json/Second Temple/Philo/Concerning Noah's Work as a Planter/English/merged.json

{
    "title": "Concerning Noah's Work as a Planter",
    "language": "en",
    "versionTitle": "merged",
    "versionSource": "https://www.sefaria.org/Concerning_Noah's_Work_as_a_Planter",
    "text": {
        "Introduction": [
            "<big>Concerning Noah’s Work as a Planter (De Plantatione) <br>Analytical Introduction</big>",
            "The first part of this treatise, extending to the end of § 139, treats firstly of God’s planting and then of man learning to copy His work. The second part (§ 140 onwards) should be entitled Περὶ μέθης, for it deals with the vine only with respect to its fruit. The title of the treatise is, therefore, inappropriate.",
            "A. 1–139",
            "(<i>a</i>) 1–72. The first Planter and His plant.",
            "(α) 1–27. The universe and its component parts planted.",
            "(β) 28–31. Trees planted in man, the microcosm.",
            "(γ) 32–46. The names of the two trees in Eden point to an allegorical interpretation. “Eden” is “delight” in the Lord. “Eastward” is “in the light.” “The tree of Life” is the man of Gen. 1:27 in the image of God. The earthly man of Gen. 2 is placed in Paradise to be tested amid the virtues, the plants of a rational soul.",
            "(δ) 47 ff. That Israel, God’s special inheritance, may be planted in Eden is Moses’ prayer.",
            "(ε) 62–72. God the Portion of Inheritance of Levi and of those who have the Levite mind.",
            "(<i>b</i>) Lessons learned from the First Planter, and copies of His planting (73–139).",
            "(α) 74–93. Abraham’s planting (Gen. 21:33). The <i>tree</i> the “hide” of 10,000 cubits; the <i>place</i> the well, which is without water (Gen. 26:32 LXX), and so symbolic of the fruitless search for knowledge, and of the discovery of our own ignorance; the <i>fruit</i> the invocation of the Name “Eternal God,” which connotes “Benefactor,” whereas “Lord” connotes Master.”",
            "(β) 94–139. Our planting (Lev. 19:23–25). Ere we can plant <i>fruit</i> trees we must <i>migrate</i> to the God-given land, <i>i.e</i>. the mind must find the way of Wisdom. The beginner bidden to <i>prune, i.e</i>. cut out all hurtful things, <i>e.g</i>. the harlot and the toady from Friendship, superstition from Religion. Jacob’s peeled rods and the leper’s flesh, both white <i>all over</i>, serve as a pattern. Philo attempts to explain the command to prune the fruit itself.",
            "The fourth year, in which the fruit is “holy for praise to the Lord” leads to a discourse on the number 4, on <i>praise</i> as the fruit of education, on <i>thanksgiving</i> as creation’s chief duty, illustrated by the story of the birth of Mnemosyne. As the fifth year is ours for food, after the fourth year of thanksgiving, so “Issachar” or “Reward” was born next after “Judah” or “Praise.”",
            "B. 140–177",
            "We now pass on to the vine-culture of Noah. As the vine is the means of Drunkenness (and the just man made himself drunk with it), we have to consider the subject of drunkenness. Moses’ views will be given later (in <i>De Ebrietate</i>). Let us now examine what the philosophical schools say about it. They put the question thus, “Will the wise man get drunk?” (139–141). But before stating the arguments on either side, we note that the term “get drunk” (μεθύειν) may be used for hard drinking (οἰνοῦσθαι) simply, or for drinking carried to the point of foolish behaviour (ληρεῖν). All condemn the latter, but one school holds that if μεθύειν is used in the less offensive sense, the wise man may freely indulge in it; another, “that he cannot safely do so, and will therefore avoid all carousals, unless social duties necessitate his participation in them.”",
            "The arguments of the thesis: “The wise man will get drunk” are now stated.”",
            "(1) As μέθυ and οἶνος are admittedly synonyms, their derivatives μεθύειν and οἰνοῦσθαι must be synonyms also. (This is preceded by a disquisition on “homonyms” and “synonyms.”) (§§ 149–155.)",
            "(2) μεθύειν is properly μετὰ τὸ θύειν, (“after sacrificing”), and the ancient and right use of wine was orderly and religious in marked contrast to present custom. If μεθύειν is used in this sense, it is suitable to the wise man (§§ 156–164).",
            "(3) Another derivation of μεθύειν is from μέθεσις (relaxation), and the blessings of relaxation and cheerfulness are pointed out.",
            "(4) A dialectical argument, that, as soberness is found in the fool as well as in the wise man, its opposite, drunkenness, is common to both (§ 172).",
            "(5) An argument from the use of the term μέθη in various writers, showing that they identified μεθύειν with οἰνοῦσθαι, and did not associate it with λῆρος (§§ 173 f.).",
            "At this point the disputant professes to meet the arguments of the other side. The first of these is the argument of Zeno, that, since no man could trust the drunken man with a secret, drunkenness is unsuitable to the wise man. This is refuted (§§ 175–177). The rest of the disquisition is lost."
        ],
        "": [
            [
                "<big>CONCERNING NOAH’s WORK AS A PLANTER</big> <br>[1] We have said in the former book all that the occasion called for regarding the husbandman’s art in general. In this book we shall give such an account as we can of the art of a vine-dresser in particular. For Moses introduces the righteous man not as a husbandman only, but specially as a vine-dresser; his words are: “Noah began to be a husbandman tilling the ground, and he planted a vineyard” (Gen. 9:20).",
                "[2] It is incumbent on one, who is going to discourse on the work of planters and husbandmen as carried on in this or that place, to begin by marking well the plants set in the universe, those most perfect of all plants, and their great Planter and Overseer. It is the Lord of all things that is the greatest of planters and most perfect Master of His art. It is this World that is a plant containing in itself the particular plants all at once in their myriads, like shoots springing from a single root. ",
                "[3] For, when the Framer of the World, finding all that existed confused and disordered of itself, began to give it form, by bringing it out of disorder into order, out of confusion into distinction of parts, He caused earth and water to occupy the position of roots at its centre; the trees, that are air and fire, He drew up from the centre to the space on high; the encircling region of ether He firmly established, and set it to be at once a boundary and guard of all that is within. (Apparently its name “Heaven” is derived from the former word.) And (surpassing wonder!) this Doer of wondrous works caused earth, a dry substance in danger of being dissolved by water, to be held by water, and air, of itself coldest of all things, to be held by fire whose very nature is heat. ",
                "[4] How can it be other than a prodigy that the dissolving element should be held together by that which it dissolves, water by earth; and that on the coldest element the hottest should be seated unquenched, fire upon air?",
                "The elements of which we have spoken are the perfect branches of the whole, but the stock, far greater and more productive than all of them, is this world, of which the growths that have been mentioned are offshoots."
            ],
            [
                "[5] We must consider, therefore, where He caused its roots to strike, and on what it rests as a statue on its pedestal. It is unlikely that any material body has been left over and was moving about at random outside, seeing that God had wrought up and placed in orderly position all matter wherever found. ",
                "[6] For it became the greatest artificer to fashion to full perfection the greatest of constructions, and it would have come short of full perfection, had it not had a complement of perfect parts. Accordingly this world of ours was formed out of all that there is of earth, and all that there is of water, and air and fire, not even the smallest particle being left outside. ",
                "[7] It follows that outside there is either empty space or nothing at all. If there is empty space, how comes it that a thing that is full and dense and heaviest of all existences does not sink down by sheer weight, having nothing solid external to it to hold it up? This would seem to be of the nature of a phantom, since our understanding ever looks for a material basis, which it expects everything to have, even if it be but an empty thing, but above all the world, since it is the largest of material bodies, and holds in its bosom as parts of itself a mass of other material bodies. ",
                "[8] Let anyone then, who would fain escape the confusion of face, which we all feel when we have to leave problems unsolved, say plainly that no material thing is so strong as to be able to bear the burden of the world; and that the everlasting Word of the eternal God is the very sure and staunch prop of the Whole.",
                "[9] He it is, who extending Himself from the midst to its utmost bounds and from its extremities to the midst again, keeps up through all its length Nature’s unvanquished course, combining and compacting all its parts. For the Father Who begat Him constituted His Word such a Bond of the Universe as nothing can break. ",
                "[10] Good reason, then, have we to be sure that all the earth shall not be dissolved by all the water which has gathered within its hollows; nor fire be quenched by air; nor, on the other hand, air be ignited by fire. The Divine Word stations Himself to keep these elements apart, like a Vocal between voiceless elements of speech, that the universe may send forth a harmony like that of a masterpiece of literature. He mediates between the opponents amid their threatenings, and reconciles them by winning ways to peace and concord."
            ],
            [
                "[11] On this wise was the tree planted which yields all fruit that grows. On this wise when planted was it held fast. Among lesser plants, that did not partake of its universal character, some were created with a capacity of moving from one place to another, others, meant to be stationary, lacked such capacity for change of place. ",
                "[12] Our name for those which have the power of locomotion is animals. These took to (<i>i.e</i>. were so made as naturally to belong to) the several main divisions of our universe, land animals to earth, to water those that swim, the winged creatures to air, and to fire the fire-born. It is said that the production of these last is more patent to observation in Macedonia than elsewhere. The stars found their place in heaven. Those who have made philosophy their study tell us that these too are living creatures, but of a kind composed entirely of Mind. Of these some, the planets, appear to change their position by a power inherent in themselves, others to do so as they are swept along in the rush of our universe, and these we call fixed stars.",
                "[13] The creations endowed with a nature incapable of taking in impressions, to which the name of “plants” is specially given, do not share the power of locomotion."
            ],
            [
                "[14] Of twofold kind were the beings which the great Maker made as well in the earth as in the air. In the air He made the winged creatures perceived by our senses, and other mighty beings besides which are wholly beyond apprehension by sense. This is the host of the bodiless souls. Their array is made up of companies that differ in kind. We are told that some enter into mortal bodies, and quit them again at certain fixed periods, while others, endowed with a diviner constitution, have no regard for any earthly quarter, but exist on high nigh to the ethereal region itself. These are the purest spirits of all, whom Greek philosophers call heroes, but whom Moses, employing a well-chosen name, entitles “angels,” for they go on embassies bearing tidings from the great Ruler to His subjects of the boons which He sends them, and reporting to the Monarch what His subjects are in need of. Two kinds again did He assign to earth, land animals and plants. For He willed her to be at once both mother and nurse. ",
                "[15] For, even as in woman and all female kind there well up springs of milk when the time of delivery draws near, that they may furnish necessary drink of a suitable kind to their offspring; even so in like manner did the Creator bestow on earth, the mother of land animals, plants of all sorts, to the end that the new-born might have the benefit of nourishment not foreign but akin to them. ",
                "[16] Furthermore, while He fashioned the plants head downwards, fixing their heads in the portions of the earth where the soil lay deepest, He raised from the earth the heads of the animals that are without reason and set them on the top of a long neck, placing the fore feet as a support for the neck. ",
                "[17] But the build allotted to man was distinguished above that of other living creatures. For by turning the eyes of the others downwards He made them incline to the earth beneath them. The eyes of man, on the contrary, He set high up, that he might gaze on heaven, for man, as the old saying is, is a plant not earthly but heavenly."
