But those men who are of peaceable character are at liberty to keep themselves not only within their walls, but also even within tents, and there to live in privacy, safe from the designs of any enemies, having vast and countless herds of domestic animals to help their enjoyment; since boars and "lions, and animals of that kind, are by their own instinct driven to a dis- tance from cities, not being inclined to expose themselves to danger in consequence of the devices of men. And if any men, being influenced by a spirit of laziness and indolence, living without arms and without preparation, dwell fearlessly among the haunts of wild beasts, then if anything happens to them they must blame not nature but themselves, because when they might have guarded against any such disasters, they have neglected them. Accordingly, before now, I have seen at the horse-races some persons acting in a most careless manner, who, when they ought to have sat still and to have beheld the races in an orderly manner, standing in the middle have been knocked down by the horses' feet and by the wheels, and have met with a proper reward for their folly.
We have now, then, said enough on this subject.
But of reptiles, those which are venomous have not been called into existence by an immediate providence, but by the natural consequences of events, as I said before; for they are brought into life when the moisture which is in them changes to a more violent heat; and some are vivified by putrefaction, as, for instance, the putrefaction of meat produces maggots, and that which is caused by perspiration produces lice; but all FRAGMENTS. 230 those which are produced out of a kindred substance, and which have their generation in accordance with the usual spermatic principles which I have mentioned before, are very naturally ascribed to an immediate providence. And I have also heard two accounts given of them as having been created for the advantage of mankind, which I should not think it well to conceal. Now one of them is the following.
Some persons have said that venomous animals contribute greatly to many of the objects of physicians, and that those who reduce that science to a regular system use them in a proper manner, and, acting with great wisdom and prudence, have discovered antidotes, so as to be able to contribute to the unexpected safety of those who were in the greatest possible danger; and even at the present time one may see those persons who apply themselves to the study of medicine, in a careful and diligent manner, using all these animals and plants in a most skilful manner in the composition of drugs.
The other account has no reference to the practice of phy- sicians, but only as it would seem to the studies of philosophers. For it says that all these things have been prepared by God as engines of punishment against offenders, just as generals and rulers prepare halters and chains. On which account, though they are quiet at other times, they are brought out with great power in the case of people who have been condemned, and whom nature in her incorruptible tribunal has sentenced to death; for that they lurk in secret holes and in houses, is a falsehood; for it is seen that these creatures flee out of the cities into the fields and into desert places, to avoid man as their master. Not but what, if this is true, there is a certain sense and principle in it; for rubbish is heaped up in recesses: and quantities of sweepings, and refuse, and such things, are what venomous reptiles love to lurk in, besides the fact that their smell has an attractive power over them.
Again, if swallows live among us, it is not at all strange, for we abstain from hunting them; and a desire of safety is im- planted not only in the souls of rational creatures, but also in those of irrational animals.
But of those animals which tend to our enjoyment, there is not one which lives with us by reason of the designs which we form against them, except that some do live with those nations to whom the use of them is forbidden by the law. There is a 2^0 PHILO JUDiEUS.
city of Syria, on the sea shore, Ascalon by name: when I was there, at the time when I was on my journey towards the temple of my native land for the purpose of offering up prayers and sacrifices therein, I saw a most incalculable number of pigeons on the roads and about every house; and when I inquired the cause of their being there in such numbers, they said that it was not lawful to catch them, for that the use of them had been prohibited to the inhabitants from the earliest ages; and so the bird had become so thoroughly tame through fearlessness, that it not only hovered about the roofs and came into the houses, but approached their tables also, and grew luxurious in the alliance which it had thus formed.
And in Egypt we may see a still more marvellous thing; for the crocodile is the most odious of all animals, and one addicted to devour man; and it is born and brought up in the most sacred way, and although residing in the depths, it feels the benefits which it receives from mankind; for in those tribes, among which it is honoured, it multiplies in the greatest de- gree, but among those who injure it it never appears at all: so that there are places where even the most timid persons when sailing by leap out of their ships and swim about with their children.
And in the country of the Cyclops, since the race of these men is a fabulous invention, there is no eatable fruit whatever produced except such as is raised from seed and cultivated by husbandmen, just as nothing is produced from that which does not exist; but we must not accuse Greece as being sterile and unproductive, for there is a great deal of deep and rich soil in it; and if the land of the barbarians is superior in fruitfulness, though it is superior in the food which it produces, it is inferior in the men who are nourished by the food, and for whose sake the food is produced.
