Bible Stories and Religious Classics | Page 7

shalt die, but not
soon, for whosoever slayeth Cain shall be punished seven sithes more,
for he should deliver him from dread, from labor and misery, and added
that he should be punished personally sevenfold more. This punition
shall endure to him in pain unto the seventh, Lameth, whosomever
shall slay Cain shall loose seven vengeances. Some hold that his pain
endured unto the seventh generation, for he committed seven sins. He
departed not truly, he had envy to his brother, he wrought guilefully, he
slew his brother falsely, he denied it, he despaired and damned, he did
no penance. And after he went into the east, fugitive and vagabond.
Cain knew his wife which bare Enoch, and he made a city and named it
Enoch after the name of his son Enoch. Here it showeth well that this
time were many men, though their generation be not said, whom Cain
called to his city, by whose help he made it, whom he induced to theft
and robbery.
He was the first that walled or made cities; dreading them that he
hurted, for surety he brought his people into the towns. Then Enoch gat
Irad, and Irad Mehujael, and he gat Methusael, and he gat Lameth,
which was the seventh from Adam and worst, for he brought in first

bigamy. This Lameth took two wives, Adah and Zilla; of Adah he gat
Jabal which found first the craft to make folds for shepherds and to
change their pasture, and ordained flocks of sheep, and departed the
sheep from the goats after the quality, the lambs by themselves, and the
older by themselves, and understood the feeding of them after the
season of the year. The name of his brother was Jubal, father of singers
in the harp and organs, not of the instruments, for they were found long
after, but he was the finder of music, that is to say of consonants of
accord, such as shepherds use in their delights and sports. And
forasmuch as he heard Adam prophesy of two judgments by the fire
and water, that all things should be destroyed thereby, and that his craft
new found should not perish, he did do write it in two pillars or
columns, one of marble, another of clay of the earth, to the end that one
should endure against the water, and that other against the fire.
Josephus saith that the pillar of marble is yet in the land of Syria. Of
Zilla he begat Tubal-cain, which found first the craft of smithery and
working of iron, and made things for war, and sculptures and gravings
in metal to the pleasure of the eyes, which he so working, Tubal, tofore
said, had delight in the sound of his hammers, of which he made the
consonants and tunes of accord in his song. Noema, sister of Tubal-cain,
found first the craft of diverse texture.
Lameth was a shooter, and used to shoot at wild beasts, for none use of
the meat of them, but only for to have the skins for their clothing, and
lived so long that he was blind and had a child to lead him. And on a
time by adventure he slew Cain. For Cain was always afeard and hid
him among bushes and briars, and the child that led Lameth had
supposed it had been some wild beast and directed Lameth to shoot
thereat, and so, weening to shoot at a beast, slew Cain. And when he
knew that he had slain Cain, he with his bow slew the child, and thus
he slew them both to his damnation; therefore as the sin of Cain was
punished seven sithes, so was the sin of Lameth seventy sithes and
seven. That is to say, seventy-seven souls that came of Lameth were
perished in the deluge and Noah's flood; also his wife did him much
sorrow, and evil-entreated him. And he being wroth said that he
suffered that for his double homicide and manslaughter, yet
nevertheless he feared him by pain, saying: Why will ye slay me? he
shall be more and sorer punished that slayeth me, than he that slew

Cain.
Josephus said that when Abel was slain and Cain fled away, Adam
when he was one hundred and thirty years old engendered Seth like to
his similitude, and he to the image of God. This Seth was a good man,
and he gat Enos, and Enos Cainan, and Cainan begot Malaleel, and
Malaleel Jared, and Jared Enoch, and Enoch Methuselah, and
Methuselah Lamech, and Lamech Noah. And like as in the generation
of Cain the seventh was the worst, so in the generation of Seth the
seventh was the best, that was Enoch whom God took and brought him
into Paradise, unto the time that he