A Treatise on the Confusion of Languages.

 I. (1) As to the preceding topics, what has been already said will be sufficient. We might next proceed to consider, and that in no slight or cursory

 II. (2) Those who are discontented at the constitution under which their fathers have lived, being always eager to blame and to accuse the laws, being

 III. (6) And there is also another story akin to this, related by the deviser of fables, concerning the sameness of language existing among animals: f

 IV. (9) But he who brings his account nearer the truth, has distinguished between the rational and irrational animals, so that he testifies that ident

 V. (14) Those, then, who put these things together, and cavil at them, and raise malicious objections, will be easily refuted separately by those who

 VI. (16) Now who is there who does not know the great influence of fortune, when men, in addition to the diseases or mutilations of the body, are atta

 VII. (21) Let us now again in its turn consider what is the united body of evils voluntarily incurred. Our souls being capable of being divided into t

 VIII. (26) These are they who made a treaty with one another in the valley of Salt.[Ge 14:3.] For the region of the vices and of the passions is a h

 IX. (29) But Moses, the prophet of God, will meet them and check them, though they come on with exceeding boldness even though, placing in the front

 X. (33) It is very appropriately said that the meeting took place on the bank of the river but the banks are also called the lips, and the lips are t

 XI. (39) But many, who are not able vigorously to refute the plausible inventions of the sophists, because they have not very much practised discussio

 XII. (44) And there is testimony in support of this assertion of mine first of all, in the disposition of every lover of virtue which acknowledges th

 XIII. (49) These and other similar gifts are the most desirable treasures of peace, that blessing so celebrated and so admired, which the mind of each

 XIV. (60) But those who conspired to commit injustice, he says, having come from the east, found a plain in the land of Shinar, and dwelt There [Ge

 XV. (64) But an example of the worse kind of dawning is afforded by the words used by the man who was willing to curse the people who were blessed by

 XVI. (70) Accordingly, the body-loving race of the Egyptians is represented as fleeing, not from the water, but under the water, that is to say, ben

 XVII. (75) And take notice that Moses does not say that they came unto a plain in which they remain, but that they found one, having searched around

 XVIII. (83) But the wicked man, desiring to exhibit the fact that identity of language, and the sameness of dialect does not consist more in names and

 XX. (91) And before now some persons, even more excessively extravagant in wickedness than these, have not only prepared their own souls for such acti

 XXI. (98) But he says that the world perceptible to the outward senses is, as it were, the footstool of God on this account: first of all, that he may

 XXII. (101) And they are represented as baking the bricks in the fire, for the purpose of intimating by this symbolical expression that they are stren

 XXIII. (107) And the expression, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower, the top of which shall reach to heaven, has such a meaning as this

 XXIV. (116) For they say, Let us make for ourselves a name. O, the excessive and profligate impudence of such a saying! What say ye? When ye ought t

 XXV. (122) But all these men are the offspring of that wickedness which is always dying but which never dies, the name of which is Cain. Is not Cain r

 XXVI. (128) The children who have received from their father the inheritance of self-love are eager to go on increasing up to heaven, until justice, w

 XXVII. (134) And the statement, The Lord went down to see that city and that tower must be listened to altogether as if spoken in a figurative sense

 XXVIII. (142) We say that this is the reason why it is said that God went down to see the city and the tower and the addition, Which the sons of men

 XXIX. (150) But against those who praise themselves on justice, the Lord said, Behold, there is one race and one language among them all, an express

 XXX. (156) What, then, is the proof that they had not entirely completed this building? First of all, the manifest notoriety of the fact. For it is im

 XXXI. (159) At all events, the law says that that soothsayer and diviner who was led into folly in respect of his unstable conjectures (for the name,

 XXXII. (163) These things are an exhibition of a soul destitute of prudence, and which meets with no impediment to its indulging in sin for whoever i

 XXXIII. (168) And it is worth while to consider in no superficial manner what the meaning of that expression which is put by Moses into the mouth of G

 XXXIV. (171) This point then being thus granted, it is necessary to convert with it also what follows, so as to adapt it properly. Let us then conside

 XXXV. (176) These things, then, it was necessary to give an idea of beforehand but for what reason this was necessary we must now say. The nature of

 XXXVI. (180) And this may be enough to say in this manner and it is right that this point also should be considered, namely that God is the cause onl

 XXXVII. (183) We must now examine what this confusion is. How then shall we enter on this examination? In this manner, in my opinion. We have very oft

 XXXVIII. (190) This, now, is our opinion upon and interpretation of this passage. But they who follow only what is plain and easy, think that what is

IV. (9) But he who brings his account nearer the truth, has distinguished between the rational and irrational animals, so that he testifies that identity of language belong to men alone: and this also, as they say, is a fabulous story. And indeed they affirm, that the separation of language into an infinite variety of dialects, which Moses calls the confusion of tongues, was effected as a remedy for sins, in order that men might not be able to cooperate in common for deeds of wickedness through understanding one another; and that they might not, when they were in a manner deprived of all means of communication with one another, be able with united energies to apply themselves to the same actions. (10) But this precaution does not appear to have turned out of any use; for since that time, though men have been separated into different nations, and have no longer used one language, nevertheless, land and sea have been repeatedly filled with unspeakable evils. For it was not the languages which were the causes of men's uniting for evil objects, but the emulation and rivalry of their souls in wrong-doing. (11) For even those who have had their tongues cut out can intimate what they wish by nods and looks, and other positions and motions of the body, not less than by a distinct utterance of words. And besides this consideration, there is the fact that, very often, one nation by itself, having not merely one language, but one code of laws, and one system of manners, has arrived at such a pitch of iniquity that, as to a superfluity of wickedness, it may counterbalance the sins of all the men in the world put together. (12) And again, through ignorance of foreign languages, many persons, having no foreknowledge of the future, have been anticipated and overwhelmed by those who were plotting against them; as, on the other hand, by knowledge of foreign languages, men have been able to repel fears and dangers with which they have been threatened; so that a community of language is an advantageous thing rather than an injurious one: since, even at the present day, nothing contributes so greatly to the safety and protection of the people of each country, and particularly of the natives, as their being of one language. (13) For if a man has learnt many dialects, he immediately is looked upon with consideration and respect by those who are also acquainted with them, as being already a friendly person, and contributing no small introduction and means of friendship by reason of his familiarity with words which they too understand; which familiarity very commonly imparts a feeling of security, that one is not likely to suffer any great evil at the hands of such a man. Why, then, did God remove sameness of language from among men as a cause of evils, when it seems it should rather have been established as a most useful thing?