The Works of Philo (complete)

And on the seventh day he doubles the number of victims to be offered, giving equal honour to equal things, inasmuch as he looks upon the seventh day as equal in dignity to eternity, since he has recorded it as being the birth-day of the whole world. On which account he has thought fit to make the sacrifice to be offered on the seventh day, equal to the continuation of what is usually sacrificed in one day. Moreover, the most fragrant of all incenses are offered up twice every day in the fire, being burnt within the veil, both when the sun rises and sets, before the morning and after the evening sacrifice, so that the sacrifices of blood display our gratitude for ourselves as being composed of blood, but the offerings of incense show our thankfulness for the dominant part within us, our rational spirit, which was fashioned after the archetypal model of the divine image. And loaves are placed on the seventh day on the sacred table, being equal in number to the months of the year, twelve loaves, arranged in two rows of six each, in accordance with the arrangement of the equinoxes ; for there are two equinoxes every year, the vernal and the autumnal, which are each reckoned by periods of six months.

At the vernal equinox all the seeds sown iu the ground begin to ripen ; about which time, also, the trees begin to put forth their fruit. And by the autumnal one the fruit of the trees has arrived at a perfect ripeness ; and at this period, again, is the beginning of seed time. Thus nature, going through a long course of time, showers gifts after gifts upon the race of man, the symbols of which are the two sixes of loaves thus placed on the table. And these loaves, also, do figuratively intimate that most useful of all virtues, temperance ; which is attended by frugality, and economy, and moderation as so many bodyguards, on account of the pernicious attacks which intemperance and covetousness prepare to make upon it. For, to a lover of wisdom, a loaf is a sufficient nourishment, keeping the bodies free from disease, and the intellect sound, and healthy, and sober.

But high seasonings, and cheesecakes, and sweetmeats, and all the other dehcacies which the superfluous skill of confectioners and cooks concoct to cajole the illiterate, and unphilosophical, and most slavish of all the outward senses, namely, taste, which is never influenced by any noble sight, or by any perceptible lesson, but only by desire to indulge the appetites of the miserable belly, constantly engenders incurable diseases both in the body and the mind. And with the loaves there is also placed on the table frankincense and salt. The one as a symbol that there is no sweetmeat more fragrant and wholesome than economy and temperance, if wisdom is to be the judge ; while salt is an emblem of the duration of all things (for salt preserves everything over which it is sprinkled), and also of sufficient seasoning.

I know that those men who devote themselves wholly to drinking parties and banquets, and who care only for costly entertainments, will make a mock at these things and turn them into ridicule, miserable slaves as they are of birds, and fishes, and meat, and all such nonsense as that, and not being able to taste of true freedom, not even in a dream. And all such men are to be disregarded and despised by those who seek to live in accordance with the will of God, in a manner pleasing to the true and living God ; who, having learnt to despise the pleasures of the flesh, pursue the delights and luxuries of the mind, having exercised themselves in the contemplation of the objects of nature.

After the lawgiver has given these commands with reference to these subjects, he begins to distinguish between the different kinds of sacrifices, and he divides the victims into three classes. The most important of which he makes a whole burnt offering ; the next an offering for preservation"; the last, a sin-offering. And then he adapts suitable ceremonies and. rites to each, aiming, iu no inadequate manner, at what is at the same time decorous and holy. And the distinction which he makes is one of great beauty and propriety, having a close connection and a sort of natural kindred with the things them selves ; for if any one were to wish to examine minutely the causes for which it seemed good to the first men to betake themselves at the same time to sacrifices to show their gratitude, and also to supplications, he will find two most especial reasons for this conduct. Firstly, that it conduces to the honour of God, which ought to be aimed at not for the sake of any other reason, but for itself alone, as being both honourable and necessary ; and, secondly, for the benefits which have been poured upon the sacrificers themselves, as has been said before.

And the benefit they derive is also twofold, being both an admission to a share of good things and a deliverance from evils. Therefore the law has assigned the whole burnt offering as a sacrifice adequate to that honour which is suited to God, and which belongs to God alone, enjoining that what is offered to the all-perfect and absolute God must be itself entire and perfect, having no taint of mortal selfishness in it. But that sacrifice which is offered for the sake of men, since its appearance admits of distinction, the law has distinguished also, appointing it to be a sacrifice for the participation in blessings which mankind has enjoined, and calling it a thank-offering for their preservation. And for the deliverance from evils it has allotted the sacrifice called a sin-offering, so that these are very appropriately their sacrifices for these causes ; the whole burnt-offering being sacrificed for God himself alone, who must be honoured for liis own sake, and not for that of any other being or thing ; and the others for our sake ; the thank-offering for our preservation, for the safety and amelioration of human affairs ; and the sin-offering for the cure of those offences which the soul has committed.

And we must now enumerate the laws which have been enacted respecting each sacrifice, making our commencement with that which is the most excellent. Now, the most excellent sacrifice is the whole burnt-offering. The law says, " lu the first place the victim shall be a male, carefully selected for its excellence from all the animals which are fit for sacrifice, a calf, or a lamb, or a kid. And then let him who brings it wash his hands, and lay his hands on the head of the victim. And after this let some one of the priests take the victim and sacrifice it, and let another hold a bowl under it, and, having caught some of the blood, let him go all around the altar and sprinkle it with the blood, and let him flay the victim and divide it into large pieces, having washed its entrails and its feet. And then let the whole victim be given to the fire of the altar of God,* having become many things instead of one, and one instead of many." These thiugs, then, are comprehended in express words of command. But there is another meaning figuratively concealed under the enigmatical expressions. And the words employed are visible symbols of what is invisible and uncertain.

Now the victim which is to be sacrificed as a whole burnt oSering must be a male, because a male is both more akin to domination than a female and more nearly related to the efl&- cient cause ; for the female is imperfect, subject, seen more as the passive than as the active partner. And since the elements of which our soul consists are two in number, the rational and the irrational part, the rational part belongs to the male sex, being the inheritance of mtellect and reason ; but the irrational part belongs to the sex of woman, which is the lot also of the outward senses. And the mind is in every respect superior to the outward sense, as the man is to the woman ; who, when he is without blemish and purified with the proper purifications, namely, the perfect virtues, is himself the most holy sacrifice, being wiiolly and in all respects pleasing to God.

Again, the hands which are laid upon the head of the victim are a most manifest symbol of irreproachable actions, and of a life which does nothing wlfich is open to accusation, but which in all respects is passed in a manner consistent with the laws and ordinances of nature ; for the law, in the first place, desires that the mind of the man who is offering the sacrifice shall be made holy by being exercised in good and advantageous doctrines ; and, in the second place, that his Hfe shall consist of most virtuous actions, so that, in conjunction with the imposition of hands, the man may speak freely out of his cleanly conscience, and may say, " These hands have never received any gift as a bribe to commit an unjust action, nor any division of what has been obtained by rapine or by covetousness, nor have they shed innocent blood, nor have they wrought mutilation, nor works of insolence, nor acts of violence, nor have they inflicted any wounds ; nor, in fact, have they performed any action whatever which is liable to accusation or to reproach, but have been ministers in everything which is honourable and advantageous, and which is honoured by wisdom, or by the laws, or by honourable and virtuous men."

And the blood is poured out in a circle all round the altar, because a circle is the most complete of all figures, and also in order that no part whatever may be left empty and unoccupied by the libation of life ; for, to speak properly, the blood is the libation of the life. Therefore the law here symbolically teaches us that the mind, which is always pei'- formiug its dances in a circle, is by every description of words, and intentions, and actions which it adopts, always showing its desire to please God. And it is commanded that the belly and the feet shall be washed, which command is a figurative and very expressive one ; for, by the belly it is figuratively meant to be signified that it is desirable that the appetites shall be purified, which are full of stains, and intoxication, and drunkenness, being thus a most pernicious evil, existing, and concocted, and exercised to the great injury of the life of mankind. And by the command that the feet of the victim should be washed, it is figuratively shown that we must no longer walk upon the earth, but soar aloft and traverse the air.

For the soul of the man who is devoted to God, being eager for truth, springs upward and mounts from earth to heaven ; and, being borne on wings, traverses the expanse of the air, being eager to be classed with and to move in concert with the sun, and moon, and all the rest of the most sacred and most harmonious company of the stars, under the immediate command and government of God, who has a kingly authority without any rival, and of which he can never be deprived, in accordance with which he justly governs the universe. And the division of the animal into limbs shows plainly that all things are but one, or that they are derived from one, and dissolved into one ; which some persons have called satiety and also want, while others have called it combustion and arrangement : combustion, in accordance with the supreme power of God, who rules all other things in the world ; and arrangement, according to the equality of the four elements which they all mutually allow to one another.

