VII. On which account, it is possible that the spirit of God may remain in the soul, but that it should remain for ever is impossible, as we have said. And why need we wonder? since there is no other thing whatever, the possession of which, is stable and lasting; but mortal affairs are continually wavering in the scale, and inclining first to one side, and then to the other, and liable at different times to different changes. And the greatest cause of our ignorance is the flesh, and our inseparable connection with the flesh. And this, Moses repre- sents God as admitting, where he says that, " Because they are flesh," the spirit of God cannot abide in them. And yet marriage and the rearing of children, and the furnishing of necessary things, and ingloriousness conjoined with a want of money and business, both private and public, and a countless number of other things cause wisdom to waste away, before it begins to flourish vigorously. But there is nothing which is so great a hindrance to its growth as the fleshly nature. For that, as if it were the principal and most solid foundation of folly and ignorance, is laid down firmly, and then each of the afore- named evils is built up upon it.
For those souls which are devoid of flesh and of the body, remaining undisturbed in the theatre of the universe, occu- pied in seeing and hearing divine things, of which an insatiable desire has seized them, enjoy a pleasure to which no one offers any interruption. But those which bear the heavy burden of the flesh, being weighed down and oppressed by it, are unable to look upwards to the revolutions of the heaven, but being dragged downwards, have their necks forcibly pressed to the ground like so many quadrupeds.
VIII. In reference to which fact, the lawgiver having determined to put an end to all illegal and illegitimate asso- ciations and unions, begins his denunciations in the following manner: * Man shall not come near to any one who is akin to his own flesh, to uncover his nakedness: I am the Lord." * How could any one more forcibly exhort man to despise the fiesh and what is akin to the flesh than in this way? And indeed he does not only exhort us to abandon such things, but he shows positively that he who is really a man will never * Leviticus zviii. 6.
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come of his own accord to those pleasures which are dear to and connected with the body, but will always be meditating to alienate himself from them entirely. For the saying, " man, man," not once but twice, is a sign that what is here meant is not the man composed of body and soul, but him only who is possessed of virtue. For such an one is really a true man, whom some one of the ancient philosophers having lighted a lantern at midday, went in search of, and told those who asked him that he was seeking a man. And as for the prohibition against every man coming near to any one who is akin to his own flesh, this is induced by necessary reasons. For there are some things which we should admit, such for instance as those useful things, by the employment of which we may be able to live in freedom from disease and in good health; and there are other things which should be rejected, by which, when the appetites become inflamed, they burn up all goodness in one vast conflagration.
Let not then our appetites rush eagerly in pursuit of all the things that are pleasant to the flesh, for the pleasures are often untameable, when like dogs they fawn upon us, and all of a sudden, change and bite us, inflicting incurable wounds. So that by cleaving to frugality, which is a friend to virtue, in preference to the pleasures akin to the body, we shall defeat the numerous and infinite multitude of irreconcilable enemies. And if any occasion shoujd seek to compel us to take more than what is moderate or sufficient, let us not yield; for the scripture saith, " He shall come near to him to uncover his nakedness."
IX. And what is meant by this, it is worth while to explain. It has often happened, that some who have not been them- selves providers of wealth, have nevertheless had unlimited abundance. And others, who have not been eager in the pursuit of glory have been thought worthy of public praises and honours. Others again, who have not expected to acquire even a little strength, have arrived at the greatest vigour and activity. Now, let all these men learn not to cleave in their minds to any one of these qualities; that is to say, not to admire them and grasp at them in an immoderate degree, looking upon them all, that is to say on riches, on glory, and on bodily strength, not only not as intrinsically good, but as the greatest of evils. For to misers, the pursuit of money is ap ON THE GIANTS. 007 propriate, and the pursuit of glory is so to ambitious men, and the acquisition of bodily strength is so to men fond of athletic and of gymnastic exercises. For that which is the better part of them, namely, the soul, they have abandoned as a slave to those things which are inferior to themselves, namely, to inani- mate things.
