Comment on the
"De vita contemplativa"
Emil Schürer
comments: "Περι βιου θεωρητικου η ικετωον αρετων. De vita
contemplativa (Mangey, ii. 471-486). — Eusebius twice cites the
title in the following form (H. E. ii. 17. 3 and ii. 18. 7): περι
βιου θεωρητικου η ικετων. The αρετων added at the end must therefore
be expunged. Eusebius, H. E. ii. 17, gives full information
concerning the contents, comp. also ii. 16. 2. This composition has,
since the time of Eusebius, enjoyed special approbation in the
Christian Church. Christian monks being almost universally
recognised in the 'Therapeutae' here described.
"This treatise
is except for a few digressions a highly eulogistic account of
an ascetic community known to Philo and settled near Alexandria. The
Therapeutae are differentiated
from the others in that while the Essenes exemplify the
practical they represent the contemplative life. Therapeutae admit women freely to such
communal life as they have. The Essenes of course observe
frugality. The Therapeutae, he argued, are said by the author to
have been found in many places. This kind, he says is found in many parts of the world,
particularly in Egypt, and the best of them find a home in a
certain spot which he proceeds to describe. But when we look
back to find who this kind are it appears that they are
religious enthusiasts who give up their property and family ties. That this type of character existed
in Philo's time we might take for granted even if we did not
have, and it would not be
surprising to find them occasionally organizing themselves into
communities which would not necessarily attract much attention.
Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. ii. 17 discovered in the
Therapeutae a picture of the first Christian converts. After
noting the traditional evangelization of Alexandria by St. Mark,
he declares that no one could possibly doubt that Philo was
referring to the first generation of his converts. In the
renunciation of their property, in their study of the scriptures
including the writings of men of old which are clearly the
gospels and apostolic writings and commentaries on the Old
Testament such as Paul used — in their festal meetings which are a
description of Easter celebrations, and the officials who manage
these meetings in whom we may see bishops, priests and deacons,
no one can possibly fail to see the first Christians." - F. H.
Colson writes (Philo, vol. 9, pp. 104-108)
On the
Contemplative Life or Suppliants
"I. (1) Having
mentioned the Essenes, who in all respects selected for their
admiration and for their especial adoption the practical course of
life, and who excel in all, or what perhaps may be a less unpopular
and invidious thing to say, in most of its parts, I will now
proceed, in the regular order of my subject, to speak of those who
have embraced the speculative life, and I will say what appears to
me to be desirable to be said on the subject, not drawing any
fictitious statements from my own head for the sake of improving the
appearance of that side of the question which nearly all poets and
essayists are much accustomed to do in the scarcity of good actions
to extol, but with the greatest simplicity adhering strictly to the
truth itself, to which I know well that even the most eloquent men
do not keep close in their speeches. Nevertheless we must make the
endeavour and labour to attain to this virtue; for it is not right
that the greatness of the virtue of the men should be a cause of
silence to those who do not think it right that anything which is
creditable should be suppressed in silence; (2) but the deliberate
intention of the philosopher is at once displayed from the
appellation given to them; for with strict regard to etymology, they
are called Therapeutae and Therapeutrides, {1} {from therapeuoµ, "to
heal."} either because they process an art of medicine more
excellent than that in general use in cities (for that only heals
bodies, but the other heals souls which are under the mastery of
terrible and almost incurable diseases, which pleasures and
appetites, fears and griefs, and covetousness, and follies, and
injustice, and all the rest of the innumerable multitude of other
passions and vices, have inflicted upon them), or else because they
have been instructed by nature and the sacred laws to serve the
living God, who is superior to the good, and more simple than the
one, and more ancient than the unit; (3) with whom, however, who is
there of those who profess piety that we can possibly compare? Can
we compare those who honour the elements, earth, water, air, and
fire? to whom different nations have given different names, calling
fire Hephaestus, I imagine because of its kindling, {2}{the Greek is
exapsis, as if eµphaistos were also derived from aptomai, being akin
to apheµ.} and the air Hera, I imagine because of its being raised
up, {3}{the Greek word is hairesthai, to which Heµra has some
similarity in sound.} and raised aloft to a great height, and water
Poseidon, probably because of its being drinkable, {4}{the Greek
word is poton, derived from 3rd sing. perf. pass. of pinoµ pepotai,
from the 2nd sing. of which Peposai, poseidoµn may probably be
derived.} and the earth Demeter, because it appears to be the
Mother{5}{the Greek word is meµteµr, evidently the root of
Deµmeµteµr.} of all plants and of all animals. (4) But these names
are the inventions of sophists: but the elements are inanimate
matter, and immovable by any power of their own, being subjected to
the operator on them to receive from him every kind of shape or
distinctive quality which he chooses to give them. (5) But what
shall we say of those men who worship the perfect things made of
them, the sun, the moon, and the other stars, planets, or
fixed-stars, or the whole heaven, or the universal world? And yet
even they do not owe their existence to themselves, but to some
creator whose knowledge has been most perfect, both in mind and
degree. (6) What, again, shall we say of the demi-gods? This is a
matter which is perfectly ridiculous: for how can the same man be
both mortal and immortal, even if we leave out of the question the
fact that the origin of the birth of all these beings is liable to
reproach, as being full of youthful intemperance, which its authors
endeavour with great profanity to impute to blessed and divine
natures, as if they, being madly in love with mortal women, had
connected themselves with them; while we know gods to be free from
all participation in and from all influence of passion, and
completely happy. (7) Again, what shall we say of those who worship
carved works and images? the substances of which, stone and wood,
were only a little while before perfectly destitute of shape, before
the stone-cutters or wood-cutters hewed them out of the kindred
stuff around them, while the remainder of the material, their near
