The Works of Philo (complete)

If it is directed towards glory, it makes men insolent, overbearing, fickle, and unstable in their dispositions, depending wholly on what is said to them and on what they hear, at the same time humbled and elated by reason of the variety and inconstancy of the multitudes who praise and blame them with inconsiderate impetuosity, inconsiderate in their enmity and in their frieudship, so as easily to change from one to the other, and fiUs them with all sorts of humours akin to and resembling these. Again, if the desire takes the direction of wishing for authority and power, it renders men's natures seditious, unequal, and tyrannical, it makes them cruel and inhuman enemies of their native countries, implacable masters unable to restrain themselves, irreconcileable foes to all who are equal to themselves in might, flatterers of those who are more powerful than themselves, in order to be able to attack them treacherously. If what is desired is beauty of person, it makes men back to the stiu-ting post. seducers, ravishers, adulterers, paederasts, practisers of licentiousness and incontinence, it teaches them to regard the greatest evils as the most fortunate of blessings.

This passion, also, when it extends to the tongue, often caused innumerable evils ; for some persons desire either to be silent about what ought to be mentioned, or to mention what ought to be buried in silence, and avenging justice pui'sues them if they reveal things improperly, or, on the contrary, if they are unseasonably silent. When it affects the parts about the belly it makes men gluttonous, insatiable, intemperate, debauched, admirers of a profligate life, delighting in drunkenness and epicurism, slaves to strong wine, and fish, and meat, pursuers of feasts and tables, wallowing like greedy dogs ; owing to all which things their lives are rendered miserable and accursed, and they are reduced to an existence more grievous than any death.

For this reason those Avho have tasted deeply of philosophy, not merely with their lips, but feasting thoroughly on its profound doctrines, investigating the nature of the soul, and comprehending its threefold character, and how it is divided into reason, and anger, and appetite, have attributed the chief post to reason as the principal authority, assigning to it the head as its most appropriate abode, where also the company of the outward senses, who are always present as the body-guards of the mind as their king, are stationed ; and assigning the breast as the abode of hunger, partly in order that the man, being, like a soldier, armed with this as with a breastplate, so that, even if it be not utterly free from all injury, it may, at least, be difficult to subdue, and partly in order that, dwelling near the mind, it may be benefited by its neighbour, who charms it by its wisdom, and who renders the passions gentle and manageable ; and to appetite they assign the place around the navel, and to that part which is called the diaphragm. For it was proper that that, as having the smallest participation in reason, should be removed as far as possible from the palace of the mind and located almost at the very extremities ; and that which is the most insatiable and the most intemperate of all, the passions, should be confined to the pastures of cattle, where they can find food and opportunities for the propagation cf their species.

And tlie most holy Moses appears to me to have had a regard to all these circumstances, and on that account to have commanded that men should discard this passion, detesting it as the most disgraceful thing and the cause of most disgraceful actions ; and, therefore, to have prohibited it above all other feelings as an engine for the destruction of the soul ; but if that engine is destroyed and the soul brought back to its obedience, to the guidance of reason, the man will become entirely filled with peace and obedience to law and all sorts of perfect good things, so as to produce complete happiness. But as he was fond of brevity and accustomed to cut short things which were inclined to be countless in point of number, by a mode of teaching which was confined to general instances, he begins to admonish and to correct one appetite, that which is concerned about the belly ; conceiving that the other appetites will not be equally restive, but will be brought to order by learning that the most important and authoritative of the whole has become obedient to the laws of moderation. "What, then, is the lesson which he gives us about this origin of all vices ?

There are two things of a most comprehensive nature, meat and drink. He, then, has not left either of them unrestrained, but has bridled them with especial commands most calculated to lead them to temperance and to humanity, and to the greatest of all virtues, piety ; for he commanded men to offer first fruits of corn, and wine, and oil, and cattle, and other things ;* and to distribute the first fruits among the sacrificers and the priests ; among the sacrificers because of the gratitude due to Grod for the abundance and fertility of all things, and to the priests because of their sacred ministrations about the temple, and therefore they were worthy to receive wages for their services iu respect of the sacred ceremonies.f And he utterly forbids any one to taste of anything, or to take any portion of anything, before separating ofi" the first fruits, wishing also by this injunction to inculcate the practice of most useful temperance ; for he who has learnt not to throw himself greedily on all the abundance which the seasons of the year have brought, but to wait till the first fruits are consecrated, is likely to be able to restrain the restive obstinacy of the passions, making them gentle and manageable.

Moreover, Moses has not granted an unlimited possession and use of all other animals to those who partake in his sacred constitution, but he has forbidden with all his might all animals, whether of the land, or of the water, or that fly through the air, which are most fleshy and fat, and calculated to excite treacherous pleasure, well knowing that such, attracting as with a bait that most slavish of all the outward senses, namely, taste, produce insatiability, an incurable evil to both souls and bodies, for insatiability produces indigestion, which is the origin and source of all diseases and weaknesses.

Now of land animals, the swine is confessed to be the nicest of all meats by those who eat it, and of all aquatic animals the most delicate are the fish which have no scales ; and Moses is above all other men skilful in training and inuring persons of a good natural disposition to the practice of virtue by frugality and abstinence, endeavouring to remove costly luxury from their characters, at the same time not approving of unnecessary rigour, like the lawgiver of Lacedsemon, nor undue efieminacy, like the man who taught the lonians and the Sybarites lessons of luxury and license, but keeping a middle path between the two courses, so that he has relaxed what was over strict, and tightened what was too loose, mingling the excesses which are found at each extremity with moderation, which lies between the two, so as to produce an irreproachable harmony and consistency of life, on which account he has laid down not carelessly, but with minute particularity, what we are to use and what to avoid.

One might very likely suppose it to be just that those beasts which feed upon human flesh should receive at the hands of men similar treatment to that which they iuflict on men, but Moses has ordained that we should abstain from the enjoyment of all such things, and vrith a due consideration of what is becoming to the gentle soul, he proposes a most gentle and most pleasant banquet; for though it is proper that those who inflict evils should suffer similar calamities themselves, yet it may not be becoming to those vrhom they ill treated to retaliate, lest without being aware of it they become brutalized by anger, which is a savage passion ; and he takes such care to guard against this, that being desirous to banish as far as possible all desire for those animals abovementioned, he forbids with all his energy the eating of any carnivorous animal at all, selecting the herbivorous animals out of those kinds which are domesticated, since they are tame by nature, feeding on that gentle food whicli is supplied by the earth, and having no disposition to plot evil against anything.

The animals which are clean and lawful to be used as food are ten in number ; the heifer, the lamb, the goat, the stag, the antelope, the buffalo, the roebuck, the pygarg, the wildox, and the chamois,* for he always adheres to that arithmetical subtilty which, as he originally devised it with the minutest accuracy possible, he extends to all existing things, so that he establishes no ordinances, whether important or imimportant, without taking and as, it were adapting this number to it as closely connected with the regulations which he is ordaining. JSTow of all the numbers beginning from the unit, the most perfect is the number ten, and as Moses says, it is the most sacred of all and a holy number, and by it he now limits the races of animals that are clean, wishing to assign the use of them to all those who partake of the constitution which he is establishing. And he gives two tests and criteria of the ten animals thus enumeratedf by two signs, first, that they must part the hoof, secondly, that they must chew the cud ; for those which do neither, or only one of these things, are unclean.

And these signs are both of them symbols of instruction and of the most scientific learning, by which the better is separated from the worse, so that all confusion between them is prevented ; for as the animal which chews the cud, while it is masticating its food draws it down its throat, and then by slow degrees kneads and softens it, and then after this process again sends it down into the belly, in the same manner the man who is being instructed, having received the doctrines and speculations of wisdom in at his ears from his instructor, derives a considerable amount of learning from him, but still is not able to hold it firmly and to embrace it aU at once, until he has resolved over in his mind everything which he has heard by the continued exercise of his memory (and this exercise of memory is the cement which connects ideas), and then he impresses the image of it all firmly on his soul.

But as it seems the firm conception of such ideas is of no advantage to him unless he is able to discriminate between and to distinguish which of contrary things it is right to choose and which to avoid, of which the parting of the hoof is the symbol ; since the course of life is twofold, the one road leading to wickedness and the other to virtue, and since we ought to renounce the one and never to forsake the other. For this reason aU animals with solid hoofs, and all with many toes are spoken of by implication as unclean ; the one because, being so, they imply that the nature of good and evil is one and the same ; which is just as if one were to say that the nature of a concave and a convex surface, or of a road up hill and down hill, was the same. And the other, because it shows that there are many roads, though, indeed, they have no right to be called roads at all, which lead the life of man to deceit ; for it is not easy among a variety of paths to choose that which is the most desirable and the most excellent.

