diff --git "a/json/Second Temple/Philo/On the Special Laws/English/merged.json" "b/json/Second Temple/Philo/On the Special Laws/English/merged.json" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/json/Second Temple/Philo/On the Special Laws/English/merged.json" @@ -0,0 +1,1806 @@ +{ + "title": "On the Special Laws", + "language": "en", + "versionTitle": "merged", + "versionSource": "https://www.sefaria.org/On_the_Special_Laws", + "text": { + "Book I": { + "Introduction": [ + "THE SPECIAL LAWS (DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS)
INTRODUCTION TO DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS, I", + "This treatise opens with a discussion of circumcision and its hygienic value (1–7), followed by its allegorical interpretation as signifying the excision of voluptuousness and conceit (8–11). The treatment of the First Commandment which follows (12–20) is much on the lines of that in De Dec., as also is that of the Second (21–31) with the addition that it interprets “idols” symbolically also, as representing the vain things, such as wealth, which humanity worships.", + "In 32–35 the proof of God’s existence, and in 36–50 the value of meditation on the Divine nature, inscrutable though it is, are set forth. While proselytes are to be welcomed, apostates must be put to death without mercy, as in the story of Phinehas (51–57). The prohibition of divination and like practices, for which the prophetic gift is the divinely-assigned substitute, concludes what he has to say about the laws which inculcate a proper conception of God (58–65). The rest of the treatise down to 298 is concerned with regulations of worship.", + "These begin with the Temple itself; the reasons that there is but one (66–70), a general description of it (71–75), its revenues (76–78); then the priests and Levites, the bodily qualifications required of them (79–81), their dress (82–83), and that of the high priest with the spiritual lessons symbolized by it (84–97), their abstinence from intoxicants while officiating (98–100), rules about their marriage, including some special rules applying only to the high priest (101–111), restrictions as to contact with dead bodies (112–116), and use of the sacrificial meats (117–130).", + "The revenues of the priests consist partly of tithes, including the ransom of the first-born (131–144), and the portions of the sacrifices allotted to them (145–155), similarly the revenues of the Levites or temple-attendants include the tithes as well as their forty-eight cities (156–161).", + "The animals allowed for sacrifices are doves, pigeons, sheep, goats, and oxen, all of which must be flawless (162–167). The various offerings follow as prescribed, daily or on the Sabbath (168–176), on the new moons (177–179), on the other feasts (180–189). There is also required on each occasion a he-goat as a sin-offering (190–193). These sacrifices may be classified as (a) whole-burnt-offerings, (b) “preservation” (or “peace”) offerings, (c) sin-offerings (194–197). The first class, whose motive is the honouring of God, is described in detail with full explanation of its symbolism (198–211). So, too, the second, which is a prayer for human betterment, with some reflections on the significance of the parts of the victim (212–223), and on a subdivision of them called “praise-offering” (224–225). The third, the sin-offering, which asks for pardon of the past, varies with the class of person offering it and whether the sin is voluntary or involuntary (226–246). Finally, we have an account of the special case of the Nazirite or “great” vow in which the offering of the Self partakes of the nature of all the three described above (247–254). In all these the offering has been given by laymen, but the priests also must make their oblation of fine flour (255–256).", + "What is required of the worshipper himself? Purity of soul (257–260), also of the body, but the method used of sprinkling with hyssop dipped in water poured on the ashes of a heifer is really a symbol of soul-purification (261–272). The same is shown by the superiority assigned to the altar of incense as against that on which animals are immolated (273–279), and by the prohibition of bringing the harlot’s hire into the temple (280–284), and the high qualities required in the altar of the worshipper’s soul are shown by the fire maintained on the altar (285–288), and the order that salt should always and honey and leaven never be used in the oblation (289–295). The next point, that the lamp on the sacred candlestick is to be kept alight all night as a thank-offering for the blessings of sleep seems somewhat irrelevant (296–298).", + "The spiritual lessons given above are all conveyed in the form of symbolical ritual. We pass on to the exhortations to virtue given in Deuteronomy (299–318). This leads him on to ibid. 23:18, which he understands to be directed against “mysteries” as opposed to open preaching of righteousness (319–323), and then to ibid. 1–3, where various classes are excluded from the congregation (324–326).", + "A long allegory concludes the treatise. The five classes which he finds there symbolized are (a) the deniers of the Platonic Forms or Ideas (327–329), (b) atheists (330), (c) polytheists (331–332), (d) those who honour the human mind (333–336), or (e) human senses (337–343), rather than God, to whom the true disciple of Moses looks (344–345).", + "For Cohn’s Numeration of Chapters see Gen. Int. p. xvii." + ], + "": [ + [ + "THE SPECIAL LAWS BOOK I
On The Special Laws Which Fall Under The Two Heads Of The Ten Commandments, One Of Which Is Directed Against The Acknowledgement Of Other Sovereign Gods Save The One, And The Other Against Giving Honours To The Works Of Men’s Hands
[1] The Ten Words, as they are called, the main heads under which are summarized the Special Laws, have been explained in detail in the preceding treatise. We have now, as the sequence of our dissertation  requires, to examine the particular ordinances. I will begin with that which is an object of ridicule among many people.", + "[2] Now the practice which is thus ridiculed, namely the circumcision of the genital organs, is very zealously observed by many other nations, particularly by the Egyptians, a race regarded as pre-eminent for its populousness, its antiquity and its attachment to philosophy. ", + "[3] And therefore it would be well for the detractors to desist from childish mockery and to inquire in a wiser and more serious spirit into the causes to which the persistence of this custom is due, instead of dismissing the matter prematurely and impugning the good sense of great nations. Such persons might naturally reflect that all these thousands in every generation undergo the operation and suffer severe pains in mutilating the bodies of themselves and their nearest and dearest, and that there are many circumstances which urge the retention and performance of a custom introduced by the men of old. The principal reasons are four in number.", + "[4] One is that it secures exemption from the severe and almost incurable malady of the prepuce called anthrax or carbuncle, so named, I believe, from the slow fire  which it sets up and to which those who retain the foreskin are more susceptible.", + "[5] Secondly, it promotes the cleanliness of the whole body as befits the consecrated order, and therefore the Egyptians carry the practice to a further extreme and have the bodies of their priests shaved. For some substances which need to be cleared away collect and secrete themselves both in the hair and the foreskin.", + "[6] Thirdly, it assimilates  the circumcised member to the heart. For as both are framed to serve for generation, thought being generated by the spirit force in the heart,  living creatures by the reproductive organ, the earliest men  held that the unseen and superior element to which the concepts of the mind owe their existence should have assimilated to it the visible and apparent, the natural parent of the things perceived by sense.", + "[7] The fourth and most vital reason is its adaptation to give fertility of offspring, for we are told that it causes the semen to travel aright without being scattered or dropped into the folds of the foreskin, and therefore the circumcised nations appear to be the most prolific and populous." + ], + [ + "[8] These are the explanations handed down to us from the old-time studies of divinely gifted men who made deep research into the writings of Moses. To these I would add that I consider circumcision to be a symbol of two things most necessary to our well-being.", + "[9] One is the excision of pleasures which bewitch the mind. For since among the love-lures of pleasure the palm is held by the mating of man and woman, the legislators thought good to dock the organ which ministers to such intercourse, thus making circumcision the figure of the excision of excessive  and superfluous pleasure, not only of one pleasure but of all the other pleasures signified by one, and that the most imperious.", + "[10] The other reason is that a man should know himself and banish from the soul the grievous malady of conceit. For there are some who have prided themselves on their power of fashioning as with a sculptor’s cunning the fairest of creatures, man, and in their braggart pride assumed godship, closing their eyes to the Cause of all that comes into being, though they might find in their familiars a corrective for their delusion.", + "[11] For in their midst are many men incapable of begetting and many women barren, whose matings are ineffective and who grow old childless. The evil belief, therefore, needs to be excised from the mind with any others that are not loyal to God.", + "So much for these matters.", + "[12] We must now turn to the particular laws, taking those first with which it is well to begin, namely those the subject of which is the sole sovereignty of God." + ], + [ + "[13] Some have supposed that the sun and moon and the other stars were gods with absolute powers and ascribed to them the causation of all events. But Moses held that the universe was created and is in a sense the greatest of commonwealths, having magistrates and subjects; for magistrates, all the heavenly bodies, fixed or wandering; for subjects, such beings as exist below the moon, in the air or on the earth.", + "[14] The said magistrates, however, in his view have not unconditional powers, but are lieutenants of the one Father of All, and it is by copying the example of His government exercised according to law and justice over all created beings that they acquit themselves aright; but those who do not descry the Charioteer mounted above attribute the causation of all the events in the universe to the team that draw the chariot as though they were sole agents.", + "[15] From this ignorance our most holy lawgiver would convert them to knowledge with these words: “Do not when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars and all the ordered host of heaven go astray and worship them.”  Well indeed and aptly does he call the acceptance of the heavenly bodies as gods a going astray or wandering.", + "[16] For those who see the sun with its advances and retreats producing the yearly seasons in which the animals and plants and fruits are brought at fixed periods of time from their birth to maturity, and the moon as handmaid and successor to the sun taking over at night the care and supervision of all that he had charge of by day, and the other stars in accordance with their sympathetic affinity to things on earth acting and working in a thousand ways for the preservation of the All, have wandered infinitely far in supposing that they alone are gods.", + "[17] But if they had been at pains to walk in that road where there is no straying, they would at once have perceived that just as sense is the servitor of mind, so too all the beings perceived by sense are the ministers of Him who is perceived by the mind. It is enough for them if they gain the second place.", + "[18] For it is quite ridiculous to deny that if the mind in us, so exceedingly small and invisible, is yet the ruler of the organs of sense, the mind of the universe, so transcendently great and perfect, must be the King of kings who are seen by Him though He is not seen by them.", + "[19] So all the gods which sense descries in Heaven must not be supposed to possess absolute power but to have received the rank of subordinate rulers, naturally liable to correction, though in virtue of their excellence never destined to undergo it.", + "[20] Therefore carrying our thoughts beyond all the realm of visible existence let us proceed to give honour to the Immaterial, the Invisible, the Apprehended by the understanding alone, who is not only God of gods, whether perceived by sense or by mind, but also the Maker of all. And if anyone renders the worship due to the Eternal, the Creator, to a created being and one later in time, he must stand recorded as infatuated and guilty of impiety in the highest degree." + ], + [ + "[21] There are some who put gold and silver in the hands of sculptors as though they were competent to fashion gods; and the sculptors taking the crude material and furthermore using mortal form for their model, to crown the absurdity shape gods, as they are supposed to be. And after erecting and establishing temples they have built altars and in their honour hold sacrifices and processions with other religious rites and ceremonies conducted with the most elaborate care, and the vain shew is treated by priests and priestesses with the utmost possible solemnity.", + "[22] Such idolaters are warned by the Ruler of All in these words: “Ye shall not make with Me gods of silver and gold,” and the lesson conveyed is little less than a direct command,  “Neither shall ye make gods the work of your hands from any other material if you are prevented from using the best,” for silver and gold hold first place among the sculptor’s materials.", + "[23] But apart from the literal prohibition, He seems to me to suggest another thought of great value for the promotion of morality,  and to condemn strongly the money-lovers who procure gold and silver coins from every side and treasure their hoard like a divine image in a sanctuary, believing it to be a source of blessing and happiness of every kind.", + "[24] And further, all the needy who are possessed by that grievous malady, the desire for money, though they have no wealth of their own on which they may bestow worship as its due, pay awe-struck homage to that of their neighbours, and come at early dawn to the houses of those who have abundance of it as though they were the grandest temples, there to make their prayers and beg for blessing from the masters as though they were gods.", + "[25] To such he says elsewhere “Ye shall not follow idols and ye shall not make molten gods,”  thus teaching them in a figure that it is not fitting to assign divine honours to wealth. For it is the nature of the far-famed materials of wealth, gold and silver, to melt,  and they are followed by the multitude who think that what “blind”  wealth has to give is the sole or the chief source of happiness.", + "[26] It is these that he calls “idols,” like to shadows and phantoms, with nothing firm or strong to which they can cling. They are borne along like a restless wind, subject to every kind of change and alteration. And of this we have a clear proof. Sometimes they suddenly light on one who has never owned them ere now: then again, when he thinks that they are firmly grasped, they spring away. And indeed when they are present, the apparition is like idols or images seen through mirrors, deceiving and bewitching the sense and seeming to subsist when they have no abiding substance.", + "[27] And why need we prove that human riches or human vanity, which empty-headed thinking paints in such bright colours, are unstable? For we know that some  assert that all other living creatures and plants which are born and perish are in a constant and ceaseless state of flux, though our perception of the effluence is indistinct, because the swiftness of its course always defeats the efforts of the eyesight to observe it with exactness." + ], + [ + "[28] But not only wealth and glory and the like are idols and unsubstantial shadows, but also all those personages, which the myth-makers have invented and spread delusion therewith, building up their false imaginations into a stronghold to menace the truth, and staging as by machinery  new gods, in order that the eternal and really existing God might be consigned to oblivion. And to promote the seductiveness they have fitted the falsehood into melody, metre and rhythm,  thinking to cajole their audience thereby.", + "[29] Further, too, they have brought in sculpture and painting to co-operate in the deception, in order that with the colours and shapes and artistic qualities wrought by their fine workmanship they may enthrall the spectators and so beguile the two leading senses, sight and hearing—sight through lifeless shapes of beauty, hearing through the charm of poetry and music—and thus make the soul unsteady and unsettled and seize it for their prey.", + "[30] Therefore knowing that vanity had attained high power and was championed by the greater part of the human race, not under compulsion but of their own free will, and fearing lest the devotees of piety, true and incorruptible, might be swept away as by a torrent, he stamped upon their minds as with a seal deep imprints of holiness, so that no fusion or smoothing in the course of years should ever blur their distinctness. This lesson he continually repeats, sometimes saying that God is one and the Framer and Maker of all things, sometimes that He is Lord of created beings, because stability and fixity and lordship are by nature vested in Him alone.", + "[31] We are told, too, that “those who cling to the God that IS all live.”  Is not this the thrice-happy and thrice-blessed life, to cling lovingly to the service of the most ancient Cause of all and to reject the thought of serving the menials and the door-keepers rather than the King? This true life stands inscribed on the tables of nature as deathless and agelong, and the writing that records it must endure with the universe to all eternity." + ], + [ + "[32] Doubtless hard to unriddle and hard to apprehend is the Father and Ruler of all, but that is no reason why we should shrink from searching for Him. But in such searching two principal questions arise which demand the consideration of the genuine philosopher. One is whether the Deity exists, a question necessitated by those who practise atheism, the worst form of wickedness, the other is what the Deity is in essence. Now to answer the first question does not need much labour, but the second is not only difficult but perhaps impossible to solve. Still, both must be examined.", + "[33] We see then that any piece of work always involves the knowledge of a workman. Who can look upon statutes or painting without thinking at once of a sculptor or painter? Who can see clothes or ships or houses without getting the idea of a weaver and a shipwright and a house-builder? And when one enters a well-ordered city in which the arrangements for civil life are very admirably managed, what else will he suppose but that this city is directed by good rulers?", + "[34] So then he who comes to the truly Great City, this world, and beholds hills and plains teeming with animals and plants, the rivers, spring-fed or winter torrents, streaming along, the seas with their expanses, the air with its happily tempered phases, the yearly seasons passing into each other,  and then the sun and moon ruling the day and night, and the other heavenly bodies fixed or planetary and the whole firmament revolving in rhythmic order, must he not naturally or rather necessarily gain the conception of the Maker and Father and Ruler also?", + "[35] For none of the works of human art is self-made, and the highest art and knowledge is shewn in this universe, so that surely it has been wrought by one of excellent knowledge and absolute perfection. In this way we have gained the conception of the existence of God." + ], + [ + "[36] As for the divine essence, though in fact it is hard to track and hard to apprehend, it still calls for all the inquiry possible. For nothing is better than to search for the true God, even if the discovery of Him eludes human capacity, since the very wish to learn, if earnestly entertained, produces untold joys and pleasures.", + "[37] We have the testimony of those who have not taken a mere sip of philosophy but have feasted more abundantly on its reasonings and conclusions. For with them the reason soars away from earth into the heights, travels through the upper air and accompanies the revolutions of the sun and moon and the whole heaven and in its desire to see all that is there finds its powers of sight blurred, for so pure and vast is the radiance that pours therefrom that the soul’s eye is dizzied by the flashing of the rays.", + "[38] Yet it does not therefore faintheartedly give up the task, but with purpose unsubdued presses onwards to such contemplation as is possible, like the athlete who strives for the second prize since he has been disappointed of the first. Now second to the true vision stands conjecture and theorizing and all that can be brought into the category of reasonable probability.", + "[39] So then just as, though we do not know and cannot with certainty determine what each of the stars is in the purity of its essence, we eagerly persist in the search because our natural love of learning makes us delight in what seems probable,", + "[40] so too, though the clear vision of God as He really is is denied us, we ought not to relinquish the quest. For the very seeking, even without finding, is felicity in itself, just as no one blames the eyes of the body because when unable to see the sun itself they see the emanation of its rays as it reaches the earth, which is but the extremity of the brightness which the beams of the sun give forth." + ], + [ + "[41] It was this which Moses the sacred guide, most dearly beloved of God, had before his eyes when he besought God with the words, “Reveal Thyself to me.”  In these words we may almost hear plainly the inspired cry “This universe has been my teacher, to bring me to the knowledge that Thou art and dost subsist. As Thy son, it has told me of its Father, as Thy work of its contriver. But what Thou art in Thy essence I desire to understand, yet find in no part of the All any to guide me to this knowledge.", + "[42] Therefore I pray and beseech Thee to accept the supplication of a suppliant, a lover of God, one whose mind is set to serve Thee alone; for as knowledge of the light does not come by any other source but what itself supplies, so too Thou alone canst tell me of Thyself. Wherefore I crave pardon if, for lack of a teacher, I venture to appeal to Thee in my desire to learn of Thee.” He replies,", + "[43] “Thy zeal I approve as praiseworthy, but the request cannot fitly be granted to any that are brought into being by creation. I freely bestow what is in accordance with the recipient; for not all that I can give with ease is within man’s power to take, and therefore to him that is worthy of My grace I extend all the boons which he is capable of receiving.", + "[44] But the apprehension of Me is something more than human nature, yea even the whole heaven and universe will be able to contain. Know thyself, then, and do not be led away by impulses and desires beyond thy capacity, nor let yearning for the unattainable uplift and carry thee off thy feet, for of the obtainable nothing shall be denied thee.”", + "[45] When Moses heard this, he addressed to Him a second petition and said, “I bow before Thy admonitions, that I never could have received the vision of Thee clearly manifested, but I beseech Thee that I may at least see the glory that surrounds Thee, and by Thy glory I understand the powers that keep guard around Thee, of whom I would fain gain apprehension, for though hitherto that has escaped me, the thought of it creates in me a mighty longing to have knowledge of them.”", + "[46] To this He answers, “The powers which thou seekest to know are discerned not by sight but by mind even as I, Whose they are, am discerned by mind and not by sight, and when I say ‘they are discerned by mind’ I speak not of those  which are now actually apprehended by mind but mean that if these other powers could be apprehended it would not be by sense but by mind at its purest.", + "[47] But while in their essence they are beyond your apprehension, they nevertheless present to your sight a sort of impress and copy of their active working. You men have for your use seals which when brought into contact with wax or similar material stamp on them any number of impressions while they themselves are not docked in any part thereby but remain as they were. Such you must conceive My powers to be, supplying quality and shape to things which lack either and yet changing or lessening nothing of their eternal nature.", + "[48] Some among you call them not inaptly ‘forms’ or ‘ideas,’  since they bring form into everything that is, giving order to the disordered, limit to the unlimited, bounds to the unbounded, shape to the shapeless, and in general changing the worse to something better. Do not,", + "[49] then, hope to be ever able to apprehend Me or any of My powers in Our essence. But I readily and with right goodwill will admit you to a share of what is attainable. That means that I bid you come and contemplate the universe and its contents, a spectacle apprehended not by the eye of the body but by the unsleeping eyes of the mind. ", + "[50] Only let there be the constant and profound longing for wisdom which fills its scholars and disciples with verities glorious in their exceeding loveliness.” When Moses heard this, he did not cease from his desire but kept the yearning for the invisible aflame in his heart." + ], + [ + "[51] All of like sort to him, all who spurn idle fables and embrace truth in its purity, whether they have been such from the first or through conversion to the better side have reached that higher state, obtain His  approval, the former because they were not false to the nobility of their birth, the latter because their judgement led them to make the passage to piety. These last he calls “proselytes,” or newly-joined, because they have joined the new and godly commonwealth. ", + "[52] Thus, while giving equal rank to all in-comers with all the privileges which he gives to the native-born, he exhorts the old nobility to honour them not only with marks of respect but with special friendship and with more than ordinary goodwill.  And surely there is good reason for this; they have left, he says, their country, their kinsfolk and their friends for the sake of virtue and religion. Let them not be denied another citizenship or other ties of family and friendship, and let them find places of shelter standing ready for refugees to the camp of piety. For the most effectual love-charm, the chain which binds indissolubly the goodwill which makes us one is to honour the one God.", + "[53] Yet he counsels them that they must not, presuming on the equal privilege and equal rank which He grants them because they have denounced the vain imaginings of their fathers and ancestors, deal in idle talk or revile with an unbridled tongue the gods whom others acknowledge,  lest they on their part be moved to utter profane words against Him Who truly IS. For they know not the difference, and since the falsehood has been taught to them as truth from childhood and has grown up with them, they will go astray.", + "[54] But if any members of the nation betray the honour due to the One they should suffer the utmost penalties. They have abandoned their most vital duty, their service in the ranks of piety and religion, have chosen darkness in preference to the brightest light and blindfolded the mind which had the power of keen vision.", + "[55] And it is well that all who have a zeal for virtue should be permitted to exact the penalties offhand and with no delay, without bringing the offender before jury or council or any kind of magistrate at all, and give full scope to the feelings which possess them, that hatred of evil and love of God which urges them to inflict punishment without mercy on the impious. They should think that the occasion has made them councillors, jurymen, high sheriffs,  members of assembly, accusers, witnesses, laws, people, everything in fact, so that without fear or hindrance they may champion religion in full security." + ], + [ + "[56] There is recorded in the Laws the example of one who acted with this admirable courage.  He had seen some persons consorting with foreign women and through the attraction of their love-charms spurning their ancestral customs and seeking admission to the rites of a fabulous religion. One in particular he saw, the chief ringleader of the backsliding, who had the audacity to exhibit his unholy conduct in public and was openly offering sacrifices, a travesty of the name, to images of wood and stone in the presence of the whole people. So, seized with inspired fury, keeping back the throng of spectators on either side, he slew without a qualm him and her, the man because he listened to lessons which it were a gain to unlearn, the woman because she had been the instructor in wickedness.", + "[57] This deed suddenly wrought in the heat of excitement acted as a warning to multitudes who were preparing to make the same apostasy. So then God, praising his high achievement, the result of zeal self-prompted and whole-hearted, crowned him with a twofold award, the gifts of peace and priesthood, the first because He judged the champion who had battled for the honour of God worthy to claim a life free from war, the second because the guerdon most suitable to a man of piety is the priestly office which professes the service of the Father, bondage to Whom is better not only than freedom but also than kingship.", + "[58] But some labour under a madness carried to such an extravagant extent that they do not leave themselves any means of escape to repentance, but press to enter into bondage to the works of men and acknowledge it by indentures not written on pieces of parchment, but, as is the custom of slaves, branded on their bodies with red-hot iron. And there they remain indelibly, for no lapse of time can make them fade." + ], + [ + "[59] The like principle  is clearly maintained in the case of everything else by the most holy Moses, who loves and teaches the truth which he desires to engrave and stamp on all his disciples, dislodging and banishing false opinions to a distance from their understanding.", + "[60] Thus, knowing that the erring life of the multitude is greatly helped on its way into the wilds by the art of divination, he forbids them to use any of its forms and expels from his own commonwealth all its fawning followers, haruspices, purificators, augurs, interpreters of prodigies, incantators,  and those who put their faith in sounds and voices.", + "[61] For all these are but guessing at what is plausible and probable, and the same phenomena present to them ideas which differ at different times because the things on which they are based have no natural stability nor has the understanding acquired any accurate touchstone by which the genuine can be tested and approved.", + "[62] All these pave the way for impiety. Why so? Because he who pays attention and puts confidence in them is spurning the Cause of all in his belief that they are the sole causes of good and evil and fails to perceive that the anchors on which he moors his life and its cares are utterly insecure, such as birds and wings and their flight hither and thither through the air, and grovelling reptiles which crawl out of their holes to seek their food; and again entrails and blood and corpses which deprived of life at once collapse and decompose and in this process exchange their natural properties for others of worse condition.", + "[63] Moses demands that one who is registered in the commonwealth of the laws should be perfect not in the lore, in which the many are schooled, of divination and voices and plausible conjectures, but in his duties towards God in which there is nothing doubtful or ambiguous but undoubted, naked truth.", + "[64] But since a longing to know the future is ingrained in all men, which longing makes them turn to haruspication and the other forms of divination in the prospect of finding certainty thereby, though actually they are brimful of uncertainty and constantly convict themselves of falsehood—while he very earnestly forbids them to follow such, yet he tells them that if they do not swerve from piety they will not be denied the full knowledge of the future.", + "[65] A prophet possessed by God will suddenly appear and give prophetic oracles.  Nothing of what he says will be his own, for he that is truly under the control of divine inspiration has no power of apprehension when he speaks but serves as the channel for the insistent  words of Another’s prompting. For prophets are the interpreters of God, Who makes full use of their organs of speech to set forth what He wills. These and the like are his injunctions as to the conception of the one truly existing God. Having opened with them, he next proceeds to indicate how the honours due to Him should be paid." + ], + [ + "[66] The highest, and in the truest sense the holy, temple of God is, as we must believe, the whole universe, having for its sanctuary the most sacred part of all existence, even heaven, for its votive ornaments the stars, for its priests the angels who are servitors to His powers, unbodied souls, not compounds of rational and irrational nature, as ours are, but with the irrational eliminated, all mind through and through, pure intelligences, in the likeness of the monad. ", + "[67] There is also the temple made by hands; for it was right that no check should be given to the forwardness of those who pay their tribute to piety and desire by means of sacrifices either to give thanks for the blessings that befall them or to ask for pardon and forgiveness for their sins. But he provided that there should not be temples built either in many places or many in the same place, for he judged that since God is one, there should be also only one temple.  Further,", + "[68] he does not consent to those who wish to perform the rites in their houses, but bids them rise up from the ends of the earth and come to this temple. In this way he also applies the severest test to their dispositions. For one who is not going to sacrifice in a religious spirit would never bring himself to leave his country and friends and kinsfolk and sojourn in a strange land, but clearly it must be the stronger attraction of piety which leads him to endure separation from his most familiar and dearest friends who form as it were a single whole with himself.", + "[69] And we have the surest proof of this in what actually happens. Countless multitudes from countless cities come, some over land, others over sea, from east and west and north and south at every feast. They take the temple for their port as a general haven and safe refuge from the bustle and great turmoil of life, and there they seek to find calm weather, and, released from the cares whose yoke has been heavy upon them from their earliest years, to enjoy a brief breathing-space in scenes of genial cheerfulness.", + "[70] Thus filled with comfortable hopes they devote the leisure, as is their bounden duty,  to holiness and the honouring of God. Friendships are formed between those who hitherto knew not each other, and the sacrifices and libations are the occasion of reciprocity of feeling and constitute the surest pledge that all are of one mind." + ], + [ + "[71] This temple is enclosed by an outermost wall of very great length and breadth, which gains additional solidity by four porticos so adorned as to present a very costly appearance. Each of them is twofold,  and the stone and timber used as its materials and supplied in abundance, combined with the skill of experienced craftsmen and the care bestowed on it by the master-builders, have produced a very perfect piece of work. The inner walls are smaller and in a severer style of architecture.", + "[72] Right in the very middle stands the sanctuary itself with a beauty baffling description, to judge from what is exposed to view. For all inside is unseen except by the high priest alone, and indeed he, though charged with the duty of entering once a year, gets no view of anything.  For he takes with him a brazier full of lighted coals and incense,  and the great quantity of vapour which this naturally gives forth covers everything around it, beclouds the eyesight and prevents it from being able to penetrate to any distance.", + "[73] The huge size and height of the sanctuary make it in spite of its comparatively low situation as prominent an object as any of the highest mountains. In fact, so vast are the buildings that they are seen conspicuously and strike the eye with admiration, especially in the case of foreign visitors, who compare them with the architecture of their own public edifices and are amazed both at their beauty and magnificence.", + "[74] But there is no grove within the walled area by order of the law, for many reasons. First, because the temple which is truly holy does not seek to provide pleasure and hours of easy enjoyment but the austerity of religion; secondly, because the means used to promote the verdure of trees, being the excrements of men and irrational animals, cannot be brought in there without profanity; thirdly, because the plants of the wild kind of vegetation are of no use, but only, as the poets say, “a burden to the soil,”  while those of the cultivated variety which produce fruits of the same quality will distract the weak-minded from the solemnity of the sacred rites.", + "[75] Furthermore, overgrown places and dense thickets are the resort of malefactors, who use their obscurity for their own safety and as an ambush whence they can suddenly attack whomsoever they wish. Broad spaces and openness and absence of restriction on every side, where there is nothing to hinder the sight, are most suitable to a temple, to enable those who enter and spend their time there to have an accurate view." + ], + [ + "[76] The revenues of the temple are derived not only from landed estates but also from other and far greater sources which time will never destroy. For as long as the human race endures, and it will endure for ever, the revenues of the temple also will remain secure co-eternal with the whole universe.", + "[77] For it is ordained that everyone, beginning at his twentieth year, should make an annual contribution of first-fruits.  These contributions are called “ransom money,” and therefore the first-fruits are given with the utmost zeal. The donors bring them cheerfully and gladly, expecting that the payment will give them release from slavery or healing of diseases and the enjoyment of liberty fully secured and also complete preservation from danger.", + "[78] As the nation is very populous, the offerings of first-fruits are naturally exceedingly abundant. In fact, practically in every city there are banking places for the holy money where people regularly come and give their offerings. And at stated times there are appointed to carry the sacred tribute envoys selected on their merits, from every city those of the highest repute, under whose conduct the hopes of each and all will travel safely. For it is on these first-fruits, as prescribed by the law, that the hopes of the pious rest." + ], + [ + "[79] The nation has twelve tribes, but one out of these was selected on its special merits for the priestly office, a reward granted to them for their gallantry and godly zeal on an occasion  when the multitude was seen to have fallen into sin through following the ill-judged judgement of some who persuaded them to emulate the foolishness of Egypt and the vainly imagined fables current in that land, attached to irrational animals and especially to bulls. For the men of this tribe at no bidding but their own made a wholesale slaughter of all the leaders of the delusion and thus carrying to the end their championship of piety were held to have done a truly religious deed." + ], + [ + "[80] With regard to the priests there are the following laws. It is ordained that the priest should be perfectly sound throughout, without any bodily deformity.  No part, that is, must be lacking or have been mutilated, nor on the other hand redundant, whether the excrescence be congenital or an after-growth due to disease. Nor must the skin have been changed into a leprous state or into malignant tetters or warts or any other eruptive growth. All these seem to me to symbolize perfection of soul.", + "[81] For if the priest’s body, which is mortal by nature, must be scrutinized to see that it is not afflicted by any serious misfortune, much more is that scrutiny needed for the immortal soul, which we are told was fashioned after the image of the Self-existent.  And the image of God is the Word through whom the whole universe was framed.", + "[82] After providing for his pure descent from a noble stock and his perfection both of body and soul, the legislation deals with the dress which the priest must assume when he is about to carry out the sacred rites. It consists of a linen tunic and short breeches,", + "[83] the latter to cover the loins, which must not be exposed at the altar, while the tunic is to make them nimble in their ministry.  For in this undress,  with nothing more than the short tunics, they are attired so as to move with unhampered rapidity when they bring the victims and the votive offerings  and the libations and all other things needed for the sacrifices.", + "[84] The high priest is bidden to put on a similar dress  when he enters the inner shrine to offer incense, because its fine linen is not, like wool, the product of creatures subject to death, and also to wear another, the formation of which is very complicated.  In this it would seem to be a likeness and copy of the universe. This is clearly shewn by the design.", + "[85] In the first place, it is a circular garment of a dark blue colour throughout, a tunic with a full-length skirt, thus symbolizing the air, because the air is both naturally black and in a sense a full-length robe stretching from the sublunar region above to the lowest recesses of the earth.", + "[86] Secondly, on this is set a piece of woven work in the shape of a breastplate, which symbolizes heaven. For on the shoulder-points there are two emerald stones, a kind of substance which is exceedingly valuable. There is one of these on each side and both are circular, representing the hemispheres, one of which is above and one under the earth.", + "[87] Then on the breast there are twelve precious stones of different colours, arranged in four rows of three each, set in this form on the model of the zodiac, for the zodiac consisting of twelve signs makes the four seasons of the year by giving three signs to each.", + "[88] This part of the dress as a whole is significantly called the reason-seat, because heaven and its contents are all framed and ordered on rational principles and proportions, for nothing there is irrational. On the reason-seat he embroidered two pieces of woven work, one of which he called Clear Shewing and the other Truth.", + "[89] By Truth he suggests the thought that no falsehood is allowed to set foot in heaven but has been banished entirely to the earthly regions and has its lodging in the souls of accursed men: by Clear Shewing that the heavenly beings make clear all things that we are or do, which in themselves would be altogether unknown. Here is a self-evident proof.", + "[90] If the light of the sun had never shone, how could the numberless qualities of bodily things have been perceived? Or the multiform varieties of colours and shapes?  Who else could have shewn us nights and days and months and years and time in general except the revolutions, harmonious and grand beyond all description, of the sun and the moon and the other stars?", + "[91] How but through the same heavenly bodies teaching us to compute the divisions of time could we have learnt the nature of number? Who could have opened and shewn to the voyager his path through the seas and all the expanses of the deep had not the stars as they wheel and revolve in their courses done the work?", + "[92] Numberless other phenomena have been observed and recorded by wise men who by study of the heavenly bodies have marked the signs of calm weather and stormy winds, of plentifulness and scarcity of crops, of mild and scorching summers, of sinister and spring-like winters, of droughts and rainy seasons, of fecundity in animals and plants and on the other hand of sterility in both and all other matters of the same kind. For of all the things that happen upon earth, the signs are graven in the face of heaven." + ], + [ + "[93] At the very lowest part of the skirt there are appended golden pomegranates and bells and flower-work, symbols of earth and water: the flower patterns of earth because they grow and flower out of it, the pomegranate or flowing fruit, of water, the name preserving its derivation from “flowing,” while the bells shew forth the harmony and concord and unison of the parts of the universe.", + "[94] The order in which the parts are arranged is also admirable. At the very top is what he calls the breastpiece in which are placed the stones, a copy of heaven because heaven also is at the top. Then under it the full-length skirt, dark blue right through because the air also is black and occupies the second position below the heaven, and the flower-work and pomegranates at the extremities because to earth and water is allotted the lowest place in the universe.", + "[95] Such is the form in which the sacred vesture was designed, a copy of the universe, a piece of work of marvellous beauty to the eye and the mind. To the eye it presents a most amazing appearance transcending any woven work that we possess in variety and costliness, to the mind the philosophical conceptions which its parts suggest.", + "[96] For it expresses the wish first that the high priest should have in evidence upon him an image of the All, that so by constantly contemplating it he should render his own life worthy of the sum of things, secondly that in performing his holy office he should have the whole universe as his fellow-ministrant. And very right and fit it is that he who is consecrated to the Father of the world should take with him also that Father’s son, the universe, for the service of the Creator and Begetter.", + "[97] There is also a third truth symbolized by the holy vesture which must not be passed over in silence. Among the other nations the priests are accustomed to offer prayers and sacrifices for their kinsmen and friends and fellow-countrymen only, but the high priest of the Jews makes prayers and gives thanks not only on behalf of the whole human race but also for the parts of nature, earth, water, air, fire. For he holds the world to be, as in very truth it is, his country, and in its behalf he is wont to propitiate the Ruler with supplication and intercession, beseeching Him to make His creature a partaker of His own kindly and merciful nature." + ], + [ + "[98] After saying this by way of prelude, he proceeds to lay down another statute commanding that he who approaches the altar and handles the sacrifices should not during the time in which it is his duty to perform the sacred rites drink wine or any other intoxicant, and this for four most cogent reasons: the dangers of slackness, forgetfulness, sleep and foolish behaviour.", + "[99] For strong drink enervates the bodily faculties, and makes the limbs more difficult to move, increases the tendency to sluggishness in a man, and irresistibly forces him to fall asleep, while by relaxing the sinews of the soul it produces both forgetfulness and foolish conduct. When he is sober, his bodily parts are buoyant and easier to move, the senses are clearer and brighter and the mind keener-sighted, so that it can foresee events and recount what it has seen in the past.", + "[100] In general, indeed, wine must be regarded as very unprofitable for every side of life, since it presses hard upon the soul, dulls the senses and weighs down the body, leaving none of our faculties free and untrammelled but hampering the natural activity of each. But in religious rites and ceremonies the mischief is graver in the same degree as it is more intolerable to offend against our duty to God than our duty to man. Thus it is a very proper enactment that the officiants at the sacrifice should fast from wine, “to discern and distinguish between holy and profane, clean and unclean,” lawful and unlawful. " + ], + [ + "[101] Since a priest is a man well before he is  a priest and must and should feel the instinct for mating, Moses arranges for his marriage with a pure virgin whose parents and grandparents and ancestors are equally pure, highly distinguished for the excellence of their conduct and lineage. ", + "[102] For a harlot is profane in body and soul, even if she has discarded her trade and assumed a decent and chaste demeanour, and he is forbidden even to approach her, since her old way of living was unholy. Let such a one indeed retain in other respects her civic rights as she has been at pains to purge herself from her defilements, for repentance from wrongdoing is praiseworthy. Nor let anyone else be prevented from taking her in marriage, but let her not come near to the priest. For the rights and duties of the priesthood are of a special kind, and the office demands an even tenor of blamelessness from birth to death.", + "[103] It would be foolish if, while the bodily scars which wounds leave behind them, marks of misfortune and not of depravity, preclude one from the priesthood, the women who have sold their personal charms not only under compulsion but sometimes by free and deliberate choice, should just because of a belated and reluctant repentance pass straight from their lovers to wedlock with the priests and exchange the stews for a lodging in holy ground. For in the souls of the repentant there remain, in spite of all, the scars and prints of their old misdeeds. ", + "[104] It is well and admirably said in another place,  “Neither shall the hire of a harlot be brought into the Temple,” though the coins are not guilty in themselves but only because of the recipient and the business for which it was given her. Surely one would not care to admit to partnership with the priests the women whose very money is profane and regarded as base, even though the metal and the stamp is true." + ], + [ + "[105] So strict are the regulations laid down for the marriage of the high priest that he is not even permitted to marry a widow, whether her isolation is due to the death of her husband or divorce from him while still alive. This is laid down first in order that the holy seed may pass into pure and untrodden soil and the issue receive no admixture with another family.", + "Secondly, that by mating with souls entirely innocent and unperverted they  may find it easy to mould the characters and dispositions of their wives, for the minds of virgins are easily influenced and attracted to virtue and very ready to be taught.", + "[106] But she who has had experience of another husband is naturally less amenable to instruction. For her soul is not one of the completely simple kind like a sheet of wax levelled to show clearly the lessons to be inscribed upon it, but rather like one roughened by the imprints already scored upon it, which resist effacement and either do not yield to the dint of other seals or, if they do, confuse them with their own indentations.", + "[107] Let the high priest then take a virgin who is innocent of marriage. And when I say “virgin” I exclude not only one with whom another man has had intercourse but also one with whom any other has been declared to have an agreement of betrothal, even though her body is that of a maid intact. " + ], + [ + "[108] As for the subordinate  priests, while the other marriage regulations are the same for them as for those who hold the highest priesthood, they are permitted to wed with immunity not only virgins but widows,  though only such as have lost their husbands by death. This limitation is due to the desire of the law to remove animosities and feuds from the lives of the priests. While the first husband lives, quarrels might be engendered by the feminine proclivity to jealousy.  His death carries with it the death of any hostility to the second husband.", + "[109] As for the distinction between priests and high priests, the view of the law was that the greater sanctity and purity required of the latter in all other matters should be extended to his choice of a partner in marriage, and therefore it forbade him to take to wife any but a maiden. But to those of the second rank it made concessions as to their relations with women and permitted them to espouse such as had had experience of other husbands." + ], + [ + "[110] Further, it made clear distinctions as to the birth of the intended wives. The high priest must not propose marriage save to one who is not only a virgin but a priestess descended from priests,  so that bride and bridegroom may be of one house and in a sense of the same blood and so, harmoniously united, shew a lifelong blending of temperament firmly established.", + "[111] But the rest are permitted to marry the daughters of others than priests  partly because the restrictions required to  maintain their purity are slight, partly because the law did not wish that the nation should be denied altogether a share in the priestly clanship or be entirely excluded from it. This was the reason why he did not forbid the other priests to intermarry with the laity of the nation, for intermarriage is kinship in the second degree. Sons-in-law are sons to their fathers-in-law, and the latter are fathers to the former." + ], + [ + "[112] These and similar regulations as to marriage are intended to promote the generation of children, but since generation is followed by dissolution, he has laid down laws for the priests dealing with deaths.  In these he ordains that they should not incur defilement for all connected with them by friendship or kinship whatever the degree, but only for fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and maiden sisters.", + "[113] But the high priest is precluded from all outward mourning and surely with good reason.  For the services of the other priests can be performed by deputy, so that if some are in mourning none of the customary rites need suffer. But no one else is allowed to perform the functions of a high priest and therefore he must always continue undefiled, never coming in contact with a corpse, so that he may be ready to offer his prayers and sacrifices at the proper time without hindrance on behalf of the nation.", + "[114] Further, since he is dedicated to God and has been made captain of the sacred regiment, he ought to be estranged from all the ties of birth and not be so overcome by affection to parents or children or brothers as to neglect or postpone any one of the religious duties which it were well to perform without any delay.", + "[115] He forbids him also either to rend his garments for his dead, even the nearest and dearest, or to take from his head the insignia of the priesthood, or on any account to leave the sacred precincts under the pretext of mourning. Thus, showing reverence both to the place and to the personal ornaments with which he is decked, he will have his feeling of pity under control and continue throughout free from sorrow.", + "[116] For the law desires him to be endued with a nature higher than the merely human and to approximate to the Divine, on the border-line,  we may truly say, between the two, that men may have a mediator through whom they may propitiate God and God a servitor to employ in extending the abundance of His boons to men." + ], + [ + "[117] These rules are followed directly by his legislation on those who are to share in the first-fruits. If any of the priests, he tells us, has lost the use of his eyes or hands or feet or any part of his body, or suffers from any defect, he must refrain from officiating because of the afflictions which have befallen him, but he may enjoy the privileges common to the priests because his pure lineage still remains without reproach.", + "[118] If, however, leprous eruptions appear upon him or he is suffering from seminal issue, the priest must not touch the holy table or any of the prizes to which his clan is entitled until in the one case the issue has ceased, in the other the leprosy is converted into a resemblance to the hue of healthy flesh.", + "Further,", + "[119] if a priest touches any impure object or, as often happens, has an emission during the night, he must not during that day partake of consecrated food but bathe himself, and after sundown he should not be debarred from its use.", + "[120] But the first-fruits must be kept out of the hands of a dweller near the priest  or his hired servant; the first is mentioned because board and hospitality are usually given to neighbours, and there is a danger that the consecrated meats may be profaned  through an untimely generosity abused as a pretext for impiety. For we must not share everything with everyone, but restrict our gifts to what are suitable to the recipient. Otherwise the most excellent and valuable thing which life possesses, order, will be destroyed, vanquished by its most mischievous foe, confusion.", + "[121] For if sailors on merchant vessels were remunerated equally with the pilots, or oarsmen and marines on men-of-war with captains and admirals, or cavalry soldiers in armies with their commanders, or rank and file with their officers, or regimental captains with generals, or in cities litigants with judges, councillors with their chairmen, or in general private individuals with rulers, disturbances and factions would arise and the nominal equality would engender an actual inequality. For like pay for unlike worth is inequality, and inequality is the fountain of evil.", + "[122] On the same principle the general law against giving away the prerogatives of the priests should be extended to the neighbours also. Otherwise they will be handling the forbidden meats just because they live in the vicinity. For the privilege belongs not to a dwelling-house, but to a caste." + ], + [ + "[123] In the same way no one must bestow the sacred prerogative on a hired servant, either as his hire or in exchange for his service. For he will sometimes use the gift for improper purposes, thus profaning the rewards attached to pure lineage and the ministry of the sanctuary.", + "[124] This is the reason why no one at all of alien race,  even though he be nobly born and of the original stock, without flaw either on the male or the female line, is permitted by the law to share in the sacred things, in order that the privileges may not be tainted with bastardy but remain the securely guarded possessions of the priestly order.", + "[125] For it would be preposterous that while the sacrifices and sacred rites and all the ceremonies of the altar are committed not to all but to the priests alone, the rewards assigned to these offices should become common property and at the service of chance comers, as though it were right to wear out the priests with toil and labour and the cares that beset them night and day and at the same time to allow their rewards to be shared by idlers. ", + "[126] But the home-bred or purchased slave, he proceeds, should be given his share in food and drink from the first-fruits by the priest, his master. First, because the servant has no resources but his master, and that master’s estate consists of the sacred gifts of charity by which the slave must necessarily be maintained.", + "[127] Secondly, what is sure to come to pass anyhow should most certainly be done voluntarily. Our domestics are always with us and share our lives. They prepare the ordinary food and drink and additional dishes for their masters, stand by the table and carry out the remains. Whether we wish it or not, they will even if they do not take them openly, pilfer them on the sly. Thus they are compelled perforce to steal and instead of a single indictment, if indeed it is an offence to feed off the master’s viands, a second is provided, namely, stealing, with the result that the enjoyment of the consecrated meats appears to fall to thieves instead of to those who live a blameless life, which is the height of absurdity.", + "[128] There is a third point for consideration. The dignity of the first-fruits will not be brought into contempt because they are shared by the servants. The fear of the master will prevent this, for by keeping them from idle habits he is able to check any light conduct on their part. " + ], + [ + "[129] As a sequel to this he proceeds to lay down a law full of humane feeling.  If the daughter of a priest, he says, is widowed after marrying one who is not a priest, either by his death or divorce during his lifetime, and left without children, she should return to her father to regain the share in the first-fruits which she enjoyed as a virgin. For she is still in a sense virtually a virgin, destitute as she is of both husband and children and with no refuge except her father.", + "[130] But if there are sons or daughters, the mother must take her place with her children.  For sons and daughters belong to the house of the male parent and carry with them into it the mother also. " + ], + [ + "[131] The priests were not allotted a section of territory by the law so that like the others they might reap the proceeds of the land and have abundance of their requisites therefrom. Instead, when referring to the consecrated offerings, it paid them the transcendent honour of saying that God was their inheritance.  He is their inheritance for two reasons. One is the supreme honour conferred by sharing with God in the thank-offering rendered to Him. The other is the obligation to concern themselves only with the sacred rites, thus becoming in a sense trustees of inheritances. The prizes and guerdons which the law offers are as follows.", + "[132] First, a maintenance ready to hand and entailing no labour or trouble. For he commands that from all dough of wheat or other grain,  the bakers should set apart a loaf as a first portion for the use of the priests. In this he is also thinking of the avenue to piety provided by the lesson which the law of setting apart gives to those who obey it.", + "[133] For through being accustomed to make this offering out of their necessary food, they will have God in indelible recollection and no greater blessing can be gained than this. As the nation is very populous, the first-fruits are necessarily also on a lavish scale, so that even the poorest of the priests has so superabundant a maintenance that he seems exceedingly well-to-do.", + "[134] Secondly, he ordains that first-fruits should be paid of every other possession; wine from every winepress, wheat and barley from every threshing-floor, similarly oil from olives, and fruits from the other orchard-trees, so that the priests may not have merely bare necessaries, just keeping themselves alive in comparatively squalid conditions, but enjoy abundance of the luxuries of life and pass their days amid cheerful and unstinted comfort in the style which befits their position.", + "[135] A third perquisite is the first-born males of all land animals suitable for the use and service of men.  These he orders to be distributed to the priests: in the case of kine and sheep and goats the actual offspring, male calves and lambs and kids, since they are “clean” for the purposes both of eating and sacrificing, and are recognized as such. For the others, horses and asses and camels and the like, compensation is to be paid without chaffering about the value.", + "[136] All these are very numerous, for the men of the nation are noted particularly as graziers and stock-breeders, and keep flocks and herds of goats and oxen and sheep and of every kind of animal in vast numbers.", + "[137] And this is not all. We find the laws carrying the principle to a further extent by commanding that first-fruits should be paid not only from possessions of every kind but also from their own souls and bodies. For children are separable parts of their parents, or rather to speak more truly, inseparable parts, joined to them by kinship of blood, by the thoughts and memories of ancestors, invisible presences still alive among their descendants, by the love-ties of the affection which unites them, by the indissoluble bonds of nature. ", + "[138] Yet even parents have their first-born male children consecrated as a first-fruit, a thank-offering for the blessings of parenthood realized in the present and the hopes of fruitful increase in the future. At the same time he shews his wish that the marriages, the first produce of which is a fruit sacred to His service, should be not only blameless but worthy of the highest praise. And reflection on this should lead both husbands and wives to cherish temperance and domesticity and unanimity, and by mutual sympathy shewn in word and deed to make the name of partnership a reality securely founded on truth.", + "[139] But to prevent the parents being separated from the children and the children from their parents, he assessed the first-fruit arising from the consecration of the first-born sons at a fixed sum of money, and ordered rich and poor to make the same contribution. He did not take into consideration either the dignity of the contributors or the good condition and beauty of the offspring, but fixed the payment at an amount which was within the power of even the very poor.", + "[140] For since the birth of children is an event equally common with the grandest and the meanest, he considered it just to enact that the contribution should be equal also, aiming, as I have said, as nearly as possible at a sum within the means of all." + ], + [ + "[141] After that he assigns another considerable source of wealth to the priests when he commands everyone to give first-fruits of his revenues from corn and wine and oil, and again of the increase of their live-stock levied on their flocks and herds, of sheep and oxen and goats and other animals, and how great an abundance the nation possesses of these may be judged from the magnitude of the population.", + "[142] From all this it is clear that the law invests the priests with the dignity and honours of royalty. Thus he commands that tribute should be given from every part of a man’s property as to a ruler, and the way in which the tribute is paid is a complete contrast to the spirit in which the cities make their payments to their potentates.", + "[143] The cities pay under compulsion and reluctantly and groan under the burden. They look askance at the tax-collectors as general agents of destruction. They trump up different excuses to suit the occasion, and when they discharge the appointed dues and assessments they do so without regard to the time limits allowed.", + "[144] But our people pay gladly and cheerfully. They anticipate the demand, abridge the time limits and think that they are not giving but receiving. And so at each of the yearly seasons they make their contributions with benediction and thankfulness, men and women alike, and with a zeal and readiness which needs no prompting and an ardour which no words can describe." + ], + [ + "[145] These are the contributions levied on the personal possessions of every individual, but the priests have also other special incomings drawn very appropriately from the sacrifices offered. It is ordained that with every victim two gifts should be presented to the priest from two of its parts, the arm or shoulder from the right side and all the fat from the breast, the former as a symbol of strength and manliness and of all lawful operations in giving and receiving and general activity, the latter of gentle mildness applied to the spirited element. ", + "[146] For it is held that this element resides in the breast, since nature has appointed the chest as the most suitable place for its mansion and girded it like a soldier armed against attack with the stoutest of fenceworks called the thorax, or breastplate, which she has formed of a number of bones one upon another, strong and hard, and bound them tight with unbreakable sinews.", + "[147] But of animals sacrificed away from the altars as meat for private consumption, three portions are appointed to be given to the priests, the shoulder and the jaws and the maw, as it is called.  The shoulder for the reason mentioned a little above, the jaws both as belonging to that master-limb, the head, and as a first-fruit of the uttered word which needs their movement to make possible the outflow of its stream. The jaws are shaken—and thence the derivation of their name —when the tongue strikes upon them and then the whole vocal mechanism joins with them in producing sound.", + "[148] The maw is an excrescence of the belly, and it is the fate of the belly to be the manger of that irrational animal, desire,  which drenched by wine-bibbing and gluttony, is perpetually flooded with relays of food and drink administered to it, and like a sow rejoices to make its home in the mire. And therefore the place of dregs and leavings has been assigned as by far the fittest for a licentious and most unseemly animal.", + "[149] But the opposite of desire is continence, the acquisition of which is a task to be practised and pressed forward by every possible means as the greatest and most perfect of blessings promoting personal and public welfare alike.", + "[150] So then desire, profane, impure and unholy, has been expelled outside the confines of virtue and well deserved is its banishment. But let continence, that pure and stainless virtue which disregards all concerns of food and drink and claims to stand superior to the pleasures of the stomach, touch the holy altars and bring with it the appendage of the belly as a reminder that it holds in contempt gluttony and greediness and all that inflames the tendencies to lust." + ], + [ + "[151] In addition to all the rest it ordains that the priests who minister at the holy sacrifices should receive the hides of the whole-burnt-offerings, the number of which is incalculable, and this is no small gift, but represents a very large sum of money. From these things it is clear that the law did not provide the consecrated tribe with a single portion, like the others, but gave it, under the guise of first-fruits from every kind of sacrifice, a source of revenue of greater dignity and sanctity than that of them all put together.", + "[152] But that none of the donors should taunt the recipients, it ordered the first-fruits to be first brought into the temple and then taken thence by the priests.  It was the proper course that the first-fruits should be brought as a thank-offering to God by those whose life in all its aspects is blessed by His beneficence, and then by Him, since He needs nothing at all, freely bestowed with all dignity and honour on those who serve and minister in the temple. For if the gift is felt to come not from men but from the Benefactor of all, its acceptance carries with it no sense of shame." + ], + [ + "[153] Since, then, the prospective rewards are so great, if any of the priests who live a decent and blameless life are in need, they confront us as accusers of our disobedience to the law, even though they bring no charge. For if we obeyed the commandment and gave the first-fruits as it is ordained, they would have not only abundance of mere necessaries but a full measure of all else that the luxurious can require.", + "[154] And on the other hand if the priestly tribe shall in the course of the future be found to possess all the means of life in abundance, it will be strong evidence that the practice of religion is general and the law carefully observed in all respects. But the neglectfulness of some —for it would not be safe to accuse all—has brought about the impoverishment of the consecrated class and indeed, it is true to say, of the defaulters themselves.", + "[155] Disobedience to the law, for all its short-lived seductiveness, recoils upon the disobedient. But in compliance with the laws of nature, though for the moment it is stern and wears a grim aspect, there is the greatest of rewards." + ], + [ + "[156] After bestowing these great sources of revenue on the priests, he did not ignore those of the second rank either, namely the temple attendants. Some of these are stationed at the doors as gatekeepers at the very entrances, some within in front of the sanctuary to prevent any unlawful person from setting foot thereon, either intentionally or unintentionally. Some patrol around it turn by turn in relays by appointment night and day, keeping watch and guard at both seasons. Others sweep the porticoes and the open court, convey away the refuse and ensure cleanliness. All these have the tithes appointed as their wages, this being the portion settled on them as temple attendants.", + "[157] It should be noted that the law does not allow them to avail themselves of these tithes until they have rendered other tithes from them treated as their own property as first-fruits to the priests of the superior class. Only when this condition has been fulfilled are they allowed to enjoy their income.", + "[158] He also assigned them forty-eight cities with a frontage of land each to the depth of 2000 cubits to graze their cattle and carry on other kinds of business necessary for the service of the cities. Of these there were six allotted, three on the near side and three on the far side of the river Jordan, as a refuge for the perpetrators of involuntary homicide.", + "[159] For since it would be sacrilege for a person responsible for the death of a man, however it was caused, to come within the sacred precincts, and use the temple as a refuge from danger, he made over to them the aforesaid cities as secondary temples, well secured from violation through the privileged and honourable position of the inhabitants, who, if any stronger power should attempt to use force against the suppliants, would keep them safe, not with warlike preparations, but through the dignities and privileges conferred on them by the laws in virtue of the reverence attached to the priestly office.", + "[160] But the fugitive must remain shut up within the confines of the city to which he has come as a refuge because of the avengers waiting at the door, whose relationship to the dead makes them seek the blood of the slayer in their bitterness at the loss of their kinsman, even though the fatal act was involuntary. For strong family feeling overpowers the sense of justice which strict reason would give. But if he advances outside he must understand that his movements will entail certain destruction, for they will not be unobserved by any member of the family, and enmeshed in their nets and snares he will be a lost man.", + "[161] The time limit of his banishment is to coincide with the life of the high priest, at whose death he may return with immunity assured as his due.", + "After making these and other similar enactments he next proceeds to give instructions as to the animals suitable for sacrifice." + ], + [ + "[162] Of the animals used for this purpose some are confined to the dry land and others travel in the air. The winged creatures are divided into numberless tribes, all of which he ignored except two, the pigeon and the turtle-dove,  the pigeon because it is the gentlest of those whose nature is tame and gregarious, the dove because it is the tamest of those which are naturally fond of solitude.", + "[163] The land animals collect in vast multitudes and the number of their varieties is almost incalculable. All these he passed over after selecting three as of superior merit, namely, oxen, sheep and goats.  