3. Chapter III
Chapter III T he second reformation of the antediluvian church, Gen. 4 (last verse)
— הּוַחל [began] — Certain σφάλματα ὀνοματολόγικα [nomenclatural errors] noted — The Enoshite idolatry: the opinions of Maimonides, Selden,
Cyril — The total defection of the reformed church — The beginning, occasion, and manner of that defection, Gen. 6:1-5 — The sons of God and daughters of men — The triflings of the Jews, and of certain ancient
Christians — No antediluvian idolatry — The causes of the diluvian πανωλεθρίας [utter destruction] and the tradition of it among the nations —
The end of the antediluvian church — In it the type of things to come.
I. Cain, the ringleader of the corrupters of Adamic antediluvian theology, having been expelled from the bounds of the church, its force and ἐνέργεια
[energy] and the pure worship of God resting upon it flourished down to the age of Enosh. A new corruption — and one spreading widely — had at that time invaded the church; which a new reformation meeting it swept away:
"For then it was begun to call upon the name of the Lord," Gen. 4:26. On which passage certain things must be added.
II. The words are: ָאז הּוַחל ִלְקָרא ְּב ֵׁשם ְיהָוה [Then it was begun to call upon the name of Jehovah]. Some think the reformation of the church is denoted in them; others its lapse into idolatry. The Septuagint renders them thus:
Οὗτος ἤλπισεν ἐπικαλεῖσθαι τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ [This one hoped to call upon the name of the Lord God]. They derived הּוַחל, that is, not from ָחַלל but from ָיַחל. Hence arose the innocent error of certain people. They suspected those words to express the notation of the name of Enosh.
Chrysostom's interpretation of the passage rests on that blunder alone. For supposing that Enosh means "he hoped," he discourses at length about the pious hope of his parents.
III. And indeed in rendering the meaning of Hebrew names the Greeks blunder everywhere without exception. So George Cedrenus, p. 172: Τὸν πρωτότοκον ὠνόμασε Κάϊν ὁ ἐστι ζῆλος, ὁ καὶ ζηλώσας ἀνεῖλε τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ Ἄβελ, ὁ ἑρμηνεύεται πένθος, ἐπ' αὐτῷ γὰρ πρώτῳ φονευθέντι ἐπένθησαν οἱ γονεῖς [He named the firstborn Cain, which means zeal, since he in his jealousy slew his brother Abel, which is interpreted as mourning, since for him, who was the first to be slain, the parents mourned] — absurdly, and against the account of the ὀνοματολογίας [nomenclature] assigned in the very text of Gen. 4:1. But there is a shade of colour — for ִקְנָאה [kinah] means envy, and ֵאֶבל [abel] means mourning. And Zonaras also: Ἄβελ δὲ ὁ δεύτερος, δηλοῖ δὲ πένθος ἡ κλῆσις [And Abel the second: the name signifies mourning]. Now ָאז [then], or "at that time," I think is to be referred to the whole span of Enosh's life.
These things took place in the days of Enosh, whom Seth begat. That the condition of the church was already wretched when Enosh was born, I would readily grant — hence the occasion of the ὀνοματολογίας
[nomenclature] for pious parents. ֱאנֹוׁש [Enosh] is wretched man, from אנש
[anash], he was mortally sick, was calamitous, Ps. 9:21. But no reason compels us to restrict what is here mentioned to the time of his birth. For these things happened perhaps three hundred years or so after the first reformation of the church through the ejection of Cain — since the birth of Enosh falls in the one hundred and sixth year after his flight. For although the beginnings of that work — whatever it finally was, of which the Holy
Spirit here makes mention — were perhaps placed at the very birth of Enosh, yet I do not believe it was brought to full effect until Enosh himself, who is pointedly noted, had for some time been a householder. And in this opinion are the Jews almost without exception.
