PHIL. IUD. ON THE HEIR OF DIVINE THINGS §. 8. 9. 13

life, as if in distress—for he says he does not grieve according to truth—saying,

“I was not thought worthy to kiss my children and my daughters;” original: "Οὐκ ἠξιώθην καταφιλεῖν τὰ παιδία μου, καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας·" (Gen. 31:28)

and reasonably and fittingly so. For we have been taught to hate irony without reconciliation. Therefore, love virtues, and embrace them with your own soul, and do not at all wish to do that which is a counterfeit of friendship: to kiss.

“For is there still a portion or inheritance for them in your house? Were they not considered as strangers by you? Or have you not sold them, and consumed the silver,” original: "Μὴ γάρ ἐστιν αὐταῖς ἔτι μερὶς ἢ κληρονομία ἐν τῷ σῷ οἴκῳ; Οὐχ ὡς ἀλλότριαι ἐλογίσθησαν παρὰ σοί; Ἢ οὐ πέπρακας αὐτὰς, καὶ κατέφαγες τὸ ἀργύριον," (Gen. 31:14-15)

so that you are not even able to take them back, having devoured the redemption money and the ransom? Pretend, then, to wish to kiss, or to be at peace with all judges; but Aaron will not kiss Moses, but will kiss him from the genuine passion of the soul.

“For,” he says, “he kissed him, and they greeted one another.” original: "Ἐφίλησε γὰρ," φησὶν, "αὐτὸν, καὶ ἠσπάσαντο ἀλλήλους." (Exod. 18:7)

§. 9. The genus of life is threefold: one toward God, one toward generation meaning: the material world of coming-into-being and decay, and one a boundary, mixed of both. The one toward God did not descend to us, nor did it come into the needs of the body. The one toward generation did not ascend at all, nor did it seek to ascend, but lurking in inaccessible corners, it delights in a life that is no life. The mixed one is that which often has ascended, led by the better order, and becomes divine and god-possessed, and often, pulled back by the worse, it turns. Whenever the portion of the better life weighs down the whole like a scale, the weight of the opposite life, being drawn along, reveals itself as a very light burden. Moses, having crowned the genus of life toward God without a struggle, brings it for judgment, likening the others to two women, one of whom 488 he calls loved, and the other hated, assigning P. most appropriate names. For who does not accept the pleasures and delights through the eyes,

) Gen. 31, 28. — ) Gen. 31, 14. — ) Exod. 18, 7.