The Works of Philo (complete)

Therefore he sits constantly in the road, and not once only, who has an eagerness for, and a care for, patient endurances, in order to watch from his ambush and attack pleasure, to which men in general are accustomed, that fountain of everlasting evils, and so to keep it off, and to eradicate it from the whole district of the soul. Then, as Moses says, proceeding to the natural consequence of his position, he will of necessity bite the heel of the horse ; for it is the especial attribute of patient endurance and temperance to shake and overturn the foundations of vice, which lifts its head on high, and of exerted, and quickly-moved, and unmanageable passion. XXIY. Moses, therefore, represents the serpent that appeared to Eve as planning the death of man, for he records, that God says in his curses, " He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

But he represents the serpent of Dan, which is the one which we are now discussing, as biting the heel of the horse and not of the man, for the serpent of Eve, being the symbol of pleasure, as has been already shown, attacks man, that is to say, the reasoning power which is in every one of us ; for the enjoyment and free use of excessive pleasure is the destruction of the mind ; and the serpent of Dan being a sort of image of vigorous virtue and of patient endui'ance, will bite the horse, who is the emblem of passion and wickedness, because temperance is occupied about the overthrow and destruction of these things.

Accoi'dingly, when they are bitten and when they have fallen, " the horseman also," says Moses, " will fall ;" and the meaning which he conceals under this enigmatical expression is such as this, that we must think it an excellent thing and an object worthy of all labour, that our mind shall not be mounted upon any one of the passions or vices, but that whenever an attempt is made by force to put it upon one of them, we must endeavour to leap off and fall, for such falls produce the most glorious victories. On which account one of the ancients, when challenged to a contest of abuse, said, " I will never engage in such a contest as that in which he who wins is more dishonoured than he who is defeated."

Do you, therefore, my friend, never enter into a contest of evil, and never contend for the pre-eminence in such practices, but rather exert yourself with all your might to escape from them. And if ever, being under the compulsion of some power which is mightier than yourself, you are compelled to engage in such a strife, take care to be without delay defeated ; for then you, being defeated, will be a glorious conqueror, and those who have gained the victory will have got the worst. And do not ever entrust it to a herald to proclaim the victory'of your rival or to the judge to crown ; but do you go yourself and offer to him the acknowledgment of victory and the palm, and crown him, if he will, and bind him with wreaths of triumph, and proclaim him as conqueror yourself, pronoun c- " '^^ "™^ — - H BV .O.H. ,01 •^ T:^::! a'';:^z] ''-' v-^ - as ..s . games! In this contest dicht' Y' '^'''^ P^-es at t ese fite, and passion, and in te n ,p/ ^''"' ^''^^^^^^ to "s of appT tave been defeated, Ld thiri,?'''^^' ^'"^' '"^' ^"J" tSf i he v.eto.y.

How, then, is it natural for the same persons to be indignant at those who insult and assault others privately, and to establish in their cases punishments which cannot be avoided, but yet, in the case of those who commit these assaults publicly, and in assemblies of the people, and in theatres, to establish by law that they shall receive crowns, and that proclamations shall be made in their honour, and all sorts of other glorious circumstances ? For when two opposite opinions are established concerning any one thing, whether it be person or action, it follows of necessity that one or other of them must be wrong, and the other right, for it is impossible for them both to be right : which of the two, then, will you praise deservedly ? Will you not say that that sentence is right which orders those who begin acts of violence to be punished ? You would justly blame the contrary law, which commands fiuch persons to be honoured ; that nothing sacred may be blamed, every such thing must be altogether glorious.

Therefore the Olympian contest is the only one that justly deserves to be called sacred; meaning by this, not that which the inhabitants of Elis celebrate, but that which is instituted for the acquisition of the divine, and Olympian, and genuine virtues. Now, as competitors in this contest, all those have their names inscribed who are very weak in their bodies, but very vigorous in their souls ; and then, having stripped off their clothes, and smeared themselves in the dust, thev do all those actions which belong to skill and to power, omitting nothing which may conduce to their gaining the victory. These men, therefore, get the better of their adversaries : and then, again, they have a competition with one another for the prize of pre-eminence, for they are not air victorious in the same manner, but all are worthy of honour, having routed and overthrown most grievous and formidable enemies ; and he who shows himself superior to all the rest of these is most admirable, and we must not envy him, when he gets the first prize of all the wrestlers. And those who are thought worthv of the second or of the third place, must not be cast down ; for these prizes are proposed for the acquisition of virtue.

But to those who are unable to attain to the very highest eminence, even the acquisition of a moderate prize is serviceable. And it is even said that such is more stable, since it avoids the envy which always sticks to those who are excessively eminent. Therefore it is said in a way to convey much instruction, " The horseman will fall," that if anyone falls from vice, he may be raised up by leaning on good things, and so may stand upright again.

And in a still more instructis'e manner is that other expression used, which bids one not leap off in front, but " fall backwards," since it is always advantageous to be behind-hand in vice and passion ; for it is always good to be beforehand in doing what is good, but to be slack in doing what is disgraceful : and, on the other hand, it is good to come close to the one, but to stand aloof from and to be as far as possible removed from the other. And that man is free from all disorder, to whom it happens to be removed at a distance from the errors of passion. Accordingly, Moses says that he is " awaiting the salvation which comes from God,"* in order that, as far as he is removed from committing iniquity, so far he may also advance in well-doing.

Everything, then, that is requisite has now been said on the subject of a horseman and a lider, and a keeper of sheep and a shepherd, and a tiller of the ground and a husl)andman ; and all the difference existing between each of these pairs has been very accurately defined, as far as it was in our power. It is time now to turn to what follows. Moses, then, introduces the man who is desirous of virtue as not possessing a complete knowledge of the whole business of a husbandman, but only as labouring with diligence at its principles and rudiments ; for he says, " Noah began to be a husbandman. "t And the beginning, as the proverb of the old writers has it, is half of the whole ; as yet, therefore, he is half of the distance removed from the end, and where the end is not attained, it has been often injurious to many persons, to have begun great enterprises. At all events, before now, some persons whose minds were not right, through their thoughts revolving in continued changes, have conceived a notion of some good things, but have derived no advantage from it ; for it has happened that, as they did not attain the end which they desired, they have been overwhelmed by the impetuosity of a • Genesis xlix. 18. f Genesis ix. 20. number of adverse circumstances coming against them, and so tliat good conception has been destroyed.

Was it not on this account that when Cain fancied that he had offered up a blameless sacrifice, an oracle came to him biddinfT him not to feel confidence as a man who had presented a well approved offering ? for that he had not sacrificed with holy and perfect victims. And the oracle is as follovrs : " If thou dost not bring thy offering properly, and if thou dost not distribute it rightly."* What is I'ight, then, hero is the honour of God, and that which is not properly distributed is not right. But let us now examine what meaning is contained under this expression. There are some persons who look upon piety as consisting in the affirmation that all things have been made by God, both what is good and tlie contrary ; to whom we would say that one portion of your opinion is praiseworthy, but the other portion blameable. One portion is praiseworthy, because it properly honours that which alone is worthy to receive honour ; but that portion is blameable, which does so without any discrimination or division.

Por it was not proper to confuse and mingle everything together, nor to declare God the cause of everything without distinction, but to make a difference, and to pronounce him the cause only of those things which are good ; for it is an absurdity to be anxious about priests, taking care that they shall be perfect in their bodies and free from all defect and mutilation, and to be very particular about the animals which are offered in sacrifice, to be sure that they have no defect of any kind whatever, not even the most insignificant possible ; and to appoint men, and to say whom and how many ought to be appointed for this business, whom some call inspectors of blemishes, to take care that the victims may be brought to the altar without any blemish or imperfection, and yet to allow the opinions which are held concerning God to be in confusion in the soul of each individual, and not to take care that they are discriminated by the rule of right reason.

Do you not see that the law pronounces the camel to be an unclean beast, because it chews the cud and does not part the hoof.f And yet, if we considered this sentence as it is expressed in its literal sense, I do not see what reason there is in it when it is interpreted ; but if we look at it in its allegorical meaning, it is very clear and inevitable. For as the animal which che\YS the cud, again masticates the food which is put before it and devoured by it, when it again rises up to its teeth, so also the soul of the man who is fond of learning, when it has received any speculative opinions by hearing them, does not abandon them to forgetfulness, but quietly by itself revolves over every one of them again in its mind in all tranquillity, and so comes to the recollection of them all.

But it is not every memory which is good, but only that which is exerted on good subjects, since it is a most pernicious thing that what is bad should not be forgotten ; on which account, with a view to perfection, it is necessary that the hoofs should be parted, in order that so the faculty of memory, being divided into two sections, the word which flows through the mouth may divide the lips, as being things which nature has made of a two-fold character, and may also separate the advantageous species of memory from that which is mischievous. Again, the dividing the hoof without chewing the cud does not by itself appear to bring any advantage with it. For what advantage is there in distinguishing the natures of things beginning at the top, and going down to the most unimportant points, and yet not to be able to do so in one's self, not to have one's own divisions clearly distinguished, which by some persons are with great felicity named atoms and indivisible portions ? for all these things are manifest displays of intelligence and excessive accuracy, sharpened to a degree of the most acute comprehension. But they have no influence in causing virtue, or in making men live a life free from reproach.

