XXXII. But to the impious Cain, neither does the earth contribute anything to give him vigour, even though he never concerns himself about anything which is exterior to it; on which account, in the next sentence, he is found " groaning and trembling upon the earth,"* that is to say, under the in- fluence of grief and terror; and such also is the miserable life of a wicked man, who has received for his inheritance the most painful of the four passions, pain and terror; the one being equivalent to groaning, and the other to trembling; for it is inevitable, that some evil should either be present to or impending over such a man. Now the expectation of im- pending evil causes fear, but the suffering of present evil causes pain.
On the other hand, he who pursues virtue is found to be in the enjoyment of corresponding blessings; for either he has acquired what is good or he will attain to it. Now the present possession perfects joy, which is the best of all pos- sessions; but the expectation of possessing it brings hope, the food of those souls which love virtue; on account of which, putting away sluggishness, we, with spontaneous readiness, hasten onwards to good actions. From that soul therefore, in which justice has brought forth a male offspring, that is to say just thoughts, it has also at the same time removed all pain- ful things, and the birth of Noah will bear testimony in con- firmation of this, and the interpretation of the name of Noah is just; and of him it is said, " he will make us to rest from our works, and from the labours of our hands, and from the earth, which the Lord God has cursed;'y for it is the nature of justice in the first place to cause rest instead of labour, being utterly indifferent to the things that are in the confines between wickedness and virtue, riches and glory, and power and honour, and all other things which are akin to these, which are the chief objects of the energies of the human race.
And, in the second place, to destroy those pains which exist in accordance with our own energies; for Moses does not (as some wicked men do) say. that God is the cause of evils, but our own hands; indicating, by a figurative expression, the THE WORSE PLOTTING AGAINST THE BETTER. 273 works of our hands, and the voluntary inclinations of our mind to the worser part.
XXXIII. Last of all, Noah is said " to comfort us concern- ing our work, because of the ground which the Lord God hath cursed."* But by this is meant wickedness, which is esta- blished in the souls of foolish men; the remedy for which (as one seeks for remedies for a severe disease) is found to be the just man, who is in possession of the panacea, justice. When, therefore, he has repelled these evils he is filled with joy, as also is Sarah: for she says, " The Lord hath caused me laughter;" and she adds further, "so that whosoever hears it shall rejoice with me. "I For God is the author of virtuous laughter and joy; so that we must look upon Isaac not as the offspring of creation, but as the work of the uncreate God. For if Isaac, being interpreted, means laughter, and if it be God who is the cause of laughter according to the true testi- mony of Sarah, then he may be most properly said to be the father of Isaac. And he also gives a share to Abraham of his own proper appellation, to whom, when he eradicated pain from wisdom, he gave rejoicing as an offspring. If, therefore, any one is worthy to listen to the account of the creative power of God he is of necessity joyful, and rejoices in company with those who have had a longing to hear the same. And in the account of the creative power of God you will find no cunningly devised fable, but only unalloyed laws of truth firmly established. Moreover, you will find no vocal measures or rhythm, no melodies alluring the hearing with musical art; but only most perfect works of virtue, which have all of them a peculiar har- mony and fitness. And as the mind rejoices which is eager to hear of the works of God, so also does language, which is in harmony with the conceptions of the mind, and which in a manner is compelled to attend to them, feel exultation.
XXXIV. And this will also be proved by the oracle which was given to the all-wise Moses, in which these words are con- tained: " Behold, is there not Aaron thy brother, the Levite? I know that he will speak for thee; and behold he will be coming forth to meet thee, and he will rejoice in himself when he seeth thee."| For here the Creator says, that he knows that uttered speech is a burden to the mind, because it speaks; T Q74 PHILO JUDiEUS.
for he represents it, that is to say, articulate sound, as the organ, as it were, of all this concrete being of ours. This speech speaks, and discourses, and interprets both in your case and mine, and in that of all mankind, the things conceived in the mind, and it moreover comes forward to meet the things which the mind conceives; for when the mind being excited towards any object connected with it receives an impetus, either because it has been moved internally by itself, or because it has received some remarkable impressions from external circum- stances, it then becomes pregnant and labours to bring forth its conceptions. And, though it tries to deliver itself of them, it is unable to do so till sound, like a midwife, acting either through the medium of the tongue or of some other of the organs of speech, receives those conceptions and brings them to light. And this voice is itself the most manifest of all the conceptions. For, as what is laid up is hidden in darkness until light shines upon it and exhibits it, in the same manner the conceptions are stored away in an invisible place, namely, the mind, until the voice, like light, sheds its beams upon them and reveals everything.
