Commentary on the Six Days of Creation

1Clement, Africanus, and Tatian — and from those of the circumcision Josephus and Justus — each told, from old history in his own way, that the inspired Moses flourished in the time of Inachus. Inachus stands seven hundred years before the Trojan war. One of the saints, making a most careful reckoning of the times against the years of Inachus, found the most holy Jacob a contemporary; Moses he found with Josephus. For inventing a parallel chronicle, he set beside each other the ruler in every nation, and gathered the years of the kingdoms of the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Lydians, Hebrews, Egyptians, Athenians, Argives, Sicyonians, Lacedaemonians, Corinthians, Thessalians, Macedonians, Latins — later called Romans — and […] the years of each nation’s kings, setting Abraham’s years against those of the Assyrian queen Semiramis. For under Semiramis the blessed Abraham was known; Josephus places him under Inachus; Moses under Cecrops, whom the children of the Greeks call first of Attica three hundred years before the Trojan affairs — so that Moses is oldest among the ancient sages of the Greeks, earlier than Homer and Hesiod and the Trojan matters, than Heracles, Musaeus, Linus, Chiron, Orpheus, the Dioscuri, Asclepius, Dionysus, Hermes, Apollo, and the Greek mysteries and rites and even the deeds of Zeus; earlier too than Deucalion’s flood, Phaethon’s burning, Erichthonius born of Hephaestus and earth, and the rape of Kore. For all these came after Cecrops, whom Homer and Hesiod fall far short of in years. And if they are younger than these, they are much lower still than Moses’ age. So Moses was shown the most divine teacher of truth among all the wise. Spitting out what is called Egyptian wisdom, he spoke best of this world’s framing — clearly inspired with the truth by the God over all, the Maker of the whole. For he says: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. And many among the Greeks who dared to teach the opposite were sunk into a deep of ignorance. Doctrines put forward from human thought are […] and without ballast. Among them no word stands unmoved — the later always overturning the earlier — so the faithful need not labor to refute them; they suffice for one another’s overturning. What shape and substance heaven is, Isaiah teaches us, saying: He who set the heaven as a vault — hinting it is thin, not solid or thick — as elsewhere: He who established the heaven as smoke. And the psalm says the earth is fixed on the waters: He founded it upon the seas, and prepared it upon the rivers. And how this is we must not pry into, but believe. For the simplicity of faith is stronger than reasoned proofs; God’s judgments are unreachable and incomprehensible. So on the first day God made the heaven and the earth and the light, and in a sharp turn of time lit everything — and this light is the corruptible one. Before it, a dark shadowing held things when heaven was stretched round and made the leftover place lightless. Outside heaven there is unshadowed, incorruptible, eternal light in which angels dwell, of which Solomon says: Light for the righteous forever — into which those who have lived well also take their rest. You will grasp this…

2…economy from a clear example: that unquenchable light surrounds the outer place of heaven, while mist held the inside before the light was made. As if someone at steady noon pitched a tent of dense matter and made improvised darkness — and the enclosed place cannot be lit at all unless a gleam of light flashes out — so such unsubstantial darkness held the world covered under heaven, which God parted by creating the light, naming it day and the darkness night. For when light is poured out, day comes; when it is drawn in, night answers. That is why in measuring times we count days, not nights. On the second day God made the firmament. This is other than the heaven made from the beginning. Some have said it is the same — a working-out of the second, they say, because there the making of earth and heaven was given in summary, and here Scripture hands over more carefully how it came to be. We say they are other and other: for another name and a distinct use of the second heaven are handed down. So this one is other than the one made in the beginning, of a firmer nature. And God parted the water that was under the firmament. For he divided the boundless nature of the waters so that some would be above the firmament and some below. Ether is fiery and burning, and would have consumed the whole mainland if it were not held by the Maker’s bound. That is why there is also aerial water carried up in clouds from the rise of vapors — which rivers, springs, lakes, and all the seas send forth — so that ether may not burn everything up. It happens thus: […] the exhalations gather toward the height, air is packed by the press of winds, and the moistures sown in the cloud, drawing near one another, become drops and by the weight of what has been gathered are sent downward. Snow forms from the waters this way: the wet, struck back by the violence of the winds, foams up; struck through and through and chilled, it freezes, and when the cloud is shattered the snow is carried down. Thunder […] is a rebound — driven in the hollows of the clouds and bursting out by force, it makes the sound of thunder.

3On the third day, by God’s command, the water was gathered into its gatherings and the dry appeared; and he called the dry earth, and the systems of the waters he called seas. It was gathered into one gathering so that it might not […] from the places where it is and, spilling over, cover the mainland. That is why the sea, often raging from winds and rising to a great height in waves, when it only touches the shores dissolves its rush into foam and turns back — bridled by sand, weakest of all things. What kept the Red Sea from flooding all Egypt, which lies lower than it, and joining the neighboring deep, if it were not bound by the Maker’s command? That this is true Sesostris the Egyptian and Darius the Mede persuaded us in deed: attempting to join the Egyptian and Indian seas, they could not. So much lower than the Red Sea is Egypt. He ordered the waters gathered into one gathering, and that another sea not arise from this one, but remain in the first collection. For there were many […] waters […] hollows […] gathering and ravines. And “the systems of the waters he called seas” points to the gulfs left in their own shape by the surrounding land — northern sea, southern sea, eastern and western deeps, and their proper names: Pontus, Aegean, Ionian, Sardinian, Sicilian, Tyrrhenian. Not chance pools of water ended in one sea or system, but the greatest and outstanding; one must not think also of marsh and lake. As fire, even when crumbled small, is still poured as one under the air, so with water: though there are small divided systems, there is one gathering that separates the whole element from the rest. For the sea’s water is the spring of all moisture about the earth, and the whole earth is under-channeled, and it is distributed through unseen passages, as some underground places of the mainland show. The flowing sea, running through narrow places, when left in crooked and upright exits, pushed by the force of the wind breaks the earth’s surface and, coming outside, becomes drinkable, changed to sweetness by filtering. Again, when left in hot places toward the exit, drawn by the same cause under the wind it comes boiling. This too is the spring of the aerial waters: its waters drawn up through clouds, warmed by the sun’s ray, chilled in the cloud’s shade, and clarified from that height, grow sweet and sprinkle the mainland. On the same day God also ordered the earth to sprout pasture of grass, sowing seed according to kind, and fruit-tree making fruit whose seed is in it. And still now the order of what grows witnesses to the first arranging. Sprouting leads every herb and every plant: when the earth has moisture in measure and warmth, the seed is cast into it and becomes soft and many-seeded, and beginning from the earth about it draws to itself what is its own and kindred, and fattened it spreads — so that it roots downward and pushes upward, and puts out stalks equal in number to the roots. As the sprout is always warmed, the moisture drawn through the roots is carried along by the earth’s heat with the nourishment, and this is portioned into stalk and husk and the wheat’s cases and the wheat itself and the awns. The wheat’s stalk is girded with joints so that, like some bonds, they may bear the weight of the ears. The stalk is also hollow so that it may be a case for the grain, not easy plunder for seed-pickers. It has thrust out the awns like spears to keep off the harms of small creatures. Oats stand empty through and through because they are not weighted at the head. And if harmful plants sprouted with the nourishing — hellebore, aconite, mandrake, and the juice of the poppy — none of these was taken idle for use. Starlings feed on hemlock by the making of their body: having fine passages to the heart, they manage to send off what is swallowed; quails eat hellebore and take no harm, having a peculiar temperament. By mandrake physicians bring on sleep, and with opium they lay fierce pains to rest. With hemlock they wither mad appetites, and with hellebore they soothe chronic sufferings. “And fruit-tree making fruit.” And all sprang from the earth in one turn of time that were not before, each with its own property, each known by its own character. Olive, date-palm, and cypress grow tall. And of these some are not many-branched — fir and cypress, and sometimes the palm. Evergreen are olive, palm, laurel, myrtle, pine, cypress, fir, juniper, thuja, and what Arcadians call philodrys; also phyleos, cedar, pine, box, holm-oak, arake, lathyrus. The rose then sprouted without the thorn; later the thorn was yoked to the flower’s beauty — so that having grief set beside delight we may remember the sin through which the earth was condemned to sprout thorns and thistles for us. The almond blossoms first and brings fruit last. The bitter almond, its stem bored toward the root and receiving a pitched pine wedge driven into the middle pith, turns the harsh juices to edible sweetness. The sharp pomegranate, receiving the same treatment, turns to sweetness. The female palm lets down her branches as if longing for the male’s embrace; and farmers, putting the male’s pollen into her branches, set her back into her proper upright shape. The mulberry sprouts late but does not lag the others in fruiting. Olive, linden, white poplar, and elm turn their leaves upside-down after the summer solstice; and by this all know that the summer turns have come.

4Farmers keep the cultivated fig’s fruit from falling thus: stripping the wild fig’s early figs, they arrange that it remain unfallen. For the tiniest creature inside the wild fig, settling at the base of the cultivated fig, fences off the outer breeze so the fig may not grow unpleasant and drop. Since the fig’s fruit is soft, it is covered with thick leaves; the walnut, being hard, is sheltered by a light cast of leaves. That is why the vine’s leaf is split — so the cluster may both turn aside harms from the air and take in the sun’s ray through the sparseness. So nothing is idle; God arranged all by unspeakable wisdom. For one water, carried or drawn through the root, nourishes the stem one way, the pith another, the bark another, the wood another, the root itself another; and from the same moisture wine is constituted in the vine, oil in the olive, and something else in another. And even among sweet fruits the difference of richness is unspeakable: one sweetness in the vine, another in the apple, another in fig and date-palm. And the trees’ tears themselves differ: one is the tear of the mastic, another the juice of balsam — finest of all myrrhs, and it abounds when it grows at Jericho. When locals cut it from the bushes with a sharp stone, juice wells up. Some also say amber is the juice of plants, fixed into stone nature. 4. On the fourth day God created the two great lights — sun and moon — in the firmament of heaven, for lighting upon the earth, to part between the day and the night. This solar light was prepared as a vehicle for that first-born light. As fire is one thing and the lamp another — the one has the power to light, the other the power to show light to those who need it — and as whiteness is one thing and the whitened body another, so these too, different in nature, are joined by the Maker’s power. And let no one think day and sun are the same. First the Maker prepared simple light, which he also called day; then the sun composed of fire and light. As we see the earth has fire wrought in its own breast, so also the sun has light: for light coming together with fire made the most radiant sun. But someone may object: How is this clear when the division is not seen? For light is not seen by itself and fire by itself. Let such a one know how many things fire puts forward in itself — gleam, heat, yellowness — which the all-wise craftsman, portioning out, hints at their composition. When he wants to warm the living thing, he takes the fire’s heat: it has the heat but not the light. But the warmth was parted in the living thing from the brightness; again he takes the yellow. And we see the yellow, but no longer the hot and shining. And again he portions off the warmth and gives only the gleam — as one may see in lightning, which flashing only lights and does not also warm. The same example holds for the moon. For she, lit by the sun, becomes more apparent, as the sun by the day. The moon’s form is coal-like, as one may see in eclipse: when the sun lifts its own brightness from her, it makes her dim; lighting her, it makes her full-shining. For somehow putting on the solar light she becomes brighter; in the same way the sun, putting on the day’s light, is more brilliant — that day neither being fire nor again warming, but only lighting. That the sun is composed of fire is clear from its burning and blazing. “To part between the day and the night”: he set the sun to the measures of the day and the moon to those of the night. Night is the earth’s shadow when the sun is hidden. As in the day, when something stands in the way, shadow comes and light is set beside it, so night is constituted when the air about the earth is shadowed. And the sun, which from the beginning received light from the Maker, has this always hidden in itself; the moon is not so, but continually puts it off…

