Dist. 18
Book II: On the Creation of Things · Distinction 18
# DISTINCTIO XVIII.
Cap. I.
De formatione mulieris.
In eodem quoque paradiso mulierem formavit Deus de substantia viri, sicut post plantatum paradisum hominemque in eo positum, et post universa animalia ad eum ducta suisque nominibus designata subnectit Scriptura1: Immisit Deus soporem in Adam. Cumque obdormisset, tulit unam de costis eius et formavit eam in mulierem.
Hic attendendum est, quare non creavit simul Augustinus. virum et mulierem, sicut Angelos, sed prius virum, deinde mulierem de viro. « Ideo scilicet, ut unum esset generis humani principium, quatenus in hoc et superbia diaboli confunderetur, et hominis humilitas Dei similitudine sublimaretur. Diabolus quippe aliud a Deo principium esse concupierat, ideoque, ut eius superbia retunderetur, hoc homo in munere accepit, quod diabolus perverse rapere voluit, sed obtinere non potuit. Et per hoc imago Dei in homine apparuit, quia, sicut Deus omnibus rebus existit principium creationis, ita homo omnibus hominibus principium generationis. Ideo etiam ex uno homine omnes esse voluit Deus, ut, dum cognoscerent, se ab uno esse omnes, se quasi unum amarent2 ».
Cap. II.
Quare de latere viri, et non de alia parte corporis formata sit.
Cum autem his de causis « facta sit mulier de Augustinus. viro, non de qualibet parte corporis viri, sed de latere eius formata est, ut ostenderetur, quia in consortium creabatur dilectionis, ne forte, si fuisset de capite3 facta, viro ad dominationem videretur praeferenda, aut si de pedibus, ad servitutem subiicienda. Quia igitur viro nec domina nec ancilla parabatur, sed socia, nec de capite nec de pedibus, sed de latere fuerat producenda, ut iuxta se ponendam cognosceret, quam de suo latere sumtam didicisset ».
Et per hoc patet responsio ad obiecta, excepto primo, quia non est simile. Prohibere enim malum bonum est, quia non potest aliquis malum perpetrare sine culpa; sed prohibere bonum non est ita malum, quia abstinere potest homo absque culpa; abstinere enim a bono commodi cadit in genere boni honesti. Alia satis patent per iam dicta.
Cap. III.
Quare dormienti viro, et non vigilanti, subtracta sit costa.
Non sine causa « dormienti quoque viro potius Hugo. quam vigilanti detracta est costa, de qua mulier in adiutorium generationis viro est formata, sed ut nullam in eo sensisse poenam monstraretur, et divinae simul potentiae opus mirabile ostenderetur, quae hominis dormientis latus aperuit nec eum tamen a quiete soporis excitavit4 ». « In quo etiam opere Sacramentum Christi et Ecclesiae figuratum est5; quia sicut mulier de latere viri dormientis formata est, ita Ecclesia ex Sacramentis, quae de latere Christi in Cruce dormientis profluxerunt, scilicet sanguine et aqua, quibus redimimur a poenis atque abluimur a culpis ».
Cap. IV.
Quod de costa, in se multiplicata sine additamento extrinsecae rei, facta fuerit.
Solet etiam quaeri, utrum de « illa costa sine adiectione rei extrinsecae facta sit mulier. — Quod quibusdam non placuit. Ceterum si ad perficiendum corpus mulieris Deus extrinsecum augmentum addidisset, maius illud esset quam ipsa costa. Ideoque potius de illo addito quam de ipsa costa mulier facta deberet dici, de quo plures accepisset substantiae partes. Restat igitur, ut de sola ipsius costae substantia, sine omni extrinseco additamento per divinam potentiam in semetipsa multiplicata, mulieris corpus factum dicatur, eo sane miraculo, quo postea de quinque pa- Dubium unicum. nibus, Iesu caelesti benedictione multiplicatis, quinque millia hominum satiata sunt6 ».
Illud etiam sciri oportet, quod cum Angelorum ministerio facta sit mulieris formatio, non est eis tamen tribuenda creationis potentia. « Angeli enim nul- Augustinus. lam possunt creare naturam, ergo nec formare costam
in mulierem nec carnis supplementum in loco costae; non quod nihil agant, ut aliquid creetur, sed non ideo creatores sunt, sicut nec agricolae segetum vel arborum. Solum Deus, id est Trinitas, est Creator7 ». Facta est ergo femina a Deo, etiamsi costa ministrata sit per Angelos.
Cap. V.
De causis superioribus et inferioribus.
