LatineEnglish
QUESTION X. Why God at first created only one woman.1
QVAESTIO X. Cur vnam tantùm mulierem Deus primò creauerit.
SED cur (nam & hoc quispiam fortasse quaerat) vnam duntaxat mulierem Deus fecit, & non potiùs multas? Nimirum multas ob causas id rectissimè factú esse à Deo licet animaduertere. Primò, vna mulier satis erat ad id cuius gratia est condita, vt socia esset viri, & simul cum eo generationis opus consummaret. Vna item facta est, vt vitaretur polygamia, quae per se non est bona nec probanda, nisi singulari Dei permissu concessa sit hominibus, vel in principio mundi ad multiplicationem generis humani, vel Hebraeis ad propagationem populi fidelis, vel in remedium aduersus adulteria & fornicationes iis qui ad libidines vehementer procliues essent. Adhaec, quo viri amor erga vxorem ardentior & constantior esset, qui multas in vxores diuisus, erga singulas remissior & instabilior est: quo argumento vsus est Aristoteles in libris Politicorum ad refellendam vxorum communionem, quam Socrates ad conciliandam conglutinandámque maiorem inter ciues ar-[ctioremque...]
But why (for perhaps someone may ask this too) did God make only one woman, and not rather many? Surely for many causes it may be observed that this was most rightly done by God. First, one woman sufficed for that for whose sake she was founded: to be the man's companion, and together with him to consummate the work of generation. She was made one also, that polygamy might be avoided, which is not of itself good or to be approved, unless it has been granted to men by God's singular permission — whether in the beginning of the world for the multiplication of the human race, or to the Hebrews for the propagation of the faithful people, or as a remedy against adulteries and fornications for those who were vehemently prone to lusts. Besides this, that the man's love toward his wife might be more ardent and more constant — which, divided among many wives, is more remiss and unstable toward each: which argument Aristotle used in the books of the Politics to refute the community of wives, which Socrates [judged] would be most useful for procuring and cementing a greater and clo[ser...] [continues]2
[...maiorem inter ciues ar]ctiorémque charitaté perquam vtilem fore arbitratus est: quasi omnes maiores natu amaturi essent minores, vt filios suos, & minores reuerituri maiores, quasi parentes. Sed contrà planè euenturum validissimis rationibus probauit Aristoteles. Denique vna mulier tantùm creata est, quo maior esset vnitas generis humani, vt pote quod ex iisdem parentibus primis omne propagatum esset. Vt omittam, etiam hac re adumbratum esse magnum illud mysterium coniunctionis Ecclesiae cum Christo: Ecclesia verò vna tantùm est.
[...a greater and clo]ser charity among the citizens, judging it would be most useful — as if all the elder would love the younger as their sons, and the younger revere the elder as parents. But Aristotle proved by the strongest reasons that quite the contrary would happen. Finally, only one woman was created, that the unity of the human race might be greater, inasmuch as all was propagated from the same first parents. Not to omit that by this thing too is foreshadowed that great mystery of the conjunction of the Church with Christ: and the Church is only one.3
Translator’s notes
- Tenth question of the disputation. ↩
- Decorated initial 'S.' Why one woman, not many: (1) one sufficed for her end (companion + generation); (2) to avoid polygamy (not good of itself, allowed only by God's special permission — early multiplication, the Hebrews, or a remedy for lust); (3) so the man's love be undivided and constant (Aristotle, Politics, against Plato's Socrates' community of wives). Continues on next page. ↩
- Socrates' aim (a citywide kinship-charity) Aristotle refuted as counterproductive. (4) One woman → the greater unity of the race (all from the same first parents); and it foreshadows the one Church's union with Christ. Marginal gloss: 'Cur una tantùm creata sit mulier.' ↩