relation and brother as it were, is made into ewers, or foot-pans,
and other common and dishonoured vessels, which are employed rather
for uses of darkness than for such as will bear the light; (8) for
as for the customs of the Egyptians, it is not creditable even to
mention them, for they have introduced irrational beasts, and those
not merely such as are domestic and tame, but even the most
ferocious of wild beasts to share the honours of the gods, taking
some out of each of the elements beneath the moon, as the lion from
among the animals which live on the earth, the crocodile from among
those which live in the water, the kite from such as traverse the
air, and the Egyptian iris. (9) And though they actually see that
these animals are born, and that they are in need of food, and that
they are insatiable in voracity and full of all sorts of filth, and
moreover poisonous and devourers of men, and liable to be destroyed
by all kinds of diseases, and that in fact they are often destroyed
not only by natural deaths, but also by violence, still they,
civilised men, worship these untameable and ferocious beasts; though
rational men, they worship irrational beasts; though they have a
near relationship to the Deity, they worship creatures unworthy of
being compared even to some of the beasts; though appointed as
rulers and masters, they worship creatures which are by nature
subjects and slaves.
II. (10) But since
these men infect not only their fellow countrymen, but also all that
come near them with folly, let them remain uncovered, being
mutilated in that most indispensable of all the outward senses,
namely, sight. I am speaking here not of the sight of the body, but
of that of the soul, by which alone truth and falsehood are
distinguished from one another. (11) But the therapeutic sect of
mankind, being continually taught to see without interruption, may
well aim at obtaining a sight of the living God, and may pass by the
sun, which is visible to the outward sense, and never leave this
order which conducts to perfect happiness. (12) But they who apply
themselves to this kind of worship, not because they are influenced
to do so by custom, nor by the advice or recommendation of any
particular persons, but because they are carried away by a certain
heavenly love, give way to enthusiasm, behaving like so many
revellers in bacchanalian or corybantian mysteries, until they see
the object which they have been earnestly desiring. (13) Then,
because of their anxious desire for an immortal and blessed
existence, thinking that their mortal life has already come to an
end, they leave their possessions to their sons or daughters, or
perhaps to other relations, giving them up their inheritance with
willing cheerfulness; and those who know no relations give their
property to their companions or friends, for it followed of
necessity that those who have acquired the wealth which sees, as if
ready prepared for them, should be willing to surrender that wealth
which is blind to those who themselves also are still blind in their
minds. (14) The Greeks celebrate Anaxagoras and Democritus, because
they, being smitten with a desire for philosophy, allowed all their
estates to be devoured by cattle. I myself admire the men who thus
showed themselves superior to the attractions of money; but how much
better were those who have not permitted cattle to devour their
possessions, but have supplied the necessities of mankind, of their
own relations and friends, and have made them rich though they were
poor before? For surely that was inconsiderate conduct (that I may
avoid saying that any action of men whom Greece has agreed to admire
was a piece of insanity); but this is the act of sober men, and one
which has been carefully elaborated by exceeding prudence. (15) For
what more can enemies do than ravage, and destroy, and cut down all
the trees in the country of their antagonists, that they may be
forced to submit by reason of the extent to which they are oppressed
by want of necessaries? And yet Democritus did this to his own blood
relations, inflicting artificial want and penury upon them, not
perhaps from any hostile intention towards them, but because he did
not foresee and provide for what was advantageous to others. (16)
How much better and more admirable are they who, without having any
inferior eagerness for the attainment of philosophy, have
nevertheless preferred magnanimity to carelessness, and, giving
presents from their possessions instead of destroying them, so as to
be able to benefit others and themselves also, have made others
happy by imparting to them of the abundance of their wealth, and
themselves by the study of philosophy? For an undue care for money
and wealth causes great waste of time, and it is proper to economise
time, since, according to the saying of the celebrated physician
Hippocrates, life is short but art long. (17) And this is what Homer
appears to me to imply figuratively in the Iliad, at the beginning
of the thirteenth book, by the following lines, -
"The Mysian close-fighting bands,
And dwellers on the Scythian lands, Content to seek their humble
fare From milk of cow and milk of mare, The justest of
Mankind."{6}{il. 13.5.}
As if great anxiety
concerning the means of subsistence and the acquisition of money
engendered injustice by reason of the inequality which it produced,
while the contrary disposition and pursuit produced justice by
reason of its equality, according to which it is that the wealth of
nature is defined, and is superior to that which exists only in vain
opinion. (18) When, therefore, men abandon their property without
being influenced by any predominant attraction, they flee without
even turning their heads back again, deserting their brethren, their
children, their wives, their parents, their numerous families, their
affectionate bands of companions, their native lands in which they
have been born and brought up, though long familiarity is a most
attractive bond, and one very well able to allure any one. (19) And
they depart, not to another city as those do who entreat to be
purchased from those who at present possess them, being either
unfortunate or else worthless servants, and as such seeking a change
of masters rather than endeavouring to procure freedom (for every
city, even that which is under the happiest laws, is full of
indescribable tumults, and disorders, and calamities, which no one
would submit to who had been even for a moment under the influence
of wisdom), (20) but they take up their abode outside of walls, or
gardens, or solitary lands, seeking for a desert place, not because
of any ill-natured misanthropy to which they have learnt to devote
themselves, but because of the associations with people of wholly
dissimilar dispositions to which they would otherwise be compelled,
and which they know to be unprofitable and mischievous.
