situation is most temperate, on account of
the unvarying equality of day and night; that it is never too cold
there, because the sun is never too far off; and never too hot,
because, although the sun passes over the heads of the inhabitants,
it does not remain long in that position. However, Aristotle
distinctly says (Meteor. ii, 5) that such a region is uninhabitable
on account of the heat. This seems to be more probable; because, even
those regions where the sun does not pass vertically overhead, are
extremely hot on account of the mere proximity of the sun. But
whatever be the truth of the matter, we must hold that paradise was
situated in a most temperate situation, whether on the equator or
elsewhere.
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THIRD ARTICLE [I, Q. 102, Art. 3]

Whether Man Was Placed in Paradise to Dress It and Keep It?

Objection 1: It would seem that man was not placed in paradise to
dress and keep it. For what was brought on him as a punishment of sin
would not have existed in paradise in the state of innocence. But the
cultivation of the soil was a punishment of sin (Gen. 3:17).
Therefore man was not placed in paradise to dress and keep it.

Obj. 2: Further, there is no need of a keeper when there is no fear
of trespass with violence. But in paradise there was no fear of
trespass with violence. Therefore there was no need for man to keep
paradise.

Obj. 3: Further, if man was placed in paradise to dress and keep it,
man would apparently have been made for the sake of paradise, and not
contrariwise; which seems to be false. Therefore man was not place in
paradise to dress and keep it.

_On the contrary,_ It is written (Gen. 2: 15): "The Lord God took man
and placed in the paradise of pleasure, to dress and keep it."

_I answer that,_ As Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. viii, 10), these
words in Genesis may be understood in two ways. First, in the sense
that God placed man in paradise that He might Himself work in man and
keep him, by sanctifying him (for if this work cease, man at once
relapses into darkness, as the air grows dark when the light ceases
to shine); and by keeping man from all corruption and evil. Secondly,
that man might dress and keep paradise, which dressing would not have
involved labor, as it did after sin; but would have been pleasant on
account of man's practical knowledge of the powers of nature. Nor
would man have kept paradise against a trespasser; but he would have
striven to keep p