XXXV. Very beautifully, therefore, was it said that speech goes forth to meet the conceptions, and that it runs on endea- vouring to overtake them, from its desire of giving information respecting them, for everything has the greatest affection for its own proper employment; and the proper employment of speech is to speak, to which employment therefore it hastens by a kind of natural kindred and propriety. And it rejoices and exults when, shedding its rays upon it as it were, it accu- rately sees and overtakes the sense of the matter exhibited; for then, seizing it in its embrace, it becomes its most excellent interpreter. At all events, we repudiate those chatterers and interminable talkers, who, in the long passages of their con- versations, do not properly keep to their conceptions, but merely connect long and empty and, to say the truth, lifeless sentences.
Therefore the conversation of such men as these is inde- corous, and is justly condemned to groan; as, on the other hand, it is inevitable that that conversation which proceeds from a proper consideration of the objects of its consideration must rejoice, since it comes in an adequate manner to the in- terpretation of the things which it saw and comprehended THE WORSE PLOTTING AGAINST THE BETTER. 275 vigorously; and this is a matter within the knowledge of almost every one from his daily experience. For, when we thoroughly understand what we are saying, then our speech rejoices and exults, and is rich in most emphatic and appropriate expres- sions, with which, using great copiousness and fluency of un- hesitating diction, it sets before the hearer what it desires to exhibit to him in a most evident and efficient manner. But when the comprehension of the conceptions is doubtful, then the speech stumbles and exhibits a great deficiency of suitable and felicitous expressions, and speaks very inappropriately; on which account it is tedious and wearisome and wanders about, and instead of persuading its hearers it pains their ears.
XXXVI. Again, it is not every speech which should come forward to meet the conceptions; nor is it every kind of con- ception that it should come to meet; but only the perfect Aaron who should come forward to meet the conceptions of the most perfect Moses. Since else why, when God had said, " Behold, is not Aaron tby brother?" did he add, " the Levite," if it were not for the sake of teaching that it belongs to the Levite and priest, and to virtuous speech alone, to give inform- ation respecting the conceptions of the mind, which are shoots of the perfect soul. For never may the speech of a wicked man be interpreter of divine doctrines, for such an one would deform their beauty by his own pollutions; and, on the other hand, may what is intemperate and disgraceful never be related by the utterance of a virtuous man, but may sacred and holy conversations always deliver the relation of holy things.
In some of the best governed cities of the world they say that such a custom as this prevails. When any man who has not lived well attempts to deliver his opinion, either in the council or in the assembly of the people, he is not permitted to do so by his own mouth, but is compelled by the magistrates to deliver his opinion to some virtuous and honourable man to explain in his behalf; and then he, when he has heard what he wishes said, rises up and unfolds the meaning of the sewn up mouth of his instructor, becoming his extempore pupil; and he displays the imaginations of another, scarcely consider- ing the original concern of them even in the rank of a hearer or spectator. So some people do not choose to receive even benefits from unworthy persons, but look upon the injury 276 PHILO JUDjEUS.
accruing from the shame of taking their advice as greater than the advantage which can be derived from it.
XXXVII. This lesson the most holy Moses appears to teach; for such is the object of the statement that Aaron the Levite is coming forward to meet his brother Moses, and that when he sees him he rejoices in himself; and the statement that he rejoices in himself shows also, besides the doctrine which has already been mentioned, another more connected with politics, since the lawgiver is here exhibiting that genuine joy which is most especially akin to the human race; for to speak strictly, the feeling of joy does not belong to abundance of money, or of possessions, or to brilliancy of renown, nor, in short, to any one of those external circumstances which are lifeless and unstable, and which contain the seeds of their decay in themselves: nor yet does it belong to personal strength and vigour, and to the other advantages of the body, which are common to even the most worthless men, and which have often brought inevitable destruction on those who pos- sessed them.
Since then it is only in the virtues of the soul that genuine and unadulterated joy is found, and since every wise man rejoices, he rejoices in himself, and not in his surrounding circumstances; for the things that are in himself are the virtues of the mind on which it is worthy for a man to provide him- self: but the circumstances which surround him are either a good condition of body or an abundance of external wealth, which are not proper objects for a man to pride himself on.
XXXVIII. Having shown, therefore, as far as we could by the most unmistakeable testimony of Moses that, to rejoice is the peculiar property of the wise man, we will now also show that to hope also belongs to him alone; and here again we shall have no need of any other witness than Moses; for he tells us that the name of the son of Seth was Enos: and Enos, being interpreted, means hope. " He hoped first," says Moses, "to call upon the name of the Lord his God."* Speaking wisely: for to a man inspired with the principles of truth what can be more akin and appropriate than a hope and expectation of the acquisition of good things from the one bounteous God? This, if one must speak the plain truth, is, properly speaking, the onVy real birth of men, as those who do not hope in God * Genesis iv. 26.
