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A Treatise on Those Special Laws Which Are Contained Under and Have Reference to the Eighth and Ninth, and Tenth Commandments
I. (1) I have in my previous treatises spoken of the laws relating to adultery and murder, and to all the subordinate offences which come under those
II. (7) If any one being insanely carried away by a desire for the property of others attempts to steal it, and not being able easily to carry it off
III. (11) Now other thefts are to be atoned for by a payment of double the value of the thing stolen but if any one steals an ox or a sheep, the law
IV. (13) A kidnapper also is a thief but he is, moreover, a thief who steals the very most excellent thing that exists upon the earth. Now, in the ca
V. (20) In the field also, as some one of the old writers has said, lawsuits arise since covetousness and a desire for the possessions of others
VI. (26) And not only do those men do damage who devour the property of others with their flocks and herds, but so also do those who inconsiderately a
VII. (30) A deposit is the most sacred of all those things which relate to the associations of men with regard to property, inasmuch as it depends upo
VIII. (41) This is the ninth of the ten commandments, being the fourth in number of those in the second table but one which is calculated to bestow t
IX. (55) The law thinks that all those who adhere to the sacred constitution, established by Moses, ought to be free from all unreasonable passions, a
X. (59) In the first place the law enjoins the judge not to listen to vain Reports.[Ex 23:1.] Why is this? The law says, My good man, let thy ears be
XI. (62) The second commandment given to a judge is not to receive gifts [Ex 23:8.] for gifts, says the law, blind the eyes that see, and pervert jus
XII. (70) The third commandment given to a judge is to investigate the transactions themselves, in preference to showing any regard to the parties to
XIII. (72) And in addition to what has already been said, there is another most admirable precept given which enjoins the judge not to show pity upon
XIV. (79) Every passion is open to and deserving of blame, inasmuch as every immoderate and violent impulse, and every irrational and unnatural emotio
XV. (84) So great and so excessive an evil is covetous desire or rather, if I am to speak the plain truth concerning it, it is the source of all evil
XVI. (95) And the most holy Moses appears to me to have had a regard to all these circumstances, and on that account to have commanded that men should
XVII. (100) Moreover, Moses has not granted an unlimited possession and use of all other animals to those who partake in his sacred constitution, but
XVIII. (105) The animals which are clean and lawful to be used as food are ten in number the heifer, the lamb, the goat, the stag, the antelope, the
XIX. (109) For this reason all animals with solid hoofs, and all with many toes are spoken of by implication as unclean the one because, being so, th
XX. (110) Having laid down these definitions with respect to land animals, he proceeds to describe what aquatic creatures are clean and lawful to be u
XXI. (113) And adhering to the same general idea the lawgiver asserts that those reptiles which have no feet, and which crawl onwards, dragging themse
XXII. (116) Having, therefore, in his ordinances already gone through all the different kinds of land animals and of those who live in the water, and
XXIII. (119) Moreover, Moses Commands[Le 5:2.] that no man shall take of any dead carcass, or of any body which has been torn by wild beasts partly b
XXIV. For the essence of the soul of man is the breath of God, especially if we follow the account of Moses, who, in his history of the creation of th
XXV. (132) This may be sufficient to say, being in fact all that I am able to advance, about the laws which bear on appetite and desire by way of fill
XXVI. (136) One portion of justice, and that not an unimportant one, relates to courts of justice and to the judge, which indeed I have mentioned befo
XXVII. (143) The lawgiver also gives this most admirable injunction, that one must not add anything to, or take anything away from the law, but that i
XXVIII. (149) There is also this commandment ordained which is of great common utility, that, Thou shalt not move thy neighbours' landmarks which the
XXIX. (151) Some persons have contended that all magistracies ought to have the officers appointed to them by lot which however is a mode of proceedi
XXX. (157) The all-wise Moses seeing this by the power of his own soul, makes no mention of any authority being assigned by lot, but he has chosen to
XXXI. (158) And Moses gives also two reasons, on account of which it is not proper for strangers to be elected to situations of authority in the firs
XXXII. (160) And from the first day on which any one enters upon his office, he orders that he shall write out a copy of the book of the Law[De 17:18.
XXXIII. (170) And it becomes a man who has been thought worthy of the supreme and greatest authority to appoint successors who may govern with him and
XXXIV. (176) We have here mentioned one example of what we before alluded to. We must now add an instance of the second kind. I said that the causes o
XXXV. (183) The law also forbids, by a most just and reasonable prohibition, the man who has undertaken the care and government of the common interest
XXXVI. (188) Therefore it is right for good rulers of a nation to imitate him in these points, if they have any anxiety to attain to a similitude to G
XXXVII. (193) Again, merchants and pedlars, and people in the market, and all those who deal in things necessary for life, [Le 19:36.] and who in cons
XXXVIII. (197) Also this commandment is given with exceeding propriety, [Le 19:14.] which forbids anyone from blaspheming and speaking ill, especially
XXXIX. (203) After this the lawgiver proceeds to connect with these commandments a somewhat similar harmony or series of injunctions commanding breed
XL. (208) The commandment which came in the middle of the three injunctions about pairs, was that one was not to sow a vineyard so as to make it bear
XLI. (219) These, then, are the laws which he appoints to be observed by each individual. But there are other commandments of a more general nature of
XLII. (230) We have now enumerated the matters which belong to justice but as for justice itself, what poet or orator could celebrate it, in worthy t
