On Flight and Finding

1 "And Sarah afflicted her, and she fled from before her face. And the angel of the Lord found her sitting by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by a fountain which is in the way to Shur. And the angel of the Lord said to her: ‘Handmaiden of Sarah, where have you come from? and where are you going?' And she answered and said: ‘I am fleeing from the face of Sarah, my mistress.' And the angel of the Lord said to her: ‘Return to your mistress, and be humbled beneath her hands.' And the angel of the Lord said to her: ‘Look, you are pregnant, and you shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard the cry of your humiliation. He shall be a rough man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against Him." 2 Having said in our previous treatise what was fitting about the preliminary branches of education and about affliction, we will now go on in regular order to discuss the topic of fugitives. Moses often mentions people who flee, as here he says of Hagar that, being afflicted, she fled from the face of her mistress. 3 I think, then, that there are three causes of flight: hatred, fear and shame. Women leave their husbands out of hatred, and for the same reason men desert their wives. But children flee from their parents, and servants from their masters, out of fear. And lastly, friends avoid their companions out of shame, when they have done something that displeases them. And I have known fathers before now who led a life of effeminate luxury, who revered the austere and philosophical lives of their sons and out of shame preferred to live in the country rather than in the city. 4 Instances of all three of these causes can be found revealed in the sacred scriptures. So Jacob, the practitioner of virtue, fled from his father-in-law Laban out of hatred, and from his brother Esau out of fear, as I shall show shortly. 5 But Hagar flees out of shame. And the proof of this is that the angel, that is, the word of God, met her intending to advise her what she ought to do and to guide her back to her mistress's house. For he encouraged her, and said to her: "The Lord has heard the cry of your humiliation," which you uttered, not out of fear, nor out of hatred. For the first is the feeling of an ignoble soul and the second the feeling of a soul that loves contention; you uttered it instead under the influence of shame, that copy of temperance and modesty. 6 For if she had fled out of fear, he would naturally have urged her mistress, who was holding threats over her to frighten her, to comfort her and restore her to tranquillity. For then it would have been safe for the fugitive to return, and not before. But no one intercedes with her mistress for her, since she had already been appeased of her own accord. But this angel, who is reproof, both friendly and full of advice, out of goodwill teaches her not only to feel shame but also to have confidence, for modesty separated from proper boldness is only half a virtue. 7 So the account that follows will show these characteristics more accurately. But we must return to the main points of the question we have already set out, and begin with those who flee out of hatred. "For," says the scripture, "Jacob concealed his purpose from Laban the Syrian, so as not to tell him that he was fleeing, and he fled, he and all that he had." 8 What then was the cause of his hatred? For perhaps you want to hear this. Some people make gods for themselves out of substance devoid of all distinctive quality, species and shape; they neither know the cause that sets things in motion nor show any eagerness to learn from those who do know, but are content with their ignorance and their lack of understanding of the most important kind of learning, which was in fact the first and only thing it was absolutely necessary to labour to understand. 9 Laban is one of these people, for the sacred scriptures attribute to him a flock devoid of all distinctive marks. In the universe, matter, having no distinctive characteristics, is without any marks, and so in men is the soul that lacks learning and has no instructors. 10 But others, who belong to a better portion, say that mind has come and arranged everything, bringing all existing things out of the disorder that arose from an ochlocracy among them into the order established by the legitimate authority of kingly power. Jacob, who presides over the marked and many-coloured flock, is a follower of this company. Species in the universe, on the other hand, is distinguished by marks and varied in colour, and so in men is the mind that is well instructed and fond of learning. 11 And the one who is marked, the companion of true kingly power, having received from nature a large share of social affection, goes to the one who has no distinguishing marks, who, as I have said, makes gods for himself of the material powers and thinks that apart from them nothing has any effective cause, to teach him that his opinions are wrong. 12 For the world has been created, and has certainly derived its existence from some outside cause. But the Creator's word itself is the seal by which each existing thing is given form. Accordingly, perfect species also follows created things from the very beginning, since it is an impression and image of the perfect word. 13 For when an animal is first created it is imperfect in quantity, and the proof of this is the gradual growth that takes place at each successive age. But it is perfect in quality. For the same quality remains in it, since it was stamped on it by the divine word, which abides permanently and never changes. 14 But seeing that the other man is dumb toward learning and toward all desirable and legitimate authority, he very naturally thinks of flight. For he is afraid that, besides gaining no advantage, he may even be harmed. For all association with the foolish injures us, and very often the soul is stamped against its will with the impression of their insanity. And in truth, instruction is by nature hostile to ignorance, as industry is to indifference. 15 This is why the powers devoted to practice and meditation, once they are set free, cry out, giving a full account of the causes of their hatred: "Do we no longer have a share and an inheritance in the house of our father? Are we now regarded as aliens by him? For he has sold us, and he has eaten up and devoured our money. All the wealth and all the glory which God took from our father shall belong to us and to our children." 16 For those who are free both in name and in mind do not regard any foolish person as either rich or glorious, but look on all such people, so to speak, as inglorious and poor, even if their fortune exceeds that of wealthy kings. For they do not say that they will have the riches of their father, but the riches which have been taken away; nor do they say that they will possess his glory, but the glory which has been taken away from him. 17 But the wicked man is deprived of all genuine riches and of all true and honourable glory; for these blessings are acquired through wisdom, and temperance, and the kindred dispositions of the soul, and are inherited by those souls which love virtue. 18 So the abundance and the glory of the good are not the things that belong to the wicked man, but the things he is destitute of. And he is destitute of the virtues that are their possession, so that what is said elsewhere agrees with the passage already quoted: "Let us sacrifice the abominations of Egypt to the Lord our God." For the virtues are perfect and blameless offerings, and so are the actions in accordance with virtue, which the Egyptian body, devoted to the passions, abominates; 19 for just as, in this passage, the things that the Egyptians count profane by the principles of natural philosophy are called sacred by the Israelites, who see acutely, and are all offered as sacrifices, so the man who is the companion of virtue will inherit the things every foolish man is deprived and destitute of. And these things are true glory, which in fact differs in no way from knowledge, and wealth: not blind wealth, but the most sharp-sighted of all existing things, which never accepts any base money, or indeed anything lifeless at all, unless it has been thoroughly tested and approved. 20 So that person will very naturally flee from the one who has no share in divine blessings, who, even in the charges he brings against another, unknowingly accuses himself as well when he says, "If you had told me I would have sent you away." For this very thing was good reason to desert you, if you, the servant of countless masters, pretended to have been given command and authority and proclaimed liberty to others. 21 But I, he says, did not take a man as my helper on the road that leads to virtue; I listened to the divine oracles that commanded me to leave this place, and that still direct my course. 22 And how would you have sent me away? Surely, as you boast in pompous language, with a joy that would have been sorrow to me, with music that would have been no music, with dances and noises devoid of articulate sound and of reason, striking blows on the soul through the ears, and with the harp and sounds unsuited to the lyre and to harmony, which are not so much instruments as the actions of a whole life. But these are the very things that made me plan my flight; you, it seems, intended to drag me back from it, so that the deceitful and seductive nature of the external senses would make me return, though I could scarcely let myself be carried forward by them. 23 Hatred, then, was the cause of the flight I have been describing here, but fear was the cause of the one I am about to mention. For, says the sacred historian, Rebekkah said to Jacob, "Look, Esau your brother threatens to kill you: now therefore, my son, hear my voice, and rise up, and flee to Laban my brother, to Charran, and dwell with him certain days, until the anger of your brother is turned away, and he forgets what you have done to him; and then I will send and bring you back from there." 24 For there was good reason to fear that the worse part of the soul, lying in ambush or advancing openly to attack, might overthrow and cast down the better part; and so the counsel of right-minded perseverance, Rebekkah, was very good. 25 But, she says, when you see the bad man charging in with great violence against virtue, setting great store by things it is more proper to disregard, such as wealth, glory and pleasure, and praising unjust actions as the cause of all the advantages just mentioned: for we see that those who act unjustly are, for the most part, men with much silver, much gold and a high reputation. Do not, then, turn away to the opposite road and devote yourself to a life of poverty, humiliation, austerity and solitude, for by doing so you will provoke your adversary and arm a more bitter enemy against yourself. 26 So consider now how you may avoid his attacks: apply yourself to the same things (I do not mean the same pursuits, but the same things that are the efficient causes of what has been mentioned): to honours, to offices of authority, to silver, to gold, to possessions, to money, to colours, to forms, to extreme refinement; and when you come upon such things, then, like a skilful workman, impress the most beautiful appearance on the material and bring a most excellent work to completion. 27 Do you not know that if a man who knows nothing of navigation takes charge of a ship that might otherwise have reached harbour safely, he capsizes it? and that a skilful pilot has often saved a ship that would otherwise have been lost? And that some sick people have suffered severely from disease because of the lack of skill of those treating them, while others, through the skill of their doctors, have escaped dangerous illnesses? But why go on at length on this point? Things done with skill always convict those done unskilfully, and the true praise of the one is an unerring accusation of the other. 28 So if you wish to convict a wicked man who also has great wealth, do not disdain an abundance of money; for the unhappy man will soon show himself in his true colours, either as a mean, slavish-minded skinflint who pares people down with usury, or else as a profligate and intemperate spendthrift, very ready to devour and to squander, and a most zealous companion of prostitutes, brothel-keepers, pimps and every kind of profligate company. 29 But you will instead give your contributions to those who need friends, will do favours for your country and be generous to it, and will help provide for the daughters of needy parents, giving them an ample dowry on top of their inheritance; and in fact, putting very nearly all your own property into the common stock, you will invite all who deserve favour to share in it. 30 In the same way, when you wish to rebuke a wicked man who is mad with self-conceit and full of boasting, and you yourself are able to attain distinguished honours, do not disdainfully reject the praise of the crowd: for in this way you will trip up and supplant the wretched man who struts with long strides and gives himself airs. For he will abuse his own renown to treat those better than himself with insolence and scorn, promoting worse men and setting them above the better; while you, by contrast, will give all worthy people a share in your renown, in this way giving security to the good and improving the less good by your admonitions. 31 And if you ever go to a drinking party or to a costly entertainment, go with confidence; for you will put to shame the intemperate man by your own dexterity. For he, throwing himself on his belly and opening his insatiable desires even before his mouth, will gorge himself most shamelessly and indecently, grab what belongs to his neighbour and lick up everything without thinking. And when he has eaten his fill and then drinks, as the poets say, with his mouth wide open, he will make himself an object of laughter and ridicule to everyone who sees him. 32 But take a moderate course without being forced to, and if you are ever compelled to indulge yourself beyond moderation, still make reason the governor of the necessity, never going so far as to turn pleasure into unpleasantness, but, if we may put it this way, be drunk soberly. 33 Here, then, truth may with good reason blame those who, without any examination, abandon the business and means of ordering civil life and say they have learned to despise glory and pleasure; for these men are behaving insolently and do not really despise these things; they make an open boast of their squalid, gloomy and stern appearance and hold out their austere and dirty way of living as bait, as if they loved orderly behaviour, modesty and endurance; 34 but they cannot deceive those who look into them more closely, see through their disguise and are not led astray by outward show; for once they strip these veils and coverings off them, they see what is stored up and hidden inside and learn what their qualities and nature are: and if they are good they admire them, and if they are evil they ridicule them, and hate them because of their hypocrisy. 35 So let us say to such people, "Are you eager admirers and imitators of a life that hates mixing and joining with other people, a solitary and unsociable life? For what example of virtue have you ever shown while living among others? Do you disdain money? Then have you, as professional money-dealers, sought to act justly? You claim to disregard the pleasures of the belly and of the parts beneath the belly; have you behaved with moderation when you had abundant opportunity to indulge these appetites? Do you despise glory? Then when you were placed in positions of authority, did you cultivate an affable humility? Perhaps you have ridiculed taking part in the affairs of state, without considering how useful an occupation it is." 36 Then have you first trained yourselves in, and turned your attention to, the public and private business of life? And, having become skilful politicians and experienced household managers through the kindred virtues of household and political science, have you then, out of your great abundance of these things, prepared to migrate to another and better kind of life? For it is proper to go through the practical life before beginning the theoretical one, as a kind of rehearsal for the more perfect contest and display. In this way one can escape the charge of hesitation and indolence. 37 So too the Levites are expressly commanded to perform their work until they are fifty years old; and, once they are released from all active service, to consider and contemplate each particular thing, receiving as a reward for their well-doing in active life, another life which delights only in knowledge and contemplation. 38 And in other cases too, those who think themselves worthy to claim the just things of God must first of all fulfil their human duties; for it is great folly to expect to attain what is more important while unable to discharge properly what is less important. So first be known among men for your virtue, so that you may also become established by what relates to God. This is the advice perseverance gives to the man inclined to the practice of virtue; but we must now examine each of her expressions closely. 39 "Look," she says, "Esau your brother threatens you." But is it not natural that the disposition named Esau, hard as oak and obstinate through ignorance, which offers the baits of mortal life (I mean such baits as wealth, glory, pleasure and other kindred temptations) to lead you to your destruction, should seek to kill you? But you, my child, flee from this contest for now, for you have not yet been given full strength for it; the sinews of your soul are still somewhat soft and weak, like a child's. 40 This is why she calls him "my child," a name of affection that also indicates his tender age; for we regard the young disposition inclined to the practice of virtue as worthy of affection compared with the full-grown man. Such a person deserves to carry off the prizes set for children, but is not yet able to win the prizes offered to men. But the best contest for men to engage in is the service of the only God. Therefore if, even before we have been completely purified, 41 but while we seem only to have got as far as washing off the things that defile our life, we arrive at the vestibule of God's service, we will leave again more quickly than we came, unable to endure the austere way of living that service demands, or the sleepless desire to please God, or the continual and unwearying labour; 42 then flee for now both from what is best and from what is worst. The worst are the mythical inventions, the unmetrical and unharmonious poems, the notions and convictions made hard and stubborn by ignorance, after which Esau is named. The best is the offering, for the race inclined to service is an offering fit for God, consecrated to him alone in the great high priesthood; 43 for to live with evil is most harmful, and to live with perfect good is most dangerous. So Jacob both flees from Esau and lives apart from his parents; for since he loves practising virtue and is still labouring at it, he flees from wickedness, yet he cannot live with perfect virtue as one who no longer needs an instructor. 44 This is why we read, "He will depart to Laban," not to Laban as the Syrian, but as his mother's brother; that is to say, he will go to the brilliancies of life; for Laban, interpreted, means "white." And when he arrives there he will not hold his head too high, puffed up by the happy turns of fortune; for the word Syrian, translated, means "sublime." But here he does not call to mind Laban the Syrian, but the brother of Rebekkah; 45 for when the means of life are given to a bad man, they inflate and raise to a great height the mind devoid of wisdom, which is called the Syrian; but if they are given to a lover of instruction, they incline the mind to hold to the steady and solid doctrines of virtue and excellence. This is the brother of Rebekkah, that is to say, of perseverance, and he dwells in Charran, a name that, interpreted, means "holes," a symbol of the external senses; for anyone still moving about in mortal life needs the organs of the external senses. 46 "Dwell, therefore," she says, "my child, with him," not all your life, but "certain days;" that is, get to know the country of the external senses; know yourself and your own parts, and what each is, and for what end it was made, and how it is designed by nature to act, and who it is that moves through those marvellous things and pulls the strings, invisible himself and in an invisible way, whether it is the mind in you or the mind of the universe. 47 And when you know yourself thoroughly, then examine closely the particular qualities of Laban as well; the things which are accounted brilliant instances of the success of empty glory; do not be deceived by any of them, but like a good workman skilfully adapt them all to your own needs; for if, while immersed in this political and very confused life, you show a stable and well-instructed disposition, I will send for you from there so that you may receive the same prize your parents also received: and the prize is the unchangeable and unhesitating service of the only wise God. 48 And his father also gives him similar precepts, adding a few minor instructions; for he says, "Rise up and flee into Mesopotamia, to the house of Bethuel, the father of your mother, and from there take a wife for yourself from the daughters of Laban your mother's brother." 49 Again, he too refrains from calling Laban a Syrian and calls him Rebekkah's brother, who is about to become related to the practitioner of virtue through intermarriage. Flee, therefore, into Mesopotamia, that is to say, into the middle of the rapid torrent of life, and take care not to be washed away and swallowed up by its whirlpools, but stand firm and vigorously repel the violent, impetuous course of affairs that overflows and rushes down on you from above, from both sides and from every direction; 50 for you will find the house of wisdom a calm and secure haven, which will gladly receive you when you are anchored within it. And in the sacred scriptures Bethuel is called wisdom; and this name, being translated, means "the daughter of God;" a legitimate daughter, always a virgin, who has received a nature that will never be touched or defiled, both because of her own orderly decency and because of the high dignity of her Father. 51 And he calls Bethuel the father of Rebekkah. How, then, can the daughter of God, namely, wisdom, be properly called a father? is it because the name of wisdom is feminine but its sex masculine? For all the virtues have women's names but the powers and actions of full-grown men, since whatever comes after God, even if it is older than all other things, still holds only second place compared with that omnipotent Being, and appears not so much masculine as feminine, in keeping with its likeness to the other creatures; for just as the male always takes precedence, the female falls short and is inferior in rank.⁠a 52 So, paying no attention to the difference in the names here, we say that wisdom, the daughter of God, is both male and a father, and that it sows and begets in souls learning, education, knowledge and prudence, all honourable and praiseworthy things. And it is from this source that Jacob, the practitioner of wisdom, seeks to find a wife for himself; for where should he seek a partner, if not in the house of wisdom? and where else should he find an opinion free from all reproach, with which to live all his life? 53 But Moses spoke more precisely about flights when he laid down the law on homicides, in which he goes through every kind of homicide: intentional murder, unintentional killing, and murder by deliberate attack or by crafty treachery. Read the law: "If any man strikes another and he dies, the striker shall die the death. And if a man does not do it intentionally, but God delivers him into his hand, then I will give you a place to which he who has slain another shall flee. And if anyone attacks his neighbour to kill him by treachery, and flees, you shall drag him even from the altar to put him to death." 