Chapter 18 Rebaptism as a Ritual of Cultural Integration in Vandal Africa 1 Eric Fournier Midway through the first book of his History of the Vandal Persecution, Victor of Vita narrates the story of a Vandal master who deemed it appropriate to allow his two Roman slaves, Martinianus and Maxima, to marry (l.30).2 But Maxima was a virgin dedicated to God and she converted her husband to her ascetic lifestyle (l.31). Martinianus in tum converted his three brothers and they all fled to a nearby monastery (1.32). Incensed, the master organized a search for his slaves, who were soon found. He had them tortured, forced the spouses to consummate their union and, worse, rebaptized them (1.33). For Victor, these events were part of a persecution ofNicenes by the Vandals occurring in North Africa. 3 In this specific instance, the Vandal master failed to realize that he was now persecuting slaves that belonged to God and no longer his own.4 The master afterward had the Roman slaves tortured daily to coerce them into converting to his Christian Homoean confession, but they were miraculously healed by Christ-doctor, and the Vandal master along with his children suffered death as a divine punishment (l.34-5).5 The master's widow then Thanks to AndfMerrills, Beth Digeser and Hal Drake, for their comments on earlier versions of this chapter. I am obviously solely responsible for remaining errors and for the opinions expressed here. 2 The text of Victor (henceforth HP) is cited according to the edition of S. Lancel, Victor de Vita: Histoire de la persecution vandale en Afrique (paris, 2002). In preparing my translations, I have consulted both the French translation of Lancel and that of J. Moorhead, Victor of Vita: History ofthe Vandal Persecution (Liverpool, 1992). Throughout, Victor's text will be referred to, following Moorhead and the conventions of scholarship, as "History of the Vandal Persecution," even if the title attested by the manuscripts is the more neutral "Historia persecutionis Africanae prouinciae." Translations are my own except where otherwise stated. Cf. L. Dossey's contribution to this volume for another take on this episode. 3 E. F oumier, Victor of Vita and the Vandal "Persecution ": Interpreting Exile in Late Antiquity (diss. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, 2008). Cf. A. Merrills and R. Miles, The Vandals (Malden, MA, 2010), 177-203. 4 HP 1.33: Inueniens itaque iam non sua sed Christi mancipia, conicit uinculis et uariis tormentis dei famulos insectatur. See S. Costanza, "Considerazioni storiografiche nell'Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae di Vittore di Vita," BStudLat 6 (1976), 30-6, on Victor's (absence of) theological conception of history. See now L. Ayres, Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach