SALVIANO di MARSIGLIA. — Christian writer, born around 400. After a few years of marriage, he entered the monastery of Lérins (425); having become a priest, he moved to Marsiglia shortly before 439 and died there shortly after 480.
In 435 he published under the pseudonym “Timotheus” 4 books Ad Ecclesiam, a work of sociological character, in which he maintains that, in order to resolve the social question, all property owners, especially clerics, must donate their possessions to the Church and to the poor, at least upon their death. His principal work is the De gubernatione mundi in 8 books, a historical source of fundamental importance for the period of decline that followed the barbarian invasions. In it he refutes the objection then so widely current, according to which God does not concern himself with what happens on earth, since otherwise the world’s misfortunes could not be explained. He defends the existence of divine Providence, making use of 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 gives a realistic description of the immorality and perversity of the customs prevailing among the Roman Catholics of Gaul, Spain, and Africa, who are now being punished by the invasion of the barbarians. Toward the latter he emphasizes his 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 theater (6, 35); they regard fornication as a crime, whereas for the Romans it is a source of glory (7, 24). Why, then, should we be surprised that misfortunes rain down upon us (7, 62)? «ideo (Deus) nos perferre haec mala patitur, quia meremur ut ista patiamur» (4, 54). The Romans must also be blamed for the barbarians’ heresies. Rather, the barbarians should rightly be recognized as a salutary means of correcting our depravity: «barbari ad emendandam nostrarum turpitudinum labem exstierunt» (7, 94).
In addition, 9 letters by S. have survived. His works, classical in correctness, although bearing traces of Latin decadence, testify to his humanistic formation.