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1 Baur discredits this claim on internal grounds (Das Manich. Religionssystem, p. 7).
2 * The printed text of the Eerdman's reprint is damaged or unreadable here.
2 Indian Wisdom, 3rd ed. (1876), p. 49.
3 Lenormant, Chaldean Magic (1877), p. 144-145.
6 Ante-Nicene Library, Am. ed. vol. vi. pp. 182 and 188.
8 Outlines of the Hist. of Religion (1877), p. 173. Cf. J. Darmsteter, Introduction to the Zend-Avesta, p. xliii., xliv., lvi., lxxii., lxxiv. sq.; and his article in the Contemporary Review (Oct. 1879), on "The Supreme God in the Indo-European Mythology."
9 This is confidently asserted by Kessler (Art. Mani in Herzog's RE. 2d ed.vol. IX. p. 258), and after him by Harnack, Encyclopaedia Britannica, art. Manichaeism. On the other hand, Lenormant (Anc. Hist. II. p. 30), says: "Ahriman had been eternal in the past, he had no beginning, and proceeded from no former being * * * . This being who had no beginning would come to an end. * * * . Evil then should be finally conquered and destroyed, the creation should become as pure as on its first day, and Ahriman should disappear forever." Such, doubtless, was the original doctrine, but the form probably in vogue in the time of Mani was more pantheistic or monotheistic, both Ormuzd and Ahriman proceeding from boundless time (Zrvan akarana). See on this matter, Darmsteter: Introd. to the Zend-Avesta, p. lxxii, etc., and his art. in Contemp. Review; and Lenormant: Anc. Hist. as above.
10 That meat is used in the sense of flesh may be inferred from Darmsteter's comment on this passage, which he suggests may be a bit of religious polemics against Manichaeism. See his Introd. to the Zend-Avesta, p. xl. sq.
11 Das Manichäische Religionssystem, p. 433 sq.
13 Cunningham, St. Austin and his Place in the History of Christian Thought (1886), has these remarks on the relation of Mani to Buddhism: "Mani was indeed a religious reformer: deeply impregnated with the belief and practice which Buddhist monks were spreading in the East, he tried with some success to reform the religion of Zoroaster in Persia [i. e. the Persian Empire], his native land. While his fundamental doctrine, the root of his system, was of Persian origin, and he figured the universe to himself as if it were given over to the unending conflict between the Powers of Light and Darkness, in regard to discipline his system very closely resembles that founded by Buddha; the elect of the Manichaeans correspond to the Buddhist monks: the precepts about abstinence from meat and things of sense are, if not borrowed from the rules Gotama gave for the conduct of his followers, the outcome of the same principles about the nature of man." Harnack, art. Manichaesm in Ency. Britannica, follows Kessler in attaching slight importance to the Buddhist influence on Manichaeism, preferring, with him, to derive nearly all of the features ascribed by Baur, Neander and others to Buddhist influence, to the old Babylonian religion, the precise character of which, in the time of Mani, is imperfectly understood. Harnack's (and Kessler's) statements must therefore be taken with some allowance. There is no objection, however, to supposing that Mani derived from the old Babylonian party or parties with which he came in contact religious principles which were wrought out in detail under the influence of Buddhism. This is in fact what probably occurred.
14 Encyclopaedia Britannica, art. Manichaeism.
15 Confessions, Book. VII. ch. 9, vol. 1. p. 108, of the present series.
16 See G. Loesche: De Augustineo Plotinizante in Doctrina de deo Disserenda, Jenae, 1880. Also, Dorner: Augustineus, Zeller, Ueberweg, Ritter, and Erdmann: Histories of Philosophy, sections on Augustine and Neo-Platonism.
17 See J. B. Mozley's Ruling Ideas in Early Ages, art. The Manichaeans and the Jewish Fathers. The sentence quoted above is Mozley's.
18 For an account of the controversies in which Augustine was engaged with the Manichaeans, and for the chronological order of the Anti-Manichaean treatises, see the Preface of the Edinburgh editor. Cf. Bindemann, on the various controversies, in his Der h. Augustineus, passim. See also, a good chronological list of St. Augustine's works in Cunningham: St. Austin, p. 277 sq.
19 Compare Professor Geoge T. Stokes' excellent article Manichaeans, in Smith and Wace: Dict. of Chr. Biography, vol. III. p. 798 sq.
1 Beausobre (Histoire Critique de Manichée et du Manichéisme, Amst. 1734, 2 vols.) has collected everything that is known of Mani. The original sources are here sifted with unusual acuteness, and with great and solid learning, though the author's strong "bias in favor of a heretic" frequently leads him to make unwarranted statements. Burton's estimate of this entertaining and indispensable work (Heresies of Apostol. Age, p. xxi.), is much fairer than Pusey's (Aug. Conf. p. 314). A brief account of Mani and his doctrines is given by Milman with his usual accuracy, impartiality and lucidity (Hist. of Christianity, ii. 259, ed. 1867). For any one who wishes to investigate the subject further, ample references are there given. A specimen of the confusion that involves the history of Mani will be found in the account given by Socrates (Hist. i. 22).
2 [For the Oriental accounts of Mani's parentage and youth, see the Introductory Essay, and the works there referred to.-A.H.N.]
1 See also Eusebius: Hist. Eccl. vii. 31, with Heinichen's note.
3 "Peut-étre cherchons nous du mystere, ou il n'y en a point."-Beausobre, i. 79.
4 [This is in the highest degree improbable.-A.H.N.]
5 Called Erteng or Arzeng, i. e., according to Renaudot, an illustrated book.
6 Böhringer adopts the more horrible tradition. "Sein Schicksal war, dass er von den Christen, von den Magiern verfolgt nach mannig fachem Wechsel unter Bahram lebendig geschunden wurde" (p. 386).
7 Böhringer characterizes it briefly in the words: "Es ist der alte heidnische Dualismus mit seiner Naturtheologie, der in Mani's Systeme seine letzten Kräfte sammelt und unter der gleissenden Hülle christlicher Worte und Formen an den reinen Monotheismus des Christenthums und dessen reine Ethik sich heranwagt."
8 Aug. c. Faustum, xiii. 6 and 18. [See full list of Mani's writings in Kessler's art. in Herzog, R. E.-A.H.N.]
9 Lardner, however, seems to prove that Hierax was not a Manichaean, though some of his opinions approximated to this heresy. The whole subject of the Manichaean literature is treated by Lardner (Works, iii. p. 374), with the learning of Beausobre and more than Beausobre's impartiality.
10 The De Natura Boni, written in the year 405, is necessarily very much a reproduction of what is elsewhere affirmed, that all natures are good, and created by God, who alone is immutable and incorruptible. It presents concisely the leading positions of Augustine in this controversy, and concludes with an eloquent prayer that his efforts may be blessed to the conversion of the heretics,-not the only passage which demonstrates that he wrote not for the glory of victory so much as for the deliverance of men from fatal error.
12 Published by Zaccagni in his Collectanea Monumentorum Veterum, Romae, 1698; and by Routh his Reliquiae Sacrae, vol. v., in which all the material for forming an opinion regarding it is collected.
13 Any one who consults Beausobre on this point will find that historical criticism is not of so recent an origin as some persons seem to think. It is worth transcribing his own account of the spirit in which he means to do his work: "Je traiterai mon sujet en Critique, suivant la Reglo de S. Paul, Examinez toutes choses, et ne retenez que ce qui est bon. L'Histoire en general, et l'Histoire Ecclesiastique en particulier, n'est bien souvent qu'un mélange confus de faux et de vrai, entasse par des Ecrivains mal instruits, credules ou passionez. Cela convient surtout a l'Histoire des Heretiques et des Heresies. C'est au Lecteur attentif et judicieux d'en faire le discernement, a l'aide d'une critique, qui ne soit trop timide, ni temeraire. Sans le secours de cet art, on erre dans l'Histoire comme un Pilote sur les mers, lorsqu'il n' a ni boussole, ni carte marine" (i. 7).
14 Beausobre and Cave suppose that we have the whole of Faustus' book embodied in Augustine's review of it. Lardner is of opinion that the commencement, and perhaps the greater part, of the work is given, but not the whole..
15 See the interesting account of Faustus in the Confessions, v. 10.
16 [This estimate of Faustus is somewhat too disparaging. For fuller bibliography, see Introductory Essay.-A. H. N.]
17 His willingness to do so, and the success with which he encountered the most renowned champions of this heresy, should have prevented Beausobre from charging him with misunderstanding or misrepresenting the Manichaean doctrine. The retractation of Felix tells strongly against this view of Augustine's incompetence to deal with Manichaeism.
19 This cannot but make us cautious in receiving the statements of the tract. On the Morals of the Manichaeans. There can be little doubt that many of the Manichaeans practiced the ascetic virtues, and were recognizable by the gauntness and pallor of their looks, so that Manichaean became a by-word for any one who did not appreciate the felicity of good living. Thus Jerome says of a certain class of women, "quam viderint pallentem atque tristem, Miseram, Monacham, et Manichaean vocant" (De Custod. Virg. Ep. 18). Lardner throws light on the practices of the Manichaeans, and effectually disposes of some of the calumnies uttered regarding them. Pusey's appendix to his translation of the Confessions may also be referred to with advantage.
22 Retract. ii. 10: "quod, mea sententia, omnibus quoe adversus illam pestem scribere potui, facile proepono." The reason of this preference is explained by Bindemann, Der heilige Augstinus, iii. 168.
23 "Wo Entwickelungen, dialektische Begriffe sein sollten, stellt sich ein Bild, ein Mythus ein."-Bohringer, p. 390.
24 Some have thought Augustine more successful here than elsewhere. Cassiodorus may have thought so when he said: "diligentius atque vivacius adversus eos quam contra haereses alias disseruit" (Instit. i. quoted by Lardner).
1 Written in the year 388. In his Retractations (i. 7) Augustine says: "When I was at Rome after my baptism, and could not bear in silence the vaunting of the Manichaeans about their pretended and misleading continence or abstinence, in which, to deceive the inexperienced, they claim superiority over true Christians, to whom they are not to be compared, I wrote two books, one on the morals of the Catholic Church, the other on the morals of the Manichaeans."
2 [This is commonly supposed to have been the first work of any importance written by the Author against Manichaeism. What he here refers to it is not easy to conjecture.-A. H. N.]
3 [Augustine's transition from his fine Platonizing discussion of virtue, the chief good, etc., to the patriarchs, the law, and the prophets is very fine rhetorically and apologetically.-A. H. N.]
6 [The most satisfactory feature of Augustine's apology for the Old Testament Scriptures is his demonstration of the substantial agreement of the Old Testament with undisputed portions of the New Testament.-A. H. N.]
