FIFTH DISPUTATION. On the Chronology of Noah's life: also on a certain son of his whom they call Ionithus, and on his dwelling after the flood — Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume II

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FIFTH DISPUTATION. On the Chronology of Noah's life: also on a certain son of his whom they call Ionithus, and on his dwelling after the flood.

QUINTA DISPUTATIO. De Chronologia vitae Noë: De quodam item eius filio quem appellant Ionithum, et de habitatione eius post diluvium.

VIXIT ante diluvium Noë sexcentis annis; sexcentesimo enim anno eius contigisse diluvium supra scripsit Moses cap. septimo. Ab exordio Mundi, cum est creatus Adam, usque ad diluvium numerantur anni mille sexcenti quinquaginta sex: ipse autem Adam vixit annos nongentos triginta; ergo mortuus est ante diluvium septingentis viginti sex annis. Cum igitur Noë natus fuerit sexcentis annis ante diluvium, apparet ipsum esse natum centum viginti sex annis post obitum Adami. Deinde Henoch annis ducentis quadraginta duobus ante obitum Adami genuit Mathusalem, et postea vixit trecentis annis, et ex terris translatus a Deo est. Mathusalem vero vixit annos nongentos sexaginta novem, et ipso anno quo diluvium accidit mortuus est. Ergo Noë, qui natus est sexcentis annis ante diluvium, ortus fuit sexaginta novem annis post translationem Henoch, et trecentesimo sexagesimo nono anno avi sui Mathusalem.

Noah lived before the flood six hundred years; for that in the six hundredth year of his [life] the flood happened, Moses wrote above in chapter seven. From the beginning of the World, when Adam was created, up to the flood are numbered one thousand six hundred and fifty-six years: and Adam himself lived nine hundred and thirty years; therefore he died seven hundred and twenty-six years before the flood. Since, therefore, Noah was born six hundred years before the flood, it appears that he was born one hundred and twenty-six years after the death of Adam. Next, Henoch, two hundred and forty-two years before the death of Adam, begot Mathusalem, and afterward lived three hundred years, and was translated by God from the earth. And Mathusalem lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and died in the very year in which the flood happened. Therefore Noah, who was born six hundred years before the flood, arose sixty-nine years after the translation of Henoch, and in the three hundred and sixty-ninth year of his grandfather Mathusalem.¹

Ex his concluditur Mathusalem versatum esse cum Adamo per annos ducentos quadraginta duos, Noë autem cum ipso Mathusalem per annos trecentos sexaginta novem. Doctrinam igitur rerum naturalium et divinarum, tam naturalem quam supernaturalem, vivae vocis oraculo ex Adamo didicit Mathusalem; ex ipso autem Mathusalem accepit Noë, quin etiam filius eius Sem, quippe qui centum annos ante diluvium natus, earum rerum cognitionem ab ipso Mathusalem commode doceri potuit. Et de aetate ac vita Noë ante diluvium ita dictum sit.

From these it is concluded that Mathusalem was conversant with Adam for two hundred and forty-two years, and Noah with Mathusalem himself for three hundred and sixty-nine years. The doctrine, therefore, of natural and divine things, both natural and supernatural, Mathusalem learned from Adam by the oracle of the living voice; and from Mathusalem himself Noah received it, and even his son Sem — since he, born a hundred years before the flood, could conveniently be taught the knowledge of those things by Mathusalem himself. And concerning the age and life of Noah before the flood, let so much be said.²

POST diluvium porro vixit Noë trecentos quinquaginta annos: cum autem a diluvio usque ad ortum Abrahae, secundum Hebraicam et Latinam computationem, non plures ducentis nonaginta duobus annis praeterierint, efficitur nato iam Abrahae superstitem fuisse Noë per annos quinquaginta octo. Nimirum tamdiu voluit Deus Noë vivere, quoad alius surgeret eius similis, insigni vir pietate, qui veri Dei cultum conservaret, et ad eum amplectendum verbis et factis homines vehementer incitaret. Observatum est iam inde ab orbe condi[to]…

After the flood Noah lived three hundred and fifty years: and since, from the flood up to the birth of Abraham, according to the Hebrew and Latin computation, no more than two hundred and ninety-two years passed, it comes about that Noah survived for fifty-eight years after Abraham was born. For God willed Noah to live so long, until another like him should arise, a man of remarkable piety, who would preserve the worship of the true God, and vehemently incite men by words and deeds to embrace it. It has been observed, even from the founding of the world…³

