Verse 15. I will put enmities between you and the woman, and your seed and her seed.¹

VERS. 15. Inimicitias ponam inter te & mulierem, & semen tuum & semen illius.

Upon these words Rupert, in book 3 On the Trinity and its works, chapter 19, disputes excellently in this manner: 'In this do enmities differ from frauds, that frauds pretend the peaceful surface of speech, or of any thing; but enmities have a manifest intention of contrariety. Now it is clear that the crafty devil, in the serpent, met the woman not as an armed adversary, but joined himself to her side on the way as a faithful counselor. When, therefore, God says, I will put enmities between you and the woman, he certainly promises a great work of his grace: that the victorious devil, who had conquered by fraud, this woman — [though herself] conquered — should one day conquer by fortitude. Moreover, these enmities are to be exercised not through the woman herself, but through her seed, and to be carried through to victory. Accordingly, when he had said, I will put enmities between you and the woman, he at once added, And your seed and her seed. For of what seed are these things said, but of the one who is Christ? For he alone is so the seed of the woman that not...'²

Super his verbis Rupertus, libro 3. de Trinitate & operibus eius, cap. 19. egregie ad hunc modum disputat: Hoc a fraudibus inimicitiae differunt, quod fraudes pacatam sermonis vel cuiuslibet rei praetendunt superficiem: inimicitiae vero manifestam contrarietatis habent intentionem. Constat autem, quod subdolus diabolus in serpente mulieri non tanquam armatus adversarius occurrit, sed tanquam fidus consiliarius lateri eius in via sese adiunxit. Cum igitur dicit Deus; Ponam inimicitias inter te & mulierem, profecto magnum gratiae suae opus promittit, quod victorem diabolum qui vicerat fraude, victa hunc mulier vincere quandoque debeat fortitudine. Porro hae inimicitiae non per ipsam mulierem, sed per semen illius exercendae, & usque ad victoriam perducendae sunt. Proinde cum dixisset, Inimicitias ponam inter te, & mulierem, continuo subiunxit, Et semen tuum, & semen illius. Quo enim de semine haec dicuntur, nisi de uno qui est Christus? Ipse namque solus ita semen mulieris est ut non...

'...is not also the seed of the man: wherefore it is a right addition, since it was said by the Lord God, I will put enmities between you and the woman, and her seed — where Christ is understood. For he plainly exercised himself strongly with that ancient serpent, and was never in anything consenting to him. Whence he was freer and more unencumbered: girded with a sword upon his thigh, most powerful, comely, and beautiful, he aimed prosperously, proceeded, and reigned; and crushed and wounded the public enemy brought forth before his feet, according to the Psalmist saying, You have humbled the proud one as one wounded, in the strength of your arm. Then was fulfilled to the woman, in that her seed, what had here been foretold: She shall crush your head. Whence in another Psalm the prophet says, You have crushed the heads of the dragons in the waters, and you have broken the heads of the dragon.'³

non etiam viri semen sit: quare recta additio est, cum dictum sit a Domino Deo, Inimicitias ponam inter te & mulierem, & semen illius, subauditur Christus. Nam hic plane cum illo antiquo serpente fortiter sese exercuit, nec unquam illi in aliquo consentiens fuit. Unde & liberior atque expeditior fuit, accinctus gladio super femur suum potentissimus, speciosus, & pulcher intendit prospere, processit, & regnavit: hostemque publicum ante pedes suos productum contrivit, & vulneravit, iuxta Psalmistam dicentem: Tu humiliasti sicut vulneratum superbum, in virtute brachij tui. Tunc adimpletum est mulieri in isto semine suo, quod hic fuerat praedictum: Ipsa conteret caput tuum. Unde in alio Psalmo propheta dicit, Tu contribulasti capita draconum in aquis, & tu confregisti capita draconis.