Sed quaeritur, an ratio, quam Deus primis operibus concreavit, id haberet, ut secundum ipsam ex viri latere feminam fieri necesse foret; an hoc tantum, Hugo. ut fieri posset. — « Ad quod sciendum est, omnium rerum causas in Deo ab aeterno esse. Ut enim homo sic fieret, vel equus et huiusmodi, in Dei potentia et dispositione ab aeterno fuit. Hae dicuntur primordiales causae, quia istas aliae non praecedunt, sed istae alias, quae sunt causae causarum. Cumque unum sit divina potentia, dispositio sive voluntas, et ideo una omnium principalis causa, tamen propter effectus diversos pluraliter dicit Augustinus8, causas primordiales omnium rerum in Deo esse, inducens similitudinem artificis, in cuius dispositione est, qualis futura sit arca. Ita et in Deo uniuscuiusque rei futurae causa praecessit. In creaturis vero quarundam rerum, sed non omnium, causae sunt, ut ait Augustinus, quia inse- Rationes seminales. ruit Deus seminales rationes rebus, secundum quas alia ex aliis proveniunt, ut de hoc semine tale granum, de hac arbore talis fructus, et huiusmodi. Et hae quoque dicuntur primordiales causae, etsi non adeo proprie, quia habent ante se causam aeternam, quae proprie et universaliter prima est. Illae vero ad res aliquas dicuntur primae, quae scilicet ex eis proveniunt. Ideo etiam primordiales dicuntur, quia in prima rerum conditione rebus a Deo insitae sunt. Et sicut creaturae mutabiles sunt, ita et hae causae mutari possunt9 »; quae autem in immutabili Deo causa est, mutari non potest.
Cap. VI.
De causis, quae in Deo simul sunt et in creaturis, et de his, quae in Deo tantum sunt.
Omnium igitur rerum causae in Deo sunt; sed quarundam causae et in Deo sunt et in creaturis, quarundam vero causae in Deo tantum sunt; et illarum rerum causae dicuntur absconditae in Deo, quia ita est in divina dispositione, ut hoc vel illud fiat, quod non est in seminali creaturae ratione. Et illa quidem, quae secundum causam seminalem fiunt, dicuntur na- Notandum. turaliter fieri, quia ita cursus naturae hominibus innotuit, alia vero praeter naturam, quorum causae tantum sunt in Deo. Haec autem dicit Augustinus10 esse illa quae per gratiam fiunt, vel ad ea significanda non naturaliter, sed mirabiliter fiunt. Inter quae mulieris facturam de costa viri ponit, ita dicens: Ut mulierem ita fieri necesse foret, non in rebus conditum, sed in Deo absconditum erat, Omnis naturae11 cursus habet naturales leges. Super hunc naturalem cursum Creator habet apud se posse de omnibus facere aliud, quam eorum naturalis ratio habet, ut virga scilicet arida repente floreat et fructum gignat, et in iuventute sterilis femina in senectute pariat, ut asina loquatur, et huiusmodi. Dedit autem naturis, ut ex his etiam haec fieri possent, non ut in naturali motu haberent. Habet ergo Deus in se absconditas quorundam futurorum12 causas, quas rebus conditis non inseruit, easque implet non opere providentiae, quo naturae subsistunt ut sint, sed quo illas administrat ut voluerit, quas ut voluit condidit. Omnium ergo quae ad gratiam significandam, non naturali motu rerum, sed mirabiliter facta sunt, absconditae causae in Deo fuerunt, quorum unum erat, quod mulier facta est de latere viri dormientis. Non habuit prima rerum conditio, ut femina sic fieret, sed ut fieri posset, ne contra causas, quas Deus voluntarie instituit, mutabili voluntate aliquid facere putaretur.
Cap. VII.
De anima mulieris, quae non est ex anima viri, quia animae non sunt ex traduce.
« Quemadmodum mulieris corpus de viri corpore Tres opiniones. traductum fuit, ita putaverunt aliqui, ipsius animam de viri anima propagatam, et omnes animas praeter primam de traduce esse, sicut corpora13 ». Alii autem putaverunt, simul omnes animas ab initio creatas. Catholica autem Ecclesia nec simul nec ex traduce factas esse animas docet, sed in corporibus per coitum seminatis atque formatis infundi et infundendo creari. Unde in Ecclesiasticis Dogmatibus14: « Animas hominum non esse ab initio inter creaturas intellectuales natas nec simul creatas, sicut Origenes fingit, dicimus; neque cum corporibus15 per coitum seminari, sicut Luciferiani et Cyrillus et quidam Latinorum praesumtores affirmant. Sed dicimus, corpus tantum per coniugii copulam seminari, creationem vero animae solum Creatorem nosse, eiusque iudicio corpus coagulari in vulva, et compingi atque formari, ac formato iam corpore, animam creari et infundi, ut vivat in utero
homo, ex anima constans et corpore, et egrediatur vivus ex utero, plenus16 humana substantia ». Hieronymus17 etiam anathematis vinculo illos condemnat, qui animas ex traduce dicunt, inducens auctoritatem Prophetae: Qui finxit singillatim corda eorum. Hoc satis, inquit, innuit Propheta, quod non animam de anima facit Deus, sed singillatim animas de nihilo creat.
