The Works of Philo Judaeus

“VII. Moses says also ; " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth:" taking the beginning to be, not as some men think, that which is according to time ; for before the world time had no existence, but was created either simultaneously with it, or after it ; for since time is the interval of the motion of the heavens, there could not have been any such thing as motion before there was anything which could be moved; but it follows of necessity that it received existence subsequently or simultaneously. It therefore follows also of necessity, that time was created either at the same moment with the world, or later than it — and to venture to assert that it is older than the world is absolutely inconsistent with philosophy. But if the beginning spoken of by Moses is not to be looked upon as spoken of according to time, then it may be natural to suppose that it is the beginning according to number that is indicated ; so that, " In the beginning he created," is equivalent to " first of all he created the heaven ;" for it is natural in reality that that should have been the first object created, being both the best of all created things, and being also made of the purest substance, because it was destined to be the most holy abode of the visible Gods who are perceptible by the external senses ; for if the Creator had made everything at the same moment, still those things which were created in beauty would no less have had a regular arrangement, for there is no such thing as beauty in disorder. But order is a due consequence and connection of things precedent and subsequent, if not in the completion of a work, at all events in the intention of the maker ; for it is owing to order that they become accurately defined and stationary, and free from confusion. In the first place therefore, from the model of the world, perceptible only by intellect, the Creator made an incorporeal heaven, and an invisible earth, and the form of air and of empty space : the former of which he called darkness, because the air is black by nature ; and the other he called the abvss, for empty space is very deep and yawning with immense width. Then he created the incorporeal substance of water and of air, and above all he spread light, being the seventh thing made ; and this again was incorporeal, and a model of the sun, perceptible only to intellect, and of all the lightgiving stars, which are destined to stand together in heaven.”

“IX. Moses is right also when he says, that " darkness was over the face of the abyss." For the air is in a manner spread above the empty space, since having mounted up it entirely fills all that open, and desolate, and empty place, which reaches down to us from the regions below the moon. And after the shining forth of that light, perceptible only to the intellect, which existed before the sun, then its adversary darkness yielded, as God put a wall between them and separated them, well knowing their opposite characters, and the enmity existing between their natures. In order, therefore, that they might not war against one another from being continually brought in contact, so that war would prevail instead of peace, God, turning want of order into order, did not only separate light and darkness, but did also place houndaries in the middle of the space between the two, by which he separated the extremities of each. For if they had approximated they must have produced confusion, preparing for the contest, for the supremacy, with great and unextinguishable rivalry, if boundaries established between them had not separated them and prevented them from clashing together, and these boundaries are evening and morning ; the one of which heralds in the good tidings that the sun is about to rise, gently dissipating the darkness : and evening comes on as the sun sets, receiving gently the collective approach of darkness. And these, I mean morning and evening, must be placed in the class of incorporeal things, perceptible only by the intellect ; for there is absolutely nothing in them which is perceptible by the external senses, but they are entirely ideas, and measures, and forms, and seals, incorporeal as far as regards the generation of other bodies. But when light came, and darkness retreated and yielded to it, and boundaries were set" in the space between the two, namely, evening and morning, then of necessity the measure of time was immediately perfected, which also the Creator called " day," and He called it not " the first day," but " one day ;" and it is spoken of thus, on account of the single nature of the world perceptible only by the intellect, which has a single nature.”

“XXI. So now when the air and the water had received their appropriate races of animals as an allotment that was c 18 PHTLO JUD^EUS. their due, God again summoned the earth for the creation of that share which still remained : and after the production of plants, the terrestrial animals still remained. And God said, " Let the earth bring forth cattle and beasts, and creeping things of each kind." And the earth did as it was commanded, and immediately sent forth animals differing in their formation and in their strength, and in the injurious or beneficial powers that were implanted in them. And after all He made man. But how he made him I will mention presently, after I have first explained that he adopted the most beautiful connection and train of consequences according to the system of the creation of animals which he had sketched out to himself; for of souls the most sluggish and the most weakly formed has been allotted to the race of fishes ; and the most exquisitely endowed soul, that which is in all respects most excellent, has been given to the race of mankind, and one something between the two to the races of terrestrial animals and those which traverse the air ; for the soul of such creatures is endowed with more acute sensations than the soul of fishes, but is more dull than that of mankind. And it was on this account that of all living creatures God created fishes first, inasmuch as they partake of corporeal substance in a greater degree than they partake of soul, being in a manner animals and not animals, moving soulless things, having a sort of semblance of soul diffused through them for no object beyond that of keeping their bodies alive (just as they say that salt preserves meat), in order that they may not easily be destroyed. And after the fishes, he created winged and terrestrial animals : for these are endowed with a higher degree of sensation, and from their formation show that the properties of their animating principle are of a higher order. But after all the rest, then, as has been said before, he created man, to whom he gave that admirable endowment of mind — the soul, if I may so call it, of the soul, as being like the pupil to the eye ; for those who most accurately investigate the natures of things affirm, that it is the pupil which is the eye of the eye.”

