FIFTH DISPUTATION. What those cataracts of heaven were, which Moses says were opened to bring about the flood — Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume II

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FIFTH DISPUTATION. What those cataracts of heaven were, which Moses says were opened to bring about the flood.

QUINTA DISPUTATIO. Quae fuerint illa caeli cataractae, quas Moses ait apertas esse ad efficiendum diluvium.

SI quis huius Graecae vocis, cataracta, omnem significationem usumque, tam proprium quam metaphoricum, animo comprehendat atque perpendat, ea voce significari comperiet id quod magna vi et impetu vel aliquid aliud deorsum deiicit, vel ipsummet ruit ac praecipitatur deorsum: nam et loca edita ac praerupta, e quibus aquae magno sonitu et fragore ruunt deorsum, et ipsae aquae per ea loca ruentes ac praecipitantes, vocabulo cataractarum appellari solent. Et locis quidem id nominis saepe attribui multa sunt exempla: illud celebre de cataractis Nili, de quibus Plinius: Postremo, inquit, Nilus inclusus montibus, nec alibi torrentior, vectus aquis properantibus ad locum Aethiopum qui Catadupi vocantur, novissimo cataracte inter occursantes scopulos non fluere immenso fragore creditur, sed ruere.

If anyone comprehends and weighs in his mind all the signification and use of this Greek word “cataract,” both proper and metaphorical, he will find that by this word is signified that which, with great force and impetus, either casts something else down, or itself rushes and is hurled headlong downward: for both high and steep places, from which waters rush down with great noise and crash, and the waters themselves rushing and falling headlong through those places, are wont to be called by the word “cataracts.” And that this name is often attributed to places, there are many examples: that famous one about the cataracts of the Nile, about which Pliny [says]: “Finally, the Nile, enclosed by mountains, and nowhere more torrential, carried by its hastening waters to the place of the Ethiopians who are called Catadupi, at the last cataract, among the rocks meeting it, is believed not to flow, but to rush, with an immense crash.”¹

Strabo de eodem Nilo loquens: Paulo supra Elephantinam, ait, est parvus cataractes, in quo scapharii spectaculum quoddam principibus exhibent. Cataractes est ad medium fere flumen, petrosum quoddam supercilium, in superiore parte planum, ut flumen recipere possit, desinens vero in praecipitium, ex quo aqua praecipitatur. Utrinque secus terram alveus est qui facile adnavigari potest. Hac itaque adnavigantes defluunt in cataractem, et cum scaphis in praecipitium detruduntur, ipsi et scaphae illaesi. SUIDAS: Cataractae, inquit, rupes sunt in Istro flumine, montis instar, qua latus is est, sub aqua enatae, in quas fluvius incidens maximo strepitu regurgitat; in rupibus moras easque superans, vortices et aestus et charybdes in orbem agitato fluxu efficit. Denique fluvius illis locis non multis freto Siculo dissimilis est.

Strabo, speaking of the same Nile: “A little above Elephantine,” he says, “there is a small cataract, on which the boatmen exhibit a certain spectacle to the leading men. The cataract is about the middle of the river — a certain rocky brow, level in its upper part, so that it can receive the river, but ending in a precipice, from which the water is hurled down. On either side, near the land, there is a channel which can easily be navigated. By this, then, those sailing flow down to the cataract, and with their skiffs are thrust into the precipice — themselves and the skiffs unharmed.” Suidas: “Cataracts,” he says, “are rocks in the river Ister [Danube], like a mountain, where it is broad, that have grown up under the water, into which the river, falling, surges back with the greatest roar; and, overcoming the obstacles and them [the rocks], it makes whirlpools and surges and Charybdes by its flux driven round in a circle. In short, the river in those places is not much unlike the Sicilian strait.”²

Quod autem ipsa etiam aqua, magno impetu deorsum ruens, cataractae nomen habeat, eo patet quod quidam Pamphiliae fluvius, quia se praecipitat, cataractes sit appellatus, ut scribit Mela. De quo flumine Strabo ita loquitur: Postea est is qui cataractes appellatur, amnis multus et torrentis more vehemens, ex alta petra ruens, adeo ut longissime strepitus exaudia[tur]…

And that the water itself too, rushing down with great force, has the name “cataract,” is plain from this: that a certain river of Pamphylia, because it hurls itself down, is called “Cataractes,” as Mela writes. About which river Strabo speaks thus: “Afterward there is the one which is called Cataractes, a river large and vehement after the manner of a torrent, rushing from a high rock, so that the roar is heard very far o[ff]…”³

…strepitus exaudiatur. Quin etiam portas ex funibus vel catenis pendentes, quae attolli et demitti possunt — cuiusmodi in urbium portis videmus ad subitam hostium irruptionem propulsandam accommodatas — Livius cataractas appellavit. ATQUE haec est significatio et usus apud bonos scriptores illius vocabuli cataracta.

