Scotus Academicus, Tomus quintus: De Creaturarum Corporalium et de Homine

Note 1. That the name of Adam is not only the appellation of the whole human species, as is "man," but is also the proper name of the first parent of men, who in Hebrew is called Adam from Adamah, that is, earth, or red clay. For in Hebrew Adam means to grow red, and Adamah is earth so called from redness, such as clay has. Hence Esau in Hebrew is called Edom, the reason of whose name Genesis 25 and 30 unfolds, when he himself says to Jacob: Give me of this red pottage, namely of lentils, and Moses straightway infers for what cause his name was called Edom, evidently as it were "red."

Some ancient Fathers of the Church judge that the first man was called Adam for this reason, that his body was molded of earth taken from the four parts of the world: and thence obtained the name Adam, because each letter of this word begins each of those four chief parts of the world, according to the Greek idiom, which St. Cyprian, or whoever is the author of the book On the Mountains of Sinai and Sion against the Jews, indeed thus expounds: The Hebrew Adam is interpreted in Latin as earth touched by flesh, because out of the four cardinal points of the world He grasped earth with His fist, as it is written, I measured the Heaven with my palm, and grasped the earth with my fist, and fashioned man out of all the mire of the earth, I made him to the image of God: It behooved him to bear in himself from these four cardinal points of the world the name Adam. We find in the Scriptures that by each cardinal point of the world four stars were constituted by the Maker of the world in each cardinal point. The first Eastern star is called Anatole. The second Western Dysis. The third star of the North Arctos. The fourth Southern star is called Nesembria. From the names of the four stars, take from each star's name its principal letter: from the star Anatole, a; from the star Dysis, d; from the star Arctos, a; from the star Nesembria, m: in these four letters of the cardinal points you have the name Adam.

This same opinion St. Augustine confirms, tractates 9 and 10 on John, where he says: In Adam, a square of four letters, the four parts of the world are demonstrated through Greek appellations. For if in Greek there be named Prions (south), decidens (west), Aquilo (north), Meridies, as Scripture commemorates them in most places, in the heads of the words you find Adam. The same teach Sixtus Senensis, book 3 of the Bibliotheca, Salmeron, Prolegomenon 1 on the Evangelical history, Pererius on the first chapter of Genesis. From which it is plain how worthy of laughter Erasmus is, who after his fashion laughs because the Holy Fathers wished the etymon of the name Adam, though it be Hebrew, to be sought from the Greek tongue. For what is inept or incongruous, when names from Hebrew first origin become common in other languages, to derive their etymon and allusion also from those same languages? Thus Optatus interpreted the name Cepha not in Syriac, but in Greek as caput (head).

Note 2. That the first woman was named Eve by Adam, because she was to be the mother of all the living, according to that of Genesis, chapter 3: And Adam called the name of his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. That this signification may indeed be legitimate, she seems to be called not Eva, but Chaffa, that is living, or life-giving, from the root Chaia, that is, he lived. But it is not sufficiently clear whether this imposition of the name was made before the fall; for there are those who opine that Adam, touched with immense grief and stupefaction, because for the sake of his wife he had been despoiled of such great goods, and had been condemned to such great evils and to the death of evils the greatest of all, called his wife mother of the living through a certain bitter irony, just as the Greeks call the infernal Furies Eumenides, that is, well disposed and mild, from the contrary indeed, since they are said to be hard and inexorable. Unless perhaps with Lyranus and Abulensis you say that Eve signifies mother of all, not simply, but of those living laboriously and miserably in this mortal life. Hence piously some contemplate that Eve was fitly so called, as if this name alluded to the wailing of the little ones begotten from Eve. For a male newly born crying says A, but a female says E, whence the Poet:

Dicent e, vel a, quotquot nascentur ab Eva.

Again, Eve by anastrophe and apocope in Latin is ave, by anastrophe alone ava, which Gabriel the Archangel brought in saluting the Blessed Virgin.

