Verse 16. To the woman also he said, I will multiply your sorrows and your conceptions; in sorrow you shall bring forth children, and you shall be under the power of the man, and he shall have dominion over you.¹

VERS. 16. Mulieri quoque dixit, Multiplicabo aerumnas tuas, & conceptus tuos, in dolore paries filios, & sub viri potestate eris, & ipse dominabitur tui.

...a contrary [penalty] is rendered — the pain of the womb. In sorrow, he says, you shall bring forth. Third, because she enticed the man to eat by feminine importunity: therefore, Under the power of the man, he says, you shall be, and he shall have dominion over you. Thus, for the seduction, the multiplicity of conceptions; for the delight of gluttony, the pain of the womb; for the rash command and scandal which she exhibited to the man, the penalty of servitude to the man was rendered to her. Thus far from Rupert.³

rius redditur uteri dolor. In dolore, inquit, paries. Tertio, quia virum importunitate muliebri ad comedendum illexit: idcirco Sub viri potestate, inquit, eris, & ipse dominabitur tui. Ita pro seductione, conceptuum multiplicitas: pro gulae oblectamento, uteri dolor: pro temerario imperio & scandalo, quod viro exhibuit, servitutis viri poena ei reddita est. Hactenus ex Ruperto.

'This multiplication,' says Rupert in this place, 'is not of blessing, but of damnation; not of grace, but of wrath; not of clemency, but of vengeance. Whence he did not only say, I will multiply your conceptions, but in addition added, And your sorrows. For a woman is as sorrowful as she is fruitful. After each conception, sorrow torments her; through each birth: her own blood wearies her, inasmuch as she, even when she seems healthy...'⁷

Non est, inquit Rupertus hoc loco, haec multiplicatio benedictionis, sed damnationis: non gratiae, sed irae: non clementiae, sed vindictae. Unde non dixit tantum, Multiplicabo conceptus tuos, sed insuper addidit, Et aerumnas tuas. Mulier quippe quanto foecundior, tanto aerumnosior. Post singulos conceptus, dolor cruciat, per singulos partus: suus eam sanguis fatigat, quippe quae, & cum sana...

'...seems healthy, labors with the menstrual flowers. For woman is the one and only menstruating animal. How great, do you think, is this wrath, how great the vengeance, that so many humans should be conceived or born who exceed the number [of the elect] — who do not pertain to the Lord, or to eternal life, for whom therefore it were better had they not been born? Indeed, had our earth remained in uncorrupted nature, had it not superinduced upon God's blessings the plague of the cursed serpent, it would have germinated only good trees — that is, only good men — and by the abundance of its sap would have produced none of the wild woods, which are born for this, that they be cut down and cast into the fire, because they do not bear fruit. This is the severity of the divine judgment, strong and too terrible, and more to be feared than discussed.' Thus Rupert.⁸

sana videtur, menstruis floribus laborat. Mulier namque unum & solum est menstruum animal. Quanta putas haec ira, quanta est vindicta, concipi vel nasci tot homines, qui numerum excedant: qui ad Dominum, vel ad vitam aeternam non pertineant, quibus proinde melius erat, si nati non fuissent? Nempe, si incorrupta natura nostra terra permansisset, si non Dei benedictionibus pestem maledicti serpentis superinduxisset, solas bonas arbores, id est, solos bonos germinasset homines; & nullum agrestium lignorum, quae ad hoc nata sunt ut excidantur & in ignem mittantur, quia fructum non ferunt, succi eius abundantia produxisset. Haec fortis, atque terribilis nimis, & timenda magis quam discutienda divini iudicij severitas est. Sic Rupertus.

