# Psalm against the Party of Donatus

- Author: [Augustine of Hippo](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/augustine-of-hippo/)
- Latin title: *Psalmus contra partem Donati*
- Date: 393 (approximate)
- Source: Michael Petschenig, ed., Sancti Aureli Augustini scripta contra Donatistas, pars I: Psalmus contra partem Donati, Contra epistulam Parmeniani libri III, De baptismo libri VII, CSEL 51 (Vienna: Tempsky; Leipzig: Freytag, 1908) (Latin text: Michael Petschenig, Psalmus contra partem Donati (CSEL 51, 1908), digitized by Open Greek and Latin (csel-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0)

- Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator
- Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/
- Passages: 21

## Lines 1–13

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-1
- Source: CSEL 51:3lines 1–13
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Augustine opens his popular song against the Donatists with Christ’s parable of the net, which holds good and bad fish together until they are sorted at the end of the world.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Abundantia peccatorum solet fratres conturbare.
propter hoc dominus noster uoluit nos praemonere
comparans regnum caelorum reticulo misso in mare
congreganti multos pisces omne genus hinc et inde.
quos cum traxissent ad litus, tunc coeperunt separare,
bonos in uasa miserunt, reliquos malos in mare.
quisquis nouit euangelium, recognoscat cum timore.
uidet reticulum ecclesiam, uidet hoc saeculum mare;
genus autem mixtum piscis iustus est cum peccatore;
saeculi finis est litus: tunc est tempus separare;
qui modo retia ruperunt, multum dilexerunt mare;
uasa sunt sedes sanctorum, quo non possunt peruenire.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
The abundance of sins is wont to trouble the brothers.
For this reason our Lord willed to warn us beforehand,
comparing the kingdom of heaven to a net cast into the sea,
gathering many fish of every kind from here and there.
When they had drawn them to the shore, then they began to sort them:
the good they put into vessels, the rest, the bad, into the sea.
Whoever knows the gospel, let him recognize it with fear.
He sees that the net is the church, he sees that this world is the sea;
the mixed kind of fish is the righteous with the sinner;
the world’s end is the shore: then is the time to sort;
those who have now broken the nets have loved the sea too much;
the vessels are the seats of the saints, where they cannot come.

### Scripture references

- Matt 13:47–50: allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- The Psalm is abecedarian: after the refrain (the first line of every stanza, sung by the people), each stanza begins with the next letter of the Latin alphabet, A to V, followed by an epilogue. This stanza: A (Abundantia). The verse is rhythmic, not classical metre, and every line ends in -e; the translation keeps Augustine’s line breaks. The parable is Matt 13:47–50.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 1 (CSEL 51:3lines 1–13; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1).

## Lines 14–26

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-14
- Source: CSEL 51:3lines 14–26–4
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The net was broken by proud men who, after handing over the sacred books in persecution, set up a rival altar in time of peace and blamed others for their own crime.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Bonus auditor fortasse quaerit, qui ruperint rete.
homines multum superbi, qui iustos se dicunt esse.
sic fecerunt (et) scissuram et altare contra altare.
diabolo se tradiderunt, cum pugnant de traditione
et crimen quod commiserunt in alios uolunt transferre.
ipsi tradiderunt libros et nos audent accusare,
ut peius committant scelus quam commiserunt et ante.
qui possent causam librorum excusare de timore,
quia Petrus Christum negauit, dum terreretur de morte,
modo quo pacto excusabunt factum altare contra altare
et pace Christi conscissa spem reponunt in homine?
quod persecutio non fecit, ipsi fecerunt in pace.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
A good listener perhaps asks who broke the net.
Men very proud, who say that they are righteous.
So they made both a split and altar against altar.
They handed themselves over to the devil when they fight about the handing over,
and the crime that they committed they want to transfer onto others.
They themselves handed over the books, and they dare to accuse us,
so as to commit a worse crime than they committed even before.
Those who could have excused the matter of the books as done from fear,
since Peter denied Christ while he was terrified of death,
now, how will they excuse the setting up of altar against altar,
and, with Christ’s peace torn apart, putting their hope in a man?
What persecution did not do, they themselves did in peace.

### Scripture references

- Matt 26:69–75: allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Letter B (Bonus). The wordplay tradiderunt (‘handed themselves over’) and traditione (‘the handing over’) refers to the surrender of the Scriptures to the authorities in the persecution of 303–305; those who did it were called traditores. ‘Altar against altar’ is Augustine’s phrase for the schism. ‘Both’ renders et, supplied by the editor.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 14 (CSEL 51:3lines 14–26–4; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/14).

