" For the Lord, seeing that Leah was hated, opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. "f And consider, now, in this sentence, again, the subtlety of the writer spoken of. God opens the wombs, implanting good actions in them, and the womb, when it has received virtue from God, does not bring forth to God, for the living and true God is not in need of any thing, but she brings forth sons to me, Jacob, for it was for my sake, probably, that God sowed seed in virtue, and not for his own. Therefore, another husband of Leah is found to be passed over in silence, and another father of Leah's children, for he is the husband who openeth the womb, and he is the father of the children to whom the mother is said to bear them.
LXIV. "And I will place eumity between thee and between the woman. "J In reality, pleasure is hostile to the external sense, although, to some persons, it appears to be especially friendly to it. But as one would not call a flatterer a com panion (for flattery is a disease of friendship), nor would one call a courtezan friendly to her lover, for she adheres only to those who give her presents, and not to those who love her; so. also, if you investigate the nature of pleasure, you will find that she has but a spurious connection with the external senses. When we are sated with pleasure, then we find that the organs of the external senses in us lose their tone. Or do not you perceive the state of those men who from love of wine get drunk? — that seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear; and, in the same way, they are deprived of the accu- rate energies of the other external senses? And, at times, * Genesis xxx 1. + Genesis xxix. 31. t Genesis iii. 15, 156 PHILO JUD.EUS.
through immoderate indulgence in food, all the vigour of the external senses is relaxed when sleep overtakes them, which has derived its name from the relaxation of them. For, at that time, the organs of the external senses are relaxed, just as they are on the stretch in our waking hours, when they no longer receive unintelligible blows from external things, but such as speak loudly and are evident, and which transmit their impressions to the mind. For the mind, when stricken, must recognize the external thing, and receive a visible impression from it.
LXV. And take notice here, that Moses does not say, " I will cause enmity to thee and the woman," but, " I will place enmity between thee and between the woman:" — why so? because the war between these two is concerning what is in the middle, and what lies, as it were, on the borders of pleasure and of the outward sense. And that which lies between them is what is drinkable, and what is eatable, and what is inclined to all such things, every one of which is an object to be appreciated by the outward sense, and an efficient cause of pleasure. When, therefore, pleasure wallows immoderately in these things, it at once by so doing inflicts injury on the outward sense. And again, the expression, " between thy seed and between her seed," is uttered with strict natural propriety, for all seed is the beginning of generation. But the beginning of pleasure is not passion, but an emotional impulse of the outward sense, set in motion by the mind. For from this, as from a fountain, the faculties of the outward senses are derived, especially, according to the most sacred Moses, who says that the woman was formed out of Adam, that is to say, the outward sense was formed out of the mind. The part, therefore, that pleasure acts towards the outward sense, passion also acts towards the mind. So that, since the two former are at enmity with one another, the two latter must likewise be in a state of hostility.
LXVI. And the war between these things is manifest. At all events, according to the superiority of the mind when it applies itself to incorporeal objects, which are perceptible only to the intellect, passion is put to flight. And, on the other hand, when this latter gains a shameful victory, the * Philo here supposed that virvog, sleep, is derived from v<j>t<ns, relaxation, or from i^i/j/u, to relax.
ON THE ALLEGORIES OF THE SACRED LAWS 157 mind yields, being hindered from giving its attention to itself and to all its actions. At all events, he says in another place, " When Moses lifted up his hands Israel prevailed, and when he let them down Amalek prevailed."* And this statement implies, that when the mind raises itself up from mortal affairs and is elevated on high, it is very vigorous because it beholds God; and the mind here means Israel. But when it relaxes its vigour end becomes powerless, then immediately the passions will prevail, that is to say, Amalek; which name, being interpreted, means, the people licking. For he does, of a verity, devour the whole soul, and licks it up, leaving no seed behind, nor anything which can excite virtue; in reference to which it is said, " Amalek is the beginning of nations; "f because passion governs, and is the absolute lord of nations, all mingled and confused and jumbled in disorder, without any settled plan; and, through passion, all the war of the soul is fanned and kept alive. For God makes a promise to the same minds to which he grants peace, that he will efface the memorial of Amalek from all the lands beneath the heaven.
LXVIi. And the expression, " He shall watch thy head, and thou shalt watch his heel, "X is, as to its language, a barbarism, but, as to the meaning which is conveyed by it a correct expression. Why so? It ought to be expressed with respect to the woman: but the woman is not he, but she. What, then, are we to say? From his discourse about the woman he has digresse * to her seed and her beginning. Now the beginning of the outward sense is the mind. But the mind is masculine, in respect of which one may say, he, his, and so on. Very correctly, therefore, does God here say to pleasure, that the mind shall watch your principal and predominant doctrine, and you shall watch the traces of the mind itself, and the foundations of the things which are pleasing to it, to which the heel has very naturally been likened LXVIII. But the words, " shall watch," intimate two things: in the first place it means as it were •• shall keep," and " shall preserve." And, in the second place, it is equiva- lent to "shall watch for the purpose of destroying." Now it is inevitable that the mind must be either bad or good. Now, if it be bad, it would be but a foolish guardian and dis- * Exodus xvii. i: * Numbers xxiv. 20. t Genesis iii. 15 158 PHILO JUD.EUS.
158 PHILO JUD.EUS.
penser of pleasure, for it rejoices in it. But the good man is an enemy to it, expecting that, when he once attacks it, he will be able utterly to destroy it. And, indeed, on the other hand, pleasure watches the footsteps of the foolish man, but endeavours to trip up and undermine the standing ground of the wise man, thinking that he is always meditating its destruction; but that the fool is always considering the means by which its safety may be best secured. But, nevertheless, though pleasure appears to trip up and to deceive the good man, it will in reality be tripped up itself by that experienced wrestler, Jacob; and that, too, not in the wrestling of the body, but in that struggle which the soul carries on against the dispositions which are antagonistic to it, and which attack it through the agency of the passions and vices; and it will not let go the heel of its antagonist, passion, before it surren- ders, and confesses that it has been twice tripped up and defeated, both in the matter of the birthright, and also in that of the blessing. For "rightly," says Esau, "is his name called Jacob, for now has 'he supplanted me for the second time; the first time he took away my birthright, and now he Las taken away my blessing."* But the bad man thinks the things of the body the more important, while the good man assigns the preference to the things of the soul, which are in truth and reality the more important and the first, not, indeed, in point of time, but in power and dignity, as is a ruler in a city. But the mistress of the concrete being is the soul.
LXIX. Therefore the one who was superior in virtue received the first place, which, indeed, fell to him as his due. For he also obtained the blessing in connection with the per- fection of prayer. But he is a vain and conceited pretender to wisdom who said, " He took away my blessing and also my birthright." For what he took, 0 foolish man, was not yours, but was rather the opposite to what was yours. For your deeds are thought worthy of slavery, but his are thought worthy of supremacy. And if you are content to become the slave of the wise man, you shall receive your share of reproof and of correction, and so you shall discard ignorance and folly which are the destruction of the soul. For thy father, when praying, says to you, " You shall serve your brother,"t but not now; foi * G neflis xxvii. 36. + Genesis xxvii. 40.
ON THE ALLEGORIES OF THE SACRED LAWS. 159 he will not be able to endure your endeavouring to throw oil the yoke. But when you have loosed his yoke from off your neck, that is to say, when you have cast off the boastfulness and arrogance which you had, after you had yoked yourself to the chariot of the passions, under the guidance of the cha- rioteer, Folly. Now, indeed, you are the slave of cruel and intolerable masters, who are within yourself, and who look upon it as a law never to set any one free; but if you run away and escape from them, then the master who loves slaves will receive you in a good hope of freedom, and will not sur- render you any more to your former companions, having learnt from Moses that necessary doctrine and lesson, " Not to give up a servant to his master who has escaped from his master unto him; for he shall dwell with him in any place which shall please him."* LXX. But as long as you did not escape, and while you were still bridled with the bridle of those masters, you were unworthy to be the servant of a worse master. Giving thus the greatest proof of a mean, and lowly, and servile disposition, when you said. " My birthright and my blessing."t For these are the words of men who have fallen into immode- rate ignorance, since it belongs to God alone to say, " Mine;" for to him alone do all things properly belong. And to this he will himself bear witness when he says, "My gifts, my offerings, my first fruits." | You must take notice here that gifts are spoken of in contra- distinction to offerings. For the former display the manifesta- tion of the vastness of the perfect good things which God gives to those men who are perfect, but the latter are only prepared to last a very short time, and are partaken of by well-disposed practisers of virtue who are making progress towards perfec- tion. On which account Abraham also, when following the will of God, retained those things which had been given to him by God: " but sends back the horses of the king of Sodom " § as the wages of harlots. And Moses also condescends to administer justice in most important points, and with reference to things of the greatest value. But the more unimportant causes and trials he commits to judges of inferior rank to investigate. And whoever ventures to assert that any X Numbers xxviii. 2. § Genesis xiv 21.
