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disastrous things, 1.74 who, following those who were leading him to the king of the nation, is taught by the voice of the ass that the journey was not auspicious for him. Then, having learned through a certain vision what must be done, he found that his evil sorcery was too weak to inflict any harm on those who were allied with God. Instead of the working of demons, becoming inspired by a divine in-breathing, he uttered such words as to be an outright prophecy of the better things that would come to pass later. For by the means through which he was prevented from working evil by his art, through these he came to a perception of the divine power, and bidding farewell to divination, he prophesies according to the divine will. 1.75 And upon these things the nation of the foreigners is wiped out, the people having become superior in the war, but having been defeated after this by the passion of licentiousness among the captive women, at which time when Phinehas pierced with a single blow those who were joined in dishonor, the wrath of God against those who had gone mad for unlawful unions came to a rest, then the lawgiver, having ascended a high mountain and surveyed from afar the land which through the divine promise made to the fathers had been prepared for Israel, departs from human life, leaving behind no sign on the earth nor any memorial of his own passing in tombs, 1.76 whose beauty time did not mar, nor did it dim the brightness of his eyes, nor did it blunt the radiant grace of his face. But he was always the same, preserving in his mutable nature the immutable in the beautiful. 1.77 These things, therefore, which we have learned from the ready history of the man, we have related to you in summary, although somehow the subject is among those that necessarily extended the account. But it would be time to apply the aforementioned life to the proposed purpose of our discourse, so that there might be for us from what has been said a contribution toward the life of virtue. Let us take up, then, the beginning of the narrative about him.

2.τ A CONTEMPLATION ON THE LIFE OF MOSES

2.1 When the tyrannical law commanded that the male offspring be destroyed, then Moses is born. How then shall we imitate by choice the coincidental birth of the man? For surely this is not in our power, someone will certainly say, to imitate someone by one's own birth the glorious offspring. But it is not at all difficult to begin the imitation from what seems more troublesome. 2.2 For who does not know that everything that is subject to change never remains the same in itself, but one thing is always becoming another, with the change always working toward the better or toward the worse? Let it be understood hypothetically. For the material and more passible disposition, toward which human nature is carried as it slips, is the female part of life, which is dear to the tyrant to be kept alive; but the hardened and vigorous part of virtue is the manly offspring, which is hostile to the tyrant and suspected of rebellion against his rule. 2.3 Therefore, that which is changing must always in some way be being born. For nothing of the things that are always the same could be observed in a mutable nature. But to be born thus is not from an external impulse, in the likeness of those who physically beget what has happened, but such an offspring comes from choice. And we are in a way our own fathers, begetting ourselves as we wish and from our own choice shaping ourselves into whatever form we wish, either male or female, according to the principle of virtue or vice. 2.4 It is certainly possible for us too, against the will of the tyrant and to his grief, in the more refined birth both to come forth into the light and to be seen with pleasure by the parents of this good conception (these would be the reasonings that become the fathers of virtue) and to be kept alive, even if it is contrary to the tyrant's

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ἀνήκεστα, 1.74 ὃς τοῖς ἀπάγουσιν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸν βασιλέα τοῦ ἔθνους ἑπόμενος τῇ φωνῇ τῆς ὄνου τὸ μὴ αἴσιον αὐτῷ τὴν ὁδὸν εἶναι διδάσκεται. Εἶτα διά τινος ἐμφανείας τὸ πρακτέον μαθών, ἀσθενεστέραν εὗρε τὴν κακοποιὸν μαγγα νείαν τοῦ βλάβην τινὰ τοῖς παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ συμμαχουμένοις προστρίψασθαι. Ἀντὶ δὲ τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων ἐνεργείας ἐκ θείας ἐπιπνοίας ἔνθους γενόμενος, τοιαύτας ἐφθέγξατο φωνὰς ὡς προφητείαν ἄντικρυς εἶναι τῶν εἰς ὕστερον πρὸς τὸ κρεῖσσον ἐκβησομένων. ∆ι' ὧν γὰρ ἐκωλύθη πρὸς τὸ κακὸν ἐνεργῆσαι τῇ τέχνῃ, διὰ τούτων τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ἐν αἰσθήσει γενόμενος, χαίρειν ἐάσας τὴν μαντικήν, ὑποφητεύει τῷ θείῳ θελήματι. 1.75 Καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις τὸ μὲν ἔθνος τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἐκτρί βεται, ἐπικρατεστέρου τοῦ λαοῦ κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον γεγονότος, ἡττηθέντος δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα τῷ τῆς ἀκολασίας πάθει ἐν ταῖς αἰχμαλώτοις, ὅτε τοῦ Φινεὲς τοὺς ἐν ἀτιμίᾳ συμπλακέντας μιᾷ πληγῇ διελάσαντος ἀνάπαυλαν ἔσχε τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ κατὰ τῶν λελυσσηκότων πρὸς τὰς ἀθέσμους μίξεις ὀργή, τότε ἀναβὰς ἐπί τι ὄρος ὑψηλὸν ὁ νομοθέτης καὶ πόρρωθεν τὴν χώραν κατασκεψάμενος, ἣ διὰ τῆς θείας ἐπαγγελίας τῆς πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας γεγενημένης τῷ Ἰσραὴλ παρεσκεύαστο, μεθίσταται τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου βίου, οὐδὲν ἐν τῇ γῇ σημεῖον οὐδὲ μνημόσυνον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ μεταστάσεως ἐν τάφοις ὑπολει πόμενος, 1.76 οὗ τῷ κάλλει χρόνος οὐκ ἐλυμήνατο, οὔτε τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τὴν λαμπηδόνα ἠμαύρωσεν, οὔτε τὴν ἀπολάμ πουσαν τοῦ προσώπου χάριν ἀπήμβλυσεν. Ἀλλ' ἦν ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχων καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἐν τῷ τρεπτῷ τῆς φύσεως διασώσας τὸ ἐν τῷ καλῷ ἀμετάπτωτον. 1.77 Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν, ὅσα ἐκ τῆς προχείρου τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἱστορίας ἐμάθομεν, ἐν ἐπιδρομῇ σοι διηγησάμεθα, εἰ καί πως ἡ ὑπόθεσίς ἐστιν ἐν οἷς τὸν λόγον ἀναγκαίως ἐπλάτυνε. Καιρὸς δ' ἂν εἴη πρὸς τὸν προκείμενον ἡμῖν τοῦ λόγου σκοπὸν ἐφαρμόσαι τὸν μνημονευθέντα βίον, ὡς ἄν τις γένοιτο ἡμῖν ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων πρὸς τὸν κατ' ἀρετὴν βίον συνεισφορά. Ἀναλάβωμεν τοίνυν τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ περὶ αὐτοῦ διηγήματος.

