VIII. (44) On which account we read, “He will depart to Laban,” not to him as the Syrian, but as the brother of his mother; that is to say, he will go to the brilliancies of life; for Laban, being interpreted, means “white.” And when he has arrived there he will not hold his head too high, from being puffed up with the happy events of fortune; for the word Syrian, being translated, means “sublime.” But now he does not recollect the Syrian Laban, but the brother of Rebekkah; (45) for the means of life being given to a bad man, inflate and raise up to great height the mind which is devoid of wisdom, which is called the Syrian; but if they are bestowed on a lover of instruction, then they make the mind inclined to abide by the steady and solid doctrines of virtue and excellence. This is the brother of Rebekkah, that is to say, of perseverance, and he dwells in Charran, which name, being interpreted, means “holes,” a symbol of the external senses; for he who is still moving about in mortal life has need of the organs of the external senses. (46) “Dwell, therefore,” says she, “O my child, with him,” not all thy life, but “certain days;” that is to say, learn to be acquainted with the country of the external senses; know thyself and thy own parts, and what each is, and for what end it was made, and how it is by nature calculated to energise, and who it is who moves through those marvellous things, and pulls the strings, being himself invisible, in an invisible manner, whether it is the mind that is in thee, or the mind of the universe. (47) And, when you have become thoroughly acquainted with yourself, then examine accurately also the peculiar qualities of Laban; the things which are accounted brilliant instances of the success of empty glory; but do not you be deceived by any one of them, but like a good workman adapt them all in a skilful manner to your own necessities; for if, while immersed in this political and much confused life, you display a stable and wellinstructed disposition, I will send for you from thence that you may receive the same prize which also your parents received: and the prize is the unchangeable and unhestitating service of the only wise God.
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