Latin original · 39 verses · some words can be tapped for a gloss · long chapter, split into parts; this part covers 37:157–37:195 (1078 verses in all)
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and when this too has been penetrated and passed through, when it arrives at earthly heaviness, it performs the last sense, that of touch. Therefore he who introduced the creation of visible things — which are moved within the world in the elements by nature — was not ignorant of the natures of the elements and their order, since he introduced first the heavenly luminaries, then the living creatures of the waters. But the creatures of the earth he related last, not because he passed over the air, but because whatever spaces there are of the purest and most quiet air, where the birds are said to be unable to fly, are joined to the higher heaven and, by the designation of heaven in the Scriptures, are understood to belong to the upper part of the world — so that by the name of earth this whole is universally signified, from which begins, going downward: 'fire, hail,
snow, ice, the wind of the storm, and all the deeps,' until one comes to the dry land, which is properly called earth. And so that upper air, either because it belongs to the heavenly part of the world, or because it has no visible inhabitant — of which sort the present discourse of the narrator speaks — is neither passed over when heaven was named, nor counted among the animals to be created. But that lower air, which receives the moist exhalations of sea and land, and is in a manner thickened for the sustaining of birds, receives its animals only from the waters. For that part of it which is moist bears the bodies of winged creatures, which strive upward on their wings as they fly, just as fish swim by certain fins of their own.
Accordingly, knowingly — as the Spirit of God, who was present to the writer — Scripture says that the flying creatures were brought forth from the waters. Of these waters the nature has been allotted a twofold region: the lower namely in the slippery wave, but the upper in the flowing breeze — the former assigned to swimming creatures, the latter to flying ones. Just as we see that two senses also, suited to this element, are given to animals: smell for exploring vapours, taste for exploring liquids. For the fact that by touch too we perceive waters and winds, this is because the solidity of earth is mingled with all the elements; but in these grosser things it is perceived more, so that they can even be handled by touching.
And therefore these things too are, in the two greatest parts of the world, embraced under the general name of earth, as that Psalm shows, which enumerates all the higher things from that beginning: 'Praise the Lord from the heavens,' and all the lower things from another beginning: 'Praise the Lord from the earth,' where both the wind of the storm is named and all the deeps, and this fire which burns him who touches it, because it so arises from earthly and moist motions that presently it is turned into another element. And although by striving upward it indicates the appetite of its own nature, yet it cannot escape into the heavenly upper tranquillity, because, overcome by much air and turned into it, it is extinguished.
And for this reason, in this more corruptible and more sluggish part of things, it is agitated by turbulent motions, for the tempering of its rigour and for the uses and terrors of mortals. Since, therefore, both the surges of the waves and the blasts of the breezes can also be perceived by touch, which properly pertains to earth, on that account the very bodies of aquatic animals both feed on earthly things and — especially the birds — even rest upon the earth and propagate their offspring; for that part of the moisture which is exhaled as vapour is extended even over the lands. And so, when Scripture had said, 'Let the waters bring forth the creeping things of living souls,' and 'fowl,' it says, 'above the earth,' it added indeed, saying:
'according to the firmament of heaven,' in which that can somewhat more clearly appear which before seemed obscure. For it does not say 'in the firmament of heaven,' as of the luminaries, but 'fowl,' it says, 'above the earth according to the firmament of heaven' — that is, next to the firmament of heaven, because obviously this murky and moist space, in which the birds fly, is contiguous to that space where they cannot fly, which now by right of its tranquillity and quiet pertains to the firmament of heaven. In the heaven, therefore, the birds fly, but in that heaven which that Psalm includes even under the name of earth: on account of which the flying creatures are in many places called 'fowl of heaven' — yet not in the firmament, but according to the firmament.
Some think that, on account of the slowness of their sense, they were called not 'living soul' but 'creeping things of living souls.' But if they were so called for that reason, the name of 'living soul' would be given to the birds. But since these too are called 'flying creatures,' just as those are called 'creeping things' — so that 'of living souls' is to be understood — it must be confessed, I think, that it is so said as if it were said: 'those creeping or flying things which are among living souls,' just as one might say 'the ignoble among men,' so that we should understand whoever are ignoble among men. For although there are also land animals which creep upon the earth, yet by a far greater number they move by feet, and perhaps as few creep on land as few walk in the waters.
