III. Moreover the law has laid down 'other admirable regu- lations with regard to carnal conversation; for it commands men not only to abstain from the wives of others, but also from certain relations, with whom it is not lawful to cohabit; therefore Moses, detesting and loathing the customs of the Persians, repudiates them as the greatest possible impiety, for the magistrates of the Persians marry even their own mothers, and consider the offspring of such marriages the most noble of all men, and as it is said, they think them worthy of the highest sovereign authority. And yet what can be a more flagitious act of impiety than to defile the bed of one's father after he is dead, which it would be right rather to preserve untouched, as sacred; and to feel no respect either for old age or for one's mother, and for the same man to be both the son and the husband of the same woman; and again for the same woman to be both the mother and wife of the same man, and for the children of the two to be the brothers of their father and the grandsons of their mother, and for that same woman to be both the mother and grandmother of those children whom she has brought forth, and for the man to be at the same time both the father and the uterine brother of those whom he has begotten?
These enormities formerly took place among the Greeks in the case of CEdipus, the son of Laius,* and the actions were * This is the subject, in fact, of the CEdipus Tyrannus of Sophocles, and is dilated upon by CEdipus, where he says— w yd/xoi ydfioi ityvoaQ' r]fi5.Q *ai tyvrivaavTic ird\iv avtirt ravrbv a7rspfta, k' a7rt£ti$aTi irarkpaGy d8ik<f>ovc Traidag, alfx ffi<pv\iov, ON SPECIAL LAWS. 307 committed out of ignorance and not voluntarily, and yet that marriage brought on such a host of evils that nothing was wanting to make up the amount of the most complete wretch- edness and misery, for there ensued from it a continual succession of wars, both domestic and foreign, which were bequeathed like an inheritance from their fathers and ances- tors to their children and descendants; and there were destructions of cities which were the greatest in Greece, and destructions of embattled armies, and slaughter of nations and of allies which had come to the assistance of either side, and mutual slaughter of the most gallant leaders in each army, and unreconcileable enmities about sovereignty and authority, and fratricides, by which not only the families and countries of the persons immediately concerned were utterly extinguished and destroyed, but the greater portion of the whole Greek nation also, for cities which were previously populous now became desolate and void of their inhabitants, and were left as a memorial of the calamities of Greece, and a miserable sight for all beholders.
Nor, indeed, do the Persians, among whom such practices are frequent, avoid similar evils, for they are continually involved in military expeditions and battles, killing and being killed, and at one time invading their neighbours and at others repelling those who rise up against them. And many enemies rise up against them from many quarters, since it is not the nature of the barbarians to rest in tranquillity; there- fore, before the existing sedition is appeased, another springs up, so that no season of the year is ever indulged in peace and quietness, but they are compelled to live under arms night and day, bearing for the greater portion of their lives hardships in the open air while serving in the camps, or else living in cities from the complete absence of all peace. I forbear to mention the great and intolerable violence and pride of success exhibited vvfifag, yvvaiKaq firjTfpag rf, x tiiroaa ai(rx«rr' iv dv9poJTroi<nv tpya yiyvfrai. 1408.
And again he says — ty\v TiKOvaav rigoatv '69iv Trep avrog eairaprj, ko.k tuiv latuv iKTriOCLV VfLCLQ U>VTTtp CLVTOQ «£|0U. 1409.
Philo alludes afterwards to the wars which are the subject cf the 'Etjt' iiri QrjPag of J2schylufl.
by tlie kings, whose first contests begin at the very first assumption of their sovereign power with the greatest of all iniquities, fraticide, as thus alone do they imagine that tKey will be safe from all attacks and treachery on the part of their brothers if they appear to have put them to death with reason and justice.
And it seems to me that all these things arise from the un- hallowed connections of sons with their own mothers, because justice, who surveys all human affairs, revenges herself thus on those who act improperly for their wickedness; for not only do those who act thus commit impiety, but those also who voluntarily signify their assent to the arbitrary conduct of those who do such actions.
But our law guards so carefully against such actions as these that it does not permit even a step-son, when his father is dead, to marry his step-mother, on account of the respect which he owes to his father, and because the titles mother and step-mother are kindred names, even though the affections of the souls may not be identical; for the man who is thought to abstain from her who has been the wife of another man, because she is called his step-mother, will much more abstain from his own natural mother. And if any one, on account of his recollection of his father, shows a respectful awe of her who has formerly been his wife, it is quite evident that he, because of the respect which he feels towards both his parents, is not likely to meditate any im- proper conduct to his mother; since it would be downright folly for a man who studies to please one half of his family, to appear to neglect it in its wholeness and integrity.
IV. There follows after this a command not to espouse one's sister: which is an injunction of great excellence, and one which contributes very greatly to temperance and good order. Therefore the Athenian lawgiver, Solon, when he permitted men to marry their sisters by the same father, forbade them to marry those by the same mother. But the lawgiver of the Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, allowed of marriages between brothers and sisters by the same mothers, but forbade those between brothers and sisters by the same father. "While the lawgiver of the Egyptians, ridi- culing the cautious timidity of the others as if they had established imperfect ordinances, gave the reins to lascivious- ON SPECIAL LAWS. S09 ness, supplying in great abundance that most incurable evil of intemperance both to body and soul, and permitting men fearlessly and with impunity to marry all their sisters, whether by both parents or by one, or by either, whether father or mother, and that too not only if younger than, but even when older than, or of the same age as themselves; for twins are very often born, which nature, indeed, at their very birth has dissevered and separated, but which inconti- nence and love of pleasure has invited to an association which ought never to be entered into, and to a most inhar- monious agreement.
But the most sacred Moses, rejecting all those ordinances with detestation, as being quite inconsistent with and at variance with any praiseworthy kind of constitution, and as laws which encouraged and trained people to the most dis- graceful of all habits, most peremptorily prohibited any con- nection with a man's sister, whether by both parents, or whether only by one of the two; for why should any one seek to deface the beauty of modesty? And why make virgins destitute of all modesty, to whom it is becoming to blush? And, moreover, why should one be willing to limit the associations and connections with other men, and to confine a most honourable thing within the narrow space of the walls of a single house, which ought rather to be extended and diffused over all continents, and islands, and the whole inhabited world? For the intermarriages with strangers produce new relationships, which are in no respect inferior to those which proceed from ties of blood.
Y. On which account our lawgiver has also forbidden other matrimonial connections, commanding that no man shall marry his granddaughter, whether she be his son's or his daughter's child; nor his niece; nor his aunt; nor his grandmother, by either father or mother; nor any woman who has been the wife of his uncle, or of his son, or of his brother; nor, again, any step-daughter, whether virgin or widow, whether his own wife be alive or even after her death. For, in principle, a step-father is the same as a father, and therefore he ought to look upon his wife's daughter in the same light as his own.
Again. He does not permit the same man to marry two sisters, neither at the same time nor at different periods, 310 PHILO JUD.EUS.
even if he have put away the one whom he previously married; for while she is living, whether she be cohabiting with him or whether she be put away, or if she be living as a widow, or if she be married to another man, still he did not consider it holy for her sister to enter upon the portion of her who had been unfortunate; by this injunction teaching sisters not to violate the requirements of justice towards their rela- tions, nor to make a stepping stone of the disasters of one so united to themselves by blood, nor to acquiesce in or to pride themselves in receiving attentions from those who have shown themselves enemies to their relations, or to recipro- cate any kind offices received from them.
For from such things as these arise bitter jealousies and quarrels, and enmities which scarcely admit of reconciliation, but which bring on indescribable hosts of misfortunes; for that would be just as if the different members of the body were to abandon the harmony and fellowship in which they are put together by nature, and to quarrel with one another, which circumstance must necessarily cause incurable diseases and mischiefs. And sisters are like limbs, which, although they are separated from one another, are nevertheless all adapted to one another by nature and natural relationship. And jealousy, which is the most grievous of all passions, is continually producing new, and terrible, and incurable mischiefs.
Again. Moses commands, do not either form a connec- tion of marriage with one of another nation, and do not be seduced into complying with customs inconsistent with your own, and do not stray from the right way and forget the path which leads to piety, turning into a road which is no road. And, perhaps, you will yourself resist, if you have been from your earliest youth trained in the best possible instruction, which your parents have instilled into you, con- tinually filling your mind with the sacred laws. And the anxiety and fear which parents feel for their sons and daughters is not slight; for, perchance, they may be allured by mischievous customs instead of genuine good ones, and so they may be in danger of learning to forget the honour belonging to the one Grod, which is the beginning and end of extreme unhappiness.
But if, proceeds the lawgiver, a woman having been di- ON SPECIAL LAWS. 311 vorced from her husband under any pretence whatever, and having married another, has again become a widow, whether her second husband is alive or dead, still she must not return to her former husband, but may be united to any man in the world rather than to him, having violated her former ties which she forgot, and having chosen new allure- ments in the place of the old ones. But if any man should choose to form an alliance with such a woman, he must be content to bear the reputation of effeminacy and a complete want of manly courage and vigour, as if he had been castrated and deprived of the most useful portion of the soul, namely, that disposition which hates iniquity, by which the affairs both of 'houses and cities are placed on a good footing, and as having stamped deeply on his character two of the greatest of all iniquities, adultery and the employ- ment of a pander; for the reconciliations which take place subsequently are indications of the death of each. Let him, therefore, suffer the punishment appointed, together with his wife.
VI. And there are particular periods affecting the health of the woman when a man may not touch her, but during that time he must abstain from all connection with her, respecting the laws of nature. And, at the same time, he must learn not to waste his vigour in the pursuit of an un- seemly and barbarous pleasure; for such conduct would be like that of a husbandman who, out of drunkenness or sudden insanity, should sow wheat or barley in lakes or flooded torrents, instead of over the fertile plains; for it is proper to cast seed upon fields when they are dry, in order that it may bear abundant fruit. But nature each month cleanses the womb, as if it were some field of marvellous fertility, the proper season for fertilising which must be watched for by the husband as if he were a skilful husband- man, in order to withhold his seed and abstain from sowing it at a time when it is inundated; for, if he do not do so, the seed, without his perceiving it, will be swept away by the moisture, not only having all its spiritual energies relaxed, but having them, in fact, utterly dissolved.
These are the persons who form animals in that workshop of nature, the womb, and who perfect with the most con- summate skill each separate one of the parts of the body 312 PHILO JUD^EUS.
and soul. But when the periods of illness which I have spoken of are interrupted, then he may with confidence shower his seed into the ground ready to receive it, no longer fearing that there will be any loss of the seed thus sown. But those people deserve to be reproached who are plough- ing a hard and stony soil. And who can these be but they who have connected themselves with barren women? Eor such men are only hunters after intemperate pleasure, and in the excess of their licentious passions they waste their seed of their own deliberate purpose. Since for what other reason can they espouse such women? It cannot be for a hope of children, which they are aware must, of necessity, be disappointed, but rather to gratify their excess in lust and incurable incontinence.
As many men, therefore, as marry virgins in ignorance of how will they will turn out as regards their prolificness, or the contrary, when after a long time they perceive, by their never having any children, that they are barren, and do not then put them away, are still worthy of pardon, being influ- enced by habit and familiarity, which are motives of great weight, and being also unable to break through the power of those ancient charms which by long habituation are stamped upon their souls. But those who marry women who have been previously tested by other men and ascertained to be barren, do merely covet the carnal enjoyment like so many boars or goats, and deserve to be inscribed among the lists of impious men as enemies to G-od; for Grod, as being friendly to all the animals that exist, and especially to man, takes all imaginable care to secure preservation and duration to every kind of creature. But those who seek to waste all their power at the very moment of putting it forth are con- fessedly enemies of nature.
