FOURTEENTH DISPUTATION. On the Promise of God Given to Noah. Upon those words: “Neither will I any more curse the earth for the sake of men: for the sense and thought of the human heart are prone to evil from its youth,” etc — Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume II

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FOURTEENTH DISPUTATION. On the Promise of God Given to Noah. Upon those words: “Neither will I any more curse the earth for the sake of men: for the sense and thought of the human heart are prone to evil from its youth,” etc.¹

DECIMA QUARTA DISPUTATIO. De Promissione Dei Data Noë. Super illa verba: Neque ultra maledicam terrae propter homines: sensus enim et cogitatio humani cordis in malum prona sunt ab adolescentia sua, etc.

VEHEMENTER placatus Deus ac mirifice delectatus sacrificio Noë, pollicitus est ei atque omni eius posteritati nunquam fore deinceps propter hominum peccata generale totius orbis terrarum excidium; eaque re securum fecit Noë. Quid enim profuisset quod ei Deus dixerat, Crescite et multiplicamini, si iterum omne genus hominum et animalium diluvio periturum esset? Ut igitur eo pavore et angore animi liberaret Noë, hoc ei promissum dedit: Nequaquam, inquit, ultra maledicam terrae propter homines. Nam etsi vindicaverat in hominum genus, inquit Ambrosius, tamen cognoverat quia vindicta legis ad timorem proficit et cognitionem doctrinae, magis quam ad naturae commutationem, quae corrigi in aliquibus potest, in omnibus mutari non potest. Vindicavit ergo Dominus, quo timeremus: pepercit, ut reservaremur. Et vindicavit semel ad exemplum timoris: pepercit in reliquum, ne dominaretur semper amaritudo peccati. Simulque si quis peccata cupiat saepius vindicare, asper magis quam censorius habetur. Quocirca pietatem suam circa universitatem hominum voluit declarare: et tamen quia securitatem et negligentiam mentibus humanis afferre non debuit, in paucos vindicat, plures reservat. Haec Ambrosius.

God, vehemently appeased and wonderfully delighted by Noah's sacrifice, promised to him and to all his posterity that there would never thereafter be a general destruction of the whole world on account of men's sins; and by this thing He made Noah secure. For what would it have profited that God had said to him, “Increase and multiply,” if again the whole race of men and animals were to perish by a flood? In order, therefore, to free Noah from that fear and anguish of mind, He gave him this promise: “I will,” He says, “no more curse the earth for the sake of men.” “For although He had taken vengeance on the human race,” says Ambrose, “yet He had known that the vengeance of the law profits toward fear and the knowledge of doctrine, more than toward a change of nature, which in some can be corrected, but in all cannot be changed. The Lord, therefore, took vengeance, that we might fear; He spared, that we might be reserved. And He took vengeance once, for an example of fear; He spared for the rest, lest the bitterness of sin should always rule. And at the same time, if one desires to avenge sins too often, he is held to be harsh rather than censorious. Wherefore He willed to declare His mercy toward the whole of mankind: and yet, because He ought not to bring security and negligence to human minds, He takes vengeance on a few, [and] reserves the many.” Thus Ambrose.²

PRO illo: Et ait ad eum, Hebraice est, Dixit ad cor suum, vel in corde suo; Chaldaice est, Dixit per verbum suum; Graece est, Dixit Deus recogitans. Hisce autem modis loquendi insinuatur deliberata voluntas ratumque Dei decretum. Pro illo: propter homines, Chaldaice est, propter peccata hominum; Graece, propter opera hominum. Quod nos legimus: Nequaquam ultra maledicam terrae, Hebraice et Graece est: Non addam adhuc maledicere terrae.

