And yet some have been induced by the Date it bears, to question its Authenticity. For it is dated the 15th of _February_ 404. Now, it is manifest, say they, from the Letter itself, that _Victricius_ was at _Rome_ while the Emperor _Honorius_ was there; and it is no less certain, that _Honorius_ did not arrive at _Rome_ till the Month of _December_ 403. If therefore _Victricius_ was at _Rome_ in _December_ 403. it is not at all probable, that _Innocent_ should have written to him on the 15th of _February_ 404. To solve this Difficulty, some suppose _Victricius_ to have applied to _Innocent_, while he was still at _Rome_; and _Innocent_, instead of informing him, as he might, by Word of Mouth, to have given him in Writing the desired Instructions, that, having thus more Weight, they might the more readily be complied with by other Bishops. But it is manifest, from _Innocent_’s Words, that his Letter was an Answer to one from _Victricius_; and we cannot well suppose _Victricius_, who was at _Rome_ in _December_, to have returned to _Rouen_, to have written from thence to _Innocent_, and _Innocent_ to have returned him so full an Answer by the 15th of the following _January_. We may conclude the Year to have been, by some Mistake, altered, and 404. inserted in the Date instead of 405. since the Letter could not be written earlier, as I have just observed, than the Month of _January_ (if _January_ was the true Month) of the latter Year; and we have no Reason to think it was written later. The Mistake as to the Year might have been occasioned by the Transcriber’s omitting P. C. _Post Consulatum Honorii_, and thereby confounding the Year of the Emperor’s Sixth Consulship 404. with the Year after it 405.--Such Omissions frequently occur, and have led Writers, not aware of them, into great Mistakes, in point of Chronology, or made them suspect, nay, and condemn, as spurious, the most authentic Pieces of History. This Letter, in some Editions, bears no Date; and F. _Labbé_ assures us, that he has seen a manuscript Copy of it, in which the Date was wanting. Some therefore suppose the Date to have been afterwards added, nay, and the whole Conclusion of the Letter. For _Innocent_ closes it by saying, that the Observance of the Rules it contains will banish all Ambition among the Bishops, compose all Differences, prevent all Schisms, and leave no room for the Devil to insult the Flock of Christ. A Conclusion taken probably from some other Piece, and not at all adapted or applicable, with Truth, to this. ----- [Sidenote: _Letter of the Council of_ Carthage _to_ Innocent.]