Thus again a sailor and a pilot should dedicate their suc- cessful voyage; the agricultural farmer, his productive crops; the stock-farmer, the prolific increase of his flocks and herds; the physician, the good health of his patients; the commander of an army, his success in war; the magistrate or the king will offer up his administration of the laws or his sovereign power. And, in short, the man who is not blinded by self-love, looks upon the only true maker of all things, God, as the cause of all the good things affecting his soul, or body, or his external circumstances. Let no one therefore, of those wrho seem to be somewhat obscure and humble, from a despair of any better hope, hesitate to become a suppliant to God. But even if he no longer looks forward to any greater advantages, still let him, to the best of his power, give God thanks for the blessings which he has already received, and in effect, those which he has received are countless; his birth, his life, his soul, his food, his outward senses, his imagination, his inclinations, his reason; and reason is a very short word, but a most perfect and admirable thing, a fragment of the soul of the universe, ON THE CHANGE OF SCRIPTURE NAM 283 or, as it is more pious to say for those who study philosophy according to Moses, a very faithful copy of the divine image.
XL. It is right also to praise those inquirers after truth, who have endeavoured to tear up and carry off the whole trunk of virtue, root and hranch: but since they have not been able to do it, have at least taken either a single shoot, or a single hunch of the fruit, as a specimen and portion of the whole tree, being all that they were able to bear.* It is a desirable thing, indeed, to associate at once with the entire company of the virtues; but if this be too great an indulgence to be granted to human nature, let us be content if it has fallen to our lot to be connected with any one of the particular virtues, as a portion of the whole band, such as temperance, or courage, or justice, or humanity; for the soul may produce and bring forth some good from even one of them, and so avoid being barren and unproductive of any.
But will you impose any such injunctions as these on your own son? Unless you treat your servants with gentleness, do not treat those of the same rank as yourself socially. Un- less you behave decorously to your wife, never bear yourself respectfully to your parents. If you neglect your father and your mother, be impious also towards God. If you delight in pleasure, you must not keep aloof from covetousness. Do you desire great riches? Then be also eager for vain-glory. For what more need we add? Need you not desire to be moderate in some things unless you are able to be so in all? Would not your son say to you in such a case, My father, what do you mean? Do you wish your son to become either perfectly good or perfectly bad, and will you not be content if he keeps the middle path between the two extremes? Was it not for this reason that Abraham also, at the time of the destruction of Sodom, began at fifty and ended at ten?f Therefore, propitiating and supplicating God, entreat him that if there could not be found among his creatures a com- plete remission so as to give them liberty, of which the sacred number of fifty is a symbol, at least the intermediate instruc- tion which is equal in number to the decade, might be accepted for the sake of the deliverance of the soul which was about to be condemned. But those who are instructed have many more opportunities of prayer than those who are desti- tute of teachers, and those who are well initiated in encyclical • Numbers xiii. 25. f Genesis xviii. 32 284 PHILO JUDiEUS.
accomplishments have more opportunities than those who are unmusical and illiterate, inasmuch as they from their childhood almost have been imbued with all the lessons of virtue, and temperance, and all kinds of excellence. Wherefore, even if they have not entirely got rid of and effaced old marks of iniquity so as to wear a completely clean appearance, at least they have purified themselves in a reasonable and mode- rate degree.
And it is something like this that Esau seems to have said to his father, " Have you not one blessing for me, 0 my father? Bless me, bless me, also, 0 my father! "* For different blessings have been set apart for different persons, perfect blessings for the perfect, and moderate blessings for the im- perfect. As is the case also with bodies; for there are different exercises appropriate to those which are in health, and to those which are sick. And also different regimens of food, and different systems of living, and not the same. But some things are suitable to the one kind that they may not become at all diseased; and other things are good for the other sort, that they may be changed and rendered more healthy.
Since, therefore, there are many good things existing in nature, give me that which appears to be best adapted to my circumstances, even if it be the most trifling thing possible; looking at this one point alone, whether I shall be able to bear what is given me j with equanimity, and not, like a wretched person, sink under and be overwhelmed by it.
Again, what do we imagine to be meant by the words, " Will not the hand of the Lord be sufficient?"t Do they not sig- nify that the powers of the living God penetrate everywhere for the purpose of conferring benefits, not only on those who are noble, but on those also who appear to be in a more ob- scure condition, to whom also God gives such things as are suitable to the measure and weight of the soul of each indi- vidual, conjecturing and measuring in his own mind with perfect equality what is proportionate to the circumstances and requirements of each.
