---
title: "On the Posterity of Cain"
author: "Philo of Alexandria"
translator: "C. D. Yonge"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Second Temple"
section: 10 of 15
url: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg006-yonge-ogl/10/
cite: "Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge, On the Posterity of Cain, section 10. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg006-yonge-ogl/10/"
---

# On the Posterity of Cain

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

## 10. Section 117

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg006-yonge-ogl/10/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg006-yonge-ogl/10/#p-N

[¶0] All these men are causes of war, on account of which they are said to be workers in brass and iron, by means of which metals wars are carried on. For if any one contemplates the history of the greatest public or private quarrels that have arisen among men and among cities, he will not be wrong if [...] Here again there is an hiatus in the text. he looks upon all of them, whether upon those which took place long ago, or upon those which are now raging, or on all that will ever arise hereafter, as being caused either by the beauty of a woman, or by a love of money, or, in short, by some desire for the excessive indulgence of the body, and for some superfluity of external things:

### Section 118

[¶2] but no foreign war and no civil war has ever existed for the sake of instruction or virtue, which are the good things of the mind, which is the best part of us; for these things are in their nature peaceful, and by them good laws and tranquil stability, and whatever else is most beautiful to the sharp-seeing eyes of the soul, not to the dim perceptions of the body, are seen to be established. For the perceptive powers of the body look only upon the external surface, but the eye of the mind penetrates within, and going deep down surveys all the interior and hidden things which are removed out of the reach of bodily sight.

### Section 119

[¶4] And nearly all the troubles, and confusions, and enmities which arise among men, are about absolutely nothing, but about what is really a shadow: for Moses called Tubal the son of Zillah, that is to say of shadow, the maker of the warlike instruments of brass and iron, speaking philosophically, and being guided not by verbal technicalities, but by the exceeding propriety of the names; for he knew that every naval and every land expedition chooses to encounter the greatest dangers for the sake of bodily pleasures, or with a view to obtain a superfluity of external good things, of which nothing is firm or solid, as is testified by the history of time, which brings all things to proof: for they are like superficial sketches, being in themselves perishable and of no duration.

### Section 120

[¶6] Moses proceeds to say, that Tubal’s sister was Noeman, the interpretation of which name is "fatness." For it follows that those who pursue a luxurious condition of the body, and the other objects which I have mentioned, do get fat when they obtain any of the things that they desire: but such fatness Here again there is an hiatus in the text. as this I lay down as not strength but weakness; for it teaches a man to depart from the honour due to God, which is the first and most excellent power of the soul:

### Section 121

[¶8] and the law is a witness to this which in the great hymn speaks thus—"He was fat, he was rich, he was exceeding broad, and he forsook God who had made him, and he forgot God his Saviour." Deuteronomy xxxii. 15. For in truth those men whose lives have been exceedingly fortunate and are so at the time, do not remember the eternal God, but they think time their god;

### Section 122

[¶10] on which account Moses bears witness, exhorting us to war against the contrary opinions, for he says, "The time has departed from them, and the Lord is among us." Leviticus ii. 16. So that those men by whom the life of the soul is honoured, have divine reason dwelling among them, and walking with them; but those who pursue a life of pleasure have only a brief and fictitious want of opportunities: these men, therefore, having swollen extravagantly, and become enormously distended by their profuse fatness and luxury, have burst asunder. But the others, being made fat by that wisdom which nourishes the souls that love virtue, have a firm and unshaken power, a specimen of which is the fat which is sacrificed as a whole burnt-offering from every victim:

### Section 123

[¶12] for Moses says, "All the fat shall belong to the Lord by the everlasting law;" Numbers xiv. 9. so that the fat of the mind is offered up to God and is appropriated to him, owing to which it is made immortal; but the fat which clings to the body and belongs to external things is referred to time, which is contrary to God, through which it very rapidly wastes away.

### Section 124

[¶14] Therefore, concerning the wives of Lamech and his children, I think that enough has been said. Let us now consider what we may look upon as the resurrection of Abel, who was treacherously slain. Moses tells us, "And Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and brought forth a son, and he called his name Seth; for, said he, "God has raised me up another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." Genesis iv. 25. The interpretation of the name Seth, is "irrigation."

### Section 125

[¶16] As, therefore, the seeds and plants which are put into the ground grow and blossom through being irrigated, and are thus made fertile for the production of fruits, Deuteronomy xxxii. 15. Leviticus ii. 16. Numbers xiv. 9. Genesis iv. 25. but if they are deprived of moisture they wither away, so likewise the soul, as it appears when it is watered with the wholesome stream of wisdom, shoots forth, and brings fruit to perfection.

### Section 126

[¶18] Now, irrigation may be looked upon in a two-fold light: with regard to that which irrigates, and with regard to that which is irrigated. And might one not say that each of the outward senses is irrigated by the mind as by a fountain, which widens and extends all their faculties, as if they were so many channels for water? No one, therefore, in his senses would say, that the eyes see, but that the mind sees by means of the eyes; or that the ears hear, but that the mind hears by the instrumentality of the ears; or that the nostrils smell, but that the predominant part of man smells through the medium of the nostrils.

### Section 127

[¶20] On which account it is said in Genesis, "And a fountain went up from the earth, and watered all the face of the earth." Genesis ii. 6. For since nature has allotted the most excellent portion of the whole body, namely the face, to the outward senses, therefore the fountain which goes up from the superior part, being diffused over various parts, and sending up its streams like so many water-courses as high as the face, by their means conducts the faculties to each of the organs of the outward senses. In this way in truth, it is that the word of God irrigates the virtues; for that is the beginning and the fountain of all good actions.

### Section 128

[¶22] And the lawgiver shows this, when he says, "And a river went out of Eden to water the Paradise; and from thence it is divided into four heads," is Genesis ii. 10. For there are four generic virtues: prudence, courage, temperance, and justice. And of these, every single one is a princess and a ruler; and he who has acquired them is, from the moment of the acquisition, a ruler and a king, even if he has no abundance of any kind of treasure;

### Section 129

[¶24] for the meaning of the expression, "it is divided into four heads," is ....... Here again is an hiatus, which Mangey does not attempt to supply. nor distance; but virtue exhibits the pre-eminence and the power. And these spring from the word of God as from one root, which he compares to a river, on account of the unceasing and everlasting flow of salutary words and doctrines, by which it increases and nourishes the souls that love God.