---
title: "On Drunkenness"
author: "Philo of Alexandria"
translator: "C. D. Yonge"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Second Temple"
section: 5 of 18
url: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg011-yonge-ogl/5/
cite: "Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge, On Drunkenness, section 5. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg011-yonge-ogl/5/"
---

# On Drunkenness

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

## 5. Section 52

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg011-yonge-ogl/5/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg011-yonge-ogl/5/#p-N

[¶0] It is on this account, I imagine, that he says, "Accomplish her seven years," which is equivalent to: let not the good of the soul be unaccomplished by you; but let it have an end and a due completion, in order that you may meet with the younger classification of good things, of which personal beauty, and glory, and riches, and such things as these make up the sum.

### Section 53

[¶2] But he does not promise to accomplish them, but only agrees to fulfil them; that is to say, studying never to omit anything which may conduce to its growth and fulness, but in every instance labouring to get the better of all his difficulties, even though there may be innumerable impediments hindering and drawing him in the opposite direction.

### Section 54

[¶4] And the scripture here appears to me to show very plainly, that customs are regarded by men more than by women, as is clear by the words of Rachel, who admires only those things which are perceptible by the outward senses; for she says to her father, "Be not angry, my lord, that I am unable to rise up before thee in thy presence, because the custom of women is upon me." Genesis xxxi. 35.

### Section 55

[¶6] Therefore it is especially the conduct of women to pay regard to customs; for, indeed, that is the habit of the weaker and more feminine soul; while the nature of men, and of that reason which is really vigorous and masculine, is to be guided by nature.

### Section 56

[¶8] But I marvel at the sincerity and truth of the soul which, in its conversation, confesses that it is unable to rise up against apparent good things, and nevertheless admires and honours every one of them, and all but prefers them to Genesis xxxi. 35. itself.

### Section 57

[¶10] Since who of us does resist wealth, and who of us enters the lists against glory? And who despises honour or authority, who, I may say, of almost all those who are still stained by vain opinions? No one whatever.

### Section 58

[¶12] But as long as we have none of these things we talk loudly and proudly, as if we were men of small wants, and companions of frugality, which renders life all-sufficient for itself, and just, and suitable for free and nobly born men. But when there is hope of any of the things which I have enumerated, or when only the slightest breeze of such hope blows upon us, then we are found out, for we at once yield, and submit, and are unable to hold out or resist; and being betrayed by the outward senses, which are so dear to us, we abandon the whole alliance of the soul, and we desert not in a concealed manner, but openly and undisguisedly. And perhaps this is not more than is reasonable to expect.

### Section 59

[¶14] For the customs of women are still predominant in us, while we are not as yet able to wash them off, or to rise and cross over to the hearth of the men’s chamber, as is related of the mind which loved virtue, by name Sarah;

### Section 60

[¶16] for she is represented in the sacred oracles as having ceased to be influenced by the customs of women, Genesis xviii. 11. when she was about to be in travail and to bring forth the self-taught offspring, being by name Isaac.

### Section 61

[¶18] And she is said not to have had a mother, having received the inheritance of relationship from her father only, and not from her mother, having no share in the female race; for some one has said somewhere, "And yet, in truth, she is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother." Genesis xx. 12. For she is not formed of the material perceptible by the outward senses, which is always in a state of formation or of dissolution, which is called the mother, and nurse and bringer up of created things; among which, first of all, the tree of wisdom sprang up, but rather of the cause and father of all.

### Section 62

[¶20] She, therefore, having emerged out of the whole corporeal world, and exulting from the joy which is in God, laughs at the pursuits of men, which are conversant about either war or peace.

### Section 63

[¶22] We, then, being overcome by the unmanly and woman-like association with the outward senses, and the passions, and the objects of the outward senses, are not able to stand up in opposition to anything that is apparent. But Genesis xviii. 11. Genesis xx. 12. are dragged on, some of us, in spite of ourselves, and others of us willingly, by everything which comes across us;

### Section 64

[¶24] and if our army, not being able to execute the commands of the father, were to yield, it would nevertheless have for an ally its mother, moderate learning, which enacts in different cities such laws as are in common use, and appear to be just, and establishes different institutions in different countries.