…the roar is heard. Moreover, gates hanging from ropes or chains, which can be raised and lowered — of the kind we see fitted in the gates of cities for repelling a sudden irruption of enemies [i.e., portcullises] — Livy called “cataracts.” And this is the signification and use, among good writers, of that word “cataract.”⁴

Secundum hanc igitur significationem illorum verborum Mosis, Cataractae caeli apertae sunt, haec videtur esse sententia: Mediam regionem aëris, in qua ex densatis refrigeratisque nubibus generantur imbres et in terram cadunt — hanc dico mediam regionem aëris — Deum tempore diluvii quasi discidisse et aperuisse, ut non per partes, sicut alias fieri solet, nec modice ac parce, sed incredibili copia et horrifico sonitu ac fragore immensam vim aquarum in terras profunderet, unde generale totius orbis diluvium exsisteret. Ergo vocabulum caeli hoc loco non astriferum caelum, sed aëreum significat. Et vocabulum cataractarum significat vel mediam regionem aëris multis locis velut discissam ac patefactam, vel ipsas nubes quae imbres fundunt. Consentaneum enim est credere diluvii tempore fuisse mediam illam regionem aëris infinitis vaporibus densissimisque nubibus oppletam: ad significandam autem maximam aquarum effusionem, usus est Moses oratione metaphorica et hyperbolica, dicens omnem illam regionem aëris fuisse quasi apertam, ut omnem quam continebat aquam deorsum profunderet.

According to this signification, then, of those words of Moses, “The cataracts of heaven were opened,” this seems to be the meaning: that the middle region of the air — in which, from condensed and cooled clouds, rains are generated and fall to the earth (this I call the middle region of the air) — God, in the time of the flood, as it were cleft and opened, so that not by parts, as it usually happens at other times, nor moderately and sparingly, but with incredible abundance and a horrific noise and crash, it poured forth an immense force of waters onto the lands, whence a general flood of the whole world arose. Therefore the word “heaven” in this place signifies not the star-bearing heaven, but the airy [heaven]. And the word “cataracts” signifies either the middle region of the air, as it were cleft and laid open in many places, or the clouds themselves which pour out rains. For it is reasonable to believe that in the time of the flood that middle region of the air was filled with infinite vapors and the densest clouds; and to signify the greatest outpouring of waters, Moses used a metaphorical and hyperbolical manner of speech, saying that all that region of the air was, as it were, opened, so that it poured down all the water it contained.⁵

CETERUM scire convenit pro Graeca voce Cataracta legi hoc loco, Hebraice, ‘arubbah,’ quae vox significat fistulas vel fenestras. Quo planius autem intelligatur quid significare voluerit Moses dicens Deum aperuisse fenestras caeli, disquirendum est de quo caelo loquatur Moses, de caelo ne astrifero an de aëreo. Non enim defuerunt aliqui, tum recentiorum tum veterum, qui putaverint et scriptum prodiderint Mosen hic loqui de caelo astrifero, et de aquis quae super firmamentum sunt, quas aiunt, aperto illo caelo velut per fistulas sive fenestras in eo factas, ad efficiendum diluvium fuisse in terram profusas. Audi Eugubinum nostri saeculi scriptorem: Verisimile est diluvii tempore caelum multis locis patuisse, aquarumque vasta flumina inde maximo fragore delapsa esse. Inter aquas enim positum esse firmamentum traditur in sacris litteris, in quibus etiam supercaelestes aquae celebrantur. Cum igitur etiam supra caelum sint aquae, quae a nonnullis caelum chrystallinum vocantur, has credendum est, patefacto caelo, horribiliter erupisse, brevique totum orbem inundasse: nam his quoque aquis erat opus ad efficiendum generale diluvium. Alioqui si imbribus tantum res acta esset, non modo quadraginta dierum et noctium pluvia, sed nec quadraginta quidem annorum tanto diluvio efficiendo satis fuisset. Sic Eugubinus.

