The Works of Philo (complete)

But some things are suitable to the one kind that they may not become at all diseased ; and other things are good for the other sort, that they may be changed and rendered more healthy. Since, therefore, there are many good things existing in nature, give me that which appears to be best adapted to my circumstances, even if it be the most trifling thing possible ; looking at this one point alone, whether I shall be able to bear what is given me] with equanimity, and not, like a wretched person, sink under and be overwhelmed by it. Again, what do we imagine to be meant by the words, " Will not the hand of the Lord be sufficient ?"f Do they not signify that the powers of the living God penetrate everywhere for the purpose of conferring benefits, not oidy on those who are noble, but on those also who appear to be in a more obscure condition, to whom also God gives such things as are suitable to the measure and weight of the soul of each individual, conjecturing and measuring in his own mind with perfect equality wdiat is proportionate to the circumstances and requirements of each.

But what makes an impression on me in no ordinary degree is the law which is enacted with respect to those who put off their sins and seem to be repentant. For this law commands that the first victim which such persons offer shall be a female sheep without spot.

But if, it proceeds, " his hand is not strong enough to bring a sheep, then for the trespass ■which he has committed he shall bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons, one for his trespass and one for a burnt offering ; and if his hand cannot find a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons, then he shall bring as his gift the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering ; he shall not pour oil upon it, nor shall he place any frankincense thereon, because it is a sin offering ; and he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest having taken it from him shall take a full handful of it, and place it as a memorial on the altar."* God therefore here is propitiated by three different kinds of repentance, by the aforesaid beasts, or by the birds, or by the white flour, according, in short, to the ability of him who is being purified and who repents. For small offences do not require great purifications, nor are small purifications fit for great crimes; but they should be equal, and similar, and in due proportion. It is worth while, therefore, to examine what is meant by this purification which may be accomplished in three ways.

Now it may almost be said that both offences and good actions are perceived to exist in three things ; in intention, or in words, or in actions. On which account Moses, teaching in his hortatory admonitions that the attainment of good is not impossible nor even very difficult, says, " It is not necessary to soar up to heaven, nor to go to the borders of the earth and sea, for the attainment of it, but it is near, yea, and very near."f And then in a subsequent passage he shows it all but to the naked eye as one may say, where he says, " Every action is in thy mouth, or in thy heart, or in thy hands :"J meaning under this symbolical expression, in thy words, or in thy designs, or in thy actions. For he means that human happiness consists in wise design, and good language, and righteous actions, just as the unhappiness arises from the contrary course.

For both well-doing and wrong-doing exist in the same regions, in the heart, or in the mouth, or in the hand ; for some persons decide in the most righteous, and sagacious manner, some speak most excellently, some do only what ought to be done : again, of the three sources of error the most unimportant is to design to do what ought not to be done, the most grievous is to do what is iniquitous, the middle evil is to speak 2S6* P111L0 JUD-EUS. improperly. But it often happens that even what is least important is the most difficult to be removed ; for it is very hard to bring an agitated state of the soul to tranquillity ; and one may more easily check the impetuosity of a torrent than the perversion of the soul which is hurrying in a wrong direction, without restraint. For innumerable notions coming one upon the other like the waves of a stormy sea, bearing everything along with them, and throwing everything into confusion, overturn the whole soul with irresistible violence.

Therefore the most excellent, and most perfect kind of purification is this, not to admit into one's mind any improper notions, but to regulate it in peace and obedience to law, the ruler of which principles is justice. The next kind is, not to offend in one's language either by speaking falsely, or by swearing falsely, or by deceiving, or by practising sophistry, or by laying false informations ; or, in short, by letting loose one's mouth and tongue to the injury of any one, as it is better to put a bridle and an insuperable chain on those members.

But why it is a more grievous offence to say what is wrong than only to think it, is very easy to see. For some times a person thinks without any deliberate previous intention of so thinking, but inconsiderately : for he is compelled to admit ideas in his mind which he does not wish to admit ; and nothing which is involuntary is blameable : but a man speaks intentionally, so that if he utters words which are not proper he is unhappy and is committing offence, since he does not even by chance choose to say anything that is proper, and it would be more for his advantage to adopt that safest expedient of silence : and, in the second place, anyone who is not silent can be silent if he pleases. But what is even a still more grievous offence than speaking wrongly, is unjust action. For the word, as it is said, is the shadow of the deed ; and how can an injurious deed help being more mischievous than a shadow of the same character?

On this account Moses released the mind, even when it yielded to many involuntary perversions and errors, from accusations and from penalties, thinking that it was rather acted upon by notions which forced their way into it, than was itself acting. But whatever goes out through the mouth that he makes the utterer responsible for and brings him before the tribunal, since the act of speaking is one which is in our own power. But the investigation to which words are subject is a more moderate one, and that with whicn words are united is a more vigorous one. For he imposes severe punishments on those who commit gross offences, and who cany out in action, and utter with hasty tongues what they have designed in thenunjust minds.

Therefore he has called the purifying victims which are to be offered up for the three offenders, the mind, speech, and the action, a sheep, and a pair of turtle cloves or pigeons, and the tenth part of a sacred measure of fine flour ; thinking it fit that the mind should he purified by a sheep, the speech by winged creatures, and the action by fine flour : Why is this? Because, as the mind is the most excellent thing in us, so also is the sheep the most excellent among irrational animals, inasmuch as it is the most gentle, and also as it gives forth a yearly produce in its fleece, for the use and also for the ornament of mankind. For clothes keep off all injury from both cold and heat, and also they conceal the unmentionable parts of nature, and in this way they are an ornament to those who use them : therefore the sheep, as being the most excellent of animals, is a symbol of the purification of the most excellent part of man, the mind. And birds are an emblem of the purification of the speech : for speech is a light thing, and winged by nature, flying and penetrating in every direction more swiftly than an arrow.

For what is once said can never be re-called ;* but being borne abroad, and running on with great swiftness, it strikes the ears and penetrates every sense of hearing, resounding loudly : but speech is of two kinds, one true and the other false ; on which account it appears to me to be here compared to a pair of turtle doves or young pigeons : and of these birds one he says is to be looked upon as a sin offering, and one is to be sacrificed as a burnt offering, since the speech which is true is wholly and in all respects sacred and perfect, but that which is false is very wrong and requires correction. Again, as I have already said, fine flour is a symbol of the purification of activity, but it is sorted from the commoner sort by the hands of the bakers, who make the business their study. Nescit vox missa reverti. — A. P. 390. And in another place — Et semel emissura volat irrevocabile verbum. — Epist. I. 18, 71. On which account the law says, " And the priest having, taken an entire handful, shall place it on the altar as a memorial of them," by the word handful, indicating both the endeavour and the action.

And he speaks with exceeding accuracy with respect to the sheep, when he says, " And if his hand be not strong enough to supply a sheep ;" but with respect to the birds he says, " And if he cannot find a bird." Why is this ? Because it is a sign of very great strength and of excessive power, to get rid of the errors of the mind : but it does not require any great strength, to check the errors of words ; for, as I have said already, silence is a remedy for all the offences that can be committed by the voice, and every one may easily practise silence ; but yet, by reason of their chattering habits and want of moderation in their language, many people cannot find out how to impose a limitation on their speech.

Since then, the virtuous man has been bred up among and practised in these and similar divisions and discriminations of things, does he not rightly appear to pray that Ishmael may live, if he is not as yet able to become the father of Isaac ? What then does the merciful God say ? To him who asks for one thing he gives two, and on him who prays for what is less he bestows what is greater ; for, says the historian, he said unto Abraham, "Yea, behold, Sarrah thy wife shall bring forth a son."* Very felicitous and significant is this answer, "Yea;" for what can be more suitable to and more like the character of God, than to promise good things and to ratify that promise with all speed ! But what God promises every foolish man repudiates ; therefore the sacred scriptures represent Leah as hated, and on this account it is that she received that name ; for Leah, being interpreted, means " repudiating and labouring," because we all turn away from virtue and think it a laborious thing, by reason of its very often imposing commands on us which are not pleasant.

But nevertheless, she is thought worthy of such an honourable reception from the prince, that her womb is opened by him, so as to receive the seed of divine generation, in order to the production of honourable pursuits and actions. Learn therefore, 0 soul, that Sarrah, that is, virtue, will bring forth to thee a son ; and that Hagar, or intermediate instruction, is not the only one who will do so ; for her offspring is one which has its knowledge from teaching, but the offspring of the other is entirely self-taught. And do not wonder, if God, who brings forth all good things, has also brought forth this race, which, though rare upon the earth, is very numerous in heaven. And you may learn this also from other things of which man consists : do the eyes see from having been taught to do so ? And what do the nostrils do ? Do they smell by reason of their having learnt ? And do the hands touch, or the feet advance, in accordance with the commands or recommendations of instructors ? Again, do the appetites and imaginations (and these are the first moving powers and persuasions of the soul) exist in consequence of teaching ?

