Since this controversy which I have with Joseph Scaliger depends chiefly on authority and ancient prescription, it has seemed good, at the end of the book, to gather the votes again by way of recapitulation, so that fair judges may have at one glance what can move them to assign the Vindications justly or to refuse them.
On Scaliger’s side, who thinks that he was the first to have doubted, there were formerly certain Greeks, but anonymous men, and it is uncertain whether they were Catholics or heretics. In France also there were some, during the reigns of Louis the Pious and Charles the Bald, but they too were anonymous. In the memory of our grandfathers, Theodore Gaza and Lorenzo Valla, grammarians, dug up the buried error and sold it as new; then Desiderius Erasmus, of uncertain faith; Cajetan, a Catholic, but too credulous toward Erasmus; Luther the heresiarch with his followers; Calvin, the other heresiarch, with his followers; and in these years Joseph Scaliger and Desiderius Heraldus. You see a thin maniple, and one of skirmishers.
On the other side stands a dense and plainly unconquered legion, the strength of the triarii, summoned from Asia, Africa, and Europe: universal Councils, Roman Pontiffs, Patriarchs, Bishops, Doctors of the Church, Theologians, Historians, and Philosophers, all once celebrated on earth, many now glorious in heaven.
Of these, some received all the books of Dionysius which we have, others certain of them, as genuine works of Blessed Dionysius the Areopagite.
All the books were received by all who published scholia on them, such as Maximus the Martyr and Pachymeres among the Greeks; or who presented them to Latium, such as Scotus, Hilduin, Anastasius the Librarian, and others; or who composed their tables, such as John of Scythopolis, Suidas, Symeon Metaphrastes, Nicephorus, and Hilduin; or who expressly affirmed that they are by Dionysius the Areopagite, such as Theodore the Presbyter, and the same Anastasius and Hilduin, Guillaume Bude, Matthaeus Galenus, Alanus Copus, Cardinal Baronius, and our Cardinal Bellarmine. To these one may add Jeremiah of Constantinople and many others. Likewise, those who, taking testimonies indiscriminately from these little works, confirmed theological axioms from them, such as, with the Master of the Sentences, Saints Bonaventure and Thomas, and all the rest of the Scholastics. Likewise, those who simply mentioned the writings of the Areopagite, or gathered certain fragments from uncertain places, such as Saint Cyril, chapter 13; Liberatus, chapter 28; Saint Sanctinus and Hincmar, chapter 29; Anastasius of Nyssa, chapter 14; Antonius Melissa, chapter 16; Theodore Prodromus, chapter 20; Cardinal Bessarion, chapter 23; and the eighth General Synod at Ferrara, chapter 25.
But many brought forward certain and definite passages of the little books that are extant. For example:
On the Celestial Hierarchy: Blessed Ignatius the Martyr, chapter 10; Saint Jerome, chapter 11; Saint Gregory Nazianzen, chapter 11; Saint Chrysostom, chapter 11; Saint Dionysius of Alexandria, chapter 12; Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, chapter 14; Origen Adamantius, chapter 12; Saint Michael Syncellus, chapter 19; Saint John Damascene, chapter 19; George the Patrician, chapter 21; Euthymius Zigabenus, chapter 22; Saint Gregory the Great, chapter 26; Pope Hadrian I, chapter 27; Hugh of Saint Victor, chapter 29; and Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, chapter 30.
On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy: Anastasius of Nicaea, chapter 14; Elias of Crete, chapter 17; Saint Michael Syncellus, chapter 19; Saint John Damascene, chapter 19; George the Patrician, chapter 21; Euthymius Zigabenus, chapter 22; the first Nicene Synod, chapter 24; the second Nicene Synod, chapter 24; the chapter Omnes, distinction 38, from the Decree of Gratian, chapter 24; and Saint Bonaventure, chapter 30.
From the book On the Divine Names: Saint Ignatius the Martyr, chapter 10; Saint Maximus the Martyr, chapter 13; Saint Anastasius of Sinai, chapter 14; Saint Andrew of Crete, chapter 17; Glycas, chapter 18; Julian, Bishop of Jerusalem, chapter 18; Euthymius the historiographer, chapter 18; Saint John Damascene, chapters 18 and 19; Saint Symeon Metaphrastes, chapter 20; Nicephorus Callistus, chapters 18 and 13; Epiphanius the Presbyter, chapter 18; Saint Michael Syncellus, chapters 18 and 19; the Greeks in a certain hymn on the Mother of God, chapter 18; George the Patrician, chapter 21; Euthymius Zigabenus, chapter 22; the sixth General Synod, chapter 24; Saint Pope Martin I, chapter 26; Pope Agatho, chapter 27; and Saint Thomas Aquinas, chapter 30.
From the book On Mystical Theology: George the Patrician, chapter 21, and that monk Euthymius Zigabenus, chapter 22.
All the Letters were mentioned by those who enumerate all the works; but the following mention certain letters individually and specifically in this way:
For the fourth Letter, to Gaius the Therapeuta: Saint Sophronius, Bishop of Jerusalem, chapter 15; Saint Maximus, chapters 13 and 22; Saint Michael Syncellus, chapter 19; Saint John Damascene, chapter 22; Euthymius Zigabenus, chapter 22; the Lateran Synod under Martin I, chapter 25; Saint Pope Martin, chapter 26; Sergius of Tempsa, chapter 16; and Deusdedit of Cagliari, chapter 28. All these are Catholics. From the Monothelites, however, you have five in chapter 15: Sergius, Cyrus, Pyrrhus, Macarius the Patriarchs, and Themistius the philosopher.
For the Letter to Demophilus the Therapeuta: Pope Nicholas I, chapter 27.
For the Letter to Saint John the Evangelist: Pope Hadrian I, chapter 27.
Are they not many and trustworthy enough?