54 Knowing very well that the law adds no superfluous word here out of some unaccountable haste in describing the matter, I wondered why it does not simply say that he who has killed another shall die, and why it adds that he shall die the death; 55 for how else does anyone who dies at all die, except by dying the death? So I went for instruction to a wise woman named Consideration and was freed from my difficulty, for she taught me that some people who are living are dead, and that some who are dead are still alive: she declared that the wicked, even if they reach extreme old age, are simply dead, since they are deprived of the life of virtue; but that the good, even if they are separated from all union with the body, live for ever, since they have received an immortal portion. 56 She also confirmed this opinion from the sacred scriptures, one of which runs like this: "You who cling to the Lord your God are all alive to this day:" for she saw that those who took refuge with God and became his suppliants were the only living people, and that all others were dead. And Moses, it seems, testifies to the immortality of these people, when he adds, "You are all alive to this day;" 57 and this day is interminable eternity, from which there is no departure; for months and years and, in short, all the divisions of time are only inventions of men who honour number. But the unerring proper name of eternity is "today;" for the sun is always the same, without ever changing, going at one time beneath the earth, and at another time above the earth, and it is by him that day and night, the measures of time, are distinguished. 58 She also confirmed her statement with another passage of scripture, which runs: "Look, I have set before your face life and death, and good and evil." Therefore, all-wise man, good and virtue mean life, and evil and wickedness mean death. And in another passage we read, "This is your life, and your length of days, to love the Lord your God." This is the finest definition of immortal life: to be possessed by love and affection for God, unhindered by any connection with the flesh or the body. 59 So the priests Nadab and Abihu die so that they may live; taking an immortal existence in exchange for this mortal life, and departing from the creature to the uncreated God. And this is why the symbols of incorruptibility are celebrated in these words: "Then they died before the Lord;" that is to say, they lived; for it is not lawful for any dead person to come into the sight of the Lord. And again, this is what the Lord himself has said, "I will be sanctified in those who come near to Me." "But the dead," as it is also said in the Psalms, "shall not praise the Lord," 60 for that is the work of the living; but Cain, that shameless man, that fratricide, is nowhere said in the law to die; instead an oracle is given about him in these words: "The Lord God put a mark upon Cain, as a sign that no one who found him should kill Him." Why so? 61 Because, I think, wickedness is an evil that can never end, but once kindled can never be put out; so that the lines of the poet may well be applied to wickedness-- And she is of no mortal race, But an immortal foul disgrace. It is immortal, that is, with respect to life among us on earth, since with respect to life with God it is lifeless and dead and, as someone has said, more worthless and odious than dung. 62 But it was absolutely necessary that different regions be assigned to different things, heaven to good things and earth to evil; for good tends to soar upward, and if it ever comes down to us, since its Father is very generous, it is still rightly eager to return to heaven. But evil remains here, living as far as possible from the divine choir, always hovering around mortal life and unable to die out of the human race. 63 One of the most eminent of the men admired for their wisdom asserted this too, speaking in a magnificent strain in the Theaetetus, where he says, "But it is impossible for evils to come to an end. For there must always be something opposed to God. Nor can it have a place in the divine regions; it must necessarily hover around mortal nature and this place where we live, and so we ought to try to flee from here as quickly as possible. And our flight will be a likening of ourselves to God, as far as we can. And such a likening consists in being just and holy, together with prudence." 64 Very naturally, therefore, Cain, the symbol of wickedness, will not die, for wickedness must necessarily always be alive in the mortal human race; so that the expression, "to die the death," is not wrongly used of the killer, for the reasons given here. 65 And the expression, "not intentionally, but if God delivers him into his hand," is used very fittingly of those who commit an unintentional homicide; for Moses holds here that our intentional actions are the fruit of our own mind and will, but that our unintentional actions proceed from the will of God. By this I mean not our sins but, on the contrary, the things that are the punishment for our sins; 66 for it is not fitting for God himself to inflict punishment, since he is the first and most excellent Lawgiver; but he punishes by the ministry of others, and not by his own act. It suits his character well to bestow his graces, his free gifts and his great benefits himself, since he is by nature good and bountiful. But it is not fitting for him to inflict his punishments by anything more than his mere command, since he is a king; rather, he must act in this through others who are suited to such purposes. 67 And the practitioner of virtue, Jacob, bears witness in support of this teaching of mine when he says, "The God who has nourished me from my youth up, the angel who delivered me from all my evils." For he attributes the most ancient benefits, those by which the soul is nourished, to God, but the more recent ones, which are caused by the errors of the soul, to the servant of God. 68 This, I imagine, is why, when Moses speaks philosophically of the creation of the world, he describes everything else as created by God alone, but mentions man alone as made by him together with other assistants; for Moses says, "God said, Let us make man in our image." The expression "let us make" indicates a plurality of makers. 69 Here, then, the Father is conversing with his own powers, to whom he has assigned the task of making the mortal part of our soul, and they imitate the skill he himself used when fashioning the rational part within us; for he thought it right that the dominant part within the soul should be the work of the Ruler of all things, but that the part to be kept in subjection should be made by those subject to him. 70 And he made us by means of the powers subordinate to him, not only for the reason which has been mentioned, but also because the soul of man alone was destined to receive notions of good and evil, and to choose one of the two, since it could not adopt both. So he thought it necessary to assign the origin of evil to workmen other than himself, but to keep the generation of good for himself alone. 71 For this reason, after Moses had already put in God's mouth the words "Let us make man," as if he were speaking to several persons, he then says, as if speaking of only one, "God made man." In fact, the one God alone is the sole Creator of the real man, who is the purest mind; but a plurality of workmen make what is called man, the being composed of the external senses; 72 and for this reason the real man in particular is spoken of with the article; for the words of Moses are, "The God made the man;" that is, he made that reason which is without species and free from all admixture. But he speaks of man in general without adding the article; for the expression, "Let us make man," shows that he means the being composed of irrational and rational nature. 73 In keeping with this, he also did not assign the blessing of the virtuous and the cursing of the wicked to the same ministers, though both these offices are praised. But since the blessing of the good takes precedence in panegyrics, and pronouncing curses on the wicked ranks second of those who are appointed for these duties (and they are the chiefs, and leaders of the race, twelve in number, whom it is customary to call the patriarchs), he assigned the better six, who are best suited to the task of blessing, namely, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin; and appointed the others for the curses, namely, the first and last sons of Leah, Reuben, and Zabulon, and the four illegitimate sons of the maidservants; 74 for the chiefs of the royal tribe, and of the tribe consecrated to the priesthood, Judah and Levi, are counted in the first group. It is natural, then, that God gives up those who have done deeds worthy of death to the hands of others for punishment, because he wishes to teach us that evil by its nature is banished far from the divine choir, since even punishment, which, though a good, contains some imitation of evil, is carried out by others. 75 And the expression, "I will give you a place to which he who has slain a man unintentionally shall flee," seems to me very fittingly said; for what he calls a place is not a region filled by the body, but rather, figuratively, God himself, because he, surrounding all things, is not surrounded himself, and because he is the one to whom all things flee for refuge. 76 So it is proper for someone who seems to have been changed involuntarily to say that this change came upon him by the divine will, just as it is not proper for someone who has done evil of his own accord to say so; and he says that he will give this place, not to him who has slain the man, but to him with whom he is conversing, so that the one who lives in it is one person, and the one who flees to it for refuge is another; for God has given his own word a country to inhabit, namely, his own knowledge, as though it were native there. But to the man who is under the pollution of involuntary error he has given a foreign home as to a stranger, not a country as to a citizen. 77 Having said this much philosophically about involuntary offences, he goes on to legislate about the man who rises up to attack another, or who treacherously plots his death, saying, "But if anyone attacks his neighbour so as to slay him by treachery, and he flees to God," that is, to the place already spoken of figuratively, from which life is given to all men. For he also says in another passage: "Whoever shall flee there shall live." 78 But is not everlasting life fleeing for refuge to the living God? And is not fleeing from his presence death? But if anyone sets upon another, he is certainly doing wrong by deliberate purpose, and what is done with treachery is to be counted among voluntary actions, just as, on the other hand, what is done without treachery is not subject to blame. 79 So of the wicked actions done secretly, treacherously and with malice aforethought, there is none that we can properly say is done through the will of God; they are done only through our own will. For, as I have said before, the storehouses of wickedness are in ourselves, and those of good alone are with God. 80 So whoever flees for refuge, that is, whoever blames not himself but God as the cause of his offence, must be punished by being deprived of the refuge of the altar, which leads to salvation and security and is meant for suppliants alone. And is this not proper? For the altar is full of victims that have no spot, by which I mean innocent and thoroughly purified souls. But to declare the Deity the cause of evil is a spot that is hard to cure, or rather altogether incurable. 