Miscellanies 2.18.78–2.19.102

All the other virtues recorded by Moses are plain, which supplied the Greeks with the beginning of the whole field of ethics: I mean courage, self-restraint, prudence, and justice, endurance and patience, reverence and self-control, and godliness in addition to these. Godliness is evident to everyone, teaching to worship and honor the highest and oldest cause. And the law itself presents justice, training it, and prudence, through abstaining from idols perceived by the senses and attaching oneself to the Maker and Father of the universe; from which belief, as from a spring, all understanding grows.

For “the sacrifices of the lawless are an abomination to the Lord, but the prayers of the upright are acceptable to him.” Since such too are the words in Isaiah: “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord,” and the whole passage; “Loose every bond of injustice.” For this is a sacrifice acceptable to God: a broken heart that seeks the One who formed it. “Deceitful scales are an abomination before God, but a just weight is acceptable to him.” From this Pythagoras exhorts, “Do not step over a balance.” And the profession of the heresies is called deceitful justice; and “the tongue of the unjust will be destroyed, but the mouth of the righteous drips wisdom.” Yet they call the wise and prudent worthless. It would be long to set out testimonies about these virtues, since the whole of Scripture sings their praises. Since, then, they define courage as knowledge of what is fearful, what is not fearful, and what is between, and self-restraint as a state that preserves the judgments of prudence in choosing and avoiding; and since patience, which they call endurance, lies close to courage, being knowledge of what to persist in and what not, and magnanimity, knowledge that rises above what happens; and caution, which is avoidance with reason, lies close to self-restraint:

the keeping of the commandments, being their harmless observance, is the securing of safety in life. And it is not possible to be enduring without courage, nor self-controlled without self-restraint. The virtues follow one another; and with the one in whom the virtues follow one another is salvation too, being the preservation of what is well. Fittingly, then, having discussed these virtues, we would have examined them all, since the one who has one virtue in the way of knowledge has all, because they follow one another. For example, self-control is a disposition that does not transgress what appears according to right reason. The self-controlled person is one who restrains the impulses contrary to right reason, or restrains himself so as not to be moved contrary to right reason. And this self-restraint is not without courage, since from the commandments comes prudence, following God who has given the orders, and justice, which imitates the divine disposition; by which, exercising self-control, we are sent forth pure to godliness and to the conduct that follows God, being made like the Lord as far as is possible for us who are mortal by nature.

And this is to become just and holy with prudence. For the divine is without need and without passion, which is why it is not, properly speaking, self-controlled; for it never falls under a passion, so as to master it. But our nature, being subject to passion, needs self-control, by which, being trained to need little, it tries to draw near in disposition to the divine nature. For the good man needs little, standing on the boundary between immortal and mortal nature: he has need because of the body and because of birth itself, but has been taught by rational self-control to need few things. For what reason does the law forbid a man to put on a woman's clothing? Is it not that it wishes us to be manly, not becoming effeminate either in body and actions or in mind and speech? For it wishes the one who gives himself to the truth to be manly in endurance and patience, in life, manner, speech, and discipline, night and day, and if ever the need should arise of a martyrdom that goes as far as blood.

Again, it says, if anyone has recently built a house and has not yet moved into it, or has planted a new vineyard and has not yet shared in its fruit, or has become engaged to a virgin and has not yet married her, the humane law commands that these be released from military service: strategically, so that we may not serve half-heartedly in war, distracted by our desires (for those who strip for danger without excuses are free in their impulses); and humanely, since the outcomes of war are uncertain, considering it unjust that one should not enjoy his own labors, while another should take without toil what belongs to those who have toiled.

