She also confirmed her statement by another passage in scripture of the following purport: " Behold, I have set before thy face life and death, good and evil."* Therefore, 0 all- wise man, good and virtue mean life, and evil and wicked- ness mean death. And in another passage we read, " This is thy life, and thy length of days, to love the Lord thy God."f This is the most admirable definition of immortal life, to be occupied by a love and affection for God unembarrassed by any connection with the flesh or with the body. Thus, the priests, Nadab and Abihu, die in order that they may live; taking an immortal existence in exchange for this mortal life, and departing from the creature to the uncreated God. And it is with reference to this fact that the symbols of incorrupti- bility are thus celebrated: " Then they died before the Lord; "J that is to say, they lived; for it is not lawful for any dead person to come into the sight of the Lord.
And again, this is what the Lord himself has said, " I will be sanctified in those who come nigh unto me."§ "But the dead," as it is also said in the Psalms, " shall not praise the Lord," 1 1 for that is the work of the living; but Cain, that shameless man, that fratricide, is no where spoken of in the law as dying; but there is an oracle delivered respecting him in such words as these: " The Lord God put a mark upon Cain, as a sign that no one who found him should kill h.im."^[ Why so? Because, I imagine, wickedness is an evil which can never end, but which is kindled and is never able to be ON FUGITIVES. 207 extinguished; so that the lines of the poet may well be applied to wickedness — And she is of no mortal race, But an immortal foul disgrace.
Immortal, indeed, as to tiie life among us on earth, since with reference to the life with God it is lifeless and dead, and as some one has said, more worthless and odious than dung.
XII. But it was by all means necessary that different regions should be assigned to different things, the heaven to good things, the earth to what is evil; for the tendency of good is to soar on high, and if it ever comes down to us, for its Father is very bounteous, it still is very justly anxious to return again to heaven. But evil remains here, living at the greatest possible distance from the divine choir, always hovering around mortal life, and unable to die from among the human race. This, too, one of the most eminent among the men who have been admired for their wisdom has asserted, speaking in a magnificent strain in the Thesetetus, where he says, " But it is impossible for evils to come to an end. For it is indispensable that there should always be something in opposition to God. And it is equally impos- sible that it should have its place in the divine regions; but it must of necessity hover around mortal nature and this place where we live; on which account we ought to endeavour to flee from this place as speedily as possible. And our flight will be a likening of ourselves to God, to the best of our power. And such a likening consists of being just and holy in conjunction with prudence."* Very naturally, therefore, Cain, the symbol of wickedness, will not die, for wickedness must of necessity be always alive in the mortal race of mankind; so that the expression, " to die the death," is not incorrectly spoken of the homicide, for the reasons which have here been given.
XIII. And the expression, "not intentionally, but if God. deliver him into his hand," is used with exceeding propriety with reference to those who commit an unintentional homi- cide; for it seems to Moses here, that our intentional actions are the fruit of our own mind and will, but that our uninten- tional actions proceed from the will of God. I mean by this, uot our sins, but, on the contrary, those things which are the * riato. Thecctetus, p. 176.
SOS PHILO JUDJEUS.
punishment of our sins; for it is not becoming for God himself to inflict punishment, as being the first and most excellent Lawgiver; but he punishes by the ministry of others, and not by his own act. It is very suitable to his character that he himself should bestow his graces, and his free gifts, and his great benefits, inasmuch as he is by nature good and bountiful. But it is not fitting that he should inflict his punishments fur- ther than by his mere command, inasmuch as he is a king; but he must act in this by the instrumentality of others, who are suitable for such purposes.
