Heptateuchos

The Book of Genesis. In the beginning the Lord placed heaven and earth: for the land was formless and hidden by the flood, and the immense god moved over the vast waters. While chaos and black darkness obscured everything; when he ordered these to be separated, he speaks from the hinge: "Let there be light!" and all things shone clearly in the world. When the Lord had completed the first day's work, he established the axis, gleaming with rising clouds. The immense sea receives wandering shores, seizing many rivers with its strong currents. The third light, golden, uncovered the face of the lands. The dry land is soon said to bear the name earth. Flowering shoots rise in the windy fields, and fruit-bearing branches bend their arms at the same time. On the fourth day he generates the moon along with the sun's lamp, and fixes the stars shining with trembling light. He gave these elements as signs to the subject world, to teach the seasons, to be changed through various risings. On the fifth day the flowing rivers receive fish, and various birds hang their wings in the air. On the sixth, the father lubricates cold snakes into coils, and spreads whole herds of four-footed animals across the fields, and commanded all things to grow everywhere by manifold seed, and to wander and graze on the immense lands.

After establishing these things by divine power and command, the Lord, seeing that a ruler was lacking for earthly affairs, said: "Let us make a man in our image, resembling our features, to rule over the whole world." And although He could have fashioned him by word alone, yet He deigned to shape him with His own holy right hand, and breathed a breast from the divine breast into the brute. When he saw him formed in his own likeness, he measured the ground, about to turn over bitter cares. At once he drenched his eyes with soothing sleep, so that a woman might be formed more softly from a removed rib, and that mixed substance might strengthen the twin limbs; and a name is given, which is called "life": Eve. For this reason children customarily leave their parents and cling to their spouses, having set aside their own homes. On the seventh day God rested from the completion of His works, establishing the sacred day for the joys of the age to come. At once, after the throngs of living creatures were presented in order, He gave each individually a name that endures: Adam, gifted with shrewd prudence. God deigns to address him, and Eve joined to him:

Multiply with manifold offspring in the times to come, so that the sky and the lands may be full of your seed, and as my heirs, pluck the various fruits which the groves and the fields yield from the fertile turf." When he had said this, a joyful paradise is established in a hall, and it beholds the first lights of the sun. Among these, a tree is born with deadly fruits, generating a flavor joined of life and death. In the midst of the dwellings, a river flows with a pure stream, which waters the notable gardens with its liquid waves, and cuts four channels from a surging spring. Phison, rich in gold-bearing waters, surges with its waves and wears down conspicuous gems with its hoarse whirlpool—one is called prasinus, another is the burning carbuncle—and with its clear shallows it laps the land of Hevila. After this, Geon, flowing down, enriches the Ethiopians; the third is the Tigris, joined to the pleasant Euphrates, furrowing Assyria with its swift, dividing stream. Here, the guardian Adam, placed with his faithful wife, and the craftsman, is formed by such a voice of the Thunderer: "Do not be afraid to pluck together the permitted fruits which the unshorn grove has created on its leafy branch, being careful lest you gather the harmful apple,

which is green from the twin sap separated for its functions." Meanwhile, deep night still held the blind, and a covering had not yet clothed their newly formed limbs. Among these abodes and gardens with gentle berries, the foamy serpent, surpassing animals in cunning sense, crept silently with cold coils; rolling livid deceits with a biting mind, it tries the soft hearts beneath the woman's breast: "Tell me, why should you fear the happy shoots of the apple? Surely the god has consecrated all fruits as born? But if you strive to pluck honeyed sustenance, the golden world will smile from the starry threshold." She refuses and fears to touch the forbidden branches: yet the weak heart is overcome by frail sense. As soon as she bit the now-soft fruit with her white tooth, a cloudless brightness shone forth, unblemished. Then the taste, instilling allure in her honeyed throat, impelled her to bring the unaccustomed gift to her husband. As soon as he took it, the night was wiped away, and their shining eyes gleamed, with the bright world serene. Therefore, when each saw their body bared, they cover what seems shameful with fig leaves. By chance, under the setting light of the lord's sun in the west, they recognize a sound and, trembling, head for hidden places. Then the lord of heaven addresses sad Adam: "Tell me, where do you now dwell?" He answers thus as a suppliant: "O lord, I tremble at your words with a fearful heart, great one, and, naked, I am wearied by cold fear.

Then the Lord said: "Who gave you the forbidden fruit?" "The woman gave it to me, while she said that the bright light, the clear sky bathed in shining day, the sun and the stars of heaven had shone forth for her." Immediately the anger of God troubled and terrified Eve, as the greatest one sought the author of the forbidden deed. She then disclosed: "Persuaded by the serpent's speech, I accepted it, deceived by its guile and flattering entreaty. For it, weaving its words with viperous poisons, told me this was sweeter than all fruits." At once the almighty condemns the deeds of the dragon, commanding the monster to live hated by all, to crawl forth with its breast spread out, then to gnaw only by biting, in perpetual war against human senses and against itself as it slips away. With its head cast down, it was to creep prone behind the legs of men and their heels, pressing close as it glides. The woman, wretchedly deceived by the trickster's persuasions, is ordered to bear her offspring with harsh hardship and to endure servitude to her husband through her zeal. "But you, to whom the truthful judgment of your spouse seemed false, she who yielded, conquered, to the cruel dragon, will lament your wretched toil through long ages. For instead of a harvest of wheat, thistles and very sharp thorns of the paliurus will spring up for you, so that with weary entrails and a sorrowful heart, many sighs will provide anxious sustenance, until at the coming time of death in the west, you return your body, from which you are made, to the earth lying beneath.

After these things, the Lord gave to the trembling ones the weariness of life, and cast them down, removed them far from the sacred gardens, and placed them opposite, and banished them into the midst of fire, in which the very swift Cherubim is whirled about in the heat, while the hot summit boils over and rolls forth flames. The Lord, lest their limbs grow stiff with sluggish cold, sewed together skins torn from the entrails of beasts, covering their naked limbs with warm garments. Therefore, when faithful Adam already perceived himself to be a man by marriage, he gives to his wife the name of the beloved mother, and the father immediately names the two offspring from the seed with different beginnings: this one has the name Cain, to whom Abel was joined, who kept a great care of harmless sheep; but the other turned the earth with a curved plow. When they continually bore their gifts to the Thunderer, they gave dissimilar fruits, with sense persuading them. For the former offered what had been sown from the rich clods, but the other devoted himself to a gentle lamb, bearing pure entrails in his hand and snowy fat, and immediately the pious vows please the Lord, who watches. Because of this, cold Cain blazed with anger. The Lord, deigning him with such speech, begins: "Tell me, if you live rightly and see harmful things, can you not live pure from a contracted crime?

Cease to destroy your brother with a biting mind, who will offer his neck to you as to a master, subject. Yet not broken by these things, he leads his brother to the fields, and when he saw him caught in the deserted grass, he crushes his pious throat, grinding his teeth, with both hands. The Lord, watching from high heaven, inquires where in the lands Abel may be. He denies that he was set as a guardian for his brother. God speaks to him: "Does not the voice of his blood, sent to me, sound and ascend to the high pole?" Know, then, that lasting things await you for such a crime; for the land that has now grown wet with your brother's blood, cursed and hateful to you, will deny the seeds entrusted to it and will not bring forth fruit from the consumed plants, so that you, sluggish, striking your limbs with much trembling, as if joined to a corpse, will always draw sighs. Terrified, he groans and demands death from the god; yet it was not granted by the hostile thunderer: for the one who has earned evil is marked with a branded sign, so that it may not be lawful for anyone to strike down the guilty one with iron, lest a greater slaughter bring about sevenfold distinctions. Immediately he goes forth from the face of the Lord as one lost, to the overturned dwellings in the turf of the Naid land, and no less from his children, whom a faithful mother bore, he founded a lofty city with the name of the firstborn. Enoch begat Gaidad, who then begat Malel, from whom Mathusalam gradually came forth into the air under his father and prolonged the times of a long life.

Lamech, who struck down Cain with a dire sword, suffers far heavier penalties than the guilty man he slew; for a sevenfold tenfold punishment restrains his crimes. Here, groaning at what his wives have done, he rebukes himself of his own accord, of whom the first was Ada and the second Sella. But Ada first bore Iabel, who as a shepherd in the fields fed his joyful flocks on grassy pasture. Then Iobal succeeded him, who discovered the music plectrum and strings harmonious with varied sound. Soon Sella bore Tobel, whose custom it was to pour forth streams of bronze and to shape iron, beaten on the anvil, into diverse forms with a hissing furnace; whom Noemma, created from the same parent, followed. Amid these events, Adam, not feeble in his years, begets Seth after the death of gentle Abel. He then creates Enoch, to whom the Lord granted a pure heart. When he asked to be prayed to, he assented and received the gifts of a placid mind. Therefore, after Adam had completed nine hundred and thirty years, he fell asleep in death. And then long-lived Enoch lived for nine hundred and five years, whom Cainan equaled, being only five years longer in duration. Younger than him by thrice five years, old Malaleel lay down: then Iared lived thrice ten and three years, more constrained in his long age.

Enoch, whose concern it was to serve the mighty one and to join his mind to God, younger than these men by far, when three hundred years are completed, if you care to add five and six times ten, covered by sudden darkness, he is hidden away and, greatly pitied by the Lord, removed, he lives a happy life with a peaceful time. But Methuselah extends nine hundred orbits seven times and ten, to which it is right to join one. Lamech, sown by this father, when Noah was created, spoke such things, while in the manner of a seer he foresees the future and sends his perceptions into the coming age: "This one will give us secure commerce of life and will remove the harsh burden and bring back peace, which has been driven out by evil deeds and by our guilt and by sad right hands, by whose furrowed labor the earth, cursed by the speaking Lord, denies fruit." He lived seven hundred years and seven years, with seventy placed on top, as the sum demands. From this one begetting, the noble Noah, renowned for his righteous deeds, is brought forth, about to give seeds to an innocent age.

He creates three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, accustomed to beating softened iron into shape and to forging sparkling masses with prompt skill. This prophet had already lived six hundred years when the Lord, weary of the dire crimes of the world and the manifold offenses of men under the long light of day, pityingly restrains the discomforts of a prolonged life and sets a limit of twice sixty years, which no one under the established law could surpass. Amid these things, earthly pleasure entices the saints and holds them captive as they descend from the celestial citadel; while they behold faces laughing with a beautiful body and cling too much to pleasing embraces, they beget for themselves grim giants of great bulk. The patience of the Lord is finally forced to be offended by their crimes; as He conceives long anger and grieves that man, created by His forming right hand, is starry, He speaks, moved in His holy breast: "It is right for me to destroy the sins of the guilty world with ocean floods, to envelop the entire earth, to drown the human race in vast waters, and at the same time all kinds of livestock that happily crop the grass in the fields while wandering on high hills. Let a single wave crush serpents, birds, and wild beasts, so that my anger may soften with the destruction of deceits." Therefore, Noah receives the great commands of God. Ordered to construct an ark with double chambers, which would hold nests of birds destined to endure for future generations, and, lest the timbers split apart with gaping cracks, he smeared the ark with very rich fat of bitumen.

It was three hundred cubits long, and fifty wide across the beam. But where the roof rises to a lofty peak, it rises thirty cubits into the sky, with a square beam, yielding to no floods, bearing in its middle doors with an easy hinge. After God looked down from the stars upon this completed work, he addresses the prophet to be sent into the waters: "Climb quickly, you and your sons and daughters, into the boat flowing on the swelling waves, because I have seen your just heart, and your will, long known to me, has earned greater things than the present; and shut in at the same time tame animals from every kind, seven pairs; you will allow two each from the unclean herd to be with you, and you bring food for all these and your usual food, lest, when cultivation ceases through the vast floods, you suffer troublesome hunger, carried through the salty green waters, not having food provided beforehand; for when the seventh light of the sun has appeared in the clear sky, I prepare to pour out all the clouds from the heavenly hinge and to unloose all the springs with a greater onset, so that the ocean, swelling with larger waves, may receive the foaming rivers more abundantly and, with its spread, cover everything with mud. For forty days and nights I will fill the dripping clouds with perpetual hail, so that whatever lives may be submerged in the swelling waves." When these words were spoken, the commands of the Lord are carried out by the willing and hasty old man, who, noble with a long life, having lived six hundred years, entrusted himself to the waves and received his joined sons and daughters together, although he was hidden in a narrow cave.

Meanwhile, the clouds released all their downpours, and the abyss sent forth its flowing springs into the seas. And now for forty days everything is flooded. Birds cannot suspend their bodies on light wings, nor does the beast avoid the marble waters by fleeing to a high peak; all are buried in the sea, death is one for all. Meanwhile, the ark, swelling and suspended over the turbulent sea, protected the enclosed prophet as it floated, and, as a parent, preserved the seeds for future ages, secure in its own shipwreck. Soon the air, thinner, began to confine the clouds into pitch-black rainstorms. And now the sea recedes on the ebbing waters, and after the skiff floated on a modest stream, the old man sends out a raven, black in its breast, which, carried on light wings by a swift breeze, did not return, suspending the hopes of the righteous prophet. After this, he sends a white dove over the waters, which, exhausted by its flight over the watery plain, nowhere finding land, returned to the nourishing prophet. And when the seventh lights of the returning sun shone, he sends out a bird with flapping wings, which, having found a grove, brought back its beak filled with branches of a very rich olive, as evening rose among the stars and preceded the night with a trembling fire. Then, after another seven days had duly passed, a bird is sent into the sea, which, falling in its very swift course, never returned to its companion hall. The prophet had then already passed six hundred and one orbits. The first month had now passed, and on the first day of the month, when the free earth

The mountains far off seemed to open and roll forth smoke, over which the flood had risen fifteen cubits. Then, when the second month was already past and three lights of day remained, the earth was now free from all the flood and, joyful, showed its own green. Therefore, when the ark settled on the bared mountains—which have the name Ararat in ancient speech—the old man opened the barriers, returning the new seeds to the earth, and gladly built festive altars to the Thunderer, and, mindful of his vow, while he burns offerings on the altars, a worthy sacrifice was made, while the earth produces gentle odors, which breathe before the Lord with happy breezes. Then, lest the earth perish by a like disaster, the Lord removes the flood for future times, ordering the festal months and the restless seasons of the moving year to roll in their accustomed courses; but only the rainbow is to be bent in the clouds, when bright stars sprinkle a clear shower. The Lord’s blessing follows the gentle prophet, namely that he, faithful, should rule over all that the earth and sea produce, since they are subject to the ruler; he is warned to separate from his table the flesh of animals which have left life without released blood: for this reason, because this mind is implanted in many. “But if a man has been killed by iron or by a wild beast’s tooth,” he said, “I will seek out those who do such things; they give their necks in like ways to shed blood.” Then the Lord divides the pledges of the prophet’s covenant, and orders the fertile lands to be taken separately, so that the empty world might be filled with abundant offspring.

