For a vast cloud being raised* out of the sea showered down quails about the time of sunrise, and the camp and all the district around it for a day's journey for a well-girt active man was overshadowed all about with the birds.f And the height of the flight of the birds was distant from the ground a height of about two cubits, in order that they might be easily caught. It would have been natural there- fore for them, being amazed at the marvellous nature of the prodigy which they beheld, to be satisfied with the sight, * Exodus xvi. 13. - - t Numbers xi. 31.
ON SPECIAL LAWS. 387 and being filled with piety to nourish their souls on that, and to abstain from eating flesh; but these men, on the contrary, stirred up their desires "even more than before, and pursued these birds as the greatest good imaginable, and catching hold of them with both their hands filled their bosoms; then, having stored them up in their tents, they sallied forth to catch others, for immoderate covetousness has no limit. And when they had collected every descrip- tion of food they devoured it insatiably, being about, vain- minded generation that they were, to perish by their own fulness; and indeed at no distant time they did perish by the purging of their bile,* so that the place itself derived its name from the calamity which fell upon them, for it was called the graves of their lust,f than which there is not in the soul, as the scripture teaches us, any greater evil.
For which reason Moses says with great beauty in his recommendations, " Let not every man do that which seem- eth good to his own eyes," X which is equivalent to saying, let not any one gratify his own desire, but let each person seek to please God, and the world, and nature, and wise men, repudiating self-love, if he would become a good and virtuous man.
II. This may be sufficient to say, being in fact all that I am able tb advance, about the laws which bear on appetite and desire by way of filling up the whole body of the ten commandments, and of the subordinate injunctions con- tained in them; for if we are to look upon the brief heads which were oracularly delivered by the voice of God, as the generic laws, and all the particular ordinances which Moses subsequently interpreted and added as the special laws; then there is need of great care and skill in order to preserve the arrangement unconfused in order to an accurate comprehension of it, and I therefore have taken great care, and have assigned and apportioned to each of these generic laws of the whole code all that properly belonged to it.
But enough of this. "VVe must however not remain ignorant that as separately there are some particular in- * Numbers xi. 20 + See Numbers xi. 34: " And he called the name of that place Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people that lusted." X Deuteronomy xi. 8.
junctions related to each one of the ten generic command- ments, which have nothing in common with any one of the others; so also there are some things to be observed which are common to the whole, being adapted not to one or two, as people say, but to the whole ten commandments.
And I mean by this those virtues which are of common utility, for each one of these ten laws separately, and all of them together, train men and encourage them to prudence, and justice, and piety, towards God and all the rest of the company of virtues, connecting sound words with good intentions, and virtuous actions with wise language, that so the organ of the soul may be wholly and entirely held together in a good and harmonious manner so as to produce a well-regulated and faultless innocence and consistency of life.
We have spoken before of that queen of all the virtues, piety and holiness, and also of prudence and moderation; we must now proceed to speak of justice which is con- versant about subjects which are akin and nearly related to them.
A TEEATISE ON JUSTICE.
I. One portion of justice, and that not an unimportant one, relates to courts of justice and to the judge, which indeed I have mentioned before, when I was going through the subject of testimony, and dwelling on it at some length, in order that nothing which belonged to the subject should be omitted: and as I am not fond of repetitions, unless indeed some necessity arising from the imperious character of the occasion compels me to it, I will pass that part of the subject over now, and will turn my attention to the other portions, having just said thus much as a preface.
The law says, it is proper to lay up justice in one's heart, and to fasten it as a sign upon one's head, and as frontlets before one's eyes, figuratively intimating by the former expression that one ought to commit the precepts of justice, not to one's ears, which are not trustworthy, for there is ON JUSTICE. 389 ON JUSTICE. 389 no credit due to the ears, but to that most important and dominant part, stamping and impressing them on the most excellent of all offerings, a well approved seal • and by the second expression, that it is necessary not only to form proper conceptions of what is right, but also to do what one has decided upon as proper without delay. Eor the hand is the symbol of actions, to which Moses here commands the people to attach and fasten justice, saying, that it shall be a sign, of what indeed he has not expressly stated, because it is not a sign as I conceive of one particular thing, but of many, and, I may almost say, of everything with which the life of man is concerned. And by the third expression, he implies that justice is discerned everywhere as being close to the eyes.
