Book Nine

Bk. 9 is the book of death and rebirth. Baptism stands at its center, and baptism is both death in Christ (Rom. 6.3) and rebirth. Verecundus, Nebridius, Patricius, Adeodatus, and Monnica are all reported to have been baptized and died--though of those deaths only that of Monnica falls within what might be thought the chronological limits of this book (August 386 - late 387). Augustine, Alypius, and Evodius are baptized and go on to a new life. The parting of the ways between A. and his mother is marked at the end of the book with solemn liturgical language.

This is the only book in conf. in which resurrection is mentioned, thrice, culminating at Ostia: 9.3.5, 9.4.9, 9.10.25; contrast the enthusiasm with which A.'s Easter week sermons proclaim the resurrection an essential and defining doctrine (e.g., s. 234.3, `discernebamus nos a paganis credendo Christum resurrexisse'). At 9.4.10, `iudicium' is the only clear reference in conf. to the Last Judgment; though in Bk. 13 and elsewhere A. anticipates the afterlife,¹ the cosmic transition is nowhere mentioned.

The narrative of events that terminates here achieves a straightforward practical purpose. By showing how he did separate himself from Manicheism and came to orthodox Christian baptism, he proves his Christianity legitimate in the face of whatever suspicions were in the air in Africa in the late 390s.

The book falls in halves, each of which is symmetrical within itself and with the other.

9.1.1 - 9.7.16

The Death and Rebirth of Augustine.

9.1.1 - 9.2.4

Milan before Cassiciacum

9.3.5 - 9.5.13

Cassiciacum

9.4.8 - 9.4.11

Hearing the Word

9.6.14 - 9.7.16

Milan after Cassiciacum

9.6.14

Baptism

9.8.17 - 9.13.37

The Death and Rebirth of Monnica.

9.8.17 - 9.9.22

Monnica's life before Ostia

9.10.23 - 9.10.26

Ostia

9.10.25

Hearing the Word

9.11.27 - 9.13.37

After Ostia

9.11.28

Monnica's Death

9.1.1

This paragraph is seeded with biblical citations that occur elsewhere in conf. (see details below): Ps. 115.16 (8.1.1); Ps. 34.10 (5.1.1, 8.1.1, 8.8.19); Ps. 34.3 (1.5.5, 1.11.18, 5.8.14, 6.11.18); Ps. 85.15 (1.18.28); Mt. 11.30 (8.4.9, 10.36.58, 13.15.17); Ps. 18.15 (7.7.11, 8.6.13).

o domine: Ps. 115.16-17(7-8), `o domine, ego servus tuus, ego servus tuus, filius ancillae tuae. (17) dirupisti vincula mea; tibi sacrificabo sacrificium laudis.' A. invokes the archetypal Christian allegorical reading of scripture, Paul's version of the children of Abraham (Gal. 4.21-31): en. Ps. 115.6, `filius enim est ancillae secundum quod omnis creatura subdita creatori est, et verissimo domino verissimum debet famulatum; quem cum exhibet, libera est, hanc accipiens a domino gratiam, ut ei non necessitate sed voluntate deserviat. ergo iste filius est Hierusalem caelestis, quae sursum est, mater omnium nostrum libera. . . . dicat ergo deo servus iste: multi se martyres dicunt, multi servos tuos, quia nomen tuum habent in variis haeresibus et erroribus; sed quia praeter ecclesiam tuam sunt, non sunt filii ancillae tuae.' This verse and Ps. 34.10 at 8.1.1 bracket the conversion story (Knauer 152-153); here the indicative `sacrificabo' replaces the subjunctive `sacrificem' of 8.1.1. A. is also filius ancillae and/or servus dei at 1.7.12, 2.3.7, 5.10.18, 12.24.33; cf. also 10.34.53, `sacrifico laudem sanctificatori meo.'

filius ancillae tuae: Cf. the last line of this book: 9.13.37, `meminerint ad altare tuum Monnicae, famulae tuae'; elsewhere in the book, 9.7.15, `mea mater, ancilla tua'; 9.12.33, `ancillam tuam'. Who then is M. here? The scriptural tags impose on the inevitable density of the mother-son relationship the additional powerful signification implied by from en. Ps. 115.6: she is also Sarah.

vincula: See on 8.6.13. But chains do not always bind for ill, so by the end of this book we get (9.13.36) `vinculo fidei'.

hostiam: Not sacrificium (as at 8.1.1): see en. Ps. 101. s. 2.3 for similar reading in same text. The idea of sacrifice occurs in the proems to Bks. 4, 5, 8, and 9; hostia at 4.1.1 (`hostiam iubilationis'). en. Ps. 95.9, `confessio hostia est deo' (cf. Ps. 53.8, `voluntarie sacrificabo tibi et confitebor nomini tuo').

lingua mea: 5.1.1 opens echoing these words, `accipe sacrificium confessionis mearum de manu linguae meae.'

omnia ossa mea dicant: Ps. 34.10, `omnia ossa mea dicent, domine, quis similis tibi?' en. Ps. 34. s. 1.13, `quis digne de his verbis aliquid dicat? ego puto tantum pronuntianda esse, non exponenda. quid quaeris illud aut illud? quid simile domino tuo? ipsum habes ante te.' See on 5.1.1; see also 8.1.1. For ossa mea endowed with speech, see 8.8.19.

dicant dicant C D G O Skut. Ver.:   dicent S Knöll

dic animae meae: Ps. 34.3, `dic animae meae, salus tua ego sum'; see on 1.5.5 (and cf. Knauer 67-68). At 1.5.5, when this quotation occurs in a similarly thematic way, the associated question is not quis ego et qualis ego but quid sis [deus] mihi.

misericors: Ps. 85.15, `et tu, domine deus, miserator et misericors, longanimis et multum misericors et verax' (echoed more closely at 1.18.28); Exod. 34.6, `domine deus, misericors et clemens, patiens et multae miserationis, ac verax'; Ps. 102.8, `miserator et misericors domine, longanimis et multum misericordiae.'

profunditatem mortis meae: 2.6.14, `o mortis profunditas!'

a fundo cordis mei: See on 8.12.28, `a fundo arcano'.

hoc erat totum: There are several approximate gospel models for this abnegation: e.g., Mt. 26.39, `verumtamen non sicut ego volo sed sicut tu', cf. Mk. 14.36, Jn. 5.30, Jn. 6.38.

secreto: See `omni secreto interior' here. God dwells in `secret' (1.4.4, `secretissime et praesentissime', 1.18.29, 4.12.19, 5.6.11, 6.3.4, 9.7.16, 10.42.67, 10.43.68, 11.31.41), and people have their `secrets' too, not always for the good (e.g., 3.1.1, `secretiore indigentia'), but often a sign of some goodness (1.20.31, `vestigium secretissimae unitatis ex qua eram', 8.8.19, 10.8.13, `secreti atque ineffabiles sinus [memoriae]').

evocatum est: See Knauer 35 on the artistry of arrangement.

liberum arbitrium: See on 7.3.5. spir. et litt. 30.52, `sicut lex non evacuatur sed statuitur per fidem, quia fides impetrat gratiam qua lex impleatur, ita liberum arbitrium non evacuatur per gratiam sed statuitur, quia gratia sanat voluntatem qua iustitia libere diligatur.'

leni iugo tuo: Mt. 11.30, `iugum enim meum lene est [see on 8.4.9] et sarcina mea levis est' (Milne 36). See also 10.36.58, 13.15.17.

Christe Iesu: Here one page after `induite dominum Iesum Christum' that the full name recurs in direct address; the name now clearly calls on the incarnate Christ. G-M: `Here only in the Confessions is Christ directly addressed. Three times prayer is addressed to God through Christ' : 11.2.4, 11.22.28; distinguished from the many places where God is addressed with epithets that make clear the appeal to the second person of the trinity (e.g., `qui veritas es' at 1.5.6, 4.5.10, 5.3.5, 10.23.33, and cf. 3.6.10, `o veritas, veritas . . .').

adiutor meus et redemptor meus: Ps. 18.15, `domine adiutor meus et redemptor meus'; en. Ps. 18. en. 1.15, `domine adiutor meus, tendentis ad te; quoniam redemptor meus est tu, ut tenderem ad te.' Cf. 7.7.11, 7.10.16, and 8.6.13.

suavitatibus: In similar sense: 1.14.23, `omnes suavitates graecas fabulosarum narrationum', 2.2.3, 3.1.1, 4.4.7, 5.13.23, 6.12.21, `mortifera suavitate', 10.31.43. See below. Various words for `sweetness' pervade Bk. 9: 9.1.1 (4x), 9.3.6, 9.4.7, 9.4.10, 9.6.14 (2x), 9.9.20, 9.10.23, 9.12.30.

amittere . . . dimittere: The interplay of loss and discard reversed from 4.9.14, `te nemo amittit nisi qui dimittit, et quia dimittit, quo it aut quo fugit . . .?'

suavitas . . . : Of God, 2.6.13, 4.3.4, 10.17.26; cf. on 1.20.31, `dulcedo mea', 10.17.26, `dulce lumen', 1.15.24, `ut dulcescas mihi'; cf. also mus. 6.16.52, `non enim amor temporalium rerum expugnaretur, nisi aliqua suavitate aeternarum.'

dulcior [3] . . . clarior [2], . . . sublimior [1]: The qualities predicated of God are sweetness, light, and height; each of those qualities is set against some quality that is not God: [1] the sweetness is not the sweetness that appeals to the flesh; [2] the light is one that is beyond the reach of those who penetrate to secret places; [3] the height of honor is denied to those who claim high places for themselves. The passage matches on all counts the triple structure of the text of 1 Jn. 2.16, concupiscentia carnis, concupiscentia oculorum, ambitio saeculi. It is further one of the two clearest expressions in conf. (the other is 1.20.31) to show that the threefold structure of sin arising from the three temptations is directly correlated to a threefold predication of qualities attributed to God.