He receives this merit, the Lord granting it to the prophet, that the discoverer of the vine might taste the bright wines. When he, quickly filled with cups and heavy with sleep, was mocked by Ham, from whom the Canaanite youth is born and who named the people from the tall one, showing his brothers their parent with limbs uncovered. They, equal in piety, cover and veil him as he lies: with joined skins, by their zeal, while they turn their eyes away, they carried the sleeping old man, and they do not see the shameful parts, bending their necks with tender modesty. After the seer, now with a calm mind, learned of this work of piety, he condemns the one who went astray forever, making him the last among his brothers and subject to a harsh command, and, terrified, he prays to the strong ones. Then the old man, having died, passes beyond nine hundred years, and five times ten, as the rule of the law provided. His offspring, while hastening to build walls, founded outstanding cities with vast prospects. And while they press on with the work, vying to build the walls, they mark with names Tarsus, Citium, and Rhodes, standing out at the gates, which the sea washes with its waves. Canaan has its name from here, Sidon rises from here, then the Jebusite, the Hittite joined with the Amorite, the Gergesite flourishes, the Hivite, the Arkite, the Asennite, the Samarite, the Aradian and the Orite, and whoever dwells in the walls of Gaza, and those to whom Gomorrah and Sodom are joined, and Admah and Zeboiim, to which Lasha is joined together.

Moreover, they also found Massa and similar Sophera, a high mountain and hill, which lifts cloudy peaks, where the flame of the bright day first bursts forth. From their body Nembrodus is born, accustomed to sharp hunting and outstanding with large limbs, and rejoicing to raise himself against the holy God, fierce in the manner of heroes, whose lofty neck and immense head raise them high into the breezes. He founds Babylon, and Oricham, and Archata, and Acallam among the forests of Sinnacher; then he establishes Assura and places Nineva with its exceptional roofs, and Robotham, and then Calcha. The forests of Dasema distinguish them, and it rises in the middle of the plain. While they eagerly compete and give names to the walls, they come to the plain called by the name Sennar, and, having planned to raise hollow towers to the stars, they do not make lime, by which inserted stones are bound, but baked clay bricks are fired in the furnace, so that the walls might shine with immense roofs first, before new migration would separate the peoples. Bitumen served for lime, which is drawn with soft fleece and binds the rocks with a tenacious body. For among all, the conscious tongue spoke through similar utterances and civic words.

Then the Lord descended and saw the walls, commanding that various sounds burst forth swiftly and diverse tongues. Each people speaks what they speak. Immediately the world is filled with settlers placed, and the divided place is soon called Confusion. Following these is Abram, who greatly trusted the Lord, whom Thara, called by an ancient name, begot. And Lothus is joined, a brother by shared blood. When these had become strong with maturing years, they joined marriage to themselves: Lod rejoices in Melcha by covenant, and Abram grows rich with his wife Sarra, who nevertheless led a life without offspring into old age. Thara carefully removed these from the Chaldean flock, while the fields of Canaan please with their leafy hills. But God, who would know the mind of chosen Abra, commands that he take up abode in another region: "Come now, hastening, remove yourself from your native lands and leave behind kindred homes and familiar thresholds; for I will make you the founder of an immense people. In addition to this, I grant that whoever wounds you with malicious words shall be cursed from the Lord’s mouth and bear every sorrow; but he who speaks with kind tongue and recounts benefits shall be greater in joyful deed." They change their abodes; camps are placed at Sychem, which the Lord promises to the seer for a long age. There, hastening, he raises consecrated altars.

climbing the mountain, which spurns the broken waves and, swelling reddish, looks upon the lights of the sun... here also an altar is founded with placed masses, and God is prayed to, when the prophet then drives through the solitary fields, where the land lies separated from its settlers; which, while it dries with perpetual thirsty winds, struck a barren famine, to which care clings. Because of this, the fertile fields of the Nile are sought. And because Sarah would shine with a conspicuous body, she is ordered to say she is married by no bond, but that she is a sister, lest perhaps by unbridled daring the harmful jealousy of the crowd might produce a husband for her and she would have a sad rival as a rival. This crowd of Canopus, indeed marveling at him as he came, surveys Sarah with desirous gaze in every way. And when, through the nobles, she is praised and handed over to the king, the prophet is received with sweet prayers and words. Yet the king of the ether did not wish that burden upon him; for, driven by many and great terrors at once, he thrusts out the king, who, guilty of a daring act, rebukes the nobleman, why he said his wife was more a sister and deceived him with false cunning. Then he orders the joyful man to lead the bride away with him, and whatever of the herd he had brought from his native shores. For God, always in harmony with his speaking servant, had dedicated vast wealth and everything greatest.

Lodus also receives whatever he had brought there, and at last they are brought to a halt at the ancestral shores, returning home. And there, while the flocks wander among them, straying, the shepherds of the herds strike each other in a contest, because the small pastures cramped the pregnant ewes of the two. But the father, wishing to calm the untamed quarrels, offered that his brother might take whatever fields he wanted. He readily obeys, asking for the banks of the Jordan, which river, swelling with waters in place of the Nile, had long enriched the rich fields with its overflowing stream. The old Canaanite receives the coming acres, and stations the green herds through the fields. But it was not permitted to establish lasting settlements: for the father, commanded to survey the land by looking, which the fiery sun, running back from the heights, sees, or the twin Bears look down upon, promised to a race so great to be created by such a father. He who desires to grasp the number of that race with his speech will sooner tell the throngs of stars or the sand which the sea, with its uncertain shore, sometimes lays bare. He also goes to the oak of the ancient name Mamre, and dedicates a high altar to the everlasting God. And without delay, after concord had made the divided brothers establish the desired kingdoms through the fields, kings arise, four from a numerous people, and they lay waste to Sodom with much warlike soldiery, and the fourfold battle lines, each supported by two leaders, hurl iron through the clouds as far as the Salt Valley.

Five take flight, abandoning the wars of the tyrant, and in headlong flight hide themselves in leafy mountains—those who could survive the slaughter; by their true name they are called Ariocha, Dachar, Godolla, Gomorus, and also Amarphalus, who gapes at the beautiful rivers. Amid these events, with many things happening in the crisis of war, Lot is also captured with his entire household and family. When a messenger reported this with sorrowful speech, the prophet rises up; from the great flock of servants, three hundred slaves, adding twice nine times more, he himself as leader rouses them to war and takes up arms again. In the dead of night, he falls upon those now fearing nothing, puts the victors to flight, and kills many of the enemy. Moreover, he recovers his brother, rescued from such great peril, and drags the booty with him in a broad column. He is received with joyful praise by the suitors of Sodom and by the priest of God, noble in holy deed—Melchisedechus he was, prince and ruler of Salem—and he blessed him, presenting bread and wine—and he took the tenth fruits from Abram's gift. This man asks that the victor deign to return the captives, offering to bear the rest according to the law of war for the merits. But the victorious virtue, content with its own restraint, accepts the brother as the sole desired gift in exchange for the whole reward. Soon the god, lulled, illuminates the hearts of the prophet.

He hurls himself headlong, so that fear may empty his entire breast, since he is safe under the protection of the unconquered right hand. That man, cheerful in the license granted him, speaks: "What do your gifts provide me with for such great eloquence? For long-lived old age shakes my weary body, joined to it, and it is not granted to leave a son behind after my earned reward. And because I have no offspring from noble marriages, a degenerate heir, whom a slave woman bore, will be ours." The Lord confirms the prophet, speaking thus: "Do not fear, be confident; a slave will not be your heir. For if anyone is able to know the numberless stars or to count all the sands of the sea, that one alone could number the offspring that is to be granted to you, throughout the whole extent of the earth; and from your seed will be born one who sees your son, and that son is also born of the eternal king: for I am the Lord, the creator of the heavens, and I led you safe, with help, from the Chaldean people." The old man believed these things, and he measures that nothing is lacking from the Lord's words with the sincere sharpness of his heart, and, supported, he prays, while he supplicates with calm words, for the signs of God which he carries in his mind, which he follows in his heart, in return for such a great gift, by which he might beget a son in his inert body, with limbs already chilled through the times that have passed. Admonished, he prepares a heifer of three years' age, joining a lively bull with a grim forehead, then a ram and a shaggy she-goat, and doves of equal age, joined with a similar turtle-dove. He soon splits the bodies of the cattle into two divisions, sending the birds away whole, untouched in their flesh.

He arranges everything and fits it to the sacred altars. He places himself nearby, cunning in sense and ear. But behold, at the first hours of dark night, the bright breast of the holy seer is terrified, and black shadows rush in, confused with light. Overwhelmed by these things, he takes comfort from the Lord, while he foresees the new seeds of a future people, to be placed under a harsh king of Egypt through various misfortunes—that king whose name will be bitter Pharaoh. "For four hundred years, subjected to masters, it will serve, to be called back again to fertile lands; and with its role changed, what once trembled as a slave will rule with scepter, restraining peoples with strong virtue. But you, when the limit of your life has been measured, will be placed in a tomb in your ancestral lands. For the people, torn from a hostile seat, will come here, to be granted the homes of their forefathers. For where the inhabitant now rejoices in the lands of the Nile and the swift Euphrates swims past the circles of the Syrians, the Ceneans and the Cenezaeans will hold the peoples, the Chedmoneans, the Chettites joined with the Pherezite people. And Raphana, to which Iebusa clings by hand, and the beloved Canaanites will be driven from their seat. Moreover, the Amorite, thrust out by his friend Gergesso, will give the fields, half-dead, to those who come.

When the holy prophets had uttered the words of God, at sunset it gives a clear sign with a lightning bolt. For as if a flame were boiling in a surging furnace, the flesh of the slaughtered cattle was seen to be licked clean. Meanwhile, barren for many years and already weary, Sarra had also lost the hope of a parent, and because her womb, too cold, would not bring forth offspring, she began to urge her husband to second joys; and, bent by pleasure, she compels him to know the union of a servant, so that at least by a cheap pledge he might become a father. Immediately, the Egyptian Hagar is led into the marriage chamber, and from her fertile womb she bears the bastard Ismahel. When she, with servile cunning, scorned her mistress, she was struck with harsh blows and, wounded, fled. And while she was hiding herself by a nearby spring, a messenger descended from the heavenly peak of the sky and sends her, already consulted, back to the house of her masters, and even gives her a gift, rejoicing in much. Because she had seen the holy one shining with a conspicuous light, she named the spring from a similar name. And now Abram the prophet had completed nine times nine and nine years, when he recognizes himself as a parent, about to become a father by the great gift of giving, he whose covenants are in harmony with the highest God, destined to be the father and leader of countless nations, receiving peaceful abodes through great ages. And even, greater than his usual name, he goes forth,

The hard letter adds a vocalic ornament, and Sara, who had been, is ordered to be called Sarra. Moreover, Ishmael, rich through prayer, as father of twelve princes, begets and rules peoples. After these deeds, the old man, when the eighth sun had come, after presenting the males, removes the foreskins with iron, likewise joining any from the separate plebs. Then, when the time of the promised gift was at hand, he dissolves into trembling laughter, his face wrinkling, while silently he ponders great promises within himself: "Will you believe that God can create whatever never existed, and generate strength through broken limbs?" The sun was already climbing the mid-axis, more blazing, and the magnificent old man was catching coolness in the shade, when suddenly he sees three young men present together. Diligent toward all, he more earnestly entreats one, that he not leave the boy with swift action as he passes, and that the peaceful one deign to cover him with his oak, and wash his two feet with cold water, and deem the placed loaves worthy of his friendly table. He nods, and quickly performs the venerable commands. He himself, hastening, lets himself be seen by Sarah, and willingly brings forth three measures of flour, which he had given to be roasted by the heat of ashes. Then a calf, curving its horns on its forehead, is chosen, with no blemish darkening its back, and dishes of curdled milk are placed, just thickened. And while he feeds God placed under a triple image,

The sweet joys of holy words he tastes: "What is Sara now doing? (for she was then hidden within the house) and the true light repeats the begun words: 'Well done, mindful prophet. Not less than a full year later she will be a mother;' when the woman, far off, at such words laughed joyfully and, aged in body, despaired of childbirth. This is asked among them: what was the cause of the laughter? She denies she was shaken by easy laughter, while she fears and turns over the guilt in her silent breast. The young men arise, equally shining in beauty, and see Sodom wholly subjected to the light. Then the Lord, not allowing anything to be unready for the prophet, speaks out what cause leads him, a grave one, to the cities: 'Roused by the immoderate clamor of Sodom and joined Gomorrah, I have come and care to visit the truth,' so that what the guilty crowd, what the dreadful voice labors at, both towns together burn from a celestial thunderbolt. Here the trembling prophet with a servant's speech demanded: what number of the righteous guards the walls of the guilty? Taking the beginnings of the sum from five times ten, from twice five men he learns that a people oppressed by strong covering avoid ruin from vices. Straightaway they come to Sodom, two: the Son and the Nourisher, when the evening star was already bursting forth with damp fire. There before the doors Lot was sitting according to custom. And when he had seen the men, bright with similar body,

Prostrate, he led the worshiped ones to the familiar threshold, those who preferred rather to dwell in the middle of the square. The azyma, which feeds them, white from fine flour. Then, having calmed down, they compose their limbs in bed. Behold, the whole raging crowd of Gomorrah rushes forth. With a fierce riot, they surround the courts of Lot, and, demanding the men, they wrangle with swollen speech. Mindful of peace, he tries to soften the raging ones and even eagerly offers his daughters to the madmen, so that perverse pleasure might burn with permitted luxury instead, separating the shameful by similar sex. But his words move nothing. The thresholds are broken with iron. And while they crowd together, while they tear away the strong bars, the enclosed lights groaned with pitchy darkness. After these deeds, ordered to take his own children far away, he invites his sons-in-law, who refuse with a sluggish mind. Yet what a gentle mind could ask with persistence. He led his daughters out, following before their mother. And while he proceeds, while he climbs the heights of the opposite hill and thinks with himself what follows next, the woman, while she looks back at the citadels placed behind, stiffened. And she took on the appearance of salt instead of a body. He, secure, enters the roofs of lofty Segor. Soon, a crash hurls thunderbolts from a terrible star, and sulphurous flames rush with a foul whirlwind, which equally lick the walls and the steep roofs. With everything torn away into ash with swift ruin, he saw flames rising from a ruddy summit.

Abram, with a mindful heart, pondered from afar that in the words of the Lord there was never any falsehood to be joined. And Lot, no less, settled in a safe hall, provided comfort to his tender daughters with loving affection, who could not produce offspring without husbands. These, when they perceived that the use of offspring was taken away and maternal honor abandoned with only the father left, prepare a feast and serve wine to their parent, so that, unknowing, he might learn of his daughters' forbidden use. Without delay, a burden swells in their female loins, and the vital parts of both grow swollen with a like tinder. The first bears a boy, called Moab in her father's speech; the other names her child Ammon, with a different beginning. This one is the father of the Ammonites, that one the progenitor of the Moabites. Meanwhile, Abram departs from his established seats and crosses to the lands of Gerar with his companion wife. Here Abimelech, desiring union with Sarra, by the judgment of the prince (for the distinguished prophet had said she was his sister, lest her beauty prepare a fraud for the innocent husband, while he feared the rival's anger), yet he did not prevail, driven by strong terrors. These afflict the mind whenever perverse lust is present: for God, by a sent lictor, tormented the tyrant, who, when he had broken his sleep with a terrifying vision,

The trembling prophet follows, scarcely returned to his senses, to whom Sarra is said to be a sister, as if no marital bonds bind the wife who is joined to the prophet. He explains the reasons and clears himself of the crime: he had lied about nothing; for Sarra was born from his father's stock. He traces the bloodline joined together. When these matters were settled, the ruler gives a thousand talents and servants; to these he joins soft flocks and herds. He also gives acres spread through wide fields, provided that the gifts might soften the guilt of the merit. For the king's house, paying for the sins committed, was ravaged by a plague of diseases equally throughout all. The growths had long since been shaken from the women's wombs. But when the peace-bringing prophet begged the king before God, prostrate before the Lord, joyful fertility returned through all, and filled the rich wombs. He himself, with unaccustomed prayers in later times, becomes a father, and, joyful, considers the solace of laughter. He names Isaac, and fulfills the commands of the high deity. On the eighth day, cutting the covering from the foreskin, and seeing that he already puts forth steady steps, joined among kindred from the same stock, he feasts and rejoices at the rich tables with his father; for grace is greater after desperate prayers. And now the boy, joined with a boy, plays with his nursling. He drove the mother to swell with fiery bile, so that she might drive out the hated servant together with the child—and yet the old man, unwilling, while the greatest commands...