THE WORSE PLOTTING AGAINST THE BETTER. 277 have no share in rational nature. On which account Moses, after he had previously mentioned with respect to Enos that " he hoped to call upon the name of the Lord his God," adds in express words, " This is the book of the generation of men;"* speaking with perfect correctness: for it is written in the book of God that man is the only creature with a good hope. So that arguing by contraries, he who has no good hope is not a man. The definition, therefore, of our concrete being is that it is a living rational mortal being; but the defi- nition of man, according to Moses, is a disposition of the soul hoping in the truly living God.
Let good men, then, by all means having received joy and hope for their blessed inheritance, either possess or expect good things: but let bad men, of whom Cain is a companion, living in fear and pain, reap a harvest of a most bitter portion, namely, either the presence or the expectation of evils, groan- ing over the miseries which are actually oppressing them, and trembling and shuddering at the expected fearful dangers.
XXXIX. However, we have now said enough on this sub- ject, and let us proceed to investigate what comes afterwards.
He continues thus: tl And Cain said unto the Lord, My crime is too great to be forgiven."f Now what is meant by this will be shown by a consideration of simple passages. If a pilot were to desert his ship when tossed about by the sea, would it not follow of necessity that the ship would wander out of her course in the voyage? Shall I say more? If a cha- rioteer in the contest of the horse-race were to quit his chariot, is it not inevitable that the course of the free horses would be disorderly and irregular? Again, when a city is left destitute of rulers or of laws, and laws, undoubtedly, are entitled to be classed on an equality with magistrates, must not that city be destroyed by those greatest of evils, anarchy and lawlessness? And in the same manner, by the ordinances of nature, the body must perish if the soul be absent; and the soul, if reason be absent. Reason, too, must be destroyed by the absence of virtue. But if each of these things is such an injury to the things that are abandoned by them, then how great must we consider is the misfortune of those persons who are abandoned by God? Whom he has rejected as deserters from his band: and put out of the pale of his sacred laws, considering them * Genesis v. 1. t Genesis iv. 14.
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them unworthy of bis superintendence and government. For we must absolutely be certain that a person who is deserted by his superior and benefactor is guilty of great crimes and liable to severe accusations. For when would you say that a man destitute of skill is most greatly injured? Would k not be when he is utterly abandoned by knowledge? And when would you say that the ignorant and wholly uninstructed man is most injured? Must it not be when instruction and educa- tion complete their desertion of him? When again do we most deplore the condition of the foolish? Is it not when prudence has utterly rejected them? And when do we pro- nounce intemperate or unjust men, miserable? Is it not when temperance and justice have condemned them to an eternal banishment from their dominion? When do we pro- nounce the impious, wretched? Is it not when piety has cut them off from her peculiar rites? So that it seems to me that those who are not utterly impure should pray to be chastised and rejected rather than deserted; for desertion will most easily ruin them, as vessels without ballast and without a pilot; but correction will set them right again. Are not those boys who are beaten by their preceptors, for whatever errors they commit, better than those who have no schoolmaster? And are not those who are reproved by their teachers, for all the errors they commit in the arts which they are studying, better than those who receive no such reproof? And are not those young men who have been accounted especially worthy of that natural superintendence and government, which thoso who are parents exercise over their children, more fortunate and better than those who have had no such protectors? And if they have not such natural protectors, do they not receive guardians as governors in a secondary rank, who are accus- tomed to be appointed over them out of pity for their orphan state; to fill the place of parents to them in all things that are expedient?
XL. Let us, therefore, address our supplications to God, we who are self-convicted by our consciousness of our own sins, to chastise us rather than to abandon us; for if he abandons us, he will no longer make us his servants, who is a merciful master, but slaves of a pitiless generation: but if he chastises us in a gentle and merciful manner, as a kind ruler, he will t direct our offences, sending that correcting conviction, his THE WORSE PLOTTING AGAINST THE BETTER. 279 own word, into our hearts, by means of which he will heal them; reproving us and making us ashamed of the wicked- nesses which we have committed. On this account the law- giver says, " Every word which a widow or a woman who is divorced vows against her own soul shall remain against it."* For if we call God the husband and father of the universe, supplying the origin and generation of all things, we shall be speaking rightly: as we shall if we call that heart widowed and divorced from God which either has not received divine seed, or, after having received it, has again voluntarily made it abortive. Therefore every thing which it decides it shall decide against itself: and these things shall remain utterly incurable.
For how can it be anything but a most intolerable evil, for a creature which is inconstant aud easily moved in every direction, to lay down any positive decision and determination about itself, attributing to itself the virtues of the Creator? One of which is that, according to which, it defines in an unhesitating and unalterable manner. Therefore, not only shall it be widowed of knowledge, but it shall likewise be divorced from it. And the meaning of this expression is as follows: — For the soul which is widowed of, but is not yet divorced from, what is good, is able, in a manner, after long perseverance, to come to a reconciliation and agreement with her lawful husband, right-reason. But the soul which has once been utterly separated from it, and which has been removed to a different abode, has been cast out for ever and ever, as utterly incapable of reconciliation or peace, and is entirely unable to return to its previous habitation.