And when I have been investigating these matters, this has appeared to me to be a probable conjecture ; the soul which honoui's the living God, ought for that very reason to honour him not inconsiderately nor ignorantly, but with knowledge and reason ; and the reasoning which we indulge in respecting God admits of division and partition, according to each of the divine faculties and excellencies; for God is both all good, and is also the maker and creator of the universe ; and he also created it having a foreknowledge of what would take place, and being its preserver and most blessed benefactor, full of every kind of happiness ; all which circumstances have in themselves a most dignified and praiseworthy character, both separately and when looked at in conjunction with, their kindred qualities ; and we must speak in the same way of other matters.

When you wish to give thanks to God with your mind, and to assert your gratitude for the creation of the world, give him thanks for the creation of it as a whole, and of all its separate parts in their integrity, as if for the limbs of a most perfect animal ; and by the parts I mean, for instance, the heaven, and the sun, and the moon, and the fixed stars ; and secondly the earth, and the animals, and plants which spring from it ; and next the seas and rivers, whether naturally springing from the ground or swollen by rain as winter torrents, and all the things in them : and lastly, the air and all the changes that take place in it; for winter, and summer, and spring, and autumn, being the seasons of the year, and being all of great service to mankind, are what we may call affections of the air for the preservation of all these things that are beneath the moon.

And if ever you give thanks for men and their fortunes, do not do so only for the race taken generally, but you shall give thanks also for the species and most important parts of the race, such as men and women, Greeks and barbarians, men on the continent, and those who have their habitation in the islands; and if you are giving thanks for one individual, do not divide your thankfulness in expression into gratitude for minute trifles and inconsiderable matters, but take in your view the most comprehensive circumstances, first of all, his body and his soul, of which he consists, and then his speech, and his mind, and his outward senses ; for such gratitude cannot of itself be unworthy of being listened to by God, when uttered, for each of these particulars.

These things are enough for us to say respecting the sacrifice of the whole burnt-offering. We must now proceed iu due order to consider that offering which is called the sacrifice for preservation ; for with respect to this one it is a matter of consequence whether the victim be male or female ; and when it is slain, these three parts are especially selected for the altar, the fat, and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys ; and all the other parts are left to make a feast for the sacrificer ; and we must consider with great accuracy the reason why these portions of the entrails are iu this case looked upon as sacred, and not pass this point by carelessly.

Often when I have been considering this matter in my own mind, and investigating all these commandments, I have doubted why the law selected the lobe of the Uver, and the kidneys, and the fat, as the first fruits of the animals thus sacrificed ; and did not choose the heart or the brain, though the dominant part of the man resides in one of these parts ; and I think also that many other persons who read the sacred scriptui'es with their mind, rather than merely with their eyes, will ask the same question. If therefore they, when they have considered the matter, can find any more probable reason, they will be benefiting both themselves and us ; but if they cannot, let them consider the cause which has been discovered by us, and see whether it will stand the test ; and this is it.

The dominant power alone of all those that exist in us is able to restrain our natural folly, and injustice, and cowardice, and our other vices, and does restrain them ; and the abode of this dominant power is one or other of the aforesaid portions of us, that is, it is either the brain or the heart ; therefore the sacred commandment has thought fit that one should not bring to the altar of God, by means of which a remission and complete pardon of all sins and transgressions is procured, that vessel from which the mind having at one time been abiding in it, has gone forth on the trackless road of injustice and impiety, having turned out of the way which leads to virtue and excellence ; for it would be folly to suppose that sacrifices were not to procure a forgetfulness of offences, but were to act as a reminder of them.

This it is which appears to me to be the reason why neither of those two parts, which are of supreme importance, namely, the brain or the heart, is brought to the altar: and the parts which are commanded to be brought have a very suitable reason why they should be ; the fat is brought because it is the richest part, and that which guards the entrails ; for it envelops them and makes them to flourish, and benefits them by the softness of its touch. And the kidneys are commanded to be selected on account of the adjacent parts and the organs of generation, which they, as they dwell near them, do, like good neighbours, assist and co-operate with, in order that the seed of natm-e may prosper without anything in its vicinity being any obstacle to it ; for they are channels resembling blood, by which that part of the purification of the superfluities of the body which is moist is separated from the body ; and the testicles are near by which the seed is irrigated.

And the lobe of the liver is the first fruit of the most important of the entrails, bv means of which the food is digested, and being conveyed into the stomach is diffused through all the veins, and so conduces to the durability of the whole body; for the stomach, lying close to the gullet which swallows the food, receives it as soon after it has first been chewed by the teeth and been made sraooth, and so digests it ; and the body again receives it from the stomach and performs the second part of the service required, to which indeed it has been destined by nature, giving forth a juice to aid in liquefying the food ; and there are two pipes like channels in the belly, which pour forth chyle into the liver, through the two channels which are originally placed in it. And the liver has a twofold power, a secretive one, and also a power of making blood.

Now the secretive power secretes everything which is hard and difficult to be digested, and removes it into the adjacent vessels of gall ; and the other power turns all that portion of the food which is pure and properly strained, by the means of its own innate flame, into life-like vivifying blood ; and presses it into the heart, from ON ANIMALS FIT FOR SACRIFICE. 2Q1 which, as has been already said, it is conveyed through the veins and by these channels is diffused through the whole body to which it becomes the nourishment.

We must also add to what has been here said, that the nature of the liver being of a lofty character and very smooth, by reason of its smoothness is looked upon as a very transparent mirror, so that when the mind, retreating from the cares of the day (while the body is lying relaxed in sleep, and while no one of the outward senses is any hindrance or impediment), begins to roll itself about, and to consider the objects of its thought by itself without any interruption, looking into the liver as into a mirror, it then sees, very clearly and without any alloy, every one of the proper objects of the intellect, and looking round upon all vain idols, and seeing that no disgrace can accrue to it, but taking care to avoid that and to choose the contrary, and being contented and pleased with all that it sees, it by dreams obtains a prophetic sight of the future.

And there are two days only during which God permits the nation to make use of the sacrifice for preservation, enjoining them to carve nothing of it till the tliird day, on many accounts, first of all, because all the things which are ever placed on the sacred table, ought to be made use of in due season, while the users take care that they shall suffer no deterioration from the lapse of time ; but the nature of meat that has been kept is veiy apt to become putrid, even though it may have been seasoned in the cooking ; secondly, because it is fitting that the sacrifices should not be stored up for food, but should be openly exposed, so as to afford a meal to all who are in need of it, for the sacrifice when once placed on the altar, is no longer the property of the person who has offered it, but belongs to that Being to whom the victim is sacrificed, who, being a beneficent and bounteous God, makes the whole company of those who offer the sacrifice, partakers at the altar and messmates, only admonishing them not to look upon it as their own feast, for they are but stewards of the feast, and not the entertainers ; and the entertainer is the man to whom all the preparation belongs, which it is not lawful to conceal while preferring parsimony and illiberal meanness to humanity which is a iTble virtue.

Lastly, this command was given because it so happens that the sacrifice for preservation is offered up for two things, the soul and the body, to each of whicli the lawgiver has assigned one day for feasting on the meats, for it was becoming that a number of days should be allotted for this purpose equal to the number of those parts in us which were designed to be sacred ; so that in the first day we should, together with our eating of the food, receive a recollection of the salvation of our souls ; and on the second day be reminded of the sound health of our bodies. And since there is no third object which is naturally appointed as one that should receive preservation, he has, with all possible strictness, forbidden the use of those meats being reserved to the third day, commanding that if it should so happen that, out of ignorance or forgetfulness, any portion was left, it should be consumed with fire ; and he declares that the man who has merely tasted of it is blameable, foolish man, you have not sacrificed ; I have not accepted the unholy, unconsecrated, profane, unclean meats which you have roasted, 0 gluttonous man ; never, even in a dream, having a proper idea of sacrifice."

To this species of sacrifice for preservation that other sacrifice also belongs, which is called the sacrifice of praise, and which rests on the following principle.* The man who has never fallen into any unexpected disaster whatever, neither as to his body nor as to his external circumstances, but who has passed a tranquil and peaceful life, living in happiness and prosperity, being free from all calamity and all mishap, steering through the long voyage of life in calmness and serenity of circumstances, good fortune always blowing upon the stern of his vessel, is, of necessity, bound to requite God, who has been the pilot of his voyage, who has bestowed upon him untroubled salvation and unalloyed benefits, and, in short, all sorts of blessings unmingled with any evil, with hymns, and songs, and prayere, and also with sacrifices, and all other iinagiTiable tokens of gratitude in a holy manner ; all which things taken together have received the one comprehensive name of praise. This sacrifice the lawgiver has not commanded to be spread like the one before mentioned over two days,t but he has confined it to one only, in order that thes« men, who meet with rcadv beueiits freely poured upon them,' may offer up their requital freely and without any delay.

