The Works of Philo Judaeus

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.

XXII. " And Lamech took to himself two wives ; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other was Zillah."f Everything which a wicked man taketh himself is altogether blameable, as being polluted by his impure mind ; and so, on the contrary, all deliberate actions of virtuous men are praise- There is something lost from the text here, and Mangey professes himself unable to supply it without the assistance of some MS. which may be hereafter discovered. t Genesis iv. 19. worthy ; on which account now, Lamech, who is taking wives unto himself, is choosing the greatest possible evils. Again, when Abraham, Jacob, and Aaron take to themselves wives, they choose appropriate good things to dwell with. Now Moses speaks thus in the case of Abraham: " And Abraham and Nachortook unto themselves wives ; the name of Abraham's wife was Sarai." And in the case of Jacob he says, " Rise up and go into Mesopotamia, to the house of Bethuel, thy mother's father, and take unto thyself a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.' f In the case of Aaron he says, and Aaron took Elizabeth, the daughter of Amiuadab, the sister of Xaassom, unto him to be his wife."] Isaac too and Moses take unto themselves wives, but they do not take them of their own act entirely; but Isaac, "When he went into the house of his mother," § is said to have taken a wife ; and to Moses, " The man with whom he lodged gave his daughter Zipporah to be his wife." ||