155 Enchirid, c. 103; City of God, xxii. 1, 2. Against Julian, iv. 8.
1 This Treatise is the first portion of a work, of which the following, On the Gift of Perseverance, is the second.
2 [These two books that follow, viz, On the Predestination of the Saints and On the Gift of Perseverance, were called out by two long letters, one from Prosper and the other from Hilary, acquainting Augustin with the Semi-Pelagian outbreak in Southern Gaul, and earnestly beseeching his aid in meeting it. These letters are Nos. 225 and 226 in the collection of Augustin's letters. Prosper was just beginning his great career as champion of Augustinianism in Southern Gaul. Hilary was also a layman, and may perhaps be identified with the Hilary who much earlier wrote to Augustin about the Pelagians of Sicily (see Letter 156), and to whom the long Letter 157 was written.-W.]
5 [The party which Augustin is here opposing had its chief centre in Marseilles, and hence is called "Massilians." Prosper in his letter called them reliquiae Pelagianorum, i.e., "the remnants of the Pelagians." They are now most commonly called "Semi-Pelagians."-W.].
10 Some Mss. read aperta, scil. "plain."
11 On the Proceedings of Peliagus, ch. 30.
15 The Acts of the Apostles were read during Easter.
21 Cyprian, Testimonies to Quirinus, Book iii. ch. 4: The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. v. p. 528.
23 Hilary's Letter, No. 226 in the collection of Augustin's Letters.