5The sun and moon increase and decrease. Let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years. The sun and moon produce this time. For the orbits, being ordered, generate the exits in a measured way. Time is called this, because as if on a circle, it is taken in orderly succession, first to second, and third to the next. And let them be for signs, because they always indicate the presence of winter; for mist, generated by the air, darkens the sun's rays, and appears coal-black and smoky, unable to disperse the air condensed from the vapors of the earth; and from this, a sign of winter is shown. When the so-called halos (some are circular figures similar to halos, from which they are so named) surround the sun, it indicates the severity of the winds; and when the so-called anthelions join in the sun's movement, it becomes a sign of aerial symptoms; and again, when rods-like things appear in the color of Iris in the morning among the clouds, it indicates rain, or winter, or a change in the air. The moon, when on the third day, is thin and clear in its horns, announces a stable calm; but if it is thick in its horns, and appears reddish, it announces abundant water or a violent south wind. Therefore, the sun and moon are the instruments of time; time is of days, months, and years; and the stars, of months, of sowing, and of harvest. And the Pleiades, rising in the time of the harvest, setting in the time of sowing, indicate this. And with the Wagon, they become a sign for sailors; for the stars become signs and markers of places. The Bear indeed shows the Bear It has only the day, as the psalmist also declares to us: 'He set the sun in authority over the day, the moon, and the stars in authority over the night.' This one has the authority of the light carrying around in himself; when he surpasses the horizon that is over us, he provides day by scattering the darkness. The moon, when

6Twelve times the year completes its course, being a poetic one, except that it requires an intercalary month for the exactness of the hours. For the solar year is a restoration from the same point to the same point according to the sun's own motion. When the moon wanes, the bodies of animals are thinned and become hollow; but when it waxes, they are replenished. This is because it secretly pours in moisture along with heat; for those sleeping under the moon are filled in the heads with excessive moisture, and the fresh-eating of meats, and whatever is of this kind, is quickly turned by the impact of the moon. Similarly, the things concerning the air arise from such a cause. For when a new moon is present and the calm is steady, sudden wind disturbances occur, with clouds being shaken and falling upon one another; and there are torrents around the fair-winded places, and a surging of the sea around the ocean. If even a solar eclipse occurs when there is a new moon, it happens more violently; for the moon, having passed below, obstructs the rays of the sun. Great indeed this moon has become.

But idle myths were preserved everywhere by drunken sailors: that it is moved from its own seat by certain levers and is carried toward the earth. And what kind of place would have received it after it had landed? For the appearance of it being something small did not deceive. For our vision, becoming small, made the things seen also seem small, bringing the natural passion upon visible things. For just as if someone were to view fields and oxen grazing at once from a distance, he would not seem to see an ant's fantasy; for the vision, having been obscured by the air and having become unsteady, is not sufficient for the exact understanding of the things seen. And that the body of the moon is immense, it is possible to learn from evidences. For all the cities throughout the inhabited world, most widely separated from one another, having been divided into four parts toward the east, equally receive the lunar light, and likewise those dwelling in the west, and the midday and northern parts, observe it.

And on the fifth day God commanded the waters to bring forth living souls according to their kind; and immediately the sea produced diverse kinds of all animals. Of the waves, some are amphibians, such as seals, and crocodiles, and the river horses, and also frogs, and crabs, but they do not have the swimming ability; for they are creeping by nature, being drawn toward the head of the water; but the live-bearing ones are seals, and dolphins, and rays, and those similar to them.

But God commanded also to prefer the deep ones, the coastal ones, the bottom ones, the rocky ones, the herd-like ones, the sporadic ones, the sea-monsters, the huge ones, and the very smallest of the fishes, having a natural kinship to the water. For if they are separated from the water a little, not having breath, they are destroyed; for the expansion and the covering of the gills, receiving the water and passing it through, possesses this breath. They do not have teeth halfway, but all their teeth are densely packed and sharp, so that by not being worn down by time, they may chew the food. For it was meant to be destroyed by the water in fine chewing. And nothing else emits a scent from them except the scabbard-fish.

And there is also other food suitable for others. For some are fed on mud, others on seaweeds, others on grasses nourished by the water; others are cannibals. And there are also diverse characteristics among them. The sawfish has long fins; and having seen a ship sailing straight, it, having raised its own fins, imitates the shapes of the ship's movement, and swims with those sailing. Having thus made forty stadia and having labored, it lowers its fins and is carried by the waves to its own place.

The sea-monster is called Aspidochelone by some; and it is by nature most immense, so as often to instill in those sailing the fantasy of a great island. For when it rises from the depths, its body appears like rough stones, and those plunging poles around it release the boats, which immediately sink, the sea-monster having been warmed by the sun and having dived into the depths. It also has a heavy voice by nature, and when hungry, opens its mouth and sends out a most fragrant exhalation, so as to lure the small fishes and to press them all into its mouth. And this dwells in the...

7The Atlantic seas are great in size. As for the crab, the flesh of the oyster is edible; but since it is unable to open the folding of its shells, it watches for the folds to be opened in remote places, and being delighted by the sunlight, it takes a pebble and inserts it secretly, then closes the folding, and thus easily destroys it. The sea urchin foreknows the onset of winter, and carries a pebble so as not to be tossed about by the force of the waves. The octopus, having rushed against a certain rock, became of the same color as it, and it destroys the fish approaching the rock.

The nautilus is the smallest in nature, yet it stands up being carried by a gale as if the greatest of ships, so that the ship seems to be lost in the sea. In the river there is the hydra, having the form of a dog, which is an enemy to the crocodile and destroys him while he sleeps. For the crocodile sleeps having opened its own mouth; and the hydra, having curled itself into the mud [ph. Having coiled itself], leaps into its mouth, and by destroying everything inside it, it destroys him.

The crocodile is a beast both like a land animal and a fish, great from head to tail, though it does not have a width in proportion to its size. Its back is thin like a stream, the color of its back is like black stone, and its belly is white. Its feet are four, curved toward the side, much like the land turtle; it has a long and thick tail, for it is the end of a single spine. It is notched from above into spines, which are like the teeth of saws, and it strikes with them against those whom it might beat. One of its heads is joined to the backs, standing straight in a single measure; as far as it has not opened, it is a beast's head, but if it loses this, it becomes a whole mouth, making a chasm even unto the shoulders.

The so-called hippopotamus has the feet and the belly of a horse, and its weapon is split like a hoof, with a thick tail that is thin of hair, because the whole of its body is thus: a head that is circular, slightly different from the cheek of a horse, and it has a hollowed nose breathing a fiery smoke, as from a furnace, having a wide snout; for it opens the mouth even unto the temples.

Its interior is densely hairy, possessing two curved teeth like a boar. The whole thing is very easy to swallow, making it food. It is hunted in this way: the hunters watch it, dig a pit, cover it with a reed, sprinkle it with sand, and build a wooden house below, having the doors open toward the roof of the pit; when the beast climbs upon it, it falls helplessly, and is trapped inside the house being carried down. Then the hunters immediately close it. Second... the small beast makes a loud noise.

In the fish, there is much internal heat and sharpness; therefore they fall prey more easily, eating things that immediately tear the edible parts within their bellies. The sea-fox, if it is unable to escape the net, swallowing the bait, leaping and running, drives away the sea-urchin and flees. The crocodile is a man-eating beast; when it is about to make its nests, having surveyed, it turns the female onto the banks; for this alone is accustomed to approach lying on its back, and after the interaction, striking her again with its hands, it turns her back; when it perceives her to be related to another, it pretends to mingle with her, and in the same way, having turned her, it recognizes her by the smell (for it has a sharp sense for this) having been impregnated by another, and having torn her belly with its claws, it eats everything within it. For the animal is tender around the belly; for its back is clothed in hard scales, so that even the sharpest iron, when brought against it, is blunted.

Let the winged creatures bring forth living souls from the waters, and suddenly the air is filled with all kinds of birds. He gave them their origin from the waters, since they have been allotted a certain kinship to the fish. Just as the fish cut the water with the movement of their fins and move through it, so the winged ones move through the air with their wings. Among them, the carnivores possess a construction appropriate to their slaughtering diet, having sharp claws, a curved lip, and a sharp wing to easily snatch and tear apart; but the seed-eaters and those fed on everything are different. And the construction of each of these...

8They are diverse; for some are lawless and autonomous, while others are ordered under a ruler, some are migratory, and others are local. The peacock is the one that crows, but the hawk is most favorable regarding man.

for it is said that in Thrace the hawks work with bird-hunters during the hunt; for they spend their time in thick woods, where a kind of birds dwells, and they coordinate with those going to the hunt to receive a share of what is caught. And when the hunters shake the trees, the birds, being startled, cry out and fly up, and the hawks, swooping down over their heads, strike their heads and cast them to the ground, preparing an easy hunt for men; and those who are without the hunt immediately receive a share of it.

The pelican is a lover of its young; for while feeding the chicks, they strike him in the face with their wings; but he who strikes them destroys them, and being moved to pity, he mourns them for three days. And the mother, coming upon them, tears her side, and her blood drips upon the chicks, and they are brought to life. These pelicans eat the shells in this way: being unable to release them because they are gripped, they swallow them first, so that by the heat around the pharynx, the adhering glue may be loosened and the shells may be softened; having dissolved them, they easily eat their food. And the nests are not where they hatch, but, because of the multitude of hunters, they move to another place to rear the young. And when they perceive some of the young ones having arrived for the hunt, they fly up and divert the haste of the hunters toward themselves, providing a time of flight for the young; and after the young have escaped, they carry themselves very boldly with the young, as if walking on the air.

