Commodian — Carmen de Duobus Populis 161–200
The rest perished in the flood by heavenly wrath. From here, as at the start, the earth is filled little by little. The earlier crime yielded, but another disaster stuck. Fools set out to build a tower under the stars so that as if by it they could climb the heavens. When God saw it done under one speech he came down and made them speak with diverse tongue. From there he scattered them through remote islands of earth so they became nations speaking with varied talk. Then the unteachable race lived a life of wildness; no one knew God, no one argued about life. For that rash one had crept into the raw through the waters of the soul, warped bitter minds, and by deceit persuaded them to love unspeakable couplings, to live by plunder in joy with blood poured out. Fools chase this glory for a short time; by which no pardon frees them saying they were seduced. If an adulterer urges, the fault is yours to follow such a one; he does not damn you — you damn yourself of your own will. The untaught wandered by the old enemy’s cheat, forgetful of the Lord, following malign works. Lest such robbery of the bandit go on long, when the time was portioned he at last took pity once it was taken away. It pleased him to speak with one of many, to make a people beloved by crossing over to him. From then the profane began that there is one God and to become a people according to God’s decrees. For Rebecca had distinguished two peoples from herself: this one was made first so that the other might succeed him. In Egypt first the foster-child grew in Israel; from there God cast them out with Moses as leader, through whom he himself gave them the law on Mount Sinai, so that our posterity might know the one Lord. Then he ordered prophets from them to say that God is held cheap by them in a man. The Lord had led them into the promised land so they would live there under the law until he himself came. The nation ungrateful for goods refused to bear the yoke of commands, but rather flowered turned back in the old crime; nor did it ever stop: today too it is held such. ****** Two peoples from Rebecca; one Lord on Sinai. Following the seducer is your own damnation — not his.
Latin
Ceteri diluuio perierunt ira caelesti. Hinc, sicut initio, paulatim terra repletur. Cessit prius facinus, sed alter<a> clades adhaesit. Adgressi sunt stulti turrem fabricare sub astris Ut quasi per illam possent ascendere caelos. Quod Deus ut uidit fieri sub una loquella Descendit et fecit, loquerentur lingua diuersa. Quos inde disparsit per insulas terrae semotos, Ut fierent gentes uario sermone loquentes. Tunc genus indocile uitam feritatis agebat; Nemo Deum sciebat, disputabat nemo de uita. Irrepserat quoniam rudibus temerarius ille Per latices animae, deprauauit mentes acerbas Persuasitque dolo coitus infandos amare, Uiuere rapinis in gaudio sanguine fuso. Hanc gloriam stulti prosequuntur tempore paruo; Quo nulla uenia liberat se dicendo seductos. Si suadet adulter, culpa est tua prosequi talem; Non ille te damnat, sed tu tua sponte te damnas. Errabant indocti ueteris fallacia hostis, Obliti Dominum, opera maligna sequentes. Quod, diu ne fieret grassatio tanta latronis, Tempore partito miseratus est tandem ablato. Complacuit illi colloqui cum uno de multis, Ut faceret populum ad se transeundo dilectum. Ex eo ceperunt unum Deum esse profani Et fieri populus secundum Dei decreta. Duos enim populos distinxerat ex se Rebecca: Hic prior est factus, alter ut succederet illi. In Aegypto primum in Israhel concreuit alumnus; Inde Deus illos eiecit duce Moyse, Per quem dedit illis <ipse> legem in monte Sina, Ut nostra posteritas Dominum cognosceret unum. Deinde prophetas ex ipsis dicere iussit, Quod Deus in hominem depretiatur ab illis. Induxerat eos Dominus in terra promissa, Ut ibi sub lege uiuerent, donec ipse ueniret. Gens ingrata bonis noluit iugum ferre praeceptis, Sed magis in scelere prisco reuoluta florebat; Nec umquam desinuit: hodie quoque talis habetur;