At the same time Augustine by no means takes up the mediaeval ascetic position of contemptuous hatred towards the body.

Nothing can be further from Odo of Cluny than Augustine's enthusiasm about the body, even about the exquisite harmony of the parts beneath the skin.

"I believe it may be concluded," he even says, "that in the creation of the human body beauty was more regarded than necessity.

In truth, necessity is a transitory thing, and the time is coming when we shall be able to enjoy one another's beauty without any lust."[54] Even in the sphere of sex he would be willing to admit purity and beauty, apart from the inherited influence of Adam's sin.

In Paradise, he says, had Paradise continued, the act of generation would have been as simple and free from shame as the act of the hand in scattering seed on to the earth.