8 Rom. viii. 36; cf. Ps. xliv. 22.
9 Retract. i. 7, § 2:-"In the book on the morals of the Catholic Church, where I have quoted the words, `For Thy sake we are in suffering all day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter,0' the inaccuracy of my manuscript misled me; for my recollection of the Scriptures was defective from my not being at that time familiar with them. For the reading of the other manuscripts has a different meaning: not, we suffer, but we suffer death, or, in one word we are killed. That this is the true reading is shown by the Greek text of the Septuagint, from which the Old Testament was translated into Latin. I have indeed made a good many remarks on the words, `For thy sake we suffer,0' and the things said are not wrong in themselves; but, as regards the harmony of the Old and New Testaments, this case certainly does not prove it. The error originated in the way mentioned above, and this harmony is afterwards abundantly proved from other passages."
10 [Augustine's virtus takes the place of the Greek duua/meij and the Vulgate virtutes. It is not quite certain what meaning he attached to the expression. He seems to waver between the idea of power and that of virtue in the ethical sense, and finally settles down to the use of the term in the latter sense. That this does not accord with the meaning of the Apostle is evident.-A. H. N.]
12 [I. e. only by the use of the mental faculty of which God Himself is the Creator and Author; not by any independently existing power "of the same nature with Him who created it."-A. H. N.]
19 [It would be difficult to find in Christian literature a more beautiful and satisfactory exposition of love to God. The Neo-Platonic influence is manifest, but it is Neo-Platonism thoroughly Christianized.-A. H. N.].
22 [Augustine seems to make no distinction between Apocryphal and Canonical books. The book of Wisdom was evidently a favorite with him, doubtless on account of its decided Platonic quality.-A. H. N.].
24 Retract. i. 7, § 3:-"The quotation from the book of Wisdom is from my manuscript, where the reading is, `Wisdom teaches sobriety, justice, and virtue.0' From these words I have made some remarks true in themselves, but occasioned by a false reading. It is perfectly true that wisdom teaches truth of contemplation, as I have explained sobriety; and excellence of action, which is the meaning I give to justice and virtue. And the reading in better manuscripts has the same meaning: `It teaches sobriety, and wisdom, and justice, and virtue.0' These are the names given by the Latin translator to the four virtues which philosophers usually speak about. Sobriety is for temperance, wisdom for prudence, virtue for fortitude, and justice only has its own name. It was long after that we found these virtues called by their proper names in the Greek text of this book of Wisdom.".
40 [Here we have the key to all that is best in Augustine's defense of the anthropomorphisms and the seemingly imperfect ethical representations of the Old Testament. See Mozley's essay on "The Manichaeans and the Jewish Fathers," in his Ruling Ideas in Early Ages. The entire volume represents an attempt to account for the elements in the Old Testament that offend the Christian consciousness.-A. H. N.].
49 [Animi not mentis.-.A. H. N.].
50 From his 19th to his 28th year.
63 Retract. i. 7, § 3: -"I found in many manuscripts the reading, `Vanity of the vain.0' But this is not in the Greek, which has `Vanity of vanities.0' This I saw afterwards. And I found that the best Latin manuscripts had vanities and not vain. But the truths I have drawn from this false reading are self-evident.".
66 [It is interesting to observe how remote Augustine was from attaching superior merit to voluntary poverty, or to other forms of asceticism as ends in themselves. What he prized was the ability to use without abusing, to have without cleaving to the good things which God provides.-A. H. N.].
75 A name given by Augustine to the Holy Spirit, v. xxx.
81 Retract. i. 7. § 4:-"I should have said sincere affection rather than full; or it might be thought that the love of God will be no greater when we shall see Him face to face. Full, then, must be here understood as meaning that it cannot be greater while we walk by faith. There will be greater, yea, perfect fullness, but only by sight.".
82 [By authority Augustine does not mean the authority of the Church or of Scripture, but he refers to the loving recognition of the authority of God as the condition of true discipleship.-A. H. N.]
86 Retract. i. 7. § 4:-"This does not mean that there are actually in this life wise men such as are here spoken of. My words are not, `although they are so wise,0' but `although they were so wise.0' " [Augustine's ideal wise man was evidently the "Gnostic" of Clement of Alexandria. The conception is Stoical and Neo-Platonic.-A. H. N.]
87 Deut. vi. 5; Lev. xix. 18; Matt. xxii. 37, 39.
89 [The strong testimony borne by Augustine against the perverse subjective criticism of the Manichaens has an important application to the present time.-A. H. N.].
90 [This view of the marriage relation seems to have been almost universal in the ancient Church. Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria are fond of dwelling upon it. For Augustine's views more fully stated see his De Bono Conjugali, 6. See also an interesting excursus on "Continence in Married Life" in Cunningham's St. Austin, p. 168. sq.-A. H. N.]
91 [If this apostrophe had been addressed to "Christianity" rather than to the "Catholic Church," no Christian could fail to see in it one of the noblest tributes ever bestowed on the religion of Christ. Augustine identified Christianity with the organized body which was far from realizing the ideal that he here sets forth. As an apostrophe to ideal Christianity nothing could be finer.-A. H. N.]
92 Deut. iv. 24. Retract. i. 7, § 5:-"The Pelagians may think that I have spoken of perfection as attainable in this life. But they must not think so. For the fervor of charity which is fitted for following God, and of force enough to consume all vices, can have its origin and growth in this life; but it does not follow that it can here accomplish the purpose of its origin, so that no vice shall remain in the man; although this great effect is produced by this same fervor of charity, when and where this is possible, that as the laver of regeneration purifies from the guilt of all the sins which attach to man's birth, or come from his evil conduct, so this perfection may purify him from all stain from the vices which necessarily attend human infirmity in this world. So we must understand the words of the apostle: `Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it; cleansing it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing0' (Eph. v. 25-27). For in this world there is the washing of water by the word which purifies the Church. But as the whole Church, as long as it is here, says, `Forgive us our debts,0' it certainly is not while here without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but from that which it here receives, it is led on to the glory which is not here, and to perfection."
94 Hos. xiii. 14; 1 Cor. xv. 54, 55.
96 [This picture of coenobitic life, even in its purest form, is doubtless idealized. It is certain that the monasteries very soon became hot-beds of vice, and the refuge of the scum of society.-A. H. N.]
97 [Augustine ascribes a broadmindedness and charitableness to the ascetics of his time which was doubtless quite subjective. The ascetics of that age with whose history we are acquainted were not of this type. Jerome is an example.-A. H. N.]
103 See title of the Epistle of Manichaeus, Contra Faust. xii i. 4.
107 [Augustine says nothing of the encouragement given to such pagan practices by men regarded in that age as possessed of almost superhuman sanctity, such as Sulpicius Severus, Paulinus of Nola, etc. He speaks of corruptions as if they were exceptional, whereas they seem to have been the rule. Yet there is force in his contention that Christianity be judged by its best products rather than by the worst elements associated with it.-A. H. N.]
108 [Augustine's ideal representation of Christianity and his identification of the organized Catholic Church with Christianity is quite inconsistent with the practice of the Church which he here seeks to justify. No duty is more distinctly enjoined upon believers in the New Testament than separation from unbelievers and evil doers. But such separation is impracticable in an established Church such as that to which Augustine rejoiced to belong.-A. H. N.]
109 Matt. iii. 13, and xiii. 24-43.
1 This statement has a complete parallel in Clement of Alexandria, and along with what follows, is Neo-Platonic.-A. H. N.]
2 [On Augustine's view of negativity of evil and on the relation of this view to Neo-Platonism, see Introduction, chapter IX. Augustine's view seems to exclude the permanence of evil in the world, and so everlasting punishment and everlasting rebellion against God.-A. H. N.]
3 [It is probable that Mani thought of the Kingdom of Light pantheistically, and that the principles personified in his mythological system were the result of efforts on his part to connect the infinite with the finite.-A. H. N.]
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.
26 [Compare what is said about the disgusting ceremonial of Ischas by Cyril of Jerusalem (Cat. vi.), Augustine (Haeres. xlvi.), Pope Leo X. (Serm. V. de Jejuniis, X. Mens.). These charges were probably unfounded, though they are not altogether out of harmony with the Manichaean principles.-A. H. N.]
29 Doubtless Augustine exaggerates the immorality of the Manichaeans; but there must have been a considerable basis of fact for his charges.-A. H. N.]
30 Compare the account from the Fihrist, in our Introduction Chapter III.-A. H. N.].
1 Scarcely any one of his earlier treatises was more unsatisfactory to Augustine in his later Anti-Pelagian years than that Concerning Two Souls. In his Retractations, Book I., chapter xv., he recognizes the rashness of some of his statements and points out the sense in which they are tenable or the reverse. As regards the occasion of the writing, the following may be quoted: "After this book [De Utilitate Credendi] I wrote, while still a presbyter, against the Manichaeans Concerning Two Souls, of which they say that one part is of God, the other from the race of darkness, which God did not found, and which is coeternal with God, and they rave about both these souls, the one good, the other evil, being in one man, saying forsooth that the evil soul on the one hand belongs to the flesh, which flesh also they say is of the race of darkness; but that the good soul is from the part of God that came forth, combated the race of darkness, and mingled with the latter; and they attribute all good things in man to that good soul, and all evil things to that evil soul"-A. H. N.]
2 In his Retractations, Augustine explains this proposition as follows: "I said this in the sense in which the creature is known to pertain to the Creator, but not in the sense that it is of Him, so as to be regarded as part of Him."-A. H. N.
4 It will aid the reader in following the thread of Augustine's argument, if he will bear in mind that throughout this treatise the writer considers the points of antagonism between Manichaeism and Catholicism from the point of view of his early entanglement in Manichaean error. Considering the opportunities that he had for knowing the truth, the helps to have been expected from God in answer to prayer, the capacities of the unperverted intellect to arrive at truth, he inquires how he should have guarded himself from the insinuation of Manichaean error, how he should have defended the truth, and how he should have been the means of liberating others.-A. H. N..
9 Neither Augustine nor the Manichaeans seem to have recognized the distinction in kind between the human soul and animal life.-A. H. N.
20 Nothing is more certain than that Christianity has suffered more at the hands of injudicious and ignorant defenders than from its most astute and determined foes. Little attention would be paid to the blatant infidels of the present day were it not for the interest aroused and sustained by weak attempts to refute their arguments. And as the youthful, ardent Augustine was encouraged and confirmed in his errors by the inability of his opponents, so are errors confirmed at the present day. The philosophical defence of Christianity is a matter of the utmost delicacy, and should be undertaken with fear and trembling.-A. H. N.
