_Baronius_ has inserted, in his Annals[1255], a Letter from the Usurper _Maximus_, who reigned in _Gaul_; from which we learn, that _Syricius_ had writ first to him, exhorting him to continue steady in the Catholic Faith, being, perhaps, apprehensive lest he should suffer himself to be imposed upon by the _Priscillianists_, who were very numerous in _Gaul_; and complaining to him of the undue Ordination of a Presbyter named _Agricius_. _Maximus_, in his Answer, pretends great Zeal for the true Faith, and promises to assemble the Bishops of _Gaul_, and of the Five Provinces, meaning _Gallia Narbonensis_, to examine the Affair of _Agricius_. He assures _Syricius_, that he has nothing so much at Heart as to maintain the Catholic Faith pure and uncorrupted; to see a perfect Harmony established among the Prelates of the Church, and to suppress the many Disorders which had prevailed at the Time of his Accession to the Empire, and would have soon proved incurable, had they been neglected. He adds, that many shocking Abominations of the _Manichees_, meaning no doubt the _Priscillianists_, had been discovered, not by groundless Conjectures and Surmises, but by their own Confession before the Magistrates, as _Syricius_ might learn from the Acts. For _Maximus_ caused the Ringleaders of that Sect to be put to Death this very Year, convicted before the Magistrates of the grossest Immoralities[N24]. These were _Priscillian_ himself, _Felicissimus_, and _Armenus_, Two Ecclesiastics, who had but very lately embraced his Doctrine; _Asarinus_ and _Aurelius_, Two Deacons; _Latronianus_, or, as _Jerom_ calls him, _Matronianus_, a Layman; and _Enchrocia_, the Widow of the Orator _Delphidius_, who had professed Eloquence in the City of _Bourdeaux_ a few Years before. These were, by the Order of _Maximus_, all beheaded this Year at _Treves_. The rest of _Priscillian_’s Followers, whom they could discover and apprehend, were either banished or confined. ----- Footnote N24: The first Author of this Sect was one _Mark_, a Native of _Memphis_ in _Egypt_, a famous Magician, and once a Follower of the Doctrine of the _Manichees_[N24.1]. From _Egypt_ he travelled into _Spain_, where he had for his Disciples a Woman of Quality named _Agapa_, _Elpidius_ the Rhetorician, and _Agagius_[N24.2]. _Priscillian_, of whom I shall speak hereafter, was the Disciple and Successor of the Two latter. _Jerom_ tells us, upon the Authority of _Irenæus_, whom he quotes, that _Mark_ passed from the Banks of the _Rhone_ into _Aquitaine_,and from thence into _Spain_[N24.3]; which made _Baronius_ write, that he first infected _Gaul_[N24.4]. But no such thing was ever affirmed by _Irenæus_; and besides, _Jerom_ confounds the Sect of the _Marcosians_ with that of the _Priscillianists_, and the Author of the former, who was contemporary with _Irenæus_, with the Author of the latter, who lived in the Fourth Century.