And who is there who would not disregard spurious good things in comparison of genuine ones? But if while they received a mortal body, and were full of liability to all kinds of human disasters, and lived among such a number of unjust actions and unrighteous men, of which the very number is not easy to compute accurately, they were plotted against by their enemies, why do we blame nature when we ought rather to accuse the barbarity of those who thus set upon them? For so in like manner, if they had been placed in a pestilential climate, they would inevitably have become sick; and wicked- ness is even more, or at all events not less, destructive than a pestilential state of the atmosphere. But as when there is rain Q 2 PHILO JUDiEUS.
the wise man, if he is in the open air, must inevitably get wet through and if the cold north wind blows he must be oppressed by cold and shivering, and when summer is at its height he must feel the heat, for it is a law of nature that the bodies of men should be simultaneously affected by the changes of the seasons; so also in the same way a man who lives in such places, " Where slaughters dire and famines might prevail, And all the ills which thus mankind assail," must inevitably pay the penalty which such evils inflict upon Since in the case of Polycrates at least, in retaliation for the terrible acts of injustice and impiety which he committed, there fell upon him great misery in his subsequent life as a terrible requital for his previous good fortune. Add to this that he was chastised bv a mighty sovereign, and was crucified by him, fulfilling the prediction of the oracle: " I knew said he " long before I took it into my head to go to consult the oracle, that I was anointed by the sun and washed by Jupiter," for these enigmatical assertions, expressed in symbol- ical language having been originally couched in unintelligible lamma^e, afterwards receive a most manifest confirmation by the&eveDnts which followed them. But it was not only at the end of his existence, but indeed during the whole period of his life from its earliest commencement that he was, though with- out being aware of it, making his soul to depend wholly on his body • for as he was always in a state of alarm and trepidation he feared the multitude of enemies who might possibly attack him, being well assured that no one in the world was really well affected towards him, but that every one was hostile to him, and would turn out implacable enemies if he should be unfortunate. m..
unfortunate. m..
A^ain of unsuccessful and yet of never-ending precautions those writers who have written the history of Sicily are wit- nesses, for they say that the tyrant of Sicily suspected even his most affectionatelv loved wife; and a proof of this is that he ordered the entrance of his chamber by which she was about to have access to him to be strewed with planks, in order that she might never come upon him without being observed, but that the noise and tumult made by her stepping on these boards FRAGMENTS. 229 might indicate her approach beforehand; and besides this he compelled her to come not only without her robe, but even naked in every part, and even in those which ought not to be seen by men. And in addition to this he ordered the whole of the flooring along the road to be cut in width and depth like a trench made by farmers, out of fear lest anything should be secretly concealed so as to plot against him, which would inevitably be detected by the leaps and long steps which a person coming along this path would be compelled to take.
Of how many miseries, then, was that man full who took all these precautions and practised all these contrivances against his own wife, whom he ought to have trusted above all other human beings? But he was like those men who scale pre- cipices and climb over abrupt and steep mountains for the purpose of attaining to a more accurate comprehension of the natures of things in heaven, who at last after they have with great difficulty ascended to some overhanging ridge, find them- selves unable to advance any further as they are too much exhausted to think of attempting the remaining portion of the mountain, and also want courage to descend, being giddy at the sight of the chasms and ravines below them; for he, being in love with sovereign power as a godlike thing to be desired above all other objects, looked upon it as unsafe either to remain where he was or to retreat, for he considered that if he remained where he was innumerable other evils would come upon him in rapid and uninterrupted succession, while if he decided on retracing his steps his very life would be in danger, as there were enemies around, if not as to their bodies at all events in their minds, against him.
