Word to human nature in the bridal chamber of the virgin's womb—a common theme of the Christ¬
20 SAINT A UGUSTINE - SERMONS
8. Adam, and all his descendants. 9. Something that might have been better put, implying as it may to some ears that Mary was not married and Jesus was a bastard—which would seem to have been the common gossip among his enemies during his life (see, for example, Mk 6:3, where there is no mention of his father being known). Augustine, of course, can have intended to imply no such thing. See Sermon 51,17-22, where he staunchly defends the right of Joseph, as Mary's true husband, to be called the father of Jesus. In this sermon, however, by conjugium, marriage, he is clearly referring to the sexual union of husband and wife; he goes on to specify this by talking of "carnal marriage." This theological looseness of language is for me yet another indication of the early date of this sermon.
"Holy brothers" translates sancti pueri, for which "holy boys" would hardly do!
10. Christ's spiritual marriage, which he goes on to talk about, is either the wedding of the divine Word to human nature in the bridal chamber of the virgin's womb—a common theme of the Christ¬ mas season liturgy; or of Christ to the Church; or of course, both. There are allusions here to Jn 3:29 and Mk 2:19-20, as well as to the parable of the wedding feast, Mt 22:1-10.
11. Natalis est dominantis. To translate dominantis as "the one who makes you lords" is indeed to take a great liberty. I do it, because otherwise Augustine seems to be giving slaves scant reason to rejoice, if one takes dominantis in its obvious meaning of "the one who is lording it"—which is, of course, what the slaves' owners, their masters and mistresses, domini and dominae, did over them. My justification for the liberty is that dominantis is balanced with the liberantis of the next sentence, which does indeed mean "the one who makes you free." But then, I admit, one should ask whether Augustine's audience would have been able so to interpret him. I can only hope so! If not, if that is not what he meant, then the best one can do is to take dominantis as signifying "the Lord of lords," that is, "the Master of your masters and mistresses."
12. By "end" here he presumably means "6nd" in the sense of goal, or purpose or final cause. The divine begetting of the Word, like God himself, has no final cause, goal or purpose, It is simply the end, goal or purpose of all creation; hence also and especially of the incarnation.
13. The star seen by the Magi. See also Ps 19:1.