21 The Pelagians used this statement with considerable effect in their polemics against its author. In his Retractations Augustine has this to say by way of explanation: "The Pelagians may think that thus was said in their interest, on account of young children whose sin which is remitted to them in baptism they deny on the ground that they do not yet use the power of will. As if indeed the sin, which we say they derive originally from Adam, that is, that they are implicated in his guilt and on this account are held obnoxious to punishment, could ever be otherwise than in will, by which will it was committed when the transgression of the divine precept was accomplished. Our statement, that `there is never sin but in will,0' may be thought false for the reason that the apostle says: `If what I will not this I do, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.0' For this sin is to such an extent involuntary, that he says: `What I will not this I do.0' How, therefore, is there never sin but in the will? But this sin concerning which the apostle has spoken is called sin, because by sin it was done, and it is the penalty of sin; since this is said concerning carnal concupiscence, which he discloses in what follows saying: `I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good; for to will is present to me, but to accomplish that which is good, is not.0' (Rom. vii. 16-18). Since the perfection of good is, that not even the concupiscence of sin should be in man, to which indeed when one lives well the will does not consent; nevertheless man does not accomplish the good because as yet concupiscence is in him, to which the will is antagonistic, the guilt of which concupiscence is loosed by baptism, but the infirmity remains, against which until it is healed every believer who advances well most earnestly struggles. But sin, which is never but in will, must especially be known as that which is followed by just condemnation. For this through one man entered into the world; although that sin also by which consent is yielded to concupiscence is not committed but by will. Wherefore also in another place I have said: `Not therefore except by will is sin committed.0' "-A. H. N.
On this matter Augustine's still earlier treatise De Libero Arbitrio, and his interesting Retractations on the same, should be compared. The reader of these earlier treatises in comparison with the Anti-Pelagian treatises can hardly fail to recognize a marked change of base on Augustine's part. His efforts to show the consistency of his earlier with his later modes of thought are to be pronounced only partially successful. The fact is, that in the Anti-Manichaean time he went too far in maintaining the absolute freedom of the will and the impossibility of sin apart from personal will in the sinner; while in the Anti-Pelagian time he ventured too near to the fatalism that he so earnestly combated in the Manichaeans.-A. H. N.
22 This dictum also Augustine thought it needful to explain: "This was said that by this definition a willing person might be distinguished from one not willing, and so the intention might be referred to those who first in Paradise were the origin of evil to the human race, by sinning no one compelling, that is by sinning with free will, because also knowingly they sinned against the command, and the tempters persuaded, did not compel, that this should be done. For he who ignorantly sinned may not incongruously be said to have sinned unwillingly, although not knowing what he did, yet willingly he did it. So not even the sin of such a one could be without will, which will assuredly, as it has been defined, was a `movement of the mind, no one compelling, either for not losing or for obtaining something.0' For he was not compelled to do what if he had been unwilling he would not have done. Because he willed, therefore he did it, even if he did not sin because he willed, being ignorant that what he did is sin. So not even such a sin could be without will, but by will of deed not by will of sin, which deed was yet sin; for this deed is what ought not to have taken place. But whoever knowingly sins, if he can without sin resist the one compelling him to sin, yet resists not, assuredly sins willingly. For he who can resist is not compelled to yield. But he who cannot by good will resist cogent covetousness, and therefore does what is contrary to the precepts of righteousness, this now is sin in the sense of being the penalty of sin. Wherefore it is most true that sin cannot be apart from will."
It is needless to say that such reasoning would not have answered Augustine's purpose in writing against the Manichaeans.-A. H. N.
23 Here also Augustine guards himself in his Retractations: "The definition is true, inasmuch as that is defined which is only sin, and not also that which is the penalty of sin."-A. H. N.
24 In his Retractations, Augustine replies to the Pelagian denial of the sinfulness of infants, in support of which they had quoted the above sentence. "They [infants] are held guilty not by propriety of will but by origin. For what is every earthly man in origin but Adam?" The will of the whole human race was in Adam, and when Adam sinned the whole race voluntarily sinned, seems to be his meaning.-A. H. N.
25 In his Retractations, Augustine explains that by nature is to be understood the state in which we were created without vice. He transfers the entire argument from the actual condition of man to the primitive Adamic condition. It is evident, however, that this was not his meaning when he combated the Manichaeans. The question of infant sinfulness arises here also, and is discussed in the usual Anti-Pelagian way.-A. H. N.
26 Augustine's carefulness to explain that he is only indulging in personification is doubtless due to the fact that with the Manichaeans the sun and the moon were objects of worship.-A. H. N.
27 In his Retractations, Augustine explains that he did not really regard this as an open question, but speaks of it as such only so far as this particular discussion is concerned. He simply declines to enter upon a consideration of it in this connection.-A. H. N.
28 Here also the use of the word "nature" gave Augustine trouble in his later years. He claims in the Retractations that he uses the word in the sense of "nature that has been healed" and that "cannot be vitiated," and seeks to show that he did not mean to exclude divine grace.-A. H. N.
31 This purpose Augustine accomplished in several works. See especially Contra Adimantum, and Contra Faustum Manichaeum. On Augustine's defense of the Old Testament Scriptures, see Mozley's Ruling Ideas in Early Ages, last chapter.-A. H. N.
1 This Disputation seems to have occurred shortly after the writing of the preceding treatise. It appears from the Retractations that Fortunatus had lived for a considerable time at Hippo, and had secured so large a number of followers that it was a delight to him to dwell there. The Disputation is supposed to be a verbatim report of what Augustine and Fortunatus said during a two days' discussion. The subject is the origin of evil. Augustine maintains that evil, so far as man is concerned, has arisen from a free exercise of the will on man's part; Fortunatus, on the other hand, maintains that the nature of evil co-eternal with God. Fortunatus shows considerable knowledge of the New Testament, but no remarkable dialectic powers. He appears at great disadvantage beside his great antagonist. In fact, he is far from saying the best that can be said in favor of dualism. We may say that he was fairly vanquished in the argument, and at the close confessed himself at a loss what to say, and expressed an intention of more carefully examining the problems discussed, in view of what Augustine had said. Augustine is more guarded in this treatise than in the preceding in his statements about free will. He found little occasion here, therefore, to retract or explain. Fortunatus often expresses himself vaguely and obscurely. If some sentences are difficult to understand in the translation, they will be found equally so in the Latin.-A. H. N.
1 The word used is oratio, by which is evidently meant the religious services to which Auditors were admitted, prayer (oratio) being the prominent feature.-A. H. N.
2 The allusion here is doubtless to the probably slanderous charge that the Manichaeans were accustomed to partake of human semen as a Eucharist. The Manichaean view of the relation of the substance mentioned to the light, and their well-known opposition to procreation, give a slight plausibility to the charge. Compare the Morals of the Manichaeans, ch. xviii., where Augustine expresses his suspicions of Manichaean shamelessness. See also further references in the Introduction.-A. H. N.
3 This is, of course, a mixture of two passages of Scripture.-A. H. N.
6 As remarked in the Introduction, the Manichaeans of the West, in Augustine's time, sustained a far more intimate relation to Christianity than did Mani and his immediate followers. Far as Fortunatus may have been from using the above language in the ordinary Christian sense, yet he held, by profession at least, enough of Christian truth to beguile the unwary.-A. H. N.
8 Fortunatus could not surely have used this language with any proper conception of its meaning. He seems, against Mani, to have identified in some sense the Jesus that suffered with Christ. Yet even in this statement his docetism is manifest.-A. H. N.
13 Eph. ii. 1-18. There are several somewhat important variations from the Greek text in this long extract. The attentive reader can get a good idea of the nature of the variations by comparing this literal translation with the revised English version.-A. H. N.
14 There are three readings here, "wearied out," "deceived," and "worn out." The latter is preferred by the Benedictine editors.-A. H. N.
20 This little side remark lends reality to the discussion, and enables us to form a vivid conception of what doctrinal debates were in the age of Augustine.-A. H. N.
1 Liberum voluntatis arbitrium.
1 Written about the year 397. In his Retractations (ii. 2) Augustine says: "The book against the Epistle of Manichaeus, called Fundamental, refutes only its commencement; but on the other parts of the epistle I have made notes, as required, refuting the whole, and sufficient to recall the argument, had I ever had leisure to write against the whole." [The Fundamental Epistle seems to have been a sort of hand-book for Manichaean catechumens or Auditors. In making this document the basis of his attack, Augustine felt that he had selected the best-known and most generally accepted standard of the Manichaean faith. The tone of the work is conciliatory, yet some very sharp thrusts are made at Manichaean error. The claims of Mani to be the Paraclete are set aside, and the absurd cosmological fancies of Mani are ruthlessly exposed. Dualism is combated with substantially the same weapons as in the treatise Concerning Two Souls. We could wish that the author had found time to finish the treatise, and had thus preserved for us more of the Fundamental Epistle itself. This work was written after the author had become Bishop of Hippo.-A. H. N.]
5 [This is one of the earliest distinct assertions of the dependence of the Scriptures for authority on the Church.-A. H. N.]
6 Matt. x. 2-4; Mark iii. 13-19; Luke vi. 13-18.
15 [This is, of course, fanciful; but is quite in accordance with the exegetical methods of the time.-A. H. N.]
16 The Manichaeans assumed the role of rationalists, and scorned the credulity of ordinary believers. Yet they required in their followers an amount of credulity which only persons of a peculiar turn of mind could furnish. The same thing applies to modern rationalistic anti-Christian systems. The fact is, that it requires infinitely less credulity to believe in historical Christianity than to disbelieve in it.-A. H. N.]
17 [Compare the fuller account from the Fihrist in the Introduction.-A. H. N.]
18 [This exalted view of God Augustine held in common with theNeo-Platonists.-A. H. N.]
19 [Modern mental physiologists differ among themselves as regards the presence of the mind throughout the entire nervous system; some maintaining the view here presented, and others making the brain to be the seat of sensation, and the nerves telegraphic lines, so to speak, for the communication of impressions from the various parts of the body to the brain. Compare Carpenter: Mental Physiology, and Calderwood: Mind and Brain.-A. H. N.]
20 [There is sufficient reason to think that Mani identified God with the kingdom and the region of light. See Introduction.-A. H. N.]
21 [This discussion of the lines bounding the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness seems very much like trifling, but Augustine's aim was to bring the Manichaean representations into ridicule.-A. H. N.]
22 [This portion of the argument is conducted with great adroitness. Augustine takes the inhabitants of the region of darkness, as Mani describes them, and proves that they possess so much of good that they can have no other author than God.-A. H. N.]
25 [Augustine still addresses himself to the "nature of the rational soul."-A. H. N.]
