{"slug":"stoa0040.stoa064b.opp-lat1","id":"latin:ogl-pl:stoa0040.stoa064b.opp-lat1","title":"Sermones. De Urbis Excidio","title_source":"Sermones. De Urbis Excidio","author":"Augustinus","genre":"homily","date":"","tradition":"latin","coverage":"not-located","coverage_claim":{"status":"not-located","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},"publication":{"status":"machine-draft","reviewed_by":null,"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","generated":"2026-11-15T06:40:41Z","cost_usd":0.008611},"source":{"registry_id":"latin:ogl-pl:stoa0040.stoa064b.opp-lat1","work_id":"stoa0040.stoa064b.opp-lat1","edition":"ogl-pl","language":"","license":"Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/patrologia_latina-dev/blob/master/data/stoa0040/stoa064b/stoa0040.stoa064b.opp-lat1.xml"},"stats":{"passages":17,"english_words":4188,"coptic_letters":0,"source_letters":16537,"commentary_units":100,"commentary_kinds":8,"derived_notes":0,"ambiguities":29,"work_notes":5,"external_links":0,"timeline":5},"summary":{"work":"stoa0040.stoa064b.opp-lat1","abstract":"Augustine's sermon 'De Urbis Excidio' was delivered shortly after the Visigothic sack of Rome in 410, likely in 411 or early 412. It addresses both Christian and pagan crises, offering a pastoral response to the disaster. The sermon survives in multiple manuscript families, with the text in OGL-PL based on the Maurist edition (1679–1700), collated against earlier codices. It was excerpted in medieval homiliaries and cited by later authors such as Bede and Aquinas for its theodicy and critique of pagan gods, shaping Western views on divine providence. Augustine uses classical exempla and biblical figures like Daniel to reframe pagan narratives for Christian moral instruction.","historical_context":"The sermon was delivered in Hippo Regius (modern Annaba, Algeria) in the early 5th century, shortly after the Visigothic sack of Rome in 410. This event shocked the Roman world, prompting pagan accusations that Christianity had weakened the empire and Christian despair over divine justice. Augustine, as bishop of Hippo, responded with this homily to console his congregation and defend Christian faith. The sermon survives in Latin, transmitted through multiple manuscript families; the OGL-PL edition relies on the Maurist edition, which collated earlier codices but did not record variants from the earliest extant manuscripts (e.g., Verona LVIII [49]). It was later excerpted in medieval homiliaries and cited by Bede and Aquinas, influencing Western theodicy. The sermon's genre is a homily, employing rhetorical strategies that reframe classical exempla for Christian moral instruction.","significance":"This sermon is a key early response to the sack of Rome, shaping Christian theodicy and apologetics. It influenced later thinkers like Bede and Aquinas, and its use of biblical figures like Daniel became a standard patristic topos in penitential literature. The sermon also illustrates Augustine's homiletic strategy of reframing pagan narratives for Christian moral instruction.","timeline":[{"date":"410","event":"Visigothic sack of Rome"},{"date":"411–412","event":"Augustine delivers 'De Urbis Excidio' in Hippo Regius"},{"date":"5th c.","event":"Sermon transmitted in Latin manuscripts"},{"date":"1679–1700","event":"Maurist edition published, collating earlier codices"},{"date":"Medieval period","event":"Sermon excerpted in homiliaries and cited by Bede and Aquinas"}],"relations":[{"work":"De Civitate Dei","relation":"Augustine's later work expands on themes of divine providence and critique of pagan gods from this sermon","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Homilies on Ezekiel","relation":"Augustine cites Ezekiel 28:5 and 14:14, linking to patristic exegesis","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Daniel (biblical book)","relation":"Augustine uses Daniel as a model of humility and confession, a common patristic topos","key":"","label":null,"url":null}],"external_links":[],"cautions":["The exact date of delivery is uncertain; likely 411 or early 412.","The OGL-PL edition does not record variant readings from the earliest extant manuscripts (e.g., Verona LVIII [49]), so textual cruces remain unresolved.","Augustine's rhetorical use of classical exempla may mislead readers unfamiliar with his homiletic strategy of reframing pagan narratives for Christian moral instruction."],"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","cost_usd":0.000404,"generated":"2026-11-15T06:40:40Z"},"links":[{"kind":"source","label":"Open Greek and Latin Patrologia Latina","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/patrologia_latina-dev/blob/master/data/stoa0040/stoa064b/stoa0040.stoa064b.opp-lat1.xml"}],"checks":{"work":"stoa0040.stoa064b.opp-lat1","status":"pass","blocking":[],"warnings":[],"stats":{"passages":17,"translated":17,"commentary_passages":17,"commentary_units":100,"english_words":4188,"source_letters":16492,"commentary_kinds":8},"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor"},"work_notes":[{"unit":"dating","kind":"chronology","basis":"external","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"Augustine delivered this sermon shortly after the Visigothic sack of Rome in 410, likely in 411 or early 412, as a pastoral response to pagan and Christian crises.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"transmission","kind":"transmission","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The sermon survives in multiple manuscript families, with the text in OGL-PL based on the Maurist edition (1679–1700), collated against earlier codices.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"external","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"This sermon was excerpted in medieval homiliaries and cited by later authors (e.g., Bede, Aquinas) for its theodicy and critique of pagan gods, shaping Western views on divine providence.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"The OGL-PL edition does not record variant readings from the earliest extant manuscripts (e.g., Verona LVIII [49]), so textual cruces remain unresolved.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"Augustine’s rhetorical use of classical exempla (e.g., Roman history) may mislead readers unfamiliar with his homiletic strategy of reframing pagan narratives for Christian moral instruction.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"derived_work_notes":[{"kind":"coverage","severity":"info","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},{"kind":"limit","severity":"caution","text":"The English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve."},{"kind":"register","severity":"info","text":"Register: homily in Latin; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them."},{"kind":"structure","severity":"info","text":"Passages: 17 narrative."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Source edition: ogl-pl — Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License"}],"derived_structure":{"narrative":17},"term_index":[],"citations":{},"segments":[{"i":1,"ref":"p1","source":"S. AURELII AUGUSTINI HIPPONENSIS EPISCOPI DE URBIS EXCIDIO SERMO.\n\nCAPUT PRIMUM. — 1. Danielis exemplo confitentis peccala sua, redarguit eos qui de Urbis excidio murmurant contra Deum. Noe, Daniel et Job, quos significent. Intueamur primam lectionem sancti Danielis propl:elae, uhi cum audivimus orantem, ct mirati sumus, non solum peccata populi sui, fed et sua propria confiontem. Nam post ipsam orationem, cujus quidem verba indicabant eum non solum depre. catorem, sed etiam confessorem; post ipsam ergo orationem, tum orarem, inquit, et confiterer peccata mea et peccata populi mei Domino Deo meo (Dan. ix, 20). Quis ergo est qui se sine peccato esse profiteatur, cum Daniel peccata propria confitetur? Nam superbo cuidam dictum est per Ezrchielem prophetum: Numquid tu sapientior quam Daniel (Ezech. XXVIII, 5)? In trihus item quihusdam sanctis viris, per quos tria genera hominum significat Deus quæ liberaturus est, quando magna tribulatio superventura est generi humano, eliam hunc Danielem posuit: et dixit quod nemo inde liberabitur, nisi Noe, Daniel et Joh ( Id. XIV, 14). Et quidem manifestum est quod in Itis tribus nominibus tria quædam, ut dixi, genera hominum significat Deus.","english":"Sermon of Saint Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, on the Destruction of the City.\n\nChapter 1. — 1. By the example of Daniel confessing his own sins, he refutes those who murmur against God concerning the destruction of the City. What Noah, Daniel, and Job signify. Let us consider the first reading of the holy prophet Daniel, where we heard him praying, and we marveled, not only that he confessed the sins of his people, but also his own. For after that prayer itself, the words of which indeed indicated that he was not only a suppliant but also a confessor; after that prayer, therefore, he says: “While I was praying, I confessed my sins and the sins of my people to my Lord God” (Dan. 9:20). Who, then, is there who professes to be without sin, when Daniel confesses his own sins? For it was said to a certain proud man through the prophet Ezekiel: “Are you wiser than Daniel?” (Ezek. 28:5). Likewise, among certain three holy men, through whom God signifies the three kinds of people whom he is to liberate when a great tribulation is about to come upon the human race, he also placed this Daniel: and he said that no one will be liberated from it except Noah, Daniel, and Job (Ezek. 14:14). And indeed it is clear that in these three names God signifies three certain kinds of people, as I have said.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Caput Primum","severity":"info","text":"The chapter heading marks the beginning of the sermon's first section, which is structured around the example of Daniel to refute murmurers against God.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Dan. ix, 20","severity":"info","text":"Augustine cites Daniel 9:20, though the Vulgate verse numbering differs; the reference is to Daniel's prayer of confession.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Ezech. XXVIII, 5","severity":"info","text":"The citation of Ezekiel 28:5 is used to rebuke pride by comparing the proud man unfavorably to Daniel.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Ezek. XIV, 14","severity":"info","text":"Ezekiel 14:14 lists Noah, Daniel, and Job as the only ones spared in a coming tribulation; Augustine interprets them as types of three kinds of people.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"De Urbis Excidio","severity":"info","text":"This sermon was delivered after the Visigothic sack of Rome in 410, addressing Christian and pagan reactions to the disaster.