the face of your father, that it is uot to me as it was yesterday and the day before yesterday,* but the God of my father was with me." And on this account I should be inclined to say, Laban is not favourable to you because God is on your side; for in the soul, by which the external object of the outward senses is honoured as the greatest good, perfect reason is not found to exist; but in the soul, in which God walks, the ex- ternal object of the outward senses is not looked upon as the greatest good, according to which object the name of Laban is given and understood. And all those who, through the improvement of their reason, are adorned in the similitude of the Father, in consequence of education, unlearn all sub- serviency to the irrational impulses of the soul, selecting the plain as a suitable place, for it is said to Joseph, " Are not thy brethren keeping sheep in Sichem? Come, I will send thee to them. And he said, Behold, here am I. And Jacob said unto him, Go and see if thy brethren and the flocks are well, and come and tell me. And he sent him from the val- ley of Chebron, and he came to Sichem, and a man found him wandering in the plain: and the man asked him, What seek est thou? And he said, I am seeking my brethren, tell me where they are feeding their sheep. And the man said unto him they have departed from hence, for J heard them saying, Let us go to Dotham."f III. Therefore, from what has here been said it is plain, that they make the halting-place of the irrational faculties, which are in them, in the plain. But Joseph is sent unto them because he is unable to bear the somewhat austere know- ledge of his father; that he may learn, under gentler instruc- tors, what is to be done and what will be advantageous; for he uses a doctrine woven together from divers foundations, very variegated and very artfully made, in reference to which the law-giver says, that he had " a robe of many colours made for him;"X signifying by this that he is an interpreter of labyrinth-like learning, such as is hard to be explained; for as he philosophises more with a regard to political wisdom than to truth, he brings into one place and connects together the three kinds of good things, namely, external things, the things concerning the body, and those concerning the soul, things utterly different from one another in their whole na- • Genesis xxxi. 5. + Genesis xxxviL 12. $ Genesis xxxvii. 3- THE WORSE PLOTTING AGAINST THE BETTER.!i43 tures; wishing to show that each has need of each, and that everything has need of everything; and that that which is really the complete and perfect good, is composed of all these things together, and that the parts of which this perfect good is compounded are parts or elements of good, but are not themselves perfect goods. In the same way, as neither fire, nor earth, nor any one of the four elements, out of which the universe was created, are the world, but the meeting and mix- ture of all the elements together; in the same way also hap- piness ought not peculiarly to be sought for either in the ex- ternal things, or in the things of the body, or in the things of the soul, taken by themselves; for each of the aforementioned things has only the rank of parts and elements, but it must be looked for in the combination of them all together.
IV. He therefore is sent, to be untaught this doctrine, to men who think nothing honourable but what is good, which is the peculiar attribute of the soul as the soul; but all external goods, which are called the good things of the body, they believe to be only superfluities, and not true and real goods: " For behold," says he, " thy brethren are tending their sheep," that is to say, they are governing all the irrational part that is in them, " in Sichem;''* and the name Sichem, being interpreted, means a shoulder, the symbol of enduring labour. For the men who are lovers of virtue endure a great burden, the opposition to the body and the pleasure of the body, and also the opposition to external things and to the delights which arise from them. " Come, therefore, let me send thee to them,"f that is to say, listen to my bidding and come over, receiving in your mind a voluntary impulse to learn better things. But up to the present time you are full of self-complacency, as one who has received true instruction; for although you have not as yet plainly asserted this, you still say that you are ready to be taught again, when you say, " Behold, here am I," by which expression you appear to me to exhibit your own rashness and easiness to be persuaded more than your readiness to learn; and a proof of what I say is this, " And a little afterwards the true man will find you wandering in the way,"J while you would not have been led astray, if you had come to the practice of virtue with a sound intention.
* Genesis xxxvii 12. f Genesis xxx rii, 13. J Genesis xxxvii. 15 R X 2U PHILO JUDjEUS.
