62

taking care of the females. For those who are turned towards the things below hasten to destroy the vigorous offspring of the soul, delighting in wealth and human things. Immediately, then, the next passage teaches this: for as they became a multitude, daughters were born to them.

ῃι, 1. And it came to be when men began to be many upon the earth, and daughters were born to them. [The word "many"] can be taken both in the sense of a multitude, in which it is most literally [used], and in the sense of the common. For in Exodus [it is also said: "And] the sons of Israel were increased and became common". But also "Many say to my soul" instead of [the word] "common men"; for they do not bring forth serious words. And Paul, saying, "For we are not as the many, corrupting the word of the Lord", indicates the negligent. And it is well to say that these had increased "upon the earth"; for, thinking earthly things, they were of little worth and more akin to the many; for these are not in heaven, but upon earth. And reasonably, "and daughters were born to them"; for the wicked man is a neglected producer of females. ῃι, 2. And the angels of God, seeing the daughters of men that they were beautiful, took for themselves wives from all whom they chose. A wife is joined to a husband by the Lord; therefore, he who uses marriage without 151 hope in God, receives her [for him]self and not from God, since God also brought the woman to Adam. Therefore the passage is also useful for not doing anything without God. For he who is zealous for an honorable marriage does not look to wealth, nor to noble birth, nor to beauty, if she is licentious. Thus also the holy Abraham sends his servant for a betrothal, having been commanded to receive for Isaac one who is [...] by her ways. Of course, the Spirit of Scripture says about her: "She was a virgin; a man had not known her", showing through "she was a vir[gin]" the purity of her soul, and through "a man had not known her" this very incorruptibility of her body. And that not every marriage is from God, Paul writes: "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers", which he fittingly commanded at the beginning of the proclamation, even if Paul appears [...] "If anyone has an unbelieving wife"; for it is clear that they were joined before faith, whom he did not wish to be separated after faith, lest the word be hindered. And allegorically, God joins understanding and piety and wisdom to a man, that he may beget virtues; for "Wisdom" "bears prudence for a man", and Solomon says about wisdom: "I became a lover of her beauty" and I brought her to live with me. This is the wife God joins; for "the Lord gives wisdom". These, then, about whom the present text speaks, took wives for themselves, not waiting for this to happen from God. For this convicts their irrational desire, that they looked to 152 beauty; for the word "beautiful" means this. It is asked by many whether angels by nature had intercourse with women [...] the saying has another meaning. Some, then, say that hedonistic demons, having fallen in love with bodies, lay with women, but the conception that came from them prevents us from thinking this; for it is not possible for a succession of men to exist in this way. But others say that angels, desiring bodies, had intercourse through sensation, with God arranging this, so that, having been sated of their desire, they might return to that which they had left behind, but allegorizing the women as sensation and bodies, they say this, from which they begot giants, that is, their reasonings and actions. And there are those who say that demons, through hedonism, use wicked men as an instrument, through whom, as it were, it is possible to be with women, they themselves taking pleasure in the sin from them. ῃι, 3. And the Lord God said: My spirit shall not remain in these

62

τὰ [θή]λεα περιποι- ούμενος. Τὰ γὰρ γεννήματα τῆς ψυχῆς τὰ [ε]ὔτονα οἱ περὶ τὰ κάτω στρεφόμενοι ἀναιρεῖν σπουδάζουσιν, χαίροντες περὶ πλοῦτον καὶ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα. Αὐτίκα γοῦν κ[αὶ] τὸ ἑξῆς ῥητὸν τοῦτο παιδεύει· ὡς γὰρ πλῆθος ἐγένοντο, [θ]υγατέρες αὐτοῖς ἐγεννή<θη>σαν αὐτοῖς.

