The Sons of Seth and the Daughters of Cain

You have put forward two questions of no small importance, and I will answer them as well as I can, in the order in which you raised them. We cannot possibly believe that spiritual beings can have bodily intercourse with women. And if this could ever have literally happened, why does it not also happen sometimes now? Why do we not see some people born of women in the same way, by the agency of demons, without intercourse with men? All the more so, since it is clear that demons delight in the filth of lust, which they would certainly rather bring about by their own agency than through men, if they could possibly manage it. As Ecclesiastes declares: “What is it that has been? The same that is. And what is it that has been done? The same that is done. And there is nothing new that can be said under the sun, so that a man can say, Look, this is new; for it has already been in the ages that were before us.” [a]

But the question you raised may be resolved in this way. After the death of righteous Abel, so that the whole human race might not spring from a wicked man who killed his brother, Seth was born in place of the brother who was slain, to take his brother’s place not only in descendants but also in righteousness and goodness. His offspring, following the example of their father’s goodness, always kept apart from dealings and company with their relatives descended from wicked Cain. The difference between the two family lines tells us this very clearly, where it says: “Adam fathered Seth, Seth fathered Enos, Enos fathered Cainan, and Cainan fathered Mahalaleel, and Mahalaleel fathered Jared, Jared fathered Enoch, Enoch fathered Methuselah, Methuselah fathered Lamech, Lamech fathered Noah.” And the line of Cain is given separately, as follows: “Cain fathered Enoch, Enoch fathered Cainan, Cainan fathered Mahalaleel, Mahalaleel fathered Methuselah, Methuselah fathered Lamech, Lamech fathered Jabal and Jubal.” So the line that sprang from the seed of righteous Seth always kept to its own kin, and for a long time it continued in the holiness of its fathers and ancestors, untouched by the blasphemies and the wickedness of an evil offspring, which had a seed of sin planted in it, handed down, as it were, from its ancestors. As long, then, as that separation of the lines continued, the seed of Seth, since it sprang from an excellent root, was called “angels of God” because of its holiness, or, as some copies have it, “sons of God.” The others, on the contrary, because of their own and their fathers’ wickedness and their earthly deeds, were called “children of men.”

Up to this time, then, there was that holy and wholesome separation between them. But after this the sons of Seth, who were the sons of God, saw the daughters of those born of the line of Cain. Inflamed with desire for their beauty, they took wives from among them. These wives taught their husbands the wickedness of their own fathers, and at once led them astray from their inborn holiness and the single-mindedness of their forefathers. This saying fits them closely enough: “I have said, You are gods, and you are all children of the Most High. But you will die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” They fell away from that true study of natural philosophy handed down to them by their ancestors. The first man had at once traced out the study of all nature, and he could grasp it clearly and pass it on to his descendants on sure grounds, since he had seen the infancy of this world while it was still, so to speak, tender and throbbing and unformed. There was in him not only such fullness of wisdom but also the grace of prophecy, given by divine inspiration. So while he was still an untaught inhabitant of this world, he gave names to all living creatures. He not only knew the fury and poison of every kind of beast and serpent, but also distinguished the powers of plants and trees and the natures of stones, and the changes of seasons he had not yet experienced. So he could well say: “The Lord has given me true knowledge of the things that are: to know the order of the whole world and the powers of the elements; the beginning and the end and the middle of times; the alternations of their courses and the changes of their seasons; the cycles of the year and the positions of the stars; the natures of living creatures and the rage of wild beasts; the force of winds and the reasonings of men; the varieties of plants and the powers of roots; and all such things as are hidden and open I have learned.”

This knowledge of all nature, then, the seed of Seth received through successive generations, handed down from the fathers, as long as it remained separate from the wicked line. And as it had received it in holiness, so it used it to promote the glory of God and the needs of everyday life. But when it had been mingled with the evil generation, at the prompting of demons it turned what it had innocently learned to profane and harmful uses. Out of that knowledge it boldly taught the occult arts of wizards and enchantments and magical superstitions, teaching its descendants to forsake the holy worship of God and to honor and worship either the elements or fire or the demons of the air.

How was it, then, that this knowledge of the occult arts we have spoken of did not perish in the flood, but became known to the ages that followed? That, I think, should be briefly explained, since the course of this discussion suggests it, although the answer to the question raised hardly requires it. As ancient traditions tell us, Ham the son of Noah had been taught these superstitions and wicked and profane arts. He knew that he could not possibly bring any book on these subjects into the ark, which he was to enter with his good father and holy brothers. So he engraved these wicked arts and profane devices on plates of various metals, which the waters of the flood could not destroy, and on hard rocks. When the flood was over, he searched for them with the same prying curiosity with which he had hidden them, and so passed on to his descendants a seedbed of profanity and never-ending sin. In this way that common notion, by which people believe that angels handed on enchantments and various arts to men, is in truth fulfilled.

From these sons of Seth, then, and daughters of Cain, as we have said, still worse children were born. They became mighty hunters, violent and most savage men, who were called giants because of the size of their bodies and their cruelty and wickedness. They were the first to begin harassing their neighbors and practicing plunder among men, getting their living by robbery rather than being content with the sweat and labor of toil. And their wickedness grew to such a pitch that the world could only be cleansed by the flood and deluge. So when the sons of Seth, driven by their lust, had broken that command which had been kept for a long while by natural instinct from the beginning of the world, it had to be restored afterward by the letter of the law: “You shall not give your daughter to his son as a wife, nor take a wife from his daughters for your son; for they will lead your hearts astray to depart from your God, and to follow their gods and serve them.”