And has our mind gone as a pupil to any sophist, in order to learn to think and to comprehend ? All these things repudiate all kinds of instruction, and avail themselves only of the spontaneous gifts of nature to exert their appropriate energies. Why then do you any longer wonder if God showers upon men virtue, unaccompanied by any labour or suffering, such as stand in need of no superintending care or instruction, but is from the very beginning entire and perfect ? And if you wish to receive any testimony in corroboration of this view, can you find any more trustworthy than that of Moses ? And he says that the rest of mankind derive their food from the earth, but that he alone who is endowed with the power of sight, derives his from heaven. And men occupied in agriculture co-operate to produce the food from the earth ; but God, the only cause and giver, rains down the food from heaven without the co-operation of any other being. And, indeed, we read in the scriptures, "

Behold, I rain upon you bread from heaven."* Now what nourishment can the scriptures properly say is rained down, except heavenly wisdom ? which God sends from above upon those souls which have a longing for virtue, God who possesses a great abundance and exceeding treasure of wisdom, and who irrigates the universe, and especially so on the sacred seventh day which he calls the sabbath ; for then, he says, that there is an influx of spontaneous good things, not rising from any kind of art, but Exodus xvi. 4. '290 PHILO JUDJEUS. shooting up by their own spontaneous and self-perfecting nature, and bearing appropriate fruit.

Virtue, therefore, will bring thee forth a legitimate male child, far removed from all effeminate passions ; and thou shalt call the name of thy son by the name of the passion which thou feelest in regard to him; and thou wilt by all means feel joy ; so that thou shalt give him a name which is an emblem of joy, namely, Laughter. As grief and fear have their appropriate expressions winch the passion, when more than usually violent and predominant, gives utterance to ; so also, good counsels and happiness compel a man to employ a natural expression of them, for which no one could find out more appropriate and felicitous names, even if he were very skilful in the imposition of names. On which account God says, " I have blessed him. I will increase him, I will multiply him, he shall beget twelve nations;"* that is to say, he shall beget the whole circle and ring of the sophistical preliminary branches of education ; but I will make my covenant with Israel, that the race of mankind may receive each kind of virtue, the weaker part of them receiving both that which is taught by others, and that which is learnt by one's self, and the stronger part that which is ready and prepared. XL VI.

" And at that time," says he, " she shall brin^ forth a son to thee ;"f that is to say, wisdom shall bring forth joy. What time, O most marvellous being, are you pointing out? Is it that which cannot be indicated by the thing brought forth? For that must be the real time, the rising of the universe, the prosperity and happiness of the whole earth, and of heaven, and of all intermediate natures, and of all animals, and of all plants. On which account Moses also took coui'age to say to those who had run away, and who did not dare to enter upon a war in the cause of virtue against those who were arrayed against it, " The Lord has departed from them, but the Lord is in us ;"J for he here almost confesses in express words that God is time, who stands aloof and at a distance from every impious person", but walks among those souls which cultivate virtue. " For," says he, "

I will walk among you, and I will be your God."§ But those who say that what is meant by time is only the seasons of the year are misapplying the % Numbers xiv. 9. § Leviticus xxvi. 12. names with great inaccuracy, like men who have not studied the natures of things with any care, but have gone on to a great degree at random. XL VII. But by way of amplifying the beauty of the creature to be born, he says that it shall be born the next year, indicating by the term, " the next year,"* not a difference of time, such as is measured by lunar or solar periods, but that which is truly marvellous, and strange, and new, being an age which is very different from those which are visible to the eyes and perceptible to the outward senses, being investigated in incorporeal things appreciable only by the intellect, which, in fact, is the model and archetype of time. But an age is a name given to the life of the world, intelligible only by the intellect, as time is that given to the life of the world, perceptible by the outward senses.

And in this year the man who had sown the graces of God so as to produce many more good things, in order that the greatest possible number of persons worthy to share them might participate in them, finds also the barley producing a hundredfold. t But he who has sown does usually also reap. And he sowed, displaying the virtue, the enemy of envy and wickedness; he is, however, here said to find, not to reap. For he who has made the ear of his good deeds more productive and full, was a different person, having laid up an abundance of greater hopes well prepared, and he also proposed more abundant advantages to all those who sought them, encouraging them to hope to find them. XL VIII. And the words, "He finished speaking to him,";*; are equivalent to saying, he made his hearer perfect, though he was devoid of wisdom before, and he filled him with immortal lessons.

But when his disciple became perfect, the Lord went up and departed from Abraham, showing, not that he separated himself from him ; for the wise man is naturally an attendant of God, not wishing to represent the spontaneous inclination of the disciple in order that as he bad learnt while his teacher was no longer standing by him, and without any necessity urging him, giving of his own accord a specimen ot himself, and displaying a voluntary and spontaneous eagerness to learn, he might for the future exert his energies by himself ; for the teacher assigns a model to him who has learnt by • Genesis xviii 10. f Genesis xxvi. 12. £ Genesis xvii 22. U 2 voluntary study without any suggestions from other quarters, stamping on him a most durable species of indelible recollection.

The treatise before this one has contained our opinions on those visions sent from heaven which are classed under the first species ; in reference to which subject we delivered our opinion that the Deity sent the appearances which are beheld by man in dreams in accordance with the suggestions of his own nature. But in this treatise we will, to the best of our power, describe those dreams which come under the second species. Now the second species is that in which our mind, being moved simultaneously with the mind of the universe, has appeared to be hurried away by itself and to be under the influence of divine impulses, so as to be rendered capable of comprehending beforehand, and knowing by anticipation some of the events of the future. Now the first dream which is akin to the species which I have been describing, is that which appeared on tbe ladder which reached up to heaven, and which was of this kind. " And Jacob dreamed, and behold a ladder was firmly planted on the earth, the head of which reached up to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

And behold there was a ladder firmly planted on the earth, and the Lord was standing steadily upon it ; and he said, I am the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac : be not afraid. The earth on which thou art sleeping I will give unto thee and unto thy seed, and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and it shall be multiplied as the sand on the seashore, and shall spread to the south, and to the north, and to the east ; and in thee shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed, and in thy seed also. And, behold, I am with thee, keeping thee in all thy ways, by whichever thou goest, and I will bring thee again into this land ; because I will not leave thee until I have done everything which I have said unto thee."* But the previous consideration of the circumstances of this vision require that we should examine them with accuracy, and then perhaps we shall be able to comprehend what is indicated by the vision. What, then, are the previous circumstances ? The scripture tells us, "

And Jacob went up from the well of the oath, and came to Charran, and went into a place and lay down there until the sun arose. And he took one of the stones of the place and placed it at his head, and went to sleep in that place." And immediately afterwards came the dream. Therefore it is well at the outset to raise a question on these three points : — One, What was the well of the oath.f and why was it called by this name ? Secondly, What is Charran, and why, after Jacob had departed from the well beforementioned, did he immediately go to Charran ? Thirdly, What was the place, and why, when he was in it, did the sun at once set, and did he go to sleep ?

Let us then at once begin and consider the first of these points. To me, then, the well appears to be an emblem of knowledge ; for its nature is not superficial, but very deep. Nor does it lie in an open place, but a well is fond of being hidden somewhere in secret. Nor is it found with ease, but only after great labour and with difficulty ; and this too is seen to be the case with sciences, not only with such as have great and indescribable subjects of speculation, but even with respect to such as are the most insignificant. Choose, therefore, whichever art you please ; not the most excellent, but even the most obscure of all, which perhaps no one who has been bred a free man in the whole city would ever study of his own accord, and which scarcely any servant in the field would attend to, who, against his will, was a slave to some morose and illtempered master who compelled him to do many unpleasant things.

For the matter will be found to be not a simple one, but rather one of great complications and variety, not easy to bo seized upon, but difficult to discover, difficult to master, hostile to delay, and indolence and indifference, full of earnestness and contention, and sweat, and care.

For which reason " those who dig in this well say that they cannot find even wrater in it ; " because the ends of science are not only hard to discover, but are even altogether undiscoverable ; and it is owing to this that one man is more thoroughy skilled in grammar or in geometry than another, because of its being impossible to circumscribe, increase, and extend one within certain limits ; for there is always more that is left behind than what comes to be learnt ; and what is left watches for and catches the learner, so that even he who fancies that he has comprehended and mastered the very extremities of knowledge would be considered but half perfect by another person who was his judge, and if he were before the tribunal of truth would appear to be only beginning knowledge; for life is short, as some one has said, but art is long ; of which that man most thoroughly comprehends the magnitude, who sincerely and honestly plunges deeply into it, and who digs it out like a well.

