It is said that the old poisonous and earthborn reptile, the serpent, uttered the voice of a man. And he on one occasion coming to the wife of the first created man, reproached her with her slowness and her excessive prudence, because she delayed and hesitated to gather the fruit which was com- pletely beautiful to look at, and exceedingly sweet to enjoy, and was, moreover, most useful as being a means by which men might be able to distinguish between good and evil. And she, without any inquiry, prompted by an unstable and rash mind, acquiesced in his advice, and ate of the fruit, and gave a portion of it to her husband. And this conduct suddenly changed both of them from innocence and simplicity of cha- racter to all kinds of wickedness; at which the Father of all was indignant. For their actions deserved his anger, inasmuch ON THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. 47 as they, passing by the tree of eternal life, the tree which might have endowed them with perfection of virtue, and by means of which they might have enjoyed a long and happy life, preferred a brief and mortal (I will not call it life, but) time full of unbappiness; and, accordingly, he appointed them such punishment as was befitting.
LVI. And these things are not mere fabulous inventions, in which the race of poets and sophists delights, but are rather types shadowing forth some allegorical truth, according to some mystical explanation. And any one who follows a reasonable train of conjecture, will say with great propriety, that the aforesaid serpent is the symbol of pleasure, because in the first place he is destitute of feet, and crawls on his belly with his face downwards. In the second place, because he uses lumps of clay for food. Thirdly, because he bears poison in his teeth, by which it is his nature to kill those who are bitten by him. And the man devoted to pleasure is free from none of the aforementioned evils; for it is with difficulty that he can raise his head, being weighed down and dragged down, since intemperance trips him up and keeps him down. And he feeds, not on heavenly food, which wisdom offers to contem- plative men by means of discourses and opinions; but on that which is put forth by the earth in the varying seasons of the year, from which arise drunkenness and voracity, and licen- tiousness, breaking through and inflaming the appetites of the belly, and enslaving them in subjection to gluttony, by which they strengthen the impetuous passions, the seat of which is beneath the belly; and make them break forth. And they lick up the result of the labours of cooks and tavern-keepers; and at times some of them in ecstasy with the flavour of the delicious food, moves about his head and reaches forward, being desirous to participate in the sight. And when he sees an ex- pensively furnished table, he throws himself bodily upon the delicacies which are abundantly prepared, and devotes himself to them, wishing to be filled with them all together, and so to depart, having no other end in view than that he should allow nothing of such a sumptuous preparation to be wasted. Owing I to which conduct, he too, carries about poison in his teeth, no less than the serpent does; for his teeth are the ministers and servants of his insatiability, cutting up and smoothing 48 PHILO JUD^EUS.
them, in the first place to the tongue, which decides upon, and distinguishes between the various flavours, and, subsequently, to the larynx. But immoderate indulgence in eating is natu- rally a poisonous and deadly habit, inasmuch as what is so devoured is not capable of digestion, in consequence of the quantity of additional food which is heaped in on the top of it, and arrives before what was previously eaten is converted into juice.
And the serpent is said to have uttered a human voice, because pleasure employs innumerable champions and de- fenders who take care to advocate its interests, and who dare to assert that the power over everything, both small and great, does of right belong to it without any exception whatever.
LVII. Now, the first approaches of the male to the female have a pleasure in them which brings on other pleasures also, and it is through this pleasure that the formation and genera- tion of children is carried on. And what is generated by it appears to be attached to nothing rather than to it, since they rejoice in pleasure, and are impatient at pain, which is its con- trary. On which account even the infant when first brought forth cries, being as it seems in pain at the cold. For coming forth on a sudden into the air from a very warm, and indeed, hot region — namely, the womb, in which it has been abiding a considerable time, the air being a cold place and one to which it is wholly unaccustomed, it is alarmed, and pours forth tears as the most evident proof of its grief and of its impatience at pain. For every animal, it is said, hastens to pleasure as to the cud which is most indispeusable and necessary to its very existence; and, above all other animals, this is the case with man. For other animals pursue pleasure only in taste and in the acts of generation; but man aims at it by means of his other senses also, devoting himself to whatever sights or sounds can impart pleasure to his eyes or ears. And many other things are said in the way of praise of this inclination, especially that it is one most peculiar and kindred to all animals.
