1 Objection 1: It would seem that it was not fitting that the production of plants should take place on the third day. For plants have life, as animals have. But the production of animals belongs to the work, not of distinction, but of adornment. Therefore the production of plants, as also belonging to the work of adornment, ought not to be recorded as taking place on the third day, which is devoted to the work of distinction.
1 Ad secundum sic proceditur. Videtur quod plantarum productio inconvenienter tertia die facta legatur. Plantae enim habent vitam sicut et animalia. Sed productio animalium non ponitur inter opera distinctionis, sed pertinet ad opus ornatus. Ergo nec productio plantarum commemorari debuit in tertia die, quae pertinet ad opus distinctionis.
2 Objection 2: Further, a work by which the earth is accursed should have been recorded apart from the work by which it receives its form. But the words of Gn. 3, 17, Cursed is the earth in thy work, thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, show that by the production of certain plants the earth was accursed. Therefore the production of plants in general should not have been recorded on the third day, which is concerned with the work of formation.
2 Praeterea, illud quod pertinet ad maledictionem terrae, non debuit commemorari cum formatione terrae. Sed productio quarundam plantarum pertinet ad maledictionem terrae; secundum illud Gen. III, maledicta terra in opere tuo, spinas et tribulos germinabit tibi. Ergo productio plantarum universaliter non debuit commemorari in tertia die, quae pertinet ad formationem terrae.
3 Objection 3: Further, as plants are firmly fixed to the earth, so are stones and metals, which are, nevertheless, not mentioned in the work of formation. Plants, therefore, ought not to have been made on the third day.
3 Praeterea, sicut plantae adhaerent terrae, ita etiam lapides et metalla; et tamen non fit mentio de eis in terrae formatione. Ergo nec plantae fieri debuerunt tertia die.
4 On the contrary, It is said Gn. 1, 12): The earth brought forth the green herb, after which there follows, The evening and the morning were the third day.
4 Sed contra est quod dicitur Gen. I, protulit terra herbam virentem; et postea sequitur, factum est vespere et mane dies tertius.
5 I answer that, On the third day, as said Article 1), the formless state of the earth comes to an end. But this state is described as twofold. On the one hand, the earth was invisible or void, being covered by the waters; on the other hand, it was shapeless or empty, that is, without that comeliness which it owes to the plants that clothe it, as it were, with a garment. Thus, therefore, in either respect this formless state ends on the third day: first, when the waters were gathered together into one place and the dry land appeared; secondly, when the earth brought forth the green herb.
But concerning the production of plants, Augustine's opinion differs from that of others. For other commentators, in accordance with the surface meaning of the text, consider that the plants were produced in act in their various species on this third day; whereas Augustine Gen. ad lit. v, 5; viii, 3) says that the earth is said to have then produced plants and trees in their causes, that is, it received then the power to produce them. He supports this view by the authority of Scripture, for it is said Gn.
2, 4, 5): These are the generations of the heaven and the earth, when they were created, in the day that... God made the heaven and the earth, and every plant of the field before it sprung up in the earth, and every herb of the ground before it grew. Therefore, the production of plants in their causes, within the earth, took place before they sprang up from the earth's surface. And this is confirmed by reason, as follows. In these first days God created all things in their origin or causes, and from this work He subsequently rested.
Yet afterwards, by governing His creatures, in the work of propagation, He worketh until now. Now the production of plants from out the earth is a work of propagation, and therefore they were not produced in act on the third day, but in their causes only. However, in accordance with other writers, it may be said that the first constitution of species belongs to the work of the six days, but the reproduction among them of like from like, to the government of the universe.
And Scripture indicates this in the words, before it sprung up in the earth, and before it grew, that is, before like was produced from like; just as now happens in the natural course by the production of seed. Wherefore Scripture says pointedly Gn. 1, 11): Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, as indicating the production of perfection of perfect species, from which the seed of others should arise. Nor does the question where the seminal power may reside, whether in root, stem, or fruit, affect the argument.
