defenders of the ancient traditions," he
wrote in 542 to the primate of Byzacene. He confirmed the Bishop of
Carthage in his metropolitan dignity; he restored sees, allowed synods
to meet, gave special privileges to the clergy. An era of church
building set in, and fine monasteries were erected, in all the
impressive solidity of the Byzantine style, even in distant parts of
the Roman territory. Tebessa remains a marvellous example of the
wealth and dignity which came anew to the North African Church. The
literary power of the Church revived with her material prosperity: a
school of writers arose again in the land of Augustine. Primasius,
Facundus, Liberatus, Victor of Tonnenna, were among those who restored
the activity and knowledge of the Church in history, theology, and
apologetic. Over all the emperor Justinian kept his watchful eye,
directing, interfering, exhorting, as seemed to him good. The
controversy of the Three Chapters had its echoes in Africa, and the
deacon Ferrand, a learned theologian, represented a very wide feeling
when, in his _Defensio_, he deprecated any condemnation of the dead
theologians; and in Facundus, Bishop of Hermiane, the unhappy
hesitating pope Vigilius found an adviser who, if anyone, might have
given him firmness. In the result, the emperor, by the pen at least as
much as the sword, overpowered resistance, and Africa accepted the
decisions of Constantinople. Reparatus, Bishop of Carthage, who
resisted, was deposed, Liberatus {107} preserves the record of bitter
persecution, and Victor of Tonnenna, who equally refused to accept the
decision against the Three Chapters, is especially bitter in his
denunciation of Justinian. But the pope Pelagius was able, in 560, to
announce the assent of Africa to the statements of the Fifth General
Council. The Church from the death of Justinian settled down in
peaceable habitations, strong in the imperial support and the affection
of the people. But as, in the relaxation which set in as time went on,
the power of the imperial administration decayed, the power of the
popes in Africa was gradually strengthened, and the power of the
bishops rose equally. But this was not all. In time relaxation set in
in the Church as well as in the State. There are tales of immoral and
corrupt bishops, of disobedience to authority, of a recrudescence, from
591 to 596, of Donatism. It was the pope Gregory the Great who took in
hand the needed reformation.