LatineEnglish
“Therefore in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters were diminished upon the earth: And Noah, opening the covering of the Ark, looked out, and saw that the surface of the earth was dried.”1
Igitur sexcentesimo primo anno, primo mense, prima die mensis imminutae sunt aquae super terram: Et aperiens Noë tectum Arcae aspexit, viditque quod siccata esset superficies terrae.
HINC apparet fenestram per quam Noë corvum et columbam emisit talem fuisse (aut propter situm aut propter parvitatem) ut per eam Noë non potuerit cernere num terra siccata esset: alioqui non fuisset opus ad id cernendum aperiri tectum. Neque vero intelligendum est totum Arcae tectum, quod trecentis cubitis longum erat, fuisse apertum, sive (ut significat proprie verbum Hebraeum) fuisse remotum vel ablatum: namque id nimis operosum et laboriosum fuisset, minimeque necessarium. Ergo tecti vocabulo intelligere convenit partem aliquam tecti, id est, tabulam quampiam; denique tantum quantum esset satis ad id cernendum explorandumque quod intendebat Noë.
Hence it appears that the window through which Noah sent out the raven and the dove was such — either by its situation or by its smallness — that through it Noah could not discern whether the earth was dried: otherwise it would not have been necessary, in order to discern this, to open the covering. Nor indeed is it to be understood that the whole covering of the Ark, which was three hundred cubits long, was opened — or (as the Hebrew word properly signifies) was removed or taken away: for that would have been too laborious and toilsome, and least of all necessary. Therefore by the word “covering” it is fitting to understand some part of the covering — that is, some board; in short, as much as was sufficient for discerning and exploring what Noah intended.2
VERUM habet difficultatem quod hoc loco dixit Moses primo die primi mensis anni sexcentesimi primi exsiccatam fuisse terram: etenim proxime post, idem Moses subiunxit arefactam fuisse terram die vigesima septima mensis secundi. Hanc difficultatem Caietanus parvo negotio expedit, ratus idem utrobique tempus significari: quod quidem varie relatum variam haberet computationem. Etenim dies arefactionis seu exsiccationis terrae fuit primus primi mensis respectu anni sexcentesimi primi vitae Noë: idem fuit dies vigesimus septimus mensis secundi respectu anni usitati et (ut vocant) currentis. Itaque Moses secundum Caietanum tripliciter tempus diluvii computavit: primo respective ad initium diluvii (sic nominavit supra septimum decimum diem mensis); deinde respective ad annos Noë (sic dixit, Primo die primi mensis anni sexcentesimi primi exsiccatam esse superficiem terrae); denique respective ad annum tunc currentem (sic dixit, die vigesima septima mensis secundi arefactam esse terram). Sic Caietanus.
But there is a difficulty in that Moses said in this place that on the first day of the first month of the six hundred and first year the earth was dried up: for immediately afterward the same Moses added that the earth was made dry on the twenty-seventh day of the second month. This difficulty Cajetan dispatches with little trouble, judging that the same time is signified in both places — which, being variously related, would have a various computation. For the day of the drying or drying-up of the earth was the first of the first month with respect to the six hundred and first year of Noah's life: the same was the twenty-seventh day of the second month with respect to the customary and (as they call it) current year. And so Moses, according to Cajetan, computed the time of the flood in three ways: first relatively to the beginning of the flood (thus above he named the seventeenth day of the month); then relatively to the years of Noah (thus he said, On the first day of the first month of the six hundred and first year the surface of the earth was dried); finally relatively to the year then current (thus he said, on the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was made dry). So Cajetan.3
AT enim vero mihi non sit verisimile Mosen in tam brevi narratione tanta uti voluisse computationis varietate et ambiguitate, quae scilicet narrationem ipsam vehementer obscuraret et lectoris intelligentiam confunderet multisque occasionem daret erroris. Quocirca mihi magis probatur quod sentit Tostatus: primo die primi mensis exsiccatam fuisse terram exterius tantum et superficie tenus, hoc est, nudatam esse aquis; eam tamen adhuc fuisse interius plenam humoris, totamque mollem et limosam atque lutulentam: paulatim vero per illos quinquaginta sex dies qui consecuti sunt ea siccabatur, donec perfecte siccata et solidata est, ita ut homines et animalia per eam commode ingredi possent. Et hoc est quod totos illos quinquaginta sex dies expectavit Noë priusquam egrederetur Arcam.
But in truth it does not seem probable to me that Moses, in so brief a narrative, would have wished to use such a variety and ambiguity of computation, which would greatly obscure the narrative itself, and confound the reader's understanding, and give occasion of error to many. Wherefore I more approve what Tostatus thinks: that on the first day of the first month the earth was dried on the outside only and at the surface — that is, was stripped of the waters; but that it was still within full of moisture, and wholly soft and slimy and muddy: but gradually, through those fifty-six days which followed, it was dried, until it was perfectly dried and made solid, so that men and animals could conveniently go over it. And this is why Noah waited all those fifty-six days before he went out of the Ark.4
Translator’s notes
- Gen. 8:13. Margin: Gen. 8, v. 13. ↩
- §85. ‘Opening the covering’ means opening only a board, not the whole 300-cubit roof — confirming the window was too small/high to see through. ↩
- §86. The apparent contradiction of two drying-dates; Cajetan harmonizes by a threefold reckoning. Margin: Cajetan. ↩
- §87. Pererius prefers Tostatus: the surface was bare on day 1, but the ground stayed muddy and took 56 more days to dry fully — hence Noah's wait. Margin: Tostatus. ↩