Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Loss of Grace · Book III: On the Sin of the First Man
Chapter 11: On the punishment of the first sin
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. V, De Amissione Gratiae et Statu Peccati, Book III. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
We have explained the temptation and the sin of the first parents; now of the punishment of the same sin, which we suffer in the present time, we shall discourse in few words.
And the punishment which properly answers to the first sin, as it were face to face, was the loss of original justice and of the supernatural gifts with which God had furnished our nature, as St. Thomas teaches in 2-2, question 164, article 1. For this is the punishment which all who draw their origin from Adam, and in him and through him sinned at the beginning, suffer equally. But the other evils, as well of body as of soul, which press us in this vale of miseries, are indeed punishments of the first sin, because they are born from that first punishment — that is, from the loss of original justice; yet not so properly and immediately as that taking away of the gifts. For that is, as it were, the punishment assessed by the judge, as St. Thomas speaks; the other evils follow upon that punishment, after the manner in which the flooding of rivers or of the sea follows when the dikes are broken by which the rush of the waters was contained. And this is the cause why the other evils do not press all equally, though in the first sin all men are equal.
But although these things stand thus, yet God, in the book of Genesis, chapter 3, when he describes the punishments both of the man and of the woman, makes no mention of the loss of original justice, but of the consequent evils. Both because they already felt that first and proper punishment of their sin, and by their nakedness, blushing, and flight testified that they were paying the penalty of disobedience — but God wished to indicate to them not what they were already suffering, but what they were thereafter to suffer; and also that from the effects they might learn how grave a punishment that lack of original justice is, seeing that from that one so many other calamities were to follow.
Further, the evils that follow upon the first punishment of the first sin are almost innumerable; of which we shall discourse somewhat more at length in book 3 [al. 4] On Original Sin. But God in Genesis, chapter 3, touched only those which pertain to the corporal life; since, as life is the foundation of all temporal goods, the evils which pertain to life are of all the most common and best known. Now there are three evils which from the punishment of sin have overflowed upon the corporal life: one proper to women, another proper to men, a third common to both. The entrance of men into life is heavy for women, who with labor bear in the womb the conceived offspring, and with pain bring forth; the preservation of life is laborious for men, to whom it chiefly belongs to seek food for themselves, their wife, and their offspring; finally, the departure from life, or the necessity of dying, brings the greatest sadness both to men and to women.
These three evils God describes in Genesis; and first, concerning the first, so far as pertains to the entrance of life, he speaks thus: To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee. What these words mean is not easy to explain — especially since the multiplication of conceptions pertains to blessing, and would have been in paradise and the state of innocence, according to that: Increase and multiply, Genesis 1.
There have not been wanting most grave Fathers who judged that the propagation of the human race through the work of marriage — and thereby conception, and childbirth, and the subjection of the woman to the man — would not have been in the state of innocence, and therefore are rightly numbered among the punishments of the first sin. So thought Gregory of Nyssa, in the book On the Creation of Man, chapter 17 [al. 18]; John Chrysostom, homily 18 on Genesis; and John Damascene, book 2 On the Orthodox Faith, chapter 30, and book 4, chapter 24 [al. 23]. St. Jerome also, in the book against Jovinian, does not dare openly to fight against this opinion; for he writes that it is uncertain whether in the state of innocence propagation would have been through marriage. But this opinion is deservedly refuted by St. Thomas, in part 1, question 98, article 2; by the other theologians, on 2 Sentences, distinction 20; by St. Augustine, book 14 of the City of God, chapters 21 and following, and book 9 On Genesis to the Letter, chapters 3 and following; and by the other Latin Fathers who wrote after the times of Augustine, as Eucherius, Rupert, and the rest. And indeed the divine Scripture testifies not obscurely that the propagation of men in paradise would have been through the conjunction of male and female. For in chapter 1 of Genesis we read: Male and female he created them. And he said… Increase and multiply, etc. Where we see that before sin men were created with diversity of sexes, and that to this end, that they might increase and be multiplied. But what Gregory of Nyssa and John Damascene answer — that the diversity of sexes was instituted because God had foreseen that Adam would sin, and on account of sin would need the diversity of sexes for the work of generation — is not rightly said. Both because through sin nature was not changed as to its natural parts and members, but only as to its actions and offices; and because it did not befit the divine providence to show in man the traces of punishment before there existed in him a trace of fault. Again, in chapter 2, God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself. From which place Augustine rightly gathers that the woman was instituted chiefly for this, that she might help the man in the propagation of children. For there is no other work in which a man could not be better helped by a man than by a woman. And especially in paradise, where no labor was to be undergone, no want was feared, there was no cause why a woman should be necessary to the man, except for generation. It is added that in that very place of felicity, before sin was committed, Adam said: A man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh. Which words Christ, in the Gospel, Matthew 19, and the Apostle, to the Ephesians 5, testify to pertain to Matrimony and to the marital conjunction. Finally, man in the state of innocence, although by a supernatural gift he had this, that he could not die, yet had a body truly animal, which, as it needed food that it might be preserved, so also had need of generation that it might be propagated.
