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a physician, so that the sick person might flee to him. But he not only hides the wound, but even works another one by adding a lie to the murder: “I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?” From this point on, he enumerates the punishments. “Cursed is the ground because of you.” One punishment. “You will work the ground.” This is a second one. For a certain unspeakable necessity was yoked to him, urging him to the work of the earth, so that not even when he wished was it possible for him to rest, but he was always to toil miserably on his hostile earth which he had made cursed for himself by defiling it with his brother's blood. “Therefore you will work the ground.” A terrible punishment: living among those who hate you, having an enemy, an unceasing foe, as a housemate. “You will work the ground,” that is, being strained by agricultural labors you will have no time for rest, being released from toils neither by night nor by day, but having an unspeakable necessity, more harsh than some bitter master, rousing you to your labors. “And it will no longer yield to you its strength.” And yet even if the ceaseless labor had some fruit, the toil itself is no moderate torment to the one always straining and wearying. But since the labor is both ceaseless and the hardship concerning the earth is fruitless (for it did not yield its strength), this is a third punishment, the fruitlessness of his toils. “Groaning and trembling you shall be upon the earth.” He added two others to the three: continual groaning and a trembling of the body, since his limbs did not have support from their strength. For since he had used the power of his body badly, its tone was taken away, so that he was shaken and convulsed, able neither to bring bread to his mouth easily nor to carry drink, the wicked hand after the unholy deed no longer being permitted to serve even the body's own and necessary needs. Another punishment which Cain himself revealed, saying: “If you drive me out now from the land, I shall also be hidden from your face.” What does this mean: “If you drive me out from the land”? That is, if you separate me from the benefit from it. For he was not being moved to another place, but was being alienated from the good things upon it. “And from your face I shall be hidden.” The gravest punishment for the sober-minded, separation from God. “And it will be,” he says, “that everyone who finds me will kill me.” He conjectures from what follows from the preceding things. If I have been cast out from the land, if I shall be hidden from your face, it remains that I will be killed by everyone. What then does the Lord do? “Not so.” But he put a mark on him. This is a seventh punishment, that the punishment could not even be hidden, but was proclaimed to all by a manifest sign that this is the one who is the author of unholy deeds. For to one who reasons correctly, the gravest of punishments is shame, which we have also learned concerning the Judgment, that these will rise to eternal life and these to eternal shame and reproach. 260.5 A related question follows this, the one spoken by Lamech to his wives: “For I have killed a man for wounding me, and a young man for striking me; for vengeance has been taken on Cain sevenfold, but on Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” And some think that Cain was killed by Lamech, as he had survived until that generation in order to receive a longer punishment. But this is not true. For he appears to have committed two murders, from what he himself recounts. “I have killed a man and a young man”: the man for a wound and the young man for a bruise. Therefore a wound is one thing and a bruise another. And a man is one thing and a young man another. “For vengeance has been taken on Cain sevenfold, but on Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” I am justly liable to undergo four hundred and ninety punishments, if God's judgment upon Cain was just, so that he should suffer seven punishments. For just as he did not learn from another how to murder, so also he did not see a murderer undergoing punishment. But I, having before my eyes the one groaning and trembling and the greatness of God's wrath, was not brought to my senses by the example. Therefore I am worthy to suffer four hundred and ninety punishments. But some toward

