A Treatise on the Posterity of Cain, the Man Wise in His own Conceit and on the Way in Which Cain Became an Exile.

 I. (1) And Cain went out from before the face of God, and dwelt in the land of Nod, opposite to Eden.[Ge 4:16.] Now we may raise the question whethe

 II. (5) And from whence does Cain go forth? is it from the palace of the ruler of the world? But what house of God can exist perceptible by the outwar

 III. (10) Accordingly God banished Adam but Cain went forth from his presence of his own accord Moses here showing to us the manner of each sort of

 IV. (12) Therefore punishment which is the chastiser of impious men, will await Cain who has now departed from before the face of God, but Moses will

 V. (14) At all events, he will now penetrate into the darkness where God Was.[Ex 20:13.] That is to say, into those unapproachable and invisible con

 VI. (17) On this account too, Abraham, when he had come unto the place which God had told him of, On the third day, looking up, saw the place afar Of

 VII. (22) It is worth while also to consider the wickedness into which a man who flies from the face of God is driven, since it is called a tempest. T

 VIII. (24) On this account it is written in the curses contained in scripture, Thou shalt never rest nor shall there be any rest for the sole of thy

 IX. (27) Let these men, then, hang by their appetites as by a halter but the wise Abraham, where he stands, comes near to God, who is also standing.

 X. (32) Having, therefore, now pointed out each variety, the tranquillity of the good man, and the state of agitation in which the bad man lives, let

 XI. (33) After he had said this he proceeds to say, And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bare Enoch and he built a city, and called the nam

 XII. (40) But as after Cain had begotten Enoch, one of the posterity of Seth is also subsequently called Enoch, it may be well to consider, whether th

 XIII. (44) Having, therefore, thus distinguished the indications intended to be afforded by the name of Enoch, let us now proceed in regular order to

 XIV. (49) And it may become us next to consider on what account this same man is represented as founding and building a city, for it is only a multitu

 XV. (52) Since, therefore, every city consists of houses and inhabitants, and laws, the houses, in Cain's case, are the reasons which he alleges to pr

 XVI. (54) And to such a pitch of accursed impiety have they gone, that not only do they attempt to raise up such cities by themselves, but they even c

 XVII. (59) This hill Jacob, the wrestler with God, in his agreements with Laban, calls a witness, showing in a most express manner, and in the form of

 XVIII. (63) On which principle also it is that he also calls Israel, who was the younger brother in point of time, the first born Son,[Ex 4:22.] jud

 XIX. (66) Now the son of Enoch is called Gaidad, [Ge 4:18.] which, being interpreted, means a flock of sheep, very consistently with what has gone bef

 XX. (69) On which account the son of Gaided is called Mehel, the name which, being interpreted, means, from the life of God. For since the flock is

 XXI. (73) What, then, follows a man who lives not in accordance with the will of God but the death of the soul? And this is named Methuselah, the inte

 XXII. (75) And Lamech took to himself two wives the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other was Zillah.[Ge 4:19.] Everything which a wi

 XXIII. (78) Now it is not without a purpose that the differences between these persons are recorded by the lawgiver. For in the case of those who prac

 XXIV. (83) Do thou, therefore, O my mind, avoid Adah, who bears witness to evil things, and who is borne witness to on each of its attempts at such th

 XXV. (89) But it is not our creation that has established these boundaries, but reasons, which are older than we, or than any thing upon the earth an

 XXVI. (91) Perhaps, therefore, it is the right reason of our souls that he calls their father, and its companions and friends that he calls elders. Th

 XXVII. (94) For it is always the case that if a second impression is stamped upon any thing, the mark of any previous one is effaced. But the impressi

 XXVIII. (96) But a thing which is sacred is proved to be so by three witnesses, the middle number, education, and perfect number. On which account it

 XXIX. (98) Thus much it may be sufficient to say concerning him who changes and adulterates the ancient coinage, whom Moses also calls the father of

 XXX. (100) And Jacob's brother, he says, was Jubal, [Ge 4:21.] and the interpretation of this latter name is inclining, being symbolically speech ac

 XXXI. (103) Now this Jubal, says Moses, is the father who showed men the use of the psaltery and of the Harp.[Ge 4:21.] He in the strictest consis

 XXXII. (105) Perhaps, at all events, flutes and lyres, and similar instruments which utter melodies, are as far inferior to the music of nightingales

 XXXIII. (112) The descendants, therefore, of Adah, and what she herself is, have now been explained. Let us consider next the other wife of Lamech, Zi

 XXXIV. (116) Then Moses says, He was a hammer-beater and forger of brass and Iron:[Ge 4:22, where he is called Tubalcain.] for the soul of that man

 XXXV. (120) Moses proceeds to say, that Tubal's sister was Noeman, the interpretation of which name is fatness. For it follows that those who pursue