carni et sanguini: See on 4.3.4; also at 5.2.2, 8.8.19, 12.32.43.

luce clarior: See Otto, Sprichwörter s.v. lux, e.g., Cic. Catil. 1.3.6, `luce sunt clariora nobis tua consilia omnia'; so A., s. 85.1.1, `quid hac luce clarius, “si vis venire ad vitam, serva mandata”?'

curis mordacibus: 7.5.7, `ingravidato curis mordacissimis'; civ. 22.22, `mordaces curae'; Lucan 2.681, `curis animum mordacibus angit'; Hor. carm. 1.18.4, `mordaces . . . sollicitudines'.

ambiendi et adquirendi [1] et volutandi atque scalpendi scabiem libidinum [3]: For the link between ambitio saeculi and concupiscentia carnis in A.'s dilemma at Milan, cf. 8.6.13, 8.7.17-18, 8.12.30; the closest parallel here is at 8.1.2, `iam enim me illa [spes honoris et pecuniae] non delectabant prae dulcedine tua et decore domus tuae, quam dilexi, sed adhuc tenaciter alligabar ex femina.' For avaritia as a sign of superbia and typhus, see cat. rud. 27.55.

scalpendi: ord. 1.8.24, `scabiem voluptatum aerumnosarum scalpunt libentius quam ut . . . valetudini sanorum lucique reddantur.'

garriebam: Speech now mindless but harmless: perhaps best `spoke unselfconsciously.' Cf. on 7.20.26, `garriebam plane quasi peritus', and on this passage see Hensellek, Anzeiger Akad. Wien 120(1983), 79.

claritati meae [2] et divitiis meis [1] et saluti meae [3]: The triad is not certainly trinitarian, but is at least suggestive.

9.2.2

in conspectu tuo: Ps. 18.15: see on 6.2.2.

loquacitatis: See on 1.4.4; of his profession at 4.2.2 and 8.5.10. The (degrading) commercial vocabulary matches A.'s characterization of his old profession at 1.13.22, 1.19.30, 4.2.2, 8.6.13, 9.5.13.

meditantes non legem tuam: Ps. 118.77, `lex tua meditatio mea est'; en. Ps. 118. s. 19.4, `haec meditatio nisi esset in fide quae per dilectionem operatur, numquam propter eam posset ad illam vitam quispiam pervenire. hoc dicendum putavi ne quisquam, cum totam legem memoriae mandaverit, eamque creberrima recordatione cantaverit, non tacens quod praecipit nec tamen vivens ut praecipit, arbitretur se fecisse quod legit, “quia lex tua meditatio mea est”; . . . haec meditatio amantis est cogitatio' ~. Cf. Ps. 118.70, `ego vero legem tuam meditatus sum'; Ps. 118.92, `nisi quod lex tua meditatio mea est, tunc forsitan perissem in humilitate mea'; Ps. 118.97, `quomodo dilexi legem tuam domine! tota die meditatio mea est'; Ps. 118.174, `et lex tua meditatio mea est'; Ps. 1.2, `et in lege eius meditabitur die ac nocte'. Cf. 11.2.2, `et olim inardesco meditari in lege tua'.

insanias mendaces: Ps. 39.5, `beatus vir cuius est nomen domini spes eius, et non respexit in vanitates et insanias mendaces'; see on 6.11.18 and cf. 8.2.4 (of Victorinus at the parallel moment between decision and baptism).

arma furori suo: Aen. 1.150, `furor arma ministrat'.

vindemiales ferias: 23 August to 15 October, `aestivis fervoribus mitigandis et autumnis fetibus discerpendis' (cod. theod. 2.8.19); variously echoed and confirmed at 9.2.3, `feriarum tempus . . . vindemialium', 9.5.13, 9.4.8, 9.4.12. But the season puts this text in a line of African conversion stories (Courcelle, Les Confessions 121-122): Min. Fel.,Octavius 2.3, `sane et ad vindemiam feriae iudiciariam curam relaxaverant. nam id temporis post aestivam diem in temperiem semet autumnitas dirigebat'; Cypr. ad Don. 1, `nam et promisisse me memini et reddendi tempestivum prorsus hoc tempus est, quo indulgente vindemia solutus animus in quietem sollemnes ac statas anni fatigantis inducias sortiatur.' Cf. 9.2.4, `nescio utrum vel viginti dies erant'.

coram te, coram hominibus: A.'s religion was marked by an undesirable private dimension; cf. `coram te' at 8.2.4 and 10.1.1 for A.'s view that confessio was the instrument by which this privacy was to be dismantled.

a convalle plorationis: Ps. 83.6-7, `ascensus in corde eius disposuit, (7) in convalle plorationis, in locum quem disposuit.' For A.'s exegesis, see on 4.12.19 and cf. 13.9.10.

canticum graduum: Psalms 119 through 133 are each marked `canticum graduum'. A.'s extended exegesis shows consistent linking of themes as here, and supplies an incarnational dimension and an eschatological goal (cf. the `ascent' of Ostia [9.10.23-25]): en. Ps. 119.1, `intellegamus ergo tamquam ascensuri; nec ascensiones pedibus corporalibus quaeramus. . . . et iam quo ascendatur, tamquam deficit sermo humanus nec explicari potest, forte nec cogitari. audistis modo, cum apostolus legeretur, “quod oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit.” . . . quis capiet ubi erimus post hanc vitam, si in corde ascenderimus? . . . convallis humilitatem significat; mons celsitudinem significat. est mons quo ascendamus, spiritalis quaedam celsitudo. et quis est iste mons quo ascendimus, nisi dominus Iesus Christus? ipse tibi fecit patiendo convallem plorationis, qui fecit manendo montem ascensionis. quid est vallis plorationis? verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobis.'

sagittas acutas et carbones vastatores: Ps. 119.3-4, `quid dabitur tibi, aut quid apponetur tibi ad linguam dolosam? (4) sagittae potentis acutae, cum carbonibus vastatoribus'; en. Ps. 119.5, `sagittae potentis acutae verba dei sunt. ecce iaciuntur et transfigunt corda; sed cum transfixa fuerint corda sagittis verbi dei, amor excitatur, non interitus comparatur. . . . carbones autem vastatores qui sunt? parum est verbis agere contra linguam subdolam et labia iniqua, parum est verbis agere: et exemplis agendum est. exempla sunt carbones vastatores. . . . erant autem in illo multa quae male fronduerant, multae carnales cogitationes, saeculares multi amores; ipsi uruntur carbonibus desolatoriis, ut fiat purus locus desolatus, in cuius loci puritate faciat deus aedificium suum. . . . audis homines mirari et dicere: ego illum novi, quam ebriosus fuit, quam sceleratus, qualis amator circi aut amphitheatri, qualis fraudator; modo quomodo deo servit, quam innocens factus est! noli mirari, carbo est.' See also on 10.6.8.

linguam subdolam: en. Ps. 119.4, `quae est lingua dolosa? subdola, habens imaginem consulendi et perniciem nocendi.' TeSelle 37-38 links this interpretation to the `nonnullorum hominum existimatio' of beata v. 1.4, that held him back from full conversion for a time. On that reading, it was the force of those who thought that he was unable to achieve that conversion that discouraged him, and that phrase is to be taken in its more obvious acceptation, as a sign of the worldly `esteem' in the face of which A. was abashed to abandon his career.

9.2.3

sagittaveras: See first en. Ps. 119.5, quoted on 9.2.2, `sagittas acutas', and see on 10.6.8, `percussisti cor meum verbo tuo'; cf. also Ps. 10.3, `quoniam ecce peccatores intenderunt arcum, paraverunt sagittas suas in pharetra, ut sagittent in obscura luna rectos corde'; Prov. 7.23, `donec transfigat sagitta iecur eius'; en. Ps. 7.15, `non ergo mirum si iidem apostoli et vasa mortis sunt in eis a quibus persecutionem passi sunt, et igneae sagittae ad inflammanda corda credentium.' (These words and others like them gave rise to the use of the pierced heart as a specially Augustinian icon: see with refs. E. de la Peza, REAug 7[1961], 339.) But there is another history to this expression in secular love literature: cf. e.g. Ov. am. 1.2.7, `haeserunt tenues in corde sagittae.'

cor . . . gestabamus verba: On the `inner word', see A. Schindler, Wort und Analogie in Augustins Trinitätslehre (Tübingen, 1965), 250-251, esp. citing doctr. chr. 1.13.12, `verbum quod corde gestamus'; the same wording appears at ss. 187.3.3, 288.4, trin. 15.10.19, and many more passages approximating it (usu. of the form `verbum corde conceptum' [s. Den. 2.2] or simply `verbum de deo in corde' [Io. ev. tr. 1.8]), and see ep. 162.5.

verba . . . exempla: = sagittae . . . carbones (9.2.2); Courcelle, Recherches 203, applies verba to the garden scene and exempla to the story of the courtiers of Trier (to which should be added the other exempla, of Anthony and Victorinus).

de nigris lucidos . . . feceras: Courcelle, Les Confessions 171n3, cites Greg. Nyss., in Cant. 1.5, tou= qeou= th\n peri\ h(ma=s a)ga/ph, o(/ti a(martwlo\s o)/ntas h(ma\s kai\ me/lanas fwtoeidei=s te kai\ e)rasmi/ous dia\ tou= e)pila/mya th\n xa/rin e)poi/hsen.

lingua subdola: Ps. 119.2 (see on 9.2.2).

inflammare . . . non extinguere: Cf. 9.2.2, `carbones' : A. begins to take on the characteristics of those whom he finds exemplary, but then immediately asks whether his behavior at the time was really exemplary.

quod sanctificasti: Cf. Ezech. 36.23, `et sanctificabo nomen meum magnum, quod pollutum est inter gentes'; Mt. 6.9, `sanctificetur nomen tuum'.

propositum: 8.6.15, 8.12.30.

iactantiae: At 10.36.59ff, a yearning for praise lingers as the one vestige of the three temptations to trouble the bishop most, and he returns to the issue throughout Bk. 13. The most pernicious form of the temptation was the desire to avoid seeming to seek praise--a touch of scrupulosity.

de publica professione: A. does not emulate Victorinus' boldness, for though he takes baptism publicly, here is a notable failure of resemblance between the two conversion stories (cf. 8.2.5, `illum autem maluisse salutem suam in conspectu sanctae multitudinis profiteri'): Victorinus did not shun the gaze of the crowd, but A. wanted to avoid publicity.

quod . . . videri: G-M: the quod-clause is either in apposition to multa (quod = `that') or explanatory (quod = `because'); either is possible, the former preferable.

blasphemaretur: Rom. 14.16, `non ergo blasphemetur bonum nostrum!'

