On the Birth of Abel

1 'And he also added, that she should bring forth his brother.' Adding one thing means taking away another, as, for instance, with particles in arithmetic and with reasons in the soul. So if we must say that Abel is added, we must also think that Cain is taken away. But so that the unusual expression does not perplex many readers, we will try to explain, as accurately and as clearly as we can, the philosophy that shows beneath the words. 2 There are, then, two opinions, contrary to and at variance with each other: one commits everything to the mind as the leader of all reasoning, feeling, moving or being stationary; the other attributes to God all the resulting work of creation as his own. The symbol of the first is Cain, a name which, interpreted, means 'possession,' because he appears to possess all things; and the symbol of the other is Abel, for this name, interpreted, means 'referring to God.' 3 One soul brought forth both these opinions. But it necessarily follows that they had to be separated as soon as they were born, since enemies could not live together for ever. Until the soul brought forth Abel, the God-loving doctrine, Cain, the self-loving one, lived with her. But when she brought forth Abel, or unanimity with God, she abandoned unanimity with the mind that thought itself wise. 4 The oracle given to Perseverance, that is, to Rebecca, shows this more clearly still; for she too conceived the two incompatible natures of good and evil, considered each of them very deeply as prudence directed, and saw them both exulting and skirmishing as a prelude to the war that was to come between them; and so she begged God to explain to her what this calamity meant and what its remedy was. And he answered her inquiry, and told her, 'Two nations are in your womb.' This calamity is the birth of good and evil. 'But two peoples shall be divided in your bowels.' And the remedy is for these two to be parted and separated from each other, and no longer to remain in the same place. 5 So God, having added the good doctrine, that is, Abel, to the soul, took the evil doctrine, that is, Cain, away from it; for Abraham too, leaving mortal things, 'is added to the people of God,' because he had left the worse behind. 6 And Isaac, who was thought worthy of self-taught knowledge, also leaves of his own accord all the corporeal essence attached to his soul, and is added to and made a joint heir (not with the people, as the others I have mentioned were) but with the 'Race,' as Moses says; for a 'race' is one, and the highest of all, while 'people' is the name for many. 7 All, therefore, who have improved through instruction and learning and at last arrived at perfection are classed among the larger number. Nor is the number of those who have learnt from oral instruction and demonstration, whom Moses calls the people, insignificant. But those who have forsaken human instruction, become well-disposed disciples of God and arrived at a comprehension of knowledge acquired without labour have passed over to the immortal and most perfect race of beings, and so have received an inheritance better than the former generations of created men; and Isaac is reckoned as a companion of these men. 8 There is also another proof that the mind is immortal, and it is this: there are some people whom God, advancing them to higher degrees of improvement, has enabled to soar above all species and genera, placing them near himself, as he says to Moses, 'But stand here with Me.' He departs to another abode, so that you may understand from this that God counts a wise man as worthy of equal honour with the world itself, since by the same word he both created the universe and raised the perfect man from the things of earth up to himself. 9 Yet when he gave him the use of all earthly things and allowed him to live among them, he did not assign him a power such as he might share with an earthly governor or monarch, by which he would forcibly rule over the passions of the soul; instead he appointed him to be a sort of god, making the whole body, and the mind that rules the body, his subjects and slaves; 'For I give you,' he says, 'as a god to Pharaoh.'⁠a But God admits no subtraction or addition, since he is complete and entirely equal to himself. 10 This is why it is said of Moses, 'That no one is said to know of his tomb;' for who could be competent to perceive the migration of a perfect soul to the living God? I do not even believe that the soul itself, while awaiting this event, was aware of its own improvement, since it was then gradually becoming divine; for when God is about to benefit people, he does not take the one who is to receive the benefit into his counsels, but rather tends to pour his benefits ungrudgingly on him before he has any anticipation of them. This is roughly what it means that God adds the creation of what is good to the perfect mind. And the good is holiness, whose name is Abel. 11 'And Abel became a shepherd of sheep; but Cain was a tiller of the ground.' Why has Moses, who represents Cain as older than Abel, reversed their order here, naming the younger first when he relates their choice of a way of life? For it would have been natural for the elder to lead the way and take up the cultivation of the land, and for the younger to come afterwards to the care of sheep. 12 But Moses is not swayed by what is likely and probable; he pursues the plain, unadulterated truth. And when he comes to God alone, by himself, he tells him with complete frankness that 'he is not eloquent,' which is the same as saying that he does not aim at specious and plausible reasoning, and that this has happened to him 'not yesterday, or the day before yesterday, but ever since God began to converse with him as his servant.' 13 For those who have entered the billows and heavy waves of life must keep themselves afloat by swimming, unable to take hold of any firm point in the matters that lie within the province of knowledge, and depending on what is only likely and probable. But it is fitting for a servant of God to lay hold of the truth, disregarding and rejecting all the uncertain and fabulous statements that rest on the conjectures of plausible men. 14 What, then, is the truth in the matters we are considering? It is that wickedness is older than virtue in time, but younger in power and rank. So when the birth of the two is narrated, let Cain take precedence; but when their pursuits are compared, let Abel come first; 15 for from his very swaddling clothes until the innovating vigour of his ripe age puts out the fiery heat of his passions, every newborn human being has as his foster brothers folly, intemperance, injustice, fear, cowardice and the other evils born with him, every one of which his nurses and tutors foster and make grow within him; by their habits and practices they banish piety, and by their uniform instruction they bring in superstition, a thing closely akin to impiety. 16 But once the child has passed the age of youth and the impetuous disease of the passions has been soothed, as if a calm had come over them, the man begins to enjoy tranquillity, having at last, and not without difficulty, been strengthened in the foundation of virtue, which has calmed the continual and incessant agitation that is the greatest evil of the soul. So wickedness has the advantage in time, but virtue has it in rank, honour and real glory. And this same lawgiver is a trustworthy witness to this fact; 17 for having introduced Esau, who bears the name of folly, as the elder in time, he gives the birthright and chief honour to the younger, who was called Jacob for his practice of virtue. And he is not seen to win this pre-eminence until (as in athletic contests) his adversary gives up the fight, lowering his hands from weakness and yielding the decision and the crown to the one who has waged a truceless and irreconcilable war against the passions; for, as Moses says, 'He sold his birthright to Jacob,' 18 declaring in plain terms that pre-eminence in power and the honours of virtue belong to no wicked man, but only to the lover of wisdom, just as the flute and the lyre and the other instruments of music belong to the musician alone. 19 Moses also records a law about this doctrine, which he frames with great beauty and fitness. It runs as follows: 'If a man has two wives, the one of them beloved and the other hated; and if both the one who is beloved and the one who is hated have borne him children, and if the child of her who is hated is the firstborn, then it shall be in the day in which he divides the inheritance of his possessions among his sons that he shall not be able to give the inheritance of the first-born to the son of the wife that is beloved, overlooking his first-born son, the son of her who is hated; but he shall recognise the son of her who is hated as his first-born, to give him a double share of all the property that he has acquired; because he is the beginning of his children, and the right of the first-born is His.' 20 Consider, my soul, and know who is hated, and who is the son of her who is hated, and you will see at once that the chief rights and chief honours belong to him alone and to no one else; for two wives live with each one of us, hostile and unfriendly to each other, filling the abode of the soul with the contentions which arise from jealousy. We love one of these, which is gentle and tractable and which we think very affectionate and akin to us, and its name is pleasure; but the other we hate, regarding it as untameable, ungentle, fierce and very hostile to us, and its name is virtue. What mortal does not know the great mysteries of that exceedingly beautiful and much fought-over pleasure? And who could worthily describe the multitude or the greatness of the good things that Virtue has treasured up? 21 For two women live with each one of us, both unfriendly and hostile to each other, filling the whole abode of the soul with envy, jealousy and contention; we love one of them, regarding her as mild and tractable and very dear and closely connected to us, and she is called pleasure; but the other we detest, thinking her unmanageable, savage, fierce and utterly hostile, and her name is virtue. So the one comes to us luxuriously dressed in the guise of a harlot and prostitute, with mincing steps, rolling her eyes about with excessive licentiousness and desire, baits with which she traps the souls of the young, looking about with a mixture of boldness and impudence, holding up her head, and raising herself above her natural height, fawning and giggling, her hair dressed with excessive elaborateness, her eyes pencilled, her eyebrows covered over, taking constant warm baths, painted with false colour, exquisitely dressed in costly garments, richly embroidered, adorned with armlets, and bracelets, and necklaces, and every other ornament that can be made of gold, and precious stones, and all kinds of female decorations; loosely belted, breathing the most fragrant perfumes, treating the whole market as her home; a spectacle in the public streets, pursuing a bastard elegance for lack of any genuine beauty. 