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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Three — Paradise

ON THE THIRD AND FOURTH RIVER, the Tigris and Euphrates

LatineEnglish

ON THE THIRD AND FOURTH RIVER, the Tigris and Euphrates.1

DE TERTIO ET QUARTO FLUMINE, Tigri et Euphrate.

GENESIS 2, verse 14. — But the name of the third river is Tigris: it goes toward the Assyrians. And the fourth river, it is the Euphrates.2

GENES. 2. VERS. 14. — Nomen vero fluminis tertii, Tigris: ipse vadit contra Assyrios. Fluvius autem quartus, ipse est Euphrates.

APPELLATUS est Tigris secundum Isidorum lib. 13 Etymologiar. cap. 21 et Rupertum lib. 2 de operibus Trinitatis c. 29, a celeritate cursus, ducta similitudine a Tigre animalium velocissimo (cuius miram in cursu pernicitatem describit Plinius lib. 8 c. 18). Sed verius dictum est quod Plinius lib. 6 c. 27, Q. Curtius lib. 4 et Strabo libr. 11 tradiderunt, dictum esse Tigrim a celeritate sagittae, quae lingua Medorum Tigris appellatur. Hebraice חדקל Hiddekel dicitur, ut interpretatur David Chimi, ex eo quod aquae eius saporem quendam acutum reddunt, vel a cursu eius velocissimo. Chaldaice nominatur דגלת Diglath, quo vocabulo significari ait Iosephus eum simul angustum arctumque et velocem decurrere. Apud Danielem cap. 10 appellatur fluvius magnus, valde nobilitatus Ninive civitate quondam maxima et in sacris litteris celebratissima, quam praeterfluebat. Plinius locum ubi Tigris tardior fluit appellari inquit Diglito: quod cum supradicto vocabulo Chaldaico maxime congruit.
The Tigris was named, according to Isidore (book 13 of the Etymologies, chapter 21) and Rupert (book 2 On the works of the Trinity, chapter 29), from the swiftness of its course, the likeness being drawn from the Tiger, swiftest of animals (whose wonderful nimbleness in running Pliny describes in book 8, chapter 18). But it is more truly said—what Pliny (book 6, chapter 27), Q. Curtius (book 4), and Strabo (book 11) have handed down—that the Tigris was named from the swiftness of an arrow, which in the tongue of the Medes is called "Tigris." In Hebrew it is called חדקל Hiddekel, as David Kimchi interprets, from the fact that its waters yield a certain sharp taste, or from its very swift course. In Chaldee it is named דגלת Diglath, by which word Josephus says it is signified that it runs at once narrow and confined, and swift. In Daniel, chapter 10, it is called the great river, much ennobled by Nineveh, once the greatest city and most celebrated in the sacred writings, which it flowed past. Pliny says that the place where the Tigris flows slower is called Diglito: which agrees most closely with the aforesaid Chaldee word.3
MULTA de Tigre cum alii tum Plinius cap. 27 libr. 6 prodidit:
Much about the Tigris both others and especially Pliny, in chapter 27 of book 6, have set forth:4

It rises, he says, in the region of Greater Armenia, from a conspicuous spring in a plain. Where it flows slower, it is called Diglito; whence, quickened, from its speed it begins to be called Tigris (so the Medes call an arrow). It flows into Lake Arethusa, which sustains all weights cast into it, and exhales niter in mists. It is borne along unlike both in course and color, and, carried across, when Mount Taurus meets it, it plunges into a cavern; and gliding under, it bursts out on the other side of it (it is manifest that it is the same, because it carries through the things sunk in it). Then it crosses another lake which is called Thospites; and again plunges into tunnels, and after twenty-five miles is rendered up again near Nymphaeum. On this side of Seleucia, of Babylonia, a hundred and twenty-five miles, divided into two channels, with one it seeks the south and Seleucia, watering Mesene; with the other, bent to the North, it cuts the Cauchian plains behind the same nation. Where the waters have flowed back together, it is called Pasitigris. Afterward it receives the Choaspes from Media; and (as we said) borne between Seleucia and Ctesiphon, it pours itself into the Chaldaean lakes, and fills them to a breadth of seventy miles. Soon, spread out in a vast channel, on the right of the town of Charace it is carried into the Persian Sea by its tenth mouth. Between the mouths of the two rivers there were twenty-five miles, or (as others hand down) seven miles, both navigable. So Pliny about the Tigris.5

