Note 973 — BOOK TWENTY-SECOND.

A somewhat fuller account of this miracle is given by Augustine in the Confessions, ix. 16. See also Serm. 286, and Ambrose, Ep.. 22. A translation of this epistle in full is given in Isaac Taylor's Ancient Christianity, ii. 242, where this miracle is taken as a specimen of the so-called miracles of that age, and submitted to a detailed examination. The result arrived at will be gathered from the following sentence: "In the Nicene Church, so lax were the notions of common morality, and in so feeble a manner did the fear of God influence the conduct of leading men, that, on occasions when the Church was to be served, and her assailants to be confounded, they did not scruple to take upon themselves the contrivance and execution of the most degrading impostures."—P. 270. It is to be observed, however, that Augustine was, at least in this instance, one of the deceived.