Cave of Treasures

Historical source scan page 54

"Market of the Eight." For further details see Hoffmann, G., Ausztige aus syrischen Akten, page 174.] The Vineyard of Noah And when they had gone forth from the Ark, they sowed seed and planted a vineyard; and they pressed out new wine. And Noah drew nigh, and drank some of it, and immediately he had drunk of it [Fol. 19a, col. 1] he became drunk. And having fallen asleep, his shame was seen, and his son Ham saw the nakedness of his father, and did not cover it; but he laughed at him and made a mock of him, and he ran and called his brethren that they also might make a mock of their father. And when Shem and Japhet heard of it they were dismayed exceedingly. And they rose up, and took a cloak, and walked backwards with their faces turned away that they might not see the nakedness of their father. And they cast the cloak over him and covered him. And when Noah woke up from the sleep of his wine, his wife told him about everything that had happened, and he also within himself knew what had happened to him. And Noah was exceedingly angry with his son Ham, and he said: Cursed be Canaan; he shall be a servant of servants to his brethren. Why, since the whole of the folly was Ham's, was Canaan cursed, except that, when the youth grew up [Fol. 19a, col. 2], and attained the full measure of his understanding, Satan entered into him, and became to him a teacher of sin? And he renewed the work of the house of Cain, the murderer. He constructed and made reed instruments and harps, and the fiends and the devils went unto them and dwelt therein. And immediately wind was blown through them (the reeds), the devils sang inside them, and sent forth loud sounds; and when men struck the harps the devils became operative inside them. And when Noah heard that Canaan had done this, he was grieved sorely, because the work of error, through which the fall of the children of Seth had taken place, was renewed. For by means of singing, and lewd play, and the mad lasciviousness of the children of Cain, Satan had cast down the mighty men, the "sons of God," into fornication. And through the music of reed pipes and harps sin had multiplied [Fol. 19b, col. 1] among the former generations until, at length, God became wroth and made the Flood. And Canaan was cursed because he had dared to do this, and his seed became a servant of servants, that is to say, to the Egyptians, and the Cushites, and the Masayé (Mysians), [and the Indians, and all the Ethiopians, whose skins are black]. And because Ham had dared to make a mock of his father he was called "vile" (or lascivious") all the days of his life. Now Noah in his lying down in sleep, having drunk wine, symbolizeth the Cross of Christ, as the blessed man David singeth in his Psalm concerning him, saying, "Wake up, Lord, like a sleeping man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome." [Compare Psalm 54 of 130