GENESIS, chapter 3, verse 7. And when they knew that they were naked, they sewed fig leaves, and made themselves aprons.¹

GEN. cap. 3. VERS. 7. Cumque cognovissent se esse nudos, consuerunt folia ficus, & fecerunt sibi perizomata.

'...drawn away. Why, you ask, were garments not prepared for them at once from the beginning? Because it was fitting that these be neither natural nor produced by art. For natural coverings are proper to the brutes — such as feather, bristle, the thicknesses of skins, which both resist cold and bear heat, in which one does not differ from another, the nature being equal in all. But to man, according to the proportion of his charity toward God, the distribution of goods was fitting. But works that come from art generate toil, which, as most harmful to man, was to be avoided. Wherefore God, recalling us to the life of Paradise, tries to pluck cares from our living, saying, Be not solicitous for your soul what you shall eat, or for your body what you shall put on. Therefore it was fitting for him neither from nature nor from art; but other things were prepared, if man had kept virtue: marks which, by the grace of God, were to make him resplendent — as it were certain splendors, such as those of the Angels, which would surpass all the variety of flowers and all the brightness of the stars. For this cause, then, garments were not at once provided him, since the rewards of virtue were stored up in those things, which the diabolical force of temptation did not permit him to attain.' Thus Basil.³

...stractus est. Cur, inquis, non statim eis ab initio amictus sunt praeparati? Quoniam haec nec naturalia esse, neque ex arte decebat. Nam naturalia propria sunt brutorum, ut penna, seta, pellium crassitudines, quae & rigoribus resistunt, & aestus ferunt, in quibus nihil alterum ab altero distat, aequali omnibus natura existente. Homini autem secundum proportionem in Deum charitatis, bonorum distributio conveniebat. Quae vero ex arte sunt opera, negotium generant: quod ut maxime homini noxium, vitandum erat. Quamobrem Deus nos ad Paradisum vitam revocans, ex animalibus nostris curas evellere conatur dicens, Nolite anima vestra cogitare quid edatis, aut corpori quid induamini. Neque igitur ei ex natura, neque ex arte conveniebat, sed alia parata erant, si virtutem custodivisset homo, insignia, quae ex gratia Dei erant illum illustratura, utpote fulgores quidam, quales sunt Angelorum, qui omnem florum varietatem, omnem astrorum claritatem superarent. Hac igitur de causa non vestes ei statim praebita, quoniam virtutis praemia in illis reposita erant, quae consequi vis diabolica tentationis non permisit. Haec Basilius.

To the explanation of the same words pertain those words of Ambrose, which are in chapter 13 of his book On Paradise: 'And before,' he says, 'they were naked, but not without the coverings of the virtues. They were naked because of the simplicity of their manners, and because nature knew no garment of deceit. But now the human mind is veiled with many wrappings of dissimulation. Therefore, after they saw themselves, with nature whole and uncorrupted, stripped of that sincerity and simplicity, they began to seek worldly and manufactured things with which to cover the nakedness of their mind — sewing delights to delights, and the shadowy pleasures of this world like leaves to leaves, with which to overshadow the genital secret. For how did Adam have the eyes of his body closed, who saw all living things so as to impose a name upon them? How then did they know — that is, by an interior and higher knowledge — that not a tunic, but the veils of the virtues, were lacking to them?' Thus Ambrose.⁴

Ad explanationem eorumdem verborum spectant verba illa Ambrosij, quae sunt in 13. capite libri eius de Paradiso. Et antea, inquit, nudi erant, sed non sine virtutum integumentis. Nudi erant propter morum simplicitatem, & quod amictum fraudis natura nesciret: Nunc autem multis simulationum involucris mens humana velatur. Ergo postquam spoliatos se illa sinceritate & simplicitate viderunt integra incorruptaque natura, quaerere mundana & manufacta coeperunt, quibus nuda sua mentis operirent, delectationes delectationibus, & mundi huius umbratiles voluptates velut folia folijs assuentes, quibus obumbrarent genitale secretum. Nam quomodo clausos oculos corporis habuit Adam, qui omnia animantia ita vidit ut his & nomen imponeret: Quomodo cognoverunt, id est, interiore, & altiore scientia, non tunicam sibi, sed virtutum deesse velamina. Sic Ambrosius.