…condito, Deum omni saeculo egregios aliquos viros excitare consuevisse. Ante diluvium, post Adamum, fuit Seth, Henoch, Mathusalem; post diluvium usque ad legem latam, Noë, Abraham ceterique Patriarchae usque ad Mosen, Melchisedech et Iob. Post Mosen, Iosue et Phinees. Et de Iudicibus, Othoniel, Gedeon, Iephte, Samson, Samuel. Tempore Regum, David, Asa, Iosaphat, Ezechias et Iosias. Atque hoc ipso tempore fuere sanctissimi Pontifices, ut Ioiada, Eliacim, clarissimique Prophetae ut Elias et Elizeus. Tempore autem captivitatis Babylonicae, Hieremias, Ezechiel, Daniel. Post reditum denique ex captivitate, Zorobabel, Iesu Pontifex, Aggaeus et Zacharias Prophetae, Esdras et Nehemias, duo et septuaginta Interpretes sacrarum litterarum, et principes Machabaei, non minus divina religione ac pietate quam bellica fortitudine clari et omni aevo celebrandi. Et quoniam Sem filius Noë post diluvium vixit annos duos et quingentos, ut significat Moses Geneseos undecimo, fit ut pervenerit ad quinquagesimum annum Iacob patriarchae.

…the world being founded, that God was wont in every age to raise up some excellent men. Before the flood, after Adam, were Seth, Henoch, Mathusalem; after the flood up to the giving of the law, Noah, Abraham and the other Patriarchs up to Moses, Melchisedech and Job. After Moses, Iosue and Phinees. And of the Judges, Othoniel, Gedeon, Iephte, Samson, Samuel. In the time of the Kings, David, Asa, Iosaphat, Ezechias, and Iosias. And in this very time were most holy High Priests, as Ioiada, Eliacim, and most illustrious Prophets, as Elias and Elizeus. But in the time of the Babylonian captivity, Hieremias, Ezechiel, Daniel. After the return at last from the captivity, Zorobabel, Iesu the High Priest, Aggaeus and Zacharias the Prophets, Esdras and Nehemias, the seventy-two Interpreters of the sacred letters, and the Maccabaean princes — no less famous for divine religion and piety than for warlike fortitude, and to be celebrated in every age. And since Sem the son of Noah lived after the flood five hundred and two years, as Moses signifies in Genesis 11, it comes about that he reached the fiftieth year of the patriarch Iacob.⁴

CUPIO igitur hic lectorem advertere, quemadmodum veri Dei fides et cultus, et rerum ad consequendam salutem animae eo tempore necessariarum observatio, custodita et perpetuata fuerit ab initio Mundi usque ad Iacob per tres tantum personas, Adamum, Mathusalem et Sem; per annos autem duo millia praeterque centum quinquaginta sex. Potuit enim Iacob, ut diximus, eas res discere ex ipso Sem, is vero ex Mathusalem, hic vero ex ipso Adamo.

I desire, therefore, here to make the reader observe how the faith and worship of the true God, and the observance of the things necessary at that time for obtaining the salvation of the soul, was guarded and perpetuated from the beginning of the World up to Iacob through only three persons — Adam, Mathusalem, and Sem — but through two thousand and one hundred and fifty-six years. For Iacob could, as we have said, learn those things from Sem himself, he from Mathusalem, and he from Adam himself.⁵

CETERUM quia Moses nullum commemorat filium genitum a Noë post diluvium, ex eo colligit Chrysostomus virum fuisse eum incredibilis continentiae: quippe qui totos trecentos quinquaginta annos quos vixit post diluvium, ne procreandorum quidem liberorum causa voluptati indulgere voluerit. Vide, inquit ille, admirandam iusti continentiam. Cum enim tanta frueretur ubertate rerum et prosperitate, superessetque tanto annorum numero post egressum ex Arca, noluit tamen ultra indulgere filiorum procreationi. Non enim commemorat Scriptura eum alios praeter illos tres quos ante diluvium genuerat habuisse liberos. Sed nullum esse post diluvium a Noë generatum filium, paulo supra disputatum est a nobis.