“XXIV. And he would not err who should raise the question why Moses attributed the creation of man alone not to one creator, as he did that of other animals, but to several. For he introduces the Father of the universe using this language : "Let us make man after our image, and in our likeness." Had he then, shall I say, need of any one whatever to help him, He to whom all things are subject ? Or, when he was making the heaven aud the earth and the sea, was he in need of no one to co-operate with him ; and yet was he unable himself by Ins own power to make man an animal so short-lived and so exposed to the assaults of fate without the assistance of others ? It is plain that the real cause of his so acting is known to God alone, but one which to a reasonable conjecture appears probable and credible, I think I should not conceal ; and it is this. Of existing things, there are some which partake neither of virtue nor of vice ; as for instance, plants and irrational animals ; the one, because they are destitute of soul, and are regulated by a nature void of sense ; and the other, because they are not endowed with mind or reason. But mind and reason may be looked upon as the abode of virtue and vice ; as it is in them that they seem to dwell. Some things again partake of virtue alone, being without any participation in any kind of vice ; as for instance, the stars, for they are said to be animals, and animals endowed with intelligence ; or I might rather say, the mind of each of them is wholly and entirely virtuous, and unsusceptible of every kind of evil. Some things again are of a mixed nature, like man, who is capable of opposite qualities, of wisdom and folly, of temperance and dissoluteness, of courage and cowardice, of justice and injustice, in short of good and evil, of what is honourable and what is disgraceful, of virtue and vice. Now it was a very appropriate task for God the Father of all to create by himself alone, those things which were wholly good, on account of their kindred with himself. And it was not inconsistent with his dignity to create those which were indifferent since they too are devoid of evil, which is hateful to him. To create the beings of a mixed nature, was partly consistent and partly inconsistent with his dignity ; consistent by reason of the more excellent idea which is mingled in them ; inconsistent because of the opposite and worse one. It is on this account that Moses says, at the creation of man alone that God said, " Let us make man," which expression shows an assumption of other beings to himself as assistants. in order that God, the governor of all things, might have all the blameless intentions and actions of man, when he does right attributed to him ; and that his other assistants might bear the imputation of his contrary actions. For it was fitting that the Father should in the eves of his children be free from all imputation of evil ; and vice and energy in accordance with vice are evil. And very beautifully after he had called the whole race " man," did he distinguish between the sexes, saying, that " they were created male and female ;" although all the individuals of the race had not yet assumed their distinctive form ; since the extreme species are contained in the genus, and are beheld, as in a mirror, by those who are able to discern acutely.”