And the practiser of virtue, Jacob, bears his testimony in support of this doctrine of mine, where he says, " The God who has nourished me from my youth up, the angel who deli- vered me from all my evils."* For the more ancient benefits, those by which the soul is nourished, he attributes to God, but the more recent ones, which are caused by the errors of the soul, he attributes to the servant of God. On this account, I imagine it is, that when Moses was speaking philosophically of the creation of the world, while he described every thing else as having been created by God alone, he mentions man alone as having been made by him in conjunction with other assistants; for, says Moses, " God said, Let us make man in our image."t The expression, " let us make," indicating a plurality of makers. Here, therefore, the Father is conversing with his own powers, to whom he has assigned the task of making the mortal part of our soul, acting in imitation of his own skill ■while he was fashioning the rational part within us, thinking it right that the dominant part within the soul should be the work of the Ruler of all things, but that the part which is to be kept in subjection should be made by those who are subject to him. And he made us of the powers which were subordi- nate to him, not only for the reason which has been mentioned, but also because the soul of man alone was destined to receive notions of good and of evil, and to choose one of the two, since it could not adopt both. Therefore, he thought it necessary to assign the origin of evil to other workmen than himself, — but to retain the generation of good for himself alone.
XIV. On which account, after Moses had already put in God's mouth this expression, " Let us make man," as if speak ing to several persons, he adds, as if he were speaking only o. * Genesis xlviii. 15. t Genesis i. 26.
ON FUGITIVES. 209 one, " God made man." For, in fact, the one God alone is the sole Creator of the real man, who is the purest mind; but a plurality of workmen are the makers of that which is called man, the being compounded of external senses; for which reason the especial real man is spoken of with the article; for the words of Moses are, " The God made the man;" that is to say, he made that reason destitute of species and free from all admixture. But he speaks of man in general without the addition of the article; for the expression, " Let us make man," shows that he means the being compounded of irra- tional and rational nature.
In accordance with this he has also not attributed the bless- ing of the virtuous and the cursing of the wicked to the same ministers, though both these offices receive praise. But since the blessing of the good has the precedence in panegyrics, and the affixing curses on the wicked is in the second rank of those who are appointed for these duties (and they are the chiefs, and leaders of the race, twelve in number, whom it is cus- tomary to call the patriarchs), he has assigned the better six, who are the best for the task of blessing, namely, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin; and the others he has appointed for the curses, namely, the first and last sons of Leah, Reuben, and Zabulon, and the four bastard sons by the handmaidens; for the chiefs of the royal tribe, and of the tribe consecrated to the priesthood, Judah and Levi, are reckoned in the former class.
Very naturally, therefore, does God give up those who have done deeds worthy of death to the hands of others for punish- ment, wishing to teach us that the nature of evil is banished to a distance from the divine choir, since even punishment, which, though a good, has in it some imitation of evil, is con- firmed by others. And the expression, " I will give thee a place to which he who has slain a man unintentionally shall flee," appears to me to be spoken with exceeding propriety; for what he calls a place is not a region filled by the body, but is rather, in a figure, God himself, because he, surrounding all things, is not surrounded himself, aud because he is that to which all things flee for refuge. It is proper, therefore, for him who appears to have been involuntarily changed to say that this change has come upon him by the divine will, just as it is not proper for him to say so who has done evil of his VOL. II. r 210 PHILO JUD^EUS.
own accord; and he says that he will give this place, not to him who has slain the man, hut to him with whom he is con- versing, so that the inhabitant of it shall be one person, but he who flees to it for refuge another; for God has given his own word a country to inhabit, namely, his own knowledge, as if it were a native of it. But to the man who is under the pollution of involuntary error he has given a foreign home as to a stranger, not a country as to a citizen.
XV. Having now said thus much in a philosophical spirit with respect to involuntary offences, he proceeds to legislate concerning the man who rises up to attack another, or who treacherously plots his death, saying, " But if any one attacks his neighbour so as to slay him by treachery, and he flees to God," that is to say to the place which has already been spoken of under a figure, from which life is given to all men. For ho says also in another passage: " Whosoever shall flee thither shall live." But is not everlasting life a fleeing for refuge to the living God? and is not a fleeing from his presence death? But if anyone sets upon another, he by all means is committing iniquity by deliberate purpose, and that which is done with treachery is liable to be accounted among voluntary actions, just as, on the other hand, that which is done without treachery is not subject to blame. There is nothing therefore of the wicked actions which are done secretly, and treacherously, and of malice aforethought, which we can properly say are done through the will of God, but they are done only through our own will. For, as I have said before, the storehouses of wickedness are in us ourselves, and those of good alono are with God.