The law seems also to indicate courage of soul, laying down that the one who planted should enjoy the fruit, the one who built should live in the house, and the one who wooed should marry; for it will not leave unfulfilled the hopes of those who have trained themselves according to the knowing Word. For when a good man dies, or lives, hope does not perish. “I love those who love me,” says Wisdom, “and those who seek me will find peace,” and so on. What then? Did not the women of the Midianites, by their beauty, lead the Hebrews, who were at war with them, from self-restraint through lack of self-control into godlessness? For making them their companions, enticing them by beauty from their reverent discipline into harlots' pleasures, they drove them mad for the sacrifices to idols and for foreign women. Overcome by women and pleasure together, they fell away from God and fell away from the law, and almost the whole people had come under the power of the enemy by a woman's stratagem, until fear, admonishing them, reined them in when they were in danger.

At once those who were left, taking up boldly the contest for godliness, became masters of the enemy. “The beginning of wisdom,” then, is godliness, “and the understanding of the holy” is forethought, “and to know the law belongs to a good mind.” Those, then, who have supposed that the law produces a fear that is a passion are neither good at understanding nor have they truly understood the law. For “the fear of the Lord makes life; but the one who goes astray will suffer in toils that knowledge does not look upon.” Indeed Barnabas says mystically: “May God, who rules the whole world, give you too wisdom, understanding, knowledge, insight into his ordinances, patience. Be taught by God, then, seeking out what the Lord seeks from you, so that you may find it in the day of judgment.” Those who attain these things he called, in the way of knowledge, children of love and peace. Although much can be said about sharing and fellowship, it is enough to say only this: that the law forbids lending at interest to a brother (calling brother not only one born of the same parents, but also whoever is of the same race, of like mind, and has shared in the same Word), not thinking it right to collect interest on money, but to give to those in need with open hands and minds. For God is the creator of such grace; and the one who shares already receives worthy interest, the most precious things among men: gentleness, kindness, magnanimity, good report, and fame.

Does not this precept seem to you to belong to philanthropy, as does that one, to pay the poor man his wages the same day? It teaches that the wage for services must be paid without delay; for, I think, the poor man's eagerness is weakened when he goes without food for the next day. Again, it says, let the creditor not enter the debtor's house to take a pledge by force, but let him tell him to bring it out, and let the one who has it not hold back. And in harvest it forbids the owners to pick up what falls from the sheaves, as in reaping too it exhorts them to leave something uncut; by this training the owners very well in sharing and generosity, by giving up something of their own to those in need, and providing the poor with a means of food.

Do you see how the legislation proclaims God's justice and goodness together, since he supplies food to all ungrudgingly? And again, in the vintage it has forbidden those who gather to go back over what was left and to pick up the fallen grapes; the same is ordered for those gathering olives. Indeed, the tithes of the fruits and of the flocks taught people to be godly toward the divine and not to be wholly greedy for gain, but to share their humanity with their neighbors too. For from these, I think, and from the firstfruits the priests also were supported. Do we now understand that we are being trained by the law in godliness, fellowship, justice, and philanthropy? Is it not so? Does it not command that the land be left idle in the seventh year, and bid the poor use without fear the fruits that grow by God's doing, nature farming for those who wish? How, then, is the law not good and a teacher of justice? And again in the fiftieth year it commands the same things to be done as in the seventh, restoring to each his own, if anyone in the meantime had been deprived of land through some misfortune, limiting the desire of those eager to acquire by a measured time of enjoyment, and pitying those who have paid the penalty of long poverty and are punished for life. “Acts of mercy and faithfulness are royal guards”; “blessing is on the head of the one who shares”; and “the one who pities the poor will be blessed,” because he shows love to his like through love for the Creator of the human race.

The things just mentioned also have other, more natural … interpretations, about rest and the recovery of the inheritance; but they are not to be spoken of now. Love is understood in many ways: through gentleness, kindness, patience, freedom from envy and jealousy, freedom from hatred, freedom from resentment. It is undivided in all things, impartial, sharing. Again, it says, if you see a beast of burden wandering in the wilderness belonging to one of your family or friends, or in general to people you know, lead it back and return it. And if its owner happens to be far away, keep it with your own until he recovers it, and return it. Because of natural fellowship it teaches us to consider what we find as a deposit, and not to bear a grudge against an enemy.

