Genesis chapter 3, verse 6. The woman therefore saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold; and she took of its fruit and ate, and gave to her husband.¹

Gen. cap. 3. vers. 6. Vidit igitur mulier quod bonum esset lignum ad vescendum, & pulchrum oculis, aspectuque delectabile, & tulit de fructu illius & comedit, deditque viro suo.

But let us illustrate what we have said by the elegant explanation of the same words which is in Rupert, in the ninth chapter of the third book On the Trinity. Not idly, he says, was it said, 'The woman saw,' as if she had not seen that tree before. And in truth she had not yet seen it in that manner, because she had not yet considered it with that presumption with which she now gazed at it. For it is to be noted that Scripture did not say, 'The woman therefore saw the tree, and took of its fruit and ate,' but, 'The woman saw,' he says, 'that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold, and took of its fruit and ate.' 'She saw, therefore'—that is, she considered, diligently gazed, attended too curiously, and herself wished to be the judge of the things she had heard. She had heard what God had said, 'On whatever day you eat of it, you shall die the death'; she had heard the serpent saying the contrary, 'You shall not die the death by any means.' Wavering between these, she wished to judge the nature of the tree by her own senses, that she might know to whom especially—to God, namely, or to the serpent—she should grant the palm of truth. But those inner eyes which ought to have judged of this were now hampered by the concupiscence of the outer ey[es]...³

Sed quae diximus, eleganti explanatione eorundem verborum, quae est apud Rupertum, capite nono, libri 3. de Trinitate, illustremus. Non temere, inquit, dictum est, Vidit mulier: quasi non eam arborem ante vidisset. Et revera nondum eo modo viderat, quia cum hac praesumptione qua nunc intuita est, nec dum consideraverat. Notandum quippe quod non dixerit Scriptura: Vidit igitur mulier lignum, & tulit de fructu eius & comedit, sed, Vidit mulier, inquit, quod bonum esset lignum ad vescendum, & pulchrum oculis, aspectuque delectabile, & tulit de fructu eius & comedit. Vidit igitur, id est, consideravit, diligenter intuita est, curiosius attendit, & iudex eorum quae audierat ipsa esse voluit. Audierat quod dixisset Deus, In quocumque die comederitis ex eo, morte moriemini, audierat serpentem e contrario dicentem, Nequaquam moriemini. Inter haec anceps, naturam ligni propriis sensibus diiudicare voluit, ut sciret cui potissimum, Deo videlicet vel serpenti palmam concederet veritatis. At illi qui de hoc iudicare debuerant interiores oculi, exteriorum iam erant oculorum concupi-

...of the eyes, so that they saw neither even the death of the body alone, nor that it was not the nature of the tree but the transgression of the command that would bring a twofold death. And so, with the outer eyes alone, she considered and discerned the nature of the tree, ill-cautious that in the fruit of the tree there was no venom of death: for it was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, delightful to behold. These things she judged to be repugnant to all the speech which God had spoken, and rather to agree with the serpent's speech, and to demonstrate the truth of his assertion. So she saw, and so with sacrilegious ra[shness]...⁴

...scentia praepediti, ut non viderent neque solam mortem corporis, vel quod duplicem illatura esset mortem, non natura ligni, sed transgressio mandati. Itaque solis exterioribus oculis naturam ligni consideravit, & deprehendit, male cauta quod in fructu ligni non esset venenum mortis: erat enim bonum ad vescendum, & pulchrum oculis, aspectu delectabile. Haec omni sermoni quem dixerat Deus, repugnantia indicavit esse, magisque sermoni serpentis concordare, veramque assertionem eius demonstrare. Sic vidit, & sic sacrilega te-

...with no merit on his part [she trusted] the devil more than God, the serpent more than the Creator, and she took of the fruit of the tree and ate. Nor was it enough for her that she had eaten, but in addition she gave it also to her husband. Thus far Rupert.⁵

...immerito diabolo magis quam Deo; serpenti magis quam Creatori credidit, & tulit de fructu ligni & comedit. Nec satis illi hoc fuit quod comedit, sed insuper & viro suo dedit. Haec Rupertus.

