The Presbyters Project

I.5 Quanti tunc ab eis praeclari pontifices et nobiles sacerdotes diuersis poenarum generibus extincti sunt, ut traderent si quid auri uel argenti proprium uel ecclesiasticum haberent! Et dum quae erant urguentibus poenis facilius ederentur, iterum crudelibus tormentis oblatores urguebant, autumantes quandam partem, non totum oblatum; et quanto plus dabatur, tanto amplius quempiam habere credebant.

Here follows the description of various tortures afflicted on the Roman victims.

I.6 [...] Non infirmior sexus, non consideratio nobilitatis, non reuerentia sacerdotalis crudeles animos mitigabat, sed quin immo ibi exaggerabatur ira furoris ubi honorem conspexerant dignitatis. 7 Quantis sacerdotibus quantis que inlustribus onera ingentia ut camelis uel aliis generibus iumentorum inposuerint nequeo enarrare; quos stimulis ferreis ad ambulandum urguebant, quorum nonnulli sub fascibus miserabiliter animas emisere. Senilis maturitas atque ueneranda canities quae caesariem capitis ut lanam candidam dealbarat nullam sibi ab hospitibus misericordiam uindicabat.

(ed. Lancel 2002, 99-100)

I.5 How many were the distinguished bishops and noble priests put to death by them at that time with different kinds of torments, as they tried to make them give up any gold or silver belonging to themselves or the churches! And so that the things which were in their keeping would be brought forth more easily under the pressure of pain, they inflicted cruel torments a second time on those who produced things, asserting that they had produced a part but not the whole, and the more a person gave, the more they believed he had still more.

Here follows the description of various tortures afflicted on the Roman victims.

I.6 [...] Neither the weaker sex, nor regard for nobility, nor reverence for the priesthood softened those cruel hearts; on the contrary, when they caught sight of some officeholder worthy of honour, the wrath of their fury was thereupon increased. 7. I am unable to recount the number of the priests and men holding the rank of inlustris on whom they placed enormous burdens, as if they were camels or other kinds of baggage animals, and forced to walk using iron goads. Some of them breathed their last in wretched fashion under their burdens. Mature age and that greyness, worthy of veneration, which whitens the hair of the head so that it looks like shining wool, obtained no mercy from the enemy.

(trans. Moorhead 1992: 4-5)

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa

City

Carthage

About the source:

Author: Victor of Vita
Title: History of the Vandal Persecution in Africa, Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Victor of Vita is known only from his work, the History of the Vandal Persecution in Africa, a narrative about the fate of the "Catholic" (i.e. Nicene) church in Africa conquered by the "Arian" (Homoian) Vandals. Although it contains many interesting details about the history of the Vandal kingdom, it is not a historiographical work but rather a literary and religious piece concerned with martyrs, confessors, and the fight of the true faith with heresy imposed on the African people by the barbarian invaders.

Victor`s name and the fact that he was a bishop of Vita is attested only in the titles given in the manuscripts. Victor himself did not mention that he was a bishop. He knows, however, very well a topography of Carthage and suggests clearly that it is the city in which he had spent a lot of time. In a passsage about the exile of the clergy to Sicca Veneria and Lares in 482/3 (II.28), he says that he was visiting prisoners and celebrating mysteries for them. Thus, we can surmise that at the time of writing his work he was a presbyter from Carthage.

Victor says that he wrote in the sixtieth year after the conquest of Africa by the Vandals, that is in 488. The last events he relates can be dated, however, to 484 and it is uncertain whether the last chapter, which speaks of the death of Huneric, was actually written by Victor (it might have been added later by another person).

Edition:

S. Lancel (ed.), Victor of Vita, Histoire de la persécution vandale en Afrique. Les passion des sept martyres. Registre des provinces et des cités d’Afrique, Paris 2002.

Translation:

J. Moorhead (trans.), Victor of Vita, History of the Vandal Persecution, Liverpool 1992

Bibliography:

C. Courtois, Victor de Vita et son oeuvre. Étude critique, Algre 1954.

R. Whelan, Being Christian in Vandal Africa: The Politics of Orthodoxy in the Post-Imperial West, Oakland 2018.

Categories:

Social origin or status - Monarchs and their family

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Ecclesiastical administration - Administering Church property

Relation with - Barbarian

Relation with - Heretic/Schismatic

Administration of justice - Secular

Administration of justice - Corporal punishment

Administration of justice - Exile

Conflict - Violence

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2428, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2428