[P. 195.]—Bitter phrases and self-justification in the Letter: see 375₂₀₋₂₁; 376₁₆ (non usurpo aliena); 377₁₄₋378₂; 379₁₂₋₁₈. For similar phrases in the Confession and the Letter, cp. Mr. White’s list of recurrent phrases (Proc. of R.I.A. 1905, p. 299), to which may be added the use of utique.
[P. 197.]—“Confession.” What Patrick meant by confessio is made clear by the last sentences of the work (374₂₈₋375₅), and borne out by the general tenor. Compare esp. 358₄₋₁₀ (confiteremur), 361₁₇, 366₂₀, 370₃₄.
[P. 202.]—The attack on Patrick, on account of the youthful fault (Conf. 365₂, etc.):
et quando temptatus sum ab aliquantis senioribus meis qui uenerunt et peccata mea contra laboriosum episcopatum meum <..>, utique in illo die fortiter impulsus sum ut caderem [cp. Ps. 118, 38] hic et in aeternum, sed Dominus pepercit proselito et peregrino, etc.
It is clear that the attack was made in Ireland (cp. [App. C, 5]). It seems probable that the persons described as seniores mei were ecclesiastics in Ireland, and this view has been adopted in the text. But in another passage we read that aliquanti de senioribus meis were offended by his persistence in the determination to go to Ireland (367₂₉), and this might suggest the view that they came from Britain (uenerunt) for the purpose of attacking him. It seems impossible to decide. The vision which Patrick saw the night after an interview with the seniores has caused some difficulty; he tells it so badly. “That night I saw in a vision of the night a writing which had been written against me,[352] dishonouring me.[353] And at the same time I heard the answer of God saying to me, ‘We have seen with displeasure the face of’ the person aforesaid [viz. the friend], revealing his name.”[354] The passage immediately following deserves attention. The writer gives thanks for two things:
[1] ut non me (sc. Deus) inpediret a profectione quam statueram, et [2] de mea quoque opera quod a Christo Domino meo dediceram, sed magis ex eo sensi in me uirtutem non paruam.
Here he designates as two great crises the attempts to dissuade him from his missionary purpose, and the attack afterwards made upon him, to which ex eo refers.
[P. 206.]—Patrick regrets his want of education (Conf. 359₂₆):
quatinus modo ipse adpeto in senectute mea quod in iuuentute non conparaui; quod obstiterunt peccata mea ut confirmarem quod antea perlegeram (sc. the rudiments he had learned before his captivity).