St. Alphonsus Liguori[27] was a follower of the Thomistic opinion. He affirmed: "They are wrong that say the fetus is animated at the instant of conception, because the fetus certainly is not animated before it is formed, as is proved from Exod. xxi: 22, where in the Septuagint version we find: 'He that strikes a gravid woman and causes abortion, will give life for life if the child was formed; if it was not formed, he will be fined.'" This argument by St. Alphonsus is invalid apart from any facts that may bear upon either the Thomistic or the modern opinion concerning the quickening of the fetus. The text from the Septuagint Exodus is (1) too doubtful in itself to be the basis of any argument; but (2) even if it were authentic just as it stands, the conclusion St. Alphonsus draws from it is not warranted by the premises. The Septuagint text differs from the Vulgate and the Hebrew texts. The Vulgate has it thus: "Si rixati fuerint viri et percusserit quis mulierem praegnantem, et abortum quidem fercerit, sed ipsa vixerit, subjacebit damno quantum maritus mulieris expetierit et arbitri judicaverint; sin autem mors fuerit subsecuta, reddit animam pro anima, oculum pro oculo, dentem pro dente, manum pro manu, pedem pro pede, adustionem pro adustione, vulnus pro vulnere, livorem pro livore."[28] This version has nothing whatever to say about the _foetus formatus_ or _non formatus_; it is merely an application of the Semitic Lex Talionis, and the form of the law is clearly corrupt and inaccurate. [27] _Theologia Moralis_, lib. iv, tr. 4, n. 594. [28] If men quarrel, and one strike a woman with child, and she miscarry indeed, but live herself, he shall be answerable for so much damage as the woman's husband shall require and as arbiters shall award. But if her death ensue thereupon, he shall render life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. The passage quoted by St. Alphonsus as that of the Septuagint is not exact even as the Septuagint has it. The full text is: "If two men fight, and one strike a woman that hath [a child] in the womb, and her babe come forth not yet fully formed,[29] in a fine he shall be mulcted; whatsoever the husband layeth upon him he shall give according to decision [_i.e._, of the judges]. But if it [the babe] be fully formed he will give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." [29] καὶ ἐξέλθη παιδίον αὐτῆσ μὴ ἐξεικονισμένον--not moulded out into form; ἐξεικονίζειν, to mould out into form: εἰκων, an icon, image, likeness.