ring to avoid the church
of the evil-doers and not to mingle with the accursed generation of
Cain. And for a while his counsel or command was obeyed.

32. But when Adam died and the authority of the other patriarchs
became an object of scorn, the sons of God who had the promise of the
blessed seed and themselves belonged to the blessed seed, craved from
the tribe of the ungodly, intercourse and espousal. He tersely calls
the sons of the patriarchs the "sons of God," since to them was given
the promise of the blessed seed and they constituted the true Church.
Yielding to the corruptions of the Cainite church they indulged the
flesh themselves and took from the tribe of Cain, as wives and
mistresses, whom and as many as they chose. This Lamech and Noah saw
with pain, and for that reason, perhaps, deferred entering upon
marriage.

33. In reference to this point the Jews fancy foolish things. They
interpret the sons of God to signify demon-lechers by whom that
impious generation was begotten, and that they were called the sons of
God by reason of their spiritual nature. The more moderate ones,
however, refute such folly and represent the sons of the mighty. This
has been aptly disproved by Lyra; for the punishment of the deluge
befell, not alone the mighty, but all flesh, as shall the doom at the
last day.

34. But as regards the demon-lechers and strumpets (incubi and
succubi), I do not deny--nay, I believe--that a demon may be either a
lecher or a strumpet, for I have heard men cite their own experience.
Augustine says that he heard this from trustworthy people whom he was
constrained to believe. Satan is pleased when he can deceive us in
this manner, by assuming the form either of a young man or a young
woman. But that anything may be begotten by a devil and a human being
is simply false. We hear of monstrous births of demon-like features,
and I have even seen some. I am of opinion, however, that they have
been deformed by the devil, but not begotten: or that they are real
devils with a human body either simulated or purloined. For if the
devil, by divine permission, may take possession of the whole man and
change his mind, is it strange that he may disfigure also his body,
causing men to be born sightless or cripples?

35. Hence, the devil may so deceive frivolous people and such as live
without the fear of God that when the devil is in bed, a young man may
think that he has a girl with him, and a girl that she has