Note 006
The best materials for this part of ecclesiastical
history may be found in the edition of Optatus Milevitanus,
published (Paris, 1700) by M. Dupin, who has enriched it
with critical notes, geographical discussions, original
records, and an accurate abridgment of the whole
controversy. M. de Tillemont has bestowed on the Donatists
the greatest part of a volume (tom. vi. part i.): and I am
indebted to him for an ample collection of all the passages
of his favourite St. Augustin which relate to those
heretics.
Note to Chapter 21 of Decline and Fall by Gibbon