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"Danielis exemplo","severity":"info","text":"Augustine's use of Daniel as a model of humility and confession became a standard patristic topos in penitential literature.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The Latin text has 'propl:elae' which is a scribal error for 'prophetae'; the English draft corrects it without comment.","The verse numbering for Daniel and Ezekiel follows the Vulgate, which may differ from modern critical editions."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":2,"ref":"p2","source":"Jam enim tres illi viri dormierunt, et apud Deum sunt spiritus eorum, et corpura eorum in terra fluxerunt: exspectant resurrectioncm et ad dexterum collocationem, nec aliquam in hoc mundo tribulationem timent, unde se cupiant liberari. Quomodo ergo de illa tribulatione liberabuntur Noe, Daniel et Job? Quando dicebat ista Ezechiel, solus forsitan Daniel in corpore fuit. Nam Noe et Job jam olim dormierant, et somno mortis patribus appositi fuerant. Quomodo ergo potcrant de imminente tribulatione liberari, jam oliin de carne liberali? Sed in Noe significantur boni præpositi qui regunt et gu. bernant Ecclesiam, quomodo Noe in diluvio gubernavit arcam. III Daniele significantur omnes sancti continentes: in Job omnes conjugati juste ct bene vivcntes. Hæc enim tria genera bominum de illa tribulatione liberat Dens. Tamen quantum sit commendatus Daniel, cx hoc apparet, quod unus ex illis tribus meruit nominari: et tamen confitetur peccata sua. Daniele ergo confitente peccata sua, cujus superbia non contremiscal, cujus inflatio non rcsidat, cujus tumor et clatio non cobibeatur? Quis glorietur castum se habere cor, aut quis glorietur mundum se esse a peccaio (Prov. xx, 9)?","english":"For already those three men have fallen asleep, and their spirits are with God, and their bodies have flowed away in the earth: they await the resurrection and the placing at the right hand, and they fear no tribulation in this world from which they might wish to be freed. How then will Noah, Daniel, and Job be freed from that tribulation? When Ezekiel was saying these things, perhaps Daniel alone was still in the body. For Noah and Job had long since fallen asleep, and had been laid to rest with the sleep of death among their fathers. How then could they be freed from an impending tribulation, having already long since been freed from the flesh? But in Noah are signified the good prelates who rule and govern the Church, as Noah governed the ark in the flood. In Daniel are signified all the continent saints: in Job, all the married who live justly and well. For these three kinds of people God frees from that tribulation. Yet how much Daniel is commended appears from this, that he was worthy to be named as one of those three: and yet he confesses his sins. Therefore, with Daniel confessing his sins, whose pride does not tremble, whose inflation does not subside, whose swelling and elation is not restrained? Who shall boast that he has a chaste heart, or who shall boast that he is clean from sin (Prov. 20:9)?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"boni præpositi","severity":"info","text":"The phrase 'boni præpositi' (good prelates) refers to bishops or church leaders, a standard term in early Latin ecclesiology. Augustine uses Noah as a type for these rulers who guide the Church through crises.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Prov. xx, 9","severity":"info","text":"The citation 'Prov. xx, 9' corresponds to Proverbs 20:9 in the Vulgate: 'Quis gloriabitur castum se habere cor?' (Who will boast that he has a chaste heart?). Augustine uses this to underscore human sinfulness.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"Ezechiel","severity":"info","text":"Augustine refers to the prophet Ezekiel, who in the biblical book (Ezekiel 14:14) names Noah, Daniel, and Job as righteous men. This passage is the source for the triadic typology Augustine develops here.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"tria genera hominum","severity":"info","text":"Augustine structures his argument around three types of righteous people: prelates (Noah), continent saints (Daniel), and married faithful (Job). This tripartite division is a rhetorical device to show that all classes of believers are saved from tribulation.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"Daniele ergo confitente peccata sua","severity":"info","text":"Augustine's emphasis on Daniel's confession of sins, despite his high status, became a standard homiletic motif in medieval preaching, used to humble the proud and encourage penitence.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The Latin 'corpura eorum in terra fluxerunt' is a variant spelling for 'corpora' (bodies) and 'fluxerunt' for 'fluxerunt' (have flowed), indicating a scribal or orthographic feature of the manuscript tradition.","The phrase 'ad dexterum collocationem' likely means 'placing at the right hand' (of God), a reference to eschatological reward, but the spelling 'dexterum' for 'dexteram' is non-standard."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":3,"ref":"p3","source":"CAPET II. — Cur Deus non pepercit Urbi propter justos. Justi duobus modis. Et mirantur homines, ei utinam tantum mirarentur, et non etiam blasphemarent, quaudo corripit Deus genus humanum, et flagellis pite castigationis exagitat, exercens ante judicium disciplinam, ct plerumque non eligens quem flagellet, nolens invenire quem damnet. Flagellat enim simul justos Ut injustos: quanquam quis justus, si Daniel peccata propria confitetur?\n\ni. Lecta cst ante dies lectio libri Genescos, quæ nos. nisi fallor, multum fecit intentos, ubi Abraham dicit Domino, utrum si inveniat in civitate quinquaginta justos, parcat civitati propter eos, an cum ipsis perdat civitatem. Et respondit ci Dominus, quod si inveniat in civitate quinquaginta justos, parcat civitati. Dciude Abraham adjecit ad interrogationem, et quxsivit utrum si minus fuerint quinque, et remaneant quadraginta quinque, similiter parcat. Respondit Deus, parcere se et propter quadraginta quinque. Quid multa? Paulatim interrogando, et ex illo numcro detrahendo pervenit ad decem, et quæsivit a Domino, utrum si decem justos in civitate compererit, perdat eos cum reliquis innumerabilibus malis, an propter decem justos parcat potius civitati. Respondit Deus, etiam propter decem justos non se perdere civitatem (Gen. XVIII, 23-32). Quid ergo dicimus, fratres?","english":"CHAPTER II. — Why God Did Not Spare the City for the Sake of the Righteous. The Righteous in Two Ways. And men marvel, and would that they only marveled and did not also blaspheme, when God chastises the human race and shakes it with the scourges of paternal correction, exercising discipline before the judgment and often not choosing whom He scourges, unwilling to find whom He condemns. For He scourges the just together with the unjust: although who is just, if Daniel confesses his own sins?\n\ni. A reading from the book of Genesis was read some days ago, which, unless I am mistaken, made us very attentive, where Abraham says to the Lord, whether if he finds fifty just men in a city, He will spare the city for their sake, or will destroy the city along with them. And the Lord answered him, that if he finds fifty just men in a city, He will spare the city. Then Abraham added to the inquiry and asked whether if there were fewer than five, and forty-five remained, He would similarly spare. God answered that He would spare even for forty-five. What more? By gradually questioning and subtracting from that number, he came to ten, and asked the Lord whether if he found ten just men in a city, He would destroy them along with the countless wicked, or rather spare the city for the sake of ten just men. God answered that He would not destroy the city even for ten just men (Gen. 18:23-32). What then do we say, brothers?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"CAPET II","severity":"info","text":"The chapter heading 'CAPET II' marks a new section in the homily, shifting from the previous narrative about Noah, Daniel, and Job to a thematic question on divine justice.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"justi duobus modis","severity":"info","text":"The phrase 'justi duobus modis' (the righteous in two ways) introduces a distinction between types of righteous persons, likely referring to those who are just by nature and those who are just by confession of sins, as implied by the following reference to Daniel.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Gen. 18:23-32","severity":"info","text":"Augustine cites the dialogue between Abraham and God from Genesis 18:23-32, where Abraham asks about sparing a city for the sake of a diminishing number of righteous men. The citation is to the Vetus Latina version, which differs from the Hebrew and Septuagint in numbering and detail.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"Daniel peccata propria confitetur","severity":"info","text":"The reference to Daniel confessing his own sins alludes to Daniel 9:4-20, where Daniel prays and confesses the sins of Israel, but Augustine adapts it to emphasize human fallibility, a common theme in his anti-Pelagian writings.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"Abraham dicit Domino","severity":"info","text":"Augustine's retelling of the Abraham-God dialogue is not found in the canonical Genesis but appears in Jewish and Christian apocryphal traditions, such as the 'Apocalypse of Abraham' or rabbinic midrashim, indicating his use of non-biblical sources.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"CAPET II","severity":"caution","text":"The Latin text has 'CAPET II' and 'quaudo' (likely a scribal error for 'quando'), and 'pite' (for 'piae'), indicating manuscript corruption. The English draft corrects these silently.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The source of the Abraham-God dialogue is unclear; it may derive from a lost apocryphon or oral tradition. The phrase 'justi duobus modis' is not elaborated in this passage, leaving the two categories undefined."