III. There is also another proof that the mind is immortal, which is of this nature: — There are some persons whom God, advancing to higher degrees of improvement, has enabled to soar above all species and genera, having placed them near himself; as he says to Moses, " But stand thou here with * GeneBis xxv. 8. t Genesis xliz. 33. £ Genesis xxxv. 25.
ON THE SACRIFICES OP ABEL AND CAIN. 209 me."* When, therefore, Moses is about to die, he is not added to one class, nor does he forsake another, as the men before him had done; nor is he connected with " addition" or "subtraction," but "by means of the word of the Cause of all things, by whom the whole world was made."f He departs to another abode, that you may understand from this that God accounts a wise man as entitled to equal honour with the world itself, having both created the universe, and raised the perfect man from the things of earth up to himself by the same word.
Not but what, when he gave him the use of all earthly things and suffered him to dwell among them, he assigned to him not such a power as he might exercise in common with an earthly governor or monarch, by which he should forcibly rule over the passions of the soul, but he appointed him to be a sort of god, making the whole of the body, and the mind, which is the ruler of the body, subjects and slaves to him; " For I give thee," says he, " as a god to Pharaoh." J But God is not sus- ceptible of any subtraction or addition, inasmuch as he is com- plete and entirely equal to himself. In reference to which it is said of Moses, " That no one is said to know of his tomb;"§ for who could be competent to perceive the migration of a pei*- fect soul to the living God? Nor do I even believe that the soul itself while awaiting this event was conscious of its own improvement, inasmuch as it was at that time becoming gradu- ally divine; for God, in the case of those persons whom he is about to benefit, does not take him who is to receive the advan- tage into his counsels, but is accustomed rather to pour his benefits ungrudgingly upon him without his having any previous anticipation of them.
This is something like the meaning of God's adding the creation of what is good to the perfect mind. But the good is holiness, the name of which is Abel.
IV. " And Abel became a shepherd of sheep; but Cain was a tiller of the ground." Why now has Moses, who repre- sents Cain as older than Abel, now transposed them in the order in which he here mentions them, so as to name the younger first when relating their choice of a way of life? For it was natural that the elder should lead the way and adopt the culti- X Exodus viL 1. | Deuteronomy xxxiv. 6.
210 PHILO JUDjEUS.
vation of the land, and that the younger should subsequently come to the care of sheep. But Moses is not influenced by what is likely and probable, but pursues the plain unadul- terated truth. And when he alone comes to God by himself, he tells him with all freedom that "he is not eloquent," which statement is equivalent to saying that he does not aim at spe- cious and plausible reasonings, and that this has happened to him " not yesterday, or the day before yesterday, but ever since God began to converse with him as his servant."* For they who have come into the billows and heavy waves of life must be borne on by swimming, not being able to take hold of any firm point of the matters which lie within the province of knowledge, but depending on what is only likely and probable. But it becomes a servant of God to lay hold of the truth, dis- regarding and rejecting all the uncertain and fabulous state- ments which rest on the conjectures of plausible men.
What, then, is the truth in these matters which we are con- sidering? Why, that wickedness is older than virtue in point of time, but younger in power and rank. Therefore, when the birth of the two is narrated, let Cain have the precedence; but when a comparison of their pursuits is instituted, then let Abel be the first; for it happens to the being that is born, from his very swaddling clothes till the time when the innovating vigour of his ripe age extinguishes the fiery heat of his passions, to have for his foster brethren, folly, intemperance, injustice, fear, cowardice, and the other evil things which are born with him, every one of which his nurses and tutors foster and cause to grow up within him; by their habits and practices banish- ing piety, and by their uniform instructions introducing super- stition, which is a thing nearly akin to impiety. But when the child has now passed the age of youth, and when the im- petuous disease of the passions has become mollified, as if a calm had come over them, then the man begins to enjoy tran- quillity, having been at length and not without difficulty strengthened in the foundation of virtue, which has allayed that continued and incessant agitation which is the greatest evil of the soul.
. Thus wickedness has the superiority in point of time; but virtue in point of rank, and honour and real glory. And this same law-giver is a trustworthy evidence of this fact; for * Exodus iv. 10.