There would then have been, if man had not sinned, a holy wedlock and an undefiled bed, without the libidinous burning of the flesh; the mother would have carried her offspring in the womb without labor, and brought forth without pain: “For as” (says Augustine, book 14 of the City of God, chapter 26) “for bringing forth, not the groan of pain, but the impulse of ripeness would have relaxed the woman's inward parts; so for begetting and conceiving, not the appetite of lust, but voluntary use would have joined both natures.” There would also have been a subjection of the wife to the husband, but of charity, not of condition; and of spontaneous will, not of violent compulsion, as the same Augustine teaches, book 11 On Genesis to the Letter, chapter 37. Wherefore the punishment of sin is that women bear the conceived offspring in the womb with loathing and labor; that they bring forth with pain; that they are so subjected to their husbands that even unwilling they are compelled to obey them, and not only to love, but even to fear them. And this is what God foretold to Eve when he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, etc. But what God says — I will multiply thy sorrows and thy conceptions — is not so to be taken as though the multiplication of conceptions pertains absolutely to the punishment; but either it is said in Hebrew phrase, “I will multiply thy sorrows and conceptions,” for “I will multiply the sorrows of thy conceptions” — and therefore perhaps the Seventy interpreters, to explain the matter, omitted the word “conceptions,” which is had in the Hebrew, and simply put, I will multiply thy sadnesses and thy groaning; or it is said “I will multiply conceptions” because, if Adam and Eve had not sinned, those offspring only would have been conceived which were to come to ripeness — but now oftentimes women conceive an offspring, and with labor and sadness carry one, which is extinguished before it begins to see the light. Which multiplication of conceptions is assuredly to be judged a most grave punishment. But what some say — that the multiplication of conceptions is to be referred to the time in which the offspring is carried in the womb; for now, from the punishment of sin, the offspring is carried nine months, whereas in paradise the conceived offspring would have been brought forth immediately — is neither probable, nor agrees with the words of Scripture, nor with the opinion of St. Augustine, who (as we cited a little before) writes that the woman's inward parts would have been relaxed by the impulse of ripeness.
Further, what is said in describing the punishment of the woman — thou shalt be under thy husband's power, or, as the Greek has it, thy turning shall be to thy husband — can be taken in two ways, on account of the ambiguity of the Hebrew word, which is wont to signify both turning and obedience, and desire and concupiscence. Either, then, the sense will be that the woman is to be turned to her husband by serving and obeying, so that she hang upon his mouth and commands; or certainly it will be signified that the woman, even after the labor of the burdened womb and the pain of childbirth, will still desire her husband. Since it is no light punishment not to be able to refrain from that which brings so immense a labor and sadness.
