* He alludes here to the description in Homer: Stiprjvag fitv irpuTOV dfi^eai, ai pa te irdvTag 'AvGpu)7rovQ OtXyovatv o,tiq aty'sag tiVa^iK^rai "Oarig aicptiy TctXdrry icai <pQ6yyov aicovay "Eetprfvujv, ry 8' ovrt yvvrj, icai vr\iria t'lkvci OiKaCt vocsTt]aavTi n-aptararai, ou8k ydvvvrai QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 411 it, their country, their houses, their friends, and necessary food; how much more must that most perfect and consum- mate music, so truly heavenly and endowed with the highest degree of harmony, when it touches the organs of the ear, compel men to go mad and to yield to rapture.
'AXXa re Saprjvtc Xiyvpy B'tXyovmy aoiSy, 'Hftkvai iv Xa/iwvt* iroXvg 8' aptp' 6<TTto<piv 0c£ Od. xii. 39—47.
As translated by Pope: — " Next, where the Sirens dwell, you plough the seas; Their song is death, and makes destruction please. Unblest the man, whom music wins to stay Nigh the curst shore, and listen to the lay; No more that wretch shall view the joys of life, His blooming offspring, or his beauteous wife! In verdant meads they sport, and wide around Lie human bones that whiten all the ground; The ground polluted floats with human gore, ^ And human carnage taints the dreadful shore."
And further on in the same book, the poet describes the effect of these songs upon Ulysses.
Atyvprjv tf' tvTvvov aoidrjv Atvp' ay' iu)V, iroXvaiv 'OSvaev, fiiyu kvSoq 'Axaiw*. Nfja KaraoTTioov 'Iva vmrspriv oir aKOvoyg. Ov yap ttu rtc TySe irapi)\a<n vrfi jueXatvy, ^ Jlpiv y rmkwv fiiXiyrjpvv airb arofictTuv oir' aicovoai 'AXX' oye Ttpypaptvog vtirai, ical irXeioya ddwQ. "Ifyicv yap toi ttclvO' o<x' «vi Tpoty tvpdy 'Apyaoi Tpwsg re, Ot&v tortjri p.byr\aav 'Idfiev & oaaa yivvrai iiri %0ovt irovXvfiortipri. _ "Qg <pd<rav, Uloai oira kclXXijiov, avrap Ifiov Kt\p 'HQtX' aKOvifitvai, Xvoal t UkXtvov kraipovq, 'Otbovai vtvoT&ZwV oi 8k irpoirioovTiQ Iptooov. w Od. xii. 183—194 As translated by Pope:— " 0 stay, 0 pride of Greece! Ulysses, stay.» 0 cease tby course and listen our to lay! Blest is the man ordained our voice to hear, The song instructs the soul, and charms the ear. Approach! thy soul shall into raptures rise! Approach! and learn new wisdom from the wise! We know whate'er the kings of mighty name Achieved at Ilion in the field of Fame; Whate'er beneath the sun's bright journey lies. 0 stay and learn new wisdom from the wise!"
412 PHILO JUDiEUS.
But the reason on account of which every one of the animals to be offered is to be three years of age has already been explained; and we must now discuss it under another form of mystery, since it has been seen that every one of those things which were called into existence and subsequently to the moon, such as the earth, water, and air, rejoice in an order connected with the number three.
In the divisions of earth there is a vast quantity of dry continent, islands and peninsulas. "Water is divided 'into sea, rivers, and lakes; and the air into the two equinoxes, the vernal and the autumnal; and they may be taken as one, for they have an equal proportion of day and night, and accord- ingly the equinoxes are neither hot nor cold. Add to these the changes of summer and winter, for the sun is borne through those three circles into the seasons of summer, winter, and the equinoxes. Therefore, in the first place, the natural arrangement will be of this kind; and the moral arrange- ment is properly thus.
In every one of us there are three things flesh, the outward sense, and reason; therefore the calf exhibits a familiarity with the corporeal substance, since our flesh is subdued by, and kept in subservience to, and in connection with the ministrations of life; also their nature is female according to matter, being calculated rather to be passive and to be subject rather than to be active.
But the similitude of the she-goat isconnected with the com- munion of the outward senses, either because all the objects of those outward senses are each borne towards their ap- propriate sensation, or because each impulse and motion of the soul takes place in consequence of an imagination formed of the objects received through the medium of the external senses. And this i3 followed, in the first place, by a certain inflexion or alienation, which by some is called an occasion, that is to say, an impulse affecting each kind of sense. But since the female is the outward sense, as being passive in consequence of what is subjected to the outward senses, therefore God has adapted to it a female animal, the she-goat.