He observes the Lord's command, thrusting both out together. After the woman is removed from the Lord's seat, the grandmother, having moved aside, explores the secret recesses. And now she had consumed all the loaves and all the wine, sighing with weary breast for her lifeless son; she came to the well, to which the name "Oath" had then been given, and filled the secluded place with mournful lament: when the god, moved through the ether by the afflicted woman's tears, strengthens the trembling woman and declares that vast kingdoms are prepared for her son, at whose disaster she then groans. Straightway, drawing from the flowing spring of the well, he rises up, and rejoices together with his son, who also delights. The pious commands of God proceed; now the little boy begins to bend a bow and to shoot winged arrows. Meanwhile the prophet, lest commander Abimelech should secretly prepare some attack, binds treaties of peace. So that, because disputes had arisen over the wells, a secure life, restored, might be confirmed by peace. An oath is sworn, and the harmony of the agreed peace endures. Then, while the old man plows the curved earth with his plow, he filled a vast hall with joyful harvests and, as a suppliant, having prayed to the sublime god through vows, he settled peacefully in the fields of the Philistines. In these fields, the beginnings of the divine power are tested,

The only son, as born, lies down at the altar with a sword. Without delay, he climbs the summit of a swollen hill, leading the horse, going with his servants and son. And now on the third day, when the sun shone more brightly from the axle in the midst, while it draws together all the shadows, the elder sends away the boys and takes hold of the son, so that, carrying brushwood, fuel for the flames, he might climb the summit of the opposite hill together. And now, with flames rising, he is set at the altar itself, bound with hands twisted behind his back. And while the father hastens to cut the son with a knife, from afar he diligently observes a whitening ram, which would better fulfill the sacred rites with its poured-out blood. After these acts, Sarah departs from her aged body. And when the children of Heth provided a place for the tomb, the seer disagreed, ready to set a price. Rich Ephron gave four hundred sestertia, while he rejoiced to entrust his companion to a double tomb. Ancient times had told the name of the place as Mamre. Thereupon he orders a certain one of the servants, whom life and faith had made notable, to speak with conceived words and to swear, while he places his right hand under as a friend and joins his thigh. No woman from the Canaanite people is to be joined to his son, because she should be led more from the stock of his parents; if she perhaps resists, he is to be sent to heaven, one who would easily soften the anger. That one, eager, places gifts on swollen camels and seeks Assyria, now seeing the roofs of Nahor. And while silently he ponders his master's commands with himself, he catches sight of the exceptional Rebecca coming from the spring, who, not slow, offers the man cold waters and invites him home.

The girl says whose daughter she is; the young man is joined in hospitality, soon he brings forth gifts. When all was explained, she goes to be married to her husband. And now, having traversed the journey, Isaac looks out from close at hand, whom Rebecca, seeing, slipped down from the high back and covered her bowed head with a thin veil. They are joined in silence and rejoice with the Lord as their author. But after the old man had passed a hundred years and seven tens, having bestowed gifts upon all, he died, gifted with a double tomb. Meanwhile, the son, having taken possession of his father's house, dwells at the well, which had the name Vision. And now he had spent four tens of years there; with his wife, as was said, he had enriched his father's hall: she, though shining with exceptional beauty like a star, long knew not the joys of a mother, being barren. But when with sanctified mouth she besought the Lord for an heir, that her husband might beget a just one by her becoming pregnant, she is heard; Rebecca swells, pregnant with twins. Long marveling at the growing weight of her womb, she consults, as a suppliant, the responses of the heavenly Thunderer and learns that two peoples in her breast are rising to the light of life with unequal merits. For the one who holds the first beginnings of the earned light is driven to serve, subject to the commands of the lesser. Therefore, when the offspring are born in an easy birth, the elder emerges into the air with a ruddy body, covered all over with bristling black hair. The father named him Esau by a pleasing name. Then, holding his brother's heel with pressed hands, Jacob is born, richly endowed with a remarkable mind. The elder was ranging the empty fields with hunting,

The raucous trumpet fills the rocks with trembling. But the other, preserving the deeds of a gentle heart, rejoiced to live unharmed under his father's roof. The greater parent caressed the younger with tender love, but the mother soothed the other with her whole heart. When he had dissolved the Egyptian lentil in the water, he urged his brother, shining, to take the prepared food, so that he might claim the first honors for himself. Meanwhile, ill-advising hunger and the first of evils compelled the seer to depart from his ancestral lands. He seeks the fields of Philistia, soon passes through Gargara, which Abimelech then held under his own rule. Advancing, he saw the lord with clear light, rebuking him with words, that he should not approach the realms of Canopus, but should hold the land which the lord had granted. "For although you may seem to dwell among strangers, yet you will rejoice to increase the nations with manifold seed, your father remaining in the boundless world, which will take the greatest testaments of my word." Immediately, dwelling in Gerar with his joined wife, he rather sets forth his sister by paternal action, lest the crowd of Philistines, stirred by light desire, seize the seer's marriage with arms. But the king, while surveying the open secrets through a window, sees the seer playing with his snow-white wife, and seeing the marriage, he restrains all under law, lest anyone attempt to seize the prophet's companion. And now, having long fled the famine from his ancestral lands,

While he scattered the softened barley on the entrusted earth, he plucked a hundredfold fruit from the joyful turf. Meanwhile, he grew rich in peaceful activity, no less, among many kinds of flocks and the fertile land. But soon, as the envious man tormented his own breast, he disturbed the irrigated wells and filled them with a mound, so that, departing far away, he would leave the possessed fields behind. Therefore, avoiding the dangers of a swollen quarrel, he departed and dwelt long in the valley of Gerara. And when, with anxious effort, he let down the wells, he found cold waters from a bubbling spring. Trapped by the deceit of shepherds, he abandons his anger and the hated places, marking them with the name of Strife. He then advances his step, and again, from the deep, hollowed earth, he brought forth cold rivers into the light. And because he had been driven by a biting conflict, he addresses the envious hearts with words of reproach. And after golden peace broke the harsh quarrels, he strove to inscribe the name of the Land of Abundance. And while, with a swift step, the shrewd man changes new grasses, he came to the hills which bear the name Iuratio. There, with clear light, he sees the Lord at the time when the stars unfold their mid-course. Admonished to thrust sad motions from his breast, with the unconquered God protecting him through wars and through enemies, he, roused, gathers his cold limbs after sleep and, venerating, soon supplicates the Lord at the built altar.

Meanwhile, the kings Abimelech and Ozas came, accompanied by Phicol, who bore iron, so that, since he wished to join himself in peace to the prophet, they might weave treaties of concord with joined right hands. He is received calmly, and the same table, once filled, brings back the desired peace, with the distinction set aside. Then discord arises between the brothers; for their father, now long advanced in age, bearing in his calm mind the lost day and his buried eyes, and remembering that death was imminent, urges his elder son—whom only piety saw as such—to take up the quiver and swift arrows, and to bring him game meat as was customary. The son, about to take up his father's gifts, immediately went to his native tongue. Seeing this, Rebecca, dear to her, lets Jacob know, urging him to bring twin kids promptly and to slaughter them for his parent in place of his wandering brother. And, lest he reveal the deceit by his smooth body, he covers himself with skins, which would make him appear shaggy, and, veiling his chest and limbs with his brother's cloak, he offered the unearned food as if from the hunt. Yet he did not entirely conceal his prophetic heart. For the old man, while his right hand scanned the whole youth, recognized Esau by the bristles, but Jacob by his voice. And after hunger was appeased and the table removed, he warns him to come closer and take his place. When he had approached with lowered head to his right hand,

The holy-speaking parent's bright words he received, tasting sweet kisses with pressed lips. For after the long-desired reunion of life, the elder brother is ordered to serve the younger. Meanwhile Esau, driven by long wanderings, carried captured game to his parent, already sated. And although he had greatly pleased by his service and deed, yet the intercepted gifts he could not take up. Hence anger and tears and a sought-for deceit for harming: which Rebecca, seeing it arise in her brother's breast, betrays it and warns Jacob to visit his kinsmen at Haran and to seek Laban, his mother's brother, until the long day should soften the conceived angers. The prophet's judgment is joined to the mother's warnings, while, teaching calmly, he adorns his son with common counsel: "Do not seek marriage, young man, from the Canaanite people, but, mindful of your dear father's words, hold fast. There is a place among the Assyrians, which a twin river encircles. Here is Bathuel, our mother's father, a friend to us, and Laban, his son-in-law, who holds joyful estates throughout all Haran and cherishes daughters in their growing years. That wife, I advise, is to be sought from that stock, which leads an excellent lineage from our own blood.

But the young man, rejoicing to serve his father's commands, goes forth, leaving his homeland, and, worn out by great toil, he sinks his sweet eyes into sleep. And while he spreads stones on the freezing-cold bed, he places a very hard rock under his weary head. And while his limbs are refreshed in secure slumber, he, intrepid, sees with the whole light of his mind a ladder clinging in the pure sky beyond the clouds, from whose steps a lofty crowd was rushing down; but others from the earth were climbing to the high citadels. And while bodies are tumbling in headlong fall, the Almighty, looking with bent brow at the falling ones, adds this from above: "I am the great king of Olympus, long since your master and your parent's master: banish sad fears; the earth, to which you gave your limbs, is a sure abode for you and for all your children under your leadership. Now go, mindful, and do not abandon the task you have begun. With me as your guide, you will return again to the cities you left." A great terror breaks his deep sleep and shakes all his bones, drenching his limbs with damp sweat. And upon this he recalls: "Here is the great house of the Thunderer, and the gate which opens the sky from its double hinge." Soon he anoints the stone which had been placed under his head, and, addressing the House of the Lord with the pointing stone, he promises that he will give a tenth of the fruits.

And now, hastening the journey he had begun, where the path led, he came to a well, which alone in the vast trackless land had always soothed the soft flock with its waters. Here, for three herds, the shepherds, in the burning sun, drew the thin liquid and relieved the heat; and having greeted them, the seer inquires about each one. And he sees all those he sought in his mind safe and sound. Amidst this, Rachel, moving with snowy beauty, was driving her father's sheep to the familiar watering trough. The young man, as soon as he saw her from his brother's threshold, chaste, joins her in an embrace to his kindred breast. Rolling away the stone that had covered the mouth of the well, he reveals himself together with his brother's blood. Laban, seeing him from afar with a joyful heart, rushes up and settles the young man in his accustomed hall. Nor does he allow his kinsman the seer to serve for free, and for the man's labor, he betroths his daughter to the lover. Therefore, when he had drawn out the wages for seven years, he demands that the betrothed be joined to him in marriage. Without delay, Leah is given as a gift under false pretenses, heavy-eyed, but first-born in childbirth. But Jacob, grieving at the conceived trick of the fraud, speaks words to his father-in-law, cheated of the promised virgin. Again, for the price of another, with separate wages, Jacob endures the long duties of life, receiving the deserved Rachel once the fraud is driven away. But God, the greatest ruler of the heavenly court, compensated for the loss of beauty with manifold offspring. For Leah bore Ruben, then Simeon; the third, born with a Levite's heart, possessed the sacred altars of our Lord. Judah follows him, soon to be the founder of a tribe.

But other offspring, whom Balla had created in her womb, it is permitted to know; now it is right to speak of the famous children. After these, Issachar is born, already from a fifth seed. A sixth offspring follows, having attained the name of Zabulon, and a virgin, Dina, fitting for her brothers, is also born. At last, late, God grants gifts to Rachel: she gives birth to tender Joseph into the ethereal breezes. Therefore, when offspring from each wife had already been born, he asks for departure from his in-laws and for what he had sought; when they wished to pay the reward according to his merits, they set aside their pride, asked by their son-in-law who was requesting: desiring nothing external, declaring that he was enriched only by the gifts of the Lord, he departed, content only with having obtained each wife, striving to prepare lasting monuments for himself. He plucks branches from the torn body of the mothers. The first was of myrtle, the next was taken from storax. The third was torn from a nut tree, so that gradually the wool would take on the divided colors, smeared with the juice of the branches. For when the flock, bleating, hastened to plunge into the pools, he marked it, dyed with a varied distinction of dye, because of envy, since his father-in-law had said that his merchandise was varied, which he had diminished over many years. Here, although he was sustained by unbought riches, he stirred up envy with the left-handed spite of those who grieved.

While the dread father-in-law was shearing the fleeces of the sheep, freedom was granted to the man, by which he could carry off all his household goods and the baked penates from the furnace, which the Syrian believed to be gods in his ancestral Carrhae. Yet cautious Rachel kept these hidden in the saddlebags, lest her father, upon discovery, punish the guilty crime. Having departed, he crossed the river and climbed a hill, which the natives call Galatum in their ancestral speech. On the third day, news of the departure of his son-in-law and likewise of his daughters reached the father-in-law's ears. Immediately he sought help from his brother's band, and having long sought it, on the sixth day he arrived, so that he might not harm, he is forbidden by the holy terror of the Lord, and he, peace-bringing, demands his own, which he believes to be gods. And having sought them in all places, he mourns them not found. After the complaints were laid aside and sure peace returned, a high pile of growing stones was built, so that the place, fortified by the constructed rampart, might stand as a witness, and the boundary set might decide the dispute between the fields. Behold, in the middle of the road, the seer sees the lofty camp, which the ruler, the starry guide, leads with divine governance, to be separated, and he gave it a name, testifying: "God fills this." Meanwhile, he ordered chosen young men to run ahead, laden with gifts, as the brother commanded, so that he might grant a peaceful return; and to the one seeking peace, he willingly nodded; surrounded by companions and a great band, he went out against his brother, disturbed by nothing, and although a crowd of four hundred men terrified,

More do the species harm than the weapons serving as arms. Therefore, having separated the flocks, she placed these first, which, once given to him, the brother might deign to accept, and at once the immense one demanded the master with his neck: "O God, hope and substance of the boundless kingdom, who are always the God of the father and grandfather alone, by whose command I am ordered to return from exile, you, having enriched a servant with great gifts, ordered the slow rod to cross the river and your Jordan to be crossed with a humble step. And now you see me living in divided camps, so that I may avoid various misfortunes with a double protection. Snatch me from these evils, unconquered one, and as soon as possible strike down the brother's darts with broken steel, placidly, lest the swift one strike my breast with a hard weapon." Therefore, when he had composed his companions and sought sleep, he labors through the night to overcome the struggling god; for that part of his body, pressed by the thigh, grew numb. And when for a long time he wished to loosen the bonds of his limbs, the one who had struck the seer in a mighty contest, the master, after the gifts were given, sent him away, dismissed. With his name changed, he ceases to be Jacob, and "Beholding the Lord" he is called by all, and he even dared to learn the name of the Lord, but could not, which is the right only of the Thunderer to know. He himself addresses the place as "Lord" by the name of the one seen, whose sublime face he had happened to behold. And when the Lord, with night now driven away, withdrew, he goes out, supporting his steps with a long staff.