2.τ ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΤΟΥ ΜΩΥΣΕΩΣ ΒΙΟΝ

2.1 Ὅτε καταφθείρεσθαι τὸ ἄρρεν ὁ τυραννικὸς διεκελεύετο νόμος, τότε

γεννᾶται ὁ Μωϋσῆς. Πῶς οὖν τὴν συντυχικὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς γέννησιν ἐκ προαιρέσεως ἡμεῖς μιμησόμεθα; Οὐ γὰρ δὴ καὶ τοῦτο τῶν ἐφ' ἡμῖν εἶναι, πάντως ἐρεῖ τις, ὥστε μιμήσασθαί τινα τῇ καθ' ἑαυτὸν γεννήσει τὸν εὐδόκιμον τόκον. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν χαλεπὸν ἐκ τοῦ δοκοῦντος δυσχερεστέρου τῆς μιμήσεως ἄρξασθαι. 2.2 Τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι πᾶν τὸ ἐν ἀλλοιώσει κείμενον οὐδέποτε αὐτὸ ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ μένει, ἀλλ' ἕτερον ἐξ ἑτέρου γίνεται πάντοτε, πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἢ πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον ἀεὶ τῆς ἀλλοιώσεως ἐνεργουμένης; Νοείσθω δὲ καθ' ὑπόθεσιν. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ὑλική τε καὶ ἐμπαθεστέρα διάθεσις, πρὸς ἣν ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις κατολισθαίνουσα φέρεται, τὸ θῆλυ τῆς ζωῆς, ὃ τῷ τυράννῳ φίλον ἐστὶ ζωογο νούμενον· τὸ δὲ κατεσκληκός τε καὶ σύντονον τῆς ἀρετῆς ὁ ἀνδρώδης τόκος, ὁ πολέμιος τῷ τυράννῳ καὶ πρὸς ἐπανάστασιν τῆς ἀρχῆς αὐτοῦ ὕποπτος. 2.3 ∆εῖ οὖν τὸ ἀλλοιούμενον πάντως που ἀεὶ γεννᾶσθαι. Οὐ γὰρ ἄν τι τῶν πάντοτε ὡσαύτως ἐχόντων ἐν τῇ τρεπτῇ φύσει θεωρηθείη. Τὸ δὲ οὕτω γεννᾶσθαι οὐκ ἐξ ἀλλοτρίας ἐστὶν ὁρμῆς, καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῶν σωμα τικῶς τὸ συμβὰν ἀπογεννώντων, ἀλλ' ἐκ προαιρέσεως ὁ τοιοῦτος γίνεται τόκος. Καὶ ἔσμεν ἑαυτῶν τρόπον τινὰ πατέρες, ἑαυτοὺς οἵους ἂν ἐθέλωμεν τίκτοντες καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἰδίας προαιρέσεως εἰς ὅπερ ἂν ἐθέλωμεν εἶδος, ἢ ἄρρεν ἢ θῆλυ, τῷ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἢ κακίας λόγῳ διαπλασσόμενοι. 2.4 Ἔξεστι καὶ ἡμῖν πάντως, ἄκοντος τοῦ τυράννου καὶ λυπουμένου, ἐπὶ τῇ ἀστειοτέρᾳ γεννήσει παρελθεῖν τε εἰς φῶς καὶ τοῖς γονεῦσι τοῦ καλοῦ τούτου κυήματος (λογισμοὶ δ' ἂν εἶεν οὗτοι οἱ τῆς ἀρετῆς γινόμενοι πατέρες) ὀφθῆναί τε μεθ' ἡδονῆς καὶ ζωογονηθῆναι, κἂν ὑπεναντίον ᾖ τῷ τοῦ τυράννου