For those who advocate the cause of pleasure affirm that consists of three times, of the memory of past delights, and the enjoyment of those that are present, and of the hope what are to come; so that the three baskets are likened ur the three portions of time, and the cakes upon the baskets those circumstances which are suitable to each of the portior, to the recollection of past joys, to the enjoyment of presc pleasures, to the hope of future delights. And he who carr; all these things is likened unto the lover of pleasure, who Is ON DREAMS BEING SENT FROM GOD. 381 illed his faithless table, a table destitute of all hospitable and riendly salt, not with one kind of luxury only, but with almost 3\ery description and species of intemperance; and this is JDJoyed by king Pharaoh alone, as if he were sitting at a uiblic banquet, and devoting himself to a dispersion, and scat- ering, and defeat, and destruction of temperance; for the lame Pharaoh, being interpreted, means "dispersion." And t is a magnificent and royal piece of conduct in him not to ;xult in the specious advantages of wisdom, but to pride him- ;elf on those pursuits of profligacy which it is unseemly to nention, wrecking himself on insatiable appetite, and gluttony, md effeminacy of life.
Therefore the birds, that is to say, the chances which never ould have been anticipated by conjecture, coming from outward Quarters and hovering around him, will attack and kindle Ivery thing like fire, and will destroy every thing with their 11-devouring power, so that there is not a single fragment eft to the bearer of the baskets for his enjoyment though he iad hoped to proceed with his inventions and contrivances, for ver and ever carrying them on in a safe place, so that they ould never be taken from him.
And thanks be to God who giveth the victory and who enders the labours of the man who is a slave to his passions, jtiough ever so carefully carried out, still unproductive and seless, sending down winged natures in an invisible manner >r their destruction and overthrow. Therefore, the mind, eing deprived of those things which it had made for itself, aving, as it were, its neck cut through, will be found head- ;ss and lifeless, and like those who are fixed to a cross, nailed i it were to the tree of hopeless and helpless ignorance. For 3 long as none of these things come upon one which arrive lddenly and unexpectedly, then those acts which are directed the enjoyment of pleasure appear to be successful; but hen such evils descend upon them unexpectedly, they are .'erthrown, and their maker is destroyed with them.
XXXII. The dreams, therefore, of those men who divide lose things which produce the taste according to every species ' food, whether it be meat or drink, and such as is not necesry but superfluous, and sought only by the intemperate, have :en sufficiently explained. But those of Pharaoh, who >pears to exercise sovereignty over these men and over all 382 PHILO JUD^US.
the powers of the soul, must now be investigated if we wou proceed in order and consistently with our plan.
Pharaoh says, " In my dream I thought that I was standir by the bank of a river, and seven oxen came up as it were 01 of the river, of eminent plumpness in their flesh, and beautif to the view, and fed in the green marsh; and behold, seve other oxen came up out of the river after them, evil to look; and ill-favoured, and lean in their flesh, such that I never sa any leaner in all Egypt; and the lean and ill-favoured oxt devoured the seven former oxen which were beautiful, ar picked out, and they entered into their stomachs, and sti their appearance remained ill-favoured, as I have described at first. And when I had awoke I fell asleep again; and aga I saw in my dream, and as it were seven ears of corn grew i on one stalk, full and beautiful. And seven other ears corn also came up, lean and wind-beaten, close to them, ar these last seven ears did swallow up the seven beautiful ai full ears."* You see now the preface of the lover of self who being easi moved, and changeable, and fickle, both in his body and soi says, " I thought that I was standing," and did not consid that unchangeableness and steadiness belong to God alone, ai to him who is dear to God. And the most evident proof the unchangeable power which exists in him is this wor) which is always in the same place and in the same conditio And if the world is immovable how can the Creator of it any thing but firm?
In the second place the sacred scriptures are likewise m( infallible witnesses; for it is said in them, where the wor are put into the mouth of God, " I stand here and the before you were, dwelling upon the rock,"f which is an expr sion equivalent to, Thus am I who am visible to you, and i here: and I am there and everywhere, filling all places, star ing and abiding in the same condition, being unchangeat before you or any one of the objects of creation had any exi ence, being beheld upon the highest and most ancient author of power, from which the creation of all existing things "\> shed forth, and the stream of wisdom flowed; " for I am ) who brought the stream of water out of the solid rock, "J is s I in another place. And Moses also bears witness to the imr - * Genesis xli. 17. + Exodus xvii. 6. J Dcut. viil 11 ON DREAMS BEING SENT FROM GOD. 383 tability of the Deity, where he says, " I saw the place where the God of Israel stood; "* intimating enigmatically that he is not given to change by speaking here of his standing, and of his being firmly established.
