CHAPTER XIV

PHILO JUDAEUS
Bibliographical note — Philo the mediator between Hellenistic and Jewish-Christian thought — His influence upon the middle ages was indirect — Good and bad magic — Stars not gods nor first causes — But rational and virtuous animals, and God's viceroys over inferiors — They do not cause evil; but it is possible to predict the future from their motions — Jewish astrology — Perfection of the number seven — And of fifty — Also of four and six — Spirits of the air — Interpretation of dreams — Politics are akin to magic — A thought repeated by Moses Maimonides and Albertus Magnus.
^'But since every city in which laws are properly estab- lished has a regular constitution, it became necessary for this citizen of the world to adopt the same constitution as that which prevailed in the universal world. And this con- stitution is the right reason of nature."
— On Creation, cap. 50.
There probably Is no other man who marks so well the fusion of Hellenic and Hebrew ideas and the transition from them to Christian thought as Philo Judaeus.^ He flourished at Alexandria in the first years of our era — the exact dates both of his birth and of his death are un- certain— and speaks of himself as an old man at the time of
* The literature dealing in gen- eral with Philo and his philosophy is too extensive to indicate here, while there has been no study primarily devoted to our interest in him. It may be useful to note, however, the most recent editions of his works and studies concern- ing him, from which the reader can learn of earlier researches. See also Leopold Cohn, The Latest Researches on Philo of Alexandria (Reprinted from The Jewish Quarterly Review), Lon-
don, 1892. The most recent edi- tion of the Greek text of Philo's works is by L. Cohn and P. Wend- land, Philonis Alexandrini opera quae supcrsunt, Berlin, 1896-1915, in six vols. The earlier edition was by Mangey. Recent editions of single works are : F. C. Cony- beare, Philo about the Contempla- tive Life, critically edited with a defence of its genuineness, 1895. E. Brehier, Commentaire alle- gorique des Saintes Lois apres l'a:uvre des six jours, Greek and
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his participation in the embassy of Jews to the Emperor Gaius or CaHguIa in 40 A. D. He repeats the doctrines of the Greek philosophers and anticipates much that the church fathers discuss. Before the Neo-Platonists he re- gards matter as the source of all evil and feels the necessity of mediators, angels or demons, between God and man. Before the medieval revival of Aristotle and natural phi- losophy he tries to reconcile the Mosaic account of creation with belief in a world soul, and monotheism with astrology. Before the rise of Christian monasticism he describes in his treatise On the Contemplative Life an ascetic community of Therapeutae at Lake Maerotis.^ After Pythagoras he enlarges upon the mystic significance of numbers. After Plato he repeats the conception of an ideal city of God
French, 1909. In the passages from Philo quoted in this chapter I have often availed myself of the wording of the English translation by C. D. Yonge in four vols., 1854-1855. The Latin translation of Philo's works made from the Greek by Lilius Tifernates for Popes Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII is preserved at the Vatican in a series of six MSS written during the years 1479-1484: Vatic. Lat., 180-185.
J. d'Alma, Philon d'Alexandrie et
le quatricme Evangile, 1910.
N. Bentwich, Philo-Judaeus of
Alexandria, 1910 (a small
general book).
T. H. Billings, The Platonism of
Philo Judaeiis, 1919. W. Bousset, JUdisch-Christlicher Schulbetrieb in Alexandria und Rom, 1915. E. Brehier, Les I dees philo so- phiques et religieuscs de Philon dAlexandrie, 1908, a scholarly work with a ten- page bibliography.