For these are the gentlest and the most docile. We see great herds and flocks of each kind led by a single person, it matters not who. He may even be not a grown man, but the merest child, and under his guidance they go out to the pasture and when required return back in order to their pens. This tameness is shewn by many other indications,", + "[164] but most clearly by the following facts. All of them are eaters of grass, none eat flesh; none of them have crooked talons nor a full supplement of teeth, for the upper gum does not lend itself to the growth of teeth, but all the incisors are missing there.", + "[165] Furthermore, in the whole animal kingdom they are the most serviceable for human life. The rams produce raiment, the indispensable shelter for the body, the ox ploughs the soil and prepares it for the seed, and when the crop is produced threshes it, thus making it into food which can be shared and enjoyed, while the skin and hair of the goat, when woven or sewn together, supply portable houses for travellers and particularly for campaigners who are compelled by the exigencies of their life to spend most of their time outside the city and in the open air." + ], + [ + "[166] All the animals selected must be perfect, with no affliction troubling any part of their body, scathless throughout and free from fault or flaw. In fact, so great is the forethought exercised not only by those who bring the sacrifices but also by the officiants, that the most highly approved of the priests, selected as most suitable for such inspection, examine them from the head to the extremities of the feet, both the visible parts and those which are concealed under the belly and thighs, for fear that some small blemish has passed unobserved.", + "[167] The examination is carried out with this excessive minuteness in consideration not of the victims offered but of the innocence of those who offer them. For the law would teach them under this symbol that when they approach the altar to offer either prayers or thanks they must come with no infirmity or ailment or evil affection in the soul, but must endeavour to have it sanctified and free throughout from defilement, that God when He beholds it may not turn away His face from the sight." + ], + [ + "[168] But since the sacrifices are of two kinds, some offered for the whole nation, or rather, it would be correct to say, for all mankind, others for each separate individual among those whose sense of duty makes them worshippers, we must first speak of those which are general. The system on which they are arranged is admirable.", + "[169] Some are offered daily, others on the seventh days, others at the new moons or the beginnings of the sacred month, others at the fasts, others at the three festal seasons. Every day two lambs are to be brought to the altar, one at dawn, the other towards dusk. Both these are thank-offerings, one for the benefactions of the day-time, the other for those of the night, given to the human race ceaselessly and constantly by the bounty of God.", + "[170] On the seventh days he doubles the number of the victims. He makes this addition of a number equal to the original because he considers the seventh day, called also in his records the birthday of the whole world,  to be of equal value to eternity, and therefore he purposes to assimilate the sacrifice of the seventh day to the “perpetuity” of the daily offering of lambs.", + "[171] Twice too every day the perfume of the most fragrant kinds of incense is exhaled within the veil at sunrise and at sunset, both before the morning and after the evening sacrifice. Thus the blood offerings serve as thanksgivings for the blood elements in ourselves  and the incense offerings for our dominant part, the rational spirit-force within us which was shaped according to the archetypal form of the divine image. ", + "[172] But on each seventh day loaves are exposed on the holy table equal in number to the months of the year in two layers of six each, each layer corresponding to the equinoxes. For there are two equinoxes in each year, in spring and autumn, with intervals, the sum of which is six months. For this reason * * * At the spring equinox all the seed crops come to their fulness just when the trees begin to produce their fruit, and at the autumn equinox that same fruit is brought to maturity and it is the season when the sowing begins again. Thus nature running its agelong round alternates its gifts to the human race, symbolized by the two sets of six loaves exposed upon the table.", + "[173] They are also emblematic of that most profitable of virtues, continence, which has simplicity and contentment and frugality for its bodyguard against the baleful assaults engineered by incontinence and covetousness. For bread to a lover of wisdom is sufficient sustenance, making the body proof against disease and the reason sound and sober in the highest degree.", + "[174] But dainty dishes and honey-cakes and relishes and all the elaborate preparations with which the skill of pastrycooks and other experts at the art bewitches the taste, that most slavish of all the senses, a stranger to culture and philosophy, a servant not to things beautiful to see or hear but to the lusts of the wretched belly, create distempers of soul and body which are often past all cure.", + "[175] On the loaves there are placed also frankincense and salt,  the former as a symbol that in the court of wisdom no relish is judged to be more sweet-savoured than frugality and temperance, the salt to shew the permanence of all things, since it preserves whatever it is sprinkled on, and its sufficiency as a condiment.", + "[176] All this I know will excite the mockery and ridicule of those to whom banquetings and high feasting are a matter of much concern, who run in search of richly laden tables, miserable slaves to birds and fishes and fleshpots and similar trash, unable even in their dreams to taste the flavour of true freedom. All these things should be held in little account by those who are minded to live with God for their standard and for the service of Him that truly IS—men who, trained to disregard the pleasures of the flesh and practised in the study of nature’s verities, pursue the joys and sweet comforts of the intellect.", + "[177] Having given these orders with regard to the seventh days, he deals with the new moons. At these times whole-burnt-offerings must be sacrificed, ten in all, two calves, one ram, and seven lambs. For since the month in which the moon fulfils its cycle is a complete or perfect whole,  he considered that the number of animals to be sacrificed should be perfect.", + "[178] Now ten is a perfect number, and he distributed it excellently among the above-mentioned items; two calves because the moon as she runs for ever her race forwards and backwards has two motions, one as she waxes till she becomes full, one as she wanes to her conjunction with the sun; one ram because there is one law or principle by which she waxes and wanes at equal intervals, both when her light grows and when it fails; seven lambs because the complete changes of form to which she is subject are measured in sevens.  In the first seven from the conjunction we have the half moon, in the second the full moon, and when she is reversing her course she passes first into the half moon and then dies away into the conjunction.", + "[179] With the victims he ordered that fine meal, soaked in oil, should be brought, and wine for libations in stated quantities, because these also are brought to their fullness by the revolutions of the moon at the various seasons of the year, and especially by its effect upon the ripening of the fruits, and corn, oil and wine are things possessing qualities most profitable to life and most necessary for human use and therefore are naturally consecrated with all the sacrifices.", + "[180] At the beginning of the sacred month double sacrifices are offered in accordance with its double aspect, first as new moon simply, secondly as the opening of the sacred month. Regarding it as new moon, the sacrifices ordered are the same as those of other new moons. Taking it as a sacred-month-day the oblations are doubled except in the case of the calves: only one of these is offered, the awarder having judged that at the beginning of the year  the monad whose nature is indivisible is preferable to the divisible dyad.", + "[181] At the first season, which name he gives to the springtime and its equinox, he ordained that what is called the feast of unleavened bread should be kept for seven days, all of which he declared should be honoured equally in the ritual assigned to them. For he ordered ten sacrifices to be offered each day as at the new moons, whole-burnt-offerings amounting to seventy in all apart from the sin-offerings.", + "[182] He considered, that is, that the seven days of the feast bore the same relation to the equinox which falls in the seventh month  as the new moon does to the month. Thus he assigned the same sanctity both to the beginning of each month considered singly and to the seven days of the feast, which being of the same number as the new moons represented them collectively.", + "[183] In the middle of the spring comes the corn harvest. At this season thank-offerings are brought for the lowlands because they have borne fruit in full and the summer crops are being gathered in. This feast, which is universally observed, is called the feast of first-products, a name which expresses the facts, because the first specimens of the produce, the sample oblations, are then consecrated.", + "[184] The sacrifices ordered on this occasion are two calves, one ram and seven lambs, these ten as victims to be entirely consumed by fire, and also two lambs to be eaten by the priests. These last he calls preservation-offerings because mankind has had its food preserved from many vicissitudes of every kind. For that food is commonly subject to destructive forces, sometimes rain-storms, sometimes droughts, or numberless other violent changes in nature, sometimes again from human activities through the invasions of enemies who attempt to lay waste the land of their neighbours.", + "[185] Naturally, therefore, the thank-offerings for preservation are brought to Him Who has scattered all the forces which threatened mischief. They are also brought in the form of loaves which the worshippers carry to the altar and after holding them with outstretched arms up to heaven distribute to the priests together with the flesh of the preservation-offering to regale them in a way well worthy of their sacred office.", + "[186] When the third special season has come in the seventh month at the autumnal equinox there is held at its outset the sacred-month-day called trumpet day, of which I have spoken above.  On the tenth day is the fast,  which is carefully observed not only by the zealous for piety and holiness but also by those who never act religiously in the rest of their life. For all stand in awe, overcome by the sanctity of the day, and for the moment the worse vie with the better in self-denial and virtue.", + "[187] The high dignity of this day has two aspects, one as a festival, the other as a time of purification and escape from sins, for which indemnity is granted by the bounties of the gracious God Who has given to repentance the same honour as to innocence from sin. Treating it as a festival day, he made the sacrifices of the same number as those of the sacred-month-days, namely a calf and a ram and seven lambs, thus blending the one with the seven and putting the completion in a line with the beginning. For to seven belongs the completion of actions, to one their beginning.", + "[188] Treating it as a purification, he added three more and bade them bring two kids and a ram, ordering that the last-named should be consumed entirely by fire and that a lot should be cast for the kids. The one on whom the lot fell was to be sacrificed to God, the other was to be sent out into a trackless and desolate wilderness bearing on its back the curses which had lain upon the transgressors who have now been purified by conversion to the better life and through their new obedience have washed away their old disobedience to the law.", + "[189] On the fifteenth day of this month at the full moon is held the feast of tabernacles, as it is called, and on this the supply of sacrificial offerings is on a larger scale, for during seven days there are sacrificed seventy calves, fourteen rams and ninety-eight lambs. All these animals are consumed entirely by fire. It is also commanded that the eighth day is to be observed as holy. This last must be treated in detail when the subject of the feasts as a whole comes up for discussion.  The number of offerings brought are the same as on the sacred-month-days.", + "[190] The general sacrifices in the form of burnt-offerings performed on behalf of the nation or, to speak more correctly, on behalf of the human race, have now been described to the best of my ability. But these burnt-offerings are accompanied on each day of a feast by the sacrifice of a kid called the sin-offering offered for the remission of sins, its flesh being put aside to be eaten by the priests. ", + "[191] What is the reason for this addition? Is it that a feast is a season of joy, and the true joy in which there is no illusion is wisdom firmly established in the soul, and the wisdom that is stable cannot be acquired without applying medicine to the sin and surgery to the passions? For it would be a strange inconsistency if, while each of the victims consumed in the burnt-offering is only dedicated when found to be free from mischief and blemish, the mind of the worshipper should not be purified in every way and washed clean and fair by the ablutions and lustrations, which the right reason of nature pours into the souls of those who love God through ears that are sound in health and free from corruption.", + "[192] But besides this something else may be justly said. These festal occasions of relaxation and cessation from work have often ere now opened up countless avenues to transgressions. For strong drink and gross eating accompanied by wine-bibbing, while they awaken the insatiable lusts of the belly, inflame also the lusts seated below it, and as they stream along and overflow on every side they create a torrent of evils innumerable, because they have the immunity of the feast for their headquarters and refuge from retribution.", + "[193] All this the lawgiver observed and therefore did not permit his people to conduct their festivities like other nations, but first he bade them in the very hour of their joy make themselves pure by curbing the appetites for pleasure. Then he summoned them to the sanctuary to take their part in hymns and prayers and sacrifices, that the place and the spectacles there presented and the words there spoken, working through the lordliest of the senses, sight and hearing, may make them enamoured of continence and piety. Last of all by the sin-offering he warned them against continuing in sin, for he who asks for absolution of the sins he has committed is not so lost a wretch as to embark on other new offences at the very time when he asks for remission of the old." + ], + [ + "[194] After having discoursed to this extent on these subjects he begins to classify the kinds of sacrifices. He divides them into three principal classes which he calls respectively the whole-burnt-offering, the preservation-offering and the sin-offering. To each of these he adds the adornment of suitable ritual, in which he succeeds admirably in combining decorum with reverence.", + "[195] His classification is quite excellent and perfectly fits the facts to which it shews a logical sequence. For if anyone cares to examine closely the motives which led men of the earliest times to resort to sacrifices as a medium of prayer and thanksgiving, he will find that two hold the highest place. One is the rendering of honour to God for the sake of Him only and with no other motive, a thing both necessary and excellent. The other is the signal benefit which the worshipper receives, and this is twofold, on one side directed to obtaining a share in blessings, on the other to release from evils.", + "[196] To the God-ward motive which has Him alone in view he assigned the whole-burnt-offering, for, whole and complete in itself as it is, it fits in well with the same qualities in the motive which carries with it no element of mortal self-interest; but where human interests were concerned, since the idea admitted of division, the lawgiver also made a division, and appointed what he called a preservation-offering to correspond to the aspiration for participation in blessings, while he assigned the sin-offering for avoidance of evils.", + "[197] Thus very properly there are three offerings for three objects, the whole-burnt-offering having no other in view but God Himself alone Whom it is good to honour, the other two having ourselves in view, the preservation-offering for the safe preserving and bettering of human affairs, the sin-offering for the healing of the trespasses which the soul has committed." + ], + [ + "[198] We must now describe the ordinances dealing with each of these sacrifices, beginning with the best, which is the whole-burnt-offering. First of all, he says the victim must be a male specimen of the animals selected as best for the purpose, namely, a calf or lamb or kid. Secondly, the giver must wash his hands and lay them on the head of the victim,", + "[199] and after this one priest must take and slay it while another priest holds a vial below and after catching some of the blood goes all round the altar and sprinkles it thereon. The victim after being flayed must be divided into parts complete in themselves, while the belly and feet are washed, and then the whole must be given over to the sacred fire of the altar. Thus the one in it has become many and the many one. ", + "[200] These are the contents of the ordinance taken literally. But another meaning also is indicated of the mystical character which symbols convey; words in their plain sense are symbols of things latent and obscure.", + "In the first place the victim of the whole-burnt-offering is a male because the male is more complete, more dominant than the female, closer akin to causal activity, for the female is incomplete and in subjection and belongs to the category of the passive rather than the active.", + "[201] So too with the two ingredients which constitute our life-principle, the rational and the irrational; the rational which belongs to mind and reason is of the masculine gender, the irrational, the province of sense, is of the feminine. Mind belongs to a genus wholly superior to sense as man is to woman; unblemished and purged, as perfect virtue purges, it is itself the most religious of sacrifices and its whole being is highly pleasing to God.", + "[202] In the laying of hands on the head of the animal we find the clearest possible type of blameless actions and of a life saddled with nothing that leads to censure but in harmony with the laws and statutes of nature.", + "[203] For the law desires, first, that the mind of the worshipper should be sanctified by exercise in good and profitable thoughts and judgements; secondly, that his life should be a consistent course of the best actions, so that as he lays his hands on the victim, he can boldly and with a pure conscience speak in this wise:", + "[204] “These hands have taken no gift to do injustice, nor shared in the proceeds of plunder or overreaching, nor been soiled with innocent blood. None have they maimed or wounded, no deed of outrage or violence have they wrought. They have done no service of any other kind at all which might incur arraignment or censure, but have made themselves humble ministers of things excellent and profitable, such as are held in honour in the sight of wisdom and law and wise and law-abiding men.”" + ], + [ + "[205] The blood is poured in a circle round the altar because the circle is the most perfect of figures, and in order that no part should be left destitute of the vital oblation. For the blood may truly be called a libation of the life-principle. So, then, he teaches in this symbol that the mind, whole and complete, should, as it moves with measured tread passing circle-wise through every phase of word and intention and deed, shew its willingness to do God’s service. ", + "[206] The direction to wash the belly and the feet is highly symbolical. Under the figure of the belly he signifies the lust which it is well to clean away, saturated as it is with stains and pollutions, with wine-bibbing and sottishness, a mighty force for ill, trained and drilled to work havoc in the life of men.", + "[207] By the washing of the feet is meant that his steps should be no longer on earth but tread the upper air. For the soul of the lover of God does in truth leap from earth to heaven and wing its way on high, eager to take its place in the ranks and share the ordered march of sun and moon and the all-holy, all-harmonious host of the other stars, marshalled and led by the God Whose kingship none can dispute or usurp, the kingship by which everything is justly governed.", + "[208] The division of the animal into its limbs indicates either that all things are one or that they come from and return to one, an alternation which is called by some Fullness and Want,  by others a General Conflagration and Reconstruction,  the Conflagration being the state when the supremacy of heat has prevailed over the rest, the Reconstruction when the four elements, by concession to each other, obtain equilibrium.", + "[209] My own reflections lead me to think the following a more correct explanation. The soul which honours the Existent having the Existent Himself only in view, ought to honour Him not irrationally nor ignorantly, but with knowledge and reason. And when we reason about Him we recognize in Him partition and division into each of the Divine powers and excellences. For God is good, He is the maker and begetter of the universe and His providence is over what He has begotten; He is a saviour and a benefactor, and has the plenitude of all blessedness and all happiness. Each of these attributes calls for veneration and praise, both separately in itself and when ranked with its congeners.", + "[210] So, too, it is with the rest.  When, my mind, thou wishest to give thanks to God for the creation of the universe, give it both for the sum of things and for its principal parts, thinking of them as the limbs of a living creature of the utmost perfection. Such parts are heaven and sun and moon and the planets and fixed stars; then again earth and the living creatures or plants thereon, then the sea and rivers, whether spring-fed or winter courses, and all they contain: then the air and its phases, for winter and summer, spring and autumn, those seasons which recur annually and are so highly beneficial to our life, are different conditions in the air which changes for the preservation of sublunar things.", + "[211] And if thou givest thanks for man, do not do so only for the whole genus but for its species and most essential parts, for men and women, for Greeks and barbarians, for dwellers on the mainland and those whose lot is cast in the islands. And if it is for a single person, divide the thanksgiving as reason directs, not into every tiny part of him down to the very last, but into those of primary importance, first of all into body and soul of which he is composed, then into speech and mind and sense. For thanks for each of these will by itself be not unworthy to obtain audience with God." + ], + [ + "[212] Enough has now been said on the whole burnt-offering. We must now consider in its turn the preservation-offering.  In this case it is a matter of indifference whether the victim is male or female. When it has been slain these three, the fat, the lobe  of the liver and the two kidneys, are set apart for the altar, while the rest serves as a feast to be enjoyed by the person who has offered the sacrifice.", + "[213] But why these parts of the inwards are consecrated must be carefully considered, not neglecting the following point. In the course of my reflections I have often pondered deeply on this question also; what could be the reason why the law, when setting apart the lobe of the liver and the kidneys and the fat as a tribute reserved from the animals sacrificed, did not include either the heart or the brains, since the dominant principle resides in one or other of them. ", + "[214] And I expect the same question will present itself to not a few of those who read the holy scriptures with their understanding rather than with their eyes. If such persons after examination find a more convincing reason, they will benefit both themselves and me; if not I beg them to consider whether that which has commended itself to my mind will stand the test. It is as follows. The dominant principle is the only part of us which admits and retains folly and injustice and cowardice and the other vices, and the home of this principle is one or other of the two just mentioned,", + "[215] namely, the brain and the heart. The holy word, therefore, thought good that the altar of God, by which is given absolution and complete remission of all sins and transgressions, should not be approached by the container in which mind had its lair when it came forth to tread the pathless wilds of injustice and impiety, turning away from the road which leads to virtue and noble conduct. For it would be foolish to have the sacrifices working remembrance instead of oblivion of sin. This seems to me the reason why neither of the parts which hold the pre-eminence, the brain or the heart, is brought to the altar.", + "[216] As for the parts which are actually prescribed, appropriate reasons can be given for the choice. The fat is the richest part and acts as a protection to the inwards, serving as a covering and a source of richness to them and benefiting them by the softness of its contact. The kidneys are chosen because of their relation to the testicles and generative organs; situated beside them they give them neighbourly assistance, and co-operate in promoting the easy passage of nature’s seed unimpeded by any of the adjacent parts. For the kidneys themselves are blood-coloured receptacles in which the moist off-scouring of the excrement is secreted, and contiguous to them are the testicles which create the stream of the semen. The lobe is a sample tribute from the most important of the inwards, the liver, by which the food is converted into blood and then being sluiced into the heart, is conveyed through the veins for the conservation of the whole body.", + "[217] For the orifice of the stomach being adjacent to the gullet receives the food which has been first bitten off by the teeth and afterwards masticated, and by its action prepares it for the stomach itself. This receives it from the orifice and performs the second office to which it has been appointed by nature, by turning it into juice. And from the stomach there are two pipe-shaped channels extending to the liver and draining the food into the receptacles which lie at intervals therein.", + "[218] Now the liver has two properties: it acts both as a sifter and a creator of blood. As a sifter it secretes all the hard and callous stuff into the adjacent bile-vessel, while in its other capacity by means of the heat which it contains it turns the pure liquid which has been strained off into blood full of life-giving powers, then presses this blood into the heart, whence, as we have said, it is sluiced into the veins, and coursing through the whole body becomes its sustenance.", + "[219] There is another point to be added to these statements. The liver has been made so as to lie high  and be exceedingly smooth, and in virtue of its smoothness it plays the part of a mirror of the utmost brightness. In consequence when the mind withdrawing from its daytime cares, with the body paralyzed in sleep and the obstruction of every sense removed, begins to turn itself about and concentrate upon the pure observation of its concepts, it looks into the liver as into a mirror where it gains a lucid view of all that mind can perceive and, while its gaze travels round the images to see whether they contain any ugly defect, it eschews all such and selects their opposites, and so, well satisfied  with all the visions presented to it, prophesies future events through the medium of dreams." + ], + [ + "[220] Two days only are allowed for the use of the preservation-offering as food, and nothing is to be left over till the third day. This for several reasons. One is, that all the meats of the sacred table must be eaten without undue delay, care being taken that they should not deteriorate through lapse of time. It is the nature of stale flesh to decay rapidly, even though seasoned with spices as preservatives.", + "[221] Another reason is, that the sacrificial meals should not be hoarded, but be free and open to all who have need, for they are now the property not of him by whom but of Him to Whom the victim has been sacrificed, He the benefactor, the bountiful, Who has made the convivial company of those who carry out the sacrifices partners of the altar whose board they share. And He bids them not think of themselves as the entertainers, for they are the stewards of the good cheer, not the hosts. The Host is He to Whom the material provided for the feast has come to belong, and this must not be stowed away out of sight, and niggardliness, the vice of the slave, preferred to kindliness, the virtue of gentle birth.", + "[222] The final reason is, that the preservation-offering is in fact made in behalf of two, namely soul and body, to each of which he assigned one day for feasting on the flesh. For it was meet that an equal space of time should be appointed for those elements of our nature which are capable of being preserved, so that on the first day as we eat we obtain a reminder of the soul’s preservation, on the morrow of the body’s good health.", + "[223] And since there is no third thing which, properly speaking, could be the subject of preservation, he strictly forbade the use of the oblation as food on the third day, and commanded that if anything was left over through ignorance or inadvertence, it should immediately be consumed by fire. Even him who had tasted it and nothing more he declares to be guilty. “Poor fool,” he says to him, “thou thinkest to have sacrificed, though thou hast not done so. Sacrilegious, unholy, profane, impure, is the meat which thou hast dressed. I accept it not, base glutton, who even in thy dreams hast caught no glimpse of what sacrifice means.”" + ], + [ + "[224] Under the head of the preservation-offering is embraced what is called the praise-offering.  The principle of this is as follows. He who has never at all met with any untoward happening, either of soul or body or things external, who lives a life of peace undisturbed by war, placed in an environment of every comfort and good fortune, free from disaster and cause of stumbling, sailing in straight course over the long sea of life amid the sunshine and calm of happy circumstances, with the breeze of prosperity ever behind the helm, has as his bounden duty to requite God his pilot, Who gives him safety untouched by disease, benefits carrying no penalty and in general good unmixed with evil—requite Him, I say, with hymns and benedictions and prayers and sacrifices and the other expressions of gratitude as religion demands. All these collected and summed up have obtained the single name of praise.", + "[225] For the consumption of this sacrifice one day only is allowed, not two as in the former case of the preservation-offering, that those into whose hands benefits have fallen so readily should make repayment with readiness and without delay." + ], + [ + "[226] So much for these. We must next examine the third kind of sacrifice which bears the name of sin-offering.  Here we have several divisions, both according to the persons concerned and the kinds of victims. As to persons, the high priest is distinguished from the whole nation and the rulers  as a class from the men of the common people. As to victims, they may be a male calf, a he-goat, a she-goat or ewe-lamb.", + "[227] Another distinction made is one which is most essential between voluntary and involuntary sins. For those who have acknowledged their sin are changing their way for the better, and while they reproach themselves for their errors are seeking a blameless life as their new goal.", + "[228] The sins, then, of the high priest and those of the whole nation are purged with an animal of the same value; in both cases it is directed that a male calf should be brought. For the sins of the ruler one of less value is ordered, though this too is a male, namely a he-goat; for the sins of the commoner, one still more inferior in kind, a female offering instead of a male, that is, a she-goat.", + "[229] For it was proper that in matters of sacrifice the ruler should fare better than the commoner and the nation than the ruler, since the whole should always be superior to the part; also that the high priest should be adjudged the same precedence as the nation in their purification and supplication for forgiveness of wrongdoings from the merciful power of God. But the equality of honour which the high priest enjoys is evidently not so much on his own account as because he is the servant of the nation also, giving thanks in common for all through the holiest of prayers and the purest of sacrifices.", + "[230] Deeply and wonderfully impressive is the form of command in this matter. “If the high priest,” it says, “sins involuntarily,” and then adds, “so that the people sin,” words which almost amount to a plain statement from which we may learn that the true high priest who is not falsely so-called is immune from sin, and if ever he slips, it will be something imposed on him not because of what he does himself, but because of some lapse common to the nation. And that lapse is not incurable but admits easily of healing treatment.", + "[231] So when the calf has been slaughtered he bids the priest to sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times over against the veil at the inner shrine, beyond the first veil, at the place where the most sacred chattels have been set, and then anoint and smear the four horns of the altar of incense, corresponding to its four sides, and pour the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar in the open air.", + "[232] To this altar he is commanded to bring three things, the fat and the lobe of the liver and the two kidneys, as in the ordinance of the preservation-offering. But the skin and the flesh and all the rest of the body of the calf from head to foot, with the inwards, are to be carried outside and burnt in a clear and open space  whither the holy ashes from the altar also are conveyed. The same rules are laid down by law in the case where the sin lies with the whole nation.", + "[233] But if a trespass is committed by a ruler, he purges himself with a he-goat, as I have said; if by one of the common people, with a she-goat or a ewe-lamb. For he assigned the male animal to the ruler, the female to the commoner, while the other regulations which he made are similar for both persons, namely, that the horns of the open-air altar should be anointed with the blood, the fat and the lobe of the liver and the two kidneys offered at the altar and the rest given to the priests to eat." + ], + [ + "[234] But since sins are sometimes committed against men, sometimes against things sacred and holy, besides the regulations already stated for dealing with involuntary offences against men, he lays down that in the case of the holy things the purificatory propitiation should be made with a ram, the offenders having first made full compensation for the subject of the trespass with the addition of a fifth part of its proper value.", + "[235] These and similar regulations for involuntary offences are followed by his ordinances for such as are voluntary.  “If,” he says, “a man lies about a partnership or a deposit or a robbery or as to finding the lost property of someone else, and, being suspected and put upon his oath, swears to the falsehood—if then after having apparently escaped conviction by his accusers he becomes, convicted inwardly by his conscience, his own accuser, reproaches himself for his disavowals and perjuries, makes a plain confession of the wrong he has committed and asks for pardon—", + "[236]then the lawgiver orders that forgiveness be extended to such a person on condition that he verifies his repentance not by a mere promise but by his actions, by restoring the deposit or the property which he has seized or found or in any way usurped from his neighbour, and further has paid an additional fifth as a solatium for the offence.", + "[237] And when he has thus propitiated the injured person he must follow it up, says the lawgiver, by proceeding to the temple to ask for remission of his sins, taking with him as his irreproachable advocate the soul-felt conviction which has saved him from a fatal disaster, allayed a deadly disease, and brought him round to complete health.", + "[238] For him, too, the sacrifice prescribed is a ram, as also for the offender in sacred matters. For the lawgiver rated the involuntary sin in the sacred sphere as equal to voluntary sin in the human, though indeed this last also is perhaps a desecration, since it is supplemented by an oath sworn under dishonest conditions, though rectified by the man’s conversion to the better course.", + "[239] It must be noticed, however, that while the parts of the sin-offering laid upon the altar are the same as in the case of the preservation-offering, namely the lobe of the liver, the fat and the kidneys—a natural arrangement because the penitent also is preserved or saved by escape from the soul-sickness which is more grievous than any which affects the body—", + "[240]the conditions under which the other parts of the animal are appointed to serve for food are different. The difference is threefold, in the place, in the time and in the recipients.  The place is the temple, the time one day instead of two, and the participants are priests, not those who offer the sacrifices: also they are male priests. ", + "[241] The prohibition against carrying the flesh outside the temple is due to his wish that any sin which the penitent has previously committed should not be made notorious through the ill-judged judgements and unbridled tongues of malicious and acrimonious persons, and blazed abroad as a subject for contumelious and censorious talk, but be confined within the sacred precincts which have also been the scene of the purification." + ], + [ + "[242] The command that the sacrifice should serve as a feast for the priests is due to several reasons. First, to do honour to the givers of the sacrifice, for the dignity of the guests reflects glory on their entertainers; secondly, to secure them firmly in the belief that the graciousness of God extends to those who feel remorse for their sin. For He would never have called His servitors and ministers to share the hospitality of such a table if full pardon had not been given. Thirdly, because none of the priests is permitted to perform the rites if he is not wholly sound, for the slightest blemish causes him to be thrust from office. ", + "[243] In fact he encourages those who no longer tread the path of wrongdoing with the thought that their resolution to purify themselves has given them a place in the sacerdotal caste and advanced them to equal honour with the priest. For a similar reason the flesh of the sin-offering is consumed in a single day, showing that in sin we should procrastinate and be slow and dilatory in approaching it, but when the achievement of righteousness is our goal, act with speed and promptitude.", + "[244]The victims immolated in behalf of the high priest or the nation as atonement for trespassing are not dressed to serve as food but are consumed by fire on the sacred ashes, as I have said. For there is no one superior to the high priest or the nation to act as intercessor for the sinners.", + "[245] It is natural therefore that the flesh should be consumed by fire in imitation of the whole-burnt-offerings to do honour to the persons concerned, not because God’s holy judgements are given by considerations of position but because the sins of the greatly virtuous and the truly sacred are such as to be regarded as acts of righteousness if done by others.", + "[246] For as the fields where the soil is deep and rich, even if they are sometimes unproductive, bear more fruit than those where it is naturally thin and poor, so too we find in virtuous and God-loving persons that their unproductiveness of positive goodness is better than the fortuitous righteous actions  of the bad whose nature does not allow them ever to act intentionally in an honest way." + ], + [ + "[247] After laying down these ordinances about each particular kind of sacrifice, whole-burnt-offering, preservation-offering and sin-offering, he institutes rules for another which partakes of the three, to shew the friendship and kinship which exists between them. This connecting link between them is called the Great Vow. ", + "[248] I must explain why it has acquired this name. When people have paid first-fruits of every part of their property, in wheat, barley, oil, wine and their finest orchard-fruits and also in the first-born males of their livestock, consecrated in the case of the clean species and valued at an adequate compensation in the case of the unclean, as they have no more material resources with which to give a pledge of their piety, they dedicate and consecrate themselves, thus shewing an amazing sanctification and a surpassing devotion to God. And therefore it is fitly called the Great Vow, for his own self is the greatest possession which anyone has, and this self he forgoes and puts himself outside it.", + "[249] When he has made the vow, the lawgiver gives him the following instructions. First, he must not take any strong drink nor anything “which he makes from the grape” nor drink any other intoxicant to the overthrow of his reason, but hold himself to be serving as priest during that time. For indeed such priests as are performing the rites have to quench their thirst with water and are forbidden intoxicants.", + "[250] Secondly, he must not shave the hairs of his head, thus giving a clear symbol to the eye that he does not debase the sterling coinage of his vow. Thirdly, he must keep his body pure and undefiled to the extent of abstaining from contact with parents or brothers after death, thus letting his kindly affection and fellow-feeling with the closest and dearest yield to piety that victory which it is both honourable and profitable that it should always win." + ], + [ + "[251] When the final day as appointed has come, the law bids him bring, to release him from his vow, three animals, a he-lamb, a ewe-lamb and a ram, the first for a whole-burnt-offering, the ewe-lamb as a sin-offering, and the ram as a preservation-offering.", + "[252] For all these find their likeness in the maker of the vow: the whole-burnt-offering, because he surrenders not only the other first-fruits and gifts but also his own self; the sin-offering, because he is a man, since even the perfect man, in so far as he is a created being, never escapes from sinning; the preservation-offering, because he has acknowledged and adopted the real preserver, God, as the author of his preservation instead of the physicians and their faculties of healing. For the physicians are mortals ready to perish, unable to secure health even for themselves, and their faculties are not beneficial to all persons nor always to the same persons, but sometimes do great harm: there is Another who is invested with lordship over such faculties and those who exercise them.", + "[253] I note, and it is a very striking point, that in the three animals brought for the different sacrifices there is no difference of species. They are all of the same species, a ram, a he-lamb and a ewe-lamb. For the law wishes to show in this way what I mentioned a little before, that the three kinds of sacrifice are sisters of one family, because the penitent is preserved and the person preserved from the maladies of his soul repents, and both of them are pressing forward to that perfect and wholly sound frame of mind of which the whole-burnt-offering is a symbol.", + "[254] Another point—the votary has vowed to bring himself, and while it would be sacrilege that the altar should be defiled by human blood, it was quite necessary that some part of him should be sacrificially offered. The part, therefore, which his zeal prompted him to take was one which can be removed without causing either pain or mutilation. He cut off the hairs of his head, which are to the body like the superfluous branches in the vegetation of a tree,  and gave them to the fire in which the flesh of the preservation-offering is cooked, a fitting proceeding to secure that at least some part of the votary’s self which cannot be lawfully brought to the altar should be merged in and share the nature of sacrifice  by serving as fuel to a holy flame." + ], + [ + "[255] These rules apply to the laity in common, but the priests also had to make offerings of first-fruits to the altar, and not suppose that the services and ministrations to which they were appointed entitled them to immunity. The first-fruits suitable for the priest are not taken from any animal with blood in its veins, but from the purest form of human food.", + "[256] Fine flour constitutes their perpetual sacrifice, a tenth part of the sacred measure for every day, half offered in the morning and half in the evening. It is fried in oil and none of it is left over to be eaten. For it is a divine command that every sacrifice offered by a priest should be wholly consumed by fire and none of it set apart for food.", + "We have described to the best of our ability the regulations for sacrifices and will next proceed to speak of those who offer them." + ], + [ + "[257] The law would have such a person pure in body and soul, the soul purged of its passions and distempers and infirmities and every viciousness of word and deed, the body of the defilements which commonly beset it.", + "[258] For each it devised the purification which befitted it. For the soul it used the animals which the worshipper is providing  for sacrifice, for the body sprinklings and ablutions of which we will speak a little later. For precedence in speech as well as elsewhere must be given to the higher and more dominant element in ourselves,", + "[259] the soul. How then is the soul purified? “Note, friend,” says the lawgiver, “how perfect and utterly free from blemish is the victim which you bring selected as the best of many by the priests with all impartiality of mind and clearness of vision, the result of the continued practice which has trained them to faultless discrimination. For if you observe this with your reason rather than with your eyes you will proceed to wash away the sins and defilements with which you have besmeared your whole life, some involuntary and accidental,", + "[260] some due to your own free will. For you will find that all this careful scrutiny of the animal is a symbol representing in a figure the reformation of your own conduct, for the law does not prescribe for unreasoning creatures, but for those who have mind and reason. It is anxious not that the victims should be without flaw but that those who offer them should not suffer from any corroding passion.", + "[261] As for the body, it purifies it with ablutions and sprinklings and does not allow the person to be sprinkled and washed once for all and then pass straightway within the sacred precincts, but bids him stay outside for seven days and be twice sprinkled on the third and seventh day, and after that, when he has bathed himself, it gives him full security to come within and offer his sacrifice." + ], + [ + "[262] The following regulation also shews a farsighted wisdom which should be noted. In almost all other cases men used unmixed water for the sprinkling. By most people it is taken from the sea, by others from the rivers, and by others it is drawn in ewers from the wells.  But Moses first provided ashes, the remnants of the sacred fire, obtained in a manner which will be explained shortly. Some of these, he says, are to be taken and thrown into a vessel and afterwards have water poured upon them. Then the priests are to dip branches of hyssop in the mixture and sprinkle with it those who are being purged.", + "[263] The reason for this may be aptly stated as follows. Moses would have those who come to serve Him that IS first know themselves and of what substance these selves are made. For how should he who has no knowledge of himself be able to apprehend the power of God which is above all and transcends all?", + "[264] Now the substance of which our body consists is earth and water, and of this he reminds us in the rite of purging. For he holds that the most profitable form of purification is just this, that a man should know himself and the nature of the elements of which he is composed, ashes and water, so little worthy of esteem.", + "[265] For if he recognizes this, he will straightway turn away from the insidious enemy, self-conceit, and abasing his pride become well-pleasing to God and claim the aid of His gracious power Who hates arrogance. For that is a good text  which tells us that he who sets his hand to words and deeds of pride “provokes” not only men, but also “God,” the author of equality and all that is most excellent.", + "[266] So then, whilst they are being thus sprinkled, deeply moved and roused as they are, they can almost hear the voice of the elements themselves, earth and water, say plainly to them, “We are the substance of which your body consists: we it is whom nature blended and with divine craftsmanship made into the shape of human form. Out of us you were framed when you came into being and into us you will be resolved again when you have to die. For nothing is so made as to disappear into non-existence. Whence it came in the beginning, thither will it return in the end.”" + ], + [ + "[267] I must now also fulfil my promise to describe the special qualities of these ashes. They are not merely the ashes of wood consumed by fire but also of a living creature well-suited to a rite of purification such as this.", + "[268] He orders a red heifer which has never been yoked and without blemish to be taken outside the city and there slaughtered. Then the high priest is to take of the blood and sprinkle it seven times over everything in front of the sanctuary, then burn it wholly to ashes with the skin and flesh and blood and the belly filled with its ordure. When the flame is dying down, he is to cast right into the middle these three things, cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet wool. Then if it is quite extinguished, a clean man is to collect the ashes and deposit them outside the city in a clean place. ", + "[269] What these things symbolically indicate has been described in full elsewhere where we have expounded the allegory.  So we see that they who mean to resort to the temple to take part in sacrifice must needs have their bodies made clean and bright,  and before their bodies their souls. For the soul is queen and mistress, superior to the body in every way because a diviner nature has been allotted to it. The mind is cleansed by wisdom and the truths of wisdom’s teaching which guide its steps to the contemplation of the universe and all that is therein, and by the sacred company of the other virtues and by the practice of them shewn in noble and highly praiseworthy actions.", + "[270] He, then, who is adorned with these may come with boldness to the sanctuary as his true home, the best of all mansions, there to present himself as victim. But anyone whose heart is the seat of lurking covetousness and wrongful cravings should remain still and hide his face in confusion and curb the shameless madness which would rashly venture where caution is profitable. For the holy place of the truly Existent is closed ground to the unholy.", + "[271] To such a one I would say, “Good sir, God does not rejoice in sacrifices even if one offer hecatombs, for all things are His possessions, yet though He possesses  He needs none of them, but He rejoices in the will to love Him and in men that practise holiness, and from these He accepts plain meal or barley,  and things of least price, holding them most precious rather than those of highest cost.”", + "[272] And indeed though the worshippers bring nothing else, in bringing themselves they offer the best of sacrifices, the full and truly perfect oblation of noble living,  as they honour with hymns and thanksgivings their Benefactor and Saviour, God, sometimes with the organs of speech, sometimes without tongue or lips, when within the soul alone their minds recite the tale or utter the cry of praise. These one ear only can apprehend, the ear of God, for human hearing cannot reach to the perception of such." + ], + [ + "[273] That what I have said above is true and is the word not of myself but of nature is attested not only by its self-evident certitude which provides clear grounds of belief to those who do not out of contentiousness cultivate disbelief, but also by the law which commanded two altars to be constructed differing in materials and situations and in the use to which they were applied. ", + "[274] For one of these was built of stones picked up and left unhewn, and it was set in the open air beside the avenues to the sanctuary and was to be used for blood-offerings. The other was formed of the purest gold; it was set in the inner shrine within the first veil, not to be seen by any except such priests as were in a state of purity,  and it was to be used for frankincense-offerings.", + "[275] This clearly shews that even the least morsel of incense offered by a man of religion is more precious in the sight of God than thousands of cattle sacrificed by men of little worth. For as gold is better than casual stones and all in the inner shrine more sacred than what stands outside, so and in the same measure is the thank-offering of incense superior to that of the blood of beasts.", + "[276] And therefore the altar of incense receives special honour, not only in the costliness of its material, its construction and its situation, but by taking every day the earlier place in subserving the thanksgiving which men render to God. For it is not permitted to bring the victim of the whole-burnt-offering outside until the incense has been offered inside at the first glimpse of day. ", + "[277] The symbolical meaning is just this and nothing else: that what is precious in the sight of God is not the number of victims immolated but the true purity of a rational spirit in him who makes the sacrifice. Can you think that if the judge whose heart is set on giving righteous judgement will not take gifts from any of the litigants, or if he does take them will be open to the charge of bribery; if again the good man will not receive them from the bad, though both are men, and the one perhaps in need and the other rich—can you think, I say, that God can be corrupted, God Who is absolutely sufficient to Himself and needs nothing of anything created, and being as He is the primal good, the consummation of perfection, the perennial fountain of wisdom and justice and every virtue, turns His face from the gifts of the unjust?", + "[278] And is not he who proffers them the most shameless of men when he gives to God a share of the profits of his thefts or robbery or denial of a just debt or refusal to pay it, and treats Him as a partner in his wickedness and greed? To such a one I would say “Most miserable of wretches, there are only two alternatives: You expect that your conduct will either be unobserved by God or patent to Him.", + "[279] If the former, you little know the power by which He sees all and hears all: if the latter, your audacity is beyond measure. When you should hide your face in shame for the sins you have committed, you make an open show of the outward signs of your iniquity and, priding yourself on them, assign a share to God. You bring Him the first-fruits of unholiness and have not reflected that the law does not admit of lawlessness nor sunlight of darkness. But God is the archetype on which laws are modelled: He is the sun of the sun, in the realm of mind what that is in the realm of sense, and from invisible fountains He supplies the visible beams to the sun which our eyes behold.”", + "[280] There is a very excellent ordinance inscribed in the sacred tables of the law, that the hire of a harlot should not be brought into the temple;  the hire, that is, of one who has sold her personal charms and chosen a scandalous life for the sake of the wages of shame.", + "[281] But if the gifts of one who has played the harlot are unholy, surely more unholy still are the gifts of the soul which has committed whoredom, which has thrown itself away into ignominy and the lowest depths of outrageous conduct, into wine-bibbing and gluttony, into the love of money, of reputation, of pleasure, and numberless other forms of passion and soul-sickness and vice. What length of time can purge away the stains of these? None, to my knowledge.", + "[282] The harlots’ traffic indeed is often brought to a close by old age, since when the freshness of their charm is passed, all cease to seek them now that their bloom is faded like the bloom of flowers. But as for the soul, when by constant familiarity with incontinence it has been schooled into harlotry, what agelong stretch of years can convert it to decent living? Not even the longest, but only God, with Whom that is possible which is impossible with us.", + "[283] So he who intends to sacrifice must consider not whether the victim is unblemished but whether his own mind stands free from defect and imperfection. Further, let him examine the motives which determine him to make the offering. For either he is giving thanks for benefits already received or is asking for security in his tenure of present blessings or for acquisition of others to come, or for deliverance from evils, either present or expected, and all these demand that he should put himself into a condition of mental health and safety.", + "[284] For if he is offering thanks for what has already been granted, let him not shew ingratitude by falling from the state of virtue in which he received these boons. Or if he is securing present blessings or has bright expectations for the future, let him shew himself by good conduct worthy of such happy events. Or if he is seeking to escape from some ills, let none of his actions be deserving of chastisement and punishment." + ], + [ + "[285] The fire on the altar, he tells us, will burn continuously and not be extinguished.  That, I think, is natural and fitting, for since the gracious gifts of God granted daily and nightly to men are perennial, unfailing and unceasing, the symbol of thankfulness also, the sacred flame, should be kept alight and remain unextinguished for ever.", + "[286] Perhaps also he wishes in this way to employ the abiding presence of the same fire by which all the sacrifices are consecrated to unite them, old and new alike,  and thus shew that they carry out perfectly the duty of giving thanks, however numberless are the differences in the resources on which they are based, according as the oblations are lavishly abundant or on the other hand scanty.", + "[287] This is the literal account: the inner meaning must be observed by the laws of allegory. The true altar of God is the thankful soul of the Sage, compacted of perfect virtues unsevered  and undivided, for no part of virtue is useless.", + "[288] On this soul-altar the sacred light is ever burning and carefully kept unextinguished, and the light of the mind is wisdom, just as the darkness of the soul is folly. For knowledge is to the reason what the light of our senses is to the eye: as that gives the apprehension of material things, so does knowledge lead to the contemplation of things immaterial and conceptual, and its beam shines for ever, never dimmed nor quenched." + ], + [ + "[289] After this he says, “On every gift ye shall offer salt,”  by which he signifies, as I have said before, complete permanence. Salt acts as a preservative to bodies, ranking in this as second in honour to the life-principle. For just as the life-principle causes bodies to escape corruption, so does salt, which more than anything else keeps them together and makes them in a sense immortal.", + "[290] From the same point of view he called the altar a sacrifice-keeper,  evidently giving it that special and distinctive name from its preserving the sacrifices, though the flesh is consumed by fire. And thus we have the clearest proof that he holds the sacrifice to consist not in the victims but in the offerer’s intention and his zeal which derives its constancy and permanence from virtue. He adds,", + "[291] too, a further enactment by which he orders every sacrifice to be offered without honey or leaven.  Both these substances he considers unfit to be brought to the altar: honey perhaps because the bee which collects it is an unclean animal, bred from the putrescence and corruption of dead oxen, we are told, just as wasps are from the carcasses of horses ;", + "[292] or else he forbids it as a symbol of the utter unholiness of excessive pleasure which tastes sweet as it passes through the throat but afterwards produces bitter and persistent pains which of necessity shake and agitate the soul and make it unable to stand firmly in its place.", + "[293] Leaven is forbidden because of the rising which it produces. Here again we have a symbol of the truth, that none as he approaches the altar should be uplifted or puffed up by arrogance; Rather gazing on the greatness of God, let him gain a perception of the weakness which belongs to the creature, even though he may be superior to others in prosperity; and having been thus led to the reasonable conclusion, let him reduce the overweening exaltation of his pride by laying low that pestilent enemy, conceit.", + "[294] For if the Creator and Maker of the universe, though needing nothing of all that He has begotten, has regard to your weakness and not to the vastness of His might and sovereignty, makes you a partaker in His gracious power and fills up the deficiencies that belong to your life, how ought you to treat other men, your natural kinsfolk, seedlings from the same elements as yourself, you who brought nothing into the world,", + "[295] not even yourself? For naked you came into the world, worthy sir, and naked will you again depart, and the span of time between your birth and death is a loan to you from God. During this span what can be meet for you to do but to study fellow-feeling and goodwill and equity and humanity and what else belongs to virtue, and to cast away the inequitable, unrighteous and unforgiving viciousness which turns man, naturally the most civilized of creatures, into a wild and ferocious animal!" + ], + [ + "[296] Again he commands that the lamps on the sacred candlestick within the veil should be kept burning from evening till early morning.  He has several objects in this. One is, that the holy places should be illuminated when the daylight leaves them and thus remain ever exempt from darkness, in this resembling the stars. For they when the sun has set display their own light instead and do not forsake their place in the cosmic order.", + "[297] A second object was, that at night-time also some rites of the same kith and kin as those of the day-time should be performed for the service of God, and that no time or season should omit its thanksgiving. And to shew our thankfulness the sacrificial offering, for sacrificial it may quite properly be called, most suitable and appropriate to the night is the radiance of that most sacred light in the inner shrine.", + "[298] There is a third reason, a very cogent one: Not only in our waking hours do we experience blessings, but also in our slumbers. For God the bountiful has provided our mortal race with a great support in the form of sleep, whereby both body and soul are benefited. The body is released from the labours of the day, the soul relaxes its anxious cares and retreats into itself, away from the press and clamour of the senses, and can then, if at no other time, enjoy privacy and commune with itself. Rightly therefore did the law determine so to apportion the thank-offerings that thankfulness is expressed for our waking time by the victims brought to the altar, for sleep and the benefits which it gives by the lighting of the sacred lamps." + ], + [ + "[299] These and similar injunctions to piety are given in the law in the form of direct commands and prohibitions. Others which have now to be described are of the nature of homilies giving admonitions and exhortations. Addressing himself to the mind of man he says,  “God asks nothing from thee that is heavy or complicated or difficult, but only something quite simple and easy.", + "[300] And this is just to love Him as a benefactor, or failing this to fear Him at least as a ruler and lord, and to tread in every way that will lead thee to please Him, to serve Him not half-heartedly but with thy whole soul filled with the determination to love Him and to cling to His commandments and to honour justice.”", + "[Among all these things God Himself remains with a nature which changes not. But of all else that is in the universe, what is there that changes for the better? Sun or moon or the multitude of the other stars or the whole heaven? And on earth do the mountains grow to a loftier height or the lowlands widen forth as liquids spread when poured out? Is the sea converted into fresh water or do the rivers become equal in magnitude to the seas? No, each remains firmly stayed in the same limits in which they were set at the very first when He made them. But thou, by living a blameless life, wilt change for the better.]", + "[301] Which of these is painful or laborious? You have not to cross great waters where no ship has sailed and in the heart of winter to brave the deep, tossed up and down by the surging of the waves and the violence of opposing winds, or to foot it over rough and untrodden wilds where no road is, in perpetual dread of assault from robbers or wild beasts, or to pass the night unsheltered as a sentry on the walls, threatened with the gravest perils from the enemy ever watchful for their chance. No, away with such thoughts. In good matters let there be no talk of discomfort, nothing but happy words to describe things so profitable.", + "[302] Only must the soul give its assent and everything is there ready to your hand. Do you not know that to God belongs both the heaven perceived by sense and that known to thought alone, which may quite properly be called the “heaven of heaven,”  again the earth and its contents and all the universe, both the visible and the invisible and immaterial, the pattern of the visible?" + ], + [ + "[303] Yet out of the whole human race He chose as of special merit and judged worthy of pre-eminence over all, those who are in a true sense men,  and called them to the service of Himself, the perennial fountain of things excellent, from which He sends the shower of the other virtues gushing forth to give drink, delicious and most beneficial, and conferring immortality as much as or more than nectar. ", + "[304] Pitiable and miserable are all those who have not feasted to the full on virtue’s draught, and greatest is the lasting misery of those who have never tasted the cup of noble living when they might revel in the delights of righteousness and holiness.", + "But some  are uncircumcised in heart, says the law,  and through their hardness of temper disobedient to the rein, plunging in unruly fashion and fighting against the yoke.", + "[305] These he admonishes with the words, “Circumcise the hardness of your hearts!” make speed, that is, to prune away from the ruling mind the superfluous overgrowths  sown and raised by the immoderate appetites of the passions and planted by folly, the evil husbandman of the soul. And let not your neck be hard,", + "[306] he continues: that is, let not your mind be unbending and exceedingly unruly, nor in its much frowardness pursue that wilful ignorance which is so fraught with mischief, but casting aside as an enemy all that is naturally indocile and intractable, change over to docility, ready to obey the laws of nature.", + "[307] Cannot you see that the primal and chief powers belonging to the Existent are the beneficent and the punitive? And the beneficent is called God because by this He set out  and ordered the world; the other is called Lord, being that by which He is invested with the sovereignty of all that is. But He is the God not only of men but also of gods, and the ruler not only of commoners but of rulers, and being truly existent, He is great and strong and mighty." + ], + [ + "[308] Yet vast as are his excellences and powers, he takes pity and compassion on those most helplessly in need, and does not disdain to give judgement to strangers or orphans or widows. He holds their low estate worthy of His providential care, while of kings and despots and great potentates He takes no account.", + "[309] He provides for the incomers because forsaking the ancestral customs in which they were bred, customs packed with false inventions and vanity, they have crossed over to piety in whole-hearted love of simplicity and truth, and rendering to Him that truly exists the supplication and service which are His right, partake in due course of His protecting care in the measure that fits their case, and gain in the help that He gives the fruit of making God their refuge.", + "[310] He provides for the orphans and widows because they have lost their protectors, in the first case parents, in the second husbands, and in this desolation no refuge remains that men can give; and therefore they are not denied the hope that is greatest of all, the hope in God, Who in the graciousness of His nature does not refuse the task of caring for and watching over them in this desolate condition.", + "[311] Let God alone be thy boast and thy chief glory, he continues, and pride thyself neither on riches nor on reputation nor dominion nor comeliness nor strength of body, nor any such thing, whereby the hearts of the empty-minded are wont to be lifted up. Consider in the first place that these things have nothing in them of the nature of the true good; secondly, how quickly comes the hour of their passing, how they wither away, as it were, before their flower has come to its strength.", + "[312] Let us follow after the good that is stable, unswerving, unchangeable, and hold fast to our service as His suppliants and worshippers. ", + "So if we are victorious over our enemies, let us not affect their impious ways in which they think to show their piety by burning their sons and daughters to their gods.", + "[313] This does not mean that all the outside nations have a custom of giving their children to the fire. They have not become so savage in nature as to bring themselves to do in peace to their nearest and dearest what they would not do in wartime to their enemies in the field or to the objects of their implacable hatred. Rather the words refer to that consuming fire in which they veritably destroy the souls of their offspring right from the cradle by failing to imprint on their still tender souls truth-giving conceptions of the one, the truly existent God.", + "Nor yet if defeated let us lose heart or be overcome by their successes as though the victory were due to their piety.", + "[314] To many their temporary pieces of good fortune have proved to be a pitfall, a trap baited with evils vast and fatal. And it may well be that the triumph of the unworthy comes to pass not for their own sake but that we should be more abundantly distressed and afflicted for our unholy deeds; we who, born as citizens of a godly community, reared under laws which incite to every virtue, trained from our earliest years under divinely gifted men, show contempt for their teaching and cling to what truly deserves our contempt, count the serious side of life as child’s-play and what befits the playground as matters of serious import." + ], + [ + "[315] Further if anyone cloaking himself under the name and guise of a prophet and claiming to be possessed by inspiration lead us on to the worship of the gods recognized in the different cities, we ought not to listen to him and be deceived by the name of prophet. For such a one is no prophet, but an impostor, since his oracles and pronouncements are falsehoods invented by himself.", + "[316] And if a brother or son or daughter or wife or a housemate or a friend however true, or anyone else who seems to be kindly disposed, urge us to a like course, bidding us fraternize with the multitude, resort to their temples, and join in their libations and sacrifices, we must punish him as a public and general enemy, taking little thought for the ties which bind us to him; and we must send round a report of his proposals to all the lovers of piety, who will rush with a speed which brooks no delay to take vengeance on the unholy man, and deem it a religious duty to seek his death.", + "[317] For we should have one tie of affinity, one accepted sign of goodwill, namely the willingness to serve God and that our every word and deed promotes the cause of piety. But as for these kinships, as we call them, which have come down from our ancestors and are based on blood-relationship, or those derived from intermarriage or other similar causes, let them all be cast aside if they do not seek earnestly the same goal, namely, the honour of God, which is the indissoluble bond of all the affection which makes us one. For those who are so minded will receive in exchange kinships of greater dignity and sanctity.", + "[318] This promise of mine is confirmed by the law, where it says that they who do “what is pleasing” to nature and what is “good” are sons of God.  For it says, “Ye are sons to your Lord God,” clearly meaning that He will think fit to protect and provide for you as would a father. And how much this watchful care will exceed that of men is measured, believe me, by the surpassing excellence of Him who bestows it." + ], + [ + "[319] Furthermore, he banishes from the sacred legislation  the lore of occult rites and mysteries and all such imposture and buffoonery. He would not have those who were bred in such a commonwealth as ours take part in mummeries and clinging on to mystic fables despise the truth and pursue things which have taken night and darkness for their province, discarding what is fit to bear the light of day. Let none, therefore, of the followers and disciples of Moses either confer or receive initiation to such rites. For both in teacher and taught such action is gross sacrilege.", + "[320] For tell me, ye mystics, if these things are good and profitable, why do you shut yourselves up in profound darkness and reserve their benefits for three or four alone, when by producing them in the midst of the market-place you might extend them to every man and thus enable all to share in security a better and happier life?", + "[321] For virtue has no room in her home for a grudging spirit.  Let those who work mischief feel shame and seek holes and corners of the earth and profound darkness, there lie hid and keep the multitude of their iniquities veiled out of the sight of all. But let those whose actions serve the common weal use freedom of speech and walk in daylight through the midst of the market-place, ready to converse with crowded gatherings, to let the clear sunlight shine upon their own life and through the two most royal senses, sight and hearing, to render good service to the assembled groups, who through the one behold spectacles as marvellous as they are delightful,  and through the other feast on the fresh sweet draught of words  which are wont to gladden the minds of such as are not wholly averse to learning.", + "[322] Cannot you see that nature also does not conceal any of her glorious and admirable works, but displays the stars and the whole heaven to delight us by the sight and to foster the love of philosophy; so too the seas and fountains and rivers and the air so happily tempered by winds and breezes to make the yearly seasons, and the countless varieties of plants and animals and again of fruits—all for the use and enjoyment of men?", + "[323] Were it not well, then, that we should follow her intentions and display in public all that is profitable and necessary for the benefit of those who are worthy to use it? As it is, we often find that no person of good character is admitted to the mysteries, while robbers and pirates and associations of abominable and licentious women, when they offer money to those who conduct the initiatory rites, are sometimes accepted. Let all such persons, then, be banished from the confines of any State or constitution in which morality and truth are honoured for their own sakes. So much for this subject." + ], + [ + "[324] But while the law stands pre-eminent in enjoining fellowship and humanity, it preserves the high position and dignity of both virtues by not allowing anyone whose state is incurable to take refuge with them, but bidding him avaunt and keep his distance.", + "[325] Thus, knowing that in assemblies there are not a few worthless persons who steal their way in and remain unobserved in the large numbers which surround them, it guards against this danger by precluding all the unworthy from entering the holy congregation. It begins with the men who belie their sex and are affected with effemination, who debase the currency of nature and violate it by assuming the passions and the outward form of licentious women. For it expels those whose generative organs are fractured or mutilated,  who husband the flower of their youthful bloom, lest it should quickly wither, and restamp the masculine cast into a feminine form.", + "[326] And it banishes not only harlots, but also the children of harlots  who carry with them their mother’s shame, because their begetting and their birth has been adulterated at the fountain-head and reduced to confusion through the number of their mother’s lovers, so that they cannot recognize or distinguish their real father.", + "[327] This is a topic peculiarly susceptible of allegorical interpretation and full of matter for philosophical study. For the heads under which the impious and unholy can be characterized are not one, but many and different. Some aver that the Incorporeal Ideas or Forms are an empty name devoid of any real substance of fact, and thus they abolish in things the most essential element of their being, namely the archetypal patterns of all qualities in what exists, and on which the form and dimensions of each separate thing was modelled.", + "[328] These the holy tables of the law speak of as “crushed,” for just as anything crushed has lost its quality and form and may be literally said to be nothing more than shapeless matter, so the creed which abolishes the Forms confuses everything and reduces it to the pre-elemental state of existence, that state devoid of shape and quality.", + "[329] Could anything be more preposterous than this? For when out of that confused matter God produced all things, He did not do so with His own handiwork, since His nature, happy and blessed as it was, forbade that He should touch the limitless chaotic matter. Instead He made full use of the incorporeal potencies  well denoted by their name of Forms to enable each kind to take its appropriate shape. But this other creed brings in its train no little disorder and confusion. For by abolishing the agencies which created the qualities, it abolishes the qualities also.", + "[330] There are others who in the arena of wickedness eagerly compete for the first prize in impiety and go to the further extreme of drawing a curtain over the existence of God as well as of the Forms. They assert that God does not exist, but is alleged to exist for the benefit of men who, it was supposed, would abstain from wrongdoing in their fear of Him Whom they believed to be present everywhere and to survey all things with ever-watchful eyes. These are happily called by the law “mutilated,”  for they have lost by castration the conception of the Generator of all things. They are impotent to beget wisdom and practise the worst of wickednesses, atheism.", + "[331] A third class are those who have shaped their course in the opposite direction, and introduced a numerous company of deities male and female, elder and younger. Thus they have infected the world with the idea of a multiplicity of sovereigns in order to geld from the mind of men the conception of the one and truly existent Being.", + "[332] It is these who are figuratively called by the law “the children of a harlot.”  For as anyone who has a harlot for his mother has no knowledge of, and can claim no affiliation to, his real father, but must accept the paternity of most or practically all her lovers and patrons, so too those who know not the one true God but invent a number of deities, false so-called, are blind to the most essential reality with which they should have been indoctrinated from the cradle to the exclusion of or before anything else. For what better theme for the learner can there be than the Being who truly exists, even God?" + ], + [ + "[333] The banishment is extended to a fourth and a fifth class also.  