Now as to the punishment proper to men, which is in preparing the food which may suffice for himself, his wife, and his children, it is described in these words: Cursed is the earth in thy work; with labour shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread. By which words a threefold labor of husbandmen is described. The first is born from the sterility of the earth, of which it is said: Cursed is the earth in thy work; with labour shalt thou eat thereof. For a curse in the Scriptures signifies sterility, as contrariwise a blessing signifies fecundity. And so many labors are required that one may eat from a sterile earth — that is, may gather fruit fit for food. The second labor is born from the thorns and evil herbs which arise from the fecund earth together with the good crops. And because, unless with great labor the thorns and thistles and noxious herbs be plucked up, we cannot have the good herbs, therefore it is said: thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth — that is, thou wilt indeed be able to have herbs, but not without the hindrance of thorns and thistles. The third labor is in tilling the earth, even though fecund and empty of thorns and thistles. For so many labors must be drained in plowing, sowing, reaping; in planting and pruning vines and trees, and in doing other things of that kind, that it is deservedly said: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread. In which place by the name of bread all food is understood, according to the familiar manner of Scripture. This is not to be passed over in this place: that what we have in the Latin edition — Cursed is the earth in thy work — is in the Hebrew codices “cursed is the earth for thy sake.” From which we understand that that phrase, in thy work, signifies not “in the work of tilling the earth,” but “in thy sin,” as St. Jerome admonishes in the Hebrew Questions on Genesis. Where he also notes that some rendered “for thy sake,” some “in thy transgression” — unless perchance the interpreter read one Hebrew word for another.
There remains the punishment common to men and women, which is the necessity of dying; which God willed to join with the punishments which pertain more properly to the man. Both because the sin of the man was properly the cause of death; and because to the man it had been said: In what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death; and because in the man the woman is understood, since the man is the head of the woman; and finally because, as we noted above, the man sinned more gravely than the woman. Now this punishment is contained in those words: Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return. From which words we understand that that saying — In what day soever thou shalt eat, thou shalt die the death — signifies nothing else than: thou shalt be liable to most certain death. See more on this matter in the book On the Grace of the First Man, chapter 8.
To the punishments of Adam and Eve God joined the punishment of the serpent; for the Lord said to the serpent: “Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” Which words are fittingly referred both to the corporal serpent, as Chrysostom expounds, homily 17 on Genesis, and to the devil himself, as Augustine explains, book 2 On Genesis [against the Manichaeans], chapters 17-18 [al. 36]. For although the corporal serpent did not properly sin, seeing it is devoid of reason, yet it had to be punished, that we might understand the wrath of God against sin. For it is a great indication of wrath when not only the author of the sin is punished, but even the instruments by which the sin was committed are crushed.
Let us briefly expound the punishment of the serpent, first as it pertains to the corporal serpent, then as to the devil himself. The Lord, then, said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this. God addresses the serpent, not because it could understand those words, but on account of Adam and Eve, who were present — just as Christ also once cursed the fig tree, and once commanded the sea and the winds. Further, God did not ask the serpent why it had done this, as he asked Eve — for that corporal serpent could not have rendered any account of its deed — but simply says: Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed among all cattle and beasts of the earth. That is: because thou wast the instrument of the devil for seducing and destroying men, thou shalt be the most abject animal, hated by all and execrable; and whereas before thou didst not creep with thy whole body, but only with the hinder part, going upright with the fore part, henceforth thou shalt go upon thy belly and upon thy breast; earth also thou shalt perpetually eat, whereas before by no means earth, but herb, was thy food; finally, whereas in paradise thou didst live peaceably with the other animals and with man himself, hereafter there shall be war between thee and the woman, and thy offspring and the offspring of the woman, which shall at no time ever be lulled.