And yet the adhortatory speech of your father's imposes no irresistible necessity upon you, to turn of your own accord and at the instigation of your own mind to better things; for he says, " Go and see, " behold, cont>ider, and meditate in the matter with entire accuracy. For you ought first to know the affair concerning which you are going to labour, and then after that to proceed to a care how to accomplish it. But after you have examined into it, and after you have inspected it carefully, casting your eyes over the whole of the business, then examine, 1 esides, those who have already given their attention to the matter, and who have become practisers of it, whether now that they do this they are in a sound state, and not mad, as the lovers of pleasure think who calumniate them and cover them with ridicule. And do not form a positive judgment in your own mind either as to the appearance of the matter, or as to the soundness of condition enjoyed by those who practise these things, before you have reported the matter to and laid it before the father; for the opinions of those who have only lately begun to learn are unstable and without any firm foun- dation; but the sentiment of those who have made some advance are solid, and from their opinions they must of neces- sity derive firmness and steadiness.
V. Therefore, 0 my mind, if you in this manner investigate the holy thoughts of God with which man is inspired by divine agency and the laws of such men as love God, you will not be compelled to admit any thing lowly, anything unworthy, of their greatness. For how could any man who is endowed with sound sense and wisdom, receive this very thing concern- ing which our present discussion now is? Can any one believe that there was such a great want of servants and attendants in the household of Jacob who was possessed of treasures equal to those of a king, that it was necessary for him to send his son away to a distant country to bring him word of the health of his other children and of his flocks? His grandfather, besides the multitude of captives whom he had carried off when he defeated the nine kings, had mora than three hundred domestic servants, and all this household had suffered no diminution, but rather, as time advanced, all his wealth had received great increase in all its parts.
Would he not then, when he had an abundance of servants of all kinds ready to his hand, have preferred sending one of THE WORSE PLOTTING AGAINST THE BETTER, 245 them, to sending his son, whom he loved above all things, on a business which any one of the lowest of his servants could easily have brought to a successful issue?
VI. But you see that he here gives a superfluously minute description of the country from which he sends him forth, in a way which all but commands us to forsake the strict letter of what is written. " For out of the valley of Chebron," now the name Chebron, when interpreted, means conjoined and associ- ated, being a figurative way of intimating our body which is conjoined and which is associated in a sort of companionship and friendship with the soul. Moreover, the organs of the outward senses have valleys, great ducts to receive everything external which is an object of the outward senses, which collect together an infinite number of distinctive qualities, and by means of those ducts pour them in upon the mind, and wash it out, and bring it in the depths. On this account, in the law concerning leprosy, it is expressly ordered, " when in any house hollows appear of a pale or fiery red colour, that the inhabi- tants shall take out the stones in which such hollows appear, and put in other stones in their places;"* " that is to say, when different destructive qualities which the pleasures and the appe- tites, and the passions akin to them, have wrought in men, weighing down and oppressing the whole soul, have made it more hollow and more lowly than its natural condition would be, it is well to remove the reasons which are the cause of this weakness, and to bring in such in their stead as are sound by a legitimate style of education and a healthy kind of discipline.
VII. Seeing therefore that Joseph has wholly entered into the hollow valleys of the body and of the outward senses, he invites him to come forth out of his holes, and to bring forward the free air of perseverance, going as a pupil to those who were formerly practisers of it themselves, and who are now become teachers of it; but he who appears to himself to have made pro- gress in this, is found to be in error; "For a man," says the holy scripture, "found him wandering in the plain,"f showing that it is not labour by itself, intrinsically considered, but labour with skill, that is good. For as it is of no use to study music in an unmusical manner, nor grammar without any attention to its true principles, nor, in short, any art whatever in a manner either devoid of art or proceeding on false rules of art, but • Leviticus adv. 36. f Genesis xxxvii. 15.
248 PHILO JUD.EUS.
each art must be cultivated on a strict obedience to its rules; so also it is of no avail to apply one's self to the study of wisdom in a crafty spirit, or to the study of temperance in a nig- gardly and illiberal frame of mind, nor to courage rashly, nor to piety superstitiously, nor, in fact, to any other science which is in accordance with virtue in an unscientific manner. For all these steps are confessedly erroneous. In reference to which, a law has been delivered to us "to pursue what is just in a just manner,"* that we may cultivate justice and every other virtue by those works which are akin to it, and not by those which are contrary to it.
If, therefore, you see any one desiring meat or drink at an unseasonable time, or repudiating baths or ointments at the proper season, or neglecting the proper clothing for his body, or lying on the ground and sleeping in the open air, and by such conduct as this, pretending to a character for temperance and self-denial, you, pitying his self-deception, should show him the true path of temperance, for all the practices in which he has been indulging are useless and profitless labours, oppress- ing both his soul and body with hunger and all sorts of other hardships.
