52. If this witness of the voyagers seem inconclusive to you because they were Apostles,--though to me it comes with the greater weight for the same reason, though it surprises me the less,--accept at any rate a corroboration given by the Gentiles. Hear how the soldier of the Roman cohort, one of the stern guard around the Cross, was humbled to the faith. The centurion sees the mighty workings of Christ's power; and this is the witness borne by him:--Truly this was the Son of God [844] . The truth was forced upon him, after Christ had given up the ghost, by the torn veil of the Temple, and the earth that shook, and the rocks that were rent, and the sepulchres that were opened, and the dead that rose. And it was the confession of an unbeliever. The deeds that were done convinced him that Christ's nature was omnipotent; he names Him the Son of God, being assured of His true Divinity. So cogent was the proof, so strong the man's conviction, that the force of truth conquered his will, and even he who had nailed Christ to the Cross was driven to confess that He is the Lord of eternal glory, truly the Son of God.
[774] St. John v. 23.
[775] Reading quarto instead of primo; but cf. v. § 3.
[776] The Epistola Arii ad Alexandrum, repeated from Book iv. §§ 12, 13, where see the notes. The only difference in the text is that this copy omits alone true, at the beginning.
[777] E.g. i. § 10, iv. § 2; reading non semel.
[778] Reading virginem.
[779] I.e. a line of lights.
[780] Exod. iii. 14.
[781] Psalm cix. (cx.) 3.
[782] Psalm lxxxi. (lxxxii.) 6.
[783] Reading et ad omne.
[784] Cf. 2 Cor. xi. 25.
[785] St. Matt. iii. 17.
[786] Isai. i. 2.
[787] St. Matt. xvii. 5.
[788] St. John xvii. 5; cf. xiii. 32, xvi. 14, xvii. 1.
[789] St. Matt. xxvi. 64.
[790] St. John xiv. 28.
[791] Ib. xii. 27.
[792] St. Matt. xxvii. 46.
[793] Ib. xv. 13.
[794] St. John ii. 16.
[795] Ib. iii. 17.
[796] Ib. ix. 35.
[797] St. John xi. 41.
[798] Ib. x. 36.
[799] St. Matt. xi. 27.
[800] St. John v. 36, 37.
[801] Ib. v. 37.
[802] St. John vii. 28, 29.
[803] Reading nesciretur; cf. St. John vii. 28 in § 28.
[804] St. John viii. 42.
[805] i.e. in the Incarnation.
[806] St. John xv. 23.
[807] Nativitas here, as normally in Hilary, means the eternal generation.
[808] St. John xvi. 26-28.
[809] Firstly, the Father's witness is given in §§ 23-27; secondly, the Son's, §§ 28-31; thirdly, that of the Apostles, §§ 32-46.
[810] St. John xvi. 29, 30.
[811] St. Matt. xvi. 16.
[812] St. Matt. x. 40.
[813] Ib. xi. 27.
[814] St. Hilary takes them as an allusion to the I am (qui est) of Exodus iii. 14.
[815] St. Matt. xvi. 22, 23.
[816] Omitting nec.
[817] Reading ecclesiæ.
[818] St. John i. 18.
[819] Ib. iii. 16.
[820] St. John xx. 31.
[821] 1 John v. 1.
[822] Ib. ii. 22.
[823] Ib. 23.
[824] 1 John v. 20, the long interpolation, which resembles a creed, is only found twice elsewhere (Codex Toletanus and the so-called Speculum of Augustine), and, though evidently from the Greek, never in that language.
[825] Rom. v. 10.
[826] 1 John viii. 3.
[827] 1 Cor. i. 9.
[828] Rom. viii. 14, 15.
[829] Ib. 31, 32.
[830] Yet His own (proprius) is on the whole characteristic of the Old Latin mss., still in existence. This passage is important as indicating the independence of scribes. Hilary seems to take it for granted that each will modify at his discretion the text from which he is copying.
[831] St. Matt. iii. 17, again an allusion to Exod. iii. 14.
[832] St. John ix. 37.
[833] St. Matt. xvi. 16; cf. Exod. iii. 14.
[834] 1 John v. 20.
[835] St. John xi. 27.
[836] St. John ix. 35.
[837] Ib. ix. 36.
[838] Ib. 38.
[839] Reading vitam.
[840] St. Luke viii. 28.
[841] St. Mark xiv. 61.
[842] St. John xix. 7.
[843] St. Matt. xiv. 33.
[844] St. Matt. xxvii. 54.