Magistri Petri Lombardi
Arch. Episc. Parisiensis

Master Peter Lombard
Archbishop of Paris

Sententiarum Quatuor Libri

The Four Books of Sentences

LIBER SECUNDUS SENTENTIARUM.

 

DE  RERUM  CREATIONE  ET  FORMATIONE  CORPORALIUM ET  SPIRITUALIUM
ET  ALIIS  PLURIBUS  EO  PERTINENTIBUS

THE SECOND BOOK OF THE SENTENCES

 

ON THE CREATION AND FORMATION OF THINGS CORPORAL AND SPIRITUAL AND MANY OTHERS PERTAINING TO THIS

DISTINCTIO II.

DISTINCTION 2

Opera Omnia S. Bonaventurae,
Ad Claras Aquas, 1885, Vol. 2, pag. 52-54.
Cum Notitiis Editorum Quaracchi

Latin text taken from Opera Omnia S. Bonaventurae,
Ad Claras Aquas, 1885, Vol. 2, pp. 52-54.
Notes by the Quaracchi Editors.

 

PARS. I.

 

PART I

De Angelica itaque natura haec primo consideranda sunt:  quando creata fuerit, et ubi, et qualis facta sit, dum primum conderetur; deinde qualis effecta aversione quorundam et conversione quorundam..  De excellentia quoque et ordinibus et donorum differentia, et de officiis ac nominibus aliisque pluribus aliqua dicenda sunt.1

And so, concerning the nature of the Angel these (questions) are to be first considered:  when they were created, and where, and what kind (of nature) was made, when the first was founded, then what kind of effects (came) from the aversion of certain (ones) and the conversion of certain (others).  Also, concerning (their) excellence and orders and difference of gifts, and concerning (their) offices and names and very many other (questions) some (words) must be said.1

Cap. I.

 

De Angelis, quando facti sunt.

Chapter I.

On the Angels, when they were made.

Quaedam auctoritates2 innuere videntur, « quod ante omnem creaturam creati sunt Angeli.  Unde illud:  Primo omnium creata est sapientia », quod intelligitur de angelica natura, quae in Scriptura saepe vita, sapientia et lux dicitur.  Nam sapientia illa, quae Deus est, creata non est.  Filius enim, sapientia Patris est genita, non facta nec creata; et tota Trinitas una sapientia est, quae nec facta nec creata est, nec genita vel procedens.  De angelica ergo vita illud accipiendum est, de qua dicit Scriptura, quando facta est, scilicet primo omnium.  —  Sed rursus alia Scriptura dicit:3  In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram.  Et in Propheta:  Initio tu Domine terram fundasti, et opera manuum tuarum sunt caeli.  Et videtur contrarietas quaedam oriri ex assertionibus istis.  Nam si primo . . .

Certain authorites2 seem to hint, « that before every creature the Angels were created.  Wherefore (there is) that (verse which says):  First of all wisdom was created », which is understood of the angelic nature, which in Scripture is often called [dictur] “life”, “wisdom” and “light”.  For that Wisdom, which God is, has not been created.  For the Son, is the Begotten Wisdom of the Father, not the made nor the created (wisdom); and the whole Trinity is the One Wisdom, which has neither been made nor created, nor begotten and/or proceeding.  Therefore, concerning the life of the Angel [angelica vita] that must be accepted, concerning which Scripture says, when it was made, namely “first of all” [primo omnium]  —  But, again, Scripture says other (things):3  In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth.*  And in the Prophet:  At the start Thou, Lord, founded the Earth, and the works of Thy Hands are the heavens.  And there seems to arise from these assertions a certain contrariety.  For if first . . .

1  Praecedentia codd. nostri non numerant tanquam capitulum.  Iam cod. Erf. in margine notulam habet, quae dicit:  Aliqui non connumerant hoc pro capitulo, sed incipiunt primum capitulum sequenti capitulo, et hinc est diversitas in illa parte.

