And this excess of joy arises whenever on a sudden an abun- dance of all kinds of good coming together are showered down to overflowing, without having been previously expected; in reference to which land of joy it is that the poet appears to me to have used the expression — Smiling amid her tears.* For exceeding joy, the best of all feelings, falling on the soul when completely unexpected, makes it greater than it was before, so that the body can no longer contain it by reason of its bulk and magnitude; and so, being closely packed and pressed down, it distils drops which it is the fashion to call tears, concerning which it is said in the Psalms, " Thou shalt give me to eat bread steeped in tears;"f and again, "My tears have been my bread day and night; "J for the food of the mind are tears such as are visible, proceeding from laughter seated internally and excited by virtuous causes, when the divine desire instilled into our hearts changes the song which was merely the lament of the creature into the hymn of the uncreated God.
XXIX. Some persons then repudiate this mixed and rough multitude, and raise a wall of fortification to keep it from them, rejoicing only in the race which loves God; but some, on the other hand, form associations with it, thinking it desirable to arrange their own lives according to such a system that they can place them on the confines between human and divine virtues, in order that they may touch both those which are virtues in truth and those which are such in appearance.
Now the disposition which concerns itself in the affairs of state adheres to this opinion, which disposition it is usual to call Joseph, with whom, when he is about to bring his father, there go up " all the servants of Pharaoh, and the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the whole family of Joseph, himself, and his brothers, and all his father's house.'" § You see here that this disposition which is conversant about affairs of state is placed between the house of Pharaoh and his fathers house, in order that it might equally reach the affairs of the body, that is to say, of Egypt; ON THE MIGRATION OF ABRAHAM. 79 and those of the soul, which are all laid up in his father's house as in a treasury; for when he says, " I am of God,"* and all the other things which are akin to or connected with him abide among the established laws of his father's house; and when he mounts up into the second chariot of the mind, which appears to bear sovereign sway, namely Pharaoh, he is again establishing Egyptian pride. And he is more miserable who is looked upon as a king of considerable renown, and who is borne along in the chariot which has the precedence; for to be pre-eminent in what is not honourable is the most conspi- cuous disgrace, just as it is a lighter evil to come off second best in such a contest.
But you may learn to perceive how wavering a disposition such a man has from the oaths which he swears, swearing at one time " by the health of Pharaoh,"! and then again, on the contrary, "not by the health of Pharaoh." But this latter formula of oath, which contains a negation, looks as if it were the injunction of hio father's house, which is always medi- tating the destruction of the passions, and wishing that they should die; but the other brings us back to the discipline of Egypt, which desires that these passions should be preserved; on which account, although so great a multitude went up together, he still does not call it a mixed multitude, s.uice to a person who is endowed with a real power of seeing, and who is a lover of virtue, every thing which is not virtue nor an action of virtue, appears to be mixed and confused; but to him who still loves the things of earth, the prizes of earth do by themselves seem to be worthy of love and worthy of honour.
XXX. Accordingly, as I have already said, the lovers of wisdom will raise a wall of exclusion against the man who, like a drone, has resolved to injure his profitable labours, and who follows him with this object, and he will receive those who, out of their admiration of what is honourable, follow him with a view to imitating him; assigning to each of them that portion which is suited to them; for, says he, " of the men who went with me, Eschol, Annan, and Mamre shall receive a share." ^ And by these names of persons he means dispositions which are good by nature and fond of contempla- tion; for Eschol is an emblem of a good disposition, having a name of fire, since a good disposition is full of good daring 80 PHILO JUDiEUS.
and fervour, and adheres to what it has ever applied itself. And Annan is the symbol of a man fond of contemplation; for the name, being interpreted, means " the eyes," from the fact that the eyes of the soul also are opened by cheerfulness; and of both these persons a life of contemplation is the inhe- ritance, which is entitled Mamre, which name is derived from seeing; and to the contemplative man, the faculty of seeing is most appropriate and most peculiarly belonging.
