Short notes on some of the historical characters involved in the Priscillianist controversy.

Ambrose
Bishop of Milan from A.D.374 - 4 April 397. Priscillian sought an audience with him in Milan in A.D.382 but Ambrose refused to see him. At the time of the synod of Bordeaux and the trial of Priscillian in Trier, Ambrose was acting as a 'go between' for the boy emperor Valentinian II at the court of Maximus. His dubious relationship with Maximus may explain his reticence in speaking out about the trial.
After the defeat and death of Maximus by Theodosius, the emperor of the east, Ambrose wrote a letter referring to "'the bloody triumphs of the bishops' as a cause of passionate division of opinion." (1)

Damasus I
Bishop of Rome from October 366 to his death in November 384.
His election was contested by Ursinus, and the two were elected simultaneously in two different basilicas in Rome followed by open fighting in the streets between their groups of supporters. The secular prefects of the city were called in to to restore order, and after a first setback, when they were driven to the suburbs and a massacre of 137 was perpetrated in the basilica of Sicininus (the modern Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore), the prefects banished Ursinus to Gaul, (2). According to M. Walsh, Damasus faced accusations of murder and adultery (despite having not been married]) in his early years as pope (3) .
As Pope he advised the synod which met at Saragosa (A.D.380) not to condemn "absent persons without a proper trial" (4). Priscillian took this to mean that he could look to Damasus for support. (5) As we have seen, the visit of Priscillian to  Rome met with rejection.
Damasus died at the time of the synod of Bordeaux aged 79 and was succeeded by pope Siricius.

Hydatius
Bishop and Metropolitan of Emerita Augusta (modern Mérida, regional capital of Extremadura in Spain)
He was alerted by Hyginus to the teaching of the layman Priscillian in his diocese. Hydatius looked to Ithacius of Ossonuba for support, and the two of them were the chief ecclesiastical prosecutors of the Priscillianists.
After the trial of Priscillian and the deposition of Ithacius, he resigned his see, was excommunicated and joined Ithacius in exile.

Ithacius
Bishop of Ossonuba (modern Estoi near Faro in the Algarve)
He was first approached by Hydatius of Mérida looking for support against Priscillian. Chadwick notes that :- His teachings were at odds with the lifestyle of many of the bishops of his day. as we have seen, even S. Severus in his condemnation of Priscillian, has to admit that Ithacius was a man "without weight, without any touch of holiness; talkative, impudent, given to high living, much enjoying the pleasures of the stomach and a gormandizer". (6)
He was the chief "witness for the prosecution" against Priscillian and his companions at the synod of Bordeaux and "prosecuting officer" at the first trial of the Priscillianists at Trier. The withdrawal of Ithacius as prosecutor necessitated a second hearing of the case when he was replaced by Patricius, a treasury advocate. There is a passing comment by Sulplicius Severus that Maximus wanted the heretics property.(7) Maximus was seeking funds for his war-chest!
After the fall of Maximus (A.D. 388) Ithacius was canonically deposed from his see (by the synod of Milan in 390?). The complaint against him was that of "bringing an accusation on a capital charge". He was excommunicated and exiled. (8)
The ancient writer Isidore of Seville (died A.D.636) summarised an "Apology" written by Ithacius showing -  "Priscillian's hateful doctrines and arts of sorcery and disgraceful lechery" . Chadwick notes that "The comparison of Isidore's summary of Ithacius' apologia with Sulplicius Severus' account of the origins of Priscillian's movement makes it as good as certain that Sulplicius Severus was drawing upon Ithacius' book as his main source." (9).

Martin
Bishop of Tours A.D. 371 - 8 November 397. He objected to the trial of Priscillian, a bishop, by a secular court. Arguing that the judgement made at the synod of Bordeaux of excommunication and deprevation was punishment enough. He was unavoidably absent on other business at the trial and execution in Trier. On his return he argued vehmently with the emperor Maximus against his decision to send tribunes to Spain to carry out an inquisition against the Priscillianists. He managed to persuade Maximus to recall them and in return Martin would support the election of Felix as bishop of Trier. This meant that he joined with Ithacius and Hydatius in the consecration of Felix. Afterwards he would "confess that since the day when he had felt forced to join with those polluted men in laying hands on Felix of Trier, he had suffered a loss of charismatic and healing powers". (10)



(1) Chadwick p.151
(2) Ammianus Marcellinus, 27.3.12; 27.9.9. Translated by J.C. Rolfe, Ammianus Marcellinus
    (Cambridge: Loeb Classical Library, 1939)
(3) M. Walsh. Butler's Lives of the Saints (Harper Collins Publishers: New York, 1991).
(4) Chadwick. p.25-26
(5) Tractate ii is subtitled - Priscillian's Book to Bishop Damasus, see Conti p.p. 70-71: 74-75: 76-77  etc.
(6) Sulplicius Severus quoted in Chadwick. p.149
(7) Sulplicius Severus Dial.iii.11. 10 - 11
(8) Prosper Chron. ad. ann. 389 (Chron. min.i.462) See Chadwick p.14
(9) Chadwick p. 21.
(10) Chadwick p. 147