14. 1bid., V111, 4, 8.
1 58 The Literal Meaning of Genesis ment ofwhat actually happened."12 At the very beginning of the commentary he distinguishes various genres and contents of the biblical books: "ln all the holy books . . . one ought to note what eternal realities are there suggested, what deeds are recounted, what future events foretold, what actions commanded or advised. So then, in accounts of things done what one asks is whether they are all to be taken as only having a figurative meaning, or whether they are also to be asserted and defended as a faithful account ofwhat actually happened."13 In the second of these two sentences, Augustine singles out the term "deeds" from the list of four, because Genesis is one of the biblical books that report deeds. Yet distinctions have to be made among such reports.
Yet, in addition to the literal sense they may also have a figurative meaning. Paul had already said of the history of lsrael: "All these things, however, happened among them in figure" ( 1 Cor 10: 1 1 ). But it is equally possible that an event reported in the Bible may have an exclusively figurative meaning: "Here the whole story is figurative, not a story of things actually done with a figurative significance."14 Augustine is here referring to the parables of the gospel, to stories that have a figurative meaning but do not report any real occurrences.
But the first three chapters of the book of Genesis raise a question: "Whether they are all to be taken as only having a figurative meaning, or whether they are also to be asserted and defended as a faithful account of what actually happened."15 Augustine mentions Christian commentators on Genesis who regard Paradise as purely a symbol ofa spiritual reality and "suggest that history, that is, the account of events that actually happened, begins from the moment when Adam and Eve, turned out of Paradise, came together and had children."16 In fact, contrary to his original intention, his early On Genesis against the Manichees had drifted in that direction. For example, the spring rising up in paradise symbolized the spread of the truth that filled the soul before the fall; the trees of paradise were symbols of spiritual joys; the East was a symbol of the light of truth."
ln The Literal Meaning of Genesis, however, Augustine's position was unambiguous: "The narrative ... in these books is not cast in the figurative kind of language you find in the Song of Songs, but quite simply tells of things that happened, as in the books of the Kingdoms and others like them."18 He admitted, indeed, that many details of the paradise story (for example, the tree of life and the making of the woman) were prophetic announcements of things future, but
12. Revisions 11, 24, 1 (CCL 57, 109) 13. The Literal Meaning of Genesis 1, 1, 1. 14. 1bid., V111, 4, 8. 15. 1bid.. 1, 1,1. 16. 1bid., V111, 1,2. 17. See On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees 11, 6, 7; 11, 9, 12. 18. The Literal Meaning ofGenesis V111, 1, 2.