Pars 3, Cap. 5
Breviloquium · Pars III: De corruptela peccati
Capitulum V. De originalis peccati corruptione.
Post lapsum primi parentis dicenda sunt aliqua de traductione peccati originalis. Circa quod primo considerandus est modus corruptionis, secundo modus traductionis, tertio modus curationis3.
Modus autem, quo genus humanum per originale peccatum corrumpitur, hic est. Nam quilibet per concubitum generatus nascitur natura filius irae4, quia privatus rectitudine originalis iustitiae; propter cuius absentiam incurrimus quantum ad animam quadruplicem poenam, scilicet infirmitatem, ignorantiam, malitiam et concupiscentiam; quae quatuor inflicta sunt propter originale peccatum; quas sane poenas spirituales comitatur in corpore multiplex poenalitas, multiplex defectus, multiplex labor, multiplex morbus et multiplex dolor. Ad has poenas subsequitur poena mortis et incinerationis, poena carentiae visionis Dei et amissionis gloriae caelestis, non solum in adultis, verum etiam in parvulis non baptizatis; qui quidem parvuli « poena mitissima5 » inter ceteros puniuntur, quia solam poenam damni habent sine poena sensus.
Ratio autem ad intelligentiam praedictorum haec est: quia, cum primum principium omnia agat a se et secundum se et propter se; necesse est, ipsum esse optimum et rectissimum, ac per hoc piissimum et iustissimum; et inde est, quod universae viae eius misericordia et veritas6 sive iudicium. Si autem Deus a principio hominem in tantis miseriis condidisset, nec pietas esset nec iustitia, quod scilicet tanta opus suum opprimeret miseria, nulla praecedente culpa. Similiter, si tantis miseriis repleret nos vel repleri permitteret sine culpa, nec pie nec iuste gubernaret nos divina providentia. Si igitur certissimum est, primum principium et in producendo et in providendo rectissimum et clementissimum esse; necesse est, quod taliter genus humanum fecerit, ut a principio nulla esset in eo nec culpa nec miseria; necesse est etiam, quod taliter administret, ut non permittat in nobis esse miseriam nisi propter aliquam culpam praeambulam. Quoniam igitur certissimum est, quod a nostra origine multiplicem contrahimus miseriam poenae; certum est, quod omnes nascimur natura filii irae, ac per hoc privati rectitudine originalis iustitiae, quam privationem vocamus culpam originalem7.
Et quia omnis culpa dicit recessum a bono incommutabili et accessum ad bonum commutabile8; et recedere a bono incommutabili est recedere a summa virtute, veritate et bonitate; accedere autem ad bonum commutabile est plus debito tendere in illud per amorem: hinc est, quod perdens originalem iustitiam incurrit infirmitatem, ignorantiam, malitiam et concupiscentiam.
Rursus, quia deserens bonum incommutabile propter bonum commutabile efficitur indignus utroque: hinc est, quod ratione carentiae originalis iustitiae perdit anima9 quietem temporalem in corpore per multiplicem corruptionem et mortem, et tandem separatur a visione lucis aeternae, amittendo felicitatem gloriae tam in anima quam in corpore.
Postremo, quia carentia huius iustitiae in nascentibus non est per motum voluntatis propriae nec per actualem delectationem; hinc est, quod originali peccato non debetur post hanc vitam poena sensus in gehenna, pro eo quod non supra condignum, sed citra punit divina iustitia, quam semper comitatur superabundans misericordia. — Hoc credendum est sensisse beatum Augustinum1, licet verba eius exterius propter detestationem erroris Pelagianorum, qui aliqualem felicitatem eis concedebant, aliud sonare videantur. Ut enim eos reduceret ad medium, abundantius declinavit ad extremum.
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Chapter V. On the corruption of original sin.
After the fall of the first parent, some things are to be said concerning the transmission of original sin. Concerning which, first the manner of its corrupting is to be considered, second the manner of its transmission, third the manner of its cure3.
Now the manner in which the human race is corrupted through original sin is this. For everyone generated through intercourse is born by nature a son of wrath4, because deprived of the rectitude of original justice; on account of the absence of which we incur, as regards the soul, a fourfold punishment, namely weakness, ignorance, malice and concupiscence; which four were inflicted on account of original sin; and these spiritual punishments are accompanied, in the body, by manifold penalty, manifold failing, manifold labor, manifold disease and manifold pain. Upon these punishments there follows the punishment of death and of reduction to ashes, the punishment of the lack of the vision of God and of the loss of heavenly glory, not only in adults, but also in little ones not baptized; who indeed, the little ones, are punished among the rest with « the mildest punishment5 », because they have only the punishment of loss without the punishment of sense.