XLI. But what makes an impression on me in no ordinary degree is the law which is enacted with respect to those who put off their sins and seem to be repentant. For this law commands that the first victim which such persons offer shall * Genesis xxvii. 28. f Numbers xi. 23.
ON THE CHANGE OF SCRIPTURE NAMES. 285 be a female sheep without spot. But if, it proceeds, " his hand is not strong enough to bring a sheep, then for the trespass which he has committed he shall bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons, one for his trespass and one for a burnt offering; and if his hand cannot find a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons, then he shall bring as his gift the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering; he shall not pour oil upon it, nor shall he place any frankincense thereon, because it is a sin offering; and he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest having taken it from him shall take a full hand- ful of it, and place it as a memorial on the altar."* God therefore here is propitiated by three different kinds of repentance, by the aforesaid beasts, or by the birds, or by the white flour, according, in short, to the ability of him who is being purified and who repents. For small offences do not require great purifications, nor are small purifications fit for great crimes; but they should be equal, and similar, and in due proportion. It is worth while, therefore, to examine what is meant by this purification which may be accomplished in three ways.
Now it may almost be said that both offences and good actions are perceived to exist in three things; in intention, or in words, or in actions. On which account Moses, teaching in his hortatory admonitions that the attainment of good is not impossible nor even very difficult, says, " It is not necessary to soar up to heaven, nor to go to the borders of the earth and sea, for the attainment of it, but it is near, yea, and very near."f And then in a subsequent passage he shows it all but to the naked eye as one may say, where he says, " Every action is \ \ thy mouth, or in thy heart, or in thy hands:"| meaning under this symbolical expression, in thy words, or in thy designs, or in thy actions. For he means that human happiness consists in wise design, and good language, and righteous actions, just as the unhappiness arises from the con trary course. For both well-doing and wrong-doing exist in the same regions, in the heart, or in the mouth, or in the hand; for some persons decide in the most righteous, and sagacious manner, some speak most excellently, some do only what ought to be clone: again, of the three sources of error the most unim- portant is to design to do what ought not to be done, the most grievous is to do what is iniquitous, the middle evil is to speak improperly. But it often happens that even 'what is least im- portant is the most difficult to be removed; for it is very hard to bring an agitated state of the soul to tranquillity; and one may more easily check the impetuosity of a torrent than the perversion of the soul which is hurrying in a wrong direction, without restraint. For innumerable notions coming one upon the other like the waves of a stormy sea, bearing everything along with them, and throwing everything into confusion, overturn the whole soul with irresistible violence.
Therefore the most excellent, and most perfect kind of pu- rification is this, not to admit into one's mind any improper notions, but to regulate it in peace and obedience to law, the ruler of which principles is justice. The next kind is, not to offend in one's language either by speaking falsely, or by swearing falsely, or by deceiving, or by practising sophistrv, or by laying false informations; or, in short, by letting loose one's mouth and tongue to the injury of any one, as it is better to put a bridle and an insuperable chain on those members.
XLII. But why it is a more grievous offence to say what is wrong than only to think it, is very easy to see. For some times a person thinks without any deliberate previous inten- tion of so thinking, but inconsiderately: for he is compelled to admit ideas in his mind which he does not wish to admit; and nothing which is involuntary is blameable: but a man speaks intentionally, so that if he utters words which are not proper he is unhappy and is committing offence, since he does not even by chance choose to say anything that is proper, and it would be more for his advantage to adopt that safest expedient of silence: and, in the second place, anyone who is not silent can be silent if he pleases.
But what is even a still more grievous offence than speaking wrongly, is unjust action. For the word, as it is said, is the shadow of the deed; and how can an injurious deed help being more mischievous than a shadow of the same character? On this account Moses released the mind, even when it yielded to many involuntary perversions and errors, from accusations and from penalties, thinking that it was rather acted upon by notions which forced their way into it, than was itself acting.
But whatever £oes out through the mouth that he makes the utterer responsible for and brings him before the tribunal, since the act of speaking is one which is in our own power. But the investigation to which words are subject is a more ON THE CHANGE OF SCRIPTURE NAMES. 287 moderate one, and that with whicn words are united is a more vigorous one. For he imposes severe punishments on those who commit gross offences, and who carry out in action, and utter with hasty tongues what they have designed in their unjust minds.
XLIII. Therefore he has called the purifying victims which are to he offered up for the three offenders, the mind, speech, and the action, a sheep, and a pair of turtle doves or pigeons, and the tenth part of a sacred measure of fine flour; thinking it fit that the mind should be purified by a sheep, the speech by winged creatures, and the action by fine flour: Why is this? Because, as the mind is the most excellent thing in us, so also is the sheep the most excellent among irrational animals, inasmuch as it is the most gentle, and also as it gives forth a yearly produce in its fleece, for the use and also for the ornament of mankind. For clothes keep off all injury from both cold and heat, and also they conceal the unmentionable parts of nature, and in this way they are an ornament to those who use them: therefore the sheep, as being the most excellent of animals, is a symbol of the purifi- cation of the most excellent part of man, the mind.
And birds are an emblem of the purification of the speech: for speech is a light thing, and winged by nature, flying and penetrating in every direction more swiftly than an arrow. For what is once said can never be re-called;• but being borne abroad, and running on with great swiftness, it strikes the ears and penetrates every sense of hearing, resounding loudly: but speech is of two kinds, one true and the other false; on which account it appears to me to be here compared to a pair of turtle doves or young pigeons: and of these birds one he says is to be looked upon as a sin offering, and one is to be sacrificed as a burnt offering, since the speech which is true is wholly and in all respects sacred and perfect, but that which is false is very wrong and requires correction.
Again, as I have already said, fine flour is a symbol of the purification of activity, but it is sorted from the commoner sort by the hands of the bakers, who make the business their study.
* This resembles what is said by Horace — Nescit vox missa reverti. — A. P. 390. And iu another place — Et seme! emissum volat irrevocabile verbutn.— Epist. I. 18, 71.
288 philo jud^us.
On Avhicli account the law says, " And the priest having taken an entire handful, shall place it on the altar as a memorial of them," by the word handful, indicating both the endeavour and the action.
And he speaks ■with exceeding accuracy with respect to the sheep, when he says, " And if his hand be not strong enough to supply a sheep;" but with respect to the birds he says, " And if he cannot find a bird." Why is this? Because it is a sign of very great strength and of excessive power, to get rid of the errors of the mind: but it does not require any great strength, to check the errors of words; for, as I have said already, silence is a remedy for all the offences that can be committed by the voice, and every one may easily practise silence; but yet, by reason of their chattering habits and want of moderation in their language, many people cannot find out how to impose a limitation on their speech.
XLIV. Since then, the virtuous man has been bred up among' and practised in these and similar divisions and discriminations of things, does he not rightly appear to pray that Ishmael may live, if he is not as yet able to become the father of Isaac? What then does the merciful God say? To him who asks for one thing he gives two, and on him who prays for what is less he bestows what is greater; for, says the historian, he said unto Abraham, "Yea, behold, Sarrah thy wife shall bring forth a son."* Very felicitous and significant is this answer, "Yea;" for what can be more suitable to and more like the character of God, than to promise good things and to ratify that promise with all speed! But what God promises every foolish man repudiates; therefore the sacred scriptures represent Leah as hated, and on this account it is that she received that name; for Leah, being interpreted, means "repudiating and labouring," because we all turn away from virtue and think it a laborious thing, by reason of its very often imposing commands on us which are not pleasant. But nevertheless, she is thought worthy of such an honourable reception from the prince, that her womb is opened by him, so as to receive the seed of divine generation, in ordor to the production of honourable pursuits and actions.
Learn therefore, 0 soul, that Sarrah. that is, virtue, will bring forth to thee a son; and that Hagar, or intermediate * Genesis xviL 1 9.
ON THE CHANGE OF SCRIPTURE NAMES. 289 instruction, is not the only one who will do so; for her offspring is one which has its knowledge from teaching, but the offspring of the other is entirely self-taught. And do not wonder, if God, who brings forth all good things, has also brought forth this race, which, though rare upon the earth, is very numerous in heaven. And you may learn this also from other things of which man consists: do the eyes see from having been taught to do so? And what do the nostrils do? Do they smell by reason of their having learnt? And do the hands touch, or the feet advance, in accordance with the com- mands or recommendations of instructors? Again, do the appetites and imaginations (and these are the first moving powers and persuasions of the soul) exist in consequence of teaching? And has our mind gone as a pupil to any sophist, in order to learn to think and to comprehend? All these things repudiate all kinds of instruction, and avail them- selves only of the spontaneous gifts of nature to exert their appropriate energies.