28 Matt. x. 28, and Luke xii. 4.
30 [We have already encountered in the treatise Concerning two Souls, substantially the same course of argumentation here pursued. The doctrine of the negativity of evil may be said to have been fundamental with Augustine, and he uses it very effectually against Manichaean dualism.-A. H. N.]
32 [The Neo-Platonic quality of this section cannot escape the attention of the philosophical student.-A. H. N.]
3 Col. ii. 5; cf. 1 Thess. iii. 10.
7 [This mixture of the substance of Primordial Man, with the kingdom of darkness, and the formation of stars out of portions thereof, was probably a part of primitive Manichaean teaching.-A. H. N.]
8 [Compare Book xx. 2, where Faustus states the Manichaean doctrine of the Jesus patabilis. Beausobre, Mosheim and Baur agree in thinking that Augustine has not distinguished accurately in these two passages between names Christ and Jesus, as used by the Manichaeans. See Baur: Das Manichäische Religionssystem, p. 72.-A. H. N.]
6 [It cannot be said that Augustine adequately meets the difficulty that Faustus finds in the genealogies of our Lord. Cf. Hervey: The Genealogies of Our Lord, and the recent commentaries, such as Meyer's, Lange's, The International Revision, and especially Broadus on Matthew.-A. H. N.]
6 [A good argumentum ad hominem, a species of argument which Augustine is fond of using.-A. H. N.].
4 [This is a good description of ideal Manichaean religious life. Whether Faustus lived up to the claims here set forth is another question.-A. H. N.]
23 [Augustine confounds saving faith with orthodox doctrine, as has been too commonly done since.-A. H. N.].
6 [In bringing to notice the absurdities of the Manichaean moral system, Augustine may seem to be trifling, but he is in reality striking at the root of the heresy.-A, H. N.]
15 [Compare the Introduction, where an abstract is given of the Fihrist's account of the creation.-A. H. N.].
16 [These biological blunders belong to the age, and are not Augustine's peculiar fancies. Of course, the argumentative value of them depends on their general acceptance.-A. H. N.]
19 [It will be seen in subsequent portions of this treatise that Augustine carries the typological idea to an absurd extreme.-A. H. N.].
4 [The extremely subjective method of dealing with Scripture which Augustine ascribes to Faustus, was characteristic of Manichaeism in general.-A. H. N.]
16 [This is an excellent statement of the doctrine of Scriptural authority, that has been held to by Protestants with far more consistency than by Catholics.-A. H. N.].
85 [It is unnecessary to point out in detail the vicious elements in Augustine's allegorizing and typologizing. It should be said that his exegetical fancies were not original, but were derived from Philo, Origen, and their followers.-A. H. N.]
1 [On the Sibylline books, see article by G. H. Schodde in the Schaff-Hertzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, and the works there referred to. The Christian writers of the first three centuries seem not to have suspected the real character of these pseudo-prophetical writings, and to have regarded them as remarkable testimonies from the heathen world to the Truth of the Christian religion.-A. H. N.]
2 ["The Mercurius or Hermes Trismegistus of legend was a personage, an Egyptian sage or succession of sages, who, since the time of Plato, has been identified with the Thoth (the name of the month September), of that people.... He was considered to be the impersonation of the religion, art, learning and sacerdotal discipline of the Egyptian priesthood. He was by several of the Fathers, and, in modern times, by three of his earliest editors, supposed to have existed before the time of Moses, and to have obtained the appellation of `Thrice greatest0', from his threefold learning and rank of Philosopher, Priest and King, and that of `Hermes,0' or Mercurius, as messenger and authoritative interpreter of divine things." The author of the books that go under the name of Hermes Trismegistus is thought to have lived about the beginning of the second century, and was a Christian Neo-Platonist. See J. C. Chambers: The Theological and Philosophical Works of Hermes Trismegistus, translated from the original Greek, with Preface, Notes and Index, Edinburh, 1882.-A. H. N.]
20 Isa. lxv. 2; cf. Rom. x. 21.
16 [In scarcely any other Manichaean record do we find the Manichaean hostility to Judaism expressed with so much ardor and with so much precision as in the blasphemous statements of Faustus in this treatise.-A. H. N.].
44 Matt. xxii. 31, 32, and Luke xx. 37, 38.
54 Hab. ii. 4, and Rom. i. 17.
43 Rom. i. 9; Phil. i. 8, and 2 Cor. i. 23.
47 Ex. xxi. 24, and Matt. v. 39.
49 Deut. xxiv. i, and Matt. v. 31, 32.
55 Ecclus. xxviii. 21. [Augustine makes no distinction between the Old Testament Apocrypha and the canonical books. Indeed, the Platonizing Apocryphal writings, such as Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom, seem to have been his favorites.-A, H. N.].
3 [The Manichaean doctrine of the Jesus patabilis is more fully expounded in this book than elsewhere. Of course, this is only a way of expressing the familiar Manichaean notion that the divine life which is imprisoned in the world and which is trying to escape through the growth of plants, etc., suffers from any sort of injury done to plants. Compare Baur: Das Manichäische Religionssystem, pp. 72-77.-A. H. N.].
21 [Augustine's exposure of the paganism of Manichaeism is an admirable and effective piece of argumentum ad hominem. That the Christianity of Augustine's time was becoming paganized is undoubted, but Manichaeism was pure paganism.-A. H. N.]
24 Quoted Cic. pro Dejor. § 9.
25 [This is one of Augustine's most effective refutations of Manichaean dualism.-A. H. N.]
49 [Augustine certainly makes it appear that the God in the Old Testament is not so bad as the God of the Manichaeans, yet he cannot be said to reach a complete theodicy.-A. H. N.]
54 [This comparison of the objectors to the Old Testament to blundering school-boys is very fine.-A. H. N.].
123 Ex. iii. 21, 22; xi. 2; xii. 35, 36.
133 Matt. xxvi. 52, 53; Luke xxii. 42, 51; John xviii. 11.
158 Dan. ix. 24, and Ps. xlv. 7.
190 [This book is one of the most unsatisfactory parts of the entire treatise. We have here some of the worst specimens of perverse Scripture interpretation.-A. H. N.]
6 Isa. viii. 14, and Matt. i. 23.
1 Rom. vi., vii.; 1 Cor. xv.; 2 Cor. iv.; Eph. iii., iv.; and Col. iii.
3 2 Kings ii. 11; Matt. i. 25, xvii. 50.
3 Matt. ii. 11; Mark iii. 32; Luke ii. 33; John ii. 1.
4 In the Retractations, ii. sec 7, Augustine refers in correction of this remark to his Reply to the Second Answer of Julian, iv. sec. 36, where he makes uncomeliness the effect of sin.
4 See the apocryphal book, Paul and Thecla.
34 [Another name for the Montanists, who arose in Phrygia shortly after the middle of the second century.-A. H. N.].
6 Matt. viii. 5-13; Luke vii. 2-10.
11 Matt. viii. 5-13; Luke vii. 2-10.
1 Or sanity, according to another reading.-A. H. N.
18 It is difficult for us to understand why Augustine should be thought it worth while to refute so elaborately an argument so puerile. But it is his way to be prolix in such matters.-A. H. N.
26 1 Cor. xii. 26, 18, 24, 25.
33 Job xxxiv. 30. Compare the Revised English Version. The sense seems to be completely missed in Augustine's text.-A. H. N.
2 Bened. Ed. Vol. ix. pp. 7-52. Migne, Vol. ix. pp. 33-108.
3 The other works bearing on this controversy are mentioned in the exhaustive volume of Ferd. Ribbeck, Donatus und Augustineus (Elberfeld, 1858).-Ed.
1 Parmenianus was successor to Donatus the Great in the See of Carthage, circ. 350 A.D., and died circ. 392 A.D.
2 Tichonius, who flourished circ. 380, was the leader of a reformatory movement in Donatism, which Parmenianus opposed, in the writing here alluded to. The reformer was excommunicated. He had the clearest ideas concerning the church and concerning interpretation of any of the ancients.
3 Contra Epist. Parmen. ii. 14, also written circ. 400 A.D.
4 Cyprian, in his controversy with Pope Stephen of Rome, denied the validity of heretical or schismatical baptism. The Donatists denied the validity of Catholic baptism. See Schaff, Church History, vol. ii. 262 sqq.
5 Comp. v. 23, and iii. 16, note.
6 2 Felicianus, bishop of Musti, headed the revolt against Primianus, the successor of Parmenianus in the Carthaginian See. Listening to the complaint of the deacon Maximianus, who had been deposed by Primianus, a synod was convened in 393 at Cabarsussis, which ordained Maximianus as bishop of Carthage. Hence the title Maximianistae. Primianus, in 394, at the council of Bagai, was recognized by 310 bishops. The larger fraction, according to the Catholics, was subsequently forced into reunion. Praetextatus, bp. of Assuris, was also one of the leaders in this separation.
7 1 Ps. lxi. 2, 3. Cp. Hieron, and LXX.
9 1 Ps. lxi. 2, 3. Cp. Hieron, and LXX.
13 The Council of 310 Donatist bishops, held at Bagai in Numidia, A.D. April 24, 394. Cp. Contra. Crescon. iii. 52, 56.
14 Quodam modo cardinales Donatistas.
17 Mark ix. 38, 39; Luke ix. 50.
31 1 Cor. x. 11. In figura; tupikw=j; A. V., "for ensamples."
41 Debebat. Hieron, debebat, LXX. w_feilen.
43 The words in parenthesis are wanting in the Mss., and seem to have crept from the margin into the text.
49 Cf. Hieron, and LXX. A.V. "In Thy book were all my members written."
50 Non caste; ou0x a9gnw=j. Phil. i. 16. Hieron. non sincere.
51 In the Retractations, ii. 18 Augustine notes on this passage, that wherever he uses this quotation from the Epistle to the Ephesians, he means it to be understood of the progress of the Church towards this condition, and not of her success, in its attainment; for at present the infirmities and ignorance of her members give ground enough for the whole Church joining daily in the petition. "Forgive us our debts."
56 Ps. lxxiii. 18; cp. Hieron.
63 Rom. iii. 17; from which it has been introduced into the Alexandrine Ms. of the Septuagint at Ps. xiv. 3, cf. Hieron.; it is also found in the English Prayer-book version of the Psalms.
2 The Council of Carthage, A.D. 256, in which eighty-seven African bishops declared in favor of rebaptizing heretics. The opinions of the bishops are quoted and answered by Augustine, one by one, in Books vi and vii.
9 That is, the proconsular province of Africa, or Africa Zeugitana, answering to the northern part of the territory of Tunis.
