Philonis Judaei Paralipomena Armena

...the body, so is the mind and wisdom in the soul.

Which is the river that went out of Eden, from which the garden was irrigated, and the four rivers are parted: Phison, and Gehon, and Tigris, and Euphrates?

XII. The sources of the Deglathis (Tigris) and Arazania (Euphrates) are said to gush forth from the mountains of Armenia. And there is no garden there, nor are both other sources of the river. Now, might it be that the paradise is in a place far from our habitation of this world? And it has a river flowing under the earth, which irrigates many and very great veins, so that they, rising, send themselves into other veins, becoming vast. And these are pressed by the eddies of the waves, and because the violence that is inside them presses them, they erupt upward: some in the mountains of Armenia, and some elsewhere. These are therefore the considered sources, or rather the flows of the rivers, or sources truly considered, because the divine Scripture is entirely truthful, in which the matter of the four rivers is told. For the beginning is a river, not a source. So, might it be that the matter of the locations is allegorized? But the four rivers are signs of the four virtues: of Prudence...

the body, so is the mind and wisdom in the soul.

Which is the river, which proceeded from Adin (Eden), whence the paradise is irrigated, and four rivers are divided: Phison, and Gehon, and Tigris, and Euphrates?

XII. The sources of the Deglathis and Arazania (i.e., Tigris and Euphrates) are said to arise from the mountains of Armenia: there, however, (today) the paradise is not, nor are the remaining two sources of the river. So perhaps paradise is in a location far from our habitation of the world 1, and has a river flowing under the earth, which irrigates many and greatest veins: so that they rising 2 send themselves into other veins receiving them due to their vastness; and these are suppressed by the gurgles of the waves; whence, with the violence inherent in them pressing, they erupt upward both in the mountains of Armenia and elsewhere. These are, therefore, the considered sources, or rather the fluxes of the rivers; or also 3 sources truly considered, for the reason that the divine Scripture is entirely infallible in denoting the matter of the four rivers: for the river is the beginning, not the source 4. Truly, perhaps the location itself reveals the allegory: for the four rivers are signs of the four virtues; of Prudence, namely, called Phison...

1. An uncertain or erroneous statement of Philo led not a few of the ancients to place the earthly paradise outside the earth or in an unknown, high place. 2. Manuscript C: "agentes" (doing), or acting. If you read "accipientes" (receiving), it becomes "receiving." 3. Instead of "vel" (or), the Gloss wishes it to be read "quam" (than); rightly supposing the Greek conjunction to be ambiguous, and saying: "Fluvios potius oporteret dicere, quam fontes: attamen convenit fontem dicere, ne falsa credatur divina Scriptura" (It would be better to call them rivers than sources: nevertheless it is appropriate to call it a source, lest the divine Scripture be thought false). 4. Consult St. Ambrose, de Paradiso, c. 3.