Why then do you any longer wonder if God showers upon men virtue, unaccompanied by any labour or suffering, such as stand in need of no superintending care or instruction, but is from the very beginning entire and perfect? And if you wish to receive any testimony in corroboration of this view, can you find any more trustworthy than that of Moses? And he says that the rest of mankind derive their food from the earth, but that he alone who is endowed with the power of sight, derives his from heaven. And men occupied in agriculture co-operate to produce the food from the earth; but God, the only cause and giver, rains down the food from heaven without the cooperation of any other being.
And, indeed, we read in the scriptures, " Behold, I rain upon you bread from heaven."* Now what nourishment can the scriptures properly say is rained down, except heavenly wisdom? which God sends from above upon those souls which have a longing for virtue, God who possesses a great abund- ance and exceeding treasure of wisdom, and who irrigates the universe, and especially so on the sacred seventh day which he calls the sabbath; for then, he says, that there is an influx of spontaneous good things, not rising from any kind of art, but Exodus xvi. 4. VOL. II. U Q90 PHILO JUD.EUS.
shooting up by their own spontaneous and self-perfecting nature, and bearing appropriate fruit.
XLV. Virtue, therefore, will bring thee forth a legitimate male child, far removed from all effeminate passions; and thoi shalt call the name of thy son by the name of the passior, which thou feelest in regard to him; and thou wilt by afl means feel joy; so that thou shalt give him a name which i- an emblem of joy, namely, Laughter. As grief and fear have their appropriate expressions which the passion, when more than usually violent and predominant, gives utterance to; so also, good counsels and happiness compel a man to employ a natural expression of them, for which no one could find out more appropriate and felicitous names, even if he were very skilful in the imposition of names. On which account God says, " I have blessed him, I will increase him, I will multiply him, he shall beget twelve nations;"* that is to say, he shall beget the whole circle and ring of the sophistical preliminary brandies of education; but I will make my covenant with Israel, that the race of mankind may receive each kind of virtue, the weaker part of them receiving both that which is taught by others, and that which is learnt by one's self, and the stronger part that which is ready and prepared.
XL VI. " And at that time," says he, " she shall bring forth a son to thee;"f that is to say, wisdom shall bring forth joy. What time, 0 most marvellous being, are you pointing out? Is it that which cannot be indicated by the thing brought forth? For that must be the real time, the rising of the universe, the prosperity and happiness of the whole earth, and of heaven, and of all intermediate natures, and of all animals, and of all plants. On which account Moses also took courage to say to those who had run away, and who did not dare to enter upon a wax in the cause of virtue against those who were arrayed against it, " The Lord has departed from them, but the Lord is in us;"J for he here almost confesses in express words that God is time, who stands aloof and at a distance from every impious person, but walks among those souls whicli cultivate virtue. " For," says he, " I will walk among you, and I will be your God."§ But those wrho say that what is meant by time is only the seasons of the year are misapplying t it * Genesis xvii. 20. + Genesis xv. 10.
+ Numbers xiv. 9. § Leviticus, xxvi. 12.
ON THE CHANGE OF SCRIPTURE NAMES. 291 names with great inaccuracy, like men who have not studied the natures of things with any care, but have gone on to a great degree at random.
XL VII. But by way of amplifying the beauty of the creature to be born, he says that it shall be born the next year, indicating by the term, " the next year,"* not a difference of time, such as is measured by lunar or solar periods, but that which is truly marvellous, and strange, and new, being an age which is very different from those which are visible to the eyes and percep- tible to the outward senses, being investigated in incorporeal things appreciable only by the intellect, which, in fact, is the model and archetype of time. But an age is a name given to the life of the world, intelligible only by the intellect, as time is that given to the life of the world, perceptible by the out- ward senses.