Having laid down these definitions with respect to land animals, he proceeds to describe what aquatic creatures are clean and lawful to be used for food ; distiuguisliiug tliem also by two characteristics as ha-vnug fins or scales.* For those which have neither one nor the other, and those which have only one of the two, he rejects and prohibits.! And he must state the cause, which is not destitute of sense and propriety ; for all those creatures which are destitute of both, or even of one of the two, are sucked down by the current, not being able to resist the force of the stream ; but those which have both these characteristics can stem the water, and oppose it in front, and strive against it as against an adversary, and struggle with invincible good will and courage, so that if they are pushed they push in their turn ; and if they are pursued they turn upon their foe and pursue it in their turn, making themselves broad roads in a pathless district, so as to have an easy passage to and fro. Now both these things are symbols ; the former of a soul devoted to pleasure, and the latter of one which loves perseverance and temperance.

For the road which leads to pleasure is a down-hill one and very easy, being rather an absorbing gulf than a path. But the path which leads to temperance is up hill and laborious, but above all other roads advantageous. And the one leads men downwards, and prevents those who travel by it from retracing their steps until they have arrived at the very lowest bottom, but the other leads to heaven ; making those who do not weary before they reach it immortal, if they are only able to endure its rugged and difficult ascent. And adhering to the same general idea the lawgiver asserts that those reptiles which have no feet, and which crawl onwards, dragging themselves along the ground on their bellies, or those which have four legs, or many feet, are all unclean as far as regards their being eaten.

And here, again, when he mentions reptiles he intimates under a figurative form of expression those who are devoted to their bellies, gorging themselves like cormorants, and who are continually offering up tribute to their miserable belly, tribute, that is, of strong wine, and confections, and fish, and, in short, all the superfluous delicacies which the skill and labour of bakers and confectioners are able to devise, inventing all sorts of rare viands, to stimulate and set on fire the insatiable and unappeasable appetites of man. And when he speaks of animals with four legs and many feet, he intends to designate the miserable slaves not of one single passion, appetite, but of all the passions ; the genera of which are four in number; but in their subordinate species they are innumerable. Therefore, the despotism of one is very grievous, but that of many is most terrible, and as it seems intolerable. Again, in the case of those reptiles who have legs above their feet, so that they are able to take leaps from the ground, those Moses speaks of as clean ; as, for instance, the different kinds of locusts, and that animal called the serpentfighter, here again intimating by figurative expressions the manners and habits of the rational so\il.

For the weight of the body being naturally heavy, drags down with it those who are but of small wisdom, strangling it and pressing it down by the weight of the flesh. But blessed are they to whose lot it has fallen, inasmuch as they have been well and solidly instructed in the rules of sound education, to resist successfully the power of mere strength, so as to be able, by reason of what they have learnt, to spring up from the earth and all low things, to the air and the periodical revolutions of the heaven, the very sight of which is to be admired and earnestly striven for by those who come to it of their own accord with no indolence or indifierence. Having, therefore, in his ordinances already gone through all the different kinds of land animals and of those who live in the water, and having distinguished them in his code of laws as accurately as it was possible, Moses begins to investigate the remaining class of animals in the air; the innumerable kinds of flying creatures, rejecting all those which prey upon one another or upon man, all carnivorous birds, in short, all animals which are venomous, and all which have any power of plotting against others.

But doves, and pigeons, and turtle-doves, and all the flocks of cranes, and geese, and birds of that kind, he numbers in the class of domestic, and tame, and eatable creatures, allowing every one who chooses to partake of them with impunity. Thus, in each of the parts of the universe, earth, water, and air, he refuses some kinds of each description of animal, Tvliether terrestrial, or aquatic, or aerial, - to our use ; and thus, taking as it were fuel from the fire, he causes the extinction of appetite.

Moreover, Moses commands * that no man shaU take of any dead carcass, or of any body which has been torn by wild beasts ; partly because it is not fitting that man should share a feast with untameable beasts, so as to beconie almost a fellow reveller in their carnivorous festivals ; and partly because perhaps it is injurious and likely to cause disease if the juice of the dead body becomes mingled with the blood, and perhaps, also, because it is proper to preserve that which has been pre-occupied and seized beforehand by death untouched, ha-ving a respect to the necessities of nature by which it has been seized. !N'ow many of the lawgivers both among the Greeks and barbarians, praise those who are skilful in hunting, and who seldom fail in their pursuit or miss their aim, and who pride themselves on their successful hunts, especially when they divide the limbs of the animals which they have cauijht with the huntsmen and the hounds, as being not only brave hunters but men of very sociable dispositions.

But any one who was a sound interpreter of the sacred constitution and code of laws would very naturally blame them, since the lawgiver of that code has expressly forbidden any enjojTiient of carcasses or of bodies torn by beasts for the reasons before mentioned. But if any one of those persons who devote themselves wholly to meditations on and to the practice of virtue were suddenly to become fond of gymnastic exercises and of hunting, looking upon hunting as a sort of prelude to and representation of the wars and dangers that have to be encountered against the enemy, then, whenever such a man is successful in his sport, he ought to give the beasts which he has slain to his dogs as a feast for them, and as a reward or wages for their successful boldness and their irreproachable alliance. But he ought not himself to touch them, inasmuch as he has been previously taught in the case of • Leviticus v. 2. irrational animals, what sentiments lie ought to entertain, respecting his enemies.

For he ought to carry on war against them, not for the sake of unrighteous gain like those who make a dishonest traffic of all their actions, but either in revenge for some calamities which he has previously suffered at their hands, or with a view toward some which he expects to suffer. But some men, Avith open mouths, carry even the excessive luxury and boundless intemperance of Sardanapalus to such an indefinite and unlimited extent, being wholly absorbed in the invention of senseless pleasures, that they prepare sacrifices which ought never be offered, strangling their victims, and stifling the essence of life,* w'hich they ought to let depart free and unrestrained, burying the blood, as it were, in the body. For it ought to have been sufficient for them to enjoy the flesh by itself, without touching any of those parts which have a connection with the soul or life.

On which account Moses, in another passage, establishes a law concerning blood, that one may not eat the blood nor the fat.f The blood, for the reason which I have already mentioned, that it is the essence of the life ; not of the mental and rational life, but of that which exists in accordance with the outward senses, to which it is owing that both we and irrational animals also have a common existence.

For the essence of the soul of man is the breath of God, especially if we follow the account of Moses, who, in his history of the creation of the world, says that God breathed into the first man, the founder of our race, the breath of life ; breathing it into the principal part of his body, namely the face, where the outward senses are established, the body-guards of the mind, as if it were the great king. And that which was thus breathed into his face was manifestly the breath of the air, or whatever else there may be which is even more excellent than the breath of the air, as being a ray emitted from the blessed and thrice-happy nature of God. But Moses commanded men to abstain from eating fat, because it is gross. And again, he gave us this injunction, in order to inculcate temperance and a zeal for an austere life : for some things we easily abandon, and without any hesitation ; though we do not willingly encounter any anxieties or labours for the sake of the acquisition of virtue.

Por which reason these two parts are to be taken out of every victim and burnt with fire, as a kmd of first fruits, namely, the fat aiid the blood ; the one being poured iipon the altar as a libation ; and the other as a fuel to the flame, being applied instead of oil, by reason of its fatness, to the consecrated and holy flame.

The lawgiver blames some persons of his time as gluttons, and as believing that the mere indulgence of luxury is the happiest of all possible conditions, not being content to live in this manner only in cities in which there are abundant supplies and stores of all kinds of necessary things, but carrying their efieminacy even into pathless and untrodden deserts, and choosing in them also to have markets for fish and meat, and all things which can contribute to an easy life: then, when a scarcity arose, they assembled together and raised an outcry, and looked miserable, and with shameless audacity impeached their ruler, and did not desist from creating disturbances till they obtained what they desired ; and they obtained it to their destruction, for two reasons : first of all, that it might be shown that all things are possible to God, who can find a way in the most difiicult and apparently hopeless circumstances; and secondly, that punishment might fall on those who were intemperate in their gluttonous appetites, and obstinate resisters of holiness.

Eor a vast cloud being raised* out of the sea showered down quails about the time of sunrise, and the camp and all the district around it for a day's joumeyfor a well-girt active man M'as overshadowed all about with the birds.f And the height of the flight of the birds was distant from the ground a height of about two cubits, in order that they might be easily caught. It would have been natural therefore for them, being amazed at the marvellous nature of the prodigy which they beheld, to be satisfied with the sight, ♦ Exodus xvi. 13. + Numbers xi. 31. and being filled with piety to nourish their souls on that, and to abstain from eating flesh; but these men, on the contrary, stirred up their desires even more than before, and pursued these birds as the greatest good imaginable, and catching hold of them with both their hands filled their bosoms ; then, having stored them up in their tents, they sallied forth to catch others, for immoderate covetousness has no limit.

