God said Let there be light, & generated by that emission, & that he was incarnate only by putting on flesh or dwelling in Iesus without any change in himself, so as to see with the eyes of the body as a man sees or hear with the ears of the body as a man hears, or remember by the help of the brain: Then made him to continue the same person as before, the second person in the Trinity, the person who did the miracles, the person called the son of God. And the Man alone was the son of man the person who suffered & died . And yet both were at the same time united so as to become one & {the} same person And much after the same manner some former Gnosticks as Irenæus tells us, made the son of man who suffered & the son of God who did the miracles to be united & called them one . Mendaces ostens{æ} , sunt, saith he, universæ doctrinæ corum qui octonationes & quaternationes putativas adinvenerunt, et subdivisiones excogitor verunt: qui spiritum quidem interimunt, alium autem Christum et alium Iesum intelligunt, & non unum Chirstum sed plures fuisse docent: et si unitos eos dixerint, iterum ostendunt eum quidem participasse passionem, hunc autem impassibilem perseverasse. Iren. l. 3. c. 19. And again: Quoniam autem sunt [ sc. {Nicolaitæ} & Corinthiani ] qui dicunt Iesum quidem receptaculum Christi fuisse, in quem desuper quasi columbam descendisse Christū & cum indicasset innominabilem Patrem incomprehensibiliter & invisibiliter intrasse in Pleroma — et esse quidem filium Iesum, patrem vero Christum & Christi patrem Deum: alij vero [ sc. Basilid{a}s sectatores ] putative eum passum naturaliter impassibilem existentem: qui autem a Valentino sunt, Iesum quidem qui sit ex dispositione, ipsum esse qui per Mariam transierit, in quem illum {desuperiori}{de superiori} Salvatorem descendisse, qu{e}m et Christum dici quoniam omnium qui emisissent eum haberet vocabula: participasse cutem cum eo [ Iesu filio hominis ] qui esset ex dispositione, de sua virtute et suo nomine ut mors per hunc evacuaretur, cognosceretur autem pater per eum Salvatorem quidem qui desuper descendisses quem et ipsum receptaculum Christi et univere plenitudinis esse dicunt, lingua quidem unum Christum Iesum confitentes, divisi vero sententia. Iren. l. 3. c. 17. And a little after. Quia autem omnes qui prædicti sunt, etsi lingua quidem confitentur unum Iesum Christum, semetipsos derident, aliud quidem sentientes, aliud vero dicentes; — alterum quidem passum et natum, hunc esse Christum annunciant — alterum vero eorum ab invisibilibus & inenarrabilibus descendisse, quem et invisibilem et incomprehensibilem & impassibilem esse confirmant, errantes a veritate , e{o} quod absistat sententia eorum ab eo qui est vere Deus, nescientes quoniam hu{i}us Verbum unigenitus qui semper humano generi adest, unitus et consparsus suo plasmati secundum placitum Patris, & caro factus, ipse est Iesus Christus Dominus noster qui et passus est pro nobis & surrexit propter nos, & rursus venturus est in gloria Patris ad resuscitandam universam carnem. Iren. l. 3. c. 18. And a little after Igitur omnes extra dispositionem [ Dei ] sunt qui sub obtentu agnitionis alterum quidem Iesum intelligunt, alterum autem Christum, et alte{rnī} unigenitum ( ab hoc autem rursum est Verbum ) & alterum salvator{e}m, quem etiam eorum qui in deminoratione facti sunt Æones, emissionem la sua fugere præcepit, dicens: Multi seductores exierunt in hunc mundum, qui non confitentur Iesum Christum in carne venisse. Hic est seductor & Antichristus. Videte eos ne perdatis quod operati estis. Et rursus in Epistola ait: Multi Pseudoprophetæ exierunt de sæculo. In hoc cognoscite Spiritum Dei. Omnis spiritus qui confitetur Iesum Christum in carne venisse, ex Deo est. Et omnes spiritus qui solvit Iesum Christum [ in duos, Iesum & Christum ] non est ex Deo, sed ex Antichirsto est. Hæc autem similia sunt illi quod in Evangelio dictum est, quoniam Verbum caro factum est, & habitavit in nobis. Propter quod rursus in Epistola clamat: Omnis qui credit quia Iesus est Christus, ex Deo natus est; unum ex eundem sciens Iesum Christum. Iren. l. 3, c. 18.
