[Thatcher Introduction]:
As is evident from the writings of Seneca, Epictetus and others, philosophy in the
West ceased to be purely speculative, and dealt with moral and religious questions. This
tendency toward the moral and religious was strengthened by the spread of Jewish and
Christian teachings, together with the development of the Neo-Platonists toward mysticism,
and the consequent mingling of western and eastern thought. Philo Judaeus lived in
Alexandria, Egypt, from 20 B.C. to 40 A.D. He was a Jew in religion but a Greek in
philosophy, and did much to promote this fusion of thought. The selection below describes
the pre-Christian ascetics of Egypt. lt is important because it shows that asceticism was
common in the deserts of Egypt even before the Christian monks and thus by no means
peculiarly Christian.
[Pre-Christian] Ascetics.
I. Having mentioned the Essenes, who in all respects selected for their
admiration and for their especial adoption the practical course of life, and who excel in
all, or what perhaps may be a less unpopular and invidious thing to say, in most of its
parts, I will now proceed, in the regular order of my subject, to speak of those who have
embraced the speculative life, and I will say what appears to me to be desirable to be
said on the subject, not drawing any fictitious statements from my own head for the sake
of improving the appearance of that side of the question which nearly all poets and
essayists are much accustomed to do in the scarcity of good actions to extol, but with the
greatest simplicity adhering strictly to the truth itself, to which I know well that even
the most eloquent men do not keep close in their speeches.
Nevertheless we must make the endeavor and labor to attain to this virtue; for it is
not right that the greatness of the virtue of the men should be a cause of silence to
those who do not think it right that anything which is creditable should be suppressed in
silence; but the deliberate intention of the philosopher is at once displayed from the
appellation given to them: for with strict regard to etymology, they are called therapeutae
and therapeutrides, either because they profess an art of medicine more excellent
than that in general use in cities (for that only heals bodies, but the other heals souls
which are under the mastery of terrible and almost incurable diseases, which pleasures and
appetites, fears and griefs, and covetousness, and follies, and injustice, and all the
rest of the innumerable multitude of other passions and vices, have inflicted upon them),
or else because they have been instructed by nature and the sacred laws to serve the
living God, who is superior to the good, and more simple than the one, and more ancient
than the unity with whom, however, who is there of those who profess piety that we can
possibly compare? Can we compare those who honor the elements, earth, water, air, and
fire? to whom different nations have given names, calling fire Hephaestus, I
imagine because of its kindling, and the air Hera, I imagine because of its being
raised up, and raised aloft to a great height, and water Poseidon, probably because
of its being drinkable, and the earth Demeter because it appears to be the mother
of all plants and of all animals.
II. But since these men infect not only their fellow countrymen, but all that
come near them with folly, let them remain uncovered, being mutilated in the most
indispensable of all the outward senses, namely, sight. I am speaking here, not of the
sight of the body, but of that of the soul, by which alone truth and falsehood are
distinguished from one another. But the therapeutic sect of mankind, being continually
taught to see without interruption, may well aim at obtaining a sight of the living God,
and may pass by the sun, which is visible to the outward sense, and never leave this order
which conducts to perfect happiness. But they who apply themselves to this kind of
worship, not because they are influenced to do so by custom, nor by the advice or
recommendation of any particular persons, but because they are carried away by a certain
heavenly love, give way to enthusiasm, behaving like so many revelers in bacchanalian or
corybantian mysteries, until they see the object which they have been earnestly desiring.
Then, because of their anxious desire for an immortal and blessed existence, thinking
that their mortal life has already come to an end, they leave their possessions to their
sons or daughters, or perhaps to other relations, giving them up their inheritance with
willing cheerfulness: and those who know no relations give their property to their
companions or friends, for it followed of necessity that those who have acquired the
wealth which sees, as if ready prepared for them, should be willing to surrender that
wealth which is blind to those who themselves also are still blind in their minds.
