was said on either side for the sake of appeal as well as for the information of the absent.  In two such disputations Augustin engaged in connection with Manichæism.38  The first was held on the 28th and 29th of August, 392, with a Manichæan priest, Fortunatus.  To this encounter Augustin was invited by a deputation of Donatists and Catholics,39 who were alike alarmed at the progress which this heresy was making in the district of Hippo.  Fortu- natus at first showed some reluctance to meet so formidable an antagonist, but was prevailed upon by his own sectaries, and shows no nervousness during the debate.  His incompetence, however, was manifest to the Manichæans themselves; and so hopeless was it to think of any further proselytizing in Hippo, that he left that city, and was too much ashamed of himself ever to return.  The character of his reasoning is shifty; he evades Augustin’s questions and starts fresh ones.  Augustin pushes his usual and fundamental objection to the Manichæan system.  If God is impassable and incorruptible, how could He be injured by the assaults of the kingdom of darkness?  In opposition to the statement of Fortunatus, that the Almighty produces no evil, he explains that God made no nature evil, but made man 36 free, and that voluntary sin is the grand original evil.  The most remarkable circumstance in the discussion is the desire of Fortunatus to direct the conversation to the conduct of the Manichæans, and the refusal of Augustin to make good the charges which had been made against them, or to discuss anything but the doctrine.40 Twelve years after this, a similar disputation was held between Augustin and one of the elect among the Manichæans, who had come to Hippo to propagate his religion.  This man, Felix, is described by Augustin41 as being ill-educated, but more adroit and subtle than Fortunatus.  After a keen discussion, which occupied two days, the proceedings terminated by Felix signing a recantation of his errors in the form of an anathema on Mani, his doctrines, and the seducing spirit that possessed him.  These two disputations are valuable, as exhibiting 38 His willingness to do so, and the success with which he encountered the most renowned champions of this heresy, should have prevented Beausobre from charging him with misunderstanding or misrepresenting the Manichæan doctrine.  The retractation of Felix tells strongly against this view of Augustin’s incompetence to deal with Manichæism. 39 Possidius. Vita Aug. vi. 40 This cannot but make us cautious in receiving the statements of the tract, On the Morals of the Manichæans.  There can be little doubt that many of the Manichæans practiced the ascetic virtues, and were recognizable by the gauntness and pallor of their looks, so that Manichæan became a by-word for any one who did not appreciate the felicity of good living.  Thus Jerome says of a certain class of women, "quam viderint pallentem atque tristem, Miseram, Monacham, et Manichæan vocant" (De Custod. Virg. Ep. 18).  Lardner throws light on the practices of the Manichæans, and effectually disposes of some of the calumnies uttered regarding them.  Pusey’s appendix to his translation of the Confessions may also be referred to with advantage. 41 Retract. ii. 8. 51 Preface to the Anti-Manichæan Writings.