Tractates on the Gospel of John 11.14–11.15
Latin text: Migne, PL 35 (Latin text: Migne, Patrologia Latina, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (patrologia_latina-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888).
Chapter 11
11.14PL 35:1483
Mirantur autem quia commoventur potestates christianae adversus detestandos dissipatores Ecclesiae. Non ergo moverentur? Et quomodo redderent ra tionem de imperio suo Deo? Intendat Charitas vestra quid dicam, quia pertinet hoc ad reges saeculi chri stianos, ut temporibus suis pacatam velint matrem suam Ecclesiam, unde spiritualiter nati sunt. Legimus Danielis visiones et gesta prophetica. Tres pueri in igne laudaverunt Dominum: miratus est Nabucho donosor rex laudantes Deum pueros, et circa eos ignem innocentem; et cum admiratus esset, quid ait Nabuchodonosor rex, non vel Judaeus vel circum cisus, ille qui statuam suam erexerat, et ad eam ado. randam omnes coegcrat; tamen laudibus trium pue rorum commotus, ubi vidit majestatem Dei praesentis in igne, quid ait? « Et ego proponam decretum omni bus tribubus et linguis in omni terra. > Quale decretum? < Quicumque dixerint blasphemiam in Deum Sidrac, Misac, et Abdenago, in interitum erunt, et domus eorum in perditionem >. Ecce quomodo saevit rex alienigena, ne blasphemetur Deus Israel, quia potuit tres pueros de igne liberare: et nolunt ut saeviant reges christiani, quia Christus exsufflatur, a quo non tres pueri, sed orbis terrarum cum ipsis regibus a gehennarum igne liberatur? Nam tres illi pueri, fratres mei, liberati sunt ab igne temporali. Numquid non ipse est Deus Machabæorum, qui et trium puerorum? Illos ab igne liberavit: illi in tor mentis igneis corpore defecerunt, sed in legitimis mandatis animo permanserunt. Illi aperte liberali sunt, illi occulte coronati sunt. Plus cst liberari de flamma gehennarum, quam de fornace potestatis humanae. Si ergo Nabuchodonosor rex lau davit et praedicavit et gloriam dedit Deo, quia libe ravit de igne tres pueros, et tantam gloriam dedit, ut decretum mitteret per regnum suum, Quicumque dixe rint blasphemiam in Deum Sidrac, Misac, et Abde nago, in interitum erunt, et domus eorum in perditio nem: quomodo isti reges non moveantur, qui non tres pueros attendunt liberatos de flamma, sed se ipsos liberatos de gehenna, quando vident Christum, a quo liberati sunt, exsufflari in Christianis, quando audiunt dici christiano, Dic te non esse christianum? Talia facere volunt, et saltem talia pati nolunt.
But they are surprised that Christian powers are moved against the detestable scatterers of the Church. Should they not be moved, then? And how would they give account of their rule to God? Let your Charity attend to what I say: it belongs to the Christian kings of the world to want their mother the Church, from whom they were spiritually born, to be at peace in their times. We read the visions and prophetic deeds of Daniel. Three young men in the fire praised the Lord. King Nebuchadnezzar marveled at the young men praising God and at the fire harmless around them; and when he had marveled, what did King Nebuchadnezzar say, who was neither a Jew nor circumcised, he who had set up his statue and compelled everyone to worship it? Yet moved by the praises of the three young men, when he saw the majesty of God present in the fire, what did he say? “And I will issue a decree to all tribes and tongues in all the earth.” What kind of decree? “Whoever speaks blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be destroyed, and their houses brought to ruin.” See how a foreign king rages, so that the God of Israel may not be blasphemed, because he could deliver three young men from the fire; and they do not want Christian kings to rage, when Christ is blown upon, Christ by whom not three young men but the whole world, together with the kings themselves, is delivered from the fire of hell? For those three young men, my brothers, were delivered from a temporal fire. Is not the God of the Maccabees the same as the God of the three young men? He delivered these from the fire; those failed in body amid fiery torments, but remained steadfast in mind in the commandments of the law. These were openly delivered; those were secretly crowned. It is a greater thing to be delivered from the flame of hell than from the furnace of a human power. If then King Nebuchadnezzar praised and proclaimed and gave glory to God because he delivered the three young men from the fire, and gave such glory that he sent a decree through his kingdom, “Whoever speaks blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be destroyed, and their houses brought to ruin,” how should these kings not be moved, who look not at three young men delivered from the flame but at themselves delivered from hell, when they see Christ, by whom they were delivered, blown upon in Christians, when they hear it said to a Christian, “Say that you are not a Christian”? They want to do such things, and they will not even suffer such things.
Dan 3:29 (3:96 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Dan 3:24 (3:91 Vulg.) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christian rulers rightly act against those who dishonor Christ, as Nebuchadnezzar decreed punishment for blasphemy against the God who saved the three young men.
