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Featured Book: The Comprehensive New Testament More Books: Online References: Apostolic and Early Church Fathers
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ON
HUSBANDRY II.
(8) First of all, therefore, the husbandman is not anxious to plant or to sow
anything that is unproductive, but only all such things as are worth
cultivation, and as bear fruit, which will bring a yearly produce to their
master man. For nature has pointed him out as the master of all trees and
animals, and all other things whatever which are perishable; (9) and what can
man be but the kind that is in every one of us, which is accustomed to reap the
advantage from all that is sown or planted? But since milk is the food of
infants, but cakes made of wheat are the food of fullgrown men, so also the soul
must have a milk-like nourishment in its age of childhood, namely, the
elementary instruction of encyclical science. But the perfect food which is fit
for men consists of explanations dictated by prudence, and temperance, and every
virtue. For these things being sown and implanted in the mind will bring forth
most advantageous fruit, namely, good and praiseworthy actions. (10) By means of
this husbandry, all the trees of the passions and vices, which soot forth and
grow up to a height, bringing forth pernicious fruits, are rooted up, and cut
down, and cleared away, so that not even the smallest fragment of them is left,
from which any new shoots of evil actions can subsequently spring up. (11) And
if, besides, there are any trees which produce no fruit at all, neither good nor
bad, the husbandman will cut them down too, but still he will not suffer them to
be completely destroyed, but he will apply them to some appropriate use, making
them into stakes and fixing them as pales all round his homestead, or using them
as a fence for a city to serve instead of a wall. III.
(12) For Moses says, "Every tree which bringeth not forth fruit good to eat
thou shall cut down; and thou shall make it into stakes against the city which
shall make war upon them."{2} {Deuteronomy 20:20.} And these trees are
likened to those powers developed in words alone, which have nothing in them but
mere speculation, (13) among which we must class medical science, when
unconnected with practice, by which it is natural that such persons may be
cured, and also the oratorical and hireling species of rhetoric, which is
conversant not about the discovery of the truth, but solely about the means of
deceiving the hearers by plausible persuasion; and in the same class we must
place all those parts of dialectics and geometry which have no connection with a
proper regulation of the character or morals, but which only sharpen the mind,
not suffering it to exercise a dull apprehension towards each question which is
raised and submitted to it, but always to dissect the question and divide it, so
as to distinguish the peculiar character of each thing from the common qualities
of the whole genus. (14) At all events, men say, that the ancients compared the
principles of philosophy, as being threefold, to a field; likening natural
philosophy to trees and plants, and moral philosophy to fruits, for the sake of
which the plants are planted; and logical philosophy to the hedge or fence: (15)
for as the wall, which is erected around, is the guardian of the plants and of
the fruit which are in the field, keeping off all those who wish to do them
injury and to destroy them, in the same manner, the logical part of philosophy
is the strongest possible sort of protection to the other two parts, the moral
and the natural philosophy; (16) for when it simplifies twofold and ambiguous
expressions, and when it solves specious plausibilities entangled in sophisms,
and utterly destroys seductive deceits, the greatest allurement and ruin to the
soul, by means of its own expressive and clear language, and its unambiguous
demonstrations, it makes the whole mind smooth like wax, and ready to receive
all the innocent and very praiseworthy impressions of sound natural and moral
philosophy. IV.
(17) These then are the professions and promises made by the husbandry of the
soul, "I will cut down all the trees of folly, and intemperance, and
injustice, and cowardice; and I will eradicate all the plants of pleasure, and
appetite, and anger, and passion, and of all similar affections, even if they
have raised their heads as high as heaven. And I will burn out their roots,
darting down the attack of flame to the very foundations of the earth, so that
no portion, nay, no trace, or shadow whatever, of such things shall be left;
(18) and I will destroy these things, and I will implant in those souls which
are of a childlike age, young shoots, whose fruit shall nourish them. And those
shoots are as follows: the practice of writing and reading with facility; an
accurate study and investigation of the works of wise poets; geometry, and a
careful study of rhetorical speeches, and the whole course of encyclical
education. And in those souls which have arrived at the age of puberty or of
manhood, I will implant things which are even better and more perfect, namely,
the tree of prudence, the tree of courage, the tree of temperance, the tree of
justice, the tree of every respective virtue. (19) And if there be any tree
belonging to what is called the wild class, which does not bear eatable fruit,
but which is able to be a fence to and a protector of that which is eatable,
that also I will manage, not for its own sake, but because it is calculated by
nature to be of use to what is necessary and very useful. V.
(20) Therefore, the allwise Moses attributes to the just man a knowledge of the
husbandry of the soul, as an act consistent with his character, and thoroughly
suited to him, saying, "Noah began to be a husbandman." But to the
unjust man he attributes the task of tilling the ground, which is an employment
bearing the heaviest burdens without any knowledge. (21) For "Cain,"
says he, "was a tiller of the ground;" and a little afterwards, when
he is detected in having contracted the pollution of fratricide, it is said,
"Cursed art thou by the earth, which opened her mouth to receive the word
of thy brother from thy hand, with which thou tillest the earth, and it shall
not put forth its strength to give unto thee." (22) How then could any one
show more manifestly, that the lawgiver looks upon the wicked man as a tiller of
the earth, and not as a husbandman, than by such language as we here see used?
We must not indeed suppose that what is here said, is said of a man who is able
to work by his hands or by his feet, or by any other of the powers of his body,
or of any mountain land, or of any champaign country, but that is applicable to
the powers existing in every one of us; for it happens that the soul of the
wicked man is not concerned about any thing else except about his earthly body,
and about all the pleasures of that body. (23) Moreover, the general crowd of
men, travelling over the different climates of the earth and penetrating to its
furthest boundaries, and traversing the seas, and investigating the things that
lie hid in the recesses of the ocean, and leaving no single part of the whole
universe unexplored, is continually providing from every quarter the means by
which it can increase pleasure. (24) For as fishermen let down their nets at
times to the most extraordinary depths, comprehending a vast surface of the sea
in their circle, in order to catch the greatest possible number of fish enclosed
within their nets, like people shut up within the walls of a besieged city; so
in the same manner the greatest part of men having extended their universal nets
to take everything, as the poets somewhere say, not only over the parts of the
sea, but also over the whole nature of earth, and air, and water, seek to catch
everything from every quarter for the enjoyment and attainment of pleasure. (25)
For they dig mines in the earth, and they sail across the seas, and they achieve
every other work both of peace and war, providing unbounded materials for
pleasure, as for their queen, being utterly uninitiated in that husbandry of the
soul which sows and plants the virtues and reaps their fruit, which is a happy
life. But they laboring to procure, and reducing to a system those things which
are pleasant to the flesh, cultivate with all imaginable care that composite
mass, that carefully fashioned statue, the narrow house of the soul, which, from
its birth to its death it can never lay aside, but which it is compelled to bear
till the day of its death, burdensome as it is. VI.
(26) We have now therefore explained, in what respect, the occupation of tilling
the ground differs from husbandry, and a tiller of the ground from a husbandman.
And we must now consider whether there are not some other species akin to these
already mentioned, but which, through the common names borne by them and others,
conceal the real difference which exists between them. At least there are two
which we have discovered by investigation, concerning which we will say what is
fitting, if it is in our power. (27) Therefore, as we found a tiller of the
earth and a husbandman, though there did not appear to be any difference between
them (till we came to investigate the allegorical meaning concealed under each
name), nevertheless very far removed from one another in fact, such also shall
we find to be the case with a shepherd and a keeper of sheep. For the lawgiver
sometimes speaks of the occupation of a shepherd, and sometimes of that of a
keeper of sheep. (28) And those who do not examine expressions with any
excessive accuracy, ill perhaps fancy that these two appellations are synonimous
terms for the same employment. They are, however, in reality the names of things
which are widely different in the meaning affixed to their concealed ideas. (29)
For if it is customary to give both the names of shepherd and keeper of sheep to
those who have the management of flocks, still they do not give these names to
that reason which is the superintendant of the flock of the soul; for a man who
is but an indifferent manager of a flock is called a keeper of sheep, but a good
and faithful one is called a shepherd, and in what way we will proceed to show
immediately. VII.