10 The letters of Jubaianas, Mauritanian bishop, are not extant.
12 Bede asserts that this was the case. Book VIII. qu. 5.
17 Rom. iii. 17; see on i. 19, 29.
21 Traditores sanctorum librorum.
25 Non convicti sed conficti traditores.
27 Ps. lviii. 1. Aug.: Si vere justitiam diligitis, recte judicate filii hominum. Cp. Hieron.: Si vere utique justitiam loquimini, recta judicate filii hominum.
30 Agrippinus was probably the second (some place him still earlier) bishop before Cyprian. He convened the council of 70 (disputed date), who were the first to take action in favor of rebaptism. Cp. Cypr. Ep. lxxi. 4, bonae memoriae vir. Cp. lxxiii. 3.
34 The former Council of Carthage was held by Agrippinus early in the third century, the ordinary date given 215-7 A.D.; others 186-7.
35 Tanquam lectulo auctoritatis.
37 Transmarinum vel universale Concilium.
38 The plenary Council, on whose authority Augustine relies in many places in this work, was either that of Arles, in 314 A.D., or of Nicaea, in 325 A.D., both of them being before his birth, in 354 A.D. He quotes the decision of the same council, contra Parmenianum, ii. 13, 30; de Haeresibus 69: Ep. xliii. 7, 19. Contra Parmenianum, iii. 4, 21: "They condemned," he says, "some few in Africa, by whom they were in turn vanquished by the judgment of the whole world;" and he adds, that "the Catholics trusted ecclesiastical judges like these in preference to the defeated parties in the suit." Ib. 6, 30: He says that the Donatists, "having made a schism in the unity of the Church, were refuted, not by the authority of 310 African bishops, but by that of the whole world." And in the sixth chapter of the first book of the same treatise, he says that the Donatists, after the decision at Arles, came again to Constantine, and there were defeated "by a final decision," i.e. at Milan, as is seen from Ep. xliii. 7, 20, in the year 316 A.D. Substance of note in Benedictine ed. reproduced in Migne..
43 Not Ps. ciii. 8, but lxxxvi. 15.
47 He is alluding to that chief schism among the Donatists, which occurred when Maximianus was consecrated bishop of Carthage, in opposition to Primianus, probably immediately after the Synod of Cabarsussum, 393.
48 Optatus, a Donatist bishop of Thamogade in Numidia, was called Gildonianus from his adherence to Gildo, Count of Africa, and generalissimo of the province under the elder Theodosius. On his death, in 395 A.D., Gildo usurped supreme authority, and by his aid Optatus was enabled to oppress the Catholics in the province, till, in 398 A.D., Gildo was defeated by his brother Mascezel, and destroyed himself, and Optatus was put in prison, where he died soon afterwards. He is not to be confounded with Optatus, Bishop of Milevis, the strenuous opponent of the Donatists.
49 The Council of Bagai. See above, I. v. 7.
52 Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 23 to Jubaianus.
53 John xiii. 10. "Qui lotus est, non habet necessitatem iterum lavandi." The Latin, with the A.V., loses the distinction between o9 leloume/noj, "he that has bathed," and ni/ptein, "to wash:" and further wrongfully introduces the idea of repetition.
8 Epist. lxxiii. 23, to Jubianus.
9 Seventh Conc. Carth. under Cyprian, the third which dealt with baptism, A.D. 256, sec. 28. These opinions are quoted again in Books VI. and VII
20 The Novatian bishop, Acesius, was invited by Constantine to attend the Council of Nicaea. Soc., H. E. I. 10.
24 Non ut jam vere dimissa non retineantur. One of the negatives here appears to be superfluous, and the former is omitted in Amerbach's edition, and in many of the Mss., which continue the sentence, "non ut ille baptismus," instead of "neque ut ille," etc. If the latter negative were omitted, the sense would be improved, and "neque" would appropriately remain.
32 Cp. Concilium Arelatense, A.D. 314, can. 8. "De Afris, quod propria lege utuntur ut rebaptizent; placuit ut si ad ecclesiam aliquis de hoeresi venerit, interrogent eum symbolum; et si perviderint eum in Patre, et Filio, et Spiritu sancto esse baptizatum, manus ei tantum imponatur, ut accipiat Spiritum sanctum. Quod si interrogatus non responderit hanc Trinitatem, baptizertur."
42 He refers to laying on of hands such as he mentions below, Book V. c. xxiii.: "If the laying on of hands were not applied to one coming from heresy, he would be, as it were, judged to be wholly blameless."
48 Eph. v. 27. Cp. Retract. ii. 18, quoted above on I. xvii.
54 Because Cyprian, in his letter to Jubaianus (Ep. lxxiii. 10) had urged as following from this, that "there is no reason, dearest brother, why we should think it right to yield to heretics that baptism which was granted to the one and only Church."
63 Prov. xviii. 1, cp. Hieron, and LXX.
67 In Hieron, and LXX., as well as in the English version, this is in the second person, vestimenta tua multicolaria; to\n i9matismo\n ton poiki/lon sou.
1 Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. ad Jubaian. 10.
15 Retract. ii. 18, quoted on I. 17.
16 Cypr. Ep. xi. I, first part loosely quoted.
19 Ib., lxiii. 12, quando a nobis baptisma eorum in acceptum refertur.
31 Col. iii. 5. Cypr. Ep. lv. 27.
37 Phil. i. 18. Hieron. "annuntietur."
39 I.uke ii. 14. "Hominibus bonae voluntatis;" and so the Vulgate, following the reading e0n a0nqrw/poij eu0dokiaj.
40 Cypr. de Zel. et Liv. c. 1.
45 This treatise is still extant. See Trans. in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. V. 484-490.
56 Matt. xiii. 23; Luke viii. 15.
61 Eph. v. 27; Retract. ii. 18.
70 Phil. i. 18; see on ch. 7. 10.
72 Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 15; 2 Tim. ii. 17.
75 Antonianus, a bishop of Numidia, wrote 252 A.D., to Cyprian, favoring his milder view in opposition to the purism of Novatian: subsequently Novatian wrote to him, advocating the purist movement and impugning the laxity of Cornelius, bp. of Rome. To overthrow the effect upon A. of this letter, Cyprian wrote Epistle LV. In Ep LXX., A. is of the number of those Numidian bishops whom Cyprian addresses.
81 Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 15; 2 Cor. vi. 14.
93 Ecclus. xxx. 23. The words, "placentes Deo" are derived from the Latin version only.
95 From a letter of Pope Stephen's, quoted Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 16.
107 Various Synods from 345 on anathematized Photinus, the bishop of Sirmium. The two of Sirmium, 351 and 357, accused him of constituting two Gods.
122 Another reading, of less authority, is, "Aut catechumeno sacramentum baptismi praeferendum putamus." This does not suit the sense of the passage, and probably sprung from want of knowledge of the meaning of the "catechumen's sacrament." It is mentioned in the Council of Carthage, A.D. 397, as "the sacrament of salt" (cap. 5). Augustine (de Peccat. Meritis, ii. c. 26), says that "what the catechumens receive, though it be not the body of Christ, yet is holy, more holy than the food whereby our bodies are sustained, because it is a sacrament."-Cp. de Catech. Rudibus, c. 26 [Bened.]. It appears to have been only a taste of salt, given them as the emblem of purity and incorruption. See Bingham, Orig. Eccles. Book x. c. ii. 16.
129 In Retract. ii. 18, Augustine expresses a doubt whether the thief may not have been baptized.
1 Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. ad Jubaian. 23.
2 See below, Book VII. c. 2, 3.
12 Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 24; Acts xix. 3-5
20 Cypr. Serm. de Lapsis, c. vi.
42 Eph. v. 27. Cp. Aug. Retract. ii. 18, quoted above, I. 17, 26.
49 In this and the following chapter, Augustine is examining the seventy-first epistle of Cyprian to his brother Quintas, bishop in Mauritania. Here LXXI. 1.
50 Apud veteres haereses et schismata prima adhuc fuisse initia; that among the ancients heresies and schisms were yet in their very infancy. Benedictines suggest: "haeresis et schismatum." Hartel reads: apud veteres haereseos et schismatum prima adhuc fuerint initia.
57 In this and the next two chapters Augustine is examining the seventieth epistle of Cyprian, from himself and thirty other bishops (text of Hartel), to Januarius, Saturninus, Maximus, and fifteen others.
58 In the question, "Dost thou believe in eternal life and remission of sins through the holy Church?" Cyp. l.c. 2.
74 Cypr. Ep.lxxiv., which is examined by Augustine in the remaining chapters of this book.
85 Cyprian, in the laying on of hands, appears to refer to confirmation, but Augustine interprets it of the restoration of penitents. Cp. III. 16, 21.
91 Eph. v. 27. Cp. Aug. Retract. ii. 18, quoted above, I. 17, 26.
94 "Docibilis;" and so the passage (2 Tim. ii. 24) is quoted frequently by Augustine. The English version, "apt to teach," is more true to the original, didaktikoj.
8 Eph. v. 27; Cp. Aug. Retract. ii. 18.
11 Conc. Carth., the seventh under Cyprian, A.D. 256. Introduction.
16 De baptismi simplicitate ubique agnoscendam consuetudinem. The Benedictines give the reading of some Mss.: "De baptismi simplicitate ubique agnoscenda," etc. "maintaining the custom of the universal Church to acknowledge everywhere the identity of baptism.".
20 Bilta (Biltha, Vilta) was in Africa Proconsularis. This Caecilius is probably the same as the one addressed by Cyprian in Ep. lxiii., and who unites with Cyprian and other bishops in letters addressed to others. Epp. iv. (to Pomponius), lvii., lxvii., lxx .
25 This section is wanting in the Mss. and in the edition of Amerbach, so that it has been supposed to have been added by Erasmus from Cyprian (Conc. Carth. sec. 2),-the name of Felix (really Primus), which is not found in Cyprian, being derived from the following section of Augustine. So Hartel: Primas a Migirpa dixit. Migirpa or Misgirpa, was in Zeugitana. This Primus is seemingly identical with the Primus of Cypr. Epp. 67 (following Caecilius), and 70 (preceding Caecilius).
26 Adrumetum (Hadrumetum) was an ancient Phoenician settlement, made a Roman colony by Trajan, on the coast of the Sinus Neapolitanus, some ninety miles south-east of Carthage, capital of Byzacium. Cyprian writes to Bp. Cornelius, Ep. xlviii., vindicating Polycarp: his name occurs also in the titles of Cypr. Epp. lvii., lxvii. (after Primus), and lxx. (after Caecilius).
27 Thamugadis (Thamogade), a town in Numidia, on the east side of Mount Aurasius. The whole opinion of Novatus (Conc. Carth. sec. 4), is omitted in the Mss.