But as many as are masters of themselves show that all that brilliant prosperity, which is an object of so much con- tention, is in subordination to the mind, which is the prin- cipal part of them, receiving it when it comes, so as to make a good use of it, but not pursuing it if it keeps aloof, as being able to be happy even without it. But he who pursues it eagerly and follows upon its track, fills philosophy with base opinions; on which account he is said to uncover its nakedness, for how can there be any concealment or ignorance of the reproaches to which those men are justly exposed, who profess indeed to be wise men, but who make a traffic of wisdom, and bargain for the sale of it, as they say men do in the market, who put up their wares for sale, sometimes for a slight gain, sometimes for sweet and caressing speeches, and sometimes for insecure hopes, founded on no sure ground, and sometimes even for promises which are in no respect better than dreams.
X. And the sentence which follows, " I am the Lord," is uttered with great beauty and with most excessive propriety, J for," says the Lord, " oppose, my good man, the good of the flesh to that of the soul, and of the whole man;" therefore the pleasure of the flesh is irrational, but the pleasure of the soul and of the whole man is the mind of the universe, namely God; and the comparison is an admirable one, and one difficult to be instituted, so as for any one to be deceived by the close similitude, unless any one will say that living things are in reality the same as lifeless things, rational things the same as irrational things; well adapted the same as those ill adapted; odd numbers identical with even ones; light with darkness, and day with night; and in short every thing that is contrary the same as its contrary.
And yet even although these things have some kind of union and connection together by reason of their being created, still God is not in any respect like the very best of created being?, inasmuch as these have been born, and are liable to suf- Z 338 PHILO JUD^US.
fering; but he is uncreated, and always actiug not suffering. Now it is well not to desert the ranks of God, in which it follows inevitably that all who are arrayed must be most ex- cellent, and it would be shameful to quit those ranks, to fly to unmanly and effeminate pleasure, which injures its friends and benefits its enemies, for its nature is a very singular one; for all those to whom it chooses to give a share of its special advantages, it at once chastises and injures; and those whom it thinks fit to deprive of its good things, it benefits in the greatest possible degree, for it injures them when it gives, but it benefits them when it takes away.
If therefore, O my soul, any one of the temptations of pleasure invites you, turn yourself away, and directing your views towards another point, look at the genuine beauty of virtue, and having surveyed it, remain, until a desire for it has sunk into you, and draws you to it, like a magnet, and immediately leads you and attaches you to that which has become the object of your desire.
XII. And the expression, "I am the Lord," must be listened to, not only as if it were equivalent to, "I am the perfect, and incorruptible, and true good," with which if auy one is surrounded he will reject all that is imperfect, and corrupt- ible, and attached to the flesh; but also as equivalent to, " I am the ruler, and the king, and the master." And it is not safe for subjects to do wrong in the presence of their rulers, nor for slaves to err before their masters; for when the punishers are near, those whose nature is not quick at sub- mitting to admonitions are held in restraint and order by fear; for God, having filled everything with himself, is near at hand, so that he is looking over everything and standing by, we being filled with a great and holy reverence, or if not with that, at all events, having a prudent fear of the might of his authority, and of the fearful nature of his punishment, which cannot be avoided, whenever he determines to exert his punishing power, shall desist from doing wrong. In order that the divine spirit of wisdom may not be inclined to quit our neighbourhood and depart, but that it may remain a very long time with us, as it did also with the wise Moses; for Moses is a being of the most tranquil habits, either standing still or sitting still, and not at all disposed by nature to subject himself to turns and changes; for the scripture says, ON THE GIANTS. 339 " Moses and the ark did not move,"* inasmuch as the wise man cannot depart from virtue, or inasmuch as virtue is not liable to move, nor is the virtuous man inclined to changes, but each of these things is established on the sure foundation of right reason.
And again, the scripture saith in another passage, " But stand thou here with me."f For this is an oracle of God, which was given to the prophet, and his station was to be one of unmoved tranquillity by God, who always stands immov- ably; for it is indispensable, that all things which are placed by the side of him must be kept straight by such an undevi- ating rule. On this account it is, as it seems to me, that excessive pride, named Jethro, marvelling at his unvarying and always equal choice of what was wise, a choice which always looked at the same things in the same way, was per- plexed, and put a question to him in this form, " Why dost thou sit by thyself?" J For any one who considers the con- tinual war raging among men in the middle of peace, and existing, not merely among nations, and countries, and cities, but also among private houses, or I might rather say, between every individual man and the inexpressible and heavy storms which agitate the souls of men, which, by their evident im- petuosity, throw into confusion all the affairs of life, may very naturally wonder, if in such a storm, any one can enjoy tran- quillity, and can feel a calm in such a billowy state of the stormy sea.
