Dist. 33
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/33/q/bon-sent-IV-d33-littera
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### Chap. I. *On the diverse laws of marriage.*

The question is raised here concerning the ancient Fathers, who are read to have had several wives or concubines at the same time, whether they sinned. — To which we say that « according to the variety of times a varied dispensation of the Creator is found ». For from the beginning of time marriage was begun between two only, namely Adam and Eve, God saying through the mouth of Adam: *A man shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh*; and according to the manner of its inception it would have been contracted between two only through every succession of times, if the first human beings had persisted in obedience. But after their coupling their sons and daughters were joined in marriage, yet one to one only. And brothers were then joined to sisters for this reason, that there were no other women or men to whom the sons or daughters of Adam might be joined. Lamech is read to have been the first of all to have had two wives at the same time; and in this it is charged against him, because he is reported to have done it for the fulfillment of carnal pleasure. But afterward, when now almost all men served false gods, few remaining in the worship of God, it was counseled by God that they should join several [wives] to themselves in marriage, lest, those few failing, the worship and knowledge of God should fail. Whence Abraham, while his wife was living, went in to the handmaid and begot [offspring] from her; Jacob too coupled himself with freeborn women and handmaids, and the daughters of Lot made use of their father when he was drunk. « For when, the rest being left in idolatry, the Lord had chosen Abraham and his sons as a *peculiar people* for himself; rightly, by the fruitfulness of many women, the multiplication of the people of God was sought, because in the succession of blood there was the succession of religion. Whence also under the law *the barren woman was accursed*, who did not leave seed upon the earth. Hence also marriages were decreed for the priests, because in the succession of the family there is the succession of office ». « Not therefore did Abraham or Jacob transgress, because besides a wife he sought sons from a handmaid; nor is it permitted to anyone by their example to seek fruitfulness in any [woman] beyond the conjugal debt, since their marriages are equalled to the virginity of our own [times], and the immoderate use of the marriage of our time nearly imitates the baseness of the fornication of that time ». Concerning this Augustine thus says: « To the ancient just there was no sin, that they used several women; nor did they do this against nature, since they did it not for the sake of wantonness, but of begetting; nor against custom, because at that time these things were done; nor against a precept, because it was forbidden by no law ». Likewise: « Four wives are objected against Jacob, [but] that which, when it was the custom, was no crime ». « So the Patriarchs mingled with their spouses as they received their seed, not with the concupiscence of completing pleasure, but with the providence of propagating succession; just as the Apostles, while their hearers marveled at their teaching,

took joint delight, not from the eagerness of attaining praise, but from the charity of sowing the truth ». The same [author] elsewhere: « In ancient times, when the mystery of our salvation was still veiled, the just contracted marriages by the duty of propagating, not conquered by lust, but led by piety; who could and would much more easily practise continence. Nevertheless they used spouses, and it was permitted to have several to one man, whom he had more chastely than now any of these has one, in whom we see that the Apostle concedes it by way of indulgence. For they had them in the work of generating, not in the sickness of desire ». Likewise Ambrose: « Sarah said to Abraham: *Behold, the Lord has shut me up, that I may not bear. Go in therefore to my handmaid, that you may make a son from her*; and so it was done. Consider first, that Abraham was before the law of Moses and before the Gospel. Not therefore did Abraham offend against the Law, but he anticipated the Law. For it did not yet seem forbidden ». « Secondly consider, that not inflamed by any ardor of wandering lust, not captured by the beauty of a wanton form, he set the conjugal bed second to the handmaid's companionship, but from zeal for seeking posterity and propagating offspring. Still after the flood there was a scarcity of the human race, there was also [a scarcity] of religion. Finally the daughters of holy Lot had this cause of seeking posterity, lest the human race should fail; and therefore for the sake of a public office he veiled a private fault ». Likewise Augustine: « The just man, although he *may desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ*, nevertheless takes nourishment, not from a desire of living, but from the duty of taking counsel, that there may remain what is necessary for the sake of others. So to be mingled with women by the right of marriage was dutiful for holy men, not lustful ». « For what food is to the health of a man, that intercourse is to the health of the human race; and neither is without carnal delight, which nevertheless, moderated and reduced to natural use by restraining temperance, cannot be lust. But what unlawful food is in sustaining life, that unlawful or fornicating intercourse is in seeking offspring; and what an over-immoderate appetite is in lawful food, that venial intercourse is in spouses ».

