Now Adam, having been cast out of the garden, thus knew Eve his wife, whom God had made for him as a wife from his rib. And this God did, not as though unable to make his wife separately, but God foreknew that men would name a multitude of gods. Being, then, foreknowing, and knowing that error was going to name, through the serpent, a multitude of gods that do not exist -- for there being one God, even from that time error was already contriving to sow a multitude of gods, and to say, 'You shall be as gods' -- lest, therefore, it should be suspected that this God made the man, and another the woman, for this reason He made the two of them both together. And not only that through this too might be shown the mystery of the sole sovereignty pertaining to God; but at the same time God made his wife also that there might be greater affection toward each other. To Eve, then, Adam said: This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. Moreover, he also prophesied, saying: For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh; which indeed is itself shown to be fulfilled in our own selves. For who that marries lawfully does not despise mother and father and all kindred, and all his household, cleaving to and being united with his own wife, having greater affection rather for her? Wherefore also many often become liable even unto death on account of their own wives. This Eve, because she was at the first deceived by the serpent and became the originator of sin, the evil-working demon, who is also called Satan, who then spoke to her through the serpent, working even down to this day in the men who are possessed by him, calls 'Eve.' And he is called demon and dragon, on account of his having revolted (apodedrakenai) from God; for he was at first an angel. And concerning him there is much discourse; wherefore for the present I pass by the narration concerning them, for the account concerning him has been given by us elsewhere.
When, then, Adam knew his wife Eve, she conceived and bore a son, whose name was Cain, and she said: I have gotten a man through God. And she went on yet to bear a second, whose name was Abel, who became a shepherd of sheep; but Cain worked the ground. The things concerning them, indeed, have the fuller history, and moreover the economy of exposition; wherefore the lovers of learning can be taught the things of the history more exactly by the very book which is entitled Genesis of the World. When, then, Satan saw not only Adam and his wife living, but also having made children, being borne along by envy, since he had not been able to put them to death, when he saw Abel being well-pleasing to God, working in his brother called Cain, he caused him to kill his brother Abel. And thus the beginning of death came into this world, to travel down to this day over the whole race of men. But God, being merciful, and wishing to give Cain too an occasion for repentance and confession, as also to Adam, said: Where is Abel your brother? But Cain answered God disobediently, saying: I do not know; am I my brother's keeper? Thus God, being angry with him, said: What is this you have done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand; groaning and trembling shall you be upon the earth. From that time the earth, being afraid, no longer receives the blood of a man, nor indeed of any animal. Whereby it is plain that it is not the earth itself that is the cause, but the man who transgressed.
Now Cain himself also had a son, whose name was Enoch; and he built a city, which he named after the name of his son Enoch. From that time the beginning of the building of cities came about, and this before the flood -- not as Homer falsely says: 'For not yet had a city of mortal men been built.' And to Enoch was born a son named Gaidad, who begot the one called Mehel, and Mehel begot Methuselah, and Methuselah begot Lamech. And Lamech took to himself two wives, whose names were Adah and Sella. From that time came the beginning of polygamy, and also of music. For to Lamech were born three sons: Jobel, Jubal, Thobel. And Jobel became a man dwelling in tents and keeping cattle. And Jubal is the one who introduced the psaltery and the lyre. And Thobel became a hammerer, a smith of bronze and iron. Up to this point, then, the seed of Cain had its catalogue; and the rest of the seed of his genealogy came to be forgotten, on account of his having murdered his brother. But in the place of Abel, God granted that Eve should conceive and bear a son, who was called Seth; from whom the rest of the race of men proceeds down to this day. And for those lovers of learning who wish it, it is easy to show, concerning all the generations, by means of the holy Scriptures. For we have already given in part an account in another discourse, as we said above, the order of the genealogy in the first book concerning the histories. All these things the Holy Spirit teaches us, which spoke through Moses and the rest of the prophets, so that the writings belonging to us who are God-fearing prove to be more ancient, and indeed more true than all the writers and poets. But moreover, certain ones talked nonsense about music, saying that Apollo was its inventor; and others say that Orpheus discovered music from the sweet voice of the birds. But their account is shown to be empty and vain; for these arose many years after the flood. And the things concerning Noah, who is called by some Deucalion, the narration has been given by us in the book to which we have referred; which, if you also wish, you are able to consult.