Both these seek the same goal but have different plans for attaining it. Both classes are votaries of the pestilent vice of self-assertion,  but have treated the soul, which is a whole consisting of two parts, the rational and irrational, as if it were a property shared by two persons, and have partitioned it out between them. One class has taken as its portion the rational part, that is the mind, the other has taken the irrational, which is subdivided into the senses.", + "[334] The champions of mind ascribe to it the leadership and sovereignty of human affairs, and aver that it is competent to preserve the past by means of memory, to gain a firm apprehension of the present, and to envisage and calculate the future by prognostication of what may be expected.", + "[335] It is mind, they say, which sowed and planted the deep and fertile soil in the uplands and lowlands and so greatly enriched human life by the invention of agriculture. It is mind which constructed a ship, and by devices admirable beyond description turned what was naturally dry land into a waterway,  opened up in the sea routes whose many branches serve as highways to the havens and roadsteads of the different states, and made the inhabitants of the mainland and those of the islands known to each other, who would never have met if a vessel had not been built. It is mind which discovered the mechanical  and the finer arts, as they are called, which devised,", + "[336] fostered and brought to their consummation letters and numbers and music and the whole range of school studies. Mind too was the parent of philosophy, the greatest of blessings, and employed each part of it to benefit human life, the logical to produce absolute exactitude of language, the ethical for the amelioration of character, the physical to give knowledge of heaven and the universe.  And besides these they collect and accumulate in honour of mind a vast number of tributes to the same effect as those already mentioned, with which we have no occasion to trouble ourselves now." + ], + [ + "[337] The champions of the senses sound their praises in lofty terms. They discuss and classify them according to the purposes which they serve and tell us that two, smell and taste, are the basis of life, and two, sight and hearing, of good life.", + "[338] Taste acts as a conductor of the sustenance which food gives, and the nostrils do the same for the air on which every created being depends. Air too is a means of sustenance, constant and unceasing, and nourishes and preserves us not only when awake but also while we sleep. We have a clear proof of this; for if the course of respiration backwards and forwards is stopped ever so little by the interception of the natural influx of breath from outside, death will inexorably and inevitably follow.", + "[339] To turn to the senses which minister to philosophy and secure for us the good life, sight sees the light which is the most beautiful of all that is and by means of the light sees everything else, sun, moon, stars, heaven, earth, sea, the countless varieties of plants and animals, in general, all kinds of bodies, shapes, colours and magnitudes, the contemplation of which creates a subtle intelligence and generates a great thirst for knowledge.", + "[340] But apart from these benefits sight gives us others of the highest value, by enabling us to distinguish between kinsfolk and strangers, friends and enemies, and to shun the harmful and choose the beneficent. And while it is true that each of the other members of the body has its appropriate and very indispensable use, as the feet for walking and running and the other activities to which the legs are instrumental, and the hands for doing and giving and receiving things, the eyes may be said to have a common value and to create the conditions under which these members and all the others can operate successfully.", + "[341] The strongest testimony to this truth is afforded by the blind, who cannot make the proper use  of their hands or feet and thus verify the name of incapable  given to them in the past, more, we are told, in pity than as a reproach. For when the eyes are destroyed, the capacities of the body are not merely overthrown, but actually perish.", + "[342] In hearing too we have something very marvellous. By means of it we distinguish melodies and metres and rhythm, and with them the harmonies and consonances, and the varieties of genera and systems  and all the elements of music; and again, the multitudinous kinds of set speeches delivered in the law-courts, in the senate, in laudations, as well as the language used in historical narrative and dialogues and discussions of matters of business which we are bound to have with those with whom we come in contact from time to time. For we may say in sum that the voice has a twofold capacity for speech and song. Both these are assessed by the ears to the benefit of the soul. For both are medicaments,", + "[343] health-giving and life-preserving. Song charms away the passions and controls the irregular element in us with its rhythm, the discordant with its melodies, the immoderate with its measures. And each of these three assumes every variety of form, as the musicians and poets testify, belief in whom necessarily becomes habitual in those who have received a good education. Speech checks and hampers impulses to vice and effects the cure of those in whom foolish and distressful thoughts have gained the mastery. It deals more gently with the docile, more drastically with the rebellious, and thus becomes the source of the greatest possible benefits." + ], + [ + "[344] Such is the chain of argument which leads the votaries of mind and the votaries of the senses to ascribe divinity to their respective idols, forgetting in their self-assertion the God Who truly exists. And therefore Moses naturally banished them all from the holy congregation, both those who abolish the Forms, who appear under the name of “the crushed,” and those who absolutely deny God, to whom he assigned the suitable  title of “the mutilated” and those who preach the opposite doctrine of a family of gods, called by him “the children of the harlot,” and finally the self-assertive, one party of whom deify the reason, the other each several sense. For these last all press to the same goal, though influenced by different plans for attaining it, and ignore the one and really existing God.", + "[345] But we, the scholars and disciples of Moses, will not forgo our quest of the Existent, holding that the knowledge of Him is the consummation of happiness. It is also agelong life. The law tells us that all who “cleave to God live,”  and herein it lays down a vital doctrine fraught with much wisdom. For in very truth the godless are dead in soul, but those who have taken service in the ranks of the God Who only IS are alive, and that life can never die." + ] + ], + "Appendix": [ + "APPENDIX TO DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS, I", + "§ 2. (Circumcision in Egypt.) The original authority for this is Herodotus ii. 36. In itself it is not impossible that Philo, knowing little of the intimate practices of the Egyptians outside the Jewish and Hellenistic world, should take Herodotus for his authority. But in Quaest. in Gen. iii. 47, 48, where he gives the arguments for circumcision in much the same way as here, he adds that the Egyptians circumcised females as well as males and at the age of puberty, and neither of these did he find in Herodotus. The statement made here is supported by Diodorus i. 28, iii. 32. Josephus, Contra Apion. ii. 140 ff. says positively that the Egyptian priests were circumcised, but the fact that Apion, himself an Egyptian, appears to have ridiculed the Jews on this ground tells rather against it for the nation at large. See on the whole question Wendland in Archiv für Papyrusforschung ii. (1903) (referred to by Goodenough, p. 30).", + "§ 6. The spirit force in the heart. The doctrine and phraseology is Stoic. So “All the Stoics say that τὸ ἡγεμονικόν resides ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ καρδίᾳ ἢ ἐν τῷ περὶ τὴν καρδίαν πνεύματι,” S. V. F. ii. 838. The ἡγεμονικόν itself is a πνεῦμα according to them, ibid. 96. For the question between the brain and the heart as the seat of the mind see §§ 213 f. below.", + "§ 25. “Blind” wealth. Philo in several places, e.g. ii. 23 below, De Abr. 25, contrasts the “seeing” with the “blind” riches, and in these passages he borrows the phrase from Plato, Laws 631 C πλοῦτος οὐ τυφλὸς ἀλλʼ ὀξὺ βλέπων, though the thought is not quite the same, since with Plato the “seeing wealth” is wealth in the literal sense used wisely, with Philo wisdom or virtue itself. But here, where there is no such contrast and the stress is rather on the uncertainty of riches, τοῦ λεγομένου may refer rather to the fable, earlier than Plato, that Zeus made Plutus blind, so that he should distribute his gifts without regard to merit (see Aristophanes, Plutus).", + "§ 27. Some assert … state of flux. Cf. e.g. Plato, Theaetetus 160 D κατὰ μὲν Ὅμηρον καὶ Ἡράκλειτον καὶ πᾶν τὸ τοιοῦτον φῦλον οἷον ῥεύματα κινεῖσθαι τὰ πάντα, Cratylus 402 A λέγει που Ἡράκλειτος ὅτι πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει, καὶ π��τάμου ῥωῇ ἀπεικάζων τὰ πάντα λέγει ὡς δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης. Rather nearer to our passage is Aristot. Physica viii. 3, 253 b 9, φασί τινες (apparently the Heracleiteans) κινεῖσθαι τῶν ὄντων οὐ τὰ μὲν τὰ δʼ οὔ, ἀλλὰ πάντα καὶ ἀεί, ἀλλὰ λανθάνειν τὴν ἡμετέραν αἴσθησιν.", + "§ 28. θεοὺς … ὥσπερ ἀπὸ μηχανῆς. The phrase seems to me to suggest primarily the use of the supernatural as a facile way of getting out of a difficulty and to carry with it the idea of artificiality rather than suddenness and unexpectedness. The fact that the “machine” was employed to bring the god hovering over the stage is incidental, though it served to enhance the impression of something artificial and slightly ludicrous. To take the examples given in Stephanus, this is the sense in Plato, Cratylus 425 D ὥσπερ οἱ τραγῳδοποιοί, ἐπειδάν τι ἀπορῶσιν, ἐπὶ τὰς μηχανὰς καταφεύγουσι θεοὺς αἴροντες (“like the tragic poets who in any perplexity have their gods waiting in the air,” Jowett), and in Aristotle, Poetics xv. 7. So in Plutarch, Them. 10 Themistocles employs oracles and divine signs ὥσπερ ἐν τραγῳδίᾳ μηχανὴν ἄρας. In Demosthenes, p. 1026. 1 Τιμοκράτης μόνος ἀπὸ τοσούτων, ὥσπερ ἀπὸ μηχανῆς, μαρτυρεῖ, the thought seems to be that he assumes the rôle of a superior being. In Plato (?), Cleitophon 407 A the point is different, viz. that the gods in these appearances are apt to rebuke the follies of humanity. In our passage and in ii. 165 the main idea seems to be artificiality.", + "§§ 33 f. The argument from design has been given in much the same form in Leg. All. iii. 97–99. For other statements of it see S. V. F. ii. 1009–1020, particularly Cic. De Nat. Deorum, ii. 16–17, iii. 26. Cf. also Cic. Tusc. i. 68 (referred to by Heinemann), Pro Milone 83, 84 and Xen. Mem. i. 4.", + "§ 55. (Lynching of apostates.) Two questions arise here, (1) whether the lynching so strongly recommended here and almost as explicitly in § 316 is in accordance with Deut., (2) whether it was customary or practicable in Philo’s time. As to (1), in Deut. 13:6–11, which I take to be more to the point than ibid. 12–17 (enjoining the destruction of an apostate city), which Heinemann cites, the E.V. merely says, “thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.” Philo would indeed find in the LXX, instead of “thou shalt surely kill him,” “thou shalt surely report it” (ἀναγγέλλων ἀναγγελεῖς), which sounds more judicial. But in § 316 this is interpreted to mean that the report is to be sent round to summon the lovers of piety to assist in the execution. In Deut. 17:4–7 a careful inquiry is to be made when such a call is reported, and two or three witnesses are required. Heinemann thinks that Philo is not referring to these passages at all, but is merely extracting a general law from the case of Phinehas. I do not think this can be right, so far as Deut. 13 is concerned, as in § 316 he formally expounds that passage. As for Deut. 17, Philo if faced with it might reply that it does not suggest a formal trial, but that the self-constituted executioners before taking action must assure themselves that the charge is true, and that what he says here does not deny that.", + "As to (2), Goodenough (pp. 36 ff.) argues that the Acts (e.g. Stephen’s execution and the attempts to stone Paul) shews that the Jews did sometimes inflict capital punishment without direct permission from the Roman government. He also cites 3 Maccabees 7:10–15, which gives an account of a decree of Ptolemy Philopator empowering the Jews in Alexandria to put transgressors against the law to death (E.V. somewhat inaccurately “without warrant or special commission”) (Greek ἄνευ πάσης βασιλικῆς ἐξουσίας ἢ ἐπισκέψεως). All this may be true, but hardly meets the case. Stephen was tried by the Sanhedrin; and the persons for whose execution Paul voted, Acts 26:10, were presumably legally tried. And the Decree, even if historical, need not mean more than that Jewish constituted authorities might condemn independently of the king. But Philo’s words, “Jury, council or any kind of magistrate at all,” must surely include Jewish as well as Roman courts. That he should be seriously encouraging his fellow-Jews in Alexandria, where we know that the Jews had independent jurisdiction, to put apostates to death without any legal trial, seems to me almost impossible. But was it perhaps otherwise in other cities of the Dispersion, where the Jews had no such privileges and knew that the ordinary courts would not take cognizance of apostasy or heresy? Paul’s experiences at Iconium and Lystra possibly lend themselves to such a view. It is to Jews so circumstanced that this section is addressed if it has any practical bearing. Otherwise it must be regarded as a rhetorical way of saying that apostasy is so hateful a crime that to avenge it on the spot is not only pardonable but a duty.", + "§ 58. The connexion of this section, which comes in so oddly as it stands, would become much clearer, if we might suppose that some words had been lost at the end, as “such practices Moses absolutely forbids.” In this case a new paragraph would begin with ἔνιοι δέ, linked with the preceding by the antithesis of the two bondages, but introducing the new subject of indirectly idolatrous practices. What he means by the “like principle” would then become quite clear. It may be noted that in Lev. 19 the prohibition of printing marks comes in directly after and is followed shortly by denunciation of divination and the like.", + "§§ 59 ff. Goodenough, pp. 37 f., observes that Philo ignores the passages in Leviticus which prescribe the death-penalty for some kinds of divination and only alludes to Deut. 17 where we have no punishment prescribed but expulsion from the commonwealth and that only indirectly. In this he sees a reflection of the fact that public opinion would not have tolerated stoning such persons, while the Roman government always discouraged and in A.D. 16 expelled them from Italy. But he fails to note that Deut. provided Philo with a far more specific list of the forms of μαντική, on which he enlarges in the following section, and also that it leads on to the promise of the true divination, which is described in § 65.", + "§ 67. Only one temple. Cohn and Heinemann note that Josephus also gives the same reason for the one temple (Contra Apion. ii. 193, Ant. iv. 200). It does not follow that Josephus is dependent on Philo. The argument of the oneness of God, which Josephus supplements with the oneness of the Hebrew race, was an obvious argument against the attempts to build other temples like that of Leontopolis in the Dispersion.", + "§§ 71 f. The temple here described is of course Herod’s temple (18 or 19 B.C.), elaborately described by Josephus, Wars v. and Ant. xv. Philo (Mangey ii. 646, an extract from De Providentia) speaks of something which he saw at Ascalon, when he visited that city in the course of a journey to “the temple of his fathers to pray and sacrifice.” The passage does not in the least suggest that this was his only visit to Jerusalem, and he may have gone there often, though I cannot find authority for Edersheim’s statement that he acted as envoy to carry the tributes (see § 78). But whether he went there once or oftener, there is not much sign of personal observation in his description of the building itself, which is very slight compared with Josephus’s. Heinemann (Bildung, p. 16) notes an inaccuracy, viz. that the sanctuary stood in the “very middle,” whereas the part in front was much larger than the part behind. However, that the description should be slight is natural enough. He is expounding the laws of the Pentateuch and these did not provide for the building which would be needed when the nation was settled in Palestine, as he himself observes in Mos. ii. 72, 73, but only for a portable sanctuary. This last with its furniture was fully described in Mos. ii. 74–108, and the omission of any such description here may be due to a feeling that this one part of the law had been definitely suspended.", + "§ 79. (The consecration of the Levites.) The idea that the Levites received consecration as a reward for slaughtering the idolaters is supposed to have been obtained by Philo from Ex. 32:29, “consecrate yourselves to the Lord,” where the Hebrew phrase is literally “fill your hands,” which the LXX translates literally, but in the indicative, “ye have filled your hands.” In Ex. 28:41 (37) the same Hebrew phrase evidently meaning “consecrate” or “install” is translated in LXX by “thou shalt fill their hands.” See Driver on both passages. In the other eight passages, however, cited by Driver from the Pentateuch, where the same phrase is used in the Hebrew, the LXX has a different verb, τελειόω with or without χεῖρας. It seems to me rather doubtful whether Philo would have seen consecration in the words “ye have filled your hands every man against his son,” etc., and more likely that he found it rather in the words that follow, “that a blessing should be given you.”", + "§ 80. Redundant … excrescence. The E.V. in Lev. 21:18 has “anything superfluous,” which prima facie would seem to be represented here by κατὰ πλεονασμὸν περιττεύσαντος. But in the LXX the word in the list of defects corresponding to the Hebrew translated as “superfluous” is ὠτότμητος, “with a split ear.” Is this one of the few cases where Philo seems somehow to have known the Hebrew? Heinemann does not notice the point.", + "§ 83. εὐχάς = votive offerings. If the word is genuine here, this must surely be the sense, as what requires an unhampered rapidity must be a concrete object. The word seems to be used in the LXX in this sense, Deut. 12:6, 17, 26, but I cannot find that it is so used elsewhere by Philo or other authors. Stephanus only quotes it from inscriptions and L. & S. (revised) do not mention it at all. I have left the text as Cohn prints it, pending further knowledge as to what is exactly meant by the? appended to R’s εὐχὰς, or what the Armenian, which is extant for this part, has to say.", + "§ 90. (φῶς ἡλίου as R, or as Cohn φῶς, ἡλίου ἥλιος?) Cohn’s principal objection to the reading of what he considers the best authority, R, is that ἡλίου ἀνέλαμψεν is an inadmissible hiatus. I do not know how far this argument is valid. Cohn nowhere, so far as I know, formulates his doctrine of hiatus. On p. 197 of the article in Hermes, 1908, he gives examples of corrigenda, and amongst them is γάμον οὕτως for γάμου οὕτως, and γάμων ἁγνήν for γάμου ἅγνης. I do not understand how on these principles his own ἡλίου ἥλιος is to stand. It is no doubt an objection to R’s reading that it does not account for the φῶς ἥλιος or φῶς ἥλιος δʼ of the other MSS. Could not this be met by φῶς ἥλιός τʼ? Mangey has ἥλιος διανέλαμψε, to which Cohn objects that there is no such word, i.e. it is not found in the dictionaries. This is no argument at all, see on Mos. i. 172. Words compounded with διά and ἀνά are fairly common, and the διά would have some point here.", + "§ 96. ἱερωμένον. Cohn, who printed ἱερώμενον (present of ἱεράομαι), later declared for the MSS. ἱερωμένον (perfect participle of ἱερόω), and this is followed in the translation. But except for the MSS., ἱερώμενον = “acting as priest,” makes equally good sense.", + "§ 103. Scars and prints. Cohn quotes Seneca, De Ira, i. 16. 7, S. V. F. i. 215 “Nam ut dicit Zenon, in sapientis quoque animo, etiam cum vulnus sanatum est, cicatrix manet. Sentiet itaque suspiciones quasdam et umbras affectuum, ipsis quidem carebit.” This is not quite the same. The figure of the scarred soul was familiar to Philo from Gorgias 524 E.", + "§ 146. The thought here, though differing in detail, bears in mind Timaeus 69 E, where the mortal soul is placed in the thorax, with its nobler part = θυμός divided by the midriff from the baser = ἐπιθυμία. The θυμός is settled nearer the head, in order that it may be under the control of the reason and join with it in restraining the lusts. The sequel in Plato is definitely quoted in § 149, where see footnote.", + "§ 172. διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν … Cohn suggests completing this passage thus: διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν τοῦτο προστέτακται αὐτίκα λεκτέον· ἐαρινῇ μὲν κτλ. That is, ἣν stands for τίνα or ἥντινα and introduces an indirect question. This is no doubt common in Greek and may be in Philo, though I have not noticed an example: ii. 251 is not as it stands parallel. On the other hand, it may be pure relative, and introduce something of which the preceding statement is the cause. So above, § 124, and ii. 51.", + "§ 180. At the beginning of the year. Though the Jewish sacred year began with Nisan in the spring, the civil year continued to begin with Tishri in the autumn. See article “Time” in Hastings’ Biblical Dictionary, and cf. Jos. Ant. i. 81. Heinemann, however, says that Philo knows nothing of this, and is merely following the Macedonian calendar introduced into Egypt. He certainly seems to take it for granted, ii. 153, that the month of the autumnal equinox is the “first in the sun’s revolution.” He must, however, have known that in Ex. 23:16 and elsewhere in the Law, the Feast of Tabernacles is said to occur at the “going out (ἔξοδος) of the year.”", + "§ 208. Fullness and Want, etc. That with Heracleitus κόρος = ἐκπύρωσις and χρησμοσύνη = διακόσμησις is also stated by Hippolytus (quoted in Zeller, Pres. Phil. ii. p. 46, note 1), καλεῖ δὲ αὐ��ὸ (sc. τὸ πῦρ) χρησμοσύνην καὶ κόρον. χρησμοσύνη δέ ἐστιν ἡ διακόσμησις κατʼ αὐτόν, ἡ δὲ ἐκπύρωσις κόρος. The thought is perhaps the same in Diog. Laert. ix. 8 (of Heracleitus), “that what tends to γένεσις is called war and strife, what tends to ἐκπύρωσις is agreement and peace.”", + "§ 242. Thirdly because … thrust from office. The thought lying behind this somewhat illogical sentence may be this. In § 117 he has said that all priests, whether suffering from defects or not, were entitled to eat the sacred meats, and therefore it might be thought that the defective are included in “every male priest”; cf. Lev. 6:29. But in v. 26 we have “the priest that offers it shall eat of it,” and as the defective cannot offer the sacrifice “every male priest” must be taken to mean “such as are qualified by freedom of defect.”", + "§ 273. (Footnote a.) It must be remembered of course that the temple which Hecataeus mentioned is Zerubbabel’s temple, not Herod’s, which Philo saw. But it may be presumed that in a matter like this the third temple would reproduce the second, about the details of which I understand that little is known.", + "§ 291. (Wasps bred from horses.) So Plutarch (Cleomenes, ad fin.) mentions the idea that bees are bred from the carcasses of oxen, wasps from horses, beetles from donkeys, and serpents from men.", + "§ 318. What is pleasing to nature, etc. Philo, I suspect, substituted the Stoic “nature” for “before the Lord thy God,” because he sees in καλόν and ἀρεστόν Stoic phraseology. The Stoic identification of τὸ καλόν with the Good is of course one of their leading doctrines, but ἀρεστόν was also a term applied to τὸ ἀγαθόν and ἀρετή, cf. S. V. F. iii. 208 τὴν δʼ ἀρετὴν πολλοῖς ὀνόμασι προσαγορεύουσι. ἀγαθόν τε γὰρ λέγουσιν αὐτὴν ὅτι ἄγει ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τὸν ὀρθὸν βίον· καὶ ἀρεστὸν ὅτι δοκιμαστόν ἐστιν ἀνυπόπτως. So also ibid. 88.", + "§ 321. λόγων ποτίμων. This phrase, which occurs again in ii. 62 and several times in other treatises, is no doubt a reminiscence of Phaedrus (243 D), which has also been clearly, though rather loosely, quoted in the preceding section. In Quod Omn. Prob. 13 the same two passages from the Phaedrus are brought together in the same sentence. The connexion of πότιμοι λόγοι with Plato is brought out most clearly in Leg. All. ii. 32, where, as in Plato, they serve to wash away the briny taste (τὸ ἁλμυρόν).", + "§ 322. (Footnote 1.) I have adopted Cohn’s reading from R with the alteration of πνευμάτων into αὐρῶν. But the fact that the sense which lies behind R’s nonsensical διανέμοντες αὐτῶν is easily recovered does not, I think, make the reading of A and H unworthy of consideration. Their wording τὰς … ἀέρος εὐκρασίας ἀνέμων τε corresponds with the parallel in De Praem. 41 ἀέρος καὶ πνευμάτων εὐκρασίας, while none of the other parallels corresponds with the form postulated by R.", + "§§ 327–end. (Errors attacked in these sections.) It seems to me, subject to correction by others more expert in such matters, that Philo in these allegorical interpretations is not alluding to particular schools, but to ways of thinking in general. The theory of Ideas, which he here rather unexpectedly adopts as an essential part of the true creed, was, I think, denied by the Stoics (S. V. F. i. 65), and in the full Platonic sense by Aristotle, but did any school of Philo’s time hold it? The atheistical argument in § 330 that God has been invented to deter men more effectually from evil-doing is developed at length in an iambic poem (to which Mr. Angus has called my attention), attributed to the tyrant Critias, and quoted by Sext. Emp. ix. 54. But this again does not belong to a particular school. The Stoics sometimes identified νοῦς and θεός (see on iii. 1), and Heinemann, (Bildung, p. 176) quotes Sen. Ep. xxxi. 11, where the “animus rectus bonus” is said to be “deus in humano corpore hospitans.” But this surely belongs to a region of thought different from Philo’s description of the practical achievements of mind. The votaries of sense may at first sight suggest the Epicureans, who held that sensations are always true, though our judgements about them are fallible (Zeller, Stoics and Epicureans, Eng. trans. p. 402), but that again is different from Philo’s disquisition on the practical value of the senses. (Heinemann, loc. cit. says that the doctrine of the divinity of αἴσθησις was ascribed to Diogenes, but I have been unable to trace the reference.)", + "My feeling is that by his fourth and fifth class Philo is simply speaking of the οἴησις which, as he constantly says, leads men to ascribe to themselves what belongs to God, and the division into mind and sense, a very reasonable division since human self-confidence divides itself between the two, is merely made to fit in with Ammon and Moab, which, on philological grounds, he identifies with the two.", + "§ 333. Fourth and fifth class also. Heinemann suggests with considerable probability that in De Mut. 205 τεθλασμένοι γὰρ τὰ γεννητικὰ τῆς διανοίας ἢ καὶ τελείως ἀποκοπέντες οἱ τὸν ἴδιον νοῦν καὶ τὴν αἴσθησιν ἀποσεμνύνοντες ὡς μόνα τῶν κατʼ ἀνθρώπους αἴτια πραγμάτων, we should read ἀποκοπέντες <ἢ> οἱ, thus bringing into the allegory as here Deut. 23:3, as well as the two preceding verses. The only objection to this is that it leaves the τεθλασμένοι and ἀποκοπέντες without any theological interpretation corresponding to the other classes. Possibly this might be met by inserting <οἱ ἄθεοι ἢ> instead of merely <ἢ>." + ] + }, + "Book II": { + "Introduction": [ + "INTRODUCTION TO DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS, II", + "The Third Commandment (1–38).", + "While swearing at all is to be deprecated, since the simple word should be enough, to swear by parents or heaven and the like is better than using God’s name (1–5), which many do recklessly (6–8). When swearing is necessary the oath must be performed, if it can be lawfully (9). To call God to witness a falsehood is impious (10–11). Criminal or vindictive oaths, however, should not be performed (12–17). Philo then condemns the arrogant swearing of the extravagant rich and contrasts them with others who though rich live simply (18–23). He discusses vows and particularly the rule by which widows, unlike virgins and wives, cannot cancel a vow (24–25). This is susceptible of an allegorical interpretation (28–31). This is interrupted by 26–27, which returns to the subject of perjury and the penalties for the perjuror and his accomplices. The Pentateuchal regulations for assessing votive offerings are then discussed, when the votary offers (a) himself (32–34), (b) an animal (35–36), (c) a house (37–38).", + "The Fourth Commandment (39–222).", + "Philo begins with a sketch of the way in which he proposes to treat the subject (39), followed by some remarks on the sacred number Seven (41), and a list of the ten feasts (41).", + "The first feast is the feast of every day. This conception, that the ideal life of the true philosopher is one continuous feast, is worked out with much eloquence (42–49). For its scriptural foundation see note on § 45.", + "The second feast, the Sabbath itself, after some further remarks on the mystical properties of Seven (56–59), is set forth partly as a necessary respite from toil (60), but still more as a time for exercising the soul in contrast to the body (61–64). The prohibition of fire (65), and the extension of the rest to servants (65–68), and to cattle (69–70) are noted. With the Sabbath we may associate other institutions which bear witness to the sanctity of Seven: (a) the cancellation of debts in the seventh year (71–73), and this leads to a denunciation of lending money on interest in general (74–78); (b) liberation of slaves in the same year, which provides an occasion for the lesson of treating slaves humanely (79–85); (c) the same lesson that consideration should be shewn not only by masters to servants, but by rulers to subjects is taught by the “sabbatical year,” which leaves the land fallow in the seventh year (86–103), and also by throwing the fields open encourages generosity to the poor (104–109); (d) the same applies to the fiftieth year, in which estates return to the original owners (110–115), with special regulations about houses (116–121) and debtors and purchased slaves (122–123). This is followed by some general remarks (for the connexion see note on § 124) about the laws of inheritance (124–132), and the right of primogeniture (133–139).", + "The third feast is the New Moon, and some observations on the place of the moon in the system of things is subjoined (140–144). Fourth is the Passover, a feast in which each layman acts as priest, interpreted by Philo as the “Crossing” from the passions to wisdom (145–149). Fifth is “Unleavened Bread,” and reasons are given for the time at which it occurs and the nature of the food enjoined (150–161). Sixth, the offering of the “Sheaf,” is combined with the two just mentioned. Philo takes this first offering of the harvest in the double aspect of a thank-offering, (a) for the whole world (162–167), and (b) for Israel, acknowledging how much the harvest owes to nature rather than man (168–175).", + "Seventh is the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost (179–187). Eighth is the opening of the sacred month, or Feast of Trumpets (188–192). Ninth the Fast or Day of Atonement (193–203). Tenth the Feast of Tabernacles (204–214). All these are accompanied by a number of reflections on their origin and significance. Besides these there is the rite of offering the “Basket,” for which no date can be fixed (215–222).", + "The Fifth Commandment (223–241).", + "The claims of parents are justified on the grounds that their position as Creators is analogous to that of God, and that they are the seniors, the benefactors, the rulers and the absolute masters or owners of their children (223–236). But the commandment also enjoins respect to age in general (237–238), and also the duty of parents to avoid undue indulgence (239–241).", + "The treatise concludes with declaring death to be the appropriate punishment for disobedience, to the Fifth (242–248), the Fourth (249–251), the Third (252–254), the Second and First (255–256). The rewards for obedience, except the Fifth, for which a definite reward is mentioned, are to be found in the thought that virtue is its own reward (257–262).", + "For Cohn’s Numeration of Chapters see Gen. Int. p. xviii." + ], + "": [ + [ + "BOOK II
On The Special Laws Which Fall Under Three Of The Ten General Commandments, Namely The Third On The Duty Of Keeping Oaths, The Fourth On Reverencing The Seventh Day, And The Fifth On Honouring Parents
[1] In the preceding treatise we have dealt fully with two of the ten heads, one directed against the acknowledgement of other sovereign gods, the other against giving divine honours to any work of men’s hands. And we have described such among the particular enactments of the law as may be properly classed under either head. Let us now discuss the three next in the list, again subjoining those of the special ordinances which belong to them.", + "[2] The first of the three forbids us to take God’s name in vain: the good man’s word, it means, should be an oath, firm, unswerving, utterly free from falsehood, securely planted on truth. And if indeed occasion should force us to swear, the oath should be by a father and mother, their good health and welfare if they are alive, their memory if they are dead. For parents are copies and likenesses of the divine power, since they have brought the non-existent into existence. In the laws we read of one of our first founders, ", + "[3] who are particularly admired for their wisdom, that he swore by the fear of his father, a fact recorded, I believe, for the benefit of posterity and to teach them the necessary lesson that they should honour their parents in the proper way by showing affection to them as benefactors and awe of them as rulers appointed by nature, and should not lightly essay to use the name of God.", + "[4] Those persons too deserve praise whose unwillingness, tardiness and shrinking, if they are ever forced to swear, raise qualms not only in the spectators but even in those who are administering the oath: such people are in the habit of saying “Yes, by ——” or “No, by ——”  and add nothing more, and by thus breaking off suggest  the clear sense of an oath without actually making it.", + "[5] But also a person may add to his “Yes” or “No” if he wish, not indeed the highest and most venerable and primal cause, but earth, sun, stars, heaven, the whole universe.  For these are worthy of highest respect, since they have precedence in time over our place in creation, and also will remain for ever untouched by age according to the purpose of Him Who made them." + ], + [ + "[6] But so great is the lightness and heedlessness shown by some that they pass by all these works of creation and allow their words to dash on to the Maker and Father of all, never staying to examine whether the place is profane or holy, whether the occasion is suitable, whether they themselves are pure in body and soul, whether the business is important or the object necessary. Instead, with unwashed hands,  as the phrase goes, they make a foul brew of everything, as though Nature’s gift of a tongue justified them in using it without restraint or bridle for unlawful purposes,", + "[7] whereas that most excellent of instruments which gives clear expression to voice and words, those great benefactors of human life and creators  of a sense of fellowship, should have been employed to the full by them to ascribe honour and majesty and blessedness to the Cause Which has created all things.", + "[8] As it is, so highly impious are they that on any chance matter the most tremendous titles are on their lips and they do not blush to use name after name, one piled upon another, thinking that the continual repetition of a string of oaths will secure them their object. A very foolish delusion. For in the eyes of sensible people much swearing is a proof, not of good faith, but of faithlessness." + ], + [ + "[9] But if anyone has been absolutely compelled to swear on any matter whatever, so long as it is not forbidden by the law, he should use all his strength and every means in his power to make good his oath, and allow nothing to hinder him from carrying out his decision, particularly when he has taken the oath in a reasonable and sober frame of mind, not distraught by savage tempers or frenzied yearnings or uncontrollable desires, so that he does not know what he says or does.", + "[10] For what is better than to practise a lifelong veracity, and to have God as our witness thereto?  For an oath is nothing else than to call God to bear witness in a disputed matter, but to call God to witness to a falsehood is the very height of profanity.", + "[11] To do so is practically to say outright, even though one appear not to utter a word, “I take Thee as a cloak for my wrongdoing. I am ashamed to appear a sinner, be Thou my accomplice; take the charge of my villainy upon Thyself instead of me. For it is a matter of weight to me in my wickedness not to be thought a rogue, but Thou carest not for the opinion of the multitude and troublest not that men should speak well of Thee.” Such words or thoughts are impious in the extreme. To hear them would rouse the indignation, not only of God, Who is exempt from all wickedness, but also of a father or even a stranger who knew anything at all of the flavour of virtue.", + "[12] So then, as I have said, all oaths must be made good so long as they are concerned with matters honourable and profitable for the better conduct of public or private affairs and are subject to the guidance of wisdom and justice and righteousness," + ], + [ + "under which head come also the perfectly lawful vows made in acknowledgement of an abundant measure of blessings either present or expected. But when the oaths have objects of the opposite kind in view, religion forbids us to put them into execution.", + "[13] For there are some who swear at random  to commit acts of theft and sacrilege or rape and adultery or assaults and murders or other similar crimes and carry them out without hesitation on the pretext that they must be faithful to their oaths, as though it were not better and more pleasing to God to abstain from wrongdoing than to abstain from breaking their oaths. Justice and every virtue are commanded by the law of our ancestors and by a statute established of old, and what else are laws and statutes but the sacred words of Nature, possessing intrinsically a fixity and stability which makes them equivalent to oaths?", + "[14] And everyone who commits a wrong because he has sworn to do so may be assured that the act is not one of faithfulness to a pledge but breaks the oath so worthy of all careful observance with which she sets her seal  on what is just and excellent. For he adds guilt to guilt when oaths taken for improper purposes which had better have been left unspoken are followed by actions which violate the law.", + "[15] Let him abstain, then, from wrongful conduct and supplicate God, that He may grant him a share of what His gracious power can give and pardon him for what he has sworn so unadvisedly. For to choose a double measure of ill when he could disburden himself of the half of it is the act of one almost hopelessly imbecile and insane.", + "[16] But there are some who, either because through excessive moroseness their nature has lost the sense of companionship and fellow-feeling or because they are constrained by anger which rules them like a stern mistress, confirm the savagery of their temper with an oath. They declare that they will not admit such and such a person to their board or under their roof, or again, that they will not render assistance to so and so or accept anything from him till his life’s end. Sometimes they carry on their vindictiveness after that end has come and leave directions in their wills  against even granting the customary rites to his corpse.", + "[17] To such persons I would give the advice which I gave to the former class, that they should propitiate God with prayers and sacrifices to win from Him what their needs demand, namely, the healing treatment of their spiritual distempers which no human power is competent to cure." + ], + [ + "[18] But there are others, boastful persons,  of the sort that is puffed up by arrogance, who in their craving for high position determine to have nothing to do in any way with the frugal, the truly profitable mode of living. Indeed, if any rebuke them in order to rein in the unruliness of their desires, they regard the admonition as an insult, and as they press forward to a career of luxury disregard their correctors and hold the admirable and also highly valuable instructions of wisdom a matter for laughter and mockery.", + "[19] And if they happen to have some abundance of resources and means of living on a lavish scale, they employ oaths to set the seal on their use and enjoyment of the wealth which enables them to spend so freely. Here is an instance of what I mean. A short time ago a man of considerable property who had found a loose and dissipated style of living to his taste, was in the presence of an elderly person, a relation or old family friend, I believe, who was reproving him and advising him to make a change and conduct himself with more strictness and seriousness. The other strongly resented this reproof and countered the challenge by swearing that so long as he possessed his incomings and goods in stock he would take no step in the direction of economy, either in town or country, either on shipboard or on the road, but would make display of his wealth always and everywhere. But this is evidently not so much an exhibition of wealth as of arrogance and intemperance.", + "[20] And yet to this day among those who hold high offices of authority there are not a few who possessing accumulated goods in vast numbers and abundant resources, to whom wealth is ceaselessly flowing in as from a perennial fountain, still sometimes betake themselves to the use of such things as we poor people use.  Their cups are earthern, their loaves spit-baked, their extra dishes olives or cheese or greens: in the summer they wear a girdle and a thin shirt and in the winter a stout rent-proof mantle. The floor will sometimes serve for their bedstead: they have nothing to say to beds of ivory-work or made of tortoiseshell and gold, or bedding brocaded with flowers and purple-dyed garments and elaborate honey-cakes and tables spread with costly luxuries. The reason,", + "[21] I take it, is not only that they are blessed with a fine nature, but also that they have been brought under the influence of a right training from their earliest years. That training has taught them to value the interests of the man before those of the ruler. It makes its abode in their souls, and hardly a day passes but it reminds it of their common humanity and draws them away from lofty and overweening thought, reduces their swollen dimensions, and medicines their inequality with equality.", + "[22] And therefore they have filled their cities with plenty and abundance, with order and peace; of no good thing have they mulcted them, all good things have they bestowed freely, unsparingly and unstintedly. These and the like are the actions of noble men, rulers in the true sense.", + "[23] Far different are the actions of the newly rich who have been wafted into opulence by a freak of fortune. They know nothing, have never even dreamt, of the true wealth which has eyes to see,  whose substance is the perfect virtues and the actions which conform with them; it is a blind wealth against which they have struck  and taking it for their support they fail of necessity to see the road before them and wander away into pathless wilds, admiring what deserves no serious respect and mocking at what nature would bid them honour. Such persons, when they take a mistimed oath, are rebuked and reproached in no gentle terms by the holy word. Hardly can they be purged and healed, so that even the gracious nature of God deems them unworthy of His pardon." + ], + [ + "[24] Virgins and wives are not allowed full control of their vows by the law. It puts the virgins in subjection to their fathers and sets the husbands to judge for their wives whether the oaths are to hold good or to be cancelled. That is surely reasonable, for the former, owing to their youth, do not know the value of oaths, so that they need others to judge for them, and the latter often, through want of sense, swear what would not be to their husbands’ advantage; and therefore it gave the husbands power to maintain the promise, or the reverse.", + "[25] Widows who have none to intervene on their behalf, neither husbands from whom they have been parted, nor fathers whom they left behind them when they set out to find a new home in marriage, should be slow to swear, for their oaths stand beyond repeal, the inevitable result of their lack of protectors.", + "[26] If anyone knows that another has perjured himself, and influenced by friendship or shame or fear rather than piety, fails to inform against him or bring him to justice, he must be liable to the same penalties as the perjurer. For to range oneself on the side of the wrongdoer is just the same as committing the wrong.", + "[27] As to the penalties of perjury, some proceed from God, others from man. The highest and greatest are from God, Who is not gentle to such impiety, but suffers the guilty to remain for ever in their well-nigh hopeless uncleanness, a just and fitting penalty, I hold.  For he who has ignored God, how can he wonder if he is ignored in his turn and is repaid in his own coin?", + "[28] The penalties given by men are different, death or the lash.  The better kind whose piety is extra-fervent maintain the penalty of death, while those whose feelings of indignation are not so stern have the offenders scourged by order of the State in a public place and in the sight of all. Indeed except to persons of a servile nature, a flogging is as severe a penalty as death." + ], + [ + "[29] Such is the sum and substance of these ordinances  taken literally. But we may also allegorize such parts of the subject as admit of being studied in a figurative sense. We should know, then, that nature’s right reasoning has the functions both of a father and a husband, though the conceptions attached to each are different. It acts as a husband because it deposits the seed of virtue in the soul as in a fertile field. It acts as a father because its nature is to beget good intentions and noble and worthy actions, and then to foster its offspring with the water of the truths which education and wisdom abundantly supply.", + "[30] The mind is likened on the one hand to a virgin, on the other to a woman either in widowhood, or still united to a husband. As a virgin it keeps itself pure and uncorrupted from the malignant passions, pleasures and desires and griefs and fears. Over this virgin mind the father who begat it has assumed authority. But when, like a wife, it dwells with virtuous reasoning as its worthy mate, that same reasoning promises to take charge of it and impregnates it husband-like with thoughts of highest excellence.", + "[31] But the soul, which is bereaved of its birth-tie with sound sense or its marriage-tie with right reasoning, is widowed of all that is most excellent and, deserted by wisdom because it has chosen a life of guilt, must stand bound by the decision which it has made to its own undoing. It has none to heal its errors, no reasoning of wisdom, either to live with it as its husband or to act as its father and begetter." + ], + [ + "[32] In dealing with those who have dedicated votive offerings, not only of their property or parts of it, but of themselves, the law laid down a scale of valuation in which no regard is paid to beauty or stature or anything of the kind, but all are assessed equally, the sole distinctions made being between men and women and between children and adults.", + "[33] It ordained that from 20 years to 60 a man should be valued at 200  drachmas of pure silver coinage and a woman at 120; from 5 to 20 years, a male at 80 and a woman at 40 drachmas; from infancy to 5 years, a male at 20 and a female at 12 drachmas, while in the case of old persons who have lived beyond 60, the men are valued at 60 drachmas and the women at 40.", + "[34] The order that all males and all females should be 34 assessed equally  at every age was made for three most cogent reasons. First, because the worth of one person’s vow is equal and similar to that of another, whether it is made by a person of great importance or one of mean estate; secondly, because it was not seemly that the votaries should be subject to the vicissitudes of slaves who are valued at a high price or on the other hand are rated low accordingly as they have or have not a fine condition of body and comeliness; thirdly, and this is the most convincing of all, that in the sight of men inequality, in the sight of God equality, is held in honour." + ], + [ + "[35] These are the regulations laid down by the law in the case of human beings.  For livestock we have the following. If a man sets apart a beast from his stock, if it is a clean specimen of one of the three kinds which are allowed for sacrifice, an ox or sheep or goat, he must sacrifice that particular animal without substituting either a better for a worse or a worse for a better. For God does not delight in the fleshiness or fatness of animals, but in the blameless intention of the votary. But if he does make any exchange, he must consecrate two instead of one, both the original and its substitute.", + "[36] If he has vowed any of his unclean cattle, he must bring it to the most highly esteemed of the priests,  who must assess it not exceeding its proper value and then add a fifth part of that value, so that if a clean animal has to be provided for the sacrifice instead of this one, what is provided may not fall short of the proper value.  Further, the intention is to discomfit the votary for having made a vow without reflection under the impression that the impure animal was on this occasion pure, a mistake presumably due to some mental aberration which powerfully affected him. ", + "[37] If he dedicates his house, again he should take a priest as assessor, but the sums to be disbursed by the purchasers vary. If the votary determines to redeem the house, he must spend more freely and add a fifth as a punishment for two bad things, thoughtlessness and lust of possession, the former shown in the matter of his vow, the latter in his desire to regain what he had surrendered. If the purchaser is other than the original owner, he should not pay more than the proper value.", + "[38] The votary must not interpose long delay in accomplishing his vow.  It would be a strange inconsistency if while in our dealings with men we try to antedate fulfilment of our promises, in dealing with God, Who lacks and needs nothing, we should extend it beyond the appointed time. By such slowness and procrastination we convict ourselves of the greatest of iniquities, contempt of Him whose service we must hold to be the beginning and consummation of happiness. This is enough on this subject of oaths and vows." + ], + [ + "[39] The next head is concerned with the sacred seventh day. Under this head are included a great number of matters of vital importance, the different kinds of feasts; the release in the seventh year of persons who were naturally free but through times of adversity are in servitude; the charity shown by creditors to debtors in cancelling loans to their fellow-nationals, this also in the seventh year; the rest allowed both in the lowlands and the uplands to the fertile soil at intervals of six years; and the laws laid down with respect to the fiftieth year. The mere recital of all these is enough to make the naturally gifted perfect in virtue without any effort on their part and to produce some degree of obedience in the rebellious and hard-natured.", + "[40] Now the part played by seven among the numbers has been described at length in an earlier place,  where we have discussed the properties which it possesses within the decad,  and its close connexion with ten itself  and with four, which is the origin and source of ten. Also we have shewn how a sevenfold addition of successive numbers beginning with unity produces twenty-eight,  a perfect number, equal to the sum of its factors; again, how when brought into a geometrical progression, it produces simultaneously a square and a cube,  besides the numberless other beautiful results which the study of it reveals. On these numerical points we must not linger at the present juncture, but we must examine each specific subject which lies before us included under the general head, beginning with the first; and the first subject, as we saw, is the feasts." + ], + [ + "[41] There are in all ten feasts which are recorded in the law. The first, the mention of which may perhaps cause some surprise, is the feast of every day. The second is that held on the seventh day with six days between, called by the Hebrews in their native tongue Sabbath. The third is the new moon which follows the conjunction of the moon with the sun. The fourth is the “Crossing” festival called Pascha. The fifth is the offering of the first ears, the sacred Sheaf. The sixth is the Unleavened Bread. Then comes what is emphatically  a seventh, being the feast of Sevens or Weeks. Eighth is the Sacred-month-day, ninth is the Fast, tenth the feast of Tabernacles which concludes the yearly festivals and thus ends up with a perfect number ten. We must begin with the first of these." + ], + [ + "[42] When the law records that every day is a festival,  it accommodates itself to the blameless life of righteous men  who follow nature and her ordinances. And if only the vices had not conquered and dominated the thoughts in us which seek the truly profitable and dislodged them from each soul—if instead the forces of the virtues had remained unvanquished throughout, the time from birth to death would be one continuous feast, and houses and cities dwelling in security and leisure  would have been full of all good things with everything tranquil around them.", + "[43] As it is, the overreaching and the assaults which men and women alike contrive against themselves and each other have cleft a breach in the continuous line of this cheerful gaiety. Here is a clear proof of what I am saying.", + "[44] All who practise wisdom, either in Grecian or barbarian lands, and live a blameless and irreproachable life, choosing neither to inflict nor retaliate injustice, avoid the gathering of busy-bodies and abjure the scenes which they haunt, such as law-courts, council-chambers, markets, congregations and in general any gathering or assemblage of careless men.", + "[45] Their own aspirations are for a life of peace, free from warring. They are the closest observers of nature and all that it contains; earth, sea, air and heaven and the various forms of being which inhabit them are food for their research, as in mind and thought they share the ranging of the moon and sun and the ordered march of the other stars fixed and planetary. While their bodies are firmly planted on the land they provide their souls with wings, so that they may traverse the upper air and gain full contemplation of the powers which dwell there, as behoves true “cosmopolitans” who have recognized the world to be a city having for its citizens the associates of wisdom, registered as such by virtue to whom is entrusted the headship of the universal commonwealth." + ], + [ + "[46] Such men filled with high worthiness, inured to disregard ills of the body or of external things, schooled to hold things indifferent as indeed indifferent,  armed against the pleasures and lusts, ever eager to take their stand superior to the passions in general, trained to use every effort to overthrow the formidable menace which those passions have built up against them, never swerving under the blows of fortune because they have calculated beforehand the force of its assaults; since the heaviest adversities are lightened by anticipation,  when the mind ceases to find anything strange in the event and apprehends it but dully as it might some stale and familiar story—such men, we say, in the delight of their virtues, naturally make their whole life a feast.", + "[47] These are indeed but a small number left in their cities like an ember of wisdom to smoulder, that virtue may not be altogether extinguished and lost to our race.", + "[48] But if only everywhere men had thought and felt as these few, and become what nature intended them to be, all of them blameless and guiltless and lovers of sound sense, rejoicing in moral excellence just because it is what it is and counting it the only true good and all the other goods but slaves and vassals, subject to their authority, the cities would have been brimful of happiness, utterly free from all that causes grief and fears, and packed with what produces joys and states of well-being, so that each season as it comes would give full opportunity for cheerful living and the whole cycle of the year would be a feast." + ], + [ + "[49] And therefore in the judgement of truth none of the wicked keeps a feast, even for the shortest time, tormented as he is by consciousness of wrongdoing and depressed in soul, even though he simulates a smile with his face. For where does the wicked man find a season for true rejoicing? He whose every plan is for evil, whose life-mate is folly, with whom everything, tongue, belly and organs of generation, is against what is seasonable.", + "[50] For with the first he blurts out matters of secrecy which call for silence, while in his greed he fills the second with viands unlimited and strong drink in great quantities, and as for the third, he misuses them for abominable lusts and forms of intercourse forbidden by all laws. He not only attacks in his fury the marriage-beds of others, but even plays the pederast and forces the male type of nature to debase and convert itself into the feminine form, just to indulge a polluted and accursed passion. For this reason Moses,", + "[51] great here as ever, seeing how vast was the beauty which belonged to the true feast, held that its perfection was beyond the capacity of human nature to realize, and consecrated it to God with these very words,", + "[52] “The Lord’s feasts.” For when he considered the sorrowful and terror-stricken condition of our race, how charged it is with numberless evils generated by the greedy desires of the soul and also by the infirmities of the body, increased by the vicissitudes of fortune and the mutual onslaughts of neighbours against neighbours  who inflict and suffer countless wrongs, he could not but wonder that anyone, tossed about on so vast a sea of events, whether of his own intending or not, and unable to find tranquility or the secure anchorage of a life kept safe from danger, could really hold a feast, not in the sense in which the word is commonly used, but in the true sense; and the true sense is, to find delight and festivity in the contemplation of the world and its contents and in following nature and in bringing words into harmony with deeds and deeds with words.", + "[53] And therefore it was a necessary pronouncement that the feasts belonged to God alone, for God alone is happy and blessed, exempt from all evil, filled with perfect forms of good, or rather, if the real truth be told, Himself the good, Who showers the particular goods on heaven and earth.", + "[54] And so it was that in the days of old a certain mind of rich intelligence, her passions now calmed within her, smiled because joy lay within her and filled her womb.  And when, as she considered the matter, it seemed to her that joy might well be the peculiar property of God alone, and that she herself was sinning in taking for her own conditions of well-being above human capacity, she was afraid, and denied the laughter of her soul until her doubts were set at rest.", + "[55] For the gracious God allayed her fears by an oracle in which He bade her acknowledge that she laughed, meaning thus to teach us the lesson that joy is not altogether denied to the creature. Joy is of two kinds. One is unmixed and of the utmost purity, admitting nothing whatever of the nature opposite to its own. This joy belongs to God and to no other. The other which flows from it is a mixed stream blended with lesser tributaries of sorrow, and if the blend is such that the pleasant ingredients outnumber the unpleasant, the wise man receives it as the greatest of gifts. So much for this matter." + ], + [ + "[56] After this continuous unbroken feast which has neither beginning nor end, the second to be observed is the sacred seventh day, recurring with six days between. Some have given to it the name of virgin,  having before their eyes its surpassing chastity. They also call her the motherless,  begotten by the father of the universe alone, the ideal form of the male sex with nothing of the female. It is the manliest and doughtiest of numbers, well gifted by nature for sovereignty and leadership. Some give it the name of the “season,”  judging its conceptual nature from its manifestation in the realm of sense.", + "[57] For seven is a factor common to all the phenomena which stand highest in the world of sensible things and serve to consummate in due order transitions of the year and recurring seasons. Such are the seven planets, the Great Bear, the Pleiades and the cycles of the moon, as it waxes and wanes, and the movements, harmonious and grand beyond description, of the other heavenly bodies.", + "[58] But Moses from a higher point of view gave it the name of completion and full perfection when he laid down six as the number under which the parts of the universe were brought into being, seven as that under which they were perfected. For six is even-odd, formed out of twice three with the odd part as its male element and the even as its feminine, and these two, by the immutable laws of nature, are the sources of generation.", + "[59] But seven is a number entirely uncompounded, and may be quite properly described as the light of six. For seven reveals as completed what six has produced, and therefore it may be quite rightly entitled the birthday of the world,  whereon the Father’s perfect work, compounded of perfect parts, was revealed as what it was.", + "[60] On this day we are commanded to abstain from all work, not because the law inculcates slackness; on the contrary it always inures men to endure hardship and incites them to labour, and spurns those who would idle their time away, and accordingly is plain in its directions to work the full six days. Its object is rather to give men relaxation from continuous and unending toil and by refreshing their bodies with a regularly calculated system of remissions, to send them out renewed to their old activities. For a breathing-space enables not merely ordinary people but athletes also to collect their strength and with a stronger force behind them to undertake promptly and patiently each of the tasks set before them.", + "[61] Further, when He forbids bodily labour on the seventh day, He permits the exercise of the higher activities, namely, those employed in the study of the principles of virtue’s lore. For the law bids us take the time for studying philosophy and thereby improve the soul and the dominant mind.", + "[62] So each seventh day there stand wide open in every city thousands of schools of good sense, temperance, courage, justice and the other virtues in which the scholars sit in order quietly with ears alert and with full attention, so much do they thirst for the draught which the teacher’s words supply, while one of special experience rises and sets forth what is the best and sure to be profitable and will make the whole of life grow to something better.", + "[63] But among the vast number of particular truths and principles there studied, there stand out practically  high above the others two main heads: one of duty to God as shewn by piety and holiness, one of duty to men as shewn by humanity and justice, each of them splitting up into multiform branches, all highly laudable.", + "[64] These things shew clearly that Moses does not allow any of those who use his sacred instruction to remain inactive at any season. But since we consist of body and soul, he assigned to the body its proper tasks and similarly to the soul what falls to its share, and his earnest desire was, that the two should be waiting to relieve each other. Thus while the body is working, the soul enjoys a respite, but when the body takes its rest, the soul resumes its work, and thus the best forms of life, the theoretical and the practical, take their turn in replacing each other. The practical life has six as its number allotted for ministering to the body. The theoretical has seven for knowledge and perfection of the mind." + ], + [ + "[65] It is forbidden to light any fire on this day,  fire being regarded as the source and origin of life, since without it nothing can be executed which serves the requirements necessary for existence. And thus the prohibition of the highest  and earliest instrument needed in the arts, and especially those of the mechanical kind, acts as a barrier to those required for the particular forms of service.", + "[66] But it would seem that his further enactments were given for the sake of the more disobedient who refused to pay attention to his commandments, when he not only requires the free men to abstain from work on the Sabbath, but gives the same permission to men-servants and handmaids, and sends them a message of security and almost of freedom after every six days, to teach both masters and men an admirable lesson.", + "[67] The masters must be accustomed to work themselves without waiting for the offices and attentions of their menials,  and so in the event of times of difficulty such as occur through the vicissitudes of human affairs, they may not through unfamiliarity with personal service lose heart at the outset and despair of accomplishing the tasks set before them, but use the different parts of their body with more nimbleness and shew a robust and easy activity; while on the other hand the servants are not to refuse to entertain still higher hopes, but should find in the relaxation allowed after six days an ember or spark of freedom, and look forward to their complete liberation if they continue to serve well and loyally.", + "[68] But the result of this occasional submission of the free to do the menial offices of the slave, together with the immunity allowed to the slave, will be a step forward in human conduct towards the perfection of virtue, when both the seemingly distinguished and the meaner sort remember equality and repay to each other the debt incumbent on them.", + "[69] But the holiday of the Sabbath is given by the law not only to servants but also to the cattle, though there might well be a distinction. For servants are free by nature, no man being naturally a slave,  but the unreasoning animals are intended to be ready for the use and service of men and therefore rank as slaves. Yet all the same, though it is their proper business to carry burdens and undergo toils and labour for their owners, they obtain their respite on the seventh days.", + "[70] There is no need to go through the rest of the list, when even the ox  who serves the most useful and indispensable purposes in human life, namely ploughing when the soil is prepared for the sowing, and again thrashing when the sheaves are brought in for the purging of the fruit, is then kept free from the yoke and enjoys the birthday festival of the world. So universally has the sanctity of the day extended its influence." + ], + [ + "[71] So high is the reverence which he assigns to the seventh day that other things which share in the qualities of the number are honoured in his estimation. Thus he lays down a rule for cancellation of debts in every seventh year,  both as a succour to the poor and as a challenge to the rich to shew humanity, in order that by giving some share of their own to the needy they may expect to receive the same kindness themselves, if any disaster befall them. Human vicissitudes are manifold, and life is not always on the same anchorage, but is like an unsteady wind, ever veering round to the opposite quarter.", + "[72] Now the best course would be that the creditors’ liberality should be extended to all debtors. But since they are not all capable of showing magnanimity, some being under the dominion of their money  or not very well off, he laid down that they too should make a contribution, the sacrifice of which would not give them pain. ", + "[73] He does not allow them to exact money from their fellow-nationals, but does permit the recovery of dues from the others.  He distinguishes the two by calling the first by the appropriate name of brethren, suggesting that none should grudge to give of his own to those whom nature has made his brothers and fellow-heirs. Those who are not of the same nation he describes as aliens,  reasonably enough, and the condition of the alien excludes any idea of partnership, unless indeed by a transcendency of virtues he converts even it into a tie of kinship, since it is a general truth that common citizenship rests on virtues and laws which propound the morally beautiful as the sole good. ", + "[74] Now lending money on interest is a blameworthy action,  for a person who borrows is not living on a superabundance of means, but is obviously in need, and since he is compelled to pay the interest as well as the capital, he must necessarily be in the utmost straits. And while he thinks he is being benefited by the loan, he is actually like senseless animals suffering further damage from the bait which is set before him.", + "[75] I ask you, Sir Moneylender, why do you disguise your want of a partner’s feeling by pretending to act as a partner? Why do you assume outwardly a kindly and charitable appearance but display in your actions inhumanity and a savage brutality, exacting more than you lend, sometimes double, reducing the pauper to further depths of poverty?", + "[76] And therefore no one sympathizes when in your eagerness for larger gains you lose your capital as well. In their glee all call you extortioner and money-grubber and other similar terms, you who have lain in wait for the misfortunes of others, and regarded their ill-luck as your own good luck.", + "[77] It has been said  that vice has no sense of sight; so too the moneylender is blind, and has no vision of the time of repayment, when it will hardly be possible, if at all, to obtain what he has expected to gain by his greed.", + "[78] Such a person may well pay the penalty of his avarice by receiving back merely what he provided, and learn not to make a trade of other people’s misfortunes  and enrich himself in improper ways. And the borrowers should be granted the privilege of the law’s charity, and pay neither simple nor compound interest, but just the principal. For later, as the proper occasion arise, they will make the same sacrifice to their present creditors and requite with equal assistance those who were the first to bestow the benefit." + ], + [ + "[79] After ordinances of this sort he follows them by laying down a law which breathes kindness and humanity throughout.  “If,” he says, “one of your brethren is sold to you, let him continue in slavery for six years but in the seventh be set free without payment.”", + "[80] Here again he uses the term brother of a fellow-national, and by this name indirectly sows in the soul of the owner the thoughts of his close relationship to the person in his power. It bids him not despise him as a stranger who has no charm to win his affection, but allow the lesson which the holy word suggests  to create a preliminary sense of kinship, and thus feel no resentment at his approaching liberation.", + "[81] For people in this position, though we find them called slaves, are in reality labourers  who undertake the service just to procure themselves the necessaries of life, however much some may bluster about the rights of absolute power which they exercise over them.", + "[82] We must abate their truculence by repeating these excellent injunctions of the law. The man whom you call a slave, my friend, is a hired person, himself too a man, ultimately  your kinsman, further of the same nation, perhaps also of the same tribe and ward,  reduced to the guise which he now adopts by actual need.", + "[83] Expel, then, from your soul that evil and malignant thing, arrogance. Deal with him as your hired servant, both in what you give and what you take. As for the latter, he will render you his services without the slightest backwardness always and everywhere without procrastination, and anticipate your orders with zeal and rapidity. And you must give him in return food and raiment and take care for his other needs. Do not harness him like an unreasoning animal nor oppress him with weights too heavy and too numerous for his capacity, nor heap insults upon him, nor drag him down by threats and menaces into cruel despondency. Rather grant him time and places for respite according to some regular rule. For while “not too much of anything” is an excellent maxim in every case, it is particularly so as between masters and servants.", + "[84] When however you have received his services for the fullest term required, namely, six years, and when the truly sacred number of the seventh year is about to begin, grant his freedom to him who is naturally free and grant it without hesitation, my friend, and rejoice that you have found an opportunity of benefiting the highest of living creatures, man, in his chief interest. For a slave can have no greater boon than freedom.", + "[85] Be glad, too, to crown your benefaction by bestowing something of each of your various kinds of property to start him on his way. For it is a praise to you that he should not leave your home penniless but well stocked in resources to procure what is necessary. Otherwise the same thing may happen again. He may be reduced by need to his old unhappy plight and compelled to undertake slavery again through lack of the means of life, and the boon you bestowed upon him may be cancelled. So much for the poor." + ], + [ + "[86] Then follows a commandment to let the land lie fallow during the seventh year.  