22 And with her, as her closest friends, walk bold cunning, and rashness, and flattery, and trick, and deceit, and false speaking, and false opinion, and impiety, and injustice, and intemperance, and she advances in their midst like the leader of the company and, marshalling her band, speaks to her mind as follows: 'My good friend, the treasuries of all human blessings and stores of happiness are in my power (for divine blessings are all in heaven), and apart from them you will find nothing.⁠b 23 'If you will live with me, I will open all these treasures to you and give you their most unsparing use and enjoyment for ever. And I want to tell you in advance how many good things I have stored up there, so that if you are so inclined you may choose of your own accord to live happily, and if you refuse, you will not be declining them out of ignorance. 'I have in my power perfect relaxation, and exemption from all fear, and tranquillity, and a complete absence of all care and labour, and an abundant variety of colours, and most melodious intonations of the voice, and all kinds of costly foods and drinks, and plentiful varieties of the sweetest scents, and continual loves, and sports such as require no teacher, and connections no one will ever inquire into, and speech with no shade of reproof in it, and actions that never need to be accounted for, and a life free from anxiety, and soft sleep, and abundance without any feeling of satiety. 24 So if you are inclined to make your home with me, I will give you whatever suits you of all the things I have prepared, considering carefully what food or drink would cheer you most thoroughly, or what sights presented to your eyes, what sounds reaching your ears, or what fragrant odours would delight you most. 'And you will lack nothing you can desire; for you will find that what is newly produced is more abundant than what is spent and consumed; 25 for in the treasuries I have mentioned there are ever-flourishing plants, blossoming and producing an unbroken succession of fruits, so that the beauty of the fresh ones in their prime overtakes and overshadows those that are already fully ripe; and no war, either domestic or foreign, has ever cut down these plants, but from the very day that the earth first received them it has cherished them like a faithful nurse, sending the roots down into its lowest depths to act like the strongest branches, raising the trunk above ground as high as heaven, and putting out branches that are, by analogy, imitations of the hands and feet we see in animals, and leaves that correspond to the hair. I have prepared and made to blossom what will be both a covering and an ornament for you; and besides all this, I have provided the fruit for whose sake the branches and leaves are produced in the first place.' 26 When the other woman heard these words (for she was standing out of sight but still within hearing), and fearing that the mind might unknowingly be taken captive and enslaved, carried away by so many gifts and promises, and yield to the tempter, since she was dressed to win over the eye and equipped with great and varied ingenuity for deceit; for with all her necklaces and other trappings and her various allurements she spurred on and charmed those who looked at her, and stirred a wonderful desire in them; she in turn came forward and suddenly appeared, showing all the qualities of a native, free-born and ladylike woman: a firm step, a very gentle look, the native colour of modesty and nature without any alloy or disguise, an honest disposition, a genuine and sincere way of life, a plain, honest opinion, a language removed from all insincerity, the truest possible image of a sound and honest heart, a disposition averse to pretence, a quiet unobtrusive gait, a moderate style of dress, and the ornaments of prudence and virtue, more precious than any gold. 27 And she was attended by piety, and holiness, and truth, and right, and purity, and an honest regard for an oath, and justice, and equality, and adherence to one's engagements and communion, and prudent silence, and temperance, and orderliness, and meekness, and abstemiousness, and contentment, and good-temper, and modesty, and an absence of curiosity about the concerns of others, and manly courage, and a noble disposition and wisdom in counsel, and prudence, and forethought, and attention, and correctness, and cheerfulness, and humanity, and gentleness, and courtesy, and love of one's kind, and magnanimity, and happiness, and goodness. A single day would not be enough for me to list all the names of the particular virtues. 28 These all stood on either side of her as her bodyguards, with her in their midst. Taking on an appearance natural to her, she began to speak as follows: 'I have seen pleasure, that worker of wondrous tricks, that conjuror and teller of fables, dressed in a somewhat tragic style, and constantly approaching you with a delicate air; and so (for by nature I detest everything evil) I feared that you might unknowingly be deceived, and might consent to the very greatest of evils as if they were exceedingly good; and so I have decided to tell you in all sincerity what really belongs to that woman, so that you do not reject anything to your advantage out of ignorance and unintentionally set out on the road of transgression and unhappiness. 29 'Know, then, that the very dress she appears to you in belongs wholly to someone else; for of the things that contribute to genuine beauty, not one is ever presented as coming from her or belonging to her. But she is hung about with nets and snares to catch you with a bastard and adulterated beauty; if you are wise, you will see this in advance and make sure her pursuit of you gains her nothing; for when she appears she conciliates your eyes, and when she speaks she wins over your ears; and by these and every other part of her conduct she is naturally well equipped to injure your soul, which is the most valuable of all your possessions; and she listed all the things about her that were likely to attract you if you heard of them; but all those that would not have been alluring she suppressed and never mentioned and, meaning you harm, hid completely, since she very naturally expected that no one would readily agree with them.' 30 But I, stripping off all her disguises, will reveal her to you; and I will not imitate the ways of pleasure myself, showing you nothing in me but what is alluring and concealing and keeping out of sight everything unpleasant or harsh; on the contrary, I will say nothing about the things that in themselves give delight and pleasure, knowing well that such things will find their own voice through their effects; but I will describe to you in full everything about me that is painful and hard to bear, setting it out plainly under its bare name, so that its nature may be visible and plain even to those whose sight is somewhat dim. For the things I offer that seem to be the greatest of my evils will in fact prove more honourable and more beneficial to those who use them than the greatest blessings pleasure bestows. But before I begin to speak of what I myself have to give, I will mention all that can be mentioned of the things she keeps in the background. 31 For when she spoke of what she had stored up in her storehouses, such as colours, sounds, flavours, smells, distinctive qualities, powers relating to touch and to every one of the outward senses, and softened them all with the allurements she offered to the ear, she made no mention at all of her other qualities, which are her misfortunes and diseases and which you will inevitably experience if you choose the pleasures she offers; so that, carried aloft on the breeze of some advantage, you might be caught in her snares. 32 Know, then, my good friend, that if you become a devotee of pleasure you will be all these things: a bold, cunning, audacious, unsociable, uncourteous, inhuman, lawless, savage, ill-tempered, unrestrainable, worthless man; deaf to advice, foolish, full of evil acts, unteachable, unjust, unfair, one who shares nothing with others, one who cannot be trusted in his agreements, one with whom there is no peace, covetous, most lawless, unfriendly, homeless, cityless, seditious, faithless, disorderly, impious, unholy, unsettled, unstable, uninitiated, profane, polluted, indecent, destructive, murderous, illiberal, abrupt, brutal, slavish, cowardly, intemperate, irregular, disgraceful, shameful, doing and undergoing every infamy, colourless, immoderate, insatiable, insolent, conceited, self-willed, mean, envious, calumnious, quarrelsome, slanderous, greedy, deceitful, cheating, rash, ignorant, stupid, inharmonious, dishonest, disobedient, obstinate, tricky, swindling, insincere, suspicious, hated, absurd, difficult to detect, difficult to avoid, destructive, evil-minded, disproportionate, an unreasonable chatterer, a bore, a gossip, a vain babbler, a flatterer, a fool, full of heavy sorrow, weak in bearing grief, trembling at every sound, inclined to delay, inconsiderate, improvident, impudent, neglectful of good, unprepared, ignorant of virtue, always in the wrong, erring, stumbling, ill-managed, ill-governed, a glutton, a captive, a spendthrift, easily yielding, most crafty, double-minded, double-tongued, perfidious, treacherous, unscrupulous, always unsuccessful, always in need, infirm of purpose, fickle, a wanderer, a follower of others, yielding to impulses, open to the attacks of enemies, mad, easily satisfied, fond of life, fond of vain glory, passionate, ill-tempered, lazy, a procrastinator, suspected, incurable, full of evil jealousies, despairing, full of tears, rejoicing in evil, frantic, beside yourself, without any steady character, contriving evil, eager for disgraceful gain, selfish, a willing slave, an eager enemy, a demagogue, a bad steward, stiff-necked, effeminate, outcast, confused, discarded, mocking, injurious, vain, full of unmitigated unalloyed misery. 