And this was the spirit of the great Antichrist which was to come & which
The Nicolaitans are the Continents above described who placed religion in abstinence from marriage & abandoned their wives if they had any, They are here called Nicolaitans from Nicolas one of the first seven deacons of the Church of Ierusalem, who being taxed with uxoriousness abandoned his wife & permitted his wife to marry whom she pleased saying that we must disuse the flesh as [ In this Prophesy they are put figuratively for the disciples of Tatian & Montanus, & such others as were then called Continentes and were dissallowed by the Churches, but began soon after to be admired. Irenæus gives this account of them. From Saturninus & Marcion, saith he, came those who are called Continents. They taught that marriage was not to be contracted, rejecting the primitive work & institution of God, & silently accusing God who created man male & female for the propagation of mankind They introduced also abstinence from eating the flesh of animals, being ungratefull to God who created all things. They deny also the salvation of the first man And this was lately invented amongst them, Tatian being the first author of this blasphemy. Who being the auditor of Iustin so long as he conversed with him broached nothing of this kind but after his martyrdom, separating himself from the Church, & being puffed up with the arrogance of a Teacher as excelling other men, framed a certain new form of doctrine feigning invisible Æons like Valentinus, affirming also with Saturninus & Marcion that matrimony was nothing else then corruption & fornication, & inventing also new arguments to subvert the salvation of Adam. Thus far Irenæus concerning the heresy of the Continents which flourished in his days & at length got into the Church & ended in Monkery. And this is what the Apostle Paul foretold in his second Epistle to Timothy . Now the spirit speaketh expresly, saith he, that in the latter times some shal{l} depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits & doctrines of Ghosts, speaking lies in hypocrasy, having their consciences seared with a hot iron: forbidding to marry , & commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe & know the truth. ] The deeds of these Continents the Church hated till the reign of Dioclesian. But soon after his reign [ they crept first into the Church, [ & then into the Clergy. For such were they of whom Ierome speaks in against Vigilantius. ] embraced them
The affairs of the Church are not considered during the opening of first four seales they begin to be considered at the opening of the fifth seale as was said above & are further considered at the opening of the sixt seal, & the seventh seal conteins the times of the great Apostasy. And therefore I referr the Epistles to the seven Churches unto the times of the fift & sixt seales For they relate to the Church when she began to decline & contein admonitions against the great Apostasy, then approaching.
The Nicolaitains are the Continentes above described who placed religion in abstinence from marriage & abandoned their wives if they had any. These are here called Nicolaitans from Nicolas one of the first seven deacons of the Church of Ierusalem, who having a beautiful wife & being taxed with uxoriousness, abandoned her & permitted her to marry whom she pleased, saying we must disuse & make war upon the flesh, & afterwards lived a single life in continency, & so did his children. But the Continentes afterwards embraced the doctrine of Æons & Ghosts, male & female and were avoided by the Churches till the fourth century, & the Church of Ephesus is commended for hating their deeds.
Ermaneric reigned long & died 110 years old. About the time of his death eighty thousand Burgandians fled from the Goths to the side of the Rhene & seated themselves in the lower Palatinate. ‡[1] A little after his death the Huns conquered his son Hunnimund with the eastern part of the Goths. called Ostrogoths For the kingdom of the Goths was now become divided, & Winithar or Vithimar the son of Valeravan & grandson of reigned over a tribe or body of the Goths called {Gruthungi} by A. Marcellin & Gothunni by Claudian & Athanaric & over another body called Thervingi & Fridigern over another called Visigoths or western Goths from their situation Winithar made some resistance, but the Huns at length being assisted by an army of the eastern Goths or Ostrogoths commanded by Sigismund the son of Hunnimund, routed & slew him in battel & gave his kingdom to Hunnimund. & pursued Athanaric whereupon the greatest part of the people of Athanaric with some other Goths under the conduct of Alavivus fled to the side of the Danube & so did Fridigern with his people the Visigoths . And these nations sent an embassy to the Emperor Valens desiring seats in the Roman Empire, & obteined seats in Mœsia in the borders of Thrace.
