And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? and why is your face fallen? If you do well, shall you not receive? but if ill, shall not your sin at once be present at the doors? but its appetite shall be under you, and you shall have dominion over it.¹

Dixitque Dominus ad Cain, Quare iratus es? & cur concidit facies tua? Nonne si bene egeris, recipies: sin autem male, statim in foribus peccatum tuum aderit? sed sub te erit appetitus eius, & tu dominaberis illius.

...his face fell: namely, anger turned into hatred (as Rupert says, book 4 of the Commentaries on Genesis, ch. 3) inclined his face and eyes to the earth with beam-like weight; for those who meditate cruel things look at the earth. Whence is that saying in the psalm: 'Casting me forth, they have now surrounded me; they have set their eyes to bend down to the earth.' God requires both from him. For he said, 'Why are you angry?' and added, 'and why is your face fallen?' Since, even if he did not wish to kill, that he was already angry for such a cause is a crime, a diabolical sin, because he who envies another's justice imitates the devil. But to be otherwise moved or angry is human, provided the anger subside before it generates the work of sin. Wherefore it is said in the Psalm, 'Be angry, and do not sin: the things you say in your hearts, be sorry for them in your beds.' As if he said: Although for an hour, as men, you are moved, yet do nothing through anger, and for this very thing, that you were moved or angry, quickly repent. But this anger, with which Cain was angry, Scripture nowhere permits: for it is the envy of the devil. Well, therefore, does God require both, saying, 'Why are you angry? and why is your face fallen?' — namely because he had been angry by envying, and his face had fallen by meditating parricide. So by questioning, [God], mild, calls him to mercy, to his own conscience; invites him to his own heart, that he himself may see what he is thinking, whether it be good or evil. But by further subjoining, 'Shall you not, if you do well, receive?' etc., he strikes him with a strong rebuke, that he may lift his face from the earth, that he may raise the eyes of his mind from the earth — namely, that he may cast the beam from his own eye, and look afar, and prudently see what is more expedient, what will happen, what end, what fruit will follow, if he carries out in deed the evil he deliberates in thought.³

concidit vultus eius: videlicet ira in odium versa, (ut ait Rupertus lib. 4. Commentariorum in Genesim, c.3.) trabali pondere declinavit in terram vultum & oculos suos, terram namque aspiciunt, qui crudelia meditantur. Unde est illud in psalmo: Proiicientes me nunc circumdederunt me, oculos suos statuerunt declinare in terram. Utrumque ab illo requirit Deus. Dixit enim: Quare iratus es? addiditque, & cur concidit facies tua? Siquidem etiam si non occidere vellet, iam pro tali causa iratum fuisse, scelus est, peccatum diabolicum est, quia diabolum imitatur qui alterius iustitia invidet. Alias autem moveri vel irasci, humanum est, dummodo ira prius resideat, quam peccati opus generet. Quapropter in Psalm. dictum est, Irascimini & nolite peccare: quae dicitis in cordibus vestris, & in cubilibus vestris compungimini. Ac si diceret, Etsi ad horam, ut homines, movemini, nihil tamen per iram operemini, & de hoc ipso quod moti vel irati fuistis, cito poenitemini. Sed hanc iram, qua iratus est Cain, nusquam Scriptura concedit: nam ipsa est invidia diaboli. Bene ergo Deus utrumque requirit dicendo, Quare iratus es? & cur concidit facies tua? Quia videlicet iratus fuerat invidendo, & conciderat facies eius parricidium meditando. Ita percunctando vocat illum mitis ad misericordiam, ad conscientiam suam, invitat eum ad cor suum, ut videat ipse quod cogitet, bonum, scilicet sit an malum. Amplius autem subiungendo, Nonne si bene egeris recipies, &c. Forti illum invectione pulsat, ut vultum suum sublevet a terra, ut mentis oculos sustollat a terra, scilicet ut trabem de oculo suo eiiciat, & procul aspiciat, videatque prudenter quod magis expediat, quid eventurum sit, quis finis, quis fructus succedat, si malum quod cogitatione deliberat, opere perficiat.

'"Shall you not," he says, "if you do well, receive? but if ill, shall not your sin at once be present at the doors? but its appetite shall be under you, and you shall have dominion over it." Which is to say: Because you deliberate in mind to perpetrate the work of sin, behold, before you do it — lest afterward, when you have done it, you excuse yourself as if from ignorance — I tell you: Do you not know that if you do well, you shall receive? but if ill (understand also "you shall receive it"), for at once at the doors sin shall be present, so that wherever you turn, whatever you wish to do, it may be your companion on the way, your prince in the work. And then indeed it will be over you, and will have dominion over you, because, namely, "Everyone who commits sin is the servant of sin." But now, before you do it, while it is still in the appetite, that appetite of it will be under you, and you shall have dominion over it: for example, just as he who is not yet made king is under the people, and the people has dominion over him, so that it may receive him if it wishes.' Thus far Rupert.⁴

Nonne, inquit, si bene egeris, recipies? sin autem male, statim in foribus peccatum tuum aderit? sed subter te erit appetitus eius, & tu dominaberis illius. Quod est dicere, Quia tu mente deliberas perpetrare opus peccati, en ego priusquam id facias, ne posteaquam feceris, quasi de ignorantia te excuses, dico tibi, Nonne scis quia si bene egeris, recipies? sin autem male (subauditur & illud recipies) nam statim in foribus peccatum aderit, ut quocumque te verteris quicquid agere volueris, tecum sit comes in itinere, princeps in opere. Et tunc quidem super te erit & dominabitur tui, quia videlicet, Omnis qui facit peccatum, servus est peccati. Nunc autem antequam facias illud, dum adhuc est in appetitu ipse appetitus eius subter te erit, & tu dominaberis illius: verbi gratia, quemadmodum is qui nondum rex creatus est, subter populum est, & populus dominatur illius, ita ut eum recipiat si vult. Hactenus Rupertus.