...like a hairshirt, Adam would have worn perpetually for the sake of humility and penitence, had not the Lord, who is merciful and sweet and benign, given them, in place of the rough fig-garment, tunics of skin — namely, a more useful and softer covering. The words of Irenaeus in chapter 37 of book 3 Against Heresies are these: 'By the girdle which Adam put about himself, he showed by the very deed his penitence, covering himself with fig leaves, though there were many other leaves which could have vexed his body less. Yet, terrified by the fear of God, he made a covering befitting his disobedience, and blunting the wanton impulse of the flesh; because he had lost his disposition and childlike sense, and had come into a worse thinking. He put a bridle of continence about himself and his wife, fearing God and awaiting his coming, and signifying as it were something of this kind: Since (he says) the stole which I had from the Spirit of holiness I have lost through disobedience, and now I recognize that I am worthy of such a covering, which affords indeed no delight, but bites and pricks the body. And he would indeed have kept this garment forever, humbling himself, had not the Lord, who is merciful, clothed them with tunics of skin instead of fig leaves.' Thus Irenaeus.⁷

quam cilicium perpetuo Adamus humilitatis & poenitentiae causa gestasset, nisi Dominus, qui est misericors, & suavis, & benignus, pro aspero indumento ficulneo, tunicas pelliceas, utiliorem nempe ac molliorem amictum eis dedisset. Verba Irenaei in cap. 37. lib. 3. adversus haereses haec sunt: Per succinctorium, quod sibi Adamus circumdedit, ipso facto ostendit suam poenitentiam, foliis ficulneis semetipsum contegens, existentibus & aliis foliis multis, quae minus corpus eius vexare potuissent: condignum tamen inobedientiae amictum fecit conterritus timore Dei, & retundens petulantem carnis impetum: quoniam indolem & puerilem amiserat sensum, & in cogitationem peiorem venerat. frenum continentiae sibi & uxori suae circundedit, timens Deum, & adventum eius expectans, & velut tale quid significans. Quoniam, inquit, quam habui a spiritu sanctitatis stolam amisi per inobedientiam, & nunc cognosco quoniam sim dignus tali tegumento, quod delectationem quidem nullam praestat: mordet autem & pungit corpus. Et hoc videlicet semper habuisset indumentum, humilians semetipsum, nisi Dominus, qui est misericors, tunicas pelliceas pro folijs ficulneis induisset eos. Sic Irenaeus.

Excellent is the mystical interpretation of this passage in Ambrose, which I have thought it wrong not to set down here. Thus he says in his book On Paradise, chapter 13: 'And they sewed fig leaves and made themselves girdles. For what species we ought to take the fig here, the series of the divine readings teaches us. Since Scripture has recorded that they are holy who rest under the vine and the fig; and Paul said, Who plants a fig, and does not eat of its fruit? And the Lord came to the fig, but was offended because he found no fruit, but only leaves. Adam, therefore, teaches me what leaves are, who, after he sinned, made himself a girdle from fig leaves — he who ought rather to have tasted of its fruits. The just man chooses the fruit, the sinner the leaves. What is the fruit? The fruit, says the Spirit, is charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, modesty, continence, love. He had not the fruit, who had not joy. He had not faith, who had transgressed God's command. He had not continence, who had tasted of the tree forbidden him. Therefore whoever transgresses God's command is despoiled and made naked, and becomes base to himself. He wishes to cover himself with certain fig leaves — perhaps with certain empty and shadowy speeches, which, sewing together with composed lies, and building word upon word, [he weaves] to cover...'⁹

Praeclara est apud Ambrosium huius loci mystica interpretatio, quam hic non adscribere nefas duxi. Sic ille ait in libro de Paradiso, cap. 13. Et assuerunt folia ficus & fecerunt sibi succinctoria. Ficum hoc loco, pro qua specie debeamus accipere divinarum nos docet series lectionum. Quandoquidem sanctos esse qui sub vite & ficu requiescunt, Scriptura memoraverit: & Paulus dixerit, Quis plantat ficum, & de fructu eius non manducat? Et Dominus ad ficum venerit, sed ideo sit offensus quod non invenerit fructum, sed folia tantum. Docet ergo me Adam quid sint folia, qui posteaquam peccavit, de folijs ficus fecerit sibi succinctorium, qui de fructibus magis eius gustare debuerit. Iustus fructum eligit, folia peccator. Quis est fructus? Fructus, inquit spiritus, est charitas, gaudium, pax, patientia, benignitas, modestia, continentia, dilectio. Non habebat fructum, qui gaudium non habebat. Non habebat fidem, qui praevaricatus erat mandatum Dei. Non habebat continentiam, qui de interdicto sibi gustaverat ligno. Ergo quicumque praevaricatur mandatum Dei, spoliatur atque nudatur, & fit ipse sibi turpis. Vult se operire quibusdam ficus foliis, fortassis quibusdam inanibus & umbratilibus sermonibus, quos compositis mendacijs assuens, & verbum de verbo struens, ad operi...