9.2.4

pulmo meus: The near-contemporary texts all confirm the illness and use it as the pretext for retirement. See also 9.5.13; the fullest narrative is at beata v. 1.4 (quoted in prolegomena); cf. c. acad. 1.1.3, `nisi me pectoris dolor ventosam professionem abicere et in philosophiae gremium confugere coegisset'; ord. 1.2.5, `nam cum stomachi dolor scholam me deserere coegisset qui iam, ut scis, etiam sine ulla tali necessitate in philosophiam confugere moliebar, statim me contuli ad villam familiarissimi nostri Verecundi'; other allusions at c. acad. 3.7.15, ord. 1.8.26 and 1.11.33, sol. 1.1.1, 1.9.16, and 1.14.26; once, he is without pretext: ord. 1.9.27, `schola illa unde me quoquo modo evasisse gaudeo'. B. Legewie, MA 2.19-20, considers tuberculosis and psychosomatic complaints, but settles for diagnosing chronic weakness of voice. BA ad loc. pedantically adds the possibilities of bronchitis/laryngitis/tracheitis. Such scientific scrutiny perhaps misses the point. A. had no advantage of such a diagnosis, and knew merely that he was impaired in a faculty essential to his profession and significant to him personally. The medical advice A. received would have been clear. In the hypochondriasis of late antiquity, declamation was thought to be unusually good exercise, to be indulged in for the sake of health as much as anything else; conversely, there was close observation of symptoms and concern for the general health arising out of the exercise. For a summary based on the fourth-century physician Oribasius, see A. Rousselle, Porneia 11-12.

A.'s own words at qu. ev. 1.47 suggest that A. would not have been surprised (at least in retrospect) to find illness follow the garden scene: `sicut temptatio cupiditatis trina est, ita et temptatio timoris trina est. cupiditati quae in curiositate est opponitur timor mortis; sicut enim in illa cognoscendarum rerum est aviditas, ita in ista metus amittendae talis notitiae. cupiditati vero honorum vel laudis opponitur timor ignominiae et contumeliarum. cupiditati autem voluptatis opponitur timor doloris.'

A. was ill again two or three years later with fatigue (ep. 10.1), suffered badly from hemorrhoids in the late 390s (ep. 38.1), and was in the country recuperating from illness in late 410 and missed the chance to meet Pelagius when he passed through Hippo (ep. 109.3; Brown 344). For his tendency to illness in crises (as already 5.9.16, on arrival in Rome after the traumatic parting from Monnica), see Legewie, MA 2.5-21, and more recently R. Brändle and W. Neidhart, Theol. Zschr. 40(1984), 160n14. For all that, A. lived to an active and vigorous 75.

clariorem productioremve: `loud or long' (i.e., sustained: mus. 2.2.2, `alias syllabas correptiores, alias productiores').

sarcinam: See on 4.7.12; cf. 8.5.12, `sarcina saeculi'.

intermittere intermittere O S edd.:   intermitterem C D G

vacandi et videndi: Ps. 45.11, `vacate et videte, quoniam ego sum dominus'; en. Ps. 45.14, `hoc non videt tumultus contentiosus animi humani; cui tumultui contentioso dicitur, vacate, id est, reprimite animos vestros a contradictionibus. nolite argumentari et tamquam armari contra deum; alioquin vivunt arma nondum illo igne combusta. si autem combusta sunt, vacate, quia non habetis unde pugnetis. si autem vacaveritis in vobis, et a me petieritis omnia, qui primo de vobis praesumebatis. vacate et videbitis quoniam ego sum deus.' Sim. at ss. 103.2.3 (Martha/Mary), 362.30.31, s. Frang. 1.6, s. Guelph. 29.7 (Martha/Mary); civ. 22.30 (last chapter of the work), `vacate et videte, quoniam ego sum deus, quod erit vere maximum sabbatum non habens vesperam. . . . dies enim septimus etiam nos ipsi erimus' (cf. 13.35.50).

quia recesserat cupiditas: This is the closest he comes to saying that he altered the arrangements of his personal life immediately after the garden scene.

cathedra mendacii: Ps. 1.1, `in cathedra pestilentiae non sedit'; en. Ps. 1.1, `noluit regnum terrenum cum superbia; quae ideo cathedra pestilentiae recte intellegitur, quia non fere quisquam est qui careat amore dominandi et humanam non appetat gloriam. pestilentia est enim morbus late pervagatus et omnes aut paene omnes involvens. quamquam adcommodatius accipiatur cathedra pestilentiae, perniciosa doctrina, cuius sermo ut cancer serpit.'

funereis: Thus in a few words, in the book of death and rebirth, we have sin, death, baptismal water, and forgiveness.

9.3.5

Verecundus: Already mentioned at 8.6.13; V.'s distress (BA calls him `homme du tout ou rien') is evidence for the intensity of the pro-continence klatsch at Milan, from which V. finds himself barred by his marriage (cf. 9.3.6, `fidem gradus sui, vitae scilicet coniugalis'); for vincula see on 8.6.13. R. A. Kaster, Guardians of Language (Berkeley, 1988), 112, calls attention to V.'s comparatively high social standing, implied by his property ownership, but cannot say whether this is a mark of his success as a grammarian or of his family's prior standing. (There is a tribute with a light touch to V. at beata v. 4.31, where the discussion proclaims its freedom from grammarians' technicalities: `non enim nec hic grammaticorum formidine liberabimur aut metuendum est ne ab eis castigemur, quod incuriose utimur verbis, qui res suas nobis ad utendum dederunt.')

retribues illi: Lk. 14.14, `beatus eris quia non habent retribuere tibi; retribuetur enim tibi in resurrectione iustorum.'

resurrectione resurrectione C D G O Maur. Ver.:   retributione S Knöll Skut.
A.'s text at en. Ps. 103. s. 3.10 has resurrectione; both readings occur in Vg. MSS of Luke.

sortem: Cf. Ps. 124.3, `quoniam non derelinquet dominus virgam peccatorum super sortem iustorum, ut non extendant iusti ad iniquitatem manus suas.'

cum Romae iam essemus: during 388.

fidelis factus: See on 2.3.6; this is the first baptism and death recorded in this book.

gratias tibi, deus noster: Verheijen's app. script. (here and at 9.7.16, 9.11.28, and 9.13.35) cites Lk. 18.11, `deus, gratias ago tibi', but that is the beginning of the prayer of the Pharisee, hardly a text A. would evoke here, and the phrase is scarcely unparalleled in liturgy or devotion. Cf., e.g., Col. 1.3-4, `gratias agimus deo patri domini nostri Iesu Christi, semper pro vobis orantes, (4) audientes fidem vestram in Christo Iesu et dilectionem quam habetis in sanctos omnes.'

Cassiciaco: The ordinary vacation would have lasted until 15 October; only then did they leave for Cassiciacum, and the Cassiciacum dialogues we have date from three weeks or more after that. (At c. acad. 1.5.15 [prob. 11 November], they are still working on the first book of Vergil; ten days or so later, at c. acad. 2.4.10, they have done three more books.) Even if A. had firmly decided before leaving for the vindemiales feriae that he would not return, he seems not to have handed in his papers until the end or nearly the end of the vacation (9.5.13, `peractis vindemialibus'). Hence there was an unburnt bridge, and the possibility of going back. (That he marked his retirement from the end, not the beginning, of he vacation, is clear from sol. 1.10.17, where Ratio asks whether he has given up his longing for honores: A. answers, `fateor, eos modo ac paene his diebus cupere destiti.')

The location is unknown and hotly debated; see F. Meda, MA 2.49-59, and Perler 179-196 (with map at 196). There is only one reference elsewhere in A.: quant. an. 31.62, `cum nuper in agro essemus Liguriae'. Does agro require us to think not of Milan but Cassiciacum (probably: see on 10.35.57, `in agro')? Does that restrict the distance from Milan? Milan was strictly in Aemilia, but administratively it was joined with Liguria (south of the Po): Ambrose was, e.g., consularis Aemiliae et Liguriae. Until 1845, there were no doubts: Cassago di Brianza, 30-40 km NNE of Milan (first identified as such in the Mediolanensis historia of Tristano Calchi, 1490--but he names Cassago in the form `Cassiaco', which is the form of the Latin name in our manuscripts BVZ only). In 1845, Alessandro Manzoni held for Casciago c. 55 km NW from Milan between Varese and Gavirate. Manzoni's argument was primarily phonetic (and a good one once the correct MS reading was identified); Cassiciacum had a stream, which Casciago did but Cassago did not--or so Manzoni argued. L. Biraghi, Sant'Agostino a Cassago in Brianza in ritiro di sette mesi (Milan, 1854), retorted with argument for the MS reading Cassiaco, and found besides a stream at Cassago; he argued that the existence of some ancient remains compatible with rich country houses around Cassago was indirect evidence for the site as well. Manzoni himself seems to have changed his mind after Biraghi; other opinion has inclined variously, perhaps more in favor of Cassago. The assumption of all these studies, that the ancient name must be reflected in some surviving toponym, is perhaps not as secure as it has seemed, particularly in light of what A. sees in the name (see on `monte incaseato' below). Of several ways of naming the locality in which they passed the winter (never named in any of the works written there), he may have chosen the one most convenient for his purposes. The discussion was revived during the recent sexdecemcentenary observances; I have not seen articles by L. Beretta and S. Colombo in Agostino e la conversione cristiana (Palermo, 1987), 67-83 and 85-92.

