Life of Adam and Eve, Vita Adae et Evae (Latin Life of Adam and Eve)

Et dixit Adam ad Evam: non potes tantum facere quantum ego, sed tantum fac ut salveris. Ego enim faciam quadraginta diebus ieiunans: tu autem surge et vade ad Tigris fluvium et tolle lapidem et sta super eum in aqua usque ad collum in altitudine fluminis. Et non exiet sermo de ore tuo, quia indigni sumus rogare dominum, quia labia nostra inmunda sunt de ligno inlicito et contradicto. Et sta in aqua fluminis XXXVII dies. Ego autem faciam in aqua Jordanis XL dies. Forsitan miserebitur nostri dominus deus.

And Adam said to Eve: “You cannot do as much as I, but do only so much that you may be saved. For I will spend forty days fasting; but you, rise and go to the river Tigris, and take a stone and stand on it in the water up to your neck, in the depth of the river. And let no word come out of your mouth, for we are unworthy to ask the Lord, since our lips are unclean from the forbidden and prohibited tree. And stand in the water of the river thirty-seven days. But I will spend forty days in the water of the Jordan. Perhaps the Lord God will have mercy on us.”

Et ambulavit Eva ad Tigris flumen et fecit sicut dixit ei Adam. Similiter ambulavit Adam ad flumen Jordanis et stetit super lapidem usque ad collum in aqua.

And Eve walked to the river Tigris and did as Adam had told her. Likewise Adam walked to the river Jordan and stood on a stone up to his neck in the water.

Et dixit Adam: tibi dico, aqua Jordanis, condole mihi et segrega mihi omnia natantia, quae in te sunt et circumdent me ac lugeant pariter me cum. Non se plangant, sed me, quia ipsi non peccaverunt, sed ego. Statim omnia animantia venerunt et circumdederunt eum et aqua Jordanis stetit ab illa hora non agens cursum suum.

And Adam said: “I say to you, water of the Jordan, grieve with me, and gather to me all the swimming creatures that are in you, and let them surround me and mourn together with me. Let them not lament for themselves but for me, for it is not they who have sinned, but I.” At once all the living creatures came and surrounded him, and the water of the Jordan stood still from that hour, not running its course.

Et transierunt dies XVIII. Tunc iratus est Satanas et transfiguravit se in claritatem angelorum et abiit ad Tigrem flumen ad Evam et invenit eam flentem. Et ipse diabolus quasi condolens ei coepit flere et dixit ad eam: egredere de flumine et de cetero non plores. Iam cessa de tristitia et gemitu. Quid sollicita es tu et Adam vir tuus? Audivit dominus deus gemitum vestrum et suscepit penitentiam vestram; et nos omnes angeli rogavimus pro vobis deprecantes dominum, et misit me, ut educerem vos de aqua et darem vobis alimentum, quod habuistis in paradiso et pro quo planxistis. Nunc ergo egredere de aqua et perducam vos in locum, ubi paratus est victus vester.

And eighteen days passed. Then Satan grew angry, and transformed himself into the brightness of the angels, and went away to the river Tigris, to Eve, and found her weeping. And the devil himself, as if grieving with her, began to weep, and said to her: “Come out of the river and weep no more from now on. Cease now from sorrow and groaning. Why are you troubled, you and Adam your husband? The Lord God has heard your groaning and accepted your penance; and all of us angels have asked on your behalf, entreating the Lord, and he has sent me to bring you out of the water and give you the food that you had in paradise and for which you have been lamenting. Now therefore come out of the water, and I will lead you to the place where your food has been prepared.”

Haec audiens autem Eva credidit et exivit de aqua fluminis et caro eius erat sicut herba de frigore aquae. Et cum egressa esset cecidit in terram et erexit eam diabolus et perduxit eam ad Adam. Cum autem vidisset eam Adam et diabolum cum ea, exclamavit cum fletu dicens: o Eva, o Eva, ubi est opus penitentiae tuae? Quomodo iterum seducta es ab adversario nostro, per quem alienati sumus de habitatione paradisi et laetitia spiritali.

Hearing this, Eve believed, and came out of the water of the river, and her flesh was like grass from the cold of the water. And when she had come out she fell to the ground, and the devil raised her up and led her to Adam. But when Adam saw her, and the devil with her, he cried out with weeping, saying: “O Eve, O Eve, where is the work of your penance? How have you been led astray again by our adversary, through whom we have been estranged from our dwelling in paradise and from spiritual joy?”