Now if these words pertain to the devil himself: the Lord did not say to the devil “why hast thou done this,” but “because thou hast done this” — because, namely, the devil is so hardened in evil that he can in no way be amended. And indeed he too is cursed among all cattle and beasts of the earth, because he has been made wretched and vile above all, whether angels or men, that sin. For as justice makes angels, and in a certain manner gods, of all, so contrariwise sin makes beasts of the same. Now the devil goes upon his breast, both because he trusts in his cunning and craftiness, as Jerome explains in the Hebrew Questions; and because he is permitted by God to rejoice in pride and false power, who before rejoiced in truth and charity. For it is no small punishment when one is still suffered to sin and to rejoice in the sin, as Augustine explains, book 2 On Genesis against the Manichaeans, chapter 17. Further, the devil eats earth, either because he devours earthly and reprobate men, not the holy and elect, as Augustine teaches, book 2 On Genesis against the Manichaeans, chapter 18; or because he exercises power upon the earthly bodies of the saints, but cannot kill their souls, as Ambrose teaches in the book On Paradise, chapter 15. And this he will do all the days of his life — that is, until the day of judgment; for so long will the devil be suffered to harm, and so long will he think himself to live, as he shall be able to harm. Finally, there shall be perpetual enmity between the devil and the woman, and between the seed of both; and the devil indeed will lie in wait for the heel, but meanwhile will carry back his own head crushed. St. Augustine, in the place noted, teaches that by the seed of the devil are to be understood evil suggestions, by the seed of the woman the fruit of good work. For the devil, by suggesting evils, lies in wait for the heel, that he may make the just man fall; but she crushes the head of the serpent, because she straightway presses down the very beginnings of the suggestions. See other explications in Irenaeus, book 3, chapter 38; Leo, sermon 2 on the Birthday of the Lord; Jerome, in the Hebrew Questions; and others.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
GAPUT XI. De poena primi peccati. Explicuimus tentationem , et peccatum primorum parentum, nunc de poena ejusdem peccati, quam in praesenti tempore patimur, paucis disseremus. Ac poena quidem, quae proprie primo pec¬ cato quasi e regione respondet, jactura fuit originalis justitiae, et supernaturalium dono¬ rum, quibus Deus naturam nostram instruxe¬ rat, ut sanctus Thomas docet in 2. 2. quaest. 164. art. haec enim est poena, quam aequali¬ ter patiuntur quotquot ex Adamo originem ducunt, et in ipso, ac per ipsum initio pecca¬ verunt. Caetera vero mala tam corporis, quam animi, quae nos in hac velle miseria¬ rum premunt, sunt quidem primi peccati poenae, quia ex prima illa poena, hoc est, ex originalis justitiae amissione nascuntur, ta¬ men non ita proprie et immediate, ut illa donorum ablatio. Illa enim est quasi poena a judice taxata* ut S. Thomas loquitur, cae¬ tera mala eam poenam consequuntur, ad eum modum quo sequitur inundatio flumi¬ num, aut maris, aggeribus disruptis, quibus aquarum impetus continebatur, atque ea causa est, cur caeterea mala non aequaliter omnes premant, licet in primo peccato sint omnes homines pares. Sed quamvis haec ita se habeant, tamen Deus in lib. Geneseos cap. 3. cum describit poenas tum viri, tum mulieris, non meminit amissionis justitiae originalis, sed malorum consequentium. Tum quia primam illam, et propriam