The Perils Of Affection

Neque enim frustra et illud quod Apostolus ait: Adam enim primus formatus est, deinde Eva: et Adam non est seductus, mulier autem seducta in praevaricatione facta est; id est, ut per illam etiam vir praevaricaretur. Nam et ipsum dicit praevaricatorem, ubi ait: In similitudinem praevaricationis Adae, qui est forma futuri. Seductum tamen negat. Nam et interrogatus non ait: Mulier quam dedisti mecum, seduxit me, et manducavi; sed, ipsa mihi, inquit, dedit a ligno, et manducavi. Illa vero: Serpens, inquit, seduxit me. Ita Salomon vir tantae sapientiae, numquidnam credendum est quod in simulacrorum cultu credidit esse aliquid utilitatis? Sed mulierum amori ad hoc malum trahenti resistere non valuit, faciens quod sciebat non esse faciendum, ne suas, quibus deperibat atque defluebat, mortiferas delicias contristaret. Ita et Adam, posteaquam de ligno prohibito seducta mulier manducavit, eique dedit ut simul ederent, noluit eam contristare, quam credebat posse sine suo solatio contabescere, si ab eius alienaretur animo, et omnino illa interire discordia. Non quidem carnis victus concupiscentia, quam nondum senserat in resistente lege membrorum legi mentis suae; sed amicali quadam benevolentia, qua plerumque fit ut offendatur Deus, ne homo ex amico fiat inimicus: quod eum facere non debuisse, divinae sententiae iustus exitus indicavit. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, De Genesi Ad Litteram, Liber XI, Cap XLII Migne PL 34 453-454

It is not in vain that the Apostle said, 'Adam was fashioned first, then Eve, and Adam was not seduced but the woman seduced sinned,' 1 that is, by her the man was a sinner. For he calls him a sinner, when he says, 'a likeness of the sinner Adam, who is the type of the one to come.' 2 He does not say seduced. For being asked Adam does not say, 'The woman which you gave me, she seduced me, and I ate,' but 'She gave to me from the tree and I ate.' She, however, does say, 'The serpent seduced me.' 3 Thus Solomon who was a man of such wisdom that surely no one believes that he thought there to be any benefit in the cult of idols, but for love of women he could not resist being drawn into this evil, doing what he knew he should not do, thus he fell into ruin and diminished, lest he grieve them in their death bearing pleasures. 4 So even Adam, after the seduced woman ate from the forbidden tree and gave to him that he likewise eat, was unwilling to grieve her, which he thought he would be able to do without the result of the distress if from his soul she were alienated and utterly she enter into disharmony. For certainly he was not overthrown by the lust of the flesh, since he did not yet feel in the law of his members resistance to the law of his mind, 5 but on account of a certain friendly benevolence, that makes many offend God lest they make a man who was friend an enemy, which he should not have done, the just expulsion of the the Divine judgement was imposed. Saint Augustine of Hippo, On Genesis to the Letter, Book 11, Chap 42 1 1 Tim 2 13-14 2 Rom 5.14 3 Gen 3.12-13  4 cf 3 Kings 11.4  5 Rom 7.23