And such a man, when he is at the point of death, being now grey-headed and exceedingly old. it is said, wept, not that he feared death as being a coward, but out of a desire for instruction, as feeling that he was now, for the first time, entering upon it when he was iinally departing from life. For the soul flourishes for the pursuit of knowledge when the prime vigour of the body is withering away from the lapse of time ; therefore, before one has arrived at one's prime and vigour by reason of a more accurate comprehension of things, it is not difficult to be tripped up. But this accident is common to all people who are fond of learning, to whom new subjects of contemplation are continually rising up and striving after old ones, the soul itself producing many such subjects when it is not barren and unproductive. And nature, also, unexpectedly and spontaneously displaying a great number to those who are gifted with acute and penetrating intellects. Therefore the well of knowledge is shown to be of this kind, having no boundary and no end. We must now explain why it was called the well of the oath.

Those matters which are doubted about are decided by an oath, and those which are uncertain are confirmed in the same manner, and so, too, those which want certification receive it ; from which facts this inference is drawn, that there is no subject respecting which any one can make an affirmation with greater certainty than he can respecting the fact that the race of wisdom is without limitation and without end. It is well, therefore, to enrol one's self under the banners of one who discusses these matters without an oath ; but he who is not very much inclined to assent to the assertions ot another will at least assent to them when he has made oath to their correctness. But let no one refuse to take an oatli of this kind, well knowing that he will have his name inscribed on pillars among those who are faithful to their oaths. 111. However, enough of this. The next thing must be to consider why it is that as four wells had been dug by the servants of Abraham and Isaac, the fourth and last was called the well of the oath.

May it not be that the sacred historian here desires to represent, in a figurative manner, that as in the universe there are four elements of which this world is composed, and as there are an equal number in ourselves, of which we have been fashioned before we were moulded into our human shape, three of them are capable of being comprehended somehow or other, but the fourth is unintelligible to all who come forward as judges of it. Accordingly, we find that the four elements in the world are the earth, and the water, and the air, and the heaven, of which, even if some are difficult to find, they are still not classed in the utterly un discoverable portion. For that the earth, because it is a heavy, and indissoluble, and solid substance, is divided into mountains and champaign districts, and intersected by rivers and seas, so that some portion of it consists of islands, and some portions are continent. And again, some of it has a shallow and some a deep soil ; and some is rough, and rugged, and strong, and altogether barren ; and some is smooth and delicate, and exceedingly fertile ; and besides all these facts we know a great number of others relative to the earth.

And again, there is the water, which we know has many of the aforesaid qualities in common with the earth, and many also peculiar to itself; for some of it is sweet, and some brackish, and some is mixed up of various characteristics; and some is good to drink, and some is not drinkable ; and, moreover, neither of these last qualities is invariable with respect to every creature, but there are some to which it is the one and not the other, and vice versa. Again, some water is by nature cold, and other water naturally hot ; for there is in all sorts of places an infinite number of springs pouring forth hot water, not on the land only but even in the sea : at all events, there have appeared before now veins pouring up warm water in the middle of the sea, which all the enormous efflux of salt water in all the sea that encircles the world, pouring over them from all eternity, has never been able to extinguish, nor even in the least degree to diminish.

Again, we know that the air has an attractive nature, yielding to such bodies as surround it in an altitude of resistance, being the organ of life, and breath, and sight, and hearing, and all the rest of the external senses, admitting of rarification, aud condensation, and motion, and tranquillity, and changes, and variations of every kind, by which it is altered aud modified, and generating summers and winters, and the seasons of autumn and spring, by means of which the circle of the year is at last brought to a conclusion.

All these things, then, we feel : but the heaven has a nature which is incomprehensible, and it has never conveyed to us any distinct indication by which we can understand its nature ; for what can we say ? that it is solid ice, as some persons have chosen to assert ? or that it is the purest fire ? or that it is a fifth body, moving in a circle having no participation in any of the four elements ? For what can we say ? Has that most remote sphere of the fixed stars any density in an upward direction ? or is it merely a superficies devoid of all depth, something like a plane figure? And what are the stars ? Are they masses of earth full of fire ? For some persons have said that they are hills, and valleys, and thickets, men who are worthy of a prison and a treadmill, or of any place where there are instruments proper for the punishment of impious persons ; or are they, as some one has defined them, a continuous and dense harmony, the closely packed, indissoluble mass of a3ther ? Again, are they animated and intelligent? or are they destitute alike of mind and vitality ?

Have they their motions in consequence of any choice of their own ? or merely because they are compulsory? What, again, are we to say of the moon? Does she show us a light of her own, or a borrowed and illegitimate one, only reflected from the rays of the sun ? or is neither of these things true, but has she something mixed, as it were, so as to be a sort of combination of her own light and of that which belongs to some other body ? For all these things, and others like them, belonging to the fourth and most excellent of the bodies in the world, namely, the heaven, are uncertain and incomprehensible, and are spoken of in accordance with conjectures and guesses, and not with the solid, certain reasoning of truth, so that a person might venture to swear that no mortal man will ever be able to comprehend any one of these matters clearly. At all events, the fourth and dry well was called the well of the oath on this account, because the search after the fourth element in the world, that is to say the heaven, is without any result, and is in every respect fruitless.

But let us now see in what manner that fourth element in us is by nature in such an especial and singular manner incomprehensible. There are, then, four principal elements in us, the body, the external sense, the speech, and the mind. Now of these, three are not uncertain or unintelligible in every respect, but they contain some indication in themselves by which they are comprehended. Now what is my meaning in this statement? We "know already that the body is divisible into three parts, and that it is capable of motion in six directions, inasmuch as it has three dimensions, iu length, in depth, in breadth ; and twice as many motions, namely six, the upward motion, the downward motion, that to the right, that to the left, the forward, and the backward motion. But, moreover, we are not ignorant that it is the vessel of the soul ; and we are also aware that it is subject to the changes of being young, of decaying, of growing old, of dying, of undergoing dissolution.

And with respect to the outward senses, we are not, so far as that is concerned, utterly dull and mutilated, but we are able to say that that also is divided into five divisions, and that there are appropriate organs for the development of each sense formed by nature ; for instance, the eyes for seeing, the ears for hearing, the nostrils for smelling, and the other organs for the exercise of the respective seuses to which they are adapted, and also that we may call these outward senses messengers of the mind which inform it of colours, and shapes, and sounds, and the peculiar differences of vapours, and flavours, and, in short, which describe to it all bodies, and all the distinctive qualities which exist in thera. They also may be looked upon as body-guards of the soul, informing it of all that they see or hear; and if anything injurious attacks it from without, they foresee it, and guard against it, so that it may not enter by chance and unawares, and so become the cause of irremediable disaster to their mistress.

Again, the voice does not entirely escape our comprehension ; but we know that one voice is shrill and another deep ; that one is tuneful and harmonious, and another dissonant and very unmusical ; and again, one voice is more powerful, and another less so. And they differ also in ten thousand other particulars, in kind, in complexion, in distance, in combined and separate tension of the tones, in the symphonies of fourths, of fifths, and of the diapason. Moreover, there are some things which we know also with respect to that articulate voice which has been allotted to man alone of all animals, as, for instance, we know that it is emitted by the mind, that it receives its articulate distinctness in the mouth, that it is by the striking of the tongue that articulate utterance is impressed upon the tones of the voice, and which renders the uttered sound not only a bare, naked, useless noise, void of all characteristic, and that it discharges the office of a herald or interpreter towards the mind which suggests it.

Now then is the fourth element which exists within us, the dominant mind, comprehensible to us in the same manner as these other divisions ? Certainly not ; for what do we think it to be in its essence ? Do we look upon it as , spirit, or as blood, or, in short, as any bodily substance ! But it is not a substance, but must be pronounced incorporeal. Is it then a limit, or a species, or a number, or a continued act, or a harmony, or any existing thing whatever ? Is it, the very first moment that we are born, infused into us from without, or is it some warm nature in us which is cooled by the air which is diffused around us, like a piece of iron which has been heated at a forge, and then being plunged into cold water, is by that process tempered and hardened ? (And perhaps it is from the cooling process (-^v^ic) to which it is thus submitted that the soul (J] -^vx/i) derives its name.) What more ahaii we say ? When we die, is it extinguished and destroyed together with our bodies ? or does it continue to live a long time ? or, thirdly, is it wholly incorruptible and immortal ?

