A BRIEF MORAL DIGRESSION. On the words of the eighth chapter thus far explained — Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume II

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A BRIEF MORAL DIGRESSION. On the words of the eighth chapter thus far explained.

BREVIS DIGRESSIO MORALIS. Super verba octavi capitis hactenus explicata.

AD moralem tractatum pertinent nonnulla quae supra diximus, cum explanaremus prima illa verba Capitis octavi: Recordatus Dominus Noë, cunctorumque animantium, cetera. Verum praeter illa, libet nunc quaedam moralia documenta ex iisdem verbis sumpta carptim exponere. Ac primo quidem, exemplo Noë discendum nobis est quemadmodum Deus vitam iustorum hominum ex rebus secundis et adversis admirabili quadam maximeque salutari alternatione et vicissitudine misceat ac temperet, ut illos ea ratione (nec sibi fidentes, Deique protectione ac praesidio confisos) inter spem et metum (quae cautissima et tutissima est Deo serviendi ratio) perpetuo ingredi faciat. Itaque experiendo potius quam legendo verum esse illi cognoscunt quod scriptum est: Dominus mortificat et vivificat, deducit ad inferos et reducit; et quod legitur apud Tobiam: Hoc pro certo habet omnis qui te colit, quod vita eius, si in probatione fuerit, coronabitur; si autem in tribulatione fuerit, liberabitur; et si in correptione fuerit, ad misericordiam tuam venire licebit. Non enim delectaris in perditionibus nostris, quia post tempestatem tranquillum facis…

To the moral treatment belong some things which we said above, when we explained those first words of the eighth chapter: “The Lord remembered Noah, and all the living creatures,” etc. But besides those, it is now pleasing to set forth in passing certain moral lessons drawn from the same words. And first indeed, by the example of Noah we must learn how God mingles and tempers the life of just men out of prosperous and adverse things, by a certain wonderful and most salutary alternation and vicissitude, so that in this way he makes them — not trusting in themselves, but relying on God's protection and defense — to walk perpetually between hope and fear (which is the most cautious and safest manner of serving God). And so, by experiencing rather than by reading, they come to know that it is true which is written: “The Lord kills and makes alive, leads down to hell and brings back” (1 Sam. 2); and what is read in Tobit: “This every one holds for certain who worships thee, that his life, if it be in probation, shall be crowned; but if it be in tribulation, it shall be delivered; and if it be in correction, it shall be allowed to come to thy mercy. For thou art not delighted in our destruction: because after a storm thou makest a calm…”¹

…facis, et post lacrimationem et fletum exultationem infundis. Sit nomen tuum, Deus Israël, benedictum in saecula.

…thou makest, and after weeping and tears thou pourest in joy. Blessed be thy name, O God of Israel, for ever.”²

ILLUD quoque observandum est, Deum non ante dici hoc loco recordatum esse ipsius Noë quam perissent peccatores diluvio: id quod non vacat mysterio. Tunc enim vere Deus memor nostri est nobisque benefacit, cum vetus Adam cum vitiis suis in nobis per diluvium contritionis et poenitentiae velut submersus interiit. Illorum porro hominum qui periere diluvio, dupliciter utilis fuit interitus paucis illis qui per Arcam servati sunt: tum quod, omnibus improbis e medio sublatis, neminem habuere post diluvium qui posset obsistere quo minus illi recte viverent — vel eos insectando atque infestando, vel exemplo suae improbitatis ad flagitia incitando; tum quod recordatio interitus illorum, instar freni simul et calcaris, esse illis debuit, quo scilicet et retraherentur ab impietate et iniquitate, et ad percolendam adversus Deum pietatem iustitiamque erga homines impellerentur, et illorum mores factaque imitari perhorrescerent, quorum tam atrocem exitum et interitum recordarentur.

This too must be observed: that God is not said in this place to have remembered Noah himself before the sinners had perished in the flood — which is not without mystery. For then is God truly mindful of us and does us good, when the old Adam, with his vices, has perished in us, as it were submerged by the flood of contrition and penance. Moreover, the destruction of those men who perished in the flood was in two ways useful to those few who were saved by the Ark: both because, all the wicked being removed from their midst, they had after the flood no one who could hinder them from living rightly — either by persecuting and harassing them, or by inciting them to crimes by the example of his own wickedness; and because the memory of their destruction had to be to them, as it were, both a bridle and a spur, by which they might both be drawn back from impiety and iniquity, and be impelled to cultivate piety toward God and justice toward men, and might shudder to imitate the morals and deeds of those whose so atrocious end and destruction they recalled.³