'But the most languor in each sex is when the birth is sprouting hair, and at the full moon — which time especially afflicts also the born infants. If they have drawn breath, they are brought forth with more difficulty; yawning indeed in labor is lethal, as to have sneezed after coitus is abortive.' And in the following chapter: 'It moves to pity, and even to shame, one considering how frivolous is the origin of the proudest of animals, since often the cause of miscarriage is the smell from the extinguishing of lamps.' Thus Pliny. That these words of Pliny are for the most part taken from Aristotle, so that the reader may clearly recognize it, it has pleased [us] to transcribe here the very words of Aristotle, from chapter 4 of book 7 of the History of Animals: 'It comes to pass indeed,' he says, 'that women, from conception, are weighed down in the whole body, and darkenings of the eyes and headaches are stirred up. Which to some happen earlier, and about the tenth day, to others later, according as they are more or less afflicted by superfluous matter. Nausea likewise and vomiting very many take, and especially those whose purgations have ceased. Some labor more at the beginning, others afterward, when the fetus has now grown more fully...'¹⁰

Sed plurimum languoris in utroque sexu, capillum germinante partu, & in plenilunio: quod tempus editos quoque infantes praecipue infestat. Si respiravere, difficilius enituntur: Oscitatio quidem in enixu lethalis est, sicut sternuisse a coitu abortivum. Et capite sequenti: Miseret, atque etiam pudet aestimantem quam sit frivola animalium superbissimi origo, cum plerumque abortus causa fiat odor a lucernarum extinctu. Haec Plinius. Haec Plinij verba, maximam partem, ex Aristotele sumpta esse, ut liquido agnoscat lector, hic ipsa Aristotelis verba ex cap. 4. lib. 7. de Historia animalium transcribere libuit: Evenit profecto, inquit, ut mulieres a conceptu, corpore toto graventur, & oculorum caligines, & dolores capitis moveantur. Quae alijs maturius, & fere die decimo accidunt, alijs serius, pro ut magis minusve ex materia supervacua tentantur. Nausea item & vomitus plurimas capiunt, & praecipue quibus purgationes constiterint. Aliqua principio magis laborant, aliae post cum iam foetus plenius creve...

'...has grown more fully. Often also many are afflicted, toward the last, by a dripping of urine; but for the most part those who carry a male get through more easily, and are less pale. Contrary [is the case of] those who [carry] a female: for they are paler, and pass [the time] more heavily; to many also tumors and swellings of the flesh occur in the legs. Various appetites are wont to come to pregnant women, and to be quickly changed — which some call "picare," from the bird Pica [the magpie]. And indeed, when they carry a fetus of the female sex, they crave more greedily, and can less enjoy the thing now present than they had desired; for they at once loathe what they just vehemently craved...'¹¹

rint. Saepe etiam multas distillatio urinae ad postremum infestat, sed magna ex parte, quae marem ferunt facilius exigunt, minusque pallent. Contra quae foeminam: sunt enim pallidiores, & gravius degunt: Multis etiam tumores, extuberationesque carnis in cruribus incidunt. Solent appetitus varij gravidis evenire, citoque commutari: quod picare quidam a Pica ave denominant. Et nimirum cum foetum sexus foeminei ferunt, avidius appetunt, minusque frui iam re praesenti quam cupierint, possunt: fastidiunt enim statim, quod modo vehementer appe...

'...they craved; but especially then they loathe [food] and grow slower and weary, when the fetus's hair begins to grow. The pain, too, is continuous from a female [fetus], but duller; from a male, sharp and far more troublesome.' These things Aristotle and Pliny have handed down about the troublesome pains and afflictions of pregnant women.¹²

ter appeterent: sed praecipue tum fastidiunt tardioque fatiscunt, cum foetui capillus oriri incipit. Dolor etiam ex foemina continuus, sed obtusior, ex mare acer & longe molestior. Haec Aristoteles atque Plinius de gravidarum mulierum molestis doloribus, aerumnisque prodiderunt.