81 Those who have cultivated the disposition of lovers of themselves rather than lovers of God should keep away from the sacred places, so that, polluted and impure as they are, they may not see, even from a distance, the sacred flame of the soul which is set on fire unquenchably, and purified, and dedicated to God with entire and perfect power. 82 So one of the wise men of old, hurrying on to this same conclusion, very beautifully found the confidence to say that "God is in no respect and in no place unjust, but he is the most righteous being possible. There is nothing that more nearly resembles him than the man who is as just as possible. Around him is the strength, and the real ability, and power of man, and also nothingness and unmanliness. For the knowledge of him is wisdom and true virtue; but the ignorance of him is real ignorance and manifest wickedness. And all other things that seem to be cleverness or wisdom are troublesome when displayed in political affairs, and sordid when displayed in acts." 83 So, having further commanded that the unholy man who speaks evil against divine things be removed from the most holy places and given up to punishment, he goes on to say, "Whoever hates his father or his mother, let him die." And in a similar vein he says, "He who accuses his father or his mother, let him die." 84 Here he all but cries out and shouts that no pardon whatever is to be given to those who blaspheme the Deity. For if they who bring accusations against their mortal parents are led away to death, what punishment must we think those men deserve who dare to blaspheme the Father and Creator of the universe? And what accusation can be more disgraceful than to say that the origin of evil is not in us but in God? 85 So drive away, drive away, you who have been initiated into the sacred mysteries and are their hierophants, drive away, I say, the souls that are mixed in a confused crowd and brought together indiscriminately from every quarter, those unpurified and still polluted souls, whose ears are not closed and whose tongues are unrestrained, and which carry about all the instruments of their misery ready for use, so that they may hear all things, even those which it is not lawful to hear. 86 But they who have been instructed in the difference between voluntary and involuntary offences, and who have received a tongue which speaks good things instead of one which delights in accusation, when they do right are to be praised, and when they err contrary to their intention, they are not much to blame, and for this reason cities have been set apart for them to flee to for refuge. 87 And it is worthwhile to examine as accurately as possible some necessary points relating to this passage. They are four in number. The first is why the cities set apart for the fugitives were not chosen from the cities the other tribes received as their portion, but only from those assigned to the tribe of Levi. The second point is, why they were six in number, and neither more nor fewer. The third is, why three of them were beyond Jordan, and the other three in the land of the Canaanites. The fourth is, why the death of the high priest was set for the fugitives as the limit after which they could return. 88 We must, then, say what is fitting on each of these points, beginning with the first. It is entirely fitting that the command is to flee only to those cities which have been assigned to the tribe of Levi; for the Levites themselves are in a sense fugitives, since for the sake of pleasing God they have left parents, and children, and brothers, and all their mortal relations. 89 That is why the original leader of the company is represented as saying to his father and mother, "I have not seen you, and my brothers I do not know, and my sons I disown," so that he could serve the living God without letting any opposing attraction draw him away. But real flight is being deprived of all that is nearest and dearest to a man. And it brings one fugitive to another, so that the similarity of their actions makes them forget what they have done. 90 It is either for this reason alone, or perhaps for this other one as well, that the Levitical tribe, set apart for the service of the temple, ran up, and at one onset killed those who had made a god of the golden calf, the pride of Egypt, killing all who had reached puberty, being inflamed with righteous anger, combined with enthusiasm, and a certain heaven-sent inspiration: "And everyone killed his brother, and his neighbour, and him that was nearest to him." The body is the brother of the soul, the irrational part is the neighbour of the rational, and uttered speech is what is nearest to the mind. 91 For only in the following way can what is most excellent within us become fitted for and inclined to the service of him who is the most excellent of all existing beings. First, if a man is resolved into soul, with the body, its kin as a brother, separated and cut off from it, together with all its insatiable desires; and second, when the soul has, as I have already said, cast off the irrational part, which is the neighbour of the rational part; for this, like a torrent divided into five channels, stirs up the violence of the passions through all the external senses, as through so many aqueducts. 92 Then, in due order, reason distances and separates uttered speech, which seemed the nearest of all things to it, so that, as intended, reason within the mind alone might be left, free from the body, free from the entanglements of the outward senses, and free from all uttered speech; for when it is left in this way, existing alone, it will embrace with purity the only thing that should be embraced, and in such a way that it cannot be drawn away. 93 Besides what has been said above, we must also mention that the tribe of Levi is the tribe of the ministers of the temple and of the priests, to whom the service and ministry of holy things is assigned; and those who have committed unintentional homicide also perform sacred service, since, according to Moses, "God gives into their hands" those who have done things worthy of death, for execution. But the duty of the one body is to know the good, and of the other to chastise the wicked. 94 These, then, are the reasons why those who have committed unintentional homicide flee only to the cities which belong to the ministers of the temple. We must now go on to say what these cities are, and why they are six in number. Perhaps we may say that the most ancient, strongest and most excellent metropolis, for I may not call it merely a city, is the divine word, and to flee to it first is the most advantageous course of all. 95 But the other five, which are, as it were, colonies of that one, are the powers of Him who utters the word, the chief of which is his creative power, according to which the Creator made the world with a word; the second is his kingly power, by which the one who created rules over what he created; the third is his merciful power, by which the Creator pities and shows mercy towards his own work; the fourth is his legislative power, by which he prescribes the duties we must perform; and the fifth is the part of his legislative power by which he forbids what must not be done. 96 And these are the very beautiful and most excellently fortified cities, the best possible refuge for souls worthy to be saved for ever; and their founding is merciful and humane, designed to rouse men and to help and encourage them in good hopes. Who else could display more fully the overflowing abundance of his mercy, and all the powers able to benefit us, towards so great a variety of people who err by unintentional misdeeds, and who have neither the same strength nor the same weakness? 97 So he urges the one who can run swiftly to press on, without stopping for breath, to the highest word of God, which is the fountain of wisdom, so that by drinking from that stream he may find everlasting life instead of death. But he urges the one who is not so swift of foot to flee for refuge to the creative power which Moses calls God, since it is by that power that all things were made and arranged; for to anyone who comprehends that everything has been created, that comprehension alone, together with the knowledge of the Creator, is a great gain of good, which at once persuades the creature to love the one who created it. 98 Again, he tells the one who is still less ready to flee to his kingly power; for what is in subjection is corrected by fear of the one who rules it, and by necessity which keeps it in order, even if the child is not kept in the right way by love for his father. Again, for those who cannot reach the boundaries already mentioned because they are a long way off, other goals are appointed at a shorter distance, namely the cities of the necessary powers, the city of the power of mercy, the city of the power which enjoins what is right, the city of the power which forbids what is not right: 99 for anyone who is already persuaded that the deity is not implacable but merciful because of the gentleness of his nature will, even if he has sinned before, afterwards repent in the hope of pardon. And he who has adopted the notion that God is a lawgiver obeys all the commands he imposes as lawgiver, and so will be happy; and the one who comes last of all will find the last refuge, namely, the escape from evil, even if he cannot come to share in the more desirable good things. 100 These, then, are the six cities which Moses calls cities of refuge, five of which have their figures set forth in the sacred scriptures, where their images also appear. The images of the cities of command and prohibition are the laws in the ark; the image of the merciful power of God is the covering of the ark, which he calls the mercy-seat. The images of the creative power and of the kingly power are the winged cherubim which are placed upon it. 101 But the divine word, which is above these, does not take any visible form, since it is not like any of the things perceived by the external senses, but is itself an image of God, the most ancient of all the objects of intellect in the whole world, and the one placed nearest to the only truly existing God, without any partition or distance being interposed between them: for it is said, "I will speak to you from above the mercy-seat, in the midst, between the two cherubim." So the word is, as it were, the charioteer of the powers, and he who utters it is the rider, who directs the charioteer how to proceed for the proper guidance of the universe. 102 So the one who is so far from committing any intentional misdeeds that he is free even from all unintentional offence will have God himself for his inheritance, and will dwell in him alone. But those who fall into errors that come not from wilful purpose but are done without premeditation will have the places of refuge mentioned above in full abundance. 103 Three of the cities of refuge are on the other side of the Jordan, at a great distance from our race. What cities are they? The word of the Governor of the universe, and his creative power, and his kingly power: for heaven and the whole world belong to these. 104 But those that, as it were, share in us, that are near us and almost touch the unfortunate human race, which alone is capable of sinning, are the three on this side of the river; the merciful power, the power which enjoins what is to be done, the power which prohibits what ought not to be done: for these powers touch us. 105 For what need can there be of prohibition to persons who are not likely to do wrong? And what need is there of commands for people who are not by nature inclined to stumble? And what need of mercy can people have who will never do wrong at all? But our race of mankind has need of all these things because it is by nature inclined and liable to offences both voluntary and involuntary. 