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OF PHILOSOPHY And in the fourth book of the same treatise Porphyry relates such things concerning the same people: "The Essenes, then, are Jews by race, but are more affectionate to one another than 9.3.2 others. These men turn away from pleasures as being evil, but consider temperance and not succumbing to the passions as a virtue. And marriage is despised among them, but they take other men's children while they are still impressionable for instruction, they consider them to be their kin and form them in their own customs, not abolishing marriage and the succession that comes from it, but guarding against the wantonness of 9.3.3 women. They are despisers of wealth, and their community of goods is wonderful; nor is it possible to find anyone among them who possesses more than another. For it is a law that those who enter the sect must hand over their property to the order, so that among them all there appears neither the humiliation of poverty nor the superiority of wealth, but the possessions of each being mixed together, there is one substance for all, as for brothers. 9.3.4 They consider oil a stain, and if one of them is anointed against his will, he wipes his body clean; 9.3.5 for they make it a point of honour to be unkempt, and to be always dressed in white. Their curators of common property are elected by hand, and without distinction they are each chosen by all for the needs. They do not have one city, but many of them dwell in every city, and what they have is open to the members of the sect who come from elsewhere; and those they see for the first time enter as if they were intimate acquaintances; for which reason they travel without carrying anything with them 9.3.6 for expenses. Neither do they change their clothes or their shoes until they are utterly torn or worn out by time. They neither buy nor sell anything, but each one gives what he has to him that needs it, and receives in return from him what is useful; and even without giving in return, they have unhindered access to receive 9.3.7 from whomever they wish. And they are especially pious towards the divine. For before the sun rises they utter nothing profane, but some ancestral prayers to it, as if beseeching it to rise. After this they are sent away by their curators to the crafts which each of them knows, and having worked intensely until the fifth hour, they then gather again in one place and, girding themselves with linen coverings, they thus wash their bodies with cold water; and after this purification they come together into a private building, into which no one of a different opinion is permitted to enter. 9.3.8 And being pure themselves, they proceed to the dining-hall as if to some holy sanctuary. When they have sat down in silence, the baker sets bread before them in order, and the cook sets one dish with one kind of food before each. The priest prays before the meal, it being holy and pure, and it is unlawful for anyone to taste it before the prayer; and after they have breakfasted he prays again, and both at the beginning and at the end 9.3.9 they praise God. Then, laying aside their garments as holy, they turn again to their work until evening. They sup, having returned, in a similar manner, with any guests who may happen to be with them sitting down with 9.3.10 them. Neither shout nor disturbance ever pollutes the house; but they yield conversation to one another in turn, and to those outside the silence of those within appears as some awful mystery. The cause of this is their perpetual sobriety and the fact that their food and 9.3.11 drink are measured to them just to satiety. To those who desire their sect, access is not immediate, but for a year one remains outside, and they prescribe the same way of life, giving him a small axe and a loincloth and a white garment. And when in this time he gives proof of his temperance, he approaches nearer to their way of life and partakes of the purer waters for 9.3.12 purification. But he is not yet admitted to their common life; for after the demonstration of his endurance, his character is tested for two more years, and 9.3.13 having been found worthy,