Moreover he says that, these things must have a certain motion; not one that shall be light and unsteady, but such as by its agitation may rouse the sight to the spectacle manifest before it; for motion is calculated to attract the sight, inasmuch as it excites and rouses it j or, I might rather say, inasmuch as it renders the eyes awake and sleepless.
But the man to whom it happens to represent to the eyes of his mind things which are not quiet but which are in motion, and exerting energies in accordance with nature, is entitled to be set down as a perfect man, and no longer to be reckoned among learners and pupils, but among teachers and instructors; and he ought to allow all the young men who are desirous to do so, to drink of his wisdom as of an abundant stream flowing from a living fountain of lessons and doctrines.f And if there is any one who, out of modesty, is wanting of courage, and therefore delays, and is slow to approach him for the purpose of learning, let him go to him of his own accord, and pour into his ears a collection of admo- nitions, until the channels of his soul are filled with them. And let him instruct in the principles of justice all his relatives and friends, and all young men, at home and on the road, and when they are going to bed, and when they rise up; that in all their positions, and in all their motions, and in all places whether private or public, not only waking, but * Deuteronomy vi. 6. f Deuteronomy vi. 7.
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also while asleep, they may be delighted with the image and conception of justice.
For there is no delight more exquisite than that which proceeds from the whole soul being entirely filled with justice, while devoted to the study of its everlasting doc- trines and meditations, so that it has no vacant place at which injustice can effect an entrance.
Moreover, he ordains that those who have written out these things should afterwards affix them to every house belonging to a friend, and to the gates which are in their walls; that all people, whether coming in or going out, whether citizens or strangers, reading the writing thus fixed on. pillars before the gates, may have an unceasing recollec- tion of all that ought to be said or that ought to be done; and that every one may take care neither to do nor to suffer injury; and that all persons, whether going into their houses or going out of them, men and women, children and servants, may do all that is proper and becoming to one another and to themselves.
THAT IT IS NOT LAWFUL TO ADD ANYTHING TO OB TO TAKE ANYTHING FKOM THE LAW.
The lawgiver also gives this most admirable injunction, that one must not add anything to, or take anything away from the law, but that it is a duty to keep all the ordinances as originally established in an equal and similar state to that in which they were at first delivered without alteration; for, as it seems, there might otherwise be an addition of what is unjust; for there is nothing which has been omitted by the wise lawgiver which can enable a man to partake of entire and perfect justice.
Moreover, by this command Moses intimates the per- fection of all other virtue; for each separate virtue is free from all deficiency, and is complete, deriving its perfection from itself; so that if there were any addition thereto, or anything taken away therefrom, it would be utterly and entirely changed and altered, so as to assume a contrary character. What I meant to say is this, all who are pro- foundly. ignorant and uninstructed, all who have the very slightest smattering of education, know that courage is a virtue which is conversant about terrible objects; is a ON JUSTICE. 391 ON JUSTICE. 391 science teaching one what he ought to endure and dare. But if any one, under the influence of that ignorance which proceeds from insolence, should be so superfluous as to fancy himself capable of correcting that which requires no cor- rection, and should consequently venture to add anything or take away anything, he, by so doing, is altering the whole appearance of the thing, changing that which had a good character into unseemliness; for by any addition to courage he will produce audacity, but if he takes anything a^\ ay from it he will produce cowardice, not leaving even the name of courage, that most useful of all virtues to life.
In the same manner, if any one makes an addition, be it ever so small, or ever so great, to that queen of the virtues, piety, or if he takes anything away from it, he will change and metamorphose its whole appearance, and make it some- thing quite different; for any addition will engender super- stition, and any diminution will produce impiety, real piety itself wholly disappearing under the operation, which every one should pray for, that it may be continually conspicuous and brilliant, since it is the cause of the greatest of all blessings, inasmuch as it produces a knowledge of the service of God, which one ought to look upon as more important and more precious than any dominion or authority. And we may give instances of every other virtue resembling what we have said about these just mentioned; but since I am in the habit of avoiding prolixity, I will be satisfied with what has been stated, which may be a sufficient guide to what might be said respecting these virtues which we omit to mention.
