ON
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE OR SUPPLIANTS
by
C.D. Yonge
London, H. G. Bohn, 1854-1890.
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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.
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