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until the captivity, as again the one from this until Christ; for from Abraham to David they do not appear to have been governed by a king; but after Moses and Joshua the nation was ruled by those called judges among them; and there was a certain peculiar manner of their descent; but neither had Jerusalem somehow been established, nor indeed the temple in it; wherefore the evangelist, knowledgeably not confounding the history, stopped at David, having counted those from Abraham separately; then again, since from David and until the captivity they used their own kings, both those who ruled from David and those who came during the division of the people; and the temple in Jerusalem lasted from that time until the captivity, reasonably, having set these apart separately again, he brought them together under one number; just as then also those from the captivity until Christ, among whom the kingdom of David no longer existed, but the leadership had passed from the tribe of Judah to the race of the priests, who indeed also ruled them from the time of Cyrus until the birth of Christ; whence also having set these apart separately, he numbered them by themselves; therefore, not without reason did he make the three divisions for the reasons given.

12. Why, when seventeen kings reigned from the time of David until Jeconiah and the captivity in

Babylon, does the evangelist say there were fourteen generations.

1. If his purpose was to record successions, one might reasonably have

found fault with him for setting aside the succession of the kings; for in the books of Kings and in Chronicles, in agreement after Joram the son of Josaphat, three reigned in succession, Ahaziah and Joash and Amaziah, then after them Uzziah and Jotham and Ahaz, the evangelist, having passed over the first three, after Joram the son of Josaphat next connects Uzziah and Jotham and Ahaz, having passed over those mentioned in between; but if he had done this with the aim of setting forth the succession of kings, it would have been necessary to expose his writing as mistaken; but since he proposed not to number successions but generations—for this is what his account intends by saying, "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and again from David to Jeconiah and the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations," but not fourteen successions—he would reasonably be acquitted of every charge; since why did he not name successions, while the history in Kings and Chronicles records successions but not generations, there would be no contradiction from the comparison of both.

2. For it is not possible to call the time of a person's life a generation, since it often happens that some live for a short time, and are extinguished sooner in childhood, while others reach youth, and others advance to young manhood, others to manhood, and others extend their life even to extreme old age; what generation, then, will one count? if one reaches the tenth year, another the twentieth, another the fiftieth, another the seventieth, and one who has even passed a hundred is seen not only among the ancients but also in our time; how then do they think to call a human life a generation? but not even up to childbearing; for some have married and had children before twenty years, while others have not even when they are over thirty; and among those of the same age you might see some having their first sons, while others have reached great-grandchildren; so that in fifty years, some have seen their grandchildren, while others at seventy have not been deemed worthy of any child; how then are the generations to be counted? Whether from the long-lived or the short-lived? and from the

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μέχρι τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας, ὡς πάλιν ἡ ἀπὸ ταύτης μέχρι τοῦ Χριστοῦ· ἀπὸ μὲν γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ ἐπὶ τὸν ∆αβὶδ οὐ φαίνονται ὑπὸ βασιλέας πολιτευσάμενοι· ἦρξαν δὲ τοῦ ἔθνους μετὰ Μωϋσέα καὶ Ἰησοῦν οἱ ἐπικληθέντες παρ' αὐτοῖς κριταί· καὶ ἦν τις ἴδιος τρόπος τῆς τούτων καταβάσεως· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμά πως συνειστήκει, οὐδέ γε ὁ ἐν αὐτοῖς νεώς· διόπερ ἐπιστημόνως ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς μὴ συγχέων τὴν ἱστορίαν, μέχρι ∆αβὶδ ἔστη, τοὺς ἀπὸ Ἀβραὰμ ἰδίως καταριθμήσας· εἶτ' οὖν πάλιν ἐπειδήπερ ἀπὸ ∆αβὶδ καὶ μέχρι τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας οἰκείοις κέχρηνται βασιλεῦσι, τοῖς τε ἀπὸ ∆αβὶδ ἄρξασι καὶ τοῖς ἐν τῇ διαστάσει τοῦ λαοῦ γενομένοις· τό τε ἐν τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἱερὸν ἐξ ἐκείνου καὶ μέχρι τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας διήρκεσεν, εἰκότως καὶ τούτους πάλιν ἰδίως ἀφορίσας, ὑφ' ἕνα συνήγαγεν ἀριθμόν· ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας μέχρι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, παρ' οἷς οὐκέτι μὲν ἡ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ συνέστη βασιλεία, μεταπεπτώκει δὲ τὰ τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ Ἰούδα φυλῆς ἐπὶ τὸ τῶν ἱερέων γένος, οἳ δὴ καὶ ἦρξαν αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τῶν Κύρου χρόνων καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ γένεσιν· ὅθεν καὶ τούτους ἰδίως ἀφορίσας, καθ' ἑαυτοὺς ἠρίθμησεν· οὐκ ἀσυλλογίστως ἄρα τὰς τρεῖς πεποίηται διαστολὰς διὰ τὰς ἀποδοθείσας αἰτίας.

