4 In Retract. i. 7, § 6, it is said "This must not be understood to mean that all things return to that from which they fell away, as Origen believed, but only those which do return. Those who shall be punished in everlasting fire do not return to God, from whom they fell away. Still they are in order as existing in punishment where their existence is most suitable." [This does not really meet the difficulty suggested on a preceding page.-A. H. N.]
6 [That is to say nothing is absolutely evil, and conversely what is absolutely evil is ipso facto non-existent.-A. H. N.]
8 [The reasoning here is admirably adapted to Augustine's purpose, which is to refute the Manichaean notion of the evil nature of material substance.-A. H. N.]
9 [The text has asinum in this sentence but aspidem in the next. The former is a mistake.-A. H. N.]
12 Sallust, in prolog. Catilin. § 3.
19 1 Cor. x. 19-25 and 28, xi. 1.
20 [Augustine's comparison of Manichaean with Christian asceticism is thoroughly just and admirable.-A. H. N.].
21 [Much of the foregoing, as well as of what follows, seems to the modern reader like mere trifling, but Augustine's aim was by introducing many familiar illustrations to show the utter absurdity of the Manichaean distinctions between clean and unclean. It must be confessed that he does this very effectively.-A. H. N.]
24 [This is, of course, a physiological blunder, but Augustine doubtless states what was the common view at the time.-A. H. N.]
25 V. Retract. i. 7. § 6, where Augustine allows that this is doubtful, and that many have not even heard of it.