The Maximianist schism as a mirror of the Caecilian case
Augustine is narrating the recent Donatist schism of Maximianus against Primianus, showing how the Donatists treated their own schismatics differently from how they treated the Catholic Church over Caecilian.
There was a certain deacon in Carthage named Maximianus, in the Donatist party. Whether deservedly for his pride or, as they think, deservedly for his righteousness, he offended his bishop—that is, Primianus of Carthage—either unjustly, if he was a proud man against a better one, or justly, if he was an upright man against a worse one. He was excommunicated by Primianus. He went to the neighboring bishops, stirred up resentment against Primianus, and accused him before them. They came to Carthage. Many Donatist bishops who had come wanted Primianus to come to them, just as their predecessors wanted Caecilian to come to them. When the faction became known, Primianus refused to come to them, just as Caecilian refused to come to those earlier ones. Primianus was condemned by them in his absence, just as Caecilian was condemned by those earlier ones in his absence. What a picture of events God chose to place before our eyes in recent times, because forgetfulness was already erasing things too ancient! He was condemned in his absence. Primianus was restored to communion by other bishops of the Donatist party—or rather, because they had not deposed him, he was confirmed in his own see. The Maximianists were condemned, just as Donatus deserved condemnation when Caecilian had been acquitted by foreign and overseas bishops. Maximianus was condemned along with the twelve who ordained him. The faction itself contained many people; there were perhaps a hundred bishops. But so that no greater split would occur, these men refused, with a few cast down, to impose discipline on the many. They condemned only those who were present at Maximianus's ordination, when a bishop was unlawfully elevated against their own bishop. The rest who remained in that faction, if they wished to return to the church, were to be allowed to keep their honors. By their own words they showed that those people were outside the church; for the one you urge to enter is outside. So a day was set, within which if they returned, nothing that was said against Primianus would harm them, and they confirmed it by the decree of Bagai. Maximianus was condemned along with the twelve. Then action began to be taken to drive the condemned men from their basilicas. Judges were petitioned, proconsuls were petitioned, the episcopal council of Bagai was cited in court. They were called heretics, they were shown to be condemned, orders were obtained, forces were gathered, and they came to eject from the basilicas men who were condemned and fixed in their stubbornness. The people who favored those condemned men supported them; where they could not resist they were defeated, and in place of those defeated and expelled others were ordained. Of these we know two—to say nothing of the rest—one Felicianus of Musti, the other Praetextatus of Assuras. After two or three years, through Optatus the Gildonian, after many persecutions had been inflicted on them through judicial prosecutions and the full harshness of the authorities, they received them back in their honors. After their condemnation, after their expulsion, after persecutions, they received them in their honors as partners and colleagues. For in the place of one of them, Praetextatus of Assuras, they had already ordained another man named Rogatus, who is now a Catholic, whose tongue and hand the army of those people—that is, the band of Circumcellions—cut off. But those who were baptized by the condemned men during the time when those men were outside, for nearly three years, were baptized outside the church of those men, and they were received in this way. No one said, 'You do not have baptism, because you were baptized outside.' And yet a person who comes from Ephesus, from Smyrna, from Thessalonica, from the other churches that the apostles planted by their labor and to which we read that the apostles' letters were sent, which we hear read in church—that person is rebaptized.
Latin
Maximianus quidam diaconus fuit Carthaginiensis in parte Donati. siue merito superbiae suae siue, ut ipsi putant, merito iustitiae suae offendit episcopum suum, id est Primianum Carthaginiensem, siue inique, si superbus meliorem, siue iuste, si probus inprobiorem. excommunicatus est a Primiano. perrexit ad episcopos uicinos, concitauit inuidiam Primiano, accusauit eum apud illos. uentum est ad Carthaginem. uoluerunt qui uenerunt multi episcopi Donatistae ad se uenire Primianum, sicut uoluerunt maiores istorum ad se uenire Caecilianum. factione cognita noluit ad istos uenire Primianus, sicut ad illos noluit uenire Caecilianus. damnatus est ab istis absens Primianus, sicut ab illis damnatus est absens Caecilianus. qualem imaginem rerum uoluit deus ante oculos nostros recenti tempore ponere, quoniam nimis antiqua iam delebat obliuio! damnatus est absens. ab aliis episcopis partis Donati Primianus communioni est restitutus, immo quia eum non deposuerunt, in sua sede firmatus est. damnati sunt Maximianistae, sicut a peregrinis episcopis et transmarinis absoluto Caeciliano meruit damnari Donatus. damnatus est Maximianus cum duodecim ordinatoribus suis. factio quidem ipsa plurimos continebat; centum erant fortassis episcopi. sed ne maior praecisio fieret, isti noluerunt paucis deiectis multis imponere disciplinam. damnarunt solos qui affuerunt ordinationi Maximiani, quando contra episcopum suum illicite est leuatus episcopus; ceteri in ipsa factione constituti, si redire ad ecclesiam uellent, in suis permitterentur honoribus. uerbis quidem suis ostendebant eos foris esse ab ecclesia; quem enim hortaris ut intret, foris est. constituto ergo die, intra quem diem si redirent nihil eis obessent quae aduersus Primianum dicebantur, decreto Bagaiensi firmauerunt, damnatus est Maximianus cum duodecim. coepit agi, ut damnati de basilicis pellerentur. interpellantur iudices, interpellantur proconsules, in iudicium allegatur episcopale Bagaiense concilium. dicuntur haeretici, demonstrantur damnati, impetrantur iussiones, auxilia congregantur, uenitur ad eiciendos de basilicis homines damnatos et in sua pertinacia constitutos. illis condemnatis populi qui fauebant restiterunt, ubi non potuerunt uicti sunt, in locum eorum qui uicti sunt et expulsi alii ordinati sunt. ex quibus duos nouimus, ut de ceteris taceamus, unum Felicianum (Mustitanum), alterum Praetextatum Assuritanum, quos post annos duos aut tres per Optatum Gildonianum post multas illis illatas persecutiones iudiciariis prosecutionibus et tota acrimonia potestatum in suis honoribus susceperunt. post damnationem suam, post eiectionem, post persecutiones susceperunt illos in honoribus suis, adiunxerunt sibi socios atque collegas. nam in loco unius ipsorum Praetextati Assuritani alium iam ordinauerant nomine Rogatum, qui modo catholicus est, cui exercitus istorum, id est agmen circumcellionum, . linguam et manum praecidit. illi autem, qui per ipsum tempus, quo illi damnati foris erant, ferme per triennium baptizati sunt a damnatis, baptizati sunt foris ab ecclesia istorum, sic sunt suscepti. nemo dixit non habes baptismum, quia foris es baptizatus': et rebaptizatur qui uenit de Epheso de Smyrna de Thessalonica de ceteris ecclesiis, quas suo labore apostoli plantauerunt et ad quas legimus missas apostolorum epistulas, quas audimus in ecclesia recitari.