1 In my earlier works I have described the lives of Moses and the other wise men up to his time, whom the sacred scriptures identify as the founders and leaders of our nation, and as its unwritten laws. Following the natural order of the subject, I will now describe the written laws accurately. I will also explore any allegorical meaning hidden beneath their plain language, prompted by the natural love of deeper knowledge that demands effort and habitually gives priority to hidden meanings over obvious ones.

Why the Commandments Were Given in the Desert

2 For those who ask why the lawgiver gave his laws in the remote desert rather than in cities, our first answer is that most cities are full of unspeakable evils, and of acts of brazen irreverence toward God, and of injustice between citizens; 3 for nothing in them is entirely pure: the counterfeit prevails over the genuine, and the plausible over the true; these things are false by nature, but they suggest convincing illusions that breed deceit in cities; 4 This also gives rise to pride, the most scheming of all things, which some people admire and worship, honoring and celebrating empty opinions with golden crowns, purple robes, crowds of servants, and chariots. People regarded as fortunate and happy ride high in these chariots, drawn sometimes by mules or horses, and sometimes even by men. In their masters' extreme arrogance, these men are made to carry burdens on their necks, their souls weighed down even before their bodies give way. 5 Pride is also the cause of many other evils, such as insolence, arrogance, and irreverence. And these are the beginnings of foreign and civil wars, leaving nothing anywhere at peace, whether public or private, by sea or by land. 6 And why should I mention the offenses such men commit against one another? For pride neglects even divine things, even though they are generally thought to be entitled to the highest honor. But what honor can there be without truth, which is honorable in both name and reality? Falsehood, by contrast, is inherently dishonorable; 7 This neglect of divine things is clear to anyone who looks closely. People use painting and sculpture to create countless forms, surround them with temples and shrines, erect altars, and decorate them with images, statues, and similar structures, giving divine honors to all sorts of lifeless things, 8 and the sacred scriptures very appropriately compare these men to the sons of a prostitute.⁠a Just as those sons are registered as the children of all the lovers their mothers have had, and call them their fathers, because they do not know their biological father, so these city dwellers, not knowing the true God who really exists, have treated countless false gods as divine. 9 Then, as different beings were treated with divine honors by different nations, these different opinions about the Supreme Being also produced disputes about all kinds of other subjects; and these were the first considerations that led Moses to give his laws outside the city. 10 Second, he considered it essential that anyone about to receive sacred laws should have a soul thoroughly cleansed of every stain, however stubborn, with which the indiscriminate crowds of people from every region have filled the cities; 11 This requires living apart from others. Even then, it cannot happen instantly, but only after a long time, when the deeply embedded impressions of past wrongdoing have gradually faded, grown dimmer, and finally disappeared; 12 this is how skilled doctors save their patients; for they do not think it advisable to give food until they have removed the causes of the illness. While the illness remains, food does no good; it only supplies harmful material that feeds their suffering. 13 Quite naturally, then, after leading his people away from the harmful company found in cities and into the desert to cleanse their souls of wrongdoing, he began to feed their minds; and what could this food be but divine laws and reasoned teachings? 14 The third reason is this: people setting out on a long voyage do not wait until they have boarded the ship and left the harbor to begin preparing their masts, and cables, and rudders, but prepare everything that can contribute to the success of their voyage while they are still on land. In the same way, Moses thought his people should not wait until they had received their inheritances and settled in their cities before seeking laws to govern them. They should first prepare laws and constitutions and learn the rules that allow nations to be governed safely. Then they could settle in their cities, ready to apply the just regulations already prepared for them, living in agreement, sharing fully in what was appropriate, and distributing it properly to each person. 15 Some people give a fourth reason, one as close to the truth as possible. People needed to be convinced that these laws were not human inventions but God's unquestionable pronouncements. Moses therefore led them far from the cities into the remote wilderness, which lacked not only cultivated crops, 16 but even safe drinking water. After going without essential food and expecting to die of hunger and thirst, they would suddenly find everything they needed springing up in abundance without their effort: heaven raining down a food called manna, abundant quails from the air as a delicacy to accompany it, bitter water becoming sweet and drinkable, and a steep rock pouring out springs of fresh water. They would then stop looking back at the Nile with wonder and stop doubting that these laws came from God. The supplies that relieved their shortages beyond all expectation would give them the clearest proof; 17 They would see that the one who had supplied what they needed to stay alive was now supplying what they needed to live wellTo live at all, they needed food and drink, which they found without having prepared them. To live well, in a way consistent with nature and proper conduct, they needed laws and regulations, by which their minds were likely to be improved.

