And the particular soul, as far as it has received power, does 1 not permit any of the parts of the body to be separated or i cut off contrary to their nature; but as far as depends upon itself, it preserves every thing entire, and conducts the differ- ent parts to a harmony and indissoluble union with one another. But the mind of the wise man being thoroughly purified, preserves the virtues in an unbroken and unimpaired condition, having adapted their natural kindred and commu- nion with a still more solid good will.
XXI. This high priest, as Moses says, "shall not enter into any soul that is dead." But the death of the soul is a life according to wickedness; so that he must never touch any pollution such as folly is fond of dealing with. And to him also " a virgin of the sacred race is joined;" that is to say, an opinion for ever pure, and undefiled, and imperishable; for i he " may never become the husband of a widow, or of one who has been divorced, or of one who is a profane person, or of one who is a harlot," since he is always proclaiming an endless 'and irreconcileable war against them. For it is a hateful thing to him to be widowed wTith respect to virtue, and to be : divorced and driven away by her; and in like manner all per- suasion of this kind is profane and unholy.
But that promiscuous evil abandoued to many husbands, and to the worship of many gods, that is, a harlot, he does not think fit even to look upon, being content with her who has chosen for herself one husband and father only, the all-govern- 218 PHILO JUD^EUS.
218 PHILO JUD^EUS.
ing God. There is a certain extravagance of perfection visible in this disposition. He has known* the man who has vowed the great vow in some instances offending unintentionally, even if not of deliberate purpose; for he says, " But if any one die before him suddenly, he shall be at once polluted." For if of things without deliberation anything coming from without strikes down suddenly, such things do at once pollute the soul, but not with a pollution which remains for any length of time, inasmuch as they are unintentional actions. And about these actions the high priest (standing above them, as he also does above those which are voluntary) is indifferent.
But I am not saying this at random, but for the sake ol proving that the period of the death of the high priest is a most natural termination of exile to be appointed by the law so as to allow of the return of the fugitives. As long, there- fore, as this most sacred word lives and survives in the soul, il is impossible for any involuntary error to enter into it; for il is by nature so framed as to have no participation in, and tc be incapable of admitting any kind of error. But if it diet (not meaning by this that it is itself destroyed, but that it is separated from our soul), then a return is at once granted U intentional offences. For if while the word remained and was healthy in us, error was driven to a distance, by all means when the word departs, error will be introduced. For tin undefiled high priest, conscience, has derived from nature this most especial honour, that no error of the mind can find an) place within him; on which account it is worth our while tc pray that the high priest may live in the soul, being at thf same time both a judge and a convictor, who having receivec jurisdiction over the whole of our minds, is not altered in his appearance or purpose by any of those things which are broughl under his judgment.
XXII. Having now, therefore, said what was proper on th( subject of fugitives, we will proceed with what follows in th( regular order of the context. In the first place it is said " The angel of the Lord found her in the way,"* pitying the eoul which out of modesty had voluntarily committed th( * There is some obscurity in the sense here. Mangey propose; instead of ol£k 7rov, to read ovctTrov, but it does not seem any mor< intelligible than that in the text.
f Genesis xvi. 7.
ON FUGITIVES 219 danger of wandering about, and very nearly becoming a con- ductor of her return to opinion void of error. It is desirable also not to pass over in silence the things which are said in a philosophical strain by the lawgiver on the subject of discovery and investigation; for he represents some persons as neither investigating nor discovering anything, others as succeeding in both these paths, others as having chosen only one of them; of which last class some who seek do not find, and others find without having sought.
Those, then, who have no desire for either discovery or investigation have shamefully debased their reason by ignorance and indifference, and though they had it in their power to see acutely, they have become blind. Thus he says that "Lot's wife turning backwards became a pillar of salt;"* not here inventing a fable, but pointing out the proper nature of the event.