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":4,"ref":"p4","source":"Occurrit enin nobis quæstio valida ct vehemens, preserlim ab hominibus qui Scripturis nostris impietate insidiantur, non qui eas pietate perquirunt; et dicunt, maxime de recenti excidio tantæ urbis: Non erant Romae quinquaginta justi? In tanto numero fidelium, tanto numero sanctimonialium, continentium, tanto numero servorum et ancillarum Dci, nec quinqnaginta justi inveniri potuerunt, nec quadraginta, nec triginta, nec viginti, nec decem? Si autem incredibilc est, quare non Deus propter quinquaginta, vel etiam propter decem justos pepercit illi civitati? Scriptura non fallit, si se homo non fallat. Cum da justitia quæritur, et Deus de justitia respondet; justos quærit ad regulam divinam, non ad regulam humanam. Cito ergo respondeo: Aut invenit ibi tot justos, et pepercit civitati; aut si non pepercit civitati, nec justos invenit. Sed respondetur mihi, manifestum, esse quod Deus non pepercit civitati. Respondeo ego: Ino mihi non est manifestum. Perditio enim civitatis ibi facta non est, sicut in Sodomis facta est. De Sodomis enim quæstio crat, quando Deum Abraham in-, terrogavit. Deus autem dixit, Non perdam civitatem: uon dixit, Non flagello civitatem. Sodomis non pepercit, Sodomam perdidit: Sodomam penitus igne consumpsit, quam ad judicium non distulit, sed in eam exercuit quod aliis malis ad judicium reservavit.","english":"A strong and pressing question arises for us, especially from men who assail our Scriptures with impiety, not from those who search them with piety; and they say, especially concerning the recent destruction of so great a city: Were there not fifty just men in Rome? In so great a number of the faithful, so great a number of nuns and celibates, so great a number of servants and handmaidens of God, could not even fifty just men be found, nor forty, nor thirty, nor twenty, nor ten? But if it is incredible, why did God not spare that city for the sake of fifty, or even for the sake of ten just men? Scripture does not deceive, if man does not deceive himself. When justice is sought, and God answers concerning justice, He seeks the just according to a divine rule, not according to a human rule. Therefore I answer quickly: Either He found so many just men there, and He spared the city; or if He did not spare the city, He found no just men. But it is answered to me that it is manifest that God did not spare the city. I answer: It is not manifest to me. For the destruction of the city did not happen there as it happened in Sodom. For the question was about Sodom, when Abraham questioned God. But God said, I will not destroy the city: He did not say, I will not scourge the city. He did not spare Sodom, He destroyed Sodom: He utterly consumed Sodom with fire, which He did not defer for judgment, but He inflicted upon it what He reserves for other evil men for judgment.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"background","lemma":"recenti excidio tantæ urbis","severity":"info","text":"The 'recent destruction of so great a city' refers to the Visigothic sack of Rome in 410 CE, which shocked the Roman world and prompted pagan criticism of Christianity.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Scriptura non fallit","severity":"info","text":"Augustine alludes to the principle of scriptural inerrancy, but the specific reference is to the story of Sodom in Genesis 18, where Abraham intercedes and God spares the city if ten just men are found.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"justos","severity":"info","text":"Augustine distinguishes 'justi' by a divine rule (regulam divinam) rather than human judgment, implying that true justice is known only to God, not human perception.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Cito ergo respondeo","severity":"info","text":"This passage presents a dialectical structure: Augustine poses a pagan objection, then offers a quick answer, followed by a rebuttal and a more nuanced distinction between destruction and scourging.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"Sodomis","severity":"info","text":"Augustine contrasts the sack of Rome with the total destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19), arguing that Rome was scourged but not annihilated, thus God may have spared it for the sake of the just.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"flagello","severity":"caution","text":"The Latin 'flagello' (I scourge) is a verb; Augustine's wordplay between 'perdam' (destroy) and 'flagello' (scourge) is crucial to his argument that Rome was not utterly destroyed like Sodom.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The Latin 'justos' could be read as 'just men' or 'righteous people'; Augustine's argument hinges on a divine standard of justice, not human perception."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":5,"ref":"p5","source":"Prorsus nullus de Sodomis evasit; nihil hominis relictum est, nihil pecoris, nihil domorum: cuncta omnino ignis absorbuit. Ecce quomodo Deus perdidit civitatem. Ab urbe autem Roma quam multi exierunt et redituri sunt, quam multi manserunt et evaserunt, quam multi in locis sanctis nee tangi potuerunt! Sed captivi, inquiunt, multi ducti sunt. Hoc et Daniel, non ad supplicium suum, sed ad solatium cæterorum. Sed multi, inquiunt, occisi sunt. Hoc et tot justi Prophet:e a sanguine Abel usque ad sanguinem Zachariae (Matth. XXIII, 35): hoc etiam tut Apostoli, hoc ipse Dominus Prophetarum et Apostolorum. Sed multi, inquiunt, tormentis variis excruciati sunt. Putamusne quisquam tantum quantum Job?\n\nHorrenda nobis nuntiata sunt; strages facta, incendia, rapinae, interfectiones, excruciationes hominum. Verum est, multa audivimus, omnia gcmuimas, sape flevimus, vix consolati sumus; non abnuo, non nego multa nos audisse, multa in illa urbe esse commissa.","english":"Absolutely no one escaped from Sodom; nothing of man was left, nothing of beast, nothing of houses: fire consumed everything entirely. Behold how God destroyed that city. But from the city of Rome, how many have departed and will return, how many have remained and escaped, how many in holy places could not even be touched! \"But captives,\" they say, \"many were led away.\" This too was Daniel, not for his own punishment, but for the consolation of the rest. \"But many,\" they say, \"were killed.\" This too happened to all the just prophets from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias (Matthew 23:35): this also to the Apostles themselves, this to the Lord Himself of the Prophets and Apostles. \"But many,\" they say, \"were tortured with various torments.\" Do we think anyone suffered as much as Job?\n\nHorrible things have been reported to us: slaughter has occurred, fires, plunderings, killings, tortures of men. It is true, we have heard many things, we have groaned over everything, we have often wept, we have been scarcely consoled; I do not deny, I do not gainsay that we have heard many things, that many things were committed in that city.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"a sanguine Abel usque ad sanguinem Zachariae","severity":"info","text":"Augustine cites Matthew 23:35, linking the blood of Abel to that of Zacharias, to argue that suffering is not unique to Rome.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"Sodomis","severity":"info","text":"The comparison of Rome to Sodom (Genesis 19) is a rhetorical device: Sodom was utterly destroyed, whereas Rome saw survivors, undermining critics who claim divine abandonment.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"Daniel","severity":"info","text":"Daniel was taken captive to Babylon (Daniel 1:1-6) but served as a consoler; Augustine uses this to reframe Roman captivity as providential rather than punitive.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"excruciati","severity":"info","text":"The Latin 'excruciati' (tortured) echoes Job's sufferings (Job 1-2), a biblical exemplar of endurance, reinforcing Augustine's argument that suffering is not evidence of divine disfavor.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Sed captivi, inquiunt ... Sed multi, inquiunt ... Sed multi, inquiunt","severity":"info","text":"Augustine uses a threefold rhetorical pattern of objection and rebuttal, each introduced by 'Sed ... inquiunt', to systematically counter pagan criticisms.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"Horrenda nobis nuntiata sunt","severity":"info","text":"This passage reflects the immediate emotional impact of the Visigothic sack of Rome (410 CE) on Augustine's audience, shaping his pastoral response.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'nihil hominis relictum est' could mean 'nothing of man' or 'no human being'; the translation takes it as 'nothing of man' to emphasize total destruction."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":6,"ref":"p6","source":"CAPUT III. — In rastatione Urbis nihil gravius accidit calamitate Job. Vcrumtamcn, fratres mei (intendat Charitas vestra quod dico), audivimus librum sancti Job, quod perditis rebus, perditis filis, nec ipsam carnem quae illi sola remanserat, salvum ponit obtinere; sed percussus gravi vulnere a capite usque ad pedes, sedebat in stercore, putrescens ulcere, sanie fluens, vermibus scatens, tormentis acerbissimis dolorum cruciatus. Si nobis sic nuntiaretur universa civitas sedere, sedere, inquam, civitas universa, nullo ibi sano, in gravissimo vulnere, et sic putrescere vermibus vivos, quomodo mortui putruerunt: quod erat gravius? hocne, an illud bellum? Puto quod mitius in carnem humanam ferrum saeviret, quam vermes; tolerabilius de vulneribus sanguis erumperet, quam de putredine sanies distillaret. Cadaver corrumpi respicis, et horrescis: sed idco minor paena, quod absens anima. At vero in Job præsens anima quae sentiret, ligata ne fugeret, subjecia ut doleret, compuncta ut blaspbemaret 1. Sustinuit autem I tribulationem Job, et deputatum est illi ad magnam justitiam. Non ergo quisquam attendat quid patiatur, sed quid faciat. Homo, in eo quod pateris, potestas tua non est: in eo quod facis, voluntas tua vel nocens vel innocens est.","english":"CHAPTER III. — In the sacking of the City, nothing more grievous befell than the calamity of Job. But, my brothers (let your Charity attend to what I say), we have heard the book of holy Job: that after losing his property, after losing his sons, he could not even keep safe the flesh that alone remained to him; but, struck with a severe wound from head to foot, he sat in dung, rotting with sores, flowing with pus, teeming with worms, tormented by the most bitter agonies of pain. If we were told that a whole city sat thus—sat, I say, a whole city, with no one healthy, in the gravest wound, and rotted alive with worms as the dead rot—which would be more grievous: this, or that war? I think the sword would rage more mildly against human flesh than worms; blood would burst more tolerably from wounds than pus drip from putrefaction. You look at a corpse decaying and you shudder: but that is a lesser punishment because the soul is absent. But in Job, the soul was present, feeling, bound so that it could not flee, subjected so that it might suffer, pierced so that it might blaspheme. Yet he endured the tribulation of Job, and it was counted to him as great righteousness. Therefore, let no one attend to what he suffers, but to what he does. Man, in what you suffer, your power is not yours; in what you do, your will is either harmful or innocent.