LatineEnglish
{The sons of Aram: Hus, and Hul, and Gether, and Mes.}1
Filii Aram: Hus, Hul, Gether et Mes.
QUARUM gentium isti filii Aram parentes et satores fuerint, ex Iosepho brevissime sic enarrat B. Hieronymus: „Hus,“ inquit, „Trachonitidis et Damasci conditor, inter Palaestinam et Caelem Syriam tenuit principatum, a quo Septuaginta Interpretes in libro Iob, ubi Hebraice scribitur terra Hus, regionem Ausitidem quasi Husitidem transtulerunt. Hul, a quo Armeni. Gether, a quo Acarnanii seu Carii. Porro Mes, pro quo Septuaginta Interpretes Mosoch dixerunt, nunc vocatur Maeones.“ Haec Hieronymus. Iosephus tamen Gether parentem facit Bactrianorum. „Mesas vero,“ inquit, „tenuit Mesanos, nunc Pasini castrum vocatur.“ Tostatus non approbat quod supra dictum est de Hus, quod fuerit Damasci conditor, cuius sententiae auctorem faciens Lyranum, reprehendit eum; scilicet nesciens id Lyranum ex Iosepho et Hieronymo esse mutuatum. Censet autem Tostatus Damasci originem primam repetendam esse (ut communis fert sententia) ab Eliezer Damasco procuratore domus Abrahae.
Of what nations these sons of Aram were the parents and sowers, Jerome very briefly narrates thus from Josephus: „Hus,“ he says, „the founder of Trachonitis and Damascus, held the principality between Palestine and Coele-Syria, from whom the Septuagint translators in the book of Job, where in Hebrew is written ‘the land of Hus,’ rendered ‘the region Ausitis,’ as if ‘Husitis.’ Hul, from whom the Armenians. Gether, from whom the Acarnanians or Carians. And Mes, for whom the Septuagint translators said Mosoch, is now called the Maeones.“ So far Jerome. Josephus, however, makes Gether the parent of the Bactrians. „But Mesas,“ he says, „held the Mesanians, now it is called the camp of Pasinus.“ Tostatus does not approve what was said above of Hus, that he was the founder of Damascus, and, making Lyra the author of that opinion, rebukes him — not knowing, of course, that Lyra had borrowed it from Josephus and Jerome. But Tostatus thinks the first origin of Damascus is to be sought (as the common opinion holds) from Eliezer of Damascus, the steward of Abraham's house.2
HUS porro patria fuit Iob, vel ea tantum re valde memorabilis ac celebris. Pertinebat autem Hus ad Idumaeam, ut colligitur evidenter ex lamentationibus Ieremiae, in quibus cap. 4 sic est: „Gaude, filia Edom, quae habitas in terra Hus, ad te quoque perveniet calix Domini, inebriaberis atque nudaberis.“ Est igitur urbs Syriae vel Arabiae quae dicitur Scenitis, pars est Idumaeae vergens ad Chaldaeam et Sabaeam; namque ex ipsa Iob historia planum fit Chaldaeos et Sabaeos, uti gentes vicinas, bona Iob esse depraedatos.
Hus, moreover, was the homeland of Job, or notable and famous for that thing alone. Now Hus belonged to Idumaea, as is evidently gathered from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, in which, chapter 4, it is thus: „Rejoice, daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Hus; to thee also shall the cup of the Lord come, thou shalt be made drunk and stripped naked.“ It is, then, a city of Syria, or of the Arabia which is called Scenitis; it is a part of Idumaea inclining toward Chaldea and Sabaea; for from the history of Job itself it is plain that the Chaldeans and Sabaeans, as neighboring nations, plundered the goods of Job.3
Translator’s notes
- Gen 10:23 (verse lemma; the original margin misprints ‘VERS. 25’). ↩
- §144. Gen 10:23. Jerome (from Josephus) on Aram's sons: Hus (founder of Trachonitis and Damascus, between Palestine and Coele-Syria — the LXX ‘Ausitis’ for the ‘land of Hus’ in Job); Hul → Armenians; Gether → Acarnanians/Carians; Mes (LXX ‘Mosoch’) → the Maeones. Josephus differs: Gether → Bactrians; Mesas → the Mesanians (now ‘the camp of Pasinus’). Tostatus wrongly rebukes Lyra over Hus founding Damascus (Lyra took it from Josephus/Jerome), holding instead the common view — Damascus from Eliezer, Abraham's steward (Gen 24). Margins: Jerome, Hebrew Questions; Josephus; Tostatus; Lyra; Gen 24. ↩
- §145. Hus = the homeland of Job (famous for that alone), belonging to Idumaea (Lam 4: ‘daughter of Edom, dwelling in the land of Hus’). A city of Syria, or of Arabia Scenitis, part of Idumaea toward Chaldea and Sabaea — for the Chaldeans and Sabaeans, as neighbors, plundered Job (Job 1). Margins: Hus, the homeland of Job, where it was; Job 1. ↩