"I cannot, with these womenfolk, seek my safety
so far from here in a journey on foot. You manifest
to me kindness and fair friendship, you grant me grace2515
and good-will. I know a lofty town near here, a little
fortress: leave me there, in honor and peace, so that we
may seek safety above, in Sigor. If you will protect that2520
lofty fastness from the fire, we can abide in that place
unharmed, in safety, and so preserve our lives."
Then the righteous angels answered him benevol-2525
ently:
"Thou shalt be successful in this petition, now thou
speakest about that city: withdraw immediately to that
fastness. We shall keep thee in peace and safety. We
must not wreak the wrath of God upon these law-2530
breakers and destroy the sinful race, before thou hast
led thy children and wife likewise into Sægor."
Then the kinsman of Abraham set out for the fastness:
the chieftain did not spare the pace for his womenfolk,2535
but he pushed his steps most hastily until he had brought
his wife and children to the citadel of Sægor. When the
sun rose, [when] the peaceful luminary of the nations
went forth, then, I have heard, the Master of Glory sent2540
sulphur out of heaven, and swart flame for the punish-
ment of men, swelling fire, since they had offended the
Lord for a long period in former days: thus the Ruler of
spirits gave them retribution. Utmost terror seized upon2545
the heathen race: tumult arose in the city, the outcry
of the accursed race over shameful death, just beginning.
The flame seized upon all that it found green, in the rich
city, just as around outside no small portion of the broad2550
earth was filled with conflagration and terror: trees
and earth's harvests turned to ashes and embers, even
as far as the avenging curse direly extended over the2555
broad country of the people. The devastating fire
rushing on in tumult devoured all things together, far
and wide, that men had owned in the cities of Sodoma
and Gomorra: all this, together with the people, God2560
the Lord destroyed.
When Loth's wife, his bride in the city, heard the din
of fire, the death of the people, then she looked back-
ward [to see] this devastation. The Scriptures tell us
that she immediately turned into the likeness of a pillar
of salt: ever since then this statue has stood there2565
motion less (this is a strange story), where she incurred
this severe penalty because she would not obey the
ministers of glory in their commands: now, stiff and
erect, she will have to await her doom in that place, at2570
the Lord's Judgment Day, when the world has com-
pleted its [allotted] number of years. This is one of
the miracles which the King of Glory has wrought.
XXXI.
Then Abraham went forth alone, at dawn, so that he2575
again stood in the place where the pious leader had
formerly spoken with his Lord in words. He saw the
reek of death and destruction ascending widely from
the earth. Riches and feasting preoccupied [the people]
to such an extent that they had become bold in wicked2580
deeds, eager for sin: they forgot the Truth and God's
commandments, and who had given them prosperity
and wealth in their cities; therefore the King of the
Angels sent his fervid fire to punish them. Our faithful2585
Lord then remembered Abraham mercifully, the dear
man, as he often had done, and saved his kinsman, Loth,
when the multitude perished. The [latter] hero, famed
for his deeds, did not dare to tarry longer in the strong-2590
hold for fear of the Lord, but Loth departed from the
city with his children to seek a dwelling-place far from
the place of slaughter, until they found a cave in the
side of a high dune: there the pious Loth, dear to his2595
Lord, dwelt in righteousness for a great number of days,
with his two daughters....[35]
They did thus with the drunken man: ... the elder
of the two went first to her father's bed. Nor did the2600
venerable man know when the two maidens ... were
with him in the manner of a bride, fast bound [as he
was] in heart, mind, and memory, drunken with wine,2605
so that he could not escape the enterprise of the maidens.
The young women became pregnant, and the devoted
sisters brought men-children into the world, sons to
their old father. One of these noble children was called
Moab by his mother, that daughter of Loth who was the2610
elder in years of life; the Scriptures tell us, the sacred
Books, that the younger called her son Ammon. From
these princes sprang numberless people, the glories of2615
two nations: one of these nations all earth-dwellers call
Moabites, a widely famed race; the other, men and
sons of heroes call Ammonites.