“The commandment of the Lord is a fountain of life,” and truly “makes one turn aside from the snare of death.” What then? Does it not command us to love strangers, not only as friends and relatives, but as ourselves, in body and soul? Indeed it has honored the Gentiles too, and bears no grudge against those who have done it wrong. At any rate it says plainly: “You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in Egypt,” calling Egyptian either the Gentile or anyone of the world. And it commands that enemies, even if they are already standing at the walls trying to take the city, not yet be regarded as enemies until, sending heralds, they have invited them to peace. Indeed, it commands that the captive woman not be approached for outrage; but, allowing her thirty days to mourn whom she wishes, it says, after changing her clothes, “go in to her as a wife according to the law.” For it holds that intercourse should take place neither for outrage, nor for hire as with harlots, but only for the begetting of children.

Do you see philanthropy with self-control? It does not allow the lover who has become master of the captive to gratify his pleasure, but checks desire by a measured interval, and moreover cuts off the captive's hair, to shame an insolent passion; for if reason persuades him to marry, he will hold to her even when she has become unattractive. Then, if someone, sated with desire, no longer thinks fit to have relations with the captive, it is ordered that he may not sell her, nor even keep her as a servant; it wishes her to be free and released from the household, so that, when another wife comes in, she may not suffer any of the incurable things that come from jealousy.

What then? It also commands us to help lighten and raise up the burdened beasts of our enemies, the Lord teaching us from afar not to welcome rejoicing at another's misfortune nor to take pleasure in our enemies' troubles, so that, having been trained in these things, he may teach us to pray for our enemies. For it is not fitting to envy and grieve at a neighbor's good things, nor to take pleasure in a neighbor's evils. “And if you find the beast of burden of some enemy of yours wandering,” it says, leaving aside the kindlings of the quarrel, “lead it back and return it.” For nobility follows forgetting wrongs, and from this comes the end of enmity. From this we are fitted for concord, and concord leads by the hand to happiness. And if you regard someone as an enemy from habit, but find him misled irrationally by desire or anger, turn him to nobility.

Does not the law now appear humane and kind, the law that is a schoolmaster to Christ, and God the same, good with justice, from the beginning to the end dealing with each generation fittingly for salvation? “Show mercy,” says the Lord, “that you may be shown mercy; forgive, that you may be forgiven; as you do, so it will be done to you; as you give, so it will be given to you; as you judge, so you will be judged; as you show kindness, so kindness will be shown to you; with the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you.” Further, it forbids dishonoring those who serve for their food, and gives those enslaved for debts a complete release in the seventh year. It also forbids handing over suppliants for punishment. More than anything, then, that oracle is true: “As gold and silver are tested in the furnace, so the Lord chooses the hearts of men.” And “the merciful man is long-suffering,” and “in everyone who takes thought there is wisdom”; for “care will fall on a man of understanding,” and, being thoughtful, “he will seek life”; and “the one who seeks God will find knowledge with righteousness, and those who have sought him rightly have found peace.”

It seems to me that Pythagoras too took his gentleness toward irrational animals from the law. For example, he forbade taking the young born in flocks of sheep, goats, and cattle for immediate enjoyment, not even on the pretext of sacrifices, for the sake of the young and the mothers, training man up to gentleness from below, from the irrational animals. “Grant the young,” it says, “to its mother at least for the first seven days.” For if nothing happens without a cause, and milk pours down in those who have given birth for the nourishment of the young, the one who tears the newborn from the provision of milk dishonors nature. Let the Greeks, then, be ashamed, and anyone else who runs down the law, if the law shows kindness even to irrational animals, while they expose even the offspring of human beings; though the law, from afar and prophetically, cut short their savagery through the commandment just mentioned. For if it forbids the young of irrational animals to be separated from the mother before weaning, much more does it treat in advance the cruel and untamed disposition in the case of human beings, so that, if they despise nature, they may at least not despise instruction.