Then Judea, mindful, avoids eating the sinew. He props his thigh, bound with a rigid support. And now, seeing his brother surrounded by a gathered troop, he, stooping, greets his master with a bowed neck. They meet, joining their breasts with much weeping... and again and again he inquires with varied speech, who comes with the accompanying hand, what crowd follows. He teaches from what parent the brides were created, and with what price the diverse flocks were prepared. And immediately the daughters-in-law, with bent knee, brought their tender children to their kinsman's kisses. But the elder, while he avoids the gifts presented out of piety, the peacemaking one soothes the pledges of the concordant seer and gladly, with his brother accompanying equally, by turns of speech they gradually relate their own deeds. But because the pregnant ones were creeping along in a slow-moving column, the seer sat down to govern the flocks and servants and placed small huts under a leafy roof, which, with a fixed name, he pleased to call Tabernas. He came to Sicimas, which are in the region of Canaan, having bought the bordering lands of the territory for a price. And he prays to God, hastening to build altars. There the wicked Correus loves Dina, defiles her, and plucks the use of the tender virgin, and, wishing to join her, he removes the foreskin, stooping, bringing great gifts for the seer in exchange for his wife.

On the third dawn thereafter, when wounds burn more fiercely, the whole host together with the youth is slain. Jacob grieved at these deeds done by the sword to his sons, speaking of the broken covenant with the allied people. Straightaway the Almighty warned the seer to depart and to place the faithful household in a radiant abode. He hastens and obeys God and entreats his sons to shatter the temples formed of rigid metal and to take up white garments under a covering. He himself hides no gods in the cave of Terebinthus and sees the great Lord bringing forth his accustomed words to him, and that he himself would be a seer of the high divinity in the rich lands which the Lord had vowed to Abraham. He himself gave a name to the place and consecrated a rock, which, venerating, he entirely anoints with liquid oil, and erected a house under the roofed towers of Gader. Amid these rivers, worn out with heavy grief, having become a parent by a funeral, Benjamin poured forth from the womb. For besides the sons born from righteous mothers, the seer created substitute offspring from a concubine, and willingly acknowledged from the shared seed of Bilhah the conspicuous Dan, whom Naphtali presses upon. And soon Zilpah creates others, Gad and Asher. He also obtains this, which he knew would be lacking by merits, that he would see his father's features with such a great progeny.

treaty. Now he who had been born of an already aged mother, distinguished by twice six, could rejoice in a grandson. Therefore, when at last life had been prolonged through twice ninety years for the patriarchs and drawn out through a long age, it is dissolved, and the bright soul departs from the weary body. About to see the holy abodes, which wisdom measures out, reclining on a starry couch through the ages, it invites the snow-white righteous to secure joys. And now it helps the brothers to distribute the allotted seats; for they could not, on the narrow border of the land, contain the growing colonists with their many flocks. The earlier one takes Mount Seir, then the fields of Canaan, and receives rich pastures, abounding in wealth. The following one, Jacob, does not leave the Canaanite kingdom, so that his pious mind might always rejoice in ancestral custom. There Joseph undertakes conspicuous deeds, shining among his brothers in as great a distinction as the moon gleams among the small stars of the sky. When he had already reached seventeen years, he was tending his father's flocks on the grassy pasture, walking among all, the youngest of those whom the noble bedchambers or the slave concubine of the field had borne. And because he flourished conspicuous in the brotherly company, he stirred up fraternal feelings with the chill of envy. His father, embracing him wholly from the entire stock of his offspring, soothed the tender one among the strong bodies of his brothers, and, the more conspicuous he was among all, he veiled him with a flowing garment of varied dye. He, from his tender years, had already served his lord.

By chance, while sleeping with peaceful eyes, he saw himself bound in sheaves mixed among his brothers. In the midst of the fields, they were threshing the grain, and his own stalk rose straight with a tall cone, while nearby the stalks of his brothers lay prone and were being ground. After the young man recounted this in calm speech, he stirred trembling hearts with fearful uproar; with terrifying murmurs, speaking of the king and master, they betrayed that only secrecy was lacking for the crime. To further rend the sad ones with twin anger, he disclosed the dreams, examined with skilled speech, to his parent, with all those whom the line of blood bound brought near. For he seemed to see for himself the rosy sun and, joined together, the moon with its trembling light, and with these, ten stars and one rising joined, and bending their necks before him as before a master. After the father had learned these things with indirect utterance, he soon confessed that the young man was to be worshipped by his trembling brothers. Thereupon the youths depart, and through the flowery grassy valleys by the river they search for their father's flocks; sent to them, he goes off and wanders in the silent thickets, taught by a certain young man showing the retreats, with the grass changed, the band of brothers whom he had chosen; whom, from afar, as was possible, he recognized by the varied garment. They prepare a baneful plan with discordant tongues. The agreed-upon sentence is to destroy the brother, hated by all, and to report him dead by the bite of wild beasts, while they mutter with windy murmurs among themselves: "Let us see if dreams can ward off death." Does he reject this with calmer words, perhaps more gently?

He warns them to put away the hard iron, grinding, remembering it is better to plunge it into the stagnant marsh. At once he strips himself and rolls naked in the cold. Meanwhile, as usual, he was driving camels, heavy with a load, to exchange Sabaean wares, hastening to bring the harvests of the Arabs to Canopus. Therefore, when the hope of the younger brother is crushed, Judas says it is better to sell Joseph for money. The father is deceived, and seeing the garment stained with blood, he measures the slain man by no fraud. Abelus tears the garment with hooked hands and puts on a black cloak of goat-hair around himself. The father, afflicted with grief, seeks the lost one, whom the half-man of Pharaoh had long held as received, accustomed to load the gilded tables of the tyrant with dishes and to rejoice in the noise of a great kitchen. Meanwhile, Thamara gives birth; while the joys of guilt please, the womb is filled with a double pledge. Of these, the first boy earned the lights of life, stretched out and thrust forth his hand, which the skillful woman ties with a scarlet cord; soon he is hidden in the womb, and with the order changed, the other is born immediately, holding the former place, he who had been second in lot. Since he was once separated by a boundary, one has the name Zara, the other they called Phares.

He was keeping faithful guard over the master's lands, not allowing himself to live subject to harsh law. The master, earlier named, gives everything to the servant, and not in vain hope; for the gentle master from on high greatly increased all that the young man was guarding. Yet he did not win the affection of the harsh Petaphretes; for because the youth's eyes shone with a striking face, the mistress, wounded by passion, begs for the servant's embrace. But the boy now shuns the foul act and refuses himself, pressing the sacred bed with excessive guilt. The woman, however, lost in vain to forbidden flames, seeks soft approaches and watches for opportunities. By chance she finds the house empty and him alone. She presses him, and, grasping him with her hand, forces him to lie down with her. With such eagerness he strips the garment from his body and slips between the mistress's two arms. The woman cries out and takes strength from the crime, shouting that the youth, trusting in his beauty, had violated the sweet honor of modesty, while, slippery with youth, he burns and strives to mount the master's bed. Moreover, she addresses her husband with a sorrowful voice and wants the innocent accused to be subjected to the agreed punishment, which, thinking it true, he shuts him in a harsh prison, in which the king's punishment already confined his servants. The warden of the prison soon soothes him with a gentle heart and, seeing him innocent, entrusts him with the prison's duties.

By chance, two men, whom the savage tyrant, stirred by black bile, had confined in his lofty hall, were trembling in fear of punishment with anxious hearts. And while sleepless cares stole their eyes, they saw dreams that were messengers of things to come. When Mathusalamus, with clear light, saw them sad, he inquired into the causes and compelled them to confess their hidden thoughts. At once, the one who used to give the tyrant his customary wine spoke of what had been seen in the night of sleep: "I saw a vine, green and leafy with a branch, as it crept and hung from its own shoot; among the vine-leaves, three Sella were present, deep, and a yellow grape hung in a nectar-like cluster. Then the king's cup, from which he sips mild draughts, was foaming with the young must that the right hand had pressed. The master, having received it, held it in his ready palm." Then the young man revealed all the hidden things clearly. The three deep places are the three days of life, after which he, having regained lost favor, would again seek and reclaim it, mixing the cups he had seen for the placid king. "Do this only for such merits," he says, "that, when the confidence to speak has been taken up by you, you may remove our punishment, which is due to no crime. The Hebrew people are called to me.

By chance, two men, whom the savage tyrant, stirred by black bile, had confined in his lofty hall, were trembling in fear of punishment with anxious hearts. And while sleepless cares stole their eyes, they saw dreams that for, sold as a prophet by a brother’s crime, a noble man went into servitude.” After these visions, the greatest of the bakers began: “On my head I seemed to carry three baskets, filled with royal feasts and lavish preparation, and countless birds which snatched and carried away what had been seized with their talons.” When he had said these things, which were true enough but harsh in the telling, he declares that soon he must be slaughtered by a hard blade, and his severed head fixed on a high stake, which birds would tear apart with their fierce beaks. All that the young man had said is fulfilled, and soon that one is restored to his place, while this one is beaten, his body mutilated. Meanwhile, as time passed through twin years, the stars were again turning their courses toward the east, when the Nile-dwelling leader saw these dreams: for he seemed, while gazing at a pleasant river, to see seven sleek cows, cropping the green, burgeoning grass on the banks; to these he joined other cows, ugly with leanness, and while they, sluggish, barely clung to their own bones (a wonder!), they devoured the exceptional cows with gaping mouths. The dreams are joined, not discordant with similar causes; behold, he sees seven ears of grain from a fertile shoot, and others thin and empty of speaking seed (dreadful to say!), as if Seth were devouring the crops. The sad man by no means restrains this vision in his mind, but trembling, he ordered all who were skilled to be summoned, inquiring what the judgment might be on the hidden matters. And when the consulted Memphis augur fell silent—he who, long released from prison, was offering wine—the young man speaks, as Joseph reveals himself: that the lost companion had returned to his place and the comrade had been killed.

They are sent quickly, to remove the prophet, stripped of all foul crime, from the vile brothel, and, shearing his misshapen cheeks and the hair fed by the prison, they make his former beauty bloom again. Therefore, the upright man, consulted by their words, gives this reply and teaches that the cows are the announcers of the years, and he explains the seven circles by the light ears of grain. For, with the forms thus arranged, the future portents are such that the land, sufficiently fertile, will yield for seven years, and a dire famine would prevail for an equal time, when the earth, dry in its thirsty veins, consumes the pale grasses in a dusty furrow. "For dreams that are joined with double visions, God commands to stand firm, joined by the Thunderer. 'Rather, while the time is at hand, while there is a chance for remedy, choose from among the captives one who, foreknowing these things, with judges appointed, may rule all of lofty Egypt and demand a fifth from whatever harvest, so that the first bounty given by the fertile lands may sustain the barren years when the crops are consumed.'" The prophet's opinion is received with the applause of the nobles. Even the king himself, at last with a calmed celestial heart, honors the one who recounts the truth with a high office and orders him to be prefect throughout all the cities. Then he crowns the prophet's finger with a gleaming ring. Soon he wraps him in linen robes with a saffron cloak, a flexible chain is placed around his neck for his crimes, and the new ruler stands higher in his chariot, and a herald, shouting, increases the judge's chambers. Moreover, a wife is chosen for him, whose name is Aequora.

whom the prophet begot from the clear stem of Petaphres, and from her he immediately becomes a father with twin offspring. The elder is called Manasses, the younger Ephrem. Then the prophet, from a noble high platform, demands that whatever the lean time could scarcely take in, holding full granaries, so that when the situation required use, he would bring forth the hidden grain to all who asked. Afterwards, when dire famine, spread throughout the whole world, compelled the fearful to eat whatever could be chewed, the people cry out and demand food from the king. He orders the nobleman to give the saddened Joseph the grain, he who follows his father's instructions: he who opens the granary to all. Meanwhile, Jacob, having already mourned the death of his son, sends twenty young men from his numerous offspring to procure grain for themselves from afar at a price: and he does not allow the youngest, Benjamin, to go, lest the weak one be unable to bear the harsh labor. And when they have arrived at the walls of the land of Pharaoh, the envoys seek the land and greet their brother, marveling at him sitting on a high, lofty throne, yet they do not recognize him after seeing him after a long time. When the prophet, with mindful memory, saw them, he rebukes and terrifies them with many words, the frightened ones, declaring that they had come by river, what abundance of grain and what rich men hold the lands under their control. They plead that they know no deceit and confess that they once, under one father, held a conspicuous home with twelve brothers; that one of all these, the youngest, preserves his father's labors, but that another has long since perished in a celebrated death. They say that they are avoiding the dire famine and the lean Canaan.

He is scorned, condemning the seed of a meager offspring, demanding marketable wares and licensed grain. The prophet speaks, swearing by the name of the ruler, that the youths must be shut up in harsh custody until they produce the brother whom their gentle father kept. They are bound, stripped, under the care of the guards, and then, having been released, they leave one to be held. They, breaking their hearts with hidden grief, recall how just perils arise for them, because they tried to transfer the undeserving brother by a forbidden pact, and they pay the penalty late under the judge. This true victim, retelling, weighs down with words, and the crime, committed hastily against his will. The prophet is moved by these words, and recognizing the kindred quarrels, turns with silent eyes and weeps mournfully. In the midst of these events, Symeon is taken as a hostage, faithful to all who depart. Then the youths take the grain they sought, and, having found it, are burdened with the heavy weight of the mule. And already in the middle of the road, while one loosens the bindings of the sack, someone gives the brothers found coins to see; all do this, and then, having found the price, marveling, they praise the highest noble in great contest. And already, as they approach the threshold of their homeland, the father congratulates the returning ones and asks for the one. He learns everything, takes the coins and gifts,

He complained bitterly that another son had already been born. Then, when food and imported grain had been cut off, they were again forced to procure provisions at high prices; but no one in Memphis had any intention of returning, unless the father ordered the youngest brother to go with him. When he, groaning greatly, was unwilling to send him anywhere, Rubenus with a faithful voice asked for his brother, entrusting the twin pledges to his father, secure. Judas follows, proclaiming that he himself cannot return, testifying to the harsh words of Joseph. When the aged father, now more gentle, heard these things, he gives up the young man, drenching his face with a copious stream. They depart and carry with them light-smelling frankincense, incense and myrrh, joining them with terebinth, carrying honey among the fragrant vapors, and a double price, lest error be committed, because the coins had been stored in sealed bags. When Joseph saw them in the conspicuous hall, he orders that joyful feasts be celebrated with him. Yet they came, faithful and with trembling guilt, and they cast themselves down, summoned with contrived deceit, because they could not return the previously counted sesterces given to the seer and placed in their packs, but they declare themselves innocent of all thefts, and that they were not accustomed to live terrified by treasure. As they speak such things, the servant restrains them with his speech and teaches that he knows he has been defrauded of no coins: but if any profit has been given to the men as a benefit,

No one was saying anything about his own, or the prophet's, or the king's. Symeon meets all of them and presents himself. And while he provides water for the men and fodder for the mules, the prophet enters, attended by a great throng of soldiers. At the sight of him, the brothers bring forth pious gifts. After he has run through all of them with a gentle speech, he inquires whether their father is strong and vigorous. When they say he is unharmed and living rightly, he affirms that Gomorrah clings to God as a gift, and that Joseph always follows the prophet's righteous ways. And as if Benjamin were not known to him, he consults the young men and the holy promptness; then he prays to God for every advantage for the boy, in praise of him. He can neither restrain his groans nor stop his weeping, but with tender affection seeks comfort for his excessive grief in the chambers. After he has reclined, the servants set out the meal. He eats and with easy speech entices their hearts, rejoicing to set out separate portions man by man, and he gives a larger one to his brother alone. And when the desire for eating has been suppressed in the now sated men, as before they load the mules with the placed burden, the given talent is hidden in the usual manner, and at Joseph's command a gleaming cup is concealed—in your affairs, Benjamin, more precious by its craftsmanship. And already they have entered the journey, not many miles away, when suddenly the royal troop surrounds the unsuspecting men, seizes them, and demands the shining cups.