Moreover, because Moses recounts no son begotten by Noah after the flood, from this Chrysostom gathers that he was a man of incredible continence: since, for the whole three hundred and fifty years which he lived after the flood, he was unwilling to indulge pleasure even for the sake of procreating children. “See,” says he, “the admirable continence of the just man. For though he enjoyed such abundance of things and prosperity, and survived so great a number of years after his going out of the Ark, yet he was unwilling further to indulge the procreation of children. For Scripture does not recount that he had other children besides those three whom he had begotten before the flood.” But that no son was begotten by Noah after the flood was disputed by us a little above.⁶

Quod ergo a quibusdam proditum est de quodam eius filio valde memorabili, quem appellant Ionithum, pro fabuloso habendum est. Sed historiam eius rei ne lector nesciat, ponam hoc loco, ut eam narrat (auctore Methodio) scriptor historiae Scholasticae, cuius haec sunt verba: Methodius, agens de quodam filio Noë cuius non meminit Moses, sic ait: Centesimo anno tertiae Chiliadis Noë genuit filium ad similitudinem suam, quem appellavit Ionithum. Trecentesimo anno, largitus ei amplissima dona, misit eum in terram Ethan, quam ille pervasit usque ad mare Orientis. Hic Ionithus accepit a Domino donum sapientiae et invenit Astronomiam. Hic gigantem Nemrod (decem cubitorum proceritate) et nepotem Sem, ad se venientem erudivit, docuitque quibus in locis regnare deberet. Multa etiam praevidit ac praedixit, in primis autem de quatuor Monarchiarum ortu, succes[sione]…

What, then, is recorded by some about a certain very memorable son of his, whom they call Ionithus, is to be held as fabulous. But, lest the reader be ignorant of the history of that matter, I will set it down in this place as the writer of the Scholastic History narrates it (on the authority of Methodius), whose words are these: “Methodius, treating of a certain son of Noah of whom Moses makes no mention, speaks thus: In the hundredth year of the third Chiliad [millennium], Noah begot a son after his own likeness, whom he called Ionithus. In the three-hundredth year, having bestowed on him most ample gifts, he sent him into the land Ethan, which he overran as far as the sea of the East. This Ionithus received from the Lord the gift of wisdom and discovered Astronomy. He instructed the giant Nemrod (ten cubits in height) and the grandson of Sem, who came to him, and taught [him] in what places he ought to reign. He also foresaw and foretold many things, but chiefly about the rise, succes[sion]…”⁷

…sione et occasu, quam prophetiam multis post seculis Daniel edidit. Praedixit autem ille primos omnium regnaturos ex posteritate Cham, uti fuit Belus et Ninus, regni Babylonici et Monarchiae Assyriorum conditores; secundos regnaturos de stirpe Sem, Persas et Graecos; postremos de genere Iaphet, Romanos. Sic Methodius, ut refert Historia Scholastica. S. Hieronymus tradit istum Methodium fuisse Episcopum primo quidem Olympi Lyciae, postea Tyri, nitidi compositique sermonis; scripsisseque cum alia, tum libros contra Porphyrium, Commentarios item in Genesim et in Cantica Canticorum; et sub finem novissimae persecutionis Ecclesiae (vel, ut placet aliis, sub Decio et Valeriano) in Chalcide Graeciae martyrio coronatum.

…and setting of the four Monarchies, which prophecy Daniel published many ages afterward. And he foretold that the first of all to reign would be from the posterity of Cham, as was Belus and Ninus, founders of the Babylonian kingdom and the Monarchy of the Assyrians; the second to reign, of the stock of Sem, the Persians and Greeks; the last, of the race of Iaphet, the Romans. Thus Methodius, as the Scholastic History reports. St. Jerome relates that this Methodius was a Bishop, first of Olympus in Lycia, afterward of Tyre, of polished and well-composed speech; and that he wrote, among other things, books against Porphyry, and likewise Commentaries on Genesis and on the Canticle of Canticles; and that toward the end of the last persecution of the Church (or, as it pleases others, under Decius and Valerian) he was crowned with martyrdom in Chalcis of Greece.⁸