2  Isidorus, I. Sentent. (sive de Summo Bono) c. 10. n. 4:  Ante omnem creaturam Angeli facti sunt, dum dictum est:  Fiat lux.  De ipsis enim dicit Scriptura:  Prior omnium creata est sapientia (Eccli. 1, 4.).  —  Magister haec sumsit ex Hugone, I. de Sacram. p. V. c. 2, et Sent. tr. 2. c. 1.  —  Cfr. August., XII. Confess. c. 15.

3  Gen. 1, 1; seq. locus est Ps. 101, 26.

1  Our codices do not number the preceding (words) as a chapter.  Already in the codex of Erlangen (codex Y) there is had in the margin a note, which says:  “Some do not number this together (with the others) as a chapter, but begin the first chapter with the following chapter, and hence there is a diversity in this part.”

2  (St.) Isidore (of Seville), Sentences, (or de Summo Bono), Bk. I, ch. 10, n. 4:  The Angels were made before every creature, when there was said:  Let there be light.  For of them Scripture says:  Prior to all [Prior omnium] wisdom was created (Ecclesiasticus 1:4).  —  Master (Peter) has taken these (words) from Hugo (of St. Victor), On the Sacraments, Bk. I, p. V, ch. 2, and Sentences, tr. 2, ch. 1.  —  Cf. (St.) Augustine, Confessions., Bk. XII, ch. 15.

3  Genesis 1:1; the following passage is Ps. 101:26.

 

* [Trans. note:  The Latin Vulgate does not capitalize the names for Heaven and Earth in Genesis 1:1, and this custom is followed throughout Lombard and St. Bonaventure.  Since in English the capitalization of these nouns can signify the proper names of the empyrean Heaven, wherein the Angels and Saints dwell in the presence of God, and of the planet upon which we dwell, the use and non-use of capitals for these names has a great significance for English speakers.  The custom employed here in this English translation of sometimes capitalizing these names follows the sense of the Latin text, when these names are used in quotation from Scripture or in reference to the proper signified of these terms, as has been said.  However, when these names are used to signify spiritual and material created beings collectively, or categorically, then they are not capitalized.  However, this approach is not a universal custom in English, nor among Catholics.  Thus in the Douay-Rheims Challoner version of Scripture, they are not capitalized.  The capitalization of these names in the translation of Genesis 1:1 and in similar uses is justified and required by this, that Genesis 1:1 is according to the Fathers of the Church speaking of not only spiritual and corporal creation, but also of the created empyrean Heaven and the planet Earth, and since these two names capitalized in English can be rightly understood as metonyms for the former, whereas if not capitalized they do not require this understanding, and have a more ambiguous signification, it is necessary and useful to capitalize them in those contexts, wherein the proper signification is intended or allowed, so as to render the Latin’s complete full sense, understanding them when capitalized as primarily proper names for the antipodes of creation, but secondarily as metonyms for the entirety of the spiritual and corporal creation.  On a summary of Patristic interpretation on Genesis 1:1, cf. Rev. Cornelius a Lapidé, S. J., Commentarium in Sacram Scripturam.  Cf. Lombard’s various understanding of these nouns, here in chapters 2, 4 and 6.]

p. 53

omnium creata est sapientia, omnia post ipsam facta videntur, et ita post ipsam facta videntur caelum et terra, et ipsa facta ante caelum et terram.  Iterum, si in principio creavit Deus caelum et terram, nihil factum est ante caelum et terram; nec ipsa sapientia facta est ante caelum et terram.  Cum igitur haec contraria videantur, nec in divina Scriptura fas sit sentire aliquid esse contrarietatis, requiramus intelligentiam veritatis.  —  Videtur itaque hoc esse tenendum, quod simul creata est spiritualis creatura, id est angelica, et corporalis, secundum quod potest accipi illud Salomonis:1  Qui vivit in aeternum creavit omnia simul, id est spiritualem et corporalem naturam; et ita non prius tempore creati sunt Angeli quam illa corporalis materia quatuor elementorum.  Et tamen primo omnium creata est sapientia, quia etsi non tempore, praecedit tamen dignitate.  Quod autem simul creata fuerit spiritualis corporalisque creatura, Augustinus super Genesim2 aperte ostendit dicens, per caelum et terram spiritualem corporalemque creaturam intelligi.  Et haec creata sunt in principio, scilicet temporis, vel in principio, quia primo facta sunt.

