The Works of Philo Judaeus

LXIII. And he uttered this prayer, blaming Joseph the statesman and governor, because he had ventured to say, " I will feed them in that land,"f for, "hasten ye," said Joseph, " and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus says Joseph," and so on, and presently he adds, " Come down unto me, and do not tarry, come with all thou hast, and I will feed thee in that land; for still the famine lasts for five years." Jacob, therefore, speaks as he does reproving and at the same time instructing this imaginary wise man, and he says to him, " 0 my friend, know thou that the food of the soul is knowledge, which it is not the word which is intelligible by the external senses that can bestow, but God only who has nourished me Genesis xlviii. 15. t Genesis xlv. 11. from youth, and from my earliest age till the time of perfect manhood, he shall fill me with it. Joseph therefore was treated in the same way with his mother Rachel, for she also thought that the creature had some power ; on which account she used the expression, " Give me children," but the supplauter, adhering to his proper character, says to her, " You have used a great error ; for I am not in the peace of God, who alone is able to open the womb of the soul, and to implant virtues in it, and to cause it to be pregnant, and to bring forth what is good. Consider also the history of thy sister Leah, and you will find that she did not receive seed or fertility from any creature — but from God himself." " For the Lord, seeing that Leah was hated, opened her womb, but Rachel was barren, "t And consider, now, in this sentence, again, the subtlety of the writer spoken of. God opens the wombs, implanting good actions in them, and the womb, when it has received virtue from God, does not bring forth to God, for the living and true God is not in need of any thing, but she brings forth sons to me, Jacob, for it was for my sake, probably, that God sowed seed in virtue, and not for his own. Therefore, another husband of Leah is found to be passed over in silence, and another father of Leah's children, for he is the husband who openeth the womb, and he is the father of the children to whom the mother is said to bear them.

XII. Now this same opinion is entertained by every one who, having thoroughly comprehended the affairs of the soul, looks with astonishment on the affairs of the body and on the things external to the body, diversified as they are with different colours and forms, in order to deceive the outward sense, which is easily worked upon. Such a man as this the lawgiver calls labour, who, not perceiving the true laws of nature, falsely assents to those which are in force among men, saying, " It is not the custom in our country to give the younger daughter in marriage before the elder." Eor he thinks that it behoves him to adhere to the classification arising from the consideration of time, according to which, that which is oldest is entitled to priority, and after that, that which is the younger is admitted to a participation in their joint rights. But the practicer of wisdom, knowing that natures are not subject to time, desires what is younger first, and what is older afterwards. And moral reason agrees with him in this matter, for it is necessary for those who practise anything, first of all to come to the more recent learning, in order that after that, they may be able to derive advantage from that which is more perfect. And, on this account, the lovers of virtue and excellence do not approach the doors of the older philosophy before they have become familiar with these younger parts of it, grammar, and geometry, and the whole range of encyclical learning ; for these subordinate branches do always attend upon those, who with sincerity and purity of purpose court wisdom. But he acts cunningly in opposition to these principles, wishing us to take to ourselves the elder sister first, not in order that we may have her in a lasting manner, but that being attracted Genesis xxix. 26. ON DRUNKENNESS. 4G3 by the allurements of the younger, we may hereafter relax in our desire for the elder one.