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VINDEX.
this production, which is composed in a very lively and impressive style, is in the first place to collect the opinions of the early fathers on the points which Lad given rise to the most important doctrinal controversies ; and, in the second place, to establish some rule by which error may be detected and avoided, and the true faith maintained in purity. He determines that the means for accomplishing this object are two-fold : 1. The authority of Holy Scripture. 2. The tradition of the Catholic church, the latter being indispensable for the right understanding of the former. We are to hold that as a Catholic tradition, which has been believed in the Catholic church everywhere, always, and by all (quod ubique, quod semper^ quod ab omnibus cre-ditum est\ thus obtaining universality, antiquity and consent.
The Commonitorium, being the first work on which the proposition, which now forms the broad line of demarcation between the Protestant and Roman churches, is broadly and distinctly affirmed, it has always been regarded with great interest and studied with much care, while the opinions formed with regard to its merits have depended, in a great measure, on the theological predilections of its critics. The charge of Semi-Pelagianism frequently urged againstVincentius seems altogether unfounded, and indeed probably originated in the erroneous belief that Vincent of Lerins was the author of the tract first published b}r Sirmond (4to. Paris, 1643), entitled Praedestinatus s. Praedestinatorum Haeresis et libri S. Augustino temere adscripts Refatatio., and also of the attack upon the tenets of Augustine known to us only from the reply of Prosper, Pro Augustini Doctrina Responsiones ad capitula ob-jectionum Vincentianarum.
The Commonitorium was first printed in the Antidotum contra diversas omnium fere saeeulorum Haereses of Jo. Sichardus, fol. Basil. 1528, and has, since that period, been very frequently republished both in a separate form, and in all the larger col lections of the Fathers. The standard edition is that of Baluzius, 8vo. Paris, 1G63, 1669, 1684, and the last of these is followed by Galland, in his Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. x. p. 103, fol. Venet. 1774. The most recent edition is that of Klupfel, 8vo. Vienn. 1809, which deserves to be consulted. (Gennadius, de Viris ILlustr. 64 ; Trithcmius, de Scriptt. Eccles. ]45 ; Schoenemann, Biblioth. Pa- trum Latt. vol. ii. § 37 ; Bahr, GescMcht. der Romiscli. Litterat. Suppl. Band. 2te Abtheil. § 154. Consult also the historians of Semipelagianism [cassianus] and the Prolegomena of Galland and Klupfel.) [W. R.J
VINDEX, C. JU'LIUS, was the son of a Roman senator, but was descended from a royal family in Aquitanian Gaul. He was appointed propraetor of Gallia Celtica towards the latter end of the reign of Nero ; and there he resolved to make an effort to get rid of the tyrant, of whose oppressive rule the Roman world had become weary. Accordingly, he called together the people of his province about the month of March, a. d. 68, and after describing their grievances and the despicable character of their oppressor, he urged them to revolt. Bis call was eagerly responded to by the greater part of Gaul, and he soon found himself at the head of a formidable army. He did not, however, aspire to the empire himself, but wrote to Galba, who \vas governor of Hispania Tarraco-nensis, to offer his assistance in raising him to
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the throne. Galba, however, would not assume the title of emperor, but nevertheless took up arms against Nero, contenting himself with the title of legatus of the senate and of the Roman people.
Most of the governors of the Roman provinces in Europe now declared in favour of Galba ; Vir-ginius Rufus, however, the governor of Upper Germany, who had been offered the sovereignty by his own soldiers, not only refused it himself, but said that he would not acknowledge any one as emperor except the person upon whom the senate had conferred the title. He accordingly inarched with his army against Vindex, and proceeded to lay siege to the town of Vesontio (Bosanqon). Vindex marched to its relief ; and the two generals had a conference, in which they appear to have come to some agreement ; but as Vindex was going to enter the town, the soldiers of Rnfus, thinking that he was about to attack them, fell upon him. Many of his troops were killed, and Vindex, who believed that it was a plot for his destruction, put an end to his own life. (Dion Cass. Ixiii. 22—26 ; Tac. Ann. xv. 74, Hist. i. 6, 8, 51, iv. 17, 57 ; Plut. Galb. 4—6 ; Suet. Ner. 40, 41, 45, Galb. 9, 11 ; Plin. Ep. ix. 19.)
VINDKX, MACRFNUS, praefectus praetorio under M. Aurelius, perished in the war against the Marcomanni. The emperor erected three statues in honour of him. (Dion Cass. Ixxi. 3, with the note of Reimarus.)
VINDEX, C. OCTA'VIUS, consul suffectus under Commodus, a. d. 184 (Fasti).
VINDICIANUS, an eminent Christian physician in the fourth century after Christ, tutor to Theodorus Priscianus (Theod. Prise. Tier. Med. iv. praef. p. 81, ed. Argent.), who attained the rank of Comes Archiatrorum (see Diet, of Ant. s.v. Arc.hi-ater\ and was physician to the Emperor Valentiriian, A. d. 364—375. He was also proconsul in Africa, and in this capacity crowned St. Augustine in a rhetorical contest (Aug. Conf iv. 3. § 5), probably a. d. 376. It was perhaps this incident which gave Vindicianus an interest in the vounp- man's
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welfare, for St. Augustine says that he tried to divert him from the study of astrology and divination, to which he was at that time addicted. (Ibid, and vii. 6. § 8.) St. Augustine gives him a high character, calling him *' an acute old man," " a wise man, very skilful and renowned in physic," and in another place (Epist. 138. § 3) " the great physician of our times." There is attributed to him a short Latin hexameter poem, consisting chiefly of an enumeration of a great number cf medicinal substances ; which, however, some persons suppose to be the conclusion of the poem by Serenus Samonicus, while others think it belongs to Marcellus Empiricus. It is to be found at the end of several editions of Colsus, in BurmannV Po'ctae Latini Minores, and in Fabricii Bibl. Gr. vol. xiii. p. 446, ed. vet. There is also extant a letter addressed to the Emperor Valentiniaii by Vindicianus, in which he makes mention of a medical work which he had written, but which appears to be lost. This letter is by Sprengel (Hist, de la Med.) supposed to be spurious, but perhaps without sufficient reason. It is to be found in the Aldine Collection of Medici Antiqui, Venet. 1547, fol. ; in H. Stephani Medicae Artis Principes, Paris, 1567, fol. ; and in Fabricii Bibl. Gr. vol. xiii. p. 448, ed. vet. One of the medical formulae of
