1 Objection 1: It would seem that the woman should not have been formed from the rib of man. For the rib was much smaller than the woman's body. Now from a smaller thing a larger thing can be made only, either by addition and then the woman ought to have been described as made out of that which was added, rather than out of the rib itself), or by rarefaction, because, as Augustine says Gen. ad lit. x): A body cannot increase in bulk except by rarefaction. But the woman's body is not more rarefied than man's, at least, not in the proportion of a rib to Eve's body. Therefore Eve was not formed from a rib of Adam.
1 Ad tertium sic proceditur. Videtur quod mulier non debuerit formari de costa viri. Costa enim viri fuit multo minor quam corpus mulieris. Sed ex minori non potest fieri maius, nisi vel per additionem, quod si fuisset, magis ex illo addito mulier formata diceretur quam de costa; vel etiam per rarefactionem, quia, ut dicit Augustinus, super Gen. ad Litt., non est possibile ut aliquod corpus crescat, nisi rarescat. Non autem invenitur corpus mulieris rarius quam viri, ad minus in ea proportione quam habet costa ad corpus Evae. Ergo Eva non fuit formata de costa Adae.
2 Objection 2: Further, in those things which were first created there was nothing superfluous. Therefore a rib of Adam belonged to the integrity of his body. So, if a rib was removed, his body remained imperfect; which is unreasonable to suppose.
2 Praeterea, in operibus primo creatis non fuit aliquid superfluum. Costa ergo Adae fuit de perfectione corporis eius. Ergo, ea subtracta, remansit imperfectum. Quod videtur inconveniens.
3 Objection 3: Further, a rib cannot be removed from man without pain. But there was no pain before sin. Therefore it was not right for a rib to be taken from the man, that Eve might be made from it.
3 Praeterea, costa non potest separari ab homine sine dolore. Sed dolor non fuit ante peccatum. Ergo costa non debuit separari a viro, ut ex ea mulier formaretur.
4 On the contrary, It is written Gn. 2, 22): God built the rib, which He took from Adam, into a woman.
4 Sed contra est quod dicitur Gen. II, aedificavit dominus Deus costam quam tulerat de Adam, in mulierem.
5 I answer that, It was right for the woman to be made from a rib of man. First, to signify the social union of man and woman, for the woman should neither use authority over man, and so she was not made from his head; nor was it right for her to be subject to man's contempt as his slave, and so she was not made from his feet. Secondly, for the sacramental signification; for from the side of Christ sleeping on the Cross the Sacraments flowed, namely, blood and water, on which the Church was established.
5 Respondeo dicendum quod conveniens fuit mulierem formari de costa viri. Primo quidem, ad significandum quod inter virum et mulierem debet esse socialis coniunctio. Neque enim mulier debet dominari in virum, et ideo non est formata de capite. Neque debet a viro despici, tanquam serviliter subiecta, et ideo non est formata de pedibus. Secundo, propter sacramentum, quia de latere Christi dormientis in cruce fluxerunt sacramenta, idest sanguis et aqua, quibus est Ecclesia instituta.
6 Reply to Objection 1: Some say that the woman's body was formed by a material increase, without anything being added; in the same way as our Lord multiplied the five loaves. But this is quite impossible. For such an increase of matter would either be by a change of the very substance of the matter itself, or by a change of its dimensions. Not by change of the substance of the matter, both because matter, considered in itself, is quite unchangeable, since it has a potential existence, and has nothing but the nature of a subject, and because quantity and size are extraneous to the essence of matter itself.
Wherefore multiplication of matter is quite unintelligible, as long as the matter itself remains the same without anything added to it; unless it receives greater dimensions. This implies rarefaction, which is for the same matter to receive greater dimensions, as the Philosopher says Phys. iv). To say, therefore, that the same matter is enlarged, without being rarefied, is to combine contradictories, viz. the definition with the absence of the thing defined. Wherefore, as no rarefaction is apparent in such multiplication of matter, we must admit an addition of matter: either by creation, or which is more probable, by conversion.
Hence Augustine says Tract. xxiv in Joan.) that Christ filled five thousand men with five loaves, in the same way as from a few seeds He produces the harvest of corn, that is, by transformation of the nourishment. Nevertheless, we say that the crowds were fed with five loaves, or that woman was made from the rib, because an addition was made to the already existing matter of the loaves and of the rib.
6 Ad primum ergo dicendum quod quidam dicunt per multiplicationem materiae absque alterius additione, formatum fuisse corpus mulieris; ad modum quo dominus quinque panes multiplicavit. Sed hoc est omnino impossibile. Multiplicatio enim praedicta aut accidit secundum transmutationem substantiae ipsius materiae; aut secundum transmutationem dimensionum eius. Non autem secundum transmutationem substantiae ipsius materiae, tum quia materia in se considerata, est omnino intransmutabilis, utpote existens in potentia, et habens solum rationem subiecti; tum etiam quia multitudo et magnitudo sunt praeter essentiam ipsius materiae. Et ideo nullo modo potest multiplicatio materiae intelligi, eadem materia manente absque additione, nisi per hoc quod maiores dimensiones accipiat. Hoc autem est rarefieri, scilicet materiam eandem accipere maiores dimensiones, ut philosophus dicit in IV Physic. Dicere ergo materiam multiplicari absque rarefactione, est ponere contradictoria simul, scilicet definitionem absque definito. Unde, cum non appareat rarefactio in talibus multiplicationibus, necesse est ponere additionem materiae, vel per creationem; vel, quod probabilius est, per conversionem. Unde Augustinus dicit, super Ioan., quod hoc modo Christus ex quinque panibus satiavit quinque millia hominum, quomodo ex paucis granis producit multitudinem segetum; quod fit per conversionem alimenti. Dicitur tamen vel ex quinque panibus turbas pavisse, vel ex costa mulierem formasse, quia additio facta est ad materiam praeexistentem costae vel panum.
7 Reply to Objection 2: The rib belonged to the integral perfection of Adam, not as an individual, but as the principle of the human race; just as the semen belongs to the perfection of the begetter, and is released by a natural and pleasurable operation. Much more, therefore, was it possible that by the Divine power the body of the woman should be produced from the man's rib. From this it is clear how to answer the third objection.
7 Ad secundum dicendum quod costa illa fuit de perfectione Adae, non prout erat individuum quoddam, sed prout erat principium speciei, sicut semen est de perfectione generantis, quod operatione naturali cum delectatione resolvitur. Unde multo magis virtute divina corpus mulieris potuit de costa viri formari absque dolore. Et per hoc patet solutio ad tertium.