Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit

Philo Judaeus

The works of Philo Judaeus, the contemporary of Josephus, volume 2. Yonge, C. D., translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.

Very beautifully, therefore, has the interpreter of the writings of nature, taking pity upon our idleness and want of consideration, taught every one of us in an invisible manner, as he does now, to arrange everything in such a way as to produce an exact opposition, not arranging them in wholes, but in equal divisions; for one thing consists of the two opposite parts; and when that one thing is bisected then the opposite parts are easily known.

Is not this the thing which the Greeks say that Heraclitus, that great philosopher who is so celebrated among them, put forth as the leading principle of his whole philosophy, and boasted of it as if it were a new discovery? For it is in reality an ancient discovery of Moses, that out of the same thing opposite things are produced having the ratio of parts to the whole, as has here been shown.

These matters then we will examine into accurately

v.2.p.136

on another occasion; but there is this other point also, which does not deserve to be passed over in silence. For the divisions into two equal parts which have been mentioned become six in number, since three animals were divided, so that the Word which divided them made up the number seven, dividing the two triads and establishing itself in the midst of them.

And a thing very similar to this appears to me to be very clearly shown in the matter of the sacred candlestick; for that also was made having six branches, three on each side, and the main candlestick itself in the middle made the seventh, dividing and separating the two triads; for it is made of carved work, a divine work of exquisite skill and highly admired, being made of one solid piece of pure gold. For the unit, being one and single and pure, begot the number seven, which had no mother but is born of itself alone, without taking any additional material whatever to aid him.