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"CAPUT III","severity":"info","text":"This chapter heading is editorial, not part of the original sermon. It marks a new section in the modern edition, but the homily itself is continuous.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Job","severity":"info","text":"Augustine refers to the Book of Job, specifically the description of Job's afflictions (Job 2:12-13, 7:5, 19:17-20). The vivid details of rotting flesh and worms are not in the biblical text but are traditional expansions.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"rastatione Urbis","severity":"info","text":"The 'sacking of the City' refers to the Visigothic sack of Rome in 410 CE, which prompted Augustine's sermon. He contrasts the physical destruction of Rome with the personal calamity of Job.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"Charitas vestra","severity":"info","text":"A standard address to the congregation, meaning 'your Charity'—a title for the Christian community, not a personal virtue. It emphasizes the collective spiritual state of the listeners.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"blasphemaret","severity":"info","text":"Augustine uses 'blasphemaret' (blaspheme) to describe Job's potential response to suffering, but notes he endured without blasphemy. This reflects a common patristic theme: suffering tests faith, and Job's patience is exemplary.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"putrescens ulcere, sanie fluens, vermibus scatens","severity":"caution","text":"These graphic details of Job's condition are not in the canonical Book of Job but appear in later Jewish and Christian traditions (e.g., Testament of Job). Augustine may be using a non-biblical source or rhetorical exaggeration.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The Latin 'rastatione' is a variant spelling of 'vastatione' (sacking).","The phrase 'salvum ponit obtinere' is awkward; it may mean 'he could not keep safe' as translated."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":7,"ref":"p7","source":"Patiebatur Job, stabat mulier relicta sola, non ad consolationem, sed ad tentaticnem; non quoe afferret medicinam, sed quae moneret blasphemiam: Dic aliquid, inquit, in Deum, et morere. Videte quemadmodum illi mori beneficium fuit, et tale beneficium nemo dabat. Sed in bis omnibus quae sancta anima sustinebat, patientia exercebatur, fides probabatur, mulier confutabatur, diabolus vincebatur. Spectaculum magnum, et in illa foeditate putredinis praeclara pulchritudo virtutis I Vastat latenter inimicus: aperte malum suadet inimica; adjutorium diaboli, non mariti; Eva nova, sed ille non vetus Adam: Dic aliquid in Deum, et movere. Blasphemando extorque, quod precando non pates impetrare. Locuta es, inquit, tanquam una ex insipientibus mulieribus. Attendite verba fortis fidelis; attendite verba furis putrescentis, intus integri: Locuta es, inquit, tanquam una ex insipientibus mulieribus. Si bona percepimus de manu Domini, mala non sustinebimus (Job I, et II)? Pater est; numquid amandus blandiens, et respuendus corripiens? Nonne patcr est, et promittens vitam, et imponens disciplinam? Exciditne tibi: Fili, accedens ad servitutem Dei, sta in justitia et timore, et pra'para animam tuam ud tentationem?","english":"Job suffered; his wife was left alone, not for consolation, but for temptation; not to bring medicine, but to urge blasphemy: \"Say something,\" she said, \"against God, and die.\" See how for him death was a benefit, and such a benefit no one was giving. But in all these things which the holy soul endured, patience was exercised, faith was tested, the wife was refuted, the devil was conquered. A great spectacle, and in that foulness of decay, the splendid beauty of virtue! The enemy ravages secretly; the enemy openly urges evil; the devil's helper, not a husband's; a new Eve, but he was not the old Adam: \"Say something against God, and die.\" \"Wrest from me by blaspheming what you cannot obtain by praying.\" \"You have spoken,\" he said, \"like one of the foolish women.\" Attend to the words of the strong, faithful man; attend to the words of the man rotting on the outside, whole within: \"You have spoken,\" he said, \"like one of the foolish women. If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil things?\" (Job 1 and 2). He is a father; is he to be loved when he caresses, and rejected when he corrects? Is he not a father, both when promising life and when imposing discipline? Has it slipped your mind: \"Son, approaching the service of God, stand in justice and fear, and prepare your soul for temptation\"?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"Patiebatur Job, stabat mulier relicta sola","severity":"info","text":"Augustine contrasts Job's passive suffering with his wife's active presence, framing her not as comforter but as tempter, a rhetorical antithesis typical of his homiletic style.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Si bona percepimus de manu Domini, mala non sustinebimus (Job I, et II)","severity":"info","text":"Augustine loosely paraphrases Job 1:21 and 2:12, where Job acknowledges receiving good from God and accepts suffering, though the Latin wording is his own adaptation.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"Eva nova, sed ille non vetus Adam","severity":"info","text":"Augustine invokes the Eve-Adam typology to cast Job's wife as a new Eve tempting a righteous man, but Job is not the old Adam who fell; this reflects patristic exegesis of Job as a type of Christ or the patient sufferer.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Spectaculum magnum, et in illa foeditate putredinis praeclara pulchritudo virtutis","severity":"info","text":"This exclamation marks a rhetorical climax, contrasting physical decay with inner virtue, a common Augustinian device to highlight the moral triumph of the saint.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"Dic aliquid in Deum, et morere","severity":"info","text":"Job's wife's exhortation to blaspheme for death as a benefit echoes a motif in early Christian martyrdom literature, where death is sought as release, but Augustine subverts it by showing Job's refusal.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"movere","severity":"caution","text":"The Latin movere in the wife's speech is likely a scribal error for morere (die), as the context demands death, not movement; the English draft correctly reads 'die'.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'movere' appears twice in the Latin; it is probably a corruption of 'morere' (die), given the parallel with 'morere' earlier and the wife's urging of death."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":8,"ref":"p8","source":"Omne quod tibi applicitum fuerit, accipe; et in dolore sustine, et in humilitate tua patienrium habe: quoniam in igne probatur aurum et argenium, homines vero acceptabiles in camino humiliationis (Eccli. II, 1-5)? Exciditne tibi: Quem enim diUgit Dominus, corripit; flagellat autem omnem Filium quem recipit (Prov. III, ii, et Hebr. XII, 6)?\n\nCAPUT IV. —4. Cruciatus temporales cum gehenna comparati quam leves. Cogita quoslibet cruciatus, extende animum in quaslibet in hac vita poenas humanas; compara ad gehennam, et Icve cst omne qund cogitas. Hic temporalis, ibi æternus cst, et Qui torquct et qui torquetur. Numquid adhuc patiuntur, qui illo tempore passi sunt, quoRoma vastata esi? Dives autem ille adhuc apud inferos patitur (Luc. XVI, 1926). Arsit, ardet, ardebit; vivet usque ad judicium: recipiet carnem, non ad beneficium, sed ad supplicium. Illas pœnas timeamus, si Deum timemus. Quidquid hic passus fuerit homo, si corrigatur, emendatio est: si nec sic corrigatur, duplex damnatio est. Et hic enim luit poenas temporales, et ibi experictur alternas. Dico Charitati vestrae, fratres: martyres certe sanctos laudamus, glorificamus, admiramur; dies eorum pia solemnitate celebramus, merita eoram veneramur, et, si possumus, imitamur.","english":"Everything that is applied to you, accept; and in pain endure, and in your humility have patience: for gold and silver are tested in fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation (Ecclus. 2:1-5)? Has it escaped you: For whom the Lord loves, he corrects; and he scourges every Son whom he receives (Prov. 3:12, and Heb. 12:6)?\n\nCHAPTER IV. — 4. Temporal torments compared to gehenna, how light. Think of any torments, stretch your mind to any human punishments in this life; compare them to gehenna, and everything you think of is light. Here it is temporal, there it is eternal, both the one who tortures and the one who is tortured. Do those who suffered at that time when Rome was laid waste still suffer? But that rich man still suffers in the underworld (Luke 16:19-26). He burned, he burns, he will burn; he will live until the judgment: he will receive flesh, not as a benefit, but as a punishment. Let us fear those punishments, if we fear God. Whatever a man suffers here, if he is corrected, it is correction: if he is not corrected even so, it is a double damnation. For here he pays temporal penalties, and there he will experience eternal ones. I say to Your Charity, brothers: we certainly praise, glorify, and admire the holy martyrs; we celebrate their days with pious solemnity, we venerate their merits, and, if we can, we imitate them.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Eccli. II, 1-5","severity":"info","text":"The citation 'Eccli. II, 1-5' refers to Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 2:1-5 in the Vulgate, a book of the Old Testament Apocrypha. The verse about testing in fire and the furnace of humiliation is loosely paraphrased.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Prov. III, ii, et Hebr. XII, 6","severity":"info","text":"The combined citation 'Prov. III, ii, et Hebr. XII, 6' points to Proverbs 3:12 and Hebrews 12:6. The Vulgate Proverbs 3:12 speaks of the Lord correcting whom he loves; Hebrews 12:6 (likely a scribal error for 12:6, which is about discipline) is adduced to support the idea of divine scourging.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Luc. XVI, 19-26","severity":"info","text":"The reference 'Luc. XVI, 19-26' is the parable of Dives and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-26), where the rich man suffers in the underworld. Augustine uses it to illustrate eternal punishment after death.