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thing is his own shall be set down as a slave for ever and ever; as he who says, " I have loved my master, and my wife, and my children; I will not depart and be free."* He does well in confessing that slavery is proper for him; for can he be any thing but a slave who says, " Mine is mind, which is the master, being its own master, and possessed of absolute power; mine, also are the outward senses, the sufficient judges of corporeal substances; mine, also are the offspring of these objects of intellect which are the offspring of the mind, and the objects of the outward senses, which are the offspring of those same outward senses; for it is in my power to exert both the mind aud the outward senses?" But it is not sufficient ibr such a man only to bear witness against himself, but, being also condemned by God, who sentences him to most durable and everlasting slavery, he shall undergo his sentence: and be bored in the ear, that he may not receive the language of virtue, but that he may be a slave for ever, both in his mind and in his outward senses, which are bad and pitiless masters. LXXI. " And to the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy groaning." f The affection which is called pain is a suffering peculiar to woman, who is a symbol of the outward sense. For to suffer pain belongs to the same subject to which to experience pleasure does also belong. But we experience pleasure through the medium of our outward senses, as of necessity we also suffer pain through the same medium. But the virtuous and purified mind suffers pain in the least degree; for the outward senses have the least degree of power over him. But passion is exceedingly power- ful in the case of the foolish man, inasmuch as he has no anti- dote in his soul by which he can ward off the evils which proceed from the outward senses and from those objects which can only be perceived by them. For as an athlete and a slave are beaten in two different manners, the one in an abject man- ner, giving himself up to the ill-treatment, and yielding to it submissively; but the athlete opposing, and resisting, and par- rying the blows which are aimed at him. And as you shave a man in one way, and a pillow in another; for the one is seen only in its suffering the shaving, but the man does himself do something likewise, and as one may say, aids the infliction, placing himself in a posture to be shaved; so the irrational * Qonesis xxi 5. J Genesis Hi. 1G.
ON THE ALLEGORIES OF THE SACRED LAWS. ] (5 1 man, like a slave, submits himself to another, and surrenders himself to the endurance of pains as to intolerable mistresses, being unable to look them in the face, and wholly incapable of couceiving any masculine or free thoughts. On which account a countless number of painful things are endured by him through the medium of the outward senses. But the man of experience, valiantly resisting like a brave athlete with strength and vigour, opposes himself resolutely to all painful things, so as not to be wounded by them; but so as to keep all their blows at a distance. And it seems to me that he might with great spirit utter the verses of the tragedian against pain in this manner: — " Now scorch and burn my flesh, and fill yourself With ample draughts of my life's purpled blood; For sooner shall the stars' bright orbs descend Beneath the darkened earth, the earth uprise Above the sky, and all things be confounded, Than you shall wrench one flattering word from me." • LXXII. But as God has allotted all painful things to the outward sense in great abundance and intensity, so also has he bestowed on the virtuous soul a boundless store of good things. Accordingly he speaks with reference to the perfect man Abraham in the following manner: " By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, that because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son, thy beloved sou from me, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is on the shore of the sea."+ He says this, and having confirmed his promise solemnly and by an oath, and by an oath, too, such as could alone become God^, For you see that God does not swear by any other being than himself, for there is nothing more powerful than he. isj hnr, hp. swpiara by himself, because he is the greatest of all things. -*"■ — «^^^ But some men have said that it is inconsistent with the character of God to swear at all: for that an oath is received for the sake of the confirmation which it supplies; but God is the only faithful being, and if any one else who is dear to God; as Moses is said to have been faithful in all his * This is a fragment of the Syleus of Euripides. The lines are put in tne mouth of Hercules, f Genesis xxii. 16.