QUOD autem Deus non solum Noë recordatus esse dicitur, sed etiam animalium, non tantum indicat eximium erga hominem Dei amorem curamque, cuius causa diluvii exitio animalia servare voluit (verum enim est illud vetus apud Hispanos proverbium: Quien ama Beltran, ama su can — id est: Qui amat Beltramum, est id nomen proprium hominis, amat quoque eius canem); verum praeterea ostendit incredibilem Dei bonitatem, quae non modo pertinet ad homines, sed in animalia quoque effunditur. Quamobrem saepe Deum laudat scriptura a liberalitate et beneficentia quam exercet erga animalia: et apud Salomonem vir iustus laudatur, quod non solum misericors sit erga homines, sed etiam erga animalia. Novit iustus, inquit Salomon, iumentorum suorum animas; viscera autem impiorum crudelia. Ubi animadvertere oportet Salomonem pulchra usum esse antithesi: siquidem viscera Hebraice nomen habent a miseratione, appellantur enim rechamim, id est, miserationes; ut execrandi videantur illi quorum viscera (quae, ut nomen eorum fert, propensissima esse deberent ad miserandum) sint erga homines inhumana atque crudelia. B. Franciscum saepenumero erga animalia misericordem ac benignum fuisse, non secus atque erga homines, legimus in eius historia.

But that God is said to have remembered not only Noah, but also the animals, not only indicates God's exceptional love and care for man, for whose sake he willed to save the animals from the destruction of the flood (for true is that old proverb among the Spaniards: “Quien ama Beltran, ama su can” — that is, “He who loves Bertram (it is a man's proper name) loves also his dog”); but it shows besides the incredible goodness of God, which pertains not only to men, but is poured out upon animals also. Wherefore Scripture often praises God for the liberality and beneficence which he exercises toward animals: and in Solomon the just man is praised because he is merciful not only toward men, but also toward animals. “The just man,” says Solomon, “knows the souls of his beasts; but the bowels of the impious are cruel” (Prov. 12). Where one must note that Solomon used a beautiful antithesis: since “bowels” in Hebrew take their name from compassion — for they are called rechamim, that is, “compassions” — so that those seem execrable whose bowels (which, as their name implies, ought to be most inclined to compassion) are inhuman and cruel toward men. That St. Francis was often merciful and kind toward animals, no otherwise than toward men, we read in his history.⁴

NEC tantum in Christianis hominibus haec humanitas et misericordia erga animalia commendabilis ac praedicabilis fuit, verum etiam apud Ethnicos. Audi quid Aelianus de Xenocrate scribat, ut eius humanitatem et misericordiam laudibus in caelum efferat: Xenocrates, inquit, Platonis familiaris, adeo misericors et humanus erat, ut saepe brutorum miseratione commoveretur. Cum in huius aliquando subdio considentis sinum passer, quem accipiter infectabatur, devolasset, eum libentissime admisit, servavitque tantisper dum is qui infectabatur abisset; ubi vero ipsum timore omni liberasset, statim aperto sinu eum dimisit, dicens se supplicem non prodidisse.

Nor only among Christian men was this humanity and mercy toward animals commendable and praiseworthy, but also among the pagans. Hear what Aelian writes of Xenocrates, to extol his humanity and mercy to the skies with praises: “Xenocrates,” he says, “the intimate of Plato, was so merciful and humane that he was often moved by compassion for brute beasts. When once, as he sat in the open air, a sparrow which a hawk was pursuing flew down into his bosom, he most gladly received it, and kept it for as long as he who pursued it had gone away; but when he had freed it from all fear, he immediately, opening his bosom, let it go, saying that he had not betrayed a suppliant.”⁵

NEC est non dignum animadversione, Deum, etsi possit ipse per se omnia quae fieri velit perficere, quaecumque tamen per creaturas commode fieri possunt, ad ea perficienda earum ministerio uti solere. Poterat Deus sola voluntate sua, puncto temporis, omnem terrarum orbem aquis obruere: ad id tamen efficiendum rupit fontes abyssi, aperuit cataractas caeli, pluviamque per quadraginta dies e caelo effudit. Cumque libuit diluvium tollere, poterat solo nutu aquas omnes ad sua loca revocare, terramque subito penitus exsiccare: attamen et flatu venti, et occlusione fontium abyssi et cataractarum caeli, uti voluit. Nimirum Deum uti rerum a se creatarum opera ad id efficiendum quod illae possunt efficere, eximiam Dei bonitatem ac beneficentiam demonstrat, simul et rerum ipsarum dignitatem commendat et ornat.

