--- title: "On the Confusion of Languages" author: "Philo of Alexandria" translator: "C. D. Yonge" languages: [en] shelf: "Second Temple" section: 11 of 16 url: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg013-yonge-ogl/11/ cite: "Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge, On the Confusion of Languages, section 11. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg013-yonge-ogl/11/" --- # On the Confusion of Languages *Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge* ## 11. Section 130 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg013-yonge-ogl/11/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg013-yonge-ogl/11/#p-N [¶0] But for the destruction of this strong fortification a ravager and an enemy of iniquity is prepared who is always full of hostility towards it; whom the Hebrews call Gideon: which name being interpreted means, "a retreat for robbers." "For," says Moses, "Gideon swore to the men of Phanuel, saying, On the day when I return victorious in peace, I will overthrow this tower." Judges viii. 9. ### Section 131 [¶2] A very beautiful and most becoming boast for the soul which hates wickedness and is sharpened against the impious, namely, that it is resolved to overthrow every reasoning which by its persuasions seeks to turn the mind away from holiness, and this indeed is the natural result. For when the mind turns round, then that which turns away from it, and rejects it is again dissolved, ### Section 132 [¶4] and this is the opportunity for destroying it which (a most wonderful thing) he calls not war but peace. For, owing to the stability and firmness of the mind which piety is accustomed to produce, every reasoning which impiety has formed is overturned. ### Section 133 [¶6] Many also have even erected the outward senses after the fashion of a tower, raising them to such a height as to be able to reach the very borders of heaven. But the term heaven is here used symbolically to signify our mind, according to which the best and most divine natures revolve. But they who dare such deeds prefer the outward senses to the intellect, and desire by means of the outward senses forcibly to destroy all the objects of intellect, compelling those things which are, at present masters to descend into the rank of servants, and raising those things which are by nature slaves to the rank of masters. ### Section 134 [¶8] And the statement, "The Lord went down to see that city and that tower" must be listened to altogether as if spoken in a figurative sense. For to think that the divinity can go towards, or go from, or go down, or go to meet, or, in short, that it has the same positions and motions as particular animals, and that it is susceptible of real motion at all, is, to use a common proverb, an impiety deserving of being banished beyond the sea and beyond the world. ### Section 135 [¶10] But these things are spoken, as if of man, by the lawgiver, of God who is not invested with human form, for the sake of advantage to us who are to be instructed, as I have often said before with reference to other passages. Since who is there who does not know that it is indispensable for a person who goes down, to leave one place and to occupy another? ### Section 136 [¶12] But all places are filled at once by God, who surrounds them all and is not surrounded by any of them, to whom alone it is possible to be everywhere and also nowhere. Nowhere, because he himself Judges viii. 9. created place and space at the same time that he created bodies, and it is impious to say that the Creator is contained in anything that he has created. Again, he is everywhere, because, having extended his powers so as to make them pervade earth, and water, and air, and heaven, he has left no portion of the world desolate, but, having collected everything together, he has bound them with chains which cannot be burst, The text has ἀοράτοις, " invisible," but I have followed Mangey’s translation, who reads ἀῤῤήκτοις. The remainder of the sentence is exceedingly corrupt. so that they are never emancipated, on which account he is especially to be praised with hymns. ### Section 137 [¶14] For that which is higher than all powers is understood to exceed them, not merely in the fact of its existence. But the power of this being which made and arranged everything is with perfect truth called God, and it contains everything in its bosom, and pervades every portion of the universe. ### Section 138 [¶16] But the divine being, both invisible and incomprehensible, is indeed everywhere, but still, in truth, he is nowhere visible or comprehensible. But when he says, "I am he who stands before thee," Exodus xvii. ε. he appears indeed to be displayed and to be comprehended, though before any exhibition or conception he was superior to all created things. ### Section 139 [¶18] Therefore, no one of the words which implies a motion from place to place is appropriate to that God who exists only in essence; such expressions, I mean, as going upwards or downwards, to the right or to the left, forwards or backwards. For he is not conceived of in any one of the above mentioned ideas, inasmuch as he never turns around or changes his place. ### Section 140 [¶20] But, nevertheless, he is said to have come down and to have seen, he who by his foreknowledge comprehends everything, not only that has happened, but even before it happens; and this expression is used for the sake of exhortation and instruction, in order that no man, indulging in uncertain conjectures about matters which he is not present to behold may, while standing afar off, be too prompt to believe idle fancies, but that every one may come close to the facts, and examining each one separately, may carefully and thoroughly consider them. For certain sight is more deserving to be looked upon as a The text has ἀοράτοις, " invisible," but I have followed Mangey’s translation, who reads ἀῤῤήκτοις. The remainder of the sentence is exceedingly corrupt. Exodus xvii. ε. trustworthy witness than fallacious hearing. ### Section 141 [¶22] On which account a law has been enacted among those nations which have the most excellent constitution, that one must not give evidence on hearsay, because by its own nature the tribunal of the sense of hearing is liable to be corrupted. And Moses indeed says in the prohibitory part of his law, "Thou shalt not receive vain hearing." Exodus xxiii. 1. Meaning not only this, that one ought not to receive false or silly reports by hearsay, but that, as far as the clear comprehension of the truth is concerned, the hearing is a long way behind the sight, being full of vanity. ### Section 142 [¶24] We say that this is the reason why it is said that God went down to see the city and the tower; and the addition, "Which the sons of men had built," is not a mere superfluity. For perhaps some profanely disposed person may mock and say, "The lawgiver is here teaching us a very novel kind of lesson, when he says that no one else but the sons of men build cities and towers; for who, even of the most crazy people is ignorant of what is so evident and notorious as that?"