            ],
            [
                "[18] Now while others, by asserting that our human mind is a particle of the ethereal substance, have claimed for man a kinship with the upper air; our great Moses likened the fashion of the reasonable soul to no created thing, but averred it to be a genuine coinage of that dread Spirit, the Divine and Invisible One, signed and impressed by the seal of God, the stamp of which is the Eternal Word. ",
                "[19] His words are “God in-breathed into his face a breath of Life” (Gen. 2:7); so that it cannot but be that he that receives is made in the likeness of Him Who sends forth the breath. Accordingly we also read that man has been made after the Image of God (Gen. 1:27), not however after the image of anything created. ",
                "[20] It followed then, as a natural consequence of man’s soul having been made after the image of the Archetype, the Word of the First Cause, that his body also was made erect, and could lift up its eyes to heaven, the purest portion of our universe, that by means of that which he could see man might clearly apprehend that which he could not see. ",
                "[21] Since, then, it was impossible for any to discern how the understanding tends towards the Existent One, save those only who had been drawn by Him—for each one of us knows what he has himself experienced as no other can know it—He endows the bodily eyes with the power of taking the direction of the upper air, and so makes them a distinct representation of the invisible eye. ",
                "[22] For, seeing that the eyes formed out of perishable matter obtained so great reach as to travel from the earthly region to heaven, that is so far away, and to touch its bounds, how vast must we deem the flight in all directions of the eyes of the soul? The strong yearning to perceive the Existent One gives them wings to attain not only to the furthest region of the upper air, but to overpass the very bounds of the entire universe and speed away toward the Uncreate."
            ],
            [
                "[23] This is why those who crave for wisdom and knowledge with insatiable persistence are said in the Sacred Oracles to have been called upwards; for it accords with God’s ways that those who have received His down-breathing should be called up to Him. ",
                "[24] For when trees are whirled up, roots and all, into the air by hurricanes and tornadoes, and heavily laden ships of large tonnage are snatched up out of mid-ocean, as though objects of very little weight, and lakes and rivers are borne aloft, and earth’s hollows are left empty by the water as it is drawn up by a tangle of violently eddying winds, it is strange if a light substance like the mind is not rendered buoyant and raised to the utmost height by the native force of the Divine spirit, overcoming as it does in its boundless might all powers that are here below. Above all is it strange if this is not so with the mind of the genuine philosopher. ",
                "[25] Such an one suffers from no weight of downward pressure towards the objects dear to the body and to earth. From these he has ever made an earnest effort to sever and estrange himself. So he is borne upward insatiably enamoured of all holy happy natures that dwell on high. ",
                "[26] Accordingly Moses, the keeper and guardian of the mysteries of the Existent One, will be one called above; for it is said in the Book of Leviticus, “He called Moses up above” (Lev. 1:1). One called up above will Bezeleel also be, held worthy of a place in the second rank. For him also does God call up above for the construction and overseeing of the sacred works (Exod. 31:2 ff.). ",
                "[27] But while Bezeleel shall carry off the lower honours conferred by the call above, Moses the all-wise shall bear away the primary honours. For the former fashions the shadows, just as painters do, to whom Heaven has not granted power to create aught that has life. “Bezeleel,” we must remember, means “making in shadows.” Moses on the other hand obtained the office of producing not shadows but the actual archetype of the several objects. Nor need we wonder at such distinctions. It is the wont of the Supreme Cause to exhibit the objects proper to each, to some in a clearer, more radiant vision, as though in unclouded sunshine, to others more dimly, as though in the shade."
            ],
            [
                "[28] As we have now brought to a close our discussion of those objects on a larger scale which are set to grow in the field of the universe, let us note the way in which God the all-wise fashioned the trees that are in man, the microcosm. To begin with, then, He took our body, as though He were taking some deep-soiled plot of ground and made the organs of sense as tree-beds for it. ",
                "[29] Having done this He set a sense in each of them, as a plant highly valuable for cultivation, hearing in the ear, sight in the eyes, in the nostrils scent, and the rest in their appropriate and congenial positions. I may cite as a witness to what I say the sacred poet, where he says “He that planteth the ear, doth He not hear? He that fashioneth the eyes, shall He not behold?” (Psalm 94:9). ",
                "[30] And all the other faculties of the body including legs and hands and every part, whether inner or outer, are nothing else than noble shoots and growths. ",
                "[31] The better and more perfect growths He planted in the dominant faculty, which holds the central position, and possesses in a pre-eminent degree the capacity for yielding fruit. These growths are insight, apprehension, accurate judgement, constant practice, powers of memory, varying conditions, chronic dispositions, scientific capacity taking many forms and directions, certainty of knowledge, ability to take in and retain the principles and implications of virtue in every shape. Not one of these is any mortal man whatever capable of growing. The One Grower of them all is the Uncreate Artificer, Who not only has made these plants once for all, but is ever making them in the case of each man who is from time to time begotten."
            ],
            [
                "[32] In agreement with what I have said is the planting of the garden; for we read, “God planted a garden in Eden facing the sun-rising, and placed there the man whom He had moulded” (Gen. 2:8). To imagine that he planted vines and olive and apple and pomegranate trees or the like, would be serious folly, ",
                "[33] difficult to eradicate. One would naturally ask What for? To provide Himself with convenient places to live in? Would the whole world be considered a sufficient dwelling for God the Lord of all? Would it not evidently fall short in countless other ways of being deemed meet to receive the Great King? To say nothing of the irreverence of supposing that the Cause of all things is contained in that which He has caused, and to say nothing of the fact that the trees of His planting do not yield annual fruits as ours do. ",
                "[34] For whose use and enjoyment, then, will the Garden yield its fruits? Not for that of any man; for no one whatever is mentioned as dwelling in the garden, for we are told that Adam, the man first moulded out of the earth, migrated thence. ",
                "[35] As for God, <i>He</i> stands in no need of food any more than of aught else. For one who uses food must in the first place experience need, and in the next place be equipped with organs by means of which to take the food that comes in, and to discharge that from which he has drawn its goodness. These things are not in harmony with the blessedness and happiness of the First Cause. They are utterly monstrous inventions of men who would overthrow great virtues like piety and reverence by representing Him as having the form and passions of mankind."
            ],
            [
                "[36] So we must turn to allegory, the method dear to men with their eyes opened. Indeed the sacred oracles most evidently afford us the clues for the use of this method. For they say that in the garden there are trees in no way resembling those with which we are familiar, but trees of Life, of Immortality, of Knowledge, of Apprehension, of Understanding, of the conception of good and evil. ",
                "[37] And these can be no growths of earthly soil, but must be those of the reasonable soul, namely its path according to virtue with life and immortality as its end, and its path according to evil ending in the shunning of these and in death. We must conceive therefore that the bountiful God plants in the soul as it were a garden of virtues and of the modes of conduct corresponding to each of them, a garden that brings the soul to perfect happiness.",
                "[38] Because of this He assigned to the garden a site most suitable, bearing the name of “Eden,” which means “luxuriance,” symbol of a soul whose eyesight is perfect, disporting itself in virtues, leaping and skipping by reason of abundance of great joy, having set before it, as an enjoyment outweighing thousands of those that men deem sweetest, the worship and service of the Only Wise. ",
                "[39] One, after taking a sheer draught of this bright joy, a member indeed of Moses’ fellowship, not found among the indifferent, spake aloud in hymns of praise, and addressing his own mind cried, “Delight in the Lord” (Psalm 36:4), moved by the utterance to an ecstasy of the love that is heavenly and Divine, filled with loathing for those interminable bouts of softness and debauchery amid the seeming and so-called good things of mankind, while his whole mind is snatched up in holy frenzy by a Divine possession, and he finds his gladness in God alone."
            ],
            [
                "[40] A proof of what I have said is the nearness of the garden to the sunrising (Gen. 2:8); for, while folly is a thing sinking, dark, night-bringing, wisdom is verily a thing of sunrise, all radiancy and brightness. And even as the sun, when it comes up, fills all the circle of heaven with light, even so do the rays of virtue, when they have shone out, cause the whole region of the understanding to be flooded with pure brilliancy.",
                "[41] Now, whereas man’s possessions have animals of great ferocity to watch and guard them against being attacked and overrun, the possessions of God are guarded by rational beings: for it says, “He stationed there the man whom He had fashioned,” that is to say, the trainings in and exercises of the virtues belong to rational beings only. ",
                "[42] This they received at the hands of God, as a pre-eminent privilege above the lives of the irrational creatures. And that is why it is stated in the most vivid manner possible that He set the mind, which is the real man in us, amid holiest shoots and growths of noble character, since among beings void of understanding there is not one capable of tilling virtues, for they are by nature utterly incompetent to apprehend these."
            ],
            [
                "[43] We need, then, be at no loss to know why there are brought in into the ark, which was built at the time of the great Flood, all the kinds of wild beasts, but into the Garden no kind at all. For the ark was a figure of the body, which has been obliged to make room for the savage and untamed pests of passions and vices, whereas the garden was a figure of the virtues; and virtues entertain nothing wild, nothing (we may say outright)that is irrational.",
                "[44] It is with deliberate care that the lawgiver says not of the man made after God’s image, but of the man fashioned out of earth, that he was introduced into the garden. For the man stamped with the spirit which is after the image of God differs not a whit, as it appears to me, from the tree that bears the fruit of immortal life: for both are imperishable and have been accounted worthy of the most central and most princely portion: for we are told that the tree of Life is in the midst of the Garden (Gen. 2:9). Nor is there any difference between the man fashioned out of the earth and the earthly composite body. He has no part in a nature simple and uncompounded, whose house and courts only the self-trainer knows how to occupy, even Jacob who is put before us as “a plain man dwelling in a house” (Gen. 25:27). The earthy man has a disposition of versatile subtlety, fashioned and concocted of elements of all sorts. ",
                "[45] It was to be expected, then, that God should plant and set in the garden, or the whole universe, the middle or neutral mind, played upon by forces drawing it in opposite directions and given the high calling to decide between them, that it might be moved to choose and to shun, to win fame and immortality should it welcome the better, and incur a dishonourable death should it choose the worse."
