Section 19

vir praefectorius: 'a former prefect', commander of a legion or detachment of a legion (see A.H. M. Jones, Later Roman Empire i.640).

gravissimis quartanae febribus: 'by very serious attacks of quartan fever' (quartana, -ae, f.), technically one that recurs every third day; perhaps a form of malaria.

casu: 'by chance'

delata fuerat: 'had been delivered' (> defero, = delata erat)

in tantum valuit, ut: 'had such an effect that'

dicarit: 'dedicated' (> dico (1), = dicaverit).

praesens virtutum eius testimonium: 'a potent testimony to his miracle working powers', parenthetical.

per absentem licet: 'through him even when he was not there' (> absum).

neque ab alio . . . quam: 'by no one other than'.

Paulinus . . . exempli: 'Paulinus, a man who later would set such a fine example', i.e., by giving up his considerable wealth and devoting himself to the church. This is Paulinus of Nola, the poet; see below, 26.4.

oculum graviter dolere: 'to suffer from a serious eye complaint' (White). oculum is acc. of respect.

iam pupillam eius crassior nubes superducta texisset: 'quite a thick grey film had spread across his pupil and now covered it' (White). superduco = 'draw over' is late Lat.

oculum ei Martīnus penicillō contigit: 'Martin touched his eye with a little brush'. ei is dative of reference (AG 377).

penecillo: evidently a kind of soft sponge. See Rabanus Maurus, De Universo (ca. AD 842) 8.5 (PL 111.239C): mollissimum genus earum [sc. spongiarum] penecilli vocantur eo quod aptae sint ad oculorum tumores, et ad extergendas lippitudines utiles.

casu quodam: 'by some chance'

esset . . . devolutus: 'had fallen down' (> devolvo).

per confragosos scalae gradus decidens: 'tumbling through the treacherous steps of a flight of stairs', or else 'falling through the broken rungs of a ladder'. The Latin could mean either.

salubri unguedine: 'with a healing ointment' (> unguedo, unguedinis, f.).

contusi: 'battered' (> contundo).

superlinire: 'annoint'.

nihil umquam . . . incommodi: 'no injury at all' (incommodi is partitive genitive).

longum est: 'it is a long task'.

sufficiant haec . . . satisque sit: 'let these things suffice . . . and let it be enough' (jussive subj.).

vel: 'even if only'.

nos et in excellentibus non subtrahere veritatem et in multis vitare fastidium: 'that in describing outstanding deeds I do not detract from their believability, and in describing many deeds I avoid annoying the reader'. Supply a gerundive like dicendis afterexcellentibus and multis.