Whosoever therefore flees for refuge, that is to say, whoso- ever accuses not himself, but God as the cause of his offence, let him be punished, being deprived of that refuge to the altar which tends to salvation and security, and which is meant for suppliants alone. And is not this proper? For the altar is full of victims, in which there is no spot, I mean of innocent and thoroughly purified souls. But to pronounce the Deity the cause of evil is a spot which it is hard to cure, or rather whicl: is altogether incurable.
Those who have cultivated such a disposition as to be lovers of themselves rather than lovers of God, may remain at t distance from the sacred places, in order that as polluted anc ON FUGITIVES. 211 impure persons, they may not behold, not even from a distance, the sacred flame of the evil which is unextinguishably set on fire, and purified, and dedicated to God with entire and perfect power. Very beautifully, therefore, did one of the wise men of old, hastening on to this same conclusion, find confidence to say that " God is in no respect and in no place unjust, but he is the most righteous being possible. There is nothing that more nearly resembles him than the man who is as just as possible. Around is the strength, and the real ability, and power of man, and also nothingness and unmanliness. For the knowledge of him is wisdom and true virtue; but the ignorance of him is real ignorance and manifest wickedness. And all other things which appear to be cleverness or wisdom, if they be displayed in political affairs are troublesome, and if in acts, are sordid.* XVI. Therefore, having further commanded the unholy man who is a speaker of evil against divine things to be removed from the most holy places and to be given up to punishment, he proceeds to say, " Whosoever hateth his father or his mother, let him die."f And in a similar strain he says, "He who accuseth his father or his mother, let him die." He here all but cries out and shouts that there is no pardon whatever to be given to those who blaspheme the Deity. For if they who bring accusations against their mortal parents are led away to death, what punishment must we think that those men deserve who venture to blaspheme the Father and Creator of the universe? And what accusation can be more dis- graceful than to say that the origin of evil is not in us but in God? Drive away, therefore, drive away, 0 ye who have been initiated in, and who are the hierophants of, the sacred mysteries, drive away, I say, the souls which are mixed and in a confused crowd, and brought together promiscuously from all quarters, those unp.uriued and still polluted souls, which have their ears not closed, and their tongues unrestrained, and which bear about all the instruments of their misery ready prepared, in order that they may hear all things, even those which it is not lawful to hear. But they who have been instructed in the difference between voluntary and involuntary offences, and who have received a tongue which speaketh good things instead of one which delighteth in accusation, when they do right are to be praised, and when they err contrary to * Plato. Thecctetus, p. 176. t Esoclus sxi 15.
their intention, they are not greatly to be blamed, for which reason cities have been set apart for them to flee unto for refuge.
XVII. And it is worth while to examine with all the accu- racy possible into some necessary points relating to this place. They are four in number. One, why it is that the cities which were set apart for the fugitives were not chosen out of those cities which the other tribes received as their portion, but only out of those which were assigned to the tribe of Levi. The second point is, why they were six in number, and neither more nor fewer. The third is, why three of them were beyond Jordan, and the other three in the land of the Canaanites. The fourth is, why the death of the high priest was appointed to the fugitives as a limit, after which they might return. We must, therefore, say what is suitable on each of these heads, beginning with the first in order.
It is with exceeding propriety that the command is given to flee only to those cities which had been assigned to the tribe of Levi; for the Levites themselves are in a manner fugitives, inasmuch as they, for the sake of pleasing God, have left parents, and children, and brethren, and all their mortal relations. Therefore the original leader of this com- pany is represented as saying to his father and mother, " I have not seen you, and my brethren I do not know, and my sons I disown,"* in order to be able to serve the living God without allowing any opposite attraction to draw him away. But real flight is a deprivation of all that is nearest and dearest to a man. And it introduces one fugitive to another, so as to make them forget what they have done by reason of the similarity of their actions. Either, therefore, it is for this reason alone, or perhaps for this other also, that the Levitical tribe of the persons set apart for the service of the temple ran up, and at one onset slew those who had made a god of the golden calf, the pride of Egypt, killing all who had arrived al the age of puberty, being inflamed with righteous anger, com- bined with enthusiasm, and a certain heaven-sent inspiration "And every one slew his brother, and his neighbour, and hire that was nearest to him."f The body being the brother of th( soul, and the irrational part the neighbour of the rational, a.Jc the uttered speech that which is nearest to the mind.
