The Literal Meaning of Genesis (continued)
294 NOTES
80See Cant. 4.12-13. 81Cf, Prov. 26.11 and 2 Peter 2.22.
82) Peter: 2.21; 83Cf, Matt. 12.43-45. The expression he dwells there is based on the reading inhabitare, found in P, R, Bod, Pal, and m; intrare is found in E, S, Eug, and z.
84Fzek. 28.13-15. Aug. is quoting according to the OL, which is based on the LXX: A die qua creatus es tu cum cherub, et posuit te in monte sancto Dei, fuisti in medio lapidum flammeorum; ambulasti sine vitio tu in diebus tuis ex quo die creatus es tu, donec inventa sunt delicta tua 1n te.
85Cf. Augustine's observation in De Gen. c. Man. 2.23.35 (ML 34.214): "According to those who have explained the Hebrew words in Scripture, cherubim is rendered scientiae plenitudo (the fullness of knowledge) in Latin." nd ot ME 87With some hesitation Aug. here favors the first alternative, which he has already explained in chs. 16 and 23 above. The second alternative has been discussed in chs. 17 and 19, and the problem raised in the fourth alternative was brought up in ch.
17. In De civ. Dei 11.11-15 he considers the same alternatives and leaves the matter undecided. Towards the end of his life, A.D. 426-27, in De correp. et gratia 10.27 (ML 44.932-33), Aug. seems to have favored the third alternative, namely, that the Devil and his angels before their fall enjoyed (along with the good angels) a certain measure of happiness, but not complete beatitude since they did not know whether their happiness would be without end. When the rebel angels fell and the good angels chose to remain faithful, God revealed to the latter that they would never fall and that therefore their happiness would be unending. See Gérard Philips, La raison détre du mal d'aprés saint Augustin (Museum Lessianum, section théologique 17, Louvain 1927) 202-4.
88Cf, 2 Peter 2.4. In De civ. Dei 15.23 Aug. quotes this text in the following form: For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but casting them down, handed them over to the dark prison of the lower world to be kept for punishment at the judgment. .. . See also De ctv. Dei 11.33 and 21.23. It should be noted that in De ctv. Det Aug. follows St. Peter more closely in picturing the fallen angels un-
BOOK ELEVEN
der the earth, whereas here he pictures them in the atmosphere surrounding the earth.
chs. 6-11 and 22 supra. 9°John 13.2.
accept the reading inducta, found in E2, P, R, S, Bod, Pal, Eug, and m. /nduta, found in E!, is accepted by z and Agaésse Solignac.
92See 11.12.16 supra. °3The Marsi, an ancient Italic people, lived in the mountains east of Rome. Their magicians were celebrated for snake-bite cures and were credited with a remarkable ability to charm snakes. Aug. may have had in mind the observation of Pliny the Elder, Nat. bist. 28.4.19 (LCL, p. 15, tr. Jones): "Many believe that by charms pottery can be crushed, and not a few even serpents; that these themselves can break the spell, this being the only kind of intelligence they possess; and by the charms of the Marsi they are gathered together even when asleep at night." See E. T. Salmon, OCD (2nd ed. 1970) s.v. ""Marsi," 651-52; and Philipp, Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll 14.2 (1930) s.v. "Marsi," 1977-79.
agnoscendam, according to E, B, Bod, Pal, and z. Eug has agnoscendum. P, R, S, and m read cognoscendam.
25Quo in E, R, Eug, Bod, and z. P, S, Pal, and m read quod. rewenns1. °7The theory of transmigration, which appears from time to time in Greek and Roman writers, is traced back to the teaching of Pythagoras: see John Burnet, Greek Philosophy: Thales to Plato (London 1914, rpt. 1943) 43. Aug. has already discussed and rejected the theory (7.9.13-7.11.17 supra). With regard to the position of Plato and the Neoplatonists in this matter, see n. 16 to Book 7 supra.
98Num. 22.28. 99Exod. 7.8-13. 100Rom. 11.33. The text of m omits et scientiae (and knowledge) inadvertently, it seems. These two words are in the passage in Romans, and they are in all of the MSS of z as well as in Bod and Pal, which I have consulted. Furthermore, Aug. himself quotes the text elsewhere with these words in it: see Enarr. in Ps. 7.1,35-36 (CCL 38.36; ML 36.98).
296 NOTES
101Gen,3:1-5.
102.18. 103Gen. 3.45. 104Gen. 3.6-7. 105When Adam and Eve disobeyed God's command, "their bodies contracted, as it were, the deadly disease of death" (9.10.17 supra); and desires according to the flesh became inevitable in this body of death (10.12.21 supra). Cf. St. Paul, Rom. 5.12 and 7.23-24.
106Rom. 7.23. The distinction between natural body (such as we have in this life) and spiritual body (such as we shall have at the resurrection) is based on 1 Cor. 15.44. Aug. has already explained that Adam had a natural body (6.19.30) which, if he had not sinned, would have been transformed sine ulla morte ... in aliam qualitatem (9.3.6 supra; and cf. 9.10.17).
