THE BOOK OF PHILO THE JEW,

ON THE CREATION OF THE WORLD

AS DESCRIBED BY MOSES,

Sigismundus Gelenius, translator.

Ornamental drop cap 'C' featuring intertwined leafy vines and scrollwork in a square border.OTHER lawgivers, on the one hand, have prescribed the bare law without any adornment; on the other hand, to exaggerate matters before the common folk, they have cloaked the truth in fabulous fictions. But Moses, setting aside both methods—the one as rude, sluggish, and little becoming a philosopher, the other as false and full of deceits—made a most beautiful and honorable beginning to his laws. He did not immediately advise what ought or ought not to be done; nor, because the minds of those who were to receive these laws had first to be shaped, did he invent fables or adopt the fictions of others. Instead, this beginning (as I began to say) is admirable, embracing the creation of the world; inasmuch as the world is suited to the law and the law to the world, and the man subject to the law soon emerges as a citizen of the world, directing his actions according to the will of nature, which governs this universe of things. No poet or writer could worthily praise that sublimity of the senses by which the creation of the world is handed down. For they surpass every faculty of speech, being too sublime to be fittingly perceived by any mortal vessel. Yet for this reason one must not cease, but by the zeal of piety one must dare even beyond one's strength: not that we may personally bring forward anything of our own, but a few things out of many, into which it is lawful for the human mind to penetrate, led by love and desire for wisdom. For just as they express the likenesses of colossi even in a tiny ring, so perhaps also the extraordinary beauty of the Scripture setting forth the creation of the world, striking the minds of readers with a certain splendor, shall be recounted in a moderate style, if they are first warned of what it would be worthwhile to be warned. For some, having admired the world more than its Maker, assert that this [the world] was not made and is eternal; but the impious falsely claim that God lives in deep idleness: whereas they ought, on the contrary, to have admired the power of Him as Maker and Parent, and not to venerate the other beyond measure. But Moses, having both attained the summit of philosophy and having been taught by oracle concerning the chief secrets of nature, observed that there are two things necessary in affairs: one, the active cause; the other, that which is acted upon by the agent. Moreover, that active cause is the most pure and immense mind of this universe, more excellent than virtue or knowledge, nay, even than the highest good and the highest beauty itself. The other, however, subject to being acted upon, inanimate and of its own nature immobile, having been moved, shaped, and animated by that mind, was rendered a most perfect work. Furthermore, those who deny that the world was made do not notice that they take away what is most useful in life and highly necessary for piety, namely, providence. For reason teaches that a work is not neglected by its maker and parent. For a father acts so that his progeny may remain; likewise, a founder provides for the longevity of those things founded by him, warding off whatever might bring harm or damage...