Humanitext Reader

Augustine · Psalm against the Party of Donatus §1.120-1.176

Exhortation to Shun Violence and Return to Church Unity

Passage 3 of 5 · Latin

Summary

The author points out to the Donatist laity the inconsistency of their ancestors who rejected overseas judgments, denounces the violence of the Circumcellions, and exhorts them to remain united within the mother church rather than splitting because of wicked members.

§1.120qui non tenetis cathedram, pro qua pugnetis iniuste.
you who do not hold a chair for which you would fight unjustly.
§1.121si modo episcopi uestri ex una aliqua regione §1.122haberent inter se litem, quos uelletis iudicare §1.123nisi alterarum regionum qui non essent de ipsa lite?
If indeed your bishops from some one region had a dispute among themselves, whom would you wish to judge them except those of other regions who were not involved in that dispute?
§1.124sed cum discussissent causam, pronuntiarent pro una parte, §1.125numquam communicaretis qui illis nollent consentire.
But when they had examined the case and pronounced in favor of one party, you would never hold communion with those who refused to agree with them.
§1.126quare ergo communicastis istis, qui hoc fecerunt ante?
Why then did you commune with those who did this before?
§1.127nam et ipsi non consenserunt transmarinorum sententiae, §1.128qui pro nobis iudicarunt; nam nobis iunguntur hodie.
For they themselves also did not agree to the sentence of those across the sea, who judged in our favor; for they are joined to us today.
§1.129si iudex Christus hoc dicat, quid habetis respondere?
If Christ as judge should say this, what have you to answer?
§1.130Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
§1.131Lumen cordis si est in uobis, uerum potestis uidere.
If there is light of the heart in you, you can see what is true.
§1.132sunt preces Donati et acta, quibus quod dictum est probate.
There are the petitions and the acts of Donatus, by which prove what has been said.
§1.133quae si credere non uultis, uos huc aliqua proferte.
And if you do not wish to believe these, bring forth some things here yourselves.
§1.134quibus si et nos non credimus, erit rixa sine fine.
And if we also do not believe them, there will be strife without end.
§1.135amplectamur ergo pacem.
Let us therefore embrace peace.
quid ad nos quod gestum est ante?
What is it to us what was done before?
§1.136obicitis traditionem: respondemus uos fecisse.
You object the betrayal (traditio): we answer that you did it.
§1.137clamatis uos de Macario: et nos de circumcellione.
You cry out about Macarius: and we about the Circumcellion.
§1.138illud nostrum iam transactum: uestri non cessant usque hodie.
That affair of ours is already past: your people do not cease even to this day.
§1.139habet paleas area nostra: uos hoc solum uultis esse; §1.140uos enim non uultis pacem.
Our threshing-floor has chaff: you wish to be this alone; for you do not wish for peace.
illi minantur de fuste: §1.141et utinam minarentur et non tunderent cotidie.
They threaten with the club: and would that they only threatened and did not beat us daily.
§1.142hos si expellunt isti uestri, non habent per quos regnare.
If your leaders expel these, they have no one through whom to reign.
§1.143Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
§1.144Modum si excessit Macarius conscriptum in christiana lege, §1.145uel legem regis referebat, ut pugnaret pro unitate.
If Macarius exceeded the limit prescribed in Christian law, at least he was carrying out the king's law, so that he might fight for unity.
§1.146non dico istum nil peccasse, sed uestros peiores esse.
I do not say that he sinned in nothing, but that your people are worse.
§1.147quis enim praecepit illis per Africam sic saeuire?
For who commanded them to rage thus through Africa?
§1.148non Christus, non imperator haec probatur permisisse, §1.149fustes et ignes priuatos et insaniam sine lege.
Neither Christ nor the emperor is proved to have permitted these things: private clubs and fires, and lawless madness.
§1.150quia scriptum est: reconde gladium, scelus non putant in fuste, §1.151non ut homo moriatur, sed ut conquassetur ualde §1.152et postea moriatur inde, iam cruciatus languore.
Because it is written, 'Put back your sword,' they do not think there is a crime in the club, not so that a man dies immediately, but that he is violently shattered, and afterwards dies from it, already tortured by weakness.
§1.153sed tamen si miserentur, occidunt et uno fuste.
And yet if they show mercy, they kill even with a single blow of the club.
§1.154fustes Israheles uocant, quod dixerunt cum honore, §1.155ut plus uastent ipsum nomen quam corpus quod caedunt inde.
They call their clubs 'Israels,' which they said with honor, so that they might devastate the name itself more than the body which they beat with them.
§1.156Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
§1.157Nolite nobis iam, fratres, tempus Macarii imputare.
Do not impute to us any longer, brothers, the time of Macarius.
§1.158si crudeles erant illi, et nobis displicent ualde; §1.159si autem falsa de illis dicunt, deus potest iudicare.
If those men were cruel, they displease us greatly as well; But if they say false things about them, God can judge.
§1.160nos amemus pacem Christi, gaudeamus in unitate.
Let us love the peace of Christ, let us rejoice in unity.
§1.161si qui sunt mali in ecclesia, nil nobis possunt nocere.
If there are any bad people in the church, they can harm us in nothing.
§1.162si non possunt nobiscum esse, excludantur salua pace.
If they cannot be with us, let them be excluded, keeping peace intact.
§1.163si non poterunt excludi, excludantur uel de corde.
If they cannot be excluded, let them be excluded at least from the heart.
§1.164dixit Ezechiel sanctus quosdam consignatos esse, §1.165qui gemunt peccata fratrum et non se separant inde.
Holy Ezekiel said that certain ones were marked, who groan for the sins of their brothers and do not separate themselves from there.
§1.166sic nos propter malos fratres non separemur a matre, §1.167quod tunc impii fecerunt extra leuantes altare, §1.168ut peiores nunc haberent quam quos se fingunt fugisse.
Thus let us not, on account of bad brothers, be separated from our mother, which the impious did then by raising an altar outside, so that they now have worse men than those they pretend to have fled from.
§1.169Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
§1.170Omnis qui scripturas legit nouit quod uolo aperire.
Everyone who reads the scriptures knows what I wish to reveal.
§1.171Iohannes Baptista dixit tunc ad Iudaeos aperte, §1.172quod illos tamquam aream suam posset Christus uentilare.
John the Baptist then said openly to the Jews, that Christ could winnow them as His threshing-floor.
§1.173misit in messem operarios discipulos praedicare, §1.174per quos area collecta est et uentilata de cruce.
He sent workmen into the harvest, disciples to preach, through whom the threshing-floor was gathered and winnowed by the cross.
§1.175tunc iusti tamquam frumentum ecclesias implerunt caste §1.176uendentes quae possidebant et mundo dicentes uale.
Then the righteous, like wheat, chastely filled the churches, selling what they possessed and saying farewell to the world.