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ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΙΑΣ Καὶ ἐν τῷ τετάρτῳ δὲ τῆς αὐτῆς ὑποθέσεως τοιαῦτα περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν ἱστορεῖ ὁ Πορφύριος· «Εἰσὶ τοίνυν οἱ Ἐσσαῖοι Ἰουδαῖοι μὲν τὸ γένος, φιλάλληλοι δὲ καὶ τῶν 9.3.2 ἄλλων πλέον. οὗτοι τὰς μὲν ἡδονὰς ὡς κακίαν ἀποστρέφονται, τὴν δὲ ἐγκράτειαν καὶ τὸ μὴ τοῖς πάθεσιν ὑποπίπτειν ἀρετὴν ὑπολαμβάνουσι. καὶ γάμου μὲν παρ' αὐτοῖς ὑπεροψία, τοὺς δὲ ἀλλοτρίους παῖδας ἐκλαμβάνοντες ἁπαλοὺς ἔτι πρὸς τὰ μαθήματα, συγγενεῖς ἡγοῦνται καὶ τοῖς ἤθεσιν ἑαυτῶν ἐντυποῦσι, τὸν μὲν γάμον καὶ τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ διαδοχὴν οὐκ ἀναιροῦντες, τὰς δὲ τῶν 9.3.3 γυναικῶν ἀσελγείας φυλαττόμενοι· καταφρονηταὶ δὲ πλούτου καὶ θαυμάσιον παρ' αὐτοῖς τὸ κοινωνικὸν οὐδ' ἔστιν εὑρεῖν κτήσει τινὰ παρ' αὐτοῖς ὑπερέχοντα. νόμος γὰρ τοὺς εἰς τὴν αἵρεσιν εἰσιόντας δημεύειν τῷ τάγματι τὴν οὐσίαν, ὥστε ἐν ἅπασι μήτε πενίας ταπεινότητα φαίνεσθαι μήθ' ὑπεροχὴν πλούτου, τῶν δὲ ἑκάστου κτημάτων ἀναμεμιγμένων μίαν ὥσπερ ἀδελφοῖς ἅπασιν οὐσίαν εἶναι. 9.3.4 κηλῖδα δὲ ὑπολαμβάνουσι τοὔλαιον, κἂν ἀλειφθῇ τις ἄκων, σμήχεται τὸ σῶμα· 9.3.5 τὸ γὰρ αὐχμεῖν ἐν καλῷ τίθενται λευχειμονεῖν τε διὰ παντός. χειροτονητοὶ δὲ τῶν κοινῶν οἱ ἐπιμεληταὶ καὶ ἀδιαίρετοι πρὸς ἁπάντων εἰς τὰς χρείας ἕκαστοι. μία δ' οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῶν πόλις, ἀλλ' ἐν ἑκάστῃ μετοικοῦσι πολλοὶ καὶ τοῖς ἑτέρωθεν ἥκουσιν αἱρετισταῖς ἀναπέπταται τὰ παρ' ἀλλήλοις· καὶ οἱ πρῶτον ἰδόντες εἰσίασιν ὡς πρὸς συνήθεις· διὸ οὐδὲν ἐπικομιζόμενοι ἀποδημοῦσιν 9.3.6 ἀναλωμάτων ἕνεκα. οὔτε δὲ ἐσθῆτα οὔτε ὑποδήματα ἀμείβουσι, πρὶν διαρραγῆναι πρότερον παντάπασιν ἢ δαπανηθῆναι τῷ χρόνῳ. οὐδ' ἀγοράζουσί τι οὐδὲ πωλοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ τῷ χρῄζοντι διδοὺς ἕκαστος τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῷ τὸ παρ' ἐκείνου χρήσιμον ἀντικομίζεται· καὶ χωρὶς τῆς μεταδόσεως ἀκώλυτος ἡ μετάληψις 9.3.7 αὐτοῖς παρ' ὧν ἂν ἐθέλωσι. πρός γε μὴν τὸ θεῖον ἰδίως εὐσεβεῖς. πρὶν γὰρ ἀνασχεῖν τὸν ἥλιον οὐδὲν φθέγγονται τῶν βεβήλων, πατρίους δέ τινας εἰς αὐτὸν εὐχὰς ὥσπερ ἱκετεύοντες ἀνατεῖλαι. μετὰ ταῦτα πρὸς ἃς ἕκαστοι τέχνας ἴσασιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπιμελητῶν ἀφεῖνται καὶ μέχρι πέμπτης ὥρας ἐργασάμενοι συντόνως, ἔπειτα πάλιν εἰς ἓν ἀθροίζονται χωρίον ζωσάμενοί τε σκεπάσμασιν οὕτως ἀπολούονται τὸ σῶμα ψυχροῖς ὕδασι· καὶ μετὰ ταύτην τὴν ἁγνείαν εἰς ἴδιον οἴκημα συνίασιν, ἐν ᾧ μηδενὶ τῶν ἑτεροδόξων ἐπιτέτραπται παρελθεῖν. 9.3.8 αὐτοὶ δὲ καθαροὶ καθάπερ εἰς ἅγιόν τι τέμενος παραγίνονται τὸ δειπνητήριον. καθεσθέντων δὲ μεθ' ἡσυχίας ὁ μὲν σιτοποιὸς ἐν τάξει παρατίθησιν ἄρτους, ὁ δὲ μάγειρος ἓν ἀγγεῖον ἐξ ἑνὸς ἐδέσματος ἑκάστῳ. προκατεύχεται δὲ ὁ ἱερεὺς τῆς τροφῆς, ἁγνῆς οὔσης καὶ καθαρᾶς, καὶ γεύσασθαί τινα πρὶν τῆς εὐχῆς ἀθέμιτον· ἀριστοποιησάμενος δὲ ἐπεύχεται πάλιν, ἀρχόμενοί τε καὶ παυόμενοι 9.3.9 γεραίρουσι τὸν θεόν. ἔπειθ' ὡς ἱερὰς καταθέμενοι τὰς ἐσθῆτας πάλιν ἐπ' ἔργα τρέπονται μέχρι δείλης. δειπνοῦσι δὲ ὑποστρέψαντες ὁμοίως, συγκαθε9.3.10 ζομένων τῶν ξένων, οἳ τύχοιεν αὐτοῖς παρόντες. οὔτε δὲ κραυγή ποτε τὸν οἶκον οὔτε θόρυβος μιαίνει· τὰς δὲ λαλιὰς ἐν τάξει παραχωροῦσιν ἀλλήλοις, καὶ τοῖς ἔξωθεν ὡς μυστήριόν τι φρικτὸν ἡ τῶν ἔνδον σιωπὴ καταφαίνεται. τούτου δὲ αἴτιον ἡ διηνεκὴς νῆψις καὶ τὸ μετρεῖσθαι παρ' αὐτοῖς τροφὴν καὶ 9.3.11 ποτὸν μέχρι κόρου. τοῖς δὲ ζηλοῦσι τὴν αἵρεσιν οὐκ εὐθὺς ἡ πάροδος, ἀλλ' ἐπ' ἐνιαυτὸν ἔξω μένοντι τὴν αὐτὴν ὑποτίθενται δίαιταν, ἀξινάριόν τε καὶ περίζωμα δόντες καὶ λευκὴν ἐσθῆτα. ἐπειδὰν δὲ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ πεῖραν ἐγκρατείας δῷ, πρόσεισι μὲν ἔγγιον τῇ διαίτῃ καὶ καθαρώτερον τῶν πρὸς ἁγνείαν 9.3.12 ὑδάτων μεταλαμβάνει. παραλαμβάνεται δὲ εἰς τὰς συμβιώσεις οὐδέπω· μετὰ γὰρ τὴν τῆς καρτερίας ἐπίδειξιν δυσὶν ἄλλοις ἔτεσι τὸ ἦθος δοκιμάζεται, καὶ 9.3.13 φανεὶς ἄξιος,