VERUM ista quae Methodius dicitur prodidisse de Ionitho filio Noë fabulosa sunt, eaque refellere minime fuerit operosum. Principio, talem filium Noë, insignem sapientia et prophetico spiritu, non tacuisset Moses, nec dixisset ab illis duntaxat tribus filiis Sem, Cham et Iaphet omne genus humanum esse propagatum; et, ut aliorum filiorum Noë, sic huius quoque progeniem enarrasset. Sed eo convincitur falsam esse istam opinionem, quod dicitur Noë genuisse istum Ionithum anno centesimo tertiae Chiliadis, scilicet ab exordio Mundi: atqui plus nonaginta annis ante istum centesimum annum decesserat Noë. Siquidem ab initio Mundi usque ad Diluvium fluxerunt anni mille sexcenti quinquaginta sex; Noë autem vixit post Diluvium annos trecentos quinquaginta: ergo mortuus est anno sexto tertiae Chiliadis, id est, annis nonaginta quatuor ante id temporis quo dicitur Ionithus esse natus. Dicent fortasse Methodium secutum esse computationem Graecorum codicum, qui plus duo millia annorum recensent usque ad diluvium. Esto, sed illa computatio mendosa est, ut ostendimus libro 7 Commentariorum nostrorum in Genesim, quapropter Methodii opinionem, quae ea computatione nititur, falsam esse necesse est.

But these things which Methodius is said to have handed down about Ionithus the son of Noah are fabulous, and to refute them will be by no means laborious. First, such a son of Noah — distinguished in wisdom and prophetic spirit — Moses would not have passed over in silence, nor would he have said that from those three sons only, Sem, Cham, and Iaphet, all the human race was propagated; and, as of Noah's other sons, so of this one's progeny too he would have given an account. But that opinion is convicted of being false by this: that Noah is said to have begotten that Ionithus in the hundredth year of the third Chiliad, namely from the beginning of the World; but Noah had died more than ninety years before that hundredth year. For from the beginning of the World up to the Flood flowed one thousand six hundred and fifty-six years, and Noah lived after the Flood three hundred and fifty years: therefore he died in the sixth year of the third Chiliad — that is, ninety-four years before the time at which Ionithus is said to have been born. They will perhaps say that Methodius followed the computation of the Greek codices, which reckon more than two thousand years up to the flood. So be it, but that computation is faulty, as we showed in the seventh book of our Commentaries on Genesis; wherefore the opinion of Methodius, which rests on that computation, must be false.⁹

ILLUD vero quis ferat? dicitur Nemrod fuisse nepos Sem, cum apertis verbis eum Moses faciat nepotem Cham, ita scribens: Filii Cham, Chus, Mesrain, Phut et Chanaan. Porro Chus genuit Nemrod, etc. Utrum autem Methodius erroris opinione deceptus ista scripserit, an sint ab aliis conficta et sub specioso eius nomine vulgata, mihi quidem non liquet. Miror equidem tam celebris illius prophetiae de quatuor Monarchiis nusquam Eusebium, nusquam Hieronymum, ne in Commentariis quidem in Danielem (ubi fuisset opportunissimum) mentionem fecisse ullam. Sed utcunque res habeat, illud ego monitum velim lectorem: ut decet Methodii sanctimoniam et in martyrio virtutem atque gloriam admirari et venerari, sic non decere, si quae ille parum consentanea sacris literis scripta reliquerit, ea pro veris certisque amplexari.

But who could bear this? Nemrod is said to have been the grandson of Sem, when in plain words Moses makes him the grandson of Cham, writing thus: “The sons of Cham: Chus, Mesrain, Phut, and Chanaan. And Chus begot Nemrod,” etc. But whether Methodius wrote these things deceived by an erroneous opinion, or whether they are fabricated by others and published under his specious name, is not clear to me. I marvel indeed that of that so celebrated prophecy about the four Monarchies neither Eusebius nor Jerome — not even in his Commentaries on Daniel (where it would have been most opportune) — made any mention. But however the matter stands, I would have the reader thus warned: that, as it is fitting to admire and venerate the holiness of Methodius and his virtue and glory in martyrdom, so it is not fitting, if he left written anything little consonant with the sacred letters, to embrace it as true and certain.¹⁰

SED quibus in terris post diluvium versatus sit Noë, utrumne semper in uno loco constiterit, an longinqua petens varias obierit regiones, quibusve in sedibus vitam finierit — praeclara denique eius dicta et facta (quae multa fuisse par est credere) — miro silentio Moses obruit ac suppressit. Causam ego tanti silentii reor fuisse festinationem eius ad scribendas [res Abrahae]…