ῃι, 1. Καὶ ἐγένοντο ἡνίκα ἤρξαντο οἱ ἄνθρωποι πολλοὶ γίνεσθαι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ θυγα[τ]έρες ἐγεννήθησαν αὐτοῖς. [Τὸ "6πολ]λοὶ"6 δυνατὸν καὶ ἐπὶ πλήθους, ἐφ' οὗ μάλιστα καὶ κυριόλε[κτον, ἐκλ]αμβάνεσθαι καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ χυδαίου. Καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ γὰρ [εἴρηται· "6Κ]αὶ ἐπλη- θύνθησαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ χυδαῖοι ἐγένον[το]"6. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ "6Πολλοὶ λέγουσι τῇ ψυχῇ μου"6 ἀντὶ το[ῦ] "3χυδαῖ- οι"3· οὐ γὰρ σπουδαῖα ἐπιφέρουσιν ῥήματα. Καὶ Παῦλος δὲ λέγων· "6Οὐ γάρ ἐσμεν ὡς οἱ πολλοὶ καπηλεύοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ Κυρίου"6, τοὺς ἠμελημένους δηλοῖ. Εὖ δὲ καὶ τὸ "6ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς"6 λέγειν τούτους πεπλη- θύνθαι· γήϊνα γὰρ φρονοῦντες εὐτελεῖς ἦσαν καὶ τοῖς πολλοῖσμᾶλλον οἰκειότεροι· οὐ γὰρ ἐν οὐρανῷ οὗτοι, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ γῆς. Εἰκότως δὲ "6καὶ θυγατέρες αὐτοῖς ἐγεννήθησαν αὐτοῖς"6· θηλυτόκον γὰρ ἠμελημένον ὁ φαῦλος. ῃι, 2. Ἰδόντες δὲ οἱ ἄγγελοι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰς θυγατέρας τῶν ἀνθρώπων <ὅτι καλαί εἰσιν>, ἔλαβον ἑαυτοῖς γυναῖκας ἀπὸ πάντων ὧν ἐξελέξαντο. Παρὰ Κυρίου ἁρμόζεται γυνὴ ἀνδρί· διόπερ ὁ χωρὶς 151 τῆς̣ εἰς τὸν Θεὸν ἐλπίδος τῇ συζυγίᾳ χρώμενος [ἑ]αυτῷ καὶ οὐκ ἐκ Θεοῦ δέχεται, ἐπεὶ καὶ τῷ Ἀδὰμ ὁ Θεὸς [τὴ]ν γυναῖκα ἤγαγεν. Ὠφέλιμον οὖν καὶ τὸ ῥητὸν πρὸ[ς τ]ὸ μὴ χωρὶς Θεοῦ τι ποιεῖν. Ὁ γὰρ τὸν τίμιον γάμον σπου- δάζων οὐκ εἰς πλοῦτον ὁρᾷ, οὐκ εἰς εὐγένειαν, οὐκ εἰς εὐμορ[φίαν], ἐὰν ἀκόλαστος ᾖ. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ ἅγιος Ἀβραὰμ ἐ[κπ]έμπει τὸν ἑαυτοῦ παῖδα πρὸς μνηστείαν τρόποις [···]ομένην δέξασθαι τῷ Ἰσαὰκ προστεταγμένος. Ἀμέλει γοῦν καὶ τὸ συγγραφικὸν Πνεῦμά φησιν περὶ αὐτῆ[ς·] "6Παρθένος ἦν· ἀνὴρ οὐκ ἔγνω αὐτήν"6, διὰ μὲν τοῦ "6π[αρθ]ένος ἦν"6 καὶ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς δεικνὺς καθαρότητα, διὰ δὲ τοῦ "6ἀνὴρ οὐκ ἔγνω αὐτὴν"6 αὐτὸ τοῦτο τὸ τοῦ σώμ[ατ]ος ἀδιάφθορον. Καὶ ὅτι οὐ πᾶς γάμος ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐστιν, γρ[ά]φει Παῦλος· "6Μὴ γίνεσθε ἑτεροζυγοῦντες ἀπίστοις"6, ὅπερ οἰκείως ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ κηρ̣ύγ̣μ[α]τος προσέταττεν, εἰ καὶ φαίνεται ὁ Παῦλος ·····[·] "6Εἴ τις γυναῖκα ἔχει ἄπιστον"6· δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι πρὸ πίστεως ἦσαν συναφθέντες, οὓς οὐκ ἐβούλετο διαιρεῖσθαι μετὰ τὴν πίστιν ἵνα μὴ ὁ λόγος ἐμποδίζηται. Καὶ πρὸς ἀλληγορίαν δὲ γνώμην καὶ εὐσέβειαν καὶ σοφίαν συνάπτει Θεὸς ἀνδρί, ἵν' ἀπογεννήσῃ ἀρετάς· "6Ἡ σοφία"6 γοῦν "6τίκτει ἀνδρὶ φρόνησιν"6, καὶ Σολομὼν δέ φησιν περὶ τῆς σοφίας· "6Ἐραστὴς ἐγενόμην τοῦ κάλλους αὐτῆς"6 καὶ ἤγαγον αὐτὴν πρὸς συμβίωσιν ἐμαυτῷ. Ταύτην τὴν γυναῖκα ὁ Θεὸς ἁρμόζει· ὁ γὰρ "6Κύριος δίδωσιν σοφίαν"6. Οὗτοι οὖν περὶ ὧν τὰ προκείμενα ἑαυτοῖς ἔλαβον γυναῖκας, οὐκ ἐκδεξάμενοι παρὰ Θεοῦ το[ῦτο] γενέσθαι. Τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτῶν ἐλέγχει τὴν ἄλογον ἐπιθυμίαν ὅτι πρὸς 152 εὐμορφίαν ἔβλεψαν· τὸ γὰρ "6καλαὶ"6 τοῦτο σημαίνει. Ζητ[ε]ῖται παρὰ πολλοῖς πότερον ἄγγελοι φύσει συνεμί- γησαν ταῖς γυναιξὶν ····ν ἕτερον ἔχει τὸ λεγόμενον. Ἔ[νιο]ι μὲν οὖν φασιν ἡδυπαθεῖς δαίμονας ἐρασθέντας [σ]ωμάτων γυναιξὶν συνεύνασθαι, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο νοεῖν κωλύει ἡ γενομένη ἐξ αὐτῶν σύλλημψις· οὐ γὰρ οἷόν τ[ε] ἀνθρώ- πων διαδοχὴν ὑπᾶρξαι οὕτως. Ἕτεροι δέ φασιν ὅτι [ἄγ]γελοι τῶν σωμάτων ἐπιθυμήσαντες αἰσθήσει συνε- [πλ]α´̣κησαν Θεοῦ τοῦτο οἰκονομοῦντος, ἵνα κορεσθέντες τοῦ πόθου ἐπιστρέψωσιν εἰς ὃ καταλελοίπασιν, ἀλλη- γο[ρο]ῦντες δὲ τὰς γυναῖκας εἰς τὴν αἴσθησιν καὶ τὰ σώματα τοῦτό φασιν, ἐξ ὧν γίγαν[τας τ]οὺς λογισμοὺς καὶ πράξεις ἀπεγέννησαν. Εἰσὶ δ' οἱ φάσκοντες ὡς δαίμονες δι' ἡδυπαθείας ὀργάνῳ χρῶνται φαύλοις ἀνθρώ- ποις, δι' ὧν ὥσπερ οἷόν τε συνεῖναι γυναιξίν, τῇ ἀπ' ἐκείνων ἁμαρτίᾳ αὐτοὶ ἡδόμενοι. ῃι, 3. Καὶ εἶπεν Κύριος ὁ Θεός· Οὐ μὴ καταμείνῃ τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐν τοῖς