106 The fourth and last of the points we proposed to discuss is the appointment of the high priest's death as the time for the fugitives to return, which, taken literally, greatly perplexes me; for this enactment imposes a very unequal punishment on those who have done the very same things, since some will be in exile for a longer time, and others for a shorter time; for some of the high priests live to a very old age, and others die very early, 107 and some are appointed while young men, and others not until they are old. And again, of those convicted of unintentional homicide, some are banished just as the high priest takes office, and some when the high priest is at the very point of death. So that some are deprived of their country for a very long time, and others suffer the same penalty for only a day, if it happens so; after which they lift up their heads, exult and return among those whose nearest relatives they have killed. 108 We may escape this difficult and scarcely explicable perplexity if we adopt the inner, allegorical explanation that accords with natural philosophy. For we say that the high priest is not a man, but is the word of God, who has no part not only in intentional errors but even in involuntary ones. 109 For Moses says that he cannot be defiled with respect either to his father, that is, the mind, or to his mother, that is, the external sense; because, I imagine, he has received imperishable and wholly pure parents, God being his father, who is also the father of all things, and wisdom being his mother, through whom the universe came into being; 110 and also because he is anointed with oil, by which I mean that the principal part of him is lit with a light like the beams of the sun, so that he is thought worthy to be clothed with garments. And the most ancient word of the living God is clothed with the world as with a garment, for it has put on earth, and water, and air, and fire, and the things that come from those elements. But the particular soul is clothed with the body, and the mind of the wise man is clothed with the virtues. 111 And it is said that he will never take the mitre off his head; he will never lay aside the kingly diadem, the symbol of an authority that is not absolute but only a viceroy's authority, and yet is nevertheless admired. Nor will he "rend his clothes;" 112 for the word of the living God, being the bond of everything, as has been said before, holds all things together, and binds all the parts, and prevents them from being loosened or separated. And the particular soul, as far as it has received power, does not allow any of the parts of the body to be separated or cut off contrary to their nature; but as far as it can, it keeps everything whole, and conducts the different parts to a harmony and indissoluble union with one another. But the mind of the wise man, being thoroughly purified, keeps the virtues unbroken and unimpaired, having fitted together their natural kinship and communion with a still firmer goodwill. 113 This high priest, as Moses says, "shall not enter into any soul that is dead." But the death of the soul is a life according to wickedness; so he must never touch any pollution of the kind folly likes to deal in. 114 And to him also "a virgin of the sacred race is joined;" that is, an opinion for ever pure, and undefiled, and imperishable; for he "may never become the husband of a widow, or of one who has been divorced, or of one who is a profane person, or of one who is a harlot," since he is always proclaiming an endless and irreconcilable war against them. For he hates to be widowed of virtue, or to be divorced and driven away by her; and likewise all persuasion of this kind is profane and unholy. But he does not think it right even to look at that promiscuous evil abandoned to many husbands and to the worship of many gods, that is, a harlot, being content with the one who has chosen for herself one husband and father only, the all-governing God. 115 A certain extravagance of perfection is visible in this disposition. He knows that the man who has vowed the great vow sometimes offends unintentionally, even if not by deliberate purpose; for he says, "But if anyone dies before him suddenly, he shall be at once polluted." For if, among things done without deliberation, something coming from outside strikes suddenly, such things pollute the soul at once, but not with a pollution which remains for any length of time, since they are unintentional actions. And the high priest (standing above them, as he also does above those which are voluntary) is indifferent to these actions. 116 But I am not saying this at random, but to prove that the time of the high priest's death is a most natural end of exile for the law to appoint, allowing the fugitives to return. 117 As long, therefore, as this most sacred word lives and survives in the soul, it is impossible for any involuntary error to enter into it; for it is by nature so made that it has no share in, and cannot admit, any kind of error. But if it dies (I do not mean by this that it is itself destroyed, but that it is separated from our soul), then a return is at once granted to unintentional offences. 118 For if, while the word remained and was healthy in us, error was driven far away, then certainly, when the word departs, error will come in. For the undefiled high priest, conscience, has received from nature this most special honour, that no error of the mind can find any place within him; and so it is worth our while to pray that the high priest may live in the soul, being at the same time both a judge and a convictor, who, having received jurisdiction over the whole of our minds, is not altered in appearance or purpose by anything brought before his judgment. 119 Having now said what was proper on the subject of fugitives, we will go on to what comes next in the context. In the first place it is said, "The angel of the Lord found her in the way," pitying the soul that out of modesty had voluntarily incurred the danger of wandering about, and very nearly becoming the guide of her return to opinion void of error. 120 It is also good not to pass over in silence what the lawgiver says philosophically about discovery and investigation; for he represents some persons as neither investigating nor discovering anything, others as succeeding in both these paths, others as having chosen only one of them; and of this last group, some who seek do not find, and others find without having sought. 121 Those, then, who have no desire for either discovery or investigation have shamefully debased their reason by ignorance and indifference, and though they could have seen keenly, they have become blind. Thus he says that "Lot's wife turning backwards became a pillar of salt;" not inventing a fable here, but pointing out the true nature of the event. 122 For whoever despises his teacher, and, under the influence of an innate and habitual indolence, forsakes what is in front of him, through which he would be able to see and hear and use his other powers so as to judge the things of nature, and turns his head round so as to keep his eyes on what is behind him, that man admires blindness in the affairs of life, as well as in the parts of the body, and becomes a pillar, like a lifeless and senseless stone. 123 For, as Moses says, "such men have not hearts to understand, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear," but make the whole of their life blind, and deaf, and senseless and mutilated in every respect, so that it is not worth living, and care about none of the matters that deserve their attention. 124 And the leader of this company is the king of the region of the body. "For," says Moses, "Pharaoh turned himself about and went into his house, and did not set his heart to this thing either," which is the same as saying that he did not take notice of anything at all, but let himself dry up like a plant the farmer does not tend, and to lose his fertility and become barren. 125 So those who take counsel, consider matters and investigate everything carefully sharpen and rouse their minds: and the mind being duly exercised bears its appropriate fruit of cleverness and intelligence, through which they acquire the power to repel everything deceitful. But the man who is an enemy of consideration blunts and breaks the edges of his wisdom; 126 we must therefore discard the truly senseless and lifeless company of such men and choose those who exert their powers of consideration and discovery. And soon the political disposition appears, which, without being at all overly ambitious for glory, desires that better generation, which the virtues have received as their inheritance, and which consequently seeks and finds it; 127 for, says the scripture, "A man found Joseph in the plain, and asked him saying, What are you seeking; and he said, I am seeking my brothers; tell me where they are feeding their flocks: and the man said to him, They have departed from here; for I heard them saying, Let us go into Dothan; and Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan." 128 The name Dothan is interpreted as "a sufficient abandonment," and is a symbol of the soul that has escaped those vain opinions not slightly but altogether, which resemble the pursuits of women rather than those of men. For this reason virtue, that is, Sarah, is very beautifully described as having given up "the manner of women," which is pursued by those men who live an unmanly and truly feminine life. But the wise man is also "added when leaving," according to Moses, speaking most strictly in accordance with nature. For to be deprived of empty opinion must necessarily mean the addition of true opinion. 129 But if anyone, passing his days in a mortal, and promiscuous, and variously formed life, and having abundant resources of wealth and riches, considers and inquires into that better generation which looks only to what is good, he is worthy of being received, provided the dreams and visions of things that are imagined and appear to be good do not overwhelm him again and immerse him in luxury. 130 For if he remains in contemplation of the soul without any adulteration, proceeding and following in the track of the things which he is seeking, he will never give up his search until he has attained the objects of his wishes; 131 but he will find none of the things which he desires among the wicked. Why not? Because they departed from here. They have abandoned the studies of their friends, moved their home out of the country of the pious, and settled in the desert of the wicked. But it is the real man, the convictor that dwells in the soul, who says this; when he sees the soul in perplexity, considering and investigating deeply, he takes prudent care on its behalf, so that it does not wander and so miss the right road. 132 I also greatly wonder at these persons: I mean the one who is fond of asking questions about what lies in the middle between two extremes, and who says, "Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" And I wonder also at the one who answers, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering," and who afterwards finds what is given as a ransom; "For behold a single ram was caught by his horns in a shrub of Sabec." 133 Let us therefore consider what the one who is seeking is in doubt about, what the one who answers reveals, and, third, what the thing was that was found. What the inquirer asks is something like this:--Here is the efficient cause, the fire; here is also the passive part, the material, the wood. Where is the third party, the thing to be brought about? 134 It is as if he said, --Here is the mind, the fervid and kindled spirit; here are also the objects of intelligence, as it were so much material or fuel; where is the third thing, the act of perceiving? Or, again, --Behold the sight, behold the colour, where is the act of seeing? And, in short, behold in general the external sense, behold the thing to be judged; but where are the objects of the external sense, the material, the exertion of the feeling? 