'Under you,' the Lord said to Cain, 'will be its appetite, and you shall have dominion over it.' Which passage, excellently treating, Bernard (sermon 5 on Lent): 'Great,' he says, 'is the danger, and grave the struggle, against the domestic enemy — especially since we are the newcomer, and he the citizen: he inhabits his own region, while we are exiles and pilgrims. A great peril too, to have such frequent — nay, continuous — conflicts against the cunning of diabolical fraud: an enemy whom we cannot even see, and whom both a nature so subtle and the long exercise of his malice has made too cunning. But nevertheless it is in us, if we do not wish to be conquered; and none of us is cast down in this contest unwilling. Under you, O man, is your appetite, and you shall have dominion over it. Your enemy can stir up the motion of temptation, but it is in you, if you wish, to give or refuse consent. It is in your power, if you wish, to make your enemy your servant, so that all things may work together for you unto good. For behold, the enemy inflames desire of food, of vanity, or of impatience, brings in thoughts, or stirs up the motion of lust: do you only not consent, and as often as you resist, so often you shall be crowned. But nevertheless we cannot deny: these things are troublesome and dangerous; yet even in the contest itself, if we manfully resist, a certain pious tranquility is born from a good conscience. I believe also, if we do not suffer those thoughts to linger as soon as we notice them in us, but the mind is roused with vehement spirit against them, that the enemy, confounded, will depart from us, nor return so willingly at once. But who are we, or what is our fortitude, that we should be able to resist so many temptations? This certainly was what God was seeking, this was that to which he busied himself to lead us: that, seeing our defect, and that there is no other help for us, we might run with all humility to his mercy.' Thus Bernard.⁸

Sub te, dixit Dominus Cain, erit appetitus eius, & tu dominaberis illius. Quem locum egregie tractans Bernardus serm. 5. de Quadragesima: Grande, inquit, periculum est, & gravis lucta adversus domesticum hostem, maxime cum nos advena simus, & ille civis: ille suam inhabitet regionem, nos exules simus & peregrini. Magnum quoque discrimen adversus diabolicae fraudis astutias, tam crebros: immo continuos habere conflictus, quem nec videre quidem possumus, & quem nimis astutum fecerit tam natura subtilis, quam longa exercitatio malitiae eius. Veruntamen in nobis est, si vinci nolumus, & nemo nostrum in hoc certamine deiicitur invitus. Sub te est, o homo, appetitus tuus, & tu dominaberis illius. Potest inimicus tuus excitare tentationis motum, sed in te est, si volueris dare, seu negare consensum. In tua facultate est, si volueris inimicum tuum, facere servum tuum, ut omnia tibi cooperentur in bonum. Ecce enim inflammat inimicus desiderium cibi, vanitatis, aut impatientiae, cogitationes ingerit, aut excitat libidinis motum: tu solummodo nec consenseris, & quoties restiteris, toties coronaberis. Veruntamen negare non possumus: molesta sunt haec & periculosa, sed & in ipso certamine, si viriliter resistimus, quaedam pia tranquillitas de conscientia bona nascitur. Credo etiam, si cogitationes illas, quam cito in nobis advertimus, non patimur remorari, sed in spiritu vehementi animus adversus illas excitatur, quoniam inimicus confusus abscedet a nobis, nec tam libenter illico revertetur. Sed qui sumus nos, aut qua fortitudo nostra, ut tam multis tentationibus resistere valeamus? Hoc erat certe, quod quaerebat Deus, hoc erat ad quod nos perducere satagebat, ut videntes defectum nostrum, & quod non est nobis auxilium aliud, ad eius misericordiam tota humilitate curramus. Ita Bernardus.

There follows the Hebrew reading of this passage, which blessed Jerome briefly explains in the book of Hebrew Questions on Genesis. 'We are compelled by necessity,' he says, 'to dwell longer on the individual words, since now too the sense is much other in the Hebrew than in the Septuagint translators. For the Lord says to Cain: Why are you angry, and why is your face fallen? Shall it not, if you do well, be remitted to you? and if you do not do well, before the doors your sin shall sit: and to you shall be its fellowship? but do you rather have dominion over it. But what he says is this: Why are you angry, and, tormented with envy of your brother by ill-will, do you cast down your face to the earth? Shall it not, if you do well, be remitted to you every sin of yours? or, as Theodotion says, it will be acceptable — that is, I will accept your gift, as I accepted your brother's; but if you do ill, at once sin will sit before your vestibule, and you will be accompanied by such a doorkeeper. But because you are of free will, I warn you, that sin should not have dominion over you, but you over sin.' Thus Jerome.¹¹

Sequitur lectio Hebraica huius loci, quam breviter explanans beatus Hieronymus in libro Quaestionum Hebraicarum in Genesim. Necessitate compellimur, ait, in singulis diutius immorari, siquidem & nunc multo alius in Hebraeo, quam in Septuaginta translatoribus sensus est. Ait enim Dominus ad Cain: Quare irasceris, & quare concidit vultus tuus? Nonne si bene egeris, dimittetur tibi? & si non bene egeris, ante fores peccatum tuum sedebit: & ad te societas eius? sed tu magis dominare eius. Quod autem dicit, hoc est: Quare irasceris, & invidia in fratrem livore cruciatus, vultum demittis in terram? Nonne si bene feceris, dimittetur tibi omne delictum tuum? sive, ut Theodocion ait, acceptabile erit, id est, munus tuum suscipiam, ut suscepi fratris tui, quod si male egeris, illico peccatum ante vestibulum tuum sedebit, & tali ianitore comitaberis. Verum quia liberi arbitrii es, moneo, ut non tibi peccatum, sed tu peccato domineris. Sic Hieronymus.