ΙΒʹ. ∆ιὰ τί ἀπὸ τῶν ∆αβὶδ χρόνων ἐπὶ Ἰεχονίαν καὶ τὴν εἰς

Βαβυλῶνα αἰχμαλωσίαν ἑπτὰ καὶ δέκα βασιλευσάντων, δεκατέσσαρας εἶναί φησι γε νεὰς ὁ εὐαγγελιστής.

αʹ. Εἰ μὲν διαδοχὰς ἀναγράφειν αὐτῷ προύκειτο 22.924 καὶ εὐλόγως τις

ἐμέμψατο ὡς παρεκθεμένῳ τὴν τῶν βασιλέων διαδοχήν· ἐν γὰρ ταῖς Βασιλείαις καὶ ἐν τοῖς Παραλειπομένοις συμφώνως μετὰ Ἰωρὰμ τὸν τοῦ Ἰωσαφὰτ, τριῶν ἐφεξῆς βασιλευσάντων Ὀχοζία καὶ Ἰωὰς καὶ Ἀμεσία, εἶτα μετ' αὐτοὺς Ὀζία καὶ Ἰωάθακαὶ Ἄχαζ, παρελθὼν τοὺς προτέρους τοὺς τρεῖς ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς, μετὰ Ἰωρὰμ τὸν τοῦ Ἰωσαφὰτ ἑξῆς συνάπτει τὸν Ὀζίαν καὶ τὸν Ἰωάθαμ καὶ τὸν Ἄχαζ, τοὺς εἰρημένους μεταξὺ παρελθών· τοῦτο δ' εἰ πεποιήκει σκοπὸν θέμενος τὴν τῶν βασιλέων διαδοχὴν ἐκθέσθαι, χρῆν ὡς ἡμαρτημένην ἐκθέσθαι τὴν παρ' αὐτῷ γραφήν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐ διαδοχὰς, ἀλλὰ γενεὰς ἀριθμῆσαι προὔθετο, τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ λόγος αὐτῷ βούλεται φήσαντι «Πᾶσαι οὖν αἱ γενεαὶ ἀπὸ Ἀβραὰμ μέχρι ∆αβὶδ, γενεαὶ δεκατέσσαρες· καὶ πάλιν ἀπὸ ∆αβὶδ μέχρι Ἰεχονίου καὶ τῆς μετοικησίας Βαβυλῶνος, γενεαὶ δεκατέσσαρες» ἀλλ' οὐ διαδοχαὶ δεκατέσσαρες, εἰκότως πάσης ἀπολύοιτ' ἂν κατηγορίας· ἐπεὶ διὰ τί μὴ διαδοχὰς ὠνόμασε, τῆς δὲ ἐν ταῖς Βασιλείαις καὶ Παραλειπομένοις ἱστορίας διαδοχὰς ἀλλ' οὐ γενεὰς ἱστορούσης, οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο ἐναντίωμα ἐκ τῆς ἀμφοτέρων παραθέσεως.

βʹ. Γενεὰν γὰρ χρόνον ἀνθρώπου ζωῆς οὐχ οἷόν τέ ἐστιν ὀνομάζειν, ἐπεὶ συμβαίνει πολλάκις τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ βραχὺ βιῶναι, καὶ θᾶττον ἀποσβεσθῆναι κατὰ τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς ἡλικίαν, τοὺς δὲ μέχρι τοῦ μειρακίου φθάσαι, τοὺς δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν νεανίαν προελθεῖν, τοὺς δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν ἄνδρα, τοὺς δὲ καὶ ἐπ' ἔσχατον γῆρας παρατεῖναι τὴν ζωήν· ποίαν οὖν τις ἀριθμήσει γενεάν; εἰ ὁ μὲν φέρει μέχρι δεκάτου ἔτους, ὁ δὲ μέχρις εἰκοστοῦ, ὁ δὲ μέχρις πεντηκοστοῦ, ἄλλος δὲ μέχρις ἑβδομηκοστοῦ, ὁ δὲ καὶ τὰ ἑκατὸν ὑπερβὰς οὐ μόνον ἐπὶ τῶν παλαιῶν ἀλλὰ καὶ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὁρᾶται· πῶς οὖν οἴονται τὴν ἀνθρώπου ζωὴν γενεὰν ὀνομάζειν; ἀλλ' οὐδὲ μέχρι τῆς παιδοποιΐας οἱ μὲν γὰρ πρὸ τῶν εἴκοσι ἐτῶν γήμαντες πεπαιδοποίηνται, οἱ δὲ οὐδὲ ὑπὲρ τὰ τριάκοντα γενόμενοι· καὶ τῶν ἰσηλίκων δὲ ἴδοις ἂν τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ πρώτους υἱοὺς στάντας, τοὺς δὲ ἐπὶ τετραγονίαν ἐλάσαντας· ὥστε ἐν πεντήκοντα ἔτεσι, τοὺς μὲν ἐκγόνους θεάσασθαι, ἑτέρους δὲ ἐν ἑβδομήκοντα μηδενὸς ἀξιωθῆναι παιδός· πῶς οὖν ἀριθμητέον τὰς γενεάς; πότερον ἐκ τῶν μακροβίων ἢ τῶν ὀλιγοβίων; καὶ ἐκ τῶν