Accordingly, in their daily discussions, the company of sophists all over the world annoys the ears of those whom they meet, by discussing with minute accuracy, and expounding precisely, all expressions of a double and ambiguous character, and distinguishing everytliing which appears to occur to the recollection (and a great many things ai'e fixed deeply in it). Do not these men divide the elements of grammatical speech into consonants and vowels ? And do not some men divide speech into their first principies, noun, verb, and conjunction ? Do not musicians again divide their own science into rhythm, and part, and melody ? and subdivide melody into the chromatic, the enharmonic, and the diatonic species, into the divisions of fourths, and fifths, and the diapason, and into combined and distinct melodies ? Do not geometricians divide their science into two generic lines, the straight line, and the circumference ? And do not other professors of other arts draw careful distinctions between the species which exist in each of their arts, going accurately through them all from beginning to end ?

And tlie whole company of students of philosophy may argue with them on their line of conduct, each going through the studies to which he is accustomed ; because, of all existing things some are corporeal, and some incorporeal; some again are inanimate, and some have vitality ; some are endowed with, others destitute of reason ; some are mortal, others divine ; and of mortals some are male, and some female, these being the two divisions of the human race. Again, of incorporeal things, some are perfect and others imperfect ; and of perfect things, some are questions and interrogations, others are imprecatory or adjurative ; and there are other kinds which have special differences in the elementary principles of such things. Again, there are some things wliich the dialecticians are accustomed to call actions ; and of these some are simple, and others are not simple ; and of those which are not simple some are conjunctive, and others are adjunctive in a greater or lesser degree ; moreover some are disjunctive, and there are others which come under a similar description.

Again, some are true, some are false, some are doubtful ; some possible and some impossible ; some are corruptible, others incorruptible ; some necessary, and others not necessarj ; some are easy of solution, others difficidt to understand; and there are other classifications akin to these. Again, of those which are imperfect there are proximate divisions into what are called categorems and accidents, and other classifications which are subordinate to these.

And although the intellect, when it has sharpened itself so as to render itself more acute than before (as a physician gives strength to bodies), dissects the natures of things, but yet derives no advantage with respect to the acquisiton of virtue ; it •will divide the hoof, being able to divide, and to distinguish, and to discriminate between each separate thing ; but it will not chew the cud so as to avail itself of any useful food which may be able, by means of its recollections, to soften the asperity of the soul which has been engendered by sins, and to produce a really gentle and pleasant motion. Therefore a vast number of those w^ho are called sophists, being admired in their respective cities, and having attracted almost all the world to look upon them with honour, on account of the accuracy of their definitions and their excessive cleverness in inventions, have grown old while vehemently bound by the passions, and have passed their whole life in them, in no respect differing from private individuals who are of no account and are held in no consideration.

For which reason the lawgiver very admiral ly compares those of the sophists who live in this manner to the race of swine, who live a life in no respect pure or brilliant, but confused and disorderly, and who are devoted to the basest habits. For he says that the swine is an unclean animal, because it divides the hoof and does not chew the cud, just as he has pronounced the camel unclean for the contrary reason because it chews the cud and does not divide the hoof. But as many animals as partake of both these qualities are very appropriately described as clean, because they have avoided impropriety in both the aforementioned particulars. For division, without memory, and care, and a diligent examination of what is best, is but an imperfect good ; but the combination and union of the two in the same animal is a most perfect good.

And even the enemies of the soul are afraid of this perfection, whom, as they are no longer able to stand up against it, a genuine peace gets the mastery over. And all those who have attained to a half-perfect or half-established wisdom, are too weak to be able to make any effectual opposition to the brood of sins, which have become confined by long usage, and which have gained strength by time. On this account, when in the time of war the general makes a levy of his army, he does not summon all the youth, not even, though it displays all imaginable willingness and spontaneous readiness to come forAvard to repel the enemy. But he commands some to depart and to remain at home, in order that by continued exercise they may acquire such an amount of military power and skill as may afterwards be sufficient to secure the victory. ^nd the order of this levy is made tbrougli the medium of the heralds of the army when the war is at hand, and already at the very gates. 4nd the heralds will make this announcement : " What man is there who has built a new house, and has not handselled it ?

Let him go and return to his house, that he may not die in the war, and another man handsel it instead of him. And what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not received any joy from the fruit thereof? Let him go and turn away back to his house, that he may not die in the war, and another man be delighted with the fruit of his vineyard. And what man has espoused a wife, and has not received her ? Let him go and return back to his house, that he may not die in the war, and another man take his wife.*

For why, I should say, 0 most excellent man, do you not think it more proper to summon these men to follow you to the contest of war rather than the others, men who have acquired marriages, and houses, and vineyards, and all other kinds of possessions in abundance ? For they Mill most cheerfully undergo dangers, even if they be altogether most formidable, for the sake of the safety of all these things. Since those men who have none of these things which have been enumerated will be very likely to exhibit indifference and inactivity in the war, as having no very important pledges at stake. Or do you think that, just in proportion to the absence of any enjoyment from the possession of such things that they have hitherto felt, will be their apprehension lest they never be able to enjoy such things, and that this will give them energy ? For what advantage from all the possessions that they may have acquired is left to those who have been subdued in war ? But will they not be taken prisoners ?

Then they will immediately suffer for their absence from' the field of battle ; for while they are sitting at home and wallowing in luxury, it is evidently inevitable that their enemies, who are conducting all the operations of the war with energy, will, not merely without any loss, but even without the slightest exertion, make themselves masters of all that they possess. But the multitude of their other allies will cheerfully encounter the contest on behalf of these things. At first sight, indeed, it seems absurd to rely upon the energies or fortune of others ; and especially when it is both an individual and a common danger, involving defeat, and slavery, and utter destruction, which hangs over men's heads, who are able of themselves to encounter the toils and perils of war, and who are not hindered by any disease, or by old age, or by any other disaster. It is rather fitting that those, whom the danger chiefly concerns, should seize their arms and stand in the front battalions and hold their shields over their allies, fighting cheerfully and with a spirit which even courts dangers.

In the next place, will they not have displayed examples, not of treachery only, but of the greatest insensibility, if they allow others to tight in their cause, while they themselves are occupied about their domestic aifairs ? And shall others be willing to incur contests and dangers in the cause of their safety, which they are afraid to encounter for their own ? And shall others cheerfully endure scarcity of provisions, and sleeping on the ground, and other hardships of body and soul, from their desire for victory, while they, covering their houses with stucco and nonsense, so much lifeless ornament, or gathering in their liarvests from their fields, and celebrating the festival of the vintage, or coming into connection, now for the first time, witli virgins who have long since been betrothed to them, and sleeping with them, as if it were tlie most opportune season for marriage, pass their time in such A'anities ?

It is a good thing, no doubt, to take care of one's walls, to collect one's revenues, to feast, to revel in wine, to contract marriages, to go courting the old and withered dames (as the proverb calls them) ; but these are the employments of peace, and to do all these things in the crisis of a war raging in all its freshness and vigour, while neither father, nor brother, nor any relation or connection whatever shares the fatigues of the war ; when this, I say, is the case, must we not say that xmiversal cowardice has occupied the whole house r Oh, but you will say there are at all events myriads of relations who are fighting in their cause. Then, while they are encountering danger to their lives, must not those who are spending their time in luxury and delicate living appear to surpass even the worst of wild beasts in the excess of their inhumanity ? Again, they will say, but it is hard that others, without enduring any labour themselves, should reap the fruits of our labours. Which, then, is worst, that enemies should come into one's inheritance while one is still alive, or that friends and relations should do so after one is dead ?

It is absurdity even to compare things which are so ■nddely different ; and yet it is not inconsistent with reason, not only that all the property which belongs to these men who shun military service, but that even they themselves, too, may become the property of their enemies when they have obtained the mastery. So those, indeed, who die in defence of the general safety, even if they have not enjoyed as yet any advantage from those possessions Avhich they previously had, meet with death in its most pleasant form, considering that, by their saving the others, their property goes to those whom tliey desired to have for their successors.

Therefore the words of the law here admit, perhaps, of all these and even of still more excuses ; but that no one of those who study evil cunning, through his ingenuity in devising excuses, may feel any confidence in their validity, we will proceed with the allegory, and say that, in the first place, the law does not only think it right for men to labour for the acquisition of good things, but also for the eiijoyment of those which they have alrcad}" acquired ; and that it looks upon happiness as consisting in the exercise of perfect virtue, which makes life safe and complete. In the second place, that the question here is not about a house, or a vineyard, or a betrothed and espoused wife, in order that he may marry her as an accepted suitor, and that he who planted the vineyard may gather the fruit thereof and press it out, and then, drinking the unmixed wine, may be gladdened in his heart, and that the man who has built a house may dwell in it ; but tlie question is rather about the faculties of the soul, to which the beginnings, and progress, and perfection of all praiseworthy actions are owing.