Note 3. That it is certain the body of the first Parent of men was formed by God from the slime of the earth; for this in most open words: He fashioned God from the slime of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul. In which words He assigns four causes of man: the Efficient indeed, namely God, saying: Therefore the Lord God formed man. The matter when He subjoins: from the slime of the earth: the form when He adds: He breathed into his face the breath of life: finally the end: man became a living soul, that is, that he may be a living soul, or a living animal, namely sensing, moving himself, knowing himself and other things, and exercising all the operations of life. Although He had declared the form together with the end of man more significantly and expressly above, saying in chapter 1, verse 26: Let us make man to our image and likeness. For that is the genuine and proper form of man, whereby he bears the similitude and image of God: and this is the rational soul.

Now the end of man is this, that by meritorious works, aided by the help of God, he may be assimilated to God as much as possible through sanctifying grace in this life, and through glory in the other, as St. John writes, 1 John chapter 3: We know that when he shall appear we shall be like to him.

It is likewise to be observed that in Hebrew and Chaldaic it is thus had: God molded or fashioned man dust or clay from the earth; whence the Seventy Interpreters so translated: God fashioned man taking dust from the earth, by which is signified that man was made dusty, earthly: whence St. Paul, 1 Corinthians c. 15: the first man of earth earthly; and men are for the most part called Earth-born in Sacred Scripture: wherefore the contemplation of our earthly origin is so often inculcated in Sacred Scripture, that it may admonish us of the fragile and falling condition of man, soon to perish. Which Rupertus indeed treats expressly and piously in chapter 20 of book 2 On the Trinity. While, he says, it was said by Moses what it is worth the while diligently to attend to, namely that God formed man, and formed him not of whatsoever, but from the slime of the earth. For weighing this as it had been said, holy men called this very Creator of theirs the Molder, but themselves clay, in elegant confession and tearful declamation: and now, O Lord, says Isaias in chapter 61, Thou art our Father, and we clay: our maker, and we all the work of thy hands: and in Jeremias, chapter 18, the same is expressed of God our molder: shall I not be able to do to you as this potter, O house of Israel? Behold as clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.

And He showed him the potter doing his work upon the wheel; and it was broken, he says, the vessel which he himself was making with his hands, and turning he broke it into another, as it had pleased in his eyes to make. Hence the same Isaias, as above, says: Woe to him who contradicts his maker, a shard of earthen pottery.

Knowing these and like things, that Celestial Jurisperitus Paul says in Romans 9: O man, who art thou that answerest God? Shall the thing formed say to him who fashioned it, why hast thou made me thus? Or does not the potter have power to make of the same clay one vessel indeed unto honor, another unto contumely? Therefore we too, when we read that God formed man from the slime of the earth, must not discuss why He so made him, but rather that must be feared by each of you concerning himself, lest the vessel which He Himself made be dissipated in His hands; and this cast off He make another vessel as it pleased in His eyes. Thus Rupertus.

These things thus premised, three things are to be resolved in the present Question: First, where Adam and Eve were formed. Second, of what sort and in what body they were endowed. Third, what their occupation was and would be in the state of innocence.

First Conclusion. — It is more probable that Adam was formed outside Paradise: but Eve in Paradise.

The first part is [the doctrine] of all the Holy Fathers; and Sacred Scripture clearly indicates it, Genesis 2, v. 15, where of created man it says: Therefore the Lord God took man, and put him in the paradise of pleasure, to dress and to keep it: and Genes. 3, v. 23: The Lord God sent him forth from the paradise of pleasure to till the earth from which he was taken. If God received man created, and put him in Paradise, where he never before had been, therefore he was not created in Paradise: if created outside Paradise to inhabit the earth from which he was framed, then already outside Paradise he was molded of earth.

But why God willed not to create man in Paradise, various reasons are brought forward by authors: First indeed, says Pererius on chapter 2 of Genesis, because the dwelling of Paradise did not suit man according to his nature, but on account of the dower of immortality, which God was about to concede to him as about to remain in the state of innocence. But since the dower of immortality was not natural to man, but tributed to him by the gratuitous gift of God: that therefore Adam might understand the more manifestly that that place was not due to him naturally, but conceded by the sole grace of God, it was congruous that Adam be created outside Paradise. Second, if Adam had been created in Paradise, nor had before seen other places, he might perchance have thought that place to suit him and be due to him naturally: but created outside Paradise, more clearly acknowledging by comparison of other places the preeminence of Paradise, without doubt he understood the eminent benevolence and beneficence of God toward himself, who deigned him so happy a place and dwelling. Third, that Adam might be the more cautious, and the readier to execute the will of God, and the more diligent and attentive in keeping His commands and precepts: most certainly knowing that he must abide in Paradise only so long as he obeyed the command of God. Finally fourth, he could have no cause of grieving and complaining of God, when he would be cast out of Paradise for sin, as if denied a place naturally due and suitable to him: whereas God is not at all wont on account of sin to mulct and deprive man of natural goods.

