Tractatusought to be translated thus. It is the
term, and the only term, used so early as this for the bishop’s
address to the congregation; in fact, one might almost say that
tractare, tractatus in Christian language had no other
meaning. It is an anachronism in the fourth century to render
prædicare by ‘preach;’ cf. Duchesne, Liber
Pontificalis, i. 126.