IV. That the entrance of idolatry into the world is noted by these words, the Targum attributed to Jonathan asserts: הּוא ָדָרא ְּדְביֹומֹוִהי ַׁש ְרָיאּו ְלִמְטֵעי ַוֲעָבדּוָ
ְלהֹון ָטְעָון ּוְמַכְּנָין ְלָטְעָוְתהֹון ְּבׁשּום ֵמיְמָרא ַדי — "That generation," he says, "in whose days they began to err and made idols for themselves, and named their idols by the name of the Word of the Lord." That is, they called their idols gods. So also the Arabic translator from the edition of Erpenius: "Then men began to turn away from obedience to God" — differently from the codex in the London Polyglot Bible. Of the Targum of Onkelos there are two copies; one was published by Arias Montanus in his Royal Bible edition, another by Buxtorf in his Basel edition; of these one affirms that "men desisted from invoking" God, the other that they "began to call upon the name of the Lord." Maimonides traces the beginning of all idolatry from this point, at the beginning of the book On Idolatrous Worship: ִּביֵמי ֱאנֹוׁש ָטעּו
ְּבֵני ָהָאָדם ָטעּות ְּגדֹוָלה ְוָנְבֲעָרה ֲעַצת ַחְכֵמי אֹותֹו ַהּדֹור ַוֲאנֹוׁש ַעְצמֹו ִמן ַהּטֹוִעים ָהָיה ְוזֹו ָהְיָתה
ָטעּוָתם: ָאְמרּו הֹוִאיל ְוָהֵאל ָּבָרא כֹוָכִבים ֵאּלּו ְוַגְלַּגִּלים ְלַהְנִהיג ֶאת ָהעֹוָלם ּוְנָתָנם ַּבָּמרֹום ְוָחַלק
ָלֶהם ָּכבֹוד ְוֵהם ַׁש ָּמ ִׁשים ַהְמ ַׁש ְּמ ִׁשים ְלָפָניו ְראּוִיים ֵהם ְל ַׁש ְּבָחם ּוְלָפֲאָרם ְוַלֲח ֹלק ָלֶהם ָּכבֹוד —
"In the days of Enosh the children of men erred with a great and foolish
error; and the counsel of the wise of that generation was confounded; even Enosh himself was among those who erred; and this was their error: they said, since God himself created these stars and spheres to govern the world, and placed them on high and gave them glory, and they are the ministers who serve before him — it is surely fitting that we praise them and extol them and give them glory." The learned man had his eye upon the words of Moses, Gen. 1:16: ַוַּיַעׂש ֱא ֹלִהים ֶאת־ְׁשֵני ַהְּמ ֹאֹרת ַהְּג ֹדִלים ֶאת־ַהָּמאֹור ַהָּג ֹדל ְלֶמ ְמ ֶׁש ֶלת ַהּיֹום
ְוֶאת־ַהָּמאֹור ַהָּק ֹטן ְלֶמ ְמ ֶׁש ֶלת ַהַּלְיָלה ְוֵאת ַהּכֹוָכִבים [And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars]. From these, he perceives that the degenerate sons of the patriarchs took occasion to worship the sun, moon, and the whole host of the heavens, to which had been committed dominion over days and nights, and so over the whole world. R. David Kimchi is of the same opinion: "In the days of Enosh," he says, "they went astray after idolatry, and the invocation of the name of God was then profaned; but there are those who expound the word הּוַחל through 'beginning,' thus: 'Then men began to call the names of images and idols by the name of God.'" Selden follows
Maimonides, Prolegomena III to his Syntagma on the Syrian Gods.
V. Josephus, however — older than all of these — asserts that the worship of the true and one God endured until the seventh generation, Antiquities,
Bk. I. R. Eliezer agrees with him in Maase Bereshith, ch. 22; and proves that no mention is made here of idolatry, because no mention has been made of other things they would worship — that is, of the sun and stars.