And in this year the man who had sown the graces of God so as to produce many more good things, in order that the greatest possible number of persons worthy to share them might participate in them, finds also the barley producing a hundredfold. t But he who has sown does usually also reap. And he sowed, displaying the virtue, the enemy of envy and wickedness; he is, however, here said to find, not to reap. For he who has made the ear of his good deeds more produc- tive and full, was a different person, having laid up an abund- ance of greater hopes well prepared, and he also proposed more abundant advantages to all those who sought them, encouraging them to hope to find them.
XLVIII. And the words, "He finished speaking to him, "J are equivalent to saying, he made his hearer perfect, though he was devoid of wisdom before, and he filled him with immortal lessons. But when his disciple became perfect, the Lord went up and departed from Abraham, showing, not that he separated himself from him; for the wise man is naturally an attendant of God, not wishing to represent the spontaneous inclination of the disciple in order that as he had learnt while his teacher was no longer standing by him, and without any necessity urging him, giving of his own accord a specimen ot himself, and displaying a voluntary and spontaneous eagerness to learn, he might for the future exert his energies by himself; for the teacher assigns a model to him who has learnt by * Genesis xviii 10. + Genesis xxvi. 12. £ Genesis xvii 22.
voluntary study without any suggestions from other quarters, stamping on him a most durable species of indelible recollec- tion.
A TREATISE ON THE DOCTRINE THAT DREAMS ARE SENT FROM GOD.
BOOK I.
I. The treatise before this one has contained our opinions on those visions sent from heaven which are classed under the first species; in reference to which subject we delivered our opinion that the Deity sent the appearances which are beheld by man in dreams in accordance with the suggestions of his own nature. But in this treatise we will, to the best of our power, describe those dreams which come under the second species. » Now the second species is that in which our mind, being moved simultaneously with the mind of the universe, has appeared to be hurried away by itself and to be under the influence of divine impulses, so as to be rendered capable of comprehending beforehand, and knowing by anticipation some of the events of the future. Now the first dream which is akin to the species which I have been describing, is that which appeared on the ladder which reached up to heaven, and which was of this kind.
" And Jacob dreamed, and behold a ladder was firmly planted on the earth, the head of which reached up to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold there was a ladder firmly planted on the earth, and the Lord was standing steadily upon it; and he said, I am the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: be not afraid. The earth on which thou art sleeping I will give unto thee and unto thy seed, and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and it shall be multiplied as the sand on the sea- shore, and shall spread to the south, and to the north, and to the east; and in thee shall all the kindreds of the earth be ON DREAMS BEING SENT FROM GOD. 293 blessed, and in thy seed also. And, behold, T am with thee, keeping thee in all thy ways, by whichever thou goest, and I will bring thee again into this land; because I will not leave thee until I have done everything which I have said unto thee."* But the previous consideration of the circumstances of this vision require that we should examine them with accuracy, and then perhaps we shall be able to comprehend what is in- dicated by the vision. What, then, are the previous circum- stances? The scripture tells us, " And Jacob went up from the well of the oath, and came to Charran, and went into a place and lay down there until the sun arose. And he took one of the stones of the place and placed it at his head, and went to sleep in that place." And immediately afterwards came the dream. Therefore it is well at the outset to raise a question on these three points: — One, What was the well of the oath,f and why was it called by this name? Secondly, What is Charran, and why, after Jacob had departed from the well be- forementioned, did he immediately go to Charran? Thirdly, What was the place, and why, when he was in it, did the sun at once set, and did he go to sleep?
II. Let us then at once begin and consider the first of these points. To me, then, the well appears to be an emblem of knowledge; for its nature is not superficial, but very deep. Nor does it lie in an open place, but a well is fond of being hidden somewhere in secret. Nor is it found with ease, but only after great labour and with difficulty; and this too is seen to be the case with sciences, not only with such as have great and indescribable subjects of speculation, but even with re- spect to such as are the most insignificant. Choose, therefore, whichever art you please; not the most excellent, but even the most obscure of all, which perhaps no one who has been bred a free man in the whole city would ever study of his own ac- cord, and which scarcely any servant in the field would attend to, who, against his will, was a slave to some morose and ill- tempered master who compelled him to do many unpleasant things.
For the matter will be found to be not a simple one, but rather one of great complications and variety, not easy to be j seized upon, but difficult to discover, difficult to master, hostile * Genesis xxviii. 12. + Genesis xxvi. 33.
294 PHILO JUDiEUS.