'...to cover the conscience of his mind, the sinner weaves a veil for the deed, that he may cover his shame. For he casts leaves against himself, who, desiring to veil his fault, either names the devil as the author of the offense, or pretends the enticements of the flesh, or betrays some other persuader of his error. And from the divine Scriptures he frequently puts forward examples by which he alleges that the just fell into fault, saying — if perchance he be caught in debaucheries — And Abraham lay with the handmaid, and David loved another man's wife, and took her to himself as wife. For certain examples from the series of the prophetic Scriptures were at hand to him; he does not think their fruit should be sought. Do not the Hebrews too seem to you to sew leaves, while they interpret the words of the spiritual law carnally? Whose interpretation loses all the fruit of its greenness, condemned by the curse of eternal dryness. The good interpretation, therefore — that is, the spiritual fig — is fruitful, under which the just and holy rest. Whoever plants it in the souls of individuals (as Paul says, I planted, Apollo watered, etc.) shall eat fruit from it. But a bad interpretation cannot bear fruit, cannot keep its greenness. What therefore is more grievous, Adam girded himself with this interpretation in that place where he ought rather to have girded himself with the fruit of chastity. For in the loins, with which we are girded, certain seeds of generation are said to be. And therefore Adam was ill girded there with useless leaves, where he signified not the future fruit of generation, but certain sins, which remained until the coming of the Lord and Savior. But after the Lord came, he found the fig untilled, and, being asked not to order it cut down, he permitted that it be tilled. And therefore now we are girded not with leaves, but with the divine word, since the Lord himself says, Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning, etc. Whence he also forbids carrying money in our girdles: for our girdle ought to keep not secular things, but eternal.' Thus Ambrose.¹⁰

riendam conscientiam suae mentis, factique velamen peccator intexit, ut pudenda sua contegat. Iacit enim contra se folia, qui culpam velare desiderans, aut diabolum delicti memorat auctorem aut carnis praetendit illecebras, aut alium quempiam persuasorem prodit erroris. Et de Scripturis divinis frequenter ponit exempla, quibus iustos in culpam perhibet incidisse, dicens, si forte in stupris fuerit deprehensus. Et Abraham cum ancilla concubuit, & David alienam adamavit, & sibi asciuit uxorem. Affuit enim sibi quaedam exempla de propheticarum serie Scripturarum, fructum earum non putat requirendum. Nonne tibi videntur etiam Hebraei folia assuere, dum legis spiritalis verba corporaliter interpretantur? Quorum interpretatio fructum omnem viriditatis amittit, damnata maledicto ariditatis aeternae. Bona igitur interpretatio, hoc est, spiritualis ficus est fructuosa, sub qua iusti sanctique requiescunt. Quam qui plantaverit in animis singulorum, sicut Paulus ait, Ego plantavi, Apollo rigavit, &c. manducabit ex ea fructum. Mala autem interpretatio fructum ferre, viriditatem servare non poterit. Quod igitur gravius est, hac se Adam interpretatione succinxit eo loco, ubi fructu magis castitatis se succingere debuisset. In lumbis enim quibus praecingimur, quaedam semina generationis esse dicuntur. Et ideo male ibi succinctus est Adam folijs inutilibus, ubi futura generationis non fructum futurum, sed quaedam peccata signaret, quae manserunt usque in adventum Domini Salvatoris. Ceterum posteaquam Dominus advenit, ficum invenit incultam, rogatus ne eam iuberet excidi, ut coleretur permisit. Et ideo iam non folijs, sed divino succingimur sermone, quia ipse Dominus ait, Sint lumbi vestri praecincti, & lucernae ardentes, &c. unde etiam pecuniam in zonis nostris portare prohibet: non enim secularia, sed aeterna debet zona nostra servare. Haec Ambrosius.