Again, where, in what part does this mind lie hid ? Has it received any settled habitation '.' For some men have dedicated to it our head, as the principal citadel, around which all the outward senses have their lairs ; thinking it natural that its body-guards should be stationed near it, as near the palace of a mighty king. Some again contend earnestly in favour of the position which they assign it, believing that it is enshrined like a statue in the heart. Therefore now the fourth element is incomprehensible, in the world the heaven, in comparison of the nature of the earth, of the water, and of the air ; and the mind in man, in comparison of the body and the outward sense, and the speech, which is the interpreter of the mind ; may it not be the case also, that for this reason the fourth year is described as holy and praiseworthy in the sacred scriptures ? For among created things, the heaven is holy in the world, in accordance with which body, the imperishable and indestructible natures revolve ; and in man the mind is holy, being a sort of fragment of the Deity, and especially according to the statement of Moses, who says, "

God breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul."* And it appears to me, that it is not without reason that both these things are called praiseworthy ; for these two things, the heaven and the mind, are the things which are able to utter, with all becomiug dignity, the praises, and hymns, and glory, and beatitude of the Father who created them : for man has received an especial honour beyond all other animals, namely, that of ministering to the living God.

And the heaven is always singing melodies, perfecting an all-musical harmony, in accordance with the motions of all the bodies which exist therein ; of which, if the sound ever reached our ears, love, which could not be restrained, and frantic desires, and furious impetuosity, which could not be put an end to or pacified, would be engendered, and would compel us to give up even what is necessary, nourishing ourselves no longer like ordinary mortals on the meat and drink, which is received by means of cur throat, but on the inspired songs of music in its highest perfection, as persons about to be made immortal through the medium of their ears : and it is said that Moses* was an incorporeal hearer of these melodies, when he went for forty days, and an equal number of nights, without at all touching any bread or any water.

Therefore the heaven, which is the archetypal organ of music, appears to have been arranged in a most perfect manner, for no other object except that the hymns sung to the honour of the Father of the universe, might be attuned in a musical manner ; and we hear that virtue, that is to say, Leah.t after the birth of her fourth son, was no longer able to bring forth any more, but restrained, or perhaps I should say, was restrained, as to her generative powers ; for she found, I conceive, all her generative power dry and barren, after she had brought forth Judah, that is to say, " confession," the perfect fruit: and the phrase, " Leali desisted from bearing children," differs in no respect from the statement, that the children of Isaac found no water in the fourth well."| Since it appears from both these figurative expressions, that every creature thirsts for God, by whom all their births take place, and from whom nourishment is bestowed to them when they are born.

Perhaps therefore some petty cavilling critics will imagine that all this statement about the digging of the wells is a superfluous piece of prolixity on the part of the lawgiver : but those who deserve a larger classification, being citizens not of some petty state but of the wide world, being men of more perfect wisdom, will know well that the real question is not about the four wells, but about the parts of the universe that the men who are gifted with sight, and are fond of contemplation exercise their powers of investigation ; namely, about the earth, the water, the air, and the heaven. And examining each of these matters with the most accurately refined conception, in three of them they have found some things within the reach of their comprehension ; on which account they have given these names, injustice, enmity, and latitude to what they have discovered. But in the fourth, that is to say in heaven, they have found absolutely nothing whatever, which they could comprehend ; as we explained a little time ago : for the fourth is found to be a well destitute of water, and drv ; and for the reason above mentioned it is called a well.

We will now investigate what conies next, and inquire what Charran is, and why the man who went up from the well came to it. Charran then, as it appears to me, is a sort of metropolis of the outward senses : and it is interpreted at one time a pit dug, at another time holes ; one fact being intimated by both these names ; for our bodies are in a manner dug out to furnish the organs of the outward senses, and each of the organs is a sort of hole for the corresponding outward sense in which it shelters itself as in a cave : when therefore any one goes up from the well which is called the well of the oath, as if he were leaving a harbour, he immediately does of necessity come to Charran : for it is a matter of necessity that the outward senses should receive one who comes on an emigration from that most excellent country of knowledge, unbounded as it is in extent, without any guide.

For our soul is very often set in motion by its own self after it has put off the whole burden of the body, and has escaped from the multitude of the outward senses ; and very often too, even while it is still clothed in them. Therefore by its own simple motion it has arrived at the comprehension of those things which are appreciable only by the intellect; and by the motion of the body, it has attained to an understanding of those things which are perceptible by the outward senses ; therefore, if any one is unable altogether to associate with the mind alone, he then finds for himself a second refuge, namely, the external senses ; and whoever fails in attaining to a comprehension of the things which are intelligible only by the intellect is immediately drawn over to the objects of the outward senses ; for the second organ is always to the outward senses, in the case of those things which are not able to make a successful one as far as the dominant mind.

But it is well for man not to grow old or to spend all his time in this course either, but rather, as if they were straying in a foreign country like sojourners, to be always seeking for second migration, and for a return to their native land. Therefore Laban, knowing absolutely nothing of either species or genus, or form, or conception, or of anything else whatever which is comprehended by the intellect alone, and depending solely on what lies externally visible, and such things as come under the notice of the eyes, and the ears, and the other hundred faculties, is thought worthy of Charran for his country, which Jacob, the lover of virtue, inhabits as a foreign land for a short time, always bearing in his recollection his return homewards ; therefore his mother, perseverance, that is Rebecca, says to him, "

Rise up and flee to Laban, my brother, to Charran, and dwell with him certain days."* Do you not perceive then that the practiser of virtue will not endure to live permanently in the country of the outward senses, but only to remain there a few days and a short time, on account of the necessities of the body to which he is bound ? But a longer time and an entire life is allotted to him in the city which is appreciable only by the intellect.

In reference to which fact, also, it appears to me to bo that his grandfather also, by name Abraham, so called from his knowledge, would not endure to remain any great length of time in Charran, for it is said in the scriptures that " Abraham was seventy-five years old when he departed from Charran ;"t although his father Terah, which name being interpreted means, the investigation of a smell, lived there till the day of his death. X Therefore it is expressly stated in the sacred scriptures that "Terah died in Charran," for he was only a reconnoitrer of virtue, not a citizen.

And he availed himself of smells, and not of the enjoyments of food, as he was not able as yet to fill himself with wisdom, nor indeed even to get a taste of it, but only to smell it ; for as it is said that those dogs which are calculated for hunting can by exerting their faculty of smell, find out the lurking places of their game at a great distance, being by nature rendered wonderfully acute as to the outward sense of smell ; so in the same manner the lover of instruction tracks out the sweet breeze which is given forth by justice, and by any other virtue, and is eager to watch those qualities from which this most admirable source of delight proceeds, and while he is unable to do so he moves his head all round in a circle, smelling out nothing else, but seeking only for that most sacred scent of excellence and food, for he does not deny that he is eager for knowledge and wisdom. Blessed therefore are they to whom it has happened to enjoy the delights of wisdom, and to feast upon its speculations and doctrines, and even of the being cheered by them still to thirst for more, feeling an insatiable and inceasing desire for knowledge.

And those will obtain the second place who are not allured indeed to enjoy the sacred table, but who nevertheless refresh their souls with its odours ; for they will be excited by the fragrances of virtue like those languid invalids Avho, because they are not as yet able to take solid food, nevertheless feed on the smell of such viands as the sons of the physicians prepare as a sort of remedy for their impotency.

Therefore, having left the land of the Chaldseans, Terah is said to have migrated to Charran ; bringing with him his son Abraham and the rest of his household who agreed with him in opinion, not in order that we might read in the account of the historical chronicles that some men had become emigrants, leaving their native country and becoming inhabitants of a foreign land as if it were their own country, but in order that a lesson of the greatest importance to life and full of wisdom, and adapted to man alone, might not be neglected. And what is the lesson ? The Chaldaeans are great astronomers, and the inhabitants of Charran occupy themselves with the topics relating to the external senses. Therefore the sacred account says to the investigator of the things of nature, why are you inquiring about the sun, and asking whether he is a foot broad, whether he is greater than the whole earth put together, or whether he is even many times as large ? And why are you investigating the causes of the light of the moon, and whether it has a borrowed light, or one which proceeds solely from itself?

Why, again, do you seek to understand the nature of the rest of the stars, of their motion, of their sympathy with one another, and even with earthly things ? And why, while walking upon the earth do you soar above the clouds ? And why, while rooted in the solid land, do you affirm that, you can reach the things in the sky ? And why do you endeavour to form conjectures about matters which cannot be ascertained by conjecture ? And why do you busy yourself about sublime subjects which you ought not to meddle with ? And why do you extend your desire to make discoveries in mathematical science as far as the heaven ? And why do you devote yourself to astronomy, and talk about nothing but high subjects ? My good man, do not trouble your head about things beyond the ocean, but attend only to what is near you ; and be content rather to examine yourself without flattery. How, then, will you find out what you want, even if you are successful ?

