Tertullian: Spuria

Principio Dominus caelum terramque locauit:
Namque erat informis fluctuque abscondita tellus,
Immensusque Deus super aequora uasta meabat,
Dum chaos et nigrae fuscabant cuncta tenebrae.
Has dum disiungi iussit de cardine, fatur:
Lux fiat, claro et micuerunt omnia mundo.
Cum Dominus primi complesset facta diei,
Condidit albentem nebulis nascentibus axem:
Accipit inmensus errantia littora pontus,
Multiplices rapiens ualidis cum tractibus amnes.

In the beginning the Lord set in place heaven and earth:
For the land was formless and hidden by the flood,
And the Immense God was moving over the vast waters,
While chaos and black darkness were dimming all things.
As he ordered these to be parted from the axis, he speaks:
Let there be light, and all things flashed in a bright world.
When the Lord had completed the works of the first day,
he founded the axis whitening with nascent mists:
the immense sea receives the wandering shores,
seizing manifold rivers with mighty currents.

Tertia lux faciem terrarum fulua retexit,
Arida mox posito narratur nomine terra,
Florea uentosis consurgunt germina campis
Pomiferique simul procuruant brachia rami.
Quarta die generat solis cum lampade lunam
Et stellas tremulo radiantes lumine fingit:
Haec elementa dedit subiecto insignia mundo,
Tempora quae doceant uarios mutanda per ortus.
Quinta die accipiuut liquentia flumina pisces
Et uolucres uarias suspendunt aere pennas.

Third light uncovered the tawny face of the lands,
The dry land is soon recounted by the set name “earth,”
Flowery seedlings rise up on the windy fields,
And fruit-bearing branches at once bend their arms forward.
Fourth day he begets the moon with the lamp of the sun
And fashions the stars, shining with a tremulous light:
These elements he gave as insignia to the world set beneath,
Times which teach that seasons are to be changed through various risings.
Fifth day the liquid rivers receive the fishes,
And various birds suspend their wings in the air.

Sexta pater gelidos in spiras lubricat angues
Quadrupedumque grcges totos diffundit in agros
Cunctaque multiplici mandauit crescere passim
Germine et immensis errare et pascere terris.
Haec ubi constituit diuina potentia iussu,
Rectorem inspiciens mundanis defore rebus
Haec memorat: hominem nostris faciamus in unguem
Vultibus adsimilem, toto qui regnet in orbe.
Et licet hunc uno posset conponere uerbo,
Ipse tamen sancta dignatus ducere dextra,
Inspirat brutum diuino a pectore pectus.

On the sixth day the Father lets the icy serpents glide into coils,
and he spreads the whole herds of quadrupeds into the fields,
and he commanded all things to grow everywhere with manifold seed,
and to wander and to pasture over the immense lands.
When the divine potency by command had established these things,
beholding that a Rector was lacking for mundane affairs,
he says this: let us make a man to our exact pattern,
similar to our faces, who may reign over the whole orb.
And although he could compose him with a single word,
yet he himself, deigning to guide him with his holy right hand,
inspires a brutish breast with a heart from the divine bosom.

Quem postquam effigie formatum ceu sua uidit,
Metitur solum mordaces uoluere curas.
Ilicet irriguo perfundit lumina somno,
Mollius ut uulsa formetur femina costa
Atque artus mixtu gemino substantia firmet.
Inditur et nomen uitae quod dicitur Eua.

Whom, after he saw formed in effigy as if his own,
he measures the ground, to turn over biting cares.
Straightway he bathes his eyes with dewy sleep,
so that more softly a female might be formed from the plucked rib
and that substance might make firm the limbs by a twin mixture.
And the name of life is given, which is called Eve.

Quapropter nati linquunt de more parentes
Coniugibusque suis positis cum sedibus haerent.
Septima luce Deus factorum fino quieuit,
Sacratam statuens uenturi ad gaudia saecli:
Ilicet exhibitis animantum ex ordine turbis
Viritim cunctis nomen quod permanet indit
Adamus donata sibi prudentia sollers.
Quem Deus alloquio iunctam dignatur et Euam:
Crescite multimodo uentura in tempora partu,
Vt polus et plenae uestro sint germine terrae,
Heredesque mei, uarios decerpite fructus,
Quos nemora et pingui reddunt de cespite campi.