of all wisdom was created, all seem (to have) been made after it, and thus after it Heaven and Earth seem (to have) been made, and it (seems to have) been made before Heaven and Earth.  Again, if in the beginning God created Heaven and Earth, nothing was made before Heaven and Earth; nor was wisdom itself made before Heaven and Earth.  Therefore, since these seem to be contrary, and it is not lawful [fas] to think that there is anything of contrariety in the divine Scripture, let us seek again the understanding of the truth.  —  And so it seems that this must be held, that the spiritual, that is the angelic, and the corporal creature is created together [simul], according to which there can be accepted that (verse) of Solomon:1  He who lives unto eternity created all together, that is (He created) the spiritual and the corporal nature; and thus the Angels were not created in time before that corporal matter of the four elements.  And yet first of all wisdom was created, because even if (it did) not (precede) in time, yet it did precede in dignity.  Moreover, that the spiritual and corporal creature was created together, (St.) Augustine open shows On Genesis,2 saying, that through “Heaven and Earth” the spiritual and corporal creature is understood.  And these were created in the beginning, that is, of time, and/or at the beginning, because they were made first.

Cap. II.

Quod nihil factum est ante caelum et terram.

Chapter II.

That nothing was made before heaven and earth.

Antea enim nihil factum est, nec etiam tempus factum est ante spiritualem, scilicet angelicam naturam, et ante corporalem, scilicet material illam quatuor elementorum confusam.  Illa enim cum tempore creata sunt, nec ex tempore nec in tempore; sicut nec tempus in tempore creatum est, quia non fuit tempus,3 antequam esset caelum et terra.  Unde Augustinus in libro de Trinitate4 dicit, quod Deus fuit dominus, antequam esset tempus, et non in tempore coepit esse dominus, quia fuit dominus temporis, quando coepit tempus, nec utique tempus coepit esse in tempore, quia non erat tempus, antequam inciperet tempus.

For beforehand nothing was made, nor was even time made before the spiritual, namely, the angelic nature, and before the corporal, namely that fused-together matter [materiam confusam] of the four elements. For those were created with time, and not out of time [nec tempore], nor in time; just as neither was time created in time, because there was no time,3 before there was heaven and earth.  Wherefore (St.) Augustine in (his) book On the Trinity4 says, that God was Lord, before there was time, and did not begin to be Lord on account of time [ex tempore], because He was the Lord of time, when time began, nor did time indeed begin to be in time, because there was no time, before time began.

Cap. III.

Quod simul cum tempore et cum mundo coepit spiritualis creatura et corporalis.

Chapter III.

That together with time and with the world the spiritual and corporal creature began.

Simul ergo cum tempore facta est corporalis et spiritualis creatura, et simul cum mundo; nec fuit ante angelica creatura quam mundus, quia, ut Augustinus5 ait, « nulla creatura est ante saecula, sed a saeculis, cum quibus coepit ».  —  Hieronymus tamen super Epistolam ad Titum aliud videtur sentire dicens:  « Sex millia necdum nostri temporis implentur annorum, et quantas prius aeternitates, quanta tempora, quantas saeculorum origines fuisse arbitrandum est, in quibus Angeli, Throni, Dominationes ceterique Ordines servierunt Deo absque temporum vicibus atque mensuris, et Deo iubente, substiterunt »!  His verbis quidam adhaerentes dixerunt,6 cum mundo coepisse tempus saeculare, sed ante mundum exstitisse tempus aeternum sine mutabilitate, et in eo immutabiliter et intemporaliter astruunt Angelos, Deo iubente, substitisse eique servisse.  —  Nos autem7 quod prius dictum est, pro captu intellgentiae nostrae magis approbamus, salva tamen reverentia secretorum, in quibus nihil temere asserendum est; et illud Hieronymum dixisse non ita sentiendo, sed aliorum opinionem referendo, arbitramur.

