From _Milan Jovinian_ returned to the Neighbourhood of _Rome_, where his Followers continued to assemble, under his Direction, till the Year 398. when the Emperor _Honorius_, giving Ear to the Complaints of the neighbouring Bishops, enacted a Law, commanding him and his Accomplices to be beaten with Whips armed with Lead, and transported into different Islands[1288]. _Jovinian_ himself was confined to the Isle of _Boas_, on the Coast of _Dalmatia_[1289], where he gave up the Ghost, about the Year 406. in the Midst of the Mirth and Jollity of a Banquet, says _Jerom_, adding that he was revived in _Vigilantius_, as _Euphorbus_ was formerly in _Pythagoras_[1290]. Some of _Jerom_’s Friends in _Rome_ sent him the Book, which _Jovinian_ had composed to explain and defend his Doctrine, begging him to confute it. He readily complied with their Request, and ended his Work in the Year 392. It consisted of Two Books, but met with a very indifferent Reception at _Rome_. For though he declared from the Beginning, that it was not his Intention to condemn Marriage, and that he had an utter Abhorrence to the Errors of _Marcion_, of _Tatian_, and the _Manichees_, holding Marriage to be sinful; yet the disparaging Terms he made use of in speaking of Marriage, gave great Offence, even to those who professed Continency[N30]. ----- Footnote N30: This induced _Pammachius_ to purchase all the Copies of it he could get, and send them back to the Author, acquainting him in a friendly manner with what had chiefly given Offence[N30.1]. This _Jerom_ took as a Token of the most sincere Friendship; and therefore, not satisfied with acknowleging the Obligation he had laid on him, and commending his Conduct as worthy of his great Prudence, and answerable to the Affection which it was owing to, he immediately set about the Apology which _Pammachius_ had advised him to write, and inscribed it to him[N30.2]. Footnote N30.1: Ex Ruff. p. 231. & ep. 52. Footnote N30.2: Hier. ep. 51, 52. ----- Notwithstanding the Severity of the Law I have mentioned above, some still continued to hold, and privately to propagate, the Doctrine of _Jovinian_, which induced _Austin_ to compose his Treatise on the Advantages of Marriage and Virginity; a Performance far more judicious than that of _Jerom_, who has taken great Pains to disparage and cry down Marriage, the better to extol Virginity, as if he could not commend the one without condemning the other. _Austin_, on the contrary, begins his Work with great Encomiums on Matrimony, to which, however commendable, in the End he prefers Virginity. But after all, the Reasons alleged by the one as well as the other, are, if duly weighed, but empty and unconclusive Speculations. [Sidenote: _New Disturbances in the Church of_ Antioch.]