On the Good of Marriage.

 1. Forasmuch as each man is a part of the human race, and human nature is something social, and hath for a great and natural good, the power also of f

 2. Nor is it now necessary that we enquire, and put forth a definite opinion on that question, whence could exist the progeny of the first men, whom G

 3. This we now say, that, according to this condition of being born and dying, which we know, and in which we have been created, the marriage of male

 4. There is this further, that in that very debt which married persons pay one to another, even if they demand it with somewhat too great intemperance

 5. Also the question is wont to be asked, when a male and female, neither the one the husband, nor the other the wife, of any other, come together, no

 6. Further, in the very case of the more immoderate requirement of the due of the flesh, which the Apostle enjoins not on them by way of command, but

 7. But I marvel, if, as it is allowed to put away a wife who is an adulteress, so it be allowed, having put her away, to marry another. For holy Scrip

 8. “Honorable,” therefore, “is marriage in all, and the bed undefiled.” And this we do not so call a good, as that it is a good in comparison of forni

 9. Truly we must consider, that God gives us some goods, which are to be sought for their own sake, such as wisdom, health, friendship: but others, wh

 10. But I am aware of some that murmur: What, say they, if all men should abstain from all sexual intercourse, whence will the human race exist? Would

 11. And yet not to these themselves is marriage a sin which, if it were chosen in comparison of fornication, would be a less sin than fornication, an

 12. For, whereas that natural use, when it pass beyond the compact of marriage, that is, beyond the necessity of begetting, is pardonable in the case

 13. What therefore he says, “She, that is unmarried, thinketh of the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit ” we are not to

 14. And not without just cause a doubt is raised, whether he said this of all married women, or of such as so many are, as that nearly all may be thou

 15. For what Christian men of our time being free from the marriage bond, having power to contain from all sexual intercourse, seeing it to be now “a

 16. Therefore if haply, (which whether it can take place, I know not and rather think it cannot take place but yet, if haply), having taken unto him

 17. That marriage can take place of persons first ill joined, an honest decree following after, is manifest. But a marriage once for all entered upon

 18. For what food is unto the conservation of the man, this sexual intercourse is unto the conservation of the race: and both are not without carnal d

 19. Therefore as many women as there are now, unto whom it is said, “if they contain not, let them be married, ” are not to be compared to the holy wo

 20. And on this account, not, so as it was allowed one man to have even several wives, was it allowed one female to have several husbands, not even fo

 21. But since out of many souls there shall be hereafter one City of such as have one soul and one heart towards God which perfection of our unity sh

 22. If, therefore, even they who are united in marriage only for the purpose of begetting, for which purpose marriage was instituted, are not compared

 23. Nor, in that the Law orders a man to be purified even after intercourse with a wife, doth it show it to be sin: unless it be that which is allowed

 24. Marriage, I say, is a good, and may be, by sound reason, defended against all calumnies. But with the marriage of the holy fathers, I inquire not

 25. Forsooth continence is a virtue, not of the body, but of the soul. But the virtues of the soul are sometimes shown in work, sometimes lie hid in h

 26. But, in order that it may be more clearly understood, how there may be virtue in habit, although it be not in work, I speak of an example, about w

 27. Therefore at that time, when the Law also, following upon the days of the Patriarchs, pronounced accursed, whoso raised not up seed in Israel, eve

 28. Therefore, if we compare the things themselves, we may no way doubt that the chastity of continence is better than marriage chastity, whilst yet b

 29. And there is this further, that men are not rightly compared with men in regard of some one good. For it may come to pass, that one hath not what

 30. The right question plainly is, not whether a virgin every way disobedient is to be compared to an obedient married woman, but a less obedient to a

 31. From this obedience that Father, who was not without a wife, was prepared to be without an only son, and that slain by himself. For I shall not wi

 32. Therefore the good of marriage throughout all nations and all men stands in the occasion of begetting, and faith of chastity: but, so far as perta

 33. And, the case being thus, enough and more than enough answer has been made to the heretics, whether they be Manichees, or whosoever other that bri

 34. But those of ours who have wives we advise, with all our power, that they dare not to judge of those holy fathers after their own weakness, compar

 35. Boys also and virgins dedicating unto God actual chastity we do before all things admonish, that they be aware that they must guard their life mea