Haec cum audisset Eva cognovit quod diabolus suasit exire de flumine et cecidit super faciem suam in terram et duplicatus est dolor et gemitus et planctus ab ea. Et exclamavit dicens: ve tibi, diabole, quid nos expugnas gratis? Quid tibi apud nos? Aut quid tibi fecimus, quoniam dolose nos persequeris? Aut quid pertinet ad nos malitia tua? Numquid nos abstulimus gloriam tuam et fecimus te sine honore esse? Quid persequeris nos, inimice, usque ad mortem impie et invidiose?

When Eve heard this, she knew that it was the devil who had persuaded [her] to come out of the river, and she fell on her face on the ground, and her pain and groaning and lamentation were doubled. And she cried out, saying: “Woe to you, devil! Why do you attack us for nothing? What have you to do with us? Or what have we done to you, that you pursue us with guile? Or what has your malice to do with us? Did we take away your glory and cause you to be without honour? Why do you pursue us, enemy, to the death, wickedly and enviously?”

Et ingemescens diabolus dixit: o Adam, tota inimicitia mea et invidia et dolor ad te est, quoniam propter te expulsus sum et alienatus de gloria mea, quam habui in caelis in medio angelorum, et propter te eiectus sum in terram. Respondit Adam: quid tibi feci aut quae est culpa mea in te? Cum non sis a nobis nocitus nec laesus, quid nos persequeris?

And the devil, groaning, said: “O Adam, all my enmity and envy and pain is directed at you, since because of you I was expelled and estranged from my glory, which I had in the heavens in the midst of the angels, and because of you I was cast out onto the earth.” Adam answered: “What have I done to you, or what is my fault against you? Since you have been neither harmed nor injured by us, why do you pursue us?”

Respondit diabolus: Adam, tu quid dicis mihi? Propter tuam causam projectus sum inde. Quando tu plasmatus es, ego projectus sum a facie dei et foras a societate angelorum missus sum. Quando insufflavit deus spiritum vitae in te et factus est vultus et similitudo tua ad imaginem dei, et adduxit te Michahel et fecit te adorare in conspectu dei, et dixit dominus deus: ecce Adam, feci te ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram.

The devil answered: “Adam, what are you saying to me? It is on your account that I was thrown out from there. When you were formed, I was thrown out from the presence of God and sent outside the company of the angels. When God breathed the breath of life into you, and your face and likeness were made in the image of God, Michael brought you and had you worshipped in the sight of God, and the Lord God said: ‘Behold, Adam, I have made you in our image and likeness.’

Et egressus Michahel vocavit omnes angelos dicens: adorate imaginem domini dei, sicut praecepit dominus deus. Et ipse Michahel primus adoravit, et vocavit me et dixit: adora imaginem dei Jehova. Et respondi ego: non habeo ego adorare Adam. Et cum compelleret me Michahel adorare, dixi ad eum: quid me compellis? Non adorabo deteriorem et posteriorem meum. In creatura illius prius sum. Antequam ille fieret, ego iam factus eram. Ille me debet adorare.

“And Michael went out and called all the angels, saying: ‘Worship the image of the Lord God, as the Lord God has commanded.’ And Michael himself worshipped first, and he called me and said: ‘Worship the image of God, Jehovah.’ And I answered: ‘I have no need to worship Adam.’ And when Michael pressed me to worship, I said to him: ‘Why do you press me? I will not worship one who is lesser than me and later than me. I came before him in the creation. Before he was made, I had already been made. He ought to worship me.’

Hoc audientes ceteri qui sub me erant angeli noluerunt adorare eum. Et ait Michahel: adora imaginem dei. Si autem non adoraveris, irascetur tibi dominus deus. Et ego dixi: si irascitur mihi, ponam sedem meam super sidera caeli et ero similis altissimo.

“Hearing this, the other angels who were under me refused to worship him. And Michael said: ‘Worship the image of God. But if you do not worship, the Lord God will be angry with you.’ And I said: ‘If he is angry with me, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven, and I will be like the Most High.’