'Who of us all — whoever we are, the mingled seed of man and woman alike — will boast that he has whole enmities with that deceiver? Were we not all rather enemies of God, except that through this one seed of one woman we were reconciled? Therefore, according to his grace, we are now sons or friends of God, and have enmities with that dragon; but according to ourselves, or according to our first parents, we were partners and consenters in his rebellion, and not yet, with perfect faith, have we spat out his adulterous blandishments. For as often as we are drawn to some sin, he first flatters us with the head, then delights us with the belly, and finally binds us with the tail: because, namely, all his temptation is completed in three ways — by suggestion, by delight, by consent. Amid these, doubtless, we by no means have true enmities against him. Most certainly, therefore, here is promised the seed of the woman, which is Christ, through whom the same sex which was deceived crushed the whole head of the deceiver: sometimes for the destruction of sin, the blessed Virgin, without sin, brought forth to the world this new and heavenly man. And you, he says, shall lie in wait for his heel — that is, you shall thrust yourself in at the end of his life. You shall lie in wait, he says, but you shall not be able also to bite. This may plainly be understood, which the same son of the woman evidently establishes with other words, when, about soon to be led to the passion, he says, For the prince of this world comes, and in me he has nothing.'⁴

Quis omnium nostrum quicumque viri pariter ac mulieris commixtum semen sumus, inimicitias cum isto deceptore integras se habere gloriabitur? Nonne omnes Dei potius inimici fuimus, nisi quia per hoc unicum unius mulieris semen reconciliati sumus? Ergo secundum illius quidem gratiam, nunc filij vel amici Dei sumus, & cum isto dracone inimicitias habemus: secundum nos ipsos autem, vel secundum primos parentes nostros, socij & consentanei rebellionis eius fuimus, & necdum perfecta fide adulterinas eius blandicias respuimus. Nam quoties ad aliquod peccatum pertrahimur, ille primum nobis capite blanditur, deinde nos ventre oblectat, tandemque cauda ligat: quia videlicet tribus modis omnis eius tentatio perficitur, suggestione, delectatione, consensu. Inter haec proculdubio nequaquam veras contra illam inimicitias habemus. Certissime igitur hic illius semen mulieris promittitur, quod est Christus, per quod sexus idem, qui deceptus est, deceptoris caput omne contrivit, aliquando ad destructionem peccati, beata Virgo sine peccato novum hunc & coelestem hominem mundo edidit. Et tu, inquit, insidiaberis calcaneo eius, id est, ingeres te in extremis vitae illius. Insidiaberis, inquit, sed non etiam mordere poteris. Hoc plane licet subaudiri, quod verbis alijs idem filius mulieris evidenter astruit, dum mox ducendus ad passionem dicit, Venit enim princeps mundi huius, & in me non habet quicquam.

Treating the same words, Rupert (book 2, On the Victory of the Word of God, chapter 16): 'What first,' he says, 'in this word does gracious faith merit? what does it especially praise? The truth of the Word, or the goodness of his Father? Let it praise both, let it desire to proclaim both worthily, because he truly spoke thus in goodness: his speech was fulfilled with great and constant truth. I will put enmities, he says, between you and the woman — as if he said: Now the woman and the man at once are allied with you, and have made a pact with you, and struck a covenant with death; inasmuch as, fugitives from my face and hidden, when they are sought by me why they did this, they despise the voice of the one warning, and by defending their sin they make plain that they favor you, that, consenting to you, they are your friends. But I will dissolve friendships of this kind: I will put enmities between you and the woman. Why did he not say this to the woman herself? For he could, where he said to the woman, I will multiply your sorrows and your conceptions, etc., have said this very thing thus to her: I will put enmities between you and the serpent, and your seed and her seed. Why, then, did he not say it? Doubtless for a double reason: first, because on account of...'⁵

Eadem verba tractans Rupertus lib. 2. de victoria verbi Dei, cap. 16. Quid primum, ait, in verbo hoc gratiosa fides meretur? quid potissimum collaudat? Verbi veritatem, an Patris eius bonitatem? Utrumque collaudet, utrumque digne praedicare desideret, quia vere bonitate sic elocutus est: magna & constanti veritate locutio eius adimpleta est, Inimicicias, inquit, ponam inter te, & mulierem: tanquam diceret, Nunc mulier simul & vir tibi foederati sunt, tecumque fecerunt pactum, & cum morte foedus percusserunt: utpote quia a facie mea profugi atque absconditi, dum requiruntur a me, quare hoc fecerint, contemnunt vocem commonentis: & defendendo peccatum suum, palam faciunt, quia tibi favent, tibi consentientes, tui amici sunt. Ego autem huiusmodi amicitias dissolvam: inter te, & mulierem inimicitias ponam. Cur hoc ad ipsam mulierem non dixit? Poterat namque, ubi dixit mulieri: Multiplicabo aerumnas tuas, & conceptus tuos, &c. hoc ipsum sic ad eandem dicere, inimicitias ponam inter te, & serpentem, & semen tuum & semen illius. Cur ergo non dixit? Nimirum duplicem ob causam primum, quia propter...

