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The City of God

Chapter 20.--Of the Parting of Lot and Abraham, Which They Agreed to Without Breach of Charity.

On Abraham's return out of Egypt to the place he had left, Lot, his brother's son, departed from him into the land of Sodom, without breach of charity. For they had grown rich, and began to have many herdmen of cattle, and when these strove together, they avoided in this way the pugnacious discord of their families. Indeed, as human affairs go, this cause might even have given rise to some strife between themselves. Consequently these are the words of Abraham to Lot, when taking precaution against this evil, "Let there be no strife between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Behold, is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself from me: if thou wilt go to the left hand, I will go to the right; or if thou wilt go to the right hand, I will go to the left." ¹ From this, perhaps, has arisen a pacific custom among men, that when there is any partition of earthly things, the greater should make the division, the less the choice.

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XX: De secessione Loth et Abrahae, quae illis salua caritate conplacuit.

Reuerso igitur Abraham ex Aegypto in locum unde uenerat, nunc Loth fratris filius ab illo in terram Sodomorum salua caritate discessit. diuites quippe facti erant pastoresque multos pecorum habere coeperant, quibus inter se rixantibus eo modo familiarum suarum pugnacem discordiam uitauerunt. poterat quippe hinc, ut sunt humana, etiam inter ipsos aliqua rixa consurgere. proinde hoc malum praecauentis Abrahae uerba ista sunt ad Loth: non sit rixa inter me et te, et inter pastores meos et inter pastores tuos, quia homines fratres nos sumus. nonne ecce tota terra ante te est? discede a me: si tu in sinistram, ego in dextram; uel si tu in dextram, ego in sinistram. hinc fortassis effecta est inter homines pacifica consuetudo, ut, quando terrenorum aliquid partiendum est, maior diuidat, minor eligat.