Et iratus est mihi dominus deus et misit me cum angelis meis foras de gloria nostra, et per tuam causam in hunc mundum expulsi sumus de habitationibus nostris et proiecti sumus in terram. Et statim facti sumus in dolore, quoniam expoliati sumus tanta gloria. Et te in tanta laetitia delitiarum videre dolebamus. Et dolo circumveniebam mulierem tuam et feci te expelli per eam de delitiis laetitiae tuae, sicut ego expulsus sum de gloria mea.

“And the Lord God was angry with me and sent me out, with my angels, from our glory; and on your account we were driven out of our dwellings into this world and thrown down onto the earth. And at once we were in grief, because we had been stripped of so great a glory. And it grieved us to see you in such joy of delights. And by guile I got round your wife and had you expelled through her from the delights of your joy, as I was expelled from my glory.”

Haec audiens Adam a diabolo exclamavit cum magno fletu et dixit: domine deus meus, in manibus tuis est vita mea. Fac ut iste adversarius meus longe sit a me, qui quaerit animam meam perdere, et da mihi gloriam eius, quam ipse perdidit. Et statim non apparuit diabolus ei. Adam vero perseveravit XL diebus stans in poenitentia in aqua Jordanis.

Hearing this from the devil, Adam cried out with great weeping and said: “O Lord my God, my life is in your hands. Make this adversary of mine be far from me, who seeks to destroy my soul, and give me his glory, which he himself has lost.” And at once the devil was no longer seen by him. But Adam persevered for forty days, standing in penance in the water of the Jordan.

Et ecce venerunt XII angeli et duo virtutes stantes a dextris et a sinistris Evae. Et Michahel erat stans a dextris et tetigit faciem eius usque ad pectus et dixit ad Evam: beata es, Eva, propter Adam. Quoniam preces eius magnae sunt et orationes, missus sum ad te, ut accipias adiutorium nostrum. Exsurge nunc et para te ad partum. Et peperit filium et erat lucidus. Et continuo infans exsurgens cucurrit et manibus suis tulit herbam et dedit matri suae. Et vocatum est nomen eius Cain.

And behold, twelve angels came, and two powers, standing on Eve's right and left. And Michael was standing on the right, and he touched her face down to her breast and said to Eve: “Blessed are you, Eve, because of Adam. Since his prayers and petitions are great, I have been sent to you, so that you may receive our help. Rise now and prepare yourself to give birth.” And she bore a son, and he was shining. And at once the infant rose up, ran, took a blade of grass in his hands and gave it to his mother. And his name was called Cain.

Et dixit Adam ad Seth: audi, fili mi Seth, ut referam tibi, quae audivi et vidi. Postquam eiecti sumus de paradiso ego et mater tua, cum essemus in oratione, venit ad me Michahel archangelus nuntius dei. Et vidi currum tamquam ventum et rotae illius erant igneae et raptus sum in paradisum iustitiae. Et vidi dominum sedentem et aspectus eius erat ignis incendens intolerabilis. Et multa milia angelorum erant a dextris et a sinistris currus illius.

And Adam said to Seth: “Listen, my son Seth, so that I may tell you what I have heard and seen. After we were cast out of paradise, I and your mother, while we were at prayer, Michael the archangel, the messenger of God, came to me. And I saw a chariot like the wind, and its wheels were fiery, and I was caught up into the paradise of righteousness. And I saw the Lord sitting, and his appearance was an unbearable burning fire. And many thousands of angels were on the right and on the left of that chariot.

Dedit nobis dominus deus angelos duos ad custodiendos nos. Venit hora ut ascenderunt angeli in conspectu dei adorare. Statim invenit locum adversarius diabolus dum absentes essent angeli. Et seduxit diabolus matrem vestram, ut manducaret de arbore inlicita et contradicta. Et manducavit et dedit mihi.

The Lord God gave us two angels to guard us. The hour came when the angels went up into the presence of God to worship. At once the adversary, the devil, found an opening while the angels were absent. And the devil led your mother astray, so that she ate from the forbidden and prohibited tree. And she ate and gave to me.

