Philo of Alexandria · 1702 of 1726

Appendix 2 · From the works of the Hebrew Philo, on Gen 6:7.

Why is it that God, when he threatens to extirpate mankind, does also destroy the irrational animals? Because the irrational animals were not originally created designedly for their own sakes, but for the sake of man, and to perform services of which he might be in need; and when man was destroyed it followed naturally that they should also be destroyed at the same time, when the beings for whose sake they had been created were no longer in existence.