法蘭克人史 第 1 章 第 1/38 段

BOOK ONE. Prologue. Being about to write of the wars of kings with hostile nations, of martyrs with pagans, of Churches with heretics, I wish first to set forth my faith, so that whoever reads may not doubt that I am a Catholic. This also seemed good, for the sake of those who, as the end of the world draws near, despair: that, having gathered through chronicles or through the histories of former years a sum total, it may be plainly explained how many years there are from the beginning of the world. But first I beg pardon of my readers, if in letters or in syllables I have transgressed the grammatical art, in which I am not fully instructed. I aim only at this, that what is believed and preached in the Church I may retain without any deceit or hesitation of heart:

because I know that one subject to sins can obtain pardon with our merciful Lord through pure belief. I believe therefore in God the Father Almighty. I believe in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord God, born of the Father, not made; not after times, but before all time, having ever been with the Father. For He could not have been called Father, unless He had a Son; nor would He be the Son, if He did not indeed have a Father. But those who say, 'There was a time when He was not,' I reject with execration, and I testify that they are to be separated from the Church. I believe this Christ to be the Word of the Father, through whom all things were made. This Word I believe was made flesh, by whose passion the world was redeemed;

and I believe that it was His humanity, not His divinity, that was subject to the passion. I believe that on the third day He rose again, set free fallen man, ascended into the heavens, sits at the right hand of the Father, and is to come and to judge the living and the dead. I believe that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son, not lesser, and as though He had not before existed, but equal, and ever co-eternal God with the Father and the Son, consubstantial in nature, equal in omnipotence, co-eternal in essence, so that He was never without the Father or the Son, nor less than the Father or the Son. I believe this holy Trinity subsists in a distinction of persons; and that one person is of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit.

In which Trinity I confess there to be one Godhead, one power, one essence. I believe blessed Mary to have been a virgin before the birth, and likewise a virgin also after the birth. I believe the soul to be immortal, yet not to have a part of the Godhead. And all things that were established by the three hundred and eighteen bishops at Nicaea, I faithfully believe. But concerning the end of the world, I hold those things which I have learned from my forefathers. Antichrist, however, will first introduce circumcision, asserting himself to be Christ; then he will set up his statue in the temple at Jerusalem to be adored, as we read that the Lord said: 'You shall see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place' (Matthew xxiv, 15). But that that day is unknown to all men, the Lord Himself manifests, saying:

'But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone' (Mark xiii, 32). But here also we will answer the heretics, who assail us, asserting that the Son is lesser than the Father, since He is ignorant of this day. Let them know, then, that this 'Son' designates the Christian people, of whom it is foretold by God: 'I will be to them for a father, and they shall be to me for sons' (II Corinthians vi, 18). For if He had foretold these things of the only-begotten Son, He would never have set the angels before Him. For thus He says: 'Neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son'; showing that He said these things not of the Only-begotten, but of the adoptive people.

But our end is Christ Himself, who, if we are converted to Him, will bestow upon us eternal life by His abundant kindness. Concerning the reckoning of this world, however, the Chronicles of Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, and of Jerome the presbyter, clearly speak, and set forth the account of the whole series of years. For Orosius too, inquiring most diligently into these matters, gathered into one the whole number of years from the beginning of the world to his own time. This also Victorius did, when he was inquiring into the order of the Paschal solemnity.

Therefore we too, following the examples of the writers mentioned above, desire—if the Lord shall deign to lend His aid—to reckon the whole mass of years from the creation of the first man down to our own time. This we shall accomplish more easily if we take our beginning from Adam himself. I. In the beginning the Lord formed heaven and earth in His Christ, who is the beginning of all things, that is, in His Son; who, after the elements of the world were created, taking a clod of frail clay, fashioned man to His own image and likeness, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and he became a living soul; from whom, as he slept, a rib being taken away, the woman Eve was created.

Nor is there any doubt that this first man Adam, before he sinned, bore the type of our Lord and Redeemer. For He Himself, sleeping in the slumber of the passion, when from His side He brought forth water and blood, exhibited to Himself an immaculate virgin Church, redeemed by His blood, cleansed by the water, having neither spot nor wrinkle; that is, washed with waters because of the spot, stretched out on the cross because of the wrinkle. Those first men, then, living blessedly amid the delights of paradise, enticed by the cunning of the serpent, transgressed the divine precepts. And being cast out from the angelic seat, they are assigned to the labours of the world. II. The woman, having become known to her companion, conceived and bore two sons.

