AUGUSTINE CONVERTS THE PEOPLE OF KENT TO CHRISTIANITY

(1) ōrātiōnibus … vigiliīs: datives after serviendō. Orātio means “prayer.”

serviendō ... praedicandō ... spernendō ... accipiendō ... vīvendō ... habendō: all ablatives of means (AG 507), explaining how Augustine and his followers imitated the life of the primitive church.

videlicet: “that is,” “namely”

vigiliīs … ieiūniīs: “fasts” (literally, “fasting vigils”)

verbum vītae: direct object of praedicāndō.

quibus poterant: quibus is an indefinite relative (AG 310): “to anyone they could”

ea tantum: “only those things”: the direct object of accipiēndō.

victūi necessāria: “necessary to sustain life” (i.e., the bare essentials)

vidēbantur: supply esse.

secundum: preposition, “according to”

parātum … animum habendō: animum is the direct object of habendō, and is modified by parātum: “by having a mind prepared ... ”

ad patiendum adversa: the expected construction is ad patienda adversa; ad with the gerund/gerundive expresses purpose (AG 506)

adversa quaeque: “every adversity”

vel etiam: “even”

moriendum: this gerund also goes with paratum ad (“even [prepared] to die…”)

prō eā ... vēritāte: pro = “on behalf of,” “for”: with ad moriendum (“to die for that truth ... ”)

(2) Quid mora?: “why a delay,” meaning something like, “in short,” “to cut to the chase.”

(4) prope ipsam cīvitātem ad orientem: “just to the east of the city”

sanctī Martīnī: St. Martin of Tours (see the DCC commentary on Sulpicius Severus’s Life of St. Martin of Tours). The Church of St. Martin in Canterbury is believed to be the oldest parish church in England. The chancel dates to the 7th century, and is constructed in part with Roman building materials. See Taylor, Anglo-Saxon Architecture I.143–145 for a description of the church.

antīquitus facta: “built long ago”

dum ... incolerent: With dum meaning “while,” “during or at the time when,” Bede prefers the subjunctive, though the indicative is also normal in later Latin (DMLBS, dum 2). Classical Latin authors would prefer a temporal dum- or cum-clause with the indicative (see AG 556 and 544).

praedīximus: “we mentioned before” (in chapter 25).

cōnsuerat: > cōnsuēscere, “to accustom oneself.” cōnsuerat is plupf., “was accustomed to.”

(5) missās facere: “to say mass”

maiōrem: modifies licentiam in hyperbaton.

praedicandī, fabricandī, restaurandī: the gerunds are objective genitives (AG 348) after licentiam (“freedom of preaching”: i.e., freedom to preach).

(6) ipse: King Æthelbehrt

dēlectātus: “enticed”

vitā … promissīs … ostentātiōne: all ablatives of means

quae vera esse … firmāverant: “which they confirmed to be true.”

confluere … sociāre: both governed by coepēre (=coepērunt)

relictō gentilitātis ritū: ablative absolute (“when the pagan religion had been abandonded…”)

ūnitātī sē … sociāre: sē is reflexive with sociāre (“to attach themselves,” i.e., to join); ūnitātī is dative after sociāre (“to attach themselves to the union,” i.e., to join the union)

credendō: “by faith” (ablative of means)

(7) fideī et conversiōnī: datives after congrātulātus esse (“was thankful for”).

ita … ut: result clause (“the king was so thankful … that”)

nullum: = neminem, direct object of cogeret

tantummodo: only

credentēs: substantive (“believers”), accusative direct object of amplecterētur.

concīvēs sibi: “fellow citizens”

(8) Didicerat … servitium voluntārium, nōn coacticium esse debēre: accusative-infinitive construction of indirect discourse after didicerat. Servitium is the subject accusative, voluntārium and coacticium are predicates after esse.

(9) Nec distulit, quīn … donāret: quīn after a verb expressing delay (AG 558): “Nor did he put off giving…” Differre here means “to put off,” “to defer.”

locum sēdis: a place for their see.

eōrum graduī congruum: “appropriate to their rank.” Æthelbehrt establishes Canterbury as an episcopal see, the official center of a bishop’s jurisdiction.

in diversīs speciēbus: “of various kinds”