And Cain said to his brother Abel, Let us go forth abroad. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. And the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? He answered, I know not: am I my brother's keeper?¹

Dixitque Cain ad Abel fratrem suum: Egrediamur foras. Cumque essent in agro, consurrexit Cain adversus fratrem suum Abel, & interfecit eum. Et ait Dominus ad Cain, Ubi est Abel frater tuus? Qui respondit, Nescio: numquid custos fratris mei sum ego?

The author of the Jerusalem paraphrase, more clearly narrating what Cain said to his brother Abel — which in Hebrew had not been expressed — has thus in this place: 'Cain said to Abel, Come and let us go out into the field. And it happened, when both had gone out into the field, Cain answered, There is no judgment, nor judge, nor another world, nor good reward for the just, nor penalty for the impious; nor by God's mercy was the world created, nor by God's mercy is it governed — because your oblation was received with good pleasure, but mine was not received with good pleasure. Abel answered and said to Cain: There is a judgment, there is a judge, there is another world, there is likewise a reward for the good, and a penalty for the impious; by God's mercy too the world was created, and by God's mercy it is governed; but because my works were better than yours, my oblation was received with good pleasure, but yours was not received. And when those two contended in the field, Cain rose up against Abel and killed him.' Thus it is in the Jerusalem paraphrase.⁵

Auctor paraphrasis Hierosolymitanae enucleatius narrans quid Cain dixerit fratri Abel, Quod Hebraice expressum non fuerat, sic habet hoc loco: Dixit Cain ad Abel, veni & egrediamur in agrum. Et accidit, cum egressi essent ambo in agrum, respondit Cain, Non est iudicium, nec iudex, nec saeculum aliud, nec merces bona pro iustis, nec poena pro impiis, Nec Dei misericordia creatus est mundus, nec Dei misericordia regitur, eo quod suscepta est oblatio tua cum beneplacito, mea autem non est suscepta cum beneplacito. Respondit Abel, & dixit ad Cain: Est iudicium, est iudex, est saeculum aliud, est item merces pro bonis, & poena pro impiis: Misericordia quoque Dei mundus creatus est, & misericordia Dei gubernatur: quia vero meliora fuerunt opera mea tuis, suscepta est oblatio mea cum beneplacito, tua autem non est suscepta. Cumque duo isti contenderent in agro, insurrexit Cain contra Abel, & occidit eum. Sic est in paraphrasi Hierosolymitana.

'"Let us go out into the field," book 2 on Cain and Abel, ch. 8. Admonished by God, Cain, that he should be still, increases his insolence, heaps up the outrage. What, then, does he mean by saying, Let us go into the field? unless because a place bare of things generating is chosen for parricide? For where ought the brother to be killed, but where fruit was lacking? As if foreboding, nature had denied germination to the place of so great a crime, because it was not fitting that the same soil should both receive the contagions of parricidal blood against nature, and germinate fruits according to nature. Rightly he himself says, let us go into the field. He does not say, let us go into Paradise, where fruits flourish, nor into some cultivated and fruitful place. To parricides themselves it is indicated that they cannot have the fruit of the crime, nor does fruit remain with those who have lent service to such impiety. For they flee the very kindness of the elements — as this Cain, who seems to have feared lest a more bountiful produce of the good earth should hinder the sad deed, and [feared] by the accustomed liberality of the generative earth, by which it makes fetuses and various fruits germinate for itself, in this preparation of the crime too, or by the mute appearance of it, to recall his fraternal affection. The robber flees the day as a witness of his crime, the adulterer blushes at the light as conscious of adultery, the parricide flees the fecundity of the lands. For how could he see the associations of common birth, who slaughtered the partner of his own blood? Joseph is sent into a dry pit. Amnon is killed within the house. Nature, therefore, imparted a just judgment, by depriving of the dowry of their gift those places in which parricide was going to be, that by a certain condemnation of the innocent soil it might show the future punishments of the guilty: on account of the crime of men, therefore, the very elements are condemned. Finally, David wished a penalty of perpetual sterility on the mountains in which Jonathan was slain with his father, saying, You mountains of Gilboa, let neither dew nor rain fall upon you, you mountains of death.' Thus Ambrose.⁷

