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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Seven — Cain and Abel

QUESTION V. Why Moses, to each of the generations mentioned, subjoined that clause, 'and he died.'

LatineEnglish

QUESTION V. Why Moses, to each of the generations mentioned, subjoined that clause, 'and he died.'1

QUAESTIO V. Cur Moses singulis generationibus memoratis subiecerit, illam clausulam, & mortuus est.

IN omnibus autem praedictis hominibus, quorum tam longinqua aetas describitur, tanquam clausula haec additur: Et mortuus est, uno duntaxat Henoch excepto, ut manifeste appareat Deum veracem fuisse, qui dixerat: Si comederitis, morte moriemini: daemonem autem mendacem, qui promiserat, Nequaquam moriemini. Deinde, ut manifestum sit discrimen inter praesentem vitam, quae morte finitur, & futuram quae pariter cum aeternitate est interminabilis. Tertio, quia nihil diuturnum est, cuius finis est, quicquid enim praeteriit, quantumcunque fuerit, pro nihilo ducitur, sicut philosophatur apud Ciceronem Cato sub fine libri de Senectute. Ad haec, ut hinc cognoscere liceat, quam longa futura fuisset vita in Paradiso: nam sicut Henoch vivens raptus est, & inexpertus mortis in meliorem statum est translatus, itidem in statu innocentiae cum omnibus hominibus factum fuisset.
But in all the aforesaid men, whose so-long age is described, this clause is added, as it were [at the end]: 'And he died' — with only Henoch excepted — so that it may manifestly appear that God was truthful, who had said, 'If you eat, you shall die by death,' but the demon a liar, who had promised, 'You shall not die at all.' Then, that the distinction may be manifest between the present life, which is ended by death, and the future, which, equally with eternity, is endless. Third, because nothing is lasting whose end there is; for whatever has passed, however much it was, is counted as nothing — as Cato philosophizes in Cicero, near the end of the book On Old Age. Besides, that from this it may be permitted to know how long life would have been in Paradise; for as Henoch, living, was carried off, and, untried by death, was translated into a better state, likewise, in the state of innocence, it would have been done with all men.2
De longaevitate aliorum animalium varie traditur. Aristoteles in libro de longitudine & brevitate vitae, ait, hominem & Elephantem esse omnium animalium longaevissima, & in 4. lib. de Generatione animalium affirmat, nullum animal esse vivacius homine, excepto uno Elephante. Verum Graeci iuxta atque Latini scriptores multo secus prodidere. Apponam hic verba Plinii ex cap. 48. lib. 7. Hesiodus, inquit, qui primus aliqua de hoc prodidit, fabulose (ut reor) multa de hominum aevo referens, cornici novem nostras attribuit aetates, quadruplum eius cervis, id triplicatum corvis. Et reliqua fabulosius in Phoenice & nymphis. Idem cap. 2. libri 10. tanquam a multis traditum scribit, Phoenicem avem vivere ad sexcentos & sexaginta annos. Et lib. 8. cap. 32. Vita, inquit, cervis in confesso longa, post centum annos aliquibus captis cum torquibus aureis, quos Alexander Magnus addiderat, adopertis iam cute in magna obesitate, qui necdum tamen senii indicium praeferebant, unde Iuvenalis cervinam senectutem, vividam & vegetem appellat cum ait: Iam iuvenem torquet longa & cervina senectus. ARISTOTELES in libris de Historia animalium ait, vivere Elephantos usque ad annum trecentesimum. Sed de his satis.
On the longevity of other animals it is variously handed down. Aristotle, in the book On the Length and Brevity of Life, says that man and the Elephant are the longest-lived of all animals; and in the fourth book On the Generation of Animals he affirms that no animal is longer-lived than man, except the one Elephant. But the Greek and likewise Latin writers handed down far otherwise. I will set down here Pliny's words from ch. 48 of book 7: 'Hesiod, who first handed down something of this, reporting fabulously (as I think) many things about the age of men, attributed to the crow nine of our lifetimes, four times that to stags, and that tripled to ravens; and the rest more fabulously in the Phoenix and the nymphs.' The same [Pliny], in ch. 2 of book 10, writes, as handed down by many, that the Phoenix bird lives to six hundred and sixty years. And in book 8, ch. 32: 'The life of stags is by common consent long, some being caught after a hundred years with the golden collars which Alexander the Great had put on, their skin now grown over [the collars] in great fatness, who yet did not show a sign of old age' — whence Juvenal calls the stag's old age vivid and vigorous, when he says: 'Now a long and stag-like old age torments the young man.' Aristotle, in the books On the History of Animals, says that Elephants live up to the three-hundredth year. But of these things, enough.3

Translator’s notes

  1. Quaestio V: why Moses appends 'and he died' to each patriarch in the genealogy. ↩
  2. Quaestio V answered: 'and he died' is appended (except for Henoch/Enoch) — (1) to show God truthful ('you shall die,' Gen 2:17) and the devil a liar ('you shall not die,' Gen 3:4); (2) to distinguish this death-ended life from the endless future one; (3) because nothing with an end is truly lasting (Cicero, De Senectute, Cato); (4) to show how long life would have been in the state of innocence — for Enoch, translated alive without tasting death into a better state, is the model of what would have been for all in Paradise. Marginal glosses: 'Cur addatur singulis patribus, & mortuus est'; 'Genes. 3.' ↩
  3. An appendix on animal longevity: Aristotle (De Long. Vitae; De Gen. Anim. 4) — man and the elephant are the longest-lived, no animal outliving man except the elephant. But Greek and Latin writers differ: Pliny (NH 7.48) reports Hesiod's fabulous ages (the crow nine human lifetimes, stags four times that, ravens thrice more; and the Phoenix and nymphs still more fabulous); the Phoenix living 660 years (NH 10.2); stags caught after 100 years with Alexander's golden collars overgrown by their flesh, yet showing no age (NH 8.32) — whence Juvenal (Sat. 14.251), 'a long, stag-like old age.' Aristotle (Hist. Anim.): elephants live to 300 years. 'But of these things, enough.' Marginal gloss: 'De longaevitate animalium.' Page footer signature 'FFFF 3'; catchword 'DIS' (a new DISPUTATIO begins on the next page). ↩