for it in Lewis & Short'sLatin Dictionary, They refer to Teaching Christianity 11,13,20,
Book VIII 349 meaning, stood for in a figurative sense; I did not want them to be put off by being faced with reams of obscure discussion, and so be reluctant to take these volumes in their hands. Bearing in mind, however, what l really wanted but could not manage, that everything should first of all be understood in its proper, not its figurative sense, and not altogether despairing of the possibility that it could so be understood, this is what l put near the beginning of the second volume:9
Certainly (l say) whoever wishes to take everything that is said quite liter ally, that is, to understand it not otherwise than the text actually reads, and in so doing can avoid any blasphemy, and can set it all out in accordance with the Catholic faith, not only should one not begrudge him this, one should hold him to be a remarkable and most praiseworthy understander. 10 Ifhowever there is no way out available, in order that what is written may be understood in a manner that is pious and worthy of God, except for us to believe that these things have been set forth figuratively and in enigmas, we have the authority for this of the apostles, by whom so many of the enigmas in the books of the Old Testament are solved. But in this case let us hold to the standard which we are proposing—with the help of the one who urges us ro ask, to seek and to knock (Lk 1 1 :9)—and explain all these figures of things, whether they belong to history or to prophecy, in accor dance with the Catholic faith, but without prejudice to any better or more careful exegesis, whether by us or by others to whom the Lord may see fit to reveal it. That is what I said at that time. Now, however, it has pleased the Lord that after taking a more thorough and considered look at these matters, l should reckon (and not, I think, idly) that l am able to demonstrate how all these things were written straightforwardly in the proper, not the allegorical mode. So then let us now examine what follows about Paradise in the same way as we decided to explain what came earlier.
9. See 2, 3. 10. Intellector in the Latin; a word 1 suspect Augustine invented, as he is the only authority quoted for it in Lewis & Short'sLatin Dictionary, They refer to Teaching Christianity 11,13,20, without mentioning this use of the word here. 1n my translation of that work 1 was able to render the passage a little more freely; here 1 think 1 am obliged to follow Augustine's example and invent "understander." But no, 1 find 1 do not have that distinction; the word is given in the Oxford English Dictionary, as first used in the fifteenth century, its last use quoted being by Dr. Pusey in 1 853, Doctrine of the Real Presence, Note S 527. So perhaps all 1 can claim is to have revived it.