This is sufficient to say on these subjects. We must now proceed, in due order, to consider the third sacrifice, which is called the sin-ofFering. This is varied in many ways, both in resjDect to the persons and to the description of victims offered ; in respect of persons, that is, of the high priest, and of the whole nation, and of the ruler in his turn, and of the private individual ; in respect of the victim offered, whether it be a calf, or a kid, or a she-goat, or a lamb. Also there is a distinction made, which is very necessary, as to whether they are voluntary or involuntary, with reference to those who, after they have erred, change for the better, confessing that they have sinned, and reproaching themselves for the offences that they have committed, and turning, for the future, to an irreproachable way of life. The sins therefore of the high priest, and of the whole nation, are atoned for by animals of equal value, for the priest is commanded to offer up a calf for each. The sins of the ruler are atoned for by an inferior animal, but still a male, for a kid is the appointed victim.

The sins of the private individual by a victim of an inferior species, for it is a female, not a male, a she-goat, that is sacrificed ; for it was fitting that a ruler should be ranked above a private individual, even in his performance of sacred ceremonies also : but the nation is superior to the ruler, since the whole must, at all times, be superior to the part. But the high priest is accounted worthy of the same honour as the whole nation, in respect of purification and of entreating a forgiveness of his sins from the merciful power of God. And he receives an equality of honour, not so much as it ap pears for his own sake, as because he is a servant of the nation, offering up a common thank-offering for them all in his most sacred prayers and most holy sacrifices. And the commandment given respecting these matters is one of great dignity and admirable solemnity.

"If," says the law, "the high priest have sinned unintentionally," and then it adds, " so that the people has sinned too," all but affirming in express words that the true high priest, not the one incorrectly called so, has no participation in sin ; and if ever he stumble, this will happen to him, not for his own sake, but for tlie common errors of the nation, and this error is not incurable, but is one which easily admits of a remedy. When, therefore, the calf has been sacrificed, the lawgiver commands the sacrificer to sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times in front of the veil which is before the holy of holies, within the former veil, in which place the sacred vessels are placed ; and after that to smear and anoint the four horns of the altar, for it is square ; and to pour out the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar, which is in the open air.

And to this altar they are commanded to bring three things, the fat, and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys, in accordance with the commandment given with reference to the sacrifice for preservation ; but the skin and the flesh, and all the rest of the body of the calf, from the head to the feet, with the entrails, they are commanded to carry out and to burn in an open place, to which the sacred ashes from the altar have been conveyed. The lawgiver also gives the same command with respect to the whole nation when it has sinned. But if any ruler has sinned he makes his purification with a kid,* as I have said before ; and if a private individual has sinned, he must offer a she-goat or a lamb ; and for the ruler he appoints a male victim, but to the private individual a female, making all his other injunctions the same in both cases, to anoint the horns of the altar in the open air with blood, to biing the fat and the lobe of the fiver, and the two kidneys, and to give the rest of the victim to the priests to eat.

XL But since, of offences some ai'e committed against men, and some against holy and sacred things ; he has hitherto been speaking with reference to those which are unintentionally committed against men ; but for the purification of such as have been committed against sacred things he commands a ram to be offered up, after the offender has first paid the value of the thing to which the ofi^ence related, adding one fifth to the exact value. And after having put forth these and similar enactments with reference to sins committed unintentionally, he proceeds to lay down rules respecting intentional offences. "

If any one," says the law, " shall speak falsely concerning a partnership, or about a deposit, or about a theft, or about the finding of something wliicli another has lost, and being suspected and having hiid an oath proposed to him, shall swear, and when he appears to have escaped all conviction at the hands of his accusers, shall himself become his own accuser, being convicted by his own conscience residing within, and shall reproach himself for the things which he has denied, and as to wliich he has sworn falsely, and shall come and openly confess the sin which he has committed, and implore pardon ; then pardon shall be given to such a man, who shows the truth of his repentance, not by promises but by works, by restoring the deposit which he has received, and by giving up the things which he has stolen or found, or of which in short he has in any way deprived his neighbour, paying also in addition one fifth of the value, as an atonement for the evil which he had done."* And then, after he has appeased the man who had been injured, the law proceeds to say, '• After this let him go also into the temple, to implore remission of the sins which he has committed, taking with him an irreproachable meditator, namely, that conviction of the soul which has delivered him from his incurable calamity, curing him of the disease which would cause death, and wholly cbajiging and bringing him to good health." xVnd it orders that he should sacrifice a ram, and this victim is expressly mentioned, as it is in the case of the man who has offended in respect of the holy things ; for the law speaks of an unintentional offence in the matter of holy things as of equal importance with an intentional sin in respect of men ; if we may not indeed say that this also is holy, shice an oath is added to it, which, as having been taken for an unjust cause, it has corrected by an alteration for the better.

And we must take notice that the parts of the victim slain as a sin-offering which are placed upon the altar, are the same as those which are taken from the sacrifice for preservation, namely the lobe of the liver, and the fat, and the kidneys ; for in a manner we may speak also of the man who repents as being preserved, since he is cured of a disease of the soul, which is worse than the diseases of the body ; but the other parts of the animal are assigned to be eaten in a different manner ; and the difference consists in three things ; in the place, and time, and in those who receive it.+ Now the place is the temple ; tlie time is one day instead of two ; and the persons who partake of it are the priests, and tlie male servants of tlie priests, but not the men who oiler the sacrifice.

Therefore the law does not permit the sacrifice to he brought out of the temple, with the intent that, if the man who repents has committed any previous offence also, he may not now he over whelmed by envious and malicious men, with foolish disposi tions and unbridled tongues, always lying in wait for reproach and false accusation ; but it must be eaten in the sacred precincts, within which the purification has taken place.

And the law orders the priests to feast on what is offered in the sacrifice for many reasons ; first of all, that by this command it may do honour to him who has offered the sacrifice, for the dignity of those who eat of the feast is an honour to those who furnish it; secondly, that they may believe the more firmly that those men who feel repentance for their sins do really have God propitious to them, for he would never have invited his servants and ministers to a participation in such a banquet, if his forgiveness of those who provided it had not been complete ; and thirdly, because it is sacred ceremonies who is not perfect, for they are rejected for the slightest blemish. And God comforts those who have ceased to travel by the road of wickedness, as if they now, by means of the race of the priesthood, had received a pure purpose of life for the future, and had been sent forth so as to obtain an equal share of honour with the priests.

And it is for this reason that the victim sacrificed as a sin-offering is consumed in one day, because men ought to delay to sin, being always slow and reluctant to approach it, but to exert all possible haste and promptness in doing well. But the sacrifices offered up for the sins of the high priest, or for those of the whole nation, are not prepared to be eaten at all, but are burnt to ashes, and the ashes are sacred as has been said ; for there is no one who is superior to the high priest or to the whole nation, or who can as such be an intercessor for them, as to the sins which they have committed.

Very naturally, therefore, is the meat of this sacrifice ordered to be consumed by fire, in imitation of the whole burnt offerings, and this to the honour of those who offer it ; not because the sacred judgments of God are given with reference to the rank of tliose who come before his tribunal, but because the offences committed by men of pre-eminent virtue and real t/ holiness are accounted of a character nearly akin to the good actions of others ; for as a deep and fertile soil, even if it at times yields a bad crop, still bears more and better fruit than one which is naturally unproductive, so in the same manner it happens that the barrenness of virtuous and God-fearing men is more full of excellence than the best actions which ordinaiy people perform by chance ; for these men cannot intentionally endure to do anything blaraeable.

Having given these commandments about every description of sacrilice in its turn, namely, about the burnt offering, and the sacrifice for preservation, and the sin-offering, he adds another kind of offering common to all the three, in order to show that they are friendly and connected with one another ; and this combination of them all is called the gi'eat vow ; and why it received this appellation we must now proceed to say. When any persons offer first fruits from any portion of their possessions, wheat, or barley, or oil, or wine, or the best of their fruits, or the first-born males of their flocks and herds, they do so actually dedicating those first fruits which proceed from what is clean, but paying a price as the value of what is unclean ; and when they have no longer any materials left in which they can display their piety, they then consecrate and offer up themselves, displaying an unspeakable holiness, and a most superabundant excess of a God-loving disposition, on which account such a dedication is fitly called the great vow ; for eveiy man is his own greatest and most valuable possession, and this even he now gives up and abandons.

And when a man has vowed this vow the law gives him the following command ; first of all, to touch no unmixed wine, nor any wine that is made of the gi'ape, nor to drink any other strong drink whatever, to the destruction of his reason, considering that during this period his reason also is dedicated to God ; for all which could tend to drunkenness is forbidden to those of the priests who are employed in the sacred ministrations, they being commanded to quench their thirst with water ; in the second place they are commanded not to show their heads, giving thus a visible sign to all who see them that they are not debasing the pure coinage of their vow ; thirdly, they are commanded to keep their body pure and undefiled, so as not even to approach their parents if they are dead, nor their Q -^ brothers ; piety overcoming the natural good will and affection towards their relations and dearest friends, and it is both honourable and expedient that piety should at all times prevail.

