q.70. a.3, lists the various opinions, both of the philosophers and the Christian fathers. Some,
214 The Literal Meaning of Genesis
37. And so it is that we have to admit, whenever anything true is said by these people, that it is said under some hidden prompting which human minds can experience while remaining entirely unaware of it. When this happens in order to ensnare people, it is the work of treacherously deceitful spirits, who are permitted to know some true things about temporal matters, being informed partly through the acuteness of their fine-spun senses, because they thrive in more fine-spun bodies; partly through the craftiness gained by experience, thanks to the enormous length of their lives; partly through holy angels revealing to them what they themselves learn from almighty God, and doing so at his command, as he distributes through his genuine but inscrutable justice to human beings whatever they deserve.
Sometimes, however, these same unspeakable spirits predict, as if by means of divination, what they themselves are going to do. For this reason, good Chris tian, you must be on your guard against astrologers and anyone impiously prac ticing divination, especially when they say things that are true, lest your soul should be ensnared by consorting with demons, and thus entangled in their nets by some deed of covenant and association.
Whether the luminaries ofheaven are animated, living beings or not
1 8, 38. The question is also commonly asked whether these visible luminaries are solely and simply bodies, or whether they have their own kind of spirits to direct them; and ifthey do, whether they are also "enspirited" by them into living beings, as fleshly bodies are "ensouled" by the souls, the animae, of "animals," or without any such mixture are just directed on their courses by the presence of them alone. Although nothing can easily be grasped on this point, I am persuaded all the same that in the course of our study of the scriptures more suit able places may occur, where it will be permissible for us at least to form an opinion according to the rules of our sacred authority, even ifwe cannot demon strate anything for certain.44
44. He does not return to this subject in this work, at any rate. Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae, la, q.70. a.3, lists the various opinions, both of the philosophers and the Christian fathers. Some, including Plato and the Platonists, followed among the fathers by Origen and Jerome, held that the heavenly bodies are living beings, animated or "enspirited" by intelligent spirits. Others, above all Aristotle among the philosophers, followed by Basil and John Damascene, held that they are directed or governed by intelligent beings (gods for the philosophers, angels for the Christians), and in this they were followed by Aquinas. He said that Augustine, and here he was almost certainly correct, continued more prudently to sit on the fence; and not only that particular fence, but also the one dividing both these ancient opinions from the more "materialist" one which we all take for granted today, and which had a few advocates even then, that the motions of the heavenly bodies can all be explained by purely physical causes, and do not indicate the presence of any intelligent "mover"—other than that of the creator himself.
Book II 215
For the present, however, we ought always to observe the moderation required of serious devotion to the truth and not commit ourselves rashly to any one opinion on such an obscure subject, in case perchance the truth may later on lay bare some other answer which can in no way be contrary to the sacred books either of the Old Testament or the New, but which we all the same detest out of love for our own error. Now it is time for us to move on to the third book of our work.