After this fatal blow woe was aroused, the long train of afflictions:  since then from this twig have hatefully sprouted ever longer and stronger bitter branches:  these 990 branches of calamity spread far and wide over the nations of men:  hardly and sorely did the twigs of misery strike the sons of men (and so they still do), from which the broad leaves of all suffering began to spring.  We may 995 tearfully lament this account, this death-bringing fatal-ity, and not in vain:  but the fair woman injured us [more] severely through the first sin which men dwelling on earth ever committed against the Lord, since Adam 1000 was filled with the breath of life by the mouth of God!

XII.

Then the Master of Splendor asked Cain through his word, where Abel was, upon the earth.  Quickly there-upon the wicked worker of slaughter answered him:  1005

“I know not Abel’s coming or going, my kinsman’s course:  I was not my brother’s keeper!”

Then the Prince of Angels, the Spirit rich in good things, spoke to him again: 

“Why didst thou cast that virtuous man, thy brother, 1010 on his death-bed with thy violent hands, and his blood now calleth and crieth unto me?  For this murder shalt thou undergo punishment and wander in exile 1015 accursed unto distant ages:  nor shall the earth, fair for all necessary sustenance, yield thee harvest, for it drank sacred blood at thy hands:  therefore the earth, verdant in beauty, denies thee its bounties.  Infamous, thou shalt sorrowfully wander from thy native land, because thou hast been Abel’s murderer:  thou shalt 1020 go forth an outcast over a long road, hateful to all thy relatives!”

Then Cain answered him[11]: 

“Now I dare not hope for any grace in the kingdoms of the world, for I have forfeited, O high King of heaven, 1025 thy favor as well as love and peace:  therefore shall I travel far ways in expectation of woes, whensoever any one far or near shall find me, in my guilt, who may remember my crime, my brother’s murder:  I shed his 1030 blood, his life-blood on the ground.  On this day thou dost banish me from comfort and drive me from my native land:  someone of my foes shall be my murderer; accursed, O God, shall I wander from thy sight.” 1035

Then the Lord of Victory spoke to him: 

“Thou needst not as yet dread the terror of death and murder, though thou shalt depart far from thy friends, an outcast.  If any man by his own hand 1040 deprives thee of life, then shall come upon him sevenfold vengeance for his sin, as penalty for his deed.”

Our Ruler and glorious Lord set on him a sign, the 1045 Master [set] a symbol of immunity, so that none of his foes far or near might dare to approach him with warlike intent; then he bade the wicked one leave forever his mother and sons, all his family.  Thereupon Cain set out and departed sorrowing from before the face of God, 1050 a joyless exile, and built himself a dwelling to the east, a habitation far from his fatherland:  there a fair maiden, a woman of the country, bore him offspring.