LatineEnglish
A DISPUTATION ON THE CHERUBIM and the turning sword placed before the entrance of Paradise.1
DISPUTATIO DE CHERUBIM & gladio versatili positis ante aditum Paradisi.
Sed quid per Cherubim; quid item per Flammeum gladium versatilem, significaverit Moses, & intelligi voluerit, interpretari & asseri qui hoc opus, hic labor est. Exponam igitur primo & expendam aliorum sententias: deinde meam quoque lectori opinionem aperiam.
But what Moses signified and wished to be understood by 'Cherubim,' and what likewise by 'a flaming turning sword' — to interpret and assert this is the work, this is the labor. I shall therefore first set forth and weigh the opinions of others; then I shall open my own opinion too to the reader.2
Translator’s notes
- Major section divider: a new disputation on the meaning of the Cherubim and the flaming turning sword (Gen 3:24). ↩
- Sets up the disputation: the crux is what Moses meant by the Cherubim and the flaming turning sword. Pererius will review others' views first, then give his own. (Echoes Virgil, Aeneid 6.129, 'hoc opus, hic labor est.') ↩