Instead of saying leavened bread must not come among the things which are offered, but all things which are brought as a sacrifice or an offering must be unleavened, he intimates two most necessary things by an obscure and symbolical expression; one being to despise pleasure, for leaven is the seasoning of food and not food itself; and the other being that it is not right for men to be elated, because of being puffed up by vain self-conceit; for each is a wicked state, and pleasure and self- conceit are both the offspring of one mother, deceit.
The blood of the sacrifices is a proof of a soul making its offerings to God; and it is not in accordance with the divine law that things which will not unite should be mingled together.
From the same author, on Exodus xxiii. 20. One must suppose that the angel mentioned a little before indicated the voice of God; for the prophet is the messenger of the Lord, who is the real speaker; for it is inevitable that he who hears with his ears, that is to say who firmly receives what is said, must also accomplish what is said to him by his actions; for an action is the proof of what is said; and he who ia obedient to what is said, and who performs actions corre- * Deuteronomy xxxii. 1.
282 PHILO JUDjEUS.
sponding to his orders, must of necessity have him who has commanded him for his ally and champion, who in appearance indeed brings assistance to his pupil, but in reality to his own doctrines and commandments which his enemies and adversaries seek to overthrow.
From the same author, on Exodus xxiii. 24.
Pillars symbolically mean the doctrines which appear to stand and to be firmly established. Now of the doctrines established in this firm way, some are good, which ought to be stored up and to be fixed in a most lasting manner; but others are open to blame, and such it is desirable should be overthrown. But the expression, " overthrowing you will over- throw, and destroying you will destroy," has such a meaning as the following.
Some men pull down some things as if they meant to raise them again, and destroy some things as if they meant at a future time to re-establish them. But God wills that what has been once destroyed and pulled down shall never be raised or re-established again, but shall be utterly destroyed and for ever, as being contrary to what is good or beautiful.
From the same author, on Exodus xxiii. 28. And we ought to consider that the wasps are a sign of unexpected power coming by the divine mission; which, bringing down its blows from high places so as to reach the extremity of the ear, takes a good aim with all its strokes, and regulating them well will meet with no failure whatever itself.
From the same author, on Exodus xxiii. 31. These things God announced to them, if they obeyed him and kept his commandments. But when they were found to be transgressing and disobedient to the divine law, he then contracted his promise from Dan to Beersheba.
From the same author, on Exodus xxiv. 9, 10. The express command as uttered has a subsequent pro- position evident, as all were preserved in safety. But the real meaning is that they all were of one mind in respect of piety and differed in no good thing.
From the same author, on Exodus xxiv. 10. When he speaks of the seventy men he means those with FRAGMENTS.
283 Moses, and Aaron, and Nadab, and Abihu. And the state- ment that they did not differ, rather shows that they all equally saw the place where God had stood, than that nothing was left.
From the same author, on Exodus xxiv. 13.
He is most manifestly offended with those who being near thought, out of their impiety or folly, that the motions of the Deity were those of peace, and belonging to the act of changing his abode; for behold he says expressly, not that the God who exists in essence, and who is duly thought of in respect of his existence, came down, but that his glory came down. And the acceptation of the word glory may be twofold; for in one sense it may signify the presence of his powers, since the power of his army is spoken of as the glory of a king; and in another sense it may refer to the appearance of him alone, and to the apprehension of his divine glory; so that an idea of the actual arrival of God may have been created in the minds of those who were present, as if he had come in order to give a most undeniable information to the laws which were about to be given.
From the same author, on Exodus xxiv. 17.
But he says that the appearance of the glory of the Lord is very like unto flame, or rather not that it is so, but that it appears like it to the beholders; since God shows what he chose to appear to be, in order to strike the beholders with amazement without in reality being what he appeared. Accordingly he brings him before the face of the children of Israel, affirming in the plainest language that it was an appearance as of flame, but not a real flame. But as flame. consumes every material which is exposed to it, so also when the true conception of God once enters into the soul, it destroys all the heterodox reasonings of impiety, and purifies and sanctifies the whole mind.