Therefore the corporal and spiritual creature was made together with time, and together with the world; nor was the angelic creature before the world, because, as (St.) Augustine5 says, « no creature is before the ages, but (creation is) from the ages, with which it began ».  —  (St.) Jerome, however, On the Epistle to Titus seems to think (something) else, saying:  « Six thousand years of our time are not yet fulfilled, and how many eternities before, how many seasons, how many origins of the ages must one judge there to have been, in which the Angels, Thrones, Dominations and all the other Orders (of Angels) served God without the changes and measures of the seasons, and with God helping, subsisted »!  Certain ones adhering to these words have said,6 that the time of the age [tempus saeculare] began with the world, but before the world there existed eternal time without mutability, and in that they construe [astruunt] that the Angels, with God helping, immutably and intemporally subsisted and served Him.  —  But7 we, in virtue of the grasp of our intelligence rather approve what has been said before, yet without violation of the reverence of secrets, in which it must be asserted that one is to fear nothing, and we judge that (St.) Jerome said that not thus by thinking, but by referring to the opinion of others.

 

PARS. II.

 

PART II

Cap. IV.

Ubi Angeli mox creati fuerint.

Chapter IV.

Where were the Angels then created?

Iam est ostensum, quando creata fuerit angelica natura.  Nunc autem attendendum est, ubi facta fuerit.  Testimoniis quarundam auctoritatum evidenter monstratur, Angelos ante casum fuisse in caelo, et inde corruisse quosdam propter superbiam, alios vero, qui non peccaverunt, illic perstitisse.  Unde Dominus in Evangelio8 ait:  Videbam satanam sicut fulgur de caelo cadentem.  Nec apellatur hic caelum firmamentum, quod secunda die factum est, sed caelum splendidum, quod dicitur empyreum, id est igneum a plendore, non a calore, quod statim factum Angelis est repletum, quod est supra firmamentum.  Et illud empyreum quidam expositorum sacrae Scripturae nomine caeli intelligi volunt, ubi Scriptura9 dicit:  In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram.  « Caelum, in quit Strabus, non visibile firmamentum hic appellat, sed empyreum, id est igneum vel intellectuale, quod non ab ardore, sed a splendore dicitur, quod statim factum repletum est Angelis.  Unde Iob:  Ubi eras, cum me laudarent astra matutina? » etc.  De hoc quoque Beda10 ita ait:  « Hoc superius caelum, quod a volubilitate mundi secretum est, mox ut creatum est, sanctis Angelis repletum est, quos in principio cum caelo et terra conditos testatur Dominus dicens:  Ubi eras, cum me laudarent astra matutina, et iubilarent omnes filii Dei?  Astra matutina et filios Dei eosdem Angelos vocat.  Caelum enim, in quo posita sunt luminaria, non in principio, sed secunda die factum est ».  Ex his liquet, . . .

It has already been shown when the angelic nature was created.  Now, however, one must attend to where it was made.  By the testimonies of certain authorities there is evidently demonstrated, that the Angels were in Heaven before the Fall, and that certain ones fell down [coruisse] on account of pride, but others, who did not sin, persisted therein.  Wherefore the Lord in the Gospel8 says:  I saw Satan falling like lightning from Heaven [caelo].  Nor is the firmament, which was made on the Second Day, here called “Heaven”, but the the splendid Heaven (is), which is said (to be) the “empyrean”, that is the one “fiery from splendor”, not from heat, which as soon as (it was) made [statim factum] was filled with Angels, which (Heaven) is above the firmament.  And that empyrean (Heaven) certain of the expositors of Sacred Scripture9 want to understand by the name of “heaven” [caeli], where Scripture says:  In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth.  « It is not the visible firmament », says (Walafid) Strabo, « (which) is called “Heaven” here, but the empyrean, that is the fiery and/or intellectual (Heaven), which is said (to be such) not from (its) ardor, but from (its) splendor, because as soon as (it was) made it was filled with Angels.  Wherefore (in the Book of) Job (there is written):  Where were you, when the stars of the morning [astra matutina] praised Me? » etc..  On this (St.) Bede (the Venerable)10 also says:  « This superior Heaven, which has been hidden [secretum est] from the revolving [volubilitate] of the world, as soon as [mox ut] it was created, was filled with holy Angels, whom the Lord testifies (were) founded at the beginning with Heaven and Earth, saying:  Where were you, when the stars of the morning praised Me, and all the sons of God rejoiced?  He calls the same Angels the “stars of the morning” and the “sons of God”.  For the heaven, in which were placed the luminaries, was made not at the beginning, but on the Second Day ».  From these (considerations) it is clear [liquet], . . .