But of those who have studied to interpret and treat the sacred writings according to the truth of the Hebrew reading, no one seems to have examined this passage more subtly and clearly than Hieronymus ab Oleastro; whose full commentary and probable opinion on this passage, that the reader may desire nothing, I shall here add. 'The word,' he says, '[שאת] Seeth, has its origin from [נשא] Nassa, which signifies many things, but properly seems to signify to carry, to lift, and to raise up. But the word [חטאת] Chattah, [meaning] "sin," signifies...'¹³

Verum eorum, qui ad veritatem lectionis Hebraicae sacras litteras interpretari & tractare studuerunt, nemo videtur subtilius & enucleatius hunc locum examinasse, quam Hieronymus ab Oleastro: cuius super hoc loco plenum commentarium, probabilemque sententiam, ne quid lector desideret, hic adscribam. Verbum, inquit, [שאת] Seeth, a [נשא] Nassa, ortum habet, quod multa significat, proprie tamen videtur significare portare, levare, & elevare. Dictio vero [חטאת] Chattah, peccatum, significat...

'...[the word Chattah] signifies also the penalty inflicted for sin, as in Zechariah 14: This will be the [חטאת] Chattath — that is, the penalty of the sin of Egypt; [וחטאת] Vechattath — that is, the penalty of the sin, or the punishment of all the nations. It signifies also the oblation for sin, frequently in Exodus and Leviticus: as in Leviticus 4, All the fat of the [החטאת] Hachattath — that is, of the sin, or of the sin-offering — in which chapter it is taken three or four times in the same signification. But the following word, namely [רבץ] Robes, which we render "lying," signifies to lie down, to crouch, as is clear below, Genesis 49: He bowed himself, [רבץ] Rabas — that is, he lay down or lay like a lion. So Job 11: [ורבצת] Verabastha — that is, and you shall lie down, or lie, and there will be none to terrify. Therefore [חטאת] Chattath here can signify the punishment of sin, and sin itself.'¹⁴

significat, & poenam pro peccato inflictam, sicut Zacharia 14. Hoc erit [חטאת] Chattath, hoc est, poena peccati Aegypti [וחטאת] Vechattath, id est poena peccati, seu punitio omnium gentium. Significat etiam oblationem pro peccato, frequenter in Exodo & Levitico. Ut Levitici quarto, Omnem adipem [החטאת] Hachattath, id est, peccati seu oblationis pro peccato, quo capite ter aut quater in eadem accipitur significatione. Sequens vero dictio, scilicet [רבץ] Robes, quam vertimus Cubans significat iacere, cubare, ut patet infra, Geneseos 49. Curvavit se [רבץ] Rabas, id est, accubuit seu iacuit ut leo. Sic Iob 11. [ורבצת] Verabastha, id est, & accumbes, aut iacebis, & non erit exterrens. Potest ergo hic [חטאת] Chattath, significare punitionem peccati, & peccatum ipsum.

'And if it signifies the penalty or punishment, then the sense is: Shall you not, if you do well, carry — that is, you shall carry a reward? But if you do not do well, sin lies at the door — that is, on your account is the punishment of sin; and to you [is] its desire — that is, the penalty of your sin desires to hold you; but you, if you will, shall have dominion over it — that is, it will lie with you to turn aside its penalty or punishment. But here the Lord speaks metaphorically, comparing sin, or the punishment of sin, to a dog which lies at the door desiring to enter: but it is in the Lord's power to shut the door, that it may not enter, or to open it, that it may come in. For the searcher of hearts knew that Cain was thinking wickedly against his brother, therefore he tells him that the punishment lies at the door. For it seems that, as soon as anyone commits sin, penalty or punishment desires to hold him: and this, in my judgment, is the sense of this place.'¹⁵

Et si poenam aut punitionem significet tunc sensus est, Nonne si bene egeris, portare, id est, portabis praemium. Si autem non bene egeris ad ostium peccatum iacet? id est, propter te est punitio peccati: Et ad te desiderium eius, id est, cupit te tenere poena peccati tui: Sed tu, si vis dominaberis illius, id est, apud te situm erit declinare poenam eius seu punitionem. Loquitur autem hic Dominus metaphorice, comparando peccatum seu punitionem peccati cani, qui ad ostium cubat cupiens ingredi: sed in potestate Domini est claudere ianuam, ne ingrediatur, aut aperire, ut intret. Noverat enim cordium scrutator, Cain inique adversus fratrem cogitare, ideo illi dicit, punitionem ad ostium iacere. Videtur enim quod quamprimum aliquis peccatum committit, poena seu punitio desideret eum tenere: & iste meo iudicio est sensus huius loci.