Nor is it unworthy of notice, that God, although he himself can accomplish by himself all things which he wills to be done, is nevertheless wont, for accomplishing whatever can conveniently be done through creatures, to use their ministry. God could, by his will alone, in a point of time, have overwhelmed the whole world with waters: yet to accomplish this he broke the fountains of the deep, opened the cataracts of heaven, and poured out rain from heaven for forty days. And when it pleased him to remove the flood, he could, by his nod alone, have recalled all the waters to their places, and suddenly dried the earth thoroughly: yet he willed to use both the blast of the wind, and the closing of the fountains of the deep and the cataracts of heaven. For that God uses the work of the things created by him for accomplishing what they can accomplish, demonstrates the exceptional goodness and beneficence of God, and at the same time commends and adorns the dignity of the things themselves.⁶

Hoc sequi per imitationem reges ac principes oporteret, ut qui multos regendi et tractandi imperii sui adiutores et ministros habent, si eos nacti sunt fideles prudentesque ac diligentes, ipsos munia sibi iniuncta libere exequi sinant; et quibus partem aliquam potestatis suae tribuerunt, eis muneris sui integram et expeditam administrationem permittant. Hoc nempe maiorem Principum maiestatem et prudentiam declarat; gratiusque accidit eorum ministris, qui, ea libertate sibi concessa, alacriores et attentiores ad munus suum obeundum existunt: idemque ad rectam et stabilem quietamque et suavem gubernandi rationem apprime conducit.

Kings and princes ought to follow this by imitation: that they, who have many helpers and ministers for governing and managing their dominion, if they have obtained them faithful and prudent and diligent, should allow them freely to execute the duties enjoined on them; and to those to whom they have granted some part of their power, should permit the whole and unimpeded administration of their office. This indeed declares the greater majesty and prudence of Princes; and it is more pleasing to their ministers, who, by that liberty granted to them, become more eager and attentive to discharging their office: and the same conduces especially to a right and stable and peaceful and pleasant manner of governing.⁷

Non est hoc loco praetermittendum omnes creaturas promptissime Creatori suo deservire, sive ad ultionem improborum, sive ad bonorum conservationem, liberationem et consolationem. Ecce tibi: cum placuit Deo, propter peccata hominum, universum terrarum orbem diluvio perdere, continuo omnes aquae subterraneae ac terrestres caelestesque, quasi coniuratae ad internecionem hominum, ad inundandum et obruendum orbem, omnes suas vires contulerunt. Contra vero, ad misericordiam flexo iam Deo, et ad consolationem Noë reparationemque mundi converso, confestim vires suas a destruendo mundo cohibuerunt: praesto fuit ventus exsiccans et consumens aquas; abyssus aquas quas emiserat revocavit atque resorbuit et apud se continuit; Oceanus, qui terras amplissime altissimeque inundaverat, intra priores sedis suae terminos rediit: denique quae prius Deo ad efficiendum diluvium inservierant, eadem ad eius remotionem et abolitionem iubenti Deo deserviunt. Praeclare igitur scriptum illud est in libro Sapientiae: Creatura enim tibi factori deserviens, exardescit in tormentum adversus iniustos, et lenior fit ad benefaciendum pro his qui in te confidunt.

It must not be passed over in this place that all creatures most promptly serve their Creator, whether for the vengeance upon the wicked, or for the preservation, liberation, and consolation of the good. Behold: when it pleased God, on account of the sins of men, to destroy the whole world by a flood, immediately all the waters — subterranean and terrestrial and celestial — as if conspired for the slaughter of men, contributed all their forces for inundating and overwhelming the world. But on the contrary, when God was now turned to mercy, and converted to the consolation of Noah and the restoration of the world, immediately they restrained their forces from destroying the world: a wind was at hand, drying and consuming the waters; the abyss recalled and resorbed the waters which it had sent out, and held them within itself; the Ocean, which had inundated the lands most widely and deeply, returned within the former bounds of its seat: in short, the very things which before had served God for bringing about the flood, the same serve God, who commands, for its removal and abolition. Excellently, therefore, is that written in the book of Wisdom: “For the creature serving thee, its maker, is kindled to torment against the unjust, and becomes milder for doing good for those who trust in thee.”⁸

RUPERTUS locum hunc nostrum Mosis per allegoriam pulchre applicat ad Christum Salvatorem; sic enim scribit: Recordatus est Deus Pater Christi filii sui, postquam intraverunt aquae usque ad animam eius, postquam tribulationes mortis pertransierunt animam suam, cum teneretur in sepulchro conclusus, Et adduxit Spiritum super terram. Spiritum, inquam, id est, reducem vitam adduxit super terram ex animi [exanimi] corporis: suscitavit enim illum a mortuis. Sed et supra omnem terram, per unius resurrectionem, adduxit Deus Spiritum: dedit enim ex tunc hominibus Spiritum sanctum in remissionem peccatorum, qui ita nebulas cordium dissipat, tentationumque fluctus exsiccat, quemadmodum Spiritus ille quem Deus super terram adduxit, humidum frigidumque aërem calefaciendo, aquas imminuit, et usque ad siccum paulatim eliminavit. Sic Rupertus.