The future servant, whom crimes entangle, they rebuke. Assent is given, and all at once reveal their own burdens, and, having sought out the cup, they uncover it, abandon their brother, and seek out Joseph, and, recounting what was done, they unfold the commands of their dear father forthwith. Moved by their prayers, the seer orders them all to depart and declares himself by the name of Senna. They stood fixed, stiff with fear, and in silent guilt they restrain themselves, their voices held back by dread. Soon he entices the guilty ones, and, having called them nearer, demands that they bring words pleasing to their father—what is, what was, what soon will be borne—urging the old man to migrate. And, having gathered the flocks, he descends the hills of Arabia, offering them to the newcomers, so that, since the land would be dry for a full cycle, the whole world might pasture the kinsmen bursting forth. The joyful king learns these words and deeds of the man; Thara asks to take up the crowd of dear ones, and Lotus orders the grain to be given freely. Wagons are given to the men, along with grain, cups, bread, and great burdens sweat from the mules. Five togas are given to Benjamin and five to the parent, and three hundred coins stamped with a minted die. But the other youths, with praise of second rank, receive from Melcha a snowy garment as a covering. When the father learned these things—the gifts, the seats—he breathes again, hastens to leave his native land, and seeks Egypt, which adjoins the fields of Arabia.

He leads out the youths under the paternal guidance of five times seven and ten, as the pattern of Genesis prescribed. And while the crowd hastens with swift effort, Judas runs forward and outpaces the band of brothers, and teaches that the parent is not far from Joseph. That one eagerly mounts the chariot and goes out to meet them, receiving the longed-for phalanx at the sight of his father. And he returns quickly to the unbridled king's court, bearing that the shepherds are hastening, so that the throng of loved ones may live in the fertile lands of the separated territories. The Memphitic ruler himself also urges the seer and orders the brothers to be settled in the fruitful fields. After these things, the aged old man, at the request of Sarah, speaks slowly, how many years he is endowed with, what house and what cause of coming to Canopus. And the river sends an exceptional leader with great praise, and in the meantime also sends gifts worthy of his own, and gives a great talent to be carried to the leader, by which the palace was enriched with the distributed grain. And when the people lacked money for the merchants, the Memphitic crowd, having eagerly exhibited their flocks, buys the destitute grain, with Joseph setting the price. These also, stripped bare, hand over themselves and their estates, having received seed, by which the harvests would then grow green. Only the possession of the priests is not removed; the tyrant's free gift pleased the leader, not to sell the grain. Hence the payment of a fifth of the crops is imposed on the people.

which remains and is preserved by fixed law. Meanwhile, weighing the completed spans of life, Jacob adjures his son, unfolding future events, that he may place his limbs in the ancestral tombs. He nods to the suppliant, and placing his right hand under his thigh, he touches the tips of the pliant rod, promising. And the old man soothes the assembled grandsons on the other side with words, while he gently bestows kisses. He began to bless—wondrous! Is the right hand consecrated? The elder by birth, Ephraim, is touched on the left. The old man, with foreseeing mind, is compelled to let the younger serve the elder, and the first hope yields place to the second. However much he wished to draw apart the twisted palms, Joseph could not recall his pious words. And after the seer confirmed the lasting benefits for the boys, he gives Shechem, and the sword to his own, gives the javelins to his son, so that he may ascend to a more exalted honor, more illustrious than all. Then he calls his sons and distributes rewards to all, assigning to the offspring of his sons words that would long endure, previously unallowed, and adjudges them to a long age. And he establishes twelve tribes, naming them after himself. When all was finished, now blind in both eyes, the seer departed, leaving only his earthly body... and he gave seventy days of mourning, while the crowd venerates the tomb of the deceased. Moreover, the sons mourned for seven days with abundant tears, Joseph restoring peace.

to his harmless brothers, while he neglects old anger. He himself, after he had already spent a hundred and ten years, measuring the joined times of death, speaks to his brothers about what order would come. How they might be able to retrace their step and leave the swelling [land]: provided they bring back the gathered ashes and bones and bury the flames of the ancients with their own remains. Thus, after a long time of bright life, he departed and sought God, and left his body. EXODUS. Meanwhile, while the times drive various courses and a new offspring arises from the seed, the children and the progeny of those following perish by crime. The land of Memphis renews diverse kings. All knowledge does not benefit Isaac, nor the woman, previously greatly beloved as a prophet. But by the gift of the holy Lord protecting the people, numerous bodies are created and the phalanxes are thickened into an immense cloud. After the king of Egypt saw these things as fearsome for himself, he seizes his allies with such words, stirred by eager anger: "Behold, the captive youth, previously content with the meager food which a sparing hand extended, behold, long cohorts now stir a legion and swell not only with arms, but are prior in warlike valor, and bear threatening faces and a submissive spirit. What if they now seize weapons against their enemies or join together, with what force of war would Egypt be laid waste, and how great would be the ruins of lofty cities with their walls torn down?

Why not rather break the harshness of toil by labor and lighten the immense citadels with built-up masses, so that the empty hope of lost freedom does not return?" When these words were spoken, he placed skilled men over them, so that they might raise walls, towers, and threatening gates, and join them to the sky with effort. Driven by these events, they build some towns with sweat and toil: Ramessus, then Python, and Etonum, famous by the name of the Sun. But it is remarkable: the more grievous the burden of labors was, the more all the youth shone forth in strength, as if they were keeping a holiday. The grim king of Egypt is terrified more and more, and vows destruction for those not yet fearing his commands, ordering that when the offspring are born, the males be killed and destroyed, and that the penalty not be referred to the wives, if the sworn women leave them in contempt. Among these was Phua, a companion holding to the words. They, with the fear of God placed in their timid hearts, scorned the leader's threats, and, when ordered to attend, said that the Hebrew women, supported by no comfort, were accustomed to bring forth their young prematurely. Because of these words, they merited the Lord's favor, gladly hiding themselves in their usual dwellings, while they revered the Lord, praising him with all their heart. The command is turned: the nobles and the people are ordered to drown the children born of the Nile in the stream. The crowd obeys the leader, drowning the newborns in the river. Amid these events, a Levite, having taken a wife, begets a son with a beautiful, shining white body and conspicuous cheeks, and he avoids killing him, saying, "A future man with such beauty, lest he be killed," and he secretly fosters him, three months having already passed.

But fearing punishment, lest the admitted fraud be revealed, he sadly sends the exposed child where the roaring streams can carry it downstream, lacking a rower. His sister watches him from afar with keen sight, as far as the eyes can keep following in their gaze, so that she can report the fate of the exposed child to the parent. But the elder, while seeking approval, walking joyfully, the king's daughter, accompanied by her attendants, was bathing her body in the calm river. She sees the little skiff on the swollen waters and orders her maids to bring the desired prize. They, eager, as joyful youth prompts their age, bring the skiff with its burden and, placing it before her, make the girl rejoice with a motherly feeling. She, wishing to keep for herself such sweet joys of beauty and the outstanding honor of a noble brow, openly summons a Hebrew woman from the people, who would serve as nurse, and the care of the boy, this duty, is imposed. That woman, now without deceit, summons the anxious parent, to whom the leader's daughter would gladly return her own charge, giving the name of nurse to the mother. The boy quickly grew and advanced to years, which flourish in early youth, and, devoted to the court, is considered the true child of Pharaoh's daughter, and receives the name Moses, because he was taken from the complaining waters, on a small floating skiff. But he, prompted by his mind and heart, prepares to visit his kindred people around the towns, who, under the harsh present yoke, were sadly tormenting themselves.

By chance, in the middle of the road, a man from the Egyptian common people sees a Hebrew groaning under a beating, with a clamorous voice, and he loathes the unjust lot. He surveys everything and, seeing that no one is present here who could disclose the discovered facts on the spot, he strikes with his heel and buries the fallen man, covering him with heaped sand. Then he sees other men from the Jewish people threatening, full of anger, and while he diligently offers himself, aids the weak party, and restores peace, he receives words hurled from an angry breast: "Why do you swell with a lofty neck, as if you ruled the scepter of a high prince and the written laws roared under your command? Or perhaps you are preparing to destroy me suddenly by death, as you killed the Egyptian youth yesterday in the light?" When these words had been spoken, talkative rumor carries them to the ears of the leader, and the king, in anger, drives out the young prophet. Turning the soil, he comes to a deep well, which the land of Madia possesses, a place where the priest Jothor, living, had produced seven shoots of daughters and filled the house with a dense offspring. These, entrusted with the care of soft sheep, were guarding them and drawing water from a hollow spring; but by chance, the shepherds drove away the weak hand and the fearful sex far off, and when they dared not stand against them or offer ready palms, Moses defends them and leads them to the watered streams, and after refreshing the satisfied flocks, sends them back to the folds. The girls, returning to their father, who marvels enough, earlier than usual and speaking promptly to his commands, lead the summoned young man to the paternal threshold.

By chance, in the middle of the road, a man from the Egyptian common people sees a Hebrew groaning under a beating, with a clamorous voice, and he loathes the unjust lot. He surveys everything and, seeing that no one is present, he rejoices that his tall limbs, measured by a very cold light, and his greater spirit are joined to his born daughter, and he beholds his grandchildren from an outstanding line. For Sephora diligently bears Gersamum by a swift birth, and then she brings forth his brother Eleazarus. Gersamum signifies one created in a foreign region, and Eleazarus one snatched from the wrath of a harsh leader. Meanwhile, the leader falls by death, and the captive youth, oppressed by evils, drives the master with many lamentations, intending to bring together the pious and protect the people: while he remembers that his gifts, long ago promised in sleep to the good, which at the beginning of time he had heard would come to his people, are turned over with him in the age, and Abramus once and Jacobus thereafter, chosen and lying down, came to the holy places. And now the oppressed people see gentle God pouring protection from heaven, while he seeks peace from on high. And while Moses alone drives his father-in-law's wool-bearing sheep through the fields, he comes to the summit of a consecrated hill, which the Hebrew tongue calls Chorebum. On it, with a conspicuous lamp of flames, he sees a curved bush shining and not being consumed by fires. Moved by the novelty of the matter, he rejoices to inquire by what kindling such bright fires arise. And while he fearfully and silently approaches, the king himself offers himself so closely, he is forbidden by the renowned voice of the Thunderer to hasten his step; but he is compelled to stop his pace and soon remove the coverings from his feet on the twin soles: and he obeys on account of the sacred summit of the earth. Soon fear enters his senses and his light grows dark from the excessive light, because it is not right for anyone to see the Lord, and at the same time he turns back his face and mouth.

Then a voice resounds, by which the renowned king declares himself to be the god of the nobles, whom we have long said are leaders of the faithful and of life. Then he adds these words: "I have now learned, and seen with full light, the wishes of my people, who build cities with vast structures and, driven by hard labors, exalt the wealth of Egypt and not their own kingdom; while in servitude their mind trembles, and they are tormented by frequent grief, long subjected to the will of wrongdoers. And so I have come here, descending from high Olympus, to protect and raise my people from the seat of Canopus, the great giver of wealth and of fertile land, which now the bold Canaanite holds, rich with many kinds of crops, along with the Hittite and the joined Amorite, followed by the hand of the Perizzite and the Girgashite, and which the Evean people also cultivate, drenching it. Here sweet springs flow with honey and white milk from the rich river; these gifts I am about to give. I appoint you leader over the chosen, I command you to go to the king's sight, to recount what has been ordered. And lest you, too fearful at the outset, weaken in the action, I will always be with you, who, with liberty restored, will honor me on this hill with my senses and eyes." When the lord had thundered these words, at first a small confidence holds the prophet. Soon he asks the eternal name that the lord has, so that Judea may know the sign of the imposed leader. The savior adds these things: "I am that I am, so you shall say, and above the stars, who prevails, and is the god of your ancestral line: the boundless god everywhere, among all peoples, the sower through the ages of the living who do not lack light.

This name is in me, this hill speaks to the gathered; who then send peaceful words through the ears. And entering together into the hall of King Pharaoh, you declare that the lord of the Israelites has commanded from above that for three days the Judean phalanx march through the barren fields and sacrifice fitting gifts to the holy god and observe the rite of their ancestors. For my people, the swollen tyrant, after the disaster and the plague, will wish to release them, which is sent frequently from the deep sky, varied with many perils. Moreover, when the license has been granted to you, so that you take the commanded path, then the woman demands a neighbor or acquaintance for herself, which soft Egypt now has in rich wealth, and takes what is sought, so that the legion, to be led through the formless fields of the desert, leaves Egypt emptied of noble spoils. After these things, the prophet seeks signs, which might be able to confirm wavering minds, if they do not believe that God, speaking so brightly, could be seen by light. He is ordered to quickly release a supple rod and let it go from his hand; after the earth receives it, a foaming serpent gathers itself into a coil with a drawn-out body, striking terror into the tall one; ordered to seize it by the tail, he returns and recalls it to its former shape. Then, hiding his hand in folds with snowy whiteness, he brought it forth, and again brought it out covered: and it rolled into its own form. Then he is warned, if these things were small, to pour out water taken from the river and change the white into red blood.

The prophet struggles no less, and can scarcely utter a thin speech, to speak and bring forth a voice bound tight with knots, because the secrets of the heart are veiled; finally, nothing worthy is in him, which the mind of men, relying on itself, might follow. No one is proved to speak with polished senses unless the Lord gives it, nor do the long silences break the mute; they speak when the Lord loosens the bonds of the tongue; He who opens times for the deaf, who gives light to the blind, and who brightens the sight of the seeing with pure light. "Go," He says, "and, fully trusting, speak your speech, noble in eloquence and rounded in sense and word." But while he often calls upon God and prays for another to be substituted and subjected to himself, he moved to anger the God, notable for piety, who, stirred up, begins: "Behold, this is your brother, polished in eloquence, bearing a refined mouth, and known to me, a Levite by tribe, whom they call by the certain name Aaron." Immediately the prophet departs and confesses to his father-in-law that he wishes to return and visit his brothers, sown from the Jewish people. That one is swayed, and, with piety preserved, bids him depart joyfully. The other, taking his children and wife with him, eagerly undertakes the commanded journey; and, weary from traveling, while he restores his strength, reclining in the cool shade, behold, an angel of the Lord comes and threatens death. But Sephora, you say, examines a sharp flint and soon cuts the foreskin of her tender son; and when she had prostrated herself before the feet of the holy one: "Let this blood from the wound of the little one be stopped," she sings, "at whose speech the holy one departed to the stars.

Already the prophet was treading the sands of the barren wilderness, when suddenly, by the command of the Lord who gave the order, Aaron meets his brother’s honor at the sacred mountain, and joined together they exchange joyful kisses; and it helps their alternating minds to reveal in following speech what each has done or what must be done. Straightaway both join sincere and firm faith to the Lord’s word, and going together they speak to the summoned elders. They declare what the separation is and the command of God; and after the signs are performed in order, the people believe that the longed-for remedy has returned. And bending the knee, prostrate, they adore the Lord. They proceed to the king, who sees nothing with a blind heart nor believes in God, who said he did not know them, oppressing the people under a harsh law and with a savage command; while care for the labors grows and the work is doubled and a huge weight is added to the raw sides, which the sun’s lamp scorches. Moreover, he even takes away the straw that is customarily mixed into the binding of cracked earth and wet mud, so that the people, worn out by evils, would rather lay down their spirits and suffer exile. While, consumed with grief, they are driven by harsh blows, the people pour out reproaches against the priests themselves, crying out that they are more bitterly afflicted after they, by using immoderate speeches, have procured wretched servitude instead of freedom. When these words were reported to himself, the gentle prophet suggested them to the eternal Lord; again he receives these words: “Behold, I have ordered that you be the god of Pharaoh the king, and that your brother serve the prophet with zeal and obey you.

You will tell what you have learned to your brother; he will sing to the king, that he may take care to release the people. And already the pious prophet was spending a peaceful life in mortal flesh for twice forty years. While they eagerly seek to soften the king with sanctifying words and perform signs, the slippery serpent, made into a thrown rod, does nothing; the rivers, changed into red blood, do nothing; the moving wave, with fish killed and spoiled by sad stench, does nothing—because the profane mind of the man, girded with sinister song, was skilled in equal deeds. Indeed, they even cause similar frogs to creep forth where there was land, where there was water, and they are created by equal modes of the magicians’ song, which the prophet, croaking everything, strove to drive away with his resounding voice. He only did not allow the accustomed waters to be lacking from the rivers. This was offered to the king: if he wished to escape the plague through the prayers of the old man, then he would leave off, that no other god rules. The next light is restored to the sky, and at the same time all are killed by that death, and heaped together they are dissolved by bitter hatred. Gnats are quickly generated throughout all the bodies of four-footed beasts and men, and the land is filled. This, too, the Chaldean band, having attempted, admits to be the hand of the Lord, and abandons its vain effort. After these deeds, the dog-fly flows, which is called the canine fly, and filled all places, spread abroad at the prophet’s nods, and brought unending pains, wherever it was driven, to the land of Gessen, not known to the soil alone, which was then the land of Judea, convenient for the people.

Then, indeed, Pharaoh, defeated, orders them to depart, and to set forth their steps wherever they wish to go as migrants, and to serve God with their vows; and he likewise prays that the present and excessive evil might depart from the fields of Egypt, and that God might at last be more merciful. Without delay: suddenly the deaths of a plague are sent, and they kill everyone together. But the sinew of horn that had been in the king returns: soon a single pestilence is sent upon the herds and flocks, and deaths follow, with Judea losing nothing. Then the empty ash drawn from the bosom of the furnace is hurled into the stars and stirs up dry pustules on the limbs of men and hollow blisters, and with no one left untouched, they generate torments for all kinds of herds throughout the fields. But a renewed face of evil pressed upon the inert king to no avail, so that the praise of God, who changes so many wonders, might be greater: behold, amid the fires and lightning bolts that they hurl, and the murmurs of the high sky—which crackle at the Lord's command—a threatening hail runs down from the stars and whirls freezing missiles everywhere, which fly thickly from the rock, and crushes men lacking the shelter of roofs, driving their bodies together with the stars, and kills all the cattle; and, having broken the bark, it weakens the forests and extinguishes them with the dry bark, something previously unheard of and unknown to ancient ages. It lays low the wheat crops, with their herbs not yet ripening, and the spelt just now upon the ground; for it overwhelms the rest, which, scattered on the soil, the harrow had not yet brought forth. It also loses its force at the prophet's request, with the clear day returning; because with a broken heart

The weak leader prays as he reveals his own crimes and recounts the just God on high. Behold, again their hearts are hardened with mad feeling, to bring worse losses upon the living leader, and they do not believe in the fall of perishing Egypt. Yet he grudgingly grants a limited right to depart, with empty things of life which use provides. The prophet does not allow it and demands all the wealth and herds of four-footed beasts; but a just plea is not welcome to unwilling ears. Because of this, he is driven out, his brother thrust out as well. Then the wind Auster comes with a great blast, darkens the day, and through the night's shadow piles up countless locusts with green backs, which devour whatever they find moist with sap through leafy roofs and grasses lush on the turf. Then, at the king's demanding fear, these are killed and, heaped together, are sunk in the Red Sea. When the grim king spits this out as trivial, night fallen holds all, and vast storms confine and restrain the men; likewise, for three days they remained hidden, and no one could see a neighbor or rise from a meager bed, while they enjoyed the radiant world open, untouched by any evils, with their hands. Indeed, even as they themselves ran about, the harmless dogs fell silent and, with bark suppressed, fearless, they licked legs from the blow of a tail, sometimes savage with fear placed upon their masters. Yet the king's resolve does not yield to these losses, and he roars, rebukes the prophet, and threatens death.

God, they say, wanted to overturn the livestock and the entire census. And now God had darkened the night with a pitch-black cloak, meditating a hidden blow amid the dense funerals, when those whom the nurturing lands had brought forth in the first ranks suddenly perish by death, with a slight distinction of death from the king’s own throne, and then all men, cattle, and wild beasts from whatever stock. At once, immense grief rouses terrifying cries; all the roofs tremble, the cities resound with lamentations. Then indeed all press to expel the people who bear the name of Jew, as if that were the cause of the evils by their merits; the census and all the household goods are handed over, and it is thought that no loss will come from this; countless herds of cattle accompany them as they go. Therefore they depart, with God leading, who went before them, and they carry on their shoulders the means of life, though they are content. And now the world had consumed four hundred years, and likewise four tens, if the total of the elapsed time is reckoned, since Jacob came to Egyptian cities to stay for the sake of procuring grain; when these were completed, God at last took pity from on high and removed the praiseworthy people from the untamed enemy. The first day of the Passover is counted as the gift of the rivers, and the joys of the consecrated night are celebrated; and for seven days, as the year returns, the blessed leisure brings slow rest, and every care is omitted; no one turns the soil, and the curved plow is exempt; labor is lulled, and slaves rejoice with equal freedom, and every action of life is [at rest].

They join their hearts to God and lie down on strewn beds, and bring in doubtful foods, which the fertile earth creates in its rich fields. A white lamb is taken up, after the months are completed, the twelve which the year makes, whole and softer than the entire flock: the law compels all to eat this together and to place it on the holy table with bones untouched, and to dip the doorposts in its blood, to purify and to acquire a safe life. A common law holds all, and in the prepared air they are accustomed to place their hands, they put aside the foreskins and take the festive foods from the lamb's entrails. Nor is it permitted for anything to remain; if a sparse wreath has not consumed everything, it is lawful to join a neighbor's field. The loaves lack leaven, and soft flour mixed with springs is formed into thin rounds, which they call azyma in their native tongue, and they grind them. These sacred rites are performed by all as they return to the river. After they see that fourteen lights have run their course in the new month, men by the guidance of reason. And they bind their flowing folds with anxious care, intent, as if the standards were sounding and war were being waged, and they carry armed hands with the strength of staves. Moreover, they seize the pale grass of hyssop and dip it with a devoted hand in the consecrated blood, and they rejoice to sprinkle it, shaken out, far from the doors, so that the noble wave may congeal on the dear doorposts, which forbids the holy entrance to the tempting evil one. And now the order had descended to the fifth step, when, seeking the desert, he was coming to the Red Sea.

The people dear to God, exempt from the tombs, carry the bones of Joseph, who once with a true mouth had said that the serene glances and the benign right hand of the Lord would come from heaven and bring freedom. Then they come to Socoth and leave Othum, with Christ showing unknown paths through trackless places, who, when the new morning spread light from the stars, flying ahead plowed the snowy stars with a cloud, and, covering the bright radiance of the sun darkened through the air by night, shone with the clear hair of a comet. Then they seek Pauleum, to which the land of Magdala is joined, bordering on opposite Bellisephon. Here the Lord deprives the king's spirit of fear, sharpening his overly swollen senses and fierce mind; so that he would say that the people, whom he himself had sent, should rather flee, and would move his own battle lines headlong into war. Believing easily that men, whom error drives and trackless places delay, could be joined with little effort. Therefore, cheerfully he summons his phalanxes to war as if they were small, driving iron chariots, which a triple soldier drives on a flying axle, rising into a swift spear, now low, now high into the windy breezes, capable of terror and deceit, because by frequent blows they strike down the battle lines that stand close, the horn-footed horses add their pounding to the seething wheels, which the hoof turns with various assaults. And now, hastening the journey, he had brought the chariots to the curved shores of the Red Sea, cold for war, when the Jewish band, with their light turned back,

He looks back at the vast battle lines and across all the plains, the iron-clad men gleaming, hemmed in by a twin fear of equal weight, as he sees the sea and the enemy arrayed against him, and in harsh words to the prophet he recalls these things: "What great confidence was there, leader, to destroy a kindred people with unaccustomed strength, and to endure following and to set the Red Sea against the captives? Why, sad indeed, but bearing safe burdens, do we lift weights from hated Egypt in vain? Was it not better to suffer the grim hardships of Pharaoh and his deadly laws? Was not that servitude better than this freedom, which, subjected to deceit, prefers what was previously endured and calls it sweet, whenever unfamiliar things that are worse follow? We said this long ago, when you called us to vows to be rendered to the immense god: it is safer to live there, accustomed to servitude and to bear the burden of a troublesome yoke, than now to lie down in death among the squalid fields and the abandoned land, while in a trembling crisis we are terrified by both the sea and the enemy." But the prophet, conquered by no fear of events, and rather seeing what is to come, speaks these words from the earth: "Loose your biting cares and put on serene minds, O comrades, and turn your gaze aright. How great a salvation is brought to you from the high stars, by the sublime god granting it. Those whom you see pressing on in a dense column, it is not permitted for you to look upon this light after this, for the time of death presses upon them. For the god fights with a high warrior right hand and rules over the subjected. You, meanwhile, keep your lips silent." When he had set forth these things, the advanced follow his words.

Flying ahead, an angel removes itself from the camp of men, placing itself behind; then a golden column is set up behind them and stands in the middle, marking the line of the rampart and the site of the camps; and God from his shining abode pours down dark night, and unexpected peace soothes the raging war and removes all commotion. O too fortunate one! To whom God sent defenses from the high stars, for whom the shining ether serves as a soldier, and for whom sworn nights come to battle! Then the leaders, with hand outstretched, ordered the rod to bring forth the commands of God and to look down upon the Red Sea from so great a height. After this was duly performed, a south wind arrives. Using all its blasts, through the silent night it drinks up the seething waters and dries up the sea, so that a middle path, opened up, would offer an unharmed course on the revealed plain, when the receding sea had laid bare the thirsty sands. Therefore, when the hurried sea had departed, the wave, curved into the shape of a mountain, stood around them, and received them in its open fold and sent them through the deep. Pharaoh, believing this was permitted, while he presses close, enters and treads upon the salt water; but suddenly the slow wagons groan, and the horses, prone with their whole chest to the ground, vainly drag the weights on their knees. These could not be moved, the axle being thoroughly bound. Immediately, bloodless and bound in a huge fetter, they try a hasty flight and to return again.

Futilely striving, they goad their yoked horses with empty terror. To these wretched ones, another greater and much more dreadful thing is thrust upon them and afflicts their sluggish senses. For the strait, accustomed to dash doubtful waves together, joined the divided waters, mingled the swelling billows, and submerged all Egypt from the deep. But the Jewish cohort, seeing the floating bodies—men from the enemy side, and swimming chariots, and arms, and whatever is hurled obliquely against the foe—looked up and feared God, and with faithful understanding believed in the command of the Lord and hallowed the prophet, while chanting sweet songs with Moses' words: "Let us sing to our Lord and God, to whom glory with honor is powerful, who adorns himself with magnificent deeds. While the swift chariots of the Egyptians, with joined horsemen and a heavy throng, the waters of the Red Sea destroy. A strong helper of my salvation, he brought the people from the midst of the deep, a guardian and father and true salvation! This is, this is my Lord and nourisher! I shall hallow him with conspicuous praise, who is the progenitor of my parent.

I myself will confess with lofty words, the one who brought war and overwhelmed the brave, worthy of the name by which he is called God. He hid in vast waves, like stones and heavy lead, the cohorts which the king of the Nile, driving them to arms, threateningly sang would be sharers in the spoil: while he unsheathes swords against our throats and whirls and shakes the drawn blade, saying: "I will seize them as they flee, I will share the plunder and overwhelm the vanquished, and with the glory of a noble war I will hold the palm I have sought by my merits." While he recalls these things and trusts himself, he prepared destruction for all his own. There is none like you, creator, greatest in deeds, and prince of princes; you gave a vast support to your own, which the peoples of the Philistines fear. Also the Edomites and Moabites, whose destruction the Canaanites tremble at, until this people, redeemed by you, shall ascend the conspicuous mountain, holy to God, as heirs of eternal trophies. These things, repeated in equal measures with the applauding crown, the mothers sang, with the sister dictating to the prophet, beating drums with their fingers while they spoke in unison. Then, after the unjust Pharaoh's hand was seen overthrown, the fearless ones make their way through byways,

The places which were formerly called Surum, and through the dry heat they wore out the parched days; with a triple light of more burning brilliance the sun's lamp scorched their hair. Exhausted, they came to Myrrha and saw the waves swelling with a bitter taste, which, tasting from weary breast, they cast far away; because the too-heavy wave tormented their besieged throats with a bitter sensation. They mark the spring with a name because of this defect, and with a dense clamor they demand from the prophet flowing rivers which might soften the hot vapors. He calls upon God; for by what license could he produce a wave unless the lord of the starry heaven sent it? And immediately he takes the wood which calms the sadness, the cups, and pours honey into the infected streams. There the just God, with balanced scale of judgment, gave laws, testing the nobleman, while he speaks thus: "If you have taken to heart each of my words spoken in a sincere breast, so that you may do what is suitable for life, bearing the commands of God in your heart, nothing sad will you suffer throughout your age, nor will loss of damages and fierce disease burden you; you will be far from every plague of evil, whatever devastation has laid waste to Egypt. Since I am the Lord, who cares for hearts and can provide health." Then they came to Elim, watered by springs, twelve of which happened to flow among leafy palms, which with their high tops waved seventy clusters through the clouds.

And after they had set up camp at Sinus, with the baggage train idle, and on the fifteenth day thereafter, and on the twentieth, they hastened through the dark days of the second month, they groaned with extreme hunger, while with loud voices they rebuked and harassed their leader: "What was the cause of such great evils? What could it be? What could be more grievous than dire famine, than burning breath between parched throats and death present, which, when delayed, weighs heavier than that which threatens close at hand? And would that a single fate had given us death in Egypt then, when abundant sustenance was available to all, with no one murmuring privately that food was lacking for himself? Now we live here, where life is burdensome, even if there were no sorrows. So can anyone endure the hateful day among the squalid sands, and bear the burning sun, which no shade tempers? Why not rather, if our perils move your judgment, aged leader, we ask you for the Nile and Pharos; restore us to your people, and allow all the men, demanding to repeat their labors, to go forth, because our judgment is that nothing is more wretched than to be unable to have food when we are weakened, and it is pleasant to serve when we are full." After such words, the prophet speaks, with his brother Aaron as companion: "Why does it help to hurl such words with unbridled uproar and to harass the leaders? Why demand food, which only He can provide who made the stars?

But you will see at the setting lamp of the sun that there is a god, for whose gift bread is sent to you from heaven; he who, entangled long in the dark Mareotis, now sends you joyful to the fields. Therefore, act, and at the first returning light of the sun, taste the unaccustomed feast and the heavenly manna. For the quarrels of the people, not fitting our deeds, were directed more against the lord, who is accustomed to feed whatever he nourishes and to bring forth ages through long pasturage. When he had said these things, the lord from the supernal cloud shone forth with a better day and promised heavenly sustenance to all, which a harvest ignorant of deceit produces and no dye extinguishes the seeds. Then, when the evening had gleamed from the saffron axis, a quail, like thick snow, fell from the sky in a heavy, piled-up mass, and filled the lying fields and the site of the camp, all marveling. Moreover, when the light first returned at dawn, it gave snowy manna as food, which, like fine meal, like coriander, flowed down from the whole sky. The men, as ordered, gathered it by hand with a certain rule of collection, lest anyone perhaps prefer to store more than the just measure of food, which suffices for each single day. Nor did the vain skill of Sella cause anyone to have placed more than is just at home; for in the hot sun, the rotten meal is spoiled by many worms. Only this cannot the twin lights destroy, which the preparation day produced to be eaten on the feast day, which God orders to be holy and that men sustain no labor whenever that light recurs, which the slow Sabbaths recall granted to rest.

Moreover, this fact is thoroughly known to all: on every seventh day no sustenance descends, which the heavenly harvest holds; because men, advancing with shrewd care through the countryside and lying fields, see nothing but grasses waving with the blasts of the winds, and return to their homes with empty folds. And lest by chance they should see only the monuments of the god to whom the food of a honeyed gift was sent, something is enclosed within the protection of a gilded chest, which a future, procreating hand may see and, venerating the god, marvel at the sustenance of their ancestors. After these signs, they set out, and a long column is led forth to a life which, hot with the sun and in need of water, made the people utter biting words against the leader, while they demanded water; nor with murmuring alone, but they nearly resorted to violence with their hands; for the priest, fearing that stones would be hurled at him, sends forth words to the god on high and implores rivers from the dry shores. Straightaway, inspired by the judgment of the great lord, he commands the elders to go before him; then he takes up his accustomed rod, with which he knew how to still the waves and to part the sea in the midst of a rampart; and he seeks Mount Choreb, which stands very high and raises its sacred peak to the nearby clouds. There, hard rock had enclosed the pent-up waters—above which the lord stood and summoned forth springs by the same principle of powers by which he distinguished immense rivers throughout the whole world and poured forth seas. Ordered to strike, he smites it, and the rock suddenly bursts and vomits forth rivers with surging, speaking waters.

They rush to the waves, the whole crowd vying together, and countless beasts plunge in and relieve their thirst; and when they are sated, strength returns to their weary bodies. Then the place itself takes its name from the cause of its name, Temptation, because the people were of uncertain heart, with wavering mind, whether the Most High Almighty dwelt there, and because the harsh people had wished curses upon their leader with their words, which anger conceives. There, Amalek, with warlike bands drawn up, routed the Hebrew columns; to avert that disgrace, Jesus swiftly gathers chosen strong men of war with him; as he goes into battle, armed with iron hand, the leader aids him with vows and prayers, and ascends Mount Choreb with hastening step; Aaron and Hur, joining him, flank him in the middle, and through the ages, their limbs shirking from labor and not strong for the duties of standing, they strengthen him with a stone placed beneath, and they place and spread a hard seat for the leader; then, as he slips, they support him with their hands from below, so that the prayer of their palms might be joined to the utterances of his heart; for often, falling with the weight of old age, they waged a doubtful contest. When their right hands had strengthened him on all sides from below, the enemy lines give way, and the fields are filled with the slaughter of men, and not one of so many thousands survives. When these things had been done by God's command, the prophet wrote them down in a book for future times, to be taught; and immediately he builds an altar consecrated to God, addressing the holy place with faithful words.

Hope in God is my surety, whose protection alone has always given me aid, who with strength enclosed and hand hidden repelled Seth and slays the warring Amalekites, and the whole cohort with its youth. Meanwhile, Jethro learns of the deeds and comes in haste. Rejoicing to discern with his eyes what had been recounted to him, he finds the camp in immense labor. While he inquires into all the reasons for the crowd’s lack, he prays to the great one, slaughters cattle before God; then, by advising, he brings it about that tribunes are chosen from the people, and other ranks one after another, which the soldier receives in order, so that the legions are governed by a fixed law and settle minor disputes, while only the leader is to know the great quarrels. When these rites are duly performed, Jethro seeks his own home and leaves his son-in-law. Meanwhile, the third month in turn has swiftly presented itself. When the army is led through the solitary fields to the mountain of Sinai, the prophet quickly ascends it, driven by the words and warnings of God; soon, prostrate, he hears: “Remember to tell all these things that have been said to you. You have seen what monsters Egypt endured while my care for you holds me, and I gather you all and carry you, as if led by the path of feathers, which the prince of birds spreads as he furrows the clouds. And now, if my words come through your ears, let what has been commanded be done and be in harmony with just

Let your hearts cling to the law; I will always hold you as a people distinguished by rich possessions and will set you above all nations, so that you may reign strong over the whole world. For all this land is mine; and whatever is produced anywhere, it is always subject to eternal right. You will rule captives too. My right hand makes it glorious, and the holy race that prolongs its age is mine. Mindful of the command, he turned over what had been said to the leaders of the people, and the people believed the distinguished beginnings and submitted their hearts to the great Thunderer, saying he would perform the illustrious commands. The Lord from his high seat, about to establish something greater, stirs the prophet and sends him to his accustomed duties, and orders all to wash away their ingrained filth, whether in clothing or limb, with flowing waters. The men are to spend the night away, so that with mind and body pure on the third day the god may be seen from the high stars on a mountain far removed, which no one standing near will touch or approach; cattle are ordered to be driven into the distant deserts, lest punishment be joined to the guilty. What comes from rocks or from a sling, when a hurled hand shoots a missile weapon or blows strike a crag. After these acts, with no blemish on his body, the people look out at the hill, when the first blush of the third day’s dawn gave light, with the stars removed. Now lightnings flash, now a great roar from the high stars is heard, and a cloud laden with rain holds itself poised in mass, and with a fearsome crash the trumpet repeats terrible sounds, and the people, walled in camp, tremble in grief at the sacred mountain.

The high sides of God, attested by heaven, smoke. And whoever was a priest chosen from the people lives far from the mountain. Only Aaron and pious Moses have the right to ascend it. Then, with perpetual speech, God gives enduring commands in this order of law: "I am that lord who, removing you from the distinction of Egypt, carried you from that land and ordered the hard labor, which servile care gave, to cease. Let your hearts worship only me, and do not set up any idols for yourself, nor, leaning on a fabricated god, adore him; nor believe in deities which are the shining stars in the sky, or marvel at anything on earth likewise, or what the gleaming marbles of the flowing sea cover. I am a jealous lord, rendering punishments for sins and crimes upon fathers and their offspring even to the fourth generation; very merciful, rendering great and grand things which just men have deserved. Those who hold my commands embraced in the depth of their heart and follow them in mind. You, venerate the name of God. You, celebrate the festive sabbaths with your children and servants, and willingly put aside all work whenever that light returns to the world. The lord made whatever exists in six days on earth, in heaven, and in the swelling sea: the seventh rested, perfected by the end of virtues; hence that day is festive, hence always sacred, always honored, consecrated by the indulgent lord. Give honor, son, to your parents, so that you may have perpetual life on earth, which the great God from his great seat prolongs. Do not love adulteresses. Do not kill a man, nor handle sacraments wrongly.

One who perjures, bear witness; do not commit any theft, nor defend a malicious witness who deceives a litigant with fraud. Restrain your mind and face from another's spouse, and abhor whatever your mind warns is not your own. Altars built from heaped-up earth shall rise, here where it is lawful to sacrifice devoted sheep. If by chance it is permitted to raise a structure of stones, leave iron far away, since things become defiled when smoothed by an artisan's hand; do not allow them to be climbed with a quick step, lest you inadvertently reveal obscenity. A slave will be whoever is born among a kindred people, and shall endure the servile yoke for twice six years; afterward he shall go free, carrying his own rewards with him, along with his wife if she is sent away, provided she does not appear pregnant. But if she already rejoices in children with a father's name, he must surrender his wife and offspring to the master. He himself shall be his own master, freed from the master's bond. But if he clearly prefers to remain a slave, let him be placed standing before the master's holy doors, about to suffer wounds which a thin awl pricks, up to the soft ear, never to be sold in chambers forever. It is not lawful for a parent to sell a daughter born in a distinct people, and the power remains with the common people; yet it is by no means right to send her away as a slave. If she displeases the master to whom she was sold, the money, whose valuation was fixed, shall be returned, so that she may be able to recall herself to her father's threshold. If she is given to a son, it is fitting that he treat her as his own daughter. Whoever justly takes

If he prefers, what is permitted to him, one whose limbs are covered, will make the covering openly, nor will he then deny, if the intercourse is known to him; or, if these commitments are not ratified by the husband, she will be able to release the departing man, nor recall the price given. He who with a harsh wound levels and stretches a man on the ground, let him lie down on the same deathbed by which he kills; but if the injuries are inflicted more by chance, with the master surrendering the guilty one to the blows of another, there is a place which can store the one to be granted pardon, with the master granting safety. But he who with deceit scatters living limbs with iron and rejoices in the spilling of blood by design, has the crime of death, seeking in vain the refuge consecrated to the high God; for he is removed from there and, separated far off, will be beheaded by the rigid sword. And he who insolently addresses or strikes his parents rushes into a crime requiring punishment, which is atoned for by death. Nor is one less sought for punishment who, with deceitful cunning, steals a child born among the father's people and rejoices to transfer him for received money. But if a dispute has been prepared through words and someone struck with a fist or a rebounding stone recovers his usual strength, no fraud will adhere: yet what the healer's care has taken must be paid. He who immediately kills his maidservant or slave with a blow of a rod does not avoid the penalty that clings. But if the slave dies after another day, no crime lies, because he has lost his price. But if a quarrel grows hot between two men,

When the bile is stirred and they burn, and another strikes the swelling bride with conceived seed, having extended a hand into the wound, and has driven the future offspring from the maternal breast before its time, he will restore the offspring at a price, the husband setting the value, if the form was not yet complete and fully impressed. But if the infant has perished with features fully formed, he will fall by a deserved death. Each guilty person will give back an eye for a snatched eye, returning a tooth for a tooth, and for a hand he will give a hand, and in turn a foot, whoever cuts off a foot; burns are expiated by devouring fire; a wound will be given for a wound; livid limbs are soothed by a livid body. But if anyone deprives his own male or female slave of light by snatching it, he shall let them go free, wherever freedom calls; or if fragments of a tooth have been struck out by a hand, let the debility receive compensation, so that the gift balances its own wound. But if a strong-necked, exultant beast, still inexperienced in the field and free from the curved plow, strikes anyone with its horn, let it be crushed by a mass of stones, overwhelmed, and not to be torn by any man's tooth, its limbs will give to the earth, to be dissolved through liquid parts, leaving no distinction of guilt for the innocent master. But if a bull, accustomed to strike neighbors with its crescent forehead, and long warned but not dull-witted, lies dead for the slaughter, and the bull is killed. But if the mild sentence demands the price of the slain, and he pays whatever the valuation demands.

This also he may claim as a penalty for the slaying of his own son or daughter, whatever man. If a slave has fallen dead from the blow of a bull, the master is bound to pay thirty coins, the savage bull perishing. But if someone wishes to let down a well through a deep ditch, having removed the soil all the way, let him soon close it with a cover, lest, if by chance a beast has rolled through the sloping ground, he pay the loss, the master demanding the price, about to buy the flesh of the fallen beasts with scant compensation. But if by chance a bull has killed an ox with its curved horn, let it be sold; let the price be common to both, and let them divide and take the entrails of the slain bull. But if that bull's vice had already been notorious, the master will return a beast for the lost beast, being himself unharmed, taking the limbs of the prostrate bull. Whoever steals a calf, let him be compelled to return five; let him pay four who has turned aside a lamb. It is lawful to strike down a night thief with the sword, while he penetrates the doors and breaks through the barred thresholds. But if he has been caught by the rising sun, the guilty one is ordered to restore double the stolen goods. If these are not in his property and means, let him be sold, to pay for the thefts by the labor of his hands. Whose beast has stripped a crop or a green vine, either laid bare or nibbled at the open mouth, let him immediately measure out acres of fertile land by equal extent and space: thus he will settle the loss.

Whatever was brought in earlier. This formula binds even those who together sweep entire fallow lands and harvest the vine-laden vines with the shoot consumed. So that those which had magnificent things of their own throughout their fields lose them on equal terms. For a crackling fire, accustomed from a small spark to seize brambles, dry stubble, and bark-stripped trunks, if it has consumed another's crop or vine with its heat, the guilt reverts to the author's deserts through the damage, so that he returns whatever the harmful flame devoured. It is proper to restore a deposit: if a treacherous hand has plundered it, with the perpetrator found, double the sum is given; but if he is hidden, the one who removed the stolen goods, a single victim will make the innocent party guiltless, because fraud will be absent. But if the deceiver is exposed in a lying trick, he shall pay double the weight of the deposit under the judge. This measure is also to be kept in cases concerning livestock: so that what has been snatched by evil theft, he whose custody was negligent shall restore. But if rabid madness of wolves tears apart a soft flock, the quarrels are appeased by the displayed meat. But if someone lends twin bullocks to be led to wagons, he shall not claim that they died under an excessive weight, if he was present as the goader of the goers. This also applies to the rest, which are pressed by ordered burdens. But if he loses the received animals in haste.

Whoever does this, it is right that he suffer every loss. If a hired man loses what was deposited, having been placed for a wage, he will assess that loss in the price of the work promptly. If anyone takes for himself the use of a virgin not betrothed, he will join the same woman as a wife with a dowry. But if the mind of the seized woman is not in accord with marriage, let him give gifts suitable for the wedding chamber to the father. To conceal a sorcerer is a sin. Harsh death will kill one who mingles in deformed intercourse with a beast. Let men who fear the shrines of demons leave life. Since it is lawful to bow the neck only to the Lord. Let no one harm a foreigner by word or hand: for this reason, because Egypt received you when you left your native soil and former home. A woman should not be scorned when her husband is dead, but rather cherished, and children orphaned of parents. Let the faithful not undergo equal penalties with the guilty, nor abandon their own, terrified by a swift death of the seized: for God hears and helps hearts that have acted. Grant the use of money to one who asks for it, when he requests it. Set aside the wage far from base use and profit; do not hasten the hesitant. So that what is taken may be restored. And if the same person entrusts and delivers to you his own garment as a pledge for money, restore it before the sun hides its head in Olympus. I am the merciful Lord: I hear these promptly. Cease all of you from cursing foreign gods and especially the leading men who will hold the reins of the people. Offer pious gifts to the Lord from the first fruits.

And whatever first offspring of a bride you create, you will consecrate to the Lord, after the seventh sun has traversed its lofty path. So that the progeny may be holy. Let no one eat a beast killed by the teeth of plundering wolves: let the table reject what is unworthy. Do not believe things told to you which have no support of faith. Do not wish to speak falsely as a witness with a wicked mind. Nor, added to a crowd, strive to overcome a single guilty person with many, so as to condemn a poor and humble person through a contrived crime. Rather, if by chance you see a beast wandering, with whose owner you have no bond of heart, set it right. And if beasts of burden are burdened by a heavy load, lift them up and, striving with alternate hands, help them up. Do not strike down an innocent man, for he is of just heart. You will not accept gifts for the care of a frightened guilty person and an anxious defendant, for soon they blind the eyes and corrupt the words of men and all judgments. For six years let the cultivator vigorously attend to the fertile fields, because the seventh must be a time of rest, so that each poor person may take what was produced openly. And let him gladly leave behind what is left over for the wild beasts to eat, while they roam the forests. While the bird's year revolves in its perpetual cycle, the solemnities to be observed on the seventh day are divided into three modes for you, on which it is lawful to take soft unleavened bread with joyful wheat flour—as I advised long ago, in your first month of new things, when there was full freedom to depart from Egypt.

Before my face let no one come forth empty-handed. Know the first fruits of your works and the beginnings of the harvest as a feast for yourself, whenever you scatter seed on the field, or when rest is joined to the completed year, after all labors are finished, which care produces. Let every man distinguish three times in the year, before which he may present himself before my face. For when the possession of the land is joyful for you, with the nations subdued, entrusted and committed, know that only unleavened bread is to be placed on my altars; manifold cattle and the red wave of blood and the fat of Gomorrah are of no use to your feasts, and the watchful night is to be prolonged into the hours of light, as often as the recurring care of the sacred rites returns. Let a tender new lamb not be cooked in its mother's milk. Behold, I send down from the celestial citadel a starry minister to your care, who with great strength fosters the one going to the land, which flourishes joyfully in the rich fields and pours forth sweet waves of nectar. Prepare to hear him; believe his sacred words. He is joined to you and will remain faithful, retaining his perpetual name on the celestial summit. Come now, join your hearing to the holy words, and receive my command with a sincere mind, so that you may be a people dear to me, a blessed people, and a sublime kingdom of God, always a lofty nation, in all the lands which the sun, returning on both sides, beholds and embraces the world with its warm axis. I will touch your united ones in harmony and will resist all,

Those who prepare to war with you; the Amorite will yield to you, and the fierce Hittite, and those whom the best land now sustains, soon to be turned over to you as their cultivator for an age. Take care that you do not bow your neck to forbidden shrines and worship hostile gods, trembling in your reliance. Rather, overthrow the profane and cast down all idols with their inscriptions, and erase the names inscribed, so that you may serve the God whom all things tremble before. Soon I will consecrate your food and your flowing springs; and I will remove the plagues of diseases from your body. No one among the whole people will grieve that a son is lacking to him, that he has no name and honor of his own as a father. I will grant long days. What limit of life may extend the times of a more spacious desired life. Before your battle lines, grim fear will fly, and wasps will run ahead with a poisoned sting. So that your standards may be feared by warlike maniples, and easy victory may yield through fierce nations. Yet those whom I have subdued, I will cause to diminish gradually, lest the land be empty of men, and the holy multitude of rabid beasts increase excessively. With soldiers spread out, I will cause the borders of your land and seat to extend, where the ocean seethes with windy, slippery waves at the Red Sea, as far as the Philistine sea and the land lacking human cultivation, renowned and with a great host, where the Euphrates flows with its glassy, translucent waters.

After he had thundered these words, the Lord orders Moses to ascend the hill Aron, and seventy men of a noble age, and to bend their necks far before the eternal and highest God; for the leader himself permits him to hasten close at hand, who, carrying out the holy commands of God, immediately builds a high altar under a prominent mountain. It rises into the empty breezes: twelve stones, which seems to be the sum of the tribes. Joining close at hand, he here presents heifers, not yet of which, armed, and sacrifices them on the sacred altars; from the blood of these, he pours part onto the altar, instilling another part into a bowl, and sprinkles the frequent people with a light dew, and unrolls the book preserving the eternal monuments of God. After he had spoken these things, which the docile people's dear and harmonious opinion approved, he ascends the swollen hill with slow effort, and places the aged elders and his brother on the summit. They together behold a gem glittering with radiance, in which the starry footprints of the king had stood: it has the name sapphire; and here the whitening sky is seen stretched over the back of the ridge: all these things they revere, bear with lofty praise, and partake of the feast. Meanwhile, with the elder prophet stationed there among the elders, he joins Jesute to himself with peaceful heart from Sennar, and leaves Hur and Aron among his own, so that they may know disputes with a fair balance and speak the words of law. Where he himself held the many ridges of the sanctified hill,

A shining cloud swiftly glides from the ethereal sky, embraces and covers the mountain, and hides the prophet apart from his companions for twice three periods of the sun's light. And now the seventh day had revealed the snowy axis, when the Lord, from within the cloud, addresses the prophet amid wondrous flames, while he begins, radiant, and gives commands to the prophet for forty days; so that one might know what shrines are worthy of the highest God, and he orders these lofty things to be constructed of strong wood, everlasting, which no age destroys. These things descend in wondrous ways, and the prescribed measure veils a sheet of conspicuous, ductile gold, connecting twin circles with a smooth turning on the right and left side, where the holy things are tended. Then he weaves an ark of polished branches, in which the everlasting commands of the Thunderer may remain. Moreover, he completes the bursting forth of gleaming gold and places diverse things where the altars spread out, with equal splendor of wings and similar flight, as if they move agile wings in the windy clouds. And many other contrivances of new things besides are made in wondrous ways, which he who wishes to tell would more quickly pour out the sands which the sea rolls. But neither how many species nor what names there are; a law bound by numbers can set forth in speech. While the prophet sets down cups, bowls, mortars, and makes embossed platters to be carried for gifts.

And the lamps that are placed under the Thara burn. Whatever covers the sacred ark from above or veils the doorposts, Lothus dyed with a burning substance. Moreover, the cloaks of Melcha are woven with a robe, for Aaron and the pious prophets who offer gifts in the sacred precincts of God, and sparkling gems are fixed to the borders, marking the six names of the tribes distinctly, from whose body the people come. Each gem marks the names of the nobles. The first seat in order: topaz, joined with emerald; sapphire follows this, with which carbuncle burns, and jasper thrives and gleams with yellow gold. The third seat holds ligurius: the unbridled river Sarra and amethyst, which the purple dye tinges with its brightness. Chrysolite is the fourth, onyx joined with beryl. The venerable sign of the ethereal king is added, formed of conspicuous gold which a plate holds. Moreover, linen is also ordered, with a snowy texture, to be gathered into loose folds and placed on the limbs, and to cover the shameful part of the flesh, lest while they carry the sacred things, the prophets expose their foulness.

Amid all this, the entire sacred order unfolds: what gifts may lift sin, what victim falls struck by iron, and determines the holy wrath of God. For whoever touches the sacred altars, a man, becomes more holy, cleansed of the blemish on his heart. Let a lamp always hang from the high ceilings, kindled, and conquer the night with its own light. The decree of God's judgment commands this, lest darkness make a dreadful night through the holy altars. Sometimes the juice of liquid olive is also placed, sanctifying the flesh of men, as it melts from the highest point and drenches the limbs with thick oil. Add incense, whose light breath becomes suitable for the nostrils and sprinkles sweet breezes upon the senses. Thus, that the great structure of the temple might shine and surpass all buildings by its own adornment. God gave most teachable senses and the greatest ornaments to the craftsmen, and instilled all arts in them: Achisamo from the tribe of Dan, and joined Beselael, from Judah whose clear-born origin was of the class. And so that the Lord's words might be most known to the people, the prophet receives tablets formed from twin stone, with God granting them, which the renowned hand of the king wrote with his holy thumb and equal fingers. Meanwhile, the people, placed in the measured camp, while their seer is absent for a long time, groan under a biting heart and murmur that he is nowhere to be seen. The madman persistently demands the divine powers for himself, perverse Aaron; whom they, raging and pressing for a long time, he ordered to defer and hand over the ornaments.

Those whom the ears bear, daughters and daughters-in-law, while the natural form is thought to have too little splendor, and gold flows from a shameful wound. When the people had gathered this, they threw it into the fire, and then, having softened it, the flame of the furnace cast it up, mixed it, and shaped it with a grim front into a calf, and said that a coming solemn day would be held. Thereupon, as soon as the morning star brought forth the whitening fires and shut out the night from high Olympus, the Jewish hand rises and joyfully celebrates the ruinous feast, filling breasts with many cups, and leads frenzied dances in exultation. The high lord, looking down from his lofty citadel, sees these things and orders the innocent prophet to descend quickly. He says: "Run down quickly. Leave the mountain. O perverse leader of the people and master of the multitude, whom profane things delight; your Judah has sinned greatly through its leader, while it scorns holy acts. Behold, by whom it was permitted to you, as prince, to loosen the bonds of the untamed Pharaoh and to go forth from dark Canopus. The transgressors stand with bull-like faces and celebrate the false limbs of a calf instead of God, and now remember that as their own deity of freedom. Do not be moved nor go to meet my ways, while I send deserved fears and fitting ruin to these. Nor should you fear loss. Do not let the power, once removed, quickly return to another's height.

It will be given on earth, a race far superior in arms, unknown to you, which will be victorious with you as leader." Terrified by these words, the seer, leaning on his lord, worships him, speaking thus: "Why does your wrath now burst forth with such great upheavals against your people, whom groaning under harsh commands, Egypt, too fearful, released while dreading you, great one, while the strength of your lofty right hand terrifies the tyrant, broken at his wretched neck? And now, O lord, what will the crowd of Canopus say, deprived of its own captives and hostile to the people whom it now sees to be yours, unless you, great god, favoring them in vain with your customary piety, have produced men to be slain in a deserted place, while they lead their own funerals through vast forests? Lofty one, be indulgent to your people and show a serene countenance to the one who asks; for who can live with you stirred, on earth and in heaven? Everything that dies and lives runs to you alone. And finally, let it return to your senses, venerable one. What gifts you once prepared for Abraham, what gifts then for Jacob and pious Isaac. Happy are those whom servitude adorns because they have pleased you: sworn by your strength, holy one, while you promise that their offspring will be cared for, invincible king, by you—to be thickened with a frequent throng and an innumerable battle line, like the great stars of the sky and the sparkling gems on the world's hinge. Why do promises waver? Why does no one possess the riches of the land, and the seer remains in exile, settled in his abode? To whom do you promise streams of honey and rivers of milk?" The lord is moved by these words and pours out his entire wrath.

He came down from the high hill, the prophet, carrying the tablets inscribed with the lord's law, both inside and out at once; for the sacred page was inscribed on both sides. And as he rushes out impetuously, Auses is stunned by the excessive shouts of the people, and thinks this is the clamor of a warring crowd. But the seer sees not war, but sluggish hearts, drunk with wine, sending manifold cries to the sky. And now, as the leader enters the threshold of the camp, he sees the frenzied dances of the people seething, and sees a gilded calf with swollen neck: which the crowd was gazing at as if it were a heavenly parent. At once, as he conceives hot anger, he shatters the tablets. As he rises for the full blow, he dissolves the calf thrown into the fires, and then casts it into the sea. And taking water from there, he orders the astonished ones to drink. Then he rebukes his brother, offended strongly, because he had listened to those seeking vain things and had violated the just god with anger. The latter, seeking peace, confesses the people's crime, making himself exempt from the guilty deed. But the prince, preparing to punish the crimes of the maddened crowd, orders the Levites to run throughout the whole camp and to bare steel, and to strike down bodies encountered everywhere, even if they are kindred from the people. They, eager, run through the paths long known to them, and rush upon the offered ranks, and swiftly, as avengers of the lord, they cut down around three thousand men, to which you might add twenty thousand at once, as if by zeal. After these deeds, the prophet, now milder, goes out and begs the eternal king for the people's crime, speaking thus: "Your people have sinned.

Invincible king, men seek more than mortal hearts, worshipping images of mute beasts. To these they have offered vows and believed gold to be divine. And now, O lord, if you deem me worthy, I pray as your leader. What offering shall I make and dedicate to you? Forgive the guilt, which you alone can absolve. If a greater punishment awaits them and the sentence of death holds all, erase, O holy one, my name from the celestial page, which the venerable hand wrote, to whom the world is subject. The blessed responses of God caress him as he prays: "Whoever, a sinner, injures me with a forbidden crime, coming against me, the sacred page of the book holds him not, and the guilty name will be erased from it. But you, hasten and from here direct your captured course, and assign the promised places to the assembled multitude you have received. And let no anxious care touch you as you go; a messenger will always go before you as you proceed. But their own deeds weigh down those whom crimes darken. Men with stiff necks and swelling pride: therefore I do not walk with you with a shared step." The people received these words with mournful guilt, and groan with flowing tears at such great reproaches, taking up garments soiled with black thread. The prophet, good with words, bids them put off their sadness, and, having put on mourning, he prays much that they see, lest perhaps God's wrath be greater, if he were injured by a crime of equal measure. With these things done, he brings out tents set up for himself, and places them in separate camps, and fittingly gave a name from the witness, whose judgment is true. All of them, as he approaches the thresholds of God, his deeds...

They vied eagerly to see the men, and they themselves in turn rejoiced to advance a step or to stand against them; when suddenly, a terrible sight, a shining cloud slips from the sky and floods the topmost peaks of the temple. And while the pious prophet proceeds, while he then returns, Auses always hid himself in the master's dwelling, never going forward. But the prophet ponders the words spoken with the master, familiar to him, and demands what before was not granted to any mortal man: that he may look upon the venerable face of the blessed master face to face, and that the god may always accompany the leader as he goes, however much an ethereal messenger might surround him. The god nods assent and begins with sublime words, what must be done first, before the grace of such a gift feeds the gaze of those accustomed to look upon worldly things. "Come now, hasten, climb the threatening rock and fix your step, and while my honor thus returns from on high, beneath the arch of the rock, shaded by my right hand, remain, while with swift course I pass by, bringing back the shadows of the divine palm. Then you can only see the last legs of the god as he passes; it is not lawful for any of the number of the breathing, whom the earthly air nourishes, to see the face." These things, as they were commanded, are done; soon the hewn rock reshapes into tablets similar to divine laws, and he, unaccompanied, approaches his accustomed citadel by his usual paths, and does not allow all to approach the mountain, and even drives away from there the wool-bearing flocks, because they are near to harm.