XXXIII. But there is in the Deity such an excessive degree of stability and firmness, that he gave even to the most excellent natures a share of his durability as his most excel- lent possession: and presently afterwards he, the most ancient author of all things, namely God, says that he is about to erect firmly his covenant full of grace (and that means his law and his word) in the soul of the just man as on a solid foundation, which shall he an image in the likeness of God, when he says to Noah, " I will establish my covenant with thee."f And besides this, he also indicates two other things, one that justice is in no respect different from the covenant of God, khe other that other beings bestow gifts which are different from the persons who receive them; but God gives not only those gifts, but he gives also the very persons who receive them to themselves, for he has given me to myself, and every living being has he given to himself; for the expression, "1 ffill establish my covenant with thee," is equivalent to, I will jive thee to thyself.
And all. those who are truly lovers of God desire eagerly to escape from the storm of multiplied affairs and business in vhich there is always tempestuous weather, and rough sea, nd confusion, and to anchor in the calm and safe untroubled laven of virtue. Do you not see what is said about the wise Abraham who " is standing before the Lord?"J For when pas it likely that the mind would be able to stand, no longer nclining to different sides like the balance in a scale, except rhen it is opposite to God, beholding him and being beheld y him? For perfect absence of motion comes to it in two rays, cither from beholding him with whom nothing can be ompared, because he is not attracted by anything resembling jimsclf, or from being beheld by him, because liieh he considered worthy, the ruler has assigned to himself .lone as the most excellent of beings. And indeed a divine dmonition was given in the following terms to Moses: Stand thou here with me,"§ by which injunction both these * Exodus xxiv. 10. t Genesis ix. 10.
384 PHILO JUDiEUS.
things appear to be intimated, first, the fact that the good man is not moved, and secondly, the universal stability of the living God.
XXXIV. For, in real truth, whatever is akin or near tc God is appropriated by him, becoming steady and stationary by reason of his unchangeableness; and the mind, being al rest, well knows how great a blessing rest is, and admiring, its own beauty, it conceives that either it is assigned to God aloue as his, or else to that intermediate nature which is betweer the mortal and the immortal race; at all events, it says, " Anc I stood in the midst between the Lord and you,"* not meaning by these words that he was standing on his own feet, bw wishing to indicate that the mind of the wise man, bein<: delivered from all storms and wars, and enjoying unrufnec calm and profound peace, is superior indeed to man, bu; inferior to God.
For the ordinary human mind is influenced by opinion, anc is thrown into confusion by any passing circumstances; bu the other is blessed and happy, and free from all participatioi in evil. And the good man is on the borders, so that one ma; appropriately say that he is neither God nor man, but that hi touches the extremities of both, being connected with tin mortal race by his manhood, and with the immortal race b his virtue.
And there is something which closely resembles this in th passage of scripture concerning the high priest; " For when, says the scripture, " he goes into the holy of holies, he wil not be a man till he has gone out again, "f But if at tha time he is not a man, it is clear that he is not God either, bu a minister of God, belonging as to his mortal nature t creation, but as to his immortal nature to the uncreate Goc And he is placed in the middle class until he again goes fort among the things which belong to the body and to the flesh.
And this is the order of things according to nature, wbe the mind, being entirely occupied with divine love, bends it course towards the temple of God, and approaches it with a possible earnestness and zeal, it becomes inspired, and forgel all other things, and forgets itself also. It remembers hii alone, and depends on him alone, who is attended by it as t a body-guard, and who receives its ministrations, to whom * Deuteronomy x. 10. f Leviticu3 svi. 17.
ON DREAMS BEING SENT FROM GOD. 385 consecrates and offers up the sacred and untainted virtues. Hut when the inspiration has ceased, and the excessive desire has relaxed, then it returns from divine things and becomes a man again, mixing with human affairs, which were awaiting him in the vestibule, that they might carry him off while gazing only on the things in them.