And when they had collected every description of food they devoured it insatiably, being about, vainminded generation that they were, to perish by their own fulness ; and indeed at no distant time they did perish by the purging of their bile,* so that the place itself derived its name from the calamity which fell upon them, for it was called the graves of their lust,t than which there is not in the soul, as the scripture teaches us, any greater evil. For which reason Moses says wdth great beauty in his recommendations, " Let not every man do that which seemeth good to his own eyes,"J which is equivalent to saying, let not any one gratify his own desire, but let each person seek to please God, and the world, and nature, and wise men, repudiating self-love, if he would become a good and virtuous man.

This may be sufficient to say, being in fact all that I am able to advance, about the laws which bear on appetite and desire by way of filling up the whole body of the ten commandments, and of the subordinate injunctions contained in them ; for if we are to look upon the brief heads which were oracularly delivered by*the voice of God, as the jl generic laws, and all the particular ordinances which Moses subsequently interpreted and added as the special laws ; then there is need of great care and skill in order to preserve the arrangement unconfused in order to an accurate comprehension of it, and I therefore have taken great care, and have assigned and apportioned to each of these generic laws of the whole code all that properly belonged to it. But enough of this. We must however not remain ignorant that as separately there are some particular in- + See Numbers xi. 34 : " And he called tlie name of that plat-e Kibroth-hattiiavab, because thero they buried the people that lusted."

X Deuteronomy xL 8. junctions related to each one of the ten generic commandments, which have nothing in common with any one of the others ; so also there are some things to be observed which are common to the whole, being adapted not to one or two, as people say, but to the whole ten commandments. And I mean by this those virtues which are of common ^ltility, for each one of these ten laws separately, and all of them together, train men and encourage them to prudence, and justice, and piety, towards God and all the rest of the company of virtues, connecting sound words with good intentions, and virtuous actions with wise language, that so the organ of the soul may be wholly and entirely held together in a good and harmonious manner so as to produce a well-regulated and faultless innocence and consistency of life. We have spoken before of that queen of all the virtues, piety and holiness, and also of prudence and moderation ; we must now proceed to speak of justice which is conversant about subjects which are akin and nearly related to them.

One portion of justice, and tliat not an unimportant one, relates to courts of justice and to the judge, which indeed I have mentioned before, when I was going through the subject of testimony, and dwelling on it at some length, in order that nothing which belonged to the subject should be omitted ; and as I am not fond of repetitions, unless indeed some necessity arising from the imperious character of the occasion compels me to it, I will pass that part of the subject over now, and will turn my attention to the other portions, having just said thus much as a preface.

The law says, it is proper to lay up justice in one's heart, and to fasten it as a sign upon one's head, and as frontlets before one's eyes, figuratively intimating by the former expression that one ought to commit the precepts of justice, not to one's ears, which are not trustworthy, for tliere is no credit due to the ears, but to thnt most important and dominant part, stamping and impressing them on the most excellent of all offerings, a well approved seal ; and by the second expression, that it is necessary not only to form proper conceptions of what is right, but also to do what one has decided upon as proper without delay. For the hand is the symbol of actions, to which Moses here commands the people to attach and fasten justice, saying, that it shall be a sign, of what indeed he has not expressly stated, because it is not a sign as I conceive of one particular thing, but of many, and, I may almost say, of everything with which the life of man is concerned. And by the third expression, he implies that justice is discerned everywhere as being close to the eyes.

Moreover he says that, these things must have a certain motion ; not one that shall be light and unsteady, but such as by its agitation may rouse the sight to the spectacle manifest before it ; for motion is calculated to attract the sight, inasmuch as it excites and rouses it ; or, I might rather say, inasmuch as it renders the eyes awake and sleepless. But the man to whom it happens to represent to the eyes of his mind things which are not quiet but which are in motion, and exerting energies in accordance with nature, is entitled to be set down as a perfect man, and no longer to be reckoned among learners and pupils, but among teachers and instructors ; and he ought to allow all the young men who are desirous to do so, to drink of his wisdom as of an abundant stream flowing from a living fountain of lessons and doctrines.f And if there is any one who, out of modesty, is wanting of courage, and therefore delays, and is slow to approach him for the purpose of learning, let him go to him of his own accord, and pour into his ears a collection of admonitions, until the channels of his soul are filled with them.

And let him instruct in the principles of justice all his relatives and friends, and all young men, at home and on the road, and when they are going to bed, and when they rise up ; that in all their positions, and in all their motions, and in all places whether privi.te or public, not only waking, but also while asleep, they may be deliglited with the image and conception of justice. For there is no delight more exquisite than that which proceeds from the whole soul being entirely filled with justice, while devoted to the study of its everlasting doctrines and meditations, so that it has no vacant place at which injustice can effect an entrance.

Moreover, he ordains that those who have written out these things should afterwards afiix them to every house belonging to a friend, and to the gates which are in their walls ; that all people, whether coming in or going out, whether citizens or strangers, reading the writing thus fixed on pillars before the gates, may have an unceasing recollection of all that ought to be said or that ought to be done ; and that every one may take care neither to do nor to suffer injury ; and that all persons, whether going into their houses or going out of them, men and women, children and servants, may do all that is proper and becoming to one another and to themselves. The lawgiver also gives this most admirable injunction, that one must not add anything to, or take anything away from the law, but that it is -a duty to keep all the ordinances as originally established in an equal and similar state to that in which they were at first delivered without alteration ; for, as it seems, there might otherwise be an addition of what is unjust ; for there is nothing which has been omitted by the wise lawgiver which can enable a man to partake of entire and perfect justice.

Moreover, by this command Moses intimates the perfection of all other virtue ; for each separate virtue is free from all deficiency, and is complete, deriving its perfection from itself; so that if there were any addition thereto, or anything taken away therefrom, it would be utterly and entirely changed and altered, so as to assume a contrary character. What I meant to say is this, all who are profoundly ignorant and uninstructed, all who have the very slightest smattering of education, know that courage is i\ virtue which is conversant about terrible objects ; is a science teaching one what he ought to endure and dare. But if any one, under the influence of that ignorance which proceeds from insolence, should be so superfluous as to fancy himself capable of correcting that which requires no correction, and should consequently venture to add anything or take away anything, he, hy so doing, is altering the whole appearance of the thing, changing that which had a good character into unseemliness ; for by any addition to courage he will produce audacity, but if he takes anything av, ay from it he will produce cowardice, not leaving even the name of courage, that most useful of all virtues to life.

In the same manner, if any one makes an addition, be it ever so small, or ever so great, to that queen of the virtues, piety, or if he takes anything away from it, he will change and metamorphose its whole appearance, and make it something quite different ; for any addition will engender superstition, and any diminution will produce impiety, real piety itself wholly disappearing under the operation, which every one should pray for, that it may be coiitinually conspicuous and brilliant, since it is the cause of the greatest of all blessings, inasmuch as it produces a knowledge of the service of Grod, which ore ought to look upon as more important and more preciout^ than any dominion or authority. And we may give instances of every other virtue resembling what we have said about ftese just mentioned ; but since I am in the habit of avoiding prolixity, I will be satisfied with what has been stated, whict may be a sufficient guide to what might be said respectng these virtues which we omit to mention. ABOUT KOT vioviNa la;nd-mark:s.

There is also this comnandment ordained which is of great common utility, that, •' Thou shalt not move thy neighbours' land-marks which the'brmer men have set up." * And this injunction is given, as t, seems, not only with respect to inheritances, and to the bomdarics of the land, in order to prohibit covetousness respecting them, but also as a guard to ancient customs ; for custons are unwritten laws, being the doctrines of men of old, lot engraved on pillars or written on paper which may be eaten by moths, but 39Q PHILO JUD^US. impressed in tLe souls of those living under the same constitution. Por the children ought to inherit from the father of their being the national customs in which they have been brought up, and in which they have lived from their cradle, and not to despise them merely because they are handed down without being written. For the man who obeys the written laws is not justly entitled to any praise, inasmuch as he is influenced by compulsion and the fear of punishment. But he who abides by the unwritten laws is worthy of praise, as exhibiting a spontaneous and unconstrained virtue.

Some persons have contended that dl magistracies ought to have the officers appointed to then by lot ; which however is a mode of proceeding not advantageous for the multitude, for the casting of lots shows good fortune, but not virtue ; at all events many unworthy persons have often obtained office by such means, men wAom, if a good man had the supreme authority, he wou'd not permit to be reckoned even among his subjects : fer even those who are called lesser rulers by some persons, those whom men entitled masters, do not admit evtry one whom they can possibly find to be their servants, whether born in the house or bought with money; but they will only take those who are obedient, and at times they sell all those of incurably bad dispositions in a lot, as n*t being worthy to be the slaves of good men.