But the ram is akin to the word, or to reason. In the first place, because it is a male animal; secondly, because it is a working animal; and thirdly, because it is the cause of QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 413 the world, and of the firmament; that is to say, the ram is so by means of the clothing which it supplies; and reason, or the word, is so in the arrangement of life; for whatever is not irregular and absurd immediately exhibits reason. And there are two species of reason; the one derived from that nature by which the affairs of the world subjected to the outward senses are finished; the other from that of those things which are called incorporeal species, by which the affairs of that world which is the object of the intellect are brought to their accomplishment. Therefore the pigeon and the turtle dove are found to resemble these.
The pigeon, forsooth, resembles speculation in natural phi- losophy; for it is a more familiar bird, as the objects of the outward sense are exceedingly familiar to the sight: and the soul of the inquirer into natural science flies upward as if it were furnished with wings; and being borne aloft is carried round the heaven, discerning every part of every thing, and the principles of every separate thing; for the turtle dove imitates that species which is the subject of intellect and incorporeal; for as that animal is fond of solitude, so it is superior to the violent species which come under the outward sense, associat- ing itself as it does with the invisible species by its essence.
Why does he say, "And he took unto him all these things? " * 4. He has added also that expression, " And he took unto him," with especial propriety; for it is the sign of a soul thoroughly imbued with the love of God to ascribe whatever good and noble theories and feelings it receives, not unto itself, but wholly to God who is the giver of all benefits.
What is the meaning of, " He divided them in the middle and laid the pieces opposite to one another? " t 5. Abo the whole structure of the body, as of flesh, is to be looked at in such a light as this according to its whole creation; for the parts are brothers; not as they are divided and placed opposite to one another; but, being naturally inclined to one another, and having a mutual regard to one another, on account of their natural co-operation; the original Creator who gave them life making this division for 414 PHILO JUDiEUS.
the sake of usefulness, so that one part should be opposed to the other part, and again that both should reciprocally seek one another in all necessary ministrations.
In this way he has directly separated the sense of sight, distributing it equally to two eyes by placing the nose between them and thus turning each eye to the other; for the pupils, if I may so say, lean both in one direction so as mutually to behold the same thing, scarcely ever straying beyond the position in which they are placed, but only looking towards one another, especially when anything comes across their sight.
And in similar manner the faculty of hearing is distributed between the two ears, which are both reciprocally turned to one another, both tending to one and the same operation. And the sense of smell is divided between the two nostrils, beingturned towards thetwo tubes of the nostrils, which are not revolving around or inclined towards the cheeks, so as being drawn in two different directions to look the one towards the right and the other towards the left, but being both collected together and turned inwards they await all smells with a common action.
So also the hands are not made of an appearance contrary to that of one another, but being like brothers and like divisible parts, looking to one another mutually, and being prepared by nature for an operation and employment suitable to them, they thus act in the operations of receiving, giving, and working. And the feet are not constituted differently from the hands; as each of them behaves in such a manner that they both yield the one to the other, and progress is effected by the motion of both together, so that nothing can be accomplished by one alone. Nor is it only the feet and shins, but also the legs and knee-pans, and hips, and the breasts, and in fact every part on the right or left of the body, being divided in a similar manner, indicate one gene- ral harmony and correspondence and union as it were of connatural parts; that is to say, of all of those different members enumerated according to their separate species.
And generally, whoever considers together and in an equal manner all the above mentioned parts thus subdivided, in reference to their joint operation, will find one nature com- bined of the two parts. As the hands, united and connected QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 415 together with the fingers, are seen when in union with them to exhibit a harmony; and the feet, when re-united in operation, areseentotendto union; and the ears, when similarly combined in the figure of an amphitheatre, are seen to unite themselves, in effect extending across the space which separates them.
Therefore our nature, continually making in this manner a division of those parts which exist in us according to each separate species, has first of all separated and arranged the different sections, placing them as it were opposite to one ano- ther in the same way in which it has arranged the world; and it has also arranged them with reference to the easy dis- charge of their several duties. And again it has combined each of these members according to each species into one action, and into the same operation, collecting together all of them when considered generally.