Go with full exercise of your intellect to Charran, that is, to the trench which is dug, into the holes and caverns of the body, and investigate the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, and the other organs of the external senses ; and if you wish to be a philosopher, study philosophically that branch which is the most indispensable and at the same time the most becoming to a man, and inquire what the faculty of sight is, what hearing is, what taste, what smell, what touch is, in a word, what is external sense ; then seek to understand what it is to see, and how you see ; what it is to hear, and how you hear; what it is to smell, or to taste, or to touch, and how each of these operations is ordinarily effected. But is it not the very extravagance of insane folly to seek to comprehend the dwelling of the universe, before your own private dwelling is accurately known to you? But I do not as yet lay the more important and extensive injunction upon you to make yourself acquainted with your own soul and mind, of the knowledge of which you are so proud ; for in reality you will never be able to comprehend it.

Mount up then to heaven, and talk arrogantly about the things which exist there, before you are as yet able to comprehend, according to the words of the poet, " All the good and all the evil Which thy own abode contains;" and, bringing down that messenger of yours from heaven, and dragging him down from his search into matters existing there, become acquainted with yourself, and carefully and diligently labour to arrive at such happiness as is permitted to man. Now this disposition the Hebrews called Terah, and the Greeks Socrates ; for they say also that the latter grew old in the most accurate study by which he could hope to know himself, never once directing his philosophical speculations to the subjects beyond himself. But he was really a man ; but Terah is the principle itself which is proposed to every one, according to which each man should know himself, like a tree full of good branches, in order that these persons who are fond of virtue might without difficulty gather the fruit of pure morality, and thus become filled with the most delightful and saving food. Such, then, are those men who reconnoitre the quarters of wisdom for us ; but those who are actually her athletes, and who practise her exercises, are more perfect.

For these men think fit to learn with complete accuracy the whole question connected with the external senses, and after having done so, then to proceed to another and more important speculation, leaving all consideration of the holes of the body which they call Charran. Of the number of these men is Abraham, who attained to great progress and improvement in the comprehension of complete knowledge ; for when he knew most, then he most completely renounced himself in order to attain to the accurate knowledge of him who was the truly living God. And, indeed, this is a very natural course of events ; for he who completely understands himself does also very much, because of his thorough appreciation of it, renounce the universal nothingness of the creature ; and he who renounces himself learns to comprehend the living God.

We have now, then, explained what Charran is, and why he who left the well of the oath came thither. We must now consider the third point which comes next in order, namely, what the place is to which this man came ; for it is said, " He met him in the place."* Now place is considered in three ways : firstly, as a situation filled by a body ; secondly, as the divine word which God himself has filled wholly and entirely with incorporeal powers; for says the scripture, "I have seen the place in which the God of Israel stood," { in which alone he permitted his prophet to perform sacrifice to him, forbidding him to do so in other places. For he is ordered to go up into the place which the Lord God shall choose, and there to sacrifice burnt offerings and sacrifices for salvation, and to bring other victims also without spot. According to the third signification, God himself is called a place, from the fact of his surrounding the universe, and being surrounded himself by nothing whatever, and from the fact of his being the refuge of all persons, and since he himself is his own district, containing himself and resembling himself alone.

I, indeed, am not a place, but I am in a place, and every existing being is so in a similar manner. So that which is surrounded differs from that which surrounds it ; but the Deity, being surrounded by nothing, is necessarily itself its own place. And there is an evidence in support of my view of the matter in the following sacred oracle delivered with respect to Abraham : " He came unto the place of which the Lord God had told him : and having looked up with his eyes, he saw the place afar off."* Tell me, now, did he who had come to the place see it afar off? Or perhaps it is but an identical expression for two different things, one of which is the divine world, and the other, God, who existed before the world.

But he who was conducted by wisdom comes to the former place, having found that the main part and end of propitiation is the divine word, in which he who is fixed does not as yet attain to such a height as to penetrate to the essence of God, but sees him afar off : or, rather, I should say, he is not able even to behold him afar off, but he only discerns this fact, that God is at a distance from every creature, and that any comprehension of him is removed to a great distance from all human intellect. Perhaps, however, the historian, by this allegorical form of expression, does not here mean by his expression, " place," the Cause of all things ; but the idea which he intends to convey may be something of this sort ; — he came to the place, and looking up with his eyes he saw the very place to which he had come, which was a very long way from the God who may not be named nor spoken of, and who is in eveiy way incomprehensible.

These things, then, being defined as a necessary preliminary, when the practiser of virtue comes to Charran, the outward sense, he does not " meet " the place, nor that place either which is filled by a mortal body ; for all those who are born of the dust, and who occupy any place whatever, and who do of necessity fill some position, partake of that ; nor the third and most excellent kind of place, of which it was scarcely possible for that man to form an idea who made his abode at the well which was entitled the " well of the oath," where the self-taught race, Isaac, abides, who never abandons his faith in God and his .invisible comprehension of him, but who keeps to the intermediate divine word, which affords him the best suggestions, and teaches him everything which is suitable to the times. For God, not condescending to come down to the external senses, sends his own words or angels for the sake of giving assistance to' those who love virtue.

But they attend like physicians to the diseases of the soul, and apply themselves to heal them, offering sacred recommendations like sacred laws, and inviting men to practise the duties inculcated by them, and, like the trainers of wrestlers, implanting in their pupils strength, and power, and irresistible vigour. Very properly, therefore, when he has arrived at the external sense, he is represented no longer as meeting God, but only the divine word, just as his grandfather Abraham, the model of wisdom, did ; for the scripture tells us, ''The Lord departed when ho had finished conversing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place."* From which expression it is inferred, that he also met with the sacred words from which God, the father of the universe, had previously departed, no longer displaying visions from himself but only those which proceed from his subordinate powers.

And it is with exceeding beauty and propriety that it is said, not that he came to the place, but that he met the place : for to come is voluntary, but to meet is very often involuntary ; so that the divine Word appearing on a sudden, supplies an unexpected joy, greater than could have been hoped, inasmuch as it is about to travel in company with the solitary soul ; for Moses also " brings forward the people to a meeting with God,"f well knowing that he comes invisibly towards those souls who have a longing to meet with him.

And he subsequently alleges a reason why he " met the place ;" for, says he, " the sun was set. '"J Not meaning the sun which appears to us, but the most brilliant and radiant light of the invisible and Almighty God. When this light shines upon the mind, the inferior beams of words (that is of angels) set. And much more are all the places perceptible by the external senses overshadowed ; but when he departs in a different direction, then they all rise and shine. And do not wonder if, according to the rules of allegorical description, the sun is likened to the Father and Governor of the universe ; for in reality nothing is like unto God ; but those things X 2 which by the vain opinion of men are thought to be so, are only two things, one invisible and the other visible ; the soul being the invisible thing, and the sun the visible one. Now he has shown the similitude of the soul in another passage, where he says, " God made man, in the image of God created he him." And again, in the law enacted against homicides, he says, "

Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed in requital for that blood, because in the image of God did I make him."* But the likeness of the sun he only indicates by symbols. And it is easy otherwise by means of argument to perceive this, since God is the first light, " For the Lord is my light and my Saviour," f is the language of the Psalms ; and not only the light, but he is also the archetypal pattern of every other light, or rather he is more ancient and more sublime than even the archetypal model, though he is spoken of as the model ; for the real model was his own most perfect word, the light, and he himself is like to no created thing. Since, as the sun divides day and night, so also does Moses say that God divided the light from the darkness ; for " God made a division between the light and between the darkness." J And besides all this, as the sun, when he arises, discovers hidden things, so also does God, who created all things, not only bring them all to light, but he has even created what before had no existence, not being only their maker, but also their founder.

And the sun is also spoken of in many passages of holy writ in a figurative mauner. Once as the human mind, which men build up as a city § and furnish, who are compelled to serve the creature in preference to the uncreated God, of whom it is said that, " They built strong cities for Pharaoh and Peitho,"§ that is, for discourse ; to which persuasion (rb itiiduv) is attributed, and Rameses, or the outward sense, by which the soul is devoured as if by moths ; for the name Eameses, being interpreted, means, " the shaking of a moth ;" and On, the mind, which they called Heliopolis, since the mind, like the sun, has the predominance over the whole mass of our body, and extends its powers like the beams of the sun, over everything.