The Ten Commandments and the Number Ten

18 These are plausible explanations we can offer for this question; God alone knows the true reasons. Having said enough about these matters, I will now discuss the laws themselves accurately and in order. I must begin with this point: God himself, needing no one else, chose to proclaim some of his laws himself and others through his prophet Moses, whose outstanding excellence made him the most suitable person of all to interpret his will. 19 The laws he delivered personally, are both general laws and the main principles of particular laws; and those he proclaimed through his prophet all refer back to these; 20 and I will explain each kind as well as I can. I will begin with the laws that serve as main principles. The first remarkable thing about them is their number: they form the perfect number ten, the decade, which contains every kind of number, the even, and the odd, and the even-odd: even numbers such as two, odd numbers such as three, even-odd numbers such as five; It also includes every kind of numerical multiple, numbers consisting of a whole number and a fraction, and numbers consisting of several fractional parts; 21 It also includes every kind of proportion: arithmetic proportion, where each number exceeds the preceding one by the same amount, as with one, two, and three; and geometric proportion, where the ratio of the second number to the third equals that of the first to the second, as with one, two, and four. It also includes ratios in which numbers are doubled, tripled, or multiplied to any extent, as well as ratios in which numbers are half as much again, one third greater, and so on. It also contains the harmonic proportion, where the difference between the middle number and each extreme is the same fraction of that extreme, as is the case with the numbers three, four, and six. 22 The decade also contains the distinctive visible properties of the triangles, and squares, and other polygonal figures; also the distinctive properties of musical ratios, the diatessaron, or musical fourth, whose ratio exceeds one by a quarter, as in the ratio of four to three; the musical fifth, whose ratio exceeds one by a half, as in the ratio of three to two. Also the ratio of the diapason, or octave, which is exactly two to one, as in the ratio of two to one, or the ratio of the double diapason, or double octave, which is four to one, as in the ratio of eight to two. 23 And it seems to me that the first philosophers gave things their names with this fact in mind. For they were wise men, and therefore they very appropriately called the number ten the decade (tēn dekada), because it receives everything (hōsanei dechada ousan), from receiving (tou dechesthai) and containing every kind of number, and numerical ratio, proportion, harmony, and musical agreement. 24 There is another reason to admire the decade: it contains both what has no dimensions and what can have dimensions. What has no dimensions is seen in a point alone; but what can have dimensions is seen in three forms: a line, and a surface, and a solid. 25 For what is bounded by two points is a line; and what has two dimensions or intervals is a surface, formed by extending a line to add width; and what has three intervals is a solid, formed by adding depth to length and width. And nature is content with these three; for she has produced no dimensions beyond these three. 26 And the original numbers that serve as models for these forms are: for the point, one; for the line, the number two; for the surface, the number three; and for the solid, the number four; and their sum, one plus two plus three plus four, makes ten, which has other beauties beyond these visible ones. 27 We might almost say that the whole infinity of numbers is measured by this one, because the boundaries which make it up are four, namely, one, two, three, and four; and an equal number of boundaries, corresponding to them in equal proportions, make up a hundred out of decades; for ten, and twenty, and thirty, and forty produce a hundred. And in the same way one may produce a thousand from hundreds, and ten thousand from thousands. 28 And one, ten, one hundred, and one thousand are the four boundaries which generate the decade; and the decade also illustrates other distinctions between numbers: prime numbers, divisible only by one and themselves, such as three, five, and seven; the square, exemplified by four, an equal number multiplied by itself; the cube, exemplified by eight, the product of three equal factors; and the perfect number six, which equals the sum of its parts, three, two, and one. 29 But why list the countless excellences of the decade now and neglect our most important task? The decade is itself a complete and worthy subject for those who study mathematics. We must pass over the other points for now; but perhaps we may mention one as an example; 30 for those who have devoted themselves to philosophy say that what are called the categories in nature are only ten in number: quality, essence, quantity, relation, action, being acted upon, possession, posture, and those two without which nothing can exist, time and place. 31 Everything participates in these categories. For instance, I participate in essence by drawing from each of the elements of which the whole world was made, that is, earth and water, and air and fire, as much as is sufficient for my own existence. I participate in quality, since I am a man; and in quantity, since I am a man of a certain size. I participate in relation, when anyone is on my right or on my left. Again, I act when I rub or burn anything. I am acted upon when I am cut or rubbed by anyone else. I am seen as a possessor when I am clothed or equipped with anything. My posture is apparent when I am sitting still or lying down. And I exist entirely within time and place, since not one of all the categories just mentioned can exist without both these things.

How God Spoke at Sinai

32 Enough on these subjects. I must now connect them with my next point: it was the Father of the universe who delivered these ten maxims, or divine pronouncements, or, as they truly are, laws and regulations, to the whole nation, men and women assembled together. Did he then do so by speaking aloud himself? Far from it! Do not even consider such an idea; for God is not like a man, in need of a mouth, and of a tongue, and of a windpipe, 33 But I think he performed a striking and clearly holy miracle, commanding an invisible sound to be created in the air, more marvelous than all the instruments that ever existed, attuned to perfect harmonies. It was not a lifeless sound, nor did it resemble anything made up of soul and body; rather, it was a rational soul, clear and distinct, which shaped and extended the air and turned it into a kind of blazing fire. It sent out a voice so loud and articulate, like breath passing through a trumpet, that those at a great distance seemed to hear it as well as those nearest to it. 34 For the voices of men, when carried over a long distance, naturally become weaker and weaker, so that those far away from them cannot clearly understand them, but the sound gradually becomes less distinct as it spreads, because the organs that produce it are themselves perishable. 35 But the power of God, breathing out forcefully, brought a new and miraculous voice to life. Its sound spread in every direction, becoming clearer at its furthest reach than at its beginning. It gave each soul another kind of hearing, far superior to hearing through the ears. Hearing through the ears is a slower external sense: it remains inactive until air strikes and activates it. But the sense of the inspired mind surpasses it, going out with the greatest speed to meet what is said.

Why Each Commandment Addresses One Person

36 This, then, is enough to say about the divine voice. But someone may very reasonably ask why, when so many tens of thousands of people had gathered in one place, Moses chose to deliver each of the ten commandments as though addressing one person rather than many, saying: You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not kill. And he gave the other commandments in the same form. 37 The answer is that he wishes to teach readers of the sacred scriptures this excellent lesson: each individual on his own, when he observes the law and obeys God, is of equal worth with a whole nation, however large its population, or rather, I might say, with all the nations on earth. I could go further and say, with the whole world; 38 because in another passage of the scriptures God, praising a righteous man, says, "I am your God." The same being was also God of the world. Thus all who are subject to him belong to the same category, and, if they are equally pleasing to the supreme Governor of them all, they share in equal acceptance and honor. 39 Second, someone addressing a crowd need not speak as though talking to one person. Yet sometimes he gives a command or prohibition in an individual form, so that each listener immediately understands it as a personal duty and the whole crowd also understands it as a collective command. For the person who receives an instruction as if addressed to himself personally is more inclined to obey it; but he who hears it as if it were only directed to him in common with others is less attentive, using the crowd as a shield and an excuse for refusing to obey. 40 A third explanation is that this was done so that no king or tyrant should ever despise an ordinary, unknown individual out of arrogance and pride, but that the ruler, by becoming a student of the sacred laws, might soften his scowl, abandon his conceit, and submit to true reason. 41 For God is uncreated, immortal, everlasting, and in need of nothing: the maker of the universe, our benefactor, King of kings, and God of gods. Yet he will not overlook even the lowliest human being. He considers even that person worthy of a feast of sacred pronouncements and laws, as though preparing a feast of love for him alone to refresh and enlarge his soul through instruction in the divine will and the proper performance of the great ceremonies. How, then, can I, a mere mortal, hold my head high and swell with pride, treating my equals arrogantly? Their fortunes may differ from mine, but their kinship with me is complete and equal: we are all children of one mother, our shared human nature. 42 I will therefore be friendly, courteous, and considerate toward everyone, even if I should gain power over the whole earth and the whole sea, and especially to those in the greatest difficulty, with the lowest social standing and no relatives to help them, those who have lost one or both parents, to women who have been widowed, and to old men who have either never had any children at all, or who have lost their children at an early age; 43 for, since I myself am a man, I will not think it right to cultivate a pompous manner like a tragic actor's, but I will stay within the limits of my human nature and train my mind to accept human events with contentment and composure. I will do so not only because of the unexpected changes that transform circumstances for both the prosperous and the unfortunate, but also because a person should remember his limitations, even if his prosperity were to remain unaltered and unshaken. It is for these reasons, it seems to me, that God expressed his divine commandments in the singular, as if they were directed to a single individual.