“XLV. Then, preserving the natural order of things, and having a regard to the connection between what comes afterwards and what has gone before, he says next, "And a fountain went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the earth." For other philosophers affirm that all water is one of the four elements of which the world was composed. But Moses, who was accustomed to contemplate and comprehend matters with a more acute and far-sighted vision, considers thus : the vast sea is an element, being a fourth part of the entire universe, which the men after him denominated the ocean, while they look upon the smaller seas which we sail over in the light of harbours. And he drew a distinction between the sweet and drinkable water and that of the sea, attributing the former to the earth, and considering it a portion of the earth, rather than of the ocean, on account of the reason which I have already mentioned, that is to say, that the earth may be held together by the sweet qualities of the water as by a chain ; the water acting in the manner of glue. For if the earth were left entirely dry, so that no moisture arose and penetrated through its holes rising to the surface in various directions, it would split. But now it is held together, and remains lasting, partly by the force of the wind which unites it, and partly because the moisture does not allow it to become dry, and so to be broken up into larger and smaller fragments. This is one reason : and we must also mention another, which is aimed at the truth like an arrow at a mark. It is not the nature of anything upon the earth to exist without a moist essence. And this is indicated by the throwing of seed, which is either moist, as the seed of animals, or else does not shoot up without moisture, such as the seeds of plants ; from which it is evident that it follows that the aforesaid moist essence must be a portion of the earth which produces everything, just as the flux of the catamenia is a part of women. For by men who are learned in natural philosophy, this also is said to be the corporeal essence of children. Nor is what we are about to say inconsistent with what has been said ; for nature has bestowed upon every mother, as a most indispensable part of her conformation, breasts gushing forth like fountains, having in this manner provided abundant food for the child that is to be born. And the earth also, as it seems, is a mother, from which consideration it occurred to the early ages to call her Demetra, combining the names of mother (.cujnjg), and earth (yrj or dr,). For it is not the earth which imitates the woman, as Plato has said, but the woman who has imitated the earth which the race of poets has been accustomed with truth to call the mother of all things, and the fruit-bearer, and the .giver of all things, since she is at the same time the cause of the generation and durability of all things, to the animals and plants. Rightly, therefore, did nature bestow on the earth as the eldest and most fertile of mothers, streams of rivers, and fountains like breasts, in order that the plants might be watered, and that all living things might have abundant supplies of drink. XL VI. After this, Moses says that " God made man, having taken clay from the earth, and he breathed into his face the breath of life." And by this expression he shows most clearly that there is a vast difference between man as generated now, and the first man who was made according to the image of God. For man as formed now is perceptible to the external senses, partaking of qualities, consisting of body and soul, man or woman, by nature mortal. But man, made according to the image of God, was an idea, or a genus, or a seal, perceptible only by the intellect, incorporeal, neither male nor female, imperishable by nature. But he asserts that the formation of the individual man, perceptible by the external senses is a composition of earthy substance, and divine spirit. For that the body was created by the Creator taking a lump of clay, and fashioning the human form out of it ; but that the soul proceeds from no created thing at all, but from the Father and Ruler of all things. For when he uses the expression, " he breathed into," &c, he means nothing else than the divine spirit proceeding from that happy and blessed nature, sent to take up its habitation here on earth, for the advantage of our race, in order that, even if man is mortal according to that portion of him which is visible, he may at all events be immortal according to that portion which is invisible ; and for this reason, one may properly say that man is on the boundaries of a better and an immortal nature, partaking of each as far as it is necessary for him ; and that he was born at the same time, both mortal and the immortal. Mortal as to his body, but immortal as to his intellect. XL VII. But the original man, he who was created out of the clay, the primeval founder of all our race, appears to me to have been most excellent in both particulars, in both soul and body, and to have been very far superior to all the men of subsequent ages from his pre-eminent excellence in both parts. For he in truth was really good and perfect. And one may form a conjecture of the perfection of his bodily beauty from three considerations, the first of which is this : when the earth was now but lately formed by its separation from that abundant quantity of water which was called the sea, it happened that the materials out of which the things just created were formed were unmixed, uncorrupted, and pure ; and the things made from this material were naturally free from all imperfection. The second consideration is that it is not likely that God made this figure in the present form of a man, working with the most sublime care, after he had taken the clay from any chance portion of earth, but that he selected carefully the most excellent clay of all the earth, of the pure material choosing the finest and most carefully sifted portion, such as was especially fit for the formation of the work which he had in hand. For it was an abode or sacred temple for a reasonable soul which was being made, the image of which he was about to carry in his heart, being the most God-like looking of images. The third consideration is one which admits of no comparison with those which have been already mentioned, namely, this : the Creator was good both in other respects, and also in knowledge, so that every one of the parts of the body had separately the numbers which were suited to it, and was also accurately completed in the admirable adaptation to the share in the universe of which it was to partake. And after he had endowed it with fair proportions, he clothed it with beauty of flesh, and embellished it with an exquisite complexion, wishing, as far as was possible, that man should appear the most beautiful of beings. XLVI1I. And. that he is superior to all these animals in regard of his soul, is plain. For God does not seem to have availed himself of any other animal existing in creation as his model in the formation of man ; but to have been guided, as I have said before, by his own reason alone. On which account, Moses affirms that this man was an image and imitation of God, being breathed into in his face in which is the place of the sensations, by which the Creator endowed the body with a soul. Then, having placed the mind in the dominant part as king, he gave him as a body of satellites, the different powers calculated to perceive colours and sounds, and flavours and odours, and other things of similar kinds, which man could never have distinguished by Ins own resources without the sensations. And it follows of necessity that an imitation of a perfectly beautiful model must itself be perfectly beautiful, for the word of God surpasses even that beauty which exists in the nature which is perceptible only by the external senses, not being embellished by any adventitious beauty, but being itself, if one must speak the truth, its most exquisite embellishment.”

“II. " And on the sixth day God finished his work which he had made." It would be a sign of great simplicity to think that the world was created in six days, or indeed at all in time ; because all time is only the space of days and nights, and these things the motion of the sun as he passes over the earth and under the earth does necessarily make. But the sun is a portion of heaven, so that one must confess that time Genesis ii. 1. ON THE ALLEGOHIES OF THE SACKED LAW?. 53 is a thing posterior to the world. Therefore it would be correctly said that the world was not created in time, but that time had its existence in consequence of the world. For it is the motion of the heaven that has displayed the nature of time. When, therefore, Moses says. " God completed his works on the sixth day," we must understand that he is speaking not of a number of days, but that he takes six as a perfect number. Since it is the first number which is equal in its parts, in the half, and the third and sixth parts, and since it is produced by the multiplication of two unequal factors, two aud three. And the numbers two and three exceed the incorporeality which exists in the unit ; because the number two is an image of matter being divided into two parts and dissected like matter. And the number three is an image of a solid body, because a solid can be divided according to a threefold division. Not but what it is also akin to the motions of organic animals. For an organic body is naturally capable of motion in six directions, forward, backwards, upwards, downwards, to the right, ar.d to the left. And at all events he desires to show that the races of mortal, and also of all the immortal beings, exist according to their appropriate numbers ; measuring mortal beings, as I have said, by the number six, and the blessed and immortal beings by the number seven. First, therefore, having desisted from the creation of mortal creatures on the seventh day, he began the formation of other and more divine beings.”

