In his old age Noah shared the world with his sons: for Ham he intendedthe western region, for Japheth the northern region, but for Shem thesouthern region, with those parts which will hereafter be marked out inthe division of the earth into three parts. In the time that the sons ofthese men were in the world, then increased forthwith the desire forriches and power, from the fact that they knew many crafts that had notbeen discovered before, and each one was exalted with his own handiwork;and so far did they carry their pride, that the Africans, descended fromHam, harried in that part of the world which the offspring of Shem, theirkinsman, inhabited.
And when they had conquered them, the world seemed to them toosmall, and they smithied a tower with tile and stone, which they meantshould reach to heaven, on the plain called Sennar. And when thisbuilding was so far advanced that it extended above the air, and theywere no less eager to continue the work, and when God saw how their pridewaxed high, then he sees that he will have to strike it down in some way.
And the same God, who is almighty, and who might have struck downall their work in the twinkling of an eye, and made themselves turn intodust, still preferred to frustrate their purpose by making them realizetheir own littleness, in that none of them should understand what theother talked; and thus no one knew what the other commanded, and onebroke what the other wished to build up, until they came to strife amongthemselves, and therewith was frustrated, in the beginning, their purposeof building a tower. And he who was foremost, hight Zoroaster, he laughedbefore he wept when he came into the world; but the master-smiths wereseventy-two, and so many tongues have spread over the world since thegiants were dispersed over the land, and the nations became numerous.
In this same place was built the most famous city, which took itsname from the tower, and was called Babylon.
And when the confusion of tongues had taken place, then increasedthe names of men and of other things, and this same Zoroaster had manynames; and although he understood that his pride was laid low by the saidbuilding, still he worked his way unto worldly power, and had himselfchosen king over many peoples of the Assyrians. From him arose the errorof idolatry; and when he was worshiped he was called Baal; we call himBel; he also had many other names.
But as the names increased in number, so was truth lost; and fromthis first error every following man worshiped his head-master, beasts orbirds, the air and the heavenly bodies, and various lifeless things,until the error at length spread over the whole world; and so carefullydid they lose the truth that no one knew his maker, excepting those menalone who spoke the Hebrew tongue,---that which flourished before thebuilding of the tower,---and still they did not lose the bodilyendowments that were given them, and therefore they judged of all thingswith earthly understanding, for spiritual wisdom was not given unto them.They deemed that all things were smithied of some one material.