Now indeed, how foul, how harmful and pestilent is the force and nature of the menstrual blood, which nature prepared as material for forming the fetus — if the reader wishes to know, let him hear the marvels Pliny tells of it (book 7, chapter 15): 'But nothing,' he says, 'could easily be found more monstrous than the flux of women. At its approach new wines turn sour, crops touched become barren, grafts die, the germs of gardens are burnt up, and the fruits of the trees on which they sit fall off; the brightness of mirrors is dimmed by the very sight, the edge of iron is blunted, and the shine of ivory; the hives of bees die; brass and iron rust seizes at once, and a dreadful smell [seizes] the air; and dogs, having tasted it, are driven to madness, and their bite is infected with an incurable poison. Moreover, the nature of bitumen, otherwise clinging and sticky, in the lake of Judea called Asphaltites, floating at a certain time of year, cannot be torn from itself, adhering to every contact, except by a thread which such a virus has infected. They say too that ants, the smallest animal, have a sense of it, and cast away the grains they have tasted, and afterward do not seek them again. And this so great and so much an evil exists in a woman every thirty days, and more abundantly at three-month intervals; but to some more often than once a month, as to some never — but such do not bear children, since this is the material for generating a man, the seed from males glomerating it into itself in the manner of rennet, which then in due time is animated and formed into a body. Therefore, when it has flowed in pregnant women, weak or non-viable births are brought forth, or bloody ones, as Nigidius is the author.' Thus Pliny.¹³

Iam vero sanguinis menstrui, quem ut materiam corporando foetui natura comparavit, quam sit foeda, quam nocens, ac pestilens vis, & natura, si avet lector cognoscere, audiat, quae de eo mira tradit Plinius, cap. 15. lib. 7. Sed nihil, inquit, facile reperiatur mulierum profluvio magis monstrificum. Acescunt superventu musta, sterilescunt tactae fruges, moriuntur insita, exuruntur hortorum germina, & fructus arborum quibus insedere decidunt: speculorum fulgor aspectu ipso hebetatur, acies ferri praestringitur, eborisque nitor, alvei apum emoriuntur: aes etiam ac ferrum rubigo protinus corripit, odorque dirus aera: & in rabiem aguntur gustato eo canes, atque insanabili veneno morsus inficitur. Quin & bituminum sequax alioquin ac lenta natura, in lacu Iudeae qui vocatur Asphaltites, certo tempore anni supernatans, nequit sibi avelli, ad omnem contactum adhaerens, praeterquam filo, quod tale virus infecerit. Etiam formicis, animali minimo, inesse sensum eius ferunt: abijcique gustatas fruges, nec postea repeti. Et hoc tale tantumque omnibus tricenis diebus, malum in muliere existit; & trimestri spatio largius. Quibusdam vero saepius mense, sicut aliquibus nunquam: sed tales non gignunt, quando haec est generando homini materia, semine e maribus coaguli modo hoc in sese glomerante, quod deinde tempore ipso animatur, corporaturque. Ergo cum gravidis fluxit, invalidi aut non vitales partus eduntur, aut sanioli, ut auctor est Nigidius. Haec Plinius.

There follows: In sorrow you shall bring forth children. It is natural for a woman to bring forth children with labor and pain. For the natural passage of the womb is narrower than that a fetus can go out through it: wherefore the barriers of the womb must be vehemently loosened and dilated beyond their natural constitution, which cannot be done without a great sense of pain. Hear Basil, who, explaining those words of Psalm 114, 'The sorrows of death surrounded me, the perils of hell found me,' writes in this manner: 'Sorrows are properly said of women in labor, when the belly, rising to a swelling, pushes the fetus outward; then those genital parts, torn apart, and stretched by convulsions around the fetus coming forth from the womb, and by the contractions of the fibers, generate most acute pains and vehement torments for those giving birth. But David transferred the pains of birth to the penalties of death, threatening about the living being, in the division of soul and body.' Thus Basil.¹⁴

