Page:The ancient interpretation of Leviticus XVIII. 18 - Marriage with a deceased wife's sister is lawful.djvu/25

Rh ἀπαγορεύει γάμον· οὐ λήψῃ γάρ φησι γυναῖκα ἐπ’ ἀδελφῃ αὐτη̄ς ἀντίζηλον αὐτη̄ς." It was the sense known to the African Church, as appears from Augustine, who says: — "Uxorem super sororem ejus non accipies in zelum. ilic non prohibuit [quamlibet] superducere quod licebat antiquis propter abundantiam propagationis, sed sororem sorori noluit supercluci, quod videtur fecisse Jacob sive quia nondum fuerat lege prohibitum, &c.;" i. e., Lev. xviii. 18, according to Augustine, is not a prohibition of polygamy, but of a simultaneous marriage with two sisters, as in the case of Jacob. It was the sense preserved in the East, at the beginning of the seventh century, as we see from the commentary of Isychius, or Hesychius, of Jerusalem, on Lev. xviii. 18. After remarking that his command is agreeable to the will of Him who wishes all, specially relatives, to live at peace, he says: "Quod subvertit, si simul quis uxori sororique ejus jungatur, ut sorores simul habitant, et ut inter simul habitantes excitetur zelus, unde contentio rixaque generatur."

In the ninth century we find the words of Augustine, as cited above, in the commentary of Rabanus Maurus, and thence derived into the "Glossa Ordinaria" attributed to Walafrid Strabo.

In the eleventh century, in his "De Parentelæ Gradibus," Peter Damiani, though opposed to the marriage,