it said above and there was no man to work the land (Gn 2:5)—it is the same
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20. However, in case it may have said "to work Paradise" in the same way as it said above and there was no man to work the land (Gn 2:5)—it is the same grammatical construction, of course: "to work the land" and "to work Para dise"—let us discuss the ambiguous sentence according to either possible meaning. If, you see, we do not have to take it as meaning "to guard Paradise," but only "in Paradise," then to guard what in Paradise? We have just discussed what we thought working in Paradise could mean; could it be that what he worked on the land he should also guard and keep in himself through discipline; that is, thatjust as the field submits to the man tilling it, in the same way the man himself should submit to his Lord and master commanding him, so that having grasped the commandment he might yield the harvest of obedience, not the thorns of disobedience? Eventually, since he refused to guard in himself by his submission the likeness of Paradise tilled by himself, he was condemned to receive in the field the likeness of himself: Thorns, it says, and thistles shall it bringforthfor you (Gn 3:18).
2 1 . lfon the other hand we are to understand that he should work Paradise and guard Paradise, he could indeed work Paradise, as we said above, by tillage, while he could guard it, not against shameless or hostile men, but possibly against wild beasts. But how or why even to that extent? Were wild beasts, after all, already raging against the man, which would not happen unless he sinned?32 When all the beasts were brought to him, in fact, as will be mentioned later, he himself put names to them; he himself, also on the sixth day, by the law of God's word received food to be shared in common with them all.33 Or if there was already some threat to be feared from wild beasts, by what conceivable stretch of the imagination could one man fortify that paradise against it? lt was not, after all, a little plot of land, which was watered by such a huge spring. Yes indeed, he should have guarded it, had it been possible to secure Paradise with such an enor mous fence, in such a way that the serpent could not enter it; but it would have been astonishing if before he had fenced it, he could have kept all serpents out of it.
22. Accordingly, why should we overlook the meaning that is staring us in the face? The man of course was put in Paradise to work this same paradise, as we argued above, by cultivating it in a way that was not painfully laborious but simply delightful, furnishing the sensible and observant mind with the most important reminders and useful advice, while he was to guard and keep this same paradise for himself, and not allow anything there which would earn him expul
32. Quod nisi peccato nonfieret. Literally, this can only be translated, it seems to me, as "which would not happen except to him having sinned"; in other words, the past participlepeccato is being used as an active participle; quite a liberty to take with Latin grammar—but if one may say so, a genuinely "liberating" liberty! 33. See Gn 2:20; 1:29-30.