When, therefore, men abandon their property without being influenced by any predominant
attraction, they flee without even turning their heads back again, deserting their
brethren, their children, their wives, their parents, their numerous families, their
affectionate bands of companions, their native lands in which they have been born and
brought up, though long familiarity is a most attractive bond, and one very well able to
allure any one. And they depart, not to another city as those do who entreat to be
purchased from those who at present possess them, being either unfortunate or else
worthless servants, and as such seeking a change of masters rather than endeavoring to
procure freedom (for every city, even that which is under the happiest laws, is full of
indescribable tumults, and disorders, and calamities, which no one would submit to who had
been even for a moment under the influence of wisdom), but they take up their abode
outside of walls, or gardens, or solitary lands, seeking for a desert place, not because
of any ill-natured misanthropy to which they have learned to devote themselves, but
because of the associations with people of wholly dissimilar dispositions to which they
would otherwise be compelled, and which they know to be unprofitable and mischievous.
III. Now this class of persons may be met with in many places, for it was
fitting that both Greece and the country of the barbarians should partake of whatever is
perfectly good; and there is the greatest number of such men in Egypt, in every one of the
districts, or nomes, as they are called, and especially around Alexandria; and from all
quarters those who are the best of these therapeutae proceed on their pilgrimage to
some most suitable place as if it were their country, which is beyond the Maereotic lake,
lying in a somewhat level plain a little raised above the rest, being suitable for their
purpose by reason of its safety and also of the fine temperature of the air.
For the houses built in the fields and the villages which surround it on all sides give
it safety; and the admirable temperature of the air proceeds from the continual breezes
which come from the lake which falls into the sea, and also from the sea itself in the
neighborhood, the breezes from the sea being light, and those which proceed from the lake
which falls into the sea being heavy, the mixture of which produces a most healthy
atmosphere.
But the houses of these men thus congregated together are very plain, just giving
shelter in respect of the two things most important to be provided against, the heat of
the sun, and the cold from the open air; and they did not live near to one another as men
do in cities, for immediate neighborhood to others would be a troublesome and unpleasant
thing to men who have conceived an admiration for, and have determined to devote
themselves to, solitude; and, on the other hand, they did not live very far from one
another on account of the fellowship which they desire to cultivate, and because of the
desirableness of being able to assist one another if they should be attacked by robbers.
And in every house there is a sacred shrine which is called the holy place, and the
house in which they retire by themselves and perform all the mysteries of a holy life,
bringing in nothing, neither meat, nor drink, nor anything else which is indispensable
towards supplying the necessities of the body, but studying in that place the laws and the
sacred oracles of God enunciated by the holy prophets, and hymns, and psalms, and all
kinds of other things by reason of which knowledge and piety are increased and brought to
perfection.
Therefore they always retain an imperishable recollection of God, so that not even in
their dreams is any other subject ever presented to their eyes except the beauty of the
divine virtues and of the divine powers. Therefore many persons speak in their sleep,
divulging and publishing the celebrated doctrines of the sacred philosophy. And they are
accustomed to pray twice a day, at morning and at evening; when the sun is rising
entreating God that the happiness of the coming day may be real happiness, so that their
minds may be filled with heavenly light, and when the sun is setting they pray that their
soul, being entirely lightened and relieved of the burden of the outward senses, and of
the appropriate object of these outward senses, may be able to trace out trust existing in
its own consistory and council chamber. And the interval between morning and evening is by
them devoted wholly to meditation on and to practice virtue, for they take up the sacred
scriptures and philosophy concerning them, investigating the allegories as symbols of some
secret meaning of nature, intended to be conveyed in those figurative expressions.
They have also writings of ancient men, who having been the founders of one sect or
another, have left behind them many memorials of the allegorical system of writing and
explanation, whom they take as a kind of model, and imitate the general fashion of their
sect; so that they do not occupy themselves solely in contemplation, but they likewise
compose psalms and hymns to God in every kind of meter and melody imaginable, which they
of necessity arrange in more dignified rhythm. Therefore, during six days, each of these
individuals, retiring into solitude by himself, philosophizes by himself in one of the
places called monasteries, never going outside the threshold of the outer court, and
indeed never even looking out.
