---
title: "On Fugitives"
author: "Philo of Alexandria"
translator: "C. D. Yonge"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Second Temple"
section: 7 of 17
url: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg017-yonge-ogl/7/
cite: "Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge, On Fugitives, section 7. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg017-yonge-ogl/7/"
---

# On Fugitives

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

## 7. Section 78

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg017-yonge-ogl/7/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg017-yonge-ogl/7/#p-N

[¶0] But is not everlasting life a fleeing for refuge to the living God? and is not a fleeing from his presence death? But if anyone sets upon another, he by all means is committing iniquity by deliberate purpose, and that which is done with treachery is liable to be accounted among voluntary actions, just as, on the other hand, that which is done without treachery is not subject to blame.

### Section 79

[¶2] There is nothing therefore of the wicked actions which are done secretly, and treacherously, and of malice aforethought, which we can properly say are done through the will of God, but they are done only through our own will. For, as I have said before, the storehouses of wickedness are in us ourselves, and those of good alone are with God.

### Section 80

[¶4] Whosoever therefore flees for refuge, that is to say, whosoever accuses not himself, but God as the cause of his offence, let him be punished, being deprived of that refuge to the altar which tends to salvation and security, and which is meant for suppliants alone. And is not this proper? For the altar is full of victims, in which there is no spot, I mean of innocent and thoroughly purified souls. But to pronounce the Deity the cause of evil is a spot which it is hard to cure, or rather which is altogether incurable.

### Section 81

[¶6] Those who have cultivated such a disposition as to be lovers of themselves rather than lovers of God, may remain at a distance from the sacred places, in order that as polluted and impure persons, they may not behold, not even from a distance, the sacred flame of the evil which is unextinguishably set on fire, and purified, and dedicated to God with entire and perfect power.

### Section 82

[¶8] Very beautifully, therefore, did one of the wise men of old, hastening on to this same conclusion, find confidence to say that "God is in no respect and in no place unjust, but he is the most righteous being possible. There is nothing that more nearly resembles him than the man who is as just as possible. Around is the strength, and the real ability, and power of man, and also nothingness and unmanliness. For the knowledge of him is wisdom and true virtue; but the ignorance of him is real ignorance and manifest wickedness. And all other things which appear to be cleverness or wisdom, if they be displayed in political affairs are troublesome, and if in acts, are sordid. Plato. Theaetetus, p. 176.

### Section 83

[¶10] Therefore, having further commanded the unholy man who is a speaker of evil against divine things to be removed from the most holy places and to be given up to punishment, he proceeds to say, "Whosoever hateth his father or his mother, let him die." Exodus xxi. 15. And in a similar strain he says, "He who accuseth his father or his mother, let him die."

### Section 84

[¶12] He here all but cries out and shouts that there is no pardon whatever to be given to those who blaspheme the Deity. For if they who bring accusations against their mortal parents are led away to death, what punishment must we think that those men deserve who venture to blaspheme the Father and Creator of the universe? And what accusation can be more disgraceful than to say that the origin of evil is not in us but in God?

### Section 85

[¶14] Drive away, therefore, drive away, O ye who have been initiated in, and who are the hierophants of, the sacred mysteries, drive away, I say, the souls which are mixed and in a confused crowd, and brought together promiscuously from all quarters, those unpurified and still polluted souls, which have their ears not closed, and their tongues unrestrained, and which bear about all the instruments of their misery ready prepared, in order that they may hear all things, even those which it is not lawful to hear.

### Section 86

[¶16] But they who have been instructed in the difference between voluntary and involuntary offences, and who have received a tongue which speaketh good things instead of one which delighteth in accusation, when they do right are to be praised, and when they err contrary to Plato. Theaetetus, p. 176. Exodus xxi. 15. their intention, they are not greatly to be blamed, for which reason cities have been set apart for them to flee unto for refuge.

### Section 87

[¶18] And it is worth while to examine with all the accuracy possible into some necessary points relating to this place. They are four in number. One, why it is that the cities which were set apart for the fugitives were not chosen out of those cities which the other tribes received as their portion, but only out of those which were assigned to the tribe of Levi. The second point is, why they were six in number, and neither more nor fewer. The third is, why three of them were beyond Jordan, and the other three in the land of the Canaanites. The fourth is, why the death of the high priest was appointed to the fugitives as a limit, after which they might return.

### Section 88

[¶20] We must, therefore, say what is suitable on each of these heads, beginning with the first in order.

[¶21] It is with exceeding propriety that the command is given to flee only to those cities which had been assigned to the tribe of Levi; for the Levites themselves are in a manner fugitives, inasmuch as they, for the sake of pleasing God, have left parents, and children, and brethren, and all their mortal relations.

### Section 89

[¶23] Therefore the original leader of this company is represented as saying to his father and mother, "I have not seen you, and my brethren I do not know, and my sons I disown," Deuteronomy xxxiii. 9. in order to be able to serve the living God without allowing any opposite attraction to draw him away. But real flight is a deprivation of all that is nearest and dearest to a man. And it introduces one fugitive to another, so as to make them forget what they have done by reason of the similarity of their actions.