LVI1I. But what has been already said is sufficient to show what the reasons were on account of which the serpent appears to have uttered a human voice And it is on this account that Moses appears to me in the particular laws also which he issued in the respect to animals, deciding what were proper to beeaten, tnd what were not, to have given esoecial praise to the animal ON THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. 49 called the serpent fighter. This is a reptile with jointed legs above its feet, by which it is able to leap and to raise itself on high, in the same manner as the tribe of locusts. For the serpent fighter appears to me to be no other than temperance expressed under a symbolical figure, waging an interminable and unrelenting warfare against intemperance and pleasure. For temperance especially embraces economy and frugality, and pares down the necessities to a small number, prefeniug a life of austerity and dignity. But intemperance is devoted to extravagance and superfluity, which are the causes of luxury and effeminacy to both soul and body, and to which it is owing that in the opinion of wise men life is but a faulty thing, and more miserable than death.
LIX. But its juggleries and deceits pleasure does not ven- ture to bring directly to the man, but first offers them to the woman, and by her means to the man; acting in a very natu- ral and sagacious manner. For in human beings the mind occupies the rank of the man, and the sensations that of the woman. And pleasure joins itself to and associates itself with the sensations first of all, and then by their means cajoles also the" mind, which is the dominant part. For, after each of the senses has been subjected to the charms of pleasure, and has learnt to delight in what is offered to it, the sight being fasci- nated by varieties of colours and shapes, the hearing by har- monious sounds, the taste by the sweetness of flowers, and the smell by the delicious fragrance of the odours which are brought before it, these all having received these offerings, like handmaids, bring them to the mind as their master, leading with them persuasion as an advocate, to warn it against reject- ing any of them whatever. And the mind being immediately caught by the bait, becomes a subject instead of a ruler, and a slave instead of a master, and an exile instead of a citizen, and a mortal instead of an immortal. For we must altogether not I be ignorant that pleasure, being like a courtesan or mistress, is eager to meet with a lover, and seeks for panders in order by their means to catch a lover. And the sensations are her panders, and conciliate love to her, and she employing them as baits, easily brings the mind into subjection to her. And the sensations conveying within the mind the things which have been seen externally, explain and display the forms of each of them, setting their seal upon a similar affection. For the - 50 PHILO JUD^EUS.
mind is like wax, and receives the impressions of appearances through the sensations, by means of which it makes itself master of the body, which of itself it would not be able to do, as I have already said.
LX. And those who have previously become the slaves of pleasure immediately receive the wages of this miserable and incurable passion. For the woman having received vehement pains, partly in her travail, and partly such as are a rapid suc- cession of agonies during the other portions of her life, and especially with reference to the bringing forth and bringing up of her children, to their diseases and their health, to their good or evil fortune, to an extent that utterly deprives her of her freedom and subjects her to the dominion of the man who is her companion, finds it unavoidable to obey all his com- mands. And the man in his turn endures toils and labours, and continual sweats, in order to the providing of himself with necessaries, and he also bears the deprivation of all those spontaneous good things which the earth was originally taught to produce without requiring the skill of the farmer, and he is subjected to a state in which he lives in incessant labour, for the purpose of seeking for food and means of subsistence, in order to avoid perishing by hunger.
For I think that as the sun and the moon do continually give light, ever since they were originally commanded to do so at the time of the original creation of the universe, and as they constantly obey the divine injunction, for the sake of no other reason but because evil and disobedience are banished to a distance far from the boundaries of heaven: so in the same way would the fertile and productive regions of the earth yield an immense abundance in the various seasons of the year, without any skill or co-operation on the part of the husbandman. But at present the ever-flowing fountains of the graces of God have been checked, from the time when wicked- ness began to increase faster than the virtues, in order that they might not be supplying men who were unworthy to be benefited by them. Therefore, the race of mankind, if it had met with strict and befitting justice, must have been utterly destroyed, because of its ingratitude to God its benefactor and its Saviour. But God, being merciful by nature, took pity upon them, and moderated their punishment. And he per- mitted the race to continue to exist, but he no longer gave ON THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. 51 them food as he had done before from ready prepared stores, lest if they were under the dominion of his evils, satiety and idleness, they should become unruly and insolent.