(30) Nature has made cattle akin to every individual among us, the soul putting
forth two young branches as from one root; one of which being entire and
undivided, and being left in its integrity is called the mind; but the other
part is separated by six divisions into seven natures, five outward senses, and
two other organs, the organs of speech, and that of generation. (31) But all
this multitude of external senses and organs being destitute of reason is
compared to a sheep, but since it is composed of many parts, it of necessity
stands in need of a governor by the unvarying law of nature. Whenever therefore
a man who is ignorant how to govern, and at the same time wealthy, rises up and
appoints himself governor, he becomes the cause of innumerable evils to the
flocks, (32) for he supplies all necessary things in superabundance, and the
flock being immoderately glutted with them becomes insolent through the
superfluity of food; for insolence is the genuine offspring of satiety.
Accordingly, they become insolent and exult, and shake off all restraint, and
being scattered in small divisions they break the appointed order of the Lord.
(33) But he who, for a while, was then governor, being deserted by the flock
under his orders, appears stripped of his authority, and runs about earnestly
endeavoring, if possible, to collect the scattered flock together and to unite
it again; but when he finds that he is unable to do this he groans and weeps,
blaming his own remissness, and reproaching himself as the cause of all that has
happened. (34) In this manner, also, the offspring of the outward senses, when
the mind is supine and indolent, being satiated in the most unbounded degree
with a superfluity of the pleasures of the outward senses, toss their heads, and
frisk about, and rove about, at random, wherever they please; the eyes being
opened wide to embrace every object of sight, and hastening even to feast
themselves on objects which ought not to be looked at; and the ears eagerly
receiving every kind of voice, and never being satisfied, but always thirsting
for superfluity and the indulgence of vain curiosity and sometimes even for such
delights as are but little suited to a free man. VIII.
(35) Since on what other account can we imagine, that in every quarter of the
habitable globe, the theatres are every day filled with incalculable myriads of
spectators? For they, being wholly under the dominion of sounds and sights, and
allowing their ears and their eyes to be carried away without any restraint, go
in pursuit of harp-players and singers to the harp, and every description of
effeminate and unmanly music; and, moreover, eagerly receiving dancers and every
other kind of actors, because they place themselves and move in all kinds of
effeminate positions and motions, they are continually by their applause
exciting the factions of the theatre, never thinking either of the propriety of
their own conduct or of that of the general body of the citizens; but, miserable
as they are, upsetting all their own plan of life for the sake of their eyes and
ears. (36) And there are others who are still more unfortunate and miserable
than these men, who have released their sense of taste out of prison as it were;
and that sense, immediately rushing, in an unrestrained manner, to every kind of
meat and drink, selects from the things that are already prepared, and also
cherishes an indiscriminate and insatiable hunger for what is not present. So
that, even if the channels of the belly are filled, its ever unsatisfied
appetites, raging and ravening around, continue to look and stalk about in every
direction, lest there should any where be any fragment which has been
overlooked, that it may swallow that up also like a devouring fire. (37) And
this gluttony is followed by its usual natural attendant, an eagerness for the
connections of the sexes, which brings in its train a strange frenzy, an
unrestrainable madness and a most grievous fury; for, when men are oppressed by
the indulgence of gluttony and delicate food, and by much unmixed wine and
drunkenness, they are no longer able to restrain themselves, but hastening to
amorous gratifications they revel and disturb the doors, until they are at last
able to rest when they have drawn off the great violence of their passion. (38)
On which account nature, as it would seem, has placed the organs of such
connection beneath the belly, being previously aware that they do not delight in
hunger, but that they follow upon satiety and then rise up to fulfil their
peculiar operations. IX.
(39) Those, then, who permit the flock committed to their charge to satiate
themselves all at once with all the things that they desire, we must call
keepers of sheep; but those, on the contrary, we should entitle shepherds, who
supply their flocks with only so much as is necessary and proper for them;
cutting off and utterly rejecting all superfluous and useless extravagance and
abundance, which is not less injurious than want and deficiency, and who guard
with great prudence against the possibility of the flock becoming diseased
through their want of care and indolence, praying that those diseases, which at
times are liable to attack flocks from external causes, may not visit theirs.
(40) And they take equal care that it may not straggle about at random and get
scattered, holding out to them as an object of fear one who will chastise those
who never obey reason, and inflicting continual punishment, moderate when
applied to those who err only in such a degree as admits of a remedy, but very
severe when laid upon those whose wickedness is uncurable; for though in its
essence it may appear an abominable thing, nevertheless punishment is the
greatest good to foolish persons, great as the remedies of the physician are to
those who are ill in the body. X.
(41) These, then, are the occupations of shepherds who prefer those things which
are useful, though mixed with unpleasantness, to those which are pleasant but
pernicious. Thus, at all events, the occupation of a shepherd has come to be
considered a respectable and profitable employment, so that the race of poets
has been accustomed to call kings the shepherds of the people; but the law giver
gives this title to the wise, who are the only real kings, for he represents
them as rulers of all men of irrational passions, as of a flock of sheep. (42)
On this account he has attributed to Jacob, the man who was made perfect by
practice, a skill in the science of a shepherd, saying: "For he is the
shepherd of Laban's Sheep."{3}{Genesis 30:36.} That is, of the sheep of the
foolish soul, which thinks only those things good which are the objects of the
outward senses and apparent to them, being deceived and enslaved by colors and
shadows; for the name, Laban, being interpreted, means "whitening."
(43) He also attributes the same skill to the all-wise Moses, {4}{Exodus 3:1.}
for he also is represented as the shepherd of the mind which embraces pride in
preference to truth, and which receives appearance rather than reality; for the
interpretation of the name Jethro is "superfluous," and superfluity is
pride adopted for the purpose of introducing error into correct life; which is
the cause why different things are looked upon as right in different cities, and
not those principles which ought to be looked upon as just everywhere, inasmuch
as it never sees, not even in a dream, the common and immovable principles of
the justice of nature. For, it is said, that "Moses was the shepherd of the
sheep of Jethro, the priest of Midian." (44) And this man himself prays
that the flock may not be left without a shepherd, meaning by the flock the
whole multitude of the parts of the soul; but that they may meet with a good
shepherd, who will lead them away from the nets of folly, and injustice, and all
wickedness, and conduct them to the doctrines of learning and all other virtue;
for, says Moses, "Let the Lord the God of spirits and of all flesh look
down upon man and upon this Assembly."{5}{Numbers 27:16.} And then, a
little further on, he adds, "And the assembly of the Lord shall not be like
sheep who have no shepherd." XI.
(45) But is it not well worth praying for, that the flock which is akin to each
individual of us, and of so much value, may not be left without any
superintendent or governor, so that we may not, through being filled with a love
of the worst of all constitutions, an ochlocracy, which is a base copy of the
best form, democracy, pass our lives for ever and amid tumults, and disorders,
and intestine seditions? (46) Certainly it is not anarchy alone that is an evil,
through being the parent of ochlocracy, but also the insurrection of any lawless
and violent force against authority; for the tyrant who, by his own nature is
hostile, is, in the case of cities, a man, but in the case of the body and the
soul, and all transactions having reference to either, he is a mind resembling
the brute beasts, besieging the citadel of each individual; (47) but not only
are these dominations unprofitable, but so also are the governments and
authority of other persons, who are very gentle, for gentleness is a line of
conduct very likely to be despised, and injurious to both parties, both to the
rulers and the subjects. To the one from the disregard with which their subjects
treat them, so that they are unable to manage any matter, whether of public or
of their own private business successfully, are sometimes even compelled to
abdicate their authority; and to the others, because of their continual
disrespect to their governors, disregarding all persuasion, so that they
contract a habit of selfwilled insolence, a possession of great evil. (48) We
must then think that one of these classes of governors differs in no respect
from keepers of sheep, while the others resemble the sheep themselves, for the
governors persuade the governed to be luxurious, through the extravagance of the
supplies with which they provide them; and the governed being unable to bear
their satiety become insolent; but what is really desirable is, that our mind
should govern all our conduct, like a goatherd, or a cowherd, or a shepherd, or,
in short, like any herdsman of any kind; choosing in preference to what is
pleasant that which is for the advantage both of himself and of his flock. XII.
