3. Cf. Tractates 1.7 and 36.1; Jn 13.23 and 21.20. (continued)
TRACTATE 1
On John ii—^ s I CONSIDER what we have just heard read from the
Apostle's text, namely, that "the natural man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God,"' and as I reflect that among the crowd present here, among you, my beloved people,^ there necessarily are many natural
1. Cf. 1. Cor 2.14. Here I follow NAB, translating "the natural man" rather than "the sensual man" as in the Douay version and the CCD. As Augustine defines animalis, both here and in section 4, but most clearly in
Tractate 98.3, it designates the human person composed "of body and soul," ex anima et came, that is, man solely in his human nature, not yet a spiritual man because he has not received "the spirit that is of God" and does not yet speak "in the doctrine of the Spirit" (1 Cor 2.12 — 13). See Berrouard, Hoinelies I— XVI, 837—838. Also Cf. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, 14.4 where he equates animalis homo with carnalis homo and cites each as an example of synecdoche and then says, "For from soul and from flesh, which are the parts of man, the whole which is man can be signified; and thus animalis homo is not one thing, carnalis another, but both are one and the same thing, that is man living according to man." See CCL 48.419; and FOTC 14 3543552. Late Latin used abstract nouns both as titles of address and as third person collective nouns to designate persons addressed. In this usage the abstract noun is often modified by a second person possessive adjective. Hence caritas vestra, "your love." Wherever this phrase occurs herein, it is translated as a vocative, "my beloved people," or simply "beloved people." Other such abstract phrases are treated in the same way. For a thorough treatment of this peculiar usage see C. L Balmus, Etude sur le style de saint Augustine dans les Confessions et la Cite de Dieu (Paris, 1930), 26-30; A. Blaise, Manuel du Latin Chretien (Strasbourg, 1955), 21; and M. B. O'Brien, Titles of Address in Christian Latin Epistolography to 5^3 A.D. (Washington, D.C., 1930). Berrouard,
Homelies I— XVI, 127 and 838, would retain the abstract noun, "dans cette foule presente de votre Charite," arguing that this term is used intentionally by Augustine to affirm the unity of his congregation with the universal Church through love over against the divisive separations of the Donatists. This is an appealing proposition; yet since Augustine, in his sermons and other writings as well as in his letters, follows the later usage, employing other nouns and not only cantas in this way, I have adhered to the normal Late Latin usage.