But when God graciously accepted the sacrifice of the one, the other swelled up with kindling envy, and, a new parricide rising up to the shedding of his brother's blood, oppressed his brother, overcame him, slew him. III. And thenceforth the whole race rushed into execrable wickedness, except Enoch the just, who, walking in the ways of God, was taken up by the Lord Himself for his righteousness, delivered from the midst of a sinning people. For thus we read: 'Enoch walked with God, and was seen no more, because God took him' (Genesis v, 24). IV. The Lord, therefore, being moved against the iniquities of the people who walked not in His paths, sent the flood, and blotted out every living soul from the surface of the earth by the inundating deluge;

and only Noah, most faithful and dear to Him, and bearing the likeness of His own type, He reserved in the ark with his own wife and the wives of his three sons, for the sake of restoring posterity. Here the heretics chide us, asking why the sacred Scripture had said that the Lord was angry. Let them know, then, that our Lord is not angry as a man: for He is moved that He may terrify; He drives away that He may recall; He is angry that He may amend. Nor do I doubt this either, that that figure of the ark bore the type of the mother Church: for she, passing amid the waves and rocks of this world, cherishing us with maternal embrace against the impending evils, defends us with loving embrace and protection. From Adam, then, to Noah are ten generations:

that is, Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Malaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah. In these ten generations, then, are found one thousand two hundred and forty-two years. That Adam was buried in the land of Enachim, which was formerly called Hebron, the book of Joshua plainly explains (Joshua xiv, 15). V. Noah, then, had after the flood three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. From Japheth went forth the nations, likewise also from Ham and from Shem. And, as the ancient history says, from these the human race was disseminated under the whole heaven. But the firstborn of Ham was Cush. He was the contriver of all magic art, the devil teaching him, and the first inventor of idolatry. He first set up a little statue to be adored at the instigation of the devil:

who also, by false power, showed to men stars and fire falling from heaven. He passed over to the Persians. Him the Persians called Zoroaster, that is, the living star. From him, having become accustomed to adore fire, when he himself was consumed by fire from heaven, they worship him as a god. VI. And when men, having multiplied, were dispersed throughout all lands, going out from the East, they found the grassy plain of Shinar. Building in it a city, they strive to construct a tower which should reach the heavens. Their vain purpose, and at the same time their tongue, and themselves, God confounding, He dispersed them through the wide-spreading world over all the earth; and the name of the city was called Babel, that is, Confusion, because there God had confounded their tongues.

This is Babylon, built by Nimrod the giant, son of Cush. And, as the history of Orosius relates, it was laid out in a square on the wondrous level of the plain: its wall, made of baked brick poured over with bitumen, is fifty cubits broad, two hundred cubits high, and in circuit four hundred and seventy stadia. One stadium contains five arpents. Twenty-five gates are set along each side, which make a hundred. The doorways of these gates, of wondrous size, were formed of cast bronze. Many other things about this city the same historiographer relates, adding: 'And although there was such grandeur of building, nevertheless it was conquered and overthrown.' VII.

Now the first son of Noah, Shem, of whom in the tenth generation was born Abraham: that is, Noah, Shem, Arphaxad, Sale, Heber, Phaleg, Reu, Saruch, Thare, who begot Abraham. In these ten generations, that is from Noah to Abraham, are found nine hundred and forty-two years. At that time reigned Ninus, who built a city which he called Nineveh: the extent of whose magnitude the prophet Jonah determines as three days' journey of dwelling-places. In the forty-third year of his reign Abraham was born. This is Abraham, the beginning of our faith: this man received the promises; to him Christ our Lord showed that He would be born and would suffer for us in the exchange of a victim, He Himself in the Gospels thus saying:

'Abraham rejoiced that he might see my day: and he saw it, and was glad' (John viii, 56). That this burnt offering was offered on Mount Calvary, where the Lord was crucified, Severus relates in his Chronicle; just as even today it is famously reported in that very city of Jerusalem. On this mountain stood the holy cross, on which the Redeemer was fixed, from which also flowed that blessed gore. Here, then, Abraham received the sign of circumcision, showing that what he did in the body, we should bear in the heart, the Prophet saying: 'Circumcise yourselves to your God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart' (Deuteronomy x, 16), 'and do not follow strange gods' (Jeremiah xxxv, 15). And again:

'Every uncircumcised one, unclean, shall not enter into my holy places' (Ezekiel xliv, 9). This Abraham, after a syllable was added to his name, God called the father of many nations. VIII. When he was a hundred years old, he begot Isaac. Then in the sixtieth year of his age twin sons were born to Isaac of Rebecca. First Esau, who is also Edom, that is, earthly: who for the sake of his gullet sold his birthright. He is the father of the Idumaeans, of whose generation in the fourth degree was born Jobab: that is, Esau, Raguel, Zara, Jobab, who is also Job. He lived two hundred and forty-nine years: in the eightieth year he was freed from his infirmity;

and after his infirmity, for a hundred and seventy years, all his substance being restored to him twofold, he was gladdened with as many sons as he had lost. IX. But the second son of Isaac, Jacob, beloved of God, as He says through the Prophet: 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated' (Malachi i, 2-3). He, after the angelic wrestling, was called Israel, from whom the Israelites. He begot twelve patriarchs, whose names are these: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zabulon, Dan, Nephtali, Gad, and Asher. After these he begot Joseph of Rachel, in the ninety-second year of his age. Him he loved more than the rest of his sons. He had of her also Benjamin, last of all.

Now Joseph, being sixteen years of age, bearing the type of the Redeemer, saw dreams which he related to his brothers: as it were gathering sheaves, which the sheaves of his brothers adored. And again: as it were the sun and the moon with eleven stars falling down before him. Which thing engendered for him great hatred with his brothers. Whence also, inflamed with envy, they sold him for twenty pieces of silver to Ishmaelites passing over into Egypt. But when famine was impending, when these had gone down into Egypt, they were recognized by Joseph, yet they themselves did not recognize Joseph. He, however, after many of their wearying troubles, and Benjamin having been brought, made himself known to them: for he too had been born of Rachel his mother.

After these things all the Israelites go down into Egypt, and through Joseph enjoy the favour of Pharaoh. But Jacob, after he had blessed his sons, dies in Egypt, and is buried in the sepulchre of his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. And when Joseph and Pharaoh were dead, the whole generation is subjected to servitude, which is delivered through Moses after the ten plagues of Egypt, Pharaoh being drowned in the Red Sea. X. And since many have said much about this passage of the sea, it has seemed good that I should insert into this reading something about the situation of that place, or about the passage itself. The Nile, as you very well know, runs through Egypt, and itself irrigates it by its force: whence also the Egyptians are called Nile-dwellers.

Many who have travelled over those places say that its shores now are filled with holy monasteries. But upon its bank there is set, not the Babylon of which we made mention above, but another city Babylon, in which Joseph built granaries of wondrous workmanship out of squared stones and mortar: so that toward the bottom they are more capacious, but toward the top narrowed, so that through a tiny opening the wheat might be thrown in there; which granaries are seen even to this day. From this city the king was sent forth with armies of chariots and a great body of foot to pursue the Hebrews. The aforesaid river, coming from the East, goes toward the western region toward the Red Sea:

but from the West a lagoon, or arm, advances from the Red Sea, and goes toward the East, having in length about fifty miles; in breadth, however, eighteen. At the head of this lagoon the city of Clysma is built, not on account of the fertility of the place, since nothing is more barren, but on account of the port: because ships coming from the Indies rest there for the convenience of the harbour; there the wares procured are carried throughout all Egypt. Toward this lagoon the Hebrews making their way through the desert came as far as the sea itself, and, having found fresh waters, pitched their camp. In this narrow place, then, hemmed in both by the wilderness and by the sea itself, they encamped, as it is written:

'Pharaoh hearing that the sea and the desert had shut them in, and that there was no way by which they could go on, directed his force to pursue them' (Exodus xiv, 3). And when, as these pressed upon them, the people of Moses cried out, according to the command of the Divinity, the rod being cast over the sea, it was divided; and as they walked through the dry ground, and, as the Scripture says, 'walled about on every side by a wall of waters' (Exodus xiv, 22), they cross over with Moses as their leader to that shore which is over against Mount Sinai, entirely unharmed, the Egyptians being drowned. About this passage many things, as I said, are related: but we have been zealous to insert into this page that which we have learned to be true from wise men, and indeed from those men who had come to that very place.