There are several reasons for this. In the first place he wished to give seven its honourable position in all the series in which time is measured, namely, days, months and years. For every seventh day is holy, a Sabbath as the Hebrews call it, and it is in the seventh month in every year that the chief of all the feasts falls, and therefore naturally the seventh year also has been marked out for a share in the dignity which belongs to the number.", + "[87] And there is this second reason. Do not, he says, be entirely under the power of lucre, but submit voluntarily to some loss, so that you may find it easy to bear some involuntary injury, if ever it should occur, instead of resenting it as some strange and alien misfortune and falling into despair. For some of the rich are so poor-spirited that when adversity overtakes them, they are as mournful and depressed as if they had been robbed of their whole substance.", + "[88] But among the followers of Moses all who have been his true disciples, trained in his excellent institutions from their earliest years, by allowing even rich territory to lie idle inure themselves to bear privations calmly and by the lesson of magnanimity thus learned voluntarily and deliberately to let even undoubted sources of wealth fall almost from their very hands. ", + "[89] There is also, I think, this third suggestion, that men should absolutely abstain from putting any oppressive burden upon anyone else. For if the different parts of the earth which cannot share in any sensations of pain or pleasure yet have to be given respite, how much more must this be the case with men who not only possess the sense which is common also to the irrational animals but even the special gift of reason through which the painful feelings caused by toil and labour stamp and record themselves in mental pictures, more vivid than mere sensation!", + "[90] Let so-called masters therefore cease from imposing upon their slaves severe and scarcely endurable orders, which break down their bodies by violent usage and force the soul to collapse before the body.", + "[91] You need not grudge to moderate your orders. The result will be that you yourselves will enjoy proper attention and that your servants will carry out their orders readily and accept their duties not just for a short time to be abandoned through wearying too quickly, and, indeed, we may say, as if old age had prematurely overtaken them in their labours. On the contrary, they will prolong their youth to the utmost, like athletes, not those who fatten themselves up into full fleshiness, but those who regularly train themselves by “dry sweatings”  to acquire what is necessary and useful for life.", + "[92] So too let rulers of cities cease from racking them with taxes and tolls as heavy as they are constant. Such rulers both fill their own coffers and while hoarding money hoard also illiberal vices which defile the whole of civic life. ", + "[93] For they purposely choose as tax-gatherers the most ruthless of men, brimful of inhumanity, and put into their hands resources for overreaching. These persons add to their natural brutality the immunity they gain from their masters’ instructions, and in their determination to accommodate every action to those masters’ pleasure they leave no severity untried, however barbarous, and banish mercy and gentleness even from their dreams.", + "[94] And therefore in carrying out their collecting they create universal chaos and confusion and apply their exactions not merely to the property of their victims but also to their bodies, on which they inflict insults and outrages and forms of torture quite original in their savagery.", + "Indeed, I have heard of persons who, actuated by abnormal frenzy and cruelty, have not even spared the dead, persons who become so utterly brutalized that they venture even to flog corpses with whips.", + "[95] And when anyone censured the extraordinary cruelty shewn in refusing to allow even death, the release and in very truth the “end” of all ills, to procure freedom from insult for those who are now beyond its reach, and in causing them to undergo outrage instead of the normal rites of burial, the line of defence adopted was worse than the accusation. They treated the dead, they said, with such contempt not for the useless purpose of insulting the deaf and senseless dust but in order to excite the pity of those who were related to them by birth or some other tie of fellowship, and thus urge them to ransom the bodies of their friends by making a final gift in payment for them." + ], + [ + "[96] Foolish, foolish people, I would say to them, have you not first learnt the lesson which you teach, or are you competent to induce others to shew pity, even with the cruellest actions before them,  when you have exscinded all kindly and humane feelings from your own souls? And this you have done, though you had no lack of good advisers, particularly in our laws, which have relieved even the land from its yearly tolls and provided it with a rest and respite.", + "[97] This land, though to all appearance a lifeless thing, is put into a condition to make its requital and to repay a boon which it received as a free gift but is now eager to return. For the immunity which it has during the seventh year and its rest from labour and complete freedom during the whole annual cycle give it a fertility in the next year which causes it to bear twice as much or even many times as much as in the previous years.", + "[98] We may also note that the trainers of athletes take much the same line in dealing with their pupils. When they have thoroughly drilled them by an unbroken course of exercises, before they reach the point of exhaustion, they give them a fresh lease of life by providing relaxations, not only from the labour of the training itself but from the dietary regulations as to food and drink, the hardships of which they abate in order to make the soul cheerful and the body comfortable.", + "[99] And we must not suppose that here we have the professional trainers to hard work appearing as instructors in slackness and luxury; they are following a scientific method by which further strength and power is given to what is already strong and powerful, and vigour enhanced as though it were a harmony by alternating relaxation with tension.", + "[100] This truth I have learnt from the never-failing wisdom of nature who, knowing how toil-worn and weary our race becomes, divided our time into day and night, giving the hours of wakefulness to one and of sleep to the other.", + "[101] For, most careful of mothers, her anxious thought was that her children should not be exhausted. In the daylight she wakens our bodies and stimulates them to carry out all the offices and demands of life, and reproaches those who are making it their practice to loiter through life in an idle and voluptuous way. But at night she sounds the recall as in war and summons them to repose and take care of their bodies.", + "[102] And men casting off all the sore burden of affairs which has lain heavy upon them from morn till eve, turn homewards and betake themselves to rest, and in the deep sleep which falls upon them cast off the distempers of their daylight troubles, and then again unwearied and full of fresh vigour hasten eagerly each to his own familiar occupation.", + "[103] This double course nature has assigned to men by means of sleeping and waking with the result that by alternating activity with inaction they have increased readiness and nimbleness in the various parts of their bodies." + ], + [ + "[104] These considerations the prophetic author of our laws had before his eyes when he proclaimed a rest for the land and made the husbandman stay his work after six years. But he gave this enactment not only on the grounds which I have mentioned but also moved by that habitual kindliness which he aims at infusing into every part of his legislation, thereby impressing on the readers of the sacred scriptures the stamp of good and neighbourly customs.", + "[105] For he forbids them to close up any field during the seventh year.  All olive-yards and vineyards are to be left wide open and so with the other kinds of property, whether of sown crops or orchard-trees, thus giving an unrestricted use of such fruits as are of natural growth to the poor quite as much, if not more so, than to the owners.", + "[106] Thus on the one hand he did not allow the masters to do any work of tillage because he wished to avoid giving them the painful feeling that they had incurred the expenditure but did not receive the income in return, and on the other hand he thought fit that the poor should for this year at any rate enjoy as their own what appeared to belong to others, and in this way took from them any appearance of humiliation or possibility of being reproached as beggars.", + "[107] May not our passionate affection well go out to laws charged with such kindly feeling, which teaches the rich to give liberally and share what they have with others and encourages the poor not to be always dancing attendance on the houses of the wealthy, as though compelled to resort thither to make up their own deficiency, but sometimes also to come claiming a source of wealth in the fruits which, as I have said, develop untilled and which they can treat as their own?", + "[108] Widows and orphans and all others who are neglected and ignored because they have no surplus of income have at this time such a surplus and find themselves suddenly affluent through the gifts of God, Who invites them to share with the owners under the sanction of the holy number seven.", + "[109] And indeed all stock-breeders feel at liberty to take out their own cattle in search of pasturage and to select meadow-land of good herbage and particularly suitable for grazing their beasts. Thus they take full advantage of the immunity secured by the time of freedom. And this is not opposed by any grudging on the master’s side. They are under the sway of a very ancient custom, which through long familiarity has won its way to the standing of nature." + ], + [ + "[110] While laying down this first foundation of moderation and humanity, he built on it by adding years to the number of seven times seven and consecrated the whole of the fiftieth year.  This he made the subject of many special enactments, all of remarkable excellence, apart from those which are common to other seventh years. ", + "[111] The first of these enactments is as follows. He considers that alienated estates ought to be restored to their original possessors in order that the apportionments should be secured to the families and that no one to whom they had been allotted should be altogether deprived of the grant. ", + "[112] For since times of adversity often arise which make it necessary for some persons to sell their property, he made provision for the just needs of such persons and at the same time took steps to prevent the purchasers being deceived, by accompanying the permission to the vendors to sell with very clear instructions to the purchasers as to the terms of the transaction.", + "[113] “Do not pay the price,” he says, “of complete ownership, but only for a fixed number of years and a lower limit than fifty.” For the sale should represent not real property but fruits, and this for two most convincing reasons. One is that the whole country is called God’s property,  and it is against religion to have anything that is God’s property registered under other masters. Another reason is that each of the holders has a portion assigned to him by lot, and that this should be taken from him is contrary to the law’s conception of justice.", + "[114] Anyone, therefore, who before the fifty years are completed has the means to recover his own property, or anyone else very closely related to him, is urged by the lawgiver to take every step to recover the land at the price which he got for it, and not to occasion loss to the purchaser who helped him at the time when he needed it.", + "[115] On the other hand he sympathized with the poor man and shewed him pity by restoring to him the additional wealth which he originally possessed, excepting fields which had been dedicated by a vow, and therefore rank with votive offerings.  Religion forbids that time should affect the validity of a votive offering, and therefore it is ordained that the proper price for such estates should be demanded and that no concessions should be made to the votary." + ], + [ + "[116] These are the rules for cases where the apportionments and holdings consist of land. There are different regulations as to houses.  Houses in some cases belong to cities and are inside the walls, and others are farm-buildings in the country outside the walls. Consequently the law allows the latter to be redeemable at any time, and prescribes that any that have not been ransomed by the fiftieth year should be restored without compensation to the former owner as in the case of real property, for farm-buildings are a part of real property.", + "[117] But houses within the walls may be recoverable by the vendors for the space of a year, but after the year are absolutely secured to the purchasers who are not liable to suffer any injury from the general remission in the fiftieth year.", + "[118] His reason is that he wishes to give the newcomers also a basis on which they may feel themselves firmly established in the country. For since they have no apportionment of land as they were not counted when the holdings were distributed, the law assigned to them their houses in fee simple in its anxiety that those who had come as suppliants and refugees to the laws should not be cast adrift.", + "[119] For when the land was apportioned according to the tribes the cities were not distributed, nor indeed built in city form at all, and the inhabitants took for their dwellings the outbuildings in the country. Subsequently when they left these and became concentrated as the feeling of unity and friendship naturally grew stronger in the course of many years, they built houses adjacent to each other, thus forming cities. And of these, as I have said, they assigned a share to the newcomers, to prevent them finding themselves cut off from holding property both in the country and in the cities." + ], + [ + "[120] The legislation with regard to the consecrated tribe is as follows.  The temple-keepers were not allotted a section of land by the law, which considered that they were sufficiently provided for by the first-fruits, but assigned them instead forty-eight cities to dwell in, with a surrounding frontage in each case of two thousand cubits.", + "[121] Houses within these were not, like the others within the walls, secured to the purchasers, if the vendors could not find the means to redeem them within the year, but were liable to be redeemed for an unlimited period just as the lay population  could redeem the farm buildings, to which the dwelling-houses of the Levites correspond. For these were all that fell to their share in that great territory, and thus he considered that being once received they ought not to be taken back, any more than the farm-buildings in the case of those to whom the holdings were apportioned. So much for the subject of houses." + ], + [ + "[122] Similar rules to those already stated are laid down as to the relations between creditors and debtors and between servants and masters.  Creditors are not to exact interest from their fellow-nationals but to be content with recovering what they provided. Masters are to treat their purchased slaves as their hired servants, not as their slaves by nature, and give them secure access to liberty on the spot if they can provide their ransom, or in the case of the needy at a later time, when either the seventh year from the beginning of their slavery or the fiftieth arrives, in the latter case even though only a single day has elapsed since the man was reduced to that condition. For that time is accepted as the remission and actually is such, when all reverse their course and turn back to the prosperity of the past.", + "[123] But the law does permit the acquisition of slaves from other nations  for two reasons; first, that a distinction should be made between fellow-countrymen and aliens; secondly, that that most indispensable possession, domestic service, should not be absolutely excluded from his commonwealth. For the course of life contains a vast number of circumstances which demand the ministrations of slaves.", + "[124] The heirs of parents are to be sons,  or failing sons daughters. For just as in nature men take precedence of women, so too in the scale of relationships they should take the first place in succeeding to the property and filling the position of the departed which they have ceased to hold, debarred by an inevitable law which admits to immortality nothing that is mortal or earth-born.", + "[125] But if virgins are left without a dower, nothing of the kind having been settled on them by the parents while still alive, they should share equally with the males. The charge of protecting the girls left thus desolate and superintending their development, and the expenses of providing anything required for their maintenance and education as befits maidens should fall upon the head magistrate ; also when the time comes, the duty of arranging a suitable marriage and choosing husbands who are selected on their merits and approved in all respects.", + "[126] And these should be, if possible, of the same family as the girls, or if that cannot be, at any rate of the same ward and tribe, in order that the portions assigned as dowry should not be alienated by inter-marriage with other tribes, but should retain the place given to them in the allotments originally made on the basis of tribes. ", + "[127] But if the deceased has no descendants, the brothers must proceed to the succession, for brothers rank next in tables of relationship with sons and daughters. If the dead man has no brother, the succession must pass to the uncles on the father’s side, and if there are no uncles, to the aunts, and then to the next nearest among their other connexions or kinsfolk.", + "[128] But if kinsfolk are so scarce that no blood-relation remains, then the tribe shall be the heir.  For the tribe is in a sense a kinship with a wider and more all-embracing compass.", + "[129] One question, however, which is raised by some inquirers should not be passed over in silence. Why, they ask, does the Law when dealing with the regulations of inheritance mention kinsmen of every degree and fellow-wardsmen and fellow-tribesmen, but leaves parents alone unmentioned who would naturally inherit from the children as the children do from them? The answer, good sir, is that the law, God-given as it is, and ever desirous to follow the course of nature, held that no sinister thought should be introduced. Parents pray that they may leave behind them alive the children they have begotten to succeed to their name, race and property, and the imprecations of their implacable enemies are just the opposite, that the sons and daughters may die before their parents.", + "[130] Now he did not wish to speak plainly of anything so out of tune with and discordant to the harmony and concord which prevails throughout the cosmic order as the death of children while the parents survive, and therefore he complied both with necessity and decency  in not ordaining that mothers and fathers should inherit from their sons and daughters. He knew that such an event was not in accordance with the ordinary course of life or with nature.", + "[131] So while he avoided appointing the parents in undisguised terms as heirs to the property of their dead children, lest by assigning to them an acquisition of so undesirable a kind he should seem to be casting a slur upon their mourning or reminding them of their misfortunes, he adopted another way of conveying the ownership to them, a simple specific for a great mischief.", + "[132] What was this way? He declares the father’s brothers to be the heirs of their nephews, a privilege doubtless given to the uncle for the sake of the father, unless anyone is foolish enough to suppose that a person who honours A for the sake of B is deliberately dishonouring B. Is it the case that those who pay court to the acquaintances of their friends are neglecting those friends? Is it not rather the truth that their affectionate care for all that might honour these acquaintances  shews regard for the friends also? On the same principle the law, when it nominates the father’s brother to share in the inheritance because of his relationship to the father, much more nominates the father, not in actual words it is true for reasons already stated, but with a force more recognizable than words, leaving no doubt of the intention of the lawgiver.", + "[133] The eldest son does not share equally with his juniors, but is adjudged a double portion,  one reason being that his parents who before were but man and wife, owe to the first-born the fact that they have later become father and mother. Another is that it is their first-born who began to use these names in addressing his parents.  The third reason is the most important, that what was before their birth a house of barren stock has become fruitful for the preservation of the human race, a preservation which is sown in marriage and fructified in the birth of children, starting with the eldest.", + "[134]This was the reason, I suppose, that the first-born sons of the enemies who had shewn themselves so merciless in action, were cut off in wholesale massacre in a single night, as the Holy Scriptures tell us, while the first-born of our nation were dedicated by consecration as a thank-offering to God. For it was just that on the enemy should fall the weight of a blow for which no consolation was possible, namely, the destruction of their foremost rank, while God Who wrought the salvation was honoured by the dedication as first-fruits of those who headed the line of children.", + "[135] But there are some who after marrying and begetting children unlearn in their later days what they knew of self-restraint and are wrecked on the reef of incontinence. Seized with a mad passion for other women, they maltreat those who hitherto belonged to them and behave to the children they have begotten by them as though they were uncles rather than fathers, copy the unrighteousness shewn by stepmothers to the first family and altogether devote themselves and all they have to the second wives and their children, overcome by the vilest of passions, voluptuousness. Such lusts the law would not have hesitated to bridle if it were possible, and prevent them from frisking and plunging still more.", + "[136] But since it is difficult, or rather impossible, to heal the frenzy goaded into savagery, it left the father to his fate as one in the grip of an incurable disease but did not disregard the son of the wife who was wronged through his passion for another, but bade him take the double portion in the distribution between the brothers. ", + "[137] There are several reasons for this. In the first place, it punishes the culprit by forcing him to give good treatment to the person to whom he intended to give the reverse and renders him incapable of carrying out his ill-judged judgement. This it effects by conferring benefits on the person who was likely to suffer loss at his hands, and by taking upon itself the parental position which had been abandoned by the natural father in so far as the eldest child was concerned.", + "[138] Secondly, it shews mercy and pity for the victims of injustice whom it relieves of a very grievous trouble by enabling them to share in the boon thus bestowed. For naturally we may suppose that the gratification felt by the son at obtaining the double portion is shared by the mother, encouraged as she is by the humanity of the law which refuses to allow her and her family to lie entirely at the mercy of her enemies.", + "[139] And there was a third reason. Being gifted with a power to judge justly, it reflected that the father had bestowed his bounties generously on the children of the beloved wife because of his affection for her, but left the children of the hated wife entirely out of consideration owing to his hostility to their mother, so that the former even in his lifetime inherited more than their equal share, and the latter might expect at his death to find themselves robbed of the whole patrimony. And therefore it decreed that the son of the discarded wife should have the eldest son’s privilege of the double share, in order to equalize the partition between both families.  Enough on these matters." + ], + [ + "[140] Following the order stated above, we record the third type of feast which we will proceed to explain. This is the New Moon, or beginning of the lunar month,  namely the period between one conjunction and the next, the length of which has been accurately calculated in the astronomical schools. The new moon holds its place among the feasts for many reasons. First, because it is the beginning of the month, and the beginning, both in number and in time, deserves honour. Secondly, because when it arrives, nothing in heaven is left without light, for while at the conjunction, when the moon is lost to sight under the sun, the side which faces earth is darkened, when the new month begins it resumes its natural brightness.", + "[141] The third reason is, that the stronger or more powerful element at that time supplies the help which is needed to the smaller and weaker. For it is just then that the sun begins to illumine the moon with the light which we perceive and the moon reveals its own beauty to the eye. And this is surely an obvious lesson inculcating kindness and humanity and bidding men never grudge their own good things, but imitating the blessed and happy beings in heaven banish jealousy from the confines of the soul, producing what they have for all to see, treat it as common property, and give freely to the deserving.", + "[142] The fourth reason is, that the moon traverses the zodiac in a shorter fixed period than any other heavenly body. For it accomplishes that revolution in the span of a single month, and therefore the conclusion of its circuit, when the moon ends its course at the starting-point at which it began, is honoured by the law, which declares that day a feast, again to teach us an admirable lesson, that in the conduct of life we should make the ends correspond with the beginnings. And this will be effected if we keep our primitive appetites under the control of reason and do not permit them to rebel and riot like cattle that have no herdsman.", + "[143] As for the services that the moon renders to everything on earth, there is no need to dilate upon them. The proofs are perfectly clear. As the moon increases, the rivers and fountains rise, and again diminish as it diminishes. Its phases cause the seas to withdraw and dwindle at the ebbtide, then suddenly rush back with the returning flood, and the air to undergo all manner of changes as the sky becomes clear or cloudy and alters in other ways. The fruits, both of the sown crops and orchard-trees, grow to their maturity according to the revolutions of the moon, which fosters and ripens everything that grows with the dewy and very gentle breezes which it brings.", + "[144] But, as I have said, this is not the time to dwell at length on the praises of the moon and record and catalogue the services which it renders to living creatures and everything on earth. It is for these or similar reasons that the New Moon is honoured and obtains its place among the feasts." + ], + [ + "[145] After the New Moon comes the fourth feast, called the Crossing-feast,  which the Hebrews in their native tongue call Pascha. In this festival many myriads of victims from noon till eventide  are offered by the whole people, old and young alike, raised for that particular day to the dignity of the priesthood.  For at other times the priests according to the ordinance of the law carry out both the public sacrifices and those offered by private individuals. But on this occasion the whole nation performs the sacred rites and acts as priest with pure hands and complete immunity.", + "[146] The reason for this is as follows: the festival is a reminder and thank-offering for that great migration from Egypt which was made by more than two millions  of men and women in obedience to the oracles vouchsafed to them. Now at that time they had left a land brimful of inhumanity which made a practice of expelling strangers, and what was worst of all, assigned divine honours to irrational creatures, not merely domesticated animals, but even wild beasts. So exceedingly joyful were they that in their vast enthusiasm and impatient eagerness, they naturally enough sacrificed without waiting for their priest.  This practice which on that occasion was the result of a spontaneous and instinctive emotion, was sanctioned by the law once in every year to remind them of their duty of thanksgiving. These are the facts as discovered by the study of ancient history.", + "[147] But to those who are accustomed to turn literal facts into allegory, the Crossing-festival suggests the purification of the soul. They say that the lover of wisdom is occupied solely in crossing from the body and the passions, each of which overwhelms him like a torrent, unless the rushing current be dammed and held back by the principles of virtue.", + "[148] On this day every dwelling-house is invested with the outward semblance and dignity of a temple. The victim is then slaughtered and dressed for the festal meal which befits the occasion. The guests assembled for the banquet have been cleansed by purificatory lustrations, and are there not as in other festive gatherings, to indulge the belly with wine and viands, but to fulfil with prayers and hymns the custom handed down by their fathers.", + "[149] The day on which this national festivity occurs may very properly be noted. It is the 14th of the month, a number formed of the sum of two sevens, thus bringing out the fact that seven never fails to appear in anything worthy of honour but everywhere takes the lead in conferring prestige and dignity." + ], + [ + "[150] With the Crossing-feast he combines one in which the food consumed is of a different and unfamiliar kind, namely, unleavened bread, which also gives its name to the feast.  This may be regarded from two points of view, one peculiar to the nation, referring to the migration just mentioned, the other universal, following the lead of nature, and in agreement with the general cosmic order. To show that this affirmation is absolutely true, will require some examination. This month comes seventh in order and number as judged by the cycle of the sun, but in importance it is first, and therefore is described as first in the sacred books. ", + "[151] The reason for this I believe to be as follows. In the spring equinox we have a kind of likeness and portraiture of that first epoch in which this world was created. The elements were then separated and placed in harmonious order with reference to themselves and each other. The heaven was adorned with sun and moon and the rhythmic movements and circlings of the other stars, both fixed and planetary. So too the earth was adorned with every manner of plants, and the uplands and lowlands, wherever the soil had depth and goodness, became luxuriant and verdant.", + "[152] So every year God reminds us of the creation of the world by setting before our eyes the spring when everything blooms and flowers. And therefore there is good reason for describing it in the laws as the first month because in a sense it is an image of the primal origin reproduced from it like the imprint from an archetypal seal.", + "[153] But the month of the autumnal equinox, though first in order as measured by the course of the sun, is not called first in the law, because at that time all the fruits have been gathered in and the trees are shedding their leaves and all the bloom which the spring brought in its prime already scorched by the heat of the summer sun is wilting under the dry currents of air.", + "[154] And so to give the name of “first” to a month in which both uplands and lowlands are sterilized and unfruitful seemed to him altogether unsuitable and incongruous. For things which come first and head the list should be associated with all the fairest and most desirable things which are the sources of birth and increase to animals and fruits and plants, not with the processes of destruction and the dark thoughts which it suggests.", + "[155] The feast begins at the middle of the month, on the fifteenth day, when the moon is full, a day purposely chosen because then there is no darkness, but everything is continuously lighted up as the sun shines from morning to evening and the moon from evening to morning and while the stars give place to each other no shadow is cast upon their brightness. ", + "[156] Again, the feast is held for seven days to mark the precedence and honour which the number holds in the universe, indicating that nothing which tends to cheerfulness and public mirth and thankfulness to God should fail to be accompanied with memories of the sacred seven which He intended to be the source and fountain to men of all good things.", + "[157] Two days out of the seven, the first and the last, are declared holy. In this way he gave a natural precedence to the beginning and the end; but he also wished to create a harmony as on a musical instrument between the intermediates and the extremes. Perhaps too he wished to harmonize the feast with a past which adjoins the first day and a future which adjoins the last. These two, the first and the last, have each the other’s properties in addition to their own. The first is the beginning of the feast and the end of the preceding past, the seventh is the end of the feast and the beginning of the coming future. Thus, as I have said before,  the whole life of the man of worth may be regarded as equivalent to a feast held by one who has expelled grief and fear and desire and the other passions and distempers of the soul.", + "[158] The bread is unleavened either because our forefathers, when under divine guidance they were starting on their migration, were so intensely hurried that they brought the lumps of dough unleavened,  or else because at that season, namely, the springtime, when the feast is held, the fruit of the corn has not reached its perfection, for the fields are in the ear stage and not yet mature for harvest. It was the imperfection of this fruit which belonged to the future, though it was to reach its perfection very shortly, that he considered might be paralleled by the unleavened food, which is also imperfect, and serves to remind us of the comforting hope that nature, possessing as she does a superabundant wealth of things needful, is already preparing her yearly gifts to the human race.", + "[159] Another suggestion made by the interpreters of the holy scriptures is that food, when unleavened, is a gift of nature, when leavened is a work of art. For men in their eagerness to temper the barely necessary with the pleasant, have learned through practice to soften by art what nature has made hard.", + "[160] Since, then, the spring-time feast, as I have laid down, is a reminder of the creation of the world, and its earliest inhabitants, children of earth in the first or second generation, must have used the gifts of the universe in their unperverted state before pleasure had got the mastery, he ordained for use on this occasion the food most fully in accordance with the season. He wished every year to rekindle the embers of the serious and ascetic mode of faring, and to employ the leisure of a festal assembly to confer admiration and honour on the old-time life of frugality and economy, and as far as possible to assimilate our present-day life to that of the distant past.", + "[161] These statements are especially guaranteed by the exposure of the twelve loaves corresponding in number to the tribes, on the holy table.  They are all unleavened, the clearest possible example of a food free from admixture, in the preparation of which art for the sake of pleasure has no place, but only nature, providing nothing save what is indispensable for its use. So much for this." + ], + [ + "[162] But within the feast there is another feast following directly after the first day. This is called the “Sheaf,”  a name given to it from the ceremony which consists in bringing to the altar a sheaf as a first-fruit, both of the land which has been given to the nation to dwell in and of the whole earth, so that it serves that purpose both to the nation in particular and for the whole human race in general.", + "[163] The reason of this is  that the Jewish nation is to the whole inhabited world what the priest is to the State. For the holy office in very truth belongs to the nation because it carries out all the rites of purification and both in body and soul obeys the injunctions of the divine laws, which restrict the pleasures of the belly and the parts below it and the horde … setting reason to guide the irrational senses, and also check and rein in the wild and extravagant impulses of the soul, sometimes through gentler remonstrances and philosophical admonitions, sometimes through severer and more forcible condemnations and the fear of punishment which they hold over it as a deterrent.", + "[164] But not only is the legislation in a sense a lesson on the sacred office, not only does a life led in conformity with the laws necessarily confer priesthood or rather high priesthood in the judgement of truth, but there is another point of special importance. There is no bound or limit to the number of deities, male and female, honoured in different cities, the vain inventions of the tribe of poets and of the great multitude of men to whom the quest for truth is a task of difficulty and beyond their powers of research. Yet instead of all peoples having the same gods, we find different nations venerating and honouring different gods. The gods of the foreigner they do not regard as gods at all. They treat their acceptance by the others as a jest and a laughing-stock and denounce the extreme folly of those who honour them and the failure to think soundly shewn thereby.", + "[165] But if He exists Whom all Greeks and barbarians unanimously acknowledge,  the supreme Father of gods and men and the Maker of the whole universe, whose nature is invisible and inscrutable not only by the eye, but by the mind, yet is a matter into which every student of astronomical science  and other philosophy desires to make research and leaves nothing untried which would help him to discern it and do it service—then it was the duty of all men to cleave to Him and not introduce new gods staged as by machinery  to receive the same honours.", + "[166] When they went wrong in what was the most vital matter of all, it is the literal truth that the error which the rest committed was corrected by the Jewish nation which passed over all created objects because they were created and naturally liable to destruction and chose the service only of the Uncreated and Eternal, first because of its excellence, secondly because it is profitable to dedicate and attach ourselves to the elder rather than to the younger, to the ruler rather than to the subject, to the maker rather than to the thing created.", + "[167] And therefore it astonishes me to see that some people venture to accuse of inhumanity the nation which has shewn so profound a sense of fellowship and goodwill to all men everywhere, by using its prayers and festivals and first-fruit offerings as a means of supplication for the human race in general and of making its homage to the truly existent God in the name of those who have evaded the service which it was their duty to give, as well as of itself.", + "[168] So much for this feast as a thanksgiving for the whole human race. But the nation in particular also gives thanks for many reasons. First, because they do not continue for ever wandering broadcast over islands and continents and occupying the homelands of others as strangers and vagrants, open to the reproach of waiting to seize the goods of others. Nor have they just borrowed a section of this great country for lack of means to purchase,  but have acquired the land and cities for their own property, a heritage in which they live as long established citizens and therefore offer first-fruits from it as a sacred duty.", + "[169] Secondly, the land which has fallen to their lot is not derelict nor indifferent soil, but good land, well fitted for breeding domestic animals and bearing fruits in vast abundance. For in it there is no poverty of soil and even such parts as seem to be stony or stubborn are intersected by soft veins of very great depth, the richness of which adapts them for producing life.", + "[170] But besides this it was no uninhabited land which they received, but one which contained a populous nation and great cities filled with stalwart citizens. Yet these cities have been stripped of their inhabitants and the whole nation, except for a small fraction, has disappeared, partly through wars, partly through heaven-sent visitations, a consequence of their strange and monstrous practices of iniquity and all their heinous acts of impiety aimed at the subversion of the statutes of nature. Thus should those who took their place as inhabitants gain instruction from the evil fate of others and learn from their history the lesson that if they emulate deeds of vice  they will suffer the same doom, but if they pay honour to a life of virtue they will possess the heritage appointed to them and be ranked not as settlers but as native-born.", + "[171] We have shewn, then, that the Sheaf was an offering both of the nation’s own land and of the whole earth, given in thanks for the fertility and abundance which the nation and the whole human race desired to enjoy. But we must not fail to note that there are many things of great advantage represented by the offering. First, that we remember God, and what thing more perfectly good can we find than this? Secondly, that we make a requital, as is most fully due, to Him Who is the true cause of the good harvest.", + "[172] For the results due to the husbandman’s art are few or as good as nothing, furrows drawn, a plant dug or ringed around, a trench deepened, excessive overgrowth lopped, or other similar operations. But what we owe to nature is all indispensable and useful, a soil of great fruitfulness, fields irrigated by fountains or rivers, spring-fed or winter torrents, and watered by seasonable rains, happily tempered states of the air which sends us the breath of its truly life-giving breezes, numberless varieties of crops and plants. For which of these has man for its inventor or parent?", + "[173] No, it is nature, their parent, who has not grudged to man a share in the goods which are her very own, but judging him to be the chiefest of mortal animals because he has obtained a portion of reason and good sense, chose him as the worthiest and invited him to share what was hers to give. For all this it is meet and right that the hospitality of God should be praised and revered, God Who provides for His guests the whole earth as a truly hospitable home ever filled not merely with necessaries, but with the means of luxurious living.", + "[174] Further, we learn not to neglect benefactors, for he who is grateful to God, Who needs nothing and is His own fullness,  will thus become accustomed to be grateful to men whose needs are numberless.", + "[175] The sheaf thus offered is of barley, shewing that the use of the inferior grains is not open to censure. It would be irreverent to give first-fruits of them all, as most of them are made to give pleasure rather than to be used as necessaries, and equally unlawful to enjoy and partake of any form of food for which thanks had not been offered in the proper and rightful manner. And therefore the law ordained  that the first-fruit offerings should be made of barley, a species of grain regarded as holding the second place in value as food. For wheat holds the first place and as the first-fruit of this has greater distinction, the law postponed it to a more suitable season in the future. It does not anticipate matters, but puts it in storage for the time being, so that the various thank-offerings may be adjusted to their appointed dates as they recur." + ], + [ + "[176] The festival of the Sheaf, which has all these grounds of precedence,  indicated in the law, is also in fact anticipatory of another greater feast. For it is from it that the fiftieth day is reckoned, by counting seven sevens, which are then crowned with the sacred number by the monad,  which is an incorporeal image of God, Whom it resembles because it also stands alone. This is the primary excellence exhibited by fifty, but there is another which should be mentioned.", + "[177] One reason among others which makes its nature so marvellous and admirable is that it is formed by what the mathematicians tell us is the most elemental and venerable of existing things,  namely, the right-angled triangle. In length its sides are 5, 3, 4, of which the sum is twelve, the pattern of the zodiac cycle, the duplication of the highly prolific six, which is the starting-point of perfection since it is the sum of the factors which produce it through multiplication. But we find that the sides when raised to the second power, i.e. 3 × 3 + 4 × 4 + 5 × 5, make 50, so that we must say that 50 is superior to 12 in the same degree as the second power is superior to the first.", + "[178] And if the lesser of these is represented by the most excellent of the heavenly spheres, the zodiac, the greater, namely 50, must be the pattern of some quite superior form of existence. But a discussion of this would be out of place at this point. It is quite enough for the present to call attention to the difference, so as to avoid treating a prominent fact as of secondary importance.", + "[179] The feast which is held when the number 50 is reached has acquired the title of “first-products.”  On it it is the custom to bring two leavened loaves of wheaten bread for a sample offering of that kind of grain as the best form of food. One explanation of the name, “Feast of First-products,” is that the first produce of the young wheat and the earliest fruit to appear is brought as a sample offering before the year’s harvest comes to be used by men.", + "[180] It is no doubt just and a religious duty that those who have received freely a generous supply of sustenance so necessary and wholesome and also palatable in the highest degree should not enjoy or taste it at all until they have brought a sample offering to the Donor, not indeed as a gift, for all things and possessions and gifts are His, but as a token, however small, by which they show a disposition of thankfulness and loyalty to Him Who, while He needs no favours, sends the showers of His favours in never-failing constancy.", + "[181] Another reason for the name may be that wheaten grain is pre-eminent as the first and best product, all the other sown crops ranking in the second class in comparison; for as an archon in a city or a pilot in a ship are said to be the first because they regulate the course of the city or the ship, as the case may be, so wheaten grain has received the compound name of “first-product” because it is the best of all the cereals, which it would not be,  unless it were also the food used by the best of living creatures.", + "[182] The loaves are leavened in spite of the prohibition  against bringing leaven to the altar, not to produce any contradiction in the ordinances, but to ensure that so to speak there shall be a single kind, both for receiving and giving. By receiving I mean the thanksgiving of the offerers, by giving the immediate return without any delay to the offerers of what they bring, though not for their own use.", + "[183] For food that has once been consecrated will be used by those who have the right and authority, and that right belongs to those who act as priests who through the beneficence of the law have the right to partake of any thing brought to the altar which is not consumed by the undying fire—a privilege granted either as a payment for officiating or as a prize for the contests which they endure in the cause of piety, or a sacred allotment in lieu of land, in the apportionment of which they had not received their proper share like the other tribes.", + "[184] But leaven is also a symbol for two other things: in one way it stands for food in its most complete and perfect form, such that in our daily usage none is found to be superior or more nourishing, and as wheat-meal is superior to that of the other seed crops, its excellence demands that the offering made in recognition of it should be of the same high quality.", + "[185] The other point is more symbolical. Everything that is leavened rises, and joy is the rational elevation or rising of the soul.  And there is nothing that exists which more naturally gives a man joy than the possession in generous abundance of necessaries. Such rightly call forth gladness and thanksgiving in those who by the leavened loaves give outward expression to the invisible sense of well-being in their hearts.", + "[186] The offering takes the form of loaves instead of wheaten meal,  because when the wheat has come there is nothing still missing in the way of appetizing food. For we are told that of all the seed crops, wheat is the last to spring up and be ready for harvesting.", + "[187] And these thank-offerings of the best kind are two in number for the two kinds of time, the past and the future; for the past, because our days have been spent in abundance, free from the experience of the evils of want and famine; for the future, because we have laid by and prepared resources to meet it, and are full of bright hopes while we dispense and bring out for daily use the gifts of God as they are needed by the rules of good economy. " + ], + [ + "[188] Next comes the opening of the sacred month,  when it is customary to sound the trumpet in the temple at the same time that the sacrifices are brought there, and its name of “trumpet feast” is derived from this. It has a twofold significance, partly to the nation in particular, partly to all mankind in general. In the former sense it is a reminder of a mighty and marvellous event which came to pass when the oracles of the law were given from above.", + "[189] For then the sound of the trumpet pealed from heaven and reached, we may suppose, the ends of the universe, so that the event might strike terror even into those who were far from the spot and dwelling well nigh at the extremities of the earth, who would come to the natural conclusion that such mighty signs portended mighty consequences. And indeed what could men receive mightier or more profitable than the general laws which came from the mouth of God, not like the particular laws, through an interpreter?", + "[190] This is a significance peculiar to the nation. What follows is common to all mankind. The trumpet is the instrument used in war, both to sound the advance against the enemy when the moment comes for engaging battle and also for recalling the troops when they have to separate and return to their respective camps. And there is another war not of human agency when nature is at strife in herself, when her parts make onslaught one on another and her law-abiding sense of equality is vanquished by the greed for inequality.", + "[191] Both these wars work destruction on the face of the earth. The enemy cut down the fruit-trees, ravage the country, set fire to the foodstuffs and the ripening ears of corn in the open fields, while the forces of nature use drought, rainstorms, violent moisture-laden winds, scorching sun-rays, intense cold accompanied by snow, with the regular harmonious alternations of the yearly seasons turned into disharmony, a state of things in my opinion due to the impiety which does not gain a gradual hold but comes rushing with the force of a torrent among those whom these things befall.", + "[192] And therefore the law instituted this feast figured by that instrument of war the trumpet, which gives it its name, to be as a thank-offering to God the peace-maker and peace-keeper, Who destroys faction both in cities and in the various parts of the universe and creates plenty and fertility and abundance of other good things and leaves the havoc of fruits without a single spark to be rekindled." + ], + [ + "[193] The next feast held after the “Trumpets” is the Fast.  Perhaps some of the perversely minded who are not ashamed to censure things excellent will say, What sort of a feast is this in which there are no gatherings to eat and drink, no company of entertainers or entertained, no copious supply of strong drink nor tables sumptuously furnished, nor a generous display of all the accompaniments of a public banquet, nor again the merriment and revelry with frolic and drollery, nor dancing to the sound of flute and harp and timbrels and cymbals, and the other instruments of the debilitated and invertebrate kind of music which through the channel of the ears awaken the unruly lusts?", + "[194] For it is in these and through these that men, in their ignorance of what true merriment is, consider that the merriment of a feast is to be found. This the clear-seeing eyes of Moses the ever wise discerned and therefore he called the fast a feast, the greatest of the feasts, in his native tongue a Sabbath of Sabbaths,  or as the Greeks would say, a seven of sevens, a holier than the holy. He gave it this name for many reasons.", + "[195] First, because of the self-restraint which it entails; always and everywhere indeed he exhorted them to shew this in all the affairs of life, in controlling the tongue and the belly and the organs below the belly, but on this occasion especially he bids them do honour to it by dedicating thereto a particular day. To one who has learnt to disregard food and drink which are absolutely necessary, are there any among the superfluities of life which he can fail to despise, things which exist to promote not so much preservation and permanence of life as pleasure with all its powers of mischief?", + "[196] Secondly, because the holy-day is entirely devoted to prayers and supplications, and men from morn to eve employ their leisure in nothing else but offering petitions of humble entreaty in which they seek earnestly to propitiate God and ask for remission of their sins, voluntary and involuntary, and entertain bright hopes looking not to their own merits but to the gracious nature of Him Who sets pardon before chastisement.", + "[197] Thirdly, because of the time at which the celebration of the fast occurs, namely, that when all the annual fruits of the earth have been gathered in. To eat and drink of these without delay would, he held, shew gluttony, but to fast and refrain from taking them as food shews the perfect piety which teaches the mind not to put trust in what stands ready prepared before us as though it were the source of health and life. For often its presence proves injurious and its absence beneficial.", + "[198] Those who abstain from food and drink after the ingathering of the fruits cry aloud to us with their souls, and though their voices utter no sound, their language could hardly be plainer. They say, “We have gladly received and are storing the boons of nature, yet we do not ascribe our preservation to any corruptible thing, but to God the Parent and Father and Saviour of the world and all that is therein, Who has the power and the right  to nourish and sustain us by means of these or without these.", + "[199] See, for example, how the many thousands of our forefathers as they traversed the trackless and all-barren desert, were for forty years, the life of a generation, nourished by Him as in a land of richest and most fertile soil; how He opened fountains unknown before to give them abundance of drink for their use; how He rained food from heaven, neither more nor less than what sufficed for each day, that they might consume what they needed without hoarding, nor barter for the prospect of soulless stores  their hopes of His goodness, but taking little thought of the bounties received rather reverence and worship the bountiful Giver and honour Him with the hymns and benedictions that are His due.”", + "[200] By order of the law the fast is held on the tenth day. Why on the tenth? As has been shewn in our detailed discussion of that number,  it is called by the learned the all-perfect, and embraces all the progressions, arithmetical, harmonic and geometrical, and further the harmonies, the fourth, the fifth, the octave and the double octave, representing respectively the ratios 4:3, 3:2, 2:1 and 4:1, and it also contains the ratio of 9:8, so that it sums up fully and perfectly the leading truths of musical science, and for this reason it has received its name of the all-perfect.", + "[201] In ordaining that this privation of food and drink should be based on the full and perfect number 10, he intended to prescribe the best possible form of nourishment for the best part of us. He did not wish anyone to suppose that as their instructor in the mysteries he was advocating starvation, the most intolerable of sufferings, but only a brief stoppage in the influx which passes into the receptacles of the body.", + "[202] For this would ensure that the stream from the fountain of reason should flow pure and crystal-clear with smooth course into the soul, because the constantly repeated administrations of food which submerge the body sweep the reason away as well, whereas if they are checked, that same reason stoutly fortified can in pursuit of all that is worth seeing and hearing make its way without stumbling as upon a dry firm causeway.", + "[203] Besides, it was meet and right when everything has shewn abundance as they would have it, and they enjoy a full and perfect measure of goodness, that amid this prosperity and lavish supply of boons, they should by abstaining from food and drink remind themselves of what it is to want, and offer prayers and supplications, on the one hand to ask that they may never really experience the lack of necessities, on the other to express their thankfulness because in such wealth of blessings they remember the ills they have been spared. Enough on this matter." + ], + [ + "[204] The last of the annual feasts, called Tabernacles, recurs at the autumn equinox.  From this we may draw two morals. The first is, that we should honour equality and hate inequality, for the former is the source and fountain of justice, the latter of injustice. The former is akin to open sunlight, the latter to darkness. The second moral is, that after all the fruits are made perfect, it is our duty to thank God Who brought them to perfection and is the source of all good things.", + "[205] For autumn, or after-fruitage, is, as also the name clearly implies, the season after the ripe fruit has been gathered in, when the sown crops and the fruit-trees have paid their annual toll and bounden tribute, and the land has richly provided all that it yields for the sustenance of the various kinds of animals without number, both tame and wild, sustenance not only to be enjoyed on the spot and for the moment, but also in the future, through the foresight of nature, the friend of all that lives.", + "[206] Further, the people are commanded, during the time of the feast, to dwell in tents.  The reason of this may be that the labour of the husbandmen no longer requires that they should live in the open air, as nothing is now left unprotected but all the fruits are stored in silos or similar places to escape the damage which often ensues through the blazing sunshine or storms of rain.", + "[207] For when the crops which feed us are standing in the open field, you can only watch and guard the food so necessary to you, by coming out and not shutting yourself up like a woman who never stirs outside her quarters. And if while you remain in the open air you encounter extreme cold or heat, you have the thick growth of the trees waiting to shade you, and sheltered under them you can easily escape injury from either source. But when all the fruits are being gathered in, come in yourself also to seek a more weatherproof mode of life and hope for rest in place of the toils which you endured when labouring on the land.", + "Another reason may be, that it should remind us of the long journeyings of our forefathers in the depths of the desert, when at every halting-place they spent many a year in tents.", + "[208] And indeed it is well in wealth to remember your poverty, in distinction your insignificance, in high offices your position as a commoner, in peace your dangers in war, on land the storms on sea, in cities the life of loneliness. For there is no pleasure greater than in high prosperity to call to mind old misfortunes.", + "[209] But besides giving pleasure, it is a considerable help in the practice of virtue. For people who having had both good and ill before their eyes have rejected the ill and are enjoying the good, necessarily fall into a grateful frame of mind and are urged to piety by the fear of a change to the reverse, and also therefore in thankfulness for their present blessings they honour God with songs and words of praise and beseech Him and propitiate Him with supplications that they may never repeat the experience of such evils.", + "[210] Again, the beginning of this feast comes on the fifteenth day of the month for the same reason as was given when we were speaking  of the season of spring,  namely that the glorious light which nature gives should fill the universe not only by day but also by night, because on that day the sun and moon rise in succession to each other with no interval between their shining, which is not divided by any borderland of darkness.", + "[211] As a crown to the seven days he adds an eighth,  which he calls the “closing,” not meaning apparently that it is the closing of that feast only, but also of all the yearly feasts which I have enumerated and described. For it is the last in the year and forms its conclusion.", + "[212] Perhaps also the number eight, the first cubic number, was assigned to the feast for the following reason: it is the beginning of the higher category of solids, marking where we pass from the unsubstantial and bring to its conclusion the category of the conceptual which rises to the solid in the scale of ascending powers. ", + "[213] And indeed the autumn festival, being as I have said a sort of complement  and conclusion of all the feasts in the year, seems to have more stability and fixity, because the people have now received their returns from the land and are no longer perplexed and terrified by doubts as to its fertility or barrenness. For the anxious thoughts of the husbandman are never settled till the crops are gathered in, so numberless are the men and animals from whom they are liable to suffer harm.", + "[214] All this long exposition is due to my regard for the sacred seventh day, and my wish to shew that all the yearly feasts prove to be as it were the children of that number which stands as a mother … scenes of folly and joy … and because the festal assemblies and the cheerful life which they afford bring delights that are free from all anxiety and dejection, and spread exhilaration both in the body and in the soul, in the body by the comfortable way of living, in the soul by the study of philosophy." + ], + [ + "[215] But besides these we have what is not a feast, but is a general ceremony of a festal character called the Basket, a name which describes what takes place, as we shall shortly shew.  That it has not the prestige and standing of a feast is clear for many reasons. For it does not affect the nation as a united whole like each of the others, nor do we find any victim being brought or led to the altar and then sacrificed and given over to be consumed by the sacred and unquenchable fire, nor is there any specified number of days during which the feast is to last." + ], + [ + "[216] But that it has a festal character and nearly approaches the form of a general ceremony  can be easily seen. For every person who possesses farms or landed estates takes some of every kind of fruit and fills receptacles which, as I have said, are called baskets, and brings them with joy as a sample offering of his rich fruit-harvest, to the temple, and there standing opposite the altar, gives them to the priest. Meanwhile he recites this beautiful and admirable canticle, or if he does not remember it, he listens with all attention while the priest repeats it.", + "[217] The sense of this canticle is as follows: “The founders of our race abandoned Syria and migrated to Egypt and, though few in number, increased to a populous nation. Their descendants suffered wrongs without number from the inhabitants, and when no further assistance from men appeared forthcoming, became suppliants of God and sought refuge in His help.", + "[218] He Who is kindly to all the wronged accepted their supplication and confounded their assailants with signs and wonders and portents and all the other marvels that were wrought at that time, and saved the victims of outrage who were suffering all that malice could devise, and not only brought them forth into freedom, but gave them a land fertile in every way.", + "[219] Of the fruits of this land we present a sample offering to Thee, our Benefactor, if indeed we may speak of presenting that which we receive. For all these things, good Master, are Thy boons and gifts, and as Thou hast judged us worthy of them, we take pride and delight in the unexpected blessings which Thou hast given us beyond all our hopes.”" + ], + [ + "[220] This canticle is used continually by a succession of worshippers from early summer to late autumn, through the two seasons which constitute a complete half of the year. For the whole population cannot in a body bring the fruits of the season at a fixed time, but must do so at different times, and this may even be the case with the same persons coming from the same places. ", + "[221] For since some of the fruits ripen more quickly than others, both because of the difference of the situation which may be warmer or colder, and for a multitude of other reasons, naturally the time when this sample of the fruits is due cannot be exactly defined or limited, but extends over a very considerable period.", + "[222] These offerings are assigned for the use of the priests, because they have no territory allotted to them, nor property which brings them income, and their heritage consists of the offerings of the nation in return for the religious duties imposed upon them by night and day." + ], + [ + "[223] I have now completed the discussion of the number seven and of matters connected with days and months and years that have reference to that number, and also of the feasts which are associated with it. In this I have followed the order of the principal heads set before us as the sequence of the subjects demanded. I now proceed to the next head, in which we find recorded a statement of the honour due to parents." + ], + [ + "[224] In my previous remarks I have sketched the four divisions which both in order and importance stand undoubtedly first. They comprise the assertion of the absolute sovereignty by which the universe is governed, the prohibition against making any image or likeness of God and against perjury or vain swearing in general and the doctrine of the sacred seventh day, all of them tending to promote piety and religion. I now proceed to the fifth, which states the duty of honouring parents, a matter which, as I have shewn in the discussion devoted to this in particular,  stands on the border-line between the human and the divine.", + "[225] For parents are midway between the natures of God and man, and partake of both; the human obviously because they have been born and will perish, the divine because they have brought others to the birth and have raised not-being into being. Parents, in my opinion, are to their children what God is to the world, since just as He achieved existence for the non-existent, so they in imitation of His power, as far as they are capable, immortalize the race." + ], + [ + "[226] And a father and mother deserve honour, not only on this account, but for many other reasons. For in the judgement of those who take account of virtue, seniors are placed above juniors, teachers above pupils, benefactors above beneficiaries, rulers above subjects, and masters above servants.", + "[227] Now parents are assigned a place in the higher of these two orders, for they are seniors and instructors and benefactors and rulers and masters: sons and daughters are placed in the lower order, for they are juniors and learners and recipients of benefits and subjects and servants.", + "That none of these statements is false is self-evident, but logical proofs will ratify their truth still further." + ], + [ + "[228] I say, then, that the maker is always senior to the thing made and the cause to its effect, and the begetters are in a sense the causes and the creators of what they beget. They are also in the position of instructors because they impart to their children from their earliest years everything that they themselves may happen to know, and give them instruction not only in the various branches of knowledge which they impress upon their young minds,  but also on the most essential questions of what to choose and avoid, namely, to choose virtues and avoid vices and the activities to which they lead.", + "[229] Further, who could be more truly called benefactors than parents in relation to their children? First, they have brought them out of non-existence;  then, again, they have held them entitled to nurture and later to education of body and soul, so that they may have not only life, but a good life.", + "[230] They have benefited the body by means of the gymnasium and the training there given, through which it gains muscular vigour and good condition and the power to bear itself and move with an ease marked by gracefulness and elegance. They have done the same for the soul by means of letters  and arithmetic and geometry and music and philosophy as a whole which lifts on high the mind lodged within the mortal body and escorts it to the very heaven and shews it the blessed and happy beings that dwell therein, and creates in it an eager longing for the unswerving ever-harmonious order which they never forsake because they obey their captain and marshal.", + "[231] But in addition to the benefits they confer, parents have also received authority over their offspring. That authority is not obtained by lot nor voting as it is in the cities, where it may be alleged that the lot is due to a blunder of fortune in which reason has no place, and the voting to the impetuosity of the mob, always so reckless and devoid of circumspection, but is awarded by the most admirable and perfect judgement of nature above us which governs with justice things both human and divine." + ], + [ + "[232] And therefore fathers have the right to upbraid their children and admonish them severely and if they do not submit to threats conveyed in words to beat and degrade them  and put them in bonds. And further if in the face of this they continue to rebel, and carried away by their incorrigible depravity refuse the yoke, the law permits the parents to extend the punishment to death, though here it requires more than the father alone or the mother alone.  So great a penalty should be the sentence, not only of one of them but of both. For it is not to be expected that both the parents would agree to the execution of their son unless the weight of his offences depressed the scale strongly enough to overcome the affection which nature has firmly established in them.", + "[233] But parents have not only been given the right of exercising authority over their children, but the power of a master corresponding to the two primary  forms under which servants are owned, one when they are home-bred, the other when they are purchased. For parents pay out a sum many times the value of a slave on their children and for them to nurses, tutors and teachers, apart from the cost of their clothes, food and superintendence in sickness and health from their earliest years until they are full grown. “Homebred” too must they be who are not only born in the house but through the masters of the house, who have made the contribution enforced by the statutes of nature in giving them birth. " + ], + [ + "[234] With all these facts before them, they do not do anything deserving of praise who honour their parents, since any one of the considerations mentioned is in itself quite a sufficient call to shew reverence. And on the contrary, they deserve blame and obloquy and extreme punishment who do not respect them as seniors nor listen to them as instructors nor feel the duty of requiting them as benefactors nor obey them as rulers nor fear them as masters.", + "[235] Honour therefore, he says, next to God thy father and thy mother, who are crowned with a laurel of the second rank assigned to them by nature, the arbitress of the contest. And in no way wilt thou honour them as well as by trying both to be good and to seem good, to be good by seeking virtue simple and unfeigned, to seem good by seeking it accompanied by a reputation for worth and the praise of those around you.", + "[236] For parents have little thought for their own personal interests and find the consummation of happiness in the high excellence of their children, and to gain this the children will be willing to hearken to their commands and to obey them in everything that is just and profitable; for the true father will give no instruction to his son that is foreign to virtue." + ], + [ + "[237] But the proof of filial piety may be given not only in the ways above mentioned, but also by courtesy shewn to persons who share the seniority of the parents. One who pays respect to an aged man or woman who is not of his kin may be regarded as having remembrance of his father and mother. He looks to them as prototypes and stands in awe of those who bear their image.", + "[238] And therefore in the Holy Scriptures the young are commanded not only to yield the chief seats to the aged but also to give place to them as they pass,  in reverence for the grey hairs that mark the age to which they may hope to attain who judge it worthy of precedence.", + "[239] Admirable too, as it seems to me, is that other ordinance where he says, “Let each fear his father and mother.”  Here he sets fear before affection, not as better in every way, but as more serviceable and profitable for the occasion which he has before him. For in the first place, persons subject to instruction and admonition are in fact wanting in sense, and want of sense is only cured by fear. Secondly, it would not be suitable to include in the enactments of a lawgiver an instruction on the duty of filial affection, for nature has implanted this as an imperative instinct from the very cradle in the souls of those who are thus united by kinship. ", + "[240] And therefore he omitted any mention of love for parents because it is learned and taught by instinct and requires no injunction, but did enjoin fear for the sake of those who are in the habit of neglecting their duty. For when parents cherish their children with extreme tenderness, providing them with good gifts from every quarter and shunning no toil or danger because they are fast bound to them by the magnetic forces of affection, there are some who do not receive this exceeding tenderheartedness in a way that profits them. They pursue eagerly luxury and voluptuousness, they applaud the dissolute life, they run to waste both in body and soul, and suffer no part of either to be kept erect by its proper faculties which they lay prostrate and paralyzed without a blush because they have never feared the censors they possess in their fathers and mothers but give in to and indulge their own lusts.", + "[241] But these parents also must be exhorted to employ more active and severe admonitions to cure the wastage of their children, and the children also that they may stand in awe of those who begot them, fearing them both as rulers and masters. For only so, and that hardly, will they shrink from wrongdoing." + ], + [ + "[242] I have now discussed the five heads of the laws belonging to the first table, and all the particular enactments which may be classed under each of the five. But I must also state the penalties decreed for transgression of them.", + "[243] The result of the close affinity which the offences have to each other is that they all have a common punishment, namely, death, but there are different reasons for this punishment. We should begin with the last commandment, on the behaviour due to parents, since our discussion of it is fresh in our minds. He says “if anyone strikes his father or mother, let him be stoned.”  This is quite just, for justice forbids that he should live who maltreats the authors of his life.", + "[244] But some dignitaries and legislators who had an eye to men’s opinions rather than to truth, have decreed that striking a father should be punished by cutting off the hands, a specious refinement  due to their wish to win the approval of the more careless or thoughtless, who think that the parts with which the offenders have struck their parents should be amputated. ", + "[245] But it is silly to visit displeasure on the servants rather than on the actual authors, for the outrage is not committed by the hands but by the persons who used their hands to commit it, and it is these persons who must be punished. Otherwise, when one man has killed another with a sword, we should cast the sword out of the land and let the murderer go free, and conversely, honour should be given, not to those who have distinguished themselves in war, but to the lifeless equipments and weapons which were the instruments of their exploits.", + "[246] In the case of the victors in the athletic contests, whether at the single or the double course or the long race or the boxing or the general contest, will they try to garland the legs and hands only and disregard the bodies of the athletes as a whole? It would surely be ridiculous to introduce such practices and give to the indispensable accompaniments the punishments or honours which should be given to the responsible persons. For similarly, in musical exhibitions, when anyone makes a highly successful performance on the flute or lyre, we do not pass him by and adjudge the laudatory announcements and honours to the instruments.", + "[247] Why then, you grand legislators, should we cut off the hands of those who strike a father? Or is your object that the offenders, besides being quite useless, may levy a tribute not annually, but daily, on those whom they have wronged, because they are unable to provide the sustenance they need. For no father is so iron-hearted as to allow his son to starve to death, particularly as his anger grows faint as time goes on.", + "[248] And even if while making no assault with his hands he uses abusive language to those to whom good words are owed as a bounden duty, or in any other way does anything to dishonour his parents, let him die.  He is the common and indeed the national enemy of all. For who could find kindness from him who is not kind even to the authors of his life, through whom he has come into existence and to whom he is but a supplement?" + ], + [ + "[249] Again, let him who has turned the sacred seventh day into a profane thing, as far as lies in his power, be sentenced to death.  For on the contrary we ought to be rich in ways of purifying things profane, both material and immaterial,  to change them for the better, since, as it has been said, “envy has no place in the divine choir.”  But to dare to debase and deface the stamp of things consecrated shews the utmost height of impiety.", + "[250] There is an incident which occurred during the great migration from Egypt in ancient days while the whole multitude was journeying through the pathless wilderness.  