ON THE SACRIFICES OF ABEL AND CAIN. 211 having introduced Esau, who bears the name of folly, as the elder in point of time, he gives the birthright and chief honour to the younger, who, from his practice of virtue, was called Jacob. And he is not seen to obtain this pre-eminence before (as is the case in athletic contests) his adversary renounces the combat, putting down his hands from weakness, and yielding up the decision and the crown to him who has carried on a truceless and irreconcileable war against the passions; for, says Moses, " He sold his birthright to Jacob,"* avowing, in plain terms that the pre-eminence in power and the honours of virtue belong to no wicked man, but only to him who is a lover of wisdom, just as the flute and the lyre and the other instru- ments of music belong to the musician alone.
V. And concerning this doctrine Moses also records a law, which he makes with great beauty and suitableness. And it runs thus, " If a man have two wives, the one of them beloved and the other hated; and if both the one who is beloved and the one who is hated have borne him children, and if the child of her who is hated is the first-born, then it shall be in the day in which he divides the inheritance of his possessions among his sons that he shall not be able to give the inheritance of the first-born to the son of the wife that is beloved, overlooking his first-born son, the son of her who is hated; but he shall recognise the son of her who is hated as his first-born, to give him a double share of all the property that he has acquired; because he is the beginning of his chil- dren, and the right of the first-born is his."f Consider, O my soul, and know who it is who is hated, and who is the son of her who is hated, and immediately you shall perceive that the chief rights and chief honours belong to no one else but to him alone; for there are two wives cohabiting with each individual of us, hostile and inimical to one another, filling the abode of the soul with the contentions which arise from jealousy. Of these we love one, which is gentle and tractable, and which we think very affectionate and akin to ourselves, and its name is pleasure; but the other we hate, looking upon it as untameable, ungentle, fierce, and very hos.ti'a to us, and the name of this one is virtue. Now what mortal is ignorant of the great mysteries of that exceedingly beautiful and greatly contended for pleasure? And who could worthilj Genesis xxv. 33. + Deuteronomy zxi. 15.
describe the multitude or the greatness of the good thing* which are treasured up by virtue? They who have partaken of them already know it, and those whose nature is mild will hereafter know, when they have been invited to a participation in the banquet, not the banquet at which the pleasures of the satiated belly make the body fat, but that at which the mind is nourished and at which it revels among the virtues, and exults and revels in their company.
VI. Now, on account of these things, and because of what was said before, namely, that the things which are reallj pious, holy, and good do naturally utter a voice from themselves, even while they keep silence, I will desist from saying any more about them; for neither does the sun nor the moon require an interpreter, because they, being on high, fill the whole world with light, the one shining by day and the other by night. But their own brilliancy is an evidence in their case which stands in no need of witnesses, but which is confirmed by the eyes, which are more undeniable judges than the ears. But I will speak with all freedom of that point in virtue which appears to have the greatest amount of difficulty and perplexity, for this, too, does appear to the imagination, at their first meeting, to be troublesome; but, on consideration, it is found to be very pleasant and, as arising from reason, to be suitable. But labour is the enemy of laziness, as it is in reality the first and greatest of good things, and wages an irreconcileable wa» against pleasure; for, if we must declare the truth, God has made labour the foundation of all good and of all virtue to man, and without labour you will not find a single good thing in existence among the race of men. For, as it is impossible to see without light, since neither colours nor eyes are sufficient for the comprehension of things which we arrive at by meang of sight (for nature has made light beforehand to serve as a link to connect the two, by which the eye is brought near and adapted to colour, for the powers of both eye and of colour are equally useless in darkness), so in the same manner is the eye of the soul unable to comprehend anything whatever of the actions in accordance with virtue, unless it takes to itself labour as a coadjutor, as the eye borrows the assistance of light; for this, being placed in the middle, between the intellect and the good object which the intellect desires, and understanding the whole nature of both the one and the other, does itself ON THE SACRIFICES OF ABEL AND CAIN. 213 bring about friendship and harmony, two perfect goods between the two things on either hand of it.
VII. For, choose whatever good thing you please, and you will find that it owes its existence and all its strength and solidity to labour. Now, piety and holiness are good things, but still we are not able to attain to them without the worship of the gods, and the worship of them is combined with persever ance in labours. Again, prudence and courage and justice are all beautiful things and perfect goods, but still they are not to be acquired by laziness, and we must be content if they can be attained to by continued diligence.