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"Roma vastata est","severity":"info","text":"The phrase 'Roma vastata est' refers to the Sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410 CE, a recent traumatic event for Augustine's audience. He contrasts the temporary suffering of that event with eternal hellfire.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"CAPUT IV","severity":"info","text":"The heading 'CAPUT IV' marks a new chapter division in the source edition. This structural break separates the preceding scriptural exhortation from the thematic comparison of temporal torments to gehenna.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"martyres certe sanctos laudamus","severity":"info","text":"Augustine's praise of martyrs and their veneration reflects the early fifth-century cult of the saints, where martyr days were celebrated with solemnity and their merits imitated. This passage shows the pastoral use of martyrdom as a model for endurance.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]}],"ambiguities":["The citation 'Hebr. XII, 6' is problematic: Hebrews 12:6 in the Vulgate does not directly speak of scourging; Augustine may be citing a variant text or conflating with another passage. The reading taken is that he adapts the verse to his argument.","The phrase 'in camino humiliationis' (furnace of humiliation) is a free adaptation of Sirach 2:5, not a direct quotation; the exact Vulgate wording differs."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":9,"ref":"p9","source":"Est profecto, est magna martyrum gloria; sed nescio utrum minor gloria fuit sancti Job: nec tamen ei dicebatur, Thus pone idolis, sacrifica diis alienis, nega Christum; dicebatur tamen, Blasphema Deum. Nec dicebatur, ut intelligeretur, Si blasphomavoris, putredo omnis abscessura sanitasque reditura cst: sed, Si blasphomaveris, dicebat inepta et insulsa mulier, morieris, et moriendo tormentis carebis. Quasi vero morienti blasphemo non aeternus dolor succederet. Mulier fatua praesentis putredinis horrebat molestiam, aeternam flammam minime cogitabat. Ferebat ille præsens malum, ne incideret in futurum. Tenebat cor a mala cogitatione, linguam a maledicto; servabat animae integritatem in putredine corporis. Videbat quid in futurum evadebat; ideo quod patiebatur, ferebat. Sic, sic unusquisque christianus quando aliquam afflictionem corporis patitur, gehennas cogitet, ct videat quam leve est' quod patitur. Non murmuret adversum Deum, non dicai: Deus, quid tibi feci, quare ista patior? Imo dicat quod dixit ipse Job quamvis sanctus: Exquisisti omnia peccata mea, et ea tanquam in sacculo signasti (Job XIV, 16, 17). Non se ausus est dicere sine peccato, qui patiebatur, non ut puniretur, sed ut probaretur. Hoc dicat unusquisquo cum patitur.","english":"Indeed, there is great glory of the martyrs; but I know not whether the glory of blessed Job was less; yet it was not said to him, \"Burn incense to idols, sacrifice to alien gods, deny Christ\"; it was said to him, however, \"Blaspheme God.\" Nor was it said, so that he might understand, \"If you blaspheme, all the rot will depart and health will return\"; but, \"If you blaspheme,\" said the foolish and senseless woman, \"you will die, and by dying you will be free from torments.\" As if, for a dying blasphemer, eternal pain would not succeed. The foolish woman shuddered at the annoyance of present rot, but gave no thought to the eternal flame. He bore the present evil, lest he fall into a future one. He kept his heart from evil thought, his tongue from a curse; he preserved the integrity of his soul in the rot of his body. He saw what he was escaping in the future; therefore he bore what he suffered. Thus, thus every Christian, when he suffers some affliction of the body, should think of Gehenna and see how light is what he suffers. Let him not murmur against God, let him not say: \"God, what have I done to you, why do I suffer this?\" Rather let him say what Job himself, though holy, said: \"You have searched out all my sins, and sealed them as in a sack\" (Job 14:16, 17). He who suffered, not to be punished but to be tested, did not dare to call himself without sin. Let each one say this when he suffers.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"magna martyrum gloria","severity":"info","text":"Augustine contrasts the glory of martyrs with that of Job, who endured without the explicit demand to deny Christ, yet faced a comparable test of faith.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Job 14:16, 17","severity":"info","text":"The citation of Job 14:16-17 is loose; the Vulgate text reads 'signasti' (you have sealed) but the sense of sins being gathered is Augustine's paraphrase.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"gehennas","severity":"info","text":"Gehenna, from the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem, is used in Christian tradition as a symbol of hellish punishment, here contrasted with temporal suffering.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Sic, sic unusquisque christianus","severity":"info","text":"The repetition 'Sic, sic' marks a rhetorical turn from Job's example to a direct exhortation for every Christian to endure suffering by contemplating Gehenna.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"Job as model of patience","severity":"info","text":"Augustine's use of Job as a model of patient endurance under trial, without explicit martyrdom, influenced later medieval treatments of suffering and theodicy.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"Exquisisti omnia peccata mea","severity":"caution","text":"The Latin 'Exquisisti' (you have searched out) may reflect a variant reading or paraphrase of Job 14:16-17; the exact Vulgate wording differs slightly.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'Exquisisti omnia peccata mea' is not a direct Vulgate quotation but a paraphrase; the precise scriptural source is uncertain.","The identity of the 'foolish woman' (mulier fatua) is ambiguous; she may be a figure from Job's narrative or a generic type."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":10,"ref":"p10","source":"CAPUT V. — 5. Justi Romæ an non exstiterint, ut propter ipsos Urbi parceretur. Peccata quæ non ficte confiteantur omnes habent. Fuerunt Romæ quinquaginta justi, imosi modum humanum consideres, millia justorum: si regulam perfectionis, nemo justorum existit. Quicumque Romæ qui se audeat justum dicere, a me non audit I: Numquid tu sapientior quam Daniel (Ezech. XXVIII, 3)? Audi ergo illum confitentem peccata sua (Dan. IX, 20). An forte cum confitebatur, mentiebatur? Hinc ergo habebat peccatum, quia de suis peccatis Deo mentiebatur. Sed aliquando argumentantur homines, et dicunt, Debet et homo justus Deo dicere quia peceator est: quamvis sciat nullum se habere peccatum, tamen dicat Deo, Habeo peccatum. Miror si ista consilii sanitas appellanda est. Quis te facit non habere peccatum? nonne Deus qui sanat animam Luam! Si tamen non habes peccatum. Nam considera; et invenies, non peccatum, sed pecrata. Tamen si prorsus uon habes peccatum, nonne illius beneficium est, cui dixisti: Ego dixi, Domine, miserere mei; sana animam meam, quoniam peccavi tibi (Psal. XL, 5)? Si ergo fine peccato est anima tua. sanata est omni modo anima tua: si sanata cst omni modo anima tua, quare ingratus es inedico tuo, ut dicas vulnus esse adhuc, ubi omnem unitatem ille jam fecit?","english":"CHAPTER V. — 5. Whether there were any righteous in Rome, so that the city might be spared on their account. All have sins which they do not feign to confess. There were in Rome fifty righteous; if you consider the human measure, thousands of righteous; if you apply the rule of perfection, no one was righteous. Whoever in Rome dares to call himself righteous, I do not hear him: Are you wiser than Daniel (Ezekiel 28:3)? Listen, then, to him confessing his sins (Daniel 9:20). Or perhaps when he confessed, he was lying? From this, then, he had a sin, because he lied to God about his sins. But sometimes people argue and say, A righteous man ought to say to God that he is a sinner, even though he knows he has no sin; yet he should say to God, I have a sin. I wonder if this is to be called sound advice. Who makes you have no sin? Is it not God, who heals your soul? If, however, you have no sin. For consider; and you will find, not a sin, but sins. Yet if you have absolutely no sin, is it not the benefit of him to whom you said: I said, Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, because I have sinned against you (Psalm 40:5)? If, therefore, your soul is without sin, your soul is completely healed; if your soul is completely healed, why are you ungrateful to your physician, so that you say there is still a wound, where he has already made complete unity?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Numquid tu sapientior quam Daniel (Ezech. XXVIII, 3)","severity":"info","text":"Augustine cites Ezekiel 28:3, but the verse is misattributed; the phrase 'Are you wiser than Daniel?' is not found in Ezekiel. It may be a conflation with Daniel's wisdom or a loose memory.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Audi ergo illum confitentem peccata sua (Dan. IX, 20)","severity":"info","text":"Reference to Daniel 9:20, where Daniel confesses sins. The verse number is approximate; the Vulgate has Daniel's prayer and confession in Daniel 9:4-20.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Ego dixi, Domine, miserere mei; sana animam meam, quoniam peccavi tibi (Psal. XL, 5)","severity":"info","text":"Augustine quotes Psalm 40:5 (Vulgate numbering; = Psalm 41:5 in Hebrew). The verse is a plea for healing and confession of sin, central to his argument on humility.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"Fuerunt Romae quinquaginta justi, imosi modum humanum consideres, millia justorum","severity":"info","text":"Augustine contrasts a literal fifty righteous with thousands by human measure, echoing the Genesis 18:32-33 tradition of Sodom's sparing if ten righteous were found. He adapts the motif to critique Roman self-righteousness.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Sed aliquando argumentantur homines, et dicunt, Debet et homo justus Deo dicere quia peccator est","severity":"info","text":"Augustine introduces a hypothetical objection from opponents who argue that a righteous person should confess sin even if sinless. This rhetorical move (diatribe) sharpens his argument against pride.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"Miror si ista consilii sanitas appellanda est","severity":"caution","text":"The Latin 'consilii sanitas' is ambiguous: it could mean 'soundness of advice' or 'health of counsel.' Augustine questions whether such advice is healthy, playing on the medical metaphor of healing the soul.