The Works of Philo (complete)

And when the Father had heard what he said he praised it all, and at no distant time produced a race, which should be capable of receiving all learning, and of composing hymns of praise, producing them from one of the faculties existing around him, the virgin memory, whose name men in general distort and call her Mnemosyne. XXXi. This is then the purport of that legend of the ancients, and we in accordance with that story say, that it is the most appropriate work of God to confer benefits, and of created beings to show gratitude, since they are unable to give any requital of those benefits beyond gratitude ; for whatever he might be inclined to giv& as a requital for the other things which he has received, will be found to be the private property of him who is the Creator of all things, and not of the nature which offers it.

Having learnt therefore that there is only one employment possible for us of all the things that seem to contribute to the honour of God, namely the display of gratitude, let us at all times and in all places study this, with our voice, and with useful writings, and let us never desist composing encomiastic orations and poems, in order that both the Creator and the world may be honoured by every description of utterance which can be exhibited in either speaking or singing ; the one being, as some has said, the best of all causes, and the other the most perfect of all created things. XXXII. Since therefore all the fruit of the soul is consecrated in the fourth year and the fourth number ; in the fifth year we ourselves shall be allowed the use and enjoyment of it for ourselves ; for the scripture says, "

In the fifth year ye shall eat the fruit thereof;" since it has been established by a perpetual law of nature, that account shall be taken of the creation after the Creator in every thing ; so that even if we are thought worthy of the second place, it must be considered a marvellous thing ; and on this account it assigns to us the fruit of the fifth year, because the number five is the number appropriate to the outward sense : and if one must tell the truth, that which nourishes our minds is the outward sense, which by means of our eyes sets before us the distinctive qualities of colours and forms, and by means of our ears presents us with all the various peculiarities of sounds, and with smells by means of the nose, and with tastes through the medium of the mouth, and which enables us to judge of the yielding softness and resisting hardness, or of softness and roughness, or again of heat and cold, by means of the faculty which is dispersed over the whole body, which we usually denominate touch. XXXIII.

But the most correct example of what has been said, is alForded by the sons of Leah, that is of virtue, not all her sons, but the fourth and fifth ; for with respect to the fourth, Moses says that, then she ceased to bring forth,'-' and his name vsas called Judah, which, being interpreted, is " confession to the Lord," and the fifth she called Issachar, and the name being interpreted, means "reward ;" and after she had brought forth in this manner, the soul immediately spoke and related what it had sufiered ; for says Moses, " She called his name Issachar, which means reward. "t Therefore Judas, the mind which blesses God, and which is without ceasing, devoted to pouring forth hymns of praise and gratitude to him, is himself in truth "the holy and praiseworthy fruit,":J: being produced not by the trees of the earth but by a rational and virtuous nature.

In reference to which, the nature which brought him forth is said to have desisted from bringing forth, since she knew not which wav to turn, when she had come to the limit of perfection ; for of all successful actions which are brought forth, the best and most perfect production is a hymn to the Father of the universe ; and the fifth son is in no respect different from the enjoyment of the trees planted in the fifth year ; for the tiller of the earth after a fashion takes his reward from the trees in the fifth year, and he takes the offspring of the soul, Issachar, who was called the " reward," 444. PHILO JUD^US, and very naturally, being brought forth after the grateful Judah ; for to a grateful person gratitude is a most sufficient reward. Therefore, the fruits of the trees are called the produce of the owners of the trees ; but the fruit of instruction and wisdora is no longer the produce of man, but as Moses says, " of the universal Govei'nor alone ;" for after he has spoken of his produce, he adds, " I am the Lord your God," asserting most distinctly that there is one God, whose fruit is the produce of the soul.

And with this assertion, this oracle delivered by one of the prophets is consistent, " Fruit from me has been found by you. What Avise man will understand this? Will any intelligent person comprehend it?"* For it does not belong to every one, but only to the wise man, to understand whose the fruit of the mind is. XXXIV. Therefore, concerning that most ancient and sacred husbandry, which the Cause of all things uses with reference to the world, that most productive of trees, and concerning that other kind in imitation of it which the virtuous man studies, and concerning the ordinary quaternion of prizes, and the laws and precepts which all tend to the same point, we have now spoken to the best of our power. Let us now consider the vine-planting of the just IN'oah which is a species of husbandry. .For it is said that " Noah began to be a husbandman of the earth, and he planted a vineyard, and drank of the wine, and got drunk.

"t Therefore, the wise man here cultivates with skill and science the tree of drunkenness, though fools enter upon its management in an unartistic and negligent manner, so that it is necessary for us now to speak in a fitting manner about drunkenness ; for we shall presently know the power also of that tree which gives rise to it. Afterwards, w'e will examine with accuracy what has been said by the lawgiver concerning drunkenness, but at present we will examine what determination others have come to on this subject. XXXV. Now, among many philosophers, this question has been investigated witli no slight degree of pains, and the question is proposed in this manner, whether the wise man will get drunk? Therefore, to get druidc is a matter of a twofold nature, one part of it being equivalent to being overcome with wine ; the other, to behaving foolishly in one's cups. But of those who have dealt with this proposition, some have said that the -wise man never takes too much unmixed wine, and never behaves foolishly ; for that the one is an error, and that the other is an efficient cause of error, and that both the one and the other is inconsistent with good conduct.

Others again have asserted, that to be overcome with Avine is appropriate even to a virtuous man, but that to behave foolishly is inconsistent with his character. Tor that the wisdom which is in him is sufficient to resist those things which attempt to do him injury, and to destroy the innovations which they seek to produce in the soul, and that wisdom is endued with a power capable of extinguishing the passions, whether they be fanned by the impetuous gale of furious love, or kindled by abundant and heating wine, and that owing to this power it will always be superior to them. Since also of those who dive beneath a deep river or under the sea, some are destroyed from being ignorant of the art of swim^ming, but others who are possessed of this knowledge are very speedily saved ; and, indeed, a great quantity of wine, inundating the soul like a torrent, sometimes weighs it down and precipitates it to the lowest depth of ignorance, but at other times is unable to part it, because it is supported and borne aloft by saving instruction.

Those again who have not sufficiently observed the greatness of this excess with respect to passion in the wise man, have pressed him down, when he was applying himself to the study of sublime things, from heaven to earth, as those men do who are seeking to catch birds, in order to involve him in disasters similar to their own ; but others, seeing the great height of his virtue, have said that a wise man,if he indulges in wine beyond the bounds of moderation, will by all means cease to be master of himself, and will go astray, and will not only let his hands droop out of weakness, like those athletes do who are defeated, but will also droop his neck and his head, and stumble, and fall down, coming to the ground with his whole body. XXXVI. Having then learnt this beforehand, the wise man will never of his own accord think fit to enter upon a contest of hard drinking, unless there were great things at stake, such as the safety of his country, or the honour of his parents, or the preservation of his children, or of liis nearest relations, or in short, the success and prosperit}' of some important public or private interest.

For he would not take a deadly poison unless the occasion compelled him very strongly to depart from life, as it might urge him to depart from his country. And at all events it is plain, that unmixed wine is a poison, which is the cause, if not of death, at least of madness, and why may we not pronounce madness to be death, since by it the most important thing in us dies, namely, the mind ? But it appears to me that a man would without the shghtest hesitation choose (if a choice was permitted him), that death which separates and disunites the soul and the body as a lesser evil in preference to that greater one — the alienation of the mind. On this account, forsooth, men of old time called sldll in the art of making wine madness {jjMmiiivi\), and called the Bacchae who were carried away under the influence of Aviue, mad women (Ma/vaosj), since wine is the cause of madness and folly to those who indulge in it insatiably. XXXVII. Such then are, as it were, the prefaces of this discussion or investigation.

Let us now go on to the other parts of this question which is divided into two Iieads as is natural ; the one view afiirmiug that the wise man will occasionally be drunk, and the other, on the contrary, insisting that he will not get drunk. Now it is well to ruminate the arguments which are adduced in support of the former view, having first of all taken our beginning from tliis point, that of things some are homonymous, and others are only synonymous. And it is admitted that the being homonymous and the being synonymous are two opposite things, because homonymy is predicated of many subjects which have one common name ; and synonymy is the application of many different names to one subject. Tor instance, the name of dog is beyond all question a homonymy, inasmuch as it comprehends many dissimilar things Avhich are signified by that appellation. Eor there is a terrestrial barking animal called a dog ; there is also a marine monster with the same name ; there is also the star in heaven, which the poets call the autumnal star, because it rises at the beginning of autumn, J for the sake of ripening the fruits and bringing tliem to perfection.

Moreover, there were the philosophers who came from the cynic school, Aristippus and Diogenes ; and others too who chose to practise the same mode of life, an incalculable number of men. Again there are other appellations which differ from one another, but still signify but one thing, as a shaft, a bolt, an arrow ; for all these terms are applied to the weapon which is sent from the string of the bow against the mark ; and again there are the words, oar, scull, and blade, to express the instrument used for propelling a vessel, of equal power with sails ; for whenever a ship, by reason of a calm or of unfavourable winds cannot use its sails, then those, whose business it is, sitting down as rowers, and stretching out their oars on each side like wings, compel it to proceed onwards as if borne on wings ; and so the vessel being borne on the top of the waves, and rather running over them than cutting through them, hastens along with a speedy voyage, and speedily anchors in a safe harbour.

