---
title: "On Fugitives"
author: "Philo of Alexandria"
translator: "C. D. Yonge"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Second Temple"
section: 5 of 17
url: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg017-yonge-ogl/5/
cite: "Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge, On Fugitives, section 5. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg017-yonge-ogl/5/"
---

# On Fugitives

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

## 5. Section 52

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg017-yonge-ogl/5/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg017-yonge-ogl/5/#p-N

[¶0] We say, therefore, without paying any attention to the difference here existing in the names, that wisdom, the Genesis xxviii. 2. daughter of good, is both male and a father, and that it is that which sows the seed of, and which begets learning in, souls, and also education, and knowledge, and prudence, all honourable and praiseworthy things. And from this source it is that Jacob the practiser of wisdom, seeks to procure a wife for himself; for from what other quarter should he seek a partner rather than from the house of wisdom? and where else should he find an opinion free from all reproach, with which to live all his life? [...] The rest of this chapter is lost.

### Section 53

[¶2] But Moses has spoken more accurately about flights when he was establishing the law with respect to homicides, in which he goes through every species of homicide, that of intentional murder, that of unintentional slaying, that of murder by deliberate attack, or by crafty treachery. Repeat the law: "If any man strike another and he die, the striker shall die the death." And if a man do it not intentionally, but if God delivers him into his hand, then I will give thee a place to which he who has slain another shall flee. And if any one set upon his neighbour to slay him by treachery, and flee away, thou shalt drag him even from the altar to put him to death." Exodus xxi. 12.

### Section 54

[¶4] Knowing very well that the law is here adding no superfluous word from any indescribable impetuosity in its description of the matter, I doubted within myself why it does not merely say that he who has slain another shall die, and why it has added, that he shall die the death;

### Section 55

[¶6] for how else does any one die, who dies at all, except dying the death? Therefore, betaking myself for instruction to a wise woman, whose name is Consideration, I was released from my difficulty, for she taught me that some persons who are living are dead, and that some who are dead still live: she pronounced that the wicked, even if they arrive at the latest period of old age, are only dead, inasmuch as they are deprived of life according to virtue; but that the good, even if they are separated from all union with the body, live for ever, inasmuch as they have received an immortal portion.

### Section 56

[¶8] Moreover, she confirmed this opinion of hers by the sacred scriptures, one of which ran in this form: "You who cleave unto the Lord your God are all alive to this day:" Deuteronomy iv. 4. for she saw that those who sought refuge with God and became The rest of this chapter is lost. Exodus xxi. 12. Deuteronomy iv. 4. his suppliants, were the only living persons, and that all others were dead. And Moses, it seems, testifies to the immortality of those persons, when he adds, "You are all alive to this day;"

### Section 57

[¶10] and this day is interminable eternity, from which there is no departure; for the periods of months, and years, and, in short, all the divisions of time, are only the inventions of men doing honour to number. But the unerring proper name of eternity is "today;" for the sun is always the same, without ever changing, going at one time beneath the earth, and at another time above the earth, and by him it is that day and night, the measures of time, are distinguished.

### Section 58

[¶12] She also confirmed her statement by another passage in scripture of the following purport: "Behold, I have set before thy face life and death, good and evil." Deuteronomy xxx. 15. Therefore, O all-wise man, good and virtue mean life, and evil and wickedness mean death. And in another passage we read, "This is thy life, and thy length of days, to love the Lord thy God." Deuteronomy xxx. 20. This is the most admirable definition of immortal life, to be occupied by a love and affection for God unembarrassed by any connection with the flesh or with the body.

### Section 59

[¶14] Thus, the priests, Nadab and Abihu, die in order that they may live; taking an immortal existence in exchange for this mortal life, and departing from the creature to the uncreated God. And it is with reference to this fact that the symbols of incorruptibility are thus celebrated: "Then they died before the Lord;" Leviticus x. 2. that is to say, they lived; for it is not lawful for any dead person to come into the sight of the Lord. And again, this is what the Lord himself has said, "I will be sanctified in those who come nigh unto me." Leviticus x. 3. "But the dead," as it is also said in the Psalms, "shall not praise the Lord," Psalm cxiii. 25.

### Section 60

[¶16] for that is the work of the living; but Cain, that shameless man, that fratricide, is no where spoken of in the law as dying; but there is an oracle delivered respecting him in such words as these: "The Lord God put a mark upon Cain, as a sign that no one who found him should kill him." Genesis iv. 15. Why so?

### Section 61

[¶18] Because, I imagine, wickedness is an evil which can never end, but which is kindled and is never able to be Deuteronomy xxx. 15. Deuteronomy xxx. 20. Leviticus x. 2. Leviticus x. 3. Psalm cxiii. 25. Genesis iv. 15. extinguished; so that the lines of the poet may well be applied to wickedness— And she is of no mortal race, But an immortal foul disgrace. Immortal, indeed, as to the life among us on earth, since with reference to the life with God it is lifeless and dead, and as some one has said, more worthless and odious than dung.

### Section 62

[¶20] But it was by all means necessary that different regions should be assigned to different things, the heaven to good things, the earth to what is evil; for the tendency of good is to soar on high, and if it ever comes down to us, for its Father is very bounteous, it still is very justly anxious to return again to heaven. But evil remains here, living at the greatest possible distance from the divine choir, always hovering around mortal life, and unable to die from among the human race.

### Section 63

[¶22] This, too, one of the most eminent among the men who have been admired for their wisdom has asserted, speaking in a magnificent strain in the Theaetetus, where he says, "But it is impossible for evils to come to an end. For it is indispensable that there should always be something in opposition to God. And it is equally impossible that it should have its place in the divine regions; but it must of necessity hover around mortal nature and this place where we live; on which account we ought to endeavour to flee from this place as speedily as possible. And our flight will be a likening of ourselves to God, to the best of our power. And such a likening consists of being just and holy in conjunction with prudence." Plato. Theaetetus, p. 176.

### Section 64

[¶24] Very naturally, therefore, Cain, the symbol of wickedness, will not die, for wickedness must of necessity be always alive in the mortal race of mankind; so that the expression, "to die the death," is not incorrectly spoken of the homicide, for the reasons which have here been given.