From the same author, on Exodus xxiv. 18.
Because the generation which had thus quitted its former abode was about to be condemned, and to wander in a state of desolation for forty years, having received innumerable benefits, but having displayed its ingratitude in still more countless instances.
'284 PHILO JUDiEUS.
A VOLUME OP QUESTIONS, AND SOLUTIONS TO THOSE QUESTIONS, WHICH ARISE IN GENESIS.* BOOK I.
Why does Moses, revolving and considering the creation of the world, say: " This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth, when they were created?"t 1. The expression, "when they were created," indicates as it seems an indeterminate time not accurately described. But this argument will confute those authors who calculate a certain number of years reduced to one, from the time when it is possible that the world may have been created.
And again, the expression: " This is the book of tne gene- ration," is as it were indicative of the book as it follows, which contains an account of the creation of the world; in which it is intimated that what has been related about the creation of the world is consistent with strict truth.
What is the object of saying, " And God made every green herb of the field, before it was upou the earth, and every grass before it had sprung up?" J 2. He here by these expressions intimates in enigmatical language the incorporeal species; since the expression, " be- fore it was upon the earth," indicates the arriving at perfection of every herb, and of all seeds and trees. But as to what he says, that " before it had sprung up upon the earth," he had made every green herb, and grass, et caBtera, it is plain that the incorporeal species, as being indicative of the others, were created first, in accordance with intellectual nature, which those things which are upon the earth perceptible to the out- ward senses were to imitate.
What is the meaning of saying: " A fountain went up from the earth, and watered all the face of the earth?"§ III. But here the question is how it could be that the whole * This work is translated from a Latin version made by Auclier from an Armenian version of the fifth century.
t Genesis ii. 4. J Genesis ii. 5. § Genesis ii. 7.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 285 earth was watered by one fountain, not only on account of its size, but also because of the inequality of the montainous and champaign situations? Unless, indeed, just as the whole force of the king's cavalry is called " the horse," so the whole multitude of the veins of the earth which supply drinkable water, may perhaps be called the fountain, inasmuch as they all bubble up like a fountain.
And that expression is peculiarly appropriate which says that the fountain watered, not the whole earth, but its face; as in the living being it waters the chief and predominant part (the mind or the countenance). Since that is the most important part of the earth which can be good and fertile and productive, and that is the part which stands in need of the nourishment of 'fountains.
What is the man who was created? And how is that man distinguished who was made after the image of God?
4. This man was created as perceptible to the senses, and in the similitude of a Being appreciable only by the intellect; but he who in respect of his form is intellectual and incorpo- real, is the similitude of the archetypal model as to appearance, and he is the form of the principal character; but this is the word of God, the first beginning of all things, the original species or the archetypal idea, the first measure of the universe.
Moreover, that man who was to be created as a vessel is formed by a potter, was formed out of dust and clay as far as his body was concerned; but he received his soul by God breathing the breath of life into his face, so that the tempera- ment of his nature was combined of what was corruptible and of what was incorruptible. But the other man, he who is only so in form, is found to be unalloyed without any mixture proceeding from an invisible, simple, and transparent nature.
Why is it said that God breathed into his face the breath of life?
5. In the first place because life is the principal part of the body; for the rest was only made as a sort of foundation or pedestal, and then life was put upon it as a statue. Besides, * Genesis ii 7.
286 PHILO JUDjEUS.
the sense is the fountain of the animal form, and sense resides in the face.
Secondly, man is created to be a partaker not only of a soul but also of a rational soul; and the head is the temple of the reason, as some writers have called it.
Why is God said to have planted a Paradise? And for whom? And what is meant by a paradise?
6. The word paradise, if taken literally, has no need of any particular explanation; for it means a place thickly crowded with every kind of tree; but symbolically taken, it means wisdom, intelligence both divine and human, and the proper comprehension of the causes of things; since it was proper, after the creation of the world, to establish a contemplative system of life, in order that man, by the sight of the world and of the things which are contained in it, might be able to attain to a correct notion of the praise due to the Father.