And again, a staff, and a stick, and a cane, are all different appellations of one subject with which we can strike, or support one's self steadilv, and on which one can lean, and do m.any other things besides. And we have enumerated these instances not for the piu'pose of making a long story, but in order that the matter under investigation may be more clearly understood. XXXVIII. The ancients called unmixed wine oJvc:, and also fish. At all events, this latter name is used in very many passages of poetry, so that if those names are accounted synonymous which are applied to one subject, then oho: and //.UucTfjM, and other words derived from them will differ in nothing but sound, and the being overcome with wine (oivouGdai}, and the being drunk (/Mdveiv), are one and the same thinsj. And both these words intimate a takina: of too much wine, which nevertheless there may be many reasons for a good man not turning away from ; and if he be overcome with wine he will also be drunk, being nevertheless not made in any respect the worse by his drunkenness, but remaining the same as if he had simply been well filled with wine.

AVe have now detailed one of the opinions concerning a wise man getting drunk : and the second is as follows : — The men of the present day, with the exception of a small portion of them, do not choose in any way to resemble the men of old times ; but both in mind and action they show that tliey are in no respect agreed with them, but that they differ from them widely. For tliey have made such a revolution as to bring reasons which were sound and healthy into incurable decay and destruction. And in the place of a vigorous and athletic habit, they have brought almost every thing into a state of disease ; and in the place of a full, and strong, and sinewy body, they have rendered it Avealv, inducing au lumatural, and swollen, and sickly habit, filling it up with empty wind alone, which soon bursts by reason of the want of any power to keep it together, when it is extended in the greatest degree.

And the actions of created beings, which are most worthy of attention, and which were, as one may say, masculine actions, those also tliey have made disgraceful feminine instead, and discreditable instead of honourable, so that there are very few persons found, either in deed or in words, inclined to an imitation of the ancient manners. Therefore, the poets and historians who lived in their time, and all other men who devoted themselves to literarv studies, did not confine themselves to soothing and tickling the ears with rhythmical sounds, but, if there was anything broken, so to say, and relaxed in the mind, they roused it up, and whatever there was in it suited to their purpose they improved by initiation into natural philosophy and virtue. But the cooks and confectioners of our time, and those persons who are only artists of superfluous luxury, in the arts of dyeing and making perfumes, are always building up the outward senses with some new colour, or shape, or scent, or flavour, so as utterly to destroy the most important part of us, the mind. XXXIX. And why do I mention these things ? In order to show that the men of the present day do not use wine now as the ancients did.

For now they drink eagerly without once taking breath, till the body and soul are both wholly relaxed, and they keep on bidding their cup-bearers to bring more wine, and are angry with them if they delay while they are cooling what is called by them the hot drink ; and in a vile imitation of the gymnastic contests, they institute a contest among their fellow revellers as to who can drink most wine, in which they do many glorious things to one another, biting one another's ears and noses, and the tips of the fingers of their hands, and any other parts of the body they can get at. Now, these are the contests of revelry while in youth and vigour, and, as one may say, in its prime ; but the others are tiie deeds of that ancient and more old-fashioned sort. For the men of old time began every good action with perfect sacrifices, thinking that in that way the result would be most favourable to them ; and even if the occasion required especial promptitude in action, still they did not begin till they had oftered prayers and sacrifices. But in all cases waited, thinking that haste was not in every case better than slowness.

For speed, which is not accompanied with forethought, is injurious, but slowness, when founded on good hope, is advantageous. Knowing, therefore, that the use and enjoyment of wine require much care, they did not drink unmixed wine either in great quantities or at all times, but only in moderation and on fitting occasions. For first, of all, they oftered up prayers and instituted sacrifices, and then, having propitiated the deity, and having purified their bodies and souls, the former with baths, and the latter with the waters of laws and of right instruction, they then turned their cheerful and rejoicing countenances to more luxurious food, very often not returning home but, walking about in the temples in which they sacrificed, in order that, by keeping in mind their sacrifices, and haWng a due respect for the place, they might enjoy what should be really a most sacred feast, doing no wrong either in word or deed. And this, indeed, is what they say the word /Mdusiv^ to be drunk, derives its name from ; because, /mbto, to dusiv (after sacrificing) it was the custom of the men of old to drink great quantities of wine.

And to whom could the manner of using unmixed wine described above be more appropriate than to wise men to whom the work to be done before drinking, namely, sacrificing, is so appropriate ? For one may almost say that no bad man can really perform sacrifices, not even if he were to bring the altar ten thousand oxen every day without intermission ; for his most important and indispensable oftering, namely his mind, is polluted. And it is impious for G a polluted things to come near to the altar. This, now, is the second point of view in which this question may be regarded, by which we have shown that it is not inconsistent with the character of the wise man to get drunk. XL. There is a third way of looking at this subject, which depends chiefly on the exceeding plausibility of an argument derived from etymology. For some persons think that drunkenness {[if&ri) derives its name not merely from the fact of its being admitted after sacrifice, but also because it is the cause of relaxation {'liQiaig) to the soul.

But the reason of foolish men is relaxed so as to get strength for many sins ; while that of those inclined to be sensible is relaxed, so as to enjoy freedom from care, and cheerfulness, and lightness of heart. For the wise man, when he is intoxicated, becomes more good-humoured than when he is sober ; so that in this respect we should not be at all wrong in saying that he may get drunk. And besides all this, we must likewise add, tliat we are not speaking of a sternlooking and sordid kind of wisdom, contracted by profound thought and ill-humour; but, on the other hand, of that wisdom which wears a tranquil and cheerful appearance, being full of joy and happiness, by which men have often been led on to sport and divert themselves in no inelegant manner, indulging in amusements suitable to their dignified and earnest character, just as in a well-tuned lyre one may have a combination uniting, by means of opposite sounds, in one melodious harmony.

At all events, according to the most holy Moses, the end of all wisdom is amusement and mirth, not such mirth as is pursued by foolish people, uncombined with any prudence, but such as is adniitted even by those who are already grey, not only through old age alone, but also through deep thinking. Do you not see that he speaks of the man who has drunk deeply of that wisdom which is to be derived from a man's own hearing, and learning, and study; not as one who partakes of mirth, but who is actually mirth in itself? This is Isaac, for the name Isaac being interpreted means "laughter," with whose character it is very consistent that he should have been sporting with " perseverance," which the Hebrews call Eebekkah. XLI. But it is not lawful for a private individual to behold the divine instruction of the soul, but the king may behold it, as one with whom wisdom has dwelt for a very long time, if we may not rather say that it dwells with him all his life. His name is Abimelech, who, looking out through the window with the well-opened and radiant eye of the mind, saw Isaac sporting with Kebekkah his wife.

For what employment is more suitable for a wise man than to be sporting, and rejoicing, and diverting himself with perseverance in good things ? From which it is plain that he will become intoxicated, since intoxication contributes to good morals, and also produces relaxation and advantage ; for unmixed wine seems to increase and render more intentje all the natural qualities, whether they be good or the contrary, as many other things do too. For money is to a good man a cause of good things, and to a bad man, as some one has said, it is a cause of bad things. And again, high rank makes the wickedness of a fool more conspicuous, but it renders the virtue of the just man more glorious. So also unmixed wine, being poured fox'th in abundance, makes the man who is the slave of his passions, still more subservient to them, but it renders him who has them under control more manageable and amiable. Who, indeed, is there who does not know that of two opposite things, when one kind is suitable to most people, the other kind must of necessity be suited to some ?

As, for instance, white and black are two opposite colours : if white is suitable both to good and to bad things, then black must also be necessarily equally suitable to both, and not to one of the two alone. And, again, to be sober and to be drunk are two opposite things ; accordingly, botli bad men and good, as the ancient proverb says, partake of sobriety ; therefore, also, drunkenness is suitable to both classes. Therefore the virtuous man will get drunk without losing any of his virtue by it. XLII. But if, like persons before a court of justice, one must bring forward not only such proofs as are in accordance with the rules of art, but those too which have no connection with art, one of which is proof by testimony, we will then produce many sons of physicians and philosophers of high repute to give evidence, not by Avords alone, but also by writiuo's.

For they have left, behind ten thousand commentaries entitled treatises on drunkenness ; in which they consider nothing beyond the bare use of wine, without pursuing any investigation with respect to those who are accustomed to behave foolishly in their cups, and in fact omitting every thing which has reference to conduct under the influence of wine ; so that it is very plainly confessed in their writings that drunkenness is the same as drinking wine freely. And to drink a superabundant quantity of wine on proper occasions is not unsuitable to a wise man ; therefore we shall not be wrong if we say that a wise man may get drunk. But since no one is ever inscribed on the rolls as a conqueror if he has contended by himself alone, for if he does this he appears only to be fighting with a shadow, and very naturally too ; it follows that we must also produce the arguments of those Avho contend for the opposite side of the question, that by this means a most just judgment may be formed, and that the other side of the question may not be decided against through default.

And the first and the most powerful argument is this : if no one in his senses would entrust a secret which he wished to be kept to a drunken man, then a good and wise man will not get drunk. But before we collect all the otiier arguments in their order, it may be better to reply to each objection separately, in order that we may not appear to be too prolix, and consequently to be troublesome. Some one then will say in opposition that, according to the argument that has been advanced, the wise man must never have a bilious attack, and never go to sleep, and above all must never die. But he to whom some of these things happens is either an inanimate being or a divine one ; but beyond all question he is not a man at all. Imitating this perversion of the arguments, one may apply it equally to a bilious man, or to a sleeping man, or to a dying man ; for no one in his senses would tell a secret to a man in any of these conditions, but it would be reasonable for him to tell it to a wise man, for the wise man is never bilious, never goes to sleep, and never dies.

What has been said by other philosophers about drunkenness we have to the best of our ability recorded in the treatise before this present one. But now let us consider what is the opinion of the lawgiver, who was in all respects great and wise, on this subject ; for in many places of his history of the giving of the law he mentions wine, and the plant which produces wine, namely the vine; and he commands somepersonsto drink it, but some he does not permit to do so; and at times he gives contrary directions to the same people, ordering them sometimes to drink and some times to abstain. These therefore are the persons who have taken the great vow, to whom it is expressly forbidden to drink unmixedwine, being the priests who are engaged in offering sacrifices. But those who drink wine are numerous beyond all calculation, and among them are all those who are especially praised by the lawgiver for their virtue. But before we begin to talk of these subjects we will examine with accuracy some points that concern this argument, and, as I at least imagine they are these.

Moses looks upon an unmixed wine as a symbol not of one thing only but of many, namely of trifling, and playing the fool, and of all kinds of insensibility and of insatiable greediness, and of a covetousness which is hard to be pleased, and of a cheerfulness which comprehends many other objects, and of a nakedness which is apparent in all the things now mentioned, such as that which he says Noah, when drunk, displayed himself in. Wine, then, is said to produce all these efiiects. But great numbers of person who, because they never touch unmixed M'ine,look upon themselves as sober, are them involved in the same accusation. And one may see some of acting in a foolish and senseless manner, and others possessed by complete insensibility ; and others again who are never satisfied, but are always thirsting for what cannot be obtained, because of their want of knowledge ; others, on the other hand rejoicing and exulting ; and others in good truth naked. Thecause now of behaving foolishlyisamischievous ignorance; I mean by this expression, not an ignorance of such things as are matters of instruction but an alienation from, and dislike of knowledge. The cause again of insensibility is a treacberous and mutilated ignorance.

The cause of insatiability ia a most grievous appetite for the indulgence of the passions of the soul. The cause of cheerfulness is at once the acquisition and the employment of virtue. Of nakedness there are many causes — an ignorance of sucb tbings as are opposite to one another ; complete innocence and simplicity of manners ; truth, whicb strips oil' all the coverings of sucb tilings as are concealed, on the one side revealing virtue to our eyes, and on tbe other side, in its turn, uncovering vice ; for no one can possibly put off botli tliese tbings at one time, nor can be either strip them both oil" together But when any one discards tbe one, be must of necessity take up and clothe bimself with tbe other. For as tbe old story tells us, God, when he bad combined pleasure and pain, two tbings naturally at variance, under one bead, gave to us an outward sense capable of appreciating them both, not at tbe same moment, but at different times, fixing tbe period of the return of one to be simultaneous with the moment of the flight of tbe other.

Thus from one root of tbe dominant principle, the two shoots of virtue and vice sprang up, neither blossoming nor bearing fruit at the same time ; for when tbe one loses its leaves and fades away, then tbe other begins to shoot, and blossom, and look green, so that one might fancy that the one withered tbrougb dissatisfoction at the blooming appearance of tbe other. It is witb reference to this that Moses represents in a most natural manner the departure of Jacob to be contemporaneous witb tbe arrival of Esau ; " Tor it came to pass," says be, " that as Jacob went out bis brother Esau came in."* As long, indeed, as prudence dwells in and makes bis abode in tbe soul, so long every companion of folly is discarded and banished to a distance ; but when prudence departs then folly rejoices and enters, since its enemy and adversary, for whose sake it was driven away and banished, is no longer inhabiting tbe same place as before.

We bave now then said enougb by way of preface to this treatise. We will proceed to adduce the proofs of all that we have said, beginning first of all to establish the first point. We said, then, that ignorance was the cause of man's behaving foolishly and misconducting himself, just as a great quantity of unmixed wine is to great numbers of foolish persons ; for ignorance is the primary evil of all the errors of the soul, if we must tell the truth, from which, as from a spring, all the actions of life do flow, never producing to any one, one single stream of wholesome or drinkable water, but only brackish water, the cause of disease and destruction to all who use it. Thus, at all events, the lawgiver is very indignant with all uninstructed and unmanageable persons, more than he is with any other description of people whatever. And a proof of this is this : who are they who are united in alliance not so much by study as by nature, whether among men or among the other kinds of animals ? ^o one ; not even a madman would say that any beings were so closely united as parents and children ; for even by the mere untaught instinct of nature the parent always cares for his offspring, and in every case endeavours to provide for its safety and dui'ability.

Those, then, who are the natural protectors of others, Moses represents as having crossed over to the ranks of enemies, making those accusers who would naturally have been advocates, I mean the father and mother, in order that the children may be destroyed by those by whom above all others it was natural they should be saved ; " For if," says be, "any man's son be disobedient, or contentious, not obeying the voice of his father and of his mother, and if they reprove him and he does not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take him, and shall bring him before the elders of the city, and shall bring him to the gate of that place, and shall say to the men of their city, This our son is disobedient and contentious, and does not obey our voice, but spends his time in revelling and drunkenness. And the men of that city shall stone him, and you shall destroy that wicked one from among you."* Therefore, here the accusations are four in number — disobedience, and contentiousness, and love of revelling, and drunkenness; and the last of these is the greatest, deriving its growth from the first, namely, from disobedience ; for when the soul begins to be restive it advances onward through contention and quarrelsomeness, and arrives at last at the furthest boundary, drunkenness, the cause of alienation of mind and folly. But it is requisite to see the force of each of all these accusations, beginning with the first in order.

It is then confessed by all most undeniably, that it is both honourable and advantageous to yield and to become obedient to virtue, so that on the other hand to be disobedient to it must be disgraceful and in no moderate degree disadvantageous. And to be contentious and obstinate is a quality which comprehends every extravagance of evil ; for the man who is disobedient is less wicked than he who is contentious, since the one only disregards what he is commanded to do, but the other also exerts himself to do the contrary. Come, now, let us investigate the true nature of these things. Since the law commands, for instance, that men should honour their parents, he who does not honour them is disobedient ; but he who dishonours them is contentious. And again, since it is a righteous action to preserve one's country, we must call the man M'ho admits of hesitation in the pursuit of the object disobedient, but the man who is prepared moreover to betray it we must pronounce perverse and contentious.

Again, he who, when requested to requite a favour, contradicts the man who t;ays that he ought to consider himself a debtor, is disobedient ; but he who, in addition to making no return, is so carried away by contentiousness that he endeavours to do the person what harm he can, commits unredeemable wickedness. And further, he who never approaches, nor practises sacrifices, or any of the other observances required by piety, disobeys the commandments which the law usually ordains in such matters ; but he who resists and turns aside to the opposite disposition, impiety, is a wicked man and a minister of impiety.

Such a man as this was he who said, " Who is there whom I am to obey?" and again, "I do not know the Lord."* For by his first expression he states that there is no such thing as a Deity ; and by the second question he means, that even if there is such a being, still he will not recognize him, which arises from a deficiency in his providence ; for if he were possessed of providence he would be recognized. Now to bring contributions and supplies in aid of an entertainment with a view to a participation in that best of all possessions, prudence, is praiseworthy and advantageous. But to do so with a view to the worst of all objects, folly, is disadvantageous and blameable ; therefore, the contributions for the most excellent object are the desire of virtue, the imitation of good men, continued care, laborious practice, incessant and unwearied labours ; the contributions for the opposite object are relaxation, indifference, luxury, effeminacy, and a complete desertion of what is right.

And we may see those who every day descend into the arena to contend in drinking much wine, and practising this quality every day, and striving to gain the victory in gi'eediness and voracity, bringing their contributions as though they had some desirable object in view, and injuring themselves in every thing, in their property, and their bodies, and their souls ; for by contributing their property they diminish their substance ; and they break down and enervate the powers of their bodies by their luxurious way of life, and as for their souls, inundating them with immoderate food like a swollen torrent, they compel that to sink down to the lowest depth. For the same manner all those, who bring contributions for the destruction of learning, injure the most important thing in them, namely, their mind, cutting off every tiling that might save it — prudence, and temperance, and courage, and justice ; on which account he seems to me himself to use a compound word, sv/jy(3oXoxo - 7roj\i, for the more manifest manifestation of his meaning, because they who bring forward attempts at virtue as their offering and contribution, wound and lacerate, and cut to pieces, obedient and learning-loving souls to the extent of their utter destruction.

Therefore the wise xVbraham is said to have returned again from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings who were with him.* And on the other hand, Amalek is said to have cut to pieces the rear of the company of the meditator of virtue,t in strict accordance with the truth of nature; for what is contrary to one is also hostile to the other, and such things are always meditating the destruction of one another. But one may especially blame a man who contributes offerings on this account, because such an one has not only determined to do wrong, but also to co-operate with others in doing wrong, thinking fit in some things to be the leader himself, and in others to follow the leadership of others ; so that, erring both by nature and through what he has learnt, he leaves himself no good hope of safety, and this, too, though the law has expressly said that one must " not follow a multitude to do evil ;"* for, in truth, evil is a very manifold and very fertile thing in the souls of men, but good is but a contracted and rare thing. Again it is a most useful recommendation, not to join with many persons to do evil, but to unite with a few whose chief practice is to do justly.

