§23AUG. dixit: Agnos suos dominus noster in medium luporum misit, id est homines iustos in medium hominum peccatorum ad praedicationem euangelii tempore hominis suscepti ab inaestimabili diuina sapientia, ut a peccato ad iustitiam nos uocaret.
AUG. dixit: Our Lord sent His lambs into the midst of wolves, that is, righteous men into the midst of sinful men for the preaching of the gospel at the time of the human nature assumed by the inestimable divine wisdom, so that He might call us from sin to righteousness.
quod autem ait apostolus nobis colluctationem non esse aduersus carnem et sanguinem, sed aduersus principes et potestates et cetera, quae sunt commemorata. hoc significat: diabolum et angelos eius sicut etiam nos peccato cecidisse et lapsos esse dicimus et obtinuisse terrena, id est homines peccatores, qui quamdiu peccatores sumus, sub iugo eorum sumus; quemadmodum, cum iusti erimus, erimus sub iugo iustitiae; et contra illos luctam habemus, ut migrantes ad iustitiam ab eorum dominatione liberemur.
But as for the Apostle saying that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and the other things that were mentioned, this means: we say that the devil and his angels fell and lapsed by sin just as we also did, and that they obtained earthly things, that is, sinful men, who, as long as we are sinners, are under their yoke; just as, when we are righteous, we shall be under the yoke of righteousness; and we have a struggle against them so that, migrating to righteousness, we may be freed from their dominion.
ergo et tu dignare mihi breuiter ad unum, quod interrogo, respondere.
Therefore, do you also deign to answer me briefly on the one point that I ask.
noceri deo non poterat, an poterat? sed quaeso mihi ut "non poterat" respondeas.
Could God be harmed, or could He not? But I ask that you answer me 'He could not'.
FORT. dixit: Non poterat noceri.
FORT. dixit: He could not be harmed.
§24AUG. dixit: Quare ergo huc nos misit secundum uestram fidem?
FORT. dixit: Professio mea haec est, quia noceri non poterat deo et quod deus huc nos direxit.
AUG. dixit: Why then did He send us here according to your faith? FORT. dixit: My profession is this: that God could not be harmed, and that God directed us here.
sed quia id tibi contrarium est, tu dic, qua ratione hic adparuit anima, quam nunc cupit deus noster et mandatis et proprio filio directo liberare?
But since that is contrary to you, do you say for what reason the soul appeared here, which our God now desires to free both by His commandments and by directing His own Son?
§25AUG. dixit: Quoniam uideo te interrogatis meis respondere non potuisse et me aliquid interrogare uoluisse, ecce satisfacio tibi, dummodo memineris te ad id. quod interrogaui. non respondisse.
AUG. dixit: Since I see that you have not been able to answer my questions and wanted to ask me something, behold, I satisfy you, provided that you remember that you have not answered that which I asked.
anima quare hic sit in mundo inuoluta miseriis, non modo, sed paulo ante nescio quotiens a me dictum est.
Why the soul is here in the world involved in miseries, not only now, but a little before I know not how many times it was said by me.
peccauit anima et ideo misera est.
The soul sinned, and therefore it is miserable.
liberum arbitrium accepit, usa est libero arbitrio, quemadmodum uoluit: lapsa est. eiecta de beatitudine, inplicata miseriis.
It received free will, it used free will as it wished: it fell, cast out from happiness, implicated in miseries.
ad hoc tibi testimonium recitaui apostoli dicentis: sicut per unum hominem mors, sic et per unum resurrectio mortuorum.
For this I recited to you the testimony of the Apostle saying: 'Just as through one man came death, so also through one the resurrection of the dead.' What more do you seek?
quid quaeris amplius? unde tu responde: cui noceri non poterat, quare huc nos misit?
FORT. dixit: Causa haec quaerenda est, cur huc uenerit anima aut quare eandem deus hinc cupit liberare, quae in medio malorum uiuit.