Rupert beautifully applies this passage of Moses, by allegory, to Christ the Savior; for he writes thus: “God the Father remembered Christ his Son, after the waters had entered even to his soul, after the tribulations of death had passed through his soul, when he was held shut up in the sepulchre, ‘And he brought a Spirit upon the earth.’ A Spirit, I say — that is, he brought returning life upon the earth out of [his] lifeless body: for he raised him from the dead. But also over all the earth, through the resurrection of one, God brought a Spirit: for from that time he gave men the Holy Spirit unto the remission of sins — who so dissipates the clouds of hearts and dries up the waves of temptations, just as that Spirit which God brought over the earth, by warming the moist and cold air, diminished the waters, and gradually drove them out, even to dryness.” So Rupert.⁹

Requievitque arca mense septimo, vigesimo septimo die mensis, super montes Armeniae. PRO vocabulo illo, Armenia, legitur Hebraice Ararath, quam vocem Septuaginta Interpretes non sunt interpretati, sed eam ipsam, ut legitur Hebraice, posuerunt in sua translatione. Vocem autem Ararath omnes interpretantur Armeniam: fuisse autem locum ubi resedit Arca in Armenia vel ei proximum, non leve argumentum est Armenos id vetusta traditione persuasum et certum habuisse. Quapropter locum illum egressionis Noë ex Arca illi Armenica voce appellarunt Aprobaterion, id est, Egressorium. Quis autem mons Armeniae fuerit is super quem resedit Arca, varie traditur.

“And the ark rested in the seventh month, the twenty-seventh day of the month, upon the mountains of Armenia.” In place of that word, “Armenia,” there is read in Hebrew “Ararat,” which word the Septuagint Interpreters did not translate, but set it down, as it is read in Hebrew, in their translation. And the word “Ararat” all interpret as “Armenia”: and that the place where the Ark settled was in Armenia, or near to it, is no slight argument [that] the Armenians held it persuaded and certain by ancient tradition. Wherefore that place of Noah's egress from the Ark they called by that Armenian word “Aprobaterion,” that is, “place of egress.” But which mountain of Armenia it was upon which the Ark settled is variously handed down.¹⁰

BEROSUS Chaldaeus apud Iosephum primo libro Antiquitatum appellat montem Cordyaeorum, in quo etiam suo tempore supererat pars illius Arcae, unde bitumen abradebatur in remedium morborum. Apud eundem Iosephum Nicolaus Damascenus eum montem nominat Barin. Cur autem eum montem B. Ambrosius appellaverit montem Quadrati, equidem nulla coniectura vel suspicione possum attingere. Sunt qui putent Mosen per Ararath intellexisse Araxen [amnem], et aquis et scriptorum praedicatione nobilem, qui magna undarum mole ex monte Tauro effusus, et per Armeniae campos spatiatus, in mare Hyrcanum aquas exonerat. Est igitur haec sententia verborum Mosis: Arcam resedisse in Tauri montis vertice, ubi Araxi fluvio affinis est.

Berosus the Chaldean, in Josephus, first book of the Antiquities, calls it the mountain of the Cordyaeans, on which, even in his time, there remained a part of that Ark, whence bitumen was scraped off as a remedy for diseases. In the same Josephus, Nicolaus of Damascus names that mountain “Baris.” But why St. Ambrose called that mountain the “mountain of the Square (Quadratus),” I can in no way reach by conjecture or suspicion. There are those who think that Moses by “Ararat” understood the Araxes [river], noble both for its waters and for the celebration of writers — which, poured out with a great mass of waves from Mount Taurus, and spreading through the plains of Armenia, discharges its waters into the Hyrcanian sea. This, then, is the meaning of the words of Moses: that the Ark settled on the peak of Mount Taurus, where it is adjacent to the river Araxes.¹¹

