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to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’ And going on, he enigmatically hinted at his secret and ineffable generation, saying: ‘From the womb before the morning star I have begotten you.’ But lest you think I am making these things up, I will present to you as an interpreter of the meaning in the scripture a Hebrew man, who carefully studied his ancestral traditions and learned the doctrine from teachers, if indeed Philo is such a man to you. Listen, then, to him also, how he interprets the divine words: 7.13.1 ‘Why does he say, as if concerning another God, the phrase, “in the image of God I made man,” and not in His own? This was divinely spoken most beautifully and wisely. For nothing mortal could be made in the likeness of the Most High and Father of all, 7.13.2 but rather in the likeness of the second God, who is His Word. For it was necessary for the rational type in the soul of man to be stamped by the divine Word, since the God before the Word is superior to every rational nature; and to him who is above the Word, existing in the best and a certain exceptional idea, it was not lawful for anything created to be made like.’ 7.13.3 Let these words from the first book of Philo’s ‘Questions and Solutions’ be set before me. The same man in his former book ‘On Husbandry’ also names this first-born Word of His the Son of God in the following manner: ‘All these things God, the Shepherd and King, leads according to justice, having set over them his right Word and first-born Son, who will receive the care of this sacred flock, as the lieutenant of a great king.’ 7.13.4 And in the second book again the same man writes these things word for word: ‘If, therefore, any one wishes to escape the difficulties in the questions discussed, let him say with boldness that none of the things in matter is so strong as to be able to bear the weight of the world. But the eternal Word of the eternal God is the most steadfast and firmest support of the whole. 7.13.5 This, stretched from the middle to the ends, and from the ends to the middle, runs the unvanquished course of nature, bringing all the parts together and binding them. For the Father who begat him made him an unbreakable bond of the universe. 7.13.6 Therefore it is with reason that the whole earth will not be dissolved by all the water which its gulfs have contained, nor will fire be quenched by air, nor, on the other hand, will air be set on fire by fire, since the divine Word placed Himself as a boundary, a vowel between voiceless elements, that the whole might sound together as in written music, mediating and arbitrating the threats of opposites with harmonious persuasion.’ 7.13.7 Thus Philo. And Aristobulus also, another wise man of the Hebrews, who flourished under the rule of the Ptolemies, confirms the doctrine as ancestral, addressing to Ptolemy himself the interpretation of the sacred laws, in which he says these things: 7.14.1 ‘And the same might be transferred also to wisdom; for all light is from it. Wherefore also some of those belonging to the Peripatetic school have said that it has the function of a torch. For following it continuously, they will be established untroubled throughout their whole life. But one of our ancestors, Solomon, said more clearly and beautifully that it existed before heaven and earth; and this is in harmony with what has been said before.’ 7.14.2 These and such things, therefore, even the children of the Hebrews have philosophized about this. Would not this, then, be the most God-befitting of doctrines, which ascribes the beginning of the constitution of the universe to the rational and all-wise power of God, or rather to Wisdom itself and the Word of God itself, than to lifeless and irrational 7.14.3 elements? But such among the Hebrews are also the things concerning the origin of the universe. But let us also consider what they teach concerning the constitution of rational beings, which are after the first principle.

