_Austin_ had been alleged to vindicate the Character of _Marcellinus_: [Sidenote: Marcellinus _commended and vindicated by the Antients_.] for of these two Writers the former tells us, that he acquired great Glory by his Conduct during the Persecution[495]; and the latter, in writing against _Petilian_ the _Donatist_, has the following Words: _Why should I answer the Calumnies with which he loads the Bishops of_ Rome? _Why should I clear them from the Crimes which he lays to their Charge?_ Marcellinus, _and his Presbyters_ Melchiades, Marcellus, _and_ Sylvester, _are accused by him as if they had delivered up the sacred Books, and offered Incense to the Gods: Are they therefore to be thought guilty? Does he prove what he advances against them? He brands them with the Epithets of wicked, and sacrilegious; but I say they are innocent: And why should I produce Reasons to support my Defence, since he brings none to make good his Charge[496]?_ But a solemn Declaration, that _the See of_ Rome _is to be judged by nobody_, made in those early Times, by 300 Bishops, carries with it such Marks of Truth, as quite invalidate the Testimonies of _Theodoret_ and St. _Austin_, and render the Apostasy of _Marcellinus_, which gave room to that Declaration, undeniable! St. _Austin_ looks upon the Apostasy of _Marcellinus_, and his Presbyters _Melchiades_, _Marcellus_, and _Sylvester_, who were all afterwards Bishops of _Rome_, as a mere Calumny, as an Invention of the _Donatists_; but their Successors, trampling upon all Authority that stands in the Way of their Ambition, chuse rather to have Four of their Predecessors thought Apostates and Idolaters, than part with the Decree of that pretended Council, exalting them so high above all other Bishops. [Sidenote: _The Acts of the Council of_ Sinuessa _fabulous_.]