## Lines 27–38

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-27
- Source: CSEL 51:4lines 27–38
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Augustine prays for deliverance from false prophets in sheep’s clothing who deceive the unlearned with the charge of ‘traitors’ that they cannot prove.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Custos noster, deus magne, tu nos potes liberare
a pseudoprophetis istis, qui nos quaerunt deuorare.
maledictum cor lupinum contegunt ouina pelle.
nomen iusti ouina pellis, schisma est in lupino corde.
qui non nouerunt scripturas, hos solent circumuenire;
audiunt enim 'traditores' et nesciunt quid gestum est ante.
quibus si dicam: 'probate', non habent quid respondere.
suis se dicunt credidisse: dico ego mentitos esse;
quia et nos credidimus nostris, qui eos dicunt tradidisse.
uis nosse qui dicant falsum? qui non sunt in unitate.
olim iam causa finita est, quod uos non statis in pace.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
Our guardian, great God, you can deliver us
from these false prophets, who seek to devour us.
They cover an accursed wolfish heart with a sheep’s skin.
The name of the righteous is the sheep’s skin; schism is in the wolfish heart.
Those who do not know the Scriptures they are wont to deceive;
for they hear ‘traitors’ and do not know what was done before.
If I say to them, ‘Prove it’, they have nothing to answer.
They say they believed their own people: I say those lied;
for we too believed our own, who say that they handed over.
Do you want to know who speak falsely? Those who are not in unity.
The case was closed long ago; the trouble is that you do not stand in peace.

### Scripture references

- Matt 7:15: allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Letter C (Custos). ‘Traitors’ renders traditores, those who handed over the Scriptures in persecution (the Donatist charge against the Catholic bishops). Stray backslashes before the quotation marks in the digital text are removed. The last line is compressed in the Latin (‘the case was long since finished, that you do not stand in peace’); the sense is uncertain.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 27 (CSEL 51:4lines 27–38; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/27).

## Lines 39–51

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-39
- Source: CSEL 51:4lines 39–51–5
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Augustine tells how Numidian bishops, themselves traitors, came to Carthage, found Caecilian already ordained, and with his enemies accused his ordainer of handing over the Scriptures.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Dixerunt maiores nostri et libros fecerunt inde,
qui tunc causam cognouerunt, quo recens possent probare:
erant quidam traditores librorum de sancta lege
episcopi de Numidia et non quilibet de plebe.
cum Carthaginem uenissent episcopum ordinare,
inuenerunt Caecilianum iam ordinatum in sua sede.
irati sunt, quia ipsi non potuerunt ordinare.
erant Botrus et Caelestius hostes Caeciliano ualde,
impii fures superbi, de quibus longum est referre.
iunxerunt se simul omnes crimen in illum conflare,
dicunt ordinatorem eius sanctos libros tradidisse.
sic pacis retia ruperunt et errant modo per mare.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
Our forebears spoke, and wrote books about it,
they who heard the case then, when they could prove it while it was fresh:
there were certain traitors of the books of the holy law,
bishops from Numidia, and not just anyone from the common people.
When they had come to Carthage to ordain a bishop,
they found Caecilian already ordained in his own see.
They were angry because they themselves had not been able to ordain.
There were Botrus and Caelestius, bitter enemies of Caecilian,
impious, thieves, proud, of whom it would be long to tell.
They all joined together to stir up a charge against him;
they say that his ordainer had handed over the holy books.
So they broke the nets of peace and now wander through the sea.

### Extrabiblical texts

- Optatus, Parm. 1.18 (Against Parmenian the Donatist): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Letter D (Dixerunt). Caecilian was ordained bishop of Carthage ca. 311/312; his ordainer was Felix of Abthugni. Botrus and Caelestius, disappointed candidates for the see, appear in Optatus, Against Parmenian 1.18; the ‘books’ of the forebears probably include Optatus’s work (uncertain).

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 39 (CSEL 51:4lines 39–51–5; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/39).

## Lines 52–64

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-52
- Source: CSEL 51:5lines 52–64
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Quoting the psalm on brothers dwelling in unity, Augustine argues that the charge of handing over was never proved and was invented by the guilty to hide themselves.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Ecce quam bonum et iocundum fratres in unum habitare!
audite uocem prophetae, ut sitis in unitate.
crimen nobis quis probauit antiquum de traditione?
quis obiecit in iudicio? qui sederunt iudicare?
quibus testibus conuicit, quis ausus est affirmare?
sed hoc libenter finxerunt, quod se nouerant fecisse.
quia fama iam loquebatur de librorum traditione,
sed qui fecerant latebant in illa perturbatione,
inde alios infamarunt, ut se ipsos possent celare.
per illos ceteri errarunt principes ex ipsa parte,
quia non credere collegis putauerunt sibi turpe.
iam, fratres, finiatur error et simus in unitate.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in one!
Hear the voice of the prophet, so that you may be in unity.
Who has proved against us the old crime of handing over?
Who charged it in a court? Who sat to judge?
By what witnesses did he convict? Who dared to affirm it?
But this they gladly invented, because they knew they had done it themselves.
For rumour was already talking about the handing over of the books,
but those who had done it were hidden in that confusion;
so they defamed others, in order to conceal themselves.
Through them the other leaders of that same party went astray,
because they thought it shameful not to believe their colleagues.
Now, brothers, let the error be ended, and let us be in unity.

### Scripture references

- Ps 133:1 (132:1 LXX): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Letter E (Ecce). The second line quotes Ps 133:1 (LXX and Vulgate 132:1). A doubled exclamation mark in the digital text is reduced to one.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 52 (CSEL 51:5lines 52–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/52).