III. (21) Now this
class of persons may be met with in many places, for it was fitting
that both Greece and the country of the barbarians should partake of
whatever is perfectly good; and there is the greatest number of such
men in Egypt, in every one of the districts, or nomi as they are
called, and especially around Alexandria; (22) and from all quarters
those who are the best of these Therapeutae proceed on their
pilgrimage to some most suitable place as if it were their country,
which is beyond the Mareotic lake, lying in a somewhat level plain a
little raised above the rest, being suitable for their purpose by
reason of its safety and also of the fine temperature of the air.
(23) For the houses built in the fields and the villages which
surround it on all sides give it safety; and the admirable
temperature of the air proceeds from the continual breezes which
come from the lake which falls into the sea, and also from the sea
itself in the neighbourhood, the breezes from the sea being light,
and those which proceed from the lake which falls into the sea being
heavy, the mixture of which produces a most healthy atmosphere. (24)
But the houses of these men thus congregated together are very
plain, just giving shelter in respect of the two things most
important to be provided against, the heat of the sun, and the cold
from the open air; and they did not live near to one another as men
do in cities, for immediate neighbourhood to others would be a
troublesome and unpleasant thing to men who have conceived an
admiration for, and have determined to devote themselves to,
solitude; and, on the other hand, they did not live very far from
one another on account of the fellowship which they desire to
cultivate, and because of the desirableness of being able to assist
one another if they should be attacked by robbers. (25) And in every
house there is a sacred shrine which is called the holy place, and
the monastery in which they retire by themselves and perform all the
mysteries of a holy life, bringing in nothing, neither meat, nor
drink, nor anything else which is indispensable towards supplying
the necessities of the body, but studying in that place the laws and
the sacred oracles of God enunciated by the holy prophets, and
hymns, and psalms, and all kinds of other things by reason of which
knowledge and piety are increased and brought to perfection. (26)
Therefore they always retain an imperishable recollection of God, so
that not even in their dreams is any other object ever presented to
their eyes except the beauty of the divine virtues and of the divine
powers. Therefore many persons speak in their sleep, divulging and
publishing the celebrated doctrines of the sacred philosophy. (27)
And they are accustomed to pray twice every day, at morning and at
evening; when the sun is rising entreating God that the happiness of
the coming day may be real happiness, so that their minds may be
filled with heavenly light, and when the sun is setting they pray
that their soul, being entirely lightened and relieved of the burden
of the outward senses, and of the appropriate object of these
outward senses, may be able to trace out truth existing in its own
consistory and council chamber. (28) And the interval between
morning and evening is by them devoted wholly to meditation on and
to practice of virtue, for they take up the sacred scriptures and
philosophise concerning them, investigating the allegories of their
national philosophy, since they look upon their literal expressions
as symbols of some secret meaning of nature, intended to be conveyed
in those figurative expressions. (29) They have also writings of
ancient men, who having been the founders of one sect or another
have left behind them many memorials of the allegorical system of
writing and explanation, whom they take as a kind of model, and
imitate the general fashion of their sect; so that they do not
occupy themselves solely in contemplation, but they likewise compose
psalms and hymns to God in every kind of metre and melody
imaginable, which they of necessity arrange in more dignified
rhythm. (30) Therefore, during six days, each of these individuals,
retiring into solitude by himself, philosophises by himself in one
of the places called monasteries, never going outside the threshold
of the outer court, and indeed never even looking out. But on the
seventh day they all come together as if to meet in a sacred
assembly, and they sit down in order according to their ages with
all becoming gravity, keeping their hands inside their garments,
having their right hand between their chest and their dress, and the
left hand down by their side, close to their flank; (31) and then
the eldest of them who has the most profound learning in their
doctrines, comes forward and speaks with steadfast look and with
steadfast voice, with great powers of reasoning, and great prudence,
not making an exhibition of his oratorical powers like the
rhetoricians of old, or the sophists of the present day, but
investigating with great pains, and explaining with minute accuracy
the precise meaning of the laws, which sits, not indeed at the tips
of their ears, but penetrates through their hearing into the soul,
and remains there lastingly; and all the rest listen in silence to
the praises which he bestows upon the law, showing their assent only
by nods of the head, or the eager look of the eyes. (32) And this
common holy place to which they all come together on the seventh day
is a twofold circuit, being separated partly into the apartment of
the men, and partly into a chamber for the women, for women also, in
accordance with the usual fashion there, form a part of the
audience, having the same feelings of admiration as the men, and
having adopted the same sect with equal deliberation and decision;
(33) and the wall which is between the houses rises from the ground
three or four cubits upwards, like a battlement, and the upper
portion rises upwards to the roof without any opening, on two
accounts; first of all, in order that the modesty which is so
becoming to the female sex may be preserved, and secondly, that the
women may be easily able to comprehend what is said being seated
within earshot, since there is then nothing which can possibly
intercept the voice of him who is speaking.
