33

to receive land from willing parties, and then immediately, not long after, to build the temple and to establish the other things for piety 8.6.7 and sanctity? For this, it seems, shows that they were acknowledged as most beloved of God even by their enemies; for they were of necessity enemies 8.6.8 to those upon whose land they had suddenly come as if to take it away. But since they met with respect and honor from these people, how do they not seem to surpass others in good fortune? What then shall we say are the second or third points after these? Whether that of their good laws and obedience, or of their holiness and justice and piety? But they so greatly admired that man, whoever he was who gave them their laws, that whatever seemed good 8.6.9 to him, seemed good to them also. Whether therefore he spoke from his own reasoning or from hearing a divine being, they refer it all to God, and though many years have passed—the exact number I cannot say, but it is more than two thousand—not to have moved even a single word of what was written by him, but rather to endure to die ten thousand times than to be persuaded to anything contrary to his laws and customs.” 8.6.10 Having said this, he summarizes the polity established for the Jewish nation by the laws of Moses, writing as follows:

8.7.1 7. CONCERNING THE GODLY POLITY ACCORDING TO MOSES

“Is there anything of this sort or similar to it among those people, which seems to be gentle and tame and which has introductions of lawsuits and pleas and postponements and assessments and again reassessments? Nothing, but all things are simple and clear. If you commit pederasty, if you commit adultery, if you violate a child—let's not even speak of a male, but even a female—likewise if you prostitute yourself, if you suffer any shameful thing beyond your years, 8.7.2 or seem to, or are about to, death is the penalty. If you commit an outrage against the body of a slave, or of a free person, if you hold one in bonds, if you lead one away and sell them, if you steal profane things, or sacred things, if you act impiously, not only in deed, but even with a casual word, against God himself—may God be merciful to us for even the thought of these things—it is not even worthy to speak of, but against your father or mother or benefactor, likewise death, and this not a common or ordinary one, but the one who only speaks must be stoned to death, 8.7.3 as having done something no less than impiety. And then again, other things, of this sort: that women serve men, not out of any insolence, but in all things with ready obedience; that parents rule over children, for their salvation and great care; that each one is master of his own possessions, provided he has not declared them for God nor consecrated them to God. But if it should happen that he promised them only by a word, it is not permitted to touch or handle them, 8.7.4 but he is at once shut out from them all. Do not seize for me the things of the gods nor plunder the dedications of others, but also of one's own things, as I said, if some word escaped him by chance concerning a dedication, when he has spoken he is deprived of all, and if he repents or corrects what has been said, his very life is also taken 8.7.5 away. And concerning the other things of which he is master, the same principle applies. If a man declares his wife's food to be sacred, she must abstain from food; if a father does so to a son, if a ruler to a subject, the same. And the most complete and greatest release from things so declared is when the priest makes a pronouncement; for he is authorized by God to accept it; and after this, the release from those who are always more in authority is holy, showing God to be merciful, 8.7.6 so that it is not even necessary to accept the dedication. And there are countless other things besides these, as many as relate to unwritten customs and laws, and in the laws themselves. What one hates to suffer, one must not do; what one has not put down, one must not take up, not from a garden-bed, nor from a wine-press, nor from a threshing-floor; not to take away from a heap, great or small, absolutely anything; not to one in need of fire

33

γῆν λαβεῖν παρ' ἑκόντων, ἔπειτα δ' εὐθὺς οὐκ εἰς μακρὸν τόν τε νεὼν οἰκοδομῆσαι καὶ τἄλλα εἰς εὐσέ8.6.7 βειαν καὶ ἁγιστείαν καταστήσασθαι; δηλοῖ γάρ, ὡς ἔοικε, ταῦτά γε καὶ θεοφιλεστάτους αὐτοὺς ἀνωμολογῆσθαι καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς· ἐχθροὶ γὰρ ἦσαν 8.6.8 ἐξ ἀνάγκης ὧν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἐξαίφνης ἦλθον ὡς ἀφαιρησόμενοι. παρὰ τούτοις δ' οὖν αἰδέσεως καὶ τιμῆς τυγχάνοντες πῶς οὐχ ὑπερβάλλειν εὐτυχίᾳ τοὺς ἄλλους φαίνονται; τίνα δὴ τὰ δεύτερα ἐφεξῆς ἢ τρίτα πρὸς τούτοις λέγωμεν; πότερον τὸ τῆς εὐνομίας καὶ εὐπειθείας αὐτῶν ἢ τῆς ὁσιότητος καὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ εὐσεβείας; ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν ἄνδρα ἐκεῖνον, ὅστις ποτὲ ἦν ὁ τοὺς νόμους αὐτοῖς θείς, οὕτω σφόδρα ἐθαύμασαν, ὡς ὅ τι δήποτε ἔδοξεν 8.6.9 ἐκείνῳ, καὶ αὐτοῖς. εἴτε οὖν λελογισμένος αὐτὸς εἴτε ἀκούων παρὰ δαίμονος ἔφρασεν, ἅπαν τοῦτο εἰς τὸν θεὸν ἀνάγειν καὶ πλειόνων ἐτῶν διεληλυθότων τὸ μὲν ἀκριβὲς οὐκ ἔχω λέγειν ὁπόσα, πλέω δ' οὖν ἢ δισχίλιά ἐστι, μηδὲ ῥῆμά γε αὐτὸ μόνον τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γεγραμμένων κινῆσαι, ἀλλὰ κἂν μυριάκις αὐτοὺς ἀποθανεῖν ὑπομεῖναι θᾶττον ἢ τοῖς ἐκείνου νόμοις καὶ ἔθεσιν ἐναντία πεισθῆναι.» 8.6.10 Ταῦτ' εἰπὼν ἐπιτέμνεται τὴν ἐκ τῶν Μωσέως νόμων καταβεβλημένην τῷ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνει πολιτείαν, γράφων οὕτως·

