All wickedness is but little to the wickedness of a woman: let the portion of a sinner fall upon her.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Sirach 25:19 Go To Wisdom of Sirach 25
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Our death comes as a punishment we have been given to drink. We have received this from the stock of our origin as human branches spreading out from the root. The first Adam deserved this because of sin. "Sin had its beginning from a woman," as it says in Scripture, "and because of her we all die." And again: "Because of a single human being sin has entered into the world, and death through sin; thus death has caught up all of humanity because all have sinned." Thus in our nature there is present both guilt and punishment. God created our nature immune from guilt, and, if it had persisted without guilt, it would not then have had to experience the punishment. From our origin we have contracted this, and many other evils are derived from it as well. Therefore guilt and punishment are present in our nature: in the flesh of Jesus there was punishment without guilt because he came and abolished the guilt and the punishment.