But it is fitting to know that, in place of the Greek word “Cataract,” there is read in this place, in Hebrew, “arubbah,” which word signifies pipes or windows. And in order that it may be more plainly understood what Moses wished to signify in saying that God opened the windows of heaven, it must be inquired about which heaven Moses speaks — whether the star-bearing heaven or the airy one. For there have not been lacking some, both of the more recent and of the ancient [writers], who thought, and reported in writing, that Moses here speaks of the star-bearing heaven, and of the waters which are above the firmament — which, they say, when that heaven was opened, as if through pipes or windows made in it, were poured out onto the earth to bring about the flood. Hear Eugubinus, a writer of our age: “It is probable that in the time of the flood the heaven lay open in many places, and that vast rivers of waters fell down thence with the greatest crash. For the firmament is reported, in the sacred writings, to be placed amid the waters, in which [writings] the supercelestial waters are also celebrated. Since, therefore, there are waters even above the heaven — which by some are called the crystalline heaven — these, it must be believed, when the heaven was opened, burst forth horribly, and in a short time inundated the whole world: for these waters too were needed to bring about a general flood. Otherwise, if the matter had been done by rains alone, not only the rain of forty days and nights, but not even [the rain] of forty years, would have been enough for bringing about so great a flood.” So Eugubinus.⁶

Cui assensus quoque Oleaster: Non aliter possum, inquit, quam ut litera habet intelligere. Supponit enim per veras et elementares aquas super firmamentum esse, ut tam[quam]…

With whom Oleaster also agreed: “I cannot understand it,” he says, “otherwise than as the letter has it. For he supposes that there are, above the firmament, true and elemental waters, so that as[…]”⁷

…veras et elementares aquas super firmamentum esse, ut tamquam Basilius et Chrysostomus sentiunt. Non igitur mirum si Deus fenestras in firmamento ruperit ut aquae illae descenderent; neque ego hic locum esse metaphoris puto. Quare taxandi sunt qui potius volunt sacram scripturam philosophiae legibus subdere, quam, ut magis decet, philosophiam tanquam ancillam illi deservire.

…that there are true and elemental waters above the firmament, as Basil and Chrysostom too think. It is no wonder, then, if God broke windows in the firmament so that those waters might descend; nor do I think there is room for metaphors here. Wherefore those are to be blamed who would rather subject sacred scripture to the laws of philosophy than, as is more fitting, have philosophy serve it as a handmaid.” [So Oleaster.]⁸

TOSTATUS quoque, qui superiore saeculo floruit, hanc ipsam opinionem attribuit cuidam doctori solenni. Nam explanans verba illa Mosis, Cataractae caeli apertae sunt: Quidam, inquit, doctor solennis dixit quod caelum stellarum et omnes inferiores orbes aperti sunt, et magna pars aquarum supercaelestium, id est, chrystallinarum, decidit in terram, unde factum sit diluvium. Sed hoc non habet saltem aliquam apparentiam, quia aquae illae crystallinae non sunt de specie aquarum elementarium, non enim sunt fluxibiles, sed velut congelatae et solidae, et idcirco non possunt suffocare vel cruciare homines, cum non habeant aliquam de qualitatibus activis et passivis quae sunt instrumenta eiusmodi actionum. Adde quod, cum illae aquae sint ex natura caelesti, nec dicantur aquae nisi propter quandam similitudinem, si illae defluxissent in terras, plurimum sane periisset de veritate substantiae caelestis. Hoc fere modo Tostatus.