In place of “And he said to him,” the Hebrew is “He said to his heart,” or “in his heart”; the Chaldaic is “He said by his word”; the Greek is “God said, considering [again].” And by these manners of speaking is intimated a deliberate will and a fixed decree of God. In place of “for the sake of men,” the Chaldaic is “on account of the sins of men”; the Greek, “on account of the works of men.” What we read, “I will no more curse the earth,” is in Hebrew and Greek, “I will not add to curse the earth any more.”³

SED quid est, maledicere terrae? Benedictio Dei significat abundantiam bonorum: contra vero maledictio, copiam malorum quae iuste infliguntur a Deo. Deus autem tempore diluvii multis et magnis malis terram deformaverat et vastaverat: primo quantum ad situm eius, antea enim supereminebat aquis, tempore autem diluvii tota erat aquis obruta; tum quantum ad varietatem partium eius, nulla enim apparebat distinctio montium, vallium, camporum, fluminum, lacuum, fontium; deinde quantum ad fertilitatem, siquidem diluvio sterilior ac deterior facta est terra; praeterea quantum ad decorem et ornatum qui ei accidit ex plantis et aedificiis; postremo quantum ad plenitudinem, vacuata enim fuerat terra hominibus et animalibus. Vere igitur dictum est Deum per diluvium maledixisse terrae.

But what is it “to curse the earth”? The blessing of God signifies an abundance of goods; but on the contrary, a curse, an abundance of evils which are justly inflicted by God. Now God, at the time of the flood, had disfigured and laid waste the earth with many and great evils: first as to its situation, for before it stood above the waters, but at the time of the flood it was wholly overwhelmed by the waters; then as to the variety of its parts, for no distinction appeared of mountains, valleys, plains, rivers, lakes, springs; next as to fertility, since by the flood the earth was made more barren and worse; besides as to the beauty and adornment which came to it from plants and buildings; lastly as to fullness, for the earth had been emptied of men and animals. Truly, therefore, it is said that God by the flood cursed the earth.⁴

SED quomodo verum est Deum nunquam amplius similiter maledicturum terrae? An non item maledicet ei ante diem iudicii, cum omnia sic incendio tunc consumenda sint ut fuerat ante consumpta diluvio? Verum Dominus in his etiam verbis suis differentiam insinuavit. Nam in diluvio destruxit omnia propter homines: in consummatione autem saeculi dissolventur item omnia, sed non propter peccata hominum, sed propter renovationem et commutationem mundi in meliorem statum. Signate igitur dictum est: Non maledicam terrae propter homines, neque ultra percutiam omnem animam viventem sicut feci.

But how is it true that God will never again similarly curse the earth? Will He not likewise curse it before the day of judgment, when all things are then to be consumed by fire, as before they had been consumed by the flood? But the Lord in these very words of His intimated a difference. For in the flood He destroyed all things on account of men; but in the consummation of the world all things will likewise be dissolved, yet not on account of the sins of men, but on account of the renovation and change of the world into a better state. Significantly, therefore, it was said: “I will not curse the earth for the sake of men, nor will I any more strike every living soul as I have done.”⁵

SEQUITUR: Sensus enim et cogitatio humani cordis in malum prona sunt ab adolescentia sua. Illa particula 'enim' causalis est: redditur igitur causa his verbis cur Deus nolit deinceps universae terrae maledicere. Sed quae est ista causa? Rupertus existimat his verbis significari Deum in posterum parciturum terrae et animantibus, quia peccatum et culpa in eas res minime cadit; sed omne peccatum, ob idque meritum vindictae, in solos homines competit, quippe qui non tantum frequenter et graviter peccant, verum etiam propensissimi sunt ab adolescentia sua ad peccandum. Itaque hac promissione Deus immunem quidem fecit terram a generali excidio; non fecit tamen securos homines nec liberos a generali vindicta.

There follows: “For the sense and thought of the human heart are prone to evil from its youth.” That particle “for” is causal: there is therefore rendered by these words the cause why God is unwilling henceforth to curse the whole earth. But what is that cause? Rupert thinks that by these words is signified that God will in future spare the earth and the living creatures, because sin and fault by no means fall upon those things; but all sin — and therefore the desert of vengeance — pertains to men alone, since they not only sin frequently and grievously, but are even most inclined from their youth to sinning. And so by this promise God indeed made the earth immune from general destruction; yet He did not make men secure nor free from general vengeance.⁶

VERUM mihi non placet haec interpretatio Ruperti. Haec enim Dei promissio praecipue ad homines pertinet: quantum enim bonum est servari terram cum animantibus, si universum genus hominum pereat? Nimis igitur ieiuna fuisset Dei promissio, et ipsi Noë parum laeta et iucunda. Praestat igitur causam quae his verbis redditur aliis duobus modis interpretari. Significatur enim, Si quoties maxima pars hominum vitiis et sceleribus addicta est, toties ea diluvii supplicio vindicanda et punienda esset, fore profecto ut saepissime atque omnibus fere saeculis diluvium mitti oporteret: siquidem propter na[turalem]…