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ἰατρός, ἵνα προσφύγῃ αὐτῷ ὁ ἀσθενῶν. Ὁ δὲ οὐ μόνον κρύπτει τὸ ἕλκος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕτερον προσεξεργάζεται τῷ φόνῳ τὸ ψεῦδος ἐπισυνάπτων· «Οὐκ οἶδα. Μὴ φύλαξ εἰμὶ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ μου ἐγώ;» Ἐντεῦθεν λοιπὸν ἀπαριθμεῖ τὰς τιμωρίας. «Ἐπικατάρατος ἡ γῆ ἀπὸ σοῦ». Μία κόλα σις. «Ἐργᾷ τὴν γῆν». ∆ευτέρα αὕτη. Ἀνάγκη γάρ τις ἄρρητος αὐτῷ συνέζευκτο πρὸς τὸ ἔργον τῆς γῆς αὐτὸν κατεπείγουσα, ὥστε μηδὲ βουλομένῳ ἐξεῖναι ἀναπαύεσθαι, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ αὐτὸν προσταλαιπωρεῖσθαι τῇ ἐχθρᾷ αὐτοῦ γῇ ἣν ἐπικατάρατον ἑαυτῷ ἐποίησε μιάνας ἀδελφικῷ αἵματι. «Ἐργᾷ οὖν τὴν γῆν». ∆εινὴ τιμωρία· ἡ μετὰ τῶν μισούν των διαγωγή, σύνοικον ἔχειν πολέμιον, ἄπαυστον ἐχθρόν. «Ἐργᾷ τὴν γῆν», τουτέστι, κατατεινόμενος τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς γεηπονικοῖς οὐδένα χρόνον ἀνήσεις, οὔτε νυκτὸς οὔτε ἡμέρας ἐκλυόμενος ἐκ τῶν πόνων, ἀλλὰ δεσπότου τινὸς πικροῦ χαλεπωτέραν ἔχων τὴν ἄρρητον ἀνάγκην ἐπὶ τὰ ἔργα σε διεγείρουσαν. «Καὶ οὐ προσθήσει δοῦναι τὴν ἰσχὺν αὐτῆς». Καίτοι εἰ καὶ τὸ τῆς ἐργασίας ἄπαυστον εἶχέ τινα καρπόν, αὐτὸς ὁ πόνος οὐ μετρία βάσανος τῷ ἀεὶ κατατει νομένῳ καὶ κοπιῶντι. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ ἐργασία ἄπαυστος καὶ ἄκαρπος ἡ περὶ γῆν ταλαιπωρία (οὐ γὰρ ἐδίδου τὴν ἰσχύν), τρίτη αὕτη ἐστὶ τιμωρία, ἡ ἀκαρπία τῶν πόνων. «Στένων καὶ τρέμων ἔσῃ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς». ∆ύο προσέθηκεν ἄλλας ταῖς τρισί· στεναγμὸν διηνεκῆ καὶ τρόμον τοῦ σώματος, τὸν ἐκ τῆς ἰσχύος στηριγμὸν τῶν μελῶν οὐκ ἐχόντων. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ κακῶς ἐχρήσατο τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ σώματος, ὑφῃρέθη αὐτοῦ ὁ τόνος, ὥστε κλονεῖσθαι αὐτὸν καὶ κατασείεσθαι, οὔτε ἄρτον ῥᾳδίως δυνάμενον προσφέρειν τῷ στόματι οὔτε ποτὸν προσ κομίζειν, τῆς πονηρᾶς χειρὸς μετὰ τὴν ἀνοσίαν πρᾶξιν οὐδὲ ταῖς ἰδίαις καὶ ἀναγκαίαις τοῦ σώματος χρείαις λοιπὸν ὑπηρετεῖσθαι συγχωρουμένης. Ἄλλη τιμωρία ἣν αὐτὸς ἀπε κάλυψεν ὁ Κάϊν εἰπών· «Εἰ ἐκβάλλεις με νῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου σου κρυβήσομαι». Τί ἐστι τό· «Εἰ ἐκβάλλεις με ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς»; Τουτέστιν εἰ χωρίζεις με τῆς ἀπ' αὐτῆς ὠφελείας. Οὐ γὰρ μετετίθετο ἐφ' ἕτερον τόπον, ἀλλ' ἠλλοτριοῦτο τῶν ἐπ' αὐτῆς καλῶν. «Καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσ ώπου σου κρυβήσομαι». Ἡ βαρυτάτη κόλασις τοῖς σωφρο νοῦσιν, ὁ ἀπὸ Θεοῦ χωρισμός. «Καὶ ἔσται, φησί, πᾶς ὁ εὑρίσκων με ἀποκτενεῖ με». Εἰκάζει ἐκ τοῦ ἀκολούθου τῶν προαγόντων. Εἰ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἐκβέβλημαι, εἰ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσ ώπου σου κρυβήσομαι, λείπεται ἀπὸ παντὸς ἀναιρεῖσθαι. Τί οὖν ὁ Κύριος; «Οὐχ οὕτως». Ἀλλ' ἔθετο σημεῖον ἐπ' αὐτόν. Ἑβδόμη αὕτη τιμωρία, τὸ μηδὲ κρύπτεσθαι τὴν τιμωρίαν, ἀλλὰ σημείῳ προδήλῳ πᾶσι προκεκηρύχθαι ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τῶν ἀνοσίων ἔργων δημιουργός. Καὶ γὰρ ὀρθῶς λογιζομένῳ βαρυτάτη κολάσεων ἡ αἰσχύνη, ἣν καὶ περὶ τῆς Κρίσεως μεμαθήκαμεν, ὅτι οὗτοι ἀναστήσονται εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον καὶ οὗτοι εἰς αἰσχύνην καὶ ὀνειδισμὸν αἰώνιον. 260.5 Ἀκολουθεῖ τούτῳ ζήτημα συγγενές, τὸ παρὰ τοῦ Λάμεχ ταῖς γυναιξὶν εἰρημένον· «Ὅτι ἄνδρα ἀπέκτεινα εἰς τραῦμα καὶ νεανίσκον εἰς μώλωπά μοι· ὅτι ἑπτάκις ἐκδεδί κηται ἐκ Κάϊν, ἐκ δὲ Λάμεχ ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά». Καὶ νομίζουσί τινες ὑπὸ τοῦ Λάμεχ ἀνῃρῆσθαι τὸν Κάϊν, ὡς μέχρι τῆς γενεᾶς ἐκείνης διαρκέσαντος αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῷ μακρο τέραν δοῦναι τὴν τιμωρίαν. Ἔστι δὲ οὐκ ἀληθές. ∆ύο γὰρ φαίνεται φόνους πεποιηκώς, ἐξ ὧν αὐτὸς διηγεῖται. «Ἄνδρα ἀπέκτεινα καὶ νεανίσκον»· τὸν ἄνδρα εἰς τραῦμα καὶ νεα νίσκον εἰς μώλωπα. Ἄλλο οὖν τραῦμα καὶ ἄλλο μώλωψ. Καὶ ἄλλο ἀνὴρ καὶ ἄλλο νεανίσκος. «Ὅτι ἐκ Κάϊν ἐκδεδίκηται ἑπτάκις, ἐκ δὲ Λάμεχ ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά». Τετρακοσίας καὶ ἐνενήκοντα τιμωρίας ὑποσχεῖν εἰμι δίκαιος, εἴπερ δικαία ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ κρίσις ἐπὶ τῷ Κάϊν, ὥστε ἑπτὰ αὐτὸν παρα σχεῖν τὰς κολάσεις. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ὥσπερ οὐκ ἔμαθε παρ' ἄλλου τὸ φονεύειν οὕτως οὐδὲ εἶδε τιμωρίαν ὑπέχοντα φονευτήν. Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἔχων τὸν στένοντα καὶ τρέμοντα καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἐσωφρονίσθην τῷ ὑπο δείγματι. Ὅθεν ἄξιός εἰμι τετρακοσίας καὶ ἐνενήκοντα δοῦναι κολάσεις. Ἔνιοι δὲ πρὸς