(49) But the providence of God is the principal and almost the only cause that
the divisions of the soul are not left entirely without any governor, and that
they have met with a blameless and in all respects good shepherd. In consequence
of whose appointment it is impossible that the company of the mind should become
scattered; for it will of necessity appear in one and the same order, looking to
the authority of its one governor, since the heaviest burden of all is to be
compelled to obey a variety of rulers. (50) Thus, indeed, being a shepherd is a
good thing, so that it is justly attributed, not only to kings, and to wise men,
and to souls who are perfectly purified, but also to God, the ruler of all
things; and he who confirms this is not any ordinary person, but a prophet, whom
it is good to believe, he namely who wrote the psalms; for he speaks thus,
"The Lord is my shepherd, and he shall cause me to lack
Nothing;"{6}{psalm 23:1.} (51) and let every one in his turn say the same
thing, for it is very becoming to every man who loves God to study such a song
as this, but above all this world should sing it. For God, like a shepherd and a
king, governs (as if they were a flock of sheep) the earth, and the water, and
the air, and the fire, and all the plants, and living creatures that are in
them, whether mortal or divine; and he regulates the nature of the heaven, and
the periodical revolutions of the sun and moon, and the variations and
harmonious movements of the other stars, ruling them according to law and
justice; appointing, as their immediate superintendent, his own right reason,
his first-born son, who is to receive the charge of this sacred company, as the
lieutenant of the great king; for it is said somewhere, "Behold, I am he! I
will send my messenger before thy face, who shall keep thee in the
Road."{7}{Exodus 23:20.} (52) Let therefore all the world, the greatest and
most perfect flock of the living God, say "The Lord is my shepherd, and he
shall cause me to lack nothing," (53) and let every separate individual say
the same thing; not with the voice which proceeds from his tongue and his mouth,
extending only through a scanty portion of the air, but with the wide spreading
voice of the mind, which reaches to the very extremities of this universe; for
it is impossible that there should be a deficiency of anything that is
necessary, where God presides, who is in the habit of bestowing good things in
all fulness and completeness in all living beings. XIII.
(54) But there is a very beautiful encouragement to equality contained in the
song before mentioned; for in real truth, the man who appears to have everything
else, and yet who is impatient under the authority of one master, is incomplete
in his happiness, and is poor; but if a soul is governed by God, having that one
and only thing on which all other things depend, it is very naturally in no need
of other things, regarding not blind riches, but only such as are endowed with
real and acute Sight.{8}{i have again followed Mangey's proposed translation for
this text which he pronounces corrupt and unintelligible.} (55) All true
disciples have come to conceive an earnest and unalterable love for that; and
therefore laughing at the mere keeping of sheep, they have directed their
attention to the attainment of a shepherd's knowledge; and a proof of this is to
be found in the case of Joseph, (56) who was always studying that knowledge
which is conversant about the body and vain opinions, not being able to rule and
govern irrational nature (for it is customary for old men to be appointed to
offices of irresponsible authority; but this man is always young, even if after
a lapse of time he may come to support old age, which has at last reached him);
and being accustomed to nourish this and to lead it on to growth, he expects to
be able to persuade the lovers of virtue to change and come over to him, in
order that in so changing to irrational and inanimate objects, they may have no
leisure for applying themselves to the studies of a rational soul. (57) For
Moses represents Joseph as saying, "If the king," that is to say, the
mind, the king of the body, "shall ask you, What is your occupation?
answer, We are men, the keepers of Cattle."{9}{Genesis 46:33.} When they
hear this they are naturally impatient, not liking the idea, while they are
rulers, of confessing that they hold the rank of subordinates; (58) for those
who supply food to the outward senses, through the abundance of the objects
perceptible only by them, become the slaves of those who are nourished, like
servants who pay to their mistresses a compulsory reverence every day; but those
who preside over them are rulers, and they bridle the vehement impetuosity with
which they are hurried on to luxury. (59) At first therefore, although they do
not hear what is said with any pleasure, they will still keep silence, thinking
it unseemly to discuss the difference between the employment of a keeper of
cattle and a shepherd, before those who do not understand it; but subsequently,
when a contest about these things arises, they will contend with all their
power, and will never desist till they have carried their point by main force,
having exhibited the liberality, and nobleness, and royal character of their
nature to the living God. Accordingly when the king asks, "What is your
occupation?" they will answer "We are shepherds, we and our
fathers." XIV.
(60) Would they not then appear to boast as much of their occupation as
shepherds, as the king himself, who is conversing with them, does of his mighty
power and dominion? At least they are testifying their high opinion of the
profession of life which they have adopted, not in honor of themselves alone,
but of their father also, as being worthy of all possible care and diligence;
(61) and yet, if the discussion had been merely about the care of goats or
sheep, perhaps they would have been ashamed to make such an admission through
desire to avoid dishonor; for such occupations are accounted inglorious and mean
among those who are loaded with great prosperity, without being at the same time
endowed with prudence, and especially among kings. (62) And the Egyptian
character is by nature most especially haughty and boastful whenever so slight a
breeze of prosperity does merely blow upon it, so that men of that nation look
upon the pursuits of life and objects of ambition of ordinary men, as subjects
for laughter and downright ridicule. (63) But since the matter before us, at
present, is to consider the rational and irrational powers in the soul, those
persons will naturally boast, who are persuaded that they are able to master the
irrational faculties, by taking the rational ones for their allies. (64) If
therefore any envious or captious person should blame us, and say, "How
then have ye, who are devoted to the employment of shepherds, and who profess to
be occupied in the care and management of the flocks which belong to you, ever
thought of approaching the country of the body and the passions, namely Egypt?
and why have ye not turned your voyage in another direction? You must say to him
in reply, with all freedom of speech, We have come hither as sojourners, not as
inhabitants." (65) For in reality every soul of a wise man has heaven for
its country, and looks upon earth as a strange land, and considers the house of
wisdom his own home; but the house of the body, a lodging-house, on which it
proposes to sojourn for a while. (66) Therefore since the mind, the ruler of the
flock, having taken the flock of the soul, using the law of nature as its
teacher, governs it consistently and vigorously, rendering it worthy of
approbation and great praise; but when it manages it sluggishly and indulgently,
with a disregard of law, then it renders it blamable. Very naturally, therefore,
the one will assume the name of a king, being addressed as a shepherd, but the
other will only have the title of a confectioner, or of a baker, being called a
keeper of sheep, supplying the means of feasting and gluttonous eating to cattle
accustomed to gorge themselves to satiety. XV.
(67) I have now therefore explained, in no superficial manner, in what way a
husbandman differs from a tiller of the ground, and a shepherd from a keeper of
sheep. There is also a third point, having some connection with what has already
been said, which we will now proceed to speak of. For I consider that a horseman
and a rider differ; meaning by this statement, not merely that one man who is
carried on a neighing animal differs from another man who is carried on a
similar beast, but the motion of the one is different from the motion of the
other; therefore the man who gets on a horse without any skill in horsemanship,
is correctly called a rider, (68) and he has given himself up to an irrational
and restive animal, to such a degree that it is absolutely inevitable that he
must be carried wherever the animal chooses to go, and if he fails to see
beforehand a chasm in the earth, or a deep pit, it has happened before now that
such a man, in consequence of the impetuosity of his course, has been thrown
headlong down a precipice and dashed to pieces. (69) But a horseman, on the
other hand, when he is about to mount, takes the bridle in his hand, and then
taking hold of the mane on the horse's neck, he leaps on; and though he appears
to be carried by the horse, yet, if one must tell the truth, he in reality
guides the animal that carries him, as a pilot guides a ship. For the pilot too,
appearing to be carried by the ship which he is managing, does in real truth
guide it, and conducts it to whatever harbor he is himself desirous to hasten.
(70) While, therefore, the horse goes on in obedience to the rein, the horseman
pats the horse, as if praising it; but when it goes on with too great
impetuosity, and is carried away beyond moderation, then he pulls it back with
force and vigor, so as to restrain its speed. But if the horse continue to be
disobedient, then he takes the whole bridle, and pulls him back, and drags back
his neck, so that he is compelled to stop. (71) And for all his restiveness and
his continued disregard of the rein, there are whips and spurs prepared, and all
other instruments of punishment which have been invented by horse-breakers. And
it is not wonderful: for when the horseman mounts, the art of horsemanship
mounts too; so that there then being two parties borne by the horse, and skilful
in horsemanship, they will very naturally get the better of one animal who is
subjected to them, and who is incapable of acquiring skill. XVI.
(72) Therefore now, leaving the consideration of these neighing animals, and of
the parties carried by them, investigate, if you will, the condition of your own
soul. For in its several parts you will find both horses and a rider in the
fashion of a charioteer, just as you do in external things. (73) Now, the horses
are appetite and passion, the one being male and the other female. On this
account, the one giving itself airs, wishes to be unrestrained and free, and
holds its head erect, as a male animal naturally does; and the other, not being
free, but of a slavish disposition, and rejoicing in all kinds of crafty
wickedness, devours the house, and destroys the house, for she is female. And
the rider and charioteer is one, namely the mind. When, indeed, the mounts with
prudence, he is a charioteer; but when he does so with folly, then he is but a
rider. (74) For a fool, through ignorance, is unable to keep hold of the reins;
but they, falling from his hands, drop on the ground. And the animals,
immediately that they have got the better of the reins, run on in an
ill-regulated and unrestrained course. (75) But the man who has mounted behind
them, not being able to take hold of anything by which he may steady himself,
falls, and lacerating his knees and his hands and his face, like a miserable man
as he is, he bitterly weeps over his disaster; and after hanging by his feet to
the chariot after he has been overturned, he is suspended, with his face
upwards, lying on his back; and as the chariot proceeds, he is dragged along,
and injured in his head, and neck, and both his shoulders; and then, being
hurried on in this direction and in that, and being dashed against everything
which lies in the way, he endures a most pitiable death. (76) He then meets with
an end, such as I have been describing; and the chariot, being lightened by his
fall and bounding along violently, when, at last, it is dashed to the ground in
the rebound, is easily broken to pieces, so that it can never again be joined or
fastened together. And the animals, being now released from everything which
could restrain them, proceed at random, and are frantic, and do not cease
galloping on, till they are tripped up and fall, or till they are hurried over
some high precipice, and so are dashed to pieces and destroyed. XVII.
(77) In this manner, then, it seems that the whole chariot of the soul is
destroyed, with its passengers; and all through the carelessness or
unskilfulness of the driver. But it is desirable for them that such horses, and
such drivers, and riders, so wholly without skill, should be destroyed, in order
that the faculties of virtue may be roused; for when folly has fallen, it
follows of necessity that wisdom must rise up. (78) On this account Moses, in
his passages of exhortation, says, "If thou goest forth to battle against
thy enemies, and if thou seest numbers of horses, and riders, and people, be not
afraid, because the Lord thy God is with Thee."{10}{Deuteronomy 20:1.} For
we must neglect anger and desire, and, in short, all the passions, and indeed
the whole company of reasonings, which are mounted upon each of the passions as
upon horses, even if they believe that they can exert irresistible strength; at
least, all those must do so who have the power of the great King holding a
shield over them, and in every place, and at every time, fighting in their
defense. (79) But the divine army is the body of virtues, the champions of the
souls that love God, whom it becomes, when they see the adversary defeated, to
sing a most beautiful and becoming hymn to the God who giveth the victory and
the glorious triumph; and two choruses, the one proceeding from the conclave of
the men, and the other from the company of the women, will stand up and sing in
alternate songs a melody responsive to one another's voices. (80) And the chorus
of men will have Moses for their leader; and that of the women will be under the
guidance of Miriam, "the purified outward Sense."{11}{Exodus 15:20.}
For it is just that hymns and praises should be uttered in honor of God without
any delay, both in accordance with the suggestions of the intellect and the
perceptions of the outward senses, and that each instrument should be struck in
harmony, I mean those both of the mind and of the outward sense, in gratitude
and honor to the holy Savior. (81) Accordingly, all the men sing the song on the
sea-shore, not indeed with a blind mind, but seeing sharply, Moses being the
leader of the song; and women sing, who are in good truth the most excellent of
their sex, having been enrolled in the lists of the republic of virtue, Miriam
being their leader. XVIII.
(82) And the same hymn is sung by both the choruses, having a most admirable
burden of the song which is beautiful to be sung. And it is as follows:
"Let us sing unto the Lord, for he has been glorified gloriously; the horse
and his rider hath he thrown into the Sea."{12}{Exodus 15:1.} (83) For no
one, if he searches ever so eagerly, can ever discover a more excellent victory
than that by which the most mighty army, four-footed, restive, and proud as it
was, of the passions and vices was overthrown. For the vices are four in genus,
and the passions likewise are equal in number. Moreover, the mind, which is the
character of them all, the one which hates virtue and loves the passions, has
fallen and perished--the mind, which delighted in pleasures and appetites, and
deeds of injustice and wickedness, and likewise in acts of rapine and of
covetousness. (84) Very beautifully, therefore, does the lawgiver in his
recommendations, teach us not to elect as a chief, a man who is a breeder of
horses, thinking that such a one is altogether unsuited to exercise authority,
inasmuch as he is in a frenzy about pleasures and appetites, and intolerable
loves, and rages about like an unbridled and unmanageable horse. For he speaks
thus, "Thou shall not be able to set over thyself a man that is a stranger,
because he is not thy brother; because he will not multiply for himself his
horses, and will not turn his people towards Egypt."{13}{Deuteronomy
17:15.} (85) Therefore, according to the most holy Moses, no man that was a
breeder of horses was ever born fit for dominion; and yet some one perhaps may
say that power in cavalry is a great strength to the king, not inferior either
to infantry or to a naval force, but in many places far more advantageous than
either, and especially in those cases in which one has need of swiftness of
motion without delay, but prompt and energetic, when the times do not admit of
delay, but are at the very crisis of action, so that those who arrive too late
are very naturally not considered to have been sluggish so much as to have been
wholly useless, the opportunity for action having passed by like a cloud. XIX.
(86) And we would say to these people: My good men, the lawgiver is removing no
protection whatever from the ruler, nor is he in any respect mutilating the army
of his power which he has collected, by cutting off the force of cavalry which
is the most efficient part of his army; but he is endeavoring to the best of his
power to increase and strengthen it, in order that his allies, contributing to
its strength and number, may most easily destroy their enemies. (87) For who
else is equally skilful in marshalling and arraying armies, and in distributing
them in squadrons, and in appointing captains of regiments and leaders of
squadrons, and other commanders of large and small bodies, and in displaying a
knowledge of all the other suggestions of tactics and strategy, and in
explaining the principles of the military art to those who will avail themselves
of them skilfully, through the great superabundance of his knowledge of such
matters? (88) But the question is not now about his force of cavalry, which it
is necessary to collect around the rulers for the destruction of their enemies
and the protection of their friends; but concerning the irrational, and
immoderate, and unmanageable impetuosity of the soul, which it is desirable to
check, lest it should turn all its people towards Egypt, the country of the
body, and labor with all its might to render it devoted to pleasures and to the
passions, rather than to the service of virtue and of God; since it follows
inevitably that he who has acquired a body of cavalry for himself, must, as he
said himself, proceed on the road which leads to Egypt. (89) For when the wave
rises high and dashes over each side of the soul (looking upon it as a ship),
that is to say, over the mind and the outward sense, being lifted up by evident
passions and iniquities which blow fiercely upon it, so that the soul leans on
one side and is nearly overbalanced; then, as is natural, the mind becoming
water-logged, goes down, and the deep in which it is sunk and overwhelmed is the
body, which is compared to Egypt. XX.