And he also showed the truth of all this by the treatment to which he exposed a friend of his who spoke of the life of a tyrant as one of complete and absolute happiness; for, having invited him to a banquet which had been prepared in a most brilliant and costly manner, he ordered a sharp sword to be suspended over his head by a very fine thread, and when he, after he had sat down to the banquet, on a sudden perceived it, not daring to rise up and quit his place for fear of the tyrant, and not being able to enjoy any of the things which were prepared out of fear, he disregarded all the abundant and superb luxuries by which he was surrounded, and keeping his 230 PHILO JUDiEUS.
neck and his eyes turned upwards, sat in the expectation of instant death.* And when Dionysius perceived the state in which he was, he said to him, " Do you then at last begin to understand the true character of that illustrious and enviable life of ours, for this is what it really is if a man chooses to speak of it without flattery or disguise, since it contains indeed a great abundance of resources and supplies, but no enjoyment of any real bless- ing; and it causes its possessor incessant fears and irremedi- able and unavoidable dangers, and a disease worse than the most contagious or most fatal sickness, which is continually threatening inevitable death. But the inconsiderate multitude, being deceived by the outward brilliancy and splendour of the position, are like people who are attracted by showy looking courtesans, who, concealing their real deformity under fine clothes and golden ornaments, and pencilling their eye« from want of any real beauty, manufacture a spurious beauty in order to lie in wait for and catch the beholders.
Now men who are placed in situations of great prosperity are full of such unhappiness as this, of the greatness of which they themselves are fully aware, and they do not at all keep it to themselves, but like men who under compulsion divulge secret things, they often utter the truest possible expressions, which are extorted from them by suffering, living in the con- tinual company of punishment both present and expected, just like cattle who are being fattened up for sacrifice, for they too * Horace alludes to the story of Damocles, Od. III. i. 16. Districtus ensis cui semper impia Cervice pendet, non Siculse dapes Dulcem elaborabunt saporem, Non avium citharaeque cantus Somnum reducent. Somnus agrestium Lenis virorum non humiles domos Fastidit. Which may be translated — " Care murders sleep; the man who's learnt to dread The sword unsafely trembling o'er his head, In vain to court his sad distracted taste The table groans beneath the varied feast. Sad Philomel's untutored song is vain, And vain the swelling flute's more laboured strain, To close his eyes in sleep, the envied lot Of weary peasant in hie humbler cot."
FRAGMENTS. 231 FRAGMENTS. 231 are treated with the greatest possible attention in order to be fit to be sacrificed by reason of their fleshiness and good con- dition. There are also some men who have suffered punish- ment, and that not concealed, but visible, and notorious for the impiety of the means by which they have acquired riches, the names and numbers of whom it would be superfluous to enumerate, but it will be sufficient to bring forward one instance as a specimen of the whole.
It is said, then, by those who have written the History of the Sacred War in Phocis that as there was a law established that any one who was guilty of sacrilege should be either thrown down a precipice, or drowned in the sea, or burnt alive, that those men who had pillaged the temple at Delphi, by name Philomelus, and Onomarchus, and Phayllus, divided these punishments among them, for that the first fell down a rugged and precipitous rock and was dashed to pieces on the stones, and that the second, when the horse which he was riding grew restive and plunged down towards the sea, was overwhelmed by the waves, and so fell alive into a devouring gulf; and Phayllus was wasted away by a consumptive disease (for the way in which the story is told about him is twofold), or else perished in the temple at Abse, being burnt in it when it was destroyed by fire. For it must be the mere spirit of obstinacy and arguing to say that all these events took place by mere chance, for if indeed one or two of them had been punished at different periods or by some other mode of punish- ment, then it would have been reasonable to impute their fate to the uncertainty of fortune, but when they all died together and at one time, and by no other punishment but by that precise end which is appointed in the laws for the punishment of such crimes as those of which they had been guilty, it is surely fair to say that they perished by the direct condemnation of God.
But if any of the violent men who are unmentioned, and who have at different times risen up against the people in their several states, and have enslaved not only other nations, but their own countries too, have still died without meeting with punishment, it is not to be wondered at, for in the first place man does not judge as God judges, because we investigate what is visible to ourselves, but he descends into the secret recesses of the soul without making any noise, and there con- 232 PHILO JUD^EUS.
templates the mind in the clear light, as if in the sun; for stripping off from it 8.11 the ornaments in which it is enveloped, and seeing its devices and intentions naked, he immediately distinguishes between the bad and the good.