Wherefore the born leave their parents by custom,
and they cling to their consorts, abiding with established seats.
On the seventh light God rested at the end of his deeds,
establishing as sacred for the joys of the age to come:
straightway, the throngs of living beings presented in order,
to each one individually he gives a name that remains—
Adam, skillful with prudence granted to him.
Whom God deigns by address to join, and Eve as well:
Grow with manifold birth into the times to come,
that the pole and the full lands may be with your offspring,
and, my heirs, pluck various fruits
which the groves and the fields render from the rich sod.

Haec ubi disseruit, laeta paradisus in aula
Instruitur primique aspectat lumina solis.
Gignitur haec inter pomis letalibus arbos,
Coniunctum generans uitae mortisque saporem.
Aedibus in mediis puro fluit agmine flumen,
Quod rigat insignes liquidis de fluctibus ortus
Quadrifidosque secat undante ex fonte meatus.

When he had discoursed these things, in the glad hall of Paradise
it is furnished, and looks upon the lights of the first sun.
This tree is engendered among lethal fruits,
producing a conjoined savor of life and death.
In the midst of the dwellings a river flows in a pure column,
which irrigates renowned gardens with liquid waves,
and cuts four-cleft courses from the undulating fountain.

Fison auriferis praediues fluctuat undis
Conspicuasque terit rauco de gurgite gemmas:
Prasinus huic nomen, illi est carbunculus ardens,
Perspicuusque uadis terram praelambit Euilat.
Post hunc Aethiopas Gaeon adlapsus opimat.
Tertius est Tigris, Eufrati adiunctus amoeno,
Assyriam celeri discretim flumine sulcans.

Pishon, very rich with auriferous waves, undulates,
and wears down conspicuous gems from its hoarse whirlpool:
one has the name prase, the other is a burning carbuncle,
and, transparent in its shallows, it pre-licks the land of Havilah.
After this, Gihon, having glided along, makes the Ethiopians opulent.
The third is the Tigris, joined to pleasant Euphrates,
furrowing Assyria with a swift river in a separate course.

Hic positus custos Adamus cum coniuge fida
Atque opifex tali formatur uoce tonantis:
Ne trepidate simul licitos praecerpere fructus,
Quos nemus intonsum ramo frondente creauit,
Solliciti ne forte malum noxale legatis,
Quod uiret ex gemino discreta ad munia suco.
Nec minus interea caecos nox alta tenebat
Ac modo formatos uestis nec texerat artus.
Has inter sedes et baccis mitibus ortus,
Spumeus astuto uincens animalia sensu,
Serpebat tacite spiris frigentibus anguis,
Liuida mordaci uoluens mendacia sensu,
Femineo temptat sub pectore mollia corda:
Dic mihi cur metuas felidia germina mali?

Here Adam, placed as guardian with his faithful spouse,
and as craftsman is fashioned by such a voice of the Thunderer:
Do not tremble together to pluck the lawful fruits,
which the unshorn grove has produced on a leafy bough,
being anxious lest by chance you gather the noxal apple,
which is verdant with twin sap, set apart for distinct offices.
No less meanwhile deep night held them blind
and a garment had not yet woven their newly fashioned limbs.
Amid these seats and gardens with gentle berries,
foamy-mouthed, surpassing the animals with astute sense,
a snake was crawling silently with chilly coils,
rolling livid mendacities with a mordacious intent,
he tempts the soft hearts beneath the feminine breast:
Tell me, why do you fear the gall-bitter offshoots of the apple?

Numquid poma Deus non omnia nota sacrauit?
E quis si studeas mellitos carpere uictus,
Aureus astrigero redibit cardine mundus.
Illa negat uetitosque timet contingere ramos:
Sed tamen infirmo uincuntur pectora sensu.

Has God not hallowed all the fruits with a mark?
And if you should strive to pluck honey-sweet nourishment,
the golden world will return on the star-bearing hinge.
She refuses and fears to touch the forbidden branches:
but yet the hearts are overcome by an infirm impulse.

Ilicet ut niueo iam mitia dente momordit,
Adfulsit nulla maculatum nube serenum.
Tum sapor illecebram mellitis faucibus indens,
Compulit insueto munus deferre marito.
Quod simul ac sumpsit, detersa nocte nitentes
Emicuere oculi mundo splendente sereni.

