Section 10
Bagai, or Vacca, in the interior of Numidia. See on i. v. 7.
Mileum, or Mireum, a Roman colony in Numidia, noted as the seat of two Councils.
Hippo Regius, the see of Augustine himself, was on the coast of Numidia.
Abbir Germaniciana was in Zeugitana.
Thuccabori was perhaps the same as Tucca in Byzacene.
It is pointed out by the Louvain editors that this passage shows that Augustine considered our Lord's precept to comprehend everything contained in the Sermon on the Mount.
Sufetula was a town of Byzacene, twenty-five miles from Sufes, of which the name is a diminutive.
Lares was a town of importance in Byzacene.
Flebiles et tabidos. This is otherwise taken of the repentant heretics, "Melting with the grief and wretchedness of penitence;" but Bishop Fell points out that the interpretation in the text is supported by an expression in c. xxxiii. 63: Mens hæretica, quæ diuturna tabe polluta est.
Adulteros. So all the MSS. of Augustine, though in Cyprian is sometimes found "adulterinos." In classical Latin, however, "adulter" is sometimes used in the sense of "adulterinus." Cassius seems to have had in mind Heb. xii. 8, "Then are ye bastards, and not sons."
Vicus Cæsaris is unknown, unless it be the same as Nova Cæsaris in Numidia.
Carpis was in Zeugitana, on the borders of Tunis.
Fiant. Another reading in some MSS. of Cyprian (not found in those of Augustine) is, "quomodo Christianos faciunt," which is less in harmony with the context.
Ps. cxliv. 11-15, from the LXX.
Cypr. Ep. xi. ad Clericos, sec. 1.
Thabraca was on the coast of Numidia, the frontier town towards Zeugitana, at the mouth of the Tucca.
Burug or Burca was in Mauritania Cæsariensis.
In the Eng. version this is, "He that washeth himself after touching a dead body, if he touch it again, what availeth his washing?"—Ecclus. xxxiv. 25.
Contra Parmenianum, II. x. 22.
Ammedera and Ammacura were in Numidia.
Muzuli is perhaps the same as Mazula in Numidia.
Leptis the Lesser was in Byzacene, the Greater being in Tripoli.
Thibaris, perhaps the same as Tabora in Mauritania Cæsariensis.
Gor is variously supposed to be Garra in Mauritania, or Garriana in Byzacene.
Utica, the well-known city in Zeugitana, where Cato died.
Germaniciana Nova was in Byzacene.
The position of Luperciana is unknown.
Nec ... mutati. "Nec" is restored by Migne from the MSS.
Eph. v. 27. See Retract. ii. 18, quoted on i. xvii. 26.
Bobba was in Mauritania Tingitana.
He is alluding to Stephen, bishop of Rome, of whom Cyprian says in his seventy-fourth epistle (to Pompeius): "Why has the perverse obstinacy of our brother Stephen burst out to such a point, that he should even contend that sons of God are born of the baptism of Marcion, and others who blaspheme against God the Father?"
Zama was in Numidia, famous for Hannibal's defeat by Scipio.
Ululi and Cibaliana were both in Byzacene.
Telepte, or Thala, was in Byzacene.
Timida Regia was in Zeugitana.
Bulla Regia was an inland town of Numidia.
Buslaceni is probably Byzacium, the capital of Byzacene, since we know that it was also called Bizica Lucana.
Aggya, probably the same as Aggiva.
The position of Marcelliana is unknown.
Horrea Celiae was a village of Byzacene, ten miles north of Hadrumetum.
Rusiccada was at the mouth of the Thapsus, in Numidia.
Cuiculi was in Numidia Cæsariensis.
Hippo Diarrhytus was on the coast of Zeugitana.
Tucca was in Mauritania Cæsariensis.
Octavus and Mascula were in Numidia.
Chullabi, or Cululi, was in Byzacene.
Gemelli was a Roman colony in Numidia.
Illuminare; baptism being often called φωτισμος.
Sabrata, Oea, and Leptis Magna, were the three cities whose combination gave its name to Tripolis. The privilege of bishops to give their votes by proxy in a Council appears to have existed in very early times, and is perhaps referable to the example of St. Paul's interference in the Council of Achæan Bishops, though absent in body, 1 Cor. v. 4.
Eph. v. 27; cp. Retract. ii. 18.
Matt. xiii. 23; Luke viii. 15.
2 Tim. ii. 20. In Retract. ii. 18, Augustine says that he thinks the meaning of this last passage to be, not as Cyprian took it, Ep. liv. sec. 2, that the vessels of gold and silver are the good, which are to honour; the vessels of wood and earth the wicked, which are to dishonour: but that the material of the vessels refers to the outward appearance of the several members of the Church, and that in each class some will be found to honour, and some to dishonour. This interpretation he derives from Tychonius.
