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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

37.

There might also be a difference of opinion on the nice point whether Sara's chastity would have been violated even if some one had intercourse with her, since she submitted to this to save her husband's life, both with his knowledge and by his authority. In this there would be no desertion of conjugal fidelity or rebellion against her husband's authority; in the same way as Abraham was not an adulterer, when, in submission to the lawful authority of his wife, he consented to be made a father by his wife's handmaid. But, from the nature of the relationship, for a wife to have two husbands, both in life, is not the same thing as for a man to have two wives: so that we regard the explanation already given of Abraham's conduct as the most correct and unobjectionable; that our father Abraham avoided tempting God by taking what measures he could for the preservation of his own life, and that he showed his hope in God by entrusting to Him the chastity of his wife.

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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

37.

Quamquam scrupulosius disputari possit, utrum illius mulieris pudicitia violaretur, etiam si quisquam carni eius commixtus foret, cum id in se fieri pro mariti vita nec illo nesciente, sed iubente permitteret, nequaquam fidem deserens coniugalem et potestatem non abnuens maritalem, p. 631,8 sicut ille adulter non fuit, quando uxoris obtemperans potestati de ancilla prolem generare consensit. Sed propter vim principiorum, quia non ita duobus viris vivis ad concumbendum femina subditur, sicut duae feminae uni viro, multo verius et honestius illud accipimus, quod pater Abraham nec temptavit deum, quando vitae suae quantum potuit homo consuluit et speravit in deum, cui pudicitiam coniugis commendavit. p. 631,16