Then it befell once that the blessed man was in his
dwelling, drunken with wine; weary of feasting he slept,
and thrust the robe from his body, as was not fitting, and1565
lay there with naked limbs: little he noticed that it went
so ill with him in his hall, when intoxication in his breast
gripped his heart in the holy house. In this torpor his1570
intelligence was cruelly crippled, so that he could not
call to mind [the necessity for] covering himself with his
clothing and concealing his nakedness, as was ordained
for men and women, ever since the minister of Glory1575
locked the native abode of life behind our [first father]
and mother, with a fiery sword. Now Cam, the son
of Noe, chanced to come in where his father lay bereft
of consciousness: thereupon would he dutifully no honor1580
show to his own father nor at least conceal the dis-
grace from his kinsmen; but laughing aloud he told
his brothers how the patriarch rested in the house.
They repaired thither speedily, their faces carefully1585
veiled under cloaks, so that they bore aid to the dear
man: they were both good men, Sem and Iafeth.
Then the son of Lamech awoke from his sleep and
soon perceived that Cham would not show him, the nobly1590
born, any affection and duty, when honor was due him.
That was bitter to the heart of the holy man, and he
began to curse his son with [harsh] words: he said that
Ham should be humbled under the heavens, the servant1595
of his kinsfolk on earth: on him and his race those
baneful words have fallen heavily, ever since. Then
Noe enjoyed his broad heritage with his sons, free men,
for 350 winters of this life after the flood: then he passed1600
away.
After that his sons dispensed the treasures: they
begot children: great was their wealth. Thus to Iafeth
was progeny born, a pleasing family of promising young1605
ones, sons and daughters. He was a good man [and]
ever prosperously held his patrimony, [sharing his]
abundance with his children, until the treasure of his
breast, his spirit longing for release, was summoned to1610
the judgment of God: thereupon Geomor, Iafeth's son,
shared his father's property with his friends, dear ones,
and relatives; with his descendants was filled by genera-
tion no small portion of the earth.—
Sons of Cham were born, likewise, heirs for the pa-1615
trimony: the eldest were called Chus and Cham, very
noble of soul, the first-born of Cham. Chus was the
chief of the leaders, dispenser of treasure and worldly1620
riches to his brothers, the private property of his father,
after Cham fared forth from the body when death fell
to his lot. This leader of the people delivered judgments1625
for his race until the number of his days had run: then
the hero yielded up this world's goods and sought another
life. After that, the son of Chus, first-born of the
brothers, ruled the paternal[21] heritage, a widely known1630
man. So the Scriptures tell us, that he had the greatest
might and strength of all mankind, in those days: he
was a prince of the Babylonian Empire, and first of the
nobles raised, spread, and exalted its fame. At that1635
time one tongue was still common to all dwellers on
earth.
XX.
Likewise from Cam's stock sprang many descendants,
and to these numerous people great families were born.—
Furthermore many sons and daughters were born into1640
the world to Sem, noble folk, before the ruler of men
took to his death-bed, in the course of years. In this
family were good men, of whom one was called Eber, a1645
son of Sem: from this chief sprang a multitude of people,
whom all nations and earth-dwellers now call Hebrews.
They set out then to take their posssesions from the
eastward, live-stock and treasure; the people were un-1650
animous: the vigorous heroes sought a less crowded land,
until the migrating folk in great multitudes came where
their noble leaders firmly took possession. The rulers1655
of the people settled with their dear followers in Sennar,
ample and broad; in the years of their life the fields
were ever verdant and the earth fair for the people at
that time, with increasing abundance of each [kind of]1661
treasure.
Then many a man argued with his dear friend, one
resolute hero with another, that for their greater glory,
before the masses of the people should scatter again over1665
the earth, numbers of the nation in search of land, they
should build a city and raise up a tower to the stars of
heaven as a sign that they had sought Sennar fields because
the mighty fore-fathers of the race, the patriarchs, long1670
lived there with pleasure: with craft the people wrought,
in labor and industry, until in arrogance and rashness they
showed their skill, built a fortress and raised aloft scaling-1675
ladders towards heaven, mightily erected a solid stone wall
beyond man's measure, eager for glory:—[all this did] the
heroes with their hands. Then Holy God came to inspect
the work of the race of men, the fortress of the warriors,1680
and that beacon-tower likewise which the sons of Adam
began to rear up to the skies; and the steadfast King
achieved the prevention of this evil design, when in
wrath he distributed different languages among the1685
inhabitants of earth, so that they no longer had control
of their speech. They found then multitudes at the
tower with victorious strength, leaders of work in vast
battalions: but not one of the tribes understood what1690
another was saying. It could not be, that they should
build up the stone wall further; but they wretchedly
parted in bands separated by their speech: one had
become to another a strange race, after the Lord by the1695
fullness of his might had confused the speech of men.
The disunited sons of the patriarchs then parted in
four directions to seek land: behind them, both the1700
mighty tower of stone and the lofty city stood on Sennar
[plain] together, half-finished.