Victorinus.

        Toward the close of the third century there lived in Poetovio, in Pannonia (the modern Pettau in Styria), a Christian bishop named Victorinus, who suffered martyrdom in 304 in the perse cution of Diocletian. He wrote somewhat copiously, Jerome in forms us (On Illustrious Men 18, 74) producing commentary on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Ecclsiastes, the Song of Songs, Matthew, and the Revelation, but of these only the commentary on the Revelation has come down to us. Jerome reshaped this work, omitting the highly millennial conclusion, with which he strongly disagreed, and adding sections from his contemporary Tyconius. The Spanish presbyter Beatus, late in the eighth century, made use of Jerome's work in his great commentary on the Revelation.[96]

        The commentaries of Victorinus himself owned much to Origen. Indeed, Jerome thought he was more expert in Greek then in Latin and spoke slightingly of his Latinity, and Victorinus modern editor, Haussleiter, finds his style decidedly awkward.

        Victorious also wrote a work Against All Heresies, which is mentioned by Jerome but has disappeared, although an effort has been made, notably by Harnack, to identify it with a work of that name that has come down to us appended to Tertullian's Prescription of Heretics. About the only objection that can be brought against this attractive idea is that the style seems rather better than Victorinus exhibits in the Commentary on the Revelation.

        Another small piece from the pen of Victorious is the fragment De fabrics mundi preserved in a single manuscript at Lambeth and published in 1688 by W. Cave. Although it is not mentioned in antiquity, it seems to be a genuine work of Victorinus; the style is like his, and Jerome said he wrote many other things besides the ten he listed.