De Vita Mosis (Lib. I-II)

But as he thought that they claimed a sort of right, by some kind of pre-eminence, to receive their share and the honours due to them before their time, or else that they preferred this petition by reason of their being unwilling to encounter the wars which were impending, as there were still many kings who were making ready to attack them, and who were the possessors of all the country inside the river, he was very indignant at their request, and answered them in anger, and said,

"Shall you then sit here and enjoy leisure, and yield to indolence at so improper a time? and shall the wars which still threaten us, afflict all your countrymen, and your relations, and your friends, and shall the prizes be given to you alone, as if you had all contributed to the success? And shall battles and

But it is not just that you should enjoy peace, and the blessings that flow from peace, and that the rest should endure wars and all the other indescribable evils which they bring with them, and that the whole should only be looked upon as an adjunct of a part; while, on the contrary, it is for the sake of the whole that the parts are thought worthy of any inheritance at all.

Ye are all entitled to equal honour, ye are one race, ye have the same fathers, one house, ye have the same customs, a community of laws, and an infinite number of other things, every one of which binds your kindred closer together, and cements your mutual good will; why then when you are thought worthy of equal shares of the most important and most necessary things, do you show a covetous spirit in the division of the lands, as if you were rulers despising your subjects as masters looking disdainfully on your slaves?"

You ought to have derived instruction from the afflictions of others; for it is the part of wise men not to wait till misfortunes come upon themselves. But now, though you have domestic examples in your own fathers, who went and spied out this land, and in the calamities which befell them, and all who participated in their despondency (for they all perished except two), and when, therefore, you ought to take care and avoid resembling them in any respect whatever, still, foolish-minded men that ye are, ye are imitating their cowardice, as if by such conduct you would be more strongly fortified against capture; and you check and damp the eagerness of those who are desirous to display their manhood and valour, relaxing and depressing their spirits;

therefore, while you are hastening to do wrong, you are also hastening to incur punishment. For justice is always a long time before it can be put in motion, but when it is once put in motion it makes great haste and speedily overtakes those who flee from it.

When, therefore, all our enemies are destroyed, and when there is no other war which can be expected or feared as impending, and when all those in our present alliance have been, on examination, found to be without reproach nor liable to any charge of desertion or treachery, or of any misconduct which could possibly tend to our defeat, but shall be seen to have endured steadfastly from the beginning to the end, with their bodily exertion and with all eagerness of mind, and when the whole country

So they, bearing this rebuke with moderation, as being genuine sons of a very kindly-disposed father (for they knew that Moses was not a man to behave insolently because of his power and authority, but one who cared for all of them, and honoured justice and equality, and who hated wickedness, not so as to reproach or insult the wicked, but so as to be constantly endeavouring by admonition and correction to improve those who were susceptible of improvement), said to him, "Very naturally you are indignant, if you imagine that we now are anxious to desert the alliance and to obtain our allotments before the proper time;

but you must know that we are not alarmed at any undertaking that calls for valorous and virtuous exertion, even though it may be most laborious. And we judge that the task of virtue is to obey you who are such a brave and wise ruler, and not to fear to encounter dangers, and to be willing to bear our share in all future expeditions until all our business is brought to a fortunate conclusion.

"We, therefore, as we have agreed before, will remain in our ranks and cross over Jordan in complete armour, giving no soldier any excuse for lagging behind. But our infant children, and our daughters, and wives, and mothers, and the bulk of our cattle, shall, if you have no objection, be left behind, after we have made houses for our children and wives, and stables for our cattle that they may not be exposed to any incursion of the enemy, and so suffer injury from being taken in unwalled and unprotected dwellings."

And Moses answered with a mild look and even still gentler voice, "If you speak the truth and behave honestly, the allotments which you have asked for shall remain assured to you. Leave behind you now, as you desire, your wives and children, and flocks and herds, and go yourselves across Jordan in your ranks with the rest of the soldiers in full armour, arrayed for battle, as if you were prepared to fight at once, if it should be needful.

And hereafter when all our enemies are destroyed, and when, peace being established, we have made ourselves masters of the whole country, and have begun to divide it among ourselves, then you also shall return to your families

When Moses had said this, and given them this promise, they were filled with cheerfulness and joy, and established their families in safety as well as their flocks and herds in well-fortified and impregnable strongholds, the greater part of which were artificial. And taking their arms they marched forth more cheerfully than any of the rest of the allied forces, as if they alone had been going to fight, or at all events to fight in the first ranks as the champions of the whole army, for he who has received any gift beforehand is more eager in the cause in which he is engaged, since he thinks that he is repaying a necessary debt, and not giving a free gift.

I have now, then, given an account of what was done by Moses while invested with kingly power. I must now proceed to relate in order all the actions which he performed in accordance with virtue, and also successfully as a chief priest, and also in his character as a lawgiver; for he also exercised these two powers as very closely connected with his kingly authority.