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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Seven — Cain and Abel

PREFACE

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PREFACE.1

PRAEFATIO.

Absoluta est prima huius libri pars, tribus superioribus capitibus a Mose descripta, & explicata. Primam equidem illam dixerim, praecipuamque huius voluminis partem, originis antiquitate, mirabilitate divinae potestatis, & operationis varietate, ac praestantia tot tantorumque Dei operum, quibus rerum constat universitas, doctrinae sublimitate, plurimarum quaestionum, quae cum ea doctrina complicatae sunt, altitudine & obscuritate, orationis gravitate ac maiestate, denique tractatus & explicatus difficultate. In hac autem parte duo potissimum a Mose tradita sunt: alterum est, Deum ab initio temporis, ex nihilo, nulla necessitate, sed summa voluntatis libertate, infinita potentia & sapientia mundum creasse: alterum est, in hoc mundo condidisse hominem quasi eius principem & dominum, eumque omnium copia bonorum instructum ornatumque, foelicissimo in statu collocasse: sed mox cum voluntate sua, Dei lege violata, ex tanta foelicitate deiectum, innumerabilibus malis & calamitatibus fuisse obnoxium. Prioris rei cognitio multum confert, quo sit homini perspectum, quaecumque sunt in rebus, sive magna, sive...
The first part of this book has been completed, described and explained by Moses in the three preceding chapters. I would call that the first, and the chief, part of this volume — by the antiquity of [the world's] origin, by the marvelousness of the divine power and the variety of its operation, and the excellence of so many and so great works of God, of which the universe of things consists; by the sublimity of doctrine; by the depth and obscurity of the many questions which are involved with that doctrine; by the gravity and majesty of the discourse; and finally by the difficulty of treatment and explanation. But in this part two things especially were handed down by Moses: one is, that God, from the beginning of time, from nothing, by no necessity, but by the highest freedom of will, with infinite power and wisdom, created the world; the other is, that in this world he established man as, so to speak, its prince and lord, and, furnishing and adorning him with an abundance of all goods, placed him in a most happy state; but soon, by his own will, God's law being violated, cast down from so great a felicity, he became subject to innumerable evils and calamities. The knowledge of the former matter confers much toward man's having clearly seen whatever things are in existence, whether great or...2
sive parva, sive mortalia, sive immortalia, sive convenientia & utilia homini, sive contraria & noxia, non casu & fortuito, nec suapte natura extitisse, nec a multis principiis esse facta, sed ab uno Deo, & ab initio esse constituta, & omni tempore conservari, atque gubernari, eaque ratione cunctis innotesceret incomparabilis Dei bonitas, vis, & sapientia, quae in mundi huius molitione, eiusque partium omnium decentissima, & pulcherrima dispositione, mirabiliter elucet.
...whether small, whether mortal, whether immortal, whether agreeable and useful to man, whether contrary and harmful, did not exist by chance and fortuitously, nor of their own nature, nor were made from many principles, but were established by one God, and from the beginning, and are at all times preserved and governed; and by that reason there might become known to all the incomparable goodness, power, and wisdom of God, which shines forth marvelously in the construction of this world, and in the most fitting and most beautiful disposition of all its parts.3
Posterioris autem rei notitia conducit plurimum, scilicet, ut exploratum sit mortalibus, quae fuerit origo & causa eorum malorum & aerumnarum, quibus omne genus humanum misere conflictatur, inobedientia nempe primi hominis, nequis forte putet, qualis nunc est homo, talem ab initio fuisse eum a Deo creatum: simulque ut intelligeretur maxima necessitas adventus Messiae, quem veluti scopum tota spectat & petit divina Scriptura. In consequentibus autem huius libri capitibus usque ad eius finem, describitur humani generis propagatio: primum quidem ex Adamo usque ad Noe, duobus proxime sequentibus capitibus: tum, diluvio cunctis praeter octo deletis hominibus, narratur quemadmodum post diluvium ex tribus Noe filiis proseminatum sit genus humanum, & in varias gentes atque linguas multiplicatum, & per omnes maris & terrarum oras dispersum: eaque narratio perducitur usque ad ortum Abrahae, undecimo capite huius voluminis a Mose proditum. Ex quo loco deinceps usque ad finem libri, ut fuerit populus Dei ab aliis gentibus segregatus, & paulatim auctus, atque in Aegyptum introductus, commemoratur.
But the knowledge of the latter matter conduces very much, namely, that it may be explored by mortals what was the origin and cause of those evils and afflictions by which the whole human race is miserably tormented — namely the disobedience of the first man — lest anyone perhaps think that man, such as he now is, was created such by God from the beginning; and at the same time that there might be understood the greatest necessity of the coming of the Messiah, whom, as its goal, all divine Scripture regards and seeks. But in the following chapters of this book up to its end, the propagation of the human race is described: first indeed from Adam up to Noah, in the two next following chapters; then, all men being destroyed by the flood except eight, it is narrated how after the flood the human race was sown from the three sons of Noah, and multiplied into various nations and tongues, and dispersed through all the shores of the sea and lands; and that narration is carried up to the birth of Abraham, set forth by Moses in the eleventh chapter of this volume. From which place thereafter up to the end of the book, it is commemorated how the people of God was segregated from the other nations, and gradually increased, and introduced into Egypt.4