VII. Moreover, another evil, much greater than that which we*have already mentioned, has made its way among and been let loose upon cities, namely, the love of boys, which formerly was accounted a great infamy even to be spoken of, but which sin is a subject of boasting not only to those who practise it, but even to those who suffer it, and who, being accustomed tto bearing the affliction of being treated like women, waste away as to both their souls and bodies, not bearing about them a single spark of a manly character to be ON SPECIAL LAWS. 313 kindled into a flame, but having even the hair of their heads conspicuously curled and adorned, and having their faces smeared with vermilion, and paint, and things of that kind, and having their eyes pencilled beneath, and having their skins anointed with fragrant perfumes (for in such persons as these a sweet smell is a most seductive quality), and being well appointed in everything that tends to beauty or elegance, are not ashamed to devote their constant study and endeavours to the task of changing their manly character into an effeminate one. And it is natural for those who obey the law to consider such persons worthy of death, since the law commands that the man-woman who adulterates the precious coinage of his nature shall die without redemption, not allowing him to live a single day, or even a single hour, as he is a disgrace to himself, and to his family, and to his country, and to the whole race of mankind.
And let the man who is devoted to the love of boys sub- mit to the same punishment, since he pursues that pleasure which is contrary to nature, and since,, as far as depends upon him, he would make the cities desolate, and void, and empty of all inhabitants, wasting his power of propagating his species, and moreover, being a guide and teacher of those greatest of all evils, unmanliness and effeminate lust, strip- ping young men of the flower of their beauty, and wasting their prime of life in effeminacy, which he ought rather on the other hand to train to vigour and acts of courage; and last of all, because, like a worthless husbandman, he allows fertile and productive lands to lie fallow, contriving that they shall continue barren, and labours night and day at cultivating that soil from which he never expects any pro- duce at all.
And I imagine that the cause of this is that among many nations there are actually rewards given for intemperance and effeminacy. At all events one may see men-women continually strutting through the market place at midday, and leading the processions in festivals; and, impious men as they are, having received by lot the charge of the temple, and beginning the sacred and initiating rites, and concerned even in the holy mysteries of Ceres.
And some of these persons have even carried their admi- ration of these delicate pleasures of youth so far that they 314 PIIILO JUD.EUS.
have desired wholly to change their condition for that of women, and have castrated themselves and have clothed themselves in purple robes, like those who, having been the cause of great blessings to their native land, walk about attended by body-guards, pushing down every one whom they meet.
But if there was a general indignation against those who venture to do such things, such as was felt by our lawgiver, and if such men were destroyed without any chance of escape as the common curse and pollution of their country, then many other persons would be warned and corrected by their example. For the punishments of those persons who have been already condemned cannot be averted by entreaty, and therefore cpuse no slight check to those persons who are ambitious of distinguishing themselves by the same pursuits.
VIII. But some persons, imitating the sensual indul- gences of the Sybarites and of other nations more licentious still, have in the first place devoted themselves to gluttony and wine-bibbing, and other pleasures affecting the belly and the parts adjacent to the belly, and then when fully sated have behaved with such extraordinary insolence (and it is natural for satiety to produce insolence) that in their insanity of passion they have gone frantic and been so mad- dened as to desire no longer human beings, whether male or female, but even brute beasts, as they say that in ancient times in Crete, the wife of Minos the king, by name Pasi- phae, fell in love with a bull, and became very violent in her passion from her despair of being able to gratify it (for love which fails in its object is usually increased in no ordinary degree), so that at last she reported to Daedalus the afflic- tion by which she was overwhelmed, and he was the most skilful of all workmen of his time.* * This story is alluded to by many poets, and especially by Virgil, yEneid vi. 24.