107Cf. Ambrose, De paradiso 13.63 (CSEL 32.323,6-7; ML 14.307B): "For how did Adam have his bodily eyes closed when he saw all the animals and gave each its name?" rg Cs ge YE 109Gen, 3.6.
TIM sen. 3.7: 111Luke 24.31. 112The symbolism of the tree of life has been explained at greater length in 8.4.8 and 8.5.10 supra.
1131n Aug. sacramentum is a sign that relates to divine things. See n. 20 on 8.4.8 supra.
1i4Ps, 29:8. 115]renaeus, Adv. haereses 3.23.5 (SC 211.456-60 Rousseau-Doutreleau; MG 7.963), attributes Adam's action not merely to a feeling that he must cover parts associated with concupiscence, but to fear and confusion for having disobeyed and to a feeling that he was unworthy to appear in the sight of God.
116Gen. 3.8. \1\7Spiritus here, as in 12.9.20 infra, has a special meaning, namely, "... a certain power of the soul inferior to the mind, wherein likenesses of corporeal objects are produced."
WSCsen 23.6: 119Gen. 3.9. :
20Aug. does not here develop the "mystical meanings" he sees in the difference between man and woman, but in De Gen. c. Man. 2.11.15 (ML 34.204) he says that woman typifies the sensitive or appetitive part of the soul, and man typifies the reason which rules the sensitive or appetitive part. Hence he sees in man and woman a symbol of the marriage between contemplation and action in the mind of each individual human being: see De Trin. 12.12.17 (CCL 50.371-73; ML 42.1007-8). Cf. Ambrose, De par. 15.73 (CSEL 32.331,8-9 Schenkl; ML 14.311): "Woman is a symbol of the senses, man a symbol of the mind."
(sen. 3:10. 122Cf. Rom. 7.23. 123Rom. 1.21-22. sen. 1 8.1. aae( sen. 3-13. tPtsen.'3.12: teil sen. 3:13: 2ePs 40:5. 129Cf. Ps. 128.4. 130Gen. 3.14-15.
131] follow the text of P, R, Pal, and m, which reads verba sola. Sola is omitted in E, S, Bod, and z.
132See 11.1.2 supra. 133See De Gen. c. Man. 2.17.26-2.18.28 (ML 34.209-10), where Aug. suggests that the breast and the belly of the serpent signify respectively pride and carnal desire; that earth signifies either sinners or the vice of curiosity; that the enmity is between the serpent and the woman (rather than the man) because woman is a type of the sensate part of human nature; and that the seed of the Devil is temptation to sin, whereas the seed of the woman is the fruit of good works.
134Gen. 3.16. In this chapter Aug suggests that the words spoken by God to the woman have a figurative meaning in addition to their obvious literal meaning. By sin man lost the liberty he had in Paradise, and as a result he is subject to human authority, a condition which was not intended by God for man in the state of original justice. The subjection, therefore, of the woman to the rule of her husband is a symbol of the beginning of an order
298 NOTES in which man would have dominion over man, a condition which in turn is a reminder of man's slavery to sin. Augustine's thinking on this subject is expressed in De civ. Dei 19.15: "This is what the natural order demands, this is how God made man. For He said: Let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth. He wanted rational man, made to His image, to have dominion over irrational creatures only, not man over man, but man over beast.... The condition of servitude is rightly understood as placed upon man as a result of sin."
135See e.g. 6.25.36, 9.3.6, 9.10.17 supra. 136This statement seems to contradict the principle explained above in n. 134, but Aug. makes it clear that the service given in love in the state of original justice is worlds apart from the servitude enforced by the dominion of one human being over another human being as a result of original sin. is1GalS13. bey Tim. 2.42. 139Gen. 3.17-19. Oren. 4.20, 141Aug. does not propose any figurative meaning of these words here, but elsewhere (De Gen. c. Man. 2.21.31 [ML 34.212]) he suggests that the woman is called Life because she represents the sensate part of human nature which (as wife to husband) must be subject to reason and which through reason conceives by the Word of Life the burden of virtuous living; and that when this same sensate nature by the travail and pangs of selfdenial resists evil habits and brings forth good habits, she is called the Mother of the Living.
44Gen. 3.21. 143 Aug. has repeatedly insisted that he is writing a literal commentary and that he must first determine the literal interpretation of the facts narrated in the text. Once the reality of the event has been established, he feels that one is free to seek a figurative meaning, but that is not his preoccupation in this treatise. See e.g. 6.7.12 and 9.12.20 supra.
144Aug. does not here pursue the possibility of a symbolical meaning in the garments of skin, but he has already in De Gen. c. Man. 2.21.32 (ML 34.212) said that they signify death (which is the result of Adam's sin). This interpretation (apparently suggested by the fact that an animal must die if his skin is to be used for clothing) is found in Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Methodius, and Epiphanius. See passages cited by J. Pépin, "Saint Augustin et le symbolisme néoplatonicien de la véture," Aug. Mag. 1.301.
SC sen. 3:22: PM Séns 1.26, 147John 14.23. 148Gen. 3.22-23. 149Gen. 3.24.