135 The one who puts these questions is very properly answered, "God will provide for himself." For the third thing is the special work of God; for it is owing to his providential arrangement that the mind comprehends, and the sight sees, and that every external sense is exerted. "And a ram is found caught by his horns;" that is, reason is found silent and withholding its assent; 136 for silence is the most excellent of offerings, and so is a withholding of assent to those matters of which there are not clear proofs; therefore this is all that ought to be said, "God will provide for himself,"--he to whom all things are known, who illuminates the universe by the most brilliant of all lights, himself. But creatures over whom great darkness is poured should not say the other things; in darkness, quiet is a means of safety. 137 Those also who have inquired what it is that nourishes the soul, for as Moses says, "They did not know what it was," at last learned and found that it was the word of God and the divine reason, from which instruction and wisdom flow in an everlasting stream. This is the heavenly nourishment which the holy scripture indicates when it says, in the person of the cause of all things, "Look, I am raining bread on you from Heaven;" 138 for in truth it is God who showers down heavenly wisdom from above upon all the intellects that are properly disposed to receive it and are fond of contemplation. But those who have seen and tasted it are exceedingly delighted with it, and they understand what they feel but do not know what cause has affected them; and on this account they inquire, "What is this which is sweeter than honey and whiter than snow?" And they will learn from the interpreter of the divine will that "This is the bread which the Lord has given them to eat." 139 What then is this bread? Tell us. "This," he says, "is the word which the Lord has appointed." This divine appointment both illuminates and sweetens the soul, which is endowed with sight: it shines on it with the beams of truth, and with the sweet virtue of persuasion it sweetens those who thirst and hunger for excellence. 140 The prophet too, having himself asked what the cause of success was, finds it bound up with the only God; for when he was doubting and asking, Who am I, and what am I, that I shall deliver the seeing race of Israel from the disposition hostile to God, which seems to be a king? 141 The oracle teaches him, "I will be with you." Inquiries into individual matters do have a certain elegant and philosophical kind of meditation in them; how could they not? But the inquiry into the nature of God, the most excellent of all things, who is incomparable, and the cause of all things, at once delights those who devote themselves to its consideration, and it is not left incomplete, since he, out of his own merciful nature, comes forward to meet it, willingly displaying himself through his virgin graces to all who desire to see him. He does not display himself as he is, for that is impossible, since Moses too turned his face away, because he was afraid to see God face to face; he displays himself as far as created nature can, by its own power, approach the things that only the mind can discern. 142 This too is written among the hortatory precepts, for Moses says, "You shall turn to the Lord your God, and shall find him, when you seek him with all your heart, and with all your soul." 143 Now that we have spoken at sufficient length on this point too, let us go on in order to the third heading of our subject, in which there was seeking but no finding followed it. Laban, at any rate, who searched the entire spiritual house of the practitioner of virtue, "did not," as Moses says, "find the images," for it was full of real things, and not of dreams and vain fantasies. 144 Nor did the inhabitants of Sodom, blind in their minds, who were insanely eager to defile the holy and unpolluted reasonings, "find the road which led to this" object; but, as the sacred scriptures tell us, they wore themselves out trying to find the door, although they ran in a circle all around the house, and left no stone unturned for the accomplishment of their unnatural and impious desires. 145 And before now some persons, wishing to be kings instead of doorkeepers, and to put an end to the most beautiful thing in life, namely order, have not only failed to obtain the success they hoped to win through injustice, but have even been compelled to part with what they had in their hands; for the law tells us that the companions of Korah, who coveted the priesthood, lost both what they wished for and what they had: 146 for as children and men do not learn the same things, but there are institutions adapted to each age, so by nature some souls are always childish, even though they are in bodies which have grown old; and, on the other hand, some have arrived at complete perfection in bodies that are still in the prime and vigour of early youth. But those who desire objects too great for their own nature will deservedly be charged with folly, since everything beyond one's power will vanish through the intensity of its own vehemence. 147 So too Pharaoh, when "seeking to kill Moses," the prophetic race, will never find him, although he has heard a heavy accusation brought against him, that he has attempted to destroy all the supreme authority of the body by two attacks, 148 the first of them on the Egyptian disposition, which was fortifying pleasure as a citadel against the soul; for "having struck him," with an accidental instrument that came to hand, "he buried him in the sand," thinking that the two doctrines, that pleasure is the first and greatest good and that atoms are the origin of the universe, both proceed from the same source. He made the second attack on the one who was cutting the nature of the good into small pieces, and assigning one portion to the soul, another to the body, and another to external circumstances; for he wants the good to be whole, assigned as its inheritance to the best thing in us, the intellect alone, and not fitted to anything inanimate. 149 Nor does the one who is sent out to search for the virtue named Tamar, which is invincible and embittered against the ridiculous pursuits of men, find her. And this failure of his is fully in keeping with nature; for we read in the scripture, "And Judah sent a kid in the hands of his shepherd, the Adullamite, to receive back his pledge from the woman, and he did not find her: and he asked the men of the place, Where is the harlot who was in Aenan by the wayside? and they said, There is no harlot in this place. And he returned back to Judah, and said to him, I have not found her, and the men of the place say that there is no harlot there. And Judah said, Let her keep the things, only do not let me be made a laughing-stock, I because I have sent the kid, and you because you have not found her." What an admirable trial! What a test, worthy of sacred things! 150 Who gave the pledge? The mind, of course, which was eager to purchase the most excellent possession, piety towards God, by three pledges or symbols, namely a ring, and an armlet, and a staff, signifying confidence and sure faith; the connection and union of reason with life, and of life with reason; and upright and unchanging instruction on which it is profitable to rely. 151 So he examines whether he had rightly given this pledge. What, then, is the examination? To throw down some bait with attractive power, such as glory, or riches, or bodily health, or something similar, and to see which way it will lean, like the beam of a scale; for if there is any inclination to any one of these things the pledge is not sure. So he sent a kid to recover his pledge from the woman, not because he was determined to recover it at all costs, but only in case she proved unworthy to keep it. 152 And when will this be? When she willingly exchanges what is of importance for what is indifferent, preferring spurious to genuine good. The genuine good things are faith, the connection and union of words with deeds, and the rule of right instruction, while the evils, on the other hand, are faithlessness, a lack of such connection between words and deeds, and ignorance. And spurious goods are those that depend on appetite devoid of reason; 153 for "when he sought her he did not find her;" for what is good is hard to find, or, one may even say, is utterly impossible to find in a confused life. And if anyone asks whether the soul that is a harlot is anywhere in the place of virtue, he will be told distinctly that it is not, and that it has never been there before; for the common, unchaste, wanton and utterly shameless woman, selling the flower of her beauty at a low price, making her outward parts bright with purifications and washings but leaving her inward parts unclean and vile, and painting her face with colours like a picture because she lacks all natural beauty, the woman who pursues that promiscuous evil called the vice of having many husbands, as if it were a good, coveting polygamy, laying herself open to infinite variety, and being mocked and insulted at once by ten thousand bodies and things, "is not there." 154 Then the one who sent the messenger to inquire, on hearing this, puts envy far from himself and, being gentle by nature, rejoices beyond measure and says, "Perhaps, then, as I have prayed, she truly is a virtuous mind, a citizen wife, excelling in modesty, and chastity, and all other virtues, clinging to one husband alone, being content with the administration of one household, and rejoicing in the authority of one husband; and if she is such a woman, let her keep what I have given her--the instruction and the connection of reason with life and of life with reason, and, most necessary of all, surety and faith. 155 But let us not be laughed at for seeming to have given undeserved gifts, when we think we gave what is most suitable to the soul; for I did what was proper for a man who wished to try and test her disposition, throwing out a bait and sending a messenger; but he has shown me that her nature is not easily caught. 156 And it is not clear to me why it is not easily caught; for I have seen ten thousand extremely wicked people doing the same things as those who are extremely good, but not with the same purpose, since the one class has truth and the other only hypocrisy, and it is very hard to distinguish the one from the other, for very often reality is overpowered by appearance. 157 The person who loves virtue also seeks a goat for his sins, but does not find one; for, already, as the sacred scripture tells us, "it has been burnt." We must consider what this figurative expression hints at: that never to do anything wrong is the special attribute of God, and to repent is the mark of a wise man. But this is very difficult and very hard to attain. 158 Accordingly the scripture says that "Moses sought and sought again" a reason for repentance for his sins in mortal life; for he was very eager to find a soul stripped of sin, coming forward naked of all offence and without shame. But even so he did not find one, because the flame, by which I mean irrational desire that moves very quickly, had rushed inward and devoured the whole soul. 159 For what is smaller in numbers is usually overpowered by what is more numerous, and what is slower by what is more speedy, and what is still to come by what is present. What is contracted in quantity, and slow, and future, is repentance; what is numerous, and swift, and continuous in human life is iniquity. Very naturally, then, when anyone falls into error, he says that he cannot eat of what is offered for his sins, because his conscience will not allow him to be nourished by repentance; and this is why the scripture says, "Moses heard, and it pleased Him." 160 For the things of the creature are very far removed from the things of God; for the creature knows only what is visible, but God knows even what is invisible. And the man is crazy who, speaking falsely instead of truly, claims he has repented while still committing iniquity. It is as if one who had a disease were to pretend that he was in good health; for he, it seems, will only get sicker, since he chooses not to apply any of the remedies which are conducive to health. 