Now, since the organs of every soul are not able to support a familiarity with God and with virtue, as being a very intense and mighty harmony, they very often get lax and become re- miss so as to descend from the highest unto those of more moderate character; but, nevertheless, even in these moderate ones there is great labour requisite. Look at all those who practise the encyclical branches of what is called elementary instruction; look at those who cultivate the land, and at all who provide the means of subsistence by any regular business. These men are never free from care night or day, but always and continually, as it is said, they labour with hand and foot and with all their power, and never cease from suffering hard- ship, so as often to encounter even death from it.
VIII. But as those who are thus anxious to render their souls propitious must of necessity cultivate the virtues of the soul, so also they who purpose to render their bodies favour- able to their objects, must cultivate health and those powers which are akin to health, and these too they cultivate with un- remitting and ceaseless labours, being overwhelmed with care, arising from the faculties in them of which they are com- pounded.
You see, therefore, that all good things spring up and shoot out from labour as from one general root, and this you must never allow yourself to neglect; for if you do, you will without being aware of it, be also letting slip the collected heap of goods which it brings with it; for the Ruler of the universe, of heaven, and of the world, both himself possesses and bestows on whomsoever he pleases, his good things, with all ease and abundance. Since formerly he created this world, vast as you see it is, without any labour, and how too he nevei 2]4 PHILO JUD.SUS.
ceases holding it together, so that it may last for ever. And absence from all labour and fatigue is the most appropriate attribute of God; but nature has not given the acquisition of good things to any mortal without labour,* in order that in consequence of this arrangement, God alone of existing beings may be called happy and enjoy felicity.
IX. For labour appears to me to have nearly the same pro- perties as food. As therefore this latter makes life to depend upon itself, having combined all the actions and all the passions in living, so also has labour caused all good things to depend upon itself. For as those persons who are desirous to live must not neglect food, so too they who are anxious to attain to good things must pay due attention to labour, for what food is to life that labour is to virtue. Do not you then ever slight that, though it is but a single thing, that by its means you may enjoy the collective blessings of all good things. For thus, though you may be younger by birth you shall be called the elder, and you shall be thought worthy of the pre-eminence in honour. But if, having gone through a constant course of improvement you shall at last arrive at the end, then not only shall the Father give thee the pre-emi- nence, but he shall also bestow on thee all the inheritance of the Father, as he did to Jacob, who overthrew all the founda- tions and seats of passion, and who confessed what he suffered, saying that " God has pitied me, and all things belong to me,"f uttering a doctrine full of instruction, for he makes everything to anchor in the mercy of God.
X. And he learnt all these things from Abraham his grand- father, who was the author of his own education, who gave to the all-wise Isaac all that he had,J leaving none of his sub- stance to bastards, or to the spurious reasonings of concubines, but he gives them small gifts, as being inconsiderable persons. For the possessions of which he is possessed, namely, the per- fect virtues, belong only to the perfect and legitimate son; but those which are of an intermediate character, are suitable to and fall to the share of those who are not perfect, but who * This is not only the same idea, but almost the very language of Horace: Nil sine magno Vita labore dedit mortalibus. — Sat. L ix. 60. t Genesis xxxiii. 11. J Genesis xxv. 5.
ON THE SACRIFICES OF ABEL AND CAIN. 215 have advanced as far as the encyclical branches of elementary education, of which Agar and Cheturah partake, Agar mean- ing " a dwelling near," and Cheturah meaning " sacrificing."
For he who attends only to the encyclical instruction abides near wisdom but does not dwell with it, as sending a certain sweet fragrance from the elegance of contemplation to his own soul. But such a man requires food, and not sweet scents to bless him with good health. But nature is said to have made, with great skill and propriety, smell to serve as a handmaid to taste, as a sort of subject and taster to the other, or her queen; and we must always attend to the sovereign powers before those who are ruled over by them, and to the indi- genous and native sciences before those which are strangers. The mind bearing this rejects pleasure, and attaches itself to virtue, perceiving its genuine, and unalloyed, and very divine beauty. Then it becomes the shepherd of sheep, being the charioteer and pilot of the irrational faculties which exist in the soul, " not permitting them to be borne about at random and in an inconsistent manner, without any superintendant or guide;* that they may not fall into a sort of orphan state, destitute of guardians and protectors, owing to their want of any allies, in which case they would perish without any saving hand to restrain them.