But this interpretation of Rupert does not please me. For this promise of God pertains chiefly to men: for how great a good is it to preserve the earth with the living creatures, if the whole race of men perish? Too meager, therefore, would have been God's promise, and to Noah himself too little glad and pleasant. It is better, therefore, to interpret the cause which is rendered by these words in two other ways. For it is signified: If, as often as the greatest part of men is given over to vices and crimes, so often it had to be avenged and punished by the penalty of a flood, it would certainly come about that very often, and in almost every age, a flood would have to be sent — since on account of the na[tural]…⁷

…naturalem ac vehementem humani animi ad vitia proclivitatem, humanum genus maxima parte ac frequentissime vitia consectatur. Nisi forte putamus Davidis tempore pauciora minorave fuisse hominum flagitia quo tempore dixit ille: Corrupti sunt et abominabiles facti sunt in studiis suis: non est qui faciat bonum, non est usque ad unum. Dominus de caelo prospexit super filios hominum, ut videat si est intelligens aut requirens Deum. Omnes declinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sunt, etc.

…natural and vehement proclivity of the human mind to vices, the human race for the greatest part and most frequently pursues vices. Unless perhaps we think that in David's time the crimes of men were fewer or less, at which time he said: “They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their pursuits: there is none that doeth good, no not one. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that understand, or seek God. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together,” etc.⁸

POTEST etiam aliter causa illa explicari, ut significetur hominem propter naturalem pronitatem ad peccandum dignum esse quodammodo miseratione, nec semper quantum supplicii meretur tanto esse in hac vita plectendum. Instigatur enim ad peccandum homo nonnunquam ignorantia, interdum vehementi passione aliqua et perturbatione, saepissime suasu ac impulsu daemonis, semper autem naturali ad malum propensione. Nam ex mera malitia peccare rarum est, nec nisi paucorum, qui crebritate gravitateque scelerum et assiduitate peccandi humanum ingenium quasi exuentes, diabolicae malitiae aemuli sunt. Peccare enim ex mera libertate, nulla re interius inclinante ad peccandum nulloque extrinsecus malum suggerente, diabolicum potius quam humanum est. Quo fit ut peccatum diaboli inemendabile atque irremissibile fuerit, non autem hominis. Cum ergo dicitur: Nequaquam ultra maledicam terrae propter hominem, et subiungitur: Sensus enim et cogitatio humani cordis in malum prona sunt ab adolescentia sua, ratio redditur mitigandae poenae sumpta ex pronitate hominis ad malum: quasi clementiam mereatur id mali ad quod nobis vehemens propensio atque incitatio naturaliter indita atque innata est.

That cause can also be explained otherwise, so that it may be signified that man, on account of his natural proneness to sinning, is in some way worthy of compassion, and ought not always to be punished in this life as much as he deserves of punishment. For man is incited to sinning sometimes by ignorance, sometimes by some vehement passion and perturbation, very often by the persuasion and impulse of the demon, but always by a natural propensity to evil. For to sin from mere malice is rare, and [belongs] only to a few, who — by the frequency and gravity of their crimes and the assiduity of sinning, as it were putting off human nature — are imitators of diabolical malice. For to sin from mere liberty, with nothing inwardly inclining to sin and nothing externally suggesting evil, is diabolical rather than human. Whence it comes about that the sin of the devil was incorrigible and irremissible, but not that of man. When, therefore, it is said, “I will no more curse the earth for the sake of man,” and it is added, “For the sense and thought of the human heart are prone to evil from its youth,” a reason is rendered for the mitigation of the penalty, taken from man's proneness to evil: as if that evil should merit clemency, to which a vehement propensity and incitement is naturally implanted and innate in us.⁹

CAUSAM vero cur statim ab ineunte aetate homines ferantur ad flagitia, illam esse constat: quod homo constitutus est duabus ex partibus non tantum diversis, verum etiam adversis et inter se pugnantibus, appetitu videlicet sensitivo et voluntate rationali. Ille ad bonum secundum sensum utile et delectabile; haec autem per se tendit ad bonum secundum rectam rationem honestum, utile et delectabile. Paucissimi vero sunt qui totis viribus contendant ad bonum rationabile: sed prona est multitudo ad bonum sensibile. Cum enim appetitus sensitivus statim hominem occupet et possideat, nullo per multos aetatis annos aut certe tenuissimo atque infirmissimo rationis usu, hinc fit ut cum postea appetitus sensitivus in certamen cum ratione descendit, fere praevaleat atque vincat, et ad se se maiores partes animae saepe detorqueat.

