SALVIAN of MARSEILLES. – Christian writer, born c. 400. After a few years of marriage, he entered the monastery of Lérins (425); having become a priest, he moved to Marseilles shortly before 439 and died there shortly after 480.
In 435 he published under the pseudonym “Timothy” the books *Ad Ecclesiam*, a work of sociological character, in which he argues that, to resolve the social question, all property owners, especially clerics, must donate their goods to the Church and to the poor, at least at the time of their death. His principal work is the *De gubernatione Dei* in 8 books, a historical source of fundamental importance for the period of decline that followed the barbarian invasions. In it he rebuts the objection then much in vogue, according to which God does not care about what happens on earth, since otherwise the world’s misfortunes would not be explicable. He defends the existence of divine Providence, employing reason, history, and Scripture. God begins His judgment upon the earth already in the present time, before the end of the world. At this point he describes in realistic fashion the immorality and perversity of the dominant customs among Roman Catholics of Gaul, Spain, and Punic Africa, now punished by the invasion of the barbarians. Toward these latter he expresses marked sympathy and praises certain of their virtues: “Mutuo amant, omnes paene Romani se mutuo persequuntur” (5, 15); they live in chastity (7, 64; 107); they do not know the atrocities of the circus and the theatre (6, 35); they regard fornication as a crime, which instead is a glory for the Romans (7, 24). How, then, should we be surprised that misfortunes rain down upon us (7, 62)? “Ideo (Deus) nos perferre haec mala patitur, quia meretur ut ista patiamur” (4, 54). The Romans must also be blamed for the heresies of the barbarians. Instead, one should well recognize in the barbarians a salutary means of correction for our own turpitudes: “barbari ad emendandam nostram turpitudinum labem exstiterunt” (7, 94).
Nine letters of S. also survive. His works of classical correctness, though with traces of Latin decadence, are a testimony to his humanistic formation.