Now, the beginnings have usually especial connection with a suitor ; for as he who courts a wife is about to become her husband, since he is not so already, so in the same manner whoever, endued with a good disposition, hopes to marry that well-born and pure maiden, education, courts her immediately. Progress has especial reference to the husbandman ; for as it is an object of particular care to the planter to make his trees grow, so also is it to him, who is devoted to learning, that the speculations of wisdom should receive the greatest possible improvement. And perfection especially belongs to the building of a house when it is finished, but has not yet settled and become firm.

But in all these different circumstances, at the beginning, or in the progress, or at the end of any undertaking, it is alike becoming to men to live without contention, and not engage in the war of the sophists, which is always stirring up a quarrelsome confusion, which tends to the adulteration of the truth ; since the truth is dear to peace, which is at variance with their interests. For if they come to this contest, being private individuals engaging in a struggle against men experienced in warfare, they will by all means be defeated; the one who is only beginning, because he is destitute of experience ; the one who is in a state of progress, because he is still imperfect ; and the one who is perfect, because he is not yet thoroughly practised in virtue. But just as it is necessary that plaster, after [it has been applied to a wall, must become solid and acquire firmness, so also it is indispensable that the souls of those who have attained to perfection, must become strengthened, and be established on firmer foundations by continual study andincessant practice.

And those who do not arrive at this point are by philosophers indeed called wise men, but it is without their own knowledge ; for they say that it is impossible for them who have advanced as far as the perfection of wisdom, and who have now for the first time reached its summit to be aware of their own perfection ; for they affirm that it is impossible for both these things to happen at the same time, namely the arrival at the desired goal, and the apprehension that one has arrived there ; but they affirm that on the border between the two, there is ignorance, of such a sort, that it is not far removed from knowledge, biit that it is very near to it, and close to its doors.

When a man has acquired this, and thoroughly comprehends it, and is entirely acquainted with the powers of his adversaries, it will be his task to war against the company of contentious sophists, for there is good hope that such a man may conquer ; but he who is still impeded by the cloud of ignorance in front of him, and who is not yet able to pour forth the light of knowledge, may safely remain at home ; that is to say, it is well for him not to enter into a contest with respect to those matters with which he is not thoroughly acquainted, but he had better rest and keep quiet. But the man who is elevated by self-sufficiency, not being acquainted with the skill or power of his adversaries, will undoubtedly meet with disaster before he can do anything, and will endure the death of knowledge, which is a more grievous death than that which separates the soul from the body.

And this ought to happen to those who allow themselves to be deceived by the sophists; for when they are not able to find a solution for their sophisms, believing their fallacies as if they were true statements, they die as to the life of knowledire, sufFering; the same thing that thev do who are cajoled by flatterers; for in the case of those men too, their soul, while in a health}^ and genuine state, is driven oiF and overthrown by a friendship which is diseased in its very nature.

We must therefore advise those who are beginning to learn not to go forth into such contests, for they have not sufficient knowledge ; and we must counsel those who are making some progress to abstain from them, because they are not perfect; and those who have now for the first time just attained to perfection, we must urge to forbear, because in some degree their perfection has escaped their own notice. But of those who disregard our warnings, Moses says, " One man will inhabit his house, and another will obtain his vineyard, and another will marry a wife." And the meaning of this is something of this kind : the powers which have been enumerated, of careful beginning, and improvement, and perfection, will never fail altogether, but will at diff'erent times approach and unite themselves wdth diff"erent persons, and will not be always forming the same souls, but will change about, resembling seals; for seals, when they have stamped an impression on one piece of wax, without suffering any alteration tliemselves, though they impress on it a form which is derived from themselves, remain in tlie same condition as before; and if the piece of wax which has been stamped, be melted, and the impression effaced, then another piece may be substituted in its place.

So that, my good friends, do not think, that when you yourselves perish, your powers perish with you; for they, being immortal, have, on account of their own glory, embraced ten thousand other persons before they came to you, who, they perceived, did not behave like you, out of an aversion to danger, shunning their society'', but who rather came forward to meet them, and showed an eagerness to consult their safety. And if any one is a friend of virtue, let him pray that all good things may be implanted in him, and may appear in his soul, like some symmetrical proportion conducing to beauty in a statue or a picture, considering that there ai-e innumerable persons watching at hand, to whom nature will give all these things instead of giving them to him, namely, facility of learning, improvement, and perfection; but it is better that he should shine out rather than they, guarding safely the graces which have been bestowed on him by God; and that he himself should not, by carrying forward destruction, afford an easy prey to his imsparing enemies.

Are we then to say that there is but little use in a beginning to which a fortunate end does not set its seal ? It has often indeed happened that even some who have attained to perfection have still been thought imperfect, from appearing to have improved through their own earnestness alone, and not according to the will of God. And on this account, being exceedingly elated by their vain opinion, and elevated to a great height, they have fallen from a high position to the lowest depths, and so been destroyed. "For if," says Moses, "you have built a new house, you shall also erect a battlement on the house, and then shall commit no murder in your house if any one falls from it."* For the most grievous of all falls is for a man to stumble and fall from the honour due to God ; crowning himself rather than God, and committing domestic murder. For he who does not duly honour the living God kills his own soul : so that the building of education which he has " Deuteronomy xxii, 8. erected is of no advantage to him.

But instruction has a nature which never grows old ; on which account Moses calls its house a new house, for all other things are gradually destroyed by time. But instruction, in proportion as it advances towards perfection, is fresh and vigorous, looking blooming with an ever-flourishing appearance, and putting itself in motion with continual studies. And in his hortatory admonitions Moses recommends that those who have received the most abundant possession of good things should not look upon themselves as the causes of their acquisition, but should "remember God who gave them strength to acquire the power."* This then is the utmost limit of good fortune, and the other things are its beginnings, so that those who forget the end cannot possibly derive any advantage from the acquisitions which they have made. And so the falls which these men endure are selfincurred, through their own self-sufficiency, because they could not endure to call the loving and all-accomplishing God the cause of their good things.

There are also some people who, letting loose every cable of piety, hasten to make a speedy voyage, in the hope of anchoring in its harbours. And afterwards, when they are at no great distance off, but are just on the point of reaching the haven, on a sudden there comes a violent wind, blowing in their teeth and coming upon them closely, which drives back the vessel which was proceeding onwards in its straight course, in such a manner as to destroy a great many of the things which were of use to contribute to a fair voyage ; no one then could blame those people for being still tossed about by the sea, for the slowness, which they have displayed in completing their voyage, has been unintentional on their part. Who then can be likened to them rather than he who prayed what is called the great prayer ? "For if," says Moses, "any one dies in his presence suddenly, then iinmediately the head of his vow shall be polluted and he shall be shaved ;"t and then after saying a few more sentences he thus proceeds, "And the former days shall not be taken into the computation, because the head of his vow was polluted." Now by the two expressions • ■* Deuteronomy viii, 18.

" . + Numbers vi. 9. suddenly and immediately, the involuntary character of the deviation of the soul is manifested. Eor with reference to intentional sins there is need of time to consider where, and when, and how a thing is to be done. But unintentional sins are committed suddenly, w^ithout any consideration, and, if it be possible to say such a thing they strike upon the man without any time at all. For it is very difficult, as in the case of runners, for men, when they first begin to travel by the road which leads to piety, to keep their course straight onward without stumbling and without being out of breath ; since there are innumerable hindrances to every human being, but above all things, that which is the one and only thing in the way of doing good, namely the abstaining from any intentional misdeeds, is of service also to keep off the incalculable number of voluntary sins ; and, in the second place, even of those which are involuntary, they are but few which are committed, and they do not cling to a person for any very long time.

Very beautifully, therefore, has Moses said that the days of unintentional error do not come into the computation {aXoyog)] not only because the error was one without calculation, but also because it is not possible to give an account (X0705) of involuntary offences. Therefore, it often happens, when we are asked the reason of such and such a thing, that we say that we do not know, and that we cannot tell, in that we were not present when they were done, and also that we were ignorant of their being done. It is, therefore, a very rare thing when God gives to any one to keep his life in a steady course from the beginning to the end, without either stumbling or falling ; but escaping both kinds of offences, unintentional as well as intentional, with great speed and owing to the celerity and impetuosity of one's motions.

These things then are here said about beginning and end, because of the instance of the just JVoah, who, after he had acquired the first and elementary principles of the knowledge of husbandly, was unable to reach its furthest limits. For it is said that " he began to be a husbandman, " not that he arrived at the extreme end of complete knowledge: but what is said about his planting we will discuss subsequently.

In the former part of this treatise we have spoken of the art of husbandry as to its genus, dwelling on it at as great a length as the time admitted of; but in this book we will discuss the question of his cultivation of his vineyard with regard to the species as far as it is in our power. Eor Moses represents the juat jS'oah not only as a husbandman, but also especially as occupied with the cultivation of vines, saying, " jVoah began to be a husbandman of the earth ; and he planted a vineyard." * And it is fitting that a man who was about to discuss the whole question of separate plants and manners of cultivation, should first of all acquire an accurate comprehension of the most perfect plants in the universe, and of the great planter and superintendent of them. He then who is the greatest of all planters and the most perfect in art, is the Euler of the universe ; and his plant ia not one which comprises within itself only individual plants, but rather infinite numbers of them springing up like suckers from one root, namely, this world.