28 The words in Cyprian are, "secundum decretum collegarum nostrorum sanctissimoe memorioe virorum." The decree referred to is one of the Council held by Agrippinus.
29 Tubunae, a town in Mauritania Caesariensis. Nemesianus probably same with one of that name in Cypr, Epp. lxii., lxx., lxxvi., lxxvii.
30 Prov. ix. 12, LXX., the passage being altogether absent in the Hebrew, and consequently in the English version. Probably in N. Afr. version. The text in Erasmus is somewhat different, and was revised by the Louvain editors to bring it into harmony with the answer of Augustine and the text of Cyprian (Conc, Carth. sec. 5).
31 Prov. ix. 18, LXX., possibly N. Afr. version also.
35 Quoniam Spiritus Deus est, et de Deo natus est. These words are found at the end of John iii. 6, in the oldest Latin Ms. (in the Bodleian Library), and their meaning appears to be, as given in the text, that whatsoever is born of the Spirit is spirit, since the Holy Ghost, being God, and born of, or proceeding from God, in virtue of His supreme power makes those to be spirits whom He regenerates. If the meaning had been (as Bishop Fell takes it), that "he who is born of the Spirit is born of God," the neuter "de Deo natum est" would have been required. To refer "Spiritus Deus est," with the Benedictines, to John iv. 24, "God is a Spirit," reverses the grammar and destroys the sense of the passage. The above explanation is taken from the preface to Cyprian by the monk of St. Maur (Maranus), p. xxxvi., quoted by Routh, Rel. Sac. iii. 193.
44 Lambaese (I.ambese) was one of the chief cities in southern Numidia. This Januarius is not unlikely identical with the first of that name in Cypr. Ep. lxvii., and with the one of Epp. lxii. and lxx. For an opponent of Cyprian in Lambese, see Cypr. Epp. xxxvi. and lix.
46 Castra Galbae was most likely in Numidia. Lucius as bishop occurs in Cypr. Epp. lxvii., lxx., lxxvi.and lxxvii., but it is doubtful to which of the four of this name attendant on this council these references may apply.
47 Matt. v. 13. "Id quod salietur ex eo, ad nihilum valebit.".
49 Recedendo infatuati contrarii. facti sunt. Dr. Routh from a Ms. in his own possession, inserts "et" after "infatuati."-"have lost their savor and become contrary to the Church." Rel. Sac. iii. p. 194.
55 Cirta, an inland city of the Massylii in Numidia, was rebuilt by Constantine, and called Constantina.
59 There are two letters extant from Cyprian to Stephen, No. 68, respecting Marcianus of Arles, who had joined Novatian, and No. 72, on a Council concerning heretical baptism. It is clear, however, from Ep. lxxiv. 1, that this Council, and consequently the letter to Stephen, was subsequent to the Council under consideration; and consequently Augustine is right in ignoring it, and referring solely to the former. Dr. Routh thinks the words an interpolation, of course before Augustine's time; and they may perhaps have been inserted by some one who had Cyprian's later letter to Stephen before his mind. Rel. Sac. iii. p. 194.
60 Segermi church province of Byzacium. A Nicomedes occurs in Cypr. Epp. lvii., lxvii., lxx.
62 Girba, formerly Meninx (Lotophagitis), an island to the south-east of the Lesser Syrtis belonged to church province of Tripolis. For Bp. Monnulus, see Cypr. Ep. lvii.
63 In baptismi trinitate. "Quia trina immersione expediebatur, in nomine Patris, Filii, et S. Spiritus."-Bishop Fell.
65 Erroris offectura. Other readings are "offensa" and "effectura."
67 Cedias (Cedia) has been identified, but without sufficient reason, with Quidias, or Quiza, in Mauritania Caesariensis for both places have bishops at the Collation of 411. A Bp. Secundinus is mentioned in Cypr. Epp. lvii., lxvii., but whether these refer to him of Cedias or him of Carpos (ch. 31) cannot be decided.
72 Bagai, in church province of Numidia. See on I. 5. 7. Among the many of the name of Felix in the letters of Cyprian, lvi., lvii., lxvii; title 1, 6, lxx., lxxvi. bis, lxxvii., lxxix., title and text, it would be unsafe to decide a sure reference to distinguish between this and the other bishops of the same cognomen in this council.
77 Mileum, Milevis, Mileve, in ecclesiastical province of Numidia, noted as the seat of two Councils 402 A.D. and 416 A.D.; also as the See of Optatus. Polianus is most likely to be identified with the one in Cypr. Epp. lxxvi., lxxix.
79 Hippo Regius, the see of Augustine himself, in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
80 Conc. Carth. sec. 14.-C. D. H.
81 Badiae (Vada) in ecclesiastical province of Numidia. For Dativus see Cypr. Epp. lxxvi., lxxvii.
86 Abbir Germaniciana was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana, or Africa Proconsularis. Successus probably identical with one mentioned in Cypr. Epp. lvii., lxvii., lxx., lxxx.
89 Thuccabori, Tucca or Terebrinthina, in ecclesiastical province of Africa Proconsularis or Zeugitana. For Bp. Fortunatus, see Cypr. Epp. xlviii., lvi., lvii. (the first), lxvii., lxx.
94 It is pointed out by the Louvain editors that this passage shows that Augustine considered our Lord's precept to comprehend everything contained in the Sermon on the Mount.
95 It is pointed out by the Louvain editors that this passage shows that Augustine considered our Lord's precept to comprehend everything contained in the Sermon on the Mount.
100 Tuburbo (Thuburbo) was in the ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. Sedatus is not unlikely the same as the one mentioned in Cypr. Epp. iv., lxvii., lxx.
103 See above, III. cc. 14, 15
106 Sufetula was a town in ecclesiastical province of Byzacene, twenty-five miles from Sufes (same province), of which the name is a diminutive. Bp. Privatianus is mentioned in Cypr. Epp. lvi., lvii.
110 Lares, in ecclesiastical province of Numidia. Hortensianus is very likely the same as the one in Cypr. Epp. lvii., lxx.
114 Macomades [in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.] Bp. Cassius is probably to be identified with the one in Cypr. Ep. lxx.
115 Flebiles et tabidos. This is otherwise taken of the repentant heretics "Melting with the grief and wretchedness of penitence;" but Bishop Fell points out that the interpretation in the text is supported by an expression in c. 33, 63: Mens haeretica, quae diuturna tabe polluta est. Routh Rel. Sac. iii. p. 199.
116 Adulteros. So all the Mss. of Augustine, though in Cyprian is sometimes found "adulterinos." In classical Latin, however "adulterit" is sometimes used in the sense of "adulterinus." Cassius seems to have had in mind Heb. xii. 8, "Then are ye bastards, and not sons".
119 Vicus Caesaris, probably of ecclesiastical province of Byzacium. This Bp. Januarius may be the second of that name in Cypr. Ep. lxvii., and is to be distinquished from Bp. Januarius of Lambaese, ch. xiii. 20.
121 Carpis (Carpos) was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. See for Secundinus, note on chap. 18.
122 Fiant. Another reading in some Mss. of Cyprian (not found in those of Augustine) is, "quomodo Christianos faciunt," which is less in harmony with the context.
125 Ps. cxliv. 11-15, so LXX. cp. Hieron. Ps. cxliii. 11-15.
126 Cypr. Presbyteris et diaconibus fratribus, Ep. xi. 1.
127 Thabraca was on the coast of Numidia, in ecclesiastical province of that name, the frontier town towards Zeugitana, at the mouth of the Tucca. The name of a Victoricus occurs in Cypr. Epp. lvii., lxvii.
129 Uthina was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. This Felix is to be distinguished from the bishop of Bagai, ch. 19: A reference to a bishop of Utina is made by Tert. de Monog. ch. xii., but he cannot have been this Felix, as some assume.
131 Burug (Buruc) or Burca was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia. Quietus may be identical with the one mentioned in Cypr. Ep. lxvii.
132 In the English version this is, "He that washeth himself after touching a dead body, if he touch it again, what availeth his washing?"-Ecclus. xxxiv. 25.
134 Contra Parmenianum, II. 10. 22.
142 Sicca was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana, This is certainly not the Castus of Cypr. de Laps. c. xiii.
144 Theni was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacene. A Eucratius occurs in Cypr. Ep. ii.
147 Vaga was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacium. The name of a Libosus occurs in Cypr. Ep. lxvii.
150 Thebaste (Thebeste) in ecclesiastical province of Numidia, For Lucius, cp. c. 14.
152 Ammedera, probably in ecclesiastical province of Proconsularis Africa.
155 Ammacura (Bamacorra) in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
160 Muzuli is perhaps the same as Muzuca in ecclesiastical province of Byzacium.
162 Thasbalte (Thasvalthe) was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacene. An Adelphius is mentioned in Cypr. Ep. lxvii.
164 Leptis the Lesser was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacene, the Greater being in that of Tripolis. A Demetrius occurs in Cypr. Epp. lvii., lxx.
167 Thibari, perhaps the same as Tabora, in ecclesiastical province of Mauritania Caesariensis. A Bp. Vincentius is mentioned in Cypr. Ep. lxvii.
177 Cypr. de Idol. Vanitate, c. vi..
3 Mactaris (Macthari) was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacium. This bishop is probably the Marcus of Cypr. Ep. lxx.
5 Sicilibba was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. In the text of this Council the bishop's name is Sattius, and the name occurs in Cypr. Epp. lvii., lxvii., lxx.
7 Gor (Gorduba) is variously supposed to be Garra in ecclesiastical province of Mauritania Caesariensis, or Garriana in ecclesiastical province of Byzacium. The name of a bishop Victor occurs in Cypr. Epp. iv., lvii., lxii., lxvii. In Ep. lxx. the names of three.
9 Utica, the well-known city in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. The Aurelius of Cypr. Epp. xxvii. 4, lvii. and lxvii. (the first) are more likely to be identical with the bishop of Utica, than with the Aurelius of Chullabis, who delivers his opinion the 81st in order.
13 Germaniciana Nova was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacium, and so called after the German veterans settled there. An Iambus is mentioned as bishop in Cypr. Epp. lvii., lxvii.
15 Rucuma was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. This Lucianus is probably the same with the one mentioned in Cypr. Epp. lvii., lxx.
18 The position of Luperciana in unknown.
22 Midila (Midili) was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia. Jader is Punic name. Occurs as bishop in Cypr. Epp. lxxvi., lxxix.
24 Marazana was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacene. On Felix, see Bk. VI. c. 19. note 2.
27 Nec...mutati. "Nec" is restored by the Benedictines from the Mss.
28 Eph. v. 27. See Retract. ii. 18, quoted on I. 17, 26.
29 Bobba (Obba) was in ecclesiastical province of Mauritania Caesariensis, including Tingitana. A bishop Paul is mentioned in Cypr. Ep. lxvii.