For Greece is the only country which really produces man, that heavenly plant, that divine offshort, producing that most accurately refined reason which is appropriated by and akin to knowledge; and the cause is this, it is the nature of the intellect to be rendered acute by the lightness of the air; on which account Heraclitus said with great propriety, " Where the soil is dry, there the soul is most wise and most excellent;" and luiy one may conjecture this from the fact, that men who are sober and contented with a little are wise, and that those FRAGMENTS. 241 who are continually filling themselves with meat and drink are the least sensible, as if their reasoning faculties were drowned by the quantity which they swallow.
And on this account we see, in the countries of the bar- barians, trees and plants grow to the greatest possible size, by reason of the abundance of nourishment which they receive; and we see too, that the irrational animals which are found in these regions are the most prolific of any, but the mind is not so, or, at all events, it is so in a very slight degree, because it is elevated and raised out of the aether itself, while the inces- sant and uninterrupted evaporations of earth and water have freely boiled over it. Again, the different kinds of fish, and birds, and terrestrial animals, are not grounds for accusing nature, which invites us to pleasure by those means, but are a terrible reproach to us for our intemperate use of them, for it was necessary, for the due completion of the universe, in order that there should be order and regularity in every portion of it, that there should be produced every possible species of animal. But it was not necessary that that animal, which of all others is most akin to wisdom, namely, man, should rush with such eagerness to the enjoyment of it, as to change his nature into something resembling the ferocity of wild beasts; on which account, even up to the present time, those who have any regard for temperance entirely abstain from such things, eating only vegetables, and herbs, and the fruits of trees, as the most delicious and wholesome food.
And these men are instructors for those who look upon the practice of eating such animals to be in accordance with nature, and correct them, and are lawgivers to their respective cities, being men who take care to check the immoderate vehemence of the appetites, and who do not permit the unrestrained use of everything to everybody.
Again, if roses, and crocuses, and all the other beautiful variety of flowers which we see, contribute to health, it would not follow that they all contribute to pleasure; for the inde- scribable variety of them makes the powers of some of them more conspicuous than those of others, just as there is a com- mingling of male and female, contributing to the generation of an animal; neither of them being calculated, by itself, to produce the effect which the two produce in combination.
These things are said, in a most convincing manner, with VOL. IV. R Q42 PIIILO JUDiEUS.
reference to the rest of the questions raised by you, being quite sufficient to produce conviction in the minds of all who are not obstinately contentious on the subject of God taking great care of human affairs.
FRAGMENTS, EXTRACTED FROM THE PARALLELS OF JOHN OF DAMASCUS. About the unstable and changeable condition of human a fairs.
Page 326. C. If one is to tell the plain truth, man is without real power in anything, never taking a firm hold of anything. I do not mean merely of common things, but not even of those which concern himself; neither of health, nor of a good condition of the outward senses, nor of soundness in respect of the other parts of his body, nor of his voice, nor of his presence of mind; for as to wealth, or glory, or friends, or power, or all the other things which depend on fortune, who is there who does not know how thoroughly unstable they are? So that we must of necessity confess that the supreme power over everything belongs to one being alone, the true Lord of all existing things.
About impious men, sinners, cC-c.
P. 341. D. If you wish to be governed under God as your king, take care not'to sin; but if you commit sin, how can you be under the government of God as your king? About tlwse people who have renounced suc/i and such a line of conduct, and then turning back again, have adopted that very line which they had renounced.
P. 343. D. Some men, making improvement, have returned back to virtue before coming to the end, the ancient principle of oligarchy having destroyed the principle of aristocracy lately engendered in the soul, which having been quiet for a little while, has subsequently come up over again with greater power than before.
Ibid. When a man rightly establishes himself in a virtuous life, with meditation, and practice, and good government, and FRAGMENTS. 243 when having been known by all men as a pious man and one who fears God, he falls into sin, that is a great fall, for he has ascended up to the height of heaven, and fallen down into the abyss of hell.
About resurrection and judgment.
P. 349. A. It is not possible with God that a wicked man should lose his good reward for a single good thing which he may have done among a great number of evil actions; nor, on the other hand, that a good man should escape punishment, and not suffer it, if among many good actions he has done wickedly in anything, for it is infallibly certain that God dis- tributes everything according to a just weight and balance.
Ibid. B. The mind is the witness to each individual of the things which they have planned in secret, and conscience is an incorruptible judge, and the most unerring of all judges.
About those ivlw are ruled.
P. 359. A. He who has learnt how to submit to be ruled, immediately learns how to rule others; for even if a man were invested with the supreme power over all the earth and all the sea, he would not be a true ruler unless he had also learnt and been previously taught to submit to the rule of others.
About anarchy.