Et abierunt Seth et mater eius contra portas paradisi; et dum ambularent, ecce subito venit serpens bestia et impetum faciens morsit Seth. Et cum vidisset Eva flevit dicens: heu mihi miserae, quoniam maledicta sum, quoniam non custodivi praecepta domini. Et dixit Eva ad serpentem voce magna: bestia maledicta, quomodo non timuisti mittere te ad imaginem dei, sed ausus es pugnare cum ea? Aut quomodo praevaluerunt dentes tui?

And Seth and his mother went off towards the gates of paradise; and while they were walking, behold, suddenly the serpent, the beast, came and, making an attack, bit Seth. And when Eve saw it she wept, saying: “Alas for me, wretched woman, for I am cursed, since I did not keep the commandments of the Lord.” And Eve said to the serpent in a loud voice: “Cursed beast, how were you not afraid to hurl yourself at the image of God, but dared to fight with it? Or how did your teeth prevail?”

Respondit bestia voce humana: o Eva, numquid non ad vos est malitia nostra? Nonne contra vos est furor noster? Dic mihi, Eva, quomodo apertum est os tuum, ut manducares de fructu, quem praecepit tibi dominus deus ut non manducares: nunc autem non potes portare, si tibi incepero exprobrare?

The beast answered in a human voice: “O Eve, is not our malice directed at you? Is not our fury against you? Tell me, Eve, how was your mouth opened to eat of the fruit which the Lord God commanded you not to eat? And now can you not bear it if I begin to reproach you?”

Tunc dixit Seth ad bestiam: increpet te dominus deus. Stupe, obmutesce: claude os tuum, maledicte inimice veritatis confusio perditionis; recede de imagine dei usque in diem, quando dominus deus iusserit in comprobationem te adduci. Et dixit bestia ad Seth: ecce recedo, sicut dixisti, a facie imaginis dei. Statim recessit plaga de dentibus a Seth.

Then Seth said to the beast: “May the Lord God rebuke you. Be stunned, be silent: shut your mouth, accursed enemy of truth, confusion of perdition; withdraw from the image of God until the day when the Lord God commands you to be brought to trial.” And the beast said to Seth: “See, I withdraw, as you have said, from the face of the image of God.” At once the wound from the teeth went away from Seth.

Orantibus autem eis horas multas et deprecantibus ecce angelus Michahel apparens eis dixit ego missus sum ad vos a domino, ego sum constitutus a domino super corpus humanum. Tibi dico, Seth homo dei, noli lacrimare orando et deprecando propter oleum ligni misericordiae, ut perunguas patrem tuum Adam pro doloribus corporis sui.

And while they prayed and entreated for many hours, behold, the angel Michael appeared to them and said: “I have been sent to you by the Lord; I have been set by the Lord over the human body. I tell you, Seth, man of God, do not weep, praying and entreating for the oil of the tree of mercy, to anoint your father Adam for the pains of his body.

Dico enim tibi, quia nullo modo poteris ex eo accipere, nisi in novissimis diebus, quando completi fuerint quinque milia et quingenti anni. Tunc veniet super terram amantissimus rex Christus filius dei resuscitare corpus Adae et cum eo resuscitare corpora mortuorum. Et ipse filius dei veniens baptizabitur in flumine Jordanis et, dum egressus fuerit de aqua Jordanis, tunc de oleo misericordiae suae perunguet omnes credentes in se. Et erit oleum misericordiae in generationem et generationem eis, qui renascendi sunt ex aqua et spiritu sancto in vitam aetemam. Tunc descendens in terris amantissimus filius dei Christus introducet patrem tuum Adam in paradisum ad arborem misericordiae.

“For I tell you that you will in no way be able to receive any of it except in the last days, when five thousand five hundred years have been completed. Then the most loving king, Christ, the Son of God, will come upon the earth to raise up the body of Adam and with it to raise up the bodies of the dead. And the Son of God himself, when he comes, will be baptized in the river Jordan, and when he has come out of the water of the Jordan, then he will anoint with the oil of his mercy all who believe in him. And the oil of mercy will be from generation to generation for those who are to be reborn of water and the Holy Spirit to eternal life. Then the most loving Son of God, Christ, coming down to earth, will lead your father Adam into paradise, to the tree of mercy.

