Rivers and Virtues

Et dividitur, inquit, hic fons in quatuor initia. Nomen est uni Phison: hic est qui circuit omnem terram Evilath, ubi est aurum. Terrae autem illius aurum bonum est, ubi est carbunculus, et lapis prasinus. Et nomen secundo Geon: hic est qui circuit omnem Aethiopiam. Et flumen tertium Tigris: hic est qui vadit contra Assyrios. Et flumen quartum est Euphrates.  Haec igitur quatuor sunt flumina, Phison, hoc est, secundum Hebraeos. Ganges autem secundum Graecos, qui fluit contra Indiam. Geon autem Nilus, qui circuit terram Aegypti vel Aethiopiam. Mesopotamia autem dicitur, quod Tigris et Euphrates incluserint eam; eo quod inter duo haec flumina constituta sit, quod etiam longe positis nomen ipsum et opinio communis expressit. Sed quemadmodum fons dicitur Sapientia Dei. Fons enim est secundum Evangelium dicens: Si quis sitit, veniat ad me, et bibat; fons est et secundum prophetam qui ait: Venite et edite de meis panibus, et bibite vinum quod miscui vobis. Sicut ergo fons vitae est Sapientia, fons gratiae spiritalis: ita fons virtutum est caeterarum, quae nos ad aeternae cursum dirigunt vitae. Ex hac igitur anima quae culta est, non ex ea quae inculta fons iste procedit, ut irriget paradisum, hoc est, quaedam diversarum fruteta virtutum, quarum sunt quatuor initia in quae sapientia ista dividitur. Quae sunt quatuor initia virtutum, nisi unum prudentiae, aliud temperantiae, tertium fortitudinis, quartum justitiae. Quae etiam sapientes istius mundi ex nostris assumpta, in suorum scripta librorum transtulerunt. Itaque sicut fons sapientiae, ita etiam flumina ista quatuor quaedam ex illo fonte emanatia sunt fluenta virtutum. Phison igitur prudentia est, et ideo habet bonum aurum, splendidum carbunculum, et prasinum lapidem. Aurum enim pro inventis prudentibus frequenter accipimus. Unde et Dominus per Prophetam ait: Dedi illi aurum et argentum. Et David de prudentibus dicit: Si dormiatis inter medios cleros, pennae columbae deargentatae, et posteriora dorsi ejus in specie auri: eo quod veteri et novo qui inhaeserit Testamento, in ipsa secreta sapientiae Dei disputationis possit ubertate procedere. Hoc ergo bonum aurum dicit, non illud monetale quod corruptibile ac terrenum est. Habet etiam splendidum, inquit, carbunculum, in quo quidam animae nostrae vivit igniculus. Habet et prasinum lapidem, qui viride quiddam atque vitale coloris sui specie ostentare videtur. Virent enim arbusta quae vivunt, arescunt contra quaecumque moriuntur: viret terra dum floret, virent et semina dum prorumpunt. Et bene primo loco hic fluvius positus est Phison, qui secundum Hebraeos Phison dicitur, hoc est, oris mutatio; quia non unam gentem circumfluit, sed etiam per Lydiam fluit. Non enim angusta quaedam, sed dives utilitatum prudentia est, quae pluribus prosit. Ideo prima, ut si quis de paradiso fuerit egressus, velut quoddam eum prudentiae flumen excipiat, ne cito possit arescere: sed per hanc ad paradisum facile revertatur. Hic fluvius a multis hominibus frequentatur, pulchritudinemque et fertilitatem maximam habere perhibetur. Et ideo prudentia in specie hujus accipitur, quae plurimos fructus attulit in Domini adventu. Atque in extrema terrarum fluit, quia per Sapientiam omnes homines sunt redempti. Unde et dictum est: In omnem terram exivit sonus eorum, et in fines orbis terrae verba eorum . Secundus est fluvius Geon, juxta quem lex data est Israelitis, cum essent in Aegypto constituti; ut ex Aegypto recederent, et succincti lumbos ederent agnum, quod insigne est temperantiae. Castos enim et sanctificatos oportet Domini pascha celebrare. Et ideo juxta istum fluvium legitima primo observantia constituta est; quia significat nomen hoc quemdam terrae hiatum. Sicut igitur terram et quaecumque vel purgamenta vel frondes in ea sunt, hiatus absorbet: ita castitas omnes corporis passiones abolere consuevit. Meritoque ibi primum observantiae constitutio, quia per legem absorbetur carnale peccatum. Bene ergo Geon, in quo figura est castitatis, circumire terram Aethiopicam dicitur; ut abluat corpus abjectum, et carnis vilissimae restinguat incendium. Aethiopia enim abjecta et vilis Latina interpretatione signatur. Quid autem abjectius nostro corpore? Quid tam Aethiopiae simile, quod etiam nigrum est quibusdam tenebris peccatorum? Tertius est fluvius