Straightway, as she now bit the mellow fruits with a snow-white tooth,
a clear sky, stained by no cloud, shone forth.
Then the savor, inserting allurement into honeyed throats,
drove her to bear the gift to her unaccustomed husband.
Which, as soon as he took it, with night wiped away, gleaming
his eyes flashed forth, the serene world shining bright.

Ergo ubi nudatum prospexit corpus uterque
Cumque pudenda uident, ficulnis frondibus umbrant.
Forte sub occiduo Domini iam lumine solis
Agnoscunt sonitum trepidique ad deuia tendunt.
Tum Dominus caeli maestum compellat Adamum:
Dic ubi nunc degas ? respondit talia supplex :
O Domine, adfatus pauido sub corde tremisco,
Magne, tuos nudusquo metu frigente fatigor.

Therefore, when each of the two beheld the laid-bare body,
and when they see the shameful parts, they shade them with fig-tree leaves.
By chance beneath the now setting light of the Lord’s sun
they recognize the sound and, trembling, turn toward byways.
Then the Lord of heaven addresses sorrowful Adam:
Say, where do you dwell now ? he, suppliant, replied such things :
O Lord, being addressed I tremble beneath a fearful heart,
Great One, also naked, I am wearied by freezing fear of you.

Tum Dominus: quis poma dedit noxalia uobis?
Tradidit haec mulier, dum dicit lumina promptim
Candenti perfusa die liquidumque sorenum
Adfulsisse sibi solemque et sidera caeli.
Protinus ira Dei turbatam territat Euam,
Auctorem uetiti dum quaerit maximus acti.

Then the Lord: who gave noxious fruits to you?
This woman delivered these, while she says that her eyes readily
perfused with the shining day and the liquid serene
had shone upon her, and the sun and the stars of heaven.
Straightway the wrath of God terrifies Eve, disquieted,
while the Greatest seeks the author of the forbidden deed.

Illa sub haec pandit: serpentis suasa loquentis
Accepi fallente dolo blandoque rogatu:
Nam sua uipereis intexens uerba uenenis
Haec mihi prae cunctis narrauit dulcia pomis.
Ilicet omnipotens condemnat gesta draconis,
Praecipiens cunctis inuisum uisere monstrum:
Pectore mox fuso prorepere, tum sola morsu
Mandere, mansuro quaecumque in tempora bello
Humanos inter sensus ipsumque labantem,
Vertice ut abiecto pronus post crura uirorum
Serperet, ut calcet dum labens comminus instat.
Femina fraudigeris misere decepta suadelis,
Praecipitur duro discrimine ponere partum
Seruitiumque sui studio perferre mariti.

She, upon this, discloses: the persuasions of the speaking serpent
I received, with deceiving guile and a coaxing request:
for, weaving his words with viperine poisons,
he narrated to me these things as sweeter than all the fruits.
Straightway the Omnipotent condemns the deeds of the dragon,
ordering all to behold the monster hateful to all:
forthwith to creep with breast cast down, then to chew only by bite,
to gnaw, through a war that will endure into the times,
both among human senses and the wavering one himself,
that, with head cast down, prone, he should crawl after the legs of men,
so that he be trodden as he, slipping, presses on at close quarters.
The woman, miserably deceived by fraud-bearing persuasions,
is bidden to bring forth in hard crisis,
and to endure servitude, with her devotion set upon her husband.

Tu uero cui uisa fuit sententia uerax
Coniugis, immiti cessit quae uicta draconi,
Deflebis miserum per tempora longa laborem:
Nam tibi triticeae surget pro germine messis
Carduus et spinis multum paliurus acutis,
Vt cum uisceribus lassis et pectore maesto
Plurima sollicitos praestent suspiria uictus,
Donec in occiduo uenientis tempore mortis,
Vnde geris corpus, terrae reddare iacenti.
His actis Dominus trepidis dat taedia uitae,
Deiectosque procul sacratis dimouet hortis
Obuersosque locat medioque eliminat igni,
In quo perceleri Cherubim euoluitur aestu,
Dum calidus deferuet apex flammasque uolutat.
Quis Dominus, pigro ne frigore membra rigerent,
Consuit euulsas pecudum de uiscere pelles
Operiens nudos calidis de uestibus artus.