After the flood, there came again a beginning of cities and of kings, in this manner. The first city was Babylon, and Orech, and Archath, and Chalanne, in the land of Senaar. And there became a king of them named Nebroth (Nimrod). From these went out one named Assur, whence also the Assyrians are named. And Nebroth built the cities Nineveh, and Roboom, and Calak, and Dasen between Nineveh and Calak. And Nineveh became at first a great city. And another son of Shem the son of Noah, named Mesraim, begot the Ludonim, and those called Enemigim, and the Labiim, and the Nephthalim, and the Patrosonim, and the Chaslonim, whence came out the Philistines. Of the three sons of Noah, then, and of their issue and genealogy, we made the catalogue in summary in the book to which we have referred. And now we shall recall the things omitted concerning cities and kings, and those that came about when there was one lip and one tongue. Before the dialects were divided, these aforewritten cities came into being. But when they were about to be divided, they made a council by their own purpose, and not by God, to build a city and a tower whose top should reach to the heaven, so that they might make for themselves a name of glory. Since, then, contrary to the purpose of God they dared to do a grievous work, God cast down their city and overthrew their tower. From that time He changed the tongues of men, giving to each a different dialect. The Sibyl indicated thus, announcing wrath that was to come upon the world. And she said thus: 'But when the threats of great God are fulfilled, which He once threatened against mortals, when they built a tower in the land of Assyria. And they were all of one voice, and wished to ascend to the starry heaven; but straightway the Immortal laid a great compulsion upon the winds; and then the winds cast down the great tower from on high, and roused strife among mortals against one another. But when the tower had fallen, and the tongues of men were divided into many dialects of mortals, the whole earth of mortals was filled, the kingdoms being divided.' And so forth. These things, then, came to pass in the land of the Chaldeans. And in the land of Canaan there came to be a city whose name was Charran (Haran). And in those times the first king of Egypt was Pharaoh, who was also named Nechaoth among the Egyptians; and so the kings came in succession. And in the land of Senaar, among those called Chaldeans, the first king was Arioch. And after him another, Ellasar. And after him Chodollagomor king of Elam, and after him Thargal king of nations called Assyrians. And there came to be five other cities in the portion of Ham the son of Noah. The first called Sodom. Then Gomorrah, Adama, and Seboeim, and the one called Segor. And the names of their kings are these: Ballas king of Sodom, Barsas king of Gomorrah, Senaar king of Adama, Hymor king of Seboeim, Balach king of Segor, which is also called Kephalak. These served Chodollagomor king of the Assyrians for twelve years. But in the thirteenth year they revolted from Chodollagomor; and so it then came about that the four kings of the Assyrians joined battle against the five kings. This was the first beginning of wars coming about upon the earth. And they cut down the giants Karanaein, and strong nations together with them in the city, and the Chorraeans who are surnamed Seir in the mountains, as far as the so-called Terebinth of Pharan, which is in the wilderness. And about the same time there came to be a righteous king named Melchizedek, in the city Salem, which is now Jerusalem. This man was the first priest of all priests of God Most High; from him the city was named Jerusalem, the aforesaid Hierosolyma. And from him there came to be priests throughout all the earth. And after him Abimelech reigned in Gerar. And after him another Abimelech. Then reigned Ephron, also surnamed the Hittite. The names, then, of these kings who lived in former times are contained thus. But of those among the Assyrians, throughout many years in between, the rest of the kings were passed over in silence as regards being recorded, since they only commemorate the very last down to our own time. The kings of the Assyrians who arose were Theglaphasar; and after him Selamanasar; then Sennacherim. And his commander was Adramelech the Ethiopian, who also reigned over Egypt; although these things, as compared with our writings, are very recent indeed.
