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Dist. 18, Dubia

Book II: On the Creation of Things · Distinction 18

Textus Latinus
p. 454

DUBIUM CIRCA LITTERAM MAGISTRI.

Posset tamen aliquis dubitare de hoc quod dicit, quod mulier de costa facta est eo miraculo, quo de quinque panibus etc. Videtur enim dicere, quod formatio mulieris fuerit miraculosa; et gratia huius posset introduci quaestio de miraculis. Sed propter suam prolixitatem, et quia parum pertinet ad propositum, omittenda est ad praesens1. Hoc solum dixisse sufficiat, quod ideo dictum est, mulierem de costa miraculo esse factam, non quia factum sit contra solitum cursum naturae vel contra naturam, sed quia factum est virtute divina operante supra naturam.

Adiungitur quaestio. Si quis autem quaerat, utrum hoc opus supra naturam fecerit, ministrante sibi virtute angelica; respondet Augustinus super Genesim ad litteram libro nono2, ita inquiens: «Quale ministerium exhibuere Angeli in illa mulieris formatione, quis audeat assignare? Certissime tamen dixerim, supplementum illud carnis in costae loco, ipsiusque feminae corpus et animam configurationemque membrorum, omnia viscera, sensus omnes et quidquid erat, quo illa et creatura et homo et femina erat, non nisi illo opere Dei factum, quod Deus non per Angelos, sed per se ipsum operatus est»4. — Rationes 6 pro unitate generis humani. Ratio autem potissima, quare Deus ita formavit, est, tum quia modus ille formandi erat supra potestatem naturae; tum etiam, ut homo in utroque sexu immediate in eum tenderet et ex se toto eum diligeret, a quo se nosset immediate esse factum.

Ratio autem6, quare ex uno homine Deus omnes producere voluerit, licet in aliis generibus animalium hoc non fecerit, sumi potest ex ordine et connexione et significatione. — Ex ordine vero dupliciter: Ratio 1. et 2. primo, ex ordine corporis ad animam, ut, sicut omnes animae rationales immediate procedunt ab uno principio, sic omnia corpora humana immediate exirent ab uno3; secundo vero, ex ordine totius coniuncti ad alias creaturas. Quia enim homo medium tenet inter naturam angelicam et brutalem, cum Angeli singillatim a Deo producti sint, et creaturae brutales in duplici sexu, in masculino scilicet et feminino: homo debuit produci medio modo, et sic femina ex viro5.

Ex connexione similiter duplex sumitur ratio: Ratio 3. et 4. primo, respectu totius speciei universaliter, ut omnis homo diligat omnem hominem tanquam fratrem; secundo vero, respectu uxoris specialiter, propter quod vinculum relinquit homo patrem

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et matrem, et adhaeret uxori, et sunt duo in carne una7.

Ex significatione etiam duplex sumitur ratio: Ratio 5. et 6. primo ex significatione allegorica, qua intelligimus per virum et mulierem Christum et Ecclesiam; secundo, per anagogicam, qua per virum, qui fuit principium omnium hominum, intelligimus Deum, qui fuit principium omnium rerum8.

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English Translation

DOUBT CONCERNING THE TEXT OF THE MASTER.

Someone might however wish to raise a doubt about what he says, namely that the woman was made from the rib by that miracle by which [the multiplication occurred] of the five loaves, and so on. For he seems to say that the formation of the woman was miraculous; and on this occasion the question concerning miracles might be introduced. But because of its prolixity, and because it pertains little to our present purpose, it must be omitted for the present1. Let it suffice to have said only this: that the woman is said to have been made from the rib miraculously not because it was done contrary to the customary course of nature or against nature, but because it was done by divine power operating above nature.

An incidental question is appended. If anyone, however, should ask whether He performed this work above nature with angelic power ministering to Him, Augustine on Genesis according to the letter, book nine2, replies as follows: «What ministry the Angels performed in that formation of the woman, who would dare to assign? Most certainly, however, I would say that the supplementing of that flesh in the place of the rib, and the body of the woman herself and her soul and the configuration of her members, all her viscera, all her senses, and whatever it was by which she was both a creature and a human being and a female — none of this was done save by that work of God which God performed not through Angels but through Himself»4. — Six reasons for the unity of the human race. But the most weighty reason why God formed [the woman] in this way is, first, because that mode of forming was above the power of nature; and second, that man in either sex might directly turn toward Him and love with his whole self Him by whom he knew himself to have been immediately made.

