“Thou shalt seek another country, a joyless dwelling-place, and wander in exile, naked and needy, driven 930 away from the blessings of paradise; the separation of soul and body is now ordained for thee.  Lo, thou hast wickedly originated sin:  therefore thou shalt toil, and win thy sustenance on earth by thyself, acquire it by the sweat of thy face, and thus eat thy bread so long 935 as thou livest here,—­until ungentle disease, which thou didst recently take to thyself with the apple, strikes thee cruelly to the heart:  then shalt thou die.”

Behold, we learn thus how bitter afflictions and uni- 940 versal miseries came upon us.

Thereupon the Guardian of Glory, our Creator, girded them with clothing; the Lord bade them cover their nakedness with some simple garments, and bade them set forth and depart from paradise into a harder life.  Behind them, by God’s command, a holy angel with a 945 fiery sword shut the gate of their blissful home of peace and joy; nor may any guileful sin-stained man ever fare thither again, for the warder has might and strength 950 who keeps for the Lord that greater life rich in glories.  Yet the Almighty, our First Father, would not take away all comforts from Adam and Eve, though they had fallen away from him:  but he still let the lofty roof 955 studded with holy stars stand as a solace for them, and gave them ample possessions, and bade the seas and land bring forth for the pair multitudes of each of the young-producing species [necessary] for the sustenance 960 of this life.  So, after their sin, they inhabited a more sorrowful land, a dwelling and country less fertile in every kind of blessing than their former abode had been, from which they had been driven out after their misdeed.

Then they began, by God’s command, to produce 965 children, as the Lord had charged them.  To begin with, by Adam and Eve were brought into the world two fair first-born sons, Cain and Abel.  The books tell us how these first toilers, loving brothers, gained 970 their subsistence, riches and food:  the one who was elder born tilled the earth with his strength; the second kept the flocks, helping his father, until a great number 975 of days passed.  They both brought an offering to the Lord:  the Prince of the Angels, King of all things, looked upon Abel’s offering with [favorable] eyes, but would not consider the sacrifice of Cain; that caused strong indignation in the heart of the man:  rage arose in the 980 youth’s breast, livid hatred, and wrath by reason of envy:  then he wrought evil deeds with his hands, slew his kinsman, his own brother, shed his blood,—­yea, 985 Cain [shed] Abel’s.  And the earth soaked up this blood shed by murder, the life-blood of a man.