33 Dionysiana was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacium. The name of Pomponius occurs in Cypr. Epp. iv., lvii., lxvii., lxx.
36 Tinisa (Thinisa) was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. In Cypr. Ep. lxvii. the name Venantius is found.
40 Ahymmus. See Cypr. Ep. lvi..
41 Ausuaga was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana.
44 Victoriana was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacium. [The name Saturninus is found in Cypr. Epp. xxi. 4, xxii. 3, xxvii. 1, 11, lvii. ter. lxvii. bis, lxx. quinquies.
48 Tucca was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia. For Saturninus see, c. 15-28, n. 2.
49 He is alluding to Stephen, bishop of Rome, of whom Cyprian says in his Ep. lxxiv. 7 (to Pompeius): "Why has the perverse obstinacy of our brother Stephen burst out to such a point, that he should even contend that sons of God are born of the baptism of Marcion, also of Valentinus and Apelles, and others who blaspheme against God the Father?"
51 Zama was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia. For Marcellus, see Cypr. Ep. lxvii.
53 Ululi (Ullita, Vallita) in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
55 [Cibaliana (Cybaliana), most probably in ecclesiastical province of Africa Proconsularis.] Donatus, as contemporary bishop, occurs in Cypr. Epp. lvii. bis. lxx. bis.
57 Tharassa was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
58 Gal ii. 11; Conc. Carth. sec. 56.
59 Telepte (Thelepte) or Thala, was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacium.
62 Timida Regia was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. A Faustus is mentioned in Cypr. Ep. lxvii.
64 Furni was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. For Geminius as bishop, see Cypr. Ep. lxvii.
67 Nova was in ecclesiastical province of Mauritania Caesariensis. For Rogatianus as bishop, see Cypr. Epp. lvii., lxvii., lxx., bis.
69 Bulla (Vulla) was in ecclesiastical province of Africa Proconsularis. For Therapius cp. Cypr. Ep. lxiv. 1.
72 Membresa was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. For Lucius, See, Bk. VI. c. 38.
75 Buslaceni (Cussaceni) is probably Byzacium, the capital of province of Byzacium, since we know that it was also called Bizica Lucana; others place it in Africa Proconsularis. For Felix, cp. Bk. VI. cc. 19 and 23.
77 Abitini (Avitini) was in ecclesiastical province of Africa Proconsularis. For Saturninus, cp. cc. 15, 16.
79 Aggya, probably the same as Aggiva and the Aga in ecclesiastical province of Proconsular Africa. The name Quintas as bishop occurs in Cypr. Epp lvii., lxvii., lxx., lxxi., but this one is of Mauritania, as appears from Epp lxxii. 1, lxxiii. 1.
81 Marcelliana (Gyrnmarcelli) in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
84 Horrea Celiae (Caeliae) was a village of ecclesiastical province of Byzacium, ten miles north of Hadrumetum. A Tenax is mentioned as bishop in Cypr. Ep. lxvii.
86 Assuras was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. For Victor, cp. c. 4.
89 Capse was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacene. This Donatulus is probably to be identified with the one mentioned Cypr. Ep. lvi.
91 Rusiccade was at the mouth of the Thapsus, in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
93 Cuiculi was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
95 Hippo Diarrhytus (Hippozaritus) was on the coast in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. For Petrus, cp. Cypr. Ep. lxvii.
97 Ausafa was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. For Lucius, cp. Bk. VI. cc. 14 and 38, and Bk. VII. c. 26.
99 Gurgites was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacium. For Felix, cp. Bk. VI. cc. 19, 33, 40; Bk. VII. cc. 10, 28..
101 Lamasba was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
105 Gazaufala (Gazophyla) was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
107 Tucca (Thucca) was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia. Honoratus occurs as bishop's name in Cypr. Epp. lvii., lxii., lxvii., lxx. bis. The attempts to distinguish or to identify these are hazardous.
109 Octavus was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia. For Victor, cp. cc. 4, 32.
111 Mascula was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
112 Conc. Carth. Ibid. sec. 79.
114 Thambei (Thambi, Satambei), was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacium.
117 Chullabi, or Cululi, was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacium. For Aurelius, cp. c. 5.
123 Some read Licteus; not unlikely the bishop of Cypr. Ep. lxxvi.
124 Gemelli was a Roman colony in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
126 Illuminare; baptism being often called fwtismo/j.
128 Sabrati, Oëa and Leptis Magna were the three cities whose combination gave its name to Tripolis, an ecclesiastical province.
129 Sabrati, Oëa and Leptis Magna were the three cities whose combination gave its name to Tripolis, an ecclesiastical province.
130 Sabrati, Oëa and Leptis Magna were the three cities whose combination gave its name to Tripolis, an ecclesiastical province.
132 Neapolis was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. The name Junius as bishop appears in Cypr. Epp. lvii., lxx.
138 Ps. lxviii. 6; cp. LXX. and Hieron.
144 Eph. v. 27; cp. Retract. ii. 18.
149 Ps. lxviii. 6; cp. LXX. and Hieron,
152 Matt. xiii. 23; Luke viii. 15.
156 2 Tim. ii. 20. In Retract. ii. 18, Augustine says that he thinks the meaning of this last passage to be, not as Cyprian took it, Ep. liv. 3, that the vessels of gold and silver are the good, which are to honor; the vessels of wood and earth the wicked, which are to dishonor: but that the material of the vessels refers to the outward appearance of the several members of the Church, and that in each class some will be found to honor, and some to dishonor. This interpretation he derives from Tychonius.
16 See below, Book II. 6, 12..
17 So the Donatists commonly quoted Ecclus. xxiv. 25, which is more correctly rendered in our version. "He that washeth himself after touching of a dead body, if he touch it again, what availeth his washing?" Augustine (Retractt. i. 21, 3) says that the misapplication was rendered possible by the omission in many African Mss. of the second clause, "and touches it again." Cp. Hieron, Ecclus. xxxiv. 30.
20 Cp. Contra Cresconium, Book II. 25-30: "Ita mortui sunt, ut neque super terras, neque in requie sanctorum vivant."
21 Benedictines suggest as an emendation "quod Deus illi comes erat," as in II. 23, 53; 37, 88, 103, 237.
23 That of Bagai. See on de Bapt. I. 5, 7.
24 Ore latissimo acclamaverunt. The Louvain edition has"laetissimo." both here and Contra Crescon. IV. 41, 48.
28 Musti is in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
29 Assura is in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. See Treatise on Baptism, Book VII. c. 32.
30 Qui talia facientes quamvis improbent. A comparison of the explanation of this passage in Contra Crescon. III. 41, 45, shows the probability of Migne's conjecture, "quamvis improbe." "who endure the men that act in such a way, however monstrous their conduct may be."
31 Nec in se agnoscunt. The reading of the Louvain edition gives better sense, "Et in se agnoscunt," "and discover in themselves."
35 Ps. xiv. 5-7, LXX. and Hieron., and probably N. Af. version.
38 See below, III. 57, 69; 68, 70; and Contra Cresc. III. 29, 33, IV. 56, 66.
39 "Obmutescatis" is the most probable conjecture of Migne or "obtumecatis," which could only mean, "you should swell with confusion."
43 Veritatis fortissimis documentis Catholica expugnat; and so the Mss. The earlier editors, apparently not understanding the omission of "ecclesia," read "veritas."
46 Ps. xiv. 6, LXX. Hieron., N. Af. version.
1 Written probably in the beginning of 401 A.D. Some say in 402.
11 Ecclus. xxxiv. 25; see on I. 9, 10.
20 2 Macc. vii. 9. The words in brackets are not in the original Greek.
24 Majorinus, ordained by the Numidian bishops in 311 A.D.
35 Ps. xiv. 5, LXX, cp. Hieron.
36 Ps. xiv. 6, LXX. cp. Hieron.
37 A suggested reading is, "nos esse viperas."
38 These both with others are celebrated in the martyrology of the Donatists, see IIII. Idas Martii Sermo de Passione SS. Donati et Advocati, c. 340; Passio Marculi sacerdotis Donatistoe qui sub Macario interfectus a Donatistis pro Martyre habebatur (Dec. 25, a. 348), and others. See Du Pin Monumenta vetera ad Donatistarum Historiam pertinentia, in his edition of Optatus.
39 See below, c. 20, 46: and Contra Crescon. III. 49, 54.
46 Ps. xiv. 5-8, cp. LXX. and Hieron., the last verse only being in the Hebrew.
57 "Perdiderunt," which the Benedictines think may be a confusion for "perierunt."
62 Down to this point Augustine had already answered Petilianus in the First Book, as he says himself below, III. 50, 61.
81 Optatus Gildonianus is the person to whom he refers.
82 Gildo, from subservience to whom Optatus received the name Gildonianus, was "Comes Africae." The play on the meanings of "Comes," in the expression "quod Comitem haberet Deum," is incapable of direct translation, Cp. 37, 88; 103, 237.
126 Mark i. 2; cp. Mal. iii. 1.
129 In his treatise on the Sermon on the Mount, Book I. iv. 12, Augustine again compares the "celebratio octavarum feriarum quas in regeneratione novi hominis celebramus" with the circumcision on the eighth day; and in Serm. 376, c. ii. 2, he says that the heads of the infants were uncovered on the eighth day, as a token of liberty. Cp. Bingham, Orig. Sacr. XII. iv. 3.
130 Augustine apparently supposed that the sacrifice of the paschal lamb was still observed among the Jews of the dispersion; cp. Retract. I. x. 2. It was, however, forbidden them to sacrifice the Passover except in the place which the Lord should choose to place His name there; and hence the Jews, though they observe the other paschal solemnities, abstain from the sacrifice of the lamb.
138 Apparently from Wisd. iii. 6.
139 Macarius acted as imperial commissioner with Paulus, c. 348, to settle the disputes between Donatists and Catholics, but only to the further exasperation of the former, who accused him of intrusion and murder, and thereafter called their opponents Macarians.
158 Et super cathedram pestilentiae, cp. Hieron.
174 Ps. xiv. 3, cp. LXX. and Hieron.
193 The older editions have, "Quam multum et quantum luctum dederint Deo" (Erasmus alone ideo) laudes amatorum vestrorum:" "How much and how great grief have the praises of your lovers caused to God?" The Benedictines restored the reading translated above ("Quam multis...Deo laudes armatorum vestrorum"), Deo laudes being the cry of the Circumcelliones. Cp. Aug. in Ps. cxxxii. 6: "A quibus plus timetur Deo laudes quam fremitus leonis;" and ib.: "Deo laudes vestrum plorant homines."