“VII. " And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it." God blesses the manners which are formed in accordance with the seventh and divine light, as being truly light, and immediately declares them holy. For that which is blessed, and that which is holy, are closely connected with one another. On this account he says, concerning him who has vowed a great vow, that " If a sudden change comes over him, and pollutes his mind, he shall no longer be holy." But the previous days were not taken into the calculation, as was natural, For those manners which are not holy are not counted, so that which is blessed is alone holy. Correctly therefore, did Moses say that " God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it," because on it he "caused to rest from all his works which he had begun to make." And this is the reason why he who lives and conducts himself in accordance with the seventh and perfect light is blessed and holy, since it is in accordance with his nature, that the creation of mortal beings was terminated. For the case is thus : when the light of virtue, which is brilliant and really divine, rises up, then the generation of the contrary nature is checked. And we have shown that God never desists from creating something, but that when he appears to do so he is only beginning the creation of something else ; as being not only, the Creator, but also the Father of everything which exists.”

“XII. " And God created man, taking a lump of clay from the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life : and man became a living soul." The races of men are twofold ; for one is the heavenly man, and the other the earthly man. Now the heavenly man, as being born in the image of God, has no participation in any corruptible or earth-like essence. But the earthly man is made of loose material, which ho calls a lump of clay, On which account he says, not that the heavenly man was made, but that he was fashioned according to the imao-e of God ; but the earthly man he calls a thing made, and not begotten by the maker. And we must consider that the man who was formed of earth, means the mind which is to be infused into the body, but which has not yet been so infused. And this mind would be really earthly and corruptible, if it. were not that God had breathed into it the spirit of genuine life ; for then it " exists," and is no longer made into a soul ; and its soul is not inactive, and incapable of proper formation, but a really intellectual and living one. " For man," says Moses, " became a living soul."”

“XIV. "And God planted a paradise in Eden, in the east : and there he placed the man whom he had formed :" for he called that divine and heavenly wisdom by many names ; and he made it manifest that it had many appellations ; for he called it the beginning, and the image, and the sight of God. And now he exhibits the wisdom which is conversant about the things of the earth (as being an imitation of this archetypal wisdom), in the plantation of this Paradise. For let not such impiety ever occupy our thoughts as for us to suppose that God cultivates the land and plants paradises, since if we were to do so, we should be presently raising the question of why he does so : for it could not be that he might provide himself with pleasant places of recreation and pastime, or with amusement. Let not such fabulous nonsense ever enter our minds ; for even the whole world would not be a worthy place or habitation for God, since he is a place to himself, and he himself is full of himself, and he himself is sufficient for himself, filling up and surrounding everything else which is deficient in any respect, or deserted, or empty ; but he himself is surrounded by nothing else, as being himself one and the universe. God therefore sow3 and implants terrestrial virtue in the human race, being an imitation and representation of the heavenly virtue. For, pitying our race, and seeing that it is exposed to abundant and innumerable evils, he firmly planted terrestrial virtue as an assistant against and warder-off of the diseases of the soul ; being, as I have said before, an imitation of the heavenly and archetypal wisdom which he calls by various names. Now virtue is called a paradise metaphorically, and the appropriate place for the paradise is Eden : and this means luxury : and the most appropriate field for virtue is peace, and ease, and joy ; in which real luxury especially consists. Moreover, the plantation of this paradise is represented in the east ; for right reason never sets, and is never extinguished, but it is its nature to be always rising. And as I imagine, the rising sun fills the darkness of the air with light, so also does virtue when it has arisen in the soul, irradiate its mist and dissipate the dense darkness. " And there," says Moses, " he placed the man whom he had formed :" for God being good, and having formed our race for virtue, as his work which Genesis ii. 8. C-l PITILO JUDiEUS. was most akin to himself, places the mind in virtue, evidently in order that it, like a good husband, may cultivate and attend to nothing else except virtue.”

