In the year 1160 before the founding of the City, the region bordering on Arabia which was then called the Pentapolis was utterly burnt up by fire from heaven, as Cornelius Tacitus among others relates, who speaks thus:1
1 Ante annos urbis conditae MCLX confinem Arabiae regionem quae tunc Pentapolis uocabatur arsisse penitus igne caelesti inter alios etiam Cornelius Tacitus refert, qui sic ait:
1Tacitus, Histories 5.7. The Pentapolis here is the five cities of the plain named in 1.5.6, not the Libyan Pentapolis of 1.2.87.
“Not far from there are plains which, they say, were once fertile and inhabited by great cities, but were burnt by strokes of lightning; traces remain, and the soil itself, solid in appearance, has lost its power to bear fruit.”
2 Haud procul inde campi, quos ferunt olim uberes magnisque urbibus habitatos fulminum iactu arsisse; sed manere uestigia, terramque ipsam, specie solidam, uim frugiferam perdidisse.
And though in this passage he said nothing, as if he did not know of it, about cities burnt for the sins of men, a little later, as though he had forgotten his intention, he adds:
3 et cum hoc loco nihil de incensis propter peccata hominum ciuitatibus quasi ignarus expresserit, paulo post uelut oblitus consilii subicit et dicit:
“For my part, while I would grant that once-famous cities were consumed by fire from heaven, I think the land is tainted and corrupted by the exhalation of the lake.”
4 Ego sicut inclitas quondam urbes igne caelesti flagrasse concesserim, ita halitu lacus infici terram et corrumpi reor.
By saying this he confessed, however unwillingly, that he both knew and granted the burning of the cities, which without doubt were consumed for the guilt of their sins; and he openly betrayed that what he lacked was not assurance of the fact but the will to declare it. This will now be set out more fully by me.
5 quo dicto inuitus licet de exustis urbibus, quae procul dubio peccatorum noxa conflagrauerunt, et scisse se et concessisse confessus palam prodidit non sibi cognitionis fidem defuisse sed exprimendae fidei uoluntatem. quod nunc a me plenius proferetur.
On the borders of Arabia and Palestine, where the mountains coming down on either side give way to the plains below, there were five cities: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar.
6 In confinio Arabiae et Palaestinae, qua dimissi altrinsecus montes subiectis campis excipiuntur, quinque ciuitates fuere Sodoma Gomorra Adama Seboim et Segor.
Of these Zoar was small, the others large and great, for they had both a fertile soil beneath them and the river Jordan, which, spread across the plains and divided into convenient channels, was spent on increasing their abundance.
7 sed Segor ex his parua, illae amplae et magnae, quippe quibus et soli fecunditas suberat et Iordanes fluuius, per plana diffusus ac per opportuna diuisus, augmentis ubertatis inpendebatur.
For this whole region, which used its good things badly, abundance of goods was the cause of evils. From abundance grew luxury, and from luxury foul lusts, so that men, committing shameful acts with men, rushed headlong into them without regard even for place, circumstance or age.
8 huic uniuersae regioni, bonis male utenti, abundantia rerum causa malorum fuit. ex abundantia enim luxuria, ex luxuria foedae libidines adoleuere, adeo ut masculi in masculos operantes turpitudinem ne consideratis quidem locis condicionibus aetatibusque proruerent.
And so God in his anger rained fire and sulphur upon this land, and condemned the whole region, burnt up with its peoples and cities, to everlasting perdition, to stand as a witness of his judgement for the future;
9 itaque iratus Deus pluit super hanc terram ignem et sulphur totamque regionem cum populis atque urbibus exustam, testem iudicii sui futuram, aeterna perditione damnauit,
so that even now the outline of the region does indeed appear, but it is found to be a region of ashes, and the valley in its midst, which the Jordan had watered, is now covered by a sea poured over it.
10 ut nunc quoque adpareat quidem forma regionis sed inueniatur regio cineris mediamque conuallem, quam Iordanes inrigauerat, nunc mare superfusum tegat.
So great a wrath of God was kindled by things thought to be small, that because those men, using good things badly, had made the fruits of his mercies the nourishment of their lusts, the very land that had held these cities, first burnt by fire and then overwhelmed by water, perished from the common sight into everlasting condemnation.
11 tantumque de rebus ut putatur paruis diuinae indignationis accensum est, ut propter hoc, quod illi, male utentes bonis, fructus misericordiarum nutrimenta libidinum fecerant, terra quoque ipsa, quae has habuerat ciuitates, primum exusta ignibus, post oppressa aquis, in aeternam damnationem communi periret adspectui.