§15Donatista dixit: Hoc proprie Dauid sanctissimus nostrae fidei regulam subministrans edocet, eundem peccatoris oleum nec salutem afferre nec cuiusquam caput debere contingere.
Donatista dixit: The most holy David, supplying the rule of our faith, teaches this very thing in its proper sense, that the oil of a sinner brings no salvation and ought not to touch anyone's head.
oleum, inquit, peccatoris non unguat caput meum. ergo diligenti examine peccatoris requirenda persona est, si non de sacerdote sacrilego, ut profani asserunt, dominus dixit.
"Let not the oil of a sinner," he says, "anoint my head." Therefore, by a diligent examination, the person of the sinner must be sought out, if the Lord did not speak concerning a sacrilegious priest, as the profane assert.
Catholicus respondit: Cum sis peccati conscius, audes dicere: peccatoris requirenda persona est\'? audi quae sit peccatoris ista persona.
Catholicus respondit: Since you are conscious of sin, do you dare to say: "the person of the sinner must be sought out"? Hear who that person of the sinner is.
apostolus dixit: omnes pebcauerunt et egent gloria dei, et Salomon: nullus est hominum qui non peccet, et Iob: si in angelis suis repperit prauitatem, quanto magis in filiis hominum qui terrenum habent domicilium! haec est persona peccatoris, id est, omnis homo peccator.
The apostle said: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and Solomon: "There is no man who does not sin," and Job: "If He found wickedness in His angels, how much more in the sons of men who have an earthly dwelling!" This is the person of the sinner, that is, every human being who is a sinner.
si sacerdos es, homo es, et si homo es, peccator es.
If you are a priest, you are a human being; and if you are a human being, you are a sinner.
quem te ipsum facis? dixisti te solum esse sanctum, solum iustum, solum sine peccato, solum sine macula.
Whom do you make yourself? You said that you alone are holy, you alone are righteous, you alone are without sin, you alone are without blemish.
dixisti tuum esse baptisma, tuum oleum sanctum, tuam mensam dominicam, tua illa omnia quae fidelibus diuinitus tribuuntur.
You said that the baptism is yours, the holy oil is yours, the Lord's table is yours, all those things which are divinely granted to the faithful are yours.
quid restat, nisi ut scelerate et impie deum te esse pronunties? sed audi quid caput superbiae audire meruit: quomodo cecidisti de caelo, lucifer, qui mane oriebaris, qui uulnerabas gentes, qui dicebas in corde tuo:super caelum ascendam, super astra dei exaltabo sedem meam.
What remains, except that you wickedly and impiously pronounce yourself to be God? But hear what the head of pride deserved to hear: "How you have fallen from heaven, Lucifer, who rose in the morning, who wounded the nations, who said in your heart: 'I will ascend above heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.
sedebo in monte testamenti in lateribus aquilonis, et ero similis altissimo? uerumtamen in infernum descendes et in profundum laci. nisi ergo paenitueris, nisi conuersus fueris, nisi deposita superbia peccatorum ueniam postulaueris, audies quod et ille, quia, cum sis homo, facis te ipsum deum.
I will sit on the mount of the covenant on the sides of the north, and I will be like the Most High'? Nevertheless, you shall descend into hell and into the depth of the pit." Unless, therefore, you repent, unless you are converted, unless, having laid aside your pride, you ask for the pardon of your sins, you shall hear what he did, because, although you are a human being, you make yourself God.
§16Donatista dixit: Similiter dominus per Aggaeum prophetam inmundos tactus inquinamenta conferre nec pollutum quemquam posse sancire, si inlicita praesumptione conetur attingere quod sanctum uideat contineri, salubri expositione monstrauit, dum pro nobis prophetam cautum exhibuit: interroga, inquit dominus, sacerdotes dicens: si alligauerit homo carnem sanctam in summo uestimento et tetigerit summitas uestimenti aliquam creaturam panis aut uini aut olei, si sanctificatur? et responderunt sacerdotes et dixerunt: non. et dixit dominus: si tetigerit inquinatus in animam horum aliquid, si inquinabitur? et dixerunt sacerdotes: inquinabitur. et dixit dominus: sic et populus hic et sic gens ista: omnis qui illuc accesserit inquinabitur. Catholicus respondit: Hoc aduersum te usus es testimonio, qui donum dei in tuo ponis arbitrio.
Donatista dixit: Likewise, the Lord, through the prophet Haggai, showed by a wholesome exposition that unclean touch brings pollution, and that no polluted person can make anything holy, if by an unlawful presumption he should attempt to touch what he sees contained as holy, while He presented the prophet as cautious for our sake: "Ask the priests," says the Lord, "saying: 'If a man carries holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and the skirt of his garment touches any creature of bread or wine or oil, shall it be made holy?' And the priests answered and said: 'No.' And the Lord said: 'If one polluted by a corpse touches any of these things, shall it be polluted?' And the priests said: 'It shall be polluted.' And the Lord said: 'So is this people, and so is this nation: everyone who approaches there shall be polluted.'" Catholicus respondit: You have used this testimony against yourself, you who place the gift of God in your own judgment.
si enim tactus sancti inmundi inquinamenta non tollit, uanum est quod geritis, quod conficitis, quod lauatis.
For if the touch of the unclean on the holy does not take away pollution, what you perform, what you prepare, what you wash is in vain.
si tetigerit, inquit, quod sanctum est creaturam panisaut uiniuelolei, sanctificabitur? et responderunt sacerdotes et dixerunt: non. ubi est quod uos extollitis, quod sanctitatem uestram munditiam conferre iactatis? aut si illud mouet quod ait: sic populus hic et sic gens ista: omnis qui illuc accesserit inquinabitur, docete Aggaeum qui ista docebat de medio eiusdem plebis exisse, ne inter eos esset et ipse pollutus.
"If what is holy," He says, "touches a creature of bread or wine or oil, shall it be made holy?" And the priests answered and said: "No." Where is that which you puff yourselves up with, boasting that your holiness brings cleanness? Or if that moves you which He says: "So is this people, and so is this nation: everyone who approaches there shall be polluted," teach us that Haggai, who was teaching these things, went out from the midst of that same people, lest he himself should be polluted among them.
tactus ille opera significat.
That touch signifies deeds.
si sanctus, inquit, tetigerit inmundum, non sanctificabitur; si inmundus tetigerit sanctum, inquinabitur, id est:. facilius sanctus qui iunctus fuerit genti huic pessimae pessimatur quam gens ista in melius commutetur, quia procliuius ad imitationem malorum curritur quam ad uirtutes bonorum animus excitatur, sicut melli plurimo parum absentii iniectum uelocem amaritudinem trahit, mellis uero etiamsi duplum iniciatur, non poterit eius obtinere dulcedo.
"If the holy," He says, "touches the unclean, it shall not be made holy; if the unclean touches the holy, it shall be polluted," that is: a holy person who is joined to this worst nation is more easily made worse than this nation is changed for the better, because the mind runs more readily to the imitation of evil than it is excited to the virtues of the good, just as a little wormwood cast into a great deal of honey brings swift bitterness, but even if double the amount of honey is cast in, its sweetness will not be able to prevail.
exeundum nobis est e medio malorum mente, non carne, operibus, non corporibus.
We must go out from the midst of the wicked in mind, not in flesh, in works, not in bodies.
nolite, inquit apostolus, communicare operibus infructuosis tenebrarum. <operibus> ait, non \'altaribus\'. scriptum est enim in Esaia: qui dicunt: recede a me, non adpropinques mihi quia inmundus es, isti fumus erunt in ira mea, ignis ardens tota die. si te hominum dicta non terrent, saltim dei minantis ira conuertat.
"Do not," says the apostle, "share in the unfruitful works of darkness." He says "works," not "altars." For it is written in Isaiah: "Those who say, 'Stand by yourself, do not come near me, for you are unclean,' these shall be smoke in my anger, a fire that burns all day." If the words of men do not terrify you, at least let the anger of a threatening God convert you.