232 – He is quoting from a letter of Cicero’s. Ep. ix. 3. Longi
subsellii, ut noster Pompeius appellat, judicatio et mora.
233 – He is here quoting from Cicero De off. iii. 1, where
Cicero gives as a saying of Scipio Africanus, on the
authority of Cato, ‘numquam se minus otiosum esse quam
quum otiosus, nec minus solum quam quum solus esset.’ It
is quoted again by S. Ambrose in De off. Min. iii. 1, 107.
234 – This is the reading of most MSS, according to the
Benedictine Editors. And, though the connection of ideas
is somewhat abrupt, they explain it to be, that, as the
gift of faith was bestowed on Abraham the Chaldean, so
the gift of prophecy was bestowed on Balaam. All the
other Editions have ‘Balaam’ instead of ‘Abraham’. This
makes the connection easier, but then ‘adscitur ad fidem’
is strangely applied to him, and it could only mean,
‘is employed to utter the truth.’ He might be called a
Chaldean as the common name among the Romans for Eastern
diviners generally.
235 – The Magister officiorum was a sort of Chief Secretary of
state, both for home and foreign affairs. A summary of his
duties may be seen in Gibbon ch. xvii, iv, 2. It was the
influence which this post gave him over Theodosius which
enabled Rufinus to stir the Emperor’s passionateness to
the crime of Thessalonica.
236 – The adjective Portuensis generally refers to the town
called Portus, which grew up in the times of the Emperors
on the harbour of Ostia. It is probable therefore that the
reference is to some work of which the person spoken of
had the superintendence.
237 – As Lake Larius was sometimes called Lacus Comacinus in
the times of the Emperors, (Dict. of Geogr. voc. Comum.)
it is probable that the ‘Comacinæ rupes’ were some familiar
rocks on its margin. The comparison to a bull is simply an
adaptation of Virgil’s ‘Et faciem tauro propior,’ Georg.
iii. 58.
238 – The word ‘bonis’ must certainly here be inserted in the
text, ‘uterque alienae magis ordinationis vitiis quam suis
bonis fretus,’ as suggested by the Benedictine Editors.
It occurs just below in the corresponding sentence, ‘suis
potius bonis quam alieno vitio defendi.’
239 – He is sometimes spoken of as Bishop of Nairsus in Dacia
Mediterranea (see Note in p. 67.) but Tillemont (note 43
in Life of S. Ambrose) has made it probable that there
were two Bishops of the name of Bonosus, one of Nairsus,
and the other of Sardica, the latter of whom is the one
dealt with by the Synod of Capua.
240 – He is referring to the ‘Memorial of Symmachus.’ p. 94. The
‘two petitions,’ libellos duos, are Letters 17 and 18.
241 – He means that the reason why he declines all communication
with Eugenius, who wished to secure his great political
influence on his side, was, that he felt sure that
Eugenius, though at present temporising with both parties,
would in the end yield to the pressure of the pagan
party, and restore the revenues to the heathen temples.
‘Extorquendum’ is, in accordance with late Latin idiom, a
mere future passive.