Therefore it is not right to nake men masters and rulers of entire cities and nations, wio obtain those places by lot, which is a sort of blunder oy the part of fortune, which is an unstable and fickle thing Beyond all question, casting of lots can have no connection with ability to attend upon the sick ; for physicians do/iot obtain their employments by lot, but because their expe^'ience is approved of; again, with reference to the successful voyage and safety of men at sea, it is not any man who may obtain the office of pilot by lot, who is sent at once to the stern to steer the vessel, and who then by his ignorance may cause a needless wreck in calm and tranquil weather, but that person has that charge given to him who, from his earliest youth, appears to have learnt and carefully studied the business of a pilot ; this is a man who has made many voyages, and who has traversed every sea, or at all events most seas, and who has carefully ascertained the character of all the marts, and harbours, and anchorages, and places of refuge in the different islands and continents, and who is still better, or at all events not worse acquainted with the tracks over the sea, than he is with the roads on land, through his accurate observation of the heavenly bodies ; for having remarked the various motions of the stars, and having followed and being guided by their resfular revolutions, he has learnt to be able to make out for himself an unerring and easy path through the pathless waste of waters, so that (what seems the most incredible of all things), beings whose nature it is to live on the land are able to traverse the sea wliich can only be crossed by sailing.

And if any one should be about to undertake the government or regulation of large and populous cities, full of inhabitants, and should attempt to settle the constitution of such, and should undertake the superintendence of private, and public, and sacred affairs, a task which any one may rightly call the art of arts, and the science of sciences, he would not trust to the uncertain chances of time, passing over the accurate and trustworthy test of truth ; and the test of truth is proof combined with reason.

The all-wise Moses seeing this by the power of his own soul, makes no mention of any authority being assigned by lot, but he has chosen to direct that all offices shall be elected to ; therefore he says, " Thou shalt not appoint a stranger to be a ruler over thee, but one of thine own brethren,"* implying that the appointment is to be a voluntary choice, and an irreproachable selection of a ruler, whom the whole multitude with one accord shall choose ; and God himself will add his vote in favour of, and set his seal to ratify such an election, that being who is the con- • Deuteronomy xvii. 15. firmer of all advantageous things,' looking upon the man so chosen as the flower of his race, just as the sight is the best thing in the body.

And Moses gives also two reasons, on account of which it is not proper for strangers to be elected to situations of authority ; in the first place, that they may not amass a quantity of silver, and gold, and flocks, and raise great and iniquitously earned riches for themselves, out of the poverty of those who are subjected to them ; and secondly, that they may not make the nation quit their ancient abodes to gratify their own covetous desires, and so compel them to emigrate, and to wander about to and fro in interminable wanderings, suggesting to them hopes of the acquisition of greater blessings, which shall never be fulfilled, by which they come to lose those advantages of which the/ were in the secure enjoyment.

For our lawgiver was aware beforehand, as was natural that one who was a countryman and a relation, and who had also an especial share in the sublimest relationship of all, (and that sublimest of relationships is one constitution and the same law, and one God whose chosen nation is a peculiar people) ; so that he would never offend in any manner similar to those which I have been mentioning, but, on the other hand, instead of causing the inhabitants to quit their abodes, he would be likely even to afford a safe return to such of his countrymen as were dispersed in a foreign land ; and instead of taking away the property of others, he would even give his own property to those who were in need of it, making his own wealth common.

And from the first day on which any one enters upon liis office, he orders that he shall write out a copy of the book of the law* with his own hand, which shall supply him with a summary and concise image of all the laws, because he wishes that all the ordinances which ai'e laid down in it shall be firmly fixed in his soul ; for while a man is reading the notions of what he is reading fleet away, being carried off by the rapidity of his utterance ; but if he is writing they are stamped upon his heart at leisure, and they take up their abode in the heart of each individual as his mind dwells upon each particular, and settles itself to the contemplation of it, and does not depart to any other object, till it has taken a firm hold of that which was previously submitted to it.

"WTien therefore he is writing, let him take care, every day, to read and study what he has WTitten, both in order that he may thus attain to a continual and unchangeable recollection of these commands which are virtuous and expedient for all men to observe, and also that a firm love of and desire for them may be implanted in him, by reason of his soul being continually taught and accustomed to apply itself to the study and observance of the sacred laws. For familiarity, which has been engendered by long acquaintance, engenders a sincere and pure friendship, not only towards men, but even also towards such branches of learning as are worthy to be loved ; and this will take place if the ruler studies not the -m-itings and memorials of some one else but those which he himself has written out ; for his own works are, in a certain degree, more easily to be understood by each individual, and they are also more easily to be comprehended ; and besides that a man, while he is reading them, will have such considerations in his mind as these : " I wrote all this ; I who am a ruler of such great power, without employing any one else as my scribe, though I had innumerable servants.

Did I do all this, in order to fill up a volume, like those who copy out books for hire, or like men who practise their eyes and their hands, training the one to acuteness of sight, and the others to rapidity ol writing ? Why should I have done this ? That was not the case ; I did it in order that after I had recorded these things in a book, I might at once proceed to impress them on my heart, and that I might stamp upon my intellect their divine and indelible characters : other kings bear sceptres in their hands, and sit upon thrones in royal state, but my sceptre shall be the book of the copy of the law ; that shall be my boast and my incontestible glory, the signal of my irreproachable sovereignty, created after the image and model of the archetvpal royal" power of God. "And by always 'relying upon and supporting myself in the sacred laws, I shall acquire the most excellent things. In the first place equality, than which it is not possible to discern any greater blessing, for insolence and excessive haughtiness are the signs of a narrow-minded soul, which does not foresee the future. "

Equality, therefore, will win me good will from all wlio are subject to my power, and safety inasmuch as they will bestow on me a just requital for my kindness ; but inequality will bring upon me terrible dangers, and these I shall escape by hating inequality, the purveyor of darkness and wars ; and my life will be in no danger of being plotted against, because I honour equality, which has no connection with seditions, but which is the parent of light and stability. Moreover, I shall gain another advantage, namely, that I shall not sway this way and that way, like the dishes in a scale, in consequence of perverting and distorting the commandments laid down for my guidance. But I shall endeavour to keep them, going through the middle of the plain road, keeping my own steps straight and upright, in order that I may attain to a life free from error or misfortune." And Moses was accustomed to call the middle road the royal one, inasmuch as it lay between excess and deficiency ; and besides, more especially, because in the number three the centre occupies the most important place, uniting the extremities on either side by an indissoluble chain, it being attended by these extremities as its body-guards as though it were, a king.

Moreover, Moses says that a long-enduring sovereignty is the reward of a lawful magistrate or ruler who honours equality, and who without any corruption gives just decisions in a just manner, always studying to observe the laws ; not for the sake of granting him a life extending over many years, combined with the administration of the commonwealth, but in order to teach those who do not understand that a governor who rules in accordance with the laws, even though he die, does nevertheless live a long life by means of his actions which he leaves behind him as immortal, the indestructible monuments of his piety and virtue.

And it becomes a man who has been thought worthy of the supreme and greatest authority to appoint successors who may govern with him and judge with him, and, in concert with him, may ordain everything wliich is for the common advantage ; for one person would not be sufficient, even if he were ever so willing, and if he were the most pow^erful man in the world, both in body and soul, to support the weight and number of affairs which would come upon him, as he would faint trnder the pressure and rapidity of all kinds of business coming in upon him continually every day from all quarters, unless he had a number of persons selected with reference to their excellence who might co-operate with him by their prudence, and power, and justice, and godly piety, men who not only avoid arrogance, but even detest it as an enemy and as the very greatest of evils. For these men would stand by, and assist, and co-operate with a virtuous and holy man, one who hated evils equally with themselves, and would be the most suitable persons to lighten and relieve his labours.

And, besides, since of the mattersw hich would force themselves upon his attention, some are of greater importance and others of less, the chief will very reasonably commit those which are more unimportant to his lieutenants, while he himself would of necessity become the most accurate judge of the weightier matters. But the affairs which we ought to look upon as the most weighty are not, as some persons think, those in which persons of reputation are at variance with other persons of reputation, or rich men with rich men, or princes with princes ; but, on the contrary, are rather where there are powerful men on one side, and private individuals, men of no wealth, or dignity, or reputation, on the other, men whose sole hope of escaping intolerable evils lies in the judge himself. And we can find clear instances of both kinds in the sacred laws, which it is well for us to imitate ; for there was once a time inwhich Moses, alone byhimself, decided all causes and all matters of legal controversy, labouring from morning till night.

