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.
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