But in what lands Noah lived after the flood — whether he always stayed in one place, or, seeking far regions, traversed various lands, or in what seats he ended his life — and finally his excellent sayings and deeds (which it is fair to believe were many) — Moses overwhelmed and suppressed with a wonderful silence. The cause of so great a silence I think was his haste to write [the affairs of Abraham]…¹¹

…res Abrahae: de quo primum historiam valde ordinatam et copiosam tres ob causas contexuit. Primum, quod Abraham fuisset princeps et quasi sator populi Hebraei, ad quem populum erudiendum hanc scribendi operam potissimum navabat Moses. Deinde, quod Abraham signum Circumcisionis a Deo accepisset, quo signo eius posteri (id est, Hebraei), a ceteris gentibus discreti, in unum et peculiarem Dei populum coalescere debebant. Ad haec, quod tria Deus Abrahae amplissima dedisset promissa: unum de multiplicatione seminis eius instar stellarum caeli et pulveris terrae; alterum de possessione terrae Chanaan; tertium de Messia ex ipsius stirpe generando, in quo benedicendae erant omnes gentes, et propter quem ipse pater futurus erat non solum Iudaeorum, sed etiam Gentium quotquot in Christum erant credituare. Tradunt Hebraei Noë cum Sem ex Armenia rediisse in veterem patriam, id est, loca Damasco vicina, ibique condidisse regnum et pontificatum Salem: quae, Sem appellatus Melchisedec, administravit.

…the affairs of Abraham: of whom first he wove a very orderly and copious history, for three causes. First, because Abraham had been the prince and as it were the sower of the Hebrew people, for the instructing of which people Moses chiefly bestowed this labor of writing. Next, because Abraham had received from God the sign of Circumcision, by which sign his posterity (that is, the Hebrews), distinguished from the other nations, were to coalesce into one and peculiar people of God. Besides, because God had given Abraham three most ample promises: one about the multiplication of his seed like the stars of heaven and the dust of the earth; another about the possession of the land of Canaan; the third about the Messiah to be generated from his stock, in whom all nations were to be blessed, and on account of whom he himself would be the father not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles, as many as would believe in Christ. The Hebrews relate that Noah, with Sem, returned from Armenia to the old homeland — that is, the places near Damascus — and there founded the kingdom and priesthood of Salem, which Sem (called Melchisedech) administered.¹²

BEROSUS Annianus multa narrat de iis quae gessit Noë post diluvium, quae, si vera essent, iucundissima profecto essent legentibus et pulcherrima. Ait ille, finito Diluvio, cum Arca mirabiliter in Gordico monte Armeniae consedisset, descendisse Noë in loca plana, et brevi multiplicata progenie (perpetuo enim geminos edebant, marem et feminam) adeo completa esse hominibus ea loca, ut necesse fuerit multos inde recedere. Sed Noë diu ibi mansit, et Armenos (sic eos nunc appellamus, nam id nominis postea eis inditum est) primum docuit agriculturam, artemque colendi vites et conficiendi vinum; tum sacros ritus et ceremonias colendi Deum; multa item naturalium rerum secreta mandavit literis, quae apud Scythas Armenos solis Sacerdotibus legere, docere ac discere fas est. Docuit praeterea cursus astrorum, et distinxit annum ad Solis cursum, et menses duodecim ad motum Lunae, multaque in posterum ventura Astronomiae scientia praedicebat. Quamobrem quasi Deum quendam illum venerabantur, eumque Solem et Caelum cognominabant. Adhortabatur autem homines familiarum principes ut novas sedes quaererent conderentque civitates: designavitque tres orbis partes, Asiam, Africam et Europam, ut ante diluvium viderat; et singulis principibus familiarum partes ad quas irent distribuit, se per totum orbem colonias traducturum pollicitus. Tandem petiit Kitim, quam nunc Italiam nominant; ibi regnavit, multaque docuit Italos quae ad Theologiam, Physiologiam, Politiam, artesque degendae vitae necessarias pertinent: earumque rerum refertissimos libros reliquit scriptos. Quamobrem tantum apud eam gentem honorem meruit, ut eum Chaos, Semen Mundi, Patrem deorum maiorum et minorum, animamque Mundi appellaret; ipsumque signarent in scriptis cursu Solis, motu Lunae et sceptro dominii. Denique illis locis mortalitatem exuit. Sic ille Berosus.