Now the reason6 why God willed to produce all from one man, even though He did not do so in other kinds of animals, can be drawn from order and connection and signification. — From order, indeed, in two ways: Reason 1 and 2. first, from the order of the body to the soul, so that just as all rational souls proceed immediately from one principle, so all human bodies might come forth immediately from one3; secondly, from the order of the whole composite to other creatures. For since man holds a middle place between the angelic nature and the brutal, and since the Angels were produced by God singly, and brute creatures in a twofold sex, namely in male and female: man had to be produced in a middle way, and so the female from the male5.

From connection, likewise, a twofold reason is taken: Reason 3 and 4. first, with respect to the whole species universally, that every man may love every man as a brother; secondly, with respect to his wife specially, on account of which a man leaves his father

and mother, and clings to his wife, and they are two in one flesh7.

From signification, too, a twofold reason is taken: Reason 5 and 6. first, from allegorical signification, by which we understand through the man and the woman Christ and the Church; secondly, by anagogical [signification], by which through the man, who was the principle of all men, we understand God, who was the principle of all things8.

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Apparatus Criticus
  1. Cap. 6. n. 9. seqq. — Codd. et edd. allegant librum X, in quo tamen, c. 1. n. 7. seq., pauca tantum de hac re habentur. — Cfr. infra d. 31. a. 1. q. 1. — Paulo superius aliqui codd. ut aa ee ex nihilo produci pro ex nihilo educi, et dein cod. V educi ex materia pro produci ex materia.
    Chapter 6, no. 9 and following. — The codices and editions cite book X, in which however, c. 1, n. 7 seq., only a little is found on this matter. — Cfr. below, d. 31, a. 1, q. 1. — A little earlier some codices, such as aa ee, read ex nihilo produci for ex nihilo educi, and likewise codex V reads educi ex materia for produci ex materia.
  2. Cfr. August., X. de Gen. ad lit. c. 13. n. 23; Epist. 166. (alias 28.) c. 5. n. 15; Epist. 180. (alias 261.) n. 2.
    Cfr. Augustine, On Genesis according to the Letter X, c. 13, n. 23; Letter 166 (alias 28), c. 5, n. 15; Letter 180 (alias 261), n. 2.
  3. Cfr. supra a. 1, q. 2. ad 3. et d. 7. p. II. a. 2. q. 2. ad 6.
    Cfr. above, a. 1, q. 2, reply to 3, and d. 7, p. II, a. 2, q. 2, reply to 6.
  4. Cap. 15. n. 28. Finem verborum textus originalis sic exhibet: non nisi in illo opere Dei... sed per semetipsum non operatus est et dimisit, sed ita continuanter operatur, ut nec ullarum aliarum rerum, nec ipsorum Angelorum natura subsistat, si non operetur.
    Chapter 15, n. 28. The original text exhibits the end of the words thus: not save by that work of God... but He did not operate through Himself and then leave off; rather He operates continuously, so that neither the nature of any other things, nor that of the Angels themselves, would subsist if He did not operate.
  5. De hac ratione cfr. hic lit. Magistri, c. 1.
    On this reason, see here the text of the Master, c. 1.
  6. Hanc rationem affert August., XII. de Civ. Dei, c. 1. — Duae seqq. rationes insinuantur ibid. c. 27.
    Augustine adduces this reason in On the City of God XII, c. 1. — The two following reasons are intimated in the same place, c. 27.
  7. Gen. 2, 24, ubi Vulgata: Quamobrem relinquet homo patrem suum et matrem et adhaerebit uxori suae, et erunt duo in carne una.
    Genesis 2:24, where the Vulgate reads: For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cling to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh.
  8. Cfr. supra a. 1. q. 1. in corp.; Alex. Hal., S. p. II. q. 79. m. 1. et q. 85. m. 3; B. Albert., hic a. 2. seqq. S. p. II. tr. 13. q. 80. et q. 81; S. Thom., hic q. 1. a. 3. et circa lit.; Petr. a Tar., hic q. 1. a. 4. et circa lit.; Richard. a Med., hic circa lit.; Aegid. R., hic dub. lit. 17. seq. — Vat. omittit qui fuit principium omnium hominum.
    Cfr. above, a. 1, q. 1 in the corpus; Alexander of Hales, Summa p. II, q. 79, m. 1 and q. 85, m. 3; B. Albert, here a. 2 ff., Summa p. II, tr. 13, q. 80 and q. 81; S. Thomas, here q. 1, a. 3 and on the text; Petrus a Tarantasia, here q. 1, a. 4 and on the text; Richard of Mediavilla, here on the text; Aegidius Romanus, here dub. on the text 17 ff. — The Vatican edition omits qui fuit principium omnium hominum. ---
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