ABOUT NOT MOVING LAND-MABKS.
There is also this commandment ordained which is of great common utility, that, " Thou shalt not move thy neigh- bours' land-marks which the former men have set up." * And this injunction is given, as it seems, not only with respect to inheritances, and to the boundaries of the land, in order to prohibit covetousness respecting them, but also as a guard to ancient customs; for customs are unwritten laws, being the doctrines of men of old, not engraved on pillars or written on paper which may be eaten by moths, but * Deuteronomy xix. 14.
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impressed in the souls of those living under the same con- stitution.
For the children ought to inherit from the father of their being the national customs in which they have been brought up, and in which they have lived from their cradle, and not to despise them merely because they are handed down with- out being written. For the man who obeys the written laws is not justly entitled to any praise, inasmuch as he is influenced by compulsion and the fear of punishment. But he who abides by the unwritten laws is worthy of praise, as exhibiting a spontaneous and unconstrained virtue.
A TEEATLSE CREATION OF MAGISTRATES.
fj Some persons have contended that all magistracies ought to have the officers appointed to them by lot; which however is a mode of proceeding not advantageous for the multitude, for the casting of lots shows good fortune, but not virtue; at all events many unworthy persons have often obtained office by such means, men whom, if a good man had the supreme authority, he would not permit to be reckoned even among his subjects: for even those who are called lesser rulers by some persons, those whom men entitled masters, do not admit every one whom they can possibly find to be their servants, whether born in the house or bought with money; but they will only take those who are obedient, and at times they sell all those of incurably bad dispositions in a lot, as not being worthy to be the slaves of good men.
Therefore it is not right to make men masters and rulei of entire cities and nations, who obtain those places by lot, which is a sort of blunder on the part of fortune, which is an unstable and fickle thing. Beyond all question, casting of lots can have no connection with ability to attend upon the sick; for physicians do not obtain their employments by lot, but because their experience is approved of; again, with ON THE CREATION OF MAGISTRATES. 303 reference to the successful voyage and safety of men at sea, it is not any man who may obtain the office of pilot by lot, who is sent at once to the stern to steer the vessel, and who then by his ignorance may cause a needless wreck in calm and tranquil weather, but that person has that charge given to him who, from his earliest youth, appears to have learnt and carefully studied the business of a pilot j this is a man who has made many voyages, and who has traversed every sea, or at all events most seas, and who has carefully ascer- tained the character of all the marts, and harbours, and anchorages, and places of refuge in the different islands and continents, and who is still better, or at all events not worse acquainted with the tracks over the sea, than he is with the roads on land, through his accurate observation of the hea- venly bodies; for having remarked the various motions of the stars, and having followed and being guided by their regular revolutions, he has learnt to be able to make out for himself an unerring and easy path through the pathless waste of waters, so that (what seems the most incredible of all things), beings whose nature it is to live on the land are able to traverse the sea which can only be crossed by sailing.
And if any one should be about to undertake the govern- ment or regulation of large and populous cities, full of inha- bitants, and should attempt to settle the constitution of such, and should undertake the superintendence of private, and public, and sacred affairs, a task which any one may rightly call the art of arts, and the science of sciences, he would not trust to the uncertain chances of time, passing over the accurate and trustworthy test of truth; and the test of truth is proof combined with reason.
II. The all-wise Moses seeing this by the power of his own soul, makes no mention of any authority being assigned by lot, but he has chosen to direct that all offices shall be elected to; therefore he says, " Thou shalt not appoint a stranger to be a ruler over thee, but one of thine own brethren,"* implying that the appointment is to be a voluntary choice, and an irreproachable selection of a ruler, whom the whole multitude with one accord shall choose; and God himself will add his vote in favour of, and set his seal to ratify such an election, that being who is the con- * Deuteronomy xvii. 15.
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firmer of all advantageous things, looking upon the man so chosen as the flower of his race, just as the sight is the best thing in the body.
