LatineEnglish
On the provisions brought into the Ark for the year's sustenance of the animals.1
De escis ad victum annuum animalium in Arcam illatis.
IAM numerosae animalium multitudini et varietati necessario providendum et comparandum erat genus escarum quo cuique animantium speciei opus futurum erat — idque non in unum aut alterum diem, sed in unum integrum annum. De huiusmodi autem cibariis animalium in arca condendis hoc tantum legimus praecepisse Deum Noë: Tolles, inquit, tecum ex omnibus escis quae mandi possunt, et comportabis apud te, et erunt tam tibi quam illis in escam. Hinc licet intelligere Noë — vel tam longo sexcentorum annorum usu et observatione, vel doctum ab avo suo Mathusalem (qui plus ducentis quinquaginta annis cum Adamo versatus plurima ex eo didicerat ad posteritatis utilitatem, quasi per manus posteris suis tradenda), vel etiam singulari aliqua Dei revelatione — bene perspectum et cognitum habuisse quod genus cibatus cuique animantium speciei conveniens esset, quantoque ad unius anni victum opus foret.
Now for the numerous multitude and variety of animals it was necessary to provide and procure the kind of provisions that would be needed for each species of living creatures — and that not for one or another day, but for one whole year. And concerning provisions of this kind for the animals to be stored in the ark, we read only this, that God commanded Noah: “Thou shalt take with thee of all food that can be eaten, and thou shalt lay it up with thee, and it shall be food both for thee and for them.” Hence one may understand that Noah — whether by so long a use and observation of six hundred years, or taught by his grandfather Methuselah (who, having lived more than two hundred and fifty years with Adam, had learned very much from him for the profit of posterity, to be handed down, as it were, hand to hand to his descendants), or even by some singular revelation of God — had well examined and known what kind of food was suitable for each species of living creatures, and how much would be needed for one year's sustenance.2
ILLUD, Tolles ex omnibus escis, redarguit vanam quorundam opinionem aientium invenisse Noë unum quoddam genus alimenti omnibus animantibus conveniens; etenim plane dictum est ex omnibus escis sumpsisse Noë ad cibatum animalium. Illud, quae mandi possunt, dictum est pro ‘comedi,’ nam mandi proprie dicitur quod dentibus teritur; non est autem commune omnium animantium contritu dentium conficere cibum. Illud, et comportabis apud te, non significat cibaria [esse debere]…
That phrase, “Thou shalt take of all food,” refutes the vain opinion of certain ones who say that Noah found some one kind of nourishment suitable for all living creatures; for it is plainly said that Noah took of all foods for the feeding of the animals. That phrase, “which can be eaten (mandi),” is said for “eaten (comedi),” for “mandi” [chewed] is properly said of what is ground by the teeth; but it is not common to all living creatures to work up their food by the grinding of teeth. That phrase, “and thou shalt lay it up with thee,” does not signify [that] the provisions [ought to be]…3
…in eadem parte Arcae ubi habitaturi erant homines [esse debere], siquidem cibaria erant in tertia parte Arcae, homines vero in quarta et suprema. Sed illud, apud te, significat vel in Arca in qua tu futurus es, vel ut sint tibi in promptu, quo possit ea quoties opus fuerit in cibatum singulorum animantium dispensare. Illud denique, Et erunt tam tibi quam illis in escam, non significat quodlibet genus escae indifferenter idoneum fore victui cuiuslibet animalis vel hominis, sed in universa illa cibariorum copia fore quod ad cibatum hominis et quorumlibet animalium conduceret.
…[ought to be] in the same part of the Ark where the men were to dwell — since the provisions were in the third part of the Ark, but the men in the fourth and uppermost. But that phrase, “with thee,” signifies either “in the Ark in which thou shalt be,” or “that they may be ready to thy hand,” so that he might dispense them, as often as need be, for the feeding of the individual living creatures. Finally, that phrase, “and it shall be food both for thee and for them,” does not signify that any kind of food whatever would be indifferently suitable for the sustenance of any animal or man, but that in all that abundance of provisions there would be what would serve for the feeding of man and of any animals.4
Translator’s notes
- Section heading (not numbered as a Disputatio in the original). ↩
- Margin: Gen. 6:21. (Methuselah's overlap with Adam is given as ‘more than 250 years.’) ↩
- Word-by-word exposition of the provisions command. Continues on p. 281. ↩
- Conclusion of the exposition (food on the third deck, men on the fourth/top). ↩