He makes the doctrine of knowledge appear as the light, and as Geon in the time of vintage.
Read Chapter 24
Rabanus Maurus
AD 856
We will first speak of the nature itself of the rivers, according to what we have learned from writers in the natural sciences, so as to then expound their allegories. The Pishon is a river that is also called the Ganges, which flows out of paradise toward the regions of India. Pishon means "multitude," since the river is formed from the confluence of ten large rivers. The Ganges received its name from king Gangaro of India. It is also said that it has floods like those of the Nile, inundating the lands of the East. The Tigris is a river of Mesopotamia that flows out of paradise and runs toward Assyria, and after many bends it empties into the Dead Sea. It received this name because of its velocity, which is like that beast called the tiger, which runs with great agility. The Euphrates is a river of Mesopotamia, full of gems, that springs from paradise and flows across Babylon. It receives its name from the harvests, that is, from its fruitfulness, since in Hebrew Euphrata means "fertility," and it irrigates some parts of Mesopotamia like the Nile does Alexandria. Sallust, a very reliable author, says that the Tigris and the Euphrates rise at the same source in Armenia and, following separate courses, move away from each other leaving a space of many miles, and that the land they embrace is called Mesopotamia. The Jordan is a river of Judea that receives its name from two sources, one of which is called Ghor and the other Dan. These begin at a great distance from each other but then flow together into a single bed, called the Jordan from that point on. It begins at the feet of Mount Lebanon and separates Judea from Arabia, and after a sinuous course it flows into the Dead Sea. The Gihon River flows out of paradise and encircles all of Ethiopia. It was given this name because it irrigates the entire land of Egypt with its floods. Ge in Greek is the same as "earth" in Latin. The Egyptians call it the Nile for the silt that it carries and that causes fertility: for this reason the Nile is called Niam ciaon, and previously in Latin it was called Melo. It makes its appearance in the Nile lake, from which it enters Egypt from the south; there it encounters winds from the north that make the waters regress, swelling and flooding Egypt. The identification of the four rivers of paradise, which come from a single source, with the wisdom of the king born of David, indicates that the four Gospels proceed from our Lord Jesus Christ, true Son of God and also true Son of man, that is, of David, since he took flesh from David"s descendant. And the Gospels irrigate all the lands of the peoples with their preaching, so that Christ"s faithful might cause many fruits of virtue to germinate. The course of the Jordan also comes from the same source, since the sacrament of baptism has come into the world that the offenses of the human race might be purified by its administration. It sends forth discipline as light, since its precepts give the light of eternal life to those who follow it faithfully. For this reason, when Christ sent his disciples to teach and baptize the nations after his resurrection, he said to them in the Gospel, "Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. See, I am with you all days, to the end of the world." - "On Ecclesiasticus 6.2"