But the cause why men are carried to crimes immediately from the beginning of their age is, it is agreed, this: that man is constituted of two parts, not only diverse but even adverse and fighting with each other — namely, the sensitive appetite and the rational will. The former [tends] to the good that is useful and delightful according to sense; but the latter of itself tends to the good that is honorable, useful, and delightful according to right reason. But very few are those who strive with all their strength toward the rational good; but the multitude is prone to the sensible good. For since the sensitive appetite immediately occupies and possesses man — with no use of reason for many years of age, or at least a very slight and very weak [use] — hence it comes about that when afterward the sensitive appetite descends into contest with reason, it generally prevails and conquers, and often draws the greater parts of the soul to itself.¹⁰

SED quid est illud: Sensus et cogitatio? Vocabulo sensus significatur appetitus sensitivus: vox autem cogitationis significat ipsa rationis consilia, machinationes et artes quas ad malum ipsum confert. Nam cum ratio appetitum reprimere ac regere deberet, eius delinita et capta blanditiis atque illecebris obedit cui deberet imperare, et sensuum ministerio utitur ad potiundas voluptates a quibus eos ipsa cohibere deberet. Est igitur tanquam naturale homini peccare, id est, prove[niens]…

But what is that: “sense and thought”? By the word “sense” is signified the sensitive appetite; but the word “thought” signifies the very counsels of reason — the contrivances and arts which it brings to evil itself. For whereas reason ought to repress and govern the appetite, charmed and captured by its blandishments and enticements, it obeys him whom it ought to command, and uses the ministry of the senses to obtain the pleasures from which it ought itself to restrain them. It is, therefore, as it were natural for man to sin — that is, pro[ceeding]…¹¹

…proveniens ex propensione naturae hominis, non ut a Deo ea condita fuerat, scilicet integra et recta, sed ut peccato Adami vitiata et depravata in omnes eius posteros transfusa et propagata fuit.

…proceeding from the propensity of the nature of man — not as it had been created by God, namely whole and right, but as, vitiated and depraved by the sin of Adam, it was transfused and propagated into all his posterity.¹²

PRO hoc: Sensus et cogitatio hominis, Hebraice est: figmentum humani cordis malum est: sed eadem reddit sententiam: nam quod fingitur et formatur in corde humano est ipsa cogitatio et appetitio. Quidam tamen Hebraeorum interpretantur ipsum fomitem et concupiscentiam. Graeca lectio sic expressit hanc sententiam: Quia permanet mens hominis diligenter super mala a iuventute sua: quibus verbis significatur studiosa et accurata et constans vitiorum consectatio.

In place of this, “the sense and thought of man,” the Hebrew is: “the figment [imagination] of the human heart is evil”: but it renders the same meaning, for what is fashioned and formed in the human heart is the very thought and desire. Some of the Hebrews, however, interpret it as the “fomes” [tinder of sin] and concupiscence itself. The Greek reading expressed this sentence thus: “Because the mind of man remains diligently upon evils from his youth”: by which words is signified an eager and careful and constant pursuit of vices.¹³

ILLUD: ab adolescentia sua, putat Rupertus significare primam hominis aetatem quae ratione et libero arbitrio uti incipit: nam quae hanc antecedit aetas, ut nullius affectrix et capax peccati, tam naturali quam scripta lege libera est: consequens autem aetas iam boni malique legitimum habet iudicium. Unde quidam sapientum saeculi vitam hominis Y Graecae litterae similem dixerunt, quae ab uno ductu incipiens finditur in binium. Si enim homo in infantia vel pueritia simplicem graditur viam, boni ac mali non perpendens distantiam: ubi autem adolescentiae metas attigerit, utriusque discretionem duce ratione percipit. Unde si dextram elegerit, praemium consequitur virtutis; si autem sinistram, poenas malorum incurrit. Quocirca poetarum maximus dixit: Hac iter Elysium nobis: at laeva malorum / Exercet poenas, et ad impia Tartara mittit.