“XV. And some one may ask here, why, since it is a pious action to imitate the works of God, it is forbidden to me to plant a grove near the altar, and yet God plants a paradise ? For Moses says, "You shall not plant a grove for yourself; you shall not make for yourself any tree which is near the altar of the Lord your God.'' What then are we to say? That it is right for God to plant and to build up the virtues in the soul. But the selfish and atheistical mind, thinking itself equal with God while it appears to be doing something, is found in reality to be rather suffering. And though God sows and plants good things in the soul, the mind which says, " I plant," is acting impiously. You shall not plant therefore where God is planting : but if, 0 mind, you fix plants in the soul, take care to plant only such trees as bear fruit, and not a grove ; for in a grove there are trees of a character to bear cultivation, and also wild trees. But to plant vice, which is unproductive in the soul, along with cultivated and fertile virtue, is the act of a double-natured and confused leprosy. If, however, you bring into the same place things which ought not to be mingled' together, you must separate and disjoin them from the pure and incorrupt nature which is accustomed to make blameless offerings to God ; and this is his altar ; for it is inconsistent with this to say that there is any such thing as a work of the soul, when all thing's are referred to God, and to mingle barren things with those which are productive ; for this would be faulty : but they are blameless things which are offered to God. If therefore you transgress any one of these laws, 0 soul! you will be injuring yourself, not God. On this account God says, " You shall not plant for yourself :" for no one works for God, and especially what is evil does not. And again, Moses adds: "You shall not make for yourself." And in another place he says, " You shall not make gods of silver with me, and you shall not make gods of gold for yourselves." For he who conceives either that God has any distinctive quality, or that he is not one, or that he is not uncreated and imperishable, or that he is not unchangeable, injures himself and not God. " For you shall not make Deuteronomy xvi, 21. thern for yourselves," is what he says. For we must conceive that God is free from distinctive qualities, and imperishable, and unchangeable ; and he who does not conceive thus of him is filling his own soul with false and atheistical opinions. Do you not see that — even though God were to conduct us to virtue, and though when we had been thus conducted we were to plant no tree which was barren, but only such as produce fruit, he would still command us to purify its impurity, that is to say, the appearing to plant. For he here orders us to cut away vain opinions; and vain opinions are a thing impure by nature.”

“XX. "'The name of one river is Pheison. This is that Genesis ii. 13. OX THE ALLEGORIES OF THE SACRED LAWS. G9 river which encircles all the land of Evilat ; there is the country where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good ; there also are the carbuncle and the sapphire stone." One of the four virtues is prudence, which Moses here calls Pheison : because the soul abstains from, and guards against, acts of iniquity. And it meanders in a circle, and flows all round the land of Evilat ; that is to say. it preserves a mild, and gentle, and favourable constitution. And as of all fusible essences, the most excellent and the most illustrious is gold, so also the virtue of the soul which enjoys the highest reputation, is prudence. And when he uses the expression, " that is the country where there is gold," he is not speaking geographically, that is, where gold exists, but that is the country in which that valuable possession exists, brilliant as gold, tried in the fire, aud .valuable, namely, prudence. And this is confessed to be the most valuable possession of God. But with reference to the geographical position of virtue, there are two personages, each invested with distinctive qualities. One, the being who has prudence, the other, the being who exerts it ; and these he likens to the carbuncle and the emerald. XXI, " And the name of the second river is Gihon. This is that which encircles all the land of Ethiopia." Under the symbol of this river courage is intended. For the name of Gihon being interpreted means chest, or an animal which attacks with its horns ; each of which interpretations is emblematical of courage. For courage has its abode about the chest, where also is the seat of the heart, and where man is prepared to defend himself. For courage is the knowledge of what is to be withstood, and of what is not to be withstood, and of what is indifferent. And it encircles and surrounds Ethiopia, making demonstrations of war against it ; and the name of Ethiopia, being interpreted, means humiliation. And cowardice is a humiliating thing; but courage is adverse to humiliation and to cowardice. " And the third river is the Tigris ; this is that which flows in front of Assyria." The third virtue is temperance, which resolutely opposes that kind of pleasure which appears to be the directress of human infirmity. For the translation of the name Assyrians in the Greek tongue is ibQvvovrsc, (directors). Qeicrujv, from QtiSopai, to spare, or abstain from. 70 And he has likened desire to a tiger, which is the most untaineahle of beasts ; it being desire about which temperance is conversant.”

“XXVIII. "And the Lord God took the man whom he had made and placed him in the Paradise, to cultivate and to guard it." The man whom God made differs from the factitious man, as I have said before. For the factitious mind is somewhat earthly ; but the created mind is purer and more immaterial, haviug no participation in any perishable matter, but having received a purer and more simple constitution. Accordingly God takes this pure mind, not permitting it to proceed out of itself, and after he has taken it, he places it among the virtues winch are firmly rooted and budding well, that it may cultivate and guard them. For many men who were originally pracof virtue, when they come to the end fall off; but he to whom God gives lasting knowledge is also endowed by him with both qualities, namely with the disposition to cultivate the virtues, and the resolution never to desert them, but always to minister to and guard every one of them. So Moses here uses the expression "cultivate" as equivalent to "act," and the word " guard" instead of " remember."”