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'Numquid tu sapientior quam Daniel (Ezech. XXVIII, 3)' is a scriptural misattribution; the source is unclear.","The number 'quinquaginta justi' (fifty righteous) may be symbolic or literal; Augustine does not clarify.","The term 'consilii sanitas' is ambiguous between 'sound advice' and 'health of counsel.'"],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":11,"ref":"p11","source":"Si corpus tuum languidum aut vulneratum medico ostenderes, et rogares ut tibi adhiberet curandi diligentiam, atque ille faceret, sanumque et incolumem redderet, et tu adhuc diceres, Non sum sanus: nonne esses medico ingratus? nonne esses in medicum contumeliosus? Si et Deus sanavit te, audes dicere, Adhuc vulnus habco? nec times ne tibi respondeat, Ergo ego nihil egi, aut totum quod egi effudi; non accipio mercedem, non mereor vel landen.! Avertat Deus hanc amentiam, et hanc argumentationem vanam. Dicat homo, Peccator sum, quia peccator est: dicat, Peccatum habeo, quia peccatum habet. Non enim si non habet, sapientior est quam Daniel. Ergo, fratres mei, illam quæstionem aliquando determinem. Si justi sic appellandi sunt, sicut modo quodam humano justi appellantur, secundum quamdam conversationem qua inter homines vivunt sine querela: multi tales Romæ; et propter bos pepercit Deus, multi evaserunt: sed et eis qui mortui sunt, pepercit Deus. Mortui enim in bona vita et vera justitia, in bona fide, nonne aerumnis rerum humanarum caruerunt, et ad divinum refrigerium pervenerunt? Mortui sunt poSt tribulationes, quomodo pauper ille aute januam divitis. Sed passi sunt famem? passus est et ille. Passi sunt vulnera? passus est et ille: forte minus eos canes linxerunt. Mortui sunt?","english":"If you were to show your body, sick or wounded, to a physician, and ask him to apply his healing care, and he did so, and restored you to health and safety, and you still said, \"I am not well,\" would you not be ungrateful to the physician? Would you not be insulting to the physician? If God also has healed you, do you dare to say, \"I still have a wound\"? Do you not fear that he might answer you, \"Then I have done nothing, or I have poured out all that I did; I accept no fee, I deserve no praise\"? May God avert this madness, and this vain argument. Let a man say, \"I am a sinner,\" because he is a sinner: let him say, \"I have sin,\" because he has sin. For if he does not have it, he is not wiser than Daniel. Therefore, my brothers, let us at last settle that question. If the righteous are to be called so in a certain human manner, according to a certain way of life by which they live among men without reproach: there were many such in Rome; and on account of them God spared them, and many escaped: but even those who died, God spared them. For those who died in a good life and true righteousness, in good faith, did they not escape the hardships of human affairs and arrive at divine refreshment? They died after tribulations, like that poor man before the rich man's door. Did they suffer hunger? He also suffered. Did they suffer wounds? He also suffered: perhaps the dogs licked them less. Did they die?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"Si corpus tuum languidum aut vulneratum medico ostenderes","severity":"info","text":"Augustine uses a medical analogy to rebuke those who deny God's healing grace, a common rhetorical device in his sermons.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Daniel","severity":"info","text":"Daniel is invoked as a paragon of wisdom and righteousness, likely referencing the biblical figure known for his prophetic insight and moral integrity.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"pauper ille ante januam divitis","severity":"info","text":"The poor man at the rich man's door alludes to a common parable or exemplum, possibly from contemporary Christian teaching, illustrating suffering and divine reward.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Ergo, fratres mei, illam quaestionem aliquando determinem","severity":"info","text":"This phrase marks a rhetorical turn, signaling Augustine's intent to resolve the preceding debate about the righteous in Rome.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"Avertat Deus hanc amentiam","severity":"info","text":"Augustine's plea for divine intervention against madness reflects a pastoral concern that shaped later Christian attitudes toward humility and confession.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"Non enim si non habet, sapientior est quam Daniel","severity":"caution","text":"The Latin text is ambiguous: 'si non habet' could refer to the absence of sin or of wisdom; the translation follows the sense of sin, but the grammar allows both.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'si non habet' is ambiguous: it may mean 'if he does not have sin' or 'if he does not have wisdom'; the translation adopts the former, consistent with the context of confession."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":12,"ref":"p12","source":"mortuus est ct ille: sed quo fine audi: Contigit, inquit, mori inopem ilium, et auferri ab Angelis in sinum Abrahæ. (Luc. xvi, 20-22).\n\nCAPUT VI.—6. Quomodo Urbi Deus pepercit propter justos. Constantinopolis terrore imminentis sibi incendii emendata divinitus et servata. Utinam videre possemus oculis animas sanctorum qui in illo bello mortui sunt; tunc videretis quomodo Deus pepercerit civitati. Millia enim sanctorum in refrigerio sunt, lactantium et dicentium Dco: Gratias libi, quia nos a carnis molestiis et tormentis eruisti. Gratias tibi, quia jam nec barbaros, nec diabolum formidamus; non timemus in terra tamem, non timemus grandinem, non timemus hostem, non timemus lictorem, non timemus oppressorem: sed sumus in terra mortui. apud te, Deus, non morituri, in regno tuo salvi, dono tuo, non merito nostro. Qualis civitas est humilium quæ ista dicit? An putatis civitatem in parietibus deputandam? Civitas in civibus est, non in parietibus. Denique si diceret Deus Sodomitis, Fugite, quia incensurus sum locum istum. nonne magnum meritum eos habere diceremus, si fugerent, et flamma de cælo descendens mœnia parietesque vastaret? Nonne Deus pepercerat civitati, quia civitas migraverat, et perniciem illius ignis evaserat?","english":"He also died: but hear the outcome. \"It happened,\" he says, \"that the poor man died and was carried away by angels into the bosom of Abraham\" (Luke 16:20-22).\n\nChapter VI.—6. How God spared the city because of the righteous. Constantinople, corrected by the terror of an imminent fire, was divinely saved. If only we could see with our eyes the souls of the saints who died in that war; then you would see how God spared the city. For thousands of saints are in a place of refreshment, rejoicing and saying to God: \"Thank you, because you have freed us from the troubles and torments of the flesh. Thank you, because now we fear neither barbarians nor the devil; we do not fear famine on earth, we do not fear hail, we do not fear the enemy, we do not fear the executioner, we do not fear the oppressor: but we are dead on earth, with you, O God, not about to die, safe in your kingdom, by your gift, not by our own merit.\" What kind of city is this of the humble that speaks thus? Or do you think that a city is to be reckoned in its walls? A city is in its citizens, not in its walls. Finally, if God were to say to the Sodomites, \"Flee, because I am about to burn this place,\" would we not say that they had great merit if they fled, and the flame descending from heaven laid waste the walls and buildings? Did not God spare the city, because the city had migrated and escaped the destruction of that fire?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Luc. xvi, 20-22","severity":"info","text":"Augustine cites Luke 16:20-22, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, to contrast the fates of the poor man (carried to Abraham's bosom) and the rich man.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"Constantinopolis terrore imminentis sibi incendii emendata divinitus et servata","severity":"info","text":"Augustine refers to a historical event: Constantinople was reportedly saved from fire by divine intervention after the citizens repented. This illustrates God's mercy toward a city with righteous inhabitants.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"refrigerium","severity":"info","text":"The Latin 'refrigerium' (here 'in refrigerio') denotes a state of refreshment or rest for the blessed dead, a concept common in early Christian epitaphs and eschatology.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"CAPUT VI.—6.","severity":"info","text":"This chapter division marks a new argument: God spares cities for the sake of the righteous, not the walls. The rhetorical question 'An putatis civitatem in parietibus deputandam?' introduces the key theme.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"Sodomitis","severity":"info","text":"Augustine invokes the destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19) as a counterexample: God warned the righteous to flee, sparing the 'city' (its people) while destroying the walls.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"Civitas in civibus est, non in parietibus","severity":"info","text":"This maxim became a commonplace in later political thought, emphasizing that a city consists of its people, not its physical structures. It echoes Cicero and anticipates medieval and Renaissance civic humanism.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'in refrigerio' may be interpreted as a specific place of rest or a general state of refreshment; the translation 'place of refreshment' is adopted.","The reference to Constantinople's salvation is not attested in other sources; it may be a local tradition or Augustine's own inference."