The Signs and the Voice from the Fire

44 As was natural, he also filled the whole place with miraculous signs and wonders: thunder too loud for the ear to bear, brilliant flashes of lightning, the sound of an invisible trumpet carrying far into the distance, and an advancing cloud like a pillar, firmly rooted on the earth and rising to heaven. Finally, a fire rushed down from heaven, covering everything around it with dense smoke. For it was fitting that, when the power of God came among them, no part of the world should remain still; everything should move to serve him. 45 The people stood nearby. They had kept themselves pure by avoiding sexual intercourse with women and abstaining from every pleasure except eating the food they needed. For three days they had purified themselves by bathing and washing, and they had washed their clothes. Now, all dressed in pure white robes, they stood on tiptoe and listened eagerly, following Moses' instructions to prepare for the solemn assembly. He knew it would take place when he alone was summoned up to deliver God's prophetic commands. 46 And a voice sounded from within the fire that had streamed down from heaven, a marvelous and awe-inspiring voice. The flame spoke clearly in a language familiar to its listeners, expressing its words so distinctly that the people seemed to see the voice rather than hear it.⁠b 47 And the law confirms this statement when it says, "And all the people saw the voice clearly." For the truth is that the voice of men is made to be heard, but the voice of God is truly meant to be seen. Why is this? Because what God says is not words but actions, which the eyes judge before the ears do. 48 It is therefore a beautiful statement, worthy of God's dignity, that the voice came out of the fire; for God's pronouncements are accurately understood and tested by fire like gold. 49 And God also conveys a further meaning through this image. Fire both gives light and burns. Those who choose to show themselves obedient to the sacred commands shall live forever in a light that never grows dark, with his laws shining like stars in their souls. But all those who are stubborn and disobedient are forever set on fire, burned, and consumed by their own desires, which destroy their whole lives like flames.

Two Tablets of Five Commandments

50 These matters needed to be explained first. But now we must turn to the commands themselves, and examine their distinctive and important features. God divided them, ten in all, into two tables of five each, which he engraved on two pillars. The first five have the greater rank and honor, but the second five are given a lower place. But both the tables are beautiful and beneficial to life. They open broad, level roads for people, all directed toward one goal: the steady and secure progress of the soul that continually seeks what is best. 51 The first five concerned the sole sovereignty that governs the world; images, statues, and everything else made by human hands; the duty not to take God's name in vain; the duty to keep the holy seventh day in a way worthy of its holiness; and honoring parents, individually and together. So the one table begins with the God and Father and Creator of the universe, and ends with one's parents, who imitate his nature and bring individual people into being. And the other table of five contains all the prohibitions against adultery, and murder, and theft, and false witness, and coveting.

The First Commandment: One God

52 But we must consider each of these divine pronouncements separately, as carefully as possible, regarding none as unnecessary. The best beginning of all living beings is God, and of all virtues, piety. So we must speak of these two principles first. A serious error has taken hold of most people about a subject that, if any subject could, should have been clear and correctly understood in everyone's mind; 53 for some nations have made gods of the four elements, earth and water, and air and fire. Others, of the sun and moon, and of the other planets and fixed stars. Others, again, of the whole world. And they have all invented different names, all of them false. These false gods conceal the highest and most ancient of all: the Creator, ruler of the great city, commander of the invincible army, and pilot who always guides everything toward safety; 54 for they call the earth Proserpine, and Ceres, and Pluto. And the sea they call Neptune, also inventing numerous lesser sea gods under him and vast groups of attendants, both male and female. The air they call Juno; fire, Vulcan; and the sun, Apollo; the moon, Diana; and the evening star, Venus; and Lucifer they call Mercury; 55 They have given each star a name and handed these names over to storytellers, who have woven elaborate fictions to deceive their listeners and have gained credit as the clever inventors of these names. 56 Again, in their descriptions, they divided the sky into two parts, each a hemisphere, the one being above the earth and the other under the earth, which they called the Dioscuri. They also invented a marvelous story about their living on alternate days. 57 For, as the sky revolves endlessly in a circle, without pause or interruption, each hemisphere must necessarily change position every day, so that everything seems to turn upside down; for a sphere actually has no top or bottom. These terms are used only with reference to our own bodies and position: we call what is above our heads the top and what is in the opposite direction the bottom. 58 Accordingly, God gives this beautiful and holy commandment to anyone who studies philosophy sincerely and honorably and claims to practice pure, blameless piety: do not believe that any part of the world is its own master, because it was created. And anything created is subject to destruction, even though a created thing may be made immortal by the providence of the Creator. There was a time when it did not exist. But it is irreverent to say that God once did not exist, that he came into being at some point, or that he does not last forever. 59 But some people judge these matters so foolishly that they not only regard the things mentioned above as gods, but regard each separate one of them as the greatest and first of gods. They either do not know the true living God because they lack instruction, or refuse to learn because they believe that no invisible cause, knowable only by the mind, exists beyond the objects of the senses. Yet the clearest possible proof lies close at hand; 60 For the soul enables them to live, make plans, and do everything in human life, yet they have never seen it with their eyes. No effort, however eager, would let them see it as the most beautiful of all forms. By analogy with the soul, they might gain some understanding of the uncreated and everlasting God, who is himself invisible and rules and guides the whole world to preserve it. 61 Anyone who gave the great king's honors to his satraps and viceroys would seem exceptionally ignorant, senseless, and reckless, giving servants what belongs to their master. In the same way, anyone who honors the Creator and the creature equally should know that he is exceptionally foolish and unjust. He gives equal honors to unequal beings, not to honor the lesser but to deprive the greater of honor. 62 Again, there are some who go further in impiety, not giving even equal honor to the Creator and the creature, but giving the creature all honor, respect, and reverence and the Creator nothing, not thinking him worthy even of the ordinary courtesy of being remembered; for they forget the only one they should remember, deliberately seeking forgetfulness in their madness and misery. 63 Again, some men are so consumed by brazen, outspoken madness that they make an open display of the impiety which dwells in their hearts, and dare to blaspheme God, sharpening their tongues for abuse while trying to distress the devout. The devout immediately feel an indescribable, unrelenting pain that enters through their ears and spreads through their souls. This is the great weapon of the irreverent, the only means by which they restrain those who love God, since the pious think it better for the moment to keep silent so as not to provoke their wickedness further. 64 So let us reject all such irreverent deceit and not worship those who are our brothers by nature, even though they may have received a purer and more immortal essence than we have (for all created things are brothers to one another, since they are created, and they all have one Father, the Creator of the universe); but let us use our minds, reason, and all our strength to serve wholeheartedly the Being who is uncreated and everlasting, and the maker of the universe, never shrinking from this service or turning away from it, and never giving in to the desire to please the crowd, which often destroys even those who might otherwise be saved. 65 So let us fix this first commandment deeply in ourselves as the most sacred of all commandments, to believe that there is only one God, the highest, and to honor him alone; and do not let the teaching that there are many gods even reach the ears of anyone who seeks truth with a pure and sincere heart;