## Lines 65–77

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-65
- Source: CSEL 51:5lines 65–77–6
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The condemnation of Caecilian had no proper judges, accuser, witnesses, or proof; a bad bishop should have been deposed or else tolerated within the net.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Fecerunt quod uoluerunt tunc in illa caecitate.
non iudices consederunt, non sacerdotes de more,
quo solent in magnis causis congregati iudicare,
non accusator et reus steterunt in quaestione,
non testis, non documentum, quo possent crimen probare,
sed furor dolus tumultus, qui regnant in falsitate.
proferantur nobis gesta, quae in concilio solent esse,
uideamus quae res coegit fieri altare contra altare.
si malus erat sacerdos, deponendus erat ante,
si non poterat deponi, tolerandus intra rete,
sicut modo toleratis tam multos malos aperte,
et qui fertis pio furore, ferretis unum pro pace.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
They did what they wanted then, in that blindness.
No judges sat together, no bishops according to custom,
as they are wont to assemble and judge in great cases;
no accuser and defendant stood in the inquiry,
no witness, no document by which they could prove the crime,
but rage, deceit, uproar, which reign in falsehood.
Let the proceedings be produced for us, which are usually kept in a council;
let us see what thing forced altar to be set against altar.
If the bishop was bad, he should have been deposed first;
if he could not be deposed, he should have been tolerated within the net,
just as you now openly tolerate so many bad men;
and you who bear them with pious rage would have borne one for the sake of peace.

### Translation notes

- Letter F (Fecerunt). Sacerdotes and sacerdos are rendered ‘bishops’ and ‘bishop’ throughout the Psalm, as Augustine uses them here. ‘With pious rage’ (pio furore) is ironic.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 65 (CSEL 51:5lines 65–77–6; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/65).

## Lines 78–90

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-78
- Source: CSEL 51:6lines 78–90
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The Donatists now tolerate many violent men in their own communion, yet their fathers would not bear with one innocent bishop for the sake of unity.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Gaudium magnum esset nobis, si tunc nolletis errare;
sed si tunc non uisum est uerum, uel nunc experti uidete.
multos nunc habetis prauos, qui uobis displicent ualde,
nec tamen hos separatis a uestra communione.
non dico de illis peccatis, quae potestis et negare:
fustes ignes mortes dico, quae committunt uestri in luce,
et tamen suffertis illos uel errore uel timore.
quantum erat, ferrent unum patres uestri pro unitate,
si tantus erat tumultus, ut non possent degradare.
adde quod innocens erat et nil poterant probare.
sed ne crimen quaereretur, ubi se uidebant esse,
finxerunt se nimis iustos, cum totum uellent turbare.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
It would be a great joy to us if you had not been willing to go astray then;
but if the truth was not seen then, at least now, having learned by experience, see it.
You now have many crooked men who greatly displease you,
and yet you do not separate them from your communion.
I do not speak of those sins which you can even deny:
clubs, fires, deaths, I mean, which your people commit in broad daylight,
and yet you put up with them, from error or from fear.
How small a thing it would have been for your fathers to bear one man for unity,
if the uproar was so great that they could not degrade him.
Add that he was innocent, and they could prove nothing.
But so that the crime should not be looked for where they saw it lay,
they made themselves out to be exceedingly righteous, since they wanted to throw everything into confusion.

### Translation notes

- Letter G (Gaudium). ‘Clubs, fires, deaths’ refers to the violence of the circumcellions (see stanzas L and M).

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 78 (CSEL 51:6lines 78–90; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/78).

## Lines 91–103

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-91
- Source: CSEL 51:6lines 91–103–7
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Donatus, seeking to rule all Africa, asked the emperor for overseas judges, lost his case at Rome, appealed to the emperor, and, defeated everywhere, began to rebaptize.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Honores uanos qui quaerit, non uult cum Christo regnare,
sicut princeps huius mali, de cuius uocantur parte.
nam Donatus tunc uolebat Africam totam obtinere;
tunc iudices transmarinos petiit ab imperatore.
sed haec tam iusta petitio non erat de caritate.
hoc ipsa ueritas clamat, quam uolo modo referre.
nam consensit imperator, misit qui sederent Romae
sacerdotes, qui tunc possent Caecilianum cum illo audire.
dicta causa est, nil probatum est: ausus est et appellare
et post collegarum sedem audiri ab imperatore.
hinc petitio illa probatur non esse de caritate.
deinde ubique uictus coepit christianos rebaptizare.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
Whoever seeks empty honours does not want to reign with Christ,
like the leader of this evil, from whose party they are named.
For Donatus then wanted to hold all Africa;
then he asked the emperor for judges from overseas.
But this so righteous petition did not come from love.
The truth itself cries this out, which I now wish to relate.
For the emperor consented and sent men to sit at Rome,
bishops who could then hear Caecilian with him.
The case was pleaded, nothing was proved: he dared even to appeal,
and after the court of his colleagues to be heard by the emperor.
From this it is proved that that petition was not from love.
Then, beaten everywhere, he began to rebaptize Christians.

### Translation notes

- Letter H (Honores). The hearing at Rome under Bishop Miltiades took place in 313; the appeal to Constantine followed. ‘So righteous’ is ironic.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 91 (CSEL 51:6lines 91–103–7; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/91).