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# DISTINCTION XVIII.
Chapter I.
On the formation of woman.
In this same paradise, too, God formed woman from the substance of man, just as Scripture appends, after paradise had been planted and the man placed in it, and after all the animals had been led to him and designated by their names1: God sent a deep sleep upon Adam. And when he had fallen asleep, he took one of his ribs and formed it into a woman.
Here it must be noted why he did not create man and woman together, as he did the angels, but first the man, and then the woman from the man. Augustine. « Namely, in order that there might be one principle of the human race, so that in this both the pride of the devil might be confounded and the humility of man might be exalted by the likeness of God. For the devil had desired to be a principle other than God; therefore, that his pride might be beaten back, man received this as a gift, which the devil perversely wished to seize but could not obtain. And through this the image of God appeared in man, since, just as God exists as the principle of creation for all things, so man is the principle of generation for all human beings. For this reason also God willed that all should come from one man, so that, while they recognized that they all come from one, they might love one another as if one2 ».
Chapter II.
Why she was formed from the side of the man, and not from another part of the body.
But since for these reasons « woman was made Augustine. from the man — formed not from just any part of the man's body, but from his side, in order to show that she was created for the partnership of love; lest, if she had been made from the head3, she might seem to be set over the man for dominion, or, if from the feet, to be subjected to him in servitude. Therefore, since she was prepared for the man neither as mistress nor as handmaid, but as companion, she had to be produced neither from the head nor from the feet but from the side, so that she might know that she was to be placed beside him whom she had learned was taken from his own side ».
And by this the reply to the objections is clear, except for the first, because it is not a parallel case. For to forbid evil is good, since no one can perpetrate evil without sin; but to forbid the good is not so much an evil, since a man can abstain from it without sin; for to abstain from a beneficial good falls within the genus of honourable good. The rest are sufficiently clear from what has been said.
Chapter III.
Why the rib was taken from the man while he was sleeping, and not while he was awake.
Not without cause was « the rib also taken from Hugo. the man rather while he was sleeping than while he was awake — the rib from which woman was formed for the man as a help for generation — but in order to show that he felt no pain in it, and at the same time that the marvellous work of the divine power might be displayed, which opened the side of the sleeping man and yet did not wake him from the rest of his slumber4 ». « In which work also the sacrament of Christ and the Church was prefigured5; for just as woman was formed from the side of the sleeping man, so the Church is formed from the sacraments which flowed from the side of Christ sleeping on the Cross, namely blood and water, by which we are redeemed from punishments and washed from guilt ».
Chapter IV.
That she was made from the rib multiplied in itself, without the addition of any extrinsic thing.
It is also customarily asked whether « the woman was made from that rib without the addition of any extrinsic thing. — Which some have not approved. But if, for the perfecting of the woman's body, God had added an extrinsic increase, that addition would have been greater than the rib itself. Hence the woman would have to be said to have been made rather from that added thing than from the rib itself, since from it she would have received the greater portion of her substance. It remains, therefore, that one should say that the woman's body was made from the substance of the rib alone, without any extrinsic addition, by divine power multiplied in itself — by that very same miracle by which afterwards, when the five loaves were multiplied by Jesus's heavenly Sole dubium. blessing, five thousand men were filled6 ».
This too ought to be known: that, although the formation of woman was carried out through the ministry of angels, the power of creation is not to be attributed to them. Augustine. « For angels can create no nature, and therefore neither can they form a rib
into a woman, nor any supplement of flesh in the place of the rib; not that they do nothing toward bringing something into being, but they are not creators on that account — any more than farmers are creators of crops or trees. God alone, that is, the Trinity, is Creator7 ». Woman, therefore, was made by God, even if the rib was supplied through the ministry of angels.
Chapter V.
On the higher and lower causes.