IV. (34) And these
expounders of the law, having first of all laid down temperance as a
sort of foundation for the soul to rest upon, proceed to build up
other virtues on this foundation, and no one of them may take any
meat or drink before the setting of the sun, since they judge that
the work of philosophising is one which is worthy of the light, but
that the care for the necessities of the body is suitable only to
darkness, on which account they appropriate the day to the one
occupation, and a brief portion of the night to the other; (35) and
some men, in whom there is implanted a more fervent desire of
knowledge, can endure to cherish a recollection of their food for
three days without even tasting it, and some men are so delighted,
and enjoy themselves so exceedingly when regaled by wisdom which
supplies them with her doctrines in all possible wealth and
abundance, that they can even hold out twice as great a length of
time, and will scarcely at the end of six days taste even necessary
food, being accustomed, as they say that grasshoppers are, to feed
on air, their song, as I imagine, making their scarcity tolerable to
them. (36) And they, looking upon the seventh day as one of perfect
holiness and a most complete festival, have thought it worthy of a
most especial honour, and on it, after taking due care of their
soul, they tend their bodies also, giving them, just as they do to
their cattle, a complete rest from their continual labours; (37) and
they eat nothing of a costly character, but plain bread and a
seasoning of salt, which the more luxurious of them to further
season with hyssop; and their drink is water from the spring; for
they oppose those feelings which nature has made mistresses of the
human race, namely, hunger and thirst, giving them nothing to
flatter or humour them, but only such useful things as it is not
possible to exist without. On this account they eat only so far as
not to be hungry, and they drink just enough to escape from thirst,
avoiding all satiety, as an enemy of and a plotter against both soul
and body. (38) And there are two kinds of covering, one raiment and
the other a house: we have already spoken of their houses, that they
are not decorated with any ornaments, but run up in a hurry, being
only made to answer such purposes as are absolutely necessary; and
in like manner their raiment is of the most ordinary description,
just stout enough to ward off cold and heat, being a cloak of some
shaggy hide for winter, and a thin mantle or linen shawl in the
summer; (39) for in short they practise entire simplicity, looking
upon falsehood as the foundation of pride, but truth as the origin
of simplicity, and upon truth and falsehood as standing in the light
of fountains, for from falsehood proceeds every variety of evil and
wickedness, and from truth there flows every imaginable abundance of
good things both human and divine.
V. (40) I wish also
to speak of their common assemblies, and their very cheerful
meetings at convivial parties, setting them in opposition and
contrast to the banquets of others, for others, when they drink
strong wine, as if they had been drinking not wine but some
agitating and maddening kind of liquor, or even the most formidable
thing which can be imagined for driving a man out of his natural
reason, rage about and tear things to pieces like so many ferocious
dogs, and rise up and attack one another, biting and gnawing each
other's noses, and ears, and fingers, and other parts of their body,
so as to give an accurate representation of the story related about
the Cyclops and the companions of Ulysses, who ate, as the poet
says, fragments of human flesh, {7}{odyssey 9:355.} and that more
savagely than even he himself; (41) for he was only avenging himself
on those whom he conceived to be his enemies, but they were
ill-treating their companions and friends, and sometimes even their
actual relations, while having the salt and dinner-table before
them, at a time of peace perpetrating actions inconsistent with
peace, like those which are done by men in gymnastic contests,
debasing the proper exercises of the body as coiners debase good
money, and instead of athletes (athleµtai) becoming miserable men (athlioi),
for that is the name which properly belongs to them. (42) For that
which those men who gain victories in the Olympic games, when
perfectly sober in the arena, and having all the Greeks for
spectators do by day, exerting all their skill for the purpose of
gaining victory and the crown, these men with base designs do at
convivial entertainments, getting drunk by night, in the hour of
darkness, when soaked in wine, acting without either knowledge, or
art, or skill, to the insult, and injury, and great disgrace of
those who are subjected to their violence. (43) And if no one were
to come like an umpire into the middle of them, and part the
combatants, and reconcile them, they would continue the contest with
unlimited licence, striving to kill and murder one another, and
being killed and murdered on the spot; for they do not suffer less
than they inflict, though out of the delirious state into which they
have worked themselves they do not feel what is done to them, since
they have filled themselves with wine, not, as the comic poet says,
to the injury of their neighbour, but to their own. (44) Therefore
those persons who a little while before came safe and sound to the
banquet, and in friendship for one another, do presently afterwards
depart in hostility and mutilated in their bodies. And some of these
men stand in need of advocates and judges, and others require
surgeons and physicians, and the help which may be received from
them. (45) Others again who seem to be a more moderate kind of
feasters when they have drunk unmixed wine as if it were mandragora,
boil over as it were, and lean on their left elbow, and turn their
