Genesis chapter 3, verses 4 and 5. But the serpent said to the woman: You shall not die the death by any means; for God knows that on whatever day you eat of it, your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.¹

Gen. cap. 3. vers. 4. & 5. Dixit autem serpens ad mulierem, Nequaquam moriemini: scit enim Deus quod in quacumque die comederitis ex eo, aperientur oculi vestri, & eritis sicut Dii, scientes bonum & malum.

Saint Gregory treats this place admirably, in book 24 of the Morals, chapters 7 and 8, explaining those words of Job which are in chapter 33, 'He will render to man his justice': God, he says, will render to man that justice for which he was created, so that it may please him to cleave to God, that he may dread his threatening sentence, that he may not believe the now-flattering promises of the crafty serpent. For what he did in Paradise, this the ancient enemy does not cease to do daily. For he strives to tear God's words out of the hearts of men, and to root in them the feigned blandishments of his promise: daily he makes light of that which God threatens, and invites men to believe what he falsely promises. For he falsely promises temporal things, that he may make light, to the minds of men, of those punishments which God threatens as eternal. For when he pledges the glory of the present life, what else does he say than, 'Taste, and you shall be as gods'? as if he said openly, 'Touch temporal concupiscence, and appear lofty in this world.' And when he tries to remove the fear of the divine sentence, what else does he speak than what he said to the first human beings, 'Why has God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree of Paradise?' But because man, redeemed by the divine gift, has received back the justice which long ago, when created, he lost, he now exercises himself more robustly against the blandishments of crafty persuasion, because he has learned by experience how much he owes obedience to the precept: and him whom then guilt led to punishment, now his punishment restrains from guilt, so that he fears to offend the more, the more, under the compulsion of his suffering, he himself now accuses what he committed. Thus Saint Gregory.³

Praeclare autem hunc locum tractat S. Gregorius, lib. 24. Moralium, cap. 7. & 8. explanans illa verba Iob quae sunt in cap. 33. Reddet homini iustitiam suam: Illam, inquit, iustitiam reddet Deus homini ad quam conditus fuit, ut inhaerere Deo libeat, ut minacem eius sententiam pertimescat, ut serpentis callidi blandis iam promissionibus non credat. Quod enim in Paradiso egit, hoc quotidie antiquus hostis agere non desistit. Verba quippe Dei de cordibus hominum molitur evellere, atque in eis ficta promissionis suae blandimenta radicare: quotidie hoc quod Deus minatur, levigat, & ad hoc credendum quod falsum promittit, invitat. Falso enim pollicetur temporalia, ut mentibus hominum ea supplicia levigat, quae Deus minatur aeterna. Nam cum praesentis vitae gloriam spondet, quid aliud dicit quam, gustate & eritis sicut Dii? ac si aperte dicat, Temporalem concupiscentiam tangite, & in hoc mundo sublimes apparete. Et cum timorem divinae sententiae amovere conatur, quid aliud loquitur quam id quod primis hominibus dixit, Cur praecepit vobis Deus ut non comederetis de omni ligno Paradisi? Sed quia divino munere redemptus homo iustitiam recepit, quam dudum conditus amisit, robustiorem se iam contra blandimenta callidae persuasionis exercet, quia experimento didicit quantum obediens debeat praecepto: Et quem tunc culpa duxit ad poenam, nunc poena sua restringit a culpa, ut tanto magis delinquere metuat, quanto cogente supplicio & ipse iam quod perpetravit accusat. Haec S. Gregorius.

Rightly, therefore, Augustine, in chapter 30 of book 11 On Genesis according to the Letter: How, he says, would the woman believe the words of the serpent, that she had been divinely forbidden from a good and useful thing, unless there were already in her mind a love of her own power, and a certain proud presumption about herself, which by that temptation was to be convicted and humbled?⁷

Recte igitur Augustinus cap. 30. lib. 11. de Genesi ad literam: Quomodo, inquit, verbis crederet mulier serpentis a bona atque utili re divinitus se fuisse prohibitam, nisi iam inesset menti eius amor propriae potestatis, & quaedam de se superba praesumptio, quae per illam tentationem fuerat convincenda & humilianda?