7.15.1 15. CONCERNING THE CONSTITUTION OF RATIONAL BEINGS

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κυρίῳ μου· κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου, ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου.» καὶ προϊὼν τὴν κρύφιον καὶ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀπόρρητον αὐτοῦ γενεσιουργίαν ᾐνί7.12.14 ξατο, φάσκων· «Ἐκ γαστρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρου ἐγέννησά σε». ἵνα δὲ μὴ σοφίζεσθαί με ταῦτα νομίσῃς, ἑρμηνέα σοι τῆς ἐν τῇ γραφῇ διανοίας Ἑβραῖον ἄνδρα παραστήσω, τὰ οἰκεῖα πατρόθεν ἀκριβοῦντα καὶ παρὰ διδασκάλων τὸ δόγμα μεμαθηκότα, εἰ δή σοι τοιοῦτος ὁ Φίλων. ἐπάκουσον οὖν καὶ τοῦδε, ὅπως τὰς θείας ἑρμηνεύει φωνάς· 7.13.1 «∆ιὰ τί ὡς περὶ ἑτέρου θεοῦ φησι τὸ ἐν εἰκόνι θεοῦ ἐποίησα τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ; παγκάλως καὶ σοφῶς τουτὶ κεχρησμῴδηται. θνητὸν γὰρ οὐδὲν ἀπεικονισθῆναι πρὸς τὸν ἀνωτάτω καὶ πατέρα τῶν ὅλων 7.13.2 ἐδύνατο, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸν δεύτερον θεόν, ὅς ἐστιν ἐκείνου λόγος. ἔδει γὰρ τὸν λογικὸν ἐν ἀνθρώπου ψυχῇ τύπον ὑπὸ θείου λόγου χαραχθῆναι, ἐπειδὴ ὁ πρὸ τοῦ λόγου θεὸς κρείσσων ἐστὶν ἢ πᾶσα λογικὴ φύσις· τῷ δὲ ὑπὲρ τὸν λόγον ἐν τῇ βελτίστῃ καί τινι ἐξαιρέτῳ καθεστῶτι ἰδέᾳ οὐδὲν θέμις ἦν γενητὸν ἐξομοιωθῆναι.» 7.13.3 Ταῦτα ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου μοι κείσθω τῶν Φίλωνος «Ζητημάτων καὶ Λύσεων.» ὁ δ' αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ «Περὶ γεωργίας» προτέρῳ καὶ υἱὸν θεοῦ τὸν πρωτόγονον αὐτοῦ λόγον τοῦτον ὀνομάζει τὸν τρόπον· «Ταῦτα δὴ πάντα ὁ ποιμὴν καὶ βασιλεὺς θεὸς ἄγει κατὰ δίκην, νόμον προστησάμενος τὸν ὀρθὸν αὐτοῦ λόγον καὶ πρωτόγονον υἱόν, ὃς τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τῆς ἱερᾶς ταύτης ἀγέλης οἷά τις μεγάλου βασιλέως ὕπαρχος, διαδέξεται.» 7.13.4 Καὶ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ δὲ πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς τάδε γράφει πρὸς λέξιν· «Τὰς δυσωπίας οὖν εἴ τις ἀποδιδράσκειν βούλεται τὰς ἐν τοῖς διαπορηθεῖσι, λεγέτω μετὰ παρρησίας ὅτι οὐδὲν τῶν ἐν ὕλαις κραταιὸν οὕτως ὡς τὸν κόσμον ἀχθοφορεῖν ἰσχῦσαι. λόγος δ' ὁ ἀΐδιος θεοῦ τοῦ αἰωνίου τὸ ὀχυρώ7.13.5 τατον καὶ βεβαιότατον ἔρεισμα τῶν ὅλων ἐστίν. οὗτος ἀπὸ τῶν μέσων ἐπὶ τὰ πέρατα καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄκρων ἐπὶ τὰ μέσα ταθεὶς δολιχεύει τὸν φύσεως ἀήττητον δρόμον, συνάγων τὰ μέρη πάντα καὶ σφίγγων. δεσμὸν γὰρ αὐτὸν 7.13.6 ἄρρηκτον τοῦ παντὸς ὁ γεννήσας ἐποίει πατήρ. εἰκότως οὖν οὐδὲ γῆ πᾶσα διαλυθήσεται πρὸς παντὸς ὕδατος, ὅπερ αὐτῆς οἱ κόλποι κεχωρήκασιν, οὐδ' ὑπὸ ἀέρος σβεσθήσεται πῦρ οὐδ' ἔμπαλιν ὑπὸ πυρὸς ἀὴρ ἀναφλεχθήσεται, τοῦ θείου λόγου μεθόριον τάττοντος αὑτὸν φωνῆεν στοιχείων ἀφώνων, ἵνα τὸ ὅλον ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐγγράμμου μουσικῆς συνηχήσῃ, τὰς τῶν ἐναντίων ἀπειλὰς πειθοῖ τῇ συνῳδῷ μεσιτεύοντός τε καὶ διαιτῶντος.» 7.13.7 Ταῦτα ὁ Φίλων. καὶ Ἀριστόβουλος δὲ ἄλλος Ἑβραίων σοφὸς ἀνήρ, κατὰ τὴν τῶν Πτολεμαίων ἀκμάσας ἡγεμονίαν, κυροῖ τὸ δόγμα ὡς πάτριον, αὐτῷ Πτολεμαίῳ τὴν τῶν ἱερῶν νόμων προσφωνῶν ἑρμηνείαν, ἐν ᾗ τάδε φησί· 7.14.1 «Μεταφέροιτο δ' ἂν τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς σοφίας· τὸ γὰρ πᾶν φῶς ἐστιν ἐξ αὐτῆς. διὸ καί τινες εἰρήκασι τῶν ἐκ τῆς αἱρέσεως ὄντες τοῦ Περιπάτου λαμπτῆρος αὐτὴν ἔχειν τάξιν. ἀκολουθοῦντες γὰρ αὐτῇ συνεχῶς, ἀτάραχοι καταστήσονται δι' ὅλου τοῦ βίου. σαφέστερον δὲ καὶ κάλλιον τῶν ἡμετέρων προγόνων τις εἶπε Σολομῶν, πρὸ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς αὐτὴν ὑπάρχειν· τὸ δὲ σύμφωνόν ἐστι τῷ προειρημένῳ.» 7.14.2 Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα περὶ τοῦδε καὶ παῖδες Ἑβραίων πεφιλοσοφήκασιν. ἆρ' οὖν οὐχ οὗτος λόγων εἴη ἂν ὁ θεοπρεπέστατος, δυνάμει θεοῦ λογικῇ καὶ πανσόφῳ, μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτῇ σοφίᾳ καὶ αὐτῷ θεοῦ λόγῳ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀνατιθεὶς τῆς τοῦ παντὸς συστάσεως ἢ τοῖς ἀψύχοις καὶ ἀλόγοις 7.14.3 στοιχείοις; ἀλλὰ γὰρ τοιαῦτα παρ' Ἑβραίοις καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς τῶν ὅλων ἀρχῆς. σκεψώμεθα δὲ καὶ ἃ περὶ τῆς τῶν λογικῶν συστάσεως, τῶν μετὰ τὴν πρώτην ἀρχήν, ἐκδιδάσκουσι.

7.15.1 ιεʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΤΩΝ ΛΟΓΙΚΩΝ ΣΥΣΤΑΣΕΩΣ