heads on one side with their breath redolent of their wine, till at
last they sink into profound slumber, neither seeing nor hearing
anything, as if they had but one single sense, and that the most
slavish of all, namely, taste. (46) And I know some persons who,
when they are completely filled with wine, before they are wholly
overpowered by it, begin to prepare a drinking party for the next
day by a kind of subscription and picnic contribution, conceiving a
great part of their present delight to consist in the hope of future
drunkenness; (47) and in this manner they exist to the very end of
their lives, without a house and without a home, the enemies of
their parents, and of their wives, and of their children, and the
enemies of their country, and the worst enemies of all to
themselves. For a debauched and profligate life is apt to lay snares
for every one.
VI. (48) And
perhaps some people may be inclined to approve of the arrangement of
such entertainments which at present prevails everywhere, from an
admiration of, and a desire of imitating, the luxury and
extravagance of the Italians which both Greeks and barbarians
emulate, making all their preparations with a view to show rather
than to real enjoyment, (49) for they use couches called triclinia,
and sofas all round the table made of tortoiseshell, and ivory, and
other costly materials, most of which are inlaid with precious
stones; and coverlets of purple embroidered with gold and silver
thread; and others brocaded in flowers of every kind of hue and
colour imaginable to allure the sight, and a vast array of drinking
cups arrayed according to each separate description; for there are
bowls, and vases, and beakers, and goblets, and all kinds of other
vessels wrought with the most exquisite skill, their clean cups and
others finished with the most elaborate refinement of skilful and
ingenious men; (50) and well-shaped slaves of the most exquisite
beauty, ministering, as if they had come not more for the purpose of
serving the guests than of delighting the eyes of the spectators by
their mere appearance. Of these slaves, some, being still boys, pour
out the wine; and others more fully grown pour water, being
carefully washed and rubbed down, with their faces anointed and
pencilled, and the hair of their heads admirably plaited and curled
and wreathed in delicate knots; (51) for they have very long hair,
being either completely unshorn, or else having only the hair on
their foreheads cut at the end so as to make them of an equal length
all round, being accurately sloped away so as to represent a
circular line, and being clothed in tunics of the most delicate
texture, and of the purest white, reaching in front down to the
lower part of the knee, and behind to a little below the calf of the
leg, and drawing up each side with a gentle doubling of the fringe
at the joinings of the tunics, raising undulations of the garment as
it were at the sides, and widening them at the hollow part of the
side. (52) Others, again, are young men just beginning to show a
beard on their youthful chins, having been, for a short time, the
sport of the profligate debauchees, and being prepared with
exceeding care and diligence for more painful services; being a kind
of exhibition of the excessive opulence of the giver of the feast,
or rather, to say the truth, of their thorough ignorance of all
propriety, as those who are acquainted with them well know. (53)
Besides all these things, there is an infinite variety of
sweetmeats, and delicacies, and confections, about which bakers and
cooks and confectioners labour, considering not the taste, which is
the point of real importance, so as to make the food palatable to
that, but also the sight, so as to allure that by the delicacy of
the look of their viands, {8}{the remainder of this section
originally appeared in section 55. The material has been reordered
to reflect the Loeb sequence.} they turn their heads round in every
direction, scanning everything with their eyes and with their
nostrils, examining the richness and the number of the dishes with
the first, and the steam which is sent up by them with the second.
Then, when they are thoroughly sated both with the sight and with
the scent, these senses again prompt their owners to eat, praising
in no moderate terms both the entertainment itself and the giver of
it, for its costliness and magnificence. (54) Accordingly, seven
tables, and often more, are brought in, full of every kind of
delicacy which earth, and sea, and rivers, and air produce, all
procured with great pains, and in high condition, composed of
terrestrial, and acquatic, and flying creatures, every one of which
is different both in its mode of dressing and in its seasoning. And
that no description of thing existing in nature may be omitted, at
the last dishes are brought in full of fruits, besides those which
are kept back for the more luxurious portion of the entertainment,
and for what is called the dessert; (55) and afterwards some of the
dishes are carried away empty from the insatiable greediness of
those at table, who, gorging themselves like cormorants, devour all
the delicacies so completely that they gnaw even the bones, which
some left half devoured after all that they contained has been torn
to pieces and spoiled. And when they are completely tired with
eating, having their bellies filled up to their very throats, but
their desires still unsatisfied, being fatigued with eating. (56)
However, why need I dwell with prolixity on these matters, which are
already condemned by the generality of more moderate men as
inflaming the passions, the diminution of which is desirable? For
any one in his senses would pray for the most unfortunate of all
states, hunger and thirst, rather than for a most unlimited
abundance of meat and drink at such banquets as these.
