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it becomes a serpent, in order to both devour and consume the Egyptian serpents that were brought to life by the sorcerers, 2.34 and when this happened it changes back again into the staff, by which sinners are chastened, and those who ascend the upward and difficult path of virtue are refreshed, leaning by means of good hopes upon the staff of faith; for faith is the substance of things hoped for. 2.35 Therefore he who has come into the understanding of these things becomes a god directly to those who have set themselves against the truth, but are terrified by this material and insubstantial deceit, by whom hearing of the one who is is despised as something vain. For Pharaoh says: Who is he, that I should obey his voice? I do not know the Lord. And only what is material and carnal is considered valuable by those who are occupied with the more irrational senses. 2.36 If therefore he should be so empowered by the radiance of the light and receive such strength and authority against his opponents, then, just like an athlete who has sufficiently practiced athletic courage in the training school, already bold and confident, he strips for the contest against his enemies, holding that staff in his hand, that is, the word of faith, with which he is about to defeat the Egyptian serpents. 2.37 And his spouse from a foreign people will also follow him; for there is something in secular learning that is not to be rejected for our union for the begetting of virtue. For both moral and natural philosophy might at some time become a spouse and friend and partner in life for the higher life, only if the offspring from it should not bring in any of the foreign defilement. 2.38 For if this is not circumcised and removed, so that everything harmful and unclean is taken away, the angel who meets him brings on the fear of death; whom his wife propitiates, showing her own offspring to be pure by the removal of the characteristic by which what is foreign is known. 2.39 And I think that for one initiated in the historical narrative, the sequence of progress in virtue which the discourse indicates is manifest through what has been said, following accordingly the train of the historical enigmas. For there is something of philosophical generation in its teachings that is carnal and uncircumcised, and when this is removed, what remains is of Israelite nobility.

2.40 For example, that the soul is immortal, secular philosophy also says; this is the pious offspring. But that it passes from bodies to bodies and is transformed from a rational nature to an irrational one, this is the carnal and foreign uncircumcision. And many other such things. It says there is a God, but also thinks he is material. It confesses him to be Creator, but needing matter for creation. It grants that he is good and powerful, but that in many things he yields to the necessity of fate. 2.41 And why should one recount each particular, how the good doctrines in secular philosophy are polluted by absurd additions; when these are removed, the angel of God becomes gracious to us, as exulting in the genuine offspring of such doctrines. 2.42 But we must return to the sequence of the discourse, so that the brotherly alliance might also meet us someday when we are near the Egyptian contests. For we remember that at the beginning of the life of virtue, the encounter for Moses is both hostile and seditious, with the Egyptian oppressing the Hebrew, and again with the Hebrew being seditious against his own kind. 2.43 But now for one who has been lifted up to the greater achievements of the soul, both through long application and through the illumination that took place on the height, the encounter becomes friendly and peaceful, as his brother was prompted by God to meet him. For if what happened in the history were to be transferred to a more figurative interpretation, nothing would be found useless for our purpose. 2.44 For in reality, for those who succeed in virtue, the alliance given by God to our nature also is established, which

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γίνεται ὄφις, ἐφ' ᾧ τε τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους ὄφεις τοὺς παρὰ τῶν γοήτων ζωογονουμένους διαφαγεῖν τε καὶ δαπανῆσαι, 2.34 οὗ γενομένου πάλιν εἰς τὴν βακτηρίαν μεθίσταται, δι' ἧς σωφρονίζονται μὲν οἱ ἁμαρτά νοντες, ἀναπαύονται δὲ οἱ τὴν ἀνωφερῆ καὶ δυσπόρευτον τῆς ἀρετῆς πορείαν ἀνιόντες, διὰ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐλπίδων τῇ βακτηρίᾳ τῆς πίστεως ἐπερειδόμενοι· ἔστι γὰρ πίστις ἐλπιζομένων ὑπόστασις. 2.35 Ὁ τοίνυν ἐν περινοίᾳ τούτων γενόμενος θεὸς ἄντικρυς γίνεται τῶν ἀνθεστηκότων μὲν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, πρὸς δὲ τὴν ὑλώδη ταύτην καὶ ἀνυπόστατον ἀπάτην ἐπτοημένων, οἷς τὸ ἀκοῦσαι τοῦ ὄντος ὥς τι τῶν ματαίων καταπεφρόνηται. Φησὶ γὰρ ὁ Φαραώ· τίς ἐστιν οὗ εἰσακούσομαι τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ; Οὐκ οἶδα τὸν Κύριον. Μόνον δὲ νομίζεται τίμιον ὅσον ὑλῶδες καὶ σάρκινον τῶν περὶ τὰς ἀλογωτέρας αἰσθήσεις ἀναστρεφομένων. 2.36 Εἰ τοίνυν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον διὰ τῆς τοῦ φωτὸς ἐκλάμψεως δυναμωθείη καὶ τοσαυτὴν ἰσχύν τε καὶ ἐξουσίαν κατὰ τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων λάβοι, τότε, καθάπερ τις ἀθλητὴς ἱκανῶς ἐν παιδοτρίβου τὴν ἀθλητικὴν ἀνδρείαν ἐκμελετήσας, θαρσῶν ἤδη καὶ πεποιθώς, πρὸς τὸν ἀγῶνα τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἀποδύεται, διὰ χειρὸς τὴν βακτηρίαν ἔχων ἐκείνην, τουτέστι τὸν λόγον τῆς πίστεως, ᾧ μέλλει τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους ὄφεις καταγωνίζεσθαι. 2.37 Ἀκολουθήσει δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ ἡ ἐξ ἀλλοφύλων ὁμόζυγος· ἔστι γάρ τι καὶ τῆς ἔξω παιδεύσεως πρὸς συζυγίαν ἡμῶν εἰς τεκνογονίαν ἀρετῆς οὐκ ἀπόβλητον. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ ἠθική τε καὶ φυσικὴ φιλοσοφία γένοιτο ἄν ποτε τῷ ὑψηλοτέρῳ βίῳ σύζυγός τε καὶ φίλη καὶ κοινωνὸς τῆς ζωῆς, μόνον εἰ τὰ ἐκ ταύτης κυήματα μηδὲν ἐπάγοιτο τοῦ ἀλλοφύλου μιάσματος. 2.38 Τούτου γὰρ μὴ περιτμηθέντος καὶ περιαι ρεθέντος, ὥστε πᾶν ἐπιβλαβὲς καὶ ἀκάθαρτον ἀφαιρεθῆναι, ὁ συναντῶν ἄγγελος τὸν περὶ θανάτου φόβον ἐπάγει· ὃν ἱλεοῦται ἡ σύμβιος, ἡ καθαρὸν ἀποδεικνύουσα τὸ ἑαυτῆς ἔγγονον τῇ περιαιρέσει τοῦ ἰδιώματος ἀφ' οὗ γνωρίζεται τὸ ἀλλόφυλον. 2.39 Οἶμαι δὲ τῷ μεμυημένῳ τῆς ἱστορικῆς ὑφηγήσεως πρόδηλον εἶναι διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῆς κατ' ἀρετὴν ἐπιδόσεως ἣν ὑποδείκνυσιν ὁ λόγος, τῷ εἱρμῷ τῶν ἱστορικῶν αἰνιγμάτων ἀκολούθως ἑπόμενος. Ἔστι γάρ τι τῆς φιλοσόφου γονῆς ἐν μαθήμασι σαρκῶδές τε καὶ ἀκρόβυστον, οὗ περιαιρεθέντος τῆς Ἰσραηλιτικῆς εὐγενείας ἐστὶ τὸ λειπόμενον.