Berosus Annianus narrates many things about what Noah did after the flood, which, if they were true, would assuredly be most pleasant and most beautiful to readers. He says that, the Flood being ended, when the Ark had wonderfully settled on Mount Gordyaeus in Armenia, Noah descended into the level places, and, his progeny being soon multiplied (for they continually brought forth twins, a male and a female), those places were so filled with men that many had to withdraw thence. But Noah stayed there long, and first taught the Armenians (so we now call them, for that name was afterward given to them) agriculture, and the art of cultivating vines and making wine; then the sacred rites and ceremonies of worshipping God; he also committed to letters many secrets of natural things, which among the Scythian Armenians it is lawful for the priests alone to read, teach, and learn. He taught besides the courses of the stars, and distinguished the year by the course of the Sun, and the twelve months by the motion of the Moon, and foretold by the science of Astronomy many things to come hereafter. Wherefore they venerated him as a kind of god, and surnamed him ‘Sun’ and ‘Heaven.’ And he exhorted the men, the chiefs of families, to seek new seats and found cities; and he designated the three parts of the world — Asia, Africa, and Europe, as he had seen before the flood — and distributed to the several chiefs of families the parts to which they should go, promising that he would lead colonies through the whole world. At last he sought Kittim, which they now call Italy; there he reigned, and taught the Italians many things pertaining to Theology, Physics, Politics, and the arts necessary for living life: and he left books most full of those matters written. Wherefore he merited so great honor among that nation, that it called him ‘Chaos,’ ‘Seed of the World,’ ‘Father of the gods greater and lesser,’ and ‘Soul of the World’; and they marked him in their writings with the course of the Sun, the motion of the Moon, and the scepter of rule. At last in those places he put off mortality. So that Berosus.¹³

BEATUS Augustinus in libro 16 de Civitate Dei capite 2, tractans ea quae hoc loco de filiorum Noë partim benedictione partim maledictione scripsit Moses, cum indicasset quarum rerum olim futurarum et ad Ecclesiam Christi spectantium tres illi Noë filii figuram praetulissent (de quo etiam nos paulo supra disputavimus), subiungit haec verba…

St. Augustine, in book 16 of the City of God, chapter 2, treating the things which Moses wrote in this place about the partly blessing, partly cursing of Noah's sons — when he had indicated of what things, once to come and pertaining to the Church of Christ, those three sons of Noah bore the figure (about which we too disputed a little above) — subjoins these words…¹⁴

…verba: Haec divinae scripturae secreta indagamus ut possumus, alius alio magis minusve congruenter, veruntamen fideliter: certum tenentes non ea sine aliqua praefiguratione futurorum gesta atque conscripta, neque nisi ad Christum et eius Ecclesiam, quae civitas Dei est, esse referenda; cuius ab initio generis humani non defuit praedicatio, quam per omnia videmus impleri.

…words: “These secrets of divine scripture we investigate as we can — one more, another less congruently, yet faithfully — holding it certain that they were not done and written without some prefiguration of things to come, and are to be referred only to Christ and His Church, which is the city of God; of which, from the beginning of the human race, the preaching has not been wanting, which we see fulfilled in all things.”¹⁵

DEINDE Ponit Augustinus quaestionem hanc: cur post Noë et duos eius filios Sem et Iaphet usque ad Abraham, de tot hominibus qui intermedio illo temporis spatio fuerunt, nullum laudatae probitatis ac pietatis virum commemoret Moses, cum aliquos de posteris Sem viros fuisse iustos ac pios non sit dubitandum. Respondet ipse Mosen studuisse brevitati, et quod, non solum esset historiographus verum simul etiam propheta, non omnia quae narrari potuissent consectatum esse historica diligentia, sed ea tantum intexuisse narrationi suae quae prophetica providentia noverat ad populum et civitatem Dei aliquo modo pertinere. Audi Augustinum: Benedictis, inquit, duobus filiis Noë, atque uno in medio eorum maledicto, deinceps usque ad Abraham de iustorum aliquorum qui pie Deum colerent commemoratione silentium est per annos amplius quam mille. Nec eos defuisse crediderim, sed si omnes commemorarentur nimis longum fieret, et haec esset magis historica diligentia quam prophetica providentia. Illa itaque exequitur Moses (vel potius per eum Dei Spiritus) quibus non solum narrentur praeterita, verum etiam praenuntientur futura, quae tamen pertinent ad civitatem Dei: quia et de hominibus qui non sunt eius cives, quicquid hic dicitur, ad hoc dicitur, ut illa ex comparatione contraria vel proficiat vel emineat.