Sequitur, In dolore paries filios. Naturale est mulieri cum labore ac dolore filios parere. Naturalis enim uteri meatus, angustior est, quam ut per eum foetus exire possit: quamobrem claustra uteri, praeter naturalem eius constitutionem vehementer laxari ac dilatari necesse est, quod sine magno doloris sensu fieri non potest. Audi Basilium, qui explanans verba illa Psalmi 114. Circundederunt me dolores mortis, pericula inferni invenerunt me, ad hunc modum scribit: Dolores proprie de parturientibus dicuntur, quando ad tumorem venter insurgens extra foetum pellit: deinde partes illae genitales divexatae, & circum prodeuntem ex utero foetum distenta convulsionibus, ac fibrarum contractionibus acutissimos dolores, & vehementes cruciatus parientibus gignunt. Transtulit autem David dolores partus ad mortis poenas circa animal, in anima & corporis divisione instantes. Sic Basilius.

...to the state of innocence, in which Eve would have been immune and free from such pains, they ought to be reckoned a penalty of sin. But how could it come about that in the state of innocence a woman should bring forth without pain? Augustine answers (book 14 of the City of God, chapter 26): when the fetus in the womb was already mature for birth, it would then come about that the maternal viscera would spontaneously be loosened so far as to afford the fetus a convenient passage without the mother's pain. Thus, for giving birth (says Augustine), not a groan of pain, but the impulse of maturity would relax the feminine viscera — just as, for conceiving, not the appetite of lust, but a voluntary use would join the nature of both spouses. But it must be known that that freedom from pains in birth could not have proceeded from any natural cause, nor from any supernatural power inhering and remaining in the body and members of the woman herself; but as often as it happened, it happened by a new miracle of God's power — although, because it would have been usual and perpetual in that state, it would not have been held for a miracle.¹⁶

bito ad statum innocentiae, in quo ab huiusmodi doloribus immunis & vacua Eva fuisset, peccati poena censeri debent. Sed quomodo fieri potuit, ut in statu innocentiae mulier sine dolore pareret? Respondet Augustinus libro 14. de Civitate Dei, cap. 26. Cum foetus in utero iam partui fuisset maturus, tunc fore, ut materna viscera sponte in tantum laxarentur, ut commodum foetui sine matris dolore transitum praeberent. Sic ad pariendum, ait Augustinus, non doloris gemitus, sed maturitatis impulsus foeminea viscera relaxaret, ut ad concipiendum non libidinis appetitus, sed vel voluntarius usus naturam coniugis utriusque coniungeret. At enim scire oportet, vacuitatem illam dolorum in partu, non tantum non potuisse proficisci ex ulla causa naturali, sed neque ex aliqua virtute supernaturali in corpore & membris ipsius mulieris inhaerente, ac manente esse profectam: verum quotiescumque id fiebat, novo Dei potentiae miraculo fiebat: quanquam quia id fuisset in eo statu usitatum & perpetuum, non fuisset pro miraculo habitum.

But about the pains of women in childbirth, Aristotle writes thus (book 7 of the History of Animals, chapter 9): 'When women give birth, the pains bear indeed upon many parts, but for most upon one or the other thigh. Those in whom the gripings vehemently exercise the belly give birth most swiftly; those who feel pain in the loins give birth with difficulty; those [who feel it in] the lower belly, more easily. If a male is born, a thin, somewhat pale discharge flows; but if a female, a bloody one — yet that too is very moist; but it can also happen to some that theirs is otherwise. To other animals births come not laborious, for they seem to be less troubled when they give birth; but to women most vehement pains occur, and especially to the sedentary and chair-bound, and to those whose sides are not good, nor is the faculty of retaining the breath at hand: they also give birth with more difficulty, if meanwhile, while they retain [the breath] by force, they have forcibly burst forth their breathing. First that water, poured out below, flows out through the motion of the fetus, the membranes being ruptured; then the fetus, the womb being inverted, and the afterbirth loosening the internal parts, comes forth into the light.' Thus Aristotle.¹⁸

