--- title: "The Special Laws — Books I–IV" author: "Philo of Alexandria" translator: "C. D. Yonge" languages: [en] shelf: "Second Temple" section: 70 of 80 url: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg024-yonge-ogl/70/ cite: "Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge, The Special Laws — Books I–IV, section 70. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg024-yonge-ogl/70/" --- # The Special Laws — Books I–IV *Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge* ## 70. Section 4.109 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg024-yonge-ogl/70/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg024-yonge-ogl/70/#p-N [¶0] WHAT BEASTS ARE NOT CLEAN. [¶1] For this reason all animals with solid hoofs, and all with - many toes are spoken of by implication as unclean; the one because, being so, they imply that the nature of good and evil is one and the same; which is just as if one were to say that the nature of a concave and a convex surface, or of a road up hill and down hill, was the same. And the other, because it shows that there are many roads, though, indeed, they have no right to be called roads at all, which lead the - life of man to deceit; for it is not easy among a variety of paths to choose that which is the most desirable and the most excellent. ### Section 4.110 [¶3] WHAT AQUATIC ANIMALS ARE CLEAN. [¶4] Having laid down these definitions with respect to land animals, he proceeds to describe what aquatic creatures are clean and lawful to be used for food; distinguishing them also by two characteristics as having fins or scales. Leviticus xi. 9. For those which have neither one nor the other, and those which have only one of the two, he rejects and prohibits. Deuteronomy xiv. 10. And he must state the cause, which is not destitute of sense and propriety; ### Section 4.111 [¶6] for all those creatures which are destitute of Leviticus xi. 9. Deuteronomy xiv. 10. both, or even of one of the two, are sucked down by the current, not being able to resist the force of the stream; but those which have both these characteristics can stem the water, and oppose it in front, and strive against it as against an adversary, and struggle with invincible good will and courage, so that if they are pushed they push in their turn; and if they are pursued they turn upon their foe and pursue it in their turn, making themselves broad roads in a pathless district, so as to have an easy passage to and fro. ### Section 4.112 [¶8] Now both these things are symbols; the former of a soul devoted to pleasure, and the latter of one which loves perseverance and temperance. For the road which leads to pleasure is a down-hill one and very easy, being rather an absorbing gulf than a path. But the path which leads to temperance is up hill and laborious, but above all other roads advantageous. And the one leads men downwards, and prevents those who travel by it from retracing their steps until they have arrived at the very lowest bottom, but the other leads to heaven; making those who do not weary before they reach it immortal, if they are only able to endure its rugged and difficult ascent. ### Section 4.113 [¶10] ABOUT REPTILES. Leviticus xi. 20. [¶11] And adhering to the same general idea the lawgiver asserts that those reptiles which have no feet, and which crawl onwards, dragging themselves along the ground on their bellies, or those which have four legs, or many feet, are all unclean as far as regards their being eaten. And here, again, when he mentions reptiles he intimates under a figurative form of expression those who are devoted to their bellies, gorging themselves like cormorants, and who are continually offering up tribute to their miserable belly, tribute, that is, of strong wine, and confections, and fish, and, in short, all the superfluous delicacies which the skill and labour of bakers and confectioners are able to devise, inventing all sorts of rare viands, to stimulate and set on fire the insatiable and unappeasable appetites of man. And when he speaks of animals with four legs and many feet, he intends to designate the miserable slaves not of one single passion, appetite, but of all the passions; the genera Leviticus xi. 20. of which are four in number; but in their subordinate species they are innumerable. Therefore, the despotism of one is very grievous, but that of many is most terrible, and as it seems intolerable. ### Section 4.114 [¶13] Again, in the case of those reptiles who have legs above their feet, so that they are able to take leaps from the ground, those Moses speaks of as clean; as, for instance, the different kinds of locusts, and that animal called the serpentfighter, here again intimating by figurative expressions the manners and habits of the rational soul. For the weight of the body being naturally heavy, drags down with it those who are but of small wisdom, strangling it and pressing it down by the weight of the flesh. ### Section 4.115 [¶15] But blessed are they to whose lot it has fallen, inasmuch as they have been well and solidly instructed in the rules of sound education, to resist successfully the power of mere strength, so as to be able, by reason of what they have learnt, to spring up from the earth and all low things, to the air and the periodical revolutions of the heaven, the very sight of which is to be admired and earnestly striven for by those who come to it of their own accord with no indolence or indifference. ### Section 4.116 [¶17] CONCERNING FLYING CREATURES. Leviticus xi. 10. [¶18] Having, therefore, in his ordinances already gone through all the different kinds of land animals and of those who live in the water, and having distinguished them in his code of laws as accurately as it was possible, Moses begins to investigate the remaining class of animals in the air; the innumerable kinds of flying creatures, rejecting all those which prey upon one another or upon man, all carnivorous birds, in short, all animals which are venomous, and all which have any power of plotting against others. ### Section 4.117 [¶20] But doves, and pigeons, and turtle-doves, and all the flocks of cranes, and geese, and birds of that kind, he numbers in the class of domestic, and tame, and eatable creatures, allowing every one who chooses to partake of them with impunity. ### Section 4.118 [¶22] Thus, in each of the parts of the universe, earth, water, and air, he refuses some kinds of each description of animal, Leviticus xi. 10. whether terrestrial, or aquatic, or aerial, to our use; and thus, taking as it were fuel from the fire, he causes the extinction of appetite.