33 These are the great mysteries of that very beautiful and much sought-after pleasure, which she deliberately concealed and kept out of sight for fear that if you knew of them you would refuse to meet her at all. But who could worthily describe either the multitude or the magnitude of the good things stored up in my treasure houses? Those who have shared in them already know, and those whose nature is mild will know in future, when they are invited to share in the banquet: not the banquet at which the pleasures of the sated belly make the body fat, but the one at which the mind is nourished, revels among the virtues, and exults and revels in their company. 34 So, for these reasons, and because of what I said before, namely that things truly pious, holy and good naturally speak for themselves even while they keep silent, I will say no more about them; for neither the sun nor the moon needs an interpreter, since from on high they fill the whole world with light, the one shining by day and the other by night. Their own brilliance is evidence that needs no witnesses, confirmed by the eyes, which are more indisputable judges than the ears. 35 But I will speak freely about the aspect of virtue that seems to involve the greatest difficulty and perplexity; for this too seems troublesome to the imagination at first meeting, but on reflection it proves very pleasant and, since it arises from reason, fitting. Labour is the enemy of laziness, being in reality the first and greatest of good things, and it wages an irreconcilable war against pleasure; for, if we must declare the truth, God has made labour the foundation of all good and of all virtue to man, and without labour you will not find a single good thing in existence among the race of men. 36 For just as it is impossible to see without light, since neither colours nor eyes are enough to grasp the things we perceive by sight (for nature has made light beforehand to serve as a link to connect the two, by which the eye is brought near and adapted to colour, for the powers of both eye and of colour are equally useless in darkness), so in the same way the eye of the soul cannot grasp anything at all of actions in accordance with virtue unless it takes labour as its helper, as the eye borrows the help of light; for labour, placed in the middle between the intellect and the good the intellect desires, and understanding the whole nature of each, itself brings about friendship and harmony, two perfect goods, between the two things on either side of it. 37 Choose any good thing you like, and you will find that it owes its existence and all its strength and solidity to labour. Piety and holiness are good things, but we cannot attain them without the worship of the gods, and that worship goes together with perseverance in labour. Again, prudence and courage and justice are all beautiful things and perfect goods, but they cannot be acquired through laziness, and we must be content if continued diligence attains them. But since not every soul's organs can sustain familiarity with God and with virtue, which is a very intense and mighty harmony, they very often slacken and grow remiss, and so descend from the highest to those of a more moderate character; 38 but even these moderate ones still require great labour. Look at all those who practise the encyclical branches of what is called elementary instruction; look at those who cultivate the land, and at all who earn their living by any regular trade. These men are never free from care night or day; always and continually, as the saying goes, they labour with hand and foot and with all their strength, and never stop enduring hardship, so that it often brings them even to death. 39 But just as those who are eager to make their souls propitious must cultivate the virtues of the soul, so those who intend to make their bodies serve their aims must cultivate health and the powers akin to health, and these too they cultivate with unremitting and ceaseless labour, overwhelmed with care arising from the faculties they are composed of. 40 You see, then, that all good things spring up and shoot out from labour as from a single common root, and you must never allow yourself to neglect it; for if you do, you will unknowingly also let slip the whole heap of goods it brings with it; for the Ruler of the universe, of heaven, and of the world, himself possesses his good things and bestows them on whomever he pleases, with complete ease and abundance. For he once created this world, vast as you see it is, without any labour, and he never ceases holding it together so that it may last for ever. And absence from all labour and fatigue is the most appropriate attribute of God; but nature has not given the acquisition of good things to any mortal without labour, so that, as a result of this arrangement, God alone of all existing beings may be called happy and enjoy felicity. 41 For labour seems to me to have almost the same properties as food. So just as food makes life depend on it, having combined all the actions and all the passions in living, labour too has made all good things depend on it. For just as people who want to live must not neglect food, so those who are eager to attain good things must pay due attention to labour; for labour is to virtue what food is to life. So never slight labour, though it is only a single thing, so that through it you may enjoy the combined blessings of all good things. 42 For in this way, though you may be younger by birth, you will be called the elder and thought worthy of pre-eminence in honour. But if, after a constant course of improvement, you at last arrive at the end, then the Father will not only give you the pre-eminence but also bestow on you the whole inheritance of the Father, as he did on Jacob, who overthrew all the foundations and seats of passion, and who confessed what he had experienced, saying that 'God has pitied me, and all things belong to Me,' uttering a doctrine full of instruction, for he makes everything anchor in the mercy of God. 43 And he learnt all these things from his grandfather Abraham, who was the author of his own education and who gave the all-wise Isaac all that he had, leaving none of his property to bastards or to the spurious reasonings of concubines, but giving them small gifts, as people of little account. For the possessions he owns, namely the perfect virtues, belong only to the perfect and legitimate son; but those of an intermediate character suit and fall to the share of those who are not perfect but have advanced as far as the encyclical branches of elementary education, of which Agar and Cheturah partake, Agar meaning 'a dwelling near,' and Cheturah meaning 'sacrificing.' 44 For one who attends only to the encyclical instruction stays near wisdom but does not dwell with it, sending a certain sweet fragrance from the elegance of contemplation to his own soul. But such a man needs food, not sweet scents, to give him good health. But nature is said to have made smell, with great skill and propriety, the handmaid of taste, a sort of subject and taster to taste, its queen; and we must always attend to the sovereign powers before those they rule, and to the indigenous and native sciences before foreign ones. 45 The mind that hears this rejects pleasure and attaches itself to virtue, perceiving its genuine, unalloyed and truly divine beauty. Then it becomes the shepherd of sheep, the charioteer and pilot of the irrational faculties in the soul, not permitting them to be borne about at random and in an inconsistent manner, without any superintendent or guide; so that they do not fall into a sort of orphaned state, without guardians or protectors for lack of any allies, in which case they would perish with no saving hand to restrain them. 46 So Jacob, the practitioner of contemplation, considering this an occupation most closely akin to virtue, consented 'to be the shepherd of the flocks of Laban,' a man wholly devoted to colours and to forms, and, in short, to lifeless substances; and he did not tend all of them, but only the remainder. How is this to be interpreted? The irrational animal is of two kinds: one consists in a misuse of the reason that should direct choice, and such beings we call people out of their minds; the other consists in a complete absence of reason, which we see in the animals we call brutes. 47 The sons of Laban, 'when they had departed three days' journey,' paid great regard to the irrational impulses of the mind, I mean the faculties that develop from a misuse of the reason that should direct choice; in this way they are symbolically cut off from virtue for their whole life, for time can be divided into three parts: the past, the present and the future. But the practitioner of contemplation will consider worthy of all his care the animals that are irrational in the second sense, which lack not only right reason but any reason at all, the class in which the brute beasts are counted; for he considers that their errors come not so much from deliberate wickedness as from ignorance that had no guide. 48 Ignorance, then, being only a slight calamity, and an involuntary one, has a cure that is neither difficult nor troublesome, namely instruction. But wickedness, being a voluntary disease of the soul, admits only a remedy that is difficult and almost impossible. So his sons, having been instructed by a supremely wise father, even if they do go down to Egypt, that is to say, to the body which is inclined to be a slave to the passions, and even if they meet with Pharaoh, that squanderer of all good things, who appears to be the sovereign of the composite animals, they are not at all bewildered by the abundance of the preparations they see, and confess that they are shepherds of sheep, and that their fathers were too. 49 And yet no one would ever boast as much of any power and sovereignty as these men do of being shepherds; for to those who can reason correctly, it is a nobler occupation than a king's to be able to govern the body and the outward senses, and the belly, as one might govern a city or a country, and to restrain the pleasures seated around the belly, and the other passions, and one's tongue, and, in short, all the different parts of one's composite nature, with vigour and great power, and again to guide them in the right way with due gentleness; for one must at times act like a charioteer who slackens the reins by which he holds the horses yoked to his chariot, and at other times draw them tight, and resist the haste of the steeds, so that no headlong and impetuous pursuit of outward objects may arise and lead them into rebellion. 