The Second Commandment: Images and Animal Worship

66 for those who are attendants and servants of the sun, and of the moon, and of the heavenly host, whether the whole host or its principal parts, are seriously mistaken. How could they not be, when they honor the subjects instead of the ruler? Yet their sin is less serious than that of the others, who have fashioned wood, and stones, and silver, and gold, and similar materials as they pleased, making images, statues and all kinds of other things by hand; and this workmanship, whether of sculptor, painter or artisan, has filled the whole inhabited world and greatly harmed human life. 67 For they have cut away the most beautiful support of the soul, namely the proper conception of the ever-living God; and therefore, like ships without ballast, they are tossed about in every direction forever, carried every which way, so that they never once reach harbor and can never anchor firmly in truth, blind to what is worth seeing, the one thing that demands clear sight; 68 and such men seem to me to live a more miserable life than those who are physically blind; for the blind have either been injured against their will, or suffered some terrible disease of the eyes, or been the victims of their enemies' plots; but these others, deliberately, have not only dimmed the eye of their soul but have even chosen to discard it entirely; 69 and so one group deserves pity for its misfortune, while the other deserves punishment for its wickedness, since, together with their companions, they have refused to recognize what even an infant would understand, namely, that the Creator is better than the creature; for he is both older in time and in a sense the father of what he has made. He is also superior in power, for the one who acts is more glorious than the one acted upon. 70 Yet if they could have acted without sin, it would have been more appropriate to treat the painters and sculptors themselves as gods and give them exceptional honors. Instead, they have left the artists unknown and unrewarded, while treating their statues and paintings as gods; 71 and these artists have often grown old and died in poverty and obscurity, worn out by constant misfortune, while the things they made are decorated with purple and gold and every kind of costly splendor that wealth can supply, and are worshipped not only by free people but even by men of noble birth, and of the greatest physical strength and beauty. Candidates for the priesthood are examined rigorously and in minute detail to see whether they are free from blemish and whether every part of their bodies is whole and complete; 72 and bad as these things are, they are not the worst: what is entirely intolerable is that I have known some of the very men who made these things to pray and sacrifice to the very things they made, when it would have made more sense for them to worship their own hands, or, if fear of being accused of conceit kept them from that, at least to worship their anvils, and hammers, and engraving tools, and compasses, and other instruments, used to shape the materials. 73 And yet we would do well, speaking with proper frankness, to say to those who have shown themselves so lacking in sense: "My good men, the best thing to pray for, and the ultimate goal of happiness, is to become like God. 74 Pray, then, to become like those structures of yours, so that you may achieve the highest happiness, neither seeing with your eyes, nor hearing with your ears, nor breathing, nor smelling with your nostrils, nor speaking, nor tasting with your mouth, nor taking, nor giving, nor doing anything with your hands, nor walking with your feet, nor doing anything at all with any part of your body, but being confined and guarded in the temple as though in prison, and day and night continually breathing in the fumes from the sacrifices offered; for this is the one good thing that can be attributed to any kind of building or structure." 75 But I think that when they hear these things, they will be outraged, as if they were listening not to prayers, but to curses, and will take refuge in whatever defense they can find, making accusations in return; and this may be the clearest proof of their obvious and undeniable irreverence: they regard as gods beings they would never want to resemble. 76 So no being with a soul should worship anything without one; for it would be one of the most absurd things possible for natural beings to be made to serve handmade objects; and the whole of Egypt faces this general accusation, as well as another, more specific and entirely appropriate charge; for besides bowing down to statues and images, they have also given nonrational animals the honors due to gods, such as bulls, and rams, and goats, inventing some monstrous fiction about each of them; 77 and with these particular animals they do have some reason for what they do, since they are the most domesticated and the most useful in life. The bull, as a plow animal, cuts furrows to receive the seed, and is also the most powerful of all animals for threshing out the grain when it has to be cleared of chaff; the ram gives us the most beautiful garments to cover our bodies; for if our bodies were naked, they would easily be destroyed by either the heat of the blazing sun or the intense cold of the air. 78 But as it is, they go beyond these animals and choose the fiercest and most untamable of all wild animals, honoring lions and crocodiles and, among reptiles, the poisonous asp, with temples, and sacred precincts, and sacrifices, and assemblies in their honor, and solemn processions, and things of that kind. For if they searched through both elements, earth and water, among all the things God has given man for his use, they would never find any animal on the land more savage than the lion, or any aquatic animal more fierce than the crocodile. Yet they honor and worship both creatures; 79 they have also deified many other animals, dogs, ichneumons, wolves, birds, ibises, and hawks, and even fish, sometimes the whole animal and sometimes only a part; and what could be more ridiculous than this behavior? 80 And so the first foreigners who came to Egypt wore themselves out laughing at and ridiculing these superstitions, until their minds became steeped in the local people's beliefs; but anyone who has received sound instruction is astonished and dismayed by this practice of exalting what has no nobility, and pities those who accept it. Quite naturally, such a person regards these people as even more miserable than the objects they honor, because their souls turn into those very animals. They seem to be mere beasts in human form, returning to their original nature. 81 So God, removing from his sacred legislation all such irreverent treatment of unworthy objects as gods, has invited men to honor the one true and living God; not because he needs honor, for he is sufficient in himself and needs no one else. He did this to lead humanity, which had wandered through trackless deserts, onto a road from which it would not stray. By following nature, humanity could reach the best and ultimate goal of all things: knowledge of the true and living God, the first and most perfect of all good things. From him, as from a fountain, every particular blessing flows over the world and everything and everyone in it.