The seventh day had come, and all those myriads, how numerous I have stated in an earlier place,  were staying very quietly in their tents, when a single person of a rank by no means mean or insignificant,  regardless of the orders given and mocking at those who maintained them, went out to gather firewood, but actually succeeded  in displaying his disobedience to the law.", + "[251] He returned bringing an armful, but the others, pouring out from the tents,  though greatly enraged if repelled from violence on account of the sanctity of the day, took him to the ruler and reported the impious deed. The ruler put him in custody, but when the divine pronouncement had been given out that he should be stoned, he surrendered him to those who had first seen him  to be done to death. For the prohibition against lighting a fire on the seventh day, the reason for which I have stated earlier,  applies equally, I presume, to collecting the means for kindling fire." + ], + [ + "[252] For persons who call God to witness to an untruth, death is the appointed punishment,  quite rightly. For not even a man, if he is of a decent sort, will tolerate an invitation to join in subscribing to an untruth, but would in my opinion regard anyone who urged him to this course as an enemy unfit to be trusted.", + "[253] And therefore we must declare that God, though His nature is to be merciful, will never free from guilt him who swears falsely  to an injustice, a miscreant almost beyond possibility of purification, even if he evades the chastisements of men. And these he will never escape; for there are thousands who have their eyes upon him full of zeal for the laws, strictest guardians of the ancestral institutions, merciless to those who do anything to subvert them. Otherwise we must suppose that while it is right to seek the death of one who dishonours a father or a mother, more moderation should be shewn when impious men dishonour the name which is more glorious than majesty itself.", + "[254] Yet none is so foolish as to visit the lesser offences with death and spare those who are guilty of the greater; and the sacrilege involved in reviling or outraging parents is not so great as that committed by perjury against the sacred title of God.", + "[255] But if he who swears a wrongful oath is guilty, how great a punishment  does he deserve who denies the truly existing God and honours created beings before their Maker, and thinks fit to revere, not only earth or water or air or fire, the elements of the All, or again the sun and moon and planets and fixed stars, or the whole heaven and universe, but also the works of mortal craftsmen, stocks and stones, which they have fashioned into human shape?", + "[256] And therefore let him too himself be made like unto these works of men’s hands. For it is right that he who honours lifeless things should have no part in life, especially if he has become a disciple of Moses and has often heard from his prophetic  lips those most holy and godly instructions, “Do not admit the name of other gods into thy soul to remember it,  nor give expression to it with thy voice. Keep both thy mind and thy speech far apart from these others, and turn to the Father and Maker of all, that thy conceptions of His sole sovereignty may be the best and the noblest, and thy words such as are suitable and most profitable to", + "[257] thyself and to them that shall hear thee.”" + ], + [ + "We have now explained the punishments inflicted on those who transgress the five oracles. But the guerdons awaiting those who keep them,", + "[258] even if not stated by the law in actual words of the injunctions, yet may be seen to underlie them. The refusal to acknowledge other gods, or to deify the works of men’s hands, or to commit perjury, needs no other reward. For surely the practice of such abstinence is in itself the best and most perfect reward. For where can any lover of truth find greater pleasure than by devoting himself to the one God", + "[259] and embracing his service in guilelessness and purity? I call to witness not such as serve vanity but those who are inspired with a zeal which never goes astray, those among whom truth is honoured. For wisdom is itself the guerdon of wisdom, and justice and each of the other virtues is its own reward.  And much more is she, who as in a choir is the fairest and the queen of the dance—religion —her own prize and guerdon, providing happiness to those who cherish her and to their children and children’s", + "[260] children blessings of welfare which can never be taken from them." + ], + [ + "Again, the experience of those who keep the seventh day is that both body and soul are benefited in two most essential ways. The body is benefited by the recurrence of respite from continuous and wearisome toil, the soul by the excellent conceptions which it receives of God as the world-maker and guardian of what He has begotten. For He brought all things to their completion on the seventh day. These things shew clearly that he who gives due value  to the seventh day gains value  for himself.", + "[261] So too indeed he who shews respect to his parents should not seek anything further, for if he look he will find his guerdon in the action itself. However, since this commandment, inasmuch as it is concerned with mortal things, is inferior to the first four heads whose province is nearer the divine, He gave encouragement with the words, “Honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee and that thy time may be long.”", + "[262] Here He names two rewards: one is the possession of virtue, for “well” is virtue or cannot exist without virtue, the other in very truth is salvation from death given by prolonged vitality and agelong life which thou wilt keep thriving even while in the body, if thou live with a soul purged clean of all impurity.", + "This part of the subject has now been sufficiently discussed. We will proceed in due season  to examine the contents of the second table." + ] + ], + "Appendix": [ + "APPENDIX TO DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS, II", + "§ 4. For the elliptical oath cf. Plato, Gorgias 466 E, Aristoph. Frogs 1374. Commentators have ascribed the first example to piety, but this is incompatible with Plato’s use of the names of deities elsewhere and even in the same dialogue, and no such motive can be ascribed to Aristophanes. See Thompson’s note on Gorgias, loc. cit.", + "§ 46. Lightened by anticipation. On the value of πρόληψις (praemeditatio) as alleviating λύπη (aegritudo) see the discussion in Cic. Tusc. Disp. iii. 24–34 and 52 f., where the opinion is represented as Cyrenaic in opposition to the Epicurean that it was futile to dwell on evils beforehand. But it was also to some extent a Stoic view, see ibid. and S. V. F. iii. 482, where Poseidonius (or Chrysippus?) is quoted as saying προενδημεῖν δεῖν τοῖς πράγμασι μήπω τε παροῦσιν οἷον παροῦσι χρῆσθαι.", + "§ 56. Some give it the name of the “season.” For the Pythagorean application of καιρός to Seven see Aristotle, Met. i. 5, 985 b. They say ὅτι τὸ μὲν τοιονδὶ τῶν ἀρίθμων πάθος, τὸ δὲ τοιονδὶ ψυχὴ καὶ νοῦς, ἕτερον δὲ καιρός (quoted in Ritter and Preller, 65 d), and more explicitly Alexander Aphr. in Met. pp. 28, 29 καιρὸν δὲ πάλιν ἔλεγον τὸν ἑπτά. δοκεῖ γὰρ τὰ φυσικὰ τοὺς τελείους καιροὺς ἴσχειν καὶ γενέσεως καὶ τελειώσεως κατὰ ἑβδομάδας (quoted ibid. 78 c).", + "For Philo’s more or less mystical use of the word, apart from the number seven, see his comments on Num. 14:9 ἀφέστηκεν ὁ καιρὸς ἀπʼ αὐτῶν, ὁ δὲ κύριος ἐν ἡμῖν in De Post. 121 f., and De Mut. 265. In the first of these καιρός is the passing moment or opportunity which men impiously take for their God, in the second it is the God-sent opportunity which they fail to take.", + "§ 69. No man being naturally a slave. This is said to be a Stoic doctrine. But among the passages collected by Arnim, S. V. F. iii. 349–366, there is no other which lays down the principle so explicitly as this. The Stoic mind concentrates itself on the thought that only the wise are truly free and only the foolish or wicked truly slaves, and does not concern itself with the actual institution of slavery. That the rights of humanity do not extend to the unreasoning animals appears in Cic. De Fin. iii. 67 (quoting Chrysippus) “cetera nata esse hominum causa et deorum … ut bestiis homines uti ad utilitatem suam possint sine iniuria.”", + "§ 73. Since it is a general truth … sole good. I do not see any exact parallels in S. V. F. 327–332 (which Heinemann cites) to the doctrine implied here that ideally there is no such thing as a foreigner (ἀλλότριος), but it accords with De Ios. 29 that the Megalopolis, the world, has a single πολιτεία and a single law in the λόγος φύσεως.", + "For the Stoic canon (Στωικὸν δόγμα De Post. 133) that μόνον τὸ καλὸν ἀγαθόν see note on Quod Det. 9 (App.) where, however, the statement that “no Greek passage seems to reproduce the dogma exactly in this form” must have been written under a misapprehension. There are several passages in S. V. F. (see Index) which exhibit it or its Latin equivalent “solum bonum esse quod honestum sit.” Note particularly Diog. Laert. vii. 101 λέγουσι δὲ μόνον τὸ καλὸν ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, καθά φησιν Ἑκάτων καὶ Χρύσιππος.", + "§ 82. Tribe (or deme?) and ward. “The full citizens in Alexandria were those enrolled in tribes and demes. The important and constant element was the deme rather than the tribe and during the Ptolemaic and earlier Roman period it was customary, since the deme-names of Alexandria and Ptolemais differed, to describe a citizen of either city by his deme only. The tribe-names were more fluid, thus we know that Claudius sanctioned a proposal to name a tribe in his honour,” Bell, Camb. Mod. Hist. x. p. 295. The evidence for this statement (from Papyri?) is not given, nor is it stated whether it applies equally to the πολίτευμα of the Jews. If nothing is known to the contrary, Philo’s words suggest that it does.", + "It should be noted, however, that Philo found δῆμος as well as φυλή in Num. 36 (see v. 6). Apparently, however, they are there convertible terms. E.V. has “the family of the tribe.”", + "§ 91. (Depreciation of athletes and athletic training.) This is not uncommon, especially in contrast with military training. Cf. Quintilian, x. 1. 33, where the athlete’s “tori” or fleshy protuberances are contrasted with the military “lacerti.” Several parallels are quoted by Peterson in his note on that passage, bringing out the idea that the athlete’s training did not fit him to endure the various hardships of the soldier’s life. Philo may have the same idea here, though he does not bring in the contrast with the soldier.", + "For πιαινομένων cf. Leg. All. i. 98, where the athlete’s diet is ἕνεκα τοῦ πιαίνεσθαι καὶ ῥώννυσθαι, and for πολυσαρκία see Lucian, Dial. Mort. x. 5 (quoted by Peterson), where an athlete πολύσαρκός τις ὤν nearly makes Charon’s boat sink.", + "§ 125. ἡ προεστῶσα ἀρχὴ κτλ. In making this statement, and indeed in the whole section, Philo has no biblical authority and is simply giving what he considers to be just, based apparently on Attic (or Alexandrian?) law. In Attic law the archon (who seems to be alluded to in ἡ προεστῶσα ἀρχή) had the general duty of caring for orphans and heiresses. See Lipsius, Att. Recht. p. 58, though this seems to mean only the obligation to see that the legitimate ἐπίτροποι performed their duty (ibid. p. 525). Philo’s words here would naturally imply something more definite than this and are not easy to reconcile with iii. 67, where proposals of marriage to orphan maidens are to be addressed “to the brothers or guardians or others who have charge of her.”", + "§ 133 and sequel to § 139. (The double portion of the first-born.) Goodenough, pp. 56 f., after giving evidence of the right of the eldest son to a double portion in Ptolemaic Egypt as well as in Greece, holds that Philo has no scriptural warrant for attesting this as a general Mosaic law, but quotes Deut. 21 as the nearest thing he can find in scripture to a law which had forced itself on Jewish practice. It seems to me that Philo could reasonably find an acknowledgement of the claims of primogeniture in v. 17, “for he is the beginning of his children (LXX) and to him belong the rights of the first-born (πρωτοτοκεῖα).” That is to say, what the law forbids in this passage is that the repudiation of the mother, who in Philo’s view is not only hated but discarded (ἀπηλλαγμένη § 139), should be allowed to cancel the acknowledged rights of her son.", + "There is more to be said for Heinemann’s contention that the arguments in §§ 132–139 imply that what was stated as a general law in § 133 only obtained in the particular case here discussed. The third reason in particular (§ 139) might be taken to mean that the duplication of the portion of the first-born was a compensation for the wrongs he had already suffered. But this is not necessarily so. Philo may mean, as indeed he implies in the last sentence, that the law wishes to protect the just rights of both families and shews its intention by asserting the special right of the first-born.", + "§ 145. The Crossing-feast. I have not found in any authority which I have seen any light thrown on Philo’s departure from the ordinary explanation of Passover. Josephus, Ant. ii. 313 explains πάσχα as meaning ὑπερβασία (so also later Aquila; see Driver on Ex. xii. 13). It must be remembered that the point is disguised in the LXX, which translates the noun pésah in 12:21 and 27 by πάσχα, but the verb pâsah in vv. 13 and 27 by σκεπάω and ἐσκέπασε, in v. 23 by παρελεύσεται. That Philo was not alone in his opinion is shewn by his statement that others allegorized in the same way, for such an allegory could only be founded on the “crossing” interpretation. That he believed διάβασις to be the correct translation appears in De Mig. 25 τὸ πάσχα, τὸ δέ ἐστιν ἑρμηνευθὲν διάβασις.", + "Ibid. From noon till eventide. See Ex. 12:6, Lev. 23:5, Num. 9:3, where the R.V. has “at even,” (margin) Hebrew “between the two evenings.” The LXX translates this in Ex. and Num. by πρὸς ἑσπέραν, but in Leviticus by ἀνάμεσον τῶν ἑσπερινῶν. “For this the traditional interpretation adopted by the Pharisees and Talmudists was that the ‘first’ evening was when the heat of the sun begins to decrease, about 3 P.M., and that the second evening began with sunset” (Driver on Ex. xii. 6), Philo’s interpretation is in accordance with another opinion quoted by Driver, “that the sacrifice if offered before noon was not valid.”", + "§ 162. Directly after the first day. The Hebrew “on the morrow after the Sabbath,” translated by the LXX in Lev. 23:11 by ἐπαύριον τῆς πρώτης though in v. 15 by ἐπαύριον τῶν σαββάτων, is said to have been diversely interpreted by the Pharisees and Sadducees (see Thackeray on Jos. Ant. iii. 250). The Pharisees, with whom Josephus as well as Philo agrees, understood it to mean the second day of Unleavened Bread. The Sadducees held it to be on the day after the Sabbath, which necessarily occurred at some time in the festal week.", + "§ 176. (Text of ἀπὸ … μονάδος.) M has ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐκείνης ἡμέρα πεντηκοστὴ καταριθμεῖται ἑβδόμη ἑβδομάς, ἐφʼ αἷς ἱερὸν ἀριθμὸν ἐπισφραγιζομένης μονάδος. Nicetas ἀπὸ γὰρ ἐκείνης τῆς ἡμέρας πεντηκοστὴ ἀριθμεῖται ἑπτὰ ἑβδομάδες ἱερὸν ἀριθμὸν ἐπισφραγιζομένης μονάδος. Nicetas’s text is followed by Mangey with the correction of ἑβδομάδες to -δων. Nicetas’s ἀπὸ is clearly right (see Lev. 23:15, for reckoning Pentecost from the Sheaf) and the question between his τῆς ἡμέρας … ἀριθμεῖται … and M’s ἡμέρα … καταριθμεῖται is unimportant, but his ἑβδομάδες is impossible; Cohn’s correction to ἑβδομάσι agrees, as he says, with the parallel in De Dec. 160, whereas Mangey’s ἑβδομάδων will make the sacred number 49 instead of 50. Cohn’s correction of ἐφʼ αἷς to ἀφέσεως seems to me much more doubtful. In De Cong. 109 which he cites, and a similar passage in De Mut. 228, an allegory is founded on the connexion of “release” with the Jubile of the fiftieth year. Here we are talking of a different feast which, except for the number 50, has no connexion with the Jubile, and there is no further allusion to the idea of release. The corruption of ἑβδόμη ἑβδομὰς ἐφʼ αἷς in M may have arisen (1) by an assimilation of ἑβδομάδες to the singular verb καταριθμεῖται, (2) by a variation of construction between a relative clause and a genitive absolute.", + "§ 185. Joy is the rational elevation or rising of the soul. This is the regular Stoic definition of χαρά, in contrast with ἡδονή. See S. V. F. iii. 431, 432. Each of the “good emotional states” (εὐπάθειαι) is distinguished from the corresponding πάθος by being εὔλογος. Thus εὐλάβεια (“cautiousness”) is opposed to φόβος as being εὔλογος ἔκκλισις, Diog. Laert. vii. 116.", + "§ 188. Rules of good economy. Lit. “laws of economic virtue.” According to the Stoics οἰκονομική or the knowledge of what is profitable to the household is an ἀρετή (S. V. F. iii. 267) and only the wise man is οἰκονομικός (ib. 567). So Philo, Quaestio in Gen. iv. 165 “urbanitas (i.e. πολιτική) et oeconomia cognatae sunt virtutes.” Cf. De Ebr. 91.", + "§ 212. In the scale of ascending powers. I have not found the compound παραύξησις (-άνω) in Plato or Nicomachus meaning “to raise to a higher power.” But the uncompounded verb or noun is common in this sense. So in Rep. 528 B the square is the δευτέρα αὔξη and the cube the τρίτη αὔξησις. In 587 D κατὰ δύναμιν καὶ τρίτην αὔξην seems to mean “by squaring and cubing.” In Nicomachus xi. 15, 9 being thrice 3 by another 3 αὔξεται ἐπʼ ἀλλὸ διάτημα and becomes 27.", + "§ 228. (Text of καὶ οὐ μόνον … παίδων.) The simplest suggestion I can make for this is to correct λογισμοὺς to λογισμοῖς καὶ. Translate “impressing them on the minds of the children both in the earlier and in the riper stage of youth.” This will make good sense, giving three stages of parental instruction—early childhood, boyhood, and later adolescence. But I lack authority for the antithesis implied between νεάζειν and ἀκμάζειν, and also while λογισμός = “reasoning faculty” or “mind” is quite common in Philo, I have not found it in the plural.", + "Another difficulty felt by Cohn, that οἱ μὲν just above has no following δὲ, which leads him to suggest that the end of the sentence has been lost, does not seem to be weighty. Philo begins no doubt with thinking of the parents as μέν and the children as δέ, but that he should forget to express the latter formally does not seem unlike him.", + "§ 232. (The disobedient son.) In Deut. 21 the incorrigible son is brought before the “elders,” after which (LXX) he is denounced to the “men of the city,” who thereupon stone him. Nothing is said of any right of either the “elders” or the “men of the city” to examine the accusation, but the account savours more of a judicial proceeding than Philo’s words suggest. And Heinemann (ad loc. and Bildung, pp. 251) and Goodenough, p. 69 ff., may be right in tracing here the influence of the Roman patria potestas, as also in the doctrine of parental δεσποτεία in the next sentence.", + "§ 239. Secondly, it would not he suitable … by kinship. Heinemann aptly quotes Seneca, De Beneficiis, iv. 17 “quomodo nulla lex amare parentes … iubet (supervacuum est enim, in quod imus, impelli).”", + "§ 244. (Penalty for striking a parent.) Heinemann quotes Seneca, Controv. ix. 4 “qui patrem pulsaverit manus ei praecidantur,” which he calls a Roman law and also declares it to come from the Twelve Tables. Goodenough, accepting the first part of this, bases on it an argument that the εὐπάρυφοι of § 244 are definitely Roman officials. Such a law is certainly not found among any of the fragments of the Twelve Tables known to us, but there is no reason to think that it is a Roman law at all. Seneca’s words are no evidence. The laws which form the basis of the several controversiae need not have and do not claim to have any foundation in fact. In this particular case the theme is as follows: The law is supposed to be as stated above. A “tyrant” has commanded two sons to strike their father. One commits suicide rather than do so; the other obeys the command. When the tyrant has fallen or in one version has been killed by the same son, the son is charged under this law and arguments are adduced by the debaters for and against exacting the penalty. The same law with practically the same theme is noted by a scholiast as used by the Greek rhetor Syrianus (Walz, Rhet. Graeci, iv. 467), and, with different themes attached, in the Declamations ascribed to Quintilian 358, 362, 372. Another of Seneca’s Controv. (viii. 2) starts with a law that amputation of the hands is the penalty for sacrilege. Whether these imaginary laws prescribing the mutilation of the offending member (cf. Deut. 25:11, 12, and iii. 175, below) are based on some old tradition, or are the product of the inventiveness of the rhetoricians, it is impossible to say. The only code known to us which assigns this punishment for striking a father is the Babylonian code of Hammurabi (about 2000 B.C.), and this is hardly likely to have influenced either the rhetor or Philo. The common assumption in the schools that such legislation existed or had existed somewhere would be enough to make him embark without further inquiry on a demonstration of its injustice.", + "§ 259. Each of the other virtues is its own reward. The sentiment is of course implicit in the common Stoic aphorism that virtue is αὐτὴ διʼ αὑτὴν αἱρετός and αὐταρκὴς πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν. The most exact parallel quoted is S. V. F. iii. 45, from Servius, “Stoici dicunt virtutem esse pro praemio si nulla sint praemia.”" + ] + }, + "Book III": { + "Introduction": [ + "INTRODUCTION TO DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS, III", + "This treatise opens with an impassioned lamentation over the public business and troubles, which have debarred Philo in the past from his beloved studies, and an expression of his thankfulness that he now has some respite (1–5).", + "The Sixth (LXX) Commandment. We begin with some general thoughts on the need of continence even in marriage, and the gravity of the crime of adultery (7–11). Intercourse with a mother is mentioned with horror, and Philo traces to this practice the troubles rife among the Persians (12–19). But the law condemns no less marriage with a step-mother (20–21), with a sister (22–25), and forbids it with others less closely related, such as a wife’s sister (26–28), and with an alien (29). It also strictly refuses to allow a woman who has been divorced and then married another to return to her first husband (31–31). There must be no intercourse during menstruation (32–33), and Philo himself disapproves of marriage with a woman known to be barren (34–36).", + "Graver matters are pederasty, popularly treated with a favour which Philo deplores (37–42), and bestiality which he illustrates with the story of Pasiphaë (48–50). A harlot, too, is worthy of death (51).", + "Speaking of adultery itself, he gives a full account of the test laid down in Numbers for the suspected wife (52–63). The penalties for rape or seduction of a widow or maiden are stated (64–71), and also for intercourse with a maiden betrothed to another (72–78), and for slander by a husband impugning the virginity of his bride (79–82).", + "The Seventh (LXX) Commandment. Murder is sacrilege and deserves the utmost penalty (83–85), and attempted murder is as bad (86–87). Murderers must not be allowed sanctuary in the temple (88–91). While unpremeditated homicide may be less heinous (92), no mercy must be shewn to poisoners (93–99), and with them may be classed magicians, though there is a higher magic (100–103). Returning to the subject of unpremeditated homicide, as in a sudden quarrel, he notes the law which enacted that if the sufferer did not die at once, his opponent would not suffer the extreme penalty (104–107). From the law as stated in the LXX, that a miscarriage caused by a blow was a capital crime if the child was fully formed (108–109), he draws the inference that the exposure of infants is murder, and inveighs very feelingly against the cruelty of the practice (110–119).", + "He then turns to the law which enables the involuntary homicide to fly to the “Cities of Refuge.” He dwells on the hint given in Exodus, that the death of the man thus killed was divinely ordained, and suggests that these Levitical Cities were privileged because of the conduct of the Levites in slaughtering the calf-worshippers, which story he repeats at length (120–129). In connexion with this he discusses the meaning of the provision that the homicide must remain there till the death of the high priest (130–136).", + "Next we have laws dealing with cases where death is caused by a master beating a slave (137–143), or by a vicious bull left unguarded (144–146), or a pit left uncovered (147–148), or a roof left without a parapet (149).", + "The insistence of the law that murder must be punished with death is emphasized by the order that the body is to be prominently exhibited for a time (150–152).", + "No one is to suffer death as a substitute for the criminal, and here he enlarges on the cruelty shewn in attempts to extort taxes from the relatives of the debtors, and in laws which inflict death on the families of political offenders (153–168).", + "We now come to assaults not actually causing death. The decree in Deuteronomy that the woman who makes an indecent assault is to lose her hand gives rise to reflections on the modesty demanded of women (169–177), followed by an allegorical interpretation of the law (178–180). Punishment for violence must correspond with the crime (181–183). The law of “an eye for an eye” leads to a disquisition on sight as the channel of wisdom (184–191), and the eye as expressing the phases of the mind (192–194), though the law is modified in the case of a slave. Similarly “a tooth for a tooth” is justified by the indispensability of the teeth for maintaining life (195–204).", + "In conclusion he recurs to murder itself and argues that by holding contact with a corpse to cause uncleanness, the law shews its horror of the crime of taking life." + ], + "": [ + [ + "BOOK III
On The Particular Laws Which Come Under Two Of The Ten General Commandments, Namely The Sixth Against Adulterers And All Licentiousness And The Seventh Against Murderers And All Violence
[1] There was a time when I had leisure for philosophy and for the contemplation of the universe and its contents, when I made its spirit  my own in all its beauty and loveliness and true blessedness, when my constant companions were divine themes and verities, wherein I rejoiced with a joy that never cloyed or sated. I had no base or abject thoughts nor grovelled  in search of reputation or of wealth or bodily comforts, but seemed always to be borne aloft into the heights with a soul possessed by some God-sent inspiration, a fellow-traveller with the sun and moon and the whole heaven and universe.", + "[2] Ah then I gazed down from the upper air, and straining the mind’s eye beheld, as from some commanding peak, the multitudinous world-wide spectacles of earthly things, and blessed my lot in that I had escaped by main force from the plagues of mortal life.", + "[3] But, as it proved, my steps were dogged by the deadliest of mischiefs, the hater of the good, envy, which suddenly set upon me and ceased not to pull me down with violence till it had plunged me in the ocean of civil cares,  in which I am swept away, unable even to raise my head above the water.", + "[4] Yet amid my groans I hold my own, for, planted in my soul from my earliest days I keep the yearning for culture which ever has pity and compassion for me, lifts me up and relieves my pain. To this I owe it that sometimes I raise my head and with the soul’s eyes—dimly indeed because the mist of extraneous affairs has clouded their clear vision—I yet make shift  to look around me in my desire to inhale a breath of life pure and unmixed with evil.", + "[5] And if unexpectedly I obtain a spell of fine weather and a calm from civil turmoils, I get me wings and ride the waves and almost tread the lower air, wafted by the breezes of knowledge which often urges me to come to spend my days with her, a truant as it were from merciless masters in the shape not only of men but of affairs, which pour in upon me like a torrent from different sides.", + "[6] Yet it is well for me to give thanks to God even for this,  that though submerged I am not sucked down into the depths, but can also open the soul’s eyes, which in my despair of comforting hope I thought had now lost their sight, and am irradiated by the light of wisdom, and am not given over to lifelong darkness. So behold me daring, not only to read the sacred messages of Moses, but also in my love of knowledge to peer into each of them and unfold and reveal what is not known to the multitude." + ], + [ + "[7] Since out of the ten oracles which God gave forth Himself without a spokesman or interpreter, we have spoken of five, namely those graven on the first table, and also of all the particular laws which had reference to these, and our present duty is to couple with them those of the second table as well as we can, I will again endeavour to fit the special laws into each of the heads.", + "[8] The first  commandment in the second table is “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” It comes first, I think, because pleasure is a mighty force felt throughout the whole inhabited world, no part of which has escaped its domination, neither the denizens of land nor of sea nor of the air, for in all three elements beasts, fowls and fishes all alike treat her with profound respect and deference and submit to her orders, look to her every glance or nod, accept contentedly even the caprices of her arrogance and almost anticipate her commands, so promptly and instantaneously do they hasten to render their services.", + "[9] Now even natural pleasure is often greatly to blame when the craving for it is immoderate and insatiable, as for instance when it takes the form of voracious gluttony, even though none of the food taken is of the forbidden kind, or again the passionate desire for women shewn by those who in their craze for sexual intercourse behave unchastely, not with the wives of others, but with their own.", + "[10] But the blame in most of these cases rests less with the soul than with the body, which contains a great amount both of fire and of moisture; the fire as it consumes the material set before it quickly demands a second supply; the moisture is sluiced in a stream through the genital organs, and creates in them irritations, itchings and titillations without ceasing.", + "[11] It is not so with men who are mad to possess the wives of others, sometimes those of their relations and friends, who live to work havoc among their neighbours, who go about to bastardize wholesale widespread family connexions, to turn their prayers for married happiness into a curse and render their hopes of offspring fruitless. Here it is the soul which is incurably diseased. Such persons must be punished with death  as the common enemies of the whole human race, that they may not live to ruin more houses with immunity and be the tutors of others who make it their business to emulate the wickedness of their ways." + ], + [ + "[12] Excellent also are the other injunctions laid down by the law on the relation of the sexes.  It commands abstinence not only from the wives of others but also from widows  in cases where the union is forbidden by the moral law.", + "[13] To the Persian custom it at once shows its aversion and abhorrence and forbids it as a very grave offence against holy living.  For the Persian magnates marry their mothers and regard the children of the marriage as nobles of the highest birth, worthy, so it is said, to hold the supreme sovereignty.", + "[14] What form of unholiness could be more impious than this: that a father’s bed, which should be kept untouched as something sacred, should be brought to shame: that no respect should be shown for a mother’s ageing years: that the same man should be son and husband to the same woman, and again the same woman wife and mother to the same man: that the children of both should be brothers to their father and grandsons to their mother: that she should be both mother and grandmother of those whom she bore and he both father and half-brother of those whom he begot?", + "[15] Even, among the Greeks these things were done in old days in Thebes in the case of Oedipus the son of Laïus. They were done in ignorance, not by deliberate intention, and yet the marriage produced such a harvest of ills that nothing was wanting that could lead to the utmost misery.", + "[16] For a succession of wars civil and foreign was left to be passed on as a heritage to children and descendants from their fathers and ancestors.  The greatest cities in Greece were sacked, and armed forces both of natives and allied contingents were destroyed: the bravest leaders on both sides fell one after the other; brothers slew brothers in the deadly feud engendered by ambition for sovereign power. In consequence not only families and independent territories, but also the largest part of the Greek world perished involved in the general destruction. For cities formerly well populated were left stripped of their inhabitants as monuments of the disasters of Greece, a sinister sight to contemplate.", + "[17] Nor are the Persians either who follow these practices exempt from similar troubles, for they are always engaging in campaigns and battles, slaying and being slain.  Sometimes they are attacking the neighbouring populations, sometimes defending themselves against insurrection. For of insurgents many appear from many quarters, as the barbarian nature can never remain in quietude. Thus before the sedition of the hour is put down another springs up, so that no season of the year is reserved for a tranquil life, but summer and winter, day and night they are bearing arms, and so rarely does peace reign that they spend more time enduring the hardships of encampment in the open air than dwelling in their cities.", + "[18] I put on one side the great and magnificent triumphs of kings whose first exploit when they succeed to the throne is that worst of sacrileges fratricide—murders which they try to vindicate as reasonable by predicting that their brothers will probably attack them.", + "[19] All these things appear to me to be the result of the ill-matched matings of sons with mothers. For justice who watches over human affairs avenges the unholy deeds on the impious, and the impiety extends beyond the perpetrators of the deed to those who voluntarily range themselves with the perpetrators.", + "[20] But such careful precautions has our law taken in these matters that it has not even permitted the son of a first marriage to marry his stepmother after the death of his father,  both on account of the honour due to his father and because the names of mother and stepmother are closely akin, however different are the feelings called up by the two words. ", + "[21] For he who has been taught to abstain from another’s wife because she is called his stepmother, will a fortiori abstain from taking his natural mother; and if the memory of his father makes him respect her who was once his father’s wife, the honour which he pays to both his parents will certainly keep him from entertaining the idea of violating his mother in any way. For it would be the height of folly while acknowledging the claims of a half parentage to appear to treat with contempt the full and complete whole." + ], + [ + "[22] Next comes a prohibition against espousing a sister, a very excellent rule tending to promote both continence and outward decency.  Now Solon the lawgiver of the Athenians permitted marriage with half-sisters on the father’s side but prohibited it when the mother was the same.  The lawgiver of the Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, allowed the second but forbade the first.", + "[23] But the lawgiver of the Egyptians poured scorn upon the cautiousness of both, and, holding that the course which they enjoined stopped half-way, produced a fine crop of lewdness. With a lavish hand he bestowed on bodies and souls the poisonous bane of incontinence and gave full liberty to marry sisters of every degree whether they belonged to one of their brother’s parents or to both, and not only if they were younger than their brothers but also if they were older or of the same age.  For twins are often born who, although separated and disunited by nature at birth, enter at the call of concupiscence and voluptuousness into a partnership and wedlock which are neither in the true sense of the words.", + "[24] These practices our most holy Moses rejected with abhorrence as alien and hostile to a commonwealth free from reproach and as encouragements and incitements to the vilest of customs. He stoutly forbade the union of a brother with a sister whether both her parents were the same as his or only one. ", + "[25] For modesty is lovely, why put it to shame? Maidens must blush, why drive the hue from their cheeks? Why hamper the fellow-feeling and inter-communion of men with men by compressing within the narrow space of each separate house the great and goodly plant which might extend and spread itself over continents and islands and the whole inhabited world? For intermarriages with outsiders create new kinships not a wit inferior to blood-relationships." + ], + [ + "[26] On this principle he prohibits many other unions,  not allowing marriage with a son’s daughter or a daughter’s daughter, nor with an aunt whether paternal or maternal, nor with one who has been wife to an uncle or son or brother, nor again with a stepdaughter whether widow or unmarried, I need not say while the wife is alive, heaven forbid, but even after her death. For the stepfather is virtually a father whose duty is to set his wife’s daughter in the same position as his own.", + "[27] Again, he does not allow the same man to marry two sisters either at the same or at different times, even if the person in question has repudiated the one he married first.  For while she is still alive either as his consort or divorced,  whether she is remaining in widowhood or has married another, he considered that the law of holiness required that the sister should not take the position which the wife has lost by her misfortune, but should learn not to set at nought the rights of kinship, nor use as a stepping-stone the fallen state of one so closely united to her by birth, nor bask at ease while enjoying and returning the caresses of her sister’s enemies.", + "[28] For from this source grow grave jealousies and bitter feuds bringing with them train upon train of evils without number. For it is just as if the parts of the body were to renounce their natural partnership and place in the system and engage in strife with each other, thus producing incurable diseases and fatalities. Sisters though made as separate parts of the system are fitted into it and formed into a single whole by nature and identity of parentage. And jealousy is a most troublesome passion, creating if it breaks out grave evils unknown before and hardly to be cured.", + "[29] But also, he says, do not enter into the partnership of marriage with a member of a foreign nation, lest some day conquered by the forces of opposing customs you surrender and stray unawares from the path that leads to piety and turn aside into a pathless wild. And though perhaps you yourself will hold your ground steadied from your earliest years by the admirable instructions instilled into you by your parents, with the holy laws always as their key-note, there is much to be feared for your sons and daughters. It may well be that they, enticed by spurious customs which they prefer to the genuine, are likely to unlearn the honour due to the one God, and that is the first and the last stage of supreme misery.", + "[30] Another commandment is that if a woman after parting from her husband for any cause whatever marries another and then again becomes a widow, whether this second husband is alive or dead, she must not return to her first husband but ally herself with any other rather than him, because she has broken with the rules that bound her in the past and cast them into oblivion when she chose new love-ties in preference to the old. ", + "[31] And if a man is willing to contract himself with such a woman, he must be saddled with a character for degeneracy and loss of manhood. He has eliminated from his soul the hatred of evil, that emotion by which our life is so well served and the affairs of houses and cities are conducted as they should be, and has lightly taken upon him the stamp of two heinous crimes, adultery and pandering. For such subsequent reconciliations are proofs of both. The proper punishment for him is death and for the woman also." + ], + [ + "[32] Whenever the menstrual issue occurs, a man must not touch a woman, but must during that period refrain from intercourse and respect the law of nature.  He must also remember the lesson that the generative seeds should not be wasted fruitlessly for the sake of a gross and untimely pleasure. For it is just as if a husbandman should in intoxication or lunacy sow wheat and barley in ponds or mountain-streams instead of in the plains, since the fields should become dry before the seed is laid in them.", + "[33] Now nature also each month purges the womb as if it were a cornfield—a field with mysterious properties, over which, like a good husbandman, he must watch for the right time to arrive. So while the field is still inundated he will keep back the seed, which otherwise will be silently swept away by the stream, as the humidity not only relaxes, but utterly paralyses the seminal nerve-forces, which in nature’s laboratory, the womb, mould the living creature and with consummate craftsmanship perfect each part both of body and soul. But if the menstruation ceases, he may boldly sow the generative seeds, no longer fearing that what he lays will perish.", + "[34]  They too must be branded with reproach, who plough the hard and stony land. And who should they be but those who mate with barren women? For in the quest of mere licentious pleasure like the most lecherous of men they destroy  the procreative germs with deliberate purpose. For what other motive can they have in plighting themselves to such women? It cannot be the hope of offspring, a hope which they know must necessarily fail to be realized; it can only be an inordinate frenzy, and incontinence past all cure.", + "[35] Those who marry maidens in ignorance at the time of their capacity or incapacity for successful motherhood, and later refuse to dismiss them, when prolonged childlessness shews them to be barren, deserve our pardon. Familiarity, that most constraining influence, is too strong for them, and they are unable to rid themselves of the charm of old affection imprinted on their souls by long companionship.", + "[36] But those who sue for marriage with women whose sterility has already been proved with other husbands, do but copulate like pigs or goats, and their names should be inscribed in the lists of the impious as adversaries of God. For while God in His love both for mankind and all that lives spares no care to effect the preservation and permanence of every race, those persons who make an art of quenching the life of the seed as it drops, stand confessed as the enemies of nature." + ], + [ + "[37] Much graver than the above is another evil, which has ramped its way into the cities, namely pederasty.  In former days the very mention of it was a great disgrace, but now it is a matter of boasting not only to the active but to the passive partners, who habituate themselves to endure the disease of effemination, let both body and soul run to waste, and leave no ember of their male sex-nature to smoulder. Mark how conspicuously they braid and adorn the hair of their heads, and how they scrub and paint their faces with cosmetics and pigments and the like, and smother themselves with fragrant unguents. For of all such embellishments, used by all who deck themselves out to wear a comely appearance, fragrance is the most seductive. In fact the transformation of the male nature to the female is practised by them as an art and does not raise a blush.", + "[38] These persons are rightly judged worthy of death by those who obey the law, which ordains that the man-woman who debases the sterling coin of nature should perish unavenged, suffered not to live for a day or even an hour, as a disgrace to himself, his house, his native land and the whole human race.", + "[39] And the lover of such may be assured that he is subject to the same penalty. He pursues an unnatural pleasure and does his best to render cities desolate and uninhabited by destroying  the means of procreation. Furthermore he sees no harm in becoming a tutor and instructor in the grievous vices of unmanliness and effeminacy by prolonging the bloom  of the young and emasculating the flower of their prime, which should rightly be trained to strength and robustness. Finally, like a bad husbandman he lets the deep-soiled and fruitful fields lie sterile, by taking steps to keep them from bearing, while he spends his labour night and day on soil from which no growth at all can be expected.", + "[40] The reason is, I think, to be found in the prizes awarded in many nations to licentiousness and effeminacy. Certainly you may see these hybrids of man and woman continually strutting about through the thick of the market, heading the processions at the feasts, appointed to serve as unholy ministers of holy things, leading the mysteries and initiations and celebrating the rites of Demeter. ", + "[41] Those of them who by way of heightening still further their youthful beauty have desired to be completely changed into women and gone on to mutilate their genital organs, are clad in purple like signal benefactors of their native lands, and march in front escorted by a bodyguard, attracting the attention of those who meet them.", + "[42] But if such indignation as our lawgiver felt was directed against those who do not shrink from such conduct, if they were cut off without condonation as public enemies, each of them a curse and a pollution of his country, many others would be found to take the warning. For relentless punishment of criminals already condemned acts as a considerable check on those who are eager to practise the like." + ], + [ + "[43] Even worse than this is the conduct of some who have emulated the lusts of the Sybarites and those of others even more lascivious than they. These persons begin with making themselves experts in dainty feeding, wine-bibbing and the other pleasures of the belly and the parts below it. Then sated with these they reach such a pitch of wantonness, the natural offspring of satiety, that losing their senses they conceive a frantic passion, no longer for human beings male or female, but even for brute beasts.  So according to the story did Pasiphaë the wife of King Minos long ago in Crete. ", + "[44] She was enamoured of a bull, but had no hope of obtaining its company. Consequently wild with passion, for amorousness is vastly intensified by unsuccess, she reported the trouble under which she was labouring to Daedalus, who was the best craftsman of his time. His masterly skill in devising plans for capturing the uncaptured enabled him to construct a wooden cow, into which he introduced Pasiphaë through one of its sides, and the bull supposing it to be a living animal of its own kind, charged and mounted it. She became pregnant, and in the course of time bore a half-beast called the Minotaur.", + "[45] Probably, if passions are suffered to go unbridled, there will be other Pasiphaës, and not only women but also men will be frantically in love with wild beasts, which will produce unnatural monsters to serve as monuments of the disgusting excesses of mankind; whence possibly the Hippocentaurs and Chimeras and the like, forms of life hitherto unknown and with no existence outside mythology, will come into being.", + "[46] Actually so great is the provisions made in the law to ensure that men should admit no unlawful matings, that it ordains that even cattle are not to be crossed with others of a different species.  No Jewish shepherd will allow a he-goat to mount a ewe or a ram a she-goat, or a bull a mare, or if he does he will be punished as an offender against the decree of nature, who is careful to preserve the primary species without adulteration.", + "[47] It is true that some people value mules above all other beasts of burden, because their bodies are compact and exceedingly muscular, and accordingly in horse-stables or other places where horses are kept they rear donkeys of huge size to which they give the name of “Celons” to copulate with the female colts, who then give birth to a hybrid animal, the mule or half-ass. But Moses, recognizing that the way in which this animal is produced contravenes nature, stringently forbade it under the wider order by which he refused permission for animals of either sex to breed with those of an unlike species. ", + "[48] In making this provision he considered what was in accord with decency and conformity to nature, but beyond this he gave us as from some far-off commanding height  a warning to men and women alike that they should learn from these examples to abstain from unlawful forms of intercourse.", + "[49] Whether, then, it is the man who uses a quadruped for this purpose, or the woman who allows herself to be used, the human offenders must die and the beasts also; the first because they have passed beyond the limits of licentiousness itself by evolving abnormal lusts, and because they have invented strange pleasures than which nothing could be more unpleasing, shameful even to describe; the beasts because they have ministered to such infamies, and to ensure that they do not bear or beget any monstrosity of the kind that may be expected to spring from such abominations.", + "[50] Besides, even people who care little for seemliness would not continue to use their cattle for any purpose serviceable to their life, but would regard them with abhorrence and aversion, disliking the very sight of them and thinking that even what they touch, that too must become unclean. And, when things serve no purpose in life, their survival, even if it can be turned to some account,  is just a superfluity, “cumbering the earth,” as the poet puts it. " + ], + [ + "[51] Again, the commonwealth of Moses’ institution does not admit a harlot,  that stranger to decency and modesty and temperance and the other virtues. She infects the souls both of men and women with licentiousness. She casts shame upon the undying beauty of the mind and prefers in honour the short-lived comeliness of the body. She flings herself at the disposal of chance comers, and sells her bloom like some ware to be purchased in the market. In her every word and deed she aims at capturing the young, while she incites her lovers each against the other by offering the vile prize of herself to the highest bidder. A pest, a scourge, a plague-spot to the public, let her be stoned to death—she who has corrupted the graces bestowed by nature, instead of making them, as she should, the ornament of noble conduct." + ], + [ + "[52] Adulteries detected on the spot or established by clear evidence are condemned by the law. But when they are a matter of suspicion, the law did not think good to have them tried by men, but brought them before the tribunal of nature. For men can arbitrate on open matters, but God on the hidden also, since He alone can see clearly into the soul.", + "[53] So the law says to the husband who suspects his wife, “Draw up a formal challenge and come to the holy city with your wife and standing before the judges lay bare the suspicion which troubles you, not in the spirit of a false accuser or malicious schemer, set on winning at any cost, but of one who would strictly test the truth without sophistry.", + "[54] The woman who is threatened with two dangers, one of losing her life, the other of bringing shame on her past (and this is a thing far more grievous than death), must judge the matter in her heart, and if she is pure, plead her cause with good courage, but if her conscience convicts her, make her submission and use her ashamedness to palliate her sins. For shamelessness carried to the end is the culmination of wickedness.", + "[55] But if the statements of the two are inconclusive, and do not turn the scale to either side, let them go to the temple and let the man standing opposite the altar, in the presence of the priest officiating on that day, explain his suspicion. At the same time he should bring barley-meal, as a kind of sacrifice on behalf of the woman, to shew that the accusation is not made in wanton spite, but with honest intentions and is founded on reasonable doubt. ", + "[56] The priest taking the offering hands it to the woman and removes her kerchief, in order that she may be judged with her head bared and stripped of the symbol of modesty, regularly worn by women who are wholly innocent. But there must be no oil nor frankincense, as in the other sacrifices, because the intention of the sacrifice to be performed on this occasion is not joyful but exceedingly painful. ", + "[57] The meal used is of barley, perhaps because as a foodstuff it is of somewhat doubtful merit, suited for irrational animals and men in unhappy circumstances, and thus is a symbol that the adulteress is quite on a par with wild beasts, which copulate without discrimination or due consideration, while the wife who is innocent of the charges brought against her has emulated the life which is fitted to human beings.", + "[58] The priest, it continues, will take an earthen vessel, pour into it pure water which he has drawn from a spring, and put in a clod of earth got from the ground on which the temple stands.  These likewise, I consider, refer symbolically to the quest for the truth. The act of adultery is signified by the earthen vessel because of its fragility, since death is the punishment decreed for adulterers; innocence of the charge by the earth and water, since both these are factors in the birth and growth and consummation of all things.", + "[59] And therefore the terms used in both cases make an appropriate addition to the picture. The water, it says, must be taken “pure” and “living,”  since if the woman is guiltless her conduct is “pure” and she deserves to “live”; the earth is taken not from any chance place but from the “holy” ground, which must needs be capable of fertility, as also must the chaste wife.", + "[60] When these preliminaries are completed, the woman is to come forward with her head uncovered, bringing the barley-meal, as has been said, and the priest holding the earthen vessel with the earth and water in it stands fronting her and pronounces as follows:", + "[61] “If thou hast not transgressed the lawful usages of marriage, if no other man has had intercourse with thee, suffered by thee in abandonment of thy duties to the legitimate partner of thy home, be clear of guilt and its consequences. But if thou hast set at naught thy husband and eagerly gratified thy new desires, seized with love for another or surrendering to his love, betraying and debasing the closest and fondest ties, be well assured that thou hast laid thyself open to every curse, and the signs of their fulfilment thou wilt exhibit in thy body. Come then, drink the draught of testing  which will uncover and lay bare what is now hidden in secrecy.”", + "[62] He will then write these words on a piece of paper and after blotting them out in the water in the vessel, proffer it to the woman, and when she has drunk she will depart expecting either reward for her chastity or extreme punishment for her incontinence. For if she has been falsely accused she may hope to conceive and bear children and pay no heed to her fears and apprehensions of sterility or childlessness. But if she is guilty she may be sure that the fate awaiting her is an unwieldy belly, swollen and inflamed, and terrible suffering all round the womb, which she has not cared to keep pure for the husband who married her according to ancestral custom.", + "[63] So careful is the law to provide against the introduction of violent changes in the institution of marriage that a husband and wife, who have intercourse in accordance with the legitimate usages of married life, are not allowed, when they leave their bed, to touch anything until they have made their ablutions and purged themselves with water.  This ordinance extends by implication to a prohibition  of adultery, or anything which entails an accusation of adultery." + ], + [ + "[64] If anyone dishonours by violence a woman widowed by the death of her husband or through any other form of separation, the crime he commits is less serious than in adultery, of which it may be said to be the half.  The penalty of death should not be enforced in his case: but since he has accepted as highly honourable such vile things as violence, outrage, incontinence and effrontery, he must be indicted and the court must determine for him the penalty he should suffer or the compensation he should pay.", + "[65] The corruption  of a maiden is a criminal offence closely akin to adultery, its brother in fact, for both spring as it were from one mother, licentiousness, to which some whose way it is to bedizen ugly things with specious terms, ashamed to admit its true nature, give the name of love. Still the kinship does not amount to complete similarity, because the wrong caused by the corruption is not passed on to several families as it is with adultery, but is concentrated in one, that of the maiden herself.", + "[66] Our advice then to one who desires a damsel of gentle birth should be this: “My good sir, have nothing to do with reckless and shameless effrontery or treacherous snares, or anything of the kind, and do not either openly or secretly prove yourself a rascal.", + "[67] But if you have, heart and soul, centred your affections on the girl, go to her parents, if they are alive, or, if not, to her brothers or guardians or others who have charge of her, lay bare before them the state of your affections, as a free man should, ask her hand in marriage and plead that you may not be thought unworthy of her.", + "[68] For none of those who have had the care of the girl would behave so stupidly as to set himself in opposition to the increasing earnestness of your entreaties, particularly if, on examination, he finds that your affections are not counterfeited nor superficial, but are genuine and firmly established.”", + "[69] But if anyone in furious frenzy will have nothing to say to the suggestions of reason, but regarding wild passion and lust as sovereign powers and giving the place of honour to violence above law, as the saying goes, turns to rapine and ravishment and treats free women as though they were servant-maids, acting in peace as he might in war-time, he must be brought before the judges.", + "[70] And if the victim of the violation has a father he must consider the question of espousing her to the author of her ruin. If he refuses, the seducer must give a dowry to the girl, his punishment being thus limited to a monetary fine, but if the father consents to the union, he must marry her without any delay and agree to give the same dowry as in the former case, and he must not be at liberty to draw back, or to make difficulties.  This is in the interest both of himself, to make the rape appear due to legitimate love rather than to lasciviousness, and of the girl, to give her for the misfortune, which she has suffered at their first association, the consolation of a wedlock so firmly established that nothing but death will undo it.", + "[71] If she has lost her father, she must be asked by the judges whether she wishes to consort with the man or not. And whether she agrees or refuses, the terms agreed upon must be the same as they would have been if her father were alive." + ], + [ + "[72] Some consider that midway between the corruption of a maiden and adultery stands the crime committed on the eve of marriage,  when mutual agreements have affianced the parties beyond all doubt, but before the marriage was celebrated, another man, either by seduction or violence, has intercourse with the bride. But this too, to my thinking, is a form of adultery. For the agreements, being documents containing the names of the man and woman, and the other particulars needed for wedlock, are equivalent to marriage. ", + "[73] And therefore the law ordains that both should be stoned to death, if, that is, they set about their misdeeds by mutual agreement with one and the same purpose. For if they were not actuated by the same purpose, they cannot be regarded as fellow-criminals, where there was no such fellowship.", + "[74] Thus we find that difference of situation makes the criminality greater or less. Naturally it is greater if the act is committed in the city and less if it is committed outside the walls and in a solitude. For here there is no one to help the girl, though she says and does everything possible to keep her virginity intact and invulnerable, while in the town there are council-chambers and law-courts, crowds of controllers of districts,  markets and wards, and other persons in authority and with them the common people.", + "[75] For assuredly there is in the soul of every man, however undistinguished he may be, a detestation of evil, and if this emotion is roused, no outside influence is then needed to turn its possessor into a champion ready to do battle for anyone who to all appearance has been wronged." + ], + [ + "[76] As for the man who perpetrated the violation, justice pursues him everywhere, and difference of situation lends him no help to make good his outrageous and lawless conduct. It is not so with the girl. In the one case pity and forgiveness attend her, as I have said, in the other inexorable punishment.", + "[77] And indeed her position demands careful inquiry from the judge who must not make everything turn upon the scene of the act. For she may have been forced against her will in the heart of the city, and she may have surrendered voluntarily to unlawful embraces outside the city. And therefore the law in defending the case of a woman deflowered in a solitude is careful to add the very excellent proviso: “The damsel cried out and there was none to help her;” so that if she neither cried out nor resisted but co-operated willingly, she will be found guilty, and her use of the place as an excuse is merely a device to make it seem that she was forced.", + "[78] Again what help would be available in the city to one who was willing to use all possible means to protect her personal honour, but was unable to do so because of the strength which the ravisher could bring to bear? If he should bind her with the help of others  and gag her mouth so that she could not utter a sound, what help could she get from the neighbours? In a sense such a one, though living in a city, is in a solitude, being solitary so far as helpers are concerned. The other, even if no one was present to help, may be said, in view of her willing cooperation, to be in exactly the same position as the offender in the town." + ], + [ + "[79] There are some persons who show fickleness in their relations to women, mad for them and loathing them at the same time, each of them a mass of chaotic and promiscuous characteristics. They give way in a moment to their first impulses of any and every kind and let them go unbridled instead of reining them in as they should. They run about wildly and violently, pushing about and upsetting everything material or immaterial, with the result that like blind men without eyes to see before or around they tumble over them and suffer in the same measure as they have meted. ", + "[80] For these people the law lays down as follows: In the case of persons who take maidens in lawful matrimony and have celebrated the bridal sacrifices and feasts, but retain no conjugal  affection for their wives, and insult and treat these gentlewomen as if they were harlots—if such persons scheme to effect a separation, but finding no pretext for divorce resort to false accusation and through lack of matters of open daylight shift the charges to secret intimacies and bring forward an incriminating statement that the virgins whom they supposed they had married were discovered by them, when they first came together, to have lost their virginity already—then the whole body of elders will assemble to try the matter and the parents will appear to plead the cause in which all are endangered.", + "[81] For the danger affects not only the daughters whose bodily chastity is impugned, but also their guardians, against whom the charge is brought not only that they failed to watch over them at the most critical period of adolescence, but that the brides they had given as virgins had been dishonoured by other men, and thereby the bride-grooms were cheated and deceived.", + "[82] Then, if the justice of their cause prevails, the judges must assess the punishments due to these concoctors of false charges. This will consist of monetary fines, bodily degradation in the form of stripes, and what is most distasteful of all to the culprits, confirmation of the marriage, if, that is, the women can bring themselves to consort with such persons.  For the law permits the wives to stay or separate as they wish, but deprives the husbands of any choice either way, as a punishment for their slanderous accusations." + ], + [ + "[83] The term murder or manslaughter is used to signify the act of one who has killed a human being, but in real truth that act is a sacrilege,  and the worst of sacrileges; seeing that of all the treasures which the universe has in its store there is none more sacred and godlike than man, the glorious cast of a glorious image, shaped according to the pattern of the archetypal form of the Word. ", + "[84] It follows necessarily that the murderer must be regarded as an offender against piety and holiness, both of which are violated in the highest degree by his action. For his merciless conduct he must be put to death,  though indeed it is a thousand deaths that he deserves instead of the one which he suffers, because his punishment being necessarily single cannot grow into a plurality in which death has no place.  And there is no hardship if he suffers the same as he has done;", + "[85] and yet how can it be called the same when the times, the actions, the motives and the persons are different? Is it not the fact that the unprovoked wrong comes earlier and the punishment for it later; that murder is entirely lawless and the punishment for murder entirely lawful; that the slayer has satisfied his desire with the blood which he purposed to shed while his victim, being removed from the scene, can neither retaliate nor feel the pleasure which retaliation gives; that the former can work his will single-handed and as sole agent, while to the latter any counter-stroke is only possible if his friends and kinsmen in pity for his misfortune make his cause their own?", + "[86] If anyone threatens the life of another with a sword, even though he does not actually kill him, he must be held guilty of murder in intention, although the fulfilment has not kept pace with the purpose.  The same should be the lot of anyone who craftily lies in wait, and, though not daring to attack outright, plots and schemes to shed blood treacherously, for he too is under the curse in his soul at least even though his hands are innocent as yet.", + "[87] For just as not only those who fight battles by sea or land, but also those who have made preparations for either and planted their engines to command our harbours and walls are judged by us to be our enemies, even though there is no engagement as yet, so too in my opinion should we regard as murderers, not merely those who have slain but also those whose every action aims at destroying life either openly or secretly, even though they have not carried out the crime.", + "[88] And if through cowardice or effrontery, two antagonistic but equally culpable emotions, they venture to take refuge in the temple, hoping to obtain an asylum there, they must be prevented from entering; and if they manage to slink in, they must be handed over for execution with a declaration to the effect that the holy place does not provide asylum for the unholy.  Everyone whose actions are irremediable is an enemy of God, and the actions of murderers are irremediable, as are also the calamities which the murdered have sustained.", + "[89] If those who have committed no sin are forbidden access to the sanctuary, until they have bathed and purged themselves with purifying water according to the customary rites, is it fitting that the sacred building should be the resort and abode of men labouring under the curse of ineffaceable crimes, the pollution of which no length of time will wash away—men who would not be admitted into the dwelling-houses of decent people who take any thought for what the law of holiness  permits or forbids?" + ], + [ + "[90] So as they have added crimes to crimes and capped murder with defiance of the law and impiety, these malefactors whose deeds, as I have said, deserve not one but a thousand deaths must be carried off to pay the penalty.", + "Another consideration is that the temple will remain closed ground to the friends and kinsmen of the victim of treachery, if the murderer makes it his abode, since they would never bring themselves to come under the same roof as he. And it would be preposterous that a single person, a transgressor of the worst kind, should cause the banishment of the many sufferers from his transgression, who not only have committed no sin but have sustained a sad and untimely bereavement.", + "[91] It may well be also that Moses, who in the keenness of his mental vision could look into the distant future, took steps to provide that the visits of the slain man’s relatives should not lead to bloodshed in the temple. For family affection is an emotion which cannot be kept in bondage, and as with persons possessed by fanaticism it will incite them to slay him almost on the spur of the moment,  and the result of this will be a profanation of the gravest sort. For the blood of the murderer will mix with the blood of the sacrifices, the impure with the consecrated. These are the reasons why he ordered the murderer to be handed over from the altar itself." + ], + [ + "[92] But those who take another’s life with swords or spears or javelins or staves or stones or anything else of the kind may not act on premeditation ; they may not have long pondered the abomination in their hearts; they may have been moved by a momentary instinct and allowed their anger to overpower their reason when they did the fatal deed. If so, theirs is but a half action, since the mind has not been under the control of the polluting influences from some far earlier time.", + "[93] But there are others, the worst of villains, accursed both in hand and will, the sorcerers and poisoners, who provide themselves with leisure and retirement to prepare the onslaughts they will make when the right time comes,  and think out multiform schemes and devices to harm their neighbours.", + "[94] And therefore he orders that poisoners, male or female,  should not survive for a day or even an hour, but perish as soon as they are detected, since no reason can be given for delay or for postponing their punishment. Hostile intentions if undisguised can be guarded against, but those who secretly frame and concoct their plans of attack with the aid of poisons employ artifices which cannot easily be observed.", + "[95] The only course, then, is to anticipate them by meting to the actors the treatment which others may expect to suffer through their acts. For apart from other considerations the slayer who openly uses a sword or any similar weapon will make away with a few on one particular occasion, but if he mixes an injection of deadly poison with some articles of food his victims who have no foreknowledge of the plot will be counted by thousands.", + "[96] We have certainly heard of banquets where sudden destruction has fallen upon a great assemblage of guests drawn by comradeship to eat of the same salt and sit at the same board, to whom the cup of peace has brought the bitterness of war  and festivity has been changed into death. And therefore it is right that even the most reasonable and mild-tempered should seek the blood of such as these, that they should lose hardly a moment in becoming their executioners,  and should hold it a religious duty to keep their punishment in their own hands and not commit it to others.", + "[97] For surely it is a horror of horrors to manufacture out of the food which is the source of life an instrument of death, and to work a destructive change in the natural means of sustenance, so that when the compulsion of nature sends them to take food and drink they do not see the pitfall that lies before them and put to their lips what will annihilate the existence which they think it will preserve.", + "[98] The same punishment must be suffered by any who, although the compounds which they make are not deadly, purvey what will set up chronic diseases.  For death in many cases is preferable to diseases, particularly such as drag on through long periods of time without any favourable termination. For maladies caused by poisoning have been found difficult to cure and sometimes entirely unamenable to treatment.", + "[99] However, the bodily troubles of the sufferers from these machinations are often less grievous than those which affect their souls. Fits of delirium and insanity and intolerable frenzy swoop down upon them, and thereby the mind, the greatest gift which God has assigned to human kind, is subject to every sort of affliction, and when it despairs of salvation it takes its departure and makes its home elsewhere, leaving in the body the baser kind of soul, the irrational, which the beasts also share. For everyone who is left forsaken by reason, the better part of the soul, has been transformed into the nature of a beast, even though the outward characteristics of his body still retain their human form." + ], + [ + "[100] Now the true magic,  the scientific vision by which the facts of nature are presented in a clearer light, is felt to be a fit object for reverence and ambition and is carefully studied not only by ordinary persons but by kings and the greatest kings, and particularly those of the Persians, so much so that it is said that no one in that country is promoted to the throne unless he has first been admitted  into the caste of the Magi.", + "[101] But there is a counterfeit of this, most properly called a perversion of art,  pursued by charlatan mendicants and parasites and the basest of the women and slave population, who make it their profession to deal in purifications and disenchantments and promise with some sort of charms and incantations to turn men’s love into deadly enmity and their hatred into profound affection. The simplest and most innocent natures are deceived by the bait till at last the worst misfortunes come upon them and thereby the wide membership which unites great companies of friends and kinsmen falls gradually into decay and is rapidly and silently destroyed.", + "[102] All these things our lawgiver had in view,  I believe, when he prohibited any postponement in bringing poisoners to justice and ordained that the punishment should be exacted at once.  For postponement encourages the culprits to use the little time they have to live  as an opportunity for repeating their crimes, while it fills those who already have misgivings as to their safety with a still more horrifying fear, as they think that the survival of the poisoners means death to themselves.", + "[103] So just as the mere sight of vipers and scorpions and all venomous creatures even before they sting or wound or attack us at all leads us to kill them without delay as a precaution against injury necessitated by their inherited viciousness, in the same way it is right to punish human beings who though they have received a nature mellowed through the possession of a rational soul, whence springs the sense of fellowship, have been so changed by their habits of life that they shew the savageness of ferocious wild beasts and find their only source of pleasure and profit in injuring all whom they can." + ], + [ + "[104] Enough has been said for the present on the subject of poisoners, but we must not fail to observe that occasions often arise unsought in which a man commits murder without having come with this purpose in his mind or with any preparations, but has been carried away by anger, that intractable and malignant passion so highly injurious both to him who entertains it and to him against whom it is directed.", + "[105] Sometimes a man goes to the market-place through stress of business; he meets another of the more headstrong kind who sets about abusing or striking him, or it may be that he himself begins the quarrel; then when they have set to, he wishes to break off and escape quickly; he smites the other with his clenched fist or takes up a stone and throws it.", + "[106] Suppose that the blow strikes home, then if his opponent dies at once, the striker too must die and be treated as he has treated the other, but if that other is not killed on the spot by the blow, but is laid up with sickness and after keeping his bed and receiving the proper care gets up again and goes abroad, even though he is not sound on his feet and can only walk with the support of others or leaning on a staff, the striker must be fined twice over, first to make good the other’s enforced idleness and secondly to compensate for the cost of his cure. ", + "[107] This payment will release him from the death-penalty, even if the sufferer from the blow subsequently dies. For as he got better and walked abroad, his death may be due not to the blow but to other causes which often suddenly attack and put an end to persons whose bodily health is as sound as possible.", + "[108] If a man comes to blows with a pregnant woman and strikes her on the belly and she miscarries, then, if the result of the miscarriage is unshaped and undeveloped, he must be fined both for the outrage and for obstructing the artist Nature in her creative work of bringing into life the fairest of living creatures, man.  