 XXXVI. (124) Therefore, concerning the wives of Lamech and his children, I think that enough has been said. Let us now consider what we may look upon

 XXXVII. (127) On which account it is said in Genesis, And a fountain went up from the earth, and watered all the face of the Earth.[Ge 2:6.] For sin

 XXXVIII. (130) And of what kind they are, he proceeds to show in a few words, deriving his explanation from the natural things of art for he introduc

 XXXIX. (132) But Rebekkah is found to give her pupil drink no longer by improvement, but by perfection. How so the law will tell us: For the damsel,

 XL. (134) Now of the four virtues, some are always virgins, and some from having been women become changed into virgins, as Sarah did For it had cea

 XLI. (136) But Rebekkah, says Moses, went down to the fountain to fill her pitcher, and came up again. For from what source is it natural for the

 XLII. (139) Most correctly, therefore, after the servant has said, Give me a little water to drink, does she make answer, not in the manner correspo

 XLIII. (142) On which account Moses says in another passage, Thou shalt lend a loan to him who asks you for one, as much as he requires, having regar

 XLIV. (146) Rebekkah, therefore, must be praised, who, in obedience to the injunctions of her father, having taken down the vessel of wisdom on her ar

 XLV. (153) And we must inquire the cause why the handmaid gave the servant drink from the fountain, but gave the camels water from the well. May it no

 XLVI. (158) This is the food of a soul which is inclined to the practice of virtue, to consider labour a very sweet thing instead of a bitter one, whi

 XLVII. (162) And why need I dwell on the subject more, going through each of the senses and animals separately? For this point has been long agreed up

 XLVIII. (165) But bulls, and rams, and goats, which Egypt holds in honour, and all other images of corruptible matter which, in report alone, are acco

 XLIX. (170) Therefore the mind having generated the foundation of good [...][there is again an hiatus in the text here. Mangey conjectures diago�ge�s,

 L. (172) But when Moses says here that Seth sprung up as another or different seed, he does not say from which it was different was it different from

 LI. (174) And consider the advances towards improvement made by the soul of the man who is eager for, and insatiable in, his craving after good things

 LII. (177) On which account Moses has separated his impious and obscure progeny from the whole of the divine company for he says, The Ammonites and

 LIII. (180) And the leader of this opinion is Onan the brother of the skin-wearing Er. For he, says the scripture, knowing that the seed would not

 LIV. (182) From which that priest and servant of the only good God, Phineas, rising up[--that wise regulator of all the corporeal words and expression

XXIII. (78) Now it is not without a purpose that the differences between these persons are recorded by the lawgiver. For in the case of those who practise virtue and improve, and become

better, their deliberate choice of the good bears testimony that their labour shall not be dismissed without its reward; but in the case of those who are endued with self-taught and naturally implanted wisdom, it follows that reason is betrothed to them not by their own act, but by God, and that they take unto themselves knowledge, the fitting companion through life of the wise. (79) But he who is wholly devoted to the things of ordinary men, the lowly and grovelling-minded Lamech, first of all takes for his wife Adah, which name being interpreted, means "witness," having been his own manager of this marriage. For he thinks that Leah, which means the motion and passage out of the mind according to easy perceptions, without anything interfering to hinder its easy comprehension of all things, is the first good for man. (80) "For what," says he, "could be better than that one's thoughts, one's contemplations, one's conjectures, one's suspicions, in a word, all one's ideas, should, as I may say, proceed on well-set feet, so as to arrive at their desired goal without stumbling, the mind being borne witness to in everything that is uttered." But I, if any man employs a felicitous and well directed mind to good objects only, account that man happy taking the law for my teacher in this view. For the law called Joseph "a prosperous Man,"[Ge 39:3.] not in all things, but "in those matters in which God gave him prosperity." And all the gifts of God are good. (81) But if any one uses the acuteness and readiness of his nature, not solely for virtuous objects, but also for opposite purposes, being himself indifferent in a matter which is not indifferent, he should be accounted unhappy. At all events, it is said, in the manner of a curse, in the place where mention is made of the confusion of tongues, "And now nothing will be restrained from them of all the things which they have imagined to Do."[Ge 11:6.] For in truth it is an irremediable calamity for the soul to be prosperous in whatever it undertakes, when its undertakings are disgraceful. (82) But I should pray, if ever I had a design to commit injustice, that I might fail in my iniquity; and if I had a wish to live in a manner unbecoming a man, that I might fail in my intemperance; and if I wished to conduct myself with boldness and unscrupulous wickedness, that my failure in such boldness and unscrupulous wickedness might be complete: unless in the case of those who have determined to steal, or to commit adultery, or to murder, it is not an advantage to find their purposes in all these matters fail and become abortive.