But it is asked whether the ratio which God concreated in his first works contained this, that according to it woman had necessarily to be made from the side of the man, or only this, Hugo. that she could be so made. — « To which it must be known that the causes of all things are in God from eternity. For that man should be made thus, or horse and the like, was from eternity in the power and disposition of God. These are called primordial causes, because no others precede them, but they precede the others, which are causes of causes. And although the divine power, disposition or will is one — and therefore one principal cause of all things — yet on account of the diverse effects Augustine8 speaks in the plural of primordial causes of all things in God, drawing the likeness of the craftsman, in whose disposition it lies what shape the ark is to have. So too in God the cause of each future thing precedes. But in creatures there are causes of some things, though not of all, as Augustine says, because God seminal causes. implanted seminal reasons in things, according to which some things come from others — that from this seed comes such a grain, that from this tree comes such a fruit, and the like. And these too are called primordial causes, though not so properly, since they have before them an eternal cause, which is properly and universally first. They, however, are called primary in relation to certain things, namely the things which proceed from them. They are also called primordial because they were implanted by God in the first establishment of things. And just as creatures are mutable, so these causes too can be changed9 »; but that which is a cause in the immutable God cannot be changed.
Chapter VI.
On the causes which are at once in God and in creatures, and on those which are in God alone.
The causes of all things, therefore, are in God; but of some the causes are both in God and in creatures, while of others the causes are in God alone; and the causes of these things are called hidden in God, because it is so in the divine disposition that this or that should come to be, even though it is not in the seminal reason of the creature. And those things which come about according to a seminal cause are said Note. to come about naturally, because in this way the course of nature has become known to men; but others come about beyond nature, whose causes are in God alone. These, however, Augustine10 says, are the things that come about by grace, or which, for the sake of signifying these, come to pass not naturally but miraculously. Among these he places the making of the woman from the man's rib, saying as follows: That the woman should be made thus was, of necessity, not founded in things but hidden in God. Every nature's11 course has its natural laws. Above this natural course, the Creator has it in his power to do otherwise concerning all things than their natural reason holds — as that a dry rod should suddenly bloom and bear fruit, that a barren woman in her youth should bear in her old age, that an ass should speak, and the like. He has indeed given to natures the capacity that these things can come about from them, but not that they should have it in their natural course. God therefore has within himself the hidden causes of certain future things12, which he has not implanted in created things; and he fulfils them not by the work of providence whereby natures subsist that they may be, but by that whereby he administers them as he wills — those things which he established as he willed. Of all things, therefore, which were done for the signifying of grace, not by the natural motion of things, but miraculously, the hidden causes were in God — one of which was that woman was made from the side of the sleeping man. The first establishment of things did not have it that woman should be so made, but only that she could be made, lest he should be thought to do something against the causes which God voluntarily instituted, by a mutable will.
Chapter VII.
On the soul of the woman — that it is not from the soul of the man, since souls are not by traduction.
« Just as the body of the woman was drawn from Three opinions. the body of the man, so some have thought that her soul also was propagated from the soul of the man, and that all souls except the first are by traduction, as bodies are13 ». Others, however, have thought that all souls were together created from the beginning. But the Catholic Church teaches that souls are made neither together nor by traduction, but are infused into bodies seminated and formed by intercourse, and by their being infused are created. Hence in the Ecclesiastical Dogmas14: « We say that the souls of men were not born from the beginning among the intellectual creatures, nor created all together, as Origen feigns; nor that they are seminated with bodies15 through intercourse, as the Luciferians and Cyrillus and certain Latin presumers affirm. But we say that the body alone is seminated through marital union, that the creation of the soul the Creator alone knows, and that by his judgment the body is coagulated in the womb, and is composed and formed, and that, once the body is formed, the soul is created and infused, so that there should live in the womb
a man composed of soul and body, and that he should issue alive from the womb, full16 of human substance ». Jerome17 also condemns with the bond of anathema those who say souls are by traduction, citing the authority of the Prophet: Who fashioned their hearts one by one. This, he says, sufficiently intimates that God does not make a soul from a soul, but creates souls one by one out of nothing.
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- Gen. 2, 21. 22. Paulo ante pro substantia viri omnes codd. costa viri. — Haec distinctio magna ex parte deprompta est ex Hugone, I. de Sacram. p. VI. c. 34. 35. 36, et Sum. Sent. tr. 3. c. 3. Cod. Erf. hic citat Gandolph. Sent. II. c. 157. 158.Gen. 2:21–22. Just before, in place of the substance of the man, all the codices read the rib of the man. — This distinction is largely drawn from Hugh, De Sacramentis, part VI, chs. 34, 35, 36, and Summa Sententiarum, tract 3, ch. 3. The Erfurt codex here cites Gandolph, Sentences, II, chs. 157, 158.
- August., XII. de Civ. Dei, c. 27.Augustine, On the City of God, book XII, ch. 27.
