על החוקים לפרטיהם, ספר א נ״טOn the Special Laws, Book I 59
א׳
1[319] Furthermore, he banishes from the sacred legislation the lore of occult rites and mysteries and all such imposture and buffoonery. He would not have those who were bred in such a commonwealth as ours take part in mummeries and clinging on to mystic fables despise the truth and pursue things which have taken night and darkness for their province, discarding what is fit to bear the light of day. Let none, therefore, of the followers and disciples of Moses either confer or receive initiation to such rites. For both in teacher and taught such action is gross sacrilege.
ב׳
2[320] For tell me, ye mystics, if these things are good and profitable, why do you shut yourselves up in profound darkness and reserve their benefits for three or four alone, when by producing them in the midst of the market-place you might extend them to every man and thus enable all to share in security a better and happier life?
ג׳
3[321] For virtue has no room in her home for a grudging spirit. Let those who work mischief feel shame and seek holes and corners of the earth and profound darkness, there lie hid and keep the multitude of their iniquities veiled out of the sight of all. But let those whose actions serve the common weal use freedom of speech and walk in daylight through the midst of the market-place, ready to converse with crowded gatherings, to let the clear sunlight shine upon their own life and through the two most royal senses, sight and hearing, to render good service to the assembled groups, who through the one behold spectacles as marvellous as they are delightful, and through the other feast on the fresh sweet draught of words which are wont to gladden the minds of such as are not wholly averse to learning.
ד׳
4[322] Cannot you see that nature also does not conceal any of her glorious and admirable works, but displays the stars and the whole heaven to delight us by the sight and to foster the love of philosophy; so too the seas and fountains and rivers and the air so happily tempered by winds and breezes to make the yearly seasons, and the countless varieties of plants and animals and again of fruits—all for the use and enjoyment of men?
ה׳
5[323] Were it not well, then, that we should follow her intentions and display in public all that is profitable and necessary for the benefit of those who are worthy to use it? As it is, we often find that no person of good character is admitted to the mysteries, while robbers and pirates and associations of abominable and licentious women, when they offer money to those who conduct the initiatory rites, are sometimes accepted. Let all such persons, then, be banished from the confines of any State or constitution in which morality and truth are honoured for their own sakes. So much for this subject.