52. Civ. Dei 14.1–7 (CCL 48:414–21); trans. Walsh and Monahan, FOTC 14:347–59. (continued)
brought them immense joy since the object of their love was always theirs to enjoy. There was a calm turning away from sin, which, so long as it lasted, kept evil of every other kind from saddening their lives. . . . Now, this happiness of our first parents, undisturbed by any passion and undiminished by any pain, is the measure of the happiness which the entire human race would have enjoyed if Adam and Eve had not been guilty of the evil which they have transmitted to posterity or if no one of their descendants had committed any wickedness worthy of damnation. And this happiness would have continued until, in virtue of God's blessing, "Be fruitful and multiply" (Gn 1:28), the number of elect had been completed; after which, another, even more perfect, happiness was to be given, like that which the blessed angels enjoy, a happiness which would have excluded even the possibility of sin or of death, so that the saints would have lived on earth exempt from all labor, pain, and death, just as will now be their lot to live only after all such things have been suffered and they shall be clothed with incorruptible bodies in the final resurrection. . . .
(26) Now the point about Eden was that a person lived there so long as he or she desired what God commanded. In Eden one lived enjoying God, drawing one's own goodness from God's goodness. One's life was free from want, having within one's powers life eternal. There were food and drink to keep away hunger and thirst, and the tree of life to stave off old age. There was not a sign or a seed of decay in the body that could be a source of any physical pain. No sickness assailed from within, and one feared no harm from the outside. One's body was perfectly healthy, and one's soul completely at peace. And as in Eden itself there was never a day too hot or too cold, so in Adam, who lived there, no fear or desire was ever so passionate as to worry his will. Of sorrows there was none at all, and of joys none that was vain, for a perpetual joy that was genuine flowed from the presence of God, because God was loved with a "charity from a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned" (1 Tm 1:5). Family affection was ensured by purity of love; body and mind worked in perfect accord; and there was an effortless observance of the law of God. Finally, neither leisure nor labor had ever to suffer from boredom or sloth.53
Honorable Marriage in Paradise
Augustine has often been blamed for Western attitudes on sexuality. That blame is largely wrong-headed and misplaced. Moreover, as Robert Markus has insisted, "To understand
53. Civ. Dei 14.10–26 (CCL 48:430–49); trans. Walsh and Monahan, FOTC 14:373–406.