* Deuteronomy xxxiii. 9. t Exodus xxxii. 26.
ON FUGITIVES. 213 For by the following means alone can that which is most excellent within us become adapted for and inclined to the service of him who is the most excellent of all existing beings. In the first place, if man be resolved into soul, the body, which is akin to it as a brother, being separated and cut off from it, and also all its insatiable desires; and in the second place when the soul has, as I have already said, cast off the irrational part, which is the neighbour of the rational part; for this, like a torrent, being divided into five channels, excites the impetuosity of the passions through all the external senses, as so many aqueducts. Then, in regular order, the reason removes to a distance and separates the uttered speech which appeared to be the nearest to it of all things, in order that speech, according to the intention, might alone be left, free from the body, free from the entanglements of the outward senses, and free from all uttered speech; for when it is left in this manner existing in a solitary manner, it will embrace that which alone is to be embraced with purity, and in such a way that it cannot be drawn away.
In addition to what has been said above, we must also mention this point, that the tribe of Levi is the tribe of the ministers of the temple and of the priests, to whom the service and ministration of holy things is assigned; and they also perform sacred service who have committed unintentional ' homicide, since, according to Moses, " God gives into their : hands "* those who have done things worthy of death, with a ' view to their execution. But it is the duty of the one body j to know the good, and of the other body to chastise the wicked.
XVIII. These then are the reasons on account of which i they who have committed unintentional homicide fly only to *. those cities which belong to the ministers of the temple. We ■ must now proceed to mention what these cities are, and why ) they are six in number. Perhaps we may say that the most ancient, and the strongest, and the most excellent metropolis, for I may not call it merely a city, is the divine word, to flee to which first is the most advantageous course of all. But the other five, being as it were colonies of that one, are the powers of Him who utters the word, the chief of which is his creative power, according to which the Creator made the world with a * Exodus xxi. 31.
214 pnno jud^us.
■word; the second is his kingly power, according to which lie who has created rules over -what is created; the third is his merciful power, in respect of which the Creator pities and shows mercy towards his own work; the fourth is his legis- lative power, by which he forbids what may not be done. * # * * * And these are very beautiful and most excellently fenced cities, the best possible refuge for souls which are worthy to be saved for ever; and the establishment of them is merciful and humane, calculated to excite men, to aid and to encourage them in good hopes.
Who else could more greatly display the exceeding abun- dance of his mercy, of all the powers which are able to benefit us, towards such an exceeding variety of persons who err by unintentional misdeeds, and who have neither the same strength nor the same weakness? Therefore he exhorts him who is able to run swiftly to strain onwards, without stopping to take breath, to the highest word of God, which is the fountain of wisdom, in order that by drinking of that stream he may find everlasting life instead of death. But he urges him who is not so swift of foot to flee for refuge to the creative power which Moses calls God, since it is by that power that all things were made and arranged; for to him who compre- hends that everything has been created, that comprehension alone, and the knowledge of the Creator, is a great acquisition of good, w7hich immediately persuades the creature to love him who created it. Him, again, who is still less ready he bids flee to his kingly power; for that which is in subjection is corrected by the fear of him who rules it, and by necessity which keeps it in order, even if the child is not kept in the right way by love for his father.
Again, in the case of him who is not able to reach the boundaries which have been already mentioned, in respect of their being a long way off, there are other goals appointed for them at a shorter distance, the cities namely of the necessary powers, the city of the power of the mercy, the city of the power which enjoins what is right, the city of the power which forbids what is not right: for he who is already persuaded that the Deity is not implacable, but is merciful by reason of the gentleness of his nature, then, even if he has previously sinned, subsequently repents from a hope of pardon. And he whc ON FUGITIVES. 215 has adopted tbe notion that God is, a lawgiver obeys all the injunctions which as such he imposes, and so will be happy; and he who is last of all will find the last refuge, namely, the escape from evil, even though he may not be able to arrive at a participation in the more desirable good things.
