LatineEnglish
{And they ceased to build the city.}1
Et cessaverunt aedificare civitatem.
HINC apparet causam cur omissa fuerit aedificatio civitatis et turris fuisse confusionem linguae, quod unusquisque vocem proximi sui non audiret, ut narrat Moses. Non igitur verum est quod a Sibylla et Abydeno proditum esse referunt Iosephus et Eusebius. Dixerunt illi aedificatores illius urbis usos esse omnes una lingua, sed Deos, ventis procellisque immissis, eversam turrim super ipsos aedificatores deiecisse. Verum de illius turris eversione, et quod ruina eius aedificatores ipsius oppressi interierint, nullum verbum facit Moses; solamque confusionem linguae desistendi ab aedificatione turris causam fuisse indicat. Sane si Deus vel Angeli turrim destruxissent, cum Dei et Angelorum perfecta sint opera, funditus atque omnino eam turrim evertissent. Atqui aedificium illud multis postea seculis permansisse multi sunt gravesque testes quos supra nominavimus.
Hence it appears that the cause why the building of the city and tower was given up was the confusion of tongue — that each did not understand the speech of his neighbor, as Moses narrates. Therefore it is not true what Josephus and Eusebius report to have been handed down by the Sibyl and Abydenus. They said that the builders of that city all used one tongue, but that the gods, winds and storms being sent in, overthrew the tower and cast it down upon the builders themselves. But of the overthrow of that tower, and that its builders perished crushed by its ruin, Moses makes no word; and indicates that the confusion of tongue alone was the cause of desisting from the building of the tower. Surely, if God or the Angels had destroyed the tower — since the works of God and of the Angels are perfect — they would have overturned that tower utterly and completely. And yet that that building remained for many ages afterward there are many and weighty witnesses, whom we named above.2
VERUM dicet quispiam: cur gigas ille Nemrod, qui post divisionem linguarum inibi cum suis popularibus remansit ac regnavit, omissam aedificationem turris et civitatis non repetiit atque perfecit? Respondendum est opus illud fuisse maius quam ut a tanta paucitate hominum qui cum eo erant absolvi posset. Sed illud probabilius est: homines illos, recentis cladis quam experti fuerant memores, deterritos esse a prosecutione illius aedificii, verentes scilicet ne alia simili calamitate, aut etiam graviori, afficerentur. Et civitatis quidem aedificatio vacavit per annos ferme centum, videlicet usque ad Semiramidem, quae inchoatam civitatem Babel incredibili magnitudine et magnificentia absolvit. Turrim vero illam nequaquam altius extulit, sed, mirifice ornatam, in templum quod Belo consecraverat inclusit; eaque perduravit usque ad aetatem Herodoti, id est per annos mille quadringentos. Claruit enim Herodotus, ut ex eius scriptis licet perspicere, circa Olympiadem septuagesimam quintam.
But someone will say: why did that giant Nemrod, who after the division of tongues remained there with his fellows and reigned, not resume and finish the abandoned building of the tower and city? It must be answered that that work was greater than could be completed by so great a fewness of men who were with him. But this is more probable: that those men, mindful of the recent calamity which they had experienced, were deterred from the prosecution of that building, fearing namely lest they be afflicted with another like calamity, or even a graver one. And the building of the city indeed lay idle for nearly a hundred years — namely, until Semiramis, who finished the begun city of Babel with incredible size and magnificence. But that tower she by no means raised higher, but, marvelously adorned, enclosed it in the temple which she had consecrated to Belus; and it lasted until the age of Herodotus — that is, for fourteen hundred years. For Herodotus flourished, as may be perceived from his writings, about the seventy-fifth Olympiad.3
Translator’s notes
- Gen 11:8b (verse lemma). ↩
- §105. Gen 11:8b. The cause of stopping was the confusion of tongue (each not understanding his neighbor) — so the Sibyl/Abydenus story (in Josephus and Eusebius) that the gods blew the tower down on the builders is false: Moses says nothing of an overthrow or builders crushed, only the confusion. Had God or angels destroyed it, it would have been utterly razed (their works are perfect); yet many weighty witnesses (above) attest it stood for ages. Margins: Josephus, Antiquities bk. 1; Eusebius, Preparation bk. 9; the Sibyl; Abydenus. ↩
- §106. Why did Nemrod (who stayed and reigned there) not finish? The work was too great for the few with him; more probably, mindful of the recent calamity, they feared a like or worse one. The city lay idle ~100 yrs until Semiramis finished it in great magnificence; she did not raise the tower higher but adorned it and enclosed it in the temple of Belus, which lasted to Herodotus's age (1,400 yrs; Herodotus flourished ~the 75th Olympiad). Margins: Nemrod; Herodotus bk. 1. ↩