## Lines 104–116

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-104
- Source: CSEL 51:7lines 104–116
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The Donatists should have sought overseas judges before making a schism; now they know the truth but pride keeps them in the seat of pestilence.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Iustitiam sequi si uultis, totam causam cogitate.
quod postea fecit Donatus, factum quare non est ante?
dissentiebant sacerdotes in tota Africana parte:
sacerdotes transmarini possent inde iudicare.
quid cucurristis ad schisma et altare contra altare,
ut, quod postea iudicatum est, iam non possetis audire
et a iudicibus uestris cogeremini appellare,
dum uultis erroris regnum quoquo modo confirmare?
et nunc et uos totum noscitis, sed fingitis uos nescire,
et cum uos ueritas urget, patres dicitis errasse,
quasi uos aliquis uetet iam recedere ab errore.
sed superbia uos ligauit in cathedra pestilentiae.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
If you wish to follow justice, consider the whole case.
What Donatus did later, why was it not done before?
The bishops disagreed throughout the whole region of Africa:
bishops from overseas could have judged it.
Why did you run to schism and altar against altar,
so that what was judged later you could no longer hear,
and were forced to appeal from your own judges,
while you wish by any means to establish the reign of error?
And now you too know the whole of it, but pretend not to know,
and when the truth presses you, you say your fathers erred,
as if anyone forbade you now to withdraw from error.
But pride has bound you in the seat of pestilence.

### Scripture references

- Ps 1:1: allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Letter I (Iustitiam). ‘The seat of pestilence’ is the Latin wording of Ps 1:1.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 104 (CSEL 51:7lines 104–116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/104).

## Lines 117–129

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-117
- Source: CSEL 51:8lines 117–129
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Augustine appeals to the Donatist laity: they would never side with bishops who rejected the verdict of neutral judges, yet that is what their party did.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Karitatem Christi qui habet, pacem non potest odisse.
uel uos iam, populi, audite et nobiscum concordate,
qui non tenetis cathedram, pro qua pugnetis iniuste.
si modo episcopi uestri ex una aliqua regione
haberent inter se litem, quos uelletis iudicare
nisi alterarum regionum qui non essent de ipsa lite?
sed cum discussissent causam, pronuntiarent pro una parte,
numquam communicaretis qui illis nollent consentire.
quare ergo communicastis istis, qui hoc fecerunt ante?
nam et ipsi non consenserunt transmarinorum sententiae,
qui pro nobis iudicarunt; nam nobis iunguntur hodie.
si iudex Christus hoc dicat, quid habetis respondere?

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
Whoever has the love of Christ cannot hate peace.
You at least, O peoples, listen now and agree with us,
you who do not hold a bishop’s chair for which to fight unjustly.
If now your bishops from some one region
had a dispute among themselves, whom would you want to judge
except men of other regions who were not part of the dispute?
But when these had examined the case and pronounced for one side,
you would never communicate with those who refused to agree with them.
Why then did you communicate with these men, who did this before?
For they too did not agree with the verdict of the overseas bishops,
who judged in our favour; for they are joined to us today.
If Christ the judge says this, what have you to answer?

### Translation notes

- Letter K (Karitatem, spelled with K to supply the letter).

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 117 (CSEL 51:8lines 117–129; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/117).

## Lines 130–142

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-130
- Source: CSEL 51:8lines 130–142–9
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The documents prove the case; if the Donatists charge Macarius, the Catholics can charge the circumcellions, whose violence still continues and on whom the Donatist bishops depend.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Lumen cordis si est in uobis, uerum potestis uidere.
sunt preces Donati et acta, quibus quod dictum est probate.
quae si credere non uultis, uos huc aliqua proferte.
quibus si et nos non credimus, erit rixa sine fine.
amplectamur ergo pacem. quid ad nos quod gestum est ante?
obicitis traditionem: respondemus uos fecisse.
clamatis uos de Macario: et nos de circumcellione.
illud nostrum iam transactum: uestri non cessant usque hodie.
habet paleas area nostra: uos hoc solum uultis esse;
uos enim non uultis pacem. illi minantur de fuste:
et utinam minarentur et non tunderent cotidie.
hos si expellunt isti uestri, non habent per quos regnare.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
If the light of the heart is in you, you can see the truth.
There are the petitions of Donatus and the proceedings: by them prove what has been said.
If you do not wish to believe these, produce something here yourselves.
If we too do not believe those, there will be a quarrel without end.
Let us therefore embrace peace. What is it to us what was done before?
You charge the handing over: we answer that you did it.
You cry out about Macarius: and we about the circumcellion.
That of ours is already past: yours do not stop even today.
Our threshing floor has chaff: you want it to be this alone;
for you do not want peace. Those men threaten with the club:
and would that they only threatened and did not beat every day.
If these of yours drive them out, they have no one through whom to reign.

### Scripture references

- Matt 3:12: echo, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Letter L (Lumen). Macarius was the imperial commissioner whose mission of 347 suppressed the Donatists with force. Circumcellions were bands of rural Donatist militants. ‘Threshing floor’ and ‘chaff’ echo Matt 3:12.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 130 (CSEL 51:8lines 130–142–9; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/130).