But, if the offspring is already shaped and all the limbs have their proper qualities and places in the system,", + "[109] he must die, for that which answers to this description is a human being, which he has destroyed in the laboratory of Nature who judges that the hour has not yet come for bringing it out into the light, like a statue lying in a studio requiring nothing more than to be conveyed outside and released from confinement. " + ], + [ + "[110] This ordinance carries with it the prohibition of something else more important, the exposure of infants,  a sacrilegious practice which among many other nations, through their ingrained inhumanity, has come to be regarded with complacence.", + "[111] For if on behalf of the child not yet brought to the birth by the appointed conclusion of the regular period thought has to be taken to save it from disaster at the hands of the evil-minded, surely still more true is this of the full-born babe sent out as it were to settle in the new homeland assigned to mankind, there to partake of the gifts of Nature. These gifts she draws from earth and water and air and heaven. Of heavenly things she grants the contemplation, of earthly things the sovereignty and dominion. She bestows in abundance on all the senses what every element contains,  on the mind, as on a mighty king, through the senses as its squires, all that they perceive, without them all that reason apprehends.", + "[112] If the guardians of the children cut them off from these blessings, if at their very birth they deny them all share in them, they must rest assured that they are breaking the laws of Nature and stand self-condemned on the gravest charges, love of pleasure, hatred of men, murder and, the worst abomination of all, murder of their own children.", + "[113] For they are pleasure-lovers when they mate with their wives, not to procreate children and perpetuate the race, but like pigs and goats in quest of the enjoyment which such intercourse gives. Men-haters too, for who could more deserve the name than these enemies, these merciless foes of their offspring? For no one is so foolish as to suppose that those who have treated dishonourably their own flesh and blood will deal honourably with strangers.", + "[114] As to the charges of murder in general and murder of their own children in particular the clearest proofs of their truth is supplied by the parents. Some of them do the deed with their own hands; with monstrous cruelty and barbarity they stifle and throttle the first breath which the infants draw or throw them into a river or into the depths of the sea, after attaching some heavy substance to make them sink more quickly under its weight.", + "[115] Others take them to be exposed in some desert place, hoping, they themselves say, that they may be saved, but leaving them in actual truth to suffer the most distressing fate. For all the beasts that feed on human flesh visit the spot and feast unhindered on the infants, a fine banquet provided by their sole guardians, those who above all others should keep them safe, their fathers and mothers. Carnivorous birds, too, come flying down and gobble up the fragments, that is, if they have not discovered them earlier, for, if they have, they get ready to fight the beasts of the field for the whole carcase.", + "[116] But suppose some passing travellers, stirred by humane feeling, take pity and compassion on the castaways and in consequence raise them up,  give them food and drink, and do not shrink from paying all the other attentions which they need, what do we think of such highly charitable actions? Do we not consider that those who brought them into the world stand condemned when strangers play the part of parents, and parents do not behave with even the kindness of strangers?", + "[117] So Moses then, as I have said, implicitly and indirectly forbade the exposure of children, when he pronounced the sentence of death against those who cause the miscarriage of mothers in cases where the foetus is fully formed. No doubt the view that the child while still adhering to the womb below the belly is part of its future mother is current both among natural philosophers whose life study is concerned with the theoretical side of knowledge and also among physicians of the highest repute, who have made researches into the construction of man and examined in detail what is visible and also by the careful use of anatomy what is hidden from sight, in order that if medical treatment is required nothing which could cause serious danger should be neglected through ignorance.", + "[118] But when the child has been brought to the birth it is separated from the organism with which it was identified and being isolated and self-contained becomes a living animal, lacking none of the complements needed to make a human being.  And therefore infanticide undoubtedly is murder, since the displeasure of the law is not concerned with ages but with a breach of faith to the race.", + "[119] Though indeed, if age had to be taken into consideration, infanticide to my mind gives a greater cause for indignation, for in the case of adults quarrels and differences supply any number of reasonable pretexts, but with mere babes, who have just passed into the light and the life of human kind, not even a false charge can be brought against such absolute innocence. Therefore those who gird themselves up to conspire against such as these must be judged to be the cruellest and most ruthless of men. The holy law detests them and has pronounced them worthy of punishment." + ], + [ + "[120] The holy law describes the man who has been slain without the deliberate intention of him who did the deed as having been delivered by God into the manslayer’s hands.  In this phrase it is partly defending one who has admittedly taken the life of another on the ground that it was the life of a guilty person.", + "[121] For it assumes that a merciful and forgiving God would never surrender an innocent man to be done to death but only one who having been enabled by his resourcefulness to make a skilful escape from the justice of men has been arraigned and condemned in the invisible court of Nature, that court in which truth is seen in perfect purity, which is not beclouded by verbal artifices, since it never accepts words at all but unveils motives and brings hidden intentions into open daylight. Partly, too, it lays the manslayer under the imputation, not indeed of murder, since he is held to have been the minister of divine judgement, but of a defilement of little note and quite insignificant, for which pardon may well be asked and granted. ", + "[122] For in inflicting chastisement on offenders whose deeds have been evil beyond all remedy God uses as His ministers those whose sins are few and easily remedied, though He does not show approval of them but merely takes them as suitable instruments of vengeance. For He would not wish that anyone whose whole life is stainless and his lineage also should set his hand to homicide however justly deserved.", + "[123] He therefore sentenced the involuntary manslayer to go into exile, but not just anywhere nor yet for all time. For He assigned to persons convicted under this head six cities, an eighth part of those allotted to the consecrated tribe,  a fact recorded in the name of “cities of refuge” which He gave to them, and by a further edict He limited the time of banishment to the life of the high priest, after whose death the exile should be permitted to return. " + ], + [ + "[124] The first reason for this is as follows: the aforesaid tribe received the cities as a reward for a righteous slaughter which we must regard as the most illustrious act of heroism that has ever been achieved.", + "[125] When the prophet, summoned up to the highest and most sacred mountain in that region, was receiving  from God the heads which sum up the particular laws, and had disappeared for several days, the born enemies of peace had diffused through every part of the camp the vices that spring up in the ruler’s absence and had crowned them with impiety. They mocked at the most excellent and admirable injunctions which bade them honour the truly existing God, constructed a golden bull in imitation of the vanity of Egypt, offered sacrifices which were no sacrifices, held feasts which were no feasts and danced dances of death with songs and hymns which should have been dirges. ", + "[126] Then this same tribe, sorely distressed at the sudden backsliding and fired with zeal by their heart-felt hatred of evil, every man of them filled with rage, frenzied, possessed, took arms as if at one signal,  and despising all thoughts of danger mowed down their foes drunk with the twofold intoxication of impiety and wine. They began with their nearest and dearest, for they acknowledged no love nor kinship but God’s love, and in the space of a few hours 24,000  had fallen whose fate served as a warning through fear that they might suffer the like to those who were on the brink of sharing their delusion.", + "[127] This campaign, waged spontaneously and instinctively on behalf of piety and holiness towards the truly existing God and fraught with much danger to those who undertook it, was approved by none other than the Father of all Who took it upon Himself to judge the cause of those who wrought the slaughter, declared them pure from any curse of bloodguiltiness and gave them the priesthood as a reward for their gallantry." + ], + [ + "[128] So then he bids the unintentional homicide flee to some of the cities allotted to this tribe, there to gain consolation and be saved from despairing of salvation altogether. There the place will remind him of the fearless courage once shewn in the past; there he may reflect that those who shed blood intentionally received not only full pardon but also rewards great and much to be desired and fraught with abundant happiness; and that, if they fared thus, much more will those whose act was not premeditated receive, not indeed such privileges as confer honour, but at least the lowest and last that they do not pay for the blood they have shed with their own. This shews that not every kind of homicide is culpable but only that which entails injustice, and that as for the other kinds if it is caused by an ardent yearning for virtue it is laudable and if unintentional it is free from blame.", + "[129] No more need be said about the first reason; we must proceed at once to explain the second.  The law wishes to preserve the unintentional homicide, as it recognizes that in intention he was free from guilt, and that with his hands he had been the servant of justice, the overseer of human affairs. It knows that watching and waiting for him are blood-thirsty enemies, the kinsmen of the dead man, urged on to vengeance by overwhelming pity and inconsolable grief, and so carried away by unreasoning passion that they do not inquire what is true or essentially just.", + "[130] It therefore permitted such a one to fly for refuge, not to the holy temple, since he had not yet been purged, nor yet to some obscure and insignificant place where he might easily be surrendered as one of little account, but to a holy city which comes midway between holy and profane ground and is in a sense a secondary temple. For the cities of the consecrated order compared with the others receive a higher reverence, corresponding, I consider, to the honour paid to their respective occupants. The law wished in fact to use the superior rank of the city which gave them shelter to put the safety of the fugitive on the firmest possible footing.", + "[131] When, as I said, it appointed the death of the high priest as the date for the exile’s return, it did so for some such reason as this. Just as each single individual who is wilfully murdered has kinsmen to inflict vengeance on the murderer, so too the whole nation has a kinsman and close relative common to all in the high priest, who as ruler dispenses justice to litigants according to the law, who day by day offers prayers and sacrifices and asks for blessings, as for his brothers and parents and children, that every age and every part of the nation regarded as a single body may be united in one and the same fellowship, making peace and good order their aim.", + "[132] Everyone, then, who has slain another unintentionally must fear the high priest as a champion and defender of the slain and keep himself shut up within the city in which he has taken refuge, never venturing to shew himself outside the walls, that is, if he sets any value on his safety, or on a life secure from danger.", + "[133] When, then, he says that the exile must not return till the death of the high priest, it is as much as to say till the death of the common kinsman of all, who alone has authority to arbitrate on the rights both of the living and the dead." + ], + [ + "[134] Such is the reason which we find suitable to younger ears, but for elders and those whose character is fully developed there is another which may properly be given.  For laymen it may be allowed that it is enough to keep undefiled from voluntary misdeeds only, and anyone who likes may say the same of the other priests, but he must make an exception of the high priest and agree that he needs to be innocent of the involuntary as well as the voluntary.", + "[135] The contact with pollution of any kind is forbidden to him, whether it is the result of definite purpose or of some movement of the soul which he has not willed, for only so can he take his place as revealer in both aspects, his motives blameless and his life so fortunate that no stigma attaches to it.", + "[136] It is a necessary consequence that such a one should include in the objects of his displeasure the unintentional homicides, regarding them not indeed as accursed,  but yet not pure or free from sin of every kind, however much they are admitted to have ministered to Nature’s will, who has used them as instruments of vengeance against those who have fallen by their hands, condemned to death in the secret tribunal where she sits as sole judge." + ], + [ + "What has been said applies to free-born persons of citizen rank; the enactments which follow deal with slaves whose death is caused by violence.", + "[137] Servants rank lower in fortune but in nature can claim equality with their masters, and in the law of God the standard of justice is adjusted to nature and not to fortune. And therefore the masters should not make excessive use of their authority over slaves by showing arrogance and contempt and savage cruelty. For these are signs of no peaceful spirit, but of one so intemperate as to seek to throw off all responsibility and take the tyrant’s despotism for its model.", + "[138] He who has used his private house as a sort of stronghold of defiance and allows no freedom of speech to any of the inmates, but treats all with the brutality created by his native or perhaps acquired hatred for his fellow-men, is a tyrant with smaller resources.", + "[139] By his use of them he gives proof that he will not stay where he is, if he gets more wealth into his hands, for he will pass on at once to attack cities and countries and nations, after first reducing his own fatherland to slavery, a sign that he will not deal gently with any of his other subjects.", + "[140] Such a one must clearly understand that his misconduct cannot be prolonged or widely extended with immunity, for he will have for his adversary justice, the hater of evil, the defender and champion of the ill-used, who will call upon him to give an account for the unhappy condition of the sufferers. ", + "[141] And if he alleges that the stripes he inflicted were meant as a deterrent and not with the intention of causing death, he shall not at once depart with a cheerful heart, but will be brought before the court, there to be examined under strict investigators of the truth as to whether he meant to commit homicide or not; and if he is found to have acted with intentional wickedness and with malice aforethought he must die, and his position as master will avail him nothing to escape the sentence.", + "[142] But if the sufferers do not die on the spot under the lash but survive for one or perhaps two days, the situation is different and the master is not to be held guilty of murder. In this case he is provided with a valuable plea, namely that he did not beat them to death at the time nor yet later when he had them in his house, but suffered them to live as long as they could, even though that was quite a short time. Furthermore he may argue that no one is so foolish as to try to harm another when he himself will be wronged thereby.", + "[143] And it is true that anyone who kills a slave injures himself far more, as he deprives himself of the service which he receives from him when alive and loses his value as a piece of property, which may be possibly very considerable. When the slave has committed some act worthy of death his master should bring him before the judges and state the offence, thus leaving the decision of the penalty with the laws instead of keeping it in his own hands." + ], + [ + "[144] If a bull gores a man and kills him, it must be stoned,  since it is not fit to be slaughtered as a sacrifice, and its flesh must not be eaten. Why is this? It is required by the law of holiness that the flesh of an animal that has killed a man should not be used as a foodstuff for men or to make their food more palatable.", + "[145] If the owner of the animal knowing that it is savage and wild has not tied it up nor kept it shut up under guard,  or if he has had information from others that it is unmanageable, he must be held guilty as responsible for the death by allowing it to range at large. And while the aggressive animal is to be put to death at once, the owner must also forfeit his life or else redeem it by a ransom, what punishment he must suffer or what compensation he must pay being left to the decision of the court. If, however, it is a slave who is killed, he must make good his value to the owner and if it has gored not a man but one of the live-stock,", + "[146] here too the owner of the beast which has caused its death must pay like for like,  taking the dead animal for his own, and be thankful that as the original cause of the wanton mischief he does not suffer a greater loss. " + ], + [ + "[147] It is a common practice with some people to dig deep holes in the ground either when they are opening veins of spring water or making receptacles for the rain water. Then after widening the tunnels out of sight, instead of walling the mouths in or covering them up with a lid as they should, through some fatal carelessness or mental aberration they leave them gaping as a death-trap.", + "[148] If, then, some person walking along does not notice them in time but steps on a void and falls down and is killed, anyone who wishes may bring an indictment on behalf of the dead man against the makers of the pit, and the court must assess what punishment they must suffer or what compensation they must pay. But if anyone of the cattle falls down and is killed, they must make good to the owners the value of the animal as if it were alive and keep the dead body for themselves. ", + "[149] Of the same family as the above is the offence committed by those who in building their houses leave their roofs flat instead of ringing them in with parapets to prevent anyone being precipitated unawares over the edge. Indeed they are to the best of their ability murderers, even if no one is killed by the force of the fall. They must receive the same penalty as those who leave the mouths of their pits wide open." + ], + [ + "[150] The law forbids the acceptance of ransom-money from a murderer deserving of death, in order to mitigate his punishment or substitute banishment for death, for blood is purged with blood,  the blood of the wilfully murdered with the blood of the slayer.", + "[151] Since there are no bounds to the iniquities of evil natures, and they are ever committing a superabundance of enormities and extending and exalting their vices beyond all measure and all limit, the lawgiver would, if he could, have sentenced them to die times beyond number. But since this was impossible he ordained another penalty as an addition, and ordered the manslayers to be crucified. ", + "[152] Yet after giving this injunction he hastened to revert to his natural humanity and shews mercy to those whose deeds were merciless when he says “Let not the sun go down upon the crucified but let them be buried in the earth before sundown.”  For while it was necessary that the enemies of every part of the universe should after punishment be set on high and exhibited to the sun and heaven and air and water and earth, it was equally necessary that they should be thrust down into the place of the dead and there entombed, that nothing above the earth might be polluted by them." + ], + [ + "[153] Another excellent ordinance is that fathers should not die for their sons nor sons for their parents, but each person who has committed deeds worthy of death should suffer it alone and in his own person.  This order has in view those who either set violence before justice or are strongly influenced by family affection.", + "[154] These last in their excessive and overwhelming devotion will often be willing and glad to sacrifice their guiltless selves for the guilty and die in their stead. They count it a great gain to be spared from seeing, parents their children and sons their parents, undergoing a punishment which they feel will make their after-life intolerable and more painful than any death.", + "[155] To these we should answer “your devotion is mistimed and the mistimed deserves censure just as the rightly timed deserves praise. It is right indeed to shew friendship to those whose actions are worthy of friendship, but no evil-doer is a true friend. Those whom we call our kinsfolk or within the circle of kinsmen our friends are turned into aliens by their misconduct when they go astray; for agreement to practise justice and every virtue makes a closer kinship than that of blood, and he who abandons this enters his name in the list not only of strangers and foreigners but of mortal enemies.", + "[156] Why, then, under the false name of devotion do you assume to be all that is kind and humane and cloak the realities, your weakness and unmanliness? For unmanly is the nature you shew in letting compassion overcome your reason, only to commit a double wrong in trying to deliver the guilty from chastisement and in thinking it right that you should be punished in their stead when no blame at all has been cast upon you.”" + ], + [ + "[157] Still these can plead in their defence that they seek no profit and are moved by exceeding affection for their nearest of kin, to save whom they propose cheerfully to lay down their lives.", + "[158] But the other kind, the cruel of heart and bestial of nature, would be spurned, I need not say by all respectable people, but by any who are not thoroughly uncivilized in soul. I mean those who either secretly and craftily or boldly and openly threaten to inflict the most grievous sufferings on one set of persons in substitution for another and seek the destruction of those who have done no wrong on the pretext of their friendship or kinship, or partnership, or some similar connexion, with the culprits. And they sometimes do this without having suffered any grievous harm but merely through covetousness and rapine.", + "[159] An example of this was given a little time ago in our own district by a person who was appointed to serve as a collector of taxes. When some of his debtors whose default was clearly due to poverty took flight in fear of the fatal consequences of his vengeance, he carried off by force their womenfolk and children and parents and their other relatives and beat and subjected them to every kind of outrage and contumely in order to make them either tell him the whereabouts of the fugitive or discharge his debt themselves. As they could do neither the first for want of knowledge, nor the second because they were as penniless as the fugitive, he continued this treatment until while wringing their bodies with racks and instruments of torture he finally dispatched them by newly-invented methods of execution.", + "[160] He filled a large basket with sand and having hung this enormous weight by ropes round their necks set them in the middle of the market-place in the open air, in order that while they themselves sank under the cruel stress of the accumulated punishments, the wind, the sun, the shame of being seen by the passers-by and the weights suspended on them, the spectators of their punishments might suffer by anticipation.", + "[161] Some of these, whose souls saw facts more vividly than did their eyes, feeling themselves maltreated in the bodies of others, hastened to take leave of their lives with the aid of sword or poison or halter, thinking that in their evil plight it was a great piece of luck to die without suffering torture.", + "[162] The others who had not seized the opportunity to dispatch themselves were brought out in a row, as is done in the awarding of inheritances, first those who stood in the first degrees of kinship, after them the second, then the third and so on till the last. And when there were no kinsmen left, the maltreatment was passed on to their neighbours and sometimes even to villages and cities which quickly became desolate and stripped of their inhabitants who left their homes and dispersed to places where they expected to remain unobserved.", + "[163] Yet perhaps it is not to be wondered at if uncivilized persons who have never had a taste of humane culture, when they have to collect the revenue in obedience to imperious orders levy the annual tributes not only on property but on bodies, and even on the life when they bring their terrors to bear upon these substitutes for the proper debtors.", + "[164] Indeed in the past the legislators themselves, who are the landmarks and standards of justice, have not shrunk from acting as such  to the greatest injustice. With an eye to men’s opinions rather then to truth they have ordained that the fate of traitors and tyrants should be shared by the children in the first case and by the next five families in the second. ", + "[165] Why, one might ask? If they were companions in error let them also be companions in punishment, but if they had no association with the others, never followed the same objects, never let elation at the success of their kinsmen tempt them to a life of ease and pleasure, why should they be put to death? Is their relationship the one sole reason? Then is it birth or lawless actions which deserve punishment?", + "[166] Probably you, most reverend lawgivers, had worthy people for relations. If they had been bad, I do not think the idea of such enactments would have entered your minds. Indeed you would have been indignant if others had proposed them, for you would have taken precautions that the man who lives in safety should not suffer ruin with those who run into danger, nor be set on a level with them in misfortune.  Of the two situations  one involves a danger which you would guard against and not allow another to incur: the other has nothing to fear and a sense of security often persuades people to neglect insuring the safety of the innocent.", + "[167] So then our legislator took these things into consideration and observing the errors current among other nations regarded them with aversion as ruinous to the ideal commonwealth; persons whose conduct shewed any kind of sloth or inhumanity or vice he detested and would not ever surrender anyone whose life had been passed in their company to be punished with them and thus made an appendix to the crimes of others.", + "[168] He therefore expressly forbade that sons should be slain instead of fathers or fathers instead of sons. Thereby also he gave it as his judgement that persons who had sinned should be the persons who were punished, whether the punishment consisted of monetary fines or stripes and injurious treatment of a still more violent kind, or wounds and maiming and disfranchisement and exile or any other kind of sentence. For in the single statement that one man should not be killed instead of another he included also the cases which he left unmentioned." + ], + [ + "[169] Market-places and council-halls and law-courts and gatherings and meetings where a large number of people are assembled, and open-air life with full scope for discussion and action—all these are suitable to men both in war and peace. The women are best suited to the indoor life which never strays from the house, within which the middle door is taken by the maidens as their boundary, and the outer door by those who have reached full womanhood.", + "[170] Organized communities are of two sorts, the greater which we call cities and the smaller which we call households. Both of these have their governors; the government of the greater is assigned to men under the name of statesmanship, that of the lesser, known as household management, to women.", + "[171] A woman, then, should not be a busybody, meddling with matters outside her household concerns, but should seek a life of seclusion. She should not shew herself off like a vagrant in the streets before the eyes of other men, except when she has to go to the temple,  and even then she should take pains to go, not when the market is full, but when most people have gone home, and so like a free-born lady  worthy of the name, with everything quiet around her, make her oblations and offer her prayers to avert the evil and gain the good.", + "[172] The audacity of women who when men are exchanging angry words or blows hasten to join in, under the pretext of assisting their husbands in the fray, is reprehensible and shameless in a high degree. And so in wars and campaigns and emergencies which threaten the whole country they are not allowed to take their place according to the judgement of the law, having in view the fitness of things, which it was resolved to keep unshaken always and everywhere and considered to be in itself more valuable than victory or liberty or success of any kind.", + "[173] If indeed a woman learning that her husband is being outraged is overcome by the wifely feeling inspired by her love for him and forced by the stress of the emotion to hasten to his assistance, she must not unsex herself by a boldness beyond what nature permits but limit herself to the ways in which a woman can help. For it would be an awful catastrophe if any woman in her wish to rescue her husband from outrage should outrage herself by befouling her own life with the disgrace and heavy reproaches which boldness carried to an extreme entails.", + "[174] What, is a woman to wrangle in the market-place and utter some or other of the words which decency forbids? Should she not when she hears bad language stop her ears and run away? As it is, some of them go to such a length that, not only do we hear amid a crowd of men a woman’s bitter tongue venting abuse and contumelious words, but see her hands also used to assault—hands which were trained to weave and spin and not to inflict blows and injuries like pancratiasts and boxers.", + "[175] And while all else might be tolerable, it is a shocking thing, if a woman is so lost to a sense of modesty, as to catch hold of the genital parts of her opponent.  The fact that she does so with the evident intention of helping her husband must not absolve her.  To restrain her over-boldness she must pay a penalty which will incapacitate herself, if she wishes to repeat the offence, and frighten the more reckless members of her sex into proper behaviour. And the penalty shall be this—that the hand shall be cut off which has touched what decency forbids it to touch.", + "[176] The managers of gymnastic competitions also deserve praise for debarring women from the spectacle,  in order that they may not be present, when men are stripping themselves naked, nor debase the sterling coin of modesty, by disregarding the statutes of nature which she has laid down for each section of our race. For men too cannot with propriety be present when women are taking off their clothes. Each sex should turn away from seeing the nakedness of the other and so comply with what nature has willed.", + "[177] Surely, then, if it is reprehensible for them to use their sight, their hands are far more guilty. For the eyes often take liberties and compel us to see what we do not wish to see, but the hands are ranked among the parts which we keep in subjection, and render obedient service to our orders." + ], + [ + "[178] This is the explanation commonly and widely stated, but I have heard another from highly gifted men who think that most of the contents of the law-book are outward symbols of hidden truths, expressing in words what has been left unsaid. This explanation was as follows.  There is in the soul a male and female element just as there is in families, the male corresponding to the men, the female to the women. The male soul assigns itself to God alone as the Father and Maker of the Universe and the Cause of all things. The female clings to all that is born and perishes; it stretches out its faculties like a hand to catch blindly at what comes in its way, and gives the clasp of friendship to the world of created things with all its numberless changes and transmutations, instead of to the divine order, the immutable, the blessed, the thrice happy.", + "[179] Naturally therefore we are commanded in a symbol to cut off the hand which has taken hold of the “pair,”  not meaning that the body should be mutilated by the loss of a most essential member, but to bid us exscind from the soul the godless thoughts which take for their basis all that comes into being through birth; for the “pair” are a symbol of seed-sowing and birth.", + "[180] I will add another thought, following where the study of nature leads me.  The monad is the image of the first cause, the dyad of matter passive and divisible. Therefore one who honours the dyad before the monad should not fail to know that he holds matter in higher esteem than God. It is for this reason that the law judged it right to cut off this tendency of the soul as if it were a hand, for there is no greater impiety than to ascribe to the passive element the power of the active principle." + ], + [ + "[181] The legislators deserve censure who prescribe for malefactors punishments which do not resemble the crime, such as monetary fines for assaults, disfranchisement for wounding or maiming another, expulsion from the country and perpetual banishment for wilful murder or imprisonment for theft.  For inequality and unevenness is repugnant to the commonwealth which pursues truth.", + "[182] Our law exhorts us to equality  when it ordains that the penalties inflicted on offenders should correspond to their actions, that their property should suffer if the wrongdoing affected their neighbour’s property, and their bodies if the offence was a bodily injury, the penalty being determined according to the limb, part or sense affected, while if his malice extended to taking another’s life his own life should be the forfeit. For to tolerate a system  in which the crime and the punishment do not correspond, have no common ground and belong to different categories, is to subvert rather than uphold legality.", + "[183] In saying this I assume that the other conditions are the same, for to strike a stranger is not the same as to strike a father nor the abuse of a ruler the same as abuse of an ordinary citizen. Unlawful actions differ according as they are committed in a profane or sacred place, or at festivals and solemn assemblies and public sacrifices as contrasted with days which have no holiday associations or are even quite inauspicious.  And all other similar facts must be carefully considered with a view to making the punishment greater or less.", + "[184] Again he says that if anyone knocks out the eye of a manservant or maidservant he must set him or her at liberty.  Why is this? Just as nature conferred the sovereignty of the body on the head when she granted it also possession of the citadel as the most suitable position for its kingly rank, conducted it thither to take command and established it on high with the whole framework from neck to foot set below it, like the pedestal under the statue, so too she has given the lordship of the senses to the eyes. Thus to them too as rulers she has assigned a dwelling right above the others in her wish to give them amongst other privileges the most conspicuous and distinguished situation. " + ], + [ + "[185] Now as for the services and benefits which the eyes render to the human race, it would take a long time to enumerate them, but one, the best, must be mentioned. Philosophy was showered down by heaven and received by the human mind, but the guide which brought the two together was sight, for sight was the first to discern the high roads which lead to the upper air. ", + "[186] Now philosophy is the fountain of good things, all that are truly good, and he who draws from that spring deserves praise, if he does so for the acquisition and practice of virtue, but blame, if it is for knavish ends and to outwit another with sophistry. For in the first case he resembles the convivial man who makes himself and all his fellow-guests merry, in the second the drinker who swills himself with strong wine, only to play the sot and insult himself and his neighbours.", + "[187] Now let us describe the way in which sight acted as guide to philosophy; sight looked up to the ethereal region and beheld the sun and moon and the fixed and wandering stars, the host of heaven in all its sacred majesty, a world within a world; then their risings and settings, their ordered rhythmic marchings, their conjunctions as the appointed times recur, their eclipses, their reappearances;", + "[188] then the waxing and waning of the moon, the courses of the sun from side to side  as it passes from the south to the north and returns from the north to the south, thus producing the yearly seasons by which all things are brought to their consummation. Numberless other marvels did it behold, and after it had gazed around over earth and sea and the lower air, it made speed to shew all these things to the mind.", + "[189] The mind, having discerned through the faculty of sight what of itself it was not able to apprehend, did not simply stop short at what it saw, but, drawn by its love of knowledge and beauty and charmed by the marvellous spectacle, came to the reasonable conclusion that all these were not brought together automatically by unreasoning forces, but by the mind of God Who is rightly called their Father and Maker; also that they are not unlimited but are bounded by the ambit of a single universe, walled in like a city by the outermost sphere of the fixed stars; also that the Father Who begat them according to the law of nature takes thought for His offspring, His providence watching over both the whole and the parts.", + "[190] Then it went on to inquire what is the substance of the world which we see and whether its constituents are all the same in substance or do some differ from others; what are the elements of which each particular part is composed, what are the causes which brought them into being, and what are the forces or properties which hold them together and are these forces corporeal or incorporeal.", + "[191] We may well ask what title we can give to research into these matters but philosophy and what more fitting name than philosopher to their investigator. For to make a study of God and the Universe embracing all that is therein, both animals and plants, and of the conceptual archetypes and also the works which they produce for sense to perceive, and of the good and evil qualities in every created thing—shews a disposition which loves to learn, loves to contemplate and is truly wisdom-loving or philosophical.", + "[192] This is the greatest boon which sight bestowed on human life, and I think that this pre-eminence has been awarded to it because it is more closely akin to the soul than the other senses. They are all of the same family as the mind, but, just as it is with families, the place which is closest in birth  and first and highest, is held by sight.", + "[193] We may find many proofs of this, for who does not know that when we rejoice the eyes are bright and smiling, when we are sad they are full of anxiety and dejection, and, if the burden is magnified and presses and crushes, they break out into tears; when anger prevails they swell and their look is bloodshot and fiery; when the temper dies down it is gentle and kindly;", + "[194] when we are reflecting or inquiring the pupils are set and seem to share our thoughts, while in persons of little sense their silliness makes their vision roaming and restless. In general the emotions of the soul are shared by the eyes, and as it passes through its numberless phases they change with it, a natural consequence of their affinity.  Indeed it seems to me that nowhere else in God’s creations is the inward and invisible so well represented by the outward and visible as reason is by sight." + ], + [ + "[195] If, then, anyone has maliciously injured another in the best and lordliest of his senses, sight, and is proved to have struck out his eye, he must in his turn suffer the same, if the other is a free man,  but not if he is a slave. Not that the offender deserves pardon or is less in the wrong, but because if the master is mutilated as a punishment the injured slave will find him worse than before. He will harbour a perpetual grudge for his misfortune and avenge himself on one whom he regards as a mortal enemy by setting him every day to tasks of an intolerable kind and beyond his powers to cope with, the oppressive weight of which will break his spirit also.", + "[196] The law, therefore, provided on the one hand that a master should not go unpunished for his malicious assault and on the other that the servant should not suffer further wrong in addition to the loss of his eye. It effected this by enacting that if anyone struck out his servant’s eye he should without hesitation grant him his liberty,", + "[197] for in this way the master will incur a double penalty; he will lose the value of the slave as well as his services, and a third affliction more severe than either of these two is that he will be forced to confer a benefit that touches his highest interest on an enemy whom he probably hoped to be able to maltreat indefinitely. The servant will receive a double solatium for his suffering; he is not only set at liberty but has escaped from a harsh and cruel master." + ], + [ + "[198] A further command is that if anyone strikes out a servant’s tooth he must grant him his liberty.  Why is this? Because life is precious and the means contrived by nature for the preservation of life are teeth by which the food is subjected to the processes necessary for dealing with it. Now the teeth are divided into the cutters and the grinders; the former do their part by cutting or biting the bread-stuffs and all other comestibles, whence their appropriate name of cutters, the latter by their capacity for reducing the bitten pieces into smaller particles.", + "[199] This is the reason why the Maker and Father, Whose way is to frame nothing that does not serve some purpose, did not make the teeth straight away at birth like each of the other parts. He bore in mind that they would be a superfluous burden to the infant who would be fed on milk, and would also bring serious trouble to the breasts, the fountain through which the liquid sustenance flows, as they would be galled during the suction of the milk.", + "[200] He looked forward, therefore, to the proper time, that is, to when the infant is weaned from the breast, and brought out that supplementary growth of teeth, which He hitherto kept in storage, only when the infant would refuse to take food in the form of milk and could bear the more mature kind which requires the instruments which I have mentioned.", + "[201] If, then, anyone gives way to insolent presumption and strikes out his servant’s tooth which ministers obediently to his most essential needs, sustenance and survival, he must set at liberty the victim of his injustice and suffer himself the loss of the services and ministries of the injured party. ", + "[202] Is a tooth then, I shall be asked, of the same value as an eye? They are both, I should reply, of the same value for the purposes for which they were made, the eye being made for what is visible, the tooth for what is edible. And if anyone cares to compare these, he will find that the eye is the noblest of the body’s members because it contemplates the heaven which is the noblest part of the universe, while the tooth is useful as the operator of what is most useful for maintaining life, namely food. Also anyone who has lost his sight is not thereby prevented from living, but one who has had his teeth struck out has only a most miserable death awaiting him.", + "[203] So if anyone takes steps to injure his servants in this part of their bodies he must recognize that the effect of his act upon them is a famine artificially created in the midst of abundance and plenty. For what use have they for a generous supply of food if they have been robbed of the instruments needed for dealing effectively with it, lost to them through the actions of hard, cruel and merciless masters?", + "[204] And therefore elsewhere the lawgiver forbids creditors to demand that their debtors should give their mill or upper millstone as a surety, and he adds that anyone who does so takes the life to pledge.  For one who deprives another of the instruments needed to preserve existence is well on the way to murder, since his hostile intentions extend to attacking life itself.", + "[205] So careful was the lawgiver to guard against anyone helping to bring about the death of another that he considers that even those who have touched the corpse of one who has met a natural death must remain unclean  until they have been purified by aspersions and ablutions. Indeed he did not permit even the fully cleansed to enter the temple within seven days and ordered them to purge themselves on the third and seventh. ", + "[206] Further too, those who enter a house in which anyone has died are ordered not to touch anything until they have bathed themselves and also washed the clothes which they were wearing.  And all the vessels and articles of furniture, and anything else that happens to be inside, practically everything is held by him to be unclean. ", + "[207] For a man’s soul is a precious thing, and when it departs to seek another home, all that will be left behind is defiled, deprived as it is of the divine image. For it is the mind of man which has the form of God, being shaped in conformity with the ideal archetype, the Word that is above all.", + "[208] Everything else too, he says, that the unclean person touches must be unclean, being defiled by its participation in the uncleanness.  This pronouncement may be thought to include a more far-reaching veto, not merely stopping short with the body but extending its inquiry to matters of temperament and characteristics of soul.", + "[209] For the unjust and impious man is in the truest sense unclean. No thought of respect for things human or divine ever enters his mind. He puts everything into chaos and confusion, so inordinate are his passions and so prodigious his vices, and thus every deed to which he sets his hand is reprehensible, changing in conformity with the worthlessness of the doer. For conversely all the doings of the good are laudable, gaining merit through the virtues of the agents in accordance with the general law that the results of actions assimilate themselves to the actors. " + ] + ], + "Appendix": [ + "APPENDIX TO DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS, III", + "§ 3. The ocean of civil cares. I do not know that we know enough about the dates of Philo’s writings to say that Heinemann’s positive statement that this refers to the serious troubles of A.D. 38–41 described in the In Flaccum and Legatio ad Gaium is impossible. But it is at any rate uncertain. Apart from such matters as the apparently unsuccessful attempt to interfere with Jewish religion mentioned in De Som. ii. 123 (where see note in App.), and the oppression of the tax-collectors noted below (§§ 159 ff.), there must have been considerable friction in Alexandria caused by the special position of the Jewish πολιτεία long before the outbreak. It is this to which I understand the φθόνος to refer, rather than, as Goodenough, to the conventional idea of the jealousy of fate shewn to prosperity, an idea which does not seem to fit in well with the epithets μισόκαλος and κακῶν ἀργαλεώτατον.", + "§ 6. Yet … even for this. The meaning of §§ 1–6, when reduced to plain prose, is that the days when Philo could devote his whole powers to philosophy are far back in the past. He is now permanently engaged and sometimes absorbed in political business of a troublesome nature, but there are times when he can get some leisure for his favourite studies and use his philosophical insight (§ 4). There are indeed other times (§ 5) when he can shake off the shackles altogether and perhaps feel the inspiration which he described in De Mig. § 35. But this is not one of these times. His condition is that he can open his eyes as in § 4, though he cannot triumphantly ride the waves as in § 5; yet even for this he is thankful.", + "If it is asked why this eloquent outcry is introduced at this point, I think it is enough to say that it is a natural literary device marking that he is just halfway through his great subject. Such prologues at pauses in a long disquisition are not, I think, uncommon. They appear, for instance, in Quintilian. It is possible, though I think less probable, that it means to indicate that the work has actually been interrupted by civic troubles and that καιροῦ διδόντος at the end of the preceding treatise should be translated “when opportunity offers,” with the suggestion that the opportunity will have to be waited for.", + "Goodenough’s idea (p. 9), that the outcry is elicited by a feeling that the criminal and civil laws now to be treated forcibly remind him of his civic distractions, seems to me fanciful.", + "§ 13. (Persian incest.) See Clement Alex. Strom. iii. 2. 11, who cites the early historian Xanthus as saying μίγνυνται οἱ Μάγοι μητράσι καὶ θυγατράσι, and couples them with sisters. In Paedagogus, i. 7 he says the same of the Persians in general. Tertullian also in Ad Nationes, i. 15 and Apol. 9 repeats the statement on the authority of Ctesias, another early historian. Philo evidently assumes that these early authorities hold good for his own time, though he says nothing of the Magi, for whom elsewhere he expresses admiration (see on § 100 below). Compare on the other hand Sext. Emp. Pyrrh. Hyp. iii. 305 Πέρσαι δὲ καὶ μάλιστα αὐτῶν οἱ σοφίαν ἀσκεῖν δοκοῦντες, οἱ Μάγοι, γαμοῦσι τὰς μητέρας καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι τὰς ἀδελφὰς ἄγονται πρὸς γάμον. The charge against the Persians is often repeated in later writers (references in Mangey ad loc. and Commentator on Clement (Migne)).", + "§§ 17–18. (Persian civil troubles.) No suggestions are given by Heinemann as to what events, if any, Philo has in mind. Possibly he may have known of the troubles both before and after the succession of Darius Hystaspes and after the death of Xerxes, and a number of fratricides are recorded, beginning with the murder of Smerdis by Cambyses, and before or after the accessions of Darius Nothus and Ochus and Codomannus. See Rawlinson, Fifth Great Monarchy. But his words fit better into more contemporary matters and he is more likely to be thinking of the later Parthian empire which absorbed the Persian. He was quite aware that the Parthians had conquered the Persians (De Ios. 136, Quod Deus 174), but he might, like Horace, identify the two in a vague statement of this kind. Plutarch, Lucullus 36 speaks of the Parthian power as weakened ὑπʼ ἐμφυλίων καὶ προσοίκων πολέμων at the time of Lucullus’s campaign (about 78 B.C.), and the civil war between Mithra-dates III and Orodes after their murder of their father Phraates, a war which ended with the victory of Orodes and the execution of his brother, would be well known to Philo.", + "§ 22. Marriage with half-sisters on the father’s side. So Cimon married his germana (here = ὁμοπάτριος) soror, “nam Atheniensibus licet eodem patre natas uxores ducere,” Corn. Nep. Cim. i. 2. Themistocles’ daughter married her brother οὐκ ὄντα ὁμομήτριον, Plut. Them. 32. The scholiast on Aristophanes, Nubes 1372, where the poet denounces marriage with an ὁμομήτριος ἀδελφή, says that since marriage between ὁμοπάτριοι was lawful at Athens, the word is added εἰς αὔξησιν τοῦ ἀδικήματος. Philo is right in saying that there was such a law at Athens, whether dating from Solon or not. He does not say that it was a common practice, and when Plato, Laws 838 A, B puts brother and sister without adding ὁμομήτριος among the relations between which intercourse was not only unlawful but felt so strongly to be unlawful that most people had no desire for it, it is difficult to suppose that it was common.", + "No evidence appears to be forthcoming for Philo’s statement about the Spartan law.", + "§ 23. (Egyptian marriage with sisters on both sides.) See Diod. Sic. i. 27, where the practice is said to be modelled on the marriage of Isis and Osiris, also the words of Sext. Emp. quoted in note on § 13. Goodenough cites for a later age from the Papyri a card of invitation issued by a mother for the marriage of one of her sons to a daughter.", + "§ 30. (Remarriage with a divorced wife). On this point Goodenough, pp. 85, 86 calls attention to the Lex Iulia de adulteriis, 18 B.C., which provides that among the things which that law punishes as adultery is “si adulterii damnatam sciens uxorem duxerit,” Dig. iv. 37. 1. Assuming, then, that the remarriage shewed that the intermediate union was adultery, the offender would be liable under Roman law in Philo’s time. Elsewhere (see references in Dict. of Ant.) condonation of adultery is treated under the same law as lenocinium. Is this the Latin equivalent for what Philo calls προαγωγεία? In Greek law this last was a capital crime, as Goodenough notes (though only perhaps if proved to be ἐπὶ μισθῷ. See Lipsius, A.R. p. 435).", + "§§ 34–36. Heinemann, Bildung, pp. 262–267, has a long and careful discussion of the views expressed here by Philo, and less specifically in other places (Quod Det. 102, De Ios. 43, Mos. i. 28), as compared with Rabbinical and Greek opinion. The upshot of it is that Philo goes far beyond the latter at any rate. The only passage cited which at all approaches this is from Charondas (Stobaeus, Flor. ii. p. 184 Meineke). According to Zeller (Stoics and Epicureans, Eng. Trans. p. 303), the Stoics merely required chastity and moderation in marriage (including total abstinence from pregnant women).", + "§§ 37–38. Philo may also be bearing in mind Deut. 23:17, where ὁ πορνεύων (E. V. “sodomite”) is coupled with πόρνη as forbidden in Israel. πορνεύων and πόρνος seem regularly to mean a male prostitute rather than as in Heb. 12:16 simply a fornicator. Though no punishment is prescribed in Deut., the fact that Philo seems to base the stoning of the πόρνη on this verse (see on § 81) shews that he would feel the same about the πόρνος.", + "§ 40. Celebrating the rites of Demeter, etc. I have not been able to find any evidence in support of this account of the prominence of male prostitutes in the mysteries of Demeter or similar rites; nor yet of the next sections describing the honours paid to the castrated. No doubt the Galli, the priests of Attis, were well known and also the votaries who castrated themselves in honour of Attis. See Frazer (Adonis, Attis, and Osiris, pp. 22 ff.), who also mentions the eunuch priests of Artemis of Ephesus, and the Syrian Astartē. But Philo can hardly be referring to these.", + "§ 51. (Death penalty for harlots.) This severity is in accordance with De Ios. 43, where Joseph is represented as saying “with us death is the penalty for harlots,” but inconsistent with i. 81, where the repentant harlot may retain her civic rights and marry anyone except a priest, and presumably not merely escape death, but remain unpunished.", + "§ 72. Documents containing the names, etc. Heinemann, Bildung, p. 289, gives an excellent parallel from the Papyri. “The announcement of marriage” contains the names of the parties and of the parents of the wife, the amount of her dowry, the guarantee of the husband to make fitting provision, the promise of fidelity on both sides, and the penalties in the event of infringement.", + "Goodenough’s theory (p. 92) that this ὁμολογία is regarded by Philo as justifying marital relations before the completed marriage, and that therefore ὑπογάμιον (or ὑπογάμιον ἀδίκημα) was de facto adultery seems to me to be negatived by the phrase in § 74 (which Goodenough passes over very lightly), that the girl has her virginity to defend. Clearly some people did not regard it as adultery, and, when Philo maintains the contrary, he seems to me to be upholding what he takes to be the view of Deuteronomy, which assigns the same punishment as for adultery, and speaks of the violator as having dishonoured (ἐταπείνωσε) his neighbour’s wife. For the equivalence of betrothal to marriage see also i. 107, where it is implied that the betrothed is no longer a παρθένος, “even though her body is pure.”", + "§ 84. τὸ τῆς τιμωρίας ἀθάνατον. Cohn (Hermes, 1908, p. 206) offers a solution of this corruption which perhaps is preferable to that suggested in the translation. He suggests that εἶδος or an equivalent word has fallen out, and that ἀθάνατον is the result of a gloss explanatory of εἶδος. The glossator wrote αʹ (=ἕνα) θάνατον, and this having been re-embodied in the text in the form of ἀθάνατον ultimately ousted εἶδος.", + "In the first part of the sentence the suggestion of inserting ἀμειλίκτως is due to H. Grégoire in Hermes, 1909, p. 320, though he would place it between ἐργασάμενον and ἀναιρετέον.", + "§ 86. (Intention to kill.) Heinemann points out that in giving this interpretation to Ex. 21:14 ἐπιθῆται … δόλῳ, and extending it to cover βούλευσις in general, Philo is following Greek law, τὸν βουλεύσαντα ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ἐνέχεσθαι καὶ τὸν χειρὶ ἐργασάμενον, Andocides i. 94.", + "§ 89. (Punishment of poisoners.) Heinemann and Goodenough point out that Philo’s views on this subject are in accordance with the spirit of the Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis (about 81 B.C.) which decreed punishment for preparing, having or selling poisons for the destruction of human life, as well as for actually using them. Josephus, Ant. iv. 279 is closer to the Roman law, as he expressly includes the possession of such poisons as criminal. Both authors apparently go beyond the Lex Cornelia in saying that poison intended to cause other injuries than death. (Jos. εἰς ἄλλας βλάβας πεποιημένον is on the same footing.)", + "§ 100. (The Magi and the true magic.) Mangey and others quote for the last part of the sentence Cic. De Div. i. 91 “Nec quisquam rex Persarum potest esse qui non ante Magorum disciplinam scientiamque perceperit.”", + "As to what Philo understands by “true magic” I hazard the conjecture that he has in mind the distinction between “artificiosa divinatio” and “naturalis,” a distinction which is made by the Stoic in the De Div., and accepted by his opponent. The coincidence quoted above inclines one to think that both this passage and the substance of De Div. i. are based on some Stoic treatise (? Poseidonius). In the De Div. the “artificiosa” comprises haruspicy, augury, and the like, while the “naturalis” is limited to inspiration, such as oracles, and dreams. It seems to be equated in i. 90 with “ratio naturae quam φυσιολογίαν Graeci appellant.” This agrees with our passage and with Quod Omn. Prob. 74, where the Magi are extolled as “researching in tranquillity into the works (or facts) of nature and by clearer visions receiving and giving revelations (ἱεροφαντοῦνταί τε καὶ ἱεροφαντοῦσι) of divine excellences.” Further at the end of De Div. i. the Stoic, though he has defended the “artificiosa” in general, rejects the charlatan impostors in much the same tone as Philo takes in § 101. Compare also Mos. i. 277 where ἔντεχνος μαντική was inadequately translated by “his art of wizardry.” Rather it means the “artificiosa” discarded for the “naturalis” of the prophetic spirit. It is an objection to this, but not I think a fatal objection, that either Philo or Cicero must have misunderstood the reference to the Magi. For in Cicero the Magi “augurantur et divinant,” i.e. practise the “artificiosa.”", + "Heinemann thinks that Philo is just adopting the accepted Stoic definition of μαντική as ἐπιστήμη οὖσα θεωρητικὴ καὶ ἐξηγητικὴ τῶν ὑπὸ θεῶν ἀνθρώποις διδομένων σημείων (S. V. F. ii. 1018, iii. 654), while giving the last words a “monotheistic” twist. He means, I suppose, that φύσις = (as often) θεός is substituted for θεῶν. In view of Philo’s wholesale denunciation of μαντική in i. 59 ff. it seems to me improbable that he would accept this definition without more explanation than this.", + "It is possible, no doubt, that he is simply echoing the vague popular idea that there is a respectable as well as a disreputable magic, which we find also in the N.T. with the “wise men” from the east on the one hand and Simon and Elymas on the other, all described as μάγοι.", + "§ 102. θανατῶντας. The same sense for θανατᾶν, i.e. “to be about to die,” is demanded certainly or preferably in De Virt. 34, De Ex. 159, and De Aet. 89. The word cannot be an interpolation in all these places; nor does Cohn raise any objection there. It is true that the accepted meaning of θανατᾶν is “to desire death,” as in Phaedo 64 B. If here and elsewhere it carries the sense of imminence rather than desire, it is presumably on the analogy of verbs of sickness such as ὑδεριάω = “be dropsical” or ὀφθαλμιάω = “have sore eyes.” In this way it may easily = “sick unto death,” and thence pass on to being doomed to death from other causes than sickness. It is a pertinent objection that these verbs are in -ιάω rather than -άω, though indeed to add the vowel in each case in Philo would be less drastic than expunging the word. At any rate the positive fact for the lexicographer is that in these four places the MSS. of Philo exhibit θανατᾶν as = “being near to death.” Possibly to these should be added i. 237, where θανατῶσαν νόσον is corrected by Cohn to θανατοῦσαν νόσον. That the disease itself is near to death (cf. “this sickness is not unto death”) would be a fairly natural extension.", + "§ 108. Both for the outrage, and for obstructing nature, etc. Goodenough, pp. 113 f. points out that Josephus, Ant. iv. 278 mentions a double fine, (1) for diminishing the population; (2) compensation to the husband, and that Philo’s two reasons, “nature” and ὕβρις, roughly correspond to these. He infers that Philo also contemplates a double fine. He may very likely have found the LXX ἐπιζήμιον ζημιωθήσεται καθότι ἂν ἐπιβάλῃ ὁ ἀνὴρ τῆς γυναικὸς δώσει μετὰ ἀξιώματος obscure.", + "§ 109. A human being … from confinement. Heinemann and Goodenough note a discrepancy between this and § 117, where Philo accepts the Stoic theory (S. V. F. ii. 806) that the child is not a separate living creature till it has left its mother’s womb. I do not think there is any real discrepancy. Here he is stating what he considers to be implied by the LXX, i.e. that the child at this stage is (potentially) a human being. There he argues that while the Stoic theory may be true and is supported by high authorities, the stricter law of the LXX seems to emphasize the sacredness of the infant and shews a fortiori how heinous is the destruction of the fully born. Cf. for a very similar argument De Virt. 137, 138.", + "§ 120. (Involuntary homicide.) What does Philo understand by this? In the Pentateuch it seems to mean accidental homicide, see particularly the example given in Deut. 19:5 of the man killed by the slip of the head from his neighbour’s axe. Nothing is said in these sections exactly in contradiction of this, though the μὴ ἐκ προνοίας in § 128 may point to a wider interpretation. But in §§ 92 and 104 we have had suggestions that he regards homicide, if committed in sudden anger or in an unpremeditated quarrel, as different from ordinary murder, though he does not follow this up (see notes on §§ 92 and 104). His view in fact seems much the same as that of Plato, who (Laws 866 D ff.) discusses the point and says that one who kills another in hot blood or unpremeditatedly is οὐ παντάπασιν ἀκούσιος ἀλλʼ εἰκὼν ἀκουσίου. Philo’s ἡμίεργον in § 92 is a rough equivalent of Plato’s εἰκών (“likeness or shadow,” Jowett) and indeed may be a reminiscence of it. That is to say, it is something between ἀκούσιος and ἑκούσιος. One may conjecture that he does not consider it worthy of death, but in face of the law of Ex. 21:18, 19, described in § 100, refrains from saying so.", + "§§ 131–136. The death of the high priest. Why the death of one high priest should abrogate the reasons assigned for the limit of the exile, when he is immediately succeeded by another, is not here discussed. The real explanation, as I understand from the commentators, is that the rights of the avenger of blood had to be limited, and that the succession of a new high priest, like the accession of a new sovereign, made a convenient limit. Philo himself in De Fuga 106 f. has pronounced the enactment, if literally taken, to be absurd, and therefore explains the death of the high priest as the death of the Logos in the soul.", + "§ 148. (Punishment in the case where a man is killed by falling into an unguarded pit.) Philo’s statement in the face of the absence of any specific provision in the Law is regarded by Goodenough, p. 129 as clear evidence that he is here giving us the practice of the Jewish courts in Egypt. I think it is merely one of his reasonable inferences from analogous cases. By making the negligence punishable when an animal is killed, the law suggests that it is still more punishable in the case of a human being. What he says really amounts to saying that no one need think himself debarred from making a complaint to the court, which will then have to follow the principle laid down in the matter of the unguarded well, i.e. either death or a fine. He naturally hesitates to prescribe death in so many words, but evidently thinks it would be justified, as also in the case of the φόνος of the unguarded roof mentioned in § 149.", + "§ 149. (The unguarded roof.) It is noteworthy that Josephus, Ant. iv. 284 also couples this with the unguarded pit, though they came from quite different parts of the Pentateuch, and this has sometimes (see Thackeray ad loc.) been regarded as one of the points which shew Josephus’s dependence upon Philo. See vol. vi., Introd. p. xxii, note e. I think the analogy of the two is obvious enough to have struck both writers independently.", + "§ 164. (Traitors and tyrants, etc.) Heinemann in his note says positively that the latter law, i.e. against tyrants (in Bildung, p. 212, both laws, regarded as a single law), is an old Macedonian law. Goodenough accepts this and infers that it was probably continued in Ptolemaic Egypt and therefore known to Philo. All this has very slender foundation. Heinemann’s authority is two passages (cited quite reasonably by Cohn as illustrations), one from Curtius Rufus vi. 42. 20, the other from Cicero, De Inventione, ii. 144. The first of these mentions in connexion with a plot against Alexander a “law of the Macedonians providing that the relations of a conspirator against the king should be put to death.” Here it is relations (propinqui), not children, and an “insidiator” is not the same as a προδότης. Still there may be some connexion.", + "The second passage deals with a problem in the rhetorical schools. There are supposed to be two laws: one that the tyrannicide may claim any reward; another that the “five nearest relations of the tyrant shall be put to death.” The example given is that of Alexander, tyrant of Pherae, who was murdered in 367 B.C., by his wife. By the first law she can claim the life of her son by him as the reward; by the second he must be put to death, and the arguments for either course are elaborately discussed by Cicero. As apparently Alexander’s wife was acting in concert with her brother, who afterwards assumed the tyranny (Diod. xvi. 14), the question can hardly have arisen, and if it did, Pherae was presumably not under Macedonian jurisdiction. But it is quite unsafe to assume that such a law was in existence. The death of Alexander was a famous case of tyrannicide and a useful peg on which to hang one of the controversies, in which tyrannicide was a favourite subject, and to which historicity was a matter of complete indifference. Heinemann and Goodenough have fallen into the same error as on ii. 244, in mistaking these fictions of the schools for sober history; though it must not be assumed that because they are worthless as evidence, Philo had not some other ground, historical or traditional, for his statements.", + "§ 171. The temple. Possibly τὸ ἱερόν may have become in the διασπορά a conventional name for the synagogue as the best possible substitute for the temple, particularly in Alexandria where the synagogue is said to have been especially magnificent and famous (Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. synagogue); and so too with the common collocation εὐχὰς καὶ θυσίας for the due performance of all religious rites possible.", + "On the strict seclusion of women indicated in this section Heinemann (Bildung, p. 234) quotes In Flaccum 89 (of the Jewish women in Alexandria) γύναια κατάκλειστα μηδὲ τὴν αὔλειον προερχόμενα καὶ θαλαμευόμεναι παρθένοι, though he points out that it reflects Greek rather than Jewish ideas.", + "Goodenough cites a passage from the female Pythagorean Phintys, quoted in Stobaeus (Meineke, iii. 64), which in some ways curiously resembles this, but shews less strictness. Phintys’s lady may go out duly attended not only to public worship but to see spectacles (θεωρίαι) and to shop.", + "§ 176. (Exclusion of women from gymnastic competitions.) The only evidence for this known to me is their exclusion from the Olympic games mentioned in Aelian, V.H. x. 1, and Pausanias, v. 6. 7. Elsewhere Pausanias, vi. 20. 9 (if the text is right) states that virgins were not excluded.", + "§ 181. (Penalties not corresponding to the crimes.) Goodenough, p. 137 says that the list of punishments here given follows those provided in Greek law for the several crimes. This seems to be only partially correct. The punishment for αἰκία was a monetary fine, and murderers were apparently allowed to evade the death-penalty by flying the country. But the punishment for τραύματα ἐκ προνοίας, i.e. wounding intended to kill, which perhaps may be equated with Philo’s τραύματα καὶ πηρώσεις, was banishment, not ἀτιμία, which is a loss of civil rights not entailing banishment. It seems to be true that theft might sometimes be punished by a few days’ imprisonment as a supplement to a manifold restitution of the things stolen, but what Philo here means is imprisonment instead of such restitution. I do not see any reason to think that he refers to any particular body of legislation.", + "The references given by Goodenough to Lipsius are to pp. 646, 605–607, 440, to which add for wilful murder, 603–604.", + "§ 183. ἀποφράδες ἡμέραι. The idea suggested in the translation is that, as all religious rites are forbidden on these days, the action cannot desecrate them. Compare Lucian, Pseudologistes 12, where the performance of sacred rites is included among the things prohibited on the Apophrades. Something of the same sort appears in Laws 800 D, where Plato forbids the melancholy strains used at sacrifices as blasphemy and relegates them to the Apophrades.", + "It seems possible, however, that the contrast intended may be the opposite of this, namely that things which are lawful on the feast-days are intolerable at other times. Philo may be thinking of pagan usage around him and allude to the license allowed on public feast-days (cf. De Cher. 91 ff.). This will give ἀποφράδες ἡμέραι something more like its ordinary meaning. Days which are inauspicious for ordinary business will be still more inauspicious for unlawful actions.", + "§ 184. The most conspicuous and distinguished situation. Heinemann quotes Cic. De Natura Deorum, ii. 140 “oculi tanquam speculatores altissimum locum obtinent,” but the thought there is somewhat different, rather of convenience than dignity, as it continues “ex quo plurima conspicientes fungantur suo munere.”", + "§ 204. (The law of the millstone). Heinemann, who (Bildung, p. 430) gives ἵεται ἐπʼ ἀνδροφονίαν the somewhat stronger sense of “aims at murder,” considers Philo’s comments to be a rhetorical exaggeration, and that no such murderous intention on the part of the creditors is suggested by a law which merely prohibits the attachment for debt of an indispensable article. (Such laws are paralleled in other legislations, indeed in the Common Law of England, see Adam Smith ad loc. Goodenough (p. 142) aptly cites out of the Papyri an example from the Ptolemaic law of Egypt, where a farmer’s cattle and tools and a weaver’s loom are mentioned.) But Philo gives a natural interpretation of the strong phrase ψυχὴν ἐνεχυράζει. It must be remembered that he only notes this law incidentally to strengthen his point of the criminality of destroying a man’s teeth." + ] + }, + "Book IV": { + "Introduction": [ + "THE SPECIAL LAWS (DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS)
INTRODUCTION TO DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS, IV", + "The first part of this treatise (1–135) deals with particular laws falling under the eighth, ninth and tenth commandments. We begin with the eighth. Note that robbery with violence is a worse crime than mere stealing, which is punished by a two-fold restitution, so if the thief cannot pay he may be sold into temporary slavery (2–4). Some considerations follow showing that this is not too severe (5–6). A housebreaker caught in the act may be killed in the night-time, but in daylight the ordinary legal process must be observed (7–10). Also the law provides a higher rate of compensation, if sheep and, still more, if oxen are stolen, reckoned, Philo thinks, according to the services they render to mankind (11–12). Kidnapping is another worse form of stealing, especially if the sufferer is an Israelite (13–19). Damage done by the trespassing of other people’s cattle, or by fire started carelessly, also calls for compensation (20–29). Then follows an account of the complicated procedure laid down by the law when anything deposited or lent is stolen from the depositary or borrower (30–38). And this part concludes with shewing how stealing leads up to other crimes culminating in perjury (39–40).", + "The ninth commandment. We begin with false witness in the literal sense, but pass almost at once to the thought that assent to evil, especially when it arises from subservience to the multitude, comes under the same head (41–47). And so do the deceits of the practisers of divination, which is really false witness against God (48–54). So, too, does any dereliction on the part of judges, who must remember the sacredness of their office (55–58). Three of their special duties are emphasized by the law. First, not to listen to idle reports (59–61). Secondly, to receive no gifts, even if no injustice results. To do this is to forget that just and honest actions may be vitiated by being done with dishonest motives (62–66). This leads to a digression on the supreme importance of truthfulness and how it is often lost by bad associations in childhood and how it is symbolized in the place given to it on the breastplate of the high priest (67–69). Thirdly, the judge must not respect persons but must consider only the facts (70–71). And the particular injunction not in giving judgement to show mercy to the poor causes him to point out that the law calls also on the possessor of any authority to remember his weaker brethren and only means that the guilty cannot plead poverty to escape from punishment (72–77). We now pass on to the tenth commandment (78).", + "The commandment “Thou shalt not desire” leads to a long disquisition, much of it repeating what was said of it in De Decalogo on the evils which spring from the desire of what one has not got (79–94). The lawgiver realizing this showed the necessity of restraining concupiscence by regulating, as an example, one particular form, the appetite for food and drink (95–97). He did this, first, by demanding the first fruits (98–99). Secondly, by the dietary laws on the use of the flesh of beasts, fishes and fowls (100–101). All carnivorous beasts are on the prohibited list, and only ten species, which divide the hoof and chew the cud, are allowed (102–104). An allegorical explanation of these two qualifications follows (105–109). Of fishes only such that have scales and fins are permitted, and again an allegorical explanation is given (110–112). So also creeping things with few exceptions (113–115), predatory birds (116–118), flesh of animals that have died a natural death or been torn by wild beasts (119–121) are forbidden. Eating strangled animals and taking blood and fat are also forbidden (122–125). The need of restraint is illustrated from the story of the quails and the visitation that followed that craving for flesh (126–131).", + "So much for the particular laws falling under one or other of the Ten Commandments, but the cardinal virtues belong to all the ten, and we must note how these virtues are exemplified in various laws. For piety, wisdom or prudence and temperance, this has been done sufficiently. There remain three others, justice, courage or fortitude and humanity or kindness. The rest of this treatise is concerned with the exemplification of justice (132–135). We need not here repeat what was said about judges and law-courts when treating the ninth commandment, but before going on to our subject, we give some general thoughts on justice (136). First, there is the injunction to record the laws in the heart, on the hand and before the eyes and on the doors and on the gates (137–142). Secondly, that nothing is to be added or taken away, which may be taken to suggest that each virtue is a mean, which must not be allowed to degenerate into the extremes on the other side (143–148). Thirdly, that in the law, “not to remove the landmarks which thy forefathers set up,” we may see a command to observe the unwritten law of custom (149–150).", + "Now for the exemplification of justice. First, as seen in the ruler or king. He must not be chosen by lot, a system which we see in ordinary matters to be absurd (151–156), but by election by the people, confirmed by God, and this ruler is not to be a foreigner (157–159). The ruler must copy out and study the law and its principles (160–169). Thirdly, he must follow the example of Moses in appointing subordinates to decide minor cases, but reserve the greater for himself (170–175). And the greater are those which concern not great people but the weak and helpless, the stranger, the widow and the orphan (176–178). And as orphanhood is the condition of the Jews as a nation (179–182), the ruler must use no guile but hold himself to be the father of his people (183–187). But the ruler or judge may sometimes find cases too difficult for him, in which case they are to be referred to the priests (188–192). Leaving the duties of the ruler, we have the following general rules of justice. There must be complete honesty in commerce (193–194). Wages must be paid on the same day (195–196). The deaf and the blind are not to be ill-treated (197–202). The ordinances about mating different species, ploughing with ox and ass together, and wearing garments of mixed material and sowing the vineyard to bear two kinds of fruit, are treated as rules of justice (203–207). This last is discussed at greater length as injustice to the land like the violation of the sabbatical year (208–218). Next we have the laws of warfare, willingness to make terms, severity if they are not accepted, but mercy to the women (219–225), and joined with this is the prohibition of destroying the fruit-trees (226–229). The treatise concludes with the praises of justice, the daughter of that equality which is the general principle of all life as well as of the cosmic system (230–238)." + ], + "": [ + [ + "THE SPECIAL LAWS BOOK IV
On The Special Laws Which Fall Under Three Of The Ten Commandments, The Eighth Against Stealing, The Ninth Against Bearing False Witness, The Tenth Against Covetousness, And On Laws Which Fall Under Each, And On Justice Which Is Proper To All Ten, Which Concludes The Whole Treatise.