And since it was not possible for him to behold nature her- self, nor properly to praise the Creator of the universe without wisdom, therefore the Creator planted the outline of it in the rational soul of the principal guide of man, namely the mind\ as he planted trees in the paradise. And when we are told that in the middle was the tree of life, that means the know- ledge not only of the creature, but also of the greater and supreme cause of the universe; for if any one is able to arrive at a certain comprehension of that, he will be fortunate and trulv happy and immortal.
Moreover, after the creation of the world human wisdom was created, as also after the creation of the world the Paradise was planted; and so the poets say that the chorus of musicians was established in order to praise the Creator and his works; as Plato says, that the Creator was the first and greatest of causes, and that the world was the most beautiful of all creatures.
Why in Adin, or Eden, is God said to have planted the Paradise towards the east?* 7. This is said in the first place because tne motion of the world proceeds from the rising of the sun to its setting. And it first exists in that quarter from which it is moved; * Cresesis ii. 8.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 287 secondly, because tnat part of the world which is in the region of the east is called the right side; and that which is in the region of the west is called the left side of the world.
Moreover the poet bears witness to this, calling the birds from the east dexteras or right, and those on the west sinis- tras or left; * when he says, whether they go to the right to the day and to the sun, or whether they go to the left towards the dusky evening.
But the name Eden, when rightly understood, is an indica- tion of all kinds of delights, and joys, and pleasures; since all good things and all blessings derive their beginning from the place of the Lord. Thirdly, because wisdom itself is splendour and light.
Why did God place man whom he had created in the Para- dise, but not that man who is after his own image?f 8. Some persons have said, when they fancied that the Paradise was a garden, that because the man who was created was endowed with senses, therefore he naturally and properly proceeded into a sensible place; but the other man, who is made after God's own image, being appreciable only by the intellect, and invisible, had all the incorporeal species for his share; but I should rather say that the paradise was a symbol of wisdom, for that created man is a kind of mixture, as hav- ing been compounded of soul and body, having work to do by learning and discipline; desiring according to 'the law of philosophy that he may become happy; but he who is accord- ing to God's own image is in need of nothing, being by him- * He is referring here to Homer— Tyj'Tj 5' olojvoloi Tavvirrepvyeoai ksXeveiq RtiOifitvat, Ttov d' ovn fitTarpkiro) out' dXtyl^m ElV ETTt &£•' la>(Tl 7T/0OC rjutT" 'HXtOJTC ** '*' ^tPl<[T(9^ Toiye iroTci Z,6$ov i\fp6tvTa. E7f oitDvoQ dpiarog dfxvvtaOai irtpt TraTprjQ. Or as Pope translates it — " Ye vagrants of the sky! your wings extend, Or where the suns arise, or where descend; To right, to left, unheeded take your way/ While I the dictates of high Heaven obey.
t Genesis ii. 15.
238 PHILO JUDiEUS.
«elf a hearer, and being taught by himself, and being found to be his own master by reason of his natural endowments.
Why does Moses say that every tree in the Paradise was beautiful to look upon and good to eat?* 9 He says this because the virtue of trees is of a twofold nature, consisting in bearing leaves and fruit, one of which qualities is referred to the pleasing of the sight, the other to the gratification of the taste; but the word beautiful was not employed inappropriately. Indeed it is very proper that the plants should be always green and flourishing perpetually, as belonging to a divine Paradise, which as such must be ever- lasting; and it is fit too that they should never degenerate so as to lose their leaves. # But of the fruit he says, not that it was beautiful, but that it was good, speaking in a very philosophical spirit; since men take food, not only because of the pleasure which it affords, but also because of its use; and use is the flowing lortn and imparting of some good.
What is meant by the tree of life, and why it was placed in the middle of the Paradise?
10 Some people have believed that, if there were really plants of a corporeal and deadly nature, there are also some which are causes of life and immortality, because, they say, life and death are opposed to one another, and because some plants are ascertained to be unwholesome therefore of necessity there must be others from which health may be derived But what these are which are wholesome they know not; for generation, as the opinion of the wise has it, is the beginning of corruption..
