Question VI

GRATIAN. Behold, this woman cannot be put away, since she is found innocent of fornication. But suppose that she herself is an adulteress. It is asked whether an adulterous man can put her away for the cause of fornication. For it does not seem that one infected by an equal crime can punish another for the same. Hence, when the Jews accused the adulteress, they received from the Lord the judgment of equity: “Whichever of you is without sin, let him first cast a stone at her.” Hence it is also commanded in the Gospel: “Hypocrite, first cast the beam out of your eye, and afterward you will cast the mote out of your brother’s eye.” Hence Augustine also writes in Book I On the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, [c. 28]:

Nothing is more unjust than to put away a wife for the cause of fornication if the man himself is also proved to fornicate. For that saying meets him: “In that in which you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you do the same things that you judge.” Therefore, whoever wishes to cast off his wife for the cause of fornication must first be purged of fornication. I would say the same also concerning a woman.

The same, On the Words of the Lord, tractate [or sermon] XLVI. If you are going to take wives, preserve yourselves for your wives. As you wish to find them, let them also find you. What young man is there who does not wish to take a chaste wife? And if he is going to receive a virgin, who does not desire her untouched? You seek one untouched? Be untouched. You seek one pure? Be pure. For it is not the case that she can and you cannot.

The same, in the epistle to Paxentius, the Arian count, [epistle CLXXIV]. It is unjust for someone to wish to judge concerning another and to be unwilling to be judged concerning himself.

The same, On Adulterous Marriages, [Book II, c. 8]. Husbands are indignant if they hear that adulterous men pay penalties similar to adulterous women, although the former ought to be punished so much more gravely insofar as it pertains more to them both to conquer women by virtue and to govern them by example.

The same, On the Ten Strings, [c. 3]. “You shall not commit adultery,” that is, you shall not go to any other woman besides your wife. But do you demand this from your wife and refuse to render it to your wife? And although you ought to precede your wife in virtue—since chastity is a virtue—do you fall under one impulse of lust? And do you wish your wife to be victorious while you lie conquered? And since you are the head of your wife, does she whose head you are precede you to God? Do you wish your house to hang upside down? For the man is the head of the woman. But where the woman lives better than the man, the house hangs upside down. If the man is the head, the man ought to live better and to precede his wife in all good works.

GRATIAN. By these authorities it is shown that an adulterous man cannot put away an adulterous wife.