[27] _Theologia Moralis_, lib. iv, tr. 4, n. 594.
[28] If men quarrel, and one strike a woman with child, and she miscarry indeed, but live herself, he shall be answerable for so much damage as the woman's husband shall require and as arbiters shall award. But if her death ensue thereupon, he shall render life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
The passage quoted by St. Alphonsus as that of the Septuagint is not exact even as the Septuagint has it. The full text is: "If two men fight, and one strike a woman that hath [a child] in the womb, and her babe come forth not yet fully formed,[29] in a fine he shall be mulcted; whatsoever the husband layeth upon him he shall give according to decision [_i.e._, of the judges]. But if it [the babe] be fully formed he will give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."
[29] καὶ ἐξέλθη παιδίον αὐτῆσ μὴ ἐξεικονισμένον--not moulded out into form; ἐξεικονίζειν, to mould out into form: εἰκων, an icon, image, likeness.
This is (1) evidently nothing but an application of the Lex Talionis, with no thought whatever of the biological animation, as such, of the fetus. It means that if a fully formed fetus be aborted, either no real damage is done, as such a child is viable; or the formed child may be maimed, and then the Lex Talionis is to be applied. If the fetus is not fully formed it is not a fit subject of the Lex Talionis since it cannot lose an eye, a tooth, and so on, because it lacks these organs and therefore the law of retaliation is not to be enforced.
(2) Suppose, however, the writer of the text as the Septuagint has it did think with St. Alphonsus that the formed fetus is animated, and the unformed is not animated, even then the conclusion drawn by St. Alphonsus is not warranted by the text. The laws of Exodus do not teach embryology, physiology, or any other part of physical science; and no authority worth a hearing holds that the Scriptures were intended to be infallible treatises on obstetrics or astronomy. Like the other parts of the Bible, the laws of Exodus presuppose the unscientific biological, astronomical, and other physical notions of the time in which they were written--the moral truth is the matter the Scripture is dealing with; there no inaccuracy is to be found. St. John (1:13) speaks of those who believe in Christ's name, "Qui non _ex sanguinibus_, neque ex voluntate carnis, neque ex voluntate viri, sed ex Deo nati sunt." Here he expresses the contemporary notion, which is also the Thomistic opinion, that men are generated from the specialized blood of their parents. He was interested solely in conveying the truth that those who received Christ were regenerated by him, not through heredity; and he does so, although the biology is inexact. If St. Alphonsus's conclusion is valid as from the text of Exodus, then men are generated _ex sanguinibus_, and so on indefinitely.