Some, however, have thought that the fish were called not 'living soul' but 'creeping things of living souls' on this account, that they have no memory nor any life somewhat nearer to reason; but their too little experience deceives them. For certain writers have recorded many marvellous things which they were able to observe in fish-ponds. But even if perchance they wrote false things, it is nevertheless most certain that fish have memory. This I have myself experienced, and let those experience it who can and will. For a certain great spring of the region of Bulla is almost full of fish. Now men looking down from above are wont to throw them something, which the fish, flocking together, either snatch away for themselves or, contending among themselves, tear apart.
Accustomed to this feeding, when men walk along the edge of the spring, the fish too go and come with them, swimming in a shoal, waiting to see whence they may throw something — for they perceive the men's presence. And so it does not seem to me idle that the animals of the waters were so called 'creeping things,' just as the birds are called 'flying creatures'; for if either the lack of memory or the slower sense had driven the name of 'living soul' away from the fish, it would certainly be applied to the flying creatures, whose life is before our eyes and is both mindful and chattering and most skilful in building nests and rearing offspring. Nor am I unaware that certain philosophers have so distributed the animals of each element that they say those are earthly not only
which creep and walk upon the earth, but also the birds, because these too rest upon the earth when wearied by flying; but that the aerial animals are demons, and the heavenly ones gods — of which we for our part call some 'luminaries,' others 'angels.' Yet these same men assign to the waters the fish and beasts of their own kind, so that no element may be void of its own animals: as though indeed there were no earth beneath the waters, or as though they could prove that fish do not rest upon it and restore their strength for swimming, just as the birds do for flying — even if perchance the fish do this more rarely, because the wave is stronger than the breeze for bearing bodies, so that it carries even earthly animals as they swim, whether taught by practice, as men, or by nature, as quadrupeds or serpents.
Or if they think otherwise because fish have no feet — neither the sea-calves nor the seals are creatures of the waters, nor the snakes and snails of the lands; for the former have feet, and these latter kinds without any feet do not, I say, rest upon the earth, but scarcely or never withdraw from it. Dragons, however, without feet, are said both to rest in caves and to be lifted up into the air — creatures which, although they are not easily known, yet not only our own writings but even those of the Gentiles have by no means kept silence about this kind of living creature.
Wherefore, even if demons are aerial animals, since they thrive by the nature of aerial bodies and on that account are not dissolved by death, because there prevails in them the element which is more apt for acting than for being acted upon — two being placed beneath, namely water and earth, and one placed above, that is starry fire (for the elements are distributed for being acted upon, two: moisture and soil; but for acting, the other two: air and fire) — if, then, these things are so, this distinction does not hinder our Scripture, which indicates that the flying creatures were brought forth not from the air but from the waters, because there was given to the flying creatures the region indeed of moisture, though of a finer moisture, exhaled into breezes and spread out.
But the air reaches from the boundary of the luminous heaven down to the flowing waters and the bare surface of the lands. Yet the moist exhalations do not darken the whole space of it, but only as far as that limit whence now begins to be named 'earth' according to that Psalm, where it is said: 'Praise the Lord from the earth.' But the upper part of the air, on account of its pure tranquillity, is joined by a common peace to the heaven, on which it borders, and is called by its name.
And in this part, perchance, if before their transgression the transgressor angels were, together with their prince — now the devil, then an archangel (for some of our own writers do not think that these were heavenly or supercelestial angels) — it is no wonder if, after their sin, they were thrust down into this murk, where nevertheless there is both air and it is woven together with a thin moisture, which, when stirred, makes winds, and when more violently roused, makes even fires and thunders, and when contracted, clouds, and when compacted, rain, and, the clouds congealing, snow, and, the denser clouds congealing more turbulently, hail, and, when spread out, fair weather — by the hidden commands and work of God, who administers, from the highest to the lowest, all things universally which He created. Whence in that Psalm, when there had been commemorated:
'fire, hail, snow, ice, the wind of the storm' — lest such things should be thought to happen and be moved without divine providence, it immediately added: 'which fulfil His word.' But if those transgressors, before they transgressed, bore heavenly bodies, this too is no wonder, if by way of punishment they were changed into an aerial quality, so that now they can suffer something from fire, that is, from the element of a higher nature; nor were they permitted to hold even the upper and purer spaces of the air, but these murky ones, which for their kind are a sort of prison, as it were, until the time of judgment. And if anything about these transgressor angels needs to be inquired into more carefully, there will be another place of Scripture more suitable. Accordingly, for now, what is sufficient:
if these turbulent and stormy spaces, on account of the nature of the air extended down to the waves and the lands, can sustain aerial bodies, they can also sustain the bodies of birds, which were brought forth from the waters, on account of the thin vapours of the waters — which, of course, are vaporously inserted into that same air poured around near the waves and lands (and on this account assigned to the lowest and earthly part) and weave the breezes, which, weighed down by nocturnal cold, distil even a serene dew, but if the cold is more violent, they whiten with a whiter frost as well. 'And God said: Let the earth bring forth the living soul according to its kind: quadrupeds and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kind, and cattle according to their kind. And it was so done.'
'And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kind, and the cattle according to their kind, and all the creeping things of the earth according to their kind. And God saw that they were good.' Now it was consequent that He should adorn with its own animals the other part, which is properly called earth, of this lowest region — which whole region, together with all the deeps and the misty air, Scripture elsewhere embraces universally under the name of earth. And indeed the kinds of animals which the earth brought forth by the word of God are manifest. But because often, under the name of cattle or under the name of beasts, all animals devoid of reason are wont to be understood, it is rightly asked which He now properly calls beasts and which cattle.
And as for the crawling or creeping things of the earth, it is not to be doubted that He willed all serpents to be understood, although they can also be called beasts; but the name of cattle does not customarily suit serpents. Again, to lions and leopards and tigers and wolves and foxes, and dogs too and apes and other creatures of that kind, the name of 'beasts' customarily suits. But the name of 'cattle' is wont to be more fittingly applied to those animals which are in the use of men, whether for aiding their labours, as oxen and horses and the like, or for wool or for eating, as sheep and swine. What, then, are the quadrupeds?
For although all these, except certain crawling things, walk on four feet, yet unless He wished certain ones to be properly understood by this name, He would surely not here also name 'quadrupeds,' even though in the repetition He kept silent about them. Or were the stags and deer and wild asses and boars — because they cannot be joined with those beasts, where the lions are (for they are like those cattle, yet are not under human care) — properly called 'quadrupeds,' as if the remaining animals were these, to which this appellation, though general with many on account of the number of feet, was nevertheless given with a special signification? Or, because He said three times 'according to their kind,' does He invite us to attend to three kinds?
First, 'according to their kind,' quadrupeds and creeping things: here I think it is signified which He called 'quadrupeds,' namely those which are in the kind of creeping things, such as lizards, geckoes, and whatever is of this sort. And therefore in the repetition He did not repeat the name of quadrupeds, because He perhaps embraced them under the name of creeping things: whence there He does not simply say 'creeping things,' but added 'all the creeping things of the earth'; 'of the earth,' because there are also creeping things of the waters, and 'all,' so that there may be understood those too which strive upon four feet, which above were properly signified by the name of quadrupeds. But 'beasts,' concerning which likewise He says 'according to their kind,' are whatever rages with mouth or even with claws, except serpents. But 'cattle,' concerning which He says thirdly:
'according to their kind,' those which tear with neither kind of force, but either with horns or not even with these. For I said before both that the name of 'quadrupeds' — how widely it extends — is easily recognized by the very number of feet, and that by the name of 'cattle' or 'beasts' every irrational animal is sometimes comprehended. But the word 'wild beasts' (ferae) too is wont in the Latin tongue to have just as much force; yet not on that account was the consideration to be neglected of how these names — which are not idly placed in this passage of the Scriptures — can also be discerned by a special distinction, which in the daily usage of speech can easily be noticed. It also not idly moves the reader whether it is said at random and as it were by chance, or by some reason:
'according to their kind' — as if they had existed even before, though they are narrated as being created for the first time. Or is their 'kind' to be understood in the higher principles — spiritual ones, certainly — according to which they are created here below? But if it were so, this would be said of light, this of heaven, this of the waters and lands, this of the luminaries of heaven. For which of them is there whose eternal and unchangeable principle does not thrive in the very Wisdom of God, which 'reacheth from end to end mightily and disposeth all things sweetly'? But this begins to be said of herbs and trees, down to these earthly living creatures. For in those things too which were created from the waters, although it was not said in the first mention, yet in that repetition it was said:
'And God made the great sea-monsters, and every soul of creeping living creatures which the waters brought forth according to their kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind.' Or is it because these things so arose that from them others should be born and should preserve the form of their origin by succession, that on this account they are said to be 'according to their kind,' on account of the propagation of offspring by which they were created to endure? But why, of trees and herbs, is it said not only 'according to their kind' but also 'according to their likeness,' though the animals both of the waters and of the lands generate according to their own likeness? Or, because likeness follows kind, did He not will to repeat it everywhere? For neither did He everywhere repeat 'seed,' though it is present in herbs and trees as much as in animals, even if not in all.
For it has been observed that certain things are so born from the waters or earth that they have no sex, and therefore their seed is not in themselves, but in the elements from which they arise. This, then, is 'according to their kind,' where both the power of seeds and the likeness of those succeeding to those departing is understood, because none of them was so created as to exist once only, either to remain or to depart with none succeeding. Why then, of man too, was it not said thus: 'Let us make man to our image and likeness according to his kind,' since the propagation of man too is manifest? Or is it because God had not so made man that he should die, if he had willed to keep the commandment, and therefore a successor to the one departing was not necessary?
But after sin man was compared to the senseless cattle and was made like them, so that now the sons of this age beget and are begotten, whereby the race of mortals can subsist with succession preserved. What, then, does that blessing mean, after man was made: 'Increase and multiply and fill the earth,' which surely could come to pass by begetting? Or is nothing to be said here rashly, until we come to that passage of Scripture where these things are to be more carefully inquired into and treated? For perhaps it can now suffice that, concerning man, it was not said 'according to his kind' for this reason: because one man was being made, from whom the woman also was made.
For there are not many kinds of men, as of herbs, trees, fish, fowl, serpents, cattle, beasts, so that we should understand 'according to their kind' as being said as if it were said 'kind by kind,' so that things similar among themselves and pertaining to one origin of seed might be distinguished from the rest. Likewise it is asked what the animals of the waters had merited from the Creator, that they alone should be blessed, as men were. For these too God blessed, saying: 'Increase and multiply and fill the waters of the sea, and let the fowl be multiplied upon the earth.' Or had it to be said in one kind of creature, so that in the rest it might consequently be understood, namely those which increase by generations?
It would then be said first in that which was first created of such a kind, namely in the herb and the tree. Or perhaps did He judge those which had no affection for propagating offspring, and which generated without any sense, unworthy of those words of blessing, 'Increase and multiply'; but where such an affection was present, there He said this first, so that in the earthly animals it might be understood even though not said? Now it was necessary to repeat this in man, lest anyone should say that in the office of begetting sons there is any sin, as there is in lust, whether of fornicating apart from marriage itself, or of immoderately abusing marriage.
There is also some question concerning certain very tiny animals, whether they were created in the first foundations of things, or from the subsequent corruptions of mortal things. For very many of them are begotten either from the defects of living bodies, or from their refuse or exhalations, or from the decay of corpses; certain of them also from the corruption of trees and herbs, certain from the corruptions of fruits: of all which we cannot rightly say that God is not the Creator.
For there is present in all things a certain becomingness of nature, each of its own kind, so that in these there is greater wonder for one who considers well, and richer praise of the almighty Artificer, 'who made all things in wisdom,' which 'reaching from end to end and sweetly disposing all things,' does not leave even those very last things, which are dissolved according to the order of their kind, and whose dissolution we shudder at because of the penalty of our mortality, formless, but creates creatures least in body, keen in sense, so that with greater attention we may be amazed at the agility of the flying fly than at the magnitude of the plodding beast of burden, and may marvel more at the works of little ants than at the loads of camels.
But whether, as I have said, in the first foundations of things — which are narrated as created in that order of six days — we should believe that these least creatures too were established, or afterwards by the subsequent dissolutions of corruptible bodies, this is asked. And it can indeed be said that those very tiny things which arise from the waters or the earth were then created: among which those too are not absurdly understood which are born from things that sprang up when the earth put them forth, both because they had preceded the creation not only of animals but even of the luminaries, and because they are continuous with the earth through the connection of roots, whence they arose on that day when the dry land appeared, so that they might be understood to pertain rather to the supplement of the dwelling-place than to the number of the dwellers.
But the others, which are begotten from the bodies of animals, and especially of dead ones, it is most absurd to say were then created, when the animals themselves were created — unless because there was already present in all animate bodies a certain natural power, and as it were pre-sown and in a manner thread-drawn beginnings of future animals, which were to arise from the corruptions of such bodies, each according to its own kind and differences, through the ineffable administration of the Creator who moves all things unchangeably. Concerning the kinds of animals also that are venomous and pernicious, it is wont to be asked whether they were created after man's sin for vengeance, or rather, being already created harmless, only afterwards began to harm sinners.
