---
title: "On Drunkenness"
author: "Philo of Alexandria"
translator: "C. D. Yonge"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Second Temple"
section: 4 of 18
url: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg011-yonge-ogl/4/
cite: "Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge, On Drunkenness, section 4. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg011-yonge-ogl/4/"
---

# On Drunkenness

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

## 4. Section 39

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg011-yonge-ogl/4/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg011-yonge-ogl/4/#p-N

[¶0] For says he, "We after having cut up and Exodus xviii. 16. eradicated the vain pride of the mind, will leave our abodes and depart to the place of knowledge, which we shall gain possession of by the divine oracles and their agreement of the result with them. Come now with us, and we will do thee good." Numbers x. 29. For so doing you will get rid of that most pernicious thing, false opinion, and you will acquire that most advantageous thing, truth.

### Section 40

[¶2] But he, being as it were subdued by enchantment in this way, will neglect what is said, and will by no means follow any kind of knowledge whatever, but will retire and will run off to his own individual and empty pride. For it is said in the scripture that he replied to him, "I will not go, except to my own country and to my own race;" that is to say, to his kindred infidelity imbued with false opinions, since he had not learnt that true faith which is dear to men.

### Section 41

[¶4] For, when desiring to make a display of his piety, he says, "Now I know that God is a great Lord in comparison of all gods," Exodus xviii. 11. he accuses himself of impiety in the eyes of all men who are competent to form a judgment; for they will say to him,

### Section 42

[¶6] "Dost thou now know, O impious man, the power of the Ruler of the universe? but before this thou didst not know it. For was there anything which thou hast ever fallen in with of more antiquity or power than God? And are not the virtues of their parents known to the children before anything else in the world? And was not the Ruler of the universe the creator and the father of it? So that if you now say that you know it, you do not know it now, because you did not know it from the beginning of the creation."

### Section 43

[¶8] And you are not the less convicted of false pretences, when you profess to compare things that cannot be compared, and say that you now recognise the greatness and pre-eminence of God in comparison of all other gods. For if thou hadst in real truth known the living God, you would never have supposed that there was any other god endued with independent authority;

### Section 44

[¶10] for as the sun, when he has arisen, hides the stars, pouring forth his own light altogether over our sight, so also when the beams of the light-giving God, unmingled as they are, and entirely pure, and visible at the greatest distance, shone upon the eye of the soul, being comprehensible only by the intellect, then the Numbers x. 29. Exodus xviii. 11. eye of the soul can see nothing else; for the knowledge of the living God having beamed upon it, out-dazzles everything else, so that even those things which are most brilliant by their own intrinsic light appear to be dark in comparison.

### Section 45

[¶12] Therefore he would never have ventured to compare the true and faithful God to those falsely named gods, if he had really known him; but ignorance of the one God has caused him to entertain a belief of many as gods, who have in reality no existence at all.

### Section 46

[¶14] Now this same opinion is entertained by every one who, having thoroughly comprehended the affairs of the soul, looks with astonishment on the affairs of the body and on the things external to the body, diversified as they are with different colours and forms, in order to deceive the outward sense, which is easily worked upon.

### Section 47

[¶16] Such a man as this the lawgiver calls labour, who, not perceiving the true laws of nature, falsely assents to those which are in force among men, saying, "it is not the custom in our country to give the younger daughter in marriage before the elder." Genesis xxix. 2G.

### Section 48

[¶18] For he thinks that it behoves him to adhere to the classification arising from the consideration of time, according to which, that which is oldest is entitled to priority, and after that, that which is the younger is admitted to a participation in their joint rights. But the practiser of wisdom, knowing that natures are not subject to time, desires what is younger first, and what is older afterwards. And moral reason agrees with him in this matter, for it is necessary for those who practise anything, first of all to come to the more recent learning, in order that after that, they may be able to derive advantage from that which is more perfect.

### Section 49

[¶20] And, on this account, the lovers of virtue and excellence do not approach the doors of the older philosophy before they have become familiar with these younger parts of it, grammar, and geometry, and the whole range of encyclical learning; for these subordinate branches do always attend upon those, who with sincerity and purity of purpose court wisdom.

### Section 50

[¶22] But he acts cunningly in opposition to these principles, wishing us to take to ourselves the elder sister first, not in order that we may have her in a lasting manner, but that being attracted Genesis xxix. 2G. by the allurements of the younger, we may hereafter relax in our desire for the elder one.

### Section 51

[¶24] And we may almost say that this has happened to many of those who have used out of the way roads to learning; for still, as one may say, men coming from their very swaddling clothes to the most perfect study and way of life, philosophy, not thinking it fit to be utterly ignorant of encyclical learning, have still determined to apply themselves to them late and unwillingly. And then, descending from the older and more important kinds of learning to the contemplation of the inferior and younger branches, they have grown old among them so as no longer to be able to return to those pursuits with which they began.