            ],
            [
                "[46] Such, then, were the trees which He Who alone is wise planted in rational souls. Moses, lamenting over those who had become exiles from the garden of the virtues, implores alike God’s absolute sovereignty and His gracious and gentle powers, that the people endowed with sight may be planted in on the spot whence the earthly mind, called Adam, has been banished. ",
                "[47] This is what he says: “Bring them in, plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which is ready, which Thou wroughtest for Thee to dwell in, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have made ready: the Lord is sovereign for ever and ever” (Exod. 15:17 f.). ",
                "[48] So Moses, beyond all others, had most accurately learned that God, by setting the seeds and roots of all things, is the Cause of the greatest of all plants springing up, even this universe. It is at this evidently that he points in the present instance by the words of the Song itself just quoted, by calling the world “the mountain of Thine inheritance,” since that which has been brought into being is, in a peculiar degree, the possession and portion of him who has made it. ",
                "[49] So he prays that in this we may be planted. He would not have us become irrational and unruly in our natures. Nay, he would have us comply with the ordering of the All-perfect, and faithfully copying His constant and undeviating course, pursue without stumbling a life of self-mastery: for to attain the power to live as nature bids has been pronounced by the men of old supreme happiness.",
                "[50] And mark how well the epithets that follow harmonize with that which was put first. The world, we read, is God’s house in the realm of sense-perception, prepared and ready for Him. It is a thing wrought, not, as some have fancied, uncreate. It is a “sanctuary,” an outshining of sanctity, so to speak, a copy of the original; since the objects that are beautiful to the eye of sense are images of those in which the understanding recognizes beauty. Lastly, it has been prepared by the “hands” of God, his world-creating powers. ",
                "[51] And to the end that none may suppose that the Maker is in need of those whom He has made, Moses will crown his utterance with the point that is vital beyond all others: “reigning for ever and ever.” It is an established principle that a sovereign is dependent on no one, while subjects are in all respects dependent on the sovereign. ",
                "[52] Some have maintained that that which is God’s portion, and is spoken of here as such, is that which is good, and that Moses’ prayer in this instance is for the obtaining of the experience and enjoyment thereof. For his prayer runs thus: “Initiate us, the children just beginning to learn, by means of the pronouncements and principles of wisdom, and leave us not ungrounded, but plant us in a high and heavenly doctrine.” ",
                "[53] For this is a “portion” best prepared, a “house” most ready, an abode most fitting, which “Thou hast wrought as a Holy Place”; for of things good and holy, O Master, Thou art Maker, as from the corruptible creation come things evil and profane. Reign through the age that has no limit over the soul that implores Thee, never leaving it for one moment without a sovereign Ruler: for never-ceasing slavery under Thee surpasses not freedom only but the highest sovereignty."
            ],
            [
                "[54] It is possible that the words “Into the mountain of Thine inheritance” may suggest to many an inquiry as to how to account for them: for that God <i>gives</i> portions is a necessary truth, but it may appear a contradiction that He should <i>obtain</i> a portion, since all things belong to Him. ",
                "[55] This expression would seem to apply to those who are on a special footing of more intimate relationship with Him as their Master. So kings are rulers of all their subjects, but in an eminent degree of their household servants, of whose ministry they are accustomed to avail themselves for the care of their persons and their other requirements.",
                "[56] Again these same rulers, though they are masters of all properties throughout the land, including those over which private citizens have apparent control, are reckoned to have those only which they place in the hands of bailiffs and agents, from which also they collect the yearly income. To these they frequently resort for holiday and enjoyment, laying aside the serious burden of the anxieties incident to government and sovereignty, and these estates of theirs go by the name of royal demesnes. ",
                "[57] Again, silver and gold, and other precious things which are kept in the treasuries of subjects, belong to the rulers rather than to those who have them. But in spite of this we speak of sovereigns’ private coffers in which the appointed collectors of dues deposit the revenues from the country. ",
                "[58] Marvel not at all, then, if the title of special portion of God the universal Ruler, to whom sovereignty over all pertains, is bestowed upon the company of wise souls, whose vision is supremely keen, the eye of whose understanding is clear and flawless, closing never, ever open in a gaze direct and piercing."
            ],
            [
                "[59] Is not this the explanation of that utterance in the Greater Song: “Ask thy father, and he will proclaim it to thee, thy elders, and they will tell it thee; when the Most High distributed the nations, when He dispersed the sons of Adam, He set up boundaries of the nations corresponding to the number of the angels of God, and His people Israel became the portion of the Lord” (Deut. 32:7–9)? ",
                "[60] Mark how he has again given the name of “portion” and “lot” of God to the character that has eyes to see Him and accords Him genuine devotion, while he says that the children of earth, whom he entitles sons of Adam, have been dispersed and broken up and no more gathered together but are become a mob incapable of following the guidance of right reason. For virtue is in very deed the cause of harmony and unity, whereas the contrary disposition brings about dissolution and dismemberment.",
                "[61] An illustration of what has been said is afforded by that which is done year by year on the day called the “Day of Atonement.” It is enjoined on that day “to assign by lot two goats, one for the Lord, and one for separation (Lev. 16:8), a twofold description, one for God and one for created things. That which exalts the First Cause shall be allotted to Him, while that which exalts creation shall be banished, driven from the most holy places, to find itself amid rocky chasms in trackless and unhallowed regions."
            ],
            [
                "[62] So fully does Moses take advantage of the prerogative of one beloved of God, that, inspired with confidence by this very fact, he is wont to use language and utter teachings larger and more daring than suit the ears of us feebler folk. For not only does he think it in accordance with God’s dignity to obtain a portion, but, what is strangest of all, Himself to be the portion of others. ",
                "[63] For he deemed it meet and right that a whole tribe, which had taken refuge at God’s footstool, should be allotted no part of the country, like the other eleven tribes, but should receive the pre-eminent privilege of the priesthood, a possession not earthly but heavenly. “The tribe of Levi,” he says, “shall have no lot or portion among the children of Israel, for the Lord is their portion” (Deut. 10:9); and there is an utterance rung out on this wise by the holy oracles in the name of God, “I am thy portion and inheritance” (Numb. 18:20): ",
                "[64] for in reality the mind, which has been perfectly cleansed and purified, and which renounces all things pertaining to creation, is acquainted with One alone, and knows but One, even the Uncreate, to Whom it has drawn nigh, by Whom also it has been taken to Himself. For who is at liberty to say “God Himself is alone (and all) to me,” save one who has no welcome for aught that comes after Him? And this is the Levite attitude of mind, for the word means “He (is precious) to me,” the thought conveyed being that while different things have been held precious by different people, he is alone in holding precious the original and worthiest Cause of all things."
            ],
            [
                "[65] They say that in olden time one who was enraptured by the beauty of wisdom, as by that of some distinguished lady, after watching the array of a procession pass by on which vast sums had been lavished, fastened his eyes on a group of his associates and said, “See, my friends, of how many things I have no need.” And yet he was wearing absolutely nothing beyond necessary clothing, so that he cannot be supposed to have been puffed up by his great riches, as countless thousands have been, and to have uttered the words as a boast. ",
                "[66] This is the mind which, as the lawgiver insists, should be that of those who provide themselves with no property that has its place among things created, but renounce all these on the ground of that intimate association with the Uncreate, to possess Whom, they are convinced, is the only wealth, the only gauge of consummate happiness.",
                "[67] In face of this let those cease their proud boastings who have acquired royal and imperial sway, some by bringing under their authority a single city or country or nation, some by having, over and above these, made themselves masters of all earth’s regions to its fullest bounds, all nations, Greek and barbarian alike, all rivers, and seas unlimited in number and extent. ",
                "[68] For even had they, besides controlling these, extended their empire, an idea which it were impious to utter, to the realm of the upper air, alone of all things made by the Creator to enjoy a freedom untouched by bondage—even then, they would be reckoned ordinary citizens when compared with great kings who received God as their portion; for the kingship of these as far surpasses theirs as he that has gained possession is better than the possession, and he that has made than that which he has made."
            ],
            [
                "[69] Some, paying regard to outward want and outward superfluity, and reckoning no one rich if found among those without money or possessions, have looked on the assertion that all things belong to the wise man as a paradox. But Moses considers wisdom an object of such admiration and emulation, that he thinks its worthy portion to be not merely the whole world, but the very Lord of all. ",
                "[70] These are not, we must remember, opinions held by men who halt between two opinions, but by men possessed by stedfast faith; for even now there are in the ranks of those who wear a semblance of piety, men who in a petty spirit find fault with the literal sense of the word, urging that it is irreligious and dangerous to speak of God as the portion of man.",
                "[71] What I would say to them is this: “The frame of mind in which you approached the consideration of the subject was not a genuine one, but spurious and illegitimate. You imagined that there is no difference between the way in which God is said to be the portion of the wise, and the way in which plantations of vines or olive trees or the like are said to be the possessions of their owners. You failed to notice that portrait-painting is spoken of as a lot or portion for portrait-painters, and generally any such pursuit for him who pursues it, not as an earthly possession to be owned, but as a heavenly prize to be striven for. ",
                "[72] For things such as these bring benefit to those who have them, without being under them as masters. Pray, then, you petty fault-finders, when you hear the Existent One spoken of as Portion, do not take it to mean a possession similar to those which have been mentioned, but to mean One bringing vast benefits and the Cause of exceeding great good to those who regard His service as their fit employment.”"