Therefore, do you answer: to whom no harm could be done, why did He send us here? FORT. dixit: This cause is to be sought: why the soul came here or why God desires to free it from here, which lives in the midst of evils.
§26AUG. dixit: Hanc causam abs te quaero.
AUG. dixit: I am asking this cause from you.
id est: si deo noceri non poterat, quare huc nos misit? FORT. dixit: Quaeritur a nobis, si deo malum nocere non possit, cur huc anima missa fuerit, aut qua ratione mundo permixta sit.
That is: if God could not be harmed, why did He send us here? FORT. dixit: It is asked by us, if evil cannot harm God, why the soul was sent here, or by what reason it was mixed with the world.
quod in eo manifestum est, quod ait apostolus: numquid dicit figmentum ei. qui se finxit: cur me ita formaueris? si ergo causanda est haec res, interrogandus est, qui animam direxit nulla cogente se necessitate; si autem necessitas fuerat mittendi animam, merito est et uoluntas liberandi eam.
This is manifest in what the Apostle says: 'Does the thing formed say to him who formed it: why have you made me thus?' If, therefore, this matter is to be blamed, he must be questioned who directed the soul when no necessity compelled him; but if there was a necessity of sending the soul, there is also deservingly a will to free it.
§27AUG. dixit: Premitur ergo deus necessitate V
FORT. dixit: Iam hoc est: noli ad inuidiam excitare id, quod dictum est, quod non necessitati facimus subditum esse deum, sed uoluntarie misisse animam.
AUG. dixit: Is God therefore pressed by necessity? FORT. dixit: Now this is it: do not stir up hatred against what was said, because we do not make God subject to necessity, but say that He sent the soul voluntarily.
§28AUG. dixit: Recita, quod supra dictum est. (et recitatum est: si autem necessitas fuit mittendi animam, merito est et uoluntas liberandi eam). AUG. dixit: Audiuimus [si autem necessitas fuit mittendi animam. merito est et uoluntas liberandi eam].
AUG. dixit: Recite what was said above. (And it was recited: 'But if there was a necessity of sending the soul, there is also deservingly a will to free it.') AUG. dixit: We have heard: ['But if there was a necessity of sending the soul, there is also deservingly a will to free it'].
Tu ergo dixisti fuisse necessitatem mittendi animam.
You therefore said that there was a necessity of sending the soul.
sed si modo uoluntatem uis dicere, et hoc addo: cui noceri nihil poterat. crudelis uoluntas fuerat mittendi animam ad tantas miserias.
But if you now wish to say 'will', I also add this: for Him who could in no way be harmed, it was a cruel will to send the soul to such great miseries.
quod refellendi causa quia loquor, ueniam peto ab illius unius misericordia, in quo spem liberationis habemus ab omnibus erroribus haereticorum.
Because I speak of this for the sake of refuting, I beg pardon from the mercy of that One, in whom we have the hope of liberation from all errors of heretics.
FORT. dixit: Nos dicere adseueras crudelem esse deum mittendo animam; fecisse deum uero hominem et insufflasse in eum animam; quam utique pro sua scientia animam futuram inuolui et beneficio malorum non posse hereditati suae repraesentari.
FORT. dixit: You assert that we say God is cruel in sending the soul; but you say that God made man and breathed the soul into him; which soul, of course, according to His foreknowledge, He knew would be involved in future evils, and by the benefit of evils could not be presented to His inheritance.
hoc aut ignorantis est aut dantis animam ad haec mala, quae supra memorata sunt.
This is the part either of one who is ignorant or of one who gives the soul to these evils which were mentioned above.
id commemoraui, quia dixisti - ante tempus non multum - quod adoptauerit sibi deus animam, non quod ab ipso sit; aliud est enim adoptare.
I mentioned this because you said—not long ago—that God adopted the soul for Himself, not that it is from Him; for it is one thing to adopt, and another to be from Him.