Eor after the Creator of the world, reducing that substance, which was in its own nature destitute of order and regularity, into a state of order, and bringing it from a condition of confusion into a distinct system, began to fashion and shape it, he placed the earth and the water in the middle, and the plants of air and fire he drew up from their previously central position to a lofty eminence ; and the aether he arranged all round, placing it as a boundary to and preservation of the things within, from which also it seems that the heaven f derives its name, causing the earth to be borne upon the water in such a way that it continues dry, which, however, there was reason to fear might be dissolved by water ; and this great worker of marvels, moreover, united the air, which was exceedingly I OipavoQ, "heaven;" as if derived from opoQ or ovpog, "a boundary." cold by its own nature, to fire whicli is very hot ; a most surprising miracle.

For how can it be looked upon as anything but a prodigy, for that which would dissolve another thing, to be held together by that which it would dissolve : that is to say, for water to be held together by earth ; and again, for that which is the hottest of all things to be placed upon that which is the coldest without its nature being destroyed, that is to say, for fire to be placed upon air ? And these are the elements of this most perfect plant ; but the very great and all productive plant is this world, of which the aforesaid branches are the main shoots.

We must now therefore consider where God placed its foundations, and in fact, what foundation it has on which it is supported, as a statue is on a pedestal ; certainly we cannot imagine that any body is left outside and wandering about, since God has worked up and arranged every imaginable material throughout the whole universe. For it was fitting that the most perfect and greatest of all works should be made by the greatest of all makers ; and it would not have been the most perfect of works if it had not been filled up by perfect parts, so that this world consists of all earth, and all water, and all air, and all fire, not a single particle, no not the smallest imaginable atom, being omitted. It follows therefore of necessity, that what is outside must either be a vacuum or nothing at all.

If now it is a vacuum, than how can that which is full and solid, and the heaviest of all things, avoid being pressed down by its own weight, since there is no solid thing to hold it up ? from which consideration it would appear to be something like a vision, since the mind is always seeking for some corporeal foundation, such as everything which is moved, must of necessity have : and especially the world, inasmuch as it is the greatest of all bodies, and embraces a multitude of other bodies as its own appropriate parts. If therefore any one wishes to escape from the difficulties of this question which present themselves in the different doubts thus raised, let him speak freely and say that there is nothing in any material of such power as to be able to support this weight of the world. But it is the eternal lawy of the everlasting God which is the most supporting an . ( firm foundation of the universe.

This it is which, being extended from the centre to the borders, and again from the extremities to the centre, runs tlirough the whole unsubdued course of nature, collecting all the parts and binding them firmly together ; for the lather who created them has made it the indissoluble bond of the universe. Very naturally and appropriately therefore, all earth will not be dissolved by all water, which the bosom of the earth contains, nor will fire be extinguished by air, nor. again will air be burnt up by fire, since the divine law establishes itself as a boundary to all these elements, like a vowel among consonants, so that the universe may, as it were, be harmonious in concert with the music expressed by letters ; persuasion, by its own authority,putting an end to the threatening conflicts of contrary natures.

Thus then the plant which bears all things was rooted, and when it was rooted was made strong. But of the particular plants, and those of smaller growth, some were moveable, so as to have their places changed ; and some were made so as, without any such change, to stand steadily in the same place. Those then that are affected by motion, inducing change of place, which we call animals, are attached to the most important portions of the universe ; the terrestrial animals to the earth, the animals which swim to the water, the winged animals to the air and those which can live in the flame to the fire (which last are said to be most evidently produced in Macedonia), and the stars are attached to the heaven. For those who have studied philosophy pronounce the stars also to be animals, being endowed with intellect and pervading the whole universe ; some being planets, and moving by their own intrinsic nature ; and others, that is the fixed stars, being borne along with the revolutions of the universe ; so that they likewise appear to change their places. But those which are regulated according to a nature devoid of all sensation, which are peculiarly called plants, have no participation in that motion which involves a change of place.

But the Creator made two different races on the earth and in the air. In the air, he made the winged animals capable of being perceived by the external senses, and other powers which can by no means be comprehended iu any place I by tlie external senses ; and tbis is the company of incorporeal souls arranged in order, but not in the same classifications. For it is said that some are assigned to mortal bodies, and are again subjected to a 'change of place according to certain defined periodical revolutions ; but that others which have received a more divinely prepared habitation, look down upon the region of the earth, and that in the highest place, near the other itself, the purest souls are placed, which those who have studied philosophy among the Greeks call heroes, but which Moses, by a felicitous appellation, entitles angels ; souls which go as ambassadors and messengers of good from the ruler of all things to his subjects, and messengers also to the king respecting those things of which his subjects have heard. To the earth again he assigned two classes, terrestrial animals and plants, Avishing that she should be at the same time their mother and their nurse.

For, as in the case of woman and every animal of the female sex, fountains of milk spring up in them when they are about to bring forth, in order that they may supply the off'spring that is born of them with necessary and suitable food ; so in a similar manner God has assigned to the earth, which is the mother of all terrestrial animals, all the different species of plants, in order that the animals produced by the earth may have such food as is akin to them, and not alien from their natures. And, indeed, God has caused plants to grow with their heads downwards, having fixed their heads in the deepest parts of the earth ; and having drawn up the heads of the irrational animals from the earth, he has set them up high on long necks, putting their fore feet under their necks as a kind of foundation. But man has received a pre-eminently superior formation.

For of all other animals God has bent the eyes downwards, so that they look upon the ground ; but on the other hand, he has raised the eyes of man so that he may behold the heaven, being not a terrestrial but a celestial plant as the old proverb is.* Pronaque dum spectant animalia csetera terrara, Os homini sublime dedit : ccelumque tueri Jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus. Which may be translated — 4-20 PHILO JUD-EUS. Y. But the others ■who say that our mind is a portion of the ethereal nature, have by this assertion attributed to man a kindred with the air ; but the great Moses has not named the species of the rational soul by a title resembling that of any created being, but has pronounced it an image of the divine and invisible being, making it a coin as it were of sterling metal, stamped and impressed with the seal of God, the impression of which is the eternal word. For, says Moses, " God breathed into man's face the breath of life," * so that it foUows of necessity, that he that received the breath must be fashioned after the model of him who sent it forth.

On which account it is said too, that "Man was made after the image of God," t and not after the image of any created being. It foUows, therefore, since the soul of man has been fashioned in accordance with the archetvpal word of the great cause of all things, that his body also, having been raised up to the purest portion of the universe— the heaven, mtist extend its vision, in order that, by a comparison with what is visible, it may attain to an accurate comprehension of what is invisible.

Since, therefore, it was impossible for any one to perceive the attraction of the mind to the living God, except for those persons alone who were drawn towards him (for that which each person suffers, he alone particularly knows), God has given us the eyes of the body (as an evident and visible image of the invisible eye), which are able to look up to the heaven ; for when the eyes, composed of perishable material, have raised themselves to such a height, as to be able from the region of the earth to mount up to heaven which is removed at so great a distance from the earth, and to reach its utmost heights, how great a course in every direction must we suppose to be within the power of the eyes of the soul ? which, being endowed with wings from their excessive desire to see the living God clearly, reach up not only to the highest regions of the air, but even pass over the boundaries of the whole world, and hasten towards the Uncreate. And wliile all other creatures from their birth With downcast eyes gaze on their kindred earth. He bids man walk erect, and scan the heaven, From whence he sprung, to which his hopes are given.

ABOUT THE PLANTiyG OF XOAH. 4 '21 TI. On this account, those persons who are insatiable in their desire for wisdom and knowledge are said in the sacred oracles to be " called up." * For it is legitimate that those persons should be called up to the Deitv who have been inspired by him. For it would be a terrible tiling if whirlwinds and hurricanes have power to tear trees up by their roots, and to toss them in the air, and to carry off vessels of many tons' burden, though loaded with cargoes, as if they were the lightest things imaginable, out of the middle of the sea; and if even lakes and rivers are raised on high, when their streams actually leave the bosom of the earth, having been drawn up by the ardent and diversified eddies of the winds : and yet, if the mind, which is intrinsically light, cannot be raised up by the nature of the Divine Spirit, which is able to do evervthing: and to subdue all thing's below, and cannot be elevated to an exceeding height ; and especially the mind of the man who studies philosophy in a genuine manner.