peccati sui poenam jam sentiebant, et nuditate, erubescentia, ac fuga, inobe- dientiae poenam se luere testabantur : Deus autem non quid jam paterentur, sed quid deinceps passuri essent, indicare eis vole¬ bat. Tum etiam ut ab effectis discerent, quam gravis poena sit illa originalis justitiae carentia, quandoquidem ex illa una tot aliae calamitates secuturae essent. Porro mala illa consequentia primam pri¬ mi peccati poenam, sunt fere innumerabilia, de quibus paulo fusius disseremus in m. lib. de peccato originali. Deus autem in Genesi cap. m. solum attigit ea, quae ad vitam corporalem pertinent, quoniam cum vita sit fundamentum bonorum omnium tempora¬ lium, mala quae ad vitam pertinent, sunt omnium communissima et notissima. Tria vero sunt mala, quae ad vitam corpo¬ ralem ex poena peccati redundarunt. Unum mulieribus proprium, alterum proprium vi¬ ris, tertium utrisque commune. Ingressus hominum in vitam, gravis est mulieribus, quae cum labore gerunt in utero conceptum foetum et cum dolore pariunt : conservatio vitee laboriosa est viris, ad quos praecipue spectat et sibi, et uxori, ac proli victum quae¬ rere. Denique exitus e vita sive moriendi necessitas, tum viris, tum foeminis summam tristitiam affert. Haec tria mala Deus in Genesi describit ; ac primum de primo, quoad vitae ingressum pertinet, sic loquitur : Mulieri quoque dixit , multiplicabo aerumnas tuas , et conceptus tuos , in dolore paries filios et sub viri potestate ens, et ipse dominabitur lui (1). Quid sibi velint haec verba, non est facile explicare, praeser¬ tim cum multiplicatio conceptum ad bene¬ dictionem pertineat, et in paradiso, ac statu innocentiae futura esset, juxta illlud : Crescite et multiplicamini , Genes, i (2i. Non defuerunt gravissimi Patres, qui exi¬ stimaverint propagationem generis humani per opus nuptiarum, ac per hoc, conceptum, et partum, et subjectionem foeminae ad vi¬ rum, non fuisse futura in statu innocentiae. Et idcirco recte inter poenas primi peccati numerari. Ita sensit Gregorius Nissenus in lib. de creatione hominis, cap. 18. Joannes Chrysostomus hom. 18. Genes. Et Joannes Damascenus lib. ii. de fide orthodoxa, cap. 30. et lib. iv. c. 23. Sanctus etiam Hierony¬ mus in lib. contra Jovinianum, huic senten¬ tiae non audet aperte repugnare. Scribit enim incertum esse, an in statu innocentiae propa¬ gatio per nuptias futura fuisset. Sed haec opinio merito refellitur a sancto Thoma in 1. par. quaest. 98. art. 2. et a Theo¬ logis caeteris in 2.sentent. dist. 20. et a S. (I) Gen. III, 6. — (2) Gen. I, 22, 18. CAPUT XI. 823 Augustino lib. xiv. de Civit. Dei cap. 21. et ser. et lib. ix. de Genesi ac literam, et cap. 3. ct sequ. et a ceteris Latinis Patribus, qui post Augustini tempora scripserunt, ut Eu- cherio, Ruperto, et caeteris, et sane Scriptu¬ ra divina noVi obscure testatur, propaga¬ tionem hominum in paradiso per masculi, et fceminae conjunctionem fuisse futuram. Nam in i. cap. Genes, legimus : Masculum et semi- nam creavit eos , et dixit: Crescite et multi [dica¬ mini ^ etc. (i). Ubi videmus ante peccatum ho¬ mines cum sexuum diversitate creatos, idque in eum finem ut crescerent, et multiplica¬ rentur. Quod vero Gregorius Nissenus, et Joannes Damascemus respondet, sexuum diversila- tem ideo institutam, quia praeviderat Deus fore, ut Adam peccaret, et propter peccatum sexuum diversitate ad opus generationis egeret, non recte dicitur. Tum quia per pec¬ catum natura non est mutata, quoad partes, et membra naturalia, sed solum quoad actio¬ nes et officia. Tum, quia non decuit divinam providentiam, ut prius in homine ostenderet vestigia