But after a time his father-in-law came to him, and seeing with what a weight of business he was overwhelmed, as all those who had any disputes were everlastingly coming upon him, he gave him most excellent advice, counselling him to choose subordinate magistrates, that they might decide the less important aflairs, and that he might have only the more serious causes to occupy him, and by this means provide himself with time for rest.* And Moses, being convinced by the arguments of Jethro (for, indeed, they were for his good), having chosen the men of the highest reputation in the whole nation, he appointed them • Exodus xviii. 14. Ms lieutenants and judges, bidding them refer the more important cases to him.

And the history of the sacred laws contains this arrangement duly recorded, for the instruction of the rulers in all succeeding generations, that, in the first place, they may not despise the assistance of fellow counsellors, as if they were able of themselves to superintend everything, since that allwdse and godly man, Moses, did not reject them ; and, secondly, that they may learn to choose subordinates of the second class and of the third class, so as to provide for themselves not being driven to neglect matters of greater importance, through being wholly occupied by affairs of a more trifling nature ; for it is impossible for human nature to attend to everything at once.

We have here mentioned one example of what we before alluded to. We must now add an instance of the second kind. I said that the causes of men of humble condition were important ; for the widow, and the orphan, and the ptranger are powerless and humble. And it is right that he supreme King should be the judge in their case, the E.uler who has the supreme authority over the whole nation ; since, according to Moses, even Grod, the Ruler of the universe, did not exclude them from the provisions of his laws ; for when Moses, that holy interpreter of the will of God, is raising a hymn in praise of the virtues of the living God in these terms, " God is great and mighty, one who is no respecter of persons, and who does not take gifts to guide him in his judgment,"* he adds, in whose case it is that he gives judgment, not in the case of satraps, and tyrants, and men who have the power by land and sea, but he gives judgment respecting the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow.

In the case of the first, because he has made his own kinsmen, whom alone it was natural for him to have as allies and champions, his irreconcileable enemies, by quitting their camp and taking up his abode with the truth, and with the honour of the one Being who is entitled to honour, abandoning all the fabulous inventions and polytheistic notions which his fathers, and grandfathers, and ancestors, and all his kindred, who cleave to the beautiful settlement which he has forsaken, were wont to honour. In the case of the second, because he is deprived of his father and mother, his natural defenders and protectors, and by consequence of the only power which was bound to show itself as his ally. And lastly, in the case of the woman who is a widow because she has been deprived of her husband, who succeeded her parents as her guardian and protector ; for a husband is to his wife iu point of relationship what her parents are to a virgin.

And one may almost say that the whole nation of the Jews may be looked upon in the light of orphans, if they are compared with all other nations in other lands : for other nations, as often as thev are afflicted by any calamities which are not of divine infliction, are in no want of assistance by reason of their frequent intercoiirse with other nations, from their habitual dealings in common. But this nation of the Jews has no such allies by reason of the peculiarity of its laws and customs. And their laws are of necessity strict and rigorous, as they are intended to train them to the greatest height of virtue ; and what is strict and rigorous is austere. And such laws and customs the generality of men avoid, because of their inclination for and their adoption of pleasure. But, nevertheless, Moses says that the great Euler of the universe, whose inheritance they are, does always feel compassion and pity for the orphan and desolate of this his people, because they have been dedicated to him, the Creator and Father of all, as a sort of first-fruits of the whole human race.

And the cause of this dedication to God was the excessive and admirable righteousness and virtue of the founders of the nation, which remain like undying plants, bearing a fruit which shall ever flourish to the salvation of their descendants, and to the benefit of all persons and all things, provided only that the sins which they commit are such as are remediable and not wholly unpardonable. Let not any one then think that nobility of birth is a perfect good, and therefore neglect virtuous actions, considering that that man deserves greater anger wlio, after he has been born of virtuous parents, brings disgrace on his parents by reason of the wickedness of his disposition and conduct ; for if he has domestic examples of goodness whicli he may imitate, and yet never copies them, so as to correct his own life, and to render it healthy and virtuous, he deserves reproach.

The law also forbids, by a most just and reasonabl'^ prohibition, the man who has undertaken the care and government of the common interests of the state, to behave with treachery among the people ;* for a treacherous disposition is the mark of an illiberal and very slavish soul, which seeks to overshadow its real nature by hypocrisy ; for, in reality, a ruler ought to stand up in defence of his subjects as"a fatlier would in defence of his children, that he may be honoured by them as if they were his own real children ; on which account good rulers are the common parents of their cities and nations, if one may say the plain truth, displaying equal, and sometimes even superior, good will to them ; but those men who acquire great power and authority to the injury and damage of their subjects^ ought to be entitled, not rulers, but enemies, inasmuch as they are acting the part of implacable foes.

Not but what those who injure one treacherously are even more wicked than those who oppose one openly, since it is possible to repel the one without difficulty, as they display their hostility without disguise ; but the evil-miudedness of the others is difficult to detect and hard to unveil, being like the conduct of men on the stage, who are clothed in a dress which does not belong to them, in order to conceal their real appearance. But there is a kind of pre-eminence and superior authority, which I had almost said pervades every part of life, varying only in respect of magnitude and quantity ; for what the king of a city is, that also is the first man in a village, and the master of a house, and a physician among the sick, and a general in his camp, and an admiral with respect to his crew and to his passengers, and a captain of a ship in regard to merchant vessels and transports, and a pilot among common sailors, every one of whom has power to make tliii gs either better or worse.

But they ought to wish to ooncuct themselves in everything for the best, and the best ia to use aU their energies to assist people and not to injui-e them ; for this is to act in imitation of Grod, since he also has the power to do either good or evil, but his inclination causes him only to do good. And the creation and arrangement of the world shows this, for he has summoned, what had previously no being into existence, creating order out of disorder, and distinctive qualities out of things which had no such qualities, and similarities out of things dissimilar, and identity out of things which were different, and intercommunion and harmony out of things which had previously no communication nor agreement, and equality out of inequality, and light out of darkness ; for he is always anxious to exert his beneficent powers in order to change whatever is disorderly from its present evil condition, and to transform it so as to bring it into a better state.

Therefore it is right for good rulers of a nation to imitate him in these points, if they have any anxiety to attain to a similitude to God ; but since innumerable circumstances are continually escaping from and eluding the human mind, inasmuch as it is entangled among and embarrassed by so great a multitude of the extei-nal senses, as is very well calculated to seduce and deceive it by false opinions, since in fact it is, as I may say, buried in the mortal body, which may very properly be called its tomb, let no one who is a judge be ashamed to confess that he is ignorant of that of which he is ignorant, for in the first place the man who is deceived becomes worse than he was before, because he has expelled truth from the confines of his soul ; in the second place, he will do exceeding mischief to those on whose causes he is deciding by delivering a blind decision in consequence of his not seeing what is just.

When, therefore, he does not clearly comprehend a case by reason of the perplexed and unintelligible character of the circumstances which throw uncertainty and darkness around it, he ought to decline giving a decision, and to send the matter before judges who will understand it more accurately. And who can these judges be but the priests, and the ruler and governor of the priests ? Tor the genuine, sincere worshippers of God are by care and diligence rendered acute in their intellects, inasmuch as they are not indifierent even to slight errors, because of the exceeding excellence of the Monarch whom they serve in every point.

On which account it is commanded that the priests shall go soberly* to offer sacrifice, in order that no medicine such as causes men to err, or to speak and act foolishly may enter into the mind and obscure its vision, and perhaps because the real genuine priest is at once also a prophet, having attained to the honour of being allowed to see the only true and living God, not more by reason of his birth than by reason of his virtue. And to a prophet there is nothing unknown, since he has •within himself the sun of intelligence, and rays which are never overshadowed, in order to a most accurate comprehension of those things which are invisible to the outward senses, but intelligible to the intellect.

Again, merchants and pedlars, and people in the market, and all those who deal in things necessary for life,t and who in consequence are conversant with measures, and weights, and balances, since they sell things both dry and wet, are put in subjection to the superintendants of the market, and these supeiintendants are bound to govern them if they act with moderation, doing what is right, not out of fear, but voluntarily, for spontaneous good conduct is in every case more honourable than that which proceeds from compulsion.

On which account the law orders these merchants and dealers, and all other persons who have adopted this way of life, to take cai'e to provide themselves with just balances, and measures, and weights, not practising any wicked manoeuvres to the injury of those who purchase of them, but to do and say everything with a free and guileless soul, considering this, that unjust gains are injurious, but that that wealth which is acquired in accordance with justice a man cannot be deprived of; and since wages are offered to artisans as a reward for their work, and since it is people in want who are artisans, and not men who have an abundance of wealth, the law commands that the payment of their wages shall not be delayed, but that their employers shall pay them the wages agreed upon the same day that they are earned 4 for it is absurd for the rich to avail themselves of the services of the poor, and yet for those who live in plenty and affluence not at once to give the poor the proper remuneration for those services. Are not these things very conspicuous instances to teach us to guard against greater offences?