Most of the ancient Christians agree with these. Οἱ μὲν οὖν ἐξ Ἀδάμ, says Cyril Against Julian, καὶ μέχρι τοῦ Νῶε γεγονότες ἄνθρωποι, θεὸν ἕνα τὸν φύσει καὶ ἀληθῶς τῶν ὅλων δημιουργὸν τετιμήκασι· μετὰ δὲ κατακλυσμὸν καὶ τοῦ πύργου κατασκευὴν ἀσύμβατον ἐσχήκασι περὶ Θεοῦ δόξαν, οἱ μὲν
οὐρανὸν ὑπετόπεσαν εἶναι θεὸν, ἥλιον δὲ καὶ σελήνην ἕτεροι [The men who lived from Adam until Noah honoured the one God who is by nature and truly the Creator of all things; but after the flood and the building of the tower, they held an incompatible opinion about God — some supposed heaven to be God, and others the sun and the moon]. And this opinion is most true, with which Epiphanius also agrees, Bk. I, ch. 1, sect. 4. Bede in his Chronicle: in the Piel, הּוַחל signifies principally "to begin," and "to profane" only very rarely in the Hiphil or Hophal. Hence ְּת ִחָּלה [techillah] means "beginning," and ָחַלל [chalal] "to begin something publicly." And this interpretation Jerome embraces. Nor was the name of the Lord first profaned then, in the days of Enosh — since this had long been done by the impious Cainites long before Enosh was born. There is therefore no reason why it should be said pointedly that it was then that men began to profane the name of God. But the greatest reason exists why it should be said that they then began to call upon it in a peculiar manner.
VI. Therefore it is not the corruption of religious worship but the reformation of the church that is indicated by these words. The prefixed particle marks something new and unusual. But since the church was contained within the limits of one family, its reformation was not difficult
— namely, through the ejection of the contumacious. But with the human race grown to an immense size and the boundaries of the church extended, another road had to be taken. For a multitude of sinners produces impunity and licence of sinning. These two words therefore denote two things. First, that the pious formed separate assemblies for the solemn performance of the worship of God. Second, that they took upon themselves the distinctive name of worshippers or sons of God, which they used until the next defection. So they invoked the name of God separately in a solemn manner;
and were called by the name of God — that is, worshippers or sons of God.
Both meanings are confirmed by our translators; for as they read in the text, "Then began men to call upon the name of the LORD," so they add in the margin "To call themselves by the name of the LORD." And this was the only road to reforming the church that remained. To enter upon it — when very many are corrupting the true worship of God and persisting stubbornly in wicked morals (which was the condition of the church in those times) — both the nature of the matter itself and right reason demand. For what should those do who desired to present their consciences unblemished and pure to God in religious worship? Should they allow themselves to be mingled with the crowd of apostates and corrupted by them? That does not seem to be their duty. Should they cast the apostates out and banish them from the bounds of the church? But this cannot be done by the few against the many. The separation of the pious therefore remained, and their gathering into separate assemblies. That this was done at this time, these words record. For the name of the Lord was not then first profaned — since that had long been done by the impious Cainites — nor did men then first in an absolute sense begin to call upon the name of the Lord, since all the pious had been devoted to his worship from the foundations of the world; but then for the first time certain men, having made a visible separation from the rest of the world, were performing religious worship solemnly among themselves.
VII. And this was the second reformation of the antediluvian church. The first defection was singular in the person of Cain. By his ejection the first reformation was constituted. In the time of Enosh, hypocrisy had crept more widely and infected more. In order to present themselves free from the common stain and to preserve the pure worship of God in the promised
Mediator, the pious Sethites, seceding from the crowd of apostates and forming separate assemblies, were called "sons of God." And here for the first time the church, visibly and voluntarily separated from the world, existed.
