{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>But some are moved by the fact that we have read that the\r\nfruit of the connection between those who are called angels of\r\nGod and the women they loved were not men like our own\r\nbreed, but giants; just as if there were not born even in our\r\nown time (as I have mentioned above) men of much greater\r\nsize than the ordinary stature. Was there not at Rome a few\r\nyears ago, when the destruction of the city now accomplished\r\nby the Goths was drawing near, a woman, with her father and\r\nmother, who by her gigantic size overtopped all others? Surprising\r\ncrowds from all quarters came to see her, and that\r\nwhich struck them most was the circumstance that neither\r\nof her parents were quite up to the tallest ordinary stature.\r\nGiants therefore might well be born, even before the sons of\r\nGod, who are also called angels of God, formed a connection<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_94\">[Pg 94]</a></span>\r\nwith the daughters of men, or of those living according to men,\r\nthat is to say, before the sons of Seth formed a connection\r\nwith the daughters of Cain. For thus speaks even the\r\ncanonical Scripture itself in the book in which we read of\r\nthis; its words are: \"And it came to pass, when men began\r\nto multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born\r\nunto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men\r\nthat they were fair [good]; and they took them wives of all\r\nwhich they chose. And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall\r\nnot always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his\r\ndays shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were\r\ngiants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when\r\nthe sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they\r\nbare children to them, the same became the giants, men of\r\nrenown.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_211_211\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_211_211\">[211]</a> These words of the divine book sufficiently indicate\r\nthat already there were giants in the earth in those days, in\r\nwhich the sons of God took wives of the children of men,\r\nwhen they loved them because they were good, that is, fair.\r\nFor it is the custom of this Scripture to call those who are\r\nbeautiful in appearance \"good.\" But after this connection\r\nhad been formed, then too were giants born. For the words\r\nare: \"There were giants in the earth in those days, <i>and also\r\nafter that</i>, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters\r\nof men.\" Therefore there were giants both before, \"in those\r\ndays,\" and \"also after that.\" And the words, \"they bare\r\nchildren to them,\" show plainly enough that before the sons\r\nof God fell in this fashion they begat children to God, not to\r\nthemselves,—that is to say, not moved by the lust of sexual\r\nintercourse, but discharging the duty of propagation, intending\r\nto produce not a family to gratify their own pride, but citizens\r\nto people the city of God; and to these they as God's angels\r\nwould bear the message, that they should place their hope in\r\nGod, like him who was born of Seth the son of resurrection,\r\nand who hoped to call on the name of the Lord God, in which\r\nhope they and their offspring would be co-heirs of eternal blessings,\r\nand brethren in the family of which God is the Father.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK FIFTEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-157"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"d06a95500c5b9b6d402ca9c87de73a7843b21521404882c73bca7db7b13b49aa","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"GEN","chapter":6,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Gen. vi. 1-4","verse":1,"verse_end":4}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_211_211","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Original transcription title leaves state T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871; printed translator allocation retained. Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_211_211","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_211_211\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_211_211\"><span class=\"label\">[211]</span></a> Gen. vi. 1-4. Lactantius (<i>Inst.</i> ii. 15), Sulpicius Severus (<i>Hist.</i> i. 2), and\r\nothers suppose from this passage that angels had commerce with the daughters\r\nof men. See further references in the Commentary of Pererius <i>in loc</i>.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_211_211","text_sha256":"76a9ac1dc3e2d94dcb48940660853521a6299e30898321541ea25499d1dd608f","verified":false,"work_id":null}