In quarto autem & quinto capite quae hoc septimo libro explanaturi sumus, contemplari licet nascentes duas civitates, alteram Dei, ortam in Abel: alteram diaboli, ex Cain inchoatam, cum utriusque vario & mirabili progressu & successu: in quibus duabus civitatibus subtiliter exponendis duos & viginti libros consumpsit Augustinus, illos dico nobilissimos, nec unquam satis a quoquam laudandos de Civitate Dei libros. Verum civitas diaboli originem ex Cain habens prior fuit, & idcirco prior a Mose describitur, sed paucis expeditur. Etenim principale divinae Scripturae propositum est, agere de Civitate Dei, eiusque civibus: de civitate autem diaboli...
But in the fourth and fifth chapters, which we are about to explain in this seventh book, one may contemplate two cities being born: one of God, arisen in Abel; the other of the devil, begun from Cain, with the various and marvelous progress and success of each — in expounding subtly which two cities Augustine consumed twenty-two books, those most noble books, and never sufficiently to be praised by anyone, On the City of God. But the city of the devil, having its origin from Cain, was prior, and therefore is described first by Moses, but is dispatched in few words. For the principal purpose of divine Scripture is to treat of the City of God and its citizens; but of the city of the devil...5
diaboli, eiusque civitatis incolis & diaboli ministris, qui est populus impiorum, agit quidem etiam sacra historia, sed ea tantum ratione, quia mali, dum in terris vivitur, mixti sunt bonis, eosque insequendo & affligendo, ad profectum virtutis gloriaeque incrementa maiorem in modum exercent: & quod in divina impiorum omnium animadversione, bonorumque adversus eos propugnatione ac protectione, iustitia & misericordia Dei mirifice resplendet. Sed redeo ad duas illas, quas supra posui civitates, harum utriusque diversas civium proprietates, expresse repraesentant duorum primorum fratrum, non modo dissimilia ingenia, mores, studia, & instituta, sed ipsa quoque eorum vocabula Cain & Abel. Siquidem nomen Cain, Latine significat possessionem: cives autem huius mundi, in hac vita sibi possessionem & hereditatem quaerunt & comparare student: mundana enim bona, eorum spectant vota, curae, spes denique omnes: horum bonorum adeptione & possessione, foelicitatem suam, eorundem amissione & privatione, summam miseriam metiuntur ac definiunt. Nec ad hoc non bene quadrant, quae paulo infra tradit Moses, Cain primum omnium mortalium civitatem aedificasse. Sic profecto est: qui ad civitatem diaboli pertinent in terris sibi sedem, quietem, & foelicitatem quaerunt. Vocabulum porro Abel, si Latine interpreteris, significat luctum aut vanitatem, aut nihilum. Nimirum, tale est ingenium, talis animus, tale studium, & institutum piorum hominum, quibus solenne est lugere sua pariter, atque aliena peccata, Deique iniurias & offensas, omniaque huius mundi bona, ut inania, caduca, nulliusque momenti, & instar nihili ducere.
...of the devil, and of the inhabitants of his city and the ministers of the devil, who is the people of the impious, sacred history does indeed treat, but only for this reason: because the evil, while life is lived on earth, are mingled with the good, and by persecuting and afflicting them exercise them in a greater degree to the advancement of virtue and the increase of glory; and because in the divine animadversion of all the impious, and in the defense and protection of the good against them, the justice and mercy of God shine forth marvelously. But I return to those two cities which I set forth above: the diverse properties of the citizens of each of these are expressly represented by the two first brothers — not only their dissimilar dispositions, characters, pursuits, and institutions, but also their very names Cain and Abel. For the name Cain, in Latin, signifies 'possession': but the citizens of this world seek for themselves possession and inheritance in this life, and are eager to acquire them; for worldly goods are the object of their wishes, cares, and finally all their hopes: by the attainment and possession of these goods they measure and define their felicity, by the loss and privation of the same, their utmost misery. Nor do those things not fit well with this, which a little below Moses hands down — that Cain first of all mortals built a city. So indeed it is: those who belong to the city of the devil seek for themselves a seat, rest, and felicity on earth. But the word Abel, if you interpret it into Latin, signifies mourning, or vanity, or nothing. Doubtless, such is the disposition, such the mind, such the pursuit and institution of pious men, whose custom it is to mourn their own and others' sins alike, and the injuries and offenses against God, and to reckon all the goods of this world as empty, perishable, of no moment, and like nothing.6
Verum hoc libet duabus Augustini sententiis confirmare & illustrare. In exordio libri 15. de Civitate Dei hunc in modum scribit Augustinus:
But I wish to confirm and illustrate this by two opinions of Augustine. In the beginning of book 15 of the City of God, Augustine writes in this manner:7

