---
title: "Allegorical Interpretation — Books I–III"
author: "Philo of Alexandria"
translator: "C. D. Yonge"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Second Temple"
section: 30 of 37
url: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg002-yonge-ogl/30/
cite: "Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge, Allegorical Interpretation — Books I–III, section 30. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg002-yonge-ogl/30/"
---

# Allegorical Interpretation — Books I–III

*Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge*

## 30. Section 3.157

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg002-yonge-ogl/30/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg002-yonge-ogl/30/#p-N

[¶0] Thou shalt be armed, Moses therefore says, with a peg.Deuteronomy xxiii. 12. That is to say, you, by the aid of reason, shall lay bare the nature which each of the separate passions has, eating, and drinking, and indulging in the pleasures of the belly, and you shall distinguish between them, that when you have so distinguished you may know the truth. For then you shall know that there is no good in any of these things, but only what is necessary and useful.

### Section 3.158

[¶2] And bringing it over, you shall cover what is indecorous,Deuteronomy xxiii. 14. speaking very appropriately. For come to me, O my soul, bring reason to everything by which all unseemliness of flesh and of passion is concealed, and overshadowed and hidden. For all the things which are not in combination with reason are disgraceful, just as those which are done in union with reason are seemly.

### Section 3.159

[¶4] Therefore the man who is devoted to pleasure goes on his belly, but the perfect man washes his whole belly, and he who is only advancing towards perfection washes the things in his belly. But he who is now beginning to be instructed proceeds out of doors when he is intent upon curbing the passions of the belly by bringing reason to work upon the necessities of the belly, and reason is called symbolically a peg.

### Section 3.160

[¶6] Moses therefore does well when he adds, Thou shalt go upon thy breast and upon thy belly.Genesis iii. 14. For pleasure is not one of the things which is tranquil and steady, but is rather a thing which is in constant motion and full of confusion, for as flame is excited by being moved, so passion when it is put in motion in the soul, being in some respects like a flame, does not suffer it to rest. On which account he does not agree with those who pronounce pleasure a stable feeling, for tranquillity is connected with stones and trees, and all kinds of inanimate things, but is quite inconsistent with pleasure; for it is fond of tickling and convulsive agitation, and with regard to some of its indulgences it has not need of tranquillity but of an intense and violent unseemliness of commotion.

### Section 3.161

[¶8] But the expression, And dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life, is also used with great propriety. For the pleasures which are derived from the food of the body are all earthly. And may we not reasonably speak thus? There are two several parts of which we consist, the soul and the body; now the body is made of earth, but the soul consists of air, being a fragment of the Divinity, for God breathed into man’s face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.Genesis ii. 7. It is therefore quite consistent with reason to say that the body which was fashioned out of the earth has nourishment which the earth gives forth akin to the matter of which it is composed; but the soul, inasmuch as it is a portion of the ethereal nature, is supported by nourishment which is ethereal and divine, for it it is nourished on knowledge, and not on meat or drink, which the body requires.

### Section 3.162

[¶10] But that the food of the soul is not earthly but heavenly the Holy Scriptures will testify in many passages, Behold I will rain upon you bread from heaven, and the people shall come forth, and shall collect from day to day, when I will try them, whether they will walk according to my law or not.Exodus xvi. 4. You see that the soul is nourished not on earthly and corruptible food, but on the reasons which God rains down out of his sublime and pure nature, which he calls heaven.

### Section 3.163

[¶12] Let the people indeed go forth and the whole system of the soul likewise, and let it collect science and begin knowledge, not in large quantities but from day to day. For, in the first place, in that way it will not exhaust all at once the abundant riches of the grace of God: but it will overflow like a torrent with their superfluity. Secondly, it will happen that when they have taken such good things as are sufficient for them and duly measured, they will think God the dispenser of the rest.

### Section 3.164

[¶14] But he who endeavours to collect everything at once is only acquiring for himself despair with great sorrow,It seems that for ἀνίας, sorrow, we ought rather to read ἀπιστίας, infidelity, as it is ἄπιστος which is afterwards joined with δύσελπις. for he becomes full of despair if he expects that God will only rain good things upon him at the present moment, and that he will not do so hereafter. And he becomes inclined to infidelity if he does not believe that the graces of God will be both at present and in all time abundantly poured upon those who are worthy of them. And he is foolish, moreover, if he thinks that he shall be a competent • guardian of what he has collected contrary to God’s will. For a very slight inclination is sufficient to make the mind, which in its boastfulness attributes safety and stability to itself, an impotent and unsure keeper of those things of which it fancied itself a safe guardian.

### Section 3.165

[¶16] Collect therefore, O my soul, what is sufficient and proper, and in such a quantity as shall neither exceed by being more than is sufficient, nor fall short by being less than what is requisite: that so, using just measures you may not be led into the commission of injustice. For while meditating on the migration from the passions and sacrificing the passover you ought to take the advance towards perfection, that is to say the sheep, in a moderate spirit. For each person of you, says Moses, shall take a sheep, such as shall be sufficient for him according to the number of his house.Exodus xii. 4.

### Section 3.166

[¶18] And in the case of the manna therefore, and of every gift which God gives to the race of mankind, the principle being guided by numbering and by measure, and of not taking what is more than is necessary for us, is good; for the opposite conduct is covetousness. Let therefore one soul collect what is sufficient for it from day to day,Exodus xii. 4. that it may show that it is not itself which is the guardian of good things, but the bounteous giver, God.

### Section 3.167

[¶20] And this appears to me to be the reason why the sentence which I have cited above was uttered. Day is an emblem of light, and the light of the soul is instruction. Many persons therefore have provided for themselves the lights that can exist in the soul against night and darkness, but not against day-time and light; such lights for instance, as are derived from rudimental instruction, and those branches of education which are called encyclical, and philosophy itself, which is sought after for the sake both of the pleasure which is derived from it, and also of the influence which it gives among rulers. But the good man seeks the day for the sake of the day, and the light for the light’s sake; and he labours to acquire what is good for the sake of the good itself, and not of anything else, on which account Moses adds, In order that I may tempt them and see whether they will walk according to my law or not,Exodus xvi. 4. for the divine law enjoins us to honour virtue for its own sake.

### Section 3.168

[¶22] Accordingly, right reason tests those who practise virtue as one might test a coin, to see whether they have contracted any stain, referring the good things of the soul to any of the external things; or whether they decide upon it as good money, preserving it in the intellect alone. These men are nourished not on earthly things, but on heavenly knowledge.

### Section 3.169

[¶24] And Moses shows this in other passages also, when he says, And in the morning the dew lay round about the hosts; and when the dew that lay in the morning was gone up, behold! upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, small as coriander seed,Numbers xi. 7. and white like the hoar-frost upon the earth. And when they saw it, they said one to another, what is this? for they knew not what it was, and Moses said to them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat, this is the thing which the Lord hath commanded you.Exodus xvi. 13. You see now what kind of thing the food of the Lord is, it is the continued word of the Lord, like dew, surrounding the whole soul in a circle, and allowing no portion of it to be without its share of itself.