A.'s student Licentius wrote nostalgically of the place a few years later (this is the shorter poem quoted in A., ep. 26.4):

o mihi transactos revocet si pristina soles
laetificis aurora rotis, quos libera tecum
otia temptantes et candida iura bonorum
duximus Italiae medio montesque per altos!
non me dura gelu prohiberent frigora cano,
nec fera tempestas Zephyrum, fremitusque Borini,
quin tua sollicito premerem vestigia passu.

requievimus: 1.1.1 began with longing for requies and the work ends with anticipation of its full achievement (13.38.53); this passage marks the first unambiguous achievement of requies, however partial and fleeting, in the narrative.

paradisi tui: Elsewhere `paradise' is an image of the church: c. litt. Pet. 2.13.29, en. Ps. 47.9 (with the cautionary reminder that the delights of paradise do not exclude the serpent), bapt. 4.1.1, Gn. litt. 11.25.32, `paradisus enim dicta est ecclesia, sicut legitur in Cantico canticorum: “hortus conclusus, fons signatus” [Cant. 4.12]'; Gn. litt. 12.34.65, `proprie quidem nemorosus locus, translato autem verbo omnis etiam spiritalis quasi regio, ubi animae bene est, merito paradisus dici potest. . . . unde et ecclesia sanctis temperanter et iuste et pie viventibus paradisus recte dicitur, pollens adfluentia gratiarum castisque deliciis.' Cassiciacum is similarly duplex in significance, with all the outward forms of paradise, and an inner truth to those forms for A. and his friends.

dimisisti ei peccata: Cf. Mt. 9.6, `ut sciatis autem quoniam filius hominis habet potestatem in terra dimittendi peccata'; Lk. 5.23, `quid est facilius, dicere dimittuntur tibi peccata an dicere surge et ambula?'

monte incaseato: Ps. 67.16-17, `montem dei, montem uberem, mons incaseatum, mons pinguem; (17) utquid suspicamini montes incaseatos, montem in quo placuit deo habitare in eo?' en. Ps. 67.22, `sed quem montem intellegere debemus “montem dei, montem uberem, montem incaseatum,” nisi eundem dominum Christum, de quo et alius propheta dicit, “erit in novissimis temporibus manifestus mons domini, paratus in cacumine montium”? [Is. 2.2] ipse est mons incaseatus, propter parvulos gratia tamquam lacte nutriendos; mons uber, ad roborandos atque ditandos donorum excellentia; nam et ipsum lac, unde fit caseus, miro modo significat gratiam; manat quippe ex abundantia viscerum maternorum, et misericordia delectabili parvulis gratis infunditur.' For mons = Christus, see on 13.12.13.

9.3.6

angebatur: 9.3.5, `macerabatur anxitudine'.

Nebridius: See on 6.7.11.

nondum christianus: util. cred. 1.2, `tu nondum christianus' (of Honoratus).

foveam . . . erroris: The Christological divagations of A. and Alypius were chronicled at 7.19.25; on incidere see on 3.6.10. Cf. Ps. 7.16, `incidet in foveam quam fecit.'

veritatis filii tui: Jn. 14.6; translate `of the Truth, your son'; the same expression at 9.13.34.

imbutus . . . sacramentis: See on 8.2.4.

inquisitor ardentissimus veritatis: See on 6.10.16, `Nebridius . . . inquisitor ardens'; cf. `pro aviditate sua' below.

fidelem catholicum: See on 2.3.6.

carne solvisti: 9.11.28, `anima . . . corpore soluta est'. E. Vance, Genre 6(1973), 22, contrasts the death of Nebridius and A.'s mild reaction to the death of his friend in Bk. 4 (but n.b.: Vance oddly thinks that Nebridius died in 386/7 while A. was at Cassiciacum).

in sinu Abraham: Lk. 16.22, `factum est autem ut moreretur mendicus, et portaretur ab angelis in sinum Abrahae'; at 16.25 the dives addresses Abraham, and Abraham answers in 16.29. nat. et or. an. 4.16.24, `sinum Abrahae intellege remotam sedem quietis atque secretam, ubi est Abraham. et ideo Abrahae dictum, non quod ipsius tantum sit, sed quod ipse pater multarum gentium sit positus, quibus est ad imitandum fidei principatu propositus'. Cf. s. 14.3.4, c. Faust. 33.5. Nebridius' questions probably ran along the lines met by the expositions at ep. 187.2.6 and esp. ep. 164.3.7-8 (in one of a sequence of letters to and from Evodius, reviving questions about the afterlife that date from Milan and immediately after), dealing with how Abraham and the mendicus (to say nothing of other patriarchs and prophets who must have been with them) could have been in a pleasant place, and yet Christ had to descend `ad inferos' to set them free (the descent into hell is first attested in the creed by Rufinus, comm. in symb. apost. [c. 404]). Cf. Gn. litt. 12.34.65, en. Ps. 36. s. 1.10; see BA 14.549-550 for further references and discussion, with an attempt to assimilate A.'s views to later orthodoxy (enjoyment of the beatific vision immediately after death is controversial; it becomes papal dogma in the fourteenth century).

adoptivus ex liberto filius: Puzzling, as G-M saw. They quote Raumer as taking A. to be the libertus, N. his spiritual son: most unlikely. Or, they suggest alternately, once a freedman (as Christian on earth), he has become an adoptive son (in the bosom of Abraham). BA: `un ancien affranchi devenu fils adoptif'. The only use of libertus in Vg. is 1 Cor. 7.22: `qui enim in domino vocatus est servus, libertus est domini: similiter qui liber vocatus est, servus est Christi' (cited at en. Ps. 99.7); neither adoptivus nor libertus appear elsewhere in A. with theological overtones.

homuncionem: Otherwise in A. only in the passage from Ter. quoted at 1.16.26 and civ. 2.7.

iam non ponit . . . fontem tuum: There is no one scriptural antecedent, but a mixture: Sirach 1.5, `fons sapientiae verbum dei in excelsis'; Sirach 26.15, `sicut viator sitiens, ad fontem os aperiet et ab omni aqua proxima bibet'; Prov. 18.4, `aqua profunda verba ex ore viri et torrens redundans fons sapientiae.' ep. 158.11 (Evodius quoting A. in 414), `“et ponere os spiritale ad fontem vitae” prudenter dixisti, ubi est felix et beata [anima] proprietate mentis suae.'

nostri sis memor: Cf. Ps. 135.23, `quia in humilitate nostra memor fuit nostri et redemit nos ab inimicis nostris.'

sic . . . eramus: cf. `sic sibi erat' of Nebridius earlier in this paragraph. The received punctuation here has been questioned by A. A. R. Bastiaensen in Homo Spiritalis (Festschrift L. Verheijen: Würzburg, 1987), 433-439, but the amendment here goes beyond his suggestion.

dies illi: The days between the garden scene and the departure for Cassiciacum.

tibi dixit cor meum: Ps. 26.8-9, `tibi dixit cor meum, quaesivi vultum tuum; vultum tuum, domine, requiram. (9) non avertas faciem tuam a me.' The same verse quoted at 1.18.28 (see notes there) with the sobering addition, `nam longe a vultu tuo in affectu tenebroso'. That distance has been reduced here. See en. Ps. 26. en. 1.8, en. Ps. 26. en. 2.16, `magnifice, nihil dici divinius potest. sentiunt hoc qui vere amant.'

9.4.7

Current work on c. acad., beata v., ord., sol., imm. an., and the correspondence with Nebridius is summarized and advanced in the collective volume by G. Reale, et al., L'opera letteraria di Agostino tra Cassiciacum e Milano (Palermo, 1988).

eruisti: 1.18.28, `et nunc eruis', in the passage echoed in the last lines of 9.3.6; the verb in the same sense, 1.15.24, 3.11.19, 6.8.13.

meis omnibus: Attested from the Cassiciacum dialogues: Alypius, Monnica, Navigius, Adeodatus, Licentius, Trygetius, Lartidianus, Rusticus (list at beata v. 1.6); but cf. 9.4.8 for concentration on A., Alypius, and Monnica. (The uneducated cousins disappear after these dialogues. Their only intervention is in an exchange at beata v. 2.12, where they both agree with an unsubtle position advanced by Trygetius.) There were two notable absentees: Nebridius and Romanianus (on the latter, see on 6.14.24). Mandouze 125n6 reports the suggestion from an unpublished thesis by a student of his that Alypius and probably Navigius acted at Cassiciacum in the role of the `consuls' (`chargés d'affaires') that had been foreseen in the earlier plan for retreat at 6.14.24. (Another parallel may be found in `reading parties' where students joined their teacher in the long vacations for sojourns away from the city: see, e.g., Libanius, ep. 1238..)

ibi quid egerim in litteris: The exact even-handedness of this description seems rarely to be given full valuation by the scholars: on the one hand, already Christian, on the other hand, not entirely satisfactory--still marked by traces of the ambitio saeculi that his `conversion' had more or less demolished. A similar assessment is visible in retr. 1.1-4; cf. retr. pr. 3, `nec illa sane praetereo quae catechumenus iam, licet relicta spe quam terrenam gerebam, sed adhuc saecularium litterarum inflatus consuetudine scripsi'. All three dialogues are dedicated to persons not unambiguously Christian--certainly not churchy men in any way (and there is no dedication to Ambrose or Simplicianus, e.g.). Zenobius was not Christian at all, Romanianus was not then (and never? see on 6.14.24) a baptized catholic Christian, and Mallius Theodorus is certainly reproached in retr., and perhaps also in conf.: see on 7.9.13. The next works (sol., quant. an., mag., lib. arb.) are without dedications.

adhuc . . . anhelantibus: G-M: `The point of the comparison seems to be that the pride of the schools was still noticeable in his style, as the loud breathing of the combatants in a gymnastic contest continues after the bout is over.' Pusey, Ryan, and BA generally follow this view. One measure of the stylistic difference has been made: at Cassiciacum, A. regularly employs the accusative/infinitive construction in indirect discourse, so regularly that its appearance outnumbers the `analytic construction' (a subordinate clause) 55 to 1; in the mature works of the bishop (the count was made for conf., civ., and epp.), the ratio drops to 11.5 to 1; and in the sermons, drops further to 2 to 1. See C. Mohrmann, RA 1(1958), 44, drawing upon T. Dokkum, De constructionis analyticae vice accusativi cum infinitivo fungentis usu apud Augustinum (Sneek, 1900), and K. Sneyders de Vogel, Quaestiones ad coniunctivi usum in posteriore latinitate pertinentes (Schiedam, 1903).

