De Fuga Et Inventione

Philo Judaeus

The works of Philo Judaeus, the contemporary of Josephus, volume 2. Yonge, C. D., translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.

for, as in this passage, those things which, according to the principles of natural philosophy, are reckoned profane among the Egyptians are called sacred by the Israelites who see acutely, and are all offered as sacrifices; so, in the same manner, the man who is the companion of virtue will be the heir of those things of which every foolish man is deprived and destitute. And these things are true glory, which in fact differs in no [*](Genesis xxxi. 14. ) [*](Exodus viii. 26. )

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respect from knowledge, and wealth, not blind wealth, but that which is the most sharp-sighted of all existing things, which never receives any base money, not even anything whatever devoid of life unless it be thoroughly tried and approved.

Very naturally, therefore, that person will flee from him who has no participation in divine blessings, who even in the matters in which he accuses another does without perceiving it accuse himself also, when he says, "If thou hadst told me I would have sent thee away." [*](Genesis xxxi. 27. ) For this very thing was a worthy cause for your being deserted, if you, being the servant of an infinite number of masters, pretending to have been invested with command and authority, proclaimed liberty to others.

But I, says he, did not take a man as my assistant in the road which leads to virtue, but I listened to the divine oracles which enjoined me to depart from hence, and which even now continues to direct my course.