For whoever despises his teacher, and under the influence of an innate and habitual indolence forsakes what is in front of him, by means of which it may be in his power to see, and to hear, and to exert his other powers, so as to form a judg- ment in things of nature, and turns his head round so as to keep his eyes on what is behind him, that man has an admi- ration for blindness in the affairs of life, as well as in the parts of the body, and becomes a pillar, like a lifeless and senseless stone. For, as Moses says, " such men have not hearts to understand, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear,"f but make the whole of their life blind, and deaf, and senseless : and mutilated in every respect, so as not to be worth living, caring for none of those matters which deserve their attention. ' XXIII. And the leader of this company is the king of the region of the body. " For," says Moses, " Pharaoh turned himself about and went into his house, and did not set his heart to this thing either," J which statement is equivalent to, he did not take notice of anything whatever, but allowed him- self to become dried up like a plant which has no care taken of it by the farmer, and to lose his fertility and become barren.
Those then who take counsel, and consider matters, and who investigate everything carefully, sharpen and rouse their minds: and the mind being duly exercised bears its appro- priate fruit of cleverness and intelligence, by means of which * Genesis xix. 26 i Deut. xxix. 4. ± Ezodus vii. 23.
220 PHILO JUDJEUS.
the power of repelling all deceitful things is acquired. But the man who is an enemy to consideration blunts and breaks the edges of his wisdom; we must therefore discard the truly senseless and lifeless company of such men as these, and choose those who exert their powers of consideration and discovery.
And presently the political disposition is introduced, which, without being at all over ambitious of glory, has a desire for that better generation, which the virtues have received as their inheritance, and which consequently seeks and finds it; for, says the scripture, "A man found Joseph in the plain, and asked him saying, What seekest thou; and he said, I am seeking my brothers; tell me where they are feeding their flocks: and the man said unto him, They are departed from hence;. for I heard them saying, Let us go into Dothan; and Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan."* The name Dothan is interpreted, " a sufficient abandonment," being a symbol of the soul which has in no slight degree but altogether escaped those vain opinions, which resemble the pursuits of women rather than those of men. On which account virtue, that is Sarah, is very beautifully described as having given up "the manner of women," f which is the object of pursuit to those men who live an unmanly and truly feminine life. But the wise man is also " added when leav- ing," J according to Moses, speaking most strictly in accord- ance with nature. For the deprivation of empty opinion must necessarily be the addition of true opinion.
But if any one, passing his days in a mortal, and promiscuous, and variously formed life, and having abundant resources of wealth and riches, considers and inquires concerning that better generation which looks only to what is good, he is worthy of being received, if the dreams and visions of those things, which are fancied to be and which appear to be good, do not again overwhelm him and immerse him in luxury. For if he abides in contemplation of the soul without any adulteration, proceeding and following in the track of the things which he is seeking, he will never give up his search till he has attained to the objects of his wishes; but he will find none of the things which he desires among the wicked. Why not? Because they departed from hence. Having abandoned the studies of our friends they have changed their * Genesis xxxvii. 15. + Genesis xviii. 11. J Genesis xxv. 17.
ON FUGITIVES. 221 abode from the country of the pious, and settled in the desert of the wicked. But the real man, the con victor that dwells in the soul says this, who when he sees the soul in perplexity, and considering and investigating deeply, exerts a prudent care in its behalf, that it may not wander and so miss the right road.
XXIV. I very greatly wonder at those persons also, I mean at him who is fond of asking questions about what is in the middle between two extremes, and who says, " Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?*'* And also at him who answers, " My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering," and who afterwards finds what is given as a ransom; " For behold a single ram was caught by his horns in a shrub of Sabec." Let us therefore consider what it is that he who is seeking doubts about, and what he who answers reveals, and in the third place what the thing is which was found.
Now what the inquirer asks is something of this kind: — Behold the efficient cause, the fire; behold also the passive part, the material, the wood. Where is the third party, the thing to be effected? As if he said, — Behold the mind, the fervid and kindled spirit; behold also the objects of intelli- gence, as it were so much material or fuel; where is the third thing, the act of perceiving? Or, again, — Behold the sight, behold the colour, where is the act of seeing? And, in short, generally, behold the external sense, behold the thing to be judged of; but where are the objects of the external sense, the material, the exertion of the feeling? To him who puts these questions, answer is very properly made, " God will provide for himself." For the third thing is the peculiar work of God; for it is owing to his providential arrangement that the mind comprehends, and the sight sees, and that every external sense is exerted. " And a ram is found caught by his horns; " that is to say, reason is found silent and withholding its assent; for silence is the most excellent of offerings, and so is a with- hold iug of assent to those matters of which there are not clear proofs; therefore this is all that ought to be said, " God will provide for himself," — he to whom all things are known, who illuminates the universe by the most brilliant of all lights, himself. But the other things are not to be said by creatures * Genesis xxii. 7.
