have, by
Divine power, the use of its limbs immediately after birth.
Now we have it on the authority of Scripture that "God made man right"
(Eccles. 7:30), which rightness, as Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xiv,
11), consists in the perfect subjection of the body to the soul. As,
therefore, in the primitive state it was impossible to find in the
human limbs anything repugnant to man's well-ordered will, so was it
impossible for those limbs to fail in executing the will's commands.
Now the human will is well ordered when it tends to acts which are
befitting to man. But the same acts are not befitting to man at every
season of life. We must, therefore, conclude that children would not
have had sufficient strength for the use of their limbs for the
purpose of performing every kind of act; but only for the acts
befitting the state of infancy, such as suckling, and the like.
Reply Obj. 1: Augustine is speaking of the weakness which we observe
in children even as regards those acts which befit the state of
infancy; as is clear from his preceding remark that "even when close
to the breast, and longing for it, they are more apt to cry than to
suckle."
Reply Obj. 2: The fact that some animals have the use of their limbs
immediately after birth, is due, not to their superiority, since more
perfect animals are not so endowed; but to the dryness of the brain,
and to the operations proper to such animals being imperfect, so that
a small amount of strength suffices them.
Reply Obj. 3 is clear from what we have said above. We may add that
they would have desired nothing except with an ordinate will; and
only what was befitting to their state of life.
Reply Obj. 4: In the state of innocence man would have been born, yet
not subject to corruption. Therefore in that state there could have
been certain infantile defects which result from birth; but not
senile defects leading to corruption.
_______________________
SECOND ARTICLE [I, Q. 99, Art. 2]
Whether, in the Primitive State, Women Would Have Been Born?
Objection 1: It would seem that in the primitive state woman would
not have been born. For the Philosopher says (De Gener. Animal. ii,
3) that woman is a "misbegotten male," as though she were a product
outside the purpose of nature. But in that state nothing would have
been unnatural in human generation. Therefore in that state women
would not have been born.
Obj. 2: Further, every agent produces its like, unless pre
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