P. 359. D. Alas, how many and great evils are produced by anarchy! Famine, war, the devastation of lands, the deprivation of money, abductions, fears of slavery, and death.
About the foolish and senseless man, &c.
P. 362. E. No wicked man is rich, not even though he should be the owner of all the mines in the whole world; but all foolish men are poor. Eveiy foolish man is straitened, being oppressed by covetousness, and ambition, and a love of pleasure, and things of that sort, which do not permit the mind to dwell at ease or to enjoy plenty of room.
P. 363. A. There is no greater evil to a man than folly, and the being deprived of the proper use of his reasoning powers and intellect.
P. 363. A. Ignorance is the cause of disease and destruc- tion.
About deceit affecting the management of a household.
P. 367. D. Every stratagem is not blameable, since guardians of the night appear to act properly when they lie in wait for robbers, and generals when they form ambuscades against the enemy, whom they cannot catch without a strata- gem; and the same principle is applicable to what are called manoeuvres, and to the artifices practised in the contests of wrestlers, for in such cases deceit is accounted honourable. About impossible things.
P. 370. B. It is as impossible that the love of the world can co-exist with the love of God,- as for light and darkness to co-exist at the same time with one another. About holy men.
P. 372. E. The happy nature is that which rejoices on every occasion, and which is not discontented with anything whatever which exists in the world, but is pleased with what- ever happens, as being good, and beautiful, and expedient.
About leisure and quiet. P. 376. A. The wise man endeavours to secure quiet and leisure, and periods of rest from work, that he may devote himself peacefully to the meditations on divine matters.
About evil-speaking. P. 379. D. Foul speakers and random accusers, who seek to make a display of their art with vain words, being slow to learn what is good, are very quick and ready at learning what is of the opposite character.
About counsel. P. 397. D. Everything which is not done with reason is discreditable, just as what is done with reason is beautiful.
About old men.
P. 404. C. Old age is an unruffled harbour. Ibid. Old age is the time when the vigour of the body is passed by; the period when the passions can be checked.
About gymnasia. P. 405. D. Continued practice makes knowledge firm, just FRAGMENTS. 245 as want of practice engenders ignorance. And, again, practice in any matter increases experience.
Ibid. Study is the nurse of knowledge.
About calumny.
P. 436. D. Calumniators and men discarded from the divine grace, who are afflicted with the same evil disposition of calumny with him, are in all respects hated and detested by God, and removed to a distance from all happiness.
Ibid. What can be worse than calumny? for it seduces the ears and perplexes the minds of those who listen to it, and it makes them brutal and always on a watch for evil, like men engaged in hunting; but those who are well ballasted and restrained by prudent reason, hate the man who utters calum- nies more than him against whom they are uttered, reproving and seeking to check all desire of blaming others until it be either proved by evidence or demonstrated by undeniable proof.
About justice and virtue.
P. 438. D. If any one embraces all the virtues with earnestness and sobriety, he is a king, even though he may be in a private station.
About voluntary and involuntary sins.
P. 526. B. As to sin intentionally is unjust, so to sin unintentionally and out of ignorance is not at once justifiable, but perhaps it is something between the two, that is between righteousness and unrighteousness, and is of what some persons call an indifferent character, for no sin can be an act of righteousness.
About initiation into divine mysteries.
P. 533. C. It is not lawful to speak of the sacred mysteries to the uninitiated.
About the sea.
P. 551. D. It is proper to marvel at the sea, by means of which countries requite one another for the good things which they receive from each other, and by which they receive what they are in need of, and export what they have a superfluity of 240 PHILO JUD^EUS.
About equality. P. 556. D. To give equal things to unequal people is an action of the greatest injustice.
About physicians and medical science. A good physician would not be inclined to apply every kind of salutary medicine at once and on the same day to a patient, as he would know that by such a course he would be doing him more harm than good, but he would measure out the proper opportunities, and then give saving medicines in a seasonable manner; and he would apply different remedies at different times, and so he would bring about the patient's restoration to health by gentle degrees.
About opportunity. P. 563. C. Say what is right, and at the time when it is right, and you will not hear what is not right. Ibid. It is well to economise time.
About mysteries. P. 576. D. Chatterers divulging what ought to be kept buried in silence, do in a manner from a disease of the tongue pour forth into people's ears things which are not worthy of being heard.
About people who are in a state of pupillage.
P. 613. D. To inquire and put questions is the most useful of habits with a view to acquiring instruction.
Ibid. He who hungers and thirsts after knowledge, and who is eager to learn what he does not know, abandoning all other objects of care, is eager to become a disciple, and day and night watches at the doors of the houses of wise men.