2Q2 PHILO JUD7EUS.
over whom great darkness is poured; but quiet is a means of safety in darkness.
XXV. Those also who have inquired what it is that nourishes the soul, for as Moses says, " They knew not what it was," learnt at last and found that it was the word of (Jod and the divine reason, from which flow all kinds of instinctive and everlasting wisdom. This is the heavenly nourishment which the holy scripture indicates, saying, in the character of the cause of all things, " Behold I rain upon you bread from heaven;"* for in real truth it is God who showers down heavenly wisdom from above upon all the intellects whicli are properly disposed for the reception of it, and which are fond of contemplation. But those who have seen and tasted it, are exceedingly delighted with it, and understand indeed what they feel, but do not know what the cause is which has affected them; and on this account they inquire, " What is this which is sweeter than honey and whiter than snow?" And they will be taught by the interpreter of the divine will, that " This is the bread which the Lord has given them to eat."t What then is this bread? Tell us. " This," says he, " is the word which the Lord has appointed." This divine ap- pointment at the same time both illuminates and sweetens the soul, which is endowed with sight, shining upon it with the beams of truth, and sweetening with the sweet virtue of per- suasion those who thirst and hunger after excellence. And the prophet also having himself inquired what was the cause of meeting with success, finds it to be associated with the only God; for when he was doubting and asking, Who am I, and what am 1, that I shall deliver the seeing race of Israel from the disposition hostile to God, which seems to be a king? He is taught by the oracle that, " I will be writh thee." And, indeed, inquiries into individual matters have a certain ele- gant and philosophical kind of meditation in them; for how can they avoid it? But the inquiry into the nature of God, the most excellent of all things, who is incomparable, and the cause of all things, at once delights those who betake themselves to its consideration, and it is not imperfect inasmuch as he, out of his own merciful nature, comes forward to meet it, display- ing himself by his virgin graces, and willingly to all those who are desirous to see him. Not, indeed, such as he is, for that * Exodus zvi. 4. t Exodus xvi. 15.
ON FUGITIVES. 223 is impossible, since Moses also turned away his face,* for lie feared to see God face to face; but as far as it is possible for created nature to approach by its own power those things which are only discernible to the mind. And this also is written among the hortatory precepts, for, says Moses, " Ye shall turn unto the Lord your God, and shall find him, when ye seek him with all your heart, and with all your soul."f XXVI. Having now spoken at sufficient length on this point also, let us proceed in regular order to consider the third head of our subject, in which the seeking existed, but the finding did not follow it. At all events Laban, who examined the entire spiritual house of the practiser of virtue, " did not," as Moses says, "find the images," J for it was full of real things, and not of dreams and vain fantasies. Nor did the in- habitants of Sodom, blind in their minds, who were insanely eager to defile the holy and unpolluted reasonings, " find the road which led to this"§ object; but, as the sacred scriptures tell us, they were wearied with their exertions to find the door, although they ran in a circle all round the house, and left no stone unturned for the accomplishment of their unnatural and impious desires.
And before now some persons, wishing to be kings instead of doorkeepers, and to put an end to the most beautiful thing in life, namely order, having not only failed in obtaining the success which they hoped to meet with through injustice, but have even been compelled to part with that which they had in their hands; for the law tells us that the companions of Korah, who coveted the priesthood, lost both what they wished for and what they had: for as children and men do not learn the same things, but there are institutions adapted to each age, so also there are by nature some souls which are always childish, even though they are in bodies which have grown old; and on the other hand, there are some which have arrived at complete perfection in bodies which are still in the prime and vigour of early youth.