As to the formation of Eve, Josephus judges, lib. 1 of the Antiquities, chapter 1, that she was formed also outside Paradise: for after narrating the production of Adam and Eve, describing also the beauty and amenity of Paradise, he thus subjoins: Moses asserted therefore that God planted a garden toward the east with every green plant: into this garden when God had led him together with his wife, he commanded them to have full care thereof. Such are his words. He judges therefore Adam and Eve begotten elsewhere. Then Josephus seems plainly to affirm that they were introduced into Paradise by God. Tertullian, lib. 2 against Marcion, seemed to indicate the same when he says: No one of mortals, not even Adam himself, was born in the Paradise of God. Nevertheless Sacred Scripture indicates quite plainly enough that Eve was formed in the terrestrial Paradise, while it says she was brought forth from Adam already translated into Paradise.

St. Ambrose confirms all these things, the book On Paradise, chapter 4, saying: Mark that outside Paradise the man was made, and the woman within Paradise; that you may know that not by nobility of place, nor of birth, but by virtue does each one procure grace for himself. Finally, the man made outside Paradise, that is, in an inferior place, deservedly falls: and she who was made in a better place, that is, in Paradise, is found inferior. For the woman was first deceived, and she herself deceived the man: Whence the Apostle Peter subjoining, remembered that women, the stronger cause, obey the holy men their husbands as Lords.

From these things it is established that both first Parents had the same efficient cause; namely God, the immediate and sole artificer of their body and soul: but a wholly diverse material cause; for the man was formed from dusty earth, but the woman from a rib extracted from Adam, formed of a rib: for Moses says Genes. chapter 2, v. 21 and 22: Therefore the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam, and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it, and the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman, and brought her to Adam. Which words comprise three things most noteworthy: First indeed, that a sleep was cast upon Adam by God, that is, as the Septuagint render it, extasim: for that sleep was ecstatic, such that not only was his mind loosed and free for the natural use of reason and the exercise of the soul, but it was even illuminated divinely and filled with a prophetic spirit, understanding in his very sleep that a woman was being formed from his side, and perceiving the mystery of that fact, then awaking he said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. Let us say therefore that there was indeed a sleep, but such nevertheless that in it, the senses bound, the mind nonetheless loosed and divinely illuminated both discerned the things which were being done at that time and understood the mysteries which lay hidden in them.

But this sleep had so bound the external senses that Adam felt not the rib taken from him. Whence Alcimus Avitus, in the Poem on the formation of man, represents this Adamic sleep thus:

Dumque petunt dulcem spirantia cuncta quietem, Solvitur et somno laxati corporis Adam. Cui Pater Omnipotens pressum per corda soporem Iecit, et immenso tardavit pondere sensus, Vis ut nulla queat sopitam solvere mentem. Non si forte fragor securas verberet aures, Nec si commoto coelum tunc intonet axe, Sed nec pressa manu rupissent membra quietem.

But this ecstatic sleep to have been the figure of the future death of Christ, and of the Church about to arise from His side, thinks the Master of the Sentences in 2 dist. 18.: Not without cause, he says, was the rib withdrawn also from the sleeping man rather than from the waking, of which rib the woman was formed for the man as a help to generation: namely, that it might be shown that he felt no pain therein, and at the same time the marvelous work of divine power might be shown forth, which opened the side of the sleeping man, yet roused him not from the quiet of sleep. In which work also was figured the sacrament of Christ and the Church, because as the woman was formed from the side of the sleeping man, so the Church from the sacraments which flowed forth from the side of Christ sleeping on the cross: or as St. Augustine speaks in the Sentences, sent. 328. Adam sleeps, he says, that Eve may be made: Christ dies, that the Church may be made. While Adam sleeps Eve is made from the side: the dead Christ's side is pierced by the lance, that the sacraments may overflow, whereby the Church is formed.