Ibid. For any one to know that he is ignorant is a piece of wisdom, just as to know that one has done wrong is a piece of righteousness.
About reproach.
P. 630. C. Never reproach any one with misfortune, for nature is impartial, and the future is uncertain; lest if you yourself should fall into similar [misfortunes, you should be found to be convicted and condemned by your own conscience.
FRAGMENTS. 247 About a proper constitution. P. 657. C. It is advantageous to submit to one's betters.
About a blameable constitution. From the fifth book of the Essays ou Genesis. P. 658. E. A shameless look, and a high head, and a con- tinual rolling of the eyes, and a pompous strut in walking, and a habit of blushing at nothing, however discreditable* are signs of a most infamous soul, which stamps the obscure topics of the reproaches which belong to itself upon the visible body.
About familiarity and habituation.
P. 681. D. A change of all kinds of circumstances at once to the opposite direction is very harsh, especially when the existing powers are established by the length of time that they have lasted.
About correction.
P. C83. D. It is useful to be warned by the misfortunes of others.
Ibid. Punishment very often warns and corrects those who do wrong; but if it fails to do so to them, at all events it corrects the bystanders, for the punishments of others improve most people, from fear lest they should suffer similar evils. • About associating with wicked men.
P. 692. A. Associations with wicked men are mischievous, and very often the soul against its will receives the impression of the insane wickedness of one's associates.
About wisdom.
P. 693. E. Every wise man is a friend of God.
Abo'at haughty men.
P. 693. E. Self-conceit, as the proverb of the ancients has it, is the eradication of all improvement, for the man who is full of self-conceit is incapable of improvement.
Self-conceit is by nature an unclean thing.
About natural things. P. 711. C. As it is difficult to inoculate anything in a 248 PHILO JUDiEUS.
manner contrary to nature, and to introduce anything into nature which does not belong to it, so likewise is it hard to change things which are of such and such a nature from that nature, and to restrain them; for it has been well said by some one, everything is vain if nature sets herself against it.
About man. From the Questions arising in Genesis. P. 748. A. What is the meaning of the expression, " until"* thou return to the dust from which thou wast taken? For man was not formed of the dust alone, but also of the divine Spirit; but since he did not continue in an unchanged condition, he neglected the divine command, and cutting off that constitution which imitated the heaven from his better part, he made him- self over wholly to the earth; for if he had been a lover of virtue, which is immortal, he would beyond all question have received heaven for his inheritance, but since what he sought was pleasure, by means, of which the death of the soul is brought upon mankind, he became appropriated to the earth.
About Adam. From the Questions arising in Genesis.
P. 748. B. " And God brought all the animals to Adam, to- see what he would call them;"f for God does not doubt, but since he has given mind to man, the first bom and most excellent of his creatures, according to which he, being endowed with knowledge, is by nature enabled to reason; he excites him, as an instructor excites his pupil, to a display of his powers, and he contemplates the most excellent offspring of his soul. And, again, he visibly by the example of this man gives an outline of all that is voluntary in us, looking with disfavour on those who affirm that everything happens through necessity, by which some men must be influenced, he on that account commanded man to take upon himself the regulation of these things. And this is an employment peculiarly fitting for man, as being endowed with a very high degree of know- ledge and most surpassing prudence, the giving of names to the animals being suited to him not only as being wise, but also as being the first nobly bom creature.
For it was fitting that he should be the founder of the * Geneais iii. 19. f Genesis iii. 19.
FRAGMENTS. 249 human race, and also the king of everything that is born of the earth, and that he should have this as an especial honour of his own, that, as he was the first who had any acquaintance with the animals, he might also be the first inventor and pronouncer of their names; for it would have been absurd for them to be left without names, and subsequently to have names given to them by some younger man, to the honour and glory of the elder.
And when Adam saw the figure of his wife, as the prophet says, and that it had been produced not by any connexion, nor out of a woman, as human beings in after times were produced, but that she was as it were a nature on the borders between these two kinds, like a graft from a shoot of another vine taken off and grafted into a second one, on which account he says, ** For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall become one flesh;"* in saying which he used a most gentle expression, which was at the same time most perfectly true, meaning that they would be united by sympathy in their griefs and joys.
From the same book, or else from the last book of the Questions arising in Exodus.
Truly the divine place is inaccessible, and one which is hard to be approached, nor is it given even to the purest intellect to be able to ascend to such a height as to touch it. It is impossible for human nature to behold the face of the living God; but the word " face " is not used here in its literal meaning, but it is a metaphorical expression, here intended to manifest the purest and simplest form of the living God, since man is not recognized more by anything than by his face, according to his peculiar distinctive qualities and form. For God does not say, " I am not visible in my nature." But who, in fact, is more visible than he who is the Father of all visible things? And being such with regard to being seen, I am, says he, seen by no mortal man; and the reason of this is the inability of the created man to behold him.