LXI. Such is the life of those who originally were men of innoceuce and simplicity, and also of those who have come to prefer vice to virtue, from whom one ought to keep aloof. And in his beforementioned account of the creation of the world, Moses teaches us also many other things, and especially five most beautiful lessons which are superior to all others. In the first place, for the sake of convicting the atheists, he teaches us that the Deity has a real being and existence. Now, of the atheists, some have only doubted of the existence of God, stating it to be an uncertain thing; but others, who are more audacious, have taken courage, and asserted positively that there is no such thing; but this is affirmed only by men who have darkened the truth with fabulous inventions.
In the second place he teaches us that God is one; having reference here to the assertors of the polytheistic doctrine; men who do not blush to transfer that worst of evil constitu- tions, ochlocracy, from earth to heaven.
Thirdly, he teaches, as has been already related, that the world was created; by this lesson refuting those who think that it is uncreated and eternal, and who thus attribute no glory to God.
In the fourth place we learn that the world also which was thus created is one, since also the Creator is one, and he, making his creation to resemble himself in its singleness, em- ployed all existing essence in the creation of the universe. For it would not have been complete if it had not been made and composed of all parts which were likewise whole and com- plete. For there are some persons who believe that there are many worlds, and some who even fancy that they are boundless in extent, being themselves inexperienced and ignorant of the truth of those things of which it is desirable to have a correct cnowledge.
The fifth lesson that Moses teaches us is, that God exerts lis providence for the benefit of the world. For it follows of lecessity that the Creator must always care for that which he is created, just as parents do also care for their children. Lnd he who has learnt this not more by hearing it than by hia )wn understanding, and has impressed on his own soul these 52 PHILO JUDJ3US.
marvellous facts which are the subject of so much contention — namely, that God has a being and existence, and that he who so exists is really one, and that he has created the world, and that he has created it one as has been stated, having made it like to himself in singleness; and that he exercises a con- tinual care for that which he has created will live a happy and blessed life, stamped with the doctrines of piety and holiness.
THE FIEST BOOK OF THE TREATISE ON THE ALLEGORIES OF THE SACKED LAWS, AFTER THE WORK OF THE SIX DAYS OF CREATION.
I. " And the heaven and the earth and all their world was completed."* Having previously related the creation of the mind and of sense, Moses now proceeds to describe the perfection which was brought about by them both. And he says that neither the indivisible mind nor the particular sen- sations received perfection, but only ideas, one the idea of the mind, the other of sensation. And, speaking symbolically, he calls the mind heaven, since the natures which can only be comprehended by the intellect are in heaven. And sensation he calls earth, because it is sensation which has obtained a corporeal and somewhat earthy constitution. The ornaments of the mind are all the incorporeal things, which are percep- tible only by the intellect. Those of sensation are the cor- poreal things, and everything in short which is perceptible by the external senses.
II. " And on the sixth day God finished his work which he had made." It would be a sign of great simplicity to think that the world was created in six days, or indeed at all in time; because all time is only the space of days and nights, and these things the motion of the sun as he passes over the earth and under the earth does necessarily make. But the 6un is a portion of heaven, so that one must confess that time * Genesis ii. 1.
ON THE ALLEGORIES OF THE SACRED LAWS. 53 is a thing posterior to the world. Therefore it would be cor- rectly said that the world was not created in time, but that time had its existence in consequence of the world. For it is the motion of the heaven that has displayed the nature of time.
When, therefore, Moses says, " God completed his works on the sixth day," we must understand that he is speaking not of a number of days, but that he takes six as a perfect number. Since it is the first number which is equal in its parts, in the half, and the third and sixth parts, and since it is produced by the multiplication of two unequal factors, two aud three. And the numbers two and three exceed the incorporeality which exists in the unit; because the number two is an image of matter being divided into two parts and dissected like matter. And the number three is an image of a solid body, because a solid can be divided according to a threefold division. Not but what it is also akin to the motions of organic animals. For an organic body is naturally capable of motion in six directions, forward, backwards, upwards, downwards, to the right, ar.d to the left. And at all events he desires to show that the races of mortal, and also of all the immortal beings, exist according to their appropriate numbers; measuring mortal beings, as I have said, by the number six, and the blessed and immortal beings by the number seven. First, therefore, having desisted from the creation of mortal creatures on the seventh day, he began the formation of other and more divine beings.