There may be a further implication: the end of the pausatio would normally be a return to the contest, and it would surely have surprised few if--having written these books--A. had returned to academic life. Failure to observe this leads astray J. Stiglmayr, Zschr. Ask. u. Myst. 6(1931), 163-164, who tries to make of the pausatio a death-rattle (Todesröcheln) of A.'s old life. (But the Vergilian afternoons were not necessarily only a literary exercise: the theme of c. acad. 1 is eerily apposite to Aeneid 1 [`on the table' at c. acad. 1.5.15]: do you call a person happy while on a journey, or only when after the journey is over?)

pausatione: The word is first attested in the late fourth century (cf. Hrdlicka, Souter).

libri disputati: c. acad., beata v., ord.; other refs. in conf. to his own works: 4.13.20, de pulchro et apto; 9.6.14 mag. The three dialogues of Cassiciacum are not without interest when taken as a triad: c. acad. is devoted to the nature of truth [2]; beata v. ends with an extensive and important discussion of modus [1] that links that concept to the first person of the trinity; and the third dialogue is of course about ordo [3]. (Note further that beata v. and ord. each record dialogues that extended over three days, while c. acad. is broken in two sections of three days each, and the second section has its own formal introduction (c. acad. 2.1.1 - 2.3.9). There are twelve days of discussion in all, and seven days elapse between the two halves of c. acad. If we follow the commonest reconstruction of the schedule of the dialogues (which goes back to D. Ohlmann, De Sancti Augustini dialogis in Cassiciaco scriptis [Strasburg, 1897]² ), moreover, beata v. and c. acad. both end on Sundays, and the concluding dialogue of each work is marked by expressly Christian topics and biblical quotations.

The place of liturgical Christianity at Cassiciacum deserves attention. Most of those present were not yet baptized, and so not full participants in the church, but the subject of `church' was not absent. The prayer of invocation that opens sol. has a eucharistic phrase (sol. 1.1.3, `deus qui nobis das panem vitae'; cf. Jn. 6.35), while we read at ord. 2.5.16, `quem unum deum omnipotentem, eumque tripotentem patrem et filium et spiritum sanctum, docent veneranda mysteria, quae fide sincera et inconcussa populos liberant, nec confuse, ut quidam, nec contumeliose, ut multi, praedicant.' A. addresses Monnica thus: ord. 2.17.46, `admoneo te, quantum filius audeo quantumque permittis, ut fidem istam tuam, quam venerandis mysteriis percepisti, firme cauteque custodias, deinde ut in hac vita atque moribus constanter vigilanterque permaneas.'

All was not easy and pleasant. There were moments of depression, as Ratio reminds A.: sol. 1.9.16, `modo ergo quod non omnes tecum sunt amici tui, et quod tua valetudo minus integra est, facit animo nonnullam aegritudinem; nam et id esse consequens video.'

Whether the historical data to be extracted from these works are consistent with that to be extracted from conf. is a question badly posed. `The historical data to be extracted' from works never meant to serve as such a quarry are pearls of dubious worth at best. Since Courcelle's Recherches there is a general grudging acceptance of consistency, with many footnotes. The traditional position (traditional from Harnack and Boissier through Alfaric) was that it was conf. that we should mistrust; the useful and necessary, but overstated, counterblast was O'Meara, Vig. Chr. 5(1951), 150-178. The arguments O'Meara makes are almost all valid, but the result is less than the sum of the parts, and the concessions in his conclusion give away more than he wishes. He pays too little attention to the likelihood of a conscious modeling that went in on during the days at Cassiciacum themselves. (For that suggestion, see already G. Madec, REAug 32[1986], 207-231 at 211, in an important study of the whole question.) It is not merely that the author of these dialogues looked to certain textual models, but also that the people who lived those events were themselves conscious of the models (to different degrees), and were consciously creating a way of life inspired by those models.

In the end, what we believe of the dialogues and what position we take on their historicity is a matter of personality rather than details. If we should not swear that such-and-such words were spoken on such-and-such a day at Cassiciacum, the dialogues remain a vital record of one view of what went on there, and there is both plenty of authentic local color contained therein and at the same time plenty of coincidence between the content of the dialogues and the actual concerns of Augustine (and perforce of anyone who came within the range of his voice) during those days. If A. were asked if the dialogues were `historical', he would probably say yes, and he would be telling the literal truth according to the standards of his times; but standards have changed, and the dialogues are rather to be viewed now as an unusually privileged form of historical fiction.

The Cassiciacum oeuvre (c. 60,000 words in all) bespeaks a concentration of effort even if only on the task of arranging and revising stenographic transcripts for the dialogues. That marks some change in A., who had hitherto written little.

Do we believe in the notarii attending the conversations? The references are numerous (20 in number, listed at O'Meara 152n7) and can be ignored only if we accept O'Meara's curious two-pronged petitio principii: (1) the dialogues cannot be based on transcripts from notarii, because they are fictional on the model of Ciceronian dialogues; and (2) the allegations of the presence of the notarii show how unusually and ingeniously A. could depart from the Ciceronian models.

See on 6.14.24 and 6.16.26 for the adumbration of community life earlier at Milan and for the influence of the Ciceronian dialogues; but the echoes do not stop there. Whether we assume the dialogues are history or fiction, do they not amount to an attempt on A.'s part to remake his own life as it would have been without the fall into Manicheism? To make that life possible for the young people around him? They have been reading the Hortensius (c. acad. 1.1.4 and c. acad. 3.4.7) and so stand just where A. both began the right path and abandoned it. They are then led by A. through their own series of `Tusculan disputations' on truth, providence, and happiness. So at beata v. 1.2, A. identifies three classes of people prone to philosophy, and while it is not clear into which of the two problematic classes he saw himself falling,<sup>3</sup> the first category is clearly meant for Trygetius and Licentius: `unum est eorum quos, ubi aetas compos rationis adsumpserit, parvo impetu pulsuque remorum de proximo fugiunt seseque condunt in illa tranquillitate unde ceteris civibus quibus possunt, quo admoniti conentur ad se, lucidissimum signum sui alicuius operis erigunt.'

Parallels between the literary representation of Cassiciacum and the Tusculans of Cicero: C. presents his project as the natural succession to his oratorical career (Tusc. 1.4.7, `ut enim antea declamitabam causas, . . . sic haec mihi nunc senilis est declamatio'). The country house setting among familiares (Tusc. 1.4.7) offers a set number of days of debate, with each day furnishing matter for one book of the finished work (Tusc. 1.4.8, `dierum quinque scholas, ut graeci appellant, in totidem libros contuli'). The first day breaks off with the narrator and master of the dialogue expressing concern for his health (Tusc. 1.49.119, `nunc quidem valetudini tribuamus aliquid' : cf. ord. 1.8.26, `nihilque a me aliud actum est illo die, ut valetudini parcerem'). The occupants of the house divide their time between literary and philosophical subjects (Tusc. 2.3.9, `cum ante meridiem dictioni operam dedissemus, sicut pridie feceramus, post meridiem in academiam descendimus'). The first book of Tusc. deals with death (a subject on A.'s mind in the text here since 6.16.26, where see notes), the second with dolor (a concern here: 9.4.12 on A.'s toothache). Though the ostensible form is dialogue, there are lengthy speeches by the narrator interposed (after a show of polite diffidence: Tusc. 1.8.16-9.17). The topic of the location of the soul in the body is ventilated (Tusc. 1.9.19: cf. quant. an. 31.62). Finally, the last book of Tusc. is devoted to the question whether virtue alone suffices `ad beate vivendum', in other words to the nature of the `beata vita' (cf. Tusc. 5.28.82, `habes quae fortissime de beata vita dici putem et . . . etiam verissime'). (In broad outlines, the resemblance was noted by Alfaric 398, but there has been no detailed comparison.)

cum ipso me solo coram te: i.e., sol.

epistulae: epp. 3-14, of which 3-4 date from Cassiciacum; ep. 3. contains another `soliloquium', `Augustinus ipse cum Augustino' (ep. 3.1), and a ref. to the published sol. (ep. 3.4).

sufficiat: In same sense at 11.2.2.

ad alia maiora properanti: See on 9.8.17, `quia multum festino' for evidence that mere rhetorical praeteritio is involved. That these two phrases occur in the last book of narrative-based confessio suggests that it is Bks. 10-13 that he is impatient to reach. Sim. in a purely rhetorical vein at mor. 1.21.39, `haec verba omnia si attendantur, si perpendantur, si discutiantur, multa inveniuntur pernecessaria iis qui hunc mundum fugere et refugere in deum desiderant, sed longum est, et alio festinat oratio.'

revocat enim: Courcelle, Recherches 203: `Il fait seulement une vague allusion à des luttes intérieures que la Grâce divine lui a permis de surmonter à Cassiciacum.'

complanaveris . . . lenieris: Is. 40.4, `omnis vallis exaltabitur, et omnis mons et collis humilabitur, et erunt prava in directa et aspera in vias planas'; cf. Lk. 3.5 (quoting Is.).

humilitatis humilitatis D2 G1 O1 S Knöll Skut. Ver.:   humiliatis CD1G2 O2 Maur.
On the rare verb form humilitare, see De Bruyne MA 2.561 (else in A. most likely only at cons. ev. 4.10.20, quoting Sirach 3.20 [cf. Amm. Marc. 30.4.1, `ad humilitandam celsitudinem potestatis']). All TLL refs. for verb forms from humilis are late antique.

nomini . . . Christi: 2 Pet. 3.18, `crescite vero in gratia et in cognitione domini nostri et salvatoris Iesu Christi.' The nomen Christi had been important to A., according to his narrative, all his adult life: on reading the Hortensius, he felt the lack (3.4.8).

quod . . . litteris nostris: The dialogues do contain the nomen Christi, and not only, as Courcelle, Recherches 256n1, said, in ord. (1.8.21, 1.10.29 [3x], 1.11.32), but also an important passage at c. acad. 3.20.43 where A. declares his willingness to rely henceforth on the auctoritas Christi. But that passage seems to have been hesitantly advanced, or at least hesitantly where A.'s philosophical friends were concerned: writing of the c. acad. during that winter to Hermogenianus, A. says (ep. 1.3), `mihique rescribas utrum approbes quod in extremo tertii libri suspiciosius fortasse quam certius, utilius tamen, ut arbitror, quam incredibilius putavi credendum. equidem quoquo modo se habent illae litterae, non tam me delectat, ut scribis, quod academicos vicerim (scribis enim hoc amantius forte quam verius), quam quod mihi abruperim odiosissimum retinaculum, quo a philosophiae ubere desperatione veri, quod est animi pabulum, refrenabar.'