For he does not incline downwards to the things dear to the body and to the earth, from which he separates himself, and studies to alienate himself as far as possible ; but he is borne upwards, being insatiably devoted to sublime, holy, magnificent, and happy natures. Therefore, also, Moses will be summoned upwards, the steward and gruardian of the sacred mvsteries of the lining God. For we read in the book of Leviticus, " He called Moses up to him." f Bezeleel also will be summoned up, being thought worthy of the same honours. For him, also, God calls up for the preparation of the sacred furniture and for the care of the sacred works. But he receives only the second honour of this summons, and the all-wise Moses shall have the first place assigned to him. For the former fashions shadows only, like painters do, in which it is not right to form any li\'ing thing. For the very name Bezeleel is interpreted to mean, " working in shadows." But Moses does not make shadows, but the task is assigned to him of forming the archetypal natures of things themselves.

And in other places, also, the great Cause of all things is accustomed to reveal his secrets to some in a more conspicuous • Exodus xix. 20. t Exodus xxxi. 2 is the passage alluded to, and not any Terse in Leviticus. 42Q PHTLO JUD.EUS. and visible manner, as if in tlie pure liglit of tlie sun, and to others more sparely, as though in the shade. YII. Having therefore gone through all the larger plants in the universe, let us see in what manner the all-wise God made the trees which exist in the smaller world, that is to say, in man. In the first place, then, taking our body as if it were a field of deep soil, he created the external senses to be in it as so many channels. And after that, he arranged the place of each separate one of them, as if it had been a fruit-bearing and most useful tree, assigning the sense of hearing to the ear, that of sight to the eyes, that of smell to the nostrils, and each of the other senses and faculties to their kindred and appropriate organs. And the divine man bears his testimony to this account of mine, speaking thus in his Psalms, "

He that planted the ear, doth he not hear ? and he that made the eyes, shall he not see ? " * Moreover, all the different powers which run down as far as the legs and hands, and all the other parts of the body, whether internal or external, are all those of an unimportant kind. But those which are better and more perfect he has rooted in the more central portion ; that which is pre-eminently able to bring forth fruit, the dominant portion of the man. These faculties are perception, comprehension, felicity of conjecture, study, memory, habit, disposition, the various species of art, the firmness of knowledge of different things, the apprehension of the speculations of universal virtue in such a way as is never forgotten. Now, no mortal is competent to plant any one of these things himself. But of all of them together there is one architect, the uncreated God, who has not only made them originally, but who also makes them for and implants them in every individual man that is born. YIII. Now the account of the planting of Paradise is consistent with what has been already said. For it is stated, "

God planted a Paradise in Eden, towards the east ; and there he placed the man whom he has made." t Now, to think that it is here meant that God planted vines, or olive trees, or apple trees, or pomegranates, or any trees of such kinds, is mere incurable folly. For why should he have • Psalm iciv. 9. f Genesis ii. 8. done so ? any one may ask. "Was it that he might have a pleasant abode to spend his time in ? Even the whole world could not be considered a dwelling sufficient for God, the governor of the universe. Would it not appear to be deficient in innumerable other things, so that it could never be looked upon as a place worthily suited to the reception of the great King ? True, indeed, it is impiety to think that the Cause of all things can be contained in that which he has caused, especially as even those trees do not invariably bear their annual fruit. For whose enjoyment and use, then, is it that the Paradise is to produce fruit ? For that of no man.

For there is absolutely no one at all who is represented as inhabiting the Paradise, since Moses says that Grod removed the first man who was created out of the earth, by name Adam, from his original place, and placed him here. And, moreover, God has no need of food any more than he has of anything else ; for it follows necessarily that he who uses food must first of all stand in need of it. And in the second place, that he must have organs adapted for the reception of it, by means of which he can receive it when it enters him ; and then dismiss it from him when he has digested it. But all these things, which are parts of the happiness and blessedness which surround the Great Cause of all things, are inconsistent with the doctrine of those men who represent him as clothed with human form, and influenced by human passions to the utter destruction of all piety and religious feeling — both great virtues ; such notions being contrary to all law and right. IX. We must therefore have recourse to allegory, which is a favourite with men capable of seeing through it; for the sacred oracles most evidently conduct us towards and instigate us to the pursuit of it.

For tliey say that in the Paradise there were plants in no respect similar to those which exist among us ; but they speak of trees of life, trees of immortality, trees of knowledge, of comprehension, of understanding ; trees of the knowledge of good and evil. Now these cannot have been trees of the land, but must indisputably have been plants of a rational soil, which was a road to travel along, leading to virtue, and having for its end life and immortality ; and another road leading to vice, having for its end the loss of life and immortality, that is to say, death. Therefore, we must suppose that the bounteous God plants in the soul, as it were, a paradise of virtues and of the actions in accordance with them, which lead it to perfect happiness. On this account, also, he has assigned a most appropriate place to the Paradise, called Eden (and the name Eden, being interpreted, means ".delight"), an emblem of the soul, which sees right things, and revels amid the virtues, and exults by reason of the abundance and magnitude of its joy ; proposing to itself one source of enjoyment in the place of the innumerable things which are accounted pleasant among men, namely the service of the one wise God.

He, then, who had drunk of this unmixed source of joy, and was a follower of and fellow rejoicer with Moses, and not one of the least valued of that body, in his Psalms addressed his own mind, saying, " Delight thou in the Lord." * Exciting himself and his mind towards heavenly and divine love by these words, and indignantly turning away from the luxury and effeminacy existing among what are called and believed to be human goods ; and being hurried away in his whole heart by divine inspiration and fervour, and finding his joy in God alone. X. And the statement that "the Paradise was in the east," is a proof of what has been here said. Per folly is a thing of darkness and setting, and which brings on the night; but wisdom is a most brilliant thing, radiant all around, and in the truest sense of the word, rising. And, as the sun, when it arises, fills the whole circle of the heaven with its light, so in the same manner, when the beams of virtue shine forth, they make the whole place occupied by the mind full of pure light. Therefore the possessions of man have guards and keepers, very fierce beasts, for the repulse of invading and attacking enemies.

But the possessions of God have rational natures for their guards. For "there," says Moses, "God placed the man whom he had made ; " that is to say, he placed him araong"; the rational virtues alone ; therefore the practices and uses of the virtues have received from God this especial honour beyond the souls of other animals. And therefore, also, it is most expressly and plainly declared that God placed that man which is really man in us, namely, the mind, among the most sacred shoots and plants of excellence and virtue. But among those animals which have no share in mind, no one has ever cultivated any plant worth speaking of, since there is not one of them capable by nature of receiving comprehension. XI. We cannot therefore raise any question as to why it was ordained that all the different species of animals should be collected in the ark which was made at the time of the great deluge, while more were brought into the Paradise. Tor the ark was an emblem of the body, which of necessity therefore contained all the most tameable and ferocious evils of the passions and vices ; but the Paradise contained only the virtues : and the virtues do not receive anything savage or in short anything destitute of reason.

And Moses also speaks very carefully, not representing the man who was made after God's own image, but the man who was formed of clay, as the one who was placed in the paradise. Por the one who was made after the image of God, and stamped with the truth of God, does, as it appears to me, in no respect differ from the tree which bore as its fruit everlasting life. Por they are both imperishable, and have both been thought worthy of the most central position in the dominant part of man. Por it is said that " the tree of life is in the midst of the Paradise." But the other man, he of the composite and more earthly body, who has no justification in uncreated and simple nature, the cultivator of which is the only person who knows how to dwell in the house and in the courts of the Lord. Por Jacob is represented " as a plain man dwelling in a house," * having a disposition full of ingenuity, and compounded and made up of all kinds of materials.

It was natural therefore to place and firmly root the mind in the middle of the paradise, that is, of the universal world, havingin itself faculties which draw it in contrary directions, so that it should be kept in a state of doubt when called upon to discriminate as to what it should choose and what it should avoid, since if it chose the better part it would reap immortents" tality and glory ; and if it chose the worse it would meet with reproach and death. XII. Such then are the trees which the only wise God has planted in rational souls. But Moses, pitying those who were exiled and compelled to quit the paradise of the virtues, addresses a prayer to the absolute authority of God and to his merciful and propitious powers, entreating that in the place from which the earthly mind, Adam, was banished, there a people capable of seeing the truth might be planted. Por he says, " Bring them in and plant thein in the mountain of thy inheritance which thou dost give them ; thou hast made them to sit in thy seat, O Lord ; in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have made.

The Lord shall shall be king of ages, for ever and ever." * Therefore he had learnt, as plainly as any man that ever lived, that God, having fixed the roots and seeds of everything down in the earth, is the cause also of the greatest of all plants, namely this world, shooting up; which world he here seems to speak of enigmatically in the song which I have just quoted, where he calls it the mountain of his inheritance ; since that which is made is the most appropriate possession and inheritance, of him who has made it. Thereforehepraysthatwe may be planted in it, not in order thatwemaybecomeirrational and unmanageable in our natures ; but that, in due obedience to the arrangement of the all-perfect governor, imitating his perpetual and undeviating consistency, we may live a temperate and innocent life. For to be able to live in a strict uniformity with nature, is what the men of old have defined as the end of happiness. And accordingly what is said afterwards is in strict agreement with what is said before, namely, that the world is the beautiful and properly prepared house of God, appreciable by the external senses ; and that he himself made it and that it is not uncreated, as some persons have thought.