Per pen. 3:24, 151Tn De Gen. c. Man. 2.23.35 (ML 34.214) Aug. has already conjectured a figurative meaning. The cherubim signify the fullness of wisdom, and the turning sword symbolizes temporal punishment. The sword is flaming because it burns away every tribulation and thus purifies the just. Hence no one can come to the tree of life except through endurance of tribulation and the fullness of wisdom.
152This is the opinion of Theophilus of Antioch: see n. 37 to Book 8 supra.
153Clem. Alex., Stromata 3.14 (GCS 52 [15].239,16-20 StahlinFriichtel; MG 8.1193C-1196A).
154See 6.28.39 supra. be? "Cors 11.7:
ta e(sal'3.28-
157] Tim. 2.13-14. 158Rom. 5.14. aS?) Kings 114. 160CE Roms 7-23, 161Adam's sin had its roots in a disorder of conjugal love, not in any disorder of sexual desire. See Agaésse-Solignac 49.558.
162 At this point in the text the following clause is found in B, P2, R, Pal, and m: in illo modo quo illa [al. tllam] potuit. (The acc. illam occurs in R and Pal.) This clause (absent in E and Eug, the 300 NOTES two oldest witnesses to the text, as well as in S and Bod) appears to be a gloss, and I follow z and Agaésse-Solignac in omitting it.
163See 11.30.39 supra.
BOOK TWELVE
12 Cor. 12.2-4. 2This is obvious from the fact that in introducing this subject Paul says that he must boast (v. 1).
3The third heaven is identified with Paradise and the vision of God. According to J. J. O'Rourke, JBC 2 (1968), "The Second Letter to the Corinthians," 289: "The first heaven was our earth's atmosphere; the second, the region of the stars; the third, the place where God dwells and is seen as he truly is." For a discussion of other opinions on the subject, see E.-B. Allo, Seconde épitre aux Corinthiens (Etudes bibliques, Paris 1937) 306-7.
4In his De cura pro mortuis gerenda 11.13 (CSEL 41.642,12-643,4 Zycha; ML 40.602) Aug. says that during the time of his stay in Milan he appeared one night in a dream to Favonius Eulogius, a professor of rhetoric at Carthage, who was one of his former pupils. Aug. states that when he returned from Milan to Carthage, Eulogius told him of the dream and said that he had been puzzling over a passage in one of the rhetorical works of Cicero before retiring. "I explained the difficulty in the passage," Aug. says, "although in reality it was not I but my image, while I was unaware of this, for I was far across the sea either doing or dreaming something else, with not a thought in my head about the problems of Eulogius."
SThis is a common experience of mystics. See e.g. St. Teresa's account in her Life, ch. 27, in The Complete Works of St. Teresa of Jesus, tr. E. Allison Peers (3 vols. New York 1946) 1.171.
6For the dish, see Acts 10.11; for John's vision, Apoc. 1.12-20; for the bones of the dead, Ezek. 37.1-10; for the seraphim and altar, Isa. 6.1-7.
7In Augustine's terminology "essence" and "substance" are synonyms. See De moribus ecclesiae catholicae et de moribus Manichaeorum 2.2.2 (ML 32.1346). .
BOOK TWELVE 301
8Cf. Aug., So/i/. 1.8.15 (ML 32.877): "Earth and light are visible, but earth cannot be seen unless it is illumined. Anyone, then, who understands the things that are taught in the various branches of learning admits without hesitation that they are true. But he must believe that they cannot be understood unless they are illumined by what we might call their own sun." A material object, then, is seen when a person with normal and healthy eyesight turns his gaze to the object, provided that the object is illuminated by light whose source is the sun. In intellectual vision the mind that is pure sees immaterial truth if it turns its gaze interiorly to the incorporeal world illuminated by God, the Light of the soul. This theory of illumination is based on Plotinus, Enn. 5.5.7, and is developed by Aug. under the influence of Scripture (especially John 1.9) in his De magistro and De Trinitate, Book 12. For a further explanation of this theory, which is essential to Augustinian philosophy, see Gilson 77-96 and Bourke 112-17 and 216-17. ; °Ostensto: "vision." More precisely, the word means an image presented to the imagination in a vision. It is a postclassical word found in Tertullian, Apuleius, and the Vulg. It is used again in 12.20.42 infra.
10Fxod. 33.9-11. 11Exod. 33.13: Ostende mihi temet ipsum (according to the OL, based on the LXX). perupucs del) 1720)00759,17 515; 17-18. 13"Spiritual" means "belonging to the spirit," but it should be noted that spiritus ("spirit") has a special meaning in this book, namely, "... a power of the soul inferior to the mind, wherein likenesses of corporeal objects are produced" (12.9.20 infra). It is, then, that part of the soul in which images are formed, and hence spiritus is often translated as "imagination." The notion of the word in this context, however, has been influenced to some extent by the Neoplatonic doctrine of the pneuma, and I have thought it well to translate the noun by the English "spirit" and the adjective by the English "spiritual." Aug. explains spiritus more fully in chs. 6-12 infra. See n. 164 infra and my article, "The Meaning of Spiritus in St. Augustine's De Genesi, XII," Modern Schoolman 26 (1948-49) 211-18. Cf. also Gilson 269-70 n.