Tigris, qui vadit contra Assyrios, ad quem praevaricator Israel captivus est ductus. Hic fluvius dicitur velocior esse omnibus, quem incolunt Assyrii, hoc est dirigentes hoc enim significat interpretatio. Ergo quicumque fortitudine animi praevaricantia corporis vitia captivaverit dirigens ad superna, iste hujus fluminis similis aestimatur. Et ideo etiam fortitudo de illo qui est in paradiso, fonte emanat. Fortitudo autem quodam cursu rapido resistentia quaeque transverberat, nec aliquibus cursus ejus impedimentorum haeret obstaculis. Quartus est fluvius Euphrates, qui Latine fecunditas atque abundantia fructuum nuncupatur, praeferens quoddam insigne jutitiae, quae omnem pascit animam. Nulla enim abundantiores videtur fructus habere virtus, quam aequitas atque justitia, quae magis aliis quam sibi prodest, et utilitates suas negligit communia emolumenta praeponens. Plerique Euphratem ἀπὸ τοῦ εὐφραινεσθαι dictum putant, hoc est a laetando, eo quod hominum genus nullo magis quam justitia et aequitate laetetur. Causam autem cur caeteri qua commeant fluvii, describuntur regiones locorum, qua Euphrates commeat, non describantur, illam accepimus, quia aqua ejus vitalis asseritur, et quae foveat atque augeat. Unde eum Auxen Hebraeorum et Assyriorum prudentes dixerunt: contra autem fertur esse aqua aliorum fluminum. Deinde quia ubi prudentia, ibi et malitia: ubi fortitudo, ibi et iracundia: ubi temperantia plerumque, ibi intemperantia est, aut alia vitia sunt: ubi autem justitia, ibi concordia virtutum est caeterarum; ideo non ex locis qua fluit, hoc est, non ex parte cognoscitur. Non enim pars est justitia, sed quasi mater est omnium. In his ergo fluminibus quatuor virtutes principales quatuor exprimuntur. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Paradiso, Caput II

'The river,' it says, 'is separated into four branches. The name of one is Phison which encircles all the land of Hevila, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good, where is bdellium and green gems. The name of the second river is Gihon. This river encircles all the land of Ethiopia. The name of the third river is Tigris, which river flows by the Assyrians. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.' 1 There are, then, four rivers. Phison, called so by the Hebrews, but by the Greeks named Ganges, flows by India. Gihon is the Nile, which flows around the land of Egypt or Ethiopia. Mesopotamia is so called because it is enclosed by the two rivers of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which name expresses even from afar its location  and popular opinion. But how is the fount called the Wisdom of God? For a fount it is according to the Gospel which says,'If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink.' 2 A fount it is  according to the Prophet who says: 'Come and eat my bread and drink the wine which I have mixed for you.' 3  As fount of life is Wisdom, so it is the fount of spiritual grace, and it is also the fount of other virtues which direct us to the course of eternal life. From this, then, the soul that is cultivated, and not from one that is uncultivated, flows this fount that it water Paradise, and produce the fruit trees of diverse virtues, of which there are four which constitute the divisions of Wisdom. These are the four primary virtues: one prudence, another temperance, the third fortitude, and the forth justice. And these the wise of this world have taken up and transferred it to their own writings. So the fount of Wisdom acts as the source from which these four rivers take their rise, producing streams that are composed of these virtues. Phison, therefore, stands for prudence, and therefore it has pure gold, bdellium and green gems. We often refer to prudent discoveries as gold, as the Lord says, speaking through the Prophet: 'I gave to them gold and silver.' 