LatineEnglish
{These are the families of the sons of Noah according to their peoples and nations. By these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.}1
Hae familiae filiorum Noë iuxta populos et nationes suas. Ab his divisae sunt gentes in terra post diluvium.
APPELLANTUR supradictae familiae ipsius Noë, licet non ab ipso sed a filiis vel nepotibus eius progeneratae sint, quod ille fuerit prima illorum omnium origo et stirps unde omnes illi pullularunt. Illis porro verbis „Ab his divisae sunt gentes post diluvium“ significatur omnes gentium divisiones quae nunc sunt in toto terrarum orbe ab illis tribus Noë filiis esse profectas, et post diluvium exstitisse. Fuerat quidem ante diluvium nonnulla hominum divisio, sed non qualis et quanta fuit post diluvium. Namque ante diluvium, post necem Abel et natam progeniem Seth, ex mandato Adami posteri Seth divisi sunt a posteris Cain, ob idque dicitur cap. 4 Geneseos Cain recessisse contra orientalem plagam Paradisi: eaque divisio et separatio usque ad septimam generationem perdurasse creditur: quo tempore posteri Seth pulchritudine feminarum stirpis Cain illecti et capti, illis per connubia sunt commixti; factaque est benedicti seminis cum scelerato et impio, contra mandatum Adami et voluntatem Dei, pestifera commixtio, unde tot tantaque mala ubique terrarum exstiterunt, ut Deum ad perdendum diluvio…
The aforesaid families are called Noah's, although they were begotten not by him but by his sons or grandsons, because he was the first origin and stock of them all, whence they all sprang. By those words ‘By these were the nations divided after the flood’ it is signified that all the divisions of nations which now are in the whole world proceeded from those three sons of Noah, and came to be after the flood. There had indeed been before the flood some division of men, but not such and so great as was after the flood. For before the flood, after the slaying of Abel and the birth of the offspring of Seth, by the command of Adam the descendants of Seth were divided from the descendants of Cain; and on that account it is said in the fourth chapter of Genesis that Cain withdrew toward the eastern region of Paradise: and that division and separation is believed to have lasted down to the seventh generation; at which time the descendants of Seth, allured and captivated by the beauty of the women of Cain's stock, were mingled with them by marriages; and there was made a pestilent mingling of the blessed seed with the wicked and impious, against the command of Adam and the will of God — whence so many and so great evils arose everywhere on earth that they provoked God to destroy by the flood…2
…diluvio omne genus hominum atque animalium provocaverint. PRAETER hanc divisionem hominum satis credibile sit et alteram fuisse divisionem habitationis hominum in diversis regionibus ac locis. Cum enim per mille sexcentos et quinquaginta sex annos qui diluvium praecesserunt humanum genus numerosissime propagatum atque multiplicatum fuerit, non unius regionis finibus circumscriptos fuisse omnes homines, sed per diversas terrae regiones diffusos esse, ad veritatem propensius est. Quamobrem diluvium non unam tantum regionem, sed omnes terrae plagas inundavit atque obruit. An vero diversitas etiam linguarum fuerit ante diluvium necne, libro qui hunc proxime sequetur a nobis disputabitur.
…to destroy by the flood the whole race of men and animals. Besides this division of men, it may be credible enough that there was also another division of the habitation of men in diverse regions and places. For since, through the 1,656 years which preceded the flood, the human race was most numerously propagated and multiplied, it is more inclined toward the truth that all men were not circumscribed within the bounds of one region, but were diffused through the diverse regions of the earth. Wherefore the flood inundated and overwhelmed not one region only, but all the parts of the earth. But whether there was also a diversity of tongues before the flood or not, will be disputed by us in the book which next follows this one.3
ILLUD porro lectorem, quod supra etiam indicavimus, iterum hoc loco admonere nec alienum nec supervacaneum iudicavimus: licet multo plures his qui supra memorati sunt fuerint filii Sem, Cham et Iaphet, propterea tamen non alios quam supradictos fuisse hic a Mose commemoratos (ut recte sensit B. Augustinus), quia illi nascendo aliis gentibus accesserunt, nec ipsi diversas gentes condere ac denominare potuerunt. „Namque alia causa, cum filii Iaphet octo numerentur, ex duobus eorum tantum filii nati commemorantur? Et cum filii Cham quatuor nominentur, ex tribus tantum qui sunt nati adiiciuntur? Et cum filii Sem nominantur sex, duorum tantum posteritas attexitur? Nunquid ceteri sine filiis remanserunt? Absit hoc credere: sed gentes propter quas commemorari digni essent non utique fecerunt, quia sicut nascebantur, aliis gentibus addebantur.“ Sic Augustinus.
This, moreover, which we also indicated above, we have judged it neither foreign nor superfluous to remind the reader of again in this place: that although the sons of Sem, Cham, and Japheth were far more than those mentioned above, nevertheless no others than the aforesaid were here mentioned by Moses (as Blessed Augustine rightly judged), because they, in being born, were added to other nations, and could not themselves found and name different nations. „For what other cause is there that, while the sons of Japheth are counted as eight, the sons born of only two of them are mentioned? And while the sons of Cham are named as four, the sons of only three are added? And while the sons of Sem are named as six, the posterity of only two is appended? Did the rest perhaps remain without sons? Far be it to believe this: but they certainly did not produce nations on account of which they would be worthy to be mentioned, because, as they were born, they were added to other nations.“ So Augustine.4
Translator’s notes
- Gen 10:32 (verse lemma). ↩
- §159. Gen 10:32. The families are called Noah's (though begotten by his sons/grandsons) as their first source; ‘by these were the nations divided after the flood’ = all present national divisions came from Noah's three sons, after the flood. There was some pre-flood division: after Abel's death, Seth's line was separated from Cain's by Adam's command (Cain withdrew east of Paradise, Gen 4), lasting to the seventh generation — until Seth's line, lured by the beauty of Cain's women, intermarried, mingling the blessed seed with the impious against Adam's command and God's will, breeding the evils that provoked the flood (continues p. 469). Margins: what kind of division and distinction of men there was before the flood; Gen 4. ↩
- §159 (concl.). Besides the moral division, there was likely also a geographical one: in the 1,656 pre-flood years mankind multiplied so greatly that men were spread over diverse regions, not one — hence the flood covered the whole earth, not one region. Whether tongues also differed before the flood is reserved for the next book (Liber XVI). ↩
- §160. A reminder (per Augustine, City of God 16.3): Sem, Cham, and Japheth had far more sons than listed; Moses names only these because they founded and named distinct nations, while the rest were absorbed into other nations. (Augustine's argument: of Japheth's 8 sons only 2 have named posterity, of Cham's 4 only 3, of Sem's 6 only 2 — the rest had sons but founded no nameworthy nations.) This closes Liber XV. Margin: Augustine, City of God bk. 16 ch. 3. ↩