But those men will deservedly incur the imputation of folly who desire objects too great for their own nature, since every- thing which is beyond ones power will vanish away through the intensity of its ov:n vehemence. And so Pharaoh also, * Exodus iii. 6. + Deuteronomy iv. 20.
X Genesis xxxi. 98. § Genesis xix. 11.
224 PHILO JUD^EUS.
when " seeking to kill Moses,"* the prophetic race, will neve: find him, although he has heard that a heavy accusation ii brought against him, as if he has attempted to destroy all th< supreme authority of the body by two attacks, the first o which he made upon the Egyptian disposition, which wa< fortifying pleasure as a citadel against the soul; for " having smote him," with an accidental instrument that came to hand " he buried him in the sand,"f thinking that the two doctrines, of pleasure being the first and greatest good, and of atoms being the origin of the universe, both proceed from the same source.
The second attack he made upon him who was cutting intc small pieces the nature of the good, and assigning one portion to the soul, another to the body, and another to external cir- cumstances; for he wishes the good to be entire, being assigned to the best thing in us, the intellect alone, as its inheritance, and not being adapted to anything inanimate.
XXVI I. Nor does he, who is sent forth to search for that virtue which is invincible and embittered against the ridi- culous pursuits of men, by name Tamar, find her. And this failure of his is strictly in accordance with nature; for \se read in the scripture, " And Judah sent a kid in the hands of his shepherd, the Adullamite, to receive back his pledge from the woman, and he found her not: and he asked the men of the place, Where is the harlot who was in iEnan by the way- side? and they said, There is no harlot in this place. And he returned back to Judah, and said unto him, I have not found her, and the men of the place say that there is no harlot there. And Judah said, Let her keep the things, only let me not be made a laughing-stock, I because I have sent the kid, and you because you have not found her. "J Oh, the ad- mirable trial! oh, the temptation becoming sacred things! Who gave the pledge? Why the mind, forsooth, which was eager to purchase the most excellent possession, piety towards God, by three pledges or symbols, namely a ring, and an armlet, and a staff, signifying confidence and sure faith; the connection and union of reason with life, and of life with reason; and upright and unchanging instruction on which it is profitable to rely. Therefore he examines the question as to whether he had properly given this pledge. What, then, is * Exodus ii. 1 5. f Exodus ii. 1 2. ' $ Genesis xxxviii. 20.
ON FUGITIVES. 225 the examination? to throw down some bait having an at- tractive power, such as glory, or riches, or bodily health, or bomething similar, and to see to which it will incline, like the balance in a scale; for if there is any inclination to any one of these things the pledge is not sure. Therefore he sent a kid in order to recover back his pledge from the woman, not because he had determined by all means to recover it, but only in the case of her being unworthy to retain it. And when will this be? when she willingly exchanges what is of importance for what is indifferent, preferring spurious to genuine good.
Now the genuine good things are faith, the connection and union of words with deeds, and the rule ox right instruction, as on the other hand the evils are, faithlessness, a want of such connection between words and deeds, and ignorance. And spurious goods are those which depend upon appetite devoid of reason; for " when he sought her he did not find her;" for what is good is hard to be found, or, one may even say, is utterly impossible to be found in a confused life. And if one inquires whether the soul, which is a harlot, is in every place of virtue, one will be distinctly told that it is not, and that it has not been previously; for a common, unchaste, and wanton, and utterly shameless woman, selling the flower of her beauty at a low price, and making her external parts both bright with purifications and washings, but leaving her inward parts unclean and vile, and being like pictures painted with colours about the face because of the absence of all natural beauty; she who pursues that promiscuous evil called the vice of having many husbands, as if it were a good, coveting polygamy, and laying herself open for infinite variety, and being mocked and insulted at the same time by ten thousand bodits and things, " is not there."