2.40 Οἷον ἀθάνατον εἶναι τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ἡ ἔξωθεν φιλοσοφία φησίν· οὗτος ὁ εὐσεβής ἐστι τόκος. Ἀλλὰ μεταβαίνειν ἀπὸ σωμάτων εἰς σώματα καὶ ἐκ λογικῆς φύσεως εἰς ἄλογον αὐτὴν μεταφύεσθαι, τοῦτο ἡ σαρκώδης τε καὶ ἀλλόφυλός ἐστιν ἀκροβυστία. Καὶ ἄλλα τοιαῦτα πολλά. Θεὸν εἶναί φησιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑλικὸν αὐτὸν οἴεται. ∆ημιουργὸν αὐτὸν ὁμολογεῖ, ἀλλὰ ὕλης πρὸς τὴν δημιουργίαν δεόμενον. Ἀγαθόν τε καὶ δυνατὸν εἶναι δίδωσιν, ἀλλὰ παραχωρεῖν ἐν πολλοῖς τῇ ἀνάγκῃ τῆς εἱμαρμένης. 2.41 Καὶ τί ἄν τις τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον διηγοῖτο, ὅπως τὰ καλὰ τῶν δογμάτων παρὰ τῇ ἔξω φιλοσοφίᾳ ταῖς ἀτόποις προσθήκαις καταμολύνεται· ὧν περιαιρεθέντων ἵλεως ἡμῖν ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄγγελος γίνεται, ὡς τῷ γνησίῳ τόκῳ τῶν τοιούτων δογμάτων ἐπαγαλλόμενος. 2.42 Ἀλλ' ἐπανιτέον πρὸς τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τοῦ λόγου ὡς ἂν καὶ ἡμῖν ἀπαντήσειέ ποτε πλησίον γενομένοις τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἀγώνων ἡ ἀδελφικὴ συμμαχία. Μεμνήμεθα γὰρ ὅτι κατ' ἀρχὰς μὲν τοῦ κατ' ἀρετὴν βίου συντυχία γίνεται τῷ Μωϋσεῖ πολεμική τε καὶ στασιώδης, Ἑβραῖον καταπονοῦντος τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου καὶ πάλιν Ἑβραίου πρὸς τὸ ὁμόφυλον στασιάζοντος. 2.43 Ἤδη δὲ πρὸς τὸ μεῖζον τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς κατορθωμάτων διά τε τῆς μακρᾶς ἐπιμελείας καὶ τῆς ἐν τῷ ὕψει γενομένης φωταγωγίας ἐπαρθέντι, φίλιός τε καὶ εἰρηνικὴ γίνεται ἡ συντυχία, θεόθεν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἀπάντησιν αὐτοῦ παρορμηθέντος. Εἰ γὰρ πρὸς τὴν τροπικωτέραν μεταληφθείη θεωρίαν τὸ καθ' ἱστορίαν γεγενη μένον, οὐδὲν ἂν ἡμῖν ἄχρηστον πρὸς τὸν ἡμέτερον εὑρεθείη σκοπόν. 2.44 Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ τοῖς ἐν ἀρετῇ κατορθοῦσι καὶ ἡ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ δοθεῖσα τῇ φύσει ἡμῶν συμμαχία συνίσταται, ἣ