Tostatus too, who flourished in the previous century, attributes this very opinion to a certain solemn doctor. For, explaining those words of Moses, “The cataracts of heaven were opened”: “A certain solemn doctor,” he says, “said that the heaven of the stars and all the lower spheres were opened, and a great part of the supercelestial waters — that is, the crystalline ones — fell down to the earth, whence the flood came about. But this does not have even any plausibility, because those crystalline waters are not of the species of elemental waters, for they are not fluid, but as it were frozen and solid, and therefore cannot suffocate or torment men, since they have none of the active and passive qualities which are the instruments of such actions. Add that, since those waters are of a celestial nature, and are not called ‘waters’ except on account of a certain likeness, if they had flowed down onto the lands, a great deal indeed would have perished of the truth of the celestial substance.” In about this manner [speaks] Tostatus.⁹

Ceterum longe antiquiorem fuisse illam sententiam ex eo liquet, quod eius meminit Beda, scribens quibusdam esse visum aquas supra caelum ad eum finem et usum fuisse a Deo positas, ut earum immensa copia e caelis praecipitata in terras generale totius orbis diluvium, quod aliquando Dei voluntate ac decreto erat futurum, effici posset.

But that that opinion was far more ancient is plain from this: that Bede mentions it, writing that it seemed to some that the waters above the heaven were placed by God for this end and use — that, their immense abundance being hurled down from the heavens onto the lands, a general flood of the whole world (which at some time was to come about by God's will and decree) might be brought about.¹⁰

SED eam opinionem ab omni ratione veroque remotissimam esse, duobus argumentis ostendi potest. Etenim, ut aquae illae deflueRent in terram, necesse fuisset octo caelos — id est, septem planetarum et octavum inerrantium syderum, super quod isti credunt aquas illas esse locatas — disrumpi, ut illis aquis descensus in terram pateret, et rursus eosdem omnes caelos occludi et redintegrari: quod valde alienum est incorruptibili naturae caeli. Deinde, aut tota illa aqua defluxisset in terras, quare locus caelestis quem antea implebat totus remansisset vacuus; aut pars tantum illius aquae defluxisset, reliqua igitur aqua quae remansisset frustra et supervacanea fuisset, cum nullo tempore amplius futurum sit diluvium, sicut Deus promisit. Ex his quae dicta sunt apparet, cum Moses dixit fenestras caeli esse apertas, eum non esse locutum de caelo astrifero: relinquitur igitur locutum esse eum de caelo aëreo. Sed qua ratione dictum eius accipiendum et interpretandum sit, deinceps exponamus.

But that that opinion is most remote from all reason and truth can be shown by two arguments. For, in order that those waters might flow down to the earth, it would have been necessary that the eight heavens — that is, [the seven] of the planets and the eighth of the fixed stars, above which these believe those waters to be located — be broken apart, so that a descent to the earth might lie open for those waters, and again that all those same heavens be closed and made whole: which is very alien to the incorruptible nature of the heaven. Next, either all that water would have flowed down onto the lands — wherefore the celestial place which it before filled would have remained wholly empty; or only part of that water would have flowed down — therefore the remaining water that would have stayed would have been in vain and superfluous, since at no time hereafter will there be a flood, as God promised. From the things that have been said it appears that, when Moses said that the windows of heaven were opened, he was not speaking of the star-bearing heaven: it remains, therefore, that he was speaking of the airy heaven. But in what way his saying is to be taken and interpreted, let us explain next.¹¹

MOSEN, cum dixit apertas esse fenestras caeli, usum esse sermone metaphorico et hyperbolico minime dubitandum est: neque enim ulla sunt in caelo, vel sidereo vel aëreo, fenestrae quae aperiri et claudi possint; sed Moses ita loquens, haud dubie accommodavit orationem ad communem sensum et opinionem hominum imaginantium et existimantium in caelo, sive in superis aëris regionibus, immensam aqua[rum]…

That Moses, when he said that the windows of heaven were opened, used a metaphorical and hyperbolical manner of speech, must by no means be doubted: for there are no windows in the heaven, whether starry or airy, that can be opened and closed; but Moses, speaking thus, doubtless accommodated his speech to the common sense and opinion of men imagining and supposing that in the heaven — or in the upper regions of the air — [there is] an immense [force] of wat[ers]…¹²

…rum vim contineri, quam Deus quando vult et quantum vult vel emittit vel retinet, nimiaque retentione earum terras siccitate, contra vero nimia profusione diluvio vastat ac perdit. Hoc ipsum spectans Iob de Deo dixit: Qui ligat aquas in nubibus suis, ut non erumpant pariter deorsum. Si continuerit aquas, omnia siccabuntur; si emiserit eas, subvertent terram. Quo fit ut, cum magna est imbrium penuria, dicatur caelum esse clausum; rursus, cum redditur imbrium abundantia, dicatur esse apertum. Et hoc frequens est in sacris literis.