III. And Moses gives also two reasons, on account of which it is not proper for strangers to be elected to situa- tions of authority; in the first place, that they may not amass a quantity of silver, and gold, and flocks, and raise great and iniquitously earned riches for themselves, out of the poverty of those who are subjected to them; and secondly, that they may not make the nation quit their ancient abodes to gratify their own covetous desires, and so compel them to emigrate, and to wander about to and fro in interminable wanderings, suggesting to them hopes of the acquisition of greater blessings, which shall never be fulfilled, by which they come to lose those advantages of which they were in the secure enjoyment. For our lawgiver was aware before- hand, as was natural that one who was a countryman and a relation, and who had also an especial share in the sublimest relationship of all, (and that sublimest of relationships is one constitution and the same law, and one God whose chosen nation is a peculiar people); so that he would never offend in any manner similar to those which I have been mentioning, but, on the other hand, instead of causing the inhabitants to quit their abodes, he would be likely even to afford a safe return to such of his countrymen as were dis- persed in a foreign land; and instead of taking away the property of others, he would even give his own property to those who were in need of it, making his own wealth common. IV. And from the first day on which any one enters upon his office, he orders that he shall write out a copy of the book of the law* with his own hand, which shall supply him with a summary and concise image of all the laws, because he wishes that all the ordinances which are laid down in it shall be firmly fixed in his soul; for while a man is reading the notions of what he is reading fleet away, being carried off by the rapidity of his utterance; but if he is writing they are stamped upon his heart at leisure, and they take up their abode in the heart of each individual as his mind dwells upon each particular, and settles itself to the con- templation of it, and does not depart to any other object, till it has taken a firm hold of that which was previously ON THE CREATION OF MAGISTRATES. 395 submitted to it. When therefore he is writing, let him take care, every day, to read and study what he has written, both in order that he may thus attain to a continual and unchangeable recollection of these commands which are virtuous and expedient for all men to observe, and also that a firm love of and desire for them may be implanted in him, by reason of his soul being continually taught and accus- tomed to apply itself to the study and observance of the sacred laws.
Tor familiarity, which has been engendered by long acquaintance, engenders a sincere and pure friendship, not only towards men, but even also towards such branches of learning as are worthy to be loved; and this will take place if the ruler studies not the writings and memorials of some one else but those which he himself has written out; for his own works are, in a certain degree, more easily to be under- stood by each individual, and they are also more easily to be comprehended; and besides that a man, while he is read- ing them, will have such considerations in his mind as these: " I wrote all this; I who am a ruler of such great power, without employing any one else as my scribe, though I had innumerable servants. Did I do all this, in order to fill up a volume, like those who copy out books for hire, or like men who practise their eyes and their hands, training the one to acuteness of sight, and the others to rapidity ot writing? Why should I have done this? That was not the case; I did it in order that after I had recorded these things in a book, I might at once proceed to impress them on my heart, and that I might stamp upon my intellect their divine and indelible characters: other kings bear sceptres in their hands, and sit upon thrones in royal state, but my sceptre shall be the book of the copy of the law; that shall be my boast and my incontestible glory, the signal of my irreproachable sovereignty, created after the image and model of the archetypal royal power of God.
" And by always relying upon and supporting myself in the sacred laws, I shall acquire the most excellent things. In the first place equality, than which it is not possible to discern any greater blessing, for insolence and excessive haughtiness are the signs of a narrow-minded soul, which does not foresee the future.
396 PHILO JUD^EUS.
u Equality, therefore, will win me good will from ail who are subject to my power, and safety inasmuch as they will bestow on me a just requital for my kindness; but inequality will bring upon me terrible dangers, and these I shall escape by hating inequality, the purveyor of darkness and wars; and my life will be in no danger of being plotted against, because I hononr equality, which has no connection with seditions, bnt which is the pareut of light and stability. Moreover, I shall gain another advantage, namely, that I shall not sway this way and that way, like the dishes in a scale, in consequence of perverting and distorting the com- mandments laid down for my guidance. But I shall en- deavour to keep 'hem, going through the middle of the plain road, keeping my own steps straight and upright, in order that I may attain to a life free from error or misfortune."
