On Sobriety (48)

In reference to which fact Canaan is, according to the order of nature, described as the son of Ham; commotion as the offspring of tranquillity, in order that the statement made in another passage may be true, namely, "visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generations." [*] For against these accomplishments of, and as it were, children of thoughts, punishments advance which await them, but which will hardly seize upon these thoughts which are not carried out by any action, and which consequently escape accusation.