LatineEnglish
Verse 10. I heard your voice, Lord, in Paradise, and I feared, because I was naked, and I hid myself.1
VERS. 10. Vocem tuam Domine audivi in Paradiso, & timui, eo quod nudus essem, & abscondi me.
Dicet aliquis, Nonne priusquam audisset vocem Dei Adamus, iam subligaculis ficulneis pudenda contexerat? quomodo igitur dixit se Dei voce commotum ac perculsum, eo quod nudus esset, timuisse, ac se abscondisse? Respondent quidam, Adamum non se operuisse, nisi postquam audivit Dei vocem. Sed hoc manifeste adversatur contextui verborum Mosis, & ordini narrationis, quae habet, statim post admissum scelus, Adamum conspecta nuditate sua operuisse eam. Deinde, si cum Adamus Dei vocem audivit, nudus erat; profecto eius adventu & praesentia perterritus, non potuisset subligacula sibi conficere, partim ob temporis angustias, partim nimia perturbatione animi, & terrore consternatus. Ergo dicendum est, Adamum opertis etiam pudendis erubuisse in conspectum Dei venire; tum quod cetero corpore nudus esset; tum quod erubesceret apparere coram Deo nudus, sicut prius solebat ante peccatum commissum, itaque verecundabatur coram Deo ob eam rem, propter quam sibi nuditatem corporis velandam iudicaverat.
Someone will say: Had not Adam already covered his shameful parts with fig-leaf loincloths before he heard God's voice? How, then, did he say that he, moved and struck by God's voice, feared because he was naked, and hid himself? Some respond that Adam did not cover himself until after he heard God's voice. But this manifestly contradicts the context of Moses's words and the order of the narration, which has it that immediately after the crime was committed, Adam, his nakedness being perceived, covered it. Then, if when Adam heard God's voice he was naked, surely, terrified by his coming and presence, he could not have made himself loincloths — partly because of the shortness of the time, partly dismayed by the excessive perturbation of mind and by terror. Therefore it must be said that Adam, even with his shameful parts covered, blushed to come into God's sight; both because he was naked in the rest of his body, and because he blushed to appear before God naked, as he formerly used to before the sin was committed; and so he was ashamed before God on account of that very thing, for the sake of which he had judged that the nakedness of his body must be veiled.2
Quod autem causam timoris sui Adamus non assignat peccato suo, sed nuditati corporis, satis indicavit se nondum flagitij sui gravitatem agnovisse: scilicet propter eam magis erubescere, ac dolere, quam propter corporis nuditatem debebat. Sic usu venit, ut homines de factis a se sceleribus angantur, non tam propter Dei offensam, aut coelestium bonorum amissionem, quam propter incommoda, & mala fortunae aut corporis, quae illis ex peccato acciderunt: exempli causa, propter publicum dedecus, vel infamiam; propter offensionem hominum, apud quos gratiosi esse cupiunt; denique propter detrimentum rei familiaris, aut damnum aliquod corporis.
But that Adam assigns the cause of his fear not to his sin, but to the nakedness of his body, sufficiently indicated that he had not yet recognized the gravity of his crime — namely, that he ought to blush and grieve more on account of that [sin] than on account of the nakedness of his body. So it happens by experience, that men are anguished about the crimes done by them, not so much on account of God's offense, or the loss of the heavenly goods, as on account of the inconveniences and evils of fortune or of the body that befell them from sin: for example, on account of public disgrace or infamy; on account of the offense of men, among whom they wish to be in favor; finally, on account of the detriment of the family estate, or some harm of the body.3
Translator’s notes
- New lemma: Genesis 3:10 (set off by a horizontal rule). Running head misprinted '670' (= true 680 minus 10); true printed page 680. ↩
- How could Adam fear his nakedness if he was already covered? Not (as some say) that he covered himself only after hearing God's voice — that contradicts Moses's order, and terror would have prevented it. Rather: even covered, he blushed to appear before God as he never had before the sin. Marginal gloss: 'Adamus cur nudus in Dei conspectum venire ausus non fuerit.' ↩
- By assigning his fear to his nakedness rather than his sin, Adam showed he had not yet grasped the sin's gravity — as men commonly grieve more over worldly harms (disgrace, loss of favor, estate, bodily harm) than over God's offense. ↩