Now the reason for the understanding of the foresaid is this: since the first principle does all things from itself and according to itself and for the sake of itself, it is necessary that it be best and most upright, and thereby most loving and most just; and hence it is that all his ways are mercy and truth6, that is, judgment. But if God had from the beginning founded man in such great miseries, there would be neither loving-kindness nor justice — namely that so great a misery should oppress his own work, with no guilt preceding. Likewise, if he filled us with such great miseries, or permitted us to be filled, without guilt, the divine providence would govern us neither lovingly nor justly. If, therefore, it is most certain that the first principle is, both in producing and in providing, most upright and most clement; it is necessary that it made the human race in such wise that from the beginning there should be in it neither guilt nor misery; it is necessary also that it so administers that it does not permit misery to be in us except on account of some antecedent guilt. Since, therefore, it is most certain that from our origin we contract manifold misery of punishment; it is certain that we are all born by nature sons of wrath, and thereby deprived of the rectitude of original justice, which privation we call original guilt7.
And because every guilt bespeaks a withdrawing from the unchangeable good and an approaching to the changeable good8; and to withdraw from the unchangeable good is to withdraw from the highest power, truth and goodness; while to approach the changeable good is to tend into it by love more than is due: hence it is that he who loses original justice incurs weakness, ignorance, malice and concupiscence.
Again, because he who deserts the unchangeable good for the sake of the changeable good is made unworthy of both: hence it is that, by reason of the lack of original justice, the soul loses9 its temporal rest in the body through manifold corruption and death, and at last is separated from the vision of the eternal light, losing the happiness of glory both in soul and in body.
Last, because the lack of this justice in those being born is not through a motion of their own will nor through an actual delight; hence it is that to original sin there is not owed, after this life, the punishment of sense in gehenna, for the reason that the divine justice punishes not beyond what is deserved, but short of it, and that justice is always accompanied by a superabounding mercy. — This is to be believed to have been the mind of blessed Augustine1, although his words outwardly, on account of his detestation of the error of the Pelagians, who conceded them some measure of happiness, seem to sound otherwise. For in order to lead them back to the middle, he inclined more abundantly to the extreme.
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- 3De his agitur hic et 2 seqq. capp.These are treated here and in the 2 following chapters.
- 4Eph. 2, 3: Eramus natura filii irae, sicut et ceteri. — Quomodo peccatum originale secundum Anselmum consistat in privatione originalis iustitiae, explicatur II. Sent. d. 30. a. 2. q. 1. — De quadruplici poena secundum Bedam vide ibid. d. 22. dub. 2.Ephesians 2:3: "We were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." — How original sin, according to Anselm, consists in the privation of original justice is explained in II Sent., d. 30, a. 2, q. 1. — On the fourfold punishment according to Bede, see the same place, d. 22, dub. 2.
- 5Ut dicit August., Enchirid. c. 93. n. 23. Cfr. II. Sent. d. 33. a. 3. q. 1. seq.As Augustine says, Enchiridion c. 93, n. 23. Cf. II Sent., d. 33, a. 3, q. 1 f.
- 6Psalm. 24, 10.Psalm 24:10.
- 7Vide II. Sent. d. 30. a. 1. q. 1. seq.See II Sent., d. 30, a. 1, q. 1 f.
- 8Cfr. supra pag. 231, nota 5.Cf. above, p. 231, note 5.
- 9B homo.B [reads] homo.
- 1In libro de Fide ad Petrum (inter opera August., est Fulgentii), c. 3. n. 36. et 27. n. 70, ubi docetur, parvulos sine baptismatis Sacramento decedentes « interminabilia gehennae supplicia sustinere » et « aeterni ignis supplicio sempiterno puniendos ». Cfr. II. Sent. d. 33. a. 3. q. 1. arg. 1. et 2. ad oppos. — August., I. contra Duas Epist. Pelagian. c. 22. n. 40: Novimus, quomodo non secundum Paulum Apostolum, sed secundum Pelagium haereticum ista dicatis, parvulis videlicet baptismum necessarium non propter remissionem peccatorum, sed tantummodo propter regnum caelorum. Datis enim eis extra regnum Dei locum salutis et vitae aeternae, etiam si non fuerint baptizati etc. — Inferius cum edd., excepta 2, et codd., exceptis A S, retinuimus aliqualem pro aliquam. Subinde ex codd. A E S T et 2 substituimus sonare pro sentire (D H sonare vel sentire). Verba Ut enim… extremum desiderantur in multis codd.In the book On the Faith, to Peter (among the works of Augustine, it is Fulgentius's), c. 3, n. 36, and 27, n. 70, where it is taught that little ones departing without the Sacrament of baptism "sustain the interminable torments of gehenna" and "are to be punished with the everlasting torment of eternal fire." Cf. II Sent., d. 33, a. 3, q. 1, arg. 1 and 2 to the contrary. — Augustine, Against Two Letters of the Pelagians I, c. 22, n. 40: "We know how it is not according to Paul the Apostle, but according to Pelagius the heretic, that you say these things — namely that baptism is necessary for little ones not for the remission of sins, but only for the kingdom of heaven. For you grant them, outside the kingdom of God, a place of salvation and of eternal life, even if they have not been baptized," etc. — Below, together with the editions, except 2, and the codices, except A S, we have retained aliqualem for aliquam. Thereupon, from the codices A E S T and 2, we have substituted sonare for sentire (D H: sonare vel sentire). The words Ut enim… extremum are wanting in many codices. ---