For it is permitted to eat one's fill of kids and lambs, and perhaps there is some defense for the one who separates the young from its mother; but what reason does the exposure of a child have? For the one who did not wish to have children should not have married at all in the first place, rather than become a child-killer through lack of self-control in pleasure. Again, the good law forbids sacrificing the young and its mother on the same day. From this the Romans too, if a pregnant woman is condemned to death, do not allow her to undergo the punishment before she gives birth. Indeed the law plainly does not allow any animals that are pregnant to be slaughtered until they give birth, restraining from afar the recklessness of those who wrong human beings. So it extended fairness even to irrational animals, so that, having practiced on those of another kind, we might show an abundance of humanity toward those of our own kind.

But those who kick the bellies of certain animals before they give birth, so as to feast on flesh mixed with milk, have made the womb, created for birth, a tomb for the unborn, though the lawgiver expressly commands: “But you shall not boil a lamb in its mother's milk.” For let not the food of the living animal become a seasoning for the slain one, it says, the flesh; and let not the cause of life become a helper in the consuming of the body. The same law orders that an ox treading out grain not be muzzled; for the worker too must be counted worthy of food. And it forbids yoking an ox and a donkey together to plow the land, perhaps aiming at what is unsuitable between the animals, but at the same time showing that one must not wrong anyone of another nation and bring him under the yoke, when there is nothing to accuse him of except that he is of another race, which is no charge, being neither vice nor arising from vice. But to me the allegory also seems to indicate that one must not share the husbandry of the Word equally with the clean and the unclean, the faithful and the unfaithful; because the one, the ox, is clean, while the donkey has been reckoned among the unclean.

The good Word, lavish in its humanity, teaches that it is not fitting to cut down even what belongs to cultivated trees, nor to crop the ear of grain for mischief before harvest, nor in general to destroy cultivated fruit, whether of the earth or of the soul; for it does not allow even the land of enemies to be ravaged. Indeed farmers too have been helped by the law in this: for it commands that newly planted trees be tended for three years in a row, cutting off the superfluous growths, so that they may not be weighed down and pressed, and may not weaken from lack when their nourishment is divided up; and that they be dug and trenched around, so that nothing sprouting beside them may hinder their growth. And it does not allow the fruit to be picked unripe from unripe trees, but after three years, in the fourth year, consecrating the firstfruits to God after the tree has matured.

This figure of farming would be a way of teaching, teaching that we must cut off the outgrowths of sins and the vain weeds of thought that spring up with the fruitful crop, until the shoot of faith is perfected and made firm. For in the fourth year, since time is needed for the one being instructed to be firmly established, the tetrad of the virtues is consecrated to God, the third stage now joining on to the fourth, the Lord's own reality. “A sacrifice of praise is better than burnt offerings.” “For he,” it says, “gives you strength to do mighty things.” And if matters have been made clear to you, having received and acquired strength in knowledge, do mighty things. For by these words he shows that good things and gifts are supplied by God, and that we, having become ministers of divine grace, must sow God's benefits and make those who come near us noble and good; so that, as far as possible, the self-restrained may make others self-controlled, the courageous make them noble, the prudent make them understanding, and the just make them just.

This is the one who is according to the image and likeness, the one who knows, who imitates God as far as possible, leaving out nothing that leads to the likeness that is attainable: exercising self-control, enduring, living justly, ruling over the passions, sharing what he has as far as he can, doing good both in word and in deed. “He is greatest in the kingdom,” it says, “who does and teaches,” imitating God by giving similar gifts; for the gifts of God are for the common good. “But whoever undertakes to do anything with arrogance provokes God,” it says; for pride is a vice of the soul, and from it, as from the other vices, it commands us to repent, bringing our life from disharmony into harmony for the change to the better through these three: mouth, heart, and hands.