XLI. This, then, may be enough to say about the ex- pression, " My crime is too great to be forgiven. "f Let us now consider what follows that verse ' — " Cain says, " But if thou castest me out this day from off the face of the earth, and from thy face I shall be hidden." J What sayest thou, my good man? If thou art utterly cast out from the whole earth, shall you still be hidden? In what manner?
* Numbers xxx. 10.
+ This is not the translation given in the text of the bible, though it is inserted in the margin. In the text of the bible we read, "And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear." — GeDesis iv. 13.
1 Genesis iv. 14.
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For shall you be able to live? or are you ignorant of this, that nature has given animals different places to live in, and has not assigned the same place to them all? She has allotted the sea to the fishes, and to the whole race of aquatic animals, and the land to all the terrestrial animals. And man too, according, at least, to the composite nature of his body, is a terrestrial animal. And it is owing to this that all animals easily die when they have quitted the place which properly belongs to them, and have gone, as it were, into a foreign coun- try; as, for instance, when terrestrial animals go under the water, or when aquatic animals have sailed out upon the land.
If, therefore you, being a man, should be cast out from the land, whither will you turn? Will you dive under water, imitating the nature of aquatic animals? But you will die the moment that you are underneath the water. Or will you take wings and raise yourself aloft, and so attempt to traverse the regions of the air, changing your character of a terrestrial, for that of a flying animal? But, if it is in your power, change and re-fashion the divine impress that you bear. You cannot do so. For in proportion as you raise yourself to a greater height, so much the more rapidly will you descend from that higher region and with the greater impetuosity to the earth, which is your appropriate place.
XL II. Can a man, then, or any other created animal, hide himself from God? Where can he do so? Where can he hide himself from that being who pervades all places, whose look reaches to the very boundaries of the world, who fills the whole universe, of whom not even the smallest portion of existing things is deficient? And what is there extraordi nary in the fact, that it is not practicable for any created being to conceal himself from the living God, when it is not even in his power to escape from all the material elements by which he is surrounded, but he must, if he abandon me, by that very act enter into another? At all events, if the Creator, employ- ing that act by which he created amphibious animals, had chosen also by the same act to create a new animal, one capa- ble of living in any element, then, this animal, if it forsook the weighty elements of earth and water, would necessarily have gone to those which are naturally light, namely, air and fire. And, on the other hand, supposing that it had originally dwelt among those elements whose place is on high, if it had sought THE WORSE PLOTTING AGAINST THE BETTER. 281 to effect a migration from them, it would have changed to the opposite region; for it was at all events necessary for it to appear steadily in one portion of the world, since it was not possible for it to run away out of every element: since, in order that nothing external might, be omitted, the Creator scattered the whole of the four principles of everything over the universe, in order to create the existing condition of the world, in order to make a most perfect universe of perfect parts.
As therefore it is impossible for any one to escape from the whole of the creation of God, how can it be anything but still more impossible to escape from the Creator and Ruler him- self? Let no one therefore too easily receiving these words in their obvious and literal acceptation without examination, affix his own simplicity and folly to the law; but let him rather consider what is here enigmatically intimated by figurative ex- pressions, and so understand the truth.
XLIil. Perhaps now that which is intimated by the expres- sion, "If thou castest me out this day from off the face of the earth, from thy face I shall be hidden," may be this, if thou dost not bestow on me the good things of the earth, I will not receive those of Heaven; and if no use and enjoyment of pleasure is afforded me, I have no desire for virtue, and if thou dost not allow me to participate in human advantages, thou mayest retain the divine ones to thyself. Now the things which among us are accounted necessary and valuable and genuine real goods are these; to eat, to drink, to be clothed in various colours and fashions; by means of the faculty of sight, to be delighted with pleasant sights; by means of one's faculty of hearing to be delighted with melodies of all sorts of sounds; to be gratified through our nostrils with fragrant exhalations of odours; to indulge in all the pleasures of the belly and of the parts adjacent to the belly to satiety; not to be indifferent to the acquisition of silver and gold; to be invested with honours and post of authority, and all other things which may tend to man's reputation; but as for prudence, or fortitude, or justice, austere dispositions which only make life laborious, those we pass by, and if we are forced to admit them into one calculation we must do so, not as perfect goods in themselves, but only as efficients of good.
Do you therefore, O ridiculous man, affirm that if you are 282 PHILO JUDJ3US.
deprived of a superfluity of bodily advantages and external good things, you will not come into the sight of God? But I tell you that even if you are so deprived of them, you will by all means come into his sight; for when you have been released from the unspeakable bonds of the body and around the body, you will attain to an imagination of the uncreated God.