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

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 upon among all the most eminent historians and philosophers, who have all said that nature is the mother of the irrational animals, and the stepmother of men, perceiving the bodily weakness of men, and the surpassing strength of brute animals in everything. With great propriety, therefore, the artist pounded the calf to pieces; that is to say, dividing it into parts, he showed that all the things which the body has in abundance are very far removed from real good, and are in no respect different from those things which are scattered on the water. (163) On which account the scripture tells us that the calf, after having been pounded to pieces, was scattered on the water, to signify that no genuine plant of good can ever flourish in corruptible matter; for as a seed, when thrown into the stream of a river or into the sea, cannot display its proper powers; for it is impossible, unless it has once taken hold with its roots, as with anchors, of some firm portion of earth, that any branch should be firmly fixed or should shoot up, I do not say to any height, but even as a creeper along the ground, or that it should ever bring forth fruit at the periodical seasons of the year, for any great and violent rush of water coming on washes away all the germinating vigour of the seed. In the same manner all the superfluities contained in the vessel of the soul which are ever spoken of or celebrated are destroyed before they can have any existence, the corporeal substance continually flowing off from them. (164) For how can there be such things as disease and old age and all kinds of corruptions, if there were not a continual drawing off of words, which are theoretical streams; the hierophant, therefore, thinks it Right[i have followed Mangey here in reading axioi, instead of apaxioi, though he prints the latter in the text as the reading of all the MSS.] to irrigate our minds with these words, for the sake of burning up the pleasures, of pounding to pieces and reducing to a thin and impalpable dust, and utterly destroying the system of the corporeal goods; and of making us recollect that the true good has never at any time germinated or blossomed from any one of them, just as nothing flourishes from seeds which are sown in water.