You see that even the high priest, that is to say, reason, who might at all times remain and reside in the holy dwell- ing of God, has not free permission to approach them at all times, but only once in each year; for whatever is associated with reason by utterance is not firm, because it is of a twofold nature. But the safest conduct is to contemplate the living God by the soul alone, without utterance of any voice, because he exists according to the indivisible unit.
XII. As, therefore, among men in general, that is to say, among those who propose to themselves many objects in life, the divine spirit does not remain, even though it may abide among them for a very short time, but it remains among one species of men alone, namely, among those who. having put off all the things of creation, and the inmost veil and covering * Numbers xiv. 44. t Deut v. 31. J Exodus xviii. 14. _, 340 PHILO JUDiEUS.
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of false opinion, come to God in their unconcealed and naked minds. Thus also Moses, having fixed his tent outside of the tabernacle and outside of all the corporeal army,* that is to say, having established his mind so that it should not move, begins to worship God, and having entered into the darkness, that invisible country, remains there, performing the most sacred mysteries; and he becomes, not merely an initiated man, but also an hierophant of mysteries and a teacher of divine things, which he will explain to those whose ears are purified; therefore the divine spirit is always standing by him, conducting him in every right way: but from other men, as I have said before, it very soon separates itself, and com- pletes their life in the number of a hundred and twenty years.
For God says, " their days shall be an hundred and twenty years;"t but Moses, when he had arrived at that number of years, departed from mortal life to another. How, then, can it be natural for men who are guilty to live an equal length of time with the all-wise prophet? for the present, it will be sufficient to say this, that things which bear the same name are not in all cases alike, but very often they are distinct in their whole genus; and also that which is bad may have equal numbers and times with what is good, since they are represented as twofold, but still they have their respective powers, distinct from one another, and as remote and different as possible.
And we shall hereafter institute a more exact discussion of this period of a hundred and twenty years, which we will how- ever postpone, till we come to an examination of the whole life of the prophet, when we have become fit to be initiated in it, but at present we will discuss what comes next in order.
XIII. " And there were giants on the earth in those days. "J Perhaps some one may here think, that the lawgiver is speaking enigmatically and alluding to the fables handed down by the poets about giants, though he is a man as far removed as pos- sible from any invention of fables, and one who thinks fit only to walk in the paths of truth itself; in consequence of which principle, he has banished from the constitution, which he has established, those celebrated and beautiful arts of statuary and painting, because they, falsely imitating the nature of the truth, contrive deceits and snares, in order, through the medium of the eyes, to beguile the souls winch are liable to be easily won over. * Exodua xxxiii. 7. t Deut. xxiv. 7. f Genesis vi 4.
ON THE GIANTS. 341 ON THE GIANTS. 341 Therefore lie utters no fable whatever respecting the giants; but he wishes to set this fact before your eyes, that some men are born of the earth, and some are bom of heaven, and some are born of God: those are born of the earth, who are hunters after the pleasures of the body, devoting themselves to the en- joyment and fruition of them, and being eager to provide them- selves with all things that tend to each of them. Those again are bom of heaven who are men of skill and science and devoted to learning; for the heavenly portion of us is our mind, and the mind of every one of those persons who are bom of heaven studies the encyclical branches of education and every other art of every description, sharpening, and exercising, and practising itself, and rendering itself acute in all those matters which are the objects of intellect.
Lastly, those who are born of God are priests and prophets, who have not thought fit to mix themselves up in the constitu- tions of this world, and to become cosmopolites, but who having raised themselves above all the objects of the mere outward senses, have departed and fixed their views on that world which is perceptible only by the intellect, and have settled there, being inscribed in the state of incorruptible incorporeal ideas.