### Chap. II. *Whether John's virginity is to be preferred to the chastity of Abraham.*

But that virginal chastity is not to be preferred, in merit, to the conjugal chastity of *Abraham*, Augustine shows, saying: « Just as the merit of patience is not unequal in Peter, who suffered, and in John, who did not suffer; so the merit of continence is not unequal in John, who experienced no marriage, and in Abraham, who begot sons. For the celibacy of the one and the wedlock of the other served Christ according to the distribution of the times; but John had continence in the deed, Abraham in disposition alone ». « But the chastity of the celibate is better than that of the married; of which Abraham had one in use, both in disposition; for he lived chastely in a conjugal manner. He could indeed have been chaste without marriage, but then it was not fitting ». Likewise Jerome: « Who would not know that, under the lofty dispensation of God, all the former Saints are of the same merit of which Christians now are? As Abraham was formerly pleasing in marriage, so now virgins are pleasing in chastity. He served his own law and time; let us too serve our own law and time, *upon whom the ends of the ages have come* ». — From these things it appears that the holy Fathers before the Law had, without sin, several wives or concubines. For Scripture now calls them *wives*, now *concubines*; Rachel however and Leah were both wives, not concubines. If anyone should object that those Fathers did not keep the fidelity of the bed, we say that in this they kept the fidelity of the bed, because they mingled not with others, but with their own wives or handmaids. — Behold, what the custom was in this matter before the Law.

### Chap. III. *What the custom of marriage was under the Law.*

But in the time of the Law Moses forbade carnal coupling to take place with a mother, with a stepmother, with a sister, with a granddaughter [or niece], with a paternal aunt, with a maternal aunt, with a daughter-in-law, and with certain others. He permitted, however, a divorce to take place, a bill of repudiation being given, in which the man wrote the causes for which he repudiated his wife. He permitted also [him] to lead another [wife], the prior bill being given, which Christ says was permitted on account of the *hardness of their heart*, not that divorce should be conceded, but that homicide should be removed. He permitted evils to be done, lest worse should be done, and by this permitting he did not demonstrate the justice of God, but in the sinner he diminished the fault.

### Chap. IV. *To whom it was then permitted to have several wives, or not.*

But was it ever permitted under the Law to have several wives? Hear what is written in Deuteronomy: *He shall not have many wives, who may allure his soul*. Upon which passage Augustine says: It is manifest that Solomon transgressed this precept; David however had several and did not overstep the precept. For it was permitted for a king to have *several*, not to multiply *many* who allure the soul; since nevertheless it is added: *that his heart be not lifted up*, foreign women seem to have been forbidden. Nevertheless the multiplication of wives was generally forbidden; but it was permitted for a king *to have several*, but not *to multiply* [them]. « But when the fullness of the time was come,

in which the grace of Christ was everywhere spread abroad, the law of marriages was brought back to its former and more honorable institution, so that one should be joined to one in a figure of Christ and the Church ». « Nor is the choice of an office sought in the succession of the race, but in the perfection of life and the sincerity of knowledge; and virginity is preferred to fruitfulness, and continence is enjoined upon priests ». But the virginity of the mind is better than that of the flesh. Whence Ambrose: « It is more tolerable to have the mind a virgin than the flesh; each is good, if it be permitted; if it be not permitted, let us at least be [virgins] not for a chaste man, but for God ». « A virgin can be prostituted, [but] cannot be made an adulteress; nor do brothels defame chastity, but chastity abolishes even the infamy of the place ». The same [author]: « The flesh cannot be corrupted, unless the mind has first been corrupted ». Likewise Isidore: « The body cannot be corrupted, unless the spirit has first been corrupted; for the soul being clean from contagion, the flesh does not sin ». — At the end of this chapter it is disclosed how it is true that, unless the soul has first been corrupted, the body cannot be corrupted, namely by sin. That [saying] also of Augustine must be noted: « Just as, he says, it is holier to die of hunger than to eat things sacrificed to idols; so it is holier to die without children than to seek offspring from illicit intercourse. But from wherever men are born, if they do not follow the vices of their parents and worship God rightly, they will be honorable and saved. For seed from whatever man is a creature of God; and to him who uses it ill it will go ill, [but] the thing itself will not at some time be evil ».

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