he absence of some knowledge, but no false opinion.

This is clear also from the very rectitude of the primitive state, by
virtue of which, while the soul remained subject to God, the lower
faculties in man were subject to the higher, and were no impediment
to their action. And from what has preceded (Q. 85, A. 6), it is
clear that as regards its proper object the intellect is ever true;
and hence it is never deceived of itself; but whatever deception
occurs must be ascribed to some lower faculty, such as the
imagination or the like. Hence we see that when the natural power of
judgment is free we are not deceived by such images, but only when it
is not free, as is the case in sleep. Therefore it is clear that the
rectitude of the primitive state was incompatible with deception of
the intellect.

Reply Obj. 1: Though the woman was deceived before she sinned in
deed, still it was not till she had already sinned by interior pride.
For Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. xi, 30) that "the woman could not
have believed the words of the serpent, had she not already
acquiesced in the love of her own power, and in a presumption of
self-conceit."

Reply Obj. 2: The woman thought that the serpent had received this
faculty, not as acting in accordance with nature, but by virtue of
some supernatural operation. We need not, however, follow the Master
of the Sentences in this point.

Reply Obj. 3: Were anything presented to the imagination or sense of
the first man, not in accordance with the nature of things, he would
not have been deceived, for his reason would have enabled him to
judge the truth.

Reply Obj. 4: A man is not accountable for what occurs during sleep;
as he has not then the use of his reason, wherein consists man's
proper action.

Reply Obj. 5: If anyone had said something untrue as regards future
contingencies, or as regards secret thoughts, man in the primitive
state would not have believed it was so: but he might have believed
that such a thing was possible; which would not have been to
entertain a false opinion.

It might also be said that he would have been divinely guided from
above, so as not to be deceived in a matter to which his knowledge
did not extend.

If any object, as some do, that he was not guided, when tempted,
though he was then most in need of guidance, we reply that man had
already sinned in his heart, and that he failed to have recourse to
the Divine aid.
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QUESTIO