A great part of the Gothungi with their new king Videric the young son of Winithar under the conduct of Alatheus & Saphrax the guardians of Videric fled also to the side of the Danube & made the same petition & were rejected but not long after passed the Danube without leave . This great rout was in the year 376. And these Goths were no sooner seated in the Empire but being prest with famin & grosly abused by the Roman governours, they took up arms, invaded Thrace called to their assistance some Huns & Alans from beyond the Danube routed the Roman army & slew the Emperor Valens, to their & spread themselves into Greece & Pannonia as far as the Alps , Alatheric & Saphrax going westward. but in the years 379 & 380 they were checkt by the arms of Gratian & Theodosius, {&} then the Visigoths submitted & returned to their seats in Mœsia as subjects of the Roman Empire , The Huns retired over the Danube, & the Alans obteined seats in Pannonia . [ The Vandals had been seated in Pannonia from the days of Constantine the great as subjects of the Roman Empire, & thereby the Christian religion had been much promoted amongst them. Before they came into Pannonia they were seated in Dacia upon the river Mares or Mariscus which runs westward {into the river} Teys. For the Vandals were a branch of the Gepides {illeg} were Gothic nations & agreed with the Goths in language & manners. And [Editorial Note 1]
amongst his posterity, Vithimir or Winithar the Chief successor of Ermaneric resisted the Huns but was slain in battel & his kingdom given by the Hunns to Sigismund another son of Ermaneric. Yet part of his people fled to the Danube under the conduct of Alatheus & Saphrax the tutors of Viderich the young son of Vithimir. Athanaric king of another branch of the Goths called Thervingi was deserted by the greater part of his people who under the conduct of Alavivus fled also to the Danube{ . . . } And Fritigernus another king of the Goths fled thither also with his people. And these nations sent an Embassy to
He reigned long & died while the Hunns were conquering the nations which lay between them & him & left his kingdom divided between many successors Hunnimund, Vithimir or Winithar, Athanaric & Hritigern. Hunnimund was his son & so probably were the rest. A little before his death eighty thousand Burgundians fled from the Goths & seated themselves upon the Rhene in the lower Palatinate. Hunnimund submitted to the Huns & sent his son Sigismund with an army of Goths to their assistance against Vithimir. Balamir slew Vithimar in battle & gave his kingdom to Sigismund & Alatheus & Saphrax the guardians of Videric the young son of Vithim{a}r fled to the Rhene with a great part of his people & so did Fridegern with his people &
Winithar was king of the Goths called Genthingi & Anatheric of those called Thervingi.
The Vandals were a branch of the Kingdom of the Gepides & both of them were Gothic nations & spake the same language with the Goths & agreed with them in manners but came later into Dacia . Dio tells us that the Vandals came into Dacia in the reign of the Emperor Marcus Antonininus under the conduct of Rhaus & Rhaptus & were then called Astingi & Iornandes saith that their Royal family was of the stock of the Astingi. They were seated upon the river Mares such runs westward into the Teys After they had staid in Dacia about 150 years the Gepides under the conduct of Geberic conquered them, & thereupon they left their seats in Dacia to the Gepides & went into Pannonia where they had seats granted them {by} the Emperor Constantine the great. This war is by Procopius called a civil war, which implies that they had been one kingdom with the Gepides not long before. They lived quietly in Pannonia as subjects of the Roman Empire & stay there about 40 years till the war between the Hunns & Goths brake out & 30 years more before they conspired with the Alans & other nations against the Romans. And their stay in Dacia & Pannonia contributed much to the propagation of the Christian religion amongst them. But the Christian church of Dacia continued united to the Church of the Roman Empire as much as if the kingdom had not revolted. For the bishop or Patriarch of Dacia was ( Theophilus by name ) was at the Council of Nice A.C. {321} & his successor Vlphilas was at the council of Constantinople A.C. 300.
Procopius calls the war between the Goths & Gepides in the reign of Constantine the great a civil war, which makes it probable that they separated not long before. Dio tells us that they came into Dacia in the reign of the Emperor Marcus Antoninus under the conduct of Rhaus & Rhaptus & were then called Astingi . And Iornandes saith that their royal family was of the stock of the Astingi. They continued therefore in Dacia about 150 years before they went into Pannonia. And therefore they lived in {V. }
And upon his death or soon after, the kingdom became divided between many successors, Hunimund, Vithimar, Athanaric & Fridigern & perhaps some others Hunnimund the son of Ermaneric reigned over the eastern part of the Goths called Ostrogoths & was succeeded by his son Sigismund Vithimar or Winithar the son of Valeravan the son of Athaulfus reigned over another part of the Goths called Gruthungi by A. Marcellin & Gothunni by Claudian. Athanaric was king of another tribe of Goths called Thervingi & Fridigern was king of another called Visigoths from their western situation.
