Vigilius Tapensis. Notitia ex Cave

In the year of the Lord 518. Vigilius of Tapsus. NOTICE FROM CAVE. Vigilius, an African by race, bishop of Tapsus or Tapsilanus in the province of Byzacena, was renowned in the year 484, when by the command of King Huneric he was summoned to Carthage to render an account of his faith, subscribed to the profession of faith of Eugenius of Carthage, and with him fought steadfastly for the Catholic faith. As the Arian Vandals raged against Catholics, he seems to have abandoned his homeland. That he set out for Constantinople and there composed books against Eutyches is reported by Theodulphus of Orleans and Aeneas of Paris. That Vigilius indeed finally lived among the Greeks is not obscurely gathered from the first book of this work. He was wrongly confused with Vigilius of Trent; the knowledge of writers of this and the previous age long escaped notice. Certainly his writings lay hidden among the works of others, perhaps published and substituted under another's name by Vigilius himself from the first, for this reason at least, as Chifflet accurately conjectures, that he might flee the hatred and envy of the Arians, and by such pretended names provide himself a refuge and lend authority to his writings. Finally, his works, sought from all sides and vindicated for their author, were collected by the above-mentioned Francis Chifflet and arranged in the following order.

Against Nestorius and Eutyches, five books in defense of the synod of Chalcedon, which several times appeared under the name of Vigilius of Trent, at Zurich, 1539, then edited by Cassander at Cologne, 1575, in octavo, and among the works of Cassander, p. 514, more correct and augmented, edited by Josias Simler at Basel, 1571, and elsewhere. An altercation under the name of Athanasius against Arius, or two dialogues held in the Council of Nicaea between Athanasius and Arius, with Probus as judge. Three dialogues or altercations, held by Athanasius against Arius, Sabellius, and Photinus before Probus as judge. The same is to be considered as the earlier work, distinguished only by this difference: that the former was written in Africa by Vigilius, while he still feared the Vandals and did not wish to be recognized by them; and after leaving Africa, it was finally revised, mutilated in the preface, purged of pious and other passages, and augmented by a complete third book containing the judgment of Probus the judge. Both were combined into one work under the name of Vigilius of Trent, edited by George Cassander together with the books against Eutyches, Cologne, 1575, and among his works, p. 460. The first two dialogues are often wrongly given a place among the works of Athanasius.

Concerning the Trinity, or On the United Trinity of the Godhead against Marivadus the Arian, twelve books. Written at Naples in Campania, and attributed to Athanasius; under whose name also the first seven books appeared in the Heidelberg edition of Athanasius; but the complete twelve in the Paris edition, though poorly divided into eleven, the last two books having been conflated into one. The Book on the Unity of the Trinity to Optatus, or a Dialogue between St. Augustine and the Arian Felicianus, fabricated by Vigilius: it is usually counted among the works of Augustine. On the Trinity against Varimadus, or by transposition of letters Marivadus, a deacon of the Arian sect and very favored by King Huneric, three books formerly published by Vigilius under the name of Idacius Clarus, and often printed under the same name. The Book against Palladius, an Arian bishop, consisting of two parts, of which the former, for the acts of the Council of Aquileia held in the year [missing], was presented in the collections of councils which appeared after that year; the latter has two editions, each, as it seems, published by Vigilius. The first is the same as Ambrose's book On the Faith or On the Consubstantiality of the Son with the Father: the second, which is fuller, is the same as Gregory of Nazianzus's Oration 59. To the work are appended two letters of the Council of Aquileia, one to the bishops of Gaul, the other to the emperors Gratian and Valentinian, which are to be numbered among the acts of the council.

As for the former, Chifflet contends that this disputation was fabricated by Vigilius under the name of the Acts of the Synod of Aquileia, with a long train of conjectures rather than arguments; this indeed seems to me by no means probable, nor are the little reasonings he brings forth of such weight that I should dwell on refuting them. Certainly no one will raise a dispute over the genuineness of these Acts of the Council of Aquileia, unless by the same reasoning and with nearly the same arguments he could call into doubt the Acts of other synods. Chifflet conjectures that the Solutions of the Objections of the Arians, which in the first Dialogue under the name of Athanasius against the Arians, were added by Vigilius before he undertook the second edition of those dialogues. The works enumerated above were collected into one volume and published with notes and dissertations by Peter Francis Chifflet, at Dijon, 1664, in quarto. Hence they are found in the Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. VIII, p. 722.

The Altercation or Dialogue of St. Augustine with Pascentius the Arian before the judge Laurentius, composed by Vigilius, and first brought to light by the Benedictine Fathers, the editors of the most recent edition of the works of St. Augustine, and appended to his letters. The Creed circulated under the name of Athanasius and published among his works. We judge that this is to be ascribed to Vigilius, not unwillingly, as we believe, with truth. See more under Athanasius. Moreover, Cassiodorus reports (Divin. Lect. 1. I, c. 9) that a certain Vigilius, an African bishop, composed a luculent treatise on the understanding of the thousand years which are foretold in the Apocalypse. Whether this is our Vigilius is entirely uncertain. What is certain is that the work, whoever wrote it, has perished. Finally, one may wonder what Casimir Ondin means, who, in more than one place, attributes the conflict of Arnobius the Younger with Serapion to our Vigilius, led, as far as I know, by no reason, supported by no authority. For on this matter, the often-mentioned Chifflet, who has gathered all the works of Vigilius, does not have even a scrap; although he seems to wish to call him to witness.