XIV. Accordingly, Abraham, as long as he was abiding in the land of the Chaldaeans, that is to say, in opinion, before he received his new name, and while he was still called Abram, was a man born of heaven, investigating the sublime nature of things on high, and all that took place in these regions, and the causes of them, and studying everything of that kind in the true spirit of philosophy; on which account he received an appellation corresponding to the pursuits to which he devoted himself: for the name Abram, being interpreted, signifies the sublime father, and is a name very fitting for the paternal mind, which in every direction contemplates sublime and hea- venly things: for the mind is the father of our composite being, reaching as high as the sky and even farther.
But when he became improved, and was about to have his name changed, he then became a man bom of God, according to the oracle which was delivered to him, " I am thy God, take care that thou art approved before me, and be thou blameless."* But if the God of the world, being the only God, is also by especial favour the peculiar God of this individual man, then • Genesis xviL 1.
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of necessity the man must also be a man of God; for the name Abraham, being interpreted, signifies, " the elect father of sound," the reason of the good man: for he is chosen out of all, and purified, and the father of the voice by which we speak; and being such a character as this, he is assigned to the one only God, whose minister he becomes, and so makes the path of his whole life straight, using in real truth the royal road, the road of the only king who governs all things, turning aside and deviating neither to the left hand nor to the right.
XV. But the sons of earth removing their minds from con- templation, and becoming deserters so as to fly to the lifeless and immovable nature of the flesh, " for they two became one flesh,"* as the lawgiver says, adulterated the excellent coinage, and abandoned the better rank which had been allotted to them as their own," and deserted to the worse rank, which was con- trary to their original nature, Nimrod being the first to set the example of this desertion; for the lawgiver says, " that this man began to be a giant upon the earth:"f and the name Nimrod, being interpreted, means, desertion; for it was not enough for the thoroughly miserable soul to stand on neither side, but having gone over to its enemies, it took up arms against its friends, and resisted them, and made open war upon them; in reference to which fact it is that, Moses calls the seat of Nim- rod's kingdom Babylon, and the interpretation of the word Babylon is " change;" a thing nearly akin to desertion, the name, too, being akin to the name, and the one action to the other; for the first step of every deserter is a change and alteration of mind, and it would be consistent in the truth to say that, according to the most holy Moses, the bad man, as being one destitute of a home and of a city, without any settled habitation, and a fugitive, is naturally a deserter also; but the good man is the firmest of allies.
Having said thus much at present, and dwelt sufficiently on the subject of the giants, we will now proceed to what comes next in our subject, which is this.
* Genesis ii. 24.
t Genesis x. 29 is the passage supposed to be alluded to; but ad translated in the bible it only says " He was a mighty hunter before the Lord " A TEEATISE ON THK UNCHANGEABLENESS OF GOD.
I. " And after this," says Moses, " it came to pass that the angels of God went in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children unto them." * It is worth while, therefore, to consider what is meant by the expression, -'And after this." It is therefore a reference to something that has been said before, for the purpose of explaining it more clearly; and a mention of the divine spirit has already been made, as he has already stated, that it is very difficult for it to remain through- out all ages in the soul, which is divisible into many parts, and which assumes many forms, and is clothed with a most heavy burden, namely its bulk of flesh; after this spirit, therefore, the angels of God go in unto the daughters of men. For as long as the pure rays of wisdom shine forth in the soul, by means of which the wise man sees God and his powers, no one of those who bring false news ever enters into the reason, but all such are kept at a distance outside of the sacred thresh- old.
But when the light of the intellect is dimmed and over- shadowed, then the companions of darkness having become victorious, associate themselves with the dissolute and effeminate passions which the prophet calls the daughters of men, and they bear children to them and not to God. For the appropriate progeny of God are the perfect virtues, but that offspring which is akin to the wicked, is unregulated wicked- ness. But learn thou, if thou wilt, 0 my mind, not to bear children to thyself, after the example of that perfect man Abraham, who offered up to God " The beloved and only legitimate offspring of his soul," f the most conspicuous image of self-taught wisdom, by name Isaac; and who gave him up with all cheerfulness to be a necessary and fitting offering to God. " Having bound," X as the scripture says, this new kind of victim, either because he, having once tasted of the dirine inspiration, did not condescend any longer to tread on any mortal truth, or because he saw that the creature was * Genesis vi. 2. f Genesis xxii. 2. J Genesis xxii. 9.