Let not us then, preferring our own judgment to that of God, assert that it is more unerring or more full of wisdom than his, for that is not consistent with holiness; for in the one there are many things which deceive it, such as the treacherous outward senses, the insidious character of the passions, the most terrible attacks of vice, but in the other there is nothing which can at all conduce to deceit or error, but justice and truth, by which each separate action is deter- mined on, and in this way is naturally rectified in the most praiseworthy manner.
Do not thou, then, my good friend, consider tyrannical power, that most unprofitable of all things, to be a seasonable possession; for neither is punishment disadvantageous, but it is either more beneficial, or at all events not injurious to the good to suffer due punishment, on which account it is expressly comprehended in all laws which are wisely enacted, and those who have established such laws are praised by every one; for what a tyrant is in a people, that is punishment in a law.
When therefore a want and terrible scarcity of virtue seizes upon cities, and when a great abundance of folly overwhelms everything, then God, like the stream of an overflowing torrent, being desirous to wash away all the power and impetuosity of wickedness, in order to purify our race, gives vigour and power to those men who by their natures are fitted to exercise dominion, for without a stern soul wickedness cannot be got rid of. And just as cities keep executioners for the punish- ment of murderers, and traitors, and sacrilegious persons, not because they approve of the dispositions of the men, but because they have need of the serviceable part of their minis- trations; in the same manner the Ruler of this mighty city, the world, appoints tyrants, like ordinary executioners, to be over those cities in which he sees that violence, and injustice, and impiety prevail, and all other kinds of evils in abundance, that he may by these means put an end to their existence. And then he thinks it right to pursue the guilty, as men who have been serving these vices from the impulses of an impure and pitiless soul, with every punishment imaginable, as the FRAGMENTS. 233 FRAGMENTS. 233 ringleaders; for as the power of fire when it has consumed the fuel which was given to it, at last consumes itself al&o, so also do those who have received supreme power over nations, when they have exhausted the cities and rendered them destitute of inhabitants, at last perish themselves among them, suffering due punishment for all that they have done.
And why should we wonder if God employs the agency of tyrants to get rid of wickedness when widely diffused over cities, and countries, and nations? For he very often uses other ministers, and himself brings about the same end by his own resources, inflicting upon the nation famine, or pestilence, or earthquakes, or any other heaven-sent calamity, by which great and numerous multitudes perish every day, and by which a great portion of the habitable world is made desolate, on account of his care for the preservation of virtue.
Therefore I have now, as I conceive, spoken at sufficient length on the present subject, namely, that no wicked man is happy, by which fact above all others it may be established that there is such a thing as providence; but if you are not thoroughly convinced, then tell me boldly what is the doubt which is still lurking in your mind, for then both of us by labouring together shall be able to see clearly what the real truth is.
And after some more arguments, he proceeds thus: — God causes the violent storms of wind and rain which we see, not for the injury of those who traverse the sea, as you fancied, or of those who till the earth, but for the general benefit of the whole of the human race, for with his water he cleanses the earth, and with his breezes he purifies all the regions beneath the moon, and by the united influence of both he nourishes and promotes the growth and brings to perfection both animals and plants. And if at times these things do injure those who put to sea or who till the land at unseason- able moments, it is not to be wondered at, for these men are hut a small portion of the human race, and the care of God is exerted for the benefit of all mankind.
As, therefore, in a gymnastic school oil is placed there for the common benefit of every one, but still it often happens that the master of the school, by reason of some political necessity changes the arrangement of the usual hours of exercise, by which means some of those who wish to anoint 234 PHILO JUD^EUS.