The fourth and greatest of the accusations, is that of drunkenness, not slight but excessive drunkenness. For devotion to crime is equivalent to devotion to swelling up, and kindling, and inflaming the poison which is the great cause of folly, namely ignorance, a thing which can never be extinguished, but which is at all times and in every case raising a conflagration and fury in the soul. Very naturally, therefore, justice will follow which purifies every evil disposition of the mind, for it is said, " Thou shalt utterly get rid of the wicked man," not out of the city, or out of the country, or out of the nation, but "out of yourselves. "f For there are many faulty and blameable thoughts lurking in us, and taking up their abode in the recesses of our hearts, which, since they are incurable, it is necessary to eradicate and destroy.

Therefore it is just that this disobedient and contentious man, who is always advancing plausible reasons as a sort of offering and contribution on his part towards the destruction of what is good, and who is inflamed with strong wine, and raging in a drunken manner against virtue, and being absurdly excited to his own injury by wine, should have his allies for his accusers, his own father and mother, since he ought to receive every possible reproof and chastisement from those who can be saved ; but of the father and mother the appellations are common, but their powers are different. At all events we shall speak witli justice, if we say that the Creator of the universe is also the father of his creation ; and that the mother was the knowledge of the Creator with whom God uniting, not as a man unites, became the father of creation.

And this knowledge having received the seed of God, when the day of her travail arrived, brought forth her only and well-beloved son, perceptible by the external senses, namely this world. Accordingly wisdom is represented by some one of the beings of the divine company as speaking of herself in this manner : " God created me as the first of his works, and before the beginning of time did he establish me." Eor it was necessary that all the things which came under the head of the creation must be younger than the mother and nurse of the whole universe.

Who then is able to encounter the accusation of these parents ? No one can withstand even their moderate threats, or their very slightest reproach ; for neither is any one able to contain the immeasurable multitude of their gifts, perhaps even the whole world is not ; but like a shallow channel, when tlie great fountain of the bounties of God flows into it, it will be very speedily filled so as to overtop its bounds and overflow ; but if we are unable to receive his benefits, how shall we endure his chastising powers when they come upon us ? But these parents of the universe must be taken out of the present discussion ; and for the present let us consider their pupils and acquaintances who have had assigned to them the care and superintendence of such souls as are not unwilling to learn and illiterate. Therefore we say that the father is masculine and perfect right reason, and that the mother is that middle and encyclical course of study, and instruction, and learning, which it is honourable and advantageous to obey as a child obeys his parents.

The recommendation then of the father, that is of right reason, is to follow and obey reason, pursuing naked and undisguised truth ; and the injunction of learning, the mother that is, is to obey the just customs, which ancient men who embraced opinion, as if it M'ere truth, have established in cities, and nations, and countries. Now these parents have four classes of children. First of all comes that class which is obedient to them both, the second is that wliicli attends to neither, being the opposite of the former one. Of the others, each is halt perfect. For the one is exceedingly attached to its father, and attends to him, but disregards its mother and her injunctions. The other again appears to be attached to its mother, and obeys her in everything, but pays but little attention to its father.

The first class, therefore, will carry oft' the prize of victory as superior to all the others ; the second, which is the contrary of it, will meet with defeat and destruction' at the same time ; and as to each of the others they will claim, one the second prize, and the other the third. The one which is obedient to its father being the second in honour, and the one which obeys its mother being the third.

Xow of the soul attached to its mother, yielding to the opinions of the many, and constantly changing its appearance in accordance with the various forms arising from the manifold and different w'ays of life, after the manner of the Egyptian Proteus, who was able to assume the likeness of anything in the whole world, and to conceal his real form so as to render it entirely invisible, the most visible image is Jothor, a compound of pride, who evidently represents a city and constitution of men from all quarters, and of all nations, carried away by vain opinions. For after the wise Moses had invited the whole people of the soul to observe piety and to pay the honour due to God, and had taught them the commandments and the most sacred laws, (for he says, "

When there is a controversy among them and they come to me, I will decide between them all, and I will bring together to them the commandments of God and his law.")* then Jothor, wise in his own conceit, uninitiated in the divine blessings, but having principally lived among human and corruptible things, harangues the people, and proposes laws contrary to those of nature, having regard only to opinion, while those other laws are all referrible to the standard of reality and truth. And indeed the prophet, pitying this man and commiserating his exceeding error, thinks it fitting to endeavour to teach him better things, and to persuade him to change his ways, and to forsake vain opinions and steadily to follow the truth. For says he, " We after having cut up and eradicated the vain pride of the mind, will leave our abodes and depart to the place of knowledge, which we shall gain possession of by the divine oracles and their agreement of the result with them. Come now with us, and we will do thee good."* For so doing you will get rid of that most pernicious thing, false opinion, and you will acquire that most advantageous thing, truth.

But he, being as it were subdued by enchantment in this way, will neglect what is said, and will by no means follow any kind of knowledge whatever, but will retire and will run off to his own individual and empty pride. For it is said in the scripture that he replied to him, " I will not go, except to my own country and to my own race ;" that is to say, to his kindred infidelity imbued with false opinions, since he had not learnt that true faith which is dear to men.

For, when desiring to make a display of his piety, he says, " Now I know that God is a great Lord in comparison of all gods,"t he accuses himself of impiety in the eyes of all men who are competent to form a judgment ; for they will say to him, " Dost thou now know, O impious man, the power of the Ruler of the universe r but before this thou didst not know it. For was there anything which thou hast ever fallen in with of more antiquity or power than Grod ? And are not the virtues of their parents known to the cliildren before anything else in the world ? And was not the Ruler of the universe the creator and the father of it ? So that if you now say that you know it, you do not know it now, because you did not know it from the beginning of the creation." And you are not the less convicted of false pretences, when you profess to compare things that cannot be compared, and say that you now recognise the greatness and pre-eminence of God in comparison of all other gods.

For if thou hadst in real truth known the living God, vou woidd never have supposed that there was any other god. endued with independent authority ; for as the sun, when he has arisen, hides the stars, pouring forth his own light altogether over oiu" sight, so also when the beams of the lightgiving God, unmingled as they are, and entirely pure, and visible at the greatest distance, shone upon the eye of the soul, being comprehensible only by the intellect, then the eye of tlie soul can see nothing else ; for tte knowledge of the living God having beamed upon it, out-dazzles everytliing else, so that even those things which are most brilliant by their own intrinsic light appear to be dark in comparison. Therefore he would never have ventured to compare the true and faithful God to those falsely named gods, if he had really known him ; but ignorance of the one God has caused him to entertain a belief of many as gods, who have in reality no existence at all.

Xow this same opinion is entertained by every one who, having thoroughly comprehended the aftairs of the soul, looks with astonishment on the affairs of the body and on the things external to the body, diversified as they are with different colours and forms, in order to deceive the outward sense, which is easily worked upon. Such a man as this the lawgiver calls labour, who, not perceiving the true laws of nature, falsely assents to those which are in force among men, saying, " It is not the custom in our country to give the younger daughter in marriage before the elder."* For he thinks that it behoves him to adhere to the classification arising from the consideratiou of time, according to which, that which is oldest is entitled to priority, and after that, that which is the younger is admitted to a participation in their joint rights. But the practicer of wisdom, knowing that natures are not subject to time, desires what is younger fi^rst, and what is older afterwards. And moral reason agrees with him in this inatter, for it is necessary for those who practise anything, first of all to come to the more recent learning, in order that after that, they may be able to derive advantage from that Avhicli is more perfect.

And, on this account, the lovers of virtue and excellence do not approach the doors of the older philosophy before they have become familiar with these younger parts of it, grammar, and geometry, and the whole range of encyclical learning ; for these subordinate branches do always attend upon those, who with sincerity and purity of purpose court wisdom. But he acts cunningly in opposition to these principles, wishing us to take to ourselves the elder sister first, not in order that we may have her in a lasting manner, but that being attracted • Genesis xxix. 2G. I by the allurements of the younger, we may hereafter relax in our desire for the elder one.

And we may almost say that this has happened to many of those who have used out of the way roads to learning ; for still, as one may say, men coming from their very swaddling clothes to the most perfect study and way of life, philosophy, not thinking it fit to be utterly ignorant of encyclical learning, have still determined to apply themselves to them late and unwillingly. And then, descending from the older and more important kinds of learning to the contemplation of the inferior and younger branches, they have grown old among them so as no longer to be able to return to those pursuits with which they began. It is on this account, I imagine, that he says, " Accomplish her seven year?,' ' which is equivalent to : let not the good of the soul be unaccomplished by you ; but let it have an end and a due completion, in order that you may meet with the younger classification of good things, of which personal beauty, and glory, and riches, and such things as these make up the sum.

But he does not promise to accomplish them, but only agrees to fulfil them ; tliat is to say, studying never to omit anything which may conduce to its growth and fulness, but in every instance labouring to get the better of all his difiiculties, even though there may be innumerable impediments hindering and drawing him in the opposite direction. And the scripture here appears to me to show very plainly, that customs are regarded by men more than by women, as is clear by the words of Eachel, who admires only those things which are perceptible by the outward senses ; for she says to her father, " Be not angry, my lord, that I am unable to rise up before thee in thy presence, because the custom ot women is upon me." * Therefore it is especially the conduct of women to pay regard to customs ; for, indeed, that is the habit of the weaker and more feminine soul ; while the nature of men, and of that reason which is really vigorous and masculine, is to be guided by nature.

