A Treatise on the Words that Noah Uttered When He Awoke from His Wine, or On Sobriety.

 I. (1) Having examined in the preceding treatise what has been said by the lawgiver about wine and the nakedness which attends upon it, we will now be

 II. (6) Such then is the condition of the sober man but when Moses speaks of Noah's younger son, he is not so much meaning to make a statement resp

 III. (10) And again in his great song he calls the whole people, when it is smitten with a desire of innovation by the name suited to foolish and infa

 IV. (16) It has therefore been proved, that in many passages Moses is in the habit of calling a person young, having regard not to the age of the body

 V. (21) Therefore, the scripture is seen to prove each particular of what I have said more plainly to those who have taught themselves to obey one inj

 VI. (26) The prophet, then, in accordance with this law, and as it were shooting his arrows with happy aim at the appointed mark, in strict agreement

 VII. (31) We must now then consider whom the wise man here curses for this is one of the matters especially deserving of investigation, since he curs

 VIII. (34) A stationary position and motion differ from one another for the one is a state of tranquillity, but motion is impetuosity, of which last

 IX. (38) Therefore, the same assertion applies to those who live according to folly, and also to all those who live in accordance with virtue or vice.

 X. (44) Why then have I said these things, except with the object of teaching that Ham the son of Noah, is the name of wickedness in a state of inacti

 XI. (51) These things then, I imagine, have now been sufficiently discussed. Let us now examine the affair of the curses, and see what the case is wit

 XIII. (59) This, then, is the prayer which Noah offers for Shem let us now see what kind of prayer it is that he puts forth for Japhet. He says, May

 XIII. (62) Thus much we may say concerning breadth. We must now consider who it is who Noah prays may dwell in the tents of Shem, for he does not say

IV. (16) It has therefore been proved, that in many passages Moses is in the habit of calling a person young, having regard not to the age of the body, but to the desire of the soul for innovation; and also we will now proceed to show that he calls some persons elders, not because they are oppressed by old age, but as being worthy of honour and respect. (17) Who then of those persons, who are acquainted with the sacred scriptures, is ignorant that the wise Abraham is represented as less long lived than almost any one of his ancestors? And yet of all those who lived to the most extreme old age there is not one, as I think, who is called an elder, but he alone has this title given to him. Therefore, the sacred scriptures say, that "Abraham was now old and advanced in years," and, "The Lord blessed Abraham in all Things."[Ge 24:1.] (18) This appears to me to be added as a sort of explanatory cause for what has been said before, namely, why the wise man is called the elder. For when the rational part of the soul is made of a good disposition by the kind providence of God, and when it reasons not only about one species, but about everything which is presented to it, using older opinion, it then becomes blessed, and is itself the older part of the people. (19) Thus also he is accustomed to call the members of the assembly of the God-loving people which consists of the number of ten sevens, elders. For we read in the scripture the direction given to Moses, "Assemble for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you yourself know that they are Elders."[Nu 11:16.] (20) Therefore, it is not only those persons who are looked upon by ordinary people as old men, inasmuch as they are hierophants, but those whom the wise man alone knows, whom he thinks worthy of the appellation of elders. For those whom he rejects, like a skilful money-changer, from the coinage of virtue, being alloyed, are all in their souls inclined to innovation; but those whom he wishes to make friends to himself, are of necessity well tested and approved, and elders as to their minds.