'We distribute the whole human race into two kinds of men: one of those who live according to man, the other of those who live according to God; which we also mystically call two cities, that is, two societies of men, of which one is that which is predestined to reign eternally with God, the other to undergo eternal punishment with the devil. Their rise was either in the Angels, whose number is unknown to us, or in the two first men: but the progress and course of those cities...'8

Omne genus humanum in duo genera hominum distribuimus: unum eorum, qui secundum hominem: alterum eorum qui secundum Deum vivunt: quas etiam mystice appellamus civitates duas, hoc est, duas societates hominum, quarum est una, quae praedestinata est in aeternum regnare cum Deo, altera aeternum supplicium subire cum diabolo. Harum exortus fuit sive in Angelis, quorum numerus ignoratur a nobis, sive in duobus primis hominibus: processus autem & excursus earum civitatum...

'...is, from the time those two men began to generate, until men shall cease to generate. For this whole time, in which the dying give place and the born succeed, is the course of these two cities. Cain therefore was born first from those two parents of the human race, belonging to the city of men; afterward Abel, to the city of God. For as in one man we experience what the Apostle says, That not first is what is spiritual, but what is animal, and afterward what is spiritual — so in the whole human race, when first those two cities began to run their course by being born and dying, first was born a citizen of this world, but afterward one who is a pilgrim in the world, and belonging to the city of God, predestined by grace, elected by grace, a pilgrim below by grace, a citizen above by grace. And so it is written of Cain, that he founded a city; but Abel, as a pilgrim, did not found one. For the city of the saints is above, although here it brings forth its citizens, among whom it is a pilgrim, until the time of its kingdom comes, when it will gather all rising again in their bodies, when the promised kingdom will be given them, where with their Prince, the King of the ages, they shall reign without any end of time.' Thus Augustine there.9

