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Philo, Volume VI: On Abraham. On Joseph. On Moses PDF

633 Pages·1935·10.58 MB·English
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THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB, LL.D. EDITED BY G. P. GOOLD, PH.D. FORMER EDITORS t Τ. E. PAGE, C.H., LITT.D. t E. CAPPS, PH.D., LL.D. t W. H. D. ROUSE, LITT.D. f L. A. POST, L.H.D. Ε. H. WARMINGTON, M.A., F.R.HIST.SOC. PHILO VI 289 P H I LO WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY F. H. COLSON, M.A. LATE FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAtfiiiUDGB IN TEN VOLUMES (AND TWO SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUMES) VI CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD MCMLXXXIV American ISBN 0-674-99319-5 British ISBN 0 434 99289 5 First printed 1935 reprinted 1950, 1959, 1966, 1984 Printed in Great Britain CONTENTS OF VOLUME VI PAOB PREFACE vii GENERAL INTRODUCTION ix LIST OF PHILO'S WORKS xix ON ABRAHAM (DE ABRAHAMO)— Introduction 2 Text and Translation . . .. 4 ON JOSEPH (DE IOSEPHO)— Introduction , . 138 Text and Translation 140 MOSES I. AND II. (DE VITA MOSIS)— Introduction 274 Text and Translation 276 APPENDICES— I. To De Abrahamo 597 II. To De Iosepho 600 III. To De Vita Mosis, i. . 603 IV. To De Vita Mosis, ii 605 V. Supplement to Textual Footnotes . 611 ν PREFACE TO VOLUME VI MR. WHITAKER left no work of any kind bearing on the contents of this volume, and it therefore appears in my name only. The great difference of subject matter from the five previous volumes has made the long detailed analytical introductions less necessary and where the narrative runs on continuously for a considerable length almost useless. I have accordingly retained them only in a very modified form. I have continued to divide the annotation into footnotes which seemed needed for the comprehension of the passages and appendix notes mainly for illustration, but both foot­ notes and appendix are considerably diminished. One point perhaps requires apology or at least justification. What appears here as the Second Book of the Life of Moses was before the publication of Cohn's edition divided into two, a Second Book of twelve Chapters, and a Third Book of thirty-nine. Cohn who has demonstrated the erroneousness of this division,0 takes the middle course of numbering the Chapters as of two books, but the sections as of one. Since Cohn originated the arrangement by sections this was probably the wiser course. But now that citation by sections is superseding the old citation by See note on p. 274. vii PREFACE chapters this difference of arrangement between sec­ tions and chapters seemed to me confusing and I have accordingly numbered the chapters continuously from 1 to 50; and therefore in tracing a reference to a par­ ticular chapter of De Vita Mosis, iii. my readers will have to subtract twelve. I hope any inconvenience caused by this will be diminished by the fact that most, if not all, references to Philo in earlier writers cite not only the chapters of a treatise but the Mangey pages, which of course remain unchanged. I may add that Dr. Rouse's help, which has been generously given throughout, has been particularly useful in this volume. F. H. C. April 1935. viii GENERAL INTRODUCTION IN this volume we enter a upon the second main divi­ sion of Philo's works. The preceding five volumes have been occupied with what is usually called the commentary or allegorical commentary. We now pass on to his Exposition of the Laws to which the biographical treatises in this volume serve as an in­ troduction. Philo starts with the assumption that the Pentateuch as a whole is a law-book written by the lawgiver himself. But this law-book obviously opens and continues with a large amount of material which is not, strictly speaking, legislative butnarrative. Hence the theory is developed that Moses began with describing the foundation of the world-commonwealth or cosmopolis which was to be governed by the laws, and followed it by describing the lives of those who had observed those laws while still unwritten and were therefore themselves " living laws," as well as α Or perhaps 1 shall rather say " re-enter," as De Abr. assumes that the De Opificio is the opening book of the " Exposition." And so the German translators begin with the De Op. and proceed at once to De Abr. In this transla­ tion we have followed the traditional arrangement, which is also that adopted by Cohn and Wendland, not perhaps with­ out justification. It must be noted that if De Op. begins the Exposition, it serves the same purpose for the Commentary which begins with Gen. ii. 1, and seems to assume that the story of Creation has been adequately dealt with. ix

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The philosopher Philo was born about 20 BCE to a prominent Jewish family in Alexandria, the chief home of the Jewish Diaspora as well as the chief center of Hellenistic culture; he was trained in Greek as well as Jewish learning. In attempting to reconcile biblical teachings with Greek philosophy he
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