You too, O Eve, are placed in Paradise that you may work with your husband and keep it: if you complete what is enjoined, you will one day pass over to a better state, where there will be no need for you to be occupied in any task, nor to be anxious about keeping watch. Every tree of Paradise is granted you for food, except that one which is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For if the rest are good and taste of good, what need is there to eat of the tree that tastes also of evil? Do not be wise beyond what one ought to be wise: for to be wise as to evil is not to be wise but to be foolish. Keep therefore what is entrusted, await what is promised, beware what is forbidden, lest you lose what is granted. Why do you gaze so intently upon your own death? Why do you cast there your so often wandering eyes? Why does it please you to look at what it is not lawful to eat? 'I stretch out my eyes,' you say, 'not my hand. It was not forbidden me to see, but to eat. Is it not lawful even to lift up with zeal the eyes which God placed in my power?' To which the Apostle replies: All things are lawful to me, but not all are expedient. And even if it is no fault, it is still a token of fault. For unless the mind kept itself less than curious, your curiosity would have no empty time. And even if it is no fault, it is still an occasion of fault, and a token of fault committed, and a cause of fault to be committed. For while you are intent on something else, meanwhile the serpent secretly glides into your heart, speaks flatteringly, with flatteries lulls your reason, with lies stills your fear. 'By no means,' he says, 'shall you die.' He increases concern while he stirs appetite. He whets curiosity while he suggests desire. At last he offers the forbidden and carries off the granted. He holds out the apple and steals away Paradise. He draws in a poison that is to perish, and a poison that will bring forth those who are to perish. Salvation perishes, yet bringing-forth did not cease. We are born, we die, and so we are born to die, because first we die to be born. Therefore a heavy yoke lies upon all your children unto this present day. Thus far the words of Bernard.⁷

Tu quoque, o Eva, in Paradiso posita es, ut cum viro tuo opereris & custodias illum: si iniunctum perfeceris, quandoque transitura ad melius, ubi nec opus sit te in aliquo opere occupari, nec de custodia solicitari. Omne lignum Paradisi tibi conceditur ad vescendum, praeter illud quod dicitur scientiae boni & mali. Si enim cetera bona sunt & sapiunt bonum, quid est opus edere de ligno quod sapit etiam malum? Non plus sapere quam oportet sapere: sapere enim malum, sapere non est sed desipere. Serva ergo commissum, expecta promissum, cave prohibitum, ne perdas concessum. Quid tuam mortem tam intente intueris? Quid illo tam crebro vagantia lumina iacis? Quid spectare libet, quod manducare non licet? Oculos, inquis, tendo, non manum. Non est interdictum ne videam, sed ne comedam. An non licet oculos quoque zelo levare, quos Deus in mea posuit potestate? Ad quod Apostolus, Omnia mihi licet, sed non omnia expediunt. Et si culpa non est, culpa tamen indicium est. Nisi enim mens minus se curiose servaret, tua curiositas tempus vacuum non haberet. Et si culpa non est, culpa tamen occasio est, & indicium commissae, & causa committendae. Te enim intenta ad aliud, latenter interim in cor tuum serpens illabitur, blande alloquitur, blanditiis rationem, mendaciis timorem compescit. Nequaquam, inquiens, morieris. Auget curam, dum incitat gulam. Acuit curiositatem, dum suggerit cupiditatem. Offert tandem prohibitum, & aufert concessum. Porrigit pomum, & surripit Paradisum. Haurit virus peritura, & perituros paritura. Perit salus, non destitit partus. Nascimur, morimur, idcoque nascimur morituri, quia prius morimur nascituri. Propterea grave iugum super omnes filios tuos usque in hodiernum diem. Hactenus sunt verba Bernardi.

Since the soul is invisible, it is by no means touched by delight in bodily things except insofar as, clinging to the body, it has the senses of that body as so many openings for going out. For sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch are as it were a road of the mind, by which it may go forth and covet the things that are outside its own substance. For through these bodily senses, as through certain windows, the soul looks out upon all external things; and looking, it covets. Hence indeed Jeremiah says, 'Death has climbed up through our windows.' For death climbs up through the windows and enters the house, when desire, coming in through the bodily senses, enters the dwelling of the mind. Against which, as we have often said concerning the just, it is said through Isaiah, 'Who are these that fly like clouds, and as doves to their windows?' For the just are said to fly like clouds because they are lifted above earthly contagions; and they are as doves to their windows because, through the bodily senses, they do not look upon outward things with the aim of grasping, and carnal desire does not snatch them outward. But whoever incautiously looks outward through these windows of the body is for the most part carried off, even unwilling, into the delight of sin, and bound by his desires begins to will what he did not will. For the headlong soul, while it does not beforehand provide against seeing incautiously what it may covet, then blindly begins to desire what it saw. Hence too the Prophet, a mind that, exalted, was often present at inner mysteries, because he incautiously looked upon another's wife, was darkened and afterward joined her unlawfully to himself. But the holy man, who as a most just judge presides over the bodily senses received as subject ministers, sees faults before they come, and as against death lying in ambush shuts the windows of the body, saying: 'I made a covenant with my eyes, that I would not so much as think upon a maiden.' For that he might chastely keep the thoughts of his heart, he made a covenant with his eyes, lest he should first incautiously look upon what he would afterward unwillingly love. For it is very grievous that the flesh drags downward, and the appearance of a form once bound to the heart through the eyes is scarcely loosed by the hand of great struggle. Lest therefore we turn over certain slippery things in thought, we must provide against it, because it is not fitting to gaze upon what it is not lawful to covet. For that the mind may be kept pure in thought, the eyes must be repressed from the wantonness of their pleasure, as certain ravishers to fault. For Eve would not have touched the forbidden tree had she not first incautiously gazed upon it. For it is written: 'The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and beautiful to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of its fruit, and ate.' Hence then it must be weighed with how great restraint we ought to hold back our sight from things unlawful, we who live mortally, if even the mother of the living came to death through the eyes. Hence too, under the voice of Judah, which by looking upon outward things and coveting them had lost the inner goods, the Prophet says, 'My eye has plundered my soul.' For by coveting visible things, she lost the invisible virtues. The soul, therefore, which betrayed its inner fruit through...¹⁰