Nor if anyone, using washings and purifications, soils his mind, but makeo his bodily appearance brilliant; nor if again out of his abundant wealth he builds a temple with brilliant a artments of all kinds, at a vast expense; nor if he offers up h catombs and never ceases sacrificing oxen; nor if he adorns temples with costly offerings, bringing timber in abundance, and skilful ornaments, more valuable than any of gold or silver, still let him not be classed among pious men, for he also has wandered out of the way to piety, looking upon cere- monious worship as equivalent to sanctity, and giving gifts to the incorruptible being who will never receive such offerings, and flattering him who can never listen to flattery, who loves genuine worship (and genuine worship is that of the soul which offers the only sacrifice, plain truth), and rejects all spurious ministrations, and those are spurious which are only displays of external riches and extravagance.
VIII. But somesay that the proper name of the man who found him wandering in the plain is not mentioned, and they themselves are in some degree mistaken here, because they are * Deuteronomy xvi. 20.
THE WORSE PLOTTING AGAINST THE BETTER. 247 unable clearly to discover the true way of this business, for it" they had not been mutilated as to the eye of the soul, they would have known that of one who is truly a man, the most proper, and appropriate, and felicitous name is this very name of man, being the most appropriate appellation of a well regulated and rational mind. This man, dwelling in the soul of each individual, is found at one time to be a ruler and monarch, and at another time to be a judge and umpire of the contests which take place in life. At times also he takes the place of a witness and accuser, and without being seen he corrects us from within, not suffering us to open our mouths, but taking up, and restraining, and bridling, with the reins of conscience the self-satisfied and restive course of the tongue.
This convicting feeling it is which inquires of the soul when it sees it wandering about, What seekest thou? Is it wisdom? why then do you go after wickedness? Or is it temperance? but this path of yours leads to niggardliness. Or is courage? by this path you will only arrive at rashness. Or are you in pursuit of piety? this is the road to superstition. But if it should say that it is seeking words of wisdom, and that it is longing for them, as for what is nearest akin to its own race, we must not give implicit belief to this, for the question was not, Where are they feeding their flocks? but Where are they tending them? for they who feed their flocks supply nourishment, and all the objects of the outward senses to the animal of the outward senses devoid of reason and insatiable; by means of which outward senses and their indulgence, we become unable to govern ourselves and fall into misfortune; but they who tend their flocks, having the power of rulers and governors, make those gentle which were fierce before, checking the mighty power of the appetites. If, therefore, he was in all sincerity seeking the practices of virtue, he would have sought for them among kings, and not among cup-bearers, or cooks, or confectioners, for these last prepare things which have reference to pleasure, but the former are masters of pleasure.
IX. Therefore the man, who saw the deceit, answered rightly, " They are departed hence." And he shows here the mass of the body; clearly proving that all those by whom labour is practised for the sake of the acquisition of virtue, having left the regions of earth, have determined on contem- 248 PHILO JUD.EUS plating only what is sublime, dragging with them no stain of the body. For he says, too, that he had heard them say, " Let us go to Dotham:" and the name Dotham, being interpreted, means " a sufficient leaving;" showing that it was with no moderate resolution, but with extreme determination that they "had decided on leaving and abandoning all those things which do not co-operate towards virtue, just as the customs of women had ceased any longer to affect Sarah. But the passions are female by nature, and we must study to quit them, showing our preference for the masculine characters of the good dispositions.
Therefore the interpreter of divers opinions, the wandering Joseph, is found in the plain, that is to say, in a contention of words, having reference to political considerations rather than to useful truth; but there are some adversaries who, by reason of their vigorous body, their antagonists having suc- cumbed, have gained the prize of victory without a struggle, not having even had,to descend into the arena to contend for it, but obtaining the chief honours on account of their incom- parable strength. Using such a power as this with reference to the most divine thing that is in us, namely, our mind, " Isaac goes forth into the plain;"* not for the purpose of contending with any body, since all those who might have been his antagonists, are terrified at the greatness and exceed- ing excellence of his nature in all things; but only wishing to meet in private, and to converse in private with the fellow traveller and guide of his path and of his soul, namely God. And the clearest possible proof of this is, that no one who conversed with Isaac was a mere mortal. Rebecca, that is perseverance, asks her servant, seeing but one person, and having no conception but of one only, " Who is this man who is coming to meet us?" For the soul which perseveres in what is good, is able to comprehend all self-taught wisdom, which is named Isaac, but is not yet able to see God, who is the guide of wisdom. Therefore, also, the servant confirming the fact that he cannot be comprehended who is invisible, and who converses with man invisibly, says, " He is my lord," pointing to Isaac alone. For it is not natural that, if two persons were in sight, he should point to one alone; but the person whom * Genesis xxiv. 63 THE WORSE PLOTTING AGAINST THE BETTER. 219 he did not point to, he did not see, inasmuch as he was invisible to all persons of intermediate character.