XXXV. Moses therefore describes the perfect man as being neither God nor man, but, as I said before, something on the border between the uncreated and the perishable nature. Again, he classes him who is improving and advancing towards perfection in the region between the dead and the living, meaning by " the living" those persons who dwell with wis- dom, and by " the dead" those who rejoice in folly; for it is said with respect to Aaron, that " He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed."* For he who is making progress is not reckoned among those who are dead as to the life of virtue, inasmuch as he has a desire and admiration of what is honourable, nor among those wTho are living in extreme and perfect prosperity, for there is still something wanting to the end, but he touches both extremes; on which account the expression, " the plague was stayed," is very properly used rather than " the plague ceased;" for in those who are perfect the things which break, and crush, and destroy the soul cease; but in those who are advancing towards perfection, they are only diminished, as if they were only cut short and checked.
XXXVI. Since then all steadiness, and stability, and the abiding for ever in the same place unchangeably and im- movably, is first of all seen in the living God, and next in the word cf the living God, which he has called his covenant; ind in the third place in the wise man, and in the fourth legree in him who is advancing towards perfection, what could [induce the wicked mind, which is liable to all sorts of curses, i'.o think that it is able to stand by itself, while it is in reality ><>rne about as in a deluge, and dragged hither and thither by he incessant eddies of things flowing in through the dead and vgitated body? " For I thought," says the scripture, " that [ was standing on the bank of the river:"f and by the word 'iver we say that speech is symbolically meant, since both these hings are borne outward, and flow on with a vigorous and * Numbers xvi. 48. t Genesis xli. 17.
sustained speed. And the one is at one time filled up with a great abundance of water, and the other with a quantity of verbs and nouns, and at another time they are both empty and relaxed, and in a state of quiescence; again, they are of use inasmuch as the one irrigates the fields, and the other fertilizes the souls of those who receive it. And at times they are in- jurious by reason of overflowing, as then the one deluges the land on its borders, and the other troubles and confuses the reason of those who do not attend to it.
XXXVII. Therefore speech is compared to a river, and the nature of speech is twofold, the one sort being better and the other worse; that is, the better kind which does good, and that of necessity is the worse kind which does harm; and Moses has given most conspicuous examples of each kind to those who are able to see, for he says, " For a river goes out of Eden to water the Paradise, and from thence it is divided into four branches:"* and by the name Eden he means thf wisdom of the living God, and the interpretation of the name Eden is " delight," because I imagine wisdom is the delight of God, and God is the delight of wisdom, as it is said also ir the Psalms, " Delight thou in the Lord."f And the divine word, like a river, flows forth from wisdon as from a spring, in order to irrigate and fertilize the celestia and heavenly shoots and plants of such souls as love virtue, a if they were a paradise. And this sacred word is divided int< four beginnings, by which I mean it is portioned out into fou virtues, each of which is a princess, for to be divided into be ginnings, J does not resemble divisions of place, but a kingdom in order that any one, after having shown the virtues as boun daries, may immediately proceed to show the wise man wli follows them to be a king, being elected as such, not by mer but by the only free nature which cannot err, and which can not be corrupted; for those who behold the excellence c Abraham say unto him, " Thou art a king, sent from Go among us;"§ proposing as a maxim, for those who study pbil< sophy, that the wise man alone is a ruler and a king, and th; virtue is the only irresponsible authority and sovereignty.
* Genesis ii. 10. + Psalm xxxvi. 4.
$ There is an unavoidable obscurity in the translation here. Tl Greek word is apxfll> which means beginnings, or principles, and al governments. § Genesis xxiii. G.
ON DREAMS BEING SENT FROM GOD. 387 XXXVIII. Accordingly, one of the followers of Moses, having compared this speech to a river, has said in the Psalms, u The river of God was filled with water;"* and it is absurd to give such a title to any of the rivers which flow upon the earth. But as it seems the psalmist is here speaking of the divine word, which is full of the streams of wisdom, and which has no part of itself empty or desolate, or rather, as some one has said, which is diffused everywhere over the universe, and is raised up on high, on account of the continued and incessant rapidity of that ever-flowing spring.