But perhaps we ought to look on these things as spoken in an allegorical sense; for some say the tree of life belongs to the earth, inasmuch as it is the earth which produces every- thing which is of use for life, whether it be the life of mankind or of any other animal; since God has appointed the situation in the centre for this plant, and the centre of the universe is the earth. There are others who assert that what is meant by the tree of life is the centre between the seven circles ot heaven; but some affirm that it is the sun which is meant, as that is nearly in the centre, between the different planets, and * Genesis ii. 9.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 289 is likewise the cause of the four seasons, and since it is owing to him that every thing which exists is called into existence.
Others again understand by the tree of life the direction of the soul, for this it is which renders the sense nervous and solid, so as to produce actions corresponding to its nature, and to the community of the parts of the body. But whatever is in the middle is in a manner the primary cause and beginning of things, like the leader of a chorus. But still, the best and wisest authorities have considered that by the tree of life is indicated the best of all the virtues of man, piety, by which alone the mind attains to immortality.
What is meant by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?* 11. This indeed exhibits that meaning which is sought for in the letter of the Scriptures more clearly to the sight, as it bears a manifest allegory on the face of it. What is meant then under this figure is prudence, which is the comprehension of science, by which all things are known and distinguished from one another, whether they be good and beautiful, or bad and unseemly, or in short every sort of contrariety is discerned; since some things belong to the better class, and some to the worse.
Therefore the wisdom which exists in this world is not in truth God himself, but the work of God; that it is which sees and thoroughly investigates every thing. But the wisdom which exists in man sees in an incorrect and mixed manner with somewhat darkened eyes; for it is found to be in- competent to see and comprehend clearly and without alloy each particular thing separately. Moreover, there is a kind of deception mingled with human wisdom; since very often there are some shadows found which hinder the eyes from contem- plating a brilliant light; since what the eye is in the body, such also is the mind and wisdom in the soul.
What the river is which proceeded out of Adin by which the Paradise is watered, and from which the four rivers proceed, the Phison, and the Gihon, and the Tigris, and the Euphrates?
12. The sources of the Deglath and of the Arazania, that is to say of the Tigris and Euphrates, are said to arise in the * Genesis ii. 9. t Genesis ii. 11.
VOL. IV. U 290 PEILO JUDjEUS.
mountains of Armenia; but there is no paradise there at this day, nor do both the sources of both these rivers remain there. Perhaps, therefore, we ought to consider that the real situation of the Paradise is in a place at a distance from this part of the world which we inhabit, and that it has a river running beneath the earth, which pours forth many- veins of the largest size; so that they, rising up together, pour themselves forth into other veins, which receive them on account of their great size, and then those have been suppressed by the gulfs of the waves; on which account, through the impulse given to them by the violence which is implanted in them, they burst out on the face of the earth in other places, and also among others in the mountains of Armenia. Therefore, those things which have been ac- counted the sources of the rivers, are rather their flowing course; or again, they may be said to be correctly looked upon as sources, because by all means we must consider the holy scriptures infallible, which point out the fact of four rivers; for the river is the beginning, and not the spring.
But perhaps this passage also contains an allegorical meaning; for the four rivers are the signs of four virtues: Phison being the sign of prudence, as deriving its name from parsimony;* and Grihon being the sign of sobriety, as having its employment in the regulation of meat and drink, and as restraining the appetites of the belly, and of those parts which are below the belly, as being earthly; the Tigris again is the sign of fortitude, for this it is which regulates the raging co°mmotion of anger within us; and the Euphrates is the sign of justice, since there is nothing in which the thoughts of men exult more than in justice.
Why it is that he not only describes the situation of tae Euphrates, but also says that the Phison goes round all the land of Evilat, and that the Gihon goes round all the land of Ethiopia, and that the Tigris goes toward Assyria?t 13. The Tigris is a very cruel and mischievous river, as the citizens of Babylon bear witness, and so do the magi, who have found it to be of a character quite different from the nature of other rivers; however they might also have another reason for looking on it with aversion.