And he uses the word "sanctuary," as meaning a splendour emitted from holy objects, an imitation of the archetypal model ; since those things which are beautiful to the external senses are to the intellectual senses models of what is beautiful. The expression that "it was prepared by the hands of God," means that it was made by his world-creatii:g powers. Eut in order tliat no one may suppose that the Creator had need of any one of the things which he created, he adds the most necessary assertion, " Being King of ages for ever and ever." But a king is in need of nothing, but everything which is subject to him is inevitably in need of the king. And some persons have said that God is and is properly called the inheritance of God, the use and enjoyment of which Moses has now prayed may be afforded to us. For, says he, representing us as children just beginning to learn by means of the doctrines and speculations of wisdom, and not leavingusdestitute of the elementsof knowledge, plantthemin sublime and heavenly reason. For this is the most thoroughly prepared inheritance ; the house most completely ready, the abode most entirely suitable, which "thou hast made holy."

For, 0 master, thou art the maker of all good and holy things, as, on theother hand, corruptible creation is of what is evil and profane. Eeign thou throughout infinite eternity over the suppliant soul ; not leaving it for a single moment without a governor. For an uninterrupted service under them is not only better than freedom, but even than the most extensive dominion. XIII. In many people perhaps an inquiry may suggest itself as to what is the meaning of the expression, " In the mountain of thy inheritance." It is plain that God bestows inheritance, but perhaps it is not reasonable to think that he receives inheritances, since everything in the world belongs to him. But perhaps this is said of those who are subject to him as their master, according to some special computation of connection ; just as kings govern indeed all their subjects, but rule their own servants in a different and peculiar manner, whom, they are accustomed to employ as ministers for the care of their bodies and the rest of their manner of life.

And again, though they are lords of all the possessions in their whole country, even of those which appear to belong to private individuals, they nevertheless are accounted owners only of those portions which they can entrust to superintendents and overseers, from whom they receive yearly revenues, which properties they often visit for the sake of relaxation and amusement, when they lay aside for a while the heaviest portion of the burden of the cares which arise to them in the administration of public affairs and in the govern4-28 PHILO JUD.EUS. ment of their kingdoms ; and these possessions are caJlecI especially the royal properties. Moreover all the silver and gold, and other treasures which are stored up in the coffers of their subjects, do all in reality belong more to the rulers than to those wlio possess them. But nevertheless there are some which are peculiarly called the royal treasures, in which those who are appointed collectors of the produce lay up the revenues which are derived from the country.

Do not wonder, therefore, if the company of wise souls is pronounced to be theespecial inheritance of the all-powerful God who has authority and dominion over everything, since he sees most acutely of all beings, exercising the irreproachable and unadulterated eye of the mind, wliich is never shut, but is always wide open and looking intensely into every thing. XIV. And on this account, indeed, it is said in the greater prayer, " Inquire of thy father, and he will tell thee ; of thy elders, and they will reply to thee, when the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he fixed the boundaries of the nations, according to the number of the angels of God, and the portion of the Lord himself was his people Israel."* For, behold, here again, he uses the expression, "the portion and inheritance of God," meaning that disposition which is capable of seeing him, and which sincerely worships him ; and he says that the children of the earth, whom he calls the sons of Adam, were scattered and dispersed, and brought together again, and that a company was formed of them, since they were unable to use right reason as their guide.

For, in real truth, virtue is the cause of harmony and unity, and the opposite disposition is the cause of dissolution and disagreement. Indeed, it is a proof of what has been said,, what happens every year on tlie day called the day of atonement ; for on that day the people are enjoined " to take by lot two goats, one for the Lord, and one to be the scapegoat ;"t that is to say, two reasons, the one in accordance with God, the other consistent with creation. He, therefore, who wishes to exalt the Cause of all things will acquire honour to himself; but he who attributes honour to creation will be banished, being driven from the • Deuteronomy xxxii. 7. + Deuteronomy xv. 6. most sacred places, and compelled to fall into inaccessible and wicked gulfs. XV.

Moses, therefore, has such intimate connection with God, that, relying upon this in a very great degree, he is in the habit of using more fervent and energetic expressions and doctrines than are calculated for the ears of us inferior persons ; for he not only thinks it fit to speak of God as an inheritor, but even, which is a more startling thing to the comprehension, he calls him the inheritance of others ; for to the entire tribe which came to him as a fugitive and a suppliant, he did not think fit to allot only a portion of land, as he did to the other eleven tribes, but he chose that they should receive an especial honour, namely, the priesthood, a possession not of earth, but of heaven. "For thou shalt not be," says God, as Moses represents, "a portion to the tribe of Levi, nor any inheritance among the children of Israel, because the Lord himself is their inheritance."'^'' And again he speaks in the person of God, in his holy oracles, in this manner: "

I am thy portion and inheritance."t For, in real truth, the mind which is perfectly purified, and which knows all the things of creation, knows and recognizes one only God, the TJncreate, whom it approaches, and by whom it is received. For to whom is it permitted to say, " He alone is my God," except to the man who is attached to none of the objects which are inferior to him ? And this is the custom of the Levites ; for the name of Levi, being interpreted, means, " he is to me," because difierent things are honoured by different people, but by him only that which is highest and most excellent, the Cause of all things, XVI. They tell an old story, that some man in ancient times, who had fallen madly in love with the beauty of wisdom, as if it had been the beauty of a most lovely woman, once, when he saw a most sumptuous preparation of unbounded and costly magnificence, looked towards some of his friends, and said, " Behold, O companions, how many things there are of which I have no need!"

And yet he had nothing whatever of even necessary things beyond his mere clothes, so that he was not pufted up with the magnitude of his riches, which has been the case with numbers of '' Deuteronomy x, 9. t Numbers xviii. 20. people ; so that, on this account, he spoke arrogantly against pomp and show. The lawgiver teaches us that we should account those people wise who are not eager to be rich in created tilings, but -who despise all created things in comparison of the friendship of the uncreated God, whom they look upon as the only true wealth, and the boundary of most perfect happiness. Never, then, let those men boast, who have acquired power and sovereignty, as some do, because they have subdued one city, or country, or nation ; and others, because they have acquired the dominion over all the countries of the" earth, to its furthest borders, and over all Grecian and barbarous nations, and over all the rivers and seas, infinite both in number and magnitude.

For if, besides these things, they had made themselves masters (which it is impious even to mention) of that sublime nature which was the only thing that the Creator made free from the bond of slavery and servitude, they would still be looked upon but as private individuals in comparison with the great kings who have received God for their inheritance ; for in proportion as that nature which has acquired a possession is better than the possession itself, and the Creator than the thing created, by so much also are they more royal. XVII. Therefore, some people considered, that they who said that everything was the property of the one good Being, were speaking in an unreasonable manner, looking at the deficiencies and abundance which existed externally, and thinking no one rich who was in want of either money or possessions.

But Moses thinks wisdom a thing of such pre-eminent value, and deserving to be so eagerly sought after, that not only the whole world deserves to be his inheritance, but that he even looks upon the Governor of the universe in that light ; and these are the doctrines, not of men who are halting between two opinions, but of those who are occupied in a firm and sure faith ; since, even now, there are some persons among those who make a show and pretence of piety, who calumniate the literal meaning of this saying, saying that it is neither pious nor safe to speak of God as the inheritance of a man. You say this — I should say to them — because ye have come not from genuine passion, but from a supposititious and illegitimate one, to the investigation of things.

For you thought it a matter of equal consequence for God to be called the inheritance of possessions, of vineyards, and oliveyards, and such matters, and of vrise men ; and ye did not perceive that paintings are said to be the inheritance of painters, and, in short, that any art is said to be the inheritance of the artist, not looked at as an earthly possession, but as a heavenly prize ; for none of such things are the property of any master, but still they are an advantage to those who possess them : so that you, O sycophants, hear of the living God as an inheritance, not in the sense of being a possession, like those which I have enumerated, but as being the most beneficial and greatest of goods to those who think fit to worship the Cause of all good. XVIII. Having, therefore, now said what is proper concerning the original planter and the original plant, let us next proceed, in due order, to the consideration of matters of instruction and imitation.

In the first place, then, the wise Abraham is said " to have planted a field at the well of the oath, and to have called upon the name of the everlasting Lord God."'''' And here there is no peculiar property of the plants mentioned, but only the magnitude of the place. And they who are in the habit of investigating these matters say, that everything which belongs to God has been very carefully and accurately described, both tree and place, and the fruit of the tree. Accordingly, they say that the tree was the field itself, not like those trees which sprung up out of the ground, but rather to those which grow according to the firmly-rooted mind of the man who loves God : and the place, they say, is the well of the oath, and the fruit, the change of the name of the Lord into that of " The Eternal God." And it is necessary further to give the probable explanation of each point of the things here mentioned.