…an immense force of waters, which God, when he wills and as much as he wills, either sends forth or retains; and by the excessive retention of them he lays waste and destroys the lands with drought, but on the contrary, by an excessive outpouring, with a flood. Looking to this very thing, Job said of God: “Who binds the waters in his clouds, that they may not break out all together downward. If he holds back the waters, all things will be dried up; if he sends them forth, they will overturn the earth.” Whence it comes about that, when there is a great scarcity of rains, the heaven is said to be closed; and again, when an abundance of rains is restored, it is said to be open. And this is frequent in the sacred writings.¹³

QUIN etiam, cum divina scriptura significare vult Deum hominibus vel dedisse vel daturum magnam aliquorum bonorum vel malorum copiam, dicere solet Deum aperuisse vel aperturum cataractas caeli, ad significandam largissimam illorum bonorum vel malorum effusionem. Legimus, cum Eliseus praedixisset fore ut postridie modius similae uno statere veniret, et duo modii hordei statere uno, respondisse unum de ducibus regis Israël minime credentem Eliseo: Si Dominus fecerit etiam cataractas in caelo, nunquid poterit esse quod loqueris? Legimus item apud Malachiam Deum, ingentem bonorum abundantiam Iudaeis promittentem, sic esse locutum: Si non aperuero vobis cataractas caeli, et effudero vobis benedictionem usque ad abundantiam.

Nay, even when divine scripture wishes to signify that God has given, or will give, to men a great abundance of certain goods or evils, it is wont to say that God has opened, or will open, the cataracts of heaven, to signify the most lavish outpouring of those goods or evils. We read that, when Elisha had foretold that on the next day a measure of fine flour would be sold for one stater, and two measures of barley for one stater, one of the captains of the king of Israel, not believing Elisha, answered: “If the Lord should make even cataracts in heaven, could that be which thou sayest?” (4 Kings 7). We read likewise in Malachi that God, promising to the Jews a huge abundance of goods, spoke thus: “If I open not to you the cataracts of heaven, and pour out to you a blessing even unto abundance” (Mal. 3).¹⁴

Accipitur quoque interdum mala in partem vocabulum Cataracta, velut in Psal. 41: Abyssus, inquit, abyssum invocat in voce cataractarum tuarum. Id est: calamitas, qua velut abysso et voragine profundissima urgeor et absorbeor, continuo alteram abyssum calamitatum velut advocat et attrahit, et haec aliam, ita ut nullus mearum calamitatum sit finis, nullaque meorum dolorum et cruciatuum intermissio, dum tu, Domine, sic me malis et calamitatibus obruis, ut soles nonnunquam immensam vim aquarum, velut apertis caeli fenestris, horrifico sonitu ac fragore in terras praecipitare. Apparet igitur apertionem fenestrarum caeli ad pluendum tempore diluvii, per metaphoram, significare immensam vim imbrium horribili sonitu et impetu in terras ruentium.

The word “Cataract” is also sometimes taken in a bad sense, as in Psalm 41: “Deep,” he says, “calleth on deep, at the voice of thy cataracts.” That is: the calamity by which, as by a most profound deep and chasm, I am pressed and swallowed up, continually summons and draws to itself, as it were, another deep of calamities, and this another — so that there is no end of my calamities, and no intermission of my griefs and torments, while thou, O Lord, dost so overwhelm me with evils and calamities, as thou art sometimes wont to hurl down onto the lands an immense force of waters, as if by opened windows of heaven, with a horrific noise and crash. It appears, therefore, that the opening of the windows of heaven for raining in the time of the flood signifies, by metaphor, the immense force of rains rushing onto the lands with a horrible noise and impetus.¹⁵