VIII. By virtue of this reformation, pure theology flourished, and by its force the visibly separated church, for a thousand years or thereabouts. In that course of time God set forth a distinguished example of obedience, a τεκμήριον [pledge] of true theology and earnest of eternal life, in the translation of Enoch, Gen. 5:24. But as time advanced, the impious Cainites and those Sethites from whom the pious had separated at the time of the Enoshite reformation — apparently making a show of pursuing mutual peace through intermarriages and other bonds of political life — having been admitted into the fellowship of the pious, brought almost everything divine and human to universal ruin. This is commonly the fatal outcome, after a reformation, of corruption admitted once more into the church.
IX. But the very great crowd of impious apostates, having been admitted into the fellowship of the pious, when the latter could no longer free themselves either by the authoritative ejection of the former — as they say
— or by voluntary secession, the defection immediately became catholic, and the whole church proved corrupt. God therefore brought this dispensation, and the Adamic sublapsarian theology, to an end in the diluvian πανωλεθρίᾳ [utter destruction] of apostate theologians.
X. The origin, progress, and end of this last defection of the antediluvian church was committed to memory by the most just avenger of it himself,
Gen. 6:1-5. The origin is narrated in vv. 1, 2: "And it came to pass when men had begun to multiply upon the face of the earth, and daughters were
born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and took them wives of all which they chose."
XI. Who these "sons of God" are, and who the "daughters of men," is disputed. The Jews trifle about good or evil angels — I know not what nonsense — and so also Philo and Josephus before the rabbis were born.
Also, the author of the books of Enoch, some fragments of which still survive in Joseph Scaliger's Observations on Eusebius and in Kircher's
Oedipus Aegyptiacus, Vol. II, ch. 2. Very many of the ancient fathers favour that delusion: Justin, Apology II; Clement, Stromata, Bk. III; Tertullian, On Women's Dress; Lactantius, Institutes, Bk. II, ch. 15; Eusebius, Praeparatio
Evangelica, Bk. V; Ambrose, On the Veiling of Virgins; Zosimus of Panopolis in Photius, Codex 191. But neither the nature and condition of the angels, Matt. 22:30, nor the sequence of the Mosaic narrative, permits that suspicion. ְּבֵני ָהֱא ֹלִהים, or "sons of God," Onkelos renders by ְּבֵני ְדַנְּגִבָּיא
[sons of the noble] or "sons of the mighty," and ְּבנֹות ָהָאָדם [daughters of men] by ְּבַנת ָאָנָׁשא or "daughters of the poor." The Septuagint has υἱοὶ τοῦ
Θεοῦ [sons of God]. Aquila, υἱοὶ θεῶν [sons of gods]. Sons of τῶν δυναστευόντων [those who hold power], says Symmachus, as Jerome testifies. And all of these understand the supreme confusion of all orders in the political state and common manner of living — as if men had come together among themselves after the manner of cattle, with no regard for degrees or honour of dignities. In this opinion is Rambam, More Nevukhim,
Pt. I, ch. 14: "ָאָדם signifies," he says, "also 'common people' and 'the multitude of men'; as also 'sons of Adam,' also 'sons of man,' Ps. 33:13; and in this signification it is said, 'And the sons of God saw the daughters of Adam.'"
XII. But the matter is sufficiently plain of itself. The "sons of God" were those who from the days of Enosh had instituted separate assemblies for celebrating the true worship of God, professing υἱοθεσίαν [adoption]. By that name they were objects of hatred and mockery to the impious world.