VII. (57) Now of
the banquets among the Greeks the two most celebrated and most
remarkable are those at which Socrates also was present, the one in
the house of Callias, when, after Autolycus had gained the crown of
victory, he gave a feast in honour of the event, and the other in
the house of Agathon, which was thought worthy of being commemorated
by men who were imbued with the true spirit of philosophy both in
their dispositions and in their discourses, Plato and Xenophon, for
they recorded them as events worthy to be had in perpetual
recollection, looking upon it that future generations would take
them as models for a well managed arrangement of future banquets;
(58) but nevertheless even these, if compared with the banquets of
the men of our time who have embraced the contemplative system of
life, will appear ridiculous. Each description, indeed, has its own
pleasures, but the recorded by Xenophon is the one the delights of
which are most in accordance with human nature, for female
harp-players, and dancers, and conjurors, and jugglers, and men who
do ridiculous things, who pride themselves much on their powers of
jesting and of amusing others, and many other species of more
cheerful relaxation, are brought forward at it. (59) But the
entertainment recorded by Plato is almost entirely connected with
love; not that of men madly desirous or fond of women, or of women
furiously in love with men, for these desires are accomplished in
accordance with a law of nature, but with that love which is felt by
men for one another, differing only in respect of age; for if there
is anything in the account of that banquet elegantly said in praise
of genuine love and heavenly Venus, it is introduced merely for the
sake of making a neat speech; (60) for the greater part of the book
is occupied by common, vulgar, promiscuous love, which takes away
from the soul courage, that which is the most serviceable of all
virtues both in war and in peace, and which engenders in it instead
the female disease, and renders men men-women, though they ought
rather to be carefully trained in all the practices likely to give
men valour. (61) And having corrupted the age of boys, and having
metamorphosed them and removed them into the classification and
character of women, it has injured their lovers also in the most
important particulars, their bodies, their souls, and their
properties; for it follows of necessity that the mind of a lover of
boys must be kept on the stretch towards the objects of his
affection, and must have no acuteness of vision for any other
object, but must be blinded by its desire as to all other objects
private or common, and must so be wasted away, more especially if it
fails in its objects. Moreover, the man's property must be
diminished on two accounts, both from the owner's neglect and from
his expenses for the beloved object. (62) There is also another
greater evil which affects the whole people, and which grows up
alongside of the other, for men who give into such passions produce
solitude in cities, and a scarcity of the best kind of men, and
barrenness, and unproductiveness, inasmuch as they are imitating
those farmers who are unskilful in agriculture, and who, instead of
the deep-soiled champaign country, sow briny marshes, or stony and
rugged districts, which are not calculated to produce crops of any
kind, and which only destroy the seed which is put into them. (63) I
pass over in silence the different fabulous fictions, and the
stories of persons with two bodies, who having originally been stuck
to one another by amatory influences, are subsequently separated
like portions which have been brought together and are disjoined
again, the harmony having been dissolved by which they were held
together; for all these things are very attractive, being able by
novelty of their imagination to allure the ears, but they are
despised by the disciples of Moses, who in the abundance of their
wisdom have learnt from their earliest infancy to love truth, and
also continue to the end of their lives impossible to be deceived.
VIII. (64) But
since the entertainments of the greatest celebrity are full of such
trifling and folly, bearing conviction in themselves, if any one
should think fit not to regard vague opinion and the character which
has been commonly handed down concerning them as feasts which have
gone off with the most eminent success, I will oppose to them the
entertainments of those persons who have devoted their whole life
and themselves to the knowledge and contemplation of the affairs of
nature in accordance with the most sacred admonitions and precepts
of the prophet Moses. (65) In the first place, these men assemble at
the end of seven weeks, venerating not only the simple week of seven
days, but also its multiplied power, for they know it to be pure and
always virgin; and it is a prelude and a kind of forefeast of the
greatest feast, which is assigned to the number fifty, the most holy
and natural of numbers, being compounded of the power of the
right-angled triangle, which is the principle of the origination and
condition of the whole. (66) Therefore when they come together
clothed in white garments, and joyful with the most exceeding
gravity, when some one of the ephemereutae (for that is the
appellation which they are accustomed to give to those who are
employed in such ministrations), before they sit down to meat
standing in order in a row, and raising their eyes and their hands
to heaven, the one because they have learnt to fix their attention
on what is worthy looking at, and the other because they are free
from the reproach of all impure gain, being never polluted under any
pretence whatever by any description of criminality which can arise
from any means taken to procure advantage, they pray to God that the
entertainment may be acceptable, and welcome, and pleasing; (67) and
after having offered up these prayers the elders sit down to meat,
still observing the order in which they were previously arranged,
for they do not look on those as elders who are advanced in years
and very ancient, but in some cases they esteem those as very young
men, if they have attached themselves to this sect only lately, but
those whom they call elders are those who from their earliest
infancy have grown up and arrived at maturity in the speculative
portion of philosophy, which is the most beautiful and most divine
part of it. (68) And the women also share in this feast, the greater
part of whom, though old, are virgins in respect of their purity
(not indeed through necessity, as some of the priestesses among the
Greeks are, who have been compelled to preserve their chastity more
than they would have done of their own accord), but out of an
admiration for and love of wisdom, with which they are desirous to
pass their lives, on account of which they are indifferent to the
pleasures of the body, desiring not a mortal but an immortal
offspring, which the soul that is attached to God is alone able to
produce by itself and from itself, the Father having sown in it rays
of light appreciable only by the intellect, by means of which it
will be able to perceive the doctrines of wisdom.