The phrase “from its youth,” Rupert thinks, signifies the first age of man which begins to use reason and free will: for the age which precedes this, as desiring and capable of no sin, is free both from the natural and from the written law; but the subsequent age now has a lawful judgment of good and evil. Whence certain of the wise men of the world said that the life of man is similar to the Greek letter Y, which, beginning from one stroke, is split into two. For if a man in infancy or boyhood walks a simple road, not weighing the difference of good and evil: but when he has reached the bounds of adolescence, he perceives the discernment of both with reason as guide. Whence, if he chooses the right [branch], he obtains the reward of virtue; but if the left, he incurs the penalties of evils. Wherefore the greatest of poets said: “This way is our road to Elysium; but the left plies the punishments of the wicked, and sends [them] to impious Tartarus.”¹⁴

VERUM Tostatus vocabulum adolescentiae proprie sumit, ut est tertia quaedam aetas hominis consequens infantiam et pueritiam. In adolescentia enim naturalis ad malum pronitas vehementer et notabiliter erumpit in flagitia; quae quidem flagitia in infantia, ut rationis experte, nulla sunt. (Loquimur enim hic de peccatis actualibus: nam peccatum originale ex ipso matris utero et in ipsa generatione hominis ei adhaerescit.) In pueritia vero, tum propter inexperientiam, tum propter aetatis infirmitatem, et pauca et levia sunt peccata, nisi in nonnullis in quibus malitia supplet aetatem.

But Tostatus takes the word “adolescence” properly, as it is a certain third age of man following infancy and boyhood. For in adolescence the natural proneness to evil vehemently and notably breaks out into crimes; which crimes in infancy, as devoid of reason, are none. (For we speak here of actual sins: for original sin clings to him from his mother's womb itself and in the very generation of man.) But in boyhood — both on account of inexperience and on account of the weakness of age — the sins are both few and light, except in some in whom malice supplies the [lack of] age.¹⁵

BEATUS Ambrosius sequens lectionem Graecam legit, a iuventute, et sic exponit: et a iuventute addidit; ex illa enim aetate crescit malitia, licet alibi legerimus quod non sit sine peccato nec unius diei infans: sed et infantia sine peccato non est propter corporis infirmitatem, diligentia autem et studium peccandi incipit a iuventute: ut puer quasi infirmus peccet, iuvenis tanquam improbus, qui studiose cupiat peccata committere et in criminibus glorietur. Apud plerosque enim innocentia pro ignavia, et culpa pro laude habetur. Ita se luxuria et deliciis et adulteriorum affectibus iuvenes iactare consueverunt. Crescit ergo cum aetatibus culpa. Sic Ambrosius.

St. Ambrose, following the Greek reading, reads “from youth,” and expounds thus: “And ‘from youth’ he added; for from that age malice grows, although we may read elsewhere that not even an infant of one day is without sin: but infancy too is not without sin, on account of the weakness of the body; yet the diligence and zeal of sinning begins from youth — so that the boy sins as it were weakly, the young man as it were wickedly, who eagerly desires to commit sins and glories in crimes. For with most people innocence is held for cowardice, and fault for praise. Thus the young are wont to boast of luxury and delights and the passions of adulteries. Therefore fault grows with the ages.” So Ambrose.¹⁶

ILLIS porro extremis verbis capitis octavi: Cunctis diebus terrae, sementis et messis, frigus et aestus, aestas et hyems, nox et dies non requiescent, expressa est promissio Dei ac decretum immutabile pollicen[tis]…

By those last words of the eighth chapter: “All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day shall not cease,” is expressed God's promise and immutable decree, promis[ing]…¹⁷

…et constituentis perpetuas fore deinde vicissitudines temporum, tam anniversarias, ut hyemis et aestatis, quam quotidianas, ut diei et noctis: necnon et vicissitudines primarum qualitatum, ut frigoris et caloris: itemque humanarum actionum quae ad sustentandam vitam pertinent, velut sementis et messis. Harum enim rerum omnium tempestiva alternatio et vicissitudo facit ad decorem et ornatum universi: confert et pulchritudinem et fecunditatem terrae: denique ad hominum et animalium incolumitatem et salutem apprime utilis est atque adeo necessaria.