But I marvel at the sincerity and truth of the soul which, in its conversation, confesses that it is unable to rise up against apparent good things, and nevertheless admires and honours every one of them, and all but prefers them to itself. Since who of us does resist wealth, and who of ua enters the lists against glory ? And who despises honour or authority, who, I may say, of almost all those who are still stained by vain opinions ? No one whatever. But as long as we have none of these things we talk loudly and proudly, as if we were men of small wants, and companions of frugality, which renders life all-sufficient for itself, and just, and suitable for free and nobly born men. But when there is hope of any of the things which I have enumerated, or when only the slightest breeze of such hope blows upon us, then we are found out, for we at once yield, and submit, and are unable to hold out or resist ; and being betrayed by the outward senses, which are so dear to us, we abandon the whole alliance of the soul, and we desert not in a concealed manner, but openly and undisguisedly. And perhaps this is not more than is reasonable to expect.

For the customs of women are still predominant in us, while we are not as yet able to wash them off, or to rise and cross over to the hearth of the men's chamber, as is related of the mind which loved virtue, by name Sarah ; for she is represented in the sacred oracles as having ceased to be influenced by the customs of women,* when she was about to be in travail and to bring forth the self-taught offspring, being by name Isaac. And she is said not to have had a mother, having received the inheritance of relationship from her father only, and not from her mother, having no share in the female race ; for some one has said somewhere, "

And yet, in truth, she is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother." t Eor she is not formed of the material perceptible by the outward senses, which is always in a state of formation or of dissolution, which is called the mother, and nurse and bringer up of created things ; among which, first of all, the tree of wisdom sprang up, but rather of the cause and father of all. She, therefore, having emerged out of the whole corporeal world, and exulting from the joy which is in Grod, laughs at the pursuits of men, which are conversant about either war or peace.

We, then, being overcome by bhe unmanly and woman-like association with the outward senses, and the passions, and the objects of the outward senses, are not able to stand up in opposition to anything that is apparent. But are dragged on, some of us, in spite of ourselves, and others of us willingly, by everything which comes across us ; and if our army, not being able to execute the commands of the father, were to yield, it would nevertheless have for an ally its mother, moderate learning, which enacts in difterent cities such laws as are in common use, and appear to be just, and establishes different institutions in different countries. But there are some persons who, neglecting the precepts of their mothers, adhere with all their miglit to the injunctions of their fathers, whom right reason has thought worthy of the greatest honour, namely, of the priesthood; and if we go through their actions, by which they have obtained this honour, we shall perhaps incur the ridicule of many, who are deceived by the first appearances which present themselves to them, and who do not perceive those powers which are invisible and kept in the shade.

For those who have applied themselves to prayers and sacrifices, and the whole body of ceremonies connected with the temple, are, what seems a most paradoxical thing, homicides, fratricides, murderers of those persons who are nearest and dearest to them, though they ought to be pure, and sprung from the pure, having no connection with any pollution, intentionally incurred, nay, not even unintentionally. Por it is said, " Each of you slay his brother, and each of you slay his neighbour, and each of you slay his nearest relations. And the sons of Levi did as Moses had spoken ; and there fell of the people in that day about three thoiisand men."* And those who had slain such a vast multitude he praises, saying, " Ye have this day, each of you, filled your hands to the Lord in your son, or your brother, so that blessing shall be given to you."

What, then, are we to say, but that such men are caught by the common customs of men, having, as their accuser, their mother, who lives according to the laws of the state, and acts like a demagogue, namely, custom : but that the others preserve the laws of nature, having, for their ally, their father, namely, right reason ; for it is not the case, as some persons think, that the priests slay men, rational animals, compounded of soul and body, but they only eradicate from their minds all those things which are akin to and dear to the flesh, thinking it seemly for those who have become ministers of the only wise God, to alienate themselves from all the things of creation, and to look upon all such things as enemies and thoroughly hostile. On this account it is, that we shall slay a brother, not a man, but the body, which is brother to the soul ; that is to say, we shall separate that which is devoted to the passions and mortal, from that which is devoted to virtue and divine.

And, again, we shall slay a neighbour, not a man, but a company and a band ; for such a company is, at the same time, akin to, and hostile to, the soul, laying baits and spreading snares for it, in order that being inundated by the objects of the outward senses, which overflow it, it may never emerge and look up to heaven, so as to embrace the beautiful and God-like natures. And. we shall also slay those nearest to us : but that which is nearest to the mind is uttered speech, inserting false opinions among reasonable and natural plausibilities and probabilities, to the destruction of that best of all possessions, truth. XYII.

Why, then, are we not also to repel this being, too, who is a sophist and a polluted person, condemning him to the death which is suited to him, namely, silence (for silence is the death of speech), in order that the mind may be no longer led away by its sophisms, but being completely emancipated from all the pleasures which are according to the body, " the brother," and being alienated from, and having shaken ofi" the yoke of, all the trickeries according to " the neighbour," and the neighbouring outward senses, and from the sophistries in accordance with the " nearest " speech, may be able, in all purity, to apply itself to all the proper objects of the intellect. This is he " who says to his father and to his mother," his mortal parents, " I have not seen you," ever since I have beheld the things of God, who " does not recognize his sons," ever since he has become an acquaintance of wisdom, who " disowns his brethren,"* ever since he has ceased to be disowned by God, and has been thought worthy of perfect salvation.

This is he who "took as coadjutor," that is to say, who searched for and sought out the things of corruptible creation, ot which the chief happiness is laid up in eating and drinking, and who went, Moses says, "to the chimney," wliicli was burning and flaming with the excesses of wickedness, and which could never be extinguished, namely, the life of man, and who, after that, was able even to pierce the woman through her belly,* because she appeared to be the cause of bringing forth, bfeing, in real truth, rather the patient than the agent, and even every " man," and every reasoning which follows the opinion which attributes passions to the essence of God, who is the cause of all things. XYIII. Will not this person be justly looked upon as a murderer, by many who are influenced by the customs which have so much weight among women ?

But with God, the ruler and father of the universe, he will be thought worthy of infinite praises and panegyrics, and of rewards which can never be taken away ; and the rewards are great, and akin to one another, being peace and the priesthood : for it was an illustrious achievement, after having put to flight the almost invincible troops of men who live according to the common fashion, and having put down the civil war of the appetites in the soul, to establish a peace firmly ; and for this great exploit to receive nothing else, not riches, not glory, not honour, not authority, not beauty, not strength, not any of the advantages of the body, nor, on the other hand, earth or heaven, or all the world, but that most important and valuable of all things, the rank of the priesthood, the ofiice of serving and paying honour to Him who is in truth the only being worthy of honour and service ; this is an admirable thing, an object worthy of contention.

And I was not wrong when I called those rewards, brothers to one another, but I said so, knowing that he cannot be made a true priest who is still serving in human and mortal warfare, in which vain opinions are the ofiicers of the companies ; and that he cannot be a peaceful man, who does not in sincerity cultivate and serve, with all simplicity, the only Being who has no share in warfare, and everlasting peace. XIX. Such are the persons who honour their father, and the things belonging to their father, but who pay but little regard to their mother and to things that belong to her. But Moses represents the man who is at variance with both his father and his mother, and brings them forward as saying, " I know not the Lord ; and I will not let Israel go."t For he appears to put himself in opposition to those divine things, which are established in accordance with divine reason, and also to those which are established with reference to created beings, by means of education, and to be throwing everything into confusion in every direction.

And there are even now — for the human race has not as yet entirely purified itself from unmixed wickedness — there are still persons who have absolutely determined to do nothing which has any bearing on piety or on human society, but who, on the contrary, are the companions of impiety and atheism, and treacherous towards their equals. And these men go about, being tlie greatest imaginable pests of their cities, out of curiosity and a love of interfering, mixing themselves up with, or rather, if one must tell the truth, throwing into confusion all kinds of alFairs, both public and private, men who ought to have put up prayers and offered sacrifices to avert (as if it had been a great disease) famine, or pestilence, or any other evil inflicted by God ; for these calamities are great evils to those on whom they fall ; in reference to which Moses sings their destruction, when they have been destroyed by their own allies, and swallowed up by their own opinions, as if by the waves of a stormy sea. XX.