IX. (69) And the
order in which they sit down to meat is a divided one, the men
sitting on the right hand and the women apart from them on the left;
and in case any one by chance suspects that cushions, if not very
costly ones, still at all events of a tolerably soft substance, are
prepared for men who are well born and well bred, and contemplators
of philosophy, he must know that they have nothing but rugs of the
coarsest materials, cheap mats of the most ordinary kind of the
papyrus of the land, piled up on the ground and projecting a little
near the elbow, so that the feasters may lean upon them, for they
relax in a slight degree the Lacedaemonian rigour of life, and at
all times and in all places they practise a liberal, gentlemanlike
kind of frugality, hating the allurements of pleasure with all their
might. (70) And they do not use the ministrations of slaves, looking
upon the possession of servants of slaves to be a thing absolutely
and wholly contrary to nature, for nature has created all men free,
but the injustice and covetousness of some men who prefer
inequality, that cause of all evil, having subdued some, has given
to the more powerful authority over those who are weaker. (71)
Accordingly in this sacred entertainment there is, as I have said,
no slave, but free men minister to the guests, performing the
offices of servants, not under compulsion, nor in obedience to any
imperious commands, but of their own voluntary free will, with all
eagerness and promptitude anticipating all orders, (72) for they are
not any chance free men who are appointed to perform these duties,
but young men who are selected from their order with all possible
care on account of their excellence, acting as virtuous and wellborn
youths ought to act who are eager to attain to the perfection of
virtue, and who, like legitimate sons, with affectionate rivalry
minister to their fathers and mothers, thinking their common parents
more closely connected with them than those who are related by
blood, since in truth to men of right principles there is nothing
more nearly akin than virtue; and they come in to perform their
service ungirdled, and with their tunics let down, in order that
nothing which bears any resemblance to a slavish appearance may be
introduced into this festival. (73) I know well that some persons
will laugh when they hear this, but they who laugh will be those who
do things worthy of weeping and lamentation. And in those days wine
is not introduced, but only the clearest water; cold water for the
generality, and hot water for those old men who are accustomed to a
luxurious life. And the table, too, bears nothing which has blood,
but there is placed upon it bread for food and salt for seasoning,
to which also hyssop is sometimes added as an extra sauce for the
sake of those who are delicate in their eating, for just as right
reason commands the priest to offer up sober sacrifices, (74) so
also these men are commanded to live sober lives, for wine is the
medicine of folly, and costly seasonings and sauces excite desire,
which is the most insatiable of all beasts.
