Sin And Memory

Dixit ergo serpens mulieri: Quid, quia dixit Deus: Non edetis ab omni ligno paradisi? Et dixit mulier serpenti: A fructu ligni quod est in paradiso edemus: de fructu autem ligni, quod est in medio paradisi, dixit Deus: Non edetis ex eo, neque tangetis illud, ne moriamini.  Ideo prius interrogavit serpens, et respondit hoc mulier, ut praevaricatio esset inexcusabilis, neque ullo modo dici posset, id quod praeceperat Deus oblitam fuisse mulierem. Quamquam et oblivio praecepti, maxime unius et tam necessarii, ad maximam culpam damnabilis neglegentiae pertineret: verumtamen evidentior eius transgressio est, cum memoria retinetur, et tamquam in illo Deus assistens praesensque contemnitur. Unde necessarium fuit, cum in Psalmo diceretur: Et memoria retinentibus mandata eius, addere, ut faciant ea  Multi enim retinent memoria, ut contemnant ea, praevaricationis maiore peccato, ubi oblivionis nulla est excusatio. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, De Genesi Ad Litteram, Liber XI, Caput XXX  Source: Migne PL 34.445

Therefore the serpent said to the woman: 'Why did God say that you are not to eat from the tree of paradise?' And the woman said: 'From the fruit of the tree that is in paradise we may eat, from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of paradise God said: 'You shall not eat from it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' 1  Thus first the serpent questions and then the woman answers, that error be without excuse, nor may it be able to be said that the woman had forgotten what God had commanded. Though whoever is forgetful of a command, especially one so singular and necessary, has attached themselves to grave fault by damnable negligence, more evident is that transgression when the memory remembers, as with one who with God near and present yet will scorn Him. Whence it was necessary in the Psalm that says, 'And being mindful for the holding of His commands, to add, 'That they do them.' 2 For with these things held in the memory, when they are spurned, there is greater sin of fault, where there is no excuse of forgetfulness. Saint Augustine of Hippo, from On Genesis To The Letter, Book 11, Chap 30 1 Gen 3.1-3 2 Ps 102.18