4  And David says concerning the prudent: 'If you sleep among the midst of the folds, you shall be as the wings of the dove covered with silver and the hinder parts as gold.' 5 by which he who cleaves to the Old and New Testament can by  inquiry profitably proceed to  secrets of the Wisdom of God. Here, therefore, it says is good gold, not that which is used as money, and is corruptible and belongs to this earth. And here, it says, there is found bdellium in which there lives the  spark of our souls. Here, too, is the green gem which by its color seems to show forth vitality. Tress which are alive give forth greenness, while the dead wither. The earth grows green when it blooms, the seeds send forth their green. And well it is that here the river Phison is given first place, which the Hebrews call Phison, which means 'change of mouth,' because it flows not merely around one nation but even through Lydia. For prudence is not narrow but rich in usefulness and benefits many. Thus, if a person were to leave Paradise, the river of prudence lest quickly he become arid, but by this river he may easily return to Paradise. Many men come to this river, which is regarded to be beautiful and must fecund. Therefore it is understood as a figure of prudence which gives manifold fruits in the coming of the Lord. It  to the ends of the earth it flows because by Wisdom all men have been redeemed. Wherefore it is said: 'Their sound has gone forth into all the earth and their words to the end of the world.' 6 The second river is Gihon, by which the law was given to the Israelites when they were sojourning in Egypt, that they should leave Egypt, 7 and having girded their loins they should eat of a lamb as a sign of temperance. For it befits the chaste and sanctified should celebrate the Pasch of the Lord. Thus the observance of the Law was first carried out beside this river, the name of which signifies an opening of the earth. Therefore, just as an opening absorbs the earth and whatever impurities and waste there is in it, so chastity tends to destroy all the passions of the body. Appropriately, the observance of the established Law first took place there, because carnal sin is absorbed by the Law. And so Gihon, in which is a figure of chastity, is said to surround the land of Ethiopia that it wash our lowly bodies and quench the fires of the vile flesh. The meaning of Ethiopia in Latin signifies 'holy and vile.' What is more lowly than our body? What is so like Ethiopia, than that which is black with the darkness of sin? The third river is the Tigris, which flows by the land of Assyrians, to which the deceiver Israel was dragged captive. This river is said to be the swiftest of all rivers, where the Assyrians dwell, directing it, for this is the meaning of its name. Therefore, those who by fortitude of soul bind up the treacherous vices of the body, directing themselves to higher things, are judged to have something in common with this river. And thus fortitude emanates from that source in Paradise. Fortitude in its rapid course casts aside everything that resists it and like this river and in no place will it be fixed by any impeding obstacle. The fourth river is the Euphrates, which in Latin means 'fecundity and abundance of fruits.' It presents a symbol of righteousness, nourishing every soul. No virtue seems to have such abundant fruits than equity and righteousness, it benefits others more with itself, neglecting its own advantage and preferring the common good. Many think Euphrates comes from the Greek ἀπὸ τοῦ εὐφραινεσθαι, that is, from 'rejoicing,' because the human race rejoices in nothing more than righteousness and equity. The reason why, although the passage of the other rivers is reported, we have no description of the passage of the Euphrates, we understand as this: the waters of this river are considered to have a vitality quality which warms and gives growth. Whence the wise among the Hebrews and the Assyrians called this river Auxen, that is, increase, in contradistinction to the waters of other rivers. Now because where there is prudence there is malice, and where there is fortitude there is anger, and where the is temperance, intemperance,The opposition has been well established between wisdom and malice, fortitude and irascibility, temperance, and other vices, where there is righteousness there is the harmony of all the other virtues. Thus it is not known from the places from whence it flows, that is, it is not known in part. There is not a part of righteousness but it is like the mother of the virtues. In these four rivers, then, the four principle virtues are symbolized. Saint Ambrose, On Paradise, Chap 2 1 Gen 2:10 14 2 Jn 7:37 3 Prov 9:15 4  Hosea 2:8 5 Ps 67:14  6 Ps 18:5 7 Exod 12:11