And that I may not become prolix while weaving in all kinds of arguments, it is inevitable that God must first be created (which is not possible), in order for any one to be able to comprehend God. But if any one dies as to this mortal • Genesis ii. 24.
250 PHILO JUD^US.
life, but still lives, having received in exchange a life of immortality, perhaps he will see what he never saw before.
All the different philosophical sects which have flourished in Greece, and in the countries of the barbarians, when investi- gating the secrets of nature, have never been able to arrive at a clear perception of even the most trivial circumstances; and a clear proof of this assertion may be found in the disagree- ments, and dissensions, and contentions of those of each sect who are seeking to establish their own opinions, and to over- throw those of their adversaries. And the households of those who have been contending for the predominance of this and that sect, have been the causes of universal wars, blinding the human mind by their contradictory quarrels, which might otherwise have been able to see the truth, and fighting hard about what doctrines ought to be abandoned and what ought to be preserved.
Now he who desires to form to himself a conception of the most excellent of all beings, ought in the first place to stand firm in his mind, being steadfastly fixed in one opinion, and not varying or wandering in different directions. And in the next place, he ought to take his stand upon nature, and upon solid grounds, and to abandon all barren and corruptible things, for if anything of a somewhat effeminate character approach him, he will be disappointed of his object, and he will be unable, even if he exert the most acute faculties of sight imaginable, to behold the uncreated God; so that he will become blind before he sees him, on account of the brilliancy of his beams and the flood of light which distils therefrom. Do you not see that the power of fire in the case of those who stand at a measured distance from it affords light to them, but it burns those who approach too near? Take care that you do not suffer such an injury as this in your mind, and lest an extravagant desire of an impossible object destroy you. About those who are governed. Out of the first book of the Questions in Genesis.
P. 749. E. As pillars support whole houses, so also the power of God supports the whole world, and the best and most God-loving section of the human race.
Out of the Questions in Genesis.
P. 750. C. If any one is either in any house, or village, or FRAGMENTS. 251 city, or nation, who is a lover of wisdom, it is absolutely inevitable that that house or city should be the better for his existence in it, for a virtuous man is a common good to all men, bestowing on them advantages proceeding from himself as from a prepared store.
About people who carry news, and act as intermediate bearers of answers.
From the Questions arising in Exodus.
P. 751. B. The influx of evils agitates and disturbs the soul, enveloping it in a giddiness which darkens its perceptions, and compels it to suffer that power of sight which by nature v,,is pre-eminent, but which by habit has become blinded, to be obscured.
Ibid. There is nothing so opposite to and inconsistent with the most holy powers of God as injustice.
About the sinner and offender. From the Questions arising in Genesis.
♦P. 751. C. Never to err in any point whatever is the greatest blessing; but when one has erred, to repent is next akin to it, as a younger good, if one may say so, by the side of an elder, for there are some persons who exult in the offences which they have committed as if they had done good actions, though they are in reality afflicted with a disease difficult to be cured, or I sould rather say incurable.
About its being impossible to escape from God. From the last book of Questions arising in Exodus.
P. 752. A. He contains all things, while yet he is himself contained by nothing; for as place is that which contains bodies, and that to which they flee for refuge, so also the divine reason contains the universe and is that which has com- pleted it.
About truth and faithful evidence. From the second book of the Questions in Exodus.
P. 754. C. By some lawgivers the practice of giving hear- say evidence has been forbidden, on the ground that the truth is established by the eye-sight, but falsehood by hearing.
252 PHILO JVDMVS.
About quiet and ease. From the fourth book of the Questions in Genesis. The wise man is desirous of peace and leisure, that he may have time for meditation on heavenly things.
From the fifth book.
Ibid. E. For thus the lover of wisdom never unites with any rash person, even though he may be closely united to him by blood; nor does he ever consent to dwell with a wicked man, being separated from the multitude by his reasoning powers, on account of which he is said not to be a fellow voyager, or a fellow citizen, or a companion of such men.
Ibid. The wise man is a sojourner and a settler, having come as an emigrant from a life of confusion and disorder to one suitable to peaceful and happy men.
About the fearful expulsion. From the first book of the Questions in Genesis. P. 772. B. But the essence of the angels is spiritual, but they are very often made to resemble the appearance of men, being transformed on any emergencies which arise.