est, ex quo duo illi homines generare coeperunt, donec homines generare cessabunt. Hoc enim universum tempus, in quo cedunt morientes, succeduntque nascentes, istarum duarum civitatum excursus est. Natus est igitur prior Cain ex illis duobus generis humani parentibus pertinens ad hominum civitatem: posterior Abel, ad civitatem Dei. Sicut enim in uno homine quod dicit Apostolus experimur: Quia non prius quod spiritale est, sed quod animale, postea vero quod spiritale, sic in universo genere humano, cum primum duae istae coeperunt nascendo atque moriendo procurrere civitates, prior est natus civis huius saeculi, posterior autem isto peregrinus in saeculo, & pertinens ad civitatem Dei, gratia praedestinatus, gratia electus, gratia peregrinus deorsum, gratia civis sursum. Scriptum itaque est de Cain, quod condidit civitatem: Abel autem tanquam peregrinus non condidit. Superna est enim sanctorum civitas, quamvis hic pariat cives suos: in quibus tamen peregrinatur, donec regni eius tempus adveniat, cum congregatura est omnes in suis corporibus resurgentes, quando eis promissum dabitur regnum, ubi cum suo principe Rege saeculorum sine ullo temporis fine regnabunt. Sic ibi Augustinus.

Idem autem Augustinus extremo capite libri 14. eiusdem operis, unde istae civitates originem, & quatenus processum habeant, praeclare his verbis exponit:
But the same Augustine, in the last chapter of book 14 of the same work, excellently expounds in these words whence these cities have their origin, and how far they have their progress:10

'Two loves made two cities: the earthly, namely, self-love unto the contempt of God; but the heavenly, love of God unto the contempt of self. And the former glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. The former seeks glory from men, but to the latter God, the witness of conscience, is the greatest glory. The former in its glory exalts its own head; the latter says to God, my glory, and the one who exalts my head. In the former, the lust of domination dominates, in its princes or in the nations it subjugates; in the latter, they serve one another in charity, both the rulers by counseling and the subjects by obeying. In the former, its wise men, living according to man, have pursued either the goods of the body, or of the mind, or of both; or those who were able to know God, yet did not honor him as God, nor gave thanks, but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened — for they were either leaders or followers of the people in worshiping images. But in this [heavenly] city there is no human wisdom except piety, by which the true God is rightly worshiped, awaiting the reward in the society of the saints, not only of men but also of Angels, that God may be...'11

Fecerunt civitates duas amores duo: terrenam, scilicet, amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei, caeleste vero: Amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui. Et illa quidem in seipsa, haec autem in Domino gloriatur. Illa quaerit ab hominibus gloriam, huic Deus conscientiae testis maxima est gloria. Illa in gloria sua exaltat caput suum: haec dicit Deo, gloria mea, & exaltans caput meum. Illi in principibus eius, vel in eis quas subiugat nationibus dominandi libido dominatur: in hac serviunt invicem in charitate, & praepositi consulendo, & subditi obtemperando. In illa sapientes eius secundum hominem viventes, aut corporis, aut animi sui bona, aut utriusque sectati sunt: aut qui potuerunt cognoscere Deum, non ut Deum tamen honoraverunt, vel gratias egerunt, sed evanuerunt in cogitationibus suis, & obscuratum est insipiens cor eorum, ad simulacra enim adoranda, vel duces populorum, vel sectatores fuerunt: In hac autem civitate nulla est hominis sapientia nisi pietas, qua recte colitur verus Deus, expectans praemium in societate sanctorum, non solum hominum, verumetiam Angelorum, ut sit Deus...

'...God all in all.' Thus Augustine.12

Deus omnia in omnibus. Haec Augustinus.

Verum nos historiam Cain & Abel a Mose traditam, ad explanationem quarti capitis aggredientes, diligenter excutiamus atque perpendamus.
But let us, approaching the explanation of the fourth chapter, diligently examine and weigh the history of Cain and Abel handed down by Moses.13

