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Text: Book I
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TO POLLENTIUS ON ADULTEROUS MARRIAGES BOOK ONE Chapter 1 Y DEAREST BROTHER Pollentius, the first question among those which you discussed when writing to consult me is whether this statement of the Apostle, namely, 'But to those who are married, not I, but the Lord commands that a wife is not to depart from her husband, and if she departs, that she is to remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband; and let not a husband put away his wife,'l is to be taken in such a way that is understood to have forbidden that woman to marry who has departed from her husband without the ground of immorality. Indeed, this is your opinion. Or, on the other hand, is that statement to be taken as a command that those women who have left their husbands for that ground which has alone been declared lawful, that is, fornication, are to remain unmarried? This was my opmlOn as expressed in those books which I wrote I I Cor. 7.10,11. 61 62 SAINT AUGUSTINE many years ago on the Gospel sermon which the Saviour delivered, according to Matthew, on a mountain. You think, then, that a woman who leaves her husband should not marry, if she departed under no constraint of immorality on the part of her husband. Nor do you revert to the fact that, if her husband has not given her the ground of immorality, she should not only remain unwed after the separation, but she should not leave him at all. For, according to that opinion of yours, the freedom to marry, and not the freedom to separate, is taken away from the woman who is commanded to remain unmarried if she separates from her husband. But, if this is the case, to wives who wish to practice the virtue of continence is given the freedom not to await any consent on the part of their husbands. And so, what has been said, 'A woman is not to depart from her husband,' seems to be a precept enjoined upon those women who might possibly choose not continence but a divorce that would render it lawful for them to espouse other husbands. By the same token, those who no longer desire to have any intercourse , and find their marriages unbearable, will be given license to leave their husbands without any grounds of immorality and, according to the Apostle, to remain unmarried . Because the nature of men and women is the same, the case of the husband is parallel to that of the wife. If husbands wish to practice continence, they will leave their wives-even without their consent-and remain unmarried. I say this because you think that they would be permitted to seek other marriages when the divorce is based on the ground of immorality. But, when this ground of immorality does not exist, it follows, according to you, that spouse must remain with spouse, or, if there is a separation, that the married person is either to remain unmarried or to return to the previous marriage. In the event, then, that there is not the ground of immorality, each and every married woman may [54.234.233.157] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 09:14 GMT) ADULTEROUS MARRIAGES 63 lawfully choose one of three courses: she may lawfully decide not to depart from her spouse, or, if she has left her spouse, to remain in a state of separation, or, if she does not so remain, she may lawfully choose to return to her previous partner. However, she may not choose to seek another spouse. Chapter 2 (2) And where is it that the same Apostle has wished husband and wife to withhold from each other without mutual consent the debt of the flesh, even for a short time to afford occasion for prayer? How will this command retain its force: 'Yet, for fear of immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband? Let the husband render to the wife her due, and likewise the wife to the husband. The wife has not authority over her body, but the husband; the husband likewise has not authority over his body, but the wife'?l How will this be true except by virtue of the prohibition of a spouse's practicing continence against the will of the other partner? For, if the wife has the right to put her husband away, so long as she does not marry...