For he who will not allow a payi lueut which is sure to be eventually repaid to be delayed beyond the proper time, fixing the evening of the day for "the time on which the artisan, at his return home, is to caiTy hia wages home with him, does not he much more by such a commandment prohibit rapine and theft, and the repudiation : )f debts, and all things of that sort, fashioning and moulding the soul according to the approved chai'acteristics of virtue and piety ?

Also this commandment is given with exceeding propriety,* which forbids anyone from blaspheming and speaking ill, especially of a deaf man, and of one who is unable to ])erceive by the aid of his outward senses the injuries which are done to him, nor to retaliate in an equal manner under :jimilar circumstances ; for that is the most iniquitous conflict oi all, in which the one side is considered only in acting, and the other only in sufifering ; and those who speak ill of the dumb, or of people whose sense of hearing is defective, are committing the same offences as those who put stumbling blocks in the way of the blind, or who offer other obstacles to rheir progress ; for in this case also it is impossible for the blind CO step over the obstacles, as they ai-e not aware of their existence, so they stumble over them, and both are hindered in their progress and hurt their feet.

Accordingly, with great propriety and fitness, does the law threaten those who devise and execute wickedness of this kind with punishment at the hand of God ; since he alone holds his protecting hand over and defends those who are unable to protect thenisdvos, and all but says in plain words to those wlio injure the inuucent, " O foolish minded men, do you expect to escape detection while turning the misfortunes of those men into ridicule, and committing offences against those very parts in respect of wliich they ai-e unfortunate, attacking their ears by false accusations, and their eyes by putting stumbling bl.n^-ks in their path ? But you will never escape the notice of ( . od. who scc6 everything and governs everything, while you msult in this manner the calamities of miserable men, so as to nvoid ineeU ingwith similar distresses yourselves, inasmuch as your bod.cs are also liable to all kinds of diseases, and your outward senses are susceptible of injury and mutilation, benig such as, by a very D D ^ slight and ordinary cause, they are often not only impaired, but crippled by incurable mutilations.

Why then should those who forget themselves, and who in their arrogance fancy that they themselves are superior to the ordinary natural weakness of mankind, and that they are out of the reach of the invisible and unexpected attacks of fortune, which often aims sudden blows at all people, and which has often wrecked men, who up to that moment had enjoyed a prosperous voyage through life, when they had almost arrived in the very harbour of ultimate happiness, why, I say, should such men triumph in and insult the misfortunes of others, having no respect for justice, the ruler of human life, who sits by the side of the great Ruler of the universe, who surveys all things with sleepless and most piercing eyes, and sees what is in recesses as clearly as if it was in the pure sunlight ?

It seems to me that these men would not spare even the dead, in the extravagance of their cruelty, but, according to the proverb so commonly quoted, would even slay the slain over again, since they in a manner think fit to insult and ill treat those members of them which are already dead ; for eyes which do not see are dead, and ears which are devoid of the power of hearing are devoid of life ; so that if the man himself to whom these members belong, were to be extinct, they would then show their merciless and implacable nature, doing no humane or compassionate action, such as is shown to the dead, even by their enemies in irreconcileable wars. And this may be enough to say on this subject.

After this the lawgiver proceeds to connect with these commandments a somewhat similar harmony or series of injunctions ; commanding breeders not to breed from animals of different species ; not to sow a vineyard so as to make it bear two crops at once ; and not to wear garments woven of two different substances, which are a mixed and base work. Now the first of these injunctions we have already mentioned in our treatise on adulterers, in order to make it more evident, that our people ought not to be anxious for marriages with foreigners, corrupting the dispositions of the women, and destroying also the good hopes which might be conceived of the propagation of legitimate children. For the lawgiver, who has forbidden all copulation between irrational animals of different species, appears to have utterly driven away all adulterers to a great distance. And we must now speak again of this rule in this our treatise on justice. For we must take care not to pass over the opportunity of adapting it to as many particulars as possible.

It is just then to bring together those things which are capable of union ; now animals of the same species are by nature capable of union, as, on the other hand, all animals of different species are incapable of any admixture or union, and the man who brings unlawful connections to pass between such animals is an unjust man, transgressing the ordinances of nature ; but that which is the really sacred law takes such exceeding care to provide for the maintenance of justice, that it will not permit even the ploughing of the laud to be carried on by animals of unequal strength, and forbids a husbandman to plough with an ass and a heifer yoked to the same plough, lest the weaker animal, being compelled to exert itself to keep up with the superior power of the stronger animal, should become exhausted, and sink under the effort ; and the bull is looked upon as the stronger animal, and is enrolled in the class of clean beasts and animals, while t!ie ass is a weaker animal and of the class of unclean beasts ; but nevertheless he has not grudged those animals which appear to be weaker, the assistance which they can derive from justice, in order, as I imagine, to teach the judges most forcibly, that they are never in their decisions to give the worse fate to the humbly born, in matters the investigation of which depends not on birth but on virtue and vice.

And resembling these injunctions is the last commandment concerning things yoked in pairs, namely, that it is unlawful to wear together substances of a different character, such as wool and linen ; for in the case of these substances, not only does the difference prevent any union, but also the superior strength of the one substance is calculated rather to tear the other than to unite with it, when it is wanted to bo used.

The commandment which came in the niiddlo of the three injunctions about pairs, was that one was not to sow a vineyard so as to make it bear two crops at the same tunc ; the object of this law being, in the first place, that those things which are of difierent species might not be confused by benig mixed together; for crops grown from seed have no conncctinn with trees, nor trees with crops grown from seed ; on whidi account natiire has not appointed to them both the same time for the production of their fruits, but has assigned to the one the spring as the season of their harvest, while to the others it has appointed the end of summer, as the season for the gathering of their fruits ; accordingly, it happens that at the same period of the year the one are becoming withered having been in bloom at an earlier time, while the others are just budding having been dried up before ; for the crops which are produced from seed begin to flourish in the winter, when the trees are losing their leaves ; and in the spring, on the contrary, when all the crops which are produced from seed are drying up, the wood of all trees, whether wild or improved by cultivation, are shooting; and one may almost say, that the period in which the crops which are produced from seed come to perfection is the same as that in which those of the trees derive the beginning of their productiveness.

Very naturally therefore, has God separated things so wholly different from one another, both in their natures and in the period of their {lowering, and in the seasons of their producing their appropriate fruits, and has appointed different situations for them, producing order out of disorder ; for order is closely connected with ari'angement, and disorder with a want of an-angement. And in the second place, in order that the two different species may not go through a reciprocal system of inflicting and suffering injury, because of one kind drawing away the nourishment from the other kind, while if that nourishment is divided into small portions, as happens in times of famine and of scarcity of necessaries, all plants of every kind will in every place become weak, and will be either afflicted with barrenness, becoming utterly unproductive, or at all events will never bear tolerably fine fruit, inasmuch as they have been previously weakened by want of nourishment.

And in the third place, in order that the naturally fertile land may not be oppressed with burdens beyond its strength, partly by the continued and uninterrupted thickness of the crops which are sown, and of the trees which are planted in the same place, and partly by the doubling of the crops, which are exacted from the ground ; for it ought to be quite sufficient for the owner to draw one yearly tribute from one spot, just as it is sufficient for a king to receive his tribute from a city once a year ; and to endeavour to extract larger revenues is the act of exceeding covetousness, by which all the laws of nature are attempted to be overturned. For which reason the law might well say to those who have determined to sow their vineyards with seed out of pure covetousness ; "

Do not you be worse than those kings who have subdued cities with arms and warlike expeditions, for ,'ven they, from a prudent regard for the future and from a proper wish to spare their subjects, are content to receive ono payment of tribute each year, as they are desirous not to reduce them utterly to the veiy extremity of want and distress in a short time ; but if you in the spring exact from the same piece of ground crops of barley and of wheat, and in fie summer the crops from the fruit-bearing trees, vou will \)\ exhausting it by a double contribution ; for then it will very na^rally grow faint and fail, like an athlete, who is never abroad aiy time to take breath and to collect his sti'ength for the hegi-ining of another contest. " But yoi seem rashly to forget those precepts of general advantage wL.}i j enjoined you to observe.

For, at all events, if you had looUected the commandment concerning the seventh year, ir-which I commanded you to allow the land to remain fallow arj sacred, without being exhausted by any agricultural oper^Q^ of f,uy liind^ by reason of the labours which it has been ^j^g through for the six preceding years, and which it has u|gj.gQQe^ producing its crops at the appointed seasons of tl. yg^r in accordance with the ordinances of nature ; you would -^j. j^Q^y |jg introducing innovations, and giving vent to all your >vetous desires, be seeking for unprecedented crops, sowing n^nd fit for the growth of trees, and especially one planted w. vines, in order by two crops every year, both being foundea,^ iniquity, to increase your substance out of undue ava.^^ amassing money by lawless desires."