161 On one occasion a desire for learning urged Moses on to investigate the causes through which the most necessary of things in the world are brought to perfection; for when he saw how many things in creation come to an end and are produced afresh, are destroyed again and again endure, he marvelled, and was amazed, and cried out, saying, "The bush (batos) burns, and is not consumed." 162 For he does not trouble himself about the inaccessible (abatos) country, since it is the abode of divine natures. But now that he is about to undertake a labour which will have no success and no end, he is relieved by the mercy and providence of God, the Saviour of all men, who has given warning out of his holy shrine, "Do not approach near this place," which is equivalent to, Do not approach this consideration; for it is a task requiring more labour, energy, care and love of investigation than human power can supply. But be content with admiring what is created; and do not be overcurious about the causes why each thing is created or destroyed. 163 "For the place," says God, "on which you stand is holy ground." What kind of place is that? Is it not plain that it is the place concerned with the principles of causes, the only one he has assigned to the divine natures, since he does not think anyone else competent to aim at a clear understanding of the principle of causes? 164 But he who, out of his desire for learning, has raised his head above the whole world begins to ask about the Creator of the world: who is this being, so difficult to see, whose nature is so difficult to conjecture, whether he is a body, or an incorporeal being, or something above these things, or whether he is a simple nature like a unit, or a compound being or any ordinary existing thing. And when he sees how difficult this is to ascertain and to understand, he prays to be allowed to learn from God himself who God is; for he has never hoped to learn this from any of the other beings around him. 165 But even so, though he inquires into the essence of the living God, he has heard nothing. For, says God, "you shall see my back parts, but you shall not see my face." For it is enough for the wise man to know the consequences and the things that come after God; but he who wishes to see the principal essence will be blinded by the sheer brilliance of his rays before he can see it. 166 Having said this much about the third heading of our subject, we will go on to the fourth and last of the propositions we set out to examine, according to which discovery sometimes comes to meet us without any search. Every self-taught and self-instructed wise man belongs to this order; for such a man has not been improved by consideration, and care, and labour, but from the first moment of his birth he has found wisdom ready prepared and showered upon him from above from heaven, of which he drinks an unmixed draught and on which he feasts, and stays intoxicated with a sober intoxication and with correctness of reason. 167 This is the man whom the law calls Isaac, whom the soul did not conceive at one time and bring forth at another, for the scripture says, "having conceived him she brought him forth," as if without any consideration of time. For what was being brought forth here was not a man but a conception of the purest character, beautiful by nature rather than as a result of any study; which is also why she who brings him forth is said to have given up the usual manner of women, that is, her usual, reasonable and human customs. 168 For the self-taught race is something new, and beyond any description, and truly divine, existing not by any human conceptions, but by some inspired frenzy. Do you not know that the Hebrews have no need of midwives to deliver them? But they, as Moses says, "bring forth before the midwives can arrive," meaning that they have nature alone as their helper, with no need of methods, or arts, or sciences. And Moses gives very beautiful and very natural definitions of what a man is taught by himself: one, that it is something quickly discovered; the other, that it is what God himself has given us; 169 accordingly, that which is taught by others requires a long time, but what a man is taught by himself is quick and, in a way, independent of time. And again, the one has God as its expounder, and the other has man. He has placed the first definition in the question, "What is this that you have found so quickly, my son?" The other is contained in the answer to it, "What the Lord God gave to me." 170 There is also a third definition of what a man is taught by himself: that which rises up of its own accord. For it is said in the hortatory injunctions, "You shall not sow, and you shall not reap those things which arise from the earth of their own accord." For nature has no need of any art since God himself sows those things, and by his agricultural skill brings to perfection, as though they grew of themselves, things that do not grow of themselves, except in so far as they need no human help at all. 171 But this is not so much a positive exhortation as an announcement of his opinion, for if he had been giving a positive recommendation he would have said, "Do not sow, and do not reap:" but as he is only giving his opinion, he says, "You shall not sow, and you shall not reap." For in the things we meet with through the voluntary bounty of nature, we cannot find either the beginnings or the ends in ourselves, as if we were their cause: therefore the beginning is the seed-time and the end the harvest time. 172 It is better to understand these things this way: every beginning and every end is spontaneous, that is to say, it is the work of nature and not of ourselves. For instance, what is the beginning of learning? Plainly, it is a nature in the learner that is well suited to receive the particular subjects of meditation put before him. Again, what is the beginning of being made perfect? If we are to speak plainly without keeping anything back, it is nature. So the teacher can indeed bring about improvement, but it is God alone, the most excellent nature of all, who can lead one to supreme perfection. 173 He who is brought up on doctrines like these has everlasting peace, and is released from wearisome and endless labours. And according to the lawgiver there is no difference between peace and a week; for in each, creation lays aside the appearance of activity and rests. 174 So it is very properly said, "And the sabbath of the law shall be food for you," speaking figuratively. For the only thing which is really nourishing and really enjoyable is rest in God; which confers the greatest good, undisturbed peace. Peace among cities, then, is mixed up with civil war, but the peace of the soul has no admixture of discord of any kind. 175 And the lawgiver seems to me to be recommending most plainly the kind of discovery that no search precedes, in these words, "When the Lord your God shall lead you into the land which he swore to your fathers that he would give you, large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things which you did not fill, cisterns hewn out of the quarries which you did not hew, vineyards and olive gardens which you did not plant." 176 Here you see the ungrudging abundance of all the great blessings that are ready and poured out for man to possess and enjoy. And the generic virtues are here likened to cities, because they are of the most comprehensive kind; and the specific virtues are likened to houses, because they are contracted into a narrower circle; and well-disposed souls are likened to cisterns, since they are well inclined to receive wisdom, as cisterns are made to receive water; and the improvement, and growth, and production of fruit, are compared to vineyards and olive gardens; and the fruit of knowledge is a life of contemplation, which produces unmixed joy, equal to the joy that comes from wine, and a light perceptible only to the intellect, as if from a flame fed by oil. 177 Having said this much on the subject of discovery, we will go on in due order to what comes next in the text. Moses continues, "Therefore the angel of the Lord found her sitting by a fountain of water." A fountain is spoken of in many senses: in one, it means our mind; in another, the rational habit and instruction; in a third, it hints at a bad disposition; in a fourth sense a good disposition, the contrary of the preceding; in a fifth, the Creator and Father of the universe himself is figuratively called a fountain; 178 and there are passages in the sacred scriptures that prove these things. We must now consider what they are. At the very beginning of the history of the law there is a passage to this effect: "And a fountain went up from the earth, and watered all the face of the earth." 179 Those, then, who are not initiated into allegory and into the nature that loves to hide itself liken the fountain here mentioned to the river of Egypt, which overflows every year and turns all the adjacent plains into a lake, almost appearing to display a power that imitates and equals the power of heaven; 180 for what heaven bestows on other countries in winter, the Nile affords Egypt at the height of summer; for the heaven sends rain from above upon the earth, but the river (a statement that seems most paradoxical) rains upward from below and irrigates the corn-fields. And it is from this starting point that Moses has described the Egyptian disposition as an atheistical one, because it values the earth above the heaven, and the things of the earth above the things of heaven, and the body above the soul; 181 but we will have an opportunity to speak on these subjects later, when occasion permits. For now, since we must take care not to be too long-winded, we had better turn to an explanation drawn from taking the words figuratively; and we may say that the meaning of the statement that "a fountain went up and watered all the face of the earth," is something like this. 182 The dominant part of us, like a fountain, pours out many powers through what are, as it were, the veins of the earth, until they reach the organs of the external senses, that is, the eyes, and ears, and nostrils, and other organs; and these organs in every animal are situated about the head and face. Therefore it waters the face, which is the dominant portion of the soul, making the spirit suited for seeing reach the eyes, the spirit of hearing reach the ears, the spirit of smelling reach the nostrils, the spirit of taste reach the mouth, and causing the spirit of touch to pervade the whole surface of the body. 183 There are also many different fountains of instruction, through which very nourishing reasonings have sprung up like the trunks of palm-trees; "for," says Moses, "they came to Aileim, and in Aileim there were twelve fountains of water and seventy trunks of palm-trees. And they pitched their tents there by the side of the water." The name Aileim is interpreted to mean "vestibules," a symbol of the approach to virtue. For as vestibules are the beginning of a house, so the encyclical preliminary branches of instruction are the beginning of virtue, 184 and twelve is the perfect number, as the circle of the zodiac in the heaven witnesses, studded as it is with so many brilliant constellations. The periodical revolution of the sun is another witness, for he accomplishes his circle in twelve months, and men also reckon the hours of the day and of the night as equal in number to the months of the year, 185 and there are not a few passages in which Moses celebrates this number, describing the twelve tribes of his nation, appointing by law the offering of the twelve cakes of shewbread, and ordering twelve stones engraved with inscriptions to be woven into the sacred robe of the garment, reaching down to the feet of the high-priest, on his oracular dress. 