5 Respondeo dicendum quod, sicut supra dictum est, in tertia die informitas terrae removetur. Duplex autem informitas circa terram describebatur, una, quod erat invisibilis vel inanis, quia erat aquis cooperta; alia, quod erat incomposita sive vacua, idest non habens debitum decorem, qui acquiritur terrae ex plantis eam quodammodo vestientibus. Et ideo utraque informitas in hac tertia die removetur, prima quidem, per hoc quod aquae congregatae sunt in unum locum, et apparuit arida; secunda vero, per hoc quod protulit terra herbam virentem.
Sed tamen circa productionem plantarum, aliter opinatur Augustinus ab aliis. Alii enim expositores dicunt quod plantae productae sunt actu in suis speciebus in hac tertia die, secundum quod superficies litterae sonat. Augustinus autem, V Sup. Gen. ad Litt., dicit quod causaliter tunc dictum est produxisse terram herbam et lignum, idest producendi accepisse virtutem. Et hoc quidem confirmat auctoritate Scripturae. Dicitur enim Gen. II, istae sunt generationes caeli et terrae, quando creata sunt, in die quo Deus fecit caelum et terram, et omne virgultum agri, antequam oriretur in terra, omnemque herbam regionis, priusquam germinaret.
Ante ergo quam orirentur super terram, factae sunt causaliter in terra. Confirmat autem hoc etiam ratione. Quia in illis primis diebus condidit Deus creaturam originaliter vel causaliter, a quo opere postmodum requievit, qui tamen postmodum, secundum administrationem rerum conditarum per opus propagationis, usque modo operatur. Producere autem plantas ex terra, ad opus propagationis pertinet. Non ergo in tertia die productae sunt plantae in actu, sed causaliter tantum. Quamvis, secundum alios, dici possit quod prima institutio specierum ad opera sex dierum pertinet, sed quod ex speciebus primo institutis generatio similium in specie procedat, hoc iam pertinet ad rerum administrationem.
Et hoc est quod Scriptura dicit, antequam oriretur super terram, vel antequam germinaret; idest, antequam ex similibus similia producerentur, sicut nunc naturaliter fieri videmus secundum viam seminationis. Unde signanter Scriptura dicit, germinet terra herbam virentem et facientem semen, quia scilicet sunt productae perfectae species plantarum, ex quibus semina aliarum orirentur. Nec refert ubicumque habeant vim seminativam, utrum scilicet in radice, vel in stipite, vel in fructu.
6 Reply to Objection 1: Life in plants is hidden, since they lack sense and local movement, by which the animate and the inanimate are chiefly discernible. And therefore, since they are firmly fixed in the earth, their production is treated as a part of the earth's formation.
6 Ad primum ergo dicendum quod vita in plantis est occulta, quia carent motu locali et sensu, quibus animatum ab inanimato maxime distinguitur. Et ideo, quia immobiliter terrae inhaerent, earum productio ponitur quasi quaedam terrae formatio.
7 Reply to Objection 2: Even before the earth was accursed, thorns and thistles had been produced, either virtually or actually. But they were not produced in punishment of man; as though the earth, which he tilled to gain his food, produced unfruitful and noxious plants. Hence it is said: Shall it bring forth TO THEE.
7 Ad secundum dicendum quod etiam ante illam maledictionem, spinae et tribuli producti erant vel virtute vel actu. Sed non erant producti homini in poenam; ut scilicet terra quam propter cibum coleret, infructuosa quaedam et noxia germinaret. Unde dictum est, germinabit tibi.
8 Reply to Objection 3: Moses put before the people such things only as were manifest to their senses, as we have said Question 67, Article 4; Question 68, Article 3). But minerals are generated in hidden ways within the bowels of the earth. Moreover they seem hardly specifically distinct from earth, and would seem to be species thereof. For this reason, therefore, he makes no mention of them.
8 Ad tertium dicendum quod Moyses ea tantum proposuit quae in manifesto apparent, sicut iam dictum est. Corpora autem mineralia habent generationem occultam in visceribus terrae. Et iterum, non habent manifestam distinctionem a terra, sed quaedam terrae species videntur. Et ideo de eis mentionem non fecit.