X. (75) These,
then, are the first circumstances of the feast; but after the guests
have sat down to the table in the order which I have been
describing, and when those who minister to them are all standing
around in order, ready to wait upon them, and when there is nothing
to drink, some one will say ... but even more so than before, so
that no one ventures to mutter, or even to breathe at all hard, and
then some one looks out some passage in the sacred scriptures, or
explains some difficulty which is proposed by some one else, without
any thoughts of display on his own part, for he is not aiming at
reputation for cleverness and eloquence, but is only desirous to see
some points more accurately, and is content when he has thus seen
them himself not to bear ill will to others, who, even if they did
not perceive the truth with equal acuteness, have at all events an
equal desire of learning. (76) And he, indeed, follows a slower
method of instruction, dwelling on and lingering over his
explanations with repetitions, in order to imprint his conceptions
deep in the minds of his hearers, for as the understanding of his
hearers is not able to keep up with the interpretation of one who
goes on fluently, without stopping to take breath, it gets
behind-hand, and fails to comprehend what is said; (77) but the
hearers, fixing their eyes and attention upon the speaker, remain in
one and the same position listening attentively, indicating their
attention and comprehension by their nods and looks, and the praise
which they are inclined to bestow on the speaker by the cheerfulness
and gentle manner in which they follow him with their eyes and with
the fore-finger of the right hand. And the young men who are
standing around attend to this explanation no less than the guests
themselves who are sitting at meat. (78) And these explanations of
the sacred scriptures are delivered by mystic expressions in
allegories, for the whole of the law appears to these men to
resemble a living animal, and its express commandments seem to be
the body, and the invisible meaning concealed under and lying
beneath the plain words resembles the soul, in which the rational
soul begins most excellently to contemplate what belongs to itself,
as in a mirror, beholding in these very words the exceeding beauty
of the sentiments, and unfolding and explaining the symbols, and
bringing the secret meaning naked to the light to all who are able
by the light of a slight intimation to perceive what is unseen by
what is visible. (79) When, therefore, the president appears to have
spoken at sufficient length, and to have carried out his intentions
adequately, so that his explanation has gone on felicitously and
fluently through his own acuteness, and the hearing of the others
has been profitable, applause arises from them all as of men
rejoicing together at what they have seen and heard; (80) and then
some one rising up sings a hymn which has been made in honour of
God, either such as he has composed himself, or some ancient one of
some old poet, for they have left behind them many poems and songs
in trimetre iambics, and in psalms of thanksgiving and in hymns, and
songs at the time of libation, and at the altar, and in regular
order, and in choruses, admirably measured out in various and well
diversified strophes. And after him then others also arise in their
ranks, in becoming order, while every one else listens in decent
silence, except when it is proper for them to take up the burden of
the song, and to join in at the end; for then they all, both men and
women, join in the hymn. (81) And when each individual has finished
his psalm, then the young men bring in the table which was mentioned
a little while ago, on which was placed that most holy food, the
leavened bread, with a seasoning of salt, with which hyssop is
mingled, out of reverence for the sacred table, which lies thus in
the holy outer temple; for on this table are placed loaves and salt
without seasoning, and the bread is unleavened, and the salt unmixed
with anything else, (82) for it was becoming that the simplest and
purest things should be allotted to the most excellent portion of
the priests, as a reward for their ministrations, and that the
others should admire similar things, but should abstain from the
loaves, in order that those who are the more excellent person may
have the precedence.
XI. (83) And after
the feast they celebrate the sacred festival during the whole night;
and this nocturnal festival is celebrated in the following manner:
they all stand up together, and in the middle of the entertainment
two choruses are formed at first, the one of men and the other of
women, and for each chorus there is a leader and chief selected, who
is the most honourable and most excellent of the band. (84) Then
they sing hymns which have been composed in honour of God in many
metres and tunes, at one time all singing together, and at another
moving their hands and dancing in corresponding harmony, and
uttering in an inspired manner songs of thanksgiving, and at another
time regular odes, and performing all necessary strophes and
antistrophes. (85) Then, when each chorus of the men and each chorus
of the women has feasted separately by itself, like persons in the
bacchanalian revels, drinking the pure wine of the love of God, they
join together, and the two become one chorus, an imitation of that
one which, in old time, was established by the Red Sea, on account
of the wondrous works which were displayed there; (86) for, by the
commandment of God, the sea became to one party the cause of safety,
and to the other that of utter destruction; for it being burst
asunder, and dragged back by a violent reflux, and being built up on
each side as if there were a solid wall, the space in the midst was
widened, and cut into a level and dry road, along which the people
passed over to the opposite land, being conducted onwards to higher
ground; then, when the sea returned and ran back to its former
channel, and was poured out from both sides, on what had just before
been dry ground, those of the enemy who pursued were overwhelmed and
perished. (87) When the Israelites saw and experienced this great
miracle, which was an event beyond all description, beyond all
imagination, and beyond all hope, both men and women together, under
the influence of divine inspiration, becoming all one chorus, sang
hymns of thanksgiving to God the Saviour, Moses the prophet leading
the men, and Miriam the prophetess leading the women. (88) Now the
chorus of male and female worshippers being formed, as far as
possible on this model, makes a most humorous concert, and a truly
musical symphony, the shrill voices of the women mingling with the
deep-toned voices of the men. The ideas were beautiful, the
expressions beautiful, and the chorus-singers were beautiful; and
the end of ideas, and expressions, and chorussingers, was piety;
(89) therefore, being intoxicated all night till the morning with
this beautiful intoxication, without feeling their heads heavy or
closing their eyes for sleep, but being even more awake than when
they came to the feast, as to their eyes and their whole bodies, and
standing there till morning, when they saw the sun rising they
raised their hands to heaven, imploring tranquillity and truth, and
acuteness of understanding. And after their prayers they each
retired to their own separate abodes, with the intention of again
practising the usual philosophy to which they had been wont to
devote themselves. (90) This then is what I have to say of those who
are called Therapeutae, who have devoted themselves to the
contemplation of nature, and who have lived in it and in the soul
alone, being citizens of heaven and of the world, and very
acceptable to the Father and Creator of the universe because of
their virtue, which has procured them his love as their most
appropriate reward, which far surpasses all the gifts of fortune,
and conducts them to the very summit and perfection of happiness." -
Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE – 50 CE) in "De Vita Contemplativa".
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