expert and famous in martial performances. He procured what tended to pleasures of the body by that method; and first of all invented the art of making brass. Lamech was also the father of a daughter, whose name was Naamah; and because he was so skilful in matters of divine revelation, that he knew he was to be punished for Cain's murder of his brother, he made that known to his wives. Nay, even while Adam was alive, it came to pass, that the posterity of Cain became exceeding wicked, every one successively dying, one after another, more wicked than the former. They were intolerable in war, and vehement in robberies; and if any one were slow to murder people, yet was he bold in his profligate behaviour, in acting unjustly, and doing injuries for gain. 3. Now Adam, who was the first man, and made out of the earth (for our discourse must now be about him), after Abel was slain, and Cain fled away on account of his murder, was solicitous for posterity, and had a vehement desire of children, he being two hundred and thirty years old; after which time he lived other seven hundred, and then died. He had indeed many other children *, but Seth in particular. As for the rest it would be tedious to name them: I will therefore only endeavour to give an account of those that proceeded from Seth. Now this Seth, when he was brought up, and came to those years in which he could discern what was good, he became a virtuous man; and, as he was himself of an excellent character, so did he leave childrent behind him who imitated his virtues. All these proved to be of good dispositions. They also inhabited the same country without dissensions, and in a happy condition, without any misfortunes falling upon them, till they died. They also were the inventors of that peculiar sort of wisdom which is concerned with the heavenly bodies and their order. And, that their inventions might not be lost before they were sufficiently known, upon Adam's prediction that the world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire, and at another time by the violence and quantity of water, they made two pillars; the one of brick, the other of stone; they inscribed * The number of Adam's children, as says the old tradition, was thirtythree sons, and twenty-three daughters. + What is here said of Seth and his posterity, that they were very good and virtuous, and at the same time very happy, without any considerable misfortunes, for seven generations [see chap. ii. sect. 1. before, and chap. iii. sect. 1. hereafter] is exactly agreeable to the state of the world, and the conduct of Providence in all the first ages. Of Josephus' mistake here, when he took Seth the Son of Adam for Seth or Sesostris, king of Egypt, the erecter of these pillars in the land of Siriad; see Essay on the Old Testament, Appendix, p. 159, 160. Although the main of this relation might be true; and Adam might foretell a Con their discoveries on them both, that in case the pillar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone might remain, and exhibit those discoveries to mankind; and also inform them that there was another pillar of brick erected by them. Now this remains in the land of Siriad to this day. CHAP. III. Concerning the Flood; and after what manner Noah was saved in an Ark, with his kindred; and afterwards delt in the Plain of Shinar. § 1. 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 honours 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* 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. Noah was very uneasy at what they did; and, being displeased at their conduct, persuaded them to change their dispositions and their actions 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. But 2. Now God loved this man for his righteousness. Yet he not only condemned those other men for their wickedness, but determined to destroy the whole race of mankind, and to make another race that should be pure from wickedness, and cutting short their lives, and making their years not so many flagration and a Deluge, which all antiquity witnesses to be an ancient tradition; nay, Seth's posterity might engrave their inventions in astronomy on two such pillars; yet, it is no way incredible that they could survey the deluge, which has buried all such pillars and edifices far under ground, in the sediment of its waters, especially since the like pillars of the Egyptian Seth or Sesostris were extant after the flood, in the land of Siriad, and perhaps in the days of Josephus also, as is shown in the place here referred to. *This notion, that the fallen angels were in some sense the fathers of the old giants, was the constant opinion of antiquity. as they formerly lived, but one hundred and twenty only*, he turned the dry land into sea; and thus were all these men destroyed; but Noah alone was saved; for God suggested to him the following contrivance and way of escape: That he should make an ark of four stories high, three hundred cubits long †, fifty cubits broad, and thirty cubits high. Accordingly he entered into that ark, and his wife, and sons, and their wives, and put into it not only other provisions to support their wants there, but also sent in with the rest all sorts of living creatures, the male and his female, for the preservation of their kinds, and others of them by sevens. Now this ark had firm walls, and a roof, and was braced with cross beams, so that it could not be any way drowned, or overborne by the violence of the water. And thus was Noah, with his family, preserved. Now he was the tenth from Adam, as being the son of Lamech, whose father was Methusela; he was the son of Enoch, the son of Jared; and Jared was the son of Malaleel, who with many of his sisters, were the children of Cain, the son of Enos. Now Enos was the son of Seth, the son of Adam. S. This calamity happened in the sixth hundredth year of Noah's government [age], in the second month ‡, called by the Macedonians Dius, but by the Hebrews Marhesven; for so did they order their year in Egypt. But Moses appointed that Nisan, which is the same with Xanthicus, should be the first month for their festivals, because he brought them out of Egypt in that month. So that this month began the year as to all the solemnities they observed to the honour of God, although he preserved the original order of the months as to selling and buying, and other ordinary affairs. Now he says, that this flood began on the twenty-seventh * Josephus here supposes, that the life of these giants (for of them only do I understand him) was now reduced to 120 years; which is confirmed by the fragment of Enoch, sect. 10. in Authent. Rec. part 1. p. 268. For as to the rest of mankind, Josephus himself confesses their lives were much longer than 120 years, for many generations after the flood, as we shall see presently; and he says, they