            ],
            [
                "[73] Having said, then, what was called for about the first Planter and that which He planted, we will pass on next to the industry of those who have learnt from the former and copied the latter. We come at once to the record of Abraham the wise “planting a hide of land at the well of the oath, and invoking upon it the Name of the Lord as God eternal” (Gen. 21:33). No particulars are given as to the kind of plants meant, but simply the size of the plot of ground. ",
                "[74] Yet those whose habit it is to look closely into such matters assure us that we have all the points of an estate laid down with extraordinary precision, the tree, the ground, and the fruit of the tree; the hide itself being the tree; not a tree like those which spring up from the earth, but one planted in the understanding of him that is beloved of God; the well of the oath, the plot of ground; and the change of the Name of the Lord into “God eternal,” the Fruit. ",
                "[75] Each of these points requires further treatment in the shape of such a reasoned account of them as may commend itself. Well, the hide, being 100 cubits long and as many broad, comes, by the rule of square measure, to 10,000 superficial cubits. ",
                "[76] This is the highest completest term in the series which increases from unity: that is to say, while 1 is the starting-point of numbers, a myriad or 10,000 is the end, if we adhere to the line of progress on which we set out. Accordingly that comparison is not wide of the mark which some have made between 1 and the post from which runners start, and 10,000 and the post at which they finish, all the intervening numbers being like the competitors in the race; for beginning their course from 1 as from a starting-post they come to a stop at 10,000 as the finish.",
                "[77] Some have found symbols in these things and have gone on with their help to proclaim God as the beginning and final goal of all things, a teaching on which religion can be built; this teaching, when planted in the soul, produces piety, a fruit most fair and full of nourishment.",
                "[78] The well, entitled Oath, in which, as history says, no water was found, is a place most appropriate to that which grew there. What we read is this: “The servants of Isaac came and brought word to him concerning the well which they had dug, saying ‘We found no water,’ and he called it ‘Oath’ ” (Gen. 26:32 f.). Let us observe the force of these words."
            ],
            [
                "[79] Those who thoroughly investigate the nature of existing things, and prosecute their inquires into each one of them in no indifferent spirit, act as those do who dig wells; for the investigators, like the well-diggers, are in search of hidden springs. And all have in common a desire to find water, but in the one case it is water naturally adapted to the nourishment of the body, in the other to the nourishment of the soul. ",
                "[80] Now just as some of those who open up wells often fail to find the water of which they are in search, so those, who make more than ordinary progress in various kinds of knowledge, and go deeper into them than most of us, are often powerless to reach the end they aim at. It is said that men of great learning accuse themselves of terrible ignorance, for all that they have come to perceive is how far they fall short of the truth. There is a story that one of the men of the olden days, when people marvelled at his wisdom, said that he was rightly marvelled at; for that he was the only man who knew that he knew nothing.",
                "[81] Choose, if you will, whatever science or art you may be minded to choose, be it a small one or a greater one, and the man who is best and most approved in this art or science. Then notice carefully whether the professions of the science are made good by what its votary does. If you look you will find that the one fails of the other not by short but by long distances. For it is practically impossible to attain perfection in respect of any science or art whatever, seeing that it is being continually replenished, as a spring is, and ever welling up results of thought and study of many a kind.",
                "[82] That is why the name of “Oath” given to it was so perfectly suitable: for an oath represents that surest form of trustworthiness which carries with it the testimony of God. For as the man who swears calls God as a witness of the points in dispute, there is no point on which it is more possible to take a sure oath than upon the fact that no subject of knowledge whatever is found to have reached the goal of perfection in the person of him who is an expert in it. ",
                "[83] The same principle holds good for almost all the other faculties which we possess. For, just as in the well that we read of we are told that no water was found, so neither is sight found in eyes, nor hearing in ears, nor smelling in nostrils, nor, to say all at once, is sense-perception found in organs of sense; and apprehension in like manner is not found in mind either. ",
                "[84] For how would it ever happen that we should see or hear or conceive amiss, if the power to apprehend each object had been inherently fixed in the several organs, instead of the power to apprehend springing from the seed of certitude sown upon the organs by God?"
            ],
            [
                "[85] Now that we have adequately dealt with the further subject of the plot in which the tree blooms, let us work out as our last point that of the fruit. What its fruit is, then, Moses himself shall inform us: for ’tis said “he called upon it the Name of the Lord, as God eternal” (Gen. 21:33). ",
                "[86] The titles, then, just mentioned exhibit the powers of Him that IS; the title “Lord” the power in virtue of which He rules, that of “God” the power in virtue of which He bestows benefits. This is why the name “God” is employed throughout all the record of Creation given by Moses, that most holy man. For it was fitting that the Creator should be spoken of by a title coming to Him through that power in virtue of which, when bringing the world into being, He set and ordered it. ",
                "[87] In so far as He is Ruler, He has both powers, both to bestow benefits and to inflict evil, changing His dealing as the recompense due to the doer of every deed demands: but in so far as He is Benefactor, He wills only the one, to bestow benefits. ",
                "[88] Very great good would come to the soul from ceasing to be of two minds in face of the King’s readiness to put forth His might in either direction, and if it would resolutely break down the fear that hangs over it owing to the dread force of His sovereignty, and kindle the flame of that most sure hope of winning and enjoying good things, which is afforded by the fact that to be bountiful is His choice and delight. ",
                "[89] The title “God Eternal” is equivalent to “He that is, not sometimes gracious and sometimes not so, but continuously and always; He that without intermission bestows benefits; He that causes His gifts to follow each other in ceaseless flow; He who makes His boons come round in unbroken cycle, knitting them together by unifying forces; He who lets no opportunity of doing good go by; He who is Lord, and so is able to hurt also.”"
            ],
            [
                "[90] This is what Jacob, the trainer of self, claimed as the fulfilment of those vows of most sacred import. He said, you remember, “And the Lord shall be to me for God” (Gen. 28:21), as much as to say, He shall no longer exhibit towards me the masterfulness that characterizes the rule of an autocrat, but the readiness to bless that marks the power that is in every way kindly, and bent on the welfare of men. He shall do away with the fear we feel before Him as Master, and implant in the soul the loyalty and affection that goes out to Him as Benefactor.",
                "[91] What soul, in fact, would imagine that the Master and Sovereign of the Universe, without undergoing any change in His own nature, but remaining as He is, is kind continuously and bountiful incessantly, supreme Author of real good things coming without stint in ceaseless flow to happy souls? ",
                "[92] It is a strong bulwark of cheerfulness of spirit and freedom from danger to have reposed our confidence in a King who is not urged by the greatness of His dominion to inflict injuries on His subjects, but whose love for man makes it His delight to supply what is lacking to each one."
            ],
            [
                "[93] We may take it, then, that the points which we undertook to prove have now been demonstrated. That God be presupposed as Beginning and End of all things has been shewn to be the plant: as a corollary to this, that perfection is found in no part of creation, though by special grace of the First Cause it is ever and anon displayed upon its face, has been shewn to be the plot of ground; while the perpetuity and unceasing downpour of the gifts of God’s grace has been shewn to be the fruit.",
                "[94] Of such sort, then, is husbandry as exhibited by the sage also, treading in the steps of the first and greatest Planter. But the intention of the inspired Word is that we too who are not yet perfected, but are still classified as in the preliminary and undeveloped stages of what are called natural duties, should make husbandry our serious business: for It says: ",
                "[95] “When ye shall have entered into the land, which the Lord your God giveth you, and shall have planted any tree for food, ye shall cleanse away its uncleanness: for three years its fruit shall remain not cleansed away, it shall not be eaten: but in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy for a thank-offering to the Lord: but in the fifth year ye shall eat the fruit; its crop shall be added to your store. I am the Lord, your God” (Lev. 19:23–25).",
                "[96] Accordingly it is impossible to grow fruit-trees before migrating into the country given by God; for the words are, “When ye shall have entered into the land, ye shall plant every tree yielding food,” so that while staying outside we shall be unable to cultivate such trees. And this is what we might expect; ",
                "[97] for, so long as the mind has not come near and entered the way of wisdom, but turns in another direction and wanders away far off, its attention is given to trees of wild growth, which are either barren and yield nothing, or, though they are productive, bear no edible fruit. ",
                "[98] But when the mind has stepped on to the way of good sense, and in the company of all its teachings comes into and runs along that way, it will begin instead of those wild trees to cultivate trees of the orchard bearing orchard fruits, instead of passions freedom from them, knowledge in place of ignorance, good things in the place of evil things.",
                "[99] Since, then, the pupil just beginning his course is a long way from the end, we can quite understand why he is directed after planting to remove the uncleanness of that which he has planted. Let us get a good view of what it is to do this."
            ],
            [
                "[100] Natural duties which are indifferent seem to me to correspond to garden or orchard trees: for in each case most wholesome fruits are borne, for bodies in one case, for souls in the other. But many harmful shoots that spring together with the trees of the preliminary stage and many harmful growths that come on them have to be cut away, to save the better parts from being injured. ",
                "[101] Might we not speak of the returning of a sum entrusted to us as a tree grown in the soul’s orchard? Yet this tree at all events requires cleansing and more than usual attention. What is the cleansing in this case? When you have received something in trust from a man when he was sober, you should not return it to him when he is drunk, or when playing fast and loose with his money, or when mad, for the recipient will not be in a fit condition to derive any real benefit from recovering it. And do not return it to debtors or slaves, when the creditors and masters are lying in wait for them. To do so is betrayal, not payment of a due. And do not be strict about a small sum entrusted to you, with a view to ensnaring people into trusting you with larger sums. ",
                "[102] It is true that fishermen drop small baits with a view to hooking the bigger fish, and are not seriously to blame. They can plead that they are providing for a good market, and to secure people an abundant supply for the table every day. ",
                "[103] Then let no one parade the payment of a trifling sum entrusted to him by way of a bait to get a larger deposit. To do so is to hold out in one’s hands an insignificant amount belonging to one person, while in intention one is appropriating untold sums belonging to all men. If, then, you treat the deposit as a tree and remove its impurities, to wit payments entailing injurious treatment to the recipient, ill-timed payments, payments that are really ensnaring tricks, and everything of this kind, you will make fit for your orchard what was turning wild."
            ],
            [
                "[104] In the tree of friendship there are outgrowths, such as I shall describe, to be pruned and cut off for the sake of preserving the better part. Such outgrowths are practices of courtesans for taking in their lovers, ways parasites have of deceiving their dupes. ",
                "[105] You may see women, who earn money by the prostitution of their bodily charms, clinging to those enamoured of them as though they intensely loved them. It is not these that they love; they love themselves and are greedy for their daily takings. You may note flatterers cherishing often enough hatred that words cannot express for those upon whom they fawn, in love with rich dishes and overeating, and induced by nothing else than these to court those who glut their measureless greed. ",
                "[106] The tree of genuine friendship will shake off and be quit of these things, and will bear fruit most beneficial to those who shall eat of it, namely honesty. For real goodwill is a desire that good should befall your neighbour for his own sake, whereas it is to further objects of their own that harlots and toadies take such pains to offer the things that will please, the former in their designs upon their lovers, the latter upon their patrons. So we must treat everything that smacks of sham and quackery as we treat hurtful ongrowths, and cut it away from the tree of friendship."