But when the appointed time for their being released * from this vow has arrived, the law then commands the man who has dedicated himself to bring three animals to procure his release from his vow, a male lamb, and a female lamb, and a ram ; the one for a burnt offering, the second for a sin-offering, and the ram as a sacrifice for preservation ; for in some sense the man who has made such a vow resembles all these things. He resembles the sacrifice of the entire bui'nt offering, because he is dedicating to his preserver not only a portion of the first fruits of other things, but also of his own self. And he resembles the sin-offering, inasmuch as he is a man ; for there is no one born, however perfect he may be, who can wholly avoid the commission of sin. He resembles also the offering for preservation, inasmuch as he has recorded that God the saviour is the cause of his preservation, and does not ascribe it to any physician or to any power of his ; for those wlio have been born themselves, and who are liable to infirmity, are not competent to bestow health even on themselves .

Medicine does not benefit all persons, nor does it always benefit the same persons ; but there are times even when it does them great injury, since its power depends on different things, both on the thing itself and also on tliose persons who use it. And a great impression is made on me by the fact that of three animals offered up in these different sacrifices, there is no one of a different species from the others, but they are every one of the same kind, a ram, and a male lamb, and a female lamb ; for God wishes, as I said a little while ago, by this commandment to point out that the three kinds of sacrifice are nearly connected with and akin to one another ; because, both the man who repents is saved, and the man who is saved from the diseases of the soul repents, and because both of them hasten with eagerness to attain to an entire and perfect disposition, of which the sacrifice of the whole burntoffering is a symbol.

But since the man has begun to offer himself as his first fruits, and since it is not lawful for the sacred altar to be polluted with human blood, but yet it was by all means necessary that a portion should be consecrated, he has taken care to take a portion, which, being taken, should cause neither pain nor defilement ; for he has cut off* the hair of the head, the superfluities of the natural body, as if they were the superfluous branches of a tree, and he has committed them to the fire on which the meat of the sacrifice offered for preservation will be suitably prepared,t in order that some portion of the man who has made the vow, wliich it is not lawful to place upon the altar, may still at all events be combined with the sacrifice, buming the fuel of the sacred flame.

These sacred fires are common to all the rest of the people. But it was fitting that the priests also should offer up something on the altar as first fruits, not thinking that the services and sacred ministrations to which they have been appointed have secured them an exemption from such duties. And the first fruits suitable for the priests to offer do not come from anything containing blood, but from the purest portion of human food ; for the fine wheaten flour is their continual offering ; a tenth part of a sacred measure every day : one half of which is offered up in the morning, and one half in the evening, having been soaked in oil, so that no portion of it can be left for food ; for the command of God is, that all the sacrifices of the priests shall be wholly burnt, and that no portion of them shall be allotted for food. Having now, then, to the best of our ability, discussed the matters relating to the sacrifices, we will proceed in due order to speak concerning those who offer them.

The law chooses that a person who brings a sacrifice shall be pure, both in body and soul ;— pure in soul from all passions, and diseases, and vices, which can be displayed cither in word or deed ; and. pure in body from all such things as a body is usually defiled by. And it has appointed a burning purification for both these things ; for the soul, by means of the animals which are duly fit for sacrifices ; and for the body, by ablutions and sprinklings ; concerning which we will speak presently ; for it is fit to assign the pre-eminence in honour in every point to the superior and dominant part of the qualities existing in us, namely, to the soul. What, then, is the mode of purifying the soul ? " Look," says the law, " take care that the victim which thou bringest to the altar is perfect, wholly without participation in any kind of blemish, selected from many on account of its excellence, by the uncorrupted judgments of the priests, and by their most acute sight, and by their continual practice derived from being exercised in the examination of faultless victims.

For if you do not see this with your eyes more than with your reason, you will not wash off all the imperfections and stains which you have imprinted on your whole life, partly in consequence of unexpected events, and partly by deliberate purpose ; for you will find that this exceeding accuracy of investigation into the animals, figuratively signifies the amelioration of your own disposition and conduct ; for the law was not established for the sake of irrational animals, but for that of those who have intellect and reason." So that the real object taken care of is not the condition of the victims sacrificed in order that they may have no blemish, but that of the sacrificers that they may not be defiled by any unlawful passion. The body then, as I have already said, he purifies with ablutions and besprinklings, and does not allow a person after he lias once washed and sprinkled himself, at once to enter within tiie sacred precincts, but bids him wait outside for seven days, and to be besprinkled twice, on the third day and on the seventh day ; and after this it commands him to wash himself once more, and then it admits him to enter the sacred precincts and to share in the sacred ministrations.

We must consider what great prudence and philosophical wisdom is displayed in this law ; for nearly all other persons are besprinkled with pure water, generally in the sea, some in rivers, and others again in vessels of water which they draw from fountains. But Moses, having previously prepared ashes which had been left from the sacred fire (and in what manner shall be explained hereafter), appointed that it should be right to take some of them and to put them in a vessel, and then to pour water upon them, and then, dipping some branches of ON THOSE WHO OFFER SACRIFICE. £31 hyssop in the mixture of ashes aud water, to sprinkle it over those who were to be purified. And the cause of this proceeding may very probably be said to be this : — The lawgiver's intention is that those who approach the service of the living God should first of all know themselves and their own essence. For how can the man who does not know himself ever comprehend the supreme and allexcelling power of God?

Therefore, our bodily essence is earth and water, of which he reminds us by this purification, conceiving that this result — namely, to know one's self, and to know also of what one is composed, of what utterly valueless substances mere ashes and water az'e — is of itself the most beneficial purification. For when a man is aware of this he will at once reject all vain and treacherous conceit, and, discarding haughtiness and pride, he will seek to become pleasing to God, and to conciliate the merciful power of that Being who hates arrogance. For it is, said somewhere with great beauty, " He that exhibits over proud words or actions offends not men alone but God also, the maker of equality and of every thing else that is most excellent."

Theiefore, to us who are amazed and excited by this sprinkling the very elements themselves, earth and water, may almost be said to utter distinct words, aud to say plainly, we are the essence of your bodies ; nature having mixed us together, divine ai*t has fashioned us into the figure of a man. Being made of us when you were bom, you will again be dissolved into us when you come to die ; for it is not the nature of any thing to be destroyed so as to become nonexistent ; but the end brings it back to those elements from which its beginnings come.

But now it is necessaiy to fulfil our pi-omise and to explain the peculiar propriety involved in this use of ashes. For they are not merely the ashes of wood which has been consumed by fire, but also of an animal particularly suited for this kind of purification. For the law orders* tliat a red heifer, which has never been brought under the yoke, shall be sacrificed outside of the city, and that the high priest, taking some of the blood, shall seven times sprinkle with it all the things in front of the temple, and then shall bum the whole animal with its hide and flesh, and with the belly full of all • Number.^ xix. i. the entrails. And when the flame begins to pour down, then it commands that these three tilings shall be thrown into the middle of it, a stick of cedar, a stick of hyssop, and a bunch of saffron ; and then, when the fire is whoUj' extinguished, it commands that some man who is clean shall collect the ashes, and shall again place them outside of the city in some open place. And what figurative meanings he conceals under these orders as symbols, we have accurately explained in another treatise, in which we have discussed the allegories.

It is necessary', therefore, for those who are about to go into the temple to partake of the sacrifice, to be cleansed as to their bodies and as to their souls before their bodies. For the sou! is the mistress and the queen, and is superior in every thing, as having received a more divine nature. And the things which cleanse the mind are wisdom and the doctrines of wisdom, which lead it to the contemplation of the world and the things in it ; and the sacred chorus of the rest of the virtues, and honourable and very praiseworthy actions in accordance with the virtues. Let the man, therefore, who is adorned with these qualities go forth in cheerful confidence to the temple which most nearly belongs to him, the most excellent of all abodes to oifer himself as a sacrifice. But let him in whom covetousness and a desire of unjust things dwell and display themselves, cover his head and be silent, checking his shameless folly and his excessive impudence, in those matters in which caution is profitable ; for the temple of the truly living God may not be approached by unholy sacrifices. I should say to such a man :

My good man, God is not pleased even though a man bring hecatombs to his altar : for he possesses all things as his own, and stands in need of nothing. But he delights in minds which love God, and in men who practise holiness, from whom he gladly receives cakes and barley, and the very cheapest things, as if they were the most valuable in preference to such as are most costly. And even if they bring nothing else, still when they bring themselves, the most perfect completeness of virtue and excellence, they are ofi'ering the most excellent of all sacrifices, honouring God, their Benefactor and Saviour, with hymns and thanksgivings ; the former uttered by the organs of the voice, and the latter without tlie agency of tongue or mouth, the worshippers making their exclamations and invocations with their soul alone, and only appreciable by the intellect, and there is but one ear, namely, that of the Deity which hears them. For the hearing of men does not extend so far as to be sensible of them.