III. For God never ceases from making something or other; but, as it is the property of fire to burn, and of snow to chill, so also it is the property of God to be creating. And much more so, in proportion as he himself is to all other beings the authoi* of their working. Therefore the expression, " he caused to rest," is very appropriately employed here, not " he rested." For he makes things to rest which appear to be producing others, but which in reality do not effect anything; but he himself never ceases from creating. On which account Moses says, " He caused to rest the things which he had begun." For all the things that are made by our arts when completed 6tand still and remain; but all those which are accomplished »y the knowledge of God are moved at subsequent times. For heir ends are the beginnings of other things; as, for instance, the end of day is the beginning of night. And in the same 54 PHILO JUDiEUS.
way we must look upon months and years when they come to an end as the beginning of those which are just about to follow them. And so the generation of other things which are de- stroyed, and the destruction of others which are generated is completed, so that that is true which is said that — And nought that is created wholly dies; But one thing parted and combined with others Produces a fresh form.
IV. But nature delights in the number seven. For there are seven planets, going in continual opposition to the daily course of the heaven which always proceeds in the same direc- tion. And likewise the constellation of the Bear is made up of seven stars, which constellation is the cause of communica- tion and unity among men, and not merely of traffic. Again, the periodical changes of the moon, take place according to the number seven, that star having the greatest sympathy with the things on earth. And the changes which the moon works in the air, it perfects chiefly in accordance with its own configura- tions on each seventh day. At all events, all mortal tilings, as I have said before, drawing their more divine nature from the heaven, are moved in a manner which tends to their pre- servation in accordance with this number seven. For who is there who does not know that those infants who are born at the end of the seventh month are likely to live, but those who have taken a longer time, so as to have abided eight months in the womb, are for the most part abortive births? And they say that man is a reasoning being in his first seven years, by which time he is a competent interpreter of ordinary nouns and verbs, making himself master of the faculty of speaking. And in his second period of seven years, he arrives at the perfection of his nature; and this perfection is the power of generating a being like himself; for at about the age of fourteen we are able to beget a creature resembling ourselves. Again, the third period of seven years is the termination of his growth; for up to the age of one and twenty years man keeps on in- creasing in size, and this time is called by many maturity.
Again, the irrational portion of the soul is divisible into seven portions; the five senses, and the organ of speech, and the power of generation. Again, the motions of the body are seven, the six organic motions, and the rotatory motion.
ON THE ALLEGORIES OF THE SACRED LAWS. 55 Also the entrails are seven — the stomach, the heart, the spleen, the liver, the lungs, and the two kidneys.
In like manner the limbs of the body amount to an equal number — the head, the neck, the chest, the two hands, the belly, the two feet. Also the most important part of the animal, the face, is divisible according to a sevenfold division — the two eyes, and the two ears, and as many nostrils, and in the seventh place, the mouth.
Again, the secretions are seven — tears, mucus from the nose, saliva, the generative fluid, the two excremental dis- charges, and the sweat that proceeds from every part of the body.
Moreover, in diseases the seventh day is the most critical period — and in women the catamenial purifications extend to the seventh day.
V. And the power of this number has extended also to the most useful of the arts — namely, to grammar. At all events, in grammar, the most excellent of the elements, and those which have the most powers, are the seven vowels. And like- wise in music, the lyre with seven strings is nearly the best of all instruments; because the euharmonic principle which is the most dignified of all the principles of melody, is especially perceived in connection with it.
Again, it happens that the tones of the voice are seven — the acute, the grave, the contracted, the aspirate, the lene, the long and the short sound The number seven is also the 61*31 number which is compounded of the perfect number, that is to say of six, and of the unit. And in some sense the numbers which are below ten are either generated by, or do themselves generate those numbers which are below ten, and the number ten itself But the number seven neither generates any of the numbers below ten, nor is it generated by any of them. On which account the Pythagoreans compare this number to the Goddess always a virgin who was born without a mother,* because it was not generated by any other, and will not gene- rate any other.