Then Augustine poses this question: why, after Noah and his two sons Sem and Iaphet, up to Abraham, of so many men who were in that intervening space of time, Moses mentions no man of praised probity and piety, since it is not to be doubted that some of the posterity of Sem were just and pious men. He himself answers that Moses studied brevity, and that — since he was not only a historiographer but at the same time a prophet — he did not pursue with historical diligence all the things that could have been narrated, but wove into his narrative only those things which by prophetic providence he knew to pertain in some way to the people and city of God. Hear Augustine: “The two sons of Noah being blessed, and one in the midst of them cursed, thereafter up to Abraham there is silence about the mention of any just men who piously worshipped God, for more than a thousand years. Nor would I believe they were lacking; but if all were mentioned it would become too long, and this would be rather historical diligence than prophetic providence. Those things, therefore, Moses pursues — or rather the Spirit of God through him — by which not only are past things narrated, but future things also foretold, which nevertheless pertain to the city of God: because whatever is here said even of men who are not its citizens is said for this, that by comparison of the contrary it [the city of God] may either profit or stand out.”¹⁶

Post haec Augustinus praeclarum quoddam tradit documentum, omnibus sacras literas legentibus atque interpretantibus etiam atque etiam inculcandum et commendandum, et ab illis (nisi saepenumero pueriliter labi velint) diligenter observandum: Non omnia quae in divinis libris narrantur latens aliquod habere mysterium, nec ad res futuras significandas commemorari; sed multa quae carent mysterio, propter ea quae mysticas habent significationes, attexi. Non omnia, inquit Augustinus, quae gesta narrantur aliquid etiam significare putanda sunt, sed propter illa quae aliquid significant, etiam ea quae nihil significant attexuntur. Solo vomere terra proscinditur: sed ut hoc fieri possit, etiam cetera aratri membra sunt necessaria. Et soli nervi in cythara aliisque vasis musicis aptantur ad cantum: sed ut aptari possint, insunt et cetera in compaginibus organorum, quae non percutiuntur a canentibus, sed ea quae percussa resonant his connectuntur. Ita in prophetica historia dicuntur et aliqua quae nihil significant, sed quibus adhaereant quae significant, et quodammodo religentur. Sic Augustinus. Cuius tam vero et utili documento qui studia tractant divinae scripturae si obtemperare noluerint (cupidiores scilicet quam par est undecumque mysteria eruendi), ne illi saepe inanes, frigidas, ineptas insulsasque sententias et interpretationes effutiant necesse est. Verum non procedam longius, opportunum enim hic videtur huic libro finem imponi.

After this Augustine hands down a certain excellent lesson, to be again and again inculcated and commended to all who read and interpret the sacred letters, and diligently to be observed by them (unless they wish often to lapse childishly): that not all things narrated in the divine books have some hidden mystery, nor are mentioned to signify future things; but that many things which lack mystery are interwoven on account of those which have mystical significations. “Not all things,” says Augustine, “which are narrated as done are to be thought to signify something also; but on account of those which do signify something, even those which signify nothing are interwoven. By the ploughshare alone is the earth cut; but that this may be done, the other parts of the plough too are necessary. And only the strings in the cithara and other musical instruments are fitted for the song; but that they may be fitted, there are also the other [parts] in the frames of the instruments, which are not struck by the players, but to these are connected those which, when struck, resound. So in the prophetic history some things too are said which signify nothing, but to which those that signify [something] may adhere, and in a way be bound.” So Augustine. With which so true and useful a lesson, if those who handle the studies of divine scripture refuse to comply — being more eager than is fitting to dig out mysteries from everywhere — they must necessarily often blurt out empty, cold, inept, and insipid opinions and interpretations. But I will not proceed further, for it seems opportune here to put an end to this book.¹⁷