(90) Beware, therefore, never to occupy yourself in this kind of horse-breeding,
for they who pursue the other kind are themselves also blamable, for how can
they not be? inasmuch as by them irrational animals are exceedingly humoured,
and from their houses troops of wellfed horses continually go forth; while to
the men who conduct them, not a person is found who ever gives the slightest
contribution to relieve their wants, nor any present to increase their
superfluities. (91) But, nevertheless, they err in a lighter degree; for these
men who breed horses to contend for the prize, assert that by so doing they are
adorning the sacred games and the assemblies, which are held in honor
everywhere, and they affirm that they are the causes not only of pleasure to the
spectators, and of that kind of delight which arises from beholding the
spectacle, but that they also give them an inducement to study and
practice praiseworthy pursuits. For they who attribute to animals a
desire for victory, using, out of their love of honor and rivalry in excellence,
a certain unceasing exhortation, and encouragement, and eagerness, enduring
pleasant labors, will never desist from what is suitable and becoming to them,
till they attain the end that they desire. (92) But these men seek pretexts to
excuse themselves, while doing wrong, but those who do wrong without excuse are
they, who would make the mind a rider, and mount him upon his horse, though
ignorant of the science of horsemanship, his horse being that four-footed vice
and passion; (93) but if after having been taught the art of managing a chariot,
you devote greater pains and study to it, and think yourself at last competent
and able to manage horses, mount, and take hold of the reins. For thus, even if
they are restive, you will not, by being thrown out of the chariot, receive
wounds difficult to be cured, and also afford a subject of ridicule to all the
spectators who delight in mischief; nor, on the other hand, will you be
overwhelmed by your enemies coming against you or running over you from behind,
since by your own speed you will outstrip and leave behind those who are coming
after you, and you will be able to afford to disregard those who are coming
towards you, because of your skill in getting safely out of the way. XXI.
(94) It is not unnaturally, therefore, that Moses, singing his song of triumph
on the destruction of the riders, nevertheless prays fore complete safety for
the horsemen; for these are able, putting their bridles into the mouths of the
irrational powers, to check the impetuosity of their superabundant violence.
What then his prayer is must be told: he says, "Let Dan be a serpent in the
way, sitting in the path, biting the heel of the horse; and the horseman shall
fall backwards, awaiting the salvation of the Lord."{14}{Genesis 49:17.}
(95) But we must explain what is the enigmatical meaning which he conceals under
this prayer, the name of Dan, being interpreted, means "judgment;"
therefore he here likens that power of the soul which investigates, and
accurately examines, and distinguishes between, and, in some degree, decides on
each part of the soul, to a dragon (and the dragon is an animal various in its
movements, and exceedingly cunning, and ready to display its courage, and very
powerful to repel those who begin acts of violence), but not to that friendly
serpent, the counsellor of life, which is wont to be called Eve in his national
language, but to the one made by Moses, of the material of brass, which, when
those who had been bitten by the poisonous serpents, and who were at the point
of death beheld, they are said to have lived and not to have died. XXII.
(96) And these things thus expressed resemble visions and prodigies; I mean the
account of one dragon uttering the voice of a man and pouring his sophistries
into most innocent dispositions, and deceiving the woman with plausible
arguments of persuasion; and of another becoming a cause of complete safety to
those who looked upon it. (97) But, in the allegorical explanations of these
statements, all that bears a fabulous appearance is got rid of in a moment, and
the truth is discovered in a most evident manner. The serpent, then, which
appeared to the woman, that is to life depending on the outward senses and on
the flesh, we pronounce to have been pleasure, crawling forward with an indirect
motion, full of innumerable wiles, unable to raise itself up, ever cast down on
the ground, creeping only upon the good things of the earth, seeking lurking
places in the body, burying itself in each of the outward senses as in pits or
caverns, a plotter against man, designing destruction to a being better than
itself, eager to kill with its poisonous but painless bite. But the brazen
serpent, made by Moses, we explain as being the disposition opposite to
pleasure, namely, patient endurance, on which account it is that he is
represented as having made it of brass, which is a very strong material. (98)
He, then, who with sound judgment contemplates the appearance of patient
endurance, even if he has been previously bitten by the allurements of
pleasures, must inevitably live; for the one holds over his soul a death to be
averted by no prayers, but self-restraint proffers him health and preservation
of life; and temperance, which repels evils, is a remedy and perfect antidote
for intemperance. (99) And every wise man looks upon what is good as dear to
him, which is also altogether calculated to ensure his preservation. So that
when Moses prays that it may happen to Dan, either himself, to be that serpent
(for the words may be understood in either sense), he means a serpent closely
resembling the one which has been made by himself, but not like the one which
appeared to Eve, for then the prayer is an entreaty for good things; (100)
therefore the character of patient endurance is good, and capable of receiving
immortality, which is the perfect good. But the character of pleasure is evil,
bringing in its train the greatest of all punishments, death. On which account
Moses says, "Let Dan become a serpent," and that not in any other
place rather than in the road. (101) For the indulgences of intemperance and
gluttony, and whatever other vices the immoderate and insatiable pleasures, when
completely filled with an abundance of all external things, produce and bring
forth, do not allow the soul to proceed onwards by the plain and straight road,
but compel it to fall into ravines and gulfs, until they utterly destroy it; but
those practices which adhere to patience, and endurance, and moderation, and all
other virtues, keep the soul in the straight road, leaving no stumbling block in
the way, against which it can stumble and fall. Very naturally, therefore, has
Moses declared that temperance clings to the right way, because it is plain that
the contrary habit, intemperance, is always straying from the road. XXIII.
(102) And the expression, "Sitting in the path," suggests some such
meaning as this, as I persuade myself: a path is a road calculated for riding
horses and driving carriages on, well beaten by men and beasts. (103) This road
they say is very like pleasures, for almost from their earliest birth to extreme
old age men proceed and walk along it, and with great indolence and easiness of
temper spend all their lives in it, and not men only, but every species of
animal whatever; for there is no single thing which is not attracted by the
allurements of pleasure, and which is not, at times, entangled in its
multifarious nets, and from which it is very difficult to escape. (104) But the
paths of prudence, and temperance, and the other virtues, even though they may
not be utterly untravelled, are, at all events, not beaten much; for the number
of those who proceed by those roads, and who philosophise in a genuine spirit,
and who form associations with virtue alone, disregarding, once for all, all
other allurements, is very small. (105) Therefore he sits constantly in the
road, and not once only, who has an eagerness for, and a care for, patient
endurances, in order to watch from his ambush and attack pleasure, to which men
in general are accustomed, that fountain of everlasting evils, and so to keep it
off, and to eradicate it from the whole district of the soul. (106) Then, as
Moses says, proceeding to the natural consequence of his position, he will of
necessity bite the heel of the horse; for it is the especial attribute of
patient endurance and temperance to shake and overturn the foundations of vice,
which lifts its head on high, and of exerted, and quicklymoved, and unmanageable
passion. XXIV.
(107) Moses, therefore, represents the serpent that appeared to Eve as planning
the death of man, for he records, that God says in his curses, "He shall
bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel." But he represents the
serpent of Dan, which is the one which we are now discussing, as biting the heel
of the horse and not of the man, (108) for the serpent of Eve, being the symbol
of pleasure, as has been already shown, attacks man, that is to say, the
reasoning power which is in every one of us; for the enjoyment and free use of
excessive pleasure is the destruction of the mind; (109) and the serpent of Dan
being a sort of image of vigorous virtue and of patient endurance, will bite the
horse, who is the emblem of passion and wickedness, because temperance is
occupied about the over throw and destruction of these things. Accordingly, when
they are bitten and when they have fallen, "the horseman also," says
Moses, "will fall;" (110) and the meaning which he conceals under this
enigmatical expression is such as this, that we must think it an excellent thing
and an object worthy of all labor, that our mind shall not be mounted upon any
one of the passions or vices, but that whenever an attempt is made by force to
put it upon one of them, we must endeavor to leap off and fall, for such falls
produce the most glorious victories. On which account one of the ancients, when
challenged to a contest of abuse, said, "I will never engage in such a
contest as that in which he who wins is more dishonored than he who is
defeated." XXV.
