Beasts And Paradise

Sed quia plerosque movet qui diligentius intuentur, quomodo si vel primo magnum munus Dei fuit circa homines, ut in paradiso homines collocarentur, vel postea magnorum remuneratio videretur esse meritorum, ut ad paradisum justus unusquisque rapiatur, dicuntur etiam bestiae et pecora agri, et volatilia coeli in paradiso fuisse. Unde plerique paradisum animam hominis esse voluerunt, in qua virtutum quaedam germina pullulaverint: hominem autem et ad operandum, et ad custodiendum paradisum esse positum, hoc est, mentem hominis cujus virtus animam videtur excolere, nec solum excolere, sed etiam cum excoluerit, custodire. Bestiae autem agri, et volatilia coeli quae adducuntur ad Adam, nostri irrationabiles motus sunt, eo quod bestiae vel pecora, quaedam diversae sint corporis passiones, vel turbulentiores, vel etiam languidiores. Volatilia autem coeli quid aliud aestimamus, nisi inanes cogitationes quae velut volatilium more nostram circumvolant animam, et huc atque illuc vario motu saepe traducunt? Propterea nullus inventus est menti nostrae similis adjutor, nisi sensus, hoc est, αἴσθησις. Similem sibi solam νοῦς noster potuit invenire. Sed forte arguas, quia haec quoque Deus in tali paradiso locavit, hoc est, passiones corporis, et vanitatem quamdam fluctuantium vel inanium cogitationum, quod ipse nostri fuerit auctor erroris. Considera quid dicat: Habete, inquit, potestatem piscium maris, et volatilium coeli, et omnium repentium quae repunt super terram. Vides quod ille tibi tribuerit potestatem; ut de omnibus judicare tu debeas, singulorum genera judicii tui sobria definitione discernere. Vocavit ad te omnia Deus; ut supra omnia mentem tuam cognosceres. Cur quae tibi similia minime reperisti, adsciscere tibi et copulare voluisti? Dedit tibi certe sensum quo universa cognosceres, et de cognitis judicares, meritoque de illo fecundo paradisi agro ejectus es, quia non potuisti servare mandatum. Sciebat enim Deus esse te fragilem, sciebat judicare non posse; ideo dixit quasi fragilioribus: Nolite judicare ut non judicemini. Ergo quia scivit infirmum te esse ad judicandum, voluit obedientem esse mandato; ideo praeceptum posuit. Quod si non praevaricatus esses, periculum incerti judicii incidere nequivisses. Itaque quoniam judicare voluisti, ideo addidit: Ecce Adam factus est tamquam unus ex nobis, ut sciat bonum et malum. Voluisti tibi arrogare judicium, ideo poenam pravi judicii refutare non debes. Posuit tamen te contra paradisum, ne memoriam ejus possis abolere. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Paradiso, Caput XI Migne PL 14 299-300

But because there is more to concern those who look more diligently into this, how do we explain the fact that, if in the beginning the great gift of God to men was that in paradise men be gathered, or afterward, as reward for their merits, those who are righteous would be brought to paradise, it is said that wild animals and beasts of the field and birds of the air were in Paradise? Hence, many would have it that by Paradise is meant the soul of man in which certain seeds of virtue sprouted  and that this is the work of man, along with the guarding of paradise, that is, that the mind of man has the cultivation of the soul as its virtue, and not only to cultivate it, but when it has been cultivated to guard it. The beasts of the field and the birds of the air which were brought to Adam are our irrational movements, because beasts and animals represent the diverse passions of the body, whether of the more turbulent or of the more moderate type. And what else are we to consider the birds of the air if not as representations of our idle thoughts which, like winged creatures, flit around our souls and frequently lead us by their varied motions now in one direction, now in another? Whence nothing is found to be a helper to our minds as the sense, which which in Greeks name 'aithesis'. Except for our intellect, the 'nous', it has been unable to find another so like itself. But perhaps you may argue that because God placed these things in paradise, that is, the passions of the body and the vanity of fleeting and empty thoughts, God is Himself the Author of error. Consider what He says: 'Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and all the animals that crawl upon the earth.' 1 You see that He given to you the power of being able to judge everything, with sober discernment of judgement distinguishing every kind. God has called them all to your attention, so that you might know that your mind is superior to all of them. Why finding something so unlike, have you wished to to draw them to yourself and bind them to you? Certainly God has given you a sense by which you can know things in general and from knowledge judge, and thus rightly you were cast from that fertile place of paradise because you were unable to observe God's command. God knew that you were weak, He knew that you could not judge, therefore, He spoke to men as weak things, 'Do not judge that you be not judged.' 2 Thus because He knew you to be infirm in judgement, He wished you to be obedient to His command. If you had not ignored this order, you would have been unable to fall into the peril of flawed judgement. And because you wished to judge, for that reason He added: 'Indeed Adam has become like one of us, knowing good and evil.' 3 You desired to arrogate judgement to yourself, thus you should not decry the punishment for depraved judgment. Nevertheless, He placed you facing against paradise 4 that the memory of it may never leave you.  Saint Ambrose, On Paradise, from Chap 11 1 Gen 1.25  2 Mt 7.1  3 Gen 3.22  4 Gen 3.24 Vetus Latina, LXX