'But if you take "sin" for sin, and not for punishment, then the sense will be: if you do well, [there will be] a lifting — that is, there will be a lifting of sin, or a pardon; that is, If you do well, easy will be the pardon of sin. Others: if you do well there will be a lifting of the spirit and of the fallen countenance — as if to say, there will be cheerfulness. If you do not do well, sin lies at the door — that is, the desire of killing your brother is near you, and wishes to enter to you, namely to execute the homicide; but it will be in your power to accept it. But the context, in its letter, prefers the former sense to the latter: for there precedes, Shall you not, if you do well, carry — namely a reward; where the discourse is not of the good work, but of its reward. When, therefore, there follows, But if [you do] ill, sin lies at the door, it seems the discourse is also of the penalty or punishment of sin; as if to say, If you do well, you shall carry a reward, but if ill, a penalty — since punishment follows sin at once,' etc.¹⁶

Si autem peccatum pro peccato, & non pro punitione accipias, tunc sensus erit, si bene egeris, levare, id est, erit levatio peccati, seu condonatio, id est, Si bene egeris, facilis erit condonatio peccati. Alii, si bene egeris erit levatio animi & vultus qui concidit: ac si dicat, erit hilaritas: Si non bene egeris, peccatum ad ostium cubat, id est, desiderium occidendi fratrem prope te est, & cupit ad te ingredi scilicet ad exequendum homicidium, sed in potestate tua erit acceptare. Praefert autem priorem sensum secundo contextus littera: praecedit enim, Nonne si bene egeris, portabis, scilicet praemium: ubi non de bono opere, sed de praemio illius est sermo. Cum ergo sequitur, Si autem male, ad ostium peccatum cubat: videtur etiam de poena seu punitione peccati esse sermo: ac si dicat, Si bene egeris, portabis praemium, si vero male poenam, quoniam punitio e vestigio peccatum sequitur, &c.

...he writes in this manner: 'Not, therefore, the quantity of the oblation, but the mind of the one rendering it, and the quality, and the affection, is considered. Rightly, therefore, did Cain offer, because an oblation is a mark of devotion and a sign of thanksgiving; but he did not rightly divide, because before all things he ought to have offered the firstfruits to God, that he might begin from the grace of the Author. For this is the order of dividing, that the first should precede the second, not the second the first; and that heavenly things be preferred to earthly, not earthly to heavenly. But because Cain confounded this order, it is said to him, You have sinned, be still. God teaches all things: first, that you sin not, as he warned in Adam; second, if you have sinned, that you be still, as you are taught in Cain. For we ought to blush, and to condemn sin, not to defend it, because by shame the fault is diminished, by defense it is heaped up. And by being silent we are corrected, by contention we slip further. Let there at least be shame, where there is no absolution. Whence that saying, The just man in the beginning of his speech is his own accuser; and by Isaiah the Lord: Tell you your iniquities first, that you may be justified. How great the grace of shame, that shame should hold the justice which the guilt of the crime has taken away! And therefore he says, Be still, since you have nothing to excuse. Its fault's turning is to you: for the brother is not joined to it, but the error is ascribed of which he himself is the author; In you, he says, will the crime return, which began from you. You have nothing in which you may accuse necessity rather than your own mind. Upon you the wickedness is turned back; you are its prince. Well he says, You are its prince. For impiety is the mother of misdeeds; and he who has sinned more gravely, easily slips into the rest. For how can he refrain from human wrongs, who has violated divine ones, and be good to men, who has injured God? Therefore vices of every kind follow the guilt of more atrocious crimes, since whither the shameful deeds have inclined, thither the rest lean. You, therefore, are the prince of your work, you the leader of the crime: error did not draw you unwilling, nor imprudent, but a voluntary offender; by judgment, not by a slip, you wrought guile, by which you yourself convict yourself guilty of injury to the divine.' Thus Ambrose.¹⁸

modum scribit: Non ergo quantitas oblationis, sed animus reddentis, & qualitas consideratur, & affectus. Recte igitur Cain obtulit, quia oblatio insigne devotionis, & indicium gratiarum est: sed non recte divisit, quia ante omnia Deo debuit deferre primitias, ut a gratia inchoaret auctoris. Etenim divisionis hic ordo est, ut prima secundis, non primis secunda praecurrant, & coelestia terrenis, non terrena coelestibus praeferantur. Sed quia Cain hunc ordinem confudit, dicitur ei, Peccasti, quiesce. Omnia docet Deus primum ne pecces, ut in Adam monuit: secundo, si peccaveris, quiescas, ut in Cain doceris. Erubescere enim debemus, & condemnare peccatum non defendere, quia pudore culpa minuitur, defensione cumulatur. Et silendo corrigimur, contentione prolabimur. Sit saltem verecundia, ubi non est absolutio. Inde illud, Iustus in exordio sermonis accusator est sui, & per Isaiam Dominus; Dic tu iniquitates tuas primus ut iustificeris. Quanta pudoris gratia, ut iustitiam teneat verecundia, quam culpa reatus abstulerit. Ideo autem ait, Quiesce, quoniam non habes, quod excuses. Culpa ipsius ad te conversio est: non enim frater ei adiicitur, sed error adscribitur cuius ipse sibi auctor est, In te, inquit, revertetur crimen, quod a te coepit. Non habes in quo necessitatem magis quam mentem tuam arguas. In te retorquetur improbitas, tu princeps es illius. Bene ait, Tu princeps es illius. Etenim impietas mater est delictorum, & qui graviora peccaverit, in cetera facile prolabitur. Quomodo enim ab humanis temperare, qui divina violavit, & hominibus bonus esse potest, qui Deum laesit? Atrociorum igitur scelerum reatum vitia qualibet sequuntur, quoniam quo flagitiosa propenderint, eo inclinant cetera. Tu ergo princeps operis tui, tu dux criminis: non te invitum, non imprudentem error attraxit, sed voluntarius reus: iudicio non lapsu fecisti dolum, quo te divinae iniuriae reum ipse convincis. Sic Ambrosius.