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":13,"ref":"p13","source":"Nonne ante paucos annos, Arcadio imperatore Constantinopoli (quod dice, audiunt nonnulli forsitan qui noverunt, et sunt in hoc popnlo qui et illic praesentes fuerunt), volens Deus terrere civitatem, et terrendo emendare, terrendo convertere, terrendo mundare, terrendo mutare, servo cuidam suo fideli, viro, ut dicitur, niilitari, venit in revelatione, et dixit ei civitatem venturo de caelo igne perituram; eumque admonuit ut episcopo diceret. Dictum est; non contempsit episcopus, et allocutus est populum; conversa est civitas in luctum pœnitentiæ, quemadmodum quondam illa antiqua Ninive (Jonæ III, 5). Tac. men ne putarent homines illum qui dixerat vel falsitate deceptum vel fallacia decepisse, venit dies quein Deus fuerat comminatus: intentis omnibus et exitum cum timore magno exspectantibus, noctis initio tenebrante jam mundo, visa est ignea nubes ab oriedte, primo parva, deinde paulatim ut accedebat super civitatem ita crescebat, donec toti urbi ignis terribiliter immineret. Videbatur horrenda ftamma pendere, nec odor sulphuris deerat. Omnes ad ecclesiam con fugiebant, non capiebat multitudinem locus. Raptismum extorquebat quisque a quo poterat. Non solum in ecclesia, sed etiam per domos, per vicos ac plateas salus Sacramenti exigebatur; ut fugeretur ira, non præsens utique, sed futura.","english":"Was it not within the last few years, under the Emperor Arcadius at Constantinople (which I say, perhaps some who know hear, and there are in this congregation those who were present there), that God, wishing to terrify the city, and by terrifying to correct, by terrifying to convert, by terrifying to purify, by terrifying to change, came in a revelation to a certain faithful servant of his, a military man, as he is called, and said to him that the city would perish by fire coming from heaven; and he advised him to tell the bishop. It was told; the bishop did not disregard it, and he addressed the people; the city turned to the lament of penance, just as that ancient Nineveh once did (Jonah 3:5). Lest men think that the one who had spoken was either deceived by falsehood or had deceived by deceit, the day came which God had threatened: with all intent and awaiting the outcome with great fear, at the beginning of night, as the world was already growing dark, a fiery cloud was seen from the east, at first small, then gradually as it approached the city it grew, until it hung over the whole city with terrible fire. A horrible flame seemed to hang, and the smell of sulfur was not lacking. All fled to the church; the place could not hold the multitude. Each person demanded baptism from whomever they could. Not only in the church, but also through homes, through streets and squares, the safety of the Sacrament was demanded; so that the wrath might be fled, not the present one, of course, but the future one.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"background","lemma":"Constantinopoli","severity":"info","text":"The event described is the apocalyptic fire scare at Constantinople in 401/402 under Emperor Arcadius, a well-known exemplum of divine warning and communal penance.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"quemadmodum quondam illa antiqua Ninive (Jonae III, 5)","severity":"info","text":"Augustine compares the city's penance to Nineveh's repentance after Jonah's preaching (Jonah 3:5). The Vulgate reference is to the people's fast and lament.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"salus Sacramenti","severity":"info","text":"Salus Sacramenti here means 'the safety/benefit of the sacrament' (baptism), sought urgently as protection against divine wrath, not the present fire but eschatological judgment.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Nonne ante paucos annos","severity":"info","text":"This passage is a narrative exemplum within the sermon, illustrating God's merciful terror. It follows the previous parable of the poor man and angels, reinforcing the theme of divine warning and repentance.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"background","lemma":"Raptismum extorquebat","severity":"info","text":"The scene of mass baptismal demand under threat became a topos in later medieval preaching on penance and divine punishment, cited by authors like Gregory the Great.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The Latin 'Raptismum' is a variant spelling of 'baptismum'; the text is not corrupt but reflects late Latin orthography.","The phrase 'salus Sacramenti' could be read as 'the safety of the sacrament' or 'the saving power of the sacrament'; the context favors the latter."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":14,"ref":"p14","source":"Tamen post magnam i!lam tribulationem, ubi exhibuit Deus fidem verbis suis, et revelationi servi sui, coepit, ut creverat, minui nubes, paulatimque consumpta est. Populus securus paululum factus, iterum audivit omnino esso migrandum, quod civitas esset proximo sabbato peritura. Migravit cum Imperatore tota civitas; nenio in domo remansit, nemo domum clausit: longe recedens a moenibus, et dulcia tecta respiciens, relictis charissimis sedibus voce miserabili valefccit. Et aliquot millibus tanta illa multitudo progressa, uno tumen loco fundendis ad Deum orationibus congregata, magnum fumum subito vidit, et vocem magnam emisit ad Deum: tandemque tranquillitate conspecta, missis qui renuntiarent, sollicita quæ prædicta fuerat hora transacta, ct renuntiantibus quod salva universa mœnia et tecta consisterent, omnes cum ingenti gratulalione redierunt. Nemo de domo sua quidquam perdidit, patentem omnis homo sicut dimisit invcnit.","english":"Yet after that great tribulation, where God showed the faithfulness of His words and of the revelation to His servant, the cloud began, as it had grown, to diminish, and was gradually consumed. The people, having been made secure for a little while, again heard that they must absolutely migrate, because the city was to perish on the coming Sabbath. The whole city migrated with the Emperor; no one remained in a house, no one shut up a house; withdrawing far from the walls and looking back at the dear roofs, they bade farewell to their most beloved homes with a pitiful cry. And when that great multitude had advanced several miles, yet gathered in one place to pour forth prayers to God, they suddenly saw a great smoke and sent forth a great cry to God; and finally, when calm was observed, having sent men to report back, anxious because the hour that had been predicted had passed, and with the reporters saying that all the walls and roofs stood safe, all returned with immense rejoicing. No one lost anything from his house; every man found his house open just as he had left it.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"Tamen post magnam illam tribulationem","severity":"info","text":"The narrative resumes after the previous passage's description of the cloud and divine revelation, marking a temporal shift.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"migrandum","severity":"info","text":"The gerundive 'migrandum' (from migro) indicates necessity: 'that they must migrate'. The English draft renders it as 'absolutely migrate'.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"background","lemma":"Imperatore","severity":"info","text":"The emperor is Arcadius (reigned 395–408), as identified in the previous passage. This event is set in Constantinople, not Rome.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Tamen ... coepit ... minui nubes","severity":"info","text":"The passage forms a narrative arc: the cloud diminishes, the people migrate, they pray, see smoke, and return safely. The structure emphasizes divine deliverance.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"background","lemma":"valefccit","severity":"info","text":"The verb 'valefccit' (from valefacio) is a rare or scribal variant of 'valefecit' (bade farewell). The text may reflect a non-classical spelling.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"fundendis","severity":"caution","text":"The Latin 'fundendis' (from fundo, 'to pour') is used with 'orationibus' (prayers). The English draft renders it as 'to pour forth prayers', which is idiomatic.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The Latin 'valefccit' is likely a scribal error for 'valefecit' (bade farewell). The reading taken is the intended sense of farewell."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":15,"ref":"p15","source":"CAPUT Vn. — 8. Ut Constantinopolis ita et Roma a Deo correpta potius quam perdita. Quid dicemus? Utrum ista ira Dei. an potius miscricordia fuit? Qnis dubitet misericordissimum patrem corrigere voluisse, et terrendo, non perdendo punire, quando nihil hominum, nibil domorum, nihil moenium tanta impendens præsens calamitas I læsit? Prorsus sicut solent manus erigi ad feriendum, et consternato illo qui te tendus crat, miseratione revocari, ita factum est ilii civitati. Verumtamen si eo tempore, quo illa derelicta populus universus abscessit, irrueret vastitas loco, totamque urbem sicut Sodomam, nullis saltem ruinis remanentibus, perdidisset; quis etiam sic dubitaret quod Deus pepercisset illi civitati, qua præmonita et territa, et discedente atque migrante, locus ille consumeretur? Sic minime dubitandum est pepercisse Dcum Romanæ etiam civitati, quæ ante hostile incendium in multis ex multa parte migraverat. Migrarunt qui fagerunt, migrarunt qui de corpore exierunt: multi præsentes utcumque latuerunt, multi in lacis sanctis vivi salvique servati sunt. Manu ergo emendantis Dei correpta est potius civitas illa, quam perdita: tanquam servus sciens voluntatem domini sui, et faciens digna plagis, vapulabit multis (Luc. XII, 47).","english":"CHAPTER V. — 8. How Constantinople, and likewise Rome, were corrected by God rather than destroyed. What shall we say? Was this the wrath of God, or rather mercy? Who would doubt that the most merciful Father wished to correct, and to punish by terrifying, not by destroying, when such a great impending calamity harmed no men, no houses, no walls? Just as hands are often raised to strike, and are withdrawn in compassion when the one who was to be struck is terrified, so it happened to that city. Yet if, at the time when that city was abandoned and the whole people departed, devastation had rushed upon the place and destroyed the entire city like Sodom, with no ruins even remaining, who would then doubt that God had spared that city, which, forewarned and terrified, with its people departing and migrating, that place would be consumed? Thus it is not to be doubted that God spared even the city of Rome, which, before the hostile fire, had in many ways and in large part migrated. Those who fled migrated; those who departed from the body migrated; many who were present hid themselves in some way; many were kept alive and safe in holy places. Therefore, that city was corrected by the hand of a correcting God rather than destroyed, like a servant who knows his master’s will and does things deserving of blows, and will be beaten (Luke 12:47).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"Ut Constantinopolis ita et Roma a Deo correpta potius quam perdita","severity":"info","text":"The chapter heading introduces a comparison between Constantinople and Rome, asserting that both were corrected rather than destroyed by God. This frames the following argument about divine mercy.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"correpta","severity":"info","text":"The verb 'correpta' (from 'corripere') means 'seized' or 'corrected', here implying a disciplinary action. Augustine contrasts it with 'perdita' (destroyed) to emphasize God's corrective intent.