LatineEnglish
{And so the Lord scattered them from that place into all lands.}1
Atque ita divisit illos Dominus ex illo loco in universas terras.
HIC nempe fuit unius linguae confusionis et variarum multiplicationis linguarum effectus simul et finis. Namque ad eum finem Deus unam illam linguam qua omnes utebantur confudit, invecta aliarum complurium linguarum varietate: ut, quia genus hominum maiorem in modum iam fuerat propagatum, vel inviti homines illi segregarentur invicem ac varie dispergerentur. Talis enim separatio et dispersio perquam utilis futura erat humano generi. Primo quidem propter cibi et victus commoditatem et abundantiam: neque enim una aliqua regio sufficientem tantae hominum multitudini, et quidem in dies magis ac magis crescenti, suppeditare victum potuisset. Deinde, si omne genus hominum uno in loco fuisset, exorto inter ipsos bello vel grassante peste alioque exitiali morbo, facile fuisset ut omnes communi clade interirent. Adde quod bonos mores corrumpunt colloquia prava, et societas improborum atque impiorum hominum, sensim quasi contagiosus morbus serpens, etiam bonos inficit atque corrumpit.
This indeed was at once the effect and the end of the confusion of the one tongue and the multiplication of the various tongues. For to this end God confounded that one tongue which all used, the variety of several other tongues being introduced: that, because the race of men had now been propagated to a greater degree, those men, even unwilling, might be segregated from one another and variously dispersed. For such a separation and dispersion was going to be exceedingly useful to the human race. First, on account of the convenience and abundance of food and sustenance: for no one region could have supplied sufficient food to so great a multitude of men, and one indeed increasing more and more day by day. Next, if the whole race of men had been in one place, war arising among them, or plague or some other deadly disease raging, it would easily have come about that all perished in a common calamity. Add that depraved conversations corrupt good morals, and the society of wicked and impious men, creeping on gradually like a contagious disease, infects and corrupts even the good.2
OB has igitur tres causas utilissimum generi humano erat in diversa et longinqua terrae loca dissipari, et dissitarum inter se regionum habitatores et cultores esse. Itaque, facta linguarum divisione, quisque cum suis eadem lingua loquentibus diversum terrae locum petiit. Tubal venit ad Hesperios, id est in Italiam et Hispaniam (non quod iam tunc ista essent nomina, sed quod postea talia vocabula locis illis sint indita); Iavan profectus est in Ioniam et Graeciam; Tharsis Ciliciam; Cethim Cyprum; Madai Mediam; Mesraim Aegyptum; Phut Africam; Lud Libyam; Chus Aethiopiam; Saba Sabaeam; Chanaan eam terram quae ab ipso postea dicta est Chananaea; idemque de aliis posteris filiorum Noë, de quibus superiori capite decimo dictum est, intelligi volo.
For these three causes, then, it was most useful for the human race to be scattered into diverse and far-off places of the earth, and to be the inhabitants and cultivators of regions distant from one another. And so, the division of tongues being made, each one, with his own who spoke the same tongue, sought a different place of the earth. Tubal came to the Hesperians, that is, into Italy and Spain (not that these were the names then, but that afterward such words were given to those places); Iavan set out into Ionia and Greece; Tharsis to Cilicia; Cethim to Cyprus; Madai to Media; Mesraim to Egypt; Phut to Africa; Lud to Libya; Chus to Ethiopia; Saba to Sabaea; Chanaan to that land which was from him afterward called Chananaea; and the same I wish to be understood of the other descendants of the sons of Noah, of whom it was spoken in the foregoing tenth chapter.3
Translator’s notes
- Gen 11:8a (verse lemma). ↩
- §107. Gen 11:8a. The dispersion was the confusion's effect and end: God confounded the one tongue so the now-numerous race would (even unwillingly) split and spread — exceedingly useful for three reasons: (1) food/sustenance (no one region could feed so great and growing a multitude); (2) safety (all in one place, war or plague would destroy all in a common calamity); (3) morals (bad company corrupts even the good, like a contagion). Margins: three causes why it was very useful for men to be dispersed; 1 Cor 15. ↩
- §108. For these three causes the dispersion was most useful: so, the tongues divided, each (with his same-tongued kin) sought a region — Tubal to Italy/Spain, Iavan to Greece, Tharsis to Cilicia, Cethim to Cyprus, Madai to Media, Mesraim to Egypt, Phut to Africa, Lud to Libya, Chus to Ethiopia, Saba to Sabaea, Chanaan to Chananaea (and so the rest of Noah's descendants, Gen 10). ↩