VI. " Accordingly, on the seventh day, God caused to rest from all his works which he had made."f Now, the meaning of this sentence is something of this kind. God ceases from forming the races of mortal creatures when he begins to create 56 PHILO JUDiEUS.
the divine races, which are akin to the nature of the number seven. And the reference which is here contained to their moral character is of the following nature. When that reason which is holy in accordance with the number seven has entered into the soul the number six is then arrested, and all the mortal things which this number appears to make.
VII. " And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it." God blesses the manners which are formed in accordance with the seventh and divine light, as being truly light, and imme- diately declares them holy. For that which is blessed, and that which is holy, are closely connected with one another. On this account he says, concerning him who has vowed a great vow, that " If a sudden change comes over him, and pollutes his mind, he shall no longer be holy.''* But the previous days were not taken into the calculation, as was natural, For those manners which are not holy are not counted, so that which is blessed is alone holy. Correctly therefore, did Moses say that " God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it," because on it he " caused to rest from all his works which he had begun to make." And this is the reason why he who lives and conducts himself in accor- dance with the seventh and perfect light is blessed and holy, since it is in accordance with his nature, that the creation of mortal beings was terminated. For the case is thus: when the light of virtue, which is brilliant and really divine, rises up, then the generation of the contrary nature is checked. And we have shown that God never desists from creating something, but that when he appears to do so he is only be- ginning the creation of something else; as being not only, the Creator, but also the Father of everything which exists.
VIII. " This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth, when they were created.''f This is perfect reason, which is put in motion in accordance with the number seven, being the beginning of the creation of that mind which was arranged according to the ideas, and also of the sensation ar- ranged according to the ideas, and perceptible only by the in- tellect, if one can speak in such a manner. And Moses calls the word of God a book, in which it is come to pass that the formations of other things are written down and engraved. But, lest you should imagine that the Deity does anything ac- * Numbers vi. 9. + Genesis ii. 4.
ON THE ALLEGORIES OF THE SACRED LAWS. 57 cording to definite periods of time, while you should rather think that everything done by him is inscrutable in its nature; uncertain, unknown to, and incomprehensible by the race ol mortal men. Moses adds the words, " when they were cre- ated," not defining the time when by any exact limitation, for what has been made by the Author of all things has no limitation. And in this way the idea is excluded, that the universe was created in six days.
IX. " On which day God created the heaven and the earth, and every green herb of the field, before it appeared upon the earth, and all the grass of the field before it sprang up. For God did not rain upon the earth, and man did not exist to cul- tivate the earth." This day Moses has previously called a book, since at least he describes the generation of both heaven and earth in each place. For by his most conspicuous and brillant word, by one command, God makes both things: the idea of mind, which, speaking symbolically, he calls heaven, and the idea of sensation, which by a sign he named earth. And he likens the idea of mind, and the idea of sen sation to two fields; for the mind brings forth fruit, which consists in having intellectual perception; and sensation brings forth other fruits which consist in perceiving by the agency of the external senses. And what he says has the following meaning; — as there was a previously existing idea of the particular mind, and also of the indivisible minds to serve as an archetype and model for either; and also a pre- existent idea of particular sensation, being, so to say, a sort of seal which gave impressions of forms, so before particular things perceptible only by the intellect had any existence, there was a pre-existent abstract idea of what was perceptible only by intellect, by participation in which the other things also received their names; and before particular objects perceptible by the external senses, existed, there was also a generic some- thing perceptible by the external senses, in accordance with a participation in which, the other things perceptible by the external senses were created.
By " the green herb of the field," Moses means that portion of the mind which is perceptible only by intellect. For as in the field green things spring up and flourish, 60 also tnat wnich is perceptible only by the intellect is the fruit 01 the mind. Therefore, before the particular something percepti 58 PHILO JUDJ3US.
ble only by intellect existed, God created the general some- thing perceptible only by intellect, which also he correctly denominated the universe. For since the particular something perceptible only by intellect is incomplete, that is not the universe; but that which is generic is the universe, as being complete.