Nor has the world ever been, nor will it ever be, otherwise unlike itself in this matter. For perhaps some hundreds of years they had separated themselves from the communion with the wicked — which has always been the chief cause of ecclesiastical defection. With the passing of time, even they were increased with wicked offspring in whom there was only the μόρφωσις [form] of υἱοθεσίας [adoption]. These, driven by unbridled lust, joined to themselves by marriages the daughters of the apostates. And those were the "daughters of men." That the pious Sethites had until that time held all laws — both divine and human — separately from the Cainites, and had inhabited places far distant from them without any commerce of life or intercourse with the age — this is an old tradition of the Jews, which, because it has the appearance of truth, I would not rashly reject. Abulfaraj
Pococke reports it interpolated with fables: "Seth," he says, "son of Adam — it is reported that he was the first author of writing, and that he inspired in his progeny a desire for the blessed life which had been that of his parents in paradise; so that they withdrew to Mount Hermon, devoted to the worship of God, piety, and continence, by no means approaching women — whence they were called Bani-Elohim [sons of God]. But in the fortieth year of Jared, descending from Mount Hermon, when they had despaired of returning to paradise" (that is, when the holiness of life and separation from the world had begun to be a weariness to them) "they desired women; and when those related to them by kinship refused to give them wives, despising them, the Cainites invited them to marriage, freely offering them their
daughters — with whom having come together they begat giants, distinguished in wars and hostile incursions."
XIII. These things he drew from the apocryphal book of Enoch On the Watchers — except that what the former ascribes to the Sethites, the other
Jewish trifler assigns to angels descending upon Mount Hermon. But of those books On the Watchers and On the Apocalypse of Moses, the fragments still extant will supply fables of this kind in abundance to anyone who thirsts for them. The angels were called ἐγρήγοροι [watchers] by the ancients. They snatched their handle from Dan. 4:10, where ִעיר [ir] or "a watcher" is said to have looked down from heaven. Common copies of the Greek text retain the Hebrew word εἴρ; certain manuscripts have ἐγρήγορος
[a wakeful one].
XIV. From this source there arose the ἀθέμιτος μίξις [unlawful mingling] of all with all. At last, both groups came together into one in such a way that, the family of Noah alone excepted, scarcely any distinction between the world and the church remained. This the Holy Spirit shows when he affirms that "all flesh had corrupted its way," Gen. 6:12. This, I say, was the origin of the catholic defection of the Enoshite — or Adamic antediluvian
— church, reformed a second time; in which we have an illustrious example of the origin of all catholic apostasy. For it was always that communion with the wicked which brought the church to ruin.
XV. Let us see further the progress of this defection. The Holy Spirit sets it out at vv. 11, 12: "The earth was corrupt before God himself, and was filled with violence; and God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way." To such a degree had it advanced as to extend itself to all flesh — Noah alone excepted, vv. 8; 7:1.
But he was "a preacher of righteousness," 2 Pet. 2:5, in whose ministry the
Spirit of Christ "disputed with the rebellious," 1 Pet. 3:19, for one hundred and twenty years, Gen. 6:3. So the Targum of Ben Uzziel expounds that passage — though he trifles in his usual manner about Shamchazai and Uzziel, who at that time descending from heaven begat giants.
XVI. Maimonides contends that the nature of this apostasy consisted chiefly in idolatry. Selden has gone over to his opinion. The names of the gods they worshipped are provided to us in the Koran by Mohammed,
Surah 81: Wadd, Suwa', Yaghuth, Ya'uq, and Nasr. For these, as it appears, Shamchazai and Uzziel laboured. But let us dismiss these triflings. What is said concerning antediluvian idolatry is entirely without probability. For the Holy Spirit makes no mention of it — and he would least of all have passed it over, since it is the most grievous of sins, and the most powerful argument for carrying out the vengeance of divine justice in destroying the world. Doubtless God wished to exhibit in the diluvian destruction of the ancient world a great prejudging of the future judgment — as Tertullian says — second only to the cross of Christ. Could it therefore be thought that in setting out the causes of so great a disaster and punishment — less only than eternal — he would pass over in silence the greatest of all sins?
