e woman was weaker than the man, and consequently more liable to be
deceived, and because, on account of her union with man, the devil
was able to deceive the man especially through her. Now there is no
parity between principal agent and instrument, because the principal
agent must exceed in power, which is not requisite in the
instrumental agent.

Reply Obj. 2: A suggestion whereby the devil suggests something to
man spiritually, shows the devil to have more power against man than
outward suggestion has, since by an inward suggestion, at least,
man's imagination is changed by the devil [*Cf. First Part, Q. 91, A.
3]; whereas by an outward suggestion, a change is wrought merely on
an outward creature. Now the devil had a minimum of power against man
before sin, wherefore he was unable to tempt him by inward
suggestion, but only by outward suggestion.

Reply Obj. 3: According to Augustine (Gen. ad lit. xi, 3), "we are
not to suppose that the devil chose the serpent as his means of
temptation; but as he was possessed of the lust of deceit, he could
only do so by the animal he was allowed to use for that purpose."

Reply Obj. 4: According to Augustine (Gen. ad lit. xi, 29), "the
serpent is described as most prudent or subtle, on account of the
cunning of the devil, who wrought his wiles in it: thus, we speak of
a prudent or cunning tongue, because it is the instrument of a
prudent or cunning man in advising something prudently or cunningly.
Nor indeed (Gen. ad lit. xi, 28) did the serpent understand the
sounds which were conveyed through it to the woman; nor again are we
to believe that its soul was changed into a rational nature, since
not even men, who are rational by nature, know what they say when a
demon speaks in them. Accordingly (Gen. ad lit. xi, 29) the serpent
spoke to man, even as the ass on which Balaam sat spoke to him,
except that the former was the work of a devil, whereas the latter
was the work of an angel. Hence (Gen. ad lit. xi, 36) the serpent was
not asked why it had done this, because it had not done this in its
own nature, but the devil in it, who was already condemned to
everlasting fire on account of his sin: and the words addressed to
the serpent were directed to him who wrought through the serpent."

Moreover, as again Augustine says (Super Gen. contra Manich. ii, 17,
18), "his, that is, the devil's, punishment mentioned here is that
for which we must be on our guard against him, not that whi