He, then, who sent the messenger to inquire, hearing this, having removed envy to a distance from himself, and being gentle in his nature, l'ejoices in no moderate degree, and says, ' Perhaps, then, according to my prayer, she is truly a vir- udus mind, a citizen wife, excelling in modesty, and chastity, uul all other virtues, cleaving to one husband alone, being :outent with the administration of one household, and rejoic- ng in the authority of one husband; and if she is such an bne, let her keep what I have given her — the instruction and VOL. II. Q 226 PHILO JUDiEUS.
the connection of reason with life and of life with reason, and what is the most necessary of all things, surety and faith But let us not be laughed at as appearing to have given gift which were not merited, while we think that we gave what i most suitable to the soul; for I, indeed, did what was prope for a man to do who wished to make experiment of and ti test her disposition, throwing out a bait and sending a mes senger; but he has showed me that her nature is not easib caught. And it is not clear to me why it is not easily caught for I have seen ten thousand persons of the extremely \vicke( class doing the same things as those who are extremely good but not with the same purpose, since the one class has trutl and the other only hypocrisy, and it is very hard to distinguisl the one from the other, for very often reality is overpowerec by appearance.
XXVIII. Also the person who loves virtue seeks a goat ty reason of his sins, but does not find one; for, already, as tht sacred scripture tells us, " it has been burnt."* Now m must consider what is intimated under this figurative expres sion — how never to do any thing wrong is the peculiar attri bute of God; and to repent is the part of a wise man. Bui this is very difficult and very hard to attain to. According!) the scripture says that "Moses sought and sought again" s reason for repentance for his sins in mortal life; for he was very anxious to find a soul which was stripped of sin, and coming forward naked of all offence without shame. Bui nevertheless he did not find one, the flame, I mean by this the very quickly moving irrational desire, rushing inwards and devouring the whole soul.
For what is smaller in numbers is usually overpowered by what is more numerous, and what is slower by what is more speedy, and what is to come hereafter by what is present. Now what is contracted in quantity, and slow, and future, is repentance; what is numerous, and swrift, and conti- nuous in human life is, iniquity. Very naturally, therefore, when any one falls into error, he says that he is unable to eai of vvhat is offered by reason of his sins, so that his conscience will not permit him to be nourished by repentance; on whicl account it is said in the scripture, " Moses heard, and it please( fiinn"t j'or the things which relate to the creature are ver **^- • -*-I^aviticAH k-. 16. t Leviticus xvi. 20.
ON FUGITIVES. 227 far removed from the things which relate to God; for to tho creature only those things which are visible are known, but to God, even those things also which are invisible. And that man is crazy who, speaking falsely instead of truly, while still committing iniquity, asserts that he has repented. It is like as if one who had a disease were to pretend that he was in good health; for he, as it seems, will only get more sick, since he does not choose to apply any of the remedies which are conducive to health.
XXIX. On one occasion Moses was urged on, by a desire of learning, to investigate the causes through which the most 'necessary of the things in the world are brought to perfection; 'for seeing how many things come to an end, and are produced afresh in creation, being again destroyed, and again abiding, he marvelled, and was amazed, and cried out, saying, " The bush (fidrog) burns, and is not consumed."* For he docs not trouble his head about the inaccessible (a[3aro$) country as being the abode of divine natures. But now that he is about to undertake a labour which will have no success and no end, he is relieved by the mercy and providence of God, the Saviour of all men, who has given warning out of his holy shrine, " Do not approach near this place," which is equivalent to, Do not approach this consideration; for it is a business requiring more labour, and more energy, and care, and fondness for investiga- tion than can be suited to human power. But be content with admiring what is created; and do not be over-curious about the causes why each thing is created or destroyed.
11 For the place," says God, " on which thou standest is holy ground. "f What kind of place is that? Is it not plain that it is that which relates to the principles of causes, which is the only one that he has adapted to the divine natures, not think- ing any more competent to aim at a clear understanding of the principles of causes? But he who, out of his desire for learn- ing, has raised his head above the whole world begins to inquire concerning the Creator of the world who this being is who is so difficult to see and whose nature it is so difficult to conjecture, whether he is a body, or an incorporeal being, or something above these things, or whether he is a simple nature like a unit, or a compound being or any ordinary existing thing. And when he sees how difficult * Exodus iii. 2.