§24Fulgentius dixit: Sancti quos memoras edicta iudicum saecularium non meruerunt, quod uestri fecerunt. Augustinus respondit: Licet aut non licet.
Fulgentius said: "The saints whom you mention did not deserve to incur the edicts of secular judges, which your people did." Augustine replied: "It is permitted, or it is not permitted.
si licet, de licito murmurare non decet; si non licet, tuum crimen emenda, dum licet.
If it is permitted, it is not fitting to murmur about what is permitted; if it is not permitted, correct your own crime while it is permitted.
Maximianistas enim schismaticos tuos, sicut gesta declarant, et auctoritatibus iudicum saecularium et amminiculis ordinum uariorum et exsecutione militum diuersorum institutis defensoribus ecclesiae persecutus es, ut eos a suis basilicis pepulisses.
For as the public records declare, you pursued the Maximianists, your own schismatics, by the authority of secular judges, and the assistance of various orders, and the execution of diverse soldiers, by establishing defenders of the church, so that you drove them out from their basilicas.
qui me increpas, cur non te ipsum primum emendas?. §25Fulgentius dixit: Ideo schismaticis nostris basilicas tulimus, ut uerae ecclesiae redderemus.
You who rebuke me, why do you not first correct yourself?" Fulgentius said: "We took the basilicas from our schismatics for this reason, that we might restore them to the true church.
Augustinus respondit: Hoc et nostri fecerunt uobis; suis schismaticis tulerunt et matri catholicae tradiderunt.
"Augustine replied: "This is what our people also did to you; they took them from their own schismatics and delivered them to the Catholic mother.
quod uestri fecerunt pro pace Donati, hoc nostri fecerunt pro pace corporis Christi. §26Fulgentius dixit: Uos estis schismatici, qui et turificastis et codices tradidistis. Augustinus respondit: Efficiamur infirmis infirmi, ut infirmos lucri faciamus.
What your people did for the peace of Donatus, our people did for the peace of the body of Christ." Fulgentius said: "You are the schismatics, who both burned incense and surrendered the holy books." Augustine replied: "'Let us become weak to the weak, that we might win the weak.' I see that this is impossible.
uideo quod fieri non potest. pars Donati totum Christi deuicit, angularis Africanus orbem terrarum exclusit, gens una. uniuersas gentes addixit, sarmentum de uite praecidit - et ramusculos arborum amputauit.
Did the party of Donatus defeat the whole of Christ? Did the African corner exclude the whole world? Did one nation condemn all nations? Did the branch cut off from the vine [defeat the whole tree]—and prune the twigs of the trees?
saltem priorum tuorum circa. nos constituta seruares: non rebaptizares, sed per paenitentiam errantium ut aestimas animas liberares.
At least you should have kept the decrees of your predecessors concerning us: you should not have rebaptized, but you should have set free the souls of those who, as you think, are erring, through penance.
relege decreta patrum tuorum et uide, quid de traditoribus, turificatis et schismaticis, cum aduersus Caecilianum Carthaginem conspirati uenissent, fieri opor-. tere decreuerunt.
Reread the decrees of your fathers and see what they decreed ought to be done concerning the betrayers, the incense-burners, and the schismatics, when they came conspired against Caecilian to Carthage.
Marcianus uester inter ceteros talem sententiam protulit dicens, quam utique septuaginta qui aderant cum non inprobant probant. (in euangelio/ inquit, \'suo dominus ait: ego sum uitis uera, et pater meus agricola.
Your Marcianus among others pronounced such an opinion, saying—which surely the seventy who were present, by not disapproving, approve: 'In his Gospel,' he says, 'the Lord says: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
omnem palmitem in me non afferentem fructum excidet et proiciet, et omnem manentem in me et fructum ferentem purgat illud. sicut ergo palmites infructuosi amputati proiciuntur, ita turificati, traditores, abhorrentes deo manere in ecclesia dei non possunt, nisi cognito ululatu suo per paenitentiam reconcilientur.
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he will cut off and throw away, and every branch that remains in me and bears fruit, he prunes it." Therefore, just as the fruitless branches are pruned and thrown away, so the incense-burners, betrayers, and those detestable to God cannot remain in the church of God, unless, having acknowledged their wailing, they are reconciled through penance.
unde Caeciliano in schismate a traditoribus ordinato non communicare oportet\'. Haec est patrum tuorum fixa sententia.
Wherefore one ought not to communicate with Caecilian, who was ordained in schism by betrayers.' This is the fixed opinion of your fathers.
ecce, quod absit, nos tradidimus, nos turificauimus, nos schisma commisimus: cur transgredimini mandatum seniorum, ut uestras traditiones statuatis? sicut palmites, inquit, infructuosi amputati proiciuntur, ita turificati, traditores et qui in schismate a traditoribus ordinantur manere in ecclesia dei non possunt, nisi cognito ululatu suo per paenitentiam reconcilientur: per paenitentiam, non per tinctionem.
Behold—may it not be so!—suppose we surrendered the books, we burned incense, we committed schism: why do you transgress the commandment of the elders to establish your own traditions? 'Just as the fruitless branches,' he says, 'are pruned and thrown away, so the incense-burners, betrayers, and those who are ordained in schism by betrayers cannot remain in the church of God, unless, having acknowledged their wailing, they are reconciled through penance'—through penance, not through immersion!
si dignaris, uel tui te principes uincant.
If you deign, let at least your own leaders overcome you.
aut illorum confirma decreta et tua depone figmenta, aut si tua uis ualere statuta, illos errare pronuntia.
Either confirm their decrees and lay aside your own fabrications, or if you want your own statutes to be valid, declare that they erred.
si apud uos ueritas regnat, cur traditio uestra discordat? saluator in euangelio suo sic ait: omne regnum in se ipsum diuisum desolabitur. et ideo quoniam regnum uestrum religione diuisum est, diuisionem necesse est interitus subsequatur.
If truth reigns among you, why does your tradition disagree? The Savior says thus in his Gospel: 'Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste.' And therefore, since your kingdom is divided in religion, it is necessary that destruction should follow division.
amen.
Amen."