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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Six — the temptation and fall

OF BENEDICTUS PERERIUS, THE SIXTH BOOK. On the temptation and fall of the first human beings. That is, A PREFACE TO THE THIRD CHAPTER OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS

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OF BENEDICTUS PERERIUS, THE SIXTH BOOK. On the temptation and fall of the first human beings. That is, A PREFACE TO THE THIRD CHAPTER OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS.1

BENEDICTI PERERII, LIBER SEXTUS. De tentatione & lapsu primorum hominum. Hoc est, IN TERTIUM CAPUT LIBRI GENESEOS, PRAEFATIO.

Quae de homine hactenus, duobus qui hunc proxime antecesserunt libris disseruimus, ea pertinent vel ad declarandam humanae naturae perfectionis & dignitatis praestantiam, vel ad demonstrandam excellentiam & felicitatem eius status, in quo Deus ab initio conditum a se hominem collocavit. Hic autem liber ordine sextus, luctuosum ac funestum & velut tragicum continet tantae felicitatis exitum, lapsum dico primorum hominum in peccatum: non ipsis tantum, aut uni vel multis gentibus calamitosum, sed cunctis hominibus quot sunt, quot erunt, quotque adhuc fuerunt exitiosum. Quanquam miserrimum illum casum quae consecuta sunt mala, ea primis nostris parentibus prioris vitae suavitatem expertis longe acerbiora visa sunt, quam ipsorum posteris, eorum bonorum prorsus inexpertis esse videantur: non aliter profecto, quam ei qui tetro...
The things we have hitherto discussed concerning man, in the two books which immediately preceded this one, pertain either to declaring the eminence of human nature's perfection and dignity, or to demonstrating the excellence and felicity of that state in which God from the beginning placed man, created by himself. But this book, sixth in order, contains the mournful and deadly and, as it were, tragic outcome of so great a felicity—I mean the fall of the first human beings into sin: calamitous not to themselves alone, or to one or many nations, but ruinous to all human beings, as many as are, as many as shall be, and as many as have yet been. Although the evils that followed upon that most wretched fall seemed far more bitter to our first parents, who had experienced the sweetness of the former life, than they appear to be to their posterity, who are wholly without experience of those goods: not otherwise, assuredly, than to one who in a foul...2
...tetro aliquo & foedo carcere natus est, minus dura & intoleranda videtur eius domicilii obscuritas & foeditas, quam parentibus eius iucundissima libertate dulcissimaque coeli luce antea frui solitis. In capite igitur tertio libri Geneseos describitur a Mose tentatio Evae & Adami, lapsusque utriusque, & Dei in utrumque animadversio. Hic prima origo aperitur omnium miseriarum & malorum, quibus iam inde ab illo tempore omne genus hominum misere afficitur & conflictatur.
...born in some foul and loathsome prison, the darkness and foulness of his dwelling seems less hard and intolerable than to his parents, who had before been accustomed to enjoy the most delightful liberty and the sweetest light of heaven. In the third chapter of the book of Genesis, therefore, there is described by Moses the temptation of Eve and Adam, and the fall of both, and God's judgment upon each. Here is opened the first origin of all the miseries and evils with which, from that time onward, the whole race of men is wretchedly afflicted and harassed.3
Quanto autem tempore post creationem primorum hominum haec illis tentatio contigerit, non liquet ex ipsa Scriptura. Diodorus Tarsensis, ut citatur hoc loco in Catena, non multum tempus effluxisse coniicit ex verbis illis serpentis, Cur praecepit vobis Deus ut non comederetis ex omni ligno Paradisi? quo significatur ante id temporis nulla ex arbore Paradisi Adamum & Evam comedisse: nam si comedissent, non id serpens dicere fuisset ausus. Verum, illud, Ut non comederetis ex omni arbore, non significat ex nulla arbore, sed, non ex omni arbore. Est autem communis multorum & bene vetus opinio, quo die creatus est Adam, eodem die fuisse tentatum atque prostratum. Ita sentit libro ultimo adversus haereses Irenaeus:
But how long a time after the creation of the first human beings this temptation befell them is not clear from Scripture itself. Diodorus of Tarsus, as he is cited in this place in the Catena, conjectures from those words of the serpent—'Why has God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree of Paradise?'—that not much time had elapsed: by which it is signified that before that time Adam and Eve had eaten from no tree of Paradise; for if they had eaten, the serpent would not have dared to say this. But that phrase, 'That you should not eat of every tree,' does not signify 'from no tree,' but 'not from every tree.' There is, moreover, a common and quite ancient opinion that on the very day on which Adam was created, on that same day he was tempted and laid low. So thinks Irenaeus, in the last book Against Heresies:4
quin etiam putant multi eodem die hebdomadae & mensis, id est, die Veneris, & vigesimaquinta Martii fuisse hominem & a Deo creatum, & a diabolo victum, & a Christo Domino per mortem crucis redemptum. Sed hoc ut credam, aegre possum in animum inducere, cum nec id Scriptura usquam indicet, nec ratio aliqua vel in speciem probabilis suadeat, quin etiam contraria opinio similior vero sit: nam quae narrat Scriptura inter creationem Adami & lapsum eius gesta, non videntur in dimidiatum unius diei spatium coarctari posse. Hoc satis sit in praesens de hac quaestione attigisse: nam eam subtilius & accuratius infra explicabimus.
Nay, many even think that on the same day of the week and of the month—that is, on a Friday, and on the twenty-fifth of March—man was both created by God, and conquered by the devil, and redeemed by Christ the Lord through the death of the cross. But I can hardly bring myself to believe this, since neither does Scripture anywhere indicate it, nor does any reason even apparently probable persuade it; nay, the contrary opinion is rather more likely to be true: for the things which Scripture narrates as done between the creation of Adam and his fall do not seem able to be compressed into the space of half a single day. Let it suffice for the present to have touched on this question thus far: for we shall explain it more subtly and accurately below.5

Translator’s notes

  1. Major structural divider: title page of BOOK VI, which treats Genesis chapter 3 (the temptation and fall). Followed by the Praefatio. ↩
  2. Opening of the Praefatio: books 4-5 treated man's dignity and the felicity of innocence; book 6 treats the tragic Fall, ruinous to all mankind. Sentence continues on the next page (catchword 'tetro'). ↩
  3. Completion of the prison-simile (those born in misery feel it less than those who knew prior happiness). Statement of the chapter's subject: Genesis 3 = the temptation, fall, and divine judgment—the origin of all human woes. ↩
  4. On the timing of the Fall (uncertain from Scripture). Diodorus of Tarsus (via the Catena) infers a short interval from Gen. 3:1; Pererius corrects the inference (ex omni ≠ ex nulla). Reports the ancient view (Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, final book) that Adam fell the same day he was created. ↩
  5. The further tradition that creation, fall, and (later) redemption all fell on Friday, March 25; Pererius rejects it as unsupported and improbable, deferring fuller treatment. (After this the Praefatio closes with an asterism and the chapter begins.) ↩