Explaining this same passage in ample and eloquent speech, as is his wont, Chrysostom (homily 18 on Genesis) writes in this manner: 'Weigh the ineffable mercy of God, and, in teaching, the humility fitting for us. For after he saw Cain himself assailed by the affection of envy, out of his kindness he applies fitting remedies to him, that he may at once emerge and not be covered by the waters: Why, he says, are you become sad? why is your face fallen? because in your face too you show the greatness of your grief; why has anger invaded you? why did you not consider from yourself what ought to be done? Have you offered a sacrifice to a man, who could be deceived? Do you not know that I have no need that anything be offered, but I want the sound mind of the offerers? Why is your face fallen? Have you not, if you offered rightly, but did not rightly divide, [sinned]? This indeed, that you took to mind that something was to be offered, is worthy of praise; but that you do not rightly divide, that wrought the repudiation of the thing offered. For it behooves one offering to God to apply great diligence in discerning. And as much as those differ, who offers and who receives, so great a diversity also in the discretion to be made. But of these things you thought nothing, but as it happened by chance, you offered; and therefore your gifts could not be accepted. For just as your intention, with which you made the oblation, reckoning nothing to differ, made the things offered by you rejectable, so your brother's mind, which was upright and had a worthy zeal in discerning, made his gifts accepted. But nevertheless, not even so do I demand the penalty of the offense, but I only show the offense, and bring counsel; which...'¹⁹

Hunc ipsum locum ampla, ut solet, & diserta oratione explanans Chrysostomus homilia 18. in Genesim, ad hunc modum scribit: Expende ineffabilem Dei misericordiam, & in docendo, nobis congruam humilitatem. Postquam enim vidit ipsum Cain ab invidentia affectione oppugnari, pro sua benignitate congrua ipsi remedia apponit, ut statim emergat & aquis non obtegatur, Quare, inquit, tristis factus es? quare concidit vultus tuus? quia & in facie maeroris magnitudinem ostendis: quare ira te invasit? quare non a te ipso quod oportebat fieri considerasti? Non homini sacrificium obtulisti, qui falli possit? ignoras quod mihi non est opus ut aliquid offeratur, sed sanam offerentium mentem volo? Quare concidit vultus tuus? Nonne si recte obtulisti, non recte autem dividas? Hoc quidem, quod in animum accepisti esse offerendum, laude dignum est, quod vero non recte dividis, oblati repudiationem operatum est. Oportet enim offerentem Deo, in discernendo magnam adhibere diligentiam. Et quantum differunt, qui offert, & qui accipit, tanta & in discretione facienda diversitas. At horum nihil tu cogitasti, sed ut fortuito contigit, obtulisti: Atque idcirco non potuerunt esse accepta munera tua: Nam sicut intentio tua, cum qua oblationem fecisti, nihil distare existimans, reiectanea fecit, quae a te sunt oblata, sic fratris tui animus, qui rectus fuit, & dignum in discernendo studium habuit, accepta illius dona fecit. Verum tamen neque sic poenam delicti repeto, sed ostendo duntaxat delictum, & consilium affero; quod...

'...which counsel, if you are willing to receive it, you will both amend the sin, and not involve yourself in graver evils. How? You have sinned, and gravely sinned, but I do not punish you for the offense: for I am merciful, and I do not wish the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live. Therefore, because you have sinned, be still: make tranquility of your thoughts, and free your mind from the storms of inundating waves; restrain those tumults of yours, lest you add another graver one to the prior sin; do not seize a counsel such that medicine may thereafter avail nothing. Do not deliver yourself captive to the malign demon: You have sinned, be still. He knew from the beginning that he was here about to attack his brother, and therefore beforehand he restrains him with words. For God, to whom even hidden things are known, because he knew the motions of his heart, by much admonishing and by uttering words suited to his weakness, brought forth a fitting narration to him, doing all his own part, even though he, the medicine being repulsed, cast himself into the depth of fratricide. You have sinned, be still. Do not think, he says, that although I have opposed your sacrifice on account of the depraved mind, and have held your brother's oblation accepted on account of the sound intention, that therefore I deprive you of the primacy, and take away from you the dignity of the firstborn. For although I have pursued him with honor, and his gifts have been accepted, yet nevertheless his turning is to you, and you shall have dominion over him. And after this sin I permit that you enjoy the privileges of the firstborn, and I command that he be under your power and dominion. See the mercy of the Lord, how he strives to soothe his fury and madness, and by these words to take away his impetus. For seeing the motions of his mind, and knowing his cruel and bloody will, he now wishes to pre-mitigate his reason, and to induce serenity into his mind, by subjecting his brother to him, and diminishing nothing of his power. But nevertheless, after so great care and so great remedies, he felt no further advantage from it.' Thus Chrysostom.²⁰

