We have now reached the end of Hilary’s
life. Sulpicius Severus Chron. ii.
45. tells us that he
died in the sixth year from his return. He had probably reached
Poitiers early in the year 361; we have seen that the latest event
recorded in the fragments of his history must have come to his
knowledge early in 367. There is no reason to doubt that this was
the conclusion of the history, and no consideration suggests that
Sulpicius was wrong in his date. We may therefore assign the
death of Hilary, with considerable confidence, to the year 367, and
probably to its middle portion. Of the circumstances of his death
nothing is recorded. This is one of the many signs that his
contemporaries did not value him at his true worth. To them he
must have been the busy and somewhat unsuccessful man of affairs; their
successors in the next generation turned away from him and his works to
the more attractive writings and more commanding characters of Ambrose
and Augustine. Yet certainly no firmer purpose or more convinced
faith, perhaps no keener intellect has devoted itself to the defence
and elucidation of truth than that of Hilary: and it may be that
Christian thinkers in the future will find an inspiration of new and
fruitful thoughts in his writings.