* From <pt idw, " parsimony." ' t Genesis ii.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 291 But the Euphrates is a gentler, and more salubrious, and more nourishing stream. On which account, the wise men. of the Hebrews and Assyrians speak of it as one which increases and extends itself; and on this account it is not here characterised by its connection with other things, as the other three rivers are, but by itself.
My own opinion is, that these expressions are all symbol- ical, for prudence is the virtue of the rational part of man; and it is in this that wickedness is sometimes found. And fortitude is that portion of the human character which is liable to degenerate into anger. And sobriety, again, may be impaired by the desires, but anger and concupiscence are the characteristics of beasts; therefore the sacred historian has here described those three rivers by the places which they flow round. But he has not described the Euphrates in that manner, as being the symbol of justice, for there is no certain and limited portion of it allotted to the soul, but a perfect harmony of the three parts of the soul and of the three virtues is possessed by it.
Why G-od placed man in the Paradise with a twofold object, namely, that he might both till it and keep it, when the Paradise was in reality in need of no cultivation, because it was perfect in everything, as having been planted by God; nor, again, did it require a keeper, for who was there to ravage it? # 14. These are the two objects which a cultivation of the land must attain to and take care of, the cultivation of the land and the safe keeping of the things which are in it, otherwise it will be spoiled by laziness or else by devastation. But although the Paradise did not stand in need of these exertions, nevertheless it was proper that he who had the regulation and care*of it committed to him, namely, the first man, should be as it were a sort of pattern and law to all workmen in future of everything which ought to be done by them.
Moreover it was suitable that, though all the Paradise was full of everything, it should still leave the cultivator some grounds for care, and some means of displaying his industry; for instance, by digging around it, and tending it, and soften- * Genesis ii. 15.
in* it, and digging trenches, and irrigating it by water; and it was needful to attend to its safety, although there was no one to lay it waste, because of the wild beasts, also more especially in respect of the air and water; as, for instance, when a drought prevailed, to irrigate it with a plenteous supply of water, and in moister weather to check the super- abundance of moisture by directing the course of the streams in other directions.
Why, when God commanded the man to eat of every tree within the Paradise, he speaks in the singular number, and says, " Thou shalt eat;" but when he commands that he shall abstain from the tree which would give him the know- ledge of good and evil, he speaks in the plural number, and says, " Te shall not eat of it, for in the day in which ye eat of it ye shall surely die?" * 15. In the first place he uses this language because one good was derived from many; and that also is not unim- portant in these principles, since he who has done anything which is of utility is one, and he who attains to anything useful is also one; but when I say one, I am speaking not of that which in point of number comes before duality, but of that one creative virtue by which many beings rightly coalesce, and by their concord imitate singularity, as a flock, a herd, a troop, a chorus, an army, a nation, a tribe, a family, a state; for all these things being many members form one community, being united by affection as by a kiss; when things which are not combined, and which have no principle of union by reason of their duality and multitude, fall into different divisions, for duality is the beginning of discord.
But two men living as if they were one, by the same philosophy, practise an unalloyed and brilliant virtue, which is free from all taint of wickedness; but where good and evil are mingled together the combination contains the principle of death.
What is the meaning of the expression, " Ye shall surely die?"f 16. The death of the good is the beginning of another life; for life is a twofold thing, one life being in the body, • Genesis ii. 16. + Genesis ii. 17.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 293 corruptible; the other without the body, incorruptible. Therefore one wicked man surely dies the death, who while still breathing and among the living is in reality long since buried, so as to retain in himself no single spark of real life, which is perfect virtue. But a good man, who deserves so high a title, does not surely die, but has his life prolonged, and so attains to an eternal end.
Why God says, " It is not good for man to be alone; let us make him a help meet for him?"* 17. By these words God intimates that there is to be a communion, not with all men, but with those who are willing to be assisted and in their turn to assist others, even though they may scarcely have any power to do so; since love consists not more in utility than in the harmonious concord of trustworthy and steadfast manners; so that every one who joins in a communion of love may be entitled to utter the expression of Pythagoras, " A friend is another I."