234 PHILO JUD^EUS.
themselves come too late; in like manner God, who takes cure of the whole world as if it were a city committed to his charge, does sometimes cause the summer to resemble winter, and winter to assume the characteristics of spring, for the common benefit of the universe, even though some captains of ships, or some cultivators of the ground, may very likely be injured by this irregularity of the seasons. Therefore- He, being aware that the occasional interchanges of the elements with one another, out of which the world was made, and of which it consists, are a work of the greatest importance and necessity, supplies them without allowing anything to be an obstacle to them; and frost and snow-storms, and other things of that kind, follow the cooling of the air. And, again, light- nings and thunders arise from the collision and repercussion of the clouds, none of which things are perhaps effected by any immediate exertion of providence, but the rains and winds are the causes of existence, and nourishment, and growth to all things which are upon the earth, and these phenomena are the natural consequences of those others.
For just as it often happens, when the master of a gymnas- tic school, out of rivalry, has gone to extravagant expense, then some of those who are ignorant of all that is becoming, having been bespattered with oil instead of water, let all the drops from them fall upon the boards, and then a most slippery mud is the result: nevertheless a man, whose appreciations were just would not say that the hard and the slippery state of the ground was caused by the intention of the master of the school, but that these things had resulted accidentally, in con- sequence of the abundant quantity of the things supplied. Again, the rainbow, and the halo, and all other things of that kind, are natural consequences of those things becoming mingled with the clouds, not being occurrences which lead and influence nature, but being the results and consequences of the operations of nature.
Not but what these very things themselves do also afford some signs of great importance to wise men, for, guiding their conjectures by them, they predict calms and storms of wind, and fine weather, and tempests. Do you not see the porticoes which embellish the cities? the greater part of these look towards the south, in order that those who walk under FRAGMENTS. 235 FRAGMENTS. 235 them may be warm in the winter, and may be cool in the summer.
There is also another thing which does not happen through the intention of Him who made it, and what is this? the shadows which fall from the feet indicate the hours to our experience. And again, fire is a most important work of nature, but the consequence of fire is smoke, and nevertheless even this too at times is of some service. At all events in the heat, in the middle of the day, when the fire is rendered invisible by the brilliancy of the beams of the sun, the ap- proach of enemies is indicated by the smoke, and the principle which causes the rainbow is also the same which, in some degree, regulates eclipses.
For eclipses are a natural consequence of the rules which regulate the divine natures of the sun and moon; and they are indications either of the impending death of some king, or of the destruction of some city, as Pindar also has told us in enigmatical terms, alluding to such events as the conse- quences of the omens which I have now been mentioning.* * This theory of the eclipses of the sun and other natural prodigies being prophetic of events on earth, is expressed by Virgil in a passage of the most exquisite beauty in reference to Cajsar's death. Georg. i. 462.
Denique, quid vesper serus vehat, unde serenas Ventus agat nubes, quid cogitet humidus auster, Sol tibi signa dabit. Solem quis dicere falsum Audeat? Ille etiam csecos instare tumultus Saipe monet, fraudemque et operta tumescere bella.
Ille etiam extincto miseratus Csesare Romam, Quum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit Impiaque seternam timuerunt secula noctem.
Tempora quamquam illo tellus quoque, et sequora ponti, Obscsenique canes, importunseque volucres Signa dabant. Quoties Cyclopum effervere in agros Vidimus undantem ruptis fornacibus iEtnam, Flammarumque globos, liquefactaque volvere saxa!
Armorum sonitum toto Germania ccelo Audiit: insolitis tremuerunt motibus Alpes.
Vox quoque per lucos volgo exaudita silentis Ingens: et simulacra modis pallentia miris Visa sub obscurum noctis: pecudesque locutae, Infandum! sistunt amnes, terrseque dehiscunt, Et moestum inlacrimat templis ebur, seraque sudant.
Proluit insano contorquens vortice silvas Fluviorum rex Eridanus, camposque per omnia 236 PHILO JCD^US.
And the circle of the Milky Way partakes of the same natural essences with the other stars; but merely the fact that it is hard to account for, is no reason that those who are ac- Cum stabulis armenta tulit. Nee tempore eodeni Tristibus aut extis fibrse adparere minaces, Aut puteis manare cruor cessavit: et altae Per noctem resonare, lupis ululantibus, urbes: Non alias coelo ceciderunt plura sereno Fulgura: nee diri toties arsere cometoe. Ergo inter sese paribus concurrere telis Romauas acies iterum videre Philippi.
