Tractates on the Gospel of John (continued)
TRACTATE 7 171 wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph," he who knew the Scriptures very well, when he heard the name Nazareth, was aroused to hope, and he said, "Something good can come out of Nazareth."
18. Now let us see the rest about him. "Behold, truly an Israelite in whom there is no guile." What does it mean, "in whom there is no guile"? Perhaps he had no sin? Perhaps he was not sick? Perhaps that physician was not needed? Far from it. No one has been born here in such a condition that he does not need that physician. What, then, is the meaning of "in whom there is no guile"? Let us examine it a little more attentively; it will soon be clear, in the name of the Lord.
(2) The Lord says dolus (i.e., "guile"). And everyone who understands Latin knows that there is dolus when one thing is done, but another is feigned. Pay attention, my beloved people. Dolus is not dolor (i.e., "pain").^^ I say this because many brothers, somewhat less knowledgeable in Latinity, so speak that they say dolus is tormenting someone, for that which is dolor. Dolus is deceit; it is pretense. When someone covers up something in his heart and says another thing, that is dolus, and, if he has two hearts, he has, as it were, one fold in the heart where he sees the truth and another fold where he conceives a lie. And that you may know that this is dolus, it was said in the Psalms, "Guileful lips."'*^ What does it mean, "guileful lips"? There follows, "In the heart and the heart they spoke evils." What does "in the heart and the heart" mean except in a double heart?
(3) If, therefore, guile was not in him, the physician judged him curable, not healthy. For healthy is one thing, healable^' another, unhealable yet another. He who is sick but has hope
49. This is not an uncommon type of confusion in vulgar Latin. The analogy at work is probably as follows: as the root corporhas the nominative corpus, so the root dolormust have the nominative dolus, in spite of gender. 50. Cf. Ps 1 1.3. In En in Ps 1 1.3 (CCL 38.83) Augustine says that the fact that the Psalm says twice "in a heart and a heart" signifies a double heart. See ACW 29.149.
51. There is a word play here that is difficult to translate. The Latin word sanus, "healthy," has the same root as sanabilis, "curable," i.e., "able to be healthy," and insanabilis, "incurable," i.e. "unable to be healthy."