[1] The laws directed against adultery and murder and the offences which fall under either head have been already discussed with all possible fullness as I venture to think. But we must also examine the one which follows next in order, the third in the second table or eighth in the two taken together, which forbids stealing.", + "[2] Anyone who carries off any kind of property belonging to another and to which he has no right must be written down as a public enemy, if he does so openly and with violence, because he combines shameless effrontery with defiance of the law. But if he does it secretly and tries to avoid observation like a thief, since his ashamedness serves to palliate his misdeeds, he must be punished in his private capacity, and, as he is liable only for the damage which he has attempted to work, he must repay the stolen goods twofold and thus by the damage which he most justly suffers make full amends for the injustice of his gains.", + "[3] If his lack of means makes the payment of this penalty impossible he must be sold, since it is only right that one who has allowed himself to become a slave to profit-making of an utterly lawless kind should be deprived of his liberty. And in this way the injured party also will not be turned away without a solatium or seem to have his interest neglected through the impecuniosity of the thief.", + "[4] No one should denounce this sentence as inhuman, for the person sold is not left a slave for all time but he is released at or before the seventh year under the general proclamation as I have shown in the treatise on the seventh day.", + "[5] Nor need he complain because he has to repay twice the value of the stolen goods, or even if he is sold. For he is guilty in several ways. First because dissatisfied with what he has he desires a greater abundance and thus fortifies the malignant and well-nigh deadly passion of coveteousness. Secondly because it is the property of others which he eyes so avidly and sets his snares to secure for himself and deprive the owners of their possession. Thirdly because the concealment which he also practises, while it secures him the profits of the business often for his sole enjoyment, leads him to divert the charge in each case to innocent persons and so blindfold the quest for the truth.", + "[6] It would seem too that he is his own accuser, since his conscience convicts him when he filches in this stealthy way, for he must be actuated by shame or fear. Shame is a sign that he feels his conduct to be disgraceful, for only disgraceful actions are followed by shame. Fear would show that he considers himself to deserve punishment, for it is the thought of punishment which produces terror." + ], + [ + "[7] If anyone crazed with a passion for other people’s property sets himself to take it by theft and, because he cannot easily manage it by stealth, breaks into a house during the night, using the darkness to cloak his criminal doings, he may, if caught in the act before sunrise, be slain by the householder in the very place where he has broken in. Though actually engaged on the primary but minor crime of theft he is intending the major though secondary crime of murder, since he is prepared if prevented by anyone to defend himself with the iron burglar’s tools which he carries and other weapons. But if the sun has risen the case is different; he must not be killed off hand but taken before magistrates and judges to pay such penalties as they prescribe.", + "[8] For in the night time when rulers and ordinary citizens alike are settled down at home and retiring to rest, the aggrieved person cannot seek out any one to succour him, and therefore he must take the punishment into his own hands, as the occasion appoints him to be magistrate and judge.", + "[9] In the day time however law courts and council chambers stand wide open and there are plenty of people to help him in the city, some of them elected to maintain the laws, others who without such election are so moved by their hatred of evil that they need none to bid them to take the rôle of championing the injured. Before these must the thief be brought, for in this way the owner will escape the charges of wilfulness and recklessness and show that he protects himself in the spirit of true democracy.", + "[10] And if the sun is above the horizon he must be held guilty if he anticipates justice by killing him off hand. He has preferred angry passion to reason and subordinated the law to his personal desire for vengeance. “My friend,” I would say to him, “do not because you have been wronged by a thief in the night time commit in daylight a more grievous theft, in which the spoil is not money but the principles of justice, on which the ordering of the commonwealth is based.”" + ], + [ + "[11] Other stolen goods then are to be paid for at twice their value, but if the thief has taken a sheep or an ox the law estimates them worthy of a larger penalty, thus giving precedence to the animals which excel all the other domesticated kinds not only in comeliness of body but in the benefits they bring to human life. This was the reason why he made a difference even between the two just named in the amount of the penalty to be paid. He reckoned up the services which each of them renders and ordained that the compensation should correspond thereto.", + "[12] The thief has to pay four sheep but five oxen for the one that he has stolen because the sheep renders four contributions, milk, cheese, wool and the lambs which are born every year, while the ox makes five, three the same as the sheep, of milk, cheese and offspring, and two peculiar to itself, ploughing and threshing, the first of them being the beginning of the sowing of the crops, the second their end, serving to purge them when harvested and make them more ready to be used as food." + ], + [ + "[13] The kidnapper too is a kind of thief who steals the best of all the things that exist on the earth. In the case of lifeless articles and such animals as do not render high benefits to life, the value by order of the law has to be repaid twofold to the owner by the purloiners, as I have said above, and again fourfold and fivefold in the case of the most domesticated kinds of livestock, sheep and oxen.", + "[14] But it is the lot of man, as we see, to occupy the place of highest excellence among living creatures because his stock is near akin to God, sprung from the same source in virtue of his participation in reason which gives him immortality, mortal though he seems to be. And therefore everyone who is inspired with a zeal for virtue is severe of temper and absolutely implacable against men-stealers, who for the sake of a most unrighteous profit do not shrink from reducing to slavery those who not only are freemen by birth but are of the same nature as themselves.", + "[15] If it is a praiseworthy action when masters in the humaneness of their hearts release from the yoke of servitude their home-bred or purchased slaves, though often they have brought them no great profit, how great a condemnation do they deserve who rob those who enjoy liberty of that most precious of all possessions for which men of noble birth and breeding feel that it is an honour to die.", + "[16] Indeed we have known of some who improve on their inborn depravity and developing the malice of their disposition to complete heartlessness have directed their man-stealing operations, not only against men of other countries and other races but also against those of their own nation, sometimes their fellow wardsmen or tribesmen. They disregard their partnership in the laws and customs in which they have been bred from their earliest years, customs which stamp the sense of benevolence so firmly on the souls of all who are not exceedingly barbarous nor make a practice of cruelty.", + "[17] For the sake of an utterly unlawful profit they sell their captives to slave dealers or any chance comers to live in slavery in a foreign land never to return, never even to dream of again saluting the soil of their native country or to know the taste of comforting hope. Their iniquity would be less if they themselves retained the services of their captives. As it is, their guilt is doubled when they barter them away and raise up to menace them two masters instead of one and two successive servitudes.", + "[18] For they themselves, as they know the former prosperity of those who are now in their power, might perhaps come to a better mind and feel a belated pity for their fallen state, remembering with awe how uncertain and incalculable fortune is, while the purchasers knowing nothing of their origin and supposing them to have generations of servitude behind them will despise them, and have nothing in their souls to incline them to that natural gentleness and humanity which they may be expected to maintain in dealing with the free born.", + "[19] The punishment for kidnapping, if the captives belong to foreign nations, should be such as is adjudged by the court; if they are fellow nationals whom they have not only kidnapped but sold, it is death without hope of reprieve. Yes indeed, for such persons are kinsfolk, bound by a tie closely bordering on blood relationship though with a wider compass." + ], + [ + "[20] “In the country also lawsuits spring up,” says one of the ancients. Examples of greed and the desire for other people’s property are found not only in the town but also outside its walls, since that desire is based not on differences of situation but on the thoughts of insatiable and quarrelsome men.", + "[21] And therefore the most law-abiding states elect two kinds of superintendents and magistrates to maintain the general safety and good order, one kind to act within the walls called “town warden,” the other outside them bearing the appropriate name of “country warden,” and what need could there be of the last if there were not people in the landed estates also who lived to do harm to their neighbours?", + "[22] So if anyone in charge of sheep or goats or a herd of any kind feeds and pastures his beasts in the fields of another and does nothing to spare the fruits or the trees, he must recoup the owner in kind by property of equal value.", + "[23] And he must suffer this without complaining. The law has shown itself reasonable and exceedingly forgiving in its treatment of him. Though his actions are such as are committed in internecine war, where it is customary to lay waste arable fields and destroy the cultivated plants, it has not punished him as a public enemy by sentencing him to death or banishment, or at the very least to forfeiture of his whole property, but merely called upon him to make good the damage to the owner.", + "[24] For since it always seeks pretexts for alleviating the state of the unfortunate, so vast is the gentleness and humanity which it owes to nature and practice, it discovered a well-sounding plea to defend the grazier in the irrational and refractory nature of cattle, particularly when they hanker for food.", + "[25] The trespasser must therefore be held responsible to justice for originally driving the herd into a field where they ought not to be, but should not bear the guilt of all its results, for it may well be that when he perceived the harm they were doing he tried to drive them out as fast as he could, but they as they were browsing on the herbage and taking their fill of tender fruits and plants resisted his efforts." + ], + [ + "[26] But people do damage not merely by grazing their cattle on the property of others but also by starting a fire without circumspection or foresight. For the force of fire when it has caught hold of the inflammable stuff shoots out in every direction and spreads itself abroad, and when it has once got the mastery it takes no account of any extinguishers applied to it and indeed makes full use of them as fuel to foster its growth until it has consumed them all and dies out from self-exhaustion.", + "[27] Now no one should ever leave a fire unguarded either in house or outbuilding as he knows that a single smouldering spark is often fanned into a blaze and sets fire to great cities, particularly when the flame streams along under a carrying wind.", + "[28] Thus in bitterly contested wars the chief instrument of efficiency first intermediate and final is fire, and on this combatants rely more than on their squadrons of infantry and cavalry and marines and their lavishly provided equipments of arms and engines. For a conflagration caused by a man shooting a fire-bearing arrow at the right place into a great fleet of ships has been known to consume it with the troops on board or to annihilate armies of considerable strength with the equipments on which they had rested their hopes of victory.", + "[29] Accordingly if a single person sets a heap of thorns alight and they burst into a flame which goes on to ignite a threshing floor full of wheat or barley or vetch or stacked sheaves of corn in the ear or rich soiled meadow land where herbage is growing, the person who lighted the fire must pay for the damage and thus learn by experience to guard carefully against the first beginnings of things and to refrain from stirring up and setting in action an invincible and naturally destructive force which might otherwise remain in quiescence." + ], + [ + "[30] The most sacred of all the dealings between man and man is the deposit on trust, as it is founded on the good faith of the person who accepts it. Formal loans are guaranteed by contracts and written documents, and articles lent openly without such formality have the testimony of the eye-witnessess.", + "[31] But that is not the method of deposits. There a man gives something with his own hands secretly to another when both are alone. He looks carefully all round him and does not even bring a slave, however loyal, with him to act as carrier, for the object which both of them evidently pursue is that it should be impossible to show what has happened. The one wishes that nobody should observe his gift, the other that no one should know of his acceptance. And this unseen transaction has assuredly the unseen God as its intermediary, to whom both naturally appeal as their witness, one that he will restore the property when demanded, the other that he will recover it at the proper time.", + "[32] So then he who repudiates a deposit must be assured that he acts most wrongfully. He deceives the hopes of the friend who confided his goods to him. He has disguised under fair words the vileness of his character. In the faithlessness of his heart he has assumed the mask of a bastard faithfulness. The assurance of the hands given and taken is rendered null and void, the oaths are unfulfilled. Thus he has set at nought both the human and the divine and repudiated two trusts, one that of him who consigned his property, the other that of the most veracious of witnesses who sees and hears all whether they intend or do not wish to do what they say.", + "[33] But if the deposit, which the receiver accepts as something sacred and feels bound to keep unharmed because of his reverence for truth and good faith, is purloined by stealthy mischievous intruders, cutpurses and burglars on the watch to take what does not belong to them, the offenders if caught must pay a fine of double the value.", + "[34] If they are not caught the receiver of the trust must go of his own freewill to the court of God and with hands stretched out to heaven swear under pain of his own perdition that he has not embezzled any part of the deposit nor abetted another in so doing nor joined at all in inventing a theft which never took place. Otherwise an innocent party would be mulcted and the person who ran to avail himself of the good faith of a friend would on account of the wrong he has suffered from others cause injury to that friend, and either of these is preposterous.", + "[35] But deposits include not only inanimate things but living animals who are liable to be endangered in two ways: one by theft which they share with the inanimate, the other by death which is peculiar to themselves. The first of these has been dealt with above and we must proceed to lay down laws for the second.", + "[36] So if any animal left in trust dies the person who has accepted the trust must send for the consigner and show him the dead body, thus shielding himself against any suspicion of dishonesty. If the consigner is absent from home, it would not be right for the caretaker to summon other people from whom the depositor may have wished to keep the matter secret, but when he has come home he must swear to him to show that he is not using a fictitious death to cloak an embezzlement.", + "[37] But if any utensil or any animal has been received not as a trust but for his use in response to a request and then either of these is stolen, or the animal dies, the borrower will not be responsible if the lender is living on the spot, since he can call him to witness that there is no pretence. If he is not living on the spot the borrower must make good the loss.", + "[38] Why is this? Because in the absence of the owner the borrower may either have worn out the animal by constantly overworking it and so have caused its death, or may have risked the loss of the utensil out of carelessness for what is another man’s property, whereas he is bound to keep it carefully and not provide thieves with facilities for carrying it off.", + "[39] The lawgiver with his unsurpassed power of discerning how things follow each other gives a series of successive prohibitions in which he aims at logical connexion, and makes a harmonious combination of the subsequent with the preceding. He tells us that this accordance between each thing said and each thing still to be said is proclaimed in an oracle spoken by God in his own person in the following terms “Ye shall not steal and ye shall not lie and ye shall not bring false accusations against your neighbours and ye shall not swear in my name to an injustice and ye shall not profane my name.”", + "[40] Excellent indeed and full of instructions, for the thief convicted by his conscience disowns the deed and lies through fear of the punishment which confession entails. Then he who disowns his deed in his eagerness to fasten the charge on someone else brings a false accusation and devises schemes to make the accusation seem probable. And every such accuser is necessarily a perjurer with little regard for piety, for since he lacks just arguments he takes refuge in the unscientific method of proof, as it is called, namely that of oaths, because he thinks that by appeal to God he makes his hearers believe him. Such a one may be assured that he is unholy and profane, since he pollutes the good name which is by nature unpolluted, the name of God." + ], + [ + "[41] “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” This is the ninth of the ten heads but the fourth in number of those on the second table. Numberless are the blessings which it can bring to human life if kept, numberless on the other hand the injuries which it causes if disregarded;", + "[42] for reprehensible as is the false accuser his guilt is less than that of the bearer of false witness. The former acts as his own champion, the latter as the accomplice of another, and if we compare one bad man with another the iniquity of one who sins for his own sake is less than his who sins for the sake of another.", + "[43] The judge looks with disfavour on the accuser as a person who cares little for truth in his eagerness to win his case, and this is the reason why introductory addresses are required to secure the attention of the hearer to the speaker. But the judge starts with no lurking feelings of hostility to the witness and therefore he listens with a free judgement and open ears, while the other assumes the mask of good faith and truth, names indeed of the most valuable realities, but the most seductive of names when used as baits to capture something which is earnestly desired.", + "[44] And therefore in many places of the Law Book he exhorts us not to consent to an unjust man or unjust action, for consent, if not rendered on honest grounds, is an inducement to testify to falsehoods, just as everyone to whom injustice gives a feeling of pain and hostility is a friend of truth.", + "[45] Now when a single man of bad character invites us to do as he does there is nothing remarkable in a refusal to share his wicked folly, but when a multitude is carried away in a rushing mass as down a steep slope to lawlessness, it needs a noble soul and a spirit trained to manliness to keep from being carried with them.", + "[46] Some people suppose that what the many think right is lawful and just, though it be the height of lawlessness. But they do not judge well, for it is good to follow nature, and the headlong course of the multitude runs counter to what nature’s leading would have us do.", + "[47] So if some people collect in groups or crowded assemblages to give trouble, we must not consent to their debasing of the long established and sterling coinage of civic life.", + "Better than many hands is one wise thought,", + "A multitude of fools makes folly worse.", + "[48] But some show such an excess of wickedness that they not only lay to the charge of men things which have never occurred but persisting in their wickedness exalt and extend the falsehood to heaven and bear testimony against the blessed and ever happy nature of God. These are the interpreters of portents and auguries and of sacrificial entrails, and all the other proficients in divination who practise an art which is in reality a corruption of art, a counterfeit of the divine and prophetic possession.", + "[49] For no pronouncement of a prophet is ever his own; he is an interpreter prompted by Another in all his utterances, when knowing not what he does he is filled with inspiration, as the reason withdraws and surrenders the citadel of the soul to a new visitor and tenant, the Divine Spirit which plays upon the vocal organism and dictates words which clearly express its prophetic message.", + "[50] Now everyone who pursues the spurious scurvy trade of divination ranks his surmises and conjectures with truth, a position ill-suited to them, and easily gets the unstable of character into his power; then with a mighty counterblast as it were he pushes about and upsets their unballasted barks and prevents them from coming to port in the sure roadsteads of piety. For he thinks he must proclaim the results of his guessing to be not his own discovery but divine oracles, secretly vouchsafed to him alone, and thus confirm the great multitudes which gather around him in their acceptance of the fraud.", + "[51] Such a person receives from the lawgiver the appropriate name of false prophet, for he adulterates the true prophecy and with his spurious inventions throws the genuine into the shade. But in quite a short time such manoeuvres are exposed, for it is not nature’s way to be concealed for ever but when the right time comes she uses her invincible powers to unveil the beauty which is hers alone.", + "[52] For as in eclipses of the sun the rays are dimmed for a very short time but soon shine again spreading a light unshadowed and far-reaching, when the sun is not obscured at all by any intervening object but displays its whole surface in clear open sky, just so though some oracle-mongers may ply their false art of divination, masked under the specious name of prophecy, and palm off their ecstatic utterances upon the Godhead, they will easily be detected. Truth will come back and shine again, illuminating the far distance with its radiance, and the lie which overshadowed it will vanish away.", + "[53] He added another excellent injunction when he forbade them to accept the evidence of a single person, first because the single person may see or hear imperfectly or misunderstand and be deceived, since false opinions are numberless and numberless too the sources from which they spring to attack us.", + "[54] Secondly because it is most unjust to accept a single witness against more than one or even against one: against more than one, because their number makes them more worthy of credence than the one: against one, because the witness has not got preponderance of number, and equality is incompatible with predominance. For why should the statement of a witness made in accusation of another be accepted in preference to the words of the accused spoken in his own defence? Where there is neither deficiency nor excess it is clearly best to suspend judgement." + ], + [ + "[55] The law holds that all who conform to the sacred constitution laid down by Moses must be exempt from every unreasoning passion and every vice in a higher degree than those who are governed by other laws, and that this particularly applies to those who are appointed to act as judges by lot or election. For it is against all reason that those who claim to dispense justice to others should themselves have offences to answer for. On the contrary it is necessary that they should bear the impress of the operations of nature, as from an original design, and thus imitate them.", + "[56] Consider the power exerted by fire and snow. Fire warms all it touches but its heat primarily resides in itself, snow its opposite through its own coldness chills other things. So too the judge must be permeated by pure justice if he is to foster with the water of justice those who will come before him, and thus as from a sweet fountain there may issue a stream fit to refresh the lips of those who thirst for true and lawful dealings.", + "[57] And this will come to pass if a man when he enters upon his duties as judge considers that when he tries a case he is himself on his trial, and with his voting tablet takes also good sense to make him proof against deceit, justice to assign to each according to his deserts, courage to remain unmoved by supplication and lamentation over the punishments of the convicted.", + "[58] He who studies to possess these virtues will properly be considered a public benefactor. Like a good pilot he steers a prosperous voyage through the storms of business to secure the preservation and security of those who have entrusted their interests to him." + ], + [ + "[59] The first instruction that the law gives to the judge is that he should not accept idle hearing. What is this? “Let your ears, my friend,” he says, “be purged” and purged they will be if streams of worthy thoughts and words are constantly poured into them and if they refuse to admit the long-winded expositions, the idle hackneyed absurdities of the makers of myths and farces and of vain inventions with their glorification of the worthless.", + "[60] And the phrase “not accept idle hearing” has another signification consistent with that just mentioned. If men listen to hearsay given as evidence their listening will be idle and unsound. Why so? Because the eyes are conversant with the actual events; they are in a sense in contact with the facts and grasp them in their completeness through the co-operation of the light which reveals and tests everything. But ears, as one of the ancients has aptly said, are less trustworthy than eyes; they are not conversant with facts, but are distracted by words which interpret the facts but are not necessarily always veracious.", + "[61] And therefore it seems that some Grecian legislators did well when they copied from the most sacred tables of Moses the enactment that hearing is not accepted as evidence, meaning that what a man has seen is to be judged trustworthy, but what he has heard is not entirely reliable." + ], + [ + "[62] The second instruction to the judge is not to take gifts, for gifts, says the law, blind the eyes which see and corrupt the things that are just, while they prevent the mind from pursuing its course straight along the high road.", + "[63] And while receiving bribes to do injustice is the act of the utterly depraved, to receive them to do justice shows a half depravity. For there are some magistrates half way in wickedness, mixtures of justice and injustice, who having been appointed to the duty of supporting the wronged against the wrongdoers think themselves justified in refusing without a consideration to record a victory to the necessarily victorious party and so make their verdict a thing purchased and paid for.", + "[64] Then when they are attacked they plead that they did not pervert justice, since those who ought to lose did lose and those who deserved to win were successful. This is a bad defence, for two things are demanded from the good judge, a verdict absolutely according to law and a refusal to be bribed. But the awarder of justice who has taken gifts for it has unconsciously disfigured what nature has made beautiful.", + "[65] Apart from this he offends in two other ways; he is habituating himself to be covetous of money, and that vice is the source from which the greatest iniquities spring, and he is injuring one who deserves to be benefited when that person has to pay a price for justice.", + "[66] And therefore Moses gives us a very instructive command, when he bids us pursue justice justly, implying that it is possible to do so unjustly. He refers to those who give a just award for lucre, not only in law courts but everywhere on land and sea and one may almost say in all the affairs of life.", + "[67] Thus we have heard of a person accepting a deposit of little value and repaying it with a view to ensnare rather than to benefit the person to whom he gives it. His object was by baiting his hook with trustworthiness in small matters to secure trustfulness in greater things, and this is nothing else than executing justice unjustly, for while repayment of what is due to others is a just deed, it was not done justly being done in pursuit of further gains.", + "[68] Now the principal cause of such misdeeds is familiarity with falsehood which grows up with the children right from their birth and from the cradle, the work of nurses and mothers and the rest of the company, slaves and free, who belong to the household. By word and deed they are perpetually welding and uniting falsehood to the soul as though it were a necessary part inherent in its nature, though if nature had really made it congenital it ought to have been eradicated by habituation to things excellent.", + "[69] And what has life to show so excellent as truth, which the man of perfect wisdom set as a monument on the robe of the high priest in the most sacred place where the dominant part of the soul resides, when he wished to deck him with a sacred ornament of special beauty and magnificence? And beside truth he set a kindred quality which he called “clear showing,” the two representing both aspects of the reason we possess, the inward and the outward. For the outward requires clear showing by which the invisible thoughts in each of us are made known to our neighbours. The inward requires truth to bring to perfection the conduct of life and the actions by which the way to happiness is discovered." + ], + [ + "[70] A third instruction to the judge is that he should scrutinize the facts rather than the litigants and should try in every way to withdraw himself from the contemplation of those whom he is trying. He must force himself to ignore and forget those whom he has known and remembered, relations, friends and fellow citizens and on the other hand strangers, enemies, foreigners so that neither kind feeling nor hatred may becloud his decision of what is just. Otherwise he must stumble like a blind man proceeding without a staff or others to guide his feet on whom he can lean with security;", + "[71] and therefore the good judge must draw a veil over the disputants, whoever they are, and keep in view the nature of the facts in their naked simplicity. He must come with the intention of judging according to truth and not according to the opinions of men, and with the thought before him that “judgement is God’s” and the judge is the steward of judgement. As a steward he is not permitted to give away his master’s goods, for the best of all things in human life is the trust he has received from the hands of One who is Himself the best of all." + ], + [ + "[72] He adds to those already mentioned another wise precept, not to show pity to the poor man in giving judgement. And this comes from one who has filled practically his whole legislation with injunctions to show pity and kindness, who issues severe threats against the haughty and arrogant and offers great rewards to those who feel it a duty to redress the misfortunes of their neighbours and to look upon abundant wealth not as their personal possession but as something to be shared by those who are in need.", + "[73] For what one of the men of old aptly said is true, that in no other action does man so much resemble God as in showing kindness, and what greater good can there be than that they should imitate God, they the created Him the eternal?", + "[74] So then let not the rich man collect great store of gold and silver and hoard it at his house, but bring it out for general use that he may soften the hard lot of the needy with the unction of his cheerfully given liberality. If he has high position, let him not show himself uplifted with boastful and insolent airs, but honour equality and allow a frank exchange of speech to those of low estate. If he possesses bodily vigour, let him be the support of the weaker and not as men do in athletic contest take every means of battering down the less powerful, but make it his ambition to share the advantage of his strength with those who have none of their own left to brace them.", + "[75] All who have drawn water from wisdom’s wells banish a grudging spirit from the confines of the mind and needing no bidding save their own spontaneous instinct gird themselves up to benefit their neighbours and pour into their souls through the channel of their ears the wordstream which may make them partakers of their own knowledge. And when they see young people gifted by nature like fine thriving plants, they rejoice to think that they have found some to inherit the spiritual wealth which is the only true wealth. They take them in hand and till their souls with the husbandry of principles and doctrines until on their full grown stems they bear the fruit of noble living.", + "[76] Such gems of varied beauty are interwoven in the laws, bidding us give wealth to the poor, and it is only on the judgement seat that we are forbidden to show them compassion. Compassion is for misfortunes, and he who acts wickedly of his own free will is not unfortunate but unjust.", + "[77] Let punishment be meted to the unjust as surely as honours to the just. And therefore let no cowering, cringing rogue of a poor man evade his punishment by exciting pity for his penniless condition. His actions do not deserve compassion, far from it, but anger. And therefore one who undertakes to act as judge must be a good money changer, sifting with discrimination the nature of each of the facts before him, so that genuine and spurious may not be jumbled together in confusion.", + "[78] There is much else which might be said about false witnesses and judges, but to avoid prolixity we must proceed to the last of the ten Great Words. This, which like each of the rest was delivered in the form of a summary, is “Thou shalt not covet.”" + ], + [ + "[79] Every passion is blameworthy. This follows from the censure due to every “inordinate and excessive impulse” and to “irrational and unnatural movements” of the soul, for both these are nothing else than the opening out of a long-standing passion. So if a man does not set bounds to his impulses and bridle them like horses which defy the reins he is the victim of a wellnigh fatal passion, and that defiance will cause him to be carried away before he knows it like a driver borne by his team into ravines or impassable abysses whence it is hardly possible to escape.", + "[80] But none of the passions is so troublesome as covetousness or desire of what we have not, things which seem good, though they are not truly good. Such desire breeds fierce and endless yearnings; it urges and drives the soul ever so far into the boundless distance while the object of the chase often flies insolently before it, with its face not its back turned to the pursuer.", + "[81] For when it perceives the desire eagerly racing after it it stands still for a while to entice it and provide a hope of its capture, then it is off and away, mocking and railing as the interval between them grows longer and longer. Meanwhile the desire outdistanced and losing ground is in sore distress and inflicts on the wretched soul the punishment of Tantalus, who, as the story goes, when he would get him something to drink could not because the water slipt away, and when he wished to pluck fruit it all vanished and the rich produce of the trees was turned into barrenness.", + "[82] For just as those unmerciful and relentless mistresses of the body, hunger and thirst, rack it with pains as great as, or greater than, those of the sufferers on the tormentor’s wheel, and often bring it to the point of death unless their savagery is assuaged by food and drink, so it is with the soul. Desire makes it empty through oblivion of what is present, and then through memory of what is far away it produces fierce and uncontrollable madness, and thus creates mistresses harsher than those just mentioned though bearing the same name, hunger and thirst, in this case, not for what gives gratification to the belly, but for money, reputation, government, beautiful women and all the innumerable objects which are held in human life to be enviable and worthy of a struggle.", + "[83] And just as the creeping sickness, as physicians call it, does not stand still in one place but moves about and courses round and round and justifies its name by creeping about, spreading in all directions, and gripping and seizing all parts of the body’s system from the crown of the head to the sole of the feet, so does desire dart through the whole soul and leave not the smallest bit of it uninjured. In this it imitates the force of fire working on an abundance of fuel which it kindles into a blaze and devours until it has utterly consumed it." + ], + [ + "[84] So great then and transcendent an evil is desire, or rather it may be truly said, the fountain of all evils. For plunderings and robberies and repudiations of debts and false accusations and outrages, also seductions, adulteries, murders and all wrongful actions, whether private or public, whether in things sacred or things profane,", + "[85] from what other source do they flow? For the passion to which the name of originator of evil can truly be given is desire, of which one and that the smallest fruit the passion of love has not only once but often in the past filled the whole world with countless calamities, which, too numerous to be contained by the whole compass of the land, have consequently poured into the sea as though driven by a torrent, and everywhere the wide waters have been filled with hostile ships and all the fresh terrors created by maritime war have come into being, then fallen with all their mass on islands and continents, swept along backwards and forwards from their original home as in the ebb and flow of the tides.", + "[86] But we shall gain a clearer insight into the passion in the following way. Desire, like venomous animals or deadly poisons, produces a change for the worse in all which it attacks. What do I mean by this?", + "[87] If the desire is directed to money it makes men thieves and cut-purses, footpads, burglars, guilty of defaulting to their creditors, repudiating deposits, receiving bribes, robbing temples and of all similar actions.", + "[88] If its aim is reputation they become arrogant, haughty, inconstant and unstable in temperament, their ears blockaded by the voices they hear, deaf to all else, at once humbled to the ground and uplifted on high by the inconsistencies of the multitude who deal out praise and blame in an indiscriminate stream. They form friendships and enmities recklessly so that they easily change each for the other, and show every other quality of the same family and kinship as these.", + "[89] If the desire is directed to office, they are factious, inequitable, tyrannical in nature, cruel-hearted, foes of their country, merciless masters to those who are weaker, irreconcilable enemies of their equals in strength and flatterers of their superiors in power as a preparation for their treacherous attack.", + "If the object is bodily beauty they are seducers, adulterers, pederasts, cultivators of incontinence and lewdness, as though these worst of evils were the best of blessings.", + "[90] We have known desire to make its way to the tongue and cause an infinity of troubles, for some desire to keep unspoken what should be told or to tell what should be left unsaid, and avenging justice attends on utterance in the one case and silence in the opposite.", + "[91] And when it takes hold of the region of the belly, it produces gourmands, insatiable, debauched, eagerly pursuing a loose and dissolute life, delighting in wine bibbing and gluttonous feeding, base slaves to strong drink and fish and dainty cates, sneaking like greedy little dogs round banqueting halls and tables, all this finally resulting in an unhappy and accursed life which is more painful than any death.", + "[92] It was this which led those who had taken no mere sip of philosophy but had feasted abundantly on its sound doctrines to the theory which they laid down. They had made researches into the nature of the soul and observed that its components were threefold, reason, high spirit and desire. To reason as sovereign they assigned for its citadel the head as its most suitable residence, where also are set the stations of the senses like bodyguards to their king, the mind.", + "[93] To the spirited part they gave the chest, partly that soldier-like clad with a breast-plate it would if not altogether scatheless be scarcely vanquished finally; partly that lying close to the mind it should be helped by its neighbour who would use good sense to charm it into gentleness. But to desire they gave the space round the navel and what is called the diaphragm.", + "[94] For it was right that desire so lacking in reasoning power should be lodged as far as might be from reason’s royal seat, almost at the outermost boundary, and that being above all others an animal insatiable and incontinent it should be pastured in the region where food-taking and copulation dwell." + ], + [ + "[95] All these it seems the most holy Moses observed and therefore discarded passion in general and detesting it, as most vile in itself and in its effects, denounced especially desire as a battery of destruction to the soul, which must be done away with or brought into obedience to the governance of reason, and then all things will be permeated through and through with peace and good order, those perfect forms of the good which bring the full perfection of happy living.", + "[96] And being a lover of conciseness and wont to abridge subjects of unlimited number by using an example as a lesson he takes one form of desire, that one whose field of activity is the belly, and admonishes and disciplines it as the first step, holding that the other forms will cease to run riot as before and will be restrained by having learnt that their senior and as it were the leader of their company is obedient to the laws of temperance.", + "[97] What then is the lesson which he takes as his first step? Two things stand out in importance, food and drink; to neither of these did he give full liberty but bridled them with ordinances most conducive to self-restraint and humanity and what is chief of all, piety.", + "[98] For he bids them to take samples of their corn, wine, oil and live-stock and the rest as first fruits, and apportion them for sacrifices and for gifts to the officiating priests: for sacrifices, to give thanks for the fertility of their flocks and fields; to the priests, in recognition of the ministry of the temple that they may receive a reward for their services in the holy rites.", + "[99] No one is permitted in any way to taste or take any part of his fruits until he has set apart the first fruits, a rule which also serves to give practice in the self-restraint which is most profitable to life. For he who has learnt not to rush to seize the abundant gifts which the seasons of the year have brought, but waits till the first fruits have been consecrated, clearly allays passion and thus curbs the restiveness of the appetites." + ], + [ + "[100] At the same time he also denied to the members of the sacred Commonwealth unrestricted liberty to use and partake of the other kinds of food. All the animals of land, sea or air whose flesh is the finest and fattest, thus titillating and exciting the malignant foe pleasure, he sternly forbade them to eat, knowing that they set a trap for the most slavish of the senses, the taste, and produce gluttony, an evil very dangerous both to soul and body. For gluttony begets indigestion which is the source and origin of all distempers and infirmities.", + "[101] Now among the different kinds of land animals there is none whose flesh is so delicious as the pig’s, as all who eat it agree, and among the aquatic animals the same may be said of such species as are scaleless. … Having special gifts for inciting to self-control those who have a natural tendency to virtue, he trains and drills them by frugality and simple contentedness and endeavours to get rid of extravagance.", + "[102] He approved neither of rigorous austerity like the Spartan legislator, nor of dainty living, like him who introduced the Ionians and Sybarites to luxurious and voluptuous practices. Instead he opened up a path midway between the two. He relaxed the overstrained and tightened the lax, and as on an instrument of music blended the very high and the very low at each end of the scale with the middle chord, thus producing a life of harmony and concord which none can blame. Consequently he neglected nothing, but drew up very careful rules as to what they should or should not take as food.", + "[103] Possibly it might be thought just that all wild beasts that feed on human flesh should suffer from men what men have suffered from them. But Moses would have us abstain from the enjoyment of such, even though they provide a very appetizing and delectable repast. He was considering what is suitable to a gentle-mannered soul, for though it is fitting enough that one should suffer for what one has done, it is not fitting conduct for the sufferers to retaliate it on the wrongdoers, lest the savage passion of anger should turn them unawares into beasts.", + "[104] So careful is he against this danger that wishing to restrain by implication the appetite for the food just mentioned, he also strictly forbade them to eat the other carnivorous animals. He distinguished between them and the graminivorous which he grouped with the gentle kind since indeed they are naturally tame and live on the gentle fruits which the earth produces and do nothing by way of attempting the life of others." + ], + [ + "[105] They are the calf, the lamb, the kid, the hart, the gazelle, the buffalo, the wild goat, the pygarg, the antelope, and the giraffe, ten in all. For as he always adhered to the principles of numerical science, which he knew by close observance to be a paramount factor in all that exists, he never enacted any law great or small without calling to his aid and as it were accommodating to his enactment its appropriate number. But of all the numbers from the unit upwards ten is the most perfect, and, as Moses says, most holy and sacred, and with this he seals his list of the clean kinds of animals when he wishes to appoint them for the use of the members of his commonwealth.", + "[106] He adds a general method for proving and testing the ten kinds, based on two signs, the parted hoof and the chewing of the cud. Any kind which lacks both or one of these is unclean. Now both these two are symbols to teacher and learner of the method best suited for acquiring knowledge, the method by which the better is distinguished from the worse, and thus confusion is avoided.", + "[107] For just as a cud-chewing animal after biting through the food keeps it at rest in the gullet, again after a bit draws it up and masticates it and then passes it on to the belly, so the pupil after receiving from the teacher through his ears the principles and lore of wisdom prolongs the process of learning, as he cannot at once apprehend and grasp them securely, till by using memory to call up each thing that he has heard by constant exercises which act as the cement of conceptions, he stamps a firm impression of them on his soul.", + "[108] But the firm apprehension of conceptions is clearly useless unless we discriminate and distinguish them so that we can choose what we should choose and avoid the contrary, and this distinguishing is symbolized by the parted hoof. For the way of life is twofold, one branch leading to vice, the other to virtue and we must turn away from the one and never forsake the other." + ], + [ + "[109] Therefore all creatures whose hooves are uniform or multiform are unclean, the one because they signify the idea that good and bad have one and the same nature, which is like confusing concave and convex or uphill and downhill in a road; the multiform because they set before our life many roads, which are rather no roads, to cheat us, for where there is a multitude to choose from it is not easy to find the best and most serviceable path." + ], + [ + "[110] After laying down these limitations for the land animals he proceeds to describe such creatures of the water as are clean for eating. These too he indicates by two distinguishing marks, fins and scales; all that lack either or both he dismisses and repudiates. I must state the reason for this which is appropriate enough.", + "[111] Any that fail to possess both or one of these marks are swept away by the current unable to resist the force of the stream; those who possess both throw it aside, front and stem it and pertinaciously exercise themselves against the antagonist with an invincible ardour and audacity. When they are pushed they push back, when pursued they hasten to assail, where their passage is hampered they open up broad roads and obtain easy thoroughfares.", + "[112] These two kinds of fish are symbolical, the first of a pleasure-loving soul, the latter of one to which endurance and self-control are dear. For the road that leads to pleasure is downhill and very easy, with the result that one does not walk but is dragged along; the other which leads to self-control is uphill, toil-some no doubt but profitable exceedingly. The one carries us away, forced lower and lower as it drives us down its steep incline, till it flings us off on to the level ground at its foot; the other leads heavenwards the immortal who have not fainted on the way and have had the strength to endure the roughness of the hard ascent." + ], + [ + "[113] Holding to the same method he declares that all reptiles which have not feet but wriggle along by trailing their belly, or are four-legged and many footed are unclean for eating. Here again he has a further meaning: by the reptiles he signifies persons who devote themselves to their bellies and fill themselves like a cormorant, paying to the miserable stomach constant tributes of strong drink, bake-meats, fishes and in general all the delicacies produced with every kind of viand by the elaborate skill of cooks and confectioners, thereby fanning and fostering the flame of the insatiable ever-greedy desires. By the four-legged and many footed he means the base slaves not of one passion only, desire, but of all. For the passions fall under four main heads but have a multitude of species, and while the tyranny of one is cruel the tyranny of many cannot but be most harsh and intolerable.", + "[114] Creeping things which have legs above their feet, so that they can leap from the ground, he classes among the clean as for instance the different kinds of grasshoppers and the snake-fighter as it is called; and here again by symbols he searches into the temperaments and ways of a reasonable soul. For the natural gravitation of the body pulls down with it those of little mind, strangling and overwhelming them with the multitude of the fleshly elements.", + "[115] Blessed are they to whom it is given to resist with superior strength the weight that would pull them down, taught by the guiding lines of right instruction to leap upward from earth and earth-bound things into the ether and the revolving heavens, that sight so much desired, so worthy a prize in the eyes of those who come to it with a will and not half-heartedly." + ], + [ + "[116] Having discoursed on the subject of the different kinds of animals on land and in the water and laid down the best possible laws for distinguishing between them, he proceeds to examine also the remaining parts of the animal creation, the inhabitants of the air. Of these he disqualified a vast number of kinds, in fact all that prey on other fowls or on men, creatures which are carnivorous and venomous and in general use their strength to attack others.", + "[117] But doves, pigeons, turtledoves, and the tribes of cranes, geese and the like he reckons as belonging to the tame and gentle class and gives to any who wish full liberty to make use of them as food.", + "[118] Thus in each element of the universe, earth, water, air he withdrew from our use various kinds of each sort, land creatures, water creatures, flying fowls, and by this as by the withdrawal of fuel from a fire he creates an extinguisher to desire." + ], + [ + "[119] Further he forbade them to have anything to do with bodies of animals that have died of themselves or have been torn by wild beasts, the latter because a man ought not to be table mate with savage brutes and one might almost say share with them the enjoyment of their feasts of flesh; the former perhaps because it is a noxious and insanitary practice since the body contains dead serum as well as blood; also it may be because the fitness of things bids us keep untouched what we find deceased, and respect the fate which the compulsion of nature has already imposed.", + "[120] Skilful hunters who know how to hit their quarry with an aim that rarely misses the mark and preen themselves on their success in this sport, particularly when they share the pieces of their prey with the other huntsmen as well as with the hounds, are extolled by most legislators among Greeks and Barbarians, not only for their courage, but also for their liberality. But the author of the holy commonwealth might rightly blame them since for the reasons stated he definitely forbade the enjoyment of bodies which died a natural death or were torn by wild beasts.", + "[121] If anyone of the devotees of hard training who is a lover of gymnastic exercises becomes a lover of the chase also, because he considers that it gives a preliminary practice for war and for the dangers incurred in facing the enemy, he should when he meets with success in the chase throw the fallen beasts to feast the hounds as a wage or prize for their courage and faithful assistance. He himself should not touch these carcases, thus learning from his dealing with irrational animals what he should feel with regard to human enemies, who should be combated not for wrongful gain as foot-pads do, but in self-defence, either to avenge the injuries which he has suffered already or to guard against those which he expects to suffer in the future.", + "[122] But some of the type of Sardanapalus greedily extend their unrestrained and excessive luxury beyond all bounds and limits. They devise novel kinds of pleasure and prepare meat unfit for the altar by strangling and throttling the animals, and entomb in the carcase the blood which is the essence of the soul and should be allowed to run freely away. For they should be fully contented with enjoying the flesh only and not lay hold on what is akin to the soul;", + "[123] and therefore elsewhere he legislates on the subject of blood that no one should put either it or the fat to his mouth. Blood is prohibited for the reason which I have mentioned that it is the essence of the soul, not of the intelligent and reasonable soul, but of that which operates through the senses, the soul that gives the life which we and the irrational animals possess in common." + ], + [ + "For the essence or substance of that other soul is divine spirit, a truth vouched for by Moses especially, who in his story of the creation says that God breathed a breath of life upon the first man, the founder of our race, into the lordliest part of his body, the face, where the senses are stationed like bodyguards to the great king, the mind. And clearly what was then thus breathed was ethereal spirit, or something if such there be better than ethereal spirit, even an effulgence of the blessed, thrice blessed nature of the Godhead.", + "[124] The fat is prohibited because it is the richest part and here again he teaches us to practise self-restraint and foster the aspiration for the life of austerity which relinquishes what is easiest and lies ready to hand, but willingly endures anxiety and toils in order to acquire virtue.", + "[125] It is for this reason that with every victim these two, the blood and the fat, are set apart as a sort of first fruits and consumed in their entirety. The blood is poured upon the altar as a libation, the fat because of its richness serves as fuel in place of oil and is carried to the holy and consecrated fire.", + "[126] Moses censures some of his own day as gluttons who suppose that wanton self-indulgence is the height of happiness, who not contented to confine luxurious living to cities where their requirements would be unstintedly supplied and catered for, demanded the same in wild and trackless deserts and expected to have fish, flesh and all the accompaniments of plenty exposed there for sale.", + "[127] Then, when there was a scarcity, they joined together to accuse and reproach and brow-beat their ruler with shameless effrontery and did not cease from giving trouble until their desire was granted though it was to their undoing. It was granted for two reasons, first to show that all things are possible to God who finds a way out of impassable difficulties, secondly to punish those who let their belly go uncontrolled and rebelled against holiness.", + "[128] Rising up from the sea in the early dawn there poured forth a cloud of quails whereby the camp and its environs were all round on every side darkened for a distance which an active man might cover in a day, while the height of their flight might be reckoned at about two cubits above the ground so as to make them easy to capture.", + "[129] It might have been expected that awestruck by the marvel of this mighty work they would have been satisfied with this spectacle, and filled with piety and having it for their sustenance, would have abstained from fleshly food. Instead they spurred on their lusts more than before and hastened to grasp what seemed so great a boon. With both hands they pulled in the creatures and filled their laps with them, then put them away in their tents, and, since excessive avidity knows no bounds, went out to catch others, and after dressing them in any way they could devoured them greedily, doomed in their senselessness to be destroyed by the surfeit.", + "[130] Indeed they shortly perished through discharges of bile, so that the place also received its name from the disaster which befell them, for it was called “Monuments of Lust”—lust than which no greater evil can exist in the soul as the story shows.", + "[131] And therefore most excellent are these words of Moses in his Exhortations, “Each man shall not do what is pleasing in his own sight,” which is as much as to say “let no one indulge his own lust. Let a man be well pleasing to God, to the universe, to nature, to laws, to wise men and discard self love. So only will he attain true excellence.”" + ], + [ + "[132] In these remarks we have discussed the matters relating to desire or lust as adequately as our abilities allow, and thus completed our survey of the ten oracles, and the laws which are dependent on them. For if we are right in describing the main heads delivered by the voice of God as generic laws, and all particular laws of which Moses was the spokesman as dependent species, for accurate apprehension free from confusion scientific study was needed, with the aid of which I have assigned and attached to each of the heads what was appropriate to them throughout the whole legislation.", + "Enough then of this.", + "[133] But we must not fail to know that, just as each of the ten separately has some particular laws akin to it having nothing in common with any other, there are some things common to all which fit in not with some particular number such as one or two but with all the ten Great Words.", + "[134] These are the virtues of universal value. For each of the ten pronouncements separately and all in common incite and exhort us to wisdom and justice and godliness and the rest of the company of virtues, with good thoughts and intentions combining wholesome words, and with words actions of true worth, that so the soul with every part of its being attuned may be an instrument making harmonious music so that life becomes a melody and a concent in which there is no faulty note.", + "[135] Of the queen of the virtues, piety or holiness, we have spoken earlier and also of wisdom and temperance. Our theme must now be she whose ways are close akin to them, that is justice." + ], + [ + "[136] One and by no means an inconsiderable part of justice is that which is concerned with law courts and judges. This I have already mentioned, when I dealt at length with the question of testimony in order to omit nothing of the points involved. As it is not my custom to repeat myself unless forced to do so by the pressure of the particular occasion I will say no more about it and with only so much preface address myself to the other parts of the subject.", + "[137] The law tells us that we must set the rules of justice in the heart and fasten them for a sign upon the hand and have them shaking before the eyes. The first of these is a parable indicating that the rules of justice must not be committed to untrustworthy ears since no trust can be placed in the sense of hearing but that these best of all lessons must be impressed upon our lordliest part, stamped too with genuine seals.", + "[138] The second shows that we must not only receive conceptions of the good but express our approval of them in unhesitating action, for the hand is the symbol of action, and on this the law bids us fasten and hang the rules of justice for a sign. Of what it is a sign he has not definitely stated because, I believe, they are a sign not of one thing but of many, practically of all the factors in human life.", + "[139] The third means that always and everywhere we must have the vision of them as it were close to our eyes. And they must have vibration and movement, it continues, not to make them unstable and unsettled, but that by their motion they may provoke the sight to gain a clear discernment of them. For motion induces the use of the faculty of sight by stimulating and arousing the eyes, or rather by making them unsleepful and wakeful.", + "[140] He to whom it is given to set their image in the eye of the soul, not at rest but in motion and engaged in their natural activities, must be placed on record as a perfect man. No longer must he be ranked among the disciples and pupils but among the teachers and instructors, and he should provide as from a fountain to the young who are willing to draw therefrom a plenteous stream of discourses and doctrines. And if some less courageous spirit hesitates through modesty and is slow to come near to learn, that teacher should go himself and pour into his ears as into a conduit a continuous flood of instruction until the cisterns of the soul are filled.", + "[141] Indeed he must be forward to teach the principles of justice to kinsfolk and friends and all the young people at home and in the street, both when they go to their beds and when they arise, so that in every posture and every motion, in every place both private and public, not only when they are awake but when they are asleep, they may be gladdened by visions of the just. For there is no sweeter delight than that the soul should be charged through and through with justice, exercising itself in her eternal principles and doctrines and leaving no vacant place into which unjustice can make its way.", + "[142] He bids them also write and set them forth in front of the door posts of each house and the gates in their walls, so that those who leave or remain at home, citizens and strangers alike, may read the inscriptions engraved on the face of the gates and keep in perpetual memory what they should say and do, careful alike to do and to allow no injustice, and when they enter their houses and again when they go forth men and women and children and servants alike may act as is due and fitting both for others and for themselves." + ], + [ + "[143] Another most admirable injunction is that nothing should be added or taken away, but all the laws originally ordained should be kept unaltered just as they were. For what actually happens, as we clearly see, is that it is the unjust which is added and the just which is taken away, for the wise legislator has omitted nothing which can give possession of justice whole and complete.", + "[144] Further he suggests also that the summit of perfection has been reached in each of the other virtues. For each of them is defective in nothing, complete in its self-wrought consummateness, so that if there be any adding or taking away, its whole being is changed and transformed into the opposite condition.", + "[145] Here is an example of what I mean. That courage, the virtue whose field of action is what causes terror, is the knowledge of what ought to be endured, is known to all who are not completely devoid of learning and culture, even if their contact with education has been but small.", + "[146] But if anyone, indulging the ignorance which comes from arrogance and believing himself to be a superior person capable of correcting what stands in no such need, ventures to add to or take from courage, he changes its likeness altogether and stamps upon it a form in which ugliness replaces beauty, for by adding he will make rashness and by taking away he will make cowardice, not leaving even the name of the courage so highly profitable to life.", + "[147] In the same way too if one adds anything small or great to the queen of virtues piety or on the other hand takes something from it, in either case he will change and transform its nature. Addition will beget superstition and subtraction will beget impiety, and so piety too is lost to sight, that sun whose rising and shining is a blessing we may well pray for, because it is the source of the greatest of blessings, since it gives the knowledge of the service of God, which we must hold as lordlier than any lordship, more royal than any sovereignty.", + "[148] Much the same may be said of the other virtues, but as it is my habit to avoid lengthy discussions by abridgement I will content myself with the aforesaid examples which will sufficiently indicate what is left unsaid." + ], + [ + "[149] Another commandment of general value is “Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmarks which thy forerunners have set up.” Now this law, we may consider, applies not merely to allotments and boundaries of land in order to eliminate covetousness but also to the safeguarding of ancient customs. For customs are unwritten laws, the decisions approved by men of old, not inscribed on monuments nor on leaves of paper which the moth destroys, but on the souls of those who are partners in the same citizenship.", + "[150] For children ought to inherit from their parents, besides their property, ancestral customs which they were reared in and have lived with even from the cradle, and not despise them because they have been handed down without written record. Praise cannot be duly given to one who obeys the written laws, since he acts under the admonition of restraint and the fear of punishment. But he who faithfully observes the unwritten deserves commendation, since the virtue which he displays is freely willed." + ], + [ + "[151] Some legislators have introduced the system of filling magistracies by lot, to the detriment of their peoples, for the lot shows good luck, not merit. In fact the lot often falls to many of the unworthy whom a good man, if he obtained command, would reject as unfit to be classed even among his subjects.", + "[152] For those “minor rulers,” as some phrase it, whom we call “masters” do not retain in their service all they might whether home-bred or purchased, but only those who prove amenable: the incorrigible they sometimes sell in a mass as unworthy to be slaves of men of merit.", + "[153] And can it then be right to make masters and rulers of whole cities and nations out of persons chosen by lot, by what we may call a blunder of fortune, the uncertain and unstable? In the matter of tending the sick lot has no place, for physicians do not gain their posts by lot, but are approved by the test of experience.", + "[154] And to secure a successful voyage and the safety of travellers on the sea we do not choose by lot and send straight away to the helm a steersman who through his ignorance will produce in fine weather and calm water shipwrecks in which Nature has no part. Instead we send one whom we know to have been carefully trained from his earliest years in the art of steersmanship. Such a one will have made many a voyage, crossed all or most seas, carefully studied the trading ports, harbours and anchorages and roadsteads, both in the islands and the mainland, and know the sea routes as well as, if not better than, the roads on land, through accurately watching the heavenly bodies.", + "[155] For by observing the courses of the stars and following their ordered movements he has been able to open up in the pathless waste high-roads where none can err, with this incredible result, that the creature whose element is land can float his way through the element of water.", + "[156] And shall one who is to have in his hands great and populous cities with all their inhabitants, and the constitutions of the cities and the management of matters private, public and sacred, a task which we might well call an art of arts and a science of sciences, be the sport of the unstable