To these concords the above-praised Alcimus Avitus:

Of this dream the judgment of death was the sequel, Which Christ of His own accord undertook when He had taken a body. And when, about to suffer, He hung on high upon the tree, Nailed and bound fast, while He hung bearing the sins of the world, The Executioner fixed the spear deep in His outstretched side.

Forthwith, springing forth, He fortified with that wound the shield. For the peoples round about, even then while the chalice was being promised, the stream of blood was a sign of martyrdom. Thence, while He lay at rest in the twofold night, the Church, rising from the member of His side, was wedded.

Secondly, as it occurs in the first formation of woman, it is to be noted that woman was formed from the rib of Adam; and this for various reasons, which St. Thomas expounds thus in I part, qu. 92, art. 2: First, he says, it was fitting that woman should be formed from man rather than from any other creature; first indeed, that in this way a certain dignity might be preserved to the first man, so that, according to the likeness of God, he himself might be the principle of his whole species, as God is the principle of the whole universe. Hence Paul also said, Acts 17, that God made of one man the whole race of mankind. Secondly, that man might love woman the more, and cleave to her more inseparably, since he knew that Eve had been brought forth from himself: whence it is said, Genesis 2, She was taken from man; wherefore shall a man leave father and mother, etc.

Hence Adam was vehemently incited to love Eve by four causes: namely, on account of the similitude of the same nature; on account of carnal union; on account of the generation of offspring; but above all, because Eve was something of himself, that is, procreated from his substance: for it is chiefly for this reason that parents love their children so greatly. But if the mind of Adam had not been so occupied with love of the woman, when afterwards at her persuasion and impulse he fell into sin, and on that account was despoiled of so many and so great gifts and endowments of God, he would have conceived an immense and implacable hatred against her, and would ever have borne a mind estranged from her and turned away. The third reason (says St. Thomas) is sacramental; for there was figured thereby that the Church takes her beginning from Christ: hence the Apostle says to the Ephesians 5: This is a great sacrament; but I speak in Christ and in the Church.

A fourth reason Pererius adds on chapter 2 of Genesis, n. 187: namely, that man is by a certain mean nature between the Angels and the animals: wherefore a mean manner also of origin befitted the human race. Now the Angels, all and each without exception, were created proximately by God: nor among so great a number of Angels may one be found who was procreated from another Angel: but the animals arose from others, yet not all, even those of the same species, were generated from one: for at the beginning of the world God made many males and many females of each species of animal, by whom the rest might easily and numerously be procreated: but in man the matter stood in a certain middle way: for the first man was made proximately by God; from him the woman was fashioned; and from both proceeded every offspring of men.

Thence we can distinguish four modes of human production: one without man and woman, as of Adam; another from man without woman, as of Eve: a third from woman without man, as of Christ our Lord from the Virgin Mary: a fourth from man and woman, as of the rest of men, which is the natural and common mode of generation.

It must be observed likewise that Eve was not formed from any part whatsoever of the body of man, says the Master of the Sentences in the place cited, but she was formed from his side; that it might be shown that she was created for fellowship. Lest perchance, if she had been made from the head, she might seem to be given for domination over the man: or if from the feet, to be subjected unto servitude: therefore, since neither mistress nor handmaid was being prepared for man, but companion, she was to be produced neither from the head nor from the feet, but from the side: that he might recognize her to be set beside himself, whom he had learned to have been taken from his side.

Thirdly, finally, concerning the formation of woman from the aforesaid words of Scripture it is to be noted that God drew out one rib from Adam, and filled up flesh for it: whence a doubt arises whether that rib withdrawn from Adam was one of those ribs necessary to the integrity of the human body: for the Physiologists and Physicians relate that our body is constructed and joined together of twenty-four ribs, twelve on either side: whether then that rib was superabundant and superfluous, e.g., so that Adam had thirteen ribs on his left side: whichever way it be said, the matter seems absurd. For if that rib be among the necessary ribs: then after its withdrawal Adam remained mutilated and imperfect: but if it was superfluous: then Adam was created monstrous and deformed, having, namely, more ribs on one side than on the other: which was a notable mark of deformity, no less surely than if he had been made two-headed, or three-headed, or with six fingers on both hands or on one.