            ],
            [
                "[107] Again, sacred ministrations and the holy service of sacrifices is a plant most fair, but it has a parasitic growth that is evil, namely superstition, and it is well to apply the knife to this before its green leaves appear. For some have imagined that it is piety to slaughter oxen, and allot to the altars portions of what they have got by stealing, or by repudiating debts, or by defrauding creditors, or by seizing property and cattle-lifting, thinking, in their gross defilement, that impunity for their offences is a thing that can be bought. ",
                "[108] “Nay, nay,” I would say to them, “no bribes, O foolish ones, can reach God’s tribunal.” He turns His face away from those who approach with guilty intent, even though they lead to His altar a hundred bullocks every day, and accepts the guiltless, although they sacrifice nothing at all. God delights in altars beset by a choir of Virtues, albeit no fire burn on them. He takes no delight in blazing altar fires fed by the unhallowed sacrifices of men to whose hearts sacrifice is unknown. Nay, these sacrifices do but put Him in remembrance of the ignorance and offences of the several offerers; for Moses, as we know, speaks of sacrifice “bringing sin to remembrance” (Num. 5:15). ",
                "[109] All such defilements entail great loss. We must clear the way and cut them off in obedience to the oracle, in which a command is given to clear away the uncleanness of the fruit-trees that have been planted."
            ],
            [
                "[110] But, while we, even under teachers, fail to make progress and become apt pupils, some, taking advantage of a nature which is its own teacher, have released the good in them from the hurtful growths which had fastened upon it. It was so with the trainer of self, whose name was Jacob, for he “peeled rods, stripping off the green bark, and causing them to shew white where they were peeled” (Gen. 30:37). His aim was to do away entirely with the variety and changeableness of hue, which is associated with the misty darkness and gloom of the undeveloped stages; and to bring into full view the whiteness, which is due to no artificial variegation, but is akin to Nature, to which it owes its birth. ",
                "[111] It is in accordance with this that in the law laid down regarding leprosy it is enjoined that the leper is clean whose body is no longer particoloured, shewing a variety of hues, but has turned white all over from head to foot (Lev. 13:12 f.). The aim of this ordinance is that, by way of leaving behind us bodily concerns, we may abandon the condition of mind which is changeful and vacillating, ready to put its hand to any project and to face both ways, and may take the plain hue of truth with its freedom from changefulness and indecision.",
                "[112] The statement that the trees undergo a cleansing is quite reasonable and accords with facts; the statement that the fruit does so is by no means made good by what we see before our eyes; for no gardener cleanses figs or grapes or any fruit at all."
            ],
            [
                "[113] And yet it says, “The fruit shall remain uncleansed for three years; it shall not be eaten,” as though it were the custom to cleanse it regularly as a matter of course. Let me say, then, that this again is one of the points to be interpreted allegorically, the literal interpretation being quite out of keeping with facts. The sentence can be taken in two ways. Read in one way, it means something of this kind, “Its fruit shall be for three years”; then, as an independent sentence, “it shall not be eaten uncleansed.” Read in another way, “Its fruit shall be uncleansed for three years,” and then the words “it shall not be eaten.” ",
                "[114] Led by the sense yielded by the former punctuation, we arrive at this result. We take the three years to represent time in its natural threefold division into past, present, and future. The fruit of instruction—so we understand the words—shall be, subsist, remain free from interference, through all the divisions of time. This is equivalent to saying that throughout eternity it is exempt from corruption; for the nature of good is incorruptible. “But uncleansed fruit shall not be eaten.” This is due to the fact that right teaching, having submitted to a cleansing which makes it wholesome, nourishes the soul and makes the mind grow; while teaching of a contrary sort is devoid of nourishment, and lets loose upon the soul corruption and disease. An illustration will help us to see the senses which the other arrangement of the words may convey. ",
                "[115] An argument is called “indemonstrable,” either when it has such inherent difficulties that it is hardly capable of demonstration, or when its force is recognized at once by its mere statement, when it relies for its certainty not on any proof drawn from elsewhere, but from its self-evident character; the kind of argument which Logic usually employs in formal syllogisms. Just so can the word “without cleansing” be used either of fruit that needs cleansing and has not received it, or of fruit that is perfectly bright and brilliant. ",
                "[116] Such is the fruit of education “through three years,” that is through past, present, and future, that is all eternity, wholly pure and bright, bedimmed by no hurtful thing, utterly exempt from need of washings or lustrations or anything else whatever whose purpose is to cleanse."
            ],
            [
                "[117] “And in the fourth year,” it says, “all its fruit shall be holy, for giving praise unto the lord” (Lev. 19:24). In many parts of the Lawgiving, but above all in the record of the creation of the universe, we see the prophetic word glorifying the number 4. For (Gen. 1:14) it ascribes to the fourth day the making of those things on which depends the soul’s chiefest good; ",
                "[118] the precious light of the senses, which gives us most sure knowledge of itself and all other objects; light’s parents, the sun and moon and that most holy choir of the stars; these by their risings and settings determined the bounds of months and years, and revealed number’s place in nature. ",
                "[119] And in the passage before us it has accorded highest honour to the number 4, by making the fruit of the trees an offering to God at no other time than in the fourth year from their planting. ",
                "[120] The number indeed involves deep principles both of physics and ethics. For the roots of the universe, out of which the world grows, are four—earth, water, air, fire. Of the same number are the seasons, Winter and Summer, and those that come between, Spring and Autumn. ",
                "[121] And, since it is the first of all numbers produced by squaring another number, it is in right angles that it presents itself to view, as is made evident by the geometrical figure. And right angles are clear pictures of rightness of reasoned thought, and right reason is an everflowing spring of virtue. ",
                "[122] Again, the sides of the square are necessarily equal: and equality is the mother of justice, empress and queen of the virtues. Thus the word of prophecy shews that this number is the symbol of equality, and righteousness, and every virtue in a way that the other numbers are not.",
                "[123] The number 4 is also called “all” or “totality” because it potentially embraces the numbers up to 10 and 10 itself. That it so embraces those which precede it is plain to everyone: and it is easy to see by further reckoning that it so embraces the numbers that come after it also."
            ],
            [
                "[124] Add together 1+2+3+4, and we shall find what we wanted. For out of 1+4 we shall get 5; out of 2+4 we shall get 6; 7 out of 3+4; and (by adding three instead of two numbers together) from 1+3+4 we get 8; and again from 2+3+4 we get the number 9; and from all taken together we get 10; for 1+2+3+4 produces 10. ",
                "[125] This is why Moses said “In the fourth year <i>all</i> the fruit shall be holy.” For the number 4 is, in relation to other numbers, even and complete and full and, in a loose sense, universal, owing to the fact that 10, the offspring of 4, is fixed as first turning-point of the numbers from 1 onwards in a series. And 10 and 4 are said to be “all” or “totality” among numbers; 10 being so in realized actuality, and 4 potentially."
            ],
            [
                "[126] Quite appropriately does Moses speak of the fruit of instruction as being not only “holy” but “for praise”; for each of the virtues is a holy matter, but thanksgiving is pre-eminently so. But it is not possible genuinely to express our gratitude to God by means of buildings and oblations and sacrifices, as is the custom of most people, for even the whole world were not a temple adequate to yield the honour due to Him. Nay, it must be expressed by means of hymns of praise, and these not such as the audible voice shall sing, but strains raised and re-echoed by the mind too pure for eye to discern. ",
                "[127] Indeed there is an old story on men’s lips, the invention of wise men, and handed down by memory to succeeding generations of posterity, which has not escaped my ears which are for ever greedy for teaching. It is to this effect. When, they say, the Creator had finished the whole world, He inquired of one of His subordinates whether he missed as having failed to be created aught of created things beneath the earth or beneath the water, aught found in air’s high realm or heaven’s, furthest of all realms that are. ",
                "[128] He, it is said, made answer that all were perfect and complete in all their parts, and that he was looking for one thing only, namely the word to sound their praises, which should make the surpassing excellence that marked even the most minute and inconspicuous among them the subject of announcement rather than of praise, seeing that the mere recounting of the works of God was in itself their all-sufficient praise, for they needed the embellishment of no extraneous additions, but possessed in the reality that could not lie their most perfect encomium. ",
                "[129] The story runs that the Author of the universe on hearing this commended what had been said, and that it was not long before there appeared the new birth, the family of the Muses and hymnody, sprung from the womb of one of His powers, even virgin Memory, whose name most people slightly change and call her “Mnemosyne.”"
            ],
            [
                "[130] So runs the myth of the men of old. We take the same line and say that the work most appropriate to God is conferring boons, that most fitting to creation giving thanks, seeing that it has no power to render in return anything beyond this; for, whatever else it may have thought of giving in requital, this it will find to be the property of the Maker of all things, and not of the being that brings it. ",
                "[131] Having learned, then, that, in all that has to do with shewing honour to God, one work only is incumbent upon us, namely thanksgiving, let us always and everywhere make this our study, using voice and skilful pen. Let us never tire of composing eulogies in prose and poetry, to the end that, whether with or without musical accompaniment whichever of its appointed functions the voice may exercise, be it eloquent speech or song, high honour may be given both to the world and to the Creator of the world; the former, as one has said, the most perfect of things produced, the latter the best of producers."
            ],
            [
                "[132] When, therefore, in the fourth year and in the number 4 all the soul’s fruit shall have been consecrated, in the fifth year and in the number 5 we ourselves shall get the enjoyment and use of it; for he says, “in the fifth year ye shall eat the fruit.” This accords with nature’s incontrovertible law, that the place of creation is in all things lower than that of the Creator. That is why Moses treats it as a marvel that we should be recipients even of secondary privileges.",
                "[133] Again, the reason why he ascribes to us the fruit of the fifth year and number is that 5 is the number proper to sense-perception, and that, if we are to face facts, we must own that it is sense-perception that supplies food to our mind. By means of the eyes, it serves up to it the varying qualities of colours and forms; through the ears, the peculiarities of sounds in all their diversity; scents by way of the nostrils; savours by the palate; smoothness and roughness, yielding softness and resistent hardness, nay coldness and heat as well, by means of the faculty distributed over all the body, which we are in the habit of calling “touch.”"