Nor is it only the parts of the body which any one may see thus united and in pairs, separated in their union, and again united in their division, but the parts of the soul are so too. But since the two superior sections of this are so many separate classes, namely the rational and the irrational, so also the separate parts of each section have their own appropriate division; as for instance, the rational part is divided into the intention and into the uttered word; and that part which exists in accordance with the outward senses is divided into the four senses; for the fifth sense, touch, is common to the other four, two of which, those with which we see and hear, are philosophical senses, so that it is by means of them that the power of living well is acquired for us; the others are non-philosophical, namely smell and taste, but are servile, being created only for living; for the sense of smell, by means of its exercise, contains many things which awaken it, and receives a continual breathing which is as it were the continual food of living creatures; there- fore smell and taste support this mortal body, but sight and hearing afford service to the immortal soul.
Therefore these divisions of our members, according to our body and soul, were made and separated by the Creator; however, we must know that the parts of the world also are arranged in two divisions and are placed opposite to one another; the earth being divided into mountainous and champaign districts; the water into sweet and salt, sweet 410 PHILO JUDiEUS.
being that which is supplied by springs and rivers, and salt being that which comes from the sea; as also the atmo- sphere is divided into summer and winter, and also into spring and autumn.
And it is on this account that Heraclitus wrote his books about nature, having borrowed his theory of contraries from our sacred historian, with the addition of an infinite number of laborious arguments.
"Why is it said, " But he did not divide the birds?" * 6. He is shadowing forth a fifth and periodical nature, from which the ancients say that the heaven was made; for the four elements are mixtures rather than elements: by which he subdivides those things which are already divided into those materials of which they were originally composed, as the earth includes within itself a portion of the elements of water, and also of air, and also of fire, which however obtains the appellation not so much in accordance with our apprehension of it, as with our sight; and again the water is not so clear or pure, as not to have some participation in wind and earth; and so also in each of the other elements there is a certain tempering and combination; but the fifth substance is the only one which has been made unmixed and pure, on which account it was not accustomed to be mentioned at all.
Therefore it is well said, he did not divide the birds; since the heavenly nature, both of the planets and also of the fixed stars, is raised on high like that of birds, in the similitude of both kinds, that is to say, of clean birds, the turtle dove and the pigeon, which scarcely admit of being divided or cut up; for the indivisible nature is of a fifth essence, more unmixed and pure than the others, and there- fore it more closely resembles unity.
What is the meaning of, " And the birds descended on the bodies which were divided?"
7. Since the three animals, the heifer, and the she-goat, and the ram, were divided in a symbolical manner, they are signs, a3 we have already said, of the earth, and water, and air; still it is necessary to give now a reason for this, ex- * Genesis xv. 10. t Genesis xv. 11.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 417 amining the truth carefully under the mystery of a simili- tude.
Perhaps therefore he designs and intimates by the de- scent of the birds on the cut pieces an invasion of ene- mies; for all the nature of the world beneath the moon is full of battles and ill will, both domestic and external; and the birds in truth appear to fly down on the divided bodies for the sake of meat and drink; naturally indeed it is the stronger which descend upon the weaker animals, as upon dead bodies, attacking them in general unexpectedly, but they do not fly down on the turtle dove and pigeon, since the heavenly bodies are free from desires and unconscious of suffering wrong.
Why is it that he says, " Abraham passed over and sat upon them?"* 8. Those who think that sacrifice is indicated by the matters about which we are at present speaking will say- that the virtuous man, sitting as it were in a synagogue, has examined into the entrails of the divided animals, as if that were looked upon as an unerring symbol for the declaration of the truth; but we, who adhere to Moses and who are thoroughly acquainted with the views of that teacher, one who, turning away his face from every sophistical appearance and prognostic, trusted in God alone, will rather say, that he has here introduced the just man who is endued with virtue with the birds themselves, who were congregated together and flying about over him, intending to denote nothing else by this parabolical presentation, but that he is desirous of hindering injustice and covetousness, and is most hostile to quarrels and wars, and a lover of consistency and peace; for he himself is truly a guardian of peace.
Since no one state has ever rested in tranquillity owing to the conduct of the wicked, but kingdoms have become fixed steadily when one or two men endued with virtue have arisen, whose virtue has put an end to civil disturbances, God granting to those who are earnest in the pursuit of virtue good habits calculated to procure them honour; and not to them only, but to those also who approach near to the production of general advantage. * Genesis xv. 11.
TOL. IT. E E 418 PHILO JUDjEUS.