DIRIMIT quoque Taurus mons Armeniam minorem a Cilicia: ut credibile sit Arcam in ea Tauri parte quievisse qua Ciliciae incubat. Idque verisimile facit Tarsus, ante omnes Ciliciae urbes nobilis, olim appellata Tersus a verbo τερσαίνω, quod significat arefacio. Fertur enim post diluvium (ut scribit Stephanus de Urbibus) loca Ciliciae primo apparuisse aquis exsiccata; et idcirco Tarsum urbem vocatam a tali exsiccatione, quasi in argumentum exsiccatae primum ibi terrae Tarsus postea sit condita. Neque vero existimare necesse est, quia resedit Arca super illum montem Armeniae, eum fuisse omnium orbis montium altissimum (fieri enim potuit ut multi aliis locis essent altiores), sed satis est in iis locis per quae loca tum ferebatur Arca, eum montem fuisse altis[simum]…

Mount Taurus also separates Lesser Armenia from Cilicia: so that it is credible that the Ark rested on that part of Taurus which lies over Cilicia. And this is made probable by Tarsus, noble before all the cities of Cilicia, formerly called “Tersus,” from the verb τερσαίνω, which means “I dry.” For it is reported, after the flood (as Stephanus On Cities writes), that the places of Cilicia first appeared dried of waters; and therefore the city was called “Tarsus” from such drying — as if, in token of the land first dried there, Tarsus was afterward founded. Nor is it necessary to think that, because the Ark settled upon that mountain of Armenia, it was the highest of all the mountains of the world (for it could be that many in other places were higher), but it is enough that, in those places through which the Ark was then borne, that mountain was the high[est]…¹²

…altiores: sed satis est in iis locis per quae loca tum ferebatur Arca, eum montem fuisse altissimum. EX hoc item loco licet intelligere basim sive fundum illius Arcae non fuisse angustum, et ad modum carinae navis acuminatum: si enim talis fuisset, non potuisset Arca super montem residere; sed necesse est fuisse latum et planum. Ex quo manifestum fit Arcam non supernatasse aquis, sed magnam partem inferiorem demersam aquis habuisse. Significat enim Moses hoc loco, multis diebus priusquam montium cacumina extra aquas extarent et apparerent, Arcam requievisse super montes Armeniae.

…[that many in other places were] higher: but it is enough that, in those places through which the Ark was then borne, that mountain was the highest. From this passage too one may understand that the base or bottom of that Ark was not narrow, and pointed in the manner of a ship's keel: for if it had been such, the Ark could not have settled upon a mountain; but it must have been broad and flat. From which it is manifest that the Ark did not float upon the waters [keel-deep], but had a great lower part submerged in the waters. For Moses signifies in this place that, many days before the tops of the mountains stood out and appeared above the waters, the Ark rested upon the mountains of Armenia.¹³

Translator’s notes

§24. The Moral Digression begins: God tempers the just life between hope and fear (1 Sam. 2; Tobit 3). Margins: “First lesson”; 1 Sam. 2; Tobit 3. Continues on p. 344. ↩
Completes §24 (the Tobit quotation). ↩
§25. Second lesson: the wicked's destruction profited the saved (no corrupters left; a bridle and spur to virtue). Margins: “The destruction of evil men twofold-useful to the good.” ↩
§26. Why God ‘remembered’ the animals: a token of his goodness, and a model of mercy (Prov. 12; St. Francis). Margins: “Second lesson”; “The passage of Proverbs, ch. 12.” ↩
§27. Even a pagan (Xenocrates) showed mercy to animals — Aelian's sparrow story. Margins: Aelian, Varia Historia, bk. 13; “The humanity of Xenocrates toward animals.” ↩
§28. Third lesson: God works through creatures, honoring their dignity. Margin: “Third lesson.” ↩
§29. The political application: princes should let trusted ministers govern freely. ↩
§30. Fourth lesson: all creatures obey God — for vengeance or for mercy (Wisd. 16). Margins: “Fourth lesson”; Wisd. 16. ↩
§31. The allegory (Rupert): ‘God remembered Noah’ and ‘brought a Spirit’ = the Father raising Christ and giving the Holy Spirit. Margins: Rupert, on Genesis bk. 4, ch. 22; “Allegory of Christ the Lord.” ↩
§32. Gen. 8:4: ‘Ararat’ = Armenia (the Armenians' tradition; ‘Aprobaterion’). Margin: Gen. 8, v. 4. ↩
§33. Which mountain: Berosus (Cordyaeans), Nicolaus (Baris), Ambrose (‘Square’); or Ararat = the river Araxes (Mt. Taurus). Margins: Berosus the Chaldean, in Josephus; Nicolaus of Damascus, in the same; Ambrose, On Noah's Ark. ↩
§34. Mt. Taurus near Cilicia (and the etymology of Tarsus as ‘drying’). Margin: Stephanus [of Byzantium]. Continues on p. 347. ↩
§35. The Ark's flat bottom (it could rest on a mountain, so it was not keeled and rode partly submerged). ↩