50 And I admire Moses, that guardian of the laws, who, thinking it a great and noble task to be a shepherd, claimed that occupation for himself; for he manages and conducts the doctrines of Jethro, leading them from the tumultuous vexations of political affairs into the desert, to avoid every temptation to injustice. 'For he led the sheep into the wilderness.' 51 We have shown in our previous treatises that the consequence of this conduct of his was that 'Every shepherd of sheep is an abomination to the Egyptians.' 52 And it came to pass after some days that Cain brought of the fruits of the earth as an offering to the Lord. Here are two accusations against the self-loving man: first, that he showed his gratitude to God after some days and not at once; second, that he made his offering from the fruits and not from the first fruits, which are named in one word, the first fruits. Let us now examine each of these reproaches, beginning with the one that comes first in order: 53 we must do good works, hastening with all speed, and labouring to outstrip others, casting away all slowness and delay. And the best of all good works is to please the first good without postponing the effort, which is why it is also commanded, 'If you vow a vow, you shall not delay to perform it.' Now a vow is a request to God for good things, and the command is that when one has obtained what one hoped for, one must make offerings of gratitude to God, and not to oneself, and offer them if possible without any loss of time, and without any delay; 54 and of those who do not act rightly in this matter, some, forgetting the benefits they have received, have failed in that great and beautiful virtue of thankfulness, and others, out of excessive conceit, have regarded themselves as the authors of the good things that have happened to them, and have not attributed them to him who is really their cause. A third class commits an offence that is slighter than the fault of the second, but more serious than the fault of the first; for though they confess that the supreme Ruler is the cause of the good that has happened to them, they still say that they deserved to receive it, because they are prudent, and courageous, and temperate, and just, so that for these reasons God may well consider them worthy of his favours. 55 The holy scriptures oppose all these classes and answer each of them, saying to the first class, which has discarded recollection and embraced forgetfulness, 'Take care, my good man, for fear that when you have eaten and are filled, and when you have built fine houses and inhabited them, and when your flocks and your herds have increased, and when your silver and gold, and all that you possess is multiplied, you may be lifted up in your heart, and forget the Lord your God.' When, then, do you not forget God? When you do not forget yourself; for if you remember your own nothingness in every particular, you will also be sure to remember the exceeding greatness of God in everything. 56 And Moses reproves in this way the man who regards himself as the cause of the good things that have happened to him: 'Do not say,' he says, 'my own might, or the strength of my right hand has acquired me all this power, but remember always the Lord your God, who gives you the might to acquire power.'⁠c 57 And the one who thinks he deserved to receive the possession and enjoyment of good things may be taught to change his mind by the oracle that says, 'You do not enter into this land to possess it because of your righteousness, or because of the holiness of your heart; but, in the first place, because of the iniquity of these nations, since God has brought on them the destruction of wickedness; and in the second place that he may establish the covenant which he swore to our fathers.' Now the covenant of God figuratively means his graces (and it is not right to offer him anything imperfect), since all the gifts of the uncreated God are complete and entirely perfect,⁠d and virtue is complete among the things that exist, and so is the course of action that accords with it. 58 If therefore we discard forgetfulness and ingratitude, and self-love, and the parent wickedness of all these things, namely, self-opinion, we shall no longer, through our delay, fail to attain the genuine worship of God, but, outrunning and leaping past all created beings, we shall meet our master himself before we embrace any mortal thing, having prepared ourselves to do the things which he commands us. 59 For Abraham too, coming with all haste and speed and eagerness, urges virtue, that is, Sarah, 'to hasten and knead three measures of fine meal, and to make cakes upon the hearth.' This was when God, attended by two of the heavenly powers as guards, namely authority and goodness, himself the one God between them, presented the appearance of the figures to the seeing soul; none of these figures was measured in any respect; for God cannot be circumscribed, nor are his powers capable of being defined by lines, but he himself measures everything. His goodness therefore is the measure of all good things, and his authority is the measure of things in subjection, and the Governor of the universe himself is the measure of all things, corporeal and incorporeal. For this reason his powers too, regarded as rules and models, have weighed and measured other things by reference to themselves. 60 It is very good for these three measures to be, as it were, kneaded together in the soul and mixed together, so that the soul, being persuaded that the supreme being is God, who has raised his head above all his powers, and who is seen independently of them, and who makes himself visible in them, may receive the characters of his power and beneficence, and becoming initiated into the perfect mysteries, may not be too ready to divulge the divine secrets to anyone, but may treasure them up in herself, and keeping a check over her speech, may conceal them in silence; for the words of the scripture are, 'To make secret cakes;' because the sacred and mystic statements about the one uncreated Being, and about his powers, ought to be kept secret; since it is not for everyone to keep the deposit of divine mysteries properly. 61 For the stream of the intemperate soul, flowing outwards through the mouth and tongue, is pumped up and poured into all ears. Some of these, having wide channels, gladly hold what is poured into them; but others, because their passages are narrow, cannot be watered by it. But what overflows, pouring out without restraint, is scattered in every direction, so that what was concealed escapes and floats on top, and, like a random torrent of mud, sweeps along in its flood things worthy of being tended with all care. 62 In this regard, those who have been initiated into the lesser mysteries before learning anything of these greater ones seem to me to have decided rightly. 'For they baked their flour which they brought out of Egypt, baking secret cakes of unleavened bread.' That is to say, they dealt with the untameable and savage passions, softening them with reason as they would knead bread; for they did not reveal how they kneaded and improved it, since it came from some divine method of preparation; but they treasured it up in their secret stores, not elated by their knowledge of the mystery, but yielding and humble in their boasting. 63 Let us, then, be active and ready in our gratitude to and honour of the omnipotent God, rejecting all sluggishness and delay; for those who are passing over from obedience to the passions to the contemplation of virtue, are enjoined to keep the passover with their loins bound up, being ready to do service, and binding up the burden of the flesh, or, as it is expressed, their shoes, 'standing upright, and firmly on their feet, and having in their hands a staff,' that is to say education, so as to succeed without any failure in all the affairs of life; and lastly, 'to eat the passover in haste.' For the passover signifies the crossing over of the created and perishable being to God--and very appropriately; for there is no single good thing which does not belong to God, and which is not divine. 64 So seek it quickly, my soul, as did Jacob, that practitioner of contemplation, who, when his father asked him, 'How did you find this so quickly, my son?' answered, with a doctrine concealed underneath his words, 'The Lord God brought it before me.' For, being well skilled in many matters, he knew that whatever creation bestows on the soul is confirmed over a long time, as those who teach their pupils arts and lessons in arts know: for they are not like people pouring water into a vessel; they cannot fill their minds in a moment with the lessons set before them. But when the fountain of wisdom, that is to say, God, gives knowledge of the sciences to the race of mankind, he gives it to them without any limitation of time. But they, as disciples of the only wise Being and competent by nature, quickly discover the things they seek to understand. 