…and establishing that there would thereafter be perpetual vicissitudes of times — both yearly, as of winter and summer, and daily, as of day and night; and also vicissitudes of the primary qualities, as of cold and heat; and likewise of human actions which pertain to sustaining life, such as seedtime and harvest. For the timely alternation and vicissitude of all these things makes for the comeliness and adornment of the universe; it confers both beauty and fecundity on the earth; finally it is exceedingly useful and even necessary for the safety and welfare of men and animals.¹⁸

AUDI B. Ambrosium qui haec ipsa verba explanans: Secundum litteram, inquit, significatur his verbis permansura, manentibus secundum institutionem Domini et statum suum, incorrupta temporibus animalia. Nam cum corrumpuntur tempora, corrumpuntur etiam illa quae suis quaeque temporibus generantur. Ergo tempora sunt quae aut corrumpunt aut conservant, prout ipsa sui habuerint qualitatem. Ideoque annus ex contrariis ducitur, Vere, Autumno, Aestate, Hyeme: sicut harmonia cantilenae permixtis gravibus et acutis videtur consistere. Sic ergo et mundus iste ex contrariis continetur, Aëre et Terra, Igne et Aqua. Nostra quoque corpora frigore et calore, humore et siccitate quendam naturae ordinem servant. Nam si naturalis ordo ac mensura confunditur, tunc necesse est sequatur interitus. Ergo certum ordinem temporum Dominus, remota confusione diluvii, ad perseverantiam mundi promittit futurum. Sic Ambrosius.

Hear St. Ambrose, who, explaining these very words: “According to the letter,” he says, “is signified by these words that the animals will endure — uncorrupted by the times, remaining according to the institution of the Lord and their own state. For when the times are corrupted, those things also are corrupted which are each generated in their own times. Therefore the times are what either corrupt or preserve, according as they themselves have their quality. And therefore the year is composed of contraries — Spring, Autumn, Summer, Winter — just as the harmony of a song seems to consist of grave and acute [notes] mingled. So therefore this world too is held together from contraries — Air and Earth, Fire and Water. Our bodies too keep a certain order of nature by cold and heat, moisture and dryness. For if the natural order and measure is confounded, then destruction must necessarily follow. Therefore the Lord, the confusion of the flood being removed, promises that a fixed order of times will be, for the perseverance of the world.” So Ambrose.¹⁹

MAGNUM ergo fuit Dei promissum, cum dixit Cunctis diebus terrae vicissitudinem temporum et opportunitatem ferendi et metendi aliaque agendi perpetuo mansuram: quasi diceret: Talis annus qualis hic fuit diluvii non erit ultra, qui careat vicissitudine temporum, qui totus procellosis expendatur pluviis, nulloque modificetur beneficio caloris aut temperamento hyemis, quo nusquam iaciatur sementis nec ulla colligatur messis: sed erunt tempestivae et commodae naturae vices, nunc aestu, nunc frigore vicissim terras aut sata coquente. Nunquam ita ut factum est diluvio deformabitur naturae vultus, aut situs mundi confundetur.

Great, therefore, was God's promise, when He said that all the days of the earth the vicissitude of times and the opportunity of sowing and reaping and doing other things would perpetually remain: as if He said — Such a year as this of the flood was will be no more, one that lacks the vicissitude of times, that is wholly spent in stormy rains, and is modified by no benefit of heat or tempering of winter, in which nowhere seed is sown nor any harvest gathered; but there will be timely and convenient changes of nature, now with heat, now with cold by turns ripening the lands or the crops. Never, as was done by the flood, will the face of nature be disfigured, or the situation of the world confounded.²⁰

ILLUD: Cunctis diebus terrae, non significat 'Quamdiu terra durabit': siquidem tales vicissitudines temporum non erunt post diem iudicii: erit tamen terra, sicut scriptum est initio libri Ecclesiastae: Terra in aeternum stat. Neque enim mundus destruendus est secundum substantiam, sed manentibus partibus eius principalibus, uti sunt elementa et orbes caelestes, in meliorem statum commutandus. Ergo illud: Cunctis diebus terrae, significat 'Donec in terra erit generatio et corruptio'; vel, 'Donec erunt in terris homines et animalia, ad quorum utilitatem illa temporum varietas instituta est.' Non igitur hinc colligi potest praesentem mundi statum fore sempiternum.