The peacock is a lover of beauty, rushing from India. This one, having spread his beauty and shown the spectacle of his wings, is led toward a meeting with the female, just as a peacock shows this adornment to her; for the peacock is almost like a beautiful garden.

For gold is planted around its wings, and a circular woven pattern surrounds the purple gold; and an equal circle is enclosed by the gold, and there is an eye in a wing. The phoenix has the size of a peacock, but differs from the peacock in color; for its wings have been dyed with gold and purple, and its head is naturally adorned in the shape of a circular crown. And the circle is azure, and rose-like. Being well-formed in appearance, and adorned with rays, as if a sun stands on high; as others have recorded the form of this body, as they themselves describe it thus: for its length is almost double that of an eagle. With various wings and colors, its body is burned. Its breast, indeed, appears purple, but its legs are millet-colored, and at the neck, it is elegantly arranged with saffron-colored hairs. And its head is like a bed of days, and it looked toward the girl with a millet-grain. And it appeared like a grain of millet to the girls. And it had a voice most pleasant to all. And it appeared as king of all birds, as one might perceive; for all birds, wandering long away behind it, fell down. And itself, like a bull boasting, was walking with a firm step, bearing the weight of its foot.

They say this exists as a unique animal, not existing by succession, but existing most alone, and living five hundred years. And at the time when it is about to perish (for it foresees its own death), having aimed for some high place, at the rising of the sun, it gathers its beauty from aromatic twigs, and then is consumed by the ray of the sun, and is completely dissolved into dust; then from the dust worms are produced, and from the worm into the first phoenix it is transformed.

But the eagle is most unjust regarding the nourishment of the young; for having done two things, it makes one inhabit with it, and it sends the other away by chewing it with its wings, through the food, as they say, the venom. But the phoenix, having received the one left behind, simultaneously nourishes the young ones with the inhabitants. And having nourished the young one, the eagle falls upon it, taking it toward the ether; and if it were to see it having sharpened itself against the brightness of the sun, and boldly resounding through the air, it makes it its own inhabitant; but if it is unformed toward these things, it casts it off as a bastard. For they say

9Having grown old, the eagle's eyes grow dim and his wings grow heavy; he goes to a spring and, as he rises into the air, his wings are scorched by the sun, and he looks up, and having immediately descended to the spring for a third time, he is baptized and renewed; therefore they say he points to the psalm: 'Your youth shall be renewed like the eagle's' (Psalm 103:5). But the vulture has a half-year gestation, and does not know the intercourse of a male, and lives a hundred years. He dwells upon the heights and the clouds, and no one knows where he makes his habitation.

And having become pregnant, he goes to India, and having taken the so-called egg-stone, he sits upon it, being seized by pains, and lays it. The stone is round like a nut, and moving it sends out a sound like a bell, from the movement of another stone within. They say the vulture dies when anointed with rose-myrrh; but seeds do not harm him, nor is any living thing crushed, nor does he approach a dead bird because of kinship. However, they say that when men are arrayed for war, he follows them and does not depart, being a scavenger.

The storks, however, arrive at one settlement together and depart from one. The corvids send them forth, and, as is fitting, they ally themselves with them against certain enemies; for they return wounded. But if the stork grows old, he chirps, and his children, surrounding him with their own wings, comfort him, and provide him with plenty of food; and in flight, they carry him from below, and with their own wings they support him on either side. The cranes, however, all fly together equally, and one leads them, and having led for a certain time, having circled above, she hands over the leadership of the way to the one after her.

While one bird sleeps, another circles safely, and when it has cried out having filled the sufficient measure of the interval, it turns to sleep, and another again receives such service. But the genus of owls is sleepless, and sharp of hearing, quickly perceiving those approaching simply, or sensing the onset of attackers. Thus indeed, some enemies, by signs guessing and intending to seize great Rome, these saved themselves by the natural sharpness of sense, handing over the attackers to the guards by a continuous voice.

The kingfisher is a sea-bird, and it sickens the shores of the sea when winter is in the middle. When therefore it is calm, the winds sleep, and the sea has a steady calm for seven days, after the winds previously were violently tossing the sea. When therefore it circles the fledglings again for another seven days, God provides a lull, until it may rear the fledglings. The partridge is deceitful, and jealous, and malicious, working with the hunters toward the hunt. But a stranger stealing, it also causes sickness, and having grown, the fledglings, each according to its kind, flee toward their own, and leave it desolate.

The dove is a shelter. There is indeed a tree in India called peridexion, bearing sweet fruits, and with this the doves are delighted, and dwell upon it. But the dragon is an enemy of the dove, and having become accustomed to the tree, it does not approach; for if the shadow becomes a kind of part of the tree, the dragon flees fearing. And the doves move into that shade of the shadow; for if they are separated from the shade, they are destroyed by the dragon.

What indeed is the nature of the dove worthy of wonder: for it shows its neck, having been caught in sunbeams, variegated with myriad ideas of colors: purple, blue, fiery, coal-like, and pale and red, and with other various colors. The crow is fond of its young and has but one mate; for having reared the fledglings, nursing them...

10It does not cease feeding them, and is always attending them. The raven is a companion of both night and day. day. Day. The owl is a lover of affection; for having aged the parents, first fans them with its wings, then with its tongue it cools their eyes, and then, by warming them, it renews them. The swallow produces the nest once in the season; and being soaked, it brings the reeds, carrying the bits to its mouth and the mud to its wing; for having wetted its tip with water, it is bound by fine dust, and thus it conceives the need for mud; and little by little, joining the bits like a certain glue to the mud, it establishes the nest and nourishes the young ones. The trygon is a single-sexed creature; for whether the male dies or the female, it does not mate with another.

The resident birds have a communal nature at all times. The philudra, like islands, and swans, and those like them, do not have split feet, but broad, membranous ones for swimming easily in the waters, as if using paddles on their feet. The swan has a neck longer than its feet, for pulling the fish up from the depths. Many of the birds change their voice and their color during the year. For the kottyphos becomes yellow from black, and from singing becomes harsh. The nightingale changes its color and its voice by its turns; and it is sleepless, devoting itself to melody.

Some of the birds do not hunger in the winter, being fed by the air alone and by the moisture that exists through grazing on herbage, but they also restrain abdominal pleasures. Some indeed in spring, and in late spring according to the equinoxes, and some once in the year, come upon them. The female birds have an abdomen until conception, and immediately they reject the males. The canthari, if they are anointed with rose oil, immediately die. The bees and wasps, having been drenched in oil, perish, their resources being blocked. Thus, they will revive when being moistened; but they feed on the air and do not have breath. The bees have a king, and they make their flight common, and their dwelling common; and no one will have it readily until the king of the flight has begun.

These things possess an unmade principle by nature, differing from others in magnitude, in form, and in the gentleness of their character; for they have a center, yet they do not need this for defense. The bees gather wax from the flowers, and, having grasped the dew-like moisture with their mouths from the blossoms, they enter into the cavities of the wax; whence it is at first moisture, but then, having fallen by time, it becomes sweet and useful to men. They also skillfully devise the storehouses of the honey; dividing the wax into thin layers, they build up dense cells, continuous with one another, just as the smallness of the tiniest things is established by their connection to one another.

As for the locusts, they camp in a single formation according to the breadth of the land. Entering, they see other fruits abounding, yet they do not touch them, but strive toward the place appointed for them, as if hurried by a divine command. And they do not touch the fruit before they are given permission. Afterward, a swarm is sent against them, and it devours them all, having a nature that is insatiable. It is said that the owl dims its vision by day and strengthens it by night. When the bats sleep, they are suspended from one another; and if by chance one is torn away by a sudden movement, the rest fall down. Only the winged have four legs and are decorated with feathers. The tetiges appear in thunderstorms, and they rest for a time, because they are hardened by the dew. They are said to beat and sing with their wings.

On the sixth day, God commanded the earth to bring forth according to kind: the four-footed, and the creeping things, and the beasts of the earth, and the cattle, and all that creeps upon the earth according to kind (Genesis 1:24-25), and they were immediately provided to be, all of which share sensation with man by nature, though they do not indeed possess an equal soul; and they move by a motion which the primordial nature of the blood provides to the spirit of the external air. There are also diverse characters in them, hinting at the Providence of God; for even these things signify this not a little. Just as the fruitfulness of the plants is wise, and the order of the stars, and the uncaused course of the sun and the moon, and the law of the sea's tides are not self-governed...

11Providence is testified without contradiction; likewise, the distinctness of animals, by demonstrating the unchanging order, proclaims Providence very clearly, just as a soul moves the whole composition of the cosmos. And it would be laughable if everyone who rejects it were considered sane, while all the elements acknowledge it: the earth not disobeying regarding cultivation, and the sun, and the moon, and the rest of the stars of the proper course not failing, the sea not exceeding the rule of command, and the night and the winds, and the land not falling short of the required need. How then is he who entirely rejects Providence not unjust and foolish?

For the word says that a technical work does not happen by chance, but through knowledge, wise works are composed; likewise, we take a man-making intellect; and seeing an image beautifully drawn, we marvel at its artist; and seeing a ship skillfully constructed with science, we praise the shipbuilder. If we, seeing technical works, know the skilled craftsman, why then should we not more fully grasp through the eye of the intellect the wisdom of Providence of all things, through the elements of the cosmos being arranged scientifically? For the kinds and shapes are enough to know the craftsman, even if the ordered things render words silent.e who has adorned things made for a purpose loves for them to acknowledge him.

Just as the composition of the elements clarifies Providence, so also the diverse nature of animals provides the knowledge of this. For the spirit is kin to the lion, and his life is solitary, sharing with no animal, not preferring ground-food, but fresh; and he has sharp sense, and perceives even from a distance the smell of hunters, and flees with a run to the cave, circling his tracks with care, so that, having been covered by dust, they may be untraceable to the hunters. And his cub is born in a den, and for three days is guarded by the lioness, and having come himself from the hunt, having breathed upon him into the face, one sees him standing there. And whenever a human or any of the animals approaches, he first lashes himself with care according to the poet: 'Truly both sides and the loins are lashed on both sides,' and he encourages him to fight.