house.* And besides, the mere -words of God are the most sacred and holy of oaths, and laws, and institutions. And it is a proof of his exceeding power, that whatever he says is sure to take place; and this is the most especial characteristic of an oath. So that it would be quite natural to say that all the words of God are oaths confirmed by the accomplishment of the acts to which they relate. f LXXIII. They say, indeed, that an oath is a testimony borne by God concerning a matter which is the subject of doubt. But if God swears he is bearing testimony to himself, which is an absurdity. For the person who bears the testi- mony, and he on whose behalf it is borne, ought to be two different persons. What, then, are we to say? In the first place, that it is not a matter of blame for God to bear testi- mony to himself. For what other being could be competent to bear testimony to him? In the second place, He himself is to himself every thing that is most honourable — relative, kinsman, friend, virtue, prosperity, happiness, knowledge, understanding, beginning, end, entirety, universality, judge, opinion, intention, law, action, supremacy.
Besides, if we only receive the expression, " By myself have I sworn," in the manner in which we ought, we shall be in no danger from sophistry. May we not, then, say, that the truth is something of this sort? None of those beings which are capable of entertaining belief, can entertain a firm belief respecting God. For he has not displayed his nature to any one; but keeps it invisible to every kind of creature. Who can venture to affirm of him who is the cause of all things either that he is a body, or that he is incorporeal, or that he has such and such distinctive qualities, or that he has no such qualities? or who, in short, can venture to affirm any thing positively about his essence, or his character, or his constitu- tion, or his movements? But He alone can utter a positive assertion respecting himself, since he alone has an accurate knowledge of his own nature, without the possibility of mis- * Numbers xii. 7.
* Numbers xii. 7.
+ There is a remarkable coincidence between Philo's argument here, and fiat employed by St. Paul in reference to the same event. St. Paul, Hebrews vi. 13, says, " For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself, saying, For man verily swears by the greater; and an oath for con- firmation is to them the end of strife."
ON THE ALLEGORIES OF THE SACRED LAWS. 163 take. His positive assertion, therefore, is one which may be thoroughly trusted in the first place, since he alone has any knowledge respecting his actions; so that he very appropriately swore by himself, adding himself confirmation to his assertion, which it was not possible for any one else to do. On which account men who say that they swear by God may well be con- sidered impious. For no man can rightly swear by himself, because he is not able to have any certain knowledge respect- ing his own nature, but we must be content if we are able to understand even his "name, that is to say, his word, fthl6h is the interpreter of his wilL For that must be God to us imperfect beings, but the first mentioned, or true God, is so only to wise and perfect men.
And Moses, too, admiring the exceeding excellency of the great uncreated God, says, " And thou shalt swear by his name,''* not by himself. For it is sufficient for the creature to receive confirmation and testimony from the word of God. But God is his own confirmation and most unerring testimony.
LXX1V. But the expression, " Because thou hast done this thing,"t is a symbol of piety. For to do everything for the sake of God alone is pious. In consequence of which we do not spare even that beloved child of virtue, prosperity, sur rendering it to the Creator, and thinking it right that our off- spring should become the possession of God, but not of any created being. And that expression, also, is a good one, " In blessing I will bless thee." For some persons do many acts worthy of a blessing, but yet not in such a way as to obtain a blessing. Since even a wicked man does some actions that are proper, but he does not do them from being of a proper disposition. And sometimes a drunken man or a mad man speaks and acts in a sober manner, but still he is not speaking or acting from a sober mind. And children, who are actually infants, both do and say many things which reasonable men do also do and say; but they, of course, do it not in consequence of any rational disposition, for nature has not yet endowed them with a capacity of reasoning. But the law giver wishes the wise man to appear deserving of blessing not occasionally, accidentally, and, as it were, by chance, but in consequence of habits and a disposition deserving of blessing.
