Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Grace of the First Man
Chapter 13: Objections are answered
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. V, De Gratia Primi Hominis. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
Nor indeed are the arguments of the contrary opinion such that they cannot be solved.
For they object, first, that Scripture witnesses that paradise was planted in Eden toward the east, Genesis 2; and that Eden is a place near Haran in Mesopotamia, as can be understood from that of Ezekiel 27, Haran, and Chene, and Eden were thy merchants; and from that of 4 Kings 19: Have the gods of the nations delivered any of them, whom my fathers have destroyed, to wit, Gozan, and Haran, and Reseph, and the children of Eden that were in Thelassar?; and finally from that of Genesis 4: And Cain went out from the face of the Lord, and dwelt as a fugitive on the earth, at the east side of Eden. Second, that in Mesopotamia are found the rivers which are said to have been in paradise. Third, that that region is most lovely.
But we answer that the word Eden in Scripture is now the name of a place, and now signifies delights, or pleasure, as is known to those skilled in the Hebrew tongue. And indeed in the places cited it is evident that Eden is the name of a place; but that it is not that place whence Adam was cast out, it seems no light argument that Cain is said to have dwelt in it — unless one be so foolish as to think that paradise was given to Cain for a place of exile. Besides, from the Eden where paradise was there arose a river, which thence is divided into four heads, Genesis 2; but that from the Eden which is near Mesopotamia no river of that kind arises is most fully ascertained. And that in the second chapter of Genesis it is not the name of a place, but signifies pleasure, the authority of the vulgate edition sufficiently persuades us, and of St. Jerome, who not only so rendered it, but also notes in the Hebrew Questions that Symmachus so rendered it, and the Seventy themselves. As regards the rivers, and the loveliness of the place, we have already shown that in Mesopotamia none of the rivers of paradise arises, and that its loveliness is not that which is said to have been in paradise; hence that opinion is better refuted than confirmed by the argument of the rivers and of the loveliness.
There is another argument which could be made against us, concerning the springs of the Euphrates and Tigris, which are reported to be known. But St. Augustine answers, book 8 On Genesis, chapter 7; Theodoret, question 29 on Genesis; and Rupert, book 2 on Genesis, chapter 24. But we shall adduce in this place the words of Augustine alone: “Since” (says St. Augustine) “the very place of paradise is most remote from the knowledge of men, it is to be believed that the four branches of waters are divided thence, as the most faithful Scripture witnesses; but that those rivers whose springs are said to be known have somewhere gone under the earth, and after the courses of far-stretching regions have burst forth in other places, where they are reported to be known as if at their own springs. For who is ignorant that some waters are wont to do this?”
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
Neque vero ejusmodi sunt argumenta sen¬ tentiae contrariae, ut solvi non possint. Objiciunt enim primo, quod Scriptura testetur paradisum plantatatum fuisse in Eden ad Orientem, Genes, ii ; Eden autem locus sit prope Charam in Mesopotamia, ut intelligi potest ex illo Ezechiel.xxvn: Charan et Chene, et Eden negotiatores tui , et ex illo IV llegum. xvm : Num quid liberaverunt Dii gentium singulos, quos vastaverunt Patres mei , Goram videlicet , et Charan et Iieseph, et filios Eden qui erant in Thalassar. Et denique ex illo Genes, iv. Egressusque Cain a facie Domini , habitavit profugus in terra ad Orien¬ talem plagam Eden (2). Secundo, quod in Mesopotamia reperiantur flumina quae di¬ cuntur fuisse in paradiso. Tertio, quod ea sit regio amoenissima. Sed respondemus, vocem Eden in Scri¬ ptura nunc esse nomen loci, nunc vero sig¬ nificare delicias, seu voluptatem, ut notum est linguae Hebraicae peritis. Et quidem in locis citatis Eden esse nomen loci perspi¬ cuum est, sed non esse cum locum, unde ejectus fuit Adam, non leve argumentum esse videtur, quod in eodem dicatur habi¬ tasse Cain, nisi quis ita desipiat, ut existi¬ met datum fuisse Camo pro exilio paradi¬ sum. Praeterea ex Eden, ubi erat paradisus, oriebatur flumen, quod inde dividitur in qua- tuorcapita, Gcn. ii. AtexEden, quodestprope Mesopotamiam nullum ejusmodi flumen ori¬ ri compertissimum est. In secundo autem cap. Genes, non esse nomen loci, sed volu¬ ptatem significare satis nobis persuadet au¬ ctoritas editionis vulgatae, et S. Hieronymi, qui non solum ita vertit, sed etiam in quaest. Hebraicis notat, sic vertisse Symmaichum, et ipsos etiam Septuaginta. Quod attinet ad flumina, et loci amoenitatem, jam ostendi¬ mus in Mesopotomia nullum oriri ex flumi¬ nibus paradisi, neque eam esse amoenita¬ tem, quae fuisse dicitur in paradiso. Proinde eam sententiam melius refelli, quam con¬ firmari argumento fluminum, et amoenita¬ tis. Est aliud argumentum quod contra nos fie¬ ri posset de fontibus Euphratis, et Tigris, qui noti esse perhibentur. Sed respondent S. Augustinus lib. viii. de Gen. cap. 7. Thco- doretus quaest. 29. in Genes, et Rupertus lib. ii. in Genes, cap. 24. Sed unius Au¬ gustini verba hoc loco adducemus : « Quo¬ niam (inquit S. Augustinus) locus ipse pa¬ radisi a cognitione hominum est remotissi¬ mus, inde quatuor aquarum partes dividi credendum est, sicut fidelissima Scriptura testatur. Sed ea flumina, quorum fontes noti esse dicuntur, alicubi isse sub terras, et post tractus prolixarum regium locis aliis erupisse, ubi tamquam in suis fontibus noti esse perhibentur. Nam hoc solere nonnullas aquas facere, quis ignorat ? » CAPUT XIV. Paradisum adhuc superesse.