“XXXIII. Accordingly God says, " In the day in which ye eat of it ye shall die the death." And yet, though they have eaten of it, they not only do not die, but they even beget children, and are the causes of life to other beings besides themselves. What, then, are we to say? Surely that death is of two kinds ; the one being the death of the man, the other the peculiar death of the soul — now the death of the man is the separation of his soul from his body, but the death of the soul is the destruction of virtue and the admission of vice ; and consequently God calls that not merely " to die," but " to die the death;" showing that he is speaking not of common death, but of that peculiar and especial death which is the death of the soul, buried in its passions and in all kinds of evil. And we may almost say that one kind of death is opposed to the other kind. For the one is the separation of what was previously existing in combination, namely, of body and soul. But this other death, on the contrary, is a combination of them both, the inferior one, the body, having the predominance, and the superior one, the soul, being made subject to it When, therefore, God says, "to die the death," you must remark that he is speaking of that death which is inflicted as punishment, and not of that which exists by the original ordinance of nature. The natural death is that one by which the soul is separated from the body. But the one which is inflicted as a punishment, is when the soul dies according to the life of virtue, and lives only according to the life of vice. Well, therefore, did Heraclitus say this, following the doctrine of Moses; for he says, " We are living according to the death of those men; and we have died according to their life." As if he had said, Now, when we are alive, we are so though our soul is dead and buried in our body, as if in a tomb. But if it were to die, then our soul would live according to its proper life, being released from the evil and dead body to which it is bound. THE SECOND BOOK OF THE TREATISE ON THE ALLEGORIES OF THE SACKED LAWS, AFTER THE WORK OF THE SIX DAYS OF CREATION.”

“I. "And the Lord God said, It is not good for man to be alone : let us make him a help meet for him." Why, 0 prophet, is it not good for man to be alone ? Because, says he, it is good, that he who is alone should be alone. But God is alone, and by himself, being one ; and there is nothing like unto God. So that, since it is good that he who only has a real existence should be alone (for that which is about itself alone is good), it cannot be good for man to be alone. But the fact of God being alone one may receive in this sense ; that neither before the creation was there anything with God, nor, since the world has been created, is anything placed in the same rank with him; for he is in need of absolutely nothing whatever. But the better way of understanding this passage is the following : God is alone : a single being : not a combination : a single nature : but each of us, and every other animal in the world, are compound beings: for instance, I myself am made ON TIIE ALLEGORIES OF THE SACRED LAWS. -81 up of many things, of soul and body. Again, the soul is made up of a rational part and an irrational part : also of the body, there is one part hot, another cold ; one heavy, another light ; one dry, another moist. But God is not a compound being, nor one which is made up of many parts, but one which has no mixture with anything else ; for whatever could be combined with God must be either superior to him, or inferior to him, or equal to him. But there is nothing equal to God, and nothing superior to him, and nothing is combined with him which is worse than himself; for if it were, he himself would be deteriorated ; and if he were to suffer deterioration, he would also become perishable, which it is impious even to imagine. Therefore God exists according to oneness and unity ; or we should rather say, that oneness exists according to the one God, for all number is more recent than the world, as is also time. But God is older than the world, and is its Creator.”

“IV. Now of assistants there are two kinds, the one consisting in the passions and the other in the sensations. ... A word or two are lost here. Pfeiffer thinks that several sentences are wanting; and there is a great want of connection between what follows and what has gone before. OX THE ALLEGORIES OF THE SACRED LAWS. 53 But the prior kind is that of generation, for Moses says, " And God proceeded and made all the beasts of the field out of the earth, and all the birds of heaven ; and he brought them to Adam to see what he would call them, and whatever Adam called any living soul that became its name." You see here who are our assistants, the beasts of the soul, the passions. For after God had said, " I will make him a helpmeet for him," Moses adds subsequently, " He made the beasts," as if the beasts also were assistants to us. But these are not, properly speaking, assistants, but are called so only in a catachrestic manner, by a kind of abuse of language, for they are found in reality to be enemies to man. As also in the case of cities, the allies turn out at times to be traitors and deserters ; and in the case of friendship, flatterers are found to be enemies instead of companions ; and Moses here speaks of the heaven and the field synonymously, describing the mind in this allegorical manner ; for the mind, like the field, has innumerable periods of rising and budding forth; and, like the heaven, has brilliant, and divine, and happy characteristics of nature. But the passions he compares to beasts and birds, because they injure the mind, being untamed and wild, and because, after the manner of birds, they descend upon the intellect ; for their onset is swift and difficult to withstand ; and the word " besides," as attached to 4i he made," is not superfluous. Why so? because he has previously said, that the beasts were formed before the creation of man, and he shows it in the following words, which are an account of what was done on the sixth day. "And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, four-footed animals, and creeping things, and wild beasts." Why, then, is it that he makes other animals now, not being content with those already existing? now this must be stated according to the principles of moral philosophy. The species of evil are abundant in created man, so that the most evil things are continually produced in him ; and this other thing must be affirmed on principles of natural philosophy. First of all, in the six days he created the different kinds of passions, and the ideas, but now, in addition to them, he is creating the species. On which account Moses says, " And besides he made . . ." and that what had been G 2 ' previously created were genera is plain from what he says, " Let the earth bring forth living souls," not according to species but according to genus. And this is found to be the course taken by God in all cases ; for before making the species he completes the genera, as he did in the case of man : for having first modelled the generic man, in whom they say that the male and female sexes are contained, he afterwards created the specific man Adam.”