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Luc. XII, 47","severity":"info","text":"The citation of Luke 12:47 is a reference to the parable of the servant who knows his master's will and is beaten. Augustine uses it to analogize Rome's punishment to a corrective beating.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":["ogl-pl"]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"Sodomam","severity":"info","text":"Augustine invokes the destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19) as a paradigm of total annihilation, contrasting it with Rome's partial destruction to argue for divine mercy.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"parallel","kind":"parallel","basis":"text","lemma":"Constantinopolis","severity":"info","text":"The mention of Constantinople alongside Rome reflects a contemporary rhetorical strategy, possibly referencing the city's survival of a recent threat (e.g., the 447 earthquake or the Hunnic threat) as a parallel to Rome's experience.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Quid dicemus?","severity":"info","text":"This rhetorical question marks a transition from narrative to theological reflection, a common homiletic device in Augustine's sermons to engage the audience.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'nihil hominum, nihil domorum, nihil moenium' may be hyperbolic; the historical record indicates some damage to Rome in 410, but Augustine minimizes it for rhetorical effect.","The reference to 'Constantinopolis' is ambiguous: it may allude to a specific event (e.g., the 447 earthquake) or serve as a general exemplum of divine correction."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":16,"ref":"p16","source":"CAPUT VIII. — 9. Tribulationis temporalis utilitas. Atquentinam valeat ad exemplum timoris, et mala concupiscentia sitiens mundum, et appetens perfrui perniciosissimis voluptatibus, demonstrante Domino quam sint instabiles et caducæ omnes sæculi vanitates et insaniae mendaces, potius refrenetur, quam sub flagellis dignissimis adversus Dominum murmuretur. Sed unam tribulam sentit area, ut stipula concidatur, granum mundetur; unum ignem patitur fornax aurificis, ut palea in cinerem pergat, aErum sordibus careat: sie et unam tribulationem Roma pertulit, in qua vel emendatus vel liberatus est pius; impius autem damnatus est, sive ab bac vita raptus sit ubi magis poenas justissimas lueret, sive hic remanscrit ubi damnabilius blasphemaret, aut certe pro ineffabili clementia sua Deus, quos novit salvandos, pœnitentiœ reservaret1. Non ergo nos moveat labor piorum; exercitatio est, non damnatio. Nisi forte horremus cura videmus indigna et gravia in hac terra perpeti aliquem justum, et obliviscimur quæ pertulerit justus justorum sanctus. que sanctorum. Quod passa est universa illa civitas, passus est unus. Sed videte quis unus: Rex regum Et Dominus dominantium (Apoc. XIX, 16), comprehensus, vinctus, flagelLatus, contumeliis omnibusagitatus.ligno suspensus et fixus, occisus.","english":"CHAPTER V. — 9. The usefulness of temporal tribulation. But let the example of fear rather restrain the evil concupiscence thirsting for the world and seeking to enjoy the most pernicious pleasures, while the Lord shows how unstable and fleeting are all the vanities and lying follies of this age, than that under the most deserved scourges murmuring be raised against the Lord. The threshing-floor feels one tribulation, that the straw may be cut down, the grain cleansed; the goldsmith’s furnace endures one fire, that the chaff may turn to ashes, the metal be freed from impurities. So too Rome endured one tribulation, in which the pious man was either corrected or set free; the impious man, however, was condemned, whether he was snatched from this life where he would pay the most just penalties, or remained here where he would blaspheme more damnably, or certainly, by the ineffable mercy of God, He reserved for penance those whom He knew were to be saved. Therefore let not the labor of the pious move us; it is an exercise, not a condemnation. Unless perhaps we shudder when we see some just man suffering unworthy and grievous things on this earth, and we forget what the just man of the just, the saint of the saints, endured. What that whole city suffered, one suffered. But see who that one is: the King of kings and Lord of lords (Apoc. 19:16), seized, bound, scourged, driven about with every insult, hung and nailed on wood, killed.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"tribulationis temporalis utilitas","severity":"info","text":"The heading 'Tribulationis temporalis utilitas' (The usefulness of temporal tribulation) introduces a theodicean argument: suffering serves a corrective and purifying purpose, not mere punishment.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"area","severity":"info","text":"'Area' (threshing-floor) is a metaphor for the Church or community undergoing trial, common in patristic exegesis (cf. Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos).","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Apoc. XIX, 16","severity":"info","text":"The citation 'Apoc. XIX, 16' (Revelation 19:16) is a Vetus Latina reference; the modern verse is Revelation 19:16, but the phrase 'Rex regum et Dominus dominantium' is not found there—likely a conflation with 1 Timothy 6:15 or a liturgical formula.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"Roma pertulit","severity":"info","text":"The reference to Rome's tribulation alludes to the Visigothic sack of Rome in 410 CE, the immediate context of Augustine's De Urbis Excidio sermons.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Sed unam tribulam sentit area... unum ignem patitur fornax","severity":"info","text":"The passage employs a double simile (threshing-floor and goldsmith's furnace) to parallel the single tribulation of Rome, reinforcing the argument that suffering has a dual outcome: purification for the pious, condemnation for the impious.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"pius... impius","severity":"info","text":"Augustine's distinction between the pious and impious in tribulation influenced later medieval theodicies, notably in Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy and Thomas Aquinas' treatment of evil.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The citation 'Apoc. XIX, 16' is problematic: the verse numbering differs from modern Bibles, and the quoted text does not match Revelation 19:16 exactly; it may be a conflation or a liturgical variant.","The phrase 'pœnitentiœ reservaret' could be read as 'reserved for penance' or 'reserved for repentance'; the Latin allows both, but the context favors the former."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":17,"ref":"p17","source":"Appende cum Christo Romam, appende cum Christo totam terram, appende cum Christo caelum et terram: nihil creatum cum Creatore pensatur, nullum opus artifici comparatur. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt, et sine ipso factum eat nihil (Joan. I, 3); et tamen a persequentibus deputatus est nihil. Feramus ergo. quod nos Deus ferre voluerit; qui nobis curandis atque sanandis, quis etiam dolor sit utilis, sicut medicus novit. Certe scri. ptum est, Patientia opus perfectum habet (Jacobi I, 4): quod autem erit opus patientiæ, si nihil adversi patiamur? Cur ergo mala temporalia perpeti recusamus? An forte perfici formidamus? Sed plane oremus et ingemiscamus et ploremus ad Dominum, ut servetur erga nos quod Apostolus dicit: Fidelis Deus, qui non vos sinet tentari supra id quod potestis; sed faciet cum tentatione eliam exitum, ut sustinere possitis ( I Cor. x, 13).","english":"Weigh Rome with Christ, weigh the whole earth with Christ, weigh heaven and earth with Christ: nothing created is weighed against the Creator, no work is compared to the craftsman. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made (John 1:3); and yet by the persecutors He was reckoned as nothing. Let us therefore bear what God has willed us to bear; He, like a physician, knows what pain is useful for our treatment and healing. Certainly it is written, Patience has a perfect work (James 1:4): but what will be the work of patience, if we suffer nothing adverse? Why then do we refuse to endure temporal evils? Or are we perhaps afraid to be perfected? But let us plainly pray and groan and weep to the Lord, that what the Apostle says may be preserved for us: God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear; but will also make an end with the temptation, so that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Joan. I, 3","severity":"info","text":"Augustine cites John 1:3, but the Latin text reads 'sine ipso factum eat nihil', a variant of 'sine ipso factum est nihil'. The Vulgate has 'sine ipso factum est nihil'.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"Jacobi I, 4","severity":"info","text":"The citation 'Patientia opus perfectum habet' loosely adapts James 1:4, which in the Vulgate reads 'patientia opus perfectum habet'. Augustine uses it to link patience with perfection.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"scripture","kind":"scripture","basis":"text","lemma":"I Cor. x, 13","severity":"info","text":"The verse 'Fidelis Deus, qui non vos sinet tentari supra id quod potestis' is a paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 10:13, but the Vulgate has 'fidelis Deus' in 1 Cor 1:9; the reference may be corrupt or a conflation.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"Appende cum Christo Romam","severity":"info","text":"Augustine contrasts the weight of Rome and the world with Christ, echoing the theme of the sack of Rome (410 CE) and the insignificance of earthly power before divine judgment.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"Feramus ergo","severity":"info","text":"This passage concludes the sermon's exhortation to patience, moving from the metaphor of weighing to the imperative to endure temporal evils as part of divine healing.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"I Cor. x, 13","severity":"caution","text":"The citation 'I Cor. x, 13' does not match any known verse; 1 Corinthians has only 16 chapters, and verse 13 of chapter 10 is about the Lord's Supper. The text may be a misattribution or a loose paraphrase.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The scripture reference 'I Cor. x, 13' is uncertain; it may be a scribal error or a conflation of 1 Corinthians 1:9 and 2 Corinthians 1:8-9.","The phrase 'sine ipso factum eat nihil' contains a possible scribal error ('eat' for 'est')."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]}]}