For they say that the furrows which the wheels of the chariots had made remain even to this day, and, as far as the sharpness of the eyes can see, are discerned in the depth. If a slight commotion of the sea covers them over, when it grows calm, they are again renewed by divine power as they had been. Others say that, a small circuit having been made through the sea, they returned to that very bank whence they had entered. But others assert that there was one entrance for all; some, that to each tribe its own way lay open, adducing that testimony of the Psalter: 'Who divided the Red Sea into divisions' (Psalm cxxxv, 13), which divisions we ought to understand spiritually, and not according to the letter. For there are in this world too, which figuratively is called a sea, many divisions:

for not all can pass to life equally, or by one way. Some pass over at the first hour: that is, those who, reborn through baptism, are able to endure immaculate from every defilement of the flesh until the close of the present life. Others at the third hour, namely those who are converted at a greater age. Others at the sixth, who restrain the fervour of lust: and through these several hours, as the Evangelist (Matthew xx) recalls, they are hired to the labour of the Lord's vineyard according to their own faith. These are the divisions by which one crosses through this sea. But that, having come as far as the sea, holding the shore of the lagoon, they turn back—this is what the Lord said to Moses:

'Let them turn back and encamp over against Phihahiroth, which is between Migdol and the sea, over against Beelsephon' (Exodus xiv, 2). Nor is there any doubt that that passage of the sea, or the pillar of cloud, bore the type of our baptism, the blessed Apostle Paul saying: 'I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea' (I Corinthians x, 1, 2). The pillar of fire, however, bore the type of the Holy Spirit. From the nativity of Abraham, then, to the going out of the children of Israel from Egypt, or the passage of the Red Sea, which was the eightieth year of Moses, are reckoned years to the number of 462. XI. Thenceforth for forty years the Israelites use the wilderness, are instructed in laws;

they are tested, and are fed with angelic food. Thereafter, indeed, after receiving the Law, and having crossed the Jordan with Joshua, they receive the land of promise. XII. After whose crossing, when they neglect the divine precepts, they are often subjugated into the servitude of foreigners. But when, converted, they groan, by the Lord's bestowal they are delivered through the arm of valiant men. After this, through Samuel asking of the Lord a king, as the other nations have, they receive first Saul, then David. From Abraham, then, to David are fourteen generations, that is: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Phares, Esrom, Aram, Aminadab, Naasson, Salmon, Booz, Obeth, Jesse, David. And David begot Solomon of Bathsheba.

He was raised to the kingdom through the prophet Nathan, his brother, and through his mother. XIII. But when David was dead, and Solomon had begun to reign, the Lord appeared to him, and promised that He would grant whatever he might ask. But he, setting aside earthly riches, rather sought wisdom. Which was ratified by the Lord, so that he heard from Him: 'Because thou hast not sought the kingdoms of the world, nor its riches, but hast asked for wisdom, therefore thou shalt receive it. Before thee there was none so wise, and so after thee there shall be none' (III Kings, 12). Which afterward that judgment, which he passed between two women contending over one infant, confirmed (Ibid. 16 ff.). This Solomon built a temple to the name of the Lord.

with marvellous workmanship, lavishing there much gold and silver, bronze and iron, so that it was said by some that never had a like building been constructed in the world. From the going out of the children of Israel from Egypt down to the building of the Temple, which was the seventh year of Solomon's reign, there are reckoned 480 years, as the history of the Kings attests. XIV. After the death of Solomon, however, the kingdom was divided into two parts through Rehoboam's harshness. Two tribes remained with Rehoboam, which was called Judah; but to Jeroboam ten tribes, which was called Israel. Thereafter, therefore, turning aside to idolatry, neither the prophecies of the prophets, nor their own destruction, nor the calamities of their homeland, nor even the ruin of their kings subdued them;

until the Lord, being angry against them, stirred up Nebuchadnezzar, who carried them off captive into Babylon together with all the ornaments of the Temple: in which captivity both Daniel, that distinguished prophet, went unharmed among the hungry lions, and the three young men went unburned amid the flames, bedewed as with dew, all going into captivity. In this captivity Ezekiel also prophesied, and the prophet Ezra was born. From David, moreover, down to the desolation of the Temple and the migration into Babylon, there are fourteen generations: that is, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah. In these fourteen generations, then, are found 361 years in number. From this captivity they are delivered through Zerubbabel:

who afterwards restored both the Temple and the city. But this captivity, as I think, bears the figure of that captivity in which the sinful soul is led away, which, unless Zerubbabel — that is, Christ — shall deliver it, will be horribly exiled. For the Lord Himself says in the Gospel: If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed (John VIII, 36). May He Himself establish for Himself within us a temple, in which He may deign to dwell; in which faith may shine like gold; in which the word of preaching may glisten like silver; in which all the ornaments of that visible temple may shine forth in the uprightness of our senses. To our good will may He grant a wholesome effect. For unless He build the house, in vain do they labour

who build it (Psalm CXXVI, 1). This captivity is said to have lasted 76 years. XV. But having returned through Zerubbabel, as we have said, now murmuring against God, now falling away after idols, or committing abominations, and imitating the things which the nations practise, while they despised the prophets of God, they were handed over to the nations, subjugated, and perished: until the Lord Himself, promised by the voices of the patriarchs and prophets, deigned, gliding into the womb of the Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit, to be born for the redemption both of that nation and of all nations. From the migration, therefore, down to the nativity of Christ there are fourteen generations:

that is, Jechoniah, Salathiel, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Sadoc, Achim, Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob, Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom our Lord Jesus Christ is born: which Joseph is reckoned the fourteenth. XVI. Therefore, lest we seem to have knowledge of the Hebrew nation only, we recount the remaining kingdoms, what they were, or in what time of the Israelites they existed. In the time of Abraham, Ninus reigned over the Assyrians; over the Sicyonians, Europs; among the Egyptians there was the sixteenth power, which in their own tongue they called a dynasty. In the time of Moses, among the Argives reigned the seventh, Tropas; in Attica, Cecrops the first; among the Egyptians, Cenchres the twelfth, who was also overwhelmed in the Red Sea;

among the Assyrians, the sixteenth, Agatadis; among the Sicyonians, Maratis. In the time of Solomon, when he reigned over Israel, among the Latins the fifth, Silvius, reigned; over the Lacedaemonians, Festus; over the Corinthians, the second, Oxion; of the Egyptians, Thephei. In the one hundred and twenty-sixth year, over the Assyrians, Eutropes; over the Athenians, the second, Agasastus. In the time when Amon reigned over Judaea, when the captivity went into Babylon, over the Macedonians presided Argeus; of the Lydians, Gyges; of the Egyptians, Vaphres; over Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, who carried them off captive; of the Romans, the sixth, Servius Tullius. XVII. After these, the emperors:

the first was Julius Caesar, who obtained sole rule of the whole empire; the second, Octavian, the grandnephew of Julius Caesar, whom they call Augustus, from whom also the month of August is named. In the nineteenth year of his rule we find most clearly that the city of Lyons in Gaul was founded: which afterwards, made illustrious by the blood of martyrs, is called Most Noble. XVIII. In the forty-third year of the rule of Augustus, our Lord Jesus Christ, as we have said, was born according to the flesh of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, the town of David: whose immense star the Magi, beholding from the East, come with gifts, and as suppliants adore the child with the offerings they have presented.

But Herod, out of jealousy for his own kingdom, while he strove to persecute Christ as God, slew the innocent little ones. He too was afterwards struck down by divine judgment. XIX. But our Lord God Jesus Christ, preaching repentance, bestowing the grace of baptism, promising the heavenly kingdom to all nations, and working prodigies and signs among the peoples — that is, while He brings forth wine from water, while He quenches fevers, while He gives light to the blind, while He restores life to the buried, while He frees those beset by unclean spirits, while He restores the lepers loathsome with their wretched skin: while doing these and many other signs, He most manifestly declares Himself to be God to the peoples. Among the Jews wrath is kindled,

envy is stirred up, and their mind, fed on the blood of the prophets, unjustly contrives to slay the Just One. Therefore, that the oracles of the ancient seers might be fulfilled, He is betrayed by a disciple, iniquitously condemned by the chief priests, mocked by the Jews, crucified with wicked men, and, having given up His spirit, guarded by the soldiers. When these things had been done, darkness came over the whole world, and many, being converted and groaning, confessed Jesus to be the Son of God. XX.

But Joseph also, who had embalmed Him with spices and laid Him in his own tomb, was seized and shut up in a little cell, and was guarded by the very chief priests, who held against him a greater cruelty — as the Acts of Pilate sent to the emperor Tiberius report — than against the Lord Himself, so that, while the latter was guarded by soldiers, this man was guarded by the priests themselves. But when the Lord rose, and the guards were terrified by the angelic vision, since He was not found in the tomb, by night the walls of the cell in which Joseph was held were suspended on high; and he himself, the angel releasing him, was freed from custody, the walls being restored to their place.