186 He also celebrates the number seven multiplied by ten, at one point speaking of the seventy palm-trees by the fountains, and in other passages of the elders, who numbered only seventy, to whom the divine and prophetical Spirit was granted. And again, the same number of heifers are sacrificed at the solemn festival of the feast of tabernacles, in a regular and proper division and order, for they are not all sacrificed together, but in seven days, the beginning being made with thirteen bulls; for in this way, by subtracting one each day until they reach seven, the appointed number of seventy is properly completed. 187 And when they have come to the gates of virtue, the preliminary liberal sciences, and have seen the fountains, and the stems of the palm-trees growing by them, they are said to pitch their tents, not by the palm-trees, but by the waters. Why is this? Because those who carry off the prizes of perfect virtue are adorned with palm-leaves and with fillets; but those who are still exercising themselves in the preliminary branches of instruction, as people thirsting for learning, settle beside the sciences that are able to bedew and irrigate their souls. 188 These, then, are the fountains of intermediate instruction. Let us now consider the fountain of folly, of which the lawgiver says, "Whoever shall lie with a woman who is sitting apart has uncovered her fountain, and she has uncovered the issue of blood; they shall both be destroyed." Here he calls the external sense a woman, representing the mind as her husband. 189 When therefore the woman, having forsaken her legitimate husband, settles near those objects of the external sense which allure and destroy, and embraces them all in this amorous way; then, if the mind falls asleep when it needs to be awake, it has uncovered the fountain of the external sense, that is, itself; in other words, it has left itself without a covering and without a wall, and easy to plot against. 190 But the woman too has uncovered the fountain of her blood, for every external sense, when flowing towards the external object it perceives, is covered and restrained when governed by reason, but is left exposed when deprived of any proper governor. And as the most terrible misfortune for a city is to be without walls, so the most unfortunate state for a soul is to be without a guardian. 191 When, then, is it without a guardian? Is it not when the sight is uncovered, pouring itself out on the objects of sight; and when the hearing is uncovered, busy drinking in all kinds of sounds; and when the sense of smell is uncovered, and the kindred powers are left to themselves, and so lie wide open to whatever the invading enemy chooses to inflict? And speech is uncovered and uttered when it says ten thousand things out of season, with nothing to restrain its impetuosity; and so, flowing on unchecked, it overturns many noble purposes and plans of life that had been sailing upright as if in calm weather. 192 This is the great deluge in which "the cataracts of heaven were opened"--by heaven I here mean the mind--and the fountains of the bottomless pit, that is, of the outward sense, were revealed; for only in this way is the soul overwhelmed, when iniquities break loose and pour over it from above, as from the heaven of the mind, and the passions irrigate it from below, as from the earth of the outward senses. 193 This is why Moses forbids a man to uncover the nakedness of his father or of his mother, knowing well how great an evil it is not to check and conceal the offences of the mind and of the external senses, but to bring them forward and display them as though they were good actions. 194 These are the fountains of errors. We must now examine the fountain of prudence. It is to this fountain that perseverance, that is, Rebecca, descends; and after she has filled up the whole vessel of her soul she goes up again, and the lawgiver, in strict accordance with natural truth, calls her return an ascent; for whoever brings his mind down from excessive arrogance is raised to a great height of virtue. 195 For Moses says, "And having gone down to the fountain, she filled her ewer, and went up again." This is the divine wisdom from which all the particular sciences are irrigated, and by which all souls that love contemplation are filled with a love of what is most excellent; 196 and the sacred scripture very fittingly gives this fountain a name, calling it "judgment" and "holy." For the historian says, "Having turned back, they came to the fountain of judgment; this is the fountain of Caddes," and the interpretation of the name Caddes is holy. It all but cries out and shouts that the wisdom of God is holy, bringing with it nothing of the earth, and that it is the judgment of the universe by which all opposites are separated from one another. 197 We must now also speak about the highest and most excellent of fountains, of which the Father of the universe spoke through the mouths of the prophets; for he has said somewhere, "They have left me, the fountain of life, and they have dug for themselves cisterns already worn out, which will not be able to hold water;" 198 therefore, God is the most ancient of all fountains. And is this not very natural? For it is he who has irrigated the whole of this world; and I am amazed when I hear that this is the fountain of life, for God alone is the cause of animation and of the life which is joined with prudence; for matter is dead. But God is something more than life; he is, as he himself has said, the everlasting fountain of living. 199 But the wicked, having fled away and spent their time without ever tasting the draught of immortality, have dug, in their madness, for themselves and not first for God, preferring their own actions to heavenly and celestial things, and things that come from effort to those that are spontaneous and ready. 200 Then they do not dig wells, as the wise men Abraham and Isaac did, but cisterns, which have no good, nourishing stream of their own, flowing from within, but need an influx from outside, which must come from instruction. Meanwhile the teachers are always pouring all kinds of doctrines and scientific speculations into the ears of their disciples, urging them to retain these in their minds and to preserve them once faithfully committed to memory. 201 But in fact they are only worn-out cisterns; that is, all the channels of the ill-educated soul are broken and leaky, unable to hold and preserve the influx of the streams that could profit it. 202 We have now said as much about the fountains as time permits, and the sacred scriptures, with great accuracy and fitness, represent Hagar as found at the fountain, not drawing water from it: for the soul has not yet advanced far enough to be fit to drink the unmixed draught of wisdom; but it is not forbidden to live in its neighbourhood. 203 And the whole road that instruction builds is easy to travel, very safe, very solid and strong, which is why the scripture tells us that she was found on the road leading to Shur; and the name Shur, interpreted, means a wall or a direction. Therefore its convicter, speaking to the soul, says, "From where do you come, and where do you go?" And it says this not because it doubts, and not so much by way of asking a question as in a downcast and reproachful spirit, for an angel cannot be ignorant of anything that concerns us, and a proof of this is, 204 that he knows well even the things that are in the womb and are invisible to any creature, since he says, "Look, you are pregnant, and you shall bring forth a son, and shall call his name Ishmael;" for knowing that what has been conceived is a male child is not within human power, any more than foretelling the course of life which the unborn child will adopt, namely, that it will be a rude life, and not the life of a citizen or of a polished man. 205 The expression, "From where do you come?" is said to reprove the soul, which is fleeing from the better and ruling opinion, whose handmaiden she is in fact no less than in name, and by remaining subject to which she would gain great glory. And the expression, "And where do you go?" means: you are running after uncertain things, having discarded and thrown away an acknowledged good. 206 It is right, therefore, to praise her for rejoicing at this admonition. And she shows that she delights in it by bringing no accusation against her mistress, by attributing the cause of her running away to herself, and by making no reply to the second question, "Where do you go?" for it is a matter of uncertainty; and it is both safe and necessary to restrain oneself from speaking of what is uncertain. 207 Therefore the convicter of the soul, approving of her obedience, says, Return to your mistress; for the government of the teacher is profitable to the disciple, and servitude in subjection to wisdom is of benefit to one who is imperfect; and when you return, "be humbled under her hands:"--a very beautiful humiliation, which includes the destruction of irrational pride. 208 For in this way, after a gentle labour, you will bring forth a male child named Ishmael, corrected by divine admonitions; for Ishmael, interpreted, means "the hearing of God;" and hearing is considered entitled only to the second prize, after seeing; but seeing is the inheritance of the legitimate and first-born son, Israel; for the name Israel, interpreted, means "seeing God." For it is possible for a man to hear false statements as though they were true, because hearing is a deceitful thing; but seeing is a sense that cannot be deceived, through which a man perceives the things that exist as they really are. 209 But the angel describes the characteristics of the disposition born of Hagar, saying that he will be a rude man; as if to say that he would be a man wise in rude matters, not yet thought worthy of the truly divine and civic portion of life: and this portion is virtue, through which the moral character is by nature humanised. And by saying, "His hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him," he describes the aims and way of life of a sophist, who professes an overcurious scepticism and rejoices in disputatious arguments. 210 Such a man shoots at all the followers of learning, and personally opposes everyone, both publicly and privately, and is shot at by all of them, who very naturally drive him back as if defending their own offspring, that is, the doctrines their soul has brought forth. 211 He also adds a third characteristic, saying, "He shall dwell before the face of all his brothers." In these words he all but expressly declares that he will wage an everlasting battle and war against them, face to face, for ever. Therefore the soul pregnant with sophistical reasoning says to the convicter addressing her, "You are God, who has seen me:" which amounts to saying, You are the creator of my plans and of my offspring. 212 And is this not a very natural reply for her to make? For the Creator of souls that are free and, as it were, true citizens is free and a deliverer; but the creators of slavish minds are slaves. And the angels are the servants of God, and those who live in toil and slavery consider them actual gods; for this reason, says Moses, she called the well, "The well where I saw in front of me." 213 But you, soul, advancing in wisdom and plunging deep into the knowledge of the elementary parts of encyclical instruction, could not see the cause of your knowledge in instruction as in a mirror. But the most appropriate place for such a well is in the middle, between Caddes and Barad; and the name Barad, interpreted, means "in evils," and Caddes means "holy;" for the person in a state of improvement stands on the border between what is holy and what is profane, fleeing from what is wicked, and not yet able to live in the company of what is perfectly good.