And that this statement is true, and not mine but that of nature, is testified to a certain degree by the evident nature <.f the thing itself, which affords a manifest proof which none can deny who do not cleave to credulity out of a contentious disposition. It is testified also by the law which commands two altars to be prepared, diffeiing both as to the materials of which they are made, as to the places in which they are erected, and as to the purposes to which they are applied ; for one is made of stones, carefully selected so to fit one another, and unhewn, and it is erected in the open air, near the steps of the temple, and it is for the purpose of sacrificing victims which contain blood in them.

And the other is made of gold, and is erected in the inner part of the temple, within the first veil, and may not be seen by any other human being except those of the priests who keep themselves pure, and it is for the purpose of offering incense upon ; from which it is plain that God looks upon even the smallest offering of frankincense by a holy man as more valuable than ten thousand beasts which may be sacrificed by one who is not thoroughly virtuous. For in proportion, I imagine, as gold is more valuable than stones, and as the things within the inner temple are more holy than those without, in the same proportion is the gratitude displayed by offerings of incense superior to that displayed by the sacrifice of victims full of blood, on which account the altar of incense is honoured not only in the costliness of its materials, and in the manner of its erection, -and in its situation, but also in the fact that it ministers every day before any thing else to the thanksgivings to be paid to God.

For the law does not permit the priest ro offer the sacrifice of the whole burnt offering outside before he has offered incense within at the earliest dawn.* And this command is a symbol of nothing else but of the fact that in the eyes of God it is not the number of things sacrificed that is accounted valuable, but the purity of the rational spirit of the sacrificer. Unless, indeed, one can suppose that a judge who is anxious to pronounce a holy judg- ♦ Exodus XXX. 8. ment will never receive gifts from any of those whose conduct comes before his tribunal, or that, if he does receive such presents, he will be liable to an accusation of corruption ; and that a good man will not receive gifts from a wicked person, not even though he may be poor and the other rich, and he himself perhaps in actual want of what he would so receive ; and yet that God can be corrupted by bribes, who is most allsufficient for himself and who has no need of any thing created ; who, being himself the first and most perfect good thing, the everlasting fountain of wisdom, and justice, and of every virtue, rejects the gifts of the wicked.

And is not the man who would offer such gifts the most shameless of all men, if he offers a portion of the things which he has acquired by doing injury, or by rapine, or by false denial, or by robbery, to God as if he were a partner in liis wickedness? O most miserable of all men ! I should say to such a man, " You must be expecting one of two things. Either that you will be able to pass undetected, or that you will be discovered. Therefore, if you expect to be able to pass undetected, you are ignorant of the power of God, by which he at the same time sees everything and hears everything.

And if you thhik that you will be discovered, you are most audacious in (when you ought rather to endeavour to conceal the wicked actions which you have committed) bringing forward to light specimens of all your iniquitous deeds, and giving yourself airs, and dividing the fruits of them with God, bringing him unholy first fruits. And have you not considered this, that the law does not admit of lawlessness, nor does the light of the sun admit of darkness ; but God is the archetypal model of all laws, and the sun, which can be appreciated only by the intellect, is the archetypal model of that which is visible to the senses, bringing forth from its invisible fountains visible light to afford to him who sees."

Moreover, there are other commandments relating to the altar. The law says, " A fire shall be kept burning on the altar which shall never be extinguished, but shall be kept burning for ever."* I think with great reason and propriety; for. since the graces of God are evei'lasting, and unceasing, and uninterrupted, which we now enjoy day and night, and since the symbol of gratitude is the sacred flame, it is fitting that it sliould be kindled, aud that it should remain unextinguished for ever. And, perhaps, the lawgiver designed by this command to connect the old ■s\ith the new sacrifices, and to unite the two by the duration and presence of the same fire by which all such sacrifices are consecrated, in order to demonstrate the fact that all perfect saciifices consisted in thanksgiving, although, according to the diversity of the occasions on which they are offered, more victims are offered at one time and fewer at another. But some are verbal symbols of things appreciable only by the intellect, and the mystical meaning wliich is concealed beneath them must be investigated by those who are eager for truth in accordance with the rules of allegory.

The altar of God is the grateful soul of the wise man, being compounded of perfect numbers undivided and indivisible ; for no part of virtue is useless. On this soul the sacred fire is continually kept burning, preserved with care and uuextinguishable. But the light of the mind is wisdom ; as, on the contrary, tlie darkness of the soul is folly. For what the light discernible by the outward senses is to the eyes, that is knowledge to reason with a view to the contemplation of incorporeal things disceniible only by the intellect, the light of which is continually shining and never extinguished.

After this the law says, " On eveiy offering you shall add salt.'"* By which injunction, as I have said before, he figuratively implies a duration for ever ; for salt is calculated to preserve bodies, being placed in the second rank as inferior only to the soul ; for as the soul is the cause of bodies not being destroyed, so likewise is salt, which keeps them together in the greatest degree, and to some extent makes them immortal. On which account the law calls the altar dua-iaaryiPiov, giving it a peculiar name of especial honour, from its preserving (diarri^su) the sacrifices (rag 6usiag) in a proper manner, and this too though the flesh is consumed by fire ; so as to afford the most evident proof possible that God looks not upon the victims as forming the real sacrifice, but on the mind and willingness of him who offers tliem, that so the durabihty and firmness of the altar may be ensured by virtue.

Moreover, it also ordains that every sacrifice shall be offered up without any leaven or honey, not thinking it fit that either of these things should be brought to the altar The honey, ♦ Leviticus ii. 13. perhaps, because the bee which collects it is not a clean animal, inasmuch as it derives its birth, as the story goes, from the putrefaction and corruption of dead oxen,* just as wasps spring from the bodies of horses. Or else this may be forbidden as a figurative declaration that all supei-fluous pleasure is unholy, making, indeed, the things which are eaten sweet to the taste, but inflicting bitter pains difficult to be cured at a subsequent period, by which the soul must of necessity be agitated and thrown into confusion, not being able to settle on any sure resting place. And leaven is forbidden on account of the rising which it causes ; this prohibition again having a figurative meaning, intimating that no one who comes to the altar ought at all to allow liimself to be elated, being puffed up by insolence ; but that such persons may keep their eyes fixed on the greatness of God, Georgic iv. 548. Haud mora ; continue matris prjeeepta facessit.

Ad delubra venit, monstratas excitat ai-as ; Quatuor eximios prasstanti corpore tauros Ducit, et intacta totidem cervice juvencas. Post, ubi nona suos Auroi-a induxerat ortus, Inferias Orphei mittit, lucumque revisit. Hie vero subitum ac dictu mirabile monstrum Adspiciunt, liquefacta bourn per viscera toto Stridere apes utero, et ruptis effervere costis Immensasque trahi nubes ; jamque arbore summa Confluere, et lentis uvam demittere ramis. Or as it is translated by Dryden, "'His mother's precepts he performs with care; The temple visits and adores with prayer ; Four altars raises ; from his herd he culls, For slaughter, four the fairest of his bulls ; Four heifers from his female store he took, All fair and all unknowing of the yoke, Nine mornings thence with sacrifice and prayers. The powers atoned, he to the grove repairs. Behold a prodigy ! for from within The broken bowels and the bloated skin, A buzzing noise of bees his ears alai-ms : Straight issue through the sides assembling swarms, Dark OS a cloud they make a wheeling flight, Then on a neighbouring tree, descending light :

Like a largo cluster of black grapes they show, And make a large dependance from the bough." and SO obtain a proper conception of the weakness of all created beings, even if tliey be very prosperous ; and that so cherishing correct notions they may correct the arrogant loftiness of their minds, and discard all treacherous self-conceit. But if the Creator and maker of the universe, who has no need of anything which he has created, not looking at the exceeding greatness of his own power and at his own authority, but at your weakness, gives you a share of his own merciful power, supplying the deficiencies with which you are overwhelmed, how do you think it fitting that you should behave towards men who are akin to you by nature, and who are springing from the same elements with yourself, when you have brought nothing into the world, not even yourself?

For, my fine fellow, you came naked into the world, and you shall leave it again naked, having received tlie interval between your birth and death as a loan from God ; during which what ought you to do rather than take care to live in communion and harmony with your fellow creatures, studying equality, and humanity, and virtue, repudiating unequal, and unjust, and irreconcilable unsociable wickedness, which makes that animal which is by nature the most gentle of all, namely, man, a cruel and untractable monster ?

