insects. 1 was tempted to use the obsolete word "pismires," which means ants; clearly repulsive
330 The Literal Meaning of Genesis
49: 1 3); or again that other text: Do not hand over the soul that acknowledges you to the beasts (Ps 74: 1 9). There are no heretics, after all, who do not read the Cath olic scriptures, and the only thing that makes them heretics is that they do not understand these well, and then obstinately insist on their own false interpreta tions against the true meaning of them. But however it may or may not be with the opinion of the philosophers about the successive states of souls, it is at any rate entirely inconsistent with Catholic faith to believe that there can be a trans migration of the souls of animals into human beings, or of human souls into animals.
Further remarks on the relationship between human and animal souls
10, 14. That human beings certainly become like brute beasts by the kind of lives they lead is something both screamed at us by the newspaper headlines,6 and attested by scripture. That's the sense ofwhat I havejust quoted: Man estab lished in honor did not understand; he was matched with senseless cattle and became like them, but in this life, of course, not after death. It was into the power of such beasts, accordingly, that the person did not want his soul to be surren dered, who said: Do not hand over the soul that acknowledges you to the beasts—the sort the Lord warns us to beware of where he says that they are wearing sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves (Mt 7:15); or else he means the devil and his angels, because he too is called both a lion and a dragon.7
1 5. With what kind of argument, after all, do those philosophers support their case, who think that after death the souls ofhuman beings can be transferred into beasts, or those of beasts into human beings? This one certainly, that similarity of behavior draws them to this; for example misers into termites,8 the greedy and grasping into hawks, fierce and proud people into lions, those bent on unclean pleasure into pigs and other things like that. That is the line they take, and they fail to notice that in no way at all on these grounds can it happen that the soul of an animal is transferred after death into a human being. I mean to say, in no way at all will a pig resemble a human being more closely than another pig; and when lions grow gentle they become more like dogs or even sheep than like men. Since, therefore, animals do not depart from the behavior of animals, and even those which do become a little different from the rest are still much closer in
6. Yes. an anachronism; but 1 think it gets exactly the tone of his phrase ipsae res humanae clamant: "human affairs themselves scream." 7. See Ps 91:13; Lk 10:19; 1 Pt5:8;Rv 12:3, etc. 8. Formicas, which are of coursejust ants. But ants are not, for most of us, really repellent enough insects. 1 was tempted to use the obsolete word "pismires," which means ants; clearly repulsive creatures. But 1 properly restrained myself, and have compromised with "termites"—ants on a larger and less innocuous scale.