Note 8 — Chapter II · THE ROMAN EMPIRE BEFORE THE INVASIONS OF THE BARBARIANS.
Reading edition
See the book of Optatus, bishop of Milevis, Contra Donatistas. 'Non enim respublica est in ecclesia, sed ecclesia in republica, id est, in imperio Romano, cum super imperatorem non sit nisi solus Deus:' (p. 999 of vol. ii. of Migne's Patrologiæ Cursus completus.) The treatise of Optatus is full of interest, as shewing the growth of the idea of the visible Church, and of the primacy of Peter's chair, as constituting its centre and representing its unity.