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The suffering was not from intemperance; for he was the first of men to press the fruit of the vine, and being ignorant not only of the quantity of the drink, but also of the manner of its partaking, that one must first mix it, and then drink, he fell into a deep sleep. And he suffered nothing new in being naked; for even now some become naked while sleeping, with sleep taking away their perception. And with drunkenness being added to sleep, it makes the excuse for the nakedness more plausible.

54 LVII Since the law which commands to honor one's father and mother had not yet been established, how is Ham judged as one who dishonors his father?

The Creator implanted the necessary laws in nature. Thus he condemned Cain, since nature itself taught him that murder is unlawful. For immediately, using deceit as an accomplice, leading him far from his parents, he killed his brother. And when God asked, "where is Abel your brother?"; he denied it. It is clear that since he knew what had been done was evil, he denied what he had dared. But having been convicted by the just judge, he confessed to have sinned beyond forgiveness. "For my sin," he says, "is greater than that it may be forgiven me." And indeed Adam too, perceiving the divine manifestation, tried to hide, as one who knew that to steal is evil. Thus also Ham received the accusation of one who dishonors his father, as one who had transgressed the law of nature. For that nature taught also to honor one's parents, Ham's brothers bear witness, who, having learned of their father's suffering from him, with great reverence covered their father, walking backwards, so that they would in no way see from where, having been sown, they had sprung forth. Therefore, very fittingly they also reaped their father's blessing.

LVIII Why, when Ham had sinned, did his son receive the curse?

All together after the cessation of the flood partook of the divine blessing. Therefore Noah considered it a bold thing to bring a curse upon one who had 55 shared in the divine blessing. For this reason he placed the curse upon his son. And the punishment has its justice. For since being a son he sinned against his father, through the curse of his son he receives punishment. Besides these things, this also should be considered, that if Ham himself had received the curse, the punishment would have passed to his entire race. But he passed the chastisement on to the youngest son, and this was also fitting to know, that the words of the just man are a prophecy, not a curse. For since Israel, tracing its lineage from Shem, was about to take dominion over Palestine; and this land had long been inhabited by those who had sprung from Canaan; he frames the prophecy as a curse, foretelling what would be, and frightening those who would come later not to sin against their parents. And the blessing of Shem teaches us this clearly. "For blessed," he says, "be the Lord, the God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant." For he did not subject him to the two, but only to Shem. And he foretold the numerous progeny of Japheth, but the piety of Shem. For he foretold that God would dwell in the tents of Shem. And he dwelt among the patriarchs from Shem, and among the prophets who sprang from them; and in the tabernacle before, and in Jerusalem later. And the prophecy had its precise fulfillment in the mystery of the economy; when God the Word himself, the only-begotten Son of God the Father, was incarnate and became man and called the flesh he took from the seed of David and Abraham his temple. For these too traced their lineage from Shem. And the slavery of Canaan received its fulfillment in the Gibeonites.

56 LIX Some of the teachers said that bitumen was unquenchable lime.

Being ignorant, as is likely, of the springs in Assyria, they thought the tower was built with unquenchable lime. But I have learned accurately from those who came from there, that there are springs gushing forth this substance with water; and that for buildings in water, weaving it together, they placed the baked brick upon this. Thus they say that tower was built, and eyewitnesses of this even claimed to have dug out a part, and to have determined accurately that bitumen is laid under the baked bricks. And besides, that there is a scarcity of stones

