De Posteritate Caini

and the law is a witness to this which in the great hymn speaks thus—"He was fat, he was rich, he was exceeding broad, and he forsook God who had made him, and he forgot God his Saviour." [*](Deuteronomy xxxii. 15. ) For in truth those men whose lives have been exceedingly fortunate and are so at the time, do not remember the eternal God, but they think time their god;

on which account Moses bears witness, exhorting us to war against the contrary opinions, for he says, "The time has departed from them, and the Lord is among us." [*]( Leviticus ii. 16. ) So that those men by whom the life of the soul is honoured, have divine reason dwelling among them, and walking with them; but those who pursue a life of pleasure have only a brief and fictitious want of opportunities: these men, therefore, having swollen extravagantly, and become enormously distended by their profuse fatness and luxury, have burst asunder. But the others, being made fat by that wisdom which nourishes the souls that love virtue, have a firm and unshaken power, a specimen of which is the fat which is sacrificed as a whole burnt-offering from every victim:

for Moses says, "All the fat shall belong to the Lord by the everlasting law;" [*]( Numbers xiv. 9. ) so that the fat of the mind is offered up to God and is appropriated to him, owing to which it is made immortal; but the fat which clings to the body and belongs to external things is referred to time, which is contrary to God, through which it very rapidly wastes away.

Therefore, concerning the wives of Lamech and his children, I think that enough has been said. Let us now consider what we may look upon as the resurrection of Abel, who was treacherously slain. Moses tells us, "And Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and brought forth a son, and he called his name Seth; for, said he, "God has raised me up another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." [*]( Genesis iv. 25. ) The interpretation of the name Seth, is "irrigation."

As, therefore, the seeds and plants which are put into the ground grow and blossom through being irrigated, and are thus made fertile for the production of fruits, [*](Deuteronomy xxxii. 15. ) [*]( Leviticus ii. 16. ) [*]( Numbers xiv. 9. ) [*]( Genesis iv. 25. )