            ],
            [
                "[134] A very clear illustration of what has been said is found in the sons of Leah, who is Virtue; not indeed in all of them, but in the fourth and fifth. For, after recording the birth of the fourth, Moses says that “she ceased from bearing” (Gen. 30:35), and his name is “Judah,” which signifies “confession of praise to the Lord.” The fifth she calls “Issachar,” a name which interpreted means “reward.” And the soul, upon giving birth to this character, at once gave utterance to her experience; for it says, “She called his name Issachar, which is ‘reward’ ” (Gen. 30:18).",
                "[135] It follows that Judah, the mind that blesses God, and is ceaselessly engaged in conning hymns of thanksgiving to Him, was himself the fruit that is really “holy and for praise to God,” fruit borne not by earth’s trees but by those of a rational and virtuous nature. Accordingly the nature which gave birth to him is said to have “ceased from bearing,” because she had no longer any way to turn, having reached the utmost bound of perfectness; for of all successful accomplishments ever brought to the birth the best and most perfect is the hymn of praise to the Father of the universe.",
                "[136] The fifth son is identical with the using in the fifth year of the trees that had been planted; for, on the one hand, the husbandman does receive a sort of pay or reward from the trees in the fifth year, and, on the other, the offspring of the soul was called Issachar, “pay” or “reward.” He was very naturally so called, having been born next after Judah the thanksgiver; for the thanksgiver finds in thanksgiving itself an all-sufficient reward.",
                "[137] Now, whereas fruits borne by trees are called products of the persons who own them, the fruit of instruction and good sense is not like these spoken of as being a man’s, but as belonging, as Moses says, to no other than the Ruler of all. For after the words, “His products,” he adds, “I am the Lord your God,” affording most clear proof that He to whom the product and the fruit of the soul pertains is One, even God. ",
                "[138] In harmony with this is the oracle given in one of the prophets: “From Me is thy fruit found. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? understanding, and he shall know them?” (Hosea 14:9 f.). For not everybody, but only the wise man knows, Whose is the fruit of intelligence."
            ],
            [
                "[139] We have discoursed to the best of our ability concerning the earliest and most sacred husbandry, plied by the First Cause in dealing with the world, that most fertile of plants; and concerning the husbandry that comes next in order, carried on by the man of worth; and concerning the number 4 which carries off the prizes conferred upon it by the injunctions and directions found in laws.",
                "[140] Let us now turn our attention to the righteous Noah’s work on his vineyard, which is a special form of husbandry. The account runs: “Noah began to be a husbandman, a tiller of the soil: and he planted a vineyard and drank of the wine, and became drunk” (Gen. 9:20 f.). We see from these words that the righteous man tills the tree, that is the means of drunkenness, with skill and knowledge, while those who are devoid of good sense tend it in an unskilful and faulty way. ",
                "[141] This renders it necessary for us to make some pertinent remarks regarding drunkenness; for, as we treat of it, we shall ascertain also the powers and properties of the tree which furnishes it with the material which produces it. The Lawgiver’s words regarding drunkenness we shall acquaint ourselves with another time: let us at present engage in a thorough investigation of the sentiments of other persons."
            ],
            [
                "[142] Many philosophers have given no slight attention to the question; which is propounded in the form “Will the wise man get drunk?” Now, there are two ways of getting drunk; one is equivalent to drinking heavily, the other to being silly in your cups. ",
                "[143] Among those who have tackled the problem some have maintained that the wise man will neither take strong drink in excess nor become silly and maudlin; the latter being a sin, and the former productive of sin, and both alike alien to him whose standard of conduct is the highest. ",
                "[144] Others, while regarding a condition of silliness as foreign to a man of moral excellence, have pronounced heavy drinking to befit him, seeing that the good sense which resides in him is capable of holding its own against everything that attempts to injure him, and of baffling their efforts to change the constitution of his soul. They hold that good sense is an armour which has power to quench passions, whether fanned by the stinging blasts of inflaming love, or kindled by the heat of much wine; and that in virtue of his good sense he will come off victorious. They point out that, when people sink in a deep river or in the sea, those who cannot swim are drowned, while those who know how to swim escape at once; and that a quantity of strong drink is like a torrent washing over the soul; in one case, as it sinks, plunging it into the lowest depth of ignorance, in another case, as it is buoyed up and kept afloat by salutary instruction, altogether powerless to hurt it.",
                "[145] The others, failing, as I think, to recognize the completeness of the wise man’s superiority to every passion, have brought him down to earth from heaven whose skies he haunts, treating him as fowlers treat the birds they catch, and being bent on bringing him into as evil a plight, and not setting him on virtue’s lofty summit, have declared that after taking an immoderate quantity of wine he will certainly lose self-control and commit sin, and not only, like vanquished athletes, let his hands fall from sheer weakness, but let his neck and head drop and his knees give way, and, collapsing in every part, sink to the ground."
            ],
            [
                "[146] Having learned this beforehand he will never think fit voluntarily to engage in a drinking-contest, unless the matters at issue are of great moment, a fatherland’s deliverance, respect for parents, children’s safety or that of the persons of those very near and dear, or, in a word, a putting on a right footing of private and public concerns. ",
                "[147] No more would a wise man take a deadly poison, unless the crisis were such as absolutely to compel him to depart from life as though he were leaving his country. And strong drink <i>is</i> a poison bringing about not death indeed but madness. And yet why should we not call madness death, seeing that by it mind dies, the noblest part of us? Nay it appears to me that, were a choice offered, a man would be likely to choose without hesitation the death that separates and dissolves the union of soul and body, in preference to that of going out of one’s senses, feeling that he was choosing the lighter in place of the heavier. ",
                "[148] It was for this reason that the earliest inhabitants of the world called the inventor of the culture of the vine Maenoles and the Bacchants whom its frenzy seized Maenads, since wine is the cause of madness and loss of sound sense in those who imbibe it over freely."
            ],
            [
                "[149] Such then is what we may call the prelude to our inquiry. It is time for us to state in full the argument bearing upon it. That argument obviously admits of two contentions, one establishing the thesis that the wise man will get drunk, the other maintaining the contrary, that he will not get drunk. ",
                "[150] It will be convenient to take first the proofs by which the former thesis is supported. We will begin by remarking that some things are homonymous and others synonymous. Everyone will allow that homonymy and synonymy are opposites, homonymy meaning one name applied to many objects, synonymy many names applied to one object.",
                "[151] The word “dog” is certainly homonymous, several dissimilar objects being included under it, all of which it is used to signify. The barking animal on the land is a “dog”; so is the monster found in the sea; and the star in the heavens which the poets call the fruit star, because just when the summer fruit has reached its prime this star rises to bring it to perfection and to ripen it. The name “dog” is applied moreover to the man whose philosophy takes its colour from the Cynic school, Aristippus, Diogenes, and ever so many others who found it congenial to conform themselves to their principles.",
                "[152] There are other names which are different though one thing is meant by them, as “arrow,” “shaft,” “dart”; for the thing discharged at the mark from the string of the bow is called by all these names. Again, the instrument which does as well as sails for propelling a vessel is called an “oar,” “scull,” “rowing-sweep.” For when, owing to a calm or head wind, a vessel cannot make use of sails, the men, whose business it is, take their seats at the oars, and stretching out from each side wing-like blades, force the vessel to be borne along as though it were flying. The vessel, lifted high out of the water, not so much cutting the waves as coursing over them, makes a quick run, and is soon safely moored in harbour.",
                "[153] Once more “staff,” “walking-stick,” “rod” are different names by which we call one object, with which we can beat someone, on which we can firmly support ourselves, on which we can lean, and with which we can do several other things. I have given these examples, not just because my tongue runs on, but that we may get a clearer idea of the subject which we are investigating."
            ],
            [
                "[154] The ancients called strong drink “wine” and an “intoxicant” indifferently: as we see from the frequency with which this last word occurs in poetry. If, then, “wine” and “intoxicant” are used as synonyms of one object, their derivatives “to be filled with wine” and “to be intoxicated” will differ only in word; ",
                "[155] for either term denotes taking more wine than usual, a thing which several motives might induce a really excellent man to do. But if such an one will get filled with wine, he will get drunk, and be in no worse plight for being drunk, but in precisely the same state as he was brought to by being filled with wine.",
                "[156] One proof of the wise man’s getting drunk has been mentioned; there is a second to the following effect. Broadly speaking, the men of the present day, apart from a small fraction of them, do not resemble those of former times in their aims and enthusiasms, but both in language and in action exhibit tendencies wholly out of harmony with theirs. ",
                "[157] Language that was once healthy and robust they have turned into a jargon hopelessly depraved. For a style sound and full of vitality as an athlete’s frame they have substituted a sickly form of speech. A full and massive type, possessed, as someone has said, of a solidity due to its firmness of fibre, they debase into a bloated mis-growth of disease, to which they give a seeming loftiness and grandeur by empty puffing and blowing, which, in default of any confining power, bursts when distention has reached its limit. ",
                "[158] Actions, meriting praise and calling out enthusiasm, and, if the expression may be permitted, masculine, they have rendered effeminate, and in performing them made them base instead of noble. The result is that whether on the side of action or of speech, there are very few indeed who take delight in the objects that kindled the ardour of the men of old.",
                "[159] Consequently in their times poets and chroniclers flourished and all who engaged in literary work of other kinds, and they did not at once charm and enervate men’s ears by the rhythm of their language, but they revived any faculty of the mind that had broken down and lost its tone, and every true note of it they kept in tune with the instruments of nature and of virtue. But in our days it is chefs and confectioners that flourish, and experts in making dyes and concocting unguents. These are ever aiming at sacking the citadel of Mind, by bringing to bear upon the senses some novelty in shade of colour or shape of dress or perfume or savoury dish."