But when the mind, having been under the tuition of these trainers, finds nothing wanting for practice, it then proceeds onwards with and accompanies perfect wisdom, not outstrip- ping it nor being outstripped by it, but marching alongside of it step by step, with equal pace. And the words of scripture show this, in which it is distinctly stated that " they both of them went together, and came to the plain which God had mentioned to them;" a most excellent equality of virtues, better than any rivalry, an equality of labour with a natural good condition of body, and an equality of art with self- instructed nature, so that both of them are able to carry off equal prizes of virtue; as if the arts of painting and statuary were not only able, as they are at present, to make representations devoid of motion or animation, but were able also to invest the objects which they paint or form with motion and life; for in that case the arts which were previously imitative of the works of nature would appear now to have become the natures them- selves.
XXXI. But whoever is raised on high to such a sublime elevation will never any more allow any of the portions of his soul to dwell below among mortal men, but will draw them all up to himself as if they were suspended by a rope; for which reason a sacred injunction of the following purport was given to the wise man, " Go thou up to thy Lord, thou, and Aaron, and Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. "f And the meaning of this injunction is as follows, " Go up, 0 soul, to the view of the living God, in an orderly manner, rationally, voluntarily, fearlessly, lovingly, in the holy and perfect numbers of seven multiplied tenfold." For Aaron is described in the law as the prophet of Moses, being loudly uttered speech prophesying to the mind. And Nadab is inter- preted " voluntary," that is to say, the man who honours the * Genesia xxii. 3. t Exodus xxiv. 1.
ON THE MIGRATION OF ABRAHAM. 81 Deity without compulsion; and the interpretation of the name Abihu is, u my father." This man is one who has not need of a master by reason of his folly, more than of a father by reason of his wisdom, namely such a father as God the ruler of the world. And these powers are the body-guards of the mind which is worthy to bear sovereign sway, which ought also to attend upon the king, and conduct him on his way.
But the soul is afraid by itself to rise up to the contempla- tion of the living God, if it does not know the road, from being lifted up by a union of ignorance and audacity; and the falls which are caused by such a union of ignorance and great rashness are very serious; on which account Moses prays that he may have God himself as his guide to the road which leads to him. For he says, " If thou wilt not thyself go with me, then do not thou lead me hence."* Because every motion which is without the divine approbation is mischievous, and it is better for men to remain here wandering about in this mortal life, as the greater portion of the human race does, than raising themselves up to heaven in pride and arrogance, to encounter an overthrow, as has happened to countless- numbers of sophists, who have looked upon wisdom as only a discovery of plausible arguments, and not, as it is, a certain belief in and well-assured knowledge of facts. And perhaps too there is some such meaning as this intended to be conveyed by these words, — do not raise me up on high, bestowing on me riches, or glory, or honours, or authority, or any other of those things which are usually ranked as good, unless you intend also to go with them and me yourself; for these things are o ten cal- culated to cause either great mischief, or great advantage to their possessors; advantage when God is the guide of their mind; injury when the contrary is the case. For to great numbers of people the things which are called good not being 60 in reality have been the causes of irremediable evils, but the man who follows God does of necessity have for his fellow travellers all those reasons which are the attendants of God, Which we are accustomed to call angels.
At all events, it is said that " Abraham went with them conducting them on their way."t Oh the admirable praise! according to which, he who was conducting others was himself' conducted by them, only giving what he was receiving; not • Exodus xxxiii. 15. t Geueaia xviii. 16.
VOL. II. Q 82 PHILO JUD^IUS.
giving one thing instead of another, but only that one single thing, w.iich was prepared as a retributory gift, for until a man is made perfect he uses divine reason as the guide of his path, for that is the sacred oracle of scripture: "Behold, I send rnv angel before thy face that he may keep thee in the road, so as to lead thee into the land which I have prepared for thee. Attend thou to him, and listen to him; do not disobey him; for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him."* But when he has arrived at the height of perfect knowledge, then, running forward vigorously, he keeps up with the speed of him who was previously leading him in his way; for in this way they will both become attendants of God who is the guide of all things; no one of those who hold erroneous opinions accompanying them any longer, and even Lot himself, who turned on one side the soul, which might have been upright and inflexible, removing and living at a distance.
XXXIT. And "Abraham," says Moses, " wa3 seventy-five years of age, when he departed out of Charran." Now con- cerning the number of seventy-five years (for this contains a calculation corresponding to what has been previously ad- vanced,) we will enter into an accurate examination hereafter. But first of all we will examine what Charran is, and what is meant by the departure from this country to go and live in another. Now it is not probable that any one of those persons who are acquainted with the law are ignorant that Abraham had previously migrated from Chaldaea when he came to live in Charran. But after his father died he then departed from this land of Chaldaea, so that he had now migrated from two different places. What then shall we say?
The Chaldeans appear beyond all other men to have devoted themselves to the study of astronomy and of genealogies; adapting things on earth to things sublime, and also adapting the things of heaven to those on earth, and like people who, availing themselves of the principles of music, exhibit a most perfect symphony as existing in the universe by the common union and sympathy of the parts for one another, which though separated as to place, are not disunited in regard of kindred. These men, then, imagined that this world which we behold was the only world in the existing universe, and was either God himself, or else that it contained within itself God, that • Exodus xxiii. 20.
ON THE MIGRATION OF ABRAHAM. 83 is, the soul of the universe. Then, having erected fate and necessity into gods, they filled human life with excessive impiety, teaching men that with the exception of those things which are apparent there is no other cause whatever of anything, but that it is the periodical revolutions of the sun, and moon, and other stars, which distribute good and evil to all existing beings.
Moses indeed appears to have in some degree subscribed to the doctrine of the common union and sympathy existing between the parts of the universe, as he has said that the world was one and created (for as it is a created thing and also one, it is reasonable to suppose that the same elementary essences are laid as the foundations of all the particular effects which arise, as happens with respect to united bodies that they reciprocally contain each other); but he differs from them widely in their opinion of God, not intimating that either the world itself, or the soul of the world, is the original God, nor that the stars or their motions are the primary causes of the events which happen among men; but he teaches that this universe is held together by invisible powers, which the Creator has spread from the extreme borders of the earth to heaven, making a beautiful provision to prevent what he has joined together from being dissolved; for the indissoluble chains which bind the universe are his powers.
On which account even though it may be said somewhere in the declaration of the law, " God is in the heaven above, and in the earth beneath," let no one suppose that God is here spoken of according to his essence. For the living God contains everything, and it is impiety to suppose that he is contained by any thing, but what is meant is, that his power according to which he made, and arranged, and established the universe, is both in heaven and earth. And this, to speak correctly, is goodness, which has driven away from itself envy, which hates virtue and detests what is good, and which generates those virtues by which it has brought all existing things into existence and exhibited them as they are.
Since the living God is indeed conceived of in opinion everywhere, but in real truth he is seen nowhere; so that divine scripture is most completely true in which it is said, " Here am I," speaking of him who cannot be shown as if he were being shown, of '" him who is invisible as if he were a 2 84 PHILO JUDiEUS.
visible, before thou existedst." * For he proceeds onward before the created universe, and outside of it, and not contained or borne onward in any of the things whose existence began after his.
XXXIII. These things then having been now said for the purpose of overturning the opinions of the Chaldeans; he thinks that it is desirable to lead off and invite away those who are still Chaldaizing in their minds to the truth of his teaching, and he begins thus: — " Why," says he, " ray excellent friends do you raise your- selves up in such a sudden manner from the earth, and soar to such a height? and why do ye rise above the air, and tread the ethereal expanse, investigating accurately the motions of the sun, and the periodical revolutions of the moon, and the harmonious and much-renowned paths of the rest of the stars? for these things are too great for your comprehension, inasmuch as they have received a more blessed and divine position. Descend therefore from heaven, and when you have come down, do not, on the other hand, employ yourselves in the investigation of the earth and the sea, and the rivers, and the natures of plants and animals, but rather seek to become acquainted with yourselves and your own nature, and do not prefer to dwell anywhere else, rather than in yourselves. For by contemplating the things which are to be seen in your own dwelling, that which bears the mastery therein, and that which is in subjection; that which has life, and that which is inanimate; that which is endowed with and that which is destitute of reason; that which is immortal, and that which is mortal; that which is better, and that which is worse; you will at once arrive at a correct knowledge of God and of his works. For you will perceive that there is a mind in you and in the universe; and that your mind, having asserted its authority and power over all the things in you, has brought each of the parts into subjection to himself. In like manner also, the mind of the universe being invested with the supremacy, governs the world by independent law and justice, having a providential regard not only for those things which are of more importance, but also for those which appear to be somewhat obscure.
XXXIV. Abandoning therefore your superfluous anxiety to * Exodus xvii. 6.
ON THE MIGRATION OF ABRAHAM. 85 investigate the things of heaven, dwell, as I said just now within yourselves, forsaking the land of the Chaldeans, that is, opinion, and migrating to Charran the region of the outward sense, which is the corporeal abode of the mind. For the name Charran, being interpreted, means "a hole;" and holes are the emblems of the places of the outward sense. For in some sense they are all holes and caves, the eyes being the caves in which the sight dwells, the ears those of hearing, the nostrils those of smelling, the throat the cavern of taste, and the whole frame of the body, being the abode of touch. Do ye therefore, dwelling among these things, remain tranquil and quiet, and investigate with all the exactness in your power the nature of each, and when you have learnt what there is good and bad in each part, avoid the one and choose the other.
And when you have thoroughly and perfectly considered the wh( le of your own habitation, and have understood what rela- tive importance each of its parts possesses, then rouse your- selves up and seek to accomplish a migration from hence, which shall announce to you, not death, but immortality; the evident proofs of which you will see even while involved in the corporeal cares perceptible by the outward senses, some- times while in deep slumber (for then the mind, roaming abroad, and straying beyond the confines of the outward senses, and of all the other affections of the body, begins to associate with itself, looking on truth as at a mirror, and dis- carding all the imaginations which it had contracted from the outward senses, becomes inspired by the truest divination respecting the future, through the instrumentality of dreams), and at other times in your waking moments. For when, being under the influence of some philosophical speculations, you are allured onwards, then the mind follows this, and for- gets all the other things which concern its corporeal abode; and if the external senses prevent it from arriving at an accu- rate siLjht of the objects of the intellect, then those who are fond of contemplation take care to diminish the impetuosity of its attack, for they close their eyes and stop up their ears, and check the rapid motion of the other organ, and choose to abide in tranquillity and darkness, that the eye of the soul, to which God has granted the power of understanding the objects of the intellect, may never be overshadowed by any of thoso objects appreciable only by the outward senses.
86 PHILO JUDiEUS.
XXXV. Having then in this manner learnt to accomplish the abandonment of mortal things, you shall become instructed in the proper doctrines respecting the uncreated God, unless indeed you think that our mind, when it has put off the body, the external senses, and reason, can, when destitute of all these things and naked, perceive existing things, and that the mind of the universe, that is to say, God, does not dwell out- side of all material nature, and that he contains everything and is not contained by anything; and further, he does not pe- netrate beyond tilings by his intellect alone, like a man, but also by his essential nature, as is natural for a God to do; for it is not our mind which made the body, but that is the work fif something else, on which account it is contained in the body as in a vessel; but the mind of the universe created the uni- verse, and the Creator is better than the created, therefore it can never be contained in what is inferior to itself; besides that it is not suitable for the father to be contained in the son, but rather for the son to derive increase from the love of the father.
And in this manner the mind, migrating for a short time, will come to the father of piety and holiness, removing at first to a distance from genealogical science, which originally did erroneously persuade it to fancy that the world was the primary god, and not the creature of the first God, and that the motions and agitations of the stars were the causes to men of disaster, or, on the contrary, of good fortune. After that the mind, coming to a due consideration of itself, and studying philo- sophically the things affecting its own abode, that is the things of the body, the things of the outward sense, the things of reason, and knowing, as the line in the poet has it — That in those halls both good and ill are planned;* Then, opening the road for itself, and hoping by travelling along it to arrive at a notion of the father of the universe, so difficult to be understood by any guesses or conjectures, when it has come to understand itself accurately, it will very likely be able to comprehend the nature of God; no longer remaining in Charran, that is in the organs of outward sense,but returning to itself. For it is impossible, while it is still in a state of motion, in a manner appreciable by the outward sense rather • Homer. Odyssey, iv. 392.