195 Ps. cxli. 5, LXX., cf. Hieron.
208 Matt. xxiii. 13, 15, 23, 24, 27, 28.
227 See below, 95, 217, and c. Gaudentium, I. 25, 28 sqq..
229 Augustine speaks of the Moor Rogatus, bishop of Cartenna in ecclesiastical province of Mauritania Caesariensis in his ninety-third epistle, to Vincentius, c. iii. 11. We learn from the eighty-seventh epistle, to Emeritus, sec. 10, that the followers of Rogatus called the other Donatists Firmiani, because they had been subjected to much cruelty at their hands under the authority of Firmus.
231 Optatus of Thaumugade (Thamogade), the friend of Gildo.
232 Augustine mentions again in his thirty-fifth epistle, to Eusebius, sec. 3, that Hippo had received the Roman citizenship. His argument is that, even if not a native of the place, the deacon should have been safe from molestation wherever Roman laws prevailed.
233 Emphyteuticam. The land, therefore, was held under the emperors, and less absolutely in the power of the owner than if it had been freehold.
234 Augustine remonstrates with Crispinus on the point, Epist. lxvi.
237 Matt. v. 10; 1 Pet. ii. 20.
248 John xviii. 10, 11; Matt. xxvi. 52.
249 Ps. cxx. 6, 7, cp. Hieron.
250 See Contr. Cresc. l. III. c. 67, l. IV. cc. 60, 61.
252 Veracissime. Another reading is "feracissime," "most abundantly".
268 Some editions have Varius in the place of Geta, referring to Aurelius Antoninus Heliogabalus, of whom Lampridius asserts that he derived the name of Varius from the doubtfulness of his parentage. Aelii Lampridii Antoninus Heliogabalus, in S.S. Historiae Agustae. The Mss. agree, however, in the reading "Geta," which was a name of the second son of Severus, the brother of Caracalla.
269 Optatus defends the cause of Macarius at great length in his third book against Parmenianus. Of Ursacius he says in the same place: "You are offended at the times of a certain Leontius, of Ursacius, Macarius and others." And Augustine, in his third book against Cresconius, c. 20, introduces an objection of the Donatists against himself: "But so soon as Silvanus, bishop of Cirta, had refused to communicate with Ursacius and Zenophilus the persecutors, he was driven into exile." Usuardus, deceived by a false story made up by the Donatists, enters in his Martyrology, that a pseudo-martyr Donatus suffered on the 1st of March, under Ursacius and Marcellinus, to this effect: "On the same day of the holy martyr Donatus, who suffered under Ursacius the judge (or dux), and the tribune Marcellinus."
272 Constitutio quam impetraverunt. Some editions have "quam dederunt Constantio;" but there is no place for Constantius in this history of the Donatists, nor was any boon either sought or obtained from him in their name. The Louvain editors therefore restored "constitutio," which is the reading of the Gallic Mss.
287 The reign of Constantine lasted about thirty-two years, from 306 to 337 A.D. Julian succeeded Constantius, and reigned one year and seven months, dying at the age of thirty, in a war against the Persians, in 363 A.D.
291 Isa. ii. 18; Zech. xiii. 2.
292 Simulacri; and so the Mss. The older editions have "adorandi simulacra;" but the singular is more forcible in its special reference to the image on the plain of Dura. Dan. iii.
294 This is illustrated by the words of Augustine, Epist. 105, ad Donatistas, c. I. 7: "Do ye not know that the words of the king were: `I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great are His signs! and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion from generation to generation0' (Dan. iv. 2, 3)? Do you not, when you hear this, answer Amen, and by saying this in a loud voice, place your seal on the king's decree by a holy and solemn act?" In the Gothic liturgy this declaration was made on Easter Eve (when the third chapter of Daniel is still read in the Roman Church), and the people answered "Amen".
295 Nam nemo vivit invitus; et tamen puer ut hoc volens discat, invitus vapulat. Perhaps a better reading is, "Nam nemo vult invitus; et tamen puer ut volens discat," etc., leaving out "hoc," which is wanting in the Fleury Mss.: "No one wishes against his will; and yet a boy, wishing to learn, is beaten against his will."
325 Ps. cxli. 5; cp. LXX and Hieron.
326 Prov. xxvii. 6; cp. LXX. and Hieron.
328 Compare Tract. xv. 27 in Joannem: "Messiah was anointed. The Greek for `anointed0' is `Christ,0' the Hebrew Messiah; whence also in Phoenician we have `Messe0' for `anoint.0' For these languages, the Hebrew, Phoenician and Syrian, are closely cognate, as well as geographically bordering on each other." See also Max Müller's Lectures on the Science of Language, series I. Lect. VIII. "The ancient language of Phoenicia, to judge from inscriptions, was most closely allied to Hebrew."
334 Apparently misquoted from 1 Sam. ii. 25.
351 That the Donatists were called at Rome Montenses, is observed by Augustine, de Haeresibus, c. lxix., and Epist. liii. 2; and before him by Optatus, Book II. c. iv. That they were also called Cutzupitani, or Cutzupitae, we learn from the same epistle, and from his treatise de Unitate Ecclesioe, c. iii. 6.
1 Possidius, in the third chapter of his Indiculas, designates this third book as "One book against the second letter of the same." Cp. Aug. Retractt. Bk. II. c. xxv.
4 Nihil enim mihi conscius sum.
42 Some editors have "unitate," but Amerbach and the Mss. "veritate;" and this is supported by c. 24, 28 below: "De ecclesiae vel baptismi veritate;" and c. 13, 22 of the treatise de Unico Baptismo: "Ambulantibus in ecclesiae veritate."
43 Ubi vobis faventibus loquatur, et victus verum simulans statum, talia vel etiam sceleratiori dictat in me. Mihi sat est as rem, etc. Morel (Elem. Crit. pp. 326-328) suggests as an improvement. "Ubi vobis faventibus loquatur et victus. Verum si millies tantum talia vel etiam sceleratiora dicat in me, mihi sat est", etc.,- "on which he may speak amidst applause from you, even when beaten. But if he were to make a thousand times as many statements concerning me," etc.
49 See above, Book I. c. 1, 2.
52 "Favente," which is wanting in the Mss., was inserted in the margin by Erasmus, as being needed to complete the sense.
53 Megalius, bishop of Calama, primate of Numidia, was the bishop who ordained Augustine, as we find in c. viii. of his life by Possidius. Augustine makes further reply to the same calumny, which was gathered from a letter of Megalius, in Contra Cresconium, Book III. c. 80, 92, and Book IV. c. 64, 78, 79.
54 Lente, ut dicitur, et bene. Morel (Element. Crit. pp. 140, 141) suggests as an amendment, "lene," as suiting better with "lente."
55 See Book I. c. 1, 2, c. 2, 3.
56 Lactantius, Divin. Instit. Book V. c. xv., tells us of the talents of Carneades, recording that when he was sent on an embassy to Rome by the Athenians, he spoke there first in defense of justice, and then on the following day in opposition to it; and that he was in the habit of speaking with such force on either side, as to be able to refute any arguments advanced by anybody else.
57 Ter. Heaut. act. IV. scen. iii. vers. 41.
58 Ter. Heaut. act. IV. scen. iii. vers. 41.
59 In de Civ. Dei, Book II. c. xxi., Augustine mentions L. Fius Philus, one of the interlocutors in Cicero's Laelius, as maintaining this same view. From the similarity of the name, it has been thought that here Furius and Pilus are only one man.
60 The Mss. here and below have Protagoras. Both were atheists, according to Cicero, Nat. Deor. l. i. 2, and Lactantius Divin. Instit. I. c. ii.; de Ira Dei, c. ix.
66 Ps. lxii. 1, 2; cp. Hieron.
73 The Council of Carthage, held on the 13th of September, 401, passed a decree (canon 2) in favor of receiving the clergy of the Donatists with full recognition of their orders.
75 Jer. xv. 18. See Book II. c. 102, 234, 235.
77 Ps. cxli. 5. See Book II. c. 103, 236, 237.
80 Matt. viii. 29; Mark i. 24; Luke viii. 28.
82 See Book I. cc. 10, 11, 11, 12.
88 See Possidius' Life of St. Augustine, cc. v.-xi.
98 See Book I. cc. 7, 8, 8, 9.
114 Ecclus. xxxiv. 25. See Book I. c. 9, 10.
127 See Book I. cc. 3, 4, 4, 5.
130 Ministri ejus cui credidistis. See 1 Cor. iii. 4, 5.
144 See Book III. c. Cresconium, cc. 27, 28, 31, 32.
146 See Book I. cc. 21, 22, 23, 24.
2 In Book 11. c. xlviii of his Retractations, Augustine says: "About the same time" (as that at which he wrote his treatise De Gestis Pelagii, i.e., about the year 417), "I wrote also a treatise De Correctione Donatistarum, for the sake of those who were not willing that the Donatists should be subjected to the correction of the imperial laws." This treatise begins with the words "Laudo, et gratulor, et admiror." This letter in the old editions was No. 50,-the letter which is now No. 4 in the appendix (Benedictine) being formerly No. 185.
3 He handles the same thought in Ep. 93.
4 The correspondence between Augustine and Boniface is limited to Epp. 185, 189 and 220. The sixteen smaller letters are spurious. For note to Boniface and translations of 189 and 220, see vol. I of this series pp. 552 and 573.
9 This epistle was produced in the fifth conference of the fifth ecumenical Synod (553), when the point was under debate whether Theodorus of Mopsuesta could be condemned after his death.
16 In the Councils at Rome and Arles.
17 This digest will be found in the 9th volume of Benedictine edition of Augustine's Works. Breviculus collationis cum Donatistis, p. 371 sqq., reproduced in Migne 613, sqq.
25 Discerne causam meam. The Eng. Vers. has, "plead my cause against an ungodly nation."
42 Ter. Adelph. act 1. sc. i. 32, 33.
43 This is not found in the extant plays of Terence.
53 Accipiant: sc. the baptizer and the baptized: and so the Mss. The common reading is "accipiat."
57 That of Carthage, held June 26 (more correctly, probably June 15th or 16th), 401.
58 The basilica of Fundus Calvianensis. See C. Crescon. iii. c. 43.
65 Cod. Theod. Lib. xvi. tit. v., de Haereticis, 52.
91 Pope Innocent I., in his 6th Epistle to Agapitus, Macedonius, and Maurianus, bishops of Apulia, writes to the effect that "canons had been passed at Nicaea, excluding penitents from even the lowest orders of the ministry" (can. 10).
94 Bishop of Calaris. Cp. De Agone Christiano, c. xxx. 32.
95 The Bishop of Casae Nigrae.
