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QUESTION II. Whether by those words is signified the situation of paradise under the equator and the torrid zone.1
QUAESTIO II. An illis verbis significetur situs paradisi sub aequinoctiali & Zona torrida.
Existimant nonnulli Mosem his verbis significare voluisse situm Paradisi: qui erat sub Aequinoctiali: ante ipsum enim fuisse Zonam torridam, quae metaphoricis verbis hoc loco describitur a Mose. Flammeus enim gladius insinuat flagrantissimum aestum Zonae torridae, ad similitudinem gladii eo accedentes ferientem, qui propterea nominatur versatilis, ut denotetur perpetua Solis conversio super Zonam torridam, unde magnitudo illius aestus efficitur. Illum gladium tenebant Cherubim, id est, Angeli, quoniam motus coelorum & corporalis naturae, auctore Augustino, a Deo per Angelos disponitur & efficitur. Ergo significatur hac oratione Mosis, paradisum propter Zonam torridam, qua est circundatus, esse mortalibus inaccessum. Sequitur hanc sententiam beatus Thomas in secunda secundae, quaest. 165. art. ultimo: in qua, multis ante B. Thomam saeculis, etiam fuisse Tertullianum, qui diceret, non temere meo iudicio diceret. In Apologetico enim affirmat Tertullianus locum paradisi esse velut quadam maceria igneae Zonae a communi nostri orbis notitia segregatum. Verum haec opinio, & interpretatio verborum Mosis, refellitur hoc argumento: Liquet ex narratione Mosis, post primorum hominum peccatum eorumque de paradiso eiectionem, collocasse Deum in aditu paradisi Cherubim, & gladium flammeum atque versatilem: at situs Zonae torridae & aestus, quem in ea Sol efficit, non est propter peccatum hominis a Deo factus, sed qualis nunc est, talis fuit ab exordio mundi: quippe qui naturalem ipsius mundi constructionem & confirmationem, rationemque motuum coelestium necessario consequitur.
Some think that Moses by these words wished to signify the situation of Paradise, which was under the Equator: for before it was the torrid zone, which is here described by Moses in metaphorical words. For the flaming sword insinuates the most burning heat of the torrid zone, striking, like a sword, those approaching it; which is therefore called 'turning,' to denote the perpetual revolution of the Sun over the torrid zone, whence the magnitude of that heat is produced. That sword the Cherubim held, that is, the Angels, since the motion of the heavens and of corporeal nature (on Augustine's authority) is arranged and effected by God through the Angels. Therefore it is signified by this speech of Moses, that paradise, on account of the torrid zone by which it is surrounded, is inaccessible to mortals. Blessed Thomas follows this opinion in the Secunda Secundae, question 165, last article; in which [opinion], many centuries before blessed Thomas, was also Tertullian, who — [and] would not, in my judgment, say it rashly. For in the Apologeticum Tertullian affirms that the place of paradise is segregated from the common knowledge of our world as if by a certain wall of the fiery zone. But this opinion, and interpretation of Moses's words, is refuted by this argument: It is clear from the narration of Moses that, after the sin of the first men and their ejection from paradise, God placed at the entrance of paradise the Cherubim and the flaming turning sword; but the situation of the torrid zone, and the heat which the Sun produces in it, was not made by God on account of man's sin, but such as it is now, such it was from the beginning of the world — inasmuch as it necessarily follows the natural construction and establishment of the world itself, and the plan of the celestial motions.2
Translator’s notes
- Heading of Question II of the disputation. Running head '703'; true printed page 713. ↩
- Answering Question II: some hold that Moses signifies paradise's location under the equator, girdled by the torrid zone — the flaming sword = the zone's burning heat, 'versatilis' = the sun's perpetual revolution over it, the Cherubim/Angels 'holding' it because the heavens' motion is arranged by God through Angels (per Augustine); so paradise is inaccessible. Held by Tertullian (Apologeticum — paradise walled off by the fiery zone) and Aquinas (ST 2a2ae q.165, last art.). Refuted: Moses says the Cherubim and sword were placed AFTER the sin, but the torrid zone's heat was not made because of sin — it existed from the world's beginning, following the natural order of the celestial motions. Marginal glosses: 'Opinio Tertulliani & S. Thomae de Cherubim & flammeo gladio'; 'Caelorum motus a Deo per angelos disponitur'; 'S. Thomas'; 'Tertullianus refellitur.' ↩