(111) Do you, therefore, my friend, never enter into a contest of evil, and
never contend for the pre-eminence in such practices, but rather exert yourself
with all your might to escape from them. And if ever, being under the compulsion
of some power which is mightier than yourself, you are compelled to engage in
such a strife, take care to be without delay defeated; (112) for then you, being
defeated, will be a glorious conqueror, and those who have gained the victory
will have got the worst. And do not ever entrust it to a herald to proclaim the
victory of your rival or to the judge to crown; but do you go yourself and offer
to him the acknowledgment of victory and the palm, and crown him, if he will,
and bind him with wreaths of triumph, and proclaim him as conqueror yourself,
pronouncing with a loud and piercing voice such a proclamation as this: "O
ye spectators, and ye who have offered prizes at these games! In this contest
which you have proposed to us of appetite, and passion, and intemperance, and
folly, and injustice, I have been defeated, and this man whom ye behold has
gained the victory. And he has gained it by such a superabundance of excellence,
that even we, who might very naturally have envied our conquerors, do not grudge
him the triumph." (113) Therefore, in all these unholy contests, surrender
the prizes to others; but, as for those which are really holy, study yourself to
gain the crown in them. And think not those contests holy which the different
cities propose in their triennial festivals, when they build theatres and
receive many myriads of people; for in those he who has overthrown any one in
wrestling, or who has cast him on his back or on his face upon the ground, or he
who is very skilful in wrestling or in the pancratium, carries off the first
prize, though he may be a man who has never abstained from any act of violence
or of injustice. XXVI.
(114) There are some men, again, who, having armed and strongly fortified both
their hands in a most hard and terrible manner, like iron, attack their
adversaries, and batter their heads and faces, and the other parts of their
bodies, and whenever they are able to plant a blow, they inflict great
fractures, and then claim the decision in their favor, and the crown of victory,
by means of their merciless cruelty. (115) But what man in his senses would not
laugh at the other competitions of runners, and candidates for the prize in the
pentathlum, to see men studying with all their energies to leap the longest
distance, and measuring spaces and distances, and contending with one another in
swiftness of foot? men whom, not only those more active animals, an antelope, or
a deer, but even the very smallest beasts, such as a dog, or a hare, without
making any extraordinary haste, would outrun, though they were to exert
themselves with all their speed, and to put themselves out of breath. (116) Of
all these contests, then, there is not one which is truly sacred; no, not though
all the men in the world should combine to bear witness in their favor, but they
must be convicted by themselves of bearing false witness if they do so: for they
who admire these things have established laws against men who behave with
insolent violence, and have affixed punishments to assaults, and have appointed
judges to decide on every action of that kind. (117) How, then, is it natural
for the same persons to be indignant at those who insult and assault others
privately, and to establish in their cases punishments which cannot be avoided,
but yet, in the case of those who commit these assaults publicly, and in
assemblies of the people, and in theatres, to establish by law that they shall
receive crowns, and that proclamations shall be made in their honor, and all
sorts of other glorious circumstances? (118) For when two opposite opinions are
established concerning any one thing, whether it be person or action, it follows
of necessity that one or other of them must be wrong, and the other right, for
it is impossible for them both to be right: which is the two, then, will you
praise deservedly? Will you not say that that sentence is right which orders
those who begin acts of violence to be punished? You would justly blame the
contrary law, which commands such persons to be honored; that nothing sacred may
be blamed, every such thing must be altogether glorious. XXVII.
(119) Therefore the Olympian contest is the only one that justly deserves to be
called sacred; meaning by this, not that which the inhabitants of XXVIII.
(124) Everything, then, that is requisite has now been said on the subject of a
horseman and a rider, and a keeper of sheep and a shepherd, and a tiller of the
ground and a husbandman; and all the difference existing between each of these
pairs has been very accurately defined, as far as it was in our power. It is
time now to turn to what follows. (125) Moses, then, introduces the man who is
desirous of virtue as not possessing a complete knowledge of the whole business
of a husbandman, but only as laboring with diligence at its principles and
rudiments; for he says, "Noah began to be a Husbandman."{16}{Genesis
9:20.} And the beginning, as the proverb of the old writers has it, is half of
the whole; as yet, therefore, he is half of the distance removed from the end,
and where the end is not attained, it has been often injurious to many persons,
to have begun great enterprises. (126) At all events, before now, some persons
whose minds were not right, through their thoughts revolving in continued
changes, have conceived a notion of some good things, but have derived no
advantage from it; for it has happened that, as they did not attain the end
which they desired, they have been overwhelmed by the impetuosity of a number of
adverse circumstances coming against them, and so that good conception has been
destroyed. XXIX.
(127) Was it not on this account that when Cain fancied that he had offered up a
blameless sacrifice, an oracle came to him bidding him not to feel confidence as
a man who had presented a well approved offering? for that he had not sacrificed
with holy and perfect victims. And the oracle is as follows: "If thou dost
not bring thy offering properly, and if thou dost not distribute it
Rightly."{17}{Genesis 4:7.} (128) What is right, then, here is the honor of
God, and that which is not properly distributed is not right. But let us now
examine what meaning is contained under this expression. There are some persons
who look upon piety as consisting in the affirmation that all things have been
made by God, both what is good and the contrary; (129) to whom we would say that
one portion of your opinion is praiseworthy, but the other portion blamable. One
portion is praiseworthy, because it properly honors that which alone is worthy
to receive honor; but that portion is blamable, which does so without any
discrimination or division. For it was not proper to confuse and mingle
everything together, nor to declare God the cause of everything without
distinction, but to make a difference, and to pronounce him the cause only of
those things which are good; (130) for it is an absurdity to be anxious about
priests, taking care that they shall be perfect in their bodies and free from
all defect and mutilation, and to be very particular about the animals which are
offered in sacrifice, to be sure that they have no defect of any kind whatever,
not even the most insignificant possible; and to appoint men, and to say whom
and how many ought to be appointed for this business, whom some call inspectors
of blemishes, to take care that the victims may be brought to the altar without
any blemish or imperfection, and yet to allow the opinions which are held
concerning God to be in confusion in the soul of each individual, and not to
take care that they are discriminated by the rule of right reason. XXX.
(131) Do you not see that the law pronounces the camel to be an unclean beast,
because it chews the cud and does not part the Hoof.{18}{Leviticus 11:4.} And
yet, if we considered this sentence as it is expressed in its literal sense, I
do not see what reason there is in it when it is interpreted; but if we look at
it in its allegorical meaning, it is very clear and inevitable. (132) For as the
animal which chews the cud, again masticates the food which is put before it and
devoured by it, when it again rises up to its teeth, so also the soul of the man
who is fond of learning, when it has received any speculative opinions by
hearing them, does not abandon them to forgetfulness, but quietly by itself
revolves over every one of them again in its mind in all tranquility, and so
comes to the recollection of them all. (133) But it is not every memory which is
good, but only that which is exerted on good subjects, since it is a most
pernicious thing that what is bad should not be forgotten; on which account,
with a view to perfection, it is necessary that the hoofs should be parted, in
order that so the faculty of memory, being divided into two sections, the word
which flows through the mouth may divide the lips, as being things which nature
has made of a two-fold character, and may also separate the advantageous species
of memory from that which is mischievous. (134) Again, the dividing the hoof
without chewing the cud does not by itself appear to bring any advantage with
it. For what advantage is there in distinguishing the natures of things
beginning at the top, and going down to the most unimportant points, and yet not
to be able to do so in one's self, not to have one's own divisions clearly
distinguished, which by some persons are with great felicity named atoms and
indivisible portions? (135) for all these things are manifest displays of
intelligence and excessive accuracy, sharpened to a degree of the most acute
comprehension. But they have no influence in causing virtue, or in making men
live a life free from reproach. XXXI.
(136) Accordingly, in their daily discussions, the company of sophists all over
the world annoys the ears of those whom they meet, by discussing with minute
accuracy, and expounding precisely, all expressions of a double and ambiguous
character, and distinguishing everything which appears to occur to the
recollection (and a great many things are fixed deeply in it). Do not these men
divide the elements of grammatical speech into consonants and vowels? And do not
some men divide speech into their first principles, noun, verb, and conjunction?
(137) Do not musicians again divide their own science into rhythm, and part, and
melody? and subdivide melody into the chromatic, the enharmonic, and the
diatonic species, into the divisions of fourths, and fifths, and the diapason,
and into combined and distinct melodies? (138) Do not geometricians divide their
science into two generic lines, the straight line, and the circumference? And do
not other professors of other arts draw careful distinctions between the species
which exist in each of their arts, going accurately through them all from
beginning to end? (139) And the whole company of students of philosophy may
argue with them on their line of conduct, each going through the studies to
which he is accustomed; because, of all existing things some are corporeal, and
some incorporeal; some again are inanimate, and some have vitality; some are
endowed with, others destitute of reason; some are mortal, others divine; and of
mortals some are male, and some female, these being the two divisions of the
human race. (140) Again, of incorporeal things, some are perfect and others
imperfect; and of perfect things, some are questions and interrogations, others
are imprecatory or adjurative; and there are other kinds which have special
differences in the elementary principles of such things. Again, there are some
things which the dialecticians are accustomed to call actions; (141) and of
these some are simple, and others are not simple; and of those which are not
simple some are conjunctive, and others are adjunctive in a greater or lesser
degree; moreover some are disjunctive, and there are others which come under a
similar description. Again, some are true, some are false, some are doubtful;
some possible and some impossible; some are corruptible, others incorruptible;
some necessary, and others not necessary; some are easy of solution, others
difficult to understand; and there are other classifications akin to these.
Again, of those which are imperfect there are proximate divisions into what are
called categorems and accidents, and other classifications which are subordinate
to these. XXXII.
(142) And although the intellect, when it has sharpened itself so as to render
itself more acute than before (as a physician gives strength to bodies),
dissects the natures of things, but yet derives no advantage with respect to the
acquisition of virtue; it will divide the hoof, being able to divide, and to
distinguish, and to discriminate between each separate thing; but it will not
chew the cud so as to avail itself of any useful food which may be able, by
means of its recollections, to soften the asperity of the soul which has been
engendered by sins, and to produce a really gentle and pleasant motion. (143)
Therefore a vast number of those who are called sophists, being admired in their
respective cities, and having attracted almost all the world to look upon them
with honor, on account of the accuracy of their definitions and their excessive
cleverness in inventions, have grown old while vehemently bound by the passions,
and have passed their whole life in them, in no respect differing from private
individuals who are of no account and are held in no consideration. (144) For
which reason the lawgiver very admirably compares those of the sophists who live
in this manner to the race of swine, who live a life in no respect pure or
brilliant, but confused and disorderly, and who are devoted to the basest
habits. (145) For he says that the swine is an unclean animal, because it
divides the hoof and does not chew the cud, just as he has pronounced the camel
unclean for the contrary reason because it chews the cud and does not divide the
hoof. But as many animals as partake of both these qualities are very
appropriately described as clean, because they have avoided impropriety in both
the aforementioned particulars. For division without memory, and care, and a
diligent examination of what is best, is but an imperfect good; but the
combination and union of the two in the same animal is a most perfect good. XXXIII.
(146) And even the enemies of the soul are afraid of this perfection, whom, as
they are no longer able to stand up against it, a genuine peace gets the mastery
over. And all those who have attained to a half-perfect or half-established
wisdom, are too weak to be able to make any effectual opposition to the brood of
sins, which have become confined by long usage, and which have gained strength
by time. (147) On this account, when in the time of war the general makes a levy
of his army, he does not summon all the youth, not even, though it displays all
imaginable willingness and spontaneous readiness to come forward to repel the
enemy. But he commands some to depart and to remain at home, in order that by
continued exercise they may acquire such an amount of military power and skill
as may afterwards be sufficient to secure the victory. (148) And the order of
this levy is made through the medium of the heralds of the army when the war is
at hand, and already at the very gates. And the heralds will make this
announcement: "What man is there who has built a new house, and has not
handselled it? Let him go and return to his house, that he may not die in the
war, and another man handsel it instead of him. And what man is there who has
planted a vineyard and has not received any joy from the fruit thereof? Let him
go and turn away back to his house, that he may not die in the war, and another
man be delighted with the fruit of his vineyard. And what man has espoused a
wife, and has not received her? Let him go and return back to his house, that he
may not die in the war, and another man take his Wife."{19}{Deuteronomy
20:5.} XXXIV.
(149) For why, I should say, O most excellent man, do you not think it more
proper to summon these men to follow you to the contest of war rather than the
others, men who have acquired marriages, and houses, and vineyards, and all
other kinds of possessions in abundance? For they will most cheerfully undergo
dangers, even if they be altogether most formidable, for the sake of the safety
of all these things. Since those men who have none of these things which have
been enumerated will be very likely to exhibit indifference and inactivity in
the war, as having no very important pledges at stake. (150) Or do you think
that, just in proportion to the absence of any enjoyment from the possession of
such things that they have hitherto felt, will be their apprehension lest they
never be able to enjoy such things, and that this will give them energy? For
what advantage from all the possessions that they may have acquired is left to
those who have been subdued in war? But will they not be taken prisoners? Then
they will immediately suffer for their absence from the field of battle; for
while they are sitting at home and wallowing in luxury, it is evidently
inevitable that their enemies, who are conducting all the operations of the war
with energy, will, not merely without any loss, but even without the slightest
exertion, make themselves masters of all that they possess. (151) But the
multitude of their other allies will cheerfully encounter the contest on behalf
of these things. At first sight, indeed, it seems absurd to rely upon the
energies or fortune of others; and especially when it is both an individual and
a common danger, involving defeat, and slavery, and utter destruction, which
hangs over men's heads, who are able of themselves to encounter the toils and
perils of war, and who are not hindered by any disease, or by old age, or by any
other disaster. It is rather fitting that those, whom the danger chiefly
concerns, should seize their arms and stand in the front battalions and hold
their shields over their allies, fighting cheerfully and with a spirit which
even courts dangers. XXXV.
(152) In the next place, will they not have displayed examples, not of treachery
only, but of the greatest insensibility, if they allow others to fight in their
cause, while they themselves are occupied about their domestic affairs? And
shall others be willing to incur contests and dangers in the cause of their
safety, which they are afraid to encounter for their own? And shall others
cheerfully endure scarcity of provisions, and sleeping on the ground, and other
hardships of body and soul, from their desire for victory, while they, covering
their houses with stucco and nonsense, no much lifeless ornament, or gathering
in their harvests from their fields, and celebrating the festival of the
vintage, or coming into connection, now for the first time, with virgins who
have long since been betrothed to them, and sleeping with them, as if it were
the most opportune reason for marriage, pass their time in such vanities? (153)
It is a good thing, no doubt, to take care of one's walls, to collect one's
revenues, to feast, to revel in wine, to contract marriages, to go courting the
old and withered dames (as the proverb calls them); but these are the
employments of peace, and to do all these things in the crisis of a war raging
in all its freshness and vigor, (154) while neither father, nor brother, nor any
relation or connection whatever shares the fatigues of the war; when this, I
say, is the case, must we not say that universal cowardice has occupied the
whole house? Oh, but you will say there are at all events myriads of relations
who are fighting in their cause. Then, while they are encountering danger to
their lives, must not those who are spending their time in luxury and delicate
living appear to surpass even the worst of wild beasts in the excess of their
inhumanity? (155) Again, they will say, but it is hard that others, without
enduring any labor themselves, should reap the fruits of our labors. Which,
then, is worst, that enemies should come into one's inheritance while one is
still alive, or that friends and relations should do so after one is dead? It is
absurdity even to compare things which are so widely different; (156) and yet it
is not inconsistent with reason, not only that all the property which belongs to
these men who shun military service, but that even they themselves, too, may
become the property of their enemies when they have obtained the mastery. So
those, indeed, who die in defense of the general safety, even if they have not
enjoyed as yet any advantage from those possessions which they previously had,
meet with death in its most pleasant form, considering that, by their saving the
others, their property goes to those whom they desired to have for their
successors. XXXVI.
(157) Therefore the words of the law here admit, perhaps, of all these and even
of still more excuses; but that no one of those who study evil cunning, through
his ingenuity in devising excuses, may feel any confidence in their validity, we
will proceed with the allegory, and say that, in the first place, the law does
not only think it right for men to labor for the acquisition of good things, but
also for the enjoyment of those which they have already acquired; and that it
looks upon happiness as consisting in the exercise of perfect virtue, which
makes life safe and complete. In the second place, that the question here is not
about a house, or a vineyard, or a betrothed and espoused wife, in order that he
may marry her as an accepted suitor, and that he who planted the vineyard may
gather the fruit thereof and press it out, and then, drinking the unmixed wine,
may be gladdened in his heart, and that the man who has built a house may dwell
in it; but the question is rather about the faculties of the soul, to which the
beginnings, and progress, and perfection of all praiseworthy actions are owing.
(158) Now, the beginnings have usually especial connection with a suitor; for as
he who courts a wife is about to become her husband, since he is not so already,
so in the same manner whoever, endued with a good disposition, hopes to marry
that well-born and pure maiden, education, courts her immediately. Progress has
especial reference to the husbandman; for as it is an object of particular care
to the planter to make his trees grow, so also is it to him, who is devoted to
learning, that the speculations of wisdom should receive the greatest possible
improvement. And perfection especially belongs to the building of a house when
it is finished, but has not yet settled and become firm. XXXVII.
(159) But in all these different circumstances, at the beginning, or in the
progress, or at the end of any undertaking, it is alike becoming to men to live
without contention, and not engage in the war of the sophists, which is always
stirring up a quarrelsome confusion, which tends to the adulteration of the
truth; since the truth is dear to peace, which is at variance with their
interests. (160) For if they come to this contest, being private individuals
engaging in a struggle against men experienced in warfare, they will by all
means be defeated; and one who is only beginning, because he is destitute of
experience; the one who is in a state of progress, because he is still
imperfect; and the one who is perfect, because he is not yet thoroughly
practiced in virtue. But just as it is necessary that plaster, after it
has been applied to a wall, must become solid and acquire firmness, so also it
is indispensable that the souls of those who have attained to perfection, must
become strengthened, and be established on firmer foundations by continual study
and incessant practice. (161) And those who do not arrive at this point are by
philosophers indeed called wise men, but it is without their own knowledge: for
they say that it is impossible for them who have advanced as far as the
perfection of wisdom, and who have now for the first time reached its summit to
be aware of their own perfection; for they affirm that it is impossible for both
these things to happen at the same time, namely the arrival at the desired goal,
and the apprehension that one has arrived there; but they affirm that on the
border between the two, there is ignorance, of such a sort, that it is not far
removed from knowledge, but that it is very near to it, and close to its doors.
(162) When a man has acquired this, and thoroughly comprehends it, and is
entirely acquainted with the powers of his adversaries, it will be his task to
war against the company of contentious sophists, for there is good hope that
such a man may conquer; but he who is still impeded by the cloud of ignorance in
front of him, and who is not yet able to pour forth the light of knowledge, may
safely remain at home; that is to say, it is well for him not to enter into a
contest with respect to those matters with which he is not thoroughly
acquainted, but he had better rest and keep quiet. (163) But the man who is
elevated by selfsufficiency, not being acquainted with the skill or power of his
adversaries, will undoubtedly meet with disaster before he can do anything, and
will endure the death of knowledge, which is a more grievous death than that
which separates the soul from the body. (164) And this ought to happen to those
who allow themselves to be deceived by the sophists; for when they are not able
to find a solution for their sophisms, believing their fallacies as if they were
true statements, they die as to the life of knowledge, suffering the same thing
that they do who are cajoled by flatterers; for in the case of those men too,
their soul, while in a healthy and genuine state, is driven off and overthrown
by a friendship which is diseased in its very nature. XXXVIII.
(165) We must therefore advise those who are beginning to learn not to go forth
into such contests, for they have not sufficient knowledge; and we must counsel
those who are making some progress to abstain from them, because they are not
perfect; and those who have now for the first time just attained to perfection,
we must urge to forbear, because in some degree their perfection has escaped
their own notice. (166) But of those who disregard our warnings, Moses says,
"One man will inhabit his house, and another will obtain his vineyard, and
another will marry a wife." And the meaning of this is something of this
kind: the powers which have been enumerated, of careful beginning, and
improvement, and perfection, will never fail altogether, but will at different
times approach and unite themselves with different persons, and will not be
always forming the same souls, but will change about, resembling seals; (167)
for seals, when they have stamped an impression on one piece of wax, without
suffering any alteration themselves, though they impress on it a form which is
derived from themselves, remain in the same condition as before; and if the
piece of wax which has been stamped, be melted, and the impression effaced, then
another piece may be substituted in its place. So that, my good friends, do not
think, that when you yourselves perish, your powers perish with you; for they,
being immortal, have, on account of their own glory, embraced ten thousand other
persons before they came to you, who, they perceived, did not behave like you,
out of an aversion to danger, shunning their society, but who rather came
forward to meet them, and showed an eagerness to consult their safety. (168) And
if any one is a friend of virtue, let him pray that all good things may be
implanted in him, and may appear in his soul, like some symmetrical proportion
conducing to beauty in a statue or a picture, considering that there are
innumerable persons watching at hand, to whom nature will give all these things
instead of giving them to him, namely, facility of learning, improvement, and
perfection; but it is better that he should shine out rather than they, guarding
safely the graces which have been bestowed on him by God; and that he himself
should not, by carrying forward destruction, afford an easy prey to his
unsparing enemies. XXXIX.
(169) Are we then to say that there is but little use in a beginning to which a
fortunate end does not set its seal? It has often indeed happened that even some
who have attained to perfection have still been thought imperfect, from
appearing to have improved through their own earnestness alone, and not
according to the will of God. And on this account, being exceedingly elated by
their vain opinion, and elevated to a great height, they have fallen from a high
position to the lowest depths, and so been destroyed. (170) "For if,"
says Moses, "you have built a new house, you shall also erect a battlement
on the house, and then shall commit no murder in your house if any one falls
from It."{20}{Deuteronomy 22:8.} (171) For the most grievous of all falls
is for a man to stumble and fall from the honor due to God; crowning himself
rather than God, and committing domestic murder. For he who does not duly honor
the living God kills his own soul: so that the building of education which he
has erected is of no advantage to him. But instruction has a nature which never
grows old; on which account Moses calls its house a new house, for all other
things are gradually destroyed by time. But instruction, in proportion as it
advances towards perfection, is fresh and vigorous, looking blooming with an
ever-flourishing appearance, and putting itself in motion with continual
studies. (172) And in his hortatory admonitions Moses recommends that those who
have received the most abundant possession of good things should not look upon
themselves as the causes of their acquisition, but should "remember God who
gave them strength to acquire the Power."{21}{Deuteronomy 8:18.} (173) This
then is the utmost limit of good fortune, and the other things are its
beginnings, so that those who forget the end cannot possibly derive any
advantage from the acquisitions which they have made. And so the falls which
these men endure are selfincurred, through their own self-sufficiency, because
they could not endure to call the loving and all-accomplishing God the cause of
their good things. |
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