re. In
paradise both conditions were found; because, as Damascene says (De
Fide Orth. ii, 11): "Paradise was permeated with the all pervading
brightness of a temperate, pure, and exquisite atmosphere, and decked
with ever-flowering plants." Whence it is clear that paradise was
most fit to be a dwelling-place for man, and in keeping with his
original state of immortality.

Reply Obj. 1: The empyrean heaven is the highest of corporeal places,
and is outside the region of change. By the first of these two
conditions, it is a fitting abode for the angelic nature: for, as
Augustine says (De Trin. ii), "God rules corporeal creatures through
spiritual creatures." Hence it is fitting that the spiritual nature
should be established above the entire corporeal nature, as presiding
over it. By the second condition, it is a fitting abode for the state
of beatitude, which is endowed with the highest degree of stability.
Thus the abode of beatitude was suited to the very nature of the
angel; therefore he was created there. But it is not suited to man's
nature, since man is not set as a ruler over the entire corporeal
creation: it is a fitting abode for man in regard only to his
beatitude. Wherefore he was not placed from the beginning in the
empyrean heaven, but was destined to be transferred thither in the
state of his final beatitude.

Reply Obj. 2: It is ridiculous to assert that any particular place
is natural to the soul or to any spiritual substances, though some
particular place may have a certain fitness in regard to spiritual
substances. For the earthly paradise was a place adapted to man, as
regards both his body and his soul--that is, inasmuch as in his soul
was the force which preserved the human body from corruption. This
could not be said of the other animals. Therefore, as Damascene says
(De Fide Orth. ii, 11): "No irrational animal inhabited paradise";
although, by a certain dispensation, the animals were brought thither
by God to Adam; and the serpent was able to trespass therein by the
complicity of the devil.

Reply Obj. 3: Paradise did not become useless through being
unoccupied by man after sin, just as immortality was not conferred
on man in vain, though he was to lose it. For thereby we learn God's
kindness to man, and what man lost by sin. Moreover, some say that
Enoch and Elias still dwell in that paradise.

Reply Obj. 4: Those who say that paradise was on the equinoctial line
are of opinion that such a