Chapter 52 [XXX.]—Sin Was the Origin of All Shameful Concupiscence.

“Do you,” he asks, “repeat your affirmation, ‘There would be no concupiscence if man had not first sinned; marriage, however, would have existed, even if no one had sinned’?” I never said, “There would be no concupiscence,” because there is a concupiscence of the spirit, which craves wisdom.262    Wisd. vi. 21. My words were, “There would be no shameful concupiscence.”263    See above, Book i. ch. 1. Let my words be re-perused, even those which he has cited, that it may be clearly seen how dishonestly they are handled by him. However, let him call it by any name he likes. What I said would not have existed unless man had previously sinned, was that which made them ashamed in paradise when they covered their loins, and which every one will allow would not have been felt, had not the sin of disobedience first occurred. Now he who wishes to understand what they felt, ought to consider what it was they covered. For of the fig-leaves they made themselves “aprons,” not clothes; and these aprons or kilts are called περιζώματα in Greek. Now all know well enough what it is which these peri-zomata cover, which some Latin writers explain by the word campestria. Who is ignorant of what persons wore this kilt, and what parts of the body such a dress concealed; even the same which the Roman youths used to cover when they practised naked in the campus, from which circumstance the name campester was given to the apron.264    See On the City of God, Book xi. ch. 17.

CAPUT XXX.

52. «Ais iterum,» inquit, «et dicis: Nulla esset concupiscentia, nisi homo ante peccasset; nuptiae vero essent, etiamsi nemo peccasset.» Non dixi, «Nulla esset concupiscentia;» quia est et glorianda concupiscentia spiritualis, qua concupiscitur sapientia (Sap. VI, 21): sed dixi, «Nulla esset pudenda concupiscentia» (Supra, lib. 1, n. 1). Relegantur verba mea, quae etiam ipse posuit, ut quanta ab illo fraude commemorentur appareat. Sed quo voluerit eam nomine appellet. Illa dixi quod non esset, nisi homo ante peccasset, de qua erubuerunt in paradiso, qui pudenda texerunt, quam nemo negat, quoniam peccatum inobedientiae praecesserat, ideo subsecutam. Qui autem vult intelligere quid senserint, debet considerare quid texerint. Succinctoria quippe sibi de foliis ficulneis, non vestimenta fecerunt (Gen. III, 7); quae succinctoria graece περιζώματα nuncupantur. Quid autem cooperiant perizomata, omnibus notum est: quae nonnulli Latini campestria sunt interpretati. Quis autem ignorat qui campestrantur, quas partes corporis contegant? Has enim tegebant Romani juvenes, quando nudi exercebantur in campo, unde hoc genus tegminis tale nomen accepit .