A TREATISE

ON THE

LIFE OF MOSES,

THAT IS TO SAY,

ON THE THEOLOGY AND PROPHETIC OFFICE OF MOSES.

BOOK I.

I. I have conceived the idea of writing the life of Moses—who, according to some, was the lawgiver of the Jews, but according to others, merely an interpreter of sacred laws. He was the greatest and most perfect man who ever lived. I desire to make his character fully known to those who should not remain in ignorance of him, for the glory of the laws he left behind has reached across the whole world and penetrated to the furthest limits of the universe.

Those who truly understand him are few—perhaps due to envy, or to the common disposition of people to resist the commands delivered by lawgivers in different states. Greek historians have not chosen to consider him worthy of mention. Most of them, both in their poetry and prose, have disparaged or corrupted the gifts they received through education, composing comedies and works full of Sybaritish Sybaritish: luxurious, effeminate, and self-indulgent. profligacy and licentiousness to their eternal shame. They should have instead employed their natural talents to preserve the records of virtuous men and praiseworthy lives, so that honorable actions—both ancient and modern—would not be buried in silence and lost to memory. These actions might have shone gloriously if duly celebrated, and these writers might have avoided appearing to pass over appropriate subjects in favor of unworthy ones, eager to give a pleasing appearance to infamous actions to secure notoriety for disgraceful deeds.