---
title: "The Special Laws — Books I–IV"
author: "Philo of Alexandria"
translator: "C. D. Yonge"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Second Temple"
section: 71 of 80
url: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg024-yonge-ogl/71/
cite: "Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge, The Special Laws — Books I–IV, section 71. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg024-yonge-ogl/71/"
---

# The Special Laws — Books I–IV

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

## 71. Section 4.119

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg024-yonge-ogl/71/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg024-yonge-ogl/71/#p-N

[¶0] CONCERNING CARCASSES AND BODIES WHICH HAVE BEEN TORN BY WILD BEASTS.

[¶1] Moreover, Moses commands Leviticus v. 2. that no man shall take of any dead carcass, or of any body which has been torn by wild beasts; partly because it is not fitting that man should share a feast with untameable beasts, so as to become almost a fellow reveller in their carnivorous festivals; and partly because perhaps it is injurious and likely to cause disease if the juice of the dead body becomes mingled with the blood, and perhaps, also, because it is proper to preserve that which has been pre-occupied and seized beforehand by death untouched, having a respect to the necessities of nature by which it has been seized.

### Section 4.120

[¶3] Now many of the lawgivers both among the Greeks and barbarians, praise those who are skilful in hunting, and who seldom fail in their pursuit or miss their aim, and who pride themselves on their successful hunts, especially when they divide the limbs of the animals which they have caught with the huntsmen and the hounds, as being not only brave hunters but men of very sociable dispositions. But any one who was a sound interpreter of the sacred constitution and code of laws would very naturally blame them, since the lawgiver of that code has expressly forbidden any enjoyment of carcasses or of bodies torn by beasts for the reasons before mentioned.

### Section 4.121

[¶5] But if any one of those persons who devote themselves wholly to meditations on and to the practise of virtue were suddenly to become fond of gymnastic exercises and of hunting, looking upon hunting as a sort of prelude to and representation of the wars and dangers that have to be encountered against the enemy, then, whenever such a man is successful in his sport, he ought to give the beasts which he has slain to his dogs as a feast for them, and as a reward or wages for their successful boldness and their irreproachable alliance. But he ought not himself to touch them, inasmuch as he has been previously taught in the case of Leviticus v. 2. irrational animals, what sentiments he ought to entertain, respecting his enemies. For he ought to carry on war against them, not for the sake of unrighteous gain like those who make a dishonest traffic of all their actions, but either in revenge for some calamities which he has previously suffered at their hands, or with a view toward some which he expects to suffer.

### Section 4.122

[¶7] But some men, with open mouths, carry even the excessive luxury and boundless intemperance of Sardanapalus to such an indefinite and unlimited extent, being wholly absorbed in the invention of senseless pleasures, that they prepare sacrifices which ought never be offered, strangling their victims, and stifling the essence of life, Leviticus xvii. 11. which they ought to let depart free and unrestrained, burying the blood, as it were, in the body. For it ought to have been sufficient for them to enjoy the flesh by itself, without touching any of those parts which have a connection with the soul or life.

### Section 4.123

[¶9] CONCERNING THE SOUL OR LIFE OF MAN

[¶10] On which account Moses, in another passage, establishes a law concerning blood, that one may not eat the blood nor the fat. Leviticus iii. 17. The blood, for the reason which I have already mentioned, that it is the essence of the life; not of the mental and rational life, but of that which exists in accordance with the outward senses, to which it is owing that both we and irrational animals also have a common existence. For the essence of the soul of man is the breath of God, especially if we follow the account of Moses, who, in his history of the creation of the world, says that God breathed into the first man, the founder of our race, the breath of life; breathing it into the principal part of his body, namely the face, where the outward senses are established, the body-guards of the mind, as if it were the great king. And that which was thus breathed into his face was manifestly the breath of the air, or whatever else there may be which is even more excellent than the breath of the air, as being a ray emitted from the blessed and thrice-happy nature of God. Leviticus xvii. 11. Leviticus iii. 17.

### Section 4.124

[¶12] But Moses commanded men to abstain from eating fat, because it is gross. And again, he gave us this injunction, in order to inculcate temperance and a zeal for an austere life: for some things we easily abandon, and without any hesitation; though we do not willingly encounter any anxieties or labours for the sake of the acquisition of virtue.

### Section 4.125

[¶14] For which reason these two parts are to be taken out of every victim and burnt with fire, as a kind of first fruits, namely, the fat and the blood; the one being poured upon the altar as a libation; and the other as a fuel to the flame, being applied instead of oil, by reason of its fatness, to the consecrated and holy flame.

### Section 4.126

[¶16] The lawgiver blames some persons of his time as gluttons, and as believing that the mere indulgence of luxury is the happiest of all possible conditions, not being content to live in this manner only in cities in which there are abundant supplies and stores of all kinds of necessary things, but carrying their effeminacy even into pathless and untrodden deserts, and choosing in them also to have markets for fish and meat, and all things which can contribute to an easy life:

### Section 4.127

[¶18] then, when a scarcity arose, they assembled together and raised an outcry, and looked miserable, and with shameless audacity impeached their ruler, and did not desist from creating disturbances till they obtained what they desired; and they obtained it to their destruction, for two reasons: first of all, that it might be shown that all things are possible to God, who can find a way in the most difficult and apparently hopeless circumstances; and secondly, that punishment might fall on those who were intemperate in their gluttonous appetites, and obstinate resisters of holiness.

### Section 4.128

[¶20] For a vast cloud being raised Exodus, xvi. 13. out of the sea showered down quails about the time of sunrise, and the camp and all the district around it for a day’s journey for a well-girt active man was overshadowed all about with the birds. Numbers xi. 31. And the height of the flight of the birds was distant from the ground a height of about two cubits, in order that they might be easily caught.

### Section 4.129

[¶22] It would have been natural therefore for them, being amazed at the marvellous nature of the prodigy which they beheld, to be satisfied with the sight, Exodus, xvi. 13. Numbers xi. 31. and being filled with piety to nourish their souls on that, and to abstain from eating flesh; but these men, on the contrary, stirred up their desires even more than before, and pursued these birds as the greatest good imaginable, and catching hold of them with both their hands filled their bosoms; then, having stored them up in their tents, they sallied forth to catch others, for immoderate covetousness has no limit. And when they had collected every description of food they devoured it insatiably, being about, vain-minded generation that they were, to perish by their own fulness;

### Section 4.130

[¶24] and indeed at no distant time they did perish by the purging of their bile, Numbers xi. 20 so that the place itself derived its name from the calamity which fell upon them, for it was called the graves of their lust, See Numbers xi. 34: "And he called the name of that place Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people that lusted." than which there is not in the soul, as the scripture teaches us, any greater evil.