Obtenebratus est sol et luna et stellae per dies VII. Et cum esset Seth amplexans corpus patris sui lugens desuper et Eva cum esset respiciens in terram intextas manus super caput eius habens et caput super genua imponens et omnes filii eius fletibus amarissimis lacrimassent: et ecce Michahel angelus apparuit stans ad caput Adae et dixit ad Seth: exurge desuper corpus patris tui et veni ad me et vide, quid de eo disponat dominus deus. Plasma eius est et misertus est ei.

The sun and the moon and the stars were darkened for seven days. And while Seth was embracing his father's body, mourning over it, and Eve was looking at the ground, with her hands interlaced over her head and her head laid on her knees, and all her children had wept with most bitter tears, behold, Michael the angel appeared, standing at Adam's head, and said to Seth: “Rise up from your father's body and come to me, and see what the Lord God is arranging concerning him. He is his creature, and he has had mercy on him.”

Et omnes angeli canentes tubis dixerunt: benedictus es, domine, quia misertus es plasmae tuae. Tunc vidit Seth manum domini extensam tenentem Adam; et tradidit Michaheli dicens: sit in custodia tua usque in diem dispensationis in suppliciis ad annos novissimos, quando convertam luctum eius in gaudium. Tunc sedebit in throno eius, qui eum supplantavit.

And all the angels, sounding trumpets, said: “Blessed are you, Lord, because you have had mercy on your creature.” Then Seth saw the hand of the Lord stretched out, holding Adam; and he handed him over to Michael, saying: “Let him be in your keeping until the day of dispensation, in punishments, until the last years, when I will turn his mourning into joy. Then he will sit on the throne of the one who supplanted him.”

Et dixit iterum dominus ad Michahel et Urihel angelos: afferte mihi tres sindones bissinas et expandite super Adam. Et alias sindones super Abel filium eius, et sepelite Adam et filium eius. Et processerunt omnes virtutes angelorum ante Adam. Et sanctificata est dormitatio mortuorum. Et sepelierunt Adam et Abel Michahel et Urihel angeli in partibus paradisi videntibus Seth et matre eius et alio nemine. Et dixerunt Michahel et Urihel: sicut vidistis, similiter sepelite mortuos vestros.

And the Lord spoke again to the angels Michael and Uriel: “Bring me three cloths of fine linen and spread them over Adam, and other cloths over Abel his son, and bury Adam and his son.” And all the powers of the angels went in procession before Adam. And the falling-asleep of the dead was sanctified. And the angels Michael and Uriel buried Adam and Abel in the regions of paradise, with Seth and his mother watching, and no one else. And Michael and Uriel said: “As you have seen, so likewise bury your dead.”

Tunc Seth fecit (duas) tabulas lapideas et (duas) luteas (et composuit apices literarum) et scripsit in eis vitam patris sui Adae et matris suae Evae quam ab eis audivit et oculis suis vidit et posuit tabulas in medio domus patris sui in oratorio ubi orabat dominum. Et post diluvium a multis videbantur hominibus tabulae illae scriptae et a nemine legebantur.

Then Seth made (two) tablets of stone and (two) of clay (and composed the shapes of the letters), and wrote on them the life of his father Adam and his mother Eve, which he had heard from them and seen with his own eyes, and he placed the tablets in the middle of his father's house, in the oratory where he used to pray to the Lord. And after the Flood those written tablets were seen by many people and read by no one.

Salomon autem sapiens vidit scripturam et deprecatus est dominum et apparuit ei angelus domini dicens: ego sum qui tenui manum Seth, ut scriberet cum digito suo lapides istos et erit sciens scripturam, ut cognoscas et intelligas quid contineant lapides isti omnes et ubi fuerit oratorium, ubi Adam et Eva adorabant dominum deum. Et oportet te ibi aedificare templum domini id est domum orationis.

But Solomon the wise saw the writing and prayed to the Lord, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him, saying: “I am he who held Seth's hand, so that he wrote these stones with his finger; and you will know the writing, so that you may recognise and understand what all these stones contain, and where the oratory was where Adam and Eve worshipped the Lord God. And you must build there the temple of the Lord, that is, the house of prayer.”

Tunc Salomon supplevit templum domini dei et vocavit literas illas achiliacas hoc est sine verborum doctrina scriptas, digito Seth, tenens manum eius angelus domini.

Then Solomon completed the temple of the Lord God, and called those letters achiliacae, that is, written without instruction in words, by the finger of Seth, the angel of the Lord holding his hand.