Bede (c. A.D. 673-735)Ecclesiastical History Book I Chapter Ten
St. Bede the VenerableHistoria Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum:
Pelagius, a Briton, in the reign of Arcadius, proudly denies the necessity of God's Grace in the performance of good works.
The History of the Primitive Church of England.
Book I, Chapter X
Translated by Rev. William Hurst, 1814.
Pelagius, a Briton, in the reign of Arcadius, proudly denies the necessity of God's Grace in the performance of good works.
Arcadius, the son of Theodosius, the 43rd from Augustus, undertaking the government of the empire with his brother Honorius, A.D. 394, held it for thirteen years; during whose reign Pelagius, a Briton, spread far and near his perfidious doctrine against the assistance of the divine grace; making use, as an associate, of Julianus of Campania, who, having been lately disappointed in his ambitious views of being appointed to fill a vacant see, was much dissatisfied. St. Augustine, and the rest of the orthodox fathers then living, answered them in a most ample manner. But, according to the doctrine of the Catholic church, they would not correct their senseless errors. On the contrary, the more they were contradicted and convicted, the more obstinately they persisted in defending them; which Prosper the poet, has elegantly expressed in the following verses,:
Source: www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/St.Pachomius/bede1_10.html
Contra Augustinum narratur serpere quidam
Scriptor, quem, dudum livor adurit edax.
Qui caput obscuris contectum utcunque cavernis
Tollere humo miserum protulit anguiculum.
Aut hunc fruge sua aequorici pavere Britanni,
Aut huic Campano gramine corda tument.
[An insect scribbler durst 'gainst Austin write,
Whose very heart was scorch'd with hellish spite.
Presumptuous serpent! from what midnight den
Durst thou to crawl on earth and look at men?
Sure thou at first wast fed on Britain's plains,
Or in thy breast Vesuvian sulphur reigns!