65 But the principal virtue of pupils is to endeavour to imitate their perfect master, as far as those who are imperfect can imitate a perfect man. But the master is swifter than any time; time did not even work with him when he was creating the universe, since time itself was plainly created at the same moment as the world. For as God spoke the word, he created in the same moment; nor did he allow anything to come between the word and the deed; and, if one may put forward a doctrine that is very nearly true, His word is his deed. But among the race of mankind nothing is more easily moved than the word; for by its speed and the fluency of its nouns and verbs it outstrips even the comprehension that hurries to overtake them. 66 So, just as everlasting springs that pour down in rivers have a course that never stops, the oncoming stream continually taking up where the preceding waves left off, so too the abundant flow of words, once it begins to pour out, keeps pace with the swiftest of all the qualities in us, namely the mind, which can itself outstrip even flying creatures. So, as the uncreated God outstrips all creation, the word of the uncreated God also outruns the word of creation and is borne along with great swiftness in the clouds. For this reason God speaks freely, saying, 'Now you shall see, because my word shall overtake you.' As the divine word can outstrip and overtake everything, 67 but if his word can outstrip everything in this way, how much more can the one who utters it, as he testifies elsewhere, saying, 'Here I am, I stood here before you.' For he declares here that he stood before any created being: and he who is here is also there, and in other places, and everywhere, having filled every place in every direction, and having left nothing at all empty of himself: 68 for he does not say, 'Here I stand and there, but now also when I am present do I stand there also at the same moment;' not being moved or changing his place so as to occupy one place and to quit another, but using one intense motion. So, very properly, his subject children, imitating the nature of their father, do all that is right without any delay and with all diligence, their most excellent occupation being to pay prompt and unremitting honour to God. 69 But Pharaoh, the squanderer of all things, being unable himself to receive the conception of virtues unconnected with time, since the eyes of his soul were mutilated, by which alone incorporeal natures are comprehended, would not consent to benefit from virtues unconnected with time; but, weighed down by soulless opinions, by which I mean the frogs, creatures that make a sound and noise wholly empty and void of reality, when Moses says, 'appoint a time to me when I may pray for you and for your servants that God will make the frogs disappear,' although, being in very urgent need, he ought to have said, Pray this moment, he nevertheless postponed it,⁠e saying, 'Pray tomorrow,' so that he might in every case preserve the folly of his impiety. 70 And this happens to nearly all those men who hesitate and vacillate between two opinions, even if they do not admit it in so many words. For when anything unexpected happens to them, since they did not previously believe firmly in God the Saviour, they take refuge in the assistance of created things, of physicians, of herbs, of the composition of drugs, in a carefully considered plan of life, and in any other aid that can be had from mortal man. And if anyone were to say to them, 'Flee, you wretched men, to Him who is the only physician for the diseases of the soul, and discard all this falsely called assistance which you are seeking to find in the creature who is subject to the same sufferings as yourselves,' they would laugh at and ridicule him, saying, 'Tell us this tomorrow.' For even if anything were to happen to them, they would not pray to the Deity to avert the present evils from them. 71 But when they find that man offers no relief, and even all the remedies prove harmful, then in great perplexity they give up all thought of help from other quarters, and, wretched as they are and very much against their will, they reluctantly and belatedly flee to the only Saviour, God. But he, knowing well that no reliance can be placed on a reformation forced by necessity, does not apply his law to every one of them, but only to those for whom it seems good and suitable. So let every reasoning that thinks all possessions belong to itself and honours itself before God know that it is liable to the accusation of impiety, for the expression 'sacrificing after a few days' involves just such a notion. 72 We have now adequately gone through the first count of our accusation against Cain. The second is this: Why does he bring the first fruits of the fruits of the earth, but not of the first produce? Is it not for the same reason, to give the pre-eminence in honour to creation and repay God himself with the second best? For just as some people place the body before the soul and the slave before the mistress, so there are people who honour the creation more than God, though the lawgiver gave this command, that 'we should bring the first fruits of the first produce of the earth into the house of God,' and not assign them to ourselves. For it is just to refer to God all the first motions of the soul, whether first in order or in power. 73 The things first in order are those we have shared in from the first moment of our birth: nourishment, growth, sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, speech, the mind, the parts of the soul, the parts of the body, the energies of these parts, and in short all the motions and conditions which are in accordance with nature. But the things first in importance and in power are good actions, the virtues, and conduct in accordance with the virtues. 74 So it is right to offer the first fruits of these things, and the first fruits are the language of gratitude sent up from a sincere and truthful mind. And this language divides into its appropriate parts in the same way as the lyre and the other musical instruments are divided. For in each of those instruments each sound is harmonious on its own, and also well suited to sounding in concert with the rest. So too in grammar, the elements called vowels can be uttered on their own, and they also make a complete sound together with other letters. 75 But nature, which has created many powers in us, some of them the outward senses, some reasoning and intellectual, which has directed each to its appropriate work, and which has fitted them all in due proportion into union and harmony with one another, may most properly be called happy both in each particular and in all of them. 76 So if you bring a sacrifice of the first fruits, you must divide it as the sacred scripture teaches, first offering the fruits that are green, then those that are toasted, then those that are cut up, and last of all those that are ground. The green ones come first for this reason: he is teaching those who love the old, obsolete and fabulous times, and who do not comprehend the swift power of God, unlimited by time, and warning them to adopt new, and flourishing, and vigorous thoughts, so that they may not embrace false opinions from being nourished on the old fabulous systems that a long lapse of ages has handed down to deceive mortals; but that, receiving new and fresh good things in all abundance from God, who never grows old, but who is always young and vigorous, they may be taught to think nothing that is with him old, nothing past or obsolete, but to regard everything as created and existing without any limitation of time. 77 For this reason he says elsewhere, 'You shall rise up from before a hoary head, and you shall honour the face of an elder.' For he was a man who admitted no innovations of any kind, but was by habit attached to his elders and to those worthy of the highest honours. 78 It is advantageous, then, if not for the acquisition of perfect virtue, at least with regard to political considerations, both to be nourished in ancient and primeval opinions, and also to be acquainted with the ancient records of glorious actions, which historians and the whole race of poets have handed down to their contemporaries and to later ages to be preserved in memory. But when the sudden light of self-taught wisdom has shone on those who neither foresaw nor expected it, and, opening the previously closed eyes of the soul, makes men spectators of knowledge rather than mere hearers of it, implanting in the mind sight, the swiftest of the outward senses, in place of the slower hearing, then it is useless to exercise the ears with speeches. 79 For this reason it is also said: 'And you shall eat old store, and old food from the old store, and you shall also bring forward the old out of the sight of the new.' For it is fitting to reject no piece of ancient learning because of its age, while we try to meet with the writings of wise men, to be present, as it were, at the opinions and expositions of those who tell of ancient matters, and to be always eager to inquire about the former ages of men and ancient events, since it is the pleasantest of all things to be ignorant of nothing. But when God causes new shoots of self-taught wisdom to spring up in the soul, then we ought at once to circumscribe and contract the things we have acquired from instruction, which of their own accord return and flow back to their source. For it is impossible for a follower, friend or disciple of God, or whatever else one may see fit to call him, to tolerate mortal lessons. 80 And let the ripeness of the new soul be toasted. That is to say, as gold is tried in the fire, let this also be tested by powerful reason. And to be consolidated is a sign of having been tried, tested and approved. For just as the fruit of flourishing stalks of corn is toasted so that it may no longer be damp, and this cannot by nature happen without fire, so the young and fresh ripeness, advancing by means of powerful and unalterable reason to the perfection of virtue, must be made solid and stable. But it is the natural characteristic of reason not only to ripen speculations in the soul, preventing them from dissolving, but also to put a vigorous end to the impetuosity of irrational passion. 81 Behold Jacob, the practitioner of contemplations, cooking it, when, 'Esau is in a moment discovered to be fainting.' For wickedness and passion are the foundations of those who love themselves, and the man supported on them, when he sees them defeated and extinguished by the reason that has refuted them, naturally enough relaxes his exertions and his strength. 82 The meaning of the expression 'those that are cut up' is something like this: that language is not confused, but divided into appropriate divisions. For in everything order is better than disorder, and this is most especially so in the most swiftly flowing nature of all--speech. We must therefore divide it into the principal heads, which are called incidents, and we must assign to each its appropriate preparation, imitating in this skilful archers, who, having chosen a mark, try to shoot every one of their arrows straight at it. For the head resembles the mark, and the preparation is similar to the arrows. 