Remigius of Auxerre

English

And he divided the light from the darkness. Darkness (tenebrae) is so called from holding (tenendo), because it holds the eyes so that they may not see. But God made both, the light and the darkness — namely, that men might work in the light and rest in the night. Therefore the darkness too is a work of God. Whence in the hymn of the three young men, in which every creature is invited to bless God, the darkness also is set down along with the light.

Fresh draft (Claude), approved by Wilson Pruitt · cc-by

Latin

PL 131, col. 55C · pd

Notes

The flat contradiction of Augustine, stated in four sentences and with a proof text, in a school commentary written for teaching. God made both, and the reason is a reason from use: that men should work in the light and rest at night. Then the sentence Augustine's whole argument exists to prevent — therefore the darkness too is a work of God — and then the evidence, which is liturgical rather than philosophical: in the Benedicite, where every creature is called to bless the Lord, light and darkness are called together (Dan 3:72). It is a good argument. If the darkness is a privation it cannot be summoned to praise, and the canticle summons it. Remigius does not mention Augustine, and the Glossa will print this gloss over the name of Strabo on the same page as glosses that assume the opposite.

Threads

• → contests · Augustine
  The flattest contradiction of Augustine on this crux, without naming him and without argument from authority: 'God made both, the light and the darkness … therefore the darkness too is a work of God', proved from the Benedicite, where light and darkness are called together to bless the Lord (Dan 3:72). If darkness is the absence of light it cannot be summoned to praise; the canticle summons it.
• ← cites · Glossa ordinaria (school of Laon)
  The Glossa's whole literal gloss on this verse is Remigius' sentence with its proof text — 'Lucem et tenebras fecit Deus, unde Dan. III: Benedicite, lux et tenebrae, Domino, cum omnis creatura ad benedicendum invitatur' — printed under the name of Strabo. What the twelfth-century schoolroom reads on Gen 1:4 is therefore the anti-Augustinian answer.
• ← contests · Remigius of Auxerre
  One commentator, one verse, two incompatible readings a few columns apart, and no attempt to reconcile them: on the literal pass the darkness is a work of God made so that men might rest, and on the allegorical pass the darkness is the impious line of Cain that God drowned. The Latin bench's habit of running the six days twice is what allows the same writer to hold both.
• ← parallel · Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer
  Darkness as a creature, stated without argument on both benches. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer puts it fourth in a list of eight things created on the first day, between light and tohu, with no proof text and no defence. Remigius says God made both and proves it from the Benedicite. Neither is arguing with anybody; each is the settled answer of a tradition, and they are the same answer.
• → parallel · Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
  The same reason for the division, given in Aramaic and in Latin with no possible contact: Pseudo-Jonathan, that God made the day so that the inhabitants of the world might labour by it and the night so that the creatures might rest in it; Remigius, that God made both the light and the darkness 'that men might work in the light and rest in the night'. Remigius uses it to prove the darkness is a creature; the targum draws no conclusion from it at all.