were gradually shortened till the days of Moses, and then fixed [for some time] at 120, chap. vi. sect. 5. Nor indeed need we suppose that either Enoch or Josephus meant to interpret these 120 years for the life of men before the flood, to be different from the 120 years of God's patience [perhaps while the ark was preparing] till the deluge; which I take to be the meaning of God when he threatened this wicked world, that if they so long continued impenitent, their days should be no more than 120 years. + A cubit is about 21 English inches. Josephus here truly determines, that the year at the flood began about the autumnal equinox; as to what day of the month the flood began, our Hebrew and Samaritan, and perhaps Josephus' own copy, more rightly placed it on the 17th day instead of the 27th, as here; for Josephus agrees with them as to the distance of 150 days to the 17th day of the 7th month, as Gen. vii. ult. with viii, 3. [seventeenth] day of the forementioned month; and this was two thousand six hundred and fifty-six [one thousand five hundred and fifty-six] years from Adam the first man; and the time is written down in our sacred books*, those who then lived having noted down with great accuracy both the births and the deaths of illustrious men. ten 4. For indeed Seth was born when Adam was in his two hundred and thirtieth year, who lived nine hundred and thirty years. Seth begat Enoch in his two hundred and fifth year; who, when he had lived nine hundred and twelve years, delivered the government to Cainan his son, whom he had at his hundred and ninetieth year. He lived nine hundred and five years. Cainan, when he had lived nine hundred and years, had his son Malaleel, who was born in his hundred and seventieth year. This Malaleel, having lived eight hundred and ninety-five years, died, leaving his son Jared, whom he begat when he was at his hundred and sixty-fifth year. He lived nine hundred and sixty-two years; and then his son Enoch succeeded him, who was born when his father was one hundred and sixty-two years old. Now he, when he had lived three hundred and sixty-five years, departed, and went to God; whence it is that they have not written down his death. Now Methusela, the son of Enoch, who was born to him when he was one hundred and sixty-five years old, had Lamech for his son, when he was one hundred and eightyseven years of age; to whom he delivered the government, when he had retained it nine hundred and sixty-nine years. Now Lamech, when he had governed seven hundred and seventy-seven years, appointed Noah his son to be ruler of the people, who was born to Lamech when he was one hundred and eighty-two years old, and retained the government nine hundred and fifty years. These years collected together make up the sum before set down. But let no one inquire into the deaths of these men; for they extended their lives all along, together with their children and grand-children; but let him have regard to their births only. 5. When God gave the signal, and it began to rain, the water poured down forty entire days, till it became fifteen cubits higher than the earth; which was the reason why there were no greater number preserved, since they had no place to fly to. When the rain ceased, the water did but just begin * Josephus here takes notice, that these ancient genealogies were first set down by those that then lived, and from them were transmitted down to posterity; which I suppose to be the true account of that matter. For there is no reason to imagine that men were not taught to read and write soon after they were taught to speak; and perhaps all by the Messiah himself, who, under the Father, was the Creator or Governor of mankind, and who frequently in those early days appeard to them. to abate after one hundred and fifty days; that is, on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, it then ceasing to subside for a little while. After this, the ark rested on the top of a certain mountain in Armenia; which, when Noah understood, he opened it, and seeing a small piece of landabout it, he continued quiet, and conceived some cheerful hopes of deliverance. But a few days afterward, when the water was decreased to a greater degree, he sent out a raven, as desirous to learn whether any other part of the earth were left dry by the water, and whether he might go out of the ark with safety; but the raven returned not. And after seven days, he sent out a dove, to know the state of the ground, which came back to him covered with mud, and bringing an olive branch. Hereby Noah learned that the earth was be come clear of the flood. So after he had stayed seven more days, he sent the living creatures out of the ark; and both he and his family went out, when he also sacrificed to God, and feasted with his companions. However, the Armenians call this place* ATоgaTYELOV, the Place of Descent; for the ark being saved in that place, its remains are showed there by the inhabitants to this day. 6. Now all the writers of the barbarian histories make mention of this flood, and of this ark; among whom is Berossus the Chaldean. For when he was describing the circumstances of the flood, he goes on thus: "It is said, there is still some part of this ship in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyæans; and that some people carry off pieces. of the bitumen, which they take away, and use chiefly as amulets, for the averting of mischiefs."-Hieronymus the Egyptian also, who wrote the Phenician antiquities, and Mnaseas, and a great many more, make mention of the same. Nay, Nicholas of Damascus, in his ninety-sixth book, hath a particular relation about them; where he speaks thus: "There is a great mountain in`Armenia, over Minyas, called Baris, upon which it is reported, that many who fled at the time of the deluge were saved; and that one who was * This aπogaτnov, or place of descent, is the proper rendering of the Armenian name of this very city. It is called in Ptolmey, Naxuana, and by Moses Chorenensis, the Armenian historian, Idsheuan; but at the place itself, Nachidsheuan, which signifies the first place of descent and is a lasting monument of the preservation of Noah in the ark, upon the top of that mountain, at whose foot it was built, as the first city or town after the flood. See Antiq. B. xx. chap. ii. sect. 3. vol. ii. and Moses Chorenensis, p. 71, 72; who also says, p. 19, that another town was related by tradition to have been called Seron, or the place of dispersion, on account of the dispersion of Xisuthrus, or Noah's sons, from thence first made. Whether any remains of this ark be still preserved, as the people of the country suppose, I cannot certainly tell. Mons. Turnfort had not very long since a mind to see the place himself, but met with too great dangers and difficulties to venture through them. VOL. I. C |