oscillation of the lot and escape the strict test of truth, which can only be tested by proofs founded on reason?" + ], + [ + "[157] These things Moses, wise here as ever, considered in his soul and does not even mention appointment of rulers by lot, but determines to institute appointment by election. Thus he says “thou shalt establish a ruler over thyself, not a foreigner but from thy brethren,” hereby indicating that there should be a free choice and an unimpeachable scrutiny of the ruler made by the whole people with the same mind. And the choice will receive the further vote and seal of ratification from Him who confirms all things that promote the common weal, even God who holds that the man may be called the chosen from the race, in which he is what the eye is in the body." + ], + [ + "[158] The reasons subjoined to show why a foreigner should not be selected are two. First to prevent him from amassing a great quantity of gold and silver and cattle and storing up great wealth all unjustly wrung from the poverty of his subjects. Secondly that he should not to gratify his own greedy desires evict the natives from the land and compel them to emigrate borne hither and thither in endless wandering, or by inspiring in them futile hopes of increased prosperity succeed in taking from them what ere now they enjoyed in security.", + "[159] For he assumed with good reason that one who was their fellow-tribesman and fellow-kinsman related to them by the tie which brings the highest kinship, the kinship of having one citizenship and the same law and one God who has taken all members of the nation for His portion, would never sin in the way just mentioned. He knew that such a one on the contrary, instead of sending the inhabitants adrift, would provide a safe return for those who are scattered on foreign soil, and instead of taking the wealth of others would give liberally to the needy by making his private substance common to all." + ], + [ + "[160] From the day that he enters upon his office the lawgiver bids him write out with his own hand this sequel to the laws which embraces them all in the form of a summary. He wishes hereby to have the ordinance cemented to the soul. For the thoughts swept away by the current ebb away from the mere reader, but are implanted and set fast in one who writes them out at leisure. For the mind can dwell at its ease on each point and fix itself upon it, and does not pass on to something else until it has securely grasped what goes before.", + "[161] Still after writing he must endeavour every day to read and familiarize himself with what he has written, so that he may have a constant and unbroken memory of ordinances so good and profitable to all, and thus conceive an unswerving love and yearning for them by perpetually training and habituating his soul to companionship with holy laws. For prolonged associations produce a pure and sincere affection not only for men but for writings of such kinds as are worthy of our love.", + "[162] And this will be the case if the ruler studies not the writings and notes of another but the work of his own pen, for everyone is more familiar with his own writing and takes in its meaning more readily.", + "[163] Further when he reads he will reason thus with himself. “I have written these words, I, a ruler of such eminence, without employing another though I have a host of servants. Have I done it to fill the pages of a book like those who write for hire or to train their eyes and hands, the first to sharpen the sight, the second to make themselves swift writers? No, surely not. I write them in a book in order to rewrite them straightway in my soul, and receive in my mind the imprints of a script more divine and ineffaceable.", + "[164] Now other kings carry rods in their hands as sceptres but my sceptre is the book of the Sequel to the law, my pride and my glory, which nothing can rival, an ensign of sovereignty which none can impeach, formed in the image of its archetype the kingship of God.", + "[165] And if I ever keep the holy laws for my staff and support I shall win two things better than all else. One is the spirit of equality, and no greater good can be found than this, for arrogance and insolence belong to a soul of mean capacity which does not foresee the future. Equality will earn its just reward,", + "[166] repaid in the goodwill and safety of my subjects, while inequality will create the gravest perils and pitfalls. These I shall escape if I hate inequality, the bestower of darkness and wars, while I shall have a life proof against the malice of enemies if I honour equality who eschews sedition and is the mother of light and settled order.", + "[167] The other thing that I shall win is that I shall not sway to either side as on a balance, deflecting the ordinances and turning them awry, but I shall try to take them along the central highway marching with firm straightforward steps to ensure a life that never stumbles.”", + "[168] Now the name of “royal” which Moses is wont to give to the central road which lies midway between excess and deficiency, is also given because in a set of three the midmost holds the leading place, joining in union with itself by an indissoluble bond those on either side of it, which also serve as bodyguards to it as to a king.", + "[169] A law-abiding ruler who honours equality, who is impervious to bribes and gives just judgements justly and ever exercises himself in the laws has, he tells us, for his reward that the days of his government shall be long, not meaning that he grants him long years of life spent in presiding over the State, but to teach the ignorant that the law-abiding ruler, even when deceased, lives an age-long life through the actions which he leaves behind him never to die, monuments of high excellence which can never be destroyed." + ], + [ + "[170] The person who has been judged worthy to fill the highest and most important office should choose lieutenants to share with him the duties of governing, giving judgement, and managing all the other matters which concern the public welfare. For a single person even though possessed of unique strength both in body and soul would not be capable of coping with the magnitude and multitude of affairs, be he ever so zealous, but would collapse under their force as they pour in upon him daily from different sides, unless he had helpers all of the best chosen for their good sense, ability, justice and godliness, and because they not only keep clear of arrogance but hate it as a thing pernicious and utterly evil.", + "[171] In such persons the man of high excellence burdened with state affairs will find assistants and supporters well fitted to join in relieving him and to lighten his task. Further, since the questions which arise are sometimes greater and sometimes less, to prevent his wearing himself out in petty matters he will do rightly in entrusting the smaller to his subordinates, while the greater he will be bound to scrutinize himself with the utmost care.", + "[172] And great questions must not be understood, as some think, to mean cases where both the disputants are distinguished or rich or men in high office but rather where the commoner or the poor or the obscure are disputing with others more powerful, and where their one hope of escaping a fatal disaster lies in the judge.", + "[173] Both these statements may be justified by clear examples to be found in the sacred laws, examples which we do well to copy. For there was a time when Moses himself arbitrated questions of justice, labouring from morning till night, but afterwards when his father-in-law arrived and observed the vast burden of affairs which oppressed him through the perpetual flood of persons who had questions to settle, he gave the excellent advice that Moses should choose delegates to judge the smaller matters and keep himself in reserve for the greater and thus allow himself time to rest.", + "[174] Moses listened to this truly valuable advice and chose out of the multitude the men of highest repute whom he appointed as subordinate governors and also as judges, bidding them refer the more important suits to himself.", + "[175] A record of the course thus taken is included in the sacred books as a lesson to each generation of rulers, first that they should not, under the impression that they are capable of surveying everything, reject the help of councillors which Moses the supremely wise and beloved of God did not reject; next that they should choose officers to act as second and third to themselves and so take care that they did not by wearing themselves out over petty matters neglect the more vital. For human nature cannot possibly reach everything." + ], + [ + "[176] I have stated one of the two examples and must add the evidence for the second. I said that the great cases were those of the lowlier. Lowliness and weakness are attributes of the widow, the orphan and the incomer. It is to these that the supreme king who is invested with the government of all should administer justice, because according to Moses God also the ruler of the Universe has not spurned them from His jurisdiction.", + "[177] For when the Revealer has hymned the excellences of the Self-existent in this manner “God the great and powerful, who has no respect to persons, will receive no gifts and executes judgement,” he proceeds to say for whom the judgement is executed—not for satraps and despots and men invested with power by land and sea, but for the “incomer, for orphan and widow.”", + "[178] For the incomer, because he has turned his kinsfolk, who in the ordinary course of things would be his sole confederates, into mortal enemies, by coming as a pilgrim to truth and the honouring of One who alone is worthy of honour, and by leaving the mythical fables and multiplicity of sovereigns, so highly honoured by the parents and grand-parents and ancestors and blood relations of this immigrant to a better home.", + "For the orphan, because he has been bereft of his father and mother his natural helpers and champions, deserted by the sole force which was bound to take up his cause. For the widow because she has been deprived of her husband who took over from the parents the charge of guarding and watching over her, since for the purpose of giving protection the husband is to the wife what the parents are to the maiden.", + "[179] One may say that the whole Jewish race is in the position of an orphan compared with all the nations on every side. They when misfortunes fall upon them which are not by the direct intervention of heaven are never, owing to international intercourse, unprovided with helpers who join sides with them. But the Jewish nation has none to take its part, as it lives under exceptional laws which are necessarily grave and severe, because they inculcate the highest standard of virtue. But gravity is austere, and austerity is held in aversion by the great mass of men because they favour pleasure.", + "[180] Nevertheless as Moses tells us the orphan-like desolate state of his people is always an object of pity and compassion to the Ruler of the Universe whose portion it is, because it has been set apart out of the whole human race as a kind of first fruits to the Maker and Father.", + "[181] And the cause of this was the precious signs of righteousness and virtue shown by the founders of the race, signs which survive like imperishable plants, bearing fruit that never decays for their descendants, fruit salutary and profitable in every way, even though these descendants themselves be sinners, so long as the sins be curable and not altogether unto death.", + "[182] Yet let no one think that good lineage is a perfect blessing and then neglect noble actions, but reflect that greater anger is due to one who while his parentage is of the best brings shame upon his parents by the wickedness of his ways. Guilty is he who, having for his own models of true excellence to copy, reproduces nothing that serves to direct his life aright and keep it sound and healthy." + ], + [ + "[183] The law lays upon anyone who has undertaken to superintend and preside over public affairs a very just prohibition when it forbids him “to walk with fraud among the people,” for such conduct shows an illiberal and thoroughly slavish soul which disguises its malignant ways with hypocrisy.", + "[184] The ruler should preside over his subjects as a father over his children so that he himself may be honoured in return as by true-born sons, and therefore good rulers may be truly called the parents of states and nations in common, since they show a fatherly and sometimes more than fatherly affection.", + "[185] But those who assume great power to destroy and injure their subjects should be called not rulers but enemies acting like foemen in bitter war, though indeed those who do wrong craftily are more wicked than open adversaries. These last show their hostility stripped naked and it is easy to make defence against them; the villainy of the others is hard to catch or trace since they assume a strange garb as in a theatre to hide their true appearance.", + "[186] Now “rule” or “command” is a category which extends and intrudes itself, I might almost say, into every branch of life, differing only in magnitude and amount. For the relation of a king to a state is the same as that of a headman to a village, of a householder to a house, of a physician to his patients, of a general to an army, of an admiral to the marines and crews, or again of a skipper to merchant and cargo vessels or of a pilot to the seamen. All these have power both for good and for worse, but they ought to will the better, and the better is to benefit instead of injuring as many as they possibly can.", + "[187] For this is to follow God since He too can do both but wills the good only. This was shown both in the creation and in the ordering of the world. He called the non-existent into existence and produced order from disorder, qualities from things devoid of quality, similarities from dissimilars, identities from the totally different, fellowship and harmony from the dissociated and discordant, equality from inequality and light from darkness. For He and His beneficent powers ever make it their business to transmute the faultiness of the worse wherever it exists and convert it to the better." + ], + [ + "[188] These things good rulers must imitate if they have any aspiration to be assimilated to God.", + "But since a vast number of circumstances slip away from or are unnoticed by the human mind, imprisoned as it is amid all the thronging press of the senses, so competent to seduce and deceive it with false opinions, or rather entombed in a mortal body which may be quite properly called a sepulchre, let no judge be ashamed, when he is ignorant of anything, to confess his ignorance.", + "[189] Otherwise in the first place the false pretender will himself deteriorate as he has banished truth from the confines of the soul, and secondly he will do immense harm to the suitors if through failing to see what is just he pronounces a blind decision.", + "[190] So then if the facts create a sense of uncertainty and great obscurity, and he feels that his apprehension of them is but dim, he should decline to judge the cases and send them up to more discerning judges. And who should these be but the priests,", + "[191] and the head and leader of the priests? For the genuine ministers of God have taken all care to sharpen their understanding and count the slightest error to be no slight error, because the surpassing greatness of the King whom they serve is seen in every matter; and therefore all officiating priests are commanded to abstain from strong drink when they sacrifice, that no poison to derange the mind and the tongue should steal in and dim the eyes of the understanding.", + "[192] Another possible reason for sending such cases to the priests is that the true priest is necessarily a prophet, advanced to the service of the truly Existent by virtue rather than by birth, and to a prophet nothing is unknown since he has within him a spiritual sun and unclouded rays to give him a full and clear apprehension of things unseen by sense but apprehended by the understanding." + ], + [ + "[193] Again those who handle weights and scales and measures, merchants, pedlars and retailers and all others who sell goods to sustain life, solid or liquid, are no doubt subject to market-controllers, but ought, if they have sound sense, to be their own rulers and do what is just not through fear but of their own free will, for a right action if self-prompted is everywhere held in higher honour than if done under compulsion.", + "[194] And therefore he commands tradesmen, merchants and all who have taken up such a line of life to provide themselves with just scales and weights and measures, and eschew dishonest plots to injure their customers, and rather let every word and deed spring from a liberal and guileless spirit, considering that unjust gains are utterly pernicious but wealth which comes of justice can never be taken away.", + "[195] Since workmen or labourers are offered wages as a reward for their industry and the persons so employed are the needy and not those who have abundance of resources to spare, he orders the employer not to postpone his payment but to render the stipulated wages on that very day. For it is against all reason that the well-to-do, with their ample means of livelihood should after receiving the services of the poor fail to render at once to the needy the recompense for their services.", + "[196] Have we not here clearly indicated a warning against worse iniquities? He who having appointed the evening as the time in which a labourer should receive his recompense when he leaves for home, and does not even permit the wage though its final payment is assured to be delayed beyond the agreed hour—how much more does he forbid robbery and theft and repudiation of debts and other things of the same kind, and thus mould and shape the soul into the approved standard, into the form of true goodness itself." + ], + [ + "[197] Another excellent injunction is that no one is to revile or abuse any other, particularly a deaf-mute who can neither perceive the wrong he suffers nor retaliate in the same way, nor on an equal footing. For no kind of fighting is so utterly unfair as that where activity is the part assigned to one side and only passivity to the other.", + "[198] This offence of reviling those who have lost the power of speech and the use of their ears is paralleled by those who cause the blind to slip or put some other obstacles in their way. For since in their ignorance they cannot surmount them, they needs must stumble about so that they both miss the right path and damage their feet.", + "[199] Those who carry out or have a zest for such tricks are menaced by the law with the terrors of God’s wrath; this is right and reasonable, since it is God alone whose arm is extended to shield those who are unable to help themselves. And his words are little less than a plain declaration to the workers of iniquity “Ye senseless fools,", + "[200] you expect to go undetected by those whom you wrong when you count their calamities a laughing matter and work your wickedness against those parts in which misfortune has befallen them, against their ears by your reviling, against their eyes by the pitfalls which you set in their way. But you will never go undetected by God who surveys and controls all things, when you trample on the misfortunes of stricken men, as if you could never fall into like disasters, though the body which you have always with you can become the prey of every disease and your senses are perishable, liable through some trifling and quite ordinary occasion, not merely to be dulled and darkened but also to suffer incurable disablement.”", + "[201] These persons have lost the knowledge of their real selves; they think that distinction raises them above the natural weakness of mankind and that they have escaped the uncertainties and caprices of fortune’s hostility, fortune who often launches her sudden blasts on those who are sailing prosperously through life and sends them foundering when almost in the very harbour of felicity. What right have they to vaunt themselves and trample on the misfortunes of others without respect for the assessor of the ruler of all, justice, whose right and duty it is with the surpassing keenness of her never-sleeping eyes to survey the secrets of the corner as though they were in bright sunlight. These men,", + "[202] it seems to me, would in their exceeding cruelty not spare the dead but would without a qualm reslay the slain, to use the popular phrase, since they shrink not to vent their outrageous fury on parts in a sense already dead, eyes which seeing not and ears which hearing not are just corpses. And therefore if he to whom these parts belong should be removed from amongst men, they will show their implacable ruthlessness and grant him none of that human and sympathetic treatment which is maintained towards the fallen even by enemies in the bitterest warfare. So much for this part of the subject." + ], + [ + "[203] He also lays down an ordered series of injunctions all on the same lines by forbidding them to mate their cattle with those of a different species, or to sow the vineyards for two kinds of fruit, or to wear a garment adulterated by weaving it from two materials. The first of these prohibitions has been mentioned in our denunciation of adulterers to suggest still more clearly the wickedness of conspiring against the wedlock of other people, thereby ruining the morals of the wives as well as any honest hopes of begetting a legitimate family. For by prohibiting the crossing of irrational animals with different species he appears to be indirectly working towards the prevention of adultery.", + "[204] But the law should be mentioned also here, where the theme is justice, for we must not neglect the opportunity where possible of using the same point to bring out more than one moral. Now it is just to join together things which can associate, and the homogeneous are made for association just as the heterogeneous on the other hand cannot be blended or associated, and one who plans to bring them into abnormal companionship is unjust because he upsets a law of nature.", + "[205] But the law in its essential holiness shows such thoughtfulness for what is just that it does not even allow the land to be ploughed by animals of unequal strength and forbids the ass and the young bull to be yoked together for this purpose, lest the weaker partner, forced to compete with the extra power of the stronger, should break down and faint on the way.", + "[206] It is true indeed that the stronger, the bull, is named in the list of clean animals while the weaker, the ass, belongs to the unclean. Nevertheless the law did not grudge the help of justice to the seemingly inferior, in order, I believe, to teach judges a most indispensable lesson that they should not in their judgements set the meanly born at a disadvantage, when the point under examination is not concerned with birth but with good and bad conduct.", + "[207] Also similar to these two is the last enactment in the group, which forbids wool and linen, substances differing in kind, to be woven together, for in this case not only does the difference forbid association, but also the superior strength of the one will produce a rupture rather than unification when they have to be worn." + ], + [ + "[208] Midway in the group of the three comes the order not to sow the vineyard for bearing two kinds of fruit. The first reason for this is to keep things of a different kind from being mixed and confused. For sown crops have no relation to trees nor trees to sown crops and therefore nature has not appointed the same date to both for producing their annual fruits, but has assigned spring to the one for reaping the corn harvest and the end of summer to the other for gathering the fruits.", + "[209] Thus we find that the sown plants after their flowering wither at the same time as the trees sprout after withering. For the sown plants flower in the winter when the trees shed their leaves while on the contrary in the spring when all the sown plants are withering the trees of both types the cultivated and the wild are sprouting, and practically it is at the same time that the crops reach their fullness and the fruits begin to grow.", + "[210] These two so greatly differing in their natures, their flowerings and their seasons for gendering their own particular products he rightly put asunder and set at a distance from each other, thus reducing disorder to order. For order is akin to seemliness and disorder to unseemliness.", + "[211] The second reason was to prevent each of the two species from hurting and being hurt in return by abstracting the nourishment from each other. For if this nourishment is divided up, as it is in times of famine and dearth, all the plants will necessarily lose all their strength and either become sterilized and completely unproductive or else bear nothing but poor fruit as a consequence of the debility caused by their lack of nourishment.", + "[212] The third reason was that good soil should not suffer from the pressure of two very heavy burdens, one the close unbroken density of the plants which are sown and grow on the same spot, the other the task of bearing a double crop of fruit. A single yearly tribute from a single piece of ground is enough for the owner to receive, as the same from a city is enough for a king. To attempt to levy more than one toll shows excessive avarice, and that is a vice which upsets the laws of nature.", + "[213] And therefore the law would say to those who are minded to gratify their covetousness by laying down seed in their vineyard “do not show yourselves inferior to kings who have subdued cities and countries by arms and military expeditions. They with an eye to the future and at the same time wishing to spare their subjects deem it best to levy one yearly tribute in order to avoid reducing them in a short space of time to the utmost depths of poverty.", + "[214] But you if you exact from the same plot in the spring its contributions of wheat and barley and in the summer the same from the fruit trees will wring the life out of it by the double taxation. For it will naturally become exhausted like an athlete who is not allowed a breathing space and a chance of rallying his forces to begin another contest.", + "[215] But you appear to forget too easily the injunctions which I gave for the common weal. If only you had remembered my instruction as to the seventh year, in which I laid it down that the holy land should be left at liberty in consideration of its six-years labours, which it underwent in bearing fruit at the annual season prescribed by the laws of nature, and not be worn out by any of the husbandman’s operations, you would not, recklessly and triumphantly giving full play to your covetous feelings, have planned strange forms of tillage by laying down seed in land fitted for the culture of trees and particularly the vine, just to gain every year two separate revenues both unjustly earned and thus increase your property with the levy which the lawless passion of avarice has led you to exact.", + "[216] For he who can bring himself to let his own farms go free in the seventh year and draw no income from them in order to give the land fresh life after its labours is not the man to overload and oppress them with a double burden.", + "[217] And therefore of necessity I pronounced on such acquisitions that both the autumn harvest and the fruit of the sown crops were unholy and impure, because the life-creating spirit-force in the rich soil is so to speak throttled and strangled, and because the owner vents his wild wastefulness on the gifts of God in an outburst of unjust desires which he does not confine within moderate bounds.”", + "[218] Should not our passionate affection go out to such enactments as these which by implication restrain and shackle the mad covetous desires which beset mankind? For he who as a commoner has learned to shun unjust gains in the treatment of his plants will, if he becomes a king with greater matters in his charge, follow his acquired habit when he comes to deal with men and also women. He will not exact a double tribute nor wring the life out of his subjects with his imposts. For long familiar habit has the power to soften harsh temperaments and in a sense to tutor and mould them to better forms, and the better forms are those which justice imprints on the soul." + ], + [ + "[219] These laws he gives to each single person but there are other more general commands which he addresses to the whole nation in common, advising them how to behave not only to friends and allies but also to those who renounce their alliance.", + "[220] For if these revolt, he tells us, and shut themselves up within their walls your well-armed fighting force should advance with its armaments and encamp around them, then wait for a time, not letting anger have free play at the expense of reason, in order that they may take in hand what they have to do in a firmer and steadier spirit.", + "[221] They must therefore at once send heralds to propose terms of agreement and at the same time point out the military efficiency of the besieging power. And if their opponents repent of their rebellious conduct and give way and show an inclination to peace, the others must accept and welcome the treaty, for peace, even if it involves great sacrifices, is more advantageous than war.", + "[222] But if the adversaries persist in their rashness to the point of madness, they must proceed to the attack invigorated by enthusiasm and having in the justice of their cause an invincible ally. They will plant their engines to command the walls and when they have made breaches in some parts of them pour in altogether and with well-aimed volleys of javelins and with swords which deal death all around them wreak their vengeance without stint, doing to their enemies as the enemies would have done to them, until they have laid the whole opposing army low in a general slaughter.", + "[223] Then after taking the silver and gold and the rest of the spoil they must set fire to the city and burn it up, in order that the same city may not after a breathing space rise up and renew its sedition, and also to intimidate and so admonish the neighbouring peoples, for men learn to behave wisely from the sufferings of others.", + "But they must spare the women, married and unmarried, since these do not expect to experience at their hands any of the shocks of war as in virtue of their natural weakness they have the privilege of exemption from war service.", + "[224] All this shows clearly that the Jewish nation is ready for agreement and friendship with all like-minded nations whose intentions are peaceful, yet is not of the contemptible kind which surrenders through cowardice to wrongful aggression. When it takes up arms it distinguishes between those whose life is one of hostility and the reverse.", + "[225] For to breathe slaughter against all, even those who have done very little or nothing amiss, shows what I should call a savage and brutal soul, and the same may be said of counting women, whose life is naturally peaceful and domestic, to be accessories to men who have brought about the war.", + "[226] Indeed so great a love for justice does the law instil into those who live under its constitution that it does not even permit the fertile soil of a hostile city to be outraged by devastation or by cutting down trees to destroy the fruits.", + "[227] “For why,” it says, “do you bear a grudge against things which though lifeless are kindly in nature and produce kindly fruits? Does a tree, I ask you, show ill will to the human enemy that it should be pulled up roots and all, to punish it for ill which it has done or is ready to do to you?", + "[228] On the contrary it benefits you by providing the victors with abundance both of necessaries and of the comforts which ensure a life of luxury. For not only men but plants also pay tributes to their lords as the seasons come round, and theirs are the more profitable since without them life is impossible.", + "[229] But as to the trees which have never had or have lost the power to bear fruit and all the wild type there should be no stinting in cutting them down at will for siege works and stakes and pales for entrenchment and when necessary for constructing ladders and wooden towers. For these and similar purposes will be a fitting use to which to put them." + ], + [ + "[230] So much then for the rules which come under the head of justice. But as for justice itself what writer in verse or prose could worthily sing its praise, standing as it does superior to all that eulogy or panegyric can say? Indeed one, and that the most august, of its glories, its high lineage, would be a self-sufficient matter for praise if all the rest were left untold.", + "[231] For the mother of justice is equality, as the masters of natural philosophy have handed down to us, and equality is light unclouded, a spiritual sun we may truly call it, just as its opposite, inequality, in which one thing exceeds or is exceeded by another is the source and fountain of darkness.", + "[232] All things in heaven and earth have been ordered aright by equality under immovable laws and statutes, for who does not know that the relation of days to nights and nights to days is regulated by the sun according to intervals of proportional equality?", + "[233] The dates in spring and autumn every year, whose name of equinoxes is derived from the facts observed, are so clearly marked out by nature that even the least learned perceive the equality of length in the days and nights.", + "[234] Again are not the cycles of the moon, as she runs her course backwards and forwards from the conjunction to the full orb and from her consummation to the conjunction, regulated on the principle of equal intervals? The sum total of her phases and their sizes are exactly the same in her waxing and waning, and so correspond in both forms of quantity, namely number and magnitude.", + "[235] And as equality has received special honour in heaven, the purest part of all that exists, so has it also in heaven’s neighbour, the air. The fourfold partition of the year into what we call the annual seasons involves changes and alternations in the air and in these changes and alternations it shows a marvellous order in disorder. For as it is divided by an equal number of months into winter, spring, summer and autumn, three for each season, it carries the year to its fulfilment and the year, as the name ἐνιαυτός indicates, contains as it runs to its completion everything in itself, which it would not have been able to do if it had not accepted the law of the annual seasons.", + "[236] But equality stretches down from the celestial and aerial regions to the terrestrial too. The pure part of its being which is akin to ether it raises into the heights, but another part sun-like it sends earth-wards as a ray, a secondary brightness.", + "[237] For all that goes amiss in our life is the work of inequality, and all that keeps its due order is of equality, which in the universe as a whole is most properly called the cosmos, in cities and states is democracy, the most law-abiding and best of constitutions, in bodies is health and in souls virtuous conduct. For inequality on the other hand is the cause of sicknesses and vices.", + "[238] But since if one should wish to tell in full all the praises of equality and her offspring justice the time will fail him, be his life of the longest, it seems better to me to content myself with what has been said to awake the memory in the lovers of knowledge, and to leave the rest to be recorded in their souls, the holiest dwelling place for the jewels of God." + ] + ], + "Appendix": [ + "APPENDIX TO DE SPECIALIBUS LEGIBUS, IV", + "(The title.) This, as it is given here, is taken from a list of some of the works of Philo, found in an eleventh-century MS., which itself contains only half of the De Opificio, but the list no doubt is the table of contents in the exemplar from which that MS. was taken. It agrees with that in the two MSS. (S and M) of this treatise, except that they omit ὅλης. All these omit the last word or words, which Cohn supplied by τέλος. The last six words so amended are translated in Goodhart and Goodenough’s Bibliography, p. 135, “and which (i.e. justice) is the objective of the whole code.” I understand ὅ to have the phrase περὶ δικαιοσύνης for its antecedent, and συντάξεως, which could hardly mean “code,” as referring to the whole of the four books.", + "The addition of τῶν εἰς ἕκαστον ἀναφερομένων seems quite needless. Compare the titles of the other three books.", + "§ 2. (Stealing open and secret.) As the distinction made by Philo, though natural enough, is not drawn at any rate directly from the Law it is a case where perhaps he may have been influenced by other legislation. Goodenough, Jewish Jurisprudence in Egypt, pp. 145 ff., and Heinemann, Bildung, pp. 421 ff., have some discussion on this. Goodenough notes that the Ptolemaic law in Egypt distinguished between open robbery (λεία) and ordinary stealing. He gives a reference to Taubenschlag, Strafrecht, pp. 26 ff., which I have not been able to see. In Roman law the person who committed a “furtum manifestum” was held to be a “fur inprobior” (Mommsen, Strafrecht, p. 601). In Attic law the distinction does not seem to be so clear. In Xen. Mem. i. 2. 62, which Goodenough cites, κατὰ τοὺς νόμους ἐάν τις φανερὸς γένηται κλέπτων … θάνατός ἐστιν ἡ ζημία, φανερός may mean “detected,” “clearly proved” rather than, as Goodenough, “openly.”", + "§ 2. Repay the stolen goods twofold. Mangey on these words and Driver on Ex. 22:4 give several examples of a similar rule. Among them are Solon’s laws as stated by Gellius xi. 18 and Dem. Adv. Timocrat., p. 467 (of conviction for theft in a private action) and Plato, Laws 857 A. Philo may have known these, but his generalization is not so inexact that we need suppose him to have been influenced by other legislations.", + "§ 4. General proclamation. Heinemann, Bildung, p. 421, dissents from the view that there is an allusion to Lev. 25:10, and regards the phrase as meaning merely a public announcement. The absence of the article may favour this, but he does not give any evidence of such a regulation from Philo or elsewhere. The Athenian ἀποκήρυξις which he quotes as an analogy, a term applied to a formal notice of disinheriting, does not help much.", + "§ 7. In the very place where he has broken in. L. and S. revised give “(the act of) breaking in” for διόρυγμα as a LXX usage, citing this passage, viz. Ex. 22:2 and Jeremiah 2:34. I do not think this is right. In neither passage, the second of which appears to be an allusion to the first, is there any necessity to understand the act rather than the place. Anyway, Philo is more likely to have understood the word, which he quotes from the LXX, in its usual sense.", + "For the law that a thief might be legally killed at night cf. the Attic law as stated by Demosthenes, Adv. Timocrat., p. 463, also Plato, Laws ix. 874 B νύκτωρ φῶρα εἰς οἰκίαν εἰσιόντα ἐπὶ κλοπῇ χρ��μάτων, ἐὰν ἑλὼν κτείνῃ τις, καθαρὸς ἔστω. In Roman law, the XII Tables have “si nox furtum factum sit, si eum occisit, iure caesus esto.” As Philo is reproducing Exodus, these are illustrations of that rather than of this. However, one point noted by Goodenough, p. 154, may be worth mentioning. The Roman law, as stated in the Digest, directed that the killing must be preceded by a call for help (“cum clamore”). If Philo knew this, it would agree with his insistence that the right to kill is founded on the inability to get help. Much the same point is made in another connexion in Spec. Leg. iii. 74–78.", + "§§ 11, 12. (Value of Sheep and Ox.) Heinemann’s suggestion (approved by Goodenough), that the thought in these sections was developed from the Stoic doctrine that animals were created for the service of man, seems to me fanciful. Philo has to give a reason why the law requires a higher rate of compensation for a sheep and still more for an ox than for other goods, and this necessarily depends on their value to the owner. The passage he quotes from Cic. De Nat. ii. 158 ff. certainly says that the sheep was intended to supply man with wool and the ox to supply him with means for ploughing, but does not note the other abilities noted here. The two passages are also alike in not mentioning that either animal is good for food, but elsewhere the Stoics seem to have held that they were also created to be eaten (“ad vescendum”), Cic. De Leg. i. 8. 25 (S.V.F. ii. 1162).", + "§ 13. (Kidnapping.) As the LXX (see footnote) does not deal with the crime of kidnapping a non-Israelite, Philo leaves the punishment to be determined by the “court,” cf. Spec. Leg. iii. 148, where the same is laid down in the case of death caused to a man by falling into an unguarded pit, whereas the law only prescribed compensation for the death of an animal. By the Court I do not understand him, as Goodenough does, to be thinking of the Jewish Court in Alexandria. What he says in these sections is that (1) the act is obviously a crime against humanity, and (2) would therefore have to be punished by a court, (3) should be, or at least might be, punished by something less than death.", + "In Roman law kidnapping (“plagium”) was a serious crime, sometimes punishable by death (see Dict. of Ant.).", + "§ 21. (ἀγρονόμοι.) Nothing really is known of this office, except from two passages in Aristotle, Politics vi. 5, 1321 b and vii. 11, 1331 b, where he says that the ὑλωροί or forest-wardens are also called ἀγρονόμοι, but he does not specify the states where these are to be found. It is conjectured (see Pauly-Wissowa) that the πεδιανόμοι at Sparta, whose title is found in an inscription, are the same. But Plato in several passages of the Laws recommends the appointment of such officials to do for the country what the ἀστυνόμοι do for the towns. See particularly 760 ff. and 844 B, where they are empowered to redress civil injuries. Very little importance, I think, can be attached to Philo’s statement that the best governed cities have these officials. It is an inference which he would easily draw from Plato’s way of speaking of them. And indeed some modern scholars seem to have made the same assumption (see Dict. of Ant.).", + "§ 39. τῶν … μελλόντων. In support of the translation somewhat doubtfully given in the text it may be pointed out that Philo evidently sees in Lev. 19:11, 12 something like the rhetorical figure, technically called “the ladder” (κλῖμαξ), in which at each stage the crucial word of the preceding stage is repeated. (See Ernesti, Lex. Rhet.) A similar example in Demosthenes (speaking of the process by which a quarrel rises to bloodshed) runs μηδὲ κατὰ μικρὸν ὑπάγεσθαι, ἐκ μὲν λοιδορίας εἰς πληγάς, ἐκ δὲ πληγῶν εἰς τραύματα, ἐκ δὲ τραυμάτων εἰς θάνατον. Of course in Lev. itself it is not a proper “climax,” as the πρότερον is not repeated before the ἑπόμενον, but Philo’s exposition takes that form.", + "§ 40. Unscientific method of proof. The depreciatory note which Philo here puts into the word ἄτεχνος is very unfair. The ἄτεχνοι πίστεις are, as quoted from Cope in the note to De Plant. 173 (vol. iii. p. 499), “proofs not due to the artist’s invented skill, but supplied to him from the outside as it were of his art.” They are not opposed to ἔλεγχοι δίκαιοι but are indeed really more “just,” in so far as they cannot be perverted by the orator’s skill. In De Plant. the word was translated “inartistic” (perhaps better “unartistic”), and that or “unartificial” is the equivalent usually given. But “unscientific” seems to me in the usual English usage to come nearer to the meaning (or perhaps “non-scientific,” though I have kept the “un-” as giving something of Philo’s depreciatory note).", + "§ 40. (Text of φύσει ἀγαθὸν καὶ θεῖον ὄνομα, etc.) As stated in the footnote Cohn expelled ἀγαθὸν καὶ on the grounds (1) that ἀγαθόν is an unsuitable adjective in this context, (2) that the fairly obvious corrections ἅγιον or ἀγαστὸν suggested by Mangey are ruled out by the hiatus after φύσει. This objection applies of course to ἀγαθὸν also.", + "In a note in vol. vii. p. 620 I said that I did not know how far Cohn’s argument that a certain reading was unacceptable on account of the hiatus was valid and that Cohn did not anywhere formulate his doctrine. Since then I have got more information originally through Cumont’s edition of the De Aeternitate, Prol., p. xx. Cumont refers to a publication by J. Jessen in a Festschrift to Hermann Sauppe entitled De elocutione Philonis Alexandrini (1889). Jessen’s article is largely occupied in showing that Philo uses μέχρι or ἄχρι according as a vowel or consonant precedes. But towards the end he discusses hiatus in general from a study of the De Opificio and concludes that it is only admitted when (a) Philo is quoting scripture or another writer such as Plato, (b) when any stop, even a comma, intervenes, (c) in familiar conjunctions of words forming a single phrase such as ἐτήσιοι ὧραι, (d) after the article, or the relative pronoun or prepositions or καί, μή, τι, ὅτι, etc. This last class means, I suppose, the little common words which recur so frequently that the writer would be hampered if he always had to follow with a consonantal word. Cumont finds that this rule also applies to the De Aet., the genuineness of which he is supporting.", + "Jessen however admitted that in the De Op. there was a certain residuum of cases, where the hiatus had no such excuse, and Cumont said the same of the De Aet., and probably an examination of the other treatises would give the same result. Most of those quoted by Jessen and Cumont are capable of emendation, sometimes easily, sometimes only with some straining. As a matter of fact I observe that Cohn, who had Jessen’s work before him, left all but one of these cases of hiatus as they stand in the MSS. in his own edition.", + "The real question is whether Philo put the hiatus on the same footing as a grammatical error, or whether he thought it a thing to be avoided generally, but not if the avoidance hampered his expression in any way. I should be inclined to take the second view and hold that while a hiatus may justly increase suspicion of a reading to which there are other objections, it does not in itself create a fatal or even a very serious objection. In the case under discussion I do not think that the expulsion of ἀγαθὸν καὶ is justified, particularly as the same hiatus after φύσει occurs elsewhere (ἑβδομάδος φύσει οἰκεῖα, Leg. All. i. 16), where neither is any easy emendation possible nor has Cohn or any other editor raised any objection.", + "As for the first objection, it may be granted that as ἀγαθός when applied to God regularly connotes His beneficence, ἅγιον would be more appropriate here. But it is going too far to call it unsuitable. It is applied to the Divine Name in Ps. 53(54):6.", + "§ 49. Heinemann refers on this passage to Plato, Ion 534. Here and in the parallels, Spec. Leg. i. 65 and Quis Rerum 265 f., Philo may have had in mind this passage, particularly διὰ ταῦτα δὲ ὁ θεὸς ἐξαιρούμενος τούτων (i.e. “poets”) τὸν νοῦν τούτοις χρῆται ὑπηρέταις καὶ τοῖς μάντεσι τοῖς θείοις … ἀλλʼ ὁ θεὸς αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ λέγων, διὰ τουτῶν δὲ φθέγγεται πρὸς ἡμᾶς. But Heinemann goes much too far, I think, in saying that this conception is derived (“entlehnten”) from Plato. The idea of the prophet as God’s mouthpiece is self-evident throughout the prophetical books, and the most striking point in Philo’s imagery here and in Quis Rerum, that the prophet is the musical instrument on which God plays, does not come so far as I know from Plato, at any rate not from this passage in the Ion.", + "§ 52. ὁλοστὸν. Stephanus gives for this word “integer totus,” Hesychius ὅλως ὡς ἔστιν (what does that mean exactly?) and L. and S. old and revised merely repeat this statement or part of it. It is a mis-statement to say that it is only known from Hesychius. It is found here in the MSS.��of Philo in a passage the genuineness of which was not questioned till lately, but was overlooked by the lexicographers, who conceivably may have overlooked the word elsewhere. In fact it has the advantage over several other words only quoted from Philo that it has the support of Hesychius. But the formation is odd. If formed like other words in -στός, the ordinals and ὀλιγοστός, πολλοστός, it should be “one out of a whole”: a further difficulty here is that it seems to be used as a substantive, which is not the case, so far as I know, with the other words in -στός. I am inclined to think that the writer of the clause, whether Philo or another, actually wrote as Mangey suggests ὅλως αὑτὸν, which, as he says, would easily pass by abbreviation into ὁλοστὸν.", + "§ 54. (Last sentence.) Heinemann remarks on these words that both the expression and the thought are derived from the Stoics, who, while combatting the sceptical doctrine that certain knowledge was unattainable and ἐποχή was universally necessary (cf. the sceptical sections in De Ebr. 171–205), allowed that there were cases where for want of evidence ἐποχή was necessary. Cf. S.V.F. ii. 121 πᾶς δογματικὸς ἔν τισιν ἐπέχειν εἴωθεν, ἤτοι παρὰ γνώμης ἀσθένειαν ἢ παρὰ πραγμάτων ἀσάφειαν, ἢ παρὰ τὴν τῶν λόγων ἰσοσθένειαν. ἐπέχειν and ἐποχή are the accepted technical terms in this sense, but need such a commonsense observation as that, when two things are equal, you cannot decide in favour of either, be necessarily traced to Stoic sources?", + "§§ 63 ff. These sections have a close parallel in Plato, Laws 955 C–D “those who serve their country ought to serve without receiving gifts, and there ought to be no excusing or approving the saying ‘Men should receive gifts as the reward of good but not of evil deeds’—for to know what is good and to persevere in what we know is no easy matter. The safest course is to obey the law, which says ‘Do no service for a bribe’ ” (Jowett). That Philo had Plato in mind is made more probable by his introduction of another Platonic word ἡμιμόχθηροι, Rep. 352, used to describe the half-way house in injustice.", + "§ 64. Awarder (or umpire) of justice. Heinemann may be right in regarding this as a direct quotation from Aristotle. Philo however also knew the expression βραβεύειν τὰ δίκαια from Demosthenes, Ol. iii. 96. βραβεύς, βραβεύειν and βραβευτής, originally applied to the games, easily lend themselves to metaphor and Philo has used the last several times in other connexions. But see on § 149.", + "§ 73. One of the men of old. Mangey supposed that this refers to the passage in the Theaetetus of Plato quoted below on § 188. But imitation is not quite the same as assimilation, nor is showing kindness there specifically marked. Heinemann’s note is “this frequently quoted saying was ascribed to Pythagoras and Demosthenes,” and refers for the evidence of this to Vahlen’s edition of Longinus, De Sublimitate, p. 216; Cohn gives the same reference. I am sorry that I have been unable to see this edition, but presumably the evidence is the same as or includes that quoted by Roberts in his edition of the De Sub., p. 244. (a) Aelian, Var. Hist, xii. 59 “Pythagoras said that the two best gifts of the gods to men were speaking the truth and showing kindness (τό τε ἀληθεύειν καὶ τὸ εὐεργετεῖν), and he added that both resembled the works of the gods.” (b) Arsen, Viol. 189 “Demosthenes, being asked what man has like God, said ‘showing kindness and speaking the truth.’ ”", + "§ 85. ἔρως. This is a word for which there is no real equivalent in English when the context does not allow it, as no doubt it often does, to be rendered by the single word “love.” The phrase “sexual love” is not attractive, and does not cover the whole of the Greek conception. The Stoic definition of ἔρως as one of the seven different forms of ἐπιθυμία, Diog. Laert. vii. 113, is ἐπιθυμία τις οὐχὶ περὶ τοὺς σπουδαίους· ἔστι γὰρ ἐπιβολὴ φιλοποιίας διὰ κάλλος ἐμφαινόμενον, which Hicks translates “a craving from which good men are free, for it is an effort to win affection due to the visible presence of beauty.” An interesting study of the four words στοργή, ἔρως, φιλεῖν, ἀγαπᾶν, particularly as used by Plato and Aristotle, is given in an Appendix to Sandys’s edition of Aristot. Rhet., vol. i.", + "§ 104. μακρόθεν. As Heinemann, Mangey and Cohn generally give quite a different sense here and elsewhere from myself to this adverb and πόρρωθεν, I take the opportunity of collecting the passages I have noted in this book and the preceding and the De Virtutibus. In nearly all the clear intention is to show that the injunction actually given leads on to another principle of a higher kind, which I have generally translated by the adverb “indirectly” or “by implication,” on which see below.", + "(1) Spec. Leg. iii. 48 μακρόθεν δʼ ὡς ἀπὸ σκοπῆς ἐσωφρόνισεν ἀνθρώπους.", + "Here, where ἀπὸ σκοπῆς fixes the meaning beyond question, the guilt of unlawful unions among men is deduced from the prohibition of mixed matings of animals. Heinemann “wie von einer Warte”; Mangey “longe quasi e speculo.”", + "(2) Ib. 63 πόρρωθεν μοιχείας ἀνείργων. (Guilt of adultery from the injunction of ablutions even after lawful intercourse.)", + "Here Heinemann translates πόρρωθεν ἀνείργων by “fern zu halten”; Mangey “longe submovens.”", + "(3) Ib. 117 πόρρωθεν τὴν βρεφῶν ἔκθεσιν ἀπεῖπε διʼ ὑπονοιῶν. (Guilt of infanticide from the punishment decreed against causing a miscarriage.)", + "Here the addition of διʼ ὑπονοιῶν gives the same thought in a different form. The one prohibition is an allegory of the other. Heinemann “in versteckter Andeutung,” apparently translating διʼ ὑπονοιῶν and ignoring πόρρωθεν; Mangey “procul vetuit.”", + "(4) Spec. Leg. iv. 104 (this passage) μακρόθεν ἀνεῖρξαι βουλόμενος τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ λεχθέντα ὁρμήν. (The evil of cruel vindictiveness from the prohibition of carnivorous animals for food.)", + "Heinemann “recht fern zu halten”; Mangey “procul remoturus.”", + "(5) Ib. 203 πόρρωθεν ἀνακοπὴν μοιχῶν ἐργάζεσθαι. (Guilt of adultery from the mixed mating of animals, cf. iii. 48.)", + "Heinemann “offenbar” (“openly” or “plainly”?); Mangey “quanto magis.”", + "(6) Ib. 218 αἳ μακρόθεν τῶν ἐπʼ ἀνθρώποις πλεονεξιῶν τὴν λύσσαν ἀνείργουσι. (Duty of restraining coveteousness from the prohibition of sowing the vineyard.)", + "Heinemann “nachdrücklich”; Mangey “procul arcet.”", + "(7) De Virt. 21 πόρρωθεν ὡς ἀνδρογύνους οὕτως καὶ γυνάνδρους φυλαξάμενος. (Womanliness in general from the single item of womanly dress (see the next sentence ἑνὸς γὰρ κτλ.).)", + "Cohn “fernhalten”; Mangey “longe submovens.”", + "(8) Ib. 116 πόρρωθεν ἀναδιδάσκων τὸ μὴ ἐφήδεσθαι. (Avoidance of ἐπιχαιρεκακία, from the injunction to help an enemy’s beast.)", + "Ignored by Cohn; Mangey “in minimis quoque docet.”", + "(9) Ib. 137 ὑπὲρ τοῦ μακρόθεν ἐπισχεῖν τὴν εὐχέρειαν. (Guilt of infanticide from the prohibition of killing a pregnant animal.)", + "Cohn “schon von vornherein”; Mangey “ad longe compescendum.”", + "(10) Ib. 160 πόρρωθεν ἀναδιδάσκεται τῶν λογικῶν ἐπιμελεῖσθαι. (Consideration for men from kindness to animals.)", + "Cohn gives this well, “zieht durchaus die weitere Lehre”; Mangey “inde dixit rationalibus potiorem curam inpendere.” To these may be added De Virt. 151 τὸ μέλλον ὥσπερ ἀπὸ σκοπῆς μακρόθεν … καθορᾶσθαι, where the same phrase is used as in iii. 48, but has no reference to Moses’ teaching. Cf. also De Virt. 129.", + "While taking the adverbs in an intensive sense “to keep far away” will suit (7) and perhaps (2, 4, 6), if the adverbs in -θεν can bear this sense, which seems to me doubtful, it is hardly compatible with ἀπειπεῖν (3), or ἀνακοπὴν ἐργάζεσθαι (5), or ἐπισχεῖν (9), and quite impossible with σωφρονίζειν (1), and ἀναδιδάσκειν (8, 10). It is clear to me that throughout, as indicated by (1), both adverbs express Philo’s conception of the Law as a code in which those who have eyes to see may discern other lessons far away from the primary and literal. I do not feel that the translation “indirectly” or “implicitly” is at all adequate. “A lesson reaching far beyond the actual words” would express the meaning better, but be too heavy a rendering for this single word.", + "§ 106. (Dividing the hoof.) In this treatise the phrase is used of ethical questions only and signifies the distinguishing of the desirable from the undesirable. In De Agr. 131–145 the treatment is somewhat different. In § 133 as here it is taken to mean distinguishing the beneficial from the injurious, but as the discussion proceeds it is applied to analysis and distinction in the arts and sciences—grammar, music and logic. The sophists in fact are represented by the pig, because although they divide the hoof they do not chew the cud.", + "As Philo’s interpretation of διχηλεῖν or something like it appears in the letter of Aristeas 150, which though of uncertain date is by general agreement considered to be earlier than Philo, it is not altogether original with him. As to whether it was accepted later, I have no information as far as Rabbinism is concerned. Heinemann’s silence in Bildung would suggest that it was not. But there is an interesting passage in the Pilgrim’s Progress, where Faithful discoursing about Talkative says that he reminds him of Moses’ saying that the clean beast must both chew the cud and part the hoof. “The hare cheweth the cud, but yet is unclean because he parteth not the hoof. And this truly resembles Talkative. He cheweth the cud, he seeketh knowledge; he cheweth upon the word; but he divideth not the hoof; he parteth not with the way of sinners; but as the hare, retaineth the foot of a dog or bear, and therefore he is unclean.” This is not very different from Philo’s interpretation. Is Bunyan here following a tradition of the Christian pulpit? Christian’s reply is “You have spoken, for aught I know, the gospel-sense of these things.”", + "§ 109. πολύχηλα. This word is not recorded by Stephanus or the earlier L. & S. The revised L. & S., citing this passage, erroneously gives it as “dividing the hoof, opposed to μονώνυχα.”", + "§ 113. Cormorant. αἴθυια (“sea-gull”?) is taken as a type of voracity with the same verb ἐμφορεῖσθαι in Leg. All. iii. 155 and Quod Det. 101. Philo is the only author quoted for this usage, as the other passage cited by Stephanus, Athenaeus vii. 283 c, is not to the point. L. & S. do not notice it at all.", + "§ 116. (Clean and unclean birds.) Aristeas 145–147 gives the same definition of the unclean birds and mentions doves, pigeons, geese and partridges as specimens of the clean. He also adds the moral that the prohibition is intended as a warning against injustice and tyranny among men.", + "§ 128. ἀνδρὸς εὐζώνου. While εὔζωνος in a general sense is common enough, the phrase as a standard of measurement is not quoted in the Lexicon from any writers later than Herodotus (i. 72, 104) and Thucydides (ii. 97). If the absence of quotation reflects the facts, we may fairly set its presence here as a conscious literary reminiscence or imitation of the historians.", + "§ 137. Shaking before the eyes. Though Philo does not actually use σαλευτά nor get nearer to it than σάλον δʼ ἐχέτω below, there can be no doubt that this is what he read. It is equally clear that it is a misreading, and his explanation is fantastical. But the mistake is not confined to him. The Apparatus Criticus in Brook and Maclean’s edition of the LXX shows that one MS. has σαλευτόν in Deut. 11:18, though not apparently in 6:8, and that the Old Latin version had “mobilia.” This is also supported by a treatise of Origen, which only survives in the Latin. The reference to this is not given. Otherwise it would be interesting to see whether Origen owed the idea to Philo and gave it further currency.", + "§§ 149, 150. Unwritten Laws. Heinemann rightly notes the resemblance to Aristot. Rhet. i. 14. 7, where Aristotle says that on the one hand it may be argued that “the better man is he who is just without compulsion; now the written laws of right are compulsory, the unwritten are not.” This is the view taken here. From another point of view it is worse to offend against the written, “for he who commits offences which are dangerous and liable to penalty will still more do so when there is no penalty.” Our passage looks like a definite reminiscence and strengthens the probability that the phrase in § 64 is a direct quotation (the same can hardly be said of the allusion to ἄτεχνοι πίστεις in § 40). The distinction between ἄτεχνοι and ἔντεχνοι πίστεις, though originating with Aristotle, runs through the whole of later rhetoric and must have been “known to every schoolboy.”", + "It is to be observed that the sense of ἄγραφοι νόμοι here is totally different from that of De Virt. 194, where see note b.", + "§ 158. (Footnotes b and c.) In De Agr. 84 ff. Philo takes ἵππον, which he here paraphrases by θρέμματα, in its regular sense of cavalry and introduces his allegory by declaring that the literal interpretation is untenable because Moses would not recommend that a ruler should forgo such an indispensable part of his armament. Cf. note on De Virt. 28 ff.", + "§ 160. Ἐπινομίδα. Philo has used this name for Deuteronomy in Quis Rerum 162, 250. As so applied it is not quoted from any other writer, and if the application is due to him it is a reasonable supposition that it is modelled on the pseudo-Platonic treatise of that name.", + "§ 188. Assimilated to God. Philo no doubt here and elsewhere where he uses this expression is thinking of Plato, Theaetetus 176 A–B, which he quotes, naming the treatise, in De Fug. 63, “to fly away (from earth to heaven) is to become like God (ὁμοίωσις θεῷ) as far as this is possible, and to become like him is to become just, holy and wise.”", + "§ 188. Σῶμα σῆμα. This play of words appears also in Leg. All. i. 108 in connexion with a saying of Heracleitus, from which “the editors of Heracleitus infer that σῶμα σῆμα was originally said by him” (Thompson on Gorg. 493 A). Plato himself in the Cratylus ascribes it to the Orphics. Heinemann refers to Philolaus fr. 14 Diels, which I have had no opportunity of verifying. Possibly it is the same as the saying attributed to Philolaus by Clement Al. Strom. iii. 17 a ἁ ψυχὰ τῷ σώματι συνέξευκται καὶ καθάπερ ἐν σάματι τούτῳ τέθαπται.", + "§ 190. (Footnote a.) According to Josephus, Ant. iv. 218, this court of appeal consists of the high priest, the Prophet and the council of elders. Is there some connexion between this inclusion of the Prophet and Philo’s insistence in § 192 on the prophetic character of the true priest?", + "§ 191. νηφάλια θύειν. This use of the neuter accusative plural is too well attested in Philo (see footnote) to be disposed of by correction to -ους. But the usage is strange and calls for more explanation than I can give with any confidence. May we suppose that in the wineless offerings to various deities the abstention of the offerer was felt to be an essential element (cf. νήφων ἀοίνοις, Soph. O.C. 100), and so the phrase acquired this personal meaning? Two passages quoted by Stephanus from Plutarch suggest something of the kind, Mor. 464 C ἀμεθύστους καὶ ἀοίνους διαγαγεῖν, ὥσπερ νηφάλια καὶ μελίσπονδα θύοντα, and 132 E αὐτῷ τῷ Διονύσῳ πολλάκις νηφάλια θύομεν ἐθιζόμενοι μὴ ζητεῖν ἀεὶ τὸν ἄκρατον.", + "§ 193. Market-controllers. “Agoranomi existed both at Athens and Sparta, and, as inscriptions prove in almost every Greek state, … they regulated the price and quantity of all things which were brought into the market and punished all persons convicted of cheating, especially by false weights and measures.” (Dict. of Ant.)", + "§ 199. (ἀδικοπραγεῖν.) Stephanas quotes five examples of this word, one from Plutarch, the other four all from Philo. Of these one as Stephanus has it, and as it stands in Mangey’s text, is transitive, viz. Spec. Leg. iii. 182 ἐὰν περὶ τὰς οὐσίας ἀδικοπραγῶσι τὸν πλησίον, and so the majority of MSS. F however has τῶν πλησίον and S apparently τῶν πλησίων. I feel no doubt that Cohn is right in following F. The corruption of τῶν to τὸν to bring it into supposed agreement with πλησίον is very natural.", + "The converse δικαιοπραγεῖν is commoner or at least is cited from a much greater range of authors and seems to be always intransitive.", + "§ 231. (Footnote c.) For this Pythagorean thought see Zeller, Presocratic Philosophy (Eng. trans.), vol. i. pp. 420 f. τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἴδιον … το ἴσον, and the statement “that the first square number (ἰσάκις ἴσον), i.e. four or nine, is justice.” So in De Plant. 122 the saying “that equality is the mother of justice” is connected with the equality of the sides of a square.", + "§ 237. Democracy … the best of constitutions. Democracy is equated here to ἰσότης, cf. De Conf. 108, “which honours equality and has law and justice for its rulers.” There it is opposed to mob rule, ὀχλοκρατία, and so also De Agr. 45 and De Virt. 180, but in De Abr. 242 to tyranny, while in Quod Deus 176 we have the curious idea that the world is a democracy because each nation in its turn gets supremacy. From all this one can gather little more than a vague idea of order, justice and a government under which every one receives the rights and duties for which he is best fitted.", + "On the puzzling question how Philo comes to apply to this ideal constitution the name of democracy repeated so emphatically six times (see note on Quod Deus 176) a good deal has been written lately. Dr. Eric Langstadt in his essay Zu Philos Begriff der Demokratie, Dr. Martin Braun in an essay called Social and Political Aspects of Philo’s Philosophy, Professor Goodenough in his Philo’s Politics, Practice and Theory, have all dealt with the subject. Langstadt in the body of his essay gives a careful and interesting analysis of Philo’s conceptions of good government, conceptions which he may be supposed to have summed up under the name of democracy, but which only serve to make the name more surprising. For an attempt to explain the name we must turn to his Nachwort. In this he suggests that the name is taken from the Platonic or pseudo-Platonic Menexenus 238 C, where Socrates is represented as saying of the Athenian constitution as it was and is “one man calls it a democracy, another by any name which pleases him. In reality it is an aristocracy carried on with the approval of the multitude.” There are some good points in favour of this theory. Philo quotes another part of this description as from Plato in the De Op. 133, and there are features in this idealized picture of the Athenian constitution which remind us of Philo. A notable example is the insistence on equality of birth as the source of its excellence, and some more recondite resemblances are pointed out by Langstadt. But on the whole it is difficult to suppose that this casual mention of the name democracy can so have impressed Philo as the theory supposes.", + "Braun finds the solution of the puzzle in the use of δημοκρατία as the Greek equivalent for the Latin “Res publica,” particularly in the sense of the republican constitution which was superseded by Caesarism. He gives many examples of this from Dion Cassius, and what is more important as nearer to Philo, from Josephus. His main point is that δημοκρατία had become the battle-cry of the senatorial opposition, though to say this does not do justice to his full analysis of the political situation both at Rome and Alexandria.", + "Goodenough also takes this use of δημοκρατία as his starting-point. But he lays more stress on the acceptance of the term by the upholders of the principate. He points out that in the chapters in Dion Cassius 52, where Augustus is advised by Agrippa to refuse and by Maecenas to assume supreme power, while Agrippa extols democracy, Maecenas declares that a monarchy will insure the true democracy, and that Dion also remarks that the emperors were careful to build up their power by assuming democratic titles. So he finally comes to the conclusion that to Philo the ideal government is monarchy in its Roman form of democracy, kingship in its best sense.", + "If one may take as a working hypothesis that Philo’s use of the term springs from this special sense, while I think Braun is nearer the truth, I should suggest a middle course between the two views. Perhaps we may say that reverence for the great Roman Republic, S.P.Q.R., had by Philo’s time raised the name from the disparagement cast on it by Plato and Aristotle to a position of high respect. On the lips of the opposition its meaning was unmistakable, and I think Braun might strengthen his argument by the fact that this opposition was largely Stoical, though not perhaps so markedly so as some decades later (see Arnold’s Roman Stoicism, pp. 392 ff.). But the imperialist would not allow his opponent to monopolize the term. He claimed, as Maecenas says, that the Principate gave a freedom which, unlike the freedom of the mob, awarded equally to all according to their deserts, and was, in fact, government of the people for the people though not by the people. Philo thus adopts this slogan or catch-word as Braun calls it and, as he well says, surrounds it with a religious and metaphysical halo, not caring very much how far it fitted in with his Platonic conception of the philosopher king." + ] + } + }, + "versions": [ + [ + "Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1937", + "https://www.nli.org.il/en/books/NNL_ALEPH001216057/NLI" + ] + ], + "heTitle": "על החוקים לפרטיהם", + "categories": [ + "Second Temple", + "Philo" + ], + "schema": { + "heTitle": "על החוקים לפרטיהם", + "enTitle": "On the Special Laws", + "key": "On the Special Laws", + "nodes": [ + { + "heTitle": "ספר א", + "enTitle": "Book I", + "nodes": [ + { + "heTitle": "הקדמה", + "enTitle": "Introduction" + }, + { + "heTitle": "", + "enTitle": "" + }, + { + "heTitle": "הערות", + "enTitle": "Appendix" + } + ] + }, + { + "heTitle": "ספר ב", + "enTitle": "Book II", + "nodes": [ + { + "heTitle": "הקדמה", + "enTitle": "Introduction" + }, + { + "heTitle": "", + "enTitle": "" + }, + { + "heTitle": "הערות", + "enTitle": "Appendix" + } + ] + }, + { + "heTitle": "ספר ג", + "enTitle": "Book III", + "nodes": [ + { + "heTitle": "הקדמה", + "enTitle": "Introduction" + }, + { + "heTitle": "", + "enTitle": "" + }, + { + "heTitle": "הערות", + "enTitle": "Appendix" + } + ] + }, + { + "heTitle": "ספר ד", + "enTitle": "Book IV", + "nodes": [ + { + "heTitle": "הקדמה", + "enTitle": "Introduction" + }, + { + "heTitle": "", + "enTitle": "" + }, + { + "heTitle": "הערות", + "enTitle": "Appendix" + } + ] + } + ] + } +} \ No newline at end of file