And Moses was accustomed to call the middle road the royal one, inasmuch as it lay between excess and deficiency; and besides, more especially, because in the number three the centre occupies the most important place, uniting the extremities on either side by an indissoluble chain, it being attended by these extremities as its body-guards as though it were: a king.
Moreover, Moses says that a long-enduring sovereignty is the reward of a lawful magistrate or ruler who honours equality, and who without any corruption gives just deci- sions in a just manner, always studying to observe the laws; not for the sake of granting him a life extending over many years, combined with the administration of the common- wealth, but in order to teach those who do not understand that a governor who rules in accordance with the laws, even though he die, does nevertheless live a long life by means of his actions which he leaves behind him as immortal, the indestructible monuments of his piety and virtue.
V. And it becomes a man who has been thought worthy of the supreme and greatest authority to appoint successors who may govern with him and judge with him, and, in con- cert with him, may ordain everything which is for the com- mon advantage; for one person would not be sufficient, even if he were ever so willing, and if he were the most powerful man in the world, both in body and soul, to support the weight and number of affairs which would come upon him, ON THE CREATION OF MAGISTRATES. 397 as he would faint under the pressure and rapidity of all kinds of business coming in upon him continually every day from all quarters, unless he had a number of persons selected with reference to their excellence who might co-operate with him by their prudence, and power, and justice, and godlv piety, men who not only avoid arrogance, but even detest it as an enemy and as the very greatest of evils.
Eor these men would stand by, and assist, and co-operate with a virtuous and holy man, one who hated evils equally with themselves, and would be the most suitable persons to lighten and relieve his labours. And, besides, since of the mattersw hich would force themselves upon his attention, some are of greater importance and others of less, the chief will very reasonably commit those which are more unim- portant to his lieutenants, while he himself would of neces- sity become the most accurate judge of the weightier matters. But the affairs which we ought to look upon as the most weighty are not, as some persons think, those in which per- sons of reputation are at variance with other persons of reputation, or rich men with rich men, or princes with princes; but, on the contrary, are rather where there are powerful men on one side, and private individuals, men of no wealth, or dignity, or reputation, on the other, men whose sole hope of escaping intolerable evils lies in the judge himself.
And we can find clear instances of both kinds in the sacred laws, which it is well for us to imitate; for there was once a time in which Moses, alone by himself, decided all causes and all matters of legal controversy, labouring from morning till night. But after a time his father-in-law came to him, and seeing with what a weight of business he was over- whelmed, as all those who had any disputes were everlast- ingly coming upon him, he gave him most excellent advice, counselling him to choose subordinate magistrates, that they might decide the less important affairs, and that he might have only the more serious causes to occupy him, and by this means provide himself with time for rest.* And Moses, being convinced by the arguments of Jethro (for, indeed, they were for his good), having chosen the men of the highest reputation in the whole nation, he appointed them * Exodus xviii. 14.
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his lieutenants and judges, bidding them refer the more im- portant cases to him.
And the history of the sacred laws contains this arrange- ment duly recorded, for the instruction of the rulers in all succeeding generations, that, in the first place, they may not despise the assistance of fellow counsellors, as if they were able of themselves to superintend everything, since that all- wise and godly man, Moses, did not reject them; and, secondly, that they may learn to choose subordinates of the second class and of the third class, so as to provide for them- selves not being driven to neglect matters of greater import- ance, through being wholly occupied by affairs of a more trifling nature; for it is impossible for human nature to attend to everything at once.
VI. "We have here mentioned one example of what we before alluded to. We must now add an instance of the second kind. I said that the causes of men of humble con- dition were important; for the widow, and the orphan, and the ptranger are powerless and humble. And it is right that he supreme King should be the judge in their case, the Buler who has the supreme authority over the whole nation; since, according to Moses, even God, the Ruler of the uni- verse, did not exclude them from the provisions of his laws; for when Moses, that holy interpreter of the will of God, is raising a hymn in praise of the virtues of the living God in these terms, " God is great and mighty, one who is no respecter of persons, and who does not take gifts to guide him in his judgment,"* he adds, in whose case it is that he gives judgment, not in the case of satraps, and tyrants, and men who have the power by land and sea, but he gives judgment respecting the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow.