Mind of the Church

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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Six — the temptation and fall

Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent was more cunning than all the living creatures of the earth which the Lord God had made. VERSE 1

LatineEnglish

Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent was more cunning than all the living creatures of the earth which the Lord God had made. VERSE 1.1

Gen. cap. 3. Sed & Serpens erat callidior cunctis animantibus terrae, quae fecerat Dominus Deus. VERS. 1.

Ardua ex his verbis existit, & quorumdam iudicio propemodum inexplicabilis quaestio, Qualis fuerit serpens qui cum Eva collocutus est, eamque fallacibus verbis, & promissis suis in tantum errorem induxit. Quapropter diligenter & accurate a nobis ea de re disputandum est.
From these words there arises a hard question, and in the judgment of some almost inexplicable: What kind of serpent it was that conversed with Eve, and led her into so great an error by its deceitful words and promises. Wherefore this matter must be disputed by us diligently and accurately.2

Translator’s notes

  1. The first verse (Gen. 3:1) re-cited as the lemma for Pererius's exposition ('VERS. 1' in the margin). ↩
  2. Statement of the leading question of Book VI: the nature of the tempting serpent. Sentence continues into the disputation (catchword 'DISPU'). ↩