Especially when he accurately reviews other crimes and wickednesses that merited it? For the wickedness of men's hearts, the universal corruption of life, violence and robbery, and even illicit marriages are expressly mentioned, Gen. 6:2, 5, 11-13. For the rest, Berosus in the spurious Annius of Viterbo — and so also Ovid, Metamorphoses I — not unaptly narrates the vices and crimes of that age: "These giants," he says, "confident in their vast bodily size and strength, rushing in with arms oppressed all, and serving their lusts they discovered butterflies and musical instruments, and all delights; they ate men... and there was nothing they did not commit,
despisers of religion and the gods." That the real Berosus also consecrated the flood to memory in his history, Josephus, Antiquities, Bk. I, ch. 4, is the witness.
XVII. The end or issue of this catholic apostasy was the diluvian πανωλεθρία [utter destruction] of the apostates — namely, ὁ τότε κόσμος ὕδατι κατακλυσθεὶς ἀπώλετο [the world that then was perished, overwhelmed with water], 2 Pet. 3:6. That the nations received through tradition this cause of the flood, Lucian among very many others is the witness, On the Syrian Goddess, sect. 12: Ἥδε ἡ γενεή, he says, οἱ νῦν ἄνθρωποι οὐ πρῶτοι ἐγένοντο, ἀλλ' ἐκείνη μὲν ἡ γενεὴ πάντες ὤλοντο.
Οὗτοι δὲ γένεος τοῦ δευτέρου εἰσί, τὸ αὖθις ἐκ Δευκαλίωνος ἐς πληθὺν ἀπίκετο. Ἐκείνων δὲ περὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τάδε μυθέονται. Ὑβρισταὶ κάρτα ἐόντες, ἀθέμιστα ἔργα ἔπρασσον, οὔτε γὰρ ὅρκια ἐφύλασσον, οὔτε ξείνους ἐδέκοντο, οὔτε ἱκετέων ἠνείχοντο· ἀντ' ὧν σφίσι ἡ μεγάλη συμφορὴ ἀπίκετο. Αὐτίκα ἡ γῆ πολλὸν ὕδωρ ἐκδιδοῖ, καὶ ὄμβροι μεγάλοι ἐγένοντο, καὶ οἱ ποταμοὶ κατέβησαν μέζονες, καὶ ἡ θάλασσα ἐπὶ πολλὸν ἀνέβη, ἔστε ὃ πάντα ὕδωρ ἐγένοντο, καὶ πάντες ὤλοντο. Δευκαλίων δὲ μοῦνος ἀνθρώπων ἐλίπετο ἐς γενεὴν δευτέρην, εὐβουλίης τε καὶ τῆς εὐσεβέος εἵνεκα. Ἡ δὲ οἱ σωτηρίη ἥδε ἐγένετο. Λάρνακα μεγάλην, τὴν αὐτὸς ἔχε, ἐς ταύτην ἐσβιβάσας παῖδάς τε καὶ γυναῖκας ἑωυτοῦ, ἐσέβη.
Ἐσβαίνοντι δὲ οἱ ἀπίκοντο σύες, καὶ ἵπποι, καὶ λεόντων γενεὰ, καὶ ὄφιες, καὶ ἄλλα, ὁκόσα ἐν γῇ νέμονται πάντα ἐς ζεύγεα· ὁ δὲ πάντα ἐδέκετο· καί μιν οὐκ ἐσίνοντο, ἀλλά σφισι μεγάλη διόθεν φιλίη ἐγένετο· καὶ ἐν μιῇ λάρνακι πάντες ἔπλευσαν, ἔστε τὸ ὕδωρ ἐπεκράτεε· τὰ μὲν Δευκαλίωνος περὶ Ἕλληνες ἱστορέουσι — that is, "This generation which now exists was not the first of men; but that generation which then was, all perished. But these men who now exist are of the second generation, which again grew to
a multitude from Deucalion. And of those men such things as these are told: being very insolent, they committed lawless deeds; for they kept no oaths, and received no strangers, and endured no suppliants. In return for which the great disaster came upon them immediately — for the earth poured forth much water, and great rains fell, and the rivers descended larger than before, and the sea rose greatly, until all things became water and all perished. But Deucalion alone of men remained for the second generation, both on account of his prudence and his piety. And his salvation was effected thus: he boarded a great ark which he himself possessed, embarking in it his children and his own wives. And as he was boarding, there came to him swine, horses, a race of lions, serpents, and all other things that feed upon the earth — all in pairs. He received them all, and they did him no harm, but a great friendship was wrought between them from God; and in one ark they all sailed as long as the water prevailed.
