OROSIUS, PAULUS, a learned presbyter of Spain, born towards the close of the fourth century at Tarragona, on the shores of the Mediterranean. After spending some time in study in his native country, he passed over to Africa to enjoy the instructions of the celebrated St Augustine, Bishop of Hippo Regius. How long he remained there before returning to Spain cannot be precisely ascertained. It is known, however, that Orosius was despatched by the Spanish bishops Eutropius and Paul (A.D. 414) to consult St Augustine on several abstruse points of doctrine then under dispute. On this occasion Orosius wrote Consultatio cum Commonitorium Orosii ad Augustinum de errore Priscillianistarum et Origenistarum; to which Augustine published the reply, Ad Orosium contra Priscillianistas et Origenistas; both of which pieces are to be found in the works of the Bishop of Hippo. During the following year Orosius set out for Palestine, at the recommendation of Augustine, to consult St Jerome, the best scholar and critic of the early church, then engaged on his Latin version of the Scriptures. The active intelligence, gentle bearing, and calm modesty of the young Spaniard, won the heart of the great scholar, and he showed him as much kindness as Augustine
Orotava had done before him. While resident in Palestine, Orosius had occasion to break a lance with Pelagius. In a synod held at Jerusalem on the 30th July A.D. 415, the Spanish presbyter was called upon to oppose that heretic and his disciples, which led to the publication of the famous treatise Apologia contra Pelagium de Arbitrii Libertate, afterwards appended to the author's History of the World. On his way home to Spain in 416 A.D., Orosius took occasion, in accordance with his promise, to visit Augustine at Hippo. Rome had just been captured and pillaged a few years previously by the Visigoths, who were converts to Christianity. This gave rise to the calumnious assertion, industriously promulgated by the heathens of that time, that Christianity had been injurious rather than beneficial to mankind. Augustine took up his pen in defence of the cause; and, in his famous De Civitate Dei, showed, by an appeal to historical facts, that precisely the opposite was true. On this work the bishop was engaged when Orosius first visited him; and Augustine endeavoured to induce the zealous Spaniard to embark in a similar undertaking, and do for the facts of general history what he had done for the facts of the history of the church in his City of God. This was the origin of Orosius' well-known Historiarum adversus Paganos Libri VII., dedicated to St. Augustine. Part of it is said to have been put together in Africa; and it was probably completed about A.D. 416, the date at which the narrative closes. It is written with great force and brevity, and soon attained a wide popularity. It was lauded by popes, translated by kings, and read by all. The editio princeps of the History was printed at Vienna as early as 1471; but the best edition is unquestionably that of Havercamp, Lugd. Bat., 4to, 1738. A number of other pieces have been ascribed to Orosius, but no complete edition of his works has yet appeared. (For further information respecting Orosius, the reader may consult the works of J. W. Moller, 1689; of Dalmasses y Roz, 1702; of C. A. Haumann, 1732; of G. F. H. Beck, 1834; and of P. T. von Moerner, 1844.)
King Alfred transferred the substance of Orosius' History from the original Latin into Anglo-Saxon for the instruction of his people. Of this royal version three separate editions have been published in this country; one by Daines Barrington, with an English translation, 8vo, London, 1773, full of inaccuracies; another by B. Thorpe, with an English translation, 8vo, London, 1853, appended to Paul's Life of Alfred the Great in Bohn's "Antiquarian Library;" and a third, with the English version only, but containing an introduction and valuable notes by Dr. Bosworth, London, 1855.