Tractates on the Gospel of John (continued)
26 ST. AUGUSTINE that outlawed Donatism,^^ and 416 when Augustine's attack on Pelagianism became open and clearcut. The 10 Tractates on the First Epistle were dehvered during an Easter season. Tractate
27 celebrates the feast of St. Lawrence which is August 10. By examining carefully the time references in the sermons to establish a sequence for these 64 sermons, by determining in what year Augustine would have been present in Hippo to deliver sermons in this sequence, and by calculating the date of Easter, Zarb concludes that the first group was delivered in 413. For the second group he assigns the year 418. The news of the discovery of the remains of Stephen's body, mentioned in Tractate 120.4, reached Augustine in August, 416, when Paulus Orosius visited Hippo; so this group must occur after that. He argues that a reference to De Civitate 1 2 in Trinitate 13 puts the latter in 417, and so De Trinitate 15 and Tractate 99 would likely have been composed in 418. Further, Augustine was at the Council of Carthage from May to July in 418, and from then until October he was in ^^aesarea at the request of Pope Zosimus to reconcile the Donatists there. These sermons, 55 to 124, were his contact with his people during that time, that is, he dictated them to be read to his people back in Hippo. Hence the second group belongs to 4 1 8.
(37) Le Landais^^ argues from wording, character, structure, and tone that all the sermons, including the second group, were preached by Augustine himself to his congregation. He effectively demonstrates that En in Ps 119 to 133 form a unified group of sermons which were delivered in conare texts which are neither African Old Latin nor Vulgate. Metzger agrees with J. Schildenberger, "Die Itala der hi. Augustinus," ed. B. Fischer and V. Fiola, Colligere fragmenta. Festschrift Alban Bold (Beuron, 1952), 84-102, that the Itala is the Northern Italian Old Latin version. It would seem most likely that Augustine quotes from at least two Old Latin versions and from the Vulgate; it should also be pointed out that when he quotes from memory, Augustine may on occasion create an ad hoc version of his own, especially if he has in mind the Greek text.
82. See W. Frend, The Donatist Church (Oxford, 1952), 275-289. 83. M. La Landais, "Deux annees de predication de saint Augustin: introduction a la lecture de \Tn lohannem" Etudes augustiniennes 28 (Paris, 1953) 7-95-