A Treatise Concerning the Ten Commandments, Which Are the Heads of the Law.

 I. (1) I have in my former treatises set forth the lives of Moses and the other wise men down to his time, whom the sacred scriptures point out as the

 II. (5) Pride is also the cause of many other evils, such as insolence, arrogance, and impiety. And these are the beginnings of foreign and civil wars

 III. (13) Very naturally therefore, having led his people from the injurious associations prevailing in the cities, into the desert, that he might pur

 IV. (15) And some persons say that there is also a fourth cause which is not inconsistent with, but as near as possible to the truth for that, as it

 V. (18) These are the causes which may be advanced by probable conjecture, to explain the question which is raised on this point for the true causes

 VI. And first of all, I will speak of those which rather resemble heads of laws, of which in the first place one must at once admire the number, inasm

 VII. (24) Moreover, at all events, in addition to what has been already said, any one may reasonably admire the decade for the following reason, that

 VIII. (29) But what is the use now of enumerating the excellencies of the decade, which are infinite in number treating our most important task as on

 IX. (32) This, then, may be enough to say on these subjects but it is necessary now to connect with these things what I am about to say, namely, that

 X. (36) This, then, may be enough to say about the divine voice. But a person may very reasonably raise the question on what account it happened, when

 XI. (44) And, moreover, as was natural, he filled the whole place with miraculous signs and works, with noises of thunder too great for the hearing to

 XII. (50) These, then, were the things which it was necessary to explain beforehand. But now we must turn to the commands themselves, and investigate

 XIII. (59) But some persons indulge in such foolish notions respecting their judgments on these points, that they not only look upon the things which

 XIV. (64) Let us, therefore, reject all such impious dishonesty, and not worship those who are our brothers by nature, even though they may have recei

 XV. (73) And yet it is well for us, speaking with all proper freedom, to say to those who have shown themselves so devoid of sense My good men, the

 XVI. (76) Let no one therefore of those beings who are endowed with souls, worship any thing that is devoid of a soul for it would be one of the most

 XVII. (82) Having now spoken of the second commandment to the best of our ability, let us proceed to investigate the one which follows with accuracy,

 XVIII. (88) What sayest thou? I should say to the perjured man, will you dare to go to any one of your own acquaintances and say, My friend, come a

 XIX. (92) But there are also some people who, without any idea of acquiring gain, do from a bad habit incessantly and inconsiderately swear upon every

 XX. (96) The fourth commandment has reference to the sacred seventh day, that it may be passed in a sacred and holy manner. Now some states keep the h

 XXI. (102) Now, those who have applied themselves to mathematical studies, fully explain the precedence and pre-eminence to which the number seven is

 XXII. (106) And after this commandment relating to the seventh day he gives the fifth, which concerns the honour to be paid to parents, giving it a po

 XXIII. (111) Let them, then, not be ignorant that they are convicted before the two tribunals which are the only ones which exist in nature, of impiet

 XXIV. (121) Having then now philosophized in this manner about the honour to be paid to parents, he closes the one and more divine table of the first

 XXV. (132) The second commandment of this second table is to do no murder. For nature, having produced man as a gregarious and sociable creature, and

 XXVI. (135) The third commandment of the second table of five is not to steal. For he who keeps continually gaping after the property of others is the

 XXVII. (138) And after he has forbidden stealing he proceeds in regular order to prohibit bearing false witness, knowing that those who bear false wit

 XXVIII. (142) Last of all, the divine legislator prohibits covetousness, knowing that desire is a thing fond of revolution and of plotting against oth

 XXIX. (154) However, enough of these matters. Still we must not be ignorant of this fact either, that the ten commandments are the heads of all the pa

 XXX. (158) And the fourth commandment, the one about the seventh day, we must not look upon in any other light than as a summary of all the laws relat

 XXXI. (165) And the fifth commandment, that about the honour due to parents, conceals under its brief expression, many very important and necessary la

 XXXII. (168) The first table of five, then, is completed in these commandments, exhibiting a comprehensive character but of the special and particula

 XXXIII. (175) I have now spoken in this manner, at sufficient length, concerning the second table of five commandments, which make up the whole number

X. (36) This, then, may be enough to say about the divine voice. But a person may very reasonably raise the question on what account it happened, when there were so vast a number of myriads of men collected into one place that Moses chose to deliver each of the ten commandments in such a form as if they had been addressed not to many persons but to one, saying:--

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not Kill.[Ex 20:13.]

And giving the other commandments in the same form. (37) We must say, therefore that he is desirous here to teach that most excellent lesson to those who read the sacred scriptures, that each separate individual by himself when he is an observer of the law and obedient to God, is of equal estimation with a whole nation, be it ever so populous, or I might rather say, with all the nations upon earth. And if I were to think fit I might proceed further and say, with all the world; (38) because in another passage of the scriptures God, praising a certain just man, says, "I am thy God."[Ge 17:1.] But the same being was also the God of the world; so that all those who are subject to him are arranged according to the same classification, and, if they be equally pleasing to the supreme Governor of them all, they partake of an equal acceptance and honour. (39) And, secondly, we must say that any one addressing himself to an assembly in common as to a multitude is not bound to speak as if he were conversing with a single individual, but sometimes he commands or forbids a thing in a particular manner in such a way that whatever he commands does at once appear requisite to be done by every one who hears him, and does also seem to be commanded to the whole collective multitude together; for the man who receives an admonition as if addressed to himself personally is more inclined to obey it; but he who hears it as if it were only directed to him in common with others is, to a certain degree, rendered deaf to it, making the multitude a kind of veil and excuse for his obstinacy. (40) A third view of the question is, that no king or tyrant may ever despise an obscure private individual, from being full of insolence and haughty pride; but that such an one, coming as a pupil to the school of the sacred laws, may relax his eyebrows, unlearning his self-opinionativeness, and yielding rather to true reason. (41) For if the uncreated, and immortal, and everlasting God, who is in need of nothing and who is the maker of the universe, and the benefactor and King of kings, and God of gods, cannot endure to overlook even the meanest of human beings, but has thought even such worthy of being banqueted in sacred oracles and laws, as if he were about to give him a lovefeast, and to prepare for him alone a banquet for the refreshing and expanding of his soul instructed in the divine will and in the manner in which the great ceremonies ought to be performed, how can it be right for me, who am a mere mortal, to hold my head up high and to allow myself to be puffed up, behaving with insolence to my equals whose fortunes may, perhaps, not be equal to mine, but whose relationship to me is equal and complete, inasmuch as they are set down as the children of one mother, the common nature of all men? (42) I will, therefore, behave myself in an affable, and courteous, and conciliatory manner to all men, even if I should obtain the dominion over the whole earth and the whole sea, and especially to those who are in the greatest difficulties and of the least reputation, and who are destitute of all assistance from kindred of their own, to those who are orphaned of either or of both their parents, to women who have experienced widowhood, and to old men who have either never had any children at all, or who have lost at an early age those who have been born to them; (43) for, inasmuch as I myself am a man, I will not think it right to cherish a pompous and tragedian-like dignity of manner, but I will keep myself within my nature, not transgressing its boundaries, but accustoming my mind to bear human events with complacency and equanimity. Not only because of the unforeseen changes by which things of one character assume a different appearance, both in the case of those in prosperity and of those who are in adversity, but also because it is becoming, even if prosperity were to remain unaltered and unshaken that a man should not forget himself. For these reasons it appears to me to have been that God expressed his oracular commandments in the singular number, as if they were directed to a single individual.