'...on account of sin, and the defense of sin, the woman did not merit this, that God should then make such promises to her — promises of so great grace. Then, because he who spoke intended not Eve herself, but another person of the same sex, namely the Blessed Virgin Mary. Rightly, therefore, the promise of helping grace was made not to the ill-deserving woman, but rather a hostile and warlike threat was made to the serpent. But what did God testify by this saying, except that he willed to remain in his own purpose? For the serpent lay in wait, that it might not come to pass which God had proposed by saying, Let us make man to our image and likeness. He boasted to have conquered, and to have thwarted this purpose: but God, having in his power the victory of that same purpose, threatened the serpent.'⁶

propter peccatum, & peccati defensionem hoc mulier non merebatur, ut iam tunc ad eam promissiones tales, promissiones tantae gratiae faceret Deus. Deinde, quia non ad ipsam Evam, sed ad alteram eiusdem sexus personam, videlicet ad B. Virginem Mariam intendebat ipse, qui loquebatur. Recte igitur non ad mulierem male meritam facta est auxiliatricis gratiae promissio, sed potius ad serpentem hostilis & bellica comminatio. Quid autem hoc dicto Deus, nisi semetipsum in proposito suo manere velle testabatur? Serpens namque insidiabatur, ne fieret, quod proposuerat Deus dicendo: Faciamus hominem ad imaginem & similitudinem nostram. Vicisse, & hoc propositum se avertisse gloriabatur: Deus autem eiusdem propositi sui victoriam in potestate habens, serpenti comminabatur.

The same [author], in the following chapter: 'Indeed,' he says, 'principally the Blessed Virgin Mary is that woman, between whom and the serpent God said he would put enmities, and did put them; and her seed is her own son Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, because "woman" is the universal name of the female sex, by "woman" we understand all the elect persons of the male sex too — of all of whom, namely persons of each sex, Jesus Christ, together with the same woman from whom he was made, is prince and head. But if a reason is sought why by the seed of the woman persons of the male sex ought to be understood: those who have written of natures say that from the paternal seed girls are born, and from the maternal, boys; and because every birth consists of a double seed, whichever part prevails takes possession of the likeness of the sex. Therefore, when he says, I will put enmities between you and the woman, and your seed and her seed: by "the woman and her seed" we understand all the elect, both of female and of male sex. And on the contrary, as by the serpent the devil, so also by the seed of the serpent all wicked and malign men, his imitators, are rightly understood, although he begot or created no one. For if wicked and impious men were not the seed of the serpent — that is, of the devil — the Lord would by no means say to the Jews, And you do what you have seen with your father; and again, You do the works of your father — clearly wishing the devil to be understood: for immediately in the same discourse it follows, You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. Of those who are so constantly called the seed of the serpent — that is, sons of the devil — the cause that they should be born was sin, God saying, after she sinned in consenting to the devil, I will multiply your sorrows and your conceptions. But of those who are understood by the seed of the woman, the cause that they should be born was the blessing of God, by which before the transgression he blessed the first humans, as it is written, Male and female he created them, blessed them, and said: Increase and multiply.' Thus far the words of Rupert.⁷

Idem capite sequenti. Equidem, inquit, principaliter B. Virgo Maria mulier illa est, inter quam & serpentem inimicitias positurum se dixit, & posuit Deus, & semen illius, filius est ipsius Iesus Christus. Verumtamen quoniam mulier universale foeminei sexus nomen est, omnes per mulierem, intelligimus personas electas virilis sexus, quarum omnium, videlicet personarum utriusque sexus, Iesus Christus cum eadem ex qua factus est muliere princeps & caput est. Quod si ratio quaeritur, cur per semen mulieris, personae intelligi debeant sexus virilis: aiunt, qui de naturis scripserunt, ex paterno semine puellas, & ex materno pueros nasci: & quia duplici semine constat omnis partus, cuius maior pars invaluerit, occupat similitudinem sexus. Igitur cum dicit, Inimicitias ponam inter te, & mulierem, & semen tuum, & semen illius: omnes electos tam foeminei, quam virilis sexus, per mulierem & semen illius intelligimus. Et e contrario sicut per serpentem diabolus, ita & per semen serpentis, omnes iniqui & maligni homines imitatores eius recte intelliguntur, licet neminem genuerit, aut creaverit ille. Nam si iniqui & impij homines, serpentis, id est, diaboli semen non essent, nequaquam Dominus diceret Iudaeis, Et vos quae vidistis apud patrem vestrum, facitis: Itemque, Vos facitis opera patris vestri: profecto diabolum volens intelligi: sequitur enim protinus in eodem sermone, Vos ex patre diabolo estis, & desideria patris vestri vultis facere. Eorum qui tam constanter dicuntur semen serpentis, id est, filij diaboli, causa ut nascerentur, peccatum extitit, dicente Deo, postquam peccavit consentiens diabolo, Multiplicabo aerumnas tuas, & conceptus tuos. Porro illorum qui intelliguntur per semen mulieris, causa ut nascerentur extitit benedictio Dei, qua ante praevaricationem primis hominibus benedixit, sicut scriptum est, Masculum & foeminam creavit eos, benedixit, & ait: Crescite & multiplicamini. Hucusque sunt verba Ruperti.