Oritur, inquit, in regione Armeniae maioris, fonte conspicuo in planicie. Cuius qua tardior fluit, Diglito; unde concitatur, a celeritate Tigris incipit vocari (ita appellant Medi sagittam). Influit lacum Arethusam omnia illata pondera sustinentem, et nitrum nebulis exhalantem. Fertur autem et cursu et colore dissimilis, transvectusque, occurrente Tauro monte, in specu mergitur; subterque lapsus, a latere altero eius erumpit (eundem esse manifestum est, quod demersa perfert). Alterum deinde transit lacum qui Thospites appellatur; rursusque in cuniculos mergitur, et post vigintiquinque milia passuum circa Nymphaeum redditur. Citra Seleuciam, Babyloniae, centum vigintiquinque milia passuum, divisus in alveos duos, altero meridiem ac Seleuciam petit, Mesenem perfundens; altero ad Septentrionem flexus, eiusdem gentis tergo campos Cauchas secat. Ubi remeavere aquae, Pasitigris appellatur. Postea recipit ex Media Choaspem; atque (ut diximus) inter Seleuciam et Ctesiphontem vectus, in lacus Chaldaicos se fundit, eosque septuaginta milia passuum amplitudine implet. Mox vasto alveo profusus, dextra Characis oppidi infertur mari Persico decimo ore. Inter duorum amnium ostia vigintiquinque milia passuum fuere, aut (ut alii tradunt) septem milia, utroque navigabili. Sic Plinius de Tigri.

RESTAT quartus fluvius Euphrates, de quo illud tantummodo Moses dixit, Ipse est Euphrates. Hebraice est הוא פרת Hu Perath seu Pherath: nam ut Genebrardus (linguarum et optimarum doctrinarum exquisita scientia hoc nostro tempore merito laudatissimus) in Isa[goge ad doctrinam Rabbinorum]...
There remains the fourth river, the Euphrates, of which Moses said only this, It is the Euphrates. In Hebrew it is הוא פרת Hu Perath or Pherath: for, as Genebrardus (most justly praised in this our age for his exquisite knowledge of languages and of the best disciplines) in his Intro[duction to the doctrine of the Rabbis]...6
...[in Isa]goge ad doctrinam Rabbinorum, ex Hieron. in Comment. sup. 11 c. Dan., probat: Apud Hebraeos פ sonat ut apud Graecos φ, ut pronunciandum sit Pherath; et quia vocalis e non est clare efferenda sed muffitanda, pronunciatur Phrath. Itaque ex duabus dictionibus, altera הוא Hu (quae significat ipse est), altera vero פרת Phrath, composita est tanquam una dictio Euphrates, cum Graece dici deberet Prates. Vox autem Hebraea פרת Perath ducta est a radice Paraa significante fructificare et foecundare: quippe Euphrates, modo Nili exundans, terras rigat et foecundat. Non raro in divina Scriptura, tacito proprio Euphratis nomine, appellatur Magnus fluvius: non quia terminaret Terram sanctam (ut nugantur Iudaei—ob eam namque causam maximus omnium censeri deberet Iordanis qui eam interluit), sed quia unus erat de maximis fluminibus Iudaeorum genti notis.
...in his Introduction to the doctrine of the Rabbis, from Jerome in his Commentary on the eleventh chapter of Daniel, proves: Among the Hebrews פ sounds as φ among the Greeks, so that it should be pronounced Pherath; and because the vowel e is not to be clearly enounced but murmured, it is pronounced Phrath. And so from two words—the one הוא Hu (which signifies it is), but the other פרת Phrath—is composed, as it were one word, Euphrates, though in Greek it ought to be said Prates. But the Hebrew word פרת Perath is derived from the root Paraa, signifying to fructify and to make fertile: since the Euphrates, overflowing in the manner of the Nile, waters and makes fertile the lands. Not rarely in the divine Scripture, the proper name of the Euphrates being suppressed, it is called the Great River: not because it bounded the Holy Land (as the Jews trifle—for that cause the Jordan, which flows through it, ought to be reckoned the greatest of all), but because it was one of the greatest rivers known to the Jewish nation.7
De huius fluminis origine cursuque et exitu, diligentiores Cosmographiae Scriptores multa in scriptis reliquerunt. Plinius libr. 5 c. 24 et 26 tradit Euphratem oriri in praefectura Armeniae maioris Caranitide, vel in monte Aba, vel sub radicibus montis quem Capoten appellant. Scinditur Euphrates a Zeugmate octoginta tribus milibus passuum circa vicum Massicem; et parte laeva in Mesopotamiam vadit per ipsam Seleuciam, circa eam praefluenti infusus Tigri. Dexteriore autem alveo Babylonem quondam Chaldeae caput petit, Mediamque permeans distrahitur in paludes. Increscit autem et ipse Nili modo, statis diebus paulum differens, ac Mesopotamiam inundat, sole obtinente 20 partem Cancri; minui incipit in Virginem a Leone transgresso; in totum autem remeat in 29 parte Virginis.
About the origin and course and outlet of this river, the more diligent writers of Cosmography have left much in their writings. Pliny, in book 5, chapters 24 and 26, hands down that the Euphrates rises in the prefecture of Greater Armenia, Caranitis, either on Mount Aba, or under the roots of the mountain which they call Capotes. The Euphrates is split at Zeugma, eighty-three miles, near the village Massice; and with its left part it goes into Mesopotamia through Seleucia itself, poured into the Tigris flowing past near it. But with its more rightward channel it seeks Babylon, once the capital of Chaldaea, and passing through Media is drawn out into marshes. It swells, itself too, in the manner of the Nile, differing a little on set days, and floods Mesopotamia when the sun holds the 20th degree of Cancer; it begins to diminish into Virgo when the Lion is passed; and fully recedes at the 29th degree of Virgo.8
De eodem flumine haec scribit Strabo lib. 11:
About the same river, Strabo writes these things in book 11:9

The Taurus divides Armenia from Mesopotamia; hence flow the Tigris and Euphrates, which surround Mesopotamia, and among the Babylonians cohere with one another, then are sent out into the Persian sea: of which the Euphrates is the larger, and runs through more territory with a winding channel. It has its sources in the northern part of the Taurus; it flows to the West through Armenia (which is called the greater), as far as Lesser Armenia, which it has on its right, but on its left Lisana; then bent to the South it is joined to the confines of the Cappadocians (which it leaves on the right), on the left the confines of the Comagenians; and again from Sicinsina it also leaves Sophene of Greater Armenia on the left, and advances into Syria; and again by a bend it takes another way into the Babylonians and the Persian gulf. The Tigris, from the same mountain, carried to Seleucia, approaches the Euphrates, and there makes Mesopotamia; then it enters the same Persian gulf. The sources of the Euphrates and Tigris are distant from one another by two thousand and fifty stadia, that is, about three hundred miles.10

Taurus Armeniam disterminat a Mesopotamia; hinc fluunt Tigris et Euphrates, qui Mesopotamiam circumdant, et apud Babylonios invicem cohaerent, deinde in mare Persicum emittuntur: quorum Euphrates maior est, et plus regionis flexuoso alveo percurrit. Fontes habet in parte Tauri Boreali; fluit ad Occidentem per Armeniam (quae maior appellatur), usque in Armeniam minorem, quam a dextris habet, a sinistris vero Lisanam; deinde ad Austrum flexus confiniis iungitur Cappadocum (quae ad dextram relinquit), ad sinistra Comagenorum confinia; rursumque a Sicinsina etiam Sophenam maioris Armeniae a sinistra relinquit, et progreditur in Syriam; atque iterum flexu alium capit in Babylonios et Persicum sinum. Tigris ex eodem monte Seleuciam illatus ad Euphratem accedit, ibique efficit Mesopotamiam; deinde in eundem sinum Persicum intrat. Euphratis ac Tigris fontes inter se distant ad stadia duo milia et quinquaginta, hoc est trecenta circiter milliaria.

