Chapter XII. On the Same, From the Treatise That Every Good Man is Free

[PHILO] [1] ‘ALSO Syria in Palestine, which is occupied by no small part of the very populous nation of the Jews, is not unproductive of honourable virtue.

‘There are said to be some among them named Essenes, in number above four thousand, deriving their name, though not, according to my opinion, in an accurate form of the Greek language, from holiness (ὁσιότητος), because they have devoted themselves above all men to the service of God, not by offering animal sacrifices, but by endeavouring to render their own thoughts holy and reverent.

‘These men, in the first place, dwell in villages, and avoid the cities because of the civilized vices of the citizens, knowing that an incurable contagion arises in the soul from a man’s associates, just as a disease from a pestilential atmosphere.

‘Of these men some benefit themselves and their neighbours by tilling the ground, and some by pursuing any arts that contribute to peace; not laying up treasures of silver and gold, nor acquiring large sections of land from desire of revenues, but procuring only enough for the necessary wants of life.

‘For they alone of nearly all mankind having neither money nor possessions themselves (from set purpose more than from want of good fortune), are considered to be most wealthy, because they judge moderate wants and contentedness to be, as they really are, abundance.

‘Of darts, or javelins, or daggers, or helmet, or breastplate, or shield, you would find no maker among them, nor in short any maker of arms or engines, or any one employed about implements of war: nor yet about things which in times of peace may easily slip into mischievous use: for of commerce, or trade, or ship-owning they do not even dream, abjuring the incentives to covetousness.

‘There is not a single slave among them, but all are free, giving help to each other in turn: and masters they condemn, not only as unjust in outraging equality, but also as impious in destroying the holy law of nature, which like a mother having borne and nourished all alike, made them all genuine brothers, not only in name but in very truth.

‘But this natural kinship has been thrown into disorder by the excessive prosperity of insidious covetousness, which has wrought alienation instead of kindred affection, and hatred instead of friendship.

‘Of philosophy they have left the logical branch to word-catchers, as being unnecessary to the attainment of virtue, and the physical branch to star-gazers, as too high for human nature, except so much of it as is made a study concerning the existence of God and the creation of the universe, but the ethical branch they study very elaborately, under the training of their ancestral laws, the meaning of which it is impossible for the human soul to discern without divine inspiration.

‘These laws they are repeatedly taught both at all other times, and especially on every seventh day. For the seventh day is regarded as holy, and on it they abstain from their other works, and come to their holy places, which are called synagogues, and sit in ranks according to their ages, the young below the elder, and listen attentively in becoming order: and while some one takes and reads their sacred books, another of the most experienced comes forward and expounds all that is not easily intelligible: for most subjects are treated among them by symbols with a zealous imitation of antiquity.

‘So they are taught piety, holiness, justice, economy, statesmanship, and the knowledge of things which are in reality good, or bad. or indifferent; the choice of what is right, and the avoidance of the contrary, by using laws and rules of three kinds, namely the love of God, the love of virtue, and the love of mankind.

‘First then of the love of God thousands of examples are supplied by the constant and uninterrupted purity of their whole course of life, such as their abstinence from oaths, their freedom from falsehood, their belief that the Deity is the cause of all good and of no evil: examples too of their love of virtue, in their freedom from the love of money, of glory, of pleasure, in their continence, their endurance, also their frugality, simplicity, contentedness, their freedom from conceit, their obedience to law, their steadfastness, and all qualities of like character to these: examples also are seen of their love of man in good-will, equality, and community of interests surpassing all description, about which nevertheless it will not be out of season to say a few words.

‘In the first place then no single person has any private house, which is not found to be also common to all. For in addition to their living together in companies, the house is also thrown open to those of the same sect who come from other parts.

‘Next there is one and the same store and expenditure for all: their garments also are common, and so is their food as they have formed themselves into messes. For among no other people could any one find a common use of the same roof, the same mode of life, and the same table, more firmly established in practice, and perhaps with good reason.

‘For whatever they receive as wages after a day’s work, they do not keep as their own, but bring it out in public, and supply the benefit of it in common for all who wish to use it. The sick also are not neglected because they are unable to earn anything, but have ready at hand from the common stock what is needed for their sick-diet, so as to spend with perfect freedom out of that larger abundance.

‘For elders there is reverence and care, such as parents receive from their own children, their old age being cherished by countless hands and thoughts amid all abundance. Such are the hardy athletes of virtue produced by the philosophy which is free from the superfluous pomp of Greek names, and proposes as exercises those praiseworthy actions, from which the freedom that cannot be enslaved derives its support.

‘And of this there is proof, since many tyrants have at various times risen up against our country, who exhibited different natural dispositions and purposes: for some of them, endeavouring to surpass the untamed fierceness of wild beasts, omitted no measures of cruelty, nor ever ceased from slaughtering their subjects in droves, or even, like cooks, tearing them in pieces, limb from limb, while yet alive, until they suffered the same calamities themselves from the justice which keeps watch over human affairs.

‘And others converting their wild excitement and frenzy into another kind of wickedness, contrived an indescribable cruelty, while talking gently, and under the disguise of softer language yet betraying the heavy wrath of their disposition, and fawning like venomous dogs, became the authors of irremediable mischief and left in every city memorials of their own impiety and hatred of mankind in the never-to-be forgotten miseries of the sufferers.

‘But yet none either of those monsters of cruelty or of those masters of guile and treachery was able to lay anything to the charge of the aforesaid society of the Essenes or Saints; but all were overcome by the noble virtue of the men, and behaved towards them as being free and independent by nature, singing the praises of their joint meals and of that fellowship surpassing all description, which is the clearest proof of a perfect and most happy life.’

It may suffice then that the particulars of the philosophic kind of training and public life among the Jews are set forth by these extracts; and our discourse has previously described the other kind of life, which the divine laws ordained for the mass of the whole nation.

After this then what is left, but to prove also that the theological tenets of the moderns are in harmony with the religious beliefs of their forefathers, so that our discussion of this subject also may be rendered complete?

Since therefore the oracles of the inspired Scripture are set forth in the Book preceding this, let us on the present occasion closely examine the thoughts of the wise men among the Jews, that we may learn what qualities the Hebrews have shown both in theology and in excellence of speech. Again therefore we must have recourse to Philo, from his first Book On the Law.