What is the meaning of the words, "About the time of the setting of the sun a trance fell upon Abraham; and lo, a great horror of darkness came over him? "* 9 A certain divine excess was suddenly rendered calm to the man endued with virtue; for the trance, or ecstacy as the word itself evidently points out, is nothing else than a departure of the mind wandering beyond itself, t But the class of prophets loves to be subject to such influences; for when it is divining, and when the intellect is inspired with divine things, it no longer exists in itself, since it receives the divine spirit within and permits it to dwell with itself; or rather, as he himself has expressed it, a spirit falls upon him; since it does not come slowly over him, but rushes down upon him suddenly.
Moreover, that which he has added afterwards applies admirably, that a great horror of darkness fell upon him. For all these things are ecstacies of the mind; for he also who is in a state of alarm is not in himself; but darkness is a hindrance to his sight; and in proportion as the horror is greater, so also do his powers of seeing and understanding became more obscured..
And this is not said without reason: but as an indication of the evident knowledge of prophecy by which oracles and laws are given from Grod.
Why was it said to him, " Thou shalt know to a certainty that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall be reduced to slavery, and shall be grievously afflicted for forty years?"J 10 That expression is admirably used," It was said to him," since a prophet is supposed to utter something but vet he is not pronouncing any command of his own, but is only the interpreter of another who sends something into his mind; and moreover whatever he does utter and deliver in words is all true and divine. And in the first place he declares that a family of the human race is to dwell m a land belonging to another; for all things which are beneath the * Genesis xv. 12 t frrX^rived from Warapu, in 2nd aor. act. igiamv, "I was beside myself." I Genesis xv. 13.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 419 heaven are the possession of God, and those living creatures which exist on the earth may more properly and truly be said to be sojourners in a foreign land than to be dwelling in a country of their own which by nature they have not got.
In the second place, he thus declares to us that every mortal is a slave after his kind. But no man is found to be free, but every one has many masters who vex and afflict him both within and without; for instance, without there are the winter which affects him with the cold, the summer which scorches him with heat, and hunger, and thirst, and many other calamities; and within there are pleasures and con- cupiscences, and sorrows, and fears. But his servitude is limited to a period of four hundred years, during which the aforesaid pleasures shall rise up against him. On which account it has been said above, that Abraham passed over and sat upon them, hindering and repelling them; as far as the literal words go, repelling those carnivorous birds which were hovering over the divided animals, but in fact repelling the afflictions which come upon men. Since a man who is in his own proper nature a lover of, and also by diligent practice a studier of virtue, is a most humane physician of our race, and a true protector of it, and guardian of it from evil. For all these things have" an allegorical reference to the soul.
For while the soul of the wise man, descending from above from the sky, comes down upon and enters a mortal and is sown in the field of the body, it is truly sojourning in a land which is not his own. Since the earthly nature of the body is wholly alien from pure intellect, and tends to subdue it and to drag it downwards into slavery, bringing every kind of affliction upon it, until the sorrow, bringing the attractive multitude of vices to judgment, condemns them; and thus at last the soul is restored to freedom. And it is on this account that he subsequently adds the sentence, " Neverthe- less the nation which they shall send I will judge: and after- wards they shall go forth with great substance;" namely, with the same measure, and still better. Because then the mind is released from its mischievous colleague, departing out or* the body and being transferred not only with freedom but also with much substance; so as to leave nothing good or useful behind to its enemies.
Since every rational soul is productive, but he who thinks himself loaded and endued with virtue in his own counsel, is unable to preserve his fruit unto the end. For it becomes a virtuous man to attain to the objects which he has intended of his own accord, as also the counsels of wisdom correspond to those objects. Since, as some trees, although they appear productive at the first season of the budding of their fruits, are yet unable to bring them to maturity, so that the whole fruit before it becomes ripe is shaken off by every trifling cause; in the same manner the souls of inconstant men feel many influences which contribute to their productiveness, but nevertheless are unable to keep them sound till they arrive at perfection, as a man studious of virtue ought to do in order eventually to gather them as his own possessions.
What is the meaning of, " But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, being nourished in a fair old age?"* 11. He here clearly indicates the incorruptibility of the soul: when it transfers itself out of the abode of the mortal body and returns as it were to the metropolis of its native country, from which it originally emigrated into the body. Since to say to a dead man, " Thou shalt go to thy fathers," what else is this but to propose to him and set before him a second existence apart from the body as far as it is proper for the soul of the wise man to dwell by itself?