83 In this way speech, the most excellent of all branches of learning, is harmoniously connected together. For the lawgiver cuts leaves of gold into thin hairs, so as to plait fitting works durably from that material. In the same way speech, which is more precious than gold, is completed in a praiseworthy manner out of innumerable varieties of ideas; then, divided into the thinnest possible heads like a woven web, it receives a harmonious demonstration, like a work of the distaff. 84 So sacrificers are commanded, when they have flayed the burnt offering, to cut it up joint by joint, first so that the soul may appear naked, without any of the coverings that empty and false opinions make; and second, so that it may be able to receive suitable divisions, for virtue is a whole and one, which is divided into corresponding species, such as prudence and temperance, justice and courage, so that we, knowing how each of these qualities differs, may serve them willingly both as a whole and in particulars. 85 And let us consider how we may train the soul so that it is not thrown into confusion and deceived by general and unintelligible appearances, but by making proper divisions of things it may be able to inspect and examine each separate thing with all accuracy, adopting language that will not, carried along by disorderly impetuosity, cause any indistinctness, but, divided into its appropriate headings and the demonstrations suitable to each, will be composed like a living animal of perfect parts, properly put together. And we ought to apply ourselves to continual meditation on and practice of these things if we want their use to be confirmed in us, since to touch knowledge and then not remain in it is like tasting food and drink but being prevented from consuming enough of them. 86 After those that are cut up, it was very natural to offer those that are ground; that is, after the division it is natural to dwell on and spend one's leisure among what has been discovered in this way, for continued practice produces firm and stable knowledge, just as continued indifference produces ignorance. So many men, afraid of the labour of practice, have lost the strength nature endowed them with; but those who nourished their souls on prophecy, which is signified by the name manna, have not imitated them, 'for they ground it in mills or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it.' every one of them knowing well how to knead and soften the heavenly language of virtue for the sake of making the intellect firmer. 87 So when you confess that the young and fresh corn, that is to say vigour, and the toasted corn, that is to say speech tried in the fire and invincible, and the corn cut up, which signifies the cutting up and division of things, and the ground corn, that is, anxious care in examining what has been found out, all come from God, you will then be offering a sacrifice of the first fruits of the first produce, of the first and best things which the soul has brought forth; and even if we are slow, he does not delay in taking to himself those who are fit to worship him. For 'I will take,' he says, 'you to be a people for myself, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people: I am the Lord.' 88 These, and others like them, are the accusations brought against Cain, who offered sacrifice after some days; but Abel did not bring the same offerings, nor did he bring his offerings in the same manner; but instead of inanimate things he brought living sacrifices, and instead of younger things, worthy only of the second place, he offered what was older and of first importance, and instead of what was weak he offered what was strong and fat, for he says that 'he made his sacrifice of the first-born of his flocks, and of their fat,' according to the most holy commandment. 89 Now the commandment is as follows: 'And it shall be,' say the scriptures, 'when God shall bring you forth into the land of the Canaanites, in the manner which he swore to your fathers, and shall give it to you, that you shall set apart to the Lord all that opens the womb of all your flocks, and of all the beasts which you have, and shall set apart all the males for the Lord. Every offspring of an ass that opens the womb you shall exchange for a sheep; and if you do not exchange it you shall redeem it with money.' For what opens the womb is Abel, that is, a gift, the first-born, and you must examine how and when it is to be offered up; 90 now the most suitable time is when God leads you into fluctuating reason, that is, into the land of the Canaanites, not in any chance way, but in the way he himself swore he would; not so that you may be tossed here and there in the surf and tempest and heavy waves and deprived of all rest or stability, but so that, having escaped such agitation, you may enjoy fine weather and calm, and, reaching virtue as a refuge, port or safe harbour for ships, may lie safe and steady. 91 But when Moses says that God swears, we must consider whether he really asserts this as appropriate for God to do, since to very many people it seems inconsistent with the character of God; for an oath implies the testimony of God in a doubtful matter. But to God there is nothing uncertain and nothing in doubt; 92 since it is he who clearly demonstrates to others all the clear indications of truth. So he needs no witness, for there is no other god of equal honour with him. I pass over the point that a witness, insofar as he bears witness, is better than the one to whom he bears witness; for the one stands in need of something, and the other serves him: and the one who serves is more worthy of credit than the one who needs to be served. But it is impious to conceive that anything can be better than the Cause of all things, since nothing is equal to him, nothing even a little inferior to him; rather, everything that exists in the world is found to be inferior to God in its whole genus. 93 It is to gain belief that men who are disbelieved resort to an oath. But God is to be believed when he simply says anything, so that, as far as certainty goes, his words differ in no way from oaths. And our opinions are indeed confirmed by an oath, but an oath itself is confirmed by adding the name of God. God, therefore, does not become credible because of an oath, but even an oath is confirmed by God. 94 Why, then, has this hierophant chosen to introduce him as swearing? To demonstrate the weakness of the created being and, once he had demonstrated it, to comfort him: for we are not always able to keep ready in our soul the principal fact that ought to be remembered about God, namely, that 'God is not as a man,' so that we may rise above the assertions made about man; 95 but we, since we have the greatest share in what is mortal, and since we are not able to conceive anything apart from ourselves, and have no power to go beyond or to escape our own calamities, but since we have got into mortality as snails get into their shells, and since we are rolled up around ourselves into a ball, like so many hedgehogs, and hold only the same opinions about the blessed and immortal God as we hold about ourselves, avoiding absurd assertions, for instance that God has the same form as man, but in reality being guilty of the impiety of attributing to him the same passions as man; 96 for this reason we fashion for him, in our minds, hands and feet, a coming in and a going out, hatred, aversion, alienation, and anger; parts and passions very inconsistent with the character of the Cause of all things, and an oath sworn by him often comes to the aid of our weakness. 97 'If God shall give you the things which you desire,' says Moses, speaking very eloquently and accurately; for if he does not give them you will not have them, since everything belongs to him, both things external, and the body, and the outward sense, and the power of speech, and the mind, and the energies and essences of all the faculties. And you will find that not only these but this whole world, and whatever you cut off and divide from it, does not belong to you; for you do not possess the earth, or the water, or the air, or the heaven, or the stars, or any of the kinds of animals or plants, whether perishable or immortal, as your own; so whatever you bring from them to offer to him as a sacrifice, you are bringing as God's possession, and not as your own. 98 And notice how clearly it is commanded that the one who sacrifices may take a part of what is offered, and that he is not bound to offer the whole of what has been given him. For nature has given us a countless number of things, suitable to the human race, none of which it shares itself: for instance, she has given us creation, though she herself is uncreated; and food, though she has no need of food; and growth, though she always remains in the same condition; and age, with reference to time, though she herself admits neither addition nor subtraction; an organic body, which she cannot receive: also the powers of moving forward, of seeing, of taking in food and of disposing of it again once digested; of distinguishing between scents, of using speech, of laughing. 99 There are also many other things in us which have reference to our necessary and beneficial uses: but one may call these things indifferent, while those that are admittedly good ought to be attributed to and included in nature. Come, then, let us investigate which of the things that are truly good are most admired among us, each of which we pray to attain at suitable times, and if we attain them, we are called the happiest of men. 100 Who does not know that a happy old age and a happy death are the greatest of human goods? Nature can share in neither of these, since nature can neither grow old nor die. And what is extraordinary if the uncreated does not stoop to use the good things of created beings, when even what has been created desires different virtues according to the different ideas into which it is divided? At any rate, men would not compete with women, nor women with men, in the matters that ought to concern only the opposite sex. But if the women were to emulate the pursuits of men they would be regarded as half-men, and if the men were to apply themselves to the pursuits of women they would earn a bad reputation as men-women. 101 But are there not some virtues that nature herself has distinguished so sharply that no practice can bring them into the common use of both sexes? At any rate, sowing seed and fathering children is the special property of man, according to his own capacity, and no woman could do this. And again, man's nature does not make him capable of bearing children, which is the good work of women; therefore these things, which are innate in the nature of man, cannot properly be predicated of God, and when they are, it is only through a catachrestical misuse of terms, by which we make allowance for our weakness. So, my mind, remove whatever is created or mortal, or changeable or unconsecrated, from your conceptions of the uncreated God, immortal, unchangeable, and holy, the only God, blessed for ever. 102 But it is wholly in accordance with nature 'to sacrifice the males of every creature that opens the womb, to God.' For as nature has given to women the womb, as the part best suited to the generation of animals, so also for the production of things she has placed a power in the soul, by which the mind conceives, is in labour and brings forth many things. 103 But of the ideas the mind brings forth, some are male and some female, as in the case of animals. Now the female offspring of the soul are wickedness and passion, by which we are made effeminate in every one of our pursuits; but a healthy state of the passions and virtue is male, by which we are excited and invigorated. Of these, whatever is akin to men must be attributed to God, and everything that resembles women must be imputed to oneself; that is why the command was given, 'Of everything which opens the womb the males belong to the Lord.' 104 He also says, 'The males belong to the Lord of everything which opens the womb, of your flocks and of your cattle, and of all that belongs to you.' Having spoken of the offspring of the principal part of the soul, he begins to tell us about the produce of the irrational part, which the outward senses have received as their inheritance and which he likens to cattle, and to the young which are bred up in the herds, being tame and tractable, since they are guided by the care of their overseer, that is, the shepherd; for those that are allowed to run loose and are left free grow wild for lack of anyone to tame them. But those that have guides, such as goatherds, cowherds, and shepherds, who manage every species of cattle, are, I say, necessarily made tame. 105 Moreover, nature has formed the genus of the outward senses to be wild in one case and tractable in another; it is wild when, having shaken off the rein of the mind, its herdsman, it is carried irrationally towards the external objects of the outward senses; but it is tame when, having obediently yielded to reason, the guide of discernment, it is regulated and directed in its course by reason. So whatever it sees or hears, or, in short, whatever it feels with any one of its outward senses at the mind's command, is male and perfect, for goodness is added to each; 106 but when anything is done without a guide, in a state of anarchy, the body ruins us as anarchy ruins a city. Again, we must consider that those motions of the outward senses which proceed in obedience to the mind, and which of necessity are the better, take place according to God's dispensation; but those that are obstinate and disobedient we must impute to ourselves, when we are carried away irrationally by the impetuosity of the outward senses. 107 And he has commanded us to take a portion not only from the things just mentioned, but also from the entire mass in combination. The command reads as follows: 'And it shall be, when you eat of the fruit of the land, that he shall take a part to offer up as a heave-offering to the Lord: you shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough for a heave-offering as you do the heave-offering of the threshing-floor, so you shall offer it.' 108 Properly speaking, if we must state the exact truth, we ourselves are this dough; since many essences are kneaded and combined together so that we may be made perfect: for the great Creator mixed and kneaded together opposite properties, the cold and hot, dry and moist, and made out of them all one distinct combination, ourselves, which is why the word dough is applied to us. The first fruits of this combination, in which body and soul, the two most important divisions, are united, are to be consecrated. 109 But the first fruits are the holy motions of each in accordance with virtue; which is why they have been compared to a threshing-floor. As, therefore, on a threshing-floor there is wheat and barley, and as many other such things as can be separated out by themselves, and husks and chaff, and whatever other refuse is dissipated and scattered in different directions, so too, with us, there are some things which are excellent and useful, and which afford real nourishment, by means of which a good life is brought to perfection; all of which we should attribute to God. But there are other, non-divine things, which we must leave like refuse to the human race; yet from these some portions must be taken away, 110 and there are some entire virtues, free from all wickedness, which it would be impious to mutilate by dividing them, and which resemble those indivisible sacrifices, the whole burnt-offerings, of which Isaac is a clear pattern: his father was commanded to offer him up like a victim, and he shared in no destructive passion. 111 And in another passage it is said, 'My gifts, and my offerings, and my sacrifices, you will take care to offer to me at my festivals:' not taking from them or dividing them, but bringing them forward full, entire and perfect; for the feast of the soul is cheerfulness in perfect virtues; and the perfect virtues are all those which the human race exhibits, free from all stain or spot. But only the wise man can keep such a festival, and no other human being; for it is very rare to find a soul that has never tasted wickedness or passions. 112 Having therefore given an account of the dominant and subject divisions of the soul, and having shown what portion in each is male and female, Moses next goes on, very consistently, to explain the divisions of the body. For, knowing well that a masculine offspring cannot be obtained without labour and care, he goes on to say, 'Every foal of an ass that opens the womb, you shall exchange for the young of a sheep.' 113 being a symbol of the care that must be spent on arts and professions and on everything else that is a matter of instruction, and spent without negligence or indifference: one must, with all earnestness, prepare one's mind to meet every amount of labour vigorously, and strive not to be enslaved by ill-considered toil, but to advance and improve by pushing on to the most glorious end; for labour is to be endured for the sake of improvement. 114 But if labour wears you out, and still your nature makes no advance on the road to improvement, but rather resists your becoming better by progress, then abandon the pursuit and rest, for it is a difficult task to go against nature. That is why the scripture adds: 'And if you do not exchange it, you shall ransom it for money;' which means: if you cannot exchange labour for improvement, give up your labour; for the idea of ransoming carries with it the notion of emancipating the mind from vain and unproductive care. 115 But I am speaking here not of the virtues but of the intermediate arts, and of other necessary studies concerned with the care due to the body and with the abundance of external goods. For the labour applied to what is perfectly good and excellent, even if it falls short of its object, still by itself does good to those who exert it, while things unconnected with virtue are entirely unprofitable unless their aim is attained. For just as with animals, if you take away the head the whole animal perishes, so the head of actions is their end: they live, in a way, if the end is reached, but if you cut off their end and mutilate them, they die. 116 So too, let athletes who cannot win but are always defeated renounce their trade; and if a merchant or ship's captain meets with constant disasters on all his voyages, let him leave the business and rest. And those who have devoted themselves to the intermediate arts but, through the roughness of their nature, have been unable to acquire any learning deserve praise for abandoning them: for such studies are not practised for the sake of the practice, but for the sake of the goal the labourer is pressing towards. 117 So if nature hinders our improvement, let us not strive against her to no profit; but if she works with us, let us honour the Deity with the first fruits and honours, which are the ransom of our soul, emancipating it from subjection to cruel masters, and elevating it to freedom. 118 For Moses acknowledges that the Levites, who were taken in exchange for the firstborn and appointed ministers of the one who alone is worthy to be served, were the ransom of all the other Israelites. 'Look,' says God, 'I have chosen the Levites out of the midst of the children of Israel, instead of every firstborn that opens the womb from among the children of Israel; they shall be their ransom and the Levites shall belong to me: for every first-born is mine; from that day in which I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I dedicated to myself all the first-born of Israel.' 119 What is here called the Levite is the reason that fled to God and became his suppliant; God, having taken this from the most central and dominant part of the soul, that is, having taken it to himself and claimed it as his own share, judged it worthy of the honour due to the first-born. So it is plain from this that Reuben is the first-born of Jacob, but Levi the first born of Israel, the one holding the honours of seniority by time, the other by dignity and power. 120 For Jacob, the symbol of labour and improvement, is also the beginning of a good disposition, which Reuben signifies: but the fountain of contemplation of the only wise being, from which the name Israel is given, is the source of the inclination to minister to him; and the Levite is the symbol of such ministry. So, just as Jacob is found to inherit Esau's birth-right, since eagerness in wickedness has been defeated by virtuous labour, so also Levi, as one who devotes himself to perfect virtue, will carry off the honours of seniority from Reuben, the man of a good disposition. But the most undeniable proof of perfection is for a man to be a fugitive to God, having abandoned all concern for the things of creation. 