Having grown old, the lion is too weak to walk to the hunt, seeking humans for food while scavenging. His stomach is always foul-smelling, and his eyelids are drawn up when sleeping. The lioness barely endures a single dog; for going out into the open, she tears her womb with the sharpness of her claws. The leopard is jagged and sharp-nosed in its lunges, and superior in sharpness to others, and it leaps upon the faces of hunters. The bear's nature is sluggish and peculiar, its character is cunning, and its body is heavy. Often, having been struck by deep wounds, it heals itself by rubbing its sores with the driest mud. While aging, it skillfully twists its legs and lifts them, and having positioned itself strongly, it brings prey down.

The bull is equipped with horns for the defense of opponents, and with its feet it stomps in an athletic manner; looking with fiery eyes, with horns lowered, and boiling with passion, it charges with its whole body. The horse, when it sees hunters lying in ambush in the woods, rushes away, and does not charge until it has set its teeth against the nearest trees. There is a beast, extremely sharp and difficult to hunt, having long horns like a saw, which pierces high and great trees; and having become thirsty, it comes to the Euphrates river, and while drinking, it plays with the reeds that are by the riverbanks, and is bound by them. For they are fine-cutting, they entangle themselves around his horns, and he cries out; and the hunters, perceiving, immediately seize him and bleed him.

Among the Scythians, called the Loe, there is a beast called the tarandus, having the size of an ox and the appearance near that of a deer. And it is difficult to hunt, because regarding trees and fields, and regarding everything it approaches, it changes its color, and it becomes like the appearance of those things, and because of this, it is unknown to many. Similarly, the chameleon takes the color of the meadows and dry surfaces upon which it crawls. The deer is cowardly and quick-eared, and a foe to creeping beasts; and if a snake escapes it, and if it enters a rock crevice, it reaches the springs having become thirsty; for it is very [...]

12Having become thirsty with a piercing thirst, such that she even thrusts her tongue out of her mouth, she seeks to refresh herself by the coolness of the air. Having thus been filled with water, she comes to where the serpent hides, and having torn him out of the crevice, she crushes him and destroys him. If even a small part of her horns or hairs should fall upon a dwelling, she tears any beast to pieces that it might infect. Once she has cast off her horns, she seeks only solitude; she seizes an inaccessible thicket and pursues an uninhabited wilderness, as if having cast off her defense against other beasts.

Since, therefore, she has drawn herself toward the roots of the discarded horns, she dwells in a leafy place, so that her wounds might not be swarmed by flies, and she enjoys rest by night. When she sheds her horns, she drips in the east and the south. Desiring to test whether the horns have hardened for her—for being tender, they are broken by the sun—she rubs her head against trees and presses it against them, striving to know if they have become firm. Toward the wounds of the flanks, she licks, eating crab-like. The wild goat of Crete, if it is struck by an arrow, easily heals its wound by devouring the so-called 'diktamon'.

The leopards hunt animals easily. For they clearly know how other animals rejoice in their bites; they flee into deep caves; but those that sense a stinging sensation sniff around, and having approached the place, they are immediately devoured by the leopards. The panther, however, is a friend to all animals but an enemy to the dragon. His body is spotted and he is very quiet. Until he has need of food, he remains sleeping in his lair; but on the third day, having become hungry, he will rise and cry out with a great voice, and from his mouth there will come forth a certain aromatic fragrance, by which the other animals, being enticed, approach him from near and from far, following him, delighted by the variety of his body. The panther, having slightly gone before them, turns back and watches over them, and whatever of the animals pleases him, he leaps upon and seizes.

The elephant is pregnant for a time, for it bears its offspring after ten years, and when the offspring becomes old, it then dies. Whenever it is carried into a pit and another elephant sees it, having gone there, he gathers many elephants, and having come, they lift up the fallen one, quietly supporting him. The dragon that is according to India climbs up around the loins of the elephant, and seizes the whole throat; and if it happens to pierce a vein, it is greedily filled with blood, being carried away by a violent spirit and a sudden rush. The elephant kicks, and with its advantage strikes the sides, as if sitting upon the dragon; then, the blood being emptied, it is no longer able to leap, it stands trembling, and a little later it falls, and its legs having grown weak; then also it dies, and it takes the dragon with it. But the dragon, being unable to loose the bond which it had placed, and being pressed by the weight of the elephant, is suffocated and perishes.

The horse is hot toward the desire of the female. The donkey is dull, yet keen of hearing and mindful. The camel is vengeful. The wolf is lawless. The ox is steadfast. The dog is grateful and friendly to the master; for often he has died for those being killed on the road; but others have even pitied the killers, and have sought to persuade them to grant punishment. As for the hyena, some, having conceived that it oversteps, pays back the female nature upon the male, or the male upon the female. But it does not have it thus; for the animal, being exceedingly lewd, has before the passage an outgrowth beneath the vulva, near the female modesty, which has no passage, or only a cavity, having established a womb useless for anything, and receiving only empty lust. Because of this excessive perversion, the male and the female have this characteristic; for when the passages are filled, they occupy themselves around the cub, and in one another they work a mixture contrary to nature. Therefore it is most rare to find a female hyena; for the births do not happen continuously to the animal.

The hare is more uncontrolled toward copulation. The female gives birth according to the month, and having given birth, she is again filled by a chance hare, and she conceives again while still nursing; for one is not enough. They say the griffin is a most huge animal, as if performing the shadow of a cloud; and it snatches a lion as easily as an eagle snatches a hare from us. There is an animal, the charadrius, mentioned by Moses,

13It is the whitest, not having a spot of any other color throughout its whole body; and they say that those who sharpen their eyes should look at its horns. They tell of it remaining in the royal courts, becoming a prophet of life and death to those humans who are suffering. For they say that when some infirmity falls upon a person, they lead the unicorn before him; and if it is favorable to the sick one, the unicorn suppresses the disease for him, and it rises into the ether of the sun, and there also it disperses the disease of the man; but if it is not favorable, they know that the sufferer will die.

The unicorn is a small animal, like a mountain goat, very fierce. It has only one horn upon the summit of its head, and it is seen thus: a pure virgin is thrown before it, and it falls into her arms; and she, having gathered him up, carries him into the houses of kings. There is an animal called a castor, very gentle and quiet; and its genitals serve for healing. Being pursued for this by hunters, it cuts off its genitals and stands against those pursuing. And when others pursue, having cut itself off, it shows itself and cuts the hunters off from the path.

The myrmecoleon has a father with the face of a lion and a mother like an ant. And the father is a flesh-eater, and the mother a grain-eater, and they beget the myrmecoleon, which is of two kinds, having the face of a lion and the part behind like an ant; and being unable to eat either meat or grain, it dies. The onager is a leader of herds, and of those born weak, it crushes the genitals, and they do not produce seed.

The sea urchin is like a sphere in its body, and its back is all-centered, the centers being like the centers of the sea urchins of the seas. It travels, therefore, upon the floor of the vineyard, and it destroys the vines, and having been encircled, it moves around the vines with the spines and arrives.

The fox is a wicked creature, hunting birds through such a device. For finding a marsh, it coils itself into it, and again it covers itself very thinly with dust or chaff, and places itself upon the field with its eyes upturned, or even breathing into itself, as if having been blown by the winds to be thought dead, so that falling immediately upon it, it devours it having snatched it. The lizard, having grown old, seeks warmth, and looking toward the east into a crack in a wall, and having upturned its eyes while the sun is setting, being illuminated by the solar ray, it recovers and is restored to health. So also you, O man, when you have grown old in sins and your intellect has been blinded, seek the Sun of righteousness, so that you may be renewed in righteousness, gazing intently at him and looking up with the eyes of the soul.

But of all the beasts, the spiral dragon is most spiritual and fiery, and forms types of various shapes, and making the impulses of its course, it quickly goes wherever it wills. It is also long-lived; for it not only avoids old age, but also receives greater growth. When, therefore, it completes the appointed time of life, it consumes itself; for it does not die by its own nature to an end before fulfilling the term of life, unless it be violently destroyed by someone.

With this the tracker fights, smearing himself with mud and covering his nostrils with his beard. But indeed, toward Egypt, it also makes a shield like a cluster such as this: this one, drawing its tail spirally with much force, and the parts from the chest leaping upward toward the head, being meteoric, slender and broad-chested, and having become full of fury, it approaches, carrying its tongue with a sharp hissing; but the tracker, straightening his beard, deceives it by thrusting toward it, and drawing it in, having first broken the feet in front, comes upon it, and having humbled himself entirely, extends only his face,

14Lurking so as not to miss the opportune time for a blow. When it sees the shield, like a beast having fought the neck eagerly, it suddenly leaps upon its neck and suffocates it. The lizard called a salamander, if it enters a furnace or a vessel, cools itself. They say the hedgehog receives its offspring through the male's mouth, and cuts off the part that travels with them, and kills him. This one, having become pregnant, is destroyed by the children; for while still in her womb, having devoured the uterus, they will tear out the belly through the side.

The serpent, having grown old, becomes blind, and having fasted forty days, it wastes away in the body, and enters a narrow crack in a rock, and being dragged by force, it sheds its aged skin and is renewed. When it thirsts, it first lays aside the venom, and thus drinks water from the spring. Hunting mice, it blinds them and feeds, and having satisfied itself, it eats them. If it sees a man naked, it does not approach; but if clothed, it falls upon him.

The basilisk sends a deadly venom through the eye, so that the beholder is immediately killed. Its breath happens to be fiery, consuming places and thickets. They report that it comes into being in this way: if more serpents are shut up together and infect one another (since the animal is a contagion), each eats its neighbor; and the stronger serpent, consuming the weaker, and having been filled with the venom of all the serpents it devoured, becomes a basilisk possessing a most terrible venom, such as killing from the eye alone.

The cantharus, having fashioned a circular shape from the round egg, rolls like a cylinder. They say it is upon the earth for six months, and sows into the egg-sphere, and bears male cantharus; for a female cantharus never exists. And the Egyptians, because of such a nature, revere it, transforming it into a sun, since it rolls a sphere, and they depict the stars in the shape of serpents, because their course is made oblique.

As for the ants, gathering the grain through the midst of the kernels, they cut them so that it does not ferment; and they remain through the winter without going out, having procured sufficient food through the summer. And the fly, being a worm-like creature, feeds upon sweet waters; and if someone drinks greedily, it sinks down into it, because of the great smoothness of the water being drunk. And it suffers no small harm from this, as it sucks the flesh of the blood from it and grows; yet it proves insatiable in its thirst for blood. And often, when doctors are required to remove it, it is not revived until it has been ruptured. And the cat is an enemy to the asps and to the other venomous reptiles; the ibis is an enemy to the serpents, and to the locusts, and to the grasshoppers. To the crested ones, and to the scorpions, and to the other small reptiles, the hawk has become death-dealing.

