ARTICLE VIII.

Orbis Sacer & Profanus illuftratus. Pars prima, in qua Dioecefeon, Provinciarum, & Metropoleon, tum Ecclefiafticarum, tum Civilium Diftributio, ad normam yeteris Notitia Imperij Romani explicatur. In Reliquis fingulæ Mundi Partes, Eu ropa, Afia, Africa, America, earumque Provincia, Metropoles, & Urbes defcribuntur. Opus Ecclefiafticæ, & Profane Hiftoriæ, nec non Geographie Studiofis apprime utile: Auctore P. Francifco Orlendio, Ordinis Prædicatorum Magiftro, & in Univerfitate Pifana Theologicorum Dogmatum Profeffore. Florentia, 1728.

That is,

The Sacred and Profane World illustrated. Part 1. in which the Divifion of the Diocefes, Provinces, and Metropolitan Cities, both Ecclefiaftical and Civil, is explained according to the antient Notitia of the Roman Empire; the other Parts of the Work containing a Defcription of each of the four Parts of the World in particular, with their Provinces and Cities. A Work very ufeful for Students in Ecclefiaftical and Profane Hiftory, and Geography: By Francis

D 4

Francis Orlendi, Dominican and Pro-
A
feffor of Divinity in the University of
Pifa. Florence, 1728. Fol. Pag. 650.

T'

HE Author acquaints us in his Preface, that as our Saviour, after his Afcenfion, chofe Rome, which was then the Metropolis of the Empire, for the Refidence of his. Vicar, and not Jerufalem, or any other City of Judæa; fo he infpired his Apoftles, and fuch Apoftolic Men as fucceeded them, to retain in the Church the fame Partition of Provinces they had found eftablished in the Empire. According to this Infpiration the Apoftles, and afterwards the Ecumenical Councils, finding the whole Roman Empire divided into fo many Diocefes and Provinces, and in each of them the capital City or Metropolis made the Refidence of the chief Magiftrate, took this Divifion for their Model in establishing the various Ecclefiaftical Jurifdictions, and likewife appointed in each Metropolis a Patriarch, Primate or Metropolitan, to whom the Bishops of the leffer Sees fhould be fubordinate. As this Divifion of the Ecclefiaftical Provinces (if we may be allowed to call them fo) is founded upon the Division of the Provinces of the Empire made by Conftantine the Great, our Author, after having acquainted us with feveral other Partitions of the Roman Empire into Provinces, proceeds to that, which is afcribed to Conftantine, and, having first given a very accurate Account of it, fhews that in the first Centuries of the Church, we find no mention made of any Ecclefiaftical Province or Metropolis, which does not exactly answer this Divifion. This is the main Defign of the first

Part

Part of this Work (the only as yet publifhed) which the Author purfues in the following Method; viz. in enumerating the Diocefes and Provinces, 1. He gives us a fhort but exact Geographical Description of them. 2. Acquaints us when, and under whofe Conduct each of them was fubdued by the Romans. 3. When they were converted by the Apoftles, or their Succeffors, to the Chriftian Religion. 4. Which City is in each of them the Civil, and which the Ecclefiaftical Metropolis, and what Epifcopal Sees or Cities are fubordinate to the Metropolitan. This firft Part is divided into fix Books, in the first of which the Author, 1. Refutes the Opinion of fome Writers, who have advanced, that no City of Afia was honoured with the Title of Metropolis before the Reign of Conftantine the Great; and fhews, that not only Ephefus, which was the capital City of all the Proconfular Afia, but feveral others were likewife ftyled Metropolitan Cities long before Conftantine; fuch were Pergamum, Smyrna, Sardis, &c. which laft City was anciently entitled Prima Metropolis, the first and chief Metropolis not only of Afia, but alfo of Lydia and Greece. In like manner Antioch is called by Dio and Spartianus (in Hadriano) the Metropolis of Syria; and Alexandria, by others, the Metropolis of Egypt. 2. He enumerates all fuch Cities, as were anciently diftinguished by the Title of Metropolis, throughout the whole Roman Empire, and treats of the great Power that was lodged in the Auguftal Præfect of Egypt, of the Extent of his Jurifdiction, of the Officers that were fubordinate to him. 3. Inquires when, and by whom, the Division of Diocefes and Provinces was introduced into the Church, and

whether

*

whether thofe, who introduced it, followed the Polity of the Jewish Republic, or of the Raman Empire. Our Author here endeavours to prove that the Apostles were the first Authors of this Divifion, but produces no Reasons in favour of this Opinion, which have not been alledged by Petrus de Marca, and fully anfwered by M. Du Pin. 4. He proposes feveral Notitia's of the Roman Empire, but dwells upon that, which is commonly afcribed to Conftantine the Great. As this was the Model of the whole Ecclefiaftical Polity, and is the Subject of the four following Books, it will not be amifs to give here a diftinct Account of it.

Conftantine, being jealous of the too great Power of the Præfecti Prætorio, who had often ufurped the Empire, divided that Office into four Parts, and the whole Roman Empire into four Prefectures. Thefe were the Oriental, the Illyric, the Gallican, and the Italian; to which he appointed four Rectores, whom he called by the antient Name Præfecti Prætorio. Under the Command of the Præfectus Prætorio of the Oriental, he put five Diocefes or Jurifdictions, viz. the Oriental, (this was alfo the Name of one particular Diocefs) the Egyptian, the Afiatic, the Pontic, and the Thracian. Each of these Jurifdictions comprehended many Provinces. In the Oriental Jurifdiction, the Head of which was the City of Antioch, there were fifteen Provinces; in the Egyptian, whofe Head was Alexandria, fix; in the Afiatic,, which had Ephefus for its Metropolis, ten; in the Pontic,

* L. 1. Concor. Sacer. & Imper. c. 3. & Lib. 6. c. t. + De Antiq. Ecclef. Difcip. Differt. 6.

whofe

whofe chief City was Cæfarea, eleven; the Thracian had firft Heraclea for its Capital City, and afterwards Conftantinople, and was made up of fix Provinces.

Under the Prefectus Prætorio of Illyricum there were two Jurifdictions, the Macedonian and the Dacian; the Macedonian, the Head of which was Theffalonica, comprehended fix Provinces, and the Dacian, whofe Metropolis was Sardica, five.

Under the Adminiftration of the Præfectus Prætorio of Gaul there were three Jurifdictions, the Gallican of feventeen Provinces; the Spanish of feven; and that of Britain made up firft of three, afterwards of five Provinces, viz. Maxima Cafarienfis, Britannia Prima, Britannia Secunda, Valentia, Flavia Cæfarienfis.

Under the Præfectus Prætorio of Italy there were three Jurifdictions, the Italian, the Illyric, and the African. The Italian contained feventeen Provinces, the Illyric fix, the African fix.

The chief Rulers of thefe Provinces were the Præfecti Prætorio, who had under them the Vicarii, the Rectores of the Provinces, the Confulares, Correctores, Præfides, and all the Magiftrates of the Jurifdictions that were under their Care. The Vicarii were fet over whole Jurifdictions, and the Provinces, of which they were compofed. The Rectores governed, not entire Jurifdictions, but only fome Provinces. The Confulares, Correctores and Præfides had the Government of one fingle Province, which from the Quality. of its Governour was called Confular, Correctorial, or Prefidial.

These four Prefectures are the Subject of the the four following Books, in which the Author gives us a particular Account of each Province

and