The Third Commandment: Oaths and God's Name

82 Having now spoken of the second commandment as well as we can, let us go on to examine the next one carefully, in their proper order. The next commandment is, "not to take the name of God in vain." The reason for this order is clear to anyone with a discerning mind; for a name always comes after the thing it names, like the shadow that follows the body. 83 So, having first spoken of the existence of God and of the honor due to the everlasting God, he follows the natural sequence by giving commands about the proper use of his name; for people's errors on this point are many and various, and take many different forms. 84 The finest person, whose life most benefits humanity and accords with rational nature, does not swear. Truth is so deeply rooted in him in every matter that his word alone counts as an oath. Next to not swearing at all, the second best thing is to keep one's oath; for the mere act of swearing shows that the swearer is under some suspicion of being untrustworthy.⁠c 85 So a person should hesitate and delay if that might allow him to avoid taking an oath; but if he must swear, then he must give careful, not superficial, attention to every aspect of the matter before him; for this is a serious matter, though because it happens so often it is not taken as seriously as it should be. 86 For an oath is a call on God to testify about matters that are in doubt; and it is deeply irreverent to call on God to witness a lie. Use your reason to examine the mind of someone about to swear falsely. You will find no peace there, but disorder and confusion, self-accusation, and every kind of insult and abuse; 87 For conscience lives in each person's soul and never leaves. It does not willingly admit wickedness and remains true to its nature, hating evil and loving virtue. It is both accuser and judge. As accuser, it condemns, brings charges, and opposes the offender. As judge, it teaches, warns, and urges him to change his ways. If it persuades him, it joyfully makes peace with him. If not, it wages an endless, relentless war against him, giving him no rest by day or night, tormenting him and inflicting incurable wounds until it destroys his miserable, cursed life. 88 "What do you say?" I would say to the perjurer, "would you dare approach an acquaintance and say, My friend, come and testify for me that you have seen, heard and been present at a whole list of events you have neither seen nor heard? I do not think so; that would be incurable madness; 89 how can you, while sober and apparently in control of yourself, look your friend in the face and say: For the sake of our friendship, act unjustly, violate the law, act irreverently for my sake; for clearly, if he heard such a request, he would quickly end the friendship you think you have, blame himself for ever befriending someone like you, and flee from you as from a savage, raging beast. 90 "Will you then shamelessly call on God, the father and sovereign of the world, to testify in favor of things you would not dare ask even your friend to witness? And if you do so, will you do it knowing that he sees everything and hears everything, or not knowing it? 91 If you do not know it, you are an atheist, and atheism is the beginning of all wickedness, and, in addition to your atheism, you add the wickedness of an oath by swearing by someone who, in your view, neither attends to you nor cares about human affairs. But if you are fully convinced that he does watch over such matters, you are still not free from the charge of extreme irreverence, saying to God, if not with your mouth and tongue, then at least with your conscience: Bear false witness for me, aid me in my wickedness, help me act irreverently. I have only one hope of keeping a good reputation among men, and that is by concealing the truth. You are better than I am, yet act wickedly for another's sake, for someone worse than yourself. You are God, the most excellent of all beings, yet do this for a human being, and a wicked one at that. 92 But there are also some people who, without seeking any gain, out of bad habit swear constantly and thoughtlessly on every occasion, even when nothing at all is in doubt, as though oaths could make up for a weak argument. It would be better to stop talking, or rather not to speak at all and remain completely silent; for frequent oaths breed a habit of perjury and irreverence. 93 For this reason anyone about to take an oath should examine everything carefully and accurately, considering whether the matter is serious, and whether it has really taken place, and whether, if it has, he has understood it correctly; and also examining himself to see whether he is pure in soul, and body, and tongue, with his soul free from lawbreaking, his body from defilement, and his tongue from blasphemy. For it is irreverent for any disgraceful words to come from the same mouth that speaks the most sacred name. 94 He should also consider whether the time and place are suitable. I have known people swear in profane and impure places (where it would be inappropriate to mention their father or mother, or even an elderly relative who had lived virtuously). Out of sheer irreverence, they string together sentences full of oaths, improperly invoking God's name and all his titles. 95 Anyone who disregards these warnings should know two things: he is impure and defiled, and terrible punishments are always waiting for him. Justice watches over all human affairs and is unrelenting toward such outrages. Even when she chooses not to punish immediately, she exacts the penalty with abundant interest when an opportunity arises that also serves the common good.

The Fourth Commandment: The Sabbath

96 The fourth commandment requires that the sacred seventh day be spent in a holy way. Some states keep the holy festival only once a month, counting from the new moon, as a day sacred to God; but the Jewish nation keeps every seventh day regularly, after each period of six days; 97 and the history of the creation of the world records events that give a sufficient account of the reason for this rule; for the sacred historian says, that the world was created in six days, and that on the seventh day God stopped working and began to contemplate what he had so beautifully created; 98 So he commanded those destined to live in this community to imitate God in this respect, as in all others: to work for six days, but stop and study philosophy on the seventh. They should use their leisure to contemplate nature and consider whether they have done anything unholy during the previous six days. They should bring their conduct before the soul's judgment seat, examine it, and account for everything they have said or done. The laws sit beside them as fellow judges and investigators, helping them correct careless errors and prevent similar offenses in the future. 99 God once used the six days to complete the world, though he had no need of any length of time for such a purpose; but each man, since he is mortal and needs countless things to meet life's unavoidable demands, should keep providing for his needs throughout his life, always allowing himself an interval of rest on the sacred seventh day. 100 Is this not a most beautiful recommendation, and one admirably suited to bringing people to perfection and guiding them toward every virtue, above all to piety? In effect, the commandment says: Always imitate God; take the seven days in which God created the world as a complete example of obedience to the law and a sufficient model for all your actions. The seventh day is also an example from which you may learn how fitting it is to study philosophy; for on that day, it is said, God saw the works he had made, so that you too may contemplate the works of nature, and each of the things that contribute to happiness. 101 Let us not pass over such a model of the most excellent ways of life, the practical and the contemplative; but let us always keep our eyes fixed upon it, and imprint a clear image of it on our minds, making our mortal nature resemble, as far as possible, his immortal one, in saying and doing what is proper. Elsewhere, in our discussion of allegories, we have explained what it means to say that God made the world in six days, although he never lacks time to make anything. 102 Mathematicians explain fully why seven ranks above all other numbers, tracing its properties carefully and precisely. For among numbers seven is the virgin number, motherless and most closely related to one, the foundation of all numbers. Seven is the model of the planets, just as one is the model of the fixed sphere. For the incorporeal heaven, the model of the visible heaven, consists of the unit and the number seven, and the heaven is made up of indivisible and divisible nature. 103 Indivisible nature has been assigned the first, highest and immovable circumference, which the unit inspects and oversees, while divisible nature has received the circumference that is lower in both power and position, which the number seven inspects and which, divided into six parts, has produced what are called the seven planets; 104 not that any of the heavenly bodies really wander (peplanētai), since they all enjoy a divine, and happy, and blessed nature, qualities closely associated with freedom from wandering; at any rate, they always maintain their identity through constant, uniform motion, continuing eternally without change or variation. But because they revolve in the opposite direction to the indivisible and outermost sphere, people speaking loosely rather than precisely have called them planets (planētes). This language attributes the speakers' own tendency to wander to the heavenly bodies, which never leave their original positions in the divine camp. 105 For all these reasons, and more besides, the number seven is honored. But its greatest claim to precedence is that it reveals the Creator and Father of the universe more clearly than anything else; for the mind sees God in this as in a mirror, acting, and creating the world, and managing the whole universe.