ON THE MIGRATION OF ABRAHAM. 87 than by the intellect, to arrive at a proper consideration of the living God.
XXXVI. On which account also that disposition which is ranked iti the highest class by God, by name Samuel, does not explain the just precepts of kingly power to Saul, while he is still lying among the pots, but only after he has drawn him out from thence: for he inquires whether the man is still coming hither, and the sacred oracle answers, " Behold, he is hidden among the stuff."* What, then, ought he who hears this answer, and who is by nature inclined to receive instruc- tion, to do, but to draw him out at once from thence? Accordingly, we are told, " He ran up and took him out from thence, because he who was abiding among the vessels of the soul, that is, the body and the outward senses, was not worthy to hear the doctrines and laws of the kingdom (and by the kingdom, we mean wisdom, since we call the wise man a king); but when he has risen up and changed his place, then the mist around him is dissipated, and he will be able to see clearly.
Very appropriately, therefore, does the companion of know- ledge think it right to leave the region of the outward sense, by name Charran; and he leaves it when he is seventy-five years old; and this number is on the confines of the nature discernible by the outward senses, and of that intelligible by the intellect, and of the older and younger, and also of perishable and imperishable nature; for the elder, the imperishable ratio, that comprehensible by the intellect, exists in the seventy; the younger ratio, discernible by the outward senses, is equal in number to the five outward senses. In this latter also the practiser of virtue is seen exercising himself when Le has not yet been able to carry off the perfect prize of victory; — for, it is said, that all the souls which came out of Jacob wrere seventy and five; f — for to him, while wrestling, and not shrinking at all from the truly sacred contest, for the acqui- sition of virtue, belong the souls which are the offspring of the body, and which have not yet acquired reason, but are still attracted by the multitude of the outward senses.
For Jacob is the name of one who is wrestling and engaged in a contest and trying to trip up his antagonist, not of one who has gained the victory. But when he appeared to have gained ability to behold God, his name was changed to Israel, and 88 PHILO JUDiEUS.
then be uses only the computation of seventy, having extir- pated the number five, the number of the outward senses; for it is said, that " thy fathers went down to Egypt, being seventy souls."* This is the number which is familiar to Moses the wise man: for it happened that those who were selected as carefully picked men out of the whole multitude, were seventy in number; and those all elders, not only in point of age, but also in wisdom and counsel, and in prudence, and in ancient integrity of manners. And this number is consecrated and dedicated to God when the perfect fruits of the soul are offered up.
For, on the feast of tabernacles, besides all other sacrifices, it is ordered that the priest should offer up seventy heifers for a burnt offering. Again, it is in accordance with the compu- tation of seventy that the phials of the princes are provided, for each of them is of the weight of seventy shekels; since whatever things are associated and confederate together in the soul: and dear to one another, have a power which is truly at- tractive, namely, the sacred computation of seventy, which Egypt, the nature which hates virtue, and loves to indulge the passions, is introduced as lamenting; for mourning among them is computed at seventy days.f XXXVII. This number, therefore, as I have said before, is familiar to Moses, but the number of the five outward senses is familiar to him w7ho embraces the body and external things, which it is customary to call Joseph; for he pays such attention to those things, that he presents his own uterine brother,:} the offspring of the outward sense, for he had no acquaintance at all with those who were only his brothers as sons of the same father, with five exceedingly beautiful garments, thinking the outward senses things of exceeding beauty, and worthy of being adorned and honoured by him. Moreover, he also enacts laws for the whole of Egypt, that they should honour them, and pay taxes and tribute to them every year as to their kings; for he com- mands them to take a fifth § part of the corn, that is to say, to store up in the treasury abundant materials and nourishment for the five outward senses, in order that each of them might rejoice while filling itself unrestrainedly with suitable food, and that it might weigh down and overwhelm the mind with the ± Genesis xlv. 22. § Genesis xlvii. 24.
ON THE MIGRATION OF ABRAHAM. 89