The Cassiciacum dialogues contain a wide variety of the terms that A. regularly uses later as equivalents for the nomen Christi, and they appear there in ways that invite us to think that they are deliberately posted as substitutes; without explicit statement there or here there will always be objections to reading the dialogues that way, but it is undeniably one way they need to be read (for an example, cf. sol. 1.1.2, deus pater veritatis, pater sapientiae, pater verae summaeque vitae, pater beatitudinis, pater boni et pulchri, pater intellegibilis lucis . . .').

But what are we to make of Alypius' objection? His role at Cassiciacum repays attention. Alypius was present in a purely neutral role on 10 November, then away in the city on business until 20 November (missing all of beata v., half of c. acad. 1, and half of ord. [covering every occurrence of the nomen Christi in that work]); when he returns, his part in the discussion is distinctly restrained, and he is shown taking the part of the Academics against A.'s criticism (e.g., c. acad. 3.5.11) and praising Pythagoras (ord. 2.20.53). His is the attitude that many attribute to A. at Cassiciacum: he sees in Christianity a useful type of philosophy, but his principal allegiance is to philosophy and so he has a certain disdain (`dedignabatur') for popular forms. Taken in connection with 7.19.25 and the Christ-centered conversion of Bk. 8, this is an arresting suggestion of a limited conversion on Alypius' part as late as Nov. 386. Note also that A. never sets a dialogue in which he and Alypius are the sole participants; Evodius (see on 9.8.17) emerges as the more enthusiastic fellow traveler. (A more moderate view of Alypius's disdain is that of G. Madec, REAug 32[1986], 214, `parce qu'il estimait que les formules spécifiquement chrétiennes rompaient avec l'esthétique classique des Dialogues philosophiques.') For other glimpses of Alypius' state of mind at about this time, see above on 8.12.30 and below on 9.6.14, `nudo pede', where the gesture of extreme asceticism also seems out of place; but 9.6.14, `placuit et Alypio . . .', may record a further decision.

gymnasiorum: On gymnasia, see Courcelle, Rev. Philol. 53(1979), 215-26, repr. in his Opuscula Selecta (Paris, 1984), 373-384. c. acad. 3.4.9, `quod quaeso, Alypi, ne in villa nobis licere arbitreris, certe vel istae balneolae aliquam decoris gymnasiorum faciant recordationem'; c. acad. 3.16.35, `persuadebis nimirum tamquam in gymnasio Cumano atque adeo Neapolitano nihil eum peccasse, immo etiam nec errasse quidem.' The gymnasia evoke all of A.'s professional past: ep. 118.2.9, `illi autem Carthaginienses rhetores si huic tuo studio defuerunt, non modo a me non reprehenduntur sed etiam approbantur, si forte iam recolunt non Romanorum fororum sed graecorum gymnasiorum ista solere esse certamina. tu vero cum et in gymnasia cogitationem iniecisti et ea quoque ipsa invenisti talibus rebus nuda atque frigida, ubi has curas tuas deponeres, christianorum tibi basilica Hipponensis occurrit, quia in ea nunc sedet episcopus qui aliquando ista pueris vendidit.' Cf. ep. 118.3.21, `loquacissimis graecorum gymnasiis'; civ. 18.41, `pauci in scholis atque gymnasiis litigiosis disputationibus garruli'.

A more generous interpretation of the level A. had achieved at this time may be inferred from the seven stages of the mind's ascent outlined in quant. an. 33.70-76; the pertinent passage is quant. an. 33.74, `quod cum effectum erit, id est, cum fuerit anima ab omni tabe libera maculisque diluta, tum se denique in seipsa laetissime tenet, nec omnino aliquid metuit sibi aut ulla sua causa quicquam angitur.' This is the fifth stage of the ascent, a time for maintaining the purification already achieved and devoting oneself to contemplation of the divine. A.'s own view of his state of mind at Cassiciacum is circumstantial and interesting as well: c. acad. 3.20.43, `quoquo modo se habeat humana sapientia, eam me video nondum percepisse. sed cum tricensimum et tertium aetatis annum agam, non me arbitror desperare debere eam me quandoque adepturum. contemptis tamen ceteris omnibus quae bona mortales putant, huic investigandae inservire proposui. . . . mihi ergo certum est nusquam prorsus a Christi auctoritate discedere; non enim reperio valentiorem. quod autem subtilissima ratione persequendum est . . . apud platonicos me interim quod sacris nostris non repugnet reperturum esse confido.' Whatever happened in Milan, garden scene or no garden scene, there is an unmistakable sense of relief and release here.

cedros . . . contrivit: Cf. 8.2.4, `cedris . . . contriverat'; en. Ps. 28.5, `vox domini contritione cordis huMilans superbos. conteret dominus cedros Libani. conteret per paenitentiam dominus elatos nitore terrenae nobilitatis'.

Excursus on Psalm 4

Little in ancient literature at all resembles the account of a sustained act of reading in 9.4.8 - 9.4.11. This excursus presents a reconstructed Latin text of the Psalm underlying the conf. passage, with app. crit. to suggest where and how that text, evoked in memory in c. 397, differs from other texts A. knew, and a digested version of A.'s tractatus on this Psalm in 392, about halfway between the events recalled and the writing of this account.

The contents and structure of Psalm 4, occurring here at almost the exact mid-point of conf. (counting pages, lines, or words), duplicate closely the structure of the work as a whole. invocatio --> ut quid diligitis vanitatem et quaeritis mendacium --> dominus exaudiet me --> compungimini --> sacrificium iustitiae --> in pace in idipsum obdormiam et somnum capiam. The last verse summarizes the whole: singulariter in spe constituisti me. (See on 1.1.1 for the parallels in Tob. 13.)

1 canticum David
2 cum invocarem, exaudivit me deus iustitiae meae;
in tribulatione dilatasti mihi.
miserere mei, domine,
et exaudi orationem meam.
3 filii hominum usquequo graves corde?
ut quid diligitis vanitatem
et quaeritis mendacium?
[diapsalma]
4 et scitote quoniam magnificavit dominus sanctum suum;
dominus exaudiet me dum clamavero ad eum.
5 irascimini et nolite peccare;
quae dicitis in cordibus vestris,
et in cubilibus vestris compungimini.
[diapsalma]
6 sacrificate sacrificium iustitiae,
et sperate in domino.
multi dicunt, quis ostendit nobis bona?
7 signatum est in nobis lumen vultus tui, domine;
dedisti laetitiam in corde meo.
8 a tempore frumenti vini et olei sui multiplicati sunt.
9 in pace, in idipsum obdormiam et somnum capiam,
10 quoniam tu, domine, singulariter in spe constituisti me.

Readings cited from

:   exaudivit C E:   te exaudisti Rom Ver
:   mihi C E Ver:   mei Rom
:   mei C E Ver:   mihi Rom
:   domine C Ver Rom:    E
:   diapsalma E Ver:    Rom C
:   et scitote C E:   scitote Rom Ver
:   magnificavit C Rom:   admirabilem fecit E:   admirabile fecit Ver
:   exaudiet C? Ver E:   exaudivit Rom
:   clamavero Ver E:   clamarem Rom C?
:   et in cubilibus C? Rom:   et in cubiculis Ver:   in cubilibus E
:   diapsalma C E Ver:    Rom
:   in nobis C E:   super nos Rom Ver
:   corde meo C Rom Ver:   cor meum E
:   sui E Rom:    C? Ver.
:   somnum capiam C E:   requiescam Rom Ver
:   constituisti C Rom:   habitare fecisti E Ver

enarratio in Psalmum IV

The points of contact with conf. are so numerous and the illumination provided so considerable that it is impossible to do more than present the texts side by side and enjoin attentive reading of both. This tractatus is one of those on Pss. 1-32 composed in 392. As A. matured, his Psalm sermons grew in subtlety, power, and length, but this one already shows him in command of his method. The section numbers correspond to the verses discussed, except where noted.