Theologians answer commonly that that rib was partly superfluous to Adam, partly necessary: superfluous, indeed, if Adam be considered as some singular man and particular person: for beyond the just number of ribs that rib was over and above, pertaining nowise to the integrity of the body of Adam: but if Adam be considered as the first man, and destined to be the principle of the whole human race, and from whom Eve was to be formed, then that rib was necessary; not simply, indeed, nor according to the natural order and reason — for Eve could have been formed of another thing — but only according to the election and ordination of God, who had determined to fabricate the body of Eve from the substance of Adam.

I grant, as more probable, that this rib withdrawn from Adam was among those ribs necessary to the constitution and integrity of his body: for if that rib had been superfluous to Adam, and outside his nature, it could not truly be said that Eve was formed from Adam; nor would Adam have said truly that Eve was bone of his bones: for that rib would not have been his natural and proper bone, but, as far as he was concerned, beside nature and accidental, and had been imposed upon him for the briefest time. Therefore, to signify the most intimate union of Adam and Eve, and the natural origin and dependence of woman upon man, it was more fitting and congruent that Eve be formed from a rib which was a natural and necessary part of Adam, than from one which was superfluous and beside his nature.

You will ask: To whom, Adam or Eve, will that rib, withdrawn from Adam, have to be restored in the resurrection of the dead? It seems indeed that it must be restored to Adam, because from the beginning it was Adam's, as an integral part of him: but on the contrary it seems that it must be restored to Eve: since from it Eve was principally formed. — I answer: That rib will remain with Eve, since from it her body was compacted as it were of matter and foundation: and therefore it is necessary that it subsist in Eve. Nor on that account is the body of Adam to be judged imperfect, since in place of that rib God substituted flesh: not soft indeed, but hardened and thick, which in the course of time supplied the use and office of the rib. Add, moreover, that not all things which were of our body are to be restored in the resurrection: otherwise our body would rise monstrous and enormous: for it is certain that the parts of flesh throughout the whole course of life flow away continually from birth, namely, even unto death, and are lost; and in their place others in turn are regenerated through nutrition. If therefore all that had been dispersed were restored, the body of the rising man would be gigantic. — Noyssius adds, on Genesis 23, v. 21, that Adam joined to himself in marriage the woman whom he had formed, making her his wife by God's command. Which Alcimus Avitus, cited above, admirably represents, where he thus prescribes the laws of matrimony:

At the beginning the priest, preparing to consecrate So great a bond, ties the nuptials with his word: Live with concordant zeal, and fill the world, Let the long-lived offspring grow from happy seed; Neither let number fail with years, nor term of life. A progeny without end have I given, which through all time Thou shalt behold, thou who art set as the first author of thy race. Thy grandson's sons, scattered through ages, Shall count their living forefathers; and into the mouths of parents The aged pledges of their sons shall lead the children of their children. Then the law of wedlock, venerable through every age, Unstained shall be kept in its own order by all. Let the woman persist, taken from the bowels of man, To keep faith to her husband: nor let anyone sever What God joins and associates: and let the husband, bound By rightful love, leave father And mother. Let not these bonds of parental care be broken, But let the flesh of both be held as one. Thus joining their vows in an everlasting covenant, He spoke the joyful hymeneal; and to chaste modesty With mingled melody sang an angelic song. For bridal chamber there was Paradise, and the world was given them Forever, and the stars rejoiced in cleansed flames.

Second Conclusion. — Our first parents were created in perfectly complete and ordered magnitude and beauty of body.