But on the seventh day they all come together as if to meet in a sacred assembly, and
they sit down in order according to their ages with all becoming gravity, keeping their
hands inside their garments, having their right hand between their chest and their dress,
and the left hand down by their side, close to their flank; and then the eldest of them
who has the most profound learning in their doctrines comes forward and speaks with
steadfast look and with steadfast voice, with great powers of reasoning, and great
prudence, not making an exhibition of his oratorical powers like the rhetoricians of old,
or the sophists of the present day, but investigating with great pains, and explaining
with minute accuracy the precise meaning of the laws, which sits, not indeed at the tips
of their ears, but penetrates through their hearing into the soul, and remains there
lastingly; and all the rest listen in silence to the praises which he bestows upon the
law, showing their assent only by nods of the head, or the eager look of the eyes.
And this common holy place to which they all come together on the seventh day is a
twofold circuit, being separated partly into the apartment of the men, and partly into a
chamber for the women, for women also, in accordance with the usual fashion there, form a
part of the audience, having the same feelings of admiration as the men, and having
adopted the same sect with equal deliberation and decision; and the wall which is between
the houses rises from the ground three or four cubits upwards, like a battlement, and the
upper portion rises upwards to the roof without any opening. on two accounts; first of
all, in order that the modesty which is so becoming to the female sex may be preserved,
and secondly, that the women may be easily able to comprehend what is said, being seated
within earshot, since there is then nothing which can possibly intercept the voice of him
who is speaking.
IV. And these expounders of the law, having first of all laid down temperance as
a sort of foundation for the soul to rest upon, proceed to build up other virtues on this
foundation, and no one of them may take any meat or drink before the setting of the sun,
since they judge that the work of philosophizing is one which is worthy of the light, but
that the care of the necessities of the body is suitable only to darkness, on which
account they appropriate the day to the one occupation, and a brief portion of the night
to the other; and some men, in whom there is implanted a more fervent desire of knowledge,
can endure to cherish a recollection of their food for three days without even tasting it,
and some men are so delighted, and enjoy themselves so exceedingly when regaled by wisdom
which supplies them with her doctrines in all possible wealth and abundance, that they can
even hold out twice as great a length of time, and will scarcely at the end of six days
taste even necessary food, being accustomed, as they say that grasshoppers are, to feed on
air, their song as I imagine, making their scarcity tolerable to them.
And they, looking upon the seventh day as one of perfect holiness and a most complete
festival, have thought it worthy of a most especial honor, and on it, after taking due
care of their soul, they tend their bodies also, giving them, just as they do to their
cattle, a complete rest from their continual labors; and they eat nothing of a costly
character, but plain bread and a seasoning of salt, which the more luxurious of them do
further season with hyssop; and their drink is water from the spring; for they oppose
those feelings which nature has made mistresses of the human race, namely, hunger and
thirst, giving them nothing to flatter or humor them, but only such useful things as it is
not possible to exist without. On this account they eat only so far as not to be hungry,
and they drink just enough to escape from thirst, avoiding all satiety, as an enemy of and
a plotter against both soul and body.
And there are two kinds of covering, one raiment and the other a house: we have already
spoken of their houses, that they are not decorated with any ornaments, but run up in a
hurry, being only made to answer such purposes as are absolutely necessary; and in like
manner their raiment is of the most ordinary description, just stout enough to ward off
cold and heat, being a cloak of some shaggy hide for winter, and a thin mantle or linen
shawl in the summer; for in short they practice entire simplicity, looking upon falsehood
as the foundation of pride, but truth is the origin of simplicity, and upon truth and
falsehood as standing in the light of fountains, for from falsehood proceeds every variety
of evil and wickedness, and from truth there flows every imaginable abundance of good
things both human and divine.
