On the Imputation of Adam's First Sin · §415

Man. Post. Cap. VII: Potentiality absurdities; 2nd member — rebellious city

You were in him potentially—were you then actually or potentially husband of Eve our first parent? Did you actually or potentially beget Seth, second parent of the human race? Did you in him actually or potentially repent of sin? Namely you did that one action in him: you coveted the fruit of the forbidden tree, tasted its sweetness, let yourself be persuaded by Eve your wife's blandishments and suasions, burned with desire to know good and evil, affected a kind of divinity, put your hand to the forbidden tree, crushed its fruit with your teeth. I for my part do not grasp why we should have performed that one action in Adam and yet abstained from his other actions. You expressed the other member of the likeness—or, if you prefer, a whole likeness—in these words. In the same way if in a city the people are rebellious and raise sedition against the prince's ministers or satellites, and for that cause the prince condemns that people of rebellion and pursues them with arms, that sedition is judged not only theirs who first stirred and injured the satellites, but is also imputed to the assembly and whole community or society of citizens. All are held guilty rebels, goods are proscribed, nor is life spared; because they are of the body and society of that rebellious city. So it stands with the human race. The first man as head of all men, rebelling against God and sinning against God, was punished by God's just judgment; not only himself in his person, but all human nature and all men, who are as one body and gather into one society; And this rebellion of the head, which pervaded all nature, is attributed and imputed to all men.

Latin

Tu eras in eo potentia, an igitur fuisti vel actu, vel potentia maritus Evae primae parentis nostrae? An actu vel potentia genuisti Sethum secundum parentem generis humani? An in eo actu vel potentia resipuisti a peccato? Nempe illam unam actionem tu in eo fecisti, concupivisti scilicet fructum arboris vetitae, gustasti eius suavitatem, blanditiis & suasionibus uxoris tuae Evae te persuaderi sivisti, cupiditate sciendi bonum & malum flagrasti, divinitatem quandam affectasti, manum arbori prohibitae admovisti, fructum eius dentibus comminuisti. Equidem non capio cur istam unam actionem in Adamo ediderimus, a caeteris autem eius actionibus abstinuerimus. Alterum similitudinis membrum, seu, si ita mavis, similitudinem integram his verbis expressisti. Eodem modo si in urbe populus sit rebellis, & seditionem moveat in principis ministros, vel satellites, & eam ob causam princeps populum illum rebellionis damnet, & armis persequatur, seditio illa non tantum eorum esse censetur, qui se commoverunt primi, & injuriam fecerunt satellitibus, sed etiam imputatur coetui & toti communitati, seu societati civium. Omnes habentur rei rebelles, bona proscribuntur, nec parcitur vitae; quia sunt ex corpore, & societate illius urbis rebellis. Sic se res habet in genere humano. Primus homo tanquam caput omnium hominum, rebellans Deo & peccans in Deum, justo Dei judicio punitus est; non tantum ipse in persona sua, sed tota natura humana & omnes homines, qui sunt tanquam unum corpus, & coeunt in unam societatem; Et haec rebellio capitis, quae totam naturam pervasit, tribuitur & imputatur omnibus hominibus.

About this text

New English, free to read. Open any section below.

English follows the locked 1661 Saumur Latin of Capita I–XIV partial through Man. Post. Caput IX (eph-ho / eph-ho pantes) before eph-ho / eph-ho pantes, reconstructed from IA PDF page images with Vision OCR and pdftotext as check. No modern English was copied. Cap. IX deepen+ remain.

Catalogue & scope

IA deimputationepri00lapl. Densify: Capita I–XII + Caput XIV + Man. Post. Cap. II–VI through Cap. X Rom. 5:14 tip. Not whole Disputatio; Cap. X Rom. 5:14+ / ~494 pp Disputatio remain.

Witnesses

This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.