This is gathered from Holy Scripture, which so often testifies that the works of God are most perfect; and accordingly it equally fits that man, the most excellent work of God the Creator, was formed absolutely complete in his first creation. It is proved, indeed, of rightly perfected things: for those first works of God which in the fashioning of the world were made proximately by Him ought to have been perfect. As therefore He created the other living creatures complete in bulk of body, so also, and much more, must He be judged to have created man in a perfect state. It is confirmed by this, that as soon as Adam and Eve were created, God said to them: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth: from which it may be understood that Adam and Eve were created already of firm age, and fit for generation. This very point St. Augustine proves, book 6, De Genesi ad litteram, chapter 13, writing thus: But how did God make man of the slime of the earth? Was it suddenly into adult perfection, that is, into virile and youthful form; or as He has ever since formed in the wombs of mothers, so that Adam had this alone proper to himself, that he was not born of parents, but made of earth; or yet in such wise that in perfecting and augmenting him through stages these numbers of times were fulfilled which we see attributed to the nature of mankind? Or rather ought this not to be inquired into? For whichever way He made him, He did what befitted God, omnipotent and wise, to be able to do and to do fittingly. For thus He assigned certain general laws of times and of the qualities of things to be brought forth into the manifest from some beginning, so that His will is above all, etc. Although in these words he may seem to weigh this question on both sides and to leave it undetermined, nevertheless he inclines to our side, as appears from the examples by which he proves that God can bring His work to a perfect state in a single moment of time, which nature could compass only by long labor of time: whence he subjoins: *Do not all serpents coalesce, are they not formed, born, and strengthened, each kind in its own appointed numbers of days? Were not these days awaited, that the rod... [truncated]

Some think the Protoparents were created at a youthful age, namely, that at which our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, that is, between the thirtieth and fortieth year. But I judge it more credible that they were created at that age at which a man of fifty years might be matched: for since then the life of man was longest, namely, tenfold more enduring than now, each several age also was longer alike than now it is: childhood and adolescence were longer: and each age prolonged beyond the former, the next following came later: therefore, by comparison and proportion of the whole life exceeding nine hundred years, the youthful age of the first man could not have fallen to him before the fiftieth year.

The second part is proved, namely, that Adam was made of perfect stature of body, not tending to gigantic bulk: for Scripture and the holy Fathers with one voice confirm that Adam was procreated by God perfect in soul and body: but a gigantic bulk of body is an excess of nature running wild: and therefore this is not to be attributed to the most excellent of the divine works.

You will say: In Joshua, chapter 14, it is found written: the name of Hebron before was called Cariath-Arbe: Adam the greatest among the Enacim is there said to be: now that the Enacim were giants is manifest from what the spies, returning from exploring the land of Chanaan, said to Joshua, chapter 13 of the book of Numbers: The people, say they, whom we beheld is of tall stature; there we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac of the giant race, compared with whom we seemed as locusts. By which words Scripture seems to signify that Adam was the greatest among the Enacim giants: and therefore that he was the greatest Giant.

I deny the consequence: for the aforesaid words of Joshua are not to be understood of the first man, whom we shall show below, from the holy Fathers, to have been buried not in Hebron but on Mount Calvary: nor is that word Adam there the proper name of the first parent of mankind, but it is common and appellative, signifying the same among the Hebrews that the word Man does among the Latins: whence the city of Hebron was anciently called Cariath-Arbe, that is, the city of Arbe, because Arbe was the greatest man among the Enacim: greatest, I say, in celebrity of name and glory of achievements; or in amplitude of principality, power, or duration of life; or finally because he was the founder of that city, or the parent of the race of the Enacim.

Third Conclusion. — The occupation of the bodies of men, had the happy state of innocence persevered, would have been the tillage of the earth, but exempt from labor and weariness.

It is proved from Scripture, Genesis, chapter 2, verse 15, where we read: And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress and to keep it. Although St. Augustine, book 8, De Genesi ad litteram, chapter 10, seems to refer these words to man, so that the sense of them is, that God placed Adam in Paradise chiefly for this cause, that He Himself might work Adam more and more, that is, perfect him, by cultivating him with clearer precepts, and by inviting and aiding him toward the more excellent works of virtue; or, as he says, He who created man that man should be, Himself works man, and keeps him that he be also good and blessed. Wherefore, as by that manner of speaking man is said to work the earth, which already was earth, that it may be adorned and fruitful; by the same manner of speaking God is said to work man, who already was man, that he may be devout and wise; and to keep him, since man, delighting in the power which he had over himself rather than that which God had over him, and despising His dominion, could not be safe. This interpretation the Hebrew text excludes, because in Hebrew the pronoun it, which in Greek and Latin has an ambiguous reference to man and to Paradise, is put in the feminine gender, and is necessarily joined with the word Eden, or Paradise, which in Hebrew signifies garden.