Or as it is translated by Dryden — " The unerring sun by certain signs declares What the late eve or early morn prepares, And when the south projects a stormy day, And when the clearing north will puff the clouds away. The sun reveals the secrets of the skv, And who dares give the source of light the lie? The change of empires often he declares, Fierce tumults, hidden treasons, open wars. He first the fate of Csesar did foretell, And pitied Rome, when Rome in Caesar fell, In iron clouds concealed the public light, And impious mortals feared eternal night. Nor was the fact foretold by him alone, Nature herself stood forth and seconded the sun. Earth, air, and seas with prodigies were signed, And birds obscene and howling dogs divined; What rocks did ^Etna's bellowing mouth expire From her torn entrails! and what floods of fire. What clanks were heard in German skies afar Of arms and armies rushing to the war. Dire earthquakes rent the solid Alps below, And from their summits shook the eternal snow. Pale spectres in the clo.se of night were seen, And voices heard of more than mortal men. In silent groves dumb sheep and oxen spoke, And streams ran backward and their beds forsook; The yawning earth disclosed the abyss of hell, The weeping statues did the wars foretell, And holy sweat from brazen idols fell. Then rising in his might, the king of floods Rushed through the forests, tore the lofty woods, And rolling o "wards, with a sweepy sway Bore houses, Ian Is. and labouring hinds away. Blood si-iang from wells, wolves howled in turns by night, And boding victims did the priests affright.
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237 customed to investigate the principles cf nature should shrink from examining into it; for the discovery of those things is most beneficial, and the investigation of them is intrinsically most delightful for its own sake, to those who are fond of learning.
For as the sun and moon exist in consequence of Provi- dence, so also do all things in heaven, even though we are unable to trace out accurately the respective natures and pow- ers of each, and are, therefore, reduced to silence about them; and earthquakes, and pestilences, and the fall of thunderbolts, and things of that kind, are said indeed to be sent by God, but, in reality, they are not so, for God is absolutely not the cause of any evil whatever of any kind, but the natural changes of the elements produce these effects, not as circumstances which guide nature, but as those which are followed by necessary results, and which do themselves follow naturally upon their antecedent causes. And if some people, who think themselves entitled to immunity meet with some injury from these things, they are still not to find fault with their management and dispensation; for, in the first place, it does not follow, that if some persons are reckoned virtuous among men, they are so in real truth; since the criteria by which God judges are far more accurate than any of the tests by which the human mind is guided. And, in the second place, prophetic wisdom loves to contemplate those things in the world which are of the most comprehensive nature, as in the case of monarchies, and in the governments of armies, we see that it is not any obscure, ignoble, or chance person who is appointed to govern the cities or the armies.
And some persons say that as on occasion of the slaying of tyrants, it is lawful that their relations also should be put to death, in order that transgressions may be checked by the ter- rible magnitude of the punishment inflicted: in like manner in pestilential diseases, it is necessary that some of those who are not guilty should be involved in the destruction, in order Such peals of thunder never poured from high, Nor forky lightnings flashed from such a sullen sky; Red meteor-: ran across the ethereal space, Stars disappeared and comets took their place. For this the Emathian plains once more were strewed With Roman bodies, and ju*t heaven thought good To fatten twice those fields with Roman blood."
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23S PHILO JUDiEDS.
that others who are at a distance may learn moderation. Besides that, it is inevitable that those who are exposed to a pesti- lential atmosphere must become diseased just as all persons who are exposed to a storm on board a ship must be all exposed to equal danger. But those wild beasts which are courageous have been created; for we must not suppress the truth (as if one were to anticipate the defence likely to be made by a man of powerful eloquence and tare it to pieces be- forehand), in order that men may, by practising against them, acquire hardihood for the contests of war; for gymnastic exer- cises and continued hunting train men and inure their souls in a greater degree even than their bodies to rely upon their own courage, and energy, and strength, so as to disregard the sudden attacks of their enemies.