Similia horum sunt quae de iisdem fluminibus tradit Q. Curtius lib. 5:
Similar to these are the things which Q. Curtius hands down about the same rivers, in book 5:11

The lands lying between the Tigris and Euphrates, he says, are of so rich and fat a soil that the herds are said to be driven off from pasture, lest satiety destroy them. The cause of the fertility is the moisture which flows from each river, almost the whole soil sweating it out through the veins of the waters. The rivers themselves flow forth from the mountains of Armenia, and then, by a great parting of the waters, they run the course which they began; they have measured two thousand five hundred stadia, who have marked the very ample interval around the mountains of Armenia. When the same rivers have begun to cut through the lands of the Medes and of the Gordyaeans, they gradually come together more narrowly, and the[...]12

Inter Tigrim, inquit, et Euphratem iacentia tam uberi et pingui solo sunt, ut a pastu repelli pecora dicantur, ne satietas perimat. Causa fertilitatis est humor qui ex utroque amne manat, toto fere solo per venas aquarum resudante. Ipsi amnes ex Armeniae montibus profluunt, et magno deinde aquarum divortio, iter quod coepere percurrunt; duo milia et quingenta stadia emensi sunt, qui amplissimum intervallum circa Armeniae montes notaverunt. Idem cum Mediae et Gordyenorum terras secare coeperunt, paulatim in arctius coeunt, et quo[...]

...and the farther they flow, the narrower a space of land they leave between themselves. They are nearest to those plains which the inhabitants call Mesopotamia: for they enclose Media on both sides. The same rivers, through the territories of the Babylonians, burst forth into the Red Sea. Thus Curtius.13

...et quo longius manant, hoc angustius inter se spatium terrae relinquunt. Vicini maxime sunt his campis, quos incolae Mesopotamiam vocant: Mediam namque ab utroque latere concludunt. Eadem per Babyloniorum fines in Rubrum mare prorumpunt. Ita Curtius.

LUCANUS libro 3 indicat eos fluvios eodem ex fonte promanare, cum ait:
Lucan, in book 3, indicates that those rivers flow forth from the same source, when he says:14

And where great Euphrates lifts its head together with the rapid Tigris—which Persis sends forth from no diverse sources, and it is uncertain, should the land mingle the streams, which would rather be the name of the water: but spread over the fields, the fertile Euphrates performs the office of the Pharian (Nile's) wave; while the land absorbs the Tigris in a sudden chasm and hides its hidden course, and again, reborn from a new source, it does not deny its stream to the waves of the sea.15

Quaque caput rapido tollit cum Tigride magnus Euphrates, quos non diversis fontibus edit Persis, et incertum, tellus si misceat amnes, Quod potius sit nomen aquae: sed sparsus in agros Fertilis Euphrates Pharia vice fungitur unda; At Tigrem subito tellus absorbet hiatu, Occultosque tegit cursus, rursusque renatum Fonte novo flumen pelagi non abnegat undis.

Boethius quoque lib. 5 de Consolatione philosophica, metro 1, unum eundemque Tigris atque Euphratis fontem esse declarat his versibus:
Boethius too, in book 5 of the Consolation of Philosophy, meter 1, declares that the source of the Tigris and Euphrates is one and the same, in these verses:16

On the crags of the Achaemenian rock, where the fleeing battle, turned about, fixes its darts in the breasts of its pursuers, the Tigris and Euphrates loose themselves from one source, and soon are sundered, their waters divided.17

Rupis Achaemeniae scopulis, ubi versa sequentum Pectoribus figit spicula pugna fugax, Tigris et Euphrates uno se fonte resolvunt, Et mox abiunctis dissociantur aquis.

Sed magis credendum est Straboni, Curtio et aliis Cosmographiae peritioribus, diversos esse satisque inter se distantes eorum fluminum fontes affirmantibus: nisi forte propterea uno ex fonte profluere dicantur, quod ex uno Armeniae maioris monte Tauro ambo exoriantur. Philostratus lib. 1 de vita Apollonii cap. 14 de Tigri et Euphrate ad hunc modum scribit:
But more credence is to be given to Strabo, Curtius, and the others more skilled in Cosmography, who affirm that the sources of those rivers are diverse and far enough distant from one another: unless perhaps they are said to flow from one source for this reason, that both arise from one mountain of Greater Armenia, the Taurus. Philostratus, in book 1 of the Life of Apollonius, chapter 14, writes about the Tigris and Euphrates in this manner:18

This region, which is therefore called Mesopotamia because it is placed in the middle between two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates—flowing down from Armenia and the roots of the Taurus—encircle. There are in that region some cities; but for the most part it is inhabited by hamlets and villages; and the peoples are called partly Armenians, partly Arabs, a great part of whom wander with uncertain seats, considering themselves shut in as on an island. But the rivers, when they have encircled that part of the continent which we have said, run down into the same sea. There are those who say that the greatest part of the Euphrates slips away into a certain marsh, so that it does not reach the sea, but receives the end of its course in the land. And some, speaking yet more boldly about it, assert that, when it has flowed for a long while under the earth, it appears again in Egypt and is mingled with the Nile. Thus Philostratus.19

Hanc regionem, quae propterea Mesopotamia dicitur quod media inter duo flumina posita est, Tigris atque Euphrates ex Armenia et Tauri radicibus diffluentes cingunt. Sunt autem in ea regione civitates aliquot: maxima autem ex parte pagis ac vicis incolitur; populi vero partim Armenii, partim Arabes nuncupantur, quorum magna pars sedibus incertis vagatur, tanquam in insula sese clausos arbitrantes. Flumina vero ubi eam quam diximus continentis partem ambierunt, in idem mare decurrunt. Sunt qui dicunt in paludem quandam partem maximam Euphratis dilabi, ita ut ad mare non perveniat, sed in terra cursus sui finem recipiat. Quidam et audacius de eo loquentes asserunt, cum diutius sub terra fluxerit, rursus in Aegypto apparere et Nilo commisceri. Haec Philostratus.

Verum de fluminibus paradisi hactenus disputata sint satis. QUID igitur nos de loco situque Paradisi sentiamus, facile est lectori ex superioribus nostris disputationibus intelligere. Arbitramur enim non solum in hoc nostro orbe regionibusque terrarum nobis cognitis habitatisque, sed etiam vel in ipsa Mesopotamia vel non inde procul fuisse Paradisum: cuius rei supra variis locis multa sparsimus argumenta. Primum enim Moses dixit ad plagam orientalem regionis Heden locatum fuisse paradisum; terram vero Heden, Isaia et Ezechiele auctoribus, vel Mesopotamiae partem[...]
But let the things hitherto disputed about the rivers of paradise be enough. What, then, we think about the place and situation of Paradise, it is easy for the reader to understand from our preceding disputations. For we judge that not only in this our world, and the regions of the lands known and inhabited by us, but even either in Mesopotamia itself or not far from it, Paradise was: of which thing we have scattered many arguments above, in various places. For first, Moses said that paradise was located at the eastern part of the region Heden; and the land Heden, on the authority of Isaiah and Ezekiel, [we have shown to be] either a part of Mesopotamia[...]20
...[vel Mesopotamiae] partem vel ei propinquam fuisse docuimus. Postea, constat duo flumina paradisi Tigrim et Euphratem habere originem in montibus Armeniae, cursum per Mesopotamiam, Assyriam et Chaldaeam, exitum vero in sinum Persicum: quare et reliqua duo flumina non inde procul fluxisse, et Paradisum circa istas regiones fuisse necesse est. Deinde, cum Tigrim et Euphratem liquido constet ex diversis fontibus oriri, quod Moses inquit eos dimanare ex uno eo flumine quo rigabatur Paradisus, non aliter videtur posse intelligi quam ut per unum illud flumen significetur locus ille in quo Tigris et Euphrates mistis aquis simul coeunt et aliquantisper unius fluminis instar habet. Postea facto aquarum divortio rursus in proprios alveos separantur: nec solum ipsi, sed etiam duo alia flumina Phison et Gihon indidem derivantur. Quamobrem valde fit verisimile circa locum illum, quo Tigris et Euphrates confusis aquis specie unius fluminis decurrunt, consitum fuisse paradisum.
...[either a part] of Mesopotamia or near to it, we have shown. Then, it is established that the two rivers of paradise, the Tigris and Euphrates, have their origin in the mountains of Armenia, their course through Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Chaldaea, and their outlet into the Persian Gulf: wherefore it is necessary both that the remaining two rivers flowed not far thence, and that Paradise was around those regions. Then, since it is clearly established that the Tigris and Euphrates rise from different sources, what Moses says—that they flow forth from that one river by which Paradise was watered—does not seem able to be understood otherwise than that by that one river is signified that place in which the Tigris and Euphrates, their waters mixed, come together and for a while have the appearance of one river. Afterward, the waters being parted, they are again separated into their own channels: and not only they, but also the two other rivers, Phison and Gihon, are derived from the same place. Wherefore it becomes very probable that paradise was planted around that place where the Tigris and Euphrates, their waters mingled, run down in the appearance of one river.21
Praeterea, propensissima videtur ad veritatem eorum sententia qui existimant priscos illos homines ante diluvium, et post diluvium Noë ac filios eius, vicinas Paradiso sedes tenuisse: tum amore natalis soli humani generis, tum propter eximiam eius terrae bonitatem; terram enim Paradiso proximam fertilissimam, saluberrimam et amoenissimam fuisse credere par est. Noë autem et filios eius eorumque posteros primum tenuisse loca Armeniae (supra cuius montes arca, considentibus diluvii aquis, resedit), tum Mesopotamiae, Assyriae ac Babyloniae regiones coluisse, indeque ad alias regiones et terras habitandas et colendas segregatos et profectos esse, legenti decimum et undecimum caput Geneseos satis manifestum est.
Moreover, most inclined to the truth seems the opinion of those who judge that those ancient men before the flood, and after the flood Noah and his sons, held seats neighboring to Paradise: both for love of the native soil of the human race, and on account of the exceptional goodness of that land; for it is fitting to believe that the land nearest Paradise was most fertile, most healthful, and most pleasant. And that Noah and his sons and their posterity first held the places of Armenia (on whose mountains the ark, when the waters of the flood subsided, settled), then cultivated the regions of Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Babylonia, and thence were separated and set out to other regions and lands to be inhabited and cultivated, is sufficiently manifest to one reading the tenth and eleventh chapters of Genesis.22
SED instituta de Paradiso disputatio hunc habeat terminum. Haec enim fere sunt quae de Paradiso commentati litteris mandanda iudicavimus: non ignari quam esset difficile futurum, in tanta rerum caligine, usquequaque verum cernere et omnia lectori penitus probare ac persuadere; praesertim cum pleraque dicenda essent quae non exquisita scientia sed solerti tantum coniectatione, nec certarum rationum firmamentis sed probabilium modo coniecturarum adminiculis niterentur. Verum eo mihi iustiorem fore existimavi, si quid erratum esset, omnis culpae deprecationem, quo minus facile erat in tantis tenebris nusquam offendere, et in tam obscuris et inviis disputationum locis nunquam devia ponere vestigia. Equidem fretus lectoris prudentia et aequitate, non solum confido (si quid a nobis peccatum sit) eum proclivem ac facilem ad veniam fore, sed etiam sperare audeo: quod falsas de Paradiso opiniones diligenter confutavimus; quod planam et compendiariam viam atque rationem investigandi Paradisum et ad certam eius notitiam pertendendi commonstravimus; denique, si forte quo intendebamus minime pervenimus, quod ab eo tamen proxime aberravimus, ipsum aequi bonique facturum, atque hoc nostrum studium et laborem etiam laude dignaturum.
But let the disputation undertaken about Paradise have this for its end. For these are nearly the things which, having commented on Paradise, we have judged should be committed to writing: not unaware how difficult it was going to be, in so great a darkness of things, to discern the truth everywhere and to prove and persuade everything thoroughly to the reader; especially since most of the things to be said rested not on exact knowledge but only on shrewd conjecture, nor on the firm supports of certain reasonings, but on the props of merely probable conjectures. But I judged that my plea for pardon of all fault, if anything was erred, would be the more just, inasmuch as it was not easy, in such great darkness, never to stumble, and in such obscure and trackless places of disputations never to set wandering steps. Indeed, relying on the reader's prudence and fairness, I not only trust (if anything has been done wrong by us) that he will be inclined and ready to pardon, but I even dare to hope: that we have diligently confuted the false opinions about Paradise; that we have shown a plain and compendious way and method of investigating Paradise and of reaching sure knowledge of it; and finally, if perhaps we have not reached where we aimed, that we have nevertheless erred near to it—and that he will take it in good part, and even deem this our study and labor worthy of praise.23

Translator’s notes

  1. A new sub-section: On the Third and Fourth Rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates (treated together). ↩
  2. Scripture lemma: Genesis 2:14—the third river Tigris (Hiddekel), going toward Assyria, and the fourth, the Euphrates. ↩
  3. Marginal gloss: "Iosephus lib. 1 Antiquit." The Tigris was named (Isidore Etym. 13.21; Rupert, de op. Trin. 2.29) from its swiftness, after the **tiger** (Pliny 8.18); but more truly (Pliny 6.27, Q. Curtius 4, Strabo 11) from the swiftness of an **arrow**, called "Tigris" in Median. In Hebrew **חדקל** (Hiddekel)—per **David Kimchi**, from its sharp-tasting water, or its swift course. In Chaldee **דגלת** (Diglath)—signifying (Josephus, Antiq. 1) that it runs narrow and swift. Daniel 10 calls it "the great river," ennobled by **Nineveh** which it passed. Pliny says where it flows slower it is called *Diglito*—closely matching the Chaldee. [Hebrew חדקל and דגלת verified on the crop.] ↩
  4. Marginal gloss: "Origo, cursus, et exitus Tigris." Pererius introduces a long block quotation from Pliny (Natural History 6.27) on the Tigris's origin, course, and outlet. ↩
  5. Block quotation of Pliny (Natural History 6.27) on the Tigris: it rises in Greater Armenia, is slow at first (*Diglito*), then quickened and named *Tigris* (Median for "arrow"); flows into Lake Arethusa; plunges under Mount Taurus and re-emerges; through Lake Thospites; resurfaces near Nymphaeum after 25 miles; below Seleucia splits into two channels (one south, watering Mesene; one north, cutting the Cauchian plains); where they rejoin, called *Pasitigris*; takes in the Choaspes; pours into the Chaldaean lakes (70 miles wide); then by a vast channel into the Persian Sea by its tenth mouth (the two rivers' mouths 25 or 7 miles apart, both navigable). ↩
  6. The fourth river is the **Euphrates**, of which Moses said only "It is the Euphrates." In Hebrew **הוא פרת** (Hu Perath/Pherath). Pererius cites **Genebrardus** (Gilbert Génébrard, praised for his languages and learning), whose *Isagoge ad doctrinam Rabbinorum* explains the name (continues next page). [Hebrew הוא פרת verified on the crop.] ↩
  7. **Genebrardus** (Isagoge ad doctrinam Rabbinorum, from Jerome on Daniel 11): the Hebrew **פ** sounds like the Greek **φ**, so *Pherath*; the murmured *e* gives *Phrath*; so *Euphrates* is **הוא** (*Hu*, "it is") + **פרת** (*Phrath*)—though in Greek it should be *Prates*. The Hebrew **פרת** (*Perath*) is from the root *Paraa* ("to make fruitful"): the Euphrates, overflowing like the Nile, waters and fertilizes the land. Scripture often calls it "the Great River" (name suppressed)—not because it bounded the Holy Land (else the Jordan, flowing through it, would be greatest), but as one of the greatest rivers known to the Jews. [Hebrew/Greek glyphs פ, φ, הוא, פרת verified on the crop.] ↩
  8. Marginal gloss: "Plinius de origine, cursu, exitu Euphratis." Pliny (NH 5.24 & 26): the Euphrates rises in Greater Armenia, Caranitis—Mount Aba or under Mount Capotes. It splits at **Zeugma** (83 miles, near Massice): the left branch into Mesopotamia through Seleucia (joining the Tigris); the right toward **Babylon** (Chaldaea's old capital), spreading into marshes through Media. It swells like the Nile at set times, flooding Mesopotamia when the sun is at Cancer 20°, abating into Virgo, fully receding at Virgo 29°. ↩
  9. Pererius adds Strabo (Geography 11) on the Euphrates and Tigris. The quotation follows. ↩
  10. Block quotation of Strabo (Geography 11): the Taurus separates Armenia from Mesopotamia; the Tigris and Euphrates surround Mesopotamia, join near Babylon, and issue into the Persian Sea. The Euphrates is larger and more winding—rising on Taurus's north side, flowing west through Greater into Lesser Armenia, then south past Cappadocia, Commagene, and Sophene, into Syria, then bending toward Babylon and the Persian Gulf. The Tigris, from the same mountain, joins it near Seleucia (forming Mesopotamia), then enters the same Gulf. Their sources are **2,050 stadia (~300 miles) apart.** ↩
  11. Pererius adds Q. Curtius (History of Alexander, bk. 5) on the same rivers. The quotation begins (and continues onto the next page). ↩
  12. Block quotation of Q. Curtius (5): the land between the Tigris and Euphrates is so rich that herds must be kept from over-grazing; its fertility comes from the moisture sweating up through the soil from both rivers. The rivers flow from the Armenian mountains, then part widely (2,500 stadia around the Armenian range), and as they cut through Media and Gordyene they gradually converge... Continues onto next page (catchword "et quo"). ↩
  13. Conclusion of the Q. Curtius quotation: the farther the rivers flow, the narrower the land between them; they are nearest the plains called Mesopotamia, enclosing Media on both sides, and burst into the "Red Sea" (i.e. the Persian Gulf) through Babylonia. ↩
  14. Marginal gloss: "Lucanus et Boethius eosdem esse Tigris et Euphratis fontes falso tradiderunt." Pererius cites Lucan (Pharsalia 3) for the (mistaken) view that the Tigris and Euphrates share one source. The verses follow. ↩
  15. Block quotation of Lucan (Pharsalia 3.256–263): the great Euphrates and rapid Tigris, sent by Persia from "no diverse sources"; the fertile Euphrates spreads over the fields like the Nile, while the Tigris is swallowed by the earth, hides its course, and is reborn from a new source to reach the sea. (Cited as the erroneous one-source view.) ↩
  16. Pererius cites Boethius (Consolation of Philosophy 5, meter 1) for the same one-source view. The verses follow. ↩
  17. Block quotation of Boethius (Consolation 5, m.1): on the Achaemenian (Parthian) crags—where the fleeing fighters turn and shoot at their pursuers (the famous "Parthian shot")—the Tigris and Euphrates rise from one source and are soon parted. (Again the one-source view, which Pererius will reject.) ↩
  18. Pererius's judgment: rather believe **Strabo, Curtius, and the better geographers**, who say the rivers' sources are diverse and far apart—unless "one source" means merely that both rise from the *one Armenian mountain Taurus*. He then cites Philostratus (Life of Apollonius 1.14); the quotation follows. ↩
  19. Block quotation of Philostratus (Life of Apollonius 1.14): "Mesopotamia" (= "between two rivers") is encircled by the Tigris and Euphrates flowing from Armenia and the Taurus; it has a few cities but is mostly hamlets, peopled by Armenians and wandering Arabs who think themselves "shut in as on an island"; the rivers run to the same sea—though some say most of the Euphrates ends in a marsh, and others (more boldly) that it flows underground and resurfaces in Egypt to mingle with the Nile. ↩
  20. Marginal gloss: "Epilogus omnium quae supra de Paradiso disputata sunt." Pererius begins his **epilogue / overall conclusion** on Paradise's location: it was in or near **Mesopotamia** (in our known, inhabited world). First argument: Moses placed paradise at the *eastern part of the region Heden*; and Heden (per Isaiah and Ezekiel) was part of, or near, Mesopotamia. Continues onto next page (catchword "partem"). ↩
  21. Pererius's conclusion continued: the **Tigris and Euphrates** rise in Armenia, run through Mesopotamia/Assyria/Chaldaea, and exit at the **Persian Gulf**—so the other two rivers flowed near there, and Paradise was around those regions. Since the two clearly rise from *different* sources, Moses's statement that all four flow from the *one* river of Paradise can only mean that "one river" = the place where the Tigris and Euphrates **join with mixed waters** (a while flowing as one), then separate again—whence also Phison and Gihon branch off. **So Paradise was very probably planted around that confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates.** ↩
  22. A further argument: most probably the first men (before the flood) and Noah and his sons (after it) held seats *near Paradise*—both for love of mankind's birthplace and for that land's excellence (the land nearest Paradise being most fertile, healthful, and pleasant). Noah and his sons first held Armenia (where the ark rested as the flood subsided), then Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Babylonia, and thence dispersed to other lands—clear from Genesis 10–11. ↩
  23. Marginal gloss: "Difficillimam fuisse explicationem historiae Mosis de Paradiso." **Pererius's closing apology.** Let the Paradise disputation end here. He knew how hard it would be, in such darkness, to discern the truth and fully persuade—especially as much rested on *shrewd conjecture* and *merely probable conjectures*, not exact knowledge or firm proofs. So his plea for pardon is the more just: in such obscurity one could hardly avoid stumbling. Trusting the reader's fairness, he is confident of easy pardon, and even dares hope: that he refuted the false opinions; that he showed a plain way to investigate Paradise and reach sure knowledge; and that, if he fell short of his goal, he came near it—so the reader will take it well and even praise the labor. ↩