(1) `. . . nunc interim aut verba dominici hominis post resurrectionem exspectare debemus, aut hominis in ecclesia credentis et sperantis in eum. (2) . . . mutatio autem personae, quod a tertia, ubi ait “exaudivit”, statim transiit ad secundam, ubi ait “dilatasti mihi”, si non varietatis ac suavitatis causa facta est, mirum cur primum tamquam indicare voluit hominibus exauditum se esse, et postea compellare exauditorem suum. nisi forte cum indicasset quemadmodum exauditus sit in ipsa dilatatione cordis, maluit cum deo loqui, ut etiam hoc modo ostenderet quid sit corde dilatari, id est, iam cordi habere infusum deum, cum quo intrinsecus conloquatur. quod in persona eius qui credens in Christum inluminatus est, recte accipitur. . . . (3) quid ergo ultra graves corde estis? quando habituri finem fallaciarum, si veritate praesente non habetis? . . . sola veritas facit beatos, ex qua vera sunt omnia. nam vanitas est vanitantium, et omnia vanitas. . . . cupitis enim permanere vobiscum, quae omnia transeunt tamquam umbra. (4) . . . “sanctum suum.” quem, nisi eum quem suscitavit ab inferis et in caelo ad dexteram conlocavit? increpatur ergo genus humanum, ut ad eum se tandem ab huius mundi amore convertat. . . . interpositum diapsalma vetat istam [sententiam] cum superiore coniungi. . . . (5) [still on v. 4] “dum clamavero” . . . hic nos admoneri credo, ut magna intentione cordis, id est, interno et incorporeo clamore auxilium imploremus dei. quoniam sicut gratulandum est de inluminatione in hac vita, ita orandum pro requie post hanc vitam. . . . (6) [v. 5] etiam si irascimini, nolite peccare; id est, etiam si surgit motus animi, qui iam propter poenam peccati non est in potestate, saltem ei non consentiat ratio et mens, quae intus regenerata est secundum deum, ut mente serviamus legi dei, si adhuc carne servimus legi peccati; aut: “agite paenitentiam”, id est, irascimini vobis ipsis de praeteritis peccatis et ulterius peccare desinite. “quae dicitis in cordibus vestris,” subauditur: dicite, ut sit plena sententia: quae dicitis, in cordibus vestris dicite. . . . “in cubilibus vestris compungimini.” hoc est quod iam dictum est, “in cordibus”. haec enim sunt cubilia de quibus et dominus monet, ut intus oremus clausis ostiis. “compungimini” autem, aut ad paenitentiae dolorem refertur, ut se ipsam anima puniens compungat, ne in dei iudicio damnata torqueatur; aut ad excitationem, ut evigilemus ad videndam lucem Christi, tamquam stimulis adhibitis. . . . (7) [v. 6] idem dicit in alio psalmo: “sacrificium deo spiritus contribulatus.” quare non absurde hic accipitur ipsum esse sacrificium iustitiae, quod fit per paenitentiam. . . . nam et interpositum diapsalma non absurde fortassis insinuat etiam transitum de vita veteri ad vitam novam. . . . recte vivite et sperate donum spiritus sancti ut vos veritas, cui credidistis, inlustret. (8) [still on v. 6] . . . “quis ostendit nobis bona?” qui sermo et quae interrogatio cotidiana est omnium stultorum et iniquorum, sive pacem et tranquillitatem vitae saecularis desiderantium, et propter perversitatem generis humani non invenientium, qui etiam caeci accusare audent ordinem rerum, cum involuti meritis suis putant tempora esse peiora quam praeterita fuerunt; sive de ipsa futura vita, quae nobis promittitur, dubitantium vel desperantium, qui saepe dicunt: quis novit si vera sunt, aut quis venit ab inferis ut ista nuntiaret? . . . [v. 7] hoc lumen est totum hominis et verum bonum, quod non oculis sed mente conspicitur. “signatum” autem dixit “in nobis”, tamquam denarius signatur regis imagine. homo enim factus est ad imaginem et similitudinem dei, quam peccando corrupit; bonum ergo eius est verum atque aeternum, si renascendo signetur. . . . non ergo foris quaerenda est laetitia, ab his qui adhuc graves corde diligunt vanitatem et quaerunt mendacium, sed intus ubi signatum est lumen vultus dei. “in interiore enim homine habitat Christus,” ut ait apostolus; ad ipsum enim pertinet videre veritatem, cum ille dixerit: “ego sum veritas.” . . . (9) [v. 8] non enim vacat quod additum est “sui”. est enim et frumentum dei, siquidem est panis vivus qui de caelo descendit. est et vinum dei, nam “inebriabuntur”, inquit, “ab ubertate domus tuae.” est et oleum dei, de quo dictum est: “impinguasti in oleo caput meum.” . . . non enim multiplicatio semper ubertatem significat et non plerumque exiguitatem; cum dedita temporalibus voluptatibus anima semper exardescit cupiditate nec satiari potest, et multiplici atque aerumnosa cogitatione distenta simplex bonum videre non sinitur. . . . talis anima temporalium bonorum decessione et successione, id est, a tempore frumenti, vini et olei sui, innumerabilibus completa phantasmatibus sic multiplicata est, ut non possit agere quod praeceptum est: “sentite de domino in bonitate, et in simplicitate cordis quaerite illum.” [Wisd. 1.1] ista enim multiplicitas illi simplicitati vehementer adversa est. et ideo istis relictis qui multi sunt, multiplicati scilicet temporalium cupiditate et dicunt, “quis ostendit nobis bona,” quae non oculis foris, sed intus cordis simplicitate quaerenda sunt, vir fidelis exsultat et dicit: [v. 9] “in pace, in idipsum obdormiam, et somnum capiam.” recte enim speratur a talibus omnimoda mentis abalienatio a mortalibus rebus et miseriarum saeculi huius oblivio, quae nomine obdormitionis et somni decenter et prophetice significatur, ubi summa pax nullo tumultu interpellari potest. sed hoc iam non tenetur in hac vita, sed post hanc vitam sperandum est. hoc etiam ipsa verba ostendunt, quae futuri sunt temporis. . . . (10) [v. 10] in quo ergo iam ista spes est, erit profecto etiam quod speratur. et bene ait, “singulariter”. potest enim referri adversus illos multos qui, multiplicati a tempore frumenti vini et olei sui, dicunt, “quis ostendit nobis bona?” perit enim haec multiplicitas, et singularitas tenetur in sanctis . . . singulares ergo et simplices, id est, secreti a multitudine ac turba nascentium rerum ac morientium, amatores aeternitatis et unitatis esse debemus, si uni deo et domino nostro cupimus inhaerere.'

9.4.8

Notes on the following four paragraphs do not quote the cited passages from Ps. 4 or the interpretations of en. Ps.: see above.

A conventional view of this passage: Courcelle, Recherches 36: `Augustin a-t-il craint que cette partie ne fît double emploi avec ses Dialogues? Mais, précisément, il eût été facile,--et utile à ses desseins, si l'on songe aux griefs que la critique moderne devait lui addresser,--de présenter ici l'envers du décor que font connaître ces dialogues à la manière cicéronienne: non plus les discussions philosophiques pleines d'urbanité, mais les progrès intérieurs proprement religieux de chacun des interlocuteurs. Il se content de quelques pages de commentaire antimanichéen sur le Psaume IV.' But this display of his converted self in the presence of the Word of God, marked at every turn by measure of the distance separating his converted self from his old Manichean self, meets exactly the desideratum Courcelle expresses.

voces dedi: Not strictly evidence for `reading aloud', but at least a sign that A. imagined and expressed his reading in terms of speech; cf. `quas voces tibi dabam' and `recitare' below, and 9.4.10, `exclamabam legens haec foris'.

cum legerem psalmos David: The other Psalm known at Cassiciacum is Ps. 79.8, `deus virtutum converte nos, et ostende faciem tuam, et salvi erimus', sung to the lastest tune (see on 9.7.15) by Licentius, even in amusingly inappropriate places (ord. 1.8.22-23).

cantica: Ps. 4.1, `canticum David'.

turgidum spiritum: cf. `typhum' here; see on 7.9.13.

orbi (terrarum) orbi C D S Knöll Skut.:   orbe GO Maur. Ver.
Just below, `orbe' is not the same construction.

adversus adversus C D G O Maur. Ver.:   adversum S Knöll Skut.
The -us ending clearly predominates in A.'s works; how nearly exclusive is its use is unclear in the absence of critical editions of some major works. The indications are that the -us was A.'s regular preference, but that he did not always avoid the -um. In conf., there are two passages where all the MSS offer -um (2.6.14, 4.16.31) and a third where the preponderance of the MSS is supported by a biblical echo (1.5.6, echoing Ps. 31.5). On the other hand, -us is the clear reading in 38 passages. (Similarly in trin., the CCSL edition offers a ratio of -us [12] to -um [2], and in both latter cases -us appears in one or more MSS; in CCSL civ., -um is the reading of the editors 4x to 102x for -us. The -um form may appear almost entirely with monosyllabic prepositional objects, e.g., me, te, se.)

toto orbe cantantur: Cf. Ps. 18.5, `in omnem terram exiit sonus eorum'; en. Ps. 18. en. 2.5, `ideo et nos hic loquimur. sonus enim ille ad nos usque pervenit, sonus qui in omnem terram exiit, et haereticus ecclesiam non intrat.'

calore tuo: Ps. 18.7, `a summo caelo egressio eius, et occursus eius usque ad summum eius et non est qui se abscondat a calore eius'; for interpretation of calor as the Spirit, see on 5.1.1, and cf. 9.7.15.

miserabar eos: A measure of progress: A. has not pitied anyone in this text since 3.3.5 (of theatrical pathos), though he has been often miser himself since and pitied himself (notably on the death of his friend at 4.4.7ff, but cf. also 8.12.28, where the garden scene begins with A. in the midst of much miseria).

vellem ut alicubi: Cf. en. Ps. 21. en. 2.2, `audiamus quod plangendo cantatur, et vere digna res planctu quando cantatur surdis. miror, fratres, si hodie psalmus iste legitur et in parte Donati. rogo vos fratres mei, confiteor vobis, novit Christi misericordia, quia sic miror quasi lapidei ibi sint, et non audiant.'

tunc (et, me) tunc S G Maur. Knöll Skut. Ver.:   ignorante me utrum audirent tunc C D O
The phrase is copied from below, facilitated by the repetition of `audirent'.