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οὐκ ἀκρασίας τὸ πάθος· πρῶτος γὰρ ἀνθρώπων ἀποθλίψας τὸν τῆς ἀμπέλου καρπόν, καὶ ἀγνοῶν οὐ μόνον τὸ πόσον τῆς πόσεως, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς μεταλήψεως, ὅτι δεῖ κεράσαι πρότερον, εἶθ' οὕτω πιεῖν, τὸν κάρον ὑπέμεινε· καινὸν δὲ οὐδὲν πέπονθε γυμνωθείς· καὶ γὰρ νῦν τινες γυμνοῦνται καθεύδοντες, ἀφαιρουμένου τοῦ ὕπνου τὴν αἴσθησιν· τῷ ὕπνῳ δὲ ἡ μέθη προσγινομένη, πιθανωτέραν τῆς γυμ νώσεως τὴν ἀπολογίαν ποιεῖ. 54 LVII Τοῦ νόμου μηδέπω τεθέντος ὃς διαγορεύει τιμᾶν τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μη τέρα, πῶς ὁ Χὰμ ὡς πατραλοίας κρίνεται; Τῇ φύσει τοὺς ἀναγκαίους ἐντέθεικε νόμους ὁ ποιητής. οὕτω τὸν Κάϊν κατέκρινεν ἐπειδήπερ αὐτὸν ἡ φύσις ἐδίδασκεν, ὡς ὁ φόνος παράνομος· αὐτίκα γοῦν δόλῳ χρησάμενος συνεργῷ, πόρρῳ τῶν γεγεννηκότων ἀπα γαγών, ἀνεῖλε τὸν ἀδελφὸν καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ πυνθανομένου, " ποῦ Ἄβελ ὁ ἀδελφός σου "; ἠρνήθη· δῆλον δὲ ὡς ἐπιστάμενος ὅτι κακὸν τὸ γεγενημένον ἠρνήθη τὸ τολμηθέν· ἐλεγχθεὶς δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ δικαίου κριτοῦ, ὡμολόγησεν ὑπὲρ συγγνώμην ἡμαρτηκέναι· " μεί ζων, γάρ φησιν, ἡ ἁμαρτία μου τοῦ ἀφεθῆναί με ". καὶ μέντοι καὶ ὁ Ἀδὰμ τῆς θείας ἐπιφανείας αἰσθόμενος ἐπειράθη λαθεῖν, ὡς εἰδὼς ὅτι δὴ τὸ κλέπτειν κακόν· οὕτω καὶ ὁ Χὰμ τὴν τοῦ πατραλοίου κατηγορίαν ἐδέξατο, ὡς παραβὰς τὸν τῆς φύσεως νόμον· ὅτι γὰρ καὶ τὸ γεραίρειν τοὺς γεγεννηκότας ἡ φύσις ἐδίδασκε, μαρτυροῦσιν οἱ τοῦ Χὰμ ἀδελφοί, οἳ τοῦ πατρὸς τὸ πάθος παρ' ἐκείνου μεμαθηκότες μετὰ πολλῆς αἰδοῦς συνεκάλυψαν τὸν πατέρα εἰς τοὐπίσω βαδίζοντες, ὡς ἂν ἥκιστα ἴδοιεν ὅθεν σπαρέντες ἐβλάστησαν· τοιγάρτοι μάλα εἰκότως καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν εὐλογίαν ἐδρέψαντο. LVIII Τί δήποτε τοῦ Χὰμ ἐπταικότος, ὁ ἐκείνου παῖς ἐδέξατο τὴν ἀράν; Κοινῇ πάντες μετὰ τὴν τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ παῦλαν τῆς θείας μετέλαχον εὐλογίας· τολμηρὸν τοίνυν ὑπέλαβεν ὁ Νῶε ἐπαγαγεῖν ἀρὰν τῷ τῆς 55 θείας εὐλογίας μετειληχότι· τούτου χάριν τῷ ἐκείνου παιδὶ περιτέθεικε τὴν ἀράν· ἔχει δὲ καὶ ἡ τιμωρία τὸ δίκαιον. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ υἱὸς ὢν ἐξήμαρτεν εἰς πατέρα, διὰ τῆς τοῦ παιδὸς ἀρᾶς δέχεται τιμωρίαν. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις σκοπητέον κἀκεῖνο, ὡς εἰ αὐτὸς ὁ Χὰμ ἐδέξατο τὴν ἀράν, εἰς ὅλον ἂν διέβη τὸ γένος ἡ τιμωρία· εἰς δὲ τὸν νεώτατον υἱὸν τὴν παιδείαν παρέπεμψε, καὶ τοῦτο δὲ εἰδέναι προσέκει, ὡς πρόρρησίς ἐστιν, οὐκ ἀρά, τοῦ δικαίου τὰ ῥήματα· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔμελλεν ὁ Ἰσραὴλ ἐκ τοῦ Σὴμ κατάγων τὸ γένος, τῆς Παλαιστίνης παραλαμβάνειν τὴν δεσποτείαν· ταύτην δὲ πάλαι ᾤκουν οἱ ἐκ τοῦ Χαναὰν βεβλαστηκότες· εἰς ἀρὰν σχηματίζει τὴν πρόρ ρησιν, προαγορεύων μὲν τὰ ἐσόμενα, δεδιττόμενος δὲ τοὺς ὕστερον ἐσο μένους, μὴ πλημμελεῖν εἰς γονέας. καὶ τοῦτο σαφῶς ἡμᾶς ἡ τοῦ Σὴμ εὐλογία διδάσκει· " εὐλογητός, γάρ φησι, Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ Σήμ· καὶ ἔσται Χανάαν παῖς αὐτοῦ ". Οὐ γὰρ τοῖς δύο τοῦτον ὑπέταξεν ἀλλὰ μόνῳ τῷ Σήμ· καὶ τοῦ μὲν Ἰάφεθ τὴν πολυ γονίαν προείρηκε, τοῦ δὲ Σὴμ τὴν εὐσέβειαν· τὸν γὰρ Θεὸν ἐν τοῖς σκη νώμασι τοῦ Σὴμ κατοικήσειν προείρηκε· κατῴκησε δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ Σὴμ πατριάρχαις, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐκ τούτων βεβλαστηκόσι προφήταις· καὶ ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ πρότερον, καὶ ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ὕστερον. ἀκριβὲς δὲ τέλος ἔσχη κεν ἡ προφητεία τὸ τῆς οἰκονομίας μυστήριον· ὅτε αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς λόγος, ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς μονογενὴς υἱὸς ἐσαρκώθη καὶ ἐνηνθρώπησε καὶ ναὸν ἑαυτοῦ προσηγόρευσεν, ἣν ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αβὶδ καὶ Ἀβραὰμ ἔλαβε σάρκα· ἐκ τοῦ Σὴμ γὰρ καὶ οὗτοι κατῆγον τὸ γένος· ἡ δὲ τοῦ Χανάαν δουλεία ἐν τοῖς γαβαωνίταις τὸ τέλος ἐδέξατο. 56 LIX Τὴν ἄσφαλτόν τινες τῶν διδασκάλων ἄσβεστον ἔφασαν εἶναι. Ἀγνοοῦντες, ὡς εἰκός, τὰς ἐν τῇ Ἀσσυρίᾳ πηγάς, ᾠήθησαν ἀσβέστῳ τὸν πύργον ᾠκοδομεῖσθαι. ἀκριβῶς δὲ παρὰ τῶν ἐκεῖθεν ἀφικομένων με μάθηκα, ὡς εἰσὶ πηγαὶ ταύτην ἀναβλύζουσαι τὴν ὕλην μεθ' ὕδατος· καὶ ὅτι ταῖς ἐν ὕδασιν οἰκοδομίαις συνυφαίνοντες, ἐπὶ ταύτης τὴν ὠπτημένην συνετίθεσαν πλίνθον. οὕτω τὸν πύργον ἐκεῖνον ᾠκοδομῆσθαί φασι, καὶ οἱ αὐτόπται τούτου καὶ διορύξαι τι μέρος ἰσχυρίσαντο, καὶ ἀκριβῶς διαγνῶναι, ὡς ἄσφαλτος ταῖς ὠπτημέναις ὑπέστρωται πλίνθοις. ἄλλως τε καὶ λίθων εἶναι σπάνιν