“VII. " And God cast a deep trance upon Adam, and sent him to sleep ; and he took one of his ribs," and so on. The literal statement conveyed in these words is a fabulous one ; for how can any one believe that a woman was made of a rib of a man, or, in short, that any human being was made out of another ? And what hindered God, as he had made man out of the earth, from making woman in the same manner ? For the Creator was the same, and the material was almost interminable, from which every distinctive quality whatever was made. And why, when there were so many parts of a man, did not God make the woman out of some other part rather than out of one of his ribs ? Again, of which rib did he make her ? And this question would hold even if we were to say, that he had only spoken of two ribs ; but in truth he has not specified their number. Was it then the right rib, or the left rib '? Again, if he filled up the place of the other with flesh, was not the one which he left also made of flesh ? and indeed, our ribs are like sisters, and akin in all their parts, and they consist of flesh. What then are we to say ? ordinary custom calls the ribs the strength of a man ; for we say that a man has ribs, which is equivalent to saying that he has vigour; and we say that a wrestler is a man with strong ribs, when we mean to express that he is strong : and we say that a harpplayer has ribs, instead of saying that he has energy and power in his singing. Now that this has been premised we must also say, that the mind, while naked and free from the entanglement of the body (for our present discussion is about the mind, while it is as yet entangled in nothing) has many powers, namely, the possessive power, the progenitive power, the power of the soul, the power of reason, the power of comprehension, and part of others innumerable both in their genus and species. Now the possessive power is common to it with other inanimate things, with stocks and stones, and it is shared by the things in us, which are like stones, namely, by our bones. And natural power extends also over plants : and there are parts in us which have some resemblance to plants, namely, our nails and our hair : and nature is a habit already put in motion, but the soul is a habit which has taken to itself, in addition, imagination and impetuosity ; and this power also is possessed by man in common with the irrational animals ; and our mind has something analogous to the soul of an irrational animal. • Again, the power of comprehension is a peculiar property of the mind ; and the reasoning power is perhaps common to the more divine natures, but is especially the property of the mortal nature of man : and this is a twofold power, one kind being that in accordance with which we are rational creatures, partaking of mind ; and the other kind being that faculty by which we converse. There is also another power in the soul akin to these, the power of sensation, of which we are now speaking ; for Moses is describing nothing else on this occasion except the formation of the external sense, according to energy and according to reason.”

“IX. After this preface w-e must now proceed to explain the words : " The Lord God," says Moses, " cast a deep trance upon Adam, and sent him to sleep." He speaks here with great correctness, for a trance and perversion of the mind is its sleep. And the mind is rendered beside itself when it ceases to be occupied about the things perceptible only by the intellect which present themselves to it. And when it is not energizing with respect to them it is asleep. And the expression, ,kit is in a trance," is very well employed, as it means that it is perverted and changed, not by itself, but by God, who presents to it, and brings before it, and sends upon it the change which occurs to it. For the case is this : — if it were in my own power to be changed, then whenever I chose I should exercise this power, and whenever I did not choose I should continue as I am, without any change. But now change attacks me from an opposite direction, and very often when I am desirous to turn my intellect to some fitting subject, I am swallowed up by an influx contrary to what is fitting ; and on the other hand, when I conceive an idea respecting something unseemly, I discard it by means of pleasant notions while God by his own grace pours into my soul a sweet stream instead of the salt flood. It is necessary therefore, that even' created thing should at times be changed. For this is a property of every created thing, just as it is an attribute of God to be unchangeable. But of these beings who have been changed, some remain in their altered state till their final and complete destruction, though others are only exposed to the ordinary vicissitudes of human nature ; and they are immediately preserved. On which account Moses says that " God will not suffer the destroyer to enter into your houses to smite them." For he does permit the destroyer (and change is the destruction of the soul) to enter into the soul, in order to exhibit the peculiar characteristic of the created being. But God will not permit the offspring of the seeing Israel to be changed in such a manner as to be stricken down by the change ; but he will compel it to emerge and rise up again like one who rises up from the deep, and so he will cause it to be saved.”