But the cause why God put enmities between man and the devil, St. Basil treats excellently in the homily entitled That God is not the author of evils, writing in this manner: 'You ask whence the devil has war against us? Because, since he himself was the storehouse of all evil, he received the disease of envy, and envied us the honor conferred [on us], and did not easily bear that we should lead a blessed life in Paradise. Wherefore, attacking man with wiles — with the same desire of ambition which he himself had from the beginning, to wish to be like God — using this again to deceive us, he showed the tree, through the tasting of which...'⁸

Causam vero cur Deus inimicitias posuerit inter hominem & diabolum, egregie tractat S. Basilius in homilia, quae inscribitur, Quod Deus non sit auctor malorum, hoc modo scribens: Quaeris unde diabolo sit contra nos bellum? Quoniam, cum omnis ipse mali promptuarium existeret: invidiae quique morbum ipse recepit, & invidit nobis illatum honorem, nec facile tulit vitam in Paradiso beatam ducere. Quamobrem dolis hominem aggressus, eadem ambitionis cupiditate quam ipse ab initio habuit, velle similem esse Deo: hac rursus ad decipiendum nos usus, lignum ostendit, per cuius degusta...

'...he promised that man would be like God: If you eat, he says, you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil. Not, therefore, was he constituted our enemy by God, but he himself from envy opposed himself to us. For, noticing that he had been expelled from the orders of Angels, he did not bear that an earthly creature should be exalted to the dignity of the Angels through the advance of virtue. Since, therefore, he became an enemy, God put an enmity against him for us: as he said to the serpent, which that evil one had abused — but so that he referred the threats to the serpent [the devil] — I will put enmities between you and her seed. For truly harmful are the friendships which are contracted with malice. For this is the law and force of such friendship, that it brings malice, through likeness, to those joined [in it]. Wherefore the proverb rightly says, Evil communications corrupt good manners. For just as in pestilent places the air, gradually drawn in, injects a hidden disease into bodies, so likewise in evil habit and conversation the greatest evils are drawn into us, even if the harm is not immediately felt. Therefore an irreconcilable enmity has been implanted in us against the serpent. But if this instrument [the serpent] is worthy of so great a hatred, how much more must we oppose him who drove the serpent [to it]?' Thus Basil.⁹

tionem pollicitus est hominem similem fore Deo: Si comederitis, inquit, eritis velut Dii, malum ac bonum cognoscentes, non inimicus igitur nobis a Deo constitutus est, sed ipse ex invidia sese nobis opposuit. Animadvertens enim se ex Angelorum ordinibus expulsum, non tulit, terrenam creaturam ad Angelorum dignitatem per virtutis profectum exaltari. Quoniam itaque inimicus est factus, inimicitiam nobis Deus erga illum indidit: ut serpenti, quo ille malus abusus fuerat, dixit, sed ita ut minas ad serpentem referret, Inimicitias ponam inter te, & inter semen illius. Revera namque noxiae sunt amicitiae, quae cum malitia contrahuntur. Nam ea est amicitiae huius lex & vis, ut per similitudinem malitiam coniunctis inferat. Quamobrem recte proverbium dicit, Corrumpunt bonos mores colloquia prava. Quemadmodum enim in pestilentibus locis sensim attractus aer, latentem corporibus morbum inijcit: sic item in prava consuetudine ac conversatione, maxima nobis mala hauriuntur, etiam si statim incommodum non sentiatur. Idcirco nobis adversus serpentem irreconciliabilis indita est inimicitia. Si autem instrumentum hoc, tanto dignum odio est, quanto magis illi nos qui serpentem adegit, adversari oportebit? Haec Basilius.