quod si accipere volueris, & peccatum emendabis, & teipsum gravioribus malis non involves. Quomodo? Peccasti, & graviter peccasti, sed non punio propter delictum: misericors enim sum, & nolo mortem peccatoris, sed ut convertatur & vivat. Igitur quia peccasti, quiesce, tranquillitatem facito tuarum cogitationum, & libera mentem a procellis fluctuum inundantium: cohibe tumultus illos tuos, ne addas priori peccato gravius aliud: Ne consilium arripias, ut medicina post hac nihil prosit. Ne teipsum maligno daemoni captivum tradas, Peccasti, quiesce. Sciebat ab initio quod fratrem hic aditurus esset, & ideo antea verbis reprimit. Deus enim cui etiam arcana sunt cognita quia sciebat cordis illius motus, multum admonendo, & verba illius infirmitati accommoda proferendo congruam ipsi narrationem protulit, sua omnia faciens, tametsi ille repulso medicamento, in fratricidii profundum se praecipitarit. Peccasti, quiesce. Ne putes, inquit, licet tuum adversatus sim sacrificium ob pravam mentem, fratrisque oblationem acceptam habuerim ob sanam intentionem, quod ideo primatu te destituam, & primogeniturae dignitatem a te auferam. Nam licet honore ego illum prosecutus fuerim, acceptaque fuerint illius dona: verum tamen ad te conversio illius, & tu ipsius dominaberis. Atque post peccatum hoc permitto ut primogeniturae privilegiis gaudeas, illumque sub tua potestate & dominio esse iubeo. Vide misericordiam Domini, quomodo furorem & insaniam illius demulcere & verbis his impetum auferre nititur. Quippe motus mentis illius videns, & crudelem, ac sanguinariam illius voluntatem sciens, nunc praemitigare eius rationem vult, & serenitatem menti inducere, subiiciendo ipsi fratrem, & potestatem ipsius nihil minuendo. Veruntamen post tantam curam & tanta remedia, nihil commodi amplius inde sensit. Haec Chrysostomus.

But these same words, according to the reading of the Seventy Interpreters which we set forth above, Augustine most diligently and accurately interpreted, book 15 of the City of God, chapter 7. 'God spoke,' he says, 'to Cain in that manner in which he spoke to the first men through a subject creature, or as their companion, in a fitting form. But what did this profit Cain? did he not fulfill the crime conceived in killing his brother, even after the word of the divine admonition? For when he had distinguished the sacrifices of both, having respect to the one, despising the one of this [Cain] — which, it must not be doubted, could be known by some visible attesting sign — and God had done this because the works of this one were evil, but those of his brother good: Cain was greatly saddened, and his face fell. For so it is written. And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you become sad, and why is your face fallen? Have you not, if you offer rightly, but do not rightly divide, sinned? Be still, for to you is its turning, and you shall have dominion over it. In this admonition which God brought forth to Cain, that indeed which was said — Have you not, if you offer rightly, but do not rightly divide, sinned? — because it is not clear why or whence it was said, its obscurity has given birth to many senses, since each treater of the divine Scriptures tries to express it according to the rule of faith. For a sacrifice is rightly offered, when it is offered to the true God, to whom alone one must sacrifice. But it is not rightly divided, when they are not rightly discerned — either the places, or the times, or the things themselves which are offered, or he who offers, or he to whom it is offered, or those to whom what is offered is distributed to eat...'²¹

Verum haec ipsa verba secundum lectionem quam supra posuimus Septuaginta interpretum, diligentissime & accuratissime interpretatus est Augustinus libro 15. de Civit. Dei capit. 7. Locutus, inquit, est Deus ad Cain eo modo, quo primis hominibus per creaturam subiectam, vel ut eorum socius forma congrua loquebatur. Verum quid hoc profuit Cain? nonne conceptum scelus in necando fratre etiam post verbum divinae admonitionis implevit? Nam cum sacrificia discrevisset amborum, in illius respiciens huius despiciens, quod non dubitandum est potuisse cognosci signo aliquo attestante visibili: & hoc ideo fecisset Deus, quia mala erant opera huius, fratris vero eius bona: contristatus est Cain valde, & concidit facies eius. Sic enim scriptum est. Et dixit Dominus ad Cain. Quare tristis factus es, & quare concidit facies tua? Nonne si recte offeras, recte autem non dividas, peccasti? Quiesce, ad te enim conversio eius, & tu dominaberis illius. In hac admonitione, quam Deus protulit ad Cain, illud quidem quod dictum est, Nonne si recte offeras, recte autem non dividas, peccasti? Quia non elucet cur vel unde sit dictum, multos sensus peperit eius obscuritas, cum divinarum Scripturarum quisque tractator secundum fidei regulam id conatur exprimere. Recte quippe offertur sacrificium, cum offertur Deo vero, cui uni tantummodo sacrificandum est. Non autem recte dividitur, dum non discernuntur recte, vel loca, vel tempora, vel res ipsa quae offeruntur, vel qui offert, vel cui offertur, vel hi quibus ad vescendum distribuitur quod oblatum est: ut di...