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unstable and moveable, while he recognised the unhesitating firmness existing in the living God, on whom he is said to have believed.* II. His disciple and successor was Hannah. The gift of the wisdom of God, for the interpretation of the name is her grace. For when she had become pregnant, having received the divine seed, and after she had completed the time of her labour, she brought forth, in the manner appointed by the arrangement of God, a son, whom she called Samuel; and the name Samuel being interpreted, means " appointed by God." She therefore having received him restores him to the giver; not looking upon anything as a good belonging to herself which is not divine grace. For in the first book of Kings,f she speaks in this manner: " I give him unto thee freely," the expres- sion here used being equivalent to, " I give him unto thee whom thou hast given to me." According to that most sacred scrip- ture of Moses, " My gifts and my offerings, and my first fruits, ye shall observe to offer unto me." J For to what other being should one bring gifts of gratitude except to God? and what offerings can one bring unto him except of those things which have been given to us by him? For it is not possible for us to have an abundance of anything else.
And he has no need of any of those things which he enjoins men to offer unto him, but he bids us bring unto him the things which are his own, through the excess of his beneficence to our race. For we, studying to conduct ourselves with grati- tude to him, and to show him all honours, should purify our- selves from sin, washing off all things that can stain our life in words, or appearance, or actions. For it is foolishness to imagine, that it is unlawful to enter into temples, unless a man has first washed his body and made that look bright, but that one may attempt to sacrifice and to pray with a mind still pol- luted and disordered. And yet temples are made of stones and timber, mere lifeless materials, and it is not possible for the body, if it is devoid of life by its own nature, to touch things devoid of life, without using ablutions and purifying ceremonies of holiness; and shall any one endure to approach God without being purified as to his soul, shall any one while impure come near to the purest of all beings, and this too without having any intention of repenting? Let him, indeed who, in addition ON THE UNCHANGEABLENESS OF GOD. 345 to having committed no new crimes, has also endeavoured to wash off his old misdeeds, come cheerfully before him; but let the man who is without any such preparation, and who is impure, keep aloof For he will never escape the notice of him who can look into the recesses of the heart, and who walketh in its most secret places.
III. Now the most evident sign of a soul devoted to God is that song in which that expression occurs, " She that was barren has borne seven children, and she that had many children has become weak."* And yet she who is speaking is in reality only the mother of one son, namely, of Samuel. How then does she say that she has borne seven children, unless indeed any one thinks that the unit is in its strictest nature identical with the number seven, not only in number, but also in the harmony of the universe, and in the reasonings 0/ the soul which is devoted to virtue? For he who was devoted to the one God, that is Samuel, and who had no con- nection whatever with any other being, is adorned according to that essence which is single and the real unit; and this is the constitution of the number seven, that is to say, of the soul that rests in God, and which no longer concerns itself about any mortal employment, when it has quitted the number six which it allotted to those who were not able to attain to the first rank, but who of necessity contented themselves with arriving at the second.
It is therefore not incredible that the barren woman, not being one who is incapable of becoming fruitful, but one who is still vigorous and fresh, striving for the chief reward in the arena of fortitude, patience, and perseverance, may bring forth a seven, equal in honour to the unit, of which numbers, nature is very productive and prolific. And she says, that " she that had many children has become weak," speaking accurately and very plainly. For when the soul, although only one, brings forth many children when separated from the one, it then naturally becomes infinite in number; and then being weighed down and overwhelmed by the multitude of children who depend upon it, (and the greatest part of them are premature and abortive), it becomes weak. For it brings forth the desire of forms and colours, as gratiiied by the eyes, and the pleasures arising from sound, as gratified by the ears. It is pregnant 346 PHILO JUD^EUS.
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also of the pleasures of the belly and of the parts beneath the belly, so that, as many children are attached to it, it becomes exhausted by bearing this heavy burden, and drops its hands from weakness, and faints away. And in this way it comes to pass that all those things are subdued which bring forth perish- able children to themselves, who are likewise perishable.