- Edd. 1, 5, 8 adiungunt viri.Editions 1, 5, 8 add of the man.
- August., loc. cit. et IX. de Gen. ad lit. c. 13 n. 23, nec non de Bono coniugali c. 1, sententialiter.Augustine, the place cited, and On Genesis according to the Letter, book IX, ch. 13, n. 23; also On the Good of Marriage, ch. 1, substantially.
- Hugo, I. de Sacram. p. VI. c. 36; seq. loc. est Hugonis, Sum. Sent. tr. 3. c. 3. — Paulo superius pro sed ut nullam etc. Vat. cum edd. 4, 6, 8 tantum scilicet ut nullam etc.Hugh, De Sacramentis, part VI, ch. 36; the following passage is from Hugh, Summa Sententiarum, tract 3, ch. 3. — A little earlier, in place of sed ut nullam etc., the Vatican edition with editions 4, 6, 8 reads only scilicet ut nullam etc.
- Haec verba respiciunt Ephes. 5, 32; et quae sequuntur Ioan. 19, 34.These words refer to Ephesians 5:32; and what follows, to John 19:34.
- Hugo, Sum. Sent. ibid. In hoc textu verbum addito post potius de illo a codd. abest.Hugh, Summa Sententiarum, ibid. In this text the word addito after potius de illo is absent from the codices.
- August., IX. de Gen. ad lit. c. 15. n. 26, et c. 16. n. 30.Augustine, On Genesis according to the Letter, book IX, ch. 15, n. 26, and ch. 16, n. 30.
- Cfr. IX. de Gen. ad lit. c. 16. et 17. n. 32. Cfr. etiam 83 Qq. q. 46, et quoad praecedentia cfr. de Gen. loc. cit. c. 18. n. 33.Compare On Genesis according to the Letter, book IX, ch. 16 and 17, n. 32. Compare also On 83 Questions, q. 46; and as to what precedes, compare On Genesis at the place cited, ch. 18, n. 33.
- Haec omnia et quae sequuntur sunt ex Hugone, Sum. Sent. tr. 3. c. 3, qui ea ex multis locis Augustini compilavit.All of this, and what follows, is from Hugh, Summa Sententiarum, tract 3, ch. 3, who compiled it from many places in Augustine.
- Quae praecedunt sumsit Hugo loc. cit. ex August., IX. de Gen. ad lit. c. 17. n. 32, et quae sequuntur ex eod. ibid. c. 18. n. 33.What precedes Hugh took, at the place cited, from Augustine, On Genesis according to the Letter, book IX, ch. 17, n. 32; and what follows, from the same, ibid., ch. 18, n. 33.
- Vat. cum nonnullis aliis edd. creaturae.The Vatican edition, with several other editions, reads creaturae (of the creature).
- Edd. 1, 8 factorum. Cod. Erf. hic adnotat: alias factorum; in originali factorum, et sumitur haec littera futurorum a VI. libro, c. 8. [n. 13.], ubi eadem est sententia. — Revera legitur ibi: Sed rebus factis rerum faciendarum causas inserebat, et omnipotenti potentia futura faciebat etc. — Paulo inferius ad verbum subsistunt idem cod. Erf. adnotat: In originali: quo natura substituit, ut sint, et est melior littera.Editions 1, 8 read factorum (of things done). The Erfurt codex notes here: elsewhere factorum; in the original factorum, and this reading futurorum (of things future) is taken from book VI, ch. 8 [n. 13], where the same sentence occurs. — In fact one reads there: But to things made he was inserting the causes of things to be made, and by omnipotent power was making future things, etc. — A little below, at the word subsistunt, the same Erfurt codex notes: In the original: quo natura substituit, ut sint — and this is the better reading.
- August., X. de Gen. ad lit. c. 1. n. 1., et Hugo ibid.Augustine, On Genesis according to the Letter, book X, ch. 1, n. 1; and Hugh in the same place.
- Gennadius, c. 14. Paulo inferius pro cum corporibus Vat. et edd. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 in corporibus.Gennadius, ch. 14. A little below, in place of cum corporibus (with bodies), the Vatican edition and editions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 read in corporibus (in bodies).
- Post plenus edd. 1, 8 inserunt et anima et corpore.After plenus, editions 1, 8 insert et anima et corpore (both in soul and in body).
- Ita in Glossa ad Ps. 32, 15. quae sumta est ex Hieronymi libro contra Ioan. Ierosolymitanum (Oper. Hier. t. II. col. 496.).Thus in the Gloss on Psalm 32:15, which is taken from Jerome's book against John of Jerusalem (Works of Jerome, vol. II, col. 496).