The phrase “all the days of the earth” does not signify “as long as the earth will last”: since such vicissitudes of times will not be after the day of judgment; yet the earth will be, as is written at the beginning of the book of Ecclesiastes: “The earth standeth for ever.” For the world is not to be destroyed according to substance, but, its principal parts remaining (such as the elements and the heavenly spheres), to be changed into a better state. Therefore the phrase “all the days of the earth” signifies “as long as on the earth there will be generation and corruption”; or, “as long as there will be on the earth men and animals, for whose use that variety of times was instituted.” It cannot, therefore, be gathered hence that the present state of the world will be everlasting.²¹

MEMORANTUR autem tantum aestas et hyems: quia hae sunt praecipuae partes anni, extremae atque inter se oppositae: nam Ver et Autumnus tanquam earum sunt appendices. Nominantur etiam tantum…

But only summer and winter are mentioned: because these are the chief parts of the year, the extremes and opposed to each other; for Spring and Autumn are as it were their appendages. Only … too are named…²²

…tantum frigus et aestus, tacitis humore et siccitate: quod illae sint primarum qualitatum primariae, sensu effectuque notabiliores, et ad generationem mixtorum eorumque operationes praecipuae. Sementis porro et messis facta mentio est: quod inter actiones humanas quae ad tuendam vitam pertinent, haec primas teneat, quasi maxime generalis et utilis; sed sub eius commemoratione reliquarum actionum et officiorum opportunitas intelligenda est.

…only cold and heat [are named], moisture and dryness being passed over in silence: because those [cold and heat] are the primary of the primary qualities, more notable in sensation and effect, and chief for the generation of mixed bodies and their operations. Moreover mention is made of seedtime and harvest: because among human actions which pertain to protecting life, this holds the first place, as being most general and useful; but under its mention the opportunity of the remaining actions and duties is to be understood.²³

NESCIO cur Septuaginta Interpretes illud, Omnibus diebus terrae, iunxerint cum antecedentibus, id est, cum illo: Non ultra percutiam omnem carnem viventem: cum Hebraica lectio quam secutus est Latinus interpres plane iungat cum sequentibus, id est, cum illo: Sementis et messis, et non requiescent. Nec video cur pro vocabulo hyemis, quod habet scriptura Hebraica, voluerint illi vertere Ver: aut cur illud, diem et noctem, non numeraverint inter ea quorum vicissitudo perpetuanda erat, uti est in Hebraica et Latina lectione, sed ita verterint: Semen ac messis, frigus et aestus, aestas et ver, die ac nocte non requiescent.

I do not know why the Seventy Interpreters joined that phrase, “all the days of the earth,” with the preceding — that is, with that, “I will no more strike every living flesh” — whereas the Hebrew reading which the Latin interpreter followed plainly joins it with the following, that is, with that, “Seedtime and harvest… shall not cease.” Nor do I see why, in place of the word “winter,” which the Hebrew scripture has, they wished to translate “Spring”; or why they did not number that, “day and night,” among those things whose vicissitude was to be perpetuated, as it is in the Hebrew and Latin reading, but translated thus: “Seed and harvest, cold and heat, summer and spring, by day and night shall not cease.”²⁴

CUM igitur praedicta vicissitudo temporum immutabilem rationem motus orbium caelestium ac siderum necessario consequatur, et ex ea ipsa pendeat rerum sublunarium, maxime vero animantium, incolumitas et salus; apparet sane fabulosum esse, vanitatisque atque inscitiae plenum quod dixit Ovidius libro primo Metamorphoseos, hanc temporum inaequalitatem non fuisse aureo Saturni saeculo, sed perpetuum id temporis floruisse Ver: postea vero degenerante iam saeculo, alternam hanc per vices successionem inductam esse orbi. Sic enim ait: Iuppiter antiqui contraxit tempora Veris, / Perque hyemes aestusque et inaequales Autumnos, / Et breve Ver, spatiis exegit quatuor annum: / Tunc primum siccis aër fervoribus ustus / Canduit, et ventis glacies astricta pependit.