poenae, quam in eo extitisset vesti¬ gium culpa». Rursus, cap. ii. dixit Deus : Non est bonum hominem esse solum, faciamus ei adjutorium si¬ mile sibi (2). Ex quo loco recte colligit Augu¬ stinus, mulierem ideo potissimum institutam, ut in propagatione filiorum virum juvaret. Neque enim aliud est opus, in quo non melius vir a viro, quam a fa:mina juvari possit. Ac praesertim in paradiso, ubi nullus erat labor subeundus, nulla indigentia timebatur, nulla fuit causa cur foemina viro necessaria esset, nisi propter generationem. Accedit, quod in ipsa loco felicitatis ante peccatum commissum dixit Adam : Relinquet homo patrem et matrem , et adhaerebit uxori suae, et erunt duo in carne una (3). Quae verba ad Matrimonium, atque ad maritalem con¬ junctionem pertinere testatur Christus in Evangelio Matth. xix. et Apostolus ad Ephes. v. Denique homo in statu innocentiae, quam¬ vis per donum supernaturale id haberet, ut posset non mori, tamen corpus habuit vere animale, quod ut cibo egebat, ut conservare¬ tur, ita etiam generatione opus habebat, ut propagaretur. Fuisset igitur, si homo non peccasset, san¬ ctum connubium, et thorus immaculatus, absque libidinoso carnis ardore, gestasset mater in utero prolem sine labore, peperisset sine dolore : « Ut enim (inquit Augustinus lib. xiv. de Civit. Dei cap. 26.) ad pariendum non doloris gemitus, sed maturitatis impul¬ sus foeminea viscera relaxaret : sic ad fcetan- dum, et concipiendum non libidinis appeti¬ tus, sed voluntarius usus naturam utramque conjungeret. » Fuisset etiam subjectio uxo¬ ris ad virum, sed charitatis, non conditionis: et spontaneae voluntatis, non violentae coa¬ ctionis, ut idem Augustinus docet lib. xi. de Gen. ad litteram cap. 37. Quare poena peccati, est quod fceminae cura fastidio, et labore conceptum foetum in utero gerant, quod cum dolore pariant, quod viris ita subjiciantur, ut etiam invitse illis parere, eosque non solum diligere, sed etiam timere cogantur. Atque hoc est, quod Evae Deus pramuntiavit, cum ait : Multiplicabo aerumnas tuas, etc. Quod autem dicit Deus : Multiplicabo aerumnas tuas, et conceptus tuos, non ita accipiendum est, quasi multiplicatio conceptuum absolute ad poenam pertineat, sed vel hebraica phrasi dictum est : Multipli¬ cabo aerumnas, et conceptus, pro eo quod est, Multiplicabo aerumnas conceptuum, et ideo fortasse septuaginta interpretres ad rem explicandam, omiserunt vocem conceptus, quae in Hebraeo habetur, et simpliciter posue¬ runt : Multiplicabo tristilias et gemitum tuum. Yel dictum est, multiplicabo conceptus, quia si Adam et Eva non peccassent, soli illi foe¬ tus concepti fuissent, qui ad maturitatem perventuri erant ; nunc autem saepenumero fceminae foetum concipiunt, et cum labore, et tristitia gerunt, qui anteextinguitur, quam lucem videre incipiat. Quae multiplicatio con* ceptuum gravissima sanepoena judicanda est. Quod autem aliqui dicunt multiplicationem conceptuum referri ad tempus, quo foetus gestatur in utero, nunc enim ex poena pec¬ cati novem mensibus foetum gestari, in pa¬ radiso vero conceptum foetum continuo fuisse pariendum, neque probabile est, neque ver¬ bis Scripturae convenit, neque sententiae S. Augustini , qui (ut paulo ante citavimus) scribit maturitatis impulsu, foeminea viscera relaxanda fuisse. Porro quod in describenda poena mulieris dicitur, sub viri potestate eris, vel ut habent Graeca, ad virum tuum conversio tua, duobus modis accipi potest propter ambiguitatem (1) Gen. I, 27. — (2) Gen. II, 18. — (3) Cen. II, 24. 