The Fifth Commandment: Honoring Parents

106 And after this commandment relating to the seventh day he gives the fifth, which concerns the honor to be paid to parents, placing it on the border between the two tables of five commandments each; for as the last commandment of the first table, which commands the most sacred duties toward God, it also has some connection with the second table, which contains our obligations toward our fellow human beings; 107 and the reason for this, I think, is as follows: the nature of one's parents seems to lie on the border between immortal and mortal natures. Parents share in mortal nature because of their kinship with men and with the other animals, and because of the perishable nature of the body. They share in immortal nature because the act of generation, or having children, makes them like God the Father of the universe.⁠d 108 But people have often devoted themselves to one of these duties while neglecting the other; filled with a sincere love of piety, they have given up all other occupations and considerations, and have devoted the whole of their lives to the service of God. 109 But those who have believed goodness consisted only in duties to other people have devoted themselves entirely to human fellowship and society, and, wholly absorbed in their love of human society, have invited everyone to share equally in their good things while working as hard as possible to relieve every misfortune. 110 Both groups, those who love humanity and those who love God, may properly be called only half complete in virtue. Only those who excel in both are complete. Those who neither fulfill their duties to other people, sharing their joys and sorrows, nor devote themselves to piety and holiness toward God may be thought to have become wild beasts. The fiercest among them are those who neglect their parents, because they oppose both kinds of virtue: piety toward God and duty toward humanity. 111 So let them know that they are convicted before the only two courts in nature. In their duty toward God, they are guilty of irreverence for failing to honor those who imitate God by bringing new beings into existence. In their duty toward humanity, they are guilty of hatred and cruelty. 112 For to whom else will men do good if they neglect their nearest relations and those who have given them the greatest gifts, some of them so great that they can never be repaid? For how can someone repay his parents for giving him life by giving life to them in return? Nature has given parents this unique gift in relation to their children, one that can never be repaid or compensated. So we should be deeply outraged when people, because they cannot make a full return for the benefits they have received, refuse to make even the slightest; 113 and to them I might quite properly say that even wild beasts must be made tame toward men; indeed, I have often known lions, bears and leopards to be domesticated and made gentle, not only toward those who feed them, out of gratitude for receiving what they need, but also to others, because, I think, they resemble those who feed them. For it is always good for the worse to follow the better in the hope of improving; 114 but in this case I must say exactly the opposite. You human beings, imitate some of the wild beasts. Even the beasts have learned, and know, how to repay with service those who have served them. Dogs that guard the house will defend their masters, and face death for their sake when any danger suddenly arises. And they say that the dogs employed among flocks of sheep will fight for the flocks, and hold out until they either win or die, for the sake of protecting the shepherds themselves from injury. 115 Is it not, then, utterly shameful for a man to be outdone by a dog in repaying favors, for the gentlest of beings to be surpassed by the boldest of beasts? But if we will not be taught by the land animals, let us turn to the nature of the winged birds that cross the air, and learn from them what we need. 116 Among storks, the old birds stay in their nests because they cannot fly, but their children cross, I could almost say, the whole of earth and sea, and from every direction bring their parents what they need. 117 And so the parents, living in the peace appropriate to their age, enjoy plenty of everything and spend their old age in luxury. Their children regard the hardships of providing for them as nothing, moved both by piety and by the hope that their own descendants will treat them the same way in old age. They pay the debt they owe their parents, knowing they will eventually receive what they now give. And there are also others who are unable to support themselves, for children are no more able to do so at the beginning of their lives than their parents are at the end of theirs. So the children, having been fed while young by natural instinct, now gladly support their parents in old age in return. 118 After these examples, should people who neglect their parents not cover their faces in shame and blame themselves for disregarding what should have been their sole concern, or at least their highest priority? They would merely have been repaying benefits rather than giving new ones. For the children have nothing of their own which does not belong to the parents, who have either given it to them from their own possessions, or have enabled them to acquire it by supplying them with the means. 119 Do these men, then, have piety and holiness, the chief of all the virtues, within the borders of their souls? No; rather they have driven them beyond their borders, and forced them into exile; for parents are the servants of God in bringing children into being, and he who dishonors the servant also dishonors the master. 120 But some rather bold people exalt the status of parents, saying that the father and mother are visible gods, since they imitate the uncreated God by bringing living beings into existence, though they limit the claim by saying that the one is the God of the whole world, but the others only of the children they have brought into being. And it is impossible for the invisible God to be worshipped reverently by people who treat those visible and close to them irreverently.

The Sixth Commandment: Adultery

121 After this philosophical discussion of the honor due to parents, he closes the one, more divine table of the first five commandments. And as he is about to proclaim the second, which prohibits the offenses committed against men, he begins with adultery, regarding it as the greatest of all violations of the law; 122 for, in the first place, its source is the love of pleasure, which weakens the bodies of those who indulge in it, saps the soul's strength, and destroys its very substance, consuming everything that it touches, like unquenchable fire, and leaving nothing that touches human life unharmed, 123 since it not only persuades the adulterer to commit wrongdoing, but also teaches him to join others in wickedness, forming a partnership in things where there ought to be no partnership at all. For when this violent passion seizes a man, his desires cannot be satisfied by one person alone; two must share in the act, one acting as teacher and the other as student, fully establishing those disgraceful evils, lack of self-control and sexual excess. 124 No one can excuse it by saying that only the body of the woman committing adultery is corrupted; in fact, even before the body is corrupted, the soul learns to turn away from virtue, being taught in every way to reject and hate its husband. 125 And it would be a less serious evil if this hatred were displayed without disguise; for it is easiest to guard against what is plainly seen. But as it is, it is hard to suspect and hard to detect, being concealed by devious, wicked methods, and at times, through trickery and deceit, it takes on the opposite appearance of love and affection. 126 So adultery brings about the destruction of three houses: the house of the man who sees every vow made to him at marriage broken and is now deprived of all hope of legitimate children; and two others, namely, the house of the adulterer, and that of his wife. For each of these is filled with arrogance, dishonor, and utter disgrace. 127 And if their relatives and family networks are very numerous, then because of their intermarriages and the mutual connections formed with different houses the wrongdoing and harm will spread throughout the city. 128 Moreover, doubt about the legitimacy of the children is a terrible evil. For if the wife is unfaithful, the children's paternity is uncertain. And then, if the matter remains undiscovered, the children of adultery are wrongly counted as legitimate and introduce a false line of descent into a family to which they have no claim. They receive what appears to be their inheritance from their father but actually has no rightful connection with them. 129 And then once the adulterer has satisfied his desires, he arrogantly takes pride in the wrongdoing of fathering a child in disgrace, leaves the woman behind, and mocks the husband's ignorance of the unholy wrong done to him. And the husband, like a blind man, knowing nothing of what has been going on in his own house, will have to feed and cherish his greatest enemy's child as his own. 130 And it is plain that if such a wickedness takes place, the most miserable victims are the children, though they have done nothing wrong. They cannot be assigned to either family, neither to the family of the husband of the adulteress, nor to the family of the adulterer. 131 Since, then, unlawful sexual relations cause such great disasters, it is only natural that adultery is a detestable thing hated by God, and has been placed first among these offenses.