The field, then, being in length a hundred cubits, and as many in breadth, multiplied together according to the nature and character of a square, is composed of ten thousand superficial cubits ; and this is the greatest limit of those numbers which increase from the unit, and also the most perfect : so that the limit is the beginning of numbers, and the end, in those calculations, according to tlie first combination, is tlie number ten thousand ; in reference to which fact, some persons have not erred greatly, who have compared the limit to the startingplace, and the number ten thousand to the goal, and all the numbers between these two to those who contend in a race ; for they, beginning to start from the unit, as from the starting place, come to the number ten thousand as to the goal. Therefore, some persons, departing from these numbers, as from signals, have said that God is the beginning and end of everything, which is a doctrine admirably calculated to engender piety. This doctrine, being implanted in the soul, produces a most beautiful and nutritious fruit, holiness ; and the place most suitable for this fruit, is the well which is called the oath, in which there is a report that no water could be found.

For, says Moses, " the children of Israel, coming thither, reported to him concerning the well which they had digged : and they said, We found no water ; and he called that place, " The Oath."* Let us now consider what is the meaning of this statement. XIX. Those who investigate the nature of things as they actually exist, and who conduct their examinations of each individual matter in no negligent manner, behave very like those men who dig wells ; for they also are seeking springs in an obscure place. And all men have one common desire, to find something to drink. But some men's nature is to be nourished by the food of the soul, and that of others by the food of the body. As, therefore, some of those who have dug wells have often done so without finding water ; so likewise those who advance far in knowledge, and who have made great progress in it, are still often unable to attain to the end which they desire. At all events, they say that men of extensive learning often find fault with their terrible ignorance, for they only just know how far they are removed from the truth.

And there is a story that some man of old time, when he was admired for his wisdom, said, that it was a fine thing that he should be admired, who only just knew that he knows nothing. And choose, if you like, any art you please, whether trifling or important, and the man, too, who is most excellent, and most highly thought of in regard of his skill in it, and then consider if the professions lield out by the art are equal to the performances of the artist ; for if you duly examine the matter, you will find that the performance falls short of the profession, not by a small, but by a vast distance, it being almost impossible for a man to be perfect in any art whatever, which is in continual motion like a fountain, and is constantly pouring forth various species of all kinds of speculations.

On this account, it is most appropriately denominated an oath,' being the most certain sign of faith, comprehending also the testimony of God : for as he who swears, calls God to be a witness to a matter concerning which a question is raised, so it is not possible to swear so truly about any matter, as to the fact that the perfection of no art whatever can be found in the artist who professes it. And the same assertion holds good also with respect to all the other powers which exist in us, or very nearly so ; for, as they say, that no water was found in the well which had been mentioned, so also neither was there the faculty of seeing in the eyes, or that of hearing in the ears, or that of smelling in the nostrils, or, in short, any one of the senses in its corresponding orgaia ; and similarly in the mind, there was not the faculty of comprehension.

For how could it have happened that any one should have made a mistake in what he saw, or in what he heard, or in what he understood, if the comprehensions of each of these faculties had been well established, and if they had had a trustworthy nature of themselves without God implanting accuracy in them ? XX. Having now, therefore, discussed the place sufficiently in which the tree flourishes, let us now, in conclusion, examine also the subject of the fruit: — Now, what the fruit is, Moses will tell us himself: "For the Lord God everlasting," says he, " called it by its name.'"* Therefore the appellations already mentioned reveal the powers existing in the living God ; for one title is that of Lord, according to which he governs ; and the other is God, according to which he is beneficent. For which reason also, in the account of the creation of the world, according to the most holy Moses, the name of God is always assumed by him : for it was fitting tliat the power according to which the Creator, when he was bringing his creatures into the worki, arranged and adorned them, should be invoked also by that creation.

Inasmuch, therefore, as he is a ruler, he has both powers, that, namely, of doing good, and that of doing harm ; regulating his conduct on the principle of requiting him who has done anything. But inasmuch as he is a benefactor, he is inclined only to one of these two courses, namely, to do good. And it would be the greatest possible advantage to the soul no longer to feel any doubt about the power of the king for both purposes, but steadily to emancipate itself from the fear, which is suspended over it, on account of the vastness of his authority, and to kindle and keep alive a most firm hope of the acquisition and enjoyment of blessings arising from his being beneficent by deliberate intention. Now the expression, "everlasting God," is equivalent to, God who bestows gifts, not sometimes giving and sometimes not, but always and incessantly ; it is equivalent to, God who does good uninterruptedly ; to God who, without intermission, is connecting a flow of benefits, coming one after the other ; God, who pours forth blessings upon blessings, who is made up of mercies connected and united ; God, who never omits any single opportunity of doing good ; God, who is also the Lord, so that he is able to injure. XXI.

This also Jacob, the practiser of virtue, asked at the end of his most holy prayers. For he said, |" And the Lord shall be to me as God." AYhich is equivalent to : He will no longer display towards me the despotic power of his absolute authority, but rather the beneficent influence of his universally propitious and saving power, utterly removing the fear with which he is regarded as a master, and filling the soul with affection and benevolence as felt towards a benefactor. AVhat soul could ever conceive thus that the master and ruler of the universe, without changing anything of his own nature, but remaining in the condition in which he always was, is continually kind and uninterruptedly bounteous ? owing to which he is, to those who are happy, the most perfect cause of unlimited and overflowing blessings. And to trust in a king who is not by reason of the magnitude of his authority elated so as to do injury to his ABOUT THE PLANTING OF NOAH. 4o9 subjects, but who, through liis love to mankind, prefers that every one should enjoy happiness without fear, is the greatest possible bulwark of prosperity and security. XXII.

AVhat, therefore, we originally undertook we have now nearly fulfilled, namely, to demonstrate that the fact spoken of must be taken to mean the principle which declares Grod to be the most glorious of all things. The portion of the subject which follows next, is the demonstration that perfection is found in no created thing, but that it does appear in them at times owing to the grace of the great Cause of all things. And the fruit of the tree is, that the graces of God endure for ever and ever, and that they are shed incessantly upon mankind, and never cease. Thus, in truth, the wise man, following the practice of the first and greatest planter, displays his knowledge of husbandry ; and the sacred scripture wishes the labours of husbandry to be performed, even by those of us who are not yet perfect, but who are still reckoned among the middle numbers of those things which are accounted duties ; for it says, " When you go forth into the land which the Lord your God giveth to you, and when you plant every tree which is good for food, you shall completely purify its uncleanness.

For three years it shall be unclean as to its fruit, it shall not be eaten ; but in the fourth year, all its fruit shall be holy, being praised by the Lord. And in the fifth year you shall eat the fruit thereof; and everything that it bears shall be useful to 3'ou : I am the Lord your God."* Therefore it was impossible for the children of Israel, to plant those trees which are eatable, before they arrived in the country which had been given, them hy God ; for he says, " Wlien you go forth into the land, .... and when you plant every" tree which is good for food." So that while we are outside of the promised land, we should not be able to cultivate such trees ; and this is very natural ; for as long as the mind has not entered vipon the path of wisdom, but turns aside and wanders out of the road, it cares only for the trees which do not admit of being cultivated or used for food of men, — trees which are barren and useless, and which, though they bear, bear no fruit which is eatable.

But when the mind, having entered upon the path of wisdom, marches alon^ "with its doctrines, and begins to keep pace with them all, it then cultivates the useful trees, which are capable of bearing eatable fruit, instead of caring for those useless kinds ; it cultivates a mastery over, instead of the indulgence of the passions, and knowledge instead of ignorance, and good instead of evil. Since therefore he who is led into the path of virtue is still at a long distance from the end, it is very naturally laid as an injunction upon the man who plants, to remove the uneleanness of that which is planted. And what this is, we will now consider. XXIII. These duties which are as it were in the middle, appear to me to be properly looked upon in the same light as those trees, which admit of being cultivated and used for food ; for each of them bears most useful fruits, the one for the body, and tlie other for the soul. But in the middle there must necessarily be many injurious plants springing up with and growing along-side of them, which must be removed in order that the better sorts may not be injured.

May I not call the restoration of a deposit a useful plant of the soul ? But still this plant requires purification and exceeding attention. What then is the purification ? This. Having taken a deposit from a man while he is sober, you must not restore it to him while he is drunk, or intemperate, or mad ; for in such a case though he may have received the advantage of having his own back again, he will have no opportunity of being benefited by it. Again. You must not restore a deposit to debtors or to slaves while their creditors or their masters are present ; for that is betraying, and not a restoration of a deposit. Nor must you keep faith in small things in the hope merely of gaining confidence, so as to have greater things entrusted to you. Tor those who fish, and who let down small baits into the sea, with the view of catching larger fish, are not very much to be blamed, as they say that they are providing for the good supply of the market, and in order that they may supply men with unlimited food for every day.

But no one should use as a bait, the restoration of a deposit of small value by way of obtaining a larger one, holding forth in his hands, and displaying the deposit of one individual, and that a trifling one, and in his intention appropriating the deposits of every body, and those too of unspeakable value. If, therefore, you remove the uncleanness of your deposit, as of these trees, namely, the inquiries threatened by plotters, the evils arising from want of opportunity and treachery, and all things of similar kinds ; you will bring into a state of cultivation and usefulness, that Avhich was on the point of becoming wild. XXIV. And in the case of the tree of friendship, it is necessary to cut down and eradicate these things which shoot up by the side of it for the sake of preserving the more valuable plant. And the evil plants which spring up along-side are these : the tricky blandishments of courtesans towards their lovers, and the deceitfulness of parasites to those whom they flatter. For one may see those who make a trafilc of their personal beauty, clinging to their lovers as if they were excessively fond of them ; but they love not them but themselves, and they are eager only for their daily gains.