But when he says this he does not mean by the fathers of Abraham his father, and his grandfather, and his great-grand- fathers after the flesh, for they were not all deserving of praise so as to be by any possibility any honour to him who arrived at the succession of the same order, but he appears by this expression to be assigning to him for his fathers, according to the opinion of many commentators, all the elements into which the mortal man when deceased is resolved.
But to me he appears to intend to indicate the incorporeal substances and inhabiters of the divine world, whom in other passages he is accustomed to call angels. Moreover the words which follow are not by any means without an object, that he is nourished in peace and in a fair old age. For the wicked and depraved man is nourished in battle, and lives * Genesis xv. 15.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 421 and departs in a very bad old age. But the good man, in both phases of existence, both in that which is in connection with the body and in that which is apart from the body, cultivates peace, and is alone completely virtuous, such as no foolish person is found to be, even though he should live longer than an elephant; on which account he here carefully said, " Thou shalt go to thy fathers, being nourished — not in an advanced old age, but — in a fair old age." For many foolish persons also have their lives extended to a greatly lengthened period, but it is only the man who is desirous of virtue who enjoys a good old age and one endued with virtue.
Why is it that he says, " And in the fourth generation they shall return again hither?"* 12. The number four is more fit than any other number, for this reason, that as it is more perfect, and is the root and foundation of the perfect number ten; and it is according to the principle of the number four that all collected are to return hither, as he himself has said. But as he by himself is perfect, so also those of whom he is the father are evidently perfect.
But what is it that I am saying? In the generation of animals the sowing of the seed has the first place; in the second place, comes the fact of each instrument being, in some manner, impressed by something akin to nature; thirdly, there is the growth after the first formation of the creature; fourthly, after everything else comes the perfec- tion, that is to say, the birth. And the same principle and order prevail in plants; the seed is cast into the earth, then it pushes its way both upwards and downwards, partly in roots and partly in branches; after that it increases; and fourthly, it produces fruit; and in the same manner again the trees, when made, first of all produce fruit, which sub- sequently grows; then, as it becomes ripe, it changes colour; and, fourthly, and this is the last operation, it completes and perfects its work, the consequence of which is the use and enjoyment of it by men.
"WTiat is the meaning of, " For the sins of the Amorites were not as yet completed?"f • Genesis xv. 16 f Ibid.
422 PHILO JUDiEUS.
13. Some persons have said, that by this expression of the principle of Moses fate is expressly introduced, as if, in truth, everything was to be accomplished according to some particular hour and appointed period of time.
"What is the meaning of, " And when the sun was in the west a flame arose?"* 14. It means either that the sun himself appeared in the west in the similitude of a flame, or that some other flame appeared at eventide, not lightning, but some fire like it, which descended from above. The manifest interpretation of the oracle is this; but we must now discuss that which regards the inner sense.
What is the meaning of the expression, " Behold there was a smoking furnace and torches of fires, which passed through the middle of those divisions?"f 15. The literal meaning of the statement is plain, for the fountain or root of the divine word will have the victims consumed, not by that fire which is given for our use, but by that which descends from above, out of heaven, in order that the purity of the essence of heaven may bear witness to the sanctity of the victims.
But if we regard the inward meaning of the words, all things which are done beneath the moon are here corn- pared to a smoking furnace, on account of the vapour which rises up out of the earth and water. As also the divisions of nature are, as has been already shown, every portion of the world being divided into two parts; and by these there are kindled, as it were, torches of fire, being powers which are more rapid in motion and more efficacious, being burn- ing, in truth, like divine fiery discourses, at onetime keeping the whole universe in a state of integrity reciprocally with themselves, and at another cleansing away the superfluous darkness.
But the following interpretation may also be given with propriety in a more familiar manner. Human life is like unto a smoking furnace, because it has not a pure fire and an unalloyed brilliancy, but a great deal of smoke, smoking darkly through the flame, which causes mist and darkness, * Genesis xv. 17. + Genesis xv. 18.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS. 423 and an obscuration, not of the body but of the soul, so that this last cannot discern things clearly, until God the re- deemer commands the heavenly lamps to arise, I mean those more pure and more holy radiations which unite those parts previously divided in two, on the right hand and on the left, and, at the same time, illuminate them, being the causes of harmony and of lucid clearness.
Why did he say, " On that day, God made a covenant with Abraham, saying, To thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates?"* 16. The literal expression describes the boundaries of the space which lies in the middle, between the two rivers Egyptus and Euphrates, for anciently the river was also called by the same name as the district, Egypt, as the poet also testifies when he says — " And in the river Egypt did I fix My double-oared ships." t