But you, to whom the judgment of your spouse—who, conquered, yielded to the cruel dragon—seemed veracious,
you will bewail wretched toil through long ages:
for to you, instead of a wheat-bearing sprout of harvest,
there will rise a thistle and much paliurus with sharp thorns,
so that, with weary vitals and a sorrowful breast,
very many sighs for sustenance may be furnished to you in your anxieties,
until, at the occidental season of oncoming death,
whence you bear your body, you are given back to the earth that lies low.
With these things done, the Lord gives to the trembling the wearinesses of life,
and, cast down, he removes them far from the sacred gardens,
and he stations [guardians] facing it and bars the way with a fire in the midst,
in which the Cherubim are whirled in most-swift heat,
while the hot point seethes and rolls the flames.
Then the Lord, lest their limbs should stiffen with sluggard cold,
sewed skins torn from the entrails of cattle,
covering their naked limbs with warm garments.

Ergo ubi coniugio sese iam fidus Adamus
Esse uirum sensit, nomen genitricis amatae
Exhibet uxori. binos qui germine factus
Continuo genitor diuersis nuncupat orsis.
Atque Cain hic nomen habet, cui iunctus Abelus:
Innocuas multa seruabat cura bidentes,
At alius curuo terram uertebat aratro.

Therefore when faithful Adam now felt himself to be a husband in wedlock,
he bestows upon his wife the name of the beloved mother.
Having been made a father of two by offspring,
immediately the begetter names them for diverse undertakings.
And this one has the name Cain, to whom Abel is joined:
with much care he was keeping harmless two-toothed sheep,
but the other was turning the earth with the curved plough.

Hi cum perpetuo ferrent sua dona torianti,
Dissimiles fructus sensu suadente dedere.
Nam prior uberibus fuerant quae prosata glebis
Optulit: ast alius miti se deuouet agno,
Exta gerens sincera manu adipemque niualem.
Confestimque placet Domino pia uota tuenti.

These, when continually they bore their gifts to the Thunderer,
they gave dissimilar fruits, with sense persuading.
For the former offered what had been sown in the teeming clods;
but the other devotes himself with a meek lamb,
carrying entrails with a sincere hand and snow-white fat.
And straightway he pleases the Lord, who looks upon the pious vows.

Quod propter gelida Cain incanduit ira.
Quem Deus adloquio dignatus talibus infit:
Dic mihi, si rectum uiuas et noxia cernas,
Degere non possis contracto a crimine purus?
Desine mordaci fratrem disperdere sensu,
Qui tibi ceu Domino subiectus colla praebebit.

Because of which, Cain incandesced with icy anger.
Whom God, having deigned an adlocution, begins with such words:
Tell me: if you live upright and discern noxious things,
will you not be able to live pure from the crime contracted?
Cease to destroy your brother with a mordacious feeling,
who to you, as to a Lord, will offer his neck subjected.

Nec tamen his fractus fratrem deducit ad arua
Atque ubi deprensum deserto in gramine uidit,
Elidit geminis fraudans pia guttura palmis.
Quod factum Dominus caelo speculatus ab alto
Disquirit quonam terrarum degat Abelus ?
Ille negat positum custodem se fore fratris.
Cui Deus effatur: nonne uox sanguinis eius
Ad me missa sonat celsumque ascendit ad axem?

Nor yet broken by these, he leads his brother to the fields
And when he saw him caught on the deserted grass,
he crushes the pious throat with twin palms, defrauding it of breath.
Which deed the Lord, having beheld from high heaven,
inquires where in the world Abel dwells ?
He denies that he has been appointed the guardian of his brother.
To whom God speaks: does not the voice of his blood
sent to me sound, and mount to the lofty axis?

Nosce igitur mansura tibi pro crimine tanto:
Nam modo quae maduit germani sanguine terra,
Inuiso maledicta tibi commissa negabit
Semina et absumtis fructum non proferet herbis,
Torpidus ut multo collidens membra tremore
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Know therefore what will abide for you for so great a crime:
For the earth which just now was wet with the blood of your brother,
hateful and accursed to you, will deny the seeds committed to it,
and, the plants being consumed, it will not bring forth fruit,
torpid, as you knocking your limbs together with much trembling
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