## Lines 143–155

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-143
- Source: CSEL 51:9lines 143–155
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Macarius may have exceeded Christian bounds but acted under the emperor’s law; the circumcellions’ private violence with clubs, excused by a literal reading of ‘put back your sword’, is worse.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Modum si excessit Macarius conscriptum in christiana lege,
uel legem regis referebat, ut pugnaret pro unitate.
non dico istum nil peccasse, sed uestros peiores esse.
quis enim praecepit illis per Africam sic saeuire?
non Christus, non imperator haec probatur permisisse,
fustes et ignes priuatos et insaniam sine lege.
quia scriptum est: reconde gladium, scelus non putant in fuste,
non ut homo moriatur, sed ut conquassetur ualde
et postea moriatur inde, iam cruciatus languore.
sed tamen si miserentur, occidunt et uno fuste.
fustes Israheles uocant, quod dixerunt cum honore,
ut plus uastent ipsum nomen quam corpus quod caedunt inde.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
If Macarius exceeded the measure written in the Christian law,
at least he was carrying out the law of the king, so as to fight for unity.
I do not say that he sinned in nothing, but that yours are worse.
For who commanded them to rage like this throughout Africa?
Not Christ, not the emperor, is shown to have permitted these things,
private clubs and fires and madness without law.
Because it is written, ‘Put back your sword’, they do not think it a crime with a club,
not so that a man dies, but so that he is badly battered
and afterwards dies of it, already tortured by weakness.
But yet if they take pity, they kill even with one blow of the club.
They call the clubs ‘Israels’, which they said as an honour,
so that they lay waste the name itself more than the body they beat with them.

### Scripture references

- Matt 26:52: quotation, high confidence
- John 18:11: allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Letter M (Modum). ‘Put back your sword’ is Christ’s word to Peter (Matt 26:52; John 18:11). The circumcellions called their clubs ‘Israels’; Augustine says this dishonours the name more than it harms the body.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 143 (CSEL 51:9lines 143–155; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/143).

## Lines 156–168

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-156
- Source: CSEL 51:9lines 156–168–10
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Bad members of the church harm no one who does not consent; like those sealed in Ezekiel, the faithful groan over sins without leaving their mother the church.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Nolite nobis iam, fratres, tempus Macarii imputare.
si crudeles erant illi, et nobis displicent ualde;
si autem falsa de illis dicunt, deus potest iudicare.
nos amemus pacem Christi, gaudeamus in unitate.
si qui sunt mali in ecclesia, nil nobis possunt nocere.
si non possunt nobiscum esse, excludantur salua pace.
si non poterunt excludi, excludantur uel de corde.
dixit Ezechiel sanctus quosdam consignatos esse,
qui gemunt peccata fratrum et non se separant inde.
sic nos propter malos fratres non separemur a matre,
quod tunc impii fecerunt extra leuantes altare,
ut peiores nunc haberent quam quos se fingunt fugisse.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
Do not, brothers, charge us any more with the time of Macarius.
If those men were cruel, they greatly displease us too;
but if they tell lies about them, God can judge.
Let us love the peace of Christ, let us rejoice in unity.
If there are bad men in the church, they can do us no harm.
If they cannot be with us, let them be excluded, peace being kept.
If they cannot be excluded, let them be excluded at least from the heart.
Holy Ezekiel said that certain men were sealed,
who groan over the sins of their brothers and do not separate themselves from them.
So let us not be separated from our mother on account of bad brothers,
as impious men did then, raising an altar outside,
so that they now have worse men than those they pretend to have fled.

### Scripture references

- Ezek 9:4: allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Letter N (Nolite). The sealed who groan are from Ezek 9:4.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 156 (CSEL 51:9lines 156–168–10; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/156).

## Lines 169–181

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-169
- Source: CSEL 51:10lines 169–181
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The first harvest from Israel was winnowed by the cross; the second, from the whole world, grows among weeds and chaff until the final winnowing, so the sins of a Macarius are no ground for rebaptism.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Omnis qui scripturas legit nouit quod uolo aperire.
Iohannes Baptista dixit tunc ad Iudaeos aperte,
quod illos tamquam aream suam posset Christus uentilare.
misit in messem operarios discipulos praedicare,
per quos area collecta est et uentilata de cruce.
tunc iusti tamquam frumentum ecclesias implerunt caste
uendentes quae possidebant et mundo dicentes uale.
illi tamquam semen erant, quod toto dispersum est orbe,
ut alia surgeret messis, quae uentilanda est in fine.
haec crescit inter zizania, quia sunt haereses ubique;
huius palea sunt iniusti, qui non sunt in unitate.
ex quibus si erat Macarius, nos quid uis rebaptizare?

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
Everyone who reads the Scriptures knows what I wish to open up.
John the Baptist said then plainly to the Jews
that Christ could winnow them as his threshing floor.
He sent workers into the harvest, the disciples, to preach;
through them the threshing floor was gathered and winnowed by the cross.
Then the righteous, like the wheat, filled the churches chastely,
selling what they possessed and saying farewell to the world.
They were like seed, which has been scattered through the whole world,
so that another harvest might rise, which is to be winnowed at the end.
This grows among the weeds, because there are heresies everywhere;
its chaff are the unrighteous, who are not in unity.
If Macarius was one of these, why do you want to rebaptize us?

### Scripture references

- Matt 3:12: allusion, high confidence
- Luke 3:17: allusion, medium confidence
- Matt 9:38: allusion, medium confidence
- Acts 4:34–35: allusion, medium confidence
- Matt 13:24–30: allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Letter O (Omnis). Sources: John the Baptist’s threshing floor (Matt 3:12; Luke 3:17); workers sent into the harvest (Matt 9:37–38); the first believers selling their goods (Acts 4:34–35); the weeds among the wheat (Matt 13:24–30).

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 169 (CSEL 51:10lines 169–181; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/169).

## Lines 182–194

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-182
- Source: CSEL 51:10lines 182–194–11
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: In Israel, too, the righteous lived among idolaters and prophet-killers, yet none of them set up a separate altar.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Pone in corde areas duas, ut possis quod dico uidere.
certe et priores habebant sanctos, sicut ostendunt scripturae.
nam et septem milia uirorum deus se dixit reliquisse,
et sacerdotes et reges multi iusti sunt in lege.
ibi habes tantos prophetas, habes multos et de plebe.
dic mihi quis tunc iustorum separauit sibi altare.
multa scelera admittebat iniquus populus ille,
idolis sacrificatum est, tot occisi sunt prophetae
et nemo tamen iustorum recessit ab unitate.
iusti iniustos sufferebant uenturo uentilatore,
uno templo miscebantur, sed mixti non erant corde,
dicebant in illos tanta et unum habebant altare.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
Picture two threshing floors in your heart, so that you can see what I say.
Certainly the former people too had saints, as the Scriptures show.
For God said that he had left seven thousand men,
and in the law many priests and kings are righteous.
There you have so many prophets, you have many also from the common people.
Tell me which of the righteous then set up an altar apart for himself.
That unrighteous people committed many crimes:
sacrifice was made to idols, so many prophets were killed,
and yet none of the righteous withdrew from unity.
The righteous bore with the unrighteous until the winnower should come;
they were mingled in one temple, but they were not mingled in heart;
they said such things against them and had one altar.

### Scripture references

- 1 Kgs 19:18: allusion, high confidence
- Rom 11:4: allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Letter P (Pone). The seven thousand are from 1 Kgs 19:18 (cited in Rom 11:4). A line number (185) that leaked into the digital text is removed.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 182 (CSEL 51:10lines 182–194–11; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/182).

## Lines 195–205

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-195
- Source: CSEL 51:11lines 195–205
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Christ kept Judas among the apostles, sent him to preach, and did not exclude him from the Last Supper, giving the church an example of tolerating bad brothers.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Quid uobis ad haec uidetur? secunda messis ecclesiae,
quae per totum orbem crescit, plura debet sustinere:
habet [et]iam domini exemplum et in Iuda traditore.
hunc inter bonos ferebat, hunc misit et praedicare.
malus seruus praedicabat, sed Christus erat in fide,
quia qui iudici credebant non curabant de praecone.
quando dedit sanctam cenam, nec tunc illum exclusit inde,
et posset per illum tradi, etiam si inde exisset ante.
sed nobis exemplum datum est malos fratres tolerare,
ut, cum non possunt excludi, solo separemur corde.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
What do you think of this? The second harvest, that of the church,
which grows through the whole world, must bear more:
it has already the Lord’s example in Judas the traitor.
Him he bore among the good, him he also sent to preach.
A bad servant was preaching, but Christ was in the faith,
because those who believed the judge did not care about the herald.
When he gave the holy supper, not even then did he exclude him from it,
and he could have been betrayed through him even if Judas had gone out from there before.
But to us an example was given to tolerate bad brothers,
so that, when they cannot be excluded, we are separated only by the heart.

### Scripture references

- Matt 10:4–5: allusion, medium confidence
- Matt 26:20–25: allusion, medium confidence
- John 13:21–30: allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Letter Q (Quid); this stanza has only eleven lines. The editor deletes et in etiam (‘also’), reading iam (‘already’). Traditore (‘traitor’, ‘betrayer’) is the same word as the Donatists’ traditores. Judas among the Twelve: Matt 10:4–5; at the supper: Matt 26:20–25; John 13:21–30.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 195 (CSEL 51:11lines 195–205; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/195).

## Lines 206–218

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-206
- Source: CSEL 51:11lines 206–218–12
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The Donatists do not rebaptize those baptized by their own deposed bishops, so their rebaptism of Catholics is inconsistent; the sins of the fathers do not pass to the sons, but no one cut off from the vine bears fruit.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Rogo, respondete nobis, quid uultis rebaptizare.
lapsos sacerdotes uestros pellitis a communione
et nemo tamen post illos ausus est rebaptizare
et quoscumque baptizarunt uobis communicant hodie.
quid ab eis acceperunt, si non habebant quid dare?
legite quomodo adulteri puniantur in sancta lege;
non enim dicere possunt, quia peccarunt a timore.
si sancti soli baptizant, post istos rebaptizate.
quid calumniamini nobis, quia sumus in unitate,
qui nondum eramus nati in illa persecutione?
scriptum est peccata patrum ad filios non pertinere,
sed nemo dat fructum bonum, si praecisus est de uite.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
I ask you, answer us: why do you want to rebaptize?
You drive your fallen bishops from communion,
and yet no one after them has dared to rebaptize,
and all whom they baptized are in communion with you today.
What did they receive from them, if those had nothing to give?
Read how adulterers are punished in the holy law;
for they cannot say that they sinned from fear.
If only the holy baptize, rebaptize after these men.
Why do you slander us because we are in unity,
we who were not yet born in that persecution?
It is written that the sins of the fathers do not pertain to the sons,
but no one bears good fruit if he is cut off from the vine.

### Scripture references

- Lev 20:10: allusion, medium confidence
- Ezek 18:20: allusion, high confidence
- John 15:4–6: allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Letter R (Rogo). ‘Fallen bishops’ (lapsos sacerdotes) are Donatist bishops deposed for grave sin, here adultery, which unlike handing over books could not be excused by fear. Sources: the penalty for adultery (Lev 20:10); the sins of the fathers (Ezek 18:20); the vine (John 15:4–6). A stray period after the question mark in the digital text is removed.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 206 (CSEL 51:11lines 206–218–12; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/206).

## Lines 219–231

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-219
- Source: CSEL 51:12lines 219–231
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Catholics do not rebaptize because Donatist baptism has the true form, like a severed branch, but without life from the root; the succession of bishops from Peter’s see is the rock the gates of hell do not conquer.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Scitis catholica quid sit et quid sit praecisum a uite.
si qui sunt inter uos cauti, ueniant, uiuant in radice;
antequam nimis arescant, iam liberentur ab igne.
ideo non rebaptizamus, quod unum signum est in fide,
non quia uos sanctos uidemus, sed solam formam tenere,
quia ipsam formam habet sarmentum, quod praecisum est de uite.
sed quid illi prodest forma, si non uiuit de radice?
uenite, fratres, si uultis, ut inseramini in uite.
dolor est cum uos uidemus praecisos ita iacere.
numerate sacerdotes uel ab ipsa Petri sede
et in ordine illo patrum quis cui successit uidete:
ipsa est petra quam non uincunt superbae inferorum portae.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
You know what the Catholic is, and what is cut off from the vine.
If there are any prudent among you, let them come, let them live in the root;
before they dry up too much, let them now be freed from the fire.
We do not rebaptize for this reason, that there is one sign in the faith,
not because we see that you are holy, but that you hold only the form;
for the branch that is cut off from the vine has the very form.
But what does the form profit it, if it does not live from the root?
Come, brothers, if you are willing, that you may be grafted into the vine.
It is a grief when we see you lying so, cut off.
Count the bishops even from the very see of Peter,
and in that order of fathers see who succeeded whom:
that is the rock which the proud gates of the underworld do not conquer.

### Scripture references

- John 15:6: allusion, high confidence
- Rom 11:23: echo, low confidence
- Matt 16:18: allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Letter S (Scitis). ‘The Catholic’ (catholica) is the Catholic Church. Sources: the severed branch and the fire (John 15:6); grafting (Rom 11:23); the rock and the gates of the underworld (Matt 16:18).

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 219 (CSEL 51:12lines 219–231; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/219).

## Lines 232–244

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-232
- Source: CSEL 51:12lines 232–244–13
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: A Catholic asked to be rebaptized answers that if unknown sins of others defile, the Donatist himself is defiled by his own communion’s hidden sins.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Talis si quis ad te ueniat plenus catholica fide,
quales illos sanctos uiros omnes solemus audire,
et si tibi dicat: 'frater, quid me uis rebaptizare?
quid sit ante factum nescio, nunc autem sum in Christi fide.
si me maculat quod nescio, tu qualis sis nunc ostende:
uultus tuos ecce attendo, ignoro quid sit in corde.
si me maculat quod nescio, tu me maculas fortasse,
et si te credo esse sanctum, quibus communicas uide.
si maculat quod nescimus, iam non potes sanctus esse,
quem maculant tot peccata, quae committunt uestri occulte.
si autem quod nescis non curas, nec ego quod factum est ante'.
et tamen christianum talem audes ⟨tu⟩ rebaptizare.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
If someone comes to you like this, full of the Catholic faith,
such as we are accustomed to hear all those holy men were,
and says to you: ‘Brother, why do you want to rebaptize me?
What was done before I do not know; but now I am in the faith of Christ.
If what I do not know stains me, show what sort of man you are now:
see, I look at your face; I do not know what is in your heart.
If what I do not know stains me, perhaps you stain me,
and if I believe you are holy, see with whom you communicate.
If what we do not know stains, you can no longer be holy,
you whom so many sins stain, which your people commit in secret.
But if you do not care about what you do not know, neither do I about what was done before.’
And yet you dare to rebaptize such a Christian.

### Translation notes

- Letter T (Talis). ‘You’ in the last line renders tu, supplied by the editor. Stray marks in the digital text (a doubled period, backslashes before the quotation, an asterisk and a dash at the end of the speech, and a mis-encoded angle bracket) are removed.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 232 (CSEL 51:12lines 232–244–13; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/232).

## Lines 245–257

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-245
- Source: CSEL 51:13lines 245–257
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The Donatists cannot appeal to the mixed net or the chaff, since they broke the net; the apostles received the Supper with Judas and were not defiled.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Uae qui pro cathedris uestris sic contenditis iniuste.
clamatis uos solos sanctos, aliud dicitis in corde,
quia uidetis et uos multos malos abundare ubique.
numquid dicere potestis: 'mixti sumus intra rete'?
respondetur enim uobis iam uos illud disrupisse.
neque dicere potestis paleas uos sustinere;
iterum enim respondemus: hoc fecissetis et ante.
non enim peiores erant illo Iuda traditore,
cum quo apostoli acceperunt primum sacramentum cenae,
cum tanti sceleris reum inter se iam scirent esse;
nec tamen hos inquinabant sordes in alieno corde.
et tamen christianos fratres audetis rebaptizare.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
Woe to you who strive so unjustly for your bishops’ chairs.
You cry out that you alone are holy; you say something else in your heart,
because you see that among you too many bad men abound everywhere.
Can you say, ‘We are mixed within the net’?
For the answer to you is that you have already broken it.
Nor can you say that you bear with the chaff;
for again we answer: you should have done this before as well.
For those men were not worse than Judas the traitor,
with whom the apostles received the first sacrament of the supper,
when they already knew that one guilty of so great a crime was among them;
and yet the filth in another’s heart did not defile them.
And yet you dare to rebaptize Christian brothers.

### Scripture references

- John 13:21–30: allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Letter V (Uae). The apostles at the Last Supper with Judas: John 13:21–30. Augustine says the apostles already knew of Judas’s guilt; this is his reading. Stray backslashes in the digital text are removed.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 245 (CSEL 51:13lines 245–257; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/245).

## Lines 258–288

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/1/#p-258
- Source: CSEL 51:14lines 258–288–15
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: In the epilogue mother church pleads with the Donatists: she prayed for kings as the apostle commanded, bears the bad she cannot expel until the end, and asks why her sons have left her.

### Latin text

Omnes qui gaudetis de pace, modo uerum iudicate.
Audite, fratres, quod dico, et mihi irasci nolite.
quia non sunt falsa quae auditis, potestis et considerare.
quid si ipsa mater ecclesia uos alloquatur cum pace
et dicat: 'o filii mei, quid querimini de matre?
quare me deseruistis, iam uolo a uobis audire.
accusatis fratres uestros et ego laceror ualde.
quando me premebant gentes, multa tuli cum dolore.
multi me deseruerunt, sed fecerunt in timore;
uos uero nullus coegit sic contra me rebellare.
dicitis mecum uos esse, sed falsum uidetis esse:
ego catholica dicor et uos de Donati parte.
iussit me apostolus pro regibus mundi orare;
uos inuidetis, quod reges iam sunt in christiana fide.
si filii estis, quid inuidetis, quia auditae sunt preces meae?
quando enim dona miserunt, noluistis acceptare
et obliti estis prophetas, qui illud praedixerunt ante,
quod gentium reges magni missuri essent dona ecclesiae.
quae dona cum respuistis, ostendistis uos non esse
et Macarium coegistis suum dolorem uindicare.
sed ego quid uobis feci, uestra mater in toto orbe?
expello malos quos possum, quos non possum cogor ferre;
fero illos, donec sanentur aut separentur in fine.
uos me quare dimisistis et crucior de uestra morte?
si multum malos odistis, quales habetis uidete.
si et uos toleratis malos, quare non in unitate,
ubi nemo rebaptizat nec altare est contra altare?
malos tantos toleratis, sed nulla bona mercede,
quia, quod debetis pro Christo, pro Donato uultis ferre'.
cantauimus uobis, fratres, pacem, si uultis audire.
uenturus est iudex noster: nos damus, exigit ille.

### English translation (Claude)

All you who rejoice in peace, now judge what is true.
Listen, brothers, to what I say, and do not be angry with me.
Because what you hear is not false, you can also consider it.
What if mother church herself should address you in peace
and say: ‘O my sons, why do you complain of your mother?
Why have you deserted me? I want to hear it from you now.
You accuse your brothers, and I am greatly torn.
When the nations pressed me hard, I bore much with grief.
Many deserted me, but they did it in fear;
but no one forced you to rebel against me like this.
You say you are with me, but you see that it is false.
I am called Catholic, and you are of the party of Donatus.
The apostle commanded me to pray for the kings of the world;
you are envious that the kings are now in the Christian faith.
If you are sons, why are you envious that my prayers have been heard?
For when they sent gifts, you refused to accept them,
and you forgot the prophets, who foretold long before
that great kings of the nations would send gifts to the church.
When you spurned those gifts, you showed that you are not my sons,
and you forced Macarius to avenge his grief.
But what have I done to you, I, your mother throughout the whole world?
I expel the bad whom I can; those I cannot I am compelled to bear;
I bear them until they are healed or are separated at the end.
Why have you abandoned me, so that I am tormented by your death?
If you hate the bad so much, see what sort you have.
If you too tolerate the bad, why not in unity,
where no one rebaptizes and there is no altar against altar?
You tolerate such bad men, but for no good reward,
because what you ought to bear for Christ, you choose to bear for Donatus.’
We have sung peace to you, brothers, if you are willing to hear.
Our judge is coming: we give, he will exact.

### Scripture references

- 1 Tim 2:1–2: allusion, high confidence
- Ps 72:10–11 (71:10-Ps LXX): allusion, medium confidence
- Luke 19:23: echo, low confidence

### Translation notes

- Epilogue (not abecedarian). ‘My sons’ in ‘you are not my sons’ is implied by the Latin. The gifts are the imperial alms brought to Africa in 347 by Paul and Macarius, which the Donatists refused. Sources: prayer for kings (1 Tim 2:1–2); kings bringing gifts (Ps 72:10–11, LXX and Vulgate 71:10–11); the closing line echoes the master who gives and later demands an account (Luke 19:23). Stray backslashes in the digital text are removed.

### Citation (SBL)

Augustine, Ps. c. Don. 258 (CSEL 51:14lines 258–288–15; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/augustine-psalmus-contra-partem-donati/258).