And this is sympathetic to man; for if he sees it dead and without burial, he is cast down and throws earth upon it. And after the making of the world, later God created man, by breaking the cold with the hot, and by binding the moist with the dry, and by releasing the dry again to the moist, He composed him, having all the parts of the whole. For just as the earth, standing with the cold air poured out within itself, has the fire suspended upon it in order, and again the water surrounding it on every side; so also is man, as the earth is by nature a firmament of bones, and standing with the flesh poured upon him, he receives the spiritual breath through the nostrils, as if he were allotted the innate heat and cooling power like the air. For indeed the air above our heads, cooling the fiery nature of the air, makes it beneficial for all the life of animals. And the heat which exists within the body of man melts the phlegm to excess, just like a crystalline draught of water. And the veins and the blood within them preserve imitations of rivers. Thus God, having fashioned man from the earth and having given him a rational soul, intended for him to enjoy the enjoyment of paradise [...].

Then, having heard the commandment, He transferred him into the earth, leaving him to have a toilsome life upon it. Having known his wife Eve, she bore him two sons.

15Cain and Abel. And Cain was a farmer, but Abel was a shepherd, and the farmer did not bring the firstfruits of the fruits. Abel brought them to God; and his sacrifice was accepted. But Cain, being the first of those born to be overcome by passion, offered thus; and his sacrifice became unacceptable. And Cain, being angry at this, slew his brother through envy; and God drove him away, having made him so, and expelled him from that land.

And he, having wandered a great way, came to a place called Nod, and he practiced all manner of secret arts, sitting in ambush for those passing by, and killing them, and gathering an immeasurable multitude from the use of dogs. First, Cain devised measures, and weights, and boundaries of land, and the building of a city, for all those who at that time were enjoying an unblemished and unoccupied life.

And Adam, remaining in the place where he happened to be, made many sons and daughters, among whom there was one exceptional person, Seth, who, having reached maturity, devised many virtues, the zealous followers of which he left to his descendants. For this one was the first to discover astronomy and all the celestial arrangement, which Adam had prepared to remain in such a way even until the latest times; for Adam, about to expire, prophesied that God would wipe out the nature of the world with fire and water. And those concerning Seth, having heard this, made two pillars, constructing one from stone and the other from baked brick; and upon these they engraved all the celestial adornment, so that the discovery of their astronomy might not be lost; so that, if all things are destroyed by water, the stone pillar is preserved, but if by fire, the brick one. And when the deluge occurred, the stone pillar remained, which even until now stands in the land of Sheiread.

Cain begat Enoch, and Enoch begat Gaiad, and Gaiad begat Mahalaleel, and Mahalaleel begat Methuselah, and he begat Lamech. And Lamech took two wives, Adan and Sela, and from them he made three sons: from Adan, Jobel, who became a herdsman, and Jubal, who discovered the harp and the lyre; and from Sela, Tubal, who became a smith of bronze and iron.

But Adam, having lived ninety-two years, died. And a son of Seth hoped to call upon the name of the Lord; and having lived ninety-five years, he died. And his son Cainan, having lived ninety-ten years, passed away. And the son of him, Mahalalel, having lived seven hundred ninety-five years, died. And the son of him, Jared, having lived ninety-sixty years, passed away. And the son of him, Enoch, having pleased God, was transferred. And his son, Methuselah, having lived seven hundred and sixty-nine years, passed away. And Lamech, the son of Methuselah, having lived seven hundred fifty-three years, died. To this Lamech, a son, Noah, was born, enjoying the merits of good deeds, who persuaded the human race to be changed from wickedness into virtue; for even until the seventh generation, men inscribed God, the master of all things, upon themselves, and were mindful of justice (Gen 5). But as time went on, they strayed into all lawlessness.

Since Noah did not persuade them to turn away from wickedness, having loathed their association, he withdrew to another land. And God commands him to construct a four-sided ark, having a length of three hundred cubits, a width of fifty, and a depth of thirty, so that, having seated himself upon it along with his kin, he might escape the danger from the flood. For God willed to wipe out the wickedness of that time by such a punishment. When the flood was brought, the heights of the mountains were covered by the water. For even now, upon the summit of the Lebanon stone, those cutting for building find kinds of sea fish, which happened to be frozen into the hollows of the mountains with the mud.

The ark, having been lifted by the water, stood upon a certain peak of the mountains according to Armenia, and when the water subsided, all those in the ark went out. And the locals still call that place Abataria, and they show the remains of the ark, and they have used its asphalt for warding off evil. And Noah passed away, having lived ninety and fifty years, and his sons, fearing that all the others would migrate from the mountain (for they suspected that others might again be tempted by gluttony), persuade them to descend, and the prepared...

16To inhabit the plains, God commanded them to build settlements, so that they would not grow numerous and turn against one another. But they did not obey, cultivating a good land and having the greatest abundance of fruit. Again, therefore, by a harsh affliction, He brings them under pressure toward making the settlement. But they did not even thus show themselves to God according to His will; they took the land's prosperity not as God's favor, but as their own achievement.

And this opinion they had, after Nebroth, that giant, a bold and courageous man, who also, having turned them away from God, forced them to appropriate reverence for himself, and indeed permitted them to build a tower reaching to the height of heaven, threatening that God might contend against them if He should again bring a deluge upon the world (Genesis 11:4). For the multitude, working with him with much haste in madness, and building the tower more rapidly than speech, God immediately confounded their dialect, and through unlikeness of language they were scattered; and from this the place received the name of Babylon, the Hebrews calling the confusion Babylon.

Each then took the land they found, and they spread to all the coasts, the continents, and the islands; for they settled these places by sailing the seas in ships. Some nations still keep the names of their founders, and some changed them after the Greeks claimed them and gave them their own names, and they set laws suited to them to make the creation glorify them, as if leaving no doubt for those who follow.

Therefore, Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth; beginning from the Taurus and Ammon mountains, they dwelt and went forth upon Asia even to the river Tanais, and upon Europe even to the Gadira. And these are: Gamer, who constituted the Gamarii, the present Galatians; Agod, the Magodians, the present Scythians; Adai, the Madaians, the present Medes; Ouan, the Ionians and the Greeks; Obel, the Theobeli, the present Iberians; Osokh, the Meschenians, the present Cappadocians; Theras, the Theiras, the present Thracians.

And there were also three sons to Gomer: Schanax, from whom come the Schanaxians, who are now the Rhages; Riphath, from whom come the Riphathians, who are now the Paphlagonians; and Thugrammaïs, who became the Thugrammites, the present Phrygians. And three sons to Javan: Elisas, from whom come the Elisaeans, who are now the Aeolians; Tharsis, from whom come the Tharsians, who are now the Cilicians; for thus the ancient Cilicia was called; for even now Tharsis is called its metropolis. Chetheim, Chetheim the island, which is now called Cyprus; for from it every island and the coastal region the Hebrews call Eththō.

And the sons of Ham possessed the land from Syria, and Ammon, and the land of the mountains of Libanus, as far as the sea, having taken it on all four sides and having extended to the Ocean. And indeed for some the designations were entirely changed, while for others they were changed into something unrecognizable; but for a few the names are still preserved intact. And these are the sons of Ham: Cush, from whom come the Cushites, who are now the Ethiopians; Mestrem, from whom come the Mestreans, who are now the Egyptians; and Phut, the Phutites, who are now the Libyans, and even to this time the river beside the Blacks and its adjacent country are called Phutites. And the nation was called Libyans, and the country after the name of one of the sons of Mestrem, Libius, having ruled over them.

And to Cush there were seven sons: Sabat, from whom come the Sabakians, who even to this time preserve the name along with the country; Euilat, from whom come the Euilaites, who are now the Touli; Sabath, from whom come the Sabathines, who are now the Astabaroi; Regmara, from whom come the Allai, who even now have this name; Iudadan, from whom come the Iudadai, an Ethiopian nation homonymous even until now with the forefather; Sebekatha, from whom come the Sebekathines, who are also homonymous; and this Nebrod, having remained in Babylon, was the first to rule over them. Mestrem had eight sons, who possessed the land from Gaza even unto Egypt. And the country of the Philistim was held then until a certain time by the same name, but later it was called Palestine.

And there were also eleven children to Canaan: Sidon the firstborn, who founded a city in Phoenicia homonymous with himself, Sidon; Amathios, who built the Amathin, the present Epiphania, after one of the Macedonians had seized it gloriously and had placed upon it his own dwelling name; and Arukaios founded the land in Libanus; and this Arodios inhabited the island of Arados; Asenassos, from whom come the Asennae; and Samareios...

17The Hittites settled in Samaria, the Jebusites in Jebus, and the Amorites in Bethel; the Girgashites inhabited the regions beyond the Jordan up to Philadelphia, and the Euaimites in Euaim. The Kinaites inhabited the area around Lebanon and Amaron, while the Enakims, giants, inhabited Hebron; around Hebron, the Hittites and the Perizzites, in a mixture with the Canaanites, held Palestine. The Raphiites held Philadelphia; again, the Girgashites held Gadara and the city of Gerisa, and they possessed Tiberias by the lake, and the Jebusites held the present Jerusalem.

Five sons of Shem were born, who inhabited Asia up to the Ocean, having made their beginning from the Euphrates. These are: Ailam, from whom the Ailamites, the present Persians, are named; Assur, from whom the Assyrians; Arphaxad, from whom the Arphaxadites, the present Chaldeans; and Aram, from whom the Arameans, the present Syrians. These held territory from Mesopotamia even unto the mountains of Ararat, which is toward Armenia. Also Lude, from whom the Lydians, the present Lydians, are named; and Cainan, from whom the Canaanites.

Four sons were born to Aram: Uz, who built Damascus and Trachonitis, which is in the middle of Palestine and hollow Syria; Ol, from whom the Lazonites; Gather, from whom the Staphenoi; and Mesoch, from whom the Massenians. The sons of Arphaxad were: Cainan, from whom the Songodians, and from him also astronomy and omens were conceived. A son was born to Cainan, Sala, from whom the Susians. The son of Sala was Eber, from whom the Hebrews are named, who possessed the ancient Hebrew dialect, because Eber did not come along during the building of the Tower, and his language was altered.