And as for flatterers, sometimes they conceal unspeakable hatred towards those whom they flatter ; but still, being slaves to gluttony and intemperance, they are on that account induced to pay court to those who can supply their inmioderate appetites. But the tree of science and unadulterated friendship having rejected and discarded these things, will bear fruit of the greatest possible service to those wlio use it, namely, incorruptible good faith. For good-will is a desire that one's neighbour should enjoy good things for his own sake. But courtesans and flatterers are anxious solely for their own advantage, which is the only motive why they should confer pleasure, the first on their lovers, and the latter on the objects of their flatteries. We must therefore cut down all trickeries and flatteries as evil plants growing up near the tree of friendship. XXV. The due attention to sacred rites, and good faith in the matter of sacrifices, are the most excellent of trees ; but along-side of them an evil grows up, namely, superstition, Avhich it is desirable to eradicate before it has time to blossom.

For some persons have fancied the sacrificing of oxen to be piety, and they assign a portion of all that they steal or obtain by denials, or by cheating their creditors, or by plundering, to the altars. Impious wretches that they are ; tliinking that thus they are paying a price to buy themselves off from suffering punishment for their offences. But to such persons I "VTOuld say, O ye men, the tribunal of God is not to be corrupted by bribes ; so that those who have guilty minds will 'be rejected, even if they sacrifice a hundred oxen every day ; and those who are innocent will be received, even if they never sacrifice at all.

Tor God delights in altars on which no fire is burned, but which are frequented by virtues, and which do not blaze with great flame, such as those sacrifices do kindle which are offered by impious men, and whicb are no sacrifices at all, and which serve to remind one of the ignorances and wickedness of each of the sacrificers ; for Moses has somewhere spoken of a sacrifice " reminding one of sin."* All such things therefore, being the causes of great injury, it is necessary to cut off and eradicate, in obedience to the oracle in which it is enjoined " to remove the uucleanuess of the tree which has been planted, bearing eatable fruit. "f XXA''^!. But we, even after we have been instructed, make no progress in learning ; but some persons, having a self-taught natural instinct, purify what is good from the evils which surround it, as Jacob did, he who was surnamed the practicer of virtue ; for he '" peeled the rods, leaving on the white bark, having stripped off all the green;"

J in order that the dark and dusky vanity in the middle being taken away in every case, a white appearance might be displayed, which should be produced so as to be akin to it, not by diversified art but by nature ; in reference to Avhich it is also commanded in the law which was established in cases of leprosy, that " the man who was not infected with any variation of colour, but who was "\\hite all over from the head to the extremity of his feet, should be pure."§ In order that, according to the similitude of the body, those who have discarded the crafty, and unscrupulous, and ambiguous, and uncertain disposition of mind, may embrace the simple, uncoloured, unambiguous, plain complexion of truth ; therefore, to say that the tree is purified, contains a principle, the assertion of which is founded surely in truth, but to make the same statement with respect to the fruit is saying what % Genesis sxx. 37. § Leviticus xiii. 12. is not^ equally clear or credible ; for no cultivator of figs or grapes, or, in sort, of any fruit whatever, purifies tiiem. XXVII. And again Moses says, "

Its fruit shall be impure for three days, it shall not be eaten;"* as if in fact it were customary for it to be purified for ever. We must, therefore, say that this is one of those expressions which have a concealed meaning, since the words themselves are not quite consistent with it ; for the expression is an ambiguous oue ; for it bears one sense of this kind, the fruit shall remain for three years ; and then there is a distinct injunction, '" it shall not be eaten before it is purified." But there is also another meaning, " the fruit of the tree shall for three years be unpurified, and Avhile in that state it shall not be eaten." According, then, to the former statement one may understand it in this manner : the three years being taken for time which is divided into three portions ; for it is the nature of time to be divided into the past, the present, and the future ; therefore the fruit of education will exist, and will endure, and will last unimpaired through all the divisions of time, a statement equivalent to — it will never receive any corruption, for the nature of good is imperishable.

But the fruit which is not purified shall not be eaten ; inasmuch as virtuous reasons, duly purified and rendered souud, nourish the soul, and give vigour to the mind ; but the opposite kinds are not nutritious, but bring disease and destruction on the soul. According to the other meaning, as in the disputes of dialecticians, the word "undemonstrated" is used in a double sense, either of a proposition which it is hard to demonstrate by reason of its difficulty, or of one which is intrinsically so plain as to require no demonstration, and the truth of which is established not by the testimony of any one else, but by its own internal evidence. So also fruit may be understood as not being purified, either when it is so impure as to be difficult to purify, or when it requires no purification, but is bright, and clear, and pure of itself Such now is the fruit of education; being for three years, that is to say for all time, divided as it is into three portions, most completely pure and brilliant, being overshadowed by no injurious thing, and having no need whatever of any wasliings or purifications, or any thing else whatever which tends to cleansing. XXVIII. "

But in the fourth year," says the scripture, " all the fruit of the tree shall be sacred, being praised by the Lord."* The prophetic books appear often to dignify the. number four in many places of the exposition of the law, and most especially in the account of the creation of the universe ; for the light which is perce]-)tible by the outward senses, and held in honour, being that which throws the most brilliant light both upon itself and upon other things, and upon its own parents the sun and the moon, and upon the most sacred company of the stars, which by their rising and setting fix the boundaries of niglit and day, and, moreover, of months and years, and which have shown the nature of number, to which, also, the greatest good of the soul is attributed, Moses says was created on the fourth day. And now he honours this day in a remarkable degree, assigning the fruit of the trees to God, in accordance with no other time than with the fourth year after they are planted ; for this has a principle in it very consistent with nature and with good morals.

At all events it so happens that the roots of the universe, the elements of which the world is composed, are four — earth, water, air, and fire. Also, that the seasons of the year are equal in number, namely, winter and summer, and those others which are between these two, spring and autumn. And as this is the most ancient of all square numbers, it is found to exist in right angles, as the figure of a square in geometry shows. And right angles are manifest examples of correctness of reason. And riglit reason is an everlasting fountain of virtues. It follows, therefore, of necessity that the sides of a square must be all equal to one another. And equality is the parent of justice, wbich is the mistress and ruler of all the virtues, so that it is now proved that this number four is the symbol of equality, and justice, and of all virtue, beyond any other number. And the number four is likewise called "all," because it comprehends in its power the numbers up to ten, and the number ten itself. XXIX.

That it comprehends all the numbers up to itself is manifest to every one ; but that it also comprehends the numbers wliicli come after it, is very easily seen by a calculation of numbers, when we have put them together, one, two, three, four, we shall find what we were doubting about ; for of one and four, the number five will be found to be composed, and of two and four six are made up; the number seven, again, consists of three and four ; again, according to a triple combination of one, and three, and four, the number eight is composed ; also of two, and three, aud four, the number nine ; and the number ten is made of all the numbers togetlier, for one, and two, and three, and four make ten.

On this aceoimt also, Moses said that in the fourth year all the fruit of the tree shall be holy ; for this number has an even, and an entire, and a full, and (as one may almost say) every possible reason in it, because the number ten, of which four is the parent, is the first starting place of all the numbers when put together after the unit ; and the number four and the number ten are both also called '• all," but the number ten is so called by reason of its operation, this number fourw'ith reference to its potentiality. XXX. And Moses very appropriately says that the fruit of education is not only holy bu.t also praised ; for every one of the vii'tues is a holy thing, but most especially is gratitude holy ; but it is impossible to show gratitude to God in a genuine manner, by those means which people in general think the only ones, namely ofteriugs and sacrifices ; for the whole world could not be a temple worthy to be raised to his honour, except by means of praises and hymns, and those too must be such as are sung, iiot by loud voices, but by the invisible and pure mind, which shall raise the shout and song to him.

At all events there is an old saying often quoted, originally invented by wise men, but, as is often the case, handed down in succession to future ages, and one which has not escaped our ears, which are always greedy of instruction, and it is to this efiect, "

When," say they, " the Creator had finished the whole world, he asked of one of his ministers, whether he felt that any thing that was wanting which had not been created of all the things that are in the earth, or in the water, or of all that have received the sublime nature of the air, or the loftiest nature of all the universe, namely, that of the heaven ; and he replied, that every thing every where was perfect and complete ; but that he wished for one thing only, namely for reason, which should he able duly to praise it all, and which should not so much praise as give an accurate account of the exceeding excellence existing throughout, even in these things which appeared the most unimportant and the most obscure ; for lie said that an exact account of the works of God was their most complete and adequate panegyric, since they required no addition of external things to set them forth, but were of such a character that the bare plain truth was their most perfect encomium."