Let us now, therefore, proceeding in regular order, speak of the enemies of these persons, men who honour instruction and right reason, among whom are those who are attached to the virtue of one of their parents, being halfperfect companions ; these men are the most excellent guardians of the laws which the father, that is to say, right reason, established, and faithful stewards of the customs which education, their mother, instituted ; and they were instructed by right reason, their father, to honour the Father of the universe, and not to neglect the customs and laws established by education, their mother, and considered by all men to be founded in justice. When, therefore, Jacob, the practiser of virtue, and the man who entered into the lists of, and was a candidate for, the prizes of virtue, was inclined to give his ears in exchange for his eyes, and words for actions, and improvements for perfection, as the bounteous God was willing to give eyes to his mind, in order that he might for the futiu*e clearly see ■what hitherto he had only comprehended by hearing (for the eyes are more trustworthy than the ears), the oracle sounded in his ears, "

Thy name shall not be called Jacob ; but Israel shall thy name be, because thou hast prevailed with God and with men, with power."* Jacob then is the name of learning and of improvement, that is to say of those powers which depend upon learning, and Israel is the name of perfection, for the name being interpreted means " the sight of God ; " and what can be more perfect among all the virtues than the sight of the only living God ? Accordingly he who hath seen this good thing is confessed to be good by both his parents, having attained to strength in God and power both before the Lord and before men. And it appears to me to be very well said in the book of Proverbs, " Men who see what is right before God and befoi'e men."t Since it is by the aid of both these that men attain to the complete possesssion of good. For when you have been taught to observe the laws of your Father, J and not to disregard the injunctions of your mother, you will be able to say with confidence and pride, " Tor I also was born a son, subject to my father, and beloved before the face of my " mother. " XXI.

But, I should say to this man, were you not fated to be loved, if you kept the laws established among mortals out of a desire for fellowship, and if you paid due respect to the ordinances of the uncreate God oiit of a love for, and a desire to exhibit piety ? Therefore Moses, the divine prophet of God, in his description of the building of the temple, shows the perfection of the temple in both points ; for it is not without due consideration for us that he covers the ark both within and without with gold, or that he gives two robes to the chief priest, or that he builds two altars, one outside the tabernacle for the victims, and the other inside for the burning incense ; but he does this, wishing by these emblems to exhibit the virtues of each species ; for it is fitting that the wise man should be adorned both with the invisible excellences existing within in the soul, and also with those external ones which are outwardly visible, and with prudence which is more valuable than gold.

And whenever it departs from himian studies, worshipping the living Grod alone, it puts on the simple unvaried robe of truth, which no mortal thing can ever touch, for it is made of linen material, a material not produced from any being whose nature it is to die. But whenever it passes over to mis in political affairs, then it lays aside the man's robe and assumes the other embroidered one of a most admirable beauty to look at ; for life being a thing of great variety and of great changes, requires the diversified Avisdom of the pilot who is to hold the helm ; and he will appear in the outer conspicuous altar of life to exercise abundant prudence with respect to the skin, and flesh, and blood, and everything relating to the body, in order not to offend the common multitude which gives the second place in honour to the good things of the body in close proximity to the good things of the soul; and at the inner altar he will use bloodless, fleshless, incorporeal things, things proceeding from rea- '^oning alone, which are compared to frankincense and other burnt spices ; for as these fill the nostrils, so do those fill the Avhole region of the soul with fragrance. XXII.

We must also not be ignorant that wisdom, being the art of arts, appears to vary according to its different materials, but it shows its true species without alteration to those who have acute sight, and who are not carried away by the burden of the body with which they are surrounded : but who see the impression which is stamped upon it by art itself. They say that Phidias, the clebrated statuary, made statues of brass, and of ivory, and of gold, and of other different materials, and that in all these works he displayed one and the same art, so that not only good judges, but even those who had no pretensions to the title, recognized the artist from his works. For, as in the case of twins, nature having often employed the same character, has produced similitudes very slightly indeed differing from one another ; in the same manner perfect art, being the imitation and copy of nature, when it has taken different materials, fashions and stamps the same appearance on all, so that the works produced by her are in the highest possible degree kindred, and brother-like, and twins.

And the power which exists in the wise man will show the same result : for when it is occupied with the affairs of the living God it is called piety and holiness : but when it employs itself upon the heaven, and the things in heaven, it is natural philosophy ; and when it devotes itself to the investigation of the air, and of the diiFerent circumstances attending its variations and changes, whether taking place in the uniform yearly revolutions of the seasons, or in the partial periods of months and days, it is then called meteorology. It is called moral philosophy when it busies itself about the rectification of human morals ; and this moral philosophy is divided into several subordinate species ; that namely of politics, when occupied about state affairs ; economy, when applied to the management of a household ; when it is devoted to the subject of banquets and entertainments, it is then convivial philosophy. Again, that power which concerns itself about the government of men, is royal ; that which is conversant with commands and prohibitions, is legislative.

For all these different powers the wise man of many names and many celebrities does truly contain within himself, namely, piety, holiness, natural philosophy, meteorology, moral philosophy, political knowledge, economy, royal power, legislative wisdom, and innumerable other faculties ; and in every one of them he will be seen to wear one and the same appearance. XXIII. But now that we have discussed the four different classes of children, we must beware not to overlook this, which may be the most excellent proof of this partition and division of the chapter ; for when a child is elated and puffed up by foUy, his parents accuse him in this manner, saying, "

This is our son,"* pointing to the disobedient and stiff-necked youth ; for by the demonstration " this," they show that they have other sons likewise, some of whom obey one of them, and others of whom obey them both, being well-disposed reasonings, of whom Eeuben is an example ; others again, who are fond of hearing and learning, of whom Simeon is a specimen, for his name, being interpreted, means " hearing ;" others, people who fly to and become suppliants of God, this is the company of the Levites ; others singing a song of gratitude, not so much with a loud voice as with the mind, of whom Judah is the leader ; others, who have been thought worthy of rewards and presents, on account of their voluntary acquisition of virtue througli labour, like Issachar; others, persons who have abandoned the Chaldaean meteorological speculations, and passed over to the contemplation of the uncreate G-od, like Abraham ; some, vrho have attained to self-taught and spontaneous virtue, like Isaac ; some, full of wisdom and strength, and beloved by Grod, like the most perfect Moses. XXIV.

Very naturally, therefore, the sacred law commands the disobedient and contentious man — who brings contributions of evil, that is to say, who joins together and heaps up sin upon sin, great crimes on little ones, fresh guilt upon ancient, intentional upon involuntary misdeeds ; and who, like a person inflamed by wine, is always intoxicated and drunk, and raging with ceaseless and unrestrained drunkenness, during the whole of his life — to be stoned ; because he has drunk of the unmixed and abundant cup of folly, and because he has destroyed the inj mictions of right reason, his father, and the legitimate expositions of his mother's instruction.

And though he had an example of excellence and virtue in his brothers, who were approved of by his parents, he did not imitate their virtue, but, on the contrary, he thought fit to go to an additional length in his transgressions, so as to make a god of the body, and to make a god of Typhus, who is especially honoxired among the Egyptians, the emblem of whom was the figure of a golden bull; around which his mad worshippers establish dances, and sing, and prelude, not with such melodies as are redolent of wine and revelry, like the sweet songs sung at feasts and entertainments, but a really melancholy and mournful lamentation, like men intoxicated, who have relaxed and quite destroyed the tone and energy of the soul. Por it is said, that when Joshua heard the people crying out he said to Moses, " There is the sound of war in the camp. And he said.

It is not the voice of men beginning to exert themselves in battle, nor is it the voice of men betaking themselves to flight, but it is the voice of men beginning revelry and drunkenness that I hear : and when he came near to the camp he saw the calf and the dances."* And the enigmatical meaning, which is concealed under these figurative expressions, we will explain to the best of our ability. XXY. Our own affairs are at one time in a state of tranquillity, and at another they behave as it were with unseasonable impetuosity and loud cries ; and their tranquillity is profound peace, and their condition, when in an opposite state, is interminable war ; and the witness to this fact is one who has experienced its truth, and who cannot lie ; for having heard the voice of the people crying out, he says to the manager and superintendent of the affairs, "

There is a sound of war in the tent;" for as long as the irrational impulses were not stirred up, and had not raised any outcry in us, our minds were established with some firmness ; but when they began to fill the place of the soul with all sorts of voices and sounds, calling together and awakening the passions, they created a civil sedition and war in the camp. Very naturally, for where else should there be strife, and battle, and contention, and all the other deeds of interminable war, except in the life according to the body, which he, speaking allegorically, calls the camp ? This life the mind is accustomed to leave, when under the influence of God it approaches the living God, contemplating the incorporeal appearances; "for Moses," says the scripture, "having taken his own tent, fixed it outside the camp," and that too not near it, but a long way off", and at a great distance from the camp. And by these statements he tells us, figuratively, that the wise man is but a sojourner, and a person who leaves war and goes over to peace, and who passes from the mortal and disturbed camp to the undistvirbed and peaceful and divine life of rational and happy souls. XXVI.

And he says in another passage that, " When I have gone out of the city I will stretch forth my hands unto the Lord, and the voices shall cease." t Think not here that he who is speaking is a man, a contexture, or composition, or combiuatiou of soul and body, or whatever else you may choose to call this concrete animal ; but rather the purest and most ixnalloyed mind, which, while contained in the city of the body and of mortal life is cramped and confined, and like a man who is bound in prison confesses plainly that he is unable to relish the free air. But as soon as it has escaped from this city, then being released, as to its thoughts and imaginations, as prisoners are loosened as to tlieir hands and feet, it will put forth its energies in their free, and emancipated, and unrestrained strength, so that the commands of the passions will be at once put an end to. Are not the outcries of pleasui'e very loud with Avhich she is accustomed to deliver such commands as please her ? And is not the voice of appetite unwearied when she pours forth her bitter threats asrainst those who do not serve her ?