SIMILITER intellexit hunc locum Chrysostomus: Vide, inquit, quanta orationis temperatione utitur hic divina scriptura. Omnia enim iuxta consuetudinem humanam loquitur, non quod cataractae et fenestrae sint in caelo, sed quasi diceret: Praecepit tantum Dominus, et statim aquarum natura mandato Conditoris obedivit, et, ut confluxit, totum orbem inundavit. Similia scribit Rupertus: Quod ait, Cataractae caeli apertae sunt, accipiendum est (inquit Rupertus) per hyperbolen, et sic esse dictum ad insinuandam inundationis magnitudinem, quae tanta fuit ut firmamentum (inter aquas caelestes terrestresque a Deo positum) dissipatum esse videretur secundum vulgi opinionem. Dicimus quidem cataractas caeli occultas esse vias, per quas de caelo (utique aëreo) pluvia descendit. Verum hoc dicendo vulgi magis more quam scripturae sensu loquimur. Neque enim solidum quid aut durum est caelum, ut recte possit intelligi fenestris in modum parietis intercisum, quibus apertis aquae funduntur deorsum, quae eisdem clausis continebantur sursum. Sic Rupertus.

Chrysostom understood this place similarly: “See,” he says, “with what great moderation of speech divine scripture here uses. For it speaks all things according to human custom — not that there are cataracts and windows in heaven, but as if it said: The Lord only commanded, and immediately the nature of the waters obeyed the command of the Creator, and, as it flowed together, inundated the whole world.” Rupert writes similar things: “What he says, ‘The cataracts of heaven were opened,’ is to be taken,” says Rupert, “by hyperbole, and was so said to suggest the magnitude of the inundation, which was so great that the firmament — placed by God between the celestial and terrestrial waters — seemed, according to the opinion of the common people, to be broken up. We do indeed call the ‘cataracts of heaven’ the hidden ways through which the rain descends from heaven (the airy one, of course). But in saying this we speak rather after the manner of the common people than according to the sense of scripture. For the heaven is not something solid or hard, so that it could rightly be understood to be cut through with windows in the manner of a wall, which being opened the waters are poured down, and which being closed it was contained above.” So Rupert.¹⁶

SED concludamus hanc de caeli cataractis disputationem adiecto morali huius loci intellectu et tractatu qui est apud Ambrosium: Et rupti sunt, inquit, omnes fontes abyssi, cataractae caeli apertae sunt. Vim diluvii convenienter scriptura expressit, dicens caelum et terram pariter esse commota, e quibus elementis constat huius mundi omne principium. Undique ergo, influentibus aquarum molibus, conclusum genus hominum perurgetur. Haec secundum litteram. Quod autem ad altiorem pertinet sensum: caeli symbolo mens humana significatur, terrae autem appellatione corpus et sensus. Magna igitur naufragia, quando mentis pariter et corporis sensuumque omnium turbo et procella miscentur. Diligenter dicta pensemus: plerumque fraus mentis et dolus suum exercent venenum, sed tamen sobrietas corporis et continentia obumbrant mentis improbitatem.

But let us conclude this disputation about the cataracts of heaven by adding the moral understanding and treatment of this passage which is found in Ambrose: “‘And all the fountains of the deep were broken up,’ he says, ‘the cataracts of heaven were opened.’ Scripture fittingly expressed the force of the flood, saying that heaven and earth were moved together — the elements of which the whole beginning of this world consists. On every side, therefore, by the masses of waters flowing in, the enclosed race of men is hard pressed. This according to the letter. But as regards the higher sense: by the symbol of heaven the human mind is signified; by the appellation of earth, the body and the senses. Great, therefore, are the shipwrecks, when the whirlwind and storm of the mind, and of the body, and of all the senses alike, are mingled. Let us weigh the words carefully: for the most part the fraud of the mind and its guile exercise their venom, yet the sobriety of the body and continence overshadow the wickedness of the mind.”¹⁷

Frequenter incerto fidei atque opinionis suae mens lubrica est, sed tamen caro deliciis et luxuria non vacat, ut frugalitas errorem mentis excuset: sicut multi sunt haereticorum qui praetendere volunt corporis continentiam, ut assertionis suae fidem testimonio suae carnis acquirant; et si sensu lubrici, tamen, quo minus turpes, aliquanto excusabiliores habentur. Cum autem venena mentis et contagia corporea obscoenitatis sensum omnem vigoremque confundunt, atque animus incerto lubricus motu — malitiae foedus atramento, crudelitatis furore succensus — etiam corporalibus flagitiis incitatur; avarus quoque affectus, impatiens mediocrium facultatum, luxuria, cupiditate effundendique libidine praecipitatur in facinus appetendae salutis alienae: tunc magnum est diluvium, omnibus pariter ingruentibus passionibus; tunc se insipientia, iniustitia, temeritas, improbitas, perfidia de superiori parte tanquam cataractae mentis videntur effundere. Inde erumpunt de corporis fonte terreni libido, temulentia, luxuria, postremo diversorum criminum prolapsiones, quae penitus et corporis robur et vigorem mentis effeminant. Haec Ambrosius.

