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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

49.

Nam et illud, quod mendacissima criminatione Faustus obiecit, habuisse inter se velut quattuor scorta certamen, quaenam eum ad concubitum raperet, ubi hoc legerit nescio, p. 642,4 nisi forte in corde suo tamquam in libro nefariarum fallaciarum, ubi vere ipse scortabatur, sed cum serpente illo, de quo apostolus timebat ecclesiae, quam virginem castam cupiebat uni viro exhibere Christo, ne, sicut Evam deceperat astutia sua, sic et illorum mentes a Christi castitate avertendo corrumperet. Ita enim huic serpenti amici sunt isti, ut eum praestitisse potius quam nocuisse contendant. Ipse plane Fausto persuasit pectori adulterato falsitatis semina infundens, ut has male conceptas calumnias ore immundissimo pareret et stilo audacissimo etiam memoriae commendaret. p. 642,13 Nulla enim ancillarum virum Iacob ab altera rapuit, nulla de illius concubitu cum altera litigavit. Ideo magis ordo erat, quia libido non erat; et tanto firmius servabantur coniugalis potestatis iura, quanto castius vitabatur carnalis cupiditatis iniuria. Quod enim et ab uxore conducitur, ibi vera nostra manifestatur assertio, ibi pro se adversus maledicta Manichaeorum ipsa veritas clamat. Quid enim opus erat, ut eum altera conduceret, nisi quia ordo alterius erat, ut ad eam maritus intraret? Neque enim ad aliam umquam accessisset, nisi eum conduxisset; sed utique iustis ad eam vicibus accedebat, de qua tot filios procreaverat et cui oboedierat, ut etiam de ancilla procrearet, et de qua postea non conducente procreavit. p. 642,25 Sed tunc Rachel noctem habebat in ordine, ut maneret cum viro; tunc penes eam potestas illa erat, de qua per apostolum vox certe novi testamenti non tacuit dicens: Similiter et vir non habet potestatem sui corporis, sed mulier. Ideo iam cum sorore pacta erat, cui facta debitrix eam tralegaret ad debitorem suum. Nam hoc nomine id appellat apostolus: Uxori inquit vir debitum reddat. Cui ergo vir debitor erat, iam acceperat a sorore, quod elegerat voluntate, ut ei daret, quod habebat in potestate. p. 643,8

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

49.

Faustus makes a most groundless statement when he accuses the four women of quarreling like abandoned characters for the possession of their husband. Where Faustus read this I know not, unless it was in his own heart, as in a book of impious delusions, in which Faustus himself is seduced by that serpent with regard to whom the apostle feared for the Church, which he desired to present as a chaste virgin to Christ; lest, as the serpent had deceived Eve by his subtlety, so he should also corrupt their minds by turning them away from the simplicity of Christ. ¹ The Manichaeans are so fond of this serpent, that they assert that he did more good than harm. From him Faustus must have got his mind corrupted with the lies instilled into it, which he now reproduces in these infamous calumnies, and is even bold enough to put down in writing. It is not true that one of the handmaids carried off Jacob from the other, or that they quarreled about possessing him. There was arrangement, because there was no licentious passion; and the law of conjugal authority was all the stronger that there was none of the lawlessness of fleshly desire. His being hired by one of his wives proves what is here said, in plain opposition to the libels of the Manichaeans. Why should one have hired him, unless by the arrangement he was to have gone in to the other? It does not follow that he would never have gone in to Leah unless she had hired him. He must have gone to her always in her turn, for he had many children by her; and in obedience to her he had children by her hand-maid, and afterwards, without any hiring, by herself. On this occasion it was Rachel's turn, so that she had the power so expressly mentioned in the New Testament by the apostle, "The husband hath not power over his own body, but the wife." ² Rachel had a bargain with her sister, and, being in her sister's debt, she referred her to Jacob, her own debtor. For the apostle uses this figure when he says, "Let the husband render unto the wife what is due." ³ Rachel gave what was in her power as due from her husband, in return for what she had chosen to take from her sister.