Philo of Alexandria

XV. Since, therefore, every city consists of houses and inhabitants, and laws, the houses, in Cain's case, are the reasons which he alleges to prove his point ; by which, as from a wall, he fights against the persuasive attacks of his enemies ; inventing fabulous devices against the truth. The inhabitants are the companions of impiety, ungodliness, self-love, haughtiness, falsehood, vain opinions ; the men wise in their own conceit, the men who know not wisdom as relating to truth, the men who are full of ignorance, and stupidity, and folly ; and all the other similar and kindred evils. The laws are, lawlessness, injustice, inequality, intemperance, boldness, fully, Leviticus xziii. 27. insolence, immoderate indulgence in pleasure, and innumerable appetites in despite of nature. Now of such a city as this, every impious man is found to be a builder in his own miserable soul, until God deliberately causes complete and great confusion to their sophistical arts. And this will be, when not only " they build a city and tower, the head of which will reach to heaven," that is to say,f .... the mind or the reason of each individual as conversant about making great works, which they represent as having for its head a conception peculiar to itself, which is called in symbolical language heaven. For it is plain that the head and object of every reasoning must be the aforesaid mind ; for the sake of which, long digressions and sentences are in the habit of being used by men wrho write histories.