1  Eccli. 18, 1.

2  Nempe Gen. ad lit. I. c. 1. n. 2. 3, c. 3. n. 7. 8, c. 4. n. 9; et XI. de Civ. Dei, c. 33. in fine.

3  Cfr. I. Sent. d. XXX. c. 1, et ibid. Comment. S. Bonav. dub. 2.  —  Subinde pro antequam codd. priusquam.

4  Libr. V. c. 46. n. 17.

5  De Gen. ad lit. V. c. 19. n. 38.  —  Codd., excepto D, et edd., exc. 1, 8, post creatura addunt creata.  —  Sequens locus Hieronymi est in eius Comment. ad c. I. v. 3.

6  Cfr. August., XI. de Civ. Dei, c. 6.

7  Cod. A hic interserit Hugo, et revera Magister haec et antecedentia sumsit ex Hugone, I. de Sacram., p. V. c. 4, et Sent. tr. 2. c. 1.

8  Luc. 10, 18.  —  Paulo post pro hic nonnullae edd. cum Vat. hoc.

9  Gen. 1, 1.  —   Verba Walafridi Strabi vel Strabonis († 849) inveniuntur in Glossa ordin. in hunc locum.  Cfr. August., XI. de Civ. Dei, c. 33.  Deinde locus ex Iob est 38, 7.

10  Hexaëm. I. ad Gen. 1, 2, nonnullis interpolatis.  (Convenit fere ad verbum Strabus, loc. cit.).  —  Mox pro repletum edd. cum Vat. impletum, quae et paulo inferius cum aliquibus edd. post eosdem Angelos adiungit Dei.

1  Ecclesiasticus 18:1

2  Namely in (his) Literal Exposition of Genesis, Bk. I, ch. 1, nn. 2 and 3; ch. 3, nn. 7 and 8; ch. 4, n. 9; and On the City of God, Bk. XI, ch. 33, at the end.

3  Cf. Sent., Bk. I, d. XXX, ch. 1, and ibid., St. Bonaventure’s Commentary, Doubt 2.  —  Then for before [antequam] the codices have before [priusquam].

4  Book V, ch. 46, n. 17.

5  On a Literal Exposition of Genesis, Bk. V, ch. 19, n. 38.  —  The codices, except codex D, and the editions, except editions 1 and 8, after creature [creatura] reads was created [create est] for is [est].  —  The following passage from (St.) Jerome is from his Commentary on Tit. 1:3.

6  Cf. (St.) Augustine, On the City of God, Bk. XI, ch. 6.

7  Codex A here inserts Hugo [Hugo], and in truth Master (Peter) has taken these and the preceding (words) form Hugo (of St. Victor’s), On the Sacraments, Bk. I, p. V, ch. 4, and his Sentences, tr. 2, ch. 1.

8  Luke 10:18.  —  A little after this not a few editions, together with the Vatican edition, read this firmament [firmamentum hoc] for the firmament . . . . here [firmamentum hic].

9  Gen. 1:1.  —  The words of Walafrid Strabo († 849) are found in the Glossa ordinaria on this passage.  Cf. (St.) Augustine, On the City of God., Bk. XI, ch. 33.  Then the passage from Job is 38:7.