Again, tlie law commands that candles shall be kept burning from evening until morning* on the sacred candlesticks within the veil, on many accounts. One of which is that the holy places may be kept illuminated without any interruption after the cessation of the light of day, being always kept free from any participation in darkness, just as the stara themselves are , for they too, when the sun sets, exhibit their own light, never forsaking the place which was originally appointed for them in the world. Secondly, in order that by night, also, a rite akin to and closely resembling the sacrifices by day may be performed so as to give pleasure to God, and that no time or occasion fit for offering thanksgiving may ever be left out, which is a duty most suitable and natural for night ; for it is not improper to call the blaze of the most sacred light in the innermost shrine itself a sacrifice. The thi)-d, which is a reason of the very greatest importance, is this.

Since we are not only well treated while we are awake, but also when we are sleejj, inasmuch as the mighty God gives sleep as a great assistance to the human race, for the benefit of both their bodies and souls, of their bodies as being by it relieved of the labours of the day, .and of their souls as being lightened by it of all their cares, and being restored to themselves after all the disorder and confusion caused by the outward senses, and as being then enabled to retire within and commune with themselves, the law has very properly thought fit to make a distinction of the actions of thanksgiving, so that sacrifices may be made on behalf of those who are awake by means of the victims which are offered, and on behalf of those who are asleep, and of those who are benefited by sleep, by the lighting of the sacred candles.

These, then, and other commandments like them, are those wliich are established for the purpose of promoting piety, by express injunctions and prohibitions. But those which are in accordance with philosophical suggestions and recommendations must be explained in this manner ; for the lawgiver, in effect, says, " God, O mind of man ! demands nothing of you which is either oppressive, or uncertain, or difficult, but only such things as are very simple and easy. And these are, to love him as your benefactor ; and if you fail to do so, at all events, to fear him as your Governor and Lord, and to enter zealously upon all the paths which may please him, and to serve him in no careless or supei-ficial manner, but with one's whole soul thoroughly filled as it ought to be with God-loving sentiments, and to cleave to his commandments, and to honour justice, by all which means the world itself continues constantly in the same nature without ever changing, and all other things which are contained in the world have a tendency towards improvement, such as the sun and the moon, and the whole multitude of the rest of the stars, and the entire heaven.

But the mountains of the earth are elevated to the greatest possible height, and the champaign country, like other fusible essences, is spread over a body of wide extent, and the sea also changes so as to become united with sweet waters, and the rains also become in their turn similar to the sea. Therefore every one of those things is still fixed within the same boundaries as those within which it was originally created, when it was first disposed of in regular order. But you shall be better, living quite irreproachably. And what of al:^ these things is either grievous or laborious ? You are not compelled to pass over unuavigable seas ; or, when tossed about by the billows of the middle of winter and the force of contrary winds, to wander about the sea in every direction ; or to travel on foot over rough and pathless byeways, always being in dread of the haunts of robbers, or of the attacks of wild beasts ; or to watch all night to protect your walls in the open air, while the enemy are lying in ambush for you, and threatening you with the very exti-emity of danger. Come, now, let no unpleasant topics be brought up in pleasant circumstances.

We must use words of good omen with reference to such advantageous matters. It is only necessary for the mind to consent and everything will be ready. Are you not aware that both that heaven which is invisible to the outward senses, and that likewise which is appreciable only by the intellect, belongs to God : the heaven of heavens as we may call it ; and again, that the earth and all that is in it, and the whole world, both that which is visible and that whicli is invisible and incorporeal, being a model of the real heaven ? But, nevertheless, he selected out of the whole race of mankind those who were really men for their superior excellence ; and he elected them and thought them worthy of the highest j)ossible honour, calling them to the service of himself, to that everlasting fountain of all that is good ; from which he has showered forth other virtues, drawing forth, at the same time, for our enjoyment, combined with the gi-eatest possible advantage, a drink contributing more than ever nectar, or at all events not less, to make those who drink of it immortal.

But those men are to be pitied, and are altogether miserable, who have never banquetted on the labours of virtue ; and they have remained to the end the most miserable of all men who have been always ignorant of the taste of moral excellence, when it was in their power to have feasted on and luxuriated among justice and equality. But these men are uncircumcised in their hearts, as the law expresses it, and by reason of the hardness of their hearts they are stubborn, resisting and breaking their traces in a restive manner ; whom the Lord reproves, saying, " Be ye circumcised as to your hard-hearteduess ; " * that means, " do ye eradicate the overbearing character of your dominant part, which the immoderate impulses of the passing hour have sown and caused to grow within you, and which the wicked husbandman of the soul, folly, planted. Again, it says, " Let not your necks be stiff,"* that is to say, let not your mind be unbending and self-willed, and let it not admit into itself that most blameable ignorance of excessive perverseness. But discarding obstinacy and moroseness of nature as an enemy, let it change so as to become gentle, and inclined to obey the laws of nature.

Do you not see that the most important and greatest of all the powers of the living God are his beneficent and his punishing power?* And his beneficent power is called God, since it is by means of this that he made and arranged the universe. And the other, or punishing power, is called Lord, on which 'liis sovei'eignty over the universe depends. And God is God, not only of men, but also of gods ; and he is mighty, being truly strong and truly powerful, f

But, nevertheless, though he is so great in excellence and in power, he feels pity and compassion for all those who are most completely sunk in want and distress, not considering it beneath liis dignity to be the judge in the causes of proselytes, and orphans, and widows, and disregarding kings and tyrants, and men in high commands, and honouring the humility of those men above mentioned, I mean the proselytes, with precedence, on this account. These men, having forsaken their countiy and their national customs in which they were bred up, which, however, were full of the inventions of falsehood and pride, becoming genuine lovers of truth, have come over to piety ; and becoming in all worthiness suppliants and servants of the true and living God, they very properly receive a precedence which they have deserved, having found the reward of their fleeing to God in the assistance which they now receive from him.

And in the case of orphans and widows, since they have been deprived of their natural protectors, the one class having lost their parents, and the others their husbands, they have no refuge whatever to which they can flee, no aid which they can hope for from man, being utterly destitute , on which account they are not deprived of the greatest hope of all, the hope of relief from God, who, because of his merciful character, does not refuse to provide and to care for persons so wholly desolate. " Let then," says the law, " God alone be thy boast, and thy greater glory."* And do not pride thyself either on thy wealth, or on thy glory, or on the beauty of thy person, or on thy strength, or on anything of the same kind as the objects at which foolish empty-headed persons are apt to be elated ; considering that, in the first place, these things have no connection at all with the nature of good, and secondly, that they are liable to rapid changes, fading away in a manner before they have time to flourish permanently.

And let us cling to the custom of addressing our supplications to him, and let us not, after we have subdued our enemies, imitate their impiety in those matters of conduct in which they fancy that they are acting piously, burning their sons and their daughters to their gods, not, indeed, that it is the custom of all the barbarians to burn their children. For they are not become so perfectly savage in their natures as to endure in time of peace to treat their nearest and dearest relatives as they would scarcely treat their irreconcilable enemies in time of war. But that they do in reality inflame and corrupt the souls of the children of whom they are the parents from the very moment that they are out of their swaddling clothes ; not imprinting on their minds, while they are still tender, any true opinions respecting the one only and truly living God. Let us not then be overcome by, and fall down before, and yield to their good fortune as if they had prevailed by reason of their piety. For present prosperity is given to many persons for a snare, being only a bait to be followed by excessive and incurable evils.

And it is very likely that even men who are unworthy may be allowed to be successful, not for their own sakes, but in order that wo who act impiously may be more vehemently grieved and pained, who having been bort in a God-fearing city, and having been bred up in laws which ■would imbue men with every virtue, and having been instructed from our earliest youth in all such pursuits as are most honourable to men, neglect them all, and cling only to such practices as deserve to be neglected, considering all good things as subjects for amusement, and looking upon things fit only for sport as seriously good. XL And if, indeed, any one assuming the name and appearance of a prophet,! appearing to be inspired and possessed by the Holy Spirit, were to seek to lead tbe people to the worship of those who are accounted gods in the different cities, it would not be fitting for the people to attend to him being deceived by the name of a prophet.

For such an one is an impostor and not a prophet, since he has been inventing speeches and oracles full of falsehood, even though a brother, or a son, or a daughter, or a wife, or a steward, or a firm friend, or any one else who seems to be well-intentioned towards one should seek to lead one in a similar course ; exhorting one to be cheerful amoug the multitude, and to approach the same temples and to adopt the same sacrifices ; but such an one should be punished as a public and common enemy, and we should think but little of any relationship, and one should relate his recommendations to all the lovers of piety, who with all speed and without any delay would hasten to inflict punishment on the impious man, judging it a virtuous action to be zealous for his execution. For we should acknowledge only one relationship, and one bond of friendship, namely, a mutual zeal for the service of God, and a desire to say and do everything that is consistent with piety.