X. Now I think that it has already been sufficiently shown, that the field to which Cain invites Abel to come, is a symbol of strife and contention. And we must now proceed to raise the question what the matters are concerning which, when they have arrived in the plain, they are about to institute an inves- tigation. It is surely plain that they are opposite and rival opinions: for Abel, who refers everything to God, is the God- loving opinion; and Cain, who refers everything to himself (for his name, being interpreted, means acquisition), is the self-loving opinion. And men are self-loving when, having stripped and gone into the arena with those who honour virtue, they never cease struggling against them with every kind of weapon, till they compel them to succumb, or else utterly destroy them; for, as the proverb is, they leave no stone unturned, saying, Is not the body the house of the soul? Why, then, should we not take care of the house that it may not become ruinous '? Are not the eyes and the ears, and all the company of the other outward senses, guards, as it were, and friends of the soul? Ought we not, then, to honour men's friends and allies equally with themselves? And has nature made pleasures and enjoyments, and all the delights which are spread over the whole of life for the dead, or for those who have never even had any existence at all, and not rather for those who are alive? And what ought we not to do to pro- cure for ourselves riches, and glory, and honours, and authority, and all other things of that sort, which are the only means of living not only safely, but happily? And the life of these men is a proof of this. For they who are called lovers of virtue are nearly all of them men inglorious, easily to be despised, lowly, in need of necessary things, more dishonourable than subjects, or even than slaves, sordid, pale, cadaverous-looking, bearing want and hunger in their countenances, full of diseases, men who would be glad to die. But those who take care of them- selves are men of reputation, rich, leaders, men in the enjoy- ment of praise and honour; moreover, they are healthy, stout, and vigorous; living delicately, nursed in luxury, strangers to labour, living in the constant company of pleasure, and using all their outward senses to bring delights to the soul, which is capable of receiving them all.
250 PHILO JUD.EUS.
XI. Arguing therefore in this prolix train of reasoning, they thought that they got the better of those who were not accus- tomed to deal in sophistry. But the cause of their victory was not the strength of those who got the better, but the weakness of their adversaries in these matters. For of those who practise virtue, some treasured up what is good in their osoul alone, becoming practisers of praiseworthy actions, and having no knowledge whatever of sophistries of words. But they who were armed in both ways, having their minds fur- nished with wise counsel and with good deeds, and having also good store of reasons to bring forward according to the arts of the sophists, they had a good right to oppose the contentious behaviour of some others, having means at hand by which to repel their enemies. But the former sort had no safety what- ever. For what men could fight naked against armed enemies on equal terms, when, even if they had been both equally armed, the contest would still have been unequal?
Abel therefore had not learnt any of the arts of reasoning, but he knew what was good by his intellectual disposition alone; on account of which he ought to have refused to go down to the plain, and to have disregarded the invitation of his enemy. For any display of fear is better than being defeated; but such fear a man's enemies call cowardice, but his friends entitle it safe prudence, and we must believe friends in pre- ference to enemies, inasmuch as they tell us the truth.
XII. And it is on this account, as you see, that Moses rejected the sophists in Egypt, that is to say, in the body whom he calls magicians (for it is owing to the tricks and deceits of their sophistical tricks that good dispositions and good habits are infected and corrupted), saying that he was " not an eloquent man,"* which is equivalent to saying that he was not formed by nature for the conjectural rhetoric of plausible and specious reasons. And immediately afterwards ho confirms the assertion by adding, that he is not only not eloquent, but altogether " void of words, "f meaning this, not • Exodus iv. 10.
• Exodus iv. 10.
+ It is not possible to give the exact force of the original here. The Greek word is aXoyoc, which usually means "irrational," as derived from Xoyoc, "reason" which word has also the sense of "a word," "speech." The bible translation in the passage alluded to, Exodus vi. 12, is "who ftm of uncircutnc'.sed lips."
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