For the same man would ^er endure to let his land lie fallow every seventh year wit.,f exacting any rovmiic fi-oni it for the sake of not hayui^jj, ],^,„j exliausted by overproduction, but of allowing it to .p^ itself by rest, iind yet at the same time to oppress and o,.^yi,p]n, i, i,y double burdens ; therefore I have judged ii-ocessary to pmnounco all acquisition or exaction of wealth i.jji^ ^^.^y unlioly and impious ; I mean the production of the fruit of trees, and of such crops as are derived from seed, because such fertihty does in a manner exhaust and destroy'the vivifying principle in the good soil, and, because too, by requiring so much, the owner of the land is insulting and abusing the bounty and liberality of God, giving full reins to his unrighteous desires, and not restraining them by any limits. Ought we not, then, to feel an attachment to such commandments as these, which tend to restrain us from and to remove us to a great distance from the acts of covetousness, which are common among men, blunting the edge of the passion itself '?

For if the private individual, who, in the matter of his plants, has learnt to renounce all unrighteous gain, if he should acquire power in weightier matters and become a king, would adopt the same practice towards men and women, not exacting twofold tributes from them, not exhausting liis subjects with taxes and contributions ; for the habits in which he has been brought up would be sufficient for him, and would be able to soften the harshness of his disposition, and' in a manner to educate him, and to re-mould hint to a better character. And that is a better character wb'ch justice impresses upon the soul.

These, then, are the laws which he aj)points to be observed by each individual. But there are other commandments of a more general nature of wbicli he enjoins the observance to the whole nation in common, recommending them to attend to them, not only with regard to their own friends and allies, but also to those who are unconnected with their alliance. For if, says Moses,* they shut themselves up within their walls and make their necks stiff, then let your young men arm themselves well, and being provided with all the preparations necessary for war, go forth and fortify their camp all around, and watch in expectancy, not indulging their anger so as to neglect reason, but taking care to apply themselves to what must be done firmly and strenuously. Let them, therefore, at once send out heralds to invite the enemy to an agreement, and at the same time let them display the power and considerable character of the force which is en camped ; and if the enemy, repenting of the evil designs which they had conceived, submit and turn to peace in any manner, then let the people gladly receive them and make a truce with them ; for peace, even though it he very unfavourable, is more advantageous than war.

But if they persevere in their folly, and push it further, acting with audacity, then let our people, 'display vigorous confidence, relying also on the invincible alliance of justice, and so let them advance, placing their destructive engines against the walls, and when they have made a breach in some part of them let them all enter in together; and shooting with their spears with correct aim, and brandishing their swords, and slaying the enemies all around, let them repel them unshrinkingly, inflicting upon them what they were intended to suffer themselves, until they have overthrown the whole army arrayed against them, every man of them, and taken their silver, and their gold, and all the booty. And let them bring fire against their city, and burn it so that it may never, after an interval of rest, again raise its head and excite wars and tumults, with the view also of terrifying and warning the neighbouring states, since it is by the calamities of others that men are taught to act with moderation. But let them suffer the maidens and the women to go free, inasmuch as they did not expect to suffer any of the evils which war brings upon men at their hands, as they are exempt from all military service through their natural weakness.

From all which it is plain that the nation of the Jews is allied with and friendly to all those who are of the same sentiments, and all who are peaceful in their intentions ; and that it is not to be despised as one that submits to those who begin to treat it with injustice out of cowardice ; but when it goes forth to defend itself, it distinguishes between those who are habitually plotting against it and those who are not ; for to be eager to slay all men, and even those who have committed but slight offences, or no offences at all against one, I should call the conduct of an inhuman and pitiless soul, as it would be also to treat women as if they were an addition to the men who carry on war, when theu' way of life is naturally peaceful and domestic. But our lawgiver implants such a love of justice in all men who live under the institution which he has established, that he does not permit them to injure the fertile land of even an hostile city by ravaging it, or by cutting down the trees, so as to destroy the crops, "

For why," says he, " do you bear a grudge against inanimate things, which are in their nature quiet, and which produce wholesome fruits ? Does the tree, my friend, display the hostile spirit of a man that is an enemy, so that you are to tear it up by the roots in retaliation for the evils which it has inflicted, or which it has designed to inflict upon you ? On the contrary, it assists you, bestowing on you, when you are victorious, an abundance of necessary food, and of supplies which conduce to rendering life happy and luxurious ; for it is not men alone who contribute revenues to their lords, but plants offer even more useful tribute at the fixed seasons of the year, a tribute without which man cannot live." But there is no prohibition against their cutting down those trees wliich are barren and unproductive, and which are not cultivated for food, for the purpose of making staves, or poles, or posts, or fences ; and, when occasion requires, ladders, and engines, and wooden towers ; for the chief use of these kinds of trees is for such and other similar purposes.

We have now enumerated the matters which belong to justice ; but as for justice itself, what poet or orator could celebrate it, in worthj'^ terms, since it is bej^oud all panegyric and all praise ? At all events, there is one most important good thing belonging to it,* which, even if one were to pass over and be silent about all its other parts, would be an allsufficient panegyric on it ; for this is the principle of equality, which is, as those who have accurately investigated the secrets of natui'e have handed down to us. the mother of justice ; and equality is a light Avhich is never shaded ; the sun (if one must speak the plain truth) appreciable by the intellect alone, since inequality, on the contrary, in which that whicli is superior and that which is inferior are both found, is the beginning and source of darkness ; it is equality wliich, by its unchangeable laws and ordinances, has arranged, in their present beautiful order, all the things in heaven and earth ; for who is there who does not know this fact, that the days are measured in due proportion to the nights, and the nights in due proportion to the days, by the sun, according to the equality of proportionate distances ?

Nature, therefore, has marked out those periods in every year, which are called the equinoxes, from the state of things which exists at that time, namely, the spring and the autumnal equinox, with such distinctness, that even the most illiterate persons are aware of the equality which then exists between the extent of the days and of the nights. Again, are not the periods of the moon, as she advances and retraces her course, from a crescent to a full circle, and again, from a complete orb to a crescent, also measured by an equality of distances ? For as great and as long as the period and amount of her increase is, so also is her diminution, in both respects, as to magnitude and duration, as to the number of days and the size of her orb. And as, in that purest of all essences, heaven, equality is honoured with especial honours, so also is she in the neighbour of heaven, the air.

For as the year is portioned out into four divisions, the air is formed by nature to endure changes and alterations at what are called the seasons of the year, and it displays an indescribable regularity in its irregularity; for as the atmosphere is divided by an equal number of months into winter, and spring, and summer, and autumn, it completes the whole year by allotting three months to each season ; as, in fact, the very name of the year (sviavTog) intimates. For it in itself (aijroc sv a\jT(Z) contains everything, being complete in itself, though otherwise it would not be able to effect this, if it were not aided by the regular revolutions of the seasons of the year.

Again, this same equality extends from the heavenly bodies, and from those which are raised on high, to the things upon earth, raising on high its own pure nature, which is akin to the air, and sending downwards its beams like the sun, as a sort of secondary light, for all the things which are inharmonious or irregular among us are caused by inequality, and all those which have in them that regularity which becomes them are the work of equality, which, in the universal essence of the universe, one may fairly call the world, and in cities one may entitle it that best regulated and most excellent of all constitutions, democracy, and in bodies health, and in souls virtue. For, on the contrary, inequality is the cause of diseases and wickednesses ; and the existence of the longest lived man of the human race would fail, if he were to attempt to enumerate all the praiseworthy qualities of equality, and of its otlspring, justice. In consequence of which it seems to me to be best to be satisfied with what has already been said, which may be sufficient to rouse up the recollection of those persons who are fond of learning, and to leave the remaining circumstances unwritten in their souls, as divine images in a most sacred place.

Having previously said all that appeared to be necessary about justice, and those precepts which are closely connected with it, I now proceed in regular order to speak of courage, not meaning by courage that warlike and frantic delirium, under the influence of passion as its counsellor, which the generality of men take for it, but knowledge ; * for some persons, being elated by boldness when they have bodily strength to assist them, ai'ray themselves in the ranks of war, in complete armour, and slay innumerable hosts of the enemy to a man, gaining by their exploits the unseemly but fine sounding name of pre-eminent valour, being accounted by the multitude which judges of such matters exceedingly glorious in their victory, though in fact they have been savage and brutal both in nature and practice, having thirsted for human blood.