But he who appropriates to himself the regulation of corporeal things, by name Joseph, takes the priest and minister of the mind to be his father-in law ; for says the scripture, " he gave him Aseneth, the daughter of Peutephres, the priest of Heliopolis, for his wife."* And, using symbolical language, he calls the outward sense a second sun, inasmuch as it shows all the objects of which it is able to form a judgment to the intellect, concerning which he speaks thus, " The sun rose upon him when he passed by the appearance of God."t For in real truth, when we are no longer able to endure to pass all our time with the most sacred appearances, and as it were with incorporeal images, but when we turn aside in another direction, and forsake them, we use another light, that, namely, in accordance with the external sense, which in real truth, is in no respect different from darkness, which, after it has arisen, arouses as if from sleep the senses of seeing, and of hearing, and also of taste, and of touch, and of smell, and sends to sleep the intellectual qualities of prudence, and justice, and knowledge, and wisdom, which were all awake.

And it is for this reason that the sacred scripture says, that no one can be pure before the evening,}: as the disorderly motions of the outward senses agitate and confuse the intellect Moreover, he establishes a law for the priests also which may not be avoided, combining with it an expression of a grave opinion when it says, " He shall not eat of tbe holy things unless he have washed his body in water, and unless the sun has set, and he has become pure."§ For by these words it is very clearly shown that there is no one whatever completely pure, so as to be fit to be initiated into the holy and sacred mysteries, to whose lot it has fallen to be honoured with these glories of life which are appreciable by the external senses. But if any one rejects these glories, he is deservedly made conspicuous by the light of wisdom, by means of which he will be able to wash off the stains of vain opinion and to become pure. Do you not see that even the sun itself produces opposite effects when he is setting from those which he causes when rising ?

For when he rises everything upon the earth shines, and the things in heaven are hidden from our view ; but, on J Leviticus iv. 31. § Leviticus xxii. 6. the other hand, when he sets then the stars appear and the things on earth are overshadowed. In the same manner, also, in us, when the light of the outward senses rises like the sun, the celestial and heavenly sciences are really and truly hidden from view ; but when this light is near setting, then the starlike radiance of the virtues appears, when the mind is pure, and concealed by no object of the outward senses.

But according to the third signification, when he speaks of the sun, he means the divine word, the model of that sun which moves about through the heaven, as has been said before, and with respect to which it is said, "The sun went forth upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor, and the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone "and fire." For the word of God, when it reaches to our earthly constitution, assists and protects those who are akin to virtue, or whose inclinations lead them to virtue ; so that it provides them with a complete refuge and salvation, but upon their enemies it sends irremediable overthrow and destruction. And in the fourth signification, what is meant by the sun is the God and ruler of the universe himself, as 1 have said already, by means of whom such offences as are irremediable, and which appear to be overshadowed and concealed, are revealed ; for as all things are possible, so, likewise, all things are known to God.

In reference to which faculty of his it is that he drags those persons who are living dissolutely as regards their souls, and who are in a debauched and intemperate manner, cohabiting with the daughters of the mind the outward senses, as prostitutes and harlots, to the light of the sun, in order to display their true characters ; for the scripture says, " And the people abode in Shittim ;" now the meaning of the name Shittim is, " the thonis of the passions" which sting and wound the soul. " And the people was polluted, and began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab,"t and these who are called daughters are the outward senses, for the name Moab is interpreted, " of a father;" and the scripture adds, " Take all the chiefs of the people, and make an example of them unto the Lord in the face of the sun, and the anger of the Lord shall be turned from Israel.

"J For he not only desires that the wicked deeds which are hidden shall be made manifest, and therefore turns upon them the beams of the sun, but he also by this symbolical language calls the father of the universe the sun, that being by whom all things are seen beforehand, and even all those things which are invisibly concealed in the recesses of the mind ; and when they are made manifest, then he promises that he who is the only merciful being, will become merciful to the people. Why so ?

Because, even if the mind, fancying that though it does wrong it can escape the notice of the Deity as not being able to see everything, should sin secretly and in dark places, and should after that, either by reason of its own notions or through the suggestions of some one else, conceive that it is impossible that anything should be otherwise than clear to God, and should disclose itself and all its actions, and should bring them forward, as it were, out of the light of the sun, and display them to the governor of the universe, saying, that it repents of the perverse conduct which it formerly exhibited when under the influence of foolish opinion (for that nothing is indistinct before God, but all things are known and clear to him, not merely such as have been done, but even such are merely hoped or designed, by reason of the, boundless character of his wisdom), it then is purified and benefited, and it propitiates the chastiser who was ready to punish it, namely, conscience, who was previously filled with just anger towards it, and who now admits repentance as the younger brother of perfect innocence and freedom from sin.

Moreover, it appears that Moses has in other passages also taken the sun as a symbol of the great Cause of all things, of which I see an instance in the lawT which is enacted with respect to those who borrow on pledges : let us recite the law, " If thou takest as a pledge the garment of thy neighbour, thou shalt give it back before the setting of the sun : for it is his covering, it is the only covering of his nakedness, in which he lies down. If he cries unto me I will hearken unto him, for I am merciful."* Is it not natural that those who fancy that the lawgiver displays such earnestness about a garment should, if they do not reproach him, at least make a suggestion, saying, "What are ye saying, my good men? Do ye affirm that the Creator and ruler of the world calls himself merciful with respect to so trivial a matter, as that of a garment not being restored to the borrower by the lender?"

These are the opinions and notions of men who have never had the least conception or comprehension of the virtue of the almighty God, and who, contrary to all human and divine law, impart the triviality of human affairs to the uncreate and immortal nature, which is full of happiness, and blessedness, and perfection ; for in what respect do those lenders act unreasonably, who retain in their own hands the pledges which are deposited with them as security, until they receive back their own which they have lent ? The debtors are poor, some one will perhaps sa}T, and it is right to pity them : would it not then have been reasonable and better to enact a law in accordance with which a contribution should be made to assist their necessities, rather than allow them to appear as debtors, or else one which should forbid the lending on pledges at all? But the law which has permitted the lending on pledges, cannot fairly be indignant against those who will not give up the pledges which they have received before the proper time, as if they were acting unjustly.

But if any one having come, so to say, to the very farthest limits of poverty, and, being clothed in rags, loads himself with new debts, neglecting the pity which he receives from the bystanders, which is freely bestowed, upon those who fall into such misfortunes, in their own houses, and in the temples, and in the market-place, and everywhere ; such an one brings and offers to his creditor, the only covering which he had for his shame, with which he has been wont to cover the secret parts of his nature, as a pledge for something. For what, I pray ? Is it for some other and better garment? For no one is unprovided with necessary food as long as the springs of the rivers bubble up, and the torrents flow abundantly, and the earth gives forth its annual fruits. Again, is any creditor so covetous of riches, or so very cruel, or so perverse, as not to be willing to contribute a tetradrachm, or even less, to one in distress ?

Or is anyone so stingy as to be willing to lend it, but to refuse to give it ? or as to take the only garment that the poor man has as a pledge ? which indeed under another name may fairly be called running away with a man's clothes ;* for men who do this are accustomed to put on other peoples' clothes, and steal them, and to leave the proper owners naked. And why has the law provided so carefully that the debtor may not be without his clothes by night, and that he may not lie down to sleep without them, but has not paid the same attention to the fact of his being indecorously naked by day ? Are not all things concealed by night and darkness, so as to cause less shame, or rather none at all at that time, but are they not disclosed by day and by light, so as then to compel persons to blush more freely ? And why does the law not use the expression "to give," but "to restore?" For restoration takes place with respect to the property of other persons, but pledges belong rather to those who have lent on them than to those who have borrowed on them.

Moreover, do you not perceive that the law has not enjoined the debtor, who has received back his garment that it may serve as bed-clothes, to bring it back again to his creditor at the return of daylight ? And, indeed, if the exact propriety of the language be considered, even the most stupid person may see that there is something additional meant beyond what is formally expressed. For the injunction rather resembles a maxim than a recommendation. For, if a person had been giving a recommendation, he would have said : " Give back to your debtor, at the approach of evening, the garment which has been pledged to you, if it be the only garment that he is possessed of, that he may have something with which to cover himself at night." But one who was laying down a maxim would speak thus ; as indeed the law does here, " For it is his garment, the only covering of his nakedness, in which he will lie down to sleep."