Since, therefore, the aforesaid vicissitude of times necessarily follows the immutable reckoning of the motion of the celestial spheres and stars, and on it itself depends the safety and welfare of sublunary things — but especially of living creatures — it appears indeed to be fabulous, and full of vanity and ignorance, what Ovid said in the first book of the Metamorphoses: that this inequality of times was not in the golden age of Saturn, but that for that time perpetual Spring flourished; but afterward, the age now degenerating, this alternate succession by turns was introduced to the world. For thus he says: “Jupiter contracted the times of the ancient Spring, and through winters and summers and unequal autumns and a brief Spring, drove [completed] the year in four spaces: then first the air, scorched with dry heats, glowed white, and ice hung frozen by the winds.”²⁵

Translator’s notes

Margin: Gen. 8, v. 21. ↩
§111. God's promise (Gen 8:21) reassures Noah; Ambrose on why God punishes once but spares thereafter. Margin: Ambrose, On the Ark and Noah, ch. 22. ↩
§112. The textual variants of v. 21 (‘said in his heart’; ‘for the sins/works of men’; ‘not add to curse’). Margin: “The manifold calamity and devastation of the earth from the flood.” ↩
§113. What it means to ‘curse the earth’ — the fivefold devastation the flood worked on it. Margin: “The blessing and the curse of God.” ↩
§114. The final fire is no contradiction: it will be for the world's renewal, not (like the flood) for men's sins. ↩
§115. The causal ‘for’: Rupert reads it as God sparing the (guiltless) earth, not securing guilty men. Margin: Rupert, Commentaries on Genesis, bk. 4, ch. 28. ↩
§116. Pererius rejects Rupert; the promise is chiefly for man's sake. His first reading: floods would be needed in nearly every age. Continues on p. 308. ↩
§116 (cont.). Man's universal corruption (Ps. 13/52). Margin: Psalm 13. ↩
§117. Pererius's second (preferred) reading: man's innate proneness to evil makes him worthy of some clemency — unlike the devil, who sins from pure liberty. ↩
§118. Why evil appears so early: the sensitive appetite seizes man before reason can develop. ↩
§119. ‘Sense’ = the appetite; ‘thought’ = reason corrupted into its servant. Continues on p. 309. ↩
§119 (cont.). The proneness is from fallen nature, transmitted through Adam's sin. ↩
Textual note: Hebrew ‘the figment of the heart is evil’ (some read it as concupiscence/the ‘fomes’); the Greek stresses constant pursuit of evil. ↩
§120. Rupert on ‘from youth’ (the dawn of reason); the Pythagorean ‘Y’ of the two roads; Virgil. Margins: Rupert, Commentaries on Genesis, bk. 4, ch. 29; Virgil, Aeneid, bk. 6. ↩
§121. Tostatus: ‘adolescence’ taken strictly (the third age) — when proneness to evil first erupts into actual sin. Margin: Tostatus. ↩
§122. Ambrose (reading ‘from youth’): malice grows with age, even though no infant is wholly without sin. Margins: Ambrose, On Noah and the Ark, ch. 22; Job 14 (Septuagint). ↩
§123. Gen 8:22: God's pledge of the perpetual cycle of seasons. Continues on p. 310. ↩
§123 (cont.). The cycles of seasons, qualities, and labors adorn the world and sustain life. ↩
§124. Ambrose: the world (like a song or a body) is held together by ordered contraries; God promises that order will hold. Margin: Ambrose, On Noah and the Ark, ch. 23. ↩
§125. The greatness of the promise: never again a year like the flood-year, all storm and no harvest. ↩
§126. ‘All the days of the earth’ ≠ forever: the seasons end at the judgment, though the earth (renewed) abides. Margin: “How the world is to be destroyed.” ↩
§127. Why only summer and winter (the extremes) are named. Continues on p. 311. ↩
§127 (cont.). Why cold/heat (not moisture/dryness) and seedtime/harvest are singled out. ↩
§128. Pererius queries the Septuagint's punctuation and its odd renderings (‘Spring’ for ‘winter’; misplacing ‘day and night’). ↩
§129. The seasons follow the fixed celestial motions, so Ovid's fable of a perpetual-Spring Golden Age is empty. (End of Liber XIII.) Margin: Ovid. ↩