So the Donatists commonly quoted Ecclus. xxxiv. 25, which is more correctly rendered in our version, "He that washeth himself after the touching of a dead body, if he touch it again, what availeth his washing?" Augustine (Retract. i. 21, sec. 3) says that the misapplication was rendered possible by the omission in many African Mss. of the second clause, "and touches it again."
Cp. Contra Cresconium, Book II. xxv. 30: "Ita mortui sunt, ut neque super terras, neque in requie sanctorum sint."
Migne suggests as an emendation, "quod Deus illi comes erat," as in II. xxiii. 53, xxxvii. 87, etc.
That of Bagai. See on de Bapt. I. v. 7.
Ore latissimo acclamaverunt. The Louvain edition has "lætissimo," both here and Contra Crescon. IV. xli. 48.
Qui talia facientes quamvis improbent. A comparison of the explanation of this passage in Contra Crescon. III. xli. 45, shows the probability of Migne's conjecture, "quamvis improbe," "who endure the men that act in such a way, however monstrous their conduct may be."
Nec in se agnoscunt. The reading of the Louvain edition gives better sense, "Et in se agnoscunt," "and discover in themselves."
Ps. xiv. 5-7, from the LXX. only.
"Obmutescatis" is the most probable conjecture of Migne for "obtumescatis," which could only mean, "you should swell with confusion."
See below, II. xvi. 36, III. lvii. 69, lviii. 70; and Contra Cresconium, III. xxix. 33, IV. lvi. 66.
Veritatis fortissimis documentis Catholica expugnat; and so the MSS. The earlier editors, apparently not understanding the omission of "ecclesia," read "veritas."
Ps. xiv. 6, from the LXX. only.
Written about the beginning of 402 A.D.
Ecclus. xxxiv. 25; see on I. ix. 10.
2 Macc. vii. 9. The words in brackets are not in the original Greek.
Majorinus, ordained by the Numidian bishops in 311 A.D.
Ps. xiv. 5, from the LXX. only.
Another reading is, "nos esse viperas."
See below, c. xx. 46; and Contra Crescon. III. xlix. 54.
Ps. xiv. 5-8, from the LXX., the last verse only being in the Hebrew.
"Perdiderunt," which Migne thinks may be a confusion for "perierunt."
Down to this point Augustine had already answered Petilianus in the First Book, as he says himself below, III. 1. 61.
Optatus Gildonianus is the person to whom he refers.
Gildo, from subservience to whom Optatus received the name Gildonianus, was "Comes Africæ." The play on the meanings of "Comes," in the expression "quod Comitem haberet Deum," is incapable of direct translation. Cp. xxxvii. 88; ciii. 237.
In his treatise on the Sermon on the Mount, Book II. iv. 12, Augustine again compares the "celebratio octavarum dierum, quas in regeneratione novi hominis celebramus" with the circumcision on the eighth day; and in Serm. 376 he says that the heads of the rebaptized were uncovered on the eighth day, as a token of liberty. Cp. Epist. II. xvii. 32, and Bingham, Orig. Sacr. XII. iv. 3.
Augustine apparently supposed that the sacrifice of the paschal lamb was still observed among the Jews of the dispersion; cp. Retract. I. x. 2. It was, however, forbidden them to sacrifice the Passover except in the place which the Lord should choose to place His name there; and hence the Jews, though they observe the other paschal solemnities, abstain from the sacrifice of the lamb.
The older editions have, "Quam multum et quantum luctum dederint Deo (Erasmus alone ideo) laudes amatorum vestrorum:" "How much and how great grief have the praises of your lovers caused to God?" Migne restored the reading translated above ("Quam multis ... Deo laudes armatorum vestrorum"), Deo laudes being the cry of the Circumcelliones. Cp. Aug. in Ps. cxxxii. 6: "A quibus plus timetur Deo laudes quam fremitus leonis;" and ib.: "Deo laudes vestrum plorant homines."
Matt. xxiii. 13, 15, 23, 24, 27, 28.
See below, xciv. 217, and c. Gaudentium, I. xxv. 28 sqq.
Augustine speaks of the Moor Rogatus, bishop of Cartenna in Mauritania Cæsariensis, in his ninety-third epistle, to Vincentius, c. iii. 11. We learn from the eighty-seventh epistle, to Emeritus, sec. 10, that the followers of Rogatus called the other Donatists Firmiani, because they had been subjected to much cruelty at their hands under the authority of Firmus.
Optatus of Thaumugade, the friend of Gildo.
Augustine mentions again in his thirty-fifth epistle, to Eusebius, sec. 3, that Hippo had received the Roman citizenship. His argument is that, even if not a native of the place, the deacon should have been safe from molestation wherever Roman laws prevailed.
Emphyteuticam. The land, therefore, was held under the emperors, and less absolutely in the power of the owner than if it had been freehold.
Augustine remonstrates with Crispinus on the point, Epist. lxvi.