From this, then, it is possible for the lovers of learning and of antiquity to perceive the histories, whether the things spoken by us through the holy prophets are recent. For while the men of that time were few at first, in the land of Arabia and Chaldea, after their languages were divided, they began bit by bit to become many and to multiply over all the earth; and some inclined to dwell toward the east, others toward the parts of the great continent and toward the north, so as to extend as far as the Britons in the arctic regions; others toward the land called Canaan, and Judea, and Phoenicia, and the parts of Ethiopia and Egypt and Libya, and the so-called torrid zone, and the regions stretching toward the west. And the rest inhabited the parts from the seaboard, and from Pamphylia, and Asia, and Greece, and Macedonia, and afterward Italy, and the so-called Gauls, and Spains, and Germanies; so that thus the whole earth has now been filled with its inhabitants. The habitation of men upon the earth, then, having at the outset been threefold -- in the east and the south and the west -- afterward also the rest of the parts of the earth were inhabited, when men had become widespread. But the writers, not knowing these things, wish to say that the world is spherical, and to compare it as it were to a cube. But how can they assert these things to be true, not knowing the making of the world, nor its habitation? As men increased bit by bit and multiplied upon the earth, as we said before, so also the islands of the sea and the rest of the regions were inhabited.
Who, then, of the so-called wise men, or poets, or historians, had the power to tell the truth concerning these things, having come into being much later than they, and having introduced a multitude of gods who themselves were born so many years after the cities, being the very last, after the kings and nations and wars? For they ought to have remembered all things, even those that came to pass before the flood; and to have set forth accurately concerning the creation of the world, and the making of man, and the subsequent events -- the prophets among the Egyptians, or the Chaldeans, and the other writers -- if indeed they had spoken by a divine and pure spirit, and had announced as true the things spoken through them; and not only the things past or present, but also the things coming upon the world they ought to have foretold. Wherefore it is shown that all the rest were in error, and that the Christians alone have contained the truth -- we who are taught by the Holy Spirit, who spoke in the holy prophets, and foretold all things.
And for the rest, let it be for you to search out lovingly the things of God -- I mean the things spoken through the prophets -- so that, comparing both the things said by us and those said by the rest, you may be able to find the truth. As for the names of the so-called gods, that among them they are found to be names of men, as we showed in the foregoing, we have demonstrated from the very histories which they wrote. And their images are even now, day by day, being modelled -- idols, works of men's hands. And to these the multitude of vain men render service. But the Maker and Creator of all things, and the Nourisher of every breath, they set aside, being persuaded by vain doctrines, through the error of a senseless opinion handed down from their fathers. Yet God, the Father and Creator of all things, did not abandon mankind, but gave a law, and sent holy prophets, to proclaim and teach the race of men, so that each one of us might sober up and recognize that there is one God; who also taught us to abstain from unlawful idolatry, and adultery, and murder, fornication, theft, avarice, false swearing, wrath, and all wantonness and uncleanness; and that whatever a man does not wish to be done to himself, he should not do to another -- and thus the one who does righteously may escape the eternal punishments, and be counted worthy of eternal life from God.
Now the divine law not only forbids worshipping idols, but also the elements -- the sun, the moon, or the rest of the stars; nor indeed the heaven, nor earth, nor sea, nor springs nor rivers, are to be worshipped, but only the One who truly is God and Maker of all things is to be served, in holiness of heart and in a sincere mind. Wherefore the holy law says: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife. Likewise also the prophets. Solomon, then, teaches us not even to sin by a nod, saying: Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your eyelids nod what is just. And Moses, being himself also a prophet, says concerning the sole sovereignty of God: This is your God who makes firm the heaven, and creates the earth, whose hands have shown forth all the host of the heaven, and He did not display them to you that you should go after them. And Isaiah too himself says: Thus says the Lord God, who made firm the heaven and founded the earth and the things in it, and gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to those who tread upon it: this is the Lord your God. And again through him: I, He says, made the earth, and man upon it. I with my hand made firm the heaven. And in another chapter: This is your God who fashioned the ends of the earth; He shall not hunger, nor grow weary, nor is there any finding out of His understanding. Likewise also Jeremiah, and he says: He who made the earth by His might, who set up the inhabited world by His wisdom, and by His understanding stretched out the heaven, and there is a multitude of water in the heaven; and He brought up clouds from the end of the earth, He made lightnings for rain, and brought forth winds from His treasuries. It is possible to see how harmoniously and consistently all the prophets spoke, uttering by one and the same Spirit concerning the sole sovereignty of God, and the generation of the world, and the making of man; and moreover they also travailed, mourning over the godless race of men; and they put to shame those who seemed to be wise, on account of the error in them and the hardening of the heart. Jeremiah said: Every man is made stupid apart from knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven images; in vain does the silversmith work silver, there is no spirit in them; in the day of their visitation they shall perish. The same too David says: They are corrupted and become abominable in their pursuits; there is none that does kindness, there is not even one; all have turned aside, together they have become useless. Likewise also Habakkuk: What does a graven image profit a man, that he carved it as a false phantom? Woe to him who says to the stone, Awake, and to the wood, Be exalted. Likewise also the rest of the prophets of truth spoke. And why should I recount the multitude of the prophets, who are many, and have spoken countless harmonious and consistent things? For those who wish are able, by encountering the things spoken through them, to know the truth accurately, and not to be led astray by reasoning and vain labor. These, then, whom we have mentioned, became prophets among the Hebrews -- unlettered men, and shepherds, and ordinary folk.