LXXV. Therefore it is not sufficient for the unfortunate Deuteronomy vi. 13. t Genesis xxii 16.
164 PHILO JUD^US.
external sense to be abundantly occupied with pains, but it must also be full of groaning. Now groaning is a violent and intense pain. For we are very often in pain without groaning. But, when we groan, we are under the influence of most grievous and thickly pressing paiu. Now, groaning is of a twofold nature. One kind is that which arises in those who desire and are very eager for august objects and who do not succeed in them, which is wicked; the other kind is that which proceeds from persons who repent and are distressed for previous sins, and who say, "Miserable are we, how long a time have we passed infected with the disease of foolishness, and in the practices of all kinds of folly and iniquity." But this kind of groaning does not exist unless the king of Egypt, that is to say, the impious disposition wholly devoted to plea- sure, has perished and departed from our soul, " For, after many days, the king of Egypt died."* Then immediately, as soon as vice is dead, the man who has become alive to the perceptionof God and of his own sin, groans, " For the children of Israel groaned at the corporeal and Egyptian works;" since the reigning disposition devoted to pleasure, while it is alive within us, persuades the soul to rejoice at the sins which it commits; but, when that disposi- tion is dead, it groans over them; on which account it cries out to its master, beseeching him that it may not again be per verted, and that it may not arrive at only an imperfect sort of perfection. For many souls who have wished to turn to re- pentance have not been allowed to do so by God, but, been dragged back, as it were by the ebbing tide, having returned to their original courses; in the manner in which Lot's wife did. who was turned into stone because she loved Sodom, and who reverted to the disposition and habits which had been con- demned by God.
LXXVI. But now Moses says that " Their cry has gone up to God, bearing witness to the grace of the living God." For if he had not powerfully summoned up to himself the supplicatory language of that people it would not have gone up; that is to say, it would never have gained power and increase, would never have begun to soar so high, flying from the lowness of earthly things. On which account, in the next passage, God is represented as saying, " Behold the cry « Exodus ii. 23. f Exodus xix. 26.
OX THE ALLEGORIES OF THE SACRED LAWS. 165 of the children of Israel has come up to me."* Very beauti- fully here does Moses represent that their supplications have reached God, but they would not have reached him if he who was working him had not been a good man.
But there are some souls which God even goes forward to meet: " I will come to you and bless you." You see here how great is the kindness of the Creator of all things, when he even anticipates our delay and our intentions, and comes for- ward to meet us to the perfect benefiting of our souls. And the expression used here is an oracle full of instruction. For, if a thought of God enters the mind, it immediately blesses it and heals all its diseases. But the outward sense is always grieved and groans, and brings forth the perception of its objects with pain and intolerable anguish. As also God him- self says, " In sorrow thou shalt bviug forth children."
Now, the sense of sight brings forth the operation of seeing, the sense of hearing is the parent of the operation of hearing, so is the sense of taste of tasting; and, in short, each outward sense is respectively the parent of its corresponding operation; but still it does not produce all these effects in the foolish man without severe pain. For such a man is affected by pain when he sees, and when he hears, and when he tastes, and when he smells, and, in fact, when he exerts any one of these outward senses.
LXXVII. On the other hand, you will find virtue not only conceiving with extraordinary joy, but also bringing forth her good offspring with laughter and cheerfulness; and you will also find the offspring of the two parents to be actually cheer- fulness itself. Now that the wise man becomes a parent with joy, and not with sorrow, the word of God itself will testify to us when it speaks thus: " And God said unto Abraham, Sarai, thy wife, shall no longer be called Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah; I will bless her, and give thee a son from her."f And, afterwards, Moses proceeds to say, " And Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said, " Shall a son be born to him who is a hundred years old; and shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, have a son?" Abraham, therefore, appears here to be in a state of joy, and to be laughing because he is about to * Exodus iii. 9.
t Genesis xvii. 15. Sarah is interpreted Princess in the margin of the bible.
[66 PHILO JUDjEUS.