Complete Works of Philo Judaeus, Vol. 2

all irrational passions, feeds a flock within himself (19); and the son of Gaidad is Meel, i.e., "away from the life of God"; for he who fosters irrationality within himself leads a life secluded from God (20). Since this man is subject to death, the sons of Meel are rightly called Methuselah, which is the "emission of death" (21), and Lamech, which is "humiliation." For one who is secluded from God, i.e., the wicked man, clings to the most humble things, as Lamech did with two wives (22 and 23). Hence, just as Jobel is born to Lamech from Ada, i.e., "changing"; for he who has given himself to base and humble cares, being a wanderer and dissolute, tries to pervert divine reasons and precepts (24–29); for which reason Jobel had a brother, Jobal, who is "inclining"; for the wanderer, abandoning the middle path, which is the only best one, is prone to performing any evil (30–32). But the wicked man also pursues a shadow, i.e., those vain things which those who love the world think are beautiful, just as Lamech from Sella, his other wife, begat Thobel, i.e., "abundance" (33); whom, if Moses calls a smith of copper, he wants to indicate that the soul of a man who is addicted to pleasures is, like copper on an anvil, drawn out and stretched into various extensions (34). Rightly, then, his sister is called Noëman, i.e., "fatness"; for those who care for the body too much are wont to become shamefully fat and bloated (35). — Seth, whom Eve bore after Abel was killed, is a type of the reason by which human souls are irrigated with divine wisdom (36), which is also signified by Hagar and Rebecca, of whom the former is intermediate discipline, and the latter is incorruptible virtue (37–48). Seth, however, differs from Abel in that the latter, leaving behind the mortal, migrates to a better nature, while the former does not desert the human race, but propagates it (49 and 50), and is the author of human knowledge increasing up to Moses (51–54).

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§. 1. "And Cain went out from the presence of God, and dwelt in the land of Naid, over against Eden original: "Gen. 4, 16."." We now inquire whether one ought to hear what is said in the books interpreted by Moses in a more allegorical sense, as the immediate representation in the names falls far short of the truth. For if the Existent has a face, and he who wishes to leave it can easily move elsewhere, why do we reject the Epicurean impiety, or the atheism of the Egyptians, or the mythical stories,