Hie erudelis amor tauri, suppostaque furto Pasiphae mistumque genus prolesque biformis Minotaurus inest, Veneris monumenta nefandse. Or, as it is translated by Dryden — " There too, in living sculpture, might be seen The mad affection of the Cretan queen: ON SPECIAL LAWS. 315 And he, being very ingenious, so as by bis contrivances to discover things undiscoverable to any one else, made a cow of wood, and put Pasiphae into it at one of the sides, and the bull rushed at the wooden cow as if it had been an animal of its own kind. And Pasiphae, becoming pregnant at a certain period, brought forth an animal half man and half beast, called the minotaur.t And it is very likely that there may be other Pasiphaes also, with passions equally unbridled, and that not women only, but men likewise may fall madly in love with animals, from whom, perhaps, indescribable monsters may be born, being memorials of the excessive pollution of men; owing to which, perhaps, those unnatural creations of unprecedented and fabulous monsters will exist, such as hippocentaurs and chimseras, and other similar animals. But so great are the precautions which are taken against them in the holy laws of Grod, that in order to prevent the possibility of men ever desiring any unlawful connection, it is expressly commanded that even animals of different kinds shall not be put toge- ther. And no Jewish shepherd will endeavour to cross a sheep with a he-goat, or a ram with a she-goat, or a cow with a horse; and if he does, he must pay the penalty as breaking a solemn law of nature who is desirous to keep the original kinds of animals free from all spurious admixture. And some persons prefer mules to every other kind of animal for the yoke, since their bodies are very compact, and are very strong and powerful; and accordingly, in the pastures and stalls where they keep their horses, they also keep asses of an extraordinary size, which they call celones, in order that they may breed with the mares; and then the mares produce a mixed animal, half horse and half ass, Then how she cheats her hellowing lover's eye: The rushing leap; the doubtful progeny: The lower part a beast, a man above; The monument of their polluted love." * Ovid describes this animal more than once — Daedalus ut clausit, conceptum crimine matris Semibovemque virum, semivirumque bovem. A. A. ii. 21. And again — Nee tua mactasset nodoso stipite Theseu, Ardua parte virum dextera, parte bovem. Her. x. 101.
316 PHILO JUDJEUS.
which, since Moses knew that its production was wholly contrary to nature, he forbade the existence of with all his might by a general injunction, that that no union or combi- nation between different kinds of animals should on any account be permitted.
Therefore he provided thus against those evils in a manner suited to and consistent with nature; and from a long dis- tance off, as from a watchtower, he admonished men and kept them in the straight path, in order that both men and women, learning from these precepts of his, might abstainfrom unlawful connections. If, therefore, a man seek to indulge himself with a quadruped, or if a woman surrender herself to a quadruped, they shall all die, both the man or woman and the quadruped. The human beings, because they have gone beyond even the bounds of intemperance itself, becoming discoverers of unprecedented appetites, and because with their new inventions they have introduced most detestable pleasures, the very mention of which is infamous; and the beasts shall die, because they have been subservient to such iniquities, and also to prevent their bringing forth or beget- ting any thing intolerable, as would naturally be the result of such pollutions.
Moreover, those who have even a slight care for what is becoming would never use such animals as those for any purpose of life, but would. reject and abominate them, loathing their very sight, and thinking that whatever they touched would at once become impure and polluted. And it is not well that those things which are of no use for life should live at all, since they are only a superfluous burden on the earth, as some one has called them.
IX. Again, according to the injunctions of the sacred scriptures the constitution of the law does not recognise a harlot; as being a person alienated from good order, and modesty, and chastity, and all other virtues, who has filled the souls both of men and women with intemperance, pol- luting the immortal beauty of the mind, and honouring above it the short-lived perishable beauty of the body prosti- tuting herself to every chance comer, andselling her beauty as if it were some vendible thing in the market, doing and say- ing every thing with a view to catch the young men. And she excites her lovers to contests with one another, proposing ON SPECIAL LAWS. 317