(Deut. 21:10,
seqq.).

Obj. 7: Further, the Lord forbade them to marry within certain
degrees of consanguinity and affinity, according to Lev. 18.
Therefore it was unsuitably commanded (Deut. 25:5) that if any man
died without issue, his brother should marry his wife.

Obj. 8: Further, as there is the greatest familiarity between man and
wife, so should there be the staunchest fidelity. But this is
impossible if the marriage bond can be sundered. Therefore it was
unfitting for the Lord to allow (Deut. 24:1-4) a man to put his wife
away, by writing a bill of divorce; and besides, that he could not
take her again to wife.

Objection 9: Further, just as a wife can be faithless to her husband,
so can a slave be to his master, and a son to his father. But the Law
did not command any sacrifice to be offered in order to investigate
the injury done by a servant to his master, or by a son to his
father. Therefore it seems to have been superfluous for the Law to
prescribe the "sacrifice of jealousy" in order to investigate a
wife's adultery (Num. 5:12, seqq.). Consequently it seems that the
Law put forth unsuitable judicial precepts about the members of the
household.

_On the contrary,_ It is written (Ps. 18:10): "The judgments of the
Lord are true, justified in themselves."

_I answer that,_ The mutual relations of the members of a household
regard everyday actions directed to the necessities of life, as the
Philosopher states (Polit. i, 1). Now the preservation of man's life
may be considered from two points of view. First, from the point of
view of the individual, i.e. in so far as man preserves his
individuality: and for the purpose of the preservation of life,
considered from this standpoint, man has at his service external
goods, by means of which he provides himself with food and clothing
and other such necessaries of life: in the handling of which he has
need of servants. Secondly man's life is preserved from the point of
view of the species, by means of generation, for which purpose man
needs a wife, that she may bear him children. Accordingly the mutual
relations of the members of a household admit of a threefold
combination: viz. those of master and servant, those of husband and
wife, and those of father and son: and in respect of all these
relationships the Old Law contained fitting precepts. Thus, with
regard to servants, it commanded them to be treated with
moderation--both as to their work, lest, to wit, t