'...so that by "dividing" we here understand discretion: whether when it is offered where it ought not, or that not there but elsewhere it ought; or when it is offered when it ought not, or that not then but at another time; or when that is offered which nowhere and never at all was owed; or when a man keeps for himself the choicer things of the same kind, than those he offers to God; or when a profane person, or anyone whom it is not lawful, becomes a partaker of the thing offered. But in which of these Cain displeased God cannot easily be found. But since John the Apostle, when he spoke of these brothers, said, Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and killed his brother; and for what cause did he kill him? because his own works were wicked, but his brother's just — it is given to understand that God did not have respect to his gifts for this reason: that by this very thing he divided badly, giving to God something of his own, but to himself his very self. Which all do, who, following not God's but their own will — that is, living not with an upright but a perverse heart — nevertheless offer God a gift, by which they think him to be bribed, so that he may aid them not in healing their depraved desires, but in fulfilling them. And this is proper to the earthly city: to worship God or gods by whose aid it may reign in victories and earthly peace — not from the charity of consulting [their good], but from the desire of dominating. For the good use the world for this, that they may enjoy God; but the evil, on the contrary, that they may enjoy the world, wish to use God — who nevertheless now believe either that he exists, or that he cares for human affairs; for far worse are those who do not even believe this. And so, Cain having learned that God had respect to his brother's sacrifice, not to his own, ought surely, being changed, to have imitated his good brother, not, being puffed up, to have envied him. But because he was saddened, and his face fell, this sin God chiefly reproves — sadness over another's goodness, and that a brother's. For, reproving this, he interrogated, saying, Why are you saddened, and why is your face fallen? For because he envied his brother, God saw it, and reproved it. For to men, from whom another's heart is hidden, it could be ambiguous and altogether uncertain whether that sadness grieved for his own malignity (in which he had learned he displeased God), or for his brother's goodness (by which he pleased God, when he looked upon his sacrifice). But God, rendering the reason why he was unwilling to accept his oblation — that Cain should rather deservedly displease himself than undeservedly the brother, since he was unjust by not rightly dividing (that is, by not rightly living), and unworthy that his oblation should be approved — showed how unjust it was that he hated his just brother without cause. Yet not dismissing him without a holy, just, and good mandate: Be still, he says, for to you is its turning, and you shall have dominion over it. Over the brother? Far be it. Over what, then, but sin? For he had said, You have sinned; then he added, Be still, for to you is its turning, and you shall have dominion over it. It can indeed be understood thus, that the turning of sin ought to be to the man himself, so that he may know he ought to attribute what he sins to no other than himself. For this is the wholesome medicine of penitence, and a not-incongruous petition for pardon; so that where he says, For to you is its turning, "Will be" is not understood, but "Let it be" — in the manner of one commanding, not predicting. For then will each have dominion over sin, if he sets it before himself not by defending but by repenting and subjecting it; otherwise he will also serve it, as it dominates, if he lends patronage to it as it approaches.'²²

ut divisionem intelligamus hic discretionem, sive cum offertur, ubi non oportet, aut quod non ibi, sed alibi oportet, sive cum offertur quando non oportet: aut quod non tunc, sed alias oportet: sive cum id offertur, quod nusquam & nunquam penitus debuit: sive cum electiora sibi eiusdem generis rerum tenet homo, quam sunt ea quae offert Deo: sive cum eius rei quae oblata est, fit particeps profanus, aut quilibet, quem fas non est fieri. In quo autem horum Deo displicuerit Cain facile non potest inveniri. Sed quoniam Ioannes Apostolus cum de his fratribus loqueretur, Non sicut Cain, inquit, qui ex maligno erat, & occidit fratrem suum, & cuius rei gratia occidit eum? quia opera eius maligna fuerunt, fratris autem eius iusta, datur intelligi propterea Deum non respexisse in munera eius, quia hoc ipso male dividebat dans Deo aliquid suum, sibi autem seipsum. Quod omnes faciunt, qui non Dei, sed suam sectantes voluntatem, id est, non recto sed perverso corde viventes, offerunt tamen Deo munus, quo putant eum redimi, ut eorum non opituletur sanandis pravis cupiditatibus, sed explendis. Et hoc est proprium terrenae civitatis, Deum vel deos colere, quibus adiuvantibus regnet in victoriis, & pace terrena, non charitate consulendi, sed dominandi cupiditate. Boni quippe ad hoc utuntur mundo, ut fruantur Deo: mali autem contra, ut fruantur mundo, uti volunt Deo, qui tamen eum vel esse, vel res humanas curare iam credunt: sunt enim multo deteriores, qui nec hoc quidem credunt. Cognito itaque Cain, quod super eius germani sacrificium non super suam respexerat Deus, utique fratrem bonum mutatus imitari, non elatus debuit aemulari. Sed quia contristatus est, & concidit vultus eius, hoc peccatum maxime arguit Deus, tristitiam de alterius bonitate, & hoc fratris. Hoc quippe arguendo, interrogavit dicens, Quare contristatus es? & quare concidit facies tua? Quia enim fratri invidebat, Deus videbat, & hoc arguebat. Nam hominibus, quibus absconditum est cor alterius, esse posset ambiguum & prorsus incertum, utrum illa tristitia malignitatem suam, in qua se Deo displicuisse didicerat, an fratris doluerit bonitatem, qua Deo placuit, cum in sacrificium eius aspexit. Sed rationem Deus reddens, cur eius oblationem accipere noluerit, ut sibi ipse potius merito, quam ei immerito, frater displiceret, cum esset iniustus, non recte dividendo, hoc est, non recte vivendo, & indignus cuius approbaretur oblatio, quam esset iniustus quod fratrem iustum gratis odisset, ostendit. Non tamen eum dimittens sine mandato sancto, iusto, & bono, Quiesce, inquit, ad te enim conversio eius, & tu dominaberis illius. Nunquid fratris? absit. Cuius igitur, nisi peccati? Dixerat enim, Peccasti: tum deinde addidit, Quiesce, ad te conversio eius, & tu dominaberis illius. Potest quidem ita intelligi, ad ipsum hominem conversionem esse debere peccati, ut nulli alii quam sibi sciat tribuere debere quod peccat. Haec est enim salubris poenitentiae medicina, & venia petitio non incongrua, ut ubi ait, Ad te enim conversio eius, non subauditur Erit, sed Sit, praecipientis videlicet non praedicentis modo. Tunc enim dominabitur quisque peccato, si id sibi non defendendo proposuerit, sed poenitendo subiecerit: alioquin & illi serviet dominanti si patrocinium adhibuerit accedenti.

