1. Cf. iii, 4.
2. de oleo et sacrificio peccatoris. For this phrase cf. i, 5, 6, 7; iv, 7, 9. For oleum cf. note 3, p. 11.
3. non ille debet esse peccator.
4. vestram praesumptionem. The Donatists boastfully claimed that the validity of the Sacraments depended upon their personal holiness. This was the 'presumption' with which they started.
5. facessat ex utraque parte praesumptio. Cf. 'facesse Tarquinios' (Liv. i, 47).
6. cuius sacrificium est canina victima. Canina = Like that of a dog. Cf. infra iv, 6: quasi qui victimet canem. The reference is to Deut. xxiii, 18: 'Non offeres pretium canis in domo Domini Dei tui'; cf. also Is. lxvi, 3: 'Facinorosus qui sacrificat Mihi vitulum, quasi qui canem occidat' (the reading of St. Aug. c. ep. Par men. ii, 5).
7. The whole of this chapter is a digression (cf. i, 3).
8. impius.
9. Malach. ii, 10.
10. Ps. lxxxi, 6.
11. Matt. xxiii, 9.
12. solus natus est Filius Dei.
13. John i, 11.
14. They had been made the sons of God by Baptism, but had, by reason of their schism, lost their right to the title.
15. Matt. v, 9.
16. Deum et hominem revocavit in Pacem. A very strong phrase.
17. Eph. ii, 13.
18. quos iisdem Sacramentorum visceribus (cf. ii, 10).
19. The Lord's Prayer.
20. in totum.
21. cuius potuit vel oleum timeri, vel sacrificium repudiavi.
22. sub secundo diapsalmate. Ps. xlix, 16. For Diapsalma cf. S. August. Enarr. in Ps. iv, 4; Quaest. ex utroque mixtim (Migne, P.L. p. 2334); S. Hieron. Ep. xxviii, De Voce Diapsalma.
23. processisti de castris. This is the reading of G. It is probably a conjecture but seems to give the right sense. RBv read proiecisti castris, which it is not possible to translate. Ziwsa conjectures proiecisti te castris (thou hast flung itself upon fortresses), but this is hardly Latin. Besides Optatus is not likely to have represented an army as first attacking, and afterwards as standing in array against the enemy in the field.
24. captasti.
25. Cf. ii, 14.