- Augustine defends the use of imperial laws against the Donatists; translated as written. Dan 3:29 (3:96 Vulgate); the Migne references to Daniel and to 2 Macc 7 have been removed from the text. “Say that you are not a Christian” is the demand Augustine attributes to the Donatists when rebaptizing Catholics.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne's Scripture reference (apparatus) left in the text; OCR letter slip; OCR: i for opening quotation mark): jestatem Doi → jestatem Dei; quid ait? i Et ego → quid ait? « Et ego; (Dan. III) → ; (II Machab. VII) → ; non cres pueros → non tres pueros.
Extrabiblical texts: Pr Azar 29–68 (Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Young Men [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; allusion); 2 Macc 7 (2 Maccabees [in RC, EO canons]; allusion)
Topics: Heresy, Persecution
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 11.14 (PL 35:1483; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/11-14/#p-11-14). (abbreviation not yet checked)
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-augustine-tractatus-ioannem-11-14) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne PL 35 (digital text, Open Greek and Latin), then compared batch by batch with the public-domain English of NPNF¹ 7 (Gibb and Innes, 1888); differences checked against the Latin.
11.15PL 35:1483
Nam videte qualia faciunt, et qualia patiuntur. Occidunt animas, affliguntur in corpore: sempiter nas mortes faciunt, et temporales se perpeti conque runtur. Et tamen quas patiuntur? Proferunt nobis nesceio quos in persecutione suos martyres. Ecce Marculus de petra præcipitatus cst: ecce Donatus Bagaiensis in puteum missus est. Quando potestates Romanæ talia supplicia decreverunt, ut præcipita rentur homines? Quid autem respondent nostri? Quid sit gestum nescio: tamen quid tradunt nostri? Quia ipsi se præcipitaverunt, et potestates infamaverunt. Recordemur consuetudinem potestatum Romanarum, et vidcamus cui credendum sit. Dicunt nostri illos se præcipitasse: si non sunt ipsi discipuli ipsorum qui se modo de saxis nullo persequente praecipitant, non credamus: quid mirum, si fecerunt illi quod solent? Nam potestatcs Romanæ nunquam talibus suppliciis usae sunt. Num enim non poterant occidere aperte? Sed illi qui se mortuos coli voluerunt, famosiorem mortem non invenerunt. Postremo quidquid illud est, non novi. Et si passa es, o pars Donati, corporalem afflictionem ab Ecclesia catholica, a Sara passa es Agar; redi ad dominam tuam. Locus quidem necessa rius aliquanto diutius nos tenuit, ut textum totum evangelicæ lectionis exponere minime valeremus. Fratres, sufficiat interim Charitati vestræ, ne hæc quæ dicta sunt, dicendo alia, excludantur de cordibus vestris. Haec tenete, talia dicite, flammantes illuc procedite, accendite frigidos.
For see what kind of things they do, and what kind of things they suffer. They kill souls and are afflicted in body; they cause eternal deaths and complain that they endure temporal ones. And yet what do they suffer? They bring forward to us some martyrs of theirs from the persecution. See, Marculus was thrown down from a rock; see, Donatus of Bagai was thrown into a well. When did the Roman authorities decree such punishments, that men should be thrown down from heights? But what do our people answer? What was done I do not know; yet what do our people report? That they threw themselves down and brought the authorities into disrepute. Let us recall the custom of the Roman authorities and see whom we should believe. Our people say that those men threw themselves down. If those who now throw themselves from rocks with no one pursuing them are not their disciples, let us not believe it; but what wonder if those men did what these are accustomed to do? For the Roman authorities never used such punishments. Could they not kill openly? But those who wished to be venerated after their death found no more famous death. In the end, whatever the truth is, I do not know. And if you have suffered bodily affliction from the Catholic Church, O party of Donatus, Hagar has suffered from Sarah: return to your mistress. This necessary point has kept us somewhat longer, so that we have not been able to expound the whole text of the Gospel reading. Brothers, let this suffice your Charity for now, lest what has been said be shut out of your hearts by saying more. Hold these things, speak of such things, go forth from here aflame, kindle the cold.
Gen 16:9 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Augustine disputes the Donatist claims about their martyrs Marculus and Donatus of Bagai and urges the Donatists, like Hagar, to return to the Catholic Church.
- Marculus and Donatus of Bagai were Donatist bishops who died during the imperial repression of 347; the Donatists honored them as martyrs. Augustine reports, without claiming certainty, the Catholic view that they took their own lives, and compares the Circumcellions' suicides by leaping from cliffs.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR letter slip): Quid siL gestum → Quid sit gestum.
Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 11.15 (PL 35:1483; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/11-14/#p-11-15). (abbreviation not yet checked)
BibTeX · RIS (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-augustine-tractatus-ioannem-11-15) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne PL 35 (digital text, Open Greek and Latin), then compared batch by batch with the public-domain English of NPNF¹ 7 (Gibb and Innes, 1888); differences checked against the Latin.