Exeamus in campum, lib. 2. de Cain & Abel, cap. 8. Admonitus, inquit, a Deo Cain ut quiesceret, auget insolentiam, acervat flagitium. Quid igitur sibi vult quod ait, Eamus in campum? nisi quia locus nudus gignentium, eligitur parricidio? Ubi enim frater debebat occidi, nisi ubi fructus deesset? Tanquam praesagiens natura tanti sceleris loco germina denegaverat, quia non conveniebat, ut idem solum, & contagia parricidalis sanguinis reciperet praeter naturam, & fructus secundum naturam germinaret. Merito ipse dicit, eamus in campum. Non dicit, eamus in Paradisum, ubi poma florent, non in aliquem cultum & fructiferum locum. Ipsi parricidae indicant fructum se sceleris habere non posse, nec penes eos fructum manere, qui tanta impietati praebuerint officium. Nam ipsam refugiunt elementorum benignitatem, ut iste Cain, qui videtur veritus ne largior boni terrae proventus triste facinus impediret, & liberalitatis assuetudine genitalis, qua facit sibi foetus & fructus varios germinascere, in hoc quoque criminis apparatu, vel muta specie sui fraternum revocare affectum. Latro diem refugit quasi criminis testem, lucem adulter erubescit quasi adulterii consciam, parricida terrarum foecunditatem fugit. Quomodo enim poterat communis partus videre consortia, qui consortem sui sanguinis trucidabat? Ioseph in lacum mittitur siccum. Amnon intra domum occiditur. Iustum igitur natura est impertita iudicium, ea loca in quibus erat futurum parricidium, muneris sui dote privando, ut ex innocentis soli quadam damnatione, ostenderet futura supplicia noxiorum: propter scelus igitur hominum & ipsa elementa damnantur. Denique David montibus in quibus Ionathas cum patre interemptus est, perpetuae poenam sterilitatis optavit dicens, Montes qui estis in Gelboe, neque ros, neque pluvia cadat super vos montes mortis. Haec Ambrosius.

But before hurrying on to other things, it is pleasing in this place to set down how Josephus narrates the history of these brothers up to this point, in the first book of the Antiquities. 'To Adam and Eve,' he says, 'were born male sons, [and] two daughters were also born. The first son born was Cain, which is interpreted "acquisition." Abel was born later: that word signifies mourning. And these indeed were each intent on his own pursuits. Abel cultivated justice, and, reckoning God present in all his actions, gave attention to virtue, leading the pastoral life; but Cain was most wicked, and, gaping after gain, first devised to plow the earth. And when both sacrificed to God, Cain [offered] of the field and of the trees...'⁹

Sed priusquam ad alia festinans transeat, iuvat hoc loco ponere quemadmodum historiam horum fratrum ad hunc usque locum in 1. lib. Antiquitatum enarret Ioseph. Nati sunt, inquit, Adamo & Heva filii mares, duo natae sunt etiam filiae: Filius prior natus est Cain, quod interpretatur acquisitio. Abel posterior natus est: ea vox luctum significat, Et hi quidem suis quisque studiis intenti erant. Abel iustitiam colebat, & omnibus suis actionibus Deum praesentem ratus, virtuti operam dabat, pastoralem vitam agitans: Cain vero pessimus erat, lucroque inhians terram arare primus excogitavit. Cumque Deo uterque sacrificaret, Cain agri & arbo...

'...and of the trees offered the fruits, but Abel the firstborn of the flock. Whose sacrifice was more acceptable to God, because it consisted of things generated by the spontaneity of nature, than those which a greedy and industrious man had by a certain force extorted from nature. Therefore Cain killed his brother, and, his corpse being hidden, thought the matter would be secret.' Thus Josephus.¹⁰

& arborum fructus obtulit, Abel vero primogenita pecorum. Cuius sacrificium Deo fuit acceptius, quod sponte naturae genitis constaret, quam ea, quae homo avarus & industrius per vim quandam a natura extorserat. Ideo Cain interfecit fratrem, & cadavere eius abdito, rem clam fore putabat. Sic Iosephus.