“XII. " And he brought her to Adam. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh." God leads the external sense, existing according to energy, to the mind ; knowing that its motion and apprehension must turnback to the mind. But the mind, perceiving the power which it previously had (and winch, while it was existing according to habit was in a state of tranquillity), now have to become a complete operation and energy, and to be in a state of motion, marvels at it, and utters an exclamation, saying that it is not unconnected with it, but very closely akin to it. For Adam says, " This now is bone of my bone ;" that is to say, This is power of my power ; for bone is here to be understood as a symbol of strength and power. And it is, he adds, suffering of my sufferings ; that is, it is flesh of my flesh. For every thing which the external sense suffers, it endures not without the support of the mind ; for the mind is its fountain, and the foundation on which it is supported. It is also worth while to consider why Adam added the word "now," for he says, "This now is bone of my hone."' The explanation is, external sensation exists now, having its existence solely with reference to the present moment. For the mind touches three separate points of time ; for it perceives present circumstances, and it remembers past events, and it anticipates the future. But the external sensations have neither any anticipation of future events, nor are they subject to any feeling resembling expectation or hope, nor have they any recollection of past circumstances ; but are by nature capable only of being affected by that which moves them at the moment, and is actually present. As, for example, the eye is made white by a white appearance presented to it at the moment, but it is not affected in any manner by that which is not present to it. But the mind is agitated also by that which is not actually present, but which may be past ; in which case it is affected by its recollection of it ; or it may be future, in which case it is, indeed, the influence of hope and expectation.”

“XIII. " And she shall be called woman." This is equivalent to saying, On this account the outward sensation shall be called woman, because it is derived from man who sets it in motion. He say3 " she ;" why, then, is the expression " she" used? Why, because there is also another kind of outward sensation, not derived from the mind, but having been created at the same moment with it. For there are, as I have said before, two different kinds of outward sensation ; the one kind existing according to habit, and the other according to energy. Nov.-, the kind existing according to habit is not derived from the man, that is to say from the mind, but is created at the same time with him. For the mind, as I have already shown, when it was created was created with many faculties and habits ; namely, with the faculty and habit of reasoning, and of existing, and of promoting what is like itself, as also with that of receiving impressions from the outward senses. But the outward sensation, which exists according to energy, is derived from the mind. For it is extended from the outward sensation which exists in it according to habit, so as to become the same outward sense according to energy. So that this second kind of outward sense is derived from the mind, and exists according to motion. And he is but a foolish person who thinks that any thing is in true reality made out of the mind, or out of itself. Do you not see that even in the case of Rachel (that is to say of outward sensation) sitting upon the images, while she thought that her motions came from the mind, he who saw her reproved her. For she says, " Give me my children, and if you give them not to me I shall die." And he replied : " Because, 0 mistaken woman, the mind is not the cause of any thing, but he which existed before the mind ; namely God." On which account he adds : " Am I equal to God who has deprived you of the fruit of your womb ? " But that it is God who creates men, he will testify in the case' of Leah, when he says, " But the Lord, when he saw that Leah was hated, opened her womb. But Rachel was barren. "f But it is the especial property of man to open the womb. Now naturally virtue is hated by men. On which account God has honoured it, and gives the honour of bearing the first child to her who is hated. And in another passage he says : " But if a man has two wives, one of them being loved and one of them being hated, and if they bear him children, and if the first-born son be the child of her who is hated ; he will not be able to give the honours of the birthright to the child of the wife whom he loves, overlooking the first-born son the child of her who is hated. "J For the productions of virtue which is hated, are the first and the most perfect, but those of pleasure, which is loved, are the last.”

“XIV. " On this account a man will leave his father and his mother and will cleave to his wife ; and they two shall become one flesh." On account of the external sensation, the mind, when it has become enslaved to it, shall leave both its father, the God of the universe, and the mother of all things, namely, the virtue and wisdom of God, and cleaves to and becomes united to the external sensations, and is dissolved into external sensation, so that the two become one flesh and one passion. And here you must observe that it is not the woman who cleaves to the man, but on the contrary, the man who cleaves to the woman ; that is to say, the mind cleaves to the external sensations. For when that which is the better, namely, the mind. is united to that which is the worse, namely, the external sensation, it is then dissolved into the nature of flesh, whicb • Gen. xxx. 1. + Gen. xxix. 31. % Deut. xxi. 15. is worse, and into outward sensation, which is the cause of the passions. But when that which is the inferior, namely, the outward sensation, follows the hetter part, that is the mind, then there will no longer be flesh, but both will become one, namely, mind. And this is a thing of such a nature that it prefers the affections to piety. There is also another being called by an opposite name, Levi ; he who says to his father and mother : " He saw you not, and he did not recognize his brethren, and repudiated his children."' This man leaves his father and mother ; that is to say, his mind and the material of his body, in order to have as his inheritance the one God ; " For the Lord himself is his inheritance. "f And, indeed, suffering is the inheritance of him who is fond of suffering ; but the inheritance of Levi is God. Do you not see that " he bids him on the tenth day of the month bring two goats as his share, one lot for the Lord and one lot for the scape-goat."^ For the sufferings inflicted on the scape goat are in real truth the lot of him who is fond of suffering.”