2. Nor is it now necessary that we enquire, and put forth a definite opinion on that question, whence could exist the progeny of the first men, whom God had blessed, saying, “Increase, and be ye multiplied, and fill the earth;”2    Gen. i. 28 if they had not sinned, whereas their bodies by sinning deserved the condition of death, and there can be no sexual intercourse save of mortal bodies. For there have existed several and different opinions on this matter; and if we must examine, which of them be rather agreeable to the truth of Divine Scriptures, there is matter for a lengthened discussion.3    See De Civ. Dei, b. xiv. Whether, therefore, without intercourse, in some other way, had they not sinned, they would have had sons, from the gift of the Almighty Creator, Who was able to create themselves also without parents, Who was able to form the Flesh of Christ in a virgin womb, and (to speak even to unbelievers themselves) Who was able to bestow on bees a progeny without sexual intercourse; or whether many things there were spoken by way of mystery and figure, and we are to understand in another sense what is written, “Fill the earth, and rule over it;” that is, that it should come to pass by fullness and perfection of life and power, so that the very increase and multiplication, whereby it is said, “Increase, and be ye multiplied,” be understood to be by advance of mind, and abundance of virtue, as it is set in the Psalm, “Thou shall multiply me in my soul by virtue;”4    Ps. cxxxviii. 3. LXX. and that succession of progeny was not given unto man, save after that, by reason of sin, there was to be hereafter departure in death: or whether the body was not made spiritual in the case of these men, but at the first animal, in order that by merit of obedience it might after become spiritual, to lay hold of immortality, not after death, which by the malice of the devil entered into the world, and was made the punishment of sin; but after that change, which the Apostle signifies, when he says, “Then we living, who remain, together with them, shall be caught up in the clouds, to meet Christ, into the air,”5    1 Thess. iv. 17 that we may understand both that those bodies of the first pair were mortal, in the first forming, and yet that they would not have died, had they not sinned, as God had threatened: even as if He should threaten a wound, in that the body was capable of wounds; which yet would not have happened, unless what He had forbidden were done. Thus, therefore, even through sexual intercourse there might take place generations of such bodies, as up to a certain point should have increase, and yet should not pass into old age; or even into old age, and yet not into death; until the earth were filled with that multiplication of the blessing. For if to the garments of the Israelites6    Deut. xxix. 5 God granted their proper state without any wearing away during forty years, how much more would He grant unto the bodies of such as obeyed His command a certain most happy temperament of sure state, until they should be changed for the better, not by death of the man, whereby the body is abandoned by the soul, but by a blessed change from mortality to immortality, from an animal to a spiritual quality. Of these opinions which be true, or whether some other or others yet may be formed out of these words, were a long matter to enquire and discuss.

CAPUT II.

2. De propagatione filiorum, si homo non peccasset, diversae sententiae. Nec nunc opus est ut scrutemur, et in ea quaestione definitam sententiam proferamus, unde primorum hominum proles posset existere, quos benedixerat Deus, dicens, Crescite, et multiplicamini, et implete terram, si non peccassent; cum mortis conditionem corpora eorum peccando meruerint, nec esse concubitus nisi mortalium corporum possit. Plures enim de hac re sententiae diversaeque exstiterunt; et si examinandum sit, veritati divinarum Scripturarum quaenam earum potissimum congruat, prolixae disputationis negotium 0374 est. Sive ergo sine coeundi complexu alio aliquo modo, si non peccassent, habituri essent filios ex munere omnipotentissimi Creatoris, qui potuit etiam ipsos sine parentibus condere, qui potuit carnem Christi in utero virginali formare, et ut etiam ipsis infidelibus loquar, qui potuit apibus prolem sine concubitu dare: sive ibi multa mystice ac figurate dicta sint, aliterque sit intelligendum quod scriptum est, Implete terram, et dominamini ejus (Gen. I, 28), id est, ut plenitudine et perfectione vitae ac potestatis id fieret, ut ipsum quoque incrementum et multiplicatio qua dictum est, Crescite, et multiplicamini, provectu mentis et copia virtutis intelligatur, sicut in Psalmo positum est, Multiplicabis me in anima mea virtute (Psal. CXXXVII, 3); nec data sit homini prolis ista successio, nisi posteaquam causa peccati, futura erat in morte decessio: sive corpus non spirituale illis hominibus, sed primo animale factum erat, ut obedientiae merito postea fieret spirituale, ad immortalitatem capessendam, non post mortem, quae invidia diaboli intravit in orbem terrarum (Sap. II, 24) et facta est poena peccati; sed per illam commutationem quam significat Apostolus, ubi ait, Deinde nos viventes qui reliqui sumus, simul cum illis rapiemur in nubibus in obviam Christo in aera (I Thess. IV, 16): ut illa corpora primi conjugii et mortalia fuisse intelligamus prima conformatione, et tamen non moritura nisi peccassent, sicut minatus erat Deus: tanquam si vulnus minaretur, quia vulnerabile corpus erat; quod tamen non accidisset, nisi fieret quod ille vetuisset. Ita ergo possent etiam per concubitum talium corporum generationes subsistere, quae usque ad certum modum, 0375 haberent incrementum, nec vergerent tamen in senium; aut usque in senium , nec tamen in mortem, donec illa benedictionis multiplicatione terra impleretur. Si enim vestibus Israelitarum praestitit Deus per annos quadraginta sine ullo detrimento proprium statum (Deut. XXIX, 5); quanto magis praestaret corporibus obedientium praecepto suo felicissimum quoddam temperamentum certi status, donec in melius converterentur, non morte hominis qua corpus ab anima deseritur, sed beata commutatione a mortalitate ad immortalitatem, ab animali ad spiritualem qualitatem!

CAPUT III.

Bonum conjugii multiplex. Primum et secundum conjugii bonum. Tertium conjugii bonum. Harum sententiarum quae vera sit, vel si alia vel aliae possunt adhuc ex illis verbis exsculpi, quaerere ac disserere longum est.