Section 7

A catechumen who died suddenly from a fever is brought back to life through the power of Martin's prayers.

est vestigiis prosecutus: 'he followed in his footsteps', meant literally here.

fuisset susceptus: 'he had been received'. Classical Latin would have esset for fuisset. This so-called 'shifted' pluperfect subjunctive is typical of later and vulgar Latin (H-S sec. 179), and occurs frequently in this work.

oppido: 'the town', i.e. Poitiers.

ei: 'to Martin'

languore correptus: 'having contracted an illness'.

forte: 'by chance'.

absque baptismate: 'without baptism'. It was common in this period to put off baptism to the end of life, so as to avoid sinning after it.

corpus . . . officio: 'his body, placed in a central location, was crowded with the sad duty of the mourning brothers', i.e., the brothers were crowding around the body and mourning.

cum . . . accurrit: indicative in a 'inverted' cum-clause, indicating that this, rather than the apparently main verb, is the true point of the sentence. (A&G) The historic present tense adds vividness.

egredi...ceteros iubet: 'he ordered the rest to leave'. The position of egredi makes it emphatic.

incubuisset: 'had devoted himself to' (> incumbo + dat.).

defuncti: 'of the dead man' (> defungor), substantival use of the participle.

virtutem: 'miracle-working power'. virtus = 'miracle' or 'miracle-working power' is common in Christian Latin.

in defuncti ora defixus: 'looking intently upon the face of the dead man'.

laxatis in usum videndi palpitare luminibus: 'quivering in his (now) opened eyes for the power of seeing', i.e. 'blinking to regain his sight' (White).

membris omnibus: abl. of respect, specifying the location of the action of the verb (commoveri). laxatis . . . luminibus fills the same function for palpitare.

foribus: 'doors'.

virtutum: 'miracles'.

erat solitus: 'had been accustomed' (> soleo, -ēre).

corpore exutum: 'having shed his body'.

deputandumque: 'and that he was to be condemned'. This gerundive expresses the content of the verdict (sententia) referred to just below. Deputo = 'designate, assign, condemn' is post-classical. The -que joins the infinitives ductum (esse) and excepisse.

tristem excepisse sententiam: 'had received the grim verdict'

iudici fuisse suggestum: 'that it had been brought to the attention of the judge that'.

hunc esse pro quo: 'this was (the man) for whom'

iussum . . . redditum . . . resitutum: infinitives, with esse left out, in indirect statement after referre, above.

enituit: 'became well-known', literally 'became bright' (> enitesco, -nitescere, -nitui).

ut . . . haberetur: 'with the result that he was considered'.