“Frequently the slippery mind is uncertain in its faith and opinion, yet the flesh is not free from delights and luxury, so that frugality does not excuse the error of the mind: as there are many heretics who wish to make a show of bodily continence, in order to gain credit for their assertion by the testimony of their flesh; and although slippery in mind, yet, being somewhat less base, they are held somewhat more excusable. But when the venoms of the mind and the bodily contagions of obscenity confound all sense and vigor, and the soul, slippery with uncertain motion — foul with the ink-stain of malice, kindled with the fury of cruelty — is incited even to bodily disgraces; and the avaricious affection too, impatient of moderate means, is hurled by luxury, by greed, and by the lust of squandering into the crime of coveting another's welfare: then there is a great flood, all the passions assailing alike; then folly, injustice, rashness, wickedness, perfidy seem to pour themselves out from the upper part, as it were the cataracts of the mind. Thence burst forth, from the fountain of the body, earthly lust, drunkenness, luxury, and finally the lapses into various crimes, which utterly enfeeble both the strength of the body and the vigor of the mind.” This [says] Ambrose.¹⁸

Translator’s notes

§21. The meaning of ‘cataract’ (waterfalls and the rushing waters). Margins: “What ‘cataract’ signifies in Greek”; Pliny, bk. 5, [ch.] 9. ↩
Strabo and Suidas on river-cataracts (the Nile, the Danube). Margin: Strabo, Geography bk. 5. ↩
The river ‘Cataractes’ of Pamphylia. Margins: Pomponius Mela, bk. 1, ch. 14; Strabo bk. 4; Livy bk. 7. Continues on p. 302. ↩
Livy's use of ‘cataract’ for a portcullis. ↩
§22. Pererius's own reading: the ‘cataracts of heaven’ = the cloud-laden middle air, opened by God; ‘heaven’ here = the air, not the starry sphere. ↩
§23. The Hebrew ‘arubbah’ = windows; and the rival view (Eugubinus) that the ‘windows of heaven’ are the star-sphere, releasing the supercelestial/crystalline waters. Margins: “What that heaven is whose cataracts/windows were opened”; Augustinus Eugubinus, Annotations on Genesis. ↩
Oleaster endorses the literal ‘waters above the firmament.’ Margin: Oleaster, on Gen. ch. 7. Continues on p. 303. ↩
Oleaster's conclusion (Basil and Chrysostom for literal waters; philosophy as scripture's handmaid). Margins: Basil; Chrysostom. ↩
§24. Tostatus reports — and rejects — the ‘crystalline supercelestial waters’ view. Margin: Tostatus. ↩
Margin: Bede, On the Nature of Things. ↩
§25. Pererius's two arguments against the starry-heaven reading. Margins: “That the star-bearing heaven was not opened”; Gen. 9. ↩
§26. Moses' ‘windows of heaven’ is metaphor accommodated to common imagination. Margin: “How ‘the cataracts of heaven were opened’ is to be understood.” Continues on p. 304. ↩
§26 (concluded): the metaphor — God opens/closes heaven by sending or withholding rain. Margin: Job 12, 26. ↩
§27. ‘Cataracts of heaven’ as a Scriptural idiom for abundance. Margins: “The word ‘Cataract’ for an abundance of goods or evils”; 4 Kings 7; Mal. 3. ↩
‘Cataracts’ in a bad sense (Ps. 41). Margin: “The passage of Psalm 41.” ↩
§28. Chrysostom and Rupert: the ‘windows of heaven’ is hyperbole/accommodation. Margins: Chrysostom, hom. 25 on Genesis; Rupert, Commentaries on Genesis, bk. 4, ch. 20. ↩
§29. The tropological reading (Ambrose): heaven = the mind, earth = body/senses. Margins: “The tropology of this passage”; Ambrose, On Noah and the Ark, ch. 14. ↩
The inner ‘flood’ of the passions (Ambrose continued). ↩