The sons of Eber were Phalleg, from whom the Adabinites, and Jectan, from whom the Edramites. Phalleg was so called because, according to the apostle of the colonies, he was produced as a division; for the Hebrews say 'Phalleg' is a division, as through him they were divided.

And the calculated duration of the years of the world's stay is divided into two equal parts. For three thousand years were completed upon the existence of its world's generation. For we estimate that the creation shall remain until the sixth millennium, since even in six days God set in order the completion of all this. I think that the days are to be counted as millennia; for as it is said, one day of the Lord is as a thousand years (Psalm 90:4). Thus, from Adam until the end of Phaleck, three thousand years pass. But until the presence and resurrection of the Lord, there are five thousand five hundred thirty-one years, as four hundred fifty-nine years are lacking of the sixth millennium.

The Sabbath is the sign of the world's completion; and it is fitting that the Lord, having visited the world at the end of the days on a Friday, which is the sixth day, and the hour of this day was as if it were the sixth, when he was crucified, the Word signifying by this the half of the sixth millennium; and for this reason he did not say specifically the sixth hour, the Word blowing forth that he exceeds the number by a little more. From Christ until the thirtieth year of Constantine, 760 years have passed. Just as Jonah, having spent three days and three nights in the belly of the whale (Jonah 1:17), was given back healthy, so also we all, having made the three intervals of the age in the earth, shall be raised.

For there are three universal intervals of time: the present, the past, and the future, of which our Savior made symbols, making three days and three nights in the earth, teaching clearly that, of the aforementioned completed intervals of time, our resurrection shall be, being the beginning of the coming age. And to Jecat, sons were born: Salmodad, from whom the Indians; Saleph, from whom the Bactrians; Asarmoth, from whom the Arabs; Jarach, from whom the Carmanians; Odorra, from whom the Mardians; Jezeel, from whom the Arians; Dekla, from whom the Cedreans; Gebal, from whom the Scythians; Abimelech, from whom [...]

18Where is Hyrcania? From Shem, the Arabs are prosperous; from Ophir, the Armenians; from Euilat, the naked sophists. All these are sons of Shem. Zalā begat Ragau, and Ragau begat Seruch; Seruch begat Nahor, and he taught him the Chaldean divination and astronomy. In the times of Seruch, the sons of Noah began to practice idolatry and to engage in all evil, to build cities, to appoint kings, to besiege, to plunder, and to take captives.

Nahor begat Terah, and Terah begat Abraham, and Nahor, and Aran. Aran begat Lot, and Sarrah, and Melchan. Aran died in a city called Ur of the Chaldeans, in which even now his tomb is shown. He died in the conflagration in which Abram burned the idols of his father upon entering and exiting them. Melchan married the sisters; Nahor married Sarrah, but Abraham married Sarrah. And they do not do this lawlessly, since there was never even a law to forbid it. For since those born of the common father Adam and his wife, being males and females, being brothers and sisters, nature calling for upbringing, brothers and sisters became necessary for the union of marriage; it is not therefore unlike that those following after this, partaking of the first succession, should follow the law of the ancestors.

Terah, having hated the Chaldean way because of the grief of his son, migrated to Mesopotamia, and there he ended his life, having lived five hundred and twenty years. From then on, the living of men was being cut short, and became shorter, until the generation of Moses. For after Moses, a limit of living became eighty years, which even he himself, having lived, exchanged the mortal life. But Abraham, the thrice-blessed, was the best astronomer, and thinking more highly than the others in virtue; among all the sons of Noah, having fallen into superstition, he alone declared the Creator of all things to be God, by imagining it from the changes of the sun and moon and from the sufferings of the earth, air, and sea.

For why, he says, do they not foresee their own order despite having power, but rather lack it? From these things it is possible to know that he does not contribute strength by his own nature, even if he seems to benefit men not a little, but according to the will of the one who made him. Toward this glory of his, the Chaldeans and those dwelling in Mesopotamia contended, and they surpassed him. And having risen up from there according to the command of God, he inhabited the land of the Canaanites.

But when a terrible famine seized him, he went into Egypt, and he proved all those Egyptians to be nothing worthy, as they were mutually disparaging one another and spreading and overturning their own customs, nor thinking, nor instituting laws. And having been marveled at for much understanding and wisdom, he hands over to them arithmetic and astronomy; for before his presence, the Egyptians had many of these; having learned them, they later bequeathed them to the Greeks. And having returned from Egypt, the son of Abraham became Ishmael from the handmaid Hagar, from whom the nation of Hagarenes and Saracens was formed; and that of the Ishmaelites from Ishmael. And Lot separates from Abraham, and he dwelt in the land of Sodom, which was condemned to be burned by heavenly fire because of lawless transgression (Gen 19:24), and even now the burnt traces of it appear; for it is possible to see the shadows of five cities, in which a fruit grows, which appears from the outside near to edible things, but being taken by hands, it is dissolved into ash and smoke.

And near to this is the Asphalt Lake, which formerly had hollow pits having asphalt, but after the destruction of the land, it has become a lake, which is also called the Dead Sea. And it has a most bitter nature and is barren; and the water has become light, so that heavy things, such as stone or iron, tossing in it, do not happen to sink into the bottom, but are instead blown up again as if by a wind and float upon the surface. For living men, being thrown upon it, spring up; but the dead sink; and burning lamps are carried up, but being extinguished, they sink to the bottom. And it brings up bitter salt, and bitumen, and lumps of black asphalt, as large as headless bulls. And the sailors, seeing these lumps, fill their boats and drag them onto the shore. But the asphalt clings to the wood of the ship and is stripped away with the wood, as if it were not possible to be detached otherwise, unless it be moistened with urine and female secretions.

19For it is nature to be thus. But they say that the water changes the color of the day into three, and sends out a variety of appearance reflecting the sun's ray. And Abraham, having become a hundred years old, begat a genuine child from Sarah, Isaac; and after the eighth day we circumcised him, from which this custom the Hebrews still observe, being circumcised on this day. For the Arabs and the Ishmaelites are circumcised in the thirteenth year, since their forefather Ishmael was thus circumcised.

But having been persuaded by Sarah, Abraham sent Ishmael away elsewhere, lest after his passing, as a firstborn, he should work mischief against Isaac regarding the inheritance. Thus the descendants of Ishmael possessed the land received from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. And after time, God commanded him to bring Isaac as a sacrifice; and Abraham, regarding even this as the greatest symbol of piety, arrives with much readiness despite some extremity, and having prepared everything for the sacrifice, says to his child:

«O child, having requested you to become mine from God with ten thousand thanks, since you have passed into life, there is nothing that I have not eagerly desired concerning your upbringing, nor that for which I hoped you would more happily thrive, as if I were quickly seeing you becoming a man and leaving a successor of my rule. But since, desiring God's will, I became your father, I dedicate you again, asking this of Him. Therefore, carry out the consecration bravely; for I surrender you to God, who has made us worthy of this honor, in exchange for which He has become favorable and a protector to me. Go then, not dying by the common way of living, but being sent by your own father to God, the Father of all, by the law of sacrifice. I think you worthy of being judged by Him, neither by disease, nor by war, nor by any other of the sufferings to which men are prone, having received your soul with prayers and his liturgy. And God, providing Himself to me instead of you, shall be a guardian and a nurse for my old age.»

Having heard these things, Isaac said to him: «I would not even have been just from the beginning, if I were to be excluded from the judgment of God and Father, and not to offer myself ready to the wills of both.»

But even if the father had previously chosen only these things, it would have been wrong not to obey. And saying these things, he moved toward the altar and the sacrifice. And God, having accepted the willingness of the other, granted to the father the child, showing a ram instead of the child for a burnt offering; and immediately he brought this up instead of Isaac his child. First, the Word of God appearing to Abraham in the form of a man established the calling of the nations, which, having come to dwell among us in the world, he led to its end through his evangelical teaching into all the nations.

And Isaac, having reached forty years of age, leads Rebekah to marriage, from whom he fathered two children, Esau and Jacob. And Abraham, after Sarah's death, marries Keturah, and makes six children from her: Zembran, Iazan, Madan, Madian, Lousubakon, and Souon. And children are born also from these: from Souon, Sabakanes and Dadanes; and from this one, Latousimos, and Assuros, and Louobos; and from Madan, Hetha, Thophris, Amokhos, Ebidos, and Eldos. And Abraham thought of all these as occupying the Troglodyte region, the parts of prosperous Arabia, and as far as the Red Sea.

And from Assur, Assyria was named; but Sophren, having campaigned against Libya, took possession of it, and his descendants, that is, the sons dwelling there, named the land Africa from his name, who fought with Heracles against Antaeus the native. And Heracles leads the daughter of Oaphre, from whom he made a son, Bodoros, who fathered a son, Sophon, from whom they call the barbarians Sophons. And Abraham, having lived 170 years, died.

Jacob, having snatched away the blessing of Esau, went to Mesopotamia to Laban, the brother of his mother, and having served him, after forty years he leads his two daughters, Leah and Rachel, toward whom more fervently he went with desire. He desired her not being overcome by beauty (for as it is written, Rachel was beautiful in form and very lovely in appearance;), but because, having seen her first, as if meeting through divine economy, he greeted her and loved her, knowing that this wonder had also happened to his mother Rebekah, when, after Abraham the child had prayed, the things according to the prayers and the preordained things met him.

20He was fulfilled through works. From Leah, six children were born to him: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; from Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin; from the handmaid Rachel, called Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali; and from the handmaid of Leah, named Zilpah, Gad and Asher. The Syrian race was established from Esau, who were also called Edomites, before being called Edomite from Esau, because the red one desired the lentil from him; for the Hebrews call the red one 'Edom'. Later they were renamed Syrians, after a certain Syrius held dominion over their nation.

Esau took three Canaanite women for marriage: Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite; Elivam, the daughter of Enan the Hebrew; and Basemath, the daughter of Ishmael, the sister of Neboth. From Adah he begat Eliphaz; from Basemath, Raguel; and from Elivam, Jehud, Ieglom, and Core. Having made these families in the land of the Canaanites, he fled to Mount Seir, because his brother Jacob could not return from Mesopotamia to dwell with him due to the multitude of things they possessed. Having made children there also, he named him Edom after his own name.

Genuine children also came to his sons: to Eliphaz five, namely Teman, Hummar, Zophar, Gomoth, and Kenex, in whom there was also illegitimacy, as Amalek was born to him from a concubine named Timna; and to Raguel, four children were also born, namely Namin, Zares, Some, and Rose; and Edom had eleven: Thamma, Gola, Jothom, Ailibiman, Ielas, Phinon, Kenux, Teman, Mazari, Maediel, and Zephon.

