Works of Philo of Alexandria

Philo — Works Vol. I, Yonge — Section 5

The treatises contained in the present volume refer to the books of Moses. At the beginning of the first, that on the Creation of the "World, he intimates that his object is to show how the law and the world accord with one another, and how the man who lives according to the law is as such a citizen of the world. For Moses, as he remarks in his treatise on the life of that prophet, demonstrates in his history that the same Being is the Father and Creator of the universe, and the true lawgiver of the world ; and ac- cordingly, that whoever follows his laws is adapting himself to the course of nature and living in harmony with the general laws of the universe ; while again, the man who transgresses those laws is punished by the operations of nature, such as floods, fire from heaven, and such means. VI PREFACE. In his treatise on the Laws, he divides them into what he looks upon as unwritten laws, that is to say, the living patterns of a blameless life which the scripture sets before us in Enoch, Noah, Abraham, &c, and particular laws in the narrower technical common acceptation of the word. In the other treatises, he deduces an allegorical meaning from the plain historical account of Moses, which serves him as the foundation for his philosophical system. In all these works he exhibits profound and varied learn- ing, showing himself deeply versed in Greek literature of every age and description, and of considerable skill in the sciences of music, geometry, and astronomy. His style is clear, and even though he may at times be open to the charge of an over-refined subtilty, it is impossible to deny him the praise of acuteness and ingenuity, set off to their best advantage by neatness of language and felicity of ex- pression.