Behold, you cast me out today from the face of the earth, and from your face I shall be hidden, and I shall be a wanderer and fugitive upon the earth: everyone therefore who finds me shall kill me. Verse 14.¹

Ecce eiicis me hodie a facie terrae, & a facie tua abscondar, & ero vagus & profugus in terra: omnis igitur qui invenerit me, occidet me. VERS. 14.

But Ambrose treats this whole place most elegantly (book 2 on Cain and Abel, ch. 9), writing thus: 'There is an evident and general reason, because to every wicked man evils are present, and will be to come. Those that are present work sadness, those to come [work] dread. But present things solicit the wicked man more than future ones. Whence also Cain said to God: "My cause is greater than that it be dismissed to me; if you forsake me today, I shall hide myself from your face." For nothing is graver than for one erring to be deserted by God, so that he cannot recall himself. The death of a sinner brings an end of sinning, but a life destitute of the divine governance is precipitated and slips into graver things: as, if a shepherd leaves the flock, the beasts rush upon it, so, when God deserts a man, the devil rushes in. It is grave, especially for the foolish, not to have a ruler. Malice creeps on; the wound grows where medicine is lacking. He hides himself who wishes to veil his fault and cover his sin. For he who does evil hates the light, and loves the darkness of his own [deeds] and the hiding-places of his crimes. But the just man is wont not to hide from his Lord God, but rather to offer himself, saying: "Behold, it is I," who has no criminal conscience which he fears to be caught. Deservedly, therefore, does he [Cain], evil-conscious, hide himself, and says: "Everyone who finds me shall kill me." The man of narrow mind fears present death, neglects the perpetual [death], and does not dread the divine judgment. He deprecates only the destruction of the body. But from whom did he fear to be killed, who had only [his] parents on earth? He could indeed fear the attacks of beasts, he who had violated the laws of the divine law, and not presume upon the other subject animals, he who had taught that man could be killed. He could also fear his parents as parricides, he who had taught that parricide could be committed; for parents too could learn from a son what descendants learned from a parent.' Thus Ambrose.⁵

SED totum hunc locum elegantissime tractat Ambrosius, lib. 2. de Cain & Abel, cap. 9. ad hunc modum scribens: Evidens generalisque ratio, quia omni improbo mala adsunt, & affutura sunt. Quae adsunt, tristitiam operantur, qua futura formidinem. Sed improbum plus praesentia, quam futura solicitant. Unde & Cain dixit ad Deum: Maior causa mea est, quam ut dimittatur mihi, si derelinquas me hodie, a facie tua abscondam me. Nihil enim gravius, quam errantem a Deo deseri, ut se revocare non possit. Mors peccatoris, finem peccandi affert, vita autem divino gubernaculo destituta, praecipitatur & in graviora prolabitur: ut si gregem pastor relinquat, incursent bestiae: ita cum Deus deserit hominem, ingruit diabolus. Grave est, praesertim insipientibus, non habere rectorem. Serpit malitia, vulnus augetur ubi medicina defuerit. Abscondit se autem qui velare vult culpam, & tegere peccatum. Qui enim male agit odit lucem, & amat tenebras suorum & latibula delictorum. Iustus autem non abscondere a domino Deo suo, sed ipse magis se offerre consuevit, dicens: Ecce sum ego, qui non habet criminosam conscientiam, quam timeat deprehendi: Merito ergo se abscondit male conscius, & ait: Omnis qui invenerit me, occidet me. Angusta mentis homo praesentem mortem veretur, perpetuam negligit, & divinum iudicium non reformidat. Interitum solum corporis deprecatur. Sed a quo timebat occidi, qui solos parentes habebat in terris? Potuit quidem & incursus bestiarum timere, qui legis divinae iura violaverat, nec praesumere de subiectis animalibus caeteris, qui hominem docuerat occidi. Potuit & parentes parricidas timere, qui docuerat parricidium posse committi, potuerunt enim & parentes de filio discere, quod didicerant posteri de parente. Haec Ambrosius.

Of which it is well known what Bernard writes, treating those words of Peter to Jesus, 'Behold, we have left all things,' not far from the end of his sermon: 'He is convicted unworthy of the heavenly blessing, who seeks it with a doubtful affect, asks with a double intention, preparing for himself another refuge, if perchance he should not obtain it. "My iniquity is greater" (says the first fratricide) "than that I may deserve pardon." What then? Let your soul refuse to be consoled, if it does not deserve pardon. This alone deplore, this alone bewail: do not even think of anything else. But now, says Cain, everyone who finds me shall kill me. A grave loss indeed, a heavy damage, if the body be destroyed — since the soul has perished! But the unhappy one pleaded that he was to be killed, as if he would count it a great benefit if he were forbidden to be killed: which also was done. He obtained the wretched consolation he sought, and forgot the greatest consolation, for which he ought much more studiously to have supplicated and sought a remedy. Have you not read the same about Saul too? For where holy Samuel persisted in the sentence, "Now," he [Saul] says, "honor⁷

De quo scitum est, quod scribit Bernardus, tractans illa verba Petri ad Iesum: Ecce nos reliquimus omnia, non longe a fine eius sermonis: Indignus, inquit, benedictione coelesti convincitur, qui dubio quaerit affectu, duplici petit intentione, aliud sibi refugium parans, si forte eam non obtinere contingat. Maior est iniquitas mea (ait fratricida primus) quam ut veniam merear. Quid ergo? renuat consolari anima tua, si veniam non meretur. Hoc solum deplora, hoc solum plange: aliud ne cogites quidem, Sed nunc, inquit Cain, omnis qui invenerit me, occidet me. Grave scilicet damnum, gravis iactura, si perimatur corpus, quandoquidem anima periit. Sed occidendum sese causabatur infelix, tanquam pro magno beneficio habiturus, si prohiberetur occidi: quod & factum est. Consolationem miseram obtinuit quam quaerebat, & oblitus est consolationis maximae; pro qua multo studiosius supplicare & remedium quaerere oportebat. An non idem & de Saule legisti? Ubi enim perstitit in sententia Samuel sanctus, Nunc, inquit, honora

...honor me at least before the people." To what end is this honoring for you, wretch? Was that the whole of that supplication, "I have sinned; pray to the Lord for me"? By a false supplication he could not be moved. Scarcely had David said, "I have sinned," and the answer was given him, "The Lord has taken away your sin from you." So indeed, so to this day, most beloved, whoever's mind gapes after other consolations, and does not refuse to be consoled utterly in fleeting and transitory things, he certainly withdraws from himself the grace of heavenly consolation.' Thus Bernard.⁸

honora me vel coram populo. Ad quid tibi haec honoratio miser? Haccine erat tota illa supplicatio, Peccavi ora Dominum pro me? Falsa non poterat supplicatione moveri. Vix adhuc dixerat David Peccavi, & responsum illi est, Dominus transtulit peccatum tuum a te. Sic nimirum, sic usque hodie dilectissimi, cuius ad alias consolationes mens inhiat, & penitus in caducis & transitoriis non renuit consolari, ipse sibi profecto coelestis subtrahit gratiam consolationis. Sic Bernardus.