XI. Accordingly, Jacob, the practiser of contemplation, con- ceiving this to be an employment most closely akin to virtue, endured " to be the shepherd of the flocks of Laban,"f a man wholly devoted to colours and to forms, and, in short, to life- less substances; and he tended not all of them, but the residue only. Now, what is the interpretation of this?
The irrational animal is of a twofold character; one consist- ing in a misuse of that reason which should direct the choice, and such we call people out of their mind: the other consisting in an absolute privation of reason, which we see to exist in these animals which we call brutes. Now, the irrational impulses of the mind, I mean those faculties which are deve- loped in a misuse of that reason which should direct the choice, the sons of Laban, " when they had departed three days' jour- ney," J paid great regard to; being thus under a symbol cut off from virtue for the whole period of their life; for time is capable of being divided into three parts, consisting of the • Numbers xxviL 17. + Genesis xxx. 36. X Ibid.
216 PHILO JUDiEUS.
216 PHILO JUDiEUS.
past, and the present, and the future. But these animals which are irrational in the second sense, and which are desti- tute not only of right reason hut of all reason whatever, under which class the brute beasts are reckoned, the practiser of con- templation will think worthy of all his care, considering that their errors have proceeded, not so much from deliberate wick- edness as from ignorance, which was devoid of a guide.
Ignorance, therefore, being but a slight and also an invo- luntary calamity, admits of a cure which is neither difficult nor troublesome, namely instruction. But, wickedness being a voluntary disease of the soul, admits of no remedy but such as is difficult, and almost impossible. Therefore his sons, as men who have been instructed by a father of exceeding wis- dom, even if they do go down to Egypt, that is to say, to the body which is inclined to be a slave to the passions, and even if they meet with Pharaoh, that squanderer of all good things, who appears to be the sovereign of the composite animals, being not at all bewildered with the abundance of the prepara- tions which they behold, confess that they are shepherds of sheep, and not only they but their fathers also.* XII. And yet no one would ever utter so great a boast in consequence of any power and sovereignty as these men do in respect of their being shepherds; to those indeed who are able to reason correctly, it is a more noble employment than that of a king, to be able to govern the body and the outward senses, and the belly, as one might govern a city or a country, and to restrain the pleasures which have their seat around the belly, and the other passions, and one's tongue, and, in short, all the different parts of one's composite nature, with vigour and exceeding power, and again to guide them in the right way with due gentleness; for it is necessary at one time to act like a charioteer who slackens the reins with which he holds the horses which are yoked to his chariot, and at other times one must draw them tight, and resist the haste of the steeds, that no precipitation and impetuous pursuit of outward objects may take place, and lead them into rebellion. And I admire that guardian of the laws, Moses, who, thinking it a great and noble task to be a shepherd, has attributed that employment to himself; for he manages and conducts the doctrines of Jethro, leading them from the tumultuous vexations of political * Genesis xlvii. 3.
ON THE SACRIFICES OF ABEL AND CAIN. 217 affairs into the desert, for the purpose of avoiding all tempta- tion to injustice.
" For he led the sheep into the wilderness."* The conse- quence of which conduct of his was that " Every shepherd of sheep is an abomination to the Egyptians, "f For every man who loves his passions hates right reason as the governor and guide to good things; just as foolish children hate their tutors and teachers, and every one who reproves them or corrects them, or would lead them to virtue. But Moses says that he " will sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to God, "J namely the virtues which are faultless and most becoming vic- tims, which every foolish man abominates. So that very appropriately, Abel, who brought the best offerings to God, is called a shepherd; but he, who offered every thing to himself and to his own mind, is called a tiller of the earth, namely Cain. And what is meant by tilling the earth § we have shown in our previous treatises.
XIII. And it came to pass after some days that Cain brought of the fruits of the earth as an offering to the Lord. Here are two accusations against the self-loving man; one that he showed his gratitude to God after some days, and not at once, the other that he made his offering from the fruits, and not from the first fruits, which have a name in one word, the first fruits. Let us now examine into each of these subjects of reproach, and first into that which is first in order, we must do good works, hastening with all speed, and labouring to outstrip others, casting away all slowness and delay. And the best of all good works is the pleasing the first good without any postponement of energy, on which account it is also enjoined, " If thou vowest a vow, thou shalt not delay to perform it." || A vow now is a request for good things addressed to God, and the injunction is, that when one has attained the object of one's hopes, one must offer offerings of gratitude to God, and not to one's self, and to offer them if possible without any loss of time, and without any delay; and of those who do not act rightly in this particular, some through forgetfulness of the benefits which they have received, have failed in that great and heautiful virtue of thankfulness, and others from an excessive conceit, have looked upon themselves as the authors of the good * Exodus iii. 1. + Genesis xlvi. 34. £ Exodus viil 26.