            ],
            [
                "[160] What has been my object in recalling these things? My object has been to make it clear that the modern way of taking strong drink is not the same as the ancient way. For nowadays men go on till body and soul are unstrung, drinking huge draughts without stopping, open-mouthed for more, and ordering the servants to replenish the cups they have just filled and shewing arrogance if they delay, because all such delay cools what they are pleased to call the “heat” of the carousal. They give an exhibition to their fellow-guests of that counterfeit parody of the athletic games, namely the tipsy contest. In this they practise on one another magnificent passes, gnawing off ears and noses and tops of fingers and any parts of the body that come handy.",
                "[161] These are, apparently, the contests indulged in by the gladness of these later times, which flourishes to-day and is just reaching its full growth; but far other were those of the more lofty gladness of old. For our forefathers inaugurated every noble business with sacrifices duly offered, deeming that an auspicious result would by this means be ensured. However urgently the crisis might call for immediate action, they never failed to tarry to pray and offer sacrifices beforehand, deeming that what is rapid is not always superior to what is slow; for rapidity without forethought is hurtful, while slowness prompted by the prospect of a happy issue is beneficial.",
                "[162] Knowing, then, that, like other things, the use and enjoyment of wine needs great care, they took strong drink neither in great quantity nor at all times, but in such order and season as was befitting. For after having first prayed and presented sacrifices and implored the favour of the Deity, when they had cleansed their bodies by ablutions and their souls by streams of holy ordinances and instructions in the right way, radiant and gladsome they turned to relaxation and enjoyment, in many cases not after returning home, but remaining in the temples in which they had sacrificed in order that both the recollection of their sacrifices and their reverence for the place might lead them to celebrate a festivity in actual truth most holy, sinning neither in word nor deed.",
                "[163] You must know that it was from this, so it is said, that “getting drunk” got its name, because it was the custom of the men of earlier times to indulge in wine “after sacrificing.” Now with whom, I ask, would the mode of using strong drink just described be more in keeping than with wise men, with whose character the act which precedes the drunkenness, namely the act of sacrificing, is also in perfect accord? ",
                "[164] For we may venture to say that there is not a single bad man who really performs a sacrificial act, even though he lead to the altar in unceasing procession ten thousand bullocks every day; for in his case the mind, the most essential victim, is a blemished thing, and no blemish may come into contact with an altar.",
                "[165] Such is a second argument put forward to shew that getting drunk is not a thing inconsistent with moral excellence."
            ],
            [
                "There is a third, possessing etymological plausibility in a very high degree. For some hold that drunkenness is so termed, not only because it follows the performance of sacrifice, but because it is also the cause of a letting go or release of soul. [166] It is to give vent to many sins that the reasoning faculty of fools is let go, but that of sensible men for the enjoyment of relaxation, cheerfulness, and good spirits; for the wise man becomes a more genial person after indulging in wine than when he is sober, and accordingly we should not be wrong in asserting on this ground as well as on those others that he will get drunk.",
                "[167] We must remark furthermore that the countenance of wisdom is not scowling and severe, contracted by deep thought and depression of spirit, but on the contrary cheerful and tranquil, full of joy and gladness, feelings which often prompt a man to be sportive and jocular in a perfectly refined way. Such sportiveness is in harmony with a dignified self-respect, a harmony like that of a lyre tuned to give forth a single melody by a blending of answering notes.",
                "[168] Moses, at all events, holiest of men, shews us that sport and merriment is the height of wisdom, not the sport which children of all sorts indulge in, paying no heed to good sense, but such as is seen in those who are now become grey-headed not only in respect of age but of thoughtfulness. Do you not observe that when he is speaking of the man who drew directly from the well of knowledge, listening to no other, learning through no other, resorting to no agency whatever, he does not say that he had a part in laughter, but that he was laughter itself? ",
                "[169] I am speaking of Isaac, whose name means “laughter,” and whom it well befits to sport with “patient waiting,” who is called in Hebrew “Rebecca.”"
            ],
            [
                "For the sacred sporting of the soul is a sight not permissible to an ordinary citizen, but it is open to a king, with whom wisdom was for a very long time a guest, if indeed she did not make him her permanent abode. The name of this king is Abimelech. He looked out at the window, the mind’s eye wide-opened and admitting light, and saw Isaac sporting with Rebecca his wife (Gen. 26:8). [170] What other occupation is seemly for a wise man rather than bright sportiveness and making merry in the company of one who waits patiently for all that is beautiful? Hence it is evident that he will get drunk also, seeing that drunkenness benefits the character, saving it from overstrain and undue intensity. ",
                "[171] For strong drink is likely to intensify natural tendencies, whether good or the reverse, just as many other things do. Money, it has been said, is the cause of good things to a good man, of evil things to a bad man. Fame again makes the fool’s badness more conspicuous, while it causes a brighter glory to rest upon the virtue of the righteous man. On this principle, therefore, a lavish use of strong drink places the man who has given the rein to his passions more completely at their mercy, while it makes him who has cherished right feelings more kindly and well disposed.",
                "[172] Again, all know that when one of two opposite predicates is applicable to two or more sets of people, it cannot but be that the other is applicable also. For instance, black and white are opposites. If white is predicable of bad and good, black too will of course be equally so of both, not only of one of the two sets. So too soberness and drunkenness are opposites, and both bad and good men, so our forefathers said, partake of soberness. It follows that drunkenness also is predicable of both sorts. Accordingly the man of moral worth will get drunk as well as other people without losing any of his virtue."
            ],
            [
                "[173] If, just as in a court of law, we are to make use, not only of the logical or dialectical proofs, but also of the modes of persuasion that are called “inartistic,” one of which is that which employs evidence, we shall call as witnesses many distinguished physicians and philosophers, who ratify their evidence by writings as well as by words. ",
                "[174] For they have left behind them innumerable treatises bearing the title “Concerning drunkenness,” in which they deal with nothing but the subject of drinking wine at all, without adding a word of inquiry regarding those who are in the habit of losing their heads; thus giving the go-by altogether to intoxication as an aspect of the subject. Thus we find in these men too the most explicit acknowledgement that drunkenness was suffering from the effects of wine. But there would be nothing amiss in a wise man quaffing wine freely on occasion: we shall not be wrong, then, in saying that he will get drunk.",
                "[175] But, since no one is registered as victor if he has no antagonist, and anyone engaged in such a contest would naturally be considered rather to be fighting a shadow, we must needs mention the arguments maintaining the contrary, in order that a perfectly fair decision may be reached, neither side being condemned by default.",
                "[176] Of such arguments the first and most weighty is this. If one would not act reasonably in entrusting a secret to a drunken man, and does entrust secrets to a good man, it follows that a good man does not get drunk. Well now, instead of the whole series of arguments one after another, it will be better, as each is advanced, to answer it, that we may not seem tedious through making too long a story of it.",
                "[177] A man may counter the arguments just mentioned by saying that according to it the wise man will never be melancholy, never fall asleep, in a word, never die. But he whom nothing of this sort befalls would be an inanimate thing or a Divine Being, certainly not a man. For reproducing the conduct of the argument, he will apply it in this way to the case of the melancholy or sleeping or dying man: No one would act reasonably in entrusting a secret to one in such case, but would act reasonably in doing so to a wise man: therefore a wise man never falls into melancholy, or goes to sleep, or dies."
            ]
        ],
        "Appendix": [
            "<big>APPENDIX TO <i>DE PLANTATIONE</i></big>",
            "§ 3. Mr. Whitaker had left “ride upon” for ὀχεῖσθαι, and this is the natural meaning of the word; but the sequel shows that the fire rides upon the air, and the earth contains the water in its hollows (§ 10). At the same time the translation here substituted, “be held by,” is not quite satisfactory. Probably ὀχεῖσθαι is corrupt. Some word indicating juxtaposition (ὅμορον κεῖσθαι?) seems to be needed.—F. H. C.",
            "§ 6. <i>Perfect parts. Cf.</i> <i>Quod Det.</i> 154 and note, in which the dependence of this thought on <i>Timaeus</i> 32 c was pointed out.",
            "§ 10. <i>Masterpiece of literature</i>. Or perhaps “literature.” It seems to the translators doubtful whether Mangey, whom Wendland followed, was justified in substituting φωνῆς. The phrase ἐγγ. φωνή, <i>cf.</i> <i>De Agr.</i> 136, means speech which is capable of being analysed into the sounds which are represented by the γράμματα, and ἐγγ. μουσική will mean the same, except that while φωνή contemplates the letters as used for speech in general, μουσική contemplates them as used for the higher purpose of literary expression. The thought is enriched by the word: the action of the Logos in creating out of discordant στοιχεῖα the harmony of the Cosmos is compared with the way in which the στοιχεῖα of sound combine to form the medium by which we express our highest thoughts.",
            "§ 29. The insertion of εἰς will no doubt make the construction easier, if we may assume that αἰσθήσεις can mean the organs of sense. But this seems doubtful (the passages in L. &amp; S. 1927 quoted for it seem rather to mean the senses themselves <i>as localized</i>). Without εἰς the passage can be translated “taking our body, like some deep-soiled plot, as tree-beds, he made the senses for it,” though it is true that we should have expected δεξαμενήν.—F. H. C.",
            "§ 33. <i>To say nothing of the fact,</i> etc. This sense can no doubt be obtained by excluding τῷ. But the combination in a single sentence of two such disparate thoughts, as (1) that the cause cannot be contained in the caused, (2) that the trees do not bear fruits, is odd. As there is admittedly some corruption, perhaps we may extend that corruption a little further and suppose that a fresh sentence and subject begins after περιέχεσθαι. It has been shown that God does not dwell in gardens; we now go on to show that He does not need the fruit. As a guess one might suggest φῶμεν δὲ for τῷ μηδὲ, <i>i.e</i>. “And are we to say forsooth that the trees (as they would if they were really trees) bear yearly fruit?” Who then will eat them?—F. H. C.",
