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[72]
NOW this posterity of Seth continued to esteem God as the Lord of
the universe, and to have an entire regard to virtue, for seven generations;
but in process of time they were perverted, and forsook the practices of
their forefathers; and did neither pay those honors to God which were appointed
them, nor had they any concern to do justice towards men. But for what
degree of zeal they had formerly shown for virtue, they now showed by their
actions a double degree of wickedness, whereby they made God to be their
enemy. For many angels 1
of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers
of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own
strength; for the tradition is, that these men did what resembled the acts
of those whom the Grecians call giants. But Noah was very uneasy at what
they did; and being displeased at their conduct, persuaded them to change
their dispositions and their acts for the better: but seeing they did not
yield to him, but were slaves to their wicked pleasures, he was afraid
they would kill him, together with his wife and children, and those they
had married; so he departed out of that land.
1 This notion, that the fallen angels were, in some sense, the fathers of the old giants, was the constant opinion of antiquity.
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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