These things then, and other things of the same kind, may be ui'ged in reply to those assertors of the literal sense of a passage ; and who superciliously reject all other explanations. We will now, in accordance with the usual laws of allegorical speaking, say what is becoming with respect to these subjects. We say, therefore, that a garment is here spoken of symbolically, to signify speech ; for clothes keep off the injuries which are wont to visit the body, from cold and heat, and they frequented the baths for the purpose of stealing the clothes of the bathers. also conceal the unmentionable parts of nature, and moreover, a cloak is a fitting garment for the body. In mucb the same manner, speech has been given to man by God, as the most excellent of gifts ; for in the first place, it is a defensive weapo: against those who would attack him -with innovations.

For as nature has fortified all other animals with their own appropriate and peculiar means of defence, by which they are able to repel those who attempt to injure them, so also has it bestowed upon man that greatest defence and most impregnable protection of speech, with which, as with a panoply, every one who is completely clothed, will have a domestic and most appropriate bodyguard ; and employing it as a champion, will be able to ward off all the injuries which can be brought against him by his enemies. In the second place, it is a most necessary defence "against shame and reproach ; for speech is very well calculated to conceal and obscure the faults of men.

In the third place, it conduces to the whole ornament of life : for this is the thing which improves every one, and which conducts every one to what is best ; for there are many disgraceful and mischievous men, who take conversation as a pledge, and deprive its proper owners of it, and utterly cut off what they ought to seek to increase ; like men who ravage the lands of their enemies, and who attempt to destroy their corn and all the rest of their crops, which, if it were left unhurt, would be a great advantage to those who would use it. For some men carry on an irreconcilable and never-ending war against rational nature, and utterly extirpate its every shoot and beginning, and destroy all its first appearances of propagation, and render it, as one may say, utterly unproductive and barren of all good practices.

For sometimes, when it is borne onwards towards sacred instruction with irresistible impetuosity, and when it is smitten with a love of the speculations of true philosophy, they — out of jealousy and envy, fearing lest, when it has derived strength from its noble aspirations and has been elevated to a splendid height, it may overwhelm all their petty cavils and plausible devices against the truth, like an irresistible torrent — turn its energy in another direction by their own evil artifices, guiding it in another channel to vulgar and illiberal acts : and very often they seek to blunt it or to hedge it in, and in this way leave the nobility of its nature uncultivated, just as at times wicked guardians of orphan children have rendered a deep-soiled and fertile land barren. And these most pitiless of all men have not been restrained by shame from stripping the man of his only garment, namely, speech ; "

For," says the scripture, " it is his only covering." — ■ What is a man's only covering, except speech? For, as neighing is the peculiar attribute of a horse, and barking of a dog, and lowing of an ox, and roaring of a lion, so also is speaking, and speech itself, the peculiar property of man : for this is what man has received above all other animals as his peculiar gift, as a protection, and bulwark, and panoply, and wall of defence ; he being, of all living creatures, the most beloved by God.

On which account the scripture adds, " This is the only covering of his nakedness ;" for what can so becomingly overshadow and conceal the reproaches and disgraces of life, as speech? For ignorance is a disgrace akin to irrational nature, but education is the brother of speech, and an ornament properly belonging to man. In what then will a man lie down to rest ? That is to say, in what will a man find tranquillity and a respite from his labours, except in speech ? For speech is a relief to our most miserable and afflicted race ? As therefore, when men have been overwhelmed by grief, or by fear, or by any other evil, tranquillity, and constancy, and the kindness of friends have often restored them ; so it happens, not often, but invariably, that speech, the only real averter of evil, wards off that most heavy burden which the necessities of that body in the which we are bound up, and the unforeseen accidents of external circumstances which attack us, impose upon us ; for speech is a friend, and an acquaintance, and a kinsman, and a companion bound up within us ; I should rather say, fitted close and united to us by some indissoluble and invisible cement of nature.

On this account it is, that it forewarns us of what will be expedient for us, and when any unexpected event befalls us it comes forward of its own accord to assist us ; not only bringing advantage of one kind only, such as that which he who is an adviser without acting, or an agent who can give no advice, may supply, but of both kinds : for he does not display a halfcomplete power, but one which is perfect in every part. Inasmuch, as even if it were to fail in his endeavour, and iu any conceptions which may have heen formed, or efforts which may have heen made, it still can have recourse to the third species of assistance, namely, consolation. For speech is, as it were, a medicine for the wounds of the soul, and a saving remedy for its passions, which, " even before the setting of the sun," the lawgiver says one must restore : that is to say, before the all-brilliant beams of the almighty and all-glorious God are obscured, which he, out of pity for our race, sends down from heaven upon the human mind.

For while that most God-like light abides in the soul, we shall be able to give back the speech, which was deposited as a pledge, as if it were a garment, in order that he who has received this peculiar possession of man, may by its means conceal the discreditable circumstances of life, and reap the benefit of the divine gift, and indulge in a respite combined with tranquillity, in consequence of the presence of so useful an adviser and defender, who will never leave the ranks in which he has been stationed. Moreover, while God pours upon you the light of his beams, do you hasten in the ligbt of day to restore his pledge to the Lord ; for when the sun has set, then you, like the whole land of Egypt,* will have an everlasting darkness which may be felt, and being stricken with blindness and ignorance, you will be deprived of all those things of which you thought that you had certain possession, by that sharp-sighted Israel, whose pledges you hold, having made one who was by nature exempt from slavery a slave to necessity.

We have discussed this subject at this length with no other object except that of teaching that the mind, which is inclined to practise virtue, having irregular motions towards prolificness and sterility, and as one may say, being in a manner always ascending and descending, when it becomes prolific and is elevated to a height is illuminated with the archetypal and incorporeal beams of the rational spring of the all-perfecting sun; but when it descends and becomes unproductive, then it is again illuminated by those images of those beams, the immortal words which it is customary to call angels. On which account we now read in the scripture, " He met the place ; for the sun was set."f For when those beams of God desert the soul by means of which the clearest comprehensions of affairs are engendered in it, then arises that second and weaker light of words, and the light of things is no longer seen, just as is the case in this lower world.

For the moon, which occupies the second rank next to the sun, when that body has set, pours forth a somewhat weaker light than his upon the earth ; and to meet a place or a word is a most sufficient gift for those who cannot discern that God is superior to every place or word ; because they have not a soul wholly destitute of light, but because, since that most unmixed and brilliant light has set, they have been favoured with one which is alloyed. " For the children of Israel had light in all their dwellings,"* says the sacred historian in the book of the Exodus, so that night and darkness were continually banished from them, though it is in night and darkness that those men live who have lost the eyes of the soul rather than those of the body, having no experience of the beams of virtue.

But some persons — supposing that what is meant here by the figurative expression of the sun is the external sense and the mind, which are looked upon as the things which have the power of judging ; and that what is meant by place is the divine word — understand the allegory in this manner : the practiser of virtue met with the divine word, after the mortal and human light had set ; for as long as the mind thinks that it attains to a firm comprehension of the objects of intellect, and the outward sense conceives that it has a similar understanding of its appropriate objects, and that it dwells amid sublime objects, the divine word stands aloof at a distance ; but when each of these comes to confess its own weakness, and sets in a manner while availing itself of concealment, then immediately the right reason of a soul well-practised in virtue comes in a welcome manner to their assistance, when they have begun to despair of their own strength, and await the aid which is invisibly coming to them from without.

Therefore, the scripture says in the next verses, " That he took one of the stones of the place and placed it at his head, and slept in that place." f Any one may wonder not only at the interior and mystical doctrine contained in these words, but also at the distinct assertion, which gives us a lesson in labour and endurance : for the historian does not think it becoming, that the man who is devoted t) the study of virtue should adopt a luxurious life, and live softly, imitating the pursuits and rivalries of those who are called indeed happy, but who are in reality full of all unhappiness ; whose entire life is a sleep and a dream, according to the holy lawgiver. These men, after they have during the whole day been doing all sorts of injustice to others, in courts of justice, and council halls, and theatres, and everywhere, then return home, like miserable men as they are, to overturn their own house. I mean not that house which comes under the class of buildings, but that which is akin to the soul, I mean the body.

Introducing immoderate and incessant food, and irrigating it with an abundance of pure wine, until the reason is overwhelmed, and disappears ; and the passions which have their seat beneath the belly, the offspring of satiety, rise up, being carried away by unrestrained frenzy, and falling upon, and vehemently attacking all that they meet with, are only at last appeased after they have worked off their excessive violence of excitement. But by night, when it is time to turn towards rest, having prepared costly couches and the most exquisite of beds, they lie down in the most exceeding softness, imitating the luxury of women, whom nature has permitted to indulge in a more relaxed system of life, inasmuch as their maker, the Creator of the universe, has made their bodies of a more delicate stamp.