otio: ord. 1.2.4, `sic enim mihi notum est ingenium tuum et pulchritudinis [3] omnimodae amator animus sine libidinis immoderatione [1] atque sordibus . . . qualemque vitam nos vivamus, carissimi tui, et quem fructum de liberali otio carpamus, hi te libri satis, ut opinor, edocebunt'.

quid de me fecerit: As generally punctuated (with a comma after the preceding `otio'), this indirect question stands in apposition to `voces meas', but the repetition of `psalmus' in such close quarters is awkward. Better to have said, `audirent ex vocibus meis quid de me fecerit quartus psalmus mihi in illo tunc otio lectus' or `cum eum legissem in illo tunc otio.' G-M read the text as conventionally punctuated: `The clause is in apposition with “faciem”, “voces”: “the effect, in short, which the psalm had upon me.”' The Latin, of course, has nothing to correspond with their `in short'. The punctuation here on the other hand concludes the clauses governed by the first `audirent' with `illo tunc otio'; the `quid de me fecerit ille psalmus' is governed by `audirent' after the parenthesis, with the intervening lines of Psalm text in apposition to `ille psalmus'. What survives this rereading, however, is the equation of `what I said' and `what your words did to me,' implying that A.'s own words arise from hearing the divine word.

exaudivit exaudivit C D G O Maur. Ver.:   te, exaudisti S Knöll Skut.

in tribulatione dilatasti mihi: Repeated at 13.26.40.

quae inter haec verba dixerim: The present text through 9.4.11 will give examples.

quomodo: Sc. `dicerem' and take closely with `sic acciperent' (so G-M, BA, Ryan, Pusey).

mecum et mihi coram te: Mandouze 200n2, `la constante confrontation avec soi-même que représentent les Soliloques.' Both sol. 2.1.1, `noverim me, noverim te', and (in our interpretation) Bks. 11-13 show how this egocentricity can be more than egotistical. See on 8.7.16, `retorquebas me ad me ipsum . . . et constituebas me ante faciem meam.'

9.4.9

inferbui inferbui C D G O2 Knöll Skut.:   infervui O1 S Ver.

sperando et exultando: Ps. 30.7-8, `odisti observantes vanitatem supervacue, ego autem in domino speravi. (8) exsultabo et iucundabor in tua misericordia'; cf. Ps. 2.11, `servite domino in timore et exsultate ei cum tremore' (echoed at 7.21.27, 10.30.42).

pater: Guardini 249 thinks this the first occurrence of vocative pater addressed to God; Knauer 32n4 modifies that observation (`Es trifft aber zu, dass erst vom 8. Buche [8.3.6, tu quoque, misericors pater] an diese Anrede wirkliche Kraft erhält,' with refs. from 10.31.46, 10.43.69, 11.22.28, 13.15.17, 13.24.36, 11.2.4, 11.17.22, 13.5.6), but there is an isolated earlier occurrence: 3.6.10, `mi pater summe bone, pulchritudo pulchrorum omnium.'

spiritus tuus bonus: Ps. 142.10, `spiritus tuus bonus deducet me in terram rectam' (more fully echoed at 12.32.43; cf. 13.4.5, 13.34.49).

quousque: The same plaintive question at 8.12.28, `et tu, domine, usquequo?' Insofar as this Psalm resembles conf. generally and A.'s life beyond that, the echo is meaningful.

ut quid diligitis: For this verse as a reading of A.'s own earlier life, see 4.2.2.

magnificaveras sanctum tuum: Note the anticipation of Ps. 4.4, quoted below.

suscitans . . . et conlocans: Eph. 1.20, `suscitans illum a mortuis et constituens ad dexteram suam in caelestibus'; see `resurgens . . . et ascendens' below. For the echo of the Apostle's Creed, see on 9.13.35.

dexteram tuam, unde . . . ex alto: See on 3.11.19.

mitteret: Cf. Lk. 24.49, `ego mitto promissa patris mei in vos' (as at agon. 28.30); Jn. 15.26, `quem ego mittam vobis a patre'. So far in the narrative, A. has given little place in his past to the works of the Spirit; here, a few paragraphs after the decisive intervention in his life of Christ (8.12.29-30), we have the role of the Spirit sketched.

paracletum: Jn. 14.16-17, `et ego rogabo patrem, et alium advocatum dabit vobis ut vobiscum sit in aeternum, (17) spiritum veritatis quem hic mundus accipere non potest' (text from trin. 1.8.18). A. uses paracletus rarely outside his anti-Manichean works (once only in all of trin. [in quotation of Jn. 15.26], never in civ. and en. Ps.; elsewhere in conf. only at 3.6.10, of the Manichean misuse of the term; against the Manichees, e.g., c. ep. fund. 6.7, c. Faust. 32.16, haer. 46.16): first, because it probably did not appear in his NT translations (where `advocatus' is the accepted translation), and second, to avoid a word complicated by Manichean claims and practice (see Decret, L'Afrique 225n139, for the Manichean practice of swearing `per paracletum,' i.e., by Mani himself [c. Fort. 22., c. Faust. 19.22], and cf. on 3.6.10, `paracleti').

et miserat eum iam: Cf. the Pentecost narrative in Acts 2.

resurgens . . . caelum: The phraseology is scriptural, made more familiar by the terms of baptismal creeds (see on 8.2.5); cf. also Rom. 6.9, `scientes quod Christus surgens ex mortuis, iam non moritur'; Rom. 7.4, `qui ex mortuis resurrexit', and elsewhere.

spiritus nondum . . . clarificatus: Jn. 7.39 quoted in trin. 4.20.29, `et quod dicit evangelista, “spiritus nondum erat datus quia Iesus nondum fuerat glorificatus,” quomodo intellegatur nisi quia certa illa spiritus sancti datio vel missio post clarificationem Christi futura erat qualis numquam antea fuerat? neque enim ante nulla erat, sed talis non fuerat.' (For `clarificatus', cf. also Jn. 12.23, 13.31-32, 16.14, 17.1, 17.5, 17.10.) Other citations without comment at div. qu. 64.4, c. ep. fund. 10.11, c. Faust. 32.17-18, en. Ps. 7.6, 90. s. 2.8, 108.26, ss. 265.7.8, 267.1.1, 270.2, 271; trin. 13.10.14. A.'s position varies. The verse was taken literally (those baptized during the ministry of Jesus did not yet receive the Holy Spirit) in the Donatist controversy: c. Cresc. 2.14.17, Io. ep. tr. 6.11; div. qu. 62. says that the Spirit was present in a hidden way earlier (e.g., the dove at Jesus' baptism, the prophecies of Elizabeth, Zacharia, Anna and Simeon); trin. 4.20.29 takes glossolalia as a sign of the special coming of the spirit in Acts. Cf. Io. ev. tr. 52.8.

quousque: Note that en. Ps. 4.3 responds, `saltem usque in adventum . . . filii dei vester error duraverit.'

phantasmatis phantasmatis G O S Knöll Skut.:   phantasmatibus CD Maur.:   fallaciis Ver.

quae quae Z2 Maur. Knöll Skut.:   quas C D G O S Ver.
Verheijen CCSL 27.xxxvii: the feminine relative arouses suspicion; in en. Ps. 4.3 what A. opposes to veritas is not phantasmata but fallaciae. But at 3.6.10, GOS have phantasmatis (which Ver. and Skut. print), while CD Maur. correct to phantasmatibus; there the relative is correctly quae. The context at 3.6.10 makes it clear that phantasmata (i.e., images of things that never were) are exactly what A. thought Manichean doctrines to be. In en. Ps. 4, the Manichees are not the express targets of the exegesis; here they are, so the description from Bk. 3 is determinative.

et exaudires eos: Cf. Ps. 30.23, `exaudisti domine vocem orationis meae, exaudisti cum clamarem ad te'; en. Ps. 30. en. 2 s. 3.10, `clamor ad deum non est voce, sed corde. multi silentes labiis, corde clamaverunt; multi ore strepentes corde averso nihil impetrare potuerunt. si ergo clamas, clama intus, ubi audit deus.'

vera morte carnis: against the Manichees: see 5.9.16 and en. Ps. 37.26, `ergo ne putarent aliqui, sicut putant quidam haeretici, dominum nostrum Iesum Christum falsam carnem habuisse, et non veram mortem in cruce solvisse, intendit hoc propheta'.

mortuus est . . . interpellat pro nobis: Rom. 5.9, `Christus pro nobis mortuus est'; Rom. 8.34, `qui mortuus est, immo qui resurrexit, qui et est ad dexteram dei, qui etiam interpellat pro nobis.'

9.4.10

iam didiceram: 8.12.29-30.

non alia natura: See on 5.10.20, `nullam aliam malam naturam'.

thesaurizant: Rom. 2.5-6, `tu autem secundum duritiam cordis tui et cor impaenitens, thesaurizas tibi iram in die irae et revelationis iusti iudicii dei, (6) qui reddet unicuique secundum opera eius' (text partially corrected from en. Ps. 49.28).

foris: See on 10.27.38.

vanescunt: Rom. 1.21 (text at 7.9.14).

effunduntur: Cf. 2.2.2, `iactabar et effundebar'.

in ea . . . sunt: 2 Cor. 4.18, `non respicientibus quae videntur, sed quae non videntur; quae enim videntur temporalia sunt, quae autem non videntur aeterna' (text from en. Ps. 57.10).

famelica: G-M, `“hungry”; sc. because it has lost the reality that alone can sustain it (verum = animi pabulum A. ep. 1.).'

ostendet ostendet O Maur. Knöll Ver.:   ostendit CDG Skut.:   ostendent S

lumen: = Christ, as the following lines (cf. Jn. 1.9) make clear.

qui fuimus: Eph. 5.8, `eratis enim aliquando tenebrae, nunc autem lux in domino; ut filii lucis ambulate'; see on 8.10.22 (echoes at 13.2.3, 13.8.9, 13.10.11, 13.12.13, 13.14.15).

gustaveram: Cf. Ps. 33.9, `gustate et videte quam suavis est dominus'; 1 Pet. 2.3, `si gustastis quoniam dulcis dominus';