And these bonds which are called relationships of blood, being derived from one's ancestors, and those connections which are derived from intermarriages and from other similar causes, must all be renounced, if they do not all hasten to the same end, namely, the honour of God which is the one indissoluble bond of all united good will. For such men will lay claim to a more venerable and sacred kind of relationship ; and the law confirms my assertion, where it says that those who do what is pleasing to nature and virtuous are the sons of God, for it says, "Ye are the sons of the Lord your God,''* inasmuch as you will be thought worthy of his providence and care in your behalf as though he were your father. And that care is as much superior to that which is shown by a man's own parents, as I imagine the being who takes it is superior to them.

In addition to this the lawgiver also entirely removes out of his sacred code of laws all ordinances respecting initiations, and mysteries, and all such trickery and buffoonery; not choosing that men who are brought up in such a constitution as that wliich he was giving should be busied about such matters, and, placing their dependence on mystic enchantments, should be led to neglect the truth, and to pursue those objects which have very naturally received night and darkness for their portion, passing over the things which are worthy of light and of day. Let no one, therefore, of the disciples or followers of Moses either be initiated himself into any mysterious rites of worship, or initiate any one else ; for both the act of learning and that of teaching such initiations is an impiety of no slight order.

For if these things are virtuous, and honourable, and profitable, why do ye, 0 ye men who are initiated, shut yourselves up in dense darkness, and limit your benefits to just three or four men, when you might bring down the advantages which you have to bestow into the middle of the market place, and benefit all men ; so that every one might without hindrance partake of a better and more fortunate life ? for envy is never found in conjunction with virtue. Let men who do injurious things be put to shame, and seeking hiding places and recesses in the earth, and deep darkness, hide themselves, concealing their lawless iniquity from sight, so that no one may behold it.

But to those who do such things as are for the common advantage, let there be freedom of speech, and let them go by day through the middle of the market place where they will meet with the most numerous crowds, to display their own manner of life in the pure sun, and to do good to the assembled multitudes by means of the principal of the outward senses, giving them to see those things the sight of which is most delightful and most impressive, and hearing and feasting upon salutary speeches which are accustomed to delight the minds even of those men who are not utterly illiterate. Do you not see that nature has concealed none of those works which are deservedly celebrated and honourable, but has exhibited openly the stars and the whole of heaven, so as to cause the sight pleasure, and to excite a desire for philosophy, and she also displays her seas, and fountains, and rivers, and the excellencies of the atmosphere, and the beautiful adaptation of the winds to the various seasons of the year, and of plants, and of animals, and, moreover, the innumerable species of fruits, for the use and enjoyment of men ?

Would it not have been right, then, for you, following her example R 2 and design, to give to those who are worthy of it all things that are necessary for their advantage? But now it very often happens that no good men at all are initiated by them, hut that sometimes robbers, and wreckers, and companies of debauched and polluted women are, when they have given money enough to those who initiate them, and who reveal to them the mysteries which they call sacred. But let all such men be driven away and expelled from that city, and denied all share in that constitution, in which honour and truth are reverenced for their own sake. And this is enough tc say on this subject.

But the law, being most especially an interpreter of equal communion, and of courteous humanity among men, has preserved the honour and dignity of each virtue ; not permitting any one who is incurably sunk in vice to flee to them, but rejecting all such persons and repelling them to a distance. Therefore, as it was aware that no inconsiderable number of Avicked men are often mingled in these assemblies, and escape notice by reason of the crowds collected there, in order to prevent that from being the case in this instance, he previously excludes all who are unworthy from the sacred assembly, beginning in the first instance with those who are afflicted with the disease of effeminacy, men-women, who, having adulterated the coinage of nature, are willingly driven into the appearance and treatment of licentious women. He also banishes all those who have suffered any injury or mutilation in their most important members, and those who, seeking to preserve the flower of their beauty so that it may not speedily wither away, have altered the impression of their natural manly appearance into the resemblance of a woman.

The law also excludes not only all harlots, but also those who being born of a harlot bear about them the disgrace of their mother, because their original birth and origin have been adulterated. For this passage (if there is any passage at all in the whole scripture which does so) admits of an allegorical interpretation ; for there is not one description only of impious and unholy men, but there are many and different. For some persons affirm that the incorporeal ideas are only an empty name, having no participation in any real fact, removing the most important of all essences from the list of existing things, though it is in fact the archetypal model of all things which are the distinctive qualities of essence, in accordance with which each thing is assigned to its proper species and limited to its proper dimensions. The sacred pillars of the law call all these men broken ; for such an iujui'y as is implied by that term leaves a man destitute of all distinctive quality and species, and what is so broken is nothing else, to speak the strict truth, than mere shapeless material.

Thus, the doctrine which takes away species throws every thing into confusion, and moreover brings back that want of proper form which existed before the elements were reduced into proper order. And what can be more absurd than this ? For it is out of that essence that God created every thing, without indeed touching it himself, for it was not lawful for the all-wise and all-blessed God to touch materials which were all misshapen and confused, but he created them by the agency of his incorporeal powers, of which the proper name is ideas, which he so exerted that every genus received its proper form. But this opinion has created great irregularity and confusion. For when it takes away the things by means of which the distinctive qualities exist, it at the same time takes away the distinctive qualities themselves. But other persons, as if they were engaged in a contest of wickedness, being anxious to carry off the prizes of victory, go beyond all othei's in impiety, joining to their denial of the ideas a negative also of the being of God, as if he had no real existence but were only spoken of for the sake of what is beneficial to men.

Others, again, out of fear of that Being wlio appears to be present everywhere and to see eveiy thing, are barren of wisdom, but devoted to the maintenance of tliat which is the greatest of all wickednesses, namely impiety. I'here is also a third class, who have entered on the contraiy path, guiding a multitude of men and women, of old and young, filling the world with arguments in favour of a multiplicity of rulers, in order by such means to eradicate all notions of the one and truly living God from the minds of men. These are they who are symbolically called by the law the sons of a harlot.

For as mothers who are harlots do not know who is the real father of their children, and cannot register him accurately, but have many, or I might almost say all men, their lovers and associates, the same is the case with those who are ignorant of tho one true God. For, inventing a great number whom thev falsely call gods, they are blinded as to the most important of all existing things which they ought to have thoroughly learnt, if not alone, at all events as the first and greatest of all things from their earliest childhood ; for what can be a more honourable thing to learn than the knowledge of the true and living God?

The law also excludes a fourth ciass, and a fifth, both hastening to the same end, but not with the same intention ; for, as they are both followers of the same great evil, self-will, they have divided between them the whole soul as a kind of common inheritance, consisting of a rational and an irrational part; and the one class has appropriated the rational part, which is the mind, and the other the irrational part which is again subdivided into the outward senses ; therefore, the champions of the mind attribute to it the predominance in and supreme authority over all human affairs, and affirm that it is able to preserve all past things in its recollection, and to compi-ehend all present things with great vigour, and to divine the future by probable conjecture ; for this is the faculty which sowed and planted all the fertile soil in both the mountainous and champaign districts of the earth, and which invented agriculture, the most useful of all sciences for human life.

This also is the faculty which surveyed the heaven, and by a proper contemplation of it made the earth accessible to ships by an ingenuity beyond all powers of description ; this, also invented letters, and music, and the whole range of encyclical instruction, and brought them to perfection. This also, is the parent of that greatest of all good things, philosophy, and by means of its different parts it has benefited human life, proceeding by the logical portion of it to an infallible interpretation of difficulties, and by its moral part to a coi-rection of the manners and dispositions of men ; and by its physical division to the knowledge of the heaven and the world. And they have also collected and assembled many other praises of the mind on which they dwell, havhig a continual reference to the species already mentioned, about wliich we have not at the present time leisure to occupy ourselves.

But the champions of the outward senses extol their praises, also, with great energy and magnificence; enumerating in their discourse all the wants which are supplied by their means, and they say that two of them are the causes of living ; smell and taste; and two of living well, seeing and hearin« ; therefore, by means of taste the nourishment derived from food is conveyed into the system, and by means of the nostrils the air on which ever}'^ hving thing depends ; for this also is a continual food, which nourishes and preserves men, not only while they are awake, but also while they are asleep. And the proof of this is clear ; for if the passage of the breath be obstructed for even the shortest period, to such a degree as wholly to cut off the air which is intended by nature to be conveyed into the system from without, inevitable death will of necessity ensue.

Again, of the more philosophical of the outward senses by means of which the living well is produced, the power of sight beholds the light which is the most beautiful of all essences, and by means of the light it beholds all other things, the sun, the moon, the stars, the heaven, the earth, the sea, the innumerable varieties of plants and animals, and in short all bodies, and shapes, and odours, and magnitudes whatever, the sight of which has given birtli to excessive wisdom, and has begotten a great desire for knowledge. And even without reckoning the advantage derived from these things ; sight also affords us the greatest benefits in respect of the power of distinguishing one's relatives and strangers, and friends, and avoiding what is injurious and choosing what is beneficial.

