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Theophilus to Autolycus

Chapter XIX.--Accurate Account of the Deluge.

And neither does he make out that there was a second flood: on the contrary, he said that never again would there be a flood of water on the world; as neither indeed has there been, nor ever shall be. And he says that eight human beings were preserved in the ark, in that which had been prepared by God's direction, not by Deucalion, but by Noah; which Hebrew word means in English ¹ "rest," as we have elsewhere shown that Noah, when he announced to the men then alive that there was a flood coming, prophesied to them, saying, Come thither, God calls you to repentance. On this account he was fitly called Deucalion. ² And this Noah had three sons (as we mentioned in the second book), whose names were Shem, and Ham, and Japhet; and these had three wives, one wife each; each man and his wife. This man some have surnamed Eunuchus. All the eight persons, therefore, who were found in the ark were preserved. And Moses showed that the flood lasted forty days and forty nights, torrents pouring from heaven, and from the fountains of the deep breaking up, so that the water overtopped every high hill 15

cubits. And thus the race of all the men that then were was destroyed, and those only who were protected in the ark were saved; and these, we have already said, were eight. And of the ark, the remains are to this day to be seen in the Arabian mountains. This, then, is in sum the history of the deluge.

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Ad Autolycum

19.

Ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ δεύτερον κατακλυσμὸν γεγονέναι δηλοῖ, ἀλλὰ μὲν οὖν ἔφη μηκέτι τῷ κόσμῳ κατακλυσμὸν ὕδατος ἔσεσθαι, οἷον οὔτε γέγονεν οὔτε μὴν ἔσται. ὀκτὼ δέ φησιν τὰς πάσας ψυχὰς ἀνθρώπων ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ διασεσῶσθαι, ἐν τῇ κατασκευασθείσῃ προστάγμασι θεοῦ, οὐχ ὑπὸ Δευκαλίωνος, ἀλλ’ ὑπὸ τοῦ Νῶε ἑβραϊστί, ὃς διερμηνεύεται τῇ ἑλλάδι γλώσσῃ ἀνάπαυσις, καθὼς καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ λόγῳ ἐδηλώσαμεν ὡς Νῶε, καταγγέλλων τοῖς τότε ἀνθρώποις μέλλειν κατακλυσμὸν ἔσεσθαι, προεφήτευσεν αὐτοῖς λέγων· Δεῦτε, καλεῖ ὑμᾶς ὁ θεὸς εἰς μετάνοιαν· διὸ οἰκείως Δευκαλίων ἐκλήθη. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ Νῶε υἱοὶ τρεῖς ἦσαν, καθὼς καὶ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τόμῳ ἐδηλώσαμεν, ὧν τὰ ὀνόματά ἐστιν Σὴμ καὶ Χὰμ καὶ Ἰάφεθ, οἷς καὶ γυναῖκες τρεῖς ἦσαν τὸ καθ’ ἕνα αὐτῶν, καὶ αὐτός, καὶ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ. Τοῦτον τὸν ἄνδρα ἔνιοι Εὐνοῦχον προσηγορεύκασιν. ὀκτὼ οὖν αἱ πᾶσαι ψυχαὶ ἀνθρώπων διεσώθησαν, οἱ ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ εὑρεθέντες.

Τὸν δὲ κατακλυσμὸν ἐσήμανεν ὁ Μωσῆς ἐπὶ <ἡμέρας τεσσαράκοντα καὶ νύκτας τεσσαράκοντα> γεγενῆσθαι, <ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τῶν καταρακτῶν> ῥυέντων καὶ πασῶν <τῶν πηγῶν τῆς ἀβύσσου βλυσάντων>, ὥστε τὸ ὕδωρ ὑψωθῆναι <ἐπάνω παντὸς ὄρους ὑψηλοῦ πεντεκαίδεκα πήχεις>. καὶ οὕτως διεφθάρη τὸ γένος πάντων τῶν τότε ἀνθρώπων, μόνοι δὲ διεσώθησαν οἱ φυλαχθέντες ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ, οὓς προειρήκαμεν ὀκτώ· ἧς κιβωτοῦ τὰ λείψανα μέχρις τοῦ δεῦρο δείκνυται εἶναι ἐν τοῖς Ἀραβικοῖς ὄρεσιν.

Τὰ μὲν οὖν τοῦ κατακλαυσμοῦ κεφαλαιωδῶς τοιαύτην ἔχει τὴν ἱστορίαν.