There is also another expression in the Psalms, such as this, " The course of the river makes glad the city of God.' f What city? For the holy city, which exists at present, in which also the holy temple is established, at a great distance from any sea or river, so that it is clear, that the writer here means, figuratively, to speak of some other city than the visible city of God. For, in good truth, the continual stream of the divine word, being borne on incessantly with rapidity and regularity, is diffused universally over everything, giving joy to all. And in one sense he calls the world the city of God, as having received the whole cup of the divine draught, and being gladdened thereby, so as to have derived from it an imperishable joy, of which it cannot be deprived for ever.
But in another sense he applies this title to the soul of the wise man, in which God is said also to walk, as if in a city, 11 For," says God, " I will walk in you, and I will be your God in you. "J And who can pour over the happy soul which prof- fers its own reason as the most sacred cup, the holy goblets of true joy, except the cup-bearer of God, the master of the feast, the word? not differing from the draught itself, but being tself in an unmixed state, the pure delight and sweetness, and oouring forth, and joy, and ambrosial medicine of pleasure ind happiness; if we too may, for a moment, employ the lan- guage of the poets.
XXXIX. But that which is called by the Hebrews the '".ty of God is Jerusalem, which name being interpreted means, ;4 the sight of peace." So that do not look for the city of the iving God in the regions of the earth, for it is not made of vood or of stone, but seek it in the soul which is free from C G v> 388 PHILO JUDiEUS.
war, and which proposes to those who are endowed with acute- oess of sight a contemplative and peaceful life: since where could any find a more venerable and holy abode for God amid all existing things, than the inind fond of contemplation, which is eager to behold every thing and which does not, even in a dream, feel a wish for sedition or disturbance? And a^ain, the invisible spirit which is accustomed to converse with me in an unseen manner prompts me with a suggestion, and says, 0 my friend, you seem to be ignorant of an important and most desirable matter which I will explain to you completely; for ] have also in a most seasonable manner explained many other things to you also. Know, then, 0 excellent man, that God alone is the truest, and most real, and genuine peace, and that every created and perishable essence is continual war.
For God is something voluntary, and mortal essence is necessity. Whoever, therefore, is able to forsake war, and necessity, and creation, and destruction, and to pass over to the uncreated being, to the immortal God, to the voluntan principle, and to peace, may justly be called the abode an< city of God. Do not, therefore, consider it a different thing whether you speak of the sight of peace or the sight of God as they are the same thing; because peace is not only th< companion but also the chief of the powers of the living God which are distinguished by many names.
XL. And, moreover, he says to the wise Abraham, "tha he will give him an inheritance of land from the river c Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,"* not mear ing a portion of the land so much as a better portion in respec of our own selves. For our own body, and the passions whic exist in it, and which are engendered by it, are likened to tl: river of Egypt, but the soul and the passions which are dear i that are likened to the river Euphrates. And here a doctrir is laid down, at once most profitable to life and of the highe importance, that the good man has received for his inheritam the soul and the virtues of the soul: just as, on the contrar the wicked man has received for his share the body and tl vices of the body, and those which are engendered by t body.
And the expression " from," has a double sense. One, ti by which the starting point from which it begins is include * Genesis xv. 18.
ON DREAMS BEING SENT FROM GOD. 389 the other that by which it is excluded. For when we say that from morning to evening there are twelve hours, or from the new moon to the end of the month there are thirty days, we are including in our enumeration both the first hour and the day of the new moon. And when any one says that such and such a field is three or four furlongs distant from the city, he clearly means to leave the city itself out of that measure- ment. So that now, too, we must consider that the expres- sion, " from the river of Egypt," is to be understood so as not to include that river; for the writer intends to remove us to a distance from the things of the body which are seen to exist in a constant flow and course which is being destroyed and ; destroying, that so we may receive the inheritance of the soul with the imperishable virtues, which are, moreover, deserv- ing of immortality.
Thus, therefore, by tracing it out diligently, we have found that praiseworthy speech is likened to a river; but speech which jis deserving of blame is the very river of Egypt itself, untracta- ble, unwilling to learn, as one may say in a word, lifeless speech; for which reason it is also changed into blood,* as not being able to afford sustenance. For the speech of ignorance is not wholesome, and it is productive of bloodless and lifeless frogs, which utter only a novel and harsh sound, a noise pain- ful to the ear. And it is said, likewise, that all the fish in :hat river were destroyed. And by the fish are here figura- tively meant the conceptions; for these things float about and ;xist in speech as in a river, resembling living things and fili- ng the river with life. But in uninstructed speech all con- ceptions die; for it is not possible to find any thing intelligent n it, but only, as some one has said, some disorderly and inmusical voices of jackdaws.
