r corners of their garments,
so that the Israelites might be distinguished from other nations."
Hence, in this way, they professed to be Jews: and consequently the
very sight of this sign reminded them of their law.

When we read: "Thou shalt bind them on thy hand, and they shall be
ever before thy eyes [Vulg.: 'they shall be and shall move between
thy eyes'], the Pharisees gave a false interpretation to these words,
and wrote the decalogue of Moses on a parchment, and tied it on their
foreheads like a wreath, so that it moved in front of their eyes":
whereas the intention of the Lord in giving this commandment was that
they should be bound in their hands, i.e. in their works; and that
they should be before their eyes, i.e. in their thoughts. The
violet-colored fillets which were inserted in their cloaks signify
the godly intention which should accompany our every deed. It may,
however, be said that, because they were a carnal-minded and
stiff-necked people, it was necessary for them to be stirred by these
sensible things to the observance of the Law.

Reply Obj. 8: Affection in man is twofold: it may be an affection of
reason, or it may be an affection of passion. If a man's affection be
one of reason, it matters not how man behaves to animals, because God
has subjected all things to man's power, according to Ps. 8:8: "Thou
hast subjected all things under his feet": and it is in this sense
that the Apostle says that "God has no care for oxen"; because God
does not ask of man what he does with oxen or other animals.

But if man's affection be one of passion, then it is moved also in
regard to other animals: for since the passion of pity is caused by
the afflictions of others; and since it happens that even irrational
animals are sensible to pain, it is possible for the affection of
pity to arise in a man with regard to the sufferings of animals. Now
it is evident that if a man practice a pitiful affection for animals,
he is all the more disposed to take pity on his fellow-men: wherefore
it is written (Prov. 11:10): "The just regardeth the lives of his
beasts: but the bowels of the wicked are cruel." Consequently the
Lord, in order to inculcate pity to the Jewish people, who were prone
to cruelty, wished them to practice pity even with regard to dumb
animals, and forbade them to do certain things savoring of cruelty to
animals. Hence He prohibited them to "boil a kid in the milk of its
dam"; and to "muzzle the ox that