And so again all the other passions have a voice of loud and varied sound. But even, if each one of the passions were to exert the ten thousand mouths and voices, and all the power of making an uproar spoken of by poets, it would not be able to perplex the ears of the perfect man, after he has already passed from them, and determined no longer to dwell in the same city with them. XXYII. But the sacred Scriptures agree with the man who can speak from experience, when he says that in the camp of the body all the sounds of war were heard, the tranquillity dear to peace having been driven to a distance. For he does not say that it is not such a shout of war, but that it is not such a shout as some persons think the cry of men who have conquered or who have been conquered to be, but rather such an one as would proceed from men heavy and overwhelmed with wine. For the expression, " It is not the voice of men beginning to exert themselves in battle," is equivalent to the words, " of men who have got the better in war," for exertion in battle is the cause of victory.

Thushe represents the wise Abraham, after the destruction of the nine kings, that is, of the four passions and the five powers of the outward senses, which were all set in motion in a manner contrary to nature, preluding with a hymn of gratitude, and saying, " I will stretch forth my hand to the most high God, who made heaven and earth ; that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet of any thing that is thine." * And he means, as it appears to me, by this expression, everything in the world, the heaven, the earth, the water, the air, and all animals, and all plants.

For to every one of them, he who directs all the energies of his soul towards God, and who looks to him alone as fhe only source from whicli he can hope for advantage, may fitly say — I will take nothing that is yours ; I will not receive from the sun the light of day, nor by night will I receive light from the moon or from the other stars, nor rain from the air and from the clouds, nor meat and drink fromtthe earth and from the water, nor the power of sight from the eyes, nor the faculty of hearing from the ears, nor that of smelling from the nostrils, nor from the palate in the mouth the sense of taste, nor the faculty of speaking from the tongue, nor the power of giving and taking from the hands, nor that of approaching and of retreating from the feet, nor that of breathing from the lungs, nor that of digesting from the liver, nor from the other internal organs of the body the power of exciting the energies which belong to them, nor the yearly produce from trees and seeds ; but I will look upon every thing as proceeding from the only wise God, who extends his own beneficial powers in every direction, and who by their agency benefits me.

XXVII. He then who can thus look upon the living God, and who thus comprehends the nature of the cause of all things, honours the things of which he is the cause in a secondary degree to himself; while at the same time he confesses their importance though without flattering them. And this confession is most just : I will receive nothing from you, but everything from God, to whom all things belong, though perhaps the benefits may be bestowed through the medium of you ; for ye are instruments to minister to his everlasting graces. But man, who is devoid of any consideration, who is blinded as to his mind, by which alone the living God is comprehensible, does, by means of that mind, never see anything anyv,'here, but sees all the bodies which are in the world by his own outward senses, which he looks upon as the causes of all things which exist.

On which account, beginning to make gods for himself, he has filled the world with images and statues, and innumerable other representations, made out of all kinds of different materials, fashioned by painters and statuaries, whom the lawgiver banished to a distance from his state, proposing both publicly and privately great rewards and surpassing honours to them, by which conduct he has brought about a contrary result to that which he intended, namely, impiety instead of religion. For the worship of many gods in the souls of ignorant people is mere impiety ; and they who deify mortal things neglect the honour due to God ; who are not content with making images of the sun and of the moon to the extent of their inclination, and of all the earth, and of all the water, but they even gave beasts and plants devoid of reason a share in those honours, which belonged of right only to immortal beings. And he, reproving them, began a song of victory as has here been shown. XXIX.

And Moses indeed, in the same manner, when he saw the king of Eygpt,* that arrogant man with his sis hundred chariots, that is to say, with the six carefully arranged motions of the organic body, and with the governors who were appointed to manage them, who, while none of all created things are by nature calculated to stand still, think nevertheless that they may look upon everything as solidly settled and admitting of no alteration ; when he, I say, saw that this king had met with the punishment due to his impiety, and that the|people who were practisers of virtue, had escaped from the attacks of their enemies, and had been saved by mighty power beyond their expectation, he then sang a hymn to God as a just and true judge, beginning a hymn in a manner most becoming and most exactly suited to the events that had happened, because the horse and his rider he had thrown into the sea;" f having utterly destroyed that mind which rode upon the irrational impulses of that fourfooted andrestiveanimal, passion, and had become an ally, and defender, and protector of the seeing soul, so as to bestow upon it complete safety.

And the same prophet begins a song to the well, not only for the destruction of the passions, but also because he has had strength given to him to acquire the most valuable of all posessions, namely incomparable wisdom, which he compares to a well ; for it is deep, and not superficial, giving forth a sweet stream to souls who thirst for goodness and virtue, a drink at once most necessary and most sweet. But it is not entrusted to any person who is not initiated in wisdom to dig this well, but only to kings, on which • Exodus xiv. 7. t Exodus xv. 4. account it is said, " Kings hewed it out of stone."* For it is the office of mighty rulers to investigate and to establish wisdom, not meaning those who with their arms have subdued sea and land, but those who with the powers of the soul have fought against and subdued its diversified, and mingled, and confused multitude. XXX. Now the pupils and followers of these persons are those who say, "

Thy sons have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our charge, and there is not one of them who has refused, but each man has brought his gift to the Lord of that which he has found." f For these men are likely again to prelude with a song of triumph, being eager to attain to perfect and dominant powers. For they say that the man who has taken the sum of the whole, has also taken the greatest number of the reasons of courage, which are by nature inclined to war, being arrayed in opposition to two squadrons, one of which is led by cowardice, which is difficult to overtake, and the other by frantic temerity and rashness ; and neither of them has any share in sound wisdom. And it is very admirably said that no one refused, by way of intimating a participation in perfect and complete courage ; just as the lyre and any other musical instrument is out of tune, if there is one single discordant note in it ; but is in tune w^hen the strings are all harmonious and pour forth the same symphony at one touch.

In the same manner also, the instrument of the soul is out of tune when it is either strained by rashness and urged on to a degree of exceeding sharpness, or relaxed by cowardice in an immoderate degree, so as to be let down and become very flat. But it is in tune when all the tones of courage and of every virtue are well united and combined together, and so produce one well-arranged melody. And it is a great proof of good tune and of skilful management to bring his due gift to God ; and this is to honour the living Grod in a becoming manner, by means of confessing most distinctly that this whole universe is his gift to us ; for he says in, strictest accordance wdth natural truth, " the man has brought the gift which he found." But everyone of us, the moment that he is born, finds the great gift of God, namely the universal world, which he lias given to him, and to the most excellent parts of him.* XXXI. There are also particular gifts which it is suitable both to God to give, and to men to receive.

And these must be the virtues and the energies in accordance with them, at the discovery of which, being almost without any connexion with time, by reason of the surpassing rapidity of the giver which he is accustomed to exhibit in his gifts, every one is full of admiration, even those to whom nothing else in the world appears great. On which account also, the question is put, " How didst thou find it so quickly, O my son?"t the questioner marvelling at the promptness of the virtuous disposition ; and he who has received the benefit answers felicitously, " Because the Lord God gave it to me." Por the gifts and explanations of men are slow, but those of God are most rapid, outstripping the motion of even the most speedy time.

Therefore those who by their strength and courage have become chiefs and leaders of the chorus which raises the song of triumph and of gratitude, are those who have been already mentioned ; but those who, by reason of having been put to flid^ht, and of their weakness, are companions of the song of lamentation which is raised on occasion of defeat, are men whom one ought to look upon as cowards, rather than to pity ; like those who have a body laboimng under some natural defect, to whom any ordinary occasion of sickness is a great hindrance to their cure.

But some persons have succumbed contrary to their inclinations, not because the energies of their souls are more effeminate, but because they have been overwhelmed by the more vigorous strength of their adversaries ; and imitating those who are willing slaves, they have voluntarily cast themselves down before either masters, though they were freemen by birth ; on which account being unable to be sold they have, which is the most incredible of all things, bought masters for themselves and so become slaves, doing the very same thing with those who are insatiably eager for drunkenness with wine ; for they ■words at least have been lost, t Genesis xxvii. 20. also of their own free will and without any compulsion, drink unmixed wine, so that of their o\ati accord they eradicate sobriety from their souls, and choose foUy ; for, says the scripture, " I hear tlie voice of those who are beginning revelry and drunkeimess ; " that is to say, of men who are exhibiting a madness which is not involuntary, but who injure themselves \\'ith a voluntary and deliberate frenzy. XXXII. And every pne who comes near the camp sees the calf and the dances, and he himself also is soon infected.

For we fall in with Typhus and the revellers of Typhus, whenever we deliberately purpose to come near to the camp of the body ; since those who are fond of contemplation and are eager to see incorporeal objects, as being persons who practise obstinacy from pride, are accustomed to dwell at a distance from the body. Do then therefore pray to God never to begin revelry or drunkenness, that is to say, never intentionally to set forth in the road which leads to ignorance and folly ; for unintentional errors are as light again as deliberate sins, inasmuch as they are not weighed down by the irresistible conviction of conscience. And when your prayers have been accomplished, you wiU no longer be able to remain in ignorance or out of office, but you will acquire the most important of all offices, namely, the priesthood. For it is almost the only occupation of the priests and ministers of God to offer abstemious sacrifices, abstaining in the firmness of their minds from wine and from every other cause of folly. Tor, says the scripture, " The Lord spoke unto Aaron, saying.