Notes

  1. 1.120qui non tenetis cathedram — The antecedent of the relative pronoun 'qui' is 'populi' (vocative) in the preceding section (§1.119), serving as the direct address. This is confirmed by the second-person plural verb 'tenetis' in the relative clause.
  2. 1.125communicaretis qui — A prepositional phrase like 'cum eis' (with them) is understood between the verb 'communicaretis' and the relative 'qui'. The main clause is the apodosis of a contrary-to-fact conditional sentence (second-person plural), indicating that 'you would never hold communion with those who refuse to agree'.
  3. 1.139uos hoc solum uultis esse — An accusative-with-infinitive (A.C.I.) construction where 'uos' is the subject and 'hoc solum' is the predicate. The neuter pronoun 'hoc' refers to the preceding 'paleas' (chaff, i.e., wicked members), meaning 'you wish yourselves to be this alone'.
  4. 1.154fustes Israheles uocant — 'Israheles' functions as a Greek-style accusative plural of the proper noun. It refers to the historical fact that the Circumcellions, the radical faction of the Donatists, named their weapons (clubs) 'Israels' and boasted about them.
  5. 1.167quod tunc impii fecerunt — The relative pronoun 'quod' refers back to the entire concept of the preceding main clause (separating oneself from the mother church on account of bad brothers). It points to the historical action of schism committed by the Donatist ancestors.

Cite this passage

Augustine, Psalm against the Party of Donatus §1.120-1.176. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:stoa0040.stoa072.humanitext-lat1:1.120-1.176

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