Homer frequently alludes to the "fierce race of giants;" and describes Otys and Ephialtes, of whom see Gen. xi. 6. Herodotus gives the following description, from the lips of a native of Tegea, of the coffin of Orestes: "Near this place (Tegea), as I was sinking a well, I found a coffin seven cubits long. I never believed that men were formerly of larger dimensions than at present; but when I opened it I discovered a body equal in length to the coffin. I correctly measured it and placed it again where I had found it."-HDT. 1. 1. c. 68. The remark of the Tegean, that he had never believed in the existence of giants, shows that the tradition of a race of greater dimensions than at present was common in those days. The Priest of Jupiter, at Thebes, also 66 Asserted, that in former times immortal beings had reigned in Egypt, and that they had communication with men."-HDT. 1. 2. c. 144. Diodorus says that, at the time to which the Greeks refer the birth of Hercules"The earth had no longer strength to produce giants; neither were there any in those days, namely, the age next before the Trojan war; but only at the first generation and beginning of mankind, as the Egyptians assert."-DIOD. SIC. 1. I. c. 24. Plutarch, in his Life of Theseus, says: "Those times produced men of strong and indefatigable powers of body, and of extraordinary swiftness and agility; but they applied those powers to nothing just or useful; on the contrary, their genius, their disposition, and their pleasures, tended only to insolence, to violence, and rapine.”—PLUT. Thes. c. 6. "A mountain of the island of Crete having been burst asunder by the action of an earthquake, a body was found there standing upright, forty-six cubits in height; by some persons it was supposed to have been that of Orion; while others, again, were of opinion that it was that of Otus. It is generally believed, from what is stated in ancient records, that the body of Orestes, which was disinterred by command of an oracle, was seven cubits in height. "The tallest man that has been seen in our time, was one Gabbaras by name, who was brought from Arabia by the Emperor Claudius, his height was nine feet and as many inches."-PLIN. Hist. Nat. 1. vII. c. 16. See Gen. XI. 6. The allusions to the subsequent degeneracy of mankind, their shortened lives, their diminished stature, and their depraved habits, are too frequent to be more than casually noticed here. "Tydides stoops, and from the fields, Heaved with vast force, a rocky fragment wields; Not two strong men th' enormous weight could raise, -Such men as live in these degenerate days."-Hoм. Il. 1. 5. v. 302. See also 1. XII. v. 447, and 1. xx. v. 285. "The gods distributed the whole earth, here into larger and there into smaller portions, procuring for themselves temples and public sacrifices, and Poseidon in particular, taking as his lot the Atlantic Islands, begot children by a mortal woman. "For many generations, as long as the natural power of the gods sufficed them, they remained obedient to the laws and kindly affected towards the divine nature to which they were allied; for they possessed true and altogether lofty ideas, and practical mildness, united with wisdom, in reference to the casual occurrences of life and towards each other. "But when the divine portion within them became extinct, through much and frequent admixture of the mortal nature, and the manners of men began to hold sway, through inability to bear present events they began to exhibit unbecoming conduct, and to the intelligent beholder appeared base, and filled with avarice and unjust power. "Zeus, however, the god of gods, who rules according to the laws and is able to see into such things, perceiving an honourable race in a condition of wretchedness, and wishing to inflict punishment upon them," &c. [The remainder of this sentence is lost.] PLAT. Crit. c. 7 & 12. "What an unworthy and degenerate race Such mighty bulky animals before, Now bears a puny insect, and no more."-LUCRET. de rer. nat. 1. II. v. 1149. "What feels not Time's consuming rage ? More vicious than their father's age, Of manners impious, bold, and base; And yet, with crimes to us unknown, Our sons shall make the coming age their own."—HOR. 1. 111. carm.6. "Even in his time, Mæonides could trace Some diminution of the human race: Now, earth, grown old and frigid, rears with pain A pigmy brood, a weak and wicked train; Juv. Sat. xv. v.69. 6. It repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. "The voice of Jove is heard from heaven.- Stop, friends, and grant to me, who grieve for you, that I may save you !'"-MAX. TYR. Diss. 36. Envy is in the same sense ascribed to the Deity by Homer, Herodotus, and others. See Exodus xx. 5. 11. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt: for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. Hesiod, speaking of those who lived during the silver age, says: "Their frantic follies wrought them pain and woe; Nor mutual outrage would their hand forego; Nor would they serve the gods, nor altars raise, That in just cities shed their holy blaze. Them angry Jove ingulf'd, who dared refuse The gods their glory and their sacred dues."-HES. Oper. et Dier. v. 126.. Still more impious was the third race. Strong, with the ashen spear, and fierce and bold; Their thoughts were bent on violence alone, The deed of battle, and the dying groan; Bloody their feasts, with wheaten bread unbless'd ; Of adamant was each unyielding breast."―IBID. v. 143. "The poets calumniously assert those to have perpetrated and suffered more atrocious things, who are born from gods, than those who were begotten by the most wicked men."-ISOCR. Orat. XI. "These men soon passed away, and in their place Far viler sons arose the brazen race; They first the stubborn ore obedient made, And forged-unhallowed skill-the murderous blade. The patient ox, long wont to till the soil, To tread the corn, and share his master's toil, Dragged from his stall-poor harmless slaughtered beast Gave to his cruel lord a bloody feast. Justice was shocked-the blood-stained earth she flies Jove bids her welcome to her native skies."