XXXII. (124) And every one who comes near the camp sees the calf and the dances, and he himself also is soon infected. For we fall in with Typhus and the revellers of Typhus, whenever we deliberately purpose to come near to the camp of the body; since those who are fond of contemplation and are eager to see incorporeal objects, as being persons who practise obstinacy from pride, are accustomed to dwell at a distance from the body. (125) Do then therefore pray to God never to begin revelry or drunkenness, that is to say, never intentionally to set forth in the road which leads to ignorance and folly; for unintentional errors are as light again as deliberate sins, inasmuch as they are not weighed down by the irresistible conviction of conscience. (126) And when your prayers have been accomplished, you will no longer be able to remain in ignorance or out of office, but you will acquire the most important of all offices, namely, the priesthood. For it is almost the only occupation of the priests and ministers of God to offer abstemious sacrifices, abstaining in the firmness of their minds from wine and from every other cause of folly. (127) For, says the scripture, “The Lord spoke unto Aaron, saying, Wine and strong drink shalt thou not drink, neither thou nor thy sons after thee, when ye come into the tabernacle of the testimony, or when ye approach the altar of sacrifice, so that ye may not die. This shall be an everlasting law for all your generations to distinguish between what is sacred and what is profane, and between what is pure and what is Impure.”{32}{#le 10:8.} (128) But Aaron is the priest, and the interpretation of his name is “mountainous;” reasoning occupying itself with sublime and lofty objects, not on account of the superabundant excess of the arrogance of empty pride, but by reason of the magnitude of its virtue, which, elevating the thoughts beyond even heaven, suffers it not to contemplate anything that is lowly. And no one who is disposed in this manner will ever voluntarily touch unmixed wine or any other medicine of folly, (129) for it is inevitable that he must either make one in the solemn procession and enter the tabernacle, being about to Perform{33}{there is some corruption in the Greek text here.} the rites which may not be seen, or else, that approaching the altar he must offer sacrifices of gratitude for all the public and private blessings which have been showered upon him; and these things require sobriety and great presence of mind.
XXXIII. (130) Therefore, any one may here rightly admire the expressions in which the command is conveyed. For how can it be anything but admirable for people, while sober and masters of themselves, to apply themselves to prayers and to the offering of sacrifices? just as on the other hand it is ridiculous for men to do so when relaxed both in body and soul by wine; (131) unless indeed as often as servants, and sons, and subjects, are about to approach masters, and parents, and sovereigns, they take care to be sober in order not to offend in either word or deed, lest if they in any respect act as if contemptuous of their rank, they should be punished, or to speak in the most moderate manner, should at least suffer ridicule; and yet any one when about to become the minister of the Ruler and father of the universe, is not then to show himself superior to meat, and drink, and sleep, and all the vulgar necessities of nature, but is to turn aside to luxury and effeminacy, and imitate the life of the intemperate, had having his eyes weighed down with wine, and his head shaking, and bending his neck to one side, and belching from intemperance, and being weak and tottering in his whole body, is in that condition to approach the sacred purifications, and altars, and sacrifices. No: such a man may not without impiety even behold the sacred flame at a distance. (132) But, if indeed one is to understand these things as said not of the tabernacle or altar of sacrifice which are visible, and which are made of inanimate and perishable materials, but of those objects of speculation which are invisible and perceptible only by the intellect, of which these other things are only the images perceptible by the outwards senses; he will all the more marvel at the explanation. (133) For since the Creator has in every instance made one thing a model and another a copy of that model, he has made the archetypal pattern of virtue for the seal, and then he has on this stamped an impression from it very closely resembling the stamp. Therefore, the archetypal seal is the incorporeal idea being a thing as to its intrinsic nature an object of the outward senses, but yet not actually coming within the sphere of their operations. Just as if there is a piece of wood floating in the deepest part of the Atlantic sea, a person may say that the nature of wood is to be burned, but that that particular piece never will be burnt because of the way in which it is saturated with salt water.
Page 1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526