Why, when God had already said, " Let us make a help for man," he creates beasts and cattle?f 18. Perhaps some gluttons and insatiably greedy persons may say that God did this because beasts and flying things were, as it were, necessary food for man, and his meetest helper; for that the eating of meat assists the belly so as to conduce to the health and vigour of the body. But I should think that by reason of the evil implanted in them by nature animals of all kinds, whether terrestrial or flying in the air, were in this age hostile to and contrary to man; but that in the case of the first man, as one adorned with every imaginable virtue, they were, as it were, allies, and a rein- forcement in war, and farrihar friends, as being tame and domestic by nature, and this was the sole principle of their familiarity with man, for this it was fit that servants should dwell with their lord.
Why the creation of animals and flying creatures is men- tioned a second time, when the account of their creation had already been given in the history of the six days?
19. Perhaps those things which were created in the six * Genesis ii. 18. t Genesis ii. i9.
294 PHILO JUDGES.
days were incorporeal angels, indicated under these symbol- ical expressions, being the appearances of terrestrial and flying animals, but now they were produced in reality, being the copies of what had been created before images per- ceptible by the outward senses of invisible models.
Why did God bring every animal to man, that he might give them their names? * 20 He has here explained a great source of perplexity to the students of philosophy, admonishing them that names proceed from having been given, and not from nature; lor a natural nomenclature is with peculiar fitness assigned to each creature when a man of wisdom and pre-eminent knowledge appears; and, in fact, the office of assigning the names to animals is one which particularly belongs to the mind of the wise man alone, and indeed to the first man born out of the earth, since it was fitting that the farst ot the human race, and the sovereign of all the animals born out of the earth, should have the dignity assigned to him For inasmuch as he was the first person to see the animals, and as he was the first person who deserved to govern them all as their chief, so also it was fitting that he should be their first namer and the inventor of their names, since it would have been inconsistent and mad to leave them with- out any names, or to allow them to receive names from any one born at a later period, which would have been an insult to and a derogation from the honour and glory due to the first born...,.
But we may also adopt this idea, that the giving of names to the different animals was so easily arranged that the very moment that Adam gave the name the animal itself also heard it; being influenced by the name thus given to it as by a familiar indication closely connected with it.
Why Moses says, "He brought the animals to Adam, that he might see what he would call them," when God can never entertain a doubt?f 21. It is in truth inconsistent with the nature of G-od to doubt; therefore it does not appear that he was in doubt on this occasion, but that since he had given intellect to man * Genesis ii. 19. t lb'd- QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 295 as being the first man born out of the earth and endowed with a great desire for virtue, by which he was made thoroughly wise as if he had been endowed with wisdom by nature, so as to consider all things like the proper Eulei- and Lord of all, God now caused him to be influenced to display the proper performance of his task, and saw what was really the most excellent point of his mind.
Besides this, by this statement he evidently indicates the perfect free-will existing in us, refuting those who affirm that everything exists by a certain necessity.
Or else because it belonged to man to employ the animals, therefore he also gave him authority to give them names.
What is the meaning of the expression, " And whatever he called each living thing, tbat was the name thereof?"
22. We must consider that Adam gave names not only to all living creatures, but also to plants, and to everything else which is inanimate, beginning with the more excellent class; for the living creature is superior to that which has not life. Therefore the scripture considers the mention of the better part sufficient, indicating by this mention to all who are not utterly devoid of sense, that he in fact gave names to everything, since it was easy to fix names to things without life, which were never likely to change their place, and which had no passions of the soul to exercise, but the giving of proper appellations to living creatures was a more difficult task on account of the motions of their bodies and the various impulses of their souls, in accordance with imagination and the variety of the outward senses, and the different agitations of the mind from which the effects of their works proceed. Therefore the mind could give names to the more difficult classes of living creatures. And on this account it was a very proper expression to employ, that he gave them names as being easy to name, because they were near.