'But that sin may be understood as carnal concupiscence itself, of which the Apostle says...'²³

Sed ut peccatum intelligatur concupiscentia ipsa carnalis, de qua dicit Apostolus...

'...the Apostle, The flesh lusts against the spirit; among whose fruits of the flesh he also mentions envy, by which Cain was certainly goaded and inflamed to his brother's destruction. "Will be" is well understood — that is, for to you will be its turning, and you shall have dominion over it. For when that carnal part has been moved, which the Apostle calls "sin" where he says, It is not I who work it, but the sin that dwells in me — which part of the soul even the Philosophers say is vicious, not such as ought to draw the mind, but which the mind ought to command and restrain from illicit works by reason — when, therefore, it has been moved to commit something wrongly, let there be such acquiescence and obedience to the Apostle saying, Do not present your members as arms of iniquity to sin, [that the carnal part], tamed and conquered, is turned to the mind, so that reason, being subjected, may rule. This God commanded to him who was inflamed with the torches of envy against his brother, and desired to take away him whom he ought to have imitated: Be still, he says — that is, restrain your hands from crime. Let not sin reign in your mortal body, to obey its desires, nor present your members as arms of iniquity to sin. For to you is its turning, while it is not aided by relaxing, but is bridled by [your] being still. And you shall have dominion over it, so that, when it is not permitted to work outwardly under the power of the ruling and benevolent mind, it may grow accustomed not to be moved even inwardly. Something similar is said in the same divine book about the woman too, when, after sin, God interrogating and judging, they received sentences of damnation — the devil in the serpent, and she and her husband in themselves. For when he had said to her, Multiplying I will multiply your sorrows and your groaning, and in sorrows you shall bring forth children, he then added, And to your husband shall be your turning, and he shall have dominion over you. What was said to Cain about sin, or about the vicious concupiscence of the flesh, [is said] in this place about the sinful woman: where it must be understood that the man ought to rule the wife, [as] a soul ruling the flesh similarly. Wherefore the Apostle says, He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever had his own flesh in hatred. For these things are to be healed as our own, not to be condemned as another's. But that command of God, Cain received as a transgressor. For, the vice of envy growing strong, he lay in wait for and killed his brother. Such was the founder of the earthly city. How Cain also signified the Jews, by whom Christ was killed — the shepherd of the sheep of men, whom Abel, the shepherd of the sheep of cattle, prefigured, since it is a matter of prophetic allegory — I spare now to say, and I recall that I said some things hence against Faustus the Manichean.' Thus Augustine.²⁴

Apostolus, Caro concupiscit adversus spiritum, in cuius carnis fructibus & invidiam commemorat, qua utique Cain stimulabatur, & accendebatur in fratris exitium, bene subauditur erit, id est, ad te enim conversio eius erit, & tu dominaberis illius. Cum enim commota fuerit pars ipsa carnalis, quam peccatum appellat Apostolus, ubi dicit, non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me peccatum: quam partem animi etiam Philosophi dicunt esse vitiosam, non quae mentem debeat trahere, sed cui mens debeat imperare, eamque ab illicitis operibus ratione cohibere: cum ergo commota fuerit ad aliquid perperam committendum, sic acquiescatur & obtemperetur dicenti Apostolo, exhibeatis membra vestra arma iniquitatis peccato, ad mentem domita & victa convertitur, ut subdita ratio dominetur. Hoc praecepit Deus huic qui facibus invidiae inflammabatur in fratrem, & quem debuerat imitari cupiebat auferre, Quiesce, inquit, id est, manus a scelere contine. Non regnet peccatum in tuo mortali corpore ad obediendum desideriis eius, nec exhibeas membra tua iniquitatis arma peccato. Ad te enim conversio eius, dum non adiuvatur relaxando, sed quiescendo fraenatur. Et tu dominaberis illius, ut cum forinsecus non permittitur operari sub potestate mentis regentis & benevolentis assuescat etiam intrinsecus non moveri. Dictum est tale aliquid in eodem divino libro & de muliere, quando post peccatum, Deo interrogante atque iudicante, damnationis sententias acceperunt in serpente diabolus, & in se ipsis illa & maritus. Cum enim dixisset ei, Multiplicans multiplicabo tristitias tuas, & gemitum tuum, & in tristitiis paries filios: deinde addidit, Et ad virum tuum conversio tua, & ipse dominabitur tui. Quod dictum est ad Cain de peccato, vel de vitiosa carnis concupiscentia, hoc isto in loco de peccatrice foemina: ubi intelligendum est, virum ad regendam uxorem animo carnem regenti similem esse oportere. Propter quod dicit Apostolus, Qui diligit uxorem suam, seipsum diligit. Nemo enim unquam carnem suam odio habuit. Sananda sunt enim haec sicut nostra, non sicut aliena damnanda. Sed illud Dei praeceptum Cain sicut praevaricator accepit. Invalescente quippe invidentiae vitio, fratrem insidiatus occidit. Talis erat terrena conditor civitatis. Quomodo significaverit et Cain Iudaeos, a quibus Christus occisus est pastor ovium hominum, quem pastor ovium pecorum praefigurabat Abel, quia in allegoria prophetica res est: parco nunc dicere, & quaedam hinc adversus Faustum Manichaeum dixisse me recolo. Sic Augustinus.