            "§ 41. <i>That is to say … irrational creatures</i>. The MS. text and also the suggestions of Cohn and Mangey involve making the ἀσκήσεις καὶ χρήσεις the recipients of the privilege denied to the irrational creatures. But clearly the ἀσκήσεις καὶ χρήσεις represent the tilling of the garden and themselves constitute the privilege. The reading adopted brings out this meaning with no more departure from the manuscripts than the transplacement of ἐστιν and the omission of οὖν. Wendland’s proposal of αἱ γοῦν ἀρετῆς δεκτικαὶ φύσεις, for αἱ οὐν ἀσκήσεις τε καὶ χρήσεις, would give much the same sense, but with more drastic alteration, and the phrase ἀσκήσεις καὶ χρήσεις has every appearance of being genuine.",
            "§ 61. <i>For separation</i>. Or “for dismissal” as R.V. in margin. Mr. Whitaker had intended to correct his translation in <i>Leg. All</i>. ii. 52 from “averter of evil” to this, though that is the usual meaning of the word. Whatever the LXX actually meant, the interpretation which follows here (<i>cf</i>. also <i>De Post.</i> 72) seems to show that Philo took the word in this passive sense, and to this he would be guided by the parallel phrase in Lev. 16:10 ὥστε ἐξαποστεῖλαι αὐτὸν εἰς ἀποπομπήν.—F. H. C.",
            "§ 73 ff. The curious distortion of the story of Genesis which follows has this much excuse, that the accusative after φυτεύω would naturally mean the thing planted, whereas the LXX uses it for the soil, which again would naturally be expressed by the dative following ἐπί. The A.V. has “grove” in place of the LXX “field” or “hide”; the R.V, has “tamarisk tree.”",
            "§ 76. 10,000 <i>is the end</i>. Apparently because Greek has no name for higher numbers, except such as are compounded with μυρίοι or lower numbers.",
            "<i>Ibid. If we adhere to the line of progress</i>, etc. Literally “according to the first arrangement (or “series”).” The word “first” is obscure. Possibly it may mean the series 1, 2, 3, etc., other secondary series being 1, 3, 5, etc., and 2, 4, 6, etc. The former would not reach 10,000, and the latter does not start from 1.",
            "§ 93. <i>Though by special grace</i>, etc. An afterthought; no such reservation is made in 79–84.",
            "§ 94. <i>Natural duties</i>. Or, as it has been rendered in earlier passages, “simple” or “common” or “daily” duties.",
            "§ 95. <i>Its crop</i>. In 137, however, Philo seems to take αὐτοῦ as referring to the Lord, <i>i.e</i>. “what He has produced.” But it would be quite in his manner to regard it as having both meanings.",
            "§ 100. <i>Indifferent</i>. Or “belonging to the lower or preliminary stage,” as in 94. For the phrase <i>cf.</i> <i>De Sacr.</i> 43.",
            "§ 101. <i>Debtors or slaves. I e</i>. if anyone, slave or freeman, has entrusted a friend with some piece of property, he should retain it, if otherwise it will be seized by the master of the former, or the creditor of the latter. Heinemann would read χρεώστας ἢ δούλους, but it is improbable that slaves were entrusted in this way and surely impossible that debtors should be. For the remarks that follow <i>cf</i>. note on <i>Quod Deus</i> 101.",
            "§ 106. <i>A desire that good</i>, etc. A verbatim quotation of the Stoic definition of εὔνοια, see <i>S. V.F.</i> iii. 432.",
            "§ 110. Philo oddly perverts the story of Jacob and the rods. It looks as if he took the words which follow the text which he quotes καὶ ἐφαίνετο τὸ λευκὸν ποικίλον to mean “the spotted appeared white” instead of the opposite.",
            "§ 111. <i>By way of leaving behind us bodily concerns</i>. The case of κατά is strange, and the thought, though in itself quite Philonic, seems alien to the context. Perhaps read κατὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος μετάβασιν &lt;τοῦ ποικίλου&gt; τὸ ποικίλον, κτλ., <i>i.e</i>. “Just as the variegatedness leaves the body of the leper, so we,” etc.",
            "§ 118. <i>The soul’s chiefest good</i>, etc. This passage, like <i>De Op.</i> 53, is evidently dependent on the eulogy of light in <i>Timaeus</i> 47 A, see particularly, “Day and night … and months and years and the revolution of the years have created number … and from these we have derived philosophy, than which no greater good has come … to mortal men” (Archer-Hind’s translation).",
            "The correction ἀγαθόν for the senseless ἀπάτη has been universally accepted. But such a foolish corruption is strange. Is it possible that ἄκος ἀπάτης or some such phrase may have stood originally?",
            "§ 123. “<i>All</i>” <i>or</i> “<i>totality</i>.” A Pythagorean idea, <i>cf</i>. Aristot. <i>Met</i>. i. 5, 968 a, “ten is thought to be perfect and to embrace the whole nature of number”; see Zeller, <i>Pre-socratic Philosophy</i>, vol. ii. p. 428. What applies to 10 applies to 4 also, since 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10. Philo is also probably thinking of the words πᾶς ὁ καρπός in his text from Leviticus.",
            "§ 129. <i>The family of the Muses</i>, etc. Philo seems to be giving a spiritualized form of the legend in Hesiod, <i>Theog</i> 50 f., where Zeus lay for nine nights with Mnemosyne, who after a year bore the Nine Muses at a birth. πάμμουσον frequently means “very musical” but one can hardly help supposing that here there is an allusion to “all the Muses.”",
            "§ 137. <i>His products</i>. See note on “its crop,” § 95.",
            "§ 139. <i>And concerning the number</i> 4. The sense given in the translation can no doubt be obtained by merely omitting the καὶ before ἃ, and taking συνεκροτεῖτο in a rather unusual sense. But the phrasing is odd. The genitive τῶν ἄθλων cannot be governed by φερομένης, and must be taken as partitive, “those of the prizes which.” If we retain καὶ, we might perhaps translate “and about the things which were enjoined,” but the genitive τῶν ἄθλων then is unintelligible, as Wendland felt, who suggested for it &lt;τὰ πρεσβεῖα&gt; τῶν ἀριθμῶν.",
            "But there is another possibility. The treatise up to now has consisted of three parts; the husbandry of God (1–73), the husbandry of the wise man (74–92), and the husbandry of the ordinary (progressing) man (93–138). In this last the number four was merely incidental. It seems possible that φερομένης like ἑπομένης agrees with γεωργίας, and that the meaning is the “husbandry which wins the prize assigned to four.” No doubt some corruption must be assumed to get such a meaning, but the following might be tentatively suggested: τῆς φερομένης τετράδος τὸ ἆθλον, ἣ κατά, κτλ. The last words will then mean “the husbandry which was trained (or “worked”) according to the injunctions and directions of the law.” This would give quite a usual sense to συνεκροτεῖτο, The “working” or “training” has been described in 100 ff.—F. H. C.",
            "§ 142. <i>Cf</i>. Plutarch, <i>De Garrulitate</i> 4 (= 503) F. καὶ μήποτε τὸ ζητούμενον παρὰ τοὺς φιλοσόφους λύων ὁ ποιητὴς οἰνώσεως καὶ μέθης διαφορὰν εἴρηκεν, οἰνώσεως μὲν ἄνεσιν μέθης δὲ φλυαρίαν … οἱ δὲ φιλόσοφοι καὶ ὁριζόμενοι τὴν μέθην λέγουσιν εἶναι λήρησιν πάροινον· οὕτως οὐ ψέγεται τὸ πίνειν, εἰ προσείη τῷ πίνειν τὸ σιωπᾶν· ἀλλʼ ἡ μωρολογία μέθην ποιεῖ τὴν οἴνωσιν. (<i>Ibid</i>. 504 B.)",
            "“We may, indeed, believe that these lines of the poet give the solution of the question discussed in the philosophic schools as to the distinction between mellowness and intoxication: mellowness produces unbending, but drunkenness foolish twaddling.",
            "“In fact the philosophic definition of intoxication calls it ‘<i>silly talk in one’s cups</i>.’ The blame, therefore, is not for drinking, if one can drink and yet at the same time hold his tongue. It is the foolish talk that converts mellowness into drunkenness” (Tucker’s translation).",
            "§ 145. “<i>The others</i>.” <i>I.e</i>. those described in 143. Arnim would render “others,” making a third class w ho are distinguished from the first, in that they regard drunkenness as venial in the exceptional circumstances described in 146. But all that is stated there is that the wise man may be occasionally forced to relax his general rule of avoiding all occasions of heavy drinking, and this is not incompatible with the view stated in § 143.",
            "§ 163. “<i>After sacrificing</i>.” This derivation is ascribed to Aristotle by Athenaeus, <i>Epit</i>. ii. p. 40 c.",
            "§ 165. <i>Etymology</i>. Arguments like this and the preceding one were a recognized method of proof both in philosophy and rhetoric. <i>Cf</i>. Cicero, <i>Topica</i> 35 and <i>Academica</i> i. 32 (with Reid’s note). The first proof, though of a very similar kind, would perhaps have been classed rather as an argument “from definition.”",
            "§ 171. <i>Right feelings</i>. Arnim takes this Stoic term (εὐπάθειαι) as supporting his contention that the disputant is a Stoic. But apart from the fact that the word is a favourite with Philo, Arnim himself notes that much of the Stoic “jargon” had become common property.",
            "§ 172. Arnim connects this argument with the strict Stoic view (<i>a</i>) that every good thing has its opposite evil; (<i>b</i>) that all good things belong solely to the wise man, and all bad things to the fool: (<i>c</i>) that what is neither good nor bad (ἀδιάφορον) is shared by both, and therefore its opposite must be shared by both. From this he argues that the ascription of this statement to οἱ πρότεροι shows that the disputant is a Stoic, since a member of an opposite school would not use such a form of words (“our predecessors”). If, however, it is assumed that the writer is a free lance, the argument seems doubtful. Moreover, the phrase ὡς ὁ τῶν προτέρων λόγος only applies to the statement that good and bad share soberness, and Arnim adduces no proof that this is Stoic.",
            "§ 173. <i>Inartistic. Cf</i>. Aristot. <i>Rhetoric</i> i. 15. So called because “they are not due to the artist’s inventive skill, but are supplied to him from the outside, as it were, of his art” (Cope). The other four are laws, documents, questions by torture, oaths.",
            "§§ 176 ff. This argument is stated by Seneca in <i>Ep</i>. 83 as having been put forward by Zeno, and Seneca refutes it in exactly the same way as it is refuted here. He proceeds to deal in the same way with another defence of Zeno’s argument, propounded by Posidonius, and then lays it down that the true way of proving the folly of drunkenness is to show its evil consequences—the loss of mental and bodily control, and the grave mischief which history shows that it has so often caused. If the suggestion made in Note (p. 211) to the Introduction is right, viz. that another speech followed, putting the case from the point of view of one who held that “the wise man will not get drunk,” it may very possibly have followed these lines."
        ]
    },
    "versions": [
        [
            "Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1930",
            "https://www.nli.org.il/en/books/NNL_ALEPH001216057/NLI"
        ]
    ],
    "heTitle": "על הנטיעה",
    "categories": [
        "Second Temple",
        "Philo"
    ],
    "schema": {
        "heTitle": "על הנטיעה",
        "enTitle": "Concerning Noah's Work as a Planter",
        "key": "Concerning Noah's Work as a Planter",
        "nodes": [
            {
                "heTitle": "הקדמה",
                "enTitle": "Introduction"
            },
            {
                "heTitle": "",
                "enTitle": ""
            },
            {
                "heTitle": "נספח והערות",
                "enTitle": "Appendix"
            }
        ]
    }
}