De mulierum autem in partu doloribus haec scribit Aristoteles libro 7. de Historia animalium, capite 9. Mulieribus cum parturiunt, dolores multas quidem in partes incumbunt, sed plurimis ad alterutrum femur. Ceterum quibus alvum tormina vehementer exercent, ocyssime pariunt: quae lumbos dolent, vix pariunt: quae imum ventrem, expeditius. Si mas nascitur, profluit sanies diluta pallidiuscula: sed si foemina, cruenta: verum ea quoque praehumida est, sed fieri quoque potest, nonnullis, ut eorum accidat. Ceteris animalibus partus non laboriosi eveniunt, minus enim cum parturiunt, infestari videntur, at mulieribus dolores vehementissimi incidunt, & praecipue stabilibus & sellularijs, & quibus non bona latera sunt, neque facultas retinendi spiritus suppetit: difficilius etiam edunt, si inter ea dum per vim retinent, coacte eruperint respirationem. Primum aqua illa subter autem fusa, per foetus motionem, ruptis membranis effluit: deinde foetus inverso utero, & secundis interna evolluentibus, foras venit in lucem. Haec Aristoteles.

But this passage, on the subjection of the woman under the man's power, must be illustrated by two excellent opinions — one of St. Augustine, and the other of Rupert. In book 11 On Genesis according to the Letter, chapter 27, Augustine has thus: 'It must be seen how that can properly be taken which was said to the woman, And your turning [shall be] to the man, and he shall have dominion over you. For neither before sin is it fitting to believe it was otherwise, than that the man should have dominion over the woman, and she should turn to him by serving. But it can rightly be said that this servitude was signified which is of a certain condition rather than of love — so that even that servitude, by which men afterward began to serve men, is found to have arisen from the penalty of sin. Paul indeed said, Through charity serve one another; but the Apostle does not permit the woman to have dominion over the man: for this the sentence of God rather conferred on the man; and that she should have the husband as lord, not the woman's nature, but her fault, deserved — which, however, unless it be kept, nature will be further depraved, and the fault increased.' Thus Augustine.²³

Verum illustrandus est hic locus de subiectione mulieris, sub viri potestatem duabus egregiis sententiis, una B. Augustini, & altera Ruperti. In libro 11. de Genesi ad litteram, capite 27. sic habet Augustinus: Videndum est quemadmodum proprie possit accipi illud, quod mulieri dictum est, Et ad virum conversio tua, & ipse dominabitur tui. Neque enim & ante peccatum aliter fuisse decet credere, nisi ut vir mulieri dominaretur, & ad eum ipsa serviendo converteretur. Sed recte dici potest, hanc servitutem significatam, quae cuiusdam conditionis est potius quam dilectionis: ut etiam ipsa talis servitus, qua homines hominibus postea servire coeperunt, de poena peccati reperiatur exorta. Dixit quidem Paulus, Per charitatem servite invicem: sed mulierem dominari in virum non permittit Apostolus: hoc enim viro potius Dei sententia detulit, & maritum habere dominum, meruit mulieris non natura, sed culpa: quod tamen nisi servetur, depravabitur amplius natura, & augebitur culpa. Sic Augustinus.

But Rupert, in book 3 On the Works of the Trinity, chapter 21, thinks it is of a graver domination for the wife to be under the man as under a lord, than to be under the man's power. For he writes in this manner: 'But it can still rightly be asked, What that is — for the woman to be under the man's power, and the man to be the woman's lord...'²⁴

Rupertus vero lib. 3. de operibus Trinitatis, cap. 21. putat, gravioris esse dominationis, uxorem esse sub viro tanquam sub domino, quam esse sub viri potestate. Hoc enim modo scribit: Sed adhuc recte quaeri potest, Quid illud sit, mulierem sub viri potestate esse, & virum mulieris Domi...