324 LIBER III. vocis Hebraea? quoti tum conversio¬ nem et obedientiam, tum desiderium et con¬ cupiscentiam significare solet. Yel igitur sensus erit, mulierem serviendo etobediendo ad virum convertendam, ut ab ejus ore, et mandatis pendeat : vel certe significabitur, mulierem etiam post laborem gerendi uteri, et dolorem pariendi adhuc virum desidera¬ turam. Siquidem non levis est poena, ab eo se continere non posse, quod tam ingentem laborem, et tristitiam afferat. Jam vero quod attinet ad poenam viris propriam, quae est in parando victu, qui et sibi et uxori, et liberis satis esse possit, ea describitur his verbis : Maledicta terra in opere tuo, in labore comedes ex ea cunctis die¬ bus vitx tuse. Spinas , et tribulos germinabit tibi, et comedes herbas terrx ; in sudore vultus tui vesceris pane tuo. Quibus verbis triplex labor agricolarum describitur. Primus nascitur ex terree sterilitate, de qua dicitur : Maledicta terra in opere tuo, in la¬ bore comedes ex ea. Maledictio enim in Scri¬ pturis sterilitatem significat, ut contra bene¬ dictio fcecunditatem. Itaque multi requiruntur labores, ut quis ex terra sterili comedere, id est fructum ad cibum idoneum colligere possit. Secundus labor nascitur ex spinis, malis¬ que herbis, quae ex terra enim foecundacum bonis frugibus oriuntur. Et quia nisi magno labore spinae, ac tribuli, et herbae noxiae evellantur, bonas herbas habere non pos¬ sumus, ideo dicitur, spinas, et tribulos ger¬ minabit tibi, et comedes herbas terrae, hoc est, herbas quidem habere poteris, sed non absque impedimento spinarum et tribu¬ lorum. Tei'tius labor est in colenda terra quamvis foecunda, et spinis, ac tribulis vacua. Tot enim labores exanthlandi sunt in arando, se¬ rendo, metendo ; vitibus, et arboribus plan¬ tandis, et putandis, aliisque id genus rebus faciendis, ut merito dictum sit : In sudore vultus tui vesceris pane tuo. Quo loco nomine panis omnis cibus intelligitur, secundum mo¬ rem Scripturae familiarem. . Illud hoc loco praetereundum non est, quod nos habemus in editione Latina : Maledicta terra in opere tuo, in Hebraicis codicibus esse, maledicta terra ‘jTijpa (id est) propter te. Ex quo intelligimus, illud, in opere tuo, non significare, in opere terrae colendae, sed in peccato tuo. Ut S. Hieronymus monet in quaestionibus Hebraicis in Genesim. Ubi etiam notat aliquos vertisse, propter te ; ali¬ quos, in transgressione tua. Nisi forte in¬ terpres pro legerit "7T1323. Restat poena communis viris, ac mulieribus quae est necessitas moriendi, quam Deus cum poenis, qua? ad virum magis proprie pertinent, conjungere voluit. Tum, quia peccatum viri proprie causa mortis fuit. Tum quia viro dictum fuerat : Quacumque die co¬ medens ex eo, morte morieris. Tum, quia in viro mulier intelligitur, cum vir sit caput mulieris. Tum denique, ut supra notavimus, quia vir gravius peccavit , quam mulier. Porro haec poena in illis verbis continetur. Pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris. Ex quibus verbis intelligimus, illud, Quacumque die co¬ mederis, morte morieris, nihil aliud signifi¬ care, nisi morti certissimae obnoxius eris. Yide plura de hac re in libro de gratia primi hominis cap. 8. Poenae Adami, atque Evae adjunxit Deus po?nam serpentis, dixit enim Dominus ad serpentem : « Quia fecisti hoc, maledictus es inter omnia animantia, et bestias terne, super pectus tuum gradieris, et terram co¬ medes cunctis diebus vitae tuae. Inimicitias ponam inter te, et mulierem, et semen tuum, et semen illius. Ipsa conteret caput tuum, et tu insidiaberis calcaneo ejus. » Quae verba tum ad serpentem corporalem, ut exponit Chrysostomus homil. 