8.7.1 ζʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΜΩΣΕΑ ΘΕΟΣΕΒΟΥΣ ΠΟΛΙΤΕΙΑΣ

«Ἆρά τι τούτων ἢ τούτοις προσόμοιον παρ' ἐκείνοις ἐστί, πρᾶον εἶναι δοκοῦν καὶ τιθασὸν καὶ δικῶν ἐπαγωγὰς καὶ σκήψεις καὶ ἀναβολὰς καὶ τιμήσεις καὶ πάλιν ὑποτιμήσεις ἔχον; οὐδέν, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἁπλᾶ καὶ δῆλα. ἐὰν παιδεραστῇς, ἐὰν μοιχεύῃς, ἐὰν βιάσῃ παῖδα ἄρρενα μὲν μηδὲ λέγε, ἀλλὰ κἂν θήλειαν, ὁμοίως ἐὰν σαυτὸν καταπορνεύῃς, ἐὰν καὶ παρ' ἡλικίαν αἰσχρόν τι πάθῃς 8.7.2 ἢ δοκῇς ἢ μέλλῃς, θάνατος ἡ ζημία. ἐὰν εἰς δοῦλον σῶμα, ἐὰν εἰς ἐλεύθερον ὑβρίζῃς, ἐὰν δεσμοῖς συνέχῃς, ἐὰν ἀπάγων πωλῇς, ἐὰν βέβηλα, ἐὰν ἱερὰ παρακλέπτῃς, ἐὰν ἀσεβῇς, οὐκ ἔργῳ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐὰν ῥήματι τῷ τυχόντι, εἰς μὲν θεὸν αὐτόν ἵλεως ἡμῖν ὁ θεὸς καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς περὶ τούτων ἐννοίας γένοιτο οὐδὲ ἄξιον λέγειν, ἀλλ' εἰς πατέρα ἢ μητέρα ἢ εὐεργέτην σαυτοῦ, θάνατος ὁμοίως, καὶ οὗτος οὐ κοινὸς οὐδ' ὁ τυχών, ἀλλὰ δεῖ καταλευσθῆναι τὸν εἰπόντα μόνον, 8.7.3 ὡς οὐ χείρονα ἀσεβείας πράξαντα. ἄλλα δὲ αὖ πάλιν, ὁποῖά τινα· γυναῖκας ἀνδράσι δουλεύειν, πρὸς ὕβρεως μὲν οὐδεμιᾶς, πρὸς εὐπείθειαν δ' ἐν ἅπασι· γονεῖς παίδων ἄρχειν, ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ καὶ πολυωρίᾳ· τῶν ἑαυτοῦ κτημάτων ἕνα ἕκαστον κύριον εἶναι, μὴ θεόν γε ἐπιφημίσαντα αὐτοῖς μηδ' ὡς τῷ θεῷ ταῦτα ἀνίησιν. εἰ δὲ λόγῳ μόνον ὑποσχέσθαι προσπέσοι, ψαῦσαι καὶ θιγεῖν αὐτῶν 8.7.4 οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλ' εὐθὺς ἁπάντων ἀποκεκλεῖσθαι. μή μοι τὰ τῶν θεῶν ἁρπάζειν μηδ' ἀποσυλᾶν ἑτέρων ἀναθέντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν οἰκείων, ὥσπερ ἔφην, προσπεσόν τι καὶ λαθὸν αὐτὸν ῥῆμα ἐπ' ἀναθέσει, εἰπόντα δὲ πάντων στέρεσθαι, μεταγινώσκοντι δὲ ἢ ἐπανορθουμένῳ τὰ λελεγμένα καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν προσαφαι8.7.5 ρεῖσθαι. καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐφ' ὧν κύριός ἐστιν, ὁ αὐτὸς λόγος. ἐὰν ἐπιφημίσῃ τροφὴν γυναικὸς ἀνὴρ ἱερὰν εἶναι, τροφῆς ἀνέχειν· ἐὰν πατὴρ υἱῷ, ἐὰν ἄρχων τῷ ὑπηκόῳ, ταὐτόν. καὶ ἔκλυσις δὲ ἐπιφημισθέντων ἡ μὲν τελειοτάτη καὶ μεγίστη τοῦ ἱερέως ἀποφήσαντος· ὑπὸ γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ κύριος οὗτος δέξασθαι· καὶ μετὰ ταύτην δὲ ἡ παρὰ τῶν μᾶλλον ἀεὶ κυρίων ὁσία ἵλεων τὸν θεὸν ἀποφαί8.7.6 νειν, ὡς μηδὲ ἐπάναγκες τὴν ἀνάθεσιν δέχεσθαι. μυρία δὲ ἄλλα ἐπὶ τούτοις, ὅσα καὶ ἐπὶ ἀγράφων ἐθῶν καὶ νομίμων κἀν τοῖς νόμοις αὐτοῖς. ἅ τις παθεῖν ἐχθαίρει, μὴ ποιεῖν αὐτόν· ἃ μὴ κατέθηκεν, μηδ' ἀναιρεῖσθαι, μηδ' ἐκ πρασιᾶς μηδ' ἐκ ληνοῦ μηδ' ἐξ ἅλωνος· μὴ θημῶνος ὑφαιρεῖσθαι μέγα ἢ μικρὸν ἁπλῶς μηδέν· μὴ πυρὸς δεηθέντι