These things the Greeks record of Deucalion." These things he says — all of which everyone sees to have been taken from the sacred text. Horace also plays upon this in Odes II, I:
"It terrified the nations, lest the harsh age of Pyrrha return, Lamenting strange portents — When Proteus drove all his herd to visit
The lofty mountains.
And the race of fish clung to the tops of the elm Which had been the known haunts of doves;
And frightened deer swam Over the overwhelmed plain."
Similar things from Hieronymus the Egyptian, Berosus, Mnaseas, Nicolaus of Damascus are cited by Josephus, Antiquities, Bk. I, ch. 4; and
from Abydenus and Alexander Polyhistor by Eusebius in his Chronicle.
XVIII. But most people confuse the universal flood with the local one of Deucalion — or with the Ogygian, which preceded it by a great interval.
Concerning all of them a most ancient writer at Cedrenus speaks rightly:
Ὅτι δύο κατακλυσμοὶ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα γῆν διαβεβλημένοι γεγόνασι· πρῶτος μὲν ἐπὶ Ὠγύγου ἐν τῇ Ἀττικῇ (very many however say that Ogyges was king not of Attica but of Thebes); χρόνοις δὲ ὕστερον ἐν Θετταλίᾳ
(that is, in what was later so called, for that name was unknown even to Homer) ἐπὶ Δευκαλίωνος, βασιλεύοντος Ἀθήνησι δευτέρου Κραναοῦ αὐτόχθονος. Τούτου τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ τοῦ ἐπὶ Δευκαλίωνος δηλονότι, δοκοῦσι μεμνῆσθαι καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι, φάσκοντες τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν μὴ κατακέκλυσθαι· καὶ δικαίως φιλονεικοῦσι μὴ κατακεκλύσθαι τότε τὴν
Αἴγυπτον· τοπικὸς γὰρ γέγονεν οὗτος ὁ κατακλυσμός. Τὸν γὰρ πρότερον ἤτοι τὸν καθολικὸν κατακλυσμὸν οὐδὲ γινώσκουσιν. Οὔπω γὰρ ἦν ὁ πατριάρχης αὐτῶν γεννηθείς. Χὰμ δὲ ὁ υἱὸς Νῶε, πατὴρ Μεστρέμ, ἀφ' οὗ
Αἰγύπτιοι [That two floods have been handed down as having occurred in the land of Greece: first under Ogyges in Attica; and at a later time in Thessaly under Deucalion, when Cranaus the autochthon was reigning as the second king at Athens. Of this flood — the one under Deucalion, that is
— the Egyptians also seem to make mention, saying that their own land was not flooded; and they rightly contend that Egypt was not then flooded; for this flood was local. For the earlier one — that is, the universal flood — they do not even know. For their ancestor had not yet been born. For Ham the son of Noah was the father of Mestraim, from whom the Egyptians come]. But no one doubts that the first mythographers so mingled the report of the universal flood with the history of the particular ones that neither those nor the former were understood by later generations. Whoever desires
more on these floods should consult Augustine, City of God, Bk. XVIII, ch.
9; Nonnus, Bk. III; Orosius, Bk. I, ch. 9.
XIX. And this was the end which the apostate antediluvian church reached. Binding herself with the crime of fresh defection after a reformation, she proved incapable of further reformation. This was the solemn period which the first supernatural theology of revelation completed. And in it, as we shall see, were constituted the type and exemplar of all churches to be founded in future times and reformed when lapsed. May God, in his infinite mercy, avert the omen from the reformed
Christian churches.