Translator’s notes

  1. Heading of the preface to Book VII. ↩
  2. Opening of the Preface to Book VII: the first part of the work (Genesis 1-3, treated in the six preceding books) is complete — the chief part of the volume, for the antiquity of the world's origin, the marvel of divine power, the sublimity of doctrine, and the difficulty of the questions. Moses there handed down two chief things: that God created the world from nothing by the freedom of his will; and that he established man as lord of the world in a happy state, from which man soon fell by violating God's law, becoming subject to innumerable evils. Marginal gloss: 'Primae partis libri Geneseos commendatio.' Page footer signature 'YYY'; catchword 'sive' (continues on the next page). ↩
  3. Preface to Book VII (continued): the value of knowing the creation — that all things (great or small, mortal or immortal, useful or harmful) were made not by chance nor from many principles, but by one God, and are preserved and governed by him; thereby God's incomparable goodness, power, and wisdom shine in the fabric of the world. Running head '712'; true printed page 722. ↩
  4. The value of knowing the fall: the origin of human evils is the first man's disobedience (lest one think man was created as he now is); and the necessity of the Messiah's coming, the goal of all Scripture. Summary of the rest of Genesis: the propagation of the race (Adam to Noah, Gen 4-5); the flood sparing eight; from Noah's three sons the nations and tongues, dispersed (to Abraham's birth, Gen 11); then the people of God segregated and brought into Egypt. Marginal gloss: 'Summa libri huius & reliquorum Geneseos capitum quae in hoc opere explicantur.' ↩
  5. The theme of Book VII (Genesis 4-5): the birth of two cities — the City of God (in Abel) and the city of the devil (from Cain), the subject of Augustine's twenty-two books De Civitate Dei. The devil's city (from Cain) is prior, so described first by Moses but briefly, since Scripture's chief aim is the City of God. Marginal glosses: 'De duabus civitatibus, altera Dei, & altera diaboli'; 'Augustini libri de Civitate Dei commendantur.' Catchword: 'diaboli' (continues on the next page). ↩
  6. Scripture treats the city of the devil (the people of the impious) only because the evil, mingled with the good, exercise them in virtue and manifest God's justice and mercy. The two brothers represent the two cities even by their names: 'Cain' = possession (worldly citizens seek earthly possession and felicity; Cain built the first city), 'Abel' = mourning/vanity/nothing (pious men mourn sins and reckon worldly goods as nothing). Marginal gloss: 'Scriptura principale institutum est agere de Dei civitate.' Running head '713'; true printed page 723. ↩
  7. Pererius introduces two passages of Augustine (De Civitate Dei 15.1 and 14.28) to confirm the theme of the two cities. Marginal gloss: 'Augustinus De distinctione duarum civitatum, quarum altera est Dei, altera diaboli.' ↩
  8. Augustine, De Civitate Dei 15.1 (beginning): the human race is two kinds — those who live according to man and those according to God — 'mystically' two cities/societies, one predestined to reign with God, the other to eternal punishment with the devil; their rise in the Angels (of unknown number) or in the two first men. Catchword: 'est' (continues on the next page). Page footer signature 'YYY 2.' ↩
  9. Augustine, De Civ. Dei 15.1 (continued): the whole time of the dying and the born is the course of the two cities; Cain born first (city of men), Abel after (city of God) — as 'not first the spiritual but the animal' (1 Cor 15:46); Cain founded a city, but Abel as a pilgrim did not, for the saints' city is above, its pilgrims destined to reign forever with the King of the ages. Marginal glosses: '1. Cor. 15.'; 'Genes. 4.' Running head '714'; true printed page 724. ↩
  10. Pererius introduces the second Augustine passage (De Civitate Dei 14, last chapter — 14.28), on the origin and progress of the two cities. ↩
  11. Augustine, De Civ. Dei 14.28 — the celebrated definition: 'Two loves made two cities — the earthly by self-love unto contempt of God, the heavenly by love of God unto contempt of self.' The earthly glories in itself, seeks glory from men, is ruled by lust of domination; the heavenly glories in the Lord (Ps 3:4), serves in charity. The earthly's wise men pursued bodily/mental goods or, knowing God, did not honor him (Rom 1:21, worshiping images); the heavenly city's only wisdom is piety, worshiping the true God, awaiting the reward with saints and Angels. Marginal glosses: 'Amores duo duarum civitatum auctores'; 'Psalm. 3.'; 'Rom. 1.' Catchword: 'Deus' (Deus omnia in omnibus; continues on the next page). ↩
  12. End of the Augustine quote (De Civ. Dei 14.28): the heavenly city awaits that God may be 'all in all' (1 Cor 15:28). Running head '715' (the digit misprinted; misprint = true 725 minus 10); true printed page 725. ↩
  13. Transition from the Preface to the commentary: Pererius turns to a careful examination of the history of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4). ↩