| Quotation |
DE PAGANIS.
Pagani ex pagis Atheniensium dicti, ubi exorti sunt. Ibi enim in locis agrestibus et pagis gentiles lucos idolaque statuerunt, et a tali initio uocabulum pagani sortiti sunt.
Gentiles sunt qui sine lege sunt, et nondum crediderunt. Dicti autem gentiles, quia ita sunt ut fuerunt geniti, id est, sicut in carne descenderunt sub peccato, scilicet idolis seruientes et necdum regenerati. Proinde gentiles primitus nuncupantur: ipsi dicuntur Graece Ethnici.
Ethnici ex Graeco in Latinum interpretantur gentiles. Ἔθνος enim Graece gens dicitur.
Post fidem autem non debere uocari gentes siue gentiles eos qui ex gentibus credunt; sicut post fidem dici iam non potest Iudaeus, testante Paulo Apostolo et dicente iam Christianis: "Quoniam cum gentes essetis", hoc est, infideles.
Apostatae dicuntur, qui post baptismum Christi susceptum ad idolorum cultum et sacrificiorum contaminationem reuertuntur. |
| Translation |
x. Pagans (De paganis) 1 . Pagans ( paganus ) are named from the districts ( pagus ) of the Athenians, where they originated, for there, in rural places and districts, the pagans established sacred groves and idols, and from such a beginning pagans received their name. 2 . Gentiles are those who are without the Law, and have not yet believed. 9 And they are called ‘gentiles’ ( gentilis ) because they remain just as they were born ( gignere , ppl. genitus ), that is, just as they descended into the body governed by sin, in other words, worshipping idols and not yet reborn. 3 . Accordingly, they were first named gentiles. In Greek they are called ethnici . The Latin word gentiles is translated as ethnici in Greek, for the Greek {nov means “tribe” ( gens ). 4 . But after their conversion, those from the tribes who believe ought not to be called gentes or gentiles , just as after conversion a Jew can no longer be called a Jew, as the apostle Paul testifies when he says to the Christians (I Corinthians 12 : 2 ): “That when you were heathens ( gentes ),” that is, infidels. 5 . Those people are called apostates ( apostata ) who, after the baptism of Christ has been received, return to the worship of idols and pollution of sacrifices. (Trans. Barney, Lewis, Beach and Berghof, p. 183) |
