Erasmus, ep. 2157 l. 49-50

[Hortensius]

Will someone be kind and offer me help with this sentence, especially the boldfaced part:

Et fortassis ob hoc ipsum Dominus passus est illum ad tempus labi, ut efficacius alios ab errore pestifero vel arceret vel revocaret.

(Context: Erasmus is talking about Augustine who adhered to the Manichaean sect, and that the passion of Christ probably helped Augustine out of it. But I cannot grasp “Illum ad tempus labi”.)

[bedwere]

him [Augustine, I surmise] to fall away for a while

The Lord allowed St. Augustine to be a sinner for some time so that he might help others.

[anphph]

illum and ad tempus are not in agreement (otherwise it’d be illud), so illum is masculine accusative, tempus is neuter (accusative).

[Hortensius]

Thanks, it makes good sense. I sometimes (ad tempus) forget that patior also means permitto/sino.

Will someone be kind and offer me help with this sentence, especially the boldfaced part:

Et fortassis ob hoc ipsum Dominus passus est illum ad tempus labi, ut efficacius alios ab errore pestifero vel arceret vel revocaret.

(Context: Erasmus is talking about Augustine who adhered to the Manichaean sect, and that the passion of Christ probably helped Augustine out of it. But I cannot grasp “Illum ad tempus labi”.)