XIX. These, then, are the six cities which Moses calls cities of refuge, five of which have had their figures set forth in the sacred scriptures, and their images are there likewise. The images of the cities of command and prohibition are the laws in the ark; that of the merciful power of God is the covering of the ark, and he calls it the mercy-seat. The images of the creative power and of the kingly power are the winged cherubim which are placed upon it. But the divine word which is above these does not come into any visible appearance, inasmuch as it is not like to any of the things that come under the external senses, but is itself an image of God, the most ancient of all the objects of intellect in the whole world, and that which is placed in the closest proximity to the only truly existing God, without any partition or distance being interposed between them: for it is said, " I will speak unto thee from above the mercy-seat, in the midst, between the two cherubim."* -So that the word is, as it v. ere, the charioteer of the powers, and he who utters it is the rider, who directs the charioteer how to proceed with a view to the proper guidance of the universe.
Therefore, he who is so far removed from committing any intentional misdeeds, that he is even free from all uninten- tional offence, will have God himself for his inheritance, and will dwell in him alone. But those who fall into errors which proceed not from wilful purpose, but which are done without premeditation, will have the aforesaid places of refuge in all abundance and fulness.
Now of the cities of refuge there are three on the other side of Jordan, which are at a great distance from our race. What cities are they? The word of the Governor of the universe, and his creative power, and his kingly power: for to these belong the heaven and the whole world. But those which, as it were, participate in us, and which are near to us, and which almost touch the unfortunate race of mankind which is alone capable of sinning, are the three on this side of the river; the * Exodus xsv. 22.
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merciful power, the power which enjoins what is to be dono, the power which prohibits what ought not to be done: for these powers touch us. For what need can there be of pro- hibition to persons who are not likely to do wrong? And what need of injunction to people who are not by nature inclined to stumble? And what need of mercy can those persons have who will absolutely never do wrong at all? But our race of mankind has need of all these things because it is by nature inclined and liable to offences both voluntary and involuntary.
XX. The fourth and last of the points which we proposed to discuss, is the appointing as a period for the return of the fugitives the death of the high priest, which, if taken in the literal sense, causes me great perplexity; for a very unequal punishment is imposed by this enactment on those who have done the very same things, since some will be in banishment for a longer time, and others for a shorter time; for some of the high priests live to a very old age, and others die very early, and some are appointed while young men, and others not until they are old. And again of those who are convicted of unintentional homicide, some have been banished at the beginning of the high priest's entrance into office, and some when the high priest has been at the very point of death. So that some are deprived of their country for a very long time, and others suffer the same infliction only for a day, if it chance to be so; after which they lift up their heads, and exult, and so return among those whose nearest relations have been slain by them.
This difficult and scarcely explicable perplexity we may escape if we adopt the inner and allegorical explanation in accordance with natural philosophy. For we say that the high priest is not a man, but is the word of God, who has not only no participation in intentional errors, but none even in those which are involuntary. For Moses says that he cannot be defiled neither in respect of his father, that is, the mind, nor of his mother, that is, the external sense;* because, I imagine, he has received imperishable and wholly pure parents, God being his father, who is also the father of all things, and wisdom being his mother, by means of whom the universe arrived at creation; and also because he is anointed with oil, by which I mean that the principal part of him i3 illuminated * Leviticua xxi. 11.
ON FUGITIVES. 217 with a light like the beams of the sun, so as to be thought i worthy to be clothed with garments.
And the most ancient word of the living God is clothed with the word as with a garment, for it has put on earth, and : water, and air, and fire, and the things which proceed from ' these elements. But the particular soul is clothed with the I body, and the mind of the wise man is clothed with the 1 virtues. And it is said that he will never take the mitre off from his head, he will never lay aside the kingly diadem, the i symbol of an authority which is not indeed absolute, but only i that of a viceroy, but which is nevertheless an object of admiration. Nor will he " rend his clothes;" for the word of . the living God being the bond of every thing, as has been said , before, holds all things together, and binds all the parts, and , prevents them from being loosened or separated.