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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Three — Paradise

BENEDICTUS PERERIUS, COMMENTARIES ON GENESIS, BOOK THREE, Which is on Paradise. PREFACE

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BENEDICTUS PERERIUS, COMMENTARIES ON GENESIS, BOOK THREE, Which is on Paradise. PREFACE.1

BENEDICTI PERERII, COMMENTARIORUM IN GENESIM, LIBER TERTIUS, Qui est de Paradiso. PRAEFATIO.

USQUE adeo breviter et involute de paradiso scripsit Moses, ut eius veram et propriam sententiam assequi et penitus nosse visum sit omnibus difficillimum. Sic enim loquitur de Paradiso ut non obscure indicet eum fuisse locum quendam corporeum, aspectabilem atque terrestrem; idem tamen ea ponit in sua narratione quae, ad unum omnia, non posse in unum aliquem certum terrae locum convenire videantur. Quo factum est ut quidam Mosaicam paradisi narrationem non de corporali quopiam loco sed de re quadam intelligibili et spirituali interpretandam esse arbitrentur. Alii vero, paradisum rati locum esse corporalem, talem eum tamen depinxerunt qualem nec natura ferre nec mens humana capere possit, multa de situ et loco eius mirabilia magis quam credibilia commenti. Nec defuere qui, propter immensam rei difficultatem, desperata paradisi cognitione, Mosaicam eius doctrinam mortalibus in hac vita prorsus inexplicabilem et incomprehensibilem esse putaverunt. S. Ambrosius, de Paradiso scribere aggressus, ita librum exorsus est:
So briefly and intricately did Moses write of paradise, that to attain and thoroughly know his true and proper meaning has seemed to all most difficult. For he so speaks of Paradise as to indicate not obscurely that it was a certain corporeal, visible, and terrestrial place; yet the same man sets down in his narration things which, taken all together, seem unable to fit into any one certain place of the earth. Whence it has come about that some have judged that the Mosaic narration of paradise is to be interpreted not of any corporeal place, but of a certain intelligible and spiritual thing. But others, having thought paradise to be a corporeal place, yet depicted it such as neither nature could bear nor the human mind grasp, inventing many things about its site and place more marvelous than credible. Nor were there lacking those who, on account of the immense difficulty of the matter, despairing of the knowledge of paradise, thought the Mosaic teaching of it utterly inexplicable and incomprehensible to mortals in this life. Saint Ambrose, having undertaken to write of Paradise, began his book thus:2

The discourse on Paradise, which is to be undertaken, seems to strike no slight perplexity into us, who desire to investigate and explain what paradise is, and where it is, and of what kind it is: especially since the Apostle, although he knows not whether in the body or out of the body, yet says that he was caught up even to the third heaven, and likewise testifies that he heard there secret words which it is not lawful for man to utter.3

De Paradiso adoriendus sermo non mediocrem aestum nobis videtur incutere, quidnam sit paradisus et ubi sit qualisve sit investigare et explanare cupientibus: maxime cum Apostolus, sive in corpore sive extra corpus nesciat, raptum se tamen dicat usque ad tertium caelum, idemque testetur se ibi audivisse arcana verba quae non licet homini loqui.

B. Augustinus, lib. 2 contra Pelagium et Celestium cap. 23, hanc de paradiso disputationem numerat inter eas quibus, salva fide qua Christiani sumus, aut ignoratur quid verum sit et sententia definitiva suspenditur, aut aliter quam est humana et infirma suspicione coniicitur. Quo magis enitendum nobis est ut, nulli parcentes labori nullisque difficultatibus succumbentes, verba Mosis[...]
Blessed Augustine, in the second book against Pelagius and Caelestius, chapter 23, numbers this disputation about paradise among those in which, the faith by which we are Christians being kept safe, either it is not known what is true and a definitive judgment is suspended, or it is conjectured otherwise than it is, by a human and feeble surmise. Wherefore the more must we strive that, sparing no labor and succumbing to no difficulties, [we may weigh] the words of Moses[...]4
...[verba] Mosis de Paradiso subtiliter, enucleate, ac dilucide, quoad poterimus interpretantes, Mosaicae narrationis sententiam quam verba ipsa prae se ferunt diligenter exponamus et fideliter tueamur. Sic autem agemus ut nullam refugiamus quaestionem, nulli difficultati terga vertamus, nulliusque opinionem memoratu dignam in praeteritis relinquamus: nec in hoc ei obtemperabimus qui monuit quae sunt tractatu difficillima satius esse tacita praeteriri quam attentata deseri. Sic enim iudicio nostro res habet: in rebus obscurissimis iisdemque agnitione pulcherrimis, vel ipsum in quaerendo studium, vel conatus ad reperiendum, vel qualiscumque veritatis adumbratio et demonstratio, nec laude caret apud aequos rerum aestimatores, nec vacat fructu apud res abditas et praestantes cognoscendi studiosos.
...interpreting the words of Moses concerning Paradise as subtly, distinctly, and clearly as we shall be able, let us diligently expound and faithfully defend the meaning of the Mosaic narration which the words themselves present. And we shall so act as to flee from no question, to turn our back on no difficulty, and to leave out among the things passed over no opinion worth recording: nor will we in this obey him who warned that the things most difficult in handling are better passed over in silence than abandoned once attempted. For so, in our judgment, the matter stands: in things most obscure, and yet most beautiful in the knowing, either the very zeal in seeking, or the effort to discover, or any shadowing-forth and demonstration of the truth, neither lacks praise among fair estimators of things, nor is empty of fruit among those eager to know hidden and excellent things.5

Translator’s notes

  1. The opening of Book Three of the Genesis commentary, treating of Paradise (the Garden of Eden, Genesis 2). It begins with a preface on the difficulty of Moses's account. ↩
  2. Marginal gloss: "Difficultas historiae Mosis quae est de Paradiso." The preface's theme: Moses wrote of Paradise so briefly and obscurely that his meaning is most hard to grasp. He indicates a corporeal, earthly place, yet says things that seem to fit no one place—so some read the account spiritually/allegorically; others kept it corporeal but invented incredible features; others despaired of understanding it at all. Ambrose, beginning his De Paradiso, wrote: ↩
  3. Marginal glosses: "Quorundam opinio, inexplicabile esse [doctrinam] Mosis de Paradiso"; "2 Cor. 12." Ambrose, De Paradiso (opening): the discourse on Paradise causes great perplexity to those who would investigate what, where, and of what kind it is—especially since the Apostle Paul, caught up to the third heaven (whether in the body he knew not), heard secret words ‘not lawful for man to utter’ (2 Cor 12:2–4). ↩
  4. Augustine (Contra duas epistolas Pelagianorum, bk 2, ch. 23) ranks this paradise-question among those where, faith being safe, either the truth is unknown (and judgment suspended) or only guessed by feeble human surmise. Pererius resolves to strive, sparing no labor, to weigh Moses's words. Continues onto the next page (catchword ‘Mosis’; signature N). ↩
  5. Conclusion of the Preface to Book Three: Pererius resolves to expound Moses's account of Paradise as clearly as possible, shunning no question or difficulty—holding that, in obscure but beautiful matters, even the effort and any glimpse of truth is praiseworthy and fruitful. ↩