But before I pass to the explanation of what follows, it is well here to add an excellent opinion of Bernard, pertaining to the things just said and expounded. In a certain sermon On the Fourfold Debt, Bernard writes in this manner: I do not fear for you, brethren, from the strength of Satan, since I know his strength to have been drawn and reduced to nothing through the wounds of our Redeemer. From his wiles and craft there is fear for me on your behalf: in which, trained partly by the subtlety of his nature, partly by the experience of the ages, through so many thousands of years, he is not ignorant which way the frailty of human nature turns itself. So that insatiable murderer assigned to our first parents neither bears, nor lions, nor the strong animals of the earth, but the tortuous and cunning serpent, which through its sinuous coils is wont now to touch its head with its tail, now its tail with its head. Finally, 'the serpent too was not stronger, but more cunning than all the living creatures of the earth,' says Scripture. Whence he began with a question, exploring the woman's mind, knowing that he must labor by wit, not by strength. 'Why has the Lord God commanded you,' he says, 'that you should not eat of the tr[ee]...'⁹

Sed priusquam ad sequentium explanationem transeam, libet hic apponere egregiam Bernardi sententiam, ad ea quae proxime dicta & exposita sunt pertinentem. In sermone quodam de quadruplici debito ad hunc modum scribit Bernardus: Non timeo vobis fratres a viribus Satanae, cum noverim fortitudinem eius per Redemptoris nostri vulnera tractam & deductam ad nihilum. A versutiis & astutiis illius formido mihi est pro vobis, in quibus partim subtilitate naturae, partim experientia temporum ab tot annorum millibus eruditus, fragilitate humanae naturae quaquaversum se verterit non ignorat. Sic ille insatiabilis homicida primis parentibus nostris non ursos, non leones, non fortia terrae animalia delegavit, sed tortuosum & callidum serpentem, qui per sinuosa volumina nunc caput cauda, nunc caudam capite tangere consuevit. Denique, & serpens non fortior erat, sed callidior cunctis animantibus terrae, ait Scriptura. Unde & ab interrogatione incoepit, mentem mulieris explorans, sciens ingenio non viribus laborandum esse. Cur praecepit vobis Dominus Deus, inquiens, ne comederetis de li-

...of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?' To which she answered, 'Lest perhaps we die.' What God had set down as certain, saying, 'On whatever day you eat, you shall die the death,' she puts under doubt, saying, 'Lest perhaps, if we eat, we die.' And hear the wit and malice of the serpent. 'You shall not,' he says, 'die the death by any means.' God affirms, the woman doubts, Satan denies. So I too fear, lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his craft, so your senses too be corrupted from the chastity that is in Christ Jesus. Thus Bernard.¹⁰

...de ligno scientiae boni & mali? quae respondit, Ne forte moriamur. Quod Deus pro certo posuerat, dicens, Quacumque die comederitis, morte moriemini: ista sub dubio supponit, Ne forte, inquiens, si comederimus, moriamur. Et audi ingenium malitiamque serpentis. Nequaquam, inquit, moriemini. Deus affirmat, mulier dubitat, Satan negat. Sic & ego timeo, ne sicut serpens Evam seduxit astutia sua, sic & sensus vestri corrumpantur a castitate quae est in Christo Iesu. Haec Bernardus.

...and ambiguities of the serpent, artfully framed for mocking and deceiving man, he sets forth in these words: Now the serpent is a mocker, and answers ambiguously: so that, when God's truth shall have been fulfilled, he may nonetheless affirm himself, with a hostile guffaw, to be truthful. For since there are two deaths, one of the soul and the other of the body, by a certain death they were not to die at once—namely, by that which divides the soul from the body. For not because they ate did they therefore die bodily on the same day; but because, by eating, they consigned themselves on the same day to the death of the soul, therefore, by the mercy of God, they were made mortal in body, lest, like the devil himself, they should be irrecoverable, living wickedly and miserably forever.¹⁴

...& ambages serpentis ad illudendum & decipiendum hominem artificiose concinnatas explicat, his verbis: Iam derisor est serpens, & dubia respondet: ut cum Dei veritas impleta fuerit, nihilominus tamen ipse veracem se esse cum hostili cachinno confirmet. Nam cum duae mortes sint, altera animae & altera corporis, quadam morte non statim erant morituri, scilicet ea quae animam a corpore dividit. Non enim quia comederunt, idcirco eodem die corporaliter mortui sunt: sed quia comedendo morte animae sibimet eodem die consciverunt, ideo misericordia Dei corpore mortales facti, ne sicut ipse diabolus irrecuperabiles essent, male & misere vivendo in aeternum.

Therefore, just as Delphic Apollo is said to have been wont to play with uncertain ambiguities, so now this same enemy of God and men was playing, wickedly abusing the equivocation of 'death'—the greatest of hateful Sophists. For he who speaks sophistically is hateful, as a certain Wise man says. Nonetheless, the rest too of what follows he confounds and disturbs entirely by equivocating, speaking in one sense and wishing his words understood in another. 'For God knows,' he says, 'that on whatever day you eat of it, your eyes shall be opened.' This indeed he wished to be understood—that God, envying man the clarity of all wisdom, and also divinity and the wisdom of all things, forbade him such a tree. This, I say, he wished to be understood in his speech, while he himself felt that it would turn out otherwise—his own meaning, however, being engaged about these very words with an almost unspeakable aversion. 'Your eyes shall be opened,' he says—namely, to the recognition of your confusion. For there is a certain unhappy opening of the eyes, when the eyes of the impious shall be revealed, when, as the book of Wisdom testifies, 'Seeing, they shall be troubled with horrible fear, and shall wonder at the su[ddenness]...'¹⁵

Igitur quemadmodum Apollo Delphicus fertur solitus fuisse incertis ludere ambagibus, sic iam nunc ludebat idem Dei & hominum inimicus, aequivocatione mortis nequiter abusus, odibilium Sophistarum maximus. Qui enim sophistice loquitur, odibilis est, uti ait Sapiens quidam. Nihilominus & cetera quae sequuntur, aequivocando cuncta confundit ac perturbat, alio sensu loquens, & alio sua dicta intelligi volens. Scit enim Deus, inquit, quia in quocunque die comederitis ex eo, aperientur oculi vestri. Hoc utique volebat intelligi, quod claritatem omnis sapientiae, divinitatem quoque & omnium sapientiam Deus invidens homini, tale lignum illi interdixit. Hoc, inquam, intelligi volebat in suo sermone, cum sentiret ipse aliter eventurum esse, qui tamen sensus eius circa has ipsas verba paene ineffabili versabatur aversione. Aperientur, inquit, oculi vestri, videlicet in agnitionem vestrae confusionis. Est enim quaedam infelix oculorum apertio, quando revelati erunt oculi impiorum, quando, sicut liber Sapientiae testatur, Videntes turbabuntur timore horribili, & mirabuntur in su-

...suddenness of unhoped-for salvation, and, groaning from anguish of spirit, shall say within themselves, doing penance: These are they whom we once held in derision, and for a likeness of reproach.' But also in the distinguished Poet, according to this opening of the eyes, the tyrant of the lower world speaks, taunting amid his torments: 'Learn justice, being warned, and not to despise the gods.' Likewise, when he said, 'And you shall be as gods'—as false gods, that is—he intended to make them like himself and his followers, the apostate angels: while he wished, as has been said, something else to be understood in this promise of his, to which, of course, sweetly sounding, he had mixed, as it were into wine, the venom of death. Nonetheless, by also adding, 'Knowing good and evil,' he was contriving this, that he might make them have both the memory of the good they had lost, and the experience of the evil they had found: while he wished something else to be understood—that they would attain, through that food, all knowledge, and that nothing would be hidden from them, which knowledge is indeed God's alone. Consider now how great is the lifting-up according to the sense of him who is deceived; how great the casting-down according to the sense of him who deceives.¹⁶

...bitatione insperatae salutis, & gementes prae angustia spiritus, dicent intra se poenitentiam agentes: Hi sunt quos aliquando habuimus in derisum, & in similitudinem improperii. Sed & apud Poetam eximium, secundum hanc apertionem oculorum loquitur insultando inter tormenta tyrannus inferorum: Discite iustitiam moniti, & non temnere divos. Item, cum diceret, Et eritis sicut Dii, falsis utique diis, id est, sui suisque sequacibus angelis apostaticis similes illos facere intendebat: cum aliud, sicut iam dictum est, intelligi vellet in hac promissione sua, cui nimirum suaviter sonanti, quasi vino venenum mortis comiscuerat. Nihilominus & addendo, Scientes bonum & malum, hoc moliebatur, ut eos habere faceret & boni perditi memoriam, & mali inventi experientiam: cum hoc aliud vellet intelligi, quod omnem per illum cibum consecuturi essent scientiam, & nihil eos lateret, quae profecto scientia solius Dei est. Considera nunc quanta hic allevatio iuxta sensum eius qui decipitur: quanta sit deiectio iuxta sensum eius qui decipit.

Under the same promise, when it is said, 'Your eyes shall be opened,' she thinks of the height of wisdom, he thinks of the confusion of conscience. Under the same expression, when it is said, 'And you shall be as gods,' she thinks of seizing the loftiness of God, he thinks of finding a damnation like his own. Likewise under the same promise of the knowledge of good and evil, she thinks of the fullness of knowledge, he thinks of the experience of misery. Most troublesome is this kind of fallacy, in which he who deceives both wins the palm of lying, and boasts that he is truthful and has spoken truth; but he who is deceived has no ground from which he can convict of falsehood the one who taunts him, however most deceitful that one may be. Thus Rupert.¹⁷

Sub eadem pollicitatione cum dicitur, Aperientur oculi vestri, haec sapientiae altitudinem, ille cogitat conscientiae confusionem. Sub eadem dictione, dum dicitur, Et eritis sicut dii, haec rapere Dei celsitudinem, ille suimet similem cogitat invenire damnationem. Item sub eadem pollicitatione scientiae boni & mali, haec plenitudinem scientiae, ille cogitat experimentum miseriae. Molestissimum hoc fallaciae genus est, in quo is qui decipit & palmam obtinet mendacii, & gloriatur quod verus sit, verumque dixerit: Qui autem decipitur, non habet unde insultanti sibi falsitatis arguere possit, qualibet ille fallacissimus sit. Haec Rupertus.