3 1 . Cf. Jn 1.14. The reader should observe that in Tractate 2. 16 Augustine's (continued)
TRACTATE 3 81 cured [us]; because he cured [us], we see. For this, namely that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," became a medicine for us, so that since we were blinded by earth, we might be healed by earth.
(3) And once healed, what might we see? "And we saw," it says, "his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." ^'
7. "John bears witness concerning him, and cries out saying, 'This was he of whom I said, "He who comes after me, was made before me."'" He came after me, and he preceded me. What does it mean, "He was made before me?" He preceded me; not he was made before I was made, but, he was placed before me, that is, "He was made before me." Why was he made before you although he came after you? "Because he was before me." Before you, O John? What great thing [is it] if [he is] before you? It is good that you bear witness to him; let us hear him speaking himself: "And before Abraham, I am."^^ But Abraham, too, was born in the middle of the human race; [there were] many before him, many after him.
(2) Hear the words of the Father to the Son: "Before the daystar, I begot you."^^ He who was begotten before the daystar himself enlightens all. For a certain one who fell was called Lucifer; he was an angel and became a devil, and Scripture said about him, "Lucifer who used to rise in the
30. Cf.Tractate 2.16.
3 1 . Cf. Jn 1.14. The reader should observe that in Tractate 2. 16 Augustine's text has gloriam quasi, "the glory as it were," but here gloriam tamquam which I have translated "the glory as" to suggest the difference in wording. 32. Cf.Jn8.58. 33. Cf. Ps 109.3.
34. Lucifer is the Latin word for "daystar." The Fathers, as early as the third century A.D., saw in the words of Jesus in Lk 10.18, "I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven," an allusion to Is 14.12 which is quoted in this sentence in our text, even though the daystar there is a symbol of the King of Babylon and in 2 Pt 1.19 and Rv 22.16 Christ himself is the daystar. A good brief, but thorough, account of this name Lucifer for Satan is given by D. Petau, "De Angelis" 3.3.3-4, Dogmata Theologica, 9th ed. (Paris, 1866) 4.76-77. Augustine was aware that the daystar in Is 14.12 was the King of Babylon, but he saw the king himself as a figure of the devil; see De Civitate Dz 1 1.15 (CCL 48.335) and DDC 3.27 (PL 34.88; and CCL 32.99).