Whence the sense of the aforesaid words is: God placed Adam in Paradise, that Adam himself by his own works, care, and industry might dress that Paradise, that is, cultivate it, exercising, namely, various works which concerned the culture and adornment of the place itself: and might keep it, both from the wild beasts which were outside Paradise, says St. Basil, and from the very animals which were in Paradise, lest they injure or defile its beauty and pleasantness: whence St. Chrysostom, Homily 11, on Genesis: God willed, he says, that a certain pure and temperate charge should rest with man, both in keeping and in dressing. For that culture was wholly exempt from molestation, and afforded him some occupation without pain and hardship.

That this operation and keeping, however, was not laborious and troublesome, but easy and delightful — whereby, namely, the first parents of mankind laid out and arranged for themselves various places, whether for dwelling, or for walking commodiously and with pleasure — St. Augustine elegantly unfolds, book 8, De Genesi ad litt., chapter 8, where, when it had been objected to him that before sin God condemned man to the labor and hardships of agriculture, he answers: So indeed we should think, did we not see some men till the ground with such delight of mind that it is a great punishment to them to be called away thence to anything else. Whatever delight, therefore, agriculture has, then assuredly it had far more, when nothing adverse happened, either to earth or to heaven. For there was no affliction of labor, nor exhilaration of indulgence, when He dealt with that which God had created by the aid of human labor, and the fertile fields brought forth, whereby the Creator Himself might be more abundantly praised. He who gave to the soul, constituted in an animal body, a reason for working, and faculty enough, as much as sufficed the willing soul of man, not compelled by any goad of unfruitful need of the body. For what greater and more wonderful spectacle is there, or where can human reason in a manner hold converse more with the nature of things, than when, seeds having been sown, shoots planted, saplings transplanted, grafts ingrafted, as if it were questioned at every turn what the power of root and germ can do, and what cannot: whence it can, whence it cannot: what power of unseen moisture and inward potency avails therein, what diligence applied from without; and in that very contemplation to perceive that neither he who planteth is anything, nor he who watereth, but God who giveth the increase, etc.

Corollary. — From these things gather, first, the antiquity of agriculture: for it began with man and with the world, since it was the first imposed upon man in the state of innocence, and after sin it alone was laid upon him in penance and punishment. Secondly, its dignity, both because it was instituted by God and enjoined upon Adam: and because Adam, from whom all nobility descends, and his nobler posterity, namely Abel, Seth, Noë, Abraham, and all the most celebrated men of old, were husbandmen. Thirdly, its innocent exercise: for this among other arts was commended to innocent man in Paradise as involving injury to none, but profitable to all: which Virgil elegantly expounds in the second Georgic:

O too fortunate, if they knew their own good, The husbandmen! for whom, far from discordant arms, Most just Earth herself pours forth an easy livelihood from her soil.

And again:

This life of old the Sabines cultivated, This Remus and his brother. Thus valiant Etruria grew; Doubtless thus too was Rome made the fairest of realms. Golden Saturn lived this life upon earth.

Cicero also is to be heard, in the book De Senectute, where he says that nothing seems to him so royal as the pursuit of agriculture: of all things, says he, from which anything is acquired, nothing is better than agriculture, nothing more abundant, nothing sweeter, nothing more worthy of a free man. Rightly therefore does St. Augustine say: agriculture is the most innocent of all arts: yet the impious Faustus the Manichee did not blush to condemn it; saying that husbandmen violated the precept of God, Thou shalt not kill. Hence it was the custom that those chiefs of Roman nobility, men of antiquity, were summoned from the fields to commands and dictatorships: which offices when they had held, they returned to their earlier exercises of husbandry: or, as Valerius Maximus says, even those men endowed therewith who are called from the plough that they may become consuls, tilled the soil of the Roman people, sterile of pleasures and most productive of virtues [restored], and with abundant sweat furrowed the chastest clods, gymnasia though they were of delights: nay rather, those whom the perils of the republic claimed as generals, straitened means compelled to become oxherds.