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A Treatise on the Soul

Tertullian

Chapter 36

About this work

Author: Tertullian

Chapter XXXVI.—The Main Points of Our Author’s Subject. On the Sexes of the Human Race.

For the discussion of these questions we abandoned, if I

‹ Chapter 35 Chapter 37 ›

remember

rightly

,

ground

to

which

we

must

now

return

.

We

had

established

the

position

that

the

soul

is

seminally

placed

in

man

,

and

by

human

agency

,

and

that

its

seed

from

the

very

beginning

is

uniform

,

as

is

that

of

the

soul

also

,

to

the

race

of

man

;

(

and

this

we

settled

)

owing

to

the

rival

opinions

of

the

philosophers

and

the

heretics

,

and

that

ancient

saying

mentioned

by

Plato

(

to

which

we

referred

above

)

.

We

now

pursue

in

their

order

the

points

which

follow

from

them

.

The

soul

,

being

sown

in

the

womb

at

the

same

time

as

the

body

,

receives

likewise

along

with

it

its

sex

;

and

this

indeed

so

simultaneously

,

that

neither

of

the

two

substances

can

be

alone

regarded

as

the

cause

of

the

sex

.

Now

,

if

in

the

semination

of

these

substances

any

interval

were

admissible

in

their

conception

,

in

such

wise

that

either

the

flesh

or

the

soul

should

be

the

first

to

be

conceived

,

one

might

then

ascribe

an

especial

sex

to

one

of

the

substances

,

owing

to

the

difference

in

the

time

of

the

impregnations

,

so

that

either

the

flesh

would

impress

its

sex

upon

the

soul

,

or

the

soul

upon

the

sex

;

even

as

Apelles

(

the

heretic

,

not

the

painter

)

gives

the

priority

over

their

bodies

to

the

souls

of

men

and

women

,

as

he

had

been

taught

by

Philumena

,

and

in

consequence

makes

the

flesh

,

as

the

later

,

receive

its

sex

from

the

soul

.

They

also

who

make

the

soul

supervene

after

birth

on

the

flesh

predetermine

,

of

course

,

the

sex

of

the

previously

formed

soul

to

be

male

or

female

,

according

to

(

the

sex

of

)

the

flesh

.

But

the

truth

is

,

the

seminations

of

the

two

substances

are

inseparable

in

point

of

time

,

and

their

effusion

is

also

one

and

the

same

,

in

consequence

of

which

a

community

of

gender

is

secured

to

them

;

so

that

the

course

of

nature

,

whatever

that

be

,

shall

draw

the

line

(

for

the

distinct

sexes

)

.

Certainly

in

this

view

we

have

an

attestation

of

the

method

of

the

first

two

formations

,

when

the

male

was

moulded

and

tempered

in

a

completer

way

,

for

Adam

was

first

formed

;

and

the

woman

came

far

behind

him

,

for

Eve

was

the

later

formed

.

So

that

her

flesh

was

for

a

long

time

without

specific

form

(

such

as

she

afterwards

assumed

when

taken

out

of

Adam’s

side

)

;

but

she

was

even

then

herself

a

living

being

,

because

I

should

regard

her

at

that

time

in

soul

as

even

a

portion

of

Adam

.

Besides

,

God’s

afflatus

would

have

animated

her

too

,

if

there

had

not

been

in

the

woman

a

transmission

from

Adam

of

his

soul

also

as

well

as

of

his

flesh

.

Notes

1
In ch. xxviii. at the beginning.
2
See above, ch. xxiii. [Also p. 246, infra.]