De Fuga Et Inventione

Philo Judaeus

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

When, then, is it without a guardian? Is it not when the sight is without any covering, being poured forth upon the objects of sight; and when the hearing is without a covering, being occupied in drinking in all kinds of sounds; and when the sense of smell is uncovered, and the kindred powers are left to themselves, and so are most ready to suffer whatever the invading enemy may be disposed to inflict? And that speech is uncovered and uttered which speaks ten thousand things in an unseasonable manner, without any thing to restrain its impetuosity; therefore flowing on unrestrainedly, it overturns many noble purposes and plans of life which were previously sailing on erect as though in calm weather.

This is that great deluge in which "the cataracts of heaven were opened" [*](Genesis vii. 11. ) by heaven I here mean of the mind—and the fountains of the bottomless pit were revealed; that is to say, of the outward sense; for in this way alone is the soul [*](Leviticus xx. 18. ) [*](Genesis vii. 11. )

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overwhelmed, iniquities being broken up and poured over it from above, as from the heaven of the mind, and the passions irrigating it from below, as from the earth of the outward senses.

For which reason Moses forbids a man to uncover the nakedness of his father or his mother, [*](Leviticus xviii. 7. ) well knowing how great an evil it is not to check and to conceal the offences of the mind and of the external sense, but to bring them forward and display them as though they were good actions.

These are the fountains of errors. We must now examine that of prudence. To this one it is that perseverance, that is to say, Rebecca, descends; [*](Genesis xxiv. 15. ) and after she has filled up the whole vessel of her soul she goes up again, the lawgiver, most strictly in accordance with natural truth, calling her return an ascent; for whoever brings his mind to descend from over-arrogant haughtiness is raised to a great height of virtue.

For Moses says, "And having gone down to the fountain, she filled her ewer, and went up again." This is that divine wisdom from which all the particular sciences are irrigated, and all the souls which love contemplation and are filled with a love of what is most excellent;