Translator’s notes

§197. Noah's pre-flood chronology: 1,656 yrs from creation to the flood; Noah born 126 yrs after Adam's death, 69 yrs after Henoch's translation, in Mathusalem's 369th year. Margin: “All this Chronology is gathered from the fifth chapter of the book of Genesis.” ↩
§198. The chain of living tradition: Adam→Mathusalem (242 yrs together)→Noah (369 yrs together)→Shem (born 100 yrs pre-flood). ↩
§199. After the flood Noah lived 350 yrs, outliving Abraham's birth by 58 — God kept him alive until a like man arose to preserve true worship. Margin: “Noah reached the fifty-eighth year of Abraham.” Continues on p. 392. ↩
§199 (cont.). The roll of God's chosen men in every age (the Patriarchs, Moses, Joshua, the Judges, the Kings, the Prophets, the captivity, the post-exile, the 72 translators & Maccabees); Shem lived 502 yrs post-flood, reaching Jacob's 50th year. ↩
§200. The true faith was preserved from the world's beginning to Jacob through only three persons (Adam, Mathusalem, Shem) across 2,156 years. Margin: “The continuation of the faith and worship of God from the beginning of the world.” ↩
§201. Since no son is named after the flood, Chrysostom infers Noah's incredible continence (350 yrs); but ‘no son after the flood’ was disputed above. Margins: Chrysostom, hom. 29 on Genesis; “The continence of Noah.” ↩
§202. The fabulous tale of Noah's son ‘Ionithus’ (via Methodius, in the Scholastic History): begotten in year 100 of the 3rd millennium, sent to the land Ethan, received wisdom & invented Astronomy, taught the giant Nemrod, foretold the four Monarchies. Margins: Scholastic History bk. 1, ch. 37; Jerome, On Ecclesiastical Writers. Continues on p. 393. ↩
§202 (cont.). Ionithus's prophecy of the four Monarchies (Cham's line — Belus/Ninus; Shem's — Persians/Greeks; Japheth's — Romans), later published by Daniel; Jerome on Methodius (bishop of Olympus/Tyre, martyr). ↩
§203. Refutation of Ionithus: Moses would not have been silent, nor said all came from the three; and the dates are impossible (Noah died 94 yrs before Ionithus's alleged birth; the Greek codices' chronology is faulty). Margin: “The aforesaid opinion is refuted.” ↩
§204. And Nemrod is called grandson of Shem, but Moses makes him grandson of Cham (Cush son of Cham begot Nemrod); whether Methodius erred or it is forged; neither Eusebius nor Jerome mentions the four-Monarchies prophecy — venerate Methodius's martyrdom, but do not embrace his unscriptural writings as true. Margin: Gen. 10. ↩
§205. Where Noah dwelt after the flood Moses passes over in silence — because he hastened to write of Abraham. Continues on p. 394. ↩
§205 (cont.). Three reasons Moses hastened to Abraham (founder of the Hebrews; received circumcision; the three great promises — seed like stars, the land, the Messiah); the Hebrews say Noah and Shem returned near Damascus, founding Salem, ruled by Shem = Melchisedech. Margins: Gen. 17; Gen. 12; Gen. 15; Rom. 4. ↩
§206. Berosus's charming (if false) account: the Ark on Mt. Gordyaeus; Noah taught the Armenians farming, viticulture, rites, astronomy (the 12-month solar/lunar year), prophecy — revered as a god (‘Sun,’ ‘Heaven’); he assigned the chiefs Asia/Africa/Europe, finally went to ‘Kittim’ (Italy), reigning and teaching, honored as ‘Chaos,’ ‘Soul of the World,’ where he died. Margins: “Where Noah dwelt after the flood, according to the Hebrews and Berosus Annianus”; Berosus Annianus, bk. 3. ↩
§207. Augustine (City of God 16.2) on what the three sons prefigured concerning Christ's Church (begins; cut off). Margin: St. Augustine. Continues on p. 395. ↩
§207 (cont.). Augustine: these scriptural secrets are to be referred to Christ and His Church, the city of God. ↩
§208. Why no holy man is named between Noah and Abraham (over 1,000 yrs): Moses sought brevity and, being a prophet, recorded only what pertains to the city of God (Augustine). Margins: “Why no man of praised virtue and piety is mentioned by Moses from Noah to Abraham”; Augustine. ↩
§209. Augustine's excellent lesson: not all narrated things hide a mystery — some are woven in only to bind those that do (the plough, the cithara); over-eager mystery-hunters blurt out insipid interpretations. (End of Liber XIV.) Margin: “An excellent lesson of Augustine.” ↩