XLI. We have now then said enough on these subjects. But ince he not only confesses that he saw in his dream, a stand- ng and a river, but also the banks of a river, as his words are, I thought that I was standing by the bank (^n/.oc) of the ivcr."t It must be desirable to say a few seasonable things also bout the bank. Now there appears to be two most necessary bjects on account of which nature has adapted lips (%s/?.jj) to II animals, and especially to men; one for the sake of tran- luillity, for they are the strongest bulwark and fortification of * Exodus viL 17. f Genesis xli 17.
390 PHILO JUDiEUS.
the voice; the other for the sake of distinctness,.for it is through them that the stream of words issues forth. For when they are closed speech is checked; for it is impossible that it should be borne outward if they are not parted. And by these means nature prepares and trains man for both objects, speech and silence, watching the appropriate time for each employ- ment.
As for instance, is anything said worth listening to? Then attend, raising no obstacle, in perfect quiet, according to the injunction of Moses, " Be silent and hear."* For of those per sons who mix themselves up in contentious discussions there is not one who can properly be considered as either speaking or listening; but this is only advantageous to him who is about to do so.
Again, when you see, amid the wars and disasters of life, the merciful hand of God and his favourable power held over you and standing in defence of you, be silent yourself; for that champion stands in no need of any assistance. And there are proofs of this fact recorded in the sacred writings: such, for instance, as the verse, " The Lord will fight for us, and ye shall be silent. "f And if you see the genuine offspring and the first- born of Egypt destroyed, namely desire, and pleasures, and pain, and fear, and iniquity, and mirth, and intemperance, and all the other qualities which are similar and akin to these, then marvel and be silent, dreading the terrible power of God; for, say the scriptures, " Not a dog shall move his tongue, nor shall anything, man or beast, utter a sound;" J which is equi- valent to saying, It does not become either -the impudent tongue to bark and curse — nor the man that is within us, that is to say, our dominant mind; nor the cattle-like beast which is within us, that is to say, the outward sense — to boast, when all the evil that was in us has been utterly destroyed, and when an ally from without comes of his own accord to hold his shield over us.
XLII. But there are many occasions which are not well suited to silence: and if we go to the language of ordinary prose, of which we may again see memorials laid up, how did there, ever an unexpected participation in good take place to any one? It is well, therefore, to give thanks and to sing hymns in honour of him who bestowed it. What, then, is the * Deut. xxvii. 19. t Exodus xiv. 14. $ Exodus xi. 7.
ON DREAMS BEING SENT FItOM GOD. 091 good? The passion which is attacking us is dead, and is thrown out on its face without burial. Let not us delay, but standing still, let us sing that most sacred and becoming hymn, feeling that we are commanded to say to all men, " Let us sing unto the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea."* But the rout and destruction of the passions is indeed a good, but not a perfect good; but the discovery of wisdom is a surpassing good, and when that is found all the people will sing harmo- nies and melodies, not with one kind of music only, but with every sort; for then, says the scripture, " Israel sang this song at the well;"f that is to say, in triumph for the fact that knowledge, which had long been hidden but which was sought for, had at length been found by all men, though lying deep by nature; the duty of which was to irrigate the rational fields existing in the souls of those men who are fond of con- templation.
What, then, shall we say? When we bring home the legitimate fruit of the mind, does not the sacred scripture en- join us to display in our reason, as in a sacred basket, the first fruits of our fertility; a specimen of the glorious flowers, and shoots, and fruits which the soul has brought forth, bidding us speak out distinctly, and to utter panegyrics on the God who brings things to perfection, and to say, "I have cleared away the things which were holy out of my house, and I have arranged them in the house of God:"J appointing as stewards ind guardians of them, men selected for their superior merit, md giving them the charge of these sacred things; and these persons are Levites, proselytes, and orphans, and widows. But some are suppliants, some are emigrants and fugitives, ome are persons widowed and destitute of all created things, >ut enrolled as belonging to God, the genuine husband and ather of the soul which is inclined to worship.