Footnote 962: Soz. Socr. ib. Footnote 963: Socr. ib. Footnote 964: Socr. l. 4. c. 12. Basil. ep. 82. Footnote 965: Marcell. & Faust. p. 4, 5. Footnote 966: Ruf. l. 3. c. 30, 31. Footnote 967: Idem ib. Footnote 968: Hil. frag. 1. p. 37, 38. Footnote 969: Bar. ad ann. 359. n. 3. Footnote 970: Theoph. l. 2. c. 13. Footnote 971: Id. ib. Footnote 972: Menæa, p. 293. Footnote 973: Breviar. Rom. 5 Aug. Footnote 974: Vide Bull. Urb. VIII. Breviario præfix. Footnote 975: Amb. de virg. l. 3. p. 437. Footnote 976: Bar. ad ann. 362. n. 206. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- VALENTINIAN, DAMASUS, GRATIAN, VALENS, _Thirty-sixth_ BISHOP _of_ Rome. THEODOSIUS. [Sidenote: Year of Christ 366. Damasus _a Native of_ Rome,] _Liberius_ was succeeded by _Damasus_, whom the _Spanish_ Writers, upon the Authority of _Anastasius_, suppose to have been a Native of _Spain_[977]; though there is no room to doubt of his being born in _Rome_, since it appears, from an Inscription quoted by _Baronius_[978], that his Father had been Lector, Deacon, and Presbyter, of the Church of St. _Laurence_ in that City, and consequently must have lived there from his Youth. _Damasus_ had a Sister named _Irene_, who embraced the State of Virginity, and died before she was Twenty, as we read in her Epitaph[979]. It is not therefore probable, that her Death happened in the Twelfth Year of her Brother’s Pontificate, as the _Spanish_ Author of her Life tells us, he being then Seventy. _Damasus_ served, as his Father had done, the Church of St. _Laurence_, till he was stricken in Years; for he was upwards of Sixty when raised to the Episcopal Dignity. [Sidenote: _and Deacon of that Church_.] He was Deacon of _Rome_ in 355. when _Liberius_ was sent into Exile; on which Occasion he not only bound himself, with the rest of the Clergy, by a solemn Oath not to acknowlege any other Bishop so long as _Liberius_ lived, but attended him on his Journey to the Place of his Banishment[980]. [Sidenote: _Whether he abandoned_ Liberius,_and sided with_ Felix.] _Marcellinus_ and _Faustinus_ seem to insinuate, that soon afterwards, giving way to his Ambition, he forgot the Oath he had taken, abandoned _Liberius_, for whom he had professed the greatest Friendship, and sided with _Felix_ his Antagonist[981]. But these Two Presbyters were zealous Partisans of the Antipope _Ursinus_, of whom hereafter; and therefore we ought to be very cautious of what they write to the Prejudice of _Damasus_. _Jerom_, who lived then at _Rome_, and in great Intimacy with _Damasus_, reproaches such of the Ecclesiastics as forsook _Liberius_, and joined _Felix_, with the Breach of a most solemn Oath; styles them Perjurers, Deserters, Time-servers, _&c._ which I cannot think he would have done so freely, had _Damasus_ been one of the Number. I am therefore not a