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using the love of God, the love of virtue, and the love of mankind. 8.12.12 Of the love of God, then, countless proofs are provided by the continuous and repeated purity throughout their whole life, their not taking an oath, their truthfulness, their belief that the Divine is the cause of all good things, but of no evil; of the love of virtue, their disregard for money, for glory, for pleasure, their self-control, their endurance, and also their wanting little, their simplicity, contentment, their lack of pride, their respect for law, their stability, and whatever is of like character with these; of the love of mankind, goodwill, equality, the fellowship that is better than any description, 8.12.13 about which it is not inopportune to say a few things. First then, no one's house is private, which is not also common to all. For besides living together in companies, it is open also to those of the same zeal who arrive from other places. 8.12.14 Then there is one storehouse and expense for all; and common are their clothes, and common their food, as they have established common meals. For living under one roof or having the same way of life or sitting at the same table one could not find more confirmed in practice among others, and perhaps 8.12.15 with good reason; for whatever they may receive as wages after working during the day, this they do not keep as their own, but putting it into the common stock they provide from it a common benefit for those who wish to use it; and the sick are not neglected because they are unable to provide for themselves, having at hand from the common funds for their nursing, 8.12.16 so that they spend from more abundant resources with complete security. And there is reverence and care for the elders, like that of parents by their true-born children, supported in their old age with countless hands and minds in all abundance. Such athletes of virtue does philosophy produce, one that is without the needless study of Greek names, setting before them as exercises praiseworthy actions, from which unenslaved 8.12.17 freedom is secured. A proof is this: though many rulers at different times have risen up against the country, and used different natures and purposes—for some, striving to surpass the untamable ferocity of wild beasts, leaving nothing undone in the way of cruelty, sacrificing their subjects in herds or even while still alive cutting them up limb by limb like butchers, did not cease until they themselves endured the same calamities from Justice, which watches over human affairs; 8.12.18 others, transforming their frenzied and maddened nature into another form of wickedness, practicing unspeakable bitterness, speaking softly, displaying a wrathful character under the pretence of a gentler voice, fawning like venomous dogs, became the cause of incurable evils, and left behind in the cities as memorials of their own impiety and misanthropy the unforgettable calamities of those who suffered; 8.12.19 but yet no one, neither of the extremely savage-minded nor of the very treacherous and deceitful, was able to bring a charge against the aforementioned company of Essenes or Holy Ones; but all, becoming weaker than the nobility of the men, approached them as being by nature autonomous and free, praising their common meals and their fellowship that is better than any description, which is the clearest proof of a perfect and most happy life.” 8.12.20 The matters, then, of the philosophical training and way of life among the Jews let them be set forth through these things; but the matters of the rest of their life, which the divine laws prescribed for the multitude of the whole 8.12.21 nation, the account has already set forth. What then remains after this but to show that the teachings of the new theology are in harmony with the piety of our forefathers, so that our account of this subject 8.12.22 may be rendered complete? Since, then, the oracles of the inspired Scripture have been set forth in the preceding treatise, come, let us in the present one look at the thoughts of the wise men among the Jews, that we may learn what sort of men the children of the Hebrews have been both in theology and in virtue relating to words. Again, therefore, Philo must be adduced from the first of his works 'On the Law';