The Seventh Commandment: Murder

132 The second commandment of this second table is not to murder. For nature made human beings sociable, inclined to live together, and more easily civilized than other animals. She invited them to share their thoughts and live in partnership, giving them reason to bring them into harmony and agreement. And he who kills any man should be well aware that he is overturning the laws and rules of nature, which have been beautifully established for the common benefit of all men. 133 Moreover, he should be aware that he is guilty of sacrilege for robbing God of his most sacred possession; for what is a more honored or exalted offering to God than man? For gold, and silver, and precious stones, and all other such valuable materials, are only lifeless decorations for lifeless structures; 134 But the human being, the most excellent of animals, is closely related through his ruling part, the soul, to heaven, whose nature is the purest of all. As people commonly say, he is also related to the Father of the world, because he has received a mind, the closest and most faithful earthly copy of the everlasting and blessed original form.

The Eighth Commandment: Theft

135 The third commandment of the second table of five is not to steal. For someone constantly craving other people's property is an enemy of the whole city. In intention, he would rob everyone; in practice, he robs as many as he can. His greed has no limit, but his power falls far short of his desire, reaching only a few. 136 Therefore all robbers who have the strength to do so plunder whole cities, ignoring the threatened punishments because they consider themselves above the law. These are people naturally inclined to rule through a powerful few, who set their hearts on tyranny and absolute power, who commit enormous thefts, concealing what is in reality robbery under the impressive but misleading names of authority and supremacy. 137 Let everyone, then, learn from his earliest infancy never to steal secretly anything that belongs to anyone else, not even if it is the smallest thing. Once deeply rooted, habit is stronger than nature. Small things grow if left unchecked, gradually becoming dangerously large.

The Ninth Commandment: False Testimony

138 And after he has forbidden stealing he goes on to prohibit false testimony, knowing that false witnesses are guilty of many serious offenses, indeed of every kind of terrible wrongdoing; for in the first place they are corrupting holy truth, humanity's most sacred possession, which lights everything like the sun and leaves nothing in darkness; 139 and in the second place, in addition to speaking falsely, they wrap the facts in night and deep darkness, help wrongdoers, and join in attacking their victims. They claim certain and complete knowledge of things they have neither seen nor heard and know nothing about. 140 Moreover, they commit a third offense, more serious than either of these. When reasoning and documents provide little evidence, disputing parties turn to witnesses, whose testimony guides the judges' decisions. The judges must rely on them when no other evidence is available. People defeated by such testimony therefore suffer injustice in cases they could have won, while judges who rely on false witnesses acquire a reputation for injustice and lawlessness rather than justice and respect for the law. 141 Moreover, this devious wickedness surpasses other offenses in irreverence. Judges ordinarily decide cases only after taking the most solemn oaths. Those who deceive them violate these oaths more seriously than the deceived judges do: the judges err unintentionally, while the deceivers deliberately plot against them and act with premeditated malice. They lead those with the deciding vote into unwitting error, so that innocent conduct brings punishment and loss.

The Tenth Commandment: Desire

142 Last of all, the divine legislator forbids coveting, knowing that desire seeks upheaval and plots against others; for all the soul's passions are dangerous: they stir and disturb it against its nature and prevent it from remaining healthy, but of all such passions the worst is desire. For this reason each of the other passions, arising outside us and attacking the soul from there, appears to be involuntary; but this desire alone originates within us, and is wholly voluntary. 143 But what am I saying? The appearance and impression of a present good, or something thought to be good, stirs the previously peaceful soul and lifts it into great excitement, like a light suddenly flashing before the eyes; and this passion of the soul is called pleasure. 144 But the opposite of good is evil, which forces its way in, inflicts a deadly wound, and immediately fills the unwilling soul with dejection and despair; and the name of the passion is sorrow. 145 But when evil threatens the soul without yet entering it, approaching and about to disturb it, it sends anxiety and uncertainty ahead like urgent messengers to fill the soul with alarm; and this passion is called fear. 146 And when someone imagines a good that is absent and rushes to grasp it, he drives his soul far ahead and stretches it to the limit in his eagerness to obtain what he desires. He is stretched as though on a torture rack, desperate to grasp something he cannot reach. He is like someone chasing a fugitive, running more slowly but with unmatched eagerness. 147 And something similar seems to happen with the senses. The eyes often try to take in something far away, straining to their utmost and even beyond their power. They fail, their vision fading in the empty space between them and the object. They gain no accurate knowledge of what they are looking at and damage their sight by the intensity of their effort and fixed gaze. 148 And, again, sometimes when an indistinct sound reaches us from far away, the ears are stirred and, as though catching a favorable breeze, eagerly try to draw nearer to hear it clearly. 149 But the sound remains unclear and reaches the ear only faintly, without a distinct tone that can be understood. The unsuccessful, unsatisfied desire to understand it grows stronger, becoming a punishment like that of Tantalus. For Tantalus was always disappointed just when he seemed about to grasp what he desired, and someone overcome by desire is likewise always thirsty for what is absent, never satisfied, and mired in empty cravings, 150 like diseases that would spread through the whole body unless stopped by cutting or burning away the affected tissue, leaving no part healthy. In the same way, unless philosophical reasoning checked the flood of desire like a good doctor, every aspect of life would be driven against nature. Nothing is immune to this affliction or beyond the rule of passion. Once allowed to act unchecked, it devours everything and takes over every part. 151 Perhaps it is foolish to speak at length about matters so obvious that every person and city knows them. They provide visible proof of what I say every day, indeed almost every hour. Is the love of money, or of women, or of glory, or of any one of the other things that produce pleasure, the origin of minor, ordinary evils? 152 Is it not because of this passion that relationships are broken apart, and the good will that originates in nature is changed into irreconcilable hostility? And are not great countries and populous kingdoms laid waste by internal rebellions arising from such causes? And are not earth and sea continually filled with new and terrible disasters by naval battles and military expeditions for the same reason? 153 For among both Greeks and barbarians, the wars against one another, and between their own different tribes, which have been so celebrated by tragedians, have all arisen from one source, namely, desire for money, or glory, or pleasure; for it is over things like these that the human race goes mad.