§ Genesis iv. 2. || Deuteronomy xxiii 21.
218 PHILO JUD.EUS.
things which have befallen them, and have not attributed them to him, who is really the cause of them.
A third class are they who commit an offence slighter indeed than the fault of these latter, but more serious than that of the first mentioned, for though they confess that the supreme Ruler is the cause of the good that has befallen them, they still say that they deserved to receive it, for that they are prudent, and courageous, and temperate, and just, so that they may well on these accounts be esteemed by God to be worthy of his favours.
XIV. Now the holy scriptures are opposed to all these classes, and reply to each of them, saying to the first class which has discarded recollection, and humbled forgetfulness, "Take care, my good man, lest when you have eaten and are filled, and when you have built fine houses and inhabited them, and when your flocks and your herds have increased, and when your silver and gold, and all that you possess is multiplied, you be lifted up in your heart, and forget the Lord your God."* When is it then that you do not forget God? when you do not forget yourself; for if you remember your own nothingness in every particular, you will also be sure to remember the exceeding greatness of God in everything.
And Moses reproves the man who looks upon himself as the cause of the good things that have befallen him in this manner, "Say not," says he, "my own might, or the strength of my right hand has acquired me all this power, but remember always the Lord thy God, who giveth thee the might to acquire power."f And he who conceives that he was deserving to receive the possession and enjoyment of good things, may be taught to change his opinion by the oracle which says, " You do not enter into this land to possess it because of thy righteousness, or because of the holiness of thy heart; but, in the first place, because of the iniquity of these nations, since God has brought on them the destruction of wickedness; and in the second place that he may establish the covenant which he swore to our tathers."J Now by the covenant of God his graces are figuratively meant (nor is it right to offer to him anything that is im- perfect), as all the gifts of the uncreated God are complete and entirely perfect, and virtue is a thing complete among existing ' Deut. viii. 12. f Deut. viii. 17. £ Deut. ix. 5.
OX THE SACRIFICES OF ABEL AND CAIN. 219 things, and so is the course of action in accordance with it. If therefore we discard forgetfulness and ingratitude, and self- love, and the present wickedness of all these things, namely, self-opinion, we shn.ll no longer through our delay miss attaining the genuine worship of God, but outrunning and bounding on beyond all created beings, before we embrace any mortal thing we shall meet our master himself, having prepared ourselves to do the things which he commands us.
XV. For Abraham also, having come with all haste and speech and eagerness, exhorts virtue, that is to say, Sarah, " to hasten and knead three measures of fine meal, and to make cakes upon the hearth."* When God, being attended by two of the heavenly powers as guards, to wit, by authority and goodness, he himself, the one God being between them, presented an appearance of the figures to the visual soul; each of which figures was not measured in any respect; for God cannot be circumscribed, nor are his powers capable of being defined by lines, but he himself measures everything. His goodness therefore is the measure of all good things, and his authority is the measure of things in subjection, and the Governor of the universe himself, is the measure of all things to the corporeal and incorporeal. On which account, his powers also having been looked upon in the light of rules and models, have weighed and measured other things with refe- rence to them. Now it is very good that these three measures should, as it were, be kneaded together in the soul, and mixed up together, in order that so the soul, being persuaded that the supreme being is God, who has raised his head above all his powers, and who is beheld independently of them, and who makes himself visible in them, may receive the characters of his power and beneficence, and becoming initiated into the perfect mysteries, may not be too ready to divulge the divine secrets to any one, but may treasure them up in herself, and keeping a check over her speech, may conceal them in silence; for the words of the scripture are, " To make secret cakes;" because the sacred and mystic statements about the one uncreated Being, and about his powers, ought to be kept secret; since it does not belong to every one to keep the deposit of divine mysteries properly.
XVI. For the stream of the intemperate soul, flowing out- wards through the mouth and tongue, is pumped up and poured * Genesis xviii. 6 220 PHILO JUD^EUS.