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χρώμενοι, τῷ τε φιλοθέῳ καὶ φιλαρέτῳ καὶ φιλανθρώπῳ. 8.12.12 τοῦ μὲν οὖν φιλοθέου δείγματα μυρία παρέχει ἡ παρ' ὅλον τὸν βίον συνεχὴς καὶ ἐπάλληλος ἁγνεία, τὸ ἀνώμοτον, τὸ ἀψευδές, τὸ πάντων μὲν ἀγαθῶν αἴτιον, κακοῦ δὲ μηδενὸς νομίζειν εἶναι τὸ θεῖον· τοῦ δὲ φιλαρέτου τὸ ἀφιλοχρήματον, τὸ ἀφιλόδοξον, τὸ ἀφιλήδονον, τὸ ἐγκρατές, τὸ καρτερικόν, ἔτι δὲ ὀλιγοδέειαν, ἀφέλειαν, εὐκολίαν, τὸ ἄτυφον, τὸ νόμιμον, τὸ εὐσταθὲς καὶ ὅσα τούτοις ὁμοιότροπα· τοῦ δὲ φιλανθρώπου εὔνοια, ἰσότης, ἡ παντὸς λόγου κρείττων 8.12.13 κοινωνία, περὶ ἧς οὐκ ἄκαιρον βραχέα εἰπεῖν. πρῶτον μὲν τοίνυν οὐδενὸς οἰκία τίς ἐστιν ἰδία, ἣν οὐχὶ πάντων εἶναι κοινὴν συμβέβηκε. πρὸς γὰρ τῷ κατὰ θιάσους συνοικεῖν ἀναπέπταται καὶ τοῖς ἑτέρωθεν ἀφικνουμένοις τῶν 8.12.14 ὁμοζήλων. εἶτ' ἐστὶ ταμεῖον ἓν πάντων καὶ δαπάναι· καὶ κοιναὶ μὲν ἐσθῆτες, κοιναὶ δὲ τροφαὶ συσσίτια πεποιημένων. τὸ γὰρ ὁμωρόφιον ἢ ὁμοδίαιτον ἢ ὁμοτράπεζον οὐκ ἄν τις εὕροι παρ' ἑτέροις μᾶλλον ἔργῳ βεβαιούμενον, καὶ μή8.12.15 ποτ' εἰκότως· ὅσα γὰρ ἂν μεθ' ἡμέραν ἐργασάμενοι λάβωσιν ἐπὶ μισθῷ, ταῦτ' οὐκ ἴδια φυλάττουσιν, ἀλλ' εἰς μέσον προτιθέντες κοινὴν τοῖς ἐθέλουσι χρῆσθαι τὴν ἀπ' αὐτῶν παρασκευάζουσιν ὠφέλειαν· οἵ τε νοσοῦντες οὐχ ὅτι πορίζειν ἀδυνατοῦσιν ἀμελοῦνται, πρὸς τὰς νοσηλείας ἐκ τῶν κοινῶν ἔχοντες 8.12.16 ἐν ἑτοίμῳ, ὡς μετὰ πάσης ἀδείας ἐξ ἀφθονωτέρων ἀναλίσκειν. αἰδὼς δ' ἐστὶ πρεσβυτέρων καὶ φροντίς, οἵα γονέων ὑπὸ γνησίων παίδων χερσὶ καὶ διανοίαις μυρίαις ἐν ἀφθονίᾳ τῇ πάσῃ γηροτροφουμένων. τοιούτους ἡ δίχα περιεργίας Ἑλληνικῶν ὀνομάτων ἀθλητὰς ἀρετῆς ἀπεργάζεται φιλοσοφία, γυμνάσματα προτιθεῖσα τὰς ἐπαινετὰς πράξεις, ἐξ ὧν ἡ ἀδούλω8.12.17 τος ἐλευθερία βεβαιοῦται. σημεῖον δέ· πολλῶν κατὰ καιροὺς ἐπαναστάντων τῇ χώρᾳ δυναστῶν καὶ φύσεσι καὶ προαιρέσεσι χρησαμένων διαφερούσαις οἱ μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὸ ἀτίθασον ἀγριότητα θηρίων ἐκνικῆσαι σπουδάσαντες, οὐδὲν παραλιπόντες τῶν εἰς ὠμότητα, τοὺς ὑπηκόους ἀγεληδὸν ἱερεύοντες ἢ καὶ ζῶντας ἔτι μαγείρων τρόπον κατὰ μέρη καὶ μέλη κρεουργοῦντες, ἄχρι τοῦ τὰς αὐτὰς ὑπομεῖναι συμφορὰς ὑπὸ τῆς τὰ ἀνθρώπεια ἐφορώσης δίκης, οὐκ ἐπαύσαντο· 8.12.18 οἱ δὲ τὸ παρακεκινημένον καὶ λελυττηκὸς εἰς ἑτέρας εἶδος κακίας μεθαρμοσάμενοι, πικρίαν ἄλεκτον ἐπιτηδεύσαντες ἡσυχῆ διαλαλοῦντες, ἠρεμαιοτέρας φωνῆς ὑποκρίσει βαρύμηνον ἦθος ἐπιδεικνύμενοι, κυνῶν ἰοβόλων τρόπον προσσαίνοντες ἀνιάτων γενόμενοι κακῶν αἴτιοι κατὰ πόλεις μνημεῖα τῆς αὑτῶν ἀσεβείας καὶ μισανθρωπίας ἀπέλιπον τὰς τῶν πεπονθότων ἀλήστους συμφοράς· 8.12.19 ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐδεὶς οὔτε τῶν σφόδρα ὠμοθύμων οὔτε τῶν πάνυ δολερῶν καὶ ὑπούλων ἴσχυσε τὸν λεχθέντα τῶν Ἐσσαίων ἢ Ὁσίων ὅμιλον αἰτιάσασθαι· πάντες δ' ἀσθενέστεροι τῆς τῶν ἀνδρῶν καλοκαγαθίας γενόμενοι καθάπερ αὐτονόμοις καὶ ἐλευθέροις οὖσιν ἐκ φύσεως προσηνέχθησαν, ᾄδοντες αὐτῶν τὰ συσσίτια καὶ τὴν παντὸς λόγου κρείττονα κοινωνίαν, ἣ βίου τελείου καὶ σφόδρα εὐδαίμονός ἐστι σαφέστατον δεῖγμα.» 8.12.20 Τὰ μὲν οὖν τῆς φιλοσόφου παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις ἀσκήσεώς τε καὶ πολιτείας διὰ τῶνδε προκείσθω· τὰ δὲ τοῦ λοιποῦ βίου, ὃν δὴ τῷ πλήθει τοῦ παντὸς 8.12.21 ἔθνους οἱ θεῖοι διηγόρευον νόμοι, τέθειται προλαβὼν ὁ λόγος. τί δῆτα λείπεται ἐπὶ τούτοις ἢ καὶ τὰ τῆς τῶν νέων θεολογίας σύμφωνα ταῖς τῶν προπατόρων εὐσεβείαις παραστήσασθαι, ὡς ἂν καὶ τῆσδε τῆς ὑποθέσεως 8.12.22 ἐντελὴς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ἀποδεδομένος εἴη; ἐπεὶ τοίνυν τὰ τῆς ἐνθέου γραφῆς λόγια πρόκειται διὰ τοῦ πρὸ τούτου συγγράμματος, φέρ' ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος τὰ τῆς διανοίας τῶν παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις σοφῶν ἐπαθρήσωμεν, ὡς ἂν μάθοιμεν ὁποῖοί τινες καὶ ἐν τῇ θεολογίᾳ κἀν τῇ περὶ λόγους ἀρετῇ παῖδες Ἑβραίων γεγόνασι. πάλιν οὖν τὸν Φίλωνα παρετέον ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου τῶν Εἰς τὸν Νόμον·