121 These, then, strictly speaking, are the prices to be paid to preserve and ransom the soul that desires freedom. And may we not say that this brings forward a very necessary doctrine? Namely, that every wise man is a ransom for a worthless one, who could not last even a short time if the wise man did not exert mercy and prudence to see to his survival; like a physician who fights the infirmities of an invalid, either easing them or removing them altogether, unless the disease comes on with irresistible violence, and surmounts all the ingenuity of medical skill. 122 And this is how Sodom was destroyed: there was, as it were, no good that could be put in the scale to outweigh the unspeakable multitude of its wickednesses. So if the number fifty could have been found, by which emancipation from the soul's slavery and complete freedom are proclaimed, or any one of the numbers below fifty which the wise Abraham counted, descending at last to ten, the number proper to instruction, the mind would not have been destroyed so ingloriously. 123 We ought at times to try as far as possible to preserve those who are not on the point of being utterly destroyed by the wickedness that is in them; imitating good physicians who, even if they see that it is impossible for those who are sick to recover, still apply their remedies cheerfully, so that it may not appear that the case turned out badly through their neglect. And if even the slightest seed of good health is seen, it is to be cherished like a spark of fire with every possible care; for there is hope that if it can be made to last longer and grow stronger, the man may in future have a better and safer life. 124 So when I see a good man living in any house or city, I call that house or city happy, and I think its enjoyment of its present good things is secure, and that its expectation of future happiness will be accomplished, since, for the sake of the worthy, God will bestow his boundless and illimitable riches even on the unworthy. And I pray that they may live as long as possible, since they can never grow old, for I expect good fortune to remain with mankind as long as these men are able to live in the practice of virtue. 125 So when I see or hear that one of these men has died, I am deeply downcast and grieved, and I lament those left behind alive as much as I lament the dead; for in the case of the dead I see that the necessary end has come in keeping with the ordinances of nature, and that they have shown a happy life and a glorious death. But I regard the others as now deprived of the great and mighty hand by which they were saved, and as likely, now that they have lost it, soon to feel the evils due to them, unless, indeed, in place of the men who are gone, nature is preparing to make other young men spring up, as in the case of a tree which has already shed its ripe fruit for the nourishment and enjoyment of those who are able to make use of it. 126 So, just as good men are the strongest part of cities for keeping them in existence, so also in the state of each of us, which consists of soul and body, the reasoning powers devoted to prudence and knowledge are the firmest part of its foundation; these the legislator, speaking metaphorically, calls the ransom and the first-born, for the reasons I have already mentioned. 127 So too he says, 'The cities of the Levites are ransomed for ever, because the minister of God enjoys eternal freedom, according to the continuous revolutions of the ever-moving soul,' and he admits incessant healing applications; for when he calls them ransomed, not once, but for ever, as he says, he means this: that they are always in a state of revolution, and always in a state of freedom, the state of revolution being implanted in them because of their natural mortality, but their freedom coming to them because of their ministration to God. 128 But it is worth considering carefully why he granted the cities of the Levites to fugitives, thinking it right that even these, who appear entirely impious, should dwell with the most holy of men. These fugitives are those who have committed homicide unintentionally. First, then, we must repeat what agrees with what has already been said, that the good man is the ransom of the worthless one, so that those who have sinned will naturally come to those who have been hallowed, to be purified; and, in the second place, we must consider that the Levites admit the fugitives because they themselves are potentially fugitives; 129 for as they are driven away from their country, so these others also have left their children, their parents, their brothers, their nearest and dearest things, in order that they may receive an immortal inheritance instead of a mortal one. But they differ, because the flight of the one is involuntary, being caused by an unintentional action, but the flight of the others is voluntary, from a love of what is most excellent; and because the former have the Levites for their refuge; but the Levites have the Lord of all for their refuge, in order that those who are imperfect may have the sacred scriptures for their law; but that the others may have God for theirs, by whom they are hallowed. 130 Moreover, those who have committed unintentional homicide, have been allotted the same cities as the Levites to dwell in, because they also were thought worthy of a privilege because of a holy slaughter. So when the soul changed and came to honour the Egyptian God, the body, as fine gold, then all the sacred writings rushing out of their own accord with defensive weapons, namely demonstrations according to knowledge, putting forward as their leader and general the chief priest, and prophet, and friend of God, Moses, proclaimed an unceasing war in the cause of piety, and would not hear of peace until they had put down all the doctrines of those who opposed them, so that they naturally came to inhabit the same dwellings, since they had done similar, though not identical, actions. 131 There is also another opinion circulating, something of a secret, which it is right to entrust to the ears of the elders without divulging it to the younger men; for of all the most excellent powers which exist in God, there is one equal to the others in honour, namely the legislative one (for he himself is a lawgiver and the fountain of all laws, and all particular lawgivers are subordinate to him), and this legislative power is divided in two, one part concerned with rewarding those who do well, and the other with punishing those who have sinned; 132 accordingly the Levite is the minister of the former division, for he performs all the ministrations that relate to perfect holiness, by which the human race is raised up and brought to the notice of God, either by whole burnt offerings, or else by saving sacrifices, or else by repentance for one's sins. But the ministers of the other, punishing division of the legislative power are those who have committed unintentional homicide. 133 And Moses bears witness to this, saying, 'He was not willing, but God gave him into his hands,' so that his hands are here taken as instruments; but the one who works invisibly through them must be the other being, the invisible one. So let the two servants dwell together, being the ministers of the two species of the legislative power; the Levite being the minister of the division which has reference to the reward of those who do well, and the unintentional homicide of the division concerned with punishment. 134 'But in the day,' says God, 'on which I struck the first-born in the land of Egypt, I consecrated to myself all the first-born of Israel.' And he says this not to lead us to suppose that at the time when Egypt was stricken with this mighty blow by the destruction of all its first-born, the first-born of Israel all became holy, but because in the past, now, hereafter and for ever, this naturally happens to the soul: that when the most dominant parts of blind passion are destroyed, then the elder and most honourable offspring of God, who sees everything with a piercing sight, becomes holy; 135 for the departure of wickedness brings about the entrance of virtue, as, on the other hand, when what is good is driven away, then what was bad, having been lying in ambush, comes in to supply the void. Jacob had scarcely gone out when Esau entered the mind, which receives everything, to stamp it, if possible, with the impression of wickedness instead of the figures of virtue; but he could not have done this, for he will be supplanted and overthrown by the wise man before he knows it, since the wise man is quick to repel the impending injury before it can affect him. 136 And he brings first fruits not only from the firstborn but also from the fat, showing by this that whatever in the soul is cheerful, or fat, or preservative and pleasant, may all be surrendered to God. And I also see in the regulations about sacrifices that three parts of the victims are commanded to be offered: in the first place the fat, and the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver, about which we will speak separately; but not the brain or the heart, which it would seem natural to dedicate before the other parts, since, according to the language of the lawgiver, the dominant power is recognised as existing in one of them. 137 But may it not be out of exceeding holiness and very careful consideration of the matter that he did not bring these things to the altar of God? For that dominant part, being subject to change in either direction, for bad or good, receives in an indivisible moment of time impressions that are continually changing, at one time impressions of what is pure and approved, and at others of an adulterated and base coinage. 138 So the lawgiver, judging that a place which could receive both these opposite qualities, namely the honourable and the disgraceful, and which was suited to each and gave equal honour to both, was quite as much impure as holy, removed it from the altar of God. For what is disgraceful is profane, and what is profane is certainly unholy; 139 and this is why the dominant part is kept away from sacrifices, but if it is examined and all its parts have been purified, it will be consecrated as a burnt offering, free from all stain, and from all pollution. For this is the law concerning whole burnt offerings: that except for the refuse of the food and the skin, which are tokens of the weakness of the body and not of wickedness, nothing else should be left to the creature, but that all the other parts which exhibit the soul perfect in all its parts, should be presented as a whole burnt offering to God.