'...the woman's lord — since he said both, And you shall be under the man's power, and he shall have dominion over you. To this it must be answered, that it is of a stronger domination for the woman to be under a lord than to be under the power of the man. For according to the Roman laws too, the woman is under the man's power before she comes into the hand of the man — under the power of the man, I say, yet not as of a lord, but as of a guardian, so that without his authority she may not make a will. But she who comes into the hand of the man, much more, as long as the man lives, may not make a will without the man; whence the woman who comes into the hand of the man is said to be capite diminuta (diminished in civil status). So much so that among the Gentiles too, who had not read this Scripture, or did not observe the precepts of this true God, this law naturally prevailed, which the Lord of nature imposed, saying to the woman, And you shall be under the power of the man, and he shall have dominion over you.'²⁵

num esse, quoniam utrumque dixit, Et sub viri potestate eris, & ipse dominabitur tui. Ad hoc respondendum, valentioris esse dominationis, mulierem sub Domino, quam sub potestate viri esse. Nam & secundum Romanas leges, sub viri potestate est mulier antequam in manum viri conveniat: sub potestate, inquam, viri verumtamen non tanquam Domini, sed tanquam tutoris, ita ut sine auctoritate eius, testamentum illi facere non liceat. Quae autem in manum viri convenit, multo magis quamdiu vixerit vir, testamentum illi sine viro facere non licebit: unde & capite diminuta dicitur mulier, quae in manum viri convenit. Adeo apud Gentiles quoque, qui hanc Scripturam non legerant vel huius veri Dei praecepta non observabant, haec lex naturaliter valuit, quam Dominus naturae imposuit dicens mulieri, Et sub viri potestate eris, & ipse dominabitur tui.

'Yet certain barbarous nations, as [they confused] other things, so confused this order of nature, that a woman without a head — that is, without her husband — should exercise power and dominion over men. Whence also, in a Roman advocate, a woman defends her cause by saying, among other things: I, a woman, shall not be the first to hold the cities of the Nile; with no distinction of sex, Pharos knows how to bear a queen. But nevertheless it must be called not so much a right or law as a usurpation. Rightly, therefore, he did not only say, You shall be under the power of the man — for a little male boy too is under the power of the man, that is, of a guardian — but added, And he shall have dominion over you: namely, that the woman is never free from under the yoke of the man, but both her age and her condition [is] first under the power of the man as guardian, and then, when she comes into the hand of the man by the lawful tablets of marriage, under the dominion of the man.'²⁶

Quaedam tamen barbarae nationes, sicut cetera ita ut hunc naturae ordinem confuderunt, ut mulier sine capite, id est, sine viro suo super viros ageret potestatem & dominium. Unde & apud Romanum defensorem: mulier causam suam tuetur sic inter alia dicendo: Non urbes prima tenebo Foemina Niliacas: nullo discrimine sexus, Reginam scit ferre Pharos. Verumtamen non tam ius aut lex, quam usurpatio dicenda est. Recte ergo non tantum dixit, Sub viri potestate eris: nam & puerulus masculus sub viri, id est, tutoris potestate est: sed addidit, Et ipse dominabitur tui: scilicet, ut nunquam mulier libera sit de sub iugo viri, sed eius tam aetas quam conditio primum sub potestate viri tutoris, & deinde cum in manum viri per legitimas coniugij tabulas venerit, sub Dominio viri sit.

'But to chaste and faithful women, benevolence makes this third penalty null, or very light; and it not only does not harm, but is even a matter of praise. Wherefore Peter the Apostle too, exhorting women to spontaneous subjection, says, Likewise let women also be subject to their own husbands. For so also, sometimes, holy women, hoping in God, adorned themselves, subject to their own husbands, as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord,' etc. Thus Rupert.²⁷

Verum castis & fidelibus mulieribus, hanc tertiam poenam benevolentia nullam, aut levissimam efficit. Et non solum non obest, sed etiam laudi est. Propter quod & Petrus Apostolus mulieres ad subiectionem spontaneam cohortans dicit, Similiter & mulieres subditae sint viris suis. Sic enim aliquando & sanctae mulieres sperantes in Deo ornabant se subiectae proprijs viris, sicut Sara obediebat Abrahae, Dominum eum vocans, &c. Ita Rupertus.