But the Sibyl, who became a prophetess among the Greeks and the rest of the nations, at the beginning of her prophecy reproaches the race of men, saying: 'Mortal and fleshly men, being nothing, how are you so quickly exalted, not looking to the end of life? Do you not tremble, nor fear God, your overseer, the Most High, the knower, the all-beholding, the witness of all things, the all-nourishing Creator, who set a sweet spirit in all things, and made Him the guide of all mortals? There is one God, who alone rules, exceeding great, unbegotten, Almighty, invisible, Himself alone beholding all things, yet Himself not seen by any mortal flesh. For what flesh can with eyes behold the heavenly and true immortal God, who dwells in the vault of heaven? Nay, men are not able to stand even over against the rays of the sun, being born mortal men, in their bones being veins and flesh. Reverence Him alone who is the sole guide of the world, who alone was begotten unto the age and from the age, self-begotten, unbegotten, ruling all things forever, dispensing to all mortals the judgment in the common light. The worthy reward of your evil counsel you shall have, because, having forsaken to glorify the true and ever-flowing God, and to offer to Him holy hecatombs, you made your sacrifices to the demons that are in Hades. You walk in arrogance and madness, and forsaking the straight and even path, you have departed by the way through thorns and stakes. Why do you wander, vain mortals? Cease, and leave the darkness of night, and lay hold of the light. Behold, this stands plain to all, unerring. Come, and do not pursue the darkness and gloom forever; behold, the sweet-shining light of the sun shines exceedingly. Know, having laid up wisdom in your breasts: there is one God, who sends rains, winds, earthquakes, lightnings, famines, plagues, and grievous cares, and snows and ice. But why do I declare them one by one? He guides the heaven, He rules the earth, He Himself exists.' And to those said to be begotten she said: 'But if a thing is altogether begotten and is corrupted, it cannot be that God should have been formed out of a man's loins and womb. But God is one alone, supreme above all, who made the heaven and the sun and the stars and the moon, the fruitful earth, and the swelling waters of the sea, the lofty mountains, and the ever-flowing streams of springs; and again He begets a countless great multitude of water creatures; and the creeping things stirring out of the earth He nourishes with cold; and the manifold cattle of clear-sounding voice, lisping; the nimble, clear-winged ones disturbing the air with their pinions; and in the glens of the mountains He set the wild race of beasts; and He subjected to us, to all mortals, all the cattle, and set up a god-made guide over all things, and arranged man under his all-variegated, incomprehensible rule. For what flesh of mortals can know all these things? But He alone knows, who made these things from the beginning, the incorruptible Creator, eternal, dwelling in the aether, who brings forth for the good a good and far greater reward, but for the evil and unjust rouses wrath and anger, and war, and pestilence, or tearful sorrows. O men, why are you vainly exalted to your uprooting? Be ashamed at making weasels and beasts your gods. Is it not madness and frenzy of mind and empty burdens, if gods steal dishes and pilfer pots? Instead of dwelling in the rich golden vault of heaven, one is seen moth-eaten, and beset by thick spiders. Worshipping serpents, dogs, and cats, O senseless ones, you also reverence birds, and the creeping wild beasts of the earth, and stone images, and statues made by hand, and heaps of stones at the wayside -- these you worship, and many other vain things which it is shameful even to mention. And indeed the gods of foolish mortals are deceivers, from whose mouth also pours forth death-bearing poison. But His is life and imperishable ever-flowing light, and He pours out for men joy sweeter than sweet honey; to Him alone bend your neck, and incline your path toward the pious for the ages. Forsaking all these things, you have all drawn, in your follies, with maddened spirit, the cup full of justice, strong, weighted, very unmixed; and you will not sober up and come to a sound mind, and know God the King, who beholds all things. Therefore the gleam of blazing fire comes upon you; with torches you shall be burned through the age, the whole day, having been put to shame by your lies upon useless idols. But those who honor the true and ever-flowing God inherit life, dwelling for the time of the age in the luxuriant garden of paradise alike, feasting on sweet bread from the starry heaven.' That these things, then, are true and profitable and just and dear to all men, is clear; and that those who have done evil must necessarily be punished according to the worth of their deeds.