These would be symbols: the hands of action, the heart of counsel, the mouth of speech. Well, then, has that oracle been spoken about those who repent: “You have chosen God today to be your God, and the Lord has chosen you today to become his people.” For God makes his own the one who hastens to serve Him who Is, being a suppliant. And even if he is one in number, he is honored equally with the people; for being part of the people, he helps to complete it, restored to what he was; and the whole is also named from the part. This nobility is shown in choosing and practicing the best things. For what did his great nobility profit Adam? No mortal was his father; for he himself was the father of men who are born. He eagerly chose shameful things, following the woman, and neglected what is true and good; for which he exchanged immortal life for a mortal one, but not forever.

But Noah, who did not become like Adam, was saved by divine oversight; for he offered himself freely to God. And of Abraham, who had children by three women, not for the enjoyment of pleasure but, I think, in the hope of multiplying the race at the beginning, only one succeeded as heir of the father's goods, while the others were settled away from the family. And of the twins born from him, the younger inherits, having become pleasing to his father, and receives the blessings, while the elder serves him; for it is the greatest good for a worthless man not to be his own master. This arrangement is both prophetic and typical. And that all things belong to the wise man he clearly shows, saying: “Because God has had mercy on me, I have all things.” For he teaches that we must long for one thing, through which all things came to be and the promised things are distributed to the worthy.

So the good man who has become an heir of the kingdom is enrolled, through divine wisdom, as a fellow citizen also of the righteous of old, those who lived lawfully under the law and before the law, whose actions have become laws for us. And again, teaching that the wise man is a king, it makes those not of his race say to him, “You are a king from God among us,” since those ruled obey the good man by a willing mind through zeal for virtue. And Plato the philosopher, setting happiness as the goal, says that it is likeness to God as far as possible; whether he in some way met with the doctrine of the law (for great natures, stripped of passions, somehow hit the mark concerning the truth, as the Pythagorean Philo says in expounding the books of Moses), or whether he was taught by certain oracles of that time, being always thirsty for learning. For the law says: “Walk after the Lord your God, and keep my commandments.” For the law calls likeness “following”; and such following makes one like, as far as possible. “Be merciful,” says the Lord, “and compassionate, as your heavenly Father is compassionate.”

From this the Stoics too laid down that the goal is to live consistently with nature, improperly renaming God “nature,” since nature extends to plants, to seeds, to trees, and to stones. Clearly, then, it has been said: “Evil men do not understand the law, but those who love the law put a wall around themselves.” “For the wisdom of the shrewd will recognize its ways, but the folly of fools is in error.” “For on whom shall I look, but on the one who is meek and quiet and trembles at my words?” says the prophecy. We are taught that there are three kinds of friendship. Of these the first and best is that according to virtue; for love that comes from reason is firm. The second and middle is that according to exchange; this is sociable, generous, and useful for life; for friendship from favor is shared. The last and third we call that from habit, while others call it the one according to pleasure, changeable and unstable.

And Hippodamus the Pythagorean seems to me to write very finely: “Of friendships, some come from knowledge of the gods, some from the provision of men, some from the pleasure of animals.” So one is the friendship of a philosopher, another of a man, another of an animal. For truly the man who does good is an image of God, and in doing good he himself receives good; as the helmsman saves and is saved at once. That is why, when someone who asks receives, he does not say to the giver, “You gave well,” but, “You received well.” So the giver receives, and the receiver gives. “The righteous pity and show mercy”; “the kind will inhabit the earth, and the innocent will be left on it; but transgressors will be destroyed from it.” And Homer seems to me to have spoken prophetically of the believer when he said, “Give to a friend.” We must share with a friend, so that he may remain a friend still more; and we must help an enemy, so that he may not remain an enemy; for goodwill is bound by help, and enmity dissolved. But “if there is a ready will, it is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. For it is not that others should have relief and you affliction, but out of equality at the present time,” and so on. “He scattered, he gave to the poor; his righteousness remains forever,” says Scripture. For “according to the image and likeness,” as we said before, does not refer to the body; for it is not lawful for the mortal to be made like the immortal; but to mind and reason, on which the Lord fittingly stamps the likeness both in doing good and in ruling. For governments are directed rightly not by qualities of bodies but by judgments of the mind; “for by the counsels of holy men cities are well governed, and a house too.”