Genesis 4:23

Verse 23. Said. This is the most ancient piece of poetry with which we are acquainted. Fleury.—Lamech may be considered as the father of poets. Bible.—I have slain a man, and so forth It is the tradition of the Hebrews, that Lamech in hunting slew Cain, mistaking him for a wild beast: and that having discovered what he had done, he beat so unmercifully the youth, by whom he was led into that mistake, that he died of the blows. Challoner.—S. Jerom, 9. 1. ad Dam. acknowledges the difficulty of this passage, on which Origen wrote two whole books. Worthington.