10  Hexaëmeron., Bk. I, on Genesis 1:2, with not a few interpolations; which convenes nearly word for word with Strabo, loc. cit..  —  Next for was filled [repletum est] the editions, together with the Vatican, have was filled [impletum est], which (edition), together with some editions, also a little below this after the same Angels [eosdem Angelos] adjoins of God [Dei].

p. 54

quod in empyreo omnes Angeli fuerunt ante quorundam ruinam, simulque creati sunt Angeli cum caelo empyreo et cum informi materia omnium corporalium.

that in the empyrean (Heaven) were all the Angels before the ruin of certain ones, and the Angels were created together with the empyrean Heaven and with the formless [informi materia] matter of all corporal (things).

Cap. V.

Quod simul creata est visibilium materia et invisibilium natura, et utraque informis.

Chapter V.

That the mater of (things) visible and the nature of invisibles was created together, and each formless.

Simul ergo visibilium rerum materia et invisibilium natura condita est, et utraque informis fuit secundum aliquid, et formata secundum aliquid.  Sicut enim corporalium materia confusa et permixta, quae secundum Graecos chaos dicta est, in illo exordio1 conditionis primariae et formam confusionis habuit, et non habuit formam distinctionis et discretionis, donec postea formaretur atque distinctas reciperet species; ita spiritualis et angelica natura in sua conditione secundum naturae habitum formata fuit, et tamen illam, quam postea per amorem et conversionem ad Creatorem suum acceptura erat, formam non habuit, sed erat informis sine illa.  Unde Augustinus,2 multipliciter exponens praemissa verba Genesis, per caelum dicit intelligi informem naturam spiritualis vitae, sicut in se potest existere non conversa ad Creatorem, in quo formatur; per terram, corporalem materiam sine omni qualitate, quae apparet in materia formata.

Therefore the matter of visible things and the nature of invisibles was founded together and each was formless according to something, and formed according to something (else).  For just as the fused-together and thoroughly-mixed matter of corporals, which according to the Greeks was called “chaos”, also had in that beginning [exordium]1 of (their) primary foundation a form of confusion [formam confusionis], and did not have a form of distinction and discretion, until after it was formed and received distinct species; so the spiritual and angelic nature was formed at its foundation according to habit of nature, and yet that form, which it was afterwards to accept through love of and conversion to its Creator, it did not have, but it was formless without it.  Wherefore (St.) Augustine,2 expounding the aforesaid words of Genesis in a manifold manner, through “heaven” says that there is understood the formless nature of spiritual life, just as in itself it cannot exist not converted to the Creator, in whom it is formed, through “earth”, (says that there is understood) corporal matter without every quality, which appears in formed matter.

Cap. VI.

Quomodo dixerit lucifer:  Ascendam in caelum.

Chapter VI.

In what manner did Lucifer say:  “I shall ascend into Heaven”?

Hic quaeri solet, si in caelo empyreo fuerunt Angeli, statim ubi facti sunt, quomodo, ut legitur in Isaia,3 dicit lucifer:  Ascendam in caelum et exaltabo solium meum, et ero similis Altissimo?  —  Sed ibi caelum vocat Dei celsitudinem, cui parificari volebat, et est tale:  Ascendam in caelum, id est ad aequalitatem Dei.

Here it is customary to ask, “If the Angels were in the empyrean Heaven, where they were immediately made, in what manner, as there is read in Isaiah,3 does Lucifer say:  I shall ascend into Heaven and I shall exalt My throne, and I shall be similar to the Most High?”  —  But there he calls “Heaven” the loftiness of God [Dei celstitudinem], to which he wanted to be made the peer [parificari], and such is (the saying):  I shall ascend into Heaven, that is, “to equality with God [ad aequalitatem Dei].”

1  Vat. sola ordinationis.

2  De Gen. ad lit. I. c. 10. seqq. et XII. Confess. c. 9.  —  Post verbum Genesis edd. 1 et 8 interserunt verba Scripturae:  In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram etc.

3  Cap. 14, 13.

1  The Vatican edition alone has in that of the ordination [in illo ordinationis].

2  On a Literal Exposition of Genesis., Bk. I, ch. 10 ff., and Confessions., Bk. XII, ch. 9.  —  After the word Genesis [Genesis] editions 1 and 8 insert the words of Scripture:  In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth etc..

3  Chapter 14:13.

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