The Ten Commandments and the Other Commandments

154 However, enough of these matters. Still, we must not overlook this fact either: the ten commandments are the main principles of all the particular laws recorded throughout the sacred scriptures' account of the giving of the law. 155 The first law is the source of all laws concerning the sovereignty of one supreme Ruler, and they show that there is one first cause of the world, one Ruler and King, who guides and governs the universe so as to preserve it. He has banished from the pure nature of heaven all rule by a powerful few or a privileged class, those treacherous forms of government that arise among wicked people from disorder and greed. 156 The second commandment summarizes every law about handmade objects: images, statues, and structures of every kind, the harmful products of the painters' and sculptors' arts. It forbids making such images and believing invented stories about gods marrying and being born, and about the many unspeakable, painful disasters said to result from both. 157 By the third commandment he restrains people from taking oaths, and limits the matters about which one may swear, defining when and where it may be lawful, and who may swear, and the proper state of the swearer's soul and body, and many other details, concerning those who keep their oaths and those who do not. 158 The fourth commandment, about the seventh day, summarizes all the laws about festivals and the purification rites required at each. The service appointed for them consisted of ritual washings, and prayers worthy of being heard, and perfect sacrifices. 159 And in speaking of the seventh here, I mean both the seventh that includes six, the most productive of numbers, and also the seventh that stands apart from six and takes precedence over it, resembling one. Both forms are used in calculating festival times. The lawgiver uses the single day for the sacred new-moon festival announced with trumpets; the fast day, when abstinence from all food and drink is commanded; and the day the Hebrews call pascha in their own language. On that day, every member of the nation offers sacrifice without waiting for the priests, because the law grants the whole nation the priesthood for this one day each year, allowing each individual to slaughter his own sacrificial animal. 160 There is also the day when a sheaf of grain is offered, in thanksgiving for the fertility and productivity of the plain, shown in the full ears of grain. Then comes the day of pentecost, counted from that day as seven periods of seven days. On that day, people offer loaves, rightly called the loaves of the first fruits, since they are the first fruits of the edible grain crops God has given to humanity, the most readily civilized of his creatures. 161 But to the number seven he has assigned the greatest festivals, those of the longest duration, at the spring and autumn equinoxes each year, appointing two festivals for these seasons, each lasting seven days. The spring festival celebrates the ripening of the sown crops, and the autumn festival gives thanks for the gathering of all the fruit produced by the trees. And seven days have very appropriately been appointed to the seven months of each equinox, so that each month might receive the special honor of one sacred festival day to refresh and cheer the mind with a holiday. 162 There are also other laws, wisely and admirably enacted, that encourage gentleness and fellowship among people and invite them to simplicity and equality; some of these refer to what is called the sabbatical year, in which it is expressly commanded that the people shall leave the whole land uncultivated, neither sowing, nor plowing, nor tending the trees, nor doing any other farm work; 163 For God thought the land, both the plains and the mountains, deserved rest after working for six years to produce its expected annual crops. It could then catch its breath, so to speak, and, free once again, bring forth its own natural abundance. 164 There are also other laws about the fiftieth year, in which everything listed above is carried out in full; and, what is the most important thing of all, the different portions of land are restored to the families that originally received them, an arrangement full of humanity and fairness. 165 And the fifth commandment, the one about the honor due to parents, contains within its brief wording many important and necessary laws: some about old and young people, some about rulers and subjects, some about benefactors and those who receive their benefits, and others about slaves and masters;⁠e 166 for parents belong to the superior class of each of these divisions: the class of elders, of rulers, of benefactors, and of masters; and children are in the inferior class, which includes the younger people, the subjects, those who have received benefits, and slaves. 167 There are also many other commandments given, some to the young, urging them to welcome the advice of the old; others to the old, telling them to take care of the young; some to subjects, instructing them to show obedience to their rulers; others to the rulers, commanding them to work for the benefit of those who are under their authority; some to those who have received benefits, recommending that they repay the favors they have received; others to those who have taken the initiative in giving, telling them not to demand exact repayment like moneylenders; some to servants, encouraging them to serve their masters with affection, others to the masters recommending that they treat their slaves gently and kindly, partly reducing the inequality of their conditions. 168 The first table of five, then, is completed in these commandments, covering these broad principles; but the special and particular laws are very numerous. The first commandment of the second table is the one against adulterers, under which many other commands are conveyed by implication, such as the laws against seducers, against those who engage in unnatural sexual acts, against all who live in debauchery, and against all men who indulge in illicit and unrestrained sexual relations; 169 but the lawgiver has set down all the different kinds of such lack of self-control, not for the sake of displaying its many diverse and ever-changing forms, but in order to make those who live wrongly feel unmistakable distress and shame as they hear all the accusations their conduct deserves, accusations that may well make them blush. 170 The second brief commandment, the prohibition of killing people, includes all the necessary laws that benefit everyone, concerning acts of violence, insults, assaults, wounds, and mutilation. 171 The third, the one that forbids stealing, is the one that covers all the regulations about refusing to repay debts, denying possession of things entrusted for safekeeping, forming unholy partnerships, committing shameless robbery, and, in short, any kind of greed that leads people to take others' possessions openly or secretly. 172 The fourth, the one concerning the duty not to bear false witness, includes many other prohibitions, such as those against deceiving, bringing false accusations, cooperating with those who are committing sin, and pretending good faith to hide bad faith; suitable laws have been enacted for all these purposes. 173 The fifth is the one that cuts off desire, the source of all wickedness, from which flow all the most unlawful actions, whether of individuals or of states, whether important or trivial, whether sacred or profane, whether they relate to one's life and soul, or to what are called external things; for, as I have said before, nothing ever escapes desire, but advances like a forest fire, consuming and destroying everything; 174 and there are a great many related sins that are also forbidden under this commandment, to correct those who willingly accept correction, and to punish those stubborn people who devote their whole lives to the indulgence of passion. 175 I have now said enough about the second table of five commandments, completing the ten that God himself proclaimed with the dignity appropriate to their holiness. It was consistent with his nature to proclaim personally the main principles of all particular laws and issue the detailed laws through the most perfect of the prophets. He selected this prophet for his outstanding excellence, filled him with his divine spirit, and appointed him to interpret his holy pronouncements.

Why No Punishments Are Attached

176 Having explained these matters, let us explain why God pronounced these ten commandments or laws as simple commands and prohibitions, without prescribing punishments for those who broke them, as lawgivers usually do. The reason is this: he was God, and as God he was the good Lord, the cause of good alone and of no evil; 177 Therefore, he considered it most consistent with his nature to give saving commands unmixed with punishment. No one should choose what is best merely by chance, led by fear as a foolish adviser, but through wise reflection and deliberate choice. He therefore gave his pronouncements to humanity without threats of punishment. He did not intend to let offenders go unpunished: he knew that justice sat beside him, watching all human affairs, and would never rest. She naturally hates evil and regards punishing sinners as her proper task. 178 For it is proper for all God's attendants and deputies, just as for generals in war, to inflict severe punishments on those deserters who abandon the ranks of the just one; but the great King should be credited with the safety of all, preserving the universe in peace and always giving everyone all the blessings of peace in rich abundance: for, in truth, God is the ruler of peace, while his subordinate attendants are the leaders of war.