Now no such person as this is a pupil of the sacred word, but those only are the disciples of that who are real genuine men, lovers of temperance, and orderliness, and modesty, men who have laid down continence, and frugality, and fortitude, as a kind of base and foundation for the whole of life ; and safe stations for the soul, in which it may anchor without danger and without changeableness : for being superior to money, and pleasure, and glory, they look down upon meats and drinks, and everything of that sort, beyond what is necessary to ward off hunger: being thoroughly ready to undergo hunger, and thirst, and heat, and cold, and all other things, however hard they may be to be borne, for the sake of the acquisition of virtue. And being admirers of whatever is most easily provided, so as not to be ashamed of ever such cheap or shabby clothes, thinking rather, on the other hand, that sumptuous apparel is a reproach and great scandal to life.

To these men, the soft earth is their most costly coach ; their bed is bushes, and grass, and. herbage, and a thick layer of leaves ; and the pillows for their, head are a few stones, or any little mounds which happen to rise a little above the surface of the plain. Such a life as this, is, by luxurious men, denominated a life of hardship, but by those who live for virtue, it is called most delightful ; for it is well adapted, not for those who are called men, but for those who really are such. Do you not see, that even now, also, the sacred historian represents the practiser of honourable pursuits, who abounds in all royal materials and appointments, as sleeping on the ground, and using a stone for his pillow ; and a little further on, he speaks of him as asking in his prayers for bread and a cloak, the necessary wealth of nature ? like one who has at all times held in contempt, the man who dwells among vain opinions, and who is inclined to revile all those who are disposed to admire him ; this man is the archetypal pattern of the soul which is devoted to the practice of virtue, and an enemy of every effeminate person.

Hitherto I have been uttering the praises of the man devoted to labour and to virtue, as it occurred to me naturally ; but now we must examine what is symbolically signified under the expressions made use of. Now it is well that we should know, that the divine place and the sacred region are full of incorporeal intelligences ; and these intelligences are immortal souls.

Taking then one of these intelligences, and selecting one of them according as it appears to be the most excellent, this lover of virtue, of whom we are speaking, applies it to our 'own mind, to it as to the head of a united body ; for, indeed, the mind is in a manner the head of the soul ; and he does this, using the pretext indeed as if he were going to sleep, but, in reality, as being about to rest upon the word of God, and to place the whole of his life as the lightest possible burden upon it ; and it lis tens to him gladly, and receives the labourer in the paths of virtue at first, as if he were going to become a disciple ; then when he has shown his approbation of the dexterity of his nature, he gives him his hand, like a gymnastic trainer, and invites him to the gymnasia, and standing firmly, compels him to wrestle with him. until he has rendered his strength so great as to be irresistible, changing his ears by the divine infiuences into eyes, and calling this newly-modelled disposition Israel, that is, the man who sees.* Then also he crowns him with the garland of victory.

But this garland has a singular and foreign, and, perhaps, not altogether a well-omened name, for it is called by the president of the games torpor, for it is said, that the breadth became torpidf of all the rewards and of the proclamations of the heralds, and of all those most wonderful prizes for pre-eminent excellence which are had in honour; for the soul which has received a share of irresistible power, and which has been made perfect in the contests of virtue, and which has arrived at the very furthest limit of what is honourable, will never be unduly elated or puffed up by arrogance, nor stand upon tiptoes, and boast as if it were well to make vast strides with bare feet; but the breadth which was extended wide by opinion, will become torpid and contracted, and then will voluntarily succumb and yield to tameness, so as being classed in an inferior order to that of the incorporeal natures, it may carry off the victory while appearing to be defeated ; for it is accounted a most honourable thing to yield the palm to those who are superior to one's self, voluntarily rather than through compulsion; for it is incredible how greatly the _ second prize in this contest is superior in real dignity and importance to the first prize in the others.

Such then may be said, by way of preface, to the discussion of that description of visions which are sent from God. But it is time now to turn to the subject itself, and to investigate, with accuracy, every portion of it. The scripture therefore says, "And he dreamed a dream. And behold a ladder was planted firmly on the ground, the head of which reached to heaven, aud the angels of God were ascending and descending along it."$ By the ladder in this thing, which is called the world, is figuratively understood the air, the foundation of which is the earth, and the head is the heaven ; for the large interior space, which being extended in every direction, reaches from the orb of the moon, which is God." t Genesis xxxii. 25 ; where, however, the expression of the bible 13 "the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint." i Genesis xxviii. 12. ON DREAMS BEING SENT FROM GOD 3 '21 described as the most remote of the order in heaven, but the nearest to us by those who contemplate sublime objects, down to the earth, which is the lowest of such bodies, is the air.

This air is the abode of incorporeal souls, since it seemed good to the Creator of the universe to fill all the parts of the world with living creatures. On this account he prepared the terrestrial animals for the earth, the aquatic animals for the sea and for the rivers, and the stars for the heaven ; for every one of these bodies is not merely a living animal, but is also properly described as the very purest and most universal mind extending through the universe ; so that there are living creaures in that other section of the universe, the air. And if these things are not comprehensible by the outward senses, what of that ? For the soul also is invisible. And yet it is probable that the air should nourish living animals even more than the land or the water. Why so ? Because it is the air which has given vitality to those animals which live on the earth and in the water. For the Creator of the universe formed the air so that it should be the habit of those bodies which are immoveable, and the nature of those which are moved in an invisible manner, and the soul of such as are able to exert an impetus and visible seme of their own.

Is it not then absurd that that element, by means of which the other elements have been filled with vitality, should itself be destitute of living things? Therefore let no one deprive the most excellent nature of living creatures of the most excellent of those elements which sui'round the earth ; that is to say, of the air. For not only is it not alone deserted by all things besides, but rather, like a populous city, it is full of imperishable and immortal citizens, souls equal in number to the stars. Now of these souls some descend upon the earth with a view to being bound up in mortal bodies, those namely which are most nearly connected with the earth, and which are lovers of the body. But some soar upwards, being again distinguished according to the definitions and times which have been appointed by nature. Of these, those which are influenced by a desire for mortal life, and which have been familiarised to it, again return to it.

But others, condemning the body of great folly and trifling, have pronounced it a prison and a grave, and, flying from it as from a house of corrsction or a tomb, VOL. il Y have raised themselves aloft on light wings towards the sether, and have devoted their whole lives to sublime speculations. There are others, again, the purest and most excellent of all, which have received greater and more divine intellects, never by any chance desiring any earthly thing whatever, but being as it were lieutenants of the Ruler of the universe, as though they were the eyes and ears of the great king, beholding and listening to everything. Now philosophers in general are wont to call these demons, but the sacred scripture calls them angels, using a name more in accordance with nature. For indeed they do report (8iayy'sX\t.u6i) the injunctions of the father to his children, and the necessities of the children to the father.

And it is in reference to this employment of theirs that the holy scripture has represented them as ascending and descending, not because God, who knows everything before any other being, has any need of interpreters ; but because it is the lot of us miserable mortals to use speech as a mediator and intercessor ; because of our standing in awe of and fearing the Ruler of the universe, and the all-powerful might of his authority ; having received a notion of which he once entreated one of those mediators, saying : " Do thou speak for us, and let not God speak to us, lest we die."* For not only are we unable to endure his chastisements, but we cannot bear even his excessive and unmodified benefits, which he himself proffers us of his own accord, without employing the ministrations of any other beings. Very admirably therefore does Moses represent the air under the figurative symbol of a ladder, as planted solidly in the earth and reaching up to heaven.

For it comes to pass that the evaporations which are given forth by the earth becoming rarefied, are dissolved into air, so that the earth is the foundation and root of the air, and that the heaven is its head. Accordingly it is said that the moon is not an unadulterated consolidation of pure aether, as each of the other stars is, but is rather a combination of the aether-like and air-like essence. For that black spot which appears in it, which some call a face, is nothing else but the air mingled with it, which is by aature black, and which extends as far as heaven.

The ladder therefore in the world which is here • Exodus xx 19. spoken of in this symbolical manner, was something of this sort. But if we carefully investigate the soul which exists in men, the foundation of which is something corporeal, and as it were earth-like, we shall find that foundation to be the outward sense ; and the head to be something heavenly, as it were the most pure mind. But all the words of God move incessantly upwards and downwards through the whole of it, dragging it upwards along with them whenever they soar aloft, and separating it from whatever is mortal, and exhibiting to it a sight of those things which alone are worthy of being beheld ; but yet not casting it down when they descend. For neither is God himself, nor the word of God, worthy of blame. But thoy ioin with them in their descent, by reason of their love for mankind and compassion for our race, for the sake of being their allies and rendering them assistance, in order that by breathing in a saving inspiration they may recall to life the soul which was still being tossed about in the body as in the river.