To Seir the Horite, who had inhabited the land, five sons were born: Shobal, Zebegun, Anadison, Asher, and Reson; and to Lot, two, Chorrei and Eman. And Timna was the sister of Lot, who bore Amalek to Eliphaz. Shobal, the son of Seir, made five children: Odomnan, Nachath, Gebuel, Soph, and Omman; and Osebegun two, Aidei and Ainan, who found Amin in the desert grazing the livestock of his father Zebegun. Ainan begat the daughter of Dishon and Elibam; and Dishon begat Amadan, Asvan, Gethran, and Harran.

Asher, the fourth son of Sheer, begat four children: Balam, Zukam, Iukam, and Ukam; and the fifth son of Sheer was Oresh, the son of Ossar. Before kings reigned in Israel, these kings reigned in Edom: Balak, son of Beor, whose city was named Debaba; after him Jobab, son of Zarrha the Essite; after him Azom, the Temanite; after him Adad, son of Barad, who cut down Midian in the field, and whose city was named Gethem; after him Samalak, the Mesekkite; after him Saul, the one from Rabbah by the river; and after him Balaenon, son of Abhochur, having a wife named Methebel, daughter of Matrad, son of Mezooph, all of whom were forty years of age.

The sons of Jacob, hating Joseph their brother with envy, gave him to the Ishmaelites (Genesis 37:28). And they themselves went to Egypt to Potiphar, the chief cook of Pharaoh (Genesis 37:36). And in this time Judah went to some Irani, an Odollamite; and having seen there a Canaanite woman named Shavan, he takes her for a wife and bears four children from her: Er, Onan, Shelem, and Perez. And Judah takes for his firstborn son Er a wife named Tamar; and because of much wickedness in his ways, Er dies in childhood, God having killed him (Genesis 38:7). And Judah permits his second son Onan to lie with Tamar, so that the seed might rise up for his brother. And Onan, knowing that the offspring of the children was not his, while he was about to lie with the woman, poured out his semen on the ground (Genesis 38:9); and being embittered at this by God, he died immediately.

And Judah commands Tamar to sit in the houses of her father as a widow, until Shelem grows up. When he had become a man, he feared to join him to Tamar, inquiring lest this one also should perish. She, being grieved at this, repaid Judah in this way: when he had gone out to the sheepfold, having heard this, she put off her widow's garment and put on costly clothing, and sat by the gates of the city Ainann; whom Judah, passing by from there, saw, and was enticed by her as a prostitute; for she had covered her face so as not to be recognized, and promising to send her a kid, he deemed it worthy to mingle with her.

21To her. But she had not seen him before, except that she had taken the ring, the cord, and the staff. As soon as he had intercourse with her, he went to his own pastures; but she, having changed back into the widow's clothes, was hiding unnoticed.

After Judas had sent away the servant, the servant searched for the cord and the things following, and did not find them; he was being torn by the absurdity, but he was enduring, desiring to see the deception fully. After time had passed, Tamar became pregnant, and Judah, having heard that she had conceived through fornication, commanded that she be burned alive.

But the woman being led away sends to Judah the cord, the ring, and the staff, saying: 'From the man to whom these belong, I have conceived; therefore recognize whose the ring is, and the cord, and the staff.' And Judah, mocking at the matter, and then becoming enraged, was reproaching himself for the injustice, saying: 'She is justified, or I, because of whom I did not give her to my son Shelah.'

But she, having given birth, brought forth twins in delivering. And the elder, that is, the first, put forth his hand, and the midwife tied red wool to his hand, saying: 'This one will come out first'; and immediately the child drew his hand inward, and his brother came out first and his name was called Perez; and after this the brother came out, on whom the red was in the hand, and he was named Zerah. Of these Joseph was a descendant, the one who remembers the immaculate Mary, from whom Christ took his flesh.

For Perez, as the evangelist Matthew recounts (Matt 1:3), begat Esrron, and Esrron begat Aram, and Aram begat Aminadab, and Aminadab begat Naasson, and Naasson begat Salmon, and Salmon begat Booz, and Booz begat Obed from Ruth, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon from the woman of Uriah, and Solomon begat Rehoboam, and Rehoboam begat Abijah, and Abijah begat Asa, and Asa begat Jehoshaphat; and Jehoshaphat begat Joram, and Joram begat Ozias, and Ozias begat Jehoiakim, and Jehoiakim begat Jeconias and his brothers during the deportation to Babylon; and after the deportation to Babylon, Jeconias begat Salathiel, and Salathiel begat Zorobabel, and Zorobabel begat Abiud, and Abiud begat Eliakim, and Eliakim begat Azor, and Azor begat Zadok, and Zadok begat Achim, and Achim begat Eliud, and Eliud begat Eleazar, and Eleazar begat Matthan, and Matthan begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus who is called the Christ (Matt 1:16). All the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ are fourteen generations.

It is necessary for us to seek by what kind of logic Matthew and Luke disagree (Luke 3:23) concerning Joseph in the genealogy: the one writes Jacob as the son of Matthan, but Luke writes him the son of Heli of Melchi; and how these, being of different generations, both Melchi and Matthan appear as grandfathers of Joseph. This is therefore being made clear. For first Matthan, the one of the lineage of Solomon, takes a wife named Ethan, and from this he begets Jacob, and dies. And Melchi, the one of the lineage of Matthan, takes her, and produces from her Heli. And so then both Matthan and Melchi, having taken the same woman, are two half-brothers.

22They married brothers, so that we find Jacob and Heli from two different races. As for Heli, having taken a wife, he died childless, and his brother Jacob took his wife, so that according to the law he might raise up children for his brother; he begot Joseph from her. Thus Joseph was a son of Jacob by nature, but of Heli by law. It is worthy also for the history, which a certain Jacob will continue regarding the holy Mary, to come forward. For it is said that among the tribes of Israel a man named Joachim had become rich, who at the feast offered double the usual gifts to God, saying: 'The property of all the people, and the remission for propitiation, are to me, Lord God.'

Standing at the greatest feast of the Lord, while all were offering gifts to God according to custom, he himself was moved to offer first. And a certain Reuben forbade him to approach first, saying that it was not permitted for him, because he had become childless in Israel. And being saddened by this, he went into the wilderness, and there, having pitched a tent, he implored God to grant him also, just as to Abraham a child of legitimate birth; for he knew himself to be in Israel. Even until the days of fasting forty days he implored God. Similarly also his wife, having put on humble clothing, desired to find favor with God.

When the greatest day of God arrived, she puts on a bright garment; for it was not proper to wear mourning clothing on this feast. Concerning the ninth hour of the day, having sat under a tree in its paradise, she implored God, saying: 'God of our fathers, bless me, and hear my prayer, just as you blessed the womb of Sarah, and gave her a son, Isaac.' And saying these things, she looked toward the tree, and having seen a sparrow feeding its young ones, bitterly sighing and crying out, she said: 'O Lord, that I am not even like these winged ones, to whom fertility belongs!' And after she cried these things to God, an angel of the Lord appearing to her announces to her a child-bearing. And she, having heard, immediately promised to dedicate the one born to God. Such things also the angel signaled to Joachim on the mountain.

And having descended from the mountain, Joachim offered ten lambs as a sacrifice to the Lord, and twelve calves to the priests, and one hundred he-goats to the elders and to all the people. And having completed these sacrifices in the temple of God, he arrived at his house; and having known his wife, he made a daughter from her, and named her Mary, who, having been dedicated to the temple of God for three years.

When she had become twelve years old, the priests made a consultation concerning whom they should join her in marriage. And they permitted the high priest Zechariah, having entered into the Holy of Holies, to ask God to reveal to him whom it was proper for her to be joined to. And while Zechariah was praying, an angel appeared, signifying that he should gather all the ministers of the people together and have each one hold a rod; and to whomever God should show a sign, to him should he join the virgin. And Zechariah, having come out, did thus, just as the angel had commanded him. And having taken the rods of all, he went into the temple and prayed, and having come out, he handed the individual rod to each one. But when he was last handing the rod to Joseph, a great sign occurred. For immediately as he was receiving the rod from the priest, a dove flew out from the rod and sat upon the head of Joseph; and the high priest and all the attending priests, marveling at the event, judged him to be the bridegroom of the maiden, whom Joseph had been guarding and, having left her in his house, arrived at the buildings after completing the construction; for he was a builder by trade.

At that same time, it seemed good to the priests that a veil be made for the temple by pure virgins, and seven virgins were found in the tribe of Judah. And Zechariah, remembering Mary, commanded that she also should be present for the casting of lots; and having brought them into the house of God, he commanded them to cast lots for which material to take: gold, or unmixed linen, or fine linen, or silk, or true purple, or hyacinth, or scarlet; and Mary was chosen to work with the purple and the scarlet. And indeed, while she was working at the house, an angel appeared and announces the miraculous birth to her, just as the Gospels recount. And once having completed the task assigned to her, she gives it to the high priest, and having been blessed by him, she departs.

24And Solomon says: these are all the seven sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant. The blessed Jacob, having lived all his years 142, died in Egypt, having previously blessed each of his sons with diverse blessings. And the blessing of the firstborn was given to Joseph, and not to Reuben; because Joseph, not having yielded to the pleasure of Egypt, was justified, but Reuben, having been defeated, sinned; also because the firstborn was from Rachel, and he allotted the kingship to the tribe of Judah, and not to Reuben; because Judah was reproached in a woman, but he was justified, confessing himself to be responsible for the sin with good judgment, and not the woman. But even for this reason he was appointed to rule, since among all the other tribes he was more fervent for zeal and the vengeance of God; therefore also he prophesies that the Christ is to come from him according to the flesh, and the calling of the Gentiles through him.

And to Levi alone he bequeathed the priesthood, since Amram was born from him, who diverted the decree of Pharaoh and brought his son Moses to life. But he made Reuben great only in number, because he did not agree to the plot against Joseph. So, when Jacob had died in Egypt, they carried him away to the land of Canaan, and likewise all his sons. At the end also they carried Joseph away, having departed from Egypt, to the place where their forefather Abraham had previously grazed sheep 780 years before.

In that place the terebinth was also, under which Jacob had hidden the idols from Laban, which is even now worshipped by the neighbors for the honor of the ancestors; for even until now there is an altar beside its trunk, on which they offered both burnt offerings and hecatombs; and they say it is a rod of one of the angels who had visited Abraham, which he planted in the place then being present, and from it the worthy terebinth grew. For if it is touched by fire, it all becomes, and it is believed by all to be dissolved into dust from the flame, yet even when extinguished, it is entirely clean and shown to be intact.

