Yea rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
After saying, "I was a child of a noble nature," explaining why he was good-natured, he immediately adds, "A good soul fell to my lot," receiving it, that is, from either the nature or the physical temperament of the father. He then says, "Being good beyond the usual, I entered an unsullied body." " If we wanted to understand these expressions as referring to the Lord with respect to the human nature assumed by the Word, in the same context there are statements that cannot be applied to his sublime person, and especially the following. The same author, in the same book, a little above the passage we are now discussing, professes to have been formed from the blood that comes from the seed of a man. This kind of birth, however, is absolutely different from the birth from the Virgin, since no Christian doubts that she conceived the flesh of Christ without the cooperation of male seed. - "On Genesis 10.17.31–18.32"
A closer examination is needed of the passage in the book of Wisdom that says, "A good soul fell to my lot, and, because I was unusually good, I entered an undefiled body." This would in fact seem to support the opinion according to which it is believed that souls are not propagated from a single soul but enter bodies from on high. What, however, is the meaning of the phrase "a good soul fell to my lot"? One could imagine that in the creation of souls, if there is such a thing, some are good and others not, and these are distributed on the basis of a kind of lottery, which would decide which type of soul would be infused in each individual person. Or, at the moment of conception or birth God makes some people good and others not, in such a way that each of them would receive the soul that had been assigned to them by the draw. It would be odd if the cited text were a convincing argument, at least for those who believe that souls are created in another place and sent by God, one by one,...
