Book I.

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In the tenth tractate, chapter four of the eighth book of his Metaphysics, Avicenna errs most justly. For he speaks thus:

Custom is nothing but long-standing familiarity; yet this ought to be firmer on the part of the woman, so that she does not have the power to depart from her husband when she wishes. She is, in fact, prone to anger and lust; hence it is necessary that it be permitted for the husband to dismiss his wife at times, otherwise great harm will follow. For spouses can be of such a nature that the more they are forced to remain together, the more they hate each other, and from this will result the greatest evil. For at times there will be something between them that nature abhors, and this will compel them to seek other marriages, since this is a natural will. At other times, spouses will be such that they do not assist each other in procreation, but if they are joined to others, they will procreate. Hence it is necessary that a separation intervene there, but it is necessary that this be permitted only with difficulty, so that even if one of those two has a duller sense and is more perverse, he does not have this power. Let it be left to the judgment of the judge, so that the cause of the discord may be known, and then let them be separated, so that the husband may pay something to the woman; and beyond this, it is better to leave room for peace, and let it be difficult, so that after she has been dismissed, she cannot be recalled unless she has married another. When the husband knows this, it will be difficult for him to dismiss his wife, unless he is a base man who values shame little because of some pleasure, but we do not care about such men.

It is just, however, that a woman be guarded; for she is of small sense, easily deceived, and of great voluptuousness, from whose communion comes ignominy and the greatest shame. From the communion of a man, however, ignominy does not arise, but envy, and therefore the doors ought to be guarded and contained. This is Avicenna. And from this it appears that in the Mahometan original: "mahometea" law, it is permitted for a husband to dismiss his wife and give her a bill of divorce. The law of Moses commands that a bill of divorce be given to a wife who is displeasing to her husband, and that she be dismissed, and according to that law, it is permitted for a man to take another. According to this sense, as Origen writes, understand those Jews receiving a bill of divorce as being entirely abandoned by the Lord. For where are the prophets among them now? Where are the signs of virtues? Where is the manifestation of God? There is no temple, no victims, no other worship whatever expressed in the volumes of the Law. They were chosen from their regions, and thus the Lord gave a bill of divorce to Israel. But is it permitted now for a husband to dismiss his wife, or for a wife to dismiss her husband? What should be answered to this petition is sufficiently known from the words of the Savior in Matthew, saying thus:

Everyone who divorces his wife (except for the cause of fornication) makes her commit adultery, and he who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.

And in Mark:

Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if a wife divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.

And a similar sentiment is held in Luke. Therefore, the Apostle Paul adds, in 1 Corinthians 7, to those who are bound in marriage, not I command, but the Lord:

Let not the woman be separated from her husband; but if she is separated, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband, and let not the husband dismiss his wife.

And how can a wife be separated from her husband? The only cause is fornication, which is known from the

Lord. If a husband has the cause of fornication, the wife has the cause of separating herself from her husband; but then let her not marry another, but let her be without a husband unless reconciliation occurs with her own husband, to whom it is permitted to return by the words of the Apostle. For he can repent, and preserve the marriage bed immaculate thereafter. Similarly, if the wife commits fornication, the husband has the cause of dismissing her, but let him be without a wife, and she without a husband, unless reconciliation occurs, and the husband calls his own wife back to himself; for she can repent, and thereafter, in greater humility, observance, and subjection to her husband, preserve the marriage bed inviolate. Therefore, the Lord commands those who are joined in matrimony not to be separated. Whence it is written in Matthew:

What God has joined, let no man separate.

Someone might perhaps say that Ambrose seems to say the contrary in his letter to the Corinthians, chapter 7, when he says:

The Apostle does not add concerning the husband as he does concerning the woman because it is permitted for the husband to take another, because the inferior [sex] does not entirely use this law by which the superior [sex] does.

I respond with the Master of the Sentences and the divine Thomas that this has been added by forgers, and therefore it is by no means to be held. There are seven cases, as the same Thomas testifies, in which a husband cannot dismiss his wife because of the cause of fornication. The first is when he himself prostituted her. The second is when he himself has committed fornication with another. The third is when he himself gave her the occasion for fornicating, for instance, when he is unwilling to render the marital debt. The fourth is when she, probably believing the husband to be dead, married another. The fifth is when she was violently oppressed by someone. The sixth is when she was known by another under the pretense of her husband. The seventh is when, after adultery was manifestly discovered, she was nonetheless retained. The Lord excepted only fornication; all other molestations He commands to be strongly endured for the sake of the faith of the marriage. For God had given the Jews a bill of divorce because of the hardness of their hearts. So, too, Mahomet gave a bill of divorce to the Arabs because of their incontinence. Origen saw the prevarication of Israel, the prevaricating Judah, who did not keep the covenant they had made with God. And he saw that that generation was caught in all things in which it committed adultery. God dismissed her and gave her a bill of divorce. And when the Arabs ought to have turned themselves to better things from those things which they suffered, and to look at how they were led captive because of their sins and killed by their enemies, and their cities burned with fire, and that it was because of those things that a bill of divorce was given to them—since, as we said, the Arabs ought to have reconsidered these things in themselves, because if God did not spare the natural branches, how much more will He not spare the Arabs? If He dismissed those who descended from the lineage of the patriarchs because of their sins, and gave them a bill of divorce, what is it necessary for the Arabs, called from the nations and idolaters, to suffer? They account for none of these things. If, however, they suffered so much, how much more will they suffer worse things because they sinned in those things in which the dwelling of the house of Israel committed adultery? Therefore, let the Arabs read, and let those who follow Avicenna read, the histories of the Old Testament and the prophets, and if they find any who were justified, let them imitate those things by which they were justified. Let them read the Gospels and all