Flavius Josephus, Against Apion (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Joseph. Ap.]. | ||
<<Joseph. Ap. 2.209 | Joseph. Ap. 2.232 (Greek) | >>Joseph. Ap. 2.250 |
Nay, indeed, in case it had so fallen out, that our nation had not
been so thoroughly known among all men as they are, and our voluntary submission
to our laws had not been so open and manifest as it is, but that somebody
had pretended to have written these laws himself, and had read them to
the Greeks, or had pretended that he had met with men out of the limits
of the known world, that had such reverent notions of God, and had continued
a long time in the firm observance of such laws as ours, I cannot but suppose
that all men would admire them on a reflection upon the frequent changes
they had therein been themselves subject to; and this while those that
have attempted to write somewhat of the same kind for politic government,
and for laws, are accused as composing monstrous things, and are said to
have undertaken an impossible task upon them. And here I will say nothing
of those other philosophers who have undertaken any thing of this nature
in their writings. But even Plato himself, who is so admired by the Greeks
on account of that gravity in his manners, and force in his words, and
that ability he had to persuade men beyond all other philosophers, is little
better than laughed at and exposed to ridicule on that account, by those
that pretend to sagacity in political affairs; although he that shall diligently
peruse his writings will find his precepts to be somewhat gentle, and pretty
near to the customs of the generality of mankind. Nay, Plato himself confesseth
that it is not safe to publish the true notion concerning God among the
ignorant multitude. Yet do some men look upon Plato's discourses as no
better than certain idle words set off with great artifice. However, they
admire Lycurgus as the principal lawgiver, and all men celebrate
Now as for ourselves, I venture to say that no one can tell of so many; nay, not of more than one or two that have betrayed our laws, no, not out of fear of death itself; I do not mean such an easy death as happens in battles, but that which comes with bodily torments, and seems to be the severest kind of death of all others. Now I think those that have conquered us have put us to such deaths, not out of their hatred to us when they had subdued us, but rather out of their desire of seeing a surprising sight, which is this, whether there be such men in the world who believe that no evil is to them so great as to be compelled to do or to speak any thing contrary to their own laws. Nor ought men to wonder at us, if we are more courageous in dying for our laws than all other men are; for other men do not easily submit to the easier things in which we are instituted; I mean working with our hands, and eating but little, and being contented to eat and drink, not at random, or at every one's pleasure, or being under inviolable rules in lying with our wives, in magnificent furniture, and again in the observation of our times of rest; while those that can use their swords in war, and can put their enemies to flight when they attack them, cannot bear to submit to such laws about their way of living: whereas our being accustomed willingly to submit to laws in these instances, renders us fit to show our fortitude upon other occasions also.
2.236Yet do the Lysimachi and the Molones, and some other writers, (unskillful sophists as they are, and the deceivers of young men,) reproach us as the vilest of all mankind. Now I have no mind to make an inquiry into the laws of other nations; for the custom of our country is to keep our own laws, but not to bring accusations against the laws of others. And indeed our legislator hath expressly forbidden us to laugh at and revile those that are esteemed gods by other people? on account of the very name of God ascribed to them. But since our antagonists think to run us down upon the comparison of their religion and ours, it is not possible to keep silence here, especially while what I shall say to confute these men will not be now first said, but hath been already said by many, and these of the highest reputation also; for who is there among those that have been admired among the Greeks for wisdom, who hath not greatly blamed both the most famous poets, and most celebrated legislators, for spreading such notions originally among the body of the people concerning the gods? such as these, that they may be allowed to be as numerous as they have a mind to have them; that they are begotten one by another, and that after all the kinds of generation you can imagine. They also distinguish them in their places and ways of living as they would distinguish several sorts of animals; as some to be under the earth; as some to be in the sea; and the ancientest of them all to be bound in hell; and for those to whom they have allotted heaven, they have set over them one, who in title is their father, but in his actions a tyrant and a lord; whence it came to pass that his wife, and brother, and daughter (which daughter he brought forth from his own head) made a conspiracy against him to seize upon him and confine hint, as he had himself seized upon and confined his own father before.
Flavius Josephus, Against Apion (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Joseph. Ap.]. | ||
<<Joseph. Ap. 2.209 | Joseph. Ap. 2.232 (Greek) | >>Joseph. Ap. 2.250 |