Breviarium 3

Wearied by the hardships of travel, and having for a while withdrawn my mind from temporal cares, I have compiled this Breviary of the two heresies—that is, of the Nestorians and the Eutychians—from the ecclesiastical history recently translated from Greek into Latin, and from the acts of synods, or from the letters of the holy Fathers; weaving into the course of time those things which I received from a Greek document at Alexandria, or learned by the faithful narration of men of great authority. Doing this for my own instruction and for my answer against the false-speaking followers of both parties, who by their accustomed zeal speak of their authors otherwise than the truth holds, I gladly offer it to my catholic brethren who are ignorant of the deeds of these very heresies and who wish to read of them.

"Of travel," etc. ] Namely under Reparatus, bishop of Carthage, whose deacon he was, to whom he so gave himself as a faithful companion, even in exile, that he did not depart from Euchaita until after the bishop's death. "Wearied," etc. ] The reading may seem corrupt: for how do these two words cohere, "wearied" and "at leisure"? What if one read "having finished"? Yet the old reading can be retained; but in such a way that "wearied" is set for "refreshed from weariness"—an unusual signification, indeed, but one that may be excused in an African. "Translated from Greek into Latin," etc. ] By Epiphanius the scholastic, at the prompting of Cassiodorus, who out of the histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret put together what they call the Tripartite History.

"A Greek document at Alexandria," etc. ] It is not permitted to guess what that was, unless what we conjectured in the preface concerning Nestorius the bishop of Phtagoneus be untrue. "For my own instruction and answer," etc. ] That is, to instruct myself, and so that I might readily answer those who inquire.