Cum sit invisibilis anima, nequaquam corporearum rerum delectatione tangitur, nisi quod inhaeret corpori quasi quaedam egrediendi foramina, eiusdem corporis sensus habet. Visus quippe, auditus, gustus, odoratus, & tactus quasi quaedam via mentis sunt, quibus foras veniat, & ea, quae extra eius sunt substantiam, concupiscat. Per hos etenim corporis sensus quasi per fenestras quasdam exteriora quaeque anima respicit; respiciens concupiscit. Hinc etenim Hieremias ait, Ascendit mors per fenestras nostras. Mors quippe per fenestras ascendit & domum ingreditur, cum per sensus corporis concupiscentia veniens, habitaculum intrat mentis. Quo contra hoc, quod iam saepe diximus de iustis, per Esaiam dicitur, Qui sunt hi, qui ut nubes volant, & quasi columbae ad fenestras suas? Iusti namque volare ut nubes dicti sunt, quia a terrenis contagiis sublevantur: & quasi columbae ad fenestras suas sunt, quia per sensus corporis exteriora quaeque, intentione non respiciunt rapacitatis, eosque foras non rapit concupiscentia carnalis. Quisquis vero per has corporis fenestras incaute exterius respicit, plerumque in delectatione peccati etiam nolens rapitur, atque obligatus desideriis incipit velle, quod noluit. Praeceps quippe anima, dum ante non providet, ne incaute videat, quod concupiscat, caeca post incipit desiderare, quod vidit. Unde & Propheta mens quae sublevata saepe mysteriis internis intererat, quia alienam coniugem incaute vidit, obtenebrata postmodum sibimet illicite coniunxit. Sanctus autem vir, qui acceptis corporis sensibus velut subiectis ministris aequissimus iudex praeest, culpas conspicit antequam veniant, & velut insidianti morti fenestras corporis claudit, dicens; Pepigi foedus cum oculis meis, ut ne cogitarem quidem de virgine. Ut enim cogitationes cordis caste servare potuisset, foedus cum oculis pepigit, ne prius incaute aspiceret, quod postmodum invitus amaret. Valde namque est grave, quod caro deorsum trahit, & semel species formae cordi per oculos illigata, vix magni luctaminis manu solvitur. Ne ergo quaedam lubrica in cogitatione versemus, providendum nobis est, quia intueri non decet, quod non licet concupiscere. Ut enim munda mens in cogitatione servetur, a lascivia voluptatis suae deprimendi sunt oculi, quasi quidam raptores ad culpam. Neque enim Eva lignum vetitum contigisset, nisi hoc prius incaute conspiceret. Scriptum quippe est: Vidit mulier, quod bonum esset lignum ad vescendum, & pulchrum oculis, aspectuque delectabile: & tulit de fructu illius, & comedit. Hinc ergo pensandum est, quanto debeamus moderamine erga illicita visum restringere, nos qui mortaliter vivimus, si & mater viventium per oculos ad mortem venit. Hinc etiam sub Iudaeae voce, quae exteriora videndo concupiscens, bona interiora perdiderat Propheta dicit, Oculus meus depraedatus est animam meam. Concupiscendo enim visibilia, invisibiles virtutes amisit. Quae ergo interiorem fructum per...

...the outward sight, lost through the eye of the body the prey of the heart. Whence, for the guarding of the heart's purity, the discipline of the outward senses too must be kept by us. For however great the virtue with which the mind is strong, however great the gravity with which it is vigorous, the carnal senses nevertheless make a kind of childish outward clamor; and unless they are reined in by the weight of inner gravity and by a kind of youthful vigor, they drag the enfeebled mind to fleeting and earthly things. Thus Gregory.¹¹

...exteriorem visam prodidit, per oculum corporis perdidit praedam cordis. Unde nobis ad custodiendam cordis munditiam, exteriorum quoque sensuum disciplina servanda est. Nam quantalibet virtute mens polleat, quantalibet gravitate vigeat: carnales tamen sensus puerile quiddam exterius perstrepunt: & nisi interioris gravitatis pondere, & quasi iuvenili quodam vigore refraenentur, ad fluxa quaeque & terrea mentem enervem trahunt. Sic Gregorius.