-ARAT. Phænom. v. 129. "But when this earth with impious crime was stained, Nor let the eye of man their forms profane."-CATUL. Carm. LXIV. v.398. "Pure and unmixed the world's first ages rolled: Jove for the just preserved those happy climes."—HOR. I. v. carm. 16. A warlike offspring, prompt to bloody rage. Not impions yet. Hard steel succeeded then : And stubborn as the metal were the men. Truth, modesty, and shame, the world forsook: Faith flies, and piety in exile mourns; And justice, here oppressed, to heaven returns.”—Ov. Met. I. 1. v. 125. 9. ¶ These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. "The sea gave Nereus life, unerring seer And true; most ancient of his race, whom all This account of Nereus, the unerring prophet, the prudent, the just, the merciful, born from the sea, may be compared with Noah, the preacher of righteousness, the just man, who was born as it were from the deluge, into the new world. Ovid says of Deucalion and Pyrrha, who are, in his account, the sole survivors of the flood, "The most upright of mortal men was he, The most sincere and holy woman she."-Ov. Metam. I. I. v. 322. 22. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. It is said of the ship Argo "Alector's son, inspir'd by Pallas, wrought, And fram'd the vessel, as the goddess taught. APOL. RHOD. Arg. 1. 1. v. 111. GENESIS VII. 2. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female; and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. The Levitical law of distinction between clean and unclean was not yet given: but certain animals appear to have been always considered unclean by nature. "Horses, beasts of burden, and other animals, profane and unclean, were consumed in this time of extremity."-TAC. Hist. 1. Iv. c. 60. 18. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 21. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man : 22. All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. 23. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. 24. "In tales of ancient lore 'tis said O'er earth, the whelming waters spread, Urged all their congregated force. But Jove's high will his headlong course Bade the usurping foe restrain, And sink absorbed the refluent main."-PIND. Olymp. IX. v. 75. "I remarked that shells are found on the mountains of Egypt."-HDT. 1. II. c. 12. "There have been frequent destructions of the human race through deluges and diseases, and many other events, in which some small family of mankind was left. PLAT. de leg. 1. tii. c. 1. "Jove spread the sluices of the skies Dolphins and orcs, wallowed unwieldily."-LYCOPHR. Cassand. v. 79. "In the deluge which happened in the time of Deucalion, almost all flesh died." DIOD. SIC. 1. 1. c. 10. "Eratosthenes points out as an interesting subject for disquisition, the fact of our finding, often quite inland, two or three thousand stadia from the sea, vast numbers of muscle, oyster, and scallop shells, and salt water lakes."-STRAB. 1. I. c. 3. Sylla took Athens on the Calends of March, when the Athenians were performing many rites, in memory of the destruction of the country by water, for the deluge was believed to have happened about that time of the year."-PLUT. Sull. c. 14. "The great deluge of Deucalion drowned everything that had life; one ark, containing the remnant of the human race, alone being saved."-LUCIAN. de Saltat. c. 39. "The history of Deucalion I have heard related by the Greeks after their manner, and it runs thus:- The present race of men is not the same as at the beginning; but those of the first race all perished. Mankind, as they now are, are a new and second race, that were spread abroad again by Deucalion in these vast numbers. Of those first men it is reported that they were haughty, fierce people, who committed heinous iniquities; for they neither kept their oath, nor exercised hospitality, nor spared the vanquished, though imploring mercy. For all this, however, a horrible calamity came over them. All at once the waters burst forth from all parts of the earth, prodigious showers of rain poured down from above, the rivers swelled and overflowed, the sea rose far above its shores; in short, all was water and all were drowned. Deucalion alone was preserved, on account of his piety and good nature, for the propagation of a new race, and that in the following manner. He had a very large chest, into which he packed his wife and children, and when they were all in, he, at last, went in himself. Just as he was entering there came running to him swine and horses, and all kinds of wild beasts and creeping creatures; in one word, every animal that feeds upon the earth, pairwise. He took them all in, and Jupiter instilled into them such peaceful dispositions that they did him no harm; but they lived all together in this delightful concord: and so they were all preserved in this single chest as in a ship, as long as the flood lasted. This the Greeks relate touching Deucalion. LUCIAN. de dea Syria, c. 12 "Seas once prevailed, nor could the towns withstand LUCRET. de rer. nat. 1. v. v. 412. "When to the mountain-summit Proteus drove His sea-born herd, and where the woodland dove And every timorous native of the plain High-floating swam amid the boundless rain."- HOR. I. I. carm. 2. "The skies, from pole to pole, with peals resound And showers, enlarged, come pouring on the ground. Then, clad in colours of a various dye, Junonian Iris breeds a new supply To feed the clouds: impetuous rain descends; The bearded corn beneath the burden bends; Defrauded clowns deplore their perished grain : And the long labours of the year are vain. Then, with his mace, the monarch struck the ground; The expanded waters gather on the plain: They float the fields, and overtop the grain; Then reaching onwards, with a sweepy sway, Bear flocks, and folds, and labouring hinds away. Now seas and earth were in confusion lost; A world of waters, and without a coast. The frighted wolf now swims among the sheep; The yellow lion wanders in the deep: His rapid force no longer helps the boar: |