But after the death of Joseph, the Egyptians, forgetting the kindness, subjected the race of the Israelites to various misfortunes, being disposed toward them in envy and jealousy.

For the Israelites, being enduring through hardships, overcame the Egyptians by virtue and wealth, while the latter were steeped in drunkenness, laziness, and constantly laid low by dissipation. A certain scribe among the Egyptians signaled to Pharaoh that someone would be born among the Israelites who would humble all Egypt, but would greatly increase the prosperity of the dwelling nation, having acquired everlasting glory. Because of this, Pharaoh intended to utterly destroy the Hebrews; he commanded them to toil in labors, to wall all the cities of Egypt, and to cut many canals through the river; and to raise lands, commanding that they should be devastated so that the city would not be flooded at all; and in addition to these things, to build pyramids, and to cast into the river all the infants being born to them, thinking that he would destroy and overthrow Egypt by abolishing what had been decreed upon the river.

There was, therefore, someone from the tribe of Levi named Amram, who having taken a wife named Jochebed, from her he begat the destined Moses, and he hid him for a certain time. But when he saw the king's law prevailing more fiercely, fearing he might be discovered, having placed the child in a basket, he set it by the banks of the river. And the daughter of Pharaoh, having come for the sake of bathing, seeing the basket, opened it, and having been drawn to the beauty of the child, she entered as one lacking a child; and having called many Egyptian nurses, she did not have the means how the child might be suckled, for none of them approached with a breast together.

In the end, therefore, the mother was commanded to bring the child secretly to the queen to suckle; for she alone received the breast from them, I think, the local race approaching it, while the foreign one being repelled. When he had grown, the Thermouthis (for this was the name of the queen) spoke to Moses, since he was saved from the water; for the Egyptians call water 'mou' and 'ses' for being saved. But his parents called him before him Melchi. He was indeed handsome and quite lovely to look upon, so that he would stand amazed at him meeting him on the road, and would marvel at his beauty. Thus, having grown, she brings him to...

25Thermuthis, deeming him worthy to make him successor to his father's kingdom, places him in his hands. The one receiving it, having bowed down, loved; and being gracious, took off his own crown and placed it on that man's head. But Moses, having cast the crown upon the ground, trampled it.

And the scribe, having foretold his origin, seeing and understanding that this was the one destined to be the enemy of the Egyptian rule, resolved to kill him, but was not strong enough; he cried out to the king: 'This is he, king, who was useful to us to drive away the demon of the Hebrews, which was a threat to the Egyptian kingdom; behold, even now he has shown a small sign of what is to come, having thrown and trampled the very symbol of the kingdom into the dust. This one, having risen, will indeed deprive the Egyptians of the evils expected, and cause the Hebrews to err in the hope that will be established upon him.'

Having said these things, the king, by the providence of God, became slow toward the killing; but Thermuthis, snatching Moses from the king's hands, protected him safely. And the Ethiopians, being inhabitants belonging to the Egyptians, having come suddenly, were besieging Egypt, and having turned the Egyptians by opposing them, they advanced even to Memphis and the sea, where the Egyptians, having taken the race of the Hebrews as allies according to an oracle, went forth.

And Pharaoh, thinking he had found an opportune time for the refutation of Moses, compelled Thermuthis to provide him Moses, so that he might make him general of the Hebrews, remembering to do him no harm, but only to establish him as a commander of the Hebrews, supposing easily that he would be destroyed by the enemies, as one being an endless fighter.

Having previously reproached the father and the scribes, because they intended to kill what they now call a helper, they now call him a helper and give them Moses. The general of the local nation, having been led forward, leads the army by another way to avoid the Ethiopians, a land of wild beasts (for all nature breeds beasts, even flying ones), and to avoid being struck by any beast, he orders woven baskets filled with ibexes to be brought forward; for this animal is an enemy to the asp. As they were passing through that place, they let the ibexes fall to the beasts, and not enduring that supply of these, the beasts tore them apart; and having passed through this way, he suddenly falls upon the Ethiopians, slaughtering a great multitude of them and putting the rest to flight.

The Ethiopians, having barely escaped death by flight, seize the city of Sabe. For this was their kingdom, fortified with strong walls and earthworks, inaccessible because of the Nile (since it surrounds the whole city with its stream); therefore it was also a difficult city to besiege for the Egyptians. Moses led the army toward the city, being in great distress because it was hard to capture. While many of the Egyptians were making engines, but nothing was effective, the daughter of the king, named Tharmis, having seen Moses through the towers, and having been drawn to his beauty and marveled at the foresight of his plans, comes into desire; and having sent her most faithful servant, she spoke to him concerning marriage.

Moses promised to do this if she would deliver the city to him. She immediately offers peace and delivers the city to him. Once the battle was resolved, and the Egyptians had returned to their own lands, he leads her to marriage, and founds a city, and calls it Hermopolis; for in this way Moses is introduced to the people, because he performed the interpretation of the sacred writings. He was honored.

26And even among the Ethiopians he is not small because of his admirable wisdom. For he first thought out the use of ships, and machines for stone-laying, and Egyptian weapons, and hydraulic and warfare instruments. Moreover, he divided all Egypt into thirty parts to establish Chenephre's kingship, because the Egyptians used to rule lawlessly, approaching and deposing whomever they preferred by whim. For because of these things he was honored by the priests as a god, but by the Ethiopians as a king; and having learned circumcision from him, they observe it even until now.

For this man first became wise, as Eupolemus relates, and first handed over letters to the Hebrews, which the blessed Abraham brought from the Chaldeans; for the Chaldeans were the first discoverers of these; and the Phoenicians received them from the Hebrews; and Cadmus carried these things to the Greeks. After the campaign against the Ethiopians, Chenephre arrives in Egypt; and Chenephre received him indeed with favorable words, but with deeds he prepared death against him; for having made him desolate of his kinsmen, he reaches Memphis with him; and he asks him, what is useful to men? And he said: The breed of oxen, because they make the earth suitable by plowing.

Chenephre therefore commanded the crowds to fashion a standard for the bull Apis, and to hide under the floor of the temple reminders of the virtue of Moses (and these were made of bronze, having the ingenuity of the Iberians, and proclaiming the history of the bravery of the Ethiopians) so as to hand over the drama of this thing in secret. And he divided the surrounding Hebrew crowd into two tasks: he sent some for the guarding of Ethiopia, and he permitted the others, having quarried the nearby mountain, to construct the temple in Zeus's city out of stone; for in old times the temple was constructed of baked brick.

And, having been repulsed by the Egyptians, he was commanding him to raise him up for his friends, swearing everyone not to make the plot against him manifest. Having refused all this counsel, a certain Khanenoth, desiring to serve the king's will, set out to murder Moses, promising to do so.

Then indeed, after Meribah (for so Thermuthis was called) had died, Pharaoh, perceiving the opportune time, appointed Moses and Jethro to protect her in the lands beyond Egypt. When they arrived, one of those privy to the intention of Pharaoh informed Moses; and Moses, having guarded himself from every side, buried Meribah, and named the place and the river Meribah after her. He himself, having traversed the Nile from Memphis, fled into Arabia, according to the hypothesis of Aaron his brother; and Jethro, having discovered him, drew his sword to meet him; but Moses restrained his hand, and, wresting the sword from his hand, slew him with his own sword, and went to Arabia to Raguel, the ruler of those lands, taking with him his daughter Zipporah, and from her he fathered two boys.

Pharaoh, having discovered the whole drama of Moses, held his anger against the multitude of the Jews, and immediately commanded that these should be slaughtered; for having ordered them to wear only linen garments because of the distinguishing mark, he was delivering them to the Egyptians for slaughter; whereupon God punished him with a most great affliction; for, being the first of all men to be afflicted with elephantiasis, Pharaoh brought a shameful end to his life. He who succeeded him in the same principality was likewise a successor in his wickedness; for he subjected the Jews to the same evils. And while a great throne of suffering surrounded them, God, having compassion on them, sent Moses into Egypt, appointing him to stand before Pharaoh to release the nation of the Jews into the wilderness, so that they might worship Him.

Upon such a speech from Moses, Pharaoh, being harsh, immediately commanded that he be cast into prison; and through the night the whole earth was shaken by an earthquake, so that some of the guards fled in terror, and others, through deep sleep, lay still in their limbs; and the very gates of the prison were lifted up, and Moses came out, and arrived at night into the royal palaces; for even those gates stood open because the earth was shaking. And while all the bodyguards were sleeping, Pharaoh was awakened, saying, 'God has sent me to command you to release the people of the Jews.' But being struck with amazement, he asked who this is, and what the name of the...

29To God, so that He might not let the day pass by nature, having stopped the sun at Gibeon and the moon at the valley of Aijalon (Joshua 10:12-13). And God stopped the sun and the moon until he struck down the enemies in the midday.

But Jesus the son of Nun, finding the five kings of the nations hiding, fallen into a cave upon the earth, commanded that they be thrown, and having made them be trampled by the people upon the neck, he killed them (Joshua 10:25-27); and having hung their bodies on wood, he later shut them into the cave.

And having plundered all their cities, he subjected all the mountain and the plain. And Asor, King Jabin, having taken kings as allies around him, gathered much power, as the multitude of their army seemed to be like the innumerable...

30[...], the sand of the sea, and he set himself against Jesus. But Jesus, falling upon them suddenly, slaughtered him and all his allies with all the force of an army, and he cut down their horses, and he divided all their land among the Israelites.

To the tribe of Reuben he allotted the land of the Amorites and the Rapha; and to Gad the same land of the Amorites, and he divided half to the tribe of Manasseh; and to the tribe of Judah the land of the Hebrews, and of the Hittites, and of the Anakim.

For Judah, a tribe having taken the tribe of Simeon as an ally, drove out the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and seizing the fleeing Adoni-Bezek, they maimed his feet and his hands; and [...]

31He said, self-condemning, "Just as I have done, so God has repaid me. For seventy kings, their extremities of feet and hands having been cut off, were lying beneath my table, recounting the fallen ones." Having been brought into Jerusalem, he died immediately.

And Jesus caused to perish the land of Ephraim, belonging to the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Samaritans; and the land of Manasseh, half a tribe, belonging to the Geshurites and the Amorites. But he bequeathed the land of the Hebrews, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites, to Benjamin; and to Simeon, that of the Hebrews and the Perizzites; and to Zebulun, that of the Perizzites; and to the Kenites [...]