But then as some men who, always remaining in their own houses, while their bodies have been worn away either by long sickness or by painful old age, still being healthy and vigorous "We must not look upon all bold (OappaXtovQ) men as courageous (avSoiiovg), for boldness is derived from human skill, or from anger, or from madness ; but courage arises only from nature, and from a good disposition of the soul." — P. 350. in the better part of their soul, and being full of hirrh tbouf'hts, and inspired with a braver and happier fortitude, never? not even in their dreams, meddhng with warlike weapons, nevertheless by their exposition and advocacy of wise counsels for the common advantage, have often re-established both the private affairs of individuals, and the common prosperitv of their country when it was in danger, putting forth unj-ielding and inflexible reasonings concerning what has been really expedient.

These men, then, are they who practise real courage, being studiers and practisers of wisdom ; but those other men have only what does not deserve to be so called though it assumes the name, as they live in that incurable disease, ignorance, which one may very fitly and properly called audacity, just as people say that in coins base metal often bears the same impression as the real stamp and money.

Moreover, there is also no small number of other things in human life which are confessed to be very diflicult to endure, such as proverty, and want of reputation, and mutilation, and various kinds of diseases, by which weak spirited men are broken down, not being able to raise tliemselvcs at all through their want of courage ; but those men who arc full of high thoughts and noble spirits, rise up to struggle against these things, and contend against them with fortitude and exceeding vigour, ridiculing and greatly despising their tlireuls and attacks against their poverty ; arraying wealth, not that wealth which is blind, but that which sees acutely, whoso images and treasures the soul is naturally proud to trca.suro up ; for poverty has overthrovm innumerable multitudes of men, who, like wearied athletes, have fainted and fallon, being reduced to a state of prostration by their want of real courage.

And if trath is to be the judge, then no one whatever is really poor, who has the indestructible and inalionubl.' riclics of nature for his purveyor, the air, that iirst and most necessary and incessant support of life, being continually inhaled night and day, and besides that the numberless fountains, and tlie inexhaustible supply not only of winter torrents but of regu hir rivers, furnishing everlasting streams for drink, and bo.sides this the abundance of all kinds of food to cat. and all .Icscriptions of trees which are continually bearing th.-ir yearly fruits ; for these are treasures of which no ouo is dcbUlale, I but all men in every quarter of the globe enjoy them in the greatest abundance. But if any persons, utterly disregai'ding the true wealth of nature, pursue instead the riches of vain opinions, relying on those riches which are blind instead of on those which are gifted with acute sight, and takmg a guide for their road who •who is himself crippled, such men must of necessity fall down.

We have then before now described that wealth which is the guard of the body, being the thing discovered by and bestowed on men by nature ; but that more dignified and respectable kind, which belongs not to aU men but to those who are themselves truly respectable and glorious, must now be spoken of ; this kind of wealth wisdom furnishes by means of rational, and moral, and natural doctrines, and meditations from which the vii-tues are derived, which eradicate luxmy from the soul, engendering in it a desire for temperance and frugality, in accordance with the resemblance to God at which it aims ; for God is a being who is in need of nothing, as there is nothing of which he is destitute, but as he is himself all-sufficient for himself.

But the bad man is one of extravagant tastes, being always thirsting for what he has not got, because of his insatiable and unappeasable appetites which he fans and excites like fire, and kindles into a flame, directing them towards every kind of gain, whether great or small ; but the \'irtuous man wants but little, being placed as it were on the borders between the immortal and the mortal nature, having wants indeed by reason of his body being mortal, and his freedom from extravagance because his soul is continually longing for immortality : and so they aiTay wealth against poverty, and gloiy against a want of reputation ; for praise, having excellence and virtue as a starting point, and flowing forth from it as from an everlasting fountain, does not mix with the multitude of inconsiderate men, who are in the habit of laying bare the inconsistency of the soul, with unstable declarations, which sometimes they are not ashamed to sell cheaply in theiidesire of base gains, uttering them in reproach of men selected for their excellence.

But the number of such men is small, for virtue is not a thing frequently met with in the race of men : but since no perfect antidote or remedy can be found for the mutilation of the outward senses, by which thousands and thousands of persons have died prematurely while still living, prudence, that best of all qualities within us, sets itself a"ainst it to prevent it, implanting eyes in our intellect, which, by reason of Its sagacious capacity, are altogether and entirely superior in acuteuess of vision to the eyes of the body : for these last see only the surfaces of the things pi'esented to them, and require light from without to enable them to do that, but the intellect penetrates into the inmost recesses of bodies, closely surveying and investigating the whole of them, and each separate part, and also the natures of those incorporeal things, which the external senses are unable to contemplate at all.

For the mind may almost be said to possess all the acuteness of vision of the eye, without being in need of any spurious light, but being in itself a star, and as it were a sort of representation or copy of the heavenly bodies : accordingly, the diseases of the body inflict very little injury on us, while our souls are in a sound state ; and the sound health of the soul consists in a good admixture of the powei"s conversant with hunger, and appetite, and reason, the reasoning power having the predominance, and guiding the other two, as a charioteer guides and restrains restive horses ; the proper name of this healthy state of the soul is moderation,* whidi produces salvation to the thinking part of the faculties in us ; for as it is constantly in danger of being overwhelmed by the imjietuosity ol the passions, moderation suffers it not to be sunk in the depths, but lifts it up and raises it on high, endowing it with soul and vitality, and in some sense witli im mortal ity.

But in all the subjects which I have here mentioned, there are admonitions and lessons engraved lastingly in many passages of the law, persuading the obedient with great gcntK'uess. juiJ the disobedient with some severity, to dosi)isc all the things which affect the body and all external circumstances, looking upon a life in accordance with virtue to be the one i)roper end and object, and desiring evciything else which appears conducive to this end; and if 1 had not in my fornur treatiscu dwelt upon all points connected with simplicity and Innmlity. I would on this present occasion cn.h'avour to exi.liini the matter at some length, connecting and adapting logeUicr all the • The Greek word ia awippoavt'ii, from <ru,K'^.

"io ■pn-f^Trt,"^ f(>Vv, " the mind," or as Pl.ilo mye, from awnip.a, ' falvntion. <ppovovvTi, " to our thiuking part." precepts wliicli appear to lie scattered about in different places but as I have already said all that the occasion required on these topics, it is not necessary to recapitulate my arguments ; those, however, who are not indifferent to the subject, but who have applied themselves with diligence to the study of the preceding treatises, ought to be aware that nearly all the things which I have said about simplicity and humility apply likewise to courage, since that also is the attribute of a vigorous, and noble, and very well regulated soul, to despise all the things which pride is in the habit of digufying and extolling, to the utter destruction of Ufe in accordance with truth.

IV, But such great anxiety and energy is displayed by the law in attaining the object of training and exercising the soul so as to fill it with courage, that it has even descended to particulars in thft matter of raiment, enjoining what men ought to wear, and prohibiting with all its might a man from wearing the garments of a woman, in order that no trace or shadow of the female may be attached to the male part of mankind, to its discredit ; for the law, being at all times in perfect consistency and accordance with nature, desii'es to establish laws which shall be akin to and in perfect harmony with one another from beginning to end, even in those minute points which, by reason of their insignificance, appear to be beneath the notice of ordinary legislators.

For as it perceived that the figures of men and women, looking at them as if they had been sculptured or painted forms, were very dissimilar, and, moreover, tlmt the same kind of hfe was not assigned to both the sexes (for to the woman is assigned a domestic life, while a political one is more suited to the man), so also in respect of other matters which were not actually the works of nature, but still were in strict accordance with nature, it judged it expedient to deliver injunctions which were the result of sound sense and wisdom. And these related to the mode of living, and to apparel, and to other things of that kind ; for it thought it desirable that he who was truly a man should show himself a man in these particulars also, and especially in the matter of dress, since, as he wears that both day and night, he ought to take care that there is no indication in it of any want of manly courage.

And, in the same manner, having also equipped the woman in the ornaments suited to her, the law prohibits her from assuming the dress of a man, keeping at a distance men-women just as much as it does women-men ; for the lawgiver was well aware that when only one single thing in the proper economy of tlie house was removed, nothing else would remain in the same position as it ought and as it was in before.

Moreover, as the affairs of men are usually looked at with reference to two different times, that of peace and that of war, one can see that there are particular virtues which are visible at each period. Now, of the other virtues we have spoken previously, and we shall speak again if any necessity shall arise ; but, at the present moment, we had better examine courage, not in a superficial manner, the works of which, even in time of peace, the lawgiver has celebrated in many passages of his deUvery of the law, always having a due regard to the time, as we mentioned in the proper place. Therefore, now we will begin to speak of its effects as relating to war, having first premised thus much by way of prefice, that when he makes out the roll of all the soldiers of the army lie does not think it expedient to summon forth all the youth of the nation, but some he excuses, stating very reasonable causes for their exemption from military service.