Abstract
ESPONDING to a passage in Augustine, several scholastic theologians of the high Middle Ages discussed the physical and mental condition of the infants who would have been born in the earthly paradise if there had been no sin. Among the theologians who contributed to the discussion were such major figures as Hugh of St. Victor and Peter Lombard in the twelfth century, and Albertus Magnus, Bonaventure, and Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth. The crux of the discussion was how to explain and evaluate the debility of infants. Whereas Augustine had considered infantile debility to be unnatural and a punishment for original sin, the medieval schoolmen were inclined to regard it as natural, and they applied their knowledge of medicine and natural philosophy to the topic. R
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