And already some of the poets too uttered, as it were, oracles for themselves, and as a testimony to those who do unjust things, saying that they are going to be punished. Aeschylus said: 'For to him who has done, it is owed also to suffer.' And Pindar too himself said: 'Since it is fitting for one who has done something also to suffer.' Likewise also Euripides: 'Endure suffering, for in doing you rejoiced; it is the law to do evil to your enemy wherever you may catch him.' And again the same: 'To do evil to an enemy I reckon to be a man's part.' Likewise also Archilochus: 'And one great thing I understand, to requite with terrible evils the one who does some evil.' And that God beholds all things, and nothing escapes Him, but being long-suffering He bears with it until the time when He is going to judge -- concerning this too Dionysius has said: 'The eye of Justice, as if looking with a calm face, ever sees all things alike.' And that the judgment of God is going to come about, and the evils to overtake the wicked suddenly -- this too Aeschylus signified, saying: 'For evil comes swift-footed upon mortals, and the transgression upon him who passes by Right. You see Justice, voiceless, unseen, upon the one who sleeps, and walks, and sits; ever after she follows him crookedly, at another time later; nor does night conceal the one who has wrought evil. And whatever dreadful thing you do, think that someone sees.' And why not also Simonides? 'There is no evil unexpected for men; and in a little time God overturns everything.' Again Euripides: 'One ought never to suppose the good fortune of an evil man, nor his overweening prosperity, to be secure, nor the offspring of the unjust. For time, born of nothing, displays the wickednesses of men.' Again Euripides: 'For the Deity is not without understanding, but has the power to perceive the oaths wickedly fixed and forcibly compelled.' And Sophocles: 'If you have done dreadful things, you must also suffer dreadful things.' Whether, then, concerning an unjust oath, or also concerning any other fault -- that God is going to examine it -- they themselves too almost foretold; or also concerning the conflagration of the world, willing or unwilling, they uttered things consistent with the prophets, although they came into being much later, and stole these things from the law and the prophets.
And what then -- whether they came last or even first? Except at any rate that they too said things consistent with the prophets. Concerning the conflagration, then, the prophet Malachi foretold: Behold, the day of the Lord comes like a burning furnace, and shall consume all the impious. And Isaiah: For the wrath of God shall come like hail borne down by force, and like water sweeping along in a ravine. The Sibyl, then, and the rest of the prophets, but moreover also the poets and philosophers, have made plain concerning righteousness, and judgment, and punishment; and moreover also concerning providence, that God cares not only for us the living, but also for the dead -- although they said it unwillingly; for they were convicted by the truth. And of the prophets, Solomon said concerning the dead: There shall be healing to the flesh, and care for the bones. The same too David: The humbled bones shall rejoice. Consistent with these things Timocles too has spoken, saying: God is gracious and merciful to the dead. And the writers, then, having spoken concerning a multitude of gods, came down to a sole sovereignty; and speaking concerning the absence of providence, they spoke concerning providence; and asserting the absence of judgment, they confessed that there shall be a judgment; and those who denied that there is sensation after death, confessed it. Homer, then, having said: 'The soul, like a dream, has flown away and is gone,' in another place says: 'And the soul, flying from his limbs, had gone to Hades.' And again: 'Bury me as quickly as possible, that I may pass the gates of Hades.' And as for the things concerning the rest whom you have read, I suppose that you accurately understand in what manner they have spoken. But all these things everyone will understand who seeks the wisdom of God, and is well-pleasing to Him through faith and righteousness and good works. For a certain prophet, of those whom we have aforewritten, named Hosea, said: Who is wise, and shall understand these things? Prudent, and shall know them? That the ways of the Lord are straight, and the righteous shall walk in them; but the impious shall be weak in them. It behooves, then, the lover of learning to be a lover of learning indeed. Try, therefore, to confer more frequently, so that, having heard also the living voice, you may accurately learn the truth.