17. in Genes, tum ad ipsum diabolum, ut explicat Augustinus lib. ii de Genes, cap. 36. commode referuntur. Quamvis enim serpens corporalis proprie non peccaverit, quippe qui rationis est ex¬ pers ; tamen puniri debuit, ut iram Dei ad¬ versus peccatum intelligeremus. Magnum est enim irae indicium, cum non solum pec¬ cati auctor punitur, sed instrumenta etiam, quibus peccatum commissum est , conte¬ runtur. Exponamus breviter poenam serpentis, primum ut ad serpentem corporalem, deinde ut ad ipsnm diabolum. pertinet. Dixit igitur Dominus ad serpentem : Quia fecisti hoc, ser¬ pentem Deus alloquitur, non quod ipse ver¬ ba illa intelligere posset, sed propter Ada- mum et Evam , qui praesentes aderant ; quemadmodum etiam Christus aliquando fi¬ culneae maledixit, aliquando imperavit mari, et ventis. Porro non quaesivit Deus a serpente, qua¬ re id fecisset, quemadmodum ab Eva qua?- sivit, neque enim serpens ille corporalis ra¬ tionem aliquam facti sui reddere potuisset, CAPUT III. sed simpliciter ait : Quia fecisti hoc, maledi¬ ctus es inter omnia animantia, et bestias terrae , hoc est, quia instrumentum diaboli ad homi¬ nes seducendos, et perdendos fuisti, abje¬ ctissimum eris animal, et omnibus invisum, et exccrabile : et cum antea non toto corpore reperes, sed solum parte posteriore, anterio¬ re autem rectus incederes ; deinceps super ventrem, et super pectus tuum gradieris : terram quoque perpetuo comedes, cum an¬ tea nequaquam terra, sed herba cibus tuus esset : denique cum in paradiso cum ani¬ mantibus caeteris, et cum ipso homine paci¬ fice viveres , bellum erit posthac inter te, et mulierem, et prolem tuam, ac proles mulieris, quod nullo unquam tempore so¬ pietur. Jam vero si ad ipsum diabolum ha?c verba pertineant, non dixit Dominus diabolo, qua¬ re hoc fecisti, sed , quia hoc fecisti, quia vide¬ licet diabolus ita est obduratus in malo, ut nullo modo emendari queat. Et vero idem ipse maledictus inter omnia animantia, et bestias terrae, quia miser, ac vilis effectus est super omnes, sive angelos, sive homines peccatores. Quemadmodum enim justitia an¬ gelos, atque omnes Deos quodam modo facit, sic e contrario peccatum eosdem bestias facit. Super pectus autem diabolus graditur, tum quia in astucia, et calliditate sua confidit, ut Hieronymus explicat in quaestionibus Hebrai¬ cis; tum, quia permittitur a Deo de super¬ bia, et falsa potestate gaudere, qui antea de veritate, et charitate gaudebat. Non enim parva pcena est, cum aliquis adhuc peccare, et de peccato gaudere sinitur, ut explicat Augustinus lib. ii. de Gen. contra Manichaeos cap. 17. Porro terram diabolus comedit, sive quia terrenos, ac reprobos homines vorat, non sanctos atque electos, ut Augustinus docet lib. ii. de Gen, contra Manichaeos cap. 18. sive quia in terrena sanctorum corpora po¬ testatem exercet, animas autem non potest occidere, ut docet Ambrosius in lib. de para¬ diso c. Io. Id vero facietcunctis diebus vitae sua?, hoc est, usque ad diem judicii ; tamdiu enim dia¬ bolus nocere sinetur, et tamdiu vivere se pu¬ tabit, quamdiu nocere poterit. Denique inimicitia erit pepertua inter dia bolum ctmuliercm, et inter utriusque semen ; et diabolus quidem insidiabitur calcaneo, sed interim tamen caput suum contritum re¬ 32o feret. S. Augustinus loco notato, per semen diaboli suggestiones malas, per semen mu¬ lieris fructum boni operis intelligendumesse docet. Diabolus enim mala suggerendo cal¬ caneo incidiatur, ut hominem justum labi faciat, sed illa caput serpentis conterit, quia ipsa suggestionum initia statim com¬ primit. Vide alias explicationes apud Iremeum lib. m. cap. 38. Leonem serm. 2. de Natali Domini. Hieronymum in qua?stionibus He¬ braicis, et alios.