Wine and strong drink shalt thou not drink, neither thou nor thy sons after thee, when ye come into the tabernacle of the testimony, or when ye approach the altar of sacrifice, so that ye may not die. This shall be an everlasting law for all your generations to distinguish between Avhat is sacred and what is profane, and between what is pure and what is impure." "'•" But Aaron is the priest, and the interpretation of his name is "mountainous ; " reasoning occupying itself with sublime and lofty objects, not on account of the superabundant excess of the arrogance of empty pride, but by reason of the magnitude 4a0 PHILO JUD^US. of its virtue, which, elevating the thoughts beyond even heaven, suffers it not to contemplate anything that is lowly. And no one who is disposed in this manner will ever voluntarily touch unmixed wine or any other medicine of folly, for it is inevitable that he must either make one in the solemn procession and enter the tabernacle, being about to perform* the rites which may not be seen, or else, that approaching the altar he must offer sacrifices of gratitude for all the public and private blessings which have been showered upon him ; and these things require sobriety and great presence of mind. XXXIII.

Therefore, any one may here rightly admire the expressions in which the command is conveyed.

Tor how can it be anything but admirable for people, while sober and masters of themselves, to apply themselves to prayers and to the offering of sacrifices ? just as on the other hand it is ridiculous for men to do so when relaxed both in body and soul by wine ; unless indeed as often as servants, and sons, and subjects, are about to approach masters, and parents, and sovereigns, they take care to be sober in order not to oflend in either word or deed, lest if they in any respect act as if contemptuous of their rank, they should be punished, or to speak in the most moderate manner, should at least suffer ridicule ; and yet any one when about to become the minister of the Euler and father of the universe, is not then to show himself superior to meat, and drink, and sleep, and all the vulgar necessities of nature, but is to turn aside to luxury and effeminacy, and imitate the life of the intemperate, and having his eyes Meighed down with wine, and his head shaking, and bending his neck on one side, and belching from intemperance, and being weak and tottering in his whole body, is in that condition to approach the sacred purifications, and altars, and sacrifices.

Xo: such a man may not without impiety even behold the sacred flame at a distance. But, if indeed one is to understand these things as said not of the tabernacle or altar of sacrifice which are visible, and which are made of inanimate and perishable materials, but of those objects of speculation which are invisible and perceptible only by the intellect, of which these other things are only the images perceptible by the outward senses ; he will all the more marvel at the explanation. For since the Creator has in every instance made one thing a model and another a copy of that model, he has made the archetypal pattern of virtue for the seal, and then he has on this stamped an impression from it very closely resembling the stamp. Therefore, the archetypal seal is the incorporeal idea being a thing as to its intrinsic nature an object of the outward senses, but yet not actually coming within the sphere of their operations. Just as if there is a piece of wood floating in the deepest part of the Atlantic sea, a person may say that the nature of wood is to be burned, but that that particular piece never will be burnt because of the way in which it is saturated with salt water. XXXIV.

Let us then look upon the tabernacle and the altar as ideas, the one being the idea of incorporeal virtue, and the other as the emblem of an im^ge of it, which is perceptible by the outward senses. !Now it is easy to see the altar and the things which are on it, for they have all their preparations out of doors, and are consumed by unquenchable fire, so as to shine not by day alone, but also by night ; but the tabernacle and all things that are therein are invisible, not only because these are placed in the innermost recesses and in the most holy shrines, but also because God has affixed according to the injunctions of the law, the inevitable punishment of death, not only to any one who touches them, but to any one who tlirough the superfluous curiosity of his eyes beholds them.

The only exception is, if any one is perfect and faultless, unpolluted by any error whether it be great or small, having a nature entirely even and full, and in all respects most perfect ; for to such a man it is permitted once in each year to enter in and behold what is invisible to others, since in him alone of alt men the winged and heavenly love of incorruptible and incorporeal good things abides. When, therefore, any one being smitten by the idea is influenced by the seal which gives an impression of the particular virtues, perceiving, and comprehending, and admiring the most God-like beauty of that idea which he is approaching, as having received the impression of that seal, then a forgetfulness of ignorance and folly is at once engendered in him, accompanied by a simultaneous recollection of instruction and learning. On which account the scripture says, " Wine and strong drink thou shalt not drink, neither thou nor thy sons after thee," when ye enter into the tabernacle of the testimony or approach the altar of sacrifice ; and he goes through all these details not more by way of prohibition than of explaining his intention. In truth, for one who was issuing prohibitions, it was appropriate to say.

Drink not wine when you are performing sacrifice ; but for one who is declaring his opinion, it is more suitable to say, Te shall not drink. For it is impossible for a man to admit ignoi'ance, which is the cause of intoxication and of ignorance of the soul, if he be one who studies the generic and specific virtues and devotes himself to the pursuit of them. And he very often speaks of the tabernacle of testimony, in truth, inasmuch as God is the witness of virtue, to whom it is honourable and expedient to attend, or inasmuch as it is virtue which implants steadiness in our souls, eradicating ambiguous, and doubtful, and hesitating, and vacillating reasonings out of them by force, and revealing truth in life as in a court of justice. XXXV. And the scripture says that, " he shall not die who ofiers abstemious sacrifices ; " since ignorance brings death, and education and instruction' bring immortality . For as in our own bodies disease is the cause of dissolution, and health of preservation ; so in the same manner in our souls also, that which saves is prudence, for this is a kind of good health of the mind ; and that which destroys is folly, which inflicts an incurable disease.

And he expressly declares his opinion, and pronounces this last to be an everlasting evil.* For he considers that there is an undying law set up and established in the nature of the universe embracing these principles, that instruction is a salutary and saving thing, but that ignorance is the cause of disease and destruction. He also besides delivers this further statement, that the laws which are established in accordance with truth are at once everlasting ; since right reason, which is law, is not perishable. For also, on the other hand, the contrary thing, namely lawlessness, is a thing of brief existence, and by its own intrinsic nature easily destructible, as it is confessed to be by all persons of sound sense. And it is an especial property of law and of instruction to distinguish what is profane from what is holy, and what is unclean from what is clean ; as, on the other hand, it is the effect of lawlessness and ignorance to combine things that are at variance with one another by force, and to throw everything into disorder and confusion. XXXVI.

On this account the greatest of the kings and prophets, Samuel, as the sacred scriptures tell us, drank no wine or intoxicating liquors to the day of his death ;* for he is enrolled among the ranks of the divine army which he will never leave in consequence of the prudence of the wise captain. But Samuel was perhaps in reality a man, but he is looked upon not as a compound animal, but as mind rejoicing only in the service and ministrations of God. For the name Samuel, being interpreted, means " appointed to God;" because he looked upon all such actions as are done in accordance vsdth vain and empty opinions to be shameful irregularity. He was born of a human mother, whose name when interpreted means " grace." For without divine grace it is impossible either to abandon the ranks of mortal things, or to remain steadily and constantly with those which are imperishable. But whatever soul is filled with grace is at once in a state of exultation, and delight, and dancing ; for it becomes full of triumph, so that it woiild appear to many of the uninitiated to be intoxicated, and agitated, and to be beside itself.

On which account it was said to it by a young boy, and that not by one only but by every one who was old enough for juvenile sauciness and for a readuiess to mock at what is good, " How long will you be drunk ? Put an end to your w"ine-bibbing." * For in the case of those who are under the influence of divine inspiration, not only is the soiil accustomed to be . excited, and as it were to become frenzied, but also the body is accustomed to become reddish and of a fiery complexion, the joy which is internally difi'used and which is exulting, secretly spreading its affections even to the exterior parts, by which many foolish people are deceived, and have fancied that sober persons were intoxicated. And yet indeed those sober people are in a manner intoxicated, "having drunk deep of all good things, and having received pledges from perfect virtue. But those are intoxicated with that drunkenness which proceeds from wine, who pass their whole lives without ever having tasted wisdom, though they have a continued hunger and desire for it.

Very naturally therefore is answer made to the man who acts with the impetuosity of youth, and tninks to produce laughter at the venerable and austere mode of life of prudence, " My good man I am a hard woman, a severe day, and I drink no wine or strong driuk, and I pour out my soul before the Lord." Very great is the freedom of speech of that soul which is filled with the graces of God. In the first place it calls itself a severe day, having regard to the boy who is mocking it ; for by him and by every fool the road which leads to virtue is looked upon as rough and difficult to travel and most painful, as one of the old poets testifies, saying: — Vice one may take in troops with ease, But in fair virtue's front Immortal God has stationed toil, And care, and sweat, to bar the road. Long is the road and steep, And rough at first, which leads the steps Of mortal man thereto ; But when you reach the height, the path Is easy which before was hard, And swift the onward course. XXXVII.

After this the soul goes on to deny that it drinks wine or strong drink, boasting in its being continually sober throughout the whole of its life. For to have the reasoning powers really free, and unfettered, and pure, and intoxicated by no passion, was really a very important and admirable thing. And from this it results that the mind which is filled with unmixed sobriety is of itself a complete and entire libation, and is offfered as such to and consecrated to God. For what is the meaning of the expression, " I will pour out my so\A before the Lord," but " I will consecrate it entirely to him?" Having broken all the chains by which it was formerly bound, which all the empty anxieties of mortal life fastened around it, and having led it forth and emancipated it from them, he has stretched, and extended, and difiused it to such a degree that it reaches even tlie extreme boundaries of the universe, and is borne onwards to the beautiful and glorious sight of the uncreate God. Therefore this company is one of sober persons who have made instruction their guide ; but the former one is a company of drunkards, whose leader is ignorance. XXXVIII.