Laudator Temporis Acti

Vernon J. Bourke, Augustine's Quest of Wisdom: Life and Philosophy of the Bishop of Hippo (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1945), pp. 170-171:

It was evident from the beginning that Primianus' party intended to do everything possible to evade the central issue, that is, the question as to which party was the true Christian Church in Africa. The Donatists resorted to all sorts of subterfuges in order to delay and confuse the proceedings. Petilianus and Emeritus were the leaders in this procedure. An almost comic example of this sort of thing occurred on the first day. Marcellinus, opening the meeting, asked the two groups to sit down. Immediately, Petilianus, speaking for his fellow Donatists, refused. He explained that they were obeying the Scriptural injunction against the "just" sitting down with the "impious."⁴¹ Marcellinus asked the Donatists to reconsider but they were adamant. As a result of this foolishness, the more than five hundred bishops stood up through three days of disputation, because the Catholics could hardly remain seated when their opponents stood.

⁴¹ Collat. Carthag., I, 144-145; PL 11, 1319; and II, 3; PL 11, 1353-1354. Cf. Monceaux, op. cit., VI, 63.