Annotation LXXI, Whether the angels are aerial souls, as Philo thought; or whether the stars are animate, as the same [Philo] reckoned (Genesis 6:2)

Annotatio LXXI

”The sons of God, seeing the daughters of men.” — Genesis 6:2

Philo, in the book On Giants, explaining this, says that the sons of God — whom here Moses [calls] Angels, but the Philosophers call Genii [spirits] — are aerial souls which have descended into bodies.¹ Concerning which opinion, see below. Philo in the same place asserts that the stars are animate, in these words: “Heaven has the stars; for these are wholly immortal and divine souls, and therefore are moved in a circle: because this motion is akin to mind; for the mind of each of these is most perfect.” The same thing he holds in the book On the Making of the Six Days [On the Creation], and in the book On Dreams. On which matter, consult Annotation 108 of this book.