Now each of the other parts of the body has been created with reference to appropriate uses, which are of great importance, as, for instance, the feet were made for walking, and for all the other uses to which the legs can be applied ; again, the hands were created for the purpose of doing, or giving, or taking anything ; and the eyes, as a sort of universal good, afford both to the hands and feet, and to all the other parts of the body the cause of being able to act or move rightly ; and that this is the case is most unerringly demonstrated by the evidence of those who have suffered any mutilation in these members, who cannot in real truth be said to have either feet or hands, and who by the reality of their condition prove tbc correctness of their name, which they say that men of old gave them not so much by way of reproach as out of com passion, calling them impotent, out of surprise at what they see.

Again, hearing is the thing by which melodies and rhythm, and all parts and divisions of music are distinguished ; for song and speech are salutary and wholesome medicines, the one charming the passions and the inharmonious qualities within us by its rhythm, and our unmelodious qualities by its melodies, and bridling our immoderate vehemence by its fixed measures ; and each of those parts of it are various and multiform, as the musicians and poets do testify, whom we must believe ; and speech, checking and cutting short all the impulses which lead to wickedness, and healing those who are under the dominion of folly and misery, and strengthening those who are inclined to yield in a cowardly manner, and subduing those who resist more obstinately, becomes thas the cause of the greatest advantages.

The advocates of the mind and of the outward senses, having put these arguments together, make gods of lioth of them, the one deifying the first, and the other the last ; both classes out of their self-will and self-conceit forgetting the truly living God. On which account the lawgiver veiy naturally excludes them all from the sacred assembly, calling those who would take away the ideas, broken in the stones, and those too who are utterly atheistical, to whom he has given the appropriate name of eunuchs ; and those who are the teachers of an opposite system of theogony, whom he calls the sons of a harlot ; and besides all these classes he excludes also the selfwilled and self-conceited, some of whom have deified reason, and others have called each separate one of the outward senses gods. For all these men are hastening to the same end, even though they are not all influenced by the same intentions.

But we who are the followers and disciples of the prophet Moses, will never abandon our investigation into the nature of the true God ; looking upon the knowledge of him as the true end of happiness ; and thinking that the true everlasting life, as the law says,* is to live in obedience to and worship of God ; in which precept it gives us a most important and philosophical lesson ; for in real truth those who are atheists are dead as to their souls, but those who are marshalled in the ranks of the true living God, as his servants, enjoy an everlasting life.

This injunction also is very admirably and properly set down in the sacred tablets of the law, that the wages of a harlot are not to be received into the temple, and inasmuch as she has earned them by selling her beauty, having chosen a most infamous life for the sake of shameful gain ; but if the gifts which proceed from a woman who has lived as a concubine are unholy, how can those be different which proceed from a soul which is defiled in the same manner, which has voluntarily abandoned itself to shame and to the lowest infamy, to dnankenness and gluttony, and covetousness and ambition, and love of pleasure, and to innumerable other kinds of passions, and diseases, and wickednesses ? For what time can be long enough to efface those defilements, I indeed do not know. Very often in truth time has put an end to the occupation of a harlot, since, when women have outlived their beauty, no one any longer approaches them, their prime having withered away like that of some flowers ; and what length of time can ever transform the harlotry of the soul which from its youth has been trained in early and habitual incontinence, so as to bring it over to good order ?

No time could do this, but God alone, to whom all things are possible, even those which among us are impossible. Accordingly, the man who is about to offer a sacrifice ought to examine and see, not whether the victim is without blemish, but'whether his mind is sound, and entire, and perfect.

Let him likwise investigate the causes for which he is about to offer the sacrifice ; for it must be as an expression of thankfulness for kindnesses which have been shown to him, or else of supplication for the permanence of his present blessings, or for the acquisirion of some future good, or else to avert some evil either present or expected ; for all which objects he should labour to bring his reason into a state of good health and sanity ; for if he is giving thanks for benefits conferred upon him, he must take care not to behave like an ungrateful man, • Deuteronomy xsiii. 18. becoming wicked, for the benefits are conferred ou a virtuous man ; or if his object be to secure the permanence of his present prosperity and happiness, and to be enabled to look forward to such for the future, he must still show himself worthy of his good fortune, and behave virtuously ; or if he is asking to escape from evils, let him not commit actions deserving of correction and punishment.

For two women live with each individual among us, both unfriendly and hostile to one another, filling the whole abode of the soul with envy, and jealousy, and contention ; of these we love the one looldng upon her as being mild and tractable, and very dear to and very closely connected with ourselves, and she is called pleasure ; but the other we detest, deeming her unmanageable, savage, fierce, and most completely hostile, and her name is virtue.

Accordingly, the one comes to us luxuriously dressed in the guise of a harlot and prostitute, with mincing steps, rolling her eyes about with excessive licentiousness and desire, by which baits she entraps the souls of the young, looking about with a mixtnre of boldness and impudence, holding up her head, and raising herself above her natural height, favrning and giggling, having the hair of her head dressed with most superfluous elaborateness, having her eyes pencilled, her eyebrows covered over, using incessant warm baths, painted with a fictitious colour, exquisitely dressed with costly garments, richly embroidered, adorned with armlets, and bracelets, and necldaces, and all other ornaments which can be made of gold, and precious stones, and all kinds of female decorations ; loosely girdled, breathing of most fragrant perfumes, thinking the whole market her home ; a marvel to be seen in the public roads, out of the scarcity of any genuine beauty, pursuing a bastard elegance.

And with her there walk as her most intimate friends, bold cunning, and rashness, and flattery, and trick, and deceit, and false speaking, and false opinion, and impiety, and injustice, and intemperance, in the middle of wliich she advances like the leader of the company, and marshalling her band, speaks thus to her mind, "My good friend, the treasuries of all human blessings and stores of happiness are in my power (for as for divine blessings they are all in heaven), and besides them you will find nothing. " If you will dwell witli me I will open to you all these treasures, and will bestow on you for ever the most unsparing use and enjoyment of them. And I desire to inform you beforehand of the multitude of good things which I have stored up there, that if you are so inclined you may of your own accord live happily, and that if you refuse you may not decline them out of ignorance. "

There is in my power perfect relaxation, and exemption from all fear, and tranquillity, and a complete absence of all care and labour, and an abundant variety of colours, and most melodious intonations of the voice, and all kinds of costly viands and drinks, and plentiful varieties of the sweetest scents, and continual loves, and sports such as require no teacher, and connections which will never be inquired into, and speeches which will have no shade of reproof in them, and actions free from all necessity of being accounted for, and a life free from anxiety, and soft sleep, and abundance without any feeling of satiety. If therefore you are inclined to take up your abode mth me, I will give you what is suitable for you of all the things which I have prepared, considering carefully by eating or drinking what you may be most thoroughly cheered, or by what sights addressed to your eyes, or by what sounds visiting your ears, or by the smell of what fragrant odours you may be most delighted. "

And nothing which you can desire shall be wanting to you ; for you shall find what is produced anew more abundant than what is expended and consumed ; for in the treasuries which I have mentioned there are ever-flourishing plants, blossoming and producing an incessant series of fruits, so that the beauty of those in their prime and fresh appearing overtakes and overshadows those which are already fully ripe ; and no war, either domestic or foreign, has ever cut down these plants, but from the very day that the earth first received them it has cherished them like a faithful nurse, sending down into its lowest depths the roots to act like the strongest brandies, and above ground extending its trunk as high as heaven, and putting forth branches which are by analogy imitations of the hand and feet which we see in animals, and leaves which correspond to the hair. I have prepared and caused that to blossom which shall be at the same time a covering and an ornament to you ; and besides all this, I have provided fruit for the sake of which the branches and leaves are originally produced." i /ri

When the other woman heard these words (tor she was standing in a place where she was out of sight but still witliin hearing), fearing lest the mind, without being aware of it, might be led captive and be enslaved, and so be carried away by "so many gifts and promises, yielding also to the tempter in that she was arrayed so as to win over the sight, and was equipped with great variety of ingenuity for the purposes of deceit ; for by all her necklaces and other appendages, and by her different allurements, she spurred on and charmed her beholders, and excited a wonderful desire within them ; she in her turn came forward, and appeared on a sudden, displaying all the qualities of a native, free-born, and lady-like woman, such as a firm step, a very gentle look, the native colour of modesty and nature without any alloy or disguise, an honest disposition, a genuine and sincere way of life, a plain, honest opinion, a language removed from all insincerity, the truest possible image of a sound and honest heart, a disposition averse to pretence, a quiet unobtrusive gait, a moderate style of dress, and the ornaments of prudence and virtue, more precious than any gold.