Nor is this to be wondered at, since even in the times of this laborious and troublesome life — when there is no one so just as to dare to call himself perfect, the Apostle faithfully bearing witness and saying, 'Not that I have already attained, or am already made perfect,' and when for virtue, still to be exercised and to be perfected in weakness, temptations and bodily annoyances are necessary, the same Apostle again showing this, who says that, in the greatness of the revelations, lest he should be exalted, there was given him a sting of the flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet him, and that, having thrice besought the Lord that it might depart from him, He answered him: 'My grace is sufficient for thee;
for strength is made perfect in weakness' — nevertheless holy Daniel too lived safe and undaunted among the lions, who, certainly not lying to God, confesses in his prayer not only the sins of his people but also his own; and in the hand of the Apostle himself a deadly viper clung fast and did not harm him. These creatures, then, though created, could do no harm, if there had not existed a cause either for the terrifying and punishing of vices, or for the proving and perfecting of virtue — because both examples of patience are to be shown for the advancement of the rest, and man himself becomes more surely known to himself in temptations, and justly that perpetual salvation, which was shamefully lost through the will, is bravely recovered through pain. Someone will say:
why then do the beasts harm one another in turn, when they have neither any sins, that this might be called vengeance, nor receive any virtue by such exercise? Doubtless for this reason, namely because some are the food of others. Nor can we rightly say: 'Let there not be some by which others might be fed.' For all things, as long as they exist, have their measures, numbers, and orders: all which, rightly considered, are praised; nor are they changed, passing from one into another, without a hidden regulation, according to their kind, of temporal beauty. And if this is hidden from the foolish, it gleams faintly for those making progress, and is clear to the perfect.
And certainly by all such motions of the lower creation there are afforded to man wholesome admonitions, so that he may see how much he ought to busy himself for his spiritual and everlasting salvation, by which he excels all irrational living creatures, when he sees them, from the greatest elephants down to the least little worms, do whatever they can, whether by resisting or by taking heed, for their bodily and temporal welfare — which they have been allotted according to the lower ordering of their kind. This does not appear except when some seek the refreshment of their own body from the bodies of others, while others protect themselves either by the strength of fighting back, or by the safeguard of flight, or by the defence of hiding-places.
For bodily pain itself, in any living thing, is a great and marvellous power of the soul, which holds that framework together in a life-giving way by an unspeakable commingling, and reduces it to a certain unity of its own measure, since it suffers that body to be corrupted and dissolved not with indifference but, so to speak, with indignation. This too may perhaps trouble someone: if noxious animals either injure living men as a penalty, or discipline them for their good, or test them for their profit, or teach them though unwittingly, why do they tear apart even the bodies of dead men for their food? As though it made any difference to our benefit through what passages this now-lifeless flesh should pass into the deep and hidden places of nature, whence, by the marvellous omnipotence of the Creator, it is to be dug out again and restored anew.
Yet from this too a certain admonition arises for the wise: that they should so commend all things, greatest and least, to their faithful Creator who governs them by his hidden will—he by whom even the hairs of our head are numbered—that they should not, out of empty concern for their own lifeless bodies, shudder at any manner of death, but should not hesitate to prepare the sinews of a devout fortitude for all things. A similar question is wont to arise concerning thorns and thistles, and concerning certain barren trees: why or when they were created, seeing that God said: Let the earth bring forth the herb of fodder bearing seed, and the fruitful tree yielding fruit. But those who are troubled in this way do not understand—even from the customary formulas of human law—how the term usufruct is used.
For under the name of "fruit" a certain usefulness for those who enjoy it is considered. But how great are the uses—whether evident or hidden—of all the things that the earth, giving birth, nourishes from the root, let men both perceive some of them themselves and inquire after the rest from those who are experienced. And concerning thorns and thistles a more decisive answer can be given, because after sin it was said to man about the earth: It shall bring forth thorns and thistles for you. Yet it is not to be easily asserted that these things then began to spring up from the earth. For perhaps, since in these kinds of seeds also many uses are found, they could have had their place without any penalty upon man.
But that in the fields—in which he was now laboring as a punishment—these too should be born, this can be believed to have contributed to the accumulation of the penalty, since they could have been born elsewhere, either for the pasture of birds and cattle, or for some uses of men themselves. And yet that meaning too is not at variance with these words, by which it is understood to have been said: