their hands and feet, it will put forth its energies in their free, and emancipated, and unrestrained strength, so that the commands of the passions will be at once put an end to. Are not the outcries of pleasure very loud with which she is accustomed to deliver such commands as please her? And is not the voice of appetite unwearied when she pours forth her bitter threats against those who do not serve her? And so again all the other passions have a voice of loud and varied sound. But even, if each one of the passions were to exert the ten thousand mouths and voices, and all the power of making an uproar spoken of by poets, it would not be able to perplex the ears of the perfect man, after he has already passed from them, and determined no longer to dwell in the same city with them. XXVII. But the sacred Scriptures agree with the man who can speak from experience, when he says that in the camp of the body all the sounds of war were heard, the tranquillity dear to peace having been driven to a distance. For he does not say that it is not such a shout of war, but that it is not such a shout as some persons think the cry of men who have conquered or who have been conquered to be, but rather such an one as would proceed from men heavy and overwhelmed with wine. For the expression, "It is not the voice of men beginning to exert themselves in battle," is equivalent to the words, " of men who have got the better in war," for exertion in battle is the cause of victory. Thus he represents the wise Abraham, after the destruction of the nine kings, that is, of the four passions and the five powers of the outward senses, which were all set in motion in a manner contrary to nature, preluding with a hymn of gratitude, and saying, "I will stretch forth my hand to the most high God, who made heaven and earth; that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet of any thing that is thine." And he means, as it appears to me, by this expression, everything in the world, the heaven, the earth, the water, the air, and all animals, and all plants. For to every one of them, he who directs all the energies of his soul towards God, and who looks to him alone as * Genesis xiv. 22. the only source from which he can hope for advantage, may fitly say-I will take nothing that is yours; 1 will, not receive from the sun the light of day, nor by night will I receive light from the moon or from the other stars, nor rain from the air and from the clouds, nor meat and drink from the earth and from the water, nor the power of sight from the eyes, nor the faculty of hearing from the ears, nor that of smelling from the nostrils, nor from the palate in the mouth the sense of taste, nor the faculty of speaking from the tongue, nor the power of giving and taking from the hands, nor that of approaching and of retreating from the feet, nor that of breathing from the lungs, nor that of digesting from the liver, nor from the other internal organs of the body the power of exciting the energies which belong to them, nor the yearly pruce from trees and seeds; but I will look upon every thing as proceeding from the only wise God, who extends his own beneficial powers in every direction, and who by their agency benefits me. XXVII. He then who can thus look upon the living God, and who thus comprehends the nature of the cause of all things, honours the things of which he is the cause in a secondary degree to himself; while at the same time he confesses their importance though without flattering them. And this confession is most just: I will receive nothing from you, but everything from God, to whom all things belong, though perhaps the benefits may be bestowed through the medium of you; for ye are instruments to minister to his everlasting graces. But man, who is devoid of any consideration, who is blinded as to his mind, by which alone the living God is comprehensible, does, by means of that mind, never see anything anywhere, but sees all the bodies which are in the world by his own outward senses, which he looks upon as the causes of all things which exist. On which account, beginning to make gods for himself, he has filled the world with images and statues, and innumerable other representations, made out of all kinds of different materials, fashioned by painters and statuaries, whom the lawgiver banished to a distance from his state, proposing both publicly and privately great rewards and surpassing honours to them, by which conduct he has brought about a contrary result to that which he intended, namely, impiety instead of religion. For the worship of many gods in the souls of ignorant people is mere impiety; and they who deify mortal things neglect the honour due to God; who are not content with making images of the sun and of the moon to the extent of their inclination, and of all the earth, and of all the water, but they even gave beasts and plants devoid of reason a share in those nonours, which belonged of right only to immortal beings. And he, reproving them, began a song of victory as has here been shown. XXIX. And Moses indeed, in the same manner, when he saw the king of Egypt, that arrogant man with his six hundred chariots, that is to say, with the six carefully arranged motions of the organic body, and with the governors who were appointed to manage them, who, while none of all created things are by nature calculated to stand still, think nevertheless that they may look upon everything as solidly settled and admitting of no alteration; when he, I say, saw that this king had met with the punishment due to his impiety, and that the people who were practisers of virtue, had escaped from the attacks of their enemies, and had been saved by mighty power beyond their expectation, he then sang a hymn to God as a just and true judge, beginning a hymn in a manner most becoming and most exactly suited to the events that had happened, because the horse and his rider he had thrown into the sea;"t having utterly destroyed that mind which rode upon the irrational impulses of that fourfooted and restive animal, passion, and had become an ally, and defender, and protector of the seeing soul, so as to bestow upon it complete safety. And the same prophet begins a song to the well, not only for the destruction of the passions, but also because he has had strength given to him to acquire the most valuable of ali posessions, namely incomparable wisdom, which he compares to a well; for it is deep, and not superficial, giving forth a sweet stream to souls who thirst for goodness and virtue, a drink at once most necessary and most sweet. But it is not entrusted to any person who is not initiated in wisdom to dig this well, but only to kings, on which • Exodus xiv. 7. + Exodus xv. 4. For it account it is said, "Kings hewed it out of stone."* is the office of mighty rulers to investigate and to establish wisdom, not meaning those who with their arms have subdued sea and land, but those who with the powers of the soul have fought against and subdued its diversified, and mingled, and confused multitude. XXX. Now the pupils and followers of these persons are those who say, "Thy sons have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our charge, and there is not one of them who has refused, but each man has brought his gift to the Lord of that which he has found."+ For these men are likely again to prelude with a song of triumph, being eager to attain to perfect and dominant powers. For they say that the man who has taken the sum of the whole, has also taken the greatest number of the reasons of courage, which are by nature inclined to war, being arrayed in opposition to two squadrons, one of which is led by cowardice, which is difficult to overtake, and the other by frantic temerity and rashness; and neither of them has any share in sound wisdom. And it is very admirably said that no one refused, by way of intimating a participation in perfect and complete courage; just as the lyre and any other musical instrument is out of tune, if there is one single discordant note in it; but is in tune when the strings are all harmonious and pour forth the same symphony at one touch. In the same manner also, the instrument of the soul is out of tune when it is either strained by rashness and urged on to a degree of exceeding sharpness, or relaxed by cowardice in an immoderate degree, so as to be let down and become very flat. But it is in tune when all the tones of courage and of every virtue are well united and combined together, and so produce one well-arranged melody. And it is a great proof of good tune and of skilful management to bring his due gift to God; and this is to honour the living God in a becoming manner, by means of confessing most distinctly that this whole universe is his gift to us; for he says in, strictest accordance with natural truth, "the man has brought the gift which he found." But every one of us, the moment that he • Numbers xxi. 18. + Numbers xxxi. 49. is born, finds the great gift of God, namely the universal world, which he has given to him, and to the most excellent parts of him. XXXI. There are also particular gifts which it is suitable both to God to give, and to men to receive. And these must be the virtues and the energies in accordance with them, at the discovery of which, being almost without any connexion with time, by reason of the surpassing rapidity of the giver which he is accustomed to exhibit in his gifts, every one is full of admiration, even those to whom nothing else in the world appears great. On which account also, the question is put, "How didst thou find it so quickly, O my son ?" the questioner marvelling at the promptness of the virtuous disposition; and he who has received the benefit answers felicitously, "Because the Lord God gave it to me." For the gifts and explanations of men are slow, but those of God are most rapid, outstripping the motion of even the most speedy time. Therefore those who by their strength and courage have become chiefs and leaders of the chorus which raises the song of triumph and of gratitude, are those who have been already mentioned; but those who, by reason of having been put to flight, and of their weakness, are companions of the song of lamentation which is raised on occasion of defeat, are men whom one ought to look upon as cowards, rather than to pity; like those who have a body labouring under some natural defect, to whom any ordinary occasion of sickness is a great hindrance to their cure. But some persons have succumbed contrary to their inclinations, not because the energies of their souls are more effeminate, but because they have been overwhelmed by the more vigorous strength of their adversaries; and imitating those who are willing slaves, they have voluntarily cast themselves down before either masters, though they were freemen by birth; on which account being unable to be sold they have, which is the most incredible of all things, bought masters for themselves and so become slaves, doing the very same thing with those who are insatiably eager for drunkenness with wine; for they This passage is certainly corrupt. Markland thinks that some words at least have been lost. + Genesis xxvii. 20. |