A Treatise on the Principle that the Worse is Accustomed to be Always Plotting Against the Better.

 I. (1) And Cain said to Abel his brother, Let us go to the field. And it came to pass, that while they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel h

 II. (3) And a very great proof of this is the conduct of the practiser of knowledge, Jacob, when warring against the opposite disposition, ignorance

 III. (6) Therefore, from what has here been said it is plain, that they make the halting-place of the irrational faculties, which are in them, in the

 IV. (9) He therefore is sent, to be untaught this doctrine, to men who think nothing honourable but what is good, which is the peculiar attribute of t

 V. (13) Therefore, O my mind, if you in this manner investigate the holy thoughts of God with which man is inspired by divine agency and the laws of s

 VI. (15) But you see that he here gives a superfluously minute description of the country from which he sends him forth, in a way which all but comman

 VII. (17) Seeing therefore that Joseph has wholly entered into the hollow valleys of the body and of the outward senses, he invites him to come forth

 VIII. (22) But some say that the proper name of the man who found him wandering in the plain is not mentioned, and they themselves are in some degree

 IX. Therefore the man, who saw the deceit, answered rightly, They are departed hence. (27) And he shows here the mass of the body clearly proving t

 X. (32) Now I think that it has already been sufficiently shown, that the field to which Cain invites Abel to come, is a symbol of strife and contenti

 XI. (35) Arguing therefore in this prolix train of reasoning, they thought that they got the better of those who were not accustomed to deal in sophis

 XII. (38) And it is on this account, as you see, that Moses rejected the sophists in Egypt, that is to say, in the body whom he calls magicians (for i

 XIII. (41) In this manner, then, it is useful to oppose those who are ostentatious about doctrines. For if we have been well exercised in various spec

 XIV. (45) It would therefore have been consistent for Abel to practise prudence, a very saving virtue, and to have remained at home, disregarding the

 XV. (49) The wise man, therefore, who appears to have departed from this mortal life, lives according to the immortal life but the wicked man who liv

 XVI. (52) But as he who injures a good man is proved to be doing injury to himself, so also does he who thinks his betters worthy of privileges, in wo

 XVII. (57) I think, therefore, that enough has been now said with respect to those who appear to think that they do others good or harm. For it has be

 XVIII. (61) To him therefore the answer brought praise, as he confessed that virtue without the divine favour was not sufficient of itself to help any

 XIX. (63) And it has not fallen to the lot of all the suppliants to become guardians of the holy things, but to those only who have arrived at the num

 XX. (69) And God said, What has thou done? The voice of the blood of thy brother cries out to me from out of the Ground.[Nu 23:8.] The expression,

 XXI. (72) But it is the nature of sophists to have for enemies the faculties which are in them, while their language is at variance with their thought

 XXII. (79) And what was said afterwards is uttered very beautifully, with reference either to the beauty of the interpretation of which it is suscepti

 XXIII. (83) Therefore, the faculty which is common to us with the irrational animals, has blood for its essence. And it, having flowed form the ration

 XXIV. (86) Let us then no longer doubt, we who are the disciples of Moses, how man conceived an idea of God who is destitute of all figure, for he was

 XXV. (91) Let this then be enough to say concisely about the essence of the soul. And now proceeding in regular order, we will explain the expression,

 XXVI. (96) But on him who is incapable of receiving repentance on account of the enormity of the pollution which he has incurred by the murder of his

 XXVII. (100) And as to the manner in which the mind becomes accursed upon the earth, he adds further information immediately afterwards, saying: The

 XXVIII. (104) On this account shall he cultivate the Earth [Ge 4:12.] he does not say, He shall become a farmer. For every farmer is an artist, be

 XXIX. (109) Accordingly the bad man never ceases from employing, without any of the principles of art, his earth-like body, and the outward senses whi

 XXX. (112) Very clearly therefore is the good man thus shown to be a farmer, and the bad man to be only a cultivator of the land and I wish that whil

 XXXI. (115) Now these energies are especially the food of the soul, which is competent to give suck, as the lawgiver says, Honey out of the rock, and

 XXXII. (119) But to the impious Cain, neither does the earth contribute anything to give him vigour, even though he never concerns himself about anyth

 XXXIII. Last of all, Noah is said to comfort us concerning our work, because of the ground which the Lord God hath Cursed.[Ge 5:29.] (123) But by th

 XXXIV. (126) And this will also be proved by the oracle which was given to the all-wise Moses, in which these words are contained: Behold, is there n

 XXXV. (129) Very beautifully, therefore, was it said that speech goes forth to meet the conceptions, and that it runs on endeavouring to overtake them

 XXXVI. (132) Again, it is not every speech which should come forward to meet the conceptions nor is it every kind of conception that it should come t

 XXXVII. (135) This lesson the most holy Moses appears to teach for such is the object of the statement that Aaron the Levite is coming forward to mee

 XXXVIII. (138) Having shown, therefore, as far as we could by the most unmistakeable testimony of Moses that, to rejoice is the peculiar property of t

 XXXIX. (141) However, we have now said enough on this subject, and let us proceed to investigate what comes afterwards. He continues thus: And Cain s

 XL. (146) Let us, therefore, address our supplications to God, we who are self-convicted by our consciousness of our own sins, to chastise us rather t

 XLI. (150) This, then, may be enough to say about the expression, My crime is too great to be Forgiven.[this is not the translation given in the tex

 XLII. (153) Can a man, then, or any other created animal, hide himself from God? Where can he do so? Where can he hide himself from that being who per

 XLIII. (156) Perhaps now that which is intimated by the expression, If thou castest me out this day from off the face of the earth, from thy face I s

 XLIV. (159) Do you not see in the case of Abraham that, when he had left his country, and his kindred, and his father's House,[Ge 12:1.] that is to

 XLV. (163) Why then do you talk nonsense, saying, If thou castest me forth from off the earth, and from thee I shall be hidden. For one might say on

 XLVI. (167) Therefore, one must suppose that all these things are said figuratively and allegorically and perhaps what God means to set before us her

 XLVII. (171) And this injunction which the lawgiver laid down, is of necessity applicable to all wise men for they have their sense of sight purified

 XLVIII. (175) On which account it appears to me that all men who are not utterly uneducated would choose to be mutilated and to be come blind, rather

XVII. (57) I think, therefore, that enough has been now said with respect to those who appear to think that they do others good or harm. For it has been shown, that that which they think that they are doing to others, they in either case do to themselves. We will now examine the remainder of this event; the question is as follows:--"Where is Abel, thy Brother?"[Ge 4:9.] To which answer is made, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" It is therefore worth while to consider the question whether it can be appropriately said of God that he asks a question. For he who asks a question or puts an inquiry is asking or inquiring about something of which he is ignorant; seeking an answer through which he will know what he as yet does not know. But everything is known to God, not only all that is present, and all that is past, but also all that is to come. (58) What need, then, has he of an answer which cannot give any additional knowledge to the questioner? But we must say that such things cannot properly be uttered by the Cause of all things, but that, as it is possible to say what is not true without lying, so it is possible for one to put question or an interrogatory without either making inquiry or seeking for information. "Why, then," some one will say, "are such words spoken?" In order that the soul which is about to give the answer may prove by itself what it answers correctly or incorrectly, having no one else either as an accuser or an adversary. (59) Since, when he asks the wise man, Where is Virtue?[Ge 18:9.] that is to say, when he asks Abraham about Sarah, he asks, not because he is ignorant, but because he thinks that he ought to answer for the sake of eliciting praise from the answer of him who speaks. Accordingly, Moses tells us that Abraham answered, "Behold, she is in the tent;" that is to say, in the soul. What then is there in this answer that contains praise? Behold, says he, I keep virtue in my house as a treasure carefully stored up, and on account of this I am immediately happy. (60) For it is the use and enjoyment of virtue that is happiness, and not the bare possession of it. But I should not be able to use it unless you, by letting down the seeds from heaven, had yourself made virtue pregnant; and unless she had brought forth the germs of happiness, namely, Isaac. And I consider that happiness is the employment of perfect virtue in a perfect life. In reference to which he, approving of his own determination, promises that he will complete perfectly all that he asked.