על הזיווג לשם ההשכלה (על לימודי היסוד), הקדמהOn Mating with the Preliminary Studies, Introduction
א׳
1ON MATING WITH THE PRELIMINARY STUDIES (DE CONGRESSU QUAERENDAE ERUDITIONIS GRATIA)
ANALYTICAL INTRODUCTION
ANALYTICAL INTRODUCTION
ב׳
2The subject of this treatise is Gen. 16:1–6 with some omissions.
ג׳
31. Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, was not bearing to him, and she had a handmaiden, an Egyptian, named Hagar.
ד׳
42. And Sarai said to Abram: “Behold the Lord hath shut me out from bearing. Go in therefore unto my handmaiden that I may have children from her.” And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
ה׳
53. And Sarai the wife of Abram, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, took Hagar, the Egyptian, her handmaid, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.
ו׳
64. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived, and she saw that she was with child, and her mistress was dishonoured before her.
ז׳
75. And Sarai said to Abram, “I am wronged at thy hands. I have given my handmaiden to thy bosom. But seeing that she was with child, I was dishonoured before her. The Lord judge between thee and me.”
ח׳
86. And Abram said to Sarai, “Behold thy handmaid is in thy hands. Do with her as is pleasing to thee.” And Sarai afflicted her.
ט׳
9This treatise, though it has little of the eloquence and spirituality which brighten most of the others, has a special interest of its own. Nowhere else in Philo nor, so far as I know, in any other Greek writer do we find so full a treatment of the Stoic doctrine, that the accepted school course or Encyclia was the proper preparation for philosophy. Apart from this there are many remarks on the value of the different subjects and the relations of teacher and pupil, which are both sensible and acute, however fantastical we may think their allegorical setting.
י׳
10Philo begins by pointing out that while Virtue or Wisdom which are represented by Sarah is never barren, she is at this stage in the story Sarai (Σάρα not Σάρρα), that is wisdom in the individual, who is as yet incapable of begetting by her. Stress therefore is to be laid on “she was not bearing for him” (1–12), and when in Sarah’s own words this limitation is not mentioned, we must ascribe it to the delicacy of feeling which true wisdom shews for others (13). The immature soul must therefore resort to the handmaid, the Encyclia, and the list of these is given with some remarks on the educational value of each (14–19). The first thing we note about the handmaid of the story is her race. She is an Egyptian, of the body that is, and the Encyclia depend on the senses in a way in which the higher philosophy does not (20–21). Secondly her name—Hagar, means a sojourner, and the relation of the sojourner to the full citizen expresses that of the Encyclia to philosophy (22–23).
י״א
11The thought that Abraham, the soul which learns by teaching, needs Hagar, naturally leads to the consideration of the case of Jacob, the soul which progresses through practice. He has two wives and two concubines, and the functions of these four are described in a long and difficult allegory (24–33). On the other hand Isaac has but one wife and no concubine. Thus again he appears in his regular part as the “self-taught,” the “gifted by nature,” for such a soul has not the need of the extraneous aids which the other two require (34–38). Thence we pass to remarks on other cases of wives and concubines, a short one on Manasseh (39–43), and a more elaborate one on Nahor, Abraham’s brother (44–53). Finally comes the thought that the bad also has a wife in the mind, which bears vice, and a concubine in the body, which bears passion. This is founded on the notice of Esau’s son’s concubine and passes into a denunciation of the Esau-mind itself, as the nature which represents both hardness and fiction (54–62).
י״ב
12“He hearkened to the voice of Sarah.” This raises the thought how little real attention there is in the people who attend lectures and the like, how little memory even if they attend, and how little practice even if they remember (63–68). But further, the phrase “listened to her voice,” instead of “listened to her,” suggests the natural attitude of the Abraham-mind, as against the Jacob-mind which “practises” and thus thinks more of personal example than of what is said (69–70).
י״ג
13“Sarai the wife of Abram took Hagar and gave her to Abram.” Virtue (or philosophy) is actively willing to give to the immature soul its preparation through the Encyclia (71, 72), while on the other hand the seemingly unnecessary repetition of the word “wife” shews the stress which philosophy justly lays on her status. She is always the wife and the other only the handmaid (73). Philo illustrates this from his personal experience. He tells how he delighted as a youth in literature, mathematics and music, yet always recognized that they were but stepping-stones to the higher study of ethics, which teaches us to control the lower nature, and how thus he avoided the error of those who treat these inferior studies as an occupation for life (74–80).
י״ד
14Abraham had “dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan” when he took Hagar. Even for the Encyclia the soul is not at first fit. Childhood, in which we are dominated by bodily things, and early boyhood, in which we learn the difference between right and wrong, are both too early. While Egypt signifies the body and its passions, Canaan stands for vice, and it is only after we have passed some time in the stage in which vice is possible that we have the ability for these solid studies (81–88). But the number ten is not to be pressed. It is just the perfect number (89), and Philo takes the opportunity to descant on the prominence of it in the Pentateuch. Noah as tenth from Adam (90); Abraham as tenth combatant against the nine kings, a number which signifies hostility (91–93); the offering of tithes on various occasions, followed by the familiar insistence on the duty to offer of everything mental as well as bodily (94–106); the passover in which the lamb is killed on the tenth day (106); the Atonement and the proclamation of the Jubilee also on that day (107–108). Other examples follow, most of which, as for instance the account of the presents with which Isaac wooed Rebecca, and the ten curtains of the tabernacle, whose four colours represented the four elements, digress into morals and fancies drawn from the content of these passages, quite apart from the Ten interest (109–119). He concludes with the remarks that after all these examples were unnecessary, since the Ten Commandments in themselves are enough to prove his point (120).
ט״ו
15After reiterating the necessity of postponing school instruction to a suitable age, Philo proceeds to the words “He went in unto her.” This indicates the right attitude of the scholar to the teacher (121–122), but the teacher also will often do well to make the advances, as Leah did to Jacob (122–123), though again Knowledge may sometimes veil her face to try the sincerity of her pupils, as Tamar did before she gave herself to Judah (124–125). So too the word συνέλαβε, “she conceived” (lit. “she took”), has in Greek no mark of the gender, and thus in our allegory we may interpret that the “taking” is mutual (126).
ט״ז
16Contrasted with this right view of the relation of the two is the arrogance of many teachers who think that the progress of their gifted pupils is due to themselves (127). When knowledge takes this attitude it may be described by the phrase “to have in the womb,” used of Hagar’s pregnancy, whereas Rebecca was said to “receive in the womb,” for the “receive” and “have” represent respectively reverent humility and self-conceit (128–130). He finds “received” used in the story of Moses’ birth and this leads to an eulogy of Moses and the tribe of Levi (131–134). Somewhat loosely connected with this is a short interpretation of a law by which the man who struck a woman and caused a premature birth was punished by a fine or death, according as the child born dead was fully formed or not. To destroy the fruits of another’s mind is always a crime, but a greater when the idea is fully formed, than when it is not (135–138).
י״ז
17“When she saw that she was pregnant.” Philo is confident that the first “she” is Sarah because philosophy sees into the nature of the “arts” which make up the Encyclia better than the arts see themselves. He gives the accepted definitions of “art” and “knowledge” and likens their relation to each other to that of sense to mind (139–145). Then follows a remarkable illustration of this, shewing that at the back of geometry lie the definitions of point, line and the like, which come from philosophy, and similarly that though the grammaticus may expound literature, he must go to philosophy for the nature of the parts of speech and the logic of sentences (146–150).
י״ח
18Philosophy rightly resents the ignoring of her claims which is represented in the words “I was dishonoured before her,” and to her complaints the true student will answer with Abraham’s words: “She is in thy hands,” and leave the lower knowledge to the treatment expressed in “and she afflicted or ill-treated her,” always remembering however that by this word (ἐκάκωσε) only admonishing or correcting is meant (151–157).
י״ט
19What form the admonishing would take Philo does not discuss, but passes off into a justification of his giving this meaning to ἐκάκωσεν and this takes up the rest of the treatise. Consideration of the demoralizing effects of luxury shews that affliction if regulated by law is beneficial (158–160), and the use of the unleavened bread, called in Deuteronomy bread of affliction, and of bitter herbs at the Paschal Feast agree with this, for feasts are things of joy and the ordinance must mean that chastening toil is a joy to the earnest soul (161–162). So too at the end of the story of the bitter water of Marah we read that at Marah God gave Israel laws—the law of justice (163). The same text says that at Marah God tried Israel, tried them that is with the test of toil to which so many succumb (164–165). Yet again the waters of Marah became sweet, that is the toil is sweetened by the love of toil (166). The lesson of the unleavened bread at the Passover is confirmed by the unleavened shewbread and the prohibition of leaven in the sacrifices (167–169). So when we find in Deuteronomy “He afflicted thee and made thee weak with hunger” coupled with “He fed thee with Manna”—the word of God—we understand that the affliction is one of discipline and the famine a dearth of passion and vice (170–174). So too when Isaac blesses Jacob, even slavery is part of the blessing, and in Proverbs